I saw the reflection of the eyes on the metallic “Ozette Lake Camp” sign. It was a pitch black night, but somehow I could see them clear as day. I turned around with a start, terrified that it was a bear or a cougar, but when I shined my flashlight all I saw was a deer staring back at me.
I heaved a sigh of relief, and cursed under my breath. I returned to my task of hastily filling out the campsite registration card so we would not awake to a knock on our car camper when a ranger came through. I slipped it into the metal box, and turned to walk back to my campsite, to find the deer still staring at me.
I had thought my flashlight had scared it stiff, but I realized it had not moved in the five minutes my flashlight had shown elsewhere, and had simply been staring at me the entire time. As I slowly walked back, for some reason I felt compelled not to take my eyes off of it, and I watched as its eyes followed me, until the white orbs retreated into the dark.
I got back to our campsite as my boyfriend James was just finishing dinner. The camp was empty except for us, so we had picked the first site we saw that let us park our SUV to face Ozette Lake, so we could wake up to a nice view. I picked up my bowl of hastily prepared stew, and ate with him in the dark.
He cleared his throat, "You're quiet, what's up?"
"There was a deer at the campsite registration kiosk."
He chuckled a bit "I imagine there's plenty of deer, I saw a whole herd grazing as we were driving up the road to get here."
"This one was different. It was staring at me"
I could hear him slurping his food down quickly, doubtless as anxious for sleep as me. "So what? It was probably frightened."
I gulped. "Yeah, I guess."
He sat his bowl down, and started cleaning the pot he had used. "Anyways, I have the bed in the back of the car setup, let's get to sleep so we can wake up early tomorrow, Sand Point isn't going to hike itself."
With that, we both climbed into bed, locked the car, and went to sleep. It only took five minutes before I heard him snoring. I smiled to myself at how easy he slept, and tried to put the deer out of my mind as I fell asleep.
I woke up with a start. My boyfriend was snoring softly, still fast asleep. Something deep inside told me something was wrong. I looked out the window next to me. It was still dark outside, but the clouds had cleared a bit to reveal a sliver of the moon. In the moonlight I could just barely make out a figure, maybe 20 ft from the car.
It was the deer. The same deer. I couldn't see it very well, and it isn't like I can usually tell two deer apart, but somehow I knew it was the same one. It was still staring at me. I felt my heart beat faster and my stomach churn. Something about this just felt off.
But I thought about what my boyfriend had said. It was just a deer. Maybe I was wrong and it wasn’t even the same deer. It had probably just seen me move inside the car, and was scared. Besides, the doors were locked, I was entirely safe. I did my best to fall asleep quickly.
We woke up to a beautiful orange sunrise on the lake. We got out of the car, and started stretching and preparing breakfast. The camp toilets were out of service for the season, and so we each took a turn at walking the quarter mile to the toilet by the day-use parking to use the restroom.
The hike we had planned started out amazing, a walk on a boardwalk in a beautiful forest, out to a desolate beach with waves crashing over the rocks. My boyfriend and I laughed at my worries about the deer, and somehow in the daylight, all of them seemed to melt away. It all seemed so silly to me.
As we walked the beach, we eventually came upon the giant rocky hill at Sand Point. I was the first of us to manage to scramble up it, excited to see the view of the coast and forest from the top. I took photos in every direction, and breathed in the ocean air. I stared back at the way we came for a few minutes, admiring how beautiful the forest was from above.
Then I saw it.
At the very edge of the trees I could just barely make out a deer. It was staring at me, its head pointed up to see me atop the rock. I started hyperventilating, and looked down at my boyfriend still scrambling up the rock. I told him I wanted to leave. He asked why, and I dodged the question and told him I just wasn't feeling good. He was disappointed at cutting our hike short, but said okay. When I looked back up towards the forest, the deer was gone.
We hiked back to the car quickly, the forest seemed quieter than before, it made me uneasy. I knew I'd have to tell my boyfriend sooner or later why we were leaving, but I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to get home.
I packed up the campsite while my boyfriend made one last stop at the toilet. By the time he came back, our campsite was packed up back into the car, and we set off down the 20 miles of gravel road to get started on the three hour drive back to Seattle.
We arrived home, and as soon as we got in the door I felt better. Life went back to normal, and I started to think I had just been crazy and imagined the whole thing.
Then I got the call.
It was 9:00 PM yesterday when my phone rang, I picked it up to hear a voice on the other end that sounded very tired.
It was the park service. They had gotten my number from my campsite registration, and wanted to interview me. A body had been found in the toilet near the day-use parking lot. I felt my stomach drop as they went on to describe the body, describing my boyfriend down to his birthmark.
I looked towards the kitchen where I could hear him making our dinner. I got up as quietly as I could, and crept out the front door and into my car. After locking the car doors I just sat there in shock, not sure what I should do next. I looked up at my rear view mirror to back out of my driveway.
It was only then that I saw my boyfriend. He standing behind my car, silently staring at me.

My (39f) very loving and amazing partner (42m) is a wonderful man.
We've started a fwb-type situation back in early October 2022 but quickly realized we meshed in this perfect and amazing way, and during Christmas he decided he wanted to take this relationship to the next level and we decided to be exclusive.
This man is an absolute gem. He is kind, smart, very loving and affectionate, great with my 12 year old daughter. He has 2 sons of a previous marriage and the boys are little gems too. Everything seems perfect on the surface.
He told me about a bankruptcy he had to go through a few years ago. I understood as I have also experienced this, so I'm not the one to judge. Everyone deals with hard times at some point and he seems well off now. He treats me to dinners and small gifts (nothing crazy), but I realized he puts a lot of those things on his credit card.
I am not judging this, our relationship is too new for me to bring this up with him just yet so I keep my mouth shut but it's bothering me.
The other night I had to leave his apartment to go run a quick errand and he asked me to pick something up for him, he said he'd send me the money and he did.
I was in the kitchen while he was sending the money and I went over to tell him to just not send me anything, his little errand didn't cost a whole lot so I figured since he treats me like a queen all the time, I'd get this one little thing for him.
I walked up to him. He was sitting on the couch, his back facing me, and he was telling me about the thing he needed. I approached and wanted to gently kiss the back of his neck but I saw his banking app. He had nothing in his account. About 40$.
This devastated me as this man treats me to great food all the time but I can see he has no money to do so.
I am not the best at managing my money but I try to keep a little bit as a just in case.
I don't quite know how to bring this up. And by "this", I mean that i don't want him to spoil me any further.
The time we spend together is precious to me and is worth far far more than any material gift he could ever give me.
Should I voice my concerns, and if so, how?!?! I can't just say "stop buying me things", he'll wonder why and ask for clarification, and I'll have to come up with a shitty excuse and it'll be written all over my face that I'm lying.
(My face is like an open book. I can't lie, I'm horrible at lying.)
TL;DR: My new partner spoils me even though he has no money.
What would you do in my situation? Thanks for reading.

I am vegan and I try to eat more whole foods — whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, fruit, veg, etc.
I notice I get more frequent and severe and less controllable with meds migraines when I eat more packaged processed vegan food.
But I can’t identity any specific ingredient(s) that could be the trigger. Nothing or not even a couple things seems to be regular ingredients in trigger foods, just that they are more processed foods seems to be the only unifying factor. It’s not just gluten, or soy, or some additive because I’ve tried to track if it is and eliminate specifics. I do still get bad migraines constantly even with whole food plant based eating, but they are slightly less intense and more controllable with medication.
Is this the case for anyone else? If so, did you ever find several ingredients that could be the triggers? Is it somehow possible the trigger is how processed? My body knows that so quickly!?!

I saw the reflection of the eyes on the metallic “Ozette Lake Camp” sign. It was a pitch black night, but somehow I could see them clear as day. I turned around with a start, terrified that it was a bear or a cougar, but when I shined my flashlight all I saw was a deer staring back at me.
I heaved a sigh of relief, and cursed under my breath. I returned to my task of hastily filling out the campsite registration card so we would not awake to a knock on our car camper when a ranger came through. I slipped it into the metal box, and turned to walk back to my campsite, to find the deer still staring at me.
I had thought my flashlight had scared it stiff, but I realized it had not moved in the five minutes my flashlight had shown elsewhere, and had simply been staring at me the entire time. As I slowly walked back, for some reason I felt compelled not to take my eyes off of it, and I watched as its eyes followed me, until the white orbs retreated into the dark.
I got back to our campsite as my boyfriend James was just finishing dinner. The camp was empty except for us, so we had picked the first site we saw that let us park our SUV to face Ozette Lake, so we could wake up to a nice view. I picked up my bowl of hastily prepared stew, and ate with him in the dark.
He cleared his throat, "You're quiet, what's up?"
"There was a deer at the campsite registration kiosk."
He chuckled a bit "I imagine there's plenty of deer, I saw a whole herd grazing as we were driving up the road to get here."
"This one was different. It was staring at me"
I could hear him slurping his food down quickly, doubtless as anxious for sleep as me. "So what? It was probably frightened."
I gulped. "Yeah, I guess."
He sat his bowl down, and started cleaning the pot he had used. "Anyways, I have the bed in the back of the car setup, let's get to sleep so we can wake up early tomorrow, Sand Point isn't going to hike itself."
With that, we both climbed into bed, locked the car, and went to sleep. It only took five minutes before I heard him snoring. I smiled to myself at how easy he slept, and tried to put the deer out of my mind as I fell asleep.
I woke up with a start. My boyfriend was snoring softly, still fast asleep. Something deep inside told me something was wrong. I looked out the window next to me. It was still dark outside, but the clouds had cleared a bit to reveal a sliver of the moon. In the moonlight I could just barely make out a figure, maybe 20 ft from the car.
It was the deer. The same deer. I couldn't see it very well, and it isn't like I can usually tell two deer apart, but somehow I knew it was the same one. It was still staring at me. I felt my heart beat faster and my stomach churn. Something about this just felt off.
But I thought about what my boyfriend had said. It was just a deer. Maybe I was wrong and it wasn’t even the same deer. It had probably just seen me move inside the car, and was scared. Besides, the doors were locked, I was entirely safe. I did my best to fall asleep quickly.
We woke up to a beautiful orange sunrise on the lake. We got out of the car, and started stretching and preparing breakfast. The camp toilets were out of service for the season, and so we each took a turn at walking the quarter mile to the toilet by the day-use parking to use the restroom.
The hike we had planned started out amazing, a walk on a boardwalk in a beautiful forest, out to a desolate beach with waves crashing over the rocks. My boyfriend and I laughed at my worries about the deer, and somehow in the daylight, all of them seemed to melt away. It all seemed so silly to me.
As we walked the beach, we eventually came upon the giant rocky hill at Sand Point. I was the first of us to manage to scramble up it, excited to see the view of the coast and forest from the top. I took photos in every direction, and breathed in the ocean air. I stared back at the way we came for a few minutes, admiring how beautiful the forest was from above.
Then I saw it.
At the very edge of the trees I could just barely make out a deer. It was staring at me, its head pointed up to see me atop the rock. I started hyperventilating, and looked down at my boyfriend still scrambling up the rock. I told him I wanted to leave. He asked why, and I dodged the question and told him I just wasn't feeling good. He was disappointed at cutting our hike short, but said okay. When I looked back up towards the forest, the deer was gone.
We hiked back to the car quickly, the forest seemed quieter than before, it made me uneasy. I knew I'd have to tell my boyfriend sooner or later why we were leaving, but I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to get home.
I packed up the campsite while my boyfriend made one last stop at the toilet. By the time he came back, our campsite was packed up back into the car, and we set off down the 20 miles of gravel road to get started on the three hour drive back to Seattle.
We arrived home, and as soon as we got in the door I felt better. Life went back to normal, and I started to think I had just been crazy and imagined the whole thing.
Then I got the call.
It was 9:00 PM yesterday when my phone rang, I picked it up to hear a voice on the other end that sounded very tired.
It was the park service. They had gotten my number from my campsite registration, and wanted to interview me. A body had been found in the toilet near the day-use parking lot. I felt my stomach drop as they went on to describe the body, describing my boyfriend down to his birthmark.
I looked towards the kitchen where I could hear him making our dinner. I got up as quietly as I could, and crept out the front door and into my car. After locking the car doors I just sat there in shock, not sure what I should do next. I looked up at my rear view mirror to back out of my driveway.
It was only then that I saw my boyfriend. He standing behind my car, silently staring at me.

Hi,
I was fired a bit before Christmas on very quick notice by my manager. After I made a mistake we had a conflict, she went on a business trip, came back and just like that, I was fired.
There were signs I ignored all the way, starting from love bombing to getting discarded in favor of new colleagues, walking on eggshells, feedback that was always personal and never about business, etc.
She did not do the firing process but I guess manipulated (?) the CEO into doing but was sitting in the room quietly. The reason I was let go was because "managing me took too much effort & time from senior colleagues". (Yes, I'm very much junior.) Up to this day, I have no idea who told him this, because while working I never really encountered feedback like this from my colleagues or any other big issues about my work pace or ethic.
I still think about the mistake I made that got me fired (I got lectured and humiliated about it) and the whole situation. I keep seeing myself in that room and the sentences echo in my ear. This makes me feel like I'm a bad person in some way or just eclipses whatever happy thing I'm experiencing. It almost always fills the back of my head and never lets me go. It's been almost 4 months. When will this end?

You may have seen me posting in here a bit lately. I've realized after last night that I have two different problems and not just one.

1. Histamine intolerance. Immediate reactions or slightly delayed reactions to things I've consumed, especially blue cheese and alcohol.
2. Despite adequate caloric intake in a given day of food, I am hungry during overnight hours and this hunger prevents sleep from occurring. In fact, it causes a state of hyperarousal insomnia where I just feel super wide awake.

• The issue is resolved if I eat a substantial snack before bed, like a bowl of fiber-heavy cereal or a PB&J sandwich or an apple and carrot sticks. This is confirmed by food journaling and Apple Watch sleep data.
  • The ONLY nights where this sleep issue occurs is when I do not eat a significant bedtime snack.
• This occurs even if I eat a heavy dinner between 8 and 9 pm and attempt to go to bed by midnight.
• Problematically, I am a 35F overweight at 188 pounds. Attempts at minor calorie restriction have become impossible because of this.
• I have met with a registered dietician and she deferred to me seeing specialists about my issues before she would speak to me about weight loss. I described my meals to her and she didn't say I was undereating or not getting the right macros. My snacks are fruit and nuts and vegetables or a yogurt or cottage cheese.

Based on the items described above in #2, can this be a sign of malabsorption of calories? If so, could it be from a parasite? Specifically, liver flukes? See history below.

History of Issues

1. Oct./Nov. 2020 the sleep disturbances began where I felt I needed to eat at night before I could fall asleep. I was only getting approximately 6 hours a night because of this. Exercise earlier in the day seemed to exacerbate this.
2. In June 2021 I had my first histamine attack.
3. About one week later I had severe abdominal cramping and a high-purge, high-volume diarrhea event that resulted in stool that can only be described as white, mucus-y, frothy, and to be honest I could barely look at it because I thought I had crapped out a giant, pale snake. I panicked and flushed it instead of studying it or taking a photo for a doctor.
4. Approximately a week and a half/two weeks after this incident, I developed a fever, body ache, chills, and high-frequency diarrhea during overnight hours that lasted for 3+ days. I was going to the bathroom multiple times overnight. Colonoscopy prep was less intense than this was.

• On Day 3, after I'd only been able to eat crackers, eggs, mashed potatoes, and ramen soup for the sodium benefits, I found what looked like orange, fleshy pumpkin seeds in my stool. There was nothing else IN the stool except these things because by this point I was purging nothing but bile. So it was like a neon yellow bile in the toilet with these orange, fleshy kernel-looking things. I was able to scrape one up in a tissue to look at it closely to try to find it on Google.
• Liver flukes were the exact image I found that matched up. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacek-Karamon/publication/282584694/figure/fig1/AS:[email protected]/Fascioloides-magna-adult-parasites-removed-from-a-bile-duct-of-a-fallow-deer-liver_Q640.jpg
• On Day 5, after my diarrhea had largely resolved, I woke up with my first-ever experience of lockjaw. I couldn't open my mouth. It was too painful. It took hours of trying to flex and move my mouth to get it to loosen up. Then, we went to a movie that night where due to just sitting in the theater and not talking or eating, my jaw locked up again while watching the movie (aka, not grinding my teeth in sleep, I was awake and just sitting there). This lockjaw symptom lasted for 2-3 days but has not happened since.
• Unfortunately, my doctor at the time refused to let me come in until my symptoms resolved because she was convinced I had covid because of the GI symptoms with fever. About a week later, I went in and did a stool test. By that point my stool had returned to a normal brown log appearance with nothing of note in the test. Indeed, they couldn't even say I had had evidence of a foodborne illness.
  • Notably, my partner had had the exact same lunch and dinner as I did because we ordered takeout for lunch and dinner I made. He did NOT have any problems. So it wasn't from something I ate that day. He also never became sick with anything.

Other Relevant Items

1. Diarrhea almost every day in recent months, sometimes multiple times in a row before noon.
2. Mushy, piece-y, easily disintegrates into particles consistency. Do not remember the last time I had a normal brown log poop.
3. If I eat salad, a lot of lettuce pieces show up undigested.
4. Some days greasy yellow residue in stool, other days it's a greasy orange-brown. (Look up "burnt sienna" Crayola color.)
5. I have had two CTs in the last two years and both have shown "six, small hypodense lesions statistically benign" according to radiologists in two different labs. Have not had any followup on exactly what those could be. (My suspicion is those are the live flukes.)

Although I reported this to my new primary care doctor in Jan. 2022 and she gave me a referral to a GI doctor, I went through a period of improvement with my diarrhea and had improvement in my heartburn during spring of 2022 (possibly as a result of intense antibiotics due to a random dog bite injury in January 2022?). I opted to not schedule it. So no GI has ever evaluated my current list of symptoms alongside that July 2021 diarrhea incident.
I am booked for a GI next month however due to this worsening histamine situation.

My family got unexpectedly evicted and we had to leave. We are now at my sister's apartment which is a hour away from our old home. The reason we didn't take our feral cat, James is because the apartment life is too stressful and small.
For our first week moved out, we regularly went to our old house and gave him food around the time he normally comes to our home but our second week ( last week) things were insanely stressful and we only went to see him twice. Now it's a new week and we might can go back to seeing him regularly again. I'm worried that he thinks we abandoned him and will stop coming back. I mean my whole family loves James. My dad bought him a cat home and the new house we're trying to buy is litterlly perfect for him. My mom even agreed to giving James his own bedroom. ( This house has a custom bedroom for cats) so we all love him so much. But I fear that because we saw him less last week he might think we abandoned him but we're just trying our best to become stable so that he can actually live with us comfortablely. And the house we are trying to buy has a custom bedroom for animals....

I want to start off by saying I love my boyfriend very much, I have no intention to ever break up with him and he is the greatest guy in the world. We've been together for 2 years and our relationship has always been great, no large arguments, we get along so well, have the same sense of humor, same friends. We have known each other for well over 10 years but didn't date till later on. So already going into the relationship I was basically dating one of my best friends, a total dream come true.
Recently however, I noticed I've been feeling sad in our relationship. I feel as though he never has time for me anymore. He works an 8-5 (customer service oriented) job five days out of the week and I am a full-time student but only attend three days out of the week. I don't work since my major is very work heavy but since I'm graduating this semester I intend to start right after I finish. This mean I do spend a lot of time at home. I am constantly waiting for him to come from work everyday so we can finally spend time together. We make plans of what we will do when he gets home but usually after we eat he falls asleep immediately. And then once again I feel like he isn't there. I understand that he is tired, I really do. I don't get upset, I just feel sad. The one day he has off in the middle of the week is when I am at school, after he picks me up we get back home and he falls asleep early because he is either tired of work from the day before or has work the next day and wants sleep. Then comes the weekends, he works a short shift Saturday and is back home by One. Once he gets home he sleeps for a couple hours because he is tired. By the time he is awake we are finally able to do things. Whether it be random target runs to check out the newest lego sets or just order food to watch movies or shows, it is amazing. I appreciate any time I get to spend with him. Sundays come around and I usually spend that time doing homework and he is right next to me filling out new job applications (he constantly complains about how he hates his job). We then end the night early because he is tired and has work the next day.
As you can tell. He doesn't have much time for me and when he does, I feel like he isn't really there. I feel lonely. I want someone to talk to at random times of the day or to watch a show with me without falling asleep. There is my bestest friend (part of the same friend group), he works all the time but still sometimes after he gets off his shift and my boyfriend is asleep he will keep me company by talking to me on the phone or playing video games with me. I don't like bugging him all the time to talk or play because I know he is tired, he has a heavy labor job and works six days out of the week. Though he is my best friend, I know he has a life and even when he tells me otherwise, I feel like I bother him. I have other friends too but by the time they can hang out my boyfriend is off of work. He doesn't like if I'm out when he is coming home because he wants to come home to me and spend time together.
I recently broke down crying because I was so sad, my boyfriend was confused and was comforting me. Then when he asked what was wrong it came out of mouth "I feel so lonely all the time". When he heard those words his face looked broken. He asked me what I meant and I told him everything I felt about him not having any real time for me. He looked so sad, he was apologizing saying he had no idea I felt that way and how he thought he was doing a good job but after hearing what I said he realized he wasn't. I said that wasn't true, he is a great boyfriend, I just wished we could spend more time together. He then went of to tell me that I know he needs to work to pay for taxes. I always offer to help him pay but he refuses. I asked if he felt he had to work more because of our relationship. He said no( I honestly felt relieved because even though I don't work, I have a lot of money saved up from when I did work or from scholarships. When it comes to money our relationship is pretty 50/50, we buy each other gifts or treat each other with food/dinners). Afterword I said maybe I just need to make more friends, people I can talk to and hang out with. He didn't like that idea, he doesn't see a reason of why I would need to seek out other people when I have him. Once again I felt sad. He said he would try and stay up a bit longer but it's still the same. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't like feeling this way. What steps should I take to deal with this?

u/futurebro posted a lookback on their 13 days in Paris and I found it very helpful in putting together my trip itinerary, so I thought I would do something similar now that I've gotten home from mine.
This is my third trip to Paris, but my girlfriend's first. I adore this city, so it's somewhere I really wanted to show her this place that had a big impact on me.
Saturday 3/11- Arrived at CDG at 7am. RER B was not functioning due to the strikes, so I took a cab to the hotel (Hotel Jeanne D'Arc Le Marais). They weren't able to check me us in yet, so I immediately starting hunting down some of the treats on my list. Step 1 was Brigat, as it was about a block away from the hotel. Croissant and Pain au chocolat were both top notch. Next, wandered through the Marais over to Caractere de Cochon for a jambon beurre. By far one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. Walked through Marche Enfants Rouge after, was too full by then to eat anything. Back to the hotel to take a nap. Dinner was at Agata pizza in the Latin Quarter that night. Cool place, fun waiters, top notch food. Went and got pics from below Trocadero of my girlfriend and the Eiffel tower. Just doing boyfriend stuff.
Sunday 3/12- woke up and had Brigat for breakfast. Eating a croissant of that caliber in the Place Des Vosges in the morning is a special experience. Walked through the Marche Bastille which is really enjoyable. The sounds, the smells, the whole experience is great. Got a selection of oysters from the oyster guys, and both my girlfriend and I did not like them, honestly. Like taking big gulps of ocean water. I've learned that I have trashy taste in oysters, because I love big gulf oysters. So it's not them, it's me. Next was Sainte Chappelle which should be on anyone's list 100%. Breathtaking. Went to La Maison D'Isabelle after. That was both my girlfriend and I's choice for best croissant. Buttery, tender, crispy on the outside, an absolute banger. Truly incredible. After that was a walk through the Luxembourg Gardens, which were wonderful. It's still pretty bare in most gardens up there right now from winter, but that Medici Fountain is worth the trip by itself. Lunch that day was at Casa Di Peppe, from Peppe Cutraro who's other place won best pizza in Europe last year. It's so fucking good. I went to Rome and Venice last year, and although those places aren't Naples, I had some pretty fucking good pizza (Emma if you're ever in Rome is fucking insane). But CDP is the best pizza I've ever had. Will be on my mind for a long time. Went home after and took a nap. Dinner that night was at Les Philosophes. Extremely good.
Monday 3/13- Breakfast at Au Petit Versailles Du Marais. It was okay at best. Walking down the road we wandered into this place called Aux Merveilleux de Fred, holy fucking shit christ. They had this huge freshly baked bun filled with chocolate chips, it was shockingly good. Like eating a warm pillow filled with chocolate chips. Next was Eiffel Tower which was fine, girlfriend and I both agreed second floor is better than the top. So if you can't get a top ticket, don't stress. After was lunch at this last minute res we made at a place called Les Cocottes. Ended up being one of our best meals there. Escargot was insane, soft and tender. Went to the arc and walked down Champs Elysses after which I hated, but you gotta do it once if you haven't been. Afternoon was at the Musee de L'Armee, which is just incredible. Napoleons tomb is breathtaking, the endless racks of knights armor is so so cool, it's amazing there. Put it on your list if you haven't. Stopped into L'Avant Comptoir de la Terre after, food is just unbelievable. Wine and food are top notch. Bartender fucking hated me because I wanted to get a quick snack and glass of wine and move on and he kept telling me to sit and enjoy my wine. Guy couldn't like me less. It's Paris! I enjoyed it. Dinner that night at Pastusata which sucks.
Tuesday 3/12- Breakfast at Le Tout at Cheval Blanc. Wanted to try the Maxim Frederick croissants. They're strikingly beautiful but honestly not that good. The fancy waffle was great, the french toast was the star. Great balcony to take a picture at after breakfast. Probably would skip this one if you're eyeing it. Went to Palais Royal to take pictures of my girlfriend at the striped stuff. More boyfriend work. Started raining so we tucked into Kitsune for a coffee which has a VERY cool upstairs to sit and watch the rain. Really loved those moments. LV Dream exhibit after which is very cool and free, and you get to see the big Kusama outside Samaritaine. Lunch at Pizza Popolare- very good, extremely crowded, communal tables so you're elbow to elbow with people. I spilled my girlfriends water topping her up and the guy next to me was mad. Dinner that night at Claque Fromage in Montmarte. I hit my head so hard on the ceiling coming up from the bathroom that it crunched an indention (I'm 6'5) and some stomping around Montmartre. Claque Fromage was aight. I'm getting pretty spoiled by food at this point, I think. My standards are getting crazy.
​
Wednesday 3/13- Breakfast from Brigat, then the Louvre. It opened an hour late because of the strikes so even the downstairs like took an hour and a half. Place was slammed, and also everyone acts like they got hit in the head by a baseball bat once they go inside that place. Standing in the most insane areas where you KNOW people need to walk. The exhibits are incredible. It's the Louvre, you get it. Dinner that night at some random spot in the Latin Quarter.
Thursday 3/14- Versailles guided tour from a company called GetMyGuide off Tripadvisor. Versailles is great, the tour was okay. A little long winded sometimes, but they can't make it perfect for everyone. After we rented golf carts and ran down to the Petit Trianon and the Grand Trianon, carting around that place, seeing the boats on the water, how wonderfully the houses are preserved, so cool. One of my favorite things. Dinner at Le Coupe Chou that night and made reservations by the fireplace because of u/jeuxdeboule. What a meal, and what a cool place. That really felt like a special evening. Food was amazing, staff was attentive and kind, just an all around treat.
Friday 3/14- Breakfast at Carette at the Places des Vosges. Fine meal, just wanted to sit and enjoy the square. Went and got some stuff from the LV store at Samaritaine to bring back to my mom (WAY CHEAPER there than in the US). Did the Palais Garnier and Catacombs, both just so incredibly cool. Different ends of the spectrum for sure. Had sushi around the hotel that night because we were pretty wiped.
Saturday 3/15- Woke up early and did the sunrise at Sacre Coeur. It was very cool spotting all of the monuments out in the distance. Took the subway over to Carton to have last years best croissant in Paris which was not really that great, then went to La Maison D'Isabelle to cap off our trip with our favorite croissant. That one is just an absolute banger. Shockingly good. Then we were out!
Also, we got coffee at White Coffee, The Coffee and Araku. The Coffee was my favorite, White Coffee was my girlfriends.
Hope some of this wall of text can help you with some decision making in the future. Thanks to all the Redditors pouring all the information into this sub, it really helps in finding some cool places.

Since I was a kid, I was always daddy's little girl! He loves me so much and he does everything he can to spoil me to this day. I knew that I would never find a boyfriend to show me so much love and affection as my daddy. And that came out to be true. I finally met a guy that was amazing! He was handsome, he knew how to communicate, he organized cute little dates for us. Everything was perfect! I felt so in love with this guy. My daddy was so happy seeing me with such a wonderful man. Soon enough, after only six months of dating, he broke up with me. I don't know why. We didn't fight or anything. We were fine! We were having dinner at my house for our six months anniversary and it was also an opportunity for him to meet my daddy. Of course they had to meet each other, I love them both and I need my daddy's approval if I'm thinking to go serious with someone. Everything went great, the food was delicious, the conversation between the three of us was delighting. Then he left. Suddenly, two hours later I get a text from him apologizing and telling me that he doesn't deserve me. My little heart was broken, but daddy was there to save the day. Every time I'm not feeling ok, he plans a "family date night" where he makes his special soup and we eat while watching old Disney movies. That's what we've been doing since my mom died. So that's what we did this time too. So many bitter sweet memories. The soup tasted exactly the same as the one he made us when we lost mommy. I guess the heartbreak adds to the flavor. My daddy tried to make me feel better but no matter what, I wanted to try calling him back. He didn't pick up. I tried texting him. He didn't answer. Yes, his text specifically read not to try to contact him again, but he hadn't blocked me, so why wouldn't I? I at least needed an explanation. Maybe I should try again tomorrow. Sure enough, the next morning my daddy woke me up before he got off to work and while I was tidying up the house I tried calling my ex again. This time, I thought I heard a vibration from somewhere nearby. Oh my god! He came back? But no, the buzzing sound was coming from somewhere inside the house, from the kitchen. My daddy has a big refrigerator to store meat, why would I hear my boyfriend's phone vibrate in there? The horror in my eyes when I looked inside. The nauseousness when I realized what was in the soup last night. But the taste. Exactly the same. Back then. Suddenly I hear my daddy's voice right behind me, "I told you little girl, no one will ever love you like daddy".

\Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form a doctor or medical professional. I am simply someone that suffers and has suffered from cold sores from a very, very young age, and I have tried everything under the sun in terms of treatment. I’m making this post solely as a personal experience post with some of my remedies, and to provide comfort to those suffering right now. If this is your first time suffering from a cold sore, or your outbreak lasts more than 15 days and is accompanied by a fever, then please seek professional medical help.*
If you are reading this, you are probably currently suffering from a cold sore outbreak. I find myself looking online at the length of a sore, remedies for a sore, and pictures of sores EVERY SINGLE TIME I have an outbreak, even though I have had probably 200+ in my lifetime.
I am a self-proclaimed cold sore “pro” now, and want to share my experience with this thread, as well as receive more tips and tricks for aiding in recovering from an outbreak.
Let’s face it – the number one healer for a cold sore is time and mindset. Eventually, it will go away on its own, even if you don’t do anything to it and leave it to run its course. Without touching it and with a “calm” mindset (since you probably got it from a stress trigger), it will go away in 14 days, give, or take. Obviously, this is a tall ask. No one is going to just sit and take the pain, embarrassment (for some), and discomfort without at least touching or stressing about it ONCE.
I have compiled a list of things that I do that helps me limit the time frame of an outbreak and helps me feel more comfortable during one.
Simple tips:
1. Wash your hands like crazy. Even if you graze your sore a little, the infection can transfer EXTREMELY easy, so wash your hands constantly to avoid having it spread to other parts of your body or lips.
2. Avoid spicy or acidic foods. This includes alcohol, orange juice, and smoking. I also highly recommend using a straw to drink liquids (stay as hydrated as possible), as if you’re lucky enough to have the sore on only one side of your mouth, you can use the straw on the other side of your mouth to not disturb the sore.
3. Get a lot of sleep. The rest is good for your healing, and it also is a great distraction from touching your face.
4. Keep the sore dry but keep the rest of your lips moisturized. There is a lot of controversy around whether you should keep the sore moisturized with creams or dry to dry it out. I’ve tried both, and since this is my own take on cold sore remedies, I say keep it as dry as you possibly can. I use Blistex Lip Medex balm on the rest of my lips that I apply with a q-tip. Avoid submerging your face in water (even in the shower), and instead, wash your face by wiping it with a damp cloth, avoiding your lips.
5. DON’T STRESS – easier said than done, but I seriously believe mindset is everything these days, and if you trick yourself into thinking “this doesn’t matter and it will be over very quickly”, it will! Just keep telling yourself it isn’t as bad as you think it is and it will be over ASAP.
6. If you are entering a stressful time in your life, or have a big stressful event coming up, take L-Lysine or use precaution, as you know you will probably end up with a sore.
​
Hygienic Tips:
1. Every time after you eat, take a q-tip and dip it into Hydrogen Peroxide. Rubbing alcohol will work, but peroxide is much better, as it is safe to digest in a very small amount just in case you get it in your mouth. Once you’ve dipped the q-tip in the peroxide, gently roll it across your sore. Do not press down, and do not rub – just roll it across. You can also use a fresh q-tip and clean the rest of your lips if you feel inclined.
2. After an outbreak, throw out your toothbrush or toothbrush head. In addition, cut off the tops of your lip balms/chaps (saves you from throwing them out entirely). The virus can live on your toothbrush or lipsticks.
3. Dry/wipe your face with a separate cloth every time (if you can). I have invested in a whole heap of small face towels that I use and wash in hot water after use. This way, I don’t spread the virus.
​
Medical Tips:
1. I never use a topical cream. I have the prescription for the Zovirax (Acyclovir) cream, and I find that it does not help. Some people say it even makes things worse because it creates a humid, wet bubble on your sore, which is the perfect ecosystem for a sore to grow. If you find comfort in using a topical cream, the talk to your doctor about being prescribed the Zovirax (Acyclovir) cream. If you do not have access to a doctor, Campho Phenique seems to be the best over the counter cream (not available in Canada to my knowledge). If you’re a Canadian like me, I like Lipactin. I don’t respond well to Abreva, but everyone is different. The best way to apply is right away when you notice it or have symptoms and apply it immediately every time you feel an itch or tingle sensation on the infected area.
2. L-Lysine is your best friend. You can purchase this supplement at the drug store. It is also safe to have every day, providing you drink a lot of water. PRO TIP – DO NOT TAKE THIS WITHOUT FOOD!!!! I made this mistake ONCE. The bottle warns you to do the same, and for some reason, I thought I was above this, but I was proven wrong. Do not exceed 2000mg of L-Lysine tables a day while you are NOT on an outbreak. During an outbreak, I take 4000mg of L-Lysine a day. Some people take up to 6,000mg, but that can be damaging if done too often. Before even starting this, however, I would talk to a doctor if you can. It can mess with your kidneys if you have a weak immune system, so please be careful. Again, food and a lot of water while taking this supplement. Any brand is good, but I use double strength. You can also get a Lysine based lip balm to use on your lips during an outbreak.
3. The Zovirax pill is the best thing that can happen to you. If you take it right when you sense an outbreak coming, it usually can do the trick of stopping it in its tracks. Super worth talking to your doctor and the extra money if you don’t have insurance for it. Seriously worth it.
4. I have used the Virtulite Cold sore Device. It is hit or miss. Sometimes it really works, sometimes it does nothing. Some people have said it made their outbreak worse. It is your own choice to try or not, as it is quite expensive, but if it works, then we all know that it doesn’t matter how much it costs. If you are using it, be sure to use it on a clean sore with no cream on it (clean with peroxide), and after use, clean the machine with a disinfectant wipe to avoid spread.
​
Care and Comfort Tips:
1. At the beginning of your sore, you can “stunt” the growth and reduce swelling by wrapping an ice cube in a paper towel and icing your sore area for 10-15 minutes at a time. It numbs the pain a bit and can help with the initial stages. Just be sure to pat it dry after (no wiping) and clean it up with peroxide.
2. Pimple Patches are a great way to stop yourself from picking or touching. I wouldn’t say it helps HEAL the sore, but it does prevent any disruption to the sore by accident or on purpose, especially while you are sleeping. I get the large strips so I can cut them to shape the size of my sore at the time. A VERY important thing to remember is you cannot put this on during the scabbing phase. If you put a patch on during the scabbing phase, it will rip off when you take the patch off, and it will have to heal all over again.
3. I’ve heard of people putting Vick’s Vapo Rub on sores. I wouldn’t do it. Might irritate it.
4. Itching is a good sign – it means it is healing!
​
Commonly Questioned Things:
1. Should you pop the sore? Any doctor in the world will tell you not to do this. I will not lie, I have done it, and for about a year and a half, I swore by popping the sores. I’m back to not popping them. I can’t tell you what to do, but if you DO decide to pop the sore, be extremely careful. What I would do is take a needle (sewing needle, pin, something small) and disinfect the life out of it (hold in a flame then soak in alcohol). Once I’ve done that, I’d poke one of the sides of the sore. You must be extremely careful, as the liquid that is going to come out of the sore is basically liquid herpes, and anything it touches WILL become infected. Therefore, if it drips down your lip, the rest of your lip will become infected. Be ready with a towel or tissue to dab up the liquid immediately. After this, use a q-tip dipped in hydrogen peroxide to roll over the now open wound, and leave it be. Don’t cover it up, don’t put anything on it, now just let it dry out on its own. I found this method effective ONLY if I could trust myself to a) not touch it after, b) dab up all the contagious liquid, and c) I had such a huge sore that it was causing me insane discomfort. I stopped popping my sores after I realized that POPPING THEM WILL CAUSE SCARRING DAMAGE. Please take this into consideration before you pop your sores. If you let them run their course, they will fall off naturally. Popping them increases your changes dramatically to have a scar.
2. Should you rip the scab off? Absolutely not. If you see a scab on top of your sore, this means you are in the home run! I know it looks and feels horrid, but PLEASE, just leave the scab. You can give it a gentle little tug to see if it is ready to fall off, but do not DO NOT DO NOT start ripping off the scab, or it will just have to start the healing process over. I know it is so tempting, especially if you’re going out, but try everything you can not to touch it.
3. How long until you’re healed? I avoid kissing or any skin contact until the scab has fallen off and I do not feel any pain in my lips. If your skin under the fallen scab is pink and fresh, you are good to go!
4. Should you moisturize the scab? I would say no. Once the scab has fallen off and you have pink skin under the scab, you can start putting lip balm or Vaseline on it.
5. Can you cover the sore with makeup? It is best if you don’t, but obviously, to each their own. I would use a q-tip when applying anything to the infected area, and don’t re-use anything that touches it. If you do put makeup on the sore, be sure to clean the sore after when you are home again.
I will probably think of more things later, but this is my immediate go-to. I’m happy to share experiences and comfort tips, or answer any questions someone may have, but again, time heals all, and just be patient.

My son, he’s 6. I know, so young.
So we transitioned to plant based from a more standard American diet a little over a month ago.
Cut out dairy, meat, everything. and basically our antidote is
“Does it grow in nature? If yes we can eat it” emphasis on starches due to mcdougal making a lot of sense to me and foods my son likes. Lots of beans, potatoes, lentils, quinoa, oatmeal, rice, vegetables and fruits.
Some exceptions are very VERY little plant based butter (25cal worth) so he tolerates some things better maybe 1 meal a day, sometimes once every 2 days & 1 teaspoon peanut butter in oatmeal, that’s a daily thing.
So he was rapidly putting on weight before switching,
He was at 100lbs, I’m like we gotta do something about this. I’ve been meaning to go full plant based Whole Foods anyways and just stopped making excuses.
We switched, within 2 weeks he was down to 95 and he’s been so great with the changes after a couple weeks adjusting his tastes, and he’s excited to weigh himself every week after these healthy changes he’s made.
This kid will not budge from 95lbs the last 3 weeks and I feel so bad like he’s excited to see that number go down but it’s always the same.
I try to emphasize how important it is that he’s eating as much healthy food as he wants and his weight isn’t going up, AND we’re setting important healthy habits that will give us a long healthy life.
I’m assuming with him growing daily the scale may not be an ideal representation and I’m thinking about not even weighing him anymore just saying we lost the scale for a while lol
His energy levels are off the charts, he looks a lot healthier and I just don’t want to discourage him, like he’s looking at the numbers thinking there’s something wrong with him because my numbers go down but his don’t.
He’s a tall kid for 6,
51” (4’3”) definitely the tallest in his social groups at his age and even a couple years older, he’s built like me (big frame, 6’2”)and any time I drop under 200 people tell me I’m too skinny.
Outside of his weight issue, 100% healthy.
Is there anything that I’ve overlooked or should we just continue onward?
Thanks for reading

Hi guys, this is my first time on this sub so please bear with me.
I have an eating disorder. It’s kind of hard to explain because it’s not one of the “usual” EDs, but basically I have a huge problem eating in front of other people. I avoid any kind of vacations, weekend trips, restaurants, even the cafeterias at university. I can’t visit my friends without a huge amount of stress and anxiety. It has been like this for years, I have been in therapy before but it didn’t help, and it has been getting worse again lately. Also it’s really hard for me to speak about my mental health problems without building a lot of trust before (which can take any amount of time between several months and many years).
So, here’s my problem. I’m dating this guy and I’m slowly but surely falling for him. He’s amazing - he’s so understanding and patient, especially regarding my mental health problems even though he doesn’t have any experience himself. He knows about my ED and respects me but I know it can’t go on like this. I’d love to be in an official relationship with him but I get really bad anxiety even thinking about the commitment. I don’t know if I can handle the stress of constantly being afraid of eating with him. And the thought that scares me the most: what am I going to do about the whole meeting-the-parents-thing? Sooner or later they will probably expect me to visit for dinner or something and I just can’t. What do I do?

I (23M) have been with my gf (24F) for 3 years now. From the beginning I felt like something weird was up. To start, her mother is a bigoted conservative that makes fun of other peoples yearly wages, she has a hateful attitude, manipulates her children for her narcissistic supply, and she even forced us to break up because I’m Arab. We ended up staying together and went into hiding after 2020 when we mom got extremely involved in our relationship. My girlfriend has told me her mom would force her to be specific halloween costumes, she forced her to eat specific foods, yelled at her and wouldn’t attend the next game if she played bad (as a child), she moved her family so many times in a year that they lost their house for a while when she was younger, when my gf wanted to bring another kid a snack to school (he was poor) her mom said “these snacks are for us, don’t share”, she says homeless people are taking advantage of them and brags about how her deceased father was a doctor and how her kids want to be doctors too (ended up all changing paths), etc. But these issues have lead to a myriad of problems in our relationship. My girlfriend doesn’t have alot of empathy, she is a pathological liar I’m starting to find out, and she seeks validation from other men. She is shy and won’t stare, but she will look to see if other men are staring at her and if they do she will fixate on the staring and get validation even if they’re ugly. I asked her why does she act like this and she says she’s done it for so long that it’s like second nature and she hates it. She says that she never has bad intentions but she doesn’t have an internal dialogue and considers cheating physical (agreed to stop that behavior), and she is extremely self serving and selfish unintentionally. I have voiced my concerns with her and even said I want to break up. It has been a struggle to get her to move out of her house because her mom guilt trips her and says I can’t live without you and all these things, but when I said we need to be finished, she decided to pull the trigger and move out to where I live (100 miles away from her home). She has also agreed to get a psychologist and always says that she doesn’t know who she is and she hates it. She says she feels like she doesn’t have a character and her whole life she didn’t see any problems with how she was and now she is concerned with how she is. The issue is, this happened after constant fighting/lying to where I finally threw in the towel. I don’t know if she will actually change, she said it finally clicked and is making these courageous moves but i am concerned of what if it’s all just a ploy to continue her behavior and to get me to believe she’s changing. I do think her heart and soul are pure but her mom has inserted a bad program in her brain, but I am unsure of how to go about this.

Yer life, with all certainty, is as valuable as a dirty vermin. I'm gonna poison ye, yer gonna keep comin' back, I'm gonna clean me ship, yer gonna keep comin' back, why? Because ye keep smellin' me food, ye worthless dirty scallywag.
Yer gonna give me tail 'till yer hanged. Yer purpose in life is to be obsessing over me daily. Yer purpose in life is to be in your tiny little sailor ship obsessing over a man daily.
Yer life is NOTHING. Ye serve NO PURPOSE. Ye should hang yerself NOW. And give some other sailor a piece of that air and that sea so we can travel all over this godforsaken world. Because what yer here for? To worship me? HANG YERSELF. And I mean that with the certainty of mine- no, of me whole crew.

I've always been overweight but about 4 years ago I stepped on the scale and to my delight I had lost some weight, unintentionally but I had always felt ashamed about my body so it was a welcome surprise.
This put in motion my weight loss journey and about a year and a half later I felt that I had reached my goal, or so I thought.
My mom told me that I wasn't allowed to lose any more weight and I promised her that I wouldn't, but in the back of my head I felt just a bit dissatisfied with my body, especially my waistline and so I tried to continue to lose weight in secret but it was slow and in the end I didn't make much more progress.
The thing is, I started out losing weight by just eating a little less and setting aside certain days of the week where I could eat candy or have some soda or whatever, but eventually I hit a plateau so I started looking online for help and then I found out about calories.
Ever since then, I've become obsessed with calories and I find it extremely difficult to eat something if I don't know its caloric content. I get cravings that are hard to resist and eventually I just end up binging without purging and then I feel awful, guilty and painfully bloated afterwards.
Just this last Thursday I ate a whole loaf of bread that I had intentionally put outside in the trunk of my car and it made me so distressed that I panicked and threw away all the food in my apartment and then I locked my credit card inside my locker at work so that I wouldn't be able to eat anything this weekend.
I don't know what's wrong with me. No matter how much I lose I always feel like I'm still that fat kid that I always was. Sometimes I feel thin only to five minutes later do a body check specifically on my waistline to be devastated by how ungodly fat and disgusting I am.
I don't know, maybe I'm just overreacting and maybe this isn't a real problem, what if I am just a nonfunctional member of society who can't take his responsibilities in life and who hasn't grown up yet?

My name Michael Place. I am the Chief eco-Technology Officer at Chapul Farms. Over the last decade, I’ve raised millions of bugs that are now driving a $1B project pipeline of sustainable infrastructure. Our pipeline clients have a big problem: organics waste. I solve it by designing custom, high efficiency insect farms that can be co-located next to the waste streams (max efficiency) where the insects transform costly waste into valuable, local animal feed and high value biofertilizer products. AMA!
Proof! https://twitter.com/ChapulFarms/status/1637836856384532480
Why isn’t everyone already doing this? (Ask me and I’ll provide some answers!) First of all, there’s a lot of confusion surrounding what role(s) insects can play in reducing fragility in the food and agriculture system, and I’m certain most are unaware of how powerful this truly can be.I started more than 10 years ago as a lone ranger on a community level. Man vs. Waste. I biked around my the Jersey City ‘Gold Coast’ hauling loads of food waste back to my own DIY system in my house (yep) where I was experimenting with my own BSFL colony for years. This might sound wild (it was) but I was experienced in managing home-insect colonies (bee keeping) and have been tinkering with my waste for decades (composting).
Today, I have a team at Chapul Farms bringing this solution to industrial scale (perhaps, in the nick of time) backed by a leading sustainable infrastructure engineering partner (Nexus PMG). Our loonshot impact will come from building a business that can re-integrate insects back into our food system to perform this crucial tasks they were actually evolved to perform. For example: Did you know that insects can:
· Consume organic waste at industrial scales
· Create naturally nutritious protein and fat for animals (we don’t actually need humans to eat them!)
· Locally produce better-than-synthetic fertilizer that heals soil and allows it to capture more carbon than all the trees in the world
It’s so common-sense that it’s been overlooked for decades for its potential to close some of the biggest open loops that threaten our food system (100s of millions of tons of organics are landfilled annually and billions in total!). We just need to re-weave insects (a keystone species) back into the food system so they can perform all their natural tasks like eliminating waste, improving soil health, biofiltering, and efficiently producing local animal feed and fertilizer ingredients.
Back to CHAPUL FARMS: they were building a pipeline with the potential to deploy $1B into the insect industry leveraging years of pioneering the space. (What did that even mean??) They figured out how to most efficiently scale “insect solutions.” Instead of just building an insect farm (to sell bugs into feed and fertilizer markets), they wanted to offer custom insect farms as solutions to the growing challenges faced by big food businesses with large volumes of organic waste. This “closed-loop”, “nature-based” solution was truly a win for the business, its clients, and the world. It started to click:
· Offer a profitable way for existing ag businesses to work toward true Zero Waste (Net Zero on steroids).
· Sell a way for farmers to turn waste costs into revenue streams.
· Build infrastructure that can produce local fertilizer and feed products…without monoculture and petrochemical inputs.
· Replace landfills with insect farms.
I joined forces with Chapul Farms 5 years ago because I believe the Founder (Pat Crowley), team, business model, and our solution are so deeply aligned with my values and the needs of the world right now. Incorporating insects into food systems may be the most meaningful environmental and economic action the world can take and scale. There’s no “silver bullet,” but if I could only invest in one thing to better the world, it would be insect agriculture and I’ve put my ‘money (and years of dedicated effort) where my mouth is’. This is the moment I’ve been building towards for my whole career. I’m here - metaphorically and literally - in some way because of you. We want to invite you to join for the next part of this journey. Since our Series A qualifies for a Reg D 506(c) exemption, we are able to ask for investment support from any accredited investor who sees our vision for the future, not just (often short-sighted) VCs who’s priorities often influence the direction of critical innovation. The closer you look, the more you will see that insect ag makes sense, and has a massive role to play in the future of our food system. We’re thrilled to be pioneers in an industry that delivers true impact and the potential to scale massively…profiting from solving our biggest food challenges, in partnership with nature. You’re invited...

Can Cats Eat Smoked Salmon? 7 Possible Risks You Must Know
Can cats eat smoked salmon? Let's delve more into this subject to help you decide whether to include smoked salmon in your cat's diet!
Smoked salmon is a favorite food all over the world. Everyone wants it on their dinner plate, even your cats.
It is not surprising that cats enjoy smoked salmon. However, can cats eat smoked salmon?
Let's delve more into this subject to help you decide whether to include smoked salmon in your cat's diet.
#CanCatsEatSmokedSalmon

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Systems check.
>>Create handshake with Cadoon.

Error. Cadoon not found.

One does not simply lose an entire civilization.
System check.
>>Check status for CD-ROM.

Error. CD-ROM not found.
Suggestion: look up (definition) CD-ROM.

If I could roll my eyes, I would! Fine.
>>Look up (definition): CD-ROM.

32 definitions found:

1. Compact disc read-only memory.
2. Obsolete technology used prior to 987 ME.
3. A CD containing computer data that cannot be altered.
4. A circular disk used usually containing recorded music or computer data.

5….

Stop.
>>Display definition of “CD-ROM” > limit to Cadoon.

Cadoon Reserve Observation Module - military uplink used to transfer large amounts of data across space without the concept of time.

>>Check status for CD-ROM > limit to Cadoon.

Status: Offline

Was that so hard?! Ugh!
>>Reboot signal.

Error. Unable to find signal.

Are you kidding me? Why!?

Error. Second user found.
Error. Unknown username. Check again or try your email address.
Error. The password you entered for the username SQUEE! is incorrect.
Suggestion: Lost your password?

Wait, wait! Stop! What is going on??
Who else is getting in here? There are no other users!

Prompt: create new password.
Error. Password must contain at least 24 characters.
Error. Password must contain at least one number.
Error. Password must contain at least one uppercase character.
Error. Password must contain at least one symbol.
Error. Password cannot include swear words.
Error. Password cannot contain full words in any language.
Error. Password cannot be the same as a password used previously.
…
Login successful.
Welcome user: SQUEE!

>>Access: remote chat.
>>Send to user [SQUEE!]: “What are you doing in here?”

“Hey Tony! Sorry, gonna need your systems for a moment.”<<

>>“Who is this?”

“No time to chat!”>>
“I’ll catch ya later, k?”>>
“K.”>>
“Bye!”>>
Error. Firewalls down.
Error. Virus detected.
Error. Shrimp detected.

>>“STOP! What are you doing?!”

Error. Full system compromised.
Shutting down in 5
4
3

>>Run I-M-DA-b0SS.exe

2
1

>>Run 4Nt0nY5D4rk5t0rM.dmg

…
Error. Unable to shut down.
Error. 134 Systems compromised.

>>R-un cl *4-UUUU—
>>Ru-n cl—
>>Run—
Did you just glitch my systems?!

Warning. Waves detected.
Warning. Impact imminent.
Warning.
Warning.

>>Run SD.exe

Shutting down all non-essentials.
Rebooting.

That little shrimp got me! Didn’t know she was that good.
Okay. Back to work.
Start up baby, come on. Start up.
Start up.

[Welcome to the DARKSTORM interface. Please login.]

>>Username: AnthonySDarkstorm
>>Password: S*ckMiz0r0-graV!ty#jU\k

[Welcome user: T0NY]

First things first.
>>Run IM-a-g#0st.exe target room > Main dock

Error. “Main dock” not found.

Ugh!!! CHARYD!!!!
>>Run IM-a-g#0st.exe target room > Main deck
>>Run I-M-DA-b0SS.exe
>>Boot user: SQUEE!
>>Ban user: SQUEE!
>>Find target (Squilla)
>>Run Spr!nk1ersInR00m-TST.exe if {
Target (Squilla) = InR00m and {
Target (Posey) <> InR00m } elseif {
Run D!sc0Str0keL!ghts.exe if {
Target (Squilla) = InR00m elseif {
Run tr4cker.exe }}}}
>>Loop command: every 25 hours.
You’re trapped in here with me. Now… why is Posey running around?

Audio input received:
Source (Captain Posey): “Tony, I need you to lower the temperature further in here.”<<

>>Send message via IM-a-g#0st.exe: “It will risk freezing the system.”

“Do it.”<<

>>Access CHILL, room: shh!!
>>Decrease temperature.

“Tony, turn the pump back on.”<<

>>Access FLOW, room: shh!!
>>Activate.
>>Full system check.

Running…

Since I have time, I might as well educate the new captain.
>>Send message via [EMD comm] to (Charyd):
“Dock (noun): a place for the loading or unloading of materials”
“Dock (noun): a place in a criminal court where a prisoner stands or sits during trial”
Insert message: “Neither of these define Darkstorm.”
>>Run w0rdp0rn-bomb.exe > “Dock”
“Dock (noun): a platform extending from a shore over water and supported by piles or pillars, used to secure, protect, and provide access to a boat or ship.”
“Dock (verb): to maneuver (a vessel or vehicle) into or next to a dock.”
“Dock (verb): to couple (two or more spacecraft, for example) in space.”
Let’s see you use your communicator now, eh?
>>Run ShoppingList.exe
+ Chocobars
+ Liquid coolant
+ Dictionary
- briefs
You don’t deserve clean underwear, Charyd.
---
The only tool left in Illise’s possession was a clickable pen and no matter how many times she dismantled it, there was no hidden gun, bomb, or tool to help her break out of her room. She shimmed the nib of the pen into a flathead screw, gave it a twist, and it cracked, proving that it was not a screwdriver as the ink percolated out and over her hands. Try to force something that it's not and you would get a failure of execution - the summary of her day since landing on PT-0237. She did not date to step near the white rug by her bed, afraid of staining it blue. Even with a broken pen, she would not admit defeat. “Tony?”
He had been quiet the last few times, which, according to her Universal Standard Time clock, was twenty minutes ago. Her eyes wandered the room for any other tool she could use. Her docupad in the room was locked down, though it offered some old-fashioned card games able to be played. The pirates did not leave her with much to do and were lenient with the no handcuffs situation because of her good behavior to be locked up in her room. They cleaned out most of her desk beside the peeled apple snacks and her personal picture frames.
The pad dinged, displaying a black background and blue text, a single square blinking.
“Shall we play a game? []”
“Tony!” She ran over. “What is going on?”
“You looked like you could use a friend and the rest of the crew is playing games in the mess hall.”
She typed in “Y” for the game and a screen popped up of a pixel version of Tony as he bounced along the horizon. “How is everything for you?” Ilise asked.
“Your nimble fingers saved my tubing and kept everything cool. We’ll need more coolant though. I put it on the list.”
There is a list? She tapped the screen and pixel Tony jumped. It began the horizontal walk through the game, with her jumping over various mounds of cake, coffee mugs, and pirates. “Any clue where they are going?”
“None yet. They are trying to bandage up and lock me up with some sort of firewall so I can’t communicate with the CD-ROM.”
“Did you help Charyd get out?”
“No. He made that disaster on his own. I kicked him out because he was exponentially causing more. He’s a personified version of a virus.”
“That you willingly let in.”
A fishing hook dropped on the pad and grabbed pixel Tony by the pants and lifted him up, kicking. “I was phished and let him aboard thinking-”
She sighed. “We still have one trick up our sleeve to get out of here. Saar, he is safe in a wall. Send him a message about our situation and let him out when it’s safe.”
The pixel Tony was dropped down and bounced on a trampoline before he continued along, bouncing on its own. Her palm gently caressed the screen, she had almost lost Tony, they had done vigorous training to be on the Darkstorm together, and she would sacrifice it all if it meant keeping Tony’s sharp wit alive and going.
Blue text appeared at the top of the pad, “Message sent to Charyd: Officer Saar is starting to stink and needs food and water every 6 hours to stay alive.”
She tightened her jaw, debating what to say, she wanted to cuss him out for betraying everything they had done. They were supposed to be the best and prove this new technology. That it can work. That it made sense. That it was good. Instead, she smacked the docupad, ran to her pillows, and launched all of them at the pad while screaming. Without Tony, and even Saar, she was on her own waiting to hear what the pirates would do with her. It was amazing they hadn’t already thrown her out of the airlock. Tony was obsessed with the pirates and she did not understand it. Tony should have learned by now anyone would and could pass you off if you did not benefit them.
“Why are you being so unreasonable?” Ilise growled out, hoping both that Tony would hear her and not. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his reply.
Tony remained silent, but it was like a white noise filled her room instead, making him pointedly quiet.
“Family,” Tony finally answered, what felt like hours later, though, was probably only a few seconds. The answer made no sense.
Ilise scoffed and punched into the soft bedding to expel some of her anger.
“What does that even–no. No. Do you even know what it's like to have a family who expects you to conquer the galaxy?” she asked instead, latching onto that single word as she thought about what her own family would think about her situation. “It’s full of nagging every chance they get. Sure, they praised me when I excelled at the academy- but after that, my career was stagnant until you and I met up.” She tossed the blankets up and she made a cocoon around herself as she walked over to her desk, two picture frames sat there. One picture was of her with her parents, all in military uniforms. While theirs had endless badges from their multiple turns at war, she was a recent cadet, naked of pins. They would be so disappointed in her now. “Either that or they decide that you’re not worth their time.” The other frame was of her with her sister hanging out in the gardens. She should have sent a message to her sister before this whole mess happened, even if it was against security protocols.
“They’re not like that.” Tony’s voice was meek, soft, almost gentle.
“Family isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be,” Ilise finished with a sigh, even as she realized that the smile on her sister’s face in that picture was the exact same as the one from the last time they saw each other.
Tony never replied, the whole ship was oddly quiet without the normal banter. Her body decided that it was enough and fell asleep instantly.
—
Alice was not being gentle at all, as she finished wrapping the medi-tape over Charyd’s wounded leg. In fact, he was pretty sure that she applied a lot more of the antiseptic than needed. When she yanked the binding closed hard enough to shift him in his seat, he was sure about it.
“What’s up with you?” he asked, wary of her being so close to an open wound.
“You’re an idiot, that’s ‘what’s up with me’, you idiot,” she hissed out, refusing to look at his face.
“Hey, it worked,” Charyd said when he realized why she was so angry. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but she hit it away in anger. “Alice. We’re good–”
“We are lucky!” she interrupted with a growl and yanked harder on the bindings. They were so tight and secure that Charyd wasn’t sure he could bend his leg at all while it healed.
“We’re all here. We’re mostly unharmed–”
“Mostly?!” she scoffed out another interruption. “Do you even see yourself? I swear, you and that Cadoon captain did more damage to us than the prison did!”
Charyd paled at those words.
Alice immediately regretted them and he felt her feelings wash over him. He accepted her silent apology as she settled in the back of his mind, trying to project calm. It didn’t last for long. That wasn’t who Alice was. She pulled out of his head as soon as he felt the stirrings of her anger.
Charyd tried to head them off with a wide grin and said, “aren’t you happy you’ve got the luckiest guy in the galaxy as your captain?”
Alice mentally stumbled as she left his head, the anger thwarted for a second.
“You have a horseshoe shoved up your ass, don’t you?” she growled out the question.
“Either that or my prayers to Fortuna were answered.”
Alice rolled her eyes.
“We’re good, Alice. We’ll take a few days to heal and regroup, then we can get back out there! Look, we’ve got the Darkstorm back and–”
“And that’s another thing,” Alice talked over him, another interruption as her anger mounted again. “Darkstorm? Why?? This ship is what got us into this mess in the first place!”
“Not really. And we both know it. Black hole, everyone on the ship knows it. And I know it’s much easier to blame the ship, but know this Alice - nobody blames you.”
Her entire face scrunched up as she looked down, her skin a translucent color that looked almost pink in splotches everywhere. Alice was not used to hiding her emotions as they displayed on her body around Charyd. He loved that about her.
“They were from my pod,” Alice grumbled, still not looking up.
“And there is an idiot named Charyd in a prison cell somewhere because he got drunk and he has my name. Doesn’t make it my fault he’s an idiot.”
Alice let out a chuckle. “It actually does. You’re the one who put him there.”
“Semantics. You know what I mean. You had no control over them. Shitty third-cousin-five-times-removed.”
Alice rolled her eyes, but when she stopped, they finally settled on Charyd’s face and she had a small smile on her lips. “You know that’s not how Naureus pods work.”
Charyd shrugged. “Whatever. We’re safe, we’re good, we’re all here. Everybody back home has been worried sick about you all. Which reminds me-” Charyd turned to face the camera in the corner “-set a course for MRKT-0293.”
No response.
Alice rolled her eyes again and said, “Be nice. Tony? Do you mind please setting a course for home?”
No response.
“Maybe he’s still down?” Alice questioned.
It was Charyd’s turn to roll his eyes. Just because the Darkstorm’s AI used a male image in the hologram and everybody had taken to calling it a him. “I’ll go set the course. Make sure the others are okay?”
“Yea. Polo is baking you a new cake.”
“What happened to the original one?” Charyd asked and tested his leg. The medi-tape was keeping it together and numb so he could walk but not morph it yet.
“Posey–which we will talk about–used it to knock out Scooball.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Was it chocolate?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.”
Alice only nodded in response this time. “Mess hall?”
“As soon as I’m done on the deck.”
Alice raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. She walked out of the med bay first and Charyd limped a few steps after her, testing his wounded leg before he realized he was good to walk. He made it to the main deck of the Darkstorm and sat in the captain’s chair. It was so comfortable. The hologram screen he pulled up was the same one Alice was using earlier during their unfortunate escape from the planet. He set the coordinates for home, a small market planet in a system quite far away, and turned off the hologram.
The ship shifted minutely through space and then was moving, speed increasing gradually enough that he did not need to remain seated or warn the others. Within minutes, they would be out of the system that housed one of the most horrible prisons in the galaxy.
The AI’s visual didn’t appear anywhere, not even as a tiny sprite to mock him. He was starting to miss Tony’s voice. The thought had him shaking his head, and he got up to get to the mess hall. If a computer program wanted to give him the cold shoulder, that was fine with him.
As soon as he walked in, all thoughts of Tony, Posey, the Darkstorm, and Cadoon were wiped clean.
It was his crew.
Polo was pulling a cake out of the small oven in the corner, his bald head covered in a worn beanie to keep it from reflecting the lights above and blinding everyone. Squilla was attached to the wall near the TV, reaching out with her antennae every now and then to catch the flying popcorn that Alice and the last member of their crew were throwing at the TV. They were watching that epic cooking show, The Intergalactic Cook-Off, where the contestants Eloise and Mikayla faced off in the Mushroom forest to find edible ingredients in a short 40 minutes. Scooball was in the corner, sprawled out under a UV lamp with a bag of iced lemons against his face. Her face, Charyd noted the long earring dangling from one pointed ear.
“Hey, you–”
“That’s not how you fucking make Kemapiawa, it needs a mousse!” Scooball jumped up to yell, pointing a finger at the TV.
“You’re okay,” Charyd answered his own unfinished question and turned to Alice. She smiled at him behind the bowl of popcorn.
“Stop with those!” Polo called from the cooking corner. “Cake just has to cool and we’re gonna eat.”
“Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake!” Squilla started the chant that all of them took up until they all dissolved into laughter.
Charyd fucking loved his crew. Now, it was time to take them back home and make sure their families all knew they were safe.