Residential Contracting 101
With over 20 years of building experience, I would like to share with you my insights in navigating becoming a successful contractor. With many different avenues of the building world its key to understand what problems will arise on any given day. A man once told a saying that stuck-the 6 p’s in life- Piss Poor Preparation leads to Piss Poor Performance. Preparation builds everything in construction, without preparation the jobsite will not run correctly. The best advice I was ever given was to learn a little about every trade giving you the ability to understand trade lingo and secrets. An example would be painters use the terminology flash; this means when the sub structure bleads through the paint. Subcontractors will give the best pricing if they respect your knowledge of the industry. If the subcontractor feels they will have to hold your hand through the job they will charge an extra fee…i.e. I call it the aggravation fee. In this blog I will explain the key elements in finding success in all aspects of the industry. Contracting is a physically and emotionally demanding job which requires planning and foresight to complete projects on time within budget. Picking your customer is just as important as picking your employees or subcontractors. I have worked for some of the most demanding customers leading me to question at the end if the job was even worth it. Sleepless nights, constant changes, lack of payment, lawsuit threats, adding work that was in the contract are just a few things you could face with a tough customer. With so many moving parts at all times it is critical to be able to adapt to changes within a short time frame. Materials will come in damaged, subcontractors will be late, employees will get sick, but the deadline you set does not change. The stress can be overwhelming at times keeping your mind in a good place is key to navigating all that is thrown at you. Choosing your client picking the right jobs-Keep these questions in mind The first question to be asked is what the time frame is to start the job to see if it fits within the timeframe for your business. If the time frame doesn’t work then move on from the project or let them know when you would be available to start. If the client really wants to use, they will wait until you are available. Taking on too much work will only lead to problems. Construction is a serviced based business, staying on top of the project and client will eliminate an unhappy customer and construction issues that will be over seen. With online presence if details are missed and customer service lacks it will only be a matter of time the phone will not ring. The second question to be asked to the client is do they have a budget in mind for the project. If they answer yes this is good, follow through with what the budget is. If the budget seems low let them know, this will eliminate a tire kicker, educate them on what the price range could be. If the budget seems reasonable then continue the discussion to the next question. If they answer no let them know that you can give them an estimate to see if the project is feasible with their finical capabilities. Taking on a job that is not correctly budgeted will lead to an unsatisfied customer due to non-transparency of the construction cost. The third question to be asked is anyone else bidding on the job, if the answer is yes, understand you might just be number check for the contractor doing the job. Dig a little deeper and find out how many numbers they are getting and why. If your business model is to be competitive be completely transparent with customer, this will gain trust with them. Let them know you get what you pay for and if you they choose the lowest bid it could lead into lack of quality of work.
The fourth question I will ask is there any specific subcontractors they wanted to use. If the answer is yes then I would explain to them you only use the subcontractors you have a working relationship with. Otherwise, this could backfire as the subcontractor might not show, do subpar work, talk behind your back to the homeowner. In my experience I would stay away from using any homeowner to alleviate problems down the road. A quick conversation now can save headaches down the road. The fifth question I will ask are planning on getting the job permitted, this needs to be known it takes more time for the permitting process. Plans will have to drawn submitted and approved to the city before work can commence. The sixth question I will ask if a residential remodel is are you going to be living through the remodel if yes understand this will take more time to navigate the project due to answering questions and cleaning the house on a daily occurrence. I would recommend seeing if the customer would be willing to move into an Airbnb or friends for at least the demo portion of the project. If they do plan on living through the remodel add a couple hours a day to accommodate the extra time that will be required. The seventh question I would ask in a residential remodel is how old the house is to see if there is asbestos that would need to removed by a proper company. A home built before 1979 will most likely have some asbestos in the house, use a licensed company with proper insurance to dispose of the materials. If everything looks good to this point find out a little more about the client personality. If the client seems reasonable, I would bid the job. Unreasonable people can cause you more stress than its worth. These are some red flags I would look out for. Some jobs are not worth the money. Very demanding in the way you are going to perform your job- I.e., tell you how you are going to do your job- You’re the professional not them! Give you a hard time about your price- haggle with price you estimated- The price is the price! If they are a family with little money and you want to help them out is one thing, if they are trying to beat you down is another. Mention they have a lawyer-there is no need for them to bring up that they have a lawyer - Run for the hills as if the job goes south, you will be the one losing out! Tell you what the payment terms are. It’s your business you get paid how it works for your company. If you want to get paid every Friday, put it into your contract-If the clients do not agree move on it will save you frustrations If they talk bad about the last contractor, chances are they will talk bad about you. There is a reason why the contractor does not work for them anymore, unless he did subpar work this a red flag Clients are using an interior decorator that will purchasing all of the materials- The materials could be ordered incorrectly by the interior designer your company will not make the mark-up it deserves. Interior decorators usually add time to the job as well as act like your boss. Charging a little extra for the time and stress that it will entail is only fair. Clients want to purchase the materials- You are using your knowledge to buy the correct materials-The mark up on the materials keeps the doors open working for wages only pays the bills The husband and wife do not get along-You will become the mediator between the couple it will lead to taking sides a losing proposition- A drama free work place is always best! Dangling carrot-if you do this job the next one will be better-Only look at what there offering at the present moment, if its not a good fit do not take the job for a job down the road…Its not worth chasing a job that might not happen! The Art of the Sale First things first selling your company is all about presentation. In meeting your clients for the first time show up with a collared golf shirt tucked in, belt, nice jeans, and newer shoes. Have a truck that a clean, no dents scratches, preferably washed the day you are going into your meeting. Have a leather note pad that is clean no dirt or paint visible. Show up 5 minutes early, if you’re running a little late shoot them a text to let them know. Treat the situation as if were going on a first date, best foot forward. As you introduce yourself give them a warm greeting, letting them know you are very interested in the work. Find out a little about them, hobbies, where they lived, etc etc. You are going to be working with them on a daily basis its nice to know what makes them tick. Having a good working relationship from the start is key forming a solid relationship. As the conversation progresses find out who wears the pants in the family…ie who’s the final decision maker. If its fits the wife, chances it is…..then kindly let the husband know happy wife happy life when their in a stall mate on an issue. As your looking at the project throw in some suggestions of what you think would look good from past experiences, this will get their attention that you have knowledge and want what’s best for them. If you see ways to save them money in their project let them know, money is a large point of the sale keep that in mind. Mention that you’re not the least expensive contractor but you’re not the most expensive either. Your customer satisfaction is your number one goal which leads to more time spent on keeping them happy. One happy customer will lead to another, one unsatisfied customer leads to work in the future. Bring up the fact the finishing the job on time is key goal to your business, many contractors run several jobs at once causing the jobs to be finished way behind schedule. You must stand out as having integrity, good morals, and the ability to problem solve to get the job. The clients will be testing you to see if you’re a good fit as well. Keep in mind as you take your notes that you must not forget anything they mention as it will come back before the job is completed…i.e. we mentioned that to you before we started the job! Take pictures of the proposed area for work, that way you can use it to better right your estimate. Let them know you will give them a detailed outline of when the job will be completed letting them see how long each phase will take and correlate it with your payment schedule. Before you leave their house let them know when the estimate will be sent to them. MAKE SURE YOU HIT THAT DEADLINE! Once you sent the email over with estimate make sure you get confirmation that they received it. Wait at least 2 days before checking with them, hopefully they contact you first! If they want negotiate the price, let them know that it is the best price that you can manage, its not worth losing money before you start. I closed 80% of the work I estimated by being very transparent and friendly. If you come off with an attitude charge double what the going rates are you might only land 1 out of 10 jobs as well as getting the reputation of being expensive. Bidding the job Looking up industry standards on pricing is what I would go buy for pricing. If you google the coat of any installation there will be a cost range for everything. Looking at the cost ranging from high to low I would tend to be in the middle. Some items might be low on the internet if this is the case use your best judgment not to lose money. Closing sales is key to success and keep the doors open for business. Being in the middle on pricing is key as most customers shy away from contractors that are extremely low or high on the price range. I tend not bid out hourly as wages do not pay for retirement. Bidding is better as customers no the exact price of the cost of construction. It also keeps the job moving quicker as time and material contractors take longer to complete projects…Thus costing the client more money and valuable time they could spend in their house. Using a Contract Using a detailed estimate tied to a contract covers your butt in 99% of the time. Having a piece of mind that every aspect of the job is covered in the estimate and contract protects both your company and the client. Key terms to include in your estimate/contract are. Have a schedule on excel showing the start dates and dates of each trade this will show the customer you are organized with time lines. If not written in the detailed in the estimate the item is excluded- This ensures if its not written down its not included. TBD- To be Determined- A phrase on a line item that has yet to had final decision of products or service needed. -The pricing will follow the decisions to be finalized Give out what your written warranty will be for parts and labor this changes state to state. If the homeowner provides the product than no warranty will be given on that particular item. In the contract have a start date and end date with the verbiage subject to change due to weather, product delivery, change orders Have a progress payment schedule to ensure the client understands when funding will be expected-Including if not payment is rendered service to the project will stop. Have written terms of how change orders will be charged-cost plus 20% or a set fee Make sure in your contract that arbitration is required versus going to court- This will save lawyer fees and going to court Many contracts can be found online and each state requires different contracts
Finding leads Finding leads is easy with the right network of people. I personally do not find working for friends or family members a good fit. Relationships get strained when money is involved, causing undue stress for both parties. I have listed a couple of ways to build a network or find work using the internet. Get in contact with realtor’s- Realtors have a big client base of homeowners who need work done Contact local Architects to see if they are working with any general contractors Leave some business cards at your local materials suppliers-Doowindow/lumber-many times clients will ask salesman for a referral. Join a business networking group- BNI is one of many Join a internet website lead generation company- Houzz, Angie’s List, Home Advisor, thumbtack, Yelp run an ad on craigslist Use a marketing company to market your website-This could become costly with little results Create a Facebook business page Create a Yelp business page
Building your subcontractor base Having 2 subcontractors for every trade, gives you the flexibility of completing jobs on time if the one the subcontractors is too busy at the time you need their service. Your subcontractors are the face of your business, choose owner run companies that are professional. Check to make sure there license are up to date..ie workman’s comp, liability insurance, state license. Choosing subcontractors with lettered vans, logoed t-shirts is s key to looking professional in the clients’ eyes. In the past I have gotten a lot of subcontractors for material supply shops, stopping by jobsites, researching the internet using Yelp, Home Advisor, etc etc. Once you get one good subcontractor ask them if they know any other trades they would recommend. One good subcontractor leads to another in most cases. The key to having a good group of subcontractors is to let them know that you are there to get help them get the job done. They do work for you but without them you are nothing…keep that in mind! Make them aware a clean jobsite is required at the end of everyday to ensure the proper safety for all parties including theirs! Over the years I have referred a lot of companies work when there is only 1 trade needed. Referring work to subcontractors is a good way to get top priority when you have work that needs to be completed ASAP. Timing is everything in times of emergency having a good group of subcontractors will make your business run smoothly. Pay your subcontractors immediately after performing work, this will make them feel appreciated! A happy subcontractor is one that will gladly go the extra mile for you knowing that there not just a number to your business! Buying lunch once a week for the jobsite is always a good token of appreciation!
Supervising In supervising any jobsite its key to monitor everything from materials on hand, weather, vehicle parking (if applicable), jobsite safety, and subcontractors’ workmanship. If you hired a professional there should be little supervision in the work being performed, on rare occasions a new hire might need some mentoring to get the results completed correctly. If you see a problem with there work address it with the worker directly, no need to call his boss…. building repour with the worker letting him know you got his back goes miles down the road! Checking in on the job first in the morning to answer any questions or changes that need to be conveyed and once in the afternoon to make sure all work be completed is done per construction industry standards. A job that is run blindly will have many more issues than one that is watched over. I have seen many jobs with no site supervision, leading to subpar quality work as well as safety hazards. Its better to be like an eagle than cluck like a turkey!
Working with the City/Inspectors On permitted jobs the city and site inspector will be a large part of how smoothly the job runs. Each phase of construction has an inspection allowing for the project to continue. Make sure your subcontractors are aware that the project is inspected before starting the job. The best way to stay on his good side is to provide a clean jobsite and having the job built to the highest standards possible. When having the site inspected be courteous to the inspector asking any questions or concerns you have with the work during the job. Being completely transparent will save you aggravation of problems down the road. The more he trust you the better if you seem sneaky or rude he will make your life a living nightmare! Many inspectors will have an attitude towards you….I suggest keeping quiet and doing what ever he wants….he’s the boss no need to get in a pissing match you will not win at. How to deal with irate customer Stay calm during any argument with an irate customer. Never raise your voice or show that you are bothered by their disgruntled behavior. If the customer is trying to get more from you than agreed upon stand your ground. Worst case scenario is you walk from the job, which in the long run be more of a loss for the client. I have only run into a couple of these clients; they are unreasonable and not worth losing sleep over a few dollars. Its best to terminate the relationship as it would be my best guess that a referral from this customer would not be one you wanted anyway. If you feel it was just a miscommunication on your end, take reasonability and remedy the problem. Taking accountability for your mistake will go a far way in their eyes and on future issues that arise. Prepping the homeowner pre-construction Before starting the job, it very important to give the homeowners a warning of what will happen during the construction process.

1. All furniture in the proposed working area must be moved- I would recommend having the clients take care of this to limit the risk of damage to their belongings.
2. There will be dust that will be in the house up to 3 months after construction-I would recommend hiring a construction cleaning company at the end of the job even so after it is cleaned dust will be present months after words.
3. There will be conflicts between you in the homeowner at some course of the job. - You will do your best to eliminate them as quickly as they arise-i.e. material damages, miscommunication, job delays
4. All decisions on materials must be made before the start of the job- this will eliminate job stoppage due to materials not being on site.
5. All materials will be on site before commencement of job-
6. Payment structures must be made per contract otherwise job will stop until payment rendered
7. Cars are to be moved out of the driveway- Ensures ease of loading and unloading of materials/tools
8. Give the specific hours that workers will be present- i.e. 7-3:30
9. Determine what areas are allowed to be used as staging for tools/materials
10. If animals are present in the home that they put outside or in a room during the day
11. All valuables in the house are locked in safe
12. Ask if using client’s household bathroom is okay or to bring in Porter Potty
13. Being transparent as possible is key to keeping a great relationship with your client!

During Construction During construction it is key to take detailed photos to eliminate any damages that were not caused by the construction process. I would also make a video to ensure all areas are included. All subcontractors should also take progress pictures to ensure if problems arise in the future, they will not be responsible for any work that they did not perform. Keep an on-going log of progress to the homeowners and share the pictures for there records. This will keep homeowners excited of the progress being made. When the house is gutted to the studs it is important to have construction photos showing where all utilities are run in the walls or sub floor. If there is a problem in the future there will photos showing all utility locations. Protect all flooring with plywood or floor protective. I also like to protect front door and tarp all areas where subcontractors are to be working. Make sure to cover any chandeliers/furniture/doorways with plastic to eliminate dust. Ask the homeowners if they have any concerns that they could think of. We’re all human and possibly a detail was missed! Post Construction Phase If the project went smoothly appreciation should be shown to the customer. Find out if the husband likes a particular type of liquor. Bring the wife a bouquet of flowers. Send a Christmas card to the family letting how much you appreciated the work. You know you have done a good job if they tell you they will refer you to their friends. The best compliment you could receive is a good referral. In Summary Try to find a knitch in the market, I found kitchens to be a great remodel projects. Bathrooms are tough as they are small, expensive with little profit margin with every trade involved. Windows/doors are also another great knitch as they can be installed quickly. There are so many different remodeling items that can be stream lined to make the selling installing process flawless. Once the core group subcontractors are in place the job almost runs itself. Every day is a learning experience with new materials or methods in construction. Keeping up with codes, materials, fluctuating labor and material cost is a job within itself. Anyone can be a contractor with the right mindset.

I’m ignoring my best friend. She’s been in my life for almost 15 years now and I just can’t do it anymore. She’s made the brash decision to move in with her girlfriend (who’s lovely don’t get me wrong) but she did it with no thought, just quit her job literally a month before she did it, she can’t drive and refuses to try and get another job to support herself, all whilst abandoning the animals she had in her care. Her mum is mad at her and doesn’t want her back home. And now because of everything she’s constantly venting to me about her stress and how she can’t deal with it, I don’t know what to do to help her because I’m not mentally well myself and she lives over an hour away from me so it’s not like we can just hang out anymore like we used to (I have chronic fatigue and long drives really wear me out so I try to limit how long I drive for) I’ve just been in a major depressive slump at the moment and I feel like she’s asking too much of me, but I don’t know how to tell her how I feel without sounding like a selfish asshole. I don’t know I just feel like I’ve been abandoned again.

I am not a native english speaker, apologies in advance!
I am sorry i believe this communtiy is great!! always brings a smile on my face. This is an impulsive post haha i will probably delete it later. i typed this in one go, a bit impulsive and i am sorry if I come off wrong.
It is a really long text so I am already grateful for just posting it here. It is almost impossible to go through this illeterate english bible chapter haha so i understand.
Thanks again this forum is great! You guys are my inspiration; being proud of who you are, and seeing ADHD as something to embrace.
Well, The relationship lasted six years from ages 19 24. Despite his flaws, my partner was kind, patient, and loving when he didn't have anger issues.It was my first relationship, and I had never been in love or had sex before.
I always knew deep down that his actions were not okay, but he would confuse me with moments of kindness.
Now, in a moment of clarity, I realize how easily he made me feel like I was wrong and how it affected my self-esteem.I feel weak, embarrassed, and insecure after years of being with him. At the same time, I am really grateful for all the happy moments, and there is a part of me that feels like i am wrong for saying these things, as it is not "truly" him. I feel so weak, i tried therapy, but even my cogntive behavioral therapist literal words were "you have no identity" during hard topics you switch the subject, ask for validation. I spoke later with a counselor from school, who told me it is unproffesional and therapy can take a long time, so I should not be disencouraged.
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However, I blocked out many negative moments because of the positive ones and realizing now so much more, such as these examples:
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• He sometimes displayed anger issues, including pushing me against a wall, mimicking me when I cried, breaking objects, and verbally abusing me.
• He often blamed me for his anger that "I made him do that" or "if you werent like this/or forgot that than I woudlnt have.." .for even small things like leaving cabinets open or misplacing items, calling me "a child" "dumb" "dramatic" , or to expressing my feelings, as he called it "complantingand i was pretending to be sad/ ADHD is a choice. I am aware it is not an excuse! It is an explenetation. i am just hurt that he would call me lazy, dumb, unwilling, careless, a child, stupid that i decide to feel like i do. he waited for me after i got diagnosed that day.. he held my hand, we sat at the table watching my results with my mom, holding my hand.
• There were instances where he embarrassed me in front of others, from screaming in public or when I was having a night with my girlfriedns at home, when he visited his family abroad, we had bottle of wine food, just moved into a new neighbourhood and our numbers got added to the neighborhood WhatsApp group: he called my up angry, claimed after leaving the house for one week, i am already busy with boys... i did not understand; he knew some people in the group, we had dinner with one neighbour before, I cried and felt embarrased in front of my friends, especially since i had not seen them for months and we had such a great time; these things happened more often when I would go out.
• or while shopping with my mom (he said he wanted to come) there was an irritation and he walked away in front of us
• He sometimes made hurtful comments and engaged in aggressive behavior, including suggesting I deserve to be fucked by other men, telling me I would regret everything, and speeding up the car during arguments. that he regrets ever talking to me, i am not worth it, i am never there for him, he will never talk to me again. At the same time he told me to believe in myself, supported me with my studies (while also telling me to drop out). He is verbally really strong and I am just confused. I was just happy when things were good, cause I loved him and wanted to hold on to that; without the anger i could have not wished for more.
• He broke up with me many times, told me afterwards he just said it out of anger did not mean anythinh.
• Last argument when my mom and sister went on a holiday (i have a thesis to write right now) he told me: no one wants you, even your family doesnt want you on a holiday with you. We facetimed a lot during that trip, they even bought gifts for my boyfriend and I. I just think right now it is so cruel that he said that.... cause it made me feel acutally at one point that it is true. actually somehow i still do that their life would be better without me in it.
• He would often leave me alone during arguments, even when we were abroad visiting his home country, leaving me feeling scared and isolated.
• screaming at me in public
• left me many time abroad alone; throwing a bike at me and telling me to get the fuck out, i was alone, no idea where to go, used google maps to find the nearest beach and bawled my eyes out at the shore. one time he even left me when my battery was low, so i had to wait for him to come back and i felt so weak.
• The last incident involved him leaving me alone in a restaurant while intoxicated, causing a scene, , i had to sit down and expressed that i wasnt feeling good, he screamed at me to stand the fuck up, and left me for a while. two women asked to help me and stayed next to me. He walked towards me and said in his native language to them that i am just crazy. I followed him home, he was marching in front of me saying it was over; i told him after all those years, how can we treat each other like that? He pushed me away and told me to go, and at home pack my bags. In panic, crying , searching a flight i stood at the door; he cried and asked to come back.
• There were still TWO DAYS to go; i stayed, even went to a museum with him, bought a book as a gift. my heart was broken; he said that he wanted to respect me as when he felt that we hugged i needed time, I was just relieved somehow that it was over; it wasnt. When i didnt want to have sex that night..we argued again and the broke a chair
• The next morning he walked out of the door and did not say a word when i tried to talk( in the meantime when he left, i walked to the kitchen and talked to his roommate, a girl that offered me her number in case i need help, hit up if she is in my home coutnry, just i thought). i saw it as a nice gesture, girl talk.
• when he came home with the flowers in his hand, and he knew that i talked to his roommate, he gave me the flowers angry; he asked me to not engage with "these people" but i told him it is nothing. Later i was unappreciated cause i was confused about the flowers and his anger. He told me 'i wanted to give you flowers and have sex' you disrespect me, you do not have to be kind to her, but to me'. i was utterly confused and sad. he screamed, (threw something again everybody heard and i felt embarrased). when i walked into the kitchen again i did not even dare to look at her when he was making sandwiches.
• That day i had to fly home, i brought the flowers, even held his hand in the buss, he made me a sandwhich for on the way which i thought was nice. I was still incredibly sad about everything that happened; but i felt bad for him somehow. I even send him a pic of the flower in the plane, i bought his favorite comic book at the airport so he could read it when he visits me next time. Now i feel so stupid, i dont know how to feel about it.

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• One time he stepped out of the car in front of a traffic light, i had no drivers license, i pulled him back,
• I am really embarrased for thine one ... that same day of the traffic light, he caught me at my collar and grabbed me shaking, i was so scared i statched his neck and pushed him off me. he walked out of the car, the alarm went off, no idea how to close it, had no keys, i looking for him around at night crying. I hated myself seeing the scratches in his neck, i still feel so bad for this day. I remember every time i saw it i cried, walked out of the room, i felt so sad for him, when he smiled at me the next moring at the breakfast table, he was calm, holding my hand. we did not talk about it, never
• Now i realize: why did he touch me? Why dont i stand stiill with why I felt unsafe? I know it is no exccuse what i did. but i feel weak for never bringing it up once again. I suffer from heavy eczema since a child, scratching myself at night. These motngs are worse and i somehow think i deserve it cause of what i did to him

He had many good qualities and gestures, such as driving long distances to see me, planning romantic outings, being great with children and animals, and cooking for me every single day cause he liked to do so, plannign surprise birthdays for my mom, driving my mom to the hospital, he could be very positive overall and joyful; people, everyone around me loved him and would say; it is easy to love him
Now lisrening back to the voice messages i send (yes he gave me the world he did a lot what i am not mentioning here) but i notice once i brought up the fact that the arguments were not okay, he told me he doesnt deserve that, i should find somebody else, that i cannot reapeat this a thousand times it is not true. I supported him throughout the years, i told him that he doesnt deserve to feel this way in his anger and I am sorry for him and with help we can overcome this. He ironically joked"youre gonna pay for my sessions"?. He spends 400 euros in the month on weed (i am cool with smoking, i do it too sometimes, but than i am a bit sad that he does not want to (as he has the money) and never saw the point.
At the same time, he told me during the break up that i can call him, i should date other people (after one week), and he was serious since he wanted to build a future with me, house, baby and all. He even gave me a diamond ring, which could be symboliic seen he said as a step he said.
I dont think he has any idea......
I am angry at myself for tolerating this behavior and not recognizing the signs earlier.
I always felt guilty for small mistakes and felt like something was wrong with me.
The relationship had a negative impact on my mental health at the same time i never felt so happy in those good moments, so loved, , and I now question if he played a role in my increased sadness and depression.He made me feel like I was on top of the world while kicking me down, and I feel like a failure.
I have a study delay and an unfinished thesis. he graudated before me and found a job in the meantime, drove every weekend two hours to see me. he wanted to move abroad with me.
i was not feeling so great in my skin, and i expressed that i wanted to be more strong, independent, before moving together abroad; i always ignored that deep down I was afraid of not having enough backbone in arguments, and i was afraid abroad in case if i would be alone, plus somehow i still feel like i am not good enough. I am still not graduated (thesis in two weeks to deliver help and i am typing this impulsive text).
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Despite his claims of putting more effort into the relationship I realize that I never felt safe enough and always wanted to proof myself. Hoenstly I still want to, for my fam, for him, myself. I just want to be worth.
I apologized repeatedly in voice messages, reminiscing about the good times and questioning what I could have done differently.
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I tried to talk about with my mom before about this topic, we never talked about feelings growing up, she had her past too. But I see from her face that I upset her, I ask her for advice, she was watching a show she asked me to put if off cause and she was going upstairs. I apolgized a lot and said i was sorry again, that she could keep watching i ran upstairs and now I am here. it feels wrong to talk. And in an impulsive moment that I do open up, i always regret it.
Before bed she came to my room and wished me goodnight. both laying in bed in another room, i tild her i was sorry that i talked about it and i should have not done that, she had a nice glass of wine, watched a show, i was not considerate to talk about these things. she replied that she is the one that needs to apoligezed cause i havent talked about it with anyone and she is a bad mom. of course i said it is not the case, she is an amazing mom and i love her more than anything. Now i feel even worse, knowing that she feels bad. it reminds me again that talking does no good somehow, although i want to, doesnt mean other people want to talk about it or listen, it can make them upset. so here I am haha . i regret it deeply.
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I don't know what to feel. I cannot name one single positive thing about myself. I feel like a failure really. When i look in the mirror i dont like what i see. throughout life i always stumbled, with no explaination why. i have alwats felt like i was not good enough, and probably because i think so, nobody will ever feel that.
I remember growing I up, i could not remember something someone said to me "i was a liar" or "i am not willing to listen" , I forgot my keys "You are stupid" , my dad throwing my clothes on the street in front of the whole neighbourhead because my room was a mess again, or got hit. these years, going though a divorce of my partents, living in an isolated trailer park for a bit with my mom and no drivers license made it hard to go out as there was nothing nearby, (my mom is amazing and worked her ass of to have a home now, i am super proud of her)i had no drivers license, heightened my loan and rented an appartment with my boyfriend together during covid (great times but lots of downs too), now i am failing myself, relationship, school, no job experience besides an internship. i am literally a failure
​
(this story is going to sound like bullshit maybe but i want to express confusion)
My sister and I also had a difficult time. The last argument i had with her is once she moved back after her studies failed (she is starting again she is really strong and resilient!) I visited new schools with her to check them out. while she stayed here, we argued about literally a pair of pants; i could borrow pants one day, the next morning i wore them too to go to visit the shop (she is really invested in clothes/ huge warderobe) and she got so angry, i apologized but she claimed i had no respect for her that she told me, things got heated, i cried and i walked to my room to sit on my bad, she stood in the doorway and told me "i should take more ADHD pill cause I am obviously crazy and she would rather live with my (ex-abusive) dad than with me". I yalled how can you say such thing, you dont mean it. she literally packed her suitcase and got out. My mom told me it was my fault because i wore this pants that morning.. my mom of course being sad, i tried to talk about it , i felt so alone.
I know it is wrong of me, the pants are her boundaries, she told me i could wear them the day before, without thinking i stood up the next morning, picked them up from my chair, and moved without thinking. i tried to bring up why it made me feel so sad and i believe the actions/words are maybe a bit drastic what she said: "please are you gonna use this against me for how long". I still feel upset about it till this day. After she moved, she would still come home to watch tv during the day and acted like nothing happened. of course we never talked, i stayed in my room, went to the library or took a walk.
My sister broke up with her boyfriend right now and therefore we of course immediately forgot about any past tensions. I also wanted to make it alright for my mom, always. i smile, but it never felt the same, i am still upset. Luckily now things are a bit better. i love her a lot, i just hope she is happy.
​
Espeically now with the study delay of two years, i feel like i am not going anywhere.
i was trying to be hopeful looking for jobs with no experience needed, to give myself some hope. i know it is stupid, i have to weeks to deliver my thesis and with everything going on i cannot seem to focus, i will try my best, My fam told me that "which job are you gonna do actually , is there something that you can do ". I laughed it away as a joke, i thought it was funny, but actually hurted me deeply because it wasnt a joke. They expressed it before.
Why does it always feel like i have to take ten extra steps to each a destination?
I recently reached out to my school counselor again: we used to talk more at school but i dissapeared for a year. i reached out, we talked for more than one hour on teams, crying my eyes and it was okay, she is amazing. she could remember what i said the first year of school walking through her doors. She told me that she never forgot about me especially since she opened up her personal life (we went through similar things in life) and she saw herself in me. Now she emails me with positive messages, always expressing that if i need to talk, even after i finish school she is there! I am really grateful for her in my life actually. I want to stay in touch i have to try my best. Even though it are small moments, they mean everything to me,This has really been a light point recently, it hit me when she told me that i need to stop thinking as she used to say to herself, that I don't matter, that there is no space for you, that i can say how i feel, i can say no, that i am worth to exist.
Anyways i dont want to self pitty myself, i am grateful to have a roof on top of my head, a family that loves me, food on the table, i am healthy, there are so many blessings.
I am sorry if i come off like i am not grateful. i am sorry if i come off unconsiderable.
I just dont know what to do, what to feel, what to think.
​
It feels like i am standing still for so long... It is my fault cause i allowed all these things.
​
I havent seen my friends for more than a year. One week ago a friend came for dinner , this already makes me happy that it is a step in the right direction !
I really dont like who i am. why cant i be more strong?
honestly it feels that i am doing something wrong, speaking so badly about him. I feel guilty and embarassed of myself. He was really kind and loving. I wonder if I would have been more strong, maybe he wouldnt disrespect me like that. Maybe I allowed him too, and I did. So it is my fault.
Still doesnt make it alright.
I hope one day to love myself. Especially before a raise a daughter of my own, Maybe if I ever did, this wouldnt have happened. I am so sad

I have a site set up to have an Framer Motion animation play when the user goes to a different page. My problem is that if I've scrolled down to the bottom of the home page and click on the about page link, it will show me the home page hero at the top first and then transitions into the about page. Looks kinda weird, anyone know what's up?

I have a site set up to have an Framer Motion animation play when the user goes to a different page. My problem is that if I've scrolled down to the bottom of the home page and click on the about page link, it will show me the home page hero at the top first and then transitions into the about page. Looks kinda weird, anyone know what's up?

Hello. Since building this PC in June 2022, I've been trying to diagnose a strange issue with the integrated GPU either producing a black screen or experiencing display driver timeouts (the famous device manager error 4101). This collection of issues only occurs when the PC cold boots, or on rare occasions when waking from sleep. The PC has no issues when under load or playing games, and has never had a BSOD. I have not found a way to manually reproduce these issues, and they occur as often as twice per day, or as infrequently as once a month, making diagnosis difficult. Note that after December 2022, the PC began showing black screens on POST and failing to exit POST.
Computer Type: Desktop
GPU: Vega 7 integrated GPU in Ryzen 5 5600G
CPU: RYZEN 5 5600G
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B550i Gaming
BIOS Version: 2423 x64
RAM: 16GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE 3600MHZ CL18; SKU: CMK16GX4M2D3600C18 (Note this SKU is not in motherboard QVL)
PSU: CORSAIR SF600 80+ GOLD FULLY MODULAR
Case: SSUPD MESHILICIOUS
Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 10 HOME 22H2; Build 19045.2965
GPU Drivers: AMD drivers 22.5.2, 22.8.2, 22.9.2, 22.10.22 (windows driver store version). Currently 22.20.42 (windows driver store 31.0.12042.4) as automatically installed by windows
Chipset Drivers: Unknown, no entry in Device Manager
Background Applications: None, issue occurs before login
Description of Original Problem: Original issue began a few days after building PC and installing windows. After running MemTest86 (no issues after 4 passes), the system was rebooted. System reboots normally, 1 beep from installed PC buzzer and windows boots to lock screen. On lockscreen, display immediately freezes, usually after the clock and background is shown. The PC will stay frozen until the display driver times out after 10 seconds, the monitor will lose signal as the driver is re-initialized and the display will return, only to freeze again a few seconds later. This continues until either windows disables the driver entirely, relying on the basic display driver, or the system fails to recover and remains frozen. Some variations of this issue result in the display crashing before the background even renders in the lockscreen, and sometimes video signal is restored as a black screen, only to freeze and recover again (monitor shows backlit black screen, then backlight is turned off as the input signal is lost and restored).
After around December 2022, issues began manifesting in different ways, and occurred outside of just the windows lock screen. Sometimes on power on, the system will beep once but display a black screen, never leaving POST. Short pressing the power button shuts off the system allowing for a restart. On other occasions display crashes now occur after system wakes from sleep, with the result being either a frozen system or successful fallback to basic display drivers. Most notably, the system once booted and froze displaying a corrupted BIOS logo, which can be seen here: https://imgur.com/a/uFYVZBF
Troubleshooting: Prior to December 2022, I've attempted to:

• Try several different AMD driver versions: from 22.5.2, to 22.8.2 and 22.9.2 (which was automatically set by windows).
• Due to the sporadic nature of this issue, diagnosis was difficult, combined with windows constantly auto updating driver versions, of which several registry changes were unable to fix
• Attempted to run PC at 3200MHz ram speed instead of 3600, since 3200 is the max guaranteed supported speed by AMD for this CPU. Issues continued after this change. However many posters have noted these monolithic CPUs tend to have good IMCs and some can OC to 4000+ MHz. Perhaps I am unlucky?
• Monitor upgrade from HDMI 1080P to DisplayPort 1440P. Issues persisted. Rules out bad monitor+cable combinations.

After December 2022:

• Attempted to try different RAM combinations, with only a dual slot motherboard I've tried switching both RAM sticks, and so far running RAM A in slot A, and RAM B in slot B. Have not tried running individual sticks in slot B only.
• Full windows 10 reinstall with no data carried over. Reinstall was performed using a USB flashed with the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from another PC. This also fixes any potential issues caused by registry changes in an attempt to stop windows' stubborn auto update of GPU drivers.
• Back in June 2022, I tested the riser cable of this SFF Case using my only available discrete GPU, an AMD HD 6570. This also required installing legacy AMD Catalyst drivers, resulting in a crash when I reverted back to the integrated GPU. AMD cleanup tool resolved the driver conflicts and Adrenaline 22.5.2 was reinstalled. The Windows 10 reinstall from above should further prevent any remaining issues from this experiment from carrying over.

I have not attempted the following:

• Use DDU to clean up drivers. (Probably not related now since issues occur even in BIOS)
• Ran system with individual RAM sticks in slot B. (unsure if this would fix issue, since individual sticks in slot A did not fix)
• Potential chipset driver upgrades? (unsure of how this is done, cannot find current driver versions at all in device manager)
• BIOS upgrades? Unsure of risk, since system is 99.9% working and BIOS updates could brick motherboard)

Options going forward:

• Use PC as is, let system recover if any crashes occur, or hard reset system. Hope no corruption happens to OS if any hard resets are needed.
• Save up for dedicated GPU, hoping issue is GPU related
• Attempt some BIOS and chipset upgrades
• Perform and RMA with AMD (unsure since issue could still be iGPU, motherboard, or RAM related)

A full list of every issue and change can be found here
​

+	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Date	Type (blue = hardware changes, green=software changes, red = unique or uncommon errors)	Symptoms	User actions (if applicable)	Result	Comments
2	June 22, 2022	Hardware change		First assembly of PC	No issues during assembly, windows installs smoothly
3	June 23, 2022	Hardware change		Added AMD HD-6570 GPU for testing PCIe extender cable	No issues with GPU, extender cable appears to be working	Required install of legacy AMD Catalyst GPU drivers
4	June 23, 2022	Hardware change	PC crashed after removing HD 6570 and reverting to iGPU	Boot in safe mode, use AMD cleanup tool to remove old drivers	PC boots normally after old drivers are removed
5	June 24, 2022	Diagnostic	Ran MemTest86 with default settings		MemTest PASS	Possible cause of memory instability as GPU issue began immediately after reboot?
6	June 24, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
7	July 9, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
8	August 4, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
9	August 11, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
10	Sept 5, 2022	Software Change		Driver configured to 22.9.2
11	Sept 6, 2022	Software Change	Windows auto update driver to unknown ver, published August 2021			Did not know about the difference between AMD driver ver. #s and windows driver store #s, which are different. Driver is likely a WHQL driver in the driver store which windows insists on updating to
12	Sept 20, 2022	Software Change		Attempt to stop windows driver updates via registry changes
13	Sept 22, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
14	Sept 25, 2022	Software Change	Windows auto update driver to unknown ver, published August 2021			Clearly windows has ignored the registry change...
15	Sept 26, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
16	Oct 11, 2022	Software Change		Set driver to 22.5.2 (WHQL) and further changes to the windows registry to stop auto updates		Registry change likely involved blacklisting 4 hardware IDs for Radeon iGPU from the driver update list
17	Oct 15, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
18	Oct 18, 2022	Software Change		Set driver to 22.8.2
19	Oct 30, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issues on next boot
20	Nov 4, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot, unstable recovery	Restart system through windows UI while driver crashes and recover every ~10s	Restart 1: Driver could not be loaded (devmgmt error 22), updating driver resulted in devmgmt error 31, another update resulted in successful install, but driver was unstable, crash and recovery every ~10s. Restart 2: No issues	First instance of system recovery without hard reset; first instance of other symptoms besides display freezing
21	Nov 6, 2022	Hardware change		New monitor, 1440p 165Hz displayPort		Old monitor: 1080p 75Hz HDMI, issues persist after this change ruling out monitor+cable as issue
22	Nov 13, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issue on next boot
23	Nov 13, 2022	Software Change		Changed RAM speed from 3600MHz to 3200MHz	Slight performance drop in games due to slower RAM	Original ram ran at XMP, 3200MHz speed set manually, other settings left on AUTO
24	Nov 20, 2022	System Fault	Black screen when powered on	Short press power to turn off	No issue on next boot	System likely has not left POST due to power button behaviour, first instance of system fault in BIOS/POST stage
25	Nov 21, 2022	System Fault	No DP signal when woken from sleep, PC auto restarts. eventmgr lists "windows restarted due to bugcheck (0x0000009f)"		No issue on next boot	Bugcheck 0x0000009f is a general type of error, some sources point to driver irp issues with amdkmdag.sys
26	Nov 22, 2022	System Fault	No DP signal when woken from 2nd sleep, after 2 display driver recoveries system remains frozen on black screen	Hard reset	No issue on next boot
27	Dec 19, 2022	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Attempted to shutdown system "blind" using narrator while driver crashed and recovered 5 times, after 5th recovery driver is disabled by windows	User logged in to windows and performed a restart to reenable AMD drivers. No issue on next boot	Windows successfully stopped crashing driver and fallback to basic display driver
28	Dec 23, 2022	System Fault	Black screen when powered on	Short press power button to reboot, resulted in frozen bios screen with corrupted ROG brand logo	Short press power button again to reboot. No issue on next boot	First sign of hardware related failure if system cannot make it past BIOS screen without either a black screen, or displaying a corrupted boot logo. This is the only occurrance of this event
29	Dec 27, 2022-Jan 2, 2023	Vacation, computer unused				30
Jan 11, 2023	System Fault	No video signal on POST, system remains frozen in POST	Short press power button to reboot	No issue on next boot		31
Jan 23, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issue on next boot	couldn't wait to see if system could self recover	32
Jan 25, 2023	System Fault	No DP signal when woken from sleep, PC auto restarts. eventmgr lists "windows restarted due to bugcheck (0x0000009f)"		No issue on next boot	Bugcheck 0x0000009f is a general type of error, some sources point to driver irp issues with amdkmdag.sys	33
Jan 27, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Attempted to shutdown system "blind" using narrator while driver crashed and recovered 5 times, after 5th recovery driver is disabled by windows	User logged in to windows and found that no GPU drivers were available (likely code 22). A restart was then performed. No issue on next boot		34
Jan 30, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash after system wakes from sleep	Managed to sign in in-between crashes, display driver continues crashing and freezes on desktop	Hard reset performed. No issue on next boot	Sometimes the system keeps going in between crashes	35
Feb 6, 2023	Software Change	Screen flickers briefly during automatic update, interrupts YouTube video playback	Windows auto update AMD drivers to 22.10.2 (October), windows driver store version 31.0.12042.4	System functions as normal after update	User annoyed that windows insists on updating while system is actively in use. Could have negative effects in critical situations like video games	36
Feb 10, 2023	System Fault	Black screen when powered on	Short press power button to reboot	No issue on next boot		37
Feb 11, 2023	System Fault	Black screen when woken from sleep, system restarts automatically		User session was saved after restart, all apps remained open. No issues afterwards	Unusual behaviour as system probably crashed, but fast start and keep apps open settigns were disabled	38
Feb 16, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Driver crashed and recovered 5 times, after 5th recovery driver is disabled by windows. A restart was then performed	After restart, driver failed to load (code 31). Another restart was performed. No issue on next boot		39
Feb 23, 2023	System Fault	Black screen when woken from sleep, system frozen on black screen	Hard reset	No issue on next boot		40
Mar 21, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash after system wakes from sleep	User manages to sign in after display driver crashes and recovers continuously every 10 seconds, after over 20 recoveries user is able to restart PC from windows UI.	No issue on next boot	Sometimes the driver is just stable enough to keep going and continuously recover	41
Mar 27, 2023	System Fault	Black screen when powered on	Short press power button to reboot	No issue on next boot		42
Mar 27, 2023	System Fault	Unknown crash when waking from sleep	Short press power button reboots system	System reboots as if nothing had happened and it was gracefully shutdown prior		43
Mar 27, 2023	System Fault	Unknown crash when waking from sleep	Short press power button reboots system	System reboots as if nothing had happened and it was gracefully shutdown prior	This symptom happens twice within one day, has not happened since	44
April 7, 2023	System Fault	Display driver crash on login screen after boot	Hard reset	No issue on next boot	Needed to use computer, couldn't wait and see if system will self recover	45
April 8, 2023	System Fault	Black screen when powered on	Short press power button to reboot	No issue on next boot		46
April 9, 2023	System Fault	Frozen screen with ROG logo on boot	Short press power button reboots system	No issue on next boot	Frozen on POST again, but with an intact logo this time!	47
April 14, 2023	Software Change		COMPLETE WINDOWS REINSTALL		Reinstalled windows 10 from USB using the media creation tool on a different PC	48
April 14, 2023	Software Change		RAM set to 3600MHz		3600MHz set manually, no XMP, other settings left on AUTO	49
April 14, 2023	Software Change		Windows automatically reinstalls AMD drivers from driver store		Version 31.0.12042.4 (Adrenaline 22.20.42) DCH/Win1064 , dated Oct 19, 2022 Data obtained from GPU-Z	50
April 14, 2023	User Note				From this point forward, majority of crashes after OS has loaded result in display driver crashes, but windows is able to recover each time and load basic display drivers. No AMD Adrenaline has been installed. Unsure if the minimal driver install from windows has something to contribute to this	51
April 14, 2023	Hardware change		Added labels to RAM sticks to diagnose potential RAM issues RAM A = red, RAM B = blue	RAM A in DIMM_SLOT A, RAM B in DIMM_SLOT B		52
April 24, 2023	System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, system tries to recover 3 times then remains frozen	Hard reset	No issue on next boot		53
April 29, 2023	System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 1 recovery attempt system auto reboots		No issue on next boot	First instance of windows recovering from unstable driver since reinstall	54
May 1, 2023	System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 1 recovery attempt windows fallback to basic display driver	User logs in to windows, device manager shows code 31, attempting to reinstall AMD drivers results in a crash, black screen, and then code 43 after recovering , a restart was then performed	No issue on next boot		55
May 2, 2023	System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 3 recovery attemps windows fallback to basic display driver	User logs in to windows, device manager shows code 31, a restart was then performed	No issue on next boot		56
May 14, 2023	System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 10 recovery attemps windows fallback to basic display driver	User logs in to windows, device manager shows code 22 for disabled device. Reenabling Radeon graphics shows code 31. A restart was then performed.	No issue on next boot	POST noted taking 2 seconds longer than the usual 5 second fan spin	57
May 15, 2023	Hardware change		Changed RAM stick positioning: RAM A in DIMM_SLOT B, RAM B in DIMM_SLOT A			58
May 19, 2023-May 22, 2023	Vacation, computer unused				59	May 24, 2023
System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 3 recovery attempts system restarts		No issue on next boot	Noted user was presented with windows 11 upgrade prompt on login after restart	60	May 24, 2023
Hardware change		Changed RAM stick positioning: No RAM in DIMM_SLOT B, RAM B in DIMM_SLOT A			61	May 26, 2023
System Fault	Display crash on login screen after boot, after 12 recovery attemps windows fallback to basic display driver	User logs in to windows, device manager shows code 31, a restart was then performed	No issue on next boot		62	May 26, 2023
Hardware change		Changed RAM stick positioning: No RAM in DIMM_SLOT B, RAM A in DIMM_SLOT A			63	May 31, 2023
System Fault	Display driver crash, after waiting for 3 recovery attempts a restart was performed		No issue on next boot	User did not see POST process as monitor was connected to another PC and manually switched to DP input	64	June 1, 2023
Hardware change		Changed RAM stick positioning: RAM B in DIMM_SLOT B, RAM A in DIMM_SLOT A			65	June 1, 2023
Software Change		RAM set to 3200MHz		3200MHz set manually, no XMP, other settings left on AUTO

^{Table formatting brought to you by ExcelToReddit}

Source/Amp - 3.5mm jack
How the gear will be used - Day-to-day general home usage (movies/anime, sports, YouTube, etc.)
Main priority is comfort since I'll be wearing them a lot. Would be grateful for some advice.

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There are a few ways to watch Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. online in the U.S. You can use a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes or Google Play. You can also watch it on-demand or on a streaming app available on your TV or streaming device if you have cable.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Cast and Characters
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. was written by Judy Blume and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. It stars the following actors:
Rachel McAdams as Barbara Simon
Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon
Elle Graham as Nancy Wheeler
Benny Safdie as Herb Simon
Kathy Bates as Sylvia Simon
What is Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. About?
A beloved and best-selling classic comes to the big screen with Lionsgate’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, this timeless, coming-of-age story has transcended decades and spoken to generations. At 11, Margaret is moving to a new town and beginning to contemplate everything about life, friendship, and adolescence. She relies on her mother (McAdams), who offers loving support but is herself finding her own footing in a new place, and her grandmother Sylvia (Bates), who is coming to terms with finding happiness in the next phase of her life. For all three, questions of identity, one’s place in the world, and what brings meaning to a life will draw them closer together than ever before. From writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen) and Gracie Films’ Academy Award®-winning producer James L. Brooks. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is the theatrical event for everyone who has ever wondered where they fit in.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Movie! Here are options for downloading or watching Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit, including where to watch Judy Blume’s coming-of-age period comedy drama at home. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret 2023 available to stream? Is watching Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret on HBO Max, Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime or Peacock? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option/service.

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Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is the big-screen adaptation of the middle-grade novel by Judy Blume and much has been announced regarding the release date, cast, story, trailer, and more. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is the first time the iconic novel has been adapted for film. Blume is a renowned author of children's, young adult, and adult fiction, and her focus often deals with more mature themes, uncommon in middle-grade fiction. Topics such as puberty, divorce, sexuality, and bullying all feature prominently in her books. gsdf

I have posted before, but our neighbours are essentially drunken party animals who have zero respect for our family/the neighbourhood around them. We have a 1 and a 2 year old and have tolerated living here for 2 years, and have been regularly calling the police on them when the noise is out of control. We gave them the benefit of the doubt for a full year, tried texting them, talking to them, and nothing worked. Anyway, this upcoming weekend NFH sent me a text (I made the mistake of giving her my number when we were on good terms) to inform me that they would be having a party during the day/night on Saturday (pool party season, fml). We now are packing our children up and getting a hotel for the weekend because our house is completely insufferable when these people rage. But I guess my concern is that this is precedent setting? We have regularly called the police on them which has definitely helped the volume, but not necessarily the frequency. I guess my concern is that if we just pack up and leave for the weekend they think they can get away with obnoxiously loud parties until 4 am. What should we do? Stick it out and police them (which I hate btw, I have never once called the police on anyone before this). Or just leave and try to put it out of our mind. It just makes me feel sick that we can’t even enjoy our home on the weekends, but in someway thankful to at least be given the heads up?

I believe there's something wrong with my aiming. Because I can't keep my eyes off you.
I'll see myself out now...
The names Aaron, it's nice to meet you. I am 27M from Kentucky USA. 2023 is officialy at the half way point (wasnt it just starting?), and my loneliness meter keeps filling up. While I enjoy my alone time, and overall am quite content with my life, I still feel the urge for companionship. To have that special someone I can share things with, or spend time with. Maybe you're reading a book or playing a game, when I suddenly burst through the door cause I found a tiktok of a cute puppy to show you. I want moments like that.
I'm not the best at speaking about myself, so I have compiled a small list. (Yay for lists!)
Information provided below:
-Video Games: this is my primary pass time. If I'm not at work, I'm usually playing video games on PC. I enjoy a wide variety from shooters, strategy, RPG, and MMOs. I an a coward though, so not much horror. Currently been playing lots of WoW and the new Steet Fighter 6. Will probably be checking out the new Diablo at some point too. Also play Apex on occasion even though I'm terrible at it.
Reading: I love to read. Both novels and also manga. I'm always finding new stuff to add to my book shelves. I also quite enjoy finding new webtoons on my phone to read. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are my favorites. I also enjoy writing, always got new ideas in my head.
Sleep: If left unattended, I could sleep like a sloth.
Anime: although I don't watch as much anymore (it's easier to read manga) I'm still a huge anime fan. Some of my favorites are Code Geass, Monster, Steins Gate, FMAB, and Emmience of Shadow.
Work: I do work a full time job, night shift. Thanks to that I own my own home and live a simple life. I make enough to pay my bills and buy stupid (but important) things. Like I totally needed a rice cooker, okay? Or that cool lamp. Or the treadmill in the other room.
Other: Obviously I enjoy listening to music, really any genre thats not country. I also enjoy memes and tiktoks. I could share tons of stuff that I think would make you smile or laugh!
I'm not sure what else to put, but if you've read this far, thank you! If you're at all interested, feel free to message or chat me. And if not, I hope you have a wonderful day :D!

It's been a minute since I've talked about GCW, but it's time again for me to do that. So this time, instead of asking for everyone's favorite perks from Generic Cartoon World, I wanted to ask about items.
The items in GCW are often underrated, especially early on for baby jumpers or just in general when it comes to themed jumpers. There are a lot of GOLDEN items in this jump, and as one of the main cheerleaders of this bad boy, I don't often get to gush about the neat STUFF you can get here.

General Items:

The undiscounted items are actually some of my favorites. We start off with some baby-level quality of life items that are just fun, like Chesty: a good boi hammerspace chest you can put goodies in, and Jeeves, a skilled butler & administrative buddy who can run a household as skillfully as any professional butler can.
As the undiscounted price for the items begins to hike you start to see the FUN stuff. From the largest movie theater in-setting, to a colony of microscopic toons who help you think *better*, the 200-400 CP items are starting to be a bit more drastically powerful & recognizable.
My personal favorite item in this jump... and possibly ever, in any jump, is the 800 CP theme park item. This absolute unit of an item is phenomenally powerful hence its GIGANTIC price tag (and it's not even the most expensive undiscounted item!).
This bad boy confers ownership over a hilarious number of massive theme parks that spread across the settings you visit, and the theme parks are both profitable and self-sustaining. They come with all sorts of world-class amenities, rides, and resources, and are honestly just so good that a jumper could, in the right setting, spend a WHOLE jump in the theme parks and not be bored. Also, a really sick aspect of this item, for baby jumpers who don't have super speed or infinite money yet, is the fact that you can easily take advantage of the infrastructure that connects the different parks, especially if they are on different continents.
In a modern setting, such as any of the mundane generic jumps, Chronicle, Levage, or the big sitcom jump, this is potentially world-shaking technology (especially since it's said, in-jump, that the infrastructure can be opened to the public, even though it doesn't start off that way by default). This is an incredible, world-class item. It's also actually something you can get FOR FREE if you do one of the scenarios.
The silver screen item is really cool, and if you aren't into its esoteric items it makes for a great personal home theater movie screen and a sick-ass shield. It's just neat.

Toon Items:

Two of my favorite items in the whole jump are in the toon line, but all of these items are bangers. Everything from the gloves to the assorted toon items & endless explosives are great, but if you purchase the half-toon perk "Not so funny anymore", associated toon items & endless explosives TREMENDOUSLY shoot upwards in power. They become NASTY strong, which is the best kind of strong. Lots of people will have a bad time dealing with a jumper who can make cartoon antics decidedly deadly, and infinite, human-scale explosives or a homing, flying safe that hits with all of the power of a mundane safe, are not jokes.
That said, probably the best QoL item in the whole jump, partially due to its low cost (there's an item in the Human origin that's this, but with SLIGHT modifications that are usually improvements), is A-Hole-in-the-Wall (AHitW). This portable apartment is fantastic. It's just REALLY good. I think this item REALLY shines in barebones survival worlds, like Minecraft, or post-apocalypse jumps, but honestly, it's so tremendously good ANYWHERE that I can easily picture jumpers, especially baby jumpers, living in this item full time. The Toon Medical Kit item is also extremely good and is a fantastic basic medical item that's a handy catch-all.
The three big boys of this origin's items are all powerfully unique items. Touch The Toon Sky(scraper) is a massive skyscraper that is, effectively, the skyscraper version of the monstrous movie theater item from the undiscounted line of items. It's a big building, and if you want to know what you could do with a big building here's a link to the website of the real-life Woolworth Building. This item is chonky, it's alive, and it's just neat.
The context-sensitive bag is just a little thing that lets you grab funny stuff. If you're in a situation that's life or death but saving your skin would be funny, well... This bag's probably got your back.
The capstone item for Toons is a personal Acme Acres pocket dimension and this item is SICK. I always go for the upgraded version of this item (which requires the Hammerspace Specialist toon perk), but even the base item is incredible. This is one of those pocket dimension items that, in the right hands, can save entire species and/or civilizations, but is also just really fun. This is a great purchase, that's also potentially free if you do a scenario. There's lots of uses for this one and really maximizing it will take creativity on your part, but it's cool as heck.

Human Items:

The first four of these items are neat, career-based, items. There's a toon-gun that fires... slighty-toonier bullet-bills, and writing & art items. And when you hit the 200 CP tier you get the one QoL item that's almost on par, and actually in some ways, better than AHitW; the Toon Vehicle.
The Toon Vehicle is exceptional, it's true that it's more expensive than AHitW, and doesn't have a portable mailing address, but in every other respect this item is the bigger, better brother of AHitW. This is a living vehicle that is, externally, potentially the same size as a mundane, real-world car, but can fit hundreds of people, and has multiple bedrooms & two bathrooms. If you're not into LIVING items that's a mark on this one that isn't present on AHitW, but other than that, and a lack of a mailing address, this really is just an improvement on AHitW. It can even drive itself! This is dope.
The 400 CP item is interesting but weird. It's Joe's. Ah, Joe's. This is a neat item. Basically, this is a QoL item that gives you some money, but the way it works is weird. Until you find Joe's, in-jump, or create an entrance to it, this just gives you the ability to make entrances to a massive greasy-spoon restaurant. Once you've made an entrance to Joe's, which you do by seemingly just finding an appropriate place and WILLING it to happen, the area you've targeted with this power becomes the newest entrance to the restaurant. You can live in the employee section of the restaurant (in a nice, condo-style apartment), and you passively get paid by Joe. Presumably how much you get paid depends in part on how actively you do, and how good you are, at your job, but you'll always get paid a little.
Tall Tale Heart is a nice little booster to your physical abilities that hits harder if your human but is still not bad if you're a toon or half-toon. If you're a baby jumper and take the human origin in this jump this is great for physical stuff.
Acme Studio Factory Lot is the animation studio version of the monstrous movie theater or skyscraper items. Which means it's really fucking good. And also that it's alive. But if you want to have an artsy jumper who makes a living doing entertainment stuff, this is the item for you.

Half-Toon Items:

If for whatever reason you are reading this and have never seen the half-toon perks in this jump... They are decidedly less comedy based than the toon perks are, and among other things can let your jumper do things like bring objects to life, de-humode-funny toon abilities, and even do long-range only-slightly-slower-than-instant teleportation! The half-toon items, in keeping with that trend, are also not quite as focused on comedy though there's plenty of funny stuff about them.
The baby tier items, the 50 & 100 CP items, are amusingly diverse. From a catalog of items you can order that will be instantly delivered to you (and the ability to buy stuff from PAST JUMPS! That's crazy! It's only stuff that would be sold in stores and restaurants, but god can you imagine going to a prehistoric jump and ordering one hundred rifles and bucket loads of bullets?!), to an eraser that at a glance looks mostly comedic until you remember the "Not so funny anymore" half toon perk and realize you can suffocate people by erasing their mouths with that perk's effects active, this is a RANGE of items that can be endlessly amusing.
The ink pen item confers some of the effects of the human perk "Eraser Immunity" and is a good, permanent ink pen. Ink & Paint Job lets you do what acme acres does to buildings in it (immediately, not what it does to them over long periods of time), anywhere you want, so long as its an inanimate object you want to hit.
The Spanner in the Works is a really, really solid creation & destruction item. In the context of creation using this and working on making something is about the same as having twelve people work on something. Where it really shines, though, is destruction. When you hit a building or a piece of complex machinery with this it breaks apart. No limits are stated on this, by the way, so someone could imagine that this would work on the Death Star, a space station and superweapon, which is certainly complex. That said, this part of this item is JUST powerful. It's a VERY good destruction item.
Now for the capstone item for Half-Toons... Congratulations on your Rule-Of-Funny item. This is an item run by the rule-of-funny, which can ABSOLUTELY be weaponized, so long as you attempt to be funny about it first. It's great, and I mean that unironically. The Rule(r) of funny is a size-expander, a funny super-device, and a ruler all in one. It expands the internal dimensions of stuff its put in, it helps make jokes, and you know the dimensions of stuff you see when you're using it.
The Rule(r) of funny is a weird item because to REALLY maximize its use you'd need something like the capstone from the trickster origin over in Germanic Norse Mythology (which makes it so that you get three of any item purchased with CP), because its three uses are so different from each other that it often feels like using it one way prohibits it from being used in other ways, at least simultaneously. If you use it outside of a place you want to make bigger (say, AHitW's actual square footage), then it's not making the place bigger, even though it can be great for dealing with an enemy with an annoying immunity, as you can temporarily shut off the immunity so long as you use the ruler and make a joke. But if you have more than one... Well, you can do the neat stuff you want to do, while keeping one in the space you want to make bigger.
What are your favorite Generic Cartoon World items? I love all of them, but some of these babies are just... they are just magical, gang.

Hello, dog people.
My husband and I are fostering an adorable 4 month old greyhound/Saluki/borzoi mix (they did her DNA). We were hoping for a foster to adopt situation. My husband is traveling for his job, he will be back in a month, so until then, her care falls 100% on me.
She’s very good for a puppy. Hasn’t had many accidents (knock on wood), gets hyper sometimes but chills on the couch a lot, eats well, everything. The issue is my back.
I had two level lumbar surgery a few months ago. I haven’t been in any pain for a long time so I didn’t even think I wouldn’t be okay. But…for the last two days I can feel something went wrong. I’ve been moving in ways I haven’t in a long time, twisting, sometimes I have to pick her up, I bend down all the time, etc. I’m so afraid I’ve messed up the hardware in my back, it hurts in a way it hasn’t before and I’m very concerned.
I explained my situation to the woman I got her from—I said we LOVED her but I’m not healed enough to take care of her on my own. I asked if she could take her until the 26th when he gets back. She was going to get her spayed anyway before the actual adoption happened so I figured it would be all right.
She said she couldn’t take her, she has one more dog to move out and then she can get back to her pack. She has a friend she’s going ask to foster her, and if she can’t she’s going to try and find someone else. I thought that answer was a little strange. Aren’t animal rescue places supposed to expect some dogs to come back for a variety of reasons?
Is this place some sort of scam? I’m not sure what to do. Maybe she will come through with a foster home for her, but I’m not confident about it. And if I have f’d up my back from a major surgery I’m screwed. I feel I really have to take care of myself, then when my husband gets back we can share the duties.
I’d love your thoughts on this, thank you!

Information: MAL, Anilist, AniDB, ANN
Hi all! I'm LC3, and following my and Sky's successful Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Tales of Symphonia rewatches, I wanted to co-host a rewatch for Heroic Age. I hope to convince you to join me in (re)watching!
What is Heroic Age?
Synopsis from MAL:

When the Golden Race invited other races to join them in the stars, three sentient races answered their call. The Goldens called them the Bronze, Silver and Heroic Tribes. Just before the Gold Tribe left to travel to another Universe, a fourth race appeared, traveling to the stars on their own accomplishments. The Golds named the human race the Iron Tribe. During the passing of time, humanity suffers at the hands of the more dominant races and is now facing extinction. Following a prophecy left by the Gold Tribe, Princess Dhianeila sets out to search for the powerful being who might be able to save humankind. She meets a wild haired boy on an abandoned planet—a fateful encounter that will not only change the fortunes of Humanity, but also the fate of the universe.

Heroic Age is an epic scifi space opera from 2007, written and created by Tow Ubukata and Studio Xebec. If aliens, adventure, mecha battles, prophecy, spaceships and interstellar travel are your thing, give Heroic Age a shot!
Why watch Heroic Age?
Though Heroic Age is neither hugely popular nor highly ranked on MAL, it is a hidden gem with a great soundtrack by Naoki Satou and OP by angela. This is a complete work in 26 episodes; there is no manga or LN source material, and it ends conclusively.
Schedule:
This will be one-a-day starting on July 5, running for 26 days plus a final series discussion on July 31st. Episode threads will be posted around 6 PM Eastern. Due to my work schedule I will be unable to post most of them, so Sky has graciously volunteered to co-host. I will still be posting and replying to people once I get home from work.
Spoiler Policy:
To protect first-timers, please don't spoil anything past the current episode. Rewatchers should avoid hinting to first-timers, and spoilers in posts must be hidden behind proper spoiler tags.
Conclusion:
If all goes well, this will be my first time cohosting a one-a-day since I started working, so I'm open to suggestions / changes if anyone has any they'd like to share. Pending interest, I'll post the announcement thread and full schedule soon.
Streams: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu (all premium)

Copied from laptops
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My laptop has become slow and sluggish since sometime late 2022, including a loud grindy fan, freezing, wifi inconsistency, occasional fixing drive on reboot, struggles to load desktop icons on reboot login, etc.
I know it's gonna die at some point so I want to be prepared to replace it.
My current laptop is an Acer Spin 3 sp315-51, purchased around early 2017.
The box's specs read out as follows:
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OS: Windows 10 home
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-7500U
LCD: 15.6" FHD Multi-Touch LCD panel
Graphics: Intel® HD graphics 620
Memory: 12 GB DDR4 Memory
Storage: 1000 GB HDD*
Optical Drive: N/A
WLAN/Bluetooth: 802.11ac + BT
WWAN: N/A
Camera: HD camera
Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion battery
​
I'd preferably want something that doesn't downgrade the specs in any way.
What I'd like in a new laptop however would be:
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- More ram, anything higher than 12 would be nice, I'm the type to have a lot of tabs at once so I want it to be able to handle my nonsense.
- Has 1000 GB or more in storage space. I wanna at very least be able to put a handful of games on there.
- Running Windows 10, I'm just comfortable there and I don't want to bother learning 11.
- Touch screen if possible. Not mandatory, but I'd love to have it.
- Reset pinhole. Just in case.
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I could care less about the tablet/tent gimmick, so a regular clamshell form factor would suffice, no need for another spin-series model.
My budget is around $500 or so, anyone got any recommendations?

We're In 1917 century home and the front porch needs some work! The porch was built with just a single Pane glass windows, so in the summer time it gets unbearably hot in there! We're probably going to end up reframing the whole upper half of the porch anyways, so figured we'd try to find a porch window/screen setup.
What have our options here? I found subspace and Eze breeze windows, but wanted to hear what others have done.
Thanks!

Canician politics were an often bloody affair. When might makes right, one has to be the mightiest among them all, and Grahim wasn't the mightiest. That was why he was the Canician Ambassador on the Hedron, why he was able to accept that not everything he would suggest would be respected, why when the Grand Alpha of Caniti Grau- formerly a ceremonial title until the terraforming of their homeworld into a livable planet again made it very much reality- he simply shut up and let him speak.
"It has come to my attention that the Council has been rejecting my proposals before they've been allowed to be spoken." Rohirr was soft-spoken, yet the aura of malice and rage he exuded could be felt by everyone. "I have deigned to ignore my administrative duties today to ensure that my people's voices are heard." This was punctuated by an accusatory growl.
"The first item on the docket is regarding our scientists' research into lab-grown meat, donations of DNA from all prey species is requested so we can proceed with testing. Our hope is that by growing the meat in a lab, we can provide our people with meat they can enjoy, that will thus reduce the level of predation on this ship."
Grahim received the signal to speak. "You will have received a file detailing the science, the samples required, the compensation we offer for time and pain spent, as well as preliminary tests done with non-sapient animals."
"You want us to provide you with our flesh, so you can gorge yourselves on us!?" The Trillum representative screeched.
"Are you saying that the current level of predation is acceptable?" Grahim asked pointedly. "If so, we will happily maintain our current reliance on non-sapient meat and turn a blind eye to those who hunt and kill your kind, whether on this station or not."
The Trillum didn't respond, he simply looked away, disgusted, but having no counter argument. It was no secret among the rest of the Council that they'd purposefully been speaking over Grahim, to ensure he couldn't demand anything. They hadn't anticipated him bringing their leader here, their leader showing up, and their leader exercising his version of politics just to get them all to abide by the rules they had set when the Canicians gave the species of the galaxy access to their Hedron.
"I agree." The Human ambassador spoke. He placed his hands on the pulpit, rather than keeping them behind his back, Grahim reflected he'd begun to do the same. "I will even gladly provide a sample, regardless of if the rest of the council agrees, if it means Caniti, Traask, and Vor predation eventually ceasing."
The Human ambassador was the only one who abstained from the plot against the Canician ambassador, and contrary to the council's belief, it was he who invited the Grand Alpha to their meeting, he who filled out the necessary paperwork, and he who invited Grahim and Rohirr to lunch after the latter vented the Canicians' frustrations in a terrifying, yet bloodless manner.
"Thank you for inviting me, Gra'am." Rohirr spoke in that soft voice of his. "Both to lunch, and to the meeting."
It was at this point that Grahim realized the Grand Alpha hadn't simply barged his way in or requested to join of his own accord.
"Wait, you invited him, Graham?" Grahim asked, pronouncing the Human's name as he understood English to work.
"Rohirr's pronunciation was correct, Grahim." Graham replied. "And it was no trouble at all, I was just getting sick and tired of the hypocrisy." The human looked at a plant that was growing in a pot and gently pinched it between his fingers. How many times had David done that very same thing? How many times had Grahim done it?
The Canician ambassador experienced a minor existential crisis as he realized he'd begun picking up on Human mannerisms. By the Ancestors, he'd begun staring into his own kind's eyes.
"What do you think, Grahim?" Graham asked.
"Pardon?" Grahim asked in a tone even he couldn't quite recognize.
"I had said, 'I think the Council needs to realize that they aren't the only power in the Hedron, and they need to be reminded they are representatives'." Graham replied. "So, what do you think, Grahim?"
"I agree." Hands on the table, folded over one another, something he'd never grown up doing, hands only touched the table if there was meat. These were Human mannerisms, Lunch proceeded from there, branching from politics to idle chatter, something that usually bored most Canicians.
Rohirr took to it without issue. Despite his reputation as a violent and at-times vulgar Alpha, he was surprisingly genial, and willing to hear others out. This often led to accusations of weakness that were soundly disproven via brawling. Grahim... just silently stared at his hands, and he didn't stop staring at his hands even when he got home and David was making dinner.
His Human companion approached, took hold of his right hand, and gently pressed the palm against his cheek.
Grahim smiled.

The week went by and everyone kind of just forgot the last session until we all met outside the game shop and saw Barbarian and Druid waiting for us. Seems the weight of the last session had just come crashing back down on them and they were debating on going in at all. Bard and Paladin were already there chatting it up with DM and seeming to have fun. A little talking and we all decided to see where this lead.
Of course as we traveled DM insisted that we roleplay our actions to the extreme as if she wanted a reward for what she did last time. None of us really were in the mood and each explained in their own diplomatic way that we would like to skip to the next town. However Paladin was all up for roleplay. After all we had gotten to explain our backstory so he should get a turn. We agreed thinking it wouldn't take long for him to get on the same page as the rest of us.
Two hours later I have pulled out my laptop to work on some writing, and everyone else is looking at their phones or books while Paladin is still talking. He apparently loves the intense roleplay of describing in great detail all his actions with a hammy over the top way of speaking. His backstory is a line of adventures stolen from his favorite video games. Defeating evil Barron Von Bowser to save Princess Peaches, taking the head of the arch wizard Gannon to lift the curse on a sleeping princess, slaying the evil dragon of the north known as Seath the scalesess to save a blind holy woman, and riding off into the sunset on an axe beak with a young maiden after beating an evil lord named Sephiroth. Just to name a few. This kept on to the point I wanted to remind him he was level two but DM was loving it and on the edge of her seat.
Our saving grace was Bard who spoke up and said that we would break for camp. The next town was two nights away so might as well get one night behind us. Again we got a random encounter roll and again "Oh my this never happens you are all just so lucky, no encounter isn't that great?" The rest of us are angry but we remain diplomatic. Asking, pleading that we have an encounter so we can level up. Everyone wanted to fight the dragons and we needed levels but nope. She had played for FIFTEEN YEARS and THIS WAS THE RULES.
Another hour of stolen game cut scenes from Paladin and we made camp once more. Once again lucky us, no encounter. We begged offering to even roleplay with the enemies having banter and what not. No dice, it was the rules after all and you can't bend the rules... A bit more and we make it to town. At this point we hush Paladin, everyone is ravenous. We are rolling social skills, stopping people, asking questions, anything to get us our next job in hopes that we can level up, anything to further the story. Forget being nice, we were the rudest people you had ever met grabbing any NPC the DM said existed and ganging up on them venomously shouting. "What problems do you have in town?! Anything we don't care even if it's minor. Tell us, we'll even kill rats, got a goblin problem? Kobolds? Seen an undead? Do you just not like someone? GIVE US ANYTHING!"
Barbarian was so desperate he even asked the DM if starting a fight would be survivable and get us XP. She explained that everyone in the entire fishing city was either our level or lower and harming them wouldn't give us any XP what so ever. She went on to say that we didn't find any job hirings, the only thing people were talking about was how the fishing had dried up.
The moment we heard that Wizard, Cleric, and I in unison turned and said "DRUID! You're up. lets get you to the docks." We rushed everyone to the docks, and wanted to hire a ship. The only ship available was a war ship that was docked for resupply. We talked to the captain and paid him nearly every bit of gold we had to rent his ship. So we were out on the ocean and the druid was doing his thing in a small boat while we waited. Calling forth some fish and using a ritual speak with animals to get the information. All of us were very proud of Druid, he came back and we had the answer. Seems some creature had entered into the bay, druid pointed to a sunken single man sailing ship that we could see the mast sticking ten feet out of the water. So fairly shallow water, this is important.
Whatever had scared the fish was there. We sailed over to it and DM goes into her description. Talking about from the ship comes a massive shadow that dwarfs the ship we are on, so large it makes it look like a bath toy. The shadow swims under the ship and it takes half a minute before it is past. As it moves large tentacles are seen breaking the surface of the water.
Druid rolled nature and all of us aided him. He got a fairly high roll and DM informed us that we had just seen a Kraken. I was dumbfounded, how the heck was a Kraken living in a small sail boat when it dwarfed a war ship, and how the heck was it in this shallow of water!? So I asked "We know what it is can I look up the information?" She said ok and I asked what one she was using 3.5 or 5e it was the 5e one so I turned to it and pointed asking "You mean this?" She confirmed the CR 23 monster as the one we had just seen.
Barbarian who only looked at the picture. "Awesome!" Druid "Bet we can take that." Wizard "no we can't. It's CR 23." Barbarian "Cap!" Druid "Does this mean we have to run away again?" DM All smiles "Yep now you have an important second goal! You're so lucky."
Now I will say here I know I am in the wrong for what I did. It is always important to have good communication and talk things out, however we had tried that, I was frustrated, and I wasn't thinking straight. So I became that guy.
DM " When when you run away you have a couple of options you can go to..." Me "Nope we aren't running away. We're gunna fight it." DM "What? You can't." Me "Sure we can, it's here, we're here, we're going to fight it I know everything about them you said so lets see what we can do. Captain how many guns on this ship? Do you have harpoons big ones? How about gun powder you have cannons so how much you got?" Barbarian "So we're fighting it?" Me "Yep we're fighting it! Bring it on you big squid we're having calamari tonight!" Druid "So we can beat it?" Me "Heck no! It's impossible. That thing gets three attacks a turn can hit us on a 2, and will kill us in one hit. Barbarian might survive three hits if he's really lucky and raging. We have no chance." Druid "So why are we fighting it?" Wizard who had just looked up the stats. "Because we're fighting it!" Cleric "Bring it slimy!"
It was amazing, a moment of depression turned to a slight moment of confusion and then everyone was on board even Paladin who didn't get what was going on. Everyone was suddenly excited. Barbarian looked for the harpoons, took three of them and said he was rolling strength to bend them, didn't even wait for the DM to say if he could just rolled and explained how he was making a giant fish hook as his weapon of choice. Taking out rations and spearing them on as bait. Druid Rushed down asking how many barrels of gun powder he could find. Cleric was talking to the crew asking for anything that burned, wood, lamp oil, explosives of any kind. I went about telling everyone this was our ship and we were headed back to town why settle for what the ship had, we were going to raid the town for supplies. Druid pointed out we spent all our gold and I told him. "We are doing this for the good of the kingdom, we'll steal what we need and pay them back later. Lets get this thing!"
DM tried to gain control of her game back as we were going at a pace she couldn't handle, she said the captain was demanding we leave his ship alone and since it was the only ship he was sailing away and leaving us in the city, we couldn't have his ship.
The party was invested now though. Everyone was excited and having more fun then we had since the start. We reminded her that she stated no one was over our level so we would fight the captain and take his ship if we had to. Threatening him that if he didn't get off and leave the ship he would be dead. She relented and had the captain and crew leave. Cleric and I agreed we'd stay to guard the ship and get things ready on it while the party went to gather more things to kill the Kraken. People were looking at skills, abilities, and items. Looking through the book for anything that could help us and asking the DM if the city had it. Shop after shop the blood thirsty adventurers went demanding goods to fight off the threat. Never really telling the people why we needed it or what it was for but insisting there was a danger that would destroy the city, maybe the kingdom if they didn't cooperate. The DM wasn't given a break to process, when one question was answered another was asked. If we couldn't get something we got the next best thing. If we couldn't find a finished product we took the stuff to make it. She was having to improve on the fly and I could see it was taking a tole on her, where since the start she had a look of absolute authority and command, now she was a frazzled mess.
I would have felt bad, I should have felt bad, however from the rest of the players I heard something that I hadn't heard since day one, laugher and excitement. They didn't care I had told them it was impossible. They didn't care I had pointed out we would die and be on character generation. They now had a chance. Even if it was an impossible chance it was a chance to do something and try.
DM "Look if you do this you're all going to end up dead. You can't bet it at your level." She was trying to get us back to just running away and for a moment things stopped. Me "I hope my character doesn't die. I have a cousin in this down, he's a warlock too and he'd be so upset I think he'd go after the thing as well." Wizard laughed and joined in. "Oh yeah my sister has a shop here, if I died without saying hi to her she'd make that thing burn."
Druid and Barbarian got the message, we had all played video games. If we couldn't beat it with these characters we had a city with a population of 6000 possible back up characters to zerg rush it. So plans kept on going, players kept searching for a way to give us the best possible chance of doing this or surviving a couple of rounds because that would be an accomplishment in itself. We were making bombs, alchemical items, improvised weapons. Getting ready every spell and ability we had to try this. When gaming was called the DM and Bard left while the rest of us stayed around for probably a half hour more talking about the plan, joking, and just having fun. All of us left with a smile on our faces.
When I got home I had a message on my answering machine from DM informing me that I wasn't the DM and how dare I highjack her game. That I was a horrible player and I better fall in line because I had her crying. She made some threats about hurting herself if I didn't stop which I hope were lies meant to make me feel bad, and ended the message telling me if I called her back she would call the cops on me. A threat I wasn't going to test. I saved the message for proof later if I needed it and the week passed. When we all met at the shop the next week Bard said DM would be late. We were all still joking and having fun talking about our big plan for the TPK and making joke bets like "If we last three rounds your new character owes mine five gold." It was great.
Time passed though and no DM so we asked Bard what was up. He informed us then that she had texted. Said I ruined her game and she wasn't going to play with people who didn't understand the rules of dungeons and dragons. We broke out magic the gathering cards and played a few hands before heading home all a little disappointed that we couldn't see how far we would have gotten. A little while later I think a couple of months I was telling the story at the shop and Wizard kept making hand motions at me. I asked what was up and he face palmed saying "That's her older brother." Well I had already put my foot in my mouth voicing my displeasure so I figured one more question wouldn't hurt. "Sorry, but it was a bit of a mess of a game. This is my opinion as a player. I know she's family and all so hate me if you like but I am honest. I will ask though, how long has she actually been DMing."
The brother didn't mind and informed me that she had DMed 2 games for him, his younger brother, and their father when she was a child. That was it and they were both one shot things with their father doing most of the work. She never came back to the game shop and I think she moved states, I've never seen her since.

So I defeated PTS Raion for the bat cursed spirit, it dropped so I clicked on the scroll and the mode literally went onto my Z slot and started leveling but whenever I tried to use it it would just do an infinite spin for the animation and id have to restart the game, come to find out apparent the game says that I never got it. Same thing happened for the Mustang spirit mask. I just now clicked the scroll for it after killing it and on the screen it said Gen 3 mask or what ever but when I go into my sub ability for Mustang Spirit it says I don't have it. Can anyone help?

Is your furry friend frightened by loud noises like thunderstorms and fireworks? Fear not, because we're here to help you calm their anxieties and make those scary moments a thing of the past. In this post, we'll share some valuable strategies to help your dog overcome their fear and find comfort during those booming sounds.
Understanding your dog's fear: It's important to recognize that fear of loud noises is common among dogs. The sudden and unpredictable nature of thunderstorms and fireworks can trigger anxiety, leading to trembling, panting, pacing, and even destructive behavior. But fret not! With patience, understanding, and the right training techniques, we can make a positive difference.
Here are some effective strategies to help your dog face their fears head-on:

1. Create a safe haven: Designate a specific area in your home where your dog feels secure during loud noises. Fill it with their favorite toys, blankets, and even some soothing music. This designated space will serve as their comforting retreat when things get loud.
2. Desensitization and counter-conditioning: Gradual exposure to the sounds of thunderstorms or fireworks can help desensitize your dog over time. Start by playing low-volume recordings of these noises while engaging them in a fun activity or offering treats and praise. Gradually increase the volume over several sessions, always focusing on positive experiences and rewards.
3. Use positive reinforcement: Reward your dog's calm behavior during loud noises with treats, praise, and gentle strokes. By associating positive experiences with these sounds, you'll help shift their perception from fear to relaxation.
4. Seek professional guidance: If your dog's fear persists or worsens despite your efforts, consider consulting a professional dog trainer or animal behaviorist. They can provide specialized guidance and develop a tailored training plan for your furry friend.

Have you successfully helped your dog overcome their fear of loud noises? What techniques or strategies have you found particularly helpful?

Seriously Mojang has this paper-thin understanding of environmental and industrial ethics, that they'll cut features that might be bad for optics but not change the game in an interesting way to reward sustainable or ethical building - or even make it possible. If you want to be successful late game, you basically have to build some kind of factory farm for food or build massive mines for blocks.
Some features that are way more unethical than anything Mojang has gone against recently:

• Locking villagers in cells forever rewards you with better trades and an iron farm. Same for farming animals and Piglins.
• Every plant-based food source sucks ass after early game - how hard would this honestly be to change? Beetroot Soup, Mushroom Soup, and Pumpkin Pie are way more resource intensive but worse than plain Steak. "But Golden Carrots and Apples!-" nope you need a gold farm to make these in meaningful quantities, which requires killing Piglins.
• Deforestation and leveling entire landscapes helps you, by decreasing hostile mob spawns. There's no incentive to keeping a natural biome alive near your home unless you're on a mushroom field where hostile mobs are disabled.
• There's no incentive to keeping spiders, or most animal mobs alive even though they're integral to many real-life ecosystems. This could be simple as causing fewer hostile mobs and more helpful mobs to spawn the more spiders are nearby, or increasing the rate that plants grow.

I'm sure you could find more but this is plenty to prove to me that Mojang is full of shit when they do stuff like this.