Babysitting job for 17 year old

(sorry this was long and i'm not the best story teller, i might have missed some details or stories but i had to let it out, idk if this is the right place to post it but ik musicians might understand)
I have been seriously making music for about 8 years now, i started writing and rapping over ten years ago when i was younger but it didn’t become a serious passion until around 2016. Ever since then i have been making music pretty much everyday, singing, rapping, producing, composing, beatmaking, engineering, ghostwriting of all genres i could touch, along with other arts like photography, music videos, etc. my city is small and we never really had a music scene except for me and the handful of people i went to high school with who made music with me. Over the years we have all made music and watched each other evolve and mature in our songmaking abilities. Most of us have never really got a lot of views or big fanbases, we just make music because that’s all we know what to do with our lives.
The beginning of this year the handful of us artists were brought together by an older artist, let’s call him the manager and we formed what was supposed to be a “supergroup” together. He had his own group back in the day, some of who were involved with this new group. Basically old heads working with us younger artists. Working with the manager we got access to a location on his property and built a studio, and we would meet up there and record songs and shoot the shit. we started booking shows and doing a lot of practicing for live performances. It was going pretty good for the first couple months. Then the manager started putting pressure on us and wanted us to make certain styles of music, cover songs, wouldn’t listen to our ideas that we had for the group such as what the name would be, our image, our sound, it was either his way or the highway. The group morale started declining, us artists were not liking how things were turning out but we kept it to ourselves and tried to stick it out. He was way too focused on blowing us up and being the biggest artists when all we wanted to do was make good music but manager didn’t really care about the quality of the music, he just wanted us to rush out songs. Now although i do make a lot of songs of different styles fairly quickly, i don’t like forcing songs if i don’t feel the energy, it has to mean something to me. And i’m also the one who would record and mix all of these songs and have to gather the artists in the studio which was hard to get everyone on schedule.
Then what would be the final show. A month before this show me and the manager had a huge creative disagreement about advertisement for the show, i felt it was low quality, non professional, and that i could create something more professional, most of the group agreed. But then the manager got mad and basically said it was cool working with us, canceled our group album and pretty much stopped talking to me. The show came, barely anybody showed up, our group put on great performances, me and the manager were cordial but didn’t really speak.
It’s been about a month since then, the entire group has fell apart. A couple of the artists *my good friends) moved away, another has lost passion to make music and is focusing on work life, and the manager tried to get one of the artists to join his group. He has been trying to recruit for his group on social media and takes subliminal shots at me like “we’re looking for artists for the drive to go to the top”.
It was an interesting adventure those last 6 months. I never thought i would ever actually step foot on stage, i thought i was always just going to be in my bedroom making music. But after all of that stress that i went through with the group and dealing with the manager i feel like i lost my passion in making music. I don’t know what do next. I have put out album after album over the last few years, getting barely any views or support, i’m sitting on over 600 unreleased songs from the last couple years. Honestly i just wanna quit music it’s not really fun for me anymore but there’s nothing else for me to do, music is my identity. And working with manager has made me not what to do it anymore. I don’t really want to do live performances, i don’t have stage fright, the exact opposite, i just don’t really enjoy it.

This is going to be a long post and sort of rant, however I’d love to know what customers and staff think about the points I make here. There are just some things that are now really starting to annoy me about this company. I’ve worked for Lush for many, many years now and I still enjoy my job but I certainly don’t love it the way I used to and you can definitely see the passion has died in my store. I work in a retail store in the UK for background and context. Ps I’m on mobile so the formatting will be messy .. I’m sorry haha.

1. Let’s get the most entitled part out the way. The 50% staff discount isn’t enough anymore.

I know. I know. I really sympathise with customers who are paying full price for Lush especially after the most recent price hike. But when I started I remember using the staff discount almost every shift. It really helped me understand the products and get one on one with them. I used to be able to get a few items for £1 or £2 each .. but now!? Phew. I’m lucky if I buy an item each month! 50% just isn’t enough anymore if they’re expecting staff to stay on top of new products and make personalised recommendations. I simply can’t afford £3-5 per bath bomb or £10-15 for potted items. I truly have no idea how customers can afford or justify the prices (but I’m glad you do cause it’s keeping me in a job.)

1. Social Media

I’m still so pissed and angry about social media. I understood the companies reasons but do I believe it? Not one bit. To take stores in particular off of social media as really had a negative impact for us which my store hasn’t been able to recover from. We would post daily, had built up an incredible local community with our customers and would offer little sneak peeks at up coming products. Now? We have to use a window to promote stuff? It’s such a joke and to see Lush still on Twitter and YouTube, with little fanfare or success, really grinds my teeth. I feel like we were snatched away cause the company didn’t know how social media worked, didn’t like the engagement (or lack of) that they would see for the official Lush accounts and just wanted to separate us from our customers. Instead we have an awful website, a boring newsletter and Google posts which reach virtually no one. Sales have suffered, our engagement with our customers and the community is none existent, we can’t promote anything in our store or keep people in the loop and staff just have nothing to do during downtime when we would traditionally think of our next post or reply to customers. I’ll never get over this terrible decision and truthfully it was the beginning of end for me. Since this happened I’ve been looking at this company in a very different light.

1. Are Lush now trying to silence staff?

Normally every year we get an anonymous internal survey to tell Lush how we feel about working for them, our store, the ethics etc etc. Most big brands do this sort of thing and I doubt it really changes anything but was a way to vent any concerns and I liked filling it in. For the first time (since I’ve been working here at least) there is no survey. No alternative. No way to anonymously give feedback to the brand. Nothing. The company has also decided to remove all stores (and Manu I think) from gross big tech, Google. So now I have no way to message my store, my colleagues or anyone else who works in Lush. If I do then I need to give out my personal information or use (in their own words) “toxic” social media. They said they want to switch away from big tech (but are still on Youtube and Twitter) and didn’t want to pay the £1.2 million it costs to keep our stores connected and staff in the loop. Now we have to rely on our manager telling us any updates and sharing information, we can no longer communicate with other stores except from emailing or phoning them. We can’t post questions on Google chats to other areas of the business and we can’t communicate when someone is sick and we need cover. It really feels like Lush ripped us away from our customers with the social media ban and now they’re isolating us as a store and as staff to keep us quiet and complicit. It’s a very different company than the one I first joined and they really need a massive shake up for them to survive the next 10 years. If this continues I doubt they’ll make it.
So that’s just some points that are starting to really annoy me about Lush as a staff member. I really sympathise with my other colleagues and Lushies alike who are alone in the dark now with this brand. I’d love to know other staff members thoughts of the points I mentioned and what things are bringing to bother you about the company. Thanks for reading.

After 35 years of marriage my wife passed away quietly in her sleep one night. I have since remarried and though we are extremely happy together, I suffer from chronic insomnia. Often my new wife has asked me what she can do to help my insomnia, sadly, there is nothing that can be done, for there is still one secret I have not shared.
Many years ago while serving in the military, an exciting opportunity presented itself, I could spend a year in an Antarctic research station. The position was very remote, and would require almost a year of isolation from my family. The position was completely voluntary, but included an absolutely insane hazardous duty pay rate, more than double my normal salary.
As a young man, tripling my annual income was impossible to refuse. Above top secret clearance was required, and the process took almost six months to complete with checks and investigations that were absolutely mind-boggling to my young self.
Finally, the day came and I shipped out, excited at the prospect of visiting a new continent, however somewhat melancholy at the prospect of leaving my family for almost a year.
On my arrival at McMurdo station in Antarctica I was shuffled into a briefing room with a few other new arrivals. There we learned that our destination was hundreds of miles deeper into the Antarctic wilderness. A frozen wasteland where temperatures never rise above freezing and even short-term exposure of unprotected skin could result in devastating frostbite.
Finally after several days of briefings and preparation we all boarded a Snow Cat type vehicle for the ride to our duty station.
Upon arriving we were assigned to our duties and our quarters and got to work. But it soon became apparent to me as well as the other new arrivals, the work made no sense. At first we simply seemed to be monitoring temperatures and seismic activity. We had to log every microscopic trimmer every minor fluctuation in temperature every environmental change, no matter how small or insignificant. This data was dutifully logged daily, and transmitted by satellite to a mysterious head office, of which, even today, I do not know the location.
That's all we did, they were no scientific experiments, searching for medical breakthroughs, no geophysical experiments, nothing that seemed to be of any consequence. We seemed to be there to do one thing and one thing only, watch for something to change. But as for why we were actually watching for we were not told, at least not at first.
For weeks on end, day and night, 24-hour darkness in the winter, 24-hour daylight in the summer, we sat there and did nothing but log incredibly minute environmental changes.
It was an easy job, if somewhat boring. And though we worked a standard three shift rotation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, off duty our time was our own, and there were plenty of recreational activities and diversions for us to enjoy, a game room, a heated pool, a well-stocked library, and everyone had a personal TV with satellite, a rarity in those days. And we were free to pursue any other leisure activities off duty, at least within the confines of the nearly sealed facility deep in the Antarctic.
But something was amiss; something was horribly out of place there. My first indication that this was not your typical or Antarctic research station was the armory. Yes an armory, but not just any armory, this armory was stocked with enough firepower and weapons to overthrow a medium-sized country. Automatic rifles, machine guns, handguns, explosives, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, almost any device of destruction you can conceive of was stored in an armory that was more than twice the size of the actual so-called research station.
About 6 months into my tour something happened, at first it seemed so insignificant, nothing more than a small earth or ice quake. It was minor, almost unnoticeable, but the ground trembled slightly for almost thirty minutes. But it was during those thirty minutes that something became stunningly clear. Something that strained the very minds of us newcomers; There was something under the ice, something alive, but sleeping. The faces of the long time denizens of that frozen wasteland betrayed their fear. Whatever was under the ice, it was something old, something huge, something hideous, and something so evil that it is beyond the words of mortal men to describe.
But what was even more terrifying than the sudden knowledge that there was something sleeping under the ice was the revelation of the fear this creature had injected into the hearts of all those who knew of existence. It was during those thirty minutes that I learned that there is more to the armory than I knew, more than any of us newcomers had ever dreamed. In a panic, I was given a key and told to prepare for the Omega Directive.
At the back of the armory was a nondescript vault door. Any comments or even suggestions of its existence had been brashly brushed aside by facility management. Before that moment, as far as anyone was concerned it did not exist, there was no door there, the fact that we could see a door didn't matter, it did not exist.
It was during the thirty minutes of terror, that due to random chance I was on duty for, that I saw what was behind the door. Behind the door were nuclear weapons, several small atomic warheads and portable lunch systems. But even that is not the most terrifying thing I saw. For at the back of the room is a key station two keys mounted about twenty feet apart, positioned in such a way that it is impossible for one person to turn both keys at the same time, no matter how ingenious or determined they are.
Decades ago, Edward Teller, the father of the atomic bomb, conceived and designed what became known as the Gigaton Device. A thermonuclear weapon thousands if not millions of times more powerful than the bombs dropped during World War II, a device capable of detonation with unimaginable destructive force. It is well recorded that Edward Teller's Gigaton Device would be so destructive that it could, in a single detonation, wipe all of New England completely off the map and, in an instant, utterly devastate almost a quarter of the United States and kill nearly a third of its population, all with a single detonation.
For decades people have slept comfortably in their beds at night knowing that the leaders of the day realized what an absurd idea it would have been to actually build such a device. Thankfully, according to history, such a device was never built. Despite all their warmongering, all their sometimes insane behavior, even politicians had a limit, and no one was mad enough to build such a nightmarish weapon.
The two simple small keyholes in the vault at the secret station in Antarctica betrayed what lay on the other side of the wall. A Gigaton Device had been built, but this device was even more powerful than Edward Teller's wildest imagination. There, deep in the Antarctic, the Gigaton Device sits in silence, waiting, waiting for the day everyone hopes never comes, for if that day were to come and those two keys were inserted and turned, the explosion would, in all and likelihood, vaporize the entire continent of Antarctica. It is a nightmare scenario, millions of cubic miles of Antarctic ice turned into steam. An explosion so powerful, so mind numbingly devastating, as to possibly crack the very crust of the Earth itself. And there it sets, even until this day, sitting there silently waiting for the day, that one horrible day that those that know of its existence hopes never comes.
But why? What nightmarish Lovecraftian abominations sleeps below the ice? What nightmare lays in respite under miles of frozen wasteland? I was never privy to the answer. But what I do know is that there is something down there, something nightmarish, something so utterly terrifying to the hearts and mind of man that humanity has created a weapon, just in case. A weapon that they hope will never be used, but a a weapon they hope would kill whatever it is sleeping below the ice, And a weapon so powerful, that if it were to ever be used, would devastate not only Antarctica, but the entire world. The aftermath of such a detonation would flood coastal cities around the world, with sea levels rising many meters literally overnight. A weapon so powerful that it is entirely conceivable that the possibility exists of it shattering the Earth's crust itself, so that the mantle could spill forth from within, a weapon so powerful that it would cast enough debris into the atmosphere as to generate a decades long nuclear winter, possibly ending civilization as we know it.
So now, decades later, I lay awake at night, wondering about those young men and women that, even now, are at that remote research station in Antarctica, watching, counting the days, and hoping that the beast never awakens.

Hi all,
I am so happy writing this just because it’s a step forward. I have been diagnosed with adenomyosis on ultrasound, but am finally being scheduled for a surgery to look for endometriosis as well.
I have been dealing with severe, debilitating pain for so many years; pain around my cycle, and then during my period I am completely debilitated. I have had extreme difficulty keeping a job because of all the time off I take for my pain, and have been left really struggling financially. My social life has deteriorated significantly because I am always either having a bad pain day, or I’m working to try and make up for that lost week and still make rent and bills. Overall, I feel as though my life is on a complete standstill because of pain.
I have found doctors to either just not be helpful, or dismissive, I’ve been accused of drug-seeking in hospitals, and my pain has been blamed on psychosomatic symptoms, so I was so shocked and happy when my ob-gyn actually agreed to schedule me for a laparoscopy. The wait time is unfortunately relatively long (~8 months); in the meantime, I’m trying Orilissa to force menopause. I’m feeling such relief in being finally given a step forward, a concrete plan. Anyways, just wanted to share 😊

For reference, I worked in audit for 5 years and was about to get promoted to manager when I quit my firm. Today I started my a job as a small private company as the Finance Manager. Small accounting/finance team but the controller seems great and the associate seems competent.
My concern is that I am going to get stuck in a middle-management level and have a hard time getting a better title in the future. CFO is my ultimate goal down the li e. Is Finance Manager a good position to leave for? Should I have stayed in public for a few more years until I could get a Controller position or could I still be considered for those positions in 3-5 years?

Hello everyone.
I'm retiring after 23 years in about 6 months. Due to the nature of my jobs and commands I've been at, finishing college had to hit the back burner. When I did attend classes, I was a good student and really want to finish my Associates and hopefully Bachelors. Where can I find out, in a comprehensive way, which schools near me would be best and accept more of my VMET and JST for credits? Is there some sort of Certification that would be equivalent to what I want to do.
I want to major in Electrical Engineering and finish in a decent amount of time.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Need some honesty when it comes to my application as I head into my gap years. Just graduated in three years as a first generation student and just want some guidance on what to do next. Grateful to have graduated in three years because it allows me to take two years to work full time in research before I hopefully matriculate. My current plan is to work full time in my research lab while I study for the MCAT. I would apply next cycle and continue working my full time job in research and hopefully matriculate then. My stats are listed below:
Background:
- cGPA 3.65, sGPA 3.54
- First generation (does this even matter?)
Research (1110 hrs total as now)
- 850 hrs in biomolecular chemistry (1 poster session)
- 150 hrs in summer internship in clinical research with the department of surgery
- 160 hrs in human genomics/precision medicine lab* *Just switch to full time so I'm hoping to get some pubs out of this
Clinical (2400 hrs total)
- 2300 hrs of CNA
- 100 hrs clinical volunteering
- 40 hrs shadowing peds/clinical genetics
Volunteering
- 20 hrs Red Cross Donor Ambassador
Leadership
- 20 hrs Degree Peer Mentor
- 20 hrs Volunteer Preceptor
EC - Track Club
- SenioGrad Photographer
Thanks in advance!

Found out im underpaid. What should I do?
Today I got a voicemail from my boss saying he has “good news” for me. When I called back he apologized and told me he’s been paying me less than everyone else in my same job role where we all have the same responsibilities. There will be no back pay for the time I was underpaid, but he gave me a raise to STARTING PAY which I wasn’t even making this whole time even though I’ve been there for 3 years. Not really sure how that is good news…He claimed he “didn’t notice” until he had to post a job ad to hire a new person in for our job position, but he just had one-on-one meetings with us and gave us all raises in January on the same day. I talked to my coworkers about it and turns out people who got FIRED and rehired were and still are making more than me, as well as people who have been there for way less time than me. Some claim it’s because they have prior experience or a degree, but it’s a receptionist position where we all have the same exact duties. I want to know how others would handle a situation like this? Should I further confront my boss, raise to higher ups? Or just find a new job and let it go? Or just stay and say nothing to anyone?

I (22M) live in a photogenic, good ol' western American suburb, still rocking my childhood bedroom in my parents' house (thanks rent prices). Growing up, I never needed to worry much about transport (or even thought about it at all, really), my elementary school is literally next to my subdivision, and any other place I visited regularly was either a 10 minute walk or 5 minute ride in my parents' cars; there was no inbetween. But, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm in my twenties. I have my own life (even if it doesn't feel like it), responsibilities and expectations. Problem is, I'm severely stunted by my stubborn, infuriating inability to operate a car. I started feeling it a little bit before I got my permit, but I chalked it up to just me being nervous. When I actually started driving, though, I never shook it, never "got used to it," never felt the godawful stress symptoms or negative opinions on it fade in any way. They only got worse and worse and now they're crippling, despite my effort and hours upon hours of forcing myself to do it.
I got my license out of pure spite and luck, and sometimes I seriously consider giving it up and just having a state issued ID so there's no expectation of me to drive. But I shut those thoughts down because I wouldn't be able to completely escape the horrible feelings anyway. In the years since, my intrusive thoughts and nauseating anxiety has bled into simply riding in a car in general, so having the ability to legally drive in an emergency situation would be nice, I guess.
It's difficult to describe how I feel when driving in a way that makes perfect sense to other people because my anxiety (fear? phobia?) is inherently irrational, and that makes it all the worse because the non caveman part of my brain recognizes that. So I guess I'll just ramble and push enter a couple of times when I'm done and maybe it'll make sense. I need to try and justify myself in a medium where I can think about what I'm saying so I don't sound absolutely insane and completely embarrass myself like I've done before.
Cars feel too big. I could be driving the smallest little Beetle or Mini, and the thing would still feel as big as a fucking continent. Even imagining driving one of those huge fuck off death machines called a pickup truck sends me into a spiral. The wheel being off center makes me feel like there's this, like, mass that's stuck to my side and I'm afraid I'm gonna smash into something whenever I turn right. You know that vertigo effect they do in movies? Where they move the camera backwards and zoom in at the same time when looking down a long hallway? That's similar to what it feels like looking across the hood of a car from the driver's seat to me. Like, the hood is so fucking long and it could be hiding anything behind it even though I know it isn't. I guess it makes me look at the road at least. Not to mention backing up, Jesus Christ backing up is a nightmare. Thank god for back up cameras.
Going at any decent speed makes me feel sick. Thinking about how fast I'm going on the highway, especially since I've been outside of a car on it and have seen and felt just how fucking fast a car going 60-80 mph is is insane to me. It feels so wrong. My gut feeling is that I should not have the ability to move something this stupidly big weighing literal tons this fast. I cannot fathom the idea of purposefully going over 100 mph in a car. That feels unreal to me. I genuinely don't think I could make myself do that. I get intrusive thoughts of unwittingly slamming into a median or someone materializing in front of me all the time. Imagining the aftermath of those scenarios make me want to puke. Obviously I try not to do that, but sometimes your mind wanders towards it anyway.
There's also just the general symptoms of anxiety and panic I feel when shit gets really stressful (i.e. the highway or traffic jams). My heart beats a million miles an hour, I sweat like a pig and hyperventilate, the works. I've gotten very good at grounding myself and focusing when it gets bad but fuck me it is always an awful experience.
I guess my brain chemistry is just not built for driving. At least I have a robust, efficient and affordable public transportation network in my city, right? No. This is America, baby! Of course, there's no other transport options near my home. The nearest bus stop is a convenient two hour walk away and the bus routes are shit! :) There is a train station somewhat nearby, but guess what? The route is shit and goes nowhere near where I need or want to go and in other cities no less! :) Biking around the stroads here is a fucking deathwish! There's also no bike lane or even a fucking sidewalk on 90% of the roads here! :) So essentially, I'm fucking landlocked. We bulldozed our cities for these dangerous, obnoxious, expensive machines and that is existentially infuriating.
My life has been completely fucked by this stupid, stupid thing I have. I can't get a job that's even a decent distance away, so I'm stuck doing gig work online and odd jobs around the neighborhood for money (and seasonal work for events that set up near my home). Shocker, it isn't much. I save what I can, but I am very poor because I insist on paying my own way for the things I use. I cannot afford a car and I don't even want one in the first place, but I kinda need one. Hey, at least I'm known as the neighborhood handy man? My parents both work jobs where they can be potentially called in at any time, so I need to schedule car use with them and I need to complete trips fast. My parents are very sweet and understanding and I love them to death, but I hate myself every time I need to go somewhere with one of their cars. Not only does it feel like I'm potentially jeopardizing their livelihoods if I get held up for any reason, but with my rambling you read above, it also feels like I'm signing up to get shot in the gut.
My dating life has been nonexistent since high school. I'm sure it makes a great first impression on someone when you can't go out to see them or if you ask them for a ride to the coffeeshop! :)
My group of close friends, god bless their souls, are also 100% understanding of my situation and have been so sweet by offering me rides to their apartment they share to hang out on the weekends. They're like siblings to me (we've all known each other since elementary school) but, again, it feels so wrong to have to rely on them to go places.
It is viscerally embarrassing when I ask them to go somewhere or to slow down on a back road because I feel gross, so I rarely do.
Honestly, I don't know what to do. I have no clue how to approach or start getting over this outside of just driving. But I think it's fairly obvious that I shouldn't be doing it just to do it. I feel like an insufferable leech and I wish I could just make myself go places. I'm not spending $50 on an Uber to the fucking grocery store. Any advice is very welcome because I'm getting really tired of feeling like a child in an adult man's body. I genuinely want to get better and start my life way after I should've. I want to stop telling my friends, "I'm okay," when I'm clearly not. But I'm very happy to have finally said this out loud to someone in a way I wanted. Thank you. God bless the suburbs.

I’m a mom of 3. Two kids and one helpless toddler husband. He works a full time job, I run a business and do absolutely everything at home too. We’ve been married 20+ years and I’m at the point that I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a dull spoon than hang around for another 20.
Today he yelled at me on the phone when he couldn’t get his card to work at the gas station. How in the hell is that my fault and what the $&@* should I do about it? So I gave him “attitude” and now he’s pouting like a 2 year old.
Gah I need a year long vacation on a beach somewhere sipping margaritas…..
Thanks for letting me vent.

I’m a 26 year old black male looking for a single man. I work as a pharmacy technician and want to settle down with someone. I hope to find someone and eventually meet in person. I like men who are hairy and like wearing sandals. DM if you’re interested and want to talk more.

To start off I don’t hate k-pop I’m not trying to hate the fan base. This is very specific to my friend
She didn’t know anything about k-pop until 6 months ago. But since discovering it she has become full blown obsessed. Spending thousands of dollars each month on merch and concerts when she doesn’t really have the income to back the spending. (But whatever this is her life she can do what she wants)
ALL she talks about is K-pop. I’ve known this woman 15 years and have never seen her act like this. At first I was happy she found something to be passionate about but the amount of obsession is deeply unsettling to me especially when she talks about the members like she knows them personally because she’s read their PR
She talks about her crushes she has on the men in these groups who are barely 18-20 years old when she’s almost 34 which I just think is really creepy and troubling
I feel guilty for thinking my friend is creepy but truly the level of obsession with such young men (who don’t even look like adults) IS creepy to me and even in general her sudden and all encompassing obsession with K-pop is just beyond bizarre it’s like she doesn’t have any interests, or personality outside of talking about K-pop
She knows me and one of our other close friends aren’t mega fans and has since basically stopped talking to us both. Even going so far to talk badly about us to other people for not being fans.
Phew 😮‍💨 it’s been a weird six months

I am a married man in my 40s, and I joined a gym last year to try to increase my testosterone and, in turn, my libido. I noticed that, besides putting on a lot of weight after age 35, I was also losing interest in sex.
It felt good to lift weights again, but I wasn't seeing any results with my weight or my libido, so I've been pondering quitting the gym since April. But, since about mid-May, a new woman has started working out at the same time I do. She looks like she's about 20 and, I swear, could be the twin sister of a girl I crushed on when I was in high school in the 90s. It's like my high school crush got a time machine and traveled forward 25 years into the future, and started working out at my gym.
The chance to see her again is my main motivation for going to the gym now. I will never talk to her. I'm too old and she's out of my league and I'm not trying to cheat on my wife. I will just keep admiring her from across the room, and quietly thanking her for the good memories of my old crush that she keeps bringing me.

As the title notes, I'm looking for a special someone who's looking for the same thing. Someone who's looking for a great connection, loves witty and interesting banter throughout the day/week to keep life interesting, and an physical activities partner if we click. Someone who's looking for some new and fun adventures in life, yet keep it drama free because lord knows we need some escape after living through everything over the last couple of years with covid and general madness.
A little bit about myself. I'm 38, very professional job, 5'8'', disease and drug free, married (in an open relationship so no drama) with one child, fit, broad shouldered (used to be a running back in football if that give one and idea of body type), black hair with brown eyes, sane with a funny/sarcastic sense of humor and moderate/liberal views. My main vice would probably be that I enjoy coffee WAY TOO MUCH for my own good and enjoy working out, reading (currently re-reading Count of Monte Cristo), cooking, trying new restaurants and traveling when possible.
I'm looking for a female age 20-45, race doesn't matter to me, loves conversations, and someone who's in or near the triangle area of NC as I would love to actually meet and grab some coffee in person one day. If this interests you, I would love to connect. Otherwise, hope you're having a wonderful day

I’ve been living with constant joint pain basically my whole life. My parents haven’t care much and figured it was just due to my weight issues, though what they don’t understand is my weight issues are heavily influenced by my inability to exercise without major pain.
I figured they were right and I just was in pain from my own doing. It wasn’t until my boyfriend mentioned how my body is super weird: my joints pop all the time, I’m in pain a lot, my joints can slip out of place slightly, etc. Eventually he said I should go to a doctor and when I had the means, I did. I got a bunch of tests done and am diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis. It sounds like I might have a broader autoimmune disorder causing the arthritis but the arthritis diagnosis itself is a huge step. Though I have mixed feelings.
I’m 20 years old. I’m still in college. My life has barely started. But I feel like it’s going to be downhill from here if my body is already trying to destroy itself. My boyfriend is hopeful because I started meds and they’re supposed to help with the pain semi soon. But I can’t help but think, this is permanent. It’ll always be a fight for normalcy. And arthritis gets worse with age, so I feel like I’m screwed.
I’m glad I finally have something to point to and I finally have validation that my pain is real, but it’s a double edged sword. I feel like I’m in a dream and I just want to wake up and realize everything regarding this was fake. I never had joint pain, I never got diagnosed. But this is reality, and it will continue to be my reality for the rest of my life.

So I have been friends with her for over 10 years. I’m coming to a point where I am done. I have a handful of issues I have with her. I think the main issue is her desire to date 18 year olds. Now I do feel like age can just be a number and honestly that’s peoples personal business. However she will ONLY date 18 year olds. She searches for them on dating app’s. The most recent one was very disturbing. He would flirt with other people in front of her and was VERY mentally unstable.
He cut her name into his arm and said he’d unalive himself if she left. He ended up sharing nudes with one of these girls(16F). She found out because one of his friends(26m) told her and the BF actually sent him the nude. Obviously that is numerous red flags. Not only is he sending very private photos, he is sending photos of a minor to an adult. She struggled on seeing the issue with all of these people.
Little backstory on myself, I dated an abusive man a few years back. He’s probably around his 30’s now but I recently found out that he was in prison (before dating me) because when he was 24 he was dating a 14 year old. Obviously I felt horrified to know I was dating such a disgusting person. She took that and tried to place it in her situation and said her BF is wrong for flirting with a 16YO. I tried to tell her well they’re closer in age than she is with him.
Anyways they eventually broke up after me getting upset with her telling her these people are up to no good and you do not want to get caught up in these photos they are sending around. The friend sent her the picture as “proof”. She struggled with understanding. Usually I mind my business and let people stay in red flag relationships but this was where I draw the line.
Also other than that she is just very lazy, no goals, very negative and self loathes. You can never give her a compliment without her saying no I’m ugly/fat etc. She’s also in this toxic dynamic with her mother where she controls her every move. She can not leave the town and has to be home by 8. Can not go out much either.
Other than that, am I wrong to judge her for her dating preference? I’ve asked her why does she want to be with a teenager. She says it’s because she doesn’t have dating experience so she wants to start with someone who also doesn’t have much. She’s already had several BF’s so I don’t know what she even means. She also wants to wait till marriage for sex and doesn’t want a religious man. I’ve told her most likely, that will not happen.
Is it possible she wants someone so young so she can groom them into not having sex because she’s insecure and would like someone who’s probably had less partners than people our age?

Hello, im an arki college student and life's been hard lately. My dad was hospitalized 2 times this year, and my auntie is a retired doctor na but she still provides mga basic necessities nmin, she's the one nag papaaral samin kasi my dad was so reckless with his money and forgot na may anak sya na need paaralin. Its getting harder and harder for me to ask money from my auntie kasi lahat ng gastusin sya sumasalo. My dad medical fees, tuition fee ko and ng sister ko and lahat. And i want to help her kahit papaano by shouldering my own gastos like pamasahe, materials and other more. And there's this mga tao sa fb who'll message you and ask if need mo part time job and i attended their orientation or something, and it really sounds fishy i checked their fb site and it seems like prerecorded na yung zoom meeting and yung mga participants is prang co worker na nila who's pretending to be baguhan palang, and they're asking for a 49k investment so they can give you their products that you can sell.(basta yun it sounds really fishy and i immediately left and chatted the person who invited me na sorry I don't think it was the right job for me chuchuu) Sooo do you guys know mga part time job or anything that's flexible?

Warning: discussion of pet death.
We moved to our homestead about 1.5 years ago with four cats. At the time of the move: Belle was 16, Spaz was 15, and Lion & Dilly were 1.5 years old. All four were and are full time indoor pets. They never go outside. Up to date on vaccinations, regularly seen by a veterinarian. Our other pets are some aquarium fish and a bunch of chickens. The chickens live in the barn and we practice good hygiene (we have barn boots/shoes that are worn for chores and not in the house, wash hands, etc).
About six months after we moved, Belle (then 17) stopped eating. Vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Maybe she was just old. She died at home with me.
Spaz, Lion, and Dilly seemed fine.
Last week, Spaz (now 16) stopped eating. Vet again couldn’t find anything wrong with her. After a week of watching her lose weight and get weaker and weaker we took her in and she died with us snuggling her. I didn’t want to watch her waste away like Belle did, and given her age we thought it was kindest to do it this way.
I spent all day today crying and thinking about this and now I’m worried that maybe there is something toxic in our house? My spouse says the cats were just old, but all of my cats until these two lived into their 20s so I was not expecting to say goodbye at 16/17. My spouse’s childhood cats all died at 12/13 so they aren’t surprised or worried by this.
I guess I’m looking for perspective. Or if this sounds like it could be something serious that I need to investigate to protect Dilly and Lion.

We live in Iowa in a 3000 sf two story home built in 1989. Winters are cold, below zero frequently and summers pretty hot and humid often in the 90s+ with high humidity. We’re in zone 5.
It’s time to replace a 16 year old Goodman AC and Furnace. Long story short we’ve been repairing both for a few years and the evaporator coil is leaking. My AC is a 3 ton unit that’s really undersized and runs all day in hot weather. The furnace is a 4 ton system. It all came with the house when we bought it… it was a great deal minus the hvac. The 2nd floor is usually much warmer with just ok airflow.
I have two quotes for Carrier Performance and Infinity systems. Carrier models -59TP6B/25TPA7 and 59MN7B/25VNA4.
Both companies are telling me our vents can only accommodate 4 ton systems and are not zoned. They’re also saying 2 stage systems would be best for my home. The Infinity systems are $3-3.5k higher. Neither of them did a full manual J.
Does a 2-stage system make sense if I have airflow issues upstairs? Should I invest in improving my vents or look at mini-splits on the second floor instead? Finally Infinity or Performance? Or something else?

Hi Guys,
If anyone is looking for job change and is interested to work as Digital growth/performance marketer for a fintech based org out here in pune. Req qualification Mba & min work ex 2 years. Female candidate will be given preference
Thanks