Doing this on a throw away account cuz, it’s sad…
Just a warning this is my whole life, so kind of a long story. I didn’t think I’d need Reddit to vent my life out but I feel like it’ll help. TLDR at end.
So for backstory, we’re a Filipino family. I’m the oldest of 4. My moms abusive, and my dad just rides along (he’s scared of her, too) Mom got her abusive/stand offish mind set from my grandma.. and I assume from past mothers and so on… and my dad being away. (He can’t be home with us, but helps pay with bills and rent) so I know my moms been through devastating events. Probably making her this way… I grew up with her being standoffish for all our lives. Of course, she sacrifices for us to live an (almost) decent life. I say that because there was a time she didn’t want to take care of my littlest sister, and my aunt was furious about it. But it hasn’t happened since… she’s been “nice” for the most of our days…
“Nice” as in… as long as we left her alone, there won’t be a fight. My aunts have had fights with my mom and it was always my mom being in the wrong, being stubborn and acts like we’re against her. (Mostly, we’re reasonable and trying to tell her the truth that she can’t see or doesn’t want to face…)
So fast forward to me having a boyfriend. My mom starts looking for a new chance at a home. Me, thinking in my head “If we get a home, my mom will finally be happy and won’t be so mean or cold hearted to us, if I help pay rent, since her whole life she’s been doing it all herself.” We agreed on a lease of a new home. We haven’t had a real home in around a decade, been hopping from apartments to apartments. I got a full time job (thanks to my bf giving me confidence) and I wanted to help pay back my mom for all the things she sacrificed for us. (my names on lease but my bf isn’t, he does help me pay as an in law) and several months go by (it’s been good, staying with my bf, and trying not to get my mom angry) until one day, our bathroom was filling with gunk. My bf and I: angry, and pissed we can’t shower or shit, so I talked to my mom telling her to get the plumber from the landlord… she calls the plumber and will come “tomorrow” (two days ago) From this talk, I ask her “The landlord will pay for this, right?” We can’t afford a huge maintenance like this.” She gets mad saying “No, he’s probably going to make me pay, like the sink.” I was so mad she had to pay. She says she can’t afford it, obviously us either. I said “This isn’t even our fault! His plumbing system sucks! We barely get water when I flush the toilet and we JUST forced him to replace the water heater cuz it’s been broken!” She goes “Well I want to be on the good side of the landlord, he can kick us out! I’ve been late on rent since I lost my job and he’s been nice to us!” (Which is bull shit, cuz he just wants money, it is nice he’s ok with late rent, but an unlivable house is unlawful) I was so furious, I told my bf the situation and he says “So what, we won’t get this fixed???!?” I said “No, it has to be done, I’m worried it’ll come out of our pockets.” He says “Your moms a pussy for bending over getting fucked by a capitalist asshole.” He’s very punk and hates the government kind of guy.
So, he goes up and tells her “You shouldn’t be paying for this issue. This is a main pipeline issue. This will cost thousands of dollars and it’s the landlords responsibility.” (His father has done plumbing and says it’s definitely a pipe issue, wont be our fault.) She goes on saying the landlord will force us to pay… we were trying to tell her it can’t come out of our pockets, I can’t afford it, none of us can, but she’s already pissed (saying she’s been behind rent cuz she lost her job, and the landlord been lenient, and nice, but that doesn’t justify a FUCKING BROKEN WATER PIPE) at this point, its done, she’s mad and nothing will stop her from being unreasonable and mean, and yelling at my bf to get out of the house or she’ll call the cops. So with him being a rebellious guy, got mad at her too. So now, my boyfriend finally sees what we deal with when she gets like this. I think deep in my mind , I wanted him to tell her, I wanted him fight for what’s right… but I guess my mom hasn’t changed at all… He was astonished and decided to leave, saying “I didnt know her mental state was this bad.” He asks me to leave with him. I tell him I can’t I’m stuck here with my job, I’m trying to pay off debt. I ask him to stay until I can pay off my debt and we can save more to leave. But he doesn’t want to stay any longer with seeing my moms real colors.
He’s worried about me and obviously our safety but I told him, I’ll move out if I find a better job out there. He wants to be with me, but he’s scared my mom won’t want him in the house at all… this all happened to fast.. we were planning to leave after saving up money, but this is it. He sees for how my mom really is and doesn’t want us to deal with that again. He has to leave anyways to go back home for a wedding for five days.. but now he says he’ll stay away for a whole month cuz he says he’s getting mental therapy, to help with his anger.
I’m now alone without him, I just hoped that now we have a home, my mom wouldn’t be such a cold hearted being.. but I was wrong. I’m worried about my siblings, but they’ve been keeping away from my moms anger.. I want them to move out with me if my bf and I could. Maybe one day.
Maybe my mom has some remorse or doesn’t with how cold hearted she is. My aunt talked to my mom saying he can come back maybe when he gets back from the wedding, but it wouldn’t be the same…
I need to talk to my mom soon and see if I can sort this out… just until I can leave.
Also, the plumber came in yesturday saying this is definitely a pipe issue, not a clogging issue caused by us. Our storage room was flooding with gunk :( they have to remove the walls and my toilet to fix it. Saying it’ll take a day… and the landlord is definitely paying… so this fight was all for nothing… and it’s my birthday this month :(
TLDR: My mom has mental issues and kicked my bf out of the house because of a small issue that we don’t want my mom to pay for, but she wants to cuz she doesn’t want to get on the bad side of the landlord.

Been on Wegovy for a while now. At 1.7 dose. The problem is the primary care doctor, who really is a good doctor in general, is worried a lot about Wegovy. He doesn't really want to go up to 2.4. He also worries the medicine could cause hypoglycemia. Plus, he thinks it is good to get off it as soon as possible. To stay on a maintenance dose, he wants an endocrinologist to be the one prescribing it as he is just too worried about it and the long term effects.
Have had lots of medical issues, which made losing weight, especially internal abdominal fat, a critical issue. Since taking these medicines, weight is down, glucose and A1C is normal - was right on border of diabetic, bp better, all the blood work is much better, and really almost no side effects. Still need to get rid of more internal fat but this all is great. The Wegovy is a lot less likely to kill or cause issues than the things it has made better - which would probably be deadly in time otherwise.
So staying on Wegovy seems a good idea. Before Wegovy was trying to exercise and restricted diet - though healthy. Just nothing was working. Could also be related to medication required to take for other reasons. But regardless, Wegovy worked and still works.
Everything (that seems legitimate) available to read on Wegovy makes staying on a maintainance dose seem to be a good idea. I think my doctor seriously thinks you won't stop losing on a maintenance dose and will loose too much weight.
Anyway, need to find a doctor that understands Wegovy, what positive things it has done and would be supportive. Already checked with one that had an weight loss clinic as part of practice. But turns out that doctor just wanted to sell their own program and semaglutide wasn't a good idea to them. So time and effort wasted. Can't seem to get a straight answer just calling an office and asking general questions.
So, the TLDR version of all this is need to find a doctor (endocrinologist) in North West Georgia (like Kennesaw, Marietta, Acworth) that is supportive of Wegovy use and hopefully also long term use. Realize it is a long shot, but maybe someone here may be able to recommend or suggest a doctor? Or is there somewhere people maybe recommend doctors for Wegovy? If there is something, just haven't found it. So any help or ideas would be great. Otherwise, will just keep checking doctors.
Wegovy is being a literal lifesaver. Nothing else was helping no matter what was tried. Yes, if waited much longer, would have been officially diabetic and then Ozempic. And if taken off Wegovy later, may still happen. But it is not only weight, but all the other conditions this has helped get better, that also make Wegovy a blessing for me. I just need to find a good doctor to keep on it.
Amy suggestions or advice would be great. And sorry for the long read.

Civil Servant:
The last remaining zone governor from the previous regime, with the other original governors having either called in favors to leave, or been otherwise... retired.
While not being a particularly remarkable governor by developed country standards, the Civil Servant distinguished himself as one of the few in a position of power that simply could not be bought. When the Coalition needed an honest man to help kickstart their interim governor program, they looked no further than someone who could help ease the population into it.
While many choose to criticize him for being "plain vanilla", his years of diplomatic experience have come in handy more than his detractors would like to admit.
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Economist:
The new transitional government, still clinging to some of the ways of the old regime, would never let a woman be in charge... That is if they didn't reluctantly admit that the Economist is one of the best "bean counters" left in the nation. While working to an annual salary doesn't interest most people in the new regime, the Economist relishes having the freedom to respond to issues on a long term scale. Short term, however, she has shown a potential tendency to cause problems for the market. If the "fondue incident" from a few years before the war is any indication, she may also have some inclination towards corruption.
Suitors who have tried to woo her have found themselves perplexed that she enjoys charts and data points more than walks on the beach.
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General:
Not just a general, but his long and distinguished service in the National Army has proven that he is in fact *The* General that everyone in the nation thinks of when they think of a general. Most everyone who called him by any other name is long gone, cementing him only going by the name General. His military solutions, while not typically being suitable for civilian matters, have led to some major victories in his time. Rumors abound that the General was the main reason that the Coalition invasion ended in victory. While they might have something to say about that, they admit that he is exactly where he needs to be.
Civilian matters have been made more expensive under his governorship, due to his insistence on everything being made and done to strict military standards, right down to the toilet seats.
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Banker:
An international businesswoman who has seen a chance to bring a more modernist banking system to this impoverished country. While she sometimes partners with the Economist, she generally prefers to make her money by business deals, investments, and loans to the citizens of the nation that are just trying to make a living. Being less inclined to handle collections herself, she packages the loans into a debt securities and sells access to them.
Several local and small businesses have shown great growth under her wing, although her striking resemblance to a banker that fled a Coalition nation during the 2008 financial crash has given some within the Coalition's ranks concerns about allowing her to be a governor.
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Smuggler:
A big player in the "surplus weapons" market, the Smuggler has made himself indispensable by being the guy the Coalition calls when they need to supply "tools" and "foodstuffs" to those they cannot be seen supplying. Unfortunately, a chance run in with international law enforcement led to a scandal that spread too quick for the Coalition to censor and cover up. As senators were calling for his head while crapping into their soy cappuccinos, special operations units in the Coalition shuffled him off to prison in the last country he visited... which by amazing coincidence just happened to be this one. Within a jail cell that looks a lot like a governor's office, the Smuggler makes calls on encrypted telephone lines to get stuff done. And while the Coalition has repeatedly claimed that he is retired, shipments of weapons meant for National soldiers have allegedly gone missing.
In his spare time he enjoys Cuban cigars, rare weapons, and burying old competitors.
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Warlord:
Ruthless, abusive, and number 4 on the Smuggler's speed dial. When loyalists to the old regime recaptured an area the Coalition made a big show about capturing, they needed someone to go take it back under the table. The Smuggler responded by saying "I know a guy... He's one of the best in his business here, but you're not going to like him." As far as the Warlord is concerned, he's doing his business partner a favor by helping drum up business, and doesn't actually know that he's doing the Coalition's dirty work. While he is officially on the Coalition's kill/capture list, their drone operators can never seem to find a good location for him... just bad luck, right?
Despite his abusive nature, he has been shown to have a soft spot for members of his militia going through hardships, almost treating them like family at times. When a rival warlord kidnapped one of his men's daughter, he personally led a strike to rescue her, and vowed to "make wallets out of every single one of those motherf- ...Oh, sorry sweetie... Let's get you home to daddy."
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Tank Commander:
While the Tank Commander is officially under The General's command, due to a technicality in how different sections of the National Army operate, he actually has no control over him. A fact that the Commander never fails to bring up. He was one of the loyalists during his invasion, with his tank crews giving the Coalition's tank crews major challenges, something few other National units had been able to do. While he initially refused to join the Coalition's efforts after the old regime was deposed, he ended up meeting with an experienced Coalition Tank Commander. After way too many beers and a night of sharing stories, the Tank Commander agreed to be a governor, on the condition that his sole Coalition contact be his counterpart Tank Commander.
Recently, The General attempted to reason with the Tank Commander regarding the higher gas prices and destroyed roads wherever the tanks were deployed. Civilian onlookers heard the Commander shout "I CAN'T HEAR YOU, THE ENGINE IS TOO LOUD!" followed by The General throwing up his hands and storming off, clearly frustrated.
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Development Director:
When the Coalition military realized that they were going to have to rebuild the nation if they wanted to win the hearts and minds of the population, they decided to throw money at the problem by hiring a well known international reconstruction company. The development director sent by Atlas Corporation wasted no time deploying a team of contractors to work on building up several zones based on what each zone wanted at the time, while regular outreach and construction teams focused on the region wholesale. Her strict and efficient management has led to stabilization of many zones, all of which have had nothing but good things to say about her.
Her boss, a certain Mr. Irons, hopes to secure more contracts with the new government to help turn the war torn nation into a utopia.

Hi all! Hope anyone here can help me how to best handle this situation for a next time!
Today I was picking up my baby from daycare and walking back home, a sweet, old lady asked us directions for a specific address. I was going the same direction so I told her I was happy to show her the way. While walking there, we talked a little bit and I immediately recognised some dementia/alzheimers signs from my own experience (she mentioned she was visiting her parents and came here by train - she appeared to be too old to still have parents and there is no train near where we live). At the same time, I didn't want to draw any incorrect conclusions and walked her to the address.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be an office building. It is very warm where we are, and I could tell this woman was tired and losing her balance a bit. I tried to ask a few more questions of where she needed to be and what she was doing in the area. Her answers were very inconsistent and at that point I became a little bit worried as I had 1) my baby girl that was out in the hot weather, and 2) this sweet lady that was clearly lost. After some more questions she finally showed me a little notebook with an address on top. I immediately recognised the address as the care home in our neighbourhood, which was very close to the place where she asked me for directions.
We walked all the way back to the home and a nurse was already walking towards us. They were very sweet and thanked me for my assistance. However, I feel quite bad for walking quite a distance with her out in the hot sun, while I already had a feeling she was probably living in the care house all along.
Is there anything I could have done differently to get her back home faster? I feel next time I should have called the elderly home immediately to avoid walking out in the sun all that way with an elderly person.
Happy to hear any of your suggestions!

I wasn't sure about the flair. It's done, I signed a contract. It's been a long journey. I can't even begin to understand the depths of the abuse that I went through. Not sure if I ever will. I'm disabled and homebound and for months I have been living under a sadistic twisted neighbor. That neighbor knew that I am homebound and made sure that I won't get any rest or sleep, hitting the floor with brute force at all times of the day and night. My landlord didn't help and cashed my checks. I had to rent other people's places and pay a great fee. But it was also the loneliness, and realising how little I matter to people, who knew and didn't do a thing. For months, I woke up and spent hours searching for apartments. I pushed myself, made myself sick. I returned to self harming and found out that my family will let me rot and suffer without an afterthought.
While this was going on, I had to endure the fact that my country was (is) falling apart. Basically one person stuck by and I am scared that they will get tired of me as well. This year I didn't engage in any of my hobbies. It was apartment hunting, staying in bed while crashing and dealing with suicidal thoughts without the option to get care (like I said, my country is collapsing). I'm scared.
The apartment itself seems nice, it's a one bedroom, the area is alright, it's not accessible. But there's still another floor above it. The price is great. But until I move and spend enough time there, I'm scared of the same story repeating. I really want to settle. I'm in my 30s and I never felt at home. With all the damage done, I'm not sure if I will. Also, after months of forced interaction I just want to hide and I got a list of medical things to attend. I'm just ruminating. I should be proud of myself, I didn't give up. I could have, but I didn't. Instead I am beating myself up for taking so long. I was afraid of making a mistake. This isn't the first time I was abused by a neighbour. But it was the first time that I was homebound and I can't shake off what happened. I'm disposable. I was too busy to survive and too sick for people to care. And the cruelty.
It might all work out. But right now it's agony and. I'm returning tomorrow to the dreadful apartment, but this time only for a few days till I move. Wish me luck. It's been hard and I am honestly sad. But I hope that some things will improve. Other things are gone forever. End rant.

Recently my (f26) ex (m34) reached out to me. We were in a committed relationship, and things I thought were going very well until I caught him trying to cheat on me. His reason? I was "too good". He blew up saying he never wanted monogamy genuinely (which is frankly ridiculous to hear, if you read our early messages you'd get the bigger picture but they always said something along the lines of "I want you and only you" "You're my one. Love of my life" "You are the person I have been looking for a relationship with my whole life" etc. etc. he also asked me to move and said he loved me first it's actually mind boggling hearing him say he never wanted it.) At no point was non-monogamy indicated to be a thing except when we first met. However were both still obviously talking to other people and the relationship hadn't been explored/developed yet. Now when I try to explain why I dislike casual sex to him, I get judged like I have six fucking heads. I now feel so horrible about the fact that I don't like casual sex. I get told it "literally it is just a social activity carried out by primates" "celibacy is antisocial behavior" and that "all women want it to be taken on endless vacations". I feel like I'm some abnormal loser because I don't like sleeping around. I get told it would help me feel better but I don't think that's quite true.
My whole deal is it just truly sucks to be in endless loop of transactional relationships. I am a person with my own interests, ideas, hopes, dreams, desires, needs and personality and that fact shouldn't be acknowledged and appreciated solely on the basis of if I am having sex. Sharing bodily fluids never makes you feel as good as sharing heart-to-heart conversations, deep emotions and experiences It just makes me feel small, unremarkable, ugly and unimportant. Finding out someone doesn't want or like more of me, whether I wanted them to have more or not, is a shitty feeling. It's fun for literally one second and then just sad. It gets totally numbing always acting as essentially a place holder for when something better or more exciting comes along. At the end of the day I'm interchangeable when something doesn't align and while I understand it's okay for things not to work out it doesn't feel good all the time. No judgement to people who can pull it off, people are entitled to their own thing, but has sex just become so easy to access we are forgetting that you're dealing with a real person who has emotions and needs? Like I genuinely don't know how to respond to his comment "all women want are vacations???" I never once made big demands like that, just wanted conversation and intimacy like coming home and cooking together, movies together, phone calls when he was on work trips, quality time together. I paid my half for groceries, dinner, bills, etc so it's also not like I needed financial benefits.
It constantly makes me feel like i have to be prettier, nicer, funnier, that i'm not doing enough, I have to ask less, that I'm not good enough. That I have to do more and be more to keep someone who I think is special and who I love spending time with in my life. It reaffirms that I'm anything but special, I'm another body in a sea of bodies, not quite worth keeping around to someone or even anyone. I have so much love to give. I am so loyal. I just wish that someone could see that for once instead of just my body. Does it ever really get better??

While walking/hiking around Lands End I came across a ships bow. Turns out it was from the ship the USS San Francisco. When I got home I read the history of the ship and the battles it was in…. Incredible - I now know they made a memorial out of it. I’m humbled by what those men went through. If you go, pay your respect to the men on that ship and all of the others who were in similar battles. The views are incredible. Hike is easy. If you go, hope it’s as moving for you as it was for me.

Hello,
Hope you all are doing well!
I just wanted to share how I am feeling since a few days. I feel like crying. Even while writing this I am crying. Sometimes, I feel that I have no one to talk to. I work from home, a 9-5 job. Other than that I have a best friend who listens to me but sometimes I feel I'm burdening her alot since she too suffers from mental health issues. I feel like I can't confide in my boyfriend, since we've been only dating since a few months and he is a very positive person overall. We haven't spoken properly since a few days since he's on a trip with his family. I sometimes try drawing but most of the times feel lazy to do. Last two weeks were stressful. I'm a little stressed and distracted at work too. Sometimes I indulge in maladaptive daydreaming. It's even worse since I work from home. I'm also needy and clingy and get attached way too quickly. I hate it. Any change in the routine also upsets me alot. Whenever, my boyfriend doesn't call I get upset and cry. I don't know why am I like this. That's it! I know this post is all over the place. But I just needed to vent.

Since I have moved to New Hampshire, I have seen, and my wife has told me the stuff she has gone through in her congregation. In No way did I ever listen. I believed that somehow some way I could change them If I set the example. Yet time and again. I have believed that they were true servants of our loving father. First let me get some things straight. Yes, I believe Gods name is Jehovah, YHWH, Yahweh etc. I do not nor have I ever believed the Jehovah's Witnesses made any sense. I Got baptized, then I was told by an elder I should have never gotten Baptized. It is not his place to Judge by saying that he is saying he could read my heart. I am a recovering addict. Not a heartless prick. I was sexually abused within the borganization. I was raised by a single parent. I was df'd when she passed and within four more years df'd again. They made it their point to show they did not want me, and even though God hates a divorcing encouraged my wife to divorce me. We are not divorced nor do I want one. I Think this is funny. How fake this borganization is. When My wife and I first got married. I focused on gaining acceptance from them instead of my wife. I feel like such a fool. I have literally thrown everything away for this Organization, and it sucks. My heart is broken. I am living in a hotel. I cannot go home. I get it I am not perfect. I have made several mistakes several times, and for that I apologize. I have done things like left my wife at Work. Told my wife i would quit using countless times, and I have not used in 102 days. I would do absolutely anything to fix my marriage and go home and show my wife some different. Put it this way the light has gotten brighter, and I have seen the light. No i do not trust the GB or the Spirit Appointed Elders. They lie like anyone else, so sad. I just need some encouragement, some for of hope. some forgiveness.
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Thank you for listening..

Dear all,
I’m not super technical, so I hope this post works as it’s my first. I have been trying to understand Japan tax residency rules. The more I read, the less I seem to understand. Any suggestions you may share would be greatly appreciated. I will try to be specific, in the hopes to get specific advice to make decisions in the future. I lived in Japan more than 20 years ago, and now live in Vancouver. My spouse is Japanese, who has lived in Canada for 20 years.
We have visited many times over the years, for short periods, using her family home as a base. However, in 2019 there was a large typhoon which went through central JP, flooded a large river, and destroyed the home and community. I had wanted to keep/repair the home, but the family didn’t want this, and it is gone now. At the same time, her mother had fast moving cancer, and passed away shortly after the disaster.
My question is about buying a home in Japan, taxes and residency. Growing up, I always had a dream to own a home, to fix up, to garden. However, in Vancouver that is becoming impossible. It’s a beautiful city, but it’s not a sustainable situation where people can’t afford a home where they live.
I am 50 now, and have had some cancer issues throughout my life, so am connected to the cancer system here (not serious now, just ongoing checks). At the moment, I am thinking how to buy a home in JP, but stay a resident of Canada (keep medical here/pay taxes here). I have been thinking to call the NTA and ask their advice from JP perspective.
I understand that immigration is different from taxation rules, which is where I get confused. I think I understand the immigration/visa types available, but the tax/residency aspect I can’t seem to grasp. Can I purchase a home in cash/no bank account in JP/no loan in JP. The home wouldn’t be used to earned income/rental, just for enjoyment, when I/we are there. Not sure if best to put in only my name or both names so she can have home if I pass in future. Stay in JP on a 3 month tourist visa (up to twice/year for 180 days), then half year in Canada as residents. I’ve also heard there is another tourist visa if you can show you have about 300k CDN. Or, enter on spousal visa but unsure how this might affect taxes/residency.
I understand I need to pay property taxes, bills, etc, but I’m unclear about completing a tax return. Is this required given my situation? Would I just be considered a tourist who owns a home in JP? Or, a non resident who is required to file taxes in JP? How would this affect my wife who is JP regarding her residency/taxes, etc? At what point would she be considered a resident again for taxes? She’s been out of JP for 20 years, and we’ve both only had short visits of a few months over the years. In Canada, I complete taxes online and usually it’s free and simple so I’m unsure how to complete JP taxes if needed, without having to pay large fee to tax accountants. I gather most large tax companies are in big cities, but we hope to be in small-medium size city.
Basically, we miss Japan nature and food and hope to spend some time each year in Japan. Personally, I’d rather have my own place to go to, rather than Airbnb or hotel. I hope to keep things as simple as possible but understand there’s lots o’paper work in JP. We would buy medical/travel insurance before coming each time. Any advice regarding the purchase of a vacation home in Japan, but remain residents of Canada, how might this work regarding taxes and residency in Japan?
Sorry for the long message.
Thank you very much!

The next day passed by pretty quick, I got things done pretty damn quick if you ask me. Mopping first thing was a breeze, and I had bento boxes done in a heartbeat. I marked the old ones on sale and when the inventory arrived, I had a big smile on my face while I lead the big, hulking delivery guys to the back room where stuff was to be stored.
It felt good to see a full inventory, just bunches of boxes of everything from basic convenience store food to drinks to the little every day items that people depended on.
The hasty sewing kit, the detergent, the little snacks that would keep them going… Shinjai did not have a lot of stuff, but it did have a lot of personality, and a surprising amount of natural beauty. Though to be honest I’d had so much ‘natural beauty’ on the job, I reveled in my isolated NEET existence too much to care about parks and the outside.
With all that done, I settled into a very quiet day. Nothing happened of note, I borrowed a magazine from the rack and just sat behind my register reading it while people came and went. A few people wrote down notices of what they were taking, and I discounted a couple of items, which felt surprisingly good to do, if I’m being honest about it.
The next thing I knew, Jin was walking in and saying, “Thanks again, Kayobi, but you can go.”
He was a little later than usual, but I could only assume he’d gone to visit Suki first.
“How’s your mother?” I asked.
He scratched his head, “She looks bad… real bad.” He said, “But… she says an angel promised her she’d be alright, so her spirits are up. Funny thing though, she had a blanket there the hospital staff on that floor swears they didn’t give her, and a couple of people swear up and down they saw an angel in her room. Weird stuff.” He said with a shake of his head, “I hope she’s right, but I’m not holding out much hope.” He came over to me and to my surprise, reached out and gave me a hug.
“Thank you, thank you really, I mean it… if it weren’t for you handling all this, I’d have had to quit school or we’d have had to sell the place or… you really did save my life… thank the spirits you’re our neighbor.” He said with a smile on his face.
I’d never really hugged anyone before, so I wasn’t sure how to properly do it, but I did my best, putting my arms around my back and giving him a little squeeze.
“It’s fine. Everything will be fine.” I said, it was all I could really think to say right then. I won’t deny I had to suppress a laugh about the angel story, but I was just glad Jin was holding up. I could hardly tell him that I’m an alien with access to technology that would look like magic from his perspective.
So an angel would do.
I made my departure as fast as I could after that and returned to my apartment. I heard the television going inside and, true to my expectation, I found Celian Norn lying on the couch with a plate full of cookies. “This is really good.” She said and gestured toward the screen. A girl on screen was inviting someone to try dying, and then haunting music began to play. She was then on a lake, taking them in a slow boat over the water, carrying them to Hell as they wept helplessly for their inescapable fate.
“Oh, yeah that’s a good one.” I said as the credits rolled. “I love the drama and horror genres when they’re well put together. Good to see you, by the way.” I said and sat down. Celia didn’t get up, but what she did do was shrink herself down to half her previous size so that she took up only a quarter of the couch instead of almost all of it.
“Chibi-sized Celia is pretty damn cute.” I quipped and flopped down, I put my feet up and reached for a bag of chips to set them on my lap.
“Thanks… I think. Are children called ‘chibis’ on this planet?” She asked.
“No, not usually, but… you just look chibi to me.” I said and chuckled a little.
“What’s a chibi?” Celia asked.
“Toss me that remote and I’ll show you.” I said and held out one hand.
Celia did as I asked, and I began flipping through shows, “This one is about people from four different shows all getting trapped in the same world, I was in mid episode for this one…” I started it up again.
“...Go on, soldier, stirke me with that whip because I know you love to…”
The poor guy on screen was in a panic of denial, blushing red, full of shame, and onlookers watched him with disgust and disbelief while the one to gull him into that position egged him on.
“Basically the art looks like that. Their cartoon versions of cartoon versions with disproportionate bodies. Playing up the ‘cutesy’ look for comic effect.” I explained.
“Hmm… that’s more like… this.” Celia said as she looked at herself and then ‘readjusted’ her proportions.
She now had large round eyes and a rounder head, shorter limbs, and stubby fingers.
“Alright, that’s fair, and damn you’re cute that way.” I acknowledged with a teasing little smile.
“Thanks… I think.” She said and popped a cookie into her mouth.
“I got the thing for you, by the way,” she pointed over past the back of her head toward the table, “it’s on the table there. When are you going to use it?” She asked.
“Well as far as you know, I’m not, but if I were going to use it, I would do it when it’s late, after a few hours of snacking.” I suggested, and just then there was a knock on the door.
Celia needed no prompting, she reverted to more ‘normal’ proportions, and I shouted, “Come in, it’s unlocked!”
The door opened and Asahi was there, his expression blank for the most part, but his eyes went to Celia a moment later and I caught a hint of curiosity.
“My niece is staying with me for a little while.” I said, “Her name is Celia, but you can just call her…” a wicked impulse came over me, “Ce-cekins.” I bestowed upon my companion her new nickname, and for a moment she all but glared at me.
It was her own fault, really, for reverting to a child size instead of growing back into her adult disguise, you cannot give a trickster like me the chance to do something of this sort and not expect me to take it. Besides, I am older than her anyway.
“Right ah… Ce-cekins…” Asahi gave a tentative, nervous wave toward her, “nice to meet you, I’m Asahi.”
I reached into my wallet and took out some cash I’d drawn out of the machine at the store. “So, there’s no cleaning to be done right now,” I said hastily, “but if you could pick up some stuff for us, the rest of the money is yours. Pick up two pizzas, six bags of chips, and four containers of cookies… also I’m about out of paper plats, so get a big pack of those.”
He’d be left with about ten thousand yen after making that supply run, two or three days work for a kid his age, and all it would cost him was about an hour.
Alright, I was overpaying him, but so what? I could do that.
He seemed to have run the numbers in his head already, then opened his mouth to speak, “Hurry up, we’re hungry and running low on snacks and I have no dinner. You don’t want poor little Ce-Cekins to have nothing but cookies for dinner, do you?” She gave him a longing blinking stare, and when I closed the door, there was no way for him to protest.
“Should I have stayed as a chibi?” Celia asked.
I snorted. “Just… pick something to watch.” I said, and we settled in for a few hours of binge watching.
We went on to watch a wolfgirl flirt with a traveling merchant in her most imperious manner for the next two hours after Asahi returned and went home clutching the wadded up bills in his hand like they were sacred relics that would disappear if he relaxed his grip even for a moment.
He was all but sobbing over them.
“How come you’re making him work for it, if you want to give him money, just give him money, right?” Celia asked when I finished off a slice of pepperoni pizza.
I was licking my fingers clean while thinking of how to answer her, and came up with the best explanation I could.
“It’d be like if I offered to do your jobs for you if you’re struggling. It’s one thing to help, it’s another thing to say you might as well not even be there.” I wasn’t sure about using that as an example, Celia wasn’t the very best on our team, but she was one of the hardest workers.
I felt kind of guilty using her own sense of insecurity this way, but it was the only thing I could say that I thought might penetrate her stubborn way of thinking.
“I…s’pose.” She mumbled, but her little cheeks turned a soft shade of rose.
“It’s like that. This way he saves face, he’s not a pathetic beggar. He’s doing a job. People hate to be burdens, it’s a big part of their ego, feeling like they matter, like they’re an asset somehow.” I explained, “It’s one reason why I’m glad I’m not actually human.” I shook my head, “The NEET way is the best way!” I proclaimed from on my back on the couch, thrusting one hand skyward with the force of my declaration.
“Uh huh. But weren’t you going to go out about now?” She asked, and I checked my phone, it was around midnight now, late enough.
“I suppose I should. There’s no reason to keep her waiting any longer.” I said and stood up, stretched, then went to the table and snatched up the little vial of purple liquid.
“See you in an hour-ish.” I said, and Celia waved. “See you then!” She said, and closed her eyes so I could walk past with it and her being able to claim she never saw a thing.

I don’t use reddit that much, but i really need the advice right now. I’m 19 years old going into my junior year of college, and i have been working at this restaurant when i am home on breaks. The manager that hired me has recently left, so when I came back for the summer to start working, new management has been already in place. The chef of this restaurant practically runs the entire restaurant because of this, and he is legitimately one of the worst human beings on this entire planet. Each and every day, he singles me out and belittles only me infront of absolutely everyone else who works there, making me feel like crap every time i work there. I am very much liked by everyone else in the restaurant as they literally were so happy and excited when I came home from school to start working, and the chef just sat in there and said absolutely nothing with a stupid look on his face. I went up and gave him a friendly greeting and offered a handshake, in which he reluctantly accepted and just said hello and then immediately walked away. I work as a bartendeserver assistant where i take supplementary orders, run drinks and small plates to tables, clear them and just generally help out the customers with everything that they need. The spot where i work is in the upstairs of the restaurant, where there is no running water so all of the dishes i clear from the tables get placed in bins in a closet off to the side so I don’t have to make hundreds if not more trips downstairs to give them to the dishwashers. Yesterday, the bartender broke some glass so I had to pick it up as fast as possible out of the carpet to avoid it being stepped on by the customers and just generally not being a good look. In doing this I ended up cutting my hand pretty badly so it was hard for me to carry down the heavy bins full of dishes, so i asked if the dishwashers could help me out with that. They did and came upstairs and I watched them grab what I thought was everything out of the closet while i was cleaning up the rest of the space, and didn’t think to double check and see if everything was taken. The chef was unaware of this entire situation because frankly if i told him he would’ve screamed at me and turned it in to my fault, which is something i wasn’t really trying deal with after working for almost 11 hours that day. I finished up cleaning and went home. This morning i got my first text in almost a year from the chef, and it’s just a picture of about 10 wine glasses and a small bucket of silverware that were left behind in the closet. I fear that when i go into work today in 2 hours i am going to get an absolute earful for that and want to go into the situation with a response to hopefully tame that behavior and honestly, not get me fired. Any advice? sorry for the long post btw..

Lisa hummed quietly while she worked in her kitchen, maybe it was William’s influence, or maybe Rebecca’s, but she still liked making coffee the old fashioned way. Not that any of them minded using preground beans, but no technology has replaced the power of freshness.
So while I sat waiting for her to return, I simply watched what was already on her screen. It was an animated drama of some sort, maybe horror, there was a demon weeping over a grave at least, could have been anything, really.
And I just listened while she hummed along with the coffee grinder, those things have changed a lot over the years, now they were near totally silent, I saw one in an Earth museum once that made a tremendous racket, but these had only the faintest hum as the beans were reduced to powder.
I didn’t know the tune Lisa was humming, but it felt strange to hear her let out a little tune after I told her I was leaving, and of course I couldn’t know if I’d be coming back.
She and I [Redacted], and we really did like each other, a lot, actually. Of course we both knew it couldn’t last forever, we were quite literally from different worlds, and we wanted different things out of our lives.
But that didn’t mean we couldn’t have something good for a time. I had to wonder if she was thinking about this as the time to let go? Humans have a habit of putting a brave face on things, they have a whole philosophy called ‘stoicism’ which is basically just putting a show of strength on while enduring a lot of unpleasant shit.
I can’t say I liked that philosophy very much, it reminded me too much of my homeworld’s view of things. I suppose it had a valid point when it came to hard times, but it seemed too much to like hard times. At least as I understood it, perhaps I was wrong in that regard. I’m sure the subject will be hotly debated over for years.
Regardless, at that moment I was just enjoying the noise of her preparations, watching out of the corner of my eye while she brewed coffee the old fashioned way. I pause for a moment here to tell you, in addition to the supply of alcohol that went to Dlamias, at my suggestion, Bonny Red also dropped a large supply of coffee off at the neutral trading station where she had to deliver her goods. Along with directions for how to prepare it.
Now, in the capital of Dlamias, I knew for a fact that a small number of ‘coffee bars’ were starting to open up. The stay awake juice was used by a number of government employees to help keep them focused, and… well, in the Earth middle ages coffee was banned in an empire because people stayed up late talking politics while drinking the stuff. Coffee shops became hotbeds of political dissent.
It was one more little monkey wrench I’d thrown into the gears of Dlamisan society. Awake for longer and with time to talk, I had absolutely no doubt that the buried frustrations of my people would start to bubble up as surely as the water was boiling in Lisa’s pot right now.
I know my government, they’ll use the stuff to extend labor hours and keep people working harder, and they’ll put it together with food for convenience…
And my infection will spread. Longer hours, but also time to complain, and with the first humans settling in too…
The dam would burst and change would be forced. I did wonder if they would try to use military force to quell dissent. But I doubted it, especially now. In a way, this danger with the return of the Rogue World and the disappearances and the threats from the Praeda, couldn’t have come at a better time.
Concessions would be the government’s only option, and once that began, there would be no stopping it.
‘Even if I die out there, my will, will be done no matter what.’ I thought, and made the evil finger pyramid of doom with my hands.
Lisa returned a moment later with coffee in hand and a smile on her face. She sat beside me on the couch and asked, “Did you enjoy the show?”
I hadn’t really paid much attention to it, but it seemed alright. “I haven’t seen that much, but… it looks alright.”
“It’s based on an old novel, that demon,” she pointed to the ashen figure, “lost his wife to human invaders, his village, everything but his daughter. This season is based on one of the sequels in that series, he’s finally reclaimed the land where there village was, and he found her body still buried in the rubble of their home. So he had her buried there and all the grief hit him at once, everything he kept buried while he worked to raise their daughter.”
“Oh… so humans are the villains in this one?” I asked.
“Sort of.” She said as she leaned back and slipped her arm over my shoulder from behind while she drank from her glass cup. “Like, the humans started it, they built the first cities and needed labor so they started conquering nomads and villages to work their farms and whatnot. So that’s bad, but not all humans are the bad guys. Some demons are shown as bad, same for some of the elves and dwarves… I guess you could say that their ‘governments’ do bad things to each other.”
“Oh, so everybody is kind of bad sometimes?” I asked.
“Yeah, kinda.” She sipped, “A lot of gray there, most of what happens that’s bad after a certain point, happens because everybody is too afraid to stop. They don’t want to keep fighting, but they’re afraid of what happens if they pull back.”
“That’s interesting.” I said as I brought the cup to my mouth. It was hot, rich, fragrant, the rich steam rose from within and I inhaled it with the vigor of somebody bursting from beneath the water after nearly drowning and finding air again.
I made a mental note to bring some of this with me when it was time to leave, Lisa was quiet, seemingly waiting for me to explain. A lot would be necessarily classified and, reckless as I may be, I knew better than to let things like this slip.
“I’m going on a peace mission, actually, not just me. The whole family is. It’s… complicated, but Bonny Red is taking us to a neutral zone where we can talk to the Praeda, all of them, or most, at least.” I shifted a little in my seat, I didn’t want to tell her how dangerous it might be for us, but I hated keeping secrets.
“Do you know when you’ll be back?” She asked, her wide eyes fluttered a little, “Is this one of those ‘gone for decades and I’ll be an old lady by the time you get back’ talks?”
I snorted my coffee just a little and smacked my chest a few times. “No… I mean I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but it will take months just to get there, it’s over thirty-thousand lightyears away, so even at the fastest possible speed through thick space, we’re looking at nine months travel without doing any jumps.”
She whistled long and low, “So… what you’re saying is, I’ll need to pack my toothbrush, and a pair of replacement heads for it?” She asked.
“Say what now?” I asked and my ears twitched.
She turned to the side and propped her head up in her hand, then gave me a quirky smile and said, “You’ve got all those ears and still didn’t listen to me? Alien or not, you’re definitely male.” She laughed at her own joke while I could only cock my head in confusion.
“Say what now?” I asked again.
“I want to go too.” She clarified, “Listen, Bonny Red and I have had a nice arrangement going for a while now, but alien or not, I know that woman and she’s definitely planning on spending a lot of time on Earth after all this, she’s been in the void for a few years now and I know how sailors, pirates or not, get when they finally hit a safe port. The easiest thing for all of us is if I just go along. Besides,” she held up her arm and waved one hand around her room, “I don’t really have anything holding me back. I have my degree, my job won’t go anywhere, I can sublet my apartment. And how many people get a chance to go out that far?” She asked.
“Wait, you’re serious?” I asked. I definitely wanted to know what she was talking about when it came to Bonny Red, but the more pressing matter was her thought of coming with us.
“I don’t have to be part of your envoy, I’ll just join her crew for a year or so. I’m no stranger to hard work or military stuff, you know that.” She said.
“Well, I mean, that’s up to Bonny Red, not me… but… why would you…” She stopped me by putting a hand on my chest.
“Because you and I both know this can’t last. You’ll live for hundreds of years, your stages of life are in line with mine right now, but that’s going to change. I’ll grow older, faster, maybe I’ll want to start a family of my own, something we can’t do, but even if I don’t do that, time changes all humans, faster than you know. You saw how Fauve has grown up, right?” She asked.
I could only nod. She was in her twenties now and while there were echoes of the child I knew, she was like a tree that I’d watched grow from a sapling. I could still recognize her for what she’d been, but she was not the same.
“That’s how it will be for me from my twenties to my thirties, and thirties to forties. I’m going to change, I won’t be the twenty-something who gets hammered with her friends on weekends anymore, but you’ll still be the you that you are right now, when I’m old, gray, and thinking ahead for my funeral.” She chuckled, “From my perspective, you’re kind of like if Peter Pan was a college student and not a young boy.”
I only vaguely knew the story, but I got the gist of what she meant, I just didn’t know what to say to it.
“To you, nine months, two years, three years, those may not sound like a lot. To me, they’re big bites out of my life, and when we’re done, those days won’t come back. So, if you don’t object…” For a moment she looked quite vulnerable, like she thought I very well might refuse her, inching herself away a little but leaving her hand where it was over where my hearts were beating faster by the moment.
“I’d want to go with you. If I can. If I can’t… then I have to be honest, that’s too much of my life to slip by to wait on something that can’t really last anyway.”
She wasn’t wrong. I did my very best to never think about the differences in our lifespans, but clearly that wasn’t something too far from her mind. “It’s not really up to me, but… if she refuses to let you sign on…” I didn’t want to finish that sentence.
“Right. I think she will. She understands a lot about things not lasting.” Lisa smirked a little, “I will have to figure out what to do with my hair on this trip though, there aren’t exactly seasons in space.” She ran her free hand through the long strands, and I suggested… “You could have it done like stars, put the night sky design on there instead of the season?” I suggested, and realized that in saying that, I more or less acknowledged that I wanted her to go along. I knew she was right, this might very well be the last of our times together, she was in her mid to late twenties now, I think. Twenty-five or twenty-six, even if we got out there and stayed for one day and came back, eighteen Earth months would have come and gone, and that’s if we stopped for nothing. In reality we could be gone for a full two years with ease.
“You’re a genius, Bailey.” She said and set her cup down with a smirk, “I’ll make sure to pick up enough dye for the trip, and I’ll send an ‘application’ to Bonny Red before she gets here.”
Humans do not move slowly, that much is for sure. As far as she was concerned, the matter was settled.
I wasn’t sure if Bonny Red would be alright with this, but she was frankly as strange as Lisa. For some reason, unbeknownst and inexplicable to me, I always end up surrounded by oddballs and outliers.
And you know what?
I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/community_focus_cbgray
Happy time zones Guardians, and welcome to this week's Community Focus. Today we are hanging out with CBgrey, a content creator, self-proclaimed potato, and a PvE shepherd. So, let’s get into it.
Hi CB! First up, let’s talk about who you are, what your pronouns are, and what got you into gaming in the first place?
My name is Christian or CBgray but most just call me CB for short! My pronouns are he/him.
The name CBgray was a name that some of my friends called me growing up, that was just my first and middle initial and my last name! I am from Virginia originally, just outside of Washington, D.C., which will always be home to me. About a year ago I moved to Austin, Texas.
Growing up in the 90s, what really got me into gaming was Nintendo. There was something so magical about playing Pokémon on the Gameboy Color and seeing the birth of 3D gaming with games like Mario 64. I think that is what really birthed my love for video games. As I continued to get older, I had a dream to work as a game developer for Nintendo. In terms of what got me into content creation, I always wanted to try YouTube and even took a few stabs at it in high school with my cousin, Lena, and in college with one of my best friends and roommates, Gramm. Nothing really stuck though until I discovered Destiny.
Oh, I love a good cliff hanger. So how did you find Destiny?
I saw Destiny for the first time during E3. I thought the game looked like nothing I had seen before, and I recognized the name Bungie from Halo. However, despite that, I had never really played an FPS game seriously so I never would have imagined that I would fall in love with the game and still be playing it almost 10 years later. My brother, Evan, got the game on PS3 and I got the game on PS4 when it came out. I remember I was trying to win the white PS4 bundle in the Taco Bell promotion from way back when. When I started playing the game, I was hooked. I played through the whole campaign in a night with one of my best friends, Lamar, with two TV's side by side and we played all night. I had never experienced anything in gaming like that.
Around the time I started my channel, near the end of the Taken King expansion, I was going through a rough time, and I just wanted to try to create a family and a space where other people that enjoy Destiny could come together and help each other out with things inside the game and outside of the game. I had completely fallen in love with the game at this point and sank more hours in it during college than I probably should have with the amount of computer science work I had at the time, but I was really just hoping to form friendships with others and just provide an atmosphere where we could take our minds off things.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that would happen, so I'm really grateful. I can't thank my friends and family for believing in me when it could have looked like I was just wasting my time. I’m especially thankful to my mom who, without even knowing what it was, bought me an Elgato in 2016 when I couldn't afford it. Streaming was still a new concept in 2016 so I really appreciated their support. Thank you mom, dad, Evan, Kashema, Lamar, Tyler, Quan, Gramm, Nate, and so many others.

Through good and sad times, Destiny seems to be a way a lot of people find their community, and it’s really neat to hear about another one forming.
Speaking of building a community, you recently left your job to do content creation full time. How had that changed the way you play the game, create content, and interact with your community?
I did! It was a scary leap, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Honestly, I don't think it changed the way I play the game as much as it's allowed me to enhance what I was already doing, just putting my 100 percent info focusing on interacting with our community and making content on the game we all love. I have always wanted to see what my content could be like if I could just give it my best shot, so I am very grateful to the community for putting me in a position to do this as a job and to do what I love.
That’s really great to hear, keep on keeping on CB!
So, what type of content do you tend to focus on? Are you a PvE shepherd or a PvP no scope 360 kind of player?
For streams I mainly focus on helping players with PvE related activities! For example, I have 900 total helps for the Whisper and Zero Hour Missions. I love those missions so much, but even more than that, I love helping players cross the finish line on activities that they may have been struggling with or maybe just couldn't find players to game with. This type of content will always hold such a special place in my heart for myself and many others that I met along the way like Pause, Skarrow9, and so many others in the YouTube streaming family.
In terms of YouTube videos, we started off making helpful guides for players in the game as well as theory videos (as we would call them) where I along with Vet, Sweat, and so many others would hunt for things like Whisper of the Worm before it was out. More recently on YouTube, my focus over the past few years has been short-form content where I really just am trying to put a smile on people's faces for 60 seconds. It's mainly just a mixture of me being a goofball and trying to provide players with quick helpful information. That has kind of been my main niche for videos since Covid. I love these videos and it makes me happy to see people's reactions to them.
My next focus is on my Pokémon styled Destiny challenges, but we will talk more about that later!
Before we get to that, we have to know what your main character is, and your favorite loadout.
Titan for sure, it's been my main character since 2014.
My favorite loadout is a hard one but I'll just name some of my favorite things over the years. For armor, Lion Rampants (my babies), Twilight Garrison, and Precious Scars with the ornament to make it the tinfoil hat. (Important in our community.)
For weapons, the D1 Touch of Malice was my favorite gun in the game. Some other guns include Whisper of the Worm, Legend of Acrius in Vanilla D2, and the Duke Hand Cannon.
Alright, we’ve got a few questions left, let’s hear about the vibe of your channel for people who might want to stop by.
The vibe my channel brings is a chill escape. I try to make sure the channel feels like a place where you can just come to have a good time, feel welcomed, and not have to worry about anything else that might be going on. Just a place to hopefully leave with a smile on your face. Our community has lifted my spirits so many times that I just hope that our channel can reciprocate that for others who may need it.
Love that, truly.
What is something you wish you knew before starting Destiny?
I feel like there are things that probably could have been beneficial to know before starting Destiny, like maybe having a deeper understanding about FPS games like Halo and other games or the realm of possibilities with content creation. I genuinely didn't think I had much to offer to the community. That deterred me from starting sooner. Even to have this conversation with y’all feels like I am dreaming. So maybe if I knew what was possible, I would have started earlier. But with that being said, I'm glad I didn't know because it allowed me to follow the exact path that led me here and I wouldn't change that for the world. Also not having that much knowledge in the FPS space made for such a new and fun journey in gaming for me that felt so new.
So, I guess my actual answer is, I'm happy with what I knew.
That is a rad way to think about it. Having an understanding would have been helpful at the time, but it would have changed your experience.
So, what’s next for you and your community? Anything fun coming up or any events you are particularly excited for?
More Pokémon challenges in Destiny 2! I just recently did an ExoticDex challenge (what I call it) where I did a subathon stream where I collected all 222 obtainable Exotics in one stream! It took 16 days, but it was one of my favorite streams ever! I plan to bring more challenges like these to our community over the coming months on Twitch and YouTube side! I'm so excited and really feel a fire to try to innovate as much as and I am grateful to our community for putting me in a position to give it my all! Also, thank you to my team working behind the scenes for making that event possible.
That is absolutely wild CB. Such a neat thing to come up with.
Now having the experience that you do with Destiny, what do you want to tell any of the New Lights out there reading this?
Don't stress and play the game how you want to play it. There are so many fun memories to make in this game and that should be the focus. Everything else will fall into place as you go. Also realize that some of the friends you make in game will be friends you have for life. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living with two people I met through Destiny, but I couldn't be happier to now share a home with Sweat and Evan. It blows my mind how much Destiny has changed all of our lives. It's just the power and magic of Destiny.
Where can people find you?

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Tiktok
• Instagram

Anything else you want to add?
I just need to give a big thank you to our community. I would not be having this interview without them. I want to thank you, and everyone at Bungie for creating a game and a community that has changed my life, I'm really grateful. I thank god every day that I picked up this game and got to meet all the amazing people I've gotten to meet. This game and community has saved my life. A million thank you’s wouldn't be enough. I'm grateful for the opportunity. To anyone discouraged with anything in life, follow your dreams and don't give up. Anything is truly possible with patience and persistence.
And there we have it, this week’s Community Focus. Be sure to swing by CB’s channels and give him a follow if you want to check out his content for yourself. And don’t forget to check out our Community Focus with [email protected] and Plumli. Thanks for hanging out with us!
Stay Crafty,
Sam

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/community_focus_cbgray
Happy time zones Guardians, and welcome to this week's Community Focus. Today we are hanging out with CBgrey, a content creator, self-proclaimed potato, and a PvE shepherd. So, let’s get into it.
Hi CB! First up, let’s talk about who you are, what your pronouns are, and what got you into gaming in the first place?
My name is Christian or CBgray but most just call me CB for short! My pronouns are he/him.
The name CBgray was a name that some of my friends called me growing up, that was just my first and middle initial and my last name! I am from Virginia originally, just outside of Washington, D.C., which will always be home to me. About a year ago I moved to Austin, Texas.
Growing up in the 90s, what really got me into gaming was Nintendo. There was something so magical about playing Pokémon on the Gameboy Color and seeing the birth of 3D gaming with games like Mario 64. I think that is what really birthed my love for video games. As I continued to get older, I had a dream to work as a game developer for Nintendo. In terms of what got me into content creation, I always wanted to try YouTube and even took a few stabs at it in high school with my cousin, Lena, and in college with one of my best friends and roommates, Gramm. Nothing really stuck though until I discovered Destiny.
Oh, I love a good cliff hanger. So how did you find Destiny?
I saw Destiny for the first time during E3. I thought the game looked like nothing I had seen before, and I recognized the name Bungie from Halo. However, despite that, I had never really played an FPS game seriously so I never would have imagined that I would fall in love with the game and still be playing it almost 10 years later. My brother, Evan, got the game on PS3 and I got the game on PS4 when it came out. I remember I was trying to win the white PS4 bundle in the Taco Bell promotion from way back when. When I started playing the game, I was hooked. I played through the whole campaign in a night with one of my best friends, Lamar, with two TV's side by side and we played all night. I had never experienced anything in gaming like that.
Around the time I started my channel, near the end of the Taken King expansion, I was going through a rough time, and I just wanted to try to create a family and a space where other people that enjoy Destiny could come together and help each other out with things inside the game and outside of the game. I had completely fallen in love with the game at this point and sank more hours in it during college than I probably should have with the amount of computer science work I had at the time, but I was really just hoping to form friendships with others and just provide an atmosphere where we could take our minds off things.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that would happen, so I'm really grateful. I can't thank my friends and family for believing in me when it could have looked like I was just wasting my time. I’m especially thankful to my mom who, without even knowing what it was, bought me an Elgato in 2016 when I couldn't afford it. Streaming was still a new concept in 2016 so I really appreciated their support. Thank you mom, dad, Evan, Kashema, Lamar, Tyler, Quan, Gramm, Nate, and so many others.

Through good and sad times, Destiny seems to be a way a lot of people find their community, and it’s really neat to hear about another one forming.
Speaking of building a community, you recently left your job to do content creation full time. How had that changed the way you play the game, create content, and interact with your community?
I did! It was a scary leap, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Honestly, I don't think it changed the way I play the game as much as it's allowed me to enhance what I was already doing, just putting my 100 percent info focusing on interacting with our community and making content on the game we all love. I have always wanted to see what my content could be like if I could just give it my best shot, so I am very grateful to the community for putting me in a position to do this as a job and to do what I love.
That’s really great to hear, keep on keeping on CB!
So, what type of content do you tend to focus on? Are you a PvE shepherd or a PvP no scope 360 kind of player?
For streams I mainly focus on helping players with PvE related activities! For example, I have 900 total helps for the Whisper and Zero Hour Missions. I love those missions so much, but even more than that, I love helping players cross the finish line on activities that they may have been struggling with or maybe just couldn't find players to game with. This type of content will always hold such a special place in my heart for myself and many others that I met along the way like Pause, Skarrow9, and so many others in the YouTube streaming family.
In terms of YouTube videos, we started off making helpful guides for players in the game as well as theory videos (as we would call them) where I along with Vet, Sweat, and so many others would hunt for things like Whisper of the Worm before it was out. More recently on YouTube, my focus over the past few years has been short-form content where I really just am trying to put a smile on people's faces for 60 seconds. It's mainly just a mixture of me being a goofball and trying to provide players with quick helpful information. That has kind of been my main niche for videos since Covid. I love these videos and it makes me happy to see people's reactions to them.
My next focus is on my Pokémon styled Destiny challenges, but we will talk more about that later!
Before we get to that, we have to know what your main character is, and your favorite loadout.
Titan for sure, it's been my main character since 2014.
My favorite loadout is a hard one but I'll just name some of my favorite things over the years. For armor, Lion Rampants (my babies), Twilight Garrison, and Precious Scars with the ornament to make it the tinfoil hat. (Important in our community.)
For weapons, the D1 Touch of Malice was my favorite gun in the game. Some other guns include Whisper of the Worm, Legend of Acrius in Vanilla D2, and the Duke Hand Cannon.
Alright, we’ve got a few questions left, let’s hear about the vibe of your channel for people who might want to stop by.
The vibe my channel brings is a chill escape. I try to make sure the channel feels like a place where you can just come to have a good time, feel welcomed, and not have to worry about anything else that might be going on. Just a place to hopefully leave with a smile on your face. Our community has lifted my spirits so many times that I just hope that our channel can reciprocate that for others who may need it.
Love that, truly.
What is something you wish you knew before starting Destiny?
I feel like there are things that probably could have been beneficial to know before starting Destiny, like maybe having a deeper understanding about FPS games like Halo and other games or the realm of possibilities with content creation. I genuinely didn't think I had much to offer to the community. That deterred me from starting sooner. Even to have this conversation with y’all feels like I am dreaming. So maybe if I knew what was possible, I would have started earlier. But with that being said, I'm glad I didn't know because it allowed me to follow the exact path that led me here and I wouldn't change that for the world. Also not having that much knowledge in the FPS space made for such a new and fun journey in gaming for me that felt so new.
So, I guess my actual answer is, I'm happy with what I knew.
That is a rad way to think about it. Having an understanding would have been helpful at the time, but it would have changed your experience.
So, what’s next for you and your community? Anything fun coming up or any events you are particularly excited for?
More Pokémon challenges in Destiny 2! I just recently did an ExoticDex challenge (what I call it) where I did a subathon stream where I collected all 222 obtainable Exotics in one stream! It took 16 days, but it was one of my favorite streams ever! I plan to bring more challenges like these to our community over the coming months on Twitch and YouTube side! I'm so excited and really feel a fire to try to innovate as much as and I am grateful to our community for putting me in a position to give it my all! Also, thank you to my team working behind the scenes for making that event possible.
That is absolutely wild CB. Such a neat thing to come up with.
Now having the experience that you do with Destiny, what do you want to tell any of the New Lights out there reading this?
Don't stress and play the game how you want to play it. There are so many fun memories to make in this game and that should be the focus. Everything else will fall into place as you go. Also realize that some of the friends you make in game will be friends you have for life. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living with two people I met through Destiny, but I couldn't be happier to now share a home with Sweat and Evan. It blows my mind how much Destiny has changed all of our lives. It's just the power and magic of Destiny.
Where can people find you?

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Tiktok
• Instagram

Anything else you want to add?
I just need to give a big thank you to our community. I would not be having this interview without them. I want to thank you, and everyone at Bungie for creating a game and a community that has changed my life, I'm really grateful. I thank god every day that I picked up this game and got to meet all the amazing people I've gotten to meet. This game and community has saved my life. A million thank you’s wouldn't be enough. I'm grateful for the opportunity. To anyone discouraged with anything in life, follow your dreams and don't give up. Anything is truly possible with patience and persistence.
And there we have it, this week’s Community Focus. Be sure to swing by CB’s channels and give him a follow if you want to check out his content for yourself. And don’t forget to check out our Community Focus with [email protected] and Plumli. Thanks for hanging out with us!
Stay Crafty,
Sam

22 Blue in 2022: 'THE LIST'

Build Supermajorities of Democrats in the US House and US Senate

Here’s “22 Blue in 2022: ‘A Quick List’”:

1. Florida 2. Ohio 3. Kansas 4. North Carolina 5. Kentucky 6. Arizona7. South Carolina 8. Georgia 9. Texas 10. Michigan 11. Nevada 12. Pennsylvania13. Missouri 14. Wisconsin 15. Iowa 16. Arkansas 17. Oklahoma 18. Indiana19. Colorado 20. Alabama 21. South Dakota 22. North Dakota

The 2022 Midterm Election is the most important midterm of our lifetime.Democrats must behave as if our lives depend on this midterm, because our future depends on the outcome.
”We the people” must deny the Republican party political power at every level of government for decades to come “in order to create a more perfect union.” With 48 States having some statewide contest(s), November 8th, 2022 is our best chance the Democrats will get to do that for the rest of this decade, at least.
”The List” encourages the election of a Democratic Supermajority in the US Senate in 2022. This is the best chance we will have to create a Democratic Supermajority in both Chambers of Congress for the remainder of this decade. This midterm could be a devastating loss for the democrats if good patriots ignore this election. If Americans of good conscience band together instead, we could could begin the exile of the Republican party from power, not for years, but for decades to come.
“The List” is a set of suggestions about where to focus collective activism today.
The election of Democratic Supermajorities to both chambers of the US Congress is the best outcome we can strive towards in the 2022 Midterm Election for many reasons. Among them: breaking the decade of gridlock in Congress, supporting President Biden’s agenda, and his re-election in 2024. My personal favorite is that this could commence the decades-long political banishment of the GOP from power, which the Republican Party so richly deserves.
The Republican party has proved itself treasonous on many levels. They are traitors to Humanity by supporting Trump. Traitors to the Nation for supporting Putin. Traitors to the government and betrayers of the constitution through their apologies for the 1/6/21 insurrection. To safeguard our country and the world, we must block the Republicans from power at the ballot box, at all levels of government, for at least a generation.
Political game playing may be inevitable among humans. Change the numbers, and then change the rules, if not the game. Cynical refusal to play at this time in history cedes power to NAZIs manipulated by Active Measures. That is a surrender to crypto fascism, not radical thinking, mere cynicism, or hipsterism.
In 2022, Patriots must unify to crush the Republican Party at the ballot box. We can defeat them in every State, at every level. We need the biggest turnout at the voting booth of any Midterm ever. We need to raise more money for candidates and organizations than we did during the entire 2020 campaign season if we are to accomplish this. We need to do this in the next six months.
This is what a “Blue Tsunami” REALLY looks like.
Electing a Democratic Supermajority in Congress is our hope for the future and retribution for America’s enemies. “22 Blue in 2022” is a roadmap to the beginning of that journey. “22 Blue in 2022” is our war plan. ”22 Blue in 2022” is our electoral battle cry. “22 Blue in 2022” is a way forward out of gridlock, a way to non-violently thwart those who would poison the body politic with their hate.
If we don’t try this hard in 2022, Trump will go unpunished and metastasize by 2024.
Resist In Power, my sisters, my brothers, and my others.
Resist Together, and elect a Congressional Supermajority in 2022!
See The “FULL 22 Bue in 2022 List”, With Dozens more links to the organizations and candidates that you can support to help Create a Democratic Congressional Supermajority in 2022!
National Democratic Organizations
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Since every asshat on planet earth now claims to be some mental health cheerleader, here's onnne of my biggest pet peeves.
Here’s a spicy hot take for all the ‘uwu’ mental health warriors. Stop saying help is out there, at least around me personally. I get it, I get it, okay. It’s meant to be nice and encouraging. I’ll even admit there is help out there for people with mundane problems that can be fixed by therapy. I just want to tell you that as someone with way more severe biologically rooted problems than I don’t know, going through a divorce, grief, losing a job, money stress… you know, shitty life circumstances…. When inherently your head is fucked up beyond crazy, these empty slogans mean jackshit and are infuriating.
I don’t have a sob story about how I got mentally ill. I just did one day after getting physically ill when I turned 18. Everything was very normal before that. I miss my childhood so much cause now I see so clearly how amazing it was. You take it more for granted, being healthy, but I suppose that’s normal.
I supposedly have PANS. I had no clue that a sore throat could make you go clinically insane and didn’t see the link between the two. You can get all sorts of bullshit like tics, hallucinations, severe OCD, very quickly. But basically it means that you have an autoimmune disorder in the brain which results in a mix of about all the worst psych symptoms paranoia, panic attacks, uncontrolled yelling, depression, mood swings, bladder issues etc. plagued my life from that moment onward. All to the point where you can’t function to save your life. Luckily I dodged the symptom ‘aggression’, though part of me wishes I would’ve kicked some abusive ‘mental health care givers’ and gave them a taste of their own medicine. I’ll get to that, don’t worry.
You see despite experiencing tactile hallucinations, I’ve never met the criteria for schizophrenia or a psychotic break. I was put on a ward full of people who did though, also people who were extremely aggressive.
Later I found out while they were measuring my bloodpressure and they had other people’s files openly laying around, that some of these people did illegal things. I’m talking about entering people’s home’s due to delusions and attacking strangers, rapists, etc. So fucking sloppy to leave that out in the open for other patients to read too by the way, like we're not supposed to know any of that lol.
So if you preach about ‘help’ is out there, yeah sure, but you don’t exactly get a say where you get your help if its inpatient. It’s not like you can book a hotel. You can’t even check out if you go in voluntarily. Even outpatient your help might make you deteroriate because they are fucking clueless on what to do with you.
Even despite my fellow inmates also being insane, (just like I was back then, I was hysterically crying most of my days and wondering how to end it all), the nursing staff was a million times worse. Mandatory I have to say, yes not all of them. There are some angels amongst them. But also demons. You see, I’ve not gotten food for 3 days, nor water except for when I had to take my meds (which I didn’t even want in the first place). They thought starving the patient was therapy for getting me into the bigger room with the more aggressive patients. For context, I was put in there involuntarily because I was unable to take care for myself. I ate better at home than in the fucking shit facility. I hadn’t skipped a single day ever in my life until then. And they taunted me with it too. I’d have rather starved than join the common room because I was just that terrified. That’s just how a PANS brain works, or rather doesn’t work!! Though maybe in this case it's a little less irrational than usual, since the other patients did try and attack staff and vice versa at times. I didn't wanna be there for obvious reasons.
Some nurses probably enjoyed this and are just sick and twisted souls. Some just laugh at you in your panic attack. Then they get you onto drugs that make you nauseous and feel even worse. If you tell them they say it’s impossible, but oh hey guess what, it’s on the fucking leaflet. Even then the idiotic psychiatrist kept insisting it’s impossible. It was in the list of side effects!!! Why the fuck do they lie so much! But they’re so arrogant that I think even they might believe themselves! I have never met more terrible people in my life than in psych facilities!
I’ve tried just about every drug and all of them have given me immense issues and I don’t wanna go down that route. I’ve been traumatized by the ‘help’ I’ve gotten. I’d NEVER advice anyone to call a suicide hotline after my experiences. I’ve been on multiple wards by the way, 4 to be precise, and it’s the same every damn time. Patient abuse like crazy. I just feel bad for actual schizophrenic people or the ones with dementia (who are in there because our retarded country can’t keep it together, fuck you Mark Rutte, hope you shit yourself under in diapers when you’re older) because no one will believe them about the abuse that goes on in here. Because UWU psych nurses are all so lovely. Well I used to believe that until I actually met a decent few.
They admitted it to my parents though, about not feeding me for example. Doubt they would again in court. Though I have no money for that shit anyway. And that’s how these evil bastards keep getting away with it. Because they fuck with vulnerable people. Fucking evil twats.
So yes, I’ve been hospitalized which left me with gigantic trauma, I’ve done inpatient programs, I’ve done outpatient therapy for years, just about every drug.
So tell me silly normies? What help is out there for people like me? After all ''help's out there!'' right?
I’ll tell you.
Not this sickening system. I’m going to try out immune therapy now that I discovered PANS and if that doesn’t work well… I don’t know. But psychiatry surely doesn’t work. Screw fucking psychiatry, I hope all those abusive nurses/staff get fucking cancer in their anus and I don’t feel bad about it one bit. They deserve hell for abusing vulnerable people, not just me even in particular, also all the other patients. Those people were sick and they were treated like shit for it. I’ve always had a strong sense of justice before I got sick, and that’s still in tact. So please dear god give these people PANS or schizophrenia themselves and see how they like it!!! With just as sadistic of nurses so they know EXACTLY what it feels like when you're on the other end of it!
And one more thing, don’t go here defending the nurses. I swear to god if anyone goes uwu burnout, well then GET ANOTHER JOB! If you can’t do your job without being an abusive cunt because it was too much for you, if you’re a moral person you dip out instead of toying with patients!!
Rant over, lol.

Fucking shit. Shitting hell. Goddamn fuck. Oh my god she's literally home. WHY. WHY???
I'm in the bathroom and I heard her do that thing she always does where she checks my room for no reason. Just turns on the light and scans it for a minute and leaves. WHAT IS SHE EVEN LOOKING FOR? Probably judging me because I haven't made my bed. Idk.
I'M SO UPSET. I wanted to have lunch after this but I guess that's not in the cards today 🙂
I'm already going into freeze response, I just wanna cry. I was hoping to relax today before the weekend comes. I wish someone would take me away from here.

My bf and I have been together for almost 5 years now. He’s a great guy, super caring, takes care of me and loves me very much but over the years we’ve had couple of incidents where he has drank too much and has either embarrassed me in front of people or he just turns really mean. Because of those incidents, I feel like i kind of have PTSD when he drinks too much and i get really anxious because i don’t really know what to expect from him. It’s like a complete switch that happens which is scary, he becomes more loud, easily agitated, arrogant, and mean which is so different from who he is when he’s sober. We’ve had conversations about this in the past when those incidents have occurred and every time, he’s been really regretful and apologetic and has moderated his drinking habits for the most part. We haven’t had any major incident happen in a while.
Yesterday we were going to a live jazz show with a couple of new friends that I made from work. I’ve hung out with them once before and this was his first time meeting them. I was super excited to have them meet because I thought they would really hit it off and have a lot in common. This night was planned a month in advance…My bf tells me the day before that his work was having an appreciation day for his position and they were going to have a happy houopen bar thing after work. They just announced it this week. His job never does anything like this so he was really excited about it and I understood. I was not worried. Originally, we were all going to eat together before the show to chit chat and get to know each other but since he had his work event, he said he would meet us at the door when the show was gonna start.
When he got to the event, I could tell he had drank more than he usually would. I asked him how much he drank and he said not that much and proceeded to tell me he had, two beers, a cocktail and a shot. I immediately started to get worried because it gave me flashbacks to things from the past but i stayed hopeful that he had learned to moderate himself. Anyway fast forward to him interacting with these new friends, he was being extra loud, cussing a lot and just not really acting like the person I know and love. I was super tense the whole time he would be talking. He ordered two more beers during the show and i asked him twice if he was good and kept saying he was fine but by his body language, i could tell he was drunk or at the very least tipsy. I was embarrassed because i could tell that the people we were with were kinda put off by him but we’re still making an effort to be friendly. I had talked him up so much and this is how he showed up. On our way back home, I started to cry because his behavior really was triggering me and bringing up bad memories. When we got home, i told him how i felt, that i didn’t like to hang out with him when he has too much to drink and that he turns into another person when he drinks. And listen, I know this doesn’t sound too bad and it wasn’t, compared to other times he’s overdid it but I was just angry too that he decided to drink that much knowing he’d be meeting new people. This has happened once before too! (But that time it was way worse). He got very defensive. He proceeds to tell me that i’m over reacting, that he didn’t even want to go to this show with us and just completely dismisses how i was feeling. I know part of the reason too was because he was still probably feeling his drinks. You cannot reason with someone like this but regardless it really hurt my feelings and couldn’t believe he couldn’t see it from my perspective after everything that has happened in the past. I left his house pissed and now it’s the next day and i am here. Has anyone had similar experiences and how did you navigate it? How did you get through to the person? Anything is welcomed but please be kind.