DISCLOSURE: This will not make you rich tomorrow neither will it be able to replace your main income, but it’s helped be make a few extra thousand dollars with little to no efforts. I've found a really interesting way to make money on the side of my regular job. I'm gonna start off with saying I am not a math person myself but have recently gotten into learning about this whole concept of expected values. There's a certain method in sports betting where people have found a way to be profitable long-term. I know this is something people aren't used to traditionally hearing because of the house-edge. I am not the most educated on how it works but essentially these people use statistical models to find mathematically profitable bets, and if there is one, betting on it over the long-run makes you profitable. It's like having the house-edge on your side but more. It's similar to arbitrage but requires less money to start with and has higher returns. Has nothing to do with the sport, purely numbers based (can look it up there's some content online on it). Never been much of a gambler myself (occasionally would make some bets) but when I was in need of some extra money I was speaking to an old friend who had shown me he has made over $10,000 dollars profit from using this method . It took him about 5 months to get there but he said it only took about 20 minutes a day and his first month he started with $500.
My Experience: His receipts were able to convince me and I started myself about 2 months ago with a $2,000 bankroll. Profited around $2,200 that month and around $1,400 last month. All I was doing was logging into a site and placing wagers on other books daily, betting the bets they said with the dollar amounts they said on my own accounts. There is variance with this as with all probability, but long term you are apparently expected to double your bankroll each month. It took me about a week to fully sign-up for each sportsbook and get started but now it takes me about 20 mins a day which is pretty sweet. I sometimes watch the games if I have time and it's pretty fun but I know to stick with the program and not get too involved in the whole gambling stuff. I thought I'd share this because it feels extremely lowkey and was something I really just never expected would work, but is turning out well for me.

Eng:
-Hello, this is a community to speak whatever, whenever and wherever you want.
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Esp:
-Hola, esto es una comunidad que acaba de empezar, aquí puedes postear cualquier cosa donde y cuando quieras.
​
Cat:
-Hola, això és una comunitat nova, aquí pots publicar qualsevol cosa, on i quan vulguis.
​
:)
P.D: Eng: I'm learning German, so maybe soon we can expand and let Germans speak…
Esp: Por el momento estoy aprendiendo alemán, así que probablemente dentro de poco podremos admitir a alemanes.
Cat: Per al moment estic aprenent alemany, així que dins d'un curt període de temps podrem admetre als alemanys.

My bf(32m) and I(27f) have been together for 2 years. Our relationship has been good, we haven't had any huge issues and he is a great person. We are very early in a pregnancy. I had a bad reaction to an implant, so I had it taken out. I decided to take a birth control detox because of what I just went through. It was both of our faults and we were not careful enough. I am honestly terrified.
I found out almost 2 weeks ago and we were trying to decided what to do. I didn't want to have kids for at least a few years if ever. I don't hate kids or anything, I love them but this is just a brand new experience so I am freaked out. We never seriously talked about kids before this because we didn't think it would happen anytime soon. I was straight up in denial the first test I took. It was positive so I thought I left it out too long without looking at it and didn't think about it for a few days, then I had the realization and confirmed it.
Boyfriend is very excited already, which surprised me. He is very much against getting an abortion. I told him that I want us to have a real plan in place before we commit to anything. We were working on that but I didn't make any decision. I made it clear to him not to tell anyone yet because I was considering our options. My boyfriend told my brother in law and the rest of my family found out probably immediately. I started getting texts and phone calls and I was livid with bf and I can't remember the last time I was so angry.
Bf was at work and can't talk on the phone while he was at work. I started texting him and asked if he told anyone. All he would say is talk when he gets home. When we both got home we both got into our worst fight ever. We both said things we should not have. I accused him of telling my family so I would stop considering abortion and still kind of believe that. Now that my family knows I feel like the choice and discussion is over. They are religious and would probably never speak to me again if I got an abortion. He told me that I was acting like we were 16 and I kind of get where he was coming from. He told me that is his child too which is also true. I am not upset with him that we are pregnant, I am upset that he told my family and I feel betrayed. I would have liked to have the experience of telling my own family. So the fight was really bad and I have been staying at a house rental for the last few days but am coming home after work.
Now that some time has passed and things have calmed down I feel like he was right about some things and I was being more dramatic than I should have been. I probably wasn't going to get an abortion anyway. I feel bad about some of the things I said but also am still feeling resentful that he told my family and some of the things he said to me during our fight. I feel that I should have considered him more. I am concerned about our relationship. I want us to be in good shape and healthy because I love him and because we are now going to have a baby. Any advice please? Was I completely wrong?
TL;DR: boyfriend and I are expecting a child. We had not decided what we were going to do about the pregnancy yet when he told my family. This caused us to argue and I am worried about our relationship

Something I (30f) noticed a few times now: at work, people (usually men) would literally kneel down beside me when speaking to me at my desk, even when I'm sitting down. I am objectively short (5'0) and small-framed (can easily look like I'm 18 for better or for worse), but I find it a bit unnecessary for them to do so.
Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not necessarily offended because fortunately none of their tone has been condescending, but just wanted to ask what others think. Thanks for reading!

And I mean pretty much the ENTIRE time. I'm guard btw, and I 100% know I joined for the wrong reasons foolishly. Before I joined my mindset was "Cool I can have a minimal commitment to something that's 2 days a month, and get a nearly all of my tuition paid for? Fuck it lets go that's nothing to sweat" , little did I know I was completely wrong.
Basic training - Counted down days for obvious reasons, basic sucked ass. Just couldn't wait till I was at AIT and out of that hell hole
AIT - (This is where I really noticed how I was different from a large majority there) I remember just sitting in my classes calculating how many days I would actually have to be in uniform, and I was excited to find out that with doing 2 days a month I would actually be spending more time in uniform during my entire TRADOC experience than I would once i was out of AIT. Being excited about this, i told other people thinking they would think the same thing of "Yeah I'm just here for the benefits too" to find out that It just got me weird comments
Getting to my first unit - Told some guys that this was all bs and at least we get our benefits, couldnt wait to get out. Same deal, weird comments and looks. Starting counting down days to my ETS but mostly my halfway point
4 years later (Now) - I'm still counting down days until I ETS, and right now until I'm back from this deployment. Keep in mind, I did all this for the whole "Free College" thing and now I'm 22 and just now turned a sophomore in college. Maybe I'll still have a shot at fitting in and not just be the weird old veteran dude. Every year when my anniversary of enlistment comes up it's like a New Years celebration for me because I'm 1 year closer to getting out.
It got to the point a lot when I was drinking really heavily that the clock was an obsession, I'd write it on notebooks, my phone, I bought a little timer off of amazon that counted down days, and my google searches even up to now are "How many days until [ETS DATE]" and have been for the last 3 years (Nearly every day or every week at the least).
I have percentage bars on my phone for how much percentage I am through my contract, and I know how many days = 1% of that contract.
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Idk just figured I'd speak my mind, been stressing about the clock again lately like an obsession.

I(15m) have a friend. Let's call him A(15m). I started talking to A around 1 year ago. He started hanging around 2 kids at school. They're both popular and took a liking to him. Both of them are dicks. I use to be friends with them back in middle school and honestly, they're both bitchy still. I honestly don't care that he's friends with them. It's not my business and I explained this to him when he asked me why I don't wanna be their friends. He says they're nice and awesome to hang with. I met a side that he hasn't making me not enjoy their company. Originally this wasn't an issue until a week or two ago. We eat lunch together and normally talk the whole lunch while eating. He's been ignoring me during lunch and when he does talk to me he speaks about them and how great they are. Hell he even started acting like them. I try to talk to him to make conversation but all he says is "uh huh" or starts to bring them up again. I've attempted speaking to him about this but whenever I try he defends them or they appear out of no where. When I finally do get to hang out with him alone he ends up texting them and ignoring me. He knows that I have sensitive hearing and that one of the reasons I dislike them is because they scream in everyone's ear yet he brings them over right next to me in class. They scream in my ear around 5 minutes later and I end up feeling like my ears are bleeding. He even sees me get uncomfortable when they try to speak to me or when they come near me. Yet somehow I'm the bad guy? He would nag me about not wanting to be near them or saying I should give them a chance. I did give them a chance and I'm not making that mistake again. He's getting some of the traits from them that I hate the most making me not want to go near him anymore. I feel like they're corrupting him or that he's gotten a taste of too much popularity. I also feel worried that they're trying to get something out of him and he hasn't realized it yet. Im probably being paranoid about that. I don't want to sound controlling or something but am I being controlling? He excludes me about of everything nowadays and I don't know if I should end this friendship. I don't deserve to have that kind of treatment from someone. He's a friendly person and good overall which is why I'll feel like a dick if I unfriend him. WIBTA if I ended this friendship?

William counted eight lesser demons. Not the most intelligent bunch, nor the hardest to see in the dim light of his blade, but William had never fought this many demons at once before, and it had been a long time since he’d felt this winded this quickly.
He breathed deep, filling his lungs with misty subterranean air as he readied himself. The serfs charged at him in a disorganized mob of muscles, wing, fang, and claw, and he raced to meet them.
Out of habit, he called a skill. “Divine Arc!” The skill did not come as called, nor would it again, but he did not dismay. His arms did not move on their own, nor was the effort lessened, nor did he feel the light of the divine power him forward.
But Gram sang all the same.
He weaved under the fumbling blow of the first wretch, throwing his might into the legendary blade that glowed with conviction, and tore through the monster’s torso like paper, following through into the hapless demon behind him. The third reached for him with both arms, which he sidestepped, throwing a lethal slash at the creature’s neck.
The skill hadn’t activated, but as William had learned, that was only an inconvenience. It gave him an attack, but how many times had he used it? Five thousand times? Ten? Twenty? He had known the skill, performed its movements so many times, that it had become ingrained in his very being.
The Tri System had taught him, honed him, even somewhat enhanced him. It wasn’t with him anymore, but he had learned its forms all the time.
He weaved through the demons, powering through the motions with his body alone, bringing Gram down upon the demon serfs one after another, until only one was left.
He held his sword to the final one’s throat. “If you can talk, I might be able to spare you,” he said.
The demon spat at him. Just then, William heard whirring and clanging. He turned toward the noise, only to see a glint of metal shoot out of the mist. It collided with his sword, knocking it away, but causing it to slit the demon’s throat. The large object collided with the wall, ricocheting twice before sailing back to where it came from.
Tap-taptap. Tap-taptap.
Footsteps in the dark. The paladin leveled his blade at the noise. “You missed. Identify yourself.”
“Apologies for the subpar welcome, little hero,” a deep voice answered warmly. “And on the contrary, I hit precisely what I was always going to hit. I do wish we could put our best foot forward instead of such… vermin.”
He emerged from the mist, but William could hardly make him out. He could only see the silhouette of a tall, winged humanoid, crimson eyes peering at him through the darkness; two dignified horns protruded from his skull. He wore a pearly smile of shark-like, razor sharp teeth and carried a cane in one hand and a bloodstained chakram in the other.
This was no lesser monster. This was a greater demon of the underworld.
“You would kill your own kind? Why?”
The demon kept smiling and approached no further. “You slew a boar on your way here. You butchered it and kept parts of its carcass in your pack. As a creature born of flesh, is that not your own kind? Do the nations of the surface world live united in comradery and friendship?”
A chill ran down William’s spine. He’d expect a Wolven to be able to smell that on him, but not a demon. How did he know? Had he been followed? “That is not the same.”
“Isn’t it? Those below the rank of Baron are of no more intelligent or worth than an animal. You war unabashedly against other mortals. Is it so strange that one demon should strike down another, Sir William?”
“You’re awfully chatty for a demon,” William observed. “You have me at a disadvantage.”
“In more ways than one,” the monster chuckled. He placed a hand on his chest. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am Marquis Laplace.”
William leapt to retreat in a heartbeat, and in another the demon’s chakram whizzed past him, forcing him to veer to the side as it ricocheted off the wall. He had to run from this fight: system or no, this was no lesser demon, this was the Devil of Fate himself! What was he doing in De Sade’s territory?!
The human tried to make a break for it once more, starting back the way he came, only for the flying blade to cut across his path once more, forcing him to leap up. Clang clang! Once again, the weapon found itself headed straight for him. He blocked it with his shield, the spinning chakram scarring its face with a hideous metallic shriek before being deflected to the ceiling. It bounced off and soared straight back to Laplace, who raised his cane and caught it in the center.
William kicked off the wall, jumping away once more, but with the flick of his wrist the lesser god sent his weapon right back in, closing the path as it ricocheted madly along the exit route.
The hero’s mind whirled. How was he doing that? It was like the weapon had a mind of his own, cutting off every attempt at escape. Was he controlling it?
Regardless, if he couldn’t retreat, he’d have to fight. Laplace had disarmed himself. He leapt at the demon, Gram raised high. The deadly discus was still behind him, and he was closing the distance fast, but something wasn’t right. It wasn’t until he was upon him that he heard it over the: the demon was humming.
“Ecliptic Path!” he called, only to hear Laplace say the same, their voices matching in perfect harmonic resonance.
He brought Gram down in a brutal horizontal arc, its magical light trailing behind it, only to miss his mark entirely. The demon hadn’t darted out of the way, he’d only ducked the blow. William brought up his sword, aiming a thrust at the demon’s heart, only for him to pivot back on his right foot, dodging it completely. A transition to a horizontal cut did no better, as the demon leaned back, and the weapon swished a hair short of his neck.
A whirring sound came from behind, and William ducked the speeding chakram. Laplace caught it with his cane, and with the other hand he grabbed Gram by the blade. “That is a fine sword, but I fear you’ve mistaken us for our reptilian cousins,” he said. He tossed the sword aside, throwing the human off balance. “It’s rude to leave without a word, you know. If I wanted you dead, you would be.” His tone remained jovial, friendly even.
William shifted into a low guard, gritting his teeth. That entire fight was a game to the Demon Marquis. He’d been toying with him the entire time. “What do you want then?”
“Why, to give you what you came here for: information.”
“How would you know what I’m looking for?”
Laplace laughed. “Come now, Sir William, I don’t need my powers to know that. Nearly every person on, above, and beneath the Earth is wondering the same thing: what happened to the system?”
William relaxed his guard, but only slightly. “And you wouldn’t be one of them.”
He replied with a toothy grin. “The God of Fire has recently failed a campaign to the surface world, but he did take certain spoils of war. In turn, he traded a number them to the God of Cruelty. The goods in question are in transit in a nullstone carriage at the front of a caravan. You’ll be interested in the contents. Waylay it, and you’ll have your answers. Eventually.”
The paladin scoffed. “Goods, huh?” he sneered at the euphemism.
Greater demons traded like any other intelligent species. They had a penchant for using magic contracts due to their violent proclivities necessitating them, but even for them most of their transactions were mundane. Stone, metal, wood, labor, food, water, and the like. Nothing William would be interested in. No, there’s only one thing he’d be interested in that they would need a nullstone carriage for.
Laplace chuckled. “Sentients. There’s no telling what they’ll be used for in De Sade’s domain, but they will be helpful in leading you to the answers you seek.”
“And what do you get out of this?” Sir William demanded. “I take it you’re not the culprits then, but why tell me this and not simply tell me what happened to the system? If you’re trying to move against your rivals, why not do so yourself?”
The Devil shook his head. “Ah, you humans. So clever and yet so short-sighted. Always seeing the world with the notion of free will,” the demon mused. He stepped forward, towering over the mortal before leaning down to speak. “You think me a puppet master holding the controller, but we are all fate’s marionettes. I simply see its strings.
“I tell you this because I was always meant to tell you this. I never had any choice in the matter to begin with. That is fate, and those who can defy it are few and far between. And with that, I bid you farewell.”
With that, he straightened back to his full height, turned around, and walked away, disappearing into the mist. His parting words echoed through the cavern.
“Twenty-seven hours and three minutes! Back the way you came. Thirty-seventh left, eighteenth right, up one floor, forward, and the sixteenth intersection!”
And then, silence.
William stood in a relaxed guard, wrestling with his intuition for a time. It took him a day to get here. He couldn’t have time to get back and relay this to the Captain Commander.
Was he really going to do this? Just do what a Devil told him to do, and move against two more, without any orders? The very notion left a vile taste in his mouth.
But if he didn’t, he’d be going against orders to find information on the end of the system. Not only that, but he’d be leaving captives in the hands of the demons, not out of ignorance or inability, but out of petty spite. That was inexcusable.
He grit his teeth. “God damn him!” he cursed.
Vile or not, he had a job to do.
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I never understood what it is about it, but when I am having an episode of depressive anxiety it seems to curb it. I think it’s kinda of a vent for my suicidal ideations. I makes it feel like I did something about it for now, got a little closer but didn’t go there. I guess I also hate myself for pushing people away with m fear of abandonment, and I feel like everyone else hates me too, so there’s that.
I don’t think I had a good setup for validation. I feel like I keep getting shown happiness in my life for it to be yanked away at the last moment like a bill of a fishing line. I’ve been abused, invalidated, humiliated, and demeaned throughout my whole life.
I cut again and I’m gonna try to make sure no one I’m around notices because it’s so embarrassing for a 35 year old man to be doing, and even though I know it’s not for attention, I have impostor syndrome about it. I guess I am posting here, but I feel like having other people who struggle with it helps and is different in a way.
One day I’ll be able to maybe do the last great self harm and never have to worry about the pain of existing again. I don’t like to feel sorry for myself, I want to feel strong and not like a giant man child but I can’t escape the event horizon of sadness. I always feel like I should quit whining, that others have it way worse but we all know that’s not how depression works.
My wife is being cold to me by doing things a wife shouldn’t do and betraying my trust and then invalidating my requests for understanding and consideration. Then when I finally get upset and speak up for myself after her antagonizing me she says I’m the asshole for that. It feels like a form of abuse.
She’s probably gonna leave me, she likes to cover herself in tattoos and go hang out with famous musicians and tattoo artists and ignore me. She knows I’m suicidal, but her only concern is blood on her hands so I don’t think I’ll talk with her about it’s more.
I just can’t believe I thought I was safe, that someone loved me, that I had finally found shelter from the rain.
She was being particularly bad to me and I walked away to another town. She called me after I was miles and miles away alone in the dark, but she had to post a selfie on Instagram first.
I guess I’m probably terrible to be with to be fair, but if didn’t get like this until she started detaching from me
I hope my cutting gets me by so that maybe I don’t end it all, but part of me wishes I could be so brave

Hey guys!
I wanted to share this information so that people aren't going through hell to get the right answers. I live in New York.
I have Type One Diabetes and use MVP as a managed care plan. Starting in April, all pharmacy benefits go through NYRX. That means all meds, and supplies too. I have spent months trying to get supplies. MONTHS. I have been told different things depending on who I'm speaking to. It sounds like no one over at NYRX knows what needs to be said and where to send people regarding insulin pump supplies and CGM supplies.
Let me help you: Insulin pump supplies and CGM supplies can still be handled through a third party. These supplies are not supplies that can be found at local pharmacies or medical supply stores like oxygen can, for example. Some pharmacies might have them, but some may not. Which is what happened to me. This isn't something that staff can differentiate when you call. They know that some DME can be handled via a pharmacy or medical supply store but they don't realize that other DME is handled by another department all together that uses third parties like Byram Health, & Better Living Now. This department can see Prior Authorization statues, and can help you with what third party delivery services can help to get you the supplies needed.
The number is: 800-342-3005.
The woman I spoke to was extremely sweet but straight up told me what the deal was. She said that they deal with prior authorizations and can see everything needed to process claims. I have spent hours today spirling due to misinformation on Medicaid's end. I was transferred a million times. Even to the Medicaid Helpline. The woman I spoke to was no help. All I wanted to know was who handled prior auths. I was sent on a wild goose chase and was told I couldn't receive my supplies at all through any third party. It has been an absolute mess.
I'm doing this so that if anyone needs information on who to call to get the right answers when it comes to DME, the number mentioned above is the number to call. Thousands of people call and get discouraged with the answers they get. Because of this, they may not get the meds they need or DME needed. This can lead to a chronically ill person giving up. I can't bear to think of anyone giving up. I know its easy to....but please know that this little nugget of info changed my mental state from giving up to I got this.
KEEP FIGHTING!

From the day you learn about the truth, God is with you whenever you face Him in prayer.
The deeper your journey with God is, the stronger His Spirit moves within you. If you've walked a lifetime with God, you are blessed because God is your comfort and your assurance when you struggle. Spiritually we see when the Holy Spirit is present. You learn to trust Him when you struggle. You learn to face darkness without hesitation.
We keep walking this path with God because what God has done for us is undeniable. We are alive again!
In time, our relationship with God becomes so personal that nothing can shake it from the outside, because God comes to make a home within us. We become living temples, for the living Spirit of God. A perfect match! Not temples of brick and mortar. Temples of love, warmth and light; Alive!
His light is rooted through the dark chambers of our past. Like empty hallways, lit up by the light of God. All from that initial taste of life and everlasting love, that we know through Jesus as our saviour. We look back on this journey with Jesus in our life, and it's how we know.
I believe that God speaks to us all personally. It often begins with a feeling. Finer than that of an emotion. A sense of God. He is there. Directly speaking to who we are on the inside. God will show you what you need to know. We need to live in a direct relationship with God. This way, the truth lives in us. There is no struggle for power, or knowledge, or a fight for anything at all, because God gives it freely in Jesus. We trust His will. At the core of what we believe. Beyond our perception and understanding. Beyond all the shapes and shades, there lives a light too pure for us to understand. We witness the beauty and are in awe of God's creation and how magnificent it is that we are the crown of His creation!
The enemy portrays a dead image. The enemy's ways are a guessing game, because it is void of the Spirit of God. Lost in darkness. Enslaved in desperation, doubt, and fear.
We are alive in the living image of God, fulfilled and present in life, in the Holy Spirit! God will always be the same. God has layed out a life of choice for all of us. So big is His mercy! He writes your story, and you get to write it along with Him! How great is that? God is writing you a story and you get to tell it yourself, in the flesh!
He's holding the pen and we're whispering in His ear like small children, through our prayers and our hearts, from the remnants of our own wonderful dreams. He hears us and sees us in His heart, smiles, and then writes us into the light of His story, into His perfect love!
God's Spirit and will is so beautiful, that we are free to choose. His perfect law encapsulates everything we could possibly imagine. Wherever we might be. We get to choose, and He blesses us as a result. We don't need to defend it, God can do all of it Himself. He might still choose us for His will! If God chose you, would you be willing to submit to Him as King forever? To bow before God is the best place to be in Spirit. It feels amazing to bow before God in all that I am, and to feel His love!
Put a little time aside today to do something that brings you joy. The joy you remember from your childhood. Joy can be found in the smallest of things. I believe that God appreciates the joy we express. Joy brings us hope! Remember to be present in your life, and to live honestly in your relationship towards God.

First, allow me to say THANK YOU to all those commenting, responding, sharing your experiences and otherwise sending good wishes and wonderful vibes. I had no idea I would stike such a nerve with so many and the response has been overwhelming to say the least! Sharing my experiences here has been very therapuetic and I truly do appreciate the comments- I love the online community and there is indeed support to be found here.
Having said that, I'm also absolutely terrified! I'm not an eloquent speaker (or writer) by any stretch, and I fear that the ensuing continuation of my experience this past Sunday may be a let-down for some folks. I'm not trying to rack-up likes or faves or blue checkmarks or whatever the heck makes things work as they do on these social media sites. I tend to really ramble and sometimes my words and thoughts get the better of me, so my apologies if Part 2 isn't up to par. I'll do my best to stay focused as I write this but it may be a bit long.
Second, I really do love my Bishop and I'm not trying to paint him in any particular negative light because he really is a great guy and I consider him a friend. He is STRUGGLING to do what he thinks is right, in the name of Deity, out of a higher sense of purpose, to truly help when and where he can, with impossible mandates/expectations from higher leadership and all the while sacrificing his time and even his family to do it. He is a YES man through and through but I find NO PLEASURE watching someone devote so much and then on top of that have to deal with his own problems/anxieties/issues. And you should see the guy that's been his First Counselor the last few months! NO ONE should have to put up with that guy either! He really is a good guy, in fact all of our local leaders are fantastic people. I do think our ward and stake won Leadership Roulette with our Bishop and our Stake President, but alas, sometimes even they cannot see the forest for the trees, thus my posting this. I just wish I could've done more. So here goes..
So immediately following our Bishopric meeting this past Sunday, Bishop hurriedly dragged me into the Clerk's office to question me. I was admittedly nervous, but also thinking how long it would take before word-of-mouth spread to the rest of the ward. I have a vivid imagination and as I walked into the clerk's office, I was imagining the other members of the Bishopric texting their wives "Honey! You'll never guess what happened in Bishopric Meeting today!!" So I had a stupid grin as the Bishop began to question me. He simply asked what was up and I told him that I was going through quite a lot right now, and, of all the problems I was having that were BEYOND my control, my calling as First Counselor was something I COULD control. He asked me if there was any one particular reason why I thought I couldn't handle my calling and I told him there were several:
- I told him that our ward wasn't growing and that this was evident to me for several reasons (this becomes a very interesting if not humorous point in Part 3). Of all the units that meet in our building, ours is the only one that CLOSES the curtains to the overflow for our Sacrament Meetings. That Sacrament attendance has been steady if not in a slow decline for the last 2 years since they split our ward, and there is a clear dearth in leadership as a result. They gutted our ward and gerrymandered the boundaries just to create one additional unit. I've harped to him about this before because while we gave up half our active members and priesthood holders to 3 other units, we gained nothing but hundreds of inactive members on our roster while almost tripling the size of our ward boundaries. I mention this point specifically because it comes into play later. High Priests in our ward are few in number and finding such to fill leadership positions is a futile endeavor. This lack of priesthood holders, I think, is leading to some very desperate callings being made. Got any evidence Bro. Peabody? Yep: my very own calling. I reminded the Bishop that the Lord didn't call me, but HE did, simply out of desperation. And once Bishop realized I was having my own faith crisis, questioning so much about the church and having real serious issues about the organization HE STILL OFFERED ME THE CALLING. If that's not desperation I don't know what is.
- We average about 120 members or so attending Sacrament each week and that hasn't changed really since the Pandemic. So it's the SAME families each and every week, and yeah, the dread when I approach them to speak/pray is clearly evident. I told the Bishop I am tired of calling upon the "SAME TEN PEOPLE" each and every week.
- I have NEVER been trained as a counselor (was previously on the HC), will NEVER be trained as a counselor, and the calling as I understood it has drastically changed since I last served in a Bishopric in the mid 2000s. And the Handbook of Instructions is of NO HELP in this regard. The stake doesn't see fit to train us either and the SP and his counselors will be released this October so I doubt anything is coming down the Pike training-wise in the months ahead.
- I told Bishop that I have more than enough "duties" in my calling that I will NEVER complete/finish because the higher ups seem to think I live for this. I reminded him that while Church has been an important part of my life, Church IS NOT MY LIFE. I also reminded him that before I was set apart that I wasn't available for most of what HE thought I was responsible for, and that I was NOT the solution to his manpoweleadership problems. I agreed to do what I could, when I could but handling the Youth and supervising the Young Men were not my problem. I was trained my entire life in the Church to be a Scout Leader, and since the Church dumped the Scouting Program and all the good that went with it, I have no idea what this new youth program is about or what I am to be doing with it (see previous point about lack of training). When he reminded me that Young Men was part of my responsibilities, I reminded him once again what I agreed to before I was set apart. (I've posted this before, but it seems appropriate to again share this example of me pointing out the absurdity of some Church Leadership Decisions: Bishop was giving me the what for about how I was supposed to be doing X/Y/Z with the Young Men as part of my calling, and I told him "What you need Bishop, is to call a Young Men's President." [Very Long Pause] I continue in a very sarcastic voice while rolling my eyes- "Oh, yeah, that's right, Jesus told his One True Prophet to do away with that calling. I wonder why Jesus would do that?" If looks could kill, but he knew I was right, so I told him "Be that as it may, you CAN still call someone to do that calling, just don't call it YM President" and that's exactly what he did and the guy he called to do it is PERFECT for that role.)
- He asked me about what I would do to retain my relationship with God and Christ, and I told him it will be just like old times- that my family was left to our own selves during the Pandemic and we never felt closer to our Redeemer or Heavenly Father than during that time. Turns out Church needs us more than we need Church, and as for continuing that relationship, my faith is now on me, and will be more real than at any other time in my life, because it will be a faith through action, not just to put checkmarks into little boxes, or pass a quiz to gain entrance into an expensive white building.
- My faith crisis never went away. I may be more "mellow" as he puts it, but my life is way more chaotic then it was a few months ago. I don't sleep well, I have anxiety, I'm sure depression is part of that mix and my relationship with my wife isn't exactly the Cleaver Family ideal. Some of the things we talk about in Ward Council HAUNT ME. I mean it. I have actual nightmares about it. These are real people with real problems needing real help being discussed by people who aren't trained in such matters inviting themselves into other's problems with no real solutions and then patting themselves on the back for all the good they thought they did. WARNING: relevant true story coming. The sister missionaries in our ward were teaching a young unmarried couple. The young woman, an unemployed mother of 3 I think, really wanted to get baptized. The young man was a college student, owned the only car they had, and it obviously was a relationship of convenience. I think he had a part-time job while also trying to go to school so he was the only bread-winner of their little family. The problem of course is that this couple was COHABITATING. Gasp! They're living together, unmarried, in sin! The Sisters were advising her that in order to qualify for baptism, she would either have to marry the guy or leave him and they were leaning heavily that she should leave him. So the discussion in Ward Council was along the lines of how they could somehow convince her that this guy was nothing but trouble and she could do better, and that since they were having issues in their relationship, leaving him wasn't so bad. And right in the middle of that, in the midst of some levity of the moment I asked- "so how many kids does this mom have?" Sister missionary: 3. "And how old is the youngest?" An infant, maybe a few months old. "And who is the father of the youngest child?" This guy, the college student. And suddenly the room got very quiet. I looked at the Bishop and I said, "how does this work? In order for this young woman to be baptised, she has to leave the father of her youngest child. That poor baby will literally be orphaned from their father just so their mom can join the Church?! Where is Jesus' love in that?! And worse, since this would be a convert baptism, it falls not under the Bishop, but the local mission, so a 20 year-old Elder who has NO time invested with this woman would be making that decision, NOT the Sisters who have been working with the family. And that Elder would be looking to boost their baptism numbers at all costs, the needs of the infant to have a father in the home be damned! So she leaves the father, gets baptised and loses her only means of financial support and now it will be left up to the Church to take care of her?!" There was no more laughing in Ward Council. There were no smiles. Slowly the stupidity of the process was crossing their minds and the Sisters were slowly coming to the realization that they were breaking up a family just so one person could be baptized and a +1 added to their stats. THAT ONE CASE in Ward Council kept me up at night for the next several days, so yes, it truly HAUNTED me. Why did an infant child have to lose their real father just because their parents weren't married and the mom wanted to be baptized? It also pissed me off that I was the only idiot in the room to question the situation and what possible future outcomes could result for that child. I would like to say there was a happy ending, but, like so many other Ward Council outcomes, it will be taken up at the next meeting.
- I accepted the call more as a means of payment-in-kind for all those great and wonderful church leaders I had while in my youth, because our ward HURTS desperately for such leadership. You know, giving back and all that Jazz. And not just accept the calling but to do so knowing full well all of the problems and issues with the larger organization. I couldn't think of a better analogy but I asked Bishop if he ever believed in Santa Claus. He said he thinks he did, but it was too long ago. Did you ever write letters to Santa? Maybe. Well for me the Church is like Santa Claus. How did you feel when you realized that Santa Claus wasn't real? Multiply that horrible feeling times 250 billion (thanks Ensign Peak Advisors!) and that's where I am faith-wise. No amount of believing can bring Santa back to me, but I'm still a huge fan of Christmas- I like the smells, the food, the lights, the feelings. So I may not believe in Santa anymore, but I can still be a good elf and serve the cause of Christmas right? Mormon means "more good" and that's why I accepted the call. Bishop knew my baggage before I accepted so he was truly impressed I held it together for as long as I did, but neither of us were surprised.
- I told him I have even more issues with the Church then ever before. When my non-member neighbors, my non-member friends and my non-member co-workers are doing MORE in my community than my church, I have issues with that. When other churches in my community, with paltry resources compared to Mormon Inc., are doing more to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless and visit those in prison than my church, I have issues with that. It's never been more plain to me what Jesus taught, and what we as a church should be doing yet WE ARE NOT. I was a Stake Auditor and I know exactly what our stake spent in this community last year ($25,591.82 for a city of 270K+). I told Bishop that I would be supporting those organizations in my community with both my time and money that at least are doing things to help people here. [That dollar amount is exact for the entire year of 2022 for ALL expenditures in our Stake. So that includes re-imbursements, YW's Camp as well as all Fast Offering expenditures to help those in need. So subtract the re-imbursements and other costs and you quickly see that even LESS was spent in our stake for the poor and needy than the paltry $25Kand change would suggest.]
- He asked if I wanted to be "left alone" and what future church involvement might be and I said I wasn't sure. My wife, who has been quite content not attending church, mentioned to me recently she might want to resume attending. I told Bishop we're not asking to have our names removed, and if nothing else, we're here and available for others who will soon be questioning their faith and perhaps can be supportive about that. I got a blank double-blink from him on that one!
He asked me if he could call the Stake President, which seemed silly to me. Of course! He's gonna find out sooner or later and probably needs to know! Our SP is currently in Europe and I cannot wait to hear from/visit with him about this. I spent about 12 minutes alone with the Bishop by which time other members of the Ward Council had arrived and then we headed into our next meeting. Now I really do love my Bishop and he's the one I feel most sorry for. He has shared with me some of the issues his own family is dealing with and I remind him constantly that HIS top priority is HIS family. And I feel for the 2nd counselor too. I love these men, they are great people yet they cannot see the forest for the trees sometimes. However, the best part for me about church Sunday, and maybe even with some schadenfreude added too, came during Sacrament meeting...
- End of Part 2 -

Hi all it would be very helpful if I could get some advice or explanation for this. Am I eligible to get descriptor D for Activity 9?
My therapist has said that I am not to be left alone because it’s detrimental to my health. My mum needs to make me go out and show how to speak with others. This isn’t working, I’m refusing to go out now. When I did go out with my mum I would refuse to speak to people or socialise because I believed they were talking about me or laughing at me. I get angry towards my mum and everyone around me because I feel so upset and horrible and inferior to everyone and I get thoughts about self harm.
I get so much bad thoughts I can’t handle. I’ve tried multiple therapies and all of them have failed. I’m on a waiting list to see a psychiatrist and hopefully get therapy that will last a year from the community team but in the meantime I’m just being told to ignore or distract myself from my thoughts.

It recently occurred to me that I’m not the best with eye contact when it requires thinking. It’s not that I’m not confident or struggle with it from nerves or intimacy, but often when I’m at work or on dates and am trying to choose my words and formulate thoughts, I need to look elsewhere. I’m usually looking off to my right side and up but I end up speaking while thinking so I formulate what I want to say which comes at the price of eye contact. I look back between speaking or a good amount while listening, but it’s very hard for me to think deeply and carefully while offering eye contact. I noticed this habit since I noticed how deeply intimate it felt if I maintained eye contact for longer than I normally do.
I think this is hurting me most in my romantic life, as I work remotely and it’s less problematic at the moment, but it was brought to my attention and I can’t help but feel others notice.

https://comicbook.com/starwars/news/star-wars-james-mangold-dawn-first-jedi-movie-story-explained/
James Mangold: “It’s a chance to tell the entire story of its own, the birth of the force[...]When I first talked to Kathy Kennedy about it, I just said, ‘I just see this opening to make kind of a ‘Ben-Hur’ or ‘The 10 Commandments’ about the birth of the force.’ The force has become a kind of religious legend that spans through all these movies. But where did it come from? How is it found? Who found it? Who was the first Jedi? And that’s what I’m writing right now.”
This is Matt Reeves talking abour War For The Planet Of The Apes:
https://www.vox.com/summer-movies/2017/7/13/15955878/review-war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-bible-moses-exodus
Matt Reeves: “We watched Bridge on the River Kwai,” Reeves told the magazine. “We watched The Great Escape. We watched Biblical epics, because I really felt like this movie had to have a Biblical aspect to it. We watched Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments ... When you surround yourself with something that feels emotionally right, there are connections that make sense to you that somebody else might not see.”
The Bible. Ben-Hur. Ten Commandments. Same thing. So maybe the Dawn Of The Jedi film will resemble the Ape trilogy in some ways.
In fact, and since Matt Reeves and Abrams are close friends, maybe the Bible idea was already there during the development of the ST.
After all, and according to Lucas c.1975, the first jedi were the grandchildren of 'the Holy man named Skywalker' and his 12 children, which sounds like Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel. Coincidentally or not, there are 12 seats in the jedi council, and 11 jedi voices in TROS...and then we see Leia at the end.
Also, Luke and his dozen students. (Wasn't Boyega's character in Attack The Block named Moses, by the way?)
We'll see. Just as those apes were a new species, and also a nation, you could consider the jedi to have been the same thing. Those apes awakened and went to war, and maybe the same thing happened to the jedi.
Maybe the first jedi, or those who would become the first jedi, were much more violent than 'our' jedi. Violent in the way those apes -including Caesar- were violent, not in the sith way of being violent (That's more Koba than Caesar)
'Ape shall not kill Ape'. That's a Commandmment. Dawn of the Apes.
Will 'jedi shall not kill jedi' be a Commandment in Dawn of the Jedi? In the ape film, Koba was expelled from the order, so to speak. 'You are no Ape'. But he obviously was. Ape killed Ape.
Maybe the same thing will happen in the jedi film. Everything comes at a cost. And SW films are usually open-ended; there are always ugly, unresolved things hidden behind the dawn.

I think this thread shows the overwhelming dissatisfaction that men have with patriarchal norms:
https://www.reddit.com/AskMen/comments/1425itd/why_do_men_usually_struggle_more_with_speaking/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Beyond identifying the problem, I'm interested in what you think the solutions are? How can men and women take action in their individual lives?

Hey! So, I'm planning an Interrail trip since I was one of the "#DiscoverEU" winners this spring. I'm planning on using the ticket next year, probably in July, since I can use the pass until September of 2024 and that would give me more time to save up money for the trip.
I came up with a plan that I think sounds pretty fun, though of course it's just the first draft, and might have plenty of things that are just absolutely crazy. There is little from the Balkans in there, which is a shame, but I also feel like there is a good variety of places to stay in culturally speaking.
Here's the plan. Tell me what you think of it, whether it's feasible, what blunders I'm doing...you know the drill. Three locations would be locations I'll spend a matter of hours in, namely Krakow, Graz, and Hamburg, in order to make as much of the pass as possible. I've recently had an experience speedrunning a small city (Braga, Portugal) which was pretty pleasant, and even though I'm sure it was not complete, it felt worthwhile nonetheless. But I digress.
The trip would last for a month, and out of my calculations, with some frugal spending, I could make it happen for around 1800€ (again, tell me what you think of my budget prediction, considering the cities I'm visiting, several of which are fairly cheap in my view). Unless specified otherwise, the trip is taken by train, and thus takes one of my travel days.

Day 1:
Amsterdam, Netherlands -> (flight, 2.5 hours, late morning)
Helsinki, Finland
Day 2:
Helsinki, Finland
Day 3:
Helsinki, Finland
Day 4:
Helsinki, Finland -> (ferry, 2 hours, late afternoon)
Tallinn, Estonia
Day 5:
Tallinn, Estonia -> (bus, 8.5 hours, night)
Vilnius, Lithuania (from D6)
Day 6:
Vilnius, Lithuania
Day 7:
Vilnius, Lithuania -> (8 hours, early afternoon - evening) [6/7]
Warsaw, Poland
Day 8:
Warsaw, Poland
Day 9:
Warsaw, Poland
Day 10:
Warsaw, Poland
Day 11:
Warsaw, Poland -> (3 hours, early morning)
Krakow, Poland -> (6.5 hours, mid/late afternoon to evening) [5/7]
Vienna, Austria
Day 12:
Vienna, Austria
Day 13:
Vienna, Austria
Day 14:
Vienna, Austria -> (2.5 hours, early morning)
Graz, Austria -> (3.5 hours, late afternoon) [4/7]
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Day 15:
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Day 16:
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Day 17:
Ljubljana, Slovenia -> (6 hours, morning to early afternoon) [3/7]
Venice, Italy
Day 18:
Venice, Italy
Day 19:
Venice, Italy -> (11 hours, night) [2/7]
Munich, Germany (from D20)
Day 20:
Munich, Germany
Day 21:
Munich, Germany
Day 22:
Munich, Germany -> (5.5 hours, early-late afternoon) [1/7]
Prague, Czechia
Day 23:
Prague, Czechia
Day 24:
Prague, Czechia
Day 25:
Prague, Czechia -> (bus, 5 hours, late morning to mid-afternoon)
Berlin, Germany
Day 26:
Berlin. Germany
Day 27:
Berlin. Germany
Day 28:
Berlin. Germany - > (2 hours, morning)
Hamburg, Germany -> (7 hours, during night) [0/7]
Copenhagen, Denmark
Day 29:
Copenhagen, Denmark
Day 30:
Copenhagen, Denmark
Day 31:
Copenhagen, Denmark -> (flight, 1.5 hours, late afternoon)
Amsterdam, Nethelands
(nee, ik ben niet van Nederland - i'm just going to study there starting this year!)

My wife and I have been together about 12 years, married for 8. We have had an "open" marriage from the beginning and it worked well for awhile. However, at some point it began to become toxic primarily because of some unresolved sex and porn addiction issues on my end that became a coping mechanism for the tremendous amount of stress we have had (medical school for her and a demanding career for me, a toxic work environment, and two kids). In addition to diving into porn and sexual fantasy, I let my personal health slip and struggled with impulsive spending and hoarding. These issues were always present but magnified as our life stresses increased. The sex addiction began to impact our social relationships and I remained oblivious to all of this. Finally, at some point, my wife had little sexual interest in me. We talked about therapy frequently, but we both put it off due to time and money and my inability to see just how bad it was needed and her inability to convey that I was in need of help. A year and a half ago she started dating a guy and I could tell it was getting very emotional, which was crossing our "open marriage" boundaries. I conveyed that I was uncomfortable with the relationship and she lashed out that it was the only thing that made her happy. She asked if I wanted her to end it (clearly to me, I did), but I told her I did not want to be responsible for taking away something that made her happy and I had made my feelings clear. A few weeks ago, she told me she is considering divorce. She initially said it was because of the financial and health issues coupled with no longer being happy without feeling guilty about her boyfriend. She then opened up about the role her bf had played in supporting her during our difficult marriage. She also told me that after speaking with her new therapist that she believes I have sexually assaulted her through coercion and manipulation (she has a lot of guilt in general and in this case, a false sense of needing to be a "good Catholic wife" and what she thought was her obligagltion) on several occasions. She now says that the pain from that is too great and she is not sure she can forgive me. I asked her to break up with her bf while we figure things out. He picked her up and they went to talk and she said she broke up with him. I later found out she was still texting him at work and they were talking on the phone on her way home. I also found out the night they "broke up" that they had made some sort of plan that keeps coming up. I confronted her and she called him on speaker to break up. This time it seemed to be at least real for as long as we are sorting things out, but they have exchanged some texts once since then (1 week ago). We are starting Discernment Therapy and I want to keep the marriage together. I think with individual and couples therapy we can heal and move forward. I feel this is best for us, but more importantly for our 2 young children, but I worry that over the last year, her bf has used our struggles and stresses to play the hero and manipulate the situation in his favor. Now she seems to think these "new love" feelings for him would be lasting and she does not seem able to look at his flaws and consider how they could be a problem in 5+ years. She also does not seem to consider that she has put him on a pedestal, but only spent a few hours with him a week with the occasional weekend when I take the kids to our parents without her (I was unaware that's what she was doing and they tried to hide it). She then compares me to him, but I am the one navigating her anxiety and depression constantly and living the stresses of our careers and caring for our children constantly. I have grown bitter about her relationship and that probably shows. She has become very focused on herself (not all bad), but specifically working with her therapist on "Being happy without feeling guilty". She has always been selfless and family focused, but that has shifted during the relationship with her recent bf. We are starting Discernment Therapy, but I have no idea if she truly wants to figure it out or if she has already made up her mind and is just doing this to appease our Caholic families (who do not know about any of the open marriage or her recent relationship). I am very lost and looking for any helpful advice or resources (already starting individual therapy for myself).

Hello everyone! I'll be starting as a PhD student in ECE this fall. I've been speaking to a few others who've been admitted to other programs, and some of them seem to have diagnostic tests that they have to take to decide which courses they need to register for in their first semester. Most of the people I've heard talking about this are chemistry majors. Is this a common thing across all fields or is it something that's specific to chemistry and/or biology? I haven't received information about anything of this sort from my university, but just wanted to make sure it's not a standard thing in U.S. grad programs. Thanks in advance!

Something that you should know is that a lot of the NatSec reporters depend of their DOD contacts for insights, leaks, stories, etc. All that not about UFOs but about topics that people are not freaked out about or embarrassed to discuss. DOD has some of these reporters by the proverbial balls. So if they dont want them talking about it, they strike a deal and tell them to shut up and will give them something else in exchange. This is how it works.
I speak from experience.
Does that mean this wont get picked up? No. So far NewsNation, Fox, Newsweek and Daily Beast have picked up the story. But not the high brow publications. It will take time but this is going to happen. And by time, I dont mean ten years...way sooner.

My wife and i make 90k combined per year. We currently have 50k in savings and we are due to move out from our current place to my in-laws soon due to unforseen circumstances which will enable us to save an extra 12k in the next 3 months. 3 months to figure out our shit. We have the option to rent or buy.
She will be able to increase her earnings significantly next year as well.
Now the issue we are facing is that we were thinking of moving countries in 2 years where we both going to earn way more than we do here (specially her). Thinking about renting the place when we decide to move as a btl.
We are trying to weigh our options. rental for the next 2 years which will cost us around 60k(1500pcmx24 + bills and shit) or buying. We are not super real estate/ number savvy.
Who can we speak to? Anyone in a similar situation?