Rude quotes saying

Long story so please bear with me
I was with my first love for 3 and a bit years, we met in late 2010 before we broke up 10 years ago in early 2014. We were young and in our early 20s back then, things just fizzled out.
I've always thought about her but eventually we went our separate ways, she got in to a relationship with another guy after me for a few years but eventually he ended up cheating on her, this was around 2017.
After her breakup in 2017 I confessed my feelings for her but we didn't go anywhere with it as she was still healing so I told her I need to cut her off at the point because I told her I was struggling to be just friends with her, to which she said that she was heartbroken that's it come to us parting ways. But we wished each other well and went our separate ways. I was really at my lowest at that point but have come a really long way since in terms of having a successful career and have improved a lot financially and mentally.
At the start of 2019, she did add me on social media but she didn't say anything to me so a few days later I ended up deleting her because I realised I still wasn't over her, I regretted deleting her afterwards.
At the end of 2019 I heard that she was engaged, she ended up getting married but then I heard she got divorced around over 2 years ago. A few monthds ago I found out that the reason for her divorce was because her husband cheated on her and was abusive towards her. They got divorced around early 2022. Her ex husband is already engaged and due to get married again this summer.
As for me I did get in to another relationship with someone else but I was also cheated on so I have been single for a few years now, I have been evolving in my career and proud of how far I've come and have recently started a new chapter in my career. I considered getting in touch with her last year but I noticed that she had cut off a lot of people from her social media so I wasnt too sure how she'd react to me adding her, I thought she'd reject me seen as she's cutting off a lot of people.
So around 3 months ago I took the plunge seen as I had nothing to lose and sent her a request on instagram, and she had accepted and also followed me back. She's been viewing my stories and a month ago I posted a life quote on my story which she liked, I haven't spoke to her yet. I posted a few pictures of myself which she hasn't liked but A few weeks ago I posted a quote on my story that said 'be the reason for someone's pain to turn into a smile', she liked that quote and also another one that I posted last week. It was my birthday a few days ago and she liked a birthday story that I posted on instagram.
I'm assuming she is single but not entirely sure. I added her 3 months ago but now she has deleted me, I was confused because she only liked one of my stories few days prior. At the time of her deletion, i was on holiday performing umrah. I would have liked to see if there was future for us but don't think she's interested now, i have messaged her after she deleted me saying 'Hi, hope your well. I probably should have said something a long time ago but I didn't, my fault. I've been praying for you, today I realise I've been deleted anyways I hope your keeping happy and healthy'. She replied saying 'Hey I'm good thanks hope you are too, that is kind of you, I didn't expect this kind of message'.
I didn't really know what to say back to her, I still don't understand why she deleted me even though days before she was showing an interest in my stories before and now she's deleted me. I just replied saying 'that's good. Sorry for catching you off guard with it, I wanted to reach out to you earlier. I'm glad your doing well though' and then she has replied back saying 'can I ask why?' I replied back saying 'It's been on my mind for a while to get back in touch with you, I didn't add you for no reason. But we don't need to if it's not something your comfortable with'. She then sent a long message as follows: 'You don’t make me feel uncomfortable. I have thought about you over the years and wished you well. I am really happy that you have also been called to do umrah and i hope it changes your life the same way it did mine. I removed you because you have my ex and his family on your instagram and I removed everyone who has any contact with them. You will have heard that I was married there for a short period of time but it was hell and now I’m out of it I don’t want them knowing anything about my life, so I removed everyone who has any link with them. I didn’t realise till that day that you did. It was nothing to do with you personally.' .
Im not actually friends with her ex husband as he is just someone that lives nearby to me and we have never spoken so I replied with this: 'I'm sorry that you had to go through that, I hope your okay and I pray god brings you ease. I wouldn't exactly say I have anything to do with them personally though, only thing I know about them is that they're from my area too. It makes sense now and it's understandable why you did that.'
She replied back again saying 'I'm great, God is the best of planners and it was the best thing for me. Even so, I removed everyone who had us both so sorry about that' and to which I replied 'That's fair enough, I'm glad to hear your doing well though and that your at peace now. That's what matters most'. She then asked 'how have you been, what's new with you?' I replied saying 'I'm not too bad thanks, life's changed a lot since we last spoke so there's quite a lot that's new lol'. after that we were speaking generally about the holiday that I'm currently on and what to do as she has been here before too and she also asked how long I'm there for and she asked who ive gone with and how long im on holiday for, it was in general a short and civilised conversation and the conversation happened whilst i was still deleted.
Towards the end of the conversation she said 'well i hope you have a lovely time 😊' and i replied with thank you and asked her when she was on holiday here, she replied saying that she went last November and the year before so then i replied saying 'oh nice, its good to go often. Need to make it a yearly thing' She ended the conversation 12 nights ago by liking that last message i sent, I don't know if she plans to message me again, What are the chances that she'll message me even if we don't follow each other on instagram anymore.
I am slightly anxious that she won't message me after this due to her deleting me because her ex is on my Instagram. Was thinking of just giving her space for a few more days, then deleting her ex and requesting her back in around in a few days bear in mind she deleted me 2 weeks ago and we havent spoken in 12 days. In the meantime i have been removing a lot of meaningless connections from my instagram and i will be removing her ex and his family too, i have also noticed that her number of following has also decreased as she has also been cutting down on the number of connections she has. I blame myself for this situation because I had the opportunity to delete her ex and his family a few months ago as I don't even speak to them, had I done that then she wouldn't have deleted me. Its been 2 weeks, should i take action or give her space?

I moved to a new state with my husband about two months before he deployed. It has been very difficult making friends as I work from home. Even before deactivating my social media, it was very difficult making friends using social media group pages. He has been gone several months and while it hasn’t been easy, because I’m constantly alone, I thought it was going okay.
He emailed me last week, after going radio silent, telling me how much he is struggling and how unhappy he is. Shared that a lot of it is my fault. He doesn’t feel comfortable opening up to me and never will. To preface this, this happened after 5 days of no talking after a “fight”. I put it in quotes because I was genuinely trying to avoid a fight. We were talking on messenger. He was giving me one or two word answers to everything and I started getting frustrated. So I told him I was gonna let him go and to have a good night and I love him. He asked me what he did wrong and I told him nothing. He said I love you too and immediately logged off. I messaged him back explaining that it felt like I was trying to pull teeth talking to him and I know he is exhausted and stressed so instead of hurting my own feelings I would rather get offline. He never opened the message. I also sent him a screen shot about something funny his brother shared with me so he could get context about what I was asking and knew it wasn’t a big deal. But again, he never opened the message.
Five days later is when I received the aforementioned email; he was purposely ignoring me. He had promised me multiple times before that he wouldn’t do that sort of thing again (this was now the fourth time) and this one was by far the longest. I sometimes struggle knowing how to respond because when he shares that I’m upset about something, he gets the context completely wrong. For example, he thinks I get mad at him for talking to his family. That’s not true at all. I get upset that we get to talk for what seems to be a few hours online, and he’s not really participating in sharing anything. I have to ask questions, I get one or two word answers back and that’s it. I try not to push but sometimes I need the communication to feel connected. He doesn’t tell me he misses me, he doesn’t call me babe or honey (he used to) I know he is struggling, and I’m by no means saying I have it worse, but on the boat, he has explicitly told me that he doesn’t like anyone, he doesn’t trust anyone and he absolutely hates this command. I don’t really have any friends but my isolation is not quite self induced.
I responded to his email explaining my side of things, and apologizing for not creating a space for him to feel comfortable to talk to me. That’s literally all I’ve tried to do but he just seems to feel pressure when talking to me. I genuinely believe his stress, anxiety and lack of sleep are highly contributing to his emotional and mental distress. Add that he is in a combat zone and I’m sure its worse. He won’t tell me that though, usually just says he’s not at all worried or makes a really dumb joke about it.
I all but begged him to please let me know if all he needs is space, that I want to support him but the silence is torture to me. I have an anxious attachment style (he is avoidant) so I tend to think worst case scenario. So I requested that he please put my mind at ease that he’s not considering ending our marriage.
Three days later he sends me a very long email talking about how he is not looking forward to coming home, and isnt because we couldn’t get thru a deployment without fighting; that he wants to go to his childhood home to see his family. That we don’t want the same things. That I’m happy where we moved to and he is not. He only chose these orders and the last orders to be close to his family. He hates that I don’t get along with his family and that I don’t really want to move there when he retires.
Let me explain that he lives in a very tiny town where there isn’t even a grocery store. I literally would not have a career within an hour of his town. We had agreed that we could live an hour away, like one of his brothers does and it would still be close enough to his family. Also, his family has been quite rude to me. I have been mending fences with them for the sake of my husband. I don’t care where we live in the grand scheme of things, but I still need to have a job and his father and that side of the family very much abuse alcohol. They are also very ignorant and racist. My husband already struggles with over drinking. That’s not something I want to raise a family around as they can be verbally abusive when drunk, and you never know what’s going to trigger them. They have no goals nor aspirations in life, and that’s okay, but I do/ we did… I thought. My husbands goal is to retire from the service and go home. I was willing to go close (1-2 hours which he had agreed) to his home because I have a while before I can retire.
He proceeded to talk about how he was miserable with his ex wife and doesn’t want to spend six year with me, like he did with her, thinking marriage was supposed to be an unhappy union. That he stayed with her that long because he didn’t want it to fail; also because she convinced him things would get better. They never did, in fact I believe there was some infidelity on her side. He continued on about nonsense, like how he wants the mirrors in our house to stay but I wanted to change them and he has completely given up on having a say on how to update the house we bought. For the record, I left the mirrros the way he wanted. I picked paint colors I knew he would like.
Next, he mentioned how we had gotten in a fight right before moving and in haste, I told him to leave me there. he considered that we do end it then but we agreed to keep going because even though we struggle with communication, we do love each other and want to continue our marriage as overall we are pretty happy.
He ended the email explaining that he has not been happy for a while, has been struggling and while we work good together, he doesn’t believe we are right for each other. That I need to look within and figure out if I am happy in the relationship. That he doesn’t care about my answer but he is not at all happy.That he will never be able to communicate the way I want and he has made more changes for me, like attend couples counseling and anger management, than he ever would have for anyone else.
There are still a few months left to this deployment. I literally have no idea where that leaves me. I’m hurt as shit. I’m angry. I’m confused and frustrated. Not once on this deployment have I even mentioned splitting. Month two was the first time he mentioned divorce. We got past that hurdle and month three he mentioned that we should consider getting pregnant when he gets back. Then some stupid issue comes up and the cycle of being angry and fine continues. In fact, I all but beg him to not leave me when he has these outbursts. I feel stupid.
He is not one to ask for help. He clearly needs help but I have no idea what to do. It’s clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me.

My husband passed away in January. Since we got married, we’ve been living on his family’s farm. It’s been in his family since the 50s, and is currently owned by his parents. They don’t live here, they live in another house about 2 miles away. His estranged brother began walking on the property about 2 mo after my husband died. They’d had a falling out about 5 years before my husband passed away, and we hadn’t seen him in that time. My MIL said he was having mental problems, and being able to walk on the farm helped him. I said fine no worries, he wasn’t parking by the house… so I didn’t rly mind. Then, one day while I was at my son’s soccer game, he DID park right in front of the house. I got a text on my way home from his mom to that effect. I said “oh sure, we’re having friends over to go for a walk, maybe we’ll see him”. She replied “while he’s there it wld be good if you cld just leave him alone”. This rubbed me the wrong way, bc you don’t go to someone else’s house then ask them to leave you alone. Rude. I said “well if he doesn’t want to see us, perhaps he shldnt show up at our place, uninvited as well”. She didn’t respond, but then I saw my MILs car drive down to the pullout at the end of the property where he normally parked. Anyway our friends came over (my friend and her son, who is my son’s age). We hung for a couple of hours, and then my friend and I were sitting on the lawn at the table, chatting… the driveway is right in front of the lawn. We saw my MILs car driving up. She rolled down her window and said hi to us. We say hi to both of them. My BIL got out of her car, walked past us, not only not saying hello, but refusing to even turn his head towards us (wtf?! Rude weirdo), gets in his car, and they both drive out. Obviously after this I was definitely uncomfortable with him coming here, esp parking in the driveway. After that he came the next 7 days in a row to “work” according to my MIL, but he was parking at the pullout, not in the driveway. It Then, yesterday my MIL tells me they’re going to put their motor home there for him to stay in, it’s prob 1/8 mi or so from our house, but just across a big pasture, so totally in sight. It just makes me feel like there’s a menacing presence being installed at our home, and makes me very uncomfortable. Honestly it feels like he wants us to leave so he can live here. She always told us we “never have to leave”… but it feels like they’re trying to make it uncomfortable so that we will leave, while she doesn’t have to actually kick us out. Idk, I’d just appreciate some thoughts of the situation. Also, legally do we have any rights?

Hello all. I am in a relationship with a Canadian resident and fly frequently, and it's rare that I have a flawless experience with AC. About half a month ago, though, was the most unforeseen situation I've had. I had two AC flights, one from Quebec to Toronto and the other from Toronto to my home. As I was sitting at the gate in Quebec for my first flight, I received a text (with ~3 hours of notice before the flight) that my Toronto-home flight was cancelled due to quote "earlier mechanical issues" (the wording of "earlier" makes it sound like the issues were known beforehand). They said to wait 30 minutes to be rebooked. I was unsure, since I did not want to make it to Toronto without knowing that I'd have a flight to get home, but I waited. 30 minutes later, another text saying they were still working to rebook. I waited another 30 minutes (1 hour of waiting for a rebook) and then I gave up and decided to do it myself. I spoke to airport staff and managed to get myself rebooked with a completely different airline, United. I made it home safely, however I was around 7 hours late from my original landing time for my final destination.
I thought for sure I was eligible for compensation, or at least a refund of some sort because my flight wasn't even with Air Canada, and ultimately they never helped me get another flight with them. I read all of the eligibility regulations on the website and it seemed to be without question. So, I submitted a form, and waited.
This morning I received the verdict; I was not eligible due to a loophole, which essentially says, "If we tried our best, you don't get compensated". I did not find this fair at all, since they did not try their best; the flight was cancelled with literally barely a few hours of notice and I was never rebooked with Air Canada.
So my question is, what can I do? I'm being redirected to the Air Transportation Agency of Canada, which from my research, takes years to respond to tickets. Has anyone successfully gotten compensation for a cancelled or delayed flight? I'm at a loss for what I should do. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

My best friends and I are in a group chat together. This morning, one complemented my best friend (I know it is gonna sound weird how much I talk about him so we’re basically more than friends less than lovers. We have a really close bond and plan to move in together after college. Kind of like a lavender marriage thing, which again I know is strange) on a linkedin post he made to wrap up the semester. My best friend, who I will call Jermaine, finished junior year with a 3.5 GPA and his junior thesis and is doing an REU this summer. All great things. My other friends are doing similarly. In honors societies, all these accomplishments, etc.
I scrolled on linkedin for about an hour and I, kid you not, had to leave to throw up. I got so stressed I barfed. I’m still full body sweating just thinking about it and I’ve had multiple panic attacks.
You might think, hey, why are you getting so worked up? It’s just a stupid app. But it’s because I am realizing how hilariously inadequate I am to my friends. I have a 2.5 GPA, no hobbies or extracurriculars, nothing to be proud of at the end of this semester other than the fact that I didn’t end up offing myself thanks to my best friend saving me from that. Even that I couldn’t do myself. He had to bail me out of it.
I know I’m dragging them down. I have OCD and it’s like a fucking ticking time bomb in my brain saying how much of a joke I am. They all say if I just try harder and apply myself in my classes I will be just as good as them, if not moreso. I am a computer science major and the reason I did so horribly this semester was being unmedicated, and only after I was medicated I improved, but the damage was already done.
If I don’t do well in my summer classes I’m definitely screwed. That is the only thing I am doing this summer. All my friends are doing cool things and they DESERVE to but i’m stuck at home trying to not fucking flunk out of college. I used to have a 3.9 GPA in high school, honors everything. Now I’m a fucking failure who gets lucky to even get a C.
My friends say that I’m special in my own way. Jermaine tells me constantly that he’s not the type of person to not want to be friends with someone based on what they have or haven’t accomplished because he doesn’t care, and that he likes me for who I am, fuck up or not.
But constantly seeing my friends do all these cool things while I’m goddamn loser who has no hobbies except being with them and every time my friends are gone I freak out because I’m so socially anxious is humiliating. I look on linkedin and it feels like everyone is doing well but me. They say it’s not too late to post something but what the fuck do I even post? “Hey guys, working hard in my summer classes so I don’t flunk out of college even though I came close to doing so multiple times and should probably just end it all instead of holding onto the stupid pinterest quotes that say ‘your life is valuable!’” Yeah right.
I like art. I haven’t touched a sketchbook in years despite Jermaine saying I should because he knows it makes me happy. Video games and anime calm me down, but I haven’t even hooked up my PC that I saved up a year for. Because all I can do is sit here and panic all day, without end. I’ve started to think I like being miserable because I have the opportunity to bring myself out of this shit and I don’t because there’s no point. Why would I try to draw something if 10 other people probably drew something better in the last hour? Jermaine says I should work towards the goals I used to have. I wanted to move to Japan because I was learning Japanese all throughout high school, but I feel like that’s pointless with the lack of skills I have now and the way I can’t be apart from my friends.
It’s awful. I feel like it would be a better option to end it all than to even fucking try at this point.

Some of you might know me here. I have posted about the creation of the tabletop game Goblin Auction. This post is meant to be an overview of what I did to create my game, market it and start a Kickstarter for it. Spoiler alert, the Kickstarter did not reach its funding goal and I will also go into what I learned, what I would do instead and what is next for my specific project. I hope you can glean something from my experience if you are also going to games yourself and thinking about self-publishing.
I worked on the creation and marketing of Goblin Auction from about August 2023 to April 2024. That is about 8 to 9 months of really putting in the hours and being serious about game creation. I started as anyone should. Some basic printed cards and components and just playing the games with friends on a regular basis. I honed the project to a point where I had the basic idea of what I was going for and I could move on to the art. (Note: I understood that the game would likely go through many changes before the end. This may require me to redo art or change some significant things, but for personal motivation, starting the art and getting some semblance of what the final game would look like was important to me. Also, starting art and putting out posts can start accruing more attention than just a text post about a game’s creation.)
I have the luxury (or maybe not haha) of being an artist and trained in creating illustration. I didn’t have to pay for someone to design my game for me so the majority of the time spent on the game was spent with me drawing. Art, in my opinion, is the best way to market your game. A good looking and polished product is always better than a good concept in text format, although preferably you’d want both. With drawings I was able to start posting about my game. I felt like this was the best course of marketing for the project initially that costs no money and I could record speed art timelapses and post progress in stages to get feedback from a growing community of people.
Throughout this process, I was posting on mainly Reddit and Instagram. I had a YouTube and posted sometimes to it but not often and everything was mainly art. Retrospectively, I think what would have been a better idea was creating a dev log of how the game is going, what part of the process I am at, showing off the game’s core mechanics and new abilities and combos I was working on. It would give people a better sense for the game’s mechanics beyond just the flashy art as I found that, towards the end, the main thing that I didn’t feel like I conveyed well was how the game was played.
I eventually tried to start branching to new platforms. The one I really liked and found the most value from was Discord. I set up a server, just a general chat and a voice channel and started getting people actually interested in the game interacting there. I think what I wish I would’ve done is started seeking out as many communities that already had my target audience, tabletop gamers, and mingled there more. I also tried to establish myself on BoardGameGeek, but I found it unnecessarily un-user friendly. I have heard from many people that it is the hub for many people when it comes to tabletop gamers, but it was unnecessarily complicated to create a game page and designer page and even understand what the best course was when it came to even using it, so I abandoned it altogether. Not sure if that was the right move and I do think that it may be something I need to really crack down on and understand when moving forwards.
Then came finding a quote and the Kickstarter. I found a quote from Panda Game Manufacturing for about $8000 for 2000 units with the idea that international shipping would cost $2000 and I personally added a buffer of $2000 to be safe for a total of $12,000. In hindsight, this was wayy too high. I saw big projects get funded and assumed if I had a good product and did my job, that it would be enough to fund. And I still think this was possible, but I had to do a lot more advertising wise to get over that hump (advertising is not my strong suit, so admittedly this was the hardest learning curve I had to overcome). Anyways, long story short, the Kickstarter didn’t get funded, reaching only about 29% of the final goal, which I will emphasize is a LOT and I am very grateful for everyone who did actually contribute and sorry that the full vision wasn’t realized into a product.
So, what have I learned?

• I learned that I need to stop thinking so big so early. Of course, the dream should be to go into bulk manufacturing and I’m not saying I never will do that, but for a first game with a growing community, runs of a smaller amount of units, therefore a cheaper funding goal would be better, and if I exceed that goal by a large margin then I can talk about quoting for a larger amount.
• Advertising should NOT only be done through free means. It can only get you so far to try and adhere to every subreddit’s guidelines on self promotion and showing off what you have before you’ve exhausted everyone that’s going to see your product. I think that if you’re serious about tabletop game creation, you should understand that it will cost some money. Of course a huge savings of mine was doing the art myself, but I should have had a plan for marketing and budgeting that out to begin with before I pressed the launch button. I started to go through Meta advertising and paying to boost posts on Instagram, but I think I should have done that before the campaign started and used that follower count on the pre-launch page to gauge the general interest for the product.
• In terms of paid advertisement as well as resources for better looking advertisements, I should have gotten a few prototypes made, done some photo shoots myself and also sent out copies to board game reviewers and streamers to try.
• I should have created specific video trailers and explanation videos. A “How to Play” video was definitely a MUST that I did not create. Beyond that, little posts about card interactions and different strategies in the game would’ve been a great idea to boost engagement, especially releasing that over a planned period of time to always have something new to post about.

And what’s next for Goblin Auction?
I have heard that a failed Kickstarter is the worst outcome for up and coming games due to image and perception of the game. I personally take it as a big lesson and don’t have any plans of giving up just because my first try didn’t go as I wanted.
For Goblin Auction, the game is not dead to me. It just needs more work. More tiers for Kickstarter than just “Base Game”. For the second launch I will be creating new expansions. An Orc expansion that allows for PvP combat, and a Gremlin expansion that allows for co-op gameplay and a variant Hut deck that allows for different decisions when getting victory points to win the game. I would create all this before re-releasing as well as seeing about trinkets and ad-ons to give backers better options and more to have a more well-rounded Kickstarter experience. This also includes those How to Play and explanation videos that I had been avoiding before.
For me personally, though, these new expansions won’t be immediate. I will take my time in creating something that truly is worth investing money into, like was my mindset with the original base game of Goblin Auction. I also will not solely focus on Goblin Auction and pursue some other game ideas that I have had for a while. This is all happening outside of my day job, so it definitely is going to be a long process, but I am truly excited to show off the ideas I have had, and to make more games!
Thank you for those who have followed my journey so far and stick around for the future of Dirty Gold Games!

They got breakfast at a fast food chain none of them had ever heard of; it was pretty good. Mike had a weird little egg, bacon, cheese, and tomato sandwich on a sweetish roll; it was maybe a seven out of 10.
Once they got back on the road, Mike slumped in the middle row of the van, as usual. Jenna was driving this morning, while the lazy freak tried to nap in the passenger's seat. This seemed to Mike like an excellent time to "get his kicks," so to speak, and so for a half-hour as they drove, he nudged and kicked and generally jostled the freak's seat.
Finally, just as they were approaching a rest area, the thing in the passenger's seat grumbled and sat up straighter.
"Babe, can you pull in here a sec?"
"You got it," Jenna said.
Once they were pulled in and the vehicle stopped, the freak turned slightly in the seat and looked at Mike, who was still kicking.
"Do we have a problem?"
Oooh, the thing was mad. Poor stupid freak. Mike kept looking at his phone, pretending not to hear and still nudging the seat. No way he was gonna let some testosterone-destroyed woman intimidate him. Stupid bitch.
At least, that was how he felt until, with wild suddenness, the thing turned back around, then slammed out of the van and ripped open the door closest to Mike.
"I said, do we have a problem?"
"I... What?" Mike said lamely.
"Do we have a problem, you sad little chuckle-fuck? 'Cause all I've been is kind and considerate of you this whole trip, and all you've done is be obstinate and rude and whiny, and then you kick the back of my seat any time I'm in front of you and I'm fucking done."
Mike whipped his head around to look at Jenna, hoping she would defend him, would call off the attack-tranny. But Jenna sat calmly at the wheel, looking through her phone like nothing was going on.
"Look, I..." Mike began.
"No. I know what you think about me, and I know how you talk about me when I'm not around because, believe it or not, wives and husbands talk about shit that bothers them, and your sister, my wife, is hella bothered by the shit you say about me when it's just you and her. Oh, and we know all about the dumbass internet stuff too, thanks to your parents. Hell, half the reason they're sending you to your uncle is so maybe he can talk some sense into you."
"That's not... Mom and Dad are having problems, but they're too selfish to also protect me, their child..."
"Sending you away for a year is to protect you!"
"The hell it is! If they wanted me safe, they wouldn't send me off with some tranny fuck that'll probably try to rape my ass and..."
That actually made the freak back off a step, and Mike heard Jenna make a choked little sound of surprise from the front seat.
"You... You fucking little pile of shit," the freak muttered.
"Look, leave me alone, or I'll call Mom anf Dad and say..."
"Oh, you wanna call your folks? Go ahead. Meanwhile, Jenna and I will call them too, and tell them that your stupid bullshit has only gotten worse. Then we'll call your Uncle Ken and have him drive out here to meet us and pick you up to take you back to his place himself."
"Maybe that would be better," Mike said, trying to contain his outrage that this thing thought it could talk to him like this.
"Well fuck, guess we'll do it then. Hell, your uncle already offered to drive almost across the damn country to pick you up himself anyway, but Jenna said we could handle it, since we were headed out here. But now... Hey, Jen, guess you better get Ken on the phone, tell him to come pick up this little fucker."
"DON'T CALL ME NAMES, YOU TRANNY BITCH!"
"Oh, you think I've called you names? How about all the shit you call me, fucker? Tranny, freak, groomer, bitch. Of course, that last one you don't just reserve for me; you talk about women that way too, when you're not calling them cunts, or whores, or worthless cocksleeves..."
"How'd you know that?" Mike cut in.
"Because the cops are looking at some of those damn message boards you're on, fucker! Because they talked to your parents and showed them posts you made on the same thread where some loser incel was planning to shoot up a damn kindergarten! They talked to your parents and your parents warned us because of how you talk about me and about your own sister!"
"Listen, you sick fuck..."
"No, you listen! You might think of me as a woman, and inherently worthless, but that can't phase me, because I already dealt with all that shit for the first 16 years of my life. If you wanna prove you're a big, strong alpha, then you can step out here and face me like a damn man and we'll see who wins. I been in plenty of fights, always to defend myself, and I've only been beaten once, so if you wanna try it..."
"Hey look man..."
"Whatsa matter? The big strong man afraid? Aw, poor little baby afwaid of the twanny? Fuck you, bro. Seriously. Fuck your damn bullshit, and fuck whoever taught you that's how to be."
"I didn't... I never meant..."
"I don't need this stress, even if I can handle it, and your poor sister sure as fuck doesn't need it right now either!"
"Frank..." Jenna hissed.
"I'm sorry, babe. I'm real sorry, but maybe somehow it'll get through this little fucker's thick skull that he's an asshole if he knows a few facts."
Now Frank leaned in and almost got in Mike's face.
"You cannot get to me with your dumb thoughts and your slurs and your juvenile bullshit. Anything you can say or do is nothing compared to what I've already been through. When I was your age, my dad tired to beat me to death for being trans, and then he tried some shit some of your little friends online talk about wanting to do to women. I got lucky and someone called for help. "You can never hurt me as much as that asshole, may he burn in Hell, did. But if you keep on with your heinous shit, and you keep stressing your sister out like you have been, and she loses our baby because of it, then I hate to think of the torment waiting for you if there's a life beyond this one."
Mike jerked his head around and looked at Jenna.
"You're knocked up?"
"Well, I mean, I'm pregnant," she corrected him.
"She's pregnant with our baby," Frank said, "and if anything happens to her, or to the baby because you're a little fucker..."
"Dude, I'm sorry! I... I didn't know! I didn't mean..."
"What you meant or didn't mean doesn't matter. You've said stuff that lets me know you want me dead just for existing. I don't even care about that; plenty of people who don't even know me want me dead for existing. But you've also said things that imply you could be a danger to your sister, and since she's my wife, that means you've crossed me. My main drive in life right now is to protect my wife and family. Technically, you're part of my family, but if I have to, I will pull you out of this van and leave you here to wait for your uncle."
"I... Look, man, I'm sorry, okay? It was just goofing around on the internet, okay? I... I'd never really hurt someone or..."
"Really? 'Cause from what the cops showed your folks, you're sure at least cheering on other assholes who wanna hurt a lot of people."
"I was just talking! I was... It's how people talk online."
"Not anywhere I hang out."
Then Frank stepped back again and slid the door closed. Jenna had hopped out of the van as well, and Mike watched her cross around in front and meet Frank. They hugged, and kissed in a really sweet, short way, not all weird and tonguey like in movies and shit. Then they stood there talking a while, and Jenna pulled her phone back out as she slipped past Frank and got into the seat he had previously occupied.
"Jenna, I... I'm really sorry," Mike said. "If I knew you were pregnant..."
"Be nice if you could be a good person for reasons besides me fulfilling what I'm sure you think is my soul purpose in life," Jenna sighed.
Meanwhile, Frank had gotten behind the wheel of the van again.
"There's a cheap campground maybe eight hours away," Jenna told him. "Looks like they have slots open. I can book us a few days right now."
"Sounds real good, sweetheart. You okay?"
"I'm perfectly okay. You?"
"I'm good. I'm good. You all right back there, Michael?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"Cool-cool. Well. Let's get goin' again."
4 Table of Contents

Hi, this is a video I saw on reddit or 9gag, a guy (maybe in a bar) recounting a date with a girl. Throughout the story, we're led to expect a swear word because of a rhyme or the shape of the sentence. But then he says another word that isn't rude at all. It's hilarious.

I don't know if this is considered an advice question or what but I feel like I need to discuss it with complete strangers.
A few weeks ago I met a girl, we started talking and we understood each other very well, we had a daily chat and I also started to notice that we had a very good connection, I have only had that type of connection with two people before her and I ended up having a relationship with both of them, so feeling this type of connection is very important for me and makes me get ilusions quickly.
The fact is that when we talked sometimes I noticed that she was attacking me (she really wasn't, but I felt like she was being a little rude to me) I mentioned it to her several times but she always said that she wasn't (which I already know she wasn't but she made me feel that way), until she ended up telling me that I was the one who was attacking her and that I was about to cross her limits several times, after analyzing it I realized that sometimes I do, I can be a little sarcastic and a little crude with my humor, but I never do it with bad intentions, so I apologized and tried to fix things, I still felt like she was throwing all the blame to me for the problems in our relationship when really no one was to blame, I mean, we did the same thing, I thought she was attacking me when she wasn't and vice versa. Since our problems where no ones fault and they were hard to fix, I gave her the opportunity to leave things there and stop talking, she told me that it wasn't necessary but her attitude changed a lot and she became very distant, two days after that "discussion" she ghosted me.
The fact that I felt like she put all the blame on me, that then she changed her attitude, the fact that I gave her the opportunity to close everything well and she decided to ghost me, it really hurts, and I also don't know if it was cause of the obsession or what, but I would say that I was starting to catch feelings for her and a friendship with so many problems and feelings involved, well I would be fucked, that's why I decided to talk to her and tell her that she had hurt me and eventhough I liked our connection, I didn't even want her friendship. She understood and also said she thought the same thing, that we didn't get along and.
The fact is, I still think about her a lot, and even though I know perfectly well that I did the right thing for my mental health, I think I'm regretting it, even though I don't think she saw it the same way and didn't feel the connection I felt for her since she said we weren't in the same point of life, I still want to explore our connection, and I would like to get back in touch in a while to see where the friendship goes, but I feel like she doesn't want it that way. And I don't know, the fact that I finally found someone to connect again but lose it that easily it hurts, and I know we could have fixed our problems, but I don't think she findes me that important. I don't know if I should focus on myself but at the same time wait for her to come back and at least try to be friends or just let her go and forget the connection we had and all the possibilities of what we could have been. :(

Hi everyone, I've never done a personal post like this before so bear with me - I just want to get some things off my chest and potentially seek advice from outside perspectives.
I'm 22, British, male, neurodiverse, and after months of trying I finally started my first job in a college two months ago. For the first two weeks I was really happy, feeling like I was doing the right things and settling in as best I could – I had volunteered in a school for months beforehand and felt I was operating on the same level. However, on my third week, my boss called me in for an unexpected meeting and outlined these 'concerns' they had with me that really broke my stride – things I had no idea about as they hadn’t been properly explained to me. I was then sent a long email outlining everything I'd done wrong so far, which really put me down.
I have Asperger's, something I never like to bring up in my daily life, because I just want to be treated like everyone else. But my parents said I had to mention it to make it easier to explain why I made certain mistakes – in particular, I really struggle socially; in the meeting I was stumbling over my words and trying to find the words to explain how I felt seemed impossible. I’m the youngest in the team by 12 years so I think my co-workers also find it hard to relate to me and potentially easier to belittle. I had another meeting and my boss understood the situation better but still gave me things to improve on, which felt slightly fairer than before and for a few weeks after that it was business as usual – any little mistakes were put down to experience.
Cut to over a month later during a massively busy time for the team and I made a mistake that didn’t even make a difference – it was a miscommunication that didn’t lead to any problems, but my boss saw it as an overblown error. I was soon thrusted into another unexpected meeting where I was told I couldn’t go to help a colleague on another part of the campus as previously promised as apparently I couldn’t be trusted, and that my three month probation was “not looking good”, which has had a massive toll on my mental health. After explaining all of this to other people it became clear to them that I'm essentially being bullied - I have no idea how workplace politics work but the signs are there - now they sarcastically quiz me on things I don't exactly know, don't offer any sort of praise and once they even quoted something I said in the first email half-jokingly to the rest of the team.
This weekend I’ve been really upset by the whole ordeal and have been thinking about what the hell I’m supposed to do when I get back. Several people in my family are teachers and have said I should go to HR with a letter saying that I feel bullied by my boss. For my first job, it’s become a real nightmare. I am honestly terrified about what will happen next. Any advice?

i broke up with my abusive ex a while ago but the way he treated me has left me broken. it feels like i can't form bonds with people again. he manipulated me into believing that spending the whole day with someone 24/7 is the way 'love' should be and i'm weak-minded so i believed that. it was like that for 7 months. it was all i knew. i barely even spent time with my family and dogs. now that it's over, i don't know what to do. nothing feels real, my connections with people sometimes don't feel genuine. i don't feel like i fit in anywhere. this one guy is interested in me, but he's so much healthier than what i was used to so it just feels like he doesn't like me even when he says he does. he doesn't spend a lot of time with me? he must hate me.
i'm so damaged from my previous relationship and i feel like i'm going to chase this guy away because of it. i'm so tired, i keep seeing a quote that says "you aren't too much for the right person." is that even true? i feel like i'm too much for everyone, even for myself. i hate myself. i'm so mentally ill and unable to form bonds it makes me incredibly depressed. i don't know what to do i just want to be happy i just want someone that cares about me i just want someone that will accept me and try help me. he said that we can work through it together but why does it feel like he doesn't want to. he's a busy guy yeah but idk... i'm such an overthinker, i'm disgusting. does anyone know when it gets better?

I purchased the “Find Your Essence” personal curated discovery set for DSH Perfumes from their Etsy shop. It was $35 USD compared to the $25 for the pick your own scent discovery set. It came with five 1 mL sample vials personally chosen by the perfumer and a few extra samples on the side. The vials are dabbers in a vdp (voile de parfum) oil format, not my favorite, so it was hard to judge longevity and projection this way. However, SPOILER ALERT, I ended up purchasing two larger sized EDPs based on this discovery set and the longevity on those is excellent (all day on skin and clothing).
When submitting my purchase for this discovery set, I was asked to include information on what I was looking for and what scents I already enjoy. Basically I said I was looking for a vintage floral animalic and separately, something green. I received Tubereuse, Chinchilla, Emerald Hyrax, Musc Al Madina, and Halfeti Rose. Midway through my sampling I reached out to DSH Perfumes via Etsy messaging just to let them know how much I was enjoying the discovery set and received a reply from Dawn Spencer Hurwitz herself, so she seems to be very involved in the process. I feel like she did an excellent job with the choices I was sent based on my preferences.
Quotes included at the beginning of my reviews are the perfumers' descriptions taken from the DSH Perfumes website. I am just a novice admirer of things that smell good, so of course these mini reviews/impressions are just my own opinions. I have more samples from DSH that came with this set and also with the two bottles I bought so I can maybe do a part 2 if there is any interest :)
Tubereuse - “Its milky white and flesh flowers bear the secret of attraction. In India, this flower is called ‘Mistress of the Night:’ The most sensuous and intoxicating of perfumes.” Tubereuse is a sweet, creamy, and rich tuberose. Not much else going on but it’s oh so pretty. Whatever this soft base is, it’s really nice. It’s not complicated, it’s exactly its title; a soliflore tuberose. Lovely, I can't stop sniffing my wrists.
Chinchilla - “A ‘retro nouveau’ floriental/honey musk animalic fragrance. It’s gorgeously sexy, and yet so very cozy and comforting.” My latest OBSESSION. Chinchilla is a soft honeyed animalic. It is indeed gorgeous and sexy. A very vintage feeling, animalic floral. This can be worn dressed up for an evening out but it also feels very comfy on your favorite sweatshirt curled up on the couch. It opens with this rush of sweet honey and then these soft, powdery florals all with this musky hint of something furry underneath. If I made that sound too sweet, it really isn’t. Smells great on clothing but AMAZING on skin. This was an instant love and I ended up purchasing a 10 mL bottle.
Emerald Hyrax - “The newest addition to ‘my menagerie’ of animalic fragrances: a glamorous, retro-nouveau green chypre animalic with notes of Galbanum, Bergamot, Muguet, Jasmine(s), Sandalwood, Amber, Cistus, and Oakmoss.” Emerald hyrax to me has a boozy but green opening. There is no booze note listed so go figure. There is galbanum which I love and it’s giving it this fresh cut grass thing. After that there are some sparkly florals along with a soft animalic musk. This is so beautiful. I feel like a woman ready to go out in the 1940s in my furs, hair perfectly coiffed, with a whiskey cocktail in hand. When I first tried it in its tiny vial, I was like “how can I get this little amount all over my body” because I wanted to BATHE in it. Needless to say, I purchased a larger sized EDP…
Musc Al Madina - “A dense and very dark, animalic musk with rich and earthy nuances.” Musc Al Madina is a dusty kinda musty musk and I like it. It’s a little funky but somehow still beautiful. It’s like the dark dusty corner of an antique attic where hand woven laces are being eaten away by time and old dried out bouquets have been long forgotten. It is a tad dank and dark but also pleasant at the same time. I appreciate this but I don’t think I could wear it. If you like something a bit dark and musty in your musks, then this could be for you!
Halfeti Rose - “A deep, red-black rose oud design, rich with resins, incense notes, and luscious pigmented fruits; featuring Turkish aromatics like Turkish rose absolute and Galbanum.” Halfeti Rose, oh my. This opened dark and smoky. Like, whoa, it caught me off guard with this thick charcoal smoke. That lightens up a bit and then this deep red rose pushes through, though that dense, dark, what I perceive to be smoky note, remains throughout. It could be the oud, I am not very familiar with actual oud (and not sure if that is what is used in this). I didn’t get any fruits or incense. I may need to revisit this again, I just wasn’t vibing with it. It is very interesting and was a little journey for my nose, but first impressions; this perfume would wear me. It would take over my life and do dark things. This is not for me.
BONUS SAMPLE (not included in my curated set)
Giverny in Bloom - “An impressionist style perfume of green budding trees, wet dewy flowers and soil, that transforms to a rich floral bouquet as it wears.” I went into this one blindly, knowing nothing but the name, which I vaguely recognized but couldn’t place where I knew it from. It opens with notes of realistic damp, freshly turned soil, and wet green leaves! I almost gasped out loud, this is a garden! It then turns into a beautiful soft floral like the garden is coming into bloom. Surely this is what people must mean when they refer to “perfume as art.” I had to know more, so headed over to the DSH perfumes website where I read that this was actually created for Denver Art Museum’s “In Bloom” exhibit ‘scent experience’. “The inspiration for Giverny In Bloom is not only taken from actual information about Monet’s garden but also from the flowers found in the paintings of the exhibit. This ties the scent experience to more than the Monet paintings in the show.” She definitely nailed it. And alas, I remembered where I recognized Giverny from. I’m sure a larger size is in my future.
TLDR; Go and get yourself some DSH Samples available in their Etsy shop or directly from the website DSHPerfumes.com

Many people might read this and think it’s foolish because I’m speaking against corporal punishment. Growing up my mom whooped me, and for her to always say I was her least problematic child, she did it too much. I’m also the oldest and only daughter. I would get whoopings for stuff my younger brothers did simply because “I’m the oldest and I should’ve known better than and told them to stop” or sum bullshit she pulled out her ass just to whoop me. The first child-oldest daughters can relate reading this ik. I feel like most adults agree that whoopings for children are needed. Bc it’s “discipline”. When in actuality, whooping is rooted in control not discipline. As an adult (24), I find it CRAZY how children are the ones to get whooped by adults who go and do the same shit they just whooped the kid for? Kids get whoopings for “tantrums”, “not listening”, “being disruptive” all that. Adults do the exact same shit….and be in they 30s & 40s doing it at that.
IF corporal punishment was rooted in discipline, adults would be getting their whooped left and right. But they don’t do they? Kids have to get they asses whooped just to learn or to be corrected but adults can be some of the most vile, rude, disruptive people and they get what? a ticket? a warning? Even jail doesn’t work as we can see for some of them. But I BET getting slapped around with a belt would be a bit more effective! It literally works in other countries.
-Just a thought from a 20something in therapy partly bc of getting whoopings.

I’m getting really fed up of hostile individuals that work for Mc Donald’s etc who treat drivers like dirt.
These people are rude, disrespectful, violate boundaries and strive to impose themselves as an authority whom you must conform to ‘or else’.
They aggressively impose themselves on you and assert that you ‘swipe’.
They do not ask. They don’t respect the relational dynamic that we are self employed drivers that do contract work for Uber in order to serve their partners delivery needs.
There’s nothing in the Uber contract that says you must show your personal phone to their partners and confirm that you have accepted the order.
They lead with ‘If you don’t show that you’ve swiped then we won’t give you the item to deliver’. The thing is majority of drivers recognise theft does go on and that these stores have a duty to look out for their customers and their own business interests and therefore we are fair in showing that we have swiped when we don’t actually have to show the partner that we have done this.
All they have to do is ask. They know this but violate an implicit ethical code which it to treat people fairly and respect their contractual boundaries. It’s an assault on your will. To wound you spiritually.
Do other people here feel the same? It really angers me.

I 18 was friends with this one girl we will call her Emily 19 we are both female. Emily used to hate on everything I did. For example i used to play the violen I found it fun but then she started to call orchestra and playing a instrument weird or boring. For another example I love art and most people say I'm pretty good at it but she hates on all of my art and says I'm horrible at it. For one last example i have curly hair and i love having it short like above my shoulders but she keeps saying i look like a housewife from 1985. I am starting to hate school now because of her and I'm skipping and faking being sick just to avoid her. We both ride the bus and we are eachothers only friend on the bus so I have to see her everyday. She gossips about other people with me even though I have told her I don't wanna and I've been told she's talking about me behind my back as well. Here recently I've told her I don't wanna be her friend but she keeps talking to be like we still are friends. Our friends are on my side but still maintain contact with her like they are on her side and I'm being told to give her another chance and that she still wants to be friends and that I'm being rude. AITAH P.S. sorry for the long read I just wanted to get all that's happening out so it's a fair opinion also sorry for any gramer mistakes this is my first post

I think "But when can I hear the next one?" at the end of HMHAS is a commentary on how voraciously people consume artists' content and demand more before even taking a breath and enjoying the work that has just been released.
Modern artists have huge pressure to be constantly releasing content. Certain popstars are churning out records and IMO it becomes quantity over quality... It also primes fans to feel entitled to MORE MORE MORE. When Billie says, "but when can I hear the next one?" she's quoting a modern demanding fanbase.
Art, craft, and creativity take time. This album is a work of art - It's layered and masterful. I'm also thrilled with the release of the isolated vocals as it showcases the invisible work Billie and Finneas put into this album. If it takes another 1,022 days to get the next album I'll wait - if it's as artfully crafted as this one it's worth waiting for.
If she releases a second album, you can always come back here to tell me I'm wrong. I'd be happy to be wrong!

Alright so a few weeks ago i was going 33mph in a 30 mph zone. literally 500 feet away from my apartment building and i notice a cop on the shoulder. there’s a driver in front of me and they’re clearly going faster than me so i make a comment to my passenger that the cop might pull them over. i pass the cop and see him pull out behind me(ironic), i’m no idiot so before he can even put his lights on i pulled over. he asks , “do you know why i stopped you?” i say, “no” he proceeds to tell ME that I was going a little fast. now i’m kind of irritated because in my 3 years of having a license i’ve only been pulled over and received a speeding ticket twice in the past months of august and november 2023. so another speeding ticket wouldn’t be ideal hence why i DON’T speed. i literally had just taken a defensive driving class to remove points off my license and lower insurance a few months prior. here’s another issue he asks only for my license which of course i can’t find because i brought the wrong purse thinking my wallet was in it. he asks if i have a picture says he’s trying to work with me which i did appreciate but i couldn’t find it(i have thousands of pictures). he ends up looking my name up in the system and while he’s doing that i finally found the picture of my license which didn’t really matter at that point but still. so he comes back and writes me a ticket for i quote, “failure to exercise due care to avoid colliding with emergency vehicle” and failure to provide license which is the only thing understandable. he said he wrote me a ticket for that instead of speed because i was polite. am i wrong to try and fight this?

Hey everyone! So, I don't know you guys, but since I was diagnosed with BD-type 2, I became more self-aware about my emotions, and how it was like a rollercoaster. Since then, I've realized I had a sorta pattern with my emotions. I usually take my pills at noon and the other one almost at 10 pm. So, in the morning, I've become a little bit too emotional (it doesn't matter if I'm in my maniac or depressive episodes) and I'm kinda apathetic or even disrespectful towards my peers, family members or even with myself. Or even I'm more hypersexual in my maniac episodes and more aggressive or rude in my depressive episodes. So, once I take my pills, I feel a huge relief. My Family are still struggling accepting my condition and they think that my BD it's just another phase of depression (cuz, a year ago, doctors diagnosed me with that, and after months, my parents discovered I was diagnosed with that disorder. I didn't tell them about it, because I knew they wouldn't accept it. Tho, they accepted it once they knew about it, but struggled to understand me why I tried to commit suicide 3 times and just giving a huge speech about religion and how's life perfect and beautiful). So, whenever I'm in a bad mood or I'm kinda hyperactive, they just laughed at me and in sorta form like insulting me, they always say: "I know it's not noon yet, but please, go take your happy or whatever pills, you're driving us crazy with your bad attitude". I'm really trying my best to have the best attitude towards all things, but it's kinda impossible for me. Now, until I take that pills, as I said before, I feel a huge relief but still, these kinda of things makes me feel puzzled about this disorder. I don't know if it happens to you or any relative, guys? Anyways, I'm sorry for the long text but I appreciate so much your time reading my struggles and I wish you an amazing day!

Sorry for the long waited update I was in final semester of college and it was rough! But I graduated so thank the Gods! So my coworker finished both the BOTL and The Last Olympian and she loved them! She was absolutely heart broken over Silena. And she Loved the both endings and was especially impressed with Rachel, with her hairbrush throw. Now me and my mom watched the new TV show and when it ended She asked I go and get her the first book from my bookshelf. Now she has read all five of the Percy Jackson books and is now beginning on the lost hero. She says and I quote "Percy does Get in trouble alot doesn't he?"

I (18f) am currently being tested for cervical cancer. I had a surgery on the 23rd of January and are still waiting on results from that surgery to see if I have cancer or not.
My mum has been phoning up the hospital complaining and fighting with the nurses on the phone to get the results quicker because I’ve been waiting about 4 months for them.
My stepdad who I used to get along with but once I hit puberty he distanced himself and was quite rude to me often when I was in my tweens, has been complaining that I don’t do enough to chase the results and that I should be phoning up and putting a complaint in myself. About 20 minutes ago I lashed out at him for it and said I’m stressed enough dealing with the fact I might have cancer ( I haven’t been sleeping or eating and cry on the way home from work most nights ) to phone up and fight with the nurses ( when all I want is to crawl up in a ball and cry). He didnt take it very well and said that’s it’s bullshit that I think like that and that if I say anything like that again he’ll ground me or kick me out the house. I just said ok and went up to my room and had a breakdown. Aita?
Edit: I know it sounds like bullshit but can you just tell me if I’m the asshole or not. Yes I know it’s unbelievable, go have a look at my post on fibroids if you want to know the details. The reason it’s taking so long is because of where the tumour was is basically unheard of and fibroids (the cancer in question) are very uncommon in my age range so they’re dealing with something many doctors haven’t seen before.

Did anyone catch this interview? I was wondering what your thoughts were.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pThJBLscn1Y
Personally I felt like the student looked a little silly. She was making unfounded claims, with non factual information, like the claim of Genocide from the International Court. She was also talking about being anti capitalist without realising that she is deeply embedded in capitalist culture. I mean, if she doesn’t like the country she could leave? we all have complaints about how the country is run, funding issues, policies etc. but do you think this student realises what it would actually be like living in Palestine? It seems odd to me that someone so supportive of a cause is really very naive. It also strikes me that these students are just shouting about a cause for the sake of it. The student didn’t want to condemn Hamas and couldn’t even say she wanted the hostages returned. It feels like there is pro Hamas training going on when these people are so manipulated that they can’t answer as a human being. I don’t particularly like Suella, but actually I think she did well here. The student was very rude calling her liar and a war criminal and she kept very calm. It seems the student was just there to slate her rather than talk about Palestine, talking about bringing ‘governments down’. Personally I think it was an embarrassment for pro pallys because it just demonstrates their lack of facts and totally misrepresents what is actually going on. Is there something I am missing? Every time I hear a pro Palestinian talk they can’t show any empathy. She also tried to make out that anti semitism doesn’t exist which just seems delusional. Are these people so affected by the media that they can no longer rationalise facts from propaganda?
What do you think?

A flicker of light started to drain away the darkness I was so used to. The darkness where I felt most comfortable and at peace. The flicker slowly enveloped the entire pitch black room within minutes. I could do nothing but sigh in disappointment and open my eyes.
My adjusting eyes were being harassed by the tiny beam of light that made it through my curtain. Where it's at the precise angle that you swear some higher power is just messing with you.
My groggy eyes focused on the clock, it was 7:00 a. M.
Time for work.
The day was April 14th, 2014. A Monday. I knew I only had about an hour to get up, get ready for work, shower, make breakfast and make sure I get to work a few minutes early so I didn't clock in late.
I was only 28 years old and I hated my sales job. I had gone to college and got my marketing degree but I never thought I'd end up here.. selling bullshit products at incredibly hiked prices to unsuspecting or oblivious customers.
I had been doing this job for 3 years and it felt like everyday was just going to be worse. Just a buildup of hatred for your job overtime is natural I guess. Typically people find ways to cope with the constant 9-5 grind. Like going out with friends or clubbing or whatever...but I had none of those.
When my days ended I would go home and watch Netflix and drink then do it all again. I wish it was different, I wish I had the motivation to change myself. But it's difficult when you have no one to support you in your efforts. My mom died from breast cancer when I was 12. Seeing her on hospice for several months suffering from stage 4 cancer was...something you shouldn't see as a 12 year old. To see your once lovely, athletic, hilarious, loving and caring mother degrade into an 85 pound, drug-induced, horrifyingly thin creature that in no way resembled her from my memories of when she was cancer free.
I remember one morning my dad woke me up and said "come to the living room...your mother is taking her last breathes". As soon as he finished that sentence, my memories flooded back...memories of her taking care of me when I was sick, being at my soccer games cheering me on, asking how my day was when I got back from school, leaning on her shoulder as we sat in church. The memories came and went in an instant and the reality set in. My heart at first skipped a few beats but then accelerated to an unhealthy pace. My head started to spin, tears slowly started swelling up on my eyes.
I had jumped off the bed and sprinted to the living room. She was facing away from me and the first thing I noticed are how purple/ blue her feet are. I walk around the hospice nurse and look at my mother's face. She was place, her breathing was almost non-existent for almost 2 minutes but still there...until it wasn't...she was gone.
I was lost, my dad was bawling. I was crying too but at 12 years old I didn't know how hard the reality would hit as time goes on.
In my lost state, I turned on the TV show "MONK" on the laptop. It was a show my mom and I used to watch, and I figured watching it would make me feel like I'm with her again.
Time went on and I realized how losing a mother truly impacts your younger years. But time still, moved on yet.
I got in my car and left for work. The drive to the office was only about half an hour. I put my sunglasses on as I'm travelling east for almost the entire drive, something I was used to by this point. The drive to work was uneventful other than the usual jackass that cuts you off or is speeding down the road.
I made it to work and stepped out of my car. For some reason, grabbed my backpack and shut the door. For some reason the thought of my mother came across my mind. The sighed, looked down at the ground and stared at the concrete for the few seconds while only thinking of how I missed her. Then the thought vanished and I got on with my life.
The day was incredibly boring, only sold a couple of products, I dealt with people in the east coast of the U.S. and customers there are always so nasty and rude with their comments. It's impossible to build rapport with them. I'm jealous of the employees that have West coast as their territory.
The day ended with my last call but no sales for the day. Hopped in my car and drove back home.
Now I've already told you what I do when I get home. Just drink and watch Netflix. And that's exactly what I did. I can't remember the name of the show( probably because I was already tipsy) but it had to do with strange phenomenons.
I don't even remember passing out but I do remember being there in that dark room again; it was so comfortable and cozy. I sat in the corner of the room with eyes wide closed ...no people, nothing to disturb me, just... nothingness of warmth.
For hours this went on until I heard a woman's voice saying "I'm glad you're here". suddenly realizing that I had overslept my body jolted awake, completely forgetting about that eerie voice. Drinking on a Monday night is not a good idea. Blurry and in a haze trying to concentrate my focus I made out the clock saying 7:00 a.m. April 15th, 2014.
I thought how odd that was. I've been doing the same job with the same schedule for 3 years now and I know when I oversleep. Yet knowing this brought a mental smile to my mind, as my supervisor won't get on my ass for showing up late, again.
I got up lazily and stretched and got on with my morning routine. Finally got dressed and hopped in my car to leave for work. I was only about 5 minutes in when I realized something was off...why was I wearing sunglasses? The sun was behind me, not in front. I took my glasses off and read my car dashboard compass; "EAST".
I have taken this drive for 3 years now every Monday through Friday and I had always worn sunglasses for the drive to the office. I looked behind me and saw the sun rising from the west.
I was still calm, but subconsciously I could tell my panic and anxiety were building with what I was experiencing. I decided to pull over at a gas station, took my phone out and opened my GPS. 'I was still facing east.
I quietly stated "what the fuck". I looked up and asked the person next to me pumping gas " look! The sun! It's rising from the west" with an ecstatic and speedy tone. He looked at me with a smile on his face and said "yeah? Don't ya know it's always rose from the west".
The reality of this was starting to set on, anxiety building, I got back in my car and just sat there... Running my hands through my hair, pulling and stretching my face wondering what the hell was happening? My eyes were staring wide at the brake and gas pedal...trying to find some kind of logical explanation for this while still running my hands over my face and hair.
I decided to take my phone out again and click on trending news hoping to see something explaining or even acknowledging this phenomenon. Nothing. I opened Google search and looked up "sun rising in west" the first thing that popped up said Earth is rotating about its own axis from East to West".
This wasn't right.
I figured I would try to get to work and maybe one of my coworkers would have some answer. My entire body was shaking for the entire drive but I made it".
I got out of the car and the strangest thing came across my mind. A memory. A very unique memory of back when I was 12, in the back yard playing capture the flag with my neighbor that lived behind me. A time which I could go back when.
The memory came and vanished in an instant, but left the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and sadness.
I walked into the office and started asking around about the sun. Again, none of them knew what I was talking about, but before they answered my question, they would say "oh hey, it's nice to have you here" or "we're glad to have you here" all with a smile on their faces.
Not super weird as my coworkers are typically super energetic happy people. But it did become weird when my east coast clients started answering their phones saying "hey, you're always welcome here"
I couldn't see their faces but I could tell by their tone and attitude that they were smiling. This was not normal. I rushed to the bathroom, opened a stall and sat on the toilet. I started having a panic attack. Nothing was right, the people, the sun, the specific memories... I started to run my hands over my face, stretching and contorting it, trying to calm myself down with feeling my heart bursting out of my chest. I started to whimper, I didn't want anyone outside of the stalls to hear me. None of my coworkers were right, the guy at the gas station wasn't right...nothing. years swelled up in my eyes and a brief memory of my mom came back.
It was me, coming home from school, I walked inside and could smell the pizza she was making. I see and her and asks me hey, how was your day?".
This memory helped calm me down from the wreck I was turning into. I took several deep breaths, tried my very best to compose myself, and stepped out of the stall. I ended up taking some paper towels and wiped away the tears that were caught in my eyes.
I decided that I will just try to finish this day because tomorrow everything would be back to normal...I have to reassure myself that I would be, I just knew it would be....it had to be.
I sat down back at my desk and my phone rang, picked it up and a voice came through. The voice of my mother asking " I am so glad you are here, Luke".
I was frozen, shocking, tingly sensations ran through my entire body. My demeaner instantly changed into fight or flight mode...but I chose the 3rd... freeze.
Phone still up to my ear, I heard her speak again. "Oh honey, Luke my sweet boy, don't you remember?".
I didn't reply verbally, but mentally I was thinking "remember...what the hell is...remember what?"
Then she spoke one last time, "last night, you saw the sun".
Then the memory of the night before races back into my mind. I was on my drive home from work, watching the beautiful sunset over the horizon. With all it's beautiful mixtures of orange, red, purple. I was so just staring at it...in a trance, thinking of how I wanted to go back and just be a kid again, play with my back door neighbor, come home to my mom. Why couldn't I just go back?
I suddenly hear a blaring car horn and then blackness.
I believe I died on April 15th, 2014. And I don't mind it. I like being in this black empty room just sitting in the corner..with nothing but warm emptiness to fill my cold shell. I like feeling the embraces of it's comfort over the tiring lifestyle I was living. My only dream was that I could dream forever...and now it's finally been achieved.
I miss my mother, and I know she misses me, the memories I have of her will keep me warm in this blackened wasteland forever.