Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest of them all?
Not me!
I love wearing fem clothing; skirt, thigh high socks, leggings, panties, bra.
But when I look in the mirror I see an ugly guy trying to be something he is not. Not the girl I wish I was
Really hoping that once I start hormones that it’ll change, in the meantime I will avoid mirrors, wear fem clothing, and be sad.

Hey all, I'm in a predicament here. I recently moved and upon setting up my pc I kept having BSODs. Originally I had WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR and I checked hard drive connections, reseated RAM, etc, and when all else failed I created a boost usb drive and fresh installed windows to one of my M.2s that I formatted. That seemed to have fixed the issue, but I just got another BSOD while gaming-KERNAL DATA IMPAGE ERROR. This BSOD gave me error code 0xc000000e and after some searching it seems to be a hard drive issue. I had also replaced my other M.2 which I thought to be the cause of the problems with a new 970 evo(not the boot drive.) I'm not sure if something got messed up while moving but when I run disk and ram checks, everything passes or reports as healthy. The only thing I can think is that something may have hit my motherboard near an m.2 slot and messed the motherboard up, but I'd like to avoid replacing it if possible. Every component besides the new m.2 is likely out of warranty, as this build is a few years old. Any help would be super appreciated!

I don’t feel depressed but I really like to isolate myself, I don’t have much of a problem socializing if I really have to and I mostly appear open and extroverted once spoken to but only once spoken to. I still try to avoid socializing whenever I can. I don’t really have a problem with it but socializing gets very draining very fast to the point where I just snap out of my “mask” whatever you guys call it and kinda get impulsive and miserable to others to distance myself.
Like cutting myself off as fast as possible to get out there quick.
Kinda feeling like I miss out on life but I don’t really care what I’m missing out on since I think it wouldn’t be something too satisfying anyways.
I don’t feel suicidal at all but I don’t feel like life has much to offer kinda already feel like I could retire from life.
I don’t have any goals and feel like an observer to everything around me (not disassociation) I also daydream a lot and try to logically explain literally everything to myself in my head as if every behavior of the word around me is connected.
I don’t really care if someone leaves me and I tend to forget that person really quick anyways.
I have memory issues and can’t remember shit I did in the past kinda feeling like waking up with a new mindset everyday but still not bothering too much to explore the world out there since it feels like I’ve already seen it all.
My mother is shizophrenic and I hope I didn’t inherit or manifest any of those genes.
I feel like something is wrong with me all my life but I don’t really wanna seek out a therapist and get myself diagnosed I just simply can’t get myself to talk to anyone of whats going on inside my head. I tried one time had an appointment but I didn’t go there because I suddenly didn’t care anymore.
Close relatives tell me that I look cold 70% of the time I was also never crying at very sad moments on family gatherings for example when my grandpa passed that I really loved everyone was crying except for me and I felt miserable because of that.
I also noticed myself slipping more and more into harder mind altering drugs since they make me feel at least something in some way. I also have to mention that I feel this way for almost as long I could think so it’s not something drug induced. (I don’t overdo it and take breaks from them)
I also don’t think much of the self diagnosing reddit community since I think that not every “untypical”behavior has to be linked to disorders and rather be linked to environmental, bio chemical and mindset wise factors.
I don’t really know whats wrong with me maybe Im just in a depressed state without knowing it maybe I lack vitamines all my life man I don’t really know 😂

[Out of Character Warning: If you have arachnophobia, please read at your own risk.]

Ches 08th, 1320 DR, Somewhere near Flint Rock in the Evermoor.
We've stopped this morning. Fiona says we need to wait for someone; she was vague about exactly who we were meeting at what time, but she said he was going to be a business partner. Come to think of it, I don't actually know what it is Fiona does as a Merchant; what exactly we are carrying with the carriage is obviously the usual spices, food-stuffs, and appliances that people can't get within Northern Faêrun, but there are three specific crates that are considered high value by her, even though she doesn't tell us what's in them. I bring this up because I tried asking about them this morning, more out of boredom than anything; she replied by giving me this odd smirk with a glint in her eye, and just told me:
"Don't worry that scowling mug of yours, darling. All you need to know is that it's going to make us a lot of coin; nothing too dangerous or morally questionable, though it depends on how you look at it. Besides, don't think I don't know that you had something to do with what happened in Rakkarin's Fjord. Why the face? What, you seriously thought that you and V'vyana disappearing for several hours, only for five mangled bodies to turn up once you reappear didn't seem a bit suspicious? We all got our secrets, love, and from what I heard you're little activities weren't unwarranted, at least by my standards. However, if we're going to work together as partners, you're going to have to at least tell me when and why you're going to go all judge, jury, and executioner on people. Bad for business, is all I'm saying, and I don't really like the prospect of being put on an actual bounty-list anytime soon."

I decided to shut up after that. She read me like a book; and here I thought we were careful. Speaking of "we", I think it's time I get some answers from that elf.

Person of interest: V'vyana Bathory, Elf Ranger. Currently employed as a mercenary under Fiona Stoutbroad…Stoutbroad? Is that slang for bigass? What the fuck am I thinking?!
Ever since the incident at Rakkarin's Fjord, I'm becoming more and more paranoid about who she really is; she isn't any normal ranger, that's for sure.
Cleaning up evidence, an adept with poisons, even her story doesn't make much sense. She says that she grew up in Luskan, one of the cities on the Northwest Coast that I whole-heartedly wished Hoar had burned to the ground for all the scum-ridden, irredeemable cutthroats produced by that sin-ridden metropolis. However, that makes me trust her even less; most rangers usually get their start away from metropolises or by contract in rural counties or with a Caravan company. Unless…you work as a slave-hunter or tracker for one of the many Matriarchal Houses in Luskan. All I know is that she is dangerous, and I have no idea why she came to Citadel Felbarr three weeks ago with Caldin.
We've stopped by a nearby cave, and Fiona told us that we'd have to leave the carriage here for now and begin unloading goods inside, specifically those three crates of heavy cargo. The carriage will be fine, as apparently this person we were meeting had people on standby in case anyone or anything tried to raid us…now that she mentions it, I'm getting this weird feeling that we're being watched, but I don't see or hear anyone off-road or within the hilly landscape. I could sworn I saw something moving above us, in the overhead caves, but I chalked it up to being a wild animal; either way, I don't like it here. The caves and the landscape around us are just too quiet.
Update, mid-afternoon
We've unloaded the cargo into one of the larger caves that go into the multiple canyons surrounding Flint's Rock. Big surprise, these caves weren't as uninhabited as we though; while keeping watch, I heard the scream of either V'vyana or Caldin echo from the inside of the cave. Me, Gus, and Fiona just looked at each other; Gus opted out, said he would really be much help in the darkness of the cave…that, and even though I've seen him lob off the head of a goddamned wyvern (a tale of which I'll definitely write up sometime), he's a coward when it comes being in any enclosed space underground.
Looks like it's up to me. Gus and Fiona are really worried about me heading in there; in desperation, Gus even offered to come with me, but we all knew that it would only slow me down, and I didn't like the idea of Fiona being alone. Reluctantly, Fiona agreed, but asked that I bring some chalk to mark where I'm going in case she needed to go after me as well. With the hot and damp climate that surrounded Flint's Rock coming from the Evermoor Swamps, I knew that donning my splint-mail for entering the cave would be like entering a furnace. Reluctantly, I had to go with a leather jerkin with chainmail underneath. I can hear the shrieks of what sounds to be V'vyana moving further down the cave; maybe I can just leave them there, not risk it?
Update, not sure what time.
Good news and bad news. I think I'm on the right track; came to this large Crossroad after running about five minutes. Looks like I was right about the heat because it's starting to get very musky in here; why is it so hot, could it be…
Right, good news. At the crossroads, I found what looks like be Caldin and V'vyana's equipment. Mostly just water and a cartography kit scattered about, but I did find a map of the cave-area that Caldin must have drawn up. Now onto the bad news…I found a blood trail moving down the centre-most tunnel, and I can tell it isn't from an animal. I need to hurry; Caldin wrote up a warning pointing to the tunnel with the blood-trail: "Weird, chattering noises and lots of webs. Best stay away."
I'm marking an arrow with my chalk so that Fiona and Gus will know where I'm going if they come look for me…maybe it's best that they don't follow me, but Fiona can be a stubborn lass.
Update, I need to get the fuck out of here.
Caldin was right. The cave has started grow thick with spider-webs; I had to use my torch to burn a path forward, but I can hear myself getting closer to the screaming. However, I'm no longer alone anymore, and I'm starting to get paranoid about anything that might be crawling on the cave-ceiling or on the ground. At first it was only a few spiders, silently scuttling in the shadows of this cave; however, as I got deeper and deeper, I started seeing hundreds of them. Big ones the size of a dog were watching me from inside burrows; the torch must be keeping them away, because all they can do is hiss and back away to the light's edge. I'm more terrified of the smaller ones, though; they're more silent, and I can see that they seem…bloated with what seems like venom. Hoar give me strength.
Update, still alive for now.
I've found Caldin, who seems to be taking the new surrounding rather well. The scorched marks and burned corpses of spiders lead me to him in a small burrow; nearly got my head blown off by blast of flames as I entered, having to shout Caldin down that it was just me. His robes were ragged and covered in webbing, and he seemed to have lost that stupid hat of his somewhere during the chase.
I asked him what the fuck happened to them, and where in Pharasma's Ethereal ass was V'vyana? His answer seemed to make things even more grim. While mapping out the two other crossways that split off from the centre-most area, Caldin noticed several old signs that covered the walls of the cave; he couldn't read what they said, but V'vyana could, saying it appeared to be Thief Cant in written form. While mostly a verbal language, Thief Cant can be written down, but it's more of a hieroglyphic style where certain combinations of symbols mean code-words or phrases. They found out exactly why these were written down after reaching the dead-end of the left path, finding the remains of what looked like a gang of smugglers.
This cave was used as a smuggling route, and whatever happened to these guys wasn't good. Three specific messages read:
"6th day of trek, 12 arcane crystals, 5 mithril chestplates. Rest for tonight, leave in morning."
"7th day, route is condemned! If see message, get out fast; only death here. Gnarl fucked us,he and five others stole haul while we slept, didn't tell us cave was home to a dire-spider nest! Don't know what he did, nest woke up; campfire keeps spiders away, but we have nowhere to go. 3 dead, dragged off by those eight-legged freaks, only four of us left now."
"8th day, can't breath. Smoke hurting, no sleep; Nyric, Sage, and Martyn tried to make a run for it, couldn't take it anymore. They got Nyric and dragged him off, but I think Sage managed to get away through a tunnel; Martyn's bitten, poison hurt. He told me to do it."
"9th, I've run out of wood, down to last torch. I can't let them get me like the others. I love you, Sage."
Both V'vyana and Caldin were ready to run the fuck out of there, but then they noticed that the two bodies in the make-shift campsight were beginning to move. The first body, bloated and writhing, started to break apart its flesh as a giant, 6ft spider just burst out; the second body began to pour out from its mouth and chest-cavity hundreds of tiny spiders, all swarming towards both V'vyana and Caldin.
It was V'vyana whose scream seemed to wake up the nest; didn't know that she was particularly afraid of spiders. After that, it was all a blur, and next thing Caldin knew he was running with V'vyana out of the dead-end. She must have mistaken the centre-most path as the exit, but in that moment Caldin just went with instinct and followed after her. He got grabbed by one of the big ones and dragged away to a burrow, but thanks to a bit of fire-magic Caldin was push them back. For the last thirty minutes, all he's been doing is burning anything that comes near the burrow entrance.
This is…a lot to process. I'm going after V'vyana, and Caldin agreed to follow me; he believes that, while she was bitten, he thinks that it wasn't one of the more poisonous varieties. We're heading out the burrow and following the blood trail. Hoar give me strength.

End Entry

I wasn't quite sure of what primarily to do today. Nothing's ever planned. And it ain't by any purpose behind it. I'm just somewhat of a sloth. So many chests, or unsorted chests rather. I squander time every once I need something. Opening tens of chests in search of a bucket is a distinguished venture. I could sort them, and that would probably be worth a lot of saved time and mess. For some very divine reason, I choose not to. And that reason in itself is a void. Being lazy actually accounts to me doing the quite opposite of lazy. I could sort the chests once, and be liberated of my searches. But instead I have to search numerous and numerous wooden boxes, with many a times also ending the hunt futile. Where's my silk touch pickaxe? I think it should be in the chest neighbor to the enchanting table. Yes, I find it a most accountable sense. It isn't here. Then perhaps in my ender chest? It isn't here either. Wait, you require silk touch to break and obtain ender chests. Then why would it be in there? Wouldn't it be quite like locking the key in the car itself? And the search continues. Minecraft does if often to remind me of my lazy endeavors. I would carry the full bag each day to school. It would be really heavy. Some of my peers found it fantastical that my timid frail body could bear that much of a load, everyday. No, I can't set my bag every day according to the time table. And I also am not a great enjoyer of punishments. I'll carry everything, even if that remarks my responsible shoulders a martyrdom. I have scoliosis now. The exact reason of its cause is unknown. But holy blocks! Alright, this is my world, my new empire. Just wandering around my territory is such a solace. At least there's something important to me. There's my dog, my axolotl, and my many tenants. My villagers are incredible. Anything even feebly radiant seems heavenly to the ignorant. I should have studied Economics in school. They keep robbing me of my fortunes, and I keep stayed ignorant of my ignorance. Anyways, I'm rich. Such insignificant barters don't concern me. I beseech iron. There are five of the villagers, and do summon iron golems when gossiping. That isn't enough. I need to terrify them. As is greatly said, fear is the greatest motivator. I remember how all of my behind attempts have yielded. I've lost four nametags, all for this one motive. Every zombie I trap somehow has severe depression. They just fancy the sun and its wrath. I'm trying to bring them to the right spot, and they by some not known of power find a way to the open. And they burn to death. At least return my name tag. But wait, I'm rich. Quite so rich that even dirt occurs expensive to me. That librarian sells me name tags for twenty emeralds. No wonder those illagers keep raiding. They know these villagers well, and that of their nihilist earnings. I have this one name tag. I must not fail. One zombie and a dream. I affirm the spot I need the zombie to be. But the problem's no different. If I go in, I need to come out. And in doing that, I need to break some blocks. Not surprisingly enough, the zombie mistakes my departure for his escape. No, I am not as fast to place the blocks back before he manages to outdo my ingenious designs. This instance, however, intelligence struck me. It happens seldom. Zombies can't climb ladders, contrarily, I can. I'll lead him to a hole, and ladder out of it. That is something big brain. I wonder why humans at school didn't recognize my talents. I wonder why. It's night time; I lure a zombie there, and it works. I had never been of grace to such success before. I give him his rightful name, also that was given to his flammable predecessors; Perfidious. Do not betray me, Perfidious. Be wary to stay remote of your name. Morning time, and yes, how can I be of grace to such success? Humans at school were right, I cannot. No, the zombie is fine, he's doing quite splendidly. It's them perfidious villagers. They aren't panicking, the zombie has not an effect on them. I've spolit them defending them for so long. I think they've bid fear adieu. Alright, okay, okay. Why did I think humans in Minecraft would be any different from humans at school? And, I'm wandering again. I not yet have the nerve to fight the wither again. He's there reigning in the west where I had summoned him. My heart trembles only with some steps in that direction. I remember my defeat and my many deaths at his skulls. I need potions. Potions! It's a painful tale. Valiance laughs at my fight, and martyrdom mocks my demise. It were the dark times. I had returned from the nether, this once, alive. I was happy. I had obtained all the nether wart, every single one of them. That one lone nether fortress I had found upon my timid luck was finally fully looted. There's a lava farm I built. It serves as great fuel. I didn't have much dripstone, so there's only eight cauldrons collecting lava. Now, once a cauldron is full, it needs to be emptied to accommodate for more lava. So I had made a pit to store all of it. I would take the lava from the cauldron, and pour it there. Yes, I fell into this same lava pit, with all of the nether wart. I am beyond help. I should have put something of the kind of fences or blocks at least. But no, this is destiny, and mine is quite doomed. Lay emphasis on the lone nether fortress, and all the nether wart. So basically, I am left quite deprived of nether wart. Which means I can't brew potions. It's been an onerous decision to completely ignore the potion part of the game. I need them. And today's the day. I require finding a new nether fortress. The nether is hostile in its every caress. Golden helmet, diamond armor and tools. And all of it enchanted. Tons of food, and right with me, two totems of undying. There's no stopping the triumph of my endeavor. Omens? No, fearful glimpses should be fearing me instead. That dream, of me watching my empire burn helpless. I decide to overlook it. No foreshadowing intended. The hoglins, they run from warped fungi, and I have them in plenty. It needs to planted, however. They have poor eyesight perhaps. They can't quite see it in my hand, and so I need to plant it to ward them off. No trouble thus far. The fungi are working optimally. I've taken a different, a new way, for I need to find a new nether fortress. I have all these blocks abundant, and I keep placing them on my trail. I won't get lost such way. A fortress! A fortress! It's the same one. Different ways lead to the same destiny, and mine is doomed. I don't know how I'm here when I was walking a different path. I don't know. Anyways, I'm taking the free bone blocks. I've been taking all the glowy blocks on my way too. The glowy blocks in the trees. I forgot what they're called. Hostilities surround me, there's a ghast. I wield an infinity bow. No ghast escapes my sight undead. I'm mighty. I kill the ghast, and also any skeletons that had dare aim me an arrow. The hunt continues. I bridge my way over depressions and lava. There's a piglin here. He's companion to me, I wear a golden helmet, he won't hurt me. Then what's the damage? Something's attacking me! It's a hoglin, no, a whole herd of hoglins. Where's my warped fungus? It's here in my hand. I just need of its placing, and they'll leave me serenity. I can't place it. I keep clicking, but I can't place it; my mouse is crying. Apparently, you can't place it on bare netherrack. All flooring around me is bare netherrack. I've lost enough hearts in getting to this discovery. No, I am not using a shield. There's a totem of undying in my off hand. You can only have one. So, as all available options tribute me their unavailability. I have only one option, run. I'm running, and, the totem's gone, I died once. They're chasing, and I'm running. No, I'm not as fast to wield a shield or the other totem in my off hand whilst running. I lack the cool to think. I'm running. And verily safe, I reach a forest, and plant the fungus. I survived, barely. I equip my valiant person the second and also the last totem. I travel across the lands, searching far and wide. Bridging over great lava lakes, navigating dense forests, the wastelands, in my most noble hunt. The nether looks so beautiful. Just having my gaze rest amidst its vastness and color; I see a writer scribbling an inkless pen. There's only death awaiting me in that beauty, no one wishes staying long here, no one wishes to read the writer's fury. It had been very of a time my venture. I had been going for so long, without hint of the fortress. I had been collecting the bone blocks, and the glowy blocks. They are the only yields of my hardships yet. I shouldn't be reckless. There's so plenty to fear. But I'm parkouring. And I fall. Not to worry, I was parkouring on top of the trees, the fall wasn't fatal. And that's the only good part. I fell on an enderman. He's angry. I think I made eye contact, perhaps even hit him once. It was accidental, totally. He doesn't listen. My genius goes into hiding. Usually, I would fight endermen with a shield. But no shield this time around, only totem. Even with all the enchanted armor and axe, I fail to kill him before he kills me once. The totem's gone. I get afraid, and my hands start trembling; happens all the time. I can barely grip the mouse. My anxiety needs a pill overdose. I do manage to kill him, but I'm quite devasted, emotionally. I would so wish I had brought obsidian with me. I just wanted to portal out. The nether fortress can find another finder. But I don't have the obsidian. Going back is a long way. I decide to keep going. What's that? A fortress? The sight is enthralling; did I finally win? I near the structure running exhilarated. Those don't look like nether bricks. No, they aren't nether bricks. And that is no fortress. It's a bastion. I know of the piglin brutes. It is said no amounts of gold can buy their fidelity. They are most hostile. They will attack you nevertheless. And I am ready to attack them first. I'm going to plunder this bastion. Any being who opposes will face death. The plunder may result a genocide, I don't much care. I am reckless, careless, but for this one instance, I decide to safeguard my obtained treasures. They're just bone blocks and glowy blocks, but they're of my procuring. I keep them in my ender chest, and begin with the invasion. There's a piglin brute, and there a piglins too. I can use my shield now, I ran out of totems. The brutes have axes, and yes, my shield can be disabled now. O notch, there's too many of them. A jester come to rescue! Mercy! Mercy! I'm running, fast and worried with only so little health left. It is MLG time. I decide to jump over to an other side separated by a rift. It is parkour again. This time, it is far worse. I have nothing to MLG with. There's a boat, but I'm not fast enough to use my inventory. There's nothing in my hotbar of help. No totems, nothing. I knew I was dead before I died. A realization, a most oblivious embracing of death. I knew I was going to die. I did not have the time to think about the death. I could only know. My feather falling boots can't be saviours either. The jump is too great. I hit the ground too hard. The only findings of my agony, bone blocks and glowy blocks. I will blow that bastion to smithereens.

So my sister in law is getting married this weekend in Las Vegas so we flew out to celebrate and be part of the wedding . My wife paid for the car rental and the room, I worked 14 hrs a day for the past month and a half to be able to enjoy the weekend we brought our children both from previous relationships on the trip also. The plane ride getting here wasnt that bad till we arrived to our destination her aunt and her family flew in on the same flight which they're cool people i dont mind them at all. As soon as we get to the luggage pick up she starts aggressively yelling at me to pick up the luggage which I didnt mind but she yelled at me in front of her aunt, uncle and cousins, plus the crowd that were picking their things up also I was so embarrassed but I let it go. We get to the rental car place and she yells at me to put the luggage in carefully which im already aware of since its not our car let it go again. She starts driving the car out of the garage becuase its under her name as she's driving to the hotel I start talking with the kids pointing out places she tells me to be quiet because she can't focus, which ticked me off because she's always telling me how I dont pay attention to the road because im always distracted, when I'm driving she's always telling me to slow down or speed up or why didnt i make a turn. To be honest I get anxious when I'm driving because Im afraid she'll critize me and I'm prone to mistakes because of that. Fast forward to today we decided to get breakfast near where they were having the wedding rehearsal we're on the express way and traffic suddenly stops cause of an accident I brake a little hard but stop safely she screams at me why did i do that(mind you the speed limit was 75 mph it was a miracle no one crashed into the back of us) so I ignore her nagging at me because it's way too early and I didnt feel like arguing. A couple of minutes later a truck cuts me off and she ask me why did you brake when that car cut us off I couldnt take it anymore and told her she has alot of opinions for someone who doesnt like to drive and that I need to focus so she should stop bickering with me . She flipped out saying she should be able to ask me questions and I shouldnt be so sensitive the kids were in the car so I tried to calm down. She kept coming at me saying she can ask me a question and I tell her I don't have to answer which when we get to she demands I give her the keys to car and for me to get out of the car and go somewhere else in front of the kids. (I felt extremely bad becuase my son doesn't live with me and I dont spend as much time as I want to ) I ask her if she's serious she said yes and told me if I didnt give her the car keys she was going to call the sheriff on me for not giving her the keys and leaving. (Im a Daca recipient and cannot afford to get into trouble with the law) I give her the keys and stay in the car for a little bit not knowing what to do and to be honest heart broken earlier on in our relationship when we moved in together she would tell me she was going to leave and or call the cops on me. So I left the car and walked to a pub thank God it was open it took all of my strength not to cry while I was one of the only 3 people in the pub. I put my phone on do not disturb told my son i was ok through text and ate alone. The only time she texted me was to ask if I was going to show up to the rehearsal I ignored her message. Fast forward to tonight she refuses to see it was wrong to threaten me I was at a point I wanted to fly my son and I back home tonight but I felt bad that he would miss out on fun activities so I stayed. He text me if my wife was kicking us out I told him no not to worry. Now I found out she told everyone that they can use our hotel room to get ready at 6am everyone is going to arrive and well since I didn't apologize I get to sleep on the floor its almost midnight and I'm sitting at a table writting my thoughts to strangers because I dont want my friends to know I live like this.

I've been active off and on Reddit for about the past decade, and I've been sitting on this since 2007. I went to an "alternative" high school - I almost dropped out, so I was offered the chance to make up credits by going to a wilderness program where we tended to chickens and a garden, and went on an annual 10-day camping trip. In 2007, we went to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Like most who share their stories, I feel stupid and skeptical to even recount it, but I've had aliens on the brain lately, I've been into the creepy and occult since I was a kid.
Incident 1: I can't recall exactly what time of year it was, but it must've been just before summer break, let's say it was around May or June. On one of the first nights, we stood around a campfire at night and reflected on the trip so far, and I believe I was one of the only - if not the only person who caught what happened. We were in a valley next to a small river, surrounded by mountains. One of the mountains to the west of the campsite completely lit up with blue light, as if a blue studio light large enough to light the entire mountainside flashed for a second. There was no rain, lightning, or a storm, the weather was fairly sunny and clear at that point.
Incident 2: Nearing the end of the trip, we'd moved to another area to camp for the evening, and everyone was laid out in their sleeping bags. I've never been a good sleeper, chronic insomnia since childhood, so I laid in silence while most others snoozed, staring up at the clear, star-filled sky. I noticed the starry sky being blacked out by something that looked about the size of a frisbee, it appeared to be a very thin, lightweight disc that hovered and vibrated slightly, like the surface tension of a leaf on top of water. It would stay stationary in one spot for 10 to 20 seconds, before rapidly zipping to another spot in the sky. It seemed to be tracing a pattern, repeating this process a few times, before finally zooming off at a rapid speed into the sky and disappearing.
I'm currently watching a youtube documentary about the Nimitz and USS Roosevelt sightings, and it sparked the memory. The way the crafts in the Nimitz footage were described as hovering stationary before zipping off at high speeds to another stationary position was exactly the same behavior as what I saw in 2007. I'm highly skeptical, and more inclined to believe that the government does in fact have extremely advanced drone technology, but the dreamer in me wants to believe that it's aliens. I asked my mother if she'd ever seen anything UFO related recently, and she described exactly the same behavior in a sighting she'd had a few years ago, right here in our backyard in Northern California. Hovering as if observing, zipping to another spot, repeating the process, and so on, until zooming away.
I'm a healthy mix of doubtful and hopeful that there are other forms of life out there. I know what I saw, and those two events in 2007 will always stick with me. I just find it strange that so many people have seen crafts (whether alien or made by the shady US government) with the same movement patterns. Thanks for reading!

How does reporting work? Me and the squad where walking into the hotel area in dmz and a sniper was camping on a rock shot at my teammate. I knocked his plates downed him then hit him with a heads hot befor he could self. Looted his bag found a bomb drone and took cover just in case his team was near by. My team locked the teammate hiding in a shit so I activated the bomb drone they waited until I met them at the door open it drone downed the guy they finished him. He claimed we were cheating and was going to report us all while cussing and saying racial slurs. I never exchange words with him, he reported me specifically. For offensive chat.

I work nights on the east coast US, I would love to find a long term friend who’s across the ocean and awake during that time. Or a friend near me who’s awake over nights. I get pretty board as I’m doing security and there’s really nothing to do but YouTube and Reddit lmao.
Hobbies : woodworking - very much a beginner , snowboarding - I actually used to instruct , Xbox - Minecraft and soulsborne are top , tv/movies - tell me your fav movies and I’ll recommend you something. I used to watch 2 movies a day during my low point and I’ve just seen so many, although havnt seen too much recently. And my last hobby would be learning - I’m constantly watching YouTube videos on woodworking and learning, or reading about mental health stuff , or history or science . But I also have small memory issues so there’s alot I learn that I don’t remember . Still like learning tho lol.
Other stuff about me : I’m a dad of a 1.5 year old so I would love a dad friend, shit I’d take a mom friend too lol. I love talking about mental health stuff , I have a mix of diagnosis so I relate to almost anyone with mental health issues. I’m also a great listener so if you wanna vent I’m here! And I’m a dad of 2 pups so I love dogs. I also love fish keeping even tho my tank isn’t set up yet , but if you got a tank I wanna see it! I recently got married last august so that’s cool.
I would love to find someone who enjoys my music . I like the stokes, kings of Leon, cage the elephant, the growlers, block party, Albert Hammond jr, artic monkeys, vampire weekend, the orwells, fleet foxes , Karen O. And many more. If you don’t like them, tell me who you do like and send me your favorite song.
I’m sure there’s other stuff but I feel like this is enough to start a conversation.
I’m not looking for a specific gender friend , all are welcome! But if you’re of the opposite sex and want a guy friend but you always get hit on by “friends”, I’ll do what I can to prove I’ll never cross that line. All I ask is that you do the same. And that goes for anyone.
Thanks for reading all that, and don’t be afraid to message me!

Hello :) I (F 21) wrote to my crush (M 21) 2 weeks ago, with whom I have not been in contact for 5 years. We have met 3 times to date, once for billiards, once for a walk and then a gym date and then to watch movies. Everything was super nice up to that point and he was also really respectful and very polite. I really like everything about him. We already had our first kiss on the first date
Now the problem is that everything went great today. For once I wore pants, I usually only wear skirts. And everything was great at his house, we watched a movie. After that we made out a bit and you could tell that he was very respectful when it came to my body. A no is a no, no persuasion, no guilt tripping, which I had before.
Then came the conversation what are we actually. And for both of us it was clear we are just getting to know each other and not yet in a relationship. Would be too quick for both of us. But at the same time he also asked me if I was looking for something serious because he didn't feel like just something short, but something long. So up to that point everything was normal.
Then we talked about no-gos and also about important things like meeting the opposite sex, which is OK in itself, but that you should tell the others because of respect for your partner. I think 100% and then he also said that he doesn't like it when his girlfriend dresses in revealing clothes because he's afraid that other men will look or even bother me. I love wearing skirts, but I don't mind wearing pants either. He said he would also be ok to find compromises, for example a skirt with thicker Pantyhose or something. He has repeatedly said that he doesn't think it's the women's fault, but that there are really disgusting guys out there.
Yes, I have no problem with doing him the favor because I like him. Really really like him and it fits great. He's a great guy. And my style looks just as cute with or without a skirt. I also have some ideas and as long as I can reflect my creativity in my clothes, it's no problem.
But the point is that it sounds to me like a precursor to banning. Out of respect for my partner, I don't think there's anything about allowing certain things to be. Wouldn't want him to always walk around with his upper body uncovered. But that really gave me a bit of a queasy feeling. Just as he only brought me to the train station at 9 p.m. in the evening. So I don't mind driving alone, he usually rides his bike to work and has to pay for rent, the gym and of course the basic things. A ticket would be of course too expensive in the long run
But it's about this "guys are dangerous, be careful" and "you can go the rest of the way alone" if he had asked me I would probably have said cut it out. It's a long way away and so we're both grown up. But it's about the courtesy of at least asking. Don't make a fuss about it now. But there are 2 things that I noticed very negatively and I don't know if I should rate them as red flags.
I think the rest is good and fits great. Especially when we talked about it and set limits and I find everything very mature and right and important. But somehow I find the other two things a bit sus. Even if I say it's better to say something early than late.
What do you think about things. Is it a reason not to enter into a relationship or would it not be a reason for you. I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed with that
Tldr: my date sayed to me that he doesn't like his partner to wear revealing cloth because he doesn't want me to get Harassed. Idk what to think about it

Is it wrong of me to reach out?
I’m thinking about reaching out to a girl I broke things off two years back with, but don’t know if it would be wrong/selfish.
About 2 years back we met on Hinge, I asked for her number and we went on to talk on the phone/facetime nearly every day for about 2mo. We would talk for hours on end about everything you could thing of, I connected with her in a way I haven’t with anyone in that way since. She was one of the few people who I’ve ever hit it off instanly with. I fault myself for ending things abruptly, as I got cold feet at the idea of being in my first relationship. I didn’t want to date and she didn’t want to be “friends”, so that was the end of it. Regardless of how I tried to explain it(i.e. saying I needed to work on myself), it didn’t quite add up and I basically made a fool of myself. In reality, I chose the comfort of isolation and returning back to the sad self-victimized mess I was, over the prospect of improvement with an incredibly well rounded person who’d actually be holding me accountable. 2 years of radio silence, therapy, and many life lessons later, she’s continued to cycle in and out of my mind as much as I try to forget. Moreso now than ever, as I’ve been working to repair broken relationships over the last couple months.
Maybe I’m an asshole, just selfishly seeking validation for something that should’ve been a non-issue. That I deserve whatever shittiness I feel for putting both myself and her into that situation to begin with. Am I passed the window of reaching out to apologize, as it would do more harm than good? If so, how can I make myself forget about it?

One thing I've noticed is he breaks eye contact periodically (about once every 7 - 10 seconds) compared to Dr. Todd Grande who just stares straight into the camera nonstop. I think that possibly breaking & re-establishing eye contact makes the viewer feel like they are being engaged every time that happens?
He also rocks his body from front to back which makes his face appear furthecloser like he is coming towards you -- which replicates the feeling of someone approaching you. He also holds his hands a few inches away from his chest to make his hand/arm gestures more noticeable (because the closer something is to the camera, the larger it appears, relative to background).
Furthermore, he tends to tilt his head down slightly -- which forces his eyelids to be fully retracted, making his eyes appear bigger than if looking directly into the camera (at eye level). He also uses passive, dark clothing which provides maximum contrast to his face/hands, which is the part of the video he wants you to pay attention to while talking.
I have watched every single one of his videos twice and I have watched my favorites at least 20 times, haha. Such as the Russian death march and all the scuba/drowning incidents but my all-time favorite is the waitress who drove up to the 3rd floor of a parking garage to enter Perry's Steakhouse through the ventilation shaft because her boss at the new restaurant she worked at sent her home early because she was "acting strange"... 😅
He also seems to use some sort of lighting technique to make his facial contours very bright from the front, but dark from the side (the front of his face is much brighter than the sides of his face) which makes me thing he possibly uses some type of video editing & facial recognition software to make all his facial contours look more pronounced. (such as jawbones and where his nose transitions into the rest of his face)
These are just my opinions and I'd love to hear what other people think! 👍

I’ve been to a few F1 races over the years, massive fan since a kid. Each time I’ve gone I’ve tried to get a collectors pass to have something to look back on in a few years but this year I wasn’t able to as they only sold to Australian addresses and I’ve been in New Zealand. I was hoping to buy one at the merch stalls but the ones they’re selling are significantly cheaper and worse quality.
Wondering if anyone near Gate 1 / 3 would let me borrow their pass so I could get a spare lanyard off a customer services kiosk? Will give the pass back just think the lanyard will be a good stand in on the shelf. Will exchange for an overpriced Heineken lol

I just had an offer to buy a painting I was working on, rarely does this happen to me and its normally smaller works.
The painting I'm working on is probably around 6 feet by 3 feet. Its dyed Kitakata Paper, with pennies adhered to the paper, sized with rabbit skin glue on a cradle made out of a found wood (an old door frame cut into thin strips). So there isn't actually any paint involved, just a little bit of metallic pigment in the rabbit skin glue. I don't know if you can imagine this but its a rather abject object, and I have absolutely no idea how to price it (or how archival it is haha).
The smaller more traditional paintings I've sold in the past were for $300-400, but those paintings were around 12inches in the largest dimension. Granted the small works take nearly as much time as this largely one, which was more of a material affair.

Specifically things that pertain to base design.
Does it bother you when you diet make profit? DO you get killed by traps often?
What makes you dispose raiding a base? (I'd also be interested to know how long you've played in addition)
I'm near 500 hours and auto turrets still piss me off.

Earlier tonight I was shopping and got a bunch of bras, brought them to the dressing room to try them on, etc. I swear on my life that I didn't take off any tags, but one of those gray fancy security tags fell off of one of the bras as I was changing. I was wearing this big hoodie and there's not much room to put your stuff inside a dressing room, I had bags and clothes from other stores that I'd already bought, so everything just went in one pile on the little table and I asked my friend to kick back the grey security tag from where it fell on the floor underneath the little curtain. I chose one bra out of what I picked from the store to get, put the others back, and went to check out.
On my way out one worker, with a mic attached to her head, walked past me towards the dressing room asking if everything was okay. When I went to check out, they asked for my phone numbeemail for rewards, and both times I gave the info for a normal checkout process, the girl at the register said she couldn't find my account or info. I do have accounts with aerie, I checked and I have an account with the exact email I gave her. I paid with a credit card and walked out. One bra out of the whole group, other than the one I paid for, was in my bag as I noticed later- the one on which the security tag fell off.
I'm really stressed out right now. I recently turned 18 and I don't want to mess up my college or future over something like this. I feel like it'd be so easy to track me down even if I didn't get caught leaving the store with an unpaid-for item.
I'm thinking I should go back tomorrow and pay for the bra I picked up on accident. Does anyone have experience with Aerie/American Eagle and situations like this? Can anyone give me advice on whether or not I should do this? From what I've read, I'm seeing that a lot of people get in trouble for going back and trying to pay for items they didn't pay for initially.

Introduction

I have been using Samsung Galaxy devices for 11 years, with my first Android/Samsung Galaxy device being the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (got the Galaxy Nexus in January of 2012) and with me currently daily driving the S22 Ultra (since May 2022).
I have been using iPhones for more than 12 years, with my first iPhone being the iPhone 4 (got the iPhone 4 in December of 2010) and with me currently daily driving the iPhone 14 Pro Max (since September 2022) and the iPhone SE (2020) as a secondary iPhone for iOS development (since March 2022).
Here is my daily driver history:
Android:

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus (bought in January 2012, traded the phone in October 2013)
• Samsung Galaxy Note3 (bought in October 2013, traded the phone in October 2014)
• Samsung Galaxy Note4 (bought in October 2014, traded the phone in September 2015)
• Samsung Galaxy Note5 (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's son (16M) in August 2016)
• Samsung Galaxy Note7 (bought in August 2016, recalled in October 2016)
• Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (bought in October 2016, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in April 2017 after he broke his iPhone 6 Plus)
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (bought in April 2017, sold to my cousin's son in Vietnam (29M) in April 2018)
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (bought in April 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in March 2019, with him giving me his S7 Edge)
• Samsung Galaxy S10+ (bought in March 2019, gave to my sister (21F) in March 2020 via mail, making the A50 as her secondary phone)
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (bought in March 2020, traded the phone in February 2021)
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (bought in February 2021, gave to my sister (21F) in May 2022 via mail due to her cracking her S10+ with the front suffering some cracks, got the S10+ back)
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (bought in May 2022, still using it now)

Primary iPhone:

• iPhone 4 (bought in December 2010, sold to Vietnam's used market in October 2011)
• iPhone 4S (bought in October 2011, traded the phone in September 2012)
• iPhone 5 (bought in September 2012 right after moving to the US, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2013)
• iPhone 5S (bought in September 2013, sold to my cousin (39F) in September 2014)
• iPhone 6 (bought in September 2014, sold the phone on eBay in September 2015)
• iPhone 6S (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's daughter (17F) in October 2016)
• iPhone 7 Plus (bought in September 2016, sold the phone on eBay in November 2017)
• iPhone X (bought in November 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in September 2018)
• iPhone XS Max (bought in September 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in October 2019 with him giving me his iPhone X to help use that towards my iPhone 11 Pro Max)
• iPhone 11 Pro Max (bought in October 2019, sold to my cousin (53F) in November 2020 with her giving me her iPhone 7 Plus to use as a spare device)
• iPhone 12 Pro Max (bought in November 2020, device started breaking down, so I traded the phone in December 2021, initially planned to keep it for longer)
• iPhone 13 Pro Max (bought in December 2021, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2022 after complaints that her iPhone 11 Pro Max is breaking down, with her giving me her iPhone 11 Pro Max)
• iPhone 14 Pro Max (bought in September 2022, still using it now)

Secondary iPhone (mostly for iOS app development, listening to music, not including any iPhone/smartphones I bought on eBay for a collection):

• iPhone 5 (September 2015-November 2017): my cousin's husband (55M) upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a Galaxy S6 Edge+ and decided to give his iPhone 6 to my cousin (53F) due to him preferring Android over iOS (he kept the S6 Edge+ until May 2020 when he bought the S20+ and then he gave his S6 Edge+ to me in May 2020 via mail, but between 2017-2020, this acted as his 2nd phone as he was daily driving the iPhone X/XS Max mentioned above)
• iPhone 6S (November 2017-November 2020): my cousin's daughter (17F) upgraded from the 6S to the 7 Plus, along with both her parents (55M, 53F) not only due to the family switching from T-mobile to Verizon but also due to her cracking my old iPhone 6S, which caused her parents not only to replace the screen but also the battery)
• iPhone 7 Plus (November 2020-March 2022): my cousin (53F) received my iPhone 11 Pro Max, but since the iPhone 6S fell off my bike mount a month before, it cracked, and since the battery is so horrendous on the 6S, my cousin (53F) decided to give me her iPhone 7 Plus and I decided to take the 6S to the Apple Store in Cambridge MA to recycle it
• iPhone SE (2020) (since March 2022): Even though my cousin, and later I took very good care of the iPhone 7 Plus, the phone started breaking down on several fronts: the silent switch, charging port pins, and even battery started to die hard, and plus, since the phone is getting unsupported, I started deciding on the iPhone SE. After finding out the iPhone SE 3 was $429 and finding out I could get a prepaid iPhone SE 2 on AT&T for $150 ($50 plan+$15 activation fee but I cancelled auto pay immediately after buying the phone), I got the brand-new SE 2 instead. Nowadays, the battery started to fall apart (even though the battery is currently at 93% capacity) and even though this phone is not in a beta, there are a lot of bugs even on 16.3.1 (I am thinking of updating to 16.4 tonight)

Things my Samsung Galaxy does better than my iPhone

There are many things that Samsung Galaxy phones and other Android phones do better than iPhones, including the fact that on Android:

• notifications are not cluttered in the lock-screen unlike on iOS
• Android is more customisable than iOS and Android is an open-source mobile operating system
• Many new features such as reverse wireless charging, in screen fingerprints, foldable phones, 5G, triple camera setup, phablet size phones,
• there is a real back button on Android
• No need to use iTunes; you could just transfer music and photos/videos between your computer and phone without the hassle of iTunes
• Some Samsung Galaxy phones (S1-S20 excluding the S6/Note5) have microSD and older Samsung Galaxy phones have removable batteries
• Some Samsung Galaxy phones in certain markets have dual sim support, but since e-SIM was introduced, first with the Pixel 2, and later with the iPhone XS, dual sim is less of an advantage
• There are a lot of options, including the M/J series for budget conscious buyers, the A series for the average folk in many countries, the S/Note series for power-users, business users for extra productivity (mostly the Note series) and phone enthusiasts (like me), and the Z series for certain business users for extra productivity and for Flexers
• On my Samsung Galaxy devices, I could share the Wi-Fi password to other phones using the QR code; on iPhones, I could only share the Wi-Fi connection with other iPhones
• Samsung Galaxy devices support split screen view and pop up view, but these two features are restricted to the iPad, and iPhones only support picture in picture video

However, there are many lesser-known things that my Samsung Galaxy phones do better than my iPhones (based on my experience over the past 11 years), and some might be controversial:

• iPhone batteries start to massively degrade after a new iPhone and iOS version comes out

Even though the iPhone batteries are mostly very good during the first year of usage and have extremely good standby compared to Android phones due to software optimisation, by around July 2016, my iPhone 6S's battery is starting to fail, and I did need to rely on battery packs for my iPhones to survive as the iPhone 6S's battery would go from 100-0 after 4-6 hours of heavy use. My cousins did replace the iPhone 6S battery in October of 2017, but by October 2020 (please note according to battery health, IIRC, the 6S stands at 85%), on iOS 14, the iPhone 6S would drain from 90 to 35 in as little as 10 minutes and sometimes, during cold weather, the iPhone 6S's battery (on iOS 14) would die at 30%. Turns out this is not only an issue on my 6S as I bought a 6S on eBay in 2021 for my smartphone collection and that phone (with 80% capacity) also behaved the same, draining from 80 to 25 in around 10 minutes. The iPhones before the 6S also had a poor battery life after a year in my experience, and even though the iPhone 7 Plus, X, XS Max, and 11 Pro Max's battery holds better than the 6S due to the batteries being bigger, the batteries still started to become bad after 1-2 years.
My iPhone 12 Pro Max (I got rid of it in December of 2021 after it accidentally fell out from my nightstand drawer and the back cracked a month before) started seeing its battery fail sometime in September 2021, when the 13 Pro Max came out. Say I leave the house at 10:00 and were to return home at 19:00. By 17:00, with medium usage + hotspot, the iPhone's battery would have depleted to around 20 percent. Plus, my iPhones typically consume more battery if devices are connected to hotspot than my Samsung Galaxies are.
Also, I did receive the Galaxy S7 Edge (2019), Samsung Galaxy S9+ (earlier this month as my cousin's husband upgraded to the S23+), and the Samsung Galaxy S10+ (last year), and given that I would sell these phones on the second hand market, I would test the phones for a week or two to see the phone's condition before assessing it and selling it on the second hand market. What I found is that even though the S10+ cracked and therefore, I donated it rather than sold it, all three phones seem to have solid battery, considering their ages. The S7 Edge with its 3600 mAh battery under heavy use after 3 years would go about for 6-8 hours before needing a recharge, and my S9+ would go about for around 5-6 hours as well before hitting down to 20% of battery (that is after 5 years and given the fact my cousin's husband is a power user), and even though the S10 cracked, it would go for 8-10 hours under heavy usage before draining to around 20%. I also got back my Note5 from 2015 once my cousin's son upgraded to my cousin (50M)'s S8 Active in 2019 once my cousin upgraded to the Note10+, and even on that phone, the battery is still very good considering its age and its 3000 mAh size, doing around 4-6 hours going down from 100-20.

• My Samsung devices have proven more reliable as a whole than many of my iPhones

Even though all the 4 Samsung Galaxy S phones I have repossessed were slightly slow compared to when they were first purchased, all of them, apart from the front cracks on the S10+, are still highly reliable, and according to my usage as well as from the 4 people who have used my phones, they have commented that the phones I gave to them gave them minimal issues and they JUST WORK. Fun fact: during my ownership, I have never experienced any major problems with any of my Samsung phones.
Fun fact, my cousin (28M) switched from the iPhone 7 Plus to the Samsung Galaxy S10+ in March of 2019 and is now currently using a Galaxy S23 Ultra. From his 4-year long experience using just the Galaxy S10+ (he bought the ceramic colour with 512GB of storage and currently his father is using the S10+), even though he is a power user with him customising the phone with themes, being a heavy user, and having cracked his S10+ last year, the phone was still extremely reliable, working fully as intended, apart from the battery, which has been shortened to 6 hours of heavy usage before dying.
My iPhones however, were not so bright. Even though pre-2015 iPhones are mostly reliable during my time using it, since the 6S, there have been some phones which have showed issues here and there, sometimes within the first year of ownership. As for the iPhone 6S, it is basically only the battery, which has been extremely bad after a year and the fact it would sometimes shut off at 30% during cold weather.
Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus however, and there started to be a lot of problems. Even though my iPhone 7 Plus didn't show any problems during my ownership, even though my cousin took good care of the 7 Plus, when I got her 7 Plus in November of 2020 (she got the phone brand new at Verizon in November 2017), the silent switch started to wear down and get stuck, meaning it is hard to turn on silent switch, the charging port pins started to wear, making it very hard to charge the phone or connect the phone to the computer, and the battery started to struggle real hard.
Starting with the iPhone XS Max and there started to be real struggles. Even though I didn't see any problems with either the iPhone XS Max and 11 Pro Max during my ownership and took good care of these two phones, when these two phones got passed to their second owners, problems started to arise. For the XS Max, in May of 2020, it got bricked, and it wouldn't turn on even if he plugged it in the charging cable or through iTunes, and my cousin's husband had to bring it to service, and that got him to purchase an S20+ given he prefers Android over iOS, and after fixing the XS Max, he gave it to his daughter (17F), who is his only child. For the 11 Pro Max however, the phone's battery drained fast and my cousin always had to rely on the charger, and plus, there are issues of connecting Bluetooth devices as well as with calls and volume whilst connected to Bluetooth devices, and my cousin always complained about these issues and even though I did attempt to fix, the issues didn't get resolved (I am tech savvy by the way, so I could get through a lot of issues, such as reset my bricked iPad using iTunes, etc.).
And now onto my iPad Pro 9.7. I bought the iPad in June of 2016, and even though I used it mostly for watching YouTube videos, Udemy and edX courses, the iPad started having a bricking issue in November of 2017. What happened was that I was charging and overnight, the iPad just shut itself off and never powered on again. I tried connecting it to iTunes and even though iTunes could recognise the device, whenever I reset it, errors keep on popping up and it is impossible to reset. I tried bringing it to the Apple Store, but they couldn't reset it either and they suggested that I replace the iPad Pro 9.7 with an iPad Mini 4 for $300. Then, I started taking matters into my own hands and finally resetted the iPad Pro successfully after multiple attempts in January of 2018. Four months later (in May 2018), the iPad bricked again, and I had to do the same process, and it took until August of 2018 after at least 5-10 tries for it to work again. And then in August 2020, whilst charging overnight, the iPad turned off and I thought it was toast. Turned out it was, as after countless times diagnosing the issues on iTunes, the iPad would keep on bricking after multiple reset attempts and after more than 2 years. Then, there was a miracle. In November of 2022, I finally got my iPad working again and I felt like I was very lucky, because I thought that the iPad was bricked forever and wouldn't go back on, ever.
Then, finally, it is my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I bought the phone on 20 November 2020, and by mid-September 2021, things started to go south for this phone. The top speaker started to fail and even though I cleaned it, the speaker was so muffled that I could barely hear anything from the top speaker. I brought it to the Apple Store and they said it is a digitiser issue and they couldn't even clean it for me, and around that same time, the touchscreen started to act up. With a lot of ghost touches, it started to become very hard to use the iPhone (and keep in mind, I have never replaced the screen since I never cracked the front screen). In October 2021, the phone started to have lose cellular signal when I enter the MBTA train and still didn't recognise cellular signal for minutes after I exited the MBTA and was at least a mile from that station on my bike, but luckily, resetting network settings did fix the issue with the cellular signal however. By the time the phone accidentally fell to the ground and the back did suffer some cracks in November, I started to give up on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and in December, I upgraded to the 13 Pro Max.
Even though my Galaxy Buds and my cousin (28M)'s Galaxy Buds did not show any issues (he bought the Galaxy Buds in March 2019 and after heavy usage, it still held up very well and he even gave it to his father), all 4 of my AirPods, even the AirPods Pro 2, have shown issues here and there. My first AirPods (January 2017-July 2018) basically stopped working, and hence, I bought another pair of AirPods in July 2018 and used it until February 2022, when I dropped it in the toilet. Even though I was using the 2nd pair of AirPods half the time (July 2018-January 2020, December 2020-April 2021, November 2021-February 2022), by late 2021, the AirPods started showing major problems. First off, the battery drains so fast even indoors that it only lasted about an hour. Then, once I am outside, the right side would disconnect after only 5 minutes of usage and the left side would keep soldering on. Once it fell to the toilet, it was game over (however, I still kept the AirPods, it is just in the nightstand sitting there, and I did clean it as well). I bought the AirPods 2 in February 2022, and after 2 months, at least once every week or two, the right side would discharge, even in the case (the case is clean by the way), until it went out of battery. I tried resetting the case and putting the case to charge again, but to no avail, and it took several reset attempts for it to return to normal. The same exact scenario happened to the AirPods Pro 2, which I got in October as my cousin wanted to gift me the AirPods Pro 2, in exchange for my AirPods 2. Except that sometimes, my iPhone 14 Pro Max couldn't even connect to the AirPods Pro 2 or even recognise it.

• Hotspot doesn't always work on my iPhones, but always does on my Galaxy

I currently have two phone plans: my main Verizon phone plan with my iPhone 14 Pro Max and my secondary MetroPCS phone plan with my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I do carry a third phone with me (without a phone plan), which is the iPhone SE 2020. Due to me not having a phone plan on my iPhone SE 2020, I do have to rely on hotspot when I am outside. For my iPhone SE 2020, I primarily use it for music streaming and to test my mobile applications, whilst my two other phones are used for more intense purposes, with me spending the most time on my Samsung.
For my iPhone 14 Pro Max and previous iPhones (iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, etc), personal hotspot is very buggy. My Samsung connects just fine to the iPhone hotspot, but my iPhones don't. To preserve the battery, after several minutes, the iPhone SE would get disconnected from the iPhone 14 Pro Max hotspot (which is acceptable), but it gets worse. Even if I am currently streaming Apple Music on my iPhone SE with the screen on as well, the iPhone would disconnect from the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it is very hard to connect it to hotspot. Sometimes, the iPhone SE would say 'Unable to join network' and others, it said 'Personal Hotspot Failure', which would force me to restart both the iPhone SE and 14 Pro Max. Now the Remote Hotspot Failure started happening since I got the 11 Pro Max in 2019, and at the time, my 16:9 phone was the iPhone 6S, and even then, there were hotspot failure problems. I restarted the 11 Pro Max, but the hotspot failure would return after a week or two. Even after resetting network settings in 2021 right before my 13 Pro Max because my iPhone 12 Pro Max would lose cellular connectivity even after I exited the MBTA tunnel and I am outside a mile from the MBTA station, once I got my 13 Pro Max, the remote hotspot failure still appears. My Samsung Galaxy over the years connects to the iPhone hotspot without any issues, and would stay connected even if I am not using the phone until I basically turn off hotspot on my iPhone.
Now due to the fact connecting my iPhone SE to the iPhone hotspot is so bad, I would typically use the Samsung hotspot as a backup (keep in mind my iPhone plan gives unlimited hotspot whilst Metro only gives 5 GB). Both iPhones connect to the Samsung hotspot flawlessly, without any issues.

• On my Samsung Galaxy phones, I can disable Wi-Fi using the Quick Settings (swipe down) menu, but for iPhones, it is less consistent

Sometimes, I don't want my main iPhone 14 Pro Max to connect to the Samsung hotspot due to it having its own data. I would turn off Wi-Fi on the control centre and after 5-10 minutes, it would reconnect the Wi-Fi, therefore wasting hotspot data on my Samsung metroPCS plan and making me mildly angry. iPhone does say turning off until tomorrow but in reality, Wi-Fi is turned on after 5-10 minutes. For Samsung, I turn off Wi-Fi on the quick settings until I turn it back on or I flick on airplane mode, which seems more intuitive in my case. However, when I am at home without any hotspot devices, whenever I use quick settings for iPhone, nearby Wi-Fi does disconnect until tomorrow

• Connecting to Bluetooth devices is better on my Samsung Galaxy phones than my iPhones

Pretend I have two Bluetooth devices (AirPods Pro, JBL Clip 4), and I wanted to connect to the JBL speaker. On the Samsung, if I accidentally clicked on the AirPods Pro, I could click JBL Clip 4 immediately and within 5 seconds, I would be connected to the JBL Clip 4 speaker. For the iPhone however, things are not so bright, as if I were to accidentally click the AirPods Pro, I had to wait 15 seconds for Apple to search for the AirPods Pro, and then once it says it couldn't find the AirPods Pro because I left my AirPods Pro at home, that is when I could click on JBL Clip 4 and connect it. That turns a 5 second process into something like a 15-20 second process.

• Apple Pay sometimes doesn't work on my iPhone

On several occasions since 2021, my iPhones would sometimes not pay using Apple Pay and would fail to pay. Sometimes, the iPhone couldn't even detect a reader even though the reader does work. Once I use Samsung Pay on my Samsung Galaxy devices as a backup, the payment did go through and it finally worked.
Yesterday, I was at the MBTA station, and I was attempting to pay for the Monthly pass. Ironically, even though the reader did work, the iPhone 14 Pro Max kept on saying 'Hold near Reader', and even though I held it near the mobile payment reader for 10-15 seconds, it still didn't do anything. Fed up, after the second time, I repaid the MBTA ticket and used my S22 Ultra and the payment did go through. However, at the restaurant around 1 hour later, even though I didn't restart the iPhone, Apple Pay finally worked again as I was able to pay my meal using Apple Pay.

• Automatic updates are better on my Galaxies than my iPhones

My Samsung automatic updates are set overnight, and even with airplane mode turned on during the night, my Samsungs are always up to date without ever having to go to the settings app to update the firmware to Android 13. As for iPhone, they did schedule automatic updates between 4-5 am, but in reality, automatic updates keep failing even with Wi-Fi turned on overnight. If I wanted to update my iPhones, I would typically have to manually update via settings

• Wi-Fi is far better on my Samsung Galaxy/Android phones than my iPhones, iPads, or Macs

I attended university between 2018 and 2022, and in late 2021, at university (I majored in CS by the way), my iPhones, iPads, and Macs would often struggle with Wi-Fi. My iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 7 Plus (as of November 2021) would sometimes even outright refuse to connect to Wi-Fi and same goes with the MacBook 15' Core i9 (2019) (I have since upgraded to the M1 MBP 16 since the logic board on the MBP 2019 failed in November 2021), and if connected, at some parts of the university, they are extremely slow, and sometimes, borderline unusable. My S21 Ultra however, at the same place, worked far better and was able to load websites. Even my Windows laptop was able to load websites as well as my Galaxy A51 (I brought an A51 one day to MIT to see if the Wi-Fi issues only occurred on Apple products).
Fun fact: the Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first phone to offer Wi-Fi 6E and not even the iPhone 14 Pro Max supports this feature
Then in July 2022, during a flight from Dallas back to Boston, my iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone SE 2 would fail to connect to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network several times and if connected, the Wi-Fi was painfully slow and near unusable whilst my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra connected to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network just fine and worked as expected, with websites loading reasonably quick, just like at my university with the S21 Ultra.

• USB C lasts longer than lightning connector

Finally, one thing Samsung and Android OEMs do better than Apple is the fact that many Android devices, including Samsung Galaxy devices, come with USB-C which is the future compared to Apple's ancient lightning connector (frankly, Apple now uses USB-C on most of their iPads except for the entry level iPad 9). It allows for faster charging and transfer speeds and USB-C is basically superior to lightning, which is a relic from a bygone era. Plus, USB-C seems to last longer. Whilst my lightning connectors generally worn out between 6-18 months before having inconsistent connections or connectivity issues, my USB-C connectors would keep soldering on for at least 5 years before breaking down like the lightning connectors.
TL;DR: Even though there are many benefits to owning an iPhone over an Android device, based on my user experience, after over 11 years of using various Samsung Galaxy phones, two Samsung Galaxy Tabs, and one Galaxy Bud and after over 12 years of using various iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and AirPods, I could safely assure that there are a lot of benefits to using Samsung and Android products over iPhones, namely due to the fact that notifications, customisation, features, options, Wi-Fi, multitasking, batteries, hotspot, Bluetooth, mobile payment, etc., are better on Samsung and Android products than on iPhones, based on my user experience.

I'll be traveling soon and while I usually just use my phone, I would like to be able to print my photos (not larger than 27x40) without them looking muddy. Also, where I'm going there is a higher risk that my gear can be stolen, so I'm not looking to buy anything I can't part with ($100-200).
I've been looking at used DSLRs on craigslist, two near me that meet my price point are a Canon Rebel T6 and a Nikon D90. My goal is to print landscape and wildlife pictures. Will either of these meet my needs? Any recommendations or advice is welcome.

I've been active off and on Reddit for about the past decade, and I've been sitting on this since 2007. I went to an "alternative" high school - I almost dropped out, so I was offered the chance to make up credits by going to a wilderness program where we tended to chickens and a garden, and went on an annual 10-day camping trip. In 2007, we went to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Like most who share their stories, I feel stupid and skeptical to even recount it, but I've had aliens on the brain lately, I've been into the creepy and occult since I was a kid.
Incident 1: I can't recall exactly what time of year it was, but it must've been just before summer break, let's say it was around May or June. On one of the first nights, we stood around a campfire at night and reflected on the trip so far, and I believe I was one of the only - if not the only person who caught what happened. We were in a valley next to a small river, surrounded by mountains. One of the mountains to the west of the campsite completely lit up with blue light, as if a blue studio light large enough to light the entire mountainside flashed for a second. There was no rain, lightning, or a storm, the weather was fairly sunny and clear at that point.
Incident 2: Nearing the end of the trip, we'd moved to another area to camp for the evening, and everyone was laid out in their sleeping bags. I've never been a good sleeper, chronic insomnia since childhood, so I laid in silence while most others snoozed, staring up at the clear, star-filled sky. I noticed the starry sky being blacked out by something that looked about the size of a frisbee, it appeared to be a very thin, lightweight disc that hovered and vibrated slightly, like the surface tension of a leaf on top of water. It would stay stationary in one spot for 10 to 20 seconds, before rapidly zipping to another spot in the sky. It seemed to be tracing a pattern, repeating this process a few times, before finally zooming off at a rapid speed into the sky and disappearing.
I'm currently watching a youtube documentary about the Nimitz and USS Roosevelt sightings, and it sparked the memory. The way the crafts in the Nimitz footage were described as hovering stationary before zipping off at high speeds to another stationary position was exactly the same behavior as what I saw in 2007. I'm highly skeptical, and more inclined to believe that the government does in fact have extremely advanced drone technology, but the dreamer in me wants to believe that it's aliens. I asked my mother if she'd ever seen anything UFO related recently, and she described exactly the same behavior in a sighting she'd had a few years ago, right here in our backyard in Northern California. Hovering as if observing, zipping to another spot, repeating the process, and so on, until zooming away.
I'm a healthy mix of doubtful and hopeful that there are other forms of life out there. I know what I saw, and those two events in 2007 will always stick with me. I just find it strange that so many people have seen crafts (whether alien or made by the shady US government) with the same movement patterns. Thanks for reading!

In the last year, I have made a complete transformation. I read TPoN about 2 years ago, along with a host of other related books. I used to be a typical human that would get triggered by various things daily. There was always some sort of problem in my life. I got married in 2007 and we had 2 children. My wife has a larger than average ego, and an enormous pain-body. It seems as though it gets triggered by almost anything. She always blamed me for mostly everything negative in her life, and I, started to believe that she was right.
For the last 6 months, I have been diligently working daily at watching everything that I speak and think, identifying the ego and pain-body. There are very few thoughts that I allow into my head that are negative during most days. Every day now is beautiful and everyone I see I look at them (mostly) with perfection. I'm able to identify ego's and pain-bodies easily in others and I mostly just watch, and don't participate. I can't describe the peace that flows through me minute by minute. "Bad things" that happen, I just laugh at them. All is good in my world.
It seems as though the better things get for me, the more my wife hates me, and the easier she gets triggered and yells and screams. I hurt for her. I never say anything negative back to her. I don't know what to do to help. I can't (and don't feel the need to, for fear of allowing me ego to grow) even talk to anyone about it, so I just watch. She has been saying for months she wants a divorce and plans on us telling the kids soon.
My former self would be totally miserable right now, with all of the negativity spewing from her constantly, but it just bounces right off me now. Nobody can make me miserable unless I allow them to, and I will never allow that to happen.
We haven't had sex in at least 5 months. I haven't even bothered to ask. I masturbate occasionally to keep the beast under control. I don't watch porn and I don't have any desire to be with anyone else sexually while I'm married.
My ideal situation would be for her to become more conscious, or at the bare minimum not completely hate my guts. Unless there is some kind of major change, we will probably get a divorce. I will be fine, because of where I am. I don't need anything or anyone to make me whole and complete. The only thing I'm concerned about is how our kids will handle it. Both of our kids are under 10 and I wonder about the lasting effects.
One thing I do think about sometimes is what it would feel like loving someone who loved you back equally in a non-ego, non-pain body kind of way. No jealousy (my wife has always been extremely jealous), no clinginess, no expectations for the other to act in a certain way or to say certain things, just pure, true love. I look around and feel like that is an extremely rare thing. I watch people and there are always expectations that aren't being met by one or the other, and that always causes problems. And sexually, being intimate with someone, and enjoying the pleasure of someone who you know is only interested in sharing in the experience with you. I can't imagine what that feels like. For those of you that do have a partner like that, what does it feel like?
This is not my ego talking, but I have yet to meet anyone locally to me in person that exhibits anywhere near the amount of presence and peace that I have. I just find myself listening to people the majority of the time, complain about their day, their problems, and other people. I don't have very much in common with anyone anymore. The friends I used to have, they've just sort of faded away. My kids are my main focus now, helping them daily realize more presence in their lives.
It's sort of lonely, is the way I'd describe it. But not necessarily in a bad way. I don't need anyone to feel whole, but it would be nice occasionally to at least be able to talk to others who understand.

Hello! as you might be able to guess from the title(s), this is heavily inspired by Rising of the Shield Hero and is set in that Multiverse but takes place on a world I designed. This world has it's own set of Holy and Vassal Weapons, the Four Cardinals being the Crafting Tool Hero, the Locomotive Hero, the Fist Weapon Hero, and the Mask Hero.
Ideally looking for someone to take over one of the three Cardinal Heroes, each weapon has their own advantages and disadvantages. Ample opportunity to recruit party members along the way as well.
Lore: The World is in a dark state, two of the major nations, the human nation of Clomasque and the Union of Mechalia have been at war for nearly four years now. Considering none of the Eight Vassals were involved, at least visibly. Things were wrapping up a year and a half with peace talks... until they were ambushed by the Mask Hero taking out the leaders of both nations, which caused issues with the other nations as someone in Clomasque summoned the Hero and put them up to destroying peace. Soon the Mask Hero took over Clomasque and the war resumed.
Two weeks prior, the signs were present before the first Wave of Catastrophe emerged. The remaining nations concerned for the Cardinal Spirits, turned to the Heavenly Empress herself to ensure the summoned Heroes were in fact the genuine article...
If Interested please send me a chat and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I’m thinking about reaching out to a girl I broke things off two year back with but don’t know if it would be wrong/selfish.
We initially met on Hinge, I asked for her number and we went on to talk on the phone/facetime nearly every day for about 2mo. We would talk for hours on end about everything you could thing of, I connected with her in a way I haven’t with anyone in that way since. She was one of the few people who I’ve ever been able to hit it off instanly with. I fault myself for ending things abruptly, as I got cold feet at the idea of being in my first relationship. I didn’t want to date and she didn’t want to be “friends”, so that was the end of it. Regardless of how I tried to explain it, it didn’t quite add up and I basically made a fool of myself. In reality, I chose the comfort of isolation and returning back to the sad self-victimized mess I was, over the prospect of improvement with an incredibly well rounded person who’d actually be holding me accountable. 2 years of radio silence, therapy, and many life lessons later, she’s continued to cycle in and out of my mind as much as I try to forget. Moreso now than ever, as I’ve been working to repair broken relationships over the last couple months.
Maybe I’m an asshole, just selfishly seeking validation for something that should’ve been a non-issue. That I deserve whatever shittiness I feel for putting both myself and her into that situation to begin with. Am I passed the window of reaching out to apologize, as it would do more harm than good? If so, how can I make myself forget about it?