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A job that's fulfilling with less financial stability, or a job with more financial stability that is less fulfilling?

2023.06.03 10:17 Past-Club-6887 A job that's fulfilling with less financial stability, or a job with more financial stability that is less fulfilling?

Briefly speaking, I am looking for some advice for my current life situation. I want to include some backstory which may help with advice, so it may be a bit of a read.
TLDR at the bottom.
BACKSTORY:
To save the sob story, I (22M) moved out when I was 19 due to family hardship and thinking it would be better for my development and establish some independence.
I was still in post secondary at the time so for the next 3 years I was able to bounce around from my girlfriends place and then into my own spot with roommates. This is where I’ve been the last 2 years. My family ended moving hours away back to their home town to rekindle with the majority of my family. After a couple years of moving out they offered me to move there if I needed it, but this would be at the cost of my network where I’m from and forcing my girlfriend into a rough situation.
Financial stability was never really a problem until January this year. I graduated college about a year ago, and decided to bridge into a degree program as I only achieved a diploma in college. My thought process was since it was in the health sciences field, academia is influential to opportunity.
Decided to give it a shot even though I had to commute an hour out 4x/ week as I couldn’t afford to live out there (big city and Canadian living in Ontario, if you know you know) and the place I was staying was pretty cheap so in comparison, I’d pay the difference in my commute.
Fast forward through a semester, my mental health was shot, extremely burnt out, sleeping like shit, stopped going to the gym and barely eating for about 6 months. At the time I was working part time, enrolled in full time studies and living off my part time income + scholarship. I never really budgeted my finances but always got the bills paid on time.
I quickly started to fall behind in my courses and by the end of the first semester, I barely passed. I was ready to attempt a second semester and take some time off work to focus on my studies. With my scholarship instalments, I was fortunate enough to be able to handle about a month off work financially speaking, to start the new semester off strong and in a better mental state.
Everything was set and then come the beginning of the next semester, I received an abrupt notice that I was being flunked out of my program due to my poor academic performance. I was unaware I had to maintain a certain average to progress in the program, which is my own fault. As a result, this had terminated my scholarship and suddenly I had to find a way to make ends meet; my part time job was not going to cut it. This took me by surprise and shifted my focus in life into survival mode.
For the month I was off work (the unpaid leave had already been in place before receiving notice of being kicked out of school) I had enough money to get by for that month while searching for full time work and regathering my mental health.
During this time, I had a few interviews but by the end of the month I had not landed a full-time opportunity so I decided to go back to my part time job while continuing to search. This was February of 2023.
I was applying to a plethora of jobs, most even not industry-related to my college education. Reluctantly, I only landed a job where my qualifications aligned. It was a personal training job at a corporate fitness facility, which is where my passion lies in fitness + health.
If you know anything about a personal training career, the money does not come quick. You have to establish your book of clients before it can be financially fruitful and this calls for many long days, unpaid hours volunteering your time to sell personal training and ultimately make your mark.
This can take months to start making consistent coin at a steady premium rate but fitness is something I am really passionate about teaching. I knew it would be risky but it was the only option in front of me to potentially make more money and the rate was pretty good IF you can establish yourself to work a full-time schedule.
I’ve been at this job for just over 3 months. I’ve slowly built up a decent client base, but it barely makes ends meet most of the months I’ve been working here and I have debt to pay off from student loans and credit cards.
When I’m working with clients to improve their quality of life by helping them reach their goals with my expertise, it is truly a great feeling. What I’m struggling with is the instability of income and that brings me a ton of stress.
I could have a decently full week scheduled but after some cancellations or rescheduling/what have you, it can turn that around quickly which means less income. This grindy process to build my calendar month to month doesn’t allow me to get ahead whatsoever financially and one unexpected expense could throw me into more debt or falling behind on bills.
Recently I started applying to labour jobs that will give a set amount of hours which will allow me to have some predictability with my finances and create more financial stability; so your typical 9-5.
I have a few interviews lined up, just to explore some opportunity. But now my debate is between less financial stability and more fulfilling work which is where I’m at right now, or a less fulfilling job with more financial stability.
THE VERDICT:
Everyone always says to choose a job you enjoy instead of chasing a pay check, and I feel like I’ll be going against that even though it might be necessary as my finances are struggling which brings me a lot of stress. I’m talking about barely being able to put food on the table right now type of struggling so riding it out brings more risk and unknown to my finances.
I’m torn to make the decision of leaving my job and possibly regretting it. I know it makes me feel a sense of purpose more than a labour job would and the management is pretty great and supportive for success, all while still pushing quotas and hours goals for my position so a bit of corporate stress too. But the nature of the job to get the ball rolling while taking financial impact is weighing on my mental and finances pretty heavily for the last few months. Some weeks are great, others I have a ton of stress and self-doubt.
I feel like if I had a nice financial cushion going into this PT thing, I would have far less worries about staying afloat and could stop living with a sense of scarcity so I could focus on refining my skills and enjoying the process. I want to make sure I’m not missing the mark on life even though money is an obvious need right now.
If I can’t make something happen for myself, I’m forced to move with family and start over. This will bring me less stress in terms of responsibility until I can get back on my feet, at the cost of my relationships (friends/gf) in the city I’ve grown up.

Based on my situation, what would you do?
Looking for constructive advice, or if you can speak from any similar experience it would be insightful.
Love to hear outside perspectives. If you took the time to read this, I appreciate you.
TLDR; if you were financially struggling, would you choose a job that brings you personal/meaningful fulfillment with less financial stability? Or is choosing a steady paying job that’s less fulfilling outside of finances missing the mark on life?
submitted by Past-Club-6887 to personalfinance [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:53 Past-Club-6887 Less stable job but more fulfillment, or more stable job while enjoying the work less?

Title correction: stability relating to finances
Briefly speaking, I am looking for some advice for my current life situation. I want to include some backstory which may help with advice, so it may be a bit of a read.
TLDR at the bottom.
BACKSTORY:
To save the sob story, I (22M) moved out when I was 19 due to family hardship and thinking it would be better for my development and establish some independence.
I was still in post secondary at the time so for the next 3 years I was able to bounce around from my girlfriends place and then into my own spot with roommates. This is where I’ve been the last 2 years. My family ended moving hours away back to their home town to rekindle with the majority of my family. After a couple years of moving out they offered me to move there if I needed it, but this would be at the cost of my network where I’m from and forcing my girlfriend into a rough situation.
Financial stability was never really a problem until January this year. I graduated college about a year ago, and decided to bridge into a degree program as I only achieved a diploma in college. My thought process was since it was in the health sciences field, academia is influential to opportunity.
Decided to give it a shot even though I had to commute an hour out 4x/ week as I couldn’t afford to live out there (big city and Canadian living in Ontario, if you know you know) and the place I was staying was pretty cheap so in comparison, I’d pay the difference in my commute.
Fast forward through a semester, my mental health was shot, extremely burnt out, sleeping like shit, stopped going to the gym and barely eating for about 6 months. At the time I was working part time, enrolled in full time studies and living off my part time income + scholarship. I never really budgeted my finances but always got the bills paid on time.
I quickly started to fall behind in my courses and by the end of the first semester, I barely passed. I was ready to attempt a second semester and take some time off work to focus on my studies. With my scholarship instalments, I was fortunate enough to be able to handle about a month off work financially speaking, to start the new semester off strong and in a better mental state.
Everything was set and then come the beginning of the next semester, I received an abrupt notice that I was being flunked out of my program due to my poor academic performance. I was unaware I had to maintain a certain average to progress in the program, which is my own fault. As a result, this had terminated my scholarship and suddenly I had to find a way to make ends meet; my part time job was not going to cut it. This took me by surprise and shifted my focus in life into survival mode.
For the month I was off work (the unpaid leave had already been in place before receiving notice of being kicked out of school) I had enough money to get by for that month while searching for full time work and regathering my mental health.
During this time, I had a few interviews but by the end of the month I had not landed a full-time opportunity so I decided to go back to my part time job while continuing to search. This was February of 2023.
I was applying to a plethora of jobs, most even not industry-related to my college education. Reluctantly, I only landed a job where my qualifications aligned. It was a personal training job at a corporate fitness facility, which is where my passion lies in fitness + health.
If you know anything about a personal training career, the money does not come quick. You have to establish your book of clients before it can be financially fruitful and this calls for many long days, unpaid hours volunteering your time to sell personal training and ultimately make your mark.
This can take months to start making consistent coin at a steady premium rate but fitness is something I am really passionate about teaching. I knew it would be risky but it was the only option in front of me to potentially make more money and the rate was pretty good IF you can establish yourself to work a full-time schedule.
I’ve been at this job for just over 3 months. I’ve slowly built up a decent client base, but it barely makes ends meet most of the months I’ve been working here and I have debt to pay off from student loans and credit cards.
When I’m working with clients to improve their quality of life by helping them reach their goals with my expertise, it is truly a great feeling. What I’m struggling with is the instability of income and that brings me a ton of stress.
I could have a decently full week scheduled but after some cancellations or rescheduling/what have you, it can turn that around quickly which means less income. This grindy process to build my calendar month to month doesn’t allow me to get ahead whatsoever financially and one unexpected expense could throw me into more debt or falling behind on bills.
Recently I started applying to labour jobs that will give a set amount of hours which will allow me to have some predictability with my finances and create more financial stability; so your typical 9-5.
I have a few interviews lined up, just to explore some opportunity. But now my debate is between less financial stability and more fulfilling work which is where I’m at right now, or a less fulfilling job with more financial stability.
THE VERDICT:
Everyone always says to choose a job you enjoy instead of chasing a pay check, and I feel like I’ll be going against that even though it might be necessary as my finances are struggling which brings me a lot of stress. I’m talking about barely being able to put food on the table right now type of struggling so riding it out brings more risk and unknown to my finances.
I’m torn to make the decision of leaving my job and possibly regretting it. I know it makes me feel a sense of purpose more than a labour job would and the management is pretty great and supportive for success, all while still pushing quotas and hours goals for my position so a bit of corporate stress too. But the nature of the job to get the ball rolling while taking financial impact is weighing on my mental and finances pretty heavily for the last few months. Some weeks are great, others I have a ton of stress and self-doubt.
I feel like if I had a nice financial cushion going into this PT thing, I would have far less worries about staying afloat and could stop living with a sense of scarcity so I could focus on refining my skills. I want to make sure I’m not missing the mark on life even though money is an obvious need right now.
If I can’t make something happen for myself, I’m forced to move with family and start over. This will bring me less stress in terms of responsibility until I can get back on my feet, at the cost of my relationships (friends/gf) in the city I’ve grown up.
Based on my situation, what would you do?
Looking for constructive advice, or if you can speak from any similar experience it would be insightful.
Love to hear outside perspectives. If you took the time to read this, I appreciate you.
TLDR; if you were financially struggling, would you choose a job that brings you personal/meaningful fulfillment with less financial stability? Or is choosing a steady paying job that’s less fulfilling outside of finances missing the mark on life?
submitted by Past-Club-6887 to Advice [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:51 IceQueenWeiss Selling epic games account + coupon 25% expire june 15

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submitted by IceQueenWeiss to GamingMarket [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:28 BhigdaLondaXD survive in hell.

Once upon a time, in the depths of Hell, there resided a tormented soul named Damien. In life, Damien had been a notorious murderer, taking pleasure in the suffering he inflicted upon others. However, when his earthly existence came to an end, his wicked deeds landed him in the fiery realm of eternal damnation.
As Damien found himself in the grasp of Hell's inferno, he was greeted by an ominous voice that echoed through the abyss. It informed him of a unique system in place within Hell—an intricate hierarchy based on a kill count. For every hundred lives taken, a soul would gain a new power, a twisted reward for their malevolence.
Intrigued by this dark proposition, Damien set out to embrace his new reality. He began his journey through the treacherous realm, seeking out unsuspecting souls to add to his tally. Each murder fueled his insatiable hunger for power, inching him closer to the next horrific milestone.
With each hundredth life claimed, a wicked transformation took place within Damien. The first hundred souls gifted him with enhanced speed, allowing him to move like a shadow in the night. His every step became swift and silent, leaving no trace behind.
With his newfound swiftness, Damien became an unseen predator, stalking his victims with deadly precision. No one could escape his grasp as he swiftly dispatched them, their cries of terror swallowed by the unforgiving darkness of Hell.
The second hundred souls granted him the power of manipulation. Damien discovered that he could influence the thoughts and emotions of those around him, puppeteering their actions to his own twisted desires. He reveled in the chaos he sowed, causing misery and despair wherever he went.
As his kill count continued to rise, Damien's powers grew more potent and sinister. He acquired the ability to conjure and control fire, turning it into a weapon of destruction. Flames danced at his fingertips, scorching his victims and engulfing them in a sea of unrelenting torment.
However, with each power gained, Damien's soul became darker and more consumed by the very evil he had once reveled in. The depths of Hell had taken their toll, and his humanity slipped away like ashes in the wind.
As time passed, Damien reached his one-thousandth kill, a significant milestone within the twisted hierarchy of Hell. He ascended to the pinnacle of power, his malevolence unmatched. With a single thought, he could bring forth devastation and suffering on a scale unimaginable.
But in the darkest corners of his tortured conscience, a glimmer of remorse flickered. Damien began to question the path he had chosen, the atrocities he had committed. Despite his newfound omnipotence, he realized that power alone could not fill the void within his damned soul.
Haunted by his past, Damien resolved to break free from the cycle of violence and seek redemption. He turned his abilities against the denizens of Hell, using his powers to protect and shield those who were defenseless. No longer a merciless killer, he became a reluctant guardian, battling against the very forces that once fueled his wickedness.
In his self-imposed penance, Damien sought to make amends, offering aid to lost souls who had succumbed to the darkness of Hell. He guided them towards hope, urging them to resist the temptations that had ensnared him.
As time passed, Damien's actions caught the attention of the celestial beings who oversaw the realms of the afterlife. Witnessing his transformation and his commitment to repentance, they granted him an opportunity for redemption. In a final act of sacrifice, Damien used his amassed powers to seal a tear in the fabric of Hell, closing one of its portals to prevent further damnation.
In that selfless act, Damien's tormented
soul found a flicker of solace. No longer bound by the cycle of murder and power, he became an agent of change, working tirelessly to salvage what remained of his tarnished existence.
And so, the story of Damien became one of redemption, a testament to the transformative power of remorse and the strength to rise above the darkest depths of one's own soul. Though his path had been marred by bloodshed, he found a way to use his powers for good, bringing light to the shadows of Hell, and perhaps finding a sliver of redemption within the fiery abyss.
submitted by BhigdaLondaXD to creepypasta [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:25 crogonint List of Alternate Barovian Maps which are Needed

I'm pretty sure that the majority of Barovian content creators have already seen some version of this list. I actually went back to update my original post of the list to discover that I never made my own post of it! I put together the first version of this list a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure this is the most complete list of its kind anywhere: Alternate areas of Barovia that are commonly needed, besides the commonly published CoS specific battlemaps:
0) The (Dark) Carnival - nobody ever makes maps / assets for this, even though gobs of people always throw it in to their campaign, even though it's old as crap. I understand that there's a Carnival Realm in the new VRGtR book.. I'll probably never use the realm-carnival, but that's a second place the Dark Carnival maps/assets could be used. There are also a trio of third party Ravenloft carnival modules as well that they could be used in.
1) Battlemap sized maps of the towns. At LEAST a 5 foot per square / hex map for the tiger chase. (Obviously modern VTT platforms don't actually need the grid on the map. ;) )
2) Random shops, stables, blacksmiths and generic places the party is likely to go anyway.
3) Generic encounter locations.. country roads / rivers / bridges and combinations of the three. It sounds dumb because you can get generic encounter maps like that anywhere.. but it would be AWESOME to have matching Barovian roads and Svalitch woods on all of your encounter maps. Don't forget the specific crossroads with the gallows from CoS.. I don't recall if there were hanging cages mentioned, but you could throw in some PNG options for them.
4) A covered bridge, including the roof, deck and under views. (To tack on to the Headless Horseman add-in.) The Woodcutters hut as well.
5) Besides the Carnival, there are a few other old school modules that people like to bolt on to CoS (Adam, etc. etc.).
6) DragnaCarta, MandysMod and Pyram King have all developed alternate encounters and a handful of setting that might be able to use an alternate map here and there. (Orphanage.) In particular, I recall battles in/near the bogs, on mountain sides with/without roads and watch towers. Military and outfitter style tent interiors and exteriors and camps placed.. you know what? Make those camps be PNG assets that could be dropped in a bog, next to a river or on a mountain side as needed. ;) I recall Lunch Break Heroes making an encounter for Borgia/Borca, but I don't recall if they made any scenarios / encounters for Barovia. I got a special request for Beneath the Abbey.
7) The Interactive Tome of Strahd sends the party back in time and would be a PHENOMENAL set of maps to expand Barovia. Seriously, you could drop those on DMsGuild and make some bank. Some additionally pre-Strahd bright and shiny versions of the village of Barovia and other basic maps might be nice for some throw-back adventures.
8) Retro Castle Ravenloft.. Castle Ravenloft fully restored to its former glory! (Castle Barovia? I picture it as more of a walled garrison, looking like a giant stone bubble from a distance, but it did have at least one tower overlooking the cliff.) We know that the old pre-Strahd castle had multiple floors located in roughly the same place as Castle Ravenloft, but with significantly different floor plans, as the ghosts walk staircases and pass through doorways that don't exist anymore. :D (Important side-note: Strahd did not grow up in Castle Ravenloft. I believe that there is one (1) painting of him looking out over Yesterhill, through the mists at a vision of the castle he grew up in, but I don't think anyone has ever tackled it.)
9) The caverns and the alter area in and under the Pillarstone of Ravenloft (from Expedition to Ravenloft) are frequently added in to CoS. I've never seen a map of a hidden cavern entrance in the Svalitch woods, let alone a set of creepy Barovian caverns.. or the Castle side of the entrance, for that matter.
10) Around a decade ago, some weirdo drew an artistic image of Castle Ravenloft with the foundation bedrock rotted away under it. I'd like to see a detailed elevation map of the curtain wall and gatehouse with the bedrock still under the curtain wall, because that irritates me to no end. NOBODY would build a massive curtain wall on a questionable foundation. Reference Vlads actual castle (which is admittedly ten times smaller than Ravenloft) for a rather specific example of a (THE) castle built on the side of a cliff. As I recall, if looking at the gatehouse, the left side and back left corner of Vlads actual castle are protected by a cliff, and that's where the inspiration for Castle Ravenloft came from.
11)Speaking of elevation, at the other end of Castle Ravenloft are balconies and windows jutting out over the cliff. I'd love to see detailed maps of those areas, an 'ant sized' map of the Svalitch woods and Barovia as seen from the castle, and an elevation map of the cliff-side reaching from the Svalitch woods up past the windows and balconies to the Curtain wall. Parties occasionally decide to attempt to scale the cliff. Having a cliff and curtain wall that actually matches would be awesome.
12) Odd ball areas we never see. The druids must have huts or a village somewhere. The Roc must have a nest somewhere. The Mad Mage in Barovia has one of either a tower / cavern / pocket dimension somewhere. We could use Barovian flavored versions of all three. Oh, and the woods and encounters with said mage on the backside of the lake.. so a lake / forested area with spread out trees for players to run in terror or attempt to attack at range.. or whatever.
13) UNDER Lake Zarovich, there are a handful of generic encounters. There are also a few river monster encounters, generally near the Berez Swamp, could use a lair map and an underwater river encounter map, Barovia flavored. Speaking of Berez, I've never seen a detailed large scale swamp map for the Berez Swamp.. let alone the whole town being overrun by the swamp.
14) A proper Berez Swamp. A full sized swamp, with river banks, fields of cattail and reeds, murky backwaters, underwater groves of trees, and a couple of dozen oddly shaped islets and sandbanks.. a few dead logs.. not to mention a proper full sized assortment of Berez town ruins.
15) What's the village in the Adventurer's Guild Supplements?? Orasnou! There's a tiny village there (the size most people depict Berez as, because the CoS book doesn't describe the whole town of Berez properly). So that map is needed, along with.. 4 interior maps, if I recall? (Probably more, + a manor.) As well as an alternate werewolf lair and a few others, like a Barovian bluff, again if I recall off of the top of my head. I've had requests for the Gundarak villages Teufeldorf, Zeidenburg and Renika, as well as the other minor villages and..
16) The complete map of Barovia, post Grand Conjunction (done in standard modern style/graphics).
17) Various encounters have been depicted on Mount Baratok. Which would be a stark stone mountain, snowy and generally above the treeline, not like the hilly tree covered mountains where Argynvostholt and the Roc and etc. are located. I think a largish rocky encounter map of the mountainside would be the first needed. I (seem to) recall a three tiered monastery built on the side of a cliff, with a freshwater spring enclosed that would require an elevation map along with three small interioexterior maps showing the wooden stairs going up and down the cliff-side. I recall one encounter involving a lai small cave sized area.
18) Lots of people want Van Richtens magic shop and other stuff described in his escapades. We could also use a handful of Vistani Vardos and Camps. If I recall, there are only two described in the CoS book, but there are many more tribes of Vistani than that, and we're told that they move around frequently. If might be easier to provide PNG files for the vardos, outfitter tents and assets for a large scale camp. Come to think of it, there aren't a whole lot of tokens for those smallish horses they use either, so someone might whip up 10-12 smallish shaggy horses with unique patterns to show off. They don't care one ounce for a horses pedigree, and are more than happy to keep unique looking mongrel horses as their personal caravan animals. They use mountain horse stock when breeding their horses, so they would be a bit hairier and stockier then say an Arabian.. just scaled closer to a pony size. Donkey size! They're donkey sized horses. :D ..real donkey size, if I recall 5e has some weirdness going on with their official donkey/wagon sizes that makes no sense at all for Vardos sized horses and wagons like the Vistani would have.
19) The valley where the village of Barovia is located is described as a massive fertile farming area, yet we never see any medieval farms, ranches, graineries or farmers markets for Barovia. Definitely need a few of those. Barovian farmers and ranchers would SPECIFICALLY all have the buildings that (in the real world) later became fortifications, Thick werewolf proof walls and heavily barricaded doors everywhere. No window on the ground floor. Livestock was housed indoors, in enclosed courtyards with family areas wrapped around them, or with the animals on the ground floor and the family living above on the second floor. Horse stalls and farrowing areas would be fenced off within the area. Graineries would be large round wooden buildings with barricaded doors and sturdy out-buildings. 10 foot tall max, today's 4-5 story tall graineries are a modern invention. There would probably be a large stone community grainery far on the other side of the valley from the Village of Barovia. for that matter, there ought to be a functioning grainery or warehouse somewhere between the Village of Barovia and Bonegrinder. ALSO, if Bonegrinder is no longer being used as a mill, there would HAVE to be another windmill or waterwheel driven mill somewhere else in Barovia. Many artists have envisioned a water-wheel grainery on the River Ivlis near the Village of Barovia. Corn cribs would be on the second floor of a barn for drying grain, doubling up to dry bales of hay, not primarily as a hay loft. PNGs for 2-3 styles of fencing and gates, water troughs, and some medieval horse drawn plows and rakes would be nice. Dog kennels!! Every farm would probably have it's own horse pasture or rink with a training post, and a dog kennel or run for dogs to run during the day. You know those giant mastiffs that the Barovian nobles are so fond of? Yeah, the farmers in the fertile valley near Barovia would be the only ones rich enough to be able to afford to raise those pups for the nobles. Somewhere out here would be a medieval rancher set up to raise mastiff puppies with an assortment of full grown mastiffs. Mongrel pups or runts would be sold off to neighboring farms at a discount. Roaming wolves would stay FAR away from them, and werewolf packs would likely attack them for any reason at all (if they could find a way in to the basin). I picture a LARGE farmers market and stockyards just inside the River Ivlis bridge of the Valley of Barovia. We know that Barovia is a trade center.. so there MUST be one. The bridge would offer protection if needed, and it would be the closest place farmers and ranchers could set up to provide commerce with the other villages and domains and still have the protection of being inside the gates. Hmm.. they might have a dirt race track there for showing off horses going up for sale. Make that very probably, The Vistani/Romani are famous for defending their mountain horses at the drop of a hat. This would be the main place of commerce for farmers goods in Barovia. This is (the main area) where Vistani Caravans would import and export farm goods in to and out of Barovia.
20) There would absolutely be homestead (small) sized farms and ranches carved out up in mountain valleys or even on mountain sides facing south. In fact, a south facing mountain side might get enough sunlight to raise delicate crops, spices and herbs, whereas most of Barovia can't, due to the mists blocking the sunlight. Also, a couple of mountain pastures with matching rocks / trees bordering them would be nice. Honestly though, if you pass out some rock and tree assets that match the ones you already use, anybody could throw together their own mountain pastures, or even their own valley pastures. Rows of crops are hard to find though! You could easily have scenarios of wolves/werewolves hunting the party in a cornfield.. but there are no Barovian cornfield battlemaps. ACTUALLY, I don't think I have any battlemap sized crop assets, and I probably have the largest collection of map assets around. You could probably sell these farming assets/maps on DriveThruRPG and DMsGuild as well, I've never seen them anywhere. ..OR you might ask Forgotten Adventures or Tom Cartos to throw some together, whatever seems clever. :) I've been asked specifically to try to get Yaedrag (barbarian-esque village in the mountains that Dragna wrote up) made up.
21) Jenny Greenteeth's Hut.. perhaps a grove of her untainted trees from the Quivering Forest? (Also the Glumpen Swamp and Vanishing Hills, various locations within these.) I picture the Quivering Forest loaded with fruit and nut trees and songbirds fighting for real estate (the text mentions angry squirrels).. surrounded by classic Svalitch Woods half-dead spooky trees. ;) I recall seeing a couple of versions that roughly followed the description given in DDAL04, but they're just a hut, not the whole barrow surrounding her hut as described. Additionally, many artists have upscaled her hut to be a small trading post, and put it on wooden poles, swamp style (never seen a battlemap of it, though). Lots of room for creative renditions there. :)
22) Another thing that I haven't seen ANYBODY making is small abbeys. The hills and mountains of Barovia are said to be littered with small abbeys. ..some of them abandoned, some not.
23) Abandoned mansions and manors. Strahd massacred the noble families of Barovia for their involvement in his father's murder. There is one legend of a nobleman possessed by a demon that Strahd left alive, as a curse 'worse than death'. At any rate, there ought to be a handful of abandoned / haunted mansions and manors dotting the Barovian countryside for the party to stumble in to (or check out due to a hook dropped by an informative villager).
24) There are currently NO mines in the CoS version of Barovia.. bizarre for a mountain country. It would suit that some of those decimated noble families ran some mines that have since been abandoned. Of course, it wouldn't do to host your standard monsters in a Barovian mine. I'm thinking Lair of the White Worm. Something more horrifying than dungeoneering.
25) It's been mentioned that instead of murdering the losers from the werewolf trials, they might be shipped off to be slaves in a mine, or to a plantation in the swamp. The plantation would be stick construction, as you would expect in a swamp, they would collect tubers and reeds that grow in the swamp, not traditional plantation type crops.
26) The various Barovian villages NOT included on Schleys map of (Central) Barovia usually have a town sized map plotted out and published somewhere, but no really decent overview maps or battlemap sized maps of them exist. (This need might easily be filled by a couple of handfuls of generic Barovian village buildings, field-stone and dirt street assets, and sundry village constructions.
27) Besides the Gates of Barovia, there are supposed to be watch-towers dotting the landscape as well. An operational watchtower and a couple of partially ruined ones would be awesome.

Assets nobody has made like the Dark Carnival and lake/river encounters and the Mad Mages various lair options would be the most needed. I simply don't understand why EVERY CoS map developer doesn't provide matching roads, forests, rivers and generic shops with matching Barovian assets. The maps I mentioned which you could make money selling on DriveThruRPG and DMsGuild (to me) would just be silly NOT to make. ...Van Richtens magic shop is requested a LOT. When the party first enters Barovia, I can picture them being chased in to a fortified farm by a pack of dire wolves / werewolves at dusk (perhaps the first couple of farms won't unbarricade their doors). I'm sure you can see the utility of the rest. Will everybody need a Roc nest on a cliff above the forest? No. Will DMs derail their campaign for a minute just for the opportunity to make the party loot a Roc nest? Yes. :
Finally, I would note that since I wrote this list, a few cartographers have added some of the above locations to their Library, but the vast majority of these are as of yet, untouched. :)
submitted by crogonint to CurseofStrahd [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:22 abrazameya [M4F] Mysterious Rebel in the Bay, Seeking a Daring and Sensuous Escape

Hey there, gorgeous. I'm a 35-year-old risk-taker living in the heart of San Francisco, a city as wild and unpredictable as I am. If you're reading this, then you're looking for something...something a little exciting, a little dangerous, and a whole lot sexy. Picture a man who doesn't just live life, but devours it. I'm a lover of the arts, but not the stuffy kind. Think underground music gigs in basements, street art that sets the city ablaze with color, and films that push boundaries. Outdoors? Hell yes, but not your typical picnic in the park. We're talking high-speed motorcycle rides across the Golden Gate Bridge, moonlit hikes in the untamed wilderness, and sailing on the choppy waters of the Pacific. I've been called charming, but in a rogue kind of way. I’ve got a quick wit that will keep you on your toes, and a body that's as rugged as the hills of the Marin Headlands. I don't just sip on fine wine, I savor it, just like I'd savor the moments we might share. I can talk, but I prefer to communicate in other, more tantalizing ways. What am I looking for? A bold, audacious woman who isn't afraid to let her hair down, to laugh loudly, to desire and be desired. You're not just looking for someone to pass the time with - you want someone who will set your world on fire. So, if you’re ready to venture into the unknown, to explore the city and each other, let's light this fuse. Reach out, and let's see what kind of sparks we can ignite. Eagerly waiting!
submitted by abrazameya to SFr4r [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 09:06 AutoNewspaperAdmin [World] - Death toll in India train crash passes 260 as rescuers rush to site Washington Post

[World] - Death toll in India train crash passes 260 as rescuers rush to site Washington Post submitted by AutoNewspaperAdmin to AutoNewspaper [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 08:56 MisterEmbedded Goods Train, Coromandel Express & Howrah SF Express Accident In Odisha, India

Goods Train, Coromandel Express & Howrah SF Express Accident In Odisha, India
Disaster Struck At ~7:00 PM On 2 June 2023 When Train Number 12841, Coromandel Express Going From Shalimar To Chennai Central Was Running And As It Reaches The "Bahanaga Bazar Station" Where This Whole Accident Occurred.
the "Bahanaga Bazar Station" or BNBR in short had a Goods-Train On The Stand-By While The The Coromandel Express Was Running At It's MPS (Maximum Permissible Speed) Which Was 130 KM/H.
As The Coromandel Express Reaches The BNBR Station It Collides With The Goods-Train That Was On The Stand-By Waiting For The Signal.
The Collision Happened At ~130 KM/H Speed & From What I Could Find, The Locopilots Died On Impact While More Than 150 Passengers Have Been Dead With 300+ Passengers Rushed Immediately To The Hospital.
The Exact Figure Is Hard To Find Yet But You Can Estimate The Brutality Of The Accident By Just This Image:

https://preview.redd.it/5o7fvy953r3b1.png?width=549&format=png&auto=webp&s=539be40b63e5e663dca0c4c236ed0cbd06e462bc
https://preview.redd.it/734otrw63r3b1.png?width=549&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2a47e4ec5029798a69df866ffaf3da5568a4e9f
this image is of the WAP-7 Locomotive Which Was The Locomotive of The Coromandel Express And This Thing Weighs Like 120 TONS, And After The Impact This 120 Ton Machine Stacked On Top Of The Railway Cars It Collided With.
From What I Could Find, Other Than 2-3 Coaches All Of The Rest Coaches Of The Coromandel Express Had Been Derailed And If This Much Pain Was Not Enough For Our Mother India, As This Accident Was Occurring, Train Number 12864 Howrah SF Express Was Supposed To Pass The BNBR Station Too.
And As It Does, The Coromandel Express Had Already Been Derailed And The Derailed Coaches And Stuff Derailed The Howrah SF Express's 2-3 Coaches & I Can't Find The Death Toll Of The Howrah SF Express.
I've Attached A Few Images That Don't Have Blood Or Gore.
https://preview.redd.it/b7j61iea3r3b1.png?width=706&format=png&auto=webp&s=1cb511f5fcd259dc6efb6cac66cff61b63974e6f
https://preview.redd.it/ox0q1cua3r3b1.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d75320be6ddea97ff4e0a730f189c4859d72090
https://preview.redd.it/sr87zhab3r3b1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=9723d7f888dba0ed5ac82b4efa3b6e067d8acaec
I Still Cannot Find Why The Coromandel Express Crashed Into The Goods Train At The First Place.
Some Say The Staff Was Overworked And Probably Jumped A Signal? I'm Not Sure Why This Tragedy Occurred, But Humanity Exists, Local Residents Near The Crash Area Started Going To Hospitals To Donate Blood & Save Lifes.
Railway Accidents Are Rare & Railway Is The Best & One Of The Safest Transport We Humans Have, The Only Thing We Need Is Better Management & Stuff.
It's Something To Debate On For Some Other Day. I Will Keep On Adding More Information As I Get It.
- Aftermath Images I Posted On My Reddit Profile (NSFW: Gore) (Feel Free To Repost It Anywhere)
- Aftermath Video (Compiled) I Posted On My Reddit Profile (NSFW: Gore) (Feel Free To Repost It Anywhere)
Edit:
Adding The Aftermath Of Today (3 June 2023) With More Clear Visual Of The Crash.
https://preview.redd.it/hgs4sk4w6r3b1.jpg?width=1368&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6804bb1e3d083c7b3ed44d012f14c74a4e5a16b2
https://preview.redd.it/wlhnpm4w6r3b1.jpg?width=1368&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a15f386e92babe379af78fb091e255b8d3592227
https://preview.redd.it/hiylvq4w6r3b1.jpg?width=1368&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70204289499024998d2b10e4fba31a0a6a539afd
https://preview.redd.it/cleluq4w6r3b1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5d93ffc94c81cb3ba6ae169d3351341e15640c9
https://reddit.com/link/13z40gj/video/yff4jxax6r3b1/player
submitted by MisterEmbedded to trains [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 08:50 AutoNewsAdmin [World] - Death toll in India train crash passes 260 as rescuers rush to site

[World] - Death toll in India train crash passes 260 as rescuers rush to site submitted by AutoNewsAdmin to WAPOauto [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 08:30 BruhEmperor Presidential Term of Thomas Custer (1889-1893) American Interflow Timeline

Presidential Term of Thomas Custer (1889-1893) American Interflow Timeline
After 12 years of trials and errors, Thomas Custer would finally rise and claim the presidency in a Post-Barnum era. With the nation being fundamentally changed in the past 8 years and with the effect of Barnum’s administration still very prevalent, like the still persistent Revelationist and Communard issues, Custer would need to uncharacteristically tread carefully to prevail in such a climate.
President Thomas Custer’s Cabinet
Vice President - Alfred A. Taylor
Secretary of State - Francis Cockrell
Secretary of the Treasury - Adlai Stevenson I
Secretary of War - John Potter Stockton
Secretary of the Navy - Arthur Sewall
Secretary of the Interior - Thomas Goode Jones
Attorney General - Jesse Root Grant II
Secretary of Sustenance - Sylvester Pennoyer
Secretary of Public Safety - Lyon G. Tyler (resigned May 1891), John R. McLean
(read about the campaigns against the radicals here) Left? Right? No, Custerite!
During his election campaign, the president promised a wide-range of groups things he would do in a future administration. Appealing to liberals, conservatives, nationalists, populists, militarists, anti-imperialists, and pro-reconciliationists, Custer would be flexible and non-partisan in his policies in order to fulfil such promises. Custer would first appeal to the anti-imperialist wing of his support by renegotiating to United States' promised port in the Congo during the Berlin Conference, crafted by Secretary Francis Cockrell, the United States would sell their land claims to the French on August 1889 for $1,250,000. The move would receive praise from anti-imperialists like Senators George Boutwell (F-MA) and Grover Cleveland (C-NY), and Representatives Edward Atkinson (C-MA) and John Wanamaker (P-PA), although opposition was brought in by some Commons and the old Barnumites like Representative William McKinley (F-OH).
Land designated for the United States (dark blue) were sold to the French Empire
Appealing to the pro-reconciliationists would be a harder feat than any of this. Ever since the end of the Civil War, stigmatism between the black and white communities in the south grew, it was further boosted by the barring policy of the Davis and Hamlin administrations which divided communities between whites and blacks to prevent violence. Forced integration was implemented by Custer with the Integration and Co-operation Act of 1889 which merged local segregated communities and forced some citizens living in those communities to live within the other group's area. Anti-reconciliationists like Senator Arthur Pue Gorman (C-MD) and Representative Benjamin Tillman (C-SC) opposed the bill, as they were elected within or with the backing of a white-only segregated community, though the pro-reconciliationists, which composed of both of the old pro and anti Barnumites, populists, salvationists, and progressives pushed the bill to pass Congress.
Capitol Building 1889
The act faced major scrutiny from both black and white anti-reconciliationists, which pushed it as dictatorial and a breach of their civil liberties. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Jennings v. Gibbs, in which Florida county lawyer William Sherman Jennings sued Representative Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs (F-FL) for 'infringing on and decrying civil liberties' by his support of the act. Gibbs' lawyers sighted the act was to end possible future violence between the two groups and claimed it was for the overall wellbeing of the country and to the citizen as their move was paid for by the government itself and that it was within the government's authority to enforce such acts, while Jennings sighted the First Amendment, claiming to this act violated the right of petition the government as the citizens were more or less forced into integrating without a say. The court decided on June 10th, 1890, and sided 5-4 in favor of Gibbs, claiming that it was within the government's right to enforce such an act. Although the court did also sort of sided with Jennings, pushing that the citizens moved out of their communities must give their consent and approval of moving out. Justice Robert Roosevelt wrote the majority opinion: "It is within Congress' right to enforce such laws that they apply, although it is also important to receive the consent and approval of those being affect by the laws they apply, as without it is simple tyranny.". The Supreme Court just marked pro-reconciliation acts as constitutional.
Lawyer William Sherman Jennings and Representative Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs
With Custer getting the greenlight on reconciliation, he began to deal with those dissenting on his new laws. Some violence and unrest arose from anti-reconciliation protestors causing riots and clashes with the police, in one incident, an anti-reconciliation mob beat one police officer to death and threw in body in the streets. The incident shocked the nation and many demanded justice, this gave Custer the backing to enact another plan he had. In the span of June-August, thousands of anti-reconciliationist rioters were arrested and sent to 're-education facilities' to be 're-educated' about their beliefs, those re-educated would be release after a month and if they caused more dissent they would be thrown back into the facilities to be 're-educated' once again. No one exactly knows what happens in the facilities but rumors going from torture to brainwashing are common, but those released from the facilities never talk about their experience there. Although, anti-reconciliation violence has been significantly reduced ever since the program was created.
Custer's Politics for Dummies
The Presidential Cabinet has always been more or less been aligned with the president's beliefs, although in this case, with the president's beliefs all over the place, the cabinet would be quiet diverse. Some would have quite populistic beliefs like Treasury Secretary Stevenson and Sustenance Secretary Pennoyer, some would be traditionally conservative like Navy Secretary Sewall, War Secretary Stockton, and Secretary of Public Safety Tyler, and some would be considered more liberal like Secretaries Cockrell and Jones, and Attorney General Grant. This caused some division in the cabinet, with many members having different opinions on issues, like the admission of more states in the plain, with the more populistic members being for it and the conservative ones being against it. Vice President Alfred A. Taylor, who was often the most moderate within the cabinet, often had headaches due to the amount of bickering in the cabinet, privately saying, "I would rather have been the presidential cook than a member of this cabinet.". Taylor was known for serving delicious Tennessee Cornbread during cabinet meetings and public events, which were from his own recipe.
On the Congressional front, politics there too was starkly changing. The Radical People's and Christian Salvation Parties had faced a significant decline over the last election and were facing even complete dissolution. The bells did toll for the Salvationists, as on June 1, 1889, waiting for a train going from his hometown of Freeport, Illinois to Chicago, Senator Charles J. Guiteau was shot by an assailant who was connected to the Salvationists. The bullet did not puncture his heart though and he was immediately treated by doctors. The doctors, however, operated on him with unsterilized fingers and tools trying to find the bullet, and Guiteau contracted an infection which slowly weakened his health. Guiteau would pass away on June 30th, which ended a major figurehead for the Salvationists. With their main leader gone, the Salvationists and their party were now certainly going to fall, so once again they turned to the Populists to help, they proposed a merge of their parties, unlike the Visionary Alliance back in 1884, this move would be permanent. A joint Radical People's-Christian Salvation convention was called in D.C., in which they decided to form the Reformed People's Party which would incorporate both Populist and Salvationist agendas. All Salvationists and Populists would run on this party's banner starting on the 1890 midterms, causing a wave of new support of their joint movements to grow. Representatives like Jerry Simpson (RP-KA), Charles Tupper (CS-NS), and Marion Butler (RP-NC), and Senator John P. St. John (CS-KA), although notably the party leader Senator James B. Weaver (RP-IA) did not outright support the merger.
Representative Jerry Simpson and Senator John P. St. John.
Troubles also arose within the ruling party itself. With Custer's moves in office being controversial not only nation-wide but also within his own party. Many Commons were repulsed by Custer's appeal to nationalists and populists, like his push for isolationism, labor reform, free trade, and anti-gold standard policies, which saw as the reason why the current economy was entering a small recession. The Custer administration was also known as notoriously corrupt, though Custer himself was more blind to the issue than actually involved in it, it was well-known that politicians like Secretary Tyler were making backdoor deals with businessmen like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, even personally aiding in putting down worker strikes. Representative William Kissam Vanderbilt (P-NY) even once said, "The difference between a crafty serpent and a pro-big business politician? They have heels, I suppose.". These anti-reform and anti-Custerite politicians within the Commonwealth Party were called 'Reactionaries'. The reactionaries would included members like Senators Arthur Pue Gorman and John M. Palmer (C-IL) and Representatives like John Carlisle (C-KY). The reactionaries would form a major bloc within the party, often favoring militarism and traditional values in Congress, as seen from there opposition of the pro-reconciliation bills and their support for things like the gold standard and imperialism. But also from the other side of the spectrum are the people who see Custer as not reforming enough. Although they weren't as loud as the reactionaries and still mainly accept the situation, many still want more reform coming from the high office. The groups members included the likes of Representatives Samuel M. Jones (F-OH) and Charles N. Felton (C-CA), advocating mostly for internationalism, taxes, anti-corruption measures, and tariff reduction. Though more extreme politicians like Jones would call for monopoly busting, strong regulation, and direct elections.
Senator Arthur Pue Gorman and Representative Charles N. Felton would represent two very different sides of the same party
The Freedom Party had faced its largest split since the Federalist-Freedomite split during Henry Clay’s term. After the elections of 1888, the former Anti-Barnumites had taken control of most major positions in the main Freedom Party after the Conservative Freedom Party remerged with them. Staunch Anti-Barnumites like the pragmatic Representative Thomas Brackett Reed and stanch conservative Senator William Pierce Frye (F-MA) would all head their party in Congress. The remaining former Barnumites such as Representative William McKinley sought to amend the wounds between their counterparts and began the works to begin reconciling between the factions. Though many Freedomites were unsure about reconciling with the other faction, members like McKinley, Reed, and Representative Henry Clay Evans (F-TN) were influential in eventually mending their relations by the 1890 midterms, showing a mostly fully united party. This also was partly helped by the fact that former President Phineas Taylor Barnum would call for his old party’s unification, which had some mixed reactions in the party.
The aging former President P.T. Barnum who would later die on April 1891
(read here about the Military Crisis of 1890 here)
The Military's Resolve
The government would once again refused the military extremists' demands of increased power. As such, the 700 or so extremists would attempt to storm the White House, with others were sent to seize government buildings and offices against the capitol. The D.C. police was immediately called to hold back the group and a shootout immediately ensued outside the White House. 2 hours passed as the shootout continued and both rebels and police were shot dead, the White House received significant damage due to artillery brought by the rebels, with some rebels even entering the now evacuated building. As the 3rd hour mark hit, military loyalist finally arrived at the scene, led by Harrison Gray Otis and Arthur MacArthur, the 3,000 loyalists sent engaged the rebels who were now resorting to guerilla warfare. 3 more hours would pass as the loyalists would trek to find the rebels scattered around Capitol Hill, it finally cease as the loyalists would find and capture both Jacob H. Smith and J. Franklin Bell hiding in an abandoned building, the remaining rebels would surrender in the 7th hour. Over 500 people would die in the so-called "Battle of Capitol Hill".
Government loyalist in the outskirts of D.C. looking for rebels
The affair caused a uproar across the nation, with some siding the government claiming the military was being spoiled, while some supported the rebel's calls claiming the remaining restrictions were still ruining their careers. It also divided the military more, with some siding with the loyalists and some adhering to the rebel's calls. Fears began to rise of a second Civil War due to such divisions, as some Reactionary politicians began to support the militarist cause. Immediate calls within the government were pushing for appeasement to the militarists to avoid another rebellion. Thus negotiators began to work on something to ease the stress of the military resulting in quite the controversial move.
The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution would add 9 seats to the House of Representatives that would be designated for the military. Called the 'Military Representatives', 9 servicemen would be chosen from either branch of the military to serve as Representatives for the military's interests. The Representatives would be appointed by the president and approved by the Senate and members could be removed by the president during House elections. The amendment was ratified with astonishing speed, being ratified only two months after it was proposed on February 23, 1891 right before the 52nd Congress met on March 4th. Custer also personally backed the amendment, with others like Representative Thomas B. Reed and William Kissam Vanderbilt supporting it. The 9 Military Representatives were sworn in along with the other 349 normally elected Representatives. Despite the amendment being quickly ratified, it still faced major opposition from anti-militarists and especially the remaining Populists and Salvationists. Representative Henry Clay Evans about the amendment, "If this amendment were to pass, we would be nothing but lapdogs to the armed forces, always in fear of a military rebellion.". Senator Daniel W. Voorhees (P-IN) stated, "Giving any more powers to the military would strip our fairly elected government of independence and reason, as fear would now dominate our politics.". Speaker Alexander S. Clay (C-GA) would be ousted as Speaker by John Wanamaker after the midterms in an anti-Commonwealth vote, Clay would later state, "Was supporting the amendment to the Constitution the right action? I do not know that answer. Yet I know one thing. It was the only action there was."
Results of the 1890 House of Representatives Elections
Results of the 1890 Senate Elections
Tommy the Man
After the meltdowns of the past two years, Custer would focus in his domestic and foreign policy. Custer would continue his pro-reconciliation policies, achieving slow success across the south, with some forcefully integrated communities prospering and with some having being burnt to the ground. Both pro-labor and pro-business policies would be implemented, such as an 8-hour work day and a shorter work week, other than this, businesses would be usually deregulated and were given reigns in handling any of their practices, with businessmen such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller emerging as powerful figures nationally, with their monopolies being wide reaching.
Cartoon mocking the rise of corporations and their growing power over politics
Custer's more reformist policies would deter some of his allies against him, as the likes of Public Safety Secretary Lyon G. Tyler, who disliked Custer's rowdiness in politics in general. Tyler basically had enough went Custer vetoed many legislations that were drafted by the Commons themselves. Tyler resigned as Secretary on May 1891, being replaced by the more moderate John R. McLean. Despite being bashed for his reforms, Custer would also be criticized for his more conservative policies too. A believer in laissez-faire economics and free trade, Custer would refuse to intervene in the economy even when it entered a recession during 1890-91. Custer would often get criticized for allowing big business to skyrocket out of control with their monopolies and trusts, though he would claim his concern was only of the workers' well being. Governor Nathan Goff Jr. (P-VA) would criticize Custer's domestic policies by stating, "Protectionism, direct elections, and internationalism are core things we need in this day and age, not only in Virginia but nationally, yet the president has rejected all of them.". Custer's domestic policies would see opposition from the new reformed populists, which called the Commonwealth Party the party of 'Business, Booze, and Boors'.
Custer, despite being a self-proclaimed 'isolationist', often had interest in foreign affairs yet couldn't act on them as fearing it would deter his supporters. When war broke out in South America in December 31, 1891, when Argentina, who is run by the dictator Nicholas Levalle who recently staged a coup against the government, and Bolivia invaded Chile and Paraguay (more on in the foreign events section), Custer privately sought intervention in favor of Chile and Paraguay to preserve their democracies. Yet Congress and the general public were staunchly against any intervention in South America as they saw as another foreign war. Anti-intervention sentiment grew even further when the Empire of Brazil intervened in favor of Chile and Paraguay on April 1, 1892, their force now being called the 'Continental Alliance', causing the scale of the war to increase and the death toll to grow. Though the public opinion was firmly sympathetic to the Continental Alliance, some in government sought to aid the 'Golden Alliance' of Argentina and Bolivia, as they saw helping them as a way to control their economy and politics, though yet again the majority rejected intervention. Custer did consult his cabinet on what to do on the matter, which Secretaries Sewall and Jones were in favor of intervention, though other like Secretary Cockrell and Attorney General Grant were against it which ultimately led Custer to not intervene for the time being. The US did sell highly demanded imports to both sides of the conflict, which yielded major profit.
- Major Foreign Events -
The War Down Even More South
High inflation, corruption, and bad worker rights in Argentina caused major unrest against the government. The Revolution of Park broke out against the government then run by the conservative National Autonomist Party on July 26, 1890. The rebels captured an arms and ammunition facility in the city and began to arm themselves as government began to apprehend them. The government forces were caught off guard by the now armed rebels and were forced to retreat, the rebels then turned to the Casa Rosada and the president, the revolutionaries successfully broke through the guards and stormed the building, forcing President Manuel Celman to resign. A revolutionary junta was put in place of the government as a new larger government loyalist force was organized to recapture the capitol, which led was by General Nicholas Levalle. The loyalist force successfully defeated revolutionary resistance in the capitol and entered the Casa Rosada, the revolutionary junta was defeat although President Celman had been executed and Vice President Pellegrini had fled the city. Levalle, seeing an opportunity, declared himself emergency president, even rejecting Pellegrini when he returned to the city. Over the past months, Lavalle would style himself with dictatorial powers over the Argentine government, which only fueled his ego.
General Nicholas Levalle of Argentina
Lavalle was a man who opposed the resolve of the border dispute between Chile in Patagonia which restricted Argentina outside the Pacific Ocean. In tandem, Bolivia's Gregorio Pacheco, who succeeded his very pro-Chile predecessor, had designs on Chile after Bolivia had lost the War of the Pacific, as well as Paraguay. Lavalle had secret meetings with Pacheco regarding their plan on Chile, later including Paraguay to the discussion, many meetings later and they decided on a plan to demand land from both nations. Their militaries were built up in the coming months to prepare for the incoming conflict. On December 26, 1891, Bolivia sent an ultimatum to Chile demanding their coastal provinces lost in the War of the Pacific to be returned, Argentina would back them the next day. On the 27th, Bolivia demanded full recognition of the control of the Chaco region from Paraguay, which Argentina backed the same day. Given until the 31st to respond, the Chilean and Paraguayan governments refused to respond to the ultimatums, so on the 31st, Bolivia declared war on Chile and Bolivia, Argentina would declare war on January 2nd.
The campaigns at first favored the 'Golden Alliance' of Argentina and Bolivia, which saw advanced in the north of Chile and southern Paraguay. By February, the Golden Alliance would be nearing the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, which worried their neighbor to the east, the Empire of Brazil. Empress Isabel I was facing a waning popularity, especially after her father abolished slavery, and the public were firmly against the Golden Alliance. Fearing Argentina's and Bolivia's victory would shatter trust in her even more, she decided to intervene. An ultimatum was sent to Argentina, dictating to end the war or face a blockade, the Argentinians ignored the order. Brazilian ships would begin a naval blockade against Argentina, but oddly some ships were ordered to go dangerously close to the Argentina coast on February 25th. As the ships grew near, the Argentine coast guard were unable to recognize the vessels and assumed they were Chilean and open fired. Despite Argentina apologizing for the incident, the affair caused enough outrage in Brazil to secure that a war was a certain. Brazil declared war on both Argentina and Bolivia on April 1st, forming the 'Continental Alliance' with Chile and Paraguay. The war would rage on from April-August as many foreign nations watched, with both sides gaining the upper hand many times and thousands dead or wounded. By August, both sides would be exhausted by war and bloodshed and needed something to tip the scales.
Empress Isabel I of Brazil
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2023.06.03 08:18 ForSacredRussia1 Vesna 💚: "Attack on the Belgorod region. Viasna's statement and appeal to the Russian democratic opposition. The Vesna Movement condemns the shelling that affects the civilian population and facilities, under whose flag and for whatever purposes they are carried out."

Vesna 💚:
SOURCE: https:// t . me/vesna_democrat/6819
Vesna 💚
ENGLISH:
Attack (https:// vesna . democrat/2023/06/02/ataka-na-belgorodskuju-oblast-zayavle/) on the Belgorod region. Viasna's statement and appeal to the Russian democratic opposition
Since yesterday, according to local authorities, the Belgorod region (https:// t . me/vesna_democrat/6812) has been under fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In Shebekino, a hostel caught fire and the administration building was damaged. There is no water and electricity in the city, shops and transport do not work.
The head of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that Shebekino was fired from the Grad MLRS. As a result of the shelling, 12 people were hospitalized, four of them are (https:// t . me/rian_ru/204376) in serious condition.
The shelling continues today. Gladkov claims (https:// t . me/vvgladkov/2418) that the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled a section of the road in the village of Maslova Pristan near Shebekino. Shrapnel hit cars passing by, killing two women.
Despite the fact that it is impossible to verify the statements of the authorities in the conditions of war, photo and video evidence leaves no doubt: the Belgorod region is under fire. All this is happening against the backdrop of reports of a raid on the territory of the region by the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia legion.
The Vesna Movement condemns the shelling that affects the civilian population and facilities, under whose flag and for whatever purposes they are carried out. This has been our position since the beginning of the war, and it does not matter to us whether the citizens of which country become their victims - Ukraine or Russia. All parties to the conflict are bound by international humanitarian law.
We also appeal to the Russian democratic opposition: let's talk more about what is happening in the Belgorod region, actively help the victims and explain to fellow citizens that the only way to return a peaceful sky overhead is to withdraw troops from Ukraine and establish peace.
The authorities are already using the shelling of the Belgorod region in the pro-war discourse. They convince the citizens that it is necessary to fight harder and bomb harder, because this is a fight for survival. Given that the opposition remains silent, these ideas have every chance of winning in the mass consciousness.
That is why our task is to give the Russians an alternative, anti-war idea. We urge you to talk about what is happening and to campaign with a clear message: this kind of shelling is not something to be tolerated, but only we can stop it and only one way. And this method is the withdrawal of troops.
Speak up, write posts, create leaflets, encourage your activists to campaign! And do not forget that in order to do this effectively, you need to abandon demophobia and stop treating fellow citizens with contempt and hatred and speaking from a position of moral superiority.
In addition, we cannot fail to note that hundreds of people who suffered from shelling need financial and psychological assistance. Providing them with such assistance is another way of building bridges between society and the anti-war movement.
The text of the statement is available on our website.
(https:// vesna . democrat/2023/06/02/ataka-na-belgorodskuju-oblast-zayavle/)#soldierhome
#withdrawtroops

----------------------------

RUSSIAN:
Атака (https:// vesna . democrat/2023/06/02/ataka-na-belgorodskuju-oblast-zayavle/)на Белгородскую область. Заявление «Весны» и обращение к российской демократической оппозиции
Со вчерашнего дня, по сообщениям местных властей, Белгородская область находится (https:// t . me/vesna_democrat/6812) под обстрелом ВСУ. В Шебекино загорелось общежитие и было повреждено здание администрации. В городе нет воды и электричества, магазины и транспорт не работают.
Глава региона Вячеслав Гладков заявил, что огонь по Шебекино вели из РСЗО «Град». В результате обстрелов были госпитализированы 12 человек, четверо из них находятся (https:// t . me/rian_ru /204376) в тяжёлом состоянии.
Сегодня обстрелы продолжаются. Гладков утверждает (https:// t . me/vvgladkov/2418), что ВСУ обстреляли участок дороги в селе Маслова Пристань неподалёку от Шебекино. Осколки попали в проезжавшие мимо машины, погибли две женщины.
Несмотря на то, что проверить заявления властей в условиях войны невозможно, фото- и видео-свидетельства не оставляют сомнений: Белгородская область находится под обстрелом. Всё это происходит на фоне сообщений о рейде на территорию региона «Русского добровольческого корпуса» и легиона «Свобода России».
Движение «Весна» осуждает обстрелы, в результате которых страдают гражданское население и объекты, под чьим бы флагом и ради каких бы целей они не осуществлялись. Такова наша позиция с начала войны, и для нас не важно, граждане какой страны становятся их жертвами — Украины или России. Все стороны конфликта обязаны придерживаться международного гуманитарного права.
Мы также обращаемся к российской демократической оппозиции: давайте больше говорить о происходящем в Белгородской области, деятельно помогать пострадавшим и объяснять согражданам, что единственный способ вернуть мирное небо над головой — вывести войска из Украины и установить мир.
Власти уже используют обстрелы Белгородской области в провоенном дискурсе. Они убеждают граждан, что необходимо воевать упорнее и бомбить сильнее, ведь это — схватка за выживание. Учитывая, что оппозиция сохраняет молчание, эти идеи имеют все шансы победить в массовом сознании.
Именно поэтому наша задача — дать россиянам альтернативную, антивоенную идею. Мы призываем вас говорить о происходящем и вести массовую агитацию с ясным посланием: такие обстрелы — не то, с чем нужно мириться, но прекратить их можем только мы и только одним способом. И этот способ — вывод войск.
Высказывайтесь, пишите посты, создавайте листовки, призывайте ваших активистов агитировать! И не забывайте — для того, чтобы делать это эффективно, нужно отказаться от демофобии и перестать относиться к согражданам с презрением и ненавистью и выступать с позиций морального превосходства.
Кроме того, не можем не отметить, что сотни людей, пострадавших от обстрелов, нуждаются в финансовой и психологической помощи. Оказать им такую помощь — ещё один способ строительства мостов между обществом и антивоенным движением.
Текст заявления доступен на нашем сайте.
(https:// vesna . democrat/2023/06/02/ataka-na-belgorodskuju-oblast-zayavle/)#солдатдомой
#вывестивойска
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2023.06.03 08:15 thro0waway217190 Are my parents helping or harming my driving anxiety progress?

I have had on/off driving anxiety ever since I got my license many years ago. My parents both have history of severe anxiety/depression issues that have been passed to me and have the tendency to be VERY risk-averse and overprotective (they are Asian), but I would not say they are overbearing-they allowed me to live far from home and be relatively independent in some ways.
It took me four attempts to pass my driving test and I know my main reason was I was anxious and rushing to take the exam without working through my anxiety and fears, and the examiners only compounded that. Before my exams when I had my permit, I felt my dad seemed somewhat encouraging, his practice was to drive me to areas where are there long ongoing roads. The practice was not bad first few times, but I think it was just literally driving straight for an hour or two (no turns, no actually getting used to parking or whatever). After I failed my tests, my dad let me drive for practice, even let me drive on highways though I know he felt hesitant. I even got used to the route since I did it every Saturday four-five weekends in a row. We got a new car that primarily became the car I'd drive and I felt like my dad's attitude in a nutshell was was partially supportive but partially hesitant.
The first time I decided I'd drive alone was a few months after I got my license and to just a local bus stop. My dad followed me the whole ride even though I insisted I wanted to do it alone.
After that, he slowly let me drive to school which was 40 mins away. However, he refused to let me drive on the interstate because I needed more practice (even though I drove those four-five weekend routes).
I started slowly becoming more confident, took my car to campus. However, I never drove on the freeway. Even though I could disobey my dad and take my car on the freeway, I felt worried about making a mistake and my dad getting mad at me for not listening.
My mom doesn't live in the same state as my dad and I had to drive locally when visiting her because I was taking a community college course. I started driving there too and with her we even made a long road trip on the freeway where I drove 8-9 hours. When I told my dad, he was proud of me and felt that is the way to build confidence. I drove my dad too twice through VERY busy new york city freeways to prove I could drive. I could tell he was nervous and squirming in his seat the whole time but told me later that I am a good driver and that he is just nervous. However, he still did not let me drive alone on freeways despite these things.
Unfortunately, I let my driving anxiety get the best of me and stopped driving all together for a year. I had to start driving again for work purposes and drove familiar routes. When I started feeling comfortable again, I told my dad there is an event going on where I may need to use the freeway and he was like "you don't have to go there if you are not required". He did not feel comfortable with me going on the freeway after my hiatus.
After all of this, again driving anxiety got the best of me. I once drove and made a mistake and slightly bumped into a car when reversing. No damage, but the emotional toll of it made me stop driving completely for 5+ years. I was comfortable not using a car at all.
Then one random day, my dad was like "how about you drive" when we were driving together. I was like no I don't want to but we did. I was uncomfortable but somehow he believed in me.
When the pandemic happened, I realized I need to learn to drive again. By this point, I am in my late twenties and obv don't need my parents permission, but I notice I sometimes I am looking for reassurance. I have had many times in life where people don't believe in me and somebody telling me they believe in me is all I need to feel confident.
My dad said he believes I can certainly drive and even on freeways now after some practice. The first few drives after my hiatus were uncomfortable and it felt like I was a rookie all over again. I also flat out refused to drive sometimes on the freeway, even when my dad was encouraging I do so. However, I got over that and started driving on the freeways too, even driving as far as 3-5 hours in NYC freeways as well.
The thing is, even though my dad has sometimes been encouraging and said "you drive better than most people I know", he still makes a lot of critiques and comments. He also goes overboard to make sure I am "safe". For example, we went to a local farm and we were reversing from the area. It was not tight and there were people and families, but it was like your typical parking lot. He felt anxious that there were so many families and kids, he jumped out of the car and started to guide me out. I felt really bad because I wondered what if I drove here alone, would I even be able to do this by myself? When I went home I told him that and this is crippling my confidence in myself but he felt that it was the right thing to do.
There are times where he has impulsively pushed the steering wheel saying I am too close when I do not think I was that made my driving even more distracting. Thankfully he does not do that anymore. He always makes comments about my lane changing technique saying that I should leave the indicator on "for a longer time" before changing lanes. The thing is, I feel by this point I have gotten the signal, lane change, over the shoulder go technique relatively well (he doesn't look over the shoulder). I do not like leaving the indicator on too long as I think that confuses people or even turn it off and wait. I appreciate his feedback sometimes, but sometimes it can be more confusing for me. I took a refresher course recently and the instructor taught me to drive a little more aggressively than my dad does (it was in a city)-my dad is adament on "slowing down" too much sometimes and he even suggests alternate routes than the GPS says to avoid "certain routes" that may be "trickier". However, when we actually have taken these routes, they are not terrible and I don't know if these are actually coming in the way of my driving anxiety progress. When I was test driving for a new car, he told the instructor "she's unfamiliar with this area, so can we not go too out of the way".
My driving progress was going very well and I was conquering freeways, local roads and all. I got a new car, but VERY unfortunately, I drove at a gas station where there was an angled bollard out of my view and it significantly scraped my car. My dad was with me and agreed that he also was shocked because he didn't see the bollard. I refused to drive for months and we took a while to see how to even get my car fixed. At first, my dad was telling me to sell my car to him as he is fine with driving with cosmetic damage and buy a whole new car to avoid insurance and my rates going up. I cried so hard because it was literally the craziest response I've heard-I had no willpower to go through the buying process again. However, he later said "sometimes I just say things, you don't have to get upset" and we agreed getting the car fixed is the better idea.
Some months later, my car is fixed and now I am slowly starting to drive again. I feel like the thing with my confidence is-some days I feel confident and do want to drive. When I ask my dad about possibly driving alone to a place where there might be more traffic, he's like "well how about you drive with me first, you do not have to push yourself". He keeps saying he doesn't want to push me, which means that he doesn't want me to try to get out of my comfort zone. I have discussed this with a therapist and she said she feels my parents "guard" me quite a bit.
I feel bad for complaining because I am close to my parents and they've let me do a lot more than their own siblings have let their kids too, but I have vented and gotten upset by their behaviors. I feel like the issue is that everytime I express a little anxiety, my parents take it to another level. I don't know what to do. The more my parents baby me sometimes, the more my anxiety and hesitation flares up but sometimes I don't know if I even blame them as parents. Maybe if I were in their shoes, I'd do the same.....I just don't know how to help myself get over this.
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2023.06.03 08:09 AshenStray 😭😭😭

😭😭😭 submitted by AshenStray to cats [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 08:00 tamago__ Senior dog

I hope--I really REALLY hope--our senior dog (11 y/o) crosses the bridge peacefully, sa tulog niya, instead of dying from a disease 😞
We've had 3 doggos pass away (2 of them last year, before the election and the day before Christmas eve) from kidney problems. We realized that there must be something wrong with the food we're giving them so we switched things up.
Thankfully, our remaining dogs are healthy and active, prro si senior dog has problems standing up na and his eyes are getting milkier and milkier and he looks the other direction whenever I call him 😞
Ever since he entered his 10th year I've been preparing myself for his farewell; he's been our dog since 2012, nasa HS pako nun. He's also a favorite in the village, during his peak goldie days sobrang favorite siya ng mga bata at tita around the park. Nakikita din nila siya ngayon and nalulungkot din na lolo na yung dog namin :(
Hindi siya nagka-anak---ito mali namin, pero kasi nung sinusubukan namin with other dogs ayaw naman niya. Huhu
I jus had to get this off my chest kasi I'm about to work and do not want sadness to take over today. lol
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2023.06.03 07:42 ApolloNines last train home.

Im turning 30 next year. im going on a long road trip. i have friends. had a 15yr relationship that ended and since then, ppl come into my life or try to be around me, but i never feel that connection i used to feel, the one where you can feel that someone loves you or is your friend.
My mom used to be abusive, now she's old and im all she has after i lost dad at 19. I dont want her to cry for me, she recently panicked because i was out on a walk for longer than she's used to.
I was sexually abused by an older student from 9 to college and i became promiscuous as a result.
i have a dnd group. I play with them every sunday but i dont feel close to them
Lastly my childhood friend dated me and he was abusive for a long time, only to treat me like shit cause im trans ftm and he isnt gay. Nowadays he only so much as looks at me if i look feminine, otherwise im invisible or just a loser.
I used to make art and music, rly amateur bc i never put in the work; was too depressed.
Friends tricked me into hospitalizing me once... Haven't been the same since. Got out of there with a second schizophrenia diagnosis(first was childhood schiz)
Basically, im tired. I think my story is over. Nothing is fun, just another escape that my trauma gets in the way of. All i do now is watch youtube videos that now drive me up the walls. Just more voices to add to the pile..
I know i have worth to someone , but i do not feel warmth. Only people forcing themselves on me or imitating me to make fun of my weird way of talking.
On bad mental days i tend to obsess and whine and im sure that im super insufferable.
I miss my old life before my psychosis and a stroke at 25 doubled down and i had to stop HRT bc it was increasing my risk blood clots...
My greatest fear was being forgotten, now i just want to disappear.
I have been on this sub to try and convince others much younger than me to keep living, but i so so understand. There is no real love in this world, and I will never fall in love again.
I miss the old internet. I miss my dog. I miss being told "i love you"... i went from hearing it constantly by my ex to just. Never. Not even from my current relationship. Im expected to just be grateful and i guess im not.
I dont belong in this world... but i do think it's beautiful, so im taking my xans and going on a long road trip after i sell all my things besides my dad's acoustic... im sad for myself, too, but im also just tired of being sad. Im tired of insomnia and the desperate feeling i get all the time, i dont want to beg for anyone's love anymore.
So, im scared as hell, but im gonna take those things and find a huge bridge... hopefully i'll pass out on the way down.
I'll delete this acc once i reach a good spot. Thank you to all who have seen me on this sub before and given me support. I love you.
I love you, Jamie. I'm sorry I tore your heart apart. It was painful for both of us. You're right, i'm not self aware. Im pitiful. Nothing like the sunshine you fell in love with back when we were kids. I made you wait too long... seeing you avoid me all over hurts... but i still love you so much. Only when i think of you do i feel anything in my heart. Sorry im so overdramatic. I love you so much. Thank you for your love.. i'm sorry it reached me so late. I should have skipped the plane ride home...
Good night, mr coconut..
If its ok, can yall link me to some songs to listen to on the way? Music is my love language and i just wanna feel warm one more time.
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2023.06.03 07:21 beevai Misgendering at Work

I, mtf (she/her/they), am having difficulties at work.
Outside of work, I'm given the impression I pass. When interviewing for the position, my manager used the right pronouns without me having to say them. I've taught myself voice training. I do everything "right." I shave, put make-up on, and alter my voice. Over the phone, I'm always called "ma'am." My manager was shocked when he saw my ID shows "M" on it. He didn't say anything; he was very respectful. I'm working as a manager at a 'sorta fast-food' joint over the summer until I resume university in the fall. We have uniforms, highlighting certain 'issues' with my frame.
Almost every coworker genders me correctly, using the right pronouns. A new hire (they/them) came in around the time I started. Some people used "they" or "them" to refer to me, and I'm assuming it's because they thought I was the new person going by "they/them." The coworkers regardless would 'mess up' and use "she/her." I don't know if they think I'm FTNB. I became friends with this coworker, and they didn't ask for my pronouns and then tried to explain what an "egg" was to me. I don't think they knew I was trans till I related to their experience in friend groups. I asked if they clocked me, and they said "Not at first, but then I thought you were some sort of LGBT." Some people can tell I'm a queer woman and associate any masculine characteristics with that. I constantly get flirted with by sapphic women. That's really affirming:)
One colleague said she watched Queer Eye and then talked about being pro-choice. Like maybe she's queer? But it was a little weird because it felt out of the blue. Did a season drop or is it common? Pride month? Another colleague called me "bro," but she seems fruity and calls everyone dude and bro. I vented about being misgendered at work, and she said "People are stupid, and I was actually going to ask if bro and dude was okay?" So, I feel like she clocked me.
I'm having difficulty with some customers who clock me and use the wrong pronouns. It has happened once that I know of the four days I've worked. Sometimes I'm like "Did they just use the wrong pronouns?" I like to think, "Well, cis women get misgendered too." Other than that, a coworker misgendered me. He is the only person I know of who did. I'm getting worn down mentally because of all of this. I almost broke down today at work. I then cried when I got home. I'm really not used to being misgendered.
I really want input on the situation and how not to dwell on it. Sometimes I feel like what's the point? I keep telling myself it's only happening because of the clothes, but it is taking a toll. I'm beginning to fall into a depressive state. I just want to be seen as who I am.
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2023.06.03 06:52 SJDude13 My girlfriend had a meltdown and fell asleep on my couch - New Update

I am not the OP. Original post is by u/Ad-West-7 in offmychest
TW: Mental illness, self-harm, references to suicide, physical violence, alcohol + drug abuse
Mood Spoiler: Still very sad
Note: This is a follow-up to my previous BORU about this, which can be found here. The newest update is the second one, if you want to skip to it.
~~~
Original - May 9, 2023
My girlfriend had a meltdown and fell asleep on my couch
Last night my (25M) girlfriend (27F) came over to drop off a package that was sent to her house instead of mine. She’s been struggling with depression recently and for the last two weeks she has not been acting herself at all. It seemed like she had not slept in days and her usual high energy self was not there. I asked her if she was okay numerous times but she kept pushing me away and gave one sentence answers about how she is fine and I didn’t need to worry. I know she has a history with suicide but that was when she was a teenager and she has not thought of taking her life since she was 16.
When she came over she was in really bad shape. Her hair was messy and there were bags under her eyes. There were some cuts on her arm that looked like self harm and one of them was bleeding. Her voice was groggy and she was extremely quiet. She came into my apartment, put the package on the kitchen counter, said goodbye, and tried to leave immediately. She thanked me for being a good boyfriend which caught my attention. I felt a sense of doom so I stepped in front of the door and told her to stay for the night. She told me to move but I said she was not in a good condition to drive and something bad might happen.
Suddenly she hit me in the chest and said she wants something bad to happen. She broke down in tears and cried about how stressed out and unappreciated she felt. She talked about how she was the perfect student and went to Berkeley like her parents wanted and became a nurse but they never showed any support for her career. She gets pushed aside and hates how all the attention goes to her sister and she feels unnoticed. She cried about how stressful work has been and how understaffed her hospital is. She had not slept for 37 hours and tried to go to bed a couple hours earlier but couldn’t fall asleep. She hates her body and how much she struggles with maintaining her weight. I picked her up and brought her to the couch and she continued crying and told me she thought about crashing her car multiple times on the way to my apartment and I would be better off with her being dead. She finished off by saying she doesn’t feel human and how difficult it is to get out of bed then fell asleep in the middle of crying. That all happened in a span of about 10 minutes.
I laid her down on the couch and put a pillow under her head. I stopped the bleeding on her arm and put some bandages on the wound after I cleaned it. I put a blanket over her and stroked her hair for a while. I started crying watching her sleep. I knew she was going through a rough time but I did not know how bad it was. I got a blanket and pillow and slept in front of the couch in case she woke up.
It’s 10am right now and she’s still sleeping. She’s been asleep for 14 hours and has not moved. I don’t know what condition she’s going to be in when she wakes up but I hope she is calm and open to talk about getting help.
Edit: Thank you for the replies. She woke up a couple hours ago after sleeping for 16 hours and she explained everything. She was at work two days ago and a elderly patient yelled at her and shoved her. She reached her breaking point and when she got home she threw out her antidepressants (she gets a refill on Thursday) and went into a manic episode. She went to work yesterday without sleep but walked out an hour into her shift and relapsed into self harming. She decided she was going to drive into a tree but wanted to see me one last time so she dropped off the package to do so. Thankfully I saw the signs and stopped her and she had her breakdown. She asked if she could stay with me for a couple of days so we drove to her apartment to get some things and she played music and sang her heart out. She wanted Wingstop so I stopped to order her something and she ran to a grocery store nearby while I was in line and got her favorite ice cream. We drove back to my apartment and ate and she is currently taking a shower. When she gets out and dries off I’m going to sit down with her and talk about what she wants to do regarding her job. I think she’s going to quit tbh. I saw a comment asking me to call out for her but I think she’s going to call out entirely. She seems BURNT OUT. I’m also going to bring up idea of her talking to a therapist again. Thank you for listening to my ramble lol. Your support means a lot to me.
~~~
First Update - May 13, 2023
My girlfriend showed up to my work drunk and high
A couple days ago I posted about how my girlfriend was in the middle of a mental crisis and fell asleep on my couch for half the day. She took a mental health leave from her job and found a therapist this morning who she says will begin to see her next week. She got her medication refills on Thursday and has been trying to relax but when I came home later that day she was not there. I texted her and she said she was out with friends and would be back soon. She came back a couple hours later with a brown bag but did not tell me what it was. She went into my bedroom to hide it and told me not to open it. I was a little concerned but decided not to push it.
It turns out she was hiding cocaine in the bag. I am a firefighter and I worked today and the next two days and tonight she showed up at my station drunk and high out of her mind. She knocked on the door and my Lieutenant opened it and I immediately recognized her drunk voice. She stumbled in asking where I was and started crying when she saw me. My Lieutenant told me to take her home so I guided her to the car and drove her back to my apartment. She started yelling about her job out of nowhere then fell asleep. When I reached my apartment I carried her up the stairs and sat her down on the couch. There were wine bottles and a line of cocaine on my kitchen counter. I called the station and said I would be back in an hour and cleaned up the kitchen and made sure she was not at risk of overdosing.
I have never been more mad in my life. I am okay with alcohol in my apartment but any kind of drugs is unacceptable. My father was a drug addict so drugs are forbidden from my apartment and my girlfriend knows this. I am upset about that but showing up inebriated and high at my job IN FRONT of my coworkers is even more unacceptable. I have been trying my hardest to put myself in a position to move up a rank and now I am the guy who had to drive his drunk girlfriend home. How did she even get to the station in the first place. I hope it was an Uber or something.
I love my girlfriend with all my heart but she needs to find serious professional help. I have been able to weather her manic episodes but this incident is something I am not going to be able to let go quickly. I know she has mental health problems and it’s something I have to accept to be with her but she is not taking her health seriously and it’s affecting her life and it’s starting to affect my life. She said she was going to admit herself to a psychiatric hospital on Thursday but it’s Saturday morning and she’s in my apartment passed out on my couch. I love my girlfriend. I really do. The past four years with her have been amazing but she keeps getting worse and it’s getting harder to help her. I watched my mother ruin her life trying to fix my father and I don’t want to end up on the same path as her. At some point I have to draw a line.
Update: She took herself to the hospital and admitted herself. She sent me a picture of the sign in sheet and apologized for her behavior. I don’t feel anything at this point. I get a break from her for a while so that’s nice. I might break up with her.
~~~
***NEW UPDATE**\*
Second Update - May 27, 2023
My girlfriend broke up with me through a letter and I miss her
My girlfriend was released from the psych ward yesterday and decided to break up with me for a while. She suffered a massive mental health crisis a couple of weeks ago and ended up taking a mental health leave from her job. She showed up at my work drunk and high on cocaine and I had to take her home. She admitted herself to the hospital the next day and stayed for two weeks before she was released.
Last night she knocked on my door before running back to her car. She left a box with all my things from her apartment and a letter attached to the box. In the letter, she said she needs to take a break from our relationship so she can take care of her mental health. She is in an extremely unstable condition and is receiving treatment for depression and suicidal ideation. She does not feel safe being around anyone at the moment and does not trust herself to make logical decisions around people. She is taking her medication and no longer feels like the world is ending but she is going back to the hospital to receive assistance with her depression. She is also going to start eating full meals again and try put on weight.
The next three pages of the letter were filled with her expressing her love for me and apologizing for her behavior. Because she knows I do not want drugs anywhere near my apartment she asked one of her coworkers about a person they know who sells cocaine and she bought a gram. She bought it in a brown bag along with some weed and hoped I would look at it and break up with her. When I didn’t she decided to sniff the cocaine and put a line on the kitchen table. She bought 10 bottles of wine and drank two of them and scattered the bottles around the apartment before taking an Uber to my job. Because I was the only thing that was stopping her from jumping off a bridge she hoped that I would get mad when I saw her walking into the fire station wasted and the state of my apartment when I brought her back and break up with her. Despite my anger, I did not break up with her and she ultimately decided to check herself into the hospital. She dedicated one page to apologizing for her actions that morning and all the things she did before because of her mental health. She doesn’t deserve a patient boyfriend like me who has the biggest heart in the world and she is afraid of corrupting me. She told me to find a woman who does not have the same problems as her and treat that woman with the same respect I gave her. The last page was her telling me how grateful she was to have me as a boyfriend and she could never repay me for the five years of love I gave her. She does not know when she’s going to feel ready to be in my presence again and told me not to come to her house to talk to me. She also drew a portrait of me while she was in the hospital and attached it to the letter.
I started crying in a way I haven’t since I was a kid. I knew what I was getting into when I met her and I never held her mental health against her. She always told me what emotions she was feeling and it helped our relationship greatly. This is a very serious situation and I am glad she recognized she needs professional support instead of trying to deal with it all by herself. She’s had episodes before but nothing like this. I miss her. I miss her so much. My apartment has been quiet for the past two weeks without her being loud and creating noise and I hate it. I miss holding her and rubbing her back while she fell asleep. I miss the streak of blonde hair in her black hair, her big, black, beautiful eyes, and how she always smelled like lavender. I miss cooking for her and making dinner so she had something to eat after a shift. I miss the smells of whatever recipe she was attempting to replicate from Pinterest. I miss the video of Daniel Craig saying “ladies and gentlemen, the weekend” she would send me every Friday after 5pm. I miss her chicken katsu and spam musubi and her cooking. She made two containers of katsu and curry and put them in my refrigerator before she started her cocaine plan and every bite I took made me miss her more. I miss exercising and doing ab workouts with her. I miss trying new hiking trails with her. I miss watching whatever dumb reality tv show she was obsessed with every two months and her asking a million questions every time she watched a sporting event with me. She was the love of my life and my life feels incomplete without her. I told my mom and younger sister we were taking a break and both of them said she feels like a member of our family. I miss her. The last four years have been the happiest times of my life and now all I feel is numbness and sadness. Whenever we had disagreements they never lasted more than two days and we apologized if one of us said something mean. She was the place I called home and the only person I feel safe confiding in and now she’s gone for I don’t know how long. I want to be right by her side giving her a hug and telling her how strong and beautiful she is but I can’t. I know she’s serious about improving her mental health and she’s making an effort to get her so that makes me feel a sense of peace. I hope she is able to find a sense of calmness in her mind. I collected all her things and dropped them off at her house this afternoon then got on the highway and just keep driving for an hour. No music or anything. Just the sound of cars and my thoughts. She deserves to be happy and feel like she wants to live. It hurts to live without her.
Edit: She has never done drugs before. This was the first time she ever bought or did drugs.
~~~
I was really sad to see this update, but perhaps it's for the best while she addresses her mental health. I wish them the best.
Reminder - I am NOT the original poster. Don't forget that commenting on the original posts is not allowed.
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2023.06.03 06:51 Sudden_Humor Sora Unchained examined (from the old Goddess Project site)

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20080104105659/http://www.goddess-project.net/index.php?pid=52
I am not the original creator. Posted on the old GoddessProject fansite

Sora Unchained Examined to Unconsciable levels.
Part one of an as yet unknown number of posts listing assorted triva, observations, and other neat stuff from the Sora Unchained arc. I've been going back over my old posts on this series and collecting whatever I'd said about the stories while waiting for others to get their copies. Now I'm going to post them in chapter order along with whatever else I might have on that chapter. If anyone else wants to contribute, feel free. Afterwards I'm going to consolidate these posts into one article and post it for general information. If this works out well maybe I'll go back and do this for some of the other arcs.
Sora Unchained arc - Dark Horse Trade Paperback number 19/20 Issued Jan. 2005, To be Reissued Feb. 2012 Kodansha Tankouban Vol. 19 and 20
Part 1 - I Choose You, Sora. Dark Horse issue 105, Feb. 2004 release Let's Decide The New Chief Kodansha chapt. 119, July 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 19
Sora Hasegawa, closet debutant.
The cover illustration shows Sora wearing a "Lolita, Clash, Lolita Lempic... , Paris" shirt. While I'm still looking for details (My daughter seems to recall a punk/SKA group called Lolita Clash) it seems more likely this is a reference to a fancy french perfume label "Lolita Lempicka". It seems to be a fairly high end brand of fragrences with VERY fancy bottles. Further information is desired.
The idea of cheating when drawing lots is a common theme in manga and anime. It's been pointed out on other sites that Tamiya and Otaki are shown setting up poor clueless Keiichi to win the drawing for who gets to be the driver in the OAV's motorcycle contest, and cheating on such selection processes has been used in story plots in Sailormoon and Maison Ikkoku.
There are several ways this supposedly random drawing can be rigged, mostly by whoever sets up the lots in the first place. Hence the comments by the club members about irregularities by Sora's promoters and Keiichi's comeback line of "is this the face of a cheater?!" (Belldandy wouldn't cheat if life itself depended on it. She'd just be sure the right decision would come about.)
The untranslated names of the club members on the bottom of the Choosing Maze are Mitsuwa, Ishii, Hasegawa, Chikafuji, and Kawada. Exactly which name goes with which member other than Sora hasn't been firmly established, but I believe the one with the mustach is Kawada (kon) Suzuki (dou) and the large gentleman is Watanabe (based on wild speculation using information from the Hill Climb Motorcycle and Singing Contest stories). Exactly how this maze game works to select someone is something I'd love to learn, anyone know?
(Addendum - see next post)
Part 2 - The Shortcut To Winning. Dark Horse issue 106, Mar. 2004 release The Way Of Competition Kodansha chapt. 120, Aug. 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 19
The Racing Board shown is a real item. I found an advertisment and website for a Tanaka Paveracer, 40cc power cart that looks remarkably like the ones in the story.
The little creature Belldandy is using is called an Airbug Spiralee. It will be appearing in later chapters. Why Dark Horse felt the need to put an "and" in the name here is unknown.
A most important developement in this story is how a running theme that has existed throughout the series is made absolutely clear here. It wasn't really obvious at first, but a character trait BOTH Belldandy and Keiichi share is that they are gung-ho competitors and nothing makes them happier than squaring off against a new opponent. In the past, their pleasure in such competitions has been clouded by outside circumstances or unhappy results if they lose, but both Bell and Keiichi love a pure challenge they can devote themselves to totally. (This is first mentioned by Bell in the Anime Otoku story.)
This wasn't very clearly shown earlier in the manga, and many stories even made it seem as if Belldandy was rather timid about taking risks. (I know I thought that at first, and from the older posts on the subject I wasn't the only one.) That's why her occasional outbursts of excessive force or effort seemed so out of character. Actually, she's an all or nothing sort of competitor, who is just very choosy about what she decides to get involved in. Normally she tries not to upset things or push herself into situations, but when she decides to go for it (or she feels she's forced to), look out! This aspect of Bell's personality will become more noticable in the manga stories from here on, and if you go back and review the older stories I think you'll see what I mean.
Part 3 - The Director's Curse. Dark Horse issue 107, April 2004 release The Cursed Chief Kodansha chapt. 121, Sept. 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 19
If you didn't notice, Sora is still steering the racing board while riding tandem with Belldandy.
Belldandy HAS driven a go-cart before. She learned by copying Diana Lockheed's moves while racing her back in Winner Take All. However, this race WAS before Chihiro and the other current club members had joined the story.
This is also one of the story arcs where her competitive nature starts showing. (Observe her efforts to win in the races, fight off the sleep demon, and how she can ignore K-1's behavior without embarassment in order to get back on track.)
And for those of you following the TV anime, the next part of the arc (What A Miracle) is where we first see Tamiya in his cheerleader outfit.
It's interesting how Sora never questions just how Belldandy has such an accurate inventory of the interesting wildlife in the area in her head. (Especially as the animals in question would be in motion and not likely to be in the same places day after day. Well maybe the owl would, but otherwise how could a normal person know all those detail with such certainty?) Of course it is Bell saying it, and Sora was distracted.
Still its fun noticing how people just accept what Belldandy tells them without worrying about how she might know such things. (P. S. The Japanese text is just slightly less specific as to the racoons and owls locations, but more specific as to where the starlings are.)
Part 4 - Special Training Dark Horse issue 108, May 2004 release Crash Course Continues Kodansha chapt. 122, Oct. 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 19
The most fascinating aspect of this story is that it shows a 180 turnabout on the part of Bell's sisters. Skuld is going off on a rant about how Belldandy and Keiichi should always be together (at least as far as racing's concerned) , while Urd is saying (at least publically) that it's okay for them to do things apart.
We also haven't seen Skuld do the "PBTTT!" bit for awhile.
I try to not take sides in translation conflicts. I cannot speak or read any Japanese so I don't feel qualified to judge who's version is correct. (I do feel qualified to compare different versions however.) In this story however there are two places where the Dark Horse and independent translations differ in ways that I felt should be pointed out.
In the Japanese version, Keiichi is commenting on how Skuld and Urd are such sisters rather than Belldandy and Skuld.
More importantly, there's a joke in the sequence where the club members are preparing for Sora's next attempt to drive through them that Dark Horse left out. In the panel where the club member in the bandana is standing in front of the really large member, in the English version the smaller member is thinking, "Am I fast enough to dive for cover?" The Japanese version goes more like, "If I have to, I'll hide behind him... " That's what the arrow that Dark Horse left between them is refering to, and if they decided to remove the joke they should have removed the arrow.
Part 5 - Drive Dark Horse issue 109, June 2004 release Everybody Races Kodansha chapt. 123, Nov. 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 19
Not much trivia to report in this story.
The biggest discussion point here is how Dark Horse reinterpreted Keiichi's comments while he's practicing with Sora and what he and Belldandy say to each other that night in the temple garden. The Japanese text doesn't have him actually challanging Sora to follow him or making statements to Belldandy later that he thought he might have been considered as helping Sora. However, the drawings do seem to be depicting him doing just that, so in this case I think the Dark Horse/Studio Proteus version is closer to what Mr. Fujishima intended.
Part 6 - Miles and Miles Dark Horse issue 110, July 2004 release Keiichi's Distance, Hasegawa's Distance Kodansha chapt. 124, Dec. 1998 release Tankouban Vol. 20
Those stamps Tamiya, Otaki, and later Chihiro, are using at their check points are their signature stamps. The letters printed by them are their names.
Keiichi DOES have a Check Point list, his senpais are just choosing to stamp his face to aggravate him.
As a bit of speculation on my part, I'm sure you've noticed how Tamiya and Otaki put on hapi coats with the Whirlwind logos on them after they've stamped both Keiichi and Sora (so Sora and K-1 won't see them wearing them). Such coats are a form of advertising used by shops and worn by people employed by the shop to do things in public places. One of these things is handing out flyers and brochures at special events, which is what I think Chihiro is having them do for her after the racers have passed. More on this in the last story.
Part 7 - The Race Gets Hot, A Goddess Gets Hotter! Dark Horse issue 111, Aug. 2004 release The Race Begins! Goddess Acts Too! Kodansha chapt. 125, Jan. 1999 release Kodansha chapt. 126, Feb. 1999 release Tankouban Vol. 20
One can only wonder how Keiichi heard them tell Sora she might have to pay a toll.
As has been pointed out by many sources, the poster next to the locker room door for the sea slug society is the same poster found on the bulletin board next to the NIT-MCC recruiting poster put up by Keiichi in the movie. I believe this is the first example of a movie reference in the manga.
Urd and Skuld's assistance to Keiichi is interesting for a number of points, not the least of which is that it shows Skuld as probably being able to teleport and levitate the same as Urd. (She seems to have gotten there on her own, and later disappears behind her smoke cloud cover. It doesn't seem like she just ran away and does wind up in the tree with Urd. Now Urd may have been providing transport for both of them, but judging from their conversation I can't see them cooperating to that degree.
They both seem to feel they have a duty to help Keiichi, like he was family. Or to score points with Belldandy. Either way, Keiichi is now an insider in their world view.
The Freaky Potion - Stupid New Machine rivalry is finally firmly established.
Urd establishes the use of a kiss (first seen in the movie) as a method of passing on a spell to someone.
The car next to Belldandy in the parking lot where she's waiting for the race to end is a Caterham Super 7, the same car driven by Sena Wakabayyashi, Ken Nakajima's stepmother in You're Under Arrest. This is the first guest crossover between the two series that I'm aware of.
The conversation between Belldandy and the club members actual marks the end of Kodansha's chapter 125. Chapter 126 starts with the aftermath of Urd's kiss and Skuld's indignation at it. Chapter 126 is then split between Dark Horse issue 111 and 112.
For those (very) few readers who didn't get it, Keiichi is making steam train sounds (chuffa-chuffa! Whoo-woo!)
The trash stalls Keiichi lands in (marked flammable and non-flammable) is a recyling station. Wood and paper goes in the flammable side, plastics and metals are in the non-flammable side. Keiichi crashed in the side with the harder, sharper objects.
911 is not an emergency number in Japan. What Sora is refering to in the Japanese text are emergency procedure numbers in the community disaster response handbook. (There are guideline procedures for fires, floods, earthquakes, car crashes, injuries, heart attacks, etc.)
When Keiichi drives off the ledge and crashes into the recycling bin, he's saved from serious injury by Holy Bell spinning an air cushion for him to land on. But why was she there to save him in the first place? Belldandy is at the finish line in the parking lot, talking to the other club members and waiting for the race to finish, and Holy Bell should be with her. Unless . . .
Maybe Belldandy had already split off a copy of herself at the start of the race and had been keeping an eye on Keiichi, just in case. (The rules of competition are sacred, but she also has a prior commitment to take care of Keiichi.) Which is why she was in a position to dispatch Holy Bell just in time to save him. And also how she knew instantly that Urd had put a spell on Keiichi.
Which would mean she might also have known about Urd kissing Keiichi, but had dismissed it as just the method Urd used to get the spell into him. (So it was probably a good thing K-1 didn't finish saying "incredible kiss". Bell might have reconsidered just how harmless it was and gotten a little jealous.)
As an additional observation, I don't think that angels can be multipled, only the goddesses. As a seperate entity the angel would need to copied seperately and giving each mini-goddess their own angel would be just a bit too much power out there. Rather, I think its more likely that the angel can manifest itself through any one of the copies as needed. Thus, if mini-Bell needs Holy Bell to save Keiichi, she can summon her, but then Bell back at the parking lot cannot while mini-Bell is using her at the recycling center.
Part 8 - The Best Magic Dark Horse issue 112, Sept. 2004 release Aberrant Kiss The Strongest Magic Kodansha chapt. 126, Feb. 1999 release Kodansha chapt. 127, Mar. 1999 release Tankouban Vol. 20
Dark Horse issue 112 contains both Kodansha chapter 126 and 127 Chapter 126 is split between Dark Horse issue 111 and 112. Chapter 126 ends after Belldandy leaves Keiichi to fix his racing board and continue the race.
It was fitting that Dark Horse would celebrate its long established habit of recombining Kodansha manga chapters with its last two comic book issue releases.
When Belldandy and Holy Bell leave Keiichi after he wakes up, they transport themselves through a piece of chromed metal (a mirrored surface).
So Keiichi re-invents the motorized skate board with just the items in his pockets. Now that's a mechanic! I wonder if Mr. Fujishima wanted a chance to do a skateboard montage without making it look like that was what he wanted to do.
It's interesting to note that since the sign says "NO BIKES OR CYCLES" Keiichi is not actually breaking any rules since what he's riding doesn't fit either of those catagories.
As is revealed at the end of this story, a hidden sub-plot of this arc was how mercantile Chihiro can be. Her plot to use the Motor Club's race as an advertising stunt to sell the racing boards is foreshadowed by the scene in the first part of the story where we see how fast Chihiro can put on her "Salesperson Face" and Keiichi's comments on how she can "Turn It On." Later there are hints that she's doing something on her own behind the scenes, then we see she's got Tamiya and Otaki in Whirlwind coats at the check points, but doesn't want Keiichi or Sora to see the coats. Finally, at the end we discover they've been handing out sales brochures, that the race had been advertised as a sales stunt, and that Chihiro has already made a sign exploiting Keiichi's emergency conversion to a motorized skateboard as a sales feature.
This doesn't mean she wasn't honestly trying to help Sora and the NIT-MCC resolve their leadership crisis. It's quite obvious she was. It's just that its also being shown that she's not above using this as an opportunity to further her own mercantile efforts as well.
Kurthy133 Question and Answer
Tim, since you had some speculations about the cover illustration involving Sora's shirt in Part One of the Sora Unchained arc, I was wondering if you had any ideas about Bell's shirt in the cover illustartion of Part Two (39 hat and all.) It is much harder to read, but I figured that if anyone might know, it would be you!
While there might be some significance to the 39, I'm not aware of any. In general what she's wearing seems to be a fairly typical example of race crew wear.
In almost any motorized vehicle race (and many others as well) in Japan where there's enough money available for such things, the support team for a racer is dressed in similar, stylized, color coordinated, semi-casual clothes, often with the name of the sport, the racer's name or number, and the event or team's sponsers on them. (This is common for most professional sports around the world.)
What Belldandy is wearing seems pretty close to what other manga and anime characters I've seen wear at such events (including in the earlier AMG manga and OAV stories.) The board is a lap board where the driver's time is recorded for each lap and held up so the drivers can see how they're doing, Whatever that logo on the shoes is, it's probably a parody of some real sneaker label. And the visible lettering on her sleeve starts with a "G" and ends with "RT", the rest being to my eyes unreadable. While in no way defendable, I'd guess it reads "Go-Cart".
Now, did you notice that Belldandy seems to be wearing the same shirt while sitting on the motorcycle two stories later? The printing on the sleeve is either missing or not visible, but the shirt back has what appears to be "Team Hasagawa" printed on it.
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2023.06.03 06:51 chicken152425 Advice on resigning from a great company, but a difficult boss?

I have genuinely enjoyed my time working for my current company since joining in November 2021. Initially, I had a fantastic boss who not only supported me but also encouraged me to aim for a promotion when I expressed my interest. In August, I was fortunate to be promoted under a new boss at a different location.
Unfortunately, my experience with my new boss has been challenging as she has made it quite evident that she harbors negative feelings towards me. Over the past few months, I have felt constantly scrutinized and like she's trying to push me out of the company. Despite these difficulties, I made a commitment to myself to persevere and explore other opportunities within the organization.
However, in January, my boss informed me that I had to wait for four months before I could apply for another position. Disappointingly, in April, she extended the waiting period by an additional six months before I could even consider a promotion.
This situation has taken a toll on my mental health, and after careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to resign. Coincidentally, I was recently presented with a great opportunity at another company, which I accepted yesterday. I took the time tonight to write a professional resignation letter expressing my gratitude for the opportunity to work for my current company. The letter also includes a three-week notice, and I plan to deliver it to my boss on Monday.
It is important to me to part ways on good terms and to ensure that I don't burn any bridges. I want to keep the possibility open for future reapplication, perhaps in a different location within the company.
Any advice or guidance on how to navigate this situation with professionalism and grace would be greatly appreciated.
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2023.06.03 06:49 vikkingss The Time Traveler's Wife"

The Time Traveler's Wife

https://preview.redd.it/wamtoofwgq3b1.jpg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d255c1e0dfe6def0de5f7a46b29c85171123be3c
Introduction:

"The Time Traveler's Wife" is a captivating science fiction romance film, based on the best-selling novel of the same name written by Audrey Niffenegger. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the movie takes audiences on an emotional rollercoaster, exploring the complex relationship between Henry DeTamble, a time traveler, and his wife, Clare Abshire. Released in 2009, the film beautifully combines elements of science fiction, drama, and romance, delivering a thought-provoking exploration of love and the challenges it faces when entangled with time travel.

Plot Overview:
The story revolves around the extraordinary life of Henry DeTamble (portrayed by Eric Bana), who has a genetic disorder that causes him to involuntarily time travel. Throughout his life, Henry jumps back and forth between different moments in time, without any control over when or where he travels. On one of his time-traveling encounters, he meets a young Clare Abshire (played by Rachel McAdams), who has known him since she was a child.

As the narrative progresses, it becomes evident that Clare and Henry are destined to be together, even though their time-traveling circumstances make their relationship incredibly challenging. The film explores their enduring love story as they navigate the complexities of Clare's normal linear life and Henry's sporadic time travel.

Themes Explored:

Love and Fate: "The Time Traveler's Wife" delves into the notion of true love and its ability to transcend time. The film explores the idea that some connections are destined to happen, regardless of the obstacles faced along the way.

Time and Consequences: The movie raises questions about the consequences of time travel and the impact it has on individuals and their relationships. It explores the ripple effects caused by Henry's time jumps and the challenges it poses to Clare, as well as the ethical dilemmas associated with altering the past or predicting the future.

Loss and Grief: Throughout the story, Clare and Henry face numerous losses and experience profound grief. The film examines the emotional toll that time travel takes on them, as they are often forced to confront the deaths of loved ones who have yet to pass away in their present timeline.

Trust and Commitment: Trust plays a crucial role in Clare and Henry's relationship. The film explores their efforts to trust and commit to one another, despite the uncertainties and constant disruptions caused by Henry's time-traveling abilities.

Cinematic Elements:
"The Time Traveler's Wife" showcases visually stunning cinematography, providing a seamless transition between different time periods. The film uses color grading and subtle visual cues to help viewers distinguish between the past, present, and future. The soundtrack, composed by Mychael Danna, enhances the emotional depth of the film, capturing both the excitement and heartache experienced by the characters.

Character Portrayals:
Eric Bana delivers a compelling performance as Henry, portraying the complexity and vulnerability of a man trapped in time. Rachel McAdams brings depth and authenticity to her portrayal of Clare, capturing the character's unwavering love for Henry despite the challenges they face.

Critical Reception and Impact:
Upon its release, "The Time Traveler's Wife" received mixed reviews from critics. While some praised the film for its emotional impact and the performances of the lead actors, others criticized its pacing and the adaptation's departure from the source material.

Despite the mixed reviews, the film garnered a dedicated fan base, particularly among those who had read and loved the novel. "The Time Traveler's Wife" continues to resonate with audiences due to its exploration of timeless themes such as love, loss, and the human condition.

Conclusion:
"The Time Traveler's Wife" is a mesmerizing film that explores the complexities of love and time travel. Through its beautifully crafted narrative and powerful performances, the movie captures the essence of Audrey Niffenegger's beloved novel. With its blend of science fiction and romance, the film serves as a poignant reminder that love can endure even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, including the constraints of time itself.


The positive or negative side of the movie

The Time Traveler's Wife" is a thought-provoking film that combines elements of science fiction and romance to tell a unique and complex love story. Directed by Robert Schwentke and based on Audrey Niffenegger's best-selling novel, the movie explores the positive and negative aspects of time travel within the context of a deep and enduring relationship. This article will delve into the strengths and weaknesses of the film, examining its positive attributes as well as the criticisms it has faced.

Positive Aspects:

Emotional Depth and Intensity:
One of the film's greatest strengths lies in its ability to evoke strong emotions from its audience. "The Time Traveler's Wife" tackles profound themes such as love, loss, and destiny, which resonate deeply with viewers. The performances of the lead actors, particularly Eric Bana as Henry and Rachel McAdams as Clare, bring a genuine and heartfelt intensity to their characters' experiences, drawing audiences into their tumultuous journey.

Exploration of Love and Fate:
The movie offers a compelling exploration of the power of love and its ability to transcend time. It delves into the concept of soulmates and destiny, presenting the idea that some connections are meant to endure, regardless of the obstacles faced. This theme resonates with audiences who appreciate the film's portrayal of an enduring love story that transcends the boundaries of time.

Visual and Cinematic Appeal:
"The Time Traveler's Wife" captivates viewers with its visually stunning cinematography. The seamless transitions between different time periods create a captivating experience, as the audience is transported alongside the characters. The film's use of color grading and visual cues effectively conveys the distinctiveness of each temporal setting. Additionally, the evocative soundtrack composed by Mychael Danna enhances the emotional impact of the film.

Thought-Provoking Ethical Dilemmas:
The movie raises intriguing ethical questions related to time travel, including the consequences of altering the past and predicting the future. By exploring the complexities of changing events and interfering with the natural flow of time, the film engages viewers in contemplating the moral implications of such actions. This aspect adds depth and intellectual stimulation to the narrative.

Negative Aspects:

Departure from the Source Material:
Critics argue that the film deviates from Audrey Niffenegger's novel, altering certain plot elements and character arcs. Some fans of the book express disappointment in the film's inability to capture the depth and complexity of the source material accurately. While adaptations inevitably involve changes, the alterations in "The Time Traveler's Wife" may have hindered the film's ability to fully satisfy fans of the original story.

Pacing and Narrative Structure:
Another criticism leveled against the film is its uneven pacing and occasionally disjointed narrative structure. The nonlinear nature of the story, while integral to the plot, can sometimes result in a disjointed viewing experience. Some viewers find it challenging to keep track of the timeline and the significance of certain events, leading to a sense of confusion and detachment from the characters' emotional journeys.

Lack of Scientific Explanation:
The film's approach to time travel is more focused on the emotional impact rather than providing a scientific basis for its occurrence. While this allows the narrative to emphasize the characters' experiences and relationships, some audiences may find the lack of scientific explanation unsatisfying or implausible. This omission could be seen as a missed opportunity to delve deeper into the mechanics and consequences of time travel.

Conclusion:

"The Time Traveler's Wife" is a film that manages to captivate audiences with its exploration of love, fate, and the challenges posed by time travel. While it has its positive aspects, such as its emotional depth, exploration of profound themes, visual appeal, and thought-provoking ethical dilemmas, it is not without its flaws. Critics have pointed out the film's departure from the source material, uneven pacing, narrative structure, and lack of scientific explanation as potential drawbacks. However, despite these criticisms, the movie remains a compelling and memorable experience for many viewers.

One of the film's greatest strengths lies in its ability to evoke powerful emotions from its audience. Through the performances of Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, the characters of Henry and Clare come to life, drawing viewers into their tumultuous journey. The film's exploration of love and fate resonates deeply, presenting the idea that some connections are destined to endure, even across the boundaries of time. The emotional depth of the story tugs at the heartstrings of the audience, leaving a lasting impact.

Visually, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is a feast for the eyes. The seamless transitions between different time periods, aided by color grading and visual cues, create a captivating viewing experience. The film transports viewers alongside the characters, immersing them in the world of time travel. The evocative soundtrack composed by Mychael Danna further enhances the emotional impact, adding depth and resonance to the film's most poignant moments.

The movie also poses thought-provoking ethical dilemmas, particularly surrounding the consequences of time travel. By exploring the complexities of altering events and interfering with the natural flow of time, the film engages viewers in contemplating the moral implications of such actions. This aspect adds intellectual stimulation to the narrative, encouraging audiences to reflect on the ethical dimensions of time travel.

However, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is not without its criticisms. Some fans of the original novel express disappointment with the film's departure from the source material. Changes to certain plot elements and character arcs may have hindered the film's ability to fully satisfy fans' expectations. Additionally, the movie's nonlinear narrative structure can sometimes result in uneven pacing and confusion, making it challenging for viewers to keep track of the timeline and the significance of certain events.

Furthermore, the film lacks a scientific explanation for time travel, focusing more on the emotional impact rather than providing a detailed rationale. While this approach allows for a deeper exploration of the characters' experiences and relationships, some viewers may find the absence of a scientific basis unsatisfying or implausible. A more in-depth exploration of the mechanics and consequences of time travel could have added an additional layer of complexity to the narrative.

In conclusion, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is a film that leaves a lasting impression. Its exploration of love, fate, and the complexities of time travel resonates deeply with audiences. While it has its shortcomings, such as deviations from the source material, pacing issues, and the lack of scientific explanation, the film's emotional depth, visual appeal, and thought-provoking themes make it a worthwhile watch. Ultimately, it is the power of the film's love story, its ability to evoke strong emotions, and its exploration of timeless themes that make "The Time Traveler's Wife" a memorable and impactful cinematic experience.
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2023.06.03 06:28 Microman-MCU Found myself a victim of 'bridge-waving'

I stopped my bike over a freeway bridge and gazed down mesmerized by the massive flow of traffic passing under me at high speed..then in one lane i noticed a car approaching and a passenger was doing this slow wave at me..i waved backed. But then someone in another lane approaching thought i was waving at them and they waved and pretty soon i was waving with both arms trying to acknowledge all waving cars in all lanes until i had to give up
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2023.06.03 06:15 RedRose_Belmont S1E6. Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.

Seeing Seng diving into the Sea of Time made me think of this poem:
Cambridge
By William Wordsworth (1770–1850) From “The Prelude”
It was a dreary morning when the wheels Rolled over a wide plain o’erhung with clouds,
And nothing cheered our way till first we saw
The long-roofed chapel of King’s College lift
Turrets and pinnacles in answering files,
Extended high above a dusky grove.
Advancing, we espied upon the road
A student clothed in gown and tasselled cap,
Striding along as if o’ertasked by Time,
Or covetous of exercise and air;
He passed,—nor was I master of my eyes
Till he was left an arrow’s flight behind.
As near and nearer to the spot we drew,
It seemed to suck us in with an eddy’s force.
Onward we drove beneath the castle; caught,
While crossing Magdalene Bridge, a glimpse of Cam;
And at the Hoop alighted, famous inn.
The Evangelist St. John my patron was:
Three Gothic courts are his, and in the first
Was my abiding-place, a nook obscure;
Right underneath, the college kitchens made
A humming sound less tunable than bees,
But hardly less industrious; with shrill notes
Of sharp command and scolding intermixed.
Near me hung Trinity’s loquacious clock,
Who never let the quarters, night or day,
Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours
Twice over with a male and female voice.
Her pealing organ was my neighbor too;
And from my pillow, looking forth by light
Of moon or favoring stars, I could behold
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton, with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind forever
Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.
All winter long, whenever free to choose,
Did I by night frequent the college groves
And tributary walks; the last, and oft
The only one, who had been lingering there
Through hours of silence, till the porter’s bell,
A punctual follower on the stroke of nine,
Rang, with its blunt, unceremonious voice,
Inexorable summons! Lofty elms,
Inviting shades of opportune recess,
Bestowed composure on a neighborhood
Unpeaceful in itself. A single tree,
With sinuous trunk, boughs exquisitely wreathed,
Grew there; an ash which winter for himself
Decked as in pride, and with outlandish grace:
Up from the ground, and almost to the top,
The trunk and every master branch were green
With clustering ivy, and the lightsome twigs
And outer spray profusely tipped with seeds
That hung in yellow tassels, while the air
Stirred them, not voiceless. Often have I stood
Foot-bound, uplooking at this lovely tree
Beneath a frosty moon. The hemisphere
Of magic fiction verse of mine perchance
May never tread; but scarcely Spenser’s self
Could have more tranquil visions in his youth,
Or could more bright appearance create
Of human forms with superhuman powers,
Than I beheld, loitering on calm, clear nights,
Alone, beneath this fairy work of earth
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