The Essentials

Even the best weather can change rapidly, and even the widest trail can be lost. It pays to take a little extra with you, just in case.
This list is NOT exhaustive – it is just a start – add to this list according to the season and your route.
Notice: Always tell a reliable person where you are going and when to expect you back, leave a detailed trip itinerary, and make sure you know your route and plan accordingly.
The below list assumes you are already wearing appropriate footwear – hiking boots NOT runners. Runners are a terrible choice for hiking. You will slip and or sprain your ankle. Appropriate hiking clothing that is NON-COTTON, such as hiking pants, poly-pro shirt, poly-pro underwear, toque, and backpack. Just remember, these are not get out of jail free cards, electronics can fail, run out of batteries, or lose their signal. Telling someone where you are going, leaving a trip itinerary and bringing the other 9 essentials is critical to a safe outdoor excursion.
​

1. Light

Flashlight or a headlamp with extra batteries (and light bulb if not LED). Green cyalume stick or small turtle lights as emergency backup.

2. Signalling Device

Whistle (we recommend the Fox 40 whistle with a lanyard), Bear Bangers, Pencil Flare

3. Fire Starter

Matches (water proof or in plastic bag) or lighter. We also recommend a commercial firestarter and/or a candle. Commercial firestarters can be purchased at outdoor stores like Mountain Equipment Coop.

4. Warm clothes

Hat or toque, gloves or mittens, puffy jacket, gortex jacket, polypro underwear, good quality hiking socks and gortex over pants.

5. Pocketknife

Although a multi tool is preferred, a good pocket knife with a quality blade will suffice. It may also be worth carrying a small pruning saw for cutting branches when building a shelter or fire.
​

6. Shelter

Large orange plastic bag and thermal tarp.

7. Water and food

Gatorade crystals recommended and high energy food bars

8. First-aid kit

Should include pocket mask; Sam Splint, bulk dressings, protective gloves, bandage, scissors and blister dressings

9. Navigation

Good quality compass with built in declination adjustment and both topographical and interpretive maps. we also recommend a GPS unit but only as an adjunct to compass and map. Most team members carry a Garmin 60 series GPS unit that has terrific reception in the trees.

10. Communications – Cell phone

We recommend you bring a cell phone with a fully charged battery. It is advisable to keep the phone turned off, and stored in a ziplock bag. This way, if you get into trouble your phone will be dry and have a full charge. Many people manage to call 911 initially but their phone dies before their location can be relayed, not a desirable situation. If you have a smartphone, you should also know how to get GPS coordinates off of it to give to search and rescue if you become lost or injured (eg. MotionX or iphone compass app) . Depending on the terrain and difficulty of your excursion, it may also be worth considering satellite based communications devices like the Spot, Delorme InReach or a Personal Locator Beacon.
​

Important Tips regarding the 10 essentials:

The lack of light is the single most cause of overdure hiker calls for NSR. It is so easy to under estimate the amount of daylight left especially if you are deep in the forest. That is why carrying a good quality flashlight or headlamp with extra bulb and batteries per person, is number 1 on our list of the ten essential items. It is also prudent to carry green cyalume light sticks as an emergency backup ONLY. These lightweight items will illuminate the trail around and in front of you sufficiently for you to travel slowly in darkness fro several hours.
Note that training is required to develop efficient skills for use of a map, compass, and first aid kit, as well as to efficiently light fires. However having these items with you can make all the difference in a survival situation.
Why a large orange plastic bag? It’s actually one of the most valuable items on the list. Crawling into the bag helps keep you warm and dry. The orange colour is also highly visible and helps attract attention, particularly from the air.
Why a whistle? It is ideal for siganlling for help as your voice will become very hoarse in a short period of time especially if you are dehydrated. We reccommend the Fox 40 whistle because it works very well in wet conditions and has good range. When sending out a distress whistle blast do three short blasts in timed intervals of 1 to 5 minutes and in different directions from where you are standing as rescuers may be above below or to the sides of you, especially if you are lost in a canyon.If you here whistle blasts from rescuers it doesn’t mean that they can here you. Continue whistle blasts at even shorter intervals 1 minutes or less until they can make voice contact with you and the follow their instructions etc..
We also recommend you carry a heavy duty thermal blanket as this provides excellent shelter and reflects body heat.
Water especially, is an important essential item to take before and during your hike. We recommend you drink between 1-2 litres of water before and carry 1-2 litres. Hydration is directly proportional to your performance but also in maintaining essential fluid balance in your body. This is only a general guideline and is to be adjusted for extreme heat, cold, altitude, terrain etc. We also recommend you carry electrolyte, such as Gatorade in order to replenished salt and potassium that are depleted during excessive exercise. We recommend that you be always fully aware to take short rest and water breaks and hydrate yourself during your hike so as to avoid fluid depletion that leads to heat exhaustion and/or hypothermia.
We combined navigation and communications into number 9 and 10 essential items rather than creating the 11 essential items as they go hand in hand with each other. Knowing where you are and communicating your location in an emergency is a god send, both to yourself and the search and rescue team. As stated above you need proper training to orienteer with compass and map and a GPS should be seen as an adjunct to this. The GPS in itself is a valuable tool and depending on the type and price you want to pay you can get topographical maps downloaded onto the GPS. However, the GPS requires practice and it is not a substitute for orienteering skills especially if you are in terrain with natural obstacles such as canyons, cliff bands etc
The whole strategy to clothing is layering and breathability. This prevents overheating and sweating which can cause dehydration and begin the cycle of hypothermia in cold weather and heat exhaustion in relatively warmer weather. There are many clothing types on the market but you will want to wear underclothing next to the skin that wicks sweat away. It is also important to purchase fleece and gortex clothing that has venting zippers in the armpits and leg areas as this allows excess body heat to vent during times of heavy exercise in inclement weather. A fleece or woolen toque or hat is also a must as a great deal of body heat is lost through the head especially in children. Remember the saying ” if your feet get cold put your toque on”. Good quality woolen or gortex gloves or mittens are a must, especially in winter and inclement weather so as to prevent frostbite or cold injury. This will also allow you to perform tasks such as holding onto rocks or tree branches when traveling in terrain, wood gathering , lighting a fire etc. One additional little tip is to carry two good quality plastic shopping bags in case your boots get wet. You can put on your dry socks and wrap them in the bags then put your wet boots back on. This is great if you are stranded overnight and want yo keep you feet warm and be somewhat comfortbale.It can also prevent frostbite in cold weather in this type of situation.
We did not include footwear as an essential item to carry as it something that goes on at the start of your hike and stays on. Footwear selection from trail runners to approach shoes to light hikers to full mountaineering leather or plastic boots needs to be based on the type of activity you plan to carry out and the type of terrain you will travel in. Remember, if you buy new boots break them in long before your hike and have plenty of moleskin on hand to cover the potential hot spots that always seem to go with new boots. Also, good quality hiking socks are a must as these types of socks will wick sweat away from the feet thus reducing the risk of blisters or skin problems.
​
Source

Summary: mum passed away years ago, lived with grandma who threw us out, lived with dad, then moved to temp accommodation and now living in a home. I (25f)my sister legal guardian when she was 16.
My sister (19)has been going through deep depression. She lived with my dad last year, because we couldn’t cope living with each other and she needed a parent. My dad is financially stable and can help her( he’s a maths teacher with a tutoring school) but moved back in with me because she was feeling depressed etc.
She didn’t make it to uni, I have been trying to help her through her depression whilst dealing with my own life. I recently got a full time job after being self employed straight from university.
It’s been a rollercoaster, not going to school, school calling me whilst I’m at work. Last month she cried about having no parents etc, so I finally decided to give her money for the holiday she had been asking me for, but I’d didn’t ask her to pay me back. I partly blame musket because she wasn’t in this state prior to living with my dad. I advised her to go to the same therapy organisation I went to and she has been going.
It’s been difficult in the house. I understand depression can make you neglect yourself. I constantly remind her to wash up after heralded etc.
Now recently we had our first argument because she didn’t take the dog to pre and the house stank of pee. I tell her several times to take him out a few times a day, but she doesn’t and I come home to the house smelling of pre and I’m the one cleaning it up.
After this she said she doesn’t feel safe here, I’ve traumatised her and her therapist even asked if there is anywhere she can go and that she’s already doing so much in the house. All I ask is for her to clean after herself and buy toilet roll and hand wash. This is because she uses 1 toilet roll a day and I wanted her to start buying it so she can be more mindful and last year we had a fly issue because she left fruit in her room and the cupboards were filled with ants which I had to clean up. Minor things break in the house and I repair it. It’s hard because I’m on my own, and yes I have a supportive partner but it’s long distance. She also said I caused her depression and I’m making her feel suicidal. I was shocked and hurt as I had been actively trying to help her with the depression.
My elder sister who didn’t speak to me for 14 years because of my dad used to give me sweets if I told against her and would hit her ( her own words) called me and was quite rude. She always disrespects me and I’m tired of it especially because she hardly sees or helps my sister. When I went to uni I forgot to bring back my old phone for my younger sister and they both harassed mr saying do you know what it’s like to have no parts at and all your friends on the bus have phones your Decius etc. I was really hurt because I had just started uni and my elder sister didn’t even wish me good luck, that was the first time she texted me in years.
Anyway I’m waffling now.
I am walking on eggshells now. The atmosphere in the home is awkward. I understand she’s going through a lot but I think it’s best if she lives with my sister after her exams because this situation is affecting me and caused me to relapse on my ED. Plus I don’t think it’s best for her to be living with someone who has traumatised her.
I realise I have been treating her too nicely which people have already mentioned but I just wanted her to have a decent life especially because she only has me and she’s going through depression but nothin I do is good enough. I am even paying for her tutoring, give her extra money for clothes etc because she can only work part time, include her on holidays with my partner and cook meals and listen to her. I know I’m not perfect and have made mistakes but since my mum passed away I have had to be the mum to my sister and myself. I

Violence continues in Sudan, the cryosphere breaks down, recessions, harvest failures, heat waves, droughts, and floods. Mother Earth has got a terminal case of humans.
Last Week in Collapse: May 28-June 3, 2023
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter bringing together some of the most important, timely, useful, sad, ironic, amazing, or otherwise must-see moments in Collapse. Try not to overdose on this week’s Doom dose.
This is the 75th newsletter. You can find the May 21-27 edition (which I accidentally labeled the 73rd edition) here if you missed it last week. These newsletters are also on Substack if you want them sent to your email inbox every Sunday.
——————————
The World Meteorological Congress concluded on Friday, and it released a bunch of reports. The focus this year was on developing early warning systems for wateclimate/weather disasters. Most countries report declining ability to monitor hydrological developments, and almost half of the world’s people lack reliable access to water for at least one month per year, a figure that is expected to grow considerably by 2050.
The WMO also reported on the state of emergency for the cryosphere, those places where ice is formed (and melts). Greenland’s ice has shrunk for 26 consecutive years. Permafrost threatens to release huge quantities of greenhouse gasses over the coming years. Sea levels continue to rise…but you know this already.
Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, has come up with a plan to extend their almost-exhausted water supply: they’re adding salt to the tap water, against WHO recommendations. This causes people to drink less water—but what are the implications for health, and for small-scale agriculture?
Over 20 million tonnes of what was damaged in China by recent rain, not long before it was scheduled to be harvested. Analysts say this will raise grain prices worldwide. The scale of this blight is larger than recent blights. In the U.S. state of Georgia, 90% of the peach harvest was destroyed by abnormally warm weather; in Vermont, a freak cold snap damaged crops, potentially 30% of apples.
6 years. 800 million trees felled in the Amazon rainforest, all to create space for cattle farms. The loss of rainforest is equivalent roughly to two Corsica islands.
Environmental scientists have discovered a hopeful tool to lower CO2: Greenland’s “rock flour,” which is basically rock dust. A recent study claims that it can be scattered on fields to absorb CO2—and also boost wheat and potato yields. International lawyers are also working on the first global plastics pollution treaty that could be passed later next year.
Yet another study claims that Mother Earth is sick, and that most of our safety thresholds have been crossed. The feedback loops have been activated, the diagnosis is terminal. The Nature study lists the 8 Earth System Boundaries: 1) Climate, 2) Functional Integrity, 3) Natural Ecosystem Area, 4) Surface Water, 5) Groundwater, 6) Nitrogen, 7) Phosphorus, and 8) Subglobal Aerosols. (Not to be confused with the 9 Planetary Boundaries.)
Some insurers in California are cutting homeowner insurance because they can’t make a buck betting against wildfires and desertification. Similar risk is expanding in Texas. Summer is coming. A mysterious wildfire in Scotland is growing out of control, and threatens to become the UK’s largest ever.
Record May rainfall in Bermuda. Part of South Africa also saw record rains in May. Strong rains in southern Spain—but the parched soil can’t absorb much of it. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia area had its driest May in recorded history.
Vicious drought and Afghan dams have raised tensions between iran and Afghanistan, where fighting killed a handful of people two weeks ago. In times of scarcity, no group can have enough water; even less if they’re forced to share. Most of the world’s lakes are drying up.
An official in India ordered the draining of two million liters of water from a reservoir……so he could retrieve his phone, which he dropped in the water while taking a selfie. He was suspended. The phone was recovered—but too damaged to function. The water could have irrigated 6 km² of land.
Wildfires grow in Nova Scotia. Millions going hungry in Madagascar. Record temperatures in Japan. Normalized heat waves across Asia with new records in Central Asia & the Caucasus.
Scientists warn of potential tsunamis caused by underwater landslides in Antarctica. New cold records in Australia. Heat waves in North Africa. Increasing reliance on expensive desalination plants in Barcelona as drought and water supplies worsen.
——————————
Türkiye’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, won reelection, and economists believe it portends the further Collapse of the economy. Investment is pulling out, and the lira is expected to continue sinking. “We will be together until the grave,” said Erdoğan at his victory speech.
The UN operation to drain the *FSO Safer* has begun now that technicians have boarded the vessel. 1.1 million barrels of oil aboard the derelict tanker, stranded off the coast of Yemen, will begin being drained next month.
Petrol prices rise in Benin as Nigeria cuts its fuel subsidies; Iran is limiting fuel purchases too. China’s declining birth rate, growing debt, and ongoing international decoupling is threatening its economy. Eurozone inflation continues. Trade-GDP ratios approaching 2008 levels worryingly.
Budapest is facing bankruptcy. Refugees in Tanzania are seeing their rations cut in half as financing falls off. Vicious conditions inside refugee camps in Chad take advantage of Sudanese refugees. Debts grow in Brazil. Complicated problems continue destabilizing the world’s economic equilibrium.
Another Russian missile attack struck Kyiv last week, after allegedly pro-Ukraine Russian volunteer soldiers made an incursion into Russian territory. Wagner Group’s chief continues provoking Russian leadership as infighting appears to grow, following a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow. Zelensky says Ukraine’s counteroffensive is now ready.
Myanmar’s Civil War has entered its third year, depending on when you claim it began. In the desperation and chaos of prolonged warfare, it is the environment that pays the price. Wood, gold, jade, and other resources are being exploited by government and private actors after the old economic system broke apart.
——————————
62% of Americans agree that the COVID pandemic is over (it’s not), an increase of 14% since February 2023. 56% of Americans admit that they never mask up in public anymore. An updated booster is coming in September to address the XBB.1.16 variant. Masks may go away, but (Long) COVID will stay with us.
The WHO’s treaty to manage future pandemics is being watered down, leaving humanity less prepared for the next pandemic. Although China denies the lab leak origin story, a prominent Chinese scientist claims it is possible. COVID is never going away, and neither is Long COVID.
Cholera is spreading in several refugee camps in Kenya; medical attention comes too small and too late to prevent the spread. In Sudan, where over a million people have been displaced by recent violence, old inequities linger. Over 13M children are in desperate need of humanitarian aid (about half of Sudan’s 46M population are below 18). Their situation has never been more critical.
Experts continue warning about the dangers of AI, and push for regulation, while other actors push to use AI for economic benefits. I am uncertain which field AI will disrupt the most: military, low-skill workers, societal psyche, institutional integrity, creative jobs, politics, financial markets…? What will be the second-order effects, tertiary, etc.?
Tanzania has called an end to its Marburg virus outbreak, about 10 weeks after it declared an emergency. The UK is advising at-risk people to get vaccinated for mpox/monkeypox before their vaccine program ends in August; 10 new cases in the UK were recently reported.
PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” used across many household objects, are dangerous to your health. You also probably could have guessed that manufacturers knew—and lied about—their safety for decades. A study tracked the use of PFAS (since 1940’s) and the knowledge that they were harmful (since 1990’s). Companies including DuPont settled a case for a little over $1 billion USD for their role in the scheme. The billionaire Sackler family also settled a gigantic case regarding opioids, in which they must pay about $6 billion USD, and forfeit control of the pharmaceutical company they’ve held since 1952. The company (formerly Purdue Pharma) is rebranding (as Knoa). Nobody is going to jail.
——————————
A catastrophic train crash in India killed 280+ people. The crash involved 3 trains, and is India’s deadliest in this century.
Riots in Kosovo. Torture in suspected gangster prisons in El Salvador, with 153 prisoners killed since March. Ongoing protests in Israel over the proposed judicial reform.
Lebanon has been without a President for more than 7 months now—and now target dats have been missed to hold important municipal council elections. Town budgets are falling further into chaos, police are going unpaid, garbage is piling up, and would-be foreign investors and money-lenders are losing the scraps of hope they had for Lebanon’s crippled economy. No one is coming to save them.
Cartel violence is rising on the border of Mexico-Guatemala. Organized non-state armed groups conscript local guys, intimidate people into leaving, blockade towns, and shoot each other in the streets. Several thousand people have been displaced—and others disappeared. Far away, Syria is being welcomed back into the Arab fold—on the condition that it cracks down on the intractable drug epidemic of captagon.
One of Libya’s rival PMs was ousted a couple weeks ago, and now the other PM in the east is striking towns in western Libya with drones, allegedly targeting fuel/human smugglers.
Boko Haram jihadists are infighting in northern Nigeria, but the civilians are paying the price. Guerrilla territorial competition may also bring in more people into regional hostilities. In eastern DRC, violence has displaced over 80,000 people so far this year, and their regional hospitals are overcrowded.
Rumors are emerging that M23 will attack Goma, the sprawling epicenter of East Africa’s refugee situation, where human rights abuses are increasingly common and the local ceasefire is breaking down. Islamic radicals also operate in the region, targeting civilians. About 6 million people across the DRC are believed to be internally displaced, and about half a million around Goma (population: unknown, perhaps 750,000 or twice that). There are also reports of planes sighted which belong to the European mercenary company Agemira.
The Sudanese Civil War is spiraling out of control again, as skirmishes broke the incomplete ceasefire. The Central Statistics Bureau was attacked, hampering official data for various purposes. Over 1,000 people have died so far, crossing an unofficial threshold for an armed conflict to officially become a War. About 2M have fled the fighting. Rockets killed 18 and injured many more at a market in Khartoum, sanctions are being imposed by a few nations, and other countries are wading deeper into the War, complicating the situation and preventing clean avenues to another ceasefire.
——————————
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-There is rain in Romania, based on this observation. But there’s also corruption, growing labor strikes, inflation, and political difficulties.
-Greenland’s climate is out of whack—and apparently the people don’t seem to care that much, judging from this rare observation from West Greenland.
-Portland, Oregon is still a cross-section of modern America’s Collapse, if this observation can be trusted. Heat, insecurity, overcrowding, loneliness, and crows… Reddit has also been affected by psychological decay, according to the poster.
-People are abandoning climate hope, if you believe this gilded thread and its many gilded comments. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
Have any feedback, questions, comments, resources, recommendations, free PDFs, manifestos, etc.? Consider joining the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can get this newsletter sent to your email inbox every weekend. I always forget something... What did I miss this week?

Personal information
I'm an international students, south east Asian studying in an international school, no fancy stuff such as legacy or first gen (though my parents and their family have never went overseas for university, so I'm the first for that), only child. Currently a junior.
Academics
My school do 4.3 gpa (with A* being 4.3) so my cumulative gpa is 4.03 If we changed A* to be 4.0, my gpa would have been 3.84 We don't do school ranking or weighted GPA
I'm currently taking full IB diploma (never take honors or AP before)
HLs are

• Business management - A*
• math application and interpretation - A
• computer science - A*

Sls are

• economics - A*
• language A (my native language) - A*
• English A lang lit - B

Mandatory government class - A* (only one semester)
A* = 7 A = 6 B = 5 Currently predicting that my predicted grades would be in the range of 40-43
My math is borderline A* (2% away) so I'm hoping to improve it in senior year. I'm also planning to move my econ from SL to HL next year (so taking 4 HLs)
Since the start of high school, I keep getting a B in English every year, it's what drags my GPA down and I'm really struggling in it. This is mostly due to the fact that I got into an international school just last year and previously never spoke English at school Everything else has been an A or A* though.
SAT - 1350, didn't study for it at all and because I'm taking IB I'm not going to apply or sent my SAT scores.
Extracurricular (sadly not much)

• officers in shark tank club in school (1 year) (HS)
• president of chess club in school (2 years) (HS)
• founder of the E-sport club in school (part of it for only 1 year) (HS)
• UCLA 3 weeks summer school (HS)
• donating and teaching an orphanage how to use computers for 1 month (HS)
• making website for non-profit organization to raise awareness (1 month for 1 organization but I'm planning to do more in the senior year) (HS)
• making an attendance website or app for my school to calculate attendance fairly for clubs and eventually going to extend it too include other school activities.
  
• I don't do official tutoring but when I was in elementary and middle school, my teacher would pair me up with other students who's struggling so I would try to help everyone who needs help
  

I wish I got scholarship but we're prepared to apply without it and without any financial aids, as long as it's a valuable investment (though if anyone have information regarding this that could help us financially without reducing my chance, I would love to learn more about it)
My dream school is NYU stern business but I'm also planning to apply to many other schools such as University of Washington for CS, Boston college, UCLA, and UCB.
Would love and be very grateful to hear your thoughts and some advice/recommendation for me! Would also answer if anyone needs additional information or want to do reserve chanceme

All credit goes to the one and only u/BlueFishcakes, owner and creator of the SSB universe.
___________
​
​
discord wiki part 1 part 13 part 15
​
Mi'aera broke record after record. She had been talking to the xeno for hours now! What's more, Natalia was already practically her friend!
"I have a xeno friend! I'm progressive!" She couldn't get over her happiness.
The girls were already on first-name terms.
Natalia, or Natka, was very friendly. Even though she was a bit older than Mi (well, everyone was), Mi'aera felt like they were the same age. The optimism and openness of the human woman were a nice change, something the young militiawoman had been waiting for for a long time. And it was contagious.
"- So, Mi…" Natalia, driving the patrol car, spoke to Mi'aera, who was sitting next to her. Literally, a few minutes earlier, the girls had agreed to call each other by short names. "- I've never met Shil who doesn't have a surname, just a number."
Mi nodded.
"- Once upon a time, in the entire empire, only the nobles had surnames, over the generations, in most provinces, the commoners began to adopt the surnames of their lords or the nicknames of their occupations, and so on," she explained. Natka nodded her head.
"- Heh, it makes sense, on Earth it was basically the same, there were still some constructions on the principle of Son or Daughter of Somebody," the human added. This time, it was Mi who nodded.
"- Yes, it is common in many places."
"- But you only have a number?"
"- Yes," Mi admitted and continued: "- The noble families of the Palatinate are somehow not numerous, and their respectable names serve them well, there is no need to give names to millions of commoners."
Natka focused on the road and did not speak for a while.
"- Ok, not even any Daughter or Son of Somebody?" the human asked.
"- If someone has a known father or mother, that would be allowed. I grew up in an institution." Mi explained.
"- Oh! Mi, I'm sorry, I shouldn't delve so much into the subject," Natka said in a very apologetic tone. Mi'aera just smiled kindly.
"- No need to apologize, a large proportion of the population of the entire galaxy was born with some form of in vitro fertilization, at least once a race has acquired this technology. The Empire has been doing this for hundreds of years. After all, with such a small number of males, our population would be numerically impossible. In the Palatinate, every few years, based on the census, the government determines how many additional children are to be born. I had a good childhood, if that's what you're concerned about, I'm not an orphan." She replied with conviction.
Natka digested the information for some time.
"- It probably is just like you are saying..." Natka finally said, "- I have no reason to doubt the Empire," she confessed.
Mi nodded instinctively but hesitated and asked the human:
"- You're the coolest woman I've ever met on Earth, even the other Shils stationed here sometimes have a more ungrateful attitude towards our government," she confessed.
Natka smiled a little faintly.
"- I'm sure a lot of politicians are still corrupt, but that's, you know, life. I also think that the war that preceded Liberation could have been avoided and that most of the casualties were tragic and needless. But in the end, it wasn't human governments that ended famine on Earth, it wasn't human governments that ensured that every child had access to clean water or that people no longer died of cancer. The only things that matters "
Hearing these words, Mia shuddered.
"Die of cancer? Goddesses! Were they that backward?"
"- Look" Natka took one hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her phone out of the pocket, quickly scrolled her finger across the display to open the gallery, and then handed the device to Mi'aera.
The militiawoman looked at the photo. It was a selfie of the shill doctor embracing a much shorter, bald, and incredibly emaciated human male…
"- No…. wait…. impossible!"
It wasn't a male or a boy, it was Natka! incredibly thin, completely unrecognizable. And without any breasts… Mi'aera shifted her gaze to the human woman sitting next to her, whose cleavage was decent even by Shil standards. Natka, seeing where the militiawoman's eyes wandered, smiled.
"- Doctor Major Mile'ana Vespaena, she also helped me size the implants so that after the treatment I would look like a normal Imperial woman," the human explained.
Mi nodded. Natka was actually very proportional, her athletic figure was deceptively similar to Shil's, she was just much, much shorter.
"Like a little xeno sister," Mi thought.
"- Natka, you look really great now," Mi said honestly.
"- Thanks," Natalia replied, glancing briefly at her passenger.
"- Monsoon-B, the name of the drug that cured me, developed to fight cancer in human cells, developed at the Pharmaceutical Complex in Ghaab…"
"- Ghaabhush in east Ugrecnurc" Mi'aera uttered native words that her human friend found difficult.
"- In the Imperial fiefdom of the Palatinate," finished Natka, and she looked at her passenger again.
"- The war was still going on on Earth, and in your homeland, scientists had already thought about how to cure our diseases," Natalia spoke almost with tears in her eyes. Human women were terribly masculine, but Mi could not be angry with her companion. The woman went through hell that no modern inhabitant of the Empire should ever experience.
"Breast amputations?! Goddess! What a nightmare!"
Natka quickly turned her head away and focused on the road, apparently ashamed of her manly behavior.
"- It's a pity the Empire didn't send more personnel from your region to the Liberation of Earth, Mi," the human confessed. "- It would probably look completely different."
​
The Municipal Guard's working day was not fundamentally different from a typical militia shift. Mi and Natka caught several juvenile cyclists exceeding the speed limit. Mi'aera shuddered at how firm Natka could be with these cute, roguish boys. The pair also managed to catch one boy painting graffiti on the wall, no anti-government slogans, just some drawings.
"- So Natka, apparently you can help me with accommodation…" Mi started when they were both back in the car.
"- Yeah, sure, listen. I recently took out a mortgage on an apartment in a new district, you know, such an investment for the future. Everything in Shil style, but it's hard to find a good tenant…"
"- Well, my pay isn't that high either," remarked Mi.
"- Oh… I don't want to rob anyone, it's just that people are still quite wary, only men respond to my ad." confessed the human. Mi'aera froze.
"- You don't want to rent a room to a male?" She asked with undisguised surprise. Natka sighed.
"- You know... those guys who want to live in the Shil district... they're usually prostitutes. I don't want someone like that in my house, you understand?"
Mi was confused by the information. But couldn't deny her human friend's logic.
"Natka is so moral," she thought appreciatively.
"- Right, sure."
​
***
​
"- I don't even know your name," Gabriel said carefully as he lay beside Ysariah.
The woman turned her gaze on him and stretched, flexing her naked body.
"- Indeed," she said, but seeing some flustration on her lover's face, her hand quickly grabbed gently his cheek. Gabriel wanted to break free but stopped himself. Ysariah moved closer to the male and looked him tenderly in the eyes.
"- This knowledge has a price, Gabriel, are you willing to pay it?"
- I…"
"- You're afraid of me, aren't you?"
"- Yes," he answered honestly. The woman nodded.
"- But do you hate me?"
"I… I don't… I don't know, I don't think so… maybe a little?" The man spoke uncertainly.
"- You may call me Ysah," she said, stroking his cheek. The man bit his lip at her sudden response to his earlier inquiry.
"- It's a diminutive of Ysariah, isn't it?" he said finally. The woman smiled and nodded.
"When he's lying next to me on the bed like an offer, it's easy to forget he's an intelligent, educated person," she thought.
"- Yes, of course, Gabriel." She agreed. The man took a deep breath.
"- So... Ysariah... agent of the Interior? The secret agent?" he asked carefully.
The woman snorted a genuine laugh. Which made the man a bit uneasy.
"... But... you work for the government, right? Right?" he inquired with growing nervousness.
The woman stopped giggling and nodded.
"- Yes"
​
***
​
It's been a few weeks since the Imperial Envoy incident. The woman's family name was slowly disappearing from Imperial databases. The process will take years, but in the end, it will be as if her bloodline never existed. When Palatine destroyed her enemies, she made them disappear as if they had never been there.
Ancient bloodlines don't just vanish without a trace. But if you have enough money and determination, anything is possible.
However, both Palatine and her daughters knew that something like this would not go unnoticed by the throne. The ruler of the moon did not contemplate the possibility of the empress's reaction, she was waiting for it.
It didn't take long for an emissary of the sovereign, a prince of imperial blood, to arrive on the moon's surface. In the Palatinate, male nobles had no formal authority and were not recognized as emissaries. Of course, the capital knew about it, the choice was not accidental, the representative that the empress sent was not only a male but also one of her youngest relatives. The boy was short and frail, no more than eight standard years old. He would have been of legal age in the Palatinate, but not in the capital from which he came. So the empress sent a child to meet her vassal, and there was nothing the Palatine could do about it.
The Child lad strode proudly from his craft to the landing platform, accompanied by a great escort of capital dignitaries, where Palatine and her daughters, as well as local nobles, awaited him.
To all this, the young prince was dressed in a modern fashion, in a golden blouse revealing the navel. At the same time, he was wearing the insignia of a representative of the imperial family.
The custom commanded that Ysariah's mother and her daughters kneel before him, face down.
If he would wish it.
"- Aunt Aivui!" The young prince broke free from his retinue and unceremoniously threw himself on the Palatine's neck.
The moon lord caught him neatly, making the whole situation look completely natural.
Standing nearby with her sisters, Ysariah blinked. She had never in her life heard anyone refer to her mother as Aivui, not even her own partner Mo'othu allowed himself to use her diminutive name.
"- Prince Kri'jha." Palatine Aivuilpar Otharasoth replied warmly, setting the young man back to the ground. "- I'm honored that you remember me, the last time I saw you, you have bearly reaching your mother's waist, and now... by the goddess, you're a beautiful man."
"- Oh Aunt Aivui…" the boy waved his hand. "- stop it, please, otherwise I'm going to turn blue. How could I forget the godmother who gave me my own town on a tropical planet and a private yacht as a gift? I just got back from a party I had there!"
"- Well…I'm glad you like it, prince," Aivuilpar said modestly, to which the boy nodded and slowly began to survey his surroundings.
Ysariah kept her face neutral but remained attentive. Someone who could talk to her mother so casually had to be taken deadly seriously. The prince first greeted the Aivuilpar's firstborn, Ysariah's older sister, and only then focused on her.
"- Oh, isn't that the paragon knight herself?! Lady Ysariah of the house Otharasoth?"
"- My liege," Ysariah said, going down on one knee as her older sister had just done.
"- Oh..." the young prince covered his mouth in excitement. "- I must have watched the video a hundred times, you are so brave," he said, then looked at Aivuilpar "- Auntie! Your daughter is the hero of every gentleman-in-waiting. Anyway… we will discuss it later…"
"- We can discuss whatever you desire, my prince, over dinner," Aivuilpar suggested kindly. Kri'jha smiled.
"- Oh sure, Aunty, I hope, just please… I know the Palatinate is traditional and all that, but do you serve here any meatless courses…?
​
After a banquet in his honor, Kri'jha ordered his servant to fetch a small box. With the object, the young prince sat down in the Palatine's study, in her chair behind her desk, while the woman herself stood in front of him. Aivuilpar did not stand alone, Kri'jha demanded that Ysariah accompany her.
"- I will now convey to you our dear empress's wish," said the boy, who had been still acting like a spoiled urchin a moment ago.
Aivuilpar straightened up and craned her head up. Ysariah watched her mother prepare to take responsibility for her recent actions.
Kri'jha stared at his aunt but as he formed his mouth for words, he turned his gaze towards Ysariah.
"- Knight Ysariah of the house Otharasoth, your bravery has drawn the eyes of our gracious empress. It is her Imperial Majesty's desire, for you to carry her unspoken wishes. Deeds that can't be ordered or asked, not even spoken out loud. You have been called to be her Wishwraith." With that said, Kri'jha stood up and walked over to Ysariah with the box in his hands. The boy stood in front of a much larger woman than himself and opened the container, revealing its contents.
"- The Red Mark," whispered Ysariah's mother, glancing over her daughter's shoulder.
​
discord wiki part 1 part 13 part 15

Repost with name of YouTuber removed.
Ever experience the GC sibling mimic you the black sheep to an excessive uncomfortable extent of echoing phrases ad verbatim, stealing interests, stealing two majors (film studies and anthropology) which she showed ZERO interest in prior. When it was my time to go to university first those courses were out of my family's reach financially but a few years later, she took them as if she has an original idea in her head.
This is the result of what [EDITED: a certain well-known Narc professor] calls narcissistic "snapshotting". Narcs can only relate to people as one-dimensional snapshots or stereotypes, being unable to account that as constantly evolving personalities, we're always in states of flux. Many other instances of kneejerk sneering at me for my other interests (the ones I still shared about until I finally admitted to myself she was a covert Narc who was never happy for me or has any real interests that isn't a means to getting attention to out the spotlight on herself on just how interesting she is).
Have also had women (now former) friends who would rifle through my social media like they were AI scouring data, going back years on my newsfeed or albums in a single sitting and do it for days on end, then I find them trying to emulate my interests by BUYING "dressing" that represented those interests. You can't go out and buy an interesting life and hang it on yourself like a collection of Christmas tree baubles.
It's almost like how the AliExpress algorithm still can't figure out my profile and I get redirected random ads for African women, BDSM paraphernalia, stuff for school age children, vacation homes in Bangladesh... because phones seem to be listening to my wide ranging chats with my grownup daughter, LOL, and came up with this grotesque Frankenstein botch job.
Peculiar.

A while ago I posted here about having finally written a letter to my dad as a way of making sure he knew exactly how his alcoholism effected/effects my life (I’ll put the original post at the end of this). I wasn’t trying to change anything really, i just thought it would maybe make me feel better to know for sure that he knew how he made me feel. So after talking it over with my therapist I sent the letter as an email and my dad said he needed a bit to think through it. I thought I should mention why happened next to complete the story for you guys and for other people who may be thinking about the same thing.
Anyway, after a few days my dad emailed me back which was good. I wanted to establish a firm boundary and I told him I specifically did not want to talk to him about it over then phone, and I knew that once he got the email his first reaction would be to call. He responded by saying the email I sent was pretty devastating and he talked to his counselor about it. He also told me that he wanted to talk it through but in person. I shouldn’t have bent on that, but I told him I could meet up with him for coffee to talk about it the next time he was in my area (I live like a 10hr drive/1.5 hr flight from him).
He asked my work schedule and then a few hours later he told my he booked a flight for one of my days off. I was pretty pissed at the assumption that I didn’t have plans but I told him we could just meet for coffee if he insisted on coming that day.
So the day of I show up at the coffee place and he said his flights are booked so he could pretty much spend the whole day with me. I told him I couldn’t do that because I had to take my dog to the vet (an excuse I had already come up with). He said he was sorry I felt the way that I put in the letter, and asked what I was hoping to get out of sending it and what I wanted in a relationship with him. I had already told him in the letter that I didn’t know and I don’t know how long it’ll take me to figure out. He asked me a bunch of things that I had already explained in the letter, and I pretty much just ended up repeating it to him, which was exactly what I didn’t want. I was pretty done and trying to wrap up the conversation when he said “I wouldn’t say I was a bad dad though, right? You and your mom and your brother had a good lifestyle and we went on trips sometime.”
At that point I realized he was never even really going to try to see things from my perspective. Sure we were financially well off until I was in middle school and he got fired for being drunk at work and then was hospitalized for months due to pancreatitis which did quite a number on the family finances. Sure he didn’t physically abuse anybody, but he would throw shit at us and yell an inch from our faces. We were still scared of him. I told him I had been scared of him as a child and I still have an instinctive fear response to him when I can tell he isn’t happy, even though he knows better that to raise his voice to me now. If I had kids I think I’d be devastated if they told me they were afraid of me.
Anywho, I was done and started wrapping things up. I just wanted to get out of there. He seemed so chuffed and was like “I’m really glad we talked about this. I hope we can get to the point where we can go on trips together. How long do you think that will take?” “After the vet appointment where do you want to go to dinner?”. I told him I couldn’t eat dinner with him and left.
He’s completely diluted and self centered. That conversation was the last push I needed to cut him out of my life. I’d love to talk to his therapist to see what kind of nonsense he spouts. I still haven’t blocked his #, but I decided to give it a year before completely blocking him just in case he has a miraculous realization. Based on his messages so far, and thinking back to how he tried to steamroll over everything I wanted when we last met up, I’m not regretting my choice.

ORIGINAL POST (including update to original post):
I’ve written a letter and I don’t know if I should send it
My dad has been sober for a long time but his behavior is pretty much the same. I’ve written him a letter about how he make me feel and makes me feel now and I’m in the process of working up the courage to email it to him.
Has anybody ever done something like this? What kind of effect has it had?
EDIT: I sent it and he said he was going to take a while to think about what I said. I’m glad I sent it even if it doesn’t change anything. I just wanted to know for sure that he knew my perspective, so I can hold him 100% accountable for everything.

Hi, is it just me or do you guys feel like UST offers insufficient scholarship opportunities?
I even read that applying/renewing scholarship programs is a difficult process. Has it always been like this?
My post's concern is mainly about the Santo Tomas Scholarship. I just feel like it's difficult to be qualified despite having really good grades. I just wish they would offer this program to more students, not just for top 1s and 2s.
Do others feel the same for the other scholarship programs? I genuinely want to know if you feel like you are given adequate opportunities for these. I am not athletic/artistic and I do not meet the requirements for financial aids so I would like to hear from those who are eligible for these scholarship programs.
I understand that scholarships are not meant for every student in the university, but I think a lot of us will need it because of the inflation and the expected tuition fee increase. I just feel a little miserable knowing that a lot of universities offer more tuition fee discounts. Even a 25% discount will be so much helpful for me (it's around 17k for my program).

This is the report I created and wont edit it because I want everyone to get the full picture,
I asked myself if it was unethical to doxx his handset credentials but honestly im pissed and if he does it again, everyone will know its a scam.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
I wrote a review for consumer affairs and will attach it below to briefly explain the uncomfortable experience I had with my APC information and interaction below my long description of the shady phishy shit that just happened to me with employees of safelink and straight talk.
After I saw the straight talk "personalized" email I received about acp (which I opted out of), I began applying because at the time; I thought you could get a cell phone service discount from acp, and then have discounted internet from lifeline; I was obviously wrong but was elated to see that considering i had covid turned walking pneumonia so the financial impact has hit me pretty hard. Covid three times too, anyways;
​
although I have always been weary of straight talk but have kept them for so long because they were the lowest cost for service; I enrolled knowing the enrollment process would be quick due to me already being approved through acp.
​
That took no time, then once I was approved I received an update on my straight talk account that said I was enrolled; but in order to begin receiving the acp discount I would need to call an 800 number and give them my card number.......
​
I did it because I trusted that the information being displayed to me FROM the straight talk site was not a scam.
​
I called the number (had an accent), verified my credentials after like 15 minutes of attempting to get through, and the man told me I was already enrolled so I didnt need to give him my payment method as "it was already working". I even read out what the straight talk prompt was displaying to me to him. He said I was fine and good to go. Told me to wait for the next month to reflect the $30 dollar discount. Next month arrives and I see I was charged the full amount. (mind you, when I look back; it does not show this now) I called them again questioning this and reminding them that this could be because the other man didn't listen to the instructions prompt that the straight talk site had previously warned me was requiring me to complete BEFORE it could go into effect.
​
Same thing happened, he told me I was enrolled and everything was fine; that I would receive a refund for the $30 I was billed for the full amount/it would automatically do this. I said ok but I think something is wrong here so I will call again.
​
SAME thing happened again but now I was not able to transparently see my purchase history, and order history from the individual device properly due to them changing the site.
​
And you can only go back three months every time, the search is displaying different receipts from what I had previously seen in the last two months but school was ramping up and mid terms were near so I said ok again I will wait, but if I get charged again I am reporting this and canceling this acp account because I NEVER had this issue with blackfoots' acp benefit, EVER.
​
So it took me a few months (yesterday) to catch this because it was finals and right before that I had covid turned walking pneumonia. I even fell behind on school work to take care of my health and figured if they were charging me full price this entire time, I would just call back for a refund dating back to January because I had proof of the phone calls and times (but not conversations).
​
After FINALLY finding what I thought was an overcharge (reversal of 124 dollars that was labeled phone services) yesterday on an account that was NOT the payment method I had confirmed was my primary payment (first phone call I fact checked and asked him if and when I do get charged the 5 dollars; if you're not going to accept my card payment; will it be deducted from my primary payment method then? He said yes), I called them and took me another 15 minutes to get on the phone with them, they said they are not not showing ANY payments from me.
​
So then I started to freak out because I thought the 124 dollars was back pay from them attempting to overcharge me from a reversal payment of the incorrect payment amount!!!! He told me due to the high call volumes, he instructed me to call back when I was in contact with my bank to figure it out on my end.
​
I called for this issue and they told me those transactions were not from straighttalk or a phone service provider at all, and it was a completely separate thing.
​
She also told me that she did not see any payments reflects to them, and I said good because I never requested them or authorized them to take payments out of an account that didn't work.
​
So I begin to freak out even more,
I call them back thinking that I really didn't pay them since January and had been somehow receiving service for this long.
I called them to get this sorted out asap, and allow me to pay them back an unexpected debt I didn't know I had.
​
I told them this is outrageous, I have always paid my bills with them on time and have had them for years, after him continuously telling me that they are not reflecting on their end that I made a payment at all since January, I asked them to hold on the line while I prove FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT (another one, the one I authorized originally) that they had overcharged me, and I HAD been making payments... and THATS why I was receiving service all this long.
​
All of a sudden the call drops in the middle of me telling him i'm signed in and heading back to January to find the overcharge.
​
HE hangs up on me. NOT ONLY THAT though, I receive a suspicious error I had never seen on my phone at the same time;
due to working in cybersecurity I immediately screenshotted it and attempted to call back.... now furious.... I cannot receive calls or texts and I receive a text that my service has been drained; and I need to refill; at 0.
​
NOW i'm enraged. Before I could prove I paid, he cut off my service; I was receiving very weird prompts and the error I took a screenshot below gave me a gut feeling.
​
I looked it up and of course, it claims that its my phone's nearby cellular tower or ITS MY PHONE,
NEVER had that issue before and I was receiving ONLY straight talk texts claiming I needed to refill my service of 35$ The full amount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
​
furious that I had been duped like this, I call my mom to use her cell phone and receive another text that I PAID MY SERVICE, and my refill is next month. I was so suspicious that during the time the call dropped, I was signed into my straight talk account and I was watching him attempt to change my address, name, and all account information;
so I immediately deleted my payment method and edited my account info with a pin that signed him out.
WHICH IS WHY HE TURNED OFF MY SERVICE AND DROPPED THE CALL.
​
My zip code still displays a weird headset number as my account number, and displays my zip code as Florida. NEVER been to Florida.
​
I call them back and tell my mother that my identity was just stolen,
I deleted my payment method before he could refill my service with it so either he used the old account that would deny the payment;
or he used a credit card on my account that is NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ME. I call them and demand that they tell me what my purchase history reflects on their end because in straight talk, my account doesn't show any transactions, but my phone now works.
​
The guy was snarky to me and attempted to tell me that everything's fine, my service wasn't deleted, that it was just a dropped call, and that he wanted me to test my phone and give him my credentials to make sure it worked. Mind you, he sends me a verification code FROM straight talk, so I know they BOTH work there. So I allowed him to test it out and he asked me if I wanted to proceed with the refund portion, or contact acp and get my account active for future references.
​
I said refund because i'm not finished updates my latest payment method to reflect a card that will work,
because he is telling me that I was never billed for a second service amount and my phone was never deactivated. He ALSO tells me that he is only tech support and not billing or acp........................
​
at this point i'm very uncomfortable and suspicious so I tell him I have finished updating my primary payment method so transfer me to acp.
​
HE GIVES ME A PHONE NUMBER AND TELLS ME TO CALL IT BECAUSE HE CANT TRANSFER ME OVER LIKE THEY JUST PREVIOUSLY DID, MOMENTS BEFORE. Mind you this is the SAME straight talk phone number I had called previously so this was not another scammer, it was straight talk.
​
Instead of immediately calling a suspicious phone number I fact check the phone number on google and its the phone number for SAFELINK, not acp or straight talk.
​
I call and explain the situation, he immediately tells me he needs to transfer me again to escalate it to Safelink tier 2.....
​
so now its a woman. (also every one of them gave me false names like the man before this woman was named Alexa-us.... he almost caught himself.
​
The woman answers and immediately asks for my approval number from acp, so I said hold on I have to sign into my acp to get it.
​
She tells me well I need the last four of your social now.
​
I told her exactly why I would not give it to her and said let me get the approval code so you can verify my identity a different way.
​
she scoffs at me and tells me uhmmmm no I cannot help you or give you anything until I have the last four of your social.
​
I said, the other man and EVERYONE at straight talk sends me a verification code to confirm THEY ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE FIRST, I said I would like this to be done first before I give out this type of credentials to a suspicious number.
​
She laughs and tells me again, there is nothing I can do until I get the last four of your social, then to be even more rude she pipes up and says; also now I need your birthdate as well, full birthdate please.
​
I said so you cant send me a verification code first, you don't want my approval acp number then she interrupts me and says she already has everything about me (SOMEHOW BEFORE I GAVE IT TO HER, probably, just simply by my phone number BEING the account username), and she needs my birthdate (to be an ass), social, and full address (then snickers again like i'm psychotic).
​
So I give her my social and tell her that's all she is getting,
she tells me again there is nothing she can do until she receives ALL THREE.
​
So I give it to her (and begin recording her for her to clearly hear the record button turn on). She said, "Good news I already found you! So when you receive that verification code let me know", and snickers again.
​
I attempt to tell her my service may be off so I didn't receive the previous one the tech support guy was waiting for but then it popped up and I gave it to her.
​
The first thing I ask her, and explain to her that I am going to start off simply with three questions, what does MY purchase history display going back to January, I told her mine it not reflecting correctly and I need to know whether I have owned you a bill since then. I explained to her briefly that I just got told I have not been making my payments since January but my service has been on. (didn't want to give her too much information but assumed she already knew).
​
I said I NEED to know what payment methods were associated because I fear I was billed again without my knowledge or consent, on an account that SHOULD have blocked the transaction...
​
I said so my phone will not work and I will get over drafted.
​
I said, AND I NEED TO KNOW WHAT MY ACTUALLY MONTHLY PAYMENT IS, because on my end; I have been getting billed the FULL amount.
​
She told me as confusingly as possible that there is a 30 plan for the acp, that excludes five dollars a monthly but you have to go into your account and accept it.
​
I said, ok so this is the first i'm hearing of this,
I said I have PROOF my original enrollment reflected my bill would only be $5.00 a month. I said and every month I called, I verified that with straight talk and then said everything is fine. Then I explained to her what the guy said about I would be billed the 35$, and then refunded 30.
​
I asked her if this was all connected?
​
She paused and nicely explained to me that this is an upgrade to the original acp account that pays 30$ yes, as a credit monthly for your bill. (still confused as shit)
​
I said so if I do not accept that, which I never have, then I should only be billed 5 dollars a month correct? I said I have not, as far as I can see on my end.
​
She said correct, but she said the lowest amount is 30 without data and that covers the full 30 we credit to you.
​
I told her, I USE data, I chose the 35 dollar plan to pay an extra five for gigs because I use mobile data for my job.... I fucking work in IT. (I didn't say that lol) but I said I use it for my job.
​
she was about to spout off bullshit again (nicely now and sweet.. she's actually really intelligent other than that type of cold hearted attitude like i'm fucking dumb something fishy is not actually going on with her),
I interrupted her and said ok well its good that it sounds like my bill has been covered since January, and I don't owe you anything? Because I was freaking out about an unexpected bill I cant afford, that was over charged, she said yes it covered.
​
So I asked her, ok spell it out for me I NEED to hear it (on recording), I don't owe you anything, and i've been making monthly payments still since January, but through benefits that acp is covering?
​
she said yes.........
​
pause
​
so I asked her ok those two questions are solved.
I KNOW I was being overcharged, I SAW IT, and CALLED ABOUT IT TWICE previously, and I said and the man on the phone whom had confirmed my payment method with me AGREED I was being billed 35 dollars monthly, AFTER my acp was approved.
​
But I didn't want to hear her excuse so I said well I can always attempt to confirm that with all my payment methods unless it was being charged from an UNAUTHORIZED and UNKNOWN payment method. (I wish I had the wit to remember those big words but said something more laymen but similar)
​
I said ok the last question is;
WHAT card or payment method was used for my service now,
I didn't authorize a payment but I received a message that says i'm paid up till July 4th,
and that pretty much my phone works now.
​
She then explained to me that its working because my acp has been approved, and never went out.... or something similar so me wanting to bash my head against the wall to get questions about VERY SUSPICIOUS interactions occurring answered,
​
I said well if I don't owe you anything and I will not be billed in the future because the full amount is paid through this benefit then I think i'm good, that's all I need to know. (I wanted to get off the phone so bad to begin looking at EVERY credit card and bank account number I had, to begin reporting this and locating odd transactions.
​
I NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH IVE BEEN BILLED, IF I WAS BILLED SUSPICIOUSLY OR THROUGH A SHELL ACCOUNT KIND OF LIKE DATA MINING, I NEED TO KNOW IF MY SERVICE IS CURRENTLY WORKING BECAUSE I, MADE A PAYMENT, OR IF WHAT THEY ARE TELLING ME IS TRUE... SOMETHING IS FISHY HERE AND I WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE THAT I AM GOING TO REPORT THIS AS IDENTITY THEFT, FOR THE MOST PART MY CREDENTIALS ARE SECURE BUT I GAVE THEM EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED TO KNOW, BECAUSE THEY WORKED FOR THE CORPORATION. I HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS, like was I ever billed? Was I ever billed that 5 dollar amount? Why didn't the fucking first guy tell me what a tier fucking two Safelink 'supposed' employee had to vaguely explain to me? I am done with straight talk,
and honestly I have been suspiciously been getting so many spam calls lately, who knows; maybe since the beginning of January, that I was already going to change my number anyways.
​
The tech support man kept telling me to look at my bars,
and they have been bouncing around ever since.
I honestly want to chuck this phone that IM CONVINCED they ported into, alongside my fucking straight talk account.
​
​
How they collect information is very phishy, They directed me to at least seven people in which I had to give my credentials from my ACP benefits approval form. Having me call at least four separate phone numbers in order to answer THREE questions which should be transparent, AND displayed TO THE CONSUMER about their personal information/transactions. All seven of them had different answers as well as attitudes towards me, none of them gave me their real name. ALL of them asked for the authentication code either first, after social security/address/birthday, in between, or not at all. I didn't feel safe because of it, and after five hours I got my three questions answers.
​
I will also note that the tech guy kept asking me to look in my mobile data settings for config tabs that did not exist,
and yes he got my IMEI and ICCID
​
I also attached below proof of the messages from straight talk claim my account fill or whatever they call it was depleted,
and then reinstated
​
please please investigate if they are stealing phone plans or syphoning one day from one customer, and then one day from another to combine them into a service plan they can sell off as a scam or some evil backhanded thing like this
​
I even got the impression that they were lead listing my credentials
​
not to mention my ip kept popping up weird links (mind you I have all the stops, and pop ups disabled)
when I scanned it with a vpn it claims the link was malicious, this was after this insidious debacle
and I NEVER CLICKED A LINK or pressed a button
​
During this I also told him that my phone had mdm, because I work in cybersecurity; so whatever feature or tab or he was gonna try (to fix).. wouldn't work

Throwaway account since I have lots of personal things on my main account.
My English may be clumsy, please bear with me.
I need to give some background before getting into my concerns.
My parents were on the search for a partner since 3 months, and we found a good prospect. We found this girl through our family/friends/acquaintances and visited their house, and later they accepted us.
The girl's parents are in a difficult situation financially, but the girl works at a financial institution, and she gets paid enough money.
The girl's father said that they accepted our proposal since we were the first profile that they came across as soon as they started looking out for a partner for her daughter. And I accepted her since she was very simple and down to earth (at least that's what she said).
Later we exchanged numbers and started calling on phone everyday (It's been a month since we are speaking on phone everyday). I'm a very introverted person, and also I don't talk too much (I used to be the quietest kid in my class). But she is 10x extreme than myself. Here comes the problem. When I say she doesn't talk much, I mean it very literally. She doesn't talk at all! It's just silence in the phone call. It's like 30 seconds of complete silence and then after digging something from my memories, that I could think of something to talk and carry the conversation. To remove the awkwardness from the interaction, I used to fill it by talking about my past, school memories, my goals, professional goals, etc. To whatever I say, she just responds with "Hmm, ok. What else?" and then I have to think about some other topic to fill for the next 10 minutes. When I ask the same questions to her, she just doesn't have any opinion on anything at all. She doesn't even ask follow up questions, and I'm running out of things to talk about. She doesn't put any effort to carry the conversation since she doesn't have anything to say.
When I ask open ended questions, she does not have an opinion or just responds with a generic "whatever works for me" response, and if I ask closed ended questions, she just responds with a "yes" or a "no". No further explanation from her side unless I ask, which again ends up with a generic middle ground answer.
She is just not interested in anything at all. Even for basic things like movies, music, world views, values, she does not have anything to say. When I ask - do you like "x" or "y" or do you want to do this or that, she just says "I don't know, I'm ok with anything". Even when I ask direct personal questions about the relationship to know her view, she just does not have anything to say and responds with "Hmm, I'm fine with anything. What else?".
I was shocked when she told that her sister was not happy with the topics we talked about, because I used to only talk about frivolous matters, nothing serious. Since I could not get anything out of her, I used to talk about some story of the past and ask her what she thinks about (at least this way I can understand her views and measure her interest).
She does not have any hobbies or personal goals in life. No determination, no grit.
I'm worried what is going on, since I have never met any girl like her. Anybody with a little bit of personality has something to say. Anybody can have a simple hobby.
I'm starting to wonder if she really likes me. Since I don't have a clear picture of her personality (I don't have any information about her since she does not reveal anything), I'm starting to think if she has chosen me with the same amount of indecisiveness and lethargy.
I can sympathize if she is going through some mental issues, but she does not bring up anything even when I ask her if something is bothering her.
I've talked to my parents and they are now concerned. Mine and their family have mutually agreed for this marriage and have also agreed on dates for marriage, but their parents keep postponing things stating that their family priest is not available, etc.
Their parents say that they will call us in 2 days with an update but they never call, and my parents have to call them to check if they have any update. This keeps happening and we're starting to wonder if they really want to move ahead or not. We are very confused.
Someone please help with what might be going on. My parents couldn't get sleep since we have informed about the marriage to few of our friends/relatives, and going by the girl/parents behavior, we are worried what's going on, and I can't decide if she is the one for me to proceed further. If you have come across pattern of behaviors like these, please let me know.
Any input is appreciated.

{Mobile, sorry for the ass format}

 For context I'm 16, I just made my first check of 100 dollars yesterday. I decided to go with Capitol One Money (teen checking and savings account) because it was well rated for kids my age and had no fees or minimums to it. However I'm beginning to regret my decision. The day I made the account, within about an hour of it's creation, I already had issues with phone number verifications, account edits etc. I had created the acc, deposited my check via their camera feature, and that was when I ran into issues. After a lengthy couple transfers and convos, the issue was resolved, and I was able to log in properly. It did say that my check would be available at a later date, and that it would take a couple business days to process. While longer than I expected I didn't really care. I just wanted to check the schedule for my card shipment (debit, I have no credit set up with them and I don't think I ever will at this rate) and see if maybe by some weird twist my check processed early. However today when I log in, it says that my 'Money isn't available for withdrawal' and to call a number (I think customer service). I checked to see if I could ask the assistant (Eno) about my check processing time, and the response was that 'My account may be restricted', which is bonkers cause I just logged into it, have completely minted and correct info logged in, and haven't had any suspicious activity alerted to me or anything. All I did was deposit a check, and fix my verification set up through a couple phone calls yesterday. I don't know if it's because I cashed my check before the verification issue or what, this is my first time ever making a decision this financially important (100 bucks doesn't seem like much but it's my first ever paycheck so I'm pretty stoked about it, and I just really wanna do this all correctly without messing up), and if I'm being transparent the anxiety is just mounting. I've made the right decisions and logged everything correctly, so I can't think of it being something I could have done. I'm new and fresh to all of this and wildly inexperienced in this area. I chose this bank in particular because of its advertisement towards non difficulties. Has anyone had this issue with a Capitol One Money account before? Or with random account restrictions? Any and all advice is welcome, I'm incredibly wary after having run into so many obstacles not even a couple days into this account set up.I'm heavily considering just withdrawing my money when (and if) it goes through and closing the account. I wanted a semblance of independence, and interest building, but I don't think capitol one is right for me at this point. Please, any insight from a more experienced person on this issue would be so super helpful. 

What is your birthday wish ?

In the part 1 video, I already got explain what is my birthday wishes. There is one more wish which I never mention in my part 1 video because I felt it is impossible to happen. But I hope this thing can be possible. Because I hope that one of my birthday wish can come true. That is Goddess Mistress Luna to forgive me. If Mistress Luna can forgive me, this will be one of my very very happy birthday gifts. Very very happy birthday present. A very very happy birthday wish. So this is one of my birthday wish. For my other wish, you can refer to my part 1 video.

Mistake again

On 18th May 2023, I go and work Adhoc security job at the Raffles Institution. When I off duty, I forgot to return the access card. Because you need the access card to access many of the areas inside the RI. As a result, after my night shift work on the 22th May, I need to go from Bukit Batok condominium Adhoc job to Marymount to return the access card. Its a fucking waste of time. I shouldn't have forget to return the card, which is a fucking fucking big big big mistake that shouldn't have happen. Its wasting time. On 30th May 2023 (Tuesday), I made a mistake again. After night shift work, I open my plastic bag containing smart phone. How come so wet ? Got water one. I was shocked because the phone got water. Means its at risk or spoil. I think and think how come got water. After I check everything, you know what happened ? The perfume maybe never close tight enough. As a result, the whole bottle of perfume spit out inside the bag and my phone kenna the perfume water. So after that, my mother say should put a zip lock bag, in case the perfume thing come out, the water is still inside the ziplock bag, not come out and anyhow spread. So this is a fucking big mistake because once the phone spoil, honggan already. Because I got no money go and buy new phone. So this type of mistake shouldn't have happened.

If you book new BDSM mistress in August and if Goddess Mistress Luna found out, will she be angry ?

There's nothing wrong with me to go and find new BDSM mistress because currently Goddess Mistress Luna has banned me. If she ban me, I go and find other BDSM mistress, its alright. Its OK. If she never ban me, then I shouldn't go and find other BDSM mistresses and I should have stayed loyal to her. So you see, she banned me. If I don't go and find other BDSM mistresses, she also still ban me. So of course I need to go and find new BDSM mistresses.

Do you think you will forget about Mistress Luna after you engage good fans BDSM services in August ?

This is very hard to say. I am not sure. Maybe after I meet my female fans who is also a professional BDSM mistress. Maybe after I engage her, maybe I can finally forget about Goddess Mistress Luna. This one I cannot tell you the answer now. I can only tell you after I engage the new BDSM mistress in August.

If you have Doraemon time machine and go back to change school and teacher, will you end up passing O level or will you end up walking the same path ?

If I got Doraemon time machine, I will go back find the toto number to become the millionaire. Why the fuck will I care about passing O levels ? Come on. If I got time travel machine and I know which number will come out in future, I go and buy then I will confirm become a super super millionaire or even a billionaire. Why will I go back to the Doraemon time machine to pass my O level ? For what ? How much can you earn if you pass your O level ? If I can go back to the past, I going to buy the number that confirm can come out then I become the millionaire or billionaire. That is more important.

Since you always kenna prank calls, maybe you can try do phone sex operator ?

First of all, I don't know what the fuck is phone sex operator. I have never heard of this before. Can explain more to me about phone sex operator ? Because seriously I have never heard of this job before. What the fuck is phone sex operator ?

Will Ah Kim do fisting for you if you pay ? Need to show her how big your ass is. Can give birth. How many fists can go inside your anal hole at the same time.

Ah Kim my wife will never agree to fist fuck my ass. Its too extreme for her. Even I got money to pay her to leash me like a dog, she wont do that because its too extreme for her. So answer is No. She will not do that. Keith ask a funny question. If a fist can go inside your anal hole, you are very very awesome man. Very incredible already. Unbelievable. I don't think there is anyone in this world that can two fist go inside the anal hole. Maybe a vagina can. How can two fists go inside the anal hole ?

If your anal hole is so big, how come your face gek until so difficult ?

BDBYZD. That is called purposely one. Acting. You know what is called acting or not. I purposely make that expression so that people can laugh, so they feel funny because I am a comedian. 我是搞笑的演员。我是走搞笑的路线。 So if I pangsai, I no expression, its not funny, so you must gek sai, so got expression. If no expression, it will be very very boring. Its called acting. Simple things like this also dunno. Wah piang eh. Jialat sia.

How come you forgot your lines during latest commercial filming ?

Quite a few people ask this question. This question is so simple because they also don't understand. Again this is called acting. Its for the effect. Purposely one so that can make it funny because I am a comedian. Purposely during commercial, they want me to act like I forget my line so that it looks funny. So simple you also don't know. So simple also don't understand. Wah lan eh. Sibeh jialat sia.

Funeral type of jobs, you want try ? Like undertaker.

Jay say that the money is very good. Answer is No. You want the ghosts to come up ah. I told you before why I don't want the old flat because the old flat what happened got ghost inside the house ? So you still want me to try certain jobs like the undertaker like funeral all these. No the thing is this, not that I scared of ghost or what. Because I am human God. I scared something happen to my family, not me. I am human God man. I only worry for my family.

That time you talk until got tiger got dragon but when the lawyer letter come, you got scared. How come behave like pussy ? That time say you don't mind Mistress Luna to send me the lawyer letter but when she send you lawyer letter, you so scared.

BDBYZD. I am not scared to go to jail to meet DeeKosh inside the jail. You see go to jail, you got free food to eat. Everyday no need to work, got food to eat already. But however, I must think of my family, I must think of my parents, my Papa, my mama, my wife. I think about my son, my daughter. If I go to jail to meet DeeKosh and Amos Yee inside the jail then my family how? Who will feed my family ? Because I am the only one who need to feed my whole family. Without me, they where got food to eat. I scared not because I timid. Because I worry about my family. If I am single, seriously I don't mind to go to jail because it is nothing to me.

You should sell fart. He showed me this article about Kiara Kitty. She is selling fart in a jar for $30.

Seriously man. When I heard of this thing sell the fart, I was shocked. Who want to buy fart in a jar ? I think maybe unless the person escape from IMM. No no no. Escape from IMH. Then the person will buy the jar. Inside they contain the fart. How you know inside got fart ? Maybe inside just empty bottle. The Kiara Kitty say her fart inside. Maybe its just bottle. How do you know inside is fart ? Are you going to open the bottle and smell ? Cannot be right. If you open the bottle of the jar, the fart will come out from the jar then no more already. So you cannot open. If you can open, how do you determine inside got fart or not. You see certain things only a beautiful chiobu can earn money. But for guys, its very hard.

Since you got financial problems, why don't you go and do OnlyFans ?

If I am a beautiful chiobu, I will confirm go and do OnlyFans, wear sexy sexy bikinis all these. Can earn more than $10k per month. But me, nobody will be interested because I am not a chiobu. Certain things a girl can do only but guys cannot. If I were to sell my fart or go and do OnlyFans (wear sexy sexy), it will not work because I am not a beautiful chiobu. If I beautiful chiobu, I will go and do OnlyFans already and earn a lot of money. Got money why I don't want ? Because I know nobody will be interested. Btw the people who go and buy the fart in the jar really got something wrong in their brain. Got mental problem. Only mental problem people will go and buy the jar with fart. 神经到无可救药。 No medicine can cure them.

What do you think of WideAd and how they type all your Q&A ?

First of all, this WideAd or Reddit or whatever. Every time transcribe my Q&A, cause a lot of problems. Because some lazy people will just go and read the Reddit instead of watching my Q&A videos. So this cause my viewership to go down, to decrease. As a result, the lesser viewership I get, the lesser money I earn. So its terrible. And btw, there are certain things that maybe the people who transcribe the Q&A, sometimes he don't understand what I am talking then he anyhow type nonsense. If you are real fans, please watch my Q&A. Don't go and read what Reddit.

If one day if you happen to meet Goddess Mistress Luna in the public and she asked you to knee down to apologize to her, will you do that ?

If I happen to meet Goddess Mistress Luna in the public place, I will ask for her forgiveness. I will apologize to her personally. If she require me to knee down in the public place to apologize to her, will I do it or not ? Answer is Yes. Even though I am a public figure, many many people recognize me because I super super famous. But if knee down in public can make her forgive me, I think i don't mind. Even though its so embarrassing, so embarrassing. Even though its so embarrassing, I will still do it. Its worth the embarrassment as long as she forgive me, its OK.

You say championship belt cure depression and help to overcome all obstacles in your life. Why are you still making mistakes and need new Kurt Tay to arrive ?

I mention 4th June 2023 will be the last time the new Kurt Tay will arrive. As far for the question, let me explain. I got explain before because that time I was thinking I was a WWE champion, NXT champion, WCW world champion, AEW world champion. So after I lose the fight to the fishball Loh Jia Hung, it caused serious depression and the depression is not so easily cured. And that is why dog slave spirit enter my body. All I know is that I kenna gongtao too strong. Last time I say I autocum can force the slave spirit to come out of my body. But I try many times, still cannot come out The gongtao is too strong. Too powerful already. Really really bo bian (no choice)

Hi! As you will see, I didn't publish research/co-author a papecreate a non-profit/found a company/present at a science faiwin a national award/etc/etc. Hopefully future applicants will learn something idk. I realize the post is very long, at the end is my reflection/advice. Keeping it vague because I don't want to get exposed as a Reddit user to my friends
Demographics

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: Asian
• Residence: US
• Type of School: Competitive Public
• Hooks: None

Intended Major: MechE
Academics

• GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.5 W
  • W GPA is lower than some top students at school because I took a lot of random electives that weren't AP/Honors
• Rank: no rank
• # of Honors/AP/Dual Enrollment: 16 total
• Senior Year Course Load: Calc 3 & Linear Alg Dual Enrollment @ local CC, AP Bio, AP English, 1 engineering elective, AP Government, AP Micro, school orchestra

Standardized Testing

• SAT: 1570 (780 RW, 790 M)
• AP: All 5s (including Physics 1, C Mech & EM, Calc BC) except 4 AP English in junior year

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. Robotics (9-12, mechanical lead in 12th): by far my biggest time commitment but also my least favorite activity because team politics :
2. Robotics Internship at local university (12): sounds cool but wasn't actually. Followed undergraduate researcher around the lab, failed a couple of 3D prints, mixed some chemicals. No reports published, no research authored. At least I had fun
3. Independent project with university professor (10): also sounds cool but wasn't actually. got the project through pure nepotism because it was COVID and my parents were stressed I was doing jack shit at home, again at least I had fun
4. Volunteer for science organization (9-12): my favorite activity I easily spent 200+ hours on it to the point where my parents told me to chill a bit because I was not doing other things. basically teaching younger students various science topics
5. Orchestra (9-12): played oboe/english horn in highest ranked youth orchestra in the area. Liked orchestra, did not like lessons and practice
6. Soccer (9-12): JV (9,10) and varsity (11,12). did pretty well in JV but ate more snacks than I played matches in varsity
7. School Rocket Club (9-11): I was really into rockets and such in middle school but then I stopped liking it in the middle of 10th grade and I stuck it out until 11th but gave up in 12th
8. Random ass personal robot project (11): I was bored. It looked really janky and barely worked but the colleges don't need to know that. Submitted to a total of 0 science fairs/awards.
9. Local children's museum volunteer (9-12): I quite enjoyed this one even though it involved talking to people. Basic museum staff things like front desk management, giving prizes to kids, telling people where the bathroom is when the giant sign is right above them
10. Playing piano (9-12): In the Common App's "Position/Leadership Description" I wrote "Hobby" lmao

Awards/Honors

1. Robotics team award
2. State/County honor bands
3. Qualified for AIME in 11th and 12th (for the record, both years I made it by 1.5 points and got 1 point on the actual AIME, but again, colleges don't need to know that) (unless they asked for it in their application)
4. National Merit Semi Finalist
5. Spanish award from school

Letters of Recommendation
I would say my rec letters were probably pretty good. I got 3 recs total, with at most 2 going to each college depending on what teachers they wanted. I'd known them for all four years of high school some way or another, so I had a more friend-friend relationship with them instead of teacher-student.
Interviews
MIT: My first interview! It was definitely a "I ask you answer" kinda feel instead of conversational. The guy would not stop staring at me and smiling which I think meant he was listening to me intently but I was a bit unnerved
Cornell: He was really nice and funny but he also did most of the talking. I vibed with him though
Princeton: Was given the option to do either in-person or virtual, chose Zoom because I couldn't be bothered to go out of my house. Also I was on vacation when they emailed and I didn't email back until my interviewer sent a follow-up email. The interview itself was good though, she was from the same area I'm from so we had some things in common.
Essays
I spent a hell of a lot of time writing my essays. I had one outside paid tutor look at some of them, but only a couple since I ran out of time near the end and most of the RD essays went unchecked. I really liked my personal statement though. I can explain more in detail if you want to known through DMs but it wasn't anything big and sad and traumatic, I think it was kind of funny and said a lot about my personality/my values.
Decisions
Acceptances:

• A handful of safeties that were all coincidentally in the middle of nowhere
• Purdue (EA)
• UIUC (EA)
• UMichgan (EA)
• Georgia Tech (EA)
• UCLA
• UC Berkeley
• UPenn
• Princeton

Waitlists:

• Northeastern (deferred EA)
• Cornell
• HMC

Rejections:

• Yale
• Columbia
• Rice
• Northwestern
• MIT

Reflection (skip to next section if you don't wanna read me ranting about my college choices):
Ultimately, I chose Princeton over the strong public engineering schools (which I think are ranked higher in terms of engineering than Princeton?) because of a couple of reasons:

1. Majors--I tried compsci this year and quite enjoyed it, so I started also considering CS/EE/CE over MechE. At Berkeley switching would be virtually impossible, and it would be difficult at the other public schools as well due to capped major policies and such.
2. Size--I didn't like the size of public schools. I personally know students who loved it, but I really didn't want to go to a big school.
3. Undergraduate programs--Princeton really sold me on their "undergraduate focused" school, basically that due to their very small graduate population a lot of their resources like funding, research opportunities, faculty are much more available to undergraduates than other schools with a large graduate body.
4. Prestige--yeah I'm not gonna lie prestige definitely pushed me and my parents in the Princeton direction, especially as immigrants they were excited about Ivys

Side note: I'm OOS for all publics, but even then I think Princeton had the highest price for me. They did give me financial aid (albeit a very small amount) which helped. Whichever school I chose, my parents had enough savings so I wouldn't have to take out loans, which I'm very grateful about.
Advice:
I'm honestly just as clueless as you are as to college admissions, but here's my take from the past several months. If I had to guess which part of my application got me into these schools--since I know there are people with more "impressive" ECs and awards who got rejected--I would say my essays and everything that comes with them. I wrote them about things that were unique to me, in ways that were unique to me. None of them were about really impactful things, but I'd like to say they were very honest about me and my life, which I think showed my personality really well. In a similar vein, I truly enjoyed my extracurriculars. If I could redo high school, I wouldn't not do any of them. I think this showed in my essays as well. Another note: for a lot of my extracurriculars, I did them for all four years of high school and continued them even after application season, which is definitely a plus as it shows admissions officers commitment and that I'm passionate about what I do, not just starting in junior year for college.
Hoping this helped! If you have any questions, feel free to DM, but please take everything here with a grain of salt because the biggest lesson I've learned through this process is that it all really comes down to luck.

We are a lawful RP-optional PMC that is proud to serve the Star Citizen community whether it's requesting addition support for combat missions, material and cargo orders or simply needing a pickup when downed.
For those looking to be part of something larger we offer multiple squadrons to choose from so you can focus on the gameplay you wish to experience:
[Talon] is focused on fighter pvp and air supremacy, [Condor] is focused on the industrial and logistical side of everything, [Knight Hawk] handles capital ship combat and crewing, [Nightingale] is the most caring of us as they focus on medical training and medical gameplay, [Phoenix] charge into the heat of things as they handle ground combat and boarding, and finally [Raven] are the brave souls who travel far and wide away from HQ to explore the universe and discover new things for everyone here.
If you would like to know more or have any questions, feel free to either hop onto our Discord server or PM me here, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Note we have our server set to maximum security to prevent bot accounts from joining. So a phone number must be attached to your account.
An interview, for a look at what we're like: https://spoti.fi/3zBEEhO
Our RSI page: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/TAPN
The Discord: https://discord.gg/tapn
Our Website: http://www.arvidnavy.com/

I think I've always known that my parents were N, and even remember looking at this subreddit when I was younger and still in high school. Since I was young, my Nparents have always been arguing and screaming. I'm a single child, so growing up I was always lonely, and it grew whenever my parents had to move for work so I was never able to make friends that would last longer than 2-3 years, and even after I got a phone and could text them I always felt so exhausted whenever I would try.
When I was 7 my Edad/Ndad left me and my Nmum and walked out on us. I remember my Nmum telling me that my E/Ndad was leaving in the morning and never coming back and I remember crying all night and day. When he finally did leave I chased after him begging him to not leave because even if he did yell at me, hit me, and fight with my Nmum having both parents made me feel normal.
After he left my Nmum and I were in a bad financial situation and she would always talk to me about our struggling financial situation and about her genuinely abusive coworkers, which made me so scared about our finances and being left on the street that money is still a trigger point for me even now. As she was one of my teachers at school, I quite literally never had a single moment throughout my childhood away from her, and when I was SA'd by another teacher in front of my class I honestly thought that it was normal because my home situation was so fucked. In fact, most of my teachers were verbally or emotionally abusive to me and I was often yelled at in front of classmates or sent out of class until I reached high school, so when I did make friendships, most of the ones that I am not still in touch with were because I was seeking validation from any source even if they egged me on to do dumb things and get in trouble for them.
When I had girls that I was interested in, my classmates would report it to my mother, who would then along with my classmates make fun of me and the girl that I liked, embarrassing us and rightfully causing the girl to hate me for the negative attention I brought on her, causing her to stop hanging out even if she was a friend. These experiences destroyed my self-esteem and I still have trouble expressing my interest in dating or even talking to attractive people because I feel that I'm an ugly creep.
When I got into high school, my E/Ndad moved back in with my Nmum and he would hit me if I did something he didn't like he had just argued with my Nmum, but nowadays he's mostly just too lazy to do anything. I got a scholarship to a prestigious all-boys grammar school, and while they would show off to their friends about how smart I was at home my Nmum raves about how I thought I was "so superior to us", which makes makes me feel like shit. In high school, I made a group of friends, but even then I always felt on the outskirts because of how much poorer I was and I would sometimes be excluded. I think that it was at this time that I began to try to overcompensate by pretending I was better at things than I actually was to get some validation from my peers but I would always embarrass myself and get made fun of by classmates while being humiliated by my Nparents for not doing well enough and disappointing them.
Getting into university I didn't get my first preference for my degree, which resulted in my parents expressing their disappointment in me but then gaslighting me by saying that they never did and that I should have just chosen an easier degree if it was too hard for me. This resulted in me becoming so overwhelmed with stress that I colluded with others on an exam and resulted in me needing to resit a subject, which my Nmum still holds over my head to this day.
At uni, after years of crippling dysphoria, I realized that I was trans but when I came out to my Nmum she (SURPRISE SURPRISE) called me demon-possessed and wanted to send me to a conversion camp even though they have been banned in my state. She then outed me to my E/Ndad who outright stated that if I started HRT he would disown me and has refused to talk about it since. Growing up my mother would watch me in the shower, since middle school she did it to 'make sure I stopped cutting my wrists' and now she doesn't even give a reason anymore and gives me the silent treatment whenever I express my discomfort. I can't afford to move out while studying pre-med and she knows it but says that I can start HRT, just not under her roof when she knows that rent and the cost of living in my area are the highest it has been in years. When she caught me accidentally mentioning that I tried to commit suicide but chickened out she said "I'm not the one making you want to take hormones" as if that somehow made it feel any better, but when I blew up at her she gave me the silent treatment and said I was abusing her.
I'm at the end of my rope. I'm 21, have distant friends, and have never been in a relationship. I feel like I'm simultaneously 7 with how socially underdeveloped I am and 70 with how exhausted I feel. I'm lonely, scared, and stressed and I want to leave but my E/Ndad has told me that if I transition my Nmum would commit suicide. I don't want anyone to die. Some advice would be appreciated because I really don't know what to do.

Click on the link below and place your bid: https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/9094788963779339663144593455486440195029713151503614192185739363103677612033/
Below is my story: I am reaching out to you today with a heavy heart and a plea for assistance in the face of a dire situation. I understand that we may not have any direct connection or reason for you to help me, but I am writing to you in the hope that you might be able to offer support during this challenging time.
My name is Pritam Dutta, and I find myself in a devastating predicament. Recently, I made a series of regrettable choices that have left me in a state of complete despair. Out of desperation, I turned to gambling, using my credit card to play poker. Unfortunately, this ill-conceived decision has resulted in a massive debt that I am unable to repay.
The weight of this enormous credit card debt has not only brought financial ruin upon me but has also taken a severe toll on my mental well-being. Each passing day sees my mental health deteriorating further, as the stress and anxiety of my situation continue to escalate.
Regrettably, I have reached a point where I have lost everything I had built, leaving me with no assets or savings to fall back on. The enormity of this setback is difficult to put into words.
Coming from a disadvantaged background, desperation and a lack of alternatives led me down this destructive path. I am painfully aware of the gravity of my actions and the devastating consequences they have had on my life. I am reaching out to you because I believe that your compassion and generosity may provide me with a chance to rebuild my life. My sincerest desire is to repay this debt and regain stability in my life.
I understand that you likely receive numerous requests for aid, and I genuinely appreciate your consideration of my plea. If you find it within your means to extend a helping hand, no matter how small, it would mean the world to me. I assure you that any contributions you make will be dedicated solely to resolving this debt and rebuilding my life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for your understanding. Should you require any further information or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I have included my contact details below.
Once again, I understand that you may have no obligation to assist me, but I am writing to you with the hope that your compassion and kindness will guide your decision. I am left with no other options and am desperately seeking a way to overcome this devastating period in my life.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Pritam Dutta Address: West Bengal, India, 731204 Mobile number: +918348204024 Email ID: [email protected] Bitcoin address: 9kN28D5RwFGS3pXoTYH8x33pdSj16Nsyyt2HHozBX2j2

Click on the link and place your bid:
https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/9094788963779339663144593455486440195029713151503614192185739363103677612033/
Below is my story: I am reaching out to you today with a heavy heart and a plea for assistance in the face of a dire situation. I understand that we may not have any direct connection or reason for you to help me, but I am writing to you in the hope that you might be able to offer support during this challenging time.
My name is Pritam Dutta, and I find myself in a devastating predicament. Recently, I made a series of regrettable choices that have left me in a state of complete despair. Out of desperation, I turned to gambling, using my credit card to play poker. Unfortunately, this ill-conceived decision has resulted in a massive debt that I am unable to repay.
The weight of this enormous credit card debt has not only brought financial ruin upon me but has also taken a severe toll on my mental well-being. Each passing day sees my mental health deteriorating further, as the stress and anxiety of my situation continue to escalate.
Regrettably, I have reached a point where I have lost everything I had built, leaving me with no assets or savings to fall back on. The enormity of this setback is difficult to put into words.
Coming from a disadvantaged background, desperation and a lack of alternatives led me down this destructive path. I am painfully aware of the gravity of my actions and the devastating consequences they have had on my life. I am reaching out to you because I believe that your compassion and generosity may provide me with a chance to rebuild my life.
I am willing to do whatever is within my capacity to make amends and demonstrate my gratitude for your assistance. If you find it fitting to ask for something in return, I would be more than willing to oblige. I am prepared to offer my skills, time, or any form of assistance that you believe would be of value. My sincerest desire is to repay this debt and regain stability in my life.
I understand that you likely receive numerous requests for aid, and I genuinely appreciate your consideration of my plea. If you find it within your means to extend a helping hand, no matter how small, it would mean the world to me. I assure you that any contributions you make will be dedicated solely to resolving this debt and rebuilding my life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for your understanding. Should you require any further information or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I have included my contact details below.
Once again, I understand that you may have no obligation to assist me, but I am writing to you with the hope that your compassion and kindness will guide your decision. I am left with no other options and am desperately seeking a way to overcome this devastating period in my life.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Pritam Dutta Address: West Bengal, India, 731204 Mobile number: +918348204024 Email ID: [email protected] Bitcoin address: 9kN28D5RwFGS3pXoTYH8x33pdSj16Nsyyt2HHozBX2j2

A little background.
As a stepmother to two children aged 10 and 9, I am dealing with my partner's high-conflict biological mother who has made things difficult for us. My partner and the mother were never married, but they were together for nine years until he found out she cheated on him and got pregnant with someone else's child. He left her in late 2018, and she was left as a single mother with a newborn from her affair. The other guy left her as well. Despite this, she demanded that SO continued to help her financially with rent and phone bills, threatening him with child support if he didn't comply. She also demanded that he give her rides everywhere since she didn't have a car and refused to ask her other child's father for help because she wasn’t in a relationship with him.
My partner did his best to help her out, but she took advantage of his kindness and would often refuse her own parenting time that they had agreed on, due to her own plans and activities. There were instances where the biological mother had not been home on her scheduled days for drop off and my partner had to keep the kids for weeks. She would turn her phone off, ignore texts and calls so he was forced to keep the kids. She would inform him that she wasn't going home for the night and would be out. On other occasions, she would say that she was working six days a week and wanted to have her own plans on her only day off, leaving my partner to watch the kids during her scheduled time. He helped her a lot due to her needing a sitter during her work hours and her refusing to watch the kids during her time. She would also change pick-up locations for my partner last minute and make him wait for long periods of time during exchanges, causing him to be late to work, and miss other important commitments.
In 2020, she moved in with her boyfriend (AP and now they have 3 younger kids) . SO thought since she was settling down, she would stick to a schedule and be more responsible so they agreed to a 2/2/5/5 schedule, but she still refused to stick to it and it became worse because she would often make him wait for hours to pick up or drop off the kids. Or wouldn’t be home for the kids on her days. He even called the cops on her once when he waited over an hour to pick up the kids, and her phone was off. Her complex has gated controlled access so he can’t enter the complex. Additionally, at that time, she refused to drop off the kids to him when he asked, claiming that she didn't have a car, no ride and refused to take Uber or Lyft due to COVID. She only found transportation for her convenience & only decided to drop off the kids to him when it was convenient for her, when she had plans on her parenting time. She also threatened to not follow the schedule if he left without the kids for pick ups because she was taking too long to exchange. She threatened my bf with calling the cops on him for having a stranger she didn’t know watch the kids at his place during his time because he had to work.
There was a time when my partner asked the biological mother to help him watch the kids for a few hours a week while he finished his training for a new job, since she wasn’t working, but she refused. This caused him to push back his training due to not having childcare. During this time, his car broke down, and he was unable to drop off the kids to her. He asked her to pick them up, but she claimed she had no ride and refused to take a Lyft due to COVID.
When my partner finally put his foot down, she didn't pick up the kids until a week and a half later, leaving him to have them for two full weeks. During this time, she complained about not being able to pick them up and accused him of keeping the kids from her. She threatened to call the cops on him and interrogated the kids about whether his car was really broken down or not.
She finally picked up the kids after not having a ride, but conveniently told my partner she was dropping them off the day of which was only two days later when she was supposed to keep them for five days. This caused him to lose his job due to not having childcare in such short notice.
When she dropped off the kids, my partner talked to her and told her how much he and his mom had helped her with childcare in the past and how he lost his job because she wasn't willing to help him out when he had never asked her for anything. She kept telling him it wasn't her fault he lost his job, and she blamed him for not sticking to the schedule and not wanting to drop off the kids to her saying that’s why he lost his job. He was already stressed and had enough. She then went to his mom and told her he had no right to tell her those things because it wasn't her fault he lost his job. Overall, it was a difficult and stressful time for my partner.
After that incident he told her that she needed to provide transportation for her time since she had a ride to conveniently drop them off after not being able to pick them up causing a hardship for him. So the following month she started doing pick ups with Lyft/Uber because my partner was not helping her out anymore and by this time she had her second child with her bf. She had taken advantage of his transportation long enough.
In late 2021 she and her bf finally got a car but she doesn’t drive so she gets rides from him or Lyft/uber for pick ups. He finally decided to file for his parental rights and 50/50 legal and physical custody but didn’t go into any details of it in 2021, but she still continued to be difficult and never showed up to mediation or responded to the papers she was served.
Dilemma
Now, I am helping with pick-ups since my partner has two new jobs and is unavailable during the day. However, I am nervous that the biological mother will give me a hard time and make me wait or change pick-up locations during exchanges.
The biological mother would often call me out and insult me through my partner's phone conversations about the kids. I tried to reach out to her to establish a mutual level of respect and maturity, but she refused and refused to meet me, was disrespectful and blocked my number, saying she doesn't need to text me about anything.
I am looking for advice on how to handle pick-ups with my partner's high-conflict biological mother (HCBM) and ensure that I am treated fairly. One option we are considering is having my partner communicate with HCBM to let her know that I will be picking up the kids from her place only (so she doesn’t try to change locations and have me drive around and if she does, I will simply ask her to let me know when they are back at her house to pick them up) and let her know that I will only wait for 15 minutes to receive them. ( This is because in the past, HCBM has made my partner wait for over an hour for pick-up just for her enjoyment)
I want to avoid similar situations and ensure that HCBM knows that I won't tolerate mistreatment during pick-ups or at all. Any advice on how to handle this situation would be appreciated.

As a stepmother to two children aged 10 and 9, I am dealing with my partner's high-conflict biological mother who has made things difficult for us. My partner and the mother were never married, but they were together for nine years until he found out she cheated on him and got pregnant with someone else's child. He left her in late 2018, and she was left as a single mother with a newborn from her affair. The other guy left her as well. Despite this, she demanded that SO continued to help her financially with rent and phone bills, threatening him with child support if he didn't comply. She also demanded that he give her rides everywhere since she didn't have a car and refused to ask her other child's father for help because she wasn’t in a relationship with him.
My partner did his best to help her out, but she took advantage of his kindness and would often refuse her own parenting time that they had agreed on, due to her own plans and activities. There were instances where the biological mother had not been home on her scheduled days for drop off and my partner had to keep the kids for weeks. She would turn her phone off, ignore texts and calls so he was forced to keep the kids. She would inform him that she wasn't going home for the night and would be out. On other occasions, she would say that she was working six days a week and wanted to have her own plans on her only day off, leaving my partner to watch the kids during her scheduled time. He helped her a lot due to her needing a sitter during her work hours and her refusing to watch the kids during her time. She would also change pick-up locations for my partner last minute and make him wait for long periods of time during exchanges, causing him to be late to work, and miss other important commitments.
In 2020, she moved in with her boyfriend (AP and now they have 3 younger kids) . SO thought since she was settling down, she would stick to a schedule and be more responsible so they agreed to a 2/2/5/5 schedule, but she still refused to stick to it and it became worse because she would often make him wait for hours to pick up or drop off the kids. Or wouldn’t be home for the kids on her days. He even called the cops on her once when he waited over an hour to pick up the kids, and her phone was off. Her complex has gated controlled access so he can’t enter the complex. Additionally, at that time, she refused to drop off the kids to him when he asked, claiming that she didn't have a car, no ride and refused to take Uber or Lyft due to COVID. She only found transportation for her convenience & only decided to drop off the kids to him when it was convenient for her, when she had plans on her parenting time. She also threatened to not follow the schedule if he left without the kids for pick ups because she was taking too long to exchange. She threatened my bf with calling the cops on him for having a stranger she didn’t know watch the kids at his place during his time because he had to work.
There was a time when my partner asked the biological mother to help him watch the kids for a few hours a week while he finished his training for a new job, since she wasn’t working, but she refused. This caused him to push back his training due to not having childcare. During this time, his car broke down, and he was unable to drop off the kids to her. He asked her to pick them up, but she claimed she had no ride and refused to take a Lyft due to COVID.
When my partner finally put his foot down, she didn't pick up the kids until a week and a half later, leaving him to have them for two full weeks. During this time, she complained about not being able to pick them up and accused him of keeping the kids from her. She threatened to call the cops on him and interrogated the kids about whether his car was really broken down or not.
She finally picked up the kids after not having a ride, but conveniently told my partner she was dropping them off the day of which was only two days later when she was supposed to keep them for five days. This caused him to lose his job due to not having childcare in such short notice.
When she dropped off the kids, my partner talked to her and told her how much he and his mom had helped her with childcare in the past and how he lost his job because she wasn't willing to help him out when he had never asked her for anything. She kept telling him it wasn't her fault he lost his job, and she blamed him for not sticking to the schedule and not wanting to drop off the kids to her saying that’s why he lost his job. He was already stressed and had enough. She then went to his mom and told her he had no right to tell her those things because it wasn't her fault he lost his job. Overall, it was a difficult and stressful time for my partner.
After that incident he told her that she needed to provide transportation for her time since she had a ride to conveniently drop them off after not being able to pick them up causing a hardship for him. So the following month she started doing pick ups with Lyft/Uber because my partner was not helping her out anymore and by this time she had her second child with her bf. She had taken advantage of his transportation long enough.
In late 2021 she and her bf finally got a car but she doesn’t drive so she gets rides from him or Lyft/uber for pick ups. He finally decided to file for his parental rights and 50/50 legal and physical custody but didn’t go into any details of it in 2021, but she still continued to be difficult and never showed up to mediation or responded to the papers she was served.
Now, I am helping with pick-ups since my partner has two new jobs and is unavailable during the day. However, I am nervous that the biological mother will give me a hard time and make me wait or change pick-up locations during exchanges.
The biological mother would often call me out and insult me through my partner's phone conversations about the kids. I tried to reach out to her to establish a mutual level of respect and maturity, but she refused and refused to meet me, was disrespectful and blocked my number, saying she doesn't need to text me about anything.
I am looking for advice on how to handle pick-ups with my partner's high-conflict biological mother (HCBM) and ensure that I am treated fairly. One option we are considering is having my partner communicate with HCBM to let her know that I will be picking up the kids from her place only (so she doesn’t try to change locations and have me drive around and if she does, I will simply ask her to let me know when they are back at her house to pick them up) and let her know that I will only wait for 15 minutes to receive them. ( This is because in the past, HCBM has made my partner wait for over an hour for pick-up just for her enjoyment)
I want to avoid similar situations and ensure that HCBM knows that I won't tolerate mistreatment during pick-ups or at all. Any advice on how to handle this situation would be appreciated.