I'm a singer from upstate New York and I perform frequently at senior living communities in the area; I'm a classically-trained tenor and I perform a lot of music from the Great American Songbook, pop standards from the early 20th century, Broadway show tunes, and in general a lot of repertoire that is popular with the residents at various senior living communities (e.g., independent senior living, assisted living, and nursing homes).
I have family in the Viera area and I'm planning to come and stay with them for some time, and I'm hoping to explore possibly getting work performing at senior homes in the area and so I'd like to find one or more pianists who might be interested in accompanying me at senior living communities.
In my current area, I usually get bookings for one-hour concerts in the afternoons and I typically pay my accompanist $50-$60 for an hour depending on how much I get paid by each venue. I buy all the piano/vocal sheet music for the songs that I perform, so I would provide all of that to my accompanist.
Anyway, I'm still in the early phases of trying to figure out how to get business performing at senior living communities in Florida and specifically in Brevard county, but I have had a lot of success in upstate New York performing at senior living communities and if I can find one or more pianists in Florida interested in working with me that would be a big step towards being able to perform at facilities in that area as well.
TL;DR: I'm looking for a pianist to work with for possible performances at senior living communities in Brevard county and/or the surrounding areas.

Hello, all.
I am just reaching out regarding some advice, per the title.
I’m going to try and keep a very long story short, but I feel like my housemate might be spying on my internet activity and it’s been making me very paranoid and question of self/doubtful.
For reference, the roommate is the owner of the WiFi. So she pays the bill, the account and set up is all in her name.
Sometime in January, we got new WiFi. The old WiFi was a century link or something, and when we had that WiFi, none of these “synchronicities” happened at all. I’ve recently done the math and realized when we switched over to a new WiFi routecompany, mid January or so, is when the random “synchronicities” started happening. And I say synchronicities, per my roommates terms.
Long story short, for a little background, my roommate is very “far out”. She is OBSESSED with “all things” conspiracies, spirituality, psychology, metaphysics, etc., and those subjects are all she talks about 24/7. I pretty much hear the same stories repeatedly on a daily basis. She blows up my phone from the moment she hears me wake up, until bed, just sending links to read things, videos - she’s very intense in that way.
Moving forward, over the last month I felt that I was getting a bit paranoid. Some of the topics and stories she shares seem so made up I’m like - there’s no way this is even true. And for as many times I’ve thought that, I ended up being proven wrong that what she does share sometimes are true. And considering her fanatics with synchronicities and “awakenings” I’ve just assumed “this is all real” and I’m just going paranoid.
Anyways, there was a specific night like 3 weeks ago where I was so overwhelmed with her and overthinking everything that made me feel paranoid and untrusting of her, and somehow I made the connection that- what if she’s spying on my internet activity - and here’s why:
Since we switched over Wi-Fi’s, there’s been like once a week where we will cross paths and she’ll bring up a subject or topic, word for word, regarding what I was reading on my computer earlier that day (I read A LOT, so I have a scribd account and read through many subjects daily lol. And I’ll simultaneously open new task bars to further look up terms or subjects I’m unfamiliar with that I picked up through a text. And for the record, I do NOT cancel the task bars when done so I can refer back to it. So the same few tabs will be open for like 2-3 weeks at a time).
So when this first started happening, I would be like -“oh my gosh, that’s so crazy you brought that up because I literally was just reading about that today” - and she’d make a comment about synchronicities. So this happened like 2 or 3 times where I didn’t think anything of it other than happenstance.
So a few weeks ago, I was reading a text that was talking about freemasonry, and hours later I go into my roommates room to talk and she’s like “oh my gosh, this little book fell off my bookshelf randomly, look at it!” And it was a super small old book literally titled with “freemasonry” & the page she had me look at was specifically talking about freemasonry too. This time, I didn’t say anything & I just went along with it.
That evening in bed I was really just feeling unsafe because of all the odd occurrences and I was just telling myself that I’m just hypervigilant (which I am extremely and I’m in therapies for partially and she knows this), and I can trust her & its all just me. I then got the idea that people can spy on internet activity & the next morning I did some research & installed VPN’s.
After I got over that headspace I’m like - “you know what? There’s no way she’d even know how to do that anyways, & your past few suspicions have been proven wrong, so you’re completely safe & you don’t need the VPN’s. So I still kept them but they have to be longed into everytime I log onto my computer which I didn’t do the last 2-3 weeks or so.
Coincidentally, nothing “synchronistically” has came up during that time until this week, & then today which really psyched me out.
A week/week and a half ago I was researching gestalt psychology & I’ve left that tab open in my browser. A few days ago we were talking and she brings up gestalts & I’ve never heard her say that word since I’ve known her. I just bypassed it once again since things have seemed fine for the most part.
Well today, i was reading a PDF on meditation & the specific part I was reading had to do with blood flow and blood vessels & how they aid in relaxation & it laid out a specific visualization practice of imagining blood vessels opening to aid in more blood flow to the body to help induce relaxation. I wrote down my notes & decided to take a nap & try out the visualization/meditation.
An hour and a half goes by and I wake up and the roommate is gone & I responded to a text she sent when I was napping & then she immediately replied randomly- “hey do you know your blood type? Look up the connection of blood type and “x,y,z” And I instantly was like what the fuck????? There’s no way this is happening, no way.
I replied I didn’t know my blood type(which I do) & she told me it would be on the lab results I just got back from blood work a few weeks ago. And I’m thinking??? I didn’t reply.
I now feel like I did exactly a few weeks ago and this just does not seem like a synchronicity. It literally FEELS fabricated. But I ultimately don’t know. It’s easier to label me the crazy one but I just don’t trust this.
I turned on my vpns again lol. Is there anything I can do to see if someone’s viewing my activity? I also just downloaded “proxyman” (I have a windows) and turned off the vpn because I need to know if this is really a possibility or if it’s just coincidence coupled with paranoia.
Thanks for reading & any and all advice.

When Data and Geordi show up at the entrance of the holodeck in full Victorian garb during the first act of “Elementary, Dear Data” (TNG, 2x03), Data asks the Computer to “select at random a mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”. After they enter the representation of the sitting room at 221b Baker Street, Data and Geordi observe the various details, doodads, and trinkets created to express the experiences of Sherlock Holmes before Data picks up a violin from an open case and starts playing. The Holmesian mystery selected at random is apparently “A Scandal in Bohemia”, but the details of the beginning of the story as they are played out for Data and Geordi are all wrong.
After ‘throwing himself into the part’, Data interrupts his violin playing with a certainty that Inspector Lestrade will be arriving. However, at the beginning of “A Scandal in Bohemia”, Holmes has Watson read a note that a visitor will be arriving at an appointed hour and will likely wear a mask. Not only was this omitted from the scene in the show, but no other rationale is given to explain how Data knew Lestrade was going to show up instead of Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia, in the masked-guise of Count Von Kramm. Lestrade makes no appearance in the original story, and moreover, he is joined by a made-up character...

LESTRAD: ...an emissary of a foreign government ...accosted by gypsies intent on depriving him of his most valuable possessions. And in the process of picking his pockets clean, they also happened to bag a photograph this man was carrying.

Data as Holmes proceeds to walk over to this emissary, tears open the inside of their coat to reveal the photograph, and proclaims...

DATA: I believe you will find, Inspector, that this emissary here works not for but against the King of Bohemia, and that photograph of the king and his mistress is to be used as blackmail. Further, upon deeper reflection, you will deduce, as did I, that...

Here is where Geordi interrupts Data and frustratingly walks out, but Data goes after him and notes, “I was just about to reveal that the sir is in fact a madam...”
​
This is not at all how “A Scandal in Bohemia” begins, but... there are story elements that appear to have been used to create the scene we see in “Elementary, Dear Data”. When Von Ormstein discusses the matter of Irene Adler to Holmes in the original story, he notes regarding the attempts to steal the photograph from her that...

VON ORMSTEIN: ...Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid.

Additionally, near the end of the story we learn that Irene Adler is quite the able costume actor. In her note to Holmes left behind with a photograph of herself wearing an evening dress, Adler tells him...

ADLER: ...you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed.

The fact that Von Ormstein had previously had men twice ‘waylaid’ Adler suggests she was robbed of her possessions in the hopes that any of them would be the photograph of her and the future king. Combining this with the fact that she was able to dress as a man then creates the scenario that she could pretend to be a ‘foreign emissary’ accosted by ‘gypsies’ attempting to steal the photograph, which was probably different from the one that could generate scandal. Perhaps the gypsies stole Adler’s photograph of herself in an evening dress? Regardless, as Data deduced, this emissary was ‘a madam’... likely Adler herself.
​
Clearly, the events of the Holmesian mystery selected at random are totally different from those set out in Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”. So, what is going on here? Well, there is a very plausible two-fold explanation here...

• On the production side of things, what likely happened was that the show writers had developed this ‘version’ of “A Scandal in Bohemia” as one of the possibilities used instead of elements taken from “The Red-Headed League” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” when Data informed Geordi and Dr. Pulaski that “I have instructed the computer to give us a Sherlock Holmes-type problem, but not one written specifically by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” The fact that the script for this episode went through a second revision suggests the made-up Holmes-type problem using elements from “A Scandal in Bohemia” was simply moved to the beginning of the episode without actually making the necessary corrections to represent the real story.
• For the in-universe solution, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a historical person in the Star Trek universe (whom we will now call Trek-Doyle) wrote many Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but some, like “A Scandal in Bohemia”, are written differently. This means that the scene where Data and Geordi play Holmes and Watson meeting with Lestrade and the unnamed ‘foreign emissary’ really happened in Trek-Doyle’s written story. It’s possible that Data knew Lestrade was coming because the violin case was already open for the violin to be played and the notebook on the desk was already opened for writing. So, in the Trek-version of the story, Holmes plays the violin in the first act while Watson writes notes before Lestrade enters the sitting room with the ‘foreign emissary’, who is obviously Irene Adler plotting to blackmail Von Ormstein with malicious intent. The Adler in the story we know only used the photo to protect herself so that she could marry another man and run away safely, but in this version, it would seem that she wanted to use it to deliberately embarrass the Kingdom of Bohemia.

Adding to the case that this Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of the Star Trek universe wrote some of his stories differently, Data even notes to Geordi that Moriarty is “the man Holmes could only defeat at the cost of his own life at Reichenbach Falls”, which suggests that “The Final Problem” really did conclude the life of Sherlock Holmes. If that is the case, then even the ordering of Trek-Doyle’s stories are possibly different from those we know. Doyle’s fourth novel, The Valley of Fear, and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans”, which were both referenced by Data in the sitting room when examining items of note, might have taken place before Trek-Doyle wrote “The Final Problem”, and that the character of Moriarty remained a problem for Holmes throughout his career until his death. Given that the Star Trek universe features fictional authors and works, like Tracy Tormé and her Dixon Hill novels, it’s entirely reasonable that some, if not many, of Trek-Doyle’s works were written differently.

Hello, I'm trying to get remote job in Fort Worth Texas as Pharmacy Technician but most of them offer only $16-17 per hour, I've 2.5 Years of experience with Nursing Degree. Can anyone please help me with what is the pay range for remote pharmacy technician roles? and is there any other positions I can apply for, I recently moved here fro Chicago and currently struggling with financial crisis, My target is to get job that at least offer $20-23 per hour. I can not practice nursing right now because I don't have my Nursing License Yet.
Please recommend me any other job positions I can apply for, it needs to be remote. Thanks!

About four weeks ago a coworker of mine(who I’m also dating) got a paycheck that was a hefty amount. It’s not super unusual as she had on-call pay and over 100+ hours, and a raise on it. We didn’t think anything of it and she was off on the payday and I took her, her paycheck that’s in an envelope. She didn’t look at it and neither did I. She told me she was felt she was overpaid but I told her that it could be overtime but she won’t know until she looks. Well come to find out HR admitted they overpaid her and emailed her. She was confused by the amount because they are saying it was over $2000. Typically 80 hours for two work weeks is roughly $1200. They then paid her $300 and said that she owed them $2000 and they were taking it out in two checks. It didn’t make sense to me and I told her as much. She talked to HR and got kind of nowhere but she was in contact with them.
That leads to today. I was pulled in the office by a supervisor who isn’t mine, two managers, and the director and his second in command. I was asked if I was aware of the overpay and I said yes. They then asked me if I told her not to worry about it and said that it would be time theft if I had? I said that I told her to contact HR as I didn’t understand that stuff. I’m really bad at math and my office is super aware of that. They said they had been told I told her that. They asked if we had discussed it further. I had mentioned we did talk about the small paycheck of $300 but I again stated I didn’t understand it as I’m not an accountant or HR.
I’m asking for advice because I feel like at this point this is an over step by the director. I was told by my GF that she did go to her supervisor and her supervisor was the one who said don’t worry about it. My GF is mad because why are they asking me and not her. I admit that it was weird and my director said they were doing an investigation and fact finding but shouldn’t HR be doing that? They admitted fault? It’s not wrong to discuss paychecks. I am not sure what to do at this point. It feels I’ve been attacked and dragged into things lately which is a whole other story but always when someone complains to me, I tell them go to your supervisor or we can contact the union together as I am rep for our floor.

Hello! Question about religious nonprofits.
The nonprofit I work for (based in U.S., headquartered in Georgia) requires almost all staff (99%) to fundraise their yearly salary. And for clarity, this is not raising funds for the organization; this is raising funds for personal meals and rent and other personal needs like groceries. Employees ask their friends and family to donate to them for their salary. Most staff I know fundraise around $30,000-40,000 per year for themselves. Then, on top of that, most employees help with the annual fundraisers for the organization. The nonprofit advertises their positions as "full-time, support-raised positions. The individual will be required to raise their own funding to meet their salary goal."
I have seen this at TONS of religious charities and especially mission organizations/campus ministries that require employees to fundraise their salary plus 40 hours per week of work. Many of my religious friends at other religious nonprofits raise their own salary to do everything from full-time accounting to mission work to interning.
At my company, in particular, staff must pay to attend the annual staff conference, pay for business cards, tickets to 3rd party conferences they are working, branded letterhead, computers (sometimes), uniform dress shirts, and more.
Finally, my company takes an 11% administrative fee from every donation. So the staff members have to raise 11% over what they need to live in order to cover this fee.
For people with legal knowledge: How is it legal for religious nonprofits to do this? How can they be held accountable for paying a living wage when it is all fundraised/budgeted by the employee? Are there specific loopholes that exist in the U.S. or for religious organizations that they use to do this?
I know that this practice is widely regarded as harmful, but I am more looking for information on the taxes/legal/government side of things and how/why this is legal or how they are doing this. I couldn't find much information online.

Hi everyone
So a bit of context before telling my story. About two months ago I went to a high street bookies, let’s just call them WH I attempted to place a large bet. I totally understand that it will take time to PTL and ID needs to be checked etc. long story short an hour later I’m no closer on an answer if they will accept my bet.
After a lengthy conversation they will only allow me to lay 5k at price for this horse shortly I left the shop a little peeved.
Come yesterday I entered another WH shop proceeded to lay a sizeable bet, the assistant does his usual checks and rings betting control to get it PTL’d. I pay by debit card and it all goes through, when out of nowhere the assistant now is being told on the phone that I cannot bet in WH.
I grabbed my betting slip and left but before I left the assistant said I need to speak to customer service should the bet comes in.
I email customer service and now being told I need to produce proof of income or proof of funds from another betting operator. Also that payment will be withheld till that’s satisfied.
Thoughts?

TL;DR: Dad gave me edible without my knowledge/consent, I had a really bad trip, now I don't know how to deal with it.
Hey, not sure if this is the best place to post this. I'm not even sure what I'm looking for exactly - to vent? To know if someone had a similar experience? I don't know.
Last month I was staying at my dad's house. One night, I was sitting in the living room while he and his wife were in the kitchen nearby. I wasn't paying any attention to them; I was playing a video game on my dad's laptop. I had headphones on, with one ear uncovered because I was also watching The Simpsons. So I didn't know what they were talking about.
My dad came up to me and held out what seemed to be this gummy candy. I don't remember if I asked what it was; whether I did or not, he was just like "Try it." Now, the thing about my dad is that this sort of thing isn't unusual; I'm used to him making me try weird foods and such. So, perhaps foolishly, I ate it without really questioning it (it tasted vile). It was only after I had already swallowed it that he told me it was an edible.
Now, another thing about him is that a lot of times he likes to mess with me. Once, when I was a teenager, for example, he gave me a drink and told me it had alcohol when it really didn't. So I wasn't sure if he was lying or not. I knew he and his wife sometimes took edibles, I just...didn't know they had any at the time. I had never done drugs before, and I don't think I would have eaten it if I had known.
After that, he and his wife went to bed. About an hour or so passed, then it began kicking in. I started feeling dizzy, and I got kind of scared, so I went into their bedroom and I asked my dad if it really was an edible. He said "No." This was a lie, but obviously I didn't know it at the time.
I decided the best thing to do was try to get some sleep. There was only one bedroom, so I had been sleeping on a mattress in the corner. So I was lying there, crying because I had no idea if what I was feeling was because I was high or if it was all in my head.
My dad's wife was also high, and she started talking to me. I started laughing, things got kind of funny...I started talking about all of my interests (much to my dad's annoyance, as he was trying to sleep), and I said some really embarrassing things (I later found out he had recorded at least most of what I said...well, yelled, 'cause apparently when I'm high I get really loud). I have selective mutism, so I tend to have a lot of trouble talking if I'm not really comfortable (it's gotten better over the years, but my dad is convinced that I don't actually have it or something)...
Anyway, at some point, I fell asleep and had a horrible nightmare. It's hard to describe, but it involved me forgetting everything...my life, my interests, the people I knew and the world around me...I dreamt that my dad knew I was going to forget it all, and I remember the fear I felt in the nightmare. Just that feeling of..."Why? Why would he do this to me?" I tried to recall faces - mine, my dad's, a musician I have a crush on (yeah, weird, I know)...and everything was warped, grotesque. Everything became a black void (you know that scene in Spongebob where Squidward's in that "Alone" place? Kind of like that, except black instead of white). I began thinking that maybe I had died, or was dying, and that this horrible void was the afterlife.
I woke up sobbing and screaming "Oh God!"/"Oh Lord!" over and over (and also yelling at my dad "How could you do this to me!?" and "I will never forgive you!") He and his wife got me up from the mattress and had me drink some water. Everything during this part and afterwards felt like a dream that I was trying to wake up from.
My dad made me some oatmeal and put on some songs by one of my favorite artists (American Murder Song). In my disoriented state, I remember thinking that the first song he put on was familiar, and that if I could just hang on to that familiar feeling everything would hopefully be okay. I vaguely remember singing along to the songs.
After I ate he put on one of my favorite movies (Repo! The Genetic Opera) and left me in the living room. I remember it being on, but it felt almost like I was half asleep or something throughout. I was just anxious and confused, and I was trying to focus on the movie but I kept...I don't know, it was like going in and out of consciousness or something. There's a scene towards the end of the movie where the main character falls unconscious and I remember vaguely wondering if perhaps I was actually her (I'm a guy, not that it mattered to my drugged self) and that I would wake up and the movie would be reality.
Apparently, I also sang along to the whole move, but I don't remember this (my dad came into the room to check on me at some point and he said I seemed to be having a great time, but I know I really wasn't). I do remember, however, that at some point I threw up all over myself. After the movie, I told my dad I threw up and he was mad that I was too disoriented to clean it up myself. By this point, about six hours had passed since I had taken the edible. I remember being so confused I asked him what day it was. After that, I went back to sleep.
The next day, my dad told me that it really was an edible...so I did feel somewhat relieved that it was actually a drug that was making me feel that way. But for about three days afterward I still felt the affects of it...and for about a week or so I kept experience derealization.
My dad's reason for giving me the edible...he said he thought it would make me talk more...which it did, but it was humiliating. Apparently, he and his wife had talked about what was in it before he gave me the edible, but (as my cousin pointed out to me) it's strange to just assume that I'd be paying attention to a conversation that I wasn't even part of, even if I was in the room. So he apparently thought I knew what it was...
I wasn't able to go home immediately (he lives in another state so he had to buy a plane ticket and all that), but when I eventually did I told my mom what happened. She's furious at my dad, though neither of us have spoken to him about it. I talked to my therapist about it recently, but her reaction seemed...dismissive (like, she thought it was cool that it made me talk about my interests, but again...I had no consent).
So here I am, exactly a month after it happened...I still experience derealization if I think about it (parts of the nightmare I mentioned I literally only remembered last night...). I just...I don't know how I'm going to get over this. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to, for example, watch "Repo!" again...just recently I listened to one of the songs my dad had put on and it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. I'm trying to decide whether or not to cut ties with my dad...(this isn't the first time I've thought about it, to be honest, but I'm seriously considering it now). I just know now that thinking about that nightmare still terrifies me...

Before I begin I just want to say, I love my mom, and my family, I would like to believe they love me too, or at least like me.
I'm a 16 year old girl, also Puerto Rican if that helps anything, and I live with my mom, my sperm donor isn't in the picture by law since he sexually abused me for 4 years, which is why I live with my mom now.
Before I moved back in with her, I lived in a homeless shelter for teens for a month and a couple days, I was trying to get away from my sperm donor, and my mother, my sperm donor had me believing that my mother was abusive and I believed him.
A few hours before I was sent back to live with my mom, my cps worker and my case manager sat me down and told me that they scheduled a family meeting with my mom behind my back because they knew I had a new phone after my mom took my old one and they were afraid I was going to run.
They assured me that in this family meeting I was going to be able to talk about any worries I had and discuss whatever I needed to with my mom, the entire meeting I probably got two things in and they kept cutting me off and letting my mom talk so I eventually gave up and just said I was in the wrong, and went home with my mom.
As soon as I got home, my little brother, "Ray", saw me and asked "What are you doing in this house?", and I told him "Because I can" and he responded with "After all the stress you put this house through?".
That night my mom told me that she was all I had at the end of the day and a few days later after I was done taking the garbage out, Ray said "Don't think you can bring your little boyfriend over here", I got upset and told him to mind his own business, I wasn't planning on bringing the guy I was dating at the time to the house, then Ray said "You're lucky I don't beat you up for what you did to mom", I told him he doesn't know the full story.
I called my mom on the verge of tears and told her what Ray said, all she told him when she got home was "You don't have kids so you can't say stuff like that", he ended up apologizing later, but started criticizing everything little thing I did.
Before we moved houses, I was the only one helping my mom with my baby sister, I was feeding her, bathing her, clothing her, all while cleaning the whole house to, I was doing everyone's chores, and my mother knew to, but I didn't get any type of recognition, I got paid once by her but didn't even get to use my money because she had to.
Anytime I went to the bathroom with my phone, she would assume I was doing things I wasn't supposed to, and would say "I'm gonna start checking that phone", she didn't pay for this phone.
When we moved, I had to share a room, I had no privacy, I was getting called useless by both my older and little brother, I would watch my mom walk away and laugh when they said that, when my sister caught me in my room crying about it, she told my mom and my mom told my brothers not to joke around like that because they know I'm "sensitive".
I opened to my mom and told her that I wanted to hurt myself but I never told her because I see how stressed she is and I didn't want to be a burden, she told me that I wasn't a burden, I was her child and that of course she's going to be stressed, she's a mother, she also told me not to tell anyone else about how I felt, I tried to end my life that night but sister caught me.
I got a boyfriend, now my ex, and I was on FaceTime with him showing him a dress I was going to wear for Thanksgiving, she came in the room asking for something and asked what I was doing, after I told her she said "Don't show him everything" while giving me a look.
I couldn't wear a full face of makeup, which was literally just lipliner, lip gloss, mascara, eyeliner, and a little bit of foundation to cover up my acne, without her telling me I looked too grown, she let my oldest brother make comments about me and my makeup, after I got them two to be on good terms again, she just started going along with anything he said, even if it hurt my feelings.
I'm still helping her raise her child, she loses her temper with my baby sister fairly quickly and it's not fair to my baby sister since she's on the spectrum, there are some things she just doesn't understand, and on top of that, she's only 3, my mom is constantly saying how she knows it isn't my baby sisters fault and that she's just a baby, but then is so quick to yell, or send her away, or make her cry for being a CHILD, especially one with autism.
I can't be on my phone with anyone for too long before she's telling me to get off of it, or she'll tell me to do something and if I'm on the phone with someone she'll just say "they can wait", she doesn't even let me explain to them that I'm gonna be busy for a bit.
She doesn't help me mentally either, she's aware of the abuse I went through with my sperm donor, and she's angry, but doesn't listen when I try to talk about it, I only left his care in June, only a couple of months ago, and she, again, let's everyone tell me I'm lazy, I'm useless, I don't do anything around the house, but fails to inform them that whenever she wants to vent, I'm there, whenever she's having a panic attack, I'm the first one she calls, I used to sit in her room and let her cry and yell to me about a guy she was dating when I was only 11.
Back when I lived with my sperm donor, she used to cut me off for months at a time, wouldn't talk to me over the smallest things like a video I posted of myself wearing makeup she bought me, and a sweater and I had fully zipped, or my grades slipping, instead of asking me what's wrong and why they're slipping, she told me if I didn't get them right she was going to beat me.
Now me and my mom have our great moments where we can sit, laugh and joke, if I want to talk about some drama with her I can, but it's only that, she doesn't make me feel comfortable enough to go to her about what I actually struggle with mentally, I can't and don't talk to her about my trauma.
The only time she told me she loved me since I've lived with her recently was on valentines day, she doesn't make me feel like she does though, she doesn't even defend me.
I want to leave, I want to be on my own but, it's hard, I'm only 16, I'm in my junior year of high school, I can't handle being here, I'm refusing to move in with my grandmother because it'll only be worse. On top of that, my mother is Christian, she likes girls now but when she goes back to church she doesn't like girls anymore, she subtly tries to force church on me, I don't believe in God.
I don't know what to do, how to feel, I want to leave and be independent, but how? And if I can't, how do I even cope?

Birthday season is once again upon us, and Yunho is the first birthday of the year. This is an interest check for his yet to be unveiled birthday merch, which he has given no spoilers for and mentioned exactly zero times.
Completing the form doesn't commit you to the GO in any way, but helps me organize if you believe you are likely to want it because I order a couple of hours after the drop.
It's basically the exact same deal as the other birthday merch GOs I've done, so many of you already know the drill.
Please read through the entire post and/or the form before completing the form linked below!

Interest Form Link

Please note that the interest check will close about 5-10 minutes after the items are revealed, and I will begin calculating costs and ordering at that time. I move quick on birthday merch to ensure it doesn't sell out before we can place our order.

Payments & Pricing:

There will be 2 payments--one for the item and then one for domestic shipping from me to you.
I have no information regarding price.
Here is a break down of the cost of the most recent birthday merch orders to get a better idea of the range:

• Yeosang wind chime: $39
• San bracelet: $36.50
• Mingi ring: $40
• Jongho mirror: $32
• Hongjoong earrings: $42
• Wooyoung bag: $54

Because we don't know what the item is, I also don't know how much shipping will cost. Usually it ranges between $5-16 for tracked shipping. Both San and Mingi's MD came out to $6 for shipping one and around $10 to ship two. Wooyoung's bag was on the higher end at $10 for shipping.

Why now before the merch is revealed:

I am very serious about collecting the birthday merch and do not want to risk it selling out before it's ordered, so I like to move quickly on it. Having a list of people who want it helps ensure we can all get it at a reasonable price.
KQ has done a much better job with stocking the merch in the most recent drops to make sure it doesn't sell out as fast. But I am still not comfortable waiting too long before I order.
Therefore, the form will close pretty soon after the merch is revealed, and I will order within 24 hours.

Process:

The merch has been dropping pretty consistently at 1:00 pm KST on the member's birthday, so I am expecting Yunho's to drop at 1:00 pm on the 23rd.
Once the merch has dropped, I will message anyone who has expressed interest when I have a final cost.

• If you do not hear from me within two hours after the merch drops, please reach out directly. I try to ensure that everyone who wants the merch gets it, but if you fill out the form after the merch has already dropped, I may not see your request because I order birthday merch quickly.

If you haven't responded to the message about interest and payment after six hour, I will assume that means you've decided you don't want to be included (which is totally fine!)

• Completing this form doesn't commit you to the GO. But if you know you want the item regardless of what it is and you have concerns about being asleep during the drop or needing an extra day to send the payment, just send me a message in advance, and I may be able to cover yours, especially if I regularly order for you.

Payment is through *friends and family* on PayPal. If you want to do Goods & Services, it will raise the price by 12%, and I will need to know in advance.

• Once the merchandise arrives, I will collect the shipping charges along with your addresses.

Questions/Concerns/Proofs

For any questions or concerns, you can reach out on reddit (u/gd_right), Twitter (oldauntiny), or Instagram (oldauntiny). Instagram the messages can get lost, so it's not the best way to get ahold of me quickly, but you can find proofs there. Thank you!

I don't have any issues necessarily with my phone, but I do like having the newest cellular modem tech available. My battery life can actually be really good some days (for instance, I'm at 26 percent left today with 5 hours SOT, 10.5 hours Screen off) and trash on other days, so I'm sure that is where I would mostly benefit from.
Does is seem worth it to upgrade? I could technically trade in my S22 Ultra and pay around $500 for the base S23 Ultra (only 8gb of ram though I'm sure that version is still better than any version of the S22U). Any advice from people who upgraded would be appreciated, thanks!

I work in automotive parts manufacturing. We make car parts and deliver them to the car manufacturer just down the road from us.
I have been there six months.
I used to love it. Great pay for the area, last two weeks of December off (and a week in mid-January). I was hired at the very tail end of September and went through two weeks of training.
Then, around November, they started announcing changes they were making to the plant - we would have to work faster and harder. This caused several people on my shift to quit and we had trouble filling the vacancies.
I had a verbal confrontation with a coworker after I was tired of her putting parts down on my hands (I was an inspector for her line) because she hated the job and would constantly complain. I told her off and she said she was going to get me fired.
Obviously, I was not fired. I was instead moved to an area that I am unable to do easily because of my height (4'9"). I can do the job, but not as quickly as they need it done by. But still, I've been in that position since February 5th or so. I'm unable to move the storage mods like everyone else who can just reach in and pull them. I have to walk around to the back of the conveyor, in the forklift lane, and push them.
Which takes longer to do than, you know, just pulling.
I've mostly gotten used to it now and can generally keep up, but sometimes the person picking up the parts I'm making comes and brings me a new case to fill every 5 minutes (supposed to be every 15 but it's usually closer to twelve). Since I don't have it done, I have to put her behind in her work. They sent me home on an unexcused absence two days in a row a month ago because I was "refusing" to work - I didn't want to get written up for what I COULDN'T do. (I did, eventually, get written up for performance)
I've asked for accommodations according to my height, but was never formally diagnosed with dwarfism (everything's proportionate, I'm just short, but apparently that still counts). My boss even told me "I don't think you're doing as much as you could, I think you're taller than you think you are". Until I get accommodations, which my PCP isn't willing to sign for because she's 'not qualified to diagnose dwarfism', I am stuck in this position. I know my rights according to the ADAAA and have an appointment in May to speak with the EEOC. I have also been yelled at by my manager for not going fast enough when I am literally going as fast as I possibly can.
It's anywhere from a 40-50 minute drive from my house to my work, so I'm gone for 10 or 11 hours out of the day, and then I sleep for nine or ten hours because my job is so exhausting. I pretty much go straight to bed after I get home (I might eat or surf the web a little but that's it), and then I wake up crying because it's time to do the same thing again.
I have no hobbies anymore. I can't tell you the last time I spoke to another human being face-to-face where the subject wasn't work or unimportant small talk. I live alone except for my pets. I barely eat because I just don't have time to, and when I do eat it's usually a pack of Pop Tarts from home or a couple of bags of chips from the vending machine at work.
I want to quit my job so badly, but I have a trip in July that I planned before things went south, and I still want to go.

pls give me things to add to my app, feel like it isn't enough compared to CS applicants nowadays (very qualified ppl getting waitlisted at UC Davis 😭😭)
Demographics: Male, Indian, SoCal, 200k+ income, JUNIOR
Intended Major(s): Computer Science/Data Science/Computer Engineering
ACT/SAT/SAT II: None (can't decide if it's worth taking)
UW/W GPA and Rank: so far 4.0 UW 4.86 W (school doesn't provide rank but prob top 5)
Coursework: all honors/AP; APs so far: AP HUG (5), AP CSP (5), currently taking AP CSA, AP Chem, AP Spanish Lang, AP Lang, APUSH, will take AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, AP Lit, Comp Sci AB, AP Gov/Econ next year
Awards:
- CyberPatriots Platinum Semifinalist (top 100 in country)
- Prob AP Distinguished Scholar
- Rotary Award (top 33 student in school)
- Esports Champion; can't specify
- President's Volunteer Award Bronze
- Going to try USACO 😭😭😭
Extracurriculars (In NO order);
- Coding Teacher Part-Time Job
- Volunteer at Science Museum (100+ hours), Team Captain position
- Executive Secretary of school ASB/Leadership (big time commitment/needed to campaign); 3 years being part of it (very selective)
- Research with a professor about blockchain development (very surface level and kinda quit half way through)
- CS/STEM internship at a Fortune 50 company (provided by HS)
- Internship at a UC as a software/web developer
- Social Media Manager for a local business (paid job)
- President of Esports Club at my school
- President of Crypto Club at my school
- VP of a STEM-related volunteer club
- Lead Technician for a global entrepreneurship company
- Treasurer of Cyberpatriots club
- Technician for CSF Club
- Part of school Link Crew for welcoming freshmen
Essays/LORs/Other: Still junior so not yet but I have a pretty eventful life and active social life with interesting experiences so hopefully that differentiates me a bit
Schools: NEED IDEAS (thinking UCs/CSUs mainly)

You’re on this sub, undeniably. It’s no secret - CPS is now involved.
It’s crunch time girly pop.
Your actions, everything you post, do, reply to, places you’ve been, people you talk to - are all ammunition against you.
IF you want to keep, Ari I suggest you take this seriously. You’re not painting a good picture taking your recovering addict baby daddy to a place where alcohol is the main attraction.
It’s not ableist - it’s the TRUTH. He was going to be the primary caregiver - because you are physically unable. He CANNOT do that if he isn’t sober.
Putting forth only a few hours of your time a week to be in the NICU with your baby is only a small price to pay. It shows willingness to learn the care for someone so fragile. I assume you would understand this concept.
If you want to keep this precious girl - GET. IT. TOGETHER.
You’ve only just begun your journey on the road of motherhood and you’re all but determined to fuck this up.
I believe the depth of this true reality won’t hit you until she’s taken away. Once the role of motherhood is established- It’s not about you anymore.

the titles explains the most of it, but i noticed my application was denied the same day i submitted it. im a college freshman, pre-pharmacy track and kept my hours pretty open. had prior work experience, attached a resume. im just thrown off by the fact i was rejected the same day yk? in my applications tab, it says my status is "not selected for this position" which is step 2 of the hiring process

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Chapter 1:
Jerry Brenson was having a hard time not getting pissed off at the way the car kept jerking around, making it damn near impossible to roll his tightly held cigarette. What a piece of shit it was anyways, it looked like the cross between an impregnated white pill and a scarecrow with all its frayed edges of tobacco poking out like straw.
"Would you stop driving like a goddamn animal!" he bellowed at the driver. Then he resumed his work on unraveling the piece of shit and evening everything out. The tip of Brenson's tongue stuck out of his mouth as he worked at it. Within a few seconds the passenger side front tire plunged into a half-foot pothole and Brenson's jaw clenched shut on that tender red meat sticking out of his face. In an instant it resembled a tiny pink balloon swelling up and getting ready to pop.
"FUCK!" Brenson screamed after a long second of seething white pain, which was now commencing to roll like waves through the bottom of his jaw, and somehow up into his fucking forehead! Before he had time to return from the moments that threw his whole being into a chaos of agony, he knew with dreadful certainty that he had bit off a chunk of his tongue. He would see it there if he opened his eyes and looked down. And with that, an image of a huge bulging red thing on the floor that was flopping around like a decapitated fish came to him. With wide eyes that seemed to burst open like fireworks, both hands flew to his mouth so that Brenson suddenly looked like a little girl getting the best birthday present of her life.
And then, hallelujah, he thinks, praise Jesus, God, the Buddha, anyone and anything that saved his precious tongue. It was still there. Hurt like hell but it was still there. He looked around on the floor in a sudden surge of paranoia (maybe a part of it really was down there) and to his blessed relief the only thing he saw were a pair of work boots stuffed onto his oafishly large feet.
All of this occurred in about 3 seconds, after which Brenson's brow contorted into a fierce angle of rage, and a powerful sense of the injustice and incompetence and of all the damned stupid negligent habits of this buffoon of a partner settled on him. He turned to the driver and smacked Dale Enrsten upside the head.
"Ouch!" Dale wailed in his deep Mississippi drawl. The car swerved to the left when Dale's arm instinctively went up to protect his face. "What the hell was that for?" He asked stupidly.
"For nearly getting my tongue bit off asshole. Now drive."
Dale returned a frown towards Brenson, and tried as he may to appear the least bit intimidating, Dale looked more comical than anything. There was something about his fat head and thin brown hair on a receded hairline that gave the air of an overly large boy preparing for boarding school.
Dale turned back to the road and decided that what would cheer him up would be a couple of chili dogs, add the cheese please, with a bud light and a pack of skittles. There ought to be a gas station in the next mile or so, god knows when the last time they saw one passing through this shit hole was. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a smoke, no two smokes, then handed one over to Brenson.
"My apologies captain. This road's covered in more potholes than your mom's vagina."
Dale cackled out a wheezing laugh and then lit up his smoke. He puffed out a large plume of white smoke that was torn away by the passing air out Dale's open window. He looked out that window, and glanced nervously at all the red stone. Their surfaces were inundated with marbled cracks. Every so often he'd see a pale bush growing between a couple of rocks. They looked more like skeletons than plants. Yes it was true, Dale Ernsted hated the desert. He hated all deserts. They made him feel like a clock was always ticking, and when it went to zero baby, oh my oh my, Dale baby if you’re out here, you gonna be fish food. Well not out here I wont, he retorts back to his own morbid fantasy, more liable to be lizard food, or coyote. Yeah, that's right, Dale thinks there probably are coyotes out here, and if the car broke down, well not a lot to eat out here but a couple of dehydrated dying men. What would be a better treat for a pack of hungry canines?
And following this train of thought Dale wonders what it would be like if Brenson and he really were surrounded by a pack of coyotes, how many would it take, maybe five? Six? Would Dale watch Brenson go first, or would it be Dale who Brenson catches a glimpse of getting his arm torn off from the shoulders down when the wolves begin demanding his own full attention. Look at that, now they turned into wolves. He didn’t think there were wolves out here. His expression changes into a frown of contemplation.
"Are you listening to me?" Dale hears Brenson angrily ask. The wolves go away. He realizes Brenson had asked him something.
"What's that?"
"Find a place to pull over I need to take a leak"
Dale's small eyes dart around at the escarpment and mesas and the fine layer of brown dirt swirling over the two-lane highway.
"No, I think there's a gas station up a bit. Not too much farther now."
Dale doesn't say anything else. He turns the knob on the radio until Bon Jovi is playing We’re Not Gonna Take It, and guns the Camry down the long stretch of desolate waste before them.
The desert sun was lowering in the west, making the car’s long shadow race ahead of them. By the time they see the dusty gas station with a white roof and big red letters painted on a discolored sign reading QuikStop, the sun was almost touching the horizon and Brenson had to pee like a mad horse. One or two stars could be seen faintly wavering in the turbulent purple sky fading into black.
Dale pulled up to a gas pump and he and Brenson got out of the car.
“Well” Brenson stretched out the word just as he was stretching out his back, leaning heavily into it with his arms on his hips, “Give me the money and I’ll get some food and beer. You get the gas”.
Dale reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty.
“Two cheese chili dogs and skittles” he said miserably. Brenson did a quick nod and walked off.
Dale found that he wasn’t doing anything but standing there watching Brenson walk closer to the gas station when the thought popped into his head: you know I think might kill that fuck, yeah I might. And then he turned around as if it was just a cloud passing by.
He was listening to the gulping sounds of gasoline filling up his tank when he saw a white toyota pull up and park on the side of the gas station near the ice chest and propane tanks. There were two people in the car. They looked like Mexicans to Dale. A man and woman. They got out of the car, shut the doors, walked around the corner, and entered the gas station. Dale wasn’t particularly interested in them but then something caught his eye. He thought he saw movement in the backseat of the toyota.
There it was again.
He realized it was a child.
It was a girl with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. A little Mexican girl. Kids shouldn't be left in a hot car all alone he thinks righteously. But what should he expect from these people? Look at that piece of shit rig. He realized again that he was in a trance, staring angrily at the back of the Toyota.
Dale's eyes surveyed from the Toyota to the gas station entrance. The glare of the sun reflected everything outside so it was impossible to see in through the windows. Then something inside him went on autopilot. He had something to do he realized, and he had to do it fast.
He fastened the nozzle back onto the pump and briskly walked over to the white Toyota. His heart began racing. He peered in at the girl in the backseat. No one else was in there. She was wearing a blue tank top and black shorts. There was a doll, something from a disney cartoon in her hands, Dale insanely thinks, but is barely aware of any of these thoughts as the door of the Toyota slowly opens up and the girl turns her head away from her doll, up towards her mama with a smile, and sees Dale’s huge head lurching in like a troll plucking a princess from a tower.
Her face shrivels into a scream but before she can let out the breath, Dale’s meaty hands are over her mouth, and without any effort he pulls her out of the car and clutches her entire body in a bear hug. There's a heart pounding moment when she sounds like a grunting dog struggling in a trap and he knows her scream will escape from his sweaty armpit. Then there's an instant of pure lucid absurdity where he seemed to see himself from the outside. What would the girl's parents do if they walked around the corner right now? He couldn’t just put her back in there and go about pumping gas again could he? Oh I'm just ole friendly Dale giving your girl here a nice good hug cuz I could hear her cryin' for mommy.
Then he kicks the Toyotas door shut for god knows why and scrambles to his car. He hustles to the trunk, realizes the switch is up front, and skids to his knees at the driver's side door. He’s pressing the girl so hard against his chest he can almost feel her head bouncing off his beating heart.
Then he hears the satisfying click of the trunk unlocking, and with surprising speed he places the girl in the bed of the trunk, takes a bandana out from his back pocket and ties it like a rope around her mouth. The girl’s eyes, shaking with terror, watch grimly as the troll closes out the darkening sky with a metallic clink.
Then Dale jumps into the driver's seat, turns on the engine, and cranks up the radio. Another song by dear old Bon Jovi by god! Dale feel’s exhilarated. He doesn't even know it yet. All he knows is this music sounds better than anything he’s ever heard before, and why wouldn’t you look at that, he’s not even sore with Brenson anymore for slapping him in the face earlier. He can’t wait to have a beer! And there's ole Bren heading back towards the Camry now.
But then Dale realizes with a jolt of panic, the parents! The girl’s parents are going to be out any minute! With the mother of all anxiety attacks Dale’s car speeds towards Brenson as he walks out of the gas station at a magnitude that probably made Brenson think oh fuck I’m going to die by the look on his face, but Dale’s car screeched to a halt just a few feet away.
“What the fuck’s that about” Brenson sneered. The sneer was more one of habit than anything else as Brenson was so surprised that there wasn’t really room for anything else. His arms were full of supplies and he almost dropped them all over the ground.
“Get in now!” Dale yelled. He reached his arm over and threw open the passenger door. Brenson sat down and before he could shut the door, Dale shut it himself by accelerating in a curve out the gas station parking lot, and wouldn’t you know it, he didn’t even use his turning signals when he brought the Camry onto the highway and raced into the black eastern sky.
Chapter 2:
“Jesus man, you think I robbed the place?”. Brenson was unsure what had gotten into him. “Shut up for a minute. Give me a beer”.
Brenson had never seen Dale so serious. The man’s face looked like a machine. His thin lips were pressed so tightly you could barely see them. And he was scowling at the road. His eyes kept bouncing to the rearview mirror. Brenson could see beads of sweat rolling over Dale's pockmarked forehead. And the odometer was reading 95 mph. He sure as hell hoped he wouldn’t suddenly get another dose of Dale’s special potholes. He made sure his tongue was planted firmly on the roof of his mouth and his seat was buckled.
“Uh Dale..are you alright there partner?” Brenson asked.
“You seem like somethin just bit you in the ass.”
Dale guzzled down his bud light, burped and wiped his mouth, then reached for another one. After he cracked it open and took a good long gulp, he bellowed “Wooo! Lordy..oh yeah” He was heaving deep breaths between each word. Then his gaze turned away from the road and locked with Brenson's eyes.
“Pal, when you were over in that gas station there..” he paused and glanced towards the backseat of the car as if someone were sitting back there. He couldn’t keep it hidden from Brenson now could he? They had 100 miles left to drive.
Brenson looked back and then over at Dale again.
“ain't quite sure how to say this", the look on Dale's screwed up face as he thought about what to say next made Brenson think of a large boy again, one that was trying to work out a hard math problem like how much his groceries would cost.
"I may have picked up a passenger,” Dale finally said.
“What?” That came out of left field and Brenson didn't know what it meant.
“I just kind of..took her” he said this last as if Dale himself was surprised at what he was saying.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Brenson was getting a sick feeling. What fuckup did Dale just get him into now? He knew Dale liked cats and sometimes he would take them off the streets or out of people's yards if he liked how they looked. And he knew Dale had about 9 cats stuffed away in his trailer, but Brenson wasn't hearing any meows coming out of the back seat now was he? And Dale's eyes were looking at something far away, unfocused on something so far away like Venus.
And then Brenson noticed a muffled sound like there was a load of groceries rolling to the side in the trunk as Dale took them around a tight bend. For just a moment he was worried that maybe he had put the beer back there and it was gonna get all fizzy, but then he remembered the beer in his hand and the rest on the floor by his feet near that imaginary chunk of meat flapping around down there. He felt the tip of his tongue and took a swig.
"What the fuck did you do" Brenson remembered the two Mexicans that walked into that gas station. He had eyes on them the whole time.
“Dale?” Brenson asked with a looming understanding that sped towards him like a Mack truck. Dale had done something magnanimously fucked up.
“What the fuck did you do!”
“She was boiling back there!” Dale pleaded. He was an eight year old child again, explaining to an angry stepmom why she had found a drowned cat in the bathtub. He didn’t have any choice, it had bit him and that was not okay, that was not okay by any standards of civilized man. What else could he do?
“Dale!”
“I saved her Bren!”
They were both yelling now.
“She was gonna be dead back there! You saw those mexis didn’t you?”
“Pull over!” Brenson demanded.
“No.”
“Pull over now!”
Dale kept on speeding. The odometer read 105. To Brenson it felt like the flimsy car could at any moment flip over a hundred times if the slightest gust of wind brushed against them.
“Pull over right fucking now or I’ll beat the shit out you right here!”
Brenson’s fists were clenched into a barb of hairy knuckles. He was really going to do it Dale observed, and then they’d both be piles of scrap strewn all over the road.
Dale gave a defeated sigh and took his foot off the accelerator. He was going to have to show Bren one way or another. They were already miles past that shit hole station anyways. What the hell. The Camry disengaged from warp speed and soon Brenson could hear the crinkle of gravel under the tires as the Camry pulled off onto the shoulder.
Outside the night was as silent as the land was empty. A brilliant splash of stars painted the canopy of the sky in a way that gave Dale a cosmic sense of his own importance. He shuffled over to the back with Bren, a disappointed look of guilt was likewise splashed across his face, why no mah, I’m not the one that drowned Muffin, but ya know, she wouldn’t stop biting. But Dale remembered the feeling of her slick fur bunched up between his fingers and the way her intricately delicate neck felt like so many scrawny bones. A jolt of disgust seemed to roll through him like a shockwave and he tried to shake off the memory of that limp cat as fast as possible.
Then that cave of darkness opened up and it was nighttime outside, and the girl saw with a cold panic that made her cry that there were two trolls looming over her now. They were both huge and disgusting. The one on the left looked like a giant baby with patches of wiry fur in tufts up and down its neck and chin. Its teeth were yellowed and it was smoking a cigarette. She didn't like how it was eyeing her, like she was some kind of precious crystal that it wanted badly.
The other was just as big, not as fat though, more muscular. He had a mop of scraggly black hair and a full beard covering the mouth. He looked like a biker. And he looked like he was really mad at her. She heard herself crying.
"Mamá" She tried squeaking through the rope. "Donde mi mamá"
And then, no, no please, everything was getting dark again. She howled and squirmed but the lid of the trunk did not care.
Brenson was biting his bottom lip. He was supremely pissed off now. What the fuck was this lunatic thinking! He looked at Dale and was about to begin a royal case of pummeling his fat ass into the ground for getting Bren caught up in this bullshit, lord knows he's had a clean record apart from a mild six months in Kentucky State Penitentiary when he was twenty two years old. And this asshole, this stupid fat asshole made him an accomplice to whatever crazy bullshit was flying around in that fat fucking head of his!
But Bren noticed that far away in the direction they had come were a pair of tiny headlights. They were heading this way.
Instead of beating Dale into a mess worthy of the crime of getting Bren caught up in kidnapping charges, he said "Lets get the fuck out of here". And then jumped back into his seat, slamming the door.
"Come on!" He yelled out when he saw that Dale was still standing on the side of the road like an idiot. Dale hurried up, revved on the engine, and the Camry was back on the highway doing 92 mph. Bren cracked open another beer and drank the whole thing in one go. He didn’t complain about the speed.
Chapter 3:
It was about two in the morning when they pulled up to Bren’s trailer. Bren got out and walked around to Dale’s side. He was mildly drunk. Bren put his hands on his knees and bent down as if he was going to say something to Dale, but in the end he turned around and left without saying anything. He was too pissed off.
“See you in the morning.” Dale called out after him in an annoyingly loud voice, but Bren didn’t turn around. His thin white door shut loudly and Dale pulled away and drove off to his own trailer at the end of the gravel road.
At this point he had a conundrum on his hands. He had to get the girl inside without her making a lot of noise. And then once inside..what? Tie her up? Keep her in his bathroom? It’s not like he had a basement to put her in. And what the fuck was he doing anyways? His hand reached for his forehead. He was thinking. Then he unlocked the trunk and when the dim light in the trunk came on he saw with stabbing horror that the girl was dead.
“NO!” He shouted at her as if it were her fault.
"Oh dear Jesus no!”
He felt like he was about to cry. It was the cat all over again. He really didn’t want to kill it. But then he saw the rhythm of her small diaphragm. She was sleeping. Dale oh dale oh dale, what are you doing?
He wiped the sweat off his brow, then reached in and picked her up. She weighed about as much as a pillow, and when Dale opened the door of his trailer, a cat seemed to catapult itself outside making him trip over his own feet. "Shit! Henry!" He gave an involuntary yell over his shoulder when he saw which one did it. Then, understanding that he totally did not have anything under control, he stopped in his doorway and simply stood there with the little girl cradled in his arms. She felt warm. His girl. Yeah, that sounded right. It was his girl now. His little Mexican girl.
A few more hungry cats came out of the shadows begging for food. He shushed them and kicked his leg around without putting any real effort into it just to make them go away.
He had to secure his girl.
But how was he going to get any sleep tonight? He had to be absolutely sure that she could not get away. Then as he was walking in, thinking about how he would tie her up (he did have some duct tape, rope, maybe some wire ties..oh but he didn't want to hurt her wrists), he felt a sudden uneasiness about Brenson. Did Dale think he'd go to the cops? Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut and the music loud. He should have slowed down when Bren asked and he should have… Wait, just wait one cotton pickin minute Dale, he says to himself. The girl. The girl first, then Bren. Maybe Bren was still awake and he'd pay him a little visit, have a little chat just to make sure they were square, just to see if everything was cool, but only after he was sure the girl could not escape.
But should he actually leave her alone?
"Get moving!" he said to himself. And then walked into the back of the trailer where he kept a tool shed. The girl was still sleeping in his arms. Whatever nightmares she could possibly be having, would she really want to wake up?
He chose duct tape, the principle reason being it was easiest to reach while clutching a small human being. And although she felt like a feather before, the longer Dale held her in that death grip, the heavier she seemed to get.
He laid her gently down on a Layzee Boy and found himself holding his breath and needing air when he was certain she was still sleeping. Dale unfolded the leg rest, and then very delicately began unwinding the duct tape around her legs. This turned out to be a bitch because the duct tape was prone to making offensive scratching sounds as it was unpeeled from its spool.
About an hour later the girl was strapped in the chair in an extended position. Mounds of duct tape secured her arms, legs, torso, hands and feet. He took special care to untie the bandana from her face, knowing that she could suffocate in her sleep if it stayed on there. That special feat gave him a sense of pride for remembering. He already got one point in the game of taking care of her by damn. Though he'd have to figure out how to keep her quiet. Lastly, he strapped down her head using a generous supply of tape.
Now he surveyed his work like a skilled practitioner, his mouth closed, eyes narrowed, and giving short nods of satisfaction. Yes he did do a good job. Both on the tape job, and on the girl. She was adorable. He was imagining what it would be like three years from now, when she had forgotten all about that old shit hole family she had, a fact that Dale would NEVER bring up, and how happy they would look playing in a park, eating hotdogs. He's pushing her on a swing and look at that! At the very end of the pendulum's arc she leaps through the air, legs pointing like arrows in perfect form! She glides through the air and lands on her feet. Both arms reach up into the sky, she beams at Dale saying look what I just did daddy! Then she's running, his little girl is running right at him! She leaps into his arms and oh god how he hugs her, squeezes her, suddenly he notices that her skin is so soft, there's a gleam in her eye, he looks at her mouth
Somebody knocked twice on his front door.
The force of that sound coming from that door made Dale almost scream. The cloudy glaze over his eyes burned away as fast as if Jesus Christ had just now ripped open a hole in the sky and let all of heaven's mighty armies come march on through.
His head jerked up and banged against the corner of a kitchen cabinet that he had been standing near but he barely felt it because panic and paranoia were through the fucking roof ladies and gentlemen. That's right, Dale Ernsted was about to melt into a puddle and seep into the floor.
But he had to do something about the door. He crept slowly, as if the slower he moved the more invisible he would become. At this point he was trying to make himself as flat against the wall as possible so he could peek out the curtains without the intruder noticing. He quickly poked his face into the curtains and looked out the window. There was a man still standing at Dale's door. And the man instantly turned towards Dale and looked him in the eyes.
Dale screamed and put a hand over his mouth.
It was Bren. It was just fucking Bren. He pulled away from the window and noticed he was breathing like he had run a half marathon.
Dale opened the door and there was Bren pissed off as ever before. He didn't ask to come inside but came inside he did, brushing past Dale without saying a word. He stood in Dale's living room, hands on hips, something like concern on his face, and was just standing there gaping at that girl stuck in all that mound of duct tape. He was shaking his head in disbelief. Then Bren turned around and said in whispered tones, "What in fucking Christ is going on here Dale?"
They both walked outside and Dale shut the door.
Inside the trailer the girl remained taped to the Lazee Boy, breathing those deep occasional breaths that are only ever seen in people deep in REM sleep. Then she opened her eyes. If Dale could see those eyes now he would say they looked evil. To Bren, who had a larger vocabulary than Dale, he would say cunning.
In truth she had never been asleep. And although she heard only a little of the conversation between the two ogres that captured her, she knew that Baby Face, as she thought of Dale, believed she was asleep. And for this she thought he must be the dumbest person imaginable. What moron would think anything but a tranquilized rhinoceros was asleep after all that had happened to her.
She played through the sequence of events that led her to this terrible situation. It was an unreal situation. How could this happen to her? But that's not useful, she thinks, it isn't useful to wonder about why, only how and what to do about it.
She took the opportunity while the two trolls were outside to scan as much of the room as possible. Looking for doors, windows, anything that could be used as a weapon. Although she knew she had little chance of using anything but a gun against either of those two guys. They were big and mean looking. But she thought Baby Face probably had a gun, either on him or by his bed, maybe in a closet.
She would have to escape. She knew there was a door in the back, though she couldn't see it, because Baby Face had brought her back there and she could feel the outside air coming in. It seemed to be some kind of extension to the trailer. And when Baby Face had stood on his toes reaching high up to get something off a shelf, she stole a glance and saw that it was some kind of shed that led outside. There were at least two doors. It was going to hurt so bad to take this tape off. She didn't know what to do about that yet. She could barely move any part of her body.
Then she heard one of the men approach the door and the hinge began to squeak open.
Dale poked his head in and stared at her for a good ten seconds. She was still sleeping. Good. Then the door closed.
Her name was Mariana and her eyes were now looking up at the ceiling, lips quivering, trying to hold back the tears from escaping. One did though and it traced a small trail down her cheekbone before it finally fell to the floor. She hoped her cheek would dry before the trolls came back inside.
Chapter 4:
That same morning Bren woke up to a pounding headache that felt like a vein was about to burst from the left side of his head. His bones creaked as he got out of bed and he walked to his refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
He wasn't trying to get drunk, those days were long past him. It was just to get rid of the headache. He had work today. And it was Bren's turn to drive so he was gonna have to waltz over to dumb fuck Dale's house and drag his ass out of bed. Although he wasn't so sure how much stock he put in folk traditions and rules of the game, so to speak, now that his relationship with Dale has been, shall we say, tested.
Although he wasn't as angry as he was just a few hours before while he chewed out Dale for being the stupidest motherfucker he ever laid eyes on, he still felt he should give him an ass pounding after he, Bren, resolved this entire state of affairs. Because it would be Bren, not Dale, who would have to do that. As much as he wished he could abandon Dale and just say fuck it, he was deeply concerned about his own involvement in what transpired the night before, and he was gravely imagining getting fifty years behind bars because of some lunatic he decided to take up a business deal with. Who was the real retard here, Bren thinks in a self deprecating way, who would get into business with someone like Dale?
Never mind all that, he would have to do something about this. He could not allow Dale to go off on his wild fantasies. Bren's chief concern was that Dale would fuck up somehow and land Bren in prison. He was slowly shaking his head back and forth as he sipped his beer, realizing just how deep the sinking sand really went in this case, all the anger he felt the night before came rushing back tenfold as he realized what he would have to do. What he would make Dale do. As punishment.
Meanwhile Baby Face was still sleeping. Mariana heard him snoring. She decided to let herself sleep after he had passed out on the floor near this duct tape prison. She would need her strength and people need to sleep as much as they need to eat was what she convinced herself with to even allow her to try to sleep. It wasn't even a guaranteed deal. Who could sleep during something like this?
But she found that when she closed her eyes and knew that Baby Face was drunk out of his mind, and that meant he would probably be asleep for awhile, then she could sleep. And oh how she drifted down, pulled down just as she was pulled out of that car, with a monster waiting for her at the bottom. A monster that looked like some huge grotesque baby thing that had snot pouring out of its nose like a fire hose held her, its decaying fingernails scraped at her, and it cackled at how amazing she was, licking her back and purring like a cat.
She screamed and then she was back in her car with all her things! Not in a dream, she was actually back in the car and her parents had told her they would pick her up a snickers.
She knew Baby Face was out there. Scrambling up on her elbows she looked for him out the window. He was pumping gas and smoking a cigarette at the same time. What a stupid freak! Yuck! But he was going to come over here. She watched him looking at something over at the entrance, and then his head was turning towards her. She ducked. And then slowly peeked her head up and saw that he was walking over here. He looked like some kind of rodent, like a rat that was sniffing out cheese.
She needed to leave. Mariana grabbed the door handle and shaked at it but it wouldn't open. None of them worked. She was trying to remain calm, kept finding her right hand reaching up and twirling her hair and then stopping herself. She licked her chapped lips. She had an idea.
The door opened and before Baby Face stuffed his stinking head in through the open door, Mariana turned around and asserted herself. She loudly and very clearly said "Dale! Where is your gun?"
The monster stumbled backwards as if shot, and fell slightly to its knee. The way its knees popped back and forth and the way its elbows gesticulated in erratic ways made Mariana think it wasn't even alive. It was some kind of zombie. And when its head rolled back up, and it looked at her, its teeth clacking together like a puppet being pulled up by the strings too quickly, she saw that Baby Face, Rat Baby Face, had long white whiskers and huge front teeth. They were stained with cigarette smoke but they still looked sharp.
It said in a gravelly voice choked with beer and chili, "under my bathroom sink, where I always keep it.", driblets of chili dripped down its white gums, which also held a healthy portion of gooey chewing tobacco. Beer froth dripped out its eyes as it jumped into the car with Mariana and began stroking its long bony fingers through her hair saying all the while in the voice of a corpse "How pretty..how pretty..how pretty". She wanted to puke and get away from it but - then Rat Baby Face opened its mouth and bit into her neck.
Mariana woke up blinking away tears. She swallowed and took in a deep breath through her nose, somewhat rocking back and forth, but otherwise totally immobilized.
That's when she heard Baby Face snoring. That's also when she noticed the bathroom out of the very furthest edge of her peripheral vision.
Mariana knew what she had to do.

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My work environment is toxic. I thought I could put up with it but I can’t.
I realized my work wasn’t being appreciated. I was blindly sent 4 quotes, I was only sent them because I noticed one of our systems was running out of drive space and brought it up to management. I throughly compared the two options and discount for a multi year purchase - I put together a well crafted email, explaining the differences I found, a pros/cons list, a cost comparison, a little data from our current system that showed usage growth over time with a projection of growth, a somewhat detailed total cost of ownership comparing each. Along with my recommendations in descending order using a bullet point list.
The response I got back; “on-premises or cloud?”
From my experience in the workforce I’ve learned you can’t change a company, even as part of a group it’s difficult too. Learned that last year when they came down with a retaliation hammer. Our team was forced to work weekends, all of us, and there wasn’t a need for it. They didn’t even take into account our preferences that would have filled the same requirements. We filed a formal complaint against our boss about this and other reasons, the whole department hand signed the document. 2 employees left because they had to choose between work or their family.
I saw the signs pretty earlier on that the place was toxic and thought i could just blow it off.
at a previous job my last boss basically told me to submit, “you get paid well what does it matter?”
My first job was mindless work. I miss it sometimes. I worked at a newspaper company (remember those?) In the mailroom. The majority was putting stacks of advertisements into a machine that put them in newspapers, bundling them and either giving them to drivers or stacking and wrapping to store. It was minimum wage and my only non-IT job. It was a job you clocked in and clocked out. No on call. Occasionally you had to stay late but you got paid more. No pointless meetings longer than 5 minutes or bi weekly progress reports, no emails, no phone calls.. I had energy, mental and physical, to do things after work.
Almost every IT environment I’ve seen has had some level of toxicity. Every job I’ve had has had some toxicity really.
Are there jobs that let you work less than full time but still pay decent? Right now, I’d take a pay cut for more more of a life-work balance. It’d really be nice if the US passed the 32 hour workweek act. Every IT job near me is full time.

Hello Everyone,
I (25m) have been with my girlfriend (19) for 6 months now. She recently moved into my apartment and we split rent. Which is a big help. She doesn't do much around the house tbh. She isn't very good in bed. She's argumentative if she doesn't get her dicc.
So her car started to rattle like a M/Fer a few days ago. She can't go to work because I have a goofy schedual due to being in management. Her parents gave her this car and want her to switch over insurance and title ext to her name and new address. Cool. But the car took a poop a few days ago. So I drove her to her parents an hour away and took the day off work and we went and got the title.
This morning her father drove up here so that he could get the old tires off the car and put them on his own. Which is fine, we told him we wanted to trade the car in and or take it for scrap try and get some cash for a down payment.
While we were at her parents the other night she had mentioned to her mother about needing a co-signer. But apparently this never reached her father. She just assumed that they spoke to one an other about it. So he was shocked about her asking Jim to be her co-signer.
So, she went out and started cleaning out her car. Her father then looked over at me and started questioning why I was not the one co-signing for her car. I had no idea how to respond so I just made up some bullshit.
So I had to go to work and I get a call with her saying neither if he parents would cosign. So they said she and I should just share my car. I drive a 45k Subaru forester sport. I'm not looking for make my insurance spike thru the roof, I pay enough as it is.
She's now missed 4 days of pay because of this mess. What the hell do I do?!

Hello Everyone,
I (25m) have been with my girlfriend (19) for 6 months now. She recently moved into my apartment and we split rent. Which is a big help. She doesn't do much around the house tbh. She isn't very good in bed. She's argumentative if she doesn't get her dicc.
So her car started to rattle like a M/Fer a few days ago. She can't go to work because I have a goofy schedual due to being in management. Her parents gave her this car and want her to switch over insurance and title ext to her name and new address. Cool. But the car took a poop a few days ago. So I drove her to her parents an hour away and took the day off work and we went and got the title.
This morning her father drove up here so that he could get the old tires off the car and put them on his own. Which is fine, we told him we wanted to trade the car in and or take it for scrap try and get some cash for a down payment.
While we were at her parents the other night she had mentioned to her mother about needing a co-signer. But apparently this never reached her father. She just assumed that they spoke to one an other about it. So he was shocked about her asking Jim to be her co-signer.
So, she went out and started cleaning out her car. Her father then looked over at me and started questioning why I was not the one co-signing for her car. I had no idea how to respond so I just made up some bullshit.
So I had to go to work and I get a call with her saying neither if he parents would cosign. So they said she and I should just share my car. I drive a 45k Subaru forester sport. I'm not looking for make my insurance spike thru the roof, I pay enough as it is.
She's now missed 4 days of pay because of this mess. What the hell do I do?!
TLDR:my gf is being dumped on me by her parents. What do I do?!
Edit: since every one thinks it was my idea to have her move in. Around the 6 month mark her parents gave her the ultimatum of go to college and pay your way or move out. She asked if she could move in and I agreed reluctantly.