hai ♡ im mewki, im 22 and im from italy. im looking for some girlies to be friends with and play games with. i currently have a full time job which limits my free time and only really allows me to play games at night, even then, not for too many hours, except on the weekends! these are some of the games im currently into, though im down to try anything else: diablo 4, overwatch 2 (gold) and valorant (plat) for which i have an NA account if needed! casual and comp are both fine for me, as long as we’re having fun! the only person i usually play with is my boyfriend so it would be really nice if you’d feel comfortable with him joining sometimes. i do have anxiety and i can be a bit shy at first, but once i get comfortable enough i tend to be really talkative and love to joke around. im not easily offended and id prefer to be able to have friends that can give and take jokes :D looking forward to hearing from all you!

⛏ The 'Minelanders ⛏

Server address: mc.minelanders.com
Version: 1.19.4 [Java Edition]
Discord: https://discord.gg/QeBkd3Z
Latest News: Community night tomorrow night! Come join the server and get to know folks today - tomorrow we're meeting up for an event. More information on the Discord.
Overview:
The 'Minelanders is in its 5th Summer Server Edition now! Our new server opened on May 19th, and the community pitched in to create an incredible new spawn. We're a server with plenty to offer! We believe that Minecraft can be inherently political and strategic when other players get involved. So whether you are interested in building grand designs, griefing and PvP, growing an influential clan, running a commercial empire, or even just playing some Minecraft with a regular crowd, you are a part of something bigger than just yourself. Feel free to join the Discord, explore our community built spawn, and talk with the active community to see if you’re interested in playing on the server. And any time you're ready to start - survival is only 50 blocks away. Hope to see you playing on the 'Minelanders soon!

Vanilla Reimagined

General Information
We love the potential of vanilla Minecraft but feel some aspects of the game have not been properly balanced to allow for vanilla to flourish. Through the use plugins and extensive player feedback we have rebalanced villager trading, Elytras, autofarms, and more. No longer is there one "right" way to play, as we have allowed for all sorts of other forms of gameplay to be valid!

Features

• Currently a new player town has been founded for players looking for company at -650 150.
• We have clans, which allow you to team up with existing players or make your own clan with your friends.
• We offer plot protection in four sizes for in-game currency. You have to earn them! Note: Plots intentionally do NOT protect chests - only blocks.
• We have player shop plots available in spawn to sell things to other players. Our admin shops are already set up for players to earn money.
• The map size is limited to keep players relatively close - but it is still spacious with a 6k block diameter. The Nether has been increased in size (3:1 ratio rather than 8:1) to compensate for the smaller map.
• Donations to keep the server running are welcome, but give no in game advantages.

Rules:

1. Play in good faith
2. Be respectful of other players
3. No asking for stuff, advertising, or being annoying
4. Griefing is allowed, Lavacasting is not
5. No cheating
6. Alt accounts must be known to staff
7. No releasing personal information about another player
8. Circumventing intended server behavior is prohibited

Pictures from the last edition of the server ^{It's too early for big builds in this edition!}
Our resident small business, The Tiny Tavern
TRS main base
Vix's Cottage
Bina's Parenting School
Ponlm00's Wild West
Whysobad's Hogwarts
Our server has opportunity for building great things with the protection of plots, but don't forget to be cautious! Some players have sticky fingers.

So I'm here looking to find someone who would want to spend some time together getting to know each other! I'm also just trying to pass the time at work since it's been a drag already and I'm working overtime today.
So I'll start with more information about myself. I am 28 years old living in California! Not a major city by any stretch of the imagination but it's a nice little town. I have a few pets. I currently have a dog and cat along with sheep and chickens.
Now that the general life stuff has been put out there. I'll take a bit more about the things I enjoy doing and my passions! My major hobby is playing games. I have a PC, Switch, and a PS5. I've been playing a lot of FFXIV lately so I'd definitely love to have someone to play with! I'm excited for FF XVI and I just can't wait anymore for it. I do have tons of steam games as well and I'm happy to buy some games to play with others!
I'm also quite an avid enjoyer of movies and shows! As far as movies go though I love the worst movies because they are just the most fun to watch and make fun of. I'm looking at movies like Troll 2 and the likes where they don't take themselves very seriously. So I'll definitely show you some of the worst movies ever made. I'm also an extra huge fan of the worst horror movies so anything that's terrible and horror is right up my alley. Although I do enjoy regular movies just as much like Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, Malignant, and old 70s and 80s horror movies. I will basically watch anything and enjoy most films. As for shows I mostly watch Netflix series that catch my eye like Ozark and i finally watched Wednesday and i quire enjoyed it so ill happily take suggestions on new shows!. I'm open to suggestions and I'd happily welcome someone along to watch with me! I also enjoy anime mostly have been sticking to older anime recently like Cowboy Bebop, Now and Then Here and There, Macross although I do watch newer series but not as often just anything that catches my eye. Recently it's been SpyxFamily and JoJo as well as Konosuba. I'm also very open to suggestions so just let me know and I'll give it a watch!
So yeah that mostly explains my hobbies I know they are of the more typical reddit variety. I also enjoy working on and building anything I can whether it be birdhouses or dog houses or really anything in between I'm always happy to try and build something. Although lately I haven't had the need to really build anything.
I definitely would like to find someone or people who would be interested in chatting or watching shows or even playing with me! I'm just a big fan of spending time with people just hanging out and chatting.
So if any of this sounds interesting to you please let me know! I have various platforms to chat on outside of reddit if the reddit messaging system isn't to your liking. I hope to hear from you soon and I hope you have a wondeful day or night!

So nine years ago this happened. I was

sixteen and seen something un explainable after a night of using a ouija board aka Pandoras box. We found a classic parker brothers ouija board one day in our closet and wanted to know what the big hype about using ouija boards was. I was curious on why people thought it worked and how it worked. I was very open minded but I found it hard to believe a board game can do something as incredible as talk to the dead. Now I really understand the saying curiosity killed the cat more than ever. We would play with it outside during night time with our friends. We began playing with it very often and we actually had alot of fun calling on dead celebrities like Mac dre and making jokes about the shortage of chairs in heaven.These supposed ghosts had alot of personallity and we weren't really sure that any of this was real yet but it was so fun that we kept at it. We even had up to eight people doing it at once on our lawn one night with even more watching. It seemed fine until people started telling us the creepy stuff that happened to them since they started using the thing. I wasn't sure though because nothing had happened to me yet. Well I eventually did have something happen to me. Multiple things but this takes the cake. One morning after playing the board the night before, I was awoken. It felt like someone was shaking me slightly. I remember opening my eyes and seeing some blurry yellow face next to my legs staring at me almost eye level with a featureless stare except it's two dark circles for eyes and pursed mouth. It had a blank look. It was blurry looking and looked flat like a picture. It looked like an unfocused camera picture. It didn't budge. Just stared. It's face looked featureless and fuzzy but it had a widened pursed mouth.It was monkey like in the way it's head was round with the widened mouth. It's eyes were dark empty but not quite black. It's mouth was a flat dark line. It's body was a strange embodiment of circular yellow that the face seemed to protrude out of. I didn't believe what I was seeing because the fuzziness and how flat it looked. I thought I must still be dreaming or something but the thing sat there for multiple seconds while I stared in confusion. To see if I was sleeping, I slapped myself and closed my eyes. When I opened them I half expected it to just be gone but it was still un moving and staring at me in the same spot. I reached out and tried to grab the thing but it moved leaving a yellow blur that shot underneath me and my bed. Without thinking I yelled a little and flung myself over the edge of my bed to look underneath. Nothing there. It was quiet. I leaned back up puzzeled. All of a sudden The silence was broken by some awful scratching noise. The noise surrounded me, moving violently across my walls. It traced the corners of my room. It shot across my floor and my roof. It ran behind my ears. I lept out my bed and through my door way in one step. As I ran down the hall I felt like something was chasing me. The scratching seemed to taunt me as it got louder in my ears while I ran. I got to my brother's room and turned to slam the door behind me just in time to see a yellow blur in the hall way. As the door closed the scratching noise stopped. I didn't sleep in my room again for months and needless to say we learned our lesson with the board and got rid of it. Our ghost problems have since gotten alot better.

I currently own a gaming PC I built about five years ago on a mid-line budget. Two things seem to have driven my eyes to gaming laptops as of late; my PC has begun to have problems I cannot seem to fix, and a change in lifestyle.
In the next year, I'm heading out of state for dental school, and don't really want to be burdened with a PC when traveling between states. While I'm on my computer quite a bit as it is, my hours gaming will definitely decrease in my studies. My current PC has an i5, and a 1060, which is hasn't really let me down for any of the games I enjoy playing (Battlefield, Total War, R6), so I imagine a laptop with a 3060 will be able to satisfy my needs perfectly, and even better than before. I have a lot of thoughts on the matter of buying a PC, more than I can even express in text, but here's my main idea: I have a two monitor setup now. I would replace my PC, and one of my monitors with a laptop, and a stand beside my second monitor, while also keeping my mouse, and keyboard. This would be "home base" where I can play games on a larger monitor, use more comfortable peripherals, and have two monitors (Sometimes I AFK something like RuneScape will play other games, I feel like I should mention?). When I'm heading to class, or need to travel, I would just undock my laptop, and take everything with me on the go. I've seen similar setups on YouTube, but how possible is it .. really?

1. Am I daydreaming about something like this? A laptop that I can dock to a monitor, and use for gaming as if it were a "PC", and just taking it with me on the go?
   
2. What kind of laptop would be best? The games I play, I already play comfortably. I've never been one for playing at the absolute highest marks possible.
   
3. I've always seen my current laptop...as a laptop. Something I use when I use instead of my PC (I sound really dumb). My question is the stress of using a gaming PC "full time", I suppose. Would this be too much?
   

Please be gentle with me 💜

Hello there!
So I've been single for over 4 years now and honestly I'm missing having someone to cuddle up with when it's cold out, and to share all the snacks with during cosy nights in (I'm eating two people's worth of snacks right now and it's seriously not good for me!). Normal dating apps suck, and I've met some cool people here before, so let's try this again!
I know appearance is important to a lot of people so I'll start by saying I'm not the greatest looking person in the world. I'm happy to share some terrible selfies once we've been chatting for a bit, but here's a quick summary to start with. I'm white, I've got short brown hair, and blue/greyish eyes. I am fat (not just a bit chubby), but I am also 6'4 so that's gotta be a good thing right? I'm also pretty strong, so combine that with all the extra padding and I can guarantee the best hugs and cuddles you've ever had! Plus, wanna see what life's like up here? Come and sit on my shoulders and enjoy the view! Even if you're on the heavier side yourself, I'm willing to bet I could get you up there 💪
I work as a Senior AV technician at a university down here. It's pretty fun, I get to play with all sorts of technology and I really enjoy my job, even if it does get a bit stressful at times with all the big projects we're doing.
Unfortunately with covid and the current economic situation and the general state of the world I can't afford to move out and I'm still living at home, but I'm making the most of not having to pay a mortgage and rent and everything at the moment by saving up for a new car and planning on doing some travelling later in the year. My first plan is a trip to Svalbard and I'd totally love someone to come and join me!
Outside of work I'm pretty much the typical gamesci-fi/fantasy nerd! I built a gaming PC a couple of years ago and I'll give pretty much any game a go. I'm not really into competitive type games since I'm not very good at them (I can't carry you ingame but I totally will in real life 😛), but survival and adventure stuff is always fun. I'm also into strategy games and all the usual fun multiplayer stuff. I also got back into Warhammer 40K a couple of years ago but that has kind of slowed down now since I kind of overwhelmed myself with models and burnt out on the painting a little bit...
Film and TV wise I mostly like Sci-Fi and Fantasy stuff, Star Wars, Marvel, LOTR, and Dr Who are some of my favourites. I do also like a good horror film, or a good documentary, usually on some obscure paranormal weird thing. If anyone fancies doing any ghost hunting or exploring I'll happily come and see what happens!
So what kind of person am I looking for? Well;
Preferably someone in the UK (especially down in the South East), I can drive so basically anywhere in the country is fairly easy to get to.
I don't mind if you're from abroad, but please be from an English speaking country (US/Canada/Australia/etc), or willing to relocate to the UK someday as I've tried learning other languages in the past and it's definitely not happening.
Physically I don't really have a "type". Anything from normal up to thicc with 5 c's is fine by me, the only real preference is that you're not super skinny since I don't wanna be worried about breaking you 😂 I'm totally not bothered by height, even if somehow you're taller than me!
Overall I'm just looking for someone kind, caring, and non-judgemental who actually wants to talk to and spend time with me as much as I want to talk to and spend time with them.
If you've made it this far and like the sound of me, congratulations! Come and message me for a cookie!

Hello there!
So I've been single for over 4 years now and honestly I'm missing having someone to cuddle up with when it's cold out, and to share all the snacks with during cosy nights in (I'm eating two people's worth of snacks right now and it's seriously not good for me!). Normal dating apps suck, and I've met some cool people here before, so let's try this again!
I know appearance is important to a lot of people so I'll start by saying I'm not the greatest looking person in the world. I'm happy to share some terrible selfies once we've been chatting for a bit, but here's a quick summary to start with. I'm white, I've got short brown hair, and blue/greyish eyes. I am fat (not just a bit chubby), but I am also 6'4 so that's gotta be a good thing right? I'm also pretty strong, so combine that with all the extra padding and I can guarantee the best hugs and cuddles you've ever had! Plus, wanna see what life's like up here? Come and sit on my shoulders and enjoy the view! Even if you're on the heavier side yourself, I'm willing to bet I could get you up there 💪
I work as a Senior AV technician at a university down here. It's pretty fun, I get to play with all sorts of technology and I really enjoy my job, even if it does get a bit stressful at times with all the big projects we're doing.
Unfortunately with covid and the current economic situation and the general state of the world I can't afford to move out and I'm still living at home, but I'm making the most of not having to pay a mortgage and rent and everything at the moment by saving up for a new car and planning on doing some travelling later in the year. My first plan is a trip to Svalbard and I'd totally love someone to come and join me!
Outside of work I'm pretty much the typical gamesci-fi/fantasy nerd! I built a gaming PC a couple of years ago and I'll give pretty much any game a go. I'm not really into competitive type games since I'm not very good at them (I can't carry you ingame but I totally will in real life 😛), but survival and adventure stuff is always fun. I'm also into strategy games and all the usual fun multiplayer stuff. I also got back into Warhammer 40K a couple of years ago but that has kind of slowed down now since I kind of overwhelmed myself with models and burnt out on the painting a little bit...
Film and TV wise I mostly like Sci-Fi and Fantasy stuff, Star Wars, Marvel, LOTR, and Dr Who are some of my favourites. I do also like a good horror film, or a good documentary, usually on some obscure paranormal weird thing. If anyone fancies doing any ghost hunting or exploring I'll happily come and see what happens!
So what kind of person am I looking for? Well;
Preferably someone in the UK (especially down in the South East), I can drive so basically anywhere in the country is fairly easy to get to.
I don't mind if you're from abroad, but please be from an English speaking country (US/Canada/Australia/etc), or willing to relocate to the UK someday as I've tried learning other languages in the past and it's definitely not happening.
Physically I don't really have a "type". Anything from normal up to thicc with 5 c's is fine by me, the only real preference is that you're not super skinny since I don't wanna be worried about breaking you 😂 I'm totally not bothered by height, even if somehow you're taller than me!
Overall I'm just looking for someone kind, caring, and non-judgemental who actually wants to talk to and spend time with me as much as I want to talk to and spend time with them.
If you've made it this far and like the sound of me, congratulations! Come and message me for a cookie!

Hello there!
So I've been single for over 4 years now and honestly I'm missing having someone to cuddle up with when it's cold out, and to share all the snacks with during cosy nights in (I'm eating two people's worth of snacks right now and it's seriously not good for me!). Normal dating apps suck, and I've met some cool people here before, so let's try this again!
I know appearance is important to a lot of people so I'll start by saying I'm not the greatest looking person in the world. I'm happy to share some terrible selfies once we've been chatting for a bit, but here's a quick summary to start with. I'm white, I've got short brown hair, and blue/greyish eyes. I am fat (not just a bit chubby), but I am also 6'4 so that's gotta be a good thing right? I'm also pretty strong, so combine that with all the extra padding and I can guarantee the best hugs and cuddles you've ever had! Plus, wanna see what life's like up here? Come and sit on my shoulders and enjoy the view! Even if you're on the heavier side yourself, I'm willing to bet I could get you up there 💪
I work as a Senior AV technician at a university down here. It's pretty fun, I get to play with all sorts of technology and I really enjoy my job, even if it does get a bit stressful at times with all the big projects we're doing.
Unfortunately with covid and the current economic situation and the general state of the world I can't afford to move out and I'm still living at home, but I'm making the most of not having to pay a mortgage and rent and everything at the moment by saving up for a new car and planning on doing some travelling later in the year. My first plan is a trip to Svalbard and I'd totally love someone to come and join me!
Outside of work I'm pretty much the typical gamesci-fi/fantasy nerd! I built a gaming PC a couple of years ago and I'll give pretty much any game a go. I'm not really into competitive type games since I'm not very good at them (I can't carry you ingame but I totally will in real life 😛), but survival and adventure stuff is always fun. I'm also into strategy games and all the usual fun multiplayer stuff. I also got back into Warhammer 40K a couple of years ago but that has kind of slowed down now since I kind of overwhelmed myself with models and burnt out on the painting a little bit...
Film and TV wise I mostly like Sci-Fi and Fantasy stuff, Star Wars, Marvel, LOTR, and Dr Who are some of my favourites. I do also like a good horror film, or a good documentary, usually on some obscure paranormal weird thing. If anyone fancies doing any ghost hunting or exploring I'll happily come and see what happens!
So what kind of person am I looking for? Well;
Preferably someone in the UK (especially down in the South East), I can drive so basically anywhere in the country is fairly easy to get to.
I don't mind if you're from abroad, but please be from an English speaking country (US/Canada/Australia/etc), or willing to relocate to the UK someday as I've tried learning other languages in the past and it's definitely not happening.
Physically I don't really have a "type". Anything from normal up to thicc with 5 c's is fine by me, the only real preference is that you're not super skinny since I don't wanna be worried about breaking you 😂 I'm totally not bothered by height, even if somehow you're taller than me!
Overall I'm just looking for someone kind, caring, and non-judgemental who actually wants to talk to and spend time with me as much as I want to talk to and spend time with them.
If you've made it this far and like the sound of me, congratulations! Come and message me for a cookie!

hi! i made an explanation post for this but i can’t find it. just seeking maybe advice? or encourage others (who are able) to stick up for themselves? let me know if this is inappropriate for this sub and i can take it down no prob. tw: mentions of sh
dear dad
i RAN AWAY from your house over five years ago for you treating me like this. yes, i know this seems very hard for you to grasp since you bought me nice things, took me to disneyland, and paid 3500 a month for a nice house close to the beach. yes, dad, i know how much money you’ve spent on me. if i could, i’d pay every fucking dime back for causing you so much trouble. you think this is about money? genuinely, i would rather live on the street than live under your thumb again.
i don’t think you understand that i LOVE you. you’re my father. and it fucking KILLS me not to have a relationship with you. it HURTS me.
i thought that me leaving might maybe FINALLY make you reflect on your actions and the way you treated me. i thought you’d at least TRY to understand the reasons i left. a 7 minute phone call just proved that im not worth changing your behavior or even just an apology. you haven’t changed at all in 5 years. my mistake for letting you back into my life. i should have known better.
i had NEVER in five years asked you for anything other than my personal belongings that were stolen from me. i gave up on the rest and begged for just the computer. for YEARS. and you JUST now gave it back to me? did you really think you could bullshit me into thinking you did that out of the kindness of your heart? you KNOW you only did that to manipulate MY family into thinking you’re a good person/dad. the ONLY time you have helped me out financially is when i was living with (fm). except for my phone, which the second i had money to i paid for my own plan and changed my phone number. that was the last thing you could control and guilt me for. i had NO intention on giving you or any of your family my information. EVER.
i have no CLUE how or why you were contacted. that should NEVER have happened. but just recently, giving money, paying for my things like car insurance(which, with (fm) on the phone with me you were happy to pay the price, and now you’re acting like i’m using you for money when i OFFERED to pay for it). i know exactly what you’re doing and I’M sick of it.
i can still remember. i remember being woken up in the middle of the night by you screaming bloody murder in my ear. i remember being shamed for not doing something “extra” when i had 8 periods full of honors and “extra” classes. i remember the way you’d puff up and point your finger an inch from my face and yell so loud that my ear drums shook and i couldn’t see straight. i remember how you would spit in my face from how angrily you were yelling, so bad that i could even hear it through the phone. i remember at 9 years old watching you smash a wooden stool in a fit of anger and hiding, panicking, wondering if i’d be next. i remember you giving me permission to do things and then gaslighting me into thinking i was breaking the rules and punishing me. i remember you constantly dangling my freedom in front of my face and then

Name of Investigator(s): Dinesh John, Ph.D. and Stephen Intille. Ph.D.
Title of Project: Accelerating the development of novel methods to measure 24-hr physical behavior
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute
Help Northeastern University researchers learn how to accurately measure everyday behaviors using wearable sensors.
When? The study takes place over the span of a week. We can find a week that will work for you.
Where? At the Human Performance and Exercise Science Lab on the Northeastern Campus.
What? The study involves one laboratory session of four to five hours where you will do some activities, wearing sensors on your body every day as you go about your daily life for a week, and two nights of sleep wearing more sensors to measure your sleep patterns.
During the laboratory session you will be guided through some light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity activities on and around campus—with plenty of rest.
You will then wear sensors for eight days as you go about your daily life. During this time you will also wear a front-facing body-worn video camera whenever you are awake. The video camera does not record audio.
On two nights, you will visit the lab to be set-up with special sensors to measure your sleep patterns, and then you will go home and sleep with the sensors on.
Each day, you will be asked to describe what you have done during the last 24 hours in a 30-60 minute Zoom session.
At the end of the study you will return to the lab to drop off the equipment and discuss your experience.
You will receive up to $750 in compensation for your participation.
Participants must be healthy individuals between 35-85 years of age, willing and capable of participating in the laboratory session at and near the Northeastern University campus in Boston, and visiting the laboratory on three other occasions during the study.
Want to participate?
Contact us to learn more:
[email protected]
PAAWS -- Physical Activity Assessment using Wearable Sensors

I genuinely can't think of any other such series that isn't better than 'Indiana Jones'.
Be it The Librarian, National Treasure, The Mummy, you name it. I remember years ago they were airing at night a (older) series about this badass archeologist lady, and I loved it. 'Relic Hunter' was the name, it was so fun!
And even if you throw in games, the 'Uncharted' series is wayyyyyyyy above 'Indiana Jones'.
Mind you, I don't think Indiana Jones is bad, just pretty lame when compared to other things in the genre.

I was kicked off my raid team last night, and I want to ask what other people thing about the situation.
I had been at a conference for three days out of state, driven back the night before. Raid group cleared all of ulduar except Yogg0. Yogg0 was not progression; its a farm fight.there is a deep enough bench to fill up to 4 to 5 missing raiders at any time without issue. I had done nothing on retail yet, and wanted to dink around, so at 7 am I put in an absence for the 9pm raid. No reason given.
At 902 I get messaged that the team needed me, despite having bench backups. I did not end up going, and they wiped foe two hours before an eventual victory. I was notified shortly after they had ended that I was being removed, as I was expected to attend every raid barring emergency, and it was disrespectful to the team to not go if I was available.
I would argue I decided to make myself unavailable, not wanting to raid that night. We take penalties for absences already, and they had more than enough warning of it. Furthermore, if my lack of presence is enough to derail a raid, I feel there are larger pressing structural issues. And the real issue is, had I gone drinking or played games in my living room it would have been no issue; because I chose to play games on my computer he was aware I was around, and therefore felt he was owed my time. I disagree.
AITA for taking a night off of classic raiding to play retail instead?

I (22 m) had a heated discussion with my (24 m) partner over one of his deceased partner’s. About 2 months or so I remembered we had a discussion about our ex’s. He talked about 2 girlfriends he had, and when I asked him whether or not he had another boyfriend he said no, so I just let it be at that. A month after that I remembered we were playing a game together, when there was a mental health scene. He broke down in tears, and when I had asked him what was wrong, he said that it reminded him of one of his friends he had. I calmed him down and we talked more about him. At the time, all we had discussed about him that night was just that he had depression and that he was a good friend to my bf. Well, fast forward to now and the topic of our ex’s comes up. I asked him the same question as last time, when I had remembered that I asked him that already. Before I could laugh and say “Nevermind” he said that he did indeed have a past male partner before me. I was confused and asked him who. He had told me that we talked about him not long ago, and when I asked him if his ex was indeed who I thought he was, he confirmed it. Then I made the mistake of asking him whether he still had any romantical feelings for him or not. He answered yes but that he’s never give me up. The rest of the night was spent with me just saying how this felt wrong and him saying that it didn’t matter and that his past ex would have wanted him to be happy with me and move on. I kept asking one particular stupid question, which was what would my bf do if he found out his ex wanted him to leave me (maybe if there’s an afterlife and he saw us together). All his responses were either “I don’t know”, “it doesn’t matter because I wouldn’t have to make that choice”, or “I don’t know what I would do but I wound that give you up”. It’s been a couple weeks and this still nags me, but I feel like a complete ass because I’m basically disrespecting the dead. My bf said that technically they both confessed to liking each other, but they never dated and he didn’t have the chance to after his death. He said that all that happened after that confession was that they got closer. I don’t know what I should do or how I should feel. I want to get over this but I don’t think I can.
Am I the asshole for being bitter about this?

Let the guilt go. You have ADHD, you know why the way you do things is different so if people don’t understand why you haven’t done something yet or regard you as rude/slacking off that’s their problem.
One of the biggest problems of executive dysfunction is not even about doing a task but the guilt surrounding it that just eats away at you. Personally, replying to messages is my personal hell, I used to spend any free time I had feeling extremely anxious because I wasn’t replying. Yes I have been somewhat of a people pleaser the majority of my life but recently something in me has just gone ‘wait a second, why do I really care about this?’
I’ve been working on letting go of any pressure I might feel and it ultimately means I’m getting far more things done instead of stressing about them. Equally, don’t be so hard on yourself if you're not 'being productive', you will do things at your pace- prioritise yourself.
Example: This week I organised a games night for a group I’m in only for me to have to cancel it as I had to return home for an emergency health appointment (I messaged the group in advance asking if anyone could take over but nobody could). I hadn't posted about it so one of the coordinators messaged quite bluntly asking what happened with me organising it. This was a couple of days ago and I still haven't replied as quite drained since coming back and using all my energy on an important application (which I submitted successfully today hoorah). Usually I would get frustrated in a situation like this about someone ‘nagging’ me and then feel extremely guilty about letting people down but looking at the bigger picture this situation isn't deep and I've learned that people really don't know everything that's going on and you also don't have to explain yourself to people.
​

Sorry I just wanted to reach out and see if anyone else is experiencing this. I have just been playing fine for the last 6 months and about a week ago when they started with server maintenance I started getting a lot of "contacting Destiny 2 servers" error in game. As of the recent issues plaguing everybody I couldn't log in for the past 2 days and last night when I finally got in I was ready to get Malfeasance / Wither Catalyst. I got into a groove but after knowing myself and that I would need sleep decided to continue in the morning. However now I have been slapped with a 2 week restriction from matchmaking which now really just puts a damper on me wanting to play the game. I have already sent in a support ticket but who knows. I just really want to know if this is a common issue or do I need to now start looking at other ISPs or changing hardware?

My anxiety is high and, on top of that, I have recently started a new job. I prepared a document incorrectly. The result of that was my supervisor printing an extra couple copies of a letter to send out. After printing them, she said my list looked weird. I looked at it and immediately recognized the issue and said I’d fix it (a five minute job). She snapped at me and in a crazy mean tone said, “Well I printed off the letters based on this list! That’s why I asked you to save it!” I said sorry and she told me to go home cause it was the end of the day.
I was in my gd head about it all night. I was fully aware this mess up wasn’t a big deal. Fully aware that she’s young, has poor interpersonal skills and can’t control her emotions too well, hence the tone. I repeated these things to myself all night but I still couldn’t stop thinking about all the possible outcomes like getting fired, getting talked to from management, her being mad at me or gossiping about me, etc etc general anxiety thoughts.
I went to work this morning and obviously no one cared that my error had wasted ten pieces of paper and five minutes. My supervisor still made me correct it, even though the task was (as I realized) useless to begin with cause she’s just kind of weird. I was worked up all night about nothing. Absolutely nothing…except just that her tone really fucked with me. I’m very sensitive right now.
Does anyone with experience in CBT (or other therapy) have some guidance here. I’ve been solid for a long time and a bit rusty on my therapy skills. Looking for how I could have dealt with this in a bit healthier way. Thanks!

Part 2
Day 11
The pain was excruciating and all over my body. A thousand knives seemed to dig into me. I lay there for a minute with the dead creature still on top of me. I was trying to muster enough strength to get up and move this horrible thing off me, but I couldn’t. Finally, after what seemed like lying there for an hour Chloe came over and helped me move its dead body off me.
She froze when she saw me. I must’ve looked horrible so much had happened to me in the last 10 minutes. I saw her eyes move to my left hand. I found my tired eyes looking over, and what I saw was horrifying. My left hand was a bloody broken mess, fingers were missing, bones were sticking out in odd places, and a huge chunk of my palm was completely gone. I puked all over myself. Chloe looked like she was trying so hard to keep herself together.
The next few minutes were tense. Chloe tied one of her layers to my arm as a makeshift tourniquet. Then we slowly made our way home with Chloe practically dragging me.
They had to stitch my wounds while I was still conscious due to us not having anesthetics, and those were the most painful moments of my life. I felt the needle go in and out of my skin, I felt the small string pull my muscle and skin back together, and I felt when they had to cut one of my fingers off. It was absolutely excruciating and after it was done I passed out.
Chloe sat on the couch feeling awful and tired. She’d just spent an hour trying to get the food that had been in the fridge into coolers, but her mind was so busy she hardly cared. She felt awful about everything. There was so much she could’ve done, so many ways she could’ve helped me. So many ways that led to me still having a hand. If only I hadn’t been a coward, she thought, if I just hadn’t stood there maybe he would still have his hand. If only she’d just shot it again. She wiped her face trying not to cry. She had to be the strong one now, she had to be brave.
She was very curious, she wanted to know what exactly had happened to Carl. Joey hadn’t had the time to tell her whether or not the man was dead. She assumed he was due to the blood and the creature, but there was a small chance. She told Gretchen and Ronda (my mom) what her plan was. They agreed and she went to get ready.
She brought two guns, the sniper and the semi-automatic. She also found an old motorcycle helmet and decided to use that as a makeshift helmet. She knew if I had been awake I wouldn’t have not in a million years let her go, so she made her process quick just in case I did wake up.
Crunch! The snow had melted slightly the night before so now it felt more like walking across huge ice sheets. As she walked she realized she didn’t even have to use the GPS because of the blood trail. She followed it for a while, the snow constantly attacking her. After a couple of minutes, she found it. Lying in the middle of the street now with a fresh layer of snow on it was the creature, the hound as she’d begun to refer to it in her head. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it like I had so her eyes went wide when she saw the body. She was struck by how much its exoskeleton looked like big chunks of rocks. She also noticed the now frozen yellow-greenish blood around the body. Chloe leaned down to examine what was left of the head. What was left was a hollow shell of the exoskeleton; the gunshot in the mouth had practically liquefied everything in its head. She remembered how everything had exploded from the mouth and eye holes. The image of the eyes getting blown out from behind disgusted her.
She found herself examining the rest of the body and she couldn’t help but keep looking at the four legs. They looked so out of place on the body. They looked so mammalian for such an insect-like creature. They literally looked like stretched-out bald dog legs. She had a feeling of deja vu as she looked at the legs, she couldn’t help but think of the black dog they’d seen the other day. She made a note in her head that she wanted to take the body with her on the way back.
Finally, she stood up and started making her way towards the store. Like before she just followed the blood. She remembered when Joey ran into her he was covered in blood, like he’d slipped into the trail. She dreaded to think what he’d found in the showers. Her trek was slow and eerie. Then as she got closer the dead silence was cut by a ticking sound. She vaguely recognized it as something those spiders had made. Specifically the stinger ones. She kept the semi-automatic raised and got ready for a fight, but the ticking sounds slowly faded and she kept moving.
The store was just as she had left it early that morning. It was still a complete wreck. She hurried past the shattered glass and toppled shelves, through the small break room, and into the bunk room. It looked even worse than before. It looked like the creature had destroyed a few more things after it caught the headlamp. She specifically noticed a new deep gash in the bunk they’d hid behind.
As she walked into the shower room she heard a faint dripping sound. She started going one stall at a time to find it. First empty, second empty, but the third she wanted to throw up. Carl lay in the back of the stall, his body a bloody mess. His torso was almost gone. Everything inside of it had been ripped out along with most of his flesh. His ribs were shattered and lying on the floor. His spine was cracked and twisted. It looked like it had been broken. She threw up and stepped away from the sight, making her start to sob. Pull yourself together, she thought to herself, now isn’t the time. She wiped the tears off her face and continued. He had a daughter and a wife. She had to know what happened to them. So with much hesitance, she continued.
Fourth room empty, fifth empty, sixth empty, seventh empty, she stood next to the eighth stall dreading what she’d find inside. She didn’t want to see what was in there, but she would never forgive herself for not looking.
Two cocoon-looking things lay in the stall. They were white and pulsating slightly. They looked like the web cocoon the stingers had wrapped around the dog, but these were too big to be dogs. Instantly she knew what had happened to his wife and daughter. Chloe stepped away so she didn’t have to see it anymore, and then she had a thought. They wouldn’t leave them unattended, would they? She became much more nervous and started cautiously making her way from the room. She started to hear the ticking noises outside again and her hands started to shake. She took a deep breath and kept walking.
She walked into the main part of the store and saw a dozen or so stingers crawling in through one of the broken windows. She gasped, then in a hurry ducked back into the breakroom. Her whole body was shaking as she stood there listening to them scurrying around the store. Then after a minute one walked into the breakroom didn’t see her and disappeared into the bunk room. Then another went through, then another, then another, then another, and soon all but one had passed through. Her whole body was trembling when finally it walked through. This one was walking more slowly and looking around much more than the others, and suddenly its small beady eyes met hers. Scre… Rat-a-tatata! Four quick bullets cut through the stinger. All four hit it right in the head. She had a small feeling of triumph then Screech! The other stingers started running into the room. She hurried out in such a rush she didn’t watch where she was stepping and slipped on a piece of glass.
Smack! Her helmet slammed into the ground and then the rest of her. She watched them hurriedly crawl towards her. She tried to get a shot but they were just too fast. Then she felt a sharp pain in her leg. One of the stingers had sunk their stinger into her calf. Another was about to sting before she made her move. She grabbed a large piece of glass and stabbed it into the one on her leg, and then quickly stuck the shard into the other one that was about to sting her. Then she quickly stood up. Her body was starting to feel heavy and she was getting a little loopy. The other stingers were screeching and running toward her. Rat-a-tatatatata! She shot 10 rounds into the remaining nine stingers. Seven exploded when the bullet made contact, another got three legs blown off, the last wasn’t hit, and before she could shoot again it had lodged its stinger in her boot. She stopped for a second realizing that the stinger hadn’t actually pierced her foot then Rat-a-tat! She shot two bullets into the thing and then pulled it off her foot.
Her adrenaline was wearing off and the venom was doing its work fast. Her eyes were starting to close and she had to concentrate just to keep them open. I need to get somewhere safe, she thought looking around, and then her eyes fell on an intact door.
She locked the door to the women's restroom and then slumped against it as she felt her consciousness begin to slip. All she could think of was me hoping that I was okay, and hoping that she’d be able to see me again. Then finally she blacked out.
Her eyes fluttered open to see she was in the same place she’d passed out. There was a small puddle of blood around her calf. She weakly reached over and touched the wound. It wasn’t bleeding any more. I must’ve been out for a while. She thought, gingerly beginning to put weight on her leg. It hurt but she could walk. Click, she unlocked the bathroom door, raised the gun, and opened the door. She was nervous, worried that maybe more of them had come while she was out. It didn’t look like too much time had passed, and even more importantly there were no stingers. She looked over and saw her footprints were still visible through the heavily falling snow. Good not much time must have passed, she thought. Then she pulled out the phone and called Gretchen.
Bzzz…
“Gretchen, I got stung and passed out. What time is it?” She asked.
Gretchen’s relieved voice cut through the phone: “Oh Chloe thank goodness, it’s 2:42. You left around 12.”
Day 13
I woke up to giggling and laughter. I sat up and looked at the doorway and on the other side I could hear the boys quietly playing together. I moved the covers and tried to move my legs, but instantly daggers of pain went up my right leg. I wanted to do it more slowly but nothing seemed to help.
“Chloe!” I called and immediately heard something clatter upstairs followed by fast footsteps into the basement.
In a second Chloe had sprinted into the room and was on top of me giving me a huge hug. She pulled away and gave me one of her pretty little smiles.
“How are you feeling?” She asked.
My stomach growled and that answered her question.
“You’ve been asleep for almost two days, no wonder you’re hungry.” She said, I froze and looked over at the clock, but nothing showed on it. It was just a blank black screen.
“When did the power go out?” I asked, turning back toward her.
“Not long after you fell asleep.” She said, “We put as much food as we could into coolers, but most of what was in the fridge and freezer has gone bad.”
Her face was sad and grim. I reached for her hand with my good hand and squeezed it.
“We’ll get through this just like everything else. We’ll make it through if we stick together.” I told her starting to realize how hoarse I sounded.
She smiled then looked up at me again: “I’ll go get you some food… and a water bottle.” She said walking back out of the room.
I lay there in deep thought when Alan poked his head in.
“Uncle, are you okay?” He asked, sitting down on the foot of the bed.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling at him.
He smiled back, “Uncle you’ve got a Lego hand now.” He yelled pointing to my left hand.
I looked at my hand and saw the way they wrapped it did look like a Lego hand.
“Ha… yeah I suppose so.” I chuckled, Alan nodded and disappeared into the hallway.
A few minutes later Chloe appeared in the doorway with a plate and Mom and Gretchen tailed her.
“Sweety, are you ok?” My mom asked, walking over to the bedside and putting her hand on my forehead.
“Yes Mom I’m ok, I’m as ok as I can be right now,” I told her.
“Well I’m glad you’re ok,” She said, hugging me.
“Me too,” Gretchen added, hugging me.
After a minute they broke away and Chloe gave me my plate. It was some dry cereal and a piece of toast.
“Sorry… that’s all I could scrape together.” She said her expression was sad.
“How much is left?” I asked her.
“A few days maybe, the water situation is even worse though,” She said grimly.
I felt a crushing sense of defeat at that.
“We’re going to need to do something now,” Gretchen said, “Before we can’t do anything.”
“Agreed, but what? There is no chance of leaving without a snow plow.” I grumbled, becoming more disheartened.
“What if we had a snow plow?” Chloe asked.
“What?” Me and Gretchen asked.
“I mean, they keep it at the tractor place just a mile away. We could get the snow plow.” She suggested a hint of hope in her eyes.
“I don’t think we’ll all fit. Let alone supplies.” I told her.
“So then we bring two vehicles,” She said, “One or two of us go to the place, get the snow plow, and come back to the others in the other vehicle and follow behind.”
It was actually a pretty good plan, but it was still wishful thinking. They had a lot of variables on that.
“That might work, but it will take time and we don’t exactly have time,” I said.
“Well then let's get some more time. We might be able to find more food in other homes,” My mom said.
“Yes, in theory, that would work, but we don’t have two people to go,” I said.
“I’m out of commission, Gretchen isn’t leaving her boys, and not in a million years am I letting you go, Mom,” I argued.
“She can handle herself, she did the other day,” Mom argued back.
“What?... no I was with her…” I turned toward Chloe in confusion.
I saw a guilty look on her face and she told me that she’d gone to the store on the 11th day after they were done treating me.
I pulled her into a tight hug and whispered in her ear: “If you do that again I will use whatever force necessary to make your stay here.”
She looked at me, her eyes darkening: “Joey if I don’t go, we will starve. I’m terrified too but if that is what needs to be done I’ll do it.”
“I… I… I don’t want to lose you.” I sputtered out.
Her face turned red before she said: “I don’t want to lose you either, or any of you guys and that's why I need to go.”
I finally relented, Gretchen and my mom left the room, and Chloe sat and chatted with me while I ate my mediocre breakfast.
She perked up and said, “Joey I need to show you something.”
She got up and helped me get out of bed. Getting out wasn’t that hard unless I had to move my left leg or arm. Once I was standing she helped me over to the restroom and then helped me sit down.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” I asked, looking around the bathroom.
“This,” She said, pulling the shower curtain open and revealing what was inside.
Lying inside the tub was the body of the dog bug creature.
“Why the heck did you bring that in?” I asked.
“Aren’t you curious what it is?” She asked, an almost crazed look in her eyes.
“Fair, I am curious,” I said. “Found anything out so far?” I then asked.
“Well a no, not yet,” She said looking disappointed now, “I just know it isn’t anything science knows of.”
“Nothing, nothing interesting?” I inquired.
“Well yes there are interesting things,” She said, “Like look at this.”
She grabbed a knife covered in yellowish-green blood and used it to open a previously cut incision into the body. I looked inside and saw something quite strange. This thing still had an endoskeleton.
“Nothing that we know of on earth has an endo and exoskeleton, and I honestly don’t know why an animal would have both.” She said looking up at me.
“Hmm… mind if I take a look?” I asked.
She nodded and I moved over and took the knife with my right hand. I used the knife to hold open the incision and I looked at the bone. It looked normal but I was suspicious so I set the knife down, reached in, and yanked the femur I’d been looking at out. The femur was the size it should’ve been for a normal dog, but for this creature, it was extremely undersized.
“Just as I thought,” I said, looking over at her.
“Can you explain to me what it is that you just figured out?” She asked, very confused.
“Look how small this femur is, it should be double the size for this creature, but it is the adequate size for a normal dog. The way I figure this is that during the metamorphosis that changed the dog into this thing the bones were not destroyed or changed. That’s why they are still there but not the right size.” I explained holding the bone up to her.
“I suppose that your theory makes sense,” She said after a short pause.
Day 14
Chloe sat on the bed strapping on the extra gear I was making her take. I knew I couldn’t stop her from going so I decided I would make her as safe as possible. I dug through old boxes and found my dad's old Kevlar vests. There were two so I cut one up to make guards for her arms and legs. Then I made her put on an extra coat to add one more layer of protection, as for other parts I agreed that the motorcycle helmet was the best helmet we had so she put that on.
Now she was sitting on the bed with the helmet sitting next to her while she was loading her weapons. She was bringing the semi-automatic and the sniper rifle with extra ammo for each. She also had a hunting knife strapped to her belt saying it would’ve come in handy last time. I looked at her and gave her a tight hug.
“If you don’t come back I’ll find you and teach you a lesson.” I jokingly threatened her.
She let out a giggle, “I’ll try my best.”
Again she made her outside into the blizzard. It raged on around her as it had been for days. She had to climb the almost four-foot-tall pile of snow before she could really start exploring. They’d assumed that the people who had left town wouldn’t have much food in their homes, so she planned to hit Carl’s house and the Garrison’s house today. Then check out a few other houses the next day, but right now she had to focus on simply taking the next step because anytime she stepped wrong she’d sink further into the snow. Slowly through the whipping wind and freezing snow, she walked. It was exhausting especially with her still being sore from a couple of days ago, but she continued despite the pain and weather. Despite it all she kept taking step after step after step, and the whole time the blizzard's icy claws were digging into her.
Eventually, she saw the destroyed store and walked past it, her eyes eyeing the shattered windows for any movement but nothing happened. She continued onward knowing that Carl’s house was now only a block away. She walked carefully and precisely trying not to step in the wrong place. Then she saw it. Carl’s house was a small colonial-style two-story home with a big wrap-around porch, but now it looked horrible. The door was ripped out of its hinges and two or three windows were shattered. She slid down a short snowy slope and onto the porch. Crack! One of the wooden planks that made the porch broke from under her foot and her foot slipped down. She pulled it out of the hole and slowly walked into his house.
There was a trail of snow leading in from the fallen door almost like a carpet leading her into this place. It was horrible on the inside. It reminded her of the store. Furniture was thrown every which way, some bearing deep gashes. The closest door to her had a hole going straight through it. She walked over a vast sea of shattered glass and turned into the kitchen. The granite countertops had been ripped from their places and shattered on the tiled floor. A large gash was in the door of the now fallen fridge. She walked over and kneeled down near the fridge, ripping open one of the doors. As she suspected, everything in there was frozen solid. Sitting in there was cheese, deli meat, assorted fruits and vegetables, shattered glasses of condiments, and two steaks. She grabbed everything and stuffed it all into one of the duffel bags she’d brought. Then she saw a loaf of bread lying on the ground near her and grabbed that too. She stood up and looked around the kitchen. She noticed a box of pasta sitting next to a pot on the stove. The box was full, so she grabbed it. The pot was partly melted onto the stove and frozen tomato sauce sat inside.
The picture of what had happened began to emerge in her head. Carl had likely been walking home from the store when it attacked. It chased him inside, breaking down the door and destroying everything in its path. His wife, Greta, had been making spaghetti for dinner when it happened. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed his wife with the beast following him. It destroyed the kitchen as it chased them.
Chloe pushed those thoughts from her head and opened their pantry to see if there was more food. There were lots of boxes but her eyes fell on the cans that lined the bottom of the pantry. There were dozens of them, probably a hundred or two cans. She kneeled and started eagerly grabbing the cans and putting them in the duffel bag. She even took out the cheese and pasta to make for more room.
She stopped her eager collecting when she heard a slight ticking noise. Stingers she thought and then pulled her knife from her belt in preparation. The ticking was slight and distant. It probably just walked in, she thought. With the ticking, she heard the slight creaking of the wood floor in the hall as it approached the kitchen. Then a scraping tapping sound as it began walking on the tiles. She gripped the knife tightly and got ready to stab the thing. Scr…! The stinger managed to give off a faint screech before the sharp hunting knife pierced its windpipe. She yanked the knife out of its neck severing the head from the body. Then she resheathed the knife and quietly got back to what she’d been doing. She didn’t stop until the bag was bulging then she zipped it closed and heaved it under her arm. It was heavy but she wasn’t weak.
She walked over to the front door and set the duffel bag next to it. She wanted to check out the rest of the house before she left.
She crept down the hall and into the master bedroom. It was intact, everything looked right and nothing was broken. She walked over to the dresser and started going through the drawers. Darn, just clothes. She thought as she dug her hands in shuffling the clothes around. She opened the drawer and start thrashing around the clothes when she felt something hard. She pulled a box of ammo out of the drawer. It was for the revolver she looked to see how much but it was empty.
Almost every stair on the way upstairs bore scratches and one or two were cracked. They creaked so loud she began to worry that the noise would get the stinger’s attention but nothing came. Then finally she arrived upstairs. The second floor of their house was composed of two rooms, a restroom, and his daughter Lacy’s bedroom. The bedroom door and a dresser lay on the room floor scratched and broken. The rest of the room was torn apart. The bed was shredded and a mirror lay shattered on the ground. Her eyes fell to the window which was propped open.
The rest of their story seemed to fall into place. Carl and Greta ran upstairs chased by the hound, and into Lacy’s room. They barricaded the door as the creature tried to get it, and then they all quickly slipped out of the window onto the porch roof and then to the ground. They ran to the store and bunkered there. The creature searched the whole shop but couldn’t find them. Then later the hound came back and Carl went to fight it. He told Greta and Lacy to hide in a stall and made his way to the main part of the shop. There he was killed and then dragged into the shower stall to be eaten, and at some point during that time the stingers and slugs got to Lacy and Greta.
She shivered, they’d tried so hard but it still got to them. Maybe if he’d had more bullets he could’ve survived. Thinking of the empty box and the two shots that had woken them that night.
She walked out of the bedroom and back downstairs. She found her eyes wandering around the destroyed first floor again, and it struck her that something bigger had to have done this. There was no way the deer-sized hound would have destroyed this much. She hurried over into the kitchen again and looked at the gash in the fridge. That’s too big. Way too big! She thought looking at the huge gash. She started to think about the store and the same inconsistencies began to appear in the memories. All the damage, the claw marks, the strength, it was all too much, too big, there was no way the hound had done this.
As she was thinking she noticed a doorway she hadn’t been through. Next to her was the doorway to the basement stairs with the door wide open. She peaked down and saw light down there, not much probably from a window, but it was something.
Creak! Her first step of descent was loud and made her worry again that something would hear her. She stopped and listened, but nothing. So as carefully as she could she continued. Every step was as loud as the first and every step made her jump in her skin and wait for something to happen. But after what seemed like ages she arrived at the bottom.
The basement was large with two spare bedrooms and a large storage room. She slowly walked down the hall looking into the bedrooms on both sides of her. They were bare with nothing much more than beds, so she walked forward and into the main storage room.
The storage room had large shelving units across the whole room. The shelves were partially filled with labeled boxes. She walked over to one shelf and started reading the labels. Christmas, no, I don't need that. Halloween, not that. Games, nope. Sports could be useful. She thought as she grabbed the heavy crate and set it out in front of her. She grabbed the latches on either side, undoing them and popping the lid off.
Suddenly a ripping sound erupted from another part of the basement. The ripping had a sort of wet sound to it. Chloe started to walk over to the sound far too curious not to. Screech! It came from the same direction as the ripping sound. She got the gun ready and then jumped from around a shelf not facing what was making the sound. She watched one of those hound things fully emerge from a cocoon and look over at her. A chill ran down her spine as its four eyes met hers; the two to the left were icy blue and the two to the right were dark brown. This one was also slightly smaller but much stockier than the other. Rat-a-tatatata! She released a quick barrage of bullets hoping to stop the disgusting thing, but it just started charging for her. Quickly she moved to the other side of the shelving and pushed it down. Her whole body was shaking, but she had to keep calm and keep fighting. The hound howled in pain and started cracking through the wooden shelf to get to her. She took this time to aim a good shot at its face. Rat-a-tat! She shot two quick bullets into its face. One sunk into its exoskeleton the other buried itself into one of its eyes. SCREECH!!!!! It broke through the shelf and made a quick dive toward her. It pinned her to the ground, knocking her gun away in the process. It sunk its jaws into the helmet and it started to break and crack. She started to cry. This thing was going to eat through her helmet then her face, but during this moment of panic she remembered something. She pulled the knife from her belt and stabbed it into the hound's semi-exposed underbelly. It screeched again in pain so she stabbed again. She then shoved the hurt thing off of her and dove for the gun. She felt one of its praying mantis talons slash her vest and then her upper leg, so she turned around and fired. Rat-a-tatata! She shot it four more times, one hitting its forehead, the second hitting its mouth, the third mouth as well, and the fourth badly damaged its lower jaw. Its face was covered in yellow-greenish blood and it was throwing up blood onto the floor. Just as she thought it might be dying it made a quick sprint toward her. It bit her right knee, its teeth sinking in and actually managing to make her bleed. But then crash! It shoved forward and caused her to fall on top of it. Not having a good shot she grabbed the knife and started stabbing anywhere she could until it finally stopped fighting.
She lay there catching her breath until finally she stood up. Her vision was disrupted by the cracks in the helmet’s visor. She tore the helmet off and threw it down onto the dying hound. Even as it lay there it still tried to get toward her and attack her. She thought about executing it but decided that would just be a waste of a bullet and in a weird way she found its attempts to attack entertaining.
The sports crate she’d opened earlier didn’t have much use. It contained a few balls and two or three different types of rackets. She continued looking through the shelves until she found a box labeled camping. She slid it off the shelf and onto the floor, undid the latches, and popped the lid off. Inside the box were all sorts of goodies. At the top of the box were two big mummy sleeping bags. She pulled those out to see fire starters, water purifiers, bug spray, sunscreen, a small tent, utensils, pots and pans, and a large hatchet. Excitedly she grabbed her other duffel bag and moved everything from the crate into it.
She heaved the duffel bag under her arm and carried it back upstairs. She set it next to the other and turned around. She wanted to check one more place before she left the house. She walked across the house and to the backdoor pushing it open and looking outside. In their backyard half buried in snow was a shed. She hurried over to the shed through the deep snow. The doors were almost completely covered in snow and she knew she wouldn't be spending the whole day shoveling. Luckily there was a small window near the top of the shed. She gave it one good kick and the window popped open. She slid through the hole and dropped down into the shed.
The shed was small with very little inside. There was a lawn mower and a few tools but that was it. The one thing that did catch her eye was a small wooden sled with a rope tied to the front. She picked it up thinking how much easier it would make carrying the bags.
Chloe carefully shoved the sled through the window frame and then squeezed through herself. She carried the sled into the house, used tape to keep the bags secure on it, and then started pulling the sled back towards home. Carl’s house was near the top of a small hill, so for a short couple of seconds, she rode the sled as it slid down the icy slope. It made her feel like a little kid and she wished it would have lasted longer.
After a long walk through the blizzard she arrived home tired and her face feeling like it was freezing off. Gretchen hugged her the moment she walked in.
“Are you ok? We thought we heard gunshots.” She said a little worried.
“You did… I had to kill another hound thing. Just like the one in the tub. The armor worked like a charm though, I hardly felt its bite.” Chloe said motioning to the rip in her pants around the knee.
“Oh shoot you bleeding,” Gretchen said looking at her leg.
Chloe looked down to see a cut on her thigh and a few small nicks on her knee.
I sat in bed. I'd just heard Chloe come in and I waited patiently for her to come down. After a couple of minutes, I heard footsteps come downstairs and start creeping down the hall. Then I saw her face poke in from around the door. She smiled and walked in when she saw I was awake.
“Hi babe, how are you feeling?” She asked, taking a seat next to me.
“I mean my hand still hurts like heck, but yeah I’m fine.” I joked.
She smiled, “Seriously though, are you feeling alright?” She asked.
“I’m feeling fine,” I lied trying to get her to stop worrying.
“I want to hear about everything that happened,” I said sitting up.
So she told me everything that happened, even her theory on what exactly happened to Carl and his family.
“Did they have a dog?” She asked me after finishing her story.
“Yeah… a pitbull I think,” I replied, trying my best to remember the odd times when Carl talked about his dog.
“That explains it, that hound was a lot stockier than the one you shot.” She said, “Also it destroyed the helmet so I need a new one before I go to the Garrison’s house.”
I gave her a worried look, “Do you need to go?” I asked.
“YES!” She insisted, “We don’t know what happened to them, and I’d like to find a little more food.”
“But do we need more food?” I asked, “You got a lot of cans.”
“Joey, this has already been going on for two weeks. Who knows how long it will last? More preparation never hurts.” She argued, sounding a little angry now.
“Ok… Ok… Just be safe,” I told her and gave her a big hug.
Gretchen found an arguably better helmet in the garage, a big metal welding helmet. It fit Chloe almost perfectly, and as a backup, she wore two thick hoods to protect the back of her head. She had a very bad feeling this time, as she stood there by the door she couldn’t help but shake. She wanted someone to come with her, and as big Herman came over to say his goodbyes she had an idea.
She marched through the deep snow with Herman atop the sled she pulled. She’d try to have him follow on foot, but the snow was just too high and he kept getting stuck. But she didn’t care that he was just extra weight because she was just happy that she wasn’t facing this alone. She slowly made her way down the street, the blizzard more relentless than ever. It seemed to her the longer the blizzard continued the stronger it was becoming. The snow continued to pound down on top of her slowly wearing down her will to continue, but it didn’t stop her. She took one step after another after another. She was starting to tire and the pain of the injuries was beginning to wear on her. But every time she seemed to slow Herman would give a little woof, and she would keep on going.
The snow had become so hard to see through that more than an outstretched hand was invisible to her. Her vision was so bad she didn’t know the group of crawlers and slugs were there until she was practically right on top of them
Meanwhile…
“Hey, we should probably start clearing the driveway now,” Gretchen said suddenly to her mom while they both sat at the kitchen table.
“That’s probably a wise idea,” Our mother said with a smile.
Gretchen and Mom began their efforts with large snow shovels. Gretchen did most of the work as Mom had to take frequent breaks. They shoveled and shoveled as the day wore on going over their work with salt so as to not let more snow accumulate. Gretchen was exhausted from the work, but she continued nonetheless. She kept digging ad digging until she heard the shovel scrape concrete then she moved to the next section. Despite the cold, they were both dripping with sweat.
I sat by the window watching them work while the boys played. I so wanted to go help but knew I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything but sit and watch them work. I felt horrible as I watched, and then my mind started thinking of Chloe. I pulled out the walkie and pressed the button to talk.
The first thing Chloe heard was Screech! The stinger was right in front of her clearly just as surprised by her as she was of it. But it wasn’t alone from her restricted view; it looked like there were about 10 stingers and 3 or so slugs.
She tried to raise her gun but they were scattering around far too quickly. Then she heard a ripping noise as one of them drove a stinger into her boot. She pulled out the hunting knife and made quick work of the stinger. Two more stingers were charging straight for her and one was coming from her left. Before she could do anything the snow under the two erupted and they were dragged down into it. She wasn’t able to see what it was and she began to shake as it did the same thing to the one coming from her left. In a sudden panic, she turned around to see the sled empty with a hole in the snow right next to it. She let out a small cry whatever was under the snow had gotten Herman and the stingers, but there was no time for mourning as more of the stingers began coming for her. Again the snow erupted under them but this time she got a better look. Whatever was under the snow was big and white. She got the gun as the thing took out the rest of the slugs and stingers. She assumed it was coming for her next. She hurried and jumped atop the sled so it couldn’t take her down easily. She stood there ready to fight whatever monster thing had gotten everything. Horrible images of twisted spider mole creatures flew through her head. Suddenly the snow next to the sled exploded open and she saw the large white beast jump out of the snow and on top of her. She closed her eyes expecting to feel teeth begin to sink down, but after a second she heard a lapping sound. She opened her eyes to see Herman on top of her licking her helmet. She smiled and let out a laugh.
“Good boy!” She said encouragingly.
Herman was completely covered in snow; he looked more like a polar bear than a dog. She brushed some of it off but didn’t bother to do much. She helped the big dog back onto the sled and continued forward. She walked another block before she finally saw her destination to her right was the Garrison’s large house broken and beaten from obvious attacks. It stood there somehow feeling more eerie than the surrounding houses. She stepped onto the wooden porch and there was a loud creak. Ever so more carefully she and Herman crept across the porch and into the house. If only they’d known what they were about to walk into.

Hi vancouver,
This is a follow-up to my initial post. I have since checked libraries of Metro Vancouver for video games and made similar lists for those which offer them on loan, which is a total of five: Coquitlam Public Library, New Westminster Public Library, North Vancouver City Library, Richmond Public Library and (still) Vancouver Public Library.
First, you should know about InterLINK and member libraries.
Second, those five libraries have different borrowing rules / limits w.r.t. video games:

Library	CPL	NWPL	NVCL	RPL	VPL
How Long?	2 weeks	3 weeks	2 weeks	1 week (²)	1 week
Renewals?	2	2 + 3 (¹)	1	0 (²)	3
How many games?	2	5	5	2 (²)	5

NB: Any renewals are conditional on the games not being on hold for anyone else / the games not being in demand. (¹) 2 automatic renewals and 3 manual ones (²) The writing is specific to "Nintendo Switch Games", but you'll see they only a handful of those listed on the website. This probably to other platforms but you might want to double check.
Lastly, here are my HowLongToBeat collections for each library:

Library	CPL	NWPL	NVCL	RPL	VPL
3DS			17 games
PS3	62 games	23 games	53 games		131 games
PS4	224 games	50 games	159 games	52 games	583 games
PS5	56 games		28 games		107 games
Switch	189 games	46 games	78 games	3 games	199 games
Wii	41 games	35 games	17 games		82 games
Wii U	18 games	23 games	7 games		76 games
Xbox 360	62 games	6 games	36 games		119 games
Xbox One (inc. games with Smart Delivery)	156 games	36 games	93 games	34 games	399 games
Xbox Series X (inc. games with Smart Delivery)	57 games		30 games		81 games

A few things that are good-to-know:

• There's strictly no M rated games at VPL or NWPL.
• If you want a blast from the past, there's a single OG Xbox game at CPL, Tom Clancy's Splinter's Cell - and FWIW it is backwards compatible with every Xbox model - with a disc drive - in existence.
• RPL
  • I was told by staff that they have another 10 Switch games on a first come, first serve basis, but I haven't heard back yet as to what those might be or where they are (and they're not in the system - that much I've been told). If you come across any of those games, please ping me so I can add them to the list!
  • I was also told that they should begin buying new PS4/PS5/Xbox Series games at some point in the near future, budget permitting.
  • Lastly, there's technically around 450 games listed on the RPL website, but I've found that they were either impossible to place a hold on or had a due date well in the past (> 6 months ago), thus the far lower number of games I listed above. I'm still checking with staff whether that's correct.

If you see any mistakes or game that's not actually available but that's still listed in the collections, let me know! And if any of you is familiar with Chilifresh or the Polaris ILS, please get in touch with me :)
Happy gaming!

Hey so about yesterday last night I came across this bug(?) I'm doing chapter 1 of the campaign because i'm fairly new to the game but im getting used to it, im on the part where you have to deliver 8 loads of salt to New York I have parallel tracks getting to there and back and the route works perfectly fine because it delivers lumber but for some reason, 1. It won't load salt. 2. there's directions at my train station, normally its either neutral or its like greyed/white'd out but this time it has a direction going away and it gives me that error message where it "cant enter the station" or whatever, so unfortunately i just decided to make a new game since i only had 5 hours invested into the game I felt like it wasnt too bad to restart, but its starting me with only like 3 tracks? and I know for a fact there's more than that, I think around 7 or maybe even 8 track? I've restarted, made another new game AGAIN and yeah nothing's seemed to work I've did everything for both situations so seeing if anyone else has the same issue or know how to fix it?
(this is on RE2 btw)