What to write on an anniversary card to boyfriend

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.

I (22f) had a falling out about 3 months ago with my friend (who I'm going to refer to here as Dylan). We met during our second year of college and formed a really close-knit friend group on campus. Most of us met through one person or another, and we pretty much did everything together. It was also during the first semesters after the covid lockdown. There weren't a lot of people on campus, so we ran into each other a lot, being the only few people around. We had a bunch of game nights, movie nights, etc. Sometimes we'd even hang out at the tops of parking garages for picnics.
Dylan and I started to get closer, since we have a lot of the same interests, like Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel. We also just found it really easy to open up and talk to each other. I told them a lot about my personal life, including some traumatic experiences I had growing up. They shared some of their hardships with me too. We had very different things happen to us in our lives. Even so, I felt like we developed a strong bond and an ability to tell each other anything and everything. I don't know if this might sound weird or corny, but I think of the first half of our friendship as being a lot like the song "Loser Baby" from Hazbin; We each have some bullshit that we carry, but being able to have that general issue in common (who could emphasize with having a lot weighing on you mentally) made me feel less alone. I had someone to lean on for support to keep moving forward.
Dylan wasn't the only person I had a strong, emotional connection with though. Around the same time that our friend group started, I met my boyfriend (24m). He and I are still together, and I feel incredibly lucky to have him. Over the last three and a half years, we've developed an open line of communication and developed a signifcant amount of trust in each other. Even as a long distance couple to start, we always made time for each other to meet up on weekends or call throughout the week. And we still do. And even during bumps im the road, we're very upfront about our feelings, we take fault when we fuck up, and we talk through what we can do to resolve the problem. And we BOTH follow through on what we discussed.
About a year and a half into my friendship with Dylan (which again, was also a year and a half into my relationship), they admitted to having feelings for me. At the time, Dylan said they wanted to come clean about it in hopes that putting it out in the open would help them move on, so to speak. This probably should've been my first red flag, but I repressed the feeling. I didn't want to think that my best friend was trying to break up my relationship. I convinced myself that they genuinely just wanted to get it off their chest because it was killing them to keep such a secret from me.
From that night on, our friendship was very rocky. We tried giving each other space, but being in the same friend group made it difficult. We also didn't want to tell anyone besides a few people. I was especially worried that airing it to everyone could create an even bigger mess. This meant that there were times when one or both of us avoided our other friends altogether out of respect for each other. Which only made us feel more alone, resulting in us hanging out even more to make up for how we felt. I was also very open about the situation with my boyfriend. He was very understanding, more so than most people would probably expect. He knew that we were very close before their feelings were known to me. And he trusted me that I knew what I was doing when trying to maintain the friendship.
As the situation went on though, Dylan's feelings didn't fade. In fact, they seemed to worsen. Our friend group is generally very touchy-feely. By that, I mean we frequently say "I love you" and hug. Some of my friends have even kissed each other on the cheeks or foreheads while we were tipsy/drunk. Sometimes, we would also say "I love you" to one another with platonic feelings behind it. At least, that's how I viewed it for a while. There were some nights, when Dylan would be really upset while talking to me about how hard it was to move on, how guilty they felt because they couldn't help but hold onto hope that I might one day mean "I love you" in a romantic way towards them. They even admitted to holding some anger and resentment towards my boyfriend. All of this, looking back, should have been signs to leave the friendship. I know that now. But for some ungodly reason, I was so convinced at the time that there was still something like a friendship to glean from this. They conveyed guilt and remorse for their feelings, so surely that meant things would get better?
I thought that when I graduated and moved back home, things would get easier. After all, we wouldn't be able to see each other all the time if I had a job and lived a good hour or two from where we went to college..Right? We'd be able to focus more on ourselves. And we could still keep in touch via phone calls or texting if we really missed each other! This is when I started to really notice all that was wrong in our friendship. Our venting in regards to mental anguish and stress became more self-loathing. Admittedly, on both sides. We started talking more to each other about our issues in a venting-while-deep-in-our-emotions sort of way with no balance between that and trying to suggest solutions. Sometimes, I'd try because there were certain things Dylan would tell me about that I knew were beyond the help I could give as a friend. But when I even remotely suggested things like therapy, for instance, they would get very defensive. They said that they tried it years ago and had a bad experience. At the same time, they would also acknowledge that professional help could, hypothetically, be beneficial to them..?
I don't remember exactly when it started, but there were a couple of times while texting where Dylan would just lash out at me. They'd question me for staying friends with them. They more or less told me I was stupid because I was putting myself through so much by being their friend. At one point, I lashed out in retaliation for texting me about their woes only to get mad when I tried to help. We had a conversation in person about one argument in partculiar. We both apologized and agreed to work on our communication with each other.
Some time passed after this. I realized at one point that I hadn't heard from them in a few weeks, which was strange because we had a habit of checking in on each other at least once of week or once every other week. I tried messaging Dylan a few times, but I didn't want to overwhelm them. I figured some time further apart might be for the best. As more time passed, I started to get more worried and decided to call them a couple times. Finally, they responded via text (this isn't everything they said. I cut some of it because it involved personal info):
"It’s not fair to keep you in the dark and it’s much too rude to keep doing this to you. I wish I could excuse it with the really shitty weeks I’ve been having so far, with most of my days being depressed, anxious or worse, and the good days being few and far between. It’s been the case but it’s no excuse for how I’ve treated you in this. Long story short, I’m ignoring you because I don’t want you to care about me anymore. I’ve been a lot more solitary recently and I’ve kept to myself a lot - I’ve realized that I let people in only to refuse to let them help me. But especially with you, because our situation is still complicated to me. I still feel like shit about you - how much I love you, and how much I hate you. I don’t care what your feelings are to me - it’s difficult for me to play around you. Whenever we talk, hang out, or fucking whenever I think about you, I get a twang of happiness and self-hatred. Every little thing I say becomes a mine I throw out in front of me and step on immediately, hoping it doesn’t blow up.... and I know you say what you feel towards me, but god fucking damnit you make it impossible to believe you sometimes - because it hurts to think about. You do, it all does. My constant overanalyzing of other people is one of the main things to send me spiraling. I’ve legitimately thought about cutting off from EVERYONE: so I can always stay stable without having to worry about plans that come out of nowhere; I don’t need to worry about what I say to people I care about; and I don’t have to hurt people I care about. Apathy, while it is a wretched thing, is the place where I’m at my best - playing sports, video games, or otherwise…it’s disgusting but it’s the way it is. I’ve never cared about a thing in my life and I don’t want to completely fuck you over when I eventually stop caring about you.
As I’m typing this, I know I’m dropping a lot of shit on you. There’s no quick answer to this but I wanted all my thoughts down in a way where I can spit it all out without getting sidetracked or interrupted. Idgaf if you read this all or not.... I wish I could say I’m sorry.
I know I may have said before that our friendship will last, no matter the circumstances…but I am, and always have been, the problem. That’s not coming out of a place of self-deprecation, that’s the cold, unfortunate truth.
And...I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've lost a lot of hope and I know I can't look to you for help anymore - because it brings me more misery than joy."
I had to read it a few times before responding. I didn't try to argue for the sake of our friendship. As much as I wanted it to continue, I knew it wouldn't be okay to force them when they were expressing a desire to separate. But in the same conversation, after writing this out to them, Dylan started to back-pedal. They suggested that maybe we should meet in person to discuss it more. Because there's "more that I didn't know about them". I immediately got suspicious and basically told them to fuck off; If they were done, they should just say it.
I was kinda angry at the whole falling-out for a while. Particularly how wishy-washy they seemed at the end after everything we'd gone through. I didn't know how to feel and I still don't now that I've started to miss Dylan. Or maybe the friendship we had before everything went to shit..? I also can't help but feel like I should tell the rest of my friends about it. But I don't know what they would do. Is it worth saying? Would it be too risky for the sake of our whole friend group? It's eating away at me. I feel as though I'm walking on eggshells every time I make plans with the friend group, because what if Dylan is there? What would they say to me, if anything? Is there anything left to say?

PREFACE APOLOGY: I hate how long this post is, but there are so many nuances that are applicable to the intricacies of my situation - so for best chance of receiving tangible advice, I felt I had to give a good amount info (this is just the tip of the iceberg lol but I'll save the rest for the Titanic)
First: Explanation of title above; I am a first-gen college and current medical student. The relevancy here is I come from low-income and uneducated (does not mean stupid or that you need to be educated to know about financing or alternative solutions at all) parents who don't know much about how to approach finding options as it pertains to either acaedmia or financing
Second: In full transparency, my mental and physical health is hanging on by a thread so while I very much want honesty, any advice along the lines of "you're SOL", "damn that sucks...medicine isn't for everyone", or "it just is what is is", while valid thoughts, would only further harm me right now. So if tangible advice is not feasible, words of affirmation work wonders as well <3 THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR EVEN CLICKING ON THIS AND/OR READING THIS
Situation overview:
Without going into too much detail, I am essentially on what is commonly referred to as a "research year" in med school - which is when you take a year in between the normal four years to do research. This can also be used to catch up on exams, finish academic makeups, or slow down due to life circumstances while remaining an active student. These years are less than half-time where I go, which means that students qualify for zero federal or state financial aid for living expenses. From what I understand, a lot of students traverse this via one of the following: paid research positions (2 birds, 1 stone but extremely competitive and hard to find), financial support from family, obtaining a private student loan, or simply getting a full-time job (depending on if they have remaining academic items to finish first or if they don't want to do an LOA but still need a break and don't have anything academically to catch up on).
Applying above dynamics to my circumstances:
Personally, I had a major med school exam to finish and a couple smaller ones after during said research year. Originally, my hopes and intentions were to do research during this year, but life and changes in school policy resulted in that not being the case. At the start of this year 20 months ago, I was extremely open with faculty about my needing to get a job in addition to these academic requirements, despite our common shared opinion that the aforementioned exam is itself a full-time job and is extremely high stakes. However, since they stated they could not offer me any grants or aid, quite literally having a job was a matter of life or death as I needed to eat and afford stable housing. Flash forward, I began communicating how balancing the two was causing me to be spread thin and I was still struggling financially, which resulted in delays in academic progress in terms of exam readiness. The only advice I was given was taking an LOA (which was so frustrating and hurtful as we regularly get grants from donors) - but I was always so against an LOA for much of this time because this seems to be their solution for everything rather than actually finding tangible solutions and student support (have a cold? Take an LOA. Boyfriend dumped you? Take an LOA). Additionally, I knew while on an LOA I could not finish the items required of me since I would not be an active student - so it would solve nothing while further pushing me behind another year from graduating. Flash forward, I've had 7 months of food insecurity, using food pantries, utilities being cut off, trying to maintain some semblance of self-worth and mental health.....all while trying to be a med student. I also don't feel bad for myself, it sucks, but I'm not new to this, I'm true to this" life lol. I have just been trying to navigate the situation to the best of my ability - because even though I don't feel this way right now - I'm meant to be here and deserve to be here. I have overcome far to much to get here to begin with.
I can't go into why - but essentially, right or wrong, this is make or break for me. And I have 6 weeks to get said remaining academic criteria done (preparing for it is a full-time job). The school has since gotten the year that I'm on to qualify as half-time enrollment status, so students will get aid and don't have the problem I am having. However, this change doesn't apply to me (naturally lol), as it will only be in effect for new students starting out on said year.
Summary/overview of current sitution:

• no guidance or financial support institutionally, but with increasing alluded consequences
  
• family who is helping as much as they can but is also low-income
  
• credit score is poofair range (624 Transunion, 596 Equifax) that doesn't qualify for private student loans (even with a co-signer as my parent also does not meet requirements) or new credit cards + $17 in my account and no additional money in sight
  
• spent the last two weeks looking for remote work I could balance with exam prep, GoFundMe didn't gather much, already sold most of the clothes and shoes I own, can't get paid to donate blood due to anemia that developed this year from food insecurity, grocery delivering in my town earns less than minimum wage with the gas you use that isn't reimbursed
  

What can I do? I am beginning to look into emergency personal loans, but I really don't understand how these types of loans and pay day loans work? Does the APR kick-in after 30 days? If so, if you pay it earlier do you avoid all the APR? How soon can you get these deposited into your account if approved? I'm sure it's all specific to each lender but according to my initial loan match, my APR would be 99% lmao. I essentially only need 2k in personal loans to get me to July and finish this exam. My hope would be to use $200-$300 of these funds to apply for online MPH programs that starts in July (I've always wanted to do this anyways while in med school), which would qualify me for financial aid that I could get in the next couple weeks and then I could use these funds to pay off payday/emergency loans by July - which is when I will be all in the clear and can get a full-time job OR take an LOA without dire consequences academically - and will be able to finish required exam in the next 6 weeks.
Final info is that I asked about taking an LOA given extreme circumstance, and I was told no/that it would not be good in the long term (sort of implying I could get dismissed as soon as I come back for not taking the exam by 6 week deadline)
ANY TIPS/ADVICE ON LOOPHOLES TO NAVIGATE THIS IN ADDITION TO PERSONAL LOANS AND MPH/FIN-AID OPTIONS STATED ABOVE WOULD BE IMMENSELY APPRECIATED.

This post is very long. This first section, before the first triple-line-break, is the summary. Details follow that.
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SUMMARY
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So, I was very much looking forward to Legendary Tales for a while now after hearing so many great things.
I bought it on sale a couple days ago and played the first hour or so, completing the tutorial and entering the main hub. Then I uninstalled and refunded it.
This is not a 'hate post' and I hope that this post will not only help people understand some of the issues of this game, and what this game is NOT, but also help people understand what this game is and why you might love it. I talked about my criticisms with others who love the game to help me approach this and hopefully deliver some useful thoughts. It's worth noting that I got lots of agreement about my criticisms from the people I talked to - who still love the game.
In short,
People love this game for the combat development in the context of a 40+ hour adventure. All the depth to the skill trees, which of course in my hour I didn't touch. The creativity of building the mechanics of a character RPG style - except you get to physically battle in VR. The reward of unlocking that cool skill you've been excited to try out, or finding a legendary that's a blast to use. Even in my short time with the game I could feel the beginnings of this with the parry system. I did have fun fighting skeletons with a simple sword and no skills, and felt the challenge as I had to aim my sword deflections well and time my counterstrikes. There is an effective mechanic preventing waggle-fest and I can begin to imagine all the room to develop your combat mechanics in a way that is, fun and rewarding, and uniquely VR.
Sounds great right? To some it truly is.
But to me, not so much. Why? Because everything else is lacking to a degree I did not expect.
I've been playing a lot of The Light Brigade lately. And although these two games are totally different, it's a useful game to bring up because The Light Brigade excels in all the ways that Legendary Tales significantly falls short.
Atmosphere - music and sound, lighting and colours, art design, character and enemy models
Interfacing - Onboarding and intuitive learning, UI design and fluidity, control mapping, options, grabbing/interacting with objects, general polish
Storytelling - Plot, lore, world building, characters, character and enemy expressiveness, writing
For many people who play games, combat is at the forefront of their interests. For me, it always takes a backseat priority - if its present at all - to the above three aspects. The combat in Bloodborne is great, but it is because it excels in those 3 aspects that it's one of my favourite games. I also love lengthy games like Pentiment, Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, and Pathologic 2, which have minimal or no combat and lots of reading!
Legendary Tales is simply mediocre in those three bolded aspects and for me that's a hard pass. If these aspects were serviceable to me - done well enough to facilitate the combat - I might have kept going. But I don't use the world 'mediocre' lightly. This is the appropriate word to me, and because of that, I did not want to spend 40+ hours in this world.
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DETAILS
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For those interested, or for the developers, I will continue with a breakdown of these aspects I am criticizing, trying to go through everything I felt about them in the first hour or so of playing.
Main menu was my favourite part. I liked the scene + music together. Nice. I was looking forward to playing and this had me feeling fuzzy and ready to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
The very first issue I noticed was that the game felt washed out. Even in that main menu I liked, I was feeling like it was a bit washed out. So I tried adjusting brightness down... then the darker areas felt better, but the light areas felt off. The more I played and tried to adjust to find the right equilibrium, the more I realized the lighting and contrast is just not good and adjusting brightness can't save that.
The second issue I noticed was the menu cursor to select things. It felt like an early VR game that hadn't quite figured out VR menus yet. It's useable but not fluid and pleasing.
The third issue I noticed was the unintuitive controls. I thought that this was the kind of game, kind of like a Souls game, where you aren't taught everything but learn things as you go in an organic manner. Maybe some of that exists in this game, but mostly it's simply bad control design and a bad tutorial. It's the difference between having barriers that have purpose, purposeful friction, and feel good when discovered vs barriers that feel pointless and just build frustration without purpose. The controls feel like a mess and while it's apparent that people can get used to them as they play more, it's not in a justified sense.
Along with this are interfacing issues. For example, grabbing items feels very awkward. The motions are clunky, for example the way a weapon will slowly glide into place in your hands. There's so many interfacing issues. The interface to see weapon/item stats on weapons that are laying about is clunky, the interface to switch weapons is clunky, the magic interface is clunky, dialogue boxes feel clunky,... all of these things feel clunky both in terms of feel and also aesthetic.
A very straightforward and obvious example is dialogue. Character dialogue is presented in a large bland text on a page. To progress through the dialogue, there's no obvious place to click or button to push. In fact, you have to click a particular area of the page, which feels totally arbitrary and unintuitive. Sure, once you learn, you can do it fine, but it's just bad interface design.
To go back to The Light Brigade, think about the difference in both feel and aesthetic to opening a chest or breaking a pot. Grabbing a gun and how it arrives to your hand. The attractive dialogue boxes. Watching a reward pop out of a chest, picking a tarot card. Putting objects into your waist pouch or taking them out. These interactions are all comfortable, beautiful, fluid, and intuitive.
The next thing on my mind was sound.
As I played the tutorial, the soundscape was barren. There was a wind loop, which didn't loop correctly leaving a solid second of space between the end and beginning. Sounds didn't feel like they were placed quite right in 3D space. Point-based sounds (like the crackling of a campfire, that comes from a specific point in space) had too small of a zone (the sound should be heard from further away). In general the soundscape was very barebones. And when I encountered the first character, not only did the character look totally goofy and out of place, but they made no sounds when 'speaking', not even grunts or gibberish sound.
To skip ahead for a moment, I also felt the music did not match the environments enough. The music was quite pretty - that's not the problem. It just didn't feel like the environments were quite synergized with the music.
Again for both music and sound, think of the gun sounds, the ability sounds, the sound of the enemies as they spot you, the sound of the environment, the footsteps and dash, the grunts of characters when the speak, the music... not only does it all sound great, but it all feels like expressions of the unique world of The Light Brigade. This is excellent sound and music design, that truly bring the world to life.
Although a minor complaint, I also noticed lots of grammar and spelling errors. Although I understand the team is in South Korea, and I appreciate the challenges of translation, just like with everything else I was just expecting... more polish. I thought it would feel like a full package, at indie scale. But it feels very much like a partial package.
And that segues into the writing...
There are games with simple and/or unmemorable story, where the story is still servicing and facilitating the gameplay.
And then there is just plain bad writing.
This is very much the latter.
Maybe a bit of this goes back to translation but I am doubtful that it fares much better in original Korean in essence.
The writing is goofy, juvenile, poorly structured, and generic.
I was also seriously turned off by a couple lines in particular, that I'm sure affect me more than most but I will mention anyways. One was something like "valuable gem missing. And a hot girl". Like... There's nothing inherent about calling a woman (or a man) hot that I don't like. Yes gamers, you are allowed to find women attractive, relax. But it's the way its written,... I'm not going to turn this into an essay about male gaze but the way its written simply services a particular male audience that casually objectifies women.
Even worse was the final line I read, a quest line. Paraphrasing, but the primary descriptive words are all exact: "Go kill 10 kill peasants in a refugee camp". I don't think I need to elaborate, people who are on a similar page to me will understand why this was just an incredibly gross line.
I know the above two dialogue criticisms will not be shared by everyone and not affect everyone the same way. I am expressing them as part of what I felt, my personal criticisms and experience, just like the rest of what I'm sharing.
Again to compare to The Light Brigade... every line feels thoughtful and builds character and develops the lore. Whether its the forlorn lines of NPC members of The Light Brigade, or the scenes that appear between runs, and other bits and pieces you get. The Light Brigade develops so much world with few words, it's quite impressive and again a beacon that Urban Wolf Games can learn from.
The final issue I'll discuss was something that struck me earlier on. That is, player character model and lack of customization.
First of all - again an issue that the majority here probably won't be affected by - I could not pick my character model until after completing the tutorial. Specifically, I was forced to do calibration as a male character model, and then had to play the tutorial as this character. Minor complaint but again just another polish issue.
Both male and female models are just... boring designs, and the female model is again very juvenile, obviously serving a primarily male audience, whether intentionally or not.
But more importantly, there's no character customization. Not even the tiniest bit. Even the ability to change just skin colour and hair only would go a long way. Especially in a lengthy adventure like this, I need to be able to identify with my character. Especially with multiplayer it seems essential to me, but even if it were single player, and as someone who plays primarily in single player, character customization is hugely impactful to me.
This does not really have a contrast in The Light Brigade - there's no character customization in The Light Brigade either, although the kind of game it is, it's not as relevant. That said, I do think it would be a nice touch if there WAS some minor character customization in The Light Brigade, and especially if you could play as a woman instead of man if you so choose. Although maybe lore-wise it is intended that all members are male except for 'Mother'. This hasn't been established with any good reason though. So on this point I would lightly criticize The Light Brigade as well.
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ENDING THOUGHTS
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Ultimately, Legendary Tales is quite simply a very indie game that probably had a very small team and limited funds. I don't know for sure, but probably there *wasn't* a dedicated writer, a dedicated UI and interface designer, etc.
However, these things are still failings of the game and its design. The greatest indie games to me are ones that successfully recognize their scope limitations and develop something complete within that scope. Whether it's the roguelike world of The Light Brigade, or the very short and stylish Tiger Blade, or Jeff Minter's trippy games like Akka Arrh and Polybius, or the retro Silent Hill aesthetic of Organ Quarter, or the suspenseful hotel of Propagation Paradise Hotel... all these games are made by small teams but successfully navigate their limited funds to deliver a full package within an appropriately limited scope.
On the one hand, I really value and support BJ's push for indie games to be respected and for that respect to reflect in the price consumers are prepared to pay. But after being totally on board with the price of Legendary Tales based on what I read from BJ and reviewers and many regular players too, I have to disagree with this game's pricing. This game is not polished enough, and is not a full package. That the game sucked out so much funds is an error of scope.
Maybe I will be in the minority, and Legendary Tales has been a success so it seems that I am, and so good on them for knowing the value of their game to the demographic they targeted I guess. And regardless, even if the pricing and attempted scope of the game are an error on the dev's part, I'm glad for the dev to earn back as much as they can, or even turn a profit hopefully.
But to me, reflecting back to the question the devs put forward: "Do you want to see deep combat development like this in VR for a 40+ hour adventure from indie devs?" The answer is no, I don't. I do consider the scope of this game an error on the part of the developers. It sounds like they did not even turn a profit enough to allow them to expand their team (but maybe I'm misunderstanding). I hope that they do continue with VR development, but instead focus on a much smaller scope game. Deliver a polished, complete package within a smaller scope, implementing a much tighter budget that will allow for potential turning of profit with an appropriately lighter sale price (maybe targeting a $30 game?).
If that is successful, do it again, and again, until they can expand and eventually work toward their dream adventure RPG, hiring actual writers and UI designers and sound designers etc. For me personally, this is simply not the kind of game you can half-bake. It should be attempted again when, and only when, they feel they have budget to do this in a truly full and polished manner.
I had the pleasure of meeting BJ briefly at PAX East. He struck me as friendly, kind, totally genuine, and incredibly passionate as a game developer and a VR game developer in particular.
I do wish this team good luck and despite my own harsh criticism I am glad so many ARE enjoying this game, and also feel the price point is justified. I want devs to earn money, including Urban Wolf Games. And I hope that they will continue to develop and bring more VR to the world.
I hope that my criticism is constructive and useful toward these same goals.

Burner account for obvious reasons. If anyone of you know me or him please do not say you do. Keep it to yourself. I made the burner for a reason, to vent my feelings and get it all off my chest.
On Janurary 18th 2024 my boyfriend overdosed. His mother told me it was a prescribed medication overdose. Earlier that day I had blocked him after finding out he cheated on me (The 18th was also our anniversary) Multiple times he made burner numbers to call me and text me begging for me back and threatening suicide. I was on the phone with him for 30 minutes before the police got there. His last words to me were, "why did you call them. I HATE YOU. IM TAKING THE PILLS" before i hung up. I was hoping he was bluffing. Saying this was the 3rd time in our relationship i had called the police on him for threatening suicide. I had no idea till Feburary 1st that he had killed himself. I was given almost no info up until then. Me and his mother never really spoke much before as we werent together for a super long time. She contacted me February 1st to Tell me that he had taken his life. He was on life support for two days before she pulled the plug on Janurary 20th. At first, i didn't believe it. I thought this was some sick joke to upset me. And that he was fucking with me and trying to get me to talk to him. I did some research and found out it was true. I blame myself alot. I still do. 5 months later i still think of him everyday. I cry myself to sleep every night wondering if im deserving of love. I hate him for his selfish actions. We were planning on getting an apartment and starting a real life together. I was so in love with him. I didn't want to believe it. His suicide hit me out of no where even though i saw the signs. I convinced him to go to therapy a few weeks prior wear he got diagnosed with BPD. I was hoping his therapist and psychiatrist would take him off Adderall ( he struggled severally with an adderall addiction ) But they would not. A few days after i found out about his death I got a text from the woman he cheated on me with. He knew this woman for less then 2 weeks before he killed himself. She wrote me a very hurtful message saying how "All he wanted for me was to be a better person" and other hurtful things basically trying to make me believe it was my fault. I know i shouldn't be angry at her but i fucking hate her. Me and him were finally in a good place and she knew he had a girlfriend ( she admitted this ) and still ruined my relationship. Causing the fight to breakout. Everyday i wonder if things would be different if I didn't call the police. I miss him more than ever. I hope hes happy now. But i hate him. For his selfish act. That has truly ruined me. I feel like i'll never love again. I feel so hurt. His selfishness has made me have thoughts I never wanted to have. He was truly the man I wanted to spend my life with. I miss him more then ever. I hope to meet him again in another life, but until then. I hate him. Because of how much I loved him. What he did is unforgivable. Im thankful for the people who reached out to wish me well, etc. but none of them get it. Most of them have never experienced someone that close to them, someone they would sit and talk to for hours. Would spend all their time with, and fell in love with. Just one day vanish. and kill themself. I have alot of things i wish i said to him before he did it. I wish i told him I love you one last time. I miss him. I blame myself for what he did. And not only do I hate him for what he did, I hate myself. I wish I could change what he did, get the outcome he deserved. He was 23 when he killed himself. He will forever be 23. He shouldve lived an amazing fulfilled life but now he cant. And I cant help but blame myself. Maybe im selfish for thinking like this. Not giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Sorry if this was all over the place. I've never written anything like this and im not the greatest at talking about my feelings or past.

Hey everyone, currently writing this in the Papa John's parking lot. I cannot emphasize enough how Little Caesers ruined my life. I can't even stand to be within a mile of one. Hell, even legally, I'm banned from every Little Caesers in the United States for the crimes I was coerced into committing.
It all started 4 months ago. I (18M) was an average man with an average life. I was making $370K a year as an Onlyfans model. Honestly, to say I was an average man is an understatement. I was in the top 0.3% of creators. I had a beautiful girlfriend (19F) who was in her late teens. I drove a Bentley, lived in a mansion, vacationed three times a month, we really lived it up.
Anyways, 4 months ago it was my girlfriend and I's 2 year anniversary together, so I wanted to do something special for her. Our first date was at her grandmother's pizzeria, so I thought why not recreate a similar experience?
I told her that tomorrow night I was going to give her the best anniversary she's had. Anyways, following day she tells me she wants a "girls day out". Which, I didn't approve of because last time that happened she went and had sex with 8 different people in the span of 2 hours at a "Girls Halloween party". Her defense was, it wasn't cheating since they were all adults and "Wanted to blow off some steam because I don't let her work and constantly abuse her". Which, let me tell you isn't true. She's a liar, a cheater, and promiscuous. I don't let her work, because I fear she may cheat on me. I have reason to believe she would cheat because I'm an Onlyfans model. I'm sleeping with up to 5 clients a day. I know how much sex is involved with working a full-time job. I had to struggle for 20 years prior to landing my high-paying career for $1000 a month. So I think I'm pretty qualified to say, she will 100% get involved with others if she gets a job. And the abuse part? It's a complete lie. I've only ever laid hands on her a few times in 2024- and each time she's deserved it. Does she think she's better than me? She's unemployed and thinks she can talk.
Now that we're all on the same page that I'm a loving, caring partner, let me tell you about date night. After the traumatic experience of her cheating on me, I was hoping it wouldn't happen again but I had to let her go because I couldn't let her find out about the special place I was getting food from.
I drive up to Little Caesers, and I get some divine intervention to just.. I don't even know. I can't put into words how I felt. What happened next is still a hazy memory. I immediately ripped all my clothes off, put the car into neutral and barged into Little Caesers. My jaw fell onto the counter, right into this one lady's crazy puffs when I saw MY GIRLFRIEND getting involved with the manager, and three of the other employees. It was honestly kind of hot, so I jumped over the counter and pinned the man on the floor and started engaging with him. I'm not gay, but I truly felt like in the moment that was the right thing to do as I couldn't let him get away with this. My girlfriend, covered her pepperoni nips up with two containers of crazy sauce, and was very embarrassed.
I knocked the man out, and thought "only three more left. You got this MattyOW." The speaker suddenly switched to full blasting a song called "Pino-Angel Discipline". And let me tell you, that made my mood even better. I had a duty to fulfill. I started engaging with every employee, and every customer in the lobby. I even engaged with a packet of jalapeño cheddar dipping sauce, and I was shooting loads of crazy sauce all over the establishment. I felt like a hero. My girlfriend was astonished, looking at her manager on the floor in a pool of crazy sauce, blood, and a mix of jalapeño cheddar.
Now, I thought it was over and I could pick up my mobile order and go home and live happily ever after. But that's not all peeps. Remember when I got out of the car? I put it in neutral, not park. I knew I messed up, seeing the headlights getting closer and closer, I was literally a deer in headlights. then my car smashes through the front window, runs over the customers I just had an engaging time with, and slams into the counter and comes to a screeching halt.
I tried to go over to my girlfriend and comfort her, like any good partner would but she runs out of the restaurant screaming for help. Honestly, I was confused because I did nothing wrong. I was a hero that night.
The cops show up, I get arrested and I'm informed that my girlfriend filed for a breakup, and I'll be placed under investigation for multiple claims of domestic issues, arson, attempted harm, and manslaughter. I couldn't believe it, I knew I was the victim.
Anyways, I broke out of jail where I was awaiting trial and stole a minivan where I now sit, writing this in the Papa John's parking lot awaiting to start my first shift in an hour. I hope you all can sympathize with me, and give me advice as to what to do in these dark times.

Hi folks,
Wondering if any generous souls might be willing to give me their two cents on two layouts I did this morning. The relevant background here (confirmed with another reading) is that I'm currently part of a destruction dynamic going on with my current employer (whom I'm trying to leave asap) and I believe that business is going under. Approx. six months ago, I did some readings which seemingly indicated a destruction dynamic and I asked for clarification here. Some kind people interpreted the spreads as saying to lay low for a while, which I've been doing until very recently when I've felt called to do some divination.
For what its worth, based on the water of life card appearing frequently, it seems I'm on my correct path and healing, if that helps as additional context.
In a yes/no reading from the Tarot Skills for the 21st century:
"Is there an available curriculum of magical learning which would provide more net benefit to my life than Quareia?" (what I was trying to get at was whether, overall, there was a program that might be a better fit - I haven't come across it and remain very interest in Quareia and generally a big fan of JMC).
Answer:

1. What the question is about: Magical Death
   
2. The relevant past: Underworld
   
3. Difficulties to be overcome: Dreams
   
4. Help you are given: Partnership
   
5. The future outcome/what the answer will lead to: Hidden Knowledge
   
6. The answer: Ghost
   

I had and have no idea how to read the Ghost here as an answer. I believe from other divination that the destructive dynamic going on at work (of which I'm seemingly a necessary part) is underworld related (which may be a duh for some folks, apologies, but I know nothing).
So because I found this really confusing, I did a clarifying reading with the tree of life layout used in the same book, and asked: "Is the Ghost card in the prior reading telling me there is a spirit of a dead person around me or the situation?"

1. What the story is about: Stargazers
   
2. Positive or giving aspect forming the story: Fate Weavers
   
3. What is hidden or past that has bearing on the story: Leadership
   
4. What is necessary for the story to develop: Unraveller
   
5. What is withheld from the story or being taken away: East Gate
   
6. The pivotal aspect of the story: Inner Desert
   
7. What needs discipline or limiting for success: True Justice
   
8. What needs relaxing to flow: Service
   
9. The reason or dynamic behind the answer: Separation
   
10. The answer: Voice of untruth
    

I read the answer here via the voice of untruth as being "No, not the spirit of a dead person." I assume the separation dynamics have to do with separating from my employment, and that perhaps service is being used as a substitute for "work" meaning relax about work or don't do as much, but no idea. Leadership, I assume refers to my past actions. But this left me with no sense of the answer to my original question.
I've found the whole thing really confusing. If you've made it this far with me, I really appreciate you. To help figure out what these other readings mean, I did the Mystagogus layout, which read as follows. I don't ask that anyone try to interpret this for me, but merely provide it for context on the other readings.
1. Progenitor: what the story is about
a. Water Of Life: soul nourishment, sacred healing, physical healing, divine love, regeneration, working with water energy
2. Endurance: what must be overcome for success/growth
a. Sacred Place: holy place, sacred space, place of divine presence, clean, balanced, safe place, special person, nature power spot
3. Unraveling: what must be let go of or loosened up, or what is falling away
a. South Gate: south, future, fire, creative fire, volatile energy, yes, positive
4. Partnership: what you are closely interacting with or what is having a direct influence
a. Destruction: loss, destruction, dangerous imbalance, destructive behavior, make a major change, painful rebalancing, catastrophe, natural disaster, get out of the way.
5. Hearth: home, family, tribe
a. Silence: be silent, do not act, you do not need to know, do not ask, think before speaking, secrets and keeping secrets
6. West Gate: what is now fading into the past but can return
a. Load sharer: sharing a burden, upholding others, caretaking, holding a magical working, protecting someone, helping, hard work, enabling someone
7. North Gate: what is now long past and will not return, but has relevance
a. Harvester: death, change, liberation, closing, limited time, letting go, end of a fate cycle, loss of control that destroys.
8. Fate weavers: the current individual’s fate pattern that is active
a. West Gate: leaving, coming to an end, very recent past, slowing down, aging, direction of west, probably not, no longer viable
9. The Path: what is moving forward, active and positive
a. Companions: working creature companion, tend to creatures, augury, an important animal or bird, an animal is the key
10. The Binder: what is withheld, is not active, nor should be
a. Creating: creating, painting, writing, sacred art, consecrated art, sacred words, creative service, music, drama, the creative act
11. The gift: help that comes to the situation
a. Hidden Knowledge: unseen, secret, hidden, beyond understanding, hidden potential, unknown, depths, unseen water, incubation of great learning, despair before emerging, dark night of the soul
12. Underworld: The adversary of the situation
a. The Path: important fate path, trust, yes, correct, way ahead, action, move forward
13. Dreams: what is happening in sleep and dreams, can also be a position of visionary work
a. Progenitor: Idea forming, divine presence, preconception, before dawn
14. Inner Worlds: What is flowing to the situation from the innespirit worlds
a. Unraveller: falling apart, falling away, loosening, breaking up slowly, crumbling, unwinding.
15. Daimon: advice offered on what actions are needed for success
a. Perception: pay attention, a sign, warning, exposing hidden information, precognition, prophecy, awareness, truth, understanding the truth, seeing what others do not see, seeing what is veiled.
16. Danger: what is dangerous and can inhibit or stop progress
a. Purification: ritual cleansing, purify, consecreate, bathe, tidy up, clean space, make sacred
17. East Gate: Short term future, the path ahead
a. Splendor: yes, success, achievement, joy, beauty, respect, harmony
18. South Gate: What will come to be in the longer term future as a result of the current situation
a. Secret Commonwealth: land being, faery, nature spirit, unpredictable person or situation, make no promises, strangeness, a need for integrity in the face of unfairness
I took a lot of comfort in this reading because it seems like I'm at least on a positive path even in the midst of a destructive tide or dynamic with my company. I read some of this as "stay muddy to be camouflaged, don't cleanse yourself or your home overmuch."
Would really appreciate any thoughts or insight of parts or the whole of this.
Thanks all, and hope everyone is safe and healthy.

This is a weekly reminder post of this sub's stance on potential copyright infringement. This is a serious issue that needs to be kept in mind when creating and listing NFTs.
Original post by u/HurleyBird1
Quick disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE - THIS IS SIMPLY INFORMATION WITH WHICH TO EDUCATE YOURSELVES AND PREPARE YOURSELF FOR LEGAL ADVICE FROM A LICENSED SOURCE.
Now that that's out of the way. My credentials are: MBA, with a bit of business law classes under my belt.
I want to give a quick explanation of how copyright works - and I'll do so through quick blurbs n some myth/reality bullets.
Source: copyright.gov (US)

1. Subject matter of copyright: In general28(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:(1) literary works;(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;(7) sound recordings; and(8) architectural works.(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

- Myth: I can use any image/song/video/writing I want.
- Reality: No. Not true at all.
- Myth: Well they never said it's copyrighted.
- Reality: Upon publication (and even while a work in progress) a work is automatically protected via copyright under US Law.
- Myth: Well they never sold it.
- Reality: It doesn't have to be commercialized to be protected.
- Myth: Well it was a long time ago
- Reality: Possibly true...as long as the creator is deceased (or if multiple creators, the last living one is deceased) and the required time has passed...although this gets tricky with "estates."
(d) Duration of Rights.—(1) With respect to works of visual art created on or after the effective date set forth in section 610(a) of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, the rights conferred by subsection (a) shall endure for a term consisting of the life of the author.
So what's this thing I hear called "Fair Use?"
Straight from the source:

1. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use41Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Uhh...help me translate that please... (here's a decent official translation: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)

1. above...if it's non-profit educational use, you're usually good to go...if it's for money or trade (commercial nature) then you're usually NOT...unless YOUR piece is "transformative"

Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work.
- Myth: Well this is paid for in Algos, not USD so it's not "commercial"
- Reality: IT IS commercial. You could even barter for bacon and it'd be commercial. It's an exchange of one good/service for another good/service.
- Myth: My piece with Batman inside a card is "transformative"
- Reality: No, unfortunately, more-than-likely the courts would say it's not. A good litmus test is..."If Warner Bros Entertainment (owner of Batman) wanted to make an NFT/ASA "Batman card" would yours compete with it or be possibly mistaken (by a reasonable person - so in America think 8th grade education) for real merchandise? Probably...thus it's not transformative enough.
"nature" gets a little tougher. This looks at protecting the "creative process." Thus, using other works of art is less-likely to be protected than using factual sources - like historical photographs since it's easier to "create art" and thus "transform" factual pieces than other art pieces. This is also talking to things like "parody." Satire is NOT protected. "Parody" is. What's the difference? LegalZoomputs it well: While a parody targets and mimics the original work to make a point, a satire uses the original work to criticize something else entirely. Another way to look at it is that satire uses another work as a way to comment on something happening in the world that has nothing to do with the original work.
- Myth: I added a different border, extra planets, and some blur effect to MTZ's World of Light - it's a new piece of art.
- Reality: Not likely the courts will see it that way.
- Myth: This guy added a filter, some burn effects, and collaged a bunch of newspaper headlines together - isn't that a violation!
- Reality: Probably not...the courts would probably see this as a creation of art out of factual sources.
amount/substantiality in relation to the whole...this is where using clips of songs that are only like 5 seconds long works! But using more than that...runs into problems. This is tough to decipher too...as some songs are EASILY identifiable from just 5 seconds (Ice, ice, baby) - and thus NOT fair use. But some aren't. Usually you're safe using a very small clip of a song or video - especially if you're adding more to it. But this is a dangerous game to play - and there's places to get free audio (some sources below)
effect of the use - this is probably the biggest one. Courts will look at simply...does YOUR work affect the sales or potential for sales of the copyright owner. Of note...this is looked at at the time of the issue being brought to the court, not at the time of sale. For example, let's say my batman card sells for 10 Algos today, but Algorand BLOWS UP and soon every NFT is on Algorand. And now my OG Batman NFT is seen as one of the first Batman ones and official. Warner Bros gonna sue the shit outta whoever owns it at the time they sue to get the rights to all sales of that NFT. So that person is left holding an empty bag when Warner Bros wins in court.
- Myth: Well they're not commercializing it NOW so I'm safe.
- Reality: Technically, yea Warner Bros probably won't spend the money to go after the OG artist and the hands the asset passed through...HOWEVER, they may. That's their right. Who knows - the Napster days showed us the lengths companies will go to. EVEN BIGGER HOWEVER, the last person holding it when Warner Bros DOES decide to go after that Batman NFT...uh oh for them - they just lost their asset.
- Myth: Well it's been like a year, and no one has brought up copyright. So I'm good.
- Reality: If this was in a normal market...maybe this argument would work. If McDonald's let you sell a Ronald McDonald poster for like a year on Amazon with no issues, some court may say "bro, you took too long to bring this to us." HOWEVER, with cryptocurrency being so new (and Algorand being so little known/discussed), most courts would see it as "reasonable" that a copyright owner failed to exercise their rights within a year - possibly even a decade. (Updated because I realized last example dealt with trademark not copyright :o)
So what am I safe to use?
US Government works (mostly)...any deemed free to use by creator...and any a copyright lawyer says they have your backs on (cuz now they're liable).
Here's some great sources for free use items (please add to this list below if you know of some!!!):
Pictures: https://buffer.com/library/free-images/ (Unsplash is one of my faves)
Music: https://www.wix.com/blog/photography/2019/11/27/free-music-for-videos/
Video: https://blog.hootsuite.com/free-stock-videos-sites/
You'll notice there's a lot of "shoulds" "coulds" "probably" etc. This is because copyright cases are all unique and go to the courts. The best bet is to go with stuff you KNOW is free and fair-use. If not, I'd look up copyright law, consult supreme court cases concerning copyright, and ultimately, talk to a lawyer.
AGAIN: I AM NOT A LAWYER. I AM NOT PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. I AM SIMPLY PROVIDING INFORMATION. THERE MAY BE ERRORS ABOVE THAT COULD CAUSE SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGES - CONSULT A COPYRIGHT ATTORNEY IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE LEGAL ADVICE.

I apologize for the sheer wall of text but maybe this will be good cathartic Sunday reading? It helps a lot to write it out. I am a 49M widower, three years out of losing my wife (48F), father of three adult kids. Last year I felt I was ready to find love again, and joined a dating app. Very quickly I matched with Lexi (47F, not her real name) and was smitten right away.
I am in the tech and startup space in my city and she had just moved from the opposite coast with a tech background and two exits. In fact, she swiped on me because we had just connected by email two weeks earlier because she was looking to join the startup scene in her new home.
She was so accomplished and warm and smart. She was into Buddhism and spoke much of the language of my childhood in terms of peace and joy. We had so much in common. We quickly talked about cofounding a startup, I loved her own dreams for the future, she was supportive of mine. We were honest and vulnerable and despite feeling utterly naive and awkward it felt great.
It was also complicated. She had been married twice before, the most recent physically abusive and prompting her cross-country escape with her two sons. She was self-aware enough to know she was dealing with the trauma and I was wholeheartedly supportive. Practical things like helping her finish all the paperwork for her divorce or keeping a distance so as not to upset her kids made sense.
But over time and sometimes with great pain we would run into triggers and need to break and reset. Our attempts to do something together were too hard because she would fear losing control—which made sense. She was terrified of not having support in a new city and I made sure to be available to her as much as possible—down to reserving certain hours every day to be with her. She asked me to move into her building, then panicked because her sons might see me, so I moved into the building next door.
I loved her so much and wanted to do everything to keep her happy or at least feeling safe. Maybe my years as a caretaker to my late wife conditioned me in this way. But Lexi and I knew we both were in complex places in our lives and tried hard to navigate things. She read about dating a widower, I read about PTSD and ASD—something she felt explained a lot going back to childhood, from sensory sensitivity to difficulty reading nuance in social situations. As an awkward guy myself, I was empathetic.
We co-developed a shared document that basically helped us avoid landmines. When our daily time together would be. Where to park so she wouldn’t notice if I wasn’t home. Boundaries to protect her kids—which did feel like we were sneaking around and would fill her with guilt. She loved to cook and had specific dietary preferences and I adopted the same diet (and still stick to it, mostly, because it did improve my health). She said she felt safer the more of my face she could see, so I changed my glasses and shaved my facial hair. She was afraid of getting pregnant so I got my long-planned vasectomy.
And this all sound crazy, but I was happy to do it, and she seemed to be trying hard, too. She adopted ASD coping strategies, we put reminders around our respective homes, she even put my photo on her wall as part of a ranked list of priorities… though I think I came after her boys and her dogs. (I’m a cat person but loved her dogs, dogsat her dogs, and the regular walks were a main way we spent time together, even when things were rocky.) More articles and books, personality tests, studying results to find paths forward. She had a science background so did find some comfort in analyzing us.
The biggest trigger was that I would sometimes travel out of town. I work remotely so it wasn’t hard to just stay put. But before we met I’d planned to go to a big concert in LA with my daughter, and couldn’t not go. That one weekend trip was the biggest hurdle we faced. I even paid for therapy for her and kept my promise to keep in constant touch—but it caused a two-week break, and a lot of anguish thereafter. She felt abandoned even as I showed in every way that I was committed. A couple of times she had panic attacks and curled into a ball while we were out and about. Once she ran from me, genuinely afraid of me, when I had gotten frustrated and made a sarcastic remark.
Because of her past abuse, the physical side of our relationship was also tricky. There were rules here, too, but as a middle-age effective virgin, I was still into it. I’d only had one serious partner in my life, so everything was new and amazing… but for it to also be a hot-cold-voracious-guilt rollercoaster was… confusing. A few times I would be strong enough to say, “If this is too hard, we could just be friends.” But THAT was, as you might imagine, another huge threat to her sense of safety.
Until she concluded the same. We pledged—via email, because by then even text messages were too intense for her—to be good, single friends. Walks, hikes, movies. Love you always. Then no contact for four months. She mailed my keys back to me.
Of course, I still lived next door, and ran into her maybe four times during that span. She seemed stricken a couple of times, and would not speak, not really look up, and twice crossed the street to avoid me. Her dogs were happy to see me, which made it especially awkward. I tell you, I felt like the worst person on earth, a man who failed to be a good partner and caretaker when I thought that was a strength. I was worried that I made her PTSD worse, that she was a wreck…
Until three weeks ago, our anniversary. She said she was sorry for causing me pain and wanted to be friends. I could have fainted dead. We met up for lunch.
She was glowing. She was so happy. Her sons were now both adults and she decided they were going to be just fine, and feeling liberated. She wasn’t ASD, it was just PTSD. She had started a graduate program to become a therapist (something we discussed), happy to both be able to tap her experiences to help others and to have the chance to practice with herself and classmates. She turned her love of cooking into selling her stuff at a local market (something we discussed). gave up her diet because it made it hard to date. And she’d been dating. And had a boyfriend who was taking her out of town for a week. I immediately saw the brilliant woman I first met, and was frankly gutted. I was happy she was happy, I was crushed that she got where she is AFTER me, not WITH me.
My friends tell me she was genuinely troubled and that PTSD doesn’t just vanish in a few months. That she was wearing a mask with me, and that this new boyfriend—with whom she also has amazing commonalities—is getting the same “mimic” behavior. That, if anything, her wanting to reconnect means she’s looking to assuage guilt or regain a part of her still critical support system. That I turned myself inside out for her, and the most important question to ask myself is whether I should be as open to being friends as I am.
I made a lot of changes in my life for her, many positive, many that still persist. I feel like it would be a waste to go through what we did and NOT be friends. But I definitely went through the wringer and I feel like I’m now the one recovering from trauma. I believe in therapy and am going to work on this. But I’d value an objective take.
TDLR; First relationship as a widower was to an amazing but complex woman was very fraught and fell apart. After no contact for four months she asked to meet up, and she was glowing and normal and I’m shook. Was it bad timing and I missed my chance, or is she maybe not really okay? And can we still be friends?

Hello,
I'm writing to ask what you guys suggest I should do about my credit limit £200.
I've been with barclays for 9 years and they sent me a letter 3 years ago offering me a credit card with £800 limit. I was working as a freelancer back then with less than 12k/year and even though I admitted to earning under 12k they put me down on £200 and it has never changed for 3 years now, since then I got 3 jobs, 21k-24k-27k and I've asked a credit limit increase 3-4 times in the past years but it's a computer who decides in my case which always rejected me, I only requested an increase up to £500 so still not a big thing but I can never get it increased, I went to the bank to enquire about it where I was sent away with " it's not us employees decide on this, the only thing you can do is asking the computer on the app after a few months.
I've been using my credit card here or there but with a limit of £200 I can't really get into buying anything xd
I don't even know if it's worth requesting a new one because I think it damages my creditscore..
I know I could get another creditcard somewhere else with a bigger limit but I'd like to stay with Barclays if possible so with that in mind any idea I can do in this situation?

My MIL told me "You got rid of yours! so how would you know !" (typo in title. wrote this on my phone)
Hi there this is my first post ever and Though this happened a few years a go I feel like i need to write this out for cathartic reasons . so apologies if this is confusing and goes back and forth .
Background : me (28 F) and my S/o , let call him John(29M), have been together 11 years this October, being some what high school sweet hearts we have gone through most and if not all of our major moments in our 20s and now entering our 30s . When we first got together i was fully aware John and His mother dont always get along. And thats putting in nicely . In reality they get in to Full screaming and cussing fits. These can be started from a simple discussion, think "what color is the sky?" and the most unhinged argument would start. MIL is a divorced, awful narcissist who gaslights John and mentally and emotionally abuses both John and his sister , my SIL , we will call her Kelly. My SIL Kelly is also just as bad and if not worse than my MIL in some ways . In the past i tried very desperately to get them to get a long and bury the hatchet , my MIL and SIL would loudly talk about how they loved me and appreciated me and my MIL started calling me her DIL almost 3 months in tot he relationship. (Probbaly Red Flag #12 but i was young and was brought up being told its the most important thing to have your S/O family like you and you do what ever your S/O family ask of you .) Now my SIL being possibly worse than my MIL would be her anger issues on top of her own narcissistic and gaslighting behavior modeled after her mother .SIL also has 3 children by 3 different men, never married and has protection orders agaisst all these men, and dragged all of them to and from court in the same fashion as MIL divorced John and Kelly Father .Also as she had the relationship end with her first Babby daddy we inherited her dog as she couldnt keep him and he is now OUR dog has he as lived with us for almost 8 years now, he is our dog as i pay for his food and all vet needs, he is 100% a house dog and lives happily with all of us and his dog sissters . Over time both MIL and SIL obviously became comfortable and thats when i started seeing their disturbing behavior towards John and his Grandma then later to myself . MIL and SIL have abused Grandma by using her as free child care (Gma is 80) and would berate her and use the Kids against her, if Gma did anything SIL didnt like . By using the kids i mean SIL would send long text messages telling Gma she the worst and worthless, bringing her to Tears and she is banned from seeing the children untill SIL decided shes no longer upset or had no other options . As of Current she is still banded from seeing her grandchildren and we have no idea what she needs to apologize for. Next we escalated to being screamed and kicked out of Christmas Dinner , my MIL stelaing $2,500 from Johns Saving account and stealing Gmas credit card info to use on Amazon orders to just show a few more examples.
Now back ground about story in question: Myself and John found i was pregnant when we were 19 at the time we decided to terminate the pregnancy as we both heavy believe in having children only when we are economically comfortable enough to do so and both agreeing that being so young this was not the time to do this. We both strictly believe in this as we have had many family members pop out children with out any though and that disturbs both of us. Then Going to Plan Parenthood i was told i had an ectopic pregnancy and they then was rushed me to the hospital to schedule my termination . Understand this was a very scary situation for myself as i was told one of my ovaries could be removed and due to the placement fluid was building up and stuck near my hip that caused my to start losing feeling in my leg , but the surgery was scheduled for the next day . Thankfully I had some Great doctors and both my own family and John overwhelmingly supported me during all of this and i didnt have to lose an ovaries . Yay! Now i am actually a pretty private person when it comes to my heath and due to feeling some misplaced embarrassment and shame i asked John to no speak to his mother about this i wanted to keep this between us . He agreed though obviously this was stressful and devastating to us at one point he did confide in his mom for support . At the time i was pretty furious at this but understood that as my family knew and gave us all the support we could ask for i understood he did long for his own mothers support . At the time she was extremally understanding and supportive and was everything John needed emotionally at the time and she respectfully gave me space and didnt bring up any questions. I deeply appreciated this at the time as it was what i needed.
Fast forward to the day in Question: 2020
It was a bad day for me , i was very sick dealing with ,at the time, an undiagnosed Gallbladder disorder that caused sever vomiting and abdominal pain that wasn't corrected untill late 2022, and i went home early with an hour dive back to the home myself and john share with his Gma. When i arrived home SIL and MIL with the kids were at the house just visiting . During this SIL keep speaking about OUR (Myself and Johns Dog ) still being hers. During a moment i was unable to hold my tongue and said something along the lines "well he isnt your dog thats why ." she then screams "YOU BITCH!" in our home in front of the kids . I then promptly and calmly told her " You can leave now . " she then continued to cuss me out but i had blocked most of that out as none of that needed to escalate or be said in front of the kids .At this Point john was also loudly telling both MIL and SIL the leave and they will not speak like that in the house . We were then told we couldnt tell them what to do as it was Gmas home and now ours . I looked and Gma and as she went to say something MIL started screaming at her telling her to "Shut up and mind her business" By this point the argument then escalated to a point of SIL taking the kids out of the house telling us we "are wothless and we could all fuck off ". MIL was still yelling and i couldnt tell you what but then as i loudly told MIL that their behavior was unacceptable and they needed to leave our hosue and SIL behavior infront of the kids was also Unacceptable in this home and since we all live under the same roof we have just as much say in the home as Gma. MIL then proceeded to say "How would you know how to take care of children !" you got rid if yours !' It took everything in my body to not jump over the living room sofa and beat the ever loving shit out of her. I did take a step forward and said "Do you want to repeat that ?" she looked at me in horror, not because of what she said but because she probably saw the rage in my eyes and i was not acting my "normal submissive self " with her so she was not prepared for my response . John then proceeded to tell her to "Get the Fuck out of this house ! How dare she and she was no longer welcome in the home. I couldnt really tell you what i was saying at that time or if i said anything at all after that as i was in a blind rage . She stormed out of the home and slammed our front door. funny part was they left the kids water bottles so she had to come back and knock on the door to get them back. I opened the door tossed them at her and slammed the door so hard in her face the entire front door area shook and almost dropped some frames off the wall.
I apologized to gma as i know i should of held my tonge when they were over but i just couldnt . She told me to not aologize and she is so ashamed of both MIL and SIL behavior and she didnt even know what to say or do to make me feel better. At this time i was unaware i was shaking violently and and tears just free flowing out of my eyes . Both Gma and John did everything they could to comfort me but nothing quiet helped. I think i just disassociated for the rest of the day or else i would if spiraled out of control. We went NC very quickly after this as John couldnt believe that came out of his mothers mouth and was just taken a back and devisated as i was . Gma was still baby sitting and told gma i would never tell her what to do but please dont speak of me over there or anything about my family or me and John. she agreed that was best and kept her promise. though Months later i found out i was still a topic of conversation at MIL and SIL home, about my behavior that day and my "unplanned and outrageous choice to get rid of my child ." Gma came home and explained what was going on to John when i over heard and then suddenly spiraled into a nervous break down . Johna nd Gma came over to calm me and she apologized as she wasnt trying to keep it from me but didnt want to upset me further so she believed telling John was a better what and have him speak to his mother about this but he was also spiraling . after a few days i sent MIL a 4 page educational Fuck you text message and link included so MIL and SIL could better educate themselves as i did not "just get rid of it" i had a medical emergency that could i had last effects on my life. She then responded with no apologies no remorse , just blamed Gma for speaking when she shouldn't and that i "owed her" for being taken to Disneyland (which was a fully planned family trip she invited me to and was upset that John didnt propose to me during trip at disney) and i also "owed " her for her taking me to a doctors appointment. I responded and told her that was the sadest text message i have ever read and that i was so sorry she was just sad narcissitic woman who cant live her life with out blaming the world an her mother for her problems. Going forward MIL and SIL were blocked via phone , and all social medias as i will not allow people like them in my life. John also went NC and he was aware i was sending the message and if he would like he could read it himeself . He politely declined and explained going NC was the best to do as he couldn't stand to look or speak to her anytime in the near future, and with the horrible comments made about me i was allowed to say what ever i wanted to her .
(now since 2020 , we did have an accidental pregnancy around 2022 near the end of covid. All the stress led us to also make the decision to terminate as i was mentally not healthy enough , covid still going on, john lost his job it was another instant where this is not feasible for us, this was a very hard choice for us that put us at the lowest of our relationship and i even had complications after the termination which put me on bed rest for a week. MIL has no knowledge of this as it is not at all her business)
Since the house argument we went NC has been heavily inforced, with the occasional reach out demanding to speak to her son and now her refereeing to Gma by her legal name. SIL forbid gma from seeing the grandkids but will ask John to come see the kids which 9/10 times he declines. It breaks our hearts to not be apart of the kids life's but there is no more fake smiling through their BS . They have stopped by the house less than a handful of times for brisk interactions with the kids . MIL and SIL will try to engage me in conversation but they dont get anything besides the occasional "uhuh " and "oh wow" comments . They reccently invited us to the kids soccer games but sometimes the thought sends me to full blown panic attacks nd melt downs even thinking of engaging with them . I do speak to a therapist about all this and other things in my life, i do suffer from extreme anxiety and depression but as me and John have been getting better financially we have had more relaxed conversations about having kids soon which has brough up a lot of anxiety for me again with some flash backs to mentioned fight with SIL and MIL . They do occasional wiggle back into our lives like this which at times i could care less and other times cant leave my bathroom due to fear. John and myself haven't had much conversation about my anxiety for it lately but if i tell him "No" having to deal with his mother and sister , he never argues , never makes me feel bad for not engaging. He has always been extremally supportive with any of my decisions i make which makes me love him more . I understand that was a lot and i could go on forever about the crazy shit MIL and SIL do with their sad life but i just needed to get this out there . sometimes i think no one agrees with me about their behavior and after losing 2 best friends to ODs and Toxic life styles i dont have really anywhere else to express this emotion or ask for a ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on that isnt my S/O .
Well thats the general story thank you for lasting this long and reading my story today . If you have any questions or comments im happy to reply if anyone has anything to say.

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.

Hey All, Im am artist and I run a pottery and fo mak a decent amount to where it more then a hobby. I have been making work forost of my life but just started selling about ten years ago. I decided to write to help my webpage and also used social media. I do story based/ Permission Based marketing with the pots and enjoy the ideas of folks like Seth Godin and Donald Miller. So the idea is to run the pottery with empathy, generosity, and gratitude.
So for years I used mailchimp for my news letter the went to substack because it was aiser to use. But the issues Im having is that snippets on thengoogle search are causing views to get the answers they need from me without visiting my page. Also though my substack many use the reader and email and dont need to come to the page.
I don't write for money but try to ad value. I write and journal everyday on substack and donhave readers who enjoy the posts. I am getting ready to run a pottery promotion but not sure if I should send them to the website or just have a link to the product and let them.check out though Square.
I see the website as becoming outdated and used only as a buisness card to show work and let people know what type of work I do. Most of the custom orders come off from good maps from people typing in "pottery near me" . I update google.maps quite regularly to show I am active.
I wrote all of this to say that with the majority of the writing on substack for the dailies and newsletter i am not sure if I should put resources into redoing my website or not. I use A.I. only for spell check but write everything myself . I do rewrites at times in grammerly because at times it is more affordable as an editor then a human.
But I do enjoy writing about the pots and would even if I only have one . I have been doing the dailies since January and plan to keep going for at least 3 years then take the best ones for a book maybe.
So any thoughts or suggestions about how O should manage all of this would be helpful. I am having conversations with ChatGPT4o on it all and made some progress. Just wondering what humans had to say is all.

Ok retards listen up. Been seeing lots of degens writing small DD pieces of bullish or bearish shit. Y'all need to read this cos this is the whole fucking thing.
this is also basically my magnum fucking opus so upvote retards.
im also not some financial advisor or whatever just read this and make your own conclusions degenerates. Im not fucking liable lmao but i am balls deep @ .35 average now, its literally all I have on this earth.
TLDR: FFIE DD summarized, Margin wont affect longs the same way as shorts right now. Dont buy shares on margin though and get ready to supply collateral regardless. Short interest is up and some smart retards are on our side. Read the post to raise your IQ from 8 to 9 though. 🐻 🌈s mega fuk and even posting high level bear shit to scare us.
Compulsory 7 rockets so you autists dont start having a seizure or something:
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
Basically been seeing posts about "blah blah margin this, short interest this, WS to clever blah". Going to split this post into distinct sections but im no english degree so dont expect any bear bloomberg level shit or something
FFIE is a fucking steal regardless of squeeze. Buy now or be left on a dying planet while we head to alpha fucking centauri.
So basically everyone here knows about FFIE the horsemen of the apocalypse coming to steal shorts lunch money. Some of our whales from the shut down roaring kitty board bought GME in 2021. Collectively we are fucking rich. As a unit, we are an eccommerce wizard, taking GME from a measly 1.3b market cap to over a $5 Billion company. Its now valued at $6.8 Billion, granted anything "meme" now gets money thrown at it like a stripper in a high flying strip club or some shit , so dont listen to me, so it may well be a bubble. Regardless the thing grew like bacteria doing binary fission on agar jelly 🚀🚀🚀🚀.
THEY SELL FUCKING PHYSICAL COPIES OF USED VIDEO GAMES. The market for that is like what? $1?. Electric Vehicles are going to the moon and is basically recession proof because of how clean and cheap is compared to other things for how much you get out of it. Any bears saying that FFIE cant compete with other EV are wrong. The 1,940.1 pound Formula E vehicle will be that hit 0 to 62 mph in 2.95 seconds and have a top speed of 150 mph already slapped heads in. They'll fucking do it again.
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
We regain compliance if we stay above 1$ we finished four consecutive days at 1 BILLION+ volume. This is the literal smell of money. Hold above 1$ it cant go tits up?
Now for some pussy boomer talk (aka fundametals or something).
Last november FFIE announced a cooperation agreement with Master Investment group and Siraj Holdings LLC. Establishing a sales entity in Dubai.
We are still trading at $1.13. The wedbush 1 year price target is $10.20. Over 10x.🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
I hear some chatter about the late 10q/10k filings that are late the reason for the delay primarily relates to staffing-related challenges in the Company’s Accounting group and deferred payments to third party audit consultants who have been assisting. The company is working to compile the information to be included in these reports, and I have no reason to think our boy Jonathan Maroko who is now the Interim Chief Financial Officer won't come through in a big way.
Dude has 17 years of investment and finance experience.
He's a rockstar.
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
WE got in this for the MOASS and the intrinsic value.
Now I know you autists are starting to develop short term dyslexia or something but keep reading. This could be the most important piece of shit you read in your life. How do you think I feel? My brains overheating just trying to write coherent sentences.
AVG earning estimate for 2023 is -47.97, for 2024 it is -15.39 which is a 67.91% YoY increase in earnings.
Maniacal. Thats all I need to say. The company is going to get to mars before papa musk and wont even break a sweat. When Earnings keep pushing every analyst who donwgraded them is gonna get ditched and upgrades will start to happen.
This is a steal. That implies some future higher price target right? Well here is my guess for a conservative price target based on the information above and also some more I probably forgot cos im a retard.
FFIE can reach a ATH market cap surpassing 5b. Here's where that gets interesting. THe minimum size to post on WSB is a 1.5b mkt cap. If this can reach that at 35$ a share, we can ride the meme wave easily surpassing 100$
I really dont understand the bear thesis. The only bear thesis ( short term this one) was that the stock would lose compliance and couldnt get over 1$ a share. We hit $3.80 from .04 in a week, the bear thesis is looking pretty WEAK.
Bears are betting against:
EV, one of the fastest growing sectors.
Remaining above a dollar when we have 1b+ volume for 4 consecutive days
Jonathan Maroko who has a stellar previous work history and 17 years of experience.
Reddit, twitter, stocktwits, and 4chan apes, now basically a collective whale.
I was in a discord with chinese and korean investors who are with us here and just as bullish They are showing up in force internationally.
We literally have mofos getting FFIE tattoos. You think they wont hold?
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All of Social media has now formed a shield wall against the bears
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Some valid bear thesis left now (the only ones left) -- The planet gets hit by a comet destroying all life on earth.

1. Now some analysis on the short squeeze and some technical data.

Ok everyone on here and their cat, dog, bedbugs and wifes boyfriend knows about the squeeze. FFIE is the most shorted stock of all time and space. The squeeze makes every autist salivate because its basically free money while cucking big money out of like what 1% of their fund.
Although I know all you cucks hate shares, and hate holding, if the squeeze doesnt happen selling is probably the most retarded thing anyone could do. Its literally buy high sell low and you fucking disgust me. STONK ONLY GOES UP.
This squeeze is so monumental that its been sucking sharks in like fresh blood. Ive been in since $.25 with my few shares. If I had more money Id be buying but im just an unemployed full time caretaker of my mother. Im merely a medium for this money made information.
The stats for this stock now short wise are, from fintel:
Short Interest % Float as of 5/18/2024 95.37 %.
Short shares on loan now (This breaks the bearish margin calls affect longs more thesis): 36.3 Million
Shares left to borrow: 9,100,000
Shares left to borrow if we all switch to cash accounts and turn off stock lending: 0
Need rockets 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀:
Ok so now if Reddit now owns an estimated 6-8% of the stock and we all know to move over to cash accounts now to avoid margin calls, we should be minimizing longs getting margin called. If we go to CASH accounts, or turn off share lending the shorts will not be able to borrow our shares to use against us
These shorts are in a circle of hell we cant comprehend and makes satan scared.
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Cost to borrow is also up, estimated short interest a cataclysmic amount.
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Seen a lot of talk about Gamma hedging and delta.
Market makers can get squeezed for that gamma, too. The more options open that expire in the money the more shares they will be on the hook to hedge for to be able to provide that liquidity.
Now weve established the likelihood of longs getting margin called is far smaller than shorts, on to the options distributions
We had 89,000 options contracts ITM mid day friday. If we finished above $1.5 that would be 8.9 million shares of gamma pressure shorts went all out gave it everything, and WE STILL FINISHED ABOVE THE DOLLAR.
Next week we have even more people.
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Now lets compare this possible squeeze with others.
Bear in mind this is the most shorted stock of all time, but differences in free float change the share price differently.
Kodak went from $2.16 to $33.2
Volkswagen went from ~200 euro to nearly 1000.
Overstock went from ~$21 to $123
Blue apron went from $2.31 to $18
Gamestop went from $3.00 to $485
Gme market cap was 1.3b before it squeezed and finished above 5b
4b puts us at 100$
This shit can happen. Hold on.
Conclusion: Buy shares with cash not margin. Hold shares forever unless the world explodes. hedges bad, Shorts fuk, 🐻 🌈 posting bearish shit are doing weeklies for the second time after they expired red on friday, FFIE to $3.80 without squeeze, FFIE is still a value play, Good luck have
fun.
UPDATE: Short selling is restricted until the 21st credit to u/valaentius for the information
We now own 90% of the float, not 6-8%

Looking for advice 27m, 26f
Hello everyone,
I’m seeking for your advice because I don’t know how to act.
I moved to a new small town for work, Since I didn’t know anyone some coworkers adviced me to download Tinder. So I did and I matched with a girl I really liked, she lives and 1 hour and a half from me, but we started chatting and then we had a date.
In that date I went to her town we visited another beautiful town, we had a great time had drinks, walked through te town and such.
She invited me to stay the night because she knew I lived far, we did not kiss during the date, but when we got to her house and lay down to sleep, we started to kiss and then we had sex.
Any way the next day we had breakfast together, and we agreed that both of us had a lot in common and that we would like to keep seeing each other.
So as we continued texting each other, she called me handsome, sent good morning text, told each other how are day went.
One day, so one day I was a little bit horny and as everything had been fine and we already had sex before I told her I was craving her.
So she asked me what was what I wanted from her and I told her I really her and that I would like to be in a serous relationship with her in the future. She told me she would like to keep dating as well but, she asked me if we could slow down, that she knew we already had sex but that I shouldn’t expect to happened again because she needed time to get to know better.
I didn’t understand it that much because it had already happened and we both liked it, and she kept me texting sweet things, but I told her I had no problem with that.
Anyway she had an up coming wedding, from his boss at work, but she invited her female best friend, she even told me that if she knew we would had a great match she would had invited me.
I told her I understand and to not worry, but then the day the wedding was happening her best friend cancelled her, and she invited me, I don’t like being invited like that last minute. But as we agreed to keep dating and that we liked each other, and we had seen each other for 3 weeks, I agreed to go last minute. I got dressed and drove to the wedding, I was really happy to see her, she introduced me to everyone and I thought everything was going great.
But when we sat to have dinner, I placed my hand above her knee, as a sign of “we are in this together” I didn’t know anyone but her, so I needed that physical reassurance. But here is when things strayed to get weird, she did not placed her hand on mine or anything I was the only one touching her, and that felt weird, at one point she moved her leg and I took my hand away, she was not talking to me that much but more with the other people at the table.
As I got more uncomfortable I asked her if we could talk, and I told her about why she was not touching me and avoiding me, I mean I didn’t not want for us to make out at the table but not even her hand was weird for me, she told me that we had to act as friend with no physical touch, not the slightest one because it was an evento with people of her job and that everyone at her job knew she was single. So o did not liked that answer much because the other couples were touching each other and such like it was no big deal.
So I was really uncomfortable because another guy at the table who she was talking too (boyfriend of her friend) even started to called by a nick name which I found rude because I’ve just met that guy.
And given all these things I decided to leave, I told her I would leave because I felt uncomfortable, and she told me to stay and to try to have a good time but I declined, she told me she would walk me to the exit and when I was waiting for my Uber she told meif she could hug me, that she really liked hugs and was confused because she denied me the slightest physical touch when we were inside, then she hug me and then she kissed me! I mean I just wanted a little bit of touch when at the weeding but I didn’t get anything till we are alone and outside. She told me to tell her when I get home, I left around 10:30 pm but I told her that if she was interested in knowing I arrived safely that it was on her to text me, not me, she agreed to be the one to text me. I told her “we wouldn’t d see each other again “ but she told me “you know we will meet again” and left
Then I was expecting for her to text me 2 hours later she had her phone and was using it. But She texted me till 11 am in the morning if I reached my destination safe, I found that was rude because she knew I was going to drive for two hours at night and she texted me till the morning.
So I was confused and angry and didn’t answer her text, and she didn’t write anything else, that was a month ago. I still find myself thinking about her because I really liked her but it seams it meant nothing to her when first she made me believe she was looking for something serious too,
Were I the one that acted badly or was it her? Did I fucked up?
I don’t know if I should text her again, I see her photos and I really find her pretty but more than that I felt we had a lot of values in common.
Please help, give your advice Guys, thank you in advance,

Depending on your trip, you may not need any additional insurance or you may have items covered under the credit card you purchased your airfare with. Each trip is obviously unique and you’d have to decide your level of comfort. What happens if you have a health emergency outside if your home country? Are you going somewhere remote enough to require medical evacuation coverage?
I’m not a travel insurance expert or agent…I’m simply a traveler. Over the years, I’ve purchased my share of policies that can be inexpensive and provide piece of mind. Other trips, the insurance with my credit card is enough. If a separate policy is purchased, I normally store it digitally but also write down the contract number and main phone line on paper to put somewhere in my bag.
It may not be an exciting or glamorous part of travel, but it can be a very important part.

I (19m) am the youngest of four siblings (27F, 22F, 20F), the two older having a different mother, from one of my dad's past marriages. Me and my youmgest sister were born to the same mother, but my parents have been divorced since 2019. My parent's divorce was a result of my dad cheating on my mom.
He ended up dating the woman for 8 years total (the relationship began years before anyone knew about it, so around 2015, and this relationship ended mid 2023). Following this relationship he then dated a woman 1 year older than my oldest sister, to which he then cheated on with his current woman, E (short for entitled).
Regarding my dad's current woman, she has been constantly trying to get involved in all of mine and my sister's lives, one way or another, such as showing uo to our birthday and christmas parties, but the issues being that she was either uninvited, would twist every conversation onto herself or her children, or make a big deal about how she would get really bad headaches and have to be carried to my dad's car to lay down. E constantly tells my dad about how his kids haven't done anything with their lives (I'm the only one not in college/graduated atm, and I'm working a full time job so I can afford to go), meanwhile she has children who dropped out of highschool and have been expelled, multiple times.
Today we had a party celebrating my older two sister's birthday and college graduation respectively. It was us four siblings, 22F's fiancé and 20F's boyfriend, and what we thought would by my dad and E (we don't really invite her, but if my dad is invited she has to go). When those two finally arrived (about 30 minutes late), we were surpised to find out that there was "a few" other people coming. We thought it would be her children, who have shown up for past events such as my birthday, but to our surprise E thought it was a great idea to bring her youngest son, and two people none of my sisters have ever met. One of the two I did recognize as one of my dad's employees at a bar, but the other was also a new face to me. As for the guy, he was just very downright racist and made us all uncomfortable with sexual remarks, and when we asked my dad about it E chimed in and said to 'not take him seriously'.
After we ate our food and played a bit of bags (cornhole), we tried to play a trivia game like we usually do, where we take turns and answer questions on a card, we have a turn system for this game, but none of the random invites nor my dad and E were following it. This combined with the group collectively trying to cause havoc throughout the entire party by looking at the trivia cards and guessing out if turn, and my sisters had enough and wanted to just leave. A couple comments were said by the 'guests', which caused an all out screaming war between my sisters, my dad, and E, where my dad and E were arguing that we had to get used to these people as they were family. I said that they weren't our family so they can leave. (They did end up keaving for a short period) This is where we found out my dad and E had gotten secretly married in March, and they would've announced it sooner (at my birthday party), and had I not been 'selfish' during my party, they would've announced it at the restaurant I chose to eat at (E said it was selfish because she was allergic to cinnamon and I got a cheesecake for dessert that had cinnamon in it so she had to leave). E said that since she was our stepmom now we had to listen and respect her, which is not how that works. She told us we were the ones that were not a part of my dad's family, and we should leave. This is around where I was tokd to leave so I sat in my sister's fiancé's car until my mom came and got me, (my youngest sister and her boyfriend had to leave early so they didn't know about this until I told them).
I don't know much of what was said after I left, but I did see the guests return for a minute, followed by my older sister shoving them right back out the door, to which they did not return.
I feel bad for my sisters. This was their day to celebrate, and not only did it end this badly, but my dad is threatening to cut off all communications with them because of this incident. He said if we return to the building we were celebrating at (which he owns), he will call the cops on us for trespassing. E is threatening to take my oldest sister's dogs because she 'doesn't deserve them', and E is likely now uninvited from my sister's wedding. I don't know what to do.
TL;DR - my sisters' combined graduation and birthday party is cut short because my dad got secretly married to an entitled woman, who now wants us cut off from 'her' family.

What should I do?
TDLR: Me (M17) and my boyfriend (M18) have been together for 6-7 months. He’s my first proper relationship and I’m his 3rd, both of them were very toxic for him from what he’s told me.
Recently I’ve been struggling with my life as I’m in the care system, almost turning 18 I have a lot of pressure being put on me to find a job, get my career started for my future and turning into an adult. All normal things I can assure you but the agreement for me to stay at my placement for when I would become a lodger is that I need to have a job. I’ve been trying recently and no where is coming back to me, so to my foster parents it looks like I’m make no effort which they vocalise and make me feel bad for.
My boyfriend and I are both very healthy for each other and are very glad we met each other. We both have a past, we both have trauma and we deal with it in different ways. We both have lost our mums and both have learnt so much about each other and life and I’m so grateful for him. but I feel that recently that where he’s had so much on his mind with him turning 18, his mums birthday and two year death anniversary that he’s had a lot to deal with. I used to spend all of my time and energy thinking I could fix him if he was sad whereas now I have a healthier mindset where I don’t have to give him 100% all of the time and I can still look out for myself and be there for him that way neither of us get hurt.
Where he’s had all of this stuff go on recently, I don’t feel like I’ve been able to talk to him about how stressed I am, purely because I feel that if I talk to him about it then it will be bad timing due to him having a dip in his mental health recently that I can clearly see. I feel like I need his support and I need him to be understanding of how much these next few months are going to impact me, which he does know it will but he doesn’t know how much stress I’m under. Not only that but I always make out I’m loving the fact I’m turning 18 but I’m dreading it in reality and if I was to say that I feel like he wouldn’t pay attention to it. And also that if I don’t get a job I will get kicked out.
He’s so sweet and understanding and don’t get me wrong even tho I feel like this I know I haven’t been there for him at some points when he’s needed be, but recently I’ve make such a physical and conscious effort to be careful with what I do and say to comfort him and I feel like that I need some comfort. I want to be listened to by him instead of being brushed off I guess. As I said I know he’s had stuff go on but I rarley go to him about how I feel now.
Am I selfish for this? Can someone please maybe give me some advice on how to go about things?