Girl in xfinity commercial

I (29M) have a good friend (28M). We're part of a tight-knit circle of friends that have known each other since 6th grade.
Recently, this friend met a girl (25F) and they've started dating. She's a single mom that has three children to two different fathers (neither of the fathers is in the picture anymore, and I know nothing about them or why).
They've been dating for about 6 months now. In month 3, she and her children moved into his apartment. She doesn't help him with the rent. Which makes sense since he was already paying the rent without help before she moved in and he doesn't need help now. What bothers me is that she isn't home a lot. Part of this is because she works a lot, but it's also because she spends a lot of time out with her friends.
This means that my friend is now suddenly taking care of 3 kids that aren't his; usually by himself. He's canceling plans with me and the rest of our friends almost constantly because "she isn't around and someone needs to watch the kids".
I'm not even 100% sure that's the true reason for his cancellation, because I also know that his girlfriend is not a fan of some of the guys we hang out with (she's told them to their faces). My suspicion is that she's more controlling than we know and she won't let him hang out with us, so he's making up excuses. But I can't prove that.
Even if my suspicions about him lying are wrong, the situation where he's telling the truth means she's putting an enormous burden on him by leaving him alone to play dad for kids that aren't his. In either scenario, I feel like he's making a mistake by continuing this relationship.
I'm not alone in this. I've talked about it to the rest of our circle of friends (we've had plenty of opportunities since he never shows up to anything anymore). We all unanimously agree that she's bad for him. One of us already tried to talk to him about it in private and his only counterpoints were that the "physical side" of the relationship made up for all of her negative traits and that he'd feel bad for the kids if he left.
I guess my question is, should I try talking to him next? I feel like I won't have any more success than the first person to talk to him, but it's annoying to stand by and watch him dig his hole deeper.
Note: I think keeping the timeline in perspective is also important here. There's nothing wrong about him stepping in as a father figure for the kids. There's something wrong with him essentially being their primary caretaker after only 3 months. To me, that feels like his gf is just taking advantage of his hospitality/kindness.

Just some knockoff I'm making, feel free to give criticism or ideas <3
“Dude, are you seriously doing this at this time?” he asks, annoyed. She rolls her eyes and glances at him.
“Yeah, dude,” she takes a puff. “we’re under a bomb threat and you’re worried about me smoking a joint?” she retorts as the smoke bellows out of her mouth.
“How do you even have that anyways, we’re not allowed to have drugs on campus and we’re going through a genetic war, do you not care about your health? ”
“Bro, not to sound like a bitch, but I’m just trying to enjoy getting high on campus without getting in trouble, we’ll be fine and everything will blow over, literally. Either way, what the fuck am I going to do about the world’s problems? I have my own shit to figure out so I’m just going to enjoy the time I have before the world goes to absolute chaos.”
“Ok, whatever, edge lord,” he says astonished, “people like you are the reason the world’s gotten as bad as it has.” She merely just rolled her eyes and took another puff, she then looks over to her left and nudges the person next to her, “you wanna hit?”
He watches as the person next to her takes it and thanks her, she then pulls something out of her pocket.
“Now what are you taking to escape reality?” he questions her snarkily. She gives him a side eye and looks him up and down.
“Maybe I’ll show you if we ever get to leave here.” she winks, at least he thought it was a wink.
After a couple of hours of anticipation, and a few thousand deaths later, he was finally allowed to leave school property. Leaning against the wall waiting for his bus to arrive, which always arrives ten minutes after all of the others have already left, the girl from earlier bumps into him.
“Oh. My. God. I am so sorry,” she says, overexaggerating each word. “I am really, just such a clumsy, quirky, silly, little girl.”
He tries his best to bite his tongue and not acknowledge the girl and her stupid antics, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Can you get away from me?” he asks, even though he meant it more as a demand. He deems the girl not worth his time, just seeking attention.
“Well, it’s nice to see you too, what’s up your ass?” she questions nonchalantly, “I’m joking. Anyways, I’m Sylvia, and who may I have the honor of meeting?” gesturing towards him.
“My name is Kai.” He retorts, slightly pissed at this girl butting into his business.
“That’s nice, we’re on the same bus route, by the way,” she says, “Meaning, if I were to ride the bus I’d be waiting for the blind bitch to figure out how to put the keys into the ignition as well, meaning I walk home and I always see you getting off the bus, meaning if you walk with me you’ll get home sooner than if you wait for the bus.” she finally breathes, “So, walk with me?”
He contemplates for a moment, a peaceful bus ride home with no chatter but he gets home at dark or a long, grueling walk with Ms. Knowitall, but he gets home an hour before dark, and for some reason, he feels compelled to walk with her. He sighs deeply. “Ok, fine, only if you shut up when I tell you.”
The walk was a silent, beautiful stroll through the woods, at least for the first five minutes until Kai puts two and two together.
“Wait,” he stops walking. “How the hell did you know that was my bus route if you don’t take the bus, in fact, I’ve never seen you ever at our school before today, and how the fuck do you see me when I get off the bus? What the fuck are you like some government spy psycho stalker bitch?”
“Nah, but I do know that the government would have a pretty penny for your father’s life which is why you only live with your mom and two sisters, and that also explains you and your sister's very obvious knocking code.” Sylvia blurts out. “I’d be wary of the new police at school by the way -” she starts.
“Ok, shut the fuck up, you’re done talking besides answering my questions,” Kai says aggressively. He takes a deep inhale of air that could possibly be polluted with bio-genetic weapons and glances at her. “I’m going to try my best to stay calm and collected, so I will be asking my questions slowly,” he exhales finally. “First, how do you know all of that?”
“This is going to sound super bizarre and if we were in a different time you would probably send me to a psychiatrist, at least I think that’s what they called them,” she explains. “Besides the point, I can see things,” Sylvia says.
“What do you mean by ‘see things?’” Kai imitates, using finger air quotes.
“Look man, I don’t know whether I should describe it as ‘see’ or ‘hallucinate’ or ‘experience’ because it falls under all of the above,” she says, exasperated at herself.
“Okay, so what does that have to do with me? And can we keep walking so we’re not standing in the middle of the sketchy woods?” he asks.
“No, we cannot keep walking because the closer we are to people, the closer we are to cameras,” she says bluntly, “and what your role in all of this is, I don’t know,” she inhales sharply, “all I know is that the moment we got lined up next to each other today during the warning, it felt different. I wasn’t overwhelmed with memories of everyone around me I usually would be, instead, I felt myself either consuming you or vice versa, almost in a molecular way. I got to see everything about you, experiences, thoughts, even your genes.” she says. Sylvia turns her head and looks at him as he’s processing what she just said.
“Ok, I think that’s enough questions for today, let’s keep walking.” she finally says after five minutes of Kai standing there looking at a tree contemplating his life.

District 6
17 year old Oregon Luther and 34 year old Madison Hawker stood in front of the male and female bowls. Madison approached her bowl, reaching her hand in and removing the name of fifteen year old Sitka Molina. A silence was heard from the crowd as a girl with brown hair and blue eyes walked to the stage. It was obvious that Sitka was on morphling, and while shaking her hand, Madison injected the girl with an antidote. As soon as Sitka realized where she was, she let out a shrill scream.
Oregon approached the male bowl, removing the name of fifteen year old Akron Wacker. A boy with brown hair and blue eyes walked to the stage, and he was obviously drunk. Oregon injected him with a alcohol antidote, before Sitka and Akron were taken into the town hall for visits with family.
Sitka was visited by her older brother Casper. She hugged him and promised to try and return.
Akron was visited by his older sister Louisa. He told her he loved her, before being taken to the train.
Once Sitka and Akron were on the train, Madison and Oregon scolded both of them for their reaping day behavior. Sitka said that she wanted to live, and that she and Akron had agree to ally. Madison paused, saying that this was a start. She helped the two learn how to throw knives, and was happy enough with them. Oregon taught them how to camouflage, which both were already great at.
When the train arrived at the station, Akron and Sitka stepped off of it. The two made an impression, with both being a comedic duo, before being taken by limo to the apartment.
District 5
33 year old Linnet Laurier stood with 18 year old Gravito Logan over the male and female bowls. Linnet reached into the female bowl, removing a name. Her eyes filled with tears as she read aloud the name of twelve year old Lunabelle Glover. A small girl with ebony skin and unique braids of hair walked to the stage, and Linnet hugged her.
Gravito removed the name of eighteen year old Herman Gonzales from the male bowl, and a tall young man with dark brown hair and shocking blue eyes walked to the stage, and shook Gravito’s hand. Both tributes were taken into the town hall for family visits.
Lunabelle was visited by her parents and four siblings. Her mother told her daughter to try and find a gem, and gave her daughter advise as to who to work with or advice if she worked alone. Her mother reminded her of the gem colors and what they did, before Lunabelle was taken to the train.
Herman was visited by his three older siblings. He promised to find a gem or an ally, before being taken to the train.
Herman and Lunabelle walked into the main train car, and Linnet and Gravito approached them and offered advice. Herman was good with chemicals and a flamethrower, and Lunabelle expressed to Linnet the benefits of working alone.
When the train arrived at the station, Lunabelle and Herman were surrounded by Capitol citizens. They posed for photos, before being taken by limo to the apartments.

I’m the guy and I first asked her out so it might seem like I’m talking all the steps in the relationship, but my gf shy and might not initiate it. Help!

My friends weren’t exactly enthusiastic about meeting me at a place called the “Death Ridge Lodge,” even after I told them that “Dethritch” was just the name of the shepherd who used to own the land. Truth was, I was more than a little nervous myself. I’d been out of the country for five years; there had been calls and letters, but my friends and I hadn’t seen each other in all that time…would we still have the connection that we once did?
Some of the changes that time had wrought were surprising; others, less so. We’d all expected my stubborn, brilliant friend Jennifer to be an attorney like her father–but in a story straight out of a cheesy Hallmark movie, she’d married a guy from a tiny town in Kentucky and had two kids. Meanwhile, Ned–a loudmouthed, extroverted redhead–had somehow ended up working from a lonely home office as a computer programmer.
And then there was Zoe.
She’d been my crush since our sophomore year of college. It wasn’t just her auburn hair or piercing green eyes; it was the care and honesty she showed in everything she did. Before her, I’d never met someone who really listened, who really cared about other people without working their own angle. We’d all expected great things for her…but in the end, she’d wound up like me. Back in our hometown. Unsure about the future.
But now that so much time had passed, would we even have anything in common anymore?
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Not even the wailing winter storm and unexpected power outages could dampen our good time. Ned, Zoe, Jennifer, and I gathered around a roaring flagstone fireplace, sharing our favorite scary stories and urban legends. It didn’t matter that the howling wind made going outside deadly, or that snow had cut off the forest road to the outside world: we had warmth, food, booze–and our rediscovered friendship. We also had Lee.
When we arrived, Lee explained to us that he was the off-season caretaker of Dethritch Lodge and the surrounding cabins. During tourist season in summer, the place swarmed with hospitality workers, but from fall to spring Lee mostly had the place to himself. When the blizzard hit, he made a point of checking in on us.
“Temperature's goin’ down out there,” he warned us that fateful night. “Visibility Is almost zero. You kids wouldn’t wanna get lost out there tonight…or any other night.”
“Don’t worry,” Zoe smiled. “We have no intention of going outside in that.” She pointed to the wind-driven snow that was rattling against the window panes.
“It can’t be that easy to get lost though, can it?” Ned–always the contrarian–asked. “I mean, we’re on the side of a mountain. To go one way you just go down, and to go the other way you just go back up, right?”
“Not that simple.” Lee grunted, pulling up a stool. “We’re a hundred miles from civilization out here, and if you can’t recognize any landmarks, all them pine trees out there look the same. Even if you think you know where you’re goin,’ this mountain likes to play tricks. The gentle slope you walk down in fall might be dangerously steep in spring; boulders tumble, streams change course, and paths disappear from one season to the next. There’s dozens of trails criss-crossin’ this ol’ mountain: 1800’s logging roads, game trails, other paths so old it’s impossible to tell who made’em. Trust me, you lose your way out there, all you’re gonna get is more an’ more lost..and then you’ll start to panic. An’ at that point, if hypothermia an’ hunger an’ the bears don’t getcha, ol’ man Dethritch and his dogs will.”
“Dethritch?” “Dogs?” Zoe and Jennifer asked at once.
“Just how much do you four know about Dethritch Lodge?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “I was looking for a place where my old friends and I could meet up over the holidays, the place looked cozy, had hiking and skiing and good reviews…besides, back then, the weather forecast said we’d have a clear weekend...”
Lee nodded, as if that was about what he expected. “It’s an odd place…with an odd history. Just after the Revolutionary War, a man named Jebediah Dethritch showed up here and started construction on a cabin. He said that the mountain had called to him, that he’d seen it in a dream, an’ that Patrick Henry had gifted him the entire mountainside in exchange for services rendered during the war. There was plenty of land back then, and grants were being handed out like candy, so no one called him on it. Besides, folks wanted farmland, not the slope of a damn mountain. They all thought Jeb Dethritch was crazy, but he carved a life outta these hills, swearing that he and the land were one flesh. Jeb and his sons felled forests, dragged out the stumps, and planted orchards; they set up secret garden patches back in the woods; raised chickens, cows, and a flock of sheep. For a while, things were good.” The old man stared into the fire. “If you young people get bored with all this history, just say so…”
“Well, it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do, do we?” Ned scoffed.
“No, please go on. It’s interesting.” Zoe reassured Lee; Ned rolled his eyes.
“Well, the years rolled by. Jeb died and passed his land on to his son and grandson, who went on livin’ the same way he had. Meanwhile, towns were buildin’ up around the mountain. The more they expanded, the more folks demanded proof that the mountain really belonged to the Dethritches. By the end of the Civil War–that’s to say, Jeb’s great-grandson’s time–nobody cared about yellowed papers and ancient claims. Folks wanted the mountain developed, and kept suin’ ‘til they found a judge who agreed with’em. Amos Dethritch got a few acres and the rest went to minin’ and loggin’ companies. But takin’ advantage of the Dethritchs’ land was no easy task. See, the Dethritches refused to accept the court’s decision. They kept livin’ in their hidden shacks on the mountainside, and made life hell for the companies who, from their point of view, were trespassing’ on their property. Every day there were downed trees on the road, supplies burnt, animals missin’...it went on for decades, all the way into the 1900’s. And while nobody had been hurt in Amos Dethritch’s little guerrilla war, it was costin’ those companies more than the mountain was worth. They had to put a stop to it. The first sign of trouble was when Alice Dethritch–Amos’ wife from back east–stopped comin’ into town to sell her honey an’ fruit preserves.. A few days later, Amos was found in the middle of a dirt loggin’ road, surrounded by his three mastiffs. They’d all been shot to pieces. Ten years later, some trappers found Alice and the kids in a shallow grave. They said it looked like they’d died…badly.”
“So who did it?” Jennifer asked.
“Well, nobody can prove nothin’ about nothin,’ but a group of flashy out-of-towners rode in on the last train from Chicago that night, an’ left in the mornin.’ Folks in town said they saw lantern lights goin’ up the loggin’ road, and gunfire in the hollers…” Lee stared thoughtfully into the fireplace. “In a way, though, I guess you could say the Dethritches won out in the end. The mountain never yielded enough timber or coal to justify the expense. The companies that had fought so hard over the mountain–and even killed to keep it–all went bankrupt a few years later. This place was practically abandoned ‘til the national parks craze took off in the 1950’s. Some clever investors bought it off the bank for pennies…they built the cabins and lodge that we’re sittin’ in today.”
“But what does all that have to do with ‘old man Dethritch’ and his ‘dogs’?”
“Well, the mountain wasn’t completely left alone after all them companies closed down. The local men came up here to hunt, grandmothers collected fruit from the Dethritchs’ woodland orchards, and the teenagers…well, they came up here to do what teenagers do. But over the years, rumors began to trickle down about strange sightings in these woods. Some folks got to thinkin’ that maybe Amos Dethritch wasn’t really dead…or if he was, he was still around somehow.”
“You mean like a ghost?” I ventured.
“You call it what you want!” Lee prodded the dying embers. “I’m just tellin’ it how I heard it–and you wouldn’t believe some’a the tales the folks in town have about this mountain. Like ol’ Bruce Higgins, who came back from deer huntin’ all bitten an’ tore up, with his rifle missin.’ He said he’d been chased down the mountain by three snarlin’ shepherd dogs…just like those huge mastiffs found shot to death beside Amos. Miss Nellie Price said she saw the ol’ man himself, stalkin’ through the trees with a hundred-year-old hunting rifle an’ a sack of dead rabbits slung over his shoulder…” Lee rambled on; Jennifer tried to hide a smile.
“I’m sorry…” she chuckled. “It’s just…my dad was a hunter, and he used to see things in the woods too. Usually after his fifth beer. And my Great-Aunt Mildred was convinced she was hearing whispers in her walls…until my mother got rid of the bird’s nest in her chimney. The birdsong had been echoing in the pipes–it sounded like real human voices. My point is, there’s a snowball effect with stories like these. They live rent-free in the back of people’s minds, and when they see something they can’t explain, they just keep adding to them…”
“I’m not sayin’ you're wrong,” Lee grumbled. “I’ve never seen ol’ man Amos myself, an’ I’ve lived up here all my life. But I will say that there’s somethin’ off about this mountain. Maybe it goes all the way back to Jeb Dethritch, or even before that. Otherwise, how can you account for all the disappearances? Like the four high schoolers who went camping up here on a dare back in the 1970’s. Nothin’ was left of them but a trampled down tent an’ the soggy ashes of their fire…”
“Wasn’t there an investigation?” Zoe asked.
“Oh, sure there was. The police concluded that the girls had run away from home. Then when Terry Bannister an’ his nine-year-old son didn’t come back from their hikin’ trip, they blamed wolves. When a local artist’s car was found along a loggin’ road with spikes in the tires and the driver’s-side door hanging off of its hinges, they called it an ‘abandoned vehicle.’ They jus’ towed it back into town an’ didn’t even look for her. Don’tcha see where I’m goin’ with this? Ever since the loggin’ and minin’ dried up, tourism is the only thing keepin’ those little towns afloat. ‘The Ghost of Amos Dethritch and his Three Hell-Hounds’ makes for a fine local legend, but if the summer crowd ever found out about the real, horrible crimes that happen up on this mountain every year…it’d be the death of the whole industry.”
“I call bullshit!” Ned laughed. “This sounds an awful lot like a scary story that locals use to scare us wide-eyed out-of-towners with, am I right?”
“Call it what you want.” Lee shrugged again. “But I wouldn’t go outside ‘til the storm passes, if I were you.” He pulled on his boots and wrapped himself in his winter gear, so weathered and worn that it was all the same uniform tone of grayish-brown. “You kids got everything you need?” We nodded; he waved to us as he trudged out the door.
“Stay safe out there!” I called out too late. The only response was the rattling of the screen door and the howling of the wind–if it was the wind. I thought of the savage jaws of enormous mastiffs and shuddered.
We all slept beside the fireplace that night. Everyone had their own excuse: Ned claimed the rooms were too cold; Zoe said she wanted to have a slumber party; Jennifer had already fallen asleep in her chair. But I knew our real reason for keeping close to each other was that Lee’s tale had unnerved all of us more than we would have liked to admit. We craved the primal comforts of fire, warmth, and companionship. Before going to sleep, I dared to take a look out the frozen window, but all I could see was blackness. Too cold even for a ghost, I told myself with a chuckle, before stirring the fire and curling up in one of the lodge’s thick blankets. My dreams were haunted by worm-eaten faces in shallow graves and shadowy figures on desolate mountain paths; I woke before anyone else in the morning.
I’d always loved the peace of being awake while others slept; I took my time making my coffee and examining what the storm had done to the mountainside. The trees were bent, icy spikes stabbing into an ominous gray sky; at least a foot of snow covered the lodge patio. Frigid air blasted my face as I heaved open the sliding glass door and stepped out into the winter wonderland. Beautiful as it was, something more than the cold was bothering me; it took me a moment to fully realize what it was:
There were no footprints leading to the cabin where Lee was staying.
True, maybe the snow had filled them in–but no smoke rose from the chimney, either. Where had Lee gone? I was leaning out over the railing for a better view when I heard a low growl behind me.
I wasn’t alone on the patio.
Half-frozen drool hung from the mastiff’s gaping jaws; its hazel eyes burned with fury. Another, identical dog growled behind me–they were trying to cut off my escape! I bolted for the door and slid it shut just before a mouth as large as my face smashed into the glass, cracking it. The enormous dog lunged again, widening the spiderweb pattern on the glass. Barks and howls chilled my blood; my friends were waking, but not fast enough:
"Just a few more minutes…" Zoe mumbled while I shook her.
"Holy shit!" Ned screamed, pointing at the mastiff slamming itself into the glass.
"Get to the kitchen!" Jennifer grabbed the fire poker and waved us through before slamming the kitchen’s heavy wooden door. From outside, barks, snarls, shattering glass–
Heavy canine steps across the hardwood.
A long, mournful howl echoed through the cabin…and three sets of paws began scratching at the door. I wondered if the enormous dogs outside were calling to their master.
"Oh my god, oh my god…what the fuck is going on?!" Ned jabbed his finger at my chest like all this was all my fault.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Jennifer demanded.
“How should I know?!” I shouted back at Ned.
“I know what’s going on…” Zoe murmured. “Amos Dethritch. We’re on his mountain…and those are his dogs, just how Lee described them…”
“Ghost dogs?!” Ned rolled his eyes, “come on.”
“That mastiff out there just smashed its head against a sliding glass door until it broke! Would you call that ‘normal’ dog behavior?! Listen!” Jennifer put her ear to the wooden door as it shook beneath the dogs’ attack. “They’re not just scratching the door…they’re gnawing on it. Those aren’t ordinary dogs. And speaking of Lee–where is he?”
“I…I don’t think he made it back last night.” I thought of the smokeless chimney and the untrammeled snow. The kindly old caretaker was probably lying beneath it with his throat ripped out. Amos had come for him at last. The door rattled on its hinges.
“We gotta find a way out of here. That door’s not gonna last much longer…” Jennifer whispered, unlatching the small window above the sink.
“Oh, sure! Great plan!” Ned rolled his eyes. “Let’s run through the woods in subzero temperatures in our pajamas! What could possibly go wrong?”
“What do you suggest, then?” Jennifer challenged. As much as I hated to admit it, Ned was right. Last night’s fire was dead, and its warmth was fading fast. If Amos and his dogs didn’t kill us, the cold would. Zoe was already struggling to keep herself from trembling. While the rest of us argued, she had been scrounging for supplies. She’d found a few cobwebby soup cans, three dull kitchen knives, an almost-empty box of matches…and a trapdoor.
It took all our strength to heave it open, and even then the light didn’t reach whatever waited at the bottom. One thing, however, was clear: we were running out of time. The timbers of the kitchen door splintered, treating us to a view of slobbering fangs. The rusty window frame screeched as Jennifer flung it open. I looked down at her bare feet.
“Jen, going out there is suicide!”
“I WILL NOT wait to die in some dark…fucking…HOLE! We gotta make a run for it!” Of course, I suddenly remembered, Jennifer had claustrophobia. That cellar must’ve looked like her worst nightmare.
“I know you’re scared–we all are! But–”
“But NOTHING! I’m going!” Jennifer wiped away her tears with her pajama sleeve and leapt down into the snow. Behind us, the dogs had almost broken through. Ned, Zoe, and I sprinted for the trapdoor and slammed it shut behind us. The mastiffs sniffed around and dug at the floor over our heads–
But only for a moment. A horrifically human whistle split the silent winter air outside, followed by a cruel command–
“SIC HER, BOYS!”
First came barks, then snarls–and Jennifer began to scream.
Maybe it was a blessing that we couldn’t see what was happening out among the frozen trees, but just hearing it was bad enough. I pressed my fists against my ears and shut my eyes tight against the awful ripping and gnawing, barely audible over Jennifer’s screams. When it was finally over, the chattering of our teeth felt like the only noise left in the world. I had forgotten how much the cold could physically hurt. With trembling fingers, Zoe struck a match.
We were in a low-ceilinged dirt cellar. Decades of cobwebs hung like hideous curtains above us, and generations of junk had been scattered carelessly across the uneven ground. We rummaged through it by matchlight, looking for something, anything, that we could use.
“Paydirt!” Ned shouted. He’d found a canvas sack full of moth-eaten wool blankets, leather boots, and parkas beneath a heap of snowshoes. We bundled up immediately, grateful for the warmth, but there was little else of value in the heaped rubbish around us…and we were running out of matches.
“This is weird…” Zoe nudged me. She’d found an old wooden chest full of century-old dresses, leather bags and belts, and a tiny silver locket. The cellar ceiling groaned with heavy footsteps; Zoe instinctively pocketed the locket and grabbed my arm.
“Now where’d the rest of you run off to…?” The voice above us was the same one that had sicced the mastiffs on Jennifer. There was something antiquated, gravelly, and wild about it–something that made me think of the unsettling tale of the Dethritch clan.
“Amos…” Zoe mouthed, pointing to the far side of the cellar. The crumbling stone wall faded into blackness, but as I crawled silently closer I could see what lay above: a coal chute. An escape. The footsteps overhead left the kitchen–I imagined they were heading upstairs to check the bedrooms. We had shoes and a way of keeping warm–even if they were filthy and fit badly. If we were going to try to slip out through the coal chute, it was now or never. Ned’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist as I struggled to push open the rusted chute cover.
“Are you crazy?!” he hissed. “Did you not hear what happened to Jen out there?!”
“Jen had a point, too…” I whispered. “Whoever…or whatever…is up there is bound to check down here eventually. Do you wanna be down here when that happens?”
“I’ll take my fucking chances!” Ned had found an ice ax in the heaps of junk, and held it with a white-knuckle grip. I realized that my loud-mouthed childhood friend was even more frightened than Zoe and I. To my surprise, Zoe’s cold hand slid into mine.
“Are you ready?” she asked. I nodded. “Come on, Ned…come with us. There won’t be another chance!”
“No way. I’m staying right here!” Ned shook his head. The last I saw of him was his pale, stunned face watching us scramble out into the winter sun. Zoe and I trudged through the snow, afraid to look back…afraid of what might be following. We kept our eyes away from the red patches in the white where Jennifer had met her end, aiming instead for a suspicious trail of footprints that led from the woods up to Dethritch Lodge: one large human and three dogs.
“Ghosts don’t leave footprints, do they?” Zoe murmured. I shook my head, wondering where this insane day would lead us. Zoe and I had barely entered the silence of the pine forest when we heard the gunshot: the BOOM of a shotgun blast.
Ned had been found.
Zoe grabbed my arm; I could feel her warmth through our improvised blanket-coats. It was what I’d dreamed of when I’d planned this vacation: alone with Zoe, holding her close in the winter woods…but my dream had turned into a nightmare. The triumphant baying of the dogs and a man’s maniac laughter carried to us by the wind confirmed what we already feared: our friend was dead. For a long minute we just held each other, listening to our thundering heartbeats: a reminder that we were still alive.
But for how long? The footprints in the snow seemed to follow a sort of game trail…just like the ones Lee said the Dethritches had used. A small creek ran alongside it. My feet were exhausted from slogging through the high snow, but we had to put more distance between us and pursuit. Right around the time I lost sensation in my feet, we rounded a corner and saw a slumped-over hut up ahead.
The footprints we’d been following seemed to originate there. I swallowed hard and looked back at the boulder-strewn mountainside behind us.
“Hide up there.” I told Zoe. “I’ll see if it’s safe.”
“I’ll come with you, this is no time to be a he–” she began.
“Listen. If it’s not safe, we’re both dead. This way, at least one of us makes it.”
“Are…are you sure?”
“If we don’t find warmth, food, and shelter, we’re dead anyway. I’ve got to see what’s in there, and if you–” Zoe shut me up with a strong hug.
“Let me go instead. I want you to keep watch for me.”
I didn’t like the idea at all, but I could see in Zoe’s eyes that her mind was made up. She left me with an extra blanket and the other supplies she’d dug out of the cellar; I set up a vantage point behind a boulder where I could see without being seen…or so I hoped. Now that the sun was setting and my sweat began to cool, I found myself rethinking what I’d said to Zoe. I’d intentionally exaggerated when I’d told her we’d die without shelter–or at least I’d thought so at the time. But as the pine tree shadows reached out for us like long fingers and the temperature dropped, I wasn’t so sure. I wondered if covering ourselves with dirt would keep us warm enough, or if I’d even be able to light a fire with my shaking hands. I fiddled nervously with the first thing I grabbed out of Zoe’s blanket: that weird silver locket. I realized it had a clasp: it was probably one of those necklaces that held pictures inside…
Down below, Zoe was a tiny black shape on the sagging steps of the hut. She pushed open the creaking door–
I was so concerned about what might come out of it that I’d forgotten to pay attention to the path below. I suddenly sensed a presence just a few feet away.
“You alright, son?” A voice muttered behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin before I recognized it: Lee! I could have laughed for joy. If anyone knew a safe way off of this mountain, it was him.
“We were attacked!” I gasped. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think Amos and his three dogs–”
“Shhh!” Lee rasped. “I seen’em on my way down here, but don’t you worry. Everythin’s gonna be alright now. Where’s the girl? Is she…?”
“You mean Zoe? She’s down there by the hut.”
“Good.” Lee whistled...and his voice changed. “SIC HER, BOYS!”
Three huge mastiffs bounded down the path toward the hut, barking loudly, and Lee stepped backward. He held an ancient shotgun in his hands. Only then did I look down at the open heart-shaped locket I held in my hands. The black-and-white photo on the right showed a kindly-looking woman named ALICE DETHRITCH, but the photo on the left was captioned AMOS DETHRITCH…and the face it showed was a familiar one indeed. It was staring back at me from behind the barrel of a gun.
“Amos…?” I gasped. The dogs circled the hut below, howling. Any minute now, they’d corner Zoe…
“Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts? I thought you city folk were supposed to be smart. Try this on for size: maybe Alice Dethritch survived the awful things those flashy out-of-towners did to her. Maybe she had a baby a few months later, a feral kid who raised himself after she died from her lingering injuries ten years later. Otherwise, who woulda buried her for those trappers to find? And maybe later, that kid grew up and decided he didn’t want the family name to die with him. Maybe he kidnapped one’a them high school girls who came up here in the 1970’s and used to her get himself an heir. Maybe that heir is standin’ here right now, pointin’ ol’ Amos’ rifle in the face of yet another trespasser…”
I lifted my hands slowly.
“Just…just don’t hurt Zoe…”
“Hurt her? No, I need her. I'm gonna breed myself an heir, the same way my father did, and raise him to carry on the fight 'til this mountain is ours again. After you four go missin,' even the tourism people won't be able to cover it up anymore–"
Lee Dethritch’s speech was cut short by the half rotten log that slammed into the side of his head. Zoe hit him two or three more times, but I doubt the blows were necessary. Lee Dethritch had met the fate of his ancestors, but I could hear his dogs baying below…from inside the hut.
“You alright?” Zoe asked.
“How did you–?” I wondered.
“That hut must be where he’s been living. It was dim…and filthy…but I saw a pile of rope right around the time I heard those dogs charging down the trail. I tied it to the front door knob and left it open just a crack, while I stood by the back door and waited for my moment. When those dogs charged in, I tugged the front door shut and slipped out the back. Dethritch’s dogs are trapped in there…for now.”
I remembered how quickly the three mastiffs had gnawed their way through the lodge’s kitchen door and shuddered. But would they even pursue us without Lee Dethritch urging them on?
We didn’t wait around to find out.
Night had fallen by the time we reached Dethritch Lodge; it felt like years had passed since we had fled the cellar that morning. Too emotionally and physically exhausted to talk much, Zoe and I distracted ourselves with simple tasks of survival: building a fire, heating water, gathering blankets, reinforcing the doors in case the dogs (or anything else) came back. It had been the longest day of my life, and I ended it curled up with Zoe in front of the Dethritch lodge fireplace.
By morning, the snow had melted; the unpaved, switchbacking road off of the Dethritchs’ mountain seemed just barely passable. Once we started driving, I realized just how much danger we were in: the back of my Corolla fishtailed around every turn, and twice the tires stuck in slushy mud and began to slide…toward the cliffs beside us.
When Zoe got out of the car to help me free it, I saw something that I still can’t explain. Maybe it was just a hallucination brought on by stress, but…
I’d swear I saw another Amos Dethritch look-alike watching us from the woods.
Was the mountain really haunted? Even worse, did Lee Dethritch have a brother?
When I looked again, they were gone.
I didn’t have any answer then, and I still don’t.
But I suggest you stay away from Dethritch Lodge.
X

I(M24) just found this subreddit yesterday(so idk if I'm a PIMO) and last night I've been devouring every post like I'm eating a bag of fresh popcorn. I didn't sleep just to read the whole elder *special secret* book.
I was born a JW, 5th generation, baptized at 15 (maybe, I don't remember the year lol). Was already struggling with porn and tried smoking, feeling quite disgusted at myself. All my school life was me trying to make friends and ppl bullying for not taking candy on their birthday, got beat and all the nice stuff. With this my behaviour only grew farther than what a JW's should be, as I was trying to fit in desperately.
All of highschool I was determined to never pursue higher education and jokingly wanted a KFC job(free wings baby). I got to do ending prayers at mid-week meetings and the mic work. Three events made me angry with the elders overall in that congregation. Two were pretty much them not understanding we were poor af and bad rashes when shaving (I can expand if interested).
As of the main one, I have a sister 9 years older, cool chill girl(19 at the time). Time came for her to graduate high school and decides to go to university away from home. Apparently this triggers a (f!ing) JC for my dad(elder, born JW) and gets booted, mom goes hysterical cuz they did him dirty, but I didn't understand anything until years later. Dad never wanted to tell me what happened exactly.
Now it's my time to graduate. Told Dad I don't want university. Dad shrugs and says ok. Sister comes home and speaks to me for 1 hour. I decide to go to university and live with her. Dad gets another JC and gets booted. I feel deeply guilty for this as he tells me there's an auto review into elders when someone from their fam pursues higher education. He didn't give details and that ruined me.
First year is when I already felt my mind was out of it, but thought the elders there were nice(lmao) and gave them another chance, even complained to one of them about the past experiences with elders and he seemed understanding. They even helped me get rid of the rash from shaving(thx).
Complained about doing everything right and not being allowed to join English congregation(I'm from somewhere else lol, Europe let's say) or appointed as MS. Elder put a nice spin to it and after some half assed grind from me(too busy partying and homework lol) the name me MS (1 year later).
I DO NOT KNOW what was in my head to say yes to that as at that point I had already committed the triple sin of having sex, having sex with a worldly woman, helping her cheat on her man(she didn't deserve you bro, but she was broken too). I knew that would lead down a path where the happiness of receiving the title would be shadowed by the great pain of losing it later on. Tried my best to do everything right. The first 2 years after this I could barely sleep, having the same nightmare over and over again of getting caught, my family being destroyed and me left alone. This led to me not sleeping very often + some weed to ease the pain.
At this point (was living with a guy who was studying the bible), I "decided" the pressure wasn't high enough so I got into a relationship with another girl. She knew nothing which made me live a true double life, having to lie to everyone about my whereabouts at all times. I wish I got caught, but my body was thinking on it's own always turning my face away at the last possible moment to not be seen by either an eldejw or gf/friends. I didn't want to tell her cuz I feared she would reject me just based on this religion. Fast forward we split, I find another girl(the one) and she randomly asks me if I'm from another religion. Panic, but I tell her yes and she didn't flee :o she still loved me which gave me some confidence back that people wouldn't just reject me based on my religion(that I wasn't even practicing).
And covid happens. At that point I decided the JWs were dead to me, no one gave a sh!t about me if I didn't reach out, not even the elders. My family were the only ones who mattered, even tho I knew I'd probably get shunned, I still love them and don't want them to suffer through that. All of covid I go silent on these Jboozlers while switching 2 places and having to mimic that I was still living at the first one lol. Finally when the CO comes (coincidentally he was on the latest JC for my father) and wants to see me I accept. They went with all the encouraging stuff, but I pressed with questions about my dad, how the home town elders treated me, how the current ones didn't give a shit about me until he came => classical non answers, I don't quite remember as he was deflecting all of them to be my father's personal business. I say "ok", leave the zoom meeting and then get woken up by 2 elders on a Sunday (during a meeting lmao) to tell me I got booted from MS, I say "ok". Later call family to give the news, rip.
​
--- DILEMMA ---
Apparently, I've been fading out without knowing it was a thing. The thing is I want out, I don't care, I just want to tell the truth, but I'm afraid mom won't take it well, she's already kinda old and in bad health, biggest fear is she'll die rapidly(maybe I'm delusional on this).
I would be of with fading out completely but mom is the kind of JW that won't let that happen. Talks with her are constantly about JW stuff, meetings, preaching, etc. Dad is kinda chill, talks about normal stuff with me and faintly slights a spiritual vage reference in there from time to time but nothing obvious/blatant (except for when I started questioning the behaviour of elders and JWs one night and he asked me if I still believe in Jehovah, had to lie... almost cried then and there). In the past years I prep'ed them for me getting DFed as I got more and more distant, not visiting and not talking to them very often.
My dilemma is that I can't fade out and can't DA... I don't see a way out.. tired of lying and going outside like a facial recognition AI that searches for familiar JW faces to hide from them..
tl/dr: Born JW, got higher education, exposed to the world, Satan got to me fast and I faded out, but mom won't let me go and I don't have the heart of breaking her's.
Thank you all for being here and showing me there's life after death as a JW

Hey folks - sharing something we're in the super early innings of developing. Hoping to get some feedback from the cloud computing community!
ZeusCloud is an open-source cloud security platform that thinks like an attacker! We’re hoping to give teams the one stop shop for their core preventative cloud security needs.
ZeusCloud works by:

1. Identifying risks across your cloud environments (e.g. misconfigurations, identity weakness, vulnerabilities, etc.)
2. Prioritizing those risks based on toxic risk combinations an attacker may exploit.
3. Remediating by giving step by step instructions on how to fix the risk findings.
4. Monitoring compliance - track your PCI DSS, SOC 2, GDPR, CIS goals.

Why another cloud security tool?

1. Fragmented open-source tooling. We've used some great open-source cloud security tools in the past (e.g. Prowler, Steampipe, Cloudsploit, Scoutsuite, etc). But we’ve found them too limited in scope: most focus just on cloud misconfigurations, others on identity, some on vulnerabilities. Our hope is to make ZeusCloud a unified platform aggregating these risks. As an open source tool, ZeusCloud can be free, self-hosted, transparent, and configurable.
2. Limitations to AWS security tools. Many of us have set up Config, Guardduty, etc. and piped data to Security Hub. Dumping findings in Security Hub misses critical context (e.g. context of other surrounding risks, business context) that's important for prioritization and remediation.
3. Cloud security shouldn't be paywalled. There's also marginal cost to each additional AWS service. Commercial vendors like Orca / Wiz charge hundreds of thousands for often basic dashboards.

The project is still early, so we’d love your feedback! We’ve based our cloud asset inventory on another great OSS project called cartography. So far, we’ve added misconfiguration checks and common identity-based attack paths for AWS. Up next on our roadmap are network/access graph visualizations, vulnerability scanning, and secret scanning!
Check out our GitHub (Licensed Apache 2.0): https://github.com/Zeus-Labs/ZeusCloud
Play around with our Sandbox environment: https://demo.zeuscloud.io
Get Started (free/self-hosted): https://docs.zeuscloud.io/introduction/get-started
Happy to answer any questions and would love any constructive feedback!

In my analysis of House Frey, among the various questions that have come to my mind I am going to highlight on this question. Is Merrett Frey important?
———Part One
We see this kinda at play when Catelyn talks with Lord Walder Frey. Where Lord Walder who has a hard time, remembering names. Yet can easily point out Merrett and his sons names.
—“Walder is Merett‘s son named after me, and the other one…heh, I don’t recall… he might have been another Walder, they always naming them Walder so I’ll favor them, but his father… which one was his father now?” His face wrinkled up. “Well, who ever he was, Lord Arryn wouldn’t have him, or the other one, and I blame your lady sister for that.” Game of Thrones, pg 648
and during this discussion, Walder Frey points how much effort he has put in for Big Walder and Little Walder to be wards for either Lysa and eventually Catelyn. Yes, you can push this aside saying that this was Lord Walder Frey trying to throw these grandsons away while at the same time gain political favors, and ally ships.
However in CoK, and SoS, we get four, count them four, tellings of Roose marrying Fat Walda. We see in these different accounts the constant theme of Lord Walder Frey’s offer Roose Bolton. Of the brides weight in silver, and in two of the four tellings of this marriage people (Jamie, and Fat Walda herself) thought Roose would pick Fair Walda. But the fattest one prevailed.
—Robb’s betrothed to one of Lord Walder’s daughters, and Roose Bolton wed another, I hear. And haven’t you taken two of his grandsons to be fostered at Winterfell?” A Clash of Kings, pg 569, 570
—“Fortunately for you, I have no need for a wife. I wed Lady Walda Frey whilst I was at the Twins.” “Fair Walda?” Awkwardly, Jamie try to hold the bread with his stump while tearing it with his left hand. “Fat Walda. My Lord Frey offered me my brides weight in silver for a dowry, so I chose accordingly. Elmar, break up some bread for Ser Jamie.” A Storm of Swords, pg 510-511
—“Everyone thought my lord would choose Fair Walda,” Lady Walda Bolton told Ser Wendel, shouting to be heard above the music. Fat Walda was around pink butterball of a girl with watery blue eyes, limp yellow hair, and a huge bosom, yet her voice was a fluttering squeak, It was hard to picture her and the Dreadfort in her pink lace and cape of vair. “My lord grandfather offered Roose his bride‘s weight in silver as a dowry, though, so my lord of Bolton picked me.” The girl’s chins jiggled when she laughed. “I weigh six stone more than Fair Walda, but that was the first time I was glad of it. I’m Lady Bolton now and my cousin is still a maid, and she will be nineteen soon poor thing.” - A Storm of Swords, pg 695
—The old man had disabused him. “He picked her because she’s fat.” Lord Walder said. “You think Bolton gave a mummer’s fart that she was your welp. Think he sat about thinking, ‘Heh, Merrett Muttonhead, that’s the very man I need for a good-father’? Your Walda’s is a sow in silk, that’s why he picked her, and I’m not like to thank you for it. We’d had the same alliance at half the price if you’re a little porkling put down her spoon from time to time.” - A Storm of Swords, pg 1121
We see that the incentive for this marriage was really a guarantee in favor for Fat Walda to be married. And remember Walder Frey set the terms for this. Why? Was this to sure up the son and daughter of Merrett? To extend Walders power into the north?
Then there’s Merrett’s oldest, Amerei. Named after his mother, twice married, and is now heir and lady of castle Darry and all of its lands.
There’s a lot happening with this girl that she deserves her own deep dive, so I’m going to stay in the shallow end with her here. In her current state of the story. She was married to Lancel Lannister as a gift from Tywin to his brother Kevin. But Lancel dumps the girl and joins the Holy Order of the Warriors Sons. The power the Lannister‘s had over castle Darry wains, while the Frey power in Darry is absolute. Merrett’s oldest girl is Lady of Darry, her sister Marrisa (as an heir), her mother Amerei Darry Frey as her guardian. The 2nd half of Merretts family is far better secured in their castle.
(with the knowledge of Ser Jamie of the Kings Guard to aid them against the Brotherhood without Banners.)
All of this is focused on Merrett’s blood line, what about Merrett himself is there evidence that points that he is important figure or character?
——————To be Continued

Rumours have been circulating in my hometown about a young girl who befriends teenagers with pools. She would become close to the family and then wait for the perfect moment to murder the entire family. She is calculated and cold. She waits until the right moment when the family is close to the pool, using the pool and then she would kill the entire family pool side leaving a literal pool of blood.
It started off as a story passed on among the people of my town, stories they would tell their kids, conversations they would have at work, discussion they would have during casual visits and so it goes.
The description has changed noticeably over the last year when it all started. Some would say it was a mere orphan child who No one knew that befriended the children at parks, others would say it was a grown woman who was hired as a nanny, some even said it was a ghost. Who knows.
The description was similar; it was always someone short with long blond hair.
They called her the poolside killer.
I work in the electronic repair field. Basically, I fix air-conditioners, swimming pool pumps, electric motors, TVs. Pretty much anything electronic I can fix. This means I get called often to go to someone's house to repair items.
There are a couple of families that see me more often as they like the service I provide so they always call me over the slightest repair job and I would go there and do it fast.
My whole world was rocked the day I was called to repair the electric fence of a family I am well familiar with; we had been working together for quite a few years now and they always called me to repair something. We will call them the O’Neal family for sake of protecting their identity or what is left of it.
This was the same month where the folks in town had been stirred up and left talking among themselves about the legend of the poolside killer.
I never really took this seriously, just like in all horror movies. No one thinks any of these things are real until it is too late. They rationalise until they can tell themselves the perfect lie in order to avoid these realities.
I was repairing the fence that Wednesday afternoon. It was quite a long day, a difficult job for a change and it took me all day to repair that fence. I had to take the whole wiring apart and redo it. The money was good, so I went with it.
The kids had come home from school, it was a boy who was in his early teens and a girl who was around the age of 8-10. Living with them in the house were Mrs O'Neal, she was in her 40's and Mr O'Neal was in his 50's. The mother of Mrs O'Neal was staying with them in the granny flat. She was quite old at the time already.
To continue my story, the daughter brought home a new friend. Surely you can see where this goes. The friend was a little girl, she was blond and looked to be around the age of 10-12.
The exact position I was at this moment was at the far end of the yard. The yard was sizeable, and I was at the far opposite end. From where I was standing, repairing the corner of the fence, I could see right across the yard to where the pool was located.
The pool was right outside a sliding door located at the back part of the house. The 2 openings were on the back corner where the gate is to the outside and the entrance from the sliding door. I could see through the gate from where I was working.
Another very true thing I didn't realise about horror movies is how we freeze up due to fear and can't look away or move. Despite what anyone could rationalise while not having been a witness.
I saw them all come out, seems like they wanted to have a swim. So, the entire family other than the granny was outside. They were taking pictures and getting ready to swim. I saw the friend stand closest to Mr O'Neal at the time and everything moved in slow motion after I noticed the small blade in her hand that she was hiding from everyone. I flinched as she repeatedly stabbed Mr O'Neal. I could almost feel the pain of her slicing Him. Her cutting is so fast. It happened so quick that No one knew what to do until it was too late. I must have blacked out a large portion of the event as the moment I remember I heard Mrs O'Neal screaming and running toward me.
I saw the little girl. Her eyes locked with mine, blood on her face. She started moving towards us.
Mrs O'Neal ran and so did I.
The little girl followed.
Mrs O'Neal found a place to hide in the house while the little girl seemed intent on hurting me. She followed me.
After seeing what she did to the others I didn't want to underestimate her and believe that I could just go and retrain her. No thank you, I want to live. So, I ran.
I don't know why I didn't just leave the yard. I assume it's because I really didn't want Mrs O'Neal to be murdered too. That's so hazy.
I ran to the other side of the house and jumped over the fence to hide in the little courtyard they had. I had just thought I outran her when I turned around and she was right behind me.
Everything went black.
I woke up in the hospital 72 hours later, confused and in pain. Apparently, I had barely made it alive. The little girl who had killed everyone hadn't known about the granny who was peacefully napping in the pool house. She heard the screams, called the police and was intercepted tight before mutilating me.

My girl (2.5 y/o) had a really bad nightmare about a week ago. She woke up screaming bloody murder about a massive spider being in her bed, so she slept with me for the rest of the night.
Since then, she's been waking up shouting every night and asking (demanding) to sleep with me. She's not as scared as she was that first night, I think she just gets a little spooked when she wakes in the dark.
I'd probably just ride it out for a while but she sleeps terribly when she's with me. When I try to calm her down and put her back in her bed she gets really upset. Also, she kicks me in the nuts every night.
Just wondering if you dads have any tips?

Let's say some hot n horny 16 year olds got down and dirty while their parents were out of town in high school and the parents found out about it. Could the girls parents file rape charges against the underage boy since the girl who gave consent technically didn't give consent because her brain isn't mature enough yet at age 16 to understand what consent is?

We're supposed to go to a wedding in April with our two 9 month old girls. We have a flight booked but when really confronted with the logistics I'm honestly panicking. It simply doesn't seem possible, or at least not something I'd be willing to even attempt for any reason short of fleeing war or a natural disaster. How do I bring enough of the equipment I use to survive on a daily basis? How do we manage them without car seats and if we bring car seats how in the ever living hell do we carry all that gear?
As if that wasn't enough, they were pure angels a week ago, then we all got Covid and it seems to have jump started their tiny self awarenesses and they've become absolute nightmares. I also threw out my back to a degree I'd not yet experienced right when I started to feel Covid abating which might be making me more pessimistic. Oh yeah, and my wife can't seem to carry a baby on stairs without falling. I'm happy to never leave the house but my wife says I'm a hermit. How?! Just... how...?

Shedding Weight After a C-Part: This is When to Begin Exercising - When vaginal supply is just not an possibility, girls should carry their child into this world by means of cesarean part (C-section) or cesarean supply. The surgical process helps to ship a child by means of incisions in a mom's stomach and uterus. A 2021 analysis by the World Well being Group (WHO) revealed that it is a

Another conversation with my boyfriend who is 28M about how and who he interacts with online led me to write this. I’m sick of his name appearing under every pretty girl we knows posts a picture of their bikini or cleavage. I think it’s tacky as fuck when a colleague had to confide in a mutual friend that he’d slid into her DM’s as a story reply. He follows every pretty woman or celebrity possible.
Yes, I find it hurtful. Immature. Tacky. Embarrassing. I don’t see how my asking for him to stop this behaviour out of respect is detrimental to his life in anyway. Yet I’m called ‘paranoid’ over it and basically told to suck it up as it’s ‘normal’ and ‘doing nothing wrong’.
And I’m sick of other people, irl and online judging the reaction. Yes, it does make me feel insecure actually to see my partner thirsting over other women publically, or to hear that he’s reacting to peoples stories. And that is a natural reaction imo. It’s not ‘normal’, it’s normalised. Social media is a relatively new human experience. Porn and essentially soft core on socials available 24/7 is a new invention - who’s to say it’s ‘normal’?
Yes, it does make me feel insecure. No, I don’t need to go to therapy or whatever to deal with this natural jealousy and public embarrassment. My opinion and small request should be accepted.
Some women do feel this way. And that should be okay.