Hello everybody, First post here so go easy.
I went to the dentist the other day for a back molar chip that i neglected for a while and she said i need a root canal which i got the next day with their endo.
Well here i am 1 day after and at rest it doesnt hurt but realize when i swallow or tap the tap the tooth lightly in a certain spot or bite down very lightly it hurts, its not a sharp pain but a good sized dull pain. I called my dentist (not endo yet) and she said its normal and if it continues then come one (i have an appointment April 10th) to start the crown process.
I know it may sound weird but i can feel a very faint dull ache when laying down with each heart beat but its not terrible.
Should i be worried?

I’ve got 2 stories here, as they both happened at a similar time. To set the scene, I lived in the same room with mostly the same people for 2 of my 3 years at university. Our landlord and landlady lived below us.
I must admit that I had a bit of a crush on the landlady and she liked music, so I was always very up for her coming upstairs to visit and spend some time with me. A couple of times she acted super weird, claiming there were “spirits” around and stuff like that. I never believed in that kind of stuff, and still mostly don’t, though I can’t fully explain the 2 stories below. I just chose to ignore her, but not long after the 2 stories below happened:
STORY 1 - Aretha Franklin messes with my laptop In my room in this apartment, I had a little recording studio set up. I studied music at university and was one of the few students lucky enough to own this kind of equipment. This meant a lot of the vocals students would come to my place to record their homework and general demos.
One of the first singers to do this wanted to do an Aretha Franklin cover. We recorded all the parts and it went smoothly. No issues. Listen back to the recording and it seems fine, but our ears are pretty fried after wearing headphones for hours and decided to take a break.
15 minutes later, we come back inside and listen to the recordings. Every single vocal track had either been moved or deleted. And not just moved slightly, some of the lines had been switched around or moved several bars out of place. We had to move everything back to where it needed to be and re-recorded the stuff that had been lost.
The creepy part is that nobody else was home at the time. It was just us. I couldn’t help but think back to my landlady’s claims of spirits being present.
To this day, I have no explanation for what happened. The singer and I still talk about how creepy it was.
STORY 2 - Horror movie soundtrack Not long after the first story, I’m working on a piece of uni project work where I need to compose a soundtrack for a film scene.
I chose a short animated horror film and spent a whole day working on it. I was super proud of the music I wrote as I genuinely found it creepy, especially at 2am when I was finishing.
I go to bed and start drifting off to sleep. In my half-conscious I start to feel really scared. I feel like there’s somebody standing over me, but daren’t open my eyes.
The next thing I hear is a voice, but not in my head. It was like they were speaking directly into my right ear. I could feel the breath entering my ear canal. I couldn’t make out what they were saying until the last 3 words: my full name.
I woke up that instant and didn’t sleep the rest of the night. I figured it was a hallucination from being so tired, but I’ll never forget that feeling of air in my ear and how it sounded.
It truly creeped me out.

Hi, I've been looking to build my first pc since inherriting my current one over 8 years ago (upgrading from a GTX 960).
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor	€203.85 @ Alternate Belgium
CPU Cooler	Deepcool AK400 66.47 CFM CPU Cooler	€38.85 @ Megekko
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard	€124.90 @ Megekko
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	€116.95 @ Bytes At Work
Storage	Kingston KC3000 1.024 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	€86.85 @ Megekko
Video Card	Asus DUAL OC Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB Video Card	€482.95 @ Alternate Belgium
Case	Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case	€116.85 @ Alternate Belgium
Power Supply	SHARKOON SilentStorm Cool Zero 850 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	€136.95 @ Bytes At Work
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€1308.15
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-01 15:45 CEST+0200

Living in Belgium so some parts that are cheapemore easily available in the US aren't here. My question is if it's worth it to go for a 6950 xt instead over the 6750 xt. It's about €250 extra but looking at Tomshardware it's a pretty significant upgrade and my budget was around €1500-1600. I will be playing on a 1440p 144hz monitor. I will use it mostly for gaming (Elden Ring, Apex, League, Cyberpunk that sort of stuff) and general use.
Will the rest of my build be able to handle a 6950xt as well?

I’ve got 2 stories here, as they both happened at a similar time. To set the scene, I lived in the same room with mostly the same people for 2 of my 3 years at university. Our landlord and landlady lived below us.
I must admit that I had a bit of a crush on the landlady and she liked music, so I was always very up for her coming upstairs to visit and spend some time with me. A couple of times she acted super weird, claiming there were “spirits” around and stuff like that. I never believed in supernatural stuff, and still mostly don’t, though I can’t fully explain the 2 stories below. I just chose to ignore her, but not long after the 2 stories below happened:
STORY 1 - Aretha Franklin messes with my laptop In my room in this apartment, I had a little recording studio set up. I studied music at university and was one of the few students lucky enough to own this kind of equipment. This meant a lot of the vocals students would come to my place to record their homework and general demos.
One of the first singers to do this wanted to do an Aretha Franklin cover. We recorded all the parts and it went smoothly. No issues. Listen back to the recording and it seems fine, but our ears are pretty fried after wearing headphones for hours and decided to take a break.
15 minutes later, we come back inside and listen to the recordings. Every single vocal track had either been moved or deleted. And not just moved slightly, some of the lines had been switched around or moved several bars out of place. We had to move everything back to where it needed to be and re-recorded the stuff that had been lost.
The creepy part is that nobody else was home at the time. It was just us. I couldn’t help but think back to my landlady’s claims of spirits being present.
To this day, I have no explanation for what happened. The singer and I still talk about how creepy it was.
STORY 2 - Horror movie soundtrack Not long after the first story, I’m working on a piece of uni project work where I need to compose a soundtrack for a film scene.
I chose a short animated horror film and spent a whole day working on it. I was super proud of the music I wrote as I genuinely found it creepy, especially at 2am when I was finishing.
I go to bed and start drifting off to sleep. In my half-conscious I start to feel really scared. I feel like there’s somebody standing over me, but daren’t open my eyes.
The next thing I hear is a voice, but not in my head. It was like they were speaking directly into my right ear. I could feel the breath entering my ear canal. I couldn’t make out what they were saying until the last 3 words: my full name.
I woke up that instant and didn’t sleep the rest of the night. I figured it was a hallucination from being so tired, but I’ll never forget that feeling of air in my ear and how it sounded.
It truly creeped me out.

I’m currently studying and a stay at home mum. My partner earns approx. $1500 a week. Is this too much to be able to claim Austudy?

The lady down the hall suggested I confront him, but what does she know? She may have been born during the war but that doesn’t give her any special powers of deduction. She doesn’t know him like I do, she doesn’t have to endure his nightly torture. I’ve banged on the paper-thin wall that separates our homes many times. I’ve screamed at the top of my lungs for silence. Still the incessant cacophony of slammed doors and of television channels turned too loud continued to haunt me. Yet these other forms of audio pandemonium paled in comparison to his infernal whistling. An off-key melody that feels familiar yet is impossible to place. When he isn’t screaming at the television set with wrong answers to quiz shows, his whistling is a constant. A piercing trill that travels through my ears and stabs like a dagger into my brain. The lady down the hall says he’s hard of hearing, that may be so, but I know he hears me. I know he knows his actions are driving me to the brink of insanity. I sense his malicious intent. I sense him plotting my demise.
The thought has crossed my mind, before you ask. Yet the fact that it has must mean that I’m not. I once heard that if you think you’re mad, you cannot be. That the insane have lost the faculty to notice their insanity. What the rational mind believes to be insanity, the insane know to be reality. It felt like the slow descent into madness, I was aware of that feeling. So at least I wasn’t completely gone yet. It felt close though, and I wasn’t sure how to go back to normality.
It had been another tough night. The din from my neighbour’s television thundered through my flat. I laid in bed with my eyes closed tight and wax plugs inserted into my ear canals. These did a little, yet not enough. The boom of each piece of dialogue shook the four walls of my bedroom. The piercing melody of his whistle cutting through the air and into my mind each time he walked to the bathroom. I’d been to the doctors that day, though I’m not sure why. I knew what the outcome would be.
“I’m going to prescribe you some tablets, Mr. Mellin.”
I took the prescription paper and threw it into the bin on my way out. I wanted to vent to someone who had to professionally withhold any judgement. I explained every detail, every feeling and thought that had occurred due to this onslaught of noise and sleep deprivation. Yet I hadn’t wanted a medical solution. Taking a pill was no solution at all. I wanted the noise to end, not to have my sense dulled into acceptance.
The noise would finally stop in the early hours of the morning, the amber glow of the dawn creeping through the curtains. I would sleep for an hour, two at most, before I had to get up for work. My productivity had slipped. Staff meetings where I was once sharp as a tack were now nothing more than an endurance test. Could I remain awake for the next thirty minutes? I’m sure the meetings were important, yet it was such a struggle to stay awake the words refused to settle in my brain. White noise. Everything had become white noise.
One night as the din finally subsided, I heard a voice.
“Hello, Simon.”
The voice sounded as if it was coming from inside of me. I asked who it was, though I believed the voice to be a figment of my imagination. An audio mirage brought on by weeks of sleepless nights.
“I’ve been with you since the beginning, Simon.”
The voice sounded like mine, yet much more ominous. It tried to sound soothing, but the malice oozed through. I asked again who it was.
“I can show you, Simon. Stand up and I will show you who I am.”
I obeyed the instructions of the voice.
“Turn off all the lights.”
I obeyed the instructions of the voice.
“Turn on the bedside lamp and stand in front of it.”
I obeyed the instructions of the voice.
“Now turn around.”
I turned and saw my room. Nothing different, nothing out of place. No extra body within the space, my shadow stood against the wall.
Then my shadow waved.
I checked my own hand, expecting to see it raised and waving. Yet it remained motionless at my side.
“Simon, we need to talk. I’ve never had to appear this way to you before, but now I need to.”
I shook my head and wiped my eyes, trying to dispel the visage before me. Still my shadow remained, now pacing along the wall, and waiting for me to accept this reality. I still clung to the fact that I felt as if I was going mad. I felt as if I was losing my sanity. If I felt that, then I must have still had at least one hand on the steering wheel of sanity.
“We need to end this problem. You’re not well, Simon. If you’re not well, then I’m at risk too. This situation with your neighbour must end now. We need to act. You need to act. He won’t listen to reason, so now is the time for something more… forceful.”
A rage exploded within me. I despised the man who lived next door, yet to take the step towards violence was not something I wanted to do.
“It’s a matter of survival, Simon. If you don’t end him, he will end you. This has been his game all along. A slow demise that no one could blame him for. He wants you to fall into madness, to get to the point where you can no longer go on. The person next door is not a man, but a parasite. He has chosen this building as his host, and he plans to spread throughout. Once he has you out of the way, he’ll knock down the paper-thin wall and make your flat his own. He’ll continue to do this until he owns the entire building. This isn’t about you, Simon. It’s about everyone in this building. It’s about the lady down the hall. You need to be the hero. You need to end this virus.”
I’d heard enough. I went into the kitchen, yet my shadow didn’t follow. He remained projected against the paper-thin wall of my bedroom. I took the largest knife from the drawer and returned, my shadow waiting for me. Without a word I drove the knife into my shadow, into the paper-thin wall. My shadow split in two and vanished, leaving behind a large tear in the wall where the knife had struck. I removed the knife and peered through the hole. I could see into my neighbour’s flat, yet he was nowhere I could see. His flat was almost empty. The only visible items the television that had caused me so much pain, and a large fleshy pod in the middle of the room. I stared at the pink cocoon, what looked like veins seemed to run across it like a road map. It pulsated, as if it were breathing. No, not like breath. It was more like the throbbing of a heart. I was so disturbed by this thing before me, yet I couldn’t look away. A small tear opened in the flesh cocoon and that’s when I felt a terror like nothing before. That familiar whistle crept out from inside the cocoon. A single red eye appeared in the opening and stared at me.
I covered the tear in my wall with tape. It wasn’t the best solution, yet it was the quickest I had to hand. The following night there was silence. No noise from the other side of the paper-thin wall, no slamming of doors or blaring of voices from the television. No off-key whistle. I should have been happy, yet the silence disturbed be more. Sleep soon took me, the adrenaline of anxiety only able to stay at its zenith for so long. I woke in the darkness, disturbed by the sound of scratching against the paper-thin wall. As the tape covering the tear broke, a slither of light broke into my room. I saw a long finger searching around the wound in my wall.
Then I heard it. The death rattle whistle. That god-awful shrill song once again stinging my ears. The finger returned to my neighbour’s side of the wall, but the whistling remained. The thin slit of light disappeared, and my room was once again blanketed in darkness. I stared at the spot where I thought the tear in the wall was. A sense of dread brewed inside of me.
The red eye appeared in the opening and stared at me once again.
I flung my body over and covered my head with the quilt. I prayed for sleep, for this dread to end, yet when morning arrived, I was still filled with fear. I checked the hole in the wall, and it was once again sealed with tape.
The shadow came again the following night. The usual noises had all ended, except for the whistle. This was now constant, an eternal loop that stung my mind with each rotation.
“You see now, Simon. You see why you must end this.”
I nodded.
“Take the knife you tried to stab me with. Take it and kill this parasite.”
There was still a lingering worry in my mind that this was all projections of my decaying sanity. Yet either way, I felt I had to act. Either way, this was the only option. If I was insane, then this would be the alarm bell that would let the world know. They would throw me into a room where I couldn’t hurt anyone. If I was insane, that would be for the best. If I wasn’t, and this was real, then the same outcome could occur. If they couldn’t explain the monster next door, they might convince the world I was mad. That way there would be no questions. Yet even if locked away, I would have done something good with my life. The old lady down the hall was irritating but she didn’t deserve to the horror of this parasite.
I took the knife and plunged it once again into the wall, creating another small tear next to the first. I continued this until the paper-thin wall was nothing but slits. If I’d have known how flimsy these walls were, I would have complained. But my mind had more pressing issues to focus on. I pressed my back against the door of my bedroom, facing the wall head on. I charged towards it. Though I felt a harsh pain as my shoulder connected, the wall fell through on the first attempt.
The moonlight shone through the windows. My shadow to appeared against the walls of the monster’s flat.
“Don’t doubt yourself now, Simon. This needs to end.”
The flesh cocoon was still in the middle of the room, still pulsating. The whistling grew louder the closer I moved towards the pod. When I was inches away the noise was so painful it became difficult to continue. I covered my ears and took the last steps towards it.
Then it stopped.
No more whistling.
The only noise a deep bass hum. Was this noise from the flesh cocoon? Was it the aftermath of the damage caused by the whistle to my hearing? I wasn’t sure but I let that mystery fall to the wayside and focussed on what was before me. I plunged the knife into the flesh cocoon and the pod let out an ungodly cry. The pod writhed in pain. It never moved from its spot, yet its upper half swung violently around in anguish.
I stabbed it again.
And again.
I continued to stab until the flesh began to fall away. It fell to the floor and dissolved. It bubbled like acid yet left no mark on the wooden floorboards. When all the flesh had fallen, I realised what I had done. Sat in a chair facing the television was my neighbour. Not a monstrous parasite, but a man. Now the flesh cocoon had gone, only the man remained. The knife was still inside of him. I began to panic. I turned to my shadow projected on the wall and asked for clarification. Yet my shadow did not respond. I pulled the knife from my neighbour and threw it to the floor. Shaking him with both hands I screamed for him to wake. There was no sign of life. I realised then that I was mad. That the last vestiges of my sanity had crumbled away, and I was left only with the realisation of my madness. I picked the knife from the floor and wiped the blood onto my shirt. There was no point in trying to hide what I’d done. I didn’t want that. I deserved to be locked away forever. That was the only way. I began to walk back towards my own flat, through the broken wall, and to the comfort of my bed. Though I would be drowning in my madness, perhaps I could now find some quiet. Perhaps now I could find some peace. Perhaps now I could sleep.
Then I heard him whistle.
The same off-key melody started up again as I walked away. I tightened my grip around the knife and turned to face my neighbour. He was stood now, though his body still appeared limp. He looked more like a puppet held up by strings than a man. A single eye was open, the burning red of its iris staring at me.
Was I mad?
I’d come this far already. If I was already past the point of no return, then what harm could a few more steps have?
I raised the knife and ran towards the creature.
Follow https://frankfloyd.home.blog for more stories!

I know it's always repeated that you become more and more right-wing as you age, but is anyone else feeling completely different?
I currently work a nice job and make a little money on the side using art in the UK. The amount of fucking hoops you have to jump through just to make a tiny bit of money legally is insane. I paid more tax on selling less than £1500 of art (within an entire year) than certain CEO's in the UK.
I'm not in poverty, but it's like the entire system from the rental market to the taxable income is built to completely keep people from doing small things, making it only worthwhile to fully min-max finances and business. The more and more I work at a job making decent money and seeing it slip away, the worse it gets.
I feel like a fair few people here are within the 25-35 age range, Does anyone else feel a similar way? I didn't even feel particularly left-wing in university, but working has been radicalizing me further and further left.
20 years ago in my monthly earnings (even when reducing them for inflation), I'd be able to afford to buy 3-bed house comfortably. Now I can barely afford to rent a 1-bed apartment, and I'm not even in London.
The biggest thing is that I'm not even badly off, I just don't have any inherited wealth/skills to fall back on, but all I can think of if it's tough for me, how bad it must be for someone working minimum wage and trying to do the same.

I am looking for a whole home solution. I am looking for 6 standard cameras for outdoors as well as a front door camera and a camera at my gate.
I need them to be especially weather resistant as I live in Costa Rica and the weather is very tough.
My neighborhood has had a lot of break ins and while suspects have been caught in camera, the quality has been poor. I need something with great quality picture especially at night. I do not want battery powered. I would like cloud storage so I can easily monitor when I am not home. I would like zoom capabilities because my property is large (1.5 acres).
I'd like to have the entire camera system from a single provider so I don't need to switch apps for doorbell vs watching the standard camera feed.
I am willing to spend up to about $1500.

Hi, I need advice. I've been accepted into two programs - MSc Sustainable Systems in University of Michigan and an international MSc Sustainable and Innovative Natural Resource Management from an Erasmus joint master program (University of Ghent in Belgium, Uppsala University in Sweden, and TU Freiburg in Germany).
For the UMich program, I did not get any waivers so I'm looking at $70k/year for tuition + living costs as an international student. I could try applying for a scholarship or grant or a teaching assistant position for my second year to help with finances.
For the EU program, I managed to get a partial scholarship of €13500, which will be given in form of monthly stipends of €1500. For this program, tuition costs €24000 (~$26000 converted) for 2 years already, but it could be further waived to €16000 if I pass my first year with good grades.
Just from a financial perspective, studying in EU seems to be the better decision. But there is also the prestige of studying in a US university that might give me better job perspectives in the future. On the other hand, EU is leading in sustainable initiatives with their circular economy frameworks being adapted globally, so studying and living in EU institutions would give me more practical experience.
If anyone has studied in the fields of sustainability before, or in general had to choose between studying in US vs EU, please send advice my way! :D

2017 1500 Denali
1.5” level in front bottom spacer
Has magnaride they are shot
Looking at bilstein can’t find my vehicle on there website
Any recommendations?
Mostly city driving
Minimal towing

Demographics Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White, Middle-East
Residence: Europe
Type of School: Competitive Private
Hooks: None
Intended Major(s): Creative Writing/English, History, Psychology
Academics
GPA: 3.82 with upward progression - 3.5, 4.0, 3.9, 3.91 (senior sem 1). Last 3 years have been a 3.94 average.
Grades surged after I learnt that I had ADHD and was given accommodations to counteract it. Will be emphasizing this in my extra info section as I feel that is a genuine reason for why my freshman year grades were such an outlier.
Standardized Testing:
ACT: 34 (36, 35, 34, 32)
AP/DE/Advanced: 9 AP, 1 Advanced/Post-AP, 1 DE (Harvard summer program)
Junior: Eng Lang (5), Macroeconomics (3), Microeconomics (4), Spanish (3), USH (4) - Submitted these like an idiot. I suspect that, if I hadn't, they might've excused my academics more since it would be only my GPA (with an upward trend) that was below the mark.
Senior: Eng Lit, Euro, Psychology, Human Geo
I’m also conducting research for my school’s English department.
Extracurriculars/Activities

1. Published Author: Self Published 11 Books and Published in 8 Established Literary Magazines. Over 5,000 downloads on Amazon and works available across 15 countries.
2. A top ranked summer program for writing
3. Chief Content Officer at a leading global Cryptocurrency Startup where I raised $350,000 at a 4m valuation (G11) - noted that I left to focus on writing another book
4. Two Time Copy Editor on my school’s yearbook committee
5. Senior Editor on an International Literary Magazine receiving 1500+ submissions annually (G12)
6. Two Time Captain and First Runner of Varsity Cross Country, Varsity since G9- Team Gold and Silver (different years) at small international Comp
7. Two Time Captain and First 800m Runner of the Varsity Track and Field Team, Varsity since G10 - 800m Gold and Team Gold of a smallish international Comp
8. Two Time Captain of the Varsity Swim Team and participation on Varsity since G8- Team Bronze at a small international comp
9. Co-Founder and Vice-President of the Community Action Council at my school - first council founded in 7 years
10. Two Time President of the Mock Trial Club - attended national comp but no recognition

Awards/Honors
(INTERNATIONAL): Sole Selected rep. for my (very large) city at a global poetry workshop
(INTERNATIONAL) Published in 8 Global Literary Magazines
(INTERNATIONAL) Finalist at the Y-Combinator Startup Accelerator $500,000 investment prize
(INTERNATIONAL) Platinum Level Contributor to a magazine and received the Editors’ Choice award for poetry.
(NATIONAL) National Honor Society: Vice President
Letters of Recommendation
AP Spanish teacher: 9.3/10 - "Most diligent of all time" type of rec.
Gender in Lit teacher: 7/10 - Loved her class. When i asked her, she said “should be an easy recommendation to write”. Thats good I hope!
Counselor: 7/10 - Also emphasizing my upward trend and framing me as "the improvement student".
Essays
ChatGPT gave common app a 9.75/10
Supps varied but I’d say between 7-9/10. Columbia was probably worse. Harvard and Brown were probably better.
Application Update: I sent the following five things (in a very late update) to Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth. May well have been too late for them to read it.

1. Forgot to explain that the company (EC 3) was world's largest for [X marketplace]
2. forgot to explain that 8 of my books peaked in the top 1% for sales rank on amazon
3. On Board of Directors for a citywide social justice conference drawing hundreds of students from across my city. Also several VERY NOTABLE speakers. I included this in the update because we'd just finalized our plans.
4. More medals at a smallish international swimming comp. Individual Bronze in the 100m backstroke. Gold in the 4x50m medley relay. Overall Varsity Boys Champions. Explained that, across five seasons of varsity captaincy, every participating team has won this European Conference under my leadership.
5. Received a personal invite to apply to a top ranked writing program from the director. I have since submitted an application.

Accepted:
Northeastern
Sarah Lawrence w/ 100k merit
Kenyon w/ 80k Merit and Presidential Scholars
Colby w/ Presidential Scholars (pres scholars off a 6pct admit rate, what?! So grateful.)
Bates
UCSD
UCI
Trinity College w/ 100k merit, 1823 Scholars Program
Hamilton (love their writing program and open curriculum)
UC Berkeley!
——
Waitlist:
Brown
Wesleyan
——
Rejections:
UPenn (ED)
Williams
UCSB
Harvard
Dartmouth
Cornell
Stanford
Columbia
Swarthmore
Bowdoin
Middlebury
UCLA
Currently deciding between Hamilton, Colby and Berkeley! I was so surprised to receive a waitlist from Brown because I had no expectations whatsoever after getting rejected by Middlebury. And, though I know they didn’t admit me, it’s really great to know I was at least considered as a possible student for the Ivy League.
For those who started out like me, just remember that every step forward brings the ability to find the next step. If you can simply keep climbing, you never know how high you can get, just that you WILL transcend. I believe this wholeheartedly!

Good morning everyone! Welcome to the writing prompt thread for the Dragon Age series. I hope everyone has fun and lets their muses fly free and they have an excellent weekend!
New Doc for Writing Prompts- a brand new fresh start- Please put all prompt suggestions here: Submit Writing Prompts Here
GUIDELINES FOR THE WRITING THREAD
Hi! Welcome to another new year of the writing thread. It turned 6 years old a couple months back. Below are some general guidelines for the thread. Also please don’t hesitate to add prompts to the linked doc just above. This helps me out greatly when choosing prompts. Whether it’s a specific pov, or a line of a dialogue, or a theme choice, or whatever strikes your interest. Label the type of prompt you want it to be (Examples: bard style, villain pov, Modern Day AU, What If?, 100 Word Drabble Dialogue Only, etc) and then whatever phrase or idea for the prompt itself. Anyways, guidelines below, and also the prompts!

1. Constructive Criticism and interaction is always welcomed and encouraged on the thread. What is not welcomed nor encouraged: Making people feel unwelcomed, whether through unneeded negative comments or downvoting, copying others work and trying to pass it off as your own, or trying to bring in unnecessary fandom feuds/wanks. Please keep any and all negativity off this thread, and continue making it a welcoming place for sharing stories, writing and ideas. This is a place to share our works and encourage creativity in the community.
   
2. Word limit is between 1500-1800. You are welcome to respond to multiple prompts, but do not put your writing in multiple posts. It makes the thread hard to read. Instead, link to AO3, google docs, etc if you go past the reddit post limit. Please keep all visible content SFW. ANY CONTENT THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED NSFW MUST BE PLACED IN GDOC OR ON A WEBSITE AND LINKED-This Thread is To Be SFW If you are unsure about something, then put it in a doc and link it, just to be on the safe side.
   
3. The writing thread usually has 6 prompts of varying styles, some with restrictions, of bonus difficulties add to them. There is also a bonus prompt of free form. Every now and then there will be Challenges, or Themes. Every 5 to 6 weeks will be Catch Up Weeks. If you are interested in a specific prompt, challenge, or theme to appear, please don't hesitate to PM me on Reddit or Discord. Also, the prompts are for any character set in the Dragon Age Universe, in any form of media. Ranging from Original Characters, to an NPC in the game or comic, or anything that happened in the books.
   
4. MOST IMPORTANT: PLEASE HAVE FUN! Make us cry, laugh, growl in frustration, cover our faces in secondhand embarrassment, snicker, or awwww at the disgustingly cute fluff. And I want to continue to thank everyone for their part in making this an awesome place to indulge our creativity.
   

Addition: If you are indeed posting, but the post is not showing up, please message the moderators of the subreddit to let them know that there is a glitch.
THE PROMPTS
Prompt 1 "Trust you? Hilarious. Tell another joke."
Prompt 2 Codex Entry: The inscription on a monument dedicated to an event your OC played a major part in
Prompt 3 One overwhelming emotion, starting all from a single gift.
Prompt 4 Brightness, a sigh, a sudden chill
Prompt 5 Moments before a fight: "You're a hard person to find." / "On the contrary; finding me is easy. It's walking away alive that's difficult."
Prompt 6 Dialogue only: A conversation had while camping with your companions
Bonus Prompt Freeform

Hello - In Jan I took all the MXC out of my miner to sit on in a Coinbase wallet to see if I could make some money trading the volitile token.
I since recently fueled back up my miners to 100% but I am mining 3mxc a day at 100%
Wtf is going on? Was Mining 500-1500 a day per miner. Will productivity keep rising or am I done for?

I'm an engineering aspirant (JEE) . I have completed my 12th this year and decided to take a drop.
But the thing is I can't study at home. No matter how much I try there's always some kind of fight at my place. Earlier i used to think it's my fault but I realised my joint family environment is shit.
We are lower middle class and it's hard for my father to pay 1500₹ every month to a reading room . Hare Krishna mahtab state library is pretty far from my home .
Its hard to explain but I need a feeling of being watched while I'm studying. Its due to a disorder I have that I keep talking to imaginary figures of people/friends when I'm in total isolation.
In short : a cheap public space to study with wifi.
Please suggest me some places where I can study for 10-12 hrs without interruption.
It would mean a lot to me. Jay jagannath

I personally felt like I did not participate as much as I could in high school and that it would be a deal-breaker for most selective schools. Maybe I underestimated myself by not applying to more reach schools but I am satisfied with my results. Here are my stats:
Demographics

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: African-American (a US citizen but grew up in Nigeria)
• Residence: Illinois
• Income Bracket: Low-income
• Type of School: Selective public high school
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): URM

Intended Major(s): Business (Accounting or Finance), Statistics at some schools
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.9 UW, 4.8 W
• Rank (or percentile): school does not rank
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 1 AP class completed, 4 Dual Enrollment
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Comp Sci Principles, Orchestra, English, and a Paid Internship which I get credits for

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1500 (720RW, 780M) *Digital SAT
• SAT I: 1490 (730RW, 760M) *Paper SAT
• AP/IB: AP Physics 1 (3)

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Paid internship (definitely the most important thing on this list): I was lucky enough to get an internship with a law firm's accounting department. It's a one-year internship which counts as a class that I get graduation credits for. I have to work 4 hours a day, 5 days a week (one day is in-person) but I am allowed to call off from work 3 times a quarter. During long breaks, like Spring break, I work full-time (8 hours a day). With just part-time work, I make about $1,100 a month. 20 hrs./wk.
2. Co-op Education Program: The program that gave me the internship above. They basically taught me about accounting over the summer and since school started, I have to attend meetings where we talk about post-secondary options, college applications, decisions, and financial aid. 3 hrs./wk.
3. Tutoring Job: This was my first job. I got it March last year and have been doing it ever since. Basically, I help kids, ages 4 to 16, with different levels of math. When I first started, I was working about 12 hours each week but now, I only work on weekends so 3-5 hours. On Common App, I put 12 hrs./wk.
4. Orchestra: I entered high school with no musical experience and chose to play the cello. Progressed into a higher orchestra and am now first chair. There is an even higher-level orchestra but I was not good enough/prepared for that. 7 hrs./wk.
5. Community Service: I was part of Key Club and volunteered whenever the event seemed fun. At the time of applying, I had 63 service hours. No leadership positions or awards. 3 hrs./wk.
6. Family Responsibilities: I added this because I do spend a lot of time taking care of my 3-year-old nephew. When his mother, my sister, is at work or sleeping (she does night shifts), I take him to and pick him up from daycare, feed him, make sure he is not self destructing. She takes care of him whenever she is off work and does not need to sleep in the morning, including taking care of his hygiene, doing his homework with him, communicating with his teachers, etc. Just adding that to show that she is in no way dumping her responsibility on me and I am just helping out when she needs me. 34 hrs./wk.

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.
I did not get a lot of awards so I added honor roll. Principal's scholar is like honor roll but for students with weighted GPAs higher than 4.75.

1. Honor Roll
2. Principal's Scholar
3. College Board African American Recognition Award

Letters of Recommendation
These are guesses because FERPA.

1. Junior year math teacher: She is super nice and I was one of her high-scoring students. She was also my advisory teacher. Probably my favorite high school teacher. Was super excited for me, teared up even, when I told her about my acceptances. I would guess 9/10.
2. Summer accounting teacher: 0/10 because he never wrote it. Asked him for a letter of rec in November, reminded him in January and February. He was super nice every time I asked again and would tell me that he would do it. By March, it felt awkward bothering him for a recommendation when he is not required to write one so I just let it go.

Interviews
None
Essays
Common App - My personal statement talked about the time I visited my father's hometown as a child. I talked about how, compared to children from our country, I realize that I am privileged and would try my hardest to make the most out of the opportunities I have access to. Pretty normal stuff tbh so 7/10.
UChicago - Wrote their quirky essay in a day. I chose the "find x" prompt and wrote a story about a private investigator trying to find the heir to a large amount of money. I would give it a 6/10.
Wharton - I am way too lazy to go check what I wrote about and if they were good because it didn't matter after I didn't turn in a second letter of recommendation.
I did my best on all my essays because I knew that they matter so nothing was half-assed. Well, except all the "Why University?" essays.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
I applied to 14 schools because I had a fee waiver. 8 of them were safeties which all accepted me, except UPitt (waitlisted). Here are the remaining 6 schools:
Acceptances:

• NYU Stern (granted a full-ride scholarship 😮!!!)
• UIUC (rejected for business, accepted for Stats) (granted full-ride with a combination of merit and need aid)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

Waitlists:

• UChicago (accepted spot on waitlist)
• URichmond (rejected spot on waitlist)

Rejections:

• UPenn (I'll never know if this was an auto-reject because no rec letter or if they actually looked at my application)

Additional Information:
NYU's acceptance shook my entire family because they didn't even know I applied. I didn't do their essay because it was optional and just applied because I wanted a chance at one more reach school. I think my internship played a big part in this tbh so I am thankful for that. I already committed to UIUC but I will most likely withdraw and commit to NYU.ヾ(≧▽≦*)o Can't wait to feel major imposter syndrome.

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Features: Something for everyone! -Fleshed out discord for members to hang out and communicate outside of roleplay. -QBCore framework -Actual custom content/scripts (written and actively worked on by our team). -Active Development with daily updates and planned DLCs -18+ populated city with men and women, at all hours of the day and night. Members from multiple continents. Drama and Greifer free, no shit lording tolerated. -200+ Imported Cars, 1500+ imported clothing items (Non-Esl) -Buy and customize your own house -Own/Stock/Price items at your own store -Available activities include restaurants, paintball, hunting, gambling, fishing, trucking, and more for civilian RP. Many more activities are coming in planned DLC's! -Hiring citizens for Local PD, State PD, Judges, Lawyers, Car Dealer, the highest paying jobs in the city -Unlimited business potentials! -Criminals can rob convenience stores, NPC's, Jewelry Stores and Banks. They can also start their own Gangs/Criminal Organizations -You can find and craft items and weapons at locations all across the State -You can find, cultivate, process and sell Weed, Coke, Meth, Heroin, Vicodin, LSD! -You can chop cars for useful and valuable parts! -A 30-day daily rewards system that rewards money, weapons, and vehicles -Free Casino spins every 24 hours for a chance to win casino chips, money, and vehicles, if you're lucky
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Hi y'all!
I'm a Nitro 5 user (AN 515-55) and I'm tired of the bad and poor performance I have with this PC. I was watching other laptops and I found the Msi Crosshair 15 b12uez-484it. I'm not a fan of the yellow color - seems that is a common thing actually - I've watched some benchmarks on youtube and seems to be a great laptop, running a lot of games at high quality with decent fps. Is it worth it? Or can you suggest me a better msi laptop at the same price? My budget is 1000€ - 1500€ max. I will use it for gaming, music and graphics.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US: - Germany, around 1500€ Are you open to refurbs/used? -No How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life? - Silent fans and speaker sound quality are high priorities. Performance should be enough to watch high resolsution streams How important is weight and thinness to you? - Prefered slim and light weight Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. - 14″ to 15″ max Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. - No If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? - No Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? - Good speakers and silent fans are pretty important to me since I mostly want to watch videos from the couch or bed.