Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word

That fuckin Minn Matrone. She’s a malignant cunt! Bullying my poor ma. Keeping her away from the table. I was being a gentleman and took my ma, Minn, and chucky’s Ma out for lunch and that crazy broad Minn tried to steal my ma’s Parker house rolls. Luckily for me I found out where she hides her money. Under the mattress he he. You ain’t gonna have no problem from Minn BELIEVE ME

s it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward

About 2 weeks ago my best friend and housemate got back with her ex boyfriend after 5 months of being broken up. I found out through bumping into the two of them crying outside my bedroom and him not leaving until the following morning. I asked my friend if everything was okay and her last words were basically "don't worry, I'm okay. I love you and I'll tell you everything tomorrow." The following day I heard nothing, just saw them walking down the street arm in arm. After a couple of days of radio silence (not including me hearing the two of them around the house since we live together) she reached out asking to speak to me to explain her situation. I told her I'll be home from work at 6pm and that she'll have an hour to speak to me because I had plans later in the evening. I got home at 6:08 and messaged her immediately to let her know I'm home. I didn't get a response until 7:30 when she messaged me apologizing saying she fell asleep after she laid down on her bed because she was nervous to speak to me and that she would never do it intentionally. I had heard that excuse before when she missed my birthday earlier this year to go to a gig. I was firm and told her I'm busy, feeling stupid after shifting my evening plans around to give her an opportunity to speak to me, just to sit in my room for over an hour waiting for her to respond.
Her return to her ex is a huge shock to me and I never saw it coming. It seemed to me that she understood how toxic the relationship was, it ending with her cheating on him. I initially met her when they were dating the first time around, and quickly learnt that he wasn't a good person or a good partner (misogynistic and controlling). I did my absolute best to support her, and she never failed to tell me that she trusts me and loves me like a sister. I think because I'm a few years older than her and we got close really quickly, I felt protective of her. In hindsight I probably should've set more boundaries.
There have been multiple times over the past 6 months where her life choices and behaviours have worried me, predominantly pertaining to drug use, eating disorders, and selfish behaviours. I recall at least two instances where I've tried to set boundaries and explain to her that I may have to take a step back from the friendship because her behaviours are triggering to me, and whilst she is an adult and will make her own decisions, I need to protect my sanity and not be so involved and available in her life if she doesn't think her behaviours are an issue. All of these instances were followed by her promising she loves me and appreciates me so much and that she's going to change. After the birthday incident she left a bag of gifts outside my bedroom door with a handwritten letter telling me how much she loves me. I cried and forgave her.
Because of all of this, I'm hurting so much more. I don't understand how she can tell me she loves me one day and then the next act like I don't exist and never mattered to her. She's taken me off her "close friends" list on Instagram, and any communication we've had since has been limited to brief texts about bills and household chores. She won't even look at me when I pass her in the kitchen. She's become even more disrespectful about keeping the house clean, promising she'll tidy up in the groupchat but then not doing it and ignoring my messages. I feel like she's being deliberately spiteful; yesterday I woke up to dog poop smeared outside my bedroom where she must've wiped her shoe on the carpet and left it overnight for whatever reason.
I've been in touch with one of her other friends whom she's close with, and he said she's been avoiding any conversation about her boyfriend with him also. I understand that she might be embarrassed to open up to me about it because she knows how poorly I think of the guy, but I don't understand her acting like she's angry with me or like I've done something wrong. Doesn't she understand how much this is hurting me? We've already signed our contracts to live here for another year and the tension in the house is killing me.

About 2 weeks ago my best friend and housemate got back with her ex boyfriend after 5 months of being broken up. I found out through bumping into the two of them crying outside my bedroom and him not leaving until the following morning. I asked my friend if everything was okay and her last words were basically "don't worry, I'm okay. I love you and I'll tell you everything tomorrow." The following day I heard nothing, just saw them walking down the street arm in arm. After a couple of days of radio silence (not including me hearing the two of them around the house since we live together) she reached out asking to speak to me to explain her situation. I told her I'll be home from work at 6pm and that she'll have an hour to speak to me because I had plans later in the evening. I got home at 6:08 and messaged her immediately to let her know I'm home. I didn't get a response until 7:30 when she messaged me apologizing saying she fell asleep after she laid down on her bed because she was nervous to speak to me and that she would never do it intentionally. I had heard that excuse before when she missed my birthday earlier this year to go to a gig. I was firm and told her I'm busy, feeling stupid after shifting my evening plans around to give her an opportunity to speak to me, just to sit in my room for over an hour waiting for her to respond.
Her return to her ex is a huge shock to me and I never saw it coming. It seemed to me that she understood how toxic the relationship was, it ending with her cheating on him. I initially met her when they were dating the first time around, and quickly learnt that he wasn't a good person or a good partner (misogynistic and controlling). I did my absolute best to support her, and she never failed to tell me that she trusts me and loves me like a sister. I think because I'm a few years older than her and we got close really quickly, I felt protective of her. In hindsight I probably should've set more boundaries.
There have been multiple times over the past 6 months where her life choices and behaviours have worried me, predominantly pertaining to drug use, eating disorders, and selfish behaviours. I recall at least two instances where I've tried to set boundaries and explain to her that I may have to take a step back from the friendship because her behaviours are triggering to me, and whilst she is an adult and will make her own decisions, I need to protect my sanity and not be so involved and available in her life if she doesn't think her behaviours are an issue. All of these instances were followed by her promising she loves me and appreciates me so much and that she's going to change. After the birthday incident she left a bag of gifts outside my bedroom door with a handwritten letter telling me how much she loves me. I cried and forgave her.
Because of all of this, I'm hurting so much more. I don't understand how she can tell me she loves me one day and then the next act like I don't exist and never mattered to her. She's taken me off her "close friends" list on Instagram, and any communication we've had since has been limited to brief texts about bills and household chores. She won't even look at me when I pass her in the kitchen. She's become even more disrespectful about keeping the house clean, promising she'll tidy up in the groupchat but then not doing it and ignoring my messages. I feel like she's being deliberately spiteful; yesterday I woke up to dog poop smeared outside my bedroom where she must've wiped her shoe on the carpet and left it overnight for whatever reason.
I've been in touch with one of her other friends whom she's close with, and he said she's been avoiding any conversation about her boyfriend with him also. I understand that she might be embarrassed to open up to me about it because she knows how poorly I think of the guy, but I don't understand her acting like she's angry with me or like I've done something wrong. Doesn't she understand how much this is hurting me? We've already signed our contracts to live here for another year and the tension in the house is killing me.

I grew up in the ghettoes of Paterson NJ and I remember how my mom would never really stock the house with sweet snacks. Her response would bounce between "we're too pooyou'll get diabetes"
We would get a two liter soda and it would have to last the entire week or we'd get in trouble, we were a family of five 🤣
Anyways, I remember my little brother and I would put pancake syrup on a slice of white bread and fold it in half as a snack. I feel like the first few bites were okay but then the syrup started tasting bad, like artificial. But that's what we had.
We didn't have a cabinet stocked with honeybuns and gatorade like Drake had growing up.

The American civil war as it current stands is both iconic and also probably one of the least plausible parts of the mod. One of the things especially grating though is how the Pacific States of America - the faction trying to preserve the constitution - can immediately end up at war with either the CSA or AUS even if the leaders of said faction were democratically elected. I understand the reasoning why both sides would not trust each other, but I also feel like them immediately going to war with the rightful president would ruin a lot of their legitimacy. Note that this only applies if MacArthur coups either Huey Long or Jack Reed, since him overthrowing a republican or democrat or olson results in the VP fleeing to the PSA to take up arms.
​
I absolutely loved the idea of the Federalist LKMT compromise path and how it was implemented, and I have been thinking for the last two weeks about how something similar could happen for the warring American factions.
My idea would be that during the 30 day countdown, a non aggression pact between the elected president - Huey or Reed - and the PSA could be established, with both parties deciding that stopping MacArthur is the bigger threat. Unlike the federalist KMT compromise though, neither side would allow military access or become subjects of the other. This ceasefire would last until late 1937, at which point relations would break down completely and both sides would start fighting each other, seeing each other as nothing more than a bunch of radicals. I think November 25th which was thanksgiving day in 1937 could be a good date, for when a meeting between the two sides goes poorly and convinces them that armed conflict is inevitable. If the conflict ends before then however, the path to compromise becomes available.
To summarize, in order for the compromise to happen the following must occur:

1. The Garner - Wagner bill must pass with the support of the CSA / AUS (depending on which one you want the compromise with) This success legitimizes the Socialist Party of America or America First Party as a legitimate party that has some real legislative success instead of a bunch of radicals that want to burn everything down.
2. The coalition ticket must not form. Any election where a radical party gets elected by the house after a successful Garner - Wagner bill and a successful coalition is likely to be viewed as "rigged" and would not give the new president enough legitimacy in the eyes of the PSA moderates.
3. The Socialist Party / America First must win the presidency.
4. When the civil war starts after MacArthur coups the president, the CSA / AUS must agree to a non-aggression pact with the PSA.
5. The CSA / AUS must defeat the other factions not counting New England before the ceasefire breaks down.

​
If all this happens, then an event will fire for the victor about relations with the PSA, which would start an event chain where a conference is held in Denver. There the conference will either fail, leading to hostilities breaking out and leading to the current paths, or it will succeed resulting in the PSA being annexed into the other tag, and unlocking a new compromise path while also locking the other normal paths. The country would be renamed back to the United States and the capital would move back to DC. The constitution and elections would remain, however with new amendments specific to each sides faction. Jack reed would continue as president but would not run for reelection, while Huey would probably try to win another term.
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But what would these paths look like? Here's some ideas I had for them. First the CSA!
The CSA compromise path wouldn't abolish capitalism, however it would absolutely focus a ton on worker's rights, greatly strengthening unions, and having the government take control of all natural resources and railways. In terms of social policies I would imagine civil rights and the destruction of segregation would be a top concern. I think that realistically it would also pass legislation that would strip voting rights from anyone who was a member of the America First Party as well as many right wing to far right figures in general in order to make sure that the changes they are making do not get reverted.
Since they would be keeping the classic American government, future elections would once again be dominated by two parties: the Socialist - Farmer Labor party, which would be left wing social democratic alliance with a large syndicalist faction, and on the other side the Social Liberal Democratic party which would have a large market liberal ex republican faction.
Now this path's foreign policy would be a bit different than normal. This path would not allow it to join either the 3rd Internationale or the Entente, and would instead focus on the Americas, implementing a version of the good neighbor policy. This would eventually lead it to creating the Organization of American States, a faction for democratic AND syndicalist (but not totalist) nations in the Americas focused on self defense. The US would also get the ability to go to war with any country in the Americas that was either Authoritarian Democratic, Paternal Autocratic, or National populist.
It would all lead up to demanding the decolonization of the Americas during the 2nd Weltkreig, which could result in going to war with BOTH the Entente and the Reichpakt to stomp out colonialism in the region once and for all. A scripted peace deal would allow the end of hostilities once the factions have been pushed out. Additionally once this is done, assuming the 2nd weltkreig is still going on, you could have the option to go to war with any totalist countries in the Americas, with the 3rd Internationale getting the option to kick them out of their alliance. (Likely if France and Britain are Syndicalist or Radical socialist, Much less likely if they are also Totalist).
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Now as for the AUS, I haven't thought about them as much but I still have some ideas.
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Huey Long's path in this would end up being similar to how he acted while governor. It would focus on implementing his share the wealth programs, funding infrastructure, combating poverty, and most importantly centralizing the power around the presidency. In this path Huey would seek to stack the supreme court with justices who would vote for his policy and would seek to disenfranchise people who would oppose him. Restricting the vote would be very likely, as well as technically legal things like extensive gerrymandering. Freedom of the press would be curtailed under the guise of national security and he would implement a state media similar to ones in modern-day Turkey or Russia.
Elections would still be held in 1940, 1944, and 1948 with Huey running for a second, third, and 4th term. If Huey manages to win all of those elections, the 1952 election will only have his party as an option and the US would turn into a dominant party state similar to Mexico during the PRI era, If Huey has not won all of his terms then the 1952 election will see Huey step down and let someone else run for the America First Party. All versions of the America First Party will be Authoritarian Democrat.
Opposing him in the elections will be the republican party, the socialist party having been outlawed and the Democratic party collapsing from lots of FBI and congressional "investigations", their conservative members going to either the republicans or America first party. The republican party will be Market Liberal with a Social Conservative wing.
Foreign Policy wise this path would have two options: Supreme isolationism or Anti-Syndicalism.
Supreme Isolationism would be similar to the Fortress America path that the feds have currently. It would not join a faction or get any war goals, and would uniquely have an option to renounce ownership of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Panama Canal in order to "bring the boys home". It would fortify the Mexican border heavily and would also unlock a decision to "secure" Canada if all other entente majors are dead or the Third Internationale has landed in mainland Canada, giving the US claims and a wargoal on Canada.
Anti-Syndicalism would give the US access to decisions to join either the Reichpakt, Moscow Accord, or Entente as long as those countries are at war with the Third Internationale. This alliance would only last until the Third Internationale is destroyed however and the US will leave the faction afterwards. After the 3I is defeated, the US can get decisions to go to war with any remaining syndicalist, radical socialist, or totalist nations in the Americas.
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Anyways, those were my thoughts, I think having more hidden compromise paths is always fun and I would love to hear your feedback!

So me and this friend (we will call them storm) became friends during Spanish class my sophomore year of high school and have been friends for about two years now. I became friends with them because we both shared a mutual friend and that mutual friend soon had a big falling out with storm and so I invited them to basically join my own friend group. During our Spanish class they would often mumble phrases in what sounded like a different language and when I asked them they said that they were mumbling Japanese because they are Japanese, they just don’t look like it. Their words exactly. I believed them thinking that no sane person would lie about being Japanese and storm seemed pretty normal to me at first. I asked more about their background and they told me that their mom was a white Christian southern woman and their dad was the Japanese one. However, their dad also doesn’t look Japanese because he hates being Japanese and so he got plastic surgery. Yes, fucking plastic surgery. I didn’t want to be rude so I once again believed them. Their dad was also directly from Japan since their grandparents still live in Japan but their dad somehow knew no Japanese whatsoever. They also told me that when they were born their parents sent them to live with their grandparents over in Japan from ages 0-8 and then they moved back to the U.S. (where we live). When I asked them what part of Japan they were from they told me that they lived in Kyoto. They would later go on to tell me that it was Osaka and then Hokkaido. Three completely different places. Storm and I were joking around one day in Spanish and they mumbled something in what I assumed was Japanese again and I asked them to say I’m a terrible person in Japanese as a joke and because I wanted to hear more of the language. They said a phrase and that was that. I asked them the very same thing the next day because I wanted to know the phrase for myself and they said something completely different. Not even remotely close to what they had said yesterday. I didn’t think much of it and just figured they used different wording or something. Storm tends to do this thing where they are very obviously lying about something that me and my friends are talking about just to join in on the conversation and have their own part. I usually have no problem with this since I think everyone lies a little to get to be better friends with people and to be included in conversations. However, I have been friends with them for 2 years now and the lying has just gotten worse. An example would be that just a few days ago me and my friends were talking about summer trips and how a few of us are going to Europe. Storm jumps into the conversation and says that they are going to Japan this summer. Mind you, they said this exact same thing last year and never went. They’ve also told me that they don’t have their passport and that their parents are awful and never let them go anywhere and are super strict. Why on earth would they suddenly let you go to Japan? It just never adds up but me and my friends never make a fuss about it. In March I was talking with a friend who also used to be friends with storm and they told me that they didn’t like them because they lied about being poor just to join in on the conversation. Storm tells people all the time how their dad gives them around 1k a week to spend and how they have a Camaro and they always offer to buy everything for their friends. I’ve been to their house and they have 5 cars on the driveway, including the Camaro. I know cars and 1k a week don’t exactly equal not being poor but it was kinda inconsiderate to say that they were since they are constantly bragging about how much money they have. It just doesn’t add up. I could see why my friend didn’t like them and I started to realize that a lot of what storm tells us doesn’t completely make sense. Now moving back to storms childhood. This is where everything really makes no sense at all. I myself am mixed (half Hispanic, half white) and one day I was talking about a horrible elementary school experience where I got bullied because of my unibrow and how I have darker hairs on my body than the other kids. Storm decided to join the conversation and says that they were bullied too for not knowing any English in elementary school. I was talking about the book Dune one day and Storm tells me that they have read Dune but they read it when they were really young to learn English. Fucking Dune. That book is hard for me to even read now how the fuck were you learning English from that at 8 years old. It could make sense if Storm was just really smart but they take all standard classes right now and get bad grades. I started to ask more people when Storm had told them the age that they had come over to the U.S. They all had different answers. I got 2,4,6,8, and the 6th grade. The person that said 8 was the mutual friend that me and storm shared before they had a falling out. I asked that friend more about what Storm had told them and they said that when they lived in Japan, their grandparents sent them away to this Buddhist camp for 6 months when they were 6 years old where they shaved their head. This threw me off completely and I started to experiment. I share art class with storm this year and I decided to ask them about their last name. I won’t disclose it here but it is a very white last name. I brought it up to them and they told me that they have their moms last name and not their dads Japanese one. When I asked what the Japanese last name was and they told me (I literally had them spell it out) and I looked it up on google. It wasn’t even a real fucking word . They told me it was Takamishido. They were silent and so I asked them more about their moms last name and they said that it was Russian and so they were part Russian because their moms parents are Russian. I looked up their last name and the only origins are Americanized Dutch. Nothing to do with being Russian at all. They were silent about that too . I asked them more about their childhood in Japan and they told me that they were homeschooled and don’t remember any Japanese or really anything from living in Japan from ages 0-8 because of a trauma response that made them forget everything. This all already made me mad since nothing was adding up but what really did it for me was when I got in trouble because during school there was a drug search in the parking lot and the cops dogs smelled weed on my car. The only friend I have that I knew for a fact smoked weed is storm and I know this because they have showed up to come hang out with me and my friends multiple times and been extremely high and smelled so strongly of weed. I had driven them to prom that last weekend and I guess they stunk up my car because they were high again. Stuff like this doesn’t usually happen to me so I was crying all day during school because I was confused and embarrassed. While my other friends comforted me, Storm ignored me all day and then at lunchtime proceeded to tell me to just fuck the cops. They know damn well they were the reason I got in trouble and said fucking nothing about it. They have also spoken multiple times about how they think people who do drugs are awful and affect others so bad yet they themselves do the exact thing. There are multiple other little horrible things they have done but these are just the main things. I’m writing this because I wanna know if I’m over exaggerating everything and they aren’t lying and I just can’t see it somehow. I feel like I am going crazy. Please help me.

My name is Dr. Smith, not my real name of course, but for purposes of storytelling it will have to suffice. I have been practicing medicine at an Asian country as a general practitioner. I'm relatively new and I practice at a small village, not too far from civilization, half a day's travel by car and a few hours by boat from the country's capital, but very rural nonetheless, complete with superstitious beliefs and customs. I decided to stay here when I first graduated and passed the licensure exam for two reasons: first, I have a place to stay here, my family's ancestral home (although none of my direct relatives have lived there for years), said ancestors being one of the first people to settle in the area and second, because my family had always been the physicians in this small community as far as anyone remembers. Me, my grandfather and his father before him all went to the city to study medicine and went back here to practice it, like there was a pull, a calling, to sacrifice the convenient, fast-paced city life for the quiet and serene. My mother hated the idea, as clingy as she is to me, saying things like she wanted me to always be around where she could protect me, but you can't really help it when purpose calls. To be honest, it feels good providing a wide range of services to the honest people of our small, humble town, no greater feeling than helping the less privelaged, educating them and dispelling preconceived notions and old wives tales which are aplenty in my country, especially here.
I still recall how everything began. I made a makeshift clinic at one of the rooms of my ancestral home, it used to be my grandfather's office, but it felt old, antique, and perhaps too... professional, nothing wrong with that, but I wanted my patients to feel a more homely setting. So, I rearranged a bit, removed the imposing self portrait of my great-grandfather wearing his white coat that hang on the wall and transferred it to a more private area of the house. I changed the dim, barely functioning lights into brighter, more modern ones, removed the exceedingly extravagant chandelier and equipped the room with materials and equipment that I deemed necessary for my practice. I retained the wooden floors, but outfitted the walls with charts and more colorful decorations, in anticipation for the occasional pediatric patient. It was beginning to look less like an old abandoned house where teenagers went for the spooks and more like a place of healing and betterment, a clean place offering a clean mind...or so I hope.
"Your grandfather would have a heart attack if he wasn't dead already, seeing what you've done with his old clinic" quipped Martha, our housekeeper. All I know about Martha is that my grandfather hired her as a young teen and she has been here since then, she babysat and raised my mother as her own, and even took care of me as a toddler. Considering her age, she mostly supervises the younger and more capable help rather than doing tasks herself. None of them stay at the house, but they get called upon when me or any of my relatives were expected. Most of the family consider her as one of our own at this point.
"Well i'm sure great grandpa on the other hand enjoys the change of view" I replied jokingly. "Besides, I bet the patients would appreciate not being treated in such a dark, gloomy room."
"You know how your grandfather was..." she replies, that the idea of a dark, gloomy, old man liking dark, gloomy, old places was a no brainer. "...but everything aside, it is so nice to see you again, have you been feeling better? What did your mother think of you staying here?" she said with what I felt as outmost sincerity, "I used to chase and carry you around this estate and now look at you, about to carry out your family's legacy as a physician yourself" she continued, with a hint of pride from her tone.
I smiled. I myself couldn't think of a reason why a well respected man, revered even, by this town and it's people for everything he has done would act nonchalant and depressed, always with a jaded look in his eyes and stay in an equally dim and depressing part of his house, I've always known him to be like that, but was he always?
"I am better now. It's good to see you too, I'm glad you're staying healthy, and mom sure did not like it but well...she told me to say hi on her behalf" I told Martha. She beams up and smiles on my mother's mention.
"Well...I took the liberty of digging up your grandfather's documents, records and his patient charts, I doubt many of them still live but I thought maybe you'd like to have a look, I placed them around your desk but I can relocate them if you want me to"
"No, that's perfect. That's something I actually intended to do, i'll give it a read, thank you" I replied. I know some of those patients were either old or probably dead to be honest, but seeing data as well as the cases my grandfather had to deal with might help me in the future.
"The villagers already know Dr. Smith's grandson is here, they know you're a doctor, so expect to have a patient one of these days, perhaps as soon as you give the word that your clinic is open" Martha said, as she walks out of the room smiling and slightly waving, signalling a goodbye.
"I'm not even surprised" I think to myself. Places like these, words spreads like wildfire on topics like these, the idea of someone from a known family, coming back from the city, not to mention deciding to stay indefinitely, like the whole village needed notification, like the village demands explanation.
Hours passed and as I was satisfied with my new setup for the clinic, I took a break, sitting down and looking at the mountain of paperwork and folders placed on and around my desk. I picked one, thinking to myself that I might as well have a look now, with nothing else of note to do.
Patient #010438 Name redacted 43/Female
History of present illness: Patient had 3 day history of undocumented fever, dysuria, and bilateral flank pain Did not seek consult, no medications taken
Past Medical History Unremarkable
Personal and Social History Unremarkable
OB history illegible
Physical Examination BP 110/80 HR 102 RR 20
Nonhyperemic tonsils No murmurs Clear breath sounds Nontender abdomen (+) Kidney punch test
Noted a signature of the patient claiming she was not pregnant as a form of waiver
"Jesus grandpa, couldn't your history and physical exam get any lazier?" I thought to myself. Seeing pertinent history not asked and multiple organ systems ignored on physical examination. Given, some of the writing were already faded, the quality of the paper had deteriorated greatly, and plenty of details already illegible, all in all the documents weren't that bad. It sure doesn't help though that he writes like someone in the middle of a warzone practicing heiroglyphs.
I skimmed through more of the documents and patient files, most of the cases are relatively benign, majority are outpatient visits, some are emergency cases and there are the rare ones requiring transfer to a more developed town hours from here with better services and equipment. Time passed and as I lay down the last folder in a pile, I noticed a moderately sized box, probably the size of a briefcase, placed on the floor, dusty but obviously ornate. It piqued my interest although in my mind, I was pretty sure it was nothing but more documents, I decided to give it a look.
I picked a stack up and I started to read:
Patient #00512c Name redacted 32/Female
"Weird" I thought, it was numbered differently, and definitely none of the other documents were lettered. I continued reading:
History of present illness: This is a case of a 32 year old female who came in on date redacted due to a chief complaint of multiple hematomas, abrasions, burn wounds and lacerations on her face, trunk and extremeties..."
"Trauma? An accident? Possible abuse?" I contemplated.
"...patient allegedly noticed easy bruisability 2 weeks prior to consult, followed by alleged spontaneous appearance of abrasions and lacerations 2-3 days from onset of bruising, supposedly waking the patient at night due to the sudden sharp and searing pain, initially small cuts 3-5cm widest on her extremeties and face but eventually progressing to deep cuts measuring approximately 10-50cm on her back, chest, abdomen and lower extremeties. 1 week prior to consult, patient started noticing burning sensations on her skin, causing extreme pain and leaving reddish burn marks on her body, patient also experienced lack of appetite and inability to sleep due to loud voices and..."
"Spontaneous appearance? Easy bruising could be a lot of things, but for it to occur with 'spontaneous' abrasions and lacerations? Not to mention burn marks?" I thought out loud, having doubts about the credibility of the use of the word "spontaneous". Surely it was not an accident, considering it started 2 weeks ago with noted progression. "It could be a hematologic problem with the bruising, but that wouldn't explain the sudden appearance of cuts...maybe accompanied by a dermatologic one, the patient is prone to breaks in the skin? But then again the burn marks...the voices..." I analyzed. I was leaning towards abuse, where the cuts and bruises were inflicted by someone else and the abused, whether in some form of fear or coping, decides that it was "spontaneous" rather than inflicted, but why bother lying to yourself, perhaps the one who did it to her is a partner? Or a loved one? It made sense, someone progressively becoming more aggressive with her as time went by, becoming more and more extreme, from bruises to eventually burning.
It could a combination of illnesses to be honest, one on top of another, perhaps an overly sensitive or extremely dry skin that breaks and peels until it bleeds, an allergic reaction prompting the patient to unconciously scratch till her skin became red and lichenified, voices due to lack of sleep or a mental disorder. But looking at my grandfather's physical examination of her, none of the findings solidifies the possibility of those i've mentioned. Truth be told I also partially allowed myself to tunnel vision on the prospect of an abuse, to the point I've skipped some of the chart's contents that I deemed weren't important and tried to look for information to support my claim, or perhaps to disprove it, rookie mistake, but well, I am a rookie then.
"Patient is widowed, lives alone at a secluded area near redacted, only goes out to buy some necessities from redacted but has very minimal interaction from anyone in the village"
Okay then, either she is hiding the fact someone was with her, who is abusing her like I initially thought of, or it's self harm. "I'm pretty sure grandpa considered everything that went through my mind right now. Let me check his initial impression" I thought, with a tinge of annoyance, considering I felt that the patient lied to my grandfather, and was lying to me, decades after the fact.

1 Trauma, to consider physical abuse versus self harm;

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere" I said to myself, with a bit of pride having the same thought process as a physician with decades more experience than I do.

2 To consider mental disorder, probably psychotic - premature dementia

I chuckled. Premature dementia, didn't think i'd see that term, I thought everyone including those from his time would have used schizophrenia already, then again medicine and medical knowledge isn't as easily passed around as it is now. Psychiatry as a science would be relatively new during his time compared to other disciplines so the fact he considered it based on the patient hearing "voices"? Bravo gramps.
"Well...", I thought to myself, "...plenty of things to consider and rule out, let me check what else is there." A bit of cockiness on picking my grandfather's brain out and feeling good about my train of thought, a practice consult and so far, I'm on my way to a perfect score...

3. To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

.................
I gave the document a stern look, unmoving, unblinking, emotionless. Time has stopped, and I haven't noticed. My brain trying to digest the information, the same way my stomach would probably digest a block of steel...it's just not possible. I read one of my grandfather's diagnosis again:

3 To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

I never been one for faith. Evidence is everything. Science is everything. You can replicate it, you can prove it. Most importantly...It. Makes. Sense. I look at beliefs not based on evidence and feel nothing but skepticism if not disdain. Why won't people listen to expert opinion? Why won't people believe in facts? Why explain the unknown in such convoluted ways, requiring submission of oneself when the only thing the truth requires is but comprehension. I looked at that diagnosis feeling disappointment.
Then I felt anger. "Grandpa, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" I thought to myself. Here is a woman, full of bruises, cuts and burns all over her body, claiming that she has been suffering for weeks, barely eats or sleeps, was having auditory hallucinations, in dire need of medical, if not emotional and psychological support and one of the things that comes across your mind is possession.
I tried to calm my mind, these are records of the past anyway, I thought. Maybe it was a resignation born out of incompetence. Maybe grandpa wasn't as good of a doctor as I thought he was, that the shortcomings of his knowledge and limited technology of his time prompted him to adopt a more...liberal viewpoint to medicine. Maybe he was just superstitious himself. Maybe the people of this place had leaked some of their local beliefs into his psyche. Maybe isolation changed the man. Or maybe...just maybe...there's something to it.
I've never been one for faith. That goes for my faith in science as well. To just say that something is stupid because it doesn't align with standard, accepted scientific belief is just as detrimental as its counterpart.
I decided to investigate further when I heard the entrance to the room open with force. One of the maids leaning onto the wall by the entrance, still grasping the doorknob and evidently out of breath.
"Sir...ma'am Martha...calling...for you...says...it's...it's...an emergency..." She says in between breaths.
I quickly stood up, feeling sorry for the woman, she just ran, obviously gasping for air as she arrived at the clinic and now has to lead me back to wherever she came from with the same urgency. At first I was worried something might have happened with Martha, what the maid said didn't really give much clarity, but upon arriving at the main hall I noticed Martha, standing beside a middle aged man and woman, carrying a child, no more than 10 years old. I notice the clear panic and worry on both of their eyes as the man held the boy, who was uncontrollably shaking.
"I know you're not taking any patients yet and I was considering the time, but nobody knows what to do so I..." Martha explains, quite concerned while I ordered the parents to put the child flat on the ground, with me assessing the situation. The first thing I noticed was that the child was burning hot, "possibly febrile seizure? No, too old" I thought. I asked both the parents important details while I ordered the other maid to time the duration of the child's seizure. All the while thinking of possible diseases that may present as such, "Seizure disorder? Epilepsy? Meningitis? Encephalitis?" Eventually the shaking stopped, much to the parents' relief, and I ordered them to carry the boy as we made our way back to the clinic.
"Was this the first time it ever happened?" I inquired, as I put the child on one of the beds in the clinic, securing the corners with additional pillows, noticing the sunken face and apparent exhaustion from the boy, possibly due to the ongoing fever and the recent seizure episode. Once secured, I face the parents and continued my inquiries, I eventually explained everything, elaborating on what I believe happened, I explained that for now, lowering the fever and investigating the source were what we could address, the battery of tests I plan to do (disappointingly, most of them cannot be done here, and I would have to accompany them to a hospital on another town as soon as first light breaks), and the medications and management I plan to give. Everything proceeded as planned and I asked both parents to relax and take a breather, offering them a seat and asking the help to give them water.
Things eventually settled, little Johnny's fever subsided and color came back to him. Nowhere near clear, he can worsen anytime, but that was the best that we could do at that time. The parents were still worried, understandably so, but to an extent reassured, we have a plan after all. Martha, as well as Diane (the help from earlier), now at a calmer state. We discussed the plan, how we would travel, who would accompany us and what we would bring. Eventually, our conversations became relaxed, started to shift to other things, trivial matters, such as were they lived in the village, the date and time of my arrival, recent gossip, where Martha was more than happy to share.
"I was worried the evil spirits might have gotten my baby..." Said the mother nonchalantly, as we talked about the occurrence on a lighter note. "...that's how they got Mrs. Johnson's middle child. That poor boy was never the same after."
I smiled. Not wanting to immediately correct them and sound like an uptight individual. It's part of our culture afterall, old belief systems and a way for people to cope with loss or difficulty, who was I to deny them that. I won't approach these people the hardheaded way, but I will slowly show them the realities and truths of the things they may not understand, well, at least with regards to their health.
"Well, little Johnny is safe here, we'll do what we can" pointing to their son.
Only, their son wasn't where he was supposed to be. I look at the parents, I look at both Martha and Diane, everyone who looked at where I pointed were just as shocked as I was, a split second of silence before panic ensued. Suddenly, everyone stood up on high alert and was looking everywhere. Under covers, under the bed, corners of the room, the desk, behind curtains, hell, I saw Diane look at one of the damn drawers, as if a 10 year old would fit there.
Suddenly I heard loud vomiting, retching, followed by sounds of splashing. I follow where the sounds came from and see a large pool of black, tarry liquid at a corner of my room. I slowly trace where it was coming from and there he was...little Johnny...standing...upside down...on the ceiling.
I hear everyone in the room scream, I was probably screaming too, I couldn't remember. I do remember little Johnny screaming with us though, extremely high pitched and mockingly, with bloodshot eyes, upside down, while black liquid poured from his mouth, covering his face and dripping from his hair. How was that even possible, screaming while liters of unknown fluid dripped from his mouth? I don't know.
Then he laughed, although I was pretty sure that wasn't his voice. It was deep and guttural, it cannot be the boy's voice, it cannot be any boy's voice.
Time seemed to move in slow motion, I was noticing every detail, every expression from everyone's face, I can feel the seconds hand on my wall clock move, the slow dripping of the viscous dark liquid from little Johnny, I can feel every drop of sweat on my body. I could not cope with what i'm experiencing, was it a trick of the mind, an organized prank, have I gone mad...again? So I did the only thing I know how to do...
I tried to diagnose.
"Maybe it was dengue shock all along!" I thought to myself. "Vomiting blood, paleness, fever, an episode of seizure and definitely change in sensorium" I reasoned to myself. I was coping, and I was coping hard. I was ready to drown on my self absorbtion when a booming voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"YOU DUMB FUCK, WILL ANY ILLNESS EXPLAIN WHY YOUR FUCKING PATIENT IS HANGING UPSIDE DOWN ON THE FUCKING CEILING?" Said little Johnny, or at least whoever was speaking on his behalf, because from where I'm standing, I can clearly see that the boy was not mouthing any of the words he said.
"YOU'RE A FUCKING FAILURE, DOCTORS LIKE YOU SHOULD KILL THEMSELVES! HAHAHAHA" he laughed, I never knew laughs could sound like that, as if the words were nails, and his voice box a chalkboard.
"OH WAIT, YOU FAILED AT THAT TOO DOC! FUCKING PATHETIC!"
Of all the things that were happening...a young boy hanging upside down, a mother crying on the floor hysterically, a father staring at his son, eyes wide open and mouth agape, Martha and Diane, both crying while sharing a rosary, in the act of what I assume to be prayer...the thing that snapped me out of my trance was the words that came from little Johnny. Knowledge nobody but the closest to me should know. A secret I planned to leave behind when I left the city, a wound I intended to forget as I started anew.
Visions of my memories came flashing back...medical school...overwhelming duty...familial expectations...failure...depression...my attempt...a bottle of medications...my mother...crying...on my bedside...
"LEAVE MY SON ALONE!" Johnny's father screamed. Starling everyone in the room.
Nothing matters, the past is in the past, I am better now, and that boy needs help, more than anything.
"YOUR SON? WHY DON'T WE ASK THAT CRYING WHORE IF JOHNNY REALLY IS YOUR SON" The voice says, laughing.
At that point the mother stops crying, looks up towards johnny, then towards his husband, in a state of shock. Like what the voice said is crazier than whatever was happening at the moment.
"THE ONLY REASON THAT WHORE STUCK WITH YOU WAS BECAUSE JOHNNY'S REAAAAAAAL FATHER WOULD NOT TAKE HER!" The entity says, continuing the hysteric laughter.
We were being played. It was toying with us. And from the look on the mother's face...it seems like little Johnny did not even need to lie to do it.
Then, to everyone's horror..."It" started to run.
It ran across the ceiling in a rabid frenzy, erratic and forceful, running and jumping, hopping sideways then going on all fours, still attached to the ceiling, splashing bile and blood all over the room, all the while making a "hihihi" sound...childish and terrifying. It ran and ran, repeating the same erratic change in movements, repeating the same eerie giggle until it reached the window, stopping and standing straight, it stared outside for what felt like forever...then all of a sudden...johnny just fell, like whatever was attaching him to the ceiling just gave, headfirst into the floor, giving a very audible cracking sound.
I heard a gasp from johnny's mother. I can at least detect some miniscule chest expansion, but that cracking sound cannot be anything good. As if thinking the same thing, Martha, who was the nearest to where Johnny fell, while still clinging tightly to Diane's rosary, approached the boy.
"Johnny?" She said softly, all the while approaching an inch at a time.
As she was almost at arms length of the boy's body, she gives the mother a knowing look, confirming that he was breathing. Martha suddenly produces a piece of cloth from one of the pockets of her uniform, possibly to pack the bleeding from the head. She intended to put the cloth on top of the boy's head, but looked towards my direction, urging me forward, perhaps for me to place it properly. I walk towards the boy, takes the cloth from Martha and as I fold the cloth to circle Johnny's cranium with Martha's help, the boy immediately sat up, looks at Martha and smiles ear to ear...literally ear to ear.
"GET YOUR WRINKLY HANDS OFF ME YOU DUSTY OLD FUCK!" He barks at her, Martha screams in fear and I was taken aback.
That was all the time Johnny needed to stand and jump towards the window, breaking it and running towards the mountainside. I hear his father scream his name, quickly breaking more glass so he could fit, and immediately giving chase. The mother was still on the floor, wailing towards the direction of her child and husband. Martha, in shock, still holding the cloth she intended to wrap johnny with.
It took me a while to notice Diane shaking me vigorously. "Doctor!" She screams. "Doctor Smith! What should we do!?" She voices out, with obvious desperation.
I ignored her.
I feel scared, but taking all into consideration, I predominantly feel tired. Defeated. Insulted.
I have nothing more to give in the face of whatever that thing that took Johnny was.
I slowly walk towards my desk, I open my drawer, I take a piece of paper and I pull out my pen.
Patient #00001a Name redacted 10/M
I write, giving no thoughts to the people on the same room as me, those left behind by little Johnny and his father. "Did he catch up to him? Was the boy alright now?...is his father alright?" I wonder. I'll find out soon enough, I figured, rumors spread like wildfire around here anyways.
I continued to write with resignment, absorbed in my own little world, consumed by the horror I witnessed, the breaking of my spirit, of my beliefs, the questioning of my knowledge. I want to escape it, deny it, but that's not what should be done to the truth. So I surrendered.

1 To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

END

AITA was my wife's reaction on mothers day justified or not?
I will try to keep this short. Two days prior to Mother's Day, my wife (just randomly) comes up to me while I am home late from work, washing dishes and bottles, and she tells me that if my stance on religion was still the same, she would take both the kids and leave. This has been an ongoing issue with us. We are Muslim, but I no longer believe in the religion for lots of reasons, but that is for another post. Anyway, two days later, it is Mother's Day. I am still feeling a little upset about her statement, but anyway, I make breakfast for her, and I go to her while she is still in bed (I decided breakfast in bed would be a nice start to mothers day I tried making it unique although I suck at food prep of any kind). I kiss her on the forehead, tell her happy Mother's Day, and tell her that I love her. Then I tell her I have to go take care of something because our electricity bill needs to be paid (got warning shut off message from company) or shut off would occur (poor budgeting on her part she left less then 150 in bank with a 1100 budget and no bills were paid) I need to work and make money, and I will be back, and I'll give her a massage and take care of the house and watch the kids and give her a date to herself, and then I plan to have a date on Wednesday and celebrate Mother's Day that day. She subsequently texts me and says that only I of all people would work on Mother's Day and didn't even bother to get her flowers. How everyone is posting online about their gifts, but she has nothing to show, and that I am basically a garbage husband that always does this. When I tell her that I had plans for Wednesday, and I am at this point very frustrated with her statements, she calls me a narcissist and how I have no sympathy and I never validate her feelings and she never has a right to be upset and I just always have to be right. I was upset at the lack of any appreciation for what I did and planned on doing for her. She then calls her family and begins to talk crap about me for the next 3 days and we are now at a point where she is trying to divorce. There is much more to this story but from just this brief mention what are your opinions? I will answer any questions below. Am I a narcissist? I can't handle this anymore emotionally.

We had to peel up the vinyl flooring in our basement because we noticed water got underneath. The previous owners half-finished the basement. When I was cutting back some of the drywall to see if the water was coming from the wall, I discovered a poorly-done concrete pad that was loose on the basement floor. This was back in January, and we decided to have a basement company come and look at it. Without taking up the concrete we were able to see some flowing water that never backed up or changed intensity. We watched it for months and no water backed up. We determined it was probably an existing small subterranean spring.
Tonight I was clearing the area and decided to peel up the shitty concrete covering the space. This revealed an iron pipe and some buried clay(?) pipes under the foundation, which have the water draining from them. The iron pipe is dry.
I’m not sure if this was an old sump pit or draining ditch. It drains away from the house towards the yard. Our plan was to dig it out and replace the gravel and cap it with concrete. I’ve never seen something like this, I don’t think a sump pump was there previously.
Sump pit
With concrete covering

I recently picked up a 14" M3 Max and I LOVE IT! It's my first high RAM/high perf MacBook and I'm getting a ton of work done. I however picked up a M1 MBA for $599 on the Walmart sale and I'm feeling a little guilty keeping it as it seems wasteful to have multiple MacBooks.
My current thoughts are is that the M2 iPad Air has seemingly poor battery life compared to the MBA and I can get a ton more done on the MBA over iPadOS. I also really like the thought of an M4 iPad Pro but I can't justify it at $1,200+ when the MBA was/is $599 new right now.
As the title says, does anyone else keep a second Mac for "around the house"?

I was born in a large city. My parents 21f and 24m were both university students when I was conceived, my mother was in 3rd year. I'm not sure what year my dad was in. I always get vague answers when I ask. My parents originally planned to become teachers after completing teachers college.
Instead they married largely due to family pressure early in the pregnancy. Immediately after that they backpacked around southern Europe and Morroco. They drank considerably and smoked Marijuana as often as they could. Their original intention was to teach English in Spain, but apparently changed their mind because of the hospital, cost seemed to be the main factor. They returned to our city with my father going back to school and eventually getting his teaching degree and his first teaching job when I was 3 or 4.
My mother seemed to resent having to care for an infant. During my childhood she would complain about the awful diapers and mixing formula, etc.
When I was approximately 2 -3 years-old I was diagnosed with cerebal palsy. Immediately after I was diagnosed my parents started trying to conceive another child. By the time my sister was 1 year old, my parents decided she wasn't as perfect as they thought she should be so they conceived my youngest sister.
My kindergarten teacher wanted me to repeat kindergarten because of my very poor motor skills mostly cutting and pasting but also my printing was very messy, which was mostly due to the tremors. I was intellectually able to do all of the work and I could already read. If had gone to senior kindergarten I would have been able to enter French immersion, which started the year after I entered school. Also I was the youngest child in my class because I was born late in the year. The French immersion schools were much better funded and had much better teachers and resources. I stayed in the original school which was one of the 2 worst schools in our region. My first grade teacher made me stand in front of the class to evaluate my reading, I was very shy and soft spoken, so I stammered slightly. From this alone she put me in the bottom reading group even though repeatedly showed her that I could read any book in the room. Standardized testing in 2nd grade showed that my reading and math skills were at 6th grade level. I know this because the guidance teacher showed my scores and explained what they meant when I was frustrated with the pace of the classroom and lack of mentally challenging work. My teachers would make me write things over and over because of the 'messiness'. This never worked and my printing would get worse because of fatigue and pain. I was bullied by most of the kids in my class because I was small, clumsy, physically weak, and somewhat odd looking, the fact that I was very smart also didn't help. My teacher wouldn't allow me to use the washroom when I needed it, since I had a bladder disorder related to my cerebal palsy, that meant I would sometimes wet myself. This only happened when I wasn't allowed to use the washroom when I needed to. This led to the other kids calling me diaper queen. Eventually I was exempted from most of my in class subjects and allowed to work independently in the library on whatever I desired. When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade my arm was badly sprained by a bully and I was prescribed a tensor bandage to support my hand and wrist. I noticed that my printing was better with it and I tried to keep using it. My mother found out and angrily took it away from even though I explained that it helped me. She would not listen and there was no explanation at all. She would send me to school no matter how sick I was, and would only let be at home when the school said I was too sick to be there. Our house never had a thermometer or bandaids or any other health related items, not even a hot water bottle or heating pad. When I was in 5th grade I developed a ganglion on the inside of my middle finger, it was very painful and made it even more difficult and painful to write. I saw a hand surgeon who said he could remove it easily and quickly. My parents, mostly my mother refused to allow me to have this surgery even though it would be completely paid for through our canadian health program.
Every few months we would visit family friends in the city each time before we went home my dad would go to a bank machine, except we always parked at the far edge of the parking lot and my dad would walk away and then be gone for 30 to 40 minutes. I realized later that he was buying amounts of Marijuana about a pound or two each. He and my mother would smoke it regularly, they I wasn't aware but I especially the air currents would waft the smell to my window.
Even though I asked repeatedly to be moved to a different school my parents made no efforts to do so. I could have been moved based on my disability and also my intellectual giftedness. I was not taken to a dentist until I was 8 years old. By this time I already decay in several of my teeth, partly because our water wasn't fluoridated. My dad could have added flouride to our well water for a very low cost, but was too cheap to do so. Another factor was I did not have a child size toothbrush so it made much more difficult to clean my teeth effectively.
My parents were home most of the time but spent very little time with their children. There was very little affection shown. I had very few clothes, with one or two items bought for back to school. And sometimes none since I was failure to thrive and grew very slowly. At Christmas my mother would buy the same toys for all 3 of us even though I was 4 1/2 and 7 older than my sisters. One year she bought all of us cabbage patch dolls, this was even though I had never had any interest in dolls or girly stuff. She did this again when the cabbage patch dolls came out.
My grandfather died when I was 9 years old, my grandmother remarried suddenly when I was 13. She lived with him in England for several months but then they moved back to town close to us. There were frequent family gatherings that included him. From almost the beginning he would find ways to trap me and sexually assault me by pushing me against a wall or into a corner he would then force his tongue into my mouth and rub his penis against me. He would also shove his hands into my pants... During my adolescence I was misdiagnosed with depression, when I actually post traumatic stress reaction because of the many things I'd dealt already, I was sent to a psychiatrist who didn't listen to me and wasn't competent, she kept prescribing different drugs when I didn't respond to them the way I 'should ' have. She put on lithium with no sign of bipolar disorder. I very developed severe lithium toxicity. She took me off it eventually. At some point she decided that since antidepressants weren't working it must because I was psychotic. She put on antipsychotics even though I repeatedly told I was not psychotic and I never was. She wound up convincing my parents to send to this inpatient program for adolescents with psychosis. I talked to the psychiatrist there once and he knew I had never been psychotic, he stopped my medication immediately and I was the only one there not on any medications and was not mentally ill at all. But I wound up spending 8 months there.
There were other things that went on with my family but this about as much as I can write right now. Am I wrong to distance myself from my family ? I feel little connection to them and they usually want to draw me into some drama that I don't want to deal with. tl;dr; childhood experiences, neglect

My dad recently died. My brother and I flew home to be there for the funeral and get family belongings (photos mostly). Dad's gf (laura) had to go into the house first so the dog didn't attack us. Why, you ask? Because my dad didnt want anyone in the house (he was embarrassed by the condition of it) so bad that they trained the dog to attack anyone that came in besides himself and Laura. This dog is a big ass Rottweiler. Well, because of the condition of the house, Laura can no longer stay there. It truly needs to be condemned. She just told me she had her parents drive her to the house to feed and water the dog for the last time. This poor animal is scared, doesn't know why he's being left, he's in the dark, and is about to starve to death. I'm beside myself! She said she called animal control and 911 but they wouldn't help. My question - if I call animal control and tell them there is an abandoned house with a dog left inside, would they go get it? With his training, I'm sure he'll be put down, but that's more humane than what's happening now. I would warn them about the dogs training, but I'm not sure if they can help. If not, does anyone else have any suggestions?

So lemme give u a run down of my situation:
Sophomore and junior year of hs i was in and out of the hospital and different programs and was almost put in the custody of the state and a group home bc of home situation and mental health, basically graduating with a really bad gpa (2.4 gpa hs, 3.7 dual enrollment gpa) I got basically a full ride to a an okay state school (idk how) but they dont have my major and penn state, oos, which does have my major but theres no way in hell i can afford it (24k a year) but am wondering if I should go to a community college and transfer as i think colleges prefer cc transfers because after sophomore year bc u leave with a degree, retention rates of cc students, etc The only thing is, i cannot stay home, so i would have to work like 30+ hours a week to afford housing, food, utilities but at the state school ill have housing and food covered, i feel like it might be a no brainer. i also feel like I am going 100% going to transfer out as the state school does not have my major (botany/plant sciences) and I was planning to double major in botany and environmental studies/science. I cannot afford penn state like whatsoever, and tbh idk why i applied, just did bc my friends did and I thought i wouldnt get into anywhere. I was thinking I would go from state school - school that can meet full demonstrated need (bc poor, raised by single mom who makes 29K a year) that has my majors. What schools should be on my list? I was thinking abt applying to cornell, and the ucs bc i know for a fact that if i didnt have any worries abt being homeless and etc, that i could def get a 4.0 at a state school bc my dual enrollment classes were while i was struggling. Im just gonna say aswell like ive wanted to go into policy specifically for conservation of plants/also for sustainable agri, not just national but globally, so I wouldn’t mind doing international studies/relations and environmental science, which brings me to tufts (im local, live right next to campus), and maybe columbia but these are all reaches bc of how bad my hs gpa is. Idk if my extracurriculars are even good (nationak art society, art club president, part of two college and career readiness programs, recieving stoles for both, and was a student rep for two galas at one, created jewelry for a fashion show, volunteered at summer camps and for music production, recieved awards/scholarships for testing and at my highschool for an essay, worked 40+ hours a week at restaurant jobs to help pay rent, im also weird and am doing a study about ant nuptial flights and do lapidary work as a hobby. I’m gonna apply 3 times, once at the end of freshman year, midway through my sophomore year and at the beginning of my junior year (ik ill lose credits). I know that there’s probably a 99.7% chance i wont get into any full need schools if i apply as a freshman or as an incoming sophomore, but ik that space is limited so would it hinder me if applied to schools when I have the time to? And can someone give me advice for anything or share a story bc i need it. If you can, pls dm me if u have any personal advice or for anything. Tyy and im sorry if this is immature and scatterbrained and i did real the wiki but like i feel this is kinda specific

Hi everyone!
We purchased a house in December 2023, and until around February things were going great. Neighbors who have lived here for over 20 years reported it to be a nice and calm neighborhood with no crimes. In March, some houses started being targeted by a TikTok trend where teens kick doors or garage doors at night (usually around 12am-5am) and then run away.
Since March, tens of houses have been victims of this, but ours showed an escalation on Friday. The teens tried to open my door and throw fireworks inside. Fortunately, I always lock the door. The cameras show one of them lighting the fireworks and another trying to open the door before kicking it hard. We noticed immediately since I was still awake and called the police, but they escaped.
The problem wasn't just the "prank," which is scary enough, but they also spray-painted obscenities on my brand new car. The cameras caught them trying to open the door and again with the fireworks. However, my camera only records the first 10 seconds of motion on the SD card with the free plan. We don't have an existing doorbell, and we refrained from installing one because our house has a rock facade that could be ruined.
I need to think of a plan to secure my house. It has one main door, one carport door on the side, one back door, one basement door, and a shed door. It also has a huge backyard, and the whole neighborhood has very poor lighting. My house is on the corner of a street, making it easy to escape from all sides.
I am setting up a local "neighborhood watch" with folks from my street, but I don't know what to do. I am hopeless and would appreciate any advice or recommendations on security systems that work well at night. If there's any system that would work well on a tree (there's a huge maple tree on the corner of my property), it would help us see the teens' movements at night.
Thank you!

So we have a 4-month-old puppy in the house. One problem is that she isn't potty trained. I kind of blame my parents, though it's kind of my fault too. I am a full time college student, so I am not home most of the time. So I didn't take the puppy out when it would've been prime time to train her. Neither did my parents, not even my mother who stays home most of the day. Now they take her out once or twice or just leave her out expecting her to learn that way.
Their behavior towards her accidents in the house has become more and more troubling to me. Especially my father, he would loudly swear at her get angry while stomping aggressively towards her. Today he picked her up by the scruff. Showed her the puddle of urine, and hit her lightly, but then she whined. This wasn't the first time this had happened either. Whenever I express the slightest displeasure at this behavior, I get berated and made fun of. They said things like "how dare you gives us dirty looks!" "stop being so dramatic!" "You should've seen what my father did to train his dogs! (they way they talk about the older generations makes me despise them. especially the men, yet they claim things were better 'back then' and don't seem to understand the concept of abusive cycles.)". They get very angry at me for my discomfort and claim they are just training the poor pup. Cleary it doesn't work, hell there is papers stating this doesn't work.
I can't remember properly(my brain has this thing where it tries to scrub things that make me feel greatly uncomfortable and distressed from my brain and only leaves me with bits and pieces of the memory that feel hazy), but I think they did the same thing with the other dog we have until they discovered that this was causing her to have more accidents in the house. The best I can do is try to actually train her over the summer while I have more time, but that will take months until that fully becomes effective. It hurts me I don't feel like I can do more.
I feel conflicted about my parents because part of me does love them, but they have parts of them that they refuse to change that I feel deeply disgusted by. I can't imagine lifting my hand against an animal out of frustration, especially one so small.

You sat down in a car, tears flowing down your puffy cheeks. You got farther— and farther from what used to be your home. Your home, that now is a crime scene.
—
You woke up, when did you fall asleep? You sigh, before looking out the dirt covered window and taking in the new environment. You were still on the road, but you could make out a rather large building in the distance— it seemed to be at least 3 stories?
You got closer and closer to the unfamiliar building, and just for a moment, you forgot about what happened. You forgot about what had happened to your parents. You forgot about what you saw. About what you heard.
Tears began to form again— but you quickly shook your head and wiped the tears away. It’s time to start anew. You’ll be okay.
—
Finally, you were there. You were at that strange building— that you never knew existed. It was by your old school. You were ushered out of the car by the driver, and as soon as you collected your things and got out, the car sped off— leaving you alone, outside in an unfamiliar place.
You began to make your way towards the building, almost slipping on the rather muddy path countless times. Finally, you reached the entrance and knocked on the door.
.
.
.
There was no answer, so you knock again. You wait, but once again, there was no answer. You just stand there, until suddenly— you can hear footsteps coming from inside the house.
Finally, the door opened. You looked up to see who opened the door, and you see a seemingly elderly woman wearing a beautiful white gown, with a pearl necklace around her neck.
” Oh! We’ve been expecting you, deary! Come in, come in! “
She invited you into the house, and as you walked in— you immediately smelt what seems to be freshly baked cookies, yum! You look around, before setting your bag down on the dusty, wooden floor.
” Welcome to Sunny Sorrows, hun! “
The kind lady smiled at you, and finally— you notice other children running around the house. This is where you’ll be staying, you guess. It didn’t seem THAT bad.
The lady walked off, seemingly to go grab something? So, you just stood there as other kids of all ages played around you, although they were all quiet and seemed to all have various scars. Strange.
Whenever she came back, she handed you a paper that was damaged fairly bad, although you could still read what was on it.
” I’ll have Junie take you to your room, if you need me i’ll be down here! “
—
You were now sitting on a rather comfortable bed, holding a teddy bear you were given by your now dead mother. Before you began to cry again— you quickly decided to distracted yourself by grabbing that paper you were given earlier.
—
Welcome to Sunny Sorrows Orphanage! There are a .. few rules if you wanna make it out of here alive! But don’t worry, I believe in you.
1. Avoid going into the basement, nothing will get you— it’s just .. it’s dark down there and the door has a habit of locking whilst people are down there. Last time someone got locked in, we found them a little too late..
2. Don’t enter the nursery alone, especially at night. If you absolutely for some reason need to— prepare for a fun night. You won’t be leaving it anytime soon.
3. Don’t enter the bathroom past midnight, some of our guests .. aren’t very fond of children.
3a. If you ABSOLUTELY need to use the bathroom, wake up one of the caretakers.
4. As you are going up the staircase, please don’t pay attention to the fact that the stairs seem to be getting longer— and longer with each step you take. Trust me, they aren’t. You’ll be at the top soon.
5. During lunchtime or dinner, if your food begins to melt, please IMMEDIATELY throw away your plate and grab another.
6. The guests don’t seem to like noise, please try your best to be quiet, unless you don’t like your vocal cords!
7. Please behave, troublemakers get punished. You don’t wanna know what happened to poor Liam, rest in * *pieces.**
8. I understand you may want to pet the cat in the yard, but please don’t. That is not a cat, in fact— we don’t know WHAT it is.
9. You may hear scratches at your door, and people pleading for you to let them in after midnight. Please don’t open the door. Please. I don’t want to have to clean up what they will make of you.
10. There is a door at the end of the hall, it should ALWAYS be closed and locked.
10a. If you notice it is unlocked, please let one of the caretakers know. It may have gotten out.
10b. If it is wide open, RUN DOWNSTAIRS. Push the button behind the staircase and open the door. Try to get anyone you can into the room and shut it immediately. Say goodbye to anyone that didn’t make it in, you’ll have to help clean them up later.
11. Please make sure to wash your hands! Nobody wants your germs.
That is all, I hope you stay safe.
Sincerely,
Maverick

Im a university student and work full-time. I have some friends from university with a similar family background to me, but my close friend group is from high school and overall I'd say my family is upper middle class and they are lower middle class.
By no means is my family rich. Both my parents are engineers but my mom doesnt work. My dad makes a good amount but my parents are immigrants, they save a lot of money, and have worked hard for everything they got. The designated hang out place is my house because it has a pool and because im always the one initiating messages in the group chat saying that we have to hang out.
But recently I've gotten pissed at them because every time they come to my house they leave stuff everywhere or break things. And my family is very organized and neat. I told them that they need to help clean, stop messing with stuff, and that I need them to help pay for supplies when I have hang outs because i literally pay all the money for food.
This weekend I had a BBQ and they left cups in my pool, dented a wall, used our towels and left them on the ground, rode my dads bike and hit it on the curb, and lit candles on our table which stained it with some black ash. The whole time I was telling them to stop doing stuff and politely asking them to be careful with our stuff and they would say "why do you care you can just buy a new one?" And that made me so mad. They also asked me to say till midnight but I have to clean when everyone leaves so I told them no, and they got upset.
They also constantly just bring up how I have no issues in my life since my parents are "rich." We travel once a year, my family pays my tuition and got me a car which is paid for. But anything else that I want I have to pay for. I pay for my clothes, personal groceries, vet bills, food, going out, trips etc.
I know im more privileged but I don't like how my friends have zero care for our stuff and dont realize that I'm paying for most of my things with my own money.
I also am an engineering student, i did my first internship at my dad's workplace. I got many other offers but chose to work with my dad because I knew I'd learn more since I'd have him to answer my questions. And we could drive to work together. It was a really fun internship but everyone seems to think I got it from nepotism, although I had other offers.
I also am a much better student than them, i do personal projects, was a teaching assistant, am vice president of an engineering student org, and have a personal website. So I got three offers for internships this semester while they didnt. And they think I got them all from nepotism. I don't know how else to explain that I understand I have more privileges but I work hard and my family doesn't throw money at me.
I don't think they understand that people that have money still are careful with their things, don't just spend money on random stuff, and that I'm not a millionaire that can fund everything.
They also arent even poor. Most of them have parents that are engineers but I think they cant manage their money and end up poor. They spend crazy amounts at bars and on random trips while I save. I go to the closest uni by my house so I can pay in-state tuition, not pay dorms, and not pay for a meal plan. I don't want my parents paying insane amounts for my degree. But they all go to one 2 hours away and are in debt. It's just very frustrating.