So firstly. I have the nose of a blood hound and also am super paranoid.
I live in a crappy rental that still have a fuse box and outlets hanging out of the walls and stuff, I hate this place. Thankfully the building is being demolished in a few months so we're out of here.
Untill then i got 2 weird smells i cant figure out, and im gonna be honest, its throwing me into panic attacks.
First one is a weird smell coming from our bedroom vent. Now as far as ive been told this vent isnt even hooked up. Its a strange staticy dusty smell. I dont know what could cause it, but the staticy part freaks me out. I did stick my head in the crawl space above the ceiling and can't smell anything up there. It's literally like this grey gravel sand mixture up there and the only wires I could see were to lights we never use. And as far as i can tell from my father in law working on the lights, if the switch is off there is no power to them.
I also smelt a sweet smell for a day but also my neighbourghs place smelled similar so i think maybe she made something, i havent smelled the sweet smell in 2 days.
Also the heat is shut off cause when it was kicking in I smelt a kinda burnt smell for the first second or two of air if that's relevent. .
Second smell is in the living room. Its a warm plastic smell. Not hot or burning plstic but warm, it's in one corner that has no outlets or anything, maybe a little across the front wall where there are outlets, but strongest in the corner with none.
Now my neighbourgh has a portable AC, it's right in that corner up against that wall that we share, its only flimsy drywall seperating us. It smells like its strongest against that wall and i assumrd it was just her AC but it smells wether she is running it or not.
Anyways landlord is apprently an electrical engineer and said that if anything was wrong electrical wise if would smell like burning plastic so idk.
I'm just absolutly freaking out and want to just call the non emergency fire department but my fiance says that this place isn't up to code and he doesn't want them to kick us out.
It also doesn't help that other people don't seem to really notice the smell, my fiance did say he smelt something weird once but that was it. I would say I'm crazy but I don't smell these things anywhere else just in thr bedroom and living room.
Any help is appreciated cause I'm at the point of breaking down for the thousandth time over this nightmare place. Also im near Toronto if that matters for code or anything.
I'd have our own electrician come out but we cant afford it sadly. Any help would be awesome.
Also the lights flicker in here alot, but it's the whole place. So idk if that has anything to do with it, but I don't smell anything from the fuse box, I'm a little too paranoid to open it right now.
Again thank you for any and all help.

So after 4 stressful weeks in the NICU, we bring our baby boy home. My MIL wants to come visit, and we have a room available so we oblige since we could use the help.
Since she has been here she has made several questionable comments that have stirred something up within me.

• On two separate occasions, totally unprompted, she told me and my wife that she doesn't like any movies or tv shows with gay people. We never asked, and we never suggested anything involving LGBT people. She knows we're left-leaning.
  
• She has previously made comments about my wife doing the dishes, despite the fact that I do almost all of the cooking and dishwashing. She seems to consistently assume that I don't participate, or don't want to participate, in household chores.
  
• This woman has barely lifted a finger to help with the kid. It's been nearly a week, and the only thing she has done is feed him once.
  
• She "tried" to help by doing dishes, but really just made a big mess that I had to clean up later since she doesn't know where things are, and apparently doesn't know how to load a dishwasher at age 60 (seriously, who puts massive pots and pans on the bottom shelf???). All she does is wake up, sit in our chair in the corner, and go on her phone for 16 hours straight. My wife tells me she plays some videogame on her phone all day.
  
• There are several other comments made that would just take too long and too much context to explain.
  

Any non-Christian, non-conservative media is offensive to her, which limits my choices. Despite her judgmental remarks, I remain polite and tolerant. She spends her time on her phone, occasionally making snide comments, while we take care of our son.
I feel trapped in my own house. Today, I planned a brief trip to the grocery store to buy ingredients for dinner. I hoped for a peaceful 30-minute trip with my wife without the judgmental atmosphere. I thought she might volunteer to babysit, but instead, she remained glued to her phone, leaving us to sort out the logistics ourselves of whether one of us should stay home, or if we should bring him to the store. This dampened my mood and my wife suggested that I adjust my general demeanor around MIL for the sake of harmony. Despite her behavior, I haven't uttered a single harsh word to her. We've always gotten along fine, though our interactions have been limited to a few hours. This woman has begun to feel like a burden in my home.
Being a private person, I value my personal space. Therefore, I wonder if this is simply a reaction to my nature. However, if my wife won't address her mother's impolite comments and unhelpful behavior, I believe I should feel justified in doing so. My wife has told me she doesn't feel comfortable confronting or being straightforward with her mom in any way, and I've communicated that if she doesn't, I will eventually have to do so.
Am I wrong to feel stressed, annoyed, or offended? Most of this behavior feels particularly egregious since it is occurring within our home. I don't even know why this woman is in my house if she's just going to sit around, make a mess, be rude, and do nothing all day.

Hey guys,
Time for another shop/product update!
Codes
We have a decent amount of codes and for certain products. With that being said, we want to streamline a bit so we are consolidating most of codes so we're not constantly adding/deleting new ones and you guys getting lost in the sauce. Here's the ones that are live and going to be permanent (feel free to share with others). If we have a certain product with a code, we'll be sure to tell you guys.

• GAT - works with most products so make sure to always try it
• BANGBANG - works with select brands (you know what were talking about)
• TORCH - works with most lights on the site
• OVERRATED - works with surefire muzzle devices
• LEGAL/THEMERCHANT/MAKEAWISH - works with Holosun. Read the description ;)

Merch
The first batch of merch is on its way. We should be getting the shirts in sometime this week or early next week. You guys can have whatever color of shirt and logo you want as long as its black and red :) We have dad/operator hats on the near horizon as well but we had to go back to our artist to make some formatting changes so the hats wouldn't look like shit. Stay tuned for the hats and some more merch in the future :)

• Orders over $500 will come with a free shirt. A size large will be put into your cart automatically, so just put your shirt size in the order comments if another size is needed :)
• Orders over $800 will come with a free shirt AND grey operator hat (when we get them in)

LMT
We still have some Shovelnose's on hand and ready for new homes. We're constantly looking to add more products from LMT. Let us know what you want us to try to get or join the in stock notifications so we know what to look out for. We were told by LMT that they may be taking on new dealers directly in the near future so that means we'll get access to all LMT products (except FFL) with more of a timeframe of when they'll get to us.
Daniel Defense
We've been able to get our hands on more difficult DD stuff recently and just got in a fewRIS III 12.5" Black handguards and RIS III 13.5" FSP FDE handguards. We're still trying to get more RIS III uppers in each configuration/color but no word of when just yet. We only get a few allocated. Fingers crossed for soon^TM.
Radian
We're getting in a smoll batch of Ramjet + Afterburners in for the Glock 19 GEN 5 on Friday so act quick if you're looking for one. They will be going live at 12:00 PM CST. We don't know when they'll be back in stock sadly. We reached out to Radian directly to get their products from them and as soon as we were going to put in an order, they halted all orders to Illinois for the time being :/ So, we're just waiting and hopefully they'll lift that soon.
Surefire
We've been getting a lot of questions in regards of when the 3 and 4 prongs will make a comeback. Surefire told us to expect 2-3 months from now. Again, nothing set in stone but we're trying our best to get as many as we can. We have some X300T-As left, and could pull in some M640DFT Blacks in. Code TORCH. Those muzzle brakes we had went pretty fast, so we'll keep an eye out for more. We do have a few WARCOMPS left.
Criterion
One. Month. Closer. We're still waiting for our first batch from Criterion but here's a little refresher of the timeline. Again, if there's another length wanted, let us know so we can look into it.

• CORE 12.5" - SeptembeOctober 2023
• CORE 14.5" - December 2023
• CORE 13.9" - January 2024

AXL
We just got the Eclipse as our first belt from AXL and still setting it up. It seems like a great belt especially for the price point. We'll post a picture of our setup as soon as it's finished (be nice, this is our first real belt setup). We reached out about becoming a dealer for them and they are open to it and they're a bunch of solid dudes. Now, we're asking you guys to let us know if you'd be interested in us holding AXL. If so, we'll get the ball rolling with our first order of belts and maybe some other products they have to offer. So please let us know!
Lastly,
Thank you all again. I absolutley love dealing with all of you. It puts a smile on my face daily and I'm not just saying that. I get so much enjoyment and fulfillment from being able to help you with your builds as cheesy as it sounds. If you ever want to chat about builds, play some games (I'm currently on a Hunt Showdown and Outlast Trials kick), or life, just message me. My chat is open for all. Thank you for the support and love you all.
-Devin

Hi! I would like to share and get advice for what I've been noticing these past month. To begin I was diagnosed with Scoliosis in 2011 it was just 25+ degrees upper part of the spine from what I remember, Fast forward around July 2015 my X-Ray result revealed the upper part was now around 42 degrees and my lower part of the spine near pelvic has curve too but the doctor was too lazy to measure it and just pointed it out like it's casual. It was significantly tilted to be honest but I don't know why the doctor only focused on the upper spine curve. Today I've been having frequent lower back pain while sitting and moving around in some positions. The pain is in the spine area in the middle of my lower back. The weird thing I found out that my height decreased from 5'11 to 5'9 in just 8 months. But from what I've recall last month I measured my height was still 5'11 and this Tuesday morning I'm only 5'9. How on earth would someone shrink that fast? I started to also have fatigue. I can move around for 2 hours max and then I feel like not able to control/move my body normally, My lower back is numb aching, arms are hard to lift and my feet feels really heavy I trip a lot. I feel like laying on the bed and can't go on.
In 2011, I was 13 years old, got body brace but the doctor said I no longer need to wear them after 2 years. I can't sleep and be human wearing those, It presses the soul out of me and heavy as well.
In 2015 , I was 17, stopped wearing brace at 15. I also remember I was 5'11 at the age of 17.
Around October 2022 I still measured 5'11. I didn't grow a inch in age 17-21?
Today My height is just 5'9, lost 2 inches and lost 5KG in 6 months without even trying. What's happening to me?
Thank you in advance for advices.

[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13rv3xp/first_contacts_part_5/)
​
“Let’s introduce ourselves to the Captain of this boat!”
Nathan pushed the door control and was greeted with a flashing Yellow light, the door had already been locked down, with that, he took two steps back and levelled his pistol at the bottom left of the door, he began firing his gun, spacing the shots around the edge working his way up the left and along the top of the door, reloading after 12 shots.
Reloading was done between two boxes, when one was empty, or low, he would push it into a belt pack he was wearing, a whir from the pack indicated that it was feeding new rounds into the box and within seconds it was full again.
It took a total of 20 shots for him to reach the place he had started, Nathan reloaded his pistol once more and stepped forward with a spring and brought his right foot up to kick the door, the sound was almost as loud as the gun, the metal finally giving in to the stress and falling away.
Beyond the door were a dozen command officers and four Axarli soldiers, they were already disarmed and ready to surrender, likely as a result of watching the carnage that Nathan had already inflicted on their defence forces.
Most of the Officers were Sovereigns of the Pearls, though a couple of Euterians and a Forgol were among them. “Which one of you is the captain?” Nathan’s voice was raised to an uncomfortable level for the Sovereigns who all covered their auditory antennae, one of the Sovereigns stepped forward her hands still clasped over her antennae.
“Everyone else on the floor, face down and arms out!” Nathan’s voice was still raised but he had lowered it a little. The remaining crew complied with his command.
Nathan lowered his voice back to normal conversational level and turned to the Sovereign Captain “Captain, I understand you are taking prisoners from the surface.”
“That is correct.” The Sovereigns were not able to speak Orvangian directly, so her words issued forth from a worn translator device about her neck.
“I would like you to call your crew and have them surrender.”
“I Do not know your species, but you stand with the Federation against our might!” the Captain and her Sovereign Officers all flourished their hands and feelers in a dance-like display.
I am not sure what happened next, a pulse of electromagnetic energy hit me and my suit was instantly fried, pain shooting through my body at the same time, I found myself laying on the floor the ceiling above me decorated with the flashes of Nathan’s pistol.
Despite the repeated blasts of that handheld cannon, I couldn’t hear a sound and I could see my thoughts around me as though I had engaged in the bond with an Orvangian, I was soon floating on a warm ocean of orange light, enveloping me in its softness.
My eyes drifted closed and Purple Valuri bloomed before me, the faces of my family and the distant arches of my home rose into the sky above. I whooped and laughed like Nathan as I clung to the velvety mane of a Plains Rasil, its legs pounding the landscape into the past behind me, we rose over the hills and across the savannah of Talloral and I Roared like the Volluk on the plains of Orvang.
Dreams fell away to a burning pain as consciousness returned to me, I was in a medical bay, opening my eyes was painful, the white surfaces and bright lights making them sting as much as my chest did.
A pair of Tilik were lingering close to my bedside with relief washing over their faces, they moved back and Nathan stepped into my field of view. His face now sporting several fine slices that welled up with red “Jin! We are glad you’re awake.”
The Tilik flapped their tentacles in agreement and I heard a muffled voice in the background. With considerable pain, I pushed myself into a sitting position so I could survey our situation.
We were still aboard the Separatist ship, in a medical bay, there was a pile of equipment blocking the doors and they had been welded closed, the Euterian officers from the bridge were strapped down to one of the beds though they were unconscious, the Forgol officer was standing beside Nathan a thin trail of white bile trickling from his nasal ducts a sign of the fear and discomfort he was in as a result of having Nathans Pistol barrel so far down his throat that it was likely brushing against his oral lymph nodes.
“What happened?”
Nathan bared his teeth at me, the Forgol seeming to shrink slightly at the expression “Those bejewelled Centipede guys pulled a McClain on us, blasted us with an EMP and Frag weapons.
“I had to shoot them and the power armour guys too, it was a blood bath.
“Your space suit took most of the damage and got fried by the EMP, but you got stuck pretty good yourself. Doc here says you had 28 flechette pieces in you.” Nathan gestured to one of the Tilik.
“The Bejewelled Centipede Guys are called ‘Sovereigns of the Pearls’ and the Power armoured guys are Axarli.” My voice was a little weak but it brought Nathan’s Smile back.
“So, there’s a whole army of those Axarli guys out in the hallway now, waiting for our surrender, but my new pal here says there is a service duct that runs through the floor of this room.” Nathan patted the back of the Tilik he had called Doc earlier.
“Even if we escape this room, where would we go?” I winced and even yelped a little as I swung my legs to hang over the side of the bed.
“Well, this ship’s sensors and weapons are out at the moment, I may have devastated the bridge a bit, so I need you and Doc to go down to the Shuttle and bring it around to their Hangar bay.
“Me and Mister Tactical Officer here.” He grinned at the Forgol officer still tasting his pistol. “We go down to holding, free your fellow crew members and meet you at the light frigate they have parked in the hangar.”
It was as insane as every other plan he had come up with, yet I couldn’t shake the fact that his plans seemed to work every time so I mirrored his thumbs-up gesture to him and slid off the bed.
Gravity on this ship was about 15% lower than what I was used to, which made standing possible, but I could feel the slices of pain in my chest and legs, medication was probably the only reason I was able to move at all.
Nathan passed me the Laser Rifle again and I pointed it at ‘Doc’ but Nathan pushed my gun down, “Woah there, Doc is on board with us, he is my newest pal ok.”
The Tilik’s cybernetic translator chipped in with a slightly musical tone “I don’t want to be here either.”
Doc moved to a floor panel and lifted it away, below was a narrow catwalk surrounded by bundles of cables and pipes. Nathan turned to the second Tilik medic “Remember what I told you!” it nodded and injected itself with a sedative, slumping to the floor within moments.
Doc dropped onto the catwalk and I followed, “Good luck Nathan!”
“Same to you Jin.”
Doc began heading left along the duct, Nathan and his hostage dropped in after us and lowered the panel back in place then headed right.
Doc and I soon arrived at a service shaft, it ascended about ten decks, but it went down to the very bottom of the ship, where we were going. The wall next to the duct had a rail mesh on it and a half dozen tractor lifts were parked here, Doc configured one and stepped off the edge, it grabbed him in its tractor beam and began a swift descent, I followed suit, setting it for deck 210 and stepping into the shaft.
The little rail-mounted tractor-beam device reached Deck 210 in under a minute, it would have been an exhilarating ride if it weren’t for the danger I was in.
Doc arrived a few seconds ahead of me and was waiting on the floor of the shaft when I arrived, he lifted a wall panel off once I dismounted from my tractor lift, beyond the panel was an engineering hallway, not far from the hub where a crate of Tilik still sat.
As we walked past the crate Doc read the top, “Can we let them out now?”
“Let’s take it to the airlock, we can let them out just before we exit the ship.”
Doc hooked a lifter dolly to the crate and began pushing it along with us.
We soon reached the airlock Nathan and I had used to enter the ship, my suit was damaged from the flechette attack, and the computer systems had rebooted now but I had to patch it before we could decompress, “Do you need any protection?”
“How long will we be in the vacuum?” Tilik are all able to survive for short periods out in space, but some are augmented for longer periods.
“About 20 minutes, maybe more.”
Doc took a magnetic field generator from the airlock and attached it to his harness, it would provide additional protection from radiation, which he was going to need so near those engine cones.
Once my suit was sealed, we stepped into the airlock and I reached out to the crate to push the release, as soon as the lid popped up, I pulled back and hit the airlock controls. It only took moments for the airlock to cycle and the outer door to open.
I took the lead out into the engine spaces and made my way back to the panel that Nathan had hastily welded back into place, with the laser rifle I shot each weld and then gave it a good kick, the panel breaking loose and floating away from the hull. It occurred to me that I had never done anything like this before, this was the sort of action that Nathan would have taken, it was exactly how he had gained access to the command centre, shot the door and kicked it open.
I didn’t dwell on the thought, the engines were still hot so I clambered out followed by Doc, the Shuttle wasn’t far away so we moved as quickly as we could manage.
It wasn’t long before we were in the rear of the shuttle, “Doc, can you fly?”
“No, I am a medical specialist, but I do have some engineering training.”
“See if you can get the laser banks back online.”
Doc pulled a repair kit from the wall and began a diagnostic survey, I left him to work and glanced at the device sitting on one of the chairs here, it was clearly the black case Nathan had recovered from the Endeavour, but now it was open, the lid was raised on a framework, becoming the top of the device, I recognised what it was, though I had never seen a portable one before, it was a Fabricator, able to manufacture items from schematic diagrams, the Doradul had several of them in the engineering bays but they were large and fitted into the walls.
I stepped through into the cockpit and strapped in, I wasn’t a pilot like Nathan but I had hundreds of hours of shuttle operations time, I could only hope that the battleship’s weapons were still disabled.
The shuttle detached from the Separatist ship and I kept close to the hull, moving as quickly as I felt comfortable doing at this distance. Once we were out from among the engine cones I turned onto the dorsal surface of the battleship, its cannons were all aimed forward now, sitting in their standby positions and none reacted to my presence.
I picked up the pace as I navigated between turrets and antennae clusters, not as reckless as Nathan had been, but I was ignoring my instructor’s safety rules as it knocked a radar dish off the surface of the battleship.
We were almost at the prow of the ship where the hangar was when the laser banks came back to life, I set them to strafing auto-targeting mode, so I could shoot any Axarli in the hangar with the squeeze of a trigger.
My reckless disregard for flight safety reached its peak as I passed the prow of the battleship, making a hard roll and braking as Nathan had done, I even bared my teeth when I completed the move without crashing.
“What was that!” I heard Doc’s Translator proclaim from the rear compartment.
The Hangar ahead was open an atmospheric shield keeping it from depressurising, I could see a few deck crew and some Axarli were targeted by the shuttle’s computer.
I advanced the shuttle through the shield so the weapons fire would not evacuate the atmosphere, the sudden shift from zero-G to the downward pull of the hangar’s gravity forced the shuttle’s nose thrusters to fire and shook the shuttle. As soon as we were through the shield I pressed the trigger and the shuttles laser bank began to fire, deck crew scattered to shelter while Axarli troops began to return fire.
There was plenty of space in the hangar, the Light Frigate stood like a tower on the Port side allowing me to make evasive moves and even take cover. It didn’t take long before the hangar deck was largely clear, even the Axarli had retreated into the surrounding hallways and rooms to avoid being incinerated by the shuttle’s laser.
After they withdrew I had little to do but hover and wait for Nathan to arrive, Doc came into the cockpit once we had stopped firing “What now?”
“Until Nathan and my crew arrive there is not much we can do.” The Tilik had sided with the Separatists back during the war and Doc deciding to join us was beginning to bother me, why would he sign up for fleet duty only to abandon it?
“Doc, why are you here?”
He looked slightly puzzled at my question, “You mean why did I decide to join you and Nathan?”
“Yes, why would you sign up for fleet service in the Separatist army only to abandon your post now.”
“I didn’t sign up, you know we share our home planet with the Norold.”
I gave an affirmative gesture.
“Well since the Separatist council decided to rebuild the fleet they needed crews, and the Norold were quick to support the new fleet, they decided that every family of Norold and Tilik would provide one person for the fleet forces.
“This was easy for them, they have families of dozens each, but Tilik families are usually no more than five to eight, so to protect my family from reprisals and my mother from forced service I stepped in to replace her.”
Doc deflated in the co-pilot’s chair, I was aware that the Tilik were very peaceful before the Separatist war, many believed that they were not enthusiastic supporters of the Separatists, especially since the planet Ghoat was still a member of the federation despite being a Tilik colony.
“So, you figure that the Separatist fleet will write you off as a casualty now and your family will be safe.”
“Exactly, the Euterian Officers don’t know I am siding with you, my colleague understands and promised to keep it secret, the Fleet will compensate my family and send condolences.”
Through the window of the shuttle, I saw weapons fire again, a group of Axarli backing out of their cover position and under fire from a combination of Plasma Fire and the unmistakable streaks of white thunder that Nathan’s pistol issued forth.
I opened fire again, clearing away the Axarli that had broken cover, moments later Nathan emerged with twenty of the Doradul’s Crew and one Forgol captive, they were using Axarli sidearms and seemed to be carrying makeshift shields.
Axarli in other covered positions began firing on them so I lowered the shuttle and fired back, Nathan pushed his team toward the frigate and up the gangway.
I moved the shuttle to cover them as much as possible, taking dozens of hits from plasma casters, their rifles were not going to fell the shuttle quickly but the damage was already mounting up, soon my laser bank was down again and moments later navigation followed.
“Jin, we are about to launch.” Buddy’s voice sounded over my suit’s com system.
“OK, I am right behind you, I will need to dock soon, my navigation is out.” As soon as I finished speaking, my Warp drive went offline as well.
The Frigate began to ascend moments later, I turned and pushed out ahead of it escaping the weapons fire before anything else went down. The frigate soon followed and once it was clear of the battleship’s hangar its shuttle bay door rolled open and launched the emergency shuttle that was blocking my path.
The moment the bay was clear I manoeuvred into it, the frigate’s tractor beams bringing me to a safe landing, the bay doors closed and the ship jumped to warp moments later.
Doc and I disembarked from the shuttle and took the elevator to the bridge, there were a half dozen members of the Doradul crew here, manning stations. All but one were auxiliary bridge crew, ones that would take night shifts, the only member of the primary crew here was the Secondary Ops Officer, he and I shared the same rank, though he was technically my superior.
In the pilot’s seat was Nathan grinning his toothy grin at me, “Welcome to the Endeavour 2.”
[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13rv3xp/first_contacts_part_5/)
(I am running a little behind on writing this last couple of weeks so there may be a missed week in the near future, I will do my best to prevent that, but be warned.)

I've been a fan of trap/rap since 2018 but never got into Juice WRLD. Whenever I went to give his music a chance, I'd listen to Lucid Dreams and for some reason it never hit for me so I never dived into his catalogue. My best friend (who has a very similar music taste to me) has been crazy into Juice since 2021 or so and was always trying to get me into him but it never clicked with me. I even remember when Juice died and thinking it was tragic but it didn't affect me much as I wasn't into him much, I only heard the song Bandit at that stage and thought it was pretty bangin.
Around late March this year, my friend mentioned above sent me Relocate which I digged on first listen so this led me to SoundCloud where I found DRFL and decided to throw it on from the start for shits n giggles. After the first 5 tracks or so, I went back to listen to Empty again as I liked it a lot on first listen. It was at this time when my obsession begins. Ever since that day where I threw on DRFL, I have been enthralled in the world of Juice WRLD. Obsessed is too small a word, I've listened every day since to the point where nearly all other music genres were irrelevant to me (and I'm into a lot of different kinds of music). His flow, lyrics, melodies & harmonies were all just amazing - really blew me away. It was almost overwhelming how good his music is.
So me and my friend were both (and still are) obsessed with Juice so he was all we talked about and listened to when we hung out and smoked weed. Just talked about his music, watched his music videos and his freestyles which were a whole nother level to his talent. At first, I was so mind blown watching him free style for 1hr on Westwood. He really is the freestyle and deservedly so.
At this point, I haven't even stepped foot into GBGR apart from the main hits like Lean With Me or All Girls. I read a Reddit comment that said something like "DRFL has some misses whereas GBGR is all bangers" so I was like 'damn, I need to check out the rest of this album'. I listened from I'll Be Fine onwards and fuck me, every track has a different vibe, beautiful melodies and deep ass lyrics. Scared Of Love and I'm Still are two of my favs still. He goes so hard and puts so much emotion into his lyrics it's very different to how other rappers approach music I feel. GBGR is honestly one of the best albums I've come across in my life (extremely unpopular opinion here, I know, but Luicd Dreams is my least favourite track on the album - still hasn't hit to this day and I've given it many a chances, sorrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy)
Then there are the unreleased tracks where there is just this whole other WRLD of gold to come across, it really is neverending. I read that there are up to 3,000 unreleased Juice WRLD tracks which is hard to comprehend how much music that actually is. I come across new unreleased Juice tracks everyday most of which I end up loving and playing in the car all the time. There is a Juice track for every mood you're in. The fact that nearly all of his lyrics are freestyled makes it all the most fascinating. Some of my favourite unreleased tracks gotta be Friends Die, 2019 my year, Journey, Animal, Rental, K like a Russian, On the regular, arctic tundra, Floor it, Maserati and so so so so many more. The list just never ends, it's insane.
I think what drew me into Juice the most was how he did all of this and achieved an unbelievable amount all by the time he turned 21. Not only that, but with nearly all of his lyrics being about his drug use and how he struggles with his mental health and that he ended up dying due to his drug addiction is just so so sad. It seems like he's struggled bad with drugs since his early teen years, especially since he's been doing percocets for so long it'd seem almost impossible, from his point of view, to ever get off of them - from what I've heard, opioid addiction is one of the hardest things to overcome. They just consume your whole life. I remember watching that TV series Dopesick which is about the opioid epidemic in America back in the 90's and the struggles people went through when they got hooked on opioids was devastating to watch.
There is just this aura around Juice and his music, it's almost like he knew his time was short. He knew his drug addiction was killing him and that one day he could end up overdosing or dying in his sleep but he was so wrapped up in his addiction and the lifestyle he was living that he probably felt helpless and felt there was nothing he could do about it. I'm just glad he was able to do what he loved through it all and create all of the music that he did. So much of his lyrics are warning signs and cries for help, it's just tragic he couldn't get the help he needed in time. Lyrics where he mentions his mother like in Feeling "I told my mama I'm here to stay no she won't catch me dead" or in Syphilis "I can't go out like that, ain't tryna make my mama cry" is just heartbreaking considering what ended up happening.
I know I'm a new Juice WRLD fan (only 2 months now lol) but safe to say he is up there with one of my all time favourites now, I only wish I got into him sooner but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. He is just a different being who had immense talent and potential. I will listen to him for the rest of my days (I'm only 25, I can imagine myself still listening in my 60's). His music will live on forever and he will go down in history as an absolute legend.
Just wanted to share this. Share what you think below. Sorry if I got anything wrong in the above. Big love to you all.
RIP Jared Anthony Higgins
#LLJW

"Welcome one and welcome all to the 528th quadrennial summer Olympics! This has to be the most exciting day we have seen in the history of competitive sports."
"That's exactly right because this is only the second time in human history that the Olympics will be held off earth, and the first time that they are being held interstellar."
"Four years ago, some summer Olympics were held on Mars, but with the restriction to gravity, and some issues regarding respiration. However, after an agreement with the Galactic Assembly. The Rundi delegation has graciously offered to host the 4020 summer Olympics."
"And hosted they have. This stadium was built in under four years with consultations from human architects and with the original classic style of greek and roman architecture in mind. The Rundi really do know how to make a beautiful building when they want."
"This is honestly what the universe really needed after these last hard few years, with the Burg war, and the Gromm outbreak, and the Tesraki earthquake, a lot of people were just ready and waiting for some good news. Not to mention that after all of the issues with the LFIL and poor PR for humans across the galaxy, we all really needed a break."
"And what better PR than to share one of the greatest cultural achievements of human history? Historically the Olympics have been a time where countries set aside their differences and come together to show off their best athletes in competitions of human skill, fortitude, and perseverance. Now, for those non-human watchers, the Olympics were originally established in Ancient Greece. The word Olympics derives from the word Olympus which was the historical home of the Greek gods. Anyone who competes in the games is called an Olympian giving the implication that their feats of strength and power are almost godlike."
"Not to mention they originally required the participants to compete in the nude."
"Ha! Yes, let us not forget that. Luckily, or unluckily for us, things have been a bit more modernized since then, and men and women from around the universe will begin their competitions today. Today will be the first Olympics in history with representatives from interstellar colonies all across the Milky Way galaxy."
"Beginning in the next four years, Olympic officials hope to open the games up to non-human species for competition."
"Yes, officials say that it would be an opportunity for humanity to reach out a hand of peace and offer this great tradition of peace to the rest of the galaxy in hopes of fostering cooperation and understanding between all who live in the universe."
"That will be a great day indeed, and look here comes the Olympic torch, carried by none other than commander Adam Vir of the UNSC, Earth's golden boy."
"The Olympic torch had an intense journey this year, lit in Olympic greece and carried all across Earth, to where it was secured to be transported on the UNSC harbinger. Now it took some work as UNSC regulations do not allow open flames aboard an interstellar transport, but with some work from some fine engineers and a bit of finagling, the torch was secured lit but burning low in a specialized sealed, and climate controlled compartment during the duration of the flight. Oh, and here he goes, handing of the torch. This will be the first time in human history that a non-human has carried the torch and lit the cauldron. They debated long and hard about who would light it this year, and as a symbol of good will towards the rest of the galaxy, and to usher in a new age of the Olympic Games, the torch has been passed to the chairwoman of the Galactic Assembly."
"You know it really warms my heart to see us humans sharing such a rich part of our culture and history with the rest of the galaxy. It really is a symbol of everything we stand for at our core."
"And there she goes. IT'S LIT IT'S LIT!"
"A truly amazing day for humanity, the world, the galaxy and the universe!"
And truly amazing it was!
The galaxy had never seen anything like it.
Humans from all around the galaxy had come together and were determined to astound the watching crowds with feats of acrobatics and athletics, so intense, it would be unbelievable to anyone who watched, human and nonhuman alike.
In those days ahead, the galaxy watched with its jaw wide, as one man broke the world, now universe record, for fastest human sprint at 29 miles per hour (47 km/h). Facts and figures put up on screens above the heads of the crowd gave info’s about the human body, to put into perspective just how powerful these athletes were, as olympic sprinters put their muscles under pressure equivalent to 1,000 pounds (453kg) of force in a single sprinting step.
They watched in awe and confusion as a tiny Olympic gymnast, no older than sixteen, cleared more than twice her body height in a double air rotation, defying the laws of physics and gravity as she hung suspended in the air, for what seemed like an impossible amount of time.
Eyes were wide and jaws had to be picked up off the floor, as a young human from earth cleared the pole-vaulting record, launching himself into the sky at 20 feet 3.⅕ inches (6,2m).
Feats of balance and strength, never before seen in the galaxy, were demonstrated as those same young adults demonstrated flips, cartwheels and feats of acrobatics on beams barely wider than the width of their feet. Gasps rose from the assembled alien crowd as a dismount brought one young woman off the beam at least three full rotations before landing.
There was no way that she could have known where she was going to hit.
But the announcers had been right, these humans had an almost godlike control of their bodies and some strange ability to know where they were in space at the optimal moment rotating on a single bar, or between two, flipping themselves around and around in ways that would have made others feel dizzy, only to land smiling a moment later their hands raised into the air in triumph.
And then came the marathon, the event that aliens had heard about, but never thought possible, preformed for the first time on a fiery death planet by a one legged, one eyed space captain in his boxer shorts in a little over four hours. The feat itself seemed unbelievable as a story, but when a young woman from a distant space colony preformed the marathon in a record breaking 2:22:53. Less than two and a half hours required her to be running at speeds of almost ten miles per hour (16km/h) for two full hours.
The stadium could not believe their ears when they had heard what she had done. Alien race officials watched her run through cameras, to make sure that the feat was really true.
But it was true, it was all true.
They could not believe their eyes.
Even in the water, humans could not be matched, pushing bodies that were not meant for swimming to speeds that could compete with one or two species running.
They put their bodies under strain so powerful it should have torn muscle and snapped bone, but when they came up smiling and grinning and waving to the crowd, all the stadium could do was to contain their excitement.
And when that wasn't enough, humans started adding obstacles to their events.
What was better than a hundred-meter sprint?
A hundred-meter sprint with obstacles you had to jump over!
At an average of 12.5 seconds, participants were reaching speeds of almost seventeen miles per hour (27km/h), as fast as car speeds within city limits.
If any of the humans had crashed, they would surely hurt themselves horribly in the process.
And the crowd absolutely loved it.
Nothing was better than watching the humans lift heavy objects, throw pointy sticks, or even leap to great vertical heights, sometimes throwing their legs higher than their own heads, which seemed impossible for aliens who had spent most of their time with average humans, if they had spent time with humans at all.
Regular humans couldn't do that!
So, what insane kind of humans were these!?
How did a human knew to release the weighted metal disk when they were spinning around so fast, and what made them decide to throw the weight of their entire body into a kinetic linkage of angular momentum that would send the metal disk nearly two hundred feet in the opposing direction?
It was the most viewed Olympics in the history of the event. Aliens watched to see the humans perform, and the humans watched to see the alien's reaction to the other humans preforming.
The Rundi home world grossed trillions of dollars, which expanded the universe's economy to soaring heights.
Tesraki capitalized on the idea, holding even more events for humans to compete in, even after the Olympics were over. From then on, alien planets would beg humans to come hold their games and competitions on their planet, didn't matter what it was… Soccer, football, baseball, you could be sure the rest of the galaxy was interested in seeing it.
The entire universe was giddy with the feats of strength and ability which had been demonstrated in those intervening days.
Humans, who only fell prey to praise once every four years, suddenly found themselves famous on distant moons, completely by accident. They all had alien companies begging them to endorse products they had never even heard of.
It was such a violent economic upturn, no one knew how to handle it.
There were those, of course, who realized something very different about humanity on those days…
They had met your average human, the lazy kind that likes to sit in comfy nests, watch TV and imbibe on excessive amounts of glucose. They had even met the average human who threw in some daily workout routine, so at least they could control their love handles.
Your average human scared them with what they could do, without even thinking.
But what did this mean?
It meant that it was very important to allow humans to nerf themselves, because if anyone ever convinced humanity as a hole what they could be if ninety percent of the population were at peak human performance...
Well…
It was simply better to keep the humans well-fed and sleepy.
Maybe then the universe would stand a chance…
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
And once again the human craze takes over the whole galaxy!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
"Welcome one and welcome all to the 528th quadrennial summer Olympics! This has to be the most exciting day we have seen in the history of competitive sports."
"That's exactly right because this is only the second time in human history that the Olympics will be held off earth, and the first time that they are being held interstellar."
"Four years ago, some summer Olympics were held on Mars, but with the restriction to gravity, and some issues regarding respiration. However, after an agreement with the Galactic Assembly. The Rundi delegation has graciously offered to host the 4020 summer Olympics."
"And hosted they have. This stadium was built in under four years with consultations from human architects and with the original classic style of greek and roman architecture in mind. The Rundi really do know how to make a beautiful building when they want."
"This is honestly what the universe really needed after these last hard few years, with the Burg war, and the Gromm outbreak, and the Tesraki earthquake, a lot of people were just ready and waiting for some good news. Not to mention that after all of the issues with the LFIL and poor PR for humans across the galaxy, we all really needed a break."
"And what better PR than to share one of the greatest cultural achievements of human history? Historically the Olympics have been a time where countries set aside their differences and come together to show off their best athletes in competitions of human skill, fortitude, and perseverance. Now, for those non-human watchers, the Olympics were originally established in Ancient Greece. The word Olympics derives from the word Olympus which was the historical home of the Greek gods. Anyone who competes in the games is called an Olympian giving the implication that their feats of strength and power are almost godlike."
"Not to mention they originally required the participants to compete in the nude."
"Ha! Yes, let us not forget that. Luckily, or unluckily for us, things have been a bit more modernized since then, and men and women from around the universe will begin their competitions today. Today will be the first Olympics in history with representatives from interstellar colonies all across the Milky Way galaxy."
"Beginning in the next four years, Olympic officials hope to open the games up to non-human species for competition."
"Yes, officials say that it would be an opportunity for humanity to reach out a hand of peace and offer this great tradition of peace to the rest of the galaxy in hopes of fostering cooperation and understanding between all who live in the universe."
"That will be a great day indeed, and look here comes the Olympic torch, carried by none other than commander Adam Vir of the UNSC, Earth's golden boy."
"The Olympic torch had an intense journey this year, lit in Olympic greece and carried all across Earth, to where it was secured to be transported on the UNSC harbinger. Now it took some work as UNSC regulations do not allow open flames aboard an interstellar transport, but with some work from some fine engineers and a bit of finagling, the torch was secured lit but burning low in a specialized sealed, and climate controlled compartment during the duration of the flight. Oh, and here he goes, handing of the torch. This will be the first time in human history that a non-human has carried the torch and lit the cauldron. They debated long and hard about who would light it this year, and as a symbol of good will towards the rest of the galaxy, and to usher in a new age of the Olympic Games, the torch has been passed to the chairwoman of the Galactic Assembly."
"You know it really warms my heart to see us humans sharing such a rich part of our culture and history with the rest of the galaxy. It really is a symbol of everything we stand for at our core."
"And there she goes. IT'S LIT IT'S LIT!"
"A truly amazing day for humanity, the world, the galaxy and the universe!"
And truly amazing it was!
The galaxy had never seen anything like it.
Humans from all around the galaxy had come together and were determined to astound the watching crowds with feats of acrobatics and athletics, so intense, it would be unbelievable to anyone who watched, human and nonhuman alike.
In those days ahead, the galaxy watched with its jaw wide, as one man broke the world, now universe record, for fastest human sprint at 29 miles per hour (47 km/h). Facts and figures put up on screens above the heads of the crowd gave info’s about the human body, to put into perspective just how powerful these athletes were, as olympic sprinters put their muscles under pressure equivalent to 1,000 pounds (453kg) of force in a single sprinting step.
They watched in awe and confusion as a tiny Olympic gymnast, no older than sixteen, cleared more than twice her body height in a double air rotation, defying the laws of physics and gravity as she hung suspended in the air, for what seemed like an impossible amount of time.
Eyes were wide and jaws had to be picked up off the floor, as a young human from earth cleared the pole-vaulting record, launching himself into the sky at 20 feet 3.⅕ inches (6,2m).
Feats of balance and strength, never before seen in the galaxy, were demonstrated as those same young adults demonstrated flips, cartwheels and feats of acrobatics on beams barely wider than the width of their feet. Gasps rose from the assembled alien crowd as a dismount brought one young woman off the beam at least three full rotations before landing.
There was no way that she could have known where she was going to hit.
But the announcers had been right, these humans had an almost godlike control of their bodies and some strange ability to know where they were in space at the optimal moment rotating on a single bar, or between two, flipping themselves around and around in ways that would have made others feel dizzy, only to land smiling a moment later their hands raised into the air in triumph.
And then came the marathon, the event that aliens had heard about, but never thought possible, preformed for the first time on a fiery death planet by a one legged, one eyed space captain in his boxer shorts in a little over four hours. The feat itself seemed unbelievable as a story, but when a young woman from a distant space colony preformed the marathon in a record breaking 2:22:53. Less than two and a half hours required her to be running at speeds of almost ten miles per hour (16km/h) for two full hours.
The stadium could not believe their ears when they had heard what she had done. Alien race officials watched her run through cameras, to make sure that the feat was really true.
But it was true, it was all true.
They could not believe their eyes.
Even in the water, humans could not be matched, pushing bodies that were not meant for swimming to speeds that could compete with one or two species running.
They put their bodies under strain so powerful it should have torn muscle and snapped bone, but when they came up smiling and grinning and waving to the crowd, all the stadium could do was to contain their excitement.
And when that wasn't enough, humans started adding obstacles to their events.
What was better than a hundred-meter sprint?
A hundred-meter sprint with obstacles you had to jump over!
At an average of 12.5 seconds, participants were reaching speeds of almost seventeen miles per hour (27km/h), as fast as car speeds within city limits.
If any of the humans had crashed, they would surely hurt themselves horribly in the process.
And the crowd absolutely loved it.
Nothing was better than watching the humans lift heavy objects, throw pointy sticks, or even leap to great vertical heights, sometimes throwing their legs higher than their own heads, which seemed impossible for aliens who had spent most of their time with average humans, if they had spent time with humans at all.
Regular humans couldn't do that!
So, what insane kind of humans were these!?
How did a human knew to release the weighted metal disk when they were spinning around so fast, and what made them decide to throw the weight of their entire body into a kinetic linkage of angular momentum that would send the metal disk nearly two hundred feet in the opposing direction?
It was the most viewed Olympics in the history of the event. Aliens watched to see the humans perform, and the humans watched to see the alien's reaction to the other humans preforming.
The Rundi home world grossed trillions of dollars, which expanded the universe's economy to soaring heights.
Tesraki capitalized on the idea, holding even more events for humans to compete in, even after the Olympics were over. From then on, alien planets would beg humans to come hold their games and competitions on their planet, didn't matter what it was… Soccer, football, baseball, you could be sure the rest of the galaxy was interested in seeing it.
The entire universe was giddy with the feats of strength and ability which had been demonstrated in those intervening days.
Humans, who only fell prey to praise once every four years, suddenly found themselves famous on distant moons, completely by accident. They all had alien companies begging them to endorse products they had never even heard of.
It was such a violent economic upturn, no one knew how to handle it.
There were those, of course, who realized something very different about humanity on those days…
They had met your average human, the lazy kind that likes to sit in comfy nests, watch TV and imbibe on excessive amounts of glucose. They had even met the average human who threw in some daily workout routine, so at least they could control their love handles.
Your average human scared them with what they could do, without even thinking.
But what did this mean?
It meant that it was very important to allow humans to nerf themselves, because if anyone ever convinced humanity as a hole what they could be if ninety percent of the population were at peak human performance...
Well…
It was simply better to keep the humans well-fed and sleepy.
Maybe then the universe would stand a chance…
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

TL;DR: Expat relative (first time buyer) wants to sign up to new build flat with property management company that rents out with AirBnB. Is this a terrible idea?
Hi,
I'm looking for some straight advice to give to a close family member who is about to pull the trigger on something I think is potentially a bad idea.
For context, they currently live/work overseas earning good money but will likely be moving back to the UK in a year or so.
They have been speaking to a property company in Manchester who essentially arrange the purchase of a new build apartment (currently under construction), then once complete rent it out with AirBnB and manage the whole thing for you (obviously taking fees in the process). This all appeals to my relative who likes the idea of the whole thing being 'hands off', and despite knowing that they'll pay over the odds for what they're getting, sees it as a long term investment that will mean they have a flat paid off by retirement age. They are not looking at this as short term income and are aware that should their be any rental voids, they will have to cover the mortgage from their own pocket, which they can afford. It's worth noting they have never owned a property before.
I am not a landlord and never have been, but have read enough online the past few years to feel that becoming a new landlord these days, particularly with just one property, is not anywhere near as advantageous or advisable as it used to be.
I have tried to dissuade my (somewhat stubborn) relative against the idea for the following reasons, but they have a tendency to not always listen to what might be best for them:

• They'd likely be better off accumulating their cash abroad, then investing in index funds inside an ISA/SIPP/GIA on their return.
  
• They'd need to consider the tax liability of such an arrangement, i.e. What income tax they might need to pay on the rental income
  
• Additional stamp duty they'd need to pay on this type of property
  
• Mortgage Rates - interest rates are rising which means so are mortgage rates (especially BTL/Holiday Let rates) and no doubt being an expat would mean even less preferencial rates
  
• Property prices could drop - some argue this never happens over the long term, but we're supposedly on the verge of a recession which normally means only one thing for property prices in the near term
  
• Potential rental voids
  
• Maintenance costs
  

There are likely more considerations, but essentially, the whole thing seems massively risky to me and I've advised my relative to at least hold off from the idea until they return to the UK, if not altogether.
Am I right in my thinking? Can anyone give additional reasons why this is a bad/good idea? I appreciate I am providing no numbers here but for the sake of argument, assume that the AirBnB income would generally cover the mortgage each month. It's more the general principles and potential pitfalls/benefits that I'm looking for.

<< Previous Index Next >> (ToC at Chapter 1)
(Original, Contemporary MC in supernatural setting, Magic, Afterlives, Souls)
Schedule: New chapters every Monday and Thursday.

Chapter 8

People became more active and gathered at the building to the left of the Pillar. It didn't look dangerous or too heated, so I joined them.
A young woman was standing on the steps of what could've once been a temple. She was young and had straight black hair and plain, neutral features.
She was standing on the steps, hands pressed together in prayer, her eyes closed, softly carrying a high note in an imitation of a choir, bathed in the pervasive supernatural white light of the place. It looked like a picturesque scene out of a fairy tale. But unfortunately, the illusion was broken by her attire. She didn't wear footwear and was grabbed in a mishmash of gray sweatpants and a cashier's blue vest. It was surreal.
"What is she doing?" I asked an old lady standing nearby.
"Hell, if I know," she spat. "People going crazier by the hour."
I continued to watch with interest. Heck, I expected people to start praying to God and losing their minds much sooner than this. Where were all the hardcore Christian wackos Moeta was so famous for? Where were the cries to repent or face the rupture?
Another girl came up from behind the singer. She was shorter and had red hair. She was carrying something smoldering in her hands, moving in nervous jerky moves, her face red with embarrassment.
The crowd responded with chuckles and jeers.
She made three circles around the singer, tripping slightly on the steps, then held her hands above the brunette's head and let the smoke cascade on her in a waterfall.
The singing girl let the melody slowly die out and then started to pace on the temple's steps while her helper retreated inside.
"We humbly thank the Goddess for the new day and ask her for the strength to bear the difficulties it will bring," she said in a clear preachy tone.
I wasn't the only one that looked around in confusion. What could indicate this new day? The surroundings were unchanged, nobody wore a watch, and there wasn't the slightest sign of sunlight. If she was starting a cult, telling a bunch of confused people what day it was, and being the only authority on the matter was not a bad idea on her part. I could smell the brewing con from a mile away.
I made a mental note to ask about this Goddess if I ever needed anything from her. Preachy people love to talk about their imaginary friends.
On second thought, I should add divine intervention to the list of possible explanations for the situation.
Meanwhile, the preacher transitioned from the impromptu ceremony right into a presentation.
"At this point, everyone here is aware of the dangers posed to us by the ghouls," she presented. "Many must have noticed that we are no longer able to sleep and fully rest and restore our spiritual energy."
The crowd's response was muted. Everyone was waiting for her to continue.
"Here At the Western Temple, we extend a warm welcome to all. We provide Healing and Restoration in exchange for the ghoul bodies."
It looked like she was also calling the cardinal directions now and selling snake oil.
This proclamation was met with incredulous cries from the assembled people.
She waved in someone from the crowd. Then, several seconds later, she tried again more impatiently.
The familiar hulking form of Victor grudgingly made his way towards her, stepping slower than necessary.
He faced the crowd and cleared his throat, waiting for the noise to die.
"Yeah, she fixed me up real good," he showed his hands and ruined clothes with what appeared to be unbroken skin, even patting it firmly several times to show that he was unhurt. "And I do feel rested like I had a good night's sleep, so she ain't lying about that."
The crowd exploded at the impossible admission, demanding more proof or calling them liars. Victor's words were enough for some as they shouted and appealed for her miraculous healing.
She lifted her chin smugly at his admission.
"I'm assembling a group to hunt those things—those ghouls," Victor sounded the world in distaste. "If you wanna join, come find me, and we'll discuss it," he finished resolutely and moved back down the steps.
"As I was saying," she continued her spiel. "Taking care of the ghouls will help all of us, but I will need their bodies to treat you," she made a sad expression that rang false to me. "Without it, I won't be able to help. As much as I would like to do that."
Officer Douglas finally deigned to join the masses. A group of followers surrounded him.
"No going on unauthorized hunts. I don't wanna hear about it," he shouted. "We need to work together and keep building the ramp. If anyone is rearing for a fight, they can stand on guard duty and help everyone here."
He angrily stomped to the girl, and they started arguing, their words inaudible over the ruckus of the crowd.

***

I looked for Victor's recognizable workwear through the crowd and caught up to him.
"Hey Victor, wait up," I called.
"Ah," he recognized me, trying to recall my name.
"It's Nate," I supplied, remembering I didn't introduce myself.
"What did ya think of the show, Nate?" He asked conversely.
"Got me interested," I answered truthfully. "Did she really heal you?"
"I think I'm gonna get that question a lot," he smirked. "Yeah, she did."
He shimmied out of the upper half of his overalls and lowered it to his waist, tying the sleeves around himself in a makeshift belt. The white shirt that was visible now was dirty—brown in places where the blood dried up. He put a finger through the tears in the fabric and moved it around, demonstrating the harm. His skin, on the other hand, was unblemished. Not even a red mark or a scar remained.
I could see Kenny coming up from the side, joining our conversation.
Was he healed the same way my tooth was removed, Kenny's eyesight, and our skin? I could barely believe it, even though it was staring me in the face. I had seen his wounds before, and they were real. And now I saw him healed—and that was also real. Both facts could barely coexist at the same time in my mind.
"How did it happen?" I asked in awe. "How did she do it?"
It was real. This was it. The advantage I was looking for. Even if it doesn't get me closer to understanding where we were or how we got here, she must have found something that enabled her to understand and use the rules this place was operating under.
The cheat codes.
"I don't know," Victor shrugged his shoulders. "She just did."
"But can you describe it?" I pressed. "In detail? What did she say or do? How long did it take?"
"Well..." Victor delayed, "She said she was a witch."
"A witch?" I repeated after him. I looked at Kenny. Was I hearing it right?
"People wanted to lynch a guy because he was Mexican, and she's openly calling herself a witch now?"
"Yeah, well, I don't care if she calls herself a leprechaun," Victor retorted. "As long as we can work together, and I need her, she can call herself whatever she wants."
"That's... brave of her," I hedged.
I believe Kenny intuited by now my stance on this kind of bravery.
"Yeah, so she told me that they took my ghoul, and she wanted to offer me her healing," he continued. "I thought she was a nurse or something. I didn't think she meant thoughts and prayers," he joked.
"I came with her to her temple, we talked for a bit, then she put her hands on me and prayed or cast a spell or something, and I was all healed up. Wasn't even tired no more, like I never missed a night's sleep."
"What did you talk about?" Kenny piped in for the first time.
"She asked me if I am willing to receive a blessing," he recounted. "Ahem. If I would 'receive a blessing to heal my body and mind,'" He sounded awkward as he recited it. "I wanted to go out right there, but she told me it was the only thing required of me, and we would be done in a minute," he defended.
He looked even more embarrassed.
"She spat on her hand and used it to draw on me." He pointed to his chest near the tears in his shirt. "It was this symbol, the one that looks like a cross. The Egyptian one, with the loop."
"An Ankh?" Kenny supplied.
"Yeah, sure, one of those," Victor agreed. "Then she leaned in, whispered to the symbol, and I couldn't hear what she was saying," he thought for a moment. "It looked crazy, but it's a good thing I didn't bolt. Just like that, it worked," he snapped his fingers.
"So, some magical spit, and a symbol, that's it?" I asked.
"It was in the temple, required consent, Ankh with spit and blood, then touch and some words," Kenny reiterated dutifully.
He was much better than me accepting all of this mumbo jumbo, but if it works, I need it to work for me. So I needed to take everything seriously, even the ridiculous parts.
I didn't care how impossible it was; I was going to make use of whatever dream logic governed this place.
"How long was it?" I asked.
"She didn't lie when she told me it would only take a minute. It really was that fast," Victor said.
I shook my head in disbelief. It takes weeks for something like this to heal and months or years for the scars to fade. If they ever do. The impossibilities kept mounting.
"Was she holding anything?" I tried to rack my brain. "A wand?"
"No, nothing I could see," he replied.
"What about the Goddess?" Kenny asked. "Did she say anything about that?"
"I don't think so," Victor tried to remember. "I think she said there were three Goddesses, but I don't remember her saying any names."
Victor looked thoughtful.
"She did just say that she needs the ghouls to do it, but I didn't see her near the thing. It wasn't anywhere I could see it." Victor said.
"Thank you, Victor," I said sincerely, turning to walk away. "I'll return the favor."
He just waved it away, mumbling something about it not being of any good to me.
We had to test it as soon as possible. How long could we go without sleep? Days, probably. While I didn't feel hungry or physically weakened, I did feel the first signs of sleep deprivation. So I had to try taking care of it without going out, risking my life just for some make-believe witch to claim the spoils.

Here is the most important information, and related articles, from this article.
Published on 2023-05-31 at 06:28, this article is written by gareth hutchens and rhiana whitson and published by abc news. (7 minutes)
Save 7 minutes of reading with this summary:

"The way that this ends up fixing itself, unfortunately, is through higher housing prices and higher rents," Dr Lowe said. Dr Lowe said the RBA was lifting interest rates to dampen inflation, and inflation was coming down in important areas of the economy, but higher rates were unfortunately driving rents higher, and that was feeding inflation in other areas of the economy. He said it was a problem because rents were the "single largest" component of the consumer price index (CPI), and the RBA expected growth in rents to be about 10 per cent this year and to remain elevated for some time. "We're going to have 2 per cent more people in the country this year, [but] the capital stock is not increasing by 2 per cent," he said. The ABS said the annual pace of headline inflation picked up in April, from 6.3 per cent to 6.8 per cent, driven by higher housing costs and petrol prices. It said food products (+11.7 per cent) was the main contributor to the annual increase in that component of the CPI, followed by bread and cereal products (+11.4 per cent) and dairy and related products (+14.5 per cent). David Bassanese, the chief economist of BetaShares, said digging below the ABS's headline inflation data, it still seemed like the recent disinflationary trend in Australia was intact, so the RBA might have a bit more time up its sleeve before it felt compelled to lift rates again. "That said, there is a growing risk of at least one and possibly two further rate rises in coming months, especially if the resilience in the United States economy — and its own stubborn inflation pressures — forces the US Federal Reserve to embark on further monetary tightening," he said.

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TL;DR: Expat relative (first time buyer) wants to sign up to new build flat with property management company that rents out with AirBnB. Is this a terrible idea?
Hi,
I'm looking for some straight advice to give to a close family member who is about to pull the trigger on something I think is potentially a bad idea.
For context, they currently live/work overseas earning good money but will likely be moving back to the UK in a year or so.
They have been speaking to a property company in Manchester who essentially arrange the purchase of a new build apartment (currently under construction), then once complete rent it out with AirBnB and manage the whole thing for you (obviously taking fees in the process). This all appeals to my relative who likes the idea of the whole thing being 'hands off', and despite knowing that they'll pay over the odds for what they're getting, sees it as a long term investment that will mean they have a flat paid off by retirement age. They are not looking at this as short term income and are aware that should their be any rental voids, they will have to cover the mortgage from their own pocket, which they can afford. It's worth noting they have never owned a property before.
I am not a landlord and never have been, but have read enough online the past few years (including in this forum) to feel that becoming a new landlord these days, particularly with just one property, is not anywhere near as advantageous or advisable as it used to be.
I have tried to dissuade my (somewhat stubborn) relative against the idea for the following reasons, but they have a tendency to not always listen to what might be best for them:

• They'd be better off accumulating their cash abroad, then investing in index funds inside an ISA/SIPP/GIA on their return.
  
• They'd need to consider the tax liability of such an arrangement, i.e. What income tax they might need to pay on the rental income
  
• Additional stamp duty they'd need to pay on this type of property
  
• Mortgage Rates - interest rates are rising which means so are mortgage rates (especially BTL/Holiday Let rates) and no doubt being an expat would mean even less preferencial rates
  
• Property prices could drop - some argue this never happens over the long term, but we're supposedly on the verge of a recession which normally means only one thing for property prices in the near term
  
• Potential rental voids
  
• Maintenance costs
  

There are likely more considerations, but essentially, the whole thing seems massively risky to me and I've advised my relative to at least hold off from the idea until they return to the UK, if not altogether.
Am I right in my thinking? Can anyone give additional reasons why this is a bad/good idea? I appreciate I am providing no numbers here but for the sake of argument, assume that the AirBnB income would generally cover the mortgage each month. It's more the general principles and potential pitfalls that I'm looking for.

I think the Bike Rental system in Cardiff needs to be shutdown:

• Its unreliable as a form of commuting across the city - Where I think I could need a bike to take me somewhere, they are never available. The location of the stands means that in most cases I can only use it for part of the journey. You can forget about it on a nice sunny day.
• The bikes are difficult to use of in some cases dangerous - I remember I used a bike rental in another city. I was cycling up a small hill and was pedalling hard, unfortunately the gears were in a bad shape and it dropped a gear which nearly sent me careering into the middle of the road. The bikes themselves are heavy and difficult to ride which means it can be difficult for many people to use them regularly, which leads to...
• They are only used by a specific group - I would like to see the data of social groups who use it. From my own anecdotal experience, they are mostly used by young men.
• They end up being stolen - I have stopped counting the amount of times I have seen the bikes which has been stolen by the users (side banners, panels and security wire removed).
• Promotes poor behaviour - I had a ovo user who cycled right across in front of me when I was driving down western avenue.

I think they are a PR exercise by the Council to show they are a bike friendly city, when more fundamental improvements need to take place:

• Improved bike lanes to make it easier to cycle around the city
• Improved bike stands in popular areas (this include CCTV to guard against bike theft)
• Improve policing against stolen bikes, including that the police pursues thieves who have stolen bikes. For example, The Times reported about cyclist who tagged their bike and knew where it was located yet the police refused to go out and help.

It's my first time posting here. I hope I'm doing this right. Set the "triggering content" flair since I know some of this negative talk and perspective can be triggering for some. I'm also living with my ex-abuser so that might be a trigger idk... Anyway, thanks for reading if you do read it. Life is hard. Hope everyone here stays strong and keep treating yourself as well as you can.
I'm so sick of living with my parents and grandma. Every day, I wake up so stressed out that I can't even stomach breakfast. Sometimes the thought that I have to run into my parents the moment I step out of my room makes it so difficult to even get out of bed. I just run from my room to my brother's room where I do my part-time WFH job, and I pretend I'm either working or studying all the time so they won't talk to me. I'm sick of having to constantly live in the same house as my abuser and to pretend to be productive to avoid interrogation.
Why is freedom so near yet so far? I've stayed alive for this long because of the hope that one day I can move out and live life on my own terms, but the closer I get to moving out, the more impossible and unreachable it seems. I know it's stupid, but holding on sometimes feels so hopeless. With the way property and rental prices are soaring where I am, will I even be able to move out, ever? Sometimes it feels like the answer is a flat no.
And every day, the construction work downstairs and the renovation work upstairs drives me crazy. It has been a year. How the fxxk are you still on the fxxing drilling stage? Are you making fun of people who work from home? Oh, you thought the drilling was done, well fuck you :) Kindly, nobody wants these new streetlamps right outside our bedroom window to replace the completely functioning old ones. The government has too much fxxing money and is wasting it on making our lifes fxxing miserable.
I just wish I had unlimited money and didn't have to work so hard and so much just to afford the nice things that everyone else has. Sometimes I hear about other people's parents sponsoring their holidays, their car, their daily necessities, new clothes, transport costs, medical costs, phone bill... I know I'm lucky they're even paying for my university fees and not asking me for rent, but I can't help but be bitter about it sometimes. As a kid, I was already being thrown into the deep end of "self-reliance" and "independence". Now that I'm almost all grown up, it just feels like I have to depend on myself all the time, and it's so exhausting and so lonely. I'm sick of having to take care of myself on my own all the time.

FULL STORY BELOW
INJURIES / TLDR: Deep laceration caused by glass. I severed the tendon, an artery, a large vein, and sensory nerves. The laceration was almost bone-deep; it cut through all layers of skin, fat, and muscle. I did not feel it happen. After noticing it, the sensation I felt was pressure. Slight burning, but mostly an ache. It's similar to stubbing your toe or dropping something on top of your foot.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED: There was a glass vase on the floor. Ironically, I put it there so it wouldn't fall off the end table and shatter or if my dogs knocked it over it would topple onto the carpet. Yeah... about that. This story gets even more ridiculous 😆
I was expecting a DoorDash delivery of Jamba Juice. I had actually reordered because what I received earlier was super melted. Anyway, in my excitement I went to the door, looked through the peephole, and when I didn't see the delivery I must've spun around or maybe I was about to skip across my living room. I'm not 100% sure what laws of physics were involved here exactly but whatever I was doing there was momentum.
What I remember clearly is feeling the lip of the vase around my foot; I either knocked it over and my foot went inside it or I tripped and my foot went down and into the vase. I didn't feel the injury happen so I thought I had shaken it off my foot. I heard the glass shatter.
I didn't notice the injury until I stood up but I don't know if I fell down completely or I tripped but regained my balance and didn't fall.
Either way, it's evident that my foot was at an angle and my body weight caused the glass to basically impale me. If you see the second picture, that was immediately after it happened. I thought all that had happened was the layers of skin had been peeled back, kind of like the first incision a surgeon would make. I had no idea it was deep. I thought I'd gotten my foot out of the vase in time.
I'm sitting there on the floor, looking around for anything I can use to stop the bleeding. I couldn't stop the bleeding. The first inkling that this was bad was when I realized that, no, this just is actually a bowl and this bowl keeps filling with blood and spilling over. The carpet beneath my foot quickly became a satirated puddle you could splash in.
Then the DoorDash driver shows up. Well, sh*t. I want my smoothie. In the notes I said to just leave it at the door, but this guy was knocking. I felt weird doing this but I politely yelled, "You can leave it! Thank you! Will leave you a great review."
I crab walked to the door; I had my lower left leg crossed over my right one so I could keep the wound elevated but horizontal and stable, and grabbed my smoothie.
The adrenaline kicked in. I'm sweating, I'm nauseous, and I'm thinking to myself, "I'm glad I don't drive stick anymore," "Does one call 911 for this?" I was going to show my Pops property nearby (I'm a Realtor) so I texted him.
Together with an unknown neighbor, they carried me to my dad's car. To this day, there are still little blood droplet stains trailing from my front door, down the stairs, and all the way to my dad's car. I felt like royalty. Carry me, peasants.
Urgent care unwrapped the shirts I was using to cover the wound. Sadly, one of the shirts was my favorite. When they did this the bowl of blood that was my foot drained out on their floor. This was during COVID restrictions so gloves went on immediately, I felt awkward about that if they told me not to worry about it, it's okay. Several nurses came in, put those dog potty training pads all over the floor. The main doctor came in, wondering what the hustle and bustle was for. He took one look at the wound and said, "Whoa. So, we don't have the supplies necessary to stop the bleeding, figure out what's going on, or treat it. Go to the ER right away." Because you've severed an artery.
They did bandage my foot so that was nice. They still charged us $350 for a blue bandage, some gauze, and minutes of their time. I apologized for the massacre in their clinic. Fair is fair.
I go to the ER. I think my dad must've provided them with the urgent care receipt and explained what happened as I was taken back pretty quickly.
Heart rate was fast. Adrenaline still flowing. The pressure is now turning into a sharp ache. All in all, I was in the ER for 4-6 hours. They were busy. Had x-rays done. Got a tetanus shot.
One of the most part things I've ever experienced was the doctor that was showing a needle at different depths into the wound to numb it for stitches. You'll have to trust me on this one but I've got a great pain threshold. What took place on that evening had my white-knuckle gripping the arms on the hospital bed and shaking. My arms were sore afterward.
That doctor thought the tendon was only partially torn so he had a nurse put my lower leg in a split with my foot at a 90 degree angle so the ends of the tendon could grow back together. It wasn't 90 degrees enough for him so I had to go through that again.
He was rather aggressive cleaning the area prior to stitches, and he had me try and lift my ankle, lift my big toe, etc. It was doing this, IMO, that finally severed the tendon completely.
Look at PICTURE #1 and PICTURE #2. My toe hadn't dropped until the doctor was moving my foot, having me try to lift it, etc. So, I should've had surgery at 2 weeks but instead had CT scans at 2 weeks and surgery a MONTH later. Honestly, I wasn't upset.
The injury had already started forming scar tissue so during the surgery, the wound was completely re-opened.
I have thick adhesions now so I can't curl my toes and if I'm standing, I can't lift my big toe. The circulation is weird, too. my left foot is always MUCH colder than my right one. Occasionally, the adhesion feels tight and cramps. It's a sensation I feel along the full length of the tendon. It's bizarre considering we don't feel our tendons.
The most painful thing post-surgery was Day 2 and Day 3 anytime the medicine wore off. The only more painful was my mom's death.
The nerve damage is mostly on the top left of my foot. It doesn't hurt but if I touch it it the sensation is a weird buzzy, prickly feeling. The deeper nerve damage is one of the reasons I didn't feel the injury happen and perhaps why it wasn't as painful as it should've been.
From injury to being able to walk was two months. A "complete recovery" took 4 months. I was on crutches for 6-8 weeks and then a boot.
I had PT for a few weeks. I didn't have health insurance so it was $80 each time, lasted only half an hour so I stopped going. There was a lot of atrophy; my lower left leg was nearly half the normal size. I'm not a runway model but I've got a great walk; and then I didn't. It's back now.
It's been almost two years and I'm only just now able to stand on my tip toes and flex my calf muscle.
If anyone's interested, I can update this post and add progress pictures.
INJURIES: Severed the EHL tendon.
Goes from the knee, to the ankle, and then to the big toe. You need this tendon when you walk and it allows you to lift your foot up and down at the ankle.

https://imgur.com/a/8QJZmgo before
https://imgur.com/a/FcOg0zW after
Background: Currently mid 30s, 5'10 and 150 lbs , struggled with gyno for a good 10+years (acne/scarring is another issue but honestly does not bother me as much). Used to lift seriously (weight 200+) but stopped in recent years. I never seriously considered gyno surgery as it is expensive and I felt that cutting out a portion of my tissue would somehow cause me to die much earlier so was never really motivated to pursue the surgery. I have tried stand alone cycles of SERMs (Nolva and Ralox) with varying results. Ultimately the gyno always came back even if there was some minor benefit from the cycles so I knew it was unsustainable in the long run.
I shopped around for quotes from the top rated mentioned surgeons on reddit and most of the quotes were really high ($10k-$16k...). I felt that my case was minor and didn't want to spend that much on something I wasn't that passionate about. I eventually came upon posts from others who have went with Dr. Braithwaite (Chicago) and was shocked that the price was so low (most quotes I seen were ~$2-3k range). The before/afters looked great so I went ahead and ended up getting a virtual consultation with Dr. Braithwaite and got a quote after a brief video call confirming my gyno ($3,200 total for gyno surgery + minor lipo; my cost is on the lower end as my case is not major). The main reason the surgery price is lower than most is because there is only local anesthesia administered. I had my consult mid March and was able to book my appointment for end of May. Overall out of pocket cost for me was the cost of my flights, one night hotel stay, and any public transport to and from the airport (I flew in to O'Hare, you can easily take public transport and walk if you want to save cash). I became ultra paranoid that someone was brush into me cause me to bleed internally so I ended up just taking Uber on the way back.
Office visit: I arrived early the day of surgery and waited until my surgery time slot to see the Dr. Based on his assessment, the Dr. indicated that he would also lipo a portion of my upper chest near my armpit as I had some irregular fat stores there (probably because I used to be much bigger).
The surgery itself was fine. The Dr. and his staff were very friendly. The most painful portion of the surgery was the initial shots to administer the local anesthesia, especially into sensitive tissue. All of the surgical work was done through the incisions made on my areola. The fat was first all scraped out to more easily separate the gland. The scraping was a bit uncomfortable especially as some of the fat taken near my armpit area was not fully numb but that was to be expected. The most mentally horrifying part of the surgery was the gland removal. The gland is removed and cauterized at the same time, so from a sensory perspective you can hear the revving of the cauterizer, smell your tissue being cooked from the cauterizer as it is also being carved from your body, and you can see the smoke (or vapor from the cauterizer) from your gland being burned. The combination caused me to freak out internally so I closed my eyes and focused on breathing through my mouth. Only other odd portions is sometimes you get shocked or slight burn from the cauterizer as the local anesthesia isn't perfect but if you are in pain the Dr. adjusts. The surgery was certainly not quick but overall I think it went smooth (not that I have any other experience). The resulting gland removal was pretty big for me relatively as my body is overall small. Not much fat was removed as I guess my chest before had a small amount of fat and gland in the worst positions to cause my chest to just look disgusting. Note that there are no drainage tubes here with as the thought process here is that the fluids will naturally dissipate over time and avoids the risk of drainage tubes/additional aspirations needed. Seromas forming is part of the healing process - I am not OCD and based on my reading of everyone's experiences, I understand I may have scar tissue or false alarms that the gland has come back, but in looking at my nipples I do not think there is much chance my glands can make a comeback unless I started blasting.
The follow up appointment was the next day to mainly see if there was any internal bleeding. I was very worried the night before as my armpit area became more bloody and filled with fluid, but the Dr. assured me that was normal from lipo and it was only filling because the compression vest was constricting the fluids. I ended up having some foam inserts added to the armpit area to attempt to alleviate the constriction from my armpit area.
Results: The before photo is the morning before the operation. The after photo is the day after. Most important things to note from the after photo is that my bottom chest looks indented because that is where the compression vest is most compacted/ends. Also the chest right above the indent is actually filled with fluid- that isn't my actual pec (I am swollen, not swole). I am confident this will even out once the fluid disappears as based on even the current look, I should be able to wear anything I want once I heal so I'm not worried if there is a small imperfection that may remain after all is said and done. I just want to heal as fast as possible and not get caught up in the details before the process finishes. I trust the process and know that healing will take months. The look of my areolas is already a night and day difference
Feel free to ask me any questions, I have still yet to process what a change this is but I am already pretty sure this is going to be one of the best things I have ever done for myself. There simply isn't a better price point for quality that I am aware of for a US gyno specialist. Right now my main concern is to avoid getting any hematomas because dealing with that would be too stressful, so I am trying to avoid going outside and just taking it easy for the next week.

I’ll give you a brief backstory, basically my partner and I had our ups and down but being apart while dating gave me time to debrief and unwind if it’s been a particularly stressful day, days, weeks. I could tell you how many times we have broken up, each time I would say “I don’t accept and if you still feel the same way tomorrow then I will respect your wishes”
But when we wanted to get a place to rent together she insisted that she had to move out of her place asap as it was too hard for her to be so stressed. So she moved into my place. With the market in rentals being near impossible to find a place we didn’t find any for ages but the trouble is my place isn’t huge and I was unable to get away from the moods, and tension that fills the room, the walking on eggshells. I have had some pretty horrible relationships in the past so I know I am reactive to to these moods and the unstable nature of it all, I can’t have my friends over, I can’t have my daughters friends over, my daughter has to be not too loud. This led me to not feel comfortable to move out to a shared place.
This has created a lot of tension, she needs to know the relationship is progressing to feel secure, and I need to feel secure before progressing. It’s a shitty paradigm to have.
Ultimately we have set a date 2 months to try and adjust how we are, I know I have things to change and improve on, and so does my partner. I decided to try and keep a record of each day with my general happiness and relationship happiness, I know when we have a couple of good days it makes me forget how hard the weeks before that can be. I want to see in general how do things trend. This for me in a last attempt to try and make sense of things. She’s 34 and no kids, I don’t want to hold her back, and I don’t want to be in this constantly stressed position, I’ve had enough of feeling like this. But I love this girl and it’s conflicting to say I love her but also considering leaving if we can’t get on the same page.
I don’t know what I came on here for, maybe just to vent, or get ideas, I don’t really know.

M24, caucasian, 6ft2 160 pounds, no history of blood clots, moderate alcohol intake, relatively active. Pain began last week on Tuesday on right side of groin. I had accidentally hit myself in that area, and I chalked this up as the reason for this pain. Moderate pain lasted there until Saturday. Took ibuprofen to help sleep. On Saturday, noticed a bruise on the top of my right foot. Could not pinpoint where it could have came from. I had been going for 2-3 mile walks each day for the two days prior, as this helped alleviate the groin pain, but I could not recall walking funny or twisting my ankle or anything like that. There was no pain in my foot initially. By the evening the pain in my groin seemed to subside completely, but I had pain radiating up the outer side of my ankle, and I noticed bruising on my ankle bone and underneath. Soon felt like a bad cramp going up my calf. I went to an emergency room, they took a d-dimer (told me it was undetected) but no ultrasound and told me I was clear. When I returned home, the pain had worsened and extended to the back of my thigh and especially in the soft part behind my knee. Felt like a severe charley horse. My left leg was fine, but I could not lay my right leg down on the bed straight without excruciating pain. I visited a different ER early Sunday morning. They took my d dimer, which was slightly elevated (.52). Blood tests also revealed I was dehydrated and had thickened blood. High RBC, high hemoglobin, high hct, high glucose, high TBILI Low Potassium. I definitely hadn’t drank enough water or eaten or slept in a while and was feeling lousy. Doctor performed Homan’s Sign, which was positive and excruciatingly painful. An ultrasound of my inner leg was taken and cleared, and a CT scan of my chest was also cleared. CT was not taken of my leg. Doctor told me he was confident it was a muscle pain. I was given Tylenol which alleviated the pain. Since then, I have continued to have chest pains and pain in my right leg, especially in the ankle and behind the knee. During the day there is a dull constant pain in my right leg which gives me an unnatural gait. At certain times during the day (when walking or occupying myself with something to do) the pain is less evident than others. At night it appears to worsen. It seems to flare up in certain parts of my leg worse than others. These locations are mostly my outer ankle, behind my knee, and the back of my thigh. I also have chest pains which seem to manifest at times when my leg pain is least prominent. These pains are like a tightness which is exasperated by bending over or lifting things. It also seems to slightly interfere with my breathing. Infrequently, I willl have a feeling in my chest which I would describe as a “zap” or “electrocution” feeling. I have been treating this as heartburn and taking alka seltzer, though I am not sure this has helped in alleviating these symptoms. I have not ruled out anxiety, though I have never had it manifest as physical symptoms like this before. When my chest hurts, I am less aware of the pain in my leg. My chest symptoms usually pass after a couple hours, and when that happens the pain in my leg seems to worsen and localize to certain parts - ankle, back of knee, or back of thigh. The pain seems to alternate in intensity between these spots. No noticeable swelling or redness besides bruises on my ankle bone and below. On Tuesday I woke up with chest pain but my leg did not seem to bother me too much. The chest pain subsided and I walked for about an hour with no difficulty.Went about business as usual that day. That night, after two hours of chest pain, my leg pain was at its highest point. It began in my ankle bone and the side of my outer right foot, which made me assume it must be some sort of ligament damage or tendonitis. I had difficulty walking to the point that I needed to use a chair to assist me in walking from my bedroom to my kitchen. I walked with a heavy limp and had shooting pain every time I put weight on my foot. Some time later the pain shifted to the back of my knee and the back of my thigh. Warm, tender to touch, very painful. I was unable to comfortably lay my foot or elevate my foot on the bed. This was excruciating. After 2000 mg of Tylenol and some 6 hours of stirring in bed, I was able to get some rest. Today (Wednesday), the pain in my right leg is still prominent though not to the extent it was last night. It seems to have shifted more to the sole of my foot and the inner part of my ankle, locations I have not felt pain in up until this point. Possibly my inner thigh near my groin and the front of my knee as well. I am continuing to have chest pains which seem to appear with no cause and disappear out of nowhere. I am not particularly fatigued, as I have gotten rest and eaten and drank fluids in the time since my last ER visit. But the alternating combination of leg pain and chest pain is preventing me from relaxing and returning to my normal routine. I am debating returning to the ER, though I am unsure if I should have them check again for DVT, or do a CT or X-Ray of my leg, or run tests for any insect bites or infections. Any advice or insight is exceedingly appreciated.

I had a guest reservation for 8 people over Memorial Day weekend (Thursday-Monday). The guest arrives the first night with 5 adults and 1 child, everything seems fine. Then on the second night at around 11pm the remainder of her party arrives 3 additional cars and 8 more guests for a total of 14 guests. I immediately notify her that this is beyond her reservation and I cannot host the extra guests because of local ordinances. She responds saying she understands, asks me if they can stay the night since it was already late and they will sort it out the next day. I was nice enough to agree to let them stay the night which exposes me to fines by the government if they are caught. The third night comes and her entire party of 14 is still at the property and no one has left. I notify her again and she says it's memorial day weekend and last minute affordable accommodations are really hard to find they are still working on it. I immediately check Airbnb and found a house that hosts up to 10 people for the last two nights Sunday and Monday for less than $700 and is around 10 minutes away from my property. So now I know she is lying about everything she has told me. I contact Airbnb about the guest violating the terms of the rental agreement and they cancel her reservation, this is around 12am on Sunday. I ask her to vacate the premises within 45 minutes, guest claims that Airbnb informed her that she can stay until 1pm to checkout which is another lie, Airbnb policy is you must check out immediately if your reservation is canceled. I also asked the support to send me proof that they informed her otherwise. She refused to leave the property until 1pm on Sunday. I really wanted to call the police and have her trespassed to teach her a lesson that she can't do this. But I did not want to disturb my neighbors now at approximately 2am. I say nothing until she leaves the property.
When I arrive at my property I find food crumbs all over the place; greasy hand prints on the walls and sofa; unknown pink stains on my carpet, bathroom vanity, nightstands, light switches; something was spilled all over the floor and it was in disgusting condition, they moved my furniture around to accommodate their unauthorized guest. They used the comforter as a sleeping bag, put the used comforter back into the closet. Put dirty silverware back into the drawer, so I had to reclean the entire drawer. They spilled liquids near the garbage and dirtied an unused bag, then put the dirty bag into the pile of clean garbage bags. They threw garbage directly into the bins when an abundance of garbage bags was provided.
I typically don't count inventory for guests, I replenish the supplies I give based on the party size and duration. To my surprise when I went to do laundry I only had 3 detergent pods left, prior to this guest I had about 20-30 pods left. She treated my house as a laundromat for her entire family and they brought all their dirty laundry to do at my house. I did not have enough detergent to clean the mess they left and all the linen that they used.
I leave double towels and linen around because it is a mountain house and I want my guest to have everything they'll need if something happens. I leave a light blanket and a thick blanket because not everyone in a group likes the same temperature. I leave an abundance (an entire roll) of garbage and recycling bags because I don't want them to not be able to throw out garbage. Many cleaners and host would advise against this because of cases such as this. But I am also a traveler and there is nothing more frustrating than not having something you need to get comfortable. Such as an extra towel if you got dirty being out all day, running out of garbage bags because your group cooks a lot. I try to be a good host and I don't even ask for any cleaning on checkout, all I ask is they tidily bag all the garbage and place it in the garage.
I receive a 1 star review, surprise. She states that I was mean (I don't feel like I was and I was actually very gracious not calling the police) I kicked her out (technically not true? she left on her own accord at 1pm, that is not what I requested), she states that I was kicking them out with 3 sleeping children (camera only saw 1).
I contact Airbnb that this guest violated the terms of the rental agreement and to have her ratings and review removed. It goes through the review process and they say no. So I appeal and dispute her review based on misinformation and lies. I receive a response from an agent stating that although I may feel like her review is false, individual experiences are subjective. So 3 children vs 1 is just a matter of perspective? Her statements are full of lies and they refuse to remove it.
In many jurisdictions such as mine we require permits and license from the local government. We are bound by occupancy limits, safety regulations, etc. We pay extra fees just to get our licenses and be able to rent out our vacation home. Airbnb's actions are protecting these horrible guest that can cause irreparable harm to the hosts. Hosts are at the most risks, entrusting a valuable asset to the guests with no certified method of compensation for unauthorized actions. My county fines are $1000/day of infringement of an ordinance, my HOA has fines of $500. The fines I could receive from this guest actions is at least $2500 which far exceeds whatever compensation I'm receiving for the reservation. There is no recourse for the hosts and our profile gets dinged even when I'm doing everything right and by the book. All the "lower" agents that receive my support requests compliment me for doing everything right and that all the proof is in the messages I have with the guest. Once they submit the information to the "higher" agent that has to approve the request, the higher agents just keep saying that no policy has been violated.
So it's ok for a guest to lie about everything and give the host a poor review as long as they don't violate any of AirBnb's review policy.