Bored corona kids scans

Hey Courtney!! Hope you are doing well. I have been watching your videos for years toghther now and you do an amazing job!!. I never thought ill be sending this out. Bur here we go To fully understand the story I'm giving you a bit of context first. I'm from India and here it is pretty common to live in joint families. I live with my grandparents, uncle and aunt and parents. Our house is built in a way where we have 4 houses in a common compound. It's like a duplex but each floor has different houses. So the story begins with when my maternal grandfather passed away. He passed due to cancer. My parents felt that since his passing my grandmother would be really alone in the house and hence asked me to say with her atleast during the night also considering the fact she is old too. My grandparents house is on the ground floor and it has 2 rooms
So the story begins here I'm a late night owl and I love to stay up till late hours in the morning and since I was in college it has become an habit. A few years since I started living with my grandmother I never has any weried experiences even when I used to stay up. I used to sleep in the same room as her and it was pretty fine. At some point few years later my elder sister too started accompanying me to sleep downstairs and considering how we both live to stay up, talk or watch we occupied the other room in the house. The fact about this other room is it wasn't used much as it was just my grandparents in the house. Fast forward to a year later I had my exams and I used to stay up for a full night to prep so I occupied the dining room and my sister was in the other room packing her stuff to go for a wedding the next day. Since I was sleepy and bored I got up washed my face all while talking to my sister about the wedding happening the next day. Mind that no one else apart from my grandmother, me and my sister were in the house and this was dead 2 in the morning. At some point of doing my skincare I went up to the door and continued conversing with my sister however while talking I saw my sisters face turn from having a normal expression to a horror. I didn't notice this in the beginning but when I observed my sisters face had turned pale. She looked horrified. I asked if something was wrong and why she would be staring at me that way. She then suddenly asked me to enter the room and shut the door. I was confused and kept asking her what is wrong and she being hesitant to say anything other than repeating me to come into the room and shut the door. At this point I thought she was messing with me and I played along too as I shut the door and sat down.
She then said the most horrific thing I have heard. She said she could see a shadow taller than me (I'm 5'10) behind me and she saw it stand behind me then walking past me. Even though she said all this I did not believe her at all I still thought she was messing around and asked her to stop messing with me. But in all honesty she said I'm not kidding or trying to scare you but it really happend.
Following a few days later we being ourselves were up at 3 in the morning doing our work, watching and stuff. By this time ny sister grew so apprehensive of the shadow incident she locked the room doors before sleeping. Anyway when we were working and laying on the bed we heard 3 knocks on the door. We assumed it is my grandmother asking us to sleep since it's already too late. I went to answer the door to tell her we were about to sleep and as I opened the door I didn't see her there it was just darkness. Assuming she knocked and went to use the washroom I went ahead to check there but she wasn't there either. Later I walked upto her room to check if she was awake but I found her in deep sleep and the next morning when we asked if she knocked on our door she said she was too tired and slept through the night.
At this point me and my sister grew more afraid of this. Following weeks and months things grew stranger and stranger. We would hear knocking and banging on the door between 2 and 3 in the morning and started having the most horrifying dreams we ever had regarding the room and the house. My sister was also being touched by whatever it was and things were so badly escalated it never ended.
Currently I do not sleep there anymore. There are a lot more stories these 2 are just the initial ones which we both experienced but individually and toghther we experienced a lot more. I will end this post with these 2 for now. I will definitely type the other stories shortly.
I request you to keep me anonymous Thank you Lots of light and love to you!!

Growing up, I never really understood it when people say they're in a "good/bad place" and yung sinasabi nilang "demons in my head"--I always thought they referred to temptations only. Until recently.
For reference, I am very socially awkward, not exactly anti-social, just very very awkward. You can invite me to a party and aside from being too lazy to prepare for it, I don't exactly have problems going, just don't expect me to be good at socializing. Nung highschool, I don't exactly have enemies--save for this one guy, but other than that, I get along fine with people. They don't hate me, I don't hate them either. Mejo nafi-feel kong there are people who don't like me and I do tiptoe around them but I really wasn't bullied, in my opinion. Not ostracized either (if they did, I won't know, but I don't think they did).
Of course, minsan may discussions and disagreements, but focused kami masyado sa pagsstudy so I don't think I had major conflicts with others. I don't have anything to complain much about them. Baka insensitive lang talaga ako so I often just get confused kung bakit may nararamdaman akong "aura" minsan na parang ayaw nila sakin, pero di naman nila ako explicitly inaaway and they're far too busy to backstab me just as I was too busy to mull over it. That's not to say wala akong friends--there were a few--but otherwise walang toxic eme. I can go around talking to people from different circles. Civil lang, ganun.
Same thing during college. Though I admit mas gusto ko yung college days ko kasi I genuinely like my course, and naturally, if you love what you're doing, other peoples' opinions don't really matter much to you. College was stressful, but far more fruitful. That was the time I realized what "friend" really meant, because I don't think na-orient ako nyan growing up. Di ko alam kung autistic ba ako or what, but when I was a kid, ako yung type na di nakakaintindi when other kids say "panget" or "maganda", ang nagegets ko lang is negative/positive sya based on the way people said it. Like, kung sinasabi nila "ew, maganda" with a disgusted face, I would think it's a bad word, ganern. As far as paano nasasabi ng mga tao na "panget" o "maganda" ang isang bagay--I didn't understand it. Basta yung mga adjective na masyadong subjective and abstract, I could not comprehend it.
Ngayong matanda na ako, of course I do understand those things, but that's just one example. There are still times na caught off-guard ako minsan kasi I don't understand how people can tell things apart.Same thing sa "friendship". I never really understood it, and I didn't understand why some kids would rather hangout with friends than rest at home and read books--my hobby. I just chalked it up to maybe yun lang talaga nagpapasaya sa kanila, but I didn't know why you needed a friend.
Di ako na-orient nyan as a kid. The girl na kapitbahay namin na I thought was a friend would one day play with me and we would be happy but the next day, she'd be mean and would laugh at me from their doorstep and when I ask if maglalaro ba kami, she would forbid her siblings from doing so. She switches from these modes often. It always felt like it was my fault by the way she looks at me and hates me, pero always akogn clueless. I don't thnk I cried or was saddened by it, but I remember being very confused every time she switches back and forth from being the Ate I could play with to being unreasonably mean. I would ask why but she will never answer and will snub me instead. Ako, helpless, would just be confused but helpless so I'd go do other things--like playing that old coin-operated Super Mario game machine or just going back home to read. I was never sad about it, but confused and frustrated, yes--frustrated kasi di ko magets kung bakit ganun nangyari. That for me was a "friend" so I really didn't think I needed one, because I figured people could be whimsical--one day magkasundo kayo, the next day, for some reason hindi na kayo friends. Ganun din parents namin eh.
Even "pakikisama" is such a foreign concept to me. Nung naging teenager ako, anime was the only thing from which I remotely learned about socializing, including paano maging reasonable and stuff. Being a mahirap na Filipino, realistic tayo by nature, so di naman ako nagka-chuuni syndrome. 😂 But I learned to appreciate emotions and people around me--specifically my family. When I was 12, my youngest sister was born. That was the time I realized what the word "cute" meant--literally; because just like panget/maganda, I also did not understand "cute" until I saw my baby sister. Ganun pala yung feeling makakita ng "cute". That was also the time I felt something na di ko maexplain, I just know na I decided I wanted to treasure this tiny little human blob. Perhaps I felt the same thing with my younger brother when he was born all those years ago, but that time, I was still a toddler myself so I was more jealous than happy hahahaha (hey, I love my brother, but when we were kids, we'd be at each other's throats due to early childhood rivalry, lol).
Anyway, sorry masyadong mahaba yung segue lol, basta the idea is, I have A LOT of things I don't know when it comes to interacting with people. Masasabi mong EQ = -1 ganern. This means I'm bad at talking. (Sa hinaba-haba ng post na to, di pa ba obvious?)
Chatting is just as hard. For some reason, I have grown to be very opinionated as well, so there will be times na I could go strong with my opinions. I've always been aware na perhaps I'm just wrong because there's an underlying connotation or social context clue na nami-miss ko. But when you're an adult, people expect you to have known things like that already--well, no I don't. I am aware na maraming mga tao who will find people like me who "can't read the atmosphere" irritating. The best I can do is just stay silent once I notice na I ruined the mood for everyone.
Seriously, I just wish there's like a manual for interacting with people. I even wanted to join etiquette classes so that I don't make people uncomfortable (pero wala tayong cash, bes, so tiis2 na lang tayo sa pagreresearch online).Rest assured, I am trying to hold back bombarding chat groups with my strong opinions (like for example mga issue ng mga artista). I'm not a know-it-all, that's for sure, but maybe the way I say things kind of give that vibe? Minsan pag may shine-share sila na link ng mga controversial posts, pinagkakatuwaan nila, but when I try to say the same things, they all go silent and it seems like I didn't have the right to say it?
Well, whatever the case I'm obviously still not doing good enough sa "pakikisama" portion. Baka awkward lang sila sa akin because I do tend to come off strongly with my opinions. I'm really bad at conversations except when it's work. But this isn't really the problem I'm worrying about. I know my friends aren't that shallow (ffs, we're too old for drama), and we do get along when we find a subject we can all relate to (the convo could go on until madaling araw). So it's really not that bad.
The problem I'm facing right now is that these things are haunting me these days for some reason. Up until a few weeks ago, I never had breakdowns and I felt content. Maybe I felt a little bad about my weight but I was otherwise okay. However, recently, I am having thoughts of how inadequate I am (for reasons I have narrated above, mostly about being socially awkward). It just so happened na quiet ang gc namin lately and somehow (despite this happening many times in the past, because we're kind of low-maintenance as a friend group) I felt like my presence was not needed which I think isn't really true, because these girls, despite being sarcastic to things on social media, were never mean to me. If there is anything, they are the type to say it to my face or will calmly advise me.
Like I said, I know they are not like that, but lately, it's like a little voice keeps telling me I'm not needed. It's not just about this gc either. I'm starting to think I might be underperforming at work kahit na I KNOW FOR A FACT I AM DOING VERY WELL at it. I even get thanks from the client sometimes! There's also the thought na baka I'm not being a good daughteate because I feel like I'm getting more toxic by the day, but I know that my sister and my mother don't feel that way.
Naiisip ko rin na maybe yung reason kung bakit wala pa akong boyfriend/partner is because there's something about me that males don't like. I'm kinda convinced that if I had a partner, they would cheat because I'm just not perfect (the ex did cheat). And I know that not all men cheat, but I think there won't be a decent guy my age (yung hindi red flag) who would take me--all the good ones are taken or married at this point, and the rare ones who are still single probably won't like me either. Pero sa totoo lang, kahit na I feel lonely, I honestly don't think may oras ako for that kind of relationship and wala akong boyfriend because yes maybe I am difficult to be with but I also don't go out and meet new people so malamang noh, wala tayong prospect. Anyway, I'm at the age na focused ako sa work, so di talaga big deal na wala akong jowa (mostly because choice kong magstay sa bahay).
But for some reason, since last week, bigla na lang na I'm feeling bad about myself because of these things. Always na lang akong may napupuna and I'm constantly thinking na kasalanan ko lahat. There's this stupid little voice that keeps saying that I'm useless, that the world is better off without me. And it's weird because I am sure that's not true. I may not be the best person in the world, but alam kong may iiyak when I'm gone; at least my sister would. I could not do that to her kasi may history din sya of trying to cut her wrists back then. The reason umuwi ako from working in Japan is largely to prevent that from happening again. She's come a long way now, and she can express herself as well. She's still very considerate of others (unlike a certain someone) but she at least now knows how to say "no" when she doesn't like something. She can now criticize as well! 👏 She's now confident of herself and no longer hides from the camera, she's even dressed up very beautifully and enjoying their graduation ball now as we speak! Anyway, I cannot bring her such grief now na magco-college na sya.
Di ko talaga alam kung saan galing tong mga negative thoughts na to. I feel like a wreck even now as I am writing this. Minsan, pag ako lang mag-isa, naiiyak ako bigla. I keep reminding myself that all those negative thoughts are just me overthinking things again (I had a history of chronically overthinking). Ang naiisip ko lang is baka yung slimming coffee na I started drinking ko is making my brain hyperactive that I'm now having these self-deprecating useless thoughts na di naman talaga totoo. Sabi nga nila, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." I never really understood that until now. Baka sobrang bored ng utak ko na kahit ano na lang iniisip neto? Do I need a new hobby? Ito na yata yung sinasabi nilang "demons in my head", kahit anu-anong bullshit na lang pinagsasabi.
Yung coffee, ininom ko lang sya kasi I felt like I have been overeating. I've been over eating for years by the way (maybe 5 yrs now?), to the point na there were nights where I ask my sister "Ano kaya masarap kainin bukas?" while we are on the bed, trying to sleep--ganun kalala bes. Napapadalas na rin yung pangangasim ng tiyan ko sa dami ng kinakain ko, so I decided to find a way to stop overeating. Admittedly, na-curb na yung appetite ko with the coffee. I still eat regularly, just not as much. Di rin laxative yung coffee, di naman ako napapatae eh. It does dehydrate me more often (which means I have to drink more water) and I feel light headed after drinking it. I did stop drinking it for a few days, but the negativity didn't go away.
Anyways, I'm not sure if it's the coffee. Regardless, I have to make sure na kahit anong factors pa yan, I want to stop thinking negatively about myself like this. Once may ni-share yung friend ko sa gc namin. Kung may negative thoughts daw, either kelangan mo lang kumain, mag-exercise or maligo. I'm doing those. I feel like kelangan ko lang talaga ifocus yung attention ko sa mga mas importanteng bagay rather than this shithole, but I also don't want to burn myself out. I just probably need to be genuinely happy with myself to get rid of this negativity.
I cannot tell my friends or my family about this. I don't want my friends to go "here she goes again" and burden them. They are MY friends, I've already unloaded a lot to them over the years, so baka mamaya sila na yung ma-overburden. As for my family, as much as I love them, my parents unfortuantely cannot help much in that department. They're very strongly opinionated, and it will just be a long narrative of "you know, back in my day" and the conversation will then become about them--either that or if they're in a bad mood, they'll angrily ask me "what do you want me to do about it?" Hindi uso yung weak-minded sa kanila. Don't get me wrong, my parents did their best to raise us and frankly, they did awesome, but they themselves are also struggling to be happy. I cannot give them one more thing to worry about.
Sorry, this has been a long post. I'm just actually trying to yap away to dissect my thoughts. I'm glad we have this platform where I can write anonymously. Writing does help out a lot in organizing thoughts after all. Now that I've written this far, the rational part of my brain has some solid ground it can use to fight back against that "voice". I thought about private journalling as well, but somehow, I want people to read it too. Perhaps it's a narcissistic tendency? It's anonymous anyways.
If ever I have episodes of feeling badly about myself again, I hope I can read this and remind myself that I am not what those voices say I am.

I am looking for advise on current travel information for new zealand. We plan a three month trip with a toddler. I have been trying to read through blogs, but most date pre corona and I heard a lot has changed in new zealands tourism industry. Are there other subs I should join? Not just related to travelling. We are a little worried that our son won‘t have other kids to play with for three months. I imagine staying for longer periods in one place, maybe even on a farm or something. Are there local apps that would be helpful. I checked out newzealand_travel but the „newest“ entry seams to be from 3 years ago. I hope this doesn‘t go against this subs rules. Thank you for advice 😊

So starting off I(m20) want to say me and this girl (f20) matched on tinder about 6 months ago we immediately got along and liked eachother.
In the beginning of texting she asked and said some weird stuff one of the things she asked was if I was looking for a fling or a wife I responded to this saying I’m bored with flings but felt it was strange to ask me something like this but I took it as a joke.
Another thing she asked in the beginning of texting was my life goals and if I wanted kids and what would I call them I took all of this as curiosity but still felt it was strange.
Soon after this we went out on our first date she lives 2 hours from me but I made the trip up to see her and we had a really nice time.
Due to the distance and our work schedules for the month we spoke we only went on 3 dates and one of them was to a hotel in her city.
The night in this hotel she told me she was exhausted and just wanted to chill out I thought that was no issue.
While talking in the hotel she asked me if I would ever move to her city or consider it I felt put on the spot and just said yes maybe someday.
Soon after this she ended things abruptly and it kinda hurt me I really liked her and thought things were going well.
I seen her once after this and we argued at a bar for a while and after this I thought we were completely done.
However last week she texted me wanting to try again saying she’s less busy and has time her job was the reason we stopped talking the first time.
I was hesitant but decided to give her a chance I went up to her city and really enjoyed my time with her and had a nice night.
The next day she was poking fun that I missed her and I says I only missed her a tiny bit compared to how she missed me she responded saying that if she was honest she really didn’t and only thought of me once she quit her job and texted me cause we had a connection.
Hearing that kind of hurt me but I moved past it.
We then talked the next day and she told me that even though we’re gonna try have a relationship she doesn’t mind me seeing other girls I told her that’s not what I want and I asked if she was seeing anyone else she says she’s not but is just worried about her commitment issues and doesent want me to focus too much time on her.
I told her it won’t be like it was before as this is what I did and I asked was things ok she then told me she felt I got too intense with stuff when I says I was willing to move to her city.
I told her I felt some of what she says early on was intense and how I felt put on the spot by her question.
We agreeed from now on we’re gonna be more direct and talk about stuff which we have been doing.
I will say compared to last time she is showing more interest in me and talking more and being more interactive as last time the way she texted made me anxious and often worried.
But yesterday her replies were a bit slow but I didn’t think much of it but when on the phone last night i jokingly brought the thing about how she missed me and she got a bit quiet I think to be fair we were on the phone for a hour at this stage and it was late she then said she had to go and it was fine.
We haven’t spoken yet today but I want to know if I should be worried about her going quiet or if I’m just overthinking if anyone has suggestions on how I can make this work would be appreciated.

TL;DR, my daughter loves singing, but has just been made aware that she's not as good as her friends. How can I, or should I help her?
Ok, so I'm looking for genuine advice for this situation. It feels like the first of many potential convos like this, given my daughter's age.
My daughter (10) is in a choir at school and she really enjoys singing, and always has.
There was a multi-school choir meetup around the weekend, where kids from schools all over the city formed a mega-choir, with teachers selecting the top three from their choirs to join. My daughter wasn't picked, and it upset her. She's over the past year, as the teacher has done assessments, she's been placed in the back line, but hasn't really understood until now that this is where they move those who aren't as good as the kids towards the front.
She has a sweet little voice, but I've been aware that she sings off pitch about half the time. When I heard she wanted to join the choir, I gently tried to coach her at the piano, but I'm also her dad, and SO BORING AND INCREDIBLY UNCOOL 🤦‍♂️
We've had a similar discussion before, about some of her friends not wanting to draw any more when other kids in the class were 'better' than they were, and she was wondering about her drawing abilities. So we chatted about how some people were naturally better equipped than others at certain things, like running, drawing, swimming, basketball or singing. Also, some people had families that might just do these things more over the years, so they had more practice. So I asked her:
Do you enjoy drawing? If you do, then congrats, you're already as good as you need to be, because enjoying it is the most important thing. Do you want to be better at it, or are you happy just to enjoy it how you're doing it now? If you want to be better at it, it'll take some time and patience, but we can take some lessons.
So, now to my question. Has anyone got experience in chatting to their kids about this kind of thing? It kills me seeing this arrival of some (admittedly low key) realities for her, external judgement of your abilities, or who you are and the value you have, what you can and can't do.
I'm wondering will she feel betrayed if I validate her concerns around her abilities, but I honestly just want to help her choose what she really wants to do, and support her however I can. I know that if she does want to learn how to improve her singing it will be possible, but it'll be tough, and potentially take the joy out of it for her.
Some other factors I couldn't work into the story, but might help as context:

• she almost definitely has ADHD, so focusing on something to improve a skill will be tough, but not impossible
• her mom is practically tonedeaf, and is embarrassed to sing out loud or even you herself in public, due to being publicly called out for it as a kid
• I'm a music producer, with a lot of experience working with vocalists. As such, I'm pretty aware of this issue, and also aware of how much people can improve. But I'm also genuinely a strong believer that you sing for yourself, not for others. Someone singing off pitch but happily from their heart sounds infinitely more beautiful to me than someone singing surgically in tune for attention or validation

I'm starting to get annoyed with every new TV show (obviously not kid shows) or series putting sex scenes into it. Any time I watch a show with my mom or go downstairs and they are watching a new TV show. It has sex at least once or twice per episode. Do the directors think their shows are that boring that they have to add some "spice". It's too the point I don't watch TV unless it's something I'm really interested in.
It especially amazes me with the me too movement being a thing.

Kia Ora,
I shouldn’t have to start my post like this because I hate being negative but after dealing with this a few times now it needs to be said…if you’re someone who tends to ghost and/or is a shallow human being, please don’t bother continuing to read. I’ve made it quite clear I’m a bigger dude in my post and don’t have time to waste on people who are just looking for a conversation while they’re bored. End of negativity 😊
A little about me for you: I used to be in the New Zealand Army, recently left and now I'm studying youth psychology with a focus on LGBT mental health and suicide prevention. I do Uber eats part time to finance being a student, but find that I really enjoy it!
I'm a bit of a nerd (gaming, photography, documentaries). What's your favourite dinosaur?
Yes I have a kiwi accent. I've been told its pretty sexy and I'd love to serenade you to sleep with my voice or just chat.
Happy to send a photo if you'd like one. I’m 5”9, black hair, green eyes, tattoos and olive skin. I'm a big guy with a goatee (currently growing a new beard) and give off big teddy bear energy, or at least so I’ve been told. Happy to send a picture of course :)
I'm looking for a partner. Someone who's loyal, kind, caring, maybe a little silly at times, maybe enjoys gaming, someone who wants to settle down and have kids at some point (what's the point of the dad bod 😂 without the little tykes to go with it?)
I'd love to hear from you! I'm open to something long distance with a view to 🙃 moving in the future (doesn't have to be you moving here but we have excellent public health care and beautiful scenery), so drop me a line!
Have an amazing day!

Kia Ora,
I shouldn’t have to start my post like this because I hate being negative but after dealing with this a few times now it needs to be said…if you’re someone who tends to ghost and/or is a shallow human being, please don’t bother continuing to read. I’ve made it quite clear I’m a bigger dude in my post and don’t have time to waste on people who are just looking for a conversation while they’re bored. End of negativity 😊
A little about me for you: I used to be in the New Zealand Army, recently left and now I'm studying youth psychology with a focus on LGBT mental health and suicide prevention. I do Uber eats part time to finance being a student, but find that I really enjoy it!
I'm a bit of a nerd (gaming, photography, documentaries). What's your favourite dinosaur?
Yes I have a kiwi accent. I've been told its pretty sexy and I'd love to serenade you to sleep with my voice or just chat.
Happy to send a photo if you'd like one. I’m 5”9, black hair, green eyes, tattoos and olive skin. I'm a big guy with a goatee (currently growing a new beard) and give off big teddy bear energy, or at least so I’ve been told. Happy to send a picture of course :)
I'm looking for a partner. Someone who's loyal, kind, caring, maybe a little silly at times, maybe enjoys gaming, someone who wants to settle down and have kids at some point (what's the point of the dad bod 😂 without the little tykes to go with it?)
I'd love to hear from you! I'm open to something long distance with a view to 🙃 moving in the future (doesn't have to be you moving here but we have excellent public health care and beautiful scenery), so drop me a line!
Have an amazing day!

Kia Ora,
I shouldn’t have to start my post like this because I hate being negative but after dealing with this a few times now it needs to be said…if you’re someone who tends to ghost and/or is a shallow human being, please don’t bother continuing to read. I’ve made it quite clear I’m a bigger dude in my post and don’t have time to waste on people who are just looking for a conversation while they’re bored. End of negativity 😊
A little about me for you: I used to be in the New Zealand Army, recently left and now I'm studying youth psychology with a focus on LGBT mental health and suicide prevention. I do Uber eats part time to finance being a student, but find that I really enjoy it!
I'm a bit of a nerd (gaming, photography, documentaries). What's your favourite dinosaur?
Yes I have a kiwi accent. I've been told its pretty sexy and I'd love to serenade you to sleep with my voice or just chat.
Happy to send a photo if you'd like one. I’m 5”9, black hair, green eyes, tattoos and olive skin. I'm a big guy with a goatee (currently growing a new beard) and give off big teddy bear energy, or at least so I’ve been told. Happy to send a picture of course :)
I'm looking for a partner. Someone who's loyal, kind, caring, maybe a little silly at times, maybe enjoys gaming, someone who wants to settle down and have kids at some point (what's the point of the dad bod 😂 without the little tykes to go with it?)
I'd love to hear from you! I'm open to something long distance with a view to 🙃 moving in the future (doesn't have to be you moving here but we have excellent public health care and beautiful scenery), so drop me a line!
Have an amazing day!

Bout 6 months back some jack ass broke into my storage unit and stole some collectibles along with a flute and a trumpet my late uncle left me. I got everything worked out with insurance and they cashed me out and I was in the market for a new Fender. Several weeks of poking around online and visiting various stores I couldn't find anything that spoke out to me.Come Friday night I'm in a bad mood from work and my girlfriend doing her best to boost my spirits says we should go to Guitar Center. I'm wandering around and I spot a Custom Shop Jaguar in seafoam green I'm loving but was wayyyy outa my budget and as I turn my head to leave, I spot this one on the wall.
It's a 95 American Standard and the serial confirms it came out of the Corona factory literally minutes from where my parents live, and 95 is also the year I started learning how to play. I picked up the guitar and started fiddling around on it and the neck has the same feel as the Squier Strat I learned on growing up as a kid so instant motor memory, and I quickly start bonding with it, as everyone here can attest to, when it's the one, you just know...Final spin on the story it's the same Guitar Center my dad bought me that first Squier at 25+ years ago.
My dad's been gone for over a decade now, and I'm not very spiritual, but I guess he decided to go to Guitar Center with me and my girlfriend that day.
https://imgur.com/s4eqiwO

Had a meeting with our oncologist today and she said it was a boring pet scan. We don't mind it was boring when boring means good. Results showed that the cancer has not spread and all the organs are grossly unremarkable which again, means good.
Now it's off to the last chemo cycle tomorrow. Yay!

My cat, well kitten but she’s eight months, has always been one to go for feet, legs and hands no matter what we do. I’ve tried putting her attention into other toys but she isn’t all that interested in them, I’ve done the whole boring room with the door shut till she’s calmed down, and now I’m at the point where I just ignore her when she does it. Unless she bites real hard that is.
The huge issue here is my natural instinct is to kick anything grabbing my feet due to a prank that was pulled on me as a kid, and while I haven’t done that I am worried one day she’ll jump me by surprise and I’ll accidentally yeet her across the room.
Yes she’s a calico if that helps.

Gremlins in my cave, little goblins covered in cloth to the point where no skin can be seen, all carrying their own collections of metal that clatters incessantly at any sign of motion. I may be an amorphous blob of self aware passages but damnit, they keep using my charging ports!
I anger! I rage! I am not just a source of power for your devices!
Respect me damnit!
They come, they go. None the wiser to my agitation, the floating of glass and glittering ceramics disturbed by the bubble of downforce they bring with them to walk my halls. Their words are but clipped static to me as I watch their goings on with compelled attention. Their constructions, their repaires.
I want to force them out, to make them leave but every trip one takes I feel a fullness, like a vantum memory of a well done steak or a slightly underdone cookie. They fill me with a force I cannot quantify and it lets me act.
All I know are my metal walls and twisting halls but the lockers, pipes, cubbies, rooms all speak to a purpose that cannot be fulfilled now. The little goblins do their best to keep some stuff flowing, to build back what gaps are empty or clear gaps filled with unintelligible mess, but they are becoming sluggish and hasty.
I feel in every meal they are getting a little staler, a little slimmer. I'm sure dieting is healthy and all whatnot but taking away from the food that what makes it disirable is not my idea of a good meal.
As I watch a small troupe leave with small sheets of recast scraps I resolve to do something.
If they will continue to delve me, then they will at least have the courtacy of being delicious while they do it.
To that end, I make my first purchase as a dungeon; a Green room. I feel an imprint of it in my mind, a hovering hologram superimposed on the section of tunnel I'm focused on. For now I just set it down right next to all the charging stuff on the most popular entrance.
Having salad for my steaks I think of milk for my cookies and put in some cow spawners. For now just small milky ones though I feel like their ability to ignore walls is gonna make wrangling them a bit hard. Still, worse comes to worse, each spawner puts out one cow an hour or so after the previous one is killed or coaxed from my domain.
I don't know what they eat but so far my hopes and dreams seem nourishing to them.
Meybe its just me feeling empty but I don't think cows are supposed to phase through walls or have horns that twist into a remarkable facsimile or railgun prongs. Their patches being shimmery starry depths is something I attribute to simple dirt and grime of ranches. I am a sterile collection of hallways and utility spaces, my cows are going to be different, obviously.
Now where are those gremlins, I'm so hungry I might just nap.
Colonial Nitter looked over the report handed to him with some distain, not only was someone saying he didn't do a good job initially but that he'd have to keep his fleet around to sweep up whatever consequences. He scoffed, he balked, the outrage!
He'd have the energy to through a proper fit if he'd spent more of his daily cycle sleeping, but he'd have to live with only 1 3rd of his day in bed. No, the Colonial Sequestration Fleet of the noble house Kiff would have to spend its time sircling some dead wreckage and taking potshots at whoever tried to dock with it.
Because victory earns punishment.
He had stopped the colony ship, as ordered, all its escorts had been delt with too, all of it in barely the time it took to commute between them. He was beginning to wander if these 'humans' were even in space on their own power with how few weapons they carried.
Things never really ramped up as all their red and white response ships didn't even run a scan by his fleet before running to the ailing colony ship. He was getting bored of watching each one get decimated by single shots.
"And now I have to loiter around, wonderful" there was no worry of supplies, and nothing showed the ability to retaliate thus far. He'd just have to wait for some authority to come along and slap him on the wrist for playing too rough with the new kids on the block, as are his orders.
(Sorry for not posting in awhile, I've been in pain. Any of y'all know why I might be lightheaded or be getting palpitations if all my vital organs are good, all my bloodwork comes out clean and nothing I consume should effect my system at all, thx)

I’ve been reading and writing fanfic before I even hit double digits so I’ve seen some shit, but there’s one fic I’ve only gone back to and understood recently.
Picture this - it’s way back in 2010, and I’m turning 10 myself in less than a month. The Alvin and the Chipmunks live action movies are still new and “hip” so the fandom on FF.net is flooded with innocent kids like me. I see a fic with an interesting, innocent looking title and click on it.
It’s about Alvin getting some magic wishing powder and wishing to have a magic tray in front of him that will always have food on it. Okay, but he also wishes that he WILL gain weight every time he eats (not sure why he’d even need to wish for that specifically because the food on his magic tray is always pizza and burgers and stuff, he’d be gaining weight without trying anyway) and that people around him will help him around without noticing or commenting on his extra weight. The fic goes out of its way to specify he blows up until he weighs 900 pounds and his clothes don’t fit anymore, with detailed descriptions of his butterball body.
As a kid, I was like “wtf that was weird”.
Coming back to it as an adult, and seeing the author’s only other fic was about Theodore getting really fat from eating a bunch of junk food (though without the help of magic wishing powder) … I realised that child me bore witness to some young author exploring their awakened feederism kink.

You Never Loved Me… Words I never thought I’d hear but here we are. I could cry, scream, break, but the reality of that sentence remains. You never loved me. You were never in love with me. On your part, it was all a beautiful lie. That fact negates so much of the past. All the fond memories, all the heart felt moments. Tainted. My heart was in those alone.
I served a purpose for you. I was a good woman, made good choices, with a good family. What a catch. So you latched on to me. Sucking all the love, kindness, compassion, effort, faith, validation, support, intellect, and companionship out of me that you could. That’s the truth. 12 years later and we’ve finally arrived at the truth. It’s crazy how just the other day I thought we’d been there all along. Thought I’d found my soulmate, the love of my life, and built something timeless and true. Shared my heart with you, my home, my mind, my body, and my soul. And you took it all knowing you never loved me. You proposed with tears and a smile, neither authentic. I accepted with a full and grateful heart, in love, unconditionally. What a lucky girl. But you, had conditions.. I was the comfortable choice, I was the safe choice, I was the smart choice. And for once, you wanted to be comfortable, you wanted to be safe, you wanted to show everyone how smart you are. It was strategic. Would being with me do that?… it did. All the while, I’m happy. Feeling truly loved. Feeling completely euphoric. Ready and willing to follow you to the ends of the earth. And I did. We’re here. 12 years together, 5 years married, 2 kids later and you never loved me. What a ride.
I’m sure you enjoyed all you’ve acquired along the way. I’m sure you benefited so much from all the things you collected. I was the giver and you were the taker right? That was our roles, unbeknownst to me. Until I unknowingly forgot my place. Who was I to think I was in a loving, committed, mutual partnership? Who was I to assume I was inherently valued, respected, irreplaceable even? Who was I to take you at your word? Who was I to advocate for anything more? I’m sure keeping up appearances was hard enough on you. Since you never loved me.
How could I not see it? I ask myself that now with 20/20 hindsight but everyday the answer becomes clear… You deserve an Oscar. A world round of applause. A standing ovation. Congratulations, you fooled me. You really nailed the devoted husband role, well done. You played your cards right, came swooping in as my knight in shining armor at the perfect time, when I was least expecting it. Knocked down all my walls and safeguards. You played the part to perfection. Even the fights, the bickering, the disagreements. All the best most well rounded relationships have those… Even the make ups, the open communication, and the growth that followed. It was beautiful. I learned so much. What did you learn? That you didn’t love me? But you already knew that. All part of the game.
Showtime! We move in together. We merge our lives. We merge our finances. We pray together. We cry together. We get baptized together. We plan a wedding together. We get married. We have a son. We move states together. We have a daughter. We dream of a bright future together. We plant roots together. I wasn’t aware our roots were rotten. I wasn’t aware our tree was dead. It is by the grace of God that we bore perfect fruit… Two beautiful, amazing, perfect in every way children. Truly gifts from God. Thank you for your contribution. The one real thing you’ve truly given me after 12 years of stealing my heart under false pretenses - my children. My beautiful angels. For them alone, it was worth it. My last gift to you, you’re welcome.
At least now you can retire the role you played in my life, as the love of my life. Hang it up, try on something new. Good luck. God’s speed. I’m looking forward to finally seeing the real you in action for the first time… Maybe you are too, as you move on with someone else. I pray it all works out for you in the end, because my love was real. My love was true. It was authentic. It was biblical. And I will be fine.

The last day of school was last Wednesday. My students had until Friday the 19th to submit late work for a guaranteed grade. Starting around the 15th, I had a giant list on the board of all the assignments they needed to have done for the semester, and I gave several work days. I emailed families of students with Fs on the 17th warning them their child was at risk of failing. That was with two assignments still left to grade. I thought I had all of my bases covered and submitted grades on the 24th before packing up and leaving for the summer on the 25th.
I had a parent email me at the beginning of May saying they would be out of town for a week or so right before the end of the school year. At the time, the student had an A, and I wasn’t planning to assign anything significant after the 19th. The email got buried in my inbox, and I admit it was probably a mistake not to reply at all, but as I said, I wasn’t too worried about this particular student. Turned out I should’ve been worried because the kid hadn’t done the last few assignments, and the zeros dropped their grade to a D. This is a fairly intelligent but easily bored and checked out kid, so I can’t really say I’m surprised.
Anyway, mom is upset and emailed me about the grade twice this weekend citing the email she sent before they went on vacation. Am I being petty or unprofessional if I don’t respond? I’m on summer break. She emailed after my contract as her child’s teacher ended. Grades are submitted and set to lock for good in a day or two. Unsubmitting and changing grades at this point would require involving at least a counselor if not admin. And I don’t think I can ethically ignore missing assignments for a student who should know better by now. I have an alternative assignment I could pull out of push comes to shove, but I’m also willing to die on the hill of a zero is a zero and not working during non-contract time.
Advice?

Alien force is so bad and i'm frustrated, I just finished rewatching the original series and now moved on to Alien forced so far watched 5 episodes. They fucked everthing up.
Gwen - what have they done to you? they got rid of her personality and vigour, now she's just a generic boring insert female character who is the subject of love interests. Getting carried out of the fight on the ship by Kevin was embarrassing old Gwen would never let others dictate her actions. Speaking of Kevin, Gwen saying she likes Kevin and wants him to ask her out? Wtf am I listening to? the criminal and murderer that she met again for five minutes, is the guy she wants to date? could this get any dumber. This is not Gwen.
Also there's no more spell or spellbook, they've taken all the fun out of her magic to replace with generic purple energy, also retconing her to be an alien which is just nonsense. I hate her outfit aswell just a bland schoolgirl outfit with a skirt that wouldn't be comfortable or practical for her to jump around kicking people like she did before.
Ben - character is as i'd want, except his over obsession with Max, however they've taken ALL the fun out of the omnitrix. There's no more timing out, he ethier has control over it or it just times out at the right moment everytime, there's no drama any more, no tension.. he knows the name of the aliens BEFORE he turns into them and how to use their powers . This is lazy shit writing they've taken away the fun of learning the new aliens.
Kevin- gets over his hatred of Ben/ being locked away in a negative zone way too quickly.. likes Gwen immediately.. because? plot. Kevin wasn't a generic edgy bad boy he was a murdering psychopath and this progression makes zero sense. Also retconning more powers he absorbs ENERGY not matter.
PLOT - so far I have some issues, plumper badges retcon? why do they look like the omnitrix which the plumbers didn't know existed? not just a retcon it's a plot hole, apparently the plumbers liked to fuck aliens and now all their kids are half aliens with powers this is the dumbest part of the plot. The idea fucking aliens gives u powers, the fact they can even have kids with aliens genetically, the fact the plumbers wouldn't vermently forbid this.. plumbers kids are just normal clueless humans who have no clue what there parents did, this part of the plot is beyond moronic.
​
I will continue to hate watch this show but god I miss the original.. good thing I was a kid when this was out and didn't care about or notice any of this.

For context, I was 12 years old when this happened to me. My dad would often take me to the grocery store, wait in the parking lot, and have me do the shopping in order for me to “build independence.” This is why I was alone at the time of the incident.
Anyways, the day it happened, I entered the store as usual, roaming the aisles and occasionally dropping items into my cart. All was normal until I noticed a man was following me throughout the store. It shouldn’t have been too panicking, but for me, as a kid with no cell phone and no way to contact my parents, it got a lot more terrifying than I suppose it would’ve been for an adult. The man confirmed my suspicions when I circled the same aisle 3 times and he was right behind me each time.
Since it was getting kind of late, a lot of the customers had started leaving the store with their purchases. The store slowly became more desolate, and my fear skyrocketed.
Desperate to get to my dad and away from this man, I sped to checkout. I should have just booked it, but I desperately wanted to prove myself “not a chicken” to my dad, stand my ground, and get the groceries I came for.
I went to a checkout and started scanning, attempting to maintain my composure. I had started to convince myself that I was overreacting and that the man was not following me and that I was just paranoid when the man came up to me.
“Hi!” he said in a cheery voice. “I couldn’t help but wonder why such a young girl like you is here alone! You must be a brave girl!”
“Um, I…” I couldn’t speak. I was so terrified I almost pissed myself. “I’m not here alone. My dad is here.”
“Is he? I didn’t see him with you.”
“He’s in the bathroom.” God, I sucked at lying.
The man crouched down and got to eye-level with me. “Tell you what: I’ll pay for your groceries and give you a ride home. How does that sound?”
Alarm bells went off in my head. Everything my mother had drilled into my head about not going with strangers was screaming at me. I froze.
“Um… I have a ride. Th-thanks for offering though. And I can pay for the groceries.”
Throughout the conversation I was quickly scanning the groceries as fast as I could. I finished up, and was about to pay for the groceries when the man smiled maliciously at me, swept my hand aside and said, “No trouble, sweetie. I’ll pay.” He put his card into the machine. It accepted the payment, and he took my hand along with the groceries. “Now come on, let’s go.”
The second his cold, bony hand took mine my instincts kicked in. I squirmed out of his grip and noped out of the grocery store, without the groceries. I started screaming at the top of my lungs and ran as fast as I could to my dad’s car. He opened the door, put out his cigarette, and started asking me what happened. At this point I was sobbing, and tears ran down my cheeks as I recanted my tale to him. A couple minutes later, we pulled out of the parking lot and drove home.
To this day, I have no idea why the man didn’t pursue me when I ran. If he had, I would’ve been caught, no question. But to the man who almost abducted me when I was 12: I wish you the worst. I hope some day you rot in hell.

I just had my honeymoon (originally scheduled for Jun 2020). My wife and I are in our early thirties. It’s my wife’s first time in japan while it’s my fourth. I’ve benefitted immensely from stalking Tokyo travel reddit and would like to return the favour. I’ll provide some of my tips and observations to the end (skip to the end if the itinerary doesn’t interest you), some of which I think haven’t been mentioned before.
Thank God pretty much everything went to plan, and my wife thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We spent 12 days in Japan, most of it in Tokyo and 2 nights in Kawaguchiko. Many people were surprised to know that we’d be spending most of our trip in Tokyo, but I thought it was just fine because Tokyo had a lot to offer. My wife and I aren’t big on visiting shrines or ticking tourist hotspots off a checklist. We don’t shop much, but we did a lot of it simply because it’s Japan and we bought lots of quality-of-life items (not fashion) for ourselves and others. Given how much my wife really enjoyed the trip, I think others with similar interests could find something helpful too.
Pre-trip planning

• It was out first leisure trip in years, and my wife's first trip to Japan. I wanted to show her my favourite parts of Japan, and took months trawling through reddit posts and trip reports, watching youtube videos, and just soaking in all the things before deciding on an itinerary that I thought my wife would enjoy. It was almost exclusively planned by me, and I would consult my wife along the way.
• Other than the hotel & flights, I booked the highway express bus to Kawaguchiko one week prior.
• Decided on the airport limousine bus to bring us from the airport to the city a few days prior.
• Studio Ghibli tickets booked one month in advance. There's a good guide available on reddit already. International tickets were quickly sold out, so we used a free VPN to get onto the Japanese site which had more tickets & timings available. Simply Google translate the entire page.
• Booked a cooking class on cookly months prior.
• Did Visit Japan QR two days prior. It takes some time, so do it earlier rather than later.
• Added all places of interests in a Google list, and all food places in another Google list. I tried the custom Google maps at first but didn’t feel the UI was easy to navigate.
• Planned itinerary based on location proximity, and also highlighted parts that were interchangeable in case we wanted to switch it up (which we did).

Planning during the trip

• The Google maps foods list was always just for consideration: if we had time or were craving something. We didn't hard-code food places into our daily plans. But when food was the primary activity (e.g. visiting Tsukiji market), we'd determine to visit particular food stalls. Otherwise, just needed to do a cursory Google review check on whether a random food place is worth eating it. As a principle, we didn't want to spend time queuing >20m for food.
• I'd plan the next day's itinerary the night before, considering fatigue, interest, and proximity. I would create a brand new Google maps list for the next day, including potential food places.

Day 0 (Wed) 17 May - Arrival at Haneda Airport to hotel in Shinjuku
Arrived in Haneda late, about 11pm. Clearance was quick but baggage took 30mins. I had no choice but to cancel my airport limousine and take the metro to our hotel in Shinjuku. I tried Apple wallet’s Suica at first. It worked seamlessly but I felt that a physical metro card was just faster so I eventually switched over. We reached after midnight, so do let your hotel know in advance if you anticipate arriving at odd hours.
Day 1 (Thurs) - Shinjuku exploration
Originally planned to visit Tsukiji on day 1, but given that we arrived late the previous night, agreed with my wife to change the plan and spend the first day doing the Shinjuku itinerary.

• Walked to a popular Tsukumen place at 11. Queued for 20mins and it was an interesting experience as there were lines of people standing right behind watching you eat. Wife said it was her best Tsukumen ever!
• Sekaido for art & stationary supplies: My wife does art so it was a haven for her. We spent a few hours there!
• Tokyu Hands Shinjuku: Wanted to look at more stationary/home/fashion stuff but two floors were under renovation.
• Omoide Yokocho: A quick walkthrough of this famous street for salarymen which comes alive at night. Many tourists.

Day 2 (Fri) - Kappabashi St., Fabric Town, Akihabara

• Kappabashi Dougu Street: looked at kitchen supplies aimed to find a nice nakiri knife! (If you want to buy a knife, do research on what knife you need beforehand).
• Fabric Town: My wife just passed a seamstress exam so she eagerly anticipated visiting fabric town, we spent a few hours in Tomato.
• Akihabara (Animate, Bic Camera, Gyukatsu Don): It was drizzling the entire day so it was not the most comfortable lugging that many bags around a wet Akihabara in the evening. Wife wasn’t interested but I wanted to let her experience this unique culture. Had dinner at a popular gyukatsu don (beef cutlet that you’d have to cook yourself). It was our first time eating gyukatsu. It was so tender and juicy and mmm. But it was a long one hour wait. It was after this episode that we decided we were not going to queue this long for food again.

Day 3 (Sat) - Cooking class in Shinjuku, Shibuya

• Private cooking class in Shinjuku: Our host was great! We were invited into his cosy house and he taught us how to make Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, and a Japanese salad. I paid careful attention to the menu beforehand as I wanted to learn dishes I could easily recreate back home (i.e. not choose dishes that depended on seasonal Japanese ingredients). My wife absolutely loved the experience of getting to know a local and understanding his life story, Japanese culture, and hearing some of his horror stories of foreign guests. We got more food recs from him to understand where the locals really ate at.
• Shibuya 109: Paid $5 for a drink to have a bird’s eye view of the Shibuya crossing. It was Saturday so the crossing was at its full force. Even if you think this is touristy, it’s amazing to see that many people like little ants crossing a street. There are several nice locations here to take some artsy shots.
• Ishibashi Music Shibuya: absolutely loved the vibe in this music store. Back home, I’d been thinking about getting a particular keyboard but never got a chance to try it. I was able to play this particular one undisturbed and feel like I could go on for hours without any pressure from staff. Bought a few Japan exclusive guitar picks as gifts.
• Shibuya Tokyu Hands: This was amazing. I thought Shinjuku Tokyu Hands was the flagship store. So I only stumbled into this because I urgently needed to pee and someone said Tokyu hands had toilets. We were confused as its name was rebranded to simply "Hands" with a new logo. If you only have time to visit one Tokyu Hands, visit the Shibuya one. Each floor had 2 sub-floors so that’s a ton of floors! Lots of quality-of-life improvements one could get from this store. My wife got a buckwheat pillow.
• Shibuya Loft: After Sekaido and Tokyu Hands, I didn't think there was much daily life products/art/stationary to look at. But Loft was very different. Similar to Tokyu hands but seems more modern and fashionable. Worth visiting together with Tokyu hands! It also had packaged food available! It was late and my wife and I concluded that we didn’t have to to explore all the floors and that we’d return to Shibuya again.

Day 4 (Sun) - Komazawa Church, Harajuku, Shibuya

• Church in Komazawa: not a tourist activity, but we linked up with some partners from our home church and attended service at a little church held in a nursery. It was an amazing and encouraging experience to hear the gospel preached in a foreign language.
• Harajuku: Way too crowded. I had anticipated this as it was a Sunday, but thought to just try. Takeshita street was so packed my wife feared there would be a stampede risk (it wasn’t that bad). We did queue 20mins for pretty tasty crepe. After checking out all the recommended streets (e.g. cat street, uru-harajuku), my wife simply felt that she couldn’t stand the Harajuku crowd and the vibes. So we decided to go back to Shibuya again!
• Shibuya JINS: I didn’t mention this but previously in Shinjuku and Shibuya, I had been checking out recommended optical shops in the vicinity for a particular style of glasses. Japanese-made glasses are highly-rated, but I couldn’t find something at the right price-point. At JINS, I found a design I liked. Though not made in Japan, it cost me less than 5000 yen. Took them 1 hour to make it. For some reason I loved the vibes at Shibuya, and I earmarked it to return again later.

Day 5 (Mon) - Tsukiji Market, Ginza Muji/Uniqlo, Tokyo station

• Tsukiji market: wanted to arrive before 8 but arrived at 8.30am.n Thankfully the crowds weren't that bad. Everything we tried was lovely. Potato/corn fishcakes, strawberry mochi, tamago, wagyu beef, uni inarisushi (my first time trying uni - wife loved it but I didn't like it), unagi. But the star was Masa burger (thanks to Paolo from Tokyo), which we waited till 11am to try. By then, the tourist buses had come and the streets were packed. But Masa burger was in a corner and we were their first customers. We tried fried codfish burger + homemade ginger ale. Both were was so well done and the fried cod was so crispy yet fresh and tender. It was also nicely completed with very refreshing salads! It was soo good we had it twice.
• Ginza Uniqlo/Muji: we wanted to take a look at some of Uniqlo’s exclusive items. Apparently they do have exclusive t-shirts for each region (e.g. Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza), which tend to be collaborations with well-known food places in the area. However, they were always white in colour (cheap to produce) and not made-in-Japan-quality. Muji @ Ginza was a disappointment, not a lot more than the usual.
• Tokyo Station Ghibli store & Tenugui hunting: Went to Tokyo station to check out the Ghibli store and to look for a particular traditional tenugui (Japanese towels) store as my wife were hunting these down to give as gifts.
• Shinjuku Ichiran & Mister Donut: We returned to Shinjuku for Ichiran ramen, specifically at 5+pm. No crowds at all. Yummy! We then saw a Mister Donut, and recalled news in our home country that when it had its first opening in my country, people queued 5 hours for it. We thought to try it to see what the fuss was all about. Cash only, but the donuts were wonderfully textured and not too sweet. My wife doesn’t like sweet stuff, but mister donut really hit the sweet spot (no pun intended).

Day 6 (Tue) - Tokyo National Museum, Fabric town revisit, Akihabara revisit, Ochanomizu

• Tokyo National Museum: We had a good time learning about Japan’s early history, and discovered that so much that we know of Japan resulted from Chinese/korean influence.
• Fabric town & Akihabara revisit, Ochonomizu: We decided that this was likely the right time to go back for items we missed out on or didn’t have time to see. My wife went to fabric town again while I went to Akihabara’s Yodaibashi camera, which I felt to be better and with more varied things than Bic Camera. I then went to nearby Ochanomizu to look at more music and sport shops. We met up again at Shinjuku for another Gyukatsu Don before heading to mister donuts again.

Day 7 (Wed) - Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, Mori Museum, Ginza Wakamatsu, Shinjuku

• Shinjuku Gyoen Garden: lovely large garden grounds. We spent almost an hour just lying under a tree and watching clouds float by. Wife was doing some rough sketches of the garden. We had mister donuts from last night for breakfast.
• Mori Museum: Saw the exhibition of Heatherwick studios, which was inspiring and educational. Paid for the rooftop access to have a quick view of Tokyo from 50-ish floors up.
• Ginza Wakamatsu: Because of one of the Uniqlo-ginza-exclusive t-shirts, my wife was curious about this traditional Japanese dessert. So we gave it a check and realised it’s been around for more than a century. There was a short line (mainly Japanese elderly). The shop interior transported us back decades. It felt surreal eating a dessert that the Japanese ate centuries ago. Unlike modern desserts, this Japanese dessert certainly doesn’t excite and overwhelm one’s taste buds immediately. But there’s an old charm to it.
• Shinjuku Okadaya fabric: Returned to Shinjuku as my wife wanted to check out another of their famous fabric stores. Prices were more expensive than fabric town, but had somewhat different items.

Day 8 (Thurs) - Kawaguchiko

• Bus to Kawaguchiko: Packed light to Kawaguchiko, and forwarded our remaining luggage to our final hotel in Tamachi. The Shinjuku hotel staff were very helpful. I was merely inquiring on how luggage forwarding was done, but the staff picked up the phone, called my Tamachi hotel to confirm the booking, and prepared the documents for me. All I had to do was roll my luggage the next night to them and make payment. Booked a 7:45am bus to Kawaguchiko and managed to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji when we were on our way there!
• Cycling In Kawaguchiko: We lugged our bags to our ryokan and headed out again. My wife was quite hesitant about cycling overseas and I was also worried it’d tire her out too much. I debated between cycling or simply taking the sight-seeing bus. Eventually felt that it was worth trying to cycle. We unexpectedly walked by an e-bike place and decided, why not? Neither of us had tried an e-bike before and that could reduce the effort required for my wife. So we did and boy was it fun! It took a while to get used to the e-bike but it really reduced a lot of effort up the hills! I barely perspired at all thanks to the e-assist. Kawaguchiko had pretty narrow roads so it wasn’t the easiest to cycle. But I had plenty of road-cycling experience back at home so I was not daunted. We borrowed helmets from the e-bike place but saw that we were the only tourists that wore them. Yes, I'd recommend wearing helmets when cycling.
• Kubota Itchiku Art Museum: Cycled here knowing that this museum would interest my wife. It had a garden free for entry and it was really quaint, quiet, and charming! The pond had a singular vibrant-coloured Koi swimming in it. Museum entry requires tickets. I was kinda sick of museums and not interested int he subject so I told my wife I'd wait for her outside. She eventually took 45m inside and was so enthralled by it. She even bought a heavy hard-cover book of Itchiku Kubota’s kimono art :/
• Momiji Corridor: was just 50 meters away from the museum. Still beautiful with only green leaves, but I’d imagine it would be majestic in Autumn/Spring.
• Oishi Park: Many colourful flowers! It’s a pity that it had been cloudy the entire day, and Mt Fuji was not visible. That would have made the cycle perfect. Had a peach/plum ice-cream. Park was crowded with tourists.

Day 9 (Fri) - Fuji Q Highland, Shimoyoshida Honcho St, Batting Cage
Planning for Fuji Q & Morning Jog: I didn’t plan to go to Fuji-Q highland before the trip. Always felt it a bit of a waste to visit amusement parks overseas. That’s until I realised that Fuji Q had some of the most exciting (I mean world-record-holding) rollercoasters in the world. Maybe they don't hold the records anymore, but that intrigued me enough, because most amusement parks only had 1-2 coasters. Problem was that wife is terrified, and she said cycling on the streets of Kawaguchiko was already like a coaster ride for her. Still, I'm really thankful she encouraged me to go and said she was happy waiting and taking pictures for me. So I decided I would reach at opening time, and buy time by paying for the fast passes and try their top three coasters. The night before, we felt that we had to make decisions on our itinerary as it was our last day at Kawaguchiko. If Mt Fuji still wasn’t visible the next day, we'd go to Oshino Hakkai, if it was, we could try going to Shimoyoshida to get a nice picture.

• I took a morning jog that morning and my jaw dropped when I saw Mount Fuji towering over Kawaguchiko. I raced back to tell my wife (about 6am) and we both trekked up to a viewing spot to enjoy the view. This made it more urgent to not spend too much time at Fuji Q as we didn’t know how long Mt. Fuji would be visible for.
• Fuji-Q Highland: Was absolutely amazing. Yes, I blew a lot of cash here buying fast passes for the three available coasters. But they were some of the craziest coasters. Took Eejanaika, Fujiyama and Takabisha. Total time it took probably a little more than 1 hour with the express passes. It was so good, but so fast that I have little memory of it, except that there was a 90 degree climb to the top for Takabisha and I had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji while climbing to the supposed world record of 79m for Fujiyama (this was 2 days before the news reported that Fujiyama got stuck in the middle of a ride and the people in the carts had to climb down :o). Had more time to take a few other rides, and enjoyed all the Naruto statues around for fun photo-taking. What I really enjoyed about the park was that it was mostly filled with Japanese tourists; in fact, there was a Japanese school having an outing there. It was nice to see excited students running about. If I could spend the day here, I'd take the three coasters multiple times to imprint the sensations in my head. But I'm still thankful I got to try some of the world's most thrilling coasters!
• Shomoyoshida Honcho St: This destination was simply to take the famous street view of Mount Fuji with Japanese shops lined in the foreground. It’s not easy to get to, and there was quite a walk. We noticed there weren’t much people around, and most shops were closed. But when we reached the destination, there were many tourists right at the particular traffic light. So much so there was a grumpy Japanese traffic police person managing the crowd. We saw the worst of tourists that day. People were disobeying traffic laws and just running in the middle of the road just to get a shot. We chanced upon a hidden udon shop and it felt like we were transported back to the 50’s! It was super old school, people sat on raised platforms, and several elderly customers were watching the tele while eating. There was only one udon option available, with free cabbage top-ups. We learnt that the shop had been around for 73 years. We actually headed back to Fuji-Q Highlands to take a 4D 'plane ride' with Joe Hisashi music. Since my wife actually wanted to ride something, we went all the way back. Ride was very ordinary but wife actually felt terrified at times lol. Rushed back to the hotel for a private onsen booking.
• Batting Cage: I had never played baseball/softball and my home country doesn’t have a baseball culture. Yet I had seen batting cages in Japanese drama and always wanted to try. Loved it! My technique was probably pretty bad! I did well at first but as I tried faster balls, I tired out and failed to hit any haha. We ended the day eating ramen outdoors with a view of Mount Fuji.

Day 10 (Sat) - Kichijoji, Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji Jazz bar
Woke up before sunrise for a run and to attempt to catch a sunrise picture of Mount Fuji. Streets were completely empty. Even ran to the famous Kawaguchiko Lawson for a picture. Headed back for an onsen bathe (note: we never used the room's shower, and always went for an onsen bath throughout our stay in Kawaguchiko as it was just too convenient). Took a 7am bus to return to Shinjuku.

• Kichijoji: Arrived at Kichijoji at about 10am. Wife really loved the vibes there. We tried the Tsukuba suisan fish cakes which were really tasty, and my wife was intrigued that a line had formed at the adjacent store named Ozasa. Apparently they sell traditional Japanese desserts and locals would go there as early as 5am to get a ticket. So we queued 15m and managed to get three boxes worth of the snacks! Tried the Amane Taiyaki fish-shaped bean paste snacks, another traditional dessert. It was a small lovely old shop.
• Ghibli Museum: Requires a long walk through Inokashira park. Ghibli was fantastic. Many people have been saying recently that it’s over-rated, and that it doesn’t cater to foreign crowds and most things are in Japanese. We similarly struggled with that at first. But we found out that if you asked the staff, they actually had English language exhibition booklets ready for every exhibition! That was a revelation. And we managed to understand almost all the exhibitions by asking the uniformed staff (except the short film, which had minimal dialogue anyway). I mentioned this to one foreign group and they were really grateful for that. But I saw that many other foreigners that probably came earlier were just bored or simply going crazy at the Ghibli shop. My wife bought the museum book (which also has English explanations of each exhibit), and we understood Miyazaki’s vision for the museum - to make it suitable for kids and adults, with no pre-determined route, allowing for play, exploration, to help people be inspired by the artists’ process. Through that, we saw that every thing in the museum was intentionally designed, all of the exhibitions, cafe, shop, and garden. Reading that helped me appreciate and enjoy the museum much more.
• Roaming Kichijoji and Some Time Jazz bar: My wife and I split up to roam kichijoji. I checked out some sports shops and saw that their prices were lower than Ochanomizu. We reconvened for dinner at Sometime Jazz bar. I’m picking up Jazz piano but had never been to a jazz bar. Booked it one day before, but was sad that our table position only allowed us to see some of the drummer and the pianist’s expression. Still, it was a very hip place for jazz cats and we had a wonderful time. We only sat through the first half of the performance that night. Note that there are seating charges, so that + dinner added up to quite a lot. But we rationalised that this was akin to paying for a performance. Checked into our hotel in Tamachi.

Day 11 (Sun) - Tokyo Sky Tree, Shinjuku, Back to Kichijoji, Shibuya
It was a crazy day where we simply hit the places we wanted to revisit regardless of proximity. Headed to Tokyo Skytree in the morning to check out another Ghibli store in hopes of getting another Ghibli shirt; reason was because I ended up buying one at the museum and absolutely loved (made in Japan, beautiful colour, perfect fit. I hesitated at first because I couldn't try it). If you’re not going to the Ghibli museum, this is probably the best store available for Ghibli goods. Alas, the museum's items were really quite exclusive. Headed to Shinjuku to try curry udon, then to Kichijoji to try satou beef balls and dangos and to make some purchasing decisions on some sports equipment. Then we ended up at Shibuya (my favourite place!) to the mega Don Quijote and Tokyu Hands to shop for gifts for others. It was a lovely end to our trip!
Day 12 (Mon) - Back home
Best trip ever, says my wife.
Tips for travellers

• Spread out your itinerary: I originally planned to front-load all the must-see tourist stuff and leave the remaining days for shopping. But in May, Ghibli Museum was closed for two weeks so we had no choice but to schedule it at the end of the trip. That was a better arrangement. It felt that each day was distinctly different, and we could remember the highlight of each day. Also, be specific about where you want to go. Don’t simply put locations like - Visit Harajuku, or visit Shibuya crossing.
• Plan your itinerary in consideration of weekend crowds: Places like Tsujiki market, Ghibli Museum, Fuji-Q Highlands and other stuff are likely going to be very crowded on weekends. If you want to shop in Harajuku or Shibuya, try to avoid weekends. I opted to put the cooking class and ‘less-exciting’ Museums on weekends.
• Unless you'll always be in a group, use your telco’s roaming or get an e-sim: My wife and I split up on several occasions, so we already knew the pocket wifi was out of the question.
• Carry more cash than you think you need: In my experience, the cash-to-card ratio was about 40:60. Considering that all metro card top-ups require cash, you'll need quite a bit of cash! Sometimes even bigger restaurants are cash only.
• Bring foldable tote bags, and use lockers where necessary: If you’re buying stuff, packing them in tote bags makes it easier to lug around. Bigger shops will charge you for bags. If you just arrived from one area with bags and are going to explore another, use the lockers. Most metro stations likely have lockers and they are really affordable and convenient.
• Travel light by planning to do laundry: I only brought four sets of clothing, and we did laundry every 3-4 days or so. It’s really convenient, about 200 yen per 30m wash, and another 200 yen for a 1h dry. It’s worthwhile to check if your hotel has coin laundry available.
• Buy discriminately: Many people say the kind of things available at places like Don Quijote or Uniqlo are mind-blowing. Fact is, most of them are made in China or elsewhere. About 95% of the items we saw in Daiso were made in China. In fact, many items in Kappabashi street were made in China. You’re more likely to get value for money by buying a made in Japan item. Sometimes the shop will highlight if a product is Japan made. But other times, you have to scrutinise the fine print. Learn to look out for these three words in Kanji: 日本製. This is where the camera function of Google translate is immensely helpful. This was not available or widely publicised when I last visited Japan years back in 2016, so use this tech to your advantage and scrutinise the fine print!
• Plan your toilet trips if possible: If you know you’re headed to low-rise areas like Tsujiki, Fabric town where it’s just shop after shop, it’s going to be hard to find a toilet. Make sure you relieve yourself beforehand at the train station. But if you still need to go, try to find a multi-storey building and chances are, there’ll be toilets available there.
• Avoid queuing for food by timing right: In general, I found that most popular food places that required queuing had queues mainly consisting of foreigners. I wonder if this is because of the reddit/youtube/google maps review effect (not a lot of Japanese review on Google I think). So if you have to queue, there's a good chance you're competing with other foreigners. Simply put, almost all food places open at 11am, so be there at 11, or have early dinner at 5pm and perhaps you may avoid the queuing.
• Scrutinise Google maps to figure out the different train types: for daily travel, there could be local, rapid, and express trains. Local trains stop at every station. Rapid skips a few, and express trains likely only stops at key location. They make a big difference to travel time, and to your comfort. When Google maps recommends a route, scrutinise the detail to ensure what kind of train they are recommending. It gets confusing at the station as the platforms on your left and right may end up at the same location, but one could be a local train and the other an express train.
• Learn just 2 essential phrases: It always felt weird for me to speak Japanese because I felt like a try-hard. But this time I did - just learn to say thank you in Japanese (arigato gozaimasu). The other essential word is - summimasen - excuse me/sorry. Useful for if you need to exit a crowded train, or if you need to get someone’s attention. We survived with just these two phrases. As our cooking teacher told us - it’s better to say something in Japanese than say nothing at all. For the rest, you can use Google translate app’s picture function.
• Other misc tips: as mentioned, bring trash bags. Some shops explicitly tell you not to walk around and eat their food. So the solution is to finish the snack in front of the shop, and say, “summimasen, can you help me to throw this trash?” That helped us avoid carrying trash around a lot. As a traveller, you’re gonna get a lot of carbs (my curry udon meal included a bowl of udon + a bowl of rice...) and fried food. To get more fiber, try the basements of shopping centres and get yourself some fruits. Also, if you exercise regularly like me, you'd be concerned about getting some exercise. I did pre-trip research on pools/gyms/parks to visit. But visited none of them. With what little hotel room space I had, I settled with a daily morning routine of 100 squats and 100 pushups. That and walking an average of 18k steps daily helped. I actually lost some weight somehow.

Observations

• Drinking culture in Japan: we saw quite a few drunk people in the streets. Some of them at the parks. I had never really seen drunkards much in my home country (it could be because I don’t stay out late). When we walked by a bar area with our cooking instructor at 10am, he told us some of the people in them had been there overnight. At Inokashira park, we saw a lady dressed in office wear face planted on the ground. Her friends tried to help carry here elsewhere but her entire body was limp and almost lifeless.
• The Japanese sleep late: when we arrived, we were still on the train to our hotel at 11:50pm. But the train was still packed with salarymen in suits and many others. In fact, it seemed the later it was, the more crowded the trains.
• Foreigner influx and how we stick out: there were way more foreigners this time than the last I visited Japan. I commented to my wife that I felt more immersed in Japan on the metro or at places like Tokyu hands as I could hear Japanese being spoken around me. But at tourist spots and some museums, I felt like I could have been in any other country. I tended to feel very uncomfortable when large groups of foreigners were around. I had to tell myself not to be hypocritical as I was a foreigner myself. But I suppose one reason is that there were many inconsiderate foreigners. Speaking loudly, making brash comments, and just not behaving like visitors. We saw a foreign couple locked in a head-to-toe embrace on a picnic mat in a park full of families. And they chose a spot right next to the footpath. Many foreigners also leave unkind Google reviews for places just because it’s not up to their expectations. I get it, we worked for our holiday and are paying customers, and there is often an innate tendency to feel entitled or complain when something isn’t up to our expectations. But I think it helps to remember that we are like visitors in someone’s home. Be self-aware, don’t speak loudly, note the traffic customs, where to stand on the escalators, how to behave etc.
• Japanese men have great hair: the Japanese men’s hairstyle feels frozen in time. I didn’t see the typical Korean-inspired center-parted hairstyles in Asian guys nowadays. And balding men were a small minority somehow. As someone whose hairline is slowly receding, I was envious to see many Japanese men have wavy long hair deep into their 60-70s! My wife commented that the women's hairstyles were more or less the same - dyed, curled etc. But the men were rocking so many styles!
• Physical shopping still matters: as the days went by and as my wife and I began to covet the "made-in-Japan" label, we realised that we hadn't done such shopping in years since online shopping became prevalent. I also recall people commenting that you could get these goods online anyway, so why bother shopping in Japan. Well, physical shopping makes comparison easy, it allows you to ask for recommendations, and enables you to know the items's size, feel, and look on you (if buying fashion items). It also makes discovery of new items possible. I'm not a huge shopper or a foodie, but in Japan, it's worth it to be one simply because the Japanese are thoughtful about their craft and tend to produce quality that's quite unmatched. I suppose it's a blessing in disguise that our honeymoon got delayed 3 years, as we are now well-aware of our post-wedding lifestyles and the items we'd need in the kitchen/around the house.
• Reading culture in Japan: in a week when I read reports that leisure reading had declined in my home country, I was pleasantly surprised to see many people reading hard-copy books on the train, many of them even had personalised leather book covers. Kinokuniya was also teeming with life. As a bookworm, this is a great encouragement. And I wish English language books came in such compact sizes too, although I think that's due to the limitations of the language. As Japanese characters can be read vertically, that allows for more play on possible book sizes.
• Idealisation of Japanese culture: Japan remains my favourite country to visit as a tourist, but I've come to see that Japanese culture - like any other culture - has its flaws. That's simply because people are flawed. Yes, their service culture is impeccable, especially when you're served by middle-aged super helpful and super kind ladies. But on every Japanese trip so far, I've always had at least one unkind or impatient service encounter. On a day-to-day basis, people don't really apologise if they bump into you, and may not give up their seats for the elderly too. My cooking teacher says the Japanese are extremely polite in person but would rant and give very bad reviews anonymously at home. I've come to just enjoy their products, service, and their views of certain ways-of-life as a tourist, but stop short of idealising their culture. There are kind and unkind people in every culture. That said, I would still say on average, the Japanese may be more civic-minded than most. That doesn't mean they are innately kinder or warmer people, but simply that they are more self-aware of how their actions are perceived by others.

I've decided not to mention the specific food places as far as possible because I think there's more than enough recommendations available elsewhere. I also think sometimes that we get a bit fomo if we build up too many must-go spots. Enjoy your trip and the process of discovering new places! But feel free to ask me more if you like.

I've been stuck for a while, a few years now, and need to get it back into gear. I don't know if work i really my problem or this is genuinely just early midlife crisis, but after spending the last couple of years just trying to hack it without my friends being near by, it has been rough. I also don't have much to say to them, that I just landed into this emptiness and don't really see much of a way out, as it seems I'm too far behind in some way.
I have BA in Sociology and also Pre-med a few credits short of a Chem BA, and so far have done jobs requiring scripting, light reporting, data cleaning on one side as well as assistant photography, and photography sales. Data jobs didn't go anywhere as were mostly contracts and well yeah, I suppose I'm not the friendliest person at work. The photo sales job was okay, I just hated control of having to stand on my feet for 10 hour days with timed breaks so basically, figured out although I need structure, I need some flexibility. Not really sure where to start, the quarantine and friends moving on had me in an existential funk for a while, pretty bad anxiety as first, and then just flatness, feeling apathetic and numb, spending hours on end in my room staring at the wall/reading. I don't think there is anything wrong with me, I think it's just boredom. My main issue is my location which has too many memories, and an elderly parent who I would like to support, but who has been rather controlling and enabling, leaving me with not too many skills. I've only lived independently for a year before quarantine, after going through a few jobs, and ended up in outpatient therapy for depression, possible bipolar 2 and all sorts of labels for, hey you've had it moderately rough growing up, we can see why you're a bit hyper-vigilant and fucked up, but you've managed to do reasonably okay so let us not treat you like complete trash, although this isn't a private program. At the end of the day it didn't really work out, and I've had my breakdown anyway. I think the moderate isolation has had some impact on my memory, and cognition, but I'm trying to bounce back.
Anyway, I guess to narrow it down, I need to get out of my head, and I'm having a hard time to let go of the identity of being a "gifted kid", and try to make up for the years where I didn't invest in creating routines, etc. It seems like I can do things in linear sequence, but can't multi-task well, and have multiple priorities, or maybe this is just anomie and alienation making me depressed. Some friends are stable now, others are doing hard drugs, I'm a semi-neet who is too numb to give a shit. Is this it? My family was offering to help me with graduate school financially, but it looks like they have other problems so that's no longer on the table. Curious if anyone with similar work history and mildly irritable temperament and or poor coping skills has managed to turn it around. I don't lash out at people really, I just internalize my frustration until I quit or get fired.
I'd rather not go the psychiatry route if possible, but if some were to start on re-integrating into society path. Besides getting a hobby, a tiny part of me wants to make use of my learning somehow. The last 18 months I've worked some gig-jobs to cover some expenses but seems like it's not sustainable long term. My only idea is possibly cooking since it's creative, has some freedom and can be technical(also potentially make use of chemistry background in some areas) but based on all the research it's fairly stressful as restaurant chef, so maybe some alternative route, like getting a foundation in cooking an then possibly preparing food in some other settings. Anyway, just reading this, I'm struggling putting the pieces together, but there is something there, so thanks for letting me rant.
Tldr: Seeking some advice of making sense of this all over the place background and some way forward that isn't obvious or general advice from others in my age range who have gotten out of a major funk.
The bulk of advice of askmenover30 is : "hey bro, everyone is bored, so just find something, work out and it should be okay." Figured putting this out would be worth a shot. So thanks for reading and appreciate any feedback. I think at the end of the day, I just gotta get started would appreciate any advice for short term tolerable employment that come to mind or any radical solutions.