I'm about 13 K words into my latest project and I worry that it's taking too long to get to the "good stuff." This is my third novel and the first time I've set out with multiple books in mind. I've become increasingly paranoid about whether or not this project is interesting. Not sure if I'm just afraid of really sinking my teeth into this...or if I should start a new project that is more go-go-go from the start.
Here's a summary of the chapters I have so far:
Prologue: Two brothers, The Arch-Decon of Dragon Keep and the Head General of The Scholar King's horde, have just finished their final battle. The decon stabs his brother, who admits defeat and says "fine, you big baby. But remember, no one holds The World Tome forever. Not even sweethearts like you." The general dies in his brothers arms. While the decon is weeping, the body starts to be pulled toward the cathedral alter, where The World Tome is opening for the first time in decades. The decon, filled with regret, takes hold of the great Tome, and writes something inside as the invading army breaches the Cathedral. In a flash of light, the Cathedral, both armies, and the World Tome vanish, the battle passing into legend.
Chapter 1: We meet Miranda Wildman, owner of The Seedbed Brothel. We learn that Miranda inherited the vacant estate from her estranged father and turned it into a brothel to raise funds for her brother's medicine (he's got a condition called Bone Rot that is barely kept in check). She doesn't like being a madame, would prefer to explore The Manless Lands, but this is her lot in life. She's doing her morning check-up of the girls, some of whom are still with clients. She goes to check on the newest girl, Yenna, but finds her and the man she was with, dead. Fearing for the reputation of the Seedbed, she examines the bodies for any foul play.
It looks as if the man, a member of the Agony Clan—a group of men whose muscles don't stop growing and are strictly honor-bound to controlling their great strength—accidentally crushed Yenna in his arms, causing the man to die in shame. In the pool of blood, Miranda sees a piece of paper that has been unstained by the blood. She picks it up, goes into a trance, and discovers that, in her haze, she has cut her finger and drawn the symbol of the World Tome, an eye within a circle, the circle within a rectangle. The full symbol can only be drawn in The World Tome itself, as any attempt to draw it elsewhere is impossible (like trying to force two magnets together, some force prevents all three pieces of the symbol from coming together). This means that she has a scrap of the tome in her possession, a piece of the book that defines the world. And it is blank, ready for her to bring forth anything she imagines.
Chapter 2: We spend time with Miranda's brother, Dilyn Deathborne, who is eating breakfast. He interacts with some of the prostitutes, who see him as a younger brother (he's almost 16). One prostitutes, Deandra, is a clockwork person and says that she would prefer to remember Dilyn like this, sitting adorably in the sunlit kitchen. Dilyn has an existential freak out, realizing that Deandra will live hundreds of years after him and all that will be left of him is this memory, a frail boy with bone rot, sitting before a pile of cold eggs.
He snaps at her, then cries. She offers to help him, but another prostitute (Cess) wanders in and overwhelms the scene. Deandra leaves, Dilyn and Cess talk, and then we hear people outside. The door is opened by a stranger in a black garb. Cess says that the brothel isn't open, but the stranger backhands her to the floor. The stranger's men reveal to have, at some point between Chapter 1 and 2, captured Miranda. The stranger reveals he's the captain of the Scholar Queen's brigade of Hunters and he's come to recruit Dilyn into the army. The Queen is holding an expedition to the Manless Lands and will need all the young men possible. Rumor is that pieces of The World Tome have begun to resurface in the kingdom of man and this may mean that the Tome is out there, able to be re-discovered.
Dilyn says he won't be of any use, since he's stuck in a wheelchair, but the captain says that the army always needs sparring dummies and bait for monsters. Then, Miranda shouts at the ceiling, "Deandra no!" and we see that, at some point, Deandra has spider-walked up into the ceiling, dagger in hand, and is about to strike at the captain. Dilyn, in a flash of regret, knows that from this point on, he'll always associate Deandra with this sight, a terrifying spider of doom.
Chapter 3: We bounce back in time a bit, to where Miranda is pacing in her room, trying to think of what to write on her piece of the Tome. She thinks about legends and this is a bit of a lore dump about what the Tome has done in the past. Lord Crulex, Lord of Lore, used the Tome to create all kinds of mythical creatures. But he couldn't contradict things that were already written in the book, like the concept of death, so he couldn't make himself immortal.
Overwhelmed, Miranda decides to alert the town guard about the dead Yenna and stranger. She pops her head into Deandra's room and asks her to keep an eye on Dilyn. Miranda heads out, feeling like any of us would if we had a winning lottery ticket in our pocket. She realizes, too late, that it's going to rain and she freaks out about getting the piece of paper wet. She panics at first, running into a nearby field to look for melons to house the paper in, then realizes that the Tome is probably going to be okay, since she found it in a pool of blood and it wasn't ruined.
While wondering about this, the captain finds her, apprehends her, and drags her back to the brothel. I intended to come back to the present time and have her offer to take her brother's place and enter into a sparring match with one of the captains guards (where she'll then write something on the tome to win) but that fight will have to happen in chapter 4, or else this chapter will be in the 5K word range.
This is all I have so far, but I have a fairly strong idea of where all this is heading. Should I ditch it or keep going?

Me (21F) and my boyfriend (23M) have been dating for almost 5 months and were friends for 4. Before we were exclusively dating, we were talking online and heavily flirting - almost acting like a couple. I met him through a close friend in my friend group, I’ll nickname her B (24F). One day I was hanging out with my friend group and a guy I knew messaged me on Instagram. We were being flirty and he invited me over to chill and drink more. I told my friends I’m going to my friends place after and they told me to think about it and consider that it will likely turn into a hookup. I never hooked up with anyone before this so I did wuss out and I didn’t end up going but I admit, I was interested initially. B let my now boyfriend know about the situation. 2 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were just talking about things we got to experience together for the first time. My boyfriend and I hooked up before officially dating. Because of this my boyfriend asked me if it was my first hook up. I said yes and he then asked “but you’ve wanted to hook up before in the past right?,” in panic I said no, which was very stupid of me because in my mind I thought it would hurt him. It made him sad for a couple of days and we talked about it again. He said it hurt because he felt that we were already exclusive. I told him at the time I was unsure due to distance and other factors. I owned up to my mistake and was super apologetic towards the situation. A week ago, the situation comes up again due to friend group drama. I’m not friends with B anymore because she ended up talking shit about me behind my back and our friendship didn’t feel genuine. A friend of B messages my boyfriend saying that he was there that night when I almost went back to a guys place while we were “dating”, and how he shouldn’t be so safe while I’m “shopping for other boys.” My boyfriend defended me saying how B is giving misinformation because we weren’t dating at the time and he told B that nothing between us are keeping us bound. Because of this friend group drama, I feel like he’s constantly thinking about it.
My boyfriend hides his feelings when he’s sad or upset. He becomes non communicative and closes up, deny’s his feelings, and would hardly bring things up first. Today I felt that he was sad and was trying to get him to open up to me. He told me later that he feels like he was happier in the relationship when he didn’t know about these things. This made me cry a lot and I apologised to the best of my ability. I owned up and addressed how I hurt him and I won’t ever do it again. I asked him if there’s anything I can do to help him and hopefully build trust but he says he doesn’t know. He also said that when I tell him how I feel, he feels like I might be lying. (When I express how much I love him / appreciate him).
From the bottom of my heart, I truly love this man. I know that sounds strong but I never felt like this before. From what he’s saying, I’m so scared that it can’t be rebuilt again. I don’t know what to do, I know I fucked up, any advice will be appreciated.
TLDR; I lied about something in my past to my (21F) boyfriend (23M) in hopes of protecting his feelings. I am super apologetic, how do I regain trust again?

I suppose, due to the nature of this page, a lot of you have heard of a "not-deer". For those of you who haven't, I pray you never find out firsthand. Oh! Where are My manners? My name is Madison, I'm almost 25 years old, and I've lived in a tiny village called Ullin (pronounced UH•lin) for about 2 years now. Shortly after moving here, I encountered one of these creatures said to only roam the Appalachian states. I know, it was after dark and you're going to ask if I'd been drinking or anything, or you're gonna say that my eyes were playing tricks on me with a deer in some shadows. First of all, I was stone cold sober that night, as I don't drink, save for once every other blue moon. Secondly, this... This thing was standing directly under a street light. I can't be losing my mind, right?.... Right?
Pardon me, I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to start from the top.
It was a stagnant, humid August evening in tiny podunk Ullin (not YOU•lin), the sun had recently set and the stars had just started to wink to life in the gradient canvas of navy blue, purple and black overhead, so I'd probably set it at about 9-9:15 in the evening. Things were fairly quiet as they usually are in this little town, a dog barking in the distance and the occasional whisper of a car going down the main road about a block and a half from my house. I live with my wonderful fiancé (we'll call him Kevin, as I'm not sure he'd want his identity known, and his name isn't really relevant to the occurrence), directly across the street from a lovely, small baseball park. I used to love going for evening walks through this little park, until That Night.
I finished letting our two dogs outside for a run and potty before their bedtime and fed our deaf cat, Lance; then I grabbed up my double-decker-cheeseburger-shaped-coffee-mug-slash-pipe, baggie of weed (yes, I do smoke pot regularly, but don't jump to any conclusions yet) and lucky Bic lighter, which is red with a picture of Morty Smith from Rick and Morty printed on it, and after telling my fur kids that I loved them and would return shortly, stepped out into the soupy night air. It was so warm I half considered staying inside where it was more comfortable. But I'd had a long day at work at the local dollar store, and definitely needed to get some mono e mono with the cool grass and my favorite smoking piece. Maybe that'd be mono e mono e mono? I dunno, anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I was crossing the street to hop over the ditch and onto the side of the park, when I heard the strangest, most terrifying sound, something straight out of a nightmare.
The best way I could describe it would be like the cry of some kind of animal giving birth, but the sound was so wet and gargled, as though the laboring beast's throat were slit. I was midjump when this horrendous, nightmare-fueling wail, and it scared me so badly that I'd tried to stop in midair, succeeded, only to fall into the ditch, probably 3 or 4 feet deep not including the extra 8-10 inches of height I'd had over said ditch. Pain exploded up my leg, blooming from my ankle in a sensation I know all too well as a sprain, me being a klutz and all. I let out a cry of my own, grabbing my already swelling ankle and rushing to tighten my high-top shoe with a stick pushed down on either side as a makeshift splint until I could hobble back across the street. After making the impromptu support for my injured foot, I finally looked around for the source of what had given me such a fright. That's when I saw it, standing directly under a street light alongside a paved road leading through the park, ears perked and gaze trained directly on me.
The creature was bigger than any deer I'd ever seen, even dwarfing me in its horrible stature. I'm no small woman by any means, standing at 6 ft tall and about 270-300 lbs. But this... I don't know, animal? It had to be all of my height, just at the shoulder. And the rack atop his head was a sight to behold in and of itself, or probably would have been, had it not been so badly battered, and in some parts completely snapped off at the end. At one point, I would have wagered that the beast was at least 24-26 points. He would have smashed the record for trophy buck, which is currently 22 points, for those who are curious. The moment I could tear my gaze away from the monstrous, darkly stained antlers crowning the beast, is the moment I really noticed that something was terribly, terribly wrong with the creature. Its fur was filthy and matted with what I can only hope wasn't the same deep crimson stuff staining its antlers, but due to how some patches of its body gleamed as though encrusted with liquefied rubies under the overhead light, my hopes are probably in vain.
Yes, several chunks of its skin were completely gone, exposed flesh wriggling with plump, white little bodies that would occasionally fall away onto the paved road below. This creature was beyond sickly, he looked all but zombified. His skin barely hung on his bones, and his legs were just bent all wrong. This could've been a malformed deer that had just been abandoned young and gotten deathly ill, but I can't express enough to you all the sheer SIZE of this thing. The bottom of its chin would easily come over the top of a brand-new, big pickup truck like a Dually or something. It couldn't be any smaller than a fully grown moose, I swear to you! Despite its horribly emaciated, even rotted state, it was massive, and it was beyond imposing.
But the most horrifying part of all about this creature, is the eyes, or eye. One had obviously been gouged out at some point, replaced by a puckered, inflamed mass of blood, pus and more maggots, but the other one held enough malice – pure, unmistakable disgust and outrage at my very existence – for the both of them. I was completely frozen for what felt like just a moment, terrified beyond screaming at the sight of an almost skinless deer skull snarling with rage at me atop such a grotesquely huge body. The lack of visible muscle framing the creature gave me no illusions to the level of its strength, somehow I just know that if the thing wants me dead, I'll be dead.
But finally the creature gave me what I can only call a nod of its disgusting, antlered head, then turned away and sauntered off towards the neighboring strip of woods. I swear it felt like I was only there for about a minute or two, but when I could finally move, blink, breathe, the eastern skies we're starting to lighten. I had several missed calls and voicemails from a worried future fiancé, and numerous texts as well, all wondering where I was and why I hadn't come to bed.
I rushed back home across the street and wrapped up my ankle to stave off the swelling, topped off with the occasional ice pack, but I couldn't sleep for days after what I'd seen, felt and experienced. I was getting paranoid, jumpy, and my partner, godsend that he is, started to worry. I finally tried to tell him about what happened and what I'd experienced, but predictably he thought I'd just been tripping balls. However, notice that I hadn't even reached the park before this happened, I never got to light up. I was not under any influence when I'd seen the beast, not even when I'd lost almost 8 hours of time.
Why am I telling you all this now, after almost 2 years of silence? Well, the past three nights, I've been hearing wet, gutteral snorts and these terrible, snapping scrape sounds out by the tree in the front yard. And the heavy hoof sounds the precede and succeed those noises are more befitting those of a horse, or maybe a moose, rather than any deer. I'm beginning to wonder if the beast from across the street hadn't changed his mind about letting me survive witnessing his terrible majesty.

To his credit, kidd at least finally decided to start a frontcourt with maxi and dp, problem is, neither of them have the elevation to grab a rebound since they either simply dont have the athletic ability or their legs are cooked from kidd running them into the ground from last season
Amd this whole ref screwing the mavs thing is another pointless distraction to the real issue which is rebounding. Warriors won the glass 44 to 31, last game memphis 50 to 37. This has been a normal thing every night win or lose because kidd insists on playing small with powell at the 5 and a guard at 4
The roster is not the best but kidd has a legitimate 7fter sitting on the bech collecting dnps because he doesnt fit his agenda. Its obvious kidd favors guards over his bigs but how he hasnt even tried to incorperate mcgee whos contribute to several different championship teams into the rotation is baffling
His size alone should get him minutes iver frank , reggie or green at the 4. He may get scored on but it feels like every maverick has gotten scored on no matter how well they contest this season.
Lastly i think dwights does all the little things has gotten to kidds head, he needs to stop relying on dp as the de facto big. Do hustles hard but he gets hunted for easy layups every game, mcgee might be slow and clumsy bit size is what mavs need right now and a long time ago

Hello y’all, my name is Jack! You can see what I look like on my page. So a lil bit about me ☺️

• I adore my films so much so I studied it at university and now work within that industry. Some films I love are pans labyrinth, the wind rises, perfect blue, La La land and oldboy. I have a small collection of Blu-rays which is around 160 films which you can see on here. I’d love to hear about your favs and why
  
• My music taste is very much emo, alternative, rock and indie. Some bands/artists I listen to is my chemical romance, twenty one pilots, linkin park, enter shikari, Joji, eden and sleep token. I love gigs, so much so I have 9 lined up this year so far.
  
• I like my video games as well. I mainly play single player games such as God of war, the last of us, hollow knight, and the Witcher to give some examples. Lately I’ve been playing Control, and Shadow of the Colossus
  
• I’m a big weeb, love anime and manga. Some of my fav anime’s are mob psycho 100, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop and devilman crybaby. As for what I’m watching right now, attack on Titan, bluelock and trigun Stampede
  
• As for manga Junji Ito’s work, I have a small collection of his work. Also, I enjoyed Haikyu!!, Demon slayer, Goodbye Eri, Look Back, Tokyo Ghoul. I’m currently keeping up with Jujutsu Kaisen, chainsaw man, Choujin X, and Kaiju No.8
  
• I’ve gotten into hiking and walking big time this year. I love connecting with nature and how much peace it brings to me
  
• Last thing about me is I have 14 tattoos ranging from films, anime, games and music. To stuff about mental health and nature
  

That’s basically me, please make some effort in the message or I’ll not reply. If you got this way I hope to hear from you and that you have a good day ☺️

I (29f) was an affair baby between my mom and dad. My mom was already married to my step dad and had my half- sister (32f) who’s name will be R. R has always hated me for some unknown reason. I never gave her any reasons to hate me as we grew up together she just did. Growing up I spent more time with my mom than my dad who traveled a lot due to his work but when he was in town I always took the opportunity, it was the only time I could be away from my SD and R. R would always do terrible things to me, she would destroy my things, gifts and souvenirs my dad would sent by mail would go to the trash, it was so bad that when I was going to enter HS she cut off my hair when I was sleeping and I had to get a bob hairstyle which reached my chin, my nose if styled. My mom scolded her and SD enabled her even more, patting her on the back for a good job when mom wasn’t looking.
In hs I was in a graphic design class and that’s how I met R’s one true love, at first greetings I didn’t know. I would stay after school to finish my in class assignments for that class and he would be there to use the computers to do some drawing he had saved in the computer. The computer he used was right next to mine so we sat together when I would stay. We spoke once, where he said he liked my hairstyle. I was the only girl in school with really short hair so I did stand out a bit. One day my sister came to spy on him and she was furious seeing me sitting next to him, she was so mad that when we got home she slapped me on the face accusing me of wanting to steal him. After that incident I tried to stay away from him, not wanting to deal with her craziness. Thankfully I only had to endure her for another year before she went off to college.
My first year of college my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was told told he had that year (2013) to live. My mother got news and told SD and R. R in response sent me a video she took from a TV show I’ve been told was called “Shameless” where there’s a blonde girl peeing on a man’s tombstone with a text, saying, “can’t wait for that MF to (di*) be gone, have fun cleaning the mess I’m going to make.” Where she sent another pic which was poop.
I was so furious and disgusted that someone like her existed, someone who would be so happy to see someone’s life end.
My second year was rough as my dad died a few days before school started. In the end he left me with money that would help for the years to come and a few properties I rented to make extra cash.
Wondering if she did it? Yup. Sent another video for proof.
Somehow I feel karma was real at the time. A few weeks after that I ended up bumping into the guy she was obsess with (and still is) when I went to hangout with my friend who went to the same college as him. We spoke briefly until my friend came and we left. A few days after that my friend told me the guy she saw me with asked for my info and she give him my Snapchat knowing if I didn’t want to talk him she would give him an app I don’t use anymore.
I’m going to be honest when she told me this I so wanted to use him and get back at my sister knowing how much she loved him. But I know how it feels to be hurt and so I added him on Snapchat and texted him to meet me at a coffee shop. When we met at our local coffee shop I was honest with him on why I reached out and told him how crazy R is. He wasn’t surprise. He went on telling me the thing she would pull on the girls he would talk to and how she would try to sabotage his relationships when they were in hs. To her telling them they slept together while speaking or in a relationship with those girls, she was having his kid and even saying he had an STD, yeah she’s nuts.
To keep this short we stayed friends until a few months where we starting dated, we had a lot of similar hobbies, interest and we think alike. He says it’s the power of mindmeld (Star Trek) seeing how we might as well be telepathic with one another.
This year we decided to get married. Engaged for three. Our jobs pay us really well in our respective fields where we can go big on our wedding.
Now here comes in R. R sadly still stalks my fiancé. He isn’t much a social media person so he doesn’t post much but when he does it’s on his Instagram story. He recently posted a picture of my hand with the engagement ring captioning, “after three years next up the wedding ring.” And yes his Instagram is private and he has her blocked but there are a few people who tell her friends and they tell her, it can’t be helped some people live for the drama.
I don’t talk to my mom as much seeing how she wasn’t much help when my sister would bully me or when my SD belittled me but I do once a month for a few minutes. She had called me complaining how R was throwing a tantrum about how J (my fiancé) was engaged and she doesn’t know who the b is.
That’s when I got the idea. I’m going to let her know who the B was. Don’t worry J is fine with this. I had R blocked on social media and I unblocked her and made my Instagram public for this occasion.
After unblocking her I posted a picture of my nails without the ring, my nails that were exactly the same as the picture he put on his story. A few days later I posted inspiration pictures of wedding invitations. Guess who seen them?
A few days after that I put a picture of myself with my friends dressed up with the caption, “my bridesmaids!!” and J a few hours later with his groomsmen with no caption but we had the same background of the restaurant the picture was taken.
And behold I get messages on Instagram where she demanded to know if I was the girl J was going to marry. She said things like “no, he can never like girl like you” and “you know how much he means to me.” I left her on read.
Yesterday, I posted a picture of the two of us. The pictures were taken on Saturday where we took his family out to inform them of our wedding plans and how they are officially invited with invitation given to them. I posted three pictures, one normal one is when we first started dating, when he proposed and the one on Saturday with his family with the invitation in the air as they surround us.
Caption being, “Proud to announce I am getting married this year to the love of my life! Can’t wait for a lifetime full of blessings alongside you.”
I got messages an hour after I posted that from R that I didn’t read and calls from my mom which I declined.
Today, I went on Instagram and saw over eighty messages of insults from her, one being how ugly I looked with my short bob hair which I cut for this occasion. Which I replied, “interesting, J doesn’t think so. Funny actually, you know J confessed to me after our second date that he thought in HS my Alice Cullen haircut as you described it before was the reason that grabbed his attention back then? He thought I looked very cute! Guess you did had a reason to feel threaten that time… as he found me attractive even then.”
After she read it I made my account private and blocked her. Now I’m thinking about doing it again when we’re getting married or changing my bio to his last name? Who knows

Hello y’all, my name is Jack! You can see what I look like on my page. So a lil bit about me ☺️

• I adore my films so much so I studied it at university and now work within that industry. Some films I love are pans labyrinth, the wind rises, perfect blue, La La land and oldboy. I have a small collection of Blu-rays which is around 160 films which you can see on here. I’d love to hear about your favs and why
  
• My music taste is very much emo, alternative, rock and indie. Some bands/artists I listen to is my chemical romance, twenty one pilots, linkin park, enter shikari, Joji, eden and sleep token. I love gigs, so much so I have 9 lined up this year so far.
  
• I like my video games as well. I mainly play single player games such as God of war, the last of us, hollow knight, and the Witcher to give some examples. Lately I’ve been playing Control, and Shadow of the Colossus
  
• I’m a big weeb, love anime and manga. Some of my fav anime’s are mob psycho 100, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop and devilman crybaby. As for what I’m watching right now, attack on Titan, bluelock and trigun Stampede
  
• As for manga Junji Ito’s work, I have a small collection of his work. Also, I enjoyed Haikyu!!, Demon slayer, Goodbye Eri, Look Back, Tokyo Ghoul. I’m currently keeping up with Jujutsu Kaisen, chainsaw man, Choujin X, and Kaiju No.8
  
• I’ve gotten into hiking and walking big time this year. I love connecting with nature and how much peace it brings to me
  
• Last thing about me is I have 14 tattoos ranging from films, anime, games and music. To stuff about mental health and nature
  

That’s basically me, please make some effort in the message or I’ll not reply. If you got this way I hope to hear from you and that you have a good day ☺️

I read about how the rumi saying, ''the wound is where the light enters you'' relates to Chiron and I agree. Even with my personal chart, I've always been terrified of not having enough money, and Chiron transiting through my 2nd makes me feel lighter about this. I find myself casually buying stuff for the pleasure of it, ordering a dessert for fun.
I look back on past transits and I was abused as a kid when Chiron passed over my natal NN, so maybe I give it too much credit?
How have all of your Chiron experiences been? My natal Chiron is in the 5th and I started to address my fear of having kids this year

This is going to be a long one..
Three months ago my friend (F 27) called me crying about her relationship. It had become very toxic, Abusive and later she admitted violent. I offered to give her and her son (M 10) a place to stay and to help her get back on her feet. This meant me (F 27) and my partner (M 27) drove four hours to pick her, her son and whatever belongings she had up and took them back to our home in another town.
My partner and I offered to help her where we were able to get back on her feet. This included, not charging her for rent until well after she had a job and was sorted out financially, occasionally taking care of her son when she found a job (in her own words, only temporarily and only occasionally, maybe a Saturday here and there), we helped her get what she needed for her job (shoes, shirts whatever) and also her sons schooling supplies for his new school. Advising she could pay us back when she was back on her feet.
She ended up finding a job that was offering her night packing at a supermarket. She admitted it was temporary, and it would only be a few nights a week and maybe every second Saturday. Me and my partner don’t have any children so we changed our lifestyle a lot to accommodate her and to take care of her son. For us this was a huge change but one we were ok with since it wasn’t forever and it was only a few nights a week. We were happy for her and celebrated this.
Our little unit had become too small for everyone so my partner and I started looking for a bigger home (we were going to look for another one anyway so this wasn’t a huge deal)
After about a month of her being at the house, we had asked her if she had any luck finding a day job to suit her sons school hours more. She replied no, and basically said that she was fine doing what she was doing and that my partner and I could handle it. I told her that my partner and I work 10 hr days in high stress jobs that require our entire attention and we’re starting to feel exhausted and struggling at work. I also told her that I had already spent most of my life raising someone else’s child and didn’t want to repeat that again (I adopted my younger brother when I was 18 but had been his full career since 16 and been his financial caretaker since 13, she knew this about me) she changed the subject. By this point we were taking care of her son every day, and on the days she was home she wasn’t paying any attention to him and was more concerned with talking to boys on tinder and Snapchat, so we were also picking up the slack on those days too.
Another month later I brought up the day job and she admitted she had applied for jobs but has been declined by all of them. I thought this was strange since the town we lived in didn’t have enough people for the work currently available, my partner and I receive job offers at least twice a week and so does my brother. Again we spoke about how my partner and I are not doing ok. Again the conversation got dismissed.
Another month later and my partner and I found a bigger home to accomodate everyone and one we could still afford if she decided to leave. We organised the move, the paperwork, paid the deposits for the house and moved everything ourselves while still working 10hr days and looking after her son. She made complaints that she was too tired and even came home early one night explaining she was exhausted… meanwhile my partner and I didn’t get to even sit down for 5 minutes in the course of 5 days.
By this point my partner is done. He is over it, can barely concentrate at work and has lost his happy go lucky personality. He barely smiles and doesn’t even have the energy to talk most days. We read to her son, teach him to cook, play the Xbox and footy with him. Encourage him to socialise, have him showered, fed and homework done. And don’t get me wrong, we love doing it. But my friend only sees her son a handful of hours a day, and she doesn’t acknowledge him in those hours. He tells us how he wishes his mum was around more often and it hurts us to hear it knowing he is hurting.
So I spoke to my friend again. Telling her, we are not ok. She replied that if she starts working days she will lose out on money. I told her that either way she was going to because we were going to have to start charging her for taking care of her son. She stormed off.
She came home today and told us that she changed her work hours and we thought “great! Finally! We can have a minute to recover our energy and batteries” and then she told us that her hours would be changed so she would be home right on his bedtime but would be home less hours with him, meaning not only are me and my partner are still doing all of the parental duties for him while taking care of our home duties but also my brother would have to watch him while he waited for us to get home from work and before he went to his own job. Meaning now my brother is upset because he works split shifts and can’t sleep either between shifts.
AITAH if I tell her to grow up and get a job that accommodates her son and us or to move out?? I have known her my whole life but I have also never experienced a friend that is so selfish and has taken my generosity and friendship for granted. It hurts my heart but I feel like I don’t have another choice at this stage.

Hello y’all, my name is Jack! You can see what I look like on my page. So a lil bit about me ☺️

• I adore my films so much so I studied it at university and now work within that industry. Some films I love are pans labyrinth, the wind rises, perfect blue, La La land and oldboy. I have a small collection of Blu-rays which is around 160 films which you can see on here. I’d love to hear about your favs and why
  
• My music taste is very much emo, alternative, rock and indie. Some bands/artists I listen to is my chemical romance, twenty one pilots, linkin park, enter shikari, Joji, eden and sleep token. I love gigs, so much so I have 9 lined up this year so far.
  
• I like my video games as well. I mainly play single player games such as God of war, the last of us, hollow knight, and the Witcher to give some examples. Lately I’ve been playing Control, and Shadow of the Colossus
  
• I’m a big weeb, love anime and manga. Some of my fav anime’s are mob psycho 100, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop and devilman crybaby. As for what I’m watching right now, attack on Titan, bluelock and trigun Stampede
  
• As for manga Junji Ito’s work, I have a small collection of his work. Also, I enjoyed Haikyu!!, Demon slayer, Goodbye Eri, Look Back, Tokyo Ghoul. I’m currently keeping up with Jujutsu Kaisen, chainsaw man, Choujin X, and Kaiju No.8
  
• I’ve gotten into hiking and walking big time this year. I love connecting with nature and how much peace it brings to me
  
• Last thing about me is I have 14 tattoos ranging from films, anime, games and music. To stuff about mental health and nature
  

That’s basically me, please make some effort in the message or I’ll not reply. If you got this way I hope to hear from you and that you have a good day ☺️

I applied for a mainline airline on a whim and passed the VGI and got invited to the F2F. I have a strong background in customer service and a master's degree, but I'm wondering if it is worth the pay cut and having to relocate (the closest hub to me is LAX which I am given to understand is impossible to get as a new hire). This is of course if I even pass the F2F, which I know is a big IF.
The reason I ask is because it seems like for most people, being an FA is a lifelong dream, so I'm wondering if there's anyone who was unsure about being an FA and decided to go for it anyway/decided not to, and what was the outcome? Did you end up staying with the airline?
Thank you all <3

So I've started looking into a hotel room for getting ready the day of, since our venue doesn't have an area set up for that. I was thinking that FH and I would spend the night there the night before, maybe get breakfast the morning of and then he'll leave to get ready at home and my bridesmaids will meet me at the hotel for h&mu.
We're going to DIY getting ready pictures, so my question is when do the guys/groomsmen usually show up? Should they show up at the hotel at all or should we just meet them at the venue? Our apartment isn't that big for them to meet and all put on their suits there, but I'm also not sure one hotel room will be enough with me and my bridesmaids also there (and me trying to hide from FH lol).
There's also the logistics of our venue only opening to us at a specific time, 2 hrs before the ceremony and we need to drop off the decor stuff for our coordinator. I was thinking about asking if they could drop off the decor stuff, then head to the hotel to put on their suits, but that might not be enough time. I can request an earlier time w the venue tho but it costs some more money. Any feedback? Thank you!

I recently found out my other (better) half is experiencing gender dysphoria. I’m so proud of them for taking the leap to talk to me about it (even though it wasn’t the most conventional way of finding out/discussion) and I’m trying to be as supportive as I can whilst learning what they need, want and who they want to be. I enjoy the NSFW aspects of our relationship and their newly found confidence, when I well realise that they have been hiding how they feel for so long. I fell in love with my partner for who they are, not gender or what they have between their legs. I want them to realise that as long as they want me to be, I’m theirs for keeps because our love means so much to me, but I need them to open up to me, to not feel like I’m going to get bored of talking about it or fetish-ise them or believe it’s a phase or a kink. I realise that it makes them more comfortable and confident to dress and look a certain way and that is absolutely fine, okay and accepted by me. I firmly believe gender is a spectrum and I feel like you shouldnt have to fit neatly in one box, there’s a lot of fluidity!
The only thing I have found that I find difficult is them commenting flirtatiously on other people and talking to people in secret, and them possibly sharing NSFW photos online…especially as this is how I came to find out about their struggles, and we had a big conversation about trust among other things. I know that’s something I need to work on but I feel like it could be something that is helped by them sharing how they feel with me.
I’m not sure what I want or expect from posting this, maybe ideas of how I can help them realise that I’m for keeps? That I’m not weirded out? That I’m not going anywhere unless they decide that our marriage isn’t what they want any more? I’ve tried buying presents like outfits/toys to help them feel safe and secure and loved in their body and being available for conversations whenever, just any ideas are welcome.

im going to start going to the gym as soon as i can afford to, and i've always been insecure about my shoulders. they're wider than my hips and it just is not a good look on me.
so, due to anxiety and depression, i have spend most of my life sedentary. i have no muscle and have bad posture but im working on that. i have so little core muscle that i have rib flare and can't do stand up work because it hurts my back too much. last summer i got to go to the gym a few times and just from the pump i could see it brought my ribs in a bit (my core has literally never been worked besides high school gym). i was wondering if that same logic could apply to my shoulders, and if i do upper back exercises can i expect the muscle there to pull together how it did with my ribs, making my shoulders [appear] a bit smaller?
i am also planning and doing a lot of butt, thigh, and hip stuff do get bigger on my lower half but i really want my shoulders to not be so wide. i have hip dips too and that kinda makes it look worse. so yeah, would doing some upper back exercises in moderation help pull them together? and are there any other tips/specific exercises to help reduce shoulder width?
also i just measure and my shoulders are about 17.4 inches across (like if you sliced me in half and just measure the front half- if i measures all the way around my butt would influence the hip measurement too much- it’s the front view) and my hips (at their widest point) is 17.2 across. i know it isn’t a big difference at all but it is super visible to me and i know that with a difference that small, the right diet and exercise should get me where i want to be.
please spare the “just love and accept your body how it is” because i’m sorry but that will not change my mindset, i am seeking advice on how to change my body not assurance that it is ok how it is. i do appreciate the thought tho.

and tell me their overwhelmingly big brother slash man-explains-it-all response and complex doesn’t give you the 3am subway CREEPS
like straight up TELL ME - i don’t or didn’t have a got damn point that their industry does not nor has not ever given a FUCCC about patient wellbeing or care
https://www.reddit.com/pharmacy/comments/11svzw1/wait_till_they_learn_about_pbms/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
https://www.reddit.com/pharmacy/comments/11t0qrh/how_do_i_send_this_to_the_idiot_on_rasknyc_saying/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_content=2&utm_term=15
god bless and may god damn blasio

I'd like to make a list of open world games where either the world isn't very big, or you move very fast and can usually get to the next location in the game, not counting the time you spend in combat or dialogue without using fast travel.
The most obvious answers I can think of are Marvel's Spider-Man(Is Miles Morales this way too?) and the Yakuza games. I feel like the Gothic 1 and 2 certainly do this better than most open world games, but I'm not sure if they count.
I guess that Elden Ring counts too, and I'll put it on the list, but I'd like to not fill the list with hard games if I can help it.

Throw away for obvious reasons.
Last month, I checked myself into an addiction/mental health facility to detox off of alcohol (something I have done from home before) and learn new coping skills to attempt to avoid relapse. In my moment of crisis, my friends called my insurance company who recommended 'Facility A.'
On papescreen, 'Facility A' looks great. There is a 35+ acre campus, common areas and group rooms, nutritious meals, a fitness center, movie theater, gardening center, sand tray immersion, a rec room, an on-site salon, spacious bedrooms, individual and group therapy, and family therapy. Sounds great, right?
In actuality:

• 35+ acre campus - … that you aren’t allowed to go on unless you are supervised and it is part of a group activity, such as showing you historical sites without understanding what the historical sites even represent (example: the site is an old convent, and the facilitator could not accurately explain the significance of the grotto... not a big deal per say, but why show us the history if you do not understand it yourself?)
• common areas and group rooms - approx. 200 sq ft of common area, plus group rooms overtaken by frat-types who dominated the TV and game choices
• nutritious meals - no allergies taken into consideration, during detox you may or may not receive a meal in your room, on more than one occasion a meal was missed due to lack of alarm clocks/regular clocks in the rooms (no phones allowed AT ALL)
• a fitness center - only available in the early morning, before breakfast and group
• movie theater - did not exist
• gardening center - did not exist, though there was a 'solarium' where one patient watered the plants on the window sills each day
• sand tray immersion - looked like a litter box; patients joked about using it for going #2
• a rec room - again, overtaken by frat-types who dominated the TV and game choices
• an on-site salon - only available once per week, for an additional cost
• spacious bedrooms - if you are a college student, sure. an adult? no way... smaller than a hotel room, with another twin-sized bed, expected to be used, should another patient need a place - also, received several injuries to self from the platform beds when trying to get into bed due to lack of proper lighting in the room - this was brought up on day 2/3 and was never remedied
• individual and group therapy - does not happen during detox, though one is 'assigned' a therapist - literally no therapy occurred, including anything related to relapse prevention
• family therapy - they literally do not allow any visitation whatsoever, and actively avoid letting one call home to tell how bad the experience is...

They are charging me $3,300 PER DAY. This includes the detox meds I would normally get from my PCP for less than $2 per week with my insurance coverage. For $3,298 per day, I could have gone to Mexico on a First-Class flight and enjoyed my detox in a nice room with a view, with tacos and chilaquiles to help me through it all. Or joined the Intense Outpatient Program which I am currently a part of, for a fraction of the cost.
I am now 26 days sober, so please do not tell me that my mind wasn't in the right place at the right time and that the facility deserves what they are charging. This is straight up abuse of the insurance system in America, where they charge as much as possible, and pass the rest on to the patient, hoping they have an HSA/FSA to cover the rest.
What can I do to fight the cost of the 'treatment' I was provided? They made me pay several thousand up front just to be admitted. Yes, they gave me medication and provided supervision as needed, but there is no way they need to charge $3k+ per day for this. My insurance doesn't seem to care and is just passing along a cost of approx. $800 per day to me for the week I was there. I know I can't and/or refuse to get them on the record, but at least one nurse and one behavioral technician told me how messed up the situation is at the facility, given they really just opened four months ago and do not have any actual licensed therapists on staff. When my spouse picked me up and complained about the treatment I received (rather, didn't receive) the caseworker admitted that the facility pays for positive Google reviews.
I am not sure what else to add. Happy to answer any questions, and I appreciate the help.

Hey guys. I’m a father of 2 (3yo girl 8 yo boy). And I always knew I had an imperfect father. He was on drugs during my childhood. He was there but my family hid the drug addiction from me all the way until I turned 18. I was also super naive. I love my father. He’s a good dad especially to his children after me. But I can’t help but cry about a recent thought that he failed with me. I’m now 29 going to be 30 in a couple months. There are things that a father is supposed to teach you. I didn’t learn much from him. Only to speak up but even this was trouble growing up. I am and always have been timid. I because of the way my life has been lately I just keep thinking of him. Blaming him when I know it’s not entirely on him. I never learned how to fight. I never learned how to protect. I never knew how to act as a man and not a young boy. I had my mother and she tried to be tough with me but with me being a good kid growing up I didn’t go thru too much. How do I handle my emotions?? I know he tried his best. He didn’t have his father at all. He tried to stay in my life as much as possible. I just don’t want to feel lost anymore. I feel like a man with no purpose but to be a father to my kids. But I don’t know how to teach him (my son)what I never learned. I feel like I will fail to protect my daughter as I’ve failed to protect women like her mother in the past. Any words that will help get me over this will be much appreciated.