Teaching main idea songs

Hi all, TIA for reading. My partner got a 1-year position in Santa Barbara and I am strongly considering moving with him. I’m looking for some perspectives…I did a bunch of research on this sub and the main downside I saw was COL and how it’s not viable for home ownership / building a future unless you’re loaded. Given that I don’t need to worry about that because it’s only 12 months, and I’ll be splitting rent with a partner so that will be manageable, are there any other glaring downsides?
I wouldn’t bring a car with me but from what I can tell some areas are very walkable (maybe others not so much?)
I’m from the Midwest and the idea of a year on “paradise” is so appealing to me but I’m scared I’m missing an important factor / detail. Any and all thoughts / opinions are appreciated here! Thank you!

TL;DR - having trouble sorting through marketing hype and fact. Does a newer player "need" an all solid wood guitar?
New account... hope this doesn't get buried or suppressed.
I've been playing electric guitar for three years now and I want to start playing some acoustic too. I have enough playtime and income that I think an intermediate rather than beginner acoustic is what would fit my needs. I've seen that Yamaha, Eastman, and Orangewood make all solid wood guitars under $1000. I live in a climate that is 60-80% humidity year round. I also live in an apartment, and will for the foreseeable future, so I don't have room for a dedicated space to dehumidify my guitars. I know you can get dehumidifier packs for your case but my preference would be to keep my guitar on a stand so I don't have to do extra "work" to get it out to play.
Does an all solid wood guitar make a difference for someone at a late beginner level? (Still mostly just playing songs by strumming chords, starting to experiment with scales, learning to read music). Is the maintenance as big of a deal as people make it out to be? I hear people say "it takes 20 years for a guitar to realize it's not a tree anymore" - do I just bite the bullet and get a forever guitar now so I can make progress on the 20 year thing? I can afford it but I'm not sure it makes sense yet since I don't know for sure what kind of guitar I want my main acoustic forever guitar to be. How about torrified/baked/thermoaged tops - will those still sound good down the road?
I'm not sure what is marketing hype and what I actually "need", but at the end of the day I want a quality instrument that is comfortable to play. I don't gig or record (yet?) and don't care much about the brand, specs, or coolness factors.

Direct Messages: Direct messages regarding this post will not be read and will result in blocking.
Comment Requirements: Comments that miss particular, key elements mentioned in this post will result in the commenter not being considered for the project and may result in blocking.
Central Theme: Zim as the chaotic mastermind behind a wildly dysfunctional city that is a Civilization VI & Cities Skylines mashup, with Dib desperately trying to restore order.
Comic Book Page Layout (note, panels 1 and 2 can be swapped):

1. Panel 1 - Zim's Introduction:
   • Description: Show Zim from the front or side, close up at, unbeknownst at this point to the viewer, his control panel, dramatically saying one of his scheming declarations ("Behold my masterful urban chaos!", "I shall rewrite history and traffic laws!" or "With a flick of my switch, empires fall and traffic jams... rise!" or other like that). I am thinking it should be shown first.
   • Purpose: This panel sets the tone and introduces Zim as the central antagonist, highlighting his delight in chaos. It focuses on his expression and excitement, drawing viewers into the story.
2. Panel 2 - Dib's Reaction:
   • Description: Dib is depicted within a chaotic city or urban environment from Civilization VI, appearing panicked/overwhelmed/frustrated/determined/bewildered (not sure which) and trying to manage the mayhem. Wonders from Civ VI are visible in the background. Maybe only one? I am not sure what Dib should be saying. Perhaps "Not again! Why does it always have to be city-wide chaos?", "This can't be good... even for Zim's standards!" (<-not this one if shown first) or "I knew I should've stayed in bed today..."
   • Purpose: If shown second, this panel reveals the impact of Zim's actions, adding tension and narrative depth. If shown first, it creates suspense and engages viewers by making them question the cause of the chaos.
3. Panel 3 - GIR's Antics:
   • Description: GIR humorously claims a grand role in the chaos, with a speech bubble like "I'm the mayor of everything!" or "I'm the boss of all the buildings!" or something else GIR-like. Perhaps he is interacting with a Wonder, too, to drive home the fact that this is a Civ VI mashup.
   • Purpose: Adds a layer of humour and showcases GIR's chaotic innocence amidst the havoc.
4. Panel 4 - Full Scene Reveal:
   • Description: A wider shot from behind or to the rear-and-side of Zim at his control panel, with screens showing both the game-like world and its chaotic scenes, including Dib and GIR. Show the in-game game HUD over the main screen. The HUD should not be dominant, should feel like a natural inclusion into the piece (so with a more alien design than the standard Civ VI or Cities: Skylines HUD). It basically only needs to be there as a way to drive home the tie in the piece has to Civ VI and add to the user wondering whether Dib is actually inside a game or if it is the real world.
   • Purpose: This final panel reveals the overarching scenario --- Zim manipulating these events as if they were part of a video game, tying all previous panels together into a cohesive narrative. The user might even wonder if Dib is inside a game or if Zim is altering the real world from his control panel.

Art Style and Detail Expectations:

• Budget Consideration: As long as it remains within the stated budget, I am open to the idea of the artwork being spread across two canvases if it enhances the overall visual impact. Artists who feel that a larger space could better serve the project’s needs should feel free to propose how they would utilize the additional canvas, ensuring the total cost remains within the budget limits.
• Preferred Style: Aim for a dynamic, expressive style akin to "Invader Zim," rich in bold lines and vibrant colours. Open to variations that maintain the energetic essence of the theme. I would highly prefer the style in the image I have posted to my profile.
• Atmosphere: The piece should be lively and chaotic, yet humorously so, capturing the cartoonish essence of a villain's scheme gone awry in a video game world.
• Easter Egg: To test if you are reading this, include, inconspicuously, a one-word bathroom item (e.g., towel, paste, brush, floss, soap, shaver) in the middle of your comment. Do not comment about this rule other than to place the word appropriately. For example, "I would love to create this artwork for you as I love Invader soap Zim and know exactly how I should stylise their gesture!"
• Detail Distribution: Each panel should carry consistent detail, adapted to fit the broader narrative scope of the scene. Emphasis on key elements to maintain visual interest and storytelling clarity. See the image posted on my profile for a visual guide.
• Printing Size: This artwork will be printed on an 18 x 12 inch canvas. Also will be used as a desktop wallpaper.
• Focus Areas: Emphasise Zim's reactions, Dib's challenges, and GIR's mischievous impact, ensuring these elements draw and retain viewer attention.
• Reference: For a visual guide, refer to the fanart piece posted on my profile. It illustrates the desired level of dynamism and expressiveness.

Other Notes:

• Orientation: Portrait orientation to enhance the sequential flow of the panels. This orientation supports a top-to-bottom progression that aligns with the unfolding story, making it more intuitive for the viewer to follow the sequence from Zim’s initial action, through the chaotic scenarios, to the final reveal.
• Scene Flow: Open to swapping panels 1 and 2 if it improves narrative flow. Initial thoughts lean towards starting with Zim to align with the show’s style.
• Communication: Please only engage through comments for discussions. Direct messages about this post will not be read and will lead to blocking.
• Recording: Something that will strongly sway me is if you are comfortable with recording the piece being made as you create it and uploading it privately to YouTube (I don't care if it is small, e.g., 360p). Once commissioned, communication methods such as direct messages or email are good to be used to share such links privately.
• Your Process: Please briefly describe your commission and artistic process in your comment to provide insight into how you plan to approach this project.
• Time to Produce: Please give me an ETC (ETA).

In “I Go Wild,” the main songwriter, Mick Jagger, once again turns thespotlight...
https://rollingstonesdata.com/songs/i-go-wild/

We look the same and we always have but we couldn’t be more different from each other. I think that’s the best place to start with this. Some identical twins have a lot in common. They like the same foods, the same things on television, some even spend their entire lives dressing in the same clothes, but we were never those girls. For as long as I remember, it’s been hard for even our own parents to tell us apart were it not for our very different personalities. Our own mother can’t tell the difference between our voices over the phone to this day. We even have the same laugh, but after that we diverge. I’m extroverted and would much rather be outdoors than inside where she is bookish and reserved. As far as personality traits go, Lily and I have always shared very few.
We both have our father’s nose and our mother’s heart shaped face and her high cheekbones. The same raven-black hair falls in waves past both of our shoulders and the same emerald green, almond shaped eyes sparkle with hidden flecks of gold that you can only see if you take a look up close.
Still, there’s a connection between us that can’t be explained. We just feel it. Know it’s there. It’s a thing with identical twins no matter how truly different they really are. Some say it’s a sort of telepathy, if you believe in that sort of thing.
That’s the reason I knew something was wrong before I had proof. I knew when I woke up in the morning that something was happening and that it was big. I even knew when I finally got up the nerve to send her a text, she would reply this time; not right away–but this time–she would. She hadn't been replying to me at all lately, no matter how often I sent her messages. Something was different now. I'd hear back from her but it would be at least a week–possibly a few days more before I did. Sending this text was different. Something I could feel in my bones told me she'd finally tell me what was going on with her. Where had she been? In my heart, I knew the lack of communication over the past several months wasn’t something she had chosen. Somehow I knew she wanted to talk to me but for some reason she couldn’t and that was a very strange and unnerving feeling for a twin to have. In the past, before Lily’s recent radio-silence, she and I had rarely gone for more than a day or two without checking in. In the past year that had suddenly changed and I had no logical explanation for it.
This particular morning, a feeling of unease is everywhere around me and even somehow inside me. I feel it in bed before I even open my eyes. Like an itch you can’t scratch because you know it will just make the rash worse and trying to ignore it altogether will drive you mad. The worst part about the itch was knowing that after months of nothing, I would finally hear back from Lily. It was time. She was ready to talk. I knew it. I don't know how–I just did. Somehow after months of unanswered messages, my next text would finally garner a response and knowing that made me jittery. The itch was made worse by the inexplicable knowledge that the response was going to take days. At least I would get it, but I'd have to wait for it for days. If she hadn't replied to me in months, why should that make me feel so uneasy? I couldn't say. The whole prospect of this scenario made me nervous but I told myself I would send the message right after breakfast because my sister needed me to send it and she needed me to send it today. It was important that I reached out to her this morning.
Whatever happened is bothering me so much that I burn the pancakes and have to start them over three different times.
“Vibes are off today, Emily,” my wife Jasmine begins. She sits patiently waiting for me to serve her a plate of good ones, pancakes that aren’t burnt, at the table in our kitchenette, “I just changed that bag last night you know, and if you keep doing that I’ll have to take it out again before we even get to eat. What’s up with you?”
“Not me,” I reply, “it’s Lily. Something’s up with Lilly.”
“Oh? You finally hear back from her? What’s going on?”
“That’s just it. I haven't heard anything in months but that's definitely about to change. I don’t know. It’s just a feeling, babe. Hard to explain,” I say.
“A twin thing?” She asks.
“Exactly. It’s twintuition. It’s like–”
“–Intuition,” she finishes for me, “I get it. Did you try calling her or texting her yet?” Jasmine asks.
“No, but it’s because I’m afraid she won’t answer right away and I don’t want to have that fear be real.” I admit. “That’s weird isn’t it?”
“Very,” she says getting up from the table. She picks my phone up from the counter and grabs me by the waist, moving me away from the stove and spinning me around. She pecks a small kiss on my lips and lifts one of my hands, placing the phone into it. She gives me a little shove toward the kitchenette table and pulls out the chair for me.
“You’re going to sit here and write a text to your sister and I’m going to finish making breakfast.” She tells me.
I sit here looking at my phone for a while, unsure of how to start. Finally I type:

Anything wrong? Worried about you.

And I hit send.
_____________________________
Eight days pass before Lily texts me back and it’s a flood of texts in the morning from an unknown number. One after the other.

Sorry I didn’t get back to you right away. You were right about Eric. I didn’t tell you a lot because I thought you’d be ashamed of me. Or mad. You’ve always been so much stronger than I am.
I packed and left the night you text me. I was afraid to reply because I thought he might be able to read it somehow. He definitely was tracking the phone so I left it at the bus station that morning.
It took me a few days to get set up, but I’m in Echo Bay now and this is my new number. Just got one of those burner phones from Walmart. It’s nothing special but that’s on purpose.
I’m staying in a bungalow on the beach. Very cute. Just a few miles from you and Jasmine, actually. It’s nothing permanent, just an AirB&B. I figured coming here would be safest for now to figure out what to do next.
I never told him where you were and he’ll try to find me if he can. He’ll follow me to the end of the Earth. I should have told you about him. The whole truth. Now I finally can. If you’re not busy, come by today and I’ll tell you the whole story.

The last text she sends puts tears in my eyes and I call her right after I read it and we make plans…

I’m pretty sure if I stayed he’d have killed me sooner or later. Probably sooner.

I meet Lily for lunch at her bungalow in the afternoon and she’s right, it’s very cute. She, on the other hand, looks like a mess and I find myself both irate and awestruck. I don't understand how the bruises haven’t fully healed or even begun to heal a little. That bastard really did a number on her. It's eight days later and her face and skin is purple and green with bruises in so many places–appearing to be so fresh that you'd think she'd been at the bottom of a three-car pile up just the night before.
“He wasn’t always like this, you know,” she tells me, “in the beginning he was really charming…it took a long time to figure out that person wasn’t real.”
She doesn’t eat much, mostly just moves the food around on her plate with her fork. She goes quiet and drifts away from the conversation a lot which is strange for me because she was always the one with more focus. I’m the daydreamer. She’s the grounded one. That’s how we’ve always been. A few times while she’s sitting silently, she begins to cry. When I hold her hand, it turns into a wailing sob and I reassure her that none of this is her fault. That this sort of thing happens to a lot of women. That they feel trapped and never try to get out. Never try to escape. They don’t make it out. I reassure her that she’s still strong because she saw what was happening and she did something about it. She left. I reassure her quietly that although it shouldn’t be this way, that it shouldn’t happen, this still happens to lots of women anyway. She’s not alone. She escaped it. She’s a survivor.
“We can help find you a lawyer if you want,” I offer at one point, “we have money saved. We can pay for it,” and she immediately shuts the idea down.
“No. I’m not doing that,” she says adamantly, “I just want to be done with it. I came here to heal. I don’t know if I’m staying or not yet…”
She pauses for a moment and then adds: “I just need some time to figure out where I’m supposed to be.”
“But if you let him get away with it, he could do this to someone else,” I say, “you do realize that right? You need to do something. He needs to pay for this.”
“He does need to, but what if he gets away with it?” she asks, “what if I report all of it and he sits trial for it…and what if he gets off? I can't take that chance. It isn't worth the consequences of it. What if I don't win?”
“What if you do?” I ask her. She gets really quiet then, “promise me you’ll think about it.”
“I will,” she says and it’s almost a whisper, “I just need some time. I made it away and I’m safe. I don’t know if I want him to know where I am. If I do this then he knows I’m here and when he does, if I lose, he will kill me. You understand that don’t you? He will kill me. That man operates on some sort of twisted revenge. He won't even consider what would follow once he's gotten it. He'll just think about getting even with me.”
“Jail isn't a deterrent when you're dealing with a human grenade. He'll only want to explode–to destroy. He won't worry about what happens to him after that. He doesn't work that way.” She says.
She doesn’t want to let me take pictures of her bruises but I insist on it and somehow actually win that argument. She tells me she’s been trying not to even look in mirrors right now. She doesn’t want pictures of her looking like this on her brand new phone because what if she decides to take a picture of something beautiful, like a sunset, and she opens the camera and the photo gallery is right there and she has to look at this instead. I tell her that she’s still beautiful no matter what happened to her. All that matters is what happens next. So I take the pictures for her with my phone. She takes off her shirt and there are more bruises everywhere underneath and we take pictures of those too.
I manage to keep my own feelings bottled up for the entire afternoon until she takes her shirt off and now before I realize I’m doing it, I’m crying also.
“Shhh,” she whispers, “you can’t cry. You’re the strong one.”
I shake my head and tell her that we’re both strong and then we’re both sobbing and she presses her face against my chest and I press my head onto the top of hers until she steps away from me and tells me that I have to stop crying on her because I’m getting snot in her hair. We both laugh.
It’s not funny. Nothing about this afternoon has been, but we both laugh anyway and our laughs still sound the same.
I spend the entire day with her and as the sun goes down we leave her bungalow and take a walk along the beach.
“So, can I ask how you ended up falling for this guy? Identical or not we clearly operate on different wavelengths romantically and I just don't understand.” I say, and then add: “forgive me if that's too personal.”
“No. It isn't.” She begins, “and if only we operated on the same wavelength or even similar ones. I thought about you a lot in the past few years. Thought that if only I was a big old lezzie–like you, if I'd just went for girls, none of this would've ever happened.”
“Don't be so sure. Domestic abuse doesn't have a gender. There's shitty, abusive partners in queer relationships too.” I tell her.
“Well, regardless, I've actually asked myself the same question about a hundred times in the last week. What drew me to him and where and when did things change–you know? When did he go from the ideal boyfriend to an absolute monster?”
She tells me that when she met this bastard, Eric Warminster, it was like something out of a movie, and her story begins that way too–like a cheesy rom-com–so corny it sounds fake…I almost tell her how much I hate romantic comedies, I almost tell her to give me some horror flick any day of the week. I think better of it just before I do and don't say the thought aloud. She never went for horror, even when we were girls–and that's what she ended up with despite her aversion to it. That was what her life had become.
She tells me they were both in the produce section of the grocery, neither of them paying too much attention–he on the phone and she looking over her shopping list. They both reached for a pineapple–the last pineapple in the crate. He asks her what she plans to do with it if he lets her have it and she tells him she's just going to cut it up and eat it. He tells her he’s making a pineapple-upsidedown cake with it.
“I've never had that.” She tells him honestly; matter-of-factly and he invites her over to his place later that night to be the judge of whether or not his recipe is any good. Normally, she tells me, she'd never have done something like that. She tells me that she's not the type to just go to a strange man's place on a whim…but he was good looking and had a charming way about him. She fondly describes his smile. It’s out of character and she can't say exactly what makes her drop her guard and give this man her number, but she does…
And the dinner he cooks for her as well as the cake he makes are both excellent.
“That wasn't the only cake he made for me. One day when we were still getting to know each other he asked me a load of questions. What's my favorite color? Favorite flower? That sort of thing. Remember that movie ‘Steel Magnolias?’ I told him that was my favorite movie. He says he's never seen it. Not a week later, he tells me he watched it and asks me to come by after work. Says he's got a surprise for me...” She says.
“No fuckin way.” I said, interrupting her. I told you rom-coms aren't really my thing, but I'd known that was Lily's favorite since we were in middle school. Of course I'd suffered through it and we'd watched it together…her with a tissue pressed against her eyes and me rolling mine.
“He made the Armadillo Cake?” I ask, “you mean to tell me he watched the movie just because you mentioned it and then he made the cake?”
Lily smiles briefly at the recollection and nods.
“He was very romantic…in the beginning.” She tells me.
Eric does all sorts of things to win Lily's heart: he'd make her breakfast in bed, take her on picnics. She tells me he would even sit there calmly while she complained about her co-workers and instead of trying to fix the problem or offer his advice, by the end of the conversation he'd have found a reason to hate the people she said she hated in her story and have his own complaints about them too. According to Lily, he was perfect…and then shortly after she moved in with him, things started to change and they changed fast.
Little things at first…she accidentally buys the wrong type of cereal at the store and is met with: “Frosted Flakes? Really? Not Frosted Flakes! Mini Wheats! Are you stupid or something? Frosted Mini Wheats! How hard is that for your useless, stupid brain to remember?”
She tells me that once she folded the towels the way our mother always had when we were growing up. He didn't fold them that way so he calls her into the bathroom, throws open the linen closet and proceeds to yank each one of them out one by one, unfolding them with a flick of his wrist before smooshing them into balls and leaving them in a heap on the floor.
“Do it the fuckin right away the first time, or do it again, moron.” He shouts at her before storming out of the room.
“He told me all my friends were toxic next. I didn't have any friends except my coworkers so he told me he didn't want me working anymore. Most women would kill to be homemakers. Do the dishes. Spend the afternoon watching soap operas. He put me on an allowance and I couldn't buy anything without telling him I was buying it.” She says. “He told me you were toxic too. Said you didn't love me and the way he said it…how he explained it, it was so convincing. That’s the reason I stopped returning your calls.” After she says this, she begins to cry quietly.
He tells her if she tries to reach me or any other of her so-called “toxic” family, and he finds out, he'll sell the car he bought her and they'd start having everything–all the shopping and groceries–delivered. She becomes afraid if she lets anyone know what’s happening she’ll lose what little freedom he grants her and she'll be trapped in their house for good…trapped there with him for good.
There are a few other anecdotes just like those ones in her story and I find myself getting more and more angry as she recounts all of this to me. Then it hits me: each story is just another small escalation. I'm so mad I could run this man down with my car, then get out and curb-stomp his head before setting him on fire.
I can feel the desire to do that just from what she tells me up to this point…
She still hasn't gotten to the day he begins to put his hands on her and my blood is already boiling.
She gets quiet for a long time and we just walk. I reach out and take her hand, and when I do she puts the thoughts that I was having just a moment earlier into words:
“I can sense how mad you are. I haven't even told you about the first time he hit me.” She says.
“You can keep talking about it, but you don't have to if you don't want to.” I say.
“I don't want to, but I'm going to anyway. I'm ashamed.”
“You shouldn't be. None of this was your fault.” I tell her.
“I know. I am anyway.” She continues, “I feel like I need to tell you. I have to tell someone. I haven't talked about any of this. It's poison and I want it out.”
The first time he hits her, it’s a punch in the face. He doesn't even start off with a slap or something. He'd never hit her before and the first time he does, it's a closed fist. She isn't expecting it to happen. The reason he claims he did it afterward is that she'd overcooked his pork chop. They finish eating and as she collected his plate she askes him how it was. He says it was chewy and then out of nowhere he punches her in the eye.
After he discovers he can get away with something like that, it starts happening all the time…
He throws her against a wall for forgetting to charge his phone for him. She'd forgotten somewhere that she was responsible for every small thing when it came to keeping the household running–even things that she'd never been asked to do. Things as small as putting his phone on the charger for him so he wouldn't have to do it himself.
He didn't want a girlfriend or a partner…he wanted a slave.
If he was leaving for work and she couldn't tell him where his keys were, he'd choke her so roughly and long that her vision would go white–then black–only to stop moments before she was about to pass out.
She’d forget who she was dealing with and speak out of turn and he'd take her by a fist-full of hair and drag her into their guest room where he'd installed a padlock she hadn't noticed before. He'd lock her inside and leave her there for a full day–sometimes two–without anything to eat or drink.
He'd tell her how lucky she was to be so well kept.
He'd tell her that the first time she ever tried to leave him would be the last time she tried that because dead women can't leave anyone–ever.
The awful stories pour out of her. Sometimes slowly like the tears that well in the corner of her eyes, growing like drops at the tip of a leaky tap until big enough to fall… Sometimes in a deluge of rolling sobs as a powerful wave like a wall of water from a burst dam. I don't interrupt her. I don't know what to say so I only listen. I know my sister. She doesn't want me to say anything because nothing I could say would take away the pain of any of this for her.
Eventually the emotions and stories are all spent and she grows silent. When she speaks again, it's to change the subject.
“What’s that out there?” She asks, pointing out at a spot in the water. The sun has nearly set and the only thing we can see is a great dark space on the horizon. The place where I live is old and still has a working lighthouse; it’s more for nostalgia than anything else now. As if on queue, the light sweeps across the darkness revealing a large, not so distant island that mostly exists as an outcropping of rocks.
“The locals call it Mermaid’s Roost,” I tell her, “lots of the old-timers, the superstitious ones, say that’s where the sirens live.”
She smiles at that. I realize it’s the first time I’ve seen her smile all day and it’s an incredible feeling. It’s too soon to call it healing but it’s the beginning of something like it and I can feel it radiating from her. It feels warm. She lifts her phone and opens the camera.
“It’s gonna be my first picture in my new phone,” she says, “I was waiting for something beautiful. I wanted the first one I took to be something beautiful.”
“The Roost is why they put the old lighthouse here in the first place. Supposedly there’s dozens of old ships that sank out there,” I tell her.
“They heard the sirens singing and rammed their ships against the rocks to be closer to them.” Lily says, “The legend is that they’re still out there and you can still hear them if they want you to. If they want you to come out to them…when men hear them from the water it’s because they want to smash the ships. When they hear them from the shore it’s always a trick; a call to swim out to them. Most don’t make it. There's an awful undertow. They drown. If they do make it that far, the sirens just kill them and eat them. They’re not actually mermaids at all but birds with the heads of women. Weird right? They’re from Greek mythology, you know. Surprising anyone believes anything like that out here.”
“That’s right,” I say, struggling to hide my surprise, “but how do you know all that? You just got here.”
“There’s a book about it at the house,” she explains, “I didn't just get here. I’ve been here for about three days. I’ve read the whole thing twice. Didn’t realize it was a local thing. That explains two things…why it was in the house to begin with, but also why it wasn’t written very well. I thought it’s probably self-published or a vanity press sort of thing,” She shrugs and says, “I didn’t realize why it was at the house until now. I like it anyway. It’s just about the only thing there is to read in there.”
I’m flabbergasted, “Three days? You got here and waited three days to text me?” I heard the rest of what she said but that’s the only thing that registers.
“I was scared,” she says, “scared to tell you about any of this stuff.”
“I get it. I’m not mad or anything but Jesus, Lily, you’ve been this close for three days? I’ve been worried sick about you for over a week!”
“I know,” she whispers and grabs my hand, “I’m sorry.”
“We should probably get back before it gets too dark,” I say.
“Stay with me tonight? Say you will? Call Jasmine and tell her you’ll be home in the morning?”
I say I will and that we need to start to head back to her place. We’ve walked about a mile so it will take us a while to get back and this isn’t the kind of beach that’s made of gentle slopes of endless sand. There’s sand of course, but it’s also full of rocks to trip and bust your head open on in the dark.
When we’re halfway there and the sky is a deep, dark purple, like the color of wine when it's still in the bottle, she stops and looks back at Mermaid’s Roost. The shadow of it still looms on the dark violet horizon, like a giant sleeping in the sparkling black blanket of water. Her eyes grow wide and seem to fill with tiny golden diamonds, like flecks of light reflected by the stars. Her face glows with an uncharacteristically innocent wonder.
“Emily,” she whispers, “do you hear them too?”
And I think she’s fucking with me so I say “sure” and tell her to hurry up because I’m starving and I want to order us a pizza and call my wife to let her know I'll be staying with her in her bungalow. Also that my feet hurt. The truth is that I can barely hear her when she asks the question in the first place.
“It’s beautiful,” she says quietly and I agree because I think she’s talking about the town or the beach or the moon or the stars or anything else–anything real–and not some local legend that she can hear over the sound of the waves and wind that I can’t.
When we get back to the little beach house, she pauses in the doorway and stares for a long time back at the island of rocks. It’s distant, but big enough to still see, if only just barely when the light from the lighthouse sweeps across it in the dark.
_____________________________
The house is awash with the chill and the sounds of the sea wind when I wake up. We went to the master bedroom around 11:00pm to watch a movie. The plan was for us to stay in the same bed like we used to do sometimes when we were little girls. The house has a guest room and I could have slept in there, but Lily begged me to stay with her, so I did and the truth is that I wanted to.
It’s 3:00am and the cold is what’s roused me from sleep but it’s panic that pulls me fully awake now. She’s not here with me. I know she’s not in the house. I know this the same way that I know she turned the TV off when she left. She did this so a loud commercial didn’t wake me. I know this because it’s what I would have done if I was trying to sneak away and I didn’t want her to stop me. I know all of this the same way I knew she was in trouble but I didn’t know how or why over a week ago. Twintuition.
I’ve never had a feeling like this one before. It’s strong and clear but also deep and dark like the water outside. I know from the moment I wake up that I won’t see her alive again, but I search the entire house for her anyway. I go from room to room checking every closet, beneath both the beds and even behind the shower curtain in the bathroom. When I get to the living room I see the reason the house is so cold; she didn’t shut the door behind her when she left.
“The Legend of Mermaid’s Roost” is laying open on the counter and she’s used seashells to hold the pages open to where she’s circled a passage in black marker.

“When men hear the sirens singing, it is always without a doubt an attempt at temptation. Their beautiful and deadly song is said to be a lure calling sailors ever closer to the rocks of Mermaid’s Roost to smash their ships along the stoney shore, but the sirens don’t stop there. Their singing has not only been heard by men at sea, but by those who walk along the shores after dark. They call out to the men on the mainland trying to convince them to swim out to the Roost; a distance just over half a mile. According to the legends, most of those that attempted to swim the distance to the island would get caught in the undertow and drown. If they managed to make it the entire way, the sirens of Mermaid’s Roost would rip them apart with their talons and eat them alive while they screamed for a mercy that would never come. Death is always the fate of men who hear the song.”
“According to the myths, women almost never hear their enchanting calls from across the bay, but for those that do the call is never a deadly temptation, but rather an invitation to join them. To sing with them and lure men to their untimely ends. Those women that do hear them may choose to join their deadly flock if they wish to do so. According to the local histories this is rare and the women that choose to join them are never seen nor heard from again.”

At the bottom of the page, a note in her handwriting simply reads: “Figured out where I’m supposed to be. Thanks for today. I love you always.”
I rush outside knowing there’s no reason to hurry because I’m already too late. She’s already made her choice and I don’t need my twintuition to tell me that because I can hear her.
She’s singing…Mermaid’s Roost is over a mile away and I know it’s her voice because it sounds so much like my own. It’s quiet from this distance but the preternatural nature of her chorus spans the space between us with ease and clarity…but this song is not my invitation to join her…
It’s her last request.
When I offered to pay for a lawyer so she could make him pay for putting his hands on her, she was afraid she wouldn’t win but that fear is gone now. She’s found a whole flock that’ll be willing–that lives for the sole purpose of picking better men than him apart, and they will, as they’ve done to so many before him…that is if he even survives the swim.
He’s too far from here to hear her song but he’s not too far for me. I don’t know exactly how to reach you, Eric Warminster, but I know where you live and there can’t be more than one man with that name where you are. In the morning I’ll make a few calls until I find you and when I do, I’m pretty sure that Lily was right when she said you’d try to kill her if she ever left. I'm banking on her fear that you'd follow her to the end of the Earth. I’m also pretty sure you won’t know the difference between her voice and mine, especially not over the phone…our own mother can’t most of the time. I don’t even have to face you and I already know what I’ll say to get you out here too. I’ll taunt you and belittle you just like you did to her. I'll be laughing the entire time. You’ll come. It should be easy enough…our laughs sound the same…
…All I have to do is tell you to meet me at the beach after dark. I know by the sound of the song she's singing that she's changed so much already. I wonder if the transformation was instantaneous or if it takes time for her feathers to grow in and fully form. I wonder if that even matters. I wonder if she must complete her change before she can do what she means to do to you and something about her tone tells me, no. She's ready for you now. The words of her melody aren't in English anymore, but in a vernacular that up until now, I would have believed impossible. The sweet song seems to originate from a great creature both mythical and feminine and beautifully deadly. Birdlike, the calls drift out from the newly-formed and massive beak. I see her face has shifted and grown it already with my mind’s eye. The sound reaches out over the water for only me to hear. Lily sings in a language so musical and ancient now that the words themselves have long been forgotten. Yet, despite their foreign nature, I don't have to understand the tongue to understand the meaning of her song. The sound of the music of Mermaid’s Roost fills my mind. Entering my ears, it surges though my head before seeming to flow and tread before my eyes. I can see what she wants me to do in images that hover barely visible like an ethereal painting before me. She wants me to get you to this beach and I will. That’s her last request–her only request. Get you to the shore and she’ll take care of the rest.
ss

Hello everyone this is going to be a lengthy post but bear with me as I would really appreciate some advice because I have no clue what i’m doing.
So in March 2023 my girlfriend and I moved houses and for the first couple months everything was fine until I noticed I was feeling very fatigued throughout the whole day no matter how much I slept. My eyes were always watery, bloodshot, and around my eyes were red. Anytime I close my eyes they pulsate and hurt. As well as waking up with so much mucus in my nose and throat.
At the time I pushed those symptoms to the side as I started a new program in school and thought I was stressed. As my semester continued I got sick and experienced flu like symptoms for a week and my original symptoms got worse through the progression of the semester.
When the semester ended I spoke to my doctor and got my bloodwork done. All my levels were perfectly normal except my ana titer levels were high and my mononucleosis antibodies were high. My doctor told me these antibodies showed that I previously had mono at some point and was in the “recovery phase” and that explained why I was fatigued. She said go home and rest for a couple weeks and I would feel better soon.
Well I did just that and the longer I have stayed and rested in the house the worse I have felt and started experiencing new symptoms. New symptoms include tingling and numbness of the bottom of feet, have trouble finding words, brain fog, mood swings, appetite comes and goes, motivation comes and goes, as well as the other symptoms mentioned previously.
I am a 20yr old male and have never experienced health issues in my life until now. I have always been very healthy. It’s driving me crazy that I am too fatigued to workout, get a job, and it’s affecting my grades. It’s been a year since I moved into this house and the longer I stay here the worse I feel. I am beginning to believe that there is mold in the house and it’s affecting me and I never had mono in the first place.
I should also mention that within the past 4 months my girlfriend has also been getting progressively more sick every month with some of the same symptoms as me plus ear infections, walking pneumonia, and night sweats. She is same age as me and was very healthy before this too.
I will post pics of the mold in my house from the AC room, AC intake, and main closet. My main bathroom has a really musty smell to it, and small amounts of mold, and the main closet had a leak right when I moved in that has dried up.
I am going to stay over at a new place for a couple weeks to see if I feel any better away from the house.
Would that even be enough time to tell if I feel better or not away from the house? What can I bring with me? What else should I do? Does this sound like mono or mold or both?
I never even had any of the striking mono symptoms like sore throat, swollen lymph nodes or enlarged spleen. Any advice would be appreciated. I have no idea what to do and feel like I have been going crazy since I moved in! Also I did a mold swab kit in the AC unit. I know they’re generally no good but decided to do it anyways.

Two days ago my boyfriend (M 20) and I (F 19) broke up because he is transferring to a school that is better for his major. We are both sophomores in college but have been extremely close since the first week of freshman year. For context, we both take school very seriously and have grad school aspirations and are both involved in research (and place a lot of self worth on our grades, for better or for worse). He was valedictorian and had not gotten into any of his top schools but could afford to go, and I was similar academically and got into my dream schools (Berkeley, UCLA, etc.) but couldn’t afford to go. Ironic.
Anyways, Freshman year we were hesitant to commit to each other for a multitude of reasons. I had just gotten out of a 2 year high school relationship the summer before freshman year, he had never been in a relationship, and we both wanted the “college” experience after not getting out much in high school (we are both nerds). After a year of being practically inseparable and acting like a couple (sleepovers, intimacy) while also being best friends, he moved back to his home state for the summer.
That summer, his brother had a sports tournament that happened to be in my city, so he came to my house for 2 days (my parents also happened to be out of town) and we spent an entire day talking about our future and hyping eachother up (his parents are both very successful in law which is my dream career path). I introduced him to my hometown friends and we drove by my high school and then I went and spent time with his family.
After that trip, we both went to Chicago together and stayed with a friend and went to a music festival, saw all of our favorite artists together, and walked around the city together at night and talked about how we wanted to move there one day. I started to realize that I had feelings for him and poked fun at the idea of dating, to which he was nervous.
At the start of that school year, I had undoubtedly caught feelings for him and realized that even though we were hesitant to commit, it was no longer healthy not to, and we acted so much like a couple that people around us started to get irritated. We were in the same club, the same friend group, and most of our circle and families knew. We couldn’t keep flirting with others because we would rather just stay in with each other.
I gave him an ultimatum, and we were official from then on. It was perfect. We went on trips together, I visited his house and he took me around his city. We slept over with each other all the time and would pull all nighters in the library together and talk about grad school. We always knew that we would get separated at some point, because of this, but then he switched majors and it became clear that it would be much sooner than we initially thought.
Our school’s department for his new major is significantly worse than his old one, and he decided to apply to some top schools for his major of choice. Most of these are schools he had applied for in high school but didn’t get in. He got into one that he is now going to (if he doesn’t get a couple of others) but he is certainly transferring.
We said goodbye two days ago. It was horrible. We both cried to each other and had stayed up all night together the night before wandering around our town in the middle of the night after everything was closed and watching movies and eating our favorite snacks that we got from 7/11 at 3 in the morning.
I am struggling so hard. We are still going to be in each others lives because his brother is going to our school (his old school, now) and he will be coming to our state in late July to get his things from his old house and I am going to go see him and our other friends that he lives with. I just know it’s horrible because in order to stay close with him (as he is my best friend still) I run the risk of having to watch him move on, but he certainly runs that risk too and seems to want to be close still.
I am mainly just wondering how to fill my time. How do I resist talking to him as much as I used to and how do I stop caring about how he is doing and his well-being (especially because he is transferring across the country junior year). How do I walk around our old school and the library that we spent so many nights in and not remember the person that I miss the most. Is this right person wrong time, and if so, what can I do to have the least pain without having to sacrifice my best friend.
What kills me is that we have the same life goals. We have the same humor and can sit in a room together in silence for hours and just feel safe and secure. We get along with each others family’s and have the same political views and the same desire to find passion in our careers and we can never let go of eachother physically when we’re together. Nothing was ever wrong. We were happy like little kids at a sleepover whenever we were together.
Is pursuing your dream career and prestige worth it? Does it pay off in the long run? Are we fooling ourselves by losing something so good and pure for the same academic maze that we’ve been drowning in since high school?
Im not expecting much from this thread (he used reddit more than I did) but if anybody relates or has advice it genuinely can only go up from here, right?

I have been a Sonos user since 2018. I have been adding slowly adding devices to my system over the year and moving them around the house. I have rarely had issue with my system. It has been working great. I mainly use it to stream music from my iPad via AirPlay and connect it to my AppleTV (via AirPlay as well) that's connected to my projector to stream movies/shows. I never really use the Sonos app to stream, I just use it to add devices and make changes to my system.
Today I was trying someone I know setup a new arc and sub. He was having issues so I reset my Arc to guide him since he was having issues. I stumbled upon the same issue as him. My Arc would connect but it wouldn't register. My arc has been registered to my account since 2021. Since it wasn't registered I couldn't set it up and create my home theater again with my sub and eras300. Restarted my phone, restarted my ATT fiber modem, restarted my eero network, connected the Arc via Ethernet and factory reset the Arc multiple times ... nothing worked. So I decided to open the Sonos Arc on my iPad which hasn't been updated. I was able to add it on my first try.
I see similar issues posted here of users having to call in to Sonos having the same issue with no clear fix. Has Sonos at least annoyed the issue? Any idea when a fix is coming for those without access to and older version of the app. I was lucky since I don't update apps on my iPad as often as I do with my iPhone.

It was a positive, upbeat song in a major key, somewhat similar to the style of Capital Cities. I only heard the end, but it had a memorable musical hook like CCDECEGACAGE. Any ideas?
EDIT: Recreated melody sample here https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Makesong/5401422422736896

I was hoping some people in here more experienced than I could check my conclusions after cleaning the carb and trying to get it to run smoother.
Mine is a 2021 with a Mikuni TM40 carb, de-snorkeled, foam air filter, Yoshimura slip-on, and desmogged. So already I know this thing is going to need more fuel mixed than stock, due to the air flow. Right now it has a 135 main jet, and 25 pilot jet, needle clip is in the middle #3 notch. Pilot screw is at 3.5 turns out right now, after testing 2-3.5. I can’t get it to maintain idle warmed up. When I give it gas, it pops and sputters and dies.
I’m almost certain that it was running lean when I got it a week ago. It would cut off in idle, even when warmed up, but would thrive on the choke. It was also running between 270-290 degrees F during casual riding at 45-60mph and 80 degrees outside. So I disassembled it and cleaned it because I knew it had been sitting for 8 months (with ethanol-free gas). But a cleaning would be a good idea, and educational for me. I’m new to messing with carbs. I was hoping the jets were clogged and it would be a quick fix.
Here’s where it is now: It still struggles at idle, but it purrs when the choke is on. I can even reduce the idle speed down while the choke is pulled to the RPMs I would want without the choke and it just sings. Once I push the choke in it will cut out after a bit, no matter what the idle speed is set at.
This makes me think the pilot jet, at 25, is still too lean. I also plan on upping the main jet to 150 based on ProCycle’s recommendation. Once I switch those I’ll re-engage with the pilot screw to see how it goes.
Is there anything I’m not thinking? Am I wrong in my conclusions?
Thanks!

Here’s a small list of some Genshin Impact fanfics I enjoyed. They’re mostly all gen or where shipping isn’t the main focus:
Traveler-centric stories:

Sidereal: Aether and Lumine end in different places in Teyvat and journey to reunite with each other. [Ao3 Link]
You Will Find Me Friend: Aether and Lumine are shapeshifting eldritch beings. This changes things. [Ao3 Link]
Blind Aether: When Aether’s powers are sealed by the unknown god, his sight is as well. Character interactions and dynamics change. [Ao3 Link]
Make Me Your Hero (Surrender Your Crown): The Traveler is an oddball. Some people adore them. Other people fear them. [Ao3 Link]
Aether, What Are You Doing?: The Traveler is a video game protagonist. Everyone else in Teyvat is not. [Ao3 Link]

Anemo, Anemo, Alliteration: There’s a meme about Anemo vision holders having dead family and friends. The archons sure have a lot of those, don’t they? In which the Archons get anemo visions, and they’re all confused why. [Ao3 Link]
Freedom is walking to Mondstadt and asking for help: Venti, Zhongli, and Nahida sign a contract with each other after the Archon War. 500 years later, Nahida escapes the Akademiya/Sumeru and invokes it. [Ao3 Link]
Woe be the Wallet of the God of Wealth: Keqing tries to teach Zhongli how to manage money. She suffers. (Ao3 - Account required)
If a Tree Falls in a Forest: Post-Sumeru Archon quest, Nahida and Scaramouche accidentally switch bodies for a bit. [Ao3 Link]
A Human’s Resolve: Furina chooses to accept the duel rather than going to trial. The prophecy still happens, but she gets therapy afterwards. [Ao3 Link]
Past rebounds: Following the Fontaine Archon Quest, Furina gets visited by an Oceanid. Following that visit, Furina tries to visit other Oceanids. [Ao3 Link]
Tianming: Ganyu Character-Study. Plays with the idea that Ganyu was the main defender of the Liyue Harbor and silenced any enemies/detractors of Rex Lapis within the city. [Ao3 Link]
Everfrost: Liyue Archon Quest AU. Rex Lapis is dead. The Fauti are probably responsible and are attacking the Liyue Harbor. Ganyu: “Let me solo them”. [Ao3 Link]
God of Reflections: During the Sumeru Archon Quest, the Doctor chooses to attack Nahida rather than negotiate. Alhaitham temporarily takes over as Dendro Archon after Nahida is greatly injured. [Ao3 Link]
Nara Agni and the Memory of Death: Hu Tao does the Aranara quest. Hu Tao Character-Study, and an exploration into death and its meaning. [Ao3 Link]
Is This What Therapy Is?: Collei and Scaramouche get therapy together. They decide the best method is to get revenge on the Doctor. [Ao3 Link]
Spectacle for Want of Power: Arlecchino and Lyney spar each other. It’s just a simple training session and is totally not traumatizing. [Ao3 Link]
If anyone else has any stories they liked, feel free to recommend them!

A friend of mine always gives me good natured crap about the decks I build. (Mainly because I come up with ridiculous idea but that's besides the point xD) This is my new goal, however I'm not sure what commanders or colors to look at that might fit. I'm working on sorting through the list but if anyone has some suggestions on what would go well, that would be appreciated!

Hi,
It was a long couple of nights and the issues are half fixed, but maybe it will help somebody out there.I updated my ROG Strix X570-E Gaming bios a few weeks ago to bios 5013. Everything was working fine. Yesterday afternoon, I updated windows, some cumulative preview for Win11, and it all went to hell 10 seconds after. Restart after restart, for no visible reason. Whether the computer was idling or i was just browsing on the internet, There were no heating issues on the main parts (CPU: 5800x3D, GPU : MSI Ventus 3090, RAM : 32 Gb Ram, Disks : 2 Nvme and 2 HDD) : temperature wise everything was "fine : except some CPU temperature spikes (which I think were causing the main issue, boost wise maybe ?).
I looked all over and I found posts online : apparently PBO was the culprit. So, just like that, PBO stopped working properly. I tested it all this morning : enabling PBO (on auto) with my current BIOS version restarted my pc every 2-5 minutes. I disabled PBO for the time being and locked the CPU to 4000 Mhz and everything is working fine. No restarts, nothing.
I have DOCP activated and I disabled C state. Everything else is auto apart from PBO which is disabled and core multiplier is set to 40 (CPU locked at 4000 Mhz). I might go back to the previous, bios version later, but I have work to do i can't test right now.
Is it a bios issue ? CPU ? Motherboard issue ? PSU issue ? i have no idea and I'd very much like to know. hopefully this helps someone.

Hi Reddit! I'm interested in a PhD program in STEM education that looks fairly competitive (they take approximately 5 students a year). I'm planning on applying to this program in the next 2 to 4 years. My research interest would be the integration of programming into undergraduate business school curriculum. What are some things I can do to increase my chances of 1: being accepted into this program, and 2: being successful in this program?
Some things I've already thought of:

• Work on some sort of research project at the college I'm an adjunct at to boost my research/publication credibility/knowledge
• Continue adjunct teaching

Any other ideas? Also, would my age/lack of experience be a negative factor?
Some contextual information about me:

• 23 years old
• Undergraduate degree in business administration (concentration in information systems + business analytics) (3.86 GPA)
• Master of science degree in business analytics (3.91 GPA)
• 3+ years of teaching assistant experience
• Full-time job is doing consulting work (I started my own company) for clients in web development, analytics, and graphic design
• Currently an adjunct at a business school (just finished my first year)
  • I teach general business classes and mentoguide students through their senior research theses
• Third author on a publication through a company I did statistical analysis work for

After getting rejected from Edinburgh for sociology/psychology joint honours my options for firm are Glasgow (Psychology with sociology, joint honours - AAB) or Sheffield (Psychology BSc - AAB) I think I'm going to go to Glasgow because I want to leave my options a bit more open (but if you have any commentary on that feel free to let me know)
The main problem I hadn't thought about is my insurance choice - it would've been Glasgow had I gotten an offer from Edinburgh, admittedly I was foolish not to be more prepared to be rejected. I could either go to Aberdeen for psychology/sociology (BBB) or to Cardiff for Human and social sciences (ABB) (which is supposedly Psychology taught through a sociological lens - but I'm worried it will end up being not that/useless/undervalued in master's applications and I'll waste three years. I've been everywhere for open days except aberdeen - which I've just looked round - and it seems like a worse place to live and I'd not enjoy it (a lot of the commentary I've seen on it says that the area isn't great/is declining )
At the end of the day, It's probably down to the course - so I might pick aberdeen - but I'm still worried about that. Anyone have any ideas/useful context as to what I should pick for my insurance? If you're currently studying at anywhere I mentioned any insights would be greatly appreciated. Idk if I'll meet my firm grades or not but I'm worried that no matter what I pick for my insurance I'll end up resenting it

So this has to do with something that I remember from 2nd-3rd grade. For reference I was born in 2002 which means I would’ve been in those grades between the years 2009-2011. My guidance counselor at the time would come in and show us an educational video. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of it and over the years I have tried to find it by typing in the details I remember. I’ve asked a few peers and they remember similar details and not the name. The video was on a VHS from what I can remember since we had to watch it on one of those boxy wheeling TVs they used to have at school.
Details: It was a 8-10 part series. I remember having to watch it over the span of a couple months once a week. It looked like it had been filmed around 80-90s. It was about using your confidence and wisdom. The little details I remember are there was a young girl as the protagonist. It was NOT animated. It was a girl going through a journey in the woods and at the end it ended up being a dream. The goal of the journey was to find 3-5 keys (I can’t remember the specific number) you would get the keys by completing tasks. It was supposed to be educational and teach kids right from wrong. I vaguely remember a dragon being in there too. One of the keys I remember you got from something called the “Forrest of wisdom” or something similar to that. Once you found all the keys you unlocked something and the girl would wake up. It was like a choose your own adventure type video series from what I remember. If you have any questions or any ideas please let me know because this has been haunting me for over a decade.
I believe it was also a VCR or VHS board game since I remember interacting with it through a remote

Was Creature an actual song in collaboration with Swae Lee while he was alive? I looked on YouTube, and I see that there are mashups of the OG Merci Beaucoup and the Creature verse, and I was thinking, was Creature a verse from Merci Beaucoup? Does anyone have an idea?

I have a 32GB M1 Max MacBook Pro
I use my Mac mainly for editing videos in iMovie and playing Football Manager.
Recently I’ve noticed it lagging when using iMovie after a short period of time.
During FM, when I change the scale, either in game or in Mac settings, it runs fine, until I move the cursor even an millimetre and it drops back down to about 90% smoothness. It’s small but noticeable to someone who is on it as much as I am.
Whenever I would play FM after putting the Mac into sleep it would usually lag and have these strange squares quickly flash up intermittently, so I’d always restart and it would be fine, but neither restarting or updating the Mac has helped.
I’ve updated the Mac and installed CleanMyMac and nothing has helped.
It’s clearly a software issue as FM runs fine when in windowed mode.
Does anyone have any ideas as this is really affecting my productivity and enjoyment.

Does anyone know how to write stories for kodomomuke manga, or myeongnang manhwa this in webtoon, tapas, or any other webcomics site? In context, kodomomuke manga is children’s manga, specifically targeted for ages 12 and under and typically while targeted for children, some other age groups watch it as well. Myeongnang manhwa is similar and has the same meaning as kodomomuke manga, but they are typically aimed at children or for all ages groups, and is family and kid friendly, and it’s also supposed to be colorful and humorous depending on the story and combination of genres they want to tell. “Kodomomuke comics” started in Meiji era, but “Myeongnang comics” started using this term in the 1960s. While I don’t know a lot about Myeongnang manhwa works, I do know some Korean kids animation that could probably relate to these types of Korean comics, though I don’t watch it too much. So I want it to be about the “substance” and the “style” for writing/making comics.
And I’m American-Dominican, and just because I read a lot of books, this does not mean I read comics. I din’t read a lot more comics/graphic novels and webcomics and manga, until when I grew older as a young kid at the time and went to the library as I learned more English. I want to know how to make kid’s and children’s targeted comics/webcomics, because I do not want to talk down on kids, and I realized I liked comics and webtoons/webcomics/anime so much. This also means the stories and characters that are for kid audiences targets and teen audiences targets.
I like reading manga, watching anime and tv shows, and also reading webcomics as well. Weirdly enough, because I love reading comics so much, eventually I decided I wanted to make my own comics and manga on my digital tablet too.
I would like to learn how to write stories for comics at first which is the first process, before the drawing process, fully page coloring process, and rendering stages of making manga and webcomics. For now, I would like this post to be about writing manga/or writing for any comic or webcomic in particular, and how to start making comics in chapter format. The manga I want to make needs to be targeted towards kids, teenagers, and people who are at least, or around, the age of 18 years or older, but with mainly appropriate materials and content. I also want my manga/comics to be safe for work and for mainly all ages.
The previous comics I did were on paper and traditional mediums, and permanently ended up in the garbage because I originally thought they weren’t good enough… Until years later, I thought about certain stories that, even though the pages could have been restored, I though they were great ideas (via roleplay in my mind) and they were more in the comedic and wholesome tone, a genre or tone/theme for the story I would like to use in other stories in the future. Learning how to make wholesome stories, lighthearted stories, and slice of life stories. Even stories related to action and adventure and have wholesome/lighthearted elements with some dark tone to the story that get fixed out in the end, are something I would also like to learn as well. I would love to (and be willing to!) get help from people who are excellent at writing for comics like this, and honing their craft from there.
I also have questions in this post that I would also like to learn about how to apply or how to avoid. I would try doing it with a grain of salt.
The questions are the following:

1. How do I make stories that don’t go on talking down to kids who would read most of the comics, the ones I would write for kids?
   
2. What should I “Do” and “Don’t Do” to write and complete my own comics for myself through self-commitment ? As in, during the writing stage, and after writing, to targeting my stories to all ages, or changing certain themes in the original comics to something kid friendly/family friendly?
   
3. How do I make my own original characters (writing and fixing OCs) for my comics, so that they are not ripoffs to something else in a different story?
   
4. Any recommendations of comics and anime/tv shows you like in your opinion? (I like the “Hotel Strange” comic book series by Katherine Ferrier and Florian Ferrier, “Lucid Lucy” by Carles Dalmau from webtoon, “Doraemon” anime in Spanish , and “Chibi Maruko-Chan” anime in English dub youtube.)
   
5. Any tips to making a good children’s webtoon/comic chapters? And advice for making my short comics into a series, if I wanted to do so?
   
6. Any advice for outlining and writing the whole plots and stories for my own children’s short comics?
   
7. How should I practice coloring with full color pages?
   
8. How do I make my OC’s character’s profile sheet interesting to me, before thinking about other people who are reading the story?
   

I (23F) moved in with my boyfriend (28M) 2 months ago and now I have moved out because i feel like he talks down to me as if im stupid. Yesterday one of my friend who happens to be a local Celebrity called me asking if i can get a contact of somebody who can give her work in the country that i live in. Since i moved to this country very recently i asked my boyfriend if he knows someone who can arrange the said event. Keep in mind that my boyfriend is also new to this country who arrived here only 4months prior to my arrival. We will be going back home after a year. So my boyfriend told me that he doesn’t have any contacts but will do it if he gets commission. Fair enough. I said “that’s a great idea, why don’t you find some contacts and once you do I’ll connect you to my friend. You can then discuss your commission and give her the contact” he said “I wanna make a deal with her before I start working” I said “That’s a bad idea because you are new here and what if you make a deal with her and fail to find a contact?” He said “You don’t try to teach me how to do business, Just do what I say” I said “Well thats what you did last time I got you a client who wanted to work with you, you still haven’t gotten back to him” (This was a completely different business idea he had in which i helped him, but since he didn’t have a proper base he failed) He said “How do you expect me to work without talking to the client” i said “How can you talk to a client without having proper resources?” He said “You have lost your mind, you don’t know how to do business and have come to teach me, just do as i say or fuck off”. Well that hurt me pretty badly because first off Im not stupid, I know how to do business and have some experience too. My Dad started from nothing and built an empire and i learnt from him, started a sports clothing line at the age of 16 then arranged an online Art competition on an international level during covid at the age of 19 also at same time i was running an NGO providing oxygen cylinders and ventilators to the people who were suffering from covid ( Money from the art competition and art exhibition that was held after helped run the NGO) by 21 I had saved upto 95000$. Please note that i did all this without my dad’s help. It started because my dad challenged me saying i cannot earn even 10$ without his help so to prove him wrong I did this (it’s his way of motivating me).
Back to the story, I got hurt and just moved out.
The thing is i feel like i over reacted. Should i move back or should I stand my ground
One more thing to note is that I never planned on coming to this country, just because my boyfriend moved here and wanted me to move here too i decided on coming here. Im not dependent on him in anyway but the reason why i came here is him and now i just abandoned him. This makes me feel guilty. AITAH?