Funny ringtones to play in the middle of class

Can anyone who is aware of what is going on with VFIS (Vietnam Finland International School) shed some light on an email, apparently from a teacher to the parents warning about the school? (quoted below)
"VFIS is not a safe place for your child's education. VFIS has 1.5 out of 5 stars and a 12% recommendation rating on Glassdoor.com, which represents honest reviews of international schools. Every Finn or other foreigner who has worked at VFIS agrees that the school does not represent Finnish education.
During this school year, the atmosphere at the school has been very toxic. The teaching staff has completely lost their trust in the acting principal, and also in the deputy director and the HR department. The staff are treated unequally, they are lied to, staff's personal information has been made public, and the students' safety concerns are not taken seriously and neglected.
The most affected students are IBDP students. Last year, the TDTU management changed the scholarship rules in the middle of the application period and prevented many students who were originally entitled to the scholarship from receiving the scholarship. This year, some of the teachers assigned to the BDP classes have not had the appropriate training or experience, so the quality of teaching has not been up to standard.
Students have had to take online lessons from outside teachers secretly in order to get the proper training and the opportunity to pass the demanding BDP program.
A large number of Finnish and other foreign teachers are taking legal action against TDTU. The university has continuously had illegal practices towards its personnel.
Many benefits included in the contract or Vietnam labor law have never been paid or have been paid more than a year late. Last academic year, new foreign teachers were not given a signed contract at all. Regarding next academic year, TDTU has not given a contract to any new or old teachers yet and it's already June. The board of managers at TDTU is the only authority with responsibility in these matters.
These illegal and fraudulent practices towards foreign personnel are not limited to VFIS, but are also happening in other departments of the university. Under the leadership of the current board of managers, TDTU will lose its reputation and position as an attractive employer.
If a parent has connections with the Ministry of Education of Vietnam, or Finland, or the International Baccalaureate organization, asking these institutions to audit the school would show that the school is not operating in accordance with the requirements. Many families have noticed the problems and more students have left the school than in similar international schools
It must be emphasized that Vietnamese teachers and teaching assistants are very good and dedicated professionals, as are Finnish teachers and foreign teachers. Still, VFIS has only a few English teachers with the certificates required by Vietnamese regulations. The turnover in Finnish and foreign teaching staff, and Vietnamese administrative staff, has been exceptionally high. Staff leave in the middle of the employment contract or immediately after the contract ends. This shows the poor working conditions of the school.
Parents, stop supporting the fraudulent activities of the TDTU management and demand change and transparency. TDTU has not fulfilled its promises to the families, the school has not had enough Finnish or foreign teachers. Don't risk your child's education by sending him/her to this school."

i 18M really liked this girl from my biology class 18F shes really pretty and nice and funny, I would always talk to her as much as I could during lunch as that was really the only time maybe sometimes before school started last, I would go out side and we would talk then randomly out of the blue she kinda stopped if I went outside she went inside and we just stopped talking in school but we would text last week I asked her to go out somewhere she said that she was going with her friends but I could join her I was really excited but a few days ago her friend said that they weren't going anymore I shrugged it of and then went with someone else but I'm really wondering why I didn't do anything wrong I don't think can any girls help me figure out what happened

Background: I’m disabled. I have a spinal injury for which I often use a wheelchair, but I can walk for short distances, and sometimes it’s more painful to unload my chair than it is to just white-knuckle it.
I also developed long COVID as a result of two infections that came from my former workplace. I was a library worker, and I was head over heels in love with it, but I became so sick after they relaxed their guidelines that I had to quit. It broke my heart.
Today was an awful day. People with long COVID often experience a feeling like they’re being poisoned. I was nauseous, weak, in pain, and my chair was too heavy for me to pull out on my own, but I needed to go to the hospital for a scheduled appointment. So I limped my way in in my sweats with my gross unwashed hair and waited and stared into the middle distance.
That was how I missed David. David was a frequent flier at my library, the kind of Boomer man who thinks he’s freaking hilarious. I snapped out of it to realize that he was bent over and staring at me. “Is that you under that mask, fishmom?” (Disregarding that I wore a mask for the last four years at work, since a fun side effect of breaking your spine is immune system damage.)
I tried to be pleasant and said hi, how’re you, and he ignored me and said SO LOUDLY, “You haven’t been at work, young lady. Playing hooky?”
I laughed awkwardly. “Actually I got too sick to work. I had to leave.”
He screwed up his face and said something along the lines of, “You sure?” I don’t actually remember because I was so flabbergasted. I said “what?”
“That’s the problem with you people. Always trying to get out of work. Where’s that wheelchair? I bet that helped.”
I was pissed. Normally I try to be polite if I run into former patrons, because if I get better, I want to try to go back to work. I said, “It’s too heavy for me to lift today because I’m feeling awful, but that was a really inappropriate thing to say and I don’t appreciate that.”
He mumbled something and went to sit a few seats away, then pulled out his phone and outright blasted three or four videos to the whole waiting room. This is not new behavior for him, and for some reason not uncommon with our Boomer patrons. I was forever trying to get them to wear headphones and there were always excuses about their hearing. The looks he was getting from the other patients would have murdered anyone more self-aware. Finally a guy leaned over and said, “Can you turn that down?”
David’s face went bright red and he said, “I can’t hear it.”
The guy (who, unrelated, was wearing an extremely dope hat) goes, “Maybe this isn’t the place then.”
Mercifully I got called back, but I could hear the blustering from the hallway and the receptionist got up to go mediate. Having had to deal with him professionally, I felt for her. Dope Hat Guy was in the elevator with me on the way out. He said, “Hope your day gets better.”
I thanked him, and it was cool of him to say something, but I was still so embarrassed that David basically shouted about how I’m a big old fake across the whole waiting area. A reminder, I suppose, that while I loved my job, there are elements I’m well rid of. Like listening to Facebook videos on max volume in public places.

New player here. I am REALLY enjoying this game so far. I just hit lvl 50 and I'm finishing up Arthetine. I want to play into the end game and get into Chaos Dungeons and raids. I kinda have a load of questions that are all over the place to ask about what I need to do to get ready.

• I heard that alts are a necessity in this game. I don't mind as I have my eye on playing others classes I leveled a Slayer and wanna get a Destoyer and Gunlancer alt. Is it fine to have two alts or would I be seriously disadvantaged if I didn't have more. I don't know the details but I heard having lots of alts is important
  
• Roster level, what is the purpose of it? Is it something I can just kinda ignore or is it something that could cause me to get kicked from groups? If so, what do I need to do to increase it to an acceptable level?
  
• I know I unlock Chaos Dungeons in North Vern, so do I need to wait until I'm lvl 60 and then do the dungeons or is my item level more important?
  
• I plan on using the PowerPass on a Destoyer and Gunlancer, but I hear at certain stages of progression I should not use the boost and it prevents me from doing Roster quests. I know a Roster quest is one quest for all characters on the server, but how important is it that I do those quests. If so, how do I know which quests are Roster quests and if I've done them all?
  
• Once I complete North Vern, is the rest of the story needed? How far do I need to keep going to not miss important rewards or can I just focus on Chaos Dungeons and farming materials? Is there a massive reward for finding all the arks?
  

I posted my story on another thread but I received only few replies so I post it here. Probably another post to vent things out, but every story is different, so I will describe mine.
I am now 25 years old. I graduated a rather difficult engineering degree, I work, I have a family that cares about me very much, but. . . I feel unhappy, unfulfilled, overwhelmed and not where I should be. From the beginning. . .
In elementary school, middle school and high school, I was mostly an As student. Teachers have always liked me and made me a role model. I didn't cause any serious upbringing problems either. As I grew up in a religious family until high school, I was very religious and practicing. I went to the Rosary, the Rorata, the Stations of the Cross services, Masses. In a way, I liked it a lot and also became interested in it by expanding my knowledge. Religious upbringing probably also made me avoid the subjects of my own sexuality and even felt a certain disgust towards homosexual people (face palm). Now, looking back (from the beginning of high school and beyond) I was showing signs of being a lesbian or a homoromantic asexual person. My mind was filled with the idea that I shouldn't be a woman, if I could, I'd like to be born a man. It wasn't until quite recently that I realized I was queer that I accepted being a woman and decided I didn't care what gender I was born. I said to myself, ‘[My name] don’t lie to yourself anymore, you’re a lesbian, don’t live a lie!’” It was a kind of enlightenment.
In elementary school, parents and teachers considered me a humanistic-nature mind (I said I wanted to become a zoologist because I loved and love animals, etc.). Maths was a subject that I didn’t like very much and every year I had to re-learn fractions that I couldn’t damn well understand (a bit of a traumatic attempt when my mom tried to teach me), also because of the poor skilled teacher. Then middle school came along, the teacher changed, and maths was explained so well that something inside of me unlocked. Maths became my favorite subject next to biology. So immaturely and irrationally, I got caught up in the fact that I finally understood math and I'm good at it, that at the end of middle school, I decided to choose a math-physics profile in high school. At that time I was also confirmed and probably as one of the few I took this sacrament very seriously. One teacher said if I left this class full of immature peers, in high school I'd come back to life and they'd hear about me again. Even in middle school, I remember sitting in my room, autumn evening, trying to study and having overwhelming thoughts like, “I’m 14 years old now. And what? For ~50 years I'll get up early in the morning at an hour I don't want to and work hard for 50 years because I have to. And my closest relatives will die. I don't want that. I can't wait to retire and then die. Please, God, let this time pass quickly because it will be a torment. ''
As you'd expect, as an introvert and weirdo, I didn't come back to life. No friends in high school, despite my deep desire (in the beginning I tried to get some, but many people already grouped together and for me integration was always unnatural and painful). After a pretty rough start in high school, I finally became an As student again. There was one ‘but’. My passion for biology remained and I realized that I don’t really know what I want to do after class with maths and physics. That I should study biology and follow the path of medical field. I tried to take extra classes with the biology class, but the flood of other subjects and a complete mismatch of characters with the biologist (a kind of mental impairment and trying to prove to mathematicians that her subject was superior to ours) made me give up. What is important is that in the perspective of time, at the beginning of high school my mental health problems (depression?), which manifested themselves as disgusting to get up in the morning, lack of motivation and loss of ambition that I had before, daydreaming, imaginary scenarios, forced concentration. For the subjects for the final exams, in addition to the basic ones, I chose the extended ones: mathematics, physics and English. I passed them well enough to get into a tough engineering major at a prestigious university. Eventually, I finished it, but it was paid for by too much mental health impact. I was not interested in studying and I studied without pleasure and forced, which with my depression resulted in procrastination, lack of concentration (I was able to read the formula 10 times and say that I know it and after a few minutes I did not remember it at all) and making a cheat sheets to pass the exams. No friends again. STUBBORN MASOCHISM. Now, looking at my diplomas, I feel like juicy-fucking them against the wall. At the beginning of my studies, I signed up for a psychiatrist who prescribed venlafaxine. I used to take it on a regular basis, but it didn't really help at all. I also went to a psychologist for a year (I really liked talking to her, but in the end there is no change). After uni, I started looking for a job near where I live. The first one I found was a shitty state internship, which I ran away from after I found a better offer. My second job lasted only for 3 months of probationary period (although it was even cool and according to my boss I was a great employee, I was fired because of nepotism). Then on the boss's recommendation, I got the present one. Along the way, my beloved animals also got sick and the vet and I had no idea what was wrong with them (only the autopsy revealed the problem, but it was too late). I remember how during this time, together with one person close to me, we prayed fervently for this, among other things, and I was ready to sacrifice myself and take on their illness on me as long as they lived. But God didn't even care about my sacrifice, and I only felt the huge emptiness of these efforts at the end. Back to the beginning of the post. . .
Despite having a job and earning money, having a family that cares about me, having a roof over my head, inside I am very unhappy, empty and full of regret for bad decisions, wasted opportunities, talent and potential, who I could be right now. Although the work is not stressful it is boring (the boss often forgets about me), I am not interested in at all, I sit suffocated in the office in front of the computer, rotting. Due to lack of interest in the field and depression, I have no intention of applying for the valuable credentials I could get (what kind of an engineer who designs something with a zombie brain?). After the end of the contract I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO (if I'll live to that moment).
All these perturbations and personal traits caused me to lose a lot of faith in God (now I am closer to an agnostic). I haven't been to confession in a year and a half. In all my despair I took with mortal sins, Holy Communion symbolic 3 times (for Father, Son and Holy Spirit) so that maybe God would pay attention to me and talk to me. Spoke as I speak to people every day, not in a host, not by a priest, without playing cat and mouse in the form of signs and their interpretation, but simply over tea as with a friend (because without these there is always ''what if?''). Without the hordes of angels and the glory of God. I finally went to confession (without remorse for my sins but with complete indifference to them), hoping that if I took even one step, reach out my hand, God would reach out to me. But as one would expect I got dissapointed, from the confessor I didn't hear something I hadn't heard many times before, some general advice I could give myself.
As for more details about my religious life. Besides the fact that I was very religious as a child, not only spiritually, but also intellectually, it was this intellectual side that made me at some point start searching and asking questions: why this way and not otherwise? A hunger for answers and an analytical mind led to a downhill of faith and over-analysis. From a person who was once regarded as a model of sincere religiousness with knowledge about it and who took it all seriously (parents and catechists) I became a person I could not imagine before. Listening to sermons I am able to argue with >50% of things. Often during the day, praying even with fleeting thoughts, it comes to me that my attempts to talk with God are conversations with void... Kind of a placebo, to fool the mind and feel better (sometimes I actually feel better for a moment). In the moments of the greatest intensity of suffering, when it begins to physically explode and hurt my head , in my thoughts I scream God why have you forsaken me?! I beg you! If you exist, at least talk to me! What does it matter to me that you are supposedly with me now?! Since you're passive and I can't see you. Faith and what I get in church is not enough for me. I've made a lot of bad decisions that even you wouldn't be able to undo back in time. I have no desire to continue with this, no matter what it will look like. What the fuck is wrong with me?! I'm sick of this and myself, so annihilate me not because of laziness or lack of desire to live. I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE. I want to enjoy life and know that I've made the right decisions, I'm fulfilled, I'm in the right place. That even though I'm a lesbian and I'll never fall in love and the kids are excluded (not for me), I can burn out for my neighbours and help them while being satisfied with the job. Instead, I feel almost all the time physical and mental exhaustion, sleepiness, lost of purpose, lost of motivation to change, ambition, hatred and regret (The biggest for myself, for I wasted the opportunity, time, money, health of mine and my loved ones. Often looking at my loved ones, and they don’t realize it, it’s like a dagger to the soul that I did what I did.). I am nothing.
Even though I'm surrounded by family, I have a lot of people around me, and inside I'm lonely. I can't talk to them. These are people very present, feet hard on the ground, and I have a very abstract mind, flung out of space. One person in the family I know would like to understand me and help me, but I feel like my attempts to explain things are forced (she focuses stubbornly on her ideas like she doesn’t understand the core essence of my problems and I expect more than her here and now).
Finally. . .
Every day as a prayer I repeat: ‘’I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it - it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?’’ And most of all, I'm tired of myself. Disgusted and self-hatred. I didn't ask to be born. You forced me into this existence so God it's not that I don't accept you, only I most respectfully want to return you the ticket.
Thank you all in advance for any helpful help and even prayers.

Players we should look for:
Ivan Toney-Will be 29 next year. 3 year he can serve us well. 20 goals in the premier league with a team like Brentford is insane. Imagine the numbers he would produce with players like Raphinha, Yamal, Gundo, Gavi, Balde and Pedri on his team.
Sane-The ideal winger for Flick's system. He's fast, dribbles well, assists and scores. Signing him on a free deal would actually be crazy.
Kimmich-Not sure if we can sign him this summer. I did see a few articles that a 10 years worth Nike contract is being signed, but considering we don't have the finances to sign him this summer, a pre-agreement with the player this summer can land him here.
Merino-Sounds like a good back-up option for Kimmich?
Chiesa-Technical winger, decent pace, can play wide, and cut in for a shot.
Dumfries-Physical, fast and good crossing. One of the best RB on his day. His form has been concerning lately, but if we are able to bring the best out of him, it'll be amazing.
Hojbjerg-Good midfield option. Physical and commanding midfielder.
Gallagher-Another option in the midfield area. Personally one of my favourite midfielders. Amazing work rate and does not hesitate to do his defensive chores.
Lewa turns 36 this August. He has to leave next summer. Roque is still young and inexperienced in Europe. Bringing in a striker like Toney would be an amazing deal. Strikers cost a bomb these days, and we don't have the finances to buy one for 70+ million.
Considering we keep Frenkie, and Gundo leaves us next year, we would have only Gavi, Pedri, Frenkie and Fermin as our midfielders. Signing Kimmich is the dream, but if we miss on him both this summer, and the following one, Merino sounds like a good deal.
We lack in attack. Roque is young, Lewa is too old, Yamal is 16. Apart from them we Raphinha and Ferran. World class wingers are needed. Sane, and Chiesa, the ideal options.
Let me know your thoughts on this post! Any other players we should look for apart from the players in my list?

Hi I want everyone to tell my there human tug of war experience either when it’s been you in the middle being pulled in opposite directions or you and another person was pulling someone else in the middle and if it was a playful thing or a fight over you or the person.

I never knew what my problem was as a child. Everything seemed to affect me tremendously, good or bad, and I had poor social skills as a result. My asthma was horribly bad and traditional medicine didn’t work well on me. I was also shy, emotionally withdrawn, had very few friends but would latch onto the few I managed to find, and moved from person to person while forming very few long lasting bonds. I was more of a loaner and both happy and sad being alone. I hated school, being around people, and was bullied horrendously.
In the 7th grade, my parents enrolled me in Karate for a lack of anything better to do with me. I was a regular target for ridicule at school and my grades were tanking as a result. Karate ended up giving me a little physical confidence, or I was at least not such an easy target with the training. Things slowly improved but the same problems persisted despite being less intense.
I wrapped myself in music and attitude to shield myself from the world. My safe haven was Metal. It was rough and tough, the edge appealed to me, but then I was still more of a curiosity being the shy geeky Metal dude who was socially awkward. I was putting up walls and hiding behind a facade, but I found the intense emotion of the music intoxicating. It would give me shivers, hair stand on end, tunnel vision, and waves of energy. I knew it was weird and never told anyone. It only happened with certain songs and I would embrace it in solitude.
I fell in love at the end of the 11th grade. She was a pastor’s daughter and I was most likely the embodiment of every sin her parents could imagine in human form. We were together for two weeks, school went on break, and she was gone for the rest of the summer. I’m sure her parents spent the entire time convincing her to let me go because that’s exactly what happened on her first day back to school.
Over summer break, I considered us as a couple. At the ripe age of 17, I somehow realized that I wasn’t going to be successful at any interpersonal relationships (especially the romantic type) being an introverted metal head who was emotionally unavailable. I cut my hair and cleaned up my act. My grandparents gave me a ‘71 Bug, my dad and I lowered it and installed a stereo (because that’s what you did in 1986), changed my wardrobe, and tried my best to impress the young woman who was going to dump me at first sight senior year.
That first day of senior year was one of the worst days I’d experienced at that point in my life. Being a newly transformed man, no one knew me, I’d mostly been friends with the previous graduating class, and I was now alone. I’d been trying to get a hold of her weeks before school was back in session, but we never connected. I slowly realized she was avoiding me as she and her BFF were literally the last two students to stroll into the gym assembly. She saw me and didn’t even wave, just a look like she wasn’t enjoying being there or seeing me.
The day dragged on like this forever. I finally caught her somewhere and was greeted with “we have to talk”. That was the only thing she said in passing as I fell silent and broken hearted. I had figured it was coming, but it’s another thing to hear it. I lost hope at that exact moment while my world collapsed upon me. Everything I’d done to improve myself and become a better person, or at least better than I previously was, meant nothing to her.
Somehow, I embraced it. I decided she was dumping the metal guy that I myself had ceased to be. I was feeling better about myself, less of a target, I had a cool car, chose to be positive with a new trajectory in life. Ironically, I felt bad for her because she was letting go of the metal guy but also someone she didn’t even know. I still felt like shit but, when she finally got around to dumping me, I explained that I understood and that the old version of me wasn’t any good for her, but that guy was gone and she has no idea what she’s losing. I told her we were still friends and that I would always care for her, but that I had to leave and that I was sad to do so.
It initially felt good walking away without outwardly sulking but, Jedi mind trick aside, I was dying on the inside. That first week of school was amazingly rough with no friends and this other geek douche bag closing in on my ex, to which she seemed immediately receptive. It would be an understatement to say that I became bitter, but I didn’t go full-asshole on them in the traditional sense. I became one of the most popular kids in school and bounced from group to group. I spent more time having fun than should have been allowed, and the looks of disdain from the ex and her new BF were both constant and intense. I got under their skin in the most glorious fashion without even trying. Sadly, I didn’t realize I was just putting up walls in a new manner to shield the pain.
Toward the end of my senior year, I met Michelle. It was a chance meeting that never should have happened. We were haphazardly thrown together, friends of friends on holiday during Memorial Day weekend in Santa Cruise. She was goth and I was the prep, seemingly oil and water but the attraction was electric. We spent the next 4 years drifting together and apart, separated by distance but close intimacy doing something we called “sending”.
I don’t remember how it started, but we could send waves of emotional energy at each other over hundreds of miles. Neither of us understood it, but it was powerful and comforting. We had a song which would trigger us both and we had fun with it till she pushed me out one day. I was doing a hard-send and it came right back at me, reflected back with severe force. It hurt emotionally and I was physically fatigued afterwards. We ended up talking and she explained she had been driving and pushed me out for fear of wrecking her car. Something didn’t sit right with me and we finally drifted apart for the last time. I missed her for years and wondered for another decade if she could still feel me if a send slipped on a random song.
I only ever had this connection with Michelle. My sending later evolved into something used in close proximity during moments of intimacy, randomly when the mood was right, usually close to the end, as a sort of gift. It heightened my experience as well, feeling them feel me. I never discussed what I could do as it sounds crazy to most people and felt better as my little secret. Again, I internalized and kept my walls up to protect myself.
I grew older, got married, then divorced after a 10 year relationship. It wasn’t my fault, she lied and cheated. When it was over, I just gathered my things and left acknowledging that chapter of my life had closed. While carting a load of belongings to my new apartment, I had to pull over to the side of the road and, for no apparent reason, I had a complete lapse of reason and emotional breakdown. I barely got off the road and had no idea what I was experiencing. Everything was blurry, my mouth was open, and all I could do was wail endlessly while incapable of actual speech. I’d never been so frightened and confused at the same time. In hindsight, I believe my latent emotions mixed with those of my ex while I performed the final act of ending our decade long relationship.
I bounced around for a few years, fell in love, had a child, and continued my life. I was different in some ways and determined not to become that raving mess that I’d been on the roadside. Be a man, be a provider, be the anchor of my family. I was strong in will and determination, shedding my past and marching forward. I now realize the walls came up again and I marched forward emotionally unavailable and shielding any potential pain. Seems history does repeat itself and often.
As I aged into my 50’s, nagging health problems arose. Aches, pains, weight gain, fatigue, all the usual stuff but they seemed to hit me a little harder. Some chronic problems combined with an acute shoulder injury needed to be addressed. During a visit in late 2022, my doc asked me how I was doing with some dramatic corporate restructuring at work, I answered, then he pulled me aside with some concerns about depression. I had some personal and career challenges, but I hadn’t thought that I had any emotional disturbances. He’d been giving me hints for a few years about addressing low testosterone, but he finally laid out all the problems associated with low-T aside from the obvious sexual ones. Every point he made struck a chord with me and I finally started testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).
Several months later, I had been on TRT and made both dietary and lifestyle changes. Many of my aches and pains were gone, I’d lost weight, had more energy, and felt more alive than I had in 30 years. I also slowly became more loving, compassionate, and eager to explore everything life has to offer. I joked that I was embracing my mid-life crisis, some of which had to be true, but I felt fundamentally changed or reborn.
It’s not all good though as rebirth also has stages of development. The first stage was anger and temperament as I had a short fuse. The second stage brought errand emotions seemingly influenced by those around me. The third stage was my sexual awakening, which caused some problems at home but we’re working through that. The fourth stage is apparently hypersensitivity and the final realization that my ability returned after more than three decades of slumber.
I was not in control and absolutely losing my mind. It was difficult to handle my heightened emotional state, a disconnect at home between me and my wife, and taking on the emotional stress of others as I absorbed everything around me. I’d never researched who I am, what I’m called, or what I’m capable off. Confusion and anxiety set in and expressing myself at home wasn’t going well. At one point, it seemed that everything I touched turned to ash. I was hurting the ones I loved, especially my son who is very young, sweet, and innocent. He’s as close to an angel as I’ve ever been, and I felt like a toxic father who was out of control and losing touch with reality.
On a whim, I spoke with my mother. She has some psychic ability but I never took it seriously, plus we hadn’t talked about it since my late childhood. Turns out I inherited my ability from her, she’s essentially the same as I, and she has used her ability in the same manner as i did with the sending and receiving. I asked for a name so I could research it and figure a solution to my problem, but she didn’t know what to call it either. However, my mom did know how it worked and that things go haywire if not grounded. She explained that I had become a beacon without focus, pulling energy from everything and everyone around me. She explained grounding would help me gain control. I later reached out to Reddit and learned of the Clair Senses, cords, and a vague understanding of grounding and cord-cutting techniques.
A dear friend reached out to help me exactly when I needed it most. The timing was uncanny as he runs a neurofeedback clinic which treats many ailments including anxiety and PTSD. He explained some of his therapy is tailored to allow the brain to reset and break the stress causing cycle. Sounded close enough to grounding to me, so I had a session of therapy incorporating several techniques, the first of which was a sort of guided meditation. I was placed in a zero-gravity chair fitted with vibrating transducers. While blindfolded and wearing headphones, I listened to an audio program synced with the transducers in the chair. The tactile feedback made the experience very immersive and relaxing as I followed a woman’s voice, ocean waves, and vibrations from the chair. I imagined that I was floating up and down in the water while in a very relaxed state both physically and mentally.
It’s amazing how immediate and dramatic the relief was. After one 20 minute session, I felt unburdened, relaxed, and with mental clarity which had previously escaped me. I almost felt reborn. My friend noticed the difference in my demeanor and a huge smile on my face. He offered a beer and we mused over my experience. I immediately knew this is what I needed to gain control of my ability and the trajectory of my life. It was literally a life-changing experience.
The week that followed was interesting to say the least. Lots of mental housekeeping, attending to and repairing bonds with friends and family, evaluating personal relationships which had been strained and in desperate need of repair. A path of self-discovery of how and why I feel things the way I do. I didn’t have it all figured out, but the pieces of the puzzle were fitting together despite not seeing the whole picture yet.
I took my family to the theatre and watched IF this past weekend. Great movie and a bit of tear-jerker, but very slow in parts and I fell asleep. I woke with the movie still playing and felt my heart sink, eyes water, and it took a lot of willpower not to start balling. I had no idea what was going on in the movie and was extremely confused as to why I was feeling this way. I cleared my eyes and realized this was the most emotionally charged portion of the movie. It slowly became apparent that I had absorbed the emotional state of those around me while in my unconscious state. Then the lightbulb came on.
Sitting in the theatre, I suddenly realized that I’d been an empath since early childhood. All the shyness, social awkwardness, being overly sensitive, emotional, and depression were all empathic characteristics. I had grown emotionally stronger in early adulthood but had subconsciously attempted to ground myself by putting up walls and being emotionally unavailable during times of crisis. I suspect my testosterone started to slowly decline around age 30 but had come raging back with recent TRT injections. The empath I had meant to be had been suppressed for over three decades.
Then I looked over at my son. He is the most amazing child. Loving and caring, but emotional and depressed at times. He excels at most everything, but challenges destroy him emotionally and I can feel it when he is down. He holds back and chooses to support those around him rather than take initiative. The highs and lows are incredible and frustrating. He has few friends and is content being a loaner. I now realize he has most likely inherited some empathic ability from me and I’m a bit frightened.
Upon reflection, what convinces me my son is an empath is a change in his demeanor half way through the 1st grade. Previously, he was the happiest child literally 100% of the time. Everyone, random kids and strangers, were his BFF. Stranger danger was a huge concern for a few years. He especially loved pretty women, would flirt, and their smiles and happiness seemed to feed him. He was cute, what he did was cute and joyous, and everyone seemed drawn to him. I believe he absorbed the emotions of those around him and it was one glorious cycle till one day it wasn’t. The cycle ended around the age when children start to develop their personalities and sometimes exercise poor judgement the process. This happened for us around the half-way point of 1st grade. My son became concerned and asked why some of his friends were mean. It’s hard to explain to a 6 y/o how kids can be dicks, but the questions kept coming and we had to explain that not everyone can be friends, some children can’t tell right from wrong, and sometimes they unintentionally hurt those around them. He started to withdraw shortly after and it was like watching part of our child’s happiness being chipped away. As I’m writing this, I realize he has put up walls, in the same manner that I did, to shield himself and protect his feelings. This is his attempt to protect and ground himself.
This is my journey so far. Every few days or week, I reflect upon something new and have an epiphany. The puzzle pieces are still coming together one by one, but I still strain to see the whole picture. I wish I didn’t have to deal with any of this, take the blue pill, and fade away into the bliss of ignorance. However, I have a child to consider and want to provide him with a life which is better than my own. I used to think that centered around a stable home, family, education, and financial support. I now realize he also needs the understanding and guidance of a father who has walked his path. I’m still trying to figure this out, but my son won’t have to figure it out alone

I'm not expecting this to get any views or anybody even seeing this in the first place, but I've just needed to get something off of my chest that has been slowly paining me. I'm a Bi Man, and I've been going through what every high-schooler stuck in a love triangle is going through. My Guy Best Friend is someone who we made early connections with at the start of the school year and have only continued to grow. At first, it was simple friendship when he invited me over because he was "interested from a sticker on my chromebook". Not long after that, we became friends and exchanged phone numbers for work purposes because we had a couple classes together. Then we started texting a lot and grew comfortable with each other, so much to the point that we've started texting each other daily to this day. We would tell each other about our mental health and what we wanted to pursue when we got older, and I slowly started gaining a liking to him because of how open he was to me and how easily he trusted me over almost all of his friends. This crush only got worse when he started sending me mixed signals when he had recently became single due to his now ex-girlfriend cheating on him. He would randomly give me side hugs and lean on me in the hallways as if we were together. He would also text me very sus things when I would try to "bully" him over silly stuff he did. He would also tickle me and poke me randomly in class on my side even though he knew I wasn't ticklish anymore, not to mention he was very touchy in other ways as well. Towards the end of the school year, he had me "pick him up" from his other friends and walk him to his classes because the friends he hangs out with are kind of weird and he says they annoy him. Then, when we were playing Roblox on call he had randomly said "If nothing works right now in high school, in 10 years I'm willing to give us a try" which broke me like crazy. Not only did all of this make me think he was starting to catch feelings for me as well, but it didn't help my case towards if he was straight or possibly Bi like me. Then, he got another girlfriend. Like I said, he tells me everything and I had actually helped him come up with a good plan towards asking her out, in which it actually worked, so I'm technically one of the reasons they got together in the first place. He would text me about how nervous he was about asking her out, and how he would need me there before he did ask her or he would have a panic attack. I thought that it was sweet, but it also hurt me as well because I had still had a crush on him at the time. There was a time before him and his current girlfriend that I had tried to "shoot my shot". On April Fools Day, me and my girl best friend had decided to come up with a plan towards asking him and another one of my crushes out. I would send them a nice little love letter telling them how much I admire and have had a crush on them, and wanted to be their boyfriend. If they didn't want to get together, I would simply just say April Fools and play it off but if they said yes, then I would get with them. I sent this to him and my other crush, which was a girl. The girl's reaction was so pleasant and we ended up talking, in which we're currently in a situationship because it's her first time in a "relationship" and it's unlocking a new part of life for her and she's kind of busy for a relationship to be in her long list of things she needs to include in her busy schedule. While that was happening, I sent him almost the same text by saying "I'm gonna tell you who I actually like" because he had been begging me about who it was weeks before. I told him that I actually liked him and he gave me mixed signals AGAIN. After reading the lovey-dovey paragraph I sent him explaining why I love him and wanted to be with him, he said "Type Shit" as if he was trying to play it off. He said that it had changed nothing and he kinda guessed that I liked him. Afterwards, he had asked if this was an April Fools joke, and my heart was racing at the moment so I wasn't thinking and said "yea" while playing it off instead of asking him out. When I was playing it off he didn't say anything but just "ok", being dry as usual. I sent a pic of the messages to my girl best friend and she thought since he was being kind of serious in the chats that maybe he liked me as well, so asking him out would've revealed it but I was so panicked that I forgot to. Nowadays, it's a whole lot different. I feel like after that April Fools joke, we've just gotten closer which keeps feeding the crush factor I have on him. Like I said, we text each other everyday and it's always just "how you doing" or "get on fortnite" but it's like full-blown conversations. Some days, I text him first but other days he'll text me "good morning" or "good afternoon", or even ask how I'm doing or what I'm doing. He had also said "Love you bestie" one night which totally threw me off and didn't help my case at all, but when I said it back he used it as ammo to my girl best friend saying that I told him the same thing when he said it before me. There's many other things he'll do like how he'll tell me when he's going to beat IT, or he will grab my leg and rub the inside of my pants pockets. He had also shared a playlist filled with love songs in it and told me that we could share it and add any love or breakup songs into the mix. Now the big question that I'm reaching out to any of you who have been through this situation or others like this before. Like I said, he has a girlfriend but also still sends me mixed signals through text and when we're in person and I'm starting to think what he's doing isn't a joke anymore. I just need help and any advice that can help the situation I'm in and possibly help me see what these signals are or even if they are signals. Should I wait or should I try my hardest to drop this crush and pursue this situationship I'm in?

Happy ficnapping everyone! This time around I got sirgeneralcliche 's The Nature of Quirks Which is a crossover with the popular superhero anime My Hero Academia! This presented a unique challenge as I haven't seen it, and all my knowledge of it is scattered second hand retellings of cool parts from my young cousin.
So with that, and context clues from within the story itself, I wrote a filler episode stuffed with characters that will never come up again. As is tradition.
Note: If any of these characters seem familiar to readers of my other story, you should know that this is entirely intentional cause I'm an indulgent hackass who was desperate for ideas. Hope you enjoy it!
General Kam
A quiet moment.
I found Deku sitting alone at a table in the station's dining room. It was technically the ‘night’ cycle right now, so aside from him, myself, and a cluster of people sat by the videogame consoles, the place was empty.
“Do you mind if I join you, Deku? I want to talk.”
The green and black hero looked up from the platter of crispy veggie snacks he'd been prodding at, a gentle smile on his uncovered face. “General Kam! Yes, please have a seat. What exactly do you want to chat about?”
I looked him dead in the eye. “Villains.”
The lines of his face tensed. “That's… kind of a complicated topic.”
“Simple ones are a rare luxury at the moment.”
The hero chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose that's true. Do you want to know about a specific villain you've heard about? Or just Villains in general.”
“I understand the principles behind quote-unquote villainy. What I want is the perspective of the man everyone says is the top hero.” After a moment I realized I hadn't actually answered his question. “Tell me about the last villain you encountered. Before you came here.”
He tilted his head at me for a moment, a skeptical look in his eye. Like he'd expected a question about something more specific.
“Uhhh, alright.” He scratched his head in thought. “The last villain I interacted with was Sundershock, from the Esoteric Order Of Neon.”
Right, all the names are going to be like that.
Deku continued. “Though I say villain. the Esoteric Order Of Neon kinda rides the line.”
I leaned in, my full attention on the human hero. “Tell me everything you know.”
“Sure!” He fished his primitive holopad out of his pocket and flicked through pictures of what looked like various heroes on a beach holiday. Eventually he stopped on an image of six completely armoured humans. They were gigantic, half again as large as the others around them, and they appeared to be… cooking? On small coal fires in halved barrels.
I looked back up at Deku, who seemed unperturbed by the surreal image.
“That’s them.” He pointed at the largest of them. His armour was dark blue, and every flat surface from the waist up was studded with analogue speakers joined together by bright yellow sine waves of light. “That specifically is Sundershock. He can manipulate the sound he creates to do a bunch of things. I’ve seen him make things like roaring engines totally silent, and amplify the tiniest sound into a destructive blast.”
“What is his quirk called?” I asked.
The hero shrugged. “I don’t know. None of them have ever felt the need to share the details. Almost nobody knows what any of them look like under those helmets either.”
Almost? Later.
“Hmm. Please continue.”
His finger shifted to the next figure. Next to Sundershock he looked comically slight. His armour was shining silver, with the smeared rainbow patina of platinum. Electric blue light poured from every gap in the exquisite plates, like they were barely containing a blue supergiant star. “That is Gammalance. He does a bunch of photokinesis related things. Hologram illusions, invisibility, and lasers that vary in strength between ‘causing severe sunburn’ and ‘Granite vapourizing’ are his go-to’s. We’re pretty sure there’s a radiation component to it as well. There are spikes of harmless background radiation in places where he’s used his powers, and he put ‘Gamma’ in his name so… ” He trailed off with a smile.
Deku’s growing enthusiasm for the subject was matched only by my growing dread. “So one human concussion warhead, and another who can fire capital ship strength energy attacks from his hands. Fantastic.” I rubbed at my eyes, already starting to regret this conversation. “Next you’ll tell me that one of them can just generate infinite soldiers for them, or something equally terrifying.” I added.
Deku was quiet for entirely too long. “Umm, well…”
My paws fell from my eyes. “No, please…”
His pointer finger moved to the next human in the line. Slight like Gammalance, the next figure’s suit was soft white, and gilded with elaborate gear motifs. “Tickspring can animate constructs with a touch. Up to about 200 at a time, as far as I can tell. They aren’t very smart though, and they’re only as tough as whatever they were made from. Empty suits of plate armour are the most common. They use them as cheap muscle, bogging us down so they can escape and stuff like that.”
“That’s a bit less terrifying, I suppose.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda nice to fight goons I don’t need to pull my punches with!” He refocused on picture “Those two,” He pointed at a large figure who looked like he’d been buried alive in his suit, and another, smaller one, who was covered in soot and scorchmarks. “Are Stonewall and Slagwright. Slag can liquify and manipulate metals near him, and Stone can control dirt and rocks on a huge scale. ‘Mother Earth bends to my will’ As he likes to say.” He chuckled at his own slightly nasal impression of the villain.
The last figure in the photo was the strangest. It seemed like he had taken the ‘armour’ theme to the absolute extreme. He didn’t look like he was wearing armour like the rest of them. It looked like he was made of armour. All four of his traditional limbs looked obviously mechanical in a way the other’s didn’t, and he had combined that look with every medical adjacent childhood terror imaginable. His visor was an irregular mess of mixed sized lenses, all fixed forward and peering out from under a deep hood. Glowing vials of mysterious chemicals in several vibrant colours were strapped to his limbs and torso, alongside sets of primitive steel surgical tools, some of which I had seen in the Human Cruelty display in the capital’s museum.
Most unsettling of all was the extra limbs. A set of 12 tail thick mechanical tentacles sprouted from his back, their connection points concealed by the white and red cloak he wore. They hung about him like some kind of nightmareish Kolshian, the tip of each bristling with sharp blades, dextrous tendrils, or gleaming needles.
“And him?” I asked, already dreading the answer.
“That is Doctor Damage.” He said gravely.
“Oh good, a load of dangerous maniacs and one of them likes to play doctor.” I shivered, and tried to not imagine what those tools could do to unprepared combatants.
“He’s not playing. I’m not sure if he’s technically a doctor, but his quirk makes him probably one of the best healers in the world right now. He calls it Flensing.”
My translator struggled to put meaning to the word. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“Uhh…” He rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly stalling for time. “It basically means when you take a sharp knife and use it to slice fat away from muscle tissue.”
I stared at him. “Why do you have a word- You know what, I don’t want to know.” I shuddered again.
“He probably calls it that to provoke that exact reaction, to be honest. Basically he can disassemble any complex system into it’s base components and reassemble it at will. And he can do it really fast. Cars, computers, people, pretty much anything. The reassembling stage only seems to work properly if he actually understands how the thing works though. That’s why I think he might actually be a doctor.”
I thought back to battles past, the good soldiers I had seen taken by treatable wounds left untended because there wasn’t time. “That… Is a very powerful ability.” I said, still half lost in memory.
Deku nodded in agreement. “Honestly, he's the biggest reason the Order hasn't been chased down and captured. No one ever dies or gets seriously hurt when they pull something.”
That was the opening I was looking for. “And what kind of things do they pull? Heavy armour like that says armed combat to me.” Although, considering the wacky and colourful costumes I’d seen the heroes present on the station wearing that probably wasn’t a safe assumption anymore.
The green hero laughed and rotated his arm in its socket with a mildly pained grin. “Well, I can’t say any of them are shy about combat.” He said with unexpected fondness. “No, they’re mostly about stealing ‘treasure.’’ He held up his hands and curled both of his index fingers as he said that last word. A bizarre and alien gesture I had no idea the meaning of. I tilted my head in confusion at it, and he seemed to interpret that as ‘elaborate,’ so he did.
“Gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, art, jewelry, artifacts, sometimes just whole trucks of money.” He counted them off on his fingertips as he went. “Usually they target rich private collectors, banks, mining companies.They will target museums, if the backers are wealthy enough. Oh! Funny story! That’s how they ended up accidentally kidnapping the Dutch Princess!”
“I fail to see how kidnapping the children of leaders is funny.” His enthusiasm about this was odd. And infectious.
“They didn’t actually kidnap her. She stowed away in one of their cargo containers when they broke into the Van Gogh museum! I think it made them panic too. Less than ten minutes after the King contacted us about the paintings we got this video message.” He tapped at his phone, then turned the screen to me.
The video showed a young looking human woman in a white shirt and skirt with white bands wrapped around her head and wrist. She stood in a small rectangular green sports field, trying fruitlessly to swat at green and white blurs with a wire racket as they whipped past her. Eventually she gave up and called an exasperated “Timeout!” The camera panned to the other side of the sportsfield where Gammalance was standing. Wearing almost the exact same outfit as the princess over his armour. Only he had a pair of incredibly tiny shorts on instead of a skirt.
“Figures we’d get the only royal who’s lousy at tennis.” He purred. His pleasing tenor voice somehow both warm and the smuggest sounding I’d ever heard. He turned to the camera. “I’m sure you heroes have already received a worried message from the Orange-Nassau family about how their high value assets have gone missing. Did they even mention the Princess? Hmm? Either way, in 48 hours she will be returned safe and unharmed at the following coordinates.” Numbers flashed on the screen. “If you want the Van Gogh collection to be returned as well, bring 500 kilograms of gold bullion to the meeting point.” He somehow managed to bow sarcastically and the video ended. I looked back at Deku, a wide grin on his face.
“So, how’d it go?”
“They got away with about half the gold, and we got the paintings and the princess back.Plus a bunch of jewelry.”
“They gave you jewelry?”
“Not me, the princess. Slag and Stone make it out of the raw materials they steal. Then they sell it or give pieces away to bystanders they wrong. Can’t stay too mad at someone who smashes your car when they give you a necklace worth three times it’s value as an apology. And because there’s no way to tell who’s metals went into what jewelry, no one has a strong legal claim to it!”
I couldn’t help but feel a little amused as well. You didn’t get as far in the Space Corp as I did without knowing a few fun loopholes. But something was… off.
“I get the illegality of their actions, but none of that feels evil enough to be called Villainous.”
Deku shrugged and sagged back into his chair. “We’re trying to move past the whole Hero/Villain thing as a society, but sometimes it’s slow going. They don’t fit neatly into either category, but they do tend to piss off people who own news networks, so ‘Villains.’” He did the finger thing again.
I kept my head steady this time. “And yet you’re comfortable enough to picnic by the ocean with them.”
“That time, yeah. That was about a month before first contact, after Chitinphract attacked the city of Honolulu on the island of Hawaii. He’s a proper “Villain” Villain. He can mutate and control sea life, and is on a crusade to destroy all the coastal cities of the world. Usually he just rolls up, does a bunch of damage and hurts people, then we kick his ass and he runs back off to the ocean.”
“But this time was different?” I prompted. He nodded.
“Yeah. After we chased him out of Singapore he hadn’t been seen in a year or so. Then he attacked the tourist beaches of Honolulu with about a hundred of these giant crab-clam things.” He showed me a photo of a giant smooth rock with eight spiny insectoid legs and two giant claws. One of which was in the middle of throwing a car at a hero I didn’t recognize. On top of it’s rock-shell was a human figure in an ancient looking diving suit that was encrusted with awful marine life. “They were tough, and there were too many of them for us to handle.”
Ahhh
“So the Order was close by and extorted treasure out of you in exchange for help. That’s the kind predatory opportunism I expect from a villain.” I stated with a satisfied flick of my tail.
“Nah, they actually got there before we did! So fast that people online have been joking that Chitinphract deliberately ruined their vacation. Which is possible. He’s a real jerk. Anyway, once we’d driven him off again we were hurt, exhausted, and starving… ”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“And we were surrounded with literal tonnes of delicious crab meat. So, cookout.”
I put a paw to my stomach as the idea of eating some tillfish-looking oceanic horror sent it flip flopping about. “I guess it didn’t go to waste.” I said with all the diplomacy possible.
“No it did not!” He licked his lips subconsciously. Ugggh
Desperate to change the topic, I redirected my attention back to the speaker covered villain. “So why was Sundershock the last villain you saw before leaving? Did the Order attack the spaceport? Do they have some vested interest in seeing the exchange program fail?”
Deku shook his head. “No, to both of those.” He cast his eyes back and forth, checking for any prying ears before he leaned in over the table. I leaned in as well, listening keenly. He shot a glance over at the group playing videogames in the corner. Some blocky styled survival game from what I could see. “See the guy with the long golden hair? Next to that scone coloured venlil with the muscles?”
I didn’t know what a scone was, but the long golden hair was easy enough to spot. I nodded just slightly enough for Deku to see.
“That is Sundershock’s son.”
I went totally still.
Deku continued. “He approached me alone the day before launch. He told me the only reason he was allowing his son to go was because my daughter and I were going. That this station was the safest place in either system, and that he and the Order would help out while I was gone.”
“Do you think he was being genuine?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.
Deku nodded once. “He took his helmet off and promised. Eye to eye, Father to father.”
That made me reevaluate all those reverent claims about the man before me being the greatest of all heroes. The fact that a man who was, for all intents and purposes, his enemy; someone he had fought, and likely would fight again soon, had showed him that kind of trust…
The hero across from me didn’t seem to pick up on my revelation, and kept talking.
“He also said Doctor Damage would forgive the incident in Milan, which is great, cause he’s scary and carries a lot of needles around.”
I shook the tension out of my ears. “What happened?”
“We were fighting on a rooftop. He jumped up onto an AC unit to get the high ground, but I was right behind him with the St. Louis Smash. I usually aim for the head, but he’s way taller than me and higher up. He heard it coming, and tried to dodge to the side, not backwards. So… I heel kicked him right in the groin.” He finished with a sympathetic grimace.
I hissed and drew my legs in. “How bad was it?”
Deku’s grimace deepened. “He flew about thirty meters and threw up in his helmet before he could get back up.”
I relaxed my legs and sat back. “Stars I guess it’s good that he’s the forgiving type.”
“Yeah… getting his signature’s probably going to be a challenge.”
“His what?”
“Nothing! Anyway! Are there any other villains you want to know about? Anyone specific?”
I shook my head. “Seven is enough for now. I think I need a drink. Care to join me?”
Deku smiled and let out a sigh of relief. “Sure.”

It's true, I personally really did a result where BJP gets a 3rd term but without a majority. I had no idea it was even a possibility, so my hope was something like BJP gets 272-300, but not the ridiculous 370 they aimed for.
I will accept that BJP did indeed a lot of things good for the country, especially in road and defense. But their general attitude towards any opposition voice is concerning. Look, you do good things yes, but everyone has a right to think otherwise. Congress and other opposition has a right to exist. It's ridiculous that BJP wanted 2/3 majority on their own to single handedly amend the constitution! NO ONE SHOULD HAVE THAT KIND OF POWER SOLELY ON THEIR HANDS!!
Also their way of handling strikes regardless whose side is right is unacceptable. In a democracy, you handle oppositions through discussions, not ED raids.
But then again, who else if not BJP? INDIA alliance was far too fragmented to properly govern the country at all. But if BJP gets a 3rd term their arrogance will increase to the level the country might stoop to electoral autocracy. Our country's situation was saddening to me. No real choice. Choose between arrogance or incompetency.
But boy did I underestimate our democracy!
Now BJP has 240 seats so they can't just walk through the opposition and pass whatever they want. But they still gets to rule, and they don't need THAT MUCH of extra seats, I am sure this is nothing Amit Shah can't manage. The result is the same BJP but without the arrogance! Also they will be forced to introduce much more good laws so that the opposition has to accept or otherwise BJP can weaponise their opposition to those laws to people! The result: Laws focused on well-being of the poorest - middle class.
Do I think this is perfect? Nope. This will cause our country to stagnate heavily, and due to the instability foreign alliances will be very reluctant to trust us causing our country to be isolated from both sides if tensions across the globe escalate. But for now I think this is the least worst scenario for our country rn.

I’m doing into the woods with 4 other teachers. We are going to break up the roles so each of us can do part of the play and record it during our class time. At the end we will put the recordings together in a large video.
I’ve never attempted anything like this and would love advice. It’s for EFL classes grades 3-6.

Hello everyone.
I've never played wow before and being disappointed with the current state of modern MMORPGs I wanted to give turtle wow a try. I'm a rather casual player and would like to play something easy and without much responsibility. So probably some dps class. What's a good, fun and easy class for a beginner? Also, I've heard racial traits are much more important in old wow, does it matter which race I take? Thanks.

Hello everyone,
I’ve applied for the above role in Israel. I’ll post the job description below.
I’m having doubts about the growth opportunities for this role. I come from a backend software engineering background and I’m confident with low level stuff as well, during my 1.5 years of experience I’ve always been a software engineer, writing features, doing some testing, everything. But when I read this role description again and again I feel like this is just a QA role, the interviewer mentioned I’ll be part of the “installation team”, installing their software to different Linux distros, plus what the job description mentions.
I’m worried that if I stay at this role for 3 years, I’ll become stagnant in my skills, I’ll no longer be a software engineer, but a QA person, and that’s just not my passion. I’m not passionate about QA, I’m a software engineer.
But at the same time, this is NVIDIA and they pay better than what I have now, and the work conditions are better as well.
Any tips, from anyone familiar with this role? Or is working in NVIDIA Israel?
Thanks you.
Job description:
Are you ready to make a significant impact by tackling SW verification challenges? NVIDIA Networking is seeking an exceptional candidate to work with world-class technologies in the domains of High-Speed Communication and Virtualization for our most advanced markets and customers. Our products encompass Ethernet and InfiniBand protocols, delivering a wide range of cutting-edge networking, storage, and security services for cloud, complex compute, and AI workloads. As a Software Verification Engineer, you will play a crucial role in ensuring on-time and high-quality releases. What You’ll Be Doing: Develop and maintain test automation frameworks and scripts using Python Identify, analyze, and report software defects, inconsistencies, and other quality issues. Drive design verification flows and methodologies improvements. Perform functional, integration, and regression of software applications and networking protocols. Work with planning and tracking systems to manage the release progress and build release indicators. Participate in code reviews, provide feedback, and suggest improvements to enhance the quality and maintainability of the software. Continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of test processes and methodologies, recommending improvements as necessary. Stay up to date with industry best practices, new technologies, and emerging trends in software verification and QA. Make better product quality by improving tests coverage Take an active part in development, integration and verification with R&D What We Need To See: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). Good background in designing, implementing, and debugging Software 2+ years of experience in writing programs using Python Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and isolate software defects. Expertise in networking & compute infrastructure (servers, switches, routers) Experience in Linux distributions (Centos/RedHat, Ubuntu, Fedora, SLES) knowledge in Software debugging and problem solving skills. Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively within a team environment. Strong attention to detail and a commitment to delivering high-quality software solutions. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. Ways to stand out from the crowd: Experience with network equipment (switches, Network Cards) understanding of network protocols (e.g., IP, Ethernet). Background with Networking applications and protocols. Experience with CI methodology & tools (Git, Gerrit, Jenkins etc.). NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative and autonomous, we want to hear from you! NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Hey all hope you're having a great day :)
So like most people i'm missing that special person in my life and it would be really nice to find someone that i can relate to, be 100% honest and open with and generally find my best friend.
Hopefully this would start out as friendship and if we click then we click, open to anyone from anywhere :)
Some stuff about me/hobbies
Video games, this is my biggest hobby by far, i play have an pretty big library of games i play so if you game, there is a high chance we would share stuff we could play, a few games i play often, League(i question it too don't worry) soulsbourne games (unga bunga builds) fallout's, i mainly play pc but have a switch and ps4 too.
TV/Film, if not doing the above, you can find me binge watching shows or films, such as B99, the office HIMYM, GoT (we can discuss how shit the last season was forever), Star Wars, Marvel stuff, SAW.
Animals, i have 2 dogs (yes i'll show you lots of pictures) and in general i love animals so much, so i'll probably spam you with pictures of random animals i think are cute or funny :)
Music, i listen to a wide variety of stuff, from rock and metal to dance/pop some electro swing, rap and other stuff, in general if i like a song i'll listen to it on repeat till i hate it but still listen to it anyway.
I try and be witty and funny most the time, I have a stupid sense of humour but will try and make you laugh most of the time, I can be shy to start with but i open up pretty quickly when i get comfortable with you :)
Don't be shy and hit me up if you think we would get on :)

Those Reggae Boyz from Jamaica 🇯🇲 Jamaica!!! Considering the world class talent they too are producing in players like Gray, Antonio, Bailey, Pinnock, Blake and if they get players certain ones (ie. Greenwood to switch nationality to play for Jamaica) that they could be a threat to qualify out of CONCACAF. 1998 was their last appearance and 2026 will mark 28 years since they were last seen at a FIFA World Cup.

He died due to a motorcycle accident. I don't know what I feel...but I can't even imagine what his friends and family feels. He was only 19 years old. I cried yesterday and I couldn't sleep because of it, I havent seen him in years and yet this affects me so much. And I feel a bit selfish for this, giving that I haven't seen and talked with him in years When we were little we used to play together, I have memories of him with the teacher, me chasing him around and playing with him. I just cant imagine, I refuse to believe he is dead, everyone in that class is graduating this year and he is dead. I found an old video from kindergarten, in my country we use to make costume parades for the end of the school year. l was dressed as "Summer" and this boy was dressed as "The Sky"...life is so cruel and ironic...I have no words... Ride safe in heaven Mihnea...you crushed an entire town with your death, you will be missed...

(23M) For the past 4 years, I have been going strong on a losing streak. Since 2020, I’ve striving to achieve ANYTHING!! Graduating university, losing weight and being attractive, be consistent in my artwork/Youtube, revive my athletic career, build some savings and maybe finally start dating again lol. However, I’m failing everyone and it’s ALL my fault.
Here’s the thing, on paper…I’m doing everything right. * I have a decent job in my home town that fits in my psychology field. * For the past 3 years… I was about 330lbs, as of my I’m back in the 200s at 270lbs. Even though I’ll probably ruin my progress soon. * I placed 4th in my strongman competition this year. * After being dismissed and fucked over a few years back, I’m about 3 semesters from graduating with a bachelors. I actually earned a B+ average last semester. So there’s something lol!
Not even trying to be self-deprecating but…I’m a pussy. All of my bullies were right! I’m a weak man and it’s a miracle that I’m even still here. Sure, I have friends! Friends that I love to death. Although, I crave intimacy (platonic/romantic). So idk what will satisfy me. There hobbies and outlets for me, but I CAN’T take my foot off the gas now. Too much to be done. * I go to uni in a different city. So I’m literally going to be a 25 year old man in a class with college kids. I’m already awkward and that fact won’t help. A good chunk of my friends are graduating soon and I’ll be here by myself. I need some social confidence and exposure doesn’t seem to work. * My stepfather is retiring soon, so my mom and I are going to have a rougher time helping pay for school. He loaned $9k to help me and I need to work two jobs this summer! Even though I’m burned out from school. * Therapy hasn’t really helped me either. They want me on meds but I don’t want to live my life relying on that stuff.
I just can’t stop myself. Let me be completely honest with all of you, I’m passively suicidal! I wouldn’t mind disappearing on my birthday. It’s like there’s two people in my mind. One of them yells:
“Why are you STILL trying?!” “Why do keep on letting yourself and others down?” “Are you trying to prove to everyone that said that you’re a soft, mediocre, pathetic and ugly waste of sperm correct?” “You’re 23! Being a shy, awkward dork has NEVER been cute. Nobody wants that.”
Every time before that voice finally pushes me to swallow those pills or buy that gun…the other voice makes a comeback. My spirit wants to give every obstacle and non-believer the middle finger and tell them to “STFU!!l” Someone that’s loved, helps other, has pride to their name and that’s an overall decent person that didn’t sell their soul. However, with how my life is going atm, the former is winning.
Sorry for this is being SOOO long. I don’t blame you for not reading any of it. I just needed to get that all out of me!

The basic behaviors of a Genestealer Cult are:

• created and led by a patriarch
• recruit people on the edge of host species society
• grows and spreads outside of public eye
• reveals itself and attacks after creating enough hybrids and gathering enough weapons

The more specific behaviors are:

• Worships the patriarch and believes him to be a God
• overthrows host society to weaken it for Tyranids
• worships Tyranids
• gets eaten by Tyranids

Are they any ways a cult can be less culty and have more nuance or self interest? I want to have a faction I can root for to win - not for the Tyranids to win and for them to act as a middle man.
When I say culty, I mean all the religious aspects and usual method of recruiting from vulnerable and outcasted people. As well as being brainwashed into thinking Tyranids are angels coming to save them.
I want to know if there are cults that are the opposite of this.

• exists openly in society, at the top within the aristocracy, or a secret society - compared to being miners and vagrants living in sewers.
• Is secular and understands that the Tyranids aren't angels, that the Genestealer patriarch is just an alien and not a god, and that they are alien hybrids.
• spreads and exists for the self interest of the Genestealer hybrid race and not to be the middle man between Tyranids and their food.

To my understanding the Twisted Helix are or were the only cult like this. They were started within upper class scientists and not miners or outcasts. On their home planet, Vejovium III, the populace was subjected to emotional inhibitor drugs that made them completely docile and apathetic. When they came into contact with Genestealers, they were immune to their hypnosis which allowed them to quarantine and kill them instead of falling to their gaze. The scientists who autopsied the genestealers extracted their germseed, and willingly injected it into themselves so they could accelerate their evolution into a superior organism - that being a Genestealer hybrid. They then infected the medicine and other pharmaceutical products they export with genestealer DNA o spread their cult.
To my understanding the Twisted Helix mark down everything I listed about a non standard Genestealer cult - that being secular and unconcerned with worshipping Tyranids (it seems like they consider themselves the Gods and not the worshippers), forming from the top of society and going down instead of being an underdog rebellion of miners, and spreads for the proliferation and expanse of the Genestealer hybrid race and not to become one with Tyranids by being eaten by them.
From what I've read on lexicanum and fandom it seems vague on whether they're still like that or if they have devolved into the typical fanatical star children worshipping cult.
Now to get to the point - would it be plausible or possible for a cult like that to exist in the lore or to write a cult like that for my own army? I want to start one with the new codex and battleforce coming out.
Also how the f--k would I convert/kitbash a secular, not underdog/miner Genestealer cult army when 70% of the models are religious leaders or guys in mining suits. Not to mention the mad max vehicles like the goliath or achilles.