I had to move half the way across the world about a year ago - my home country started a war I am completely against, and on top of that I wasn’t safe anymore because of my position on it and because of being part of LGBT. I feel lucky that I was able to get out, but I am not in a good mental space. I miss my family, my friends, my cat - and I don’t even get to talk to them much anymore online because we’re 11 hours apart.
It’s my birthday today, and to be honest I even forgot about it until I got a text from a friend this morning. Only a few of my family members and friends texted or called me, I assume because I’ve been so far so long. And I don’t have friends in my new place yet, so I’m celebrating alone in my favourite restaurant. I thought I would be ok celebrating alone but it hit me like a wall of bricks.
I always tell people that I don’t like celebrating my birthdays, because I feel shy getting so much attention. But today I realised how much I actually need it and miss it.

Good Morning & Happy Saturday! Here are the Best Articles, Videos and Podcasts from the past week:

Invest Wisely

• Vanguard’s 10-year outlook for different markets
• With mega-cap stocks dominating the S&P 500, investors should diversify
• The relative outperformance of U.S. stocks over their international counterparts isn’t sustainable
• Riding the Rate Rollercoaster: How Do Bond ETFs Thrive in a Turbulent Interest Environment?
• Should I Buy a Bond or a Bond Fund?
• Why commodities may belong in your portfolio
• When Do Stocks and Bonds Move Together, and Why Does it Matter?
• Goals based planning, modelling human capital & the future of the 60/40 portfolio

Active Investing

• How Frequently Should You Rebalance a Factor Portfolio?
• Value Factor does just fine in recessions
• The Quality Factor Spectrum
• The BIG CTA ETF Debate ft. Andrew Beer & Tim Pickering
• AQR's Cliff Asness forewarns those with equity exposure to systemic risk
• Rob Arnott on his high conviction on UK Value Stocks being "the trade of the decade"
• The AI Arms Race - Who's Winning?

Lifestyle & Wealth Management

• AI and the future of financial advice
• How inflation is widening the divide between public and private sector retirement incomes
• Weddings and divorce: the scourge of investment returns
• At some big banks, ~40% of open roles are AI-related.
• How the digital nomad went corporate
• 10 steps for a happier life

And much more.

the bittersweet mix of sadness and relief when scars can be mistaken for stretch marks
the absolute pure pain that overcomes you when you realize you have totally and completely lost in the way you feared you would
the sadness and dryness and puffiness and complete dread and exhaustion after you’ve cried as if someone tore your heart out
no one talks about the aftermath of depression and self harm. no one talks about the silent glances between you and your former weapon of choice. the very weapon you used on yourself. for not being good enough. for not being strong enough. for not being able to control. for not being able to fear.
all i want is my mom. all i want is my dad. instead i have pain. and feelings of regret. and feelings of failure. and feelings of giving up hope.
when the anniversary comes around and for some twisted comfort you run ur fingers along the grooves in ur skin. the grooves that would’ve been foreign to you a year ago.
the words try creeping out of my teeth as the letters, words, and phrases dance in my head, but anger burns in my mouth barely letting me breath let alone speak. again. the words are pushed down and only tears are shared. only a scowl. the anger only showing through the shaking of my body. and yet again. the true weight of my feelings overlooked.
somehow someway, there’s a weight on me here. sometimes on my shoulders. sometimes pushing on my chest. sometimes giving me a headache as i struggle to find the logic. and sometimes numbing my heart. all aching me to leave. to throw the white flag. to call it quits. decide this isn’t my battle. but the one i so often cannot let go. let myself lose. but if i continue, will i ever know peace? know true and honest unconditional love? live the life I was meant to have and not the one I think THEY want? how do i come out of this whole again? how do i come out of this me again? how do i come out of this without hating myself and without more scares than i even have now? how do i forgive? how do i let go? how do i stop fighting? stop protecting?
the early morning or late night feeling sitting in your room, in your pajamas, dried tears, wrapped in blankets and trembling. the silence of all of you being zoned out before someone says something. something so deep and cringey and dramatic that would never be said in any other circumstance, but hits so close to home everyone takes a minute. these moments when you feel so close to ur siblings yet so far from ur parents and even the world. still contemplating if you’re the problem. if there even is a problem. and in this moment, the only thing you long for is peace. is waking up with the sun and hearing the birds, is being a little kid and dancing with mom in the kitchen, all you want is to lay in the sun with your brother with no worries. all you want is for someone to tell you it’ll all work out and be ok. all you want is for them to come to their senses and just listen. just give u a hug. just be there for you. but you tighten the blanket around yourself. you rub your eyes. wipe a tear away. look at ur younger brother. think about your younger siblings. and remember that u don’t get those things. you are those things for the little ones. and for a moment that brings you peace but immediately following that moment is unworldly pain. what did you do wrong?
not being listened to. what does it feel like? i don’t even know how to describe it properly. it’s an awful. hopeless feeling. since i was little, everytime i was sick, i would have a dream. this dream was only of muffled screaming. screaming that i can’t get to. or can’t get anyone to get to. and it’s terrifying. all i want is to help. it would wake me up almost immediately. too soon for me to know if it was someone else’s screams or my own. but recently theyve been my own. i’ve been sick. not in the fever way. sick in the mind way. and i’ve been screaming. And no one can hear me. or if they can, they don’t care. and it’s hopeless. all i want is to be helped.
i hear a lot of times, in media and in everyday life, that people wish they could shut their mouths, that blowing up and saying too much gets them in trouble too often. i wish that could be me. and it’s not that i wish i would get in trouble more, i don’t care for trouble, but not saying what you’re thinking and feeling is a terrible feeling. the feeling that ur thoughts are useless. the feeling that no one wants to hear what u have to say so u just shut up and don’t say a thing. not for lack of words. but lack of courage.

I pray he doesn’t find this because he is a Reddit user himself lol so I think I’m gonna keep this up only for a couple hours.
okay so basically these last two months have been the absolute worst. Mind you we haven’t been together a crazy long time it’s been about 7 months. during the beginning it was obviously great, our honeymoon phase felt like it lasted an eternity but one day I made the mistake of looking through this dudes phone. yeah I know it’s pretty dumb but my stomach was aching for me to look through it. It just felt like I knew what I was supposed to be looking for. I ended up stumbling on these messages with one of his customers and they were very obviously flirting. he offered to smoke her out for being late , I guess it never went through because she told him to just come back the next day if he wasn’t busy and he’d “let her know” now I’ve been cheated on before and so has he so it was like a punch to the liver reading those messages. Anyways we talked and he said nothing happened nothing was gonna happen or ever happen. He blocked her on everything and that was that. I tried to move past it but it ate me up on the inside you know? Like what did she have that I don’t?? anyways we roll into may and the problems just keep getting worse. We’re basically fighting everyday, we argue about the littlest things and sometimes it just gets exhausting. we roll to the end of the month and I wake up one morning and yet again go through his phone. Now I don’t know why I keep invading his privacy like this. I feel guilty for going through his phone while he’s asleep and my mind almost immediately knows what it’s looking for. I stumble across this conversation and he’s basically venting to his guy friends about how he doesn’t know if a relationship is for him right now and how he might break up with me this and that. Now mind you that conversation was in April and we were now in may. I woke his ass up lol. I basically melted down and pressed him for an explosion. Whatever we talked blah blah and I’m thinking “ok well he didn’t break up with me but like those messages happened and ya know he typed it” whatever I try to move on and now we’re in June. I take acid with him and we have a whole moment. When I would hug him it felt like we were having sex (that’s how good it felt to just hug him) but we weren’t obviously we were just hugging. We have this whole moment and I’m like “look I forgive you for all the bullshit I just want a clean start” I forgave him because my soul deserved peace not because he deserved it. Anyways like three days pass and I went through his phone while he was asleep lol. I found messages where he was talking about fucking another girl mind you this is before I caught him (the customer I caught him flirting with) and how he and his friends wanted to go to this “happy ending massage place” he was all aboard for it (mind you we we’re together when he said all this) and then messages with his friends talking about having a three some with this girl and his two friends (this was said during the very beginning of our relationship) then messages with his friend asking him for money because and I quote “this bitch wants to go to the fair” (fyi he asked me to be his gf that day 🙈). I obviously feel disgusted and I literally for a split second I almost slapped him awake. Anyways I woke his ass up again and only made him confess about the comment he made about fucking his blocked customer he tried playing dumb and was like “I honestly don’t even remember saying that …. That wasn’t me saying those things …. I was talking out of my ass…. I don’t know why I did and said those things they are honestly the biggest regrets of my life” etc etc. he almost left because he said “I feel like I’m disrespecting you just by being here I’m sorry I never meant to hurt you like that …” he ended up staying the night and I confronted him about all the other messages and he played it off as horseplay with his friends, he said he’d take me to a massage place just me and him so he could “show me” it wasn’t anything like that. Told me he would do anything to prove it’s just me he wants. Told me that’s how he “messes around with his friends” how he would drop them to make me comfortable, he’d drop his friends for our relationship. Mind you his friends know we’re together lol and to be saying shit like that and instigate him to CHEAT ON ME??? Like cmon now lol. If the roles were reversed he definitely would have been gone like there was no tomorrow. Like I don’t trust him lol I feel bad because I don’t but at the same time it’s like cmon you really expect me to Trust you after all that?? Nah it’s gonna take time and work to even get remotely CLOSE to a trust level again. I’m sorry that this is all over the place I’m really just struggling and I don’t know friends I can just go to like that. This is definitely a mess but I just want to know if I’m wrong for not being able to trust him like I’m supposed to.

If you do nothing else, PLEASE read the 'Instructions' section before continuing on to the mod lists!

New users run the risk of having content spoiled for them otherwise, and all users need to read the special installation instructions listed here to install the mod builds properly!

Objective & Structure of the Mod Builds
If you've always wanted to mod KOTOR 1 or 2 but have been hesitant--which mods are good, which are compatible?--this resource is here to help.
For over a decade I've worked with the mod community, collating and managing modular packages of compatible mods which I refer to as "mod builds." The goal behind these builds is to find the best KOTOR mods and present them as a fully-compatible & modular archive, allowing users to pick-and-choose the mods they want from a large, vanilla-friendly selection with minimum hassle and no fears of incompatibility. That said, I have never skimped on quality in return for quantity; all mods listed in this thread are lore-friendly, and no mod which significantly alters or interrupts the vanilla experience has been considered for inclusion. The goal for these mod builds is an improvement of the vanilla experience rather than the creation of a new experience.
The builds for both games are divided into Full builds and Spoiler-Free builds. These spoiler-free builds contain mods with censored readmes, to prevent the player from accidentally being spoiled, so even if you are a brand-new player you can still enjoy bugfixes, updated graphics, and most of the full build's added content free of any risk. Most, because the spoiler-free builds also lack mods which have the potential to alter the game's balance from what BioWare/Obsidian intended, to ensure that your first playthrough is the most pure vanilla-plus experience possible.
There are also builds for both games designed to work on mobile devices, containing all the content of their Full or Spoiler-Free counterparts, but without any extremely large or graphically intensive content which could cause issues while running on mobile. This allows users to experience bugfixes, mechanics improvements, added content and some small-scale graphical improvements without risk of your device catching fire.
Each build is modular in nature, meaning that most mods aren't reliant upon one another to function. Because of this, you can choose to either use everything I list, or to pick and choose what you prefer for a personalized experience. You are also, of course, welcome to add additional mods on top of these builds, and although I cannot guarantee their compatibility I would be happy to work with any user to maximize their chances of creating a compatible build.

Why Use These Guides?
If the above has sold you, then by all means, please continue down to the Instructions section. But I understand why it might not have; after all, a premise is all fine and well, but does it deliver?
If you want some additional convincing, I invite you to take a look at this quick list of bullet-points about what the mod builds offer, and why those offerings are unique.

Instructions
In the section below are eight links. Simply choose the game, content package, and platform you'd like and you're set!
As for actually installing these mods, there are a few simple rules to follow:

• Create a deadlystream and nexusmods account. Deadlystream--our main host for KOTOR mods--has a download speed limit for users without an account (which is free). The Nexus has an actual file size limit without an account, so you'll need a Nexus account to download some files.
  
• Install the mods in the order you are presented with them. If you fail to do this, you risk running into bugs, many quite significant. Note that you'll still encounter some warnings on installer mods even when doing this, but those warnings are normal (errors, however, are not). If you want to add new mods which aren't included in these lists to a build, you should reach out to me so we can work together to create an installation order which is stable for you.
  
• Don't attempt to continue an old save after installing these mods. Unless they're just texture files which do not contain files of the .2da filetype, once your game is modded any previous saves you have should be treated as incompatible.
  
• If you are intending to use any content not included in the mod builds, search for and identify that content BEFORE installing the builds! Certain mods have install steps or overwrite requirements that will necessitate you installing them midway through the mod build install, so if you want to use content outside the builds, you should identify that content before you start your install.
  
• Do not use the Nexus's Vortex Mod Manager with either build, or the Steam Workshop alongside the KOTOR 2 mod build! Don't even use a Workshop version of one of the mods present in the KOTOR 2 builds! Both systems have trouble properly functioning with KOTOR mods; you can read more about why this is for the Workshop here.
  
• Be mindful of what mods work with non-English versions of the game. If you are not playing in English, only some mods will be compatible with your game version. Each mod lists whether it is compatible with non-English versions or not, and you will need to either play in English or skip several mods. There's nothing that we can do about this; most mods which modify dialogue only support English. Please also bear in mind that you need to select the language you intend to play in before installing these mods, and CANNOT change your chosen language after you have completed your install (doing so will overwrite many of the mod files downloaded here).
  
• Keep an eye on mod categories and tiers to get an idea of what a mod does and how important I believe it is to use that mod. This is especially important for users of the Spoiler-Free builds, where information will sometimes necessarily be very vague, but it's also helpful for users who don't intend to use the entirety of one of the Full builds. Each mod has a category and a tier, the former of which clarifies the types of changes the mod makes, and the latter of which, on a scale of 1-4, clarifies how important I believe the mod is for getting the best possible experience out of the game. Using this information, you can better judge what mods you would like to use and what you can safely ignore in the course of your build installation.
  
• If you are not installing on a Windows OS, keep this card in mind, as it goes over the various install types present in the builds and will help you determine what mods will be easy to install on your OS, and which might need special support (for instance, using a wrapper to install .exe files on Mac OS).
  
• Follow installation instructions, mine when I provide special instructions and the mod creator's when I have no word to put in. Most of these mods are extremely easy to install, but it's very important to make sure that none of the special install instructions are missed for the sake of mod compatibility.
  
• Keep track of master mods. Some mods require other mods to function, and thus the "master" mod cannot be removed if you want that mod in your build. In the build posts I will list when a mod has a master.
  
• Overwrite any files when prompted. Most of the mods in these builds are fully compatible, but some partially overwrites a part of another mod. These cases are where the install order matters; I have purposefully tailored the installation order so that mods that have compatibility issues are overwritten in the proper order for the game to function as intended, and for all of the changes we're making to be seamless.
  
• New users: be careful with readme files and descriptions! Even for mods that I've censored, there might still be minor spoilers in the readme, and this goes doubly for mods that have included screenshots or file descriptions on their hosting site. When reading about a mod, it's always an excellent rule of thumb to only read so much of the description--and view as few of the screenshots--as are necessary to make sure you know whether you want to use it or not, then the installation instructions (and nothing else).
  

Mod Builds
PC/Mac
KOTOR 1 Spoiler-Free Build
KOTOR 1 Full Build

KOTOR 2 Spoiler-Free Build
KOTOR 2 Full Build

Android/iOS
KOTOR 1 Spoiler-Free Mobile Build
KOTOR 1 Full Mobile Build

KOTOR 2 Spoiler-Free Mobile Build
KOTOR 2 Full Mobile Build

FAQ
It's highly recommended that you read the Builds' FAQ if you have any questions about the current implementation of the Builds, problems with the Builds, or a desire to include mods of your own outside of those available in the Builds!

Changelog
NOTE: Only major changes are reflected in changelogs. The builds undergo constant iterating and compatibility work, but large batches of mods are only added during Revision-level updates.

12/25/2022:

1. Merry Christmas! A new piece of restored content by JC, an alternate ending for DS characters who romance Carth, has been integrated!

12/9/2022:

1. Several dozen new mods across both games.
   
2. Several mods for KOTOR which also work for KOTOR 2 have now been integrated into the KOTOR 2 build list, to make the games more visually consistent across builds and improve overall graphical fidelity.
   
3. Added information on all mods indicating how they are installed (loose-file, TSLPatcher, etc.) and whether or not they are compatible with non-English game versions. De facto, this now makes the builds compatible with non-English game versions, although for the moment, out of necessity, several mods must be skipped when not playing in English.
   
4. Conversion of all .tga-based upscale mods to .tpc, saving several GBs of download size and space on disk.
   
5. Thanks to further collaboration with ShiningRed, tightened up the AI upscale mods to remove the last problem textures, and integrated most of the Nar Shaddaa upscale, which was previously excluded.
   

4/13/2022:
After the most implausible series of delays and problems I've ever encountered, finally, the new build release is out! Highlights follow:

1. Fully supported mobile builds!
   
2. Complete and fully-tested AI upscales of almost all areas and characters for both games!
   
3. Dynamic lightsaber lighting & reflections for both games in all game areas.
   
4. The inclusion of LDR's amazing A Crashed Ship on an Unknown World mod for KOTOR, in my opinion the best piece of added content ever made for these games, hands-down.
   

Changelogs older than 4/13/2022 can be found here!

Special Thanks
Principle thanks to Jcarter426, longtime collaborator and co-author of the mod builds. Without his assistance maintaining and improving guides of this size would not be possible, and a massive debt is owed to him both by myself and the community more broadly.
A very special thanks to my testers! Although I do all the playthrough testing myself these days, the testers of the old builds helped us get to the point we've arrived at today, and as I don't own the games on mobile my mobile testers are critical to every future mobile release!
Special thanks also to all of the modders whose work I've been using over the years, and an especial thanks to DarthParametric, Fair Strides, Deltm, A Future Pilot, and Nomuit, who have at various times all been indispensable helping me with testing, bugfixing, and rebuilding mods to support build compatibility!
Thanks to mattekillert for mocking up the original category and tier images for me, and Amanda from the Discord for updating them for me.

Guild & Server: US-Area 52 Raid Times/Days: Friday/Saturday 9-12pm EST (and Optional/Alt Thursday) Current Progession: 6/8M Vault, 9/9N 9/9H 3/9M Aberrus Recruitment Contacts: <@164307568821272576> Application: https://apply.wowaudit.com/us/area-52/sol-immortalis Raider.IO: https://raider.io/guilds/us/area-52/Sol%20Immortalis Requirements: Good Attitude, Friendly, Mature, Excellent attendance, Respectful, No toxicity, Team player, Competitive. CE mentality while having fun Needs: We're looking for any exceptional DPS with preference of a Warlock, Enhance Shaman, Devastation Evoker, Boomkin to finalize our roster and push CE for 10.1. Exceptional Flex Tanks or Healers are a plus!

On 6/3 (Sunday) my husband noticed he had some kind of bug bite on his right upper side, below the arm pit at chest level. Was thinking mosquito or something since he had been outside without a shirt on and wasn’t really worried about it. Super early the next morning he started running a fever and had the chills. A little later started complaining the bite area was starting to hurt. When I looked at it the bite had blistered and the area was red. We went to the er and explained that he had ran a fever (which we treated with Tylenol, so he did not currently have one) and at that point the area was painful to touch. Er doctor finally came in and was in there for 2 minutes max. He looked at the area and said it was definitely a bite, which yeah we knew. Then he says without knowing what actually bit him there was nothing they could do for him. To follow up with his dr in 2-3 days.
By Tuesday the the bite area was dark, the bite itself was a small hole and the whole area surrounding it and moving towards his chest was red. We went straight to the express clinic where the nurse practitioner was shocked to find out that the er dr had done nothing. She said that antibiotics and a steroid would have prevented all of that. He has cellulitis bad. Had to have a shot of antibiotics and steroids. Got prescriptions for both and had to go back twice for antibiotic shots. On the 3rd day she said the cellulitis looks better but the area around the bite is super hard and not looking good and may need to be debrided. So now we are waiting for a consultation appointment with a surgeon. Before we left she told us that she had reported to her supervisor about the lack of care and treatment he had received in the er. Do we have a case here?

Hello, I hope you guys are doing alright! I cannot sleep tonight and so I wanna use my time to get know some of you !
Bit bout me: I'm 22m from the Netherlands, not tall but small as in 160cm/5'3. Blond hair, blue eyes and glasses so I can see in HD
Some of my hobbies are: Gym (3x times in the week) Gaming, mostly fps games Anime Music, my favorite genres are uptempo, Rawstyle, hard techno and Phonk
My timezone is UTC+1, so its around 6am for me, so I kinda get that timezones can get messed up. If you rather don't have to deal with that, then well shiii
My only request is that you are around my age that would be nice but for the rest all good. Send me a message and if you won't fuck y- I mean have a goodnight/morning

Cover Art <<Previous Start Next >>
Mordecai was simply giving into temptation with this second boss. He had wanted to save it for later development, but he also wanted to play with this idea now. And he felt that it would be a nice surprise. So for the first time Mordecai turned his attention towards the technically hostile organisms occupying a part of the dungeon.
“Wait, really? You’re going there? Ewww.” Came Kazue’s mental voice when she realized where his focus was shifting. Mordecai smiled at her response, but kept his attention on his search. He was being picky in a way, but he didn’t want to create something completely mindless. His small constructs might have very simple minds, but they did have minds.
Most of the auras he encountered were far too weak to even consider, despite the size of some of the creatures. There was a certain amount of strength developed from the mind; physical vitality alone could create large amounts of spirit but it took a mind and will to focus it and make it strong.
Of the auras that had a little something more to them, most of them tasted of little other than basic hunger. Those were not what he wanted. No, what he wanted was … there. It wasn’t much, not yet, but there was the slightest hint of curiosity, of hunger turned beyond physical satiation. That would do quite nicely. He could make an offer to a creature like that, a promise to help fulfill this new sensation. He didn’t offer safety or food, he offered stimulation and experience.
There was a sense of confusion at first, and Mordecai couldn’t be happier. If it could be confused, it could learn. The primitive proto-mind briefly stilled, then hesitantly reached back towards the connection to accept. Mordecai’s sense of the creature sharpened and solidified as it became one of his inhabitants, and he mentally grasped it to draw it to the boss room where his avatar awaited, and he opened his eyes to examine what was to become his newest boss.
A gelatinous mass of fluorescent colors shimmered in front of him. If the child-sized ooze didn’t glow slightly, he’d have considered it iridescent instead with the way its colors flowed and shifted. The surface of the creature had a texture that was constantly changing between smooth and crinkled, with occasional bits briefly becoming solid. And floating in the very center was a nearly invisible tiny sphere of crystal. “Oh, you are beautiful.” He murmured to it as he walked around and examined it. “You have the best integration of living crystal and slime I’ve seen yet. I would like to see something.” He stepped up close to it and raised his hand over its surface. “Just a quick poke. Relax and let your reflexes happen, I won’t hurt you and you can’t do any real harm to me.”
Once it acknowledged him, Mordecai used his middle finger to jab at it swiftly. The surface gave slightly before rapidly hardening against the impact and it reflexively built pressure behind that point, then as his finger retreated and the surface tension released the pressure behind that part of the surface automatically flung acid-coated shards of crystal at his hand.
Mordecai spun to the side to avoid most of it, but a few flecks still hit him. They did more damage to his sleeve than to his flesh, but a normal person wouldn’t have taken it quite so well. “Oh, I am going to be happy with you little one. I think we need to start with a name however, and then move on to enhancing you. What do you think of Klastoria?” It pulsed with a pleased-looking flash of color, and Mordecai smiled. “Then it is a pleasure to meet you Klastoria. I am Mordecai.”
“And I’m Kazue!” Announced his wife as she manifested her avatar. “Oh goddess, you are too cute Klastoria!” She practically danced in place as she squeed over the slime. “Mordecai, I want to hug her so badly! How did you find something so cute in that place?”
“Heh, I don’t recommend that just yet love, she needs to learn a bit of restraint first.” Wait a moment. “Um? Her?” He’d initially followed the gender identification before he realized what Kazue had said.
“Yep! Someone this shiny and cute has got to be a girl!” The little kitsune said, and Mordecai couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile.
“I think Zushi might have something to say about boys not being allowed to be cute.”
“Nah, he’s fluffy-cute, that’s different. Klastoria is shiny-cute and pretty like a girl.”
Mordecai decided to translate that into ‘I want her to be a girl’ more than being any sort of rule Kazue was truly serious about. He’d attribute it to youthful whim if it weren’t for the fact that he was pretty certain that a hundred years from now she’d be inclined to do the same sort of thing. He had met her mother after all. “Not a good idea just yet love. Your avatar isn’t acid resistant, and your clothes certainly aren’t.”
While they’d been talking, the little bits of crystal and acid that had hit the ground had melted together and flowed back to rejoin Klastoria. “And I have a spell that can help with that, but let me finish getting Klastoria ready first, alright?”
“Fine fine, hurry up, I want to hug her!”
It was hard to not laugh at Kazue’s eagerness as he turned his attention back to their newest boss-to-be. “Alright, looks like Kazue has decided you are going to be a girl. If you ever decide that’s not right for you, let us know. Now, we want to make you stronger and smarter, though the smarter might be a little slower to come.” Klastoria wouldn’t be able to fully understand what they were saying yet, but she would be able to remember.
He mentally grasped the available boss node and began feeding it the concept of the crystal core in the center gradually growing in size and its paths becoming smaller and more intricate. “We are going to want you to become much bigger …” he paused as a new idea came to him. “Oh wait, how dense can your crystal get?” He had already noticed that the fluid had been compressed when it turned into crystal. Oh, that should work.
“But you won’t always have to be that big. No, with a little enhancement, we can help you compact yourself into a completely crystal form. Yes, that’s going to be your focus, complete mastery of your form and the transition between fluid and solid states.” He had been thinking of focusing more on the acid attacks of a slime-type monster, enhanced with ranged attacks and crystal shards, along with Klastoria being better armored than a typical ooze-type, but this would be, hmm, not necessarily ‘better’ from an absolute sense, but more custom and unique.
Mordecai connected the boss node to Klastoria as he continued to feed in his concepts and took several steps back, motioning for Kazue to do the same. It took a moment for anything to change as all the mana began funneling in, but then Klastoria began to grow rapidly. In just a couple of minutes she grew into a sphere about 15 feet in diameter, jiggling excitedly at all the changes happening. Knowledge came as well as power and mass, and as soon as the connection was finalized she began experimenting.
The huge blob suddenly shrank, transforming into a hard, sharp-edged cube of crystal only about 5 feet across. Mordecai blinked as he ran the math, then double-checked what was happening. It took only a second to realize she’d evolved the concept into a limited version of Shape Change, allowing her to displace a portion of her mass the way many other shape-changing creatures could. But not all of it, she was still nine times as dense in this form, which was a rather intense compression. It put her somewhere in between iron and lead.
It also seemed uncomfortable based off of the emotions from Klastoria, who then began moving through a rapid series of other form-changing experiments. Most of them were manipulating her ability to shift between fluid and solid phases at will with nearly unlimited amounts of discreteness, but she was also able to shift and recall any amount of mass she needed to within her ranges.
She could form long limbs able to swing as freely as any tentacle, but could instantly harden her surface and/or interior to act like exo- or endo-skeletons, and her limbs could have any sort of surface she desired, creating almost any shape of blade or point. The hydraulic pressure that powered her limbs and gave her the ability to fire projectiles of crystallized acid also combined with her size-changing abilities to allow her to leap, and even spin or slightly course-correct by altering her density in one or more spots mid-air.
Climbing was easy too. Any sort of tree-like structure could just be grabbed and used to haul her body up, but she could also flow up walls and crawl along the ceiling by letting her body flow into the tiniest imperfections and then harden into crystal to obtain a surface-wide grip. Mordecai even created a smooth glass surface for her to try on, and Klastoria was able to figure out how to flatten her body enough that simply air pressure could hold her onto it, though she was a bit slower this way.
She couldn’t go perfectly flat though, that sphere of crystal that was the seat of her very self could not be altered. But the ability to change her form so freely gave her lots of options that she was going to be experimenting with for days. Mordecai did point out one new thing for her to try later: With her abilities, there is no reason she shouldn’t be able to drop from almost any height. In her larger form she could increase her internal pressure to just high enough to create a collapsing cushion, while if she made herself a dense, sharp cone she could fall straight into the ground or another object and force it to take the shock of her impact, the rigidity and hardness of her body keeping her from being damaged.
Kazue slid up beside him and asked in an ever-so-sweet voice. “Are you two done playing yet?”
Mordecai chuckled, then swept her into his arms to give her a lingering kiss. “Alright love, you can go hug the squishy slime. She’s learned great control now and should be able to be just soft and pliable enough.” Which honestly would be another great exercise for Klastoria, but he made sure not to mention that thought out loud.
“Yes!” Kazue flung herself at Klastoria with reckless abandon and was quick to explore other play options as the slime could also be anything from a soft cushion to sink into, to a bouncy spring to jump high in the air. Mordecai amused himself by sending some images of what Kazue was doing to Moriko, and the half-elf’s envy was tangible across their link. He doubted she would be initially quite as carefree as Kazue about it, but he didn’t doubt she would enjoy herself.
While his wife played, Mordecai set about double-checking the level and inhabitants, making sure everything tied together and worked smoothly. It would take a few days to get everyone into their routines and roles, and weeks of practice to become well-trained for this mix of terrain and style, but it would be well worth the effort.
The final step was to sweep through again and set limiters. The creatures could simply feel his intent and hold back where needed, but all the more trap-like organisms needed to have a second layer of mana woven over them to reign them in. Things were less sticky, hit softer, and were easier to break. But in exchange, he was able to apply a soft layer of vitality absorption that would increase the fatigue of dealing with the various dangers, roughly approximating how they might feel after dealing with the trap’s full strength.
It increased his overall costs for growing them by about 50%, and if he’d been trying to make them more deadly the expenditure would have failed.
Mordecai snorted. Intent indeed. He’d not thought to layer things like this, he’d grown up just knowing what his limits were on how strong he could make something based on where in his dungeon it was. He’d never tried making something strong, and then ‘waste’ mana by placing a restriction on it. A restriction he could release as needed, but his sincere intent was to only do so if he felt it was needed.
Well, that would cost them a few days at least until they had enough to push down and start the sixth floor, but that was okay. He wanted to work over some ideas with Kazue first anyway. The organization of the first five floors was fine, but despite the theming, the layout was a touch repetitive, and they were deep enough already to make brute forcing a ‘second’ entrance infeasible for most.
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Here's the situation:
Babe is 17 months.
Before starting the 2 to 1 nap transition her wws were 3/4/4. I woke her at 7, first nap she would go into her crib at 10, woke her at 11 at the latest, second nap into crib at 3, woke her at 415 at the latest, bed at 815.
It was starting to take her longer and longer to fall asleep for both naps and bed. It would take her anywhere from 10 min(on a good day) to 20+ min to fall asleep. Then she started to wake from her naps before I would get her.
She was not waking in the night or early in the morning. However, on this schedule we were out of time in the day to extend wake windows and keep 2 naps.
Last week I started the transition with the gradual approach and we were getting min 1.5 hrs to 2 hr naps. But have had what I consider "early wakings" around 545-620. In this house 6 am is NOT an appropriate raise time. Bedtime was 630 because nap hadn't hit noon yet.
This week all hell has broken loose. Our early mornings continue and now naps have gone haywire. Shortest nap was 45 min, best nap was just over an hour with her waking a few times, crying and going back to sleep. I've tired throwing in a 15 min cat nap at 930 (which takes her 20+ min to fall asleep for) and then putting nap at 1230.
Girl looks tiiiiired. Huge bags under her eyes but in relatively good spirits. A bit crankier than usual but that's to be expected.
Tonight she went to bed at 6 after a rough sleep day (15 min and then 54 min). And now she just woke up crying after 3 hrs of sleep. I'm worried this is the start of night wakings.
I don't know what to do! Do I go back to 2 naps and have her only taking 2, 30 min naps? Or keep pushing her through the 1 nap transition. I feel like I'm torturing my baby with sleep deprivation.

Hello, I hope you guys are doing alright! I cannot sleep tonight and so I wanna use my time to get know some of you !
Bit bout me: I'm 22m from the Netherlands, not tall but small as in 160cm/5'3. Blond hair, blue eyes and glasses so I can see in HD
Some of my hobbies are: Gym (3x times in the week) Gaming, mostly fps games Anime Music, my favorite genres are uptempo, Rawstyle, hard techno and Phonk
My timezone is UTC+1, so its around 6am for me, so I kinda get that timezones can get messed up. If you rather don't have to deal with that, then well shiii
My only request is that you are around my age that would be nice but for the rest all good. Send me a message and if you won't fuck y- I mean have a goodnight/morning

TL;DR For you radiotherapists and dosimetrists specifically, did your education do a good job of training the skills of compassionate language and empathy? Or give a good sense of how to support people emotionally and professionally?
Of course, any medical professionals can answer this as well. I have what I'd consider fairly good people skills, but I still have my concerns about developing this in a professional atmosphere with medical patients.
​
I feel a strong pull towards helping people, and because I am interested in the power of technology to help people (by treating them/improving their health for ex.) I have chosen to pursue acquiring certs in advanced imaging and linear accelerators (radiotherapy) to treat cancer. Medical work, on an oncology team, in a hospital or outpatient center.
My concern is that even a strong drive to work with and help people, and to learn the technology that facilitates one way of doing that, is not enough to face the reality of working with cancer patients. Not all outcomes will be success stories, people die, people will really suffer through their comprehensive treatment sometimes.
What I crave is not just this technical education, but a personal acknowledgement and acceptance of suffering and death (been working on that pretty well), and the skills to help people in any way through that themselves. The right language, proper listening, comforting people, maintaining boundaries as a professional but still acting like a person etc. What I really fear with this kind of work is not a lack of my own mental and emotional fortitude necessarily, but that I won't know what to do or say sometimes for vulnerable people in terms of offering compassion and support.

Here's the situation:
Babe is 17 months.
Before starting the 2 to 1 nap transition her wws were 3/4/4. I woke her at 7, first nap she would go into her crib at 10, woke her at 11 at the latest, second nap into crib at 3, woke her at 415 at the latest, bed at 815.
It was starting to take her longer and longer to fall asleep for both naps and bed. It would take her anywhere from 10 min(on a good day) to 20+ min to fall asleep. Then she started to wake from her naps before I would get her.
She was not waking in the night or early in the morning. However, on this schedule we were out of time in the day to extend wake windows and keep 2 naps.
Last week I started the transition with the gradual approach and we were getting min 1.5 hrs to 2 hr naps. But have had what I consider "early wakings" around 545-620. In this house 6 am is NOT an appropriate raise time. Bedtime was 630 because nap hadn't hit noon yet.
This week all hell has broken loose. Our early mornings continue and now naps have gone haywire. Shortest nap was 45 min, best nap was just over an hour with her waking a few times, crying and going back to sleep. I've tired throwing in a 15 min cat nap at 930 (which takes her 20+ min to fall asleep for) and then putting nap at 1230.
Girl looks tiiiiired. Huge bags under her eyes but in relatively good spirits. A bit crankier than usual but that's to be expected.
Tonight she went to bed at 6 after a rough sleep day (15 min and then 54 min). And now she just woke up crying after 3 hrs of sleep. I'm worried this is the start of night wakings.
I don't know what to do! Do I go back to 2 naps and have her only taking 2, 30 min naps? Or keep pushing her through the 1 nap transition. I feel like I'm torturing my baby with sleep deprivation.

Hey folks.
My music taste are varied but right now I am obsessed with King Princess.
I like neutral sounding headphones with good detail and imaging. I already have airpods pros 2. I liked them but they didnt wow me (I call it an eargasm). Im keeping them cause I have an iphone and the convince is amazing.
First off Im looking at the moondrop chu as sort of my beater earphone (airpods die so the chu comes out)
The next 3 earphones I want for when I am studying. I want to be able to take short breaks by listening to music and enjoying it a lot.
7hz timeless (I heard planars are amazing
Moondrop Blessings 3
Etymotic ER2.
^{(yes these are the top 3 from crinacles list.})

Alright dads
now this is a story all about how my wife and I turned taking pills into a fun family tradition. My son is currently 7 months old and every night since before he was conceived my wife has had an alarm set for taking her prenatal which has a groovy little android built tune assigned to it. A few months ago my wife started taking her pill in the morning with me but forgot to change the alarm and THUS began our 6pm evening dance break. You see my son loves food, like FUUUUUCKING LOVES food and so when we feed him all that baby led weaning goodness he starts fussing and whining for more food because he’s a connoisseur for taste. Why does that matter? Well we feed him at like 5 and change PM and just at the height of that fussiness the alarm went off on that one fateful day and my wife and I decided this wasn’t an alarm to snooze, nay turn off… no! This was an alarm to DANCE TO! Thus began a long line of 6pm dance breaks that we have taken since. The best part? My son has started to “get it” and when that music starts playing, when 6pm hits, boy oh boy does he start grooving and shaking (mostly he gets excited and slams his baby fists on the high chair). So I guess the point of this post is, build in a way to break up the fussiness. Make shit special. And most importantly when 6pm hits, I hope you dance.
Love you dads, Sincerely, Dad

Hi. I recently got off blood thinners about a month ago and my doctor told me to do lab tests and CT to make sure everything looks good. My labs were good. But my CT I'm not really sure what they mean in the summary they wrote so I was wondering if anyone would maybe know? Like is it still there or gone? I know I should wait until my doctor tells me but that is a week and a half away and I'm just a little anxious. Since I can't post pics this is what the summary said:
FINDINGS: The pulmonary arteries demonstrate inadequate opacification for evaluation. The main pulmonary artery is not dilated and there is no sign of right heart strain The lungs are clear with no evidence of nodular opacity or focal consolidation. There are no pleural or pericardial effusions identified The incidentally imaged portions of the upper abdomen are noncontributory ľhe osseous structures demonstrate nd evidence of acute fracture or dislocation
IMPRESSION: Inadequate pulmonary arterial opacification for evaluation. Most of the contrast is in the left subclavian vein