Vystar near me

I have eaten leftover spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast every morning this week and am still losing 😂
Real talk: my diet is 10x worse in selection since I started losing weight on wegovy. My appetite is so bare and I’m so picky if I’m interested in eating it- I’m eating it. Whether it be a donut or a meatball lol when at my largest I was snacking on carrots and making salads for every meal, I was tracking calories and punishing myself when I “indulged” aka had some chips or something. This medication has changed everything. So everyone please believe me when I say— that guilt and shame around food choices is only going to hold you back. You will probably be at such a calorie deficit on this med that your weight loss will stall going into starvation mode. Enjoy the little things life gives us like an Oreo or a slice of cake- you won’t need nearly as much to feel fil, you’ll feel satisfied, aaand those things will hold less and less power when they are no longer “forbidden”. Trust and believe - shame and guilt has no seat on the Wegovy train!
SW: 205 CW: 170 GW: 140 Started Feb 2023

Hi there, fellow humans of Reddit!
I’m a 21M in a bit of a peculiar situation and I need your advice.
First, a bit of background: I’m one of those socially awkward smart people. I don’t say this to brag; rather, it’s a major reason for my current predicament. I’ve always been very different from the people around me (weird interests, different ways of thinking, and extremely analytical and logical), which has made it hard for me to relate to others and made me something of an outcast. I’ve never had a girlfriend and haven’t even been on a date or kissed a girl before. I get quite lonely and touch starved because of this — I have the same urges as any healthy young male, so being a kissless virgin at this age is really getting my on my nerves. I really want to get the monkey off my back. Also, I fear that staying a virgin for a while longer will stunt my psychosocial development and screw with my future relationships (there’s a lot of evidence supporting this view, particularly from Erickson’s study on stages of psychosocial development).
I’ve thought about dating, but I study a very demanding course at university and spend about 80 hours a week in the library. This (combined with me being a broke student) leaves me exhausted and severely limits my ability to properly “date”. I also don’t drink, have never been to a bar or club, and would be hopeless trying to find someone in an environment like that. While I’m not unattractive (Photofeeler says I’m a 7.3 out of 10), I’m not attractive enough to find someone through conventional OLD. Strangely enough, I have had success in the past in one place: Reddit. On multiple occasions, I’ve talked to women on here and had them agree to meet up. If that’s the case, you might ask: why are you still talking about this? Problem solved - right? Unfortunately not. Every time this has happened, I’ve chickened out at the last minute.
This is the bind I’m in. While I desperately want to get the monkey off my back, I’m also crippled by fear. Being the overly analytical (and anxious) person I am, I’ve thought through every possible outcome — good and bad. If I meet someone from Reddit (I see no other way to do this given my circumstances), I worry about getting a disease or getting someone pregnant (I actually calculated the probability of this happening in a one-night stand — depending on the assumptions you use, this is anywhere from 0.05% to 5% even with contraception). I wouldn’t go near a prostitute in a million years.
From this rambling stream of consciousness, you can probably see that I’m hopelessly lost in analysis paralysis. What should I do? Should I take the risk and meet someone from Reddit to just get it done and over with? Should I just wait for longer to find someone and try not to lose my mind in the process? I’m genuinely lost.
Tl;dr: socially awkward 21M desperate to lose virginity, can’t see any viable way to do it outside of meeting another Redditor, but is too scared to take the plunge and needs advice to overcome analysis paralysis

My lease is up the 7th of this month and I’m unable to renew.. I was going to rent a place but the neighbors are racist, and they let me know the day I was moving my stuff in. The neighborhood literally gathered to watch me move in and taunt me. I’m turning the key back in and hopefully they’ll let me get my deposit back… I can’t find somewhere to live by Wednesday!! Right now I’m okay, but the 7th is right around the corner. There’s not places renting around here, and I have to stay near my job. I can’t afford a huge commute.. I guess I’ll live out of my car until I find something. I’m angry and scared. Tbh I don’t even wanna be alive

Just a little something I cooked up this morning. Plan on writing another stupid one-shot based in magic later on today while the idea is still fresh in my mind. Then probably jump over to the other story based in a different universe (not the Dino Mommies one...yet) since it's been a hot minute from when I last touched that one.
So yeah; got a pretty busy day/weekend planned. Hope you enjoy this little blurb though. Somewhat along the lines of Mr. Mauser story.
~~~~~~~~
Mr. Barrett
Magic. The newest discovery. The reality-bending, mind altering, physics defying energy driving the rapid changes, advancements, and developments of humanity for the past 100 years.
As I lay here in the mountains, surrounded by flora and fauna both native and foreign, my mind wanders back to the early days of magic. Yes, I was there all those years ago. In fact, I was in the prime of my youth fighting an enemy in a faraway land when I felt…well, all of us felt the change.
It was indescribable; my body felt light, my mind sharp, all of my senses felt like they were beyond peak performance. The rest of my team went through similar changes, yet different ones at the same time.
Jim’s muscle mass nearly doubled, as well as his height.
Ngo’s slender build filled out slightly, but his movements were faster. Almost blindingly so.
Our scout, Brody, found his eyes shift and change into a more animal-like design. Similar to a hawk’s, but still maintaining a semblance of humanity within.
This put a slight damper on our mission at the time while we worked to adapt to these sudden changes, but in the end, we still achieved success. It was when we returned that we found out our changes weren’t relegated to us.
In the following years, story after story came out of regular people performing a great many deeds; walking through fire, wading through alligator infested waters, lifting overturned vehicles as if they weighed no more than a couple hundred pounds.
All of it to save lives.
But, with good comes evil. For every great deed there was always, always, some asshole who used their newfound abilities for selfish or terrible means. This led to a restructuring of society. New laws were put in place, as well as agencies and departments with the specific purpose of preventing and punishing those abusing their gifts.
This now balance worked for a while, but it only took twenty years post-discovery for one of humanity’s worst to nearly destroy everything.
Ichimura was his name. A man beaten down by this new society simply because he couldn’t measure up to its expectations. Or so the dossier at the time said.
Truth was; he never liked being shackled to this reality. All its laws, and requirements, expectations, duties, and responsibilities were, in his eyes, unnecessary.
“Why should those with great power be constrained by those with lesser?”
Those were the first words he said to me when I faced him that fateful day. His actions up to that point would make the worst criminals in history look normal in comparison. Swaths of towns and villages laid bare by his magical machinations. Formulas taken from current and former magical and alchemical research, combined with the discoveries of science led down terrifying paths.
Before he drew his final breath through blood-stained lips, he smiled one final time.
“This world is ending, and a new one will take its place. Good luck, American. You do not know the horrors you have unleashed.”
With his dying breath the world around us shuddered. Tears in the fabric of reality appeared all across the globe. Hordes of creatures poured through the gaping wounds. His death was the trigger, and I was the one that pulled it.
Even though no one could have predicted this, I was still discharged from the service and treated as a pariah. Regardless of the fact that the temporary tears were repaired, the monsters that came through eradicated, and the truth of the matter brought to light, I was looked upon as the great calamity.
Whatever. I was close to 45 at the time with a distinguished career and enough money set aside for early retirement. Plus, I still had those physical changes that have yet to fade thanks to the breakthroughs in anti-aging. Enhancements that were needed once more as a new threat arose.
This time it came from beyond the stars. A race of creatures so imbued and saturated with magic that it physically hurt to look at them without magic reduction lenses. A fact they were well aware of and used to their advantage.
They nearly wiped us out after first contact, thinking that lesser creatures like us weren’t worthy of wielding magic. Our early, and somewhat still, reliance on technology for even the most mundane of tasks was anathema to them. Why should you use physical effort or machines when magic can do it easier?
A bunch of lazy fucks is what I think.
Well, we refused to capitulate of course, and they attacked. Their mastery over magic clearly millennia beyond our own; lightning, fire, telekinesis, gravity and more. These Iluthar stymied our attempts to fight back at every turn.
Armor? Like paper. Stealth? Might as well have had strobe lights attached to your body. Magic? Like expecting one drop of water to erode a mountain. Which they did when our landmasses got in their way.
The more we fought, though, the more we learned and adapted. Their senses have limited ranges, there are certain materials they can’t see through. And physics - virtually pointless against magic - still reigns supreme when said magic fails.
Which is something my target is about to realize as soon as she steps out onto the balcony.
I’ve been watching her for a week now, barely moving an inch for fear of being spotted. Dried piss and shit filled my pants and constantly assaulted my nose, but that comes with the job.
My target was an Iluthar known for being exceptionally cruel to not only her human slaves, but also “lesser” Iluthar servants. Not that those worthless bastards mattered since they still treated the slaves like garbage.
Too many times did I bear witness to horrendous acts committed against my fellow humans. Seeing what this bitch was doing though…staying still and waiting was the last thing I wanted to do.
But the mission comes first.
I waited and watched her mansion come alive. According to intel, she should be receiving a new shipment of human slaves today. One of the rare times she steps outside to view the “merchandise.”
I watched as the magic craft floating effortlessly above the ground silently made its way to the gates. After a few moments it was allowed in and continued on the slightly glowing path leading to the front doors. Once there, two Iluthar jumped out and drug the humans out of the back and lined them up for inspection.
Another Iluthar came from inside the mansion, appeared to speak a few words to the driver, and disappeared once more, only to return with the mistress in tow. Perfect.
Calming my breath, I began the cycle to find the natural rest.
Breath in, and out. I pulled lightly on the trigger.
In, and out. The pressure increased.
In…and out. I felt the trigger hit the wall.
In……...BOOM.
The sound rattled throughout the mountains. My ears rang for a split-second until they healed themselves. The recoil, that oh-so-heavenly “punch” to the face of a 624-plus grain hunk of death being shot out the end of a precision machined barrel, felt good. The smell of chemicals that overwhelmed the piss and shit coating my lower half brought a slight smile to my face.
But the best part of it all, was watching that cunt’s chest cave in.
“Mr. Barrett sends his regards.”

I fatfingered while setting up a sell order and payed 1bil in taxes, 1/4 of my total ISK.
Idiot me.
I wrote a ticket, explaining the situation and asking for a reimbursement. It was in a unwell structure, but the owner will give me the 50% if ccp gives me the other half.
Because of the weekend I dont expect an answer by ccp in the near time, so I was wondering what the chances are of me getting the isk back.

I feel I need some advice from husbands/guys in a similar situation. Me and my wife have been married 12 years, with 2 kids. I love her to bits and would never leave her. Like all relationships, the intimacy has hit a brick wall. I find I’m physically missing being close and intimate with her. But she is constantly tired. She battled with chronic fatigue and suffers with fibromyalgia too so I really feel for her, and I’ve always tried to be supportive when she’s really bad. But now we rarely if ever have any physical intimacy now, and I miss her. But I feel I want to tell her that I’m stuggling with not being able to be physically close with her as I wish we were, I feel it’s just selfish of me if I do that. Im incredibly insecure at the best of times to be honest, and due to a couple of emotional hits over the last few years, I lack any confidence to initiate anything when she seems like she may be ok to be intimate. Also I feel if I try anything the moment she feels ok, it will come across as if that’s all I have in my mind. Truth is I just want to be close to her. But I can’t tell her that without it being selfish, and im struggling to cope with this isolated feeling im having.
I sometimes feel that even if her fatigue wasn’t an issue, she would still prefer to keep her distance. She likes her space, and doesn’t have nearly as high a drive as me. So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I think I’m going to live the rest of my married life with the woman I love not wanting me in that way any more, that thought kills me.
She knows I would like more intimacy, but I’ve no idea how to tell her just how much not being close to her kills me, without it sounding like I’m putting my needs ahead of hers. Hers will always be more important to me

Today would have been the day my daughter was born. She was my first but she passed away at 26w2d due to iugr. I had a d&e and didn’t get to see her, but I knew her through little bits from her ultrasound photos to when she would move so much when I would put on music with a good beat. She had her daddy’s feet, but I thought she would love to dance. She was wanted and loved. It was so devastating when she passed away. And then I had a postpartum stroke that nearly killed me. My husband and I are on our first vacation since 2018 to heal. How did you heal after your baby was stillborn?

I was looking into joining Instacart as a shopper, but according to Instacart the stores near me are 100 miles away, is it possible that once I create an account closer stores would show up?

Hi Reddit users - anyone have any experience with removing a massive old silver maple tree in their back yard? I have an unhealthy maple and during our last arborists visit we were told that it is nearing end of life and to start saving for removal. I have a few questions - what is the average cost of removing a giant 100 + year old tree? Any recommendations for a cost effective way to remove? Will the city of Toronto make me plant another tree? If so where? What happens to the stump and the roots below ground ? Can you build or put stuff on top of the stump? I have spent the last 8 years getting my yard somewhat livable with lights / patio furniture / plants etc and I worry about what this removal will do. Any advice will be much appreciated.

[First][Prev]
Memory transcription subject: Andes Savulescu-Ruiz, Human Director at the Venlil Rehabilitation and Reintegration Facility. Universal translator tech.
Date [standardized human time]: Dec 3 2136
I wandered up to the boys after Lihla got a bit bored of head scritches. Parents were still wandering around, but the three of them seemed pretty comfortable engaging in parallel play off in the back of the play room.
"Hello there," I said. I didn't have to be too mindful to avoid looming over them. They seemed largely unaffected by my size, and were themselves taller than some of the venlil nurses already. I wondered idly what the Arxur cut-offs for ages were. If we'd have to separate them from the girls.
"Your savageness," one said, bowing. "You honour us with your presence."
The other two bowed as well. The girls usually just scurried away, except for Lihla's insistence on "sitting with me". How differently had the boys been treated?
"That's um, that's not necessary," I said, gesticulating vaguely, "how are you boys doing?"
They stood up straight.
"I have been using the board to make squiggling lines," one said, pointing at the drawing board. "It is relaxing."
"I have been putting similar shapes together," said the next. He pointed at a table where he had sorted different blocks. One of the smaller girls looked tempted by his collection, and the fact that his attention was currently primarily on me. Just like Lihla, she moved in slow, incremental steps, ready to run away should her approach turn sour. I managed not to laugh, and kept my attention on the boys.
"I have been assembling the sticky triangles," said a third, and showed me a pretty good-looking geodesic dome he must have gotten just by building outward with the triangle magnets in a spiral pattern.
"Ah. Very nice. I was told you went to the doctor recently," I added.
"Yes, my teeth are very good and I am strong!"
"They tested my pain resistance with a big needle, but I did not scream," said the second one, clearly bragging.
"My appointment is later," said the third. I was a little impressed by how orderly they were. Like each of them knew their number in the order of who got to talk when.
"Well, that's good to know. If you find anything uncomfortable, please tell me so we can make it better for you," I said. They tilted their heads in confusion. "I'm Director Andes. You can ask to be brought to my office and any aide or nurse should be able to guide you there."
"I'm 857–" one started, and was quickly elbowed by the one next to him. He hissed in pain, then looked back at me and shook himself. "I'm Tito."
"I'm Julio."
"I'm Marco."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you boys," I said, smiling behind my visor. It was very exciting to hear them use the names they were given at the hospital. Aside from Lihla, none of the girls seemed very interested in getting names. A few of the nurses and aides had suggested some to them, but none had really stuck.
"It's nice to meet you, Savageness," Marcus said. To my and apparently his brothers' surprise, he jutted out a paw in front of him. I chuckled and shook it. The other two emulated Marcus, and I shook their paws as well. While I did that, the girl that had been eyeing Julio's collection stole a handful of blocks and scurried off to hide.
"Well, boys, I should be getting back to work now, but like I said, if you need help in any way, just ask for me."
They all nodded quickly. I gave Larzo a wave and headed back to my office. Once there, I updated Lihla’s file, made an appointment with Karim to discuss our situation, and finished the third batch of applications from prospective parents. I wasn't going to let him get his paws on it, especially given that they were in the lower income deciles. Venlil adoption incentives seemed to be meaningfully stronger than those of, say, Canada. In Canada, adoption often meant adoptive parents faced a wide variety of hurdles, but in Venlil Prime there were meaningful financial incentives that would more than make up for the cost of living of an average child. With special needs children, there was the added concern of accommodations. Venlil society was not well built for a neurodiverse population. Still, the financial incentive meant that I was looking for experience with children, a history of de-escalation of some sort, that sort of thing. I had no idea what Karim was looking for, but he did not strike me as a particularly charitable evaluator.
We already had verbal children with translator implants whose next step would be adoption and regular outpatient evaluations. We needed to ensure there were plenty of opportunities for them, including prospective human adoptive parents. So I erred on the side of generosity, with the knowledge that all of those whose application was accepted would still have to have interviews, and regular check-ins, to ensure nothing untoward happened to the children.
I took another walk near the end of my shift, and saw that Kanarel was being given a tour by a security officer. I gave him a little wave and he waved back. Only one claw after he'd been hired and he'd already hit the ground running! A few of the human volunteers were staring, and whispering to each other. His appearance might prove a little stressful, but I figured they'd get used to him soon enough.
I checked on the production labs, translator stock was solid and we could give the girls the implant next week. I ran through some reports, flagged a few things for later analysis, updated my own files in the shared database, pulled some files from other facilities for later reviewing. It was a very productive day, all told.
Eventually, I finished my shift and sent an email to the whole facility, first requesting that any invasive tests for the "predator" children seek my approval before going forward, and second explaining that I would be reducing my shifts to 2 or occasionally 2.5 claws. If I had actually been well-rested, I wouldn't have dismissed Varla when she tried to tell me about the boys' horns. I hadn't had a weekend in a month and a half, but that could wait. First, no more twelve-hour shifts.
Plus, if I had smaller shifts, maybe I could have days with a late start, and days with an early start. That might help fight the "sliding" schedule I had fallen into, with my 6-claw "days" of 24 hours failing to fit into a 20-hour paw.
Larzo spotted me as I was getting ready to leave.
"I would like to request the Upper Salwick game you owe me," he said, and I smiled behind the mask.
"That sounds great, actually."
We got to his place a few minutes later. His hensa was deep asleep on a bed of pillows Larzo assured me was her own making.
After a few minutes, the reason Larzo thought I was sure to win was obvious. "Upper Salwick" was some sort of weird, strategic Jenga. Each player had a set of parts, and each turn you had to play one of each type, as you built your little structure out of alien toy building blocks. Then, each player had five balls which were to be tossed at the other player's structure. Or shot through a little tube you could use as a dart gun. If both structures survived unscathed, you removed one piece and tried to knock them down with the balls again.
Larzo and I were mostly evenly matched in our ability to build something that wouldn't collapse on its own. The alien building blocks were not quite as stable as LEGO blocks, and made a very gentle, smooth sound when they hit the ground. Both structures would be elevated on a little platform made up of parts of the box re-folded (really clever design, actually). Any blocks that fell off the platform were a point in your enemy's favour.
I learned playing with Larzo that humans are much better at throwing things than the entire fucking galaxy. If you could score in paper football, you could beat almost any non-human sophont in Upper Salwick.
The standard "strategy" was to build the tallest, thinnest, most physically stable structure, on the grounds that your opponent would need a meaningful amount of luck (given the expected distances between the players and the size of the balls) in order to knock it over. People built in Upper Salwick to avoid being knocked down. A pyramid was the most stable structure I could design with those blocks. It was also the most likely to be hit, but it survived two or three hits before the first block fell off. I played to be able to withstand being knocked down.
Larzo built some sort of tower and I knocked it down on my second shot. He hit my pyramid five times and only one block fell down.
"I knew it. Those arboreal eyes of yours! Lulling me into a false sense of security with that miss…"
"I haven't played beer pong in ten years, cut me some slack," I said. I used my last three balls to knock the remnants of his tower off the platform. By the end of the first round, I had a pyramid minus one block, and he had literally two pieces left out of the starting twenty-five.
"Are we playing elimination or standard?" he asked as he gathered his fallen pieces.
"That should have been settled before we started, dude, I didn't know there were variations."
"Well, I assumed standard, but now I am looking for an excuse to play another game," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
I laughed. "I take it you underestimated how hard I would win?"
"I did not know it was possible to knock pieces off the platform after you had already collapsed your opponent's structure."
I struggled not to laugh. “Well, what do you want to do now?”
"Perhaps we could go to one of the human growling bars," Larzo said, and I nearly spat out my water.
"...The what?" I croaked, and had to clear my throat.
"They're not too far out by train, humans regularly walk from the refugee camps to them," he continued. I stared at him.
"Larzo, what the fuck is a growling bar?"
"I thought it was a human tradition," he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Humans go to these bars and growl as loudly as they can, bellowing their grief of Earth's bombing. On occasion, I have passed by and heard screeches translated as 'yesterday, all my woes appeared to be distant, now it seems that they are permanent."
The realization hit me like a smack from Rodriguez. "No way. No. That's not–Are you calling that a growling bar?"
"Yes. What is the proper nomenclature, if not that?" he asked.
-----
Memory transcription subject: Lieutenant Asleth, Arxur Dominion Third Fleet.
Date [standardized human time]: Oct 19, 2136
When I volunteered to aid the humans after the bombing, I did not grasp the extent of their devotion to prey. I arrived at the Canadian space port near a vast, beautiful lake, and once there was taken to a hangar wherein I was made to wait.
And wait.
And wait, until that prophet-damned squealer would stop squirming with fear. They were not so far that I could not hear, but listening only exacerbated my exhaustion at the situation.
“You’re going to be perfectly safe,” said one of the humans. I worried that they would refuse our help altogether to appease it. That the only fellow sapients the Galaxy had to offer would reject us just the same as the prey had. That they would first love creatures that hated them, before any Arxur. No matter our help, our curiosity, our desire to join forces.
“No I’m not, and I’m not going to get myself eaten for you apes!” the creature squealed. How could humans stand for such disrespect?
“If you would like to resign, we can return you to your fleet–”
“No! I–I can do this, I can do this I—I can’t do this!”
“We specifically paired you with an Arxur whose job is primarily communications,” the human said patiently. “This is not a raider, or a front-line soldier.”
“It’s still a monster!”
I groaned from my place in the room, waiting on, and on… These tree-dwelling chatterboxes wouldn’t know an ally if they saved their species from extinction.
“I’m afraid we can’t turn down Arxur help right now. They’re much stronger than humans, having one on your team means we can send more of our own elsewhere. Help more people.”
“You’re telling me humans are too weak to protect me from those monsters?!”
“Well, no, we’ll still have armed men, but when it comes to pulling people out of rubble…”
There was a curious silence, after which the prey made a proposal.
“Call the translator tech. The one who worked with the prisoners. My friend worked with him. She said he could talk them down from anything. The [one who whispers at lizards].”
That was an interesting development. I leaned a little bit towards the wall, to see if I could hear better. There was a pause during what I assumed was the human speaker’s search for a communication device.
“Hey, Andes?.. You were scheduled to land today, would you by any chance still–Perfect. Can you come over to Hangar Bay five?.. I’m sorry, I know your contract–we’ll compensate you. Look, I have a Zurulian here who won’t set foot within prowling distance of our Arxur volunteer without you here… Not my fault you're famous... Time is lives, pal. See you in a few.”
“Well?” the prey creature squeaked.
“They’ll be here in a bit. We caught them just in time.”
The next few minutes were exhausting. Waiting in silence while mere metres away the humans coddled the terrified prey. Eventually, the door opened and I awakened from the haze of boredom.
In stepped a human in one of those formal sets of armour they wore with the white lining their ribcage, black layer on top, and the noose around their throats. Behind the human was the Zurulian, cowering, as they always did.
Behind the two of them came another human, wearing armour even less protective than the noose-wearer's. He(?) was further made distinct by the other humans in military armour, much like the ones I had seen around other bases, or in their communications network. Not to mention that the soldiers all stood straight, their bodies stiff, their jaws marked, while the civilian slouched and yawned, his body on its face weaker and softer than the soldiers’.
“Alright, Asleth was it?” the one in the black pelt with the noose said. I wondered briefly if it was a measure of trust. They wore a noose around their necks so that they could be more easily strangled, and thus their good behaviour was ensured…
“Yes,” I said. “I am Lieutenant Asleth, I work communications as you told the vermin, and volunteered to assist in the rescue of survivors from the city of Royalmount.”
“Perfect,” said the human. “This here is Dr. Rusen. These guys are Philippe, Francois, and David. And the newest recruit to the team, who will be working with Dr. Rusen, is Dr. Andes Savulescu-Ruiz.”
“Still not technically–” began Andes Savulescu-Ruiz, but the man in the noose waved him off.
“Close enough. You'll be doing first aid, checking victims for brain damage, so on. Anyhow, they’ll be working with you, Asleth, and keeping the peace for good ol’ Rusen here. All of you behave, the transport should be here real soon, and then it’ll be a long day’s work.”
The noose-wearing man gave us all a nod and wandered back out the door.
I looked at the least-armoured human and tried to remember their greeting rituals. He offered a hand and I shook it with my claws, doing my best not to dig into his flesh. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Andes Savulescu-Ruiz.”
“Just Andes is fine,” he said with a smile. I realized then that although the Zurulian was the only one cowering, the other humans were tense in my presence. This ‘Just Andes’ was the only one of the whole lot who did not make much distinction between me and his fellow humans. The rest seemed reluctant to approach, ready to betray my opened claw of friendship at a moment’s notice, should I prove a threat.
The transport arrived. It was two-tiered, with a front section large enough to seat five humans, and a back section that was very much an open box with some additional safety straps.
“We had to get a pickup truck to be able to carry the croc, I hope it’s not an issue,” said the human at the front of the vehicle. I did some quick accounting of the population and concluded I would likely be isolated in the back, waiting once again.
“I’ll ride with Asleth,” Andes said, “Rusen can go in the front with you guys."
There were a few nods, and the soldiers began to pour into the vehicle. I climbed aboard the back, and Andes hopped on as well with a litheness that surprised me given his looser, pudgier form in comparison to the soldiers. Within moments, the vehicle had begun to move and Andes had attached himself to it with a safety strap. Once on our way, he rummaged around in a bag to get a helmet much like the other soldiers’.
“So comms, eh? I’ve been working with a lot of Arxur in the past few months. I’m curious, can you tell me about your writing system?”
“...Our writing system?” I echoed. Of all the questions I expected to get from a human, this was not one of them.
“Yeah, I noticed that there are a lot of spikes, and the number of vowels--or analogues, anyhow--doesn’t seem to correlate with the length of a word, so I was wondering if you use diacritic marks, or…”
I stared blankly at him. “What are diacritic marks?”
His whole face lit up and he began to explain. The Arxur have teachers–we must, for we have things that ought be taught–but I had never before seen a creature so delighted by the opportunity to teach. Teachers were, in my experience, exasperated disciplinarians who disdained their duty to those who knew less than they. Andes found it joyous to speak, and it helped me find it joyous to listen. All humans, so far as I knew, had beautifully musical voices. Still, Andes’ had a light in it that I had heard from none others in my brief time on Earth, and my less brief time investigating their communications.
I wondered idly if my irritation at spending time with fellows was truly a mark of our people, or if we were simply not used to the joys of conversation that humans could bring forth. Perhaps this is what the Arxur of old had yearned for, before the Federation made itself known to us. A chance to converse with another sapient who was so very alien, and yet so much the same.
Translators had done a great deal to undermine the details of language. I did not much care if Zurulian was a subject-object-verb language or an object-verb-subject language, even as a communications officer. After all, what I heard was simply squealing in Zurulian, and most of my job involved sorting through potential alternative translations, investigating context, and discovering when a good time to attack might be. I had greater expertise in their (comically poor) encryption practices. Their tongue itself may as well have been a mystery.
“--Look, here, write me a sentence like ‘the rock falls in the water’,” he said, pulling forth a pad and a little wooden implement with graphite in the middle. I obliged though it felt rather odd to use an extra, wooden claw to write.
He looked at it. “Now please separate the words ‘rock’, ‘falls’ and ‘water’.”
I was confused. “That is not possible.”
His eyes grew, his pupils firmly focused on me. “...What?”
“It is not possible,” I repeated, “Rock is not just this,” I pointed to one of the sections. “It is also this,” I pointed to another. “Similarly, for it to fall on the water, then the falling must be…” My brow crinkled as I struggled for the term. He stared at me in anticipation. “The falling must be infected by the water.”
“Infected?” he asked.
“Yes. The words infect one another. Perhaps if I spoke of it as though it were a plan, ‘it is the arrangement for the rock to, in the future, fall upon the water’... Then the infection is that of the arrangement, and so rock, fall, and water are all affected by it, not by one another…”
I wrote it out in that fashion, and Andes stared in astonishment.
“Is this… Grammatical genders as tenses? Is this like the animate-inanimate distinction in Innu?” he mused, confusing me further. Were not all tongues so interwoven? “I swear, when this is all over, I need to go to Wriss. This is insane. What are those particles? How do abbreviations work? What’s the orthographic depth on this?”
I felt a need to thank the cowardly little creature for demanding Andes' presence. I realized at that moment that I had never seen a person be interested in the Arxur. We knew ourselves, or liked to think so. The Federation knew all they wished. His curiosity flattered me in ways I could not describe. It was an insistence, in itself, that I was worth learning about.
------
I will have to provide thanks to a variety of people, on the grounds that the past few weeks have not been good to my brain. u/Acceptable_Egg5560, u/cruisingNW, u/Liberty-Prime76, u/SavingSyllabus7788,u/AnEldritchroflcopter (who named Rusen), and someone whose reddit username I do not currently know, but will be editing in later if they so desire.
Everyone has been very kind, and I highly appreciate their generosity.

Age 27
Sex Male
Height 6 “2
Weight 390
Race Caucasian
Duration of complaint 3 weeks
Location Orlando Florida
Any existing relevant medical issues No
Current medications N/a
Include a photo if relevant
I’ve been starting to work out a lot, eating healthier, and drinking a gallon of water a day for about a month now. About 3 weeks ago I was doing bicep curls and felt a sharp pain in my arm. I immediately stopped and noticed I had a rather large bump on my bicep near the elbow. Since then I tried taking it easy for about a week and it did go down a good bit but was still noticeably swollen. Also anytime I do workout with it it swells up really big again. I went to a walk in clinic and they said it was probably a burst blood vessel but I haven’t had any bruising or signs of blood underneath the skin at all. I decided to bite the bullet and go to a family doctor and they had me get it ultrasoundEd and concluded it was just fatty tissue that might have just disconnected from the muscle. I even asked if it was worth getting an MRI and they said no. I dont feel any pain, have full range of motion, and from what I can tell normal strength but the swelling is not really getting better. Does anyone know what this is? I’m really worried I ruptured my bicep but the doctors dont seem to be that worried about it. My bicep essentially looks like a butt with a big lump near my shoulder and another near the elbow. I’ve also noticed that my forearm is a bit more swollen than the other. Am I being crazy? Does this sound like a ruptured bicep? I’ve felt zero pain except for the half second when it initially happened. Immediately after it seemed fine. Any advice would be helpful I just dont want to fuck Up my arm.

Dear RBNs, I do know that all of us has had (and sadly many have still) their good share of n-bullshit, but this one that I am going to tell you about is, my opinion, near next level...A very HIGH level, I dare to say... You'll discover yourselves the reason why... /s
My mother is old. I am VLC with her and I am NC with my GC sister, who lives with her. I don't call my mother often, as I am tired to hear her shrieks. But you know...Last shreds of decency affecting me still so...here we go with the last phone call. (This morning)
Her : "Halloooooo????????" (Wailing). A bit of contest: she and GC alternate love bombing phases to WWIII ones. During conflicts, GC refuses to talk to mommy, and phones her instead ...from the next room. I know, I know, "WTF???", but that's it... /s
Me : "Hallo mother, I'm Gossamer "
She : "Oh!" (Very disappointed, I am not GC and the grand sorrow act gets sadly lost...You know, I can't believe her anymore due to awareness of her narc personality)
Me: "Hey, how are you?"
Her : "I am fine, and here are the news...(shrieks to no end about some random shit)
Me: "Ah!..................................................................Ok................................................Oh!................................Uhmm............................................................................................................................................................................(silence)"
Her: ".........Aaaannnnnnd (drum rolls please /s)....................Nadia (number one) has died. Also Nadia (number two ) did as well! " ( Nadia the First is a distant relative who mom had a problematic relationship with, because she did not put up with her shitty behavior) . As per Nadia the Second...I have no idea about who she is.
Me: "I am sorry . When did it..." ( No, we'll never know when it happened, as I got interrupted abruptly as usual)
Her: "You know, she was not that bad, after all. She did not behave properly with me because she was a rude simpleton, and because she was envious! She was so ugly, I can understand that she was soooo jealous of me!!! BUT....I HAVE FORGIVEN her, and thanks to my noble gesture she will able to go to Heaven, and to reunite with her husband. By the way, he used to hit on me, and this used to make her sooooo jealous!"
Me: "Ah, that's interesting news!" (amazed)
Her: "Bla bla bla bla...." (Another long stream of meaningless bullshit")
Me : "Ok mom, I have to leave now, be well !"
See why I have said, in my introduction, that she has reached a "HIGH next level"? She has literally reached the sky, as she rules over lesser mortals' fate together with God! /s. Please share your alike experiences and your thoughts, you are welcome! :)

Randomly throughout June, my character Astell (who is a massive homophobe, transphobe, damn near everythingphobe) will be shown destroying pride flags. (Note that this isn’t a reflection on me as a person, I will be in character, I for one support the lgbt community) anyway, I call it: ‘unhappy pride month’

Hi! I have a week to myself (mahaba na 'yun kasi i'm a very busy bee) and I'm looking to hone my craft in songwriting!! I mostly write stuff on the uke, but it recently broke so naghahanap lang ako ng free for profit tracks sa youtube HAHAHA :(( Or okay lang naman daldalan lang tayo!! Let's start as friends and see where it goes. But I will be mia after posting this because I will be travelling hehe. I will get back to u asap tho :”)
About me: - 3rd yr college student - likes star wars - no attention span - writes songs n paints - madaldal pero mahiyain sa una - likes dark humor, mahilig din mag mura sorry na - corny, medyo lutang
about u: - 19 to 25 if thats okay!! near my age lang sana hehe - no nsfw pls i kno its already given in this subreddit but ive heard stories - playing instruments n songwriting is a bonus hehe

Hello ktm peeps, Im looking to buy a 890 adv. But cannot decide which model so hopping somebody here can nudge me in some direction.
Short history, up until recently I had 2 bikes one sport tourer for travel, and a DRZ 400 S for city commute and weekend trails/offroad. I used the bigger bike to travel with the wife, but since we got a kid we dont do it any more so I decided to sell both bikes and get something halfway.
Today I tested out the 2023 R version, but shortly on the pavment for some 20min. The dealer did not have the S version for test, only on display. They have another 2022 R model and are gonna sell it for the same-ish price as the new S model. The new R is also an option if there is reason enough to go the extra 1000e.
The thing is I don’t know how my future riding habits will look (on road - off road %). And most articles I read specify how the R is more capable on dirt, but non say anything how much is it worse for pavement.
I guess my riding is gonna be mostly city commute, weekend trips in the mountain and countryside near me (day trips) and 1-2 bigger trips a year (700-1000km trips during 2-3 days). I will try to explore as much of fire roads and campsites during those trips.
Any tips are welcome, lets hope it does not brake down often

I'm playing an aasimar Hexlock 3/Divine Sorc 7 with Pact of the Tome & Book of Ancient Secrets. I'd like your input on future spell selection (next 3 or 4 levels) since I'm getting to the point where I really feel the limited spells known of a sorcerer.
Current spells include: a dumb amount of cantrips
1st = ice knife (locked-in due to feat), bless (locked-in due to subclass), healing word, charm person, rituals from BoAS+ (illusory script, find familiar, ceremony, comprehend languages, identify)
2nd = invisibility, calm emotions, aid, misty step, rime's binding ice (will probably swap)
3rd = fireball (necklace of), wall of water, haste
4th = ice storm (locked in due to magic item), death ward, control water
Some context to help narrow it down: my character is a coffeelock "waterbender" and after being a support/face of the party/occasional blaster, is now the sole healer (our cleric just died and the player has replaced her with a ranger; other party members are an echo knight, chronomancy wizard, and bladesinger). Wateice themed spells are preferred; but reflavoring is where it's at, such as haste being reworded to "I freeze a small portion of blood near the target's brain stem to cease instinctual inhibition". The revivify tax weighs heavy, but I plan to swap binding ice for it next time the party levels up. I'm just getting into the character's "bloodbending arc" (so I really wanna get hold monster eventually, but is it worth it?) and my DM has okayed this homebrew spell for a future option.
Thanks for any assistance you can give me! I realize there's no way to "do it all" but the recent dynamic shift in the party makes me feel like I gotta pivot my role to fill in for the cleric-size hole we now have.

So... Uhhh I might be already too late to even think about this but here goes.
I'm a grade 12 HUMSS student with only a month left until graduation. I've gotten the oppurtunity o grab a full 4-year scholarship for Criminology at a college near my city (got top 2 over 28 passers out of hundreds of applicants... idk proud ako at madalang mangyari ito).
I really want to have a job relating to Law Enforcement, but we all know that the criminal justice system here in our country is a bit... yeah, compared to foreign countries in the west. I'm told that a criminology degree is useless outside law enforcement stuff and that anyone that has graduated from college with any degree can still become a police officer in our country, which made me feel a bit sad since I ask myself what's the point of taking a degree in criminology if everyone can become a police officer with any college degree? Like may advantage ba ang pagtake ng criminology sa college kung kahit anong course pala ay pwede maging pulis o sa field ng law enforcement?
My brain is telling me to go take BS Computer Science instead of BS Criminology because I have skills for things related to technology/IT, but my heart is telling me to pursue my passion of being a noble law enforcer. I can't find any scholarships for BS Computer Science and I also failed to pass UP for Com Sci.
Tbh It's not that I'm ungrateful, but I wanna move away from this country after having enough money after college to a country like Canada... I'm scared that I would choose the wrong option at this point of my life and I'd forever stuck being unhappy and regretting not choosing the better future for me... I've searched the net and I've found that I can still be part of law enforcement if I have a degree in Computer Science and if I ever no longer wish to be apart of law enforcement, I can still earn a lot of money from Computer Science degree. What should I do..?

I hadn't played Rocket League in a long time until about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I have played it nearly everyday for a couple hours. Not a single person has typed anything or used the quick chat.
- No sarcastic chats about me scoring own goals.
- No responses to my "sorry"
- Nobody saying sorry
- No compliments
- No responses to anything I say
- No abuse
Even when there's a task to say "No problem" in 3 matches or something like that, nobody is doing it.
My settings are all correct.
What's going on here? Does nobody speak on Rocket League anymore? Playing on the Xbox Series X

English is not my first language
Recently I bought a duplex house in the best part of the city. I have 2 sons and they both asked if thry can live in one of the floors. I decided to let my older son live with me for 3 reasons:
• My older son is a great help to us. He usually comes over to check if we need anything and cooks for us so having him near us would be beneficial
• His daughter is probably the sweetest kid on earth and is my only granddaughter. She usually visits to talk to us and I'd like having her close
• His wife is very nice and polite and overall I enjoy her company
However my other son is not as thoughtful as my oldest, his sons prefer their phones to us and I simply dislike his wife
He thinks I'm an asshole for "only letting my favorite son live with me"

I'd like to make more friends. It's half term week and it's 6 days in and not once have I hung out with somebody. I'm starting to feel lonely. It's easier in winter cause nobody else is out but in summer there's tons of people hanging out with their friends and I get jealous. And then instead of getting angry at them, because well its not their fault, I just get sad. All of my friends are busy or too far away. But like the entire week? Seriously?? It just sucks. I'd like to make more friends, also near where I live, so that this would be less of an issue. I've thought about making friends through skateboarding but I'm having a break. I tend to obsess over things then stop a little when I get burntout so I don't force myself to do it and hate it. I'm worried if I speak to other people who skate and I'm not or I'm not very good they'll just see me as a faker. I'm also afraid if I stop skating for whatever reason they'll stop hanging out with me. There's others but well: guitar, art, skate, boxing, running. That's mostly what I do in my spare time. It looks like a lot but it doesn't really stop the loneliness. Is there any way I'd make friends doing these hobbies? I'm kinda counting on the second year of college to make new friends. I also need to work on letting people in. I got bullied in the past so I am worried people will make fun of me or something. How do I be vulnerable about making friends again?
Im sorry for the long rant or something. I've been feeling some feelings and I just kinda vented, sorry

Hi everyone. I'm sorry if this topic has been talked about to death, I read through previous threads on the topic and I don't feel like they touched on my specific problem.
I've been working fully in-office in a small charity for the last six months. Everyone there is very extroverted and nearly everyone has a family. For example, it's normal for someone to be talking on the phone or in back-to-back meetings from 9-1, then chat with everyone in the kitchen while eating their lunch and then back to calls and meetings. I'll have lunch with people on a Monday when I'm most rested, but after that I'll be the only one eating my lunch at my desk while I try to harness some semblance of quit in a usually loud office.
I really like this job. I find it very fulfilling and rewarding, but the introvert burnout is ruining my life. I'm tired not from the work, I'm tired from 8:30-5:30 talking with people and dealing with an open-plan office and being looked at and making eye contact. Some days I'm so tired I have to finish getting up the stairs on my hands and knees. I haven't seen my friends in these six months because I need the weekend to recover from being in the office. I just cancelled plans to hang out with a friend who's travelled 14 hours because I'M the tired one (she's seeing other people too. Don't worry, I'm not that much of a dick!).
It's clear that this is a problem that needs a solution, but I fear there's going to be problems getting this solution. This job was advertised as 'hybrid working available', but I got in there and saw that it's subject to passing my six month probation. It's been six months and HR are slow as hell in getting this meeting sorted. I've talked to my boss about it and she said she can't help me get hybrid unless this meeting has happened.
It's also apparent, although I had no way of knowing this beforehand, that it's just not a hybrid working workplace. Everyone there loves coming in and chatting while it's been hell for me. No one in the entire charity is working hybrid, we used to have one person who has since left and apparently she had to fight to get it because her day involved a three hour commute.
Which brings me to the main point -- the fight. If I have to put up a fight to get hybrid working in a workplace of extroverts with families then I'm screwed. People will be awake all night with their vomiting kid and still come into the office. I have no kids and I either walk for 40 minutes or bus for 15 minutes to work, so I can't think of a more unsympathetic case for HR to get on their desk. But I'm on the cusp of depression, have no social life and am gaining weight through comfort eating because I don't have the energy to do many other things that make me happy.
So to greatly summarise this, I think I need help with:

1. Pleading my case for hybrid working to a group of social butterflies with families in a way that doesn't make me look like a delicate super special snowflake and also doesn't make them get defensive ("Oh this job is making you comfort eat is it? Well then go find another one")
   
2. What to do in the interim with my burnout if I can't see my friends and I'm crawling up stairs. Any advice on what people do would be greatly appreciated.
   
3. What to do if my hybrid working gets rejected. I honestly think I would just quit, but on paper it's basically my dream job and would really struggle with this.
   

Thank you for any and all help!