Hey! Hope you're doing well. It seemed like a good idea posting here and my gut is mostly right!
I'm a 23 y/o guy from Ontario, Canada. Currently, I am working at an office here doing some more basic legal work. On the side, I am trying to start my own practice, as I am licensed to practice law here. So I am very passionate about that and the law in general. Particularly with Human Rights and the many issues that renting tenants deal with here. (In fact, I was actually at a hearing representing a client just a few days ago. Loved it, too!).
For reference, I am 6'0", white, wear glasses, 230lbs, shorter-medium jet-black hair, and have brown eyes. Have photos available as well!
Recently, I've been keeping pretty active. Been losing weight like crazy and I have a simple diet that I stick to. So a decent amount of time is spent being active and working.
Besides that, I love to cook. I cook almost every day and I would like to think that I'm pretty good at it. I just BBQ'd some ribs on the weekend that I would love to show you 😩
I am also really into video games. Mostly whatever I can get into after work. Recently its been a lot of Balatro and WoW. I would also love to try other games with someone else. I love most types of games.
Also completely obsessed with music. I play guitar and have been trying to teach myself piano. Love most types of music and recently I have been listening to a lot of MF DOOM and Madlib beat tapes, along with Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, and more. Could go on forever about most types of music.
There's a lot more but ideally I am looking for this person: Someone fun and educated, enjoys a longer conversation and just wants to get to know someone. No real physical preferences!

Hello everyone! My art commissions are currently open~
You can find my commission info + terms of service + portfolio here: https://artsybarrels.carrd.co/#comms
PRICES

• Skeb-style/Suprise Me! Sketches = $10-25+
  • minimum of $10 for 1 character, $15 for 2 characters, and $25 for a sketch page
  • quick character illustration with style/rendering and cropping that depends on how much you pay
  • style/rendering can range from: basic sketch with monochrome shading ➡ sketch with flats ➡ flats with quick/messy shading ➡ sketch with painterly / coloured pencil render
  • cropping can range from: headshot ➡ bust ➡ halfbody ➡ fullbody
  • this is a skeb-style/suprise me! commission which means there will be no revisions, feedback, or communication between us other than the initial request (references+prompt) sent through DMs after your bid
• Emotes = $15
  • emotes for Twitch/Youtube/Discord done on a 500x500px canvas
• Pixel Cheeb YCH = $20
  • fullbody pixel chibis done using a template in an approximately 64x64px canvas
  • includes PNGs with transparent and plain colour background (watermarked and no watermark versions)
  • details will be simplified to fit the format/style
  • custom character design (I'll design your character based on your references) = +$3
• Smol Pixel Icon = $20
  • pixel headshot icon done in a 64x64px canvas (bigger resized version included)
  • additional simple animation = +$5
  • simple animations may include: talking, bouncing, blinking, smiling, expression change, small movement of haiclothing, etc.
• Cel-shaded Chibi = $30
  • fullbody cel-shaded chibi
  • complex design (detailed clothing/accessories/props) = +$5
  • custom character design (I'll design your character based on your references) = +$10
• Pixel Chibi = $35
  • fullbody pixel chibi done in a 128x128px canvas
  • includes PNGs with transparent and plain colour background (watermarked and no watermark versions)
  • additional simple animation = +$10
  • simple animations may include: talking, bouncing, floating, blinking, smiling, expression change, small movement of haiclothing, etc.
  • complex design (detailed clothing/accessories/props) = +$5
  • custom character design (I'll design your character based on your references) = +$10

WILL DRAW: humans/humanoid, furry/anthro, fanart, original characters
WON'T DRAW: mecha, feral, bigotry/offensive content
Payment is done 50% upfront then 50% after the final preview. You can either pay me through Vgen, Paypal, Wise, Ko-fi, Maya, or GCash. My usual turnaround time is 2 weeks to 3 months depending on the complexity of your commission and my workload for that month. For small stuff though, it usually takes 1 week to 1 month.
I'm allowed to post and stream the (process of) creation unless the client states not to. Clients must also put credits (artsybarrels) when they can!
MAKE SURE TO READ MY TERMS OF SERVICE: https://artsybarrels.carrd.co/#terms
Ordering and paying for the commission means that you have read and agreed with these terms.

Just spent the day reading and thinking about stuff and realized how scared I am of AI.
Most people talk about how it will impact our jobs or how it will make fake content that is indistinguishable from the real thing.
I think our biggest concern is our privacy. Not only in the future but the entire time we've been using cell phones and cctv.
We all know of several 3 letter agencies like to spy on us through various means. We also have others gathering data on us for marketing reasons etc. Why wouldn't these guys start using AI? They probably already are.
I bet that more data than you can imagine has been stored waiting for AI to get to a point where it can process all of this data and cross reference everything I'm ways you couldn't imagine.
For example, even if you use an old Nokia phone with no GPS, it can still be tracked by triangulation the signals proximity to the 3 nearest cell towers. Not only that but facial recognition is getting scary good and there are millions of hours of cctv hoarded as well.
Basically AI will get to a point where it will know with a high degree of accuracy everywhere you've been since the early 2000s and everything you've been up to. Especially if you live in a populated area. Now with smart phones it's only easier and more accurate. Even when using wifi on your laptop it's easy to figure out where you are.
I'm scared that not only will AI know all and see all but it already has been watching since before it's reached that point.
Am I crazy? I don't know what to think right now. Every post every text Every call every time you passed a security camera or even an ATM or your phone camera? AI can already predict our behaviors and soon it will be able to influence us or outright control us. At least it would be used to opres us by TPTB if they're not beholden to it themselves.
On the bright side everything will be exposed? I think we are closer to this than we think since these kinds of advancements would be suppressed and advancement js exponential.

Link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8530511/amp/Killer-dad-Chris-Watts-friends-Jayme-Closs-kidnapper-Jake-Patterson-bars.html
I don’t know anything about daily Mail so please excuse me if this is the worst most unreliable site to get info from. This just came up when I was looking something up about the case and it has some interesting claims.
I believe that Chris would write letters to the two girls. I can imagine that he may do something like that. The mother who killed her child Asunta in that Spain case did something similar, and I do believe she killed Asunta. But what I don’t understand is why Chris would have pictures of Shannan and mention that he loves her too in these letters he is writing to Cece, that they reference in this article. I thought he also said in a prison interview that he hated Shannan. And of course he hated Shannan, how couldn’t he with how she treated him.
If he’s writing these letters for sympathy from the public I don’t know what he has to gain. He’s never going to get out of prison.

TW for sexual, physical, medical, emotional, and religious abuse, childhood sa, suicidal ideation, and self harm
This past week has been incredibly difficult so I decided it would be good for me to write a letter to my mom to keep for myself during my healing process to get everything out and it's been very cathartic (all fake names used). Part of my healing journey has been sharing my (extremely personal) experience with others who understand, hence why I'm sharing this here, and maybe it'll give someone some strength knowing that I made it out. I hope everyone is kind to themselves this week and was able to treat this holiday as a holiday for themselves for surviving their abusive moms!
Dear mom, Happy belated Mother’s Day. My Mother’s Day was spent being upset and anxious so I decided to write this letter. This letter is so incredibly difficult to write and even more difficult to read back to myself. Moving away from my university and back home during COVID was genuinely one of the most difficult things I have done in my life simply because of all of the repressed memories that flooded back into my brain every single day I was in that house. I used to resent the pandemic for forcing me to live in an environment that made me want to harm myself every single day and die every other day, but I am now thankful for the clarity that it brought me as I don’t think I’d have the foresight that I have now.
There is a lot that I want to say. I am angry, bitter, resentful, and traumatized from things that you have done to me as a child and also as an adult. Growing up, you’re never able to fully recognize what is healthy because whatever you experience will be your barometer for normalcy. I thought for a very long time that thing were normal but thank God I now know just how truly fucked up so many of my childhood experiences were. Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that I went through. I am haunted every single day by things that you did (and some things that you didn’t do) and hope that one day I will be able to heal from what I experienced.
I grew up being close to my cousin Chloe (a year younger than me) who was obviously very bitchy, mean, and abusive. This fact isn’t something you weren’t aware of as I know a fully grown adult would be able to see how she treated and talked to me when around you and come to the obvious conclusion that I should not have been allowed to be around her. She bullied me, called me names, physically assaulted me by pushing me, pulling my hair, and sitting on me with my hands held behind my back until I couldn’t breathe, forced me to bathe in scolding hot bath water that would burn my skin, making me undress and make fun of parts of my body, and forced me to watch things that she knew would scare me. This is the same time that I started having insomnia and struggled in school due to anxiety. It’s also the same time I remember my sound sensitivity starting. Do you remember my childhood friend’s mom Amelia and how protective she was over my friend, Diana? Diana met Chloe at my 9th birthday party and Diana went over to her house for a playdate and Chloe did something to her. She physically reached over and groped Diana on the privates. I knew Amelia IMMEDIATELY prevented her daughter from ever being around Chloe again. I also knew that it's possible she mentioned this to my aunt, but I'm not positive. I know that Amelia is the type of mom to prevent Diana from reading Harry Potter because she thought it was a bad influence on her due to being “demonic”, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she made you aware of what Chloe did to Diana as she knew that I spent a lot of time around her. I doubt that what Chloe did to Diana was ever kept a secret from you. Chloe also forced me to do sexual things I didn’t want to do from roughly the ages of 8-11. One time, we were in her kitchen and she pulled out a knife and said that she was going to stab me. By then, I knew she just wanted to scare me so when I had no reaction, she put the knife away. I was terrified of what would happen if I said no to her so I went along with whatever she wanted. She would go into the bathroom and tell me to follow, would lock the door, and make me take off my clothes and let her do things to me and forced me to do the same things to her. I used to think that you had NO IDEA about this until I remember you saying the words- “you were an amazing kid and never had any problems until you got a little older. I always wondered if something happened.” Who the fuck says that to their kid? Yeah, something did happen and it wouldn’t have happened if you protected me!!!! You fucking idiot!!!! I remember being in our new house and taking a shower with you when I was about 8 (which was VERY inappropriate and should NEVER have happened at all) and saying something that clearly made you uncomfortable. I remember the exact face you made and know that any normal, healthy adult would have done something about it and made sure nothing was happening. They would have made sure I was SAFE, and talked to me about safety, but nothing was said or done. You have failed me many times, but this one is the most painful. Not only will you need to live with the fact that you knew about my abuse and did nothing, but I will have to live with the fact that my mom knew "something happened” and didn’t care about me enough to protect me. I look at my beautiful niece Hallie, and imagine not protecting her like that and want to vomit. I cannot fathom how a mother would have the thought “I wonder if something happened to my daughter to case a massive behavioral change” and NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! You didn’t talk to me, never asked me if Chloe was doing anything, or anything at all. If I even had a minor suspicion that something was happening to Hallie, I would IMMEDIATELY do something about it because THAT IS MY JOB as an adult in her life. You failed me and deserve to know that this traumatized me and gave me PTSD. I am NOT autistic, no matter how much you WANT me to be so you can go around and gain sympathy for “having an autistic daughter” rather than owning up to the fact that you caused what “went wrong” with me.
Not only did you not help prevent me from being molested by my cousin, you also added to my sexual trauma by forcing me to use the giant egg monistat insert to treat a yeast infection when I was 11. I was ELEVEN and you had a bright idea to force a HUGE foreign object into my prepubescent body even though you were fully aware I could have easily gotten a prescription for a pill to swallow from a doctor. I was scared. I had so much pain and itching and needed a mother to hug me, tell me it’s going to be okay, or at the very least, EXPLAIN what I had and how we were going to fix it. You didn’t do any of that. You told me to lay down and proceeded to try and administer medication that is NOT meant for children 12 and under due to the physical damage it could cause. I was clearly in pain and scared, but you kept trying anyways. At any point, you could have stopped and taken me to the fucking doctor, but nope. You then got frustrated that “you couldn’t get it in” and told your 11 year old daughter to shove it inside herself. Then you left the room. I hadn’t even had a period yet, let alone know where my vagina was but you sure felt the need to yet again abandon your parental responsibilities and place them onto your kid! Miraculously, I put it in and wobbled out to lay on the couch because I was in physical pain from BOTH the infection and YOU, but because a child’s body isn’t able to properly fully insert the medication used (which once again I’ll remind you is meant for girls 13 and up), it came out and got on the couch because you didn’t give me a pad. And rather than prioritize your own daughter’s health, safety, wellbeing, and comfort, you were more upset about the stain on the couch and yelled at me. I will never forget in all of the years that I am alive how ashamed and disgusted I felt standing behind you watching you furiously scrub at the stain that I caused (actually, that YOU caused since this never should have happened in the first place!) and feeling a huge flood of guilt every time I saw that couch stain. One of the best days of my life was when we got a new couch and I never had to see that stain again.
All of this caused me to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and ideation, self harming behaviors, having out of body experiences where I dissociate, and panic attacks amongst other things. YOU caused ALL of this and you fought tooth and nail to convince me that it was MY fault for being broken. “There’s something going on with you,” and you made it your mission to never take any responsibility for any of the trauma that you caused. Not only did you ignore all signs of abuse and sexually assault me yourself, you bullied and helped a family friend Sharon bully me when I was “being mean” to (her daughter) Faith. I was treated like I was a mentally ill monster who couldn’t be trusted and always got in trouble whenever Faith shed a single tear because I was “mean to her”. Faith cried at LEAST 15x a day, and I was blamed every time she decided to say I was the reason. You allowed a monster (Sharon) to ABUSE me and had the incredibly wise idea to start passing along what shit talking you two would say about me TO ME, a 13 year old girl. I was THIRTEEN. I was A CHILD. And yet, you came crying and complaining to me about how tired you were of hearing Sharon say I was being mean to her daughter when you could have TOLD THE OTHER ADULT IN THE SITUATION TO STOP. It never was my responsibility as a child to try and make another adult stop abusing me by “behaving better.” There was nothing wrong with how I was behaving. You never once tried to help me, you always blamed anybody and everybody else for your failures. I would come and ask you for help when I was struggling and if you didn’t care, you would pawn it off to somebody else- “go talk to your older sister” “talk to your therapist about that” “I don’t know what to say except to tell you to pray about it” and when I came back saying praying didn’t magically fix my depression, you told me to pray harder. I guess you really thought it was a skill issue rather than a diagnosable health condition! No wonder I wanted to die! Hahaha! I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I was sobbing hysterically and struggling to get out the words when I told you just how badly I was affected by Sharon and said how you played a role in helping her harm and abuse me. “WELL. I’m SORRY if you think I didn’t protect you enough. I know what that feels like because my parent’s took my sister’s side a few weeks ago when we were having an argument” (as FULLY GROWN 50+ YEAR OLDS arguing and bitching LIKE CHILDREN!) No, mom, it’s not the same. I was a child and not only did you not stop an abuser from harming me, you joined in. You allowed her access to me and you passed along what horrible things she said was wrong with me. “SHARON said she thinks YOU’RE BIPOLAR. Do you think you are?” “Sharon told me that you’re having AN EPISODE and are being mean to Faith! Show me your phone!” “Well, I just don’t understand why you keep bringing this up when it happened so long ago. I just hope you can forgive her and move on.” You’re fucking disgusting. Should I go into detail about how many times I asked you to not interact with Sharon more than you needed to and you proceeded to try and force her into my life more? You KNEW how uncomfortable I was with you attending Faith’s wedding and yet, you cared more about how you looked and not only attended, but hosted both her wedding and wedding showers. I have always wondered why you never cared how I feel until I realized that you prioritize yourself and how you look to other people above anything and everyone. There is a clear pattern of behavior-

• When I was 17 and you were painting my fingernails and berating me for wanting to visit my friend up in Boston to see a concert together because “you just didn’t understand why I’d want to do that” and I started crying. You rolled your eyes and said “you better leave now if you don’t want my next client to see you crying because her appointment is in a few minutes.” You cared more about having your random client seeing me cry and potentially thinking you’re a bad mom than comforting me.
• When I was 13 and we were saying our nightly prayer the night that I had my “therapy appointment” (aka, you and my “therapist” chastising me for writing in my diary that I was having suicidal thoughts), when you were praying you said “Dear God, please help (my name)… and… pLEASE HELP ME!!!!” Clearly, YOU were affected more than I was even though I was the one wanting to die because of you. Wow. Your life is so hard!
• Telling everyone around you that I “have problems” and am “really struggling” so you can gain an ounce of sympathy. The way that your friends come up and talk to me is baffling. They treat me like I just got home from the psychiatric hospital.
• Laughing about me with my friends in high school when I was out of the room- “hahaha my daughter is sooooo weird hahaha”
• When I was 18 and you called my “therapist” (who did NOT get my consent before doing this and violated her ethical guidelines) after I moved out and stopped talking to you, you got her to help you write a list of “rules” to force me to stay in contact with you. They consisted of requiring me to “talk to you, dad, or my sister at least 1x/day” so you “knew that I was safe” aka, you wanted to control me even though I was an adult and not living in your house. I was perfectly safe, and yet you made me sound like I was doing drug deals in the morning, prostituting myself after lunch, and had plans to commit felonies later that night. I went to school, ate, and went back to my apartment. You had no right manipulating me into talking to you by using my therapist, dad, and sister against me. Pathetic.
• Telling me to go do my runs on a strange man’s property instead of the road because it’s “safer.” Dad said that this man who I’VE NEVER MET told him that “there are bad people out there who will kidnap her and do horrible things to her, SO INSTEAD she should run on MY property!” Not sketchy or rapey at all, right? And completely dismissing me when I said that made me uncomfortable by saying “my dad knows him”? Lady, do you know any rape statistics? Clearly not, because you’d then know that only 7% of assaults are strangers while 93% are family members or acquaintances. NINETY THREE PERCENT. The amount of times that I’ve mentioned someone made me uncomfortable or had a massive affect on me as a child and you’ve replied with “Oh, well did they touch you?” People don’t have to touch me to traumatize me. You’re pathetic for thinking that.

I’m not mad at Chloe. I don’t feel any anger or ill will towards her at all. She was a child just like I was a child. She was failed more than I was failed. No child acts that way and assaults other children without learning that from somewhere. I blame her parents for what happened to her. I blame YOU for what happened to me. I vividly remember things that my aunt would say the same time this was happening about little girls and their bodies and I want to smash my head against the wall. Children are to be protected above anything and everything else, by you didn’t. Do I hate Faith and think that she’s a bad person because of what happened when we were 13? No. I fully blame you and Sharon. The amount of adults that have failed me in my life keep me up at night. I think about how different my life would be had dad been more involved and seen what was going on and taken me away from you. I am angry with him for that. I dream one day I will be able to sit down with him and tell him everything I have written about and he will hug me, support me, cry with me, and apologize for not being there more to protect me. But who knows, he might defend his child abusing, mentally ill wife and say I’m making up everything. Who knows.
Do you want to know what my sister said when I told her all of this? She apologized to me for not being 15 years older than I am so she could have raised me instead. I want you to sit here and think about how fucked up that is. My own sister wishes she could have taken me away from you so you couldn’t have abused me. I imagine the pressure she must have felt having to grow up while also raising her mother and sister and I sob for her. I’ve sobbed for me for the mental anguish and torture I experienced at your hands. I’ve even sobbed for you because I can’t imagine being even a fraction of how fucked up you are to resort to abusing and neglecting your child- a child you begged to have. A child you had trouble having and prayed for. Embarrassing.
I’m never going to have a relationship with you again. If God is willing, I will never have to interact with you ever again. Saying that phrase “if God is willing” is ironic because you forcing me to pray my problems away rather than helping me led me to not believe in him. How can I believe in something that also neglected me? I’d sit in my dark bedroom night after night praying and sobbing for him to help me. I didn’t know what was happening to me, but I felt broken and alone. I now know that I was a child praying for God to take away my PTSD, and that is not possible. My heart breaks for that child.
You’re a pathetic excuse for a mother and human being. I’m truly shocked that I survived you and your abuse. I’m surprised that I didn’t ever try to kill myself to try and get away from you because you’re a vulture that prays on innocent people. The only important people in your life are people you think will give you something or will make you look good. That’s why you refused to ever cut ties with Sharon, you knew she was sexually abused as a child and you couldn’t POSSIBLY NOT be her friend because you need her to be your “friend,” or rather, your token sexually abused as a child friend. I genuinely hope that you get better and become a normal healthy person but I won’t ever be around to see it. I hope you feel even a fraction of the pain and abandonment that I have felt my entire life. Happy Mother’s Day, but today isn’t Mother’s Day for me, it’s Daughter’s Day. Moving far away from you one month ago has truly saved my life. Instead of trying to survive, I am enjoying my life. I would have died in that house. I get to finally celebrate being away from you and celebrate myself for staying strong and fighting when I could have easily given up. You once told me “you feel like I HATE you!” to guilt me into fawning over you and telling you how much I loved you, but now you get the opposite. I DO hate you and hate how you have permanently changed me and I wish to never see you again. Instead of praying for the “God forsaken, atheist, lost, evil, liar, miserable, spiteful, hateful, disgusting, mentally ill, “autistic” daughter, pray for yourself. Pray for God’s forgiveness for emotionally, medically, physically, sexually, and religiously abusing and neglecting me. You deserve to remain in your "clueless" state of "having NO IDEA what you did wrong to make her stop talking to me!" for the rest of your life.Happy Daughter’s Day.

These principles have really helped me pass my exam on my first attempt:

1. Always discuss, investigate, analyze, ask before deciding on a solution
2. Never settle for delays or extra costs. However, extra costs precede delays
3. Be a servant leader! (encourage, care, nurture, listen and never create friction in the team)
4. Value is gold
5. Root cause analysis and MVP or demo are your weapons
6. Any change will go through a change request process (for predictive). There is no change request process (for agile)
7. Your team members are the experts, not you! Make every decision with them
8. The PM makes the decisions and handles the issues (no running to sponsors, management or HR). Note: The exam will mention project sponsor many times. ONLY go to the sponsor when there is a problem with the budget (example, money is running out) BUT going to the sponsor should be the last resort
9. Everyone directly or indirectly involved is a stakeholder and must be added to the register (stakeholder register) and how they impact the project
10. No matter if the project is completed or terminated, the closing phase must occur (predictive)
11. In a predictive project, your plan is your map. Constantly refer back to it
12. Predictive project keywords: change control board (CCB), change control process
13. Agile project keywords: sprint, iteration, scrum, daily standup, backlog, Kanban, product increment, product ownemanager
14. When you or your team have no clue on what’s going on, a subject matter expert (SME) is what you need. Or, you can refer to past projects in the lessons learned register
15. When transitioning from predictive to agile, introduce agile concepts slowly (pilot project, inception deck)
16. Agile projects are self organizing - meaning teams are in charge however the PM can still step in to manage and resolve conflicts
17. An agile project will always need consistent feedback from the customer
18. Never immediately reject a request or an opportunity - especially from a client

Here's a video link of me explaining the principles:
https://www.loom.com/share/3f5c82955e014ea19b4b546e4683c653?sid=fbcf615b-df01-4c88-92b2-17a86461940e
Hopefully this helps!

I am not crying but I do want to cry for days now but I can‘t? It‘s like feeling numb
Even though I have supportive friends and a family they sometimes don‘t know how to handle it
My best friend doesn‘t know what to answer me when I come to her about such things
My mum doesn‘t know how to respond either other than just listening and hugging me
I don‘t and haven‘t had therapy for a while bcs I just got out of a mental hospital(went there everyday and then back home) and am searching for a therapist right now.
(For ages: I‘m 17 and the people referred in the story are 15)
Now: I have had relationships, they ended all good somewhat, I‘m still friends with close to all of my exes(except one) or I have had a talk with them about our relationship and now we send texts to each other here and then
So, when I was at the mental hospital I met two girls. At first I thought one of them was really cute then the other confessed she liked me. I got really confused and gave a lot of thought to things and chose to go on a date with the one who was interested in me. (I wanted to go on a date with both but i never got to ask the other girl bcs she always was picke by her grandma and I didn’t find the right time to ask her) I mean, a date wont be bad to figure out I‘d like either of them??? (To be clear: I thought that both of them are cute. Nothing really more) the way that the girl who thought she had feelings for me gave me attention and love made me like her. For the other one, she knew from the start I thought both were cute. I constantly felt like an ass kind of leading them on, I wont excuse myself for that. At the date I had(I‘ll refer to the girl who liked me a lot as Amy(not real name)) with amy, she shortly, before the date happened m, asked if 2 other friends could tag along. I made another mistake by saying alright(I thought she was scared and needed backup or sum) the first girl(gonna call her coral) did not show much interest. She said she thought I was cute too and always tagged along anywhere we went. This is the first time I had something with a girl. I did know I was bi/omni before that but it was real knowing I don‘t only simp for attractive woman online, but also wanting something in real life. Since coral didn‘t show much interest and there was a spark between me and amy I asked amy to be my gf. After some weeks I broke it off with her because I noticed things about her that I couldn‘t like. I thought about that every day, why I didn‘t like these things even though I liked her and we had a healthy relationship(communication, honesty, meet ups and all that). Coral also was in the back of my mind so I told amy all this and why I thought it was better that way. She was pissed at coral, understandable, but I wanted her to know it wasn‘t coral‘s fault but mine at leading her on. I was playing with her and I really hate that I did that. After 3 weeks of our breakup I did write amy once or twice, as friends tho, also leaving her be and letting her heal. Again I know that what I did was wrong and I‘m a dick here
After that I asked coral how her pov about all that was. She said she thought I was cute, I did chose amy over her and we are friends, but it didn‘t bother her. I asked if she still had interest in me and she said yes. So I apologized for doing what I did and asked if she wanted to go on a date, she said yes and I think it was fun.(before I asked her, some weeks went by and since we saw eachother every day I did feel like I started having a crush on her. I told her that face to face and she was happy and said she was really happy about that. It was also my last week at the mental hospital, so yeah) We went to her place bcs I wanted to drop her off and she lived like 15 minutes away(I live like an hour away). I was invited and had a fun talk with her fam and her until I needed to go home. I wrote her that I had fun and hoped she did too, she said she enjoyed it. A week later or si I went to visit the mental hospital to greet her and some friends who stayed like 2 weeks longer. I like to write silly letters with feelings bcs it‘s one of my love languages. I wrote her one and gave it to her, on it was a questiom saying if I could take her on another date. I put boxes and she didn‘t answer them. I asked her if she and everything was alright, then she told me she might like someone else too. Just needed to figure out if it‘s platonic or not. She also said she liked the attention I give her and that she never really know‘s if she likes the people or not; and that she struggled with selflove and needed time to get herself fixed before a relationship. I accepted that and told her she can have enough time as she needs and that I‘ll be waiting and that she doesn‘t need to stress abt me waiting. We‘ll have some sort of break. Only thing I‘d want is to still be able to meet her so her decision about me was easier.(it‘s similar to mine from before, I didn‘t have enough time to get to know either of them) Ok reading the last sentence makes me sound like I wanted enough time with both until I chose the better one, which isn‘t true. I only wanted to figure out if I liked either if them that way. And they knew. She did agree and we stayed in kind of low contact I did ask if I stepped over any comfort zone She said no I didn‘t want to push the answer So, yeah. Weeks after, when I felt I was allowed to ask without stepping over the line, I asked if she knows already and if she does like me back. If she likes me or that other friend of hers. I said: „Hey, if you want we can be open friends(not wanting to stress her to answer again) as in if we figure things out we tell eachother and see where it takes us? Cuz I still I like you. Like a lot. More than before bcs I keep thinking about you but I don‘t want to stress you or bother you :)“ Her: „yeah we can be friends but just so you know I have feelings for someone else.“
Hit me like a brick. Bcs all those weeks I did know there might be someone else but it didn‘t feel like she would lead me on. Should have seen it coming lol
I took that and stayed friends. I did stop writing her as much as I did before, but we did play video games here and then, today we did and I noticed her bio on her discord saying „I lov my gf“ My heart sank to my feet and I excused myself from our call. Her telling me she needed to fix herself with self love felt like a lie? Like that was fast- was I pushing???
I get that this is karma and I always knew this was a possibility but I guess I should have just not have contact with her at all after she told me she didn‘t like me like that My bad
Sorry again I just needed to tell someone before I start self blame and pity again Though, was it entirely my bad? Did I push her? Was it because I made that huge mistake and chose amy even though I didn‘t know amy as much as I thought?? Was it ok for her to make me feel we‘ll have smt or if I was to oblivious to anything she might have made or said?
I don‘t pity myself, I‘m just overthinking and dn‘t want to keep botteling this up inside me
Thanks if you have read this far! (I‘m genderfluid, mostly girl btw) (Reminder to drink water🏃)

Hello everyone,
I am confused about filling out the questionnaire to extend my student visa.
Scenario: I came to canada in 2022 with a study permit then in 2024 I renewed my study permit which is valid till Nov 2024. I am currently enrolled as a full time student and I want to extend my visa (inside canada).
These are the questions I'm confused about. Even though I answered them, I need a suggestion from you guys.
Q1 : Do you have a provincial attestation letter? A:No
Q2: Do you qualify for an exception? A: Yes
Q3: Which exception do you qualify for? A: I am an applicant applying within Canada as described under section on Regulations (IRPR)
Note: according to the IRCC website “if you meet an exception,you must provide any evidence in the client information field”
What should I upload there as an evidence?
Thank you in advance.

My name is Ghee (pronounced like the letter). I'm a graphic designer who works from home with a ton of cats (I don't work WITH them, but they do seem to work against me). I have pockets of free time that I'd like to fill up with some good company. I'm usually on 4PM EST onwards. Please keep in mind that I'm only looking for something platonic and SFW.
Interests are video games, music, TV/anime, movies, art, and pop culture references. Biggest one is probably gaming (PC) on usually NA servers - with my current rotation being League/TFT, Valorant, The Finals, Fortnite, and WoW MoP. I also enjoy trivia and word games so if you feel like nerding it out with me then that would ba A+
My humor is stupid, dark, dry, but never malicious. I respect boundaries and can carry my share of the conversation (my back is not that strong, please feel free to contribute)
I primarily use Discord and enjoy voice calls - whether playing or doing something together or just hanging out while we do our own thing. I don't ask for much, really; but I'd strongly prefer if you were 23+ and LGBT+ friendly. DM me something about yourself and go from there. Thanks for reading and I hope you find what you're looking for!

No lies told. In the last week, I’ve secured $6k in UGC deals.
This comes from posting my work to socials, and Fiverr (and Fiverr was not even $500 of it).
The difference maker for me has been putting my VA on for 40 hours a week (engaging on my behalf, managing emails, etc.) and consistently posting my work to socials.
Some things I plan to do in the future that I’m not doing currently:

1. Properly upselling. This goes for pre and post upselling. I do 0 of this currently.
   
2. Strategically building out Tiktok, Instagram, and LinkedIn presence (currently only really get my traffic from X, my other socials I post on but they’re pretty much dead)
   
3. Raising the prices (currently, I charge $200-300 per video but I could definitely get those deals to up $400+ a video)
   
4. Creating an outbounding team. I do 0 outreach at the moment and there’s a plethora of ways I can set up VAs to acquire me hundreds of warm leads a week.
   
5. Hiring someone to create Twitter posts for me
   
6. Building out retainer clients and an email list where I can stay on the front of the minds of past clients leading to recurring work.
   
7. Upgrading my portfolio. I plan on adding more niches of work, more examples for each niche with better quality, and adding results for each respective niche. For example, I could create killer fashion content, but I don’t have any solid examples (have never really gotten fashion requests), so many fashion brands probably skip out on me.
   
8. Automation outreach software. This is more so to reach en masse many brands that many not be warm leads (don’t currently do UGC or may not be looking). This is similar to hiring an outbound team but it’s not manual.
   
9. Hiring an editor. I did have one, but he didn’t make UGC edits. I currently edit everything I make, and hiring a solid editor could save me tons of time.
   
10. Building out Upwork presence. I have an account but I use it 0% of the time.
    

My portfolio for reference: https://Damianugc.my.canva.site
I’m sure I’m forgetting some other things that I want to upgrade with my UGC business but these are most of them.
I am very privileged (white, fit/in shape, MALE - this is a big one - only 15% of UGC creators are male, attractive - or so I’ve been told) and I’m well above average in the core aspects of UGC (concepting/scriptwriting, being authentic on camera, editing, etc.) + extremely knowledgeable of social media (been in online business for 5+ years now, know the platforms and strategies for growth like the back of my hand, super resourceful, etc.) so that explains why my results are not all that typical and will typically be picked for a project over others.
Ask any questions you’d like!

Hello, and TIA. I have a home networking question; please do advise and forgive me if I have posted in the wrong subreddit, or posted the wrong question, etc.
* * * *
TL;DR: Client got hacked, bad, and wants a new laptop installed instead of fixing old system.
-> Can I simply install the new system and connect it to the Internet without worrying about the previous hack, since 1) the client left two obvious password files on his computer desktop, and 2) Avast gave a warning of open router ports? His ISP is Spectrum, so I don't have access to open/close any ports individually as far as I know, even from within the My Spectrum app.
-> Would a factory reset of the router work, or even be advisable?
* * * *
I am basically new to computer tech support, and while I have a piece of paper saying I have studied networking, I have never had the opportunity to actually work in the field. So I am being ultra-cautious with a client who got hacked.
I have many years' experience using software and PCs but only 1 1/2 years in actually doing stuff in this new arena. I was a contractor (eww? but I did gain experience) for a year and now am a part-time, bottom-feeding freelancer, helping senior citizens with stuff that's hard for them but that I can do (ISP router and modem setup, printer connection and TS and repair, system research and recommendation, data transfer, OS reset, etc) without negatively impacting them. I happen to live in a retirement mecca, so...
Anyway, I have a client who got hacked, bad, (RAT with accessible password files, multiple-file deletion, etc), and he wants a new laptop - he thinks we can just plug it in and connect it to the internet, and all will be well; he is disconnecting and storing the old laptop and the data thereon rather than face the difficulties of remediation, which would be beyond my current capabilities. I tried referring out to a PC tech company but the client instead wants a new system.
Avast gave a network warning saying there are open ports on the router. Given that the hack was a RAT and that the client literally had two files named "Passwords...[date]" on his desktop, and that the hacker presumably has them, as well as the previous access info for his router, I am concerned that simply hooking up the new laptop will be a disaster, as for one thing, it will be a while before the client can change all the passwords, disconnect logged in accounts, set up 2FA, etc.
His ISP is Spectrum, so I don't know how or if the hacker actually got blocked ports, unblocked. I just checked Spectrum's site and there is an extensive list of the ports Spectrum itself blocks. So, I don't even know if the Avast warning was anything to worry about.
Thanks for all answers, and if I have posted in the wrong subreddit, please advise and forgive.

I’ve always been large chested. As I’ve gotten older, they have only gotten larger and more difficult to deal with. I’ve wanted a breast reduction for quite some time now and recently brought it up with my family doctor. She said based on my size I would qualify for a breast reduction for medical reasons and encouraged me to call some local offices (she said I did not require a referral but would write a letter on my behalf to help my case if needed). The first office I called initially sounded promising as the surgeon there is well known in my area and has gotten good reviews for people I know. Once I gave them my insurance info to make an appointment, I get a call back after booking the consultation from the lady in charge of billing/insurance at the office. She proceeds to tell me that my insurance is accepted but the type of program my card is under is not one they generally accept - they only will bill is it’s for urgent medical needs such as for a breast cancer patient. I told her that I wasn’t pursuing the surgery for aesthetic purposes and it was in fact for medical reasons (but obviously not as urgent as a breast cancer case) but she said the office wouldn’t/“couldn’t” do it. I’m bummed, but didn’t want to give up just yet. I call another office in my area who has a different surgeon (also great reviews but none from anyone I personally knew) and leave a message to inquire about a consultation. I get a call back and I am told they don’t bill insurance and are cash only.
At this point I don’t know if I have any other options. I feel like I’ve hit a wall.. Has anyone run into this issue before with their insurance? Are more dr’s going cash only?
For reference, I am 5’ 3” and am currently a 36-38DDD. At my thinnest weight of 100 lbs, I was still a 32DD. I mention my size at my thinnest because I’ve had people tell me that I just need to lose weight, but that won’t solve the problem as I’ve been large chested from an early age. Genetics also play a roll as my mother was also large chested and passed away from breast cancer at a young age. Her mother also passed away fairly young from cancer (I’m not sure what kind), making me a third generation for potential cancer risk. Any help/advice is appreciated. Or words of encouragement if you are also going through something similar.

Hi all
After a lot of procrastination, I intend on applying to law school in the fall. As of now my stats sit at 3.mid, 16mid, 4 years WE (5 by the time I’d enter in fall 2025). I’ve had a lot of personal family trouble the last year (deaths in the family) and one of my parents was recently diagnosed with cancer. I intend on retaking the lsat in aug/sep/oct (depends on when I feel the most prepared). I had a few misc app questions that I wanted to get some ideas about.

1. There are two schools in my area, both T-50 and have ‘why x’ optional essays. I don’t want to sound too like dramatic, but one of the reasons besides ranking that I am considering these schools is bc I’d still be close to my family during these trying times, as my parent goes through treatment. Would it be appropriate to mention this in a ‘why x’? Of course I have other reasons for attending, but this is truthfully one of the major factors. Is it too much? Does it come off weird? Would it be a potential red flag?
   
2. I can probs only secure 1 academic letter of reference from my undergrad since I’m nearly 5 years out. I think I can secure 1-2 work references from the firm I work at and 1 other work reference from when I was a teacher. Is it negative for mostly work rec letters?
   
3. 2 of the 4 yrs of WE are as a teacher before I quit bc of admin/sanity reasons. I currently work at a firm doing work that is interesting but not something I’m deeply passionate about for a personal statement. I want to write about my experiences as an educator and connect that to my why law. Would it look weird that I focus on that aspect of my WE as opposed to my more recent employment? I’m just thinking one potential issue is ‘how passionate about this can you be if you quit after two years and didn’t go back to education’ lol (despite still tutoring/working with students from my two years there even now).
   
4. I have quite a few Ws on my transcript and ended up taking a full medical withdrawal one semester for mental health reasons. It also affected my GPA as I probs should’ve taken more time off and gotten accommodations earlier. College was a bit difficult for me but I’ve got a handle on my health now. Any tips for writing an addendum for this?
   

Sorry if this is a bit ramble-y and ty for the help!!!!

I just finished my first year of college and am also a premed. With that said, I have a lot to do and I’m slowly starting to focus on the part of the process that isn’t academics related. This includes things like volunteering and getting clinical hours.
I’m currently taking a CNA course which is Monday through Thursday from 9am to 1pm. I wake up these days around 6:40am to drop off my sister and get to school around 8am so I have one hour to review for whatever exam/content we have that day. I get home around 1:30 pm and have an hour until I pickup my sister from school. This is where the issue begins.
In that hour, I sit down and rot. I either scroll on YouTube, eat food out of boredom (not because I’m hungry), and sometimes even just lay down in bed thinking of what I could be. This started exactly over a year ago when I graduated high school and had a terrible summer due to my parents thinking I’d be a failure. I was an average student, but my parents are immigrants and average = stupid. With that sentiment, I was treated like shit the entire summer of 2023 and couldn’t do anything to work on myself because every attempt I tried to work on myself was shot down by them. I’d come back home from a walk and they’d yell at me, I’d try to reason with them in a calm voice, they’d call me manipulative, and the constant comparison always kills me.
The last year has been alright in terms of keeping up academically, but that’s all I’ve been doing. I believe I have some sort of ADHD because the last semester was super hard on me in terms of focus and I just never comprehended the content.
But that’s an issue for another time. I came here to ask for advice given the background of my schedule and environment.
I want to lose weight real bad. Not just for a confidence thing, but I also need some scapegoat for my anger. For reference, I’m an 18F, 5’4, and almost 190 pounds. Not proud. I’m also South Asian (born and raised in the US tho) and have parents who were slim when they were my age (but obv age got to them).
I want to come down to at least 140 pounds by the end of the year, but I want to focus on the end goal of my summer break which is around August 25th to be generous. That’s almost three months away. I have no money for a gym membership (yet) and want to know what to do in terms of diet, cardio, and strength training.
I also just really want to grow as a person in terms of being driven, not letting my emotions get to the best of me, and to not rot away and to learn new skills.
Thank you for reading through! Any advice is helpful!!

Where do I begin. For the purpose of this post, I will use fictious names and locations as it is ongoing, and out of respect (even though she doesn't deserve any)
My name is Daniel. I am 35 years old, and i am dying. I have a disease called systemic sclerosis. I am currently on a supplemental disability plan, until I get approved for SSI (social Security). Until then, my income is about 4K a month. I own a home but after child support and bills, NOT INCLUDING gas, food, haircuts, medical appointments, and or emergencies like my fridge just broke. (which i never go out) I am left with $260 that has to last me a month. I also have three children who I have to take care of half the time per the 50/50 agreement.
Recently, I found out my oldest, (who is 13) is not biologically mine. I decided to look into it as I had concerns for a while since my divorce as her cheating was very rampant. I also had caught her in 2017 with a man in my house, which is what prompted the divorce. But FL being a no fault state, doesn't matter. I also had to pay child support since the beginning and WHILE LEGALLY Married since 2010 because she had applied for financial support like food stamps and government assistance then. I know what your thinking. Why didnt you stop it then? I tried. You cant take yourself off child support. I also never grew up with a father and wanted that two-parent household. I don't run from responsibilities, like he did. Its how I was raised. Anyways, I married her, tried to do the right thing, she lied numerous times. she never worked, and I worked 90 plus hours a week. To look into her cheating, was impossible at the time as I was never home. and to busy providing for my family.
fast forward to now. My disease started to become worse and over three years; it didn't reveal itself until last year fully to actually pinpoint what this was. for instance, I had in 2019 pain behind my eyes and horrible headaches to the point that I thought I had MS. following year, I had trouble swallowing for 3 months. next year itching in the skin for three months. But prior, I had visited various doctors to see what was going on, each time a flare up then would last 3 to four months, which again, when you don't understand what's going on, you need to take time off to go see doctors, run tests, but this illness was and still is very elusive. with that being said I had 5 jobs since its first flare up till last year to continue to support my family and to pay child support. as of last year. I'm having trouble moving on certain days, breathing and acid reflux and muscle atrophy. (disease progression) especially when this is going on, it worsens everything as this is flared up. I was working under the table to try and make ends meet as I was paying child support still. I should add that the child support with 50/50 custody was $1029 for three kids cause I was making six figures at the time of divorce in 2018. Last year however, I couldn't work anymore, and filed for disability.
In june of last year, I had asked Susan, to get the children school supplies, (which she never does) as I was still paying at the time $1029 in child support. She said she didnt have the money despite now making 70k and her new BF living with her and is working whom she cheated on me with. With me working under the table, I bought them clothes, haircuts, school supplies (ive done every year) but then, I noticed she went on vacation to puerto rico and got a giant leg tattoo. At the time, I had already known what I had, and I asked myself why the heck am I doing this? So i turned to an attorney to get it modified. Again, this is June 20th to be exact of last year. My lawyer, stated that this was only going to be a 90 day turn around for the temporary modification then we will go for the final.
Since then, I have gone for a DNA test. I had to know. I am dying. I wanted to know. And you may judge me for this. but i have filed for disablement for paternity, meaning I am removing myself from the birth certificate. However, in the state of Florida, a mother can deny this and so can the courts. before you judge me, I have many reasons none of which have to do with him other then his mental disability (Aspergers) This illness, as days go by takes more and more from me. As previously aforementioned, I am left with 250 a month. I cannot go get a drs appointment pay for groceries or start planning my funeral which I will start making payments on soon. He also eats three times the amount that we all collectively do (Not his fault) but I have paid enough both mentally and financially. He also has trouble communicating as my suspicions is, that he was born of incest (gross) which is why I was 'chosen' to be his father at the time. Before you ask how do you know? Lets just say she had an uncle 'leave' during that time.
anyways, in February, I had the temporary modification hearing for child support and needless to say it was a circus. My doctor was subpoenaed to be there by my attorneys request to better my argument, even though I felt we didn't need her, she advised me to have my doctor there. Well, he attorney attacked my doctor and me for an hour and 40 mins when the court case was only supposed to go for an hour. He said "you saw another dr Max so and so and they said it was all in your head" (again I had flare ups on a illness that hadnt revealed itself correctly since last year). So there argument was that I was doctor seeking to avoid child support. After I have paid for 13 years never missing a payment. Her lawyer also targeted people who are living with me. Now I'll admit that I said they were friends which is true but how else can I pay for my attorney? Cant work, cant sell drugs, cant rob a bank? So they want to take there income into consideration. BS. She also hired a private investigator to watch me exercise outside and stated that because I can exercise, I can work..... Ok. Where's the 23 hours of the rest of the day watching me in pain. or when do you have me on video of a flare up from this terminal illness? (that's what I wanted to say)
Although I was granted the temporary modification, of $209, I left the court thinking wow, this woman can cheat, commit paternity fraud, not give two craps about our children, live with her mom in a section 8 home, and here I am doing whatever I can and I've done nothing wrong but be lied to and this is how my government, my country treats me? No wonder men my age dont have children this is insane. The paternity issue wasn't even brought up they said that this isnt the place for this and that the disestablishment will be another trial for those wondering. My lawyer only spoke for 5 mins. Asking her about her income cause thats the only thing that has changed since 2018 since she didnt work at the time. Other than that, it was an attack on me and my disease arguing my ability to work.
after leaving that, I didnt eat for 96 hours. I have since been crying nonstop. Compilating suicide. I am already heart broken about my son not being mine. Sure does a terminal illness make me said, no question everyday. But a life wasted on another? Cause I decided to be a man and take up responsibility? thats soul crushing. And to say "well, there is a big chance the courts will deny your request' thats BS. If i go to prison because I was accused of a robbery for 13 years, and DNA evidence proves I wasnt there, I get out of jail and can sue. This is no different. If anything, DNA evidence needs to be more of a factor in family law than in almost every court of law if not as equally important. My bad for not investigating her infidelity not only in the beginning but also in the end. How about not being a POS. sorry rant over
gets better. Her mom and dad smoke in the section 8 house, kids reek of cigarette smoke and marijuana, all day. they dont take showers there, they were hand me down clothes, they live in the garage shared with there mother, that isn't air conditioned. and he makes only a few thousand less than I do a month. She stated in court that she pays her mom $500 in rent which is BS, she is only doing that now so that she makes herself look bad. I know she is doing pills, like oxy and what not. Id love to prove it.
after the temp hearing, in april, I had to go to court to contest my drivers license suspension as I hadn't paid child support since, august of last year. again, there is no way, I can pay my bills, feed my children, go to the doctor, pay my lawyer to end all of this BS and pay the current child support amount. and again, this final hearing is still not set yet. So they intercepted my tax return, even though the temporary modification was approved, the final is what gets it retro backed to the date of filing, so they took, a much needed 5500 tax return from me. I needed that cause one of the issues I failed to mention as well, hurricane Ian has destroyed my home and I'm still going through that process too. not to mention I am on payment plans with Mayo clinic and other various medical facilities. (no one cares) but the interest that accrues, makes it impossible to catch up. also, Florida department of rev is overstepping I feel, and asking for medical info to be sent to them as well as updated doctors letters to be sent saying that I am still on disability.
a few weeks ago, I got an email from my lawyer having a withdrawal notice from her lawyer. in the withdrawal, he stated that he cannot represent her, due to something she may have withheld or lied about (more or less wasn't worded like that but you can tell). In feb court appearance they never produced the PI report, or videos, they had medical info they shouldn't have had, and they had very outlandish comments about my lifestyle. So my lawyer filed immediately a motion to compel. meaning, we want to see everything you have on my client. this was filed almost immediately after court appearance on feb 20th. Susan has failed to provide any updated info requested by my attorney so on june 18th, we have that upcoming hearing.
in the mean time, I have sent my lawyer, a very heavily requested topics, such as "where did they get my medical records, if those were lies, what are the consequences if any"? What did exercising have to do with any of this despite various drs saying he has to or he will get worse.
I know wat you must be thinking, what about your oldest, how can you do that to him. Please listen. This woman has taken everything from me. And i mean everything but the roof over my head. I am seeing a therapist to help with the suicidal thoughts. it isnt enough. the reality of it is, I chose to be loyal and it bit me in the butt. This disease will rob me of everything, my teeth will fall out ( I had 5 cavities last time I went to the dentist) I haven't had a cavity since I was 30 and even then I was suspicious. And I am brushing 5 time s a day to save them. My skin is tightening, and my arms and muscles are wasting. I will literally be left with nothing. My organs will also start to harden, and I will have to start getting around the clock care.
I forgot to mention they (child support) recently, sent a letter to SSI (social security) saying that they would garnish my SSI before I even got it, totaling $1029. the incorrect amount. I sent this to my lawyer and she is looking into it. But it shows that child support will overstep and breaks every law or freedom you may think you have. I DO take care of my children. if they need a haircut i do it, school supplies clothes, anything I do it. And I do it, cause she wont. What I want to leave you with, is that woman can be dead beats too. Child support was designed to have woman off of government subsidized programs like section 8 food stamps and what not. Also to make the man pay for their children man or woman I should say, I know this. I am not running from my obligation. I just want Susan, to have to pay for what's she's done to me and the kids.
I would like to hear your thoughts on this, please comment and share, all names are fake, but everything else is unfortunately real. I know it was wordy, but I wanted to provide as much backstory as possible. And please. Respect my descions. When you are end of life, I hope someone would be kind enough to respect yours. You may not agree and that's ok, but I am asking you to respect them. Thank you for reading.

Obligatory English is not my first language and writing this on Mobile notice. Warning reproductive system is involved in not so flattering ways. Don't read if rancid things make you feel nausea. Also don't read if you get mad easily, unless you're into that then you do you bubu.
Medical terms and definitions some people might not know:
Ovarian cyst- when an ovum decides it doesn't want to go down the fallopian tube and be a total jerk by hanging out in your ovary and suck up nutrients to grow indefinitely or until it pops creating the same pain as if a cyst popped inside testicles.
PCOS- condition that makes you have said ovarian cysts but for some reasons multiplied times too many. One ovary can easily have 8 cysts so imagine when both ovaries have it.
Dermoid Cyst- same as ovarian cyst but the composition is actually made of hair, teeth, bones, skin, etc. it's really gross to look at.
Struma Ovarii- an extremely rare type of dermoid cyst who's composition is mainly thyroid tissue. It makes up only .5% of dermoid cysts.
Ovarian torsion- when your ovary twists on itself or with the fallopian tube, often times cutting off blood supply if not caught on time.
Sepsis- when a part of your body starts to decay and releases chemicals into your body causing life threatening shock that need immediate medical treatment. Most can recover from it but takes a long time to recover, sometimes years.
Cystectomy- surgery that removes cyst(s)
Ooftarectomy- surgery that removes ovary
Bilateral- both sides
Hey everyone from the Two Hot Takes team, hope you're all doing well and have your seatbelts buckled in as this is one heck of a medical story doozy.
Back story: I had always suffered PCOS. The irregular yet heavy periods, the extra hair, and the multiple cysts. The problem was that I was a teen and apparently PCOS is not a big deal if it's on a teenager. It's also not a big deal if it's on a young adult that doubles over in pain from periods and wears overnight pads that need to be changed every 4 hours because thats not heavy enough to be of concern. Sometimes even doubling over on times when there is no period because those are just the cysts popping. I always did my pap smears and always went to the gyno, fully trusting them that what I had was not note worthy. So whenever I moved and got a new gyno, while it was mentioned nothing was done about it and I had assumed that was the norm.
It all started in October of 2023 when I felt a sharp pain in my right lower hip while I was at work. At that time I worked for a hospital as a host and only been working for a few months so thank goodness that I had access to the ER. Unfortunately for me my work place is a small hospital so there aren't any gyno nor obs. So the ER doctor just ordered an ultrasound and a trans-vaginal ultrasound (where they stick a dildo shaped ultrasound tool inside of you), and a CT scan without contrast due to iodine allergy. They initially said that due to the pain level I must be having appendicitis. However they instead found a 9cm (for reference a grapefruit is 10cm) cyst on the left ovary and a 4cm (walnut sized) cyst on the right. They said that while they are big and need to be removed, that a specialist needs to write the recommendation to do the surgery and that since our hospital didn't have any that I'll have to get an appointment with a gyno outside of the hospital. He prescribed me 500mg of ibuprofen and told me that I'm discharged. This was the first bs hospital policy of many that I will encounter in this roller coaster.
After getting an appointment with a gyno, I had another incident at work with the same crippling pain. I had the same double vision, nausea and fainting as the first time but this time I had fainted near a patient I was tending to. I didn't get into trouble for that as it was a medical condition that was previously recorded and I had been fine prior on that day. Just my ovaries decided to be jerks on that poor patient to which I apologized heavily to later. Instead my boss wanted answers as to why I was starting to become absent so frequently. I told her about what they found in the ER and how long it takes to get a specialist to see and how my ovaries just want to remind me that going up and down three flights of stairs daily to get to my apartment is making them more irritated.
Appointment time comes and instead of taking the findings for what they are, the gyno then decides to order the same exact tests but within his facility because that's apparently some kind of bs hospital policy that they have to do before giving the ok for a surgery.
I wait for the tests and had more time called off from work. Day of the tests and the ultrasound lady says "you have at least 8 cysts on your right with the biggest one being 7cm (peach sized) and on your left you have a massive one that is 10cm big". I told her "oh so it grew? Is it cancer then?" She calmed me down saying that ovarian cysts do grow as you get more ovulation cycles and that it doesn't mean that it's cancer. However that I most likely have PCOS and that the giant cyst is probably hiding the other cysts if not just merging with the other cysts ony left side. I told her I knew about the PCOS and that her explanation made sense as the dates between the scans had several months in-between since the specialist couldn't see me the day of the incident. (nor even the week of apparently because that's how it goes over here in the USA when it comes to specialists.) She then was surprised and said "I didn't see any PCOS medications on your chart". I told her I had no idea that there was such a thing. She told me not to worry that my new gyno will prescribe me meds.
After the tests, my gyno finally schedules a pre-op appointment, day of surgery and post-op appointment.The surgery would be performed on a second hospital where I don't work in. I arrive at pre-op, doctor tells me the exact same thing that my ultrasound lady said but he mentioned that there's a slight possibility for an ooftarectomy but that we're definitely doing a bilateral cystectomy. He prescribed me Metformin which is for preventing new cysts from forming. I was so happy thinking that I might be able to live a life free from these cursed cysts after the sury. Oh how things were going to turn out.
Turns out the day of the surgery Match 1st was my "6th month anniversary" (it's not I've been working since August of 2023) of working in the hospital. That meant that a new insurance policy was placed and the old one was replaced. I showed up on the day of the surgery and they told me that they couldn't do it because the new insurance wouldn't cover it due to no prior authorization. I had thought that the new insurance wouldn't kick in until my 1 year anniversary or until it was time for enrollment. I cried. I cried right there on the lobby in front of everyone. In front of my family, my boyfriend and coworkers that had woken up at 5 am to be there for moral support on their day off. There's so many hoops just to get treated. My boyfriend said that if a grapefruit sized cyst was on a testicle they would had treated it as an emergency but because it's on an ovary that it isn't.
I had collected myself and immediately scheduled for a new gyno appointment. Unfortunately the appointment was again several months. It was for August 28th. Luckily my cysts decided that was too far off. So I had another incident at work once again. I was rushed to another hospital instead of being discharged thankfully. However that said hospital then sent me away to another hospital because they weren't a "women's hospital" and that women's hospital said that they couldn't do anything without my gynos permission. That the best that they can do is call my gyno and claim that my appointment with her should be expedited but that my situation isn't an emergency. We told them to do what they need to do. At this point not even morphine helped with the pain.
Thankfully my gyno reached out to me stating that she was available to see me that week instead. I was able to see her and she saw that the women's hospital did some tests and the cysts were now 11cm left and 8cm right respectively. She said however that she can't use the tests from the women's hospital, that she had to schedule for the same tests to be done in her facility. I started to cry, again. It was the same dumb policy. I understand that some time had passed but it was only a few days in-between and having these tests won't show anything new other than possibly new growth. She promised that the tests will be scheduled under expedited and that it will be on April 28th. This was on March 26. At least she increased the dosage of the ibuprofen to 800mg so it would take the edge off a bit more.
On March 30 my boyfriend wanted to cheer me up by taking me to see his brother Orlando FL since he was getting married soon. We were supposed to stay there for a few days for the preparations. I had a small ache at the time so thought I just needed to take my ibuprofen and be on my way. My boyfriend noticed I was in pain and asked if I was ok, the pain was small so I said yes. His mother said "maybe we should leave her in the apartment so she can rest" to which my boyfriend said "I don't like that idea, if she can't come I'm not going". I was relieved because I didn't want to be alone if an incident were to happen again. My parents were running out of days to take off to be there in the hospitals (4 different hospitals at this point). The car ride made me sleepy as car sounds remind me of ASMR. It was a long ride but when I woke up we were already in Orlando. The pain had significantly increased. I thought if only I could just take another ibuprofen when we get to my future brother in law's place that I would be good. I.WAS.NOT.
As soon as we arrived nausea took over and I puked from the pain. The abdominal motion made the pain so much worse that I just started to scream in pain. It was so much pain I couldn't think or speak. My boyfriend knew it was the cysts and told everyone that he's going to take me to the ER. There wasn't a second I wasn't screaming in pain with tears running down my face. The hospital he tooke to said that they weren't the women's hospital however they do have a sister hospital that they will take me to called Winnie Palmer's Women's Hospital (I will forever name drop this hospital for what they did to me).
They immediately gave me medications that took the pain away, I was able to have a conversation with the doctors of what has been going on and the long history. They debated amongst themselves on whether or not to do the surgery but they in the mean time did tests while they kept calling my gyno for permission to do the surgery. The specialists in the hospital said that I don't have just regular cysts, I had a dermoid cyst and that my blood tests shows elevated levels of cancer antibodies. So they decided to go against policy and keep me hospitalized until they get permission from my gyno to get the surgery. My gyno finally reached out to them on Monday April 1st and they had me for surgery at 1pm. They found an ovarian torsion on my right size which explains why my right size hurt more than my left at times. Unfortunately the ovary was necrosed same as the fallopian tube, they theorized reason why tests showed "healthy blood flow to the ovary". The first theory was that the ovarian turn kept being undone and turned again. Which if that was the case I would have been dead before any professional would have seen me on April 28th. The second theory was that the type of dermoid I had was a Struma Ovarii which basically acted like a second thyroid glad in my right ovary. So when they saw it on the tests they thought it was my ovary when in reality it was my second thyroid getting blood supply. On the second theory I would have still died because the necrosed ovary would have eventually expanded and exploded. Spreading putrid flesh into my body's cavity on top of bleeding profusely as that would undo the knot, quickly ending my life if medical attention wasn't given immediately. They removed the large cyst on my left ovary alongside another Struma Ovarii. Turns out I hit the lottery of thyroids. They suspect that the antibodies is due to genetics since my family history is riddled with cancer survivors.
I got discharged after the surgery and when it was my April 28th testing appointment it turned into my post-op appointment lol. My gyno saw my stitches and gave me clean bill of health. However the gyno from the other hospital called and wanted to see me. So we traveled all the way to Orlando again. She wanted to see for herself how I was doing and she was concerned that since it was two Struma Ovarii that my body might have been relying on those two thyroids in addition to my OG thyroid to function. So she's worried that I might be having lower levels now. So she ordered to do thyroid test and genetic tests to see if the cancer antibodies theory can be proven.
So now I'm waiting for when I move to NC since my old job could no longer tolerate the absences and my apartment rent got higher while also not having a grace period for me to gather money to break lease. My boyfriend decided that he would quit his CNA job so that he could pull out his 401(k) and help me break off the lease and move in to his apartment in NC while I recover from surgery. I'm so glad he refused to leave me alone and he wasn't afraid to speak for me to doctors to do the surgery while I was drugged up. He's currently applying for CNA positions so that he can get health insurance ASAP and add me to the policy as soon as we get married. In mean time we also wait for thyroid test and genetic tests. Will update after all the testing.

I recently finished reading Cicero's Orator. It is a rather wide-ranging treatise that Cicero dedicated to his young friend, Marcus Brutus, in which he lays out his personal vision of the ideal orator. He touches on many subjects, even prose rhythm, but I thought his brief remarks about the contemporary pronunciation of Latin were the most interesting. Since I know how interested readers of this subreddit are in Latin pronunciation, I thought I'd share them here with my translations. Enjoy!
* * *
Hiatus:
In the first passage, Cicero contrasts the use of hiatus or, from the opposite perspective, the prevalence of syaloepha, the blending of vowels, in Greek and Latin. When he talks about a "collision of vowels," he means a word ending with a vowel placed next to a word beginning with one, both of which were pronounced.

(151-2) in ea est crebra ista vocum concursio, quam magna ex parte ut vitiosam fugit Demosthenes. sed Graeci viderint; nobis ne si cupiamus quidem distrahere voces conceditur. indicant orationes illae ipsae horridulae Catonis, indicant omnes poetae...

"That collision of vowels frequently appears in it [sc. Plato's epitaphios], which Demosthenes generally avoids as a defect. But let the Greeks see for themselves; we [i.e. we Latin-speakers] are not permitted to pull vowels apart even if we want to. It's illustrated by those rough speeches of Cato themselves, and all the poets..."
* * *
Omission of final s and phonetic change:
Cicero also notes the frequent omission of the final s in various words. The examples he cites below are all in the ablative plural. Multimodis in particular is known from Plautus, and even Lucretius uses it (1.895), so we know that the middle i, derived from multis, was short. I wonder whether that also the case in the other examples.
Cicero regards the phonetic change of due- to be- (as in duellum to bellum) as a similar phenomenon. His remarks about the contraction of words with -xill- are not in fact correct, because those words are in fact diminuitives (vexillum, orig. "a little cloth," from velum, for instance).

153 sed quid ego vocales? sine vocalibus saepe brevitatis causa contrahebant, ut ita dicerent: 'multi' modis, in vas' argenteis, palm' et crinibus, tecti' fractis'. quid vero licentius quam quod hominum etiam nomina contrahebant, quo essent aptiora? nam ut 'duellum' bellum et 'duis' bis, sic Duellium eum qui Poenos classe devicit Bellium nominaverunt, cum superiores appellati essent semper Duelli, quin etiam verba saepe contrahuntur non usus causa sed aurium: quo modo enim vester Axilla Ala factus est nisi is fuga litterae vastioris? quam litteram etiam e 'maxillis' et 'taxillis' et 'vexillo' et 'pauxillo' consuetudo elegans Latini sermonis evellit.

"But why should I go on about vowels? Even without vowels they [earlier generations] often contracted words for the sake of brevity, so they'd say: multi' modis ['in many ways'], in vas' argenteis ['in silver vessels'], palm' et crinibus ['with palms and locks'], and tecti' fractis ['broken roofs/buildings']. But what is more impertinent that the fact they even contracted people's names to make them more convenient? Just as the called war duellum bellum ['war'] and duis bis ['twice'], so they named the Duellius who defeated the Carthaginian fleet Bellius, although his forebears had always been called Duelli. But words are even often contracted not for the sake of practicality but for the ears: how did your [sc. Brutus'] friend Axilla become Ala if not because of the disappearance of a rather broad letter? The same letter the elegant custom of the Latin language removed from maxillae [i.e. malae, 'jaws']and taxilli [i.e. tali, 'dice'] and vexillum [i.e., velum, 'curtain'] and pauxillus [i.e., paulus, 'little']."
* * *
Contractions:

154 lubenter etiam copulando verba iungebant, ut 'sodes' pro 'si audes', 'sis' pro 'si vis'; iam in uno 'capsis' tria verba sunt, 'ain' pro 'aisne', 'nequire' pro 'non quire', 'malle' pro 'magis velle', 'nolle' pro 'non velle', 'dein' etiam saepe et 'exin' pro 'deinde' et pro 'exinde' dicimus. quid, illud non olet unde sit, quod dicitur 'cum illis', 'cum' autem 'nobis' non dicitur, sed 'nobiscum'? quia si ita diceretur, obscenius concurrerent litterae, ut etiam modo, nisi 'autem' interposuissem, concurrissent. ex eo est 'mecum' et 'tecum', non 'cum me' et 'cum te', ut esset simile illis 'vobiscum' atque 'nobiscum'

"The also liked to combine words by joining them together, like sodes ['please'] for si audes [lit. 'if you dare'], sis [also 'please'] for si vis ['if you will'], and just in capsis ['take please' = cap si vis] there are even three words; ain ['you say so?'] for aisne, nequire [cannot] for non quire, malle ['prefer'] for magis velle ['want more'], nolle ['refuse, not want'] for non velle ['not want'], and we even often say dein and exin for deinde and exinde ['then', 'thence']. And isn't it easy to spot why, although one says cum illis ['with those'], one does not say cum ['with'] together with nobis ['us']? That's because, if one were to say that, the letters would run together obscenely [i.e. cum nobis would produce the sound cunno, 'cunt'], just as they would have run together if I had not put 'together with' [in the Latin, the word autem] between them. That gives rise to mecum and tecum ['with me', 'with you'], not cum me and cum te, so as to be like those vobiscum and nobiscum ['with you (pl.)', 'with us']."
* * *
Syncopated forms:
It seems that, at least in Cicero's time, the syncopated forms of the perfect stem of verbs were conventional, as well as the shortened from of the perfect 3rd person plural in (-ere for -erunt). I wonder whether the form with -erunt made a comeback as Latin was learned by non-native speakers or perhaps from literary Latin. Certain Romance forms (e.g. Spanish amaron, Italian amarono, French aimèrent from amarunt) seem to descend from it.

157 quid quod sic loqui 'nosse, iudicasse' vetant, 'novisse' iubent et 'iudicavisse'? quasi vero nesciamus in hoc genere et plenum verbum recte dici et imminutum usitate. itaque utrunque Terentius: 'eho, tu, cognatum tuum non noras?' post idem: 'Stilponem, inquam, noveras'. sient plenum est, sint imminutum; licet utare utroque. ergo ibidem: 'quam cara sint quae post carendo intellegunt, quamque attinendi magni dominatus sient.' nec vero reprehenderim 'scripsere alii rem' et 'scripserunt' esse verius sentio, sed consuetudini auribus indulgenti lubenter obsequor.

"How about the way they [sc. proponents of analogy] forbid us to say nosse ['to know'] and iudicasse ['to have judged'] but order us to say novisse and iudicavisse? As if we didn't know in this instance that it is correct to say the full word and conventional to say the shortened one. Thus Terence uses both: 'whoa, you didn't recognize [noras] your kinsman?' And the same author a little bit later: 'You recognized [noveras] Stilpo, I said.' Sient ['they may be'] is the full form, sint the shortened one. You're allowed to use both. Hence, in the same place: 'Later, they realize how dear they are [sint] from lacking them, and how great dominions must be [sient] retained.' Nor would I criticize scripsere alii rem ['others wrote the subject'], and I know that scripserunt ['they wrote'] is more accurate, but I gladly follow convention, which indulges the ears."
* * *
Hidden quantity and aspiration:
Cicero reveals that the i in the prefix in- is long before s and f, and similarly the o in con-. The introduction of aspirated consonants (such as the ch in pulcher) also was a change recent enough that Cicero avoided it until later in life.

159-60 quid vero hoc elegantius, quod non fit natura, sed quodam instituto: 'indoctus' dicimus brevi prima littera, 'insanus' producta, 'inhumanus' brevi, 'infelix' longa; et, ne multis, quibus in verbis eae primae litterae sunt quae in 'sapiente' atque 'felice', producte dicitur <'in'>, in ceteris omnibus breviter; itemque 'conposuit, consuevit', 'concrepuit, confecit'. consule veritatem: reprehendet; refer ad auris: probabunt. quaere cur: ita se dicent iuvari. voluptati autem aurium morigerari debet oratio, quin ego ipse, cum scirem ita maiores locutos ut nusquam nisi in vocali aspiratione uterentur, Ioquebar sic ut 'pulcros, Cetegos, triumpos, Cartaginem' dicerem; aliquando, idque sero, convicio aurium cum extorta mihi veritas esset, usum loquendi populo concessi, scientiam mihi reservavi.

"What's more elegant that this, which isn't the product of nature but some kind of teaching: we say indoctus ['unlearned'] with the first letter short, but insanus ['insane'] with it long; inhumanus ['uncultivated'] short, infelix ['unfortunate'] long; and, to be brief, in words in which the first letters are those in sapiens and felix, in is pronounced long; in all others, short. Likewise: conposuit, consuevit, concrepuit, confecit ['it settled, became accustomed, made a noise, completed']. Consult Truth: she will criticize it; refer the matter to the ears: they will approve. Ask why: they will say they like it that way. Speech should gratify the pleasure of the ears. I myself, since I knew that our ancestors spoke in such a way that they never used aspiration [i.e. h] except with vowels, I used to say pulcros ['handsome men'], Cetegos ['Cethegi'], triumpos ['triumphs'], Cartaginem ['Carthage']; but at some point--and late, at that--the truth [i.e., the 'correct' pronunciation] was wrested from me by the abuse of my ears and I yielded my manner of speaking to the people, though I kept my knowledge for myself."
* * *
Final s again:
And last but not least, Cicero notes the omission of final s in the Latin of an earlier generation. Evidently, it was fairly common to drop terminal s in general, but in contrast to the examples with which we began (like multimodis), the omission occurred in single words, not in one of two in the same number and case.

161 quin etiam, quod iam subrusticum videtur, olim autem politius, eorum verborum, quorum eaedem erant postremae duae litterae quae sunt in 'optumus', postremam litteram detrahebant, nisi vocalis insequebatur. ita non erat ea offensio in versibus quam nunc fugiunt poetae novi. sic enim loquebamur: 'qui est omnibu' princeps', non 'omnibus princeps', et 'vita illa dignu' locoque', non 'dignus'...

"Indeed--and this seems rather boorish now, but once refined--they clipped the last letter of those words that had the same two final letters as optimus ['best'], unless a vowel followed. Thus, it wasn't a faux-pas in verse, which now the new poets avoid. We used to speak like this: qui est omnibu' princeps ['who is foremost of all'], not omnibus princeps, and vita illa dignu' locoque ['worthy of that life and station'], not dignus..."

I’m starting a new job in a week or so. Great hours, great pay, great company. I’m very excited. However, a large part of this is phone calls and they already have an employee with the same name as me. They asked if I had another name to go by. I told them my typical nickname, and they said she goes by that was well. They suggested they call me by my middle name. I’ve never gone by my middle name, but I’m willing to try. Any advice on how to get used to it or another way to go about this? I’ve worked other places with other coworkers with the same name. We always just had our last initial after it or referred to them as “Abby from sales” or “Abby from cash office.” My assumption is that this is because it’s a lot of phone calls and if a client calls and says they spoke to “Abigail/Abby” they would need to know who the client is talking about. Therefore, I cannot be “Abigail” or “Abby”.
I’ve never run into this before and it’s uncomfortable (but doable) and I’m looking for any advice on managing this so I don’t look like a fool responding to the wrong name (my first name) or not responding to my middle name on the first day.

Got a Xfinity Storm backup device for my new Xfinity service for nothing. If the Xfinity Xfi gateway device detects an outage, the Storm will start up its cellular connection and share that out via Wifi. Nice in theory.... but it has to be no more than 30 feet from Xfi Connect and with my topology, the little Storm wifi signal won't stretch to serve all the places I'd like it to serve.
So, I was thinking -- what if I:

• Set up a raspberry Pi as a wifi client of the Storm, bridging that Wifi to the RasPi Ethernet, which is connected to the UDM-Pro WAN port.
• Tell UDM that the Wan port is "backup port" for UDM connectivity (This is default setting. For reference, the Xfi device is connected to SFP port via ethernet SFP dongle)
• If there is an Internet outage, UDM-Pro will revert to the backup port, with the RasPi serving as the bridge to the Storm device. Yes, RasPi is slow on Wifi, but so is the Storm device, so that's OK
• I'm just soooo rusty, however, on how to set something like that up on RasPi. Do brighter minds see a way to make this work? Thx