Bertie has been a part of our family for nearly 10 months now. He is a pretty typical greyhound—Velcro dog, nervous of loud noises, sweet in a quiet way. Around Memorial Day, people in our neighborhood started letting off fireworks at night, which he Did Not Care For. He responded by coming and standing by my side of the bed and panting. I petted him and he lay down next to the bed (it’s a very narrow space) and going to sleep there. Eventually in the middle of the night he would go back to his bed near the foot of our bed. Since then, he has been behaving similarly every night, even though there’s no more fireworks. Sometimes he whines, sometimes pants, eventually goes back to his bed. I’m not sure what to think. Is he nervous that the fireworks will start back up? Is he asking to get in bed with us? Is there something else going on? I feel bad for him, bedtime should not be such an anxious time for him. (Also for me because he sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night!) we’ve tried calming treats and calming probiotics, they don’t seem to do much.

It's for my 15 year old niece. It's been her only wish since she was a baby. Now that she has permission of her parents, I want to buy her one.

Hello.
I don’t want to make this post too long but I was hoping for some advice on calf problems. Back story is, I used to be a pharmacy technician, so I was on my feet a lot. Approximately 2016-2017ish. I didn’t work there extremely long, maybe just a year. Anyways, one day I was reaching up to grab a bottle of pills from the shelf and had to stand up on my toes. I would say I did this a lot as I am a short female (27 now). I noticed not long after that that I had a pain in my right calf. I assumed I pulled it and waited for the pain to go away. The pain never went away. I stopped working at that job, had a sit-down job not too long after for about two years. I’m not active whatsoever so no running or extreme sports for me. I am what you would consider over weight but I was at least 30 pounds lighter when this started. I did see several different docs before I saw a podiatrist who told me immediately it was Achilles tendinitis. I did physical therapy for some time after and did stretches and massages at home. The pain persisted. Eventually I was so fed up with the pain and nothing that the doctors said to do helped so I just stopped caring. Eventually I noticed the same pain in my left calf. It’s not AS bad as the right leg, but it’s definitely there.
The pain is not there if I am laying down or sitting but if I get up and walk around or stand, even for like a normal grocery store trip, it will hurt AFTER I have sat down. Sometimes the pain is like sharp shooting pains that come and go. They are sharp enough to stop me from whatever I am doing to just hold my calf in pain and then it will stop until the next sharp pain comes. (Cramps?) Other times it will remain sore and achy. I don’t have any pain in my heel or feet. It’s literally just from the back of my calf that hurts and I feel the pain does radiate down the ankle.
When massaged it hurts a lot. Doctors and friends who have felt my calves have agreed that my tendon is VERY tight. I don’t have much flexibility to my foot when it comes to pulling your toes toward you.
It doesn’t happen every time I am active but enough to certainly make an impact. I’m not looking for medical advice. I am hoping for possible suggestions on stretches or even relatable experiences. So far, upon googling, I am only finding people who are super active and get injuries from running long distances. I am neither of those things.
Any insight would be helpful!

Recently my partner's mother passed away. Us two and his siblings have had to relocate to a different state to deal with her affairs and funeral. This is where she was located and also their father who we are staying with.
I have stayed in this house once before for a week and vowed to never stay for longer than a quick visit again. His father is unbearable and our personalities clash. He is extremely religious, racist, sexist and old fashioned. He doesn't like women having opinions that differ from his and doesn't have the basic conversational skills to hear anyone elses opinions (will just talk over you and be extremely condescending). I'm not exaggerating when I say he is the most difficult man I have ever had to spend time with.
Of course in these circumstances I put this aside to support my partner through this awful time. I want to help in any way I can and was happy to keep my mouth shut for the duration of the trip and just be a comforting presence for my partner. I'm aware that she was not my mother, though I did live with her for nearly a year. My partner and I have been together for three years and he has seen his family members only a handful of times since we met.
The first few days we were working through the motions of everything together as a family, my goal always to stick by my partner and help him recall information if it was needed. Now suddenly I'm being asked to leave the room by his father every time there is a phone call or discussion, due to the other siblings wanting the situation to be handled without me.
I'm still working remotely while I'm here (we can't afford for me to take time off) and there is no place for me to work because wherever I set up I'm asked to leave the room. I don't have enough work to do here to fill in a whole day because I need my office set up not just my laptop.
I totally understand and respect their privacy, but we are up on a mountain and I have no canothing within walking distance. Also their father has their gates permanently locked and I have to ask him to unlock them if I want to leave which just makes me so uncomfortable.
I don't want to be selfish and I want to support my love as much as I can but I can just feel my mental health declining each day that I'm here. I feel like I shouldn't have come because his siblings so clearly don't want me involved in the process and who knows how long it will take. I've just spent today in our room alone crying.
I'm contemplating flying back home today or tomorrow which would mean I miss the funeral. If you think I should stay, do you have any advice on how to deal with this situation?

There were two girls (Sam & Amy) and Ryan, that were involved. Ryan for weeks was being really sus around me. He didn’t tell me what was bothering him, cancelled plans at the last moment, & purposely not include me in any plans. I tried texting & calling him but nothing.
Amy was the same, more or less but she did text me back and was being super passive. When I asked what was wrong, all I get was, “you should know?” Or “why do you think something is wrong” something along the lines
Sam did respond to me and I expressed how I felt towards Amy’s actions lately and in the past but instead of trying to resolve the situation, she twisted a few things and threw me under the bus.
Three of them knew my friend had a bachelor party coming up. Nothing big but a few friends having fun. Those three came but weren’t acting social and left early. About 30 minutes later, I hear loud banging on the door and open to find it’s them. Sam, Amy and Ryan come in and start yelling and making a scene. For the next 20 minutes that’s all it was and I could see my friend was upset. They left, my friend was crying in the back and I was controlling myself to not knock the lights out of those three fools
It takes a real special type of person to knowing cause a scene at someone’s bachelorette party and almost ruin the wedding
Weeks later I saw Ryan at an event. He tried to shoulder check me but something inside of me lost it for a second and I threw him onto the ground. I found out afterwards from a friend that Amy & Sam saw what happened and were afraid to talk to me or get near me
I hope all of three them step on Legos

Ive been feeling extremely tired for the last 2 years. Saw a number of doctors, had blood test, imaginings, took meds… nothing worked. I dont know how much longer i could go on as theres next to zero qualities of life, most days im just a mindless zombie. Here are my symptoms - I feel exhausted upon waking up in the morning. Naps made it worse. I have brain fogs and cluster headache nearly every day. Loss of memory & inability to concentrate. Insomnia I’m not officially diagnosed with CFS. I saw my pcp and he put me on Modafinil then later adderall to help with fatigue and sleepiness with no improvement. I had blood work done (CBC & CMP) that were normal. No diabetes, thyroid, or prostate problem. Energy drinks, caffeine pills, vitamins, supplements didnt help. Swimming gave me a little bit of enegy boost for an hour or two. What else can i try next? What should i getvtested to know for sure i have cfs? Please helppppp

I can’t help but get irritated whenever my dad calls me. It’s like every other day that he calls. It may sound messed up that I react this way to his calls but it’s the truth. My life is pretty messed up due to DUI I committed a few years ago. I’ve been busy working and paying off fines, going to counseling, doing community services, etc. As soon as I get off my shift at my primary job, I do some DoorDash. My schedule isn’t very flexible at all. Yet my dad keeps calling me everyday asking “what are you doing?” Or “do you work today?” “Maybe sometime next week we can go hang out”. I’m glad he wants to hang out with me but I hate hanging out with him. Confusing right?
He just got through a 2nd divorce and is all lonely so he starts contacting people he suspects got nothing better to do. I’m single too but I’m working pretty much all day, everyday. Most people don’t wanna hang out with him because he has anger issues. He LOVES to be angry. So every time we go out to restaurants or the grocery store he starts a scene over something petty.
One time the cashier at Costco at self-checkout told my father that he had to remove his grocery bags off the bagging scale to start a second order and he got all angry with the lady even though she was just explaining how the machine worked. My dad assumed the worst and thought she was just trying to give him a hard time so he gave her “the look” 😡 and went to a different self checkout register to start a new order. He told me to just wait at the self checkout register while he waited in line again to use a different one. The whole 6 minutes my dad was mean mugging the employee like he was Shrek or something. Meanwhile I was stuck looking like a dick for holding up the line.
He overanalyzes every situation and assumes the worst about people so he’s always getting offended. The energy he gives off is always negative. I have to get drunk just to cope whenever we hang out. My body can only take so much alcohol before I get alcohol poisoning. I only hang out with him because I pity him. I feel a sense of guilt if I decline his invitations to hang out even though I know I shouldn’t. I feel kinda shitty for saying this but there’s a reason why nobody wants to hang out with him and there’s a reason why my mom left him. If ANGER was a species of human, that’s him.
What’s worse is that he tries to get me to believe that me and him are alike. We’re no where near alike to each other besides in genes. My idea of socializing and having a good time don’t involve road raging, starting drama scenes eat restaurants and criticizing everything and everyone in sight. He used to offer me rides home after work because the walking distance was like 7 miles. Any time I accepted he’d do nothing but criticize every decision I made. He’d spend the whole ride back home explaining to me how foolish I was for whatever decision I decided I’d share with him. It sucks because when we talk, it’s not really talk. When we talk, he’s questioning me like he’s some kind of detective. Whatever I say is met with anger and ridicule.
Dad: “How many hours did you work today?” Me: “4” Dad: “Only 4?!…..you better stop letting your boss step all over you like that” Me: “🙄”
Dad: “What did you eat for dinner?” Me: “I don’t remember” Dad: “what?! You don’t remember?!” Me: “no I don’t, why is that a problem?” Dad: “most people with a brain know what they ate for dinner” Me: …😒 Me: “I think it was French toast” Dad: “FRENCH TOAST?!!” Me: “yes”
Dad: “Why’d you buzz your hair off?” Me: “because I wanted to” Dad: “not a smart move, people are gonna think you’re a skinhead…..again, you need to start thinking with your head”
By the end of the trip I would feel like shit. I eventually decided that I’d rather walk 7 miles instead of putting up with him. I truly don’t understand what the hell my dad gets out of spending time with me. I definitely don’t get anything out of it except for when my little half brother comes along.

Female, 22. Height: 5 foot 1 Weight: 130lbs
Conditions: secondary adrenal insufficiency, central sensitization, convergence spasm (eyes) / double vision, colitis from C. difficile (now under control), chronic pain/ fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety, depression, ocd
Medications: cortisol, venlafaxine, amitriptyline, Suboxone
I’ve always had really small tremors throughout my whole body. People always ask me if I’m cold. But since I got adrenal insufficiency, I’ve been getting muscle spasms literally all over my body that keep getting worse. I can feel it constantly. It’s my entire body. My eyes have double vision because of it - muscles are stuck in a spasm so I see double and my eyes can’t move fully.
Then there’s my tremors which are getting more severe and I’ve even developed some twitching where my head lurches forward sometimes.
The worst pain is in my spine. Specifically the pain is around T5-T7 vertebrae area. The pain IS my spine. It is not around my spine or near my spine, it is my spine. It is so bad that the only way for me to help it is to jam something into it really hard and lie down on it using pressure from my legs. I’ve used those neck back massager things in the past to try and help but I keep burning myself without realizing it because my pain is so bad that I don’t even feel my skin get burned by these heat machines.
Well, I’ve found a solution that helps very temporarily. I bought a vibrator to try and help relax my muscles, and I figured out that if I lie down on it, it almost counters my tremors / spasms that are happening and helps calm my pain a little bit. Unfortunately it isn’t permanent and I can’t do it for very long.
My question is, what do I do, and does this have a name? I am in so much pain. My body is so exhausted. I can give more details if you need. Please help me. Thank you

My family has owned the same farm in Kentucky for five or six generations. Since my grandma died we don’t have any use for the farm and my mom is looking to auction it. She’s very hesitant to do so because my grandma always said she wanted to keep the land in the family. My dream for a long time was to live on that farm and have cows or crops or just do something. The thing is I have no experience what so ever and would not even know where to begin. I am in college now very far away but I could continue at the local college near by. If I could make this happen I’d need to prove that I am able to do it. I’m 19 hardly an adult. How could I learn more about farming to at least see if it’s feasible for me to do it? Preferably free or very cheap.

This morning while driving to work nearly avoided an accident on the highway when a careless driver chooses to change lane on me. 100% sure if I hadn’t slowed down he would’ve hit me. I have the plate number. How to report such cases here in AD?
Thanks.

<< Previous Index Next >> (ToC at Chapter 1)
(Original, Contemporary MC in supernatural setting, Magic, Afterlives, Souls)
Schedule: New chapters every Monday and Thursday.

Chapter 10

It took Kenny several minutes to regain his strength, and he wasn't exactly fresh afterward.
"It's not just exhaustion," he said. "It was so hard to concentrate, and I was seeing black spots for a while."
"I'm going to heal you back," I said. "Don't worry, you'll feel like new."
"No, No," he waved me down. "We have to be efficient about this. We have to plan it out."
"You're right," I said. "We need to know if we can heal only the body or even a single wound."
"Not only that," he replied. "We made a lot of assumptions here. We need to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff," he pointed at the ground. "The first thing that needs to go is the temple. We didn't even use the right one, and it will be a whole different game if we can Heal outside."
We made our plans and went outside. I wasn't a stranger to the scientific method. I went to school like every else, but planning experiments for something explicitly supernatural felt out of place. If it can be repeated at will, we'll be able to depend on it. Hell, if it was impossible to sleep, we would have to rely on something like this.
We slowly walked out of the plaza, noting the bustling activity near the growing ramp, and turned a corner behind one of the closest unattended buildings. When we ensured there were no people or ghouls in sight. We continued to experiment.
It didn't take us long, ten minutes at most. And yet, while I still felt reinvigorated physically, the clarity and freshness left me by this point. Whatever Kenny did, it was not the substitution to sleep the witch made it out to be.
First, we had to try it without all the most likely noise. We were outside the temple and decided to try to recover only Kenny's life force.
It took him several tries to manage a nick on his skin, and I was quick to draw the Ankh on his hand. We already knew the placement of the symbol was insignificant since he used the one we drew on my hand to Heal everything.
"Do you accept this blessing to recover your life force?" I asked him.
"Yes," he accepted.
"This Ankh was drawn with your blood and my saliva. It represents life," I said, touching the symbol.
"I use some of my life to bless you," I proclaimed. "Be restored."
I finished with a prolonged measured blow on his symbol. It was a hard feeling to describe, a mentally draining exercise that made me feel lessened for it.
I stopped blowing when Kenny lifted a hand.
"Did it work?" I asked. I felt the drain, but it did not guarantee success.
"Yeah, It felt like getting slapped awake or chugging coffee," he answered. "Could be addictive. We should be careful with this."
This was a huge win. We now gained the ability to Heal outside of the temple.
I was in awe. Not only miracles or magic were possible. I had this miraculous ability—me. It was unbelievable, and there was much more to come.

***

We continued our work, resting between each try, and still, we were both spent by the end.
Kenny managed to Heal himself. Then I succeeded in treating separate wounds.
The Ankh could be drawn using anything. We didn't have to use bodily fluids for it. The symbol was not strictly necessary but made the spell easier. We could use a stone with the sign to Heal without drawing it on the body.
The patient's permission was only needed when casting on each other; without it, the effect was severely weakened. Same with touch.
The most selective of all was the ending. The command to be healed could be whispered, which didn't change the result. Willing the effect silently was strenuous and barely worked, but it was possible.
After that, only the trigger remained. Blowing on the symbol or whispering to it worked like pouring water. It was seamless and gradual. However, using the command itself as a trigger, a snap of the fingers, or a clap, was worse. The effect was more abrupt, harder on the caster, and felt more wasteful.
We were absolutely exhausted, but we had the framework for future spells.
Consent from the target, a symbol of the effect, the intent to use life force, the command, touch, and the trigger.
Out of all of them, only the use of life was missing on our very first try, we were so close, but it took us so much time to get to it. It was also the only thing essential for the spell. All of the others only made the magic more manageable and potent.
"We must thank Victor," Kenny remarked. "His description was so good, we actually managed to repeat it."
"I still can't believe I can use magic," I said. "He only missed the life-force aspect, and he couldn't have known it either way. And oh, how I wish we knew the spit wasn't necessary. I feel so stupid for trying with it so many times," I chuckled.
"I still don't understand the Ankh," Kenny complained. "It represents life, so do we use it for any spell that uses our life? Or maybe only the spells that affect life?" he continued to ramble. "What even gives it the meaning of life? How many people need to recognize the symbol to give it meaning?"
"Whoa, hold your horses there," I said. "I wouldn't risk casting anymore without rest. You need to find a way to write down all your ideas, or your head will explode," I joked.
I was very thankful to Kenny, but he needed to be more careful. It took some persuading to make him stop earlier. We didn't know what would happen if we used too much of our life. We could die for all I knew.
"I have just the idea for next time," Kenny said. "You'll only have to heal a small cut up to three times at worst, and we will have another piece of the puzzle."
"What piece exactly?" I asked.
"I can tell you only after you do it. That's part of it," he said.
His enthusiasm was infectious, which made me curious, but I was serious when I decided to stop. So It'll have to wait.
We were walking beside the colonnade when I noticed his silver tray.
"Didn't you try to sell it?" I asked.
"Nobody wanted it," he shrugged. "I just left it here when I saw you talk to Victor."
I got an idea.
"Let's go talk to the witch," I proposed.
He looked at me questioningly.
"We won't tell her we figured out her trick," I warned him. "But we need to get as much as we can from her. Anything she lets slip, we may be able to use."
I picked up the tray. "This will be our gift to her. Who doesn't like silver?"
"We need to ask her about the Goddess," Kenny suggested. "And how she knows when it's dawn."
"We'll ask her to teach us to heal," I said.
"Why?" He asked. "We already know that."
"Just to see what the price she puts on that information is," I said. "We'll know her better for it."
Kenny hummed thoughtfully.
"Chin up. We're going to make a new friend," I joked.

My parents are old and tired. After graduating college in the pandemic i came back home and helped with one of our two restaurants, we will call this one Restaurant B. I thought it was a career I could pursue, grow the restaurant and go from there, but working under my parents can be like having a ball and chain on your ankle. Very poor communication skills and even poorer emotional awareness, but that’s for another day. Now fast forward some years I left the other restaurant with the goal to pursue my degree in psychology but have found it damn near impossible to get a job, so i have continued to help out when needed at the restaurants. Now my parents want me to take over Restaurant A, a wildly popular restaurant for the last 20 + years. The thing is, growing up this restaurant stole my parents, specifically my dad, away from me. I grew up hating that place because of how much more it seemed to matter than anything else. Multiple times it almost tore apart my family, and I do mean that very literally. But at the same time this restaurant has provided more opportunity and money then I think either of them could have predicted, enough to pay for both my brother and my colleges in full, leaving us debt free. Fast forward to now, I understand why they worked so hard, I understand to at least some degree why everything had to be the way it was, and i am super super appreciative and sorry for the way I grew up and treated them. Through sucking up my own emotions repaired any connection with my dad I may have had left, but that’s been the story of my life sucking up how I feel to help others, to people please, and I believe this originates from competing with Restaurant A for my dad’s attention. Now the time has come, and my parents want me to take over Restaurant A. I don’t particularly love the service industry, but I’m good at it, I was raised in it. I have no other immediate plans or career paths available to me, but i don’t want everything in my life to come from my parents. I want my own adventures and mistakes and victories, and I feel like if I stay and do the restaurant im sacrificing myself to be financially free.
I don’t particularly want this but I know it’s too good of an opportunity. What should I do?

(California) My benefits were skimmed on April 10 and they took $3800 in benefits. A good portion of this was pandemic emergency benefits that I was saving in case I don't get recertified. I found out about the theft a week later and filed a report at my local office immediately. I was told the funds would be replaced within 25 days and that an investigator would call to get more information. No one has called me. It has been nearly two months and I have no idea when this will be resolved. I called twice to inquire and they finally sent me a letter saying they needed time to investigate since the amount was over $1000. How long does it take for this sort of investigation to conclude?

I hope to fine someone constant who lives near sm east ortigas para easy to gala and to chika.
I want someone who i won't have to beg for their time I want someone who really cares and worries about me I want someone who's willing to give love unconditionally
Lets not rush things tho
About me: 5'2 Working 6/10 looks Kinda chubby but nasa large size na dati xl-xxl Gamer Batang hamog (nagkakasakit kasi agad pag nahahamugan) Love Language: Receive acts of service Give quality time Tatawanan ka sa lahat ng jokes mo kahit corny Mahilig sa travel and adventures
About you: 6/10 looks Working Okay lang rin chubby wag lang lalagpas sa 80kg ung weight 5'4 above Hindi sad boi manipulative Hopefully gamer din
If you dont live nearby, sana willing to travel for me within north part of metro lang din sana!
Gonna delete this after an hour or 2

My name is Adaraka Voska, I am a Kutrali Shipwright.
These details were no longer really relevant to my current existence, considering even if my escape pod hadn't been blown to smithereens, I wasn't going to get off this planet.
I knew the telltale sign of what the Humans call a 'double tap'. Tuktuk voka.
Even though one of their own had shot me just as I launched the pod, they had clearly taken the effort to look for me, find my escape pod, and blow it to pieces. The Human who had saved me, a native of this planet, simply cried out, "What happened fallen star!?"
Even panicking, his Kutraal was getting better.
I decided to tell some blunt and honest truth. "An enemy of mine destroyed it, they believe I am dead now." This of course greatly concerned him, but in a way it was a relief. Still, I wandered the crater, looking for anything that could reasonably be salvaged. Unfortunately, anything and everything of value was gone, and I was reliant on iron age medicine to get me back on my feet.
The ride back was as unpleasant as the ride to the crash site, having to lie on my front wasn't doing me any favors. Still, I was biologically predisposed to survive at any cost, even if it killed me.
Since I was stuck here, I asked the Human his name. He looked surprised. "I already told you." He said. "My name is Kallan."
Oh, that made sense. "I thought you simply used a local word for mage." I replied. "Apologies."
I hated using formal Kutraal.
"Alright." I said after he scraped off the herbs. "Kallan, what I am about to tell you is extremely important. Without the autodoc to heal me, I'm going to need your help."
"Anything, Kataran." His use of the word for 'honored person' caught me off guard, that was going to make things worse for me.
"My name is Adaraka Voska." I said. "Before I landed, my enemy had struck me with a weapon that left behind something inside of my body. It's the reason why, even with all of your efforts, my healing is slowed."
"Who could create such a weapon?" He asked, horrified.
I bit back the retort of, 'Humans'. That wasn't going to go over well. "A people who want my kind to die." I said. "A people who believe I am dead, and will continue to believe I am dead." I took a deep breath. "Do you know of surgery?"
He shook his head. "I am not familiar with that word."
"Alright. The basic concept is that you, uh, you cut a person open to remove or heal something that is making the body ill." He looked horrified. "The fact of the matter is, unless this weapon is removed, I am going to die in two weeks."
He walked away, biting his trembling hand, he barely even knew me, and he was already mourning me. "W-what can be done?" He asked.
"Are you familiar with a clear liquid that burns when imbibed, or when put on a wound?" I asked.
"I am not." He replied, shaking his head.
"Beverages that cause drunkenness, inebriation, intoxication, or slurred speech, unstable walking, vomiting, anything like that?"
"Ah, yes. That has been outlawed by our lord."
Well, there goes my best disinfectant.
"Alright." I said. "I have very clear instructions for you. Are you at all familiar with a black glass, commonly found near-" Was volcanic a word in our lexicon at the planet's seeding? "-volcanic mountains." I finished after a brief pause.
"Yes." He said. "There are hostile beings who live in the swamplands who use such a material."
Hostile creatures? Well, they were likely my best best bet for getting obsidian any time soon.
"Alright. We can probably work with that." I said. "We're going to need some. Next, are you familiar with various kinds of mold?"
"I know many ways to kill mold, yes." He replied. That likely meant no antibiotics.
"Do you at least have salt?" I asked.
"Oh, yes. Salt is very useful for treating wounds."
Great.
"You're going to have to do something known as surgery." I said. "With the obsidian, we will need to make a cutting implement, this implement will allow for a clean cut, but the blade will be fragile, so care must be taken."
He nodded. "If it will save your life, I will do this." He said.
"Next. We're going to need to need a substance called soap. Please tell me you have soap."
"I am not familiar with that word."
"That's fine." I said. It was not fine, none of this was fine. "We're going to need fat from meat, wood ash, and water. This will create a substance that will allow your hands to be clean enough to go rooting around in my guts."
He looked nauseated at my description. "Please do not tell me you have an aversion to eating meat."
"No, no." He said. "Fat will make this substance?"
"Yes, and wood ash. I'd explain why, but you wouldn't understand." I replied. "If you have any means of collecting rain water, we're going to need it, we can make one component of soap immediately."
"I have barrels of rain water." He said. "Though, I do have to boil it before drinking it."
I smiled. "Excellent. Get a pot full of water boiling, we're going to make lye."
Sodium hydroxide, or lye, as a chemical, has fairly limited uses, but they can be very important. Soap making was an essential use, and some foods required lye for consumption, but overall, lye as a chemical is extremely caustic, and without rubber to act as a protective layer, we were going to do this stupidly and dangerously, because we had no other option.
Thankfully, Kallan actually kept his wood fire ashes, so all we needed to do was boil the water with the wood ash inside of it and skim the lye off the top once it rendered. Kallan was- thankfully- competent and was able to gather the lye without burning himself with it, as per my warning.
As for the fat, well, Kallan did have salted and smoked meats, all stored in an underground cellar that was- by my estimation, equivalent to zero Caen. Cold enough for refrigeration, at the very least, with some insulation, it could even reach -18C.
For now, as Kallan cut strips of meat off a haunch of an unidentified animal, I wondered if the salt content of the fat would harm our chances of making soap.
By the time we were done for the day, the cauldron he used to render the lye for us thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed, we had a meat stew and the cut off fat was being rendered in a pot.
"The weapon that is lodged inside of you." Kallan spoke softly. "What is it, what does it do to you?"
"It's called a bullet." I stated. "The piece that is lodged inside of me contains a metal known as depleted uranium." Of course, he didn't know what that meant. "It has a poison in it that will slowly kill me, it's used against my kind because we otherwise heal too fast to kill."
"How fast do you heal?" He asked.
"With the right medicine, almost instantly." I replied. "Without that medicine, slightly faster than your kind. Unfortunately, we do not have the means to make that medicine."
We ate, and then he changed my bandages.
I laid on the bed he provided me, staring at the ceiling, thinking about everything I've been through in just the past few days alone.
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I like a range of personality and attractive physical traits, but I feel the deepest chemistry, desire for kissing, loving and more for a woman who is blessed with large natural breasts. Only naturals do it for me, from fuller firmer perky to a mature tear dropping hanging look with lots of under cleavage. Larger naturals often have some sagging and that is sexy to me, but I hear some women don't like using that term. My desires relate to how big naturals look, feel, move, jiggle and react to rhythms of fun together. I like to give a woman I'm with back massages or full body, releasing stresses, aches, knots, tensions, that may help with our sleep or as foreplay. Also helping her feel good being naturally blessed and so she'll never consider a reduction. I'd be her personal physical pleasure therapist. I like big naturals on a slender body to a very healthy, bigger busty hour-glass body with a noticeable hip-waist ratio. There are also other features I prefer to be bigger because they give me more desires to kiss, appreciate and please her. I'm in shape mainly from a healthful natural diet and working regularly out at home and some outdoors, all of which can be fun to do together with a good-girl, friend or more. I have features in a good-looking range, blue eyes, nice hair, cut abs. I like to communicate with a woman with the intention of dating, developing into more than hook-ups. Maybe I'm cautious and old-fashioned about dating, but I have a wild side too, relating to kissing, pleasing and animalistic loving which can be fun fitness, for hours at a time, even with edging and ANR. For the right woman, I love keeping her loyal, with kisses, cuddling to the deepest love making. Please only reply if live around Los Angeles or maybe Southern CA.

You can no longer choose pickup for the ROG Ally at the bestbuys near me! What the heck?

If depression and suicidal ideation go around in packs, then I guess I’m a good example. I entered my freshman year of college in fall of 2019 hoping for a positive experience. Idk what I was expecting, but I thought that the Ivies would have an engaged and curious student body.
It’s been anything but. Everyone around me is a neurotic and suicidal wreck, and I think it got worse due to COVID. I’m supposed to be graduating this week and starting my “adult” life, but I still have two years left of school because I’m a loser and took multiple leaves of absence because I’m depressed and suicidal.
One of my professors freshman fall killed himself. I started having intense suicidal ideation during Spring of 2020 when my college sent everyone home during COVID, and the suicidal urges and depression haven’t stopped. My sophomore year, during fall of 2020, I signed up to be a “virtual orientation leader” (fake and gay, I know) at my school — not because I was particularly enthusiastic about my college, but because it was a simple and easy job that pays surprisingly well.
I never checked up on any of my freshmen after orientation because they were literally scattered around everywhere — some were on campus, some were back at home. One of the freshmen I had who was living on campus killed himself at the end of his freshman fall. I feel this deep, empty void in me that doesn’t even feel like guilt anymore, not when so many other people I know killed themselves.
A guy from my freshman floor who I really hated and thought was super annoying killed himself last year. An upperclassmen friend and a mentor I had died of cancer a few months ago. One of my closest friends from college, someone who actually *is* graduating this week and is literally a genius (like she’s graduating as one of the valedictorians of an Ivy and got into Stanford Law School as a Knight-Hennessy scholar) calls me every now and then talking about her suicidal ideation. My other close friend also took a leave of absence because she’s suicidal, and I’m really worried about her. Someone in our friend group committed suicide a few months ago and I don’t know, I don’t know what to do or how to feel anymore. I was always suicidal anyways. The girl in my friend group who killed herself was also a socially isolated and slightly autistic only child like me, I can’t imagine how her parents feel.
I transferred to another Ivy at the beginning of my junior year (fall of 2021), and it’s been more suicides, depression, and despair. A hot, rich, and talented girl in this quirky lil DIY music club I was in killed herself, and I was stunned that someone so ethereal wanted to die. I spiraled, and I spiraled hard every single day I was at school.
Why was everyone around me so neurotic and anxious? Is it because it’s an Ivy in a notoriously stressful city? Or is it just the post-COVID malaise of knowing that nothing is stable, nothing is forever, and nothing is enough…
I took a leave of absence from school for a year (basically all of 2022) because I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t handle being in an environment where everyone was anxious and people I know were killing themselves and I was scared, scared all the time. For all of last year, I worked a few jobs and internships and did a gay ass DBT therapy program to “not be depressed anymore.”
Well it turns out that therapy doesn’t help you stop being depressed or suicidal if there’s nothing really left in your life to live for. Being in therapy and all those stupid DBT therapy groups just highlighted how empty and meaningless my life is. It made me angrier and even more suicidal, and I genuinely think that CBT/DBT is like some sort of psychological gaslighting for some (not all, or even many) patients…
I got back to school in January of 2023. I was just instantly demoralized by being in my environment and frequently fantasized about killing myself. I drifted in and out of the psych ward near my college until I took another leave of absence after two months.
I went back home in March and felt like a failure. One massive failure. How could I fail to hack it at school even after a year-long leave of absence? Something is profoundly wrong with me. Being a full-time college student is super easy; why can’t I handle it? Something is really wrong with me.
I later learned that a guy who lived ten floors above me jumped off our dorm building and killed himself. It was really sad, he seemed like a nice guy whenever I talked to him in the elevator. He was a football player and was planning on going into finance and all that, I really thought those people were the ones who had it together.
I literally cannot relate to other people at ALL. My life has been so far from anything resembling a normal life that I don’t even know how to form human bonds anymore. I’m depressed and suicidal and so is everyone else in my life.
I just want to be in a warm, nurturing place where all my friends aren’t on the verge of killing themselves. Everyone around me is a neurotic, anxious striver on the brink of collapse — they’re (literally) willing to kill themselves for whatever lofty goal they have set up.
Should I try to leave my current school? Or am I one of those miserable fuckers who is probably destined to be a suicidal bitch wherever I end up? Just the idea of going back to my insanely pretentious and cutthroat school is making me ill, but maybe this sub needs to tell me that I’m a weak little bitch and just need to get over it.
I feel empty all the time. I’ve been depressed before college but the past three years have introduced an emptiness and a death drive that I didn’t even think I was capable of having. Has anyone else been in a suicide cluster?

Although I’m only 22, my areolas are very low and my boob shape is nearing tubular. I’m on a weight loss journey of over 40 lbs (just started). I have lost 30 lbs in the past but gained half of it back. I also did cross country for 3 months and no one informed me about the importance of wearing a supportive bra, so despite constantly wearing underwire bras with complete support all the time, the sagging is still there.
I am really worried about numbness and paresthesia in the area after surgery. Can someone explain their post-op experience and if feeling is back to normal? And can you breastfeed without trouble?

Why do people hate on Cassie beating Shinnok again?
Just for the sake of clarifying, I came back to the franchise recently after YEARS away, played X and 11 after the reveal of MK1, and actually enjoyed the story of X (11 got me hella bored).
I always saw the games' story as kinda bad Hollywood movies, and I actually really liked how both Shao Kahn was defeated in 9 and how Shinnok was defeated in X, having all the context behind it - so I was kinda surprised to learn people absolutely hated X's plot. The game stablishes early on that the green power is not just a buff (although it does buff, Shinnok was toying with Johnny before it), but a bloodline boon that completely nullifies the gods' powers (Johnny himself didn't even tank the attack, the thing just didn't work) - and later as part of his plan Shinnok specifically kidnaps Johnny, confirming that threat and even telling him so, to the point the one who binds him isn't even his magic, but D'vorah's goo just bo sure.
None of the cast knew Cassie could do the same, so Shinnok wasn't even bothered by it. Then when it turned out that she did, completely nullifying Shinnok's magic (his main power and strongest tool), she won (exactly the same way as Johnny did). You had all the setup, the Chekhov's gun, the arrogant villain underestimating the heroes, even development throughout the game as Cassie senses she fails to meet expectations set up by her family (that is also being torn apart by a workaholic mother), but steps up at the most crucial moment precisely because that family is in danger. It really feels like a cliche'd hollywood movie, and even though I believe they did most of it kinda badly (the thing about Johnny being descendant from such a special lineage coming out of nowhere and brushed off immediately; and a lot more), it wasn't nowhere near the BS they pulled a lot before (and that they would pull after), specially on MK9, considering all the buildup they made.
I can understand in hindsight that people didn't like Cassie, but I saw a lot of legitimate criticism saying the plot was horrible because of this. Is it because Shinnok got the power up? Or is it just because Cassie=Bad (Which is funny to me now, because the campaign already begins humbling her multiple times and building her confidence slowly, so I thought people who played it would let her off the hook more)?