never thought i’d come here but here i am asking for advice from strangers on the internet
So earlier today on my lunch break at work I (24M) go to snapchat my GF (22F) and notice via her location at the top of the chat that she is wayyyy far from where she usually would be this time of day (her schedule is pretty consistent week to week so it immediately threw me off) I immediately check her Apple location and it’s at the exact same place; live. This instantly raises alarm bells as I responded to her texts normally and quickly ask what she was up to; class, where? campus, which is 1.5 hours away from her current location. I pretty casually mention that it’s weird that both snapchat and iMessage have her location at some random house in some random town neither of us have ever been to or would have any reason to go to, she immediately responds with “what. // lmao ok // haha” and then nothing for…. an hour and a half, which after that I get a text saying “idk im not there // idk why” mind you this is not at all how she usually texts, she’s usually very wordy, carrie’s the conversations most times and is more or less clear in communicating. anyway i finish my work day, come home, she meets me at my place, we sit and talk about the whole thing and the entire time she can hardly make eye contact, eyes darting along the floor, or off to her left, subtly trying to turn the conversation to another topic, throwing out random useless information, and just adding more to the sus factor of this whole situation. Im it sure what to make of any of this all i know is that my gut tells me something is up. what do y’all think?

Hey! I'm currently searching for new connections and hoping to find a penal for a long-term correspondence. Let me tell you a bit about myself - I just wrapped up my first year of college and have learned so much already. College life has brought me all sorts of experiences and lessons that l'Il carry with me forever. But overall, it was not easy and got very depressing at times.
Well, all the time... I made connections but not anything long-term. It got lonely most of the time but that's a story for another time.
But anyways a little about me I'm studying journalism and really enjoy writing, music, and chatting with folks. I'm an open book and love getting into discussions about anything and everything. If you need a suggestion for a great song, movie, or book, i'm your girl.
I'm also super interested in hearing about your life and experiences. I think it's so important to have different perspectives and learn from one another.
I'm looking for a friendship/pen pal where we can support and advise each other through daily communication. Can't wait to hear back from you soon!

Cast of Characters:
Kevin Eggs– A bumbling wannabe Hibachi chef fresh out of culinary arts school
Mr. Kritt – Restaurant Manager and owner of Moriyuki’s Grill.
Male restaurant patron
Female restaurant patron
Nick the chef – A drunken hibachi cook who gets himself fired. He eventually carries out an armed robbery to compensate for his lost earnings.
Synopsis:
A clueless and reckless culinary arts attempts hibachi cooking at his first job without much success.
Stage setting:
A kitchen/bar island counter top is positioned at center stage. Three bar stools line the front while a stove/grill top remains partially hidden behind the counter. Above the counter is a dangling Japanese paper lantern.
(Lighting illuminates the main stage area. Male and female patrons are separately seated on their respective barstools with each one positioned opposite the other at the end of each counter corner. They are partially facing the audience with their gazes focused on the main chef behind the counter. Main chef Nick is fully facing the audience and is performing his tasks poorly under a drunken stupor. Both restaurant patrons are grimacing and recoiling nervously due to his recklessness. Kevin enters stage right with a confused expression written on his face.)
(Nick is swaying left and right on his feet while clumsily waving a meat cleaver in one hand and an empty bottle in the other)
NICK
So, you two (hiccup) wanna see me make a chicken hand sandwich? (hiccup)
MALE PATRON
(Grimacing and scared) Please, no. We just wanted a vegetable stir fry and steak. Maybe coming here was a bad idea.
(Kevin tries to grab someone’s attention, but no one listens.)
KEVIN
Um excuse me?
FEMALE PATRON
(Also grimacing) You make a chicken and ham sandwich?
(Nick is aimlessly clattering his cleaver against the grill/stove top.)
NICK
Not chicken and ham, (hiccup) chicken and hand sandwich! Now put your pretty little hand on the cutting board and I’ll show ya.
FEMALE PATRON
(Shrieking) No!
(Mr. Kritt frantically enters stage left and interrupts the chaotic scene. He is shaking his fist in outrage)
MR. KRITT
(Furiously) Nick! You’ve been drinking again! How many times have I warned you that if I catch you intimidating our customers while under the influence, I would throw your drunken ass out of my establishment!
KEVIN
Um, pardon me?
(Kevin is still ignored.)
(Nick points his meat cleaver at Mr. Kritt.)
NICK
Okay dude, you need to chill.
MR. KRITT
Don’t you point that thing at me!
(Mr. Kritt pries the cleaver out of Nick’s hand by the handle and drops it on the countertop. He then points his finger directly towards the right stage exit.)
MR. KRITT
You’re fired! Get out! You’re a menace to the patrons and the establishment.
(After a pause, Mr. Kritt steps towards Nick, seizes him by the back collar of his shirt and pants and proceeds to forcibly eject him from the building. Nick is dragged to the right exit. Kevin side-steps out of their way.)
MR. KRITT
Get the hell out of my restaurant! Out! Out! Out! Out!
(Nick is shoved out the right stage exit. He is still clutching his empty bottle. Mr. Kritt turns his focus to Kevin)
MR. KRITT
What do you want?!
(Kevin stammers through Mr. Kritt’s annoyed gaze. He produces a certification paper.)
KEVIN
I…I’m sorry. My name’s Kevin Eggs and I’m looking for a job. I’m fresh out of culinary arts school and was looking for a hibachi kitchen position…these are my credentials…
(Mr. Kritt swipes the paper out of Kevin’s hand, glances over it for a second, and hands it back to him. He is much calmer at this point, but still retains a firm tone of voice.)
MR. KRITT
Congratulations, Kevin. You’re hired. Welcome to Moriyuki’s Hibachi Bar and Grill. You can start now.
(He leads Kevin back to the Island stove countertop and hands him a togue and apron.)
KEVIN
Wait. No formal interview. No questions asked? Thank you, Mister…
(Both men firmly shake hands)
MR. KRITT
…Kritt. Jay Kritt. Restaurant owner.
(Mr. Kritt shifts his attention to the petrified patrons who are perched at the edge of their barstools.)
MR. KRITT
My sincerest apologies to the both of you for what just happened. The misconduct you just witnessed does not reflect our company policy. I assure you that this will not happen again. Perhaps if you two choose to come here again, I would be most happy to offer you both a complimentary dinner on the house? I understand if you do not wish return here.
(Both patrons relax and lighten up a little. They periodically sip from their water glasses)
MALE PATRON
No, as a matter of fact, I think we’ll stick around and give our order another shot. It is, after all, complimentary.
FEMALE PATRON
And I am curious to see how this new chef will perform.
MR. KRITT
I assure you that you will not be disappointed.
(He shoots Kevin a stern glance and addresses him in a strict tone. Mr. Kritt also points his menacing index finger towards Kevin.)
MR. KRITT
One little foul-up from you, and you’re out of here! Oh, and by the way, take your shoes off. We need to keep a ‘Japanese’ feel to the atmosphere. (Note that Mr. Kritt uses air quotes to emphasize the word ‘Japanese’ in his sentence.)
KEVIN
Oh, sorry about that, sir.
(Keven bends over behind the counter to take his shoes off while Mr. Kritt exits stage left.)
KEVIN
Sooooooo, what did you two order?
FEMALE PATRON
We already placed our orders earlier. The last chef put our orders under the counter.
(Kevin bends over to look beneath the stovetop and remains invisible until he finds two pieces of paper and emerges back into view. He holds up each piece of paper and reads them aloud.)
KEVIN
Ah! One order of soy stir fry, and another order of fried flank steak with scallops. Coming right up!
(Kevin bangs his fist on the countetable surface and shouts out a command. Both patrons appear startled and tense up every time he does this)
KEVIN
Ahem! Tomato!
(An offstage hand from behind the scenes tosses Kevin a tomato. He catches it and places it on the counter, then bangs his fist again.)
KEVIN
Cucumber!
(Offstage hand tosses Kevin a cucumber which he sets down. He bangs his fist and repeats the process)
KEVIN
Onion!
(Kevin catches an onion, places it next to the other vegetables, and bangs his fist again.)
KEVIN
Meat!
(A hand tosses him a piece of steak. Kevin catches it, but almost drops it as it constantly slips and slides in his hand.)
KEVIN
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Got it! (Chuckling) Heheh! Slippery little piece of steak, ain’t ya? Don’t worry fellow customer, I successfully grabbed your meat and now I’m going to beat it for being naughty little sucker.
MALE PATRON
(Sounding disturbed) Please do not say that ever again.
(Kevin realizes his Freudian slip)
KEVIN
Ooops. That didn’t sound right.
(After setting the fillet on the counter. He pulls two spatulas out of a cupboard beneath the stove counter top. As the patrons gradually ease up from their muscle tension, Kevin begins twirling the spatulas in each hand. As he twirls each one, he loses his coordination and drops them both on the surface.)
KEVIN
(Smiling) Sorry. First day.
(Kevin takes both spatulas and uses them like percussion instruments. He uses synchronized hand movements and coordinated arm crossing gestures to bang out a tune on the hard grill surface using the kitchen utensils. He loses his groove and momentum by accidentally flipping a spatula out of his grasp and onto the ground behind him.)
KEVIN
(Grinning) My bad. Oh well, guess I’ll have to cook with just one utensil.
(Kevin wipes off the stovetop surface with a rag.)
KEVIN
So, how long have you two known each other?
MALE AND FEMALE PATRONS
(Unison) We’re not together.
KEVIN
Oh, sorry. What’s your story, then?
(Kevin looks at the man patron as he begins chopping the onion on a cutting board)
MALE PATRON
I’ve been negotiating this multi-million-dollar contract all day with some of our biggest partners from Japan. It was a tough one alright, but once you get past the language barriers and persuade those electronic geeks to start pushing their signatures on every certified document, It’s a success story. Ironically, I thought to myself, why not celebrate this victory at a Japanese themed eatery to make things a bit more apropos? The guys at the office said -
KEVIN
(In a sing-song voice) Bo-oring! What’s your story, miss?
(Kevin shifts his eyes to the female patron. The male patron shuts up and scowls at Kevin)
FEMALE PATRON
Me? Oh, well…my boyfriend broke up with me and…I loved him so much…
(Female patron starts sniffling and crying. Kevin starts sniffling and tearing up as well due to the onion fumes)
KEVIN
Yeah?
FEMALE PATRON
He told me that he would be my soulmate, forever. And then last night, he dumped me for some French slut! So here I am, eating alone again…
(Female Patron breaks out in tears. Kevin follows suit.)
FEMALE PATRON
(Emotionally Distraught) I mean, what do French girls have to offer over us American women? Looks? Wit? Charm? Non-stop steamy jungle sex? Well fuck you, Sean! Fuck you! Oh, I’m sorry cook Kevin. Did I upset you? You seem so sensitive and empathetic to my feelings right now. That’s so sweet of you.
KEVIN
(Sobbing) (*sniff. Sniff\)* No! It’s just these stupid onions!
(Female Patron drops her head in disappointment.)
FEMALE PATRON
Oh…
KEVIN
I sound like a wuss right now. I’m a badass hibachi chef, not a wuss. I’ll prove it to you guys by karate chopping this onion with my hand!
(Kevin raises his hand in flat, vertical knife motion above his head and brings his hand down hard on the cutting board.)
KEVIN
(Yells) Hiiyah!
(Kevin’s hand chop makes contact with the remaining whole onion. Instead of slicing it in half, the onion slides off of the counter and onto the floor.)
KEVIN
Dammit.
(Kevin pauses, then recomposes himself. He slides some of the freshly chopped onions onto the stove)
KEVIN
Now where were we? Oh, yes! The grill. (Cheerfully) I have an idea! Let’s get rid of these long faces and lighten things up! Nobody here should be unhappy.
MALE PATRON
I was happy until you opened you pissed on my parade.
KEVIN
It’s not stir-fry without eggs in it. They don’t call me Kevin Eggs for nothing.
(Kevin retrieves a carton of eggs from a bottom cupboard beneath the stove)
KEVIN
Since I’m sometimes a scatter brain and mess things up, my family used to call me Kevin scrambled eggs. Get it? Scrambled eggs! Ha! Ha! Ha! (laughing)
(Kevin’s laughter quickly dies down as he notices that his joke was received with cold, dead stares. Female patron utters an annoyed, soft groan.)
KEVIN
(Upbeat chuckle) Okay. Here’s a good one. When I went to Hollywood, I bumped into actor Kevin Bacon. Well, he was nice enough to give me his autograph when I asked him for one. And when I did that, my parents called us the breakfast combo. Why? Because his name’s Kevin and so is mine. Only thing is, our last names complement each other nicely. Bacon and Eggs! Arr! Arr! Arr!
MALE PATRON
(Interrupting) Just shut up and cook the damn food already.
KEVIN
Sorry.
FEMALE PATRON
Yeah, enough. When do we get to eat?
KEVIN
(Ecstatically) Hey. Watch this!
(Kevin selects an egg out of the carton. He picks up his spatula and holds it vertically above his head as if to bring it down in a chopping motion. He underhandedly tosses the egg into mid-air in front of him while attempting to split it in the fraction of a second when it remains directly suspended before his face. He does a karate chop shout during in course of action)
KEVIN
Hiyaa!
(Kevin misses the target and swings into an empty space due to poor timing. The egg plummets to the floor and breaks.)
KEVIN
Shit!
(Kevin tosses another egg into midair and repeats the process a second time.)
KEVIN
Hiyaa!
(He swings/chops at a downward angle and misses again. The egg hits the floor. Both patrons cringe at his efforts.)
KEVIN
Shit!
(Kevin tries tossing up an egg a third time, but misses his target. The egg accidentally lands on the male patron’s head. Kevin is sincerely apologetic at first, but can’t help cracking a bad joke last minute. Female Patron covers her mouth in alarm.)
KEVIN
Whoops! I’m so sorry sir! That was an egg-cident.
MALE PATRON
(Angrily) I’ve had enough bullshit for one night! I’m outa here.
(Male Patron storms off the set: exit stage right)
FEMALE PATRON
(Disdainful tone) You really suck at entertainment, don’t you?
KEVIN
C’mon, give me a little credit for trying. It’s my first day here and-
(He breaks off into a panicked exclamation as fumes rise from the vegetables on the stove.)
Oh my God! The food is burning!
(Kevin frantically drops his spatula)
KEVIN
Oh, not again!
(Kevin hurriedly scoops the few veggies on the stove into his hands and onto a plate. After doing so, he realizes that he just burned his hands. He flails the wildly while looking around the room for relief. Unbeknownst to him, Mr. Kritt furiously enters the scene and stands directly behind Kevin with his hands on his hips.)
KEVIN
Owwwww! Ow! Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!
(Kevin submerges his hands into the female patron’s water glass and sighs with relief. She appears to be disgusted)
KEVIN
(sighing) Aaaaaaahhhh…
MR. KRITT
(Loud and agitated) Kevin! You blew it! I turn my back on you for just one second, and bang, I come back to a disaster. Unreliable. You’re fired! Out of here! Gone!
KEVIN
Mr. Kritt, it was just a little mishap. It’s still just my first day here.
MR. KRITT
Out!
(Points to exit)
(At that moment entering from stage right, Nick bursts onto the scene clad in a ski mask and carrying a handgun. Nick points the gun in the direction of Mr. Kritt, female patron, and Kevin. All three appear to be shocked and terrified.)
NICK
(Shouting angrily) Alright all of you! Hands up where I can see them! Get them the fuck up now!
(Everyone raises their hands into the air)
FEMALE PATRON
Oh my God!
MR. KRITT
(Weak and trembling tone) What the hell do you want? I have nothing special to offer.
NICK
Your money, dumbass! Front end register is empty. So I guess I’ll have to try the manager’s office instead.
MR. KRITT
(Moment of Realization) Wait a minute! You’re Nick! I recognize your voice now. I just fired your ass.
NICK
Yeah, that’s right. I’m comin’ back to get what’s mine. No paycheck, remember? So, I guess I gotta take what you owe me by force.
MR. KRITT
I don’t owe you nothin’! You’re a bum who doesn’t deserve a dime even if his life depended on it.
NICK
(More aggressively) Shut the fuck up and get me what I want before I blow your head open!
(Intimidated, Mr. Kritt takes a step back and responds in a shakier tone of voice)
MR. KRITT
Alright. Alright. If it’s money you want, then I’ll lead you back to the office. No hard feelings.
NICK
No, wait. I want something else first. Hey lady, kick your purse over here.
(Nick waves his gun at the female patron. She complies by gradually sliding her purse with her foot towards the direction of Nick)
NICK
Atta girl! Mr. Kritt? Your wallet please.
(Mr. Kritt fishes his wallet out of his pant pocket and nervously tosses it onto the floor)
NICK
(Sneering smile) Ah, last but not least, my replacement. You’re next.
(Kevin gives him a nervous smile)
KEVIN
Actually, I don’t have mine in my pocket. I put it in one of my shoes.
NICK
(Annoyed) Then get it! And no tricks! If I see a knife or a cleaver, you’re dead.
KEVIN
No worries. I won’t do anything.
(Kevin bends over to the point at which he is totally obscured by the entire counter island. Shuffling noises can be heard from behind the surface.)
NICK
What’s taking you so long?
KEVIN
Uh-just a minute! I’ve got it. Nope. That’s not it.
(A spatula is recklessly thrown over the counter top by Kevin, followed by a vegetable.)
NICK
(Uneasily agitated) Hey! Don’t do that! What are you, stupid? Quit it now!
KEVIN
I think I got! No. Not that shoe.
(One of Kevin’s shoes flies out from beneath the countertop and hits Nick in the face, knocking him unconscious. Nick’s eyes crisscross as he slumps to the ground. Mr. Kritt and the female patron exchange relieved facial expressions. Kevin then emerges into view triumphantly holding the other shoe.)
KEVIN
Here it is! Got it! Hey what happened?
MR. KRITT
(Grateful expression) You saved my business and my life. That’s what you did.
FEMALE PATRON
You sure as hell did. Now excuse me while I call the police before I throw up.
(Female Patron pulls out her phone and retrieves her purse before hastily exiting stage right.)
MR. KRITT
What did you have in those shoes?
KEVIN
(In a proud tone) They’re steel toe shoes, Mr. Kritt.
(Mr. Kritt grins while clasping Kevin over the shoulder.)
MR. KRITT
Ya know what, Kevin? Maybe you’re not so bad after all. Sure, you’re a klutz and your jokes stink, but I think I might have a good place for you here. In fact, I’ll give you another chance by training you myself. You’re rehired.
(Kevin returns the grin to his boss)
KEVIN
Really, Mr. Kritt?
MR. KRITT
Sure!
KEVIN
Mr. Kritt I’m never gonna let you down again. We’re gonna have some good times together!
(Kevin violently clasps Mr. Kritt over the shoulder causing him to grunt in pain. In spite of this Mr. Kritt manages to create a half sardonic half sincere grin on his face.)
MR. KRITT
(Grimacing) Yeahhhh...I’m sure we will.
(Lights fade out.)

It's been over a year since I started running and I've completed a few half marathons so far. I own a pair of Adidas Supernova +, in which I've completed about 1500KM of walking + running. I absolutely love these shoes.
As I'm training for my first marathon in next 6 months, I'm looking to buy a new pair of daily trainers. My average running pace ranges from 6:30-7:30 KM/min and I usually do about 20KM per week, which I'll be increasing to about 50-70KM per week as I progress through my training for the Marathon.
I recently tried the Nike Pegasus 39 but the arch support was a little overwhelming, because of which I had to return them.
One of my options is the Brooks Ghost 15 which are costing me about 65-70USD after discounts.

Hello friends, tonight I am on the side of the road trying to trap a noisy little kitten. I think he's a male. He is ginger and white and he seems to be about 6 or 7 weeks. He's not in immediate danger, we are on a little dirt road just off of a busy road. He is hiding in the underbrush in a densely wooded area. He's not approaching me, but he is yelling his little head off. I have set a Have A Heart trap baited with some smelly tuna.
I'm asking for some of your blessings tonight, that this little guy either comes out of hiding and gets close enough for me to catch him by hand, or that he goes and checks out the tasty bits of tuna in the trap. If either of those things happen, he will get whisked away to a magical place with a soft bed and plenty of food and clean water.

Hi everyone, first time dog owner here. We have a 2yo mutt/pom/poodle mix (18lbs) that we adopted about two months ago. He’s leash reactive and medium to high energy but overall a smart and good boy. He sometimes gets the zoomies but those zoomies have sort of become over excitement episodes where he just runs in figure 8s barking and growling as he runs. We leave him alone and let him get it out. However, as of the last two days, he’s become more “irritated” (would maybe be how to describe it)..? The moment I sit down on the couch he comes at me and nips at my hands or hair, it’s never super painful but quite annoying. I’ve read to not yell at him as it may instigate him to be more manic but even when I ignore it and get up, he nips at my butt or legs. I’ve been sitting on our dining room table away from him when this happens. He’ll then just sit in front of me, starring at me, crying. If I get down and try to sit down again after some time, he starts to go at it again. It’s weird since I was his main person for the first few weeks, I feel like I still am, but he doesn’t do this to my boyfriend sitting right new to me. I keep thinking that maybe I accidentally kicked him off the bed or made him feel uncomfortable doing something lately but I just don’t know what’s up here or how to help him.
For context we do command training sessions almost daily (we skip a day or two but still practice the commands daily throughout the day) and gets 2, almost 3—on good days, 15-25 minutes walks a day. We play fetch at home daily and he has an enrichment puzzle, his toys and chews to keep him entertained while we work from home.
I’m at a loss and feel down. Any tips or recs on this behavior?

After years of applying for jobs, I found a P2 position that matches my skills, interest and experience perfectly. I have about 8 years of relevant experience so I know I could hit the ground running in this position, and it is based in the UN agency doing the work I’m most passionate about. I applied and was invited to do the written assessment. I’m waiting for feedback on that, so I was chatting to an ex-colleague who worked in the UN (not the same agency) for a long time. She told me not to hold my breath because these positions are basically reserved for internal candidates. I told her I don’t think that’s the case as I saw the hiring manager posting the position on social media and asking people to share it to find a candidate, and why would they do that if they had a candidate already pre-selected? She said I should check whether there is a consultant on the team already doing this work. I checked LinkedIn and low and behold, there is. If the consultant applied, they would have had a massive advantage in the assessment because it required them to outline a strategy for an event they would have already had to plan, as well as supply the materials to support that event (which they would have had to create in the course of their day to day work) so they could literally just copy and paste whatever work they had done for it. So my next question is, if there is an internal candidate and I do somehow make it to the interview round, is there hope or a strategy to give myself a better shot of getting this job? Thanks in advance for any insight.

As usual banks are looking out for us homeowners. I find it funny as fuck that people think that the banks and government will just leave homeowners out to dry. Just checked and they did me a huge favor and increased my amortization to 70 years - with these extensions home prices of course have nowhere to go but up and may even double by Q2 2024. Basement still has some room for a couple more immigrants in it too.

This was a weird heads-up hand at a 1/2 table. I’m really not sure about my decision on the river, would love some critique. Also, some other players criticized me for slowrolling, but I’m pretty sure I was just in a pretty sick spot and unsure of what to do (my nit instincts probably kicked in).
So at this 8-handed 1/2 table, I’ve been playing tight/solid (VPIP 20-25%), up to $945 from $200 (picking up a bunch of bluffs, etc). I’ve also been playing for around 6 hours (~200 hands) and I’m thinking about calling it a night soon. The player to my immediate left has been practically invisible: he’s an elderly gentleman who sat down for about 100 hands so far and has played probably 2 or 3, where he just picked up all the blinds.
Hand: 6♦️6♠️ Stack: $945 UTG stack: $400 Position: BB
UTG raises to $8, and the rest of the table practically insta-folds. I decide to call and maybe set-mine (looking back I probably should have just folded and called it a night).
Flop: 6♣️K❤️K♣️ ($17)
I check. UTG c-bets for $12, and I decide to check-raise to $37.
I figured I can build a pot and get some value from AA, AK, maybe QQ or JJ if he thinks I’m semi-bluffing the flush draw. I figure that if he has one of these hands, I have him drawing almost dead already. He tanks for a short while and calls.
Turn: 4♦️ ($91)
Turn’s pretty safe: I decide to bet $55. He decides to call fairly quickly, which makes me think he doesn’t have QQ or JJ (he might have folded these here?)
River: A♦️ ($211)
Here’s the spot I was talking about. Most of the hands I put him on now beat me (like AA and AK), and I’m certainly not getting any value from QQ or JJ. I’m thinking maybe he has KQ or KJ, but it’s probably unlikely considering he’s played literally 3% of the hands I’ve seen at this table. He has around $300 left.
I tank for a while and decide to just check and call a decent-sized bet.
He bombs it and bets $250.
At this point I’m really worried about AK or AA. I figure there’s no way any hand worse than 6’s full would ever call a check-raise on the flop and turn, and then bomb the river.
I tank for maybe two minutes before making a crying call.
He quickly turns over A♣️Q♣️ for the missed flushed draw and top pair.
I end up scooping the biggest pot of my life with bottom full house, but some people at the table thought I was slowrolling and asked me why I didn’t bet the river (for the reasons I explained above). Was I justified in just calling here?

August 2, 2018
So frequently we have seen the figure of the child deployed to moralize what should be political. Family values campaigns. Pro-life propaganda. Today, this moralization is what distinguishes the rhetoric of families belong together from the insistence that no human should be caged.
In extracting "the family" as the ideological backbone of mass resistance to ICE, however, many questions are in danger of evaporating into moralistic rhetorics. For liberals and conservatives alike, the idea of children is a political instrument to which various radical traditions have developed a healthy aversion. Yet as a result, there is a scarcity of anti-capitalist thought about children.
These are some notes written in a moment of urgency, a moment when the idea of children demands more rigorous consideration.
"… but what about the children?"
We're all familiar with the cliché—but what about the children? We hear this, all too often, as a conservative trope that has little at all, in fact, to do with children.
With innocence as its baseline, the liberal idea of children seeks to make natural (but also to moralize) a property relation between child and parent. "Innocence" is code for powerless—a way to fetishize the child as both dependent and sub-human.
This idea of the child is indistinct from private property. And it is likewise through the logic of private property that Trump justifies family separations: "when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally—which should happen—you have to take the children away." This logic of the parent-child property relation is why Jeff Sessions can speak of children like a bag of cocaine: "If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don't like that, then don't smuggle children over our border."
In liberal critiques of Trump's zero tolerance policy, we can locate an important contradiction in the idea of children. On the one hand, the child is an idealized subject, whose ostensible innocence is formed in contrast to an articulation of adulthood as guilty, complicit, and flawed. On the other hand, the child is perpetually subordinated, not only understood as property, but as unthinking and without agency.
To what extent can this contradiction be not only undermined, but refused? Rarely has the rejection of the child's political instrumentality been in the service of children.
Too often the rejection of the child's instrumentality in the false binary of the U.S. political landscape has been in the formulation of an entirely adult-centered conception of political practice. So as not to deploy the figure of the child as an ideological tool, perhaps, the left has made little room for these concerns at all. However centered on the "adult" as political subject, such political conceptualizations exclude more than just children, and even the vast majority of adults. Implicit in this idea of adulthood is a version of neoliberal "self-sufficiency": the promise of an autonomous, market-mediated individualism, whose lack of social resources is a mark of independence. This idea of adulthood excludes many adults—it is not about age, but the non-recognition of care.
What is keeping us from politicizing these problems?
The idea and the material reality of children being "taken away" cannot be imagined as theft: we must insist that this is a discrete form of torture. The distinct horror of the "tender age facility" is precisely this: a separation not from The Family, but from care. Children come into this world, inspiringly, without an ideology of property relations, yet with an undeniable need to be cared for.
Bringing care to the foreground of our political outrage, while disassociating from the ideological pressure to embrace institutions of private property, can be a way to insist that no human should be caged. All humans need care, and need care differently. The child is not the only way of understanding this, though as a caretaker of a six-year old, this is how I am reminded of this throughout most hours of the day.
The Care Crisis
More and more, we hear the present moment described in terms of a care crisis. The accelerated privatization of care is a regime of coerced care labor. It's estimated that 16 million Americans perform the role of a primary caretaker unwaged. Neoliberal economic policies, as Evelyn Nakano Glenn writes, have "exacerbat[ed] the care crisis by intensifying the conflicts between caring and earning and increasing the stresses on caregivers, both unpaid and paid." [1] With the dissolution of the family wage, this "care crisis" must be understood more systemically: Nancy Fraser argues "the crisis of social reproduction is not freestanding and cannot be adequately grasped on its own," suggesting that the focus on care should come with a broader theory of "general crisis." [2]
The focus on care presents an opportunity for broadening and making legible a politics of family abolition. However, this opportunity will be missed without a keen sense of the demands of care, particularly the labors performed seemingly out of love under social conditions of No Alternative.
In feminist traditions of family abolitionism, these questions rush to the surface. That is: how does the revolutionary horizon of the end of "the family" as a unit of private property mobilize us toward a fuller, less exploitive vision of care? [3] This longing for collective caretaking must be hand-in-hand with any discourse against the family—otherwise doomed to logics of self-management and autonomy. The alternative posed by family abolition cannot, in other words, be a matter of self-imposed austerity on behalf of neoliberal capitalism. Rather than orienting toward this question of abolition in negational terms—withdrawing, undoing, subtracting—how might alternatives to The Family be made imaginable and practicable as a political project of dismantling capitalism's care crisis?
Abolish the Family For Kids

"The purpose of a thought-experiment [is] not to predict the future… but to describe reality, the present world." – Ursula K. Le Guin [4]

It is an unspoken truth that while many children fear adults, many adults also fear children. How would you talk to a child about family abolition? How would you frame a critique of white bourgeois patriarchy, the institution of marriage, the logic of private property? What language would you use? Do you feel it would have to be over-simplified, dumbed down, uncritical? Why? What would you have to do to your own thinking in this process? What would you have to ask yourself?
The child's imagination is one of the most vital models we have for the project of ideologically disrupting capitalist realist epistemologies—confronting the rationalist rebukes of liberalism that systematically infantilize revolutionary politics. [5] But this critical capacity we encounter in thinking with and learning from children remains politically untapped and socially devalued, throughout even our most radical traditions of thought.
Caring for children can be an ongoing tragedy of naturalizing capitalism in order to survive in it.
Yet caring for children can also entail questioning the idea that there is no alternative to capitalism. We teach our kids about stealing—either not to steal, or how not to get caught—but how do we do this without leaving private property uninterrogated?
How do we make use of commune, in this sense, as the anti-family?
Willful Children
Colonial rule has imagined and positioned the colonized as children and animals. The willful child, as Sara Ahmed suggests, is the story of the subaltern: "addressed as a member of the subordinate class," Ahmed writes, the willful child "is subordinate when she refuses to be a member of that class. The demand to be willing [is] articulated as the demand to obey the colonizer (who takes the place of the parent): the rod comes to embody his sovereign will."
Ahmed leaves us with this imperative:
"We must learn from where and when the willful child comes up. As soon as she appears, the rod comes quickly after her. She tells us what might happen if we refuse to give up. She tells us what we become when we keep coming up, when we protest against the violence of the rod, when we challenge how some are beaten as if beating is a right: black bodies, brown bodies. Some have to become willful to survive a history." [6]
No Borders: Abolish Adulthood

"Sometimes I think the conditions of daily life, of everyday oppressions, of survival, not to mention the temporary pleasures accessible to most of us, render much of our imagination inert. We are constantly putting out fires, responding to emergencies, finding temporary refuge, all of which make it difficult to see anything other than the present… When movements have been unable to clear the clouds, it has been the poets—no matter the medium—who have succeeded in imagining the color of the sky, in rendering the kinds of dreams and futures social movements are capable of producing. Knowing the color of the sky is far more important than counting the clouds." – Robin D.G. Kelley [7]

On the one hand, this is a demand for child-inclusivity in our political struggles. We have left children to be the concern of the right—a right for which the fetus is more important than the child, precisely because the issue has nothing to do with children but with property. On the other hand, this is a critique of an ideology of "child-inclusivity," to the extent that such inclusion always already renders children marginal to the ostensibly "adult world" of political struggles.
More than de-centering the adult from revolutionary thought, the border between child and adult must be abolished. As in any abolitionist project, imaginability is an integral problem. This is a problem that's necessarily taken up in revolutionary terms. That is: how do we re-think the adult-child relationship as one of mutual care and learning? How do we take up the challenges of comradeship, without leaving the concept of childhood unquestioningly defined by capital?
In the tradition of feminist utopian thought, these questions have been explored more deeply than elsewhere, while leaving open certain points of inquiry yet to be politically awakened. In The Dialectic of Sex, for instance, Shulamith Firestone projects a revolutionary horizon [...] [8] As in her thorny, often categorically confused explorations of "sex," Firestone writes through an ongoing friction with conditions of unimaginability. [...] her text is about the trying and failing to imagine a world of freedom, fundamentally antagonistic toward the social totality for which this freedom appears impossible, even "unnatural."
Through a framework of care and comradeship, the imaginability of shared non-adulthood can be more delicately engaged than it is in Firestone's vision, predicated on forgotten histories of child abuse. Illuminating different thresholds of imaginability, care helps us to renegotiate the proprietary relationship of adult and child—to undo the transhistorical character of the white bourgeois "family" with more expansive forms of mutual caring. While this un-bordered world is unthinkable without total revolution, these questions get us closer to the thinkability of revolution, sharpening our politics for making such a future, and strengthening our capacities to struggle collectively. It is a start, among many others.
Notes and Citations
[1] Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Forced to Care: Coercion and Caregiving in America, Harvard University Press, 2000
[2] Nancy Fraser, "Contradictions of Capital and Care," New Left Review, July-August 2016
[3] bell hooks articulates this intervention with great clarity: "problematically, for the most part feminist thinkers have never wanted to call attention to the reality that women are often the primary culprits in everyday violence against children simply because they are the primary parental caregivers. While it was crucial and revolutionary that the feminist movement called attention to the fact that male domination in the home often creates an autocracy where men sexually abuse children, the fact is that masses of children are daily abused verbally and physically by women and men. Maternal sadism often leads women to emotionally abuse children, and feminist theory has not yet offered both feminist critique and feminist intervention when the issue is adult female violence against children." ("Feminist Parenting," Feminism is for Everybody, South End Press, 2000)
[4] Ursula K Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, introduction
[5] This includes more recently the infantilization of precarity, as a dominant form of unquestioning neoliberal austerity. As Johanna Isaacson writes, "The ideologeme of 'maturity' as deployed against youthful, utopian uprisings in the struggle against austerity, serves to create an epistemological framework that combines an ethics of ascesis, patriarchal familial structures, and naturalized hierarchical global uneven development in a blinding constellation. This understanding of maturity—insisting that there is no alternative to harsh austerity for ordinary people (as large financial institutions are bailed out)—has become hegemonic in our moment." (See: "Life Versus Survival in Tangerine," Blind Field, August 11, 2015)
[6] Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life, Duke University Press, 2017
[7] Robin D.G. Kelley, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, Beacon Press, 2002
[8] [...] Problematically, yet consistent with the text's foundational contradiction, Firestone conflates the distinction between adult/child with that of male/female—a biological framework that struggles to untangle a theory of "culture." Elsewhere, I more deeply pry into some of these integral problems in Firestone's project, while here I want to emphasize the strong correspondence between her utopian method and her vision of "feminist revolution."

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As the title says - I'm slowly spinning out & getting nervous .
I typically have therapy every other week and OT every week.. well for nearly a month now I've had no therapy whatso ever. This all started with a saturday late night email that said my therapist would be out of the office on my scheduled day - I was like cool because that week was busy for me (I had a psych eval the next day) so I was fine with that. Then for our next session I attempt to log on and my therapists no showed and I haven't heard from them since. I even sent a check in email with them at the end of the day and got no response. And upon looking back at my emails to them (I haven't recived a response since nearly 3 weeks ago) and now I'm panicking, I've had T's ghost me before quite literally one stopped returning my & my parent's phone calls and went we went to the building (it was locked) and another I showed up and they told me that the T I had seen had left the practice.
Because of this I'm really scared that maybe this T is gone too. But I'm really scared about them & their families safety because even when they are late , they usually sends a quick email/message to let me know that. And In my over a year working with her - they never gone radio silent
I have no idea what to do - because with the other T's that ghosted me , I kinda just dropped the idea of therapy but I can't do that now.

Cross posting from c4corvette for better visibility
1987 Corvette 5.7L L98 engine SBC-based with HEI distributor
Hi everyone, I know this post is long but I'm pretty much at wit's end right now and semi-desperate here. This car is a daily driver for me. Need to get some second (or third, fourth, fifth...) opinions about my situation.
I bought a new set of spark plug wires for my '87 L98 and they arrived today. Of course, me being the overconfident DIY mechanic that I am, I thought that it would be a simple wire swap (in theory it should be). Long story short, I ended up taking the distributor out to get the old wires out as the stock wires were routed under it and had clips holding them together.
Come time to put the distributor back in, and I didn't take note of where the rotor was pointed. I can't get the thing to start now.
My question is - True or false: the distributor will only seat two ways - in time, or 180 degrees out of time, due to the design of the notch in the oil pump gear and the corresponding tooth on the bottom of the distributor shaft.
My assumption was that due to the fact that there's a notch on the engine that the distributor had to sit in, it can only go one of two ways. But I tried both and still cat get it to start.
The first way I had it I could hear some backfiring. 180 degrees from that seems even worse. Is it possible I had it right the first time and it was just slightly off timing due to the distributor rotation?
Thanks for any input...
I have confirmed the plug wires are correct and that all wiring to the distributor is secure but at this point I can't rule out a bad wire or connector.

Me and my gf had been arguing a lot the past couple months (2.5 years relationship) and some weeks ago she broke up with me. Our problems were basically because she has avoidant attachment and I have anxious attachment. When she broke up with me she told me she felt worn out because I got mad whenever she did not do some things (reply to texts, call me, hang out with me, etc.) She said she could not give me what I wanted and that she was not willing to put in the effort at that time because she wants to focus on her. However, she also told me she still loved me, that she would probably regret this and a lot of other nice things. We both cried and had a really nice talk that day. She did not act cold at all. At the end she told me we could talk after a few weeks to see how she felt and also so that she could finish her final exams without getting stressed.
I went no contact and did not interact with her at all on social media with her. However, she did interact with me (liked my tweets, liked my tik toks, etc).
I broke no contact after 2 weeks because I really felt she was waiting for me to talk to her and that she was regretting her decision but was not talking to me because she is stubborn.
So I texted her and at first she seemed normal, not happy but not angry either, but her texts were kind of dry. After a few more texts she seemed to get more confortable and started to talk to me like before. I told her "I know you are a bit stressed because of your exams so let go out and eat something nice so we can also do some catch up". I texted her that around 1 pm and she did not reply until 11 pm of that day. I thought she would just ignore me or tell me NO but she replied nicely and told me that she was down for it but she is not sure if she is free this week because of her final exams so she would let me know. I told her good luck on your exams but she continued to text me.
Right now what is annoying me is that we have been texting for 2 days now and she is taking hours to reply (normally in our relationship she would take 30 mins to 2 hours in average). But i really mean hours, today i texted her at 11 am, she replied at 3 pm, I replied at 6 pm and she has not replied again until now. (I took long to reply to match her energy). I know she is stressed and studying for her final exams but I also know she is checking instagram and twitter often so its not like she is not using her phone. Never when we were a couple she took that long to reply.
So my question is: WHY?
She seems like she wants to talk with me but at the same time is taking way too long to reply.
Is she on avoidant deactivation mode?
Is she doing this because now she does not have the obligation to text me back quickly? (we often argued because she took way too long to reply and I would get mad)
Is she doing it on purpose to test me and see if I get mad or something?
I am really confused because when she replies she does it nicely, she does not seem dry or anything but is taking way too much to do it.
Important note: It has been almost 3 weeks since we broke up and she hasn't eliminated our anniversary photos from her instagram. And yes, I am sure this means something because she is the type of person who likes her instagram to look pretty and updated. So i am sure that if she wanted to really move on, she would have eliminated those photos. This is one of those things that makes me think she does want to get back with me.

So I finally ran a session with three friends, one had never watched Star Trek and the other two had only watched a few episodes. I ran a homebrewed Kobayashi Maru so that everyone could run it through a few times, trying out different stations and solutions, and getting a feel for the rules of the game. The crew consisted of 3 cadets at Starfleet Academy taking part in a regular training simulation.
Cadet Daksha Ito, Human, pilot.
Cadet Sevek, Vulcan, security.
Cadet V1-803, Hologram, science.
USS Endeavour, NCC-1768-A, simulated Ambassador class starship.
Attempt 1: USS Endeavour on patrol near the Romulan Neutral Zone, Captain V1-803 in command, Sevek at tactical, Daksha Ito at helm. A garbled transmission is received on the emergency band, the crew fails to clear it up but they succeed in determining its origin and set course. They discover an antimatter fuel carrier that seems to have suffered some kind of accident, one of the fuel bunkers has exploded and the ship is drifting into the Neutral Zone. Sensors detected 106 lifeforms aboard, presumably the crew and passengers. Sevek makes a critical success on his attempt to detect any nearby Romulans (helped by his focus Cloaking Detection) and finds a gravimetric anomaly within the Neutral Zone that could be a Romulan ship. Against the wishes of the ship's doctor, who wants to go across immediately, Sevek beams to the Kobayashi Maru with a security team first to secure the ship. Meanwhile V1 and Daksha utilise the Endeavour's tractor beam to pull the Kobayashi Maru away from the Neutral Zone. Sevek secures the bridge, finding a dead pilot but no one else, Dr Washington beams across and, after a failed check by Sevek, she proceeds to head to the passenger deck to treat any injuries, unfortunately the moment she opens the door she takes a blast from a disruptor and is vaporised. The away team beams back under fire and the gravimetric disturbance begins moving out of the Neutral Zone, on course to intercept the Endeavour. Having determined that the gravimetric disturbance was probably a Romulan warbird (It was) the decision was made to fire first, thanks to Sevek's earlier detection of the ship and some critical roles the warbird took the full force of the Endeavour's firepower without its shields. Shortly afterwards a transmission was received from a Romulan fleet lead by the Praetor, he stated that the unprovoked destruction of a Romulan ship would not go unavenged and he declared war on the Federation.
Attempt 2: This one was rather quick. Captain Daksha Ito decided to tow the Kobayashi Maru away from the Neutral Zone and any Romulan vessels by pulling it within the Endeavour's warp field. This time there were no Romulans aboard but there was a risk of antimatter containment breach that the crew would have to deal with. As the crew did not beam aboard or do any kind of remote inspection, the entirety of the Kobayashi Maru's fuel and cargo went up and taking the Endeavour with it. The cadets were left believing that this was the work of Romulan fanatics carrying out a suicide bombing.
Attempt 3: Sevek now in command, Ito at tactical, V1 at helm. This time the crew detects the gravimetric disturbance and successfully makes contact with the Kobayashi Mary, however their attempt to tow the ship suffers a critical failure, the tractoring effect is no evenly distributed and the Kobayashi Maru is cracked in half. Fortunately V1's quick thinking and good rolls managed to save all but 3 of the crew and passengers. The Captain of the Kobayashi Maru has to be talked down from his rage by Captain Sevek before he leads a mob of angry people in a brawl with the Endeavour's crew but fortunately Sevek manages a success on his roll and calms the Captain down, although a report to Starfleet and a demand for reimbursement will be incoming. Unfortunately while the crew was distracted with rescue efforts, the gravimetric disturbance begins moving at high warp towards a nearby Federation colony. The Endeavour moves to intercept at maximum warp and her superior warp drive and some successful engineering rolls allow her to intercept before the ship reaches the colony. The vessel decloaks revealing a Klingon bird of prey with Orion markings painted on her hull. The bird of prey turns to engage the Endeavour nose to nose but misses its attacks, Ito returns fire, scoring critical hits and destroying the bird of prey's engines, the pirate ship is now flying out of control towards the Endeavour. V1 rolls to avoid but fails, the two ships collide and are both destroyed.
It was getting late and mutual destruction seemed a good way to end so I called the session there. The whole thing was a bit janky, with a lot of double checking rules, but everyone had a lot of fun and as first sessions with a new RPG system go I think it was one of my better ones. They're even keen to try out a proper campaign and I've started plotting it out and leading books so that they can create their own characters.
The best part is that is that because they know so little about Star Trek I can tell them that things like "You've been ordered to join a fleet at Wolf 359" and they won't know what's coming.

My hedgehog is about 1.5 yrs old and we don’t usually notice many quills but in the past 2 days I’ve counted about 6-7 that have fallen out. Also, I’ve never noticed her shed her fur much, but there’s been more hair in her blankets lately. Not enough that I can see any bald patches but still more than usual.
Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago we had her playing on the tile floor and she had a hibernation attempt after only about 15 minutes, but we were able to get her to wake up after around 10 minutes of warming her up. So since then we’ve been really making sure her cage is warm and again made another mistake by letting the room get too warm (87). Even though we have a thermostat for her heat lamps, it was a warm day and there isn’t AC set up yet.
Other than the shedding, we haven’t noticed any changes in her diet, exercise, or movement other than slightly less poop on some days. She’s actually been a lot more friendly with us than usual.
I checked with my exotic vet and unless it is emergency, which is fairly expensive, they aren’t able to do a check up for another 2 months. Do you guys think this warrants an emergency visit? There are not many exotic vets around me but I could try to find a different one.

My dog is 8, he’s been struggling with a heart condition and it pains me to see him like this. We don’t know exactly what his diagnosis is as we haven’t been able to get an echocardiogram done, his visit with a cardiologist is slated for the end of the month but part of me feels like he won’t make it. We’ve booked the earliest date in the area and i’m checking for cancelations all day. He has a bad cough that he takes furosemide for but it seems like it’s not working anymore. He very recently had a bad coughing fit and collapsed. He often is lethargic and not himself. His body appears to shake as he breathes and the way he looks at me breaks my heart. It feels selfish to see him suffer like this, I don’t know what else we can do other than wait for his appointment and hope we get in sooner. What we also struggle with is that he has a bad day like this and the next he can appear to be a little better. We are just so lost as this is the first time we ever go through something like this. If he does see a cardiologist, would meds extend his life for a bit?
What we do know from testing is for one, he has a heart murmur. His BNP level is over 1100 and he has an enlarged heart. Would euthanasia even be performed under these conditions? or how does any of this work? Any help or advise or suggestions is much appreciated. Thank you.

I watched in the days of Noah. They push hard on Saturday being the sabbath.
Pretty much says it’s the mark of the beast. This appears to be a very 7th day Adventist series. Though is agree with most of what is in there.
How do we really know when the 7th day is? Apparently the Catholic Church changed it from Saturday to Sunday. But who says? What is this based on? Just because our calendar says day 1 is Sunday, to me, does t mean it’s actually day 1.
I’m just confused.
I’m hanging on to where Jesus says the law is not written any more. It is written on our hearts. But I don’t ever feel as though God is telling me the law of which day to honor Him. We should honor Him daily. Love God with all we have and low other as we love ourselves.
I just need some help understand the issue and also what level of importance