I'm an ICU RN with some experience in trauma, but I have never been a first responder and don't pretend to be. However, I have had several occasions where I'm the only person with any training whatsoever at the scene of an accident.
The first time a kid ran into traffic and got hit by a car. I was pretty new at the time, my only experience was with elderly patients on tele in the hospital, and nobody else stopped. I called 911 and waited with the kid, not moving them. To give an idea of my incompetence at the time, EMS arrives, asks me to hold C-spine, and I was like "I don't know what you need I'm just a tele nurse." The medic told me what to do and I left when I was told to.
The second time a car was crunched off the road, people are standing around looking worried, and I stopped and basically asked if EMS was on the way. They were, so I waited with the patient, did a rudimentary Neuro exam, verified they were alive and suggested to everyone that we not move them. EMS arrived and I left when I was told to.
Since then I have learned about scene safety and basically if I see lights I keep driving, if I stop and EMS is on the way I leave, because there's usually nothing I am going to do that is helpful on the side of the road after a 12 hour shift of titrating pressors, completing mindless busywork, and possibly mtp and post mortem care back when I worked trauma. I'm mostly useless and I know this.
So tonight after my second day of orientation at me new job, second day of nine in a row, I see a crunched car on the center wall with airbag deployment and a possible body. I have quit trauma (twice) because I cried on the way home, had nightmares, and basically felt like shit. I'm trying CVICU again because MICU is boring and NICU is crazy people with tubes in their head.
EMS isn't there. I pull over in a turnout, walk to the scene (IDK if it's safe) and find the sole occupant of the vehicle standing on the side of the road saying they're fine. There was a kid there who stopped because nobody else did, he asks "are you a nurse?" And I said yes. He shook my hand (overkill) and asked me what I do when I come across these situations. I told him I wait for EMS because even tho I've been a trauma nurse they're the experts in the field.
Nobody has called 911, they're all fairly confused, and there's a crunched car in the middle of the road with angry drivers zooming around it like they're late for the birth of their first child. Police show up and drive the crunched car noisily off the road, and want everyone off the road because the aim of the cop is probably scene safety and at this point I'm just going to do as I'm told.
So I left. I passed the kid who got her out of the car, who was waiting in his vehicle with a safety vest and other equipment so idk if he just comes prepared for road emergencies or has related job.
TLDR the point of all this is what the fuck should I do in these situations? I feel like I should do something but I'm mostly useless other than calling 911 and saying "don't move" if they haven't moved, and doing a rudimentary assessment which is also useless because when asked for report I'm like "they're alert, oriented, breathing, and have been in an accident" which is fairly obvious information to any professional responding to the situation in a professional capacity.

TL;DR — Should I Pull?

New Players

Neither of these banners are better for a new player than Matriarch/Roc or Liz/Jo. I recommend new players skip these. If you already have Matriarch and Liz but you didn't get Jo whilst pulling for Liz, then pulling for Gustave and Kat might be a good use of jewels, but I think I still recommend waiting a week to see what's next before investing in that.

Veterans

Is... is that an average of two party heals per turn on Kat? 👀
Sorry! Sorry. I just got distracted by pink samurai healer girl. (Man, that checks so many boxes for me. 😆)
Probably the most noteworthy unit here is Goddess. Being able to shut down all shadow damage the enemies deal for 15 turns is basically a cheat code for certain content. Orlouge is pretty whatever for veterans, but Monika has some support things she can do and she bulks up to very defensive numbers so while she doesn't dispense Polka-levels of party heals or Matriarch-levels of stat buffs, she's an excellent supplement to either of those who doesn't require special attention to keep in the fight.
On the other hand, we have Kat and Gustave. Kat can reduce Skill damage to the party in the same way that Tsubaki and Gustave can reduce Spell damage, and that's not a small thing. Gustave, meanwhile, can dispense damage boosts and damage mitigation to the party while also acting as a BP support. So there's unique stuff on this banner, too.
Broadly speaking, I think I would recommend a skip if you aren't flush with jewels. Goddess is good, no question, but she's not really worth chasing on her own merits, and Monika's good but she's not great unless you have her previous bow style to inherit that S3 onto. If you have a good amount of jewels to spend but you don't feel like you can do pulls on both banners, then it depends on who you have inherits for. I can recommend Kat/Gustave's banner if you have the previous Spellbreaker Gustave style. I can recommend Goddess's banner if you have the previous Music Fest Goddess style and the previous Kids' week Monika style.
If you have all three of those styles and you can't afford to pull on both banners... I'm sorry. I would probably lean towards Goddess's banner just because damage immunity is so strong when it works.

Samurai Jack Kat — Romancing Festival Limited Banner

Katarina

Unit Summary

Kat can reduce skill damage to the party and heal them at the same time. And then she will heal them some more.

Unit Analysis

Well, it's not Pierce/Cold switch, but it'll do.
So the main deal here is Ice Fog Sword Ballet, which deals B-rank pierce and cold damage and then grants the whole party a defensive stance that reduces skill damage taken by 35% for 3 turns. Skill damage reduction is arguably not as important as the spell damage reduction that Tsubaki and Gustave can bring to bear, but there's undeniably a lot of skill damage out there for bosses to dish out, and Kat is the only source of this particular buff. Because of her Abundance Switch, she gains +2 BP and heals the entire party for a tiny amount when she does this. So even though it's a 10 BP skill, she can rotate it with her normal attack or her S1 quite easily and still dish out some heals for the party.
In fact, if she happens to hit a weakness, she gets +1 BP from that, so it's actually not implausible to be able to use her S2 a bit during her S3 rotation with her normal attacks if the enemy is pierce weak.
Why would you want to do that? Well, her S2 (Ice Impact) is a 7 BP C-rank AoE that deals pierce and cold damage, so it triggers that +2 BP and party-wide heal. Oh, and it has a 50/50 chance to hit twice, so it can actually deal decent amounts of damage for the BP cost. Oh, and it heals the party on each hit. So if Ice Impact gets 2 hits, she heals the party three times that turn.
Now, Kat's mitigation is contingent on being able to resist the enemy's attacks, so depending on the enemy in question she may be competing for equipment that you can't spare for her, which is unfortunate. And her damage output is mediocre compared to the likes of Goddess who's spamming a similar power skill as Kat but with significantly better damage boosts. But she still compares favorably to a lot of other styles that bring damage mitigation and/or healing for the party if you assume all of her stuff works. She's just a bit more conditional than a style like Final Empress or Macha.

Inherits

Kat has a lot of styles, but since this style relies so heavily on dealing either pierce damage or cold damage, not many of them have skills that are worth inheriting.
The only one I'm going to point out here is Glacial Sword, available on a couple of styles but most notably on Kat's second plat SS style (SS [The Real Reason] style), as that one is available from the Training Cave Ore exchange. Glacial Sword is 2 BP and deals cold damage, so it can trigger the party-wide heal and still net some BP recovery for the turn. It doesn't trigger the +2 BP from pierce damage, so it's either +1 BP for the turn if it doesn't hit a weakness or +2 if it does hit a weakness, which makes it a little weak as an option to rotate with Ice Fog Sword Ballet, but it's definitely useful to have the party heal on demand in the event that you need healing the turn after using the skill defense stance.
Or if you'd prefer, you can actually just spam Ice Impact and Glacial Sword to deal decentish damage and churn out a lot of party heals. Kat averages about two heals per turn this way if Glacial Sword hits a weakness, and with Glacial Sword amplified you're dealing at least C-rank damage every turn, which does actually help a bit as people who've been using Esper Girl can attest. This healing isn't quite as good as Thyme can manage with support from Emelia or as good as Chef Polka can accomplish with the Still Blade Phoenix inherit, but it is the strongest party-heal setup that guaratnees at least some healing every turn, which may be appealing in some content.

Gustave

Unit Summary

Attack boosts and defense boosts galore.

Unit Analysis

Where to start?
Well, first thing's first: bringing Gustave grants everyone in the party a 15% damage boost. Just for being on Gustave's team and not being KO'd. Well, OK, actually no one can be KO'd if you want the damage boost, but generally speaking you don't want your units just eating dirt anyway, so that's not a huge restriction.
His Let's Paint skill then grants the party a small Attack Boost and small Defense Boost for 4 turns. Let's Paint is 8 BP and Gustave gets 4 BP back every turn, so it's trivial to keep those boosts up. But wait! There's more! Let's Paint is a charge skill, locking Gustave into doing nothing the next turn and then using Pigeon Whistle the turn after that. Pigeon Whistle grants Gustave +2 BP and then grants the whole party a very large Morale Up and a medium Guard Up for 2 turns. Obviously you can't sustain that (because the Let's Paint cycle spends two turns waiting to get back to Pigeon Whistle), but they'll stack with those 4 turn boosts, giving the party pretty substantial boosts for 2 turns out of every 3 if you want to spam this cycle.
If you would prefer to spend that bonus BP, Gustave has Fighter Special, a 12 BP SSS attack (it's actually high on the SSS-scale, so it's not actually decent damage for 12 BP) which gratns Gus a very large Guard Up for 5 turns. With High Protect Tension, that Guard Up actually makes Gus pretty dang tough for a while. Or Gus has inherits. See below.
And if you want, there's also Sunder, an A-rank attack for 3 BP. This isn't the absolute strongest attack in the game that is also BP-positive, mostly because Gustave's damage boosts are not that great unless you're still inside the Paint cycle, but it's way up there.

Inherits

The most interesting thing you can do with this Gus inherit-wise is actually to inherit Let's Paint to a different style. [The Fated Hour Comes] Gustave trades Offensive Union for Scrum Guard, which is 20% damage mitigation instead of 15% damage boosts. Both shut off if someone gets KO'd, but it's not that hard to argue that the 20% damage mitigation is a bigger deal than the 15% damage boost. Scrum Guard Gus needs to land hits to gain +1 BP/turn, unlike Ocarina of Steel, but the +2 BP per activation of Pigeon Whistle can help offset that. So while you may end up spending nearly all of your time making sure that whistle cycle is up, it's a lot of party mitigation while it's up.
If you're set on keeping ArtsAndCrafstave in play, you can inherit Triple Crush from UDX Gustave 2.0. Triple Crush is Double Crush but Triple. It's 3 A hits for 13 BP, so it is an excellent BP dump.
Or if you would prefer to lean into Gus's damage boosting capabilities, you can inherit Brave Impact from Gusv7, which is 12 BP for an SSS attack that, instead of granting himself a Guard Up, grants bonus G. Sword damage to the party. G. Sword styles are not the heaviest damage dealers in the game, but it's certainly an interesting thought to try to turn a team of G. Sword attackers like Laura, Fancy Lass, Iskandar, and Gutave into a damage-boost steamroller.

Noel

Unit Summary

All-in slash farmer.

Unit Analysis

Noel gets a lot of damage bonuses on turn 1. Like, Souji levels of damage bonus. If you use Maple Storm, he actually peaks higher than that on turn 1. He deals recoil damage to himself, and all his BP generation is concentrated into the first 5 turns of battle, so you probably don't want to bring him to boss battles, but in short battles he truly brings the thunder, with Maple Storm dropping a train on a single enemy or Burst Blade being a strong [Fast] AoE for a kinda-spammable attack.
Where Noel falls short is that on turn 2, he loses 30% of his damage boost, and in fact takes a damage mitigation penalty, taking and extra 15% damage on even turns. Which is really, really weird for a character who has 8 BP attacks and generates enough bonus BP to use those 8 BP attacks on turns 1 and 2 back to back. You would think you would want him to burn out quickly rather than bounce back and forth between strong and weak turns. But, hey, it is what it is.

Inherits

Christmas Noel has a strong row attack in Twilight Flash, which you can utilize with his early game BP generation and odd-turns peaks to get a strong row attack on turns 1 and 3. It's [Fast], so it actually contends with Gray's charge attack for 1/3 row farming. His skill has a somewhat lower power than Gray's, but he gets much higher damage modifiers on the odd turns, so the damage is likely pretty comparable between the two for most situations.

The Most Powerful SaGa Beings... and Orlouge — Romancing Festival Limited Banner

(I kid. Obviously Monika transcends SaGa and is the most powerful being in the universe. Why else would she have gotten all the buffs on this banner?)

Goddess

Unit Summary

Trivializes content that deals significant shadow damage. And looks good doing it.

Unit Analysis

Light of Dawn is the main attraction here. The Goddess's Light costs 9 BP/1 LP and grants the party complete immunity to shadow damage for the next three turns, granting them a smol heal at the end of each of those turns to boot. Goddess gains +1 BP/turn, so it is trivial to maintain that buff until she is out of LP 15 turns later. Now, sure, once she's out of LP, she's not going to be doing nearly as much for the party, but fifteen turns of every-turn healing and negating a good chunk (if not all) of the enemy's damage is way more than you need when you're fighting any enemy that isn't named "Egg."
While she's building her BP back up for the Light, you will probably be spamming Burning Star, a 1 BP INT-based skill that deals C-rank sun/heat damage. It's only C-rank damage, sure, but it's BP-positive, and with Goddess's 70% passive damage boosts and stacking medium INT buff every turn, it's actually going to be dealing a solid amount of damage for a support unit.

Inherits

The big one is Heavenly Melody. From her Music Festival style, Melody is 10 BP, so it really does compete BP-for-BP with Light of Dawn, but it's also doing a lot so there may be situations where you may want to intersperse this with the Light. Its damage is just B-rank sun AoE, but it inflicts a small Morale Down on all the enemies it hits for 3 turns and it grants the party a small Guard Up for 3 turns regardless of whether it hits. So while it won't fully stack with the likes of Gustave's Pigeon Whistle or Aisha's Earth Thrust , it does a lot of work to reduce incoming damage for 3 turns if you haven't brought other Morale Down or Guard Up units.
Masamune+ from her original SS style is a B-rank slash/heat INT-based attack for 4 BP, which Goddess can spam forever for slightly better damage than Burning Star. You'd really only do this once you're out of LP, but it does improve her damage output once that has happened.
Alternately, if you'd rather keep using Burning Star and drop nukes once you've built up BP, her OG style also has Purging Light, which is SSS sun/heat damage for 10 BP. It's a little low on the SSS scale, but, again, it does improve her damage output once she's out of LP as opposed to just spamming Burning Star.

Orlouge

Unit Summary

Everything bagel ailment jammer.

Unit Analysis

I don't have a ton here to say. Drop from the Depths is a 10 BP AoE spell that just throws the whole kitchen sink of ailments at the enemy. Poison, sleep, paralysis, confusion, and charm, all at once. The way ailments work in this game, you will never see more than two of those on a single enemy at once, and one of them will always be poison if there are two, but it can be... convenient that this one style does all of them in a single spell.
When he's not overcoming his analysis paralysis by "¿porque no los dos?"ing it, he rotates between Shadow Drop, a 0 BP shadow AoE spell, and Rose Petals, an 8 BP spell that deals SS shadow damage and grants him 1 stack of Damage Block. Unlike most characters with Damage Block, it is actually significant that this stack of Damage Block does not have a turn limit because Orlouge can randomly evade all attacks in a turn, which would preserve the Damage Block stack for a later turn. This is doubly important because Orlouge gets +3 bonus BP any turn where he doesn't take damage, so if he gets an evade turn, layers a stack of Damage Block on himself, and manages to get off another Rose Petals next turn, he's got a pretty good chance of also not taking any damage that turn for even more bonus BP.
It... it's fragile, but when it works, it does do cool things.

Inherits

Well, if you just must have all the status ailments, Orlouge 2.0 has a single target Petrify (Mistress' Ice Prison) or AoE Stun (Purple Flames) you can inherit. Or he has Absorb from that style for a spammable small self-heal. (Remember, "small" self-heal actually means like 900+ HP at current stat values.)

Monika

Unit Summary

DEX buffehealeBow damage enabler.

Unit Analysis

Monika is trying to do a lot, here.
Firstly, she grants all Bow wielders a 15% damage bonus just for bringing a Bow to a S. Sword fight.
Secondly, she heats up to 80% damage bonus over the first 5 turns of battle. So she's trying to bring the damage. And actually, every single skill she has will buff at the very least her DEX. Whether it's the 0 BP DEX buff attack on Focus Fire, the party-wide DEX buff for 5 BP in Dancing Arrows, or the combination DEX buff/heal on Arrow Bloom, she's going to have her DEX buffed. So she actually does deal pretty serious damage once she's heated up.
Oh, did I mention that the heal on Arrow Bloom is "small" rank? So it's 1k like Still Blade Phoenix, not 200 like Kat's little heals.
Now, that's good because it's a 13 BP skill. Which, honestly, it needs to be because it's a party DEX buff, a small heal, and it's an SSSS attack. But Monika gets +2 BP when she hits a weakness, so she can actually rotate that at not-painfully-slow rates if the enmy is pierce weak.
She's juggling a lot of stuff, is what I'm trying to say. And she kind of can actually get all of it done.

Inherits

Back-inheriting Arrow Bloom to her baby style can potentially let her unleash the giant attac-plus-heal more frequently because that style can gain +3 BP when she gets hit. It's only a 25% chance per hit, but if the enemy is dishing out a lot of weak attacks, it can wind up being a lot of BP recovery over a long battle.
Back-inheriting Arrow Bloom to one of her S. Sword styles can also be useful for Remembrance battle purposes. Just as a thought.
Oh, wait, inherits this style wants? Oh. Uh, interesting. Maybe?
Gift Prick from the style that was on Liam's banner is a 2 BP attack with a small-rank self heal. Using that hurts the damage output of this style (misses a DEX buff) and makes BP cycling Dancing Arrow or Arrow Bloom harder (costs 2 BP instead of 0 BP), but it goes a long way to making this style harder to KO.
Present of Pleasure from... also that style... is a party CHA buff, Morale Up, tiny heal, and +1 BP recovery. It costs 7 BP/1 LP, so it's a very limited use skill, but the BP support angle of it can be useful for a style you are already bringing for DEX/heal support.
Pure Flower from the kiddo style is a 3 BP/1 LP heal with a little attack boost on heal. Nothing huge, but handy to have.
And that's kind of it. Monika has a ton of styles that you could inherit stuff from, but the fact that most of them are S. Sword skills means that they miss out on part of Monika's innate damage bonuses, and many of them will rotate awkwardly with the +2 BP/turn in the first place, making Arrow Bloom look better in comparison.

I’m in what I believe to be a decently unique situation and I’m looking for what the best next steps are for my financial goals. My parents are great parents and people, but they aren’t interested in discussing financial matters with me, period.
I am 18 years old and going to online trade school for Construction Management full time beginning next fall. I will be living at home rent free for at least the next two years, have no car expenses besides gas and insurance (around $1000/year — this is out of my control and I have 1 single-car crash on my record) and make $22 an hour working full time in construction (MCOL area in MN). My program is at a local vocational school and costs about $12k total; this is paid for entirely through a 529 plan from my grandparents. I plan to continue working full time while in school; this is doable for me. My career will start at ~$60,000 with well over 6 figure earning potential.
As for goals, I am looking to purchase a home in roughly 3 years with my girlfriend in the south, likely SC, NC, KY or TN. She is also debt free and currently in cosmetology school that she paid off herself. She makes a little under $1,500 a month working part time right now. Combined, we have slightly over $20k in the bank, and we’d like to invest a significant portion of that money. We both have limited credit history with great credit scores.
Essentially, I’m asking:

• How much of that $20k should we invest? I’m talking long-term investments, mutual funds, etc.
  
• How much should I be setting aside for a down payment (and where) and how much should I be investing? ~$2,500 net monthly income with $400ish required expenses.
  
• How realistic is buying a house in 2026-2027? Depends on the area and state, but we’re thinking $250k max. We will stay where we move to long-term. I’m worried loan approval will be an issue, even if we have the down payment.
  
• How much should I put on my credit card each month? Right now, I’m only using it for gas (substantial — I drive a truck).
  

Thank you in advance and I can answer any questions.

I've never liked also and have always been a morning person who is also a night owl. Basically sleep has always been a necessary nuisance to me when we have such little time to live.
Long story short, I'm now a few years in taking antidepressants to help the more terrible aspects of me but they have awful side effects that i have been unable to avoid such as constant tiredness and I am always sleeping 12+ hours without feeling rested. I am aware that this is a side effect of most antidepressants but don't know how to get around them even with the pathetic help from my psychiatrists.
I am still wrapped up in my bedsheets up until 3p even though I hate sleep, wake up tired, without the drive to do anything, and cannot sleep at night per usual (thus writing this useless paragraph at almost 12a while watching music live on YouTube).
Does anyone have any advice? I've been labeled as hard to diagnose with a high tolerance for medication through multiple psychiatrists and have tried numerous med combos that just seem to keep me afloat. I know meds won't help so I'm asking if anyone has any personal remedies that have helped?
✌️ Alex

This is my list I tried my best:
1)scream at my naked body “you’re beautiful and you’re awesome!!!” 2. drive with the windows down and sing along to a good CD on a sunny day on the mountain 3. Being kind 4. Waking up from a whole nights sleep in an eye mask 5. Eating good food. Especially seafood, tea, green vegetable juice without fruit 6. Walk around naked while opera is playing 7. Moon dives //moon soaking 8. Sun soaking 9. Patience with people younger than me 10. Good manners 11. Loose maxi dresses, it makes me feel like a mature woman witch because I feel like a little girl in mini dresses 12. Cute purses 13. Lavender essential oil 14. Lemongrass essential oil 15. Decluttering 16. Being financially responsible and sucking to my budget 17. Writing letters on elegant stationary and nice 🖊 pens 18. Full filled eyebrows, deep cleaned mouth and peach lipstick. 19. ice cold shower //ice bath// snow 20. Speaking my second languages Norwegian and Gaelic 21. Losing my cool to laughter 22. Being playful 23. Slipping into a clean cool bed after I washed the sheets and took a shower, sometimes I’ll go to bed with perfume on 24. Boho sun dress and straw hat, 25. waist accentuated collar shirt dress and wedge espadrilles 26. Giving gifts to family 27. Singing the blues 28. Vanilla and tobacco and leather 29. Having a clean car 30. Wind on my face 31. Cream blush 32. Song of songs in the Bible 33. Pink 34. Laying by the fireplace in winter 35. Earth soaking (laying on the earth in a secluded area for an hour) 36. Taking care of my cat

In the time before time, when I was in college, a buddy of mine and I used to go to (buffalo/chicken) Wings night every Monday at the local joint. In NY, so the wings were legit. EXCEPT..."suicide" level hot was never really that spicy, just a bunch of tabasco. One day we were really jonesing for hot. We had physically seen the cook in prior visits, big burly "don't screw with me" type of person. I told the waiter to write down our directions to the cook. We said "Table 8 says you cannot make these wings spicy enough for them because you like small boys and are not enough of a man to make them hot".
He first refused to write that down, we slipped him a $10 (big money back then) and said "just blame us".
A pitcher of crap beer and 1 dozen wings for each came out. They smelled spicy, so we were stoked.
Had one bit of one wing. Immediately chugged our 16 ounce beer cuz OMG HOW DID HE MAKE THEM THIS SPICY ON A WHIM!
We each ate the remainder of the very first wing, that pitcher of beer was annihilated.
We hadn't noticed but the cook was sticking his head out the door watching us. At this point he's crying from laughing so hard. Comes over and says he'll make us a fresh order, those were the ones sitting at the very bottom of the prep bucket for hours, had been soaking in the chili peppers/etc and they never served them as a rule.
We told him that wasn't right - we demanded hyper spicy, he delivered, it was our responsibility to finish them with a smile. We immediately called 2 friends, told them in 2 hours we'd need to be picked up because we'd be hammered and they had to come drive us and my car home. They were baffled as it was a Monday night but agreed.
Took 2 full hours and 3 pitchers of beer each but we finished them. We stayed as quiet as we could given how much pain we were in, thankfully the restaurant was always <50% full. The cook came out to give us a high five and asked "I'm betting you won't (ask for ultra spicy) again right?" "No sir we will not, you have beaten us and we acknowledge your superiority"
We left a monster tip and our sober friends drove us home. Made both of us sit in the backseat of my car as they didn't want to risk anyone throwing up in their car or on one of them as the driver.
Epilogue: 12 far-hotter-than-suicide buffalo wings didn't just burn on the way down. Thankfully we lived with only college students, who heard "OH MY GOD PLEASE KILL ME NOW" from the bathroom for 48 hours after that.
Best. Wings. Ever.

That feeling you got as a kid when you were chasing girls. Staying up too late and making memories. The type of feeling you get when you meet a beautiful girl at the super market and know you'll never see her again but suddenly are convinced you love her. Or a late night summer drive with the warm wind and chill music playing.
There are two songs/music videos that give me this exact feeling:
Zach Bryan's "Oklahoma Smokeshow" Brad Paisleys "Beat this Summer"
I've been thinkig of this feeling wver since i sae Zachs video and i know theres a word for jt but cant think of it.
Any help/suggestions are welcome.

This is something I've thought about doing for a while now. Since I'm going to miss spending father's day with him this year due to work, I've decided I'm going to pull the trigger. I can't think of a better gift than letting him know I fully accept him as my dad and that I want to carry his name throughout the rest of my life! I'm sharing this here because I can't talk about it without getting emotional and happy crying, but I have to tell someone because of how happy and excited I am about this! There's a little bit of a back story here but I'm hoping after I share it, you'll understand why I have so much respect for this amazing man and why I want to do this.
To put things bluntly, my father was not a good man. I won't go into details, but I will say that he was verbally and physically abusive to both me and my little brother. He walked out on us when I was around 10, and even though I didn't know it at the time, it was the best thing that ever happened to us. He may have been gone, but the damage was already done and I didn't know how to process him leaving us. Combine that with the trauma he inflicted on us, and I was the definition of a demon child. I'd throw daily tantrums and lash out at everyone and everything around me, and was constantly getting in trouble at school because of it. I had to change schools, and we went through so many different baby sitters because I was too much to handle. I honestly still feel bad about the things I said and did that made the job of trying to raise me extremely difficult for my mom. She is an amazing woman who didn't deserve any of what I put her through, especially since she was raising me and my brother on her own and just barely making ends meet.
We were on our own for maybe a year when me and my brother met my stepdad. Let's call him Tom for the purposes of the story. I know they met on a phone dating service, but I'm not sure how long they were seeing each other before we met him. Regardless of that though, after seeing all the horror stories about step parents... I'm honestly so thankful that my mom got things right and found a good one on the first try! IMO they did everything right in regards to introducing my brother and I to him. He came over to our house and my mom introduced him to us as simply her friend. Not her boyfriend, our new dad, stepdad or anything like that because she didn't want to confuse us in case things didn't work out. He even brought his dog (Toblerone or Toby for short) with him and me and my brother played with him for a few hours while the adults hung out. TBH I don't really remember much of what we talked about with Tom. He was just my mom's cool friend that brought his dog over for us to play with, but Tom must have thought things went well because we started seeing more of him as my mom started spending more time with him. I was still a demon child though and I did have a couple meltdowns and temper tantrums while Tom was around, but he just sat back and watched as my mom dealt with me and somehow I didn't scare him off.
After a few months, Mom and Tom sat both me and my brother down and my mom told us that Tom was now officially her boyfriend. I asked them if that meant that Tom was our new dad and Tom took over and started talking to my brother and I. He told us that he loves our mom and that we can call him whatever whatever we want. Tom was really good about not forcing us to see him a certain way, or call him dad or any of that stuff. He was just Tom, my mom's new boyfriend. Once they made it official, we slowly started to meet other members of Tom's family. He has a big family, but no kids of his own. Things were going well enough that when thanksgiving rolled around, we went to go spend it with Tom's family. Unfortunately thanksgiving was a disaster... I had a meltdown in front of Tom's entire family, and I was chasing his nephew (Who had a broken foot and crutches) around the house yelling that I hated him and I was yelling death threats at him. Somehow though even after doing this and embarrassing both Tom and my Mom in front of Tom's entire family, Tom stuck around and tried his best because of how much he loved my mom. I honestly have no idea how he didn't head for the hills after that, because there's no way I would be able to put up with someone like me if I were in his shoes.
My brother and I started seeing a child therapist shortly after Tom came into our lives, and it helped a lot, but I was still a demon child and I didn't really mellow out until I was around 14 and went to high school. Even though it was only 2-3 years, that part of my life feels like it lasted much longer than that. Tom is a much better man than I could ever hope to be, and he's the person that I respect most in this world. Even though I was a nightmare to deal with, he never gave up on us and he did everything he could to try and support us. He wasn't perfect, but he tried his best and did everything in his power to try and raise my brother and I like we were his own kids. Most importantly he never laid a hand on me because he knew about the trauma that had been inflicted on me and my brother because of my father. He and his family loved and accepted us and were very patient with me regardless of all the shit that I would do. They never made me feel like I wasn't loved or that they didn't want me around. Tom may not be my father, but he is my dad and I am so thankful to have him in my life. Without him, I wouldn't be the man that I am today. He taught me how to always look for the good in people and no matter how bad things may seem, that things will always get better. He and my mom have been together for almost 20 years now and they are still so in love with each other that it almost seems like no time has passed for them at all. I'm excited, happy and nervous and I'm probably going to ugly cry after I ask Tom if I can change my last name to his.

Searching this group, I'm not finding much about the harem collection games which are my PA/SA's primary method of acting out. As in, he blew through $7k in savings buying, romancing, and outfitting his many collections of 'waifus.' Much included XXX straight up sex, and he was playing them while working at his job in an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
We have many other issues with him having BPD, stalking his ex (he took a job over an hour drive away in a super random location- 3 minutes from her new apartment), and general non-sexual compulsive lying. D-day was late September 2022, and even then he did not give up everything. I had to squeeze each drop of trickle-truth out. And then he became violent- in reaponse to me being creeped out to have sex with him. And smashed many things in our new house on many occasions. He defends his vast collection of interactive waifus even over our marriage, kids, my sanity etc.. All while lying his ass off that he will quit (knowing full well he feels entitled to what he is doing).
Well it's happened again; the money trail led there but he was a step ahead and wiped out the new secret email address, secret all-porn Steam account etc. I can see and he admitted they exist- just sanitized and no details for me to be tortured by I guess.
He is extremely defensive when caught, calls me bitch over and over, even in front of our marriage counselor. Then flips back to the hollow apologies. And lies to her and I. I've taken to recording conversations.
I feel messed up, brain fog; I need to get out but am scared I'll miss him, the hassle of divorce, losing the house and so on. We have kids, a mortgage, and a Disney trip planned next month that IDK how the hell I will get through.
I can't be the only one cheated with, discarded for ... cartoons? But I sure feel like the only one. Even loads of women acting like the gacha collection is "so fun!" Ugh.

My virtual MH C&P exam is in about 7 hours and I'm nervous as shit. It's with a VA hospital psychiatrist. It starts at 9am and the doctor said we should be done by 11! Two effin hours?! It better not be that long. Then in the afternoon I have to drive an hour to the VA hospital for my C&P exam for all of my physical contentions.
Gonna be a long stressful day. If you are the praying type, say a prayer, otherwise wish me luck.

Deluxe taxi stand out as a unique and top-choice taxi service in chandigarh for several reasons.Firstly our primary goal is to provide the best possible experience to our customers.We understand that a taxi ride should be stress-free,convenient and comfortable and we go the extra mile to ensure just that.Deluxe taxi stand offers a diverse fleet of vehicles,including cars,minivans,SUVs and luxury cars with up-to-date safety features and amenities.Their skilled and experienced drivers provide excellent service offering customer satisfaction is the top priority and 24-hour support is available for assistance.Deluxe taxi stand offers competitive and affordable prices ensuring quality service without breaking the bank.In summary deluxe taxi stand is unique and the top choice for taxi in chandigarh airport because of our dedication to providing the best taxis and self drive car in chandigarh,We strive to make your journey comfortable,convenient and enjoyable so you can trust us to take care of your transportation needs in chandigarh.
https://taxidaddy.in/
taxi service in amritsar,taxi in chandigarh airport,self drive car in chandigarh,taxi in chandigarh,taxi service in chandigarh,chandigarh taxi service,manali taxi service,taxi in manali,taxi in chandigarh station,chandigarh airport taxi, mohali airport taxi,amritsar airport taxi,delhi station taxi,self driving car in chandigarh, chandigarh to manali taxi, chandigarh to shimla taxi,chandigarh to amritsar taxi, chandigarh to dharamshala taxi,chandigarh to pathankot taxi, chandigarh to ludhiana taxi,chandigarh to jalandhar taxi,taxi in amritsar,taxi on rent in chandigarh,taxi hire in chandigarh,cab on rent in chandigarh,cab hire in chandigarh,cab in chandigarh,delhi airport taxi,

For context, my brother (25M) “Johnny” and his girlfriend (22F) “Amber” have been dating for 5-6 years I think and they have a toddler and baby on the way.
So maybe about 3-4 years ago, Johnny disappeared one night. So Amber and I went searching everywhere for him calling all his friends, parents, the hospital and and even the police to file a missing persons report. The next day Johnny shows up and claims he went to a party and had one shot and passed out in his car at a friends house claiming somebody spiked his drink. Amber actually called one of his friends and they told her they didn’t see johnnys car at the party and Johnny said he parked down the road.
Later on, maybe a month later, Johnny and I are talking on the phone because he disappeared again and he calls me and tells me if Amber reaches out to me to tell her not to call the police and that he’s safe. he told me that he didn’t really pass out or was at a party the first time he had disappeared and that he was actually out of state cheating on Amber. When I asked him why he said because Amber had cheated on him in the past and that it’s only fair to cheat and get even. He told me he was out of state once again and that’s why he was calling and I heard the other girl on the phone calling him “baby” and to “come back to bed” and he was telling her he loved her. I felt disgusted. Amber and I grew really close to one another but in the moment I chose to cover for Johnny since he was my brother as long as it was a one time ordeal. I have always looked up to my brother and we wasn’t as close growing up because we was 4 years apart, and he didn’t care for his little sister as much. But I wanted him to trust me and to talk to me and tell me things so I agreed that if she reached out then I’d help cover. I admit this was my mistake. I should have told her but I didn’t. Though that night she didn’t reach out to me. At least I don’t remember if she did.
Now, 2023, they have a little boy and now they have one on the way (she’s in the third trimester), a few days ago, Johnny disappears in the middle of the night. Amber texts me worrying and stressing and the first thing that comes to my mind is that he’s probably cheating. But I didn’t tell her that, instead I sympathized with her and listened to where she thought he may be and I reassured her that he’s safe and not to worry because she was scared he got mugged. It’s now been 3 hours later, Johnny comes home and says he was driving around and lost track of time. So now a day goes by and Johnny gotten drunk and passed out at his house. Amber gets his phone and Johnny forgets to delete the text messages and search history and she finds out he’s been cheating on her with a girl that lives a few streets away and she sees all the texts and where he searched up directions to her house. Amber texts the other girl but she claims they haven’t done anything besides talking about their past and everything since the other girl has kids of her own living with her mom and dealing with baby daddy issues and she mentioned Johnny’s past issues.
I know Ambers hurt and distressed. Johnny and Amber has a lot of issues between one another. In the past, they have both abused one another, verbally and physically. And she’s tried leaving several times before but Johnny would not let her, and he is very manipulative. He reminds her that she can’t leave him because she has nothing without him, no money, no job, no house, no car and with a baby about to be born there ain’t no way she can leave after finding out (Johnny doesn’t know that she knows he cheated).
I don’t know what to do. I don’t want Amber to hate me for not telling her about all the cheating in the past but tbh they may have still been together or maybe not I have no idea. I feel like a shitty person and I want to help her or give her advice but I don’t know how or what to say. It seems like they are going to be staying together for now but she just has no way out and she doesn’t want to get him in trouble with the law for the previous abuse since he’s already on probation (tbh I don’t know why he’s on probation this time because he’s been to jail multiple of times). Any advice is helpful. I just really needed this off my chest. I feel like shit.

This is going to be a long rant sorry. I'll put the tl;dr here at the start. Spent years complaining to different doctors about symptoms, got consistently different answers. Had a positive pregnancy test 2 weeks ago. 5 days ago rushed to the ER with debilitating cramps and sudden severe bleeding. Roughly 8 hours later was told I lost the baby due to being rh - and oh, I have pcos. In addition to all of that, I feel like no one is helping or educating me on what is wrong with me.
Long version:
Heavy periods were normal in my family. Most of my periods since late teenage years had been heavy and lasted long. I'd been to doctors and was told as long as they came around the same day and lasted about the same time, it was still normal. I rarely have cramps during my periods, and aside from occasionally having extremely heavy flow days or maybe a slightly longer bleeding cycle, it didn't bother me much.
At 19 I had a chemical pregnancy. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I went apple picking in the hills; this was a big deal because it was our first "trip", almost 2 hours from our home town. I had missed my period but only by maybe five days and was excited that our sort of big date wouldn't be ruined by aunt flow. Half way there she showed up anyways... or at least I thought that what was happening. I had mild cramps which was strange but the bleeding didn't stop. I was going through a super tampon and pad roughly every half hour. We made it to the hills, and within 20 mins left. I was too embarrassed to tell him why I needed to go home and blamed it on feeling incredibly sick. What really happened was I had sneezed, and even though it had been maybe 15 mins since I had switch my tampon and pad it gushed so badly that I bleed through my jeans.
I went to the doctor the next day. Found out it was a chemical pregnancy. They did all the "regular tests" to see if there was anything else wrong. Everything came back negative. I was given meds and told to let nature take its course.
Around 22 I started battling my weight. I am 5 foot 1. My healthly weoght is between 115 and 125 lbs. I always did sports so I spent most of my teen years around 130/135, majority ot being muscle weight from the years of softball, swim team, and polo.
My eating habits hadn't changed. But I suddenly kept gaining weight and couldn't lose it. I though maybe it was because I no longer did Phys Ed classes and stopped doing sports. I didn't think I'd hit 165 in just a few months, but assumed it was my fault. I dieted like crazy, started hiking 2 hrs a day, and was able to lose most of the weight and sit comfortably around 145. I never got back to my ideal/healthy weight though. I brought this up to doctors and was told it was my metabolism aging. It was normal. It happened. I just had to adjust my lifestyle and make the best of it.
Shortly after, mostly because I kept demanding answers, I went to an OB who told me I had fibroids. It felt good to get an answer after years of frustration. I tried different birth controls, which helped but also caused other unwanted side effects. More weight gain. Mood swings. Decreased sex drive. Depression. Nothing seemed to be worth it. So I stopped and focused on living as health as I could. Not dieting but chosing better options and eating less. Starting jujitsu. Keeping up with hiking. Things seemed to be balancing out.
At 23 I was in a bad car crash. I was tboned on my driver's side by someone who was trying to turn left into a gas station, going 45 mph. After a couple of days at the hospital, frontal lobe damage, cracked skull,, broken bones, and other minor exteral damage, I fell into a terrible depression. My wrist was shattered so badly that I was in a cast for 9 months. I couldn't exercise. I was always in pain. And almost overnight I went from a healthy-ish (not what I should be at but what I was comfortable at) 145lbs to 165 lbs. Not actually over night but in about a month and a half. I was barely eating because the meds I was on made me so nauseous and completely zoned out. I was stuck inside due to the concussion I had and I was stuck in bed due to other injuries. The bleeding got worse. But I was told it was just the fibroids flaring up.
My periods got worse. They started lasting longer. They were more frequent. I would get one week off and then three or four weeks of bleeding. One time it was a solid 3 months of almost non stop bleeding. I did blood work. Pelvic exams. Went to the OB, my primary care doctor. Moved to a new state. Got a new OB.
At this point my weight gain had gotten even worse. I somehow would drop 10 lbs and gain 10 lbs and then drop 5 and gain 15 over the course of a month. My once thick hair had gotten so thin. It was falling out in clumps. I had bald spots. It was snapping off in places. I did hair masks, oils, viviscal pills. Nothing seemed to help. My depression and anxiety was also getting worse, but after taking pills to feel numb I tried to focus more on natural fixes. Sam-E, holistic supplements, healthy eating.
I told this to my new OB. They did thyroid tests. Diabetes tests. Cancer tests.
And the answer was always, well it's more common than you think to flux in weight. Your blood work looks fine. Sometimes women get heavy periods due to stress. Hair loss is natural with age. Maybe you should change your diet. Work out more.
It was exhausting.
Fast forward to 2023. I got married after 10 years of being with my now husband. We were finally ready to start a family and trying for kids. My OB gave me the all clear, said we shouldn't have anything to worry about. My fibroids hadn't been flaring up. My periods were fairly regular. My dedication to getting healthy was paying off. As strenuous as it was, it was getting results.
I worked hard, lost about 25lbs and got down to 170 last year.
Things were getting better, I was working my ass off. After 5 years I found the strength to join jits again. Even though I had pain and had to be careful with my.old injuries I worked hard to keep up.
Life was getting better.
I've always wanted to be a mom. Since I was little.
When I got that positive test after 5 months of trying it was the happiest day of my life. It had been about 7 weeks from my last period. I had had some light cramping. A day of pink spotting. I could smell things like a blood hound.
The soonest appointment we could get with my OB was a week after the positive test, but I didn't care. I was so happy.
I had adjusted my diet. Fought my sugar cravings and ate only completely natural sugars like fruit. I focused on nutritional food. I did light exercise. I took prenatal, and stopped drinking caffeine. I tried to do everything right.
At the OB the ultrasound didn't look great. They couldn't see much, but confirmed the thick wall was there, and it looked healthy. My blood test came back with healthy levels of p and hcg.
Friday the cramps started. Saturday the spotting started. The cramps got worse. Sunday was the worst day of my life bare none. The cramps pain was unbearable. The bleeding was mind blowing. I was going through 4 super plus tampons in an hour. The pads were the only thing keeping me from bleeding through my clothes every 15 mins.
We spend from about 1:30pm til about 9pm in the ER. I knew at this point what the news was going to be. Blood work was first. It confirmed almost nonexistent levels of HCG. I was told i was rh negative and my body rejected the baby, but i couldnt leave yet. Pelvic exam was next. They couldn't give me any answers on why they were keeping me or what else was wrong. After the ultrasound we waited about 3 hours for results. I was told I couldn't leave because they were concerned I might have twisted an ovary and needed surgery.
The news I got back was a million times worse. Both ovaries were covered in a large amount of tiny cysts. I was told I have pcos. Well they were almost certain it was pcos.
I asked questions buy got very few and vague answers. I was told to go to my OB appointment that I had already scheduled for my 7 week pregnancy follow up. I would learn more there.
I went to my appointment yesterday. Again got very few answers.
I was told more tests needed to be run, and it was hard to do while I was in the process of having a miscarriage. It was probably pcos. I would need to come back in 3 weeks, when I should be ovulating again. I could find out more then.
I feel so lost. I did my own research and finally things started to make sense.
The symptoms were lining up. Things I never even considered being related to each other.
The obvious ones were irregular periods, thinning hair, difficulty losing weight.
However it was the smaller symptoms that made it all click. My sleep habits had gotten very poor. I had trouble falling and staying asleep. I had darkening skin in my elbows, knees, armpits, private areas. Headaches which seemed to get worse around my ovulation time. Unexplained fatigue.
I feel so hopeless. I feel like no one is helping me. No one is guiding me on how to treat this. Or what to do. My concerns were being brushed off by medical professionals. Most of the information I have I found myself after my ER visit. I feel alone, and defeated, and just tired. I've been unable to muster any energy to do much other than get up, go to work, eat a little, and sit/lay in bed. I know it has a lot to do with the miscarriage, which has been hard, but I feel like the pcos diagnosis has just crimpled me mentally to a point where I don't even know how to function anymore.
Thanks for letting me rant. It feels better being able to put into words these feelings. I'm trying to stay strong and not show this side to my husband. He took the news just as hard, if not worse, than I did.
For those who made it this far, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Where do I go from here....

Basically what the title says, I am not new to the lore of 40k but I am painting models. I got myself some death guard models, plague marines, terminators, some deathshroud. Finally a beast of nurgle as I have always enjoyed the fact they are just massive golden retrieves. The closest gw store to me is over a four hour drive that I can't afford to make. So I am hope I can get some tips on where I should start when painting these models. Any help is appreciated many thanks.

it’s more than just a craving it’s like you need it and you refuse to eat anything else and would rather starve unless it is that specific thing. i had a craving for hot and spicy pork ramen tonight so i drove to the grocery store and they were out. i sat in the parking lot about to order chinese instead but i couldn’t fathom eating anything other than my craving without gagging. so the next closest grocery store is a 20 minute drive, i go there and surprise they’re out too. the next closest place that sells it is the dollar general 20 minutes in the opposite direction of my house so now i had to drive 40 minutes there and the 20 minutes back to my house. i spent 2 hours of my day hunting down ramen and i feel like a normal person would have just got a different flavor or move somewhere with more grocery stores.

I know, I know. Punctuality is a good attitude to have, and we all have schedules and deadlines to follow, and some people really have to be on time on the job (like doctors, pilots, nurses).
But man, rushing for a low paying shit job so you won’t clock in at 7:01, or else you start getting paid at 7:15, is just another way of exploitation. It happens all the time in the factories and warehouses. The workers are stressed so much to make it on time that it reflects on their driving skills and attitude. Everyone is on a rush. They are forced to drive recklessly or be crammed into the bus/subway. People miss their breakfast, sleep and time with their families. These habits in turn leads to more dangerous driving and a hostile, stressed out community. And for what? For just few minutes missed? For a companies that dictate what time you can and cannot make your money? You should be able to compensate the time you missed at the end of your shift so you won’t be rushing in the morning. These employers will make money, regardless of the time you come in. But they will vilify and penalize you if you are slightly late.
I am lucky enough to be employed be two companies who doesn’t give a shit what time I come in, as long as I do work. I do around 55-60 hours per week( i know, antiwork and all) but i feel like I have more free time than when I work 40 hrs in a company that is so uptight with their 7-3 schedule. I also feel more energy with this type of work setup because I work according to my energy that day. If I needs some rest, I do a few hours of work, and catch up with work when my body and mind is ready. My work is scheduled around my personal schedule, not the other way around.

Ladies and gentlemen of the FIF subreddit, I have 3 extra tickets to the show in Denver. DM me. No charge, I just want a few other to enjoy FIF. I'll delete the post when their gone. I wake up in 6 hours to drive to Denver. To whoever gets them, we meet at the Gothic Theater!

I’m flying for about 7 hours each way plus another 2 hour drive. Looking for suggestions on golf audiobooks…anything golf related, game improvement, mindset, course strategy, golf history, golf stories, etc. TIA!