24 hour liquor stores near me

Have you ever noticed that most Nintendo games don't have options for adjusting volume levels? Maybe this is due to some in-house design philosophy, or maybe they just want their games to be presented as a uniform product for as many people as possible, but for me it can be frustrating as someone on the autism spectrum.
Sometimes I do not like the mix of the audio (Pikmin 3 is so cluttered and it's unfortunate because it obscures some of my favorite VG music of all time), or sometimes I get tired of the soundtrack but I like the audio feedback (BoTW after putting in near 100 hours), or even if someone else near me is listening to music while there's music going on in the game (really overstimulating). It just baffles me that they don't allow for this, as it has been pretty standard for over two decades.

Hi everyone. I was in a situationship with a man who is three years older than I. When we met, I was 17 and he was 20. We are currently 24 and 26. From the start, it was clear he did not want a relationship, but I kept interacting with him and we ended up hooking up on and off for 6 years. Two years ago I moved to the same city as him and the most toxic part of our “relationship” began. Here is an example of an incident : We agreed we shouldn’t hook up anymore. I reached out. We flirted. I wanted to see him in person instead of talking on the phone and I went to his house. I said “I can leave if you want me to”, and he said I could stay. We had sex twice. A week later, a common friend was throwing a party and he stormed out. In subsequent texts he was saying “you can’t get away with doing things like that”, “forget I exist”, “I don’t want you”. This attack, I see as a result of his inability to say “I didn’t like you showing up at my house that way. We shouldn’t have had sex. Please don’t do that again”. But the way he escalated and started demeaning me resulted in a lot of trauma. Incidents of this flavor of emotional intensity and actions/reactions happened many times over. He said he hated me being clingy, but a pattern was created of me saying “please” and then him eventually giving in (probably because of his own urges, weak boundaries, feelings over the years, combination). But it made me sick overtime. It was a massive form of self betrayal, one I continued, and one he enabled (probably without wanting to). At times, he pointed out “I want you to get better. It can’t be that you’re this way after all these years”. After 6 years of involvement, he said things like “I want you too” or “I miss you too” in December (I know it’s peanuts, but to me it was insane to hear).
In November, he took a video of me without my consent while we were hooking up. I expressed a lot of anger and pain over this - in unhealthy ways perhaps. It took him months to properly explain why he thought it was okay to do that. He expressed regret for not telling me the night of, and for creating a sense of secrecy that scared me. But also said things like “I was drunk and embarrased about what I did, I wanted to find a better time to discuss it with you”. I don’t even know if it makes sense that I was angry in the context of our dynamic: It felt like he saw me primarily as sex object, and I kept making myself into one to be near him. Each time I was consenting to my own erasure. I say this about objectification, because I asked him for us to do things outside of hooking up, and he said no - which he explained as him not wanting to fuel my hopes and also him feeling a lot of pressure from me.
We last saw each other in February, and he ended things, after months of me not being able to give him the space he needed. My failure to stop was a mix of me feeling too much pain and regret over everything that happened, and me not being okay without him around. Approx two weeks after ending things with me, he said he was dating someone new seriously. Unable to accept this end, I kept messaging him - sometimes to be around him, sometimes to express anger or pain about everything that transpired. He has expressed that he feels harassed by this behavior and wants it to stop. Sometimes saying “I won’t be around you unless you become normal again.” A week ago he said we can go for a long period of no contact and catch up at some future point. But I broke it again. And failed him and myself again.
I know my mistakes. I know the ways I self betrayed. The ways I crossed boundaries. The way I threatened the relationship when I wasn’t getting what I wanted. I know his mistakes and flaws too. Part of me feels like we were just too young (we are now 24 and 26), and that we recreated childhood dynamics. That we fell into this, and we have the power to change it and get better. Maybe eventually find healthy love together. But I am concerned holding onto this idea will hinder my own growth and healing. The things is, I love him - and I see all our issues clearly, and I want life to give me the chance to get to know this person away from this initial dynamic that was formed at such a vulnerable age. But during one of our arguments I confronted him about love, and he said “If you want to make me cruel and hear me say it, fine, I don’t love you.” I feel broken by both our mistakes, broken by his decision to be with someone new, broken by my own efforts, and I feel stupid for my own hope for something better in the future.
I don’t know where to go from here. I have stable relationships with all other people in my life, I am able to articulate my needs and stand up for myself. I have a job, I’m pursuing a master’s degree and I also have hobbies. I just feel so disappointed in myself for the mess all this is - and I don’t know how to stop the mental loops that keep happening. I feel do dejected, both in terms of how I treated someone I loved - and what I’ve done to myself. Could I ever have a healthy dynamic with this person?

Curious if anyone else has experienced this...
About 2 months ago I started having mild chest pain with palpitations. (I'd had palpitations before, but the pain was new.) My doctor thought it might be related to a new antidepressant I was on. I'd been wanting to taper off anyway because antidepressants seem to cause me a lot of memory problems, fatigue, and confusion, so the doctor told me to go ahead and stop taking them. (I was on the lowest dose so there was no tapering.)
I also got referred to a cardiologist. I had a holter monitor, echocardiogram, and everything was basically normal (although I have a slightly enlarged aorta and mild mitral valve prolapse). The palpitations are harmless though.
My issue is that in the month and a half since I've stopped the antidepressants, my POTS symptoms seem to be getting worse. At first I thought it was because I'd been told not to drink caffeine, which has always been helpful for keeping me upright, but now I'm allowed to have it again and it's not helping that much. I'm having a lot more near-fainting episodes, even in situations where I normally wouldn't (i.e. I can usually stand without too much difficulty in cooler weather, at night, etc), blood pooling in my hands and feet and ears with a hot stinging feeling, and weird pressure in the right side of my head a few hours after I exert myself. This last one is the most annoying as it's often accompanied by really bad confusion and disorientation.
The cardiologist prescribed me metoprolol as needed for the palpitations, which often come with the pressure on my head and confusion, and get worse a few hours after exerting myself or changing positions a lot. (It seems like my body is belatedly trying to send blood upwards even though it's not necessary anymore.) The metoprolol does seem to help, but now I'm starting to have the pressure in my head pretty often, even when I don't have palpitations and haven't exerted myself.
I guess I'm trying to figure out what to do about all this and what caused it. I do feel pretty anxious and I'm not sure how much that's related to going off antidepressants vs. the sensation that my body just isn't working right. I also wonder if going off antidepressants could be causing some of these symptoms (even though going off them was supposed to help the palpitations, but they've gotten worse). I remember I used to have a weird sensation on the right side of my head before I started taking antidepressants, but it didn't bother me in the eight years I was on them. Does that mean it's just anxiety then? I don't really want to take antidepressants again because they make me so tired I can only work an hour or two a day. Assuming these new symptoms are related to stopping antidepressants, I don't know if they'll get better as my body adjusts or if they're going to keep getting worse.
So, that was a big wall of text, but I guess my question is, has anyone else had dysautonomia symptoms get worse after stopping antidepressants? Was it permanent or did it get better with time?

YOOOOOOOOOO LIKE, I ALREADY TAKE ENOUGH Ls SINCE GOD MADE MY BODY TO THE POINT I ALMOST DIED THE MINUTE I CAME OUT
worst rated 24 hours of my life. Well isn't this the damn consequences of MY OWN ACTIONS???
I am officially ~suspended~ from uni till next year and since I have no stable family to reside with or job... :) the voices are telling me there's a gun behind me this state of mind critical and I'm mad
obviously, my bpd ass' solution to everything is to do something borderline (haha) nuts so alc numbs the pain!
Not worth it guys..
I fell asleep (or blacked out idk) and rolled off my bed. Woke up in my own puddle of vomit, unable to get up. Just got out of the hospital rn :/
Please!! Universe no more homophobia its day 222222 OF PRIDE MONTHHHH..
(Happy pride to my bpd girlies, enbies, boys 🥰)

Hey everyone, hoping y'all can help me navigate this!
To start, I'm 24 from the US with a bachelors in Bioengineering. I kind of stumbled into data science; long story short, my sophomore year of college I started working for a small social media firm that a friend of a friend recommended. I was literally just a warm body to answer emails but it paid well (especially for a college student) and the hours were flexible enough for me to continue my coursework and research. Fast forward a couple years and the company had grown from ~25 employees to over 200, and they began to invest more in technical projects (ie. legit database management, portals, email automation, etc.) and created a small tech department. I was still with them at this point and expressed interest in joining the tech department upon graduating. My BioE program was fairly code-heavy, so I had a good foundation (mostly MATLAB, C++, R, and Python) and a genuine interest in the work they were doing. I started as a software engineer right after graduating and was mostly doing QA, basic ETL, database management, etc. along with lots of observation of the senior engineers and trainings.
About 6 months in, the company went through a massive restructure, a ton of people were let go and many of the products we worked on were depreciated. I'm sure many of you have seen a similar scenario play out...older leadership doesn't understand the function and/or benefit of certain digital solutions and would rather make cuts than adapt. Anyways, in this transition myself and another engineer began to split our time between the tech department and research department. After a couple weeks of that I moved fully to the research department as a data scientist. The research department was just myself and the other engr plus our supervisor. We basically did all the reporting for the company, so lots of metrics, KPI tracking, A/B testing, data visualization, NLP, etc. Maybe it was just this company, but I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions (colleagues have said its the nature of start ups...ie. its always chaotic and you have to wear a lot of hats) and my day to day was a lot more scrambling to finish decks and then explaining what different metrics and visualizations meant to the marketing teams before they met with clients. We did a couple of projects that were more pure data science but it was limited in my opinion.
In any case, the company is going under and I'm being let go in couple weeks. Regardless of any workplace drama, I really enjoyed the projects I worked on and want to stay on this career path. All in all, I have about a year of experience as a "data scientist" but at most I feel like a data analyst. Do I even bother applying to data science roles? Can I fill in the gaps with personal projects? Do I need to go back to school? How can I leverage my experience into a positive? Oof that was a lot, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read through my imposter syndrome spiral. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hey folks,
Has anyone experienced Diablo 4 crashing and freezing PC's?
I was streaming it on launch day June 01 and played for a good 2-3 hours before the game suddenly crashed, and froze my entire PC forcing me to reboot. This happened just walking around not even near any monsters or cut-scenes.
Specs for Reference:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 10700KF 3.80GHz
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB
• Chipset: Intel Z490
• RAM: G.Skill TridentZ RGB 64GB DDR4 3200MHz
• SSD: 1TB Intel 660P M.2 NVMe SSD
• CPU Cooler: RGB AIO 240MM Liquid Cooling
• PSU: 750W 80 Plus Gold

I’m(24 M) and my gf (22 F)
I’ll give y’all context to where we started and where we are now so y’all can get an idea as to whats going on. Sorry if this is a bit long. I just have no idea what to do..
I’d describe myself as a really sexual man, but I’m also a very affectionate man. I’ve been blessed with a libido that rivals breeding bulls. But it’s not all about sexual stuff with me. I value affection first, sexual intimacy second.
I’d describe my gf as a quiet introvert, not nearly as high a sex drive, but beautiful as hell. She’s not an affectionate person whatsoever, and altho we’ve had our moments, she’s not sexual either. She’s not very expressive of her emotions either. She has an ex who was abusive and raped her. I understand that can have consequences on someone’s future behavior.
altho we were friends since 2014, we didn’t truly start getting to know each other or hang out until 2019 a little after I broke up with my ex. When we first started talking, we were more sexual and affectionate. We had sex a few times, and the cuddling afterwards was always a treat. When we got more serious was during covid when the pandemic shut the country down for a few months. In the beginning things were somewhat smooth, but things got bumpy when the world opened back up. Ever since we got together, she’s not nearly as affectionate or sexual. She’s a college student who goes to a school in Alabama while I stayed in Illinois for college. I’ve only been able to see her for a month during winter break and for the summer time. When she’s at school, she hardly speaks to me but makes the excuse of being busy with her friends, sleeping, or school work. I’ll always message her good morning, good night, are you ok?, or I love you messages for days at a time before I do get a response back. I honestly don’t believe that she can’t make time for me because I’ve been with someone who’s in the same major as her who was able to balance school, sleep, friends, and our relationship and had no issue. I’ve told her many times how it makes me feel and she always says she’ll change but nothing ever changes. If anything, when she’s at school it’s gotten worse each semester she goes back.
When she comes home, she doesn’t show excitement to see me, but when I’ve went with her to alabama to see her friends down there, she’ll show hella excitement and hug them n what not. When she see’s me for the first time in months, I have to wait before I can get a hug. There are times where I want a kiss, and I’ll ask for a kiss and she’ll either tell me no or just give me a look and move to a different topic like I didn’t say anything. We’ll be in my room and she never wants to cuddle or be affectionate or close to me. She gives such little affection and I can’t even name the last time we’ve been sexual. I have to ask for hugs, hardly get kisses, hardly get to hold her hand. If I try to give her affection sometimes she’ll aggressively shrug me off like I’m a pest.
I’ve told her on many occasions how I want affection and she’ll always tell me that she’s just not an affectionate person but she’ll meet me in the middle. And nothing ever changes. I’m tired of having to ask for hugs, kisses, to cuddle, to be close, to hold her hand.
The last time I brought up intimacy to her was after a convention where she ended up yelling at me after I brought up to her that I want to cuddle. Mind you, we were on my bed as such: She’s wrapped in my blanket watching tiktoks with her back to me laying on her side while I’m laying next to her staring at the ceiling.
She’s brought up to me that her and her friends can sit in a room for hours not saying anything to each other and be perfectly fine, but I’m not her friends. I’ve brought up breaking up before because I don’t feel the love and intimacy I need in a relationship to be happy and she’s always said she’s trying to change but needs time. It’s been over a year since then and nothing changed. There was a night where I was super emotional and typed 14 pages (yep) of what I was feeling and that I was genuinely on my last leg with this. In all honesty I don’t want to break up with her, but I also find myself waking up feeling empty inside each morning wishing I was feeling more affection. Sometimes I struggle to eat or focus on anything, and when I do see her, I am practically BEGGING in my mind that she at least lets me sit close to her. We had good times together, her family likes me and I’ve been on a couple vacations with them. She also claims she loves me a lot and expressed that she wants a future with me at some point. I want a future with her too, but I don’t want to be in what feels like an affectionless, sexless relationship for the rest of my life.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here because me and MIL’s relationship have improved tremendously but lately her comments have started getting to me.
She works at a grocery store and is a manager for one of the departments. She is the generation that thinks it is noble and honorable to work at the cost of spending time family. She is hardly ever off weekends, and when she does have an odd weekend off, she doesn’t know until the Monday before. We usually make plans weeks ahead of time since we are pretty busy ourselves. We try to accommodate her when she’s off by canceling plans whenever we can, but it’s not always possible.
Back on Mother’s day weekend, we tried asking her a week and a half in advance about her plans so we could make sure both my mom and his mom get time with us. She worked that weekend until the afternoon, and whenever we asked what time she was off, she’d say “well we are leaving Monday for vacation” or “I have a nail appointment”. Never a straight forward sentence saying she wants to see us. Instead, she said “I don’t want you guys to drive 2 hours just to see me. You don’t have to do that” but we KNOW she would be upset if we didn’t, and she is aware that we are visiting my mom who lives in the same town. After she repeatedly beat around the bush, we decided to surprise her at work with gifts and a card, and spent the day with my mom since we already had plans in stone.
Fast forward to this week - my beloved grandmother passed away on Monday. We asked if it was okay for her to take care of the cat for the 4 days we will be busy planning/attending the funeral with my side of the family in the same town. We are staying at my mom’s, who has a big dog, and our cat is afraid of dogs. All we need is for her to feed the cat some wet food, make sure the water bowl isn’t empty and maybe scoop the litter box once or twice. She was like “oh just the cat? But you’re not staying here?” And then also said “I’m busy and work all day so are you gonna be able to come feed the cat?” Keep in mind that we have watched her dogs multiple times when she went on vacation, and I NEVER made a comment when the dogs puked and pooped on my nice rugs, or when they woke us up 4 times throughout the night to go outside. When we told her if she couldn’t that it was okay, she said “oh no don’t worry about it”. I’m so confused.
During this conversation, she also gave us an update on the phone about my fiancée’s brother’s job and how he doesn’t work at this place he’s been at for a while. We were both shocked and said “wow since when?” And she just goes “yeah you guys don’t come over enough to talk to us”.
I’m angry, emotionally exhausted and disappointed. I’m trying to process my grief but now I feel horrible having her take care of the cat. This “not seeing her enough issue” has been an ongoing issue but I guess this week it really got to me. She also has the option to leave this job and work somewhere else, especially because she spends all the time we are there complaining about the teenage workers and how “nobody wants to work anymore”. In reality, those kids know how to prioritize other things in life, and don’t sacrifice their mental health for a near-minimum wage job - kudos to them because I was never brave enough to do that at that age. Ever since she became a a manager, she has been grumpier and doesn’t seem happy when we visit anyway. When we watch a movie she just scrolls on social media and then complains about people.
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked her to watch the cat. Perhaps that is where I went wrong especially since we haven’t seen her in a while. Regardless, I’m just emotionally drained and can’t handle this right now on top of grieving.

Should I initiate a divorce or stay with my husband for the sake of our children?
We have 3 children together, 2 year old triplet boys. We were trying for one and got three. We didn't do fertility treatments so it was a complete surprise.
I don't want to stay in this marriage because I don't feel loved or respected.

• He will tell me he loves me constantly but it always feels disingenuous; said out of habit, to try to smooth things over, or as a gauge to see if I'll say it back.
• He treats me like an irresponsible child and tries to invoke "punishments" on me if I make a mistake. Recent example: I accidentally saved over an autosave in a game we were playing and he tried to make me keep playing the game until I was able to pass the point he was at in the autosave I overwrote, but I don't know how to play the game well enough to pass it, so he told me we weren't going to play the game anymore; which upset me because it's really the only time we spend together and it isn't even quality time (he plays the game while I read the strategy guide out loud).
• My self-esteem is very low and he doesn't do anything to help on that front. We haven't had sex in months and that makes me feel unattractive. He has never been affectionate or forthcoming with compliments but it didn't really bother me before because my self-esteem was high enough that I didn't need affirmation; but after the pregnancy my self-esteem took a nosedive and I haven't been able to recover it yet. I'm working on it but it's hard.
• I work a full-time job and am responsible for 99.9% of the childcare and household duties. I make about $30k more a year than him with my base salary (more if I include my bonus) which I only mention this for context. I am constantly overwhelmed and when I mention it he asks how he can help, I'll tell him, and he will help for a couple of days then things will go back to normal until I mention it again and the cycle continues.
• Anytime we have any type of disagreement I feel like he always sees me as the enemy and wants to fight against me instead of us coming up with a solution together which is what I want us to do.

I could go on but I have had to edit this post several times for length and I can answer any follow-up questions in the comments. I hit the main points above. I don't expect a perfect marriage. I know I'm not perfect and also have my flaws which have contributed to the degradation of our marriage but I don't think I expect much. I just want someone who wants to be an equal partner.
My kids are little and love their dad. I think I could deal with the situation if I knew it was best for the kids. If we were to divorce I would have to move to a different state to be near my family because he is my only support here. I have to travel for work sometimes and can't leave the kids alone with him because he doesn't know how to care for them so I drive 6+ hours when I travel so my mom can watch them. She can't come here because my dad is allergic to cats & my husband has a cat and every time my dad has visited he's gotten very sick and it's too hard on my mom to watch them alone. My mom was older when she had me, and I was 36 when my kids were born, so she isn't a young grandma and needs the extra help. My concern with staying is my kids learning that our relationship is normal & that he'll treat my kids the same way he treats me and make them feel bad about themselves.
I don't know what to do. Help?

Hello! I am thinking about getting a puppy sometime in the next year and am going back and forth between 4 breeds: Miniature american shepherd, australian shepherd, kooiker, and sheltie. They all have certain things in common and I'm having trouble choosing which would be best. Thoughts are appreciated, especially if you have had one or more of the breeds and can give a bit of first hand comparison between them. Also feel free to suggest another breed if you think it fits well or better than one of those I mentioned. 1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs? No. I grew up with a medium sized mixed shelter dog (we adopted him when he was 9 months and he lived to be 17!!!). We also got a Pomeranian puppy when I was 19ish. I later adopted an adult (5 years old) Golden Retriever, he was reactive and we trained on this with help from a behaviorist so I know a bit about working with special issues. So I am familiar with dogs but have never raised a dog from a puppy without my family being involved as well. 2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a [reputable breeder]( http://ownresponsibly.blogspot.com/2011/07/identifying-reputable-breeder.html)? I want to go through a breeder for various reasons. 3) Describe your ideal dog. A dog that can come everywhere and wants to engage with me and train. Eager to please, smart, adaptable, can be calm and stable in busy environments, affectionate. 4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why? I have gone through looking at a lot of breeds and I think I am now mostly focused on shelties, kooikers, aussies, and MAS. I like that they are all active and eager to please, highly trainable, and bond closely with their families but aren't overly friendly with strangers. I have read that shelties and kooikers both can tolerate days off from activity well (this of course also depends on finding a breeder who can match we with an appropriate puppy as there is variation). Aussies/minis are amazingly versatile but definitely seem higher energy, so here I think finding the right match could be more difficult.
5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do? Primarily just to be calm or neutral in many situations so that they aren't limited in where they can go. I also want to use this as a chance to learn a lot more about dog training and dog sports, so go to lots of classes and pursue whatever the dog and I find fun. 6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport? I don't have experience yet but want to try different dog sports, not to compete but to fulfill the dog and do something fun together. **Care Commitments** 7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day? For physical exercise and training 1-2 hours (outside of days we have a class or a weekend when we can go for a long hike or ski trip). I have flexible home office hours so I will also be home just hanging out with the dog for around 14-18 hours a day. 8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park? If by exercise we are talking purely physical exercise: around an hour in the form of walks and play. But as noted above I want to spend 1-2 hours total on things that would wear the dog out, such as physical exercise and mental stimulation/training. 9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly? I'm happy to brush a few times a week and of course do trimming and ear cleaning as needed to keep the dog clean, comfortable, and looking nice. **Personal Preferences** 10) What size dog are you looking for?
medium 11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle? Can handle some shedding and barking. I think slobber is not great for me. 12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area? This would be super nice, but not necessary. **Dog Personality and Behavior** 13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space? Snuggly 14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please? 100% eager to please 15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors? In a perfect world they would be calm and unfazed, but I also don't mind if they bark a bit or want to greet. 16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs? No, I don't feel confident in this.
17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid? Because I really want the dog to be able to join us lots of places and travel with us I want to avoid reactivity. **Lifestyle** 18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone? Around 8-10 hours day on weekdays, but no more than 6 hours in a stretch. 19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog? I have a partner, we will both care for the dog but are in agreement about what we want. 20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?
We have a young cat, a rescue around 1.5 years old. 21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly? No, but they should be ok with children.
22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease? Rent, no restrictions. 23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds? I'm not aware of any breed bans. 24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live? In the summer highs around 68F and in the winter highs around 32F **Additional Information and Questions** 25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant. My partner and I are active people who like being outside (climbing, hiking, skiing) and we both have a lot of flexibility in our schedules for the next year and a half to raise a puppy. We also both want to really train the dog to a high level. I'm interested in sports and my partner is interested in crazy tricks, so we want to really engage with the dog and hope the dog will have some good drive to work. 26) Feel free to ask any questions below.

I know this is nocontract which is mostly about prepaid, but those of you who know how to play the game know how valuable Xfinity Mobile was and still is, but how they are starting to get away from what made them a great value.
I am completely ignoring their unlimited plans. I don’t care about them, never have.
The real value is the “By-The-Gig” Plan.
Unlimited Talk & Text w/ 1GB of shared data across all other By-The-Gig lines.
Even after the price hike a while ago from $12 to $15. Still great value.
$15/m for up to to 5 lines.
(FYI I’m still on the old $12 plan with up-to 10 lines.)
I will say that being able to get the base unlimited plan for $30+ taxes with just one by-the-gig line is… okay. Not bad. It’s not great but not terrible.
—-
With all the “free phone” promos throughout the years.
The $50-$200 BYOD New Line Promos.
The Extra Xfinity “Rewards” Promos.
—-
Sadly it’s starting to come to a slow end.
Increased from $12 to $15 even though I’m still grandfathered in at $12.
$10 activation Fee, even for port-ins on existing lines (this hurts more than you might think)
Slightly higher per line fees and taxes.
Seems to be no more good “free phones” without a promo code. I’m not talking about some garbage Motorola or Samsung AWhatever. Sometimes a pixel is “free” but iPhones is where it’s at. They are really pushing trading in now, don’t know how I feel about that, I’ve never traded in a phone with them.
It needs to be paired with an Xfinity internet account. Not the end of the world but can be annoying at times.
—-
Good Things -
Verizon Coverage.
It’s still a great base hub account with unlimited talk&text. With a dual sim phone specifically an iPhone all you need is to pair up another SIM that has data and your good to go. The advent of eSIM free trials have been a great paring with Xfinity Mobile.
A slept on feature missing on so many prepaid services is the enhanced “iCloud Calling on Wi-Fi Connected Devices” feature. It’s available even on the By-The-Gig lines.
I still wait for the BYOD port in promos though. That’s the real value.
If you are the kind of person who gets the cellular models of iPads like I do. They usually have them at retail with the base iPad model usually with a discount on the line fee. 24 month 0% interest for the new base iPad. I’ll take that, even at retail. With an optional by-the-gig sim in there for emergency data.
This mobile account has almost acted as a Apple financing account for so many years.
The promos are still there, just at a lower quality/frequency than before.
Eligible for the ACP if you qualify.
Apple Watch compatible for $10 per line fee.
You can swap SIM cards with other devices even though they don’t like it.
Retail stores so you don’t have to do everything online or on the phone.
I have easily gotten more out of my relationship with Xfinity Mobile than they have out of me.
—-
They seem to be not so concerned with customer acquisition as much anymore and now are actually trying to cut the losses. Are they even profitable now?
I’m still on the ride but I’ve realized that it is indeed slowing down.
Who remembers the $1 LG Charge phones!? Those were awesome. I still have one somewhere.

My girl has been given a 25% chance of survival granted she pulls through over the night with a possible gallbladder infection after confirked though surgery. My bond with her is indescribable words wouldn't do it justice. She is my other half everyone says how close we are to each other, She follows me around everywhere never leaving my site waiting for me at the door when I come from work, sleeping on my bed every single night. She tolerates pets from other people but only ever enjoyed mine no one made her purr. She is so intelligent never made a mess in her life able to do tricks and never set foot in the front garden even if the door was wide open because she knew after she escaped 1 time I didn't want her going outside only in the garden. Literally Anything I ate she wanted a bite of. The past week she hasn't been eating and with countless pet visits appetite stimulants and medicine with probioitcs she still wouldn't eat. I would spend hours sitting next to her with food on my hand just to get her to lick a tiny amount. I admitted her yesterday after she wasn't improving and the vet said her temperature was 40.2 C. The day before I went in the vet had checked everything apart from her temp as she was squirming around and decided to stick it near her nipples, If they had checked her temp properly would she of been a bit better? After they got her bloodwork back they peppered for surgery. First they had to increase her blood pressure as it was too low and put antibiotics in her drip.At the time they gave her a 60% chance of survival. During surgery they wasn't able to find the cause only lots of fluid containing bacteria in her body which got flushed with saline after checking everything they came to the conclusion it must be the gall bladder but didn't notice any tears or inflammation, before they could do anything they had to stop as she no longer was responding to the blood pressure medicine so they are now waiting for her to stabilize and continue it tomorrow. They also said her organs are critical. I don't know what to do I feel very weak I already have a weak heart I'm on medication for. Shes only 1 year 4 months old, after I got diagnosed I got her to help my mental state. What do I do now she is my everything it's probably ridiculous to say but for me that's the whole truth I can't imagine a world without her she's too young she still has a whole life ahead of her I can't even think if I didn't write this down I would go crazy.

Welcome friends, it's John Green o'clock again as we dig into more of The Anthropocene Reviewed. Today's check-in covers Chapter 19: Penguins of Madagascar, Chapter 20: Piggly Wiggly and Chapter 21: The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
SUMMARY
Chapter 19: Penguins of Madagascar. Begins with Green talking about the Beatles and why some people think Ringo is the best. He discusses proactive opinions and how he believes the opening scene of the Penguins of Madagascar is a cinematic triumph. In the film the producers describe the 'silly little snow clowns' as they go off on an adventure. Green then goes on to discuss lemmings and the misconception that they can spontaneously generate 🤣 as well as that they self correct for population growth via mass suicide. These stereotypes were brought for due to a film called White Wilderness) and a scenes shot in Calgary (so close to my hometown!). Green sums up his argument that the lengths we will go to hold onto a lie and how we as humans will mostly mindlessly follow rules. Green rates the opening scene of Penguins of Madagascar 4.5 stars
Unrelated, but I'll always think of Cumberbatch when I here the word Penguins.
Chapter 20: Piggly Wiggly.
Opens as Green talks about his great grandfather Roy, who worked in a grocery store. He then discusses the introduction of self-serve grocery stores including the infamous Piggly Wiggly grocery store which opened in 1916. After just a year there were 350 stores. Green comments that the stores were able to replenishing the earth and brought down the price of goods. Campbell and Oreo became the top soup and cookie brands (and still are today). Green discusses briefly the effect of mass media and brand awareness. By 1922, there were 1000 Piggly Wiggly stores but, Saunders got too greedy and that mixed with his own bullying behaviour, led to his downfall. He then invented grocery stores with meat counters, etc like the super markets of today and went on to find success again. After Saunders got greedy again and met his second bankruptcy, he thought of a machine operated store with no staff. Unfortunately, it failed, and Green goes on to discuss how the big companies get bigger, but eating the small. 2.5 stars.
Chapter 21: The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Nathan's hot dogs started in 1916 in Coney Island, New York. Everything has changed over the years to how it used to feel but on July 4th, the hot dog brand holds its yearly hot dog eating contest. It started in 1967 with 127 hot dogs eaten by the winner in one hour! Now, it's a 10 minute contest. The introductions on ESPN are longer than the actual contest since competitive eating is a sport. Green introduced me to the term 'Reversal of Fortune' and compares the contest to how Americans strive to get more than you actually want in life. He discusses the atmosphere of a contest and how *when you have the microphone, what you say matters**. 2 stars.
Join us on June 4th when u/spreebiz will present the next three chapters - 22: CNN, 23: Harvey and 24: The Yips.
As always, feel free to pop over to the Marginalia and chat away!
Happy Friday 🥂
Emily

tldr I left exGF when she created an ENM situation that was not okay with me. other guy wants me to look after her while he's gone
I was with exGF for 2 years. 6 months into our relationship exGF and I got her online business running, which involved selling suggestive pictures and virtual interaction's to her customers. This was all her idea, but I was supportive and helped her in any way I could because I really had no issue with it. She had been bringing up polyamory as a curiosity as hers, and we talked about how it would be new to me and how it really depends on the situation whether it would be something I could do. We also talked about how it would be pretty new to her and how she feels the same way.
One time we went on a hike to a local peak with a view. We were spending time together at the top, and during a quiet moment she says "you're not going to like this" and proceeds to video call one of her online customers. We had an argument about it, and eventually agreed that she should respect our time out together, and I have nothing to worry about, and even though she stated beforehand, it wasn't her intention do do something to upset me. Her customer could see the whole view with a 360 turn and she wanted it to be personalized because he is her "top gifter."
ExGF's business has been in the "starting point" of the process the whole time. She encounters a lot of people across different platforms, but very few have been contributing to her and even fewer regulars. I expressed a few times that she gets too invested in the 2 people that she actually profits from. She saw her top gifter was an outspoken republican on his intagram and couldn't get over it. She would be crying about drama when I got home pretty frequently. Her mother recently passed away and, against my caution, she was immediately spreading the news to her followers. I explained that she can share whatever she wants to the world but I don't want an online presence of that form, so she often made up stories of being poly or with other people. Whatever worked, as long as my name and face were out of the public side.
I come home one day and we greet each other like normal, then she causally informs me that she drove a 3 hour round trip to pick up her gift from BF (her only regular gifter at the time because she told the other one off). I reasonably lectured her about safety, and questioned why she would even do that? Because she saw BF as a friend now, and how out of all the thousands of people she's met online, of course there's a chance she finds a friend. She justifies it as keeping BF invested in her business. I tell her I'm not okay with it, mostly because she didn't communicate anything to me beforehand.
As time goes on, all my suspicions come true that exGF sees BF as a potential boyfriend and wants to ENM with him. exGF and I have multiple discussions about whats okay, and everytime I would agree to something, she would exceed my boundaries I explained I was concerned about. This happened a few times and I would forgive, but not forget. I truly gave it my best because I wanted her to be happy.
She gave me warning that she was going to spend the night at his house for the first time for his birthday, and I couldn't stop her. I asked her if she was going to have sex with him, and she wouldn't give me a straight answer. Because I love and trusted her, I had to be okay with it. She's always told me she wants enm, and she was worth giving it my best, even if the situation wasn't okay with me.
Even my best wasn't enough for me to be happy, and I know she saw me as always holding her back and telling her no. BF offered exGF a room in his new apartment he bought significantly closer to us, for her business. From what I know, he coincidentally has been having struggles with his wife about polyamory in their relationship, and just so happen to be going through a divorce. I asked exGF if she thinks she is involved in their discission, and never got a straight answer. exGF accepts the appartment offer and decides she wants to live there and "split time" between us. I let her know, even beforehand, that I'm not going to be a part of that and I'm not going to "split time," so a few weeks went by as she tried to figure out how to get what she wanted. certain major boundaries were crossed (definition of cheating?), and I decided to break up with her and let her live completely with BF.
She tries to reach out, but really there's nothing that can be done to fix things. I usually don't respond unless its important (way more than I respond to friends and family). I'm honestly feeling much better without her because she has a stressful lifestyle, but I love her and am ultimately extremely hurt.
BF texted me some bullshit about how he didn't mean seem rude or selfish and how he thinks we have things in common and how I have more wisdom on how to take care of her. He is going to another country for a month and asked me to check in and keep an eye on exGF.
I really want to tell BF what I think, but I figured blocking his number is best for everyone. It doesn't sound like things aren't going the best for exGF right now, and BF says he's worried. If he's worried, he should be there for her. If he's not there for her, then sucks for her but she gets what she was working towards.
I plan on remaining a ghost, but any advice would be appreciated. This isn't nearly the whole story, so please ask if more details are needed

Background info: I have a tenant in one of my units who was good for about 6 months then stopped paying and became very hostile in their texts regarding payments etc. etc. My paralegal was dealing with it and we had been through an LTB hearing with another scheduled for who knows when.
Current problem: It has been nearly a year now without a rent payment and just a few days ago the condo emailed me saying the unit has a foul odor coming from it. I provided 24 hour notice for entry via email, text, and a letter left at the door of the unit. I went today and the letter was taken, the unit was unlocked, the unit is completely empty aside from one bedroom which has a bed and clothes everywhere. The smoke detectors are all taken out, the toilets smell like sewage from not being used, there is some food in the fridge, a bottle of alcohol on the counter and some fruit that is relatively fresh as well. Clearly someone is living there, but I suspect it is not the tenant as all their furnishings that were there are gone, the building hasn’t been able to contact them, and they have not been seen by concierge in a few months.
My question: what is the law regarding a potential squattetrespasser? The condo management have let me know they want to help anyway they can because of course they don’t want someone not registered to the unit/building living there. I can of course get an accelerated hearing date with my evidence and the condo’s word, but I want to know if there is a way to get a visit by the police or if condo security is authorized to remove the current occupant if they aren’t registered to the building?
Thanks!

[←Chapter 53] [Cover Art] [My Links] [Index] [Discord] [Subreddit] [Chapter 55→]
The day had slid by Aya like so much water off of a duck’s back. It took a particularly hard prod by Frare to dislodge her from a slurry of inattentiveness. As she looked around she realised the barricades had been almost completely disassembled, with only scraps remaining on the church floor. The pieces of broken glass and masonry were being carted outside by the villagers that remained.
Currently there was a lukewarm debate around the command table, dragged to the centre of the hall. Aya’s consciousness glossed over Sorore reprimanding her brother for bothering her, as well as the various arguments over logistics and provisions. She half-heartedly listened to discussions of various threats on various roads, and then quickly forgot about it.
Without really realising it, she found herself peaking at the parchments spread over the table. The lined scrolls held no real meaning for her, but the centre map with its pins certainly did. It was a large and fairly extensive map of the continent, with various cities illustrated with flowing script too elaborate for her to read. Slowly her eyes flitted from north to south, and found the curl of a mountain range bleeding into a peninsula where she assumed Karkos was.
“What about here?” she said, pointing to the location through the greaves of the captains before her.
Most turned to look with amused confusion, and she quickly felt a flush creeping up her neck.
“It’s a city,” she said.
The officers continued to look at her, awaiting elaboration.
“Y-you could get food there,” she offered weekly.
She almost added ‘I’ve heard the food is quite good’, though fortunately for her dignity the phrase died on her lips before it could enter the world. Naia, almost directly across from her, looked down and stroked his beard.
“It’s far from the worst option,” he said, “in fact, it’s probably one of the better ones.”
“It charges an arm and a leg, just for the usage of one ship. The cost of transporting all of us will be steep,” one soldier protested.
“The mountains are blocked off with the Alonshaze destroyed. None of the other passes can be reliably quickly traversed, even in summer,” Naia countered, “going the land route right now would be asking for trouble. The flatlands at the base of the Alonshaze have always been unstable, but ever since Ein’elen broke up it-”
“Sharaloch would be another option,” spoke up Damafelce, without much enthusiasm.
“You want to bet on a city of pirates and mercenaries for transport?” exclaimed another captain.
“Unwise, especially with such valuable persons,” Naia said, “we’ve already had enough headaches. The last thing I need is a hostage situation while sailing the strait.”
“You get what you pay for in Karkos,” yet another captain offered, with general murmurs of assent, “though with what gold we have I-”
“The gold’s not the issue,” said Naia, “if necessary, we can issue bonds in the name of Angorrah, or the paladins can in the name of the church.”
Niche, glum and surly, still nodded at the implied question.
“The general would not be happy. You know how possessive they get over money on a mission,” said Damafelce.
“We’ve been attacked multiple times, crossed half the continent, and found a long lost bequeathed, all with about a hundred men,” snorted Naia, “with all due respect to my betters, they can take their complaints and shove them-”
“If we’re going by speed and stability, Karkos is the best way,” cut in Niche through the laughter of the soldiers, “the safety of the Bequeathed should be our top priority. A good ship will get us there in under a week.”
“A ship to Espala, then Inalthia. Draskar forest is a nightmare at any time of the year,” Naia said, leaning over the map. With a subtle motion, he moved Aya’s finger northwest, and she realised with horror that she’d been pointing to the wrong end of the peninsula where some lesser settlement stood.
“Captain Deckard, I assume those that don’t want to come for pilgrimage will be returning to the fort?” he continued without giving any sign that she’d done anything wrong.
A new man, eyes blazing underneath furry dark brows nodded fervently.
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to clear out. I want everyone ready by sunset - it’ll be just under a week before we reach Karkos. Get what sleep you can - we’ll be riding out the next morning.”
There were a few finer points of debate that were bandied back and forth, but the conversation largely seemed to be settled. Niche and Damafelce both seemed to be locked in a staring match as Naia approached her.
“A good suggestion, my lady,” he said, “it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the city, but it might be just the place after this string of close calls.”
Aya tried to take what credit she could with a burning face.
“Now, there’s one other piece of business I have to attend to, I think,” he said, “where is the mage?”
“He’s on the roof,” she blurted, “I can show you.”
“No,” he said, holding up a gauntlet, “I think we’ll be just fine by ourselves. You should go and rest. It’s been a long night.”
He and Damafelce walked away from the table and vanished through the side door. Aya returned back to the altar with Niche, who was muttering some unkind things under his breath. It wasn’t more than a half hour before Naia returned with his captain, looking troubled. Before she could ask any questions, however, he quickly exited through the front of the church.
The rest of the day was largely spent on routines of amusement, the Bequeathed and the children of the village playing little games and telling stories among each other. The paladins, though they kept an eagle eye upon their charges, were not in a talkative mood that day. Lillian’s face was particularly dark, and she often muttered things that no one cared to listen to.
When evening came, any residual fears of the monsters returning were put to rest. The icy fear was no more, the villagers placed back what intact pews there were, and the flow of people from the medical bay slowed to a trickle. A simple meal, and a dreamless sleep, and Aya awoke in the early hours of the morning. Pulling herself up to one of the broken windows, she could see the summer green of the trees, their vibrancy somewhat damped by a light blue-grey fog.
Before they left, a service was held to bury those who’d been slain. The dead were laid side by side, wrapped in simple drab cloth, in a large pit just outside the doors of the church. Niche stood over the graves, eyes shut, pronouncings the blessing and peace that these brave defenders would lie with. Aya took the time to say a silent thanks as she gazed at the cloth-bound bodies.
As the remains were covered with soil, Niche shifted into a louder, older language as he sang in a husky tenor. Some kind of funeral liturgy, she guessed, though it was unfamiliar to her. The villagers cast tears into the ground with clouds of earth as they passed along the pit, then they left for the wall and the village beyond.
Aya’s concerns as she reentered the church shifted to more material things - hunger, cold, the lack of bathing over the last few days. At least some of those needs were addressed by the paladins in the next hours, with furs and food. But soon enough, they were on horses, walking in a line down to the south over open fields before the forest.
The first morning passed with very little conversation between anyone as they passed underneath the trees. That was all the better for Aya, who found herself enjoying the crisp air and the rapidly warming sunlight. It did take a bit of a turn for sorrow when she remembered that she often swam with her mother on mornings like these in the mountain lakes. Still, she was determined to extract what happiness she could on such a wretched journey. It was a resiliency that Frare seemed to share, while his sister still glanced nervously at the trees around them. Aya wondered if the girl was still seeing the creatures from last night in every shadow.
When they reached a clearing around midday, the children were made to sit before Niche as he handed out various meagre components of meals. As they began to eat, Lillian joined him, and both cleared their throats in unison.
“Right,” Niche began, “I realise the last few days have been less than smooth. Hardly a time for lessons, unfortunately.”
His dry chuckle was not reciprocated by any of the listeners, so he quickly moved on.
“But, given the nature of what happened, I think it’s advisable to speak on magic and mages, and what the scripture says about them.”
Frare, at the word ‘scripture’ audible groaned, which was followed by a hiss as his sister seized his ear.
“We have been forced into a position where we needed the help of a mage,” Niche said, picking his words with care, “it was not something we did willingly. It wasn’t a choice, but rather the product of circumstances beyond our control.”
You mean, the commander overruled you, thought Aya, though she elected not to voice such thoughts.
“If we had another choice,” Lillian chimed in, “we would’ve taken it. Survival, however, takes precedence, especially for you three. The choices were made, we might not be proud of it, but we’re all still here and that’s what matters.”
“That being said,” Niche said, fumbling in the interior of his breastplate and withdrawing a small booklet, “it would be good for you to understand what exactly underlies our choices.”
Aya’s eyes flicked over to the twins - Sorore was sitting upright and attentive, while her brother was a glum and slumped mirror. Niche thumbed through a few pages, focused in on the one he’d selected and once more, cleared his throat.
“And thus it was found, a great conspiracy, conspired against the children of Angorrah, conspired with creatures both great and small, but terrible all, in darkness and stagnant pools, where the profundity of their sin would go unnoticed by the decent and pious. Hated and proclaimed sinner, traitor, rebel against the Lost themselves. Three Boons would be taken, and three Houses be condemned to dust.”
Sorore perked up, for she clearly already knew the story and was excited to hear it yet again. Aya waited with a tempered anticipation, hoping at least there would be a half-way interesting tale, despite its lacklustre delivery. The story progressed into a broad parable, describing how three houses arose in rebellion against the church, and how three holy items had been robbed from the sepulchre of the ‘roiling cathedral’.
Apparently, they were ferried into the hands of mages, who perverted their holy functions until they burned the most sacred tree on the continent, one laid by Nafthtazia herself. For all of Aya’s doubts about the moral, she couldn’t deny the enjoyment of a good piece of history.
“Magic exists beyond the purview of the church,” Niche began, then quickly corrected his error, “rather, it is a part of the mystery of the Lost, but others can access in inappropriate ways. Some speculate that it should be left entirely to the Lost, not handled by mortal hands. Regardless, the church has taken upon a sacred duty, to ensure that what magic is used is done so sparingly, and with the utmost care.”
He closed the book with a flourish, clearly pleased at the depth of his instruction. Frare’s eyes were fluttering, which prompted a painful poke from his sister.
“So, magic is evil?” said Aya, trying to square that conclusion with all she’d seen.
Niche puffed out his chest, no doubt about to exclaim that it was in the strongest possible terms. Lillian however, had her own thoughts to add before he could.
“Not… inherently,” she said, “But it is broadly forbidden and for good reason. It is less evil, rather a great risk for evil. That is, far too easy to put it towards evil ends. That’s why mages are, as a rule, cruel, selfish, and dangerous creatures. Perhaps it is better put that magic attracts evil, even if it can be used for good.”
Aya stewed in that statement for a while - clearly the church was deeply knowledgeable, expanding and attending to her own, meagre education on the matter from the local priest. Still there were holes, obvious holes, or so she told herself.
“It might be hard to understand,” Niche said, “it might seem a little strange that the church forbids something that could be so useful. There are very good reasons both in scripture and in history that proves the point - magic is not to be used with abandon, and thus must remain under the Church’s eye.”
He patted the sigil of the church, engraved on his breastplate.
“That is one reason why the Light Lords were created in the first place,” he said, with thinly veiled pride, “we are the watchers, investigating the use of magic and capturing the perpetrator that would harm or cheat with it.”
“It was a decision made long ago,” added Lillian, “it was a sort of… half-agreement between the church and the army. We kept the peace that was broken by the mages during the Night of the Burning Tree.”
“So there are mages in Angorrah?” said Aya, drawing a strange, near insulted look by Sorore at the question.
“Well…” said Lillian, sharing a look with Niche, “a handful at most, who operate under the strictest scrutiny.”
Sorore’s face twisted at this, but whatever comment she would’ve liked to make stayed in her head.
“The point is that mages are faithless and concerned for themselves above all else. They are to be engaged on only the most necessary basis. They may be directed towards good in service to the church, but never on their own.”
The rest of the lesson served as constant reinforcements and examples of the danger of mages. There were one or two arguments between Frare and their teachers that Sorore was too slow to suppress. Before long they were off again, the leaves shaking above them as a wind blew from the south. The evening camp mercifully spared them another lecture and after a simple dinner, both twins made their excuses and retired.
Aya huddled beside the fire as the temperature dropped. Around them were a circle of waggons, some covered by a framework of canvas, others bare, all loaded with supplies. The gifts of the grateful villagers, granted to the commander who had saved them.
The paladins were busy doing maintenance, carefully laying out arms and armour, scrubbing, polishing and sharpening. Aya got up, murmured a good night to the paladins, who nodded curtly. They were so absorbed that they didn’t seem to notice Aya slipping away.
She poked her head into one of the ‘empty’ waggons, scanning the darkness for any sign of movement. Save for a handful of small crates, there lay the crumpled form of the mage just as they’d loaded him. Aya felt her breath still as she looked at Inniaylsia’s amber eyes. Even from this distance, she could see the subtle inner flames of reds and yellows softly illuminating them.
“Yes?” came the voice of the older woman, curt and snappish.
Aya started to speak, then stopped, realising that she had no real reason to be here, at least not one that she’d thought out.
“Come out with it child,” came the voice again.
Aya was put in mind of a line of children, heads bowed before a grandmother picking detritus from their scalps.
“I- I-” she said, “I was wondering if…”
“No. There’s been no change in this old bag of bones,” said Innie, her voice softening slightly, “though I’m sure he would appreciate your concern.”
Aya stood there for a moment, awkwardness rising, before setting her jaw, looking behind her, and upon seeing the paladin’s backs, clambered in as quietly as possible. The cat sat attentively and silently, regarding the young girl before her. Aya began in a hushed whisper, talking about the Night of the Burning Tree and the lessons of the paladins from the morning.
“If you want to ask a question about history,” interrupted the cat, “you best ask this sod when he wakes up. He proves irritatingly well-versed on that. Considering his age, he might've lived through it.”
“I thought you were old as well,” Aya said, trying to remember where she got the notion from.
“I am. Older than him. Old as half the company put together,” she said, “but I rarely venture outside of the forest. This is the furthest south I have been in decades, perhaps a century or two.”
Aya paused to try and get a grasp on the scale of time the creature had just casually gestured at.
“So my dear, if you’re going to ask me about the great deeds of men or the history of cities, I’m afraid you’re out of luck,” said the cat, tail bobbing this way and that.
“But that’s not exactly what I…” said Aya, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I wanted to ask about magic.”
The cat cocked its head, the speed of the tail picking up.
“What about magic, child?” she said.
Swish-swish.
“Well, I was wondering, just for a start, what is it?” Aya said.
“You should sit down,” said the cat, “this might take a while.”
[←Chapter 53] [Cover Art] [My Links] [Index] [Discord] [Subreddit] [Chapter 55→]

First of all sorry if this is triggering for anyone just as a head note any winnings discussed are completely pointless because I’ve lost so many thousands in my life and about 2k-4k in the last month or two alone whereas if I hadn’t been gambling the last month or two I’d probably have a very healthy bank account. I just mention what can be triggering for the sake of my own truthful recovery.
So yesterday I was on Day 4 I think but my crypto casino gave me $27 cash back and I knew I should of withdrew but I had a sports treble and ended up turning it into £83 in my bank account (yes two different currencies are deliberate).
Today I woke up to revise for a course for my job an hour or two before I had to sit an exam but for some reason I played blackjack for five minutes with the balance from my winnings the night before and nearly lost it all except I went all in on my last hand and won it back plus $10 which the $10 extra I put on a sevenfold tennis accumulator and lost.
I didn’t care that I lost the tennis accumulator but it kinda helped me figure that sports is just as shit as casino as three relatively heavy favourites lost on my sevenfold. I often fall into the trap of thinking sports is more fool proof than casino and it was a nice reminder that sports is just as easy to lose on like I say three heavy favourites lost.
Anyway I sat my exam and passed the test and was very happy and today was my payday and when I came home I was really in the mood to go play blackjack but instead of being sneaky peaky like and playing blackjack covertly in my basement hiding it from my Dad I straight up said to him “Dad, I’m really in the mood for playing blackjack and that’s what my brain is telling me to do but I’m telling you this now as annoying and degenerate as it must seem but I’d rather tell you so we can do something about it rather than just go play blackjack and lose all my money and be depressed around you because of it so can we figure something out” then we went for a walk and discussed it and I had a beer and after the walk we came to the conclusion that if I want to bet I can just do a very very little bet on his bet365 account and get into the sports which would be better than me playing blackjack and losing all my pay (I’m with GAMSTOP so I’m banned from all UK online bookies but I can still use crypto casinos and I have to make a worthy deposit as they charge for deposit and withdrawals on the exchange I use, I then end up playing blackjack violently with large deposits to make the fees worthwhile) anyway while we were on the walk I decided to use my payday to pay off my credit card in full which was £700 and when I got home I did just that and had a £0.50 bet only and enjoyed the football and bought some food for us both. It was like after being open and honest with my Dad it stopped me playing blackjack with a big deposit and instead I paid my credit card off instead which felt like a massive win and I didn’t even want to have a bet after that but I did 50p for the sake of it but not to try and win money but just to get into the sport. I lost the bet but didn’t care because it was only 50p and it felt great.
TLDR: Day 0, won 0.001% of my lifetime losses back yesterday, nearly lost it all today, paid off my credit card with payday and had a 50p bet in the end and now I think I’m done with gambling. I feel like a watered down degen.
Again sorry if any of this was triggering if it was just read the first paragraph again. I’m a muppet and a degen but a bit of watered down degen which is better. Day 0.

Just wanted to talk about my job as a band 3 admin and inspire comments from others.
I work in a specialist ADHD service within a trust. Over the past year our waitlist has over doubled in size but our workforce hasn’t; in fact it has always been lacking to manage the demand since conception.
But that’s by the by. As admin, I’m the dude that you speak to on the phone, and I hear about so many people’s struggles and hardships. I’m not qualified to give medical advice, but I listen, and that’s valued. I’ll congratulate you on the positive life changes you’ve made, or hear the troubles that ail you. If there’s a crisis or something a bit ‘more’ then I’ll arrange a same day call back from a medical professional. I have more patient contact than anyone else on the team and aim to give honest, open information and signpost as best I can.
I’m the one that gives the good news that I’m calling to book an assessment or book you to see a nurse/doctor to begin life changing treatment. But feedback is always aimed at the nurses and that’s ok because we’re a team and it’s not my glory to take. We have a team of 12 and I’m clued into all their caseloads, their patient’s needs and quirks, and I manage their diaries, admin work and the day to day running of the service. I monitor the wellbeing of my staff and hold it to the highest regard.
From my small position as a band 3, my team makes me feel valued and I ensure the smooth running of the service. As a non-medical member of staff, I have a unique lack of stress and responsibility that allows me to keep things light hearted.
I take pride in having a less than 24 hour turnaround time on all clinical documents and tasks, with work that involves medication completed on the day.
There are stressors and our service is chronically underfunded, but it doesn’t stop us doing the absolute best we can with what we’ve got, always keeping the patient at the heart of everyone decision.
I’ll add that I work within a team of 3, and our work throughput is higher than our neighbouring CMHT.
Yes I’m proudly boasting, because I take pride in my job, and I invite others to share their experiences as, or with their admin team.

We both work in tech and are in the absolute highest tax bracket.
Spouse = $400k salary $700k stock based compensation
Me = $100k salary 20k stock based compensation
2 young kids I’m in my mid 40s, husband is late 30s.
Given my salary is now a drop in the bucket of our total earnings, and the fact that I lose nearly 50% of that amount to taxes… I’m not sure why I am burning myself out trying to keep up with a high stress tech job with 2 young kids and aging parents.
I want to CoastFire and keep working 20ish hours a week, but have more flexibility and try something new. I’ve worked for the same tech company for 20 years and have a dream job by many standards, but it’s time to make a change.
I have about $100k I could invest in a new business, education, or to replace my salary for a year or so.
I want to still contribute around $50k a year to our overall family finances annually.
If you were in a similar situation, what would you do?
I’ve thought about: - Starting a non-profit, managing and growing it to a size where I can take a reasonable salary - Starting a small business -Becoming a qualified real estate professional (doesn’t count as part of W2)
…. Anything else?