Hi all.
Throw-away account for privacy reasons. I have had a friend for 7-8 years. She is one of my best friends and was one of those people that just clicked with me! We have a lot of the same interests and are always there to rely on each other when drama comes into our lives. When I first met her, she had a boyfriend. He was a HUGE jerk and ended up causing some real trauma and cheating on her multiple times as well. Before I met her, I slept with him in a one-night stand. It was terrible, and it ended there. Especailly because he told me after the fact he had an on an off girlfriend and they were currently "off" but he planned to be back "on" soon and that I could be his "side h*e" *BARF*. Weeks later, I met her in a class where we hit it off right away. Some weeks later, she showed me a picture of her boyfriend in which I was SHOCKED to see the guy I had slept with. I got the timelines and it was unclear if they were "together" or "on a break" or truly broken up at the time of the incident. I then learned that he's cheated on her MULTIPLE times with women he didn't know. I decided not to tell her when I found out because, frankly, she was really emotionally fragile for very justifiable reasons at the time. Instead, I pushed her to break up with him, pointing out how terrible he treated her. She did end up dumping him and moving on to have a few serious boyfriends between then and now.
Recently, she broke up with a long-time boyfriend. That break up was tough on her and really pushed her into her new healing era. She has had a lot of trauma-based therapy for the terrible past boyfriend.
Flash forward to now, I'm moving to a new city. I flew her out to my old city so she could help me take my animals on a plane to my new city, which I also made sure to spot her for. I was super grateful for her and we wanted to schedule a girls trip around this time anyway so it was great. I felt like this was a good time to let her know what had transpired before I met her. I swear, the first thing out of my mouth when I told her I had to tell her something I haven't told her for a long time was "I'm sorry, but I think I slept with (ex) before I knew you and I think you may have been together at the time." I waited for tears, for anger, for whatever reaction. Her reaction was "oh no worries dude it's fine", or something along those lines. I wanted to respond in whatever way she did, so I said "wow, okay. I had been holding that for a while". She asked why. I said "because I wanted to wait until a time I felt like you were emotionally ready to hear it." She then, in a gossipy, fun way, asked me "how was it?" to which I replied "terrible!". The mood the rest of the night was, what I thought, fine. She got some abdominal cramps later in the night which I found out when I asked if she was okay because she was being more quiet than usual. We ended up stopping and getting her some Advil.
Everything was A-OK until yesterday. She had flown home two days prior to yesterday. I had texted her a few times making sure she got home okay and with some updates on everything. The day before yesterday she wasn't replying, but I knew she was going to be working a lot so I didn't think anything of it. Yesterday, I woke up to a long message from her saying that she couldn't believe I brought her trauma back up, was complicit in it, and then patted myself on the back for being a "good friend" for keeping it a secret. She even said I didn't apologize, which I feel I did, but if she didn't receive that from what I said, then I absolutely own that I did not apologize heavily enough or that it wasn't central enough to the conversation. She then said there was nothing I could do to repair the friendship and proceeded to block me on everything. I managed to WhatsApp message her an apology where I just plainly said that I was sorry I held it back, I reiterated my reasoning why, and that I understood what she said but that if I didn't properly apologize then I was doing a disservice to our friendship and therefore felt I should make sure I reached out to appropriately do so.
I feel terrible for what I put her through. I did bring up her trauma, in, what I thought, was a safe space. I understand now that her first reaciton was likely a trauma response where "everything's okay" and "cool" in order to maybe sweep it under the rug. Then she got some time alone with her thoughts and developed how she truly felt, which was probably really betrayed. I definitely understand what I did was wrong, but I can't change past actions. I made the choices I made with the knowledge I had at the time and that's all I could do.
I'm mostly writing this to get some opinions on my behavior and on her somewhat late reaction. I never want to put someone through this ever again, and I understand that will require radical honesty with everyone I love from here-on-out. Thank you all for listening.

About 3 days ago, I was sitting at my desk working when I could feel a burp coming on and it wouldn't come out. I did some stretches and had a TUMS and I finally burped. Since then, I've felt a burning sensation (like heartburn) in my chest where I assume my throat meets my stomach. It hasn't really gone away and occasionally I'll feel a smaller gas bubble like the first time. Occasionally something like this happens, but never for days at a time. I have been avoiding acidic foods and not having any coffee at all (I'm on a white rice, mashed potatoes, bread and butter and chicken nugget diet lol). It gets worse when I lay down but that happens when I have heartburn anyways. What should I do?

Right now it’s hard for me to write this. I cannot stop crying and screaming for over more than a week. I’m so hopeless and I cannot speak with anyone. So if you’re kind to read my long long story I much appreciate. I’m (35F) and I’ve been married for almost 7 years and I’ve been battling with hard depression and anxiety since 2013. I met my husband on 2012 he lived in Spain and I lived in Mexico. So when he met me I was not the person I am now. He moved to Mexico to work and live with me however shortly before I got mugged and that event unleashed my anxiety. At the beginning I thought it was more of a PTSD but later I discovered through therapy that getting mugged was just the hand that opened my past of neglected childhood, constant reject, lots of self demanding, a toxic need to be independent, the frightened child that was despised by their family and felt lonely… getting mugged was a cruel way of remind me that I couldn’t get control of my life by myself and that I wasn’t that un breakable wall I thought I was to protect myself… So all this got translated as anxiety, agoraphobia, hypochondriac behavior, depression, social anxiety…. And my husband went through all that until one day he told me how much he suffered that I wasn’t doing anything to improve and how miserable he felt because of me not taking care. I felt so deep those words that I went constantly to therapy and took meds. 6 months later I was so so much better: I was working in an office, I was going out more, I felt like my old self was getting back to me, even my husband and I talked about having a baby….. until early this year I was diagnosed with diabetes, and just like the mugging incident that triggered everything all over again. I started to repeat old behaviors. As you can imagine I panicked I didn’t want to go back I was so happy we were happy… so different from last time I immediately called my therapist and we started to work on it again. But this is no magic and I had lots of rough days, with depression, apathy, hypochondria and agoraphobia. And I knew I was battling every single day with that, fear, diabetes medication that was beating my stomach and mood and I had to take strength to get better but it wasn’t easy. So fast forward to last week, husband and I went to Mexico (we live in Spain) I wanted to look for some family confort as previous months were awful. My husband got pretty bored and was telling how much he regretted going to Mexico and that I wasn’t doing anything for him besides being with my family (which I just get to see once every year) so one day I took him on a day out just for the two of us and he dropped the bomb: he said that he was exhausted from my anxiety and depression attitude and that he wanted us to separate temporarily that he now doesn’t want to have children with me anymore because of my hypochondriac behavior that I could stay in Mexico if I wanted… my whole life is in Spain: my job, my healthcare and even my debt! I felt so confused but I decided to come back and I promised I would change for better. Now I’m here just got back from hospital (kidney stones) and he is so cold and distant. He said that he needs to feel that he wants to spend time with me. I feel so lonely, vulnerable and I feel again like the unwanted, always rejected child. I feel so tiny and miserable. And with a inflamen kidney i cm not do much besides crying and feeling desperate and so anxious more than ever I don’t want to star all over in loneliness im so afraid this is not my country but I also don’t want to go back th😢 thank you so much for reading. Sorry for my bad English

Thats something we all know. And the leader of the riot was trans women. And thats why I always find it so ironic when there are bubbles in the lesbian community that are terfs. Because we wouldn't be celebrating Pride month if not for trans women. And they belong in spaces like this.
In this group I see Trans women's posts downvoted often. As well as their comments. Its happened to my wife. Before she was comfortable coming out as trans online she just went by women because she is a woman. She got SO many awards and upvotes and she was treated like a queen on here and many other subreddits. She came out on here and she gets nothing but down votes and she sees the comments about trans women aren't lesbians. Trans women are women, people. And lesbians are women who love women. At least going by the text book.
​
Anyways happy pride to everyone. Even the trans lesbians. You are valid.

"But what am I supposed to do with it?"
"Enjoy it?" the executor suggested lightly. "It's two hundred acres of woodland. You ever been to Paignton Zoo? That's eighty acres. Your forest is two-point-five times bigger than Paignton Zoo."
"But I can't sell it or build on it?"
The executor permitted himself a shudder of irritation.
"Technically, no," he admitted. "Your grandfather was quite clear. Let it -" he peered at Russell Shädlich's Last Will and Testament. "Sorry… 'Let it continue to be an untouched nature reserve in a world choking on its own noxious fumes.'"
Sheryl Shädlich gnashed her teeth. She'd be damned if she couldn't get something out of this.
•••
Five weeks later, Sheryl met her first group of 12 at the forest's east entrance.
"Welcome," she said. "Did you all bring your knives and baskets?"
"Sure did!" said a man in a checked shirt and rimless glasses. Sheryl decided she hated him the most. But she grinned.
"Then let's get started."
Sheryl hadn't stepped foot in the forest since she'd inherited it, but she'd gotten a good view from a hired helicopter. A perfect trail led most of the way through the trees. She had no worries about getting lost.
"Stick to the path!" she called behind her.
"I say!" said Checked Glasses. "Is that a hawfinch?" He whipped out some binoculars.
"What did you call me?" his wife snapped before collapsing into giggles. Sheryl hated her, too.
"Come on, now!" she trilled. "We don't want to be here in the dark!"
The group trooped through the forest, gathering mushrooms and spoils from fruit-bearing bushes.
Sheryl could barely stop herself from rubbing her hands in glee. A whole punnet of fucking blackberries cost 90p in Aldi. These morons had paid £50 each for a "Pick What You Want" nature ramble.
"I say!" said Checked Glasses again. "An adder!"
He stepped off the path… and the ground crumbled away into a pit.
The 11 and Sheryl heard a soft thwump, followed by a scream.
"IT'S GOT SPIIIIIIIKES!" Checked Glasses warned. And died.
The group wailed like they'd found Steve Buscemi in their shower and scattered.
BOOM
Checked Glasses' wife got blown to bits by a landmine.
Sheryl changed direction, charging into the woman in front of her… who was promptly garrotted by a wire stretched between the trees.
But Sheryl hadn't set the traps.
"BEAR TRAP!" screamed another woman, far too late. The running man's shins snapped between serrated metal. The woman fainted directly onto another landmine, showering the remaining seven in shreds of innards and sensible footwear.
A man in khaki shorts howled as he tripped into a machete blade jutting from a tree. The adder, panicked, started striking the convulsing body over and over, until, exhausted, it dropped onto another landmine.
It wasn't meant to be like this, thought Sheryl.
If she'd known old Russell Schädlich was a psychopath, she'd never have bothered hiring the helicopter and poison-bombing the forest in the first place.

Part 2
It's coming, Inanna sent to him. Gary looked up from where he'd been peacefully sitting on the bench, waiting for everything to go down. He used his limited skill to push the mental connection to her into a different shape. He carefully followed the instructions Jerry had given him, adding knowledge magic in a certain shape until his awareness of Inanna's words expanded into an awareness of the area around her.
From there, he spotted Suzanne and expanded the magic further. A little love magic, a little knowledge magic, blended together just right, and he could feel her fear. There was a new fear; strong and vibrant, filling her body and making her nerves sing. But he could also feel the old fear. A face that was the source of it, as well as something the poor girl desperately wanted.
He dug into the old fear, knowing that time would slow in the real world. His concern for the girl drove him to dig, until flashes of memories, the source of the fear, began to reach him.
----
Flash. A leather jacket with the sleeves cut off. A woman wearing it, long scars running up and down her arms. The face belonged to that woman, Gary saw, as she turned to Suzanne. Even twisted into an expression of disgust, Suzanne knew every detail of that face.
"Motherfucker," she said, "You filled your diaper again, didn't you?"
Flash. There was a man. He was the biggest man Suzanne had ever seen, with muscular arms and a fat belly. The man was nice, but still scary. Suzanne liked his kind of scary, though. He had scars on his face, one of which gave him a permanent sneer. His name was Mister Liam. He had a leather jacket like mommy's, but his was covered in patches. He had a big skull on the back, and numbers and letters that didn't make words all over. Mommy used to tease Mister Liam that he hadn't earned his jacket, and Mister Liam would tease Mommy the same way.
Flash. "Where's my fucking car keys, you little shit?!" Mommy was angry, which was scary. A stinging slap that made her see stars filled her awareness. "My keys, Suzanne! I saw you playing with them!"
Flash. Mommy was asleep on the couch. It was one of the deep sleeps that she had when she put the rubber band around her arm. Mister Liam opened the door. "Hey Stace, you want to..." he stopped when he saw Mommy on the couch and ran over to her.
"You stupid bitch," he muttered, taking the rubber band off her arm and slapping her in the face.
"Why are you hitting Mommy?" Suzanne asked.
"I need her to wake up, punkin'," Mister Liam said. He shook Mommy's shoulders until she started moaning.
Flash. Mister Liam was standing over the man who'd climbed in the window. Both of them were covered in blood. The stranger was crying, like a little kid, and Mister Liam was breathing heavily. Mommy burst into the room. "What did you do?!" she screamed at Mister Liam.
Flash. Mister Liam was kneeling in front of her. "This doesn't mean we can't still be friends, punkin," he said quietly. "It just means that Mommy and me aren't going to be the same kind of friends we were before."
Flash. Suzanne curled up on the bus stop bench as the rain poured down. It took a long, long time for the bus to come. The doors opened and she got up and ran inside. Even the few feet from the bench to the bus soaked her.
"Can you take me to Mister Liam's?" Suzanne asked. The driver, a heavyset black woman, drew her brows down in concern. "Do you know where Mister Liam lives, honey?"
"No."
"Suzanne!" Mommy's voice sounded angry as she ran up. "Suzanne, get off that bus!" Mommy grabbed her by the arms and yanked her off. "I'm sorry!" she said to the driver, whose frown changed as she regarded Mommy.
Flash. "I'm sorry, Stacey, but you're not in a position to raise a little girl. She needs to go into a foster home." Suzanne looked up, wondering what that meant.
Flash. "Do we tell her?" Miss Beth's voice could be heard through the walls from where Suzanne was playing with a doll.
"Jesus, Beth. How do we tell her? It's her mother."
"She deserves to know, Percy."
"I know, I just... Let's not tell her right away, okay?"
"How long do you want to wait?"
"I don't know. Maybe until she asks about her."
----
He pulled back out just in time to catch Inanna's next words. -ou ready?
Born ready, he sent back.
Okay, I'll try to give you a head's up-Shit!
What's wrong? Gary sent.
Percy and Beth are back, shit, this isn't good...
Gary cursed and prepared to teleport back.
Shit, Inanna sent, right before he left. We're all coming to you. Me, Suzanne, Percy, Beth and the bugbear.
Gary cursed under his breath. He prepared a wet blanket and brought his sword and shield out of hammerspace.
It only took a second for all of them to appear. Well, almost all of them. The three humans and the former goddess appeared next to the illusory bed. Suzanne was crouched down, clinging to Inanna's leg with a look of abject terror on her face.
The two adults both looked startled, knees bent, eyes casting about.
"Holy shit," Percy said.
"Get the fuck out of here!" Gary barked. "Now! Now! Now!" Both of them reacted to the force with which he shouted the command and took off.
They hadn't gotten more than a half dozen steps before an indistinct black shape appeared in front of Beth and she screamed. The black shape lunged at her, and her scream turned wet and then cut off. Gary rushed forward as Inanna collapsed from the effort of teleporting multiple people who weren't in physical contact.
Beth fell to the ground, a mess of blood and meat and the shape surged at Percy.
"Beth!" he shouted as he drew back a fist and punched at the bugbear's head. The thing flashed into solidity for a second, and Gary caught a glimpse of a white, demonic face before Percy's fist slammed into it. The thing had glowing red eyes, deep creases all over its face, large prominent fangs and a head of snarled black hair.
The thing flinched at the punch and growled, a deep, inhuman sound, fading back to indistinction as soon as Percy hauled his fist back for another.
"Kill you," it intoned in a sepulchral voice. Percy hit it again, and for a brief second, Gary thought the enraged man might actually take the beast down.
Percy had a good stance, and he threw his punches from the hip, hitting hard. But the bugbear wasn't an opponent in a boxing ring. When Percy swung the fifth punch, the bugbear flashed into solidity a split-second early, its maw stretching open wide and clamping down on Percy's fist with its fangs.
The man screamed as the bugbear bit his fist right off. Blood sprayed, a heartbeat pulsing it out right as the bugbear pulled back. Gary reached the best and swung his sword, igniting it with a thought as he did.
The bugbear screamed this time, adding its unnatural voice to Percy's as the flames licked at its smokey form. The fire seemed to catch on it and the flames flowed out, engulfing it and making the silhouette more distinct.
Percy fell back and the bugbear fell on him. Gary heard his scream get cut off, and then watched his head bounce away, face still wearing an expression of shock and pain.
Gary growled and slashed again and again, each cut drawing a screech from the beast and making the flames engulfing it burn brighter. The creature jumped away, and then turned to face Gary. Its glowing red eyes bored into his and Gary felt... Something, happening.
----
"Take the shot," Boss said. Gary's hand trembled, making the crosshairs jump.
"You okay, Johnson?"
"I... I can't. It's my friend."
"Fuck it," Boss snapped. He raised his own rifle and sighted in.
"No!" Gary shouted, grabbing his barrel and yanking his aim off.
"God damnit!" Boss shouted. Chris ran up and grabbed Gary by the shoulders. "What the hell, Gary?" he asked.
"He's my friend," Gary said. "And the other one's Nat, baby!" He looked around, confused. How could they not know this?
The two running figures made it to a wall and climbed over.
"FUCK!" Boss screamed, then he grabbed his radio. "Everybody romeo tango bravo, right fucking now. Split up and get back north. We're fucked." He grabbed Rog, their RTO and spun him around. "Call it in. Mike foxtrot."
----
"Shit," Chris barked. Gary turned to see Boss bringing a spotting scope up to his eyes. Gary raised his rifle as Boss said "No way they didn't see us."
They were a couple of boys. Just kids. Running away from the men with guns.
"Drop 'em, Johnson," Boss said.
"They're just kids," Gary responded. Boss' hand came down on Gary's shoulder. "I know, brother," he said, his voice soft. "But you know the deal."
Gary sighted down the first one, but his hand began to tremble. The crosshairs jumped around, ruining his shot.
"They're just fucking kids, Boss," he said. The two figured reached a wall and climbed over it. They were gone.
"Shit, what do we do?" Chris asked.
Boss rubbed his face and thought for a second. "Fuck it," he said. "Charlie mike. Most likely, those two were just scared."
They picked back up their course. They made it almost all the way to the high point that was their destination when the first mortars fell.
"Scatter!" Top shouted, grabbing Boss' strap and yanking him away from where he'd been talking to Rog. Gary looked quickly around, spotting Chris and running in the same direction he was.
Another mortar fell behind him with an ear-splitting crunch, followed by a shout of pain that drew itself out into a scream. He spun to see Top laying on the ground, bloody. His right leg was a couple yards away, and the stump was pumping blood in a great big spray.
"Top's down!" Gary said, squeezing the transmit button on his radio.
Another mortar hit and Gary saw Rog cartwheeling through the air. This was bad, they'd dialed in directly on them. Gary froze, unsure of what to do. He looked between the spot where Rog had fallen and the direction where Chris had stopped to wait for him.
"Fuck," Gary muttered. He turned to Chris and ran, but then a mortar fell right on top of the man he loved in secret.
"Noooooo!" Gary screamed.
----
Chris' shout of "Shit," caught Gary's attention. He turned to see two small figures running away as Boss watched them through a spotting scope.
This was wrong, Gary knew.
"This..." he said. "This already happened."
"What are you talking about, Gary?" Chris asked.
"This already happened," Gary said again. "This isn't real, it's... It's a memory or something."
"What are you talking about?" Chris asked. Gary heard the suppressed crack as Rog took the shot. He looked up to see both figures mounting the wall. Rog had missed.
"Fuck," Boss muttered. "Come on, let's get the fuck out of here."
They made it less than half a mile when the trucks appeared and bullets began to whiz past them. Gary and Chris found cover behind a small shed and the others scattered. Gary leaned around one corner and dropped the man running a truck-mounted PKP before he could light up their cover.
"Shit, they stirred up the whole fucking valley," Gary muttered. He turned to coordinate with Chris, but found him laying on the ground, a neat hole above his left eye.
"Fuck," Gary said, then a hot explosion on the side of his head cut off everything.
----
"Shit," Chris shouted, causing Gary to spin. Boss already had a spotting scope up, and he was tracking two figures running away from them.
"What the fuck?" Gary muttered.
"Gary, you need to drop them," Boss said.
"This is some kind of trick," Gary said.
"It's not a trick, those two spotted us!" Chris responded. He raised his rifle and sighted in on one of them. Before he could shoot, an indistinct black figure appeared and rushed them.
"What the fuck?" Chris shouted as the blurry figure fell over both boys. A second later, Gary heard the screams.
"What in the hell is that thing?" Boss asked as it rose and began to move towards them.
"Whatever it is, fucking shoot it," Rog said, raising his rifle and firing. Gary, Chris and Boss joined in, followed a second later by Top and the rest. They unloaded full magazines into the thing, but it never even slowed. It hit Boss first, throwing him back like a rag doll with his armor and the flesh beneath it shredded. He crashed into Top and the both of them went tumbling in a tangle of limbs.
Gary swung his rifle butt into the creature, but it passed right through. A clawed hand lashed back out at him, easily carving through the ballistic plate in his armor and sending a spurt of blood arcing out. The blood passed through the creature to splatter Chris in the face.
"Gary!" he shouted. Gary stared at him, his arms no longer responding to his brain's commands to move. The creature spun on Chris and rushed forward. As the blood splashed back through the beast again to drench Gary, a word came to him.
"Bugbear," he muttered. Then he fell over and darkness took him.
----
Chris shouted "Shit," making Gary turn.
Anger flooded through him. This was bullshit.
"How many fucking times?" he asked. The two figures in the distance were so small...
"What the fuck am I supposed to do?!" he shouted. "I didn't have any fucking choice! If I let them go, we all fucking die!"
Growling deep in his chest, he raised his rifle and quickly sighted down. He recognized Jerry's haircut on the boy, a brown mop atop a face much younger than he remembered, but familiar nonetheless. But it didn't matter. He fired, causing the figure to throw up its hands and fall.
He lined his crosshairs up on the bouncing braids that terminated the cornrows of the other figure and pulled the trigger the instant the crosshairs swept onto them. That figure dropped, as well.
"You fucking happy?!" he shouted, making his teammates wince and stare at him in confusion.
"Is this what you wanted, you blurry little shit?! You want to make me fucking shoot them? To kill two fucking kids?"
Gary spun, searching for the indistinct figure. All he saw was Afghanistan, his team and two small, dead bodies.
"I did it fucking once, you sad excuse for a boogyman!" Gary shouted. He pulled the magazine from his gun and angrily slapped in a new one, stuffing the old one into the empty slot the new one had come from.
"I fucking did it in the real fucking world!" Gary shouted. "You know that, you vicious shit-stain? And I'd do it again, too. I didn't have any goddamn choice, you hear me?"
Chris and the others looked concerned, now. None of them had said a word, but Gary was beyond caring. Gary was furious in a way he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
"GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, MOTHERFUCKER!" he roared. He glanced at his rifle, which was wrong. This was the rifle he had carried back then, not the one he carried now. He unclipped the sling and threw it down, then reached into hammerspace for his gun, but then he stopped.
Not the gun.
He drew his sword, instead. The moment the blade appeared in his hand, it lit up with an intense heat. The flames weren't even visible, only the shimmering distortion in the air. Gary felt his eyebrows and beard singing, so he called up his shield, adjusting it to block heat and claws, instead of bullets.
There was still no sign of the beast. Gary drew his shield out of hammerspace.
"You gonna make me find you, motherfucker?!" he yelled through a sneer of disgust and rage. He got no answer.
"That's it," he muttered. "I'm coming, you motherfucker. Fee Fi Fo Fum, Gary's coming to get him some."
He stomped off in search of the bugbear.

Question from introverted person. I’d love to have your insights/advice.
I’m attending a community Shabbat dinner this evening. Unfortunately, for me, it is Open Seating, and I’m attending solo.
What strategies would you use to figure out who or where to sit if you were going solo? There will be several hundred people, and I “might” recognize one or two faces but no one that’s a true friend, so basically alone.
Do you look for an empty table and just sit down and hope some nice people will sit around you which is probably likely to end up poorly because likely a friend group might just sit there and leave an empty space next to you which would be very lonely and awkward?
Do you wait till everybody sits and look to see if there’s an empty space and join (asking, “is this seat taken?”) again, possibly joining a large established friends group, and you’re the outsider? 🤢
I guess my ideal goal would be to sit with others who might have come alone or if they came with a friend or two, would still be open to meeting a new person.
(Btw, I am sure there are others that are coming solo, but the organization doesn’t let you know who they are.)
I have great social anxiety over this aspect. Once seated, as long as others are cordial, I am friendly and can make decent conversation.
Have any of you ever gone to a dinner alone where they had open seating, and how did you proceed?
Thanks for any advice!
PS No, it’s not an option to bring a friend at this point. All tickets are sold, and I don’t know anybody to bring anyway. 😰

Hi everyone! I don’t know if its ok to post sorta vents here but i was wondering if this was a normal coming out experience. I will delete this if it doesn’t belong in this subreddit.
I came out to my dad today as transgender and he gave off very aggressive “i dont care” vibes. Later i said i wanted to change my name in the school and he acted very against it. Now things between us are weird. It’s like i can’t share anything with him anymore. Its just hard knowing that he’ll never understand me. I feel bad right now. Like very sad and like i did something wrong. My dad and i were very close before, I’m upset things feel different.

Sorry about how long this is so thank you so much if you actually read it all! So my parents got divorce a couple years ago. I had a good relationship with both of my parents after the divorce and lived at both my moms place and my dads place. I did that all the way up to 8th grade. (I’m 16 now btw) That’s when I slowly moved out of my dads house because my school and my friends were much closer to my moms house. I slowly moved in to my mom and now I live full time at my moms house and go to dad’s every now and then. But this was a 100% my idea and obviously it was very hard on my dad. He sees his only daughter about once a month and he couldn’t even do anything about it. He even tried to pay me to come and visit him but that didn’t really do anything. But here’s the reason I don’t want to go his house. I don’t have any privacy and I’m sharing a room with my 12 year old brother. He has covered the room completely in toys and his stuff so it’s not really my room. We also have a bunk bed. My brother refuses to sleep on the top bed and gets really angry when I take the bottom bed so I usually have to sleep on the couch if I want to stay the night. Obviously that really sucks for me and there are also a bunch of things that make me not want to go but that’s the main reason. Anyway recently my mom has been going on a lot of work trips or going out of town to see my family. I never get to go with her so that means a have to stay at my dads for a few days. It’s often 3 to 7 days so that means I have to be at my dads for up to a week (my parents don’t trust me so I can’t have the house alone). So my dad runs things a little differently at his house than my mom does. At my moms my curfew is at 12pm-1 am. But my dads curfew is at 6pm. Yeah, 6pm. He wants me to be home before dinner and I can’t go out after dinner. A couple weeks ago I had to be at my dads for a couple days. I came home a little bit after the curfew and he took my phone. My parents have never ever took my phone I wasn’t used to it so I got really angry. I mean, I was barely over the curfew and I just felt like it wasn’t his place to try and parent me now after all these years. I admit I said some pretty mean stuff to him after that. Like that I felt like he wasn’t my dad anymore and more like a stranger. I know that it hurt him a lot especially because it wasn’t even his fault that he didn’t see me as often. But after that things got worse. He started to be super controlling and didn’t even let me see my friends. Yesterday my mom went out of town to see my grandma (her mom). So I packed up my bags and want to my dads. He seemed really pissed at me and as soon as I came home and didn’t even say a word too me (I hadn’t seen him for a month). I then asked him if I should sleep on the couch or in the bunk bed and he didn’t answer me and went straight to his room. So I made the couch and had a very rough night. Next day he said to me that it was not his choice that I was staying at his place and he made it sound like it was my fault that I needed a place to sleep while my mom was away. Then I left for school at 9am and came back at 10pm (he didn’t even call me to see if I had anything for dinner or to ask where I was). When I came home I tried to be nice and sit with my dad and my brother (They were watching a movie with snacks and drinks). Then I was going to change to my pyjamas but then I noticed that all my clothes were gone. I asked my dad what had happened to my clothes and he said “oh I washed them for you, they’re all soaking wet.” Normally this would be a nice thing to but that meant that he went trough my bag. (Reminder that I’m a girl and there was a lot of thongs and other things that were in my bag). And also he new damn well that these clothes where clean and I’ve asked him many times before to not wash my clothes with out my permission. I was so angry that I stormed into my little brothers room and am lying here in our bunk bed crying and writing this. So am I over reacting?

 I have a horrid fear of being cheated on, I have been cheated on in the past, and I have a fear of abandonment so bad that I am pretty prone to codependency. I was in a long distance relationship for a year and a few weeks ago moved in to his apartment. 

Im thrilled to be here, I love him, he is my favorite partner I’ve ever had, and my best friend. I have a severe fear of being cheated on. I have struggled with even hearing about his coworkers. I’ve tried to bite my tongue and tell him to make me uncomfortable with these things because I need to get over it. Right when I moved out here he turned find my iPhone on for both of us. It’s a kind of nice gesture, especially with him being my only point of contact in this state. Only I know he can look like he’s home all day if he just switches location to something like his iPad or EarPods. Sooooo of course I’m checking it non stop. And then at that he can always see me coming home from work. 3 days in a row I saw the same girl coming from our apartment building when I get home. She makes eye contact with me and I smile but my gut tells me that’s his other girlfriend. It threw me into a full on panic attack on the third day and he got mad at me. I told him I just want him to hold me and tell me I don’t have to worry but he says getting accused of being a shitty person this much makes him not want to be close to me like that. At this point he doesn’t want to hear it and he says he’s given me enough reassurance. I realize the average person wouldn’t move a partner in from out of state if they had a local affair partner. I’m trolling adultery Reddit, I used my old phone to hide at work on wifi to try and come home “early” and surprise him and now that’s my only goal on the daily. To come home and see them together because that’s all I can see in my head. Right when I started my new job he took a two week break between his- so he’s gonna have all this free time, untracked, and it’s making me feel so horrible. I want to quit and stay home, I want to hide microphones and cameras. I feel crazy. I feel like there’s no way to get out of this without breaching serious trust or pushing him away with lashing out. I can’t ask for reassurance because of his take on it and also because I know that doesn’t fix the problem it actually makes it worse. I’m lost and dying over this and desperate to fix this. His stance is that the last gf he had like this cheated on him, and he’s going to get tired of hearing about it one day and snap. (We’ve dated twice. This is honestly our main problem) I asked for what he thinks I should do and of course he wants me to “just stop” and “get over it” that I spend “too much time justifying why I have these fears” and that I need to “just decide to not have them anymore.” Like bro I wish I could I’m in agony. Admittedly other than me being sensitive and looking for anything that could be a sign of cheating (and getting delusionally creative over it) I actually don’t think he is cheating on me. But I still can’t stop feeling like and treating him like he is because it’s taken over my brain.
I’m lost because all of his responses border on defensive, which I get but doesn’t help. I also feel like I’ve ERPd the hell out of this but like… it doesn’t matter. I would rather be dead than cheated on so. The outcome is pretty miserable- it’s me packing my car and leaving again which. I guess is whatever but the implication is that I legit will never trust again and will basically mean my life goal (finding a forever person) is pretty much fucked and I’m over it all. I’ve been through this before I can’t even believe I trust anyone now as it is (which I mean.. I guess I don’t) and I just can’t stand not knowing what’s real. I am constantly sick to my stomach. I know if he is cheating it makes him shitty and not me. I try gas myself up and remind myself how much of a catch I am and the confidence seems to help on good days- but when my body is literally physically reacting to the anxiety of me not being enough for my partner that’s a hard thing to maintain or even fake. I have a coworker whose bf cheated on her and now they live together but I can’t ever imagine that. I don’t want to lose him but I’d never feel safe or be able to look at him again. I don’t think it’s appropriate to ask her for advice on how she figured out to trust again- but I think in my case it’s beyond trust issues at this point.
Sorry this is long as fuck. I’m at my wit’s end and I think he’s getting there too. (I have a therapist but since I’ve moved and everything it’s messy and hard to see her)

Hey guys, this is my first post here, so go easy on me.
I came out as trans MTF about a year ago and have only recently started embracing my identity. HRT has been on my mind a lot, so I've decided that I'm going to mention my gender and see about starting that process the next time I go to the doctor (in August).
If you guys could share your experiences surrounding the process you went through to start HRT, that would be pretty enlightening for me.
For reference, I live in Texas.

Basically title.
I currently live in Oregon, with income tax but no sales tax. The city is on the state line with Washington, that has sales tax but no income tax.
My job (trucking) is based in Oregon, but operates in Washington, California, and Idaho. It's one of the very few jobs that would qualify to be exempt from Oregon income taxes (even as a Washington resident working for an Oregon employer) due to my schedule taking me out of state on a weekly basis.
I make approximately $85,000/year. I will likely make more, thats the low end. If I moved across the state line, I would save roughly $450-$500 per month in taxes.
However, this would require adding a decent commute. My current commute is 5 minutes, and comes out to about 7 miles a day. Moving would increase that to 20 minutes and 15 miles, at the least. Short commute is residential streets, long commute is highways.
My car is not the lowest maintenance, nor the most efficient. It is a 2016 Audi TT.
Additionally, the price floor for rental units is $100-$200/mo higher than the Oregon side. Washington also is less renter friendly, and most units have a stack of additional nonrefundable fees.
I admit I'm not the most life experienced nor financially savvy. I wanted to see if there was anything I was missing? Has anyone made a similar move, and was it worth the extra few hundred a month?

Hello, I have been seeing these (possibly) paid or whatever reviews flooding this sub. I am a genuine first-time buyer of the TicWatch and I am ready to be burned by Mobvoi, but we will see. This is my first Wear OS watch, as i couldn't stand the 1-1.5 days of battery life. Before I had smartwatches by Pebble, Samsung(Tizen), Fitbit, Xiaomi, Amazfit, Huawei(GT), so i have some experience. I'll give my thoughts about he hardware of this watch, since I am not extremely familiar with wear os yet, im sure you all are way more knowledgeable.
Overall feel/build quality:

• I would say it feels pretty well built, but nothing exceptionally amazing. It feels better than most of the smartwatches I owned, but it's just good. 7/10.
• The rotating crown actually feels really good, solid scroll and feel, I surprisingly liked that it is located in the center, when it was diagonal on amazfit and huawei watches, i was accidentally scrolling it with a bone sticking out on my wrist. On ticwatch i can do push-ups without pressing the button, but your mileage may vary, if you wear it very close to your wrist, for example. Click on the crown is very nice and soft.
• The top button, I think, is a bit hard to press, but not terrible, not a deal breaker at all.
• Having a metal bezel in front of the screen is great, every watch should have that, glad they did it.
• The weight of the watch i would say is very nice, it's not a light watch, but in a good spot without being too heavy, like Huawei GT 3 pro was for me, even though i thought they should be around the same weight. Feels good on the hand, could easily sleep with them on my wrist, good.

The looks:

• I would say in person they do look a bit better, than in pictures/videos. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine what they could have changed to make this watch look even more bland. Wife thinks they look cheap, I, on the other hand, kinda like the look. Another 7/10.
• Possibly a nice or original watchband could save the look, but the strap size is 24mm, i have to order them from somewhere since all my spare bands are 20mm and 22mm, huge dislike in this regard.

Low-power display: So keep in mind, this is the first time I have a TicWatch, the only things I know about it, I saw in the reviews.

• Having a Pebble smartwatch I figured the screen would be something similar to that, but the secondary screen on the TicWatch is significantly darker and it's not so comfortable to just glance at a watch to see the time, I often have to catch a good reflection to see it clearly, to the point that i thought something is wrong with the display, but i guess it's just how it is. Half of the time it can be seen pretty comfortably.
• I don't like my watch turning on when I randomly turn my hands, so the backlight is off. But, backlight can be turned on by rotating a crown, this addition is great, so I don't turn on the OLED display, but still can see time in the dark.
• The info on the low-power display is great, time, date, day of the week, new notification icon, that's pretty much all i need and it's all there.
• Can change the color of the backlight, but i honestly don't care about it, but good customization option anyway.

Performance:

• The performance of the watch is great, everything loads fast, scrolling is smooth, coming from the fitness smartwatches with non-full OSs, it feels weird to have a bit of a delay when opening/closing all apps list and some other places, but even with this i would say it feels really good and solid, i am assuming other wear os watches are worse, couldn't stand how laggy the Samsung watch was, for example. Yeah, overall very good, I enjoy using it a lot, scrolling feels smoother than smartwatches with light OS.

Battery life:

• So I guess is wouldn't be correct to rate the battery life, before a couple of weeks went by and the watch has settled in, to get actual battery life. But I'll quickly say, I might have some apps that are causing battery drain, but my watch with backlight off, seems to hold maybe two days at best. But I was installing apps and trying things out, so that might be the issue, still, I am not currently getting 3-4 days of heavy use, how some of the reviews were saying. Very big disclaimer that I might be missing something and it's my fault it's draining so fast. Also, i cannot find how to check what is actually using the battery the most. Wear Os app doesn't want to connect to my watch for some reason.
  
• The charging speed is actually very nice, charges really quickly, huge plus, this helps with the battery life i am having currently. Charging while showering will make the battery life non-issue, but still i would like to have a peace of mind of better battery life.
  

https://imgur.com/a/EUOyY2p
Hey all. Looking to cut loose some games I don’t want anymore. PayPal G&S is my default, but I know some people have reservations about that. I have used this sub for years and have many confirmed sales so if you would like to use an alternative payment method we can talk that out.
All games are CART ONLY, my SNES Classic does not come with its original box but does include both controllers.
I am local to Dallas/Fort Worth and local pickup would be great for the SNES Classic specifically.
SNES Classic - $85 + shipping
Metroid Fusion (GBA) - $55 shipped
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA) - $70 shipped
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) - $35 shipped
Super Mario Land (GB) - $25 shipped
Super Mario Bros Deluxe (GB) - $25 shipped
Metroid II (GB) - $25 shipped