I live in a city which pretty much only has two LCS stores dedicated to bullion (population 1MM). The others are mostly coin shops that sell a bit of silver coins and bullion yet hardly.
They are completely sold out. Wiped out. They had a 8 silver maples left and some 10oz bars. It takes 6 weeks to get stuff since everything is so backlogged.
Manager was telling me how people are more or less panick buying now. People coming in no idea knowing anything about silver or gold. Just literally saying shut up and take my money. One lady sold all her investment properties and converted a large chunk to PM. Didn't even know what a silver maple was lol.
The old guy standing next to me (retired) had just spent 5k on silver and that was his third purchase within a week. He was asking for my advice since according to him , "I've been doing this for a while".
Just wanted to know if any other apes had similar stories. Seems like the normies are panicking. So glad I've got the boat packed.
I'm doing a bunch of ordering online now seeing that my LCS shops have been drained.

If you missed my last update post on Season 6 please check it out. https://www.reddit.com/ExpeditionUnknown/comments/10fe3qw/update_on_season_6_of_expedition_x/
Vernal, UTAH (Skinwalker Ranch... Well Kinda)

• January-18 They stayed at the SpringHill Suits in Vernal, Utah.
• January-19 Filmed at the Mcconkie Ranch Petroglyphs. They also did an interview there. The whole place was covered in snow and Jessica made snow angels haha. The Film Crew split up to shoot some B-roll.
• January-20 A Crew Member dressed up as a Cat or maybe Dog Monster and ran around in the snow. I believe they were filming a Reenactment or at least I hope so haha.
• January-21 They filmed at night and it was really cold.
• January-23 I think this was a day off. Some of them went to an Arcade.
• January-24 Somewhere in the Uinta Basin they film an interview with an eye witness on their private property that connects to the Skinwalker Ranch. They never step on SWR Property, they were only allowed to go up to the property line. We will have to wait and see how they play this off when the Episode airs. They rented off-road vehicles from Adventure Tours Vernal. The Film Crew made ramps out of snow and jumped the off-road vehicles. One of them almost flipped forward on the landing, it looked dangerous but fun haha.
• January-25 to 28 I know they filmed at night one more time but other than that I have no idea what they did these 4 days.
• January-29 To the airport, everyone flew home.

Ireland And England (Hellfire Club)

• February-8 They arrive in Dublin, Ireland. Phil's Wife and Daughter joins him again. Jessica and Film Crew have lots of drinks that night.
• February-9 First Film Day. They ride Horses up Montpellier Hill to the Hellfire Club Ruins. They filmed that night in the Ruins.
• February-10 Temple Bar, Dublin. Drinks, drinks and more drinks haha.
• February-11 Filmed interviews at the Marsh's Library. Drinks, drinks and more drinks hahaha.
• February-12 Day off.
• February-13 Travel day, London England
• February-14 Road trip to Oxford. They rented a Land Rover. They Filmed at the Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe. Some of the Crew dressed up for a Reenactment.
• February-15 They wrapped up this Episode and had a big dinner.
• February-16 Travel day, at London Airport and off to Romania.

Cluj-Napoca, Romania (Witches)

• February-17 They filmed at a Sheep Farm. Did an interview with some of the farmers and got to hold baby sheep. They got to drive off-road vehicles and the Crew got wild again haha. A woman who lived on the farm fell in love with Jessica haha, She wouldn't let go of Jess and the Crew made fun of her. They had lots of drinks which became the theme for this Europe trip haha.
• February-18 They were filming out in a field and the Producer started digging a hole. Jessica got into the hole and Phil pretended to bury her, I think just for fun. Then a Cameraman got into the hole and Jessica and Phil stood above him so he could get the shot (???) idk haha. That night the Crew partied at a Club called Plan B.
• February-19 Day off.
• February-20 Filmed at the Orthodox Cathedral and Avram Iancu Statue.
• February-21 Filmed at the Equestrian Statue (King Mathias, Matyas). That night they filmed with 4 Witches named Casanndra Buzea, Buzea Ana Maria, Anda Mihaiela, and Vrajitoarea Mihaela Minca. Jessica loved filming with them. They then went back to their hotel and the Producer had way too much to drink haha.
• February-22 They go to a forest near Floresti (not sure if was Hoia Baciu Forest) and film with the Witches again. They had a small fire and a hot coal popped out of the fire into Jessica's hair. One of the Crew put it out and Jess says she owes him a life debt now haha.
• February-23 They wrap this Episode up and have a big dinner.
• February-24 Travel day, At airport by 3:00AM and fly back to England.

Chester, England (???)

• February-25 They filmed at a field/forest and rode atvs. Plus a night shoot.
• February-26 Day off. I'm not sure but some of the Crew went to Diddly Squat Farm Shop which is owned by a TV Host named Jeremy. I think they rented a Land Rover from him but again I'm not sure.
• February-27 Filmed at the Chester Cathedral and in the streets (Chester City Walls).
• February-28 Filmed an interview at the Olde Cottage Pub Chester. Then road trip to Buxton, Peak District.
• March-1 Filmed at Stanage Edge. They did a rock climb.
• March-2 Jessica did an interview with BBR-Being Believed Research and Phil took a Helicopter Tour.
• March-3 Day off and that's a wrap on Europe.
• March-4 Phil and his family flew to Iceland for a vacation and everyone else flew home.

Hollywood

• March-16 Jessica and Phil was in Studio to work on VO for the Episodes and I'm guessing filmed the intros with Josh.
• Today is March-21 and I believe they will start filming again tomorrow. I think 2-3 more Episodes.

TLDR: fiance hungout with random women and partied on his work trip struggling with his mental and physical health for many months, never told me about one woman he's now connected to and inappropriately flirts with her through text and probably in person one on one. What do I do? I'm pregnant with our first and we're buying a house.
I'm (26F) 12 weeks pregnant, closing on buying a house with my (27M) fiance, started a new job for better pay for us 3 weeks ago, and my fiance went on a business trip but wasted most of his time going to casino and clubs partying, with a random woman we "knew of from Facebook and through mutuals, but never officially met (until he did while there).
This is our first baby to be together. After 4 and a half years together, we're finalizing home ownership at the end of the month. I felt this was all about us growing together now but the way hes acting lately it's like he wants a snippet of the single life with partying with random people, beautiful women, including one on one time with said other women for dinners and more casino time. His partying behavious has increased for the last several months. He owns his own business, and it's expanded so much while we've been together into making a few million a year, a bigger team, and expanding to another town whoch adds to his pressure and work stress. He has random people from our town and neighboring towns that we "know of" (small territory) on social media for advertising reach, but this one woman he ended up deleting since she annoyingly posted a lot, I'll call her Valene. He went to the city for 3 weeks to pick up products and get one of our dogs neutered, so because of the surgery, he stayed 5 days longer.
He went to the casino/clubs around 5-10 times at least, on weekends and week days, including when the trip was extended for our dog's neutering. During this he caught up with an old friend(23F) I'll call her Lisa that we both know from highschool also an ex of his, no feelings leftover, just platonic but very beautiful woman and into fitness. His time with her, he was letting me know ahead of time when they were going to hang out and got food, most times with another guy friend of his as well. Including over a weekend air bnb rental in the next city but she ended up going home when they got into a dumb drunken fight (from the sounds of it) while also all binge drinking and doing drugs together all night before that weekend.
He saw the younger woman Valene (23F) that he had on facebook but deleted because she posted so much, at a party casino his first night and they recognized eachother, he told me that she was looking and walking with a drink staring at him and accidentally walked into some other person. They didn't have eachother online for a month or 2, but then recently I saw her reacting and commenting on his posts like they know eachother, after he told me he already deleted her the first night he mentioned to me he saw her. Now they're connected online again a couple weeks after his trip. I found that odd, and he never mentioned anything to me about her. He told me he was struggling in pain physically and mentally more so during his trip which is why he was partying. His flight was delayed for 2 days since the airline didn't accept the original kennel our dog was shipped with (too small, they never said anything from here) so he had to buy a new one.
I know it isn't right to snoop in your partners phone, but I wanted to know why they were connected and he didn't mention anything to me, I figured that they ran into eachother one night out again and that was it but they did more like exchanging numbers, texted the next day, went for food and to the casino until 2am again, she texts him like they're long time friends but with some flirting, that I'll get into more detail about.
He told her his flight was moved for an extra couple days, said let's do something, that he'll take her out to eat and tried getting her when he was at a restaurant already, she said "atleast give me 4 hours i look like shit". She has an almost 1 year old from a cheating ex that she left last year so she needed to arrange a babysitter ahead of time as well, and asked if he could pay, he responded "never even fucked yet and I'm already paying your babysitter hahahaha. That was a joke though <3" which i feel has crossed a line. She said "your dime my time" "hahaha I can say the same thing" "Okay until midnight?" he said,"2am lets go casino again" "I got one for all night" "trying to sleepover? Hahaha. " "No, I don't want to wake my baby up in the middle of the night you wish." "hahaha actually, I dont, but it was a joke." Then they ended up hanging out, and he picked her up, and I can tell that he dropped her off around 2am by their following texts.
A couple weeks later she was messaging him every day to every few days until just over a week ago, she was saying things like "sup fuck" "hey how's it going you make it back up" "Good morning" "hey" "have you seen my dad up there? He doesn't talk to me anymore. Reinstated daddy issues lol" "What do you mean? " "nvm" she also asked if he has snap, he said he does, but he doesn't use it. She said "well?" "And I'm not going to use it."
She seems to initiate all their convos, they kinda catch up, but since they don't hang out now, it's minimal. But she also messaged. " I have a question for you. You told me you're allowed to have female friends, but you told me you didn't tell your wife about meeting me. Why?" He said "yea so, idk lol" "okay" "you can tell her idc" "that would be the dumbest thing as a woman" and he went off on his rant saying "I meet so many people everywhere I go I don't discuss everything, I hungout with a ton of people when I was there male female it's normal life. Plus, most times, we hung out to party or go eat idk it's no big deal. I did get confused having to pay for your babysitter, haha, but you're a student all good. How come u ask haha" she said "idk" then changed the topic.
There's been more frequency of him having no patience for me, and he gets very upset and angry when i try to talk and communicate my needs in our relationship, but I'm hurt that he can pretend to be all nice with these other random women,, pay for their babysitter, take them for food, party with them in a whole different city. I wanna let him know if his flirting is too much for me (I let him flirt with other women many times while we we're out together but I was there and went home with him). He always defends that attraction to other people is natural, flirting is sometimes good for his business or getting deals etc. If this woman wasn't attractive, he wouldn't even have hung out with her and now be "friends". It's not like they're long time friends she's a random new woman from the bar from a month ago.
How do I bring it up, if at all, with his anger problems? Any advice is welcome. I'm anxious about dealing with this only now that I'm pregnant with him, so confused with my feelings and what to do. Would personal or couples therapy help us through this? I thought of saying, "I noticed her commenting. Did you end up meeting with her?" Or something along the lines to not push him into anger. Or should this be a conversation at all initiated by me?

TLDR: fiance hungout with random women and partied on his work trip struggling with his mental and physical health for many months, never told me about one woman he's now connected to and inappropriately flirts with her through text and probably in person one on one. What do I do? I'm pregnant with our first and we're buying a house.
I'm (26F) 12 weeks pregnant, closing on buying a house with my (27M) fiance, started a new job for better pay for us 3 weeks ago, and my fiance went on a business trip but wasted most of his time going to casino and clubs partying, with a random woman we "knew of from Facebook and through mutuals, but never officially met (until he did while there).
This is our first baby to be together. After 4 and a half years together, we're finalizing home ownership at the end of the month. I felt this was all about us growing together now but the way hes acting lately it's like he wants a snippet of the single life with partying with random people, beautiful women, including one on one time with said other women for dinners and more casino time. His partying behavious has increased for the last several months. He owns his own business, and it's expanded so much while we've been together into making a few million a year, a bigger team, and expanding to another town whoch adds to his pressure and work stress. He has random people from our town and neighboring towns that we "know of" (small territory) on social media for advertising reach, but this one woman he ended up deleting since she annoyingly posted a lot, I'll call her Valene. He went to the city for 3 weeks to pick up products and get one of our dogs neutered, so because of the surgery, he stayed 5 days longer.
He went to the casino/clubs around 5-10 times at least, on weekends and week days, including when the trip was extended for our dog's neutering. During this he caught up with an old friend(23F) I'll call her Lisa that we both know from highschool also an ex of his, no feelings leftover, just platonic but very beautiful woman and into fitness. His time with her, he was letting me know ahead of time when they were going to hang out and got food, most times with another guy friend of his as well. Including over a weekend air bnb rental in the next city but she ended up going home when they got into a dumb drunken fight (from the sounds of it) while also all binge drinking and doing drugs together all night before that weekend.
He saw the younger woman Valene (23F) that he had on facebook but deleted because she posted so much, at a party casino his first night and they recognized eachother, he told me that she was looking and walking with a drink staring at him and accidentally walked into some other person. They didn't have eachother online for a month or 2, but then recently I saw her reacting and commenting on his posts like they know eachother, after he told me he already deleted her the first night he mentioned to me he saw her. Now they're connected online again a couple weeks after his trip. I found that odd, and he never mentioned anything to me about her. He told me he was struggling in pain physically and mentally more so during his trip which is why he was partying. His flight was delayed for 2 days since the airline didn't accept the original kennel our dog was shipped with (too small, they never said anything from here) so he had to buy a new one.
I know it isn't right to snoop in your partners phone, but I wanted to know why they were connected and he didn't mention anything to me, I figured that they ran into eachother one night out again and that was it but they did more like exchanging numbers, texted the next day, went for food and to the casino until 2am again, she texts him like they're long time friends but with some flirting, that I'll get into more detail about.
He told her his flight was moved for an extra couple days, said let's do something, that he'll take her out to eat and tried getting her when he was at a restaurant already, she said "atleast give me 4 hours i look like shit". She has an almost 1 year old from a cheating ex that she left last year so she needed to arrange a babysitter ahead of time as well, and asked if he could pay, he responded "never even fucked yet and I'm already paying your babysitter hahahaha. That was a joke though <3" which i feel has crossed a line. She said "your dime my time" "hahaha I can say the same thing" "Okay until midnight?" he said,"2am lets go casino again" "I got one for all night" "trying to sleepover? Hahaha. " "No, I don't want to wake my baby up in the middle of the night you wish." "hahaha actually, I dont, but it was a joke." Then they ended up hanging out, and he picked her up, and I can tell that he dropped her off around 2am by their following texts.
A couple weeks later she was messaging him every day to every few days until just over a week ago, she was saying things like "sup fuck" "hey how's it going you make it back up" "Good morning" "hey" "have you seen my dad up there? He doesn't talk to me anymore. Reinstated daddy issues lol" "What do you mean? " "nvm" she also asked if he has snap, he said he does, but he doesn't use it. She said "well?" "And I'm not going to use it."
She seems to initiate all their convos, they kinda catch up, but since they don't hang out now, it's minimal. But she also messaged. " I have a question for you. You told me you're allowed to have female friends, but you told me you didn't tell your wife about meeting me. Why?" He said "yea so, idk lol" "okay" "you can tell her idc" "that would be the dumbest thing as a woman" and he went off on his rant saying "I meet so many people everywhere I go I don't discuss everything, I hungout with a ton of people when I was there male female it's normal life. Plus, most times, we hung out to party or go eat idk it's no big deal. I did get confused having to pay for your babysitter, haha, but you're a student all good. How come u ask haha" she said "idk" then changed the topic.
There's been more frequency of him having no patience for me, and he gets very upset and angry when i try to talk and communicate my needs in our relationship, but I'm hurt that he can pretend to be all nice with these other random women,, pay for their babysitter, take them for food, party with them in a whole different city. I wanna let him know if his flirting is too much for me (I let him flirt with other women many times while we we're out together but I was there and went home with him). He always defends that attraction to other people is natural, flirting is sometimes good for his business or getting deals etc. If this woman wasn't attractive, he wouldn't even have hung out with her and now be "friends". It's not like they're long time friends she's a random new woman from the bar from a month ago.
How do I bring it up, if at all, with his anger problems? Any advice is welcome. I'm anxious about dealing with this only now that I'm pregnant with him, so confused with my feelings and what to do. Would personal or couples therapy help us through this? I thought of saying, "I noticed her commenting. Did you end up meeting with her?" Or something along the lines to not push him into anger. Or should this be a conversation at all initiated by me?

I posted this in response to a 2-year old thread. New here! Anywho, figured I would create a new post to in case there was any interest out there.
Snip:
I run a book club in GR (Books, Bourbon, and Beer) and we do just this thing. Not specifically always a brewery. But, I try to fit the barestaurant to the book the best I can.
We meet twice per book. The first meeting is generally a weeknight at a barestaurant. It is assumed you have begun the book but not necessarily finished. We avoid spoilers!
The second meeting is generally hosted (with Zoom available) on a Saturday afternoon. Here we wrap up the discussion, and have had some authors join us to discuss their book as well.
The main goal is to bring people together, have fun, explore GR's food/bar scene while also discussing some wonderful books.

TLDR: fiance hungout with random women and partied on his work trip struggling with his mental and physical health for many months, never told me about one woman he's now connected to and inappropriately flirts with her through text and probably in person one on one. What do I do? I'm pregnant with our first and we're buying a house.
I'm (26F) 12 weeks pregnant, closing on buying a house with my (27M) fiance, started a new job for better pay for us 3 weeks ago, and my fiance went on a business trip but wasted most of his time going to casino and clubs partying, with a random woman we "knew of from Facebook and through mutuals, but never officially met (until he did while there).
This is our first baby to be together. After 4 and a half years together, we're finalizing home ownership at the end of the month. I felt this was all about us growing together now but the way hes acting lately it's like he wants a snippet of the single life with partying with random people, beautiful women, including one on one time with said other women for dinners and more casino time. His partying behavious has increased for the last several months. He owns his own business, and it's expanded so much while we've been together into making a few million a year, a bigger team, and expanding to another town whoch adds to his pressure and work stress. He has random people from our town and neighboring towns that we "know of" (small territory) on social media for advertising reach, but this one woman he ended up deleting since she annoyingly posted a lot, I'll call her Valene. He went to the city for 3 weeks to pick up products and get one of our dogs neutered, so because of the surgery, he stayed 5 days longer.
He went to the casino/clubs around 5-10 times at least, on weekends and week days, including when the trip was extended for our dog's neutering. During this he caught up with an old friend(23F) I'll call her Lisa that we both know from highschool also an ex of his, no feelings leftover, just platonic but very beautiful woman and into fitness. His time with her, he was letting me know ahead of time when they were going to hang out and got food, most times with another guy friend of his as well. Including over a weekend air bnb rental in the next city but she ended up going home when they got into a dumb drunken fight (from the sounds of it) while also all binge drinking and doing drugs together all night before that weekend.
He saw the younger woman Valene (23F) that he had on facebook but deleted because she posted so much, at a party casino his first night and they recognized eachother, he told me that she was looking and walking with a drink staring at him and accidentally walked into some other person. They didn't have eachother online for a month or 2, but then recently I saw her reacting and commenting on his posts like they know eachother, after he told me he already deleted her the first night he mentioned to me he saw her. Now they're connected online again a couple weeks after his trip. I found that odd, and he never mentioned anything to me about her. He told me he was struggling in pain physically and mentally more so during his trip which is why he was partying. His flight was delayed for 2 days since the airline didn't accept the original kennel our dog was shipped with (too small, they never said anything from here) so he had to buy a new one.
I know it isn't right to snoop in your partners phone, but I wanted to know why they were connected and he didn't mention anything to me, I figured that they ran into eachother one night out again and that was it but they did more like exchanging numbers, texted the next day, went for food and to the casino until 2am again, she texts him like they're long time friends but with some flirting, that I'll get into more detail about.
He told her his flight was moved for an extra couple days, said let's do something, that he'll take her out to eat and tried getting her when he was at a restaurant already, she said "atleast give me 4 hours i look like shit". She has an almost 1 year old from a cheating ex that she left last year so she needed to arrange a babysitter ahead of time as well, and asked if he could pay, he responded "never even fucked yet and I'm already paying your babysitter hahahaha. That was a joke though <3" which i feel has crossed a line. She said "your dime my time" "hahaha I can say the same thing" "Okay until midnight?" he said,"2am lets go casino again" "I got one for all night" "trying to sleepover? Hahaha. " "No, I don't want to wake my baby up in the middle of the night you wish." "hahaha actually, I dont, but it was a joke." Then they ended up hanging out, and he picked her up, and I can tell that he dropped her off around 2am by their following texts.
A couple weeks later she was messaging him every day to every few days until just over a week ago, she was saying things like "sup fuck" "hey how's it going you make it back up" "Good morning" "hey" "have you seen my dad up there? He doesn't talk to me anymore. Reinstated daddy issues lol" "What do you mean? " "nvm" she also asked if he has snap, he said he does, but he doesn't use it. She said "well?" "And I'm not going to use it."
She seems to initiate all their convos, they kinda catch up, but since they don't hang out now, it's minimal. But she also messaged. " I have a question for you. You told me you're allowed to have female friends, but you told me you didn't tell your wife about meeting me. Why?" He said "yea so, idk lol" "okay" "you can tell her idc" "that would be the dumbest thing as a woman" and he went off on his rant saying "I meet so many people everywhere I go I don't discuss everything, I hungout with a ton of people when I was there male female it's normal life. Plus, most times, we hung out to party or go eat idk it's no big deal. I did get confused having to pay for your babysitter, haha, but you're a student all good. How come u ask haha" she said "idk" then changed the topic.
There's been more frequency of him having no patience for me, and he gets very upset and angry when i try to talk and communicate my needs in our relationship, but I'm hurt that he can pretend to be all nice with these other random women,, pay for their babysitter, take them for food, party with them in a whole different city. I wanna let him know if his flirting is too much for me (I let him flirt with other women many times while we we're out together but I was there and went home with him). He always defends that attraction to other people is natural, flirting is sometimes good for his business or getting deals etc. If this woman wasn't attractive, he wouldn't even have hung out with her and now be "friends". It's not like they're long time friends she's a random new woman from the bar from a month ago.
How do I bring it up, if at all, with his anger problems? Any advice is welcome. I'm anxious about dealing with this only now that I'm pregnant with him, so confused with my feelings and what to do. Would personal or couples therapy help us through this? I thought of saying, "I noticed her commenting. Did you end up meeting with her?" Or something along the lines to not push him into anger. Or should this be a conversation at all initiated by me?

Didn't know where to go since everyone on my side of the family and my wifes side seems to be fine. So, naturally, TO THE REDDIT!
​
Our Daycare had told us in the beginning that there was going to be a split in the 1 year old classes. Somehow it was going to be easier to focus on motor skills and milestones for the younger 1's and curriculum for older 1's. The way they presented it was almost heavenly. A class for kids heading out of infancy, and another for kids that were making their way into 2 year old classes. Simple right?
When we signed our son up at 16 months, we thought he'd be able to go along with the younger class. At the time he was still on fortified formula, had his own routine and everything that I communicated with the director before signing him up. They never got the classroom setup as far as I'm aware (I work 10-11 hour days so wife picks up and drops off) and so now my son is among all the other 1 year olds. Shouldn't be bad. Only except now, you message me on the daycare app with concerns that he won't sit still during circle time, he doesn't use a sippy cup, he doesn't sit at the table much with the other kids when it comes to snack time, and he doesn't play with other kids, all he wants to do is play by himself with a few toys (He's an only child). Am I missing something here?
It seemed as though just 2 months prior he's been on track hitting every single milestone from his doctor and was a joy to be around. Now all of a sudden I'm forced to push my son to get onto their version of ''on track'' by switching him to sippy cups and no formula even though I KNEW he was not ready, JUST started to eat and enjoy gerber meals, and now theyre giving him cheese sticks and boiled eggs with baked beans. On top of all this they are constantly telling me left and right about how he's behind on this, that, etc. Doesn't do this, that, etc. There's concerns with his hearing, concerns with his socilization skills (that was a fun call mind you with a lady for the State of Arizona). We need to pick him up due to him being inconsolable,etc etc etc.
Don't get me wrong I have ZERO problem when it comes to LEGIT concerns about his health. They sent a PSA about one of the kids contracting Pink eye. They've let me know he's thrown up followed by diarrhea. He seems super snotty and very clingy and temps at 105. He's playing around outside and gets bit by an ant. All legit concerns. But for all of the good they do they're just too much sometimes.
The most recent one that really made me question them was one morning I dressed him up super comfy to get through the cold morning. They put a Health Check on the app saying that he temps at 100.01 and that we should pick him up. I leave in the middle of my shift and pick him up to see that he still has all his morning clothes on at 1 In the afternoon, in a class thats ''temperature controlled'' to 80F filled with like 8 other kids. To add insult to injury, they temped him while he was asleep bundled in a blanket with ALL his clothes on. I asked them why they didn't bother to take his clothes off and they looked at me as if I was an alien.
Just because you've WATCHED kids before, doesn't mean you KNOW how to TAKE CARE of kids. If this is just a job to you, go work at McDonalds, because this is my son. My world, my best friend, my everything. And to feel like you set the bar SUPER HIGH for a 1 year old to be able to do all these things I would imagine kindergartners do like circle time, then come to me about these concerns when he doesn't meet your bar ( HES FU***NG 1)
​
Just needed to vent this out because me and my wife seem to be the only one concerned about it
Thanks!
Edit: Spelling and Grammar

​
A rule breaking truck driver takes a forbidden detour.
​
Don't Feed the Pumpkins
I'm typing this as a record of what has happened to me. If someone should find me out here, where ever here is, this is what happened and who is responsible. Also, out of the dozens of vehicles bogged down in this field, mine is the Blue Jay 2013 Freight Liner. If I should die and it is recoverable, it should go to my son, John Grainger in Antioch, Illinois.
I left Litchfield Illinois around 2pm on Halloween with a last-minute load of pumpkins destined for the Antioch Walmart. Despite the fact I was once that told Illinois is the #1 pumpkin producer in the country the itself state appears to be in the midst of a shortage. I was due in about 8pm, but I was trying get in by 6pm and after unloading, I was going to visit my wife Carly and my son for Halloween. It was going to be the first Halloween in my son's life that I was going to be there for trick o treating. My wife was making a big deal out of it and John was 10 now, so, she said he would be “scarred with disappointment” if I didn't show now. So, I probably should have gotten better sleep the night before and sue me, I was gear jamming and popping go-pills like popcorn. Don't look down on me, don't be fooled, this is just the nature of the trucking industry. Everyone does it and I'm not afraid to tell it like it is.
Just after Normal on 39 I hit a wall of traffic. I could hear on the CB that there is a hazmat incident up ahead and they require special teams to clear it off. I, like the other truckers, get to gabbing on the radio, looking for shortcuts. To my surprise, after scrutinizing this route several times before, I was informed about a “gutshot” shortcut just ahead that could get in me into my destination at least an hour earlier, even with the fact I had sat in the backup for at least 45 minutes at this point. A second comrade in gears piped in and stated that the shortcut was closed. The first driver contradicted him and stated, he had used it two weeks ago, it was wide open country land you could go 70 the whole way, and the only town along the way had burned down in an industrial accident 30 years ago. The second trucker chimed in again. He said it was closed for tonight and only tonight and not to use it. I disregarded the second trucker, exited the interstate and followed the directions of the first trucker.
Well, Carly, you always said it would be this way. You always said, I needed to learn how to follow directions to not cut so many damn corners all the time. You always told me didn't put in the work, and the funny thing is, for the first time, on this drive, get there, I did. Sure, I cut all the corners, but I wanted to to put in the work. But you're right, I never put a second of effort in, and if this is how it ends, I suppose you're right, I never will. But I guess, one way or another, you're getting what you've wanted, what you text me, what you don't tell me about, and what I didn't care about. I was coming home for him and damn it, I know it won't hold up in court but I want my boy to get the damn truck!
Anyway, I found the road, 2 lanes clear to the sky, surrounded by corn and then pumpkin fields forever. My straight shot, I pushed 80 the whole way flying on cracked asphalt, diesel, and go-pills. Ahead, there were barricades and I applied the brakes and barely stopped in time. I got out and saw they were chained up with a padlock to concrete posts in the ground. In theory, I could blast through them but I would sustain serious damage. The ground was a bit wet so I didn't think I could cross the ditch and field and not get stuck either. The barricades were not official in the least. They had a sign on them made out of it mailbox stick-on letters which said: “Do Not Feed The Pumpkins”. As far as I could see from my cab and binoculars, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the damn road. I said hell and I knew it would take hours to reverse course and get back in time – in time to even unload much less make it in time to go trick o treating.
And I said it wasn't worth it. I didn't bother to call. I'd just show up now. Because it wasn't my fault. So I started back, turning around with great difficulty. I traveled back 2 miles and saw small signs for a rest area. I must have missed it the first time, too deep into the zone I suppose now. I needed to pee and probably eat a bit before starting a roundabout way back, so I stopped. It was a little old 2 story joint with a small dinner on the 1st level and looked like 4 or 5 small motel rooms on top and oddly an outhouse for a restroom. I want to emphasize the outhouse because that is how you'll find and catch this guy, the guy who did this to me. It was Bill Shaw of Shaw's Shack, who did this to me. It had a sign with the building, it too was made of stick-on letters and vaguely resembled a huge ransom note. It read “Yes! We are open! We are the only rest area for 67 miles and 1 of 2 “tombstones” for the late great town of Pumpkin Grove Illinois – the former pumpkin capital of Illinois. Ask Your host, Bill Shaw about the Pumpkin-beef-bean stew!
The parking lot had three vehicles in it, not including my own, a silver Prius, a grand cheeroke with wood panels, and an older model chevy pick up truck. I went inside. The dinner was small, set in a rustic décor with old license plates nailed to the walls. The cafe had eight counter seats and two smaller tables near the two windows. There were two witnesses to what happened that night, to what Bill Shaw did – at least partial witnesses. There was the older man with stringy white hair and octagonal glasses – unfortunately, I didn't get his name. There was that irritating millennial – All I remember is the metal crap in her ears and lip. Hell, if I die and John starts ever pulling that crap, I'll come back and haunt the crap out of both of you. Anyway, now, I wish I could remember their names or something else about them to put here. I didn't care about either one of them enough to remember.
I guess that goes for Shaw too. He was a bit taller as sometimes I couldn't see his face while sitting at the counter because of the low lights in the ceiling blocking his face. He had gray hair. Hell. That's it. Anyway, the old man said he was part of a historical society, said he spent the better part of his past two years tracking down anyone or anything about Pumpkin Grove. The college student – of course – it was college student said she was from the school newspaper, looking for a spooky story. When she asked me where I was from, I didn't respond.
Shaw came from the kitchen with two big bowls of the famous Pumpkin-beef-bean stew for first two. He seemed taken back by my presence for a bit before saying “howdy” and trying to get real friendly with me. He asked what media I was from. I told him I wasn't from no media and I was trying to get through the barricade up ahead. Neither of the other two seemed to know about the barricade. Shaw said he didn't know anything about it either. I was suspicious of him then because of the lettering on the signs. But I didn't push it. I wanted to eat and he said my choice was the stew or stew. So the stew seemed fine. He said he wished he had more time to chat with me but he promised to tell the story of Pumpkin Grove to the two others but I was welcome to listen and ask questions. I didn't say it but I couldn't care less, I was going no where fast and I needed to eat.
He started off by saying he and his wife are among a handful of survivors of the fire that consumed the town of Pumpkin Grove some 30 years ago on Halloween night. Then his story descended into a cross between a rambling fading nightmare and a ghost story. He said, without hesitation, fear of consequence or remorse that he was accessory to a murder in his childhood. Specifically, some 40 years ago, again on Halloween, he was friends with a small group of young men including one named Donnie, who was a little slow and had a slightly misshaped head. He was picked on a lot by the Gerst Brothers, notorious town bullies and teenage thugs of a bad seed thanks to their neglectful alcoholic single father. Long story short, he said, the Gerst Brothers lured Donnie, himself and another 2 boys out to a pumpkin field where they gave back Donnie's missing dog. Apparently they kidnapped the dog and wrapped every inch of it in duct tape a few days ago. They watched us try to peel and pull the duct tape off while the weakened, hungry, and thirsty dog whimpered away its last in the field. Unbeknownst to any of us, Donnie had a pocket knife and he lost it as the Gerst Brothers cackled around him and the dead dog. He leaped up as they laughed and sliced the vein on their necks. One of the Brothers died quickly while Donnie and the two others fought the other to death. Shaw said he just stood there, covered in arterial blood splatters, watching Donnie and the others finish off the Gersts.
Much of the town was shockingly grateful to hear the Gerst Brothers were dead and everyone was all too happy to sweep it under the rug rather than have 4 of their sons incarcerated for decades when they were needed to help with the town's bread and butter – the Pumpkins. So, they buried the Gerst Brothers in that field and grew pumpkins on their corpses and no one really talked about it. The town paid off their father, who was too inebriated most of the time to care and he gleefully drank himself to death on the payoff only about a year later.
I didn't have much of a reaction to the story. The historian on the other hand, was hesitant to stay and keep writing and he made a brief protest concerning whether or not the story was true and whether or not he could legally listen to it. Shaw said it was both true and legal. After all, there was nothing left of the town and the remains were long gone and he himself, would not bare witness to himself. The college student's dumb metal encrusted mouth was agape in a mix of horror and disbelief.
I was waiting, patiently, might I add, for my stew. Shaw promised it would be up soon. He continued the story, stating that the fields produced abnormally well afterwards and 10 years later he was visiting his parents with his girlfriend for the annual Pumpkin fest. It was just that the pumpkins weren't just more numerous and larger, or more resistant to the rains and the fungus, they were alive and nothing could keep them tame or from spreading wider and wider. And everyone thought this was great at first, the profits were never higher but then weird things began to happen. Equipment went missing and two farm hands were crushed by a wagon full of pumpkins tipping over onto them in what was at first called a freak accident. Shaw recounted how he took his girlfriend through one of the patches and the vines seem to wind and grapple her legs, of course, Shaw's folks passed it off as her not being used to the mud but Shaw said he knew better.
Shaw continued to describe that over the days that led up to Halloween, the Jack O Lanterns on people's porches and elsewhere began to do some unusual things. Things like seemingly move by themselves from dusk to dawn, changing the carvings of their faces slightly, or appearing to “jump” off a table onto the porch without damage or apparent cause. On the morning of Halloween, Shaw said that he found his black cat, Lucky, incinerated in front of a jack o lantern as if it had breathed fire on to it from its mouth though they had long ago blown out the candle inside.
After the cat burning, the elderly man from the historical society tossed his spoon in his bowl. Shaw asked if something was wrong. The elderly man got up to leave and he said it tasted like bitter cold bull and his story was bull and thanked him for nothing. After checking the remaining contents of his bowl of stew, Shaw chased him out of the door, to his car, asking him what direction he planned to go home. When he peeled out of the parking lot he was headed southwest. Shaw came back in and threw up his hands.
I tell nothing but the truth, he said, most people can't handle it. Part of me wanted to go, but I was cozy there, it was warm and the story, while bull to me at the time, was entertaining enough. The SJW sitting down the way looked exhausted, barely keeping her eyes open as Shaw finished out the story. In short he said, Donnie approached him at dusk on Halloween while he and his family sat on the porch eagerly awaiting trick o treaters. Donnie said the Gerst Brothers are alive in the pumpkins and that they planned to burn the whole town down tonight. Donnie said, he had to tell Shaw because Shaw wasn't supposed to die, he was supposed to watch.
I rudely stopped him and demanded more stew. I was still hungry and the stew was somehow unsatisfying. When he returned, he finished the story, stating the town was suddenly engulfed in flames and their house in particular with Donnie on the porch, flash burned to the ground like napalm from an exploding pumpkin. He escaped with his family and his future wife in the pick up truck sitting outside now.
The college student said she felt like she needed to lay down, that she didn't think she could make back to the campus to the north. Shaw attended to getting her one of the rooms upstairs. I stayed down stairs and went to the back for more stew. I rubbed my eyes intensely and felt as if I too should stay for the night. But in the tug of war between fatigue and dexrine, the dexrine was slowly coming out ahead.
Next to the stew was a cutting board and a knife and on it was some bluish whitish powder which I found peculiar. On floor was a bottle of medication. It was Insomnex – a sleeping pill I use when I'm coming off of dexrine. The stew was dosed.
I ran to my truck and pulled out my dexrine and my revolver. As I climbed out of the driver's side, I could see Shaw running out of the dinner with a huge kitchen knife. I ducked under the trailer and back out on his side and pointed the gun at him.
What the hell I asked as I slowly advanced on him with my snub nose pointed at his head. He dropped the knife. He said, I just wanted to puncture your tires, I had to do something to stop you. I know you want to go north and I know you might be crazy enough and your truck tough enough to smash the barricades but I can't let you. I can't let anyone else go through, he said hysterically. I asked the dumb question about whether or not he set the barricades and just as I previously suspected, he did.
I'm supposed to watch, Shaw cried. No one can get through tonight, no can be allowed to. I told him to shut up as he rambled on about how he and his wife took it upon themselves to ward off travelers on Halloween Night. Its a cursed road tonight, he said, we're cursed to stay here and this is the best we can do to stop it from spreading. Its been calling us for 30 years, he went on, we tried to walk away but it kept on spreading, the pumpkins, he said gritting his teeth in anguish.
Maybe it was the dexrine and the insomnex working together, hell maybe it was the stew by itself but I just started to laugh as I guided Shaw back into the dinner and proceeded to duct tape him down to the dinner chair to make sure he could not cause anymore harm to anyone else until the police arrived. I had some cash on me, I wasn't a criminal, I wasn't going to make it seem like I tied him up and dinned and dashed, I was in the right, I was doing the lawful thing. So I left him exact change, no tip for the food. In the process of making change for myself, I found the padlock key in the cash drawer, I was certain of it at the time as I waved it in front of Shaw and he gasped and thrashed behind the duct tape the hardest.
I got into my truck and gunned it north towards the barricades, which, as I suspected was easily opened with the key I confiscated from Shaw. I got on my CB and started making emergency calls to the State Police, I gave them my name, the location of the diner, and Shaw's name. I was in the middle of nowhere so it didn't surprise me when I got static and no acknowledgment. I had no bars on my cell phone either but that is typical of central Illinois.
I was going along about 70. The sun was almost down but I hadn't seen the moon yet. I turned on the radio and found a classic rock station. The song was Born on the Bayou from CCR. The opening riff perked me up and reassured me that I had done everything all well and all good. If things held, there was a chance, I could get my freight unloaded and see John tonight. I was eagerly tapping the steering wheel waiting to bust into “When I was just a little boy...” But just as the lyrics should have entered, the radio station seemed to have accidentally reset the song, it just started over.
The sun faded away entirely and yet no moon came up. The sky was so dark but I didn't remember seeing any clouds or expecting any for that matter. The song continued restarting itself, the same opening again and again. I flipped through the other stations and all of them had it playing. Eventually, the digital clock on my dash began to spin wildly like the LCD numbers on the tuner while in scan mode. The truck buffeted and shook side to side despite my headlights showing no cause for it.
To my shock, ahead, in the distance was single traffic light. It was went from green, to yellow, and red, as any other traffic light but there were no lights or towns on this road. I slowed to 40, then 35 then to 30 as I entered an unnamed densely populated area with small buildings, stores, and houses and one traffic light. I came to a stop at the light and I looked around, locked my doors and tried to glimpse where I was. Where ever I was, I felt, I felt like I shouldn't be there. There were dim orange lights in some of the rooms of the houses at the edge of the intersection.
I looked up at one of the windows and I saw a figure with large head in the window. I couldn't believe my eyes at least not until the figure turned to face outward. It was a jack o lantern, a classic one with a black glow where the eyes, nose, and mouth sat. It was held up right by a thin vine structure that seemed to grow and stretch as it stuck its head out of the window and let out a barely audible shrill whistle and stared directly at me.
I gunned it. I blew the red light as the town seemed to collapse into nothing by dark green swelling pumpkin vine and a sea of glowing jack o lanterns in my side view mirrors. I hit the radio off because all I could hear on it was that whistle filtering through. I drove and the mass of jack o lanterns grew in the mirrors. I glimpsed the left and right windows and the plains were glowing black with more pumpkins rolling and creeping towards the road.
The road began to warp and bend as I started to red line my truck. The buffeting side to side became difficult to control as the engine groaned. I couldn't explain how the road began to shift nor how the moon, blood orange began to circle around me from horizon to horizon. Aside from the moon, I thought I was making progress as I couldn't see the vines nor the hundreds of blacklight pumpkins swirling after me.
The moon slowed and dipped down and I started climbing a hill. As I crested, the moon filled the entire windshield and more. It spun and then settled on a black light pumpkin face and bore down on the cab.
I don't know what happened next but I woke up in my cab. The was engine smoking. All I could see was mud and putrid rotten pumpkins as far as I could see. My Blue Jay was sunk up to the cab down in mud, vines and rot. It wasn't going anywhere in it without some serious assistance. To my right and left I saw dozens of other vehicles, most of them at least ten years old, also up their doors in mud and rot. Swarms of flies were visible all around in the boiling midday sun. I'm not really sure how long it has been or what time it really was because the clock on my phone is broken and simply reads as 99:99. I don't know what day it is. I have no cell signal and no radio.
Carly, I need to be honest with you. I cheated on you. Maybe a dozen times. I did it before I thought, before I knew you were doing it to me. I can't live by the rules of trucking, or marriage or anything. It is the road and you command it and that is the only rule. But now, I'm worried I've broken my last rule. I have no food and no water. There is no road here. There is only rule of a blazing sun with jack o lantern face that never sets. I fear that in time, unless I find help or help finds me, I will be feeding the pumpkins.
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Theo Plesha

I know this sounds really strange but I work in a pub and one of the regulars he told me to stop smiling multiple times and I don't get why I tend to smile when I feel awkward i think its a masking thing (I don't think any of me colleagues heard him say as none of them said anything) this customer has given me a hard time in the past my old manager used to give me the most annoying/random jobs to do (he did this to lots of us younger ones) and he would always make comments while I was doing them (just general comments can't really remember what as I was trying to ignore him) such as one time I was tasked with cleaning all the paneling on the front of the bar which took the best part of 2 hours (don't think it's been done since) and he kept making comments so I don't know if he's just being an idiot or If this is a genuine issue that I need to stop smiling.

I recently came across this case and it really stuck with me. The last writeup here was 3 years ago, so I figured it's time to bring up this young woman again.
On July 11, 1978, a foreman with the New Mexico Highway Department of Transportation was working along Highway 219, at the junction of I-40 and US Highway 84, when he came across the body of a deceased young adult female. The location is in a remote area of Guadalupe County, New Mexico, about 28 miles west of the city of Santa Rosa.
An autopsy found that she had died between a few hours and a couple day prior, from two .22 caliber gunshot wounds to the back of the head. She was between the ages of 17 and 25, 5'8" tall, and approximately 145 pounds. She had blue eyes and her hair was strawberry blonde, though it may or may not have been naturally medium brown. She had had dental care within the last year of her life. In total, she had four fillings and only one wisdom tooth.
Her murder has been connected to serial killing duo Ronald Lanphear and Diana Geisinger, a couple who went on a cross-country killing spree in July 1978. The pair were arrested in October 1978, with Lanphear being sentenced to death after Geisinger testified against him.
The following additional information was provided by Geisinger to authorities after she was arrested:
Geisinger and Lanphear met the victim at rest stop somewhere outside of Perry, Oklahoma around 10pm the night of July 9th or July 10th, 1978. The victim stated that she was 17 years old and was hitchhiking to California to see her mother. The trio rode west together for several hours, briefly conversing about guitars and money (the victim "bragged" about the money she had spent on the guitar and on her trip). They stopped along the way at a coffee shop and then a bar.
At some point, Geisinger says she told Lanphear to let the girl out of the car. Some writeups state that this was when the girl asked to use a payphone to call her mother for "her birthday," while others state that the girl made the call when she was first picked up in Oklahoma. Other writeups also take this as meaning that July 11th was the victim's 17th birthday, though I read that as it possibly being the mother's birthday? I wonder if there's a verbatim account from Geisinger out there that would make this more clear?
They drove across a viaduct off the highway, and Geisinger states that she knew at that point that Lanphear was going to murder the girl, though they hadn't discussed it previously. Lanphear got out, opened the passenger door, and asked Geisinger if she wanted out. She said yes, and since she was sitting in the middle and Jane Doe was in the passenger seat, Jane Doe got out of the vehicle first. The girl was then shot in the back of the head by Lanphear and fell to the ground. Lanphear straddled her body and searched her pockets. He then grabbed his gun once more and shot the victim a second time, before rolling her body off a nearby "cliff." However, the area where her body was found is very flat with no visible cliff areas, so I'm guessing she was actually just rolled down the sloping area on the side of the highway.
Geisinger, who was still in the car, was instructed to go through the hitchhiker's belongings. "Drugs and papers" were thrown away. It's unclear what these drugs were and whether they were prescription or recreational. It's also unclear what the papers were, though many reports indicate that the girl was travelling with her birth certificate, and that was definitely one of the trashed items. They kept her guitar, which was later sold, and a coin purse containing $1.50, then drove away, continuing their journey to Las Vegas, Nevada.
If Geisinger's information is accurate, Jane Doe's body was found the same day she was killed, July 11th. Possibly her 17th birthday or her mother's birthday.
Identifying information:

• Blonde hair (possibly dyed), blue eyes
• 5'8", ~145 lbs
• Pierced ears, 3 times on the left, twice on the right
• Clothing: Dark brown moccasins; Blue denim Levi cutoffs; White and navy vest/halter-top type shirt
• Apparently knew how to play guitar
• May have been born on or around July 11th, or had a mother who was born on or around July 11th.
• Her DNA was sent to UNT for analysis in June 2019. No further information regarding that.

Ruled out: Laurie Amico, Angela Ramsey, Nancy Tharp, Benita Chamberlin, Connie Minchaca
Links:
https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Guadalupe_County_Jane_Doe_(1978))
https://storiesoftheunsolved.com/2021/04/15/guadalupe-county-jane-doe-1978/
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/17089 - *Postmortem warning\*
https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1497ufnm.html
Last writeup posted 3 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/f3wydj/16_guadalupe_county_jane_doe_guadalupe_county_new/

I’m a 24 male and moved here about 5 months ago not knowing anybody. Haven’t really made any good friends here yet. Just trying to meet other mid 20 year olds and do 20 year old things. I’ve been trying to get into pickleball recently but it looks to be a mainly older crowd. Love to golf, go out to eat, hike, ski, watch sports etc. Basically anything outdoors! I do enjoy going out to dive bars in old town. If there are any sports leagues, hiking groups, pickleball groups that anyone knows of that’d be awesome! Appreciate any help

I am fuming after meeting with my dentist today. This is a long one so feel free to skip if you’re not up for reading a story time rant… Or let me know if anyone had a similar experience?
I had great teeth as a kid except for having a gap in my front top teeth. As a teenager I got traditional braces and received a retainer to wear. I wore the retainer for years until near the end of college (I know, not great). A couple years later I tried wearing the retainer again but it did not fit so I let it be. My teeth aesthetically did not look different to me. I still did not have a gap tooth and years passed without the gap coming back, so I was content.
About 10 years later I see the gap beginning to come back. My tongue can get caught in it. My dentist said I would be a good candidate for Invisalign and I could be done in 6 months and that I would be his easiest case all year. I go for it. Eight months later I have a beautiful smile again and no more gap tooth. My dentist removes the buttons on my teeth and gives me Vivera retainers at my last visit. He says I have the best bite and end result he has had in a long time. Great! Vivera retainers fit me and I am surprised they are not tight like my trays were, but they’re not loose, so I was not concerned.
Well, within four days of wearing Vivera as instructed (22 hours a day) I notice my gap is coming back. My tongue got caught a bit in the gap and I could slide floss through it without any friction, whereas at the end of treatment the teeth touched and I had to apply a small amount of force to get the floss through.
I try on my last Invisalign tray and I am horrified to find out that the trays are quite tight on both my top and bottom front teeth. I now know that my Vivera retainer was not holding my teeth together properly.
Friday morning I call the dentist. They scheduled me for a Tuesday visit and say I can wear my last Invisalign tray until then, so I do so. After a day of wearing the old trays my gap has gone away and continues to stay away.
Tuesday comes around and I first meet the assistant. I tell her the situation and she is understanding, she wondered aloud if maybe something was a bit off with the last scan they did, or if Invisalign manufacturing had a hiccup. She re-scanned my teeth with extra care and then went to find the dentist.
It took a long time for the dentist to come find me. Right off the bat his tone was negative and he was very defensive. He said that “Invisalign never makes mistakes like this. Out of 8,000 patients I’ve only ever had 2 complain about retainers.” I explain that there must have been a manufacturing error or an issue with the scan because my gap is coming back. I clarify that I am not upset about that, I just want the retainers fixed to hold my teeth properly.
My dentist goes on to say that my teeth want to migrate and that the Vivera cannot perform like my last tray did. My last tray was an “over correction tray.” (Which makes no sense? Why do an over correction tray at all, then?) He said my body naturally wants a gap tooth so it is going to want to move. I tell him I had traditional braces as a child and a normal retainer held everything together for years, and even after not wearing that retainer for years the gap took almost a decade to start coming back. He doesn’t know how to respond to that.
Isn’t the point of the retainer to hold my teeth in place, I ask? He goes on to say he can “ASK if Invisalign will be WILLING to re-do the retainer” but that if I “want to do refinements later to fix it, I will charge you for that.” I explain again I don’t have a need for refinements…. My teeth were perfect, I just need to keep them that way.
He tries to push me toward getting a bar behind my teeth there and then, rather than corrected retainers. He says only a bar will keep them from moving. I tell him no because it’s clear there is simply an issue with the retainer, and that I was surprised he suggested that because in the past he talked a lot about “hating” those bars and not recommending them to me. We agree that I will only get a bar if the next set of retainers still does not work because I am not looking to do a second round of refinements.
He tells me to come back in a week to do another scan before he re-orders the retainers while continuing to wear my final tray.
I am really shocked how this was handled. I only needed an apparent error to be corrected. I was never angry or accusatory or emotional … I stated multiple times that I know these things happen, I just want to make sure I can maintain my nice smile! But I was meant with such an attitude from the dentist.
It’s also worth noting that my hygienist never came back. He was probably upset with her for re-scanning me.
I tend to think that because he does so much work with Invisalign he thinks it “makes him look bad” to send a retainer back for corrections? It is just so silly to me. Anyone who deals in absolutes (“Invisalign NEVER makes mistakes”) is a walking red flag.
Anyway, I just needed a place to rant so thanks for reading… just hoping this past year or so and the money spent has not been a waste. :(

Posting here, should anyone look for more feedback than just Steam Reviews.
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Played about 11 hours so far, with a few short games and then one that lasted for about 6 hours to see just how far you can get. Even with it being EA, I was pretty impressed. The game caught my eye based on the C&C visuals and vibe and honestly is playing better than some phone Tower Defense games I have tried out. A long game like the one I had was certainly challenging due to the lack of additional research, but I have it wishlisted and will certainly give the game a more in-depth playthrough when there is more to do.
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Some thoughts:
Pros:
-Simple game play that might have you losing a few matches at first, but once things can be researched I think it becomes pretty easy to keep growing and expanding.
-While everything is pixeled, the layout and feel is also easy to get used to. It didn't take much to figure out how to build things with some efficiency to keep unlocking more space.
-Pixelation Filter is nice! Feels fun to turn it on and gives that old game vibes, but off the game is pretty clean and sharp looking!
-2x and 4x Speed option is nice and the game doesn't seem to suffer much for it. I know plenty of TD's that just break past 2x speeds, even if they offer higher.
-My Pros list is short as its still EA, but I've already suggested it to a few of my friends as a simple time sink while we have downtime.
Cons/Suggestions:
--The turret audio gets wildly intense at times and I often played with the volume nearly at zero. After several hours on one map, the audio was just a total mess of "under attack/turret lost" and mine + enemy gunfire going rampant. I know this is a hard one to address, but if 30 guns are firing, I would limit that sound clip to only a few playing vs every single one going off.
--When you are placing anything, such as a wall and you accidentally click another object while in placement mode, it deselects that and selects the new thing. If in placement mode, disabling the ability to select something would be clutch. Otherwise, I frequently place a wall, click a turret, have to mouse back to the wall, select it and go back into trying to place it and hope I didnt lose the turret behind it (I did). Then you have to also re-place the turret and run into a similar problem. Later in the game, this is really painful with walls being blown away instantly and trying to replace your defenses. Typically it was just me letting a huge swath of defense getting destroyed, then trying to rebuild it all between waves or after the blob moved on.
--Boss HP bars are nice, at first, but at one point I had I think 6 or 7 and it consumed nearly 50% of my screen, making it difficult to see paths and build things.
--No mass repair option, or even a choice to auto-repair. Being able to toggle that for say, just walls, just turrets, etc, would be really nice. Otherwise, I stopped using the repair at all and just let stuff die and then replaced it. Only really used the repair on my HQ as needed.
-Turrets have the ability to shoot different things based on the priority you choose, but a 'deadliest' or 'boss' first would be neat! I set a pile of turrets to shoot highest HP thinking that would work, but it looked like they would switch to something else after some damage was done, moving to a higher HP unit because it was new in that targeting range. They don't stick to the boss or the bigger threats. Tried this with several settings to see if I could find one to do this, but didn't find one that worked.
-No mass select for turrets. Having to manually select each one to change priorities is a slow, tedious process.
-On the main home page and when loading, the camera shakes/tries to be dynamic in movement but its just really disorienting. It can follow the unit but it swinging around does not feel thematic or needed. Loading a map the cannon fires and the screen zooms in/out at a tilted angle. I think a little wiggle here is okay, but the zooming tilt effect is a bit much.
-No pause feature. Opening the research panel and it pausing would be nice, or an overall option to pause. Its not a huge con and I get why there might not be one. Still, it can be pretty useful. UI: --The UI isn't bad, especially again in EA and really gives that old C&C feel. However, a few things complicate the game:
--No shortcuts for buildings, if you misclick during placement, you have to go re-select it.
--Opening the research window in a game, its always stuck in a weird place with the camera in the upper right. Have to use WASD to reposition it every time. If its going to open in a static place, maybe a zoomed out full view is better, like it is on the main home page. Makes it easier to zoom into what I need to see.
--Text in the research descriptions is all different. Font size is huge for some titles, with tiny red & green text that's a little hard to see. You have to zoom in a good bit to read it clearly. Feels like the description box is a set size and the text is trying to squeeze into that space.
--The 'Expand' button on multiple playthroughs covers building space. Can you make it only pop up when you hover over the dome?
-Not every time, but most my games when I build the Radar, the spot for it still has the silver background, some games its all black.
Huge wall of text, thanks for reading it all if you did! I know the game is EA, but this is going to be something I keep an eye on and I really think its good so far and has tons of potential! Thanks for your hard work and I am looking forward to seeing the direction you take it :D

The game was an unmarked disc. Not even a color. Just a plain piece of plastic. Yet, I was horrified when I saw it in my dream.
I popped up in the middle of the night and there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. I laid in my bed and thought about why that Playstation game was so terrifying to me.
The game appeared at Corey’s house when I was 13. He had moved down the street from me shortly before and I made fast friends with him because he always had all of the best games. Corey’s dad worked for an electronics distributor so he got the games early.
Corey was waiting for me when I got home from the school bus one day. His dad had gotten a crazy new game “from Japan” no one else would ever have. He had spent the day playing it over and over again.
He showed me the unmarked disc before he put it in the Playstation. The game had no opening credits or menu. It just went straight into the gameplay - spitting you into a P.O.V. game in a murky building which seemed like an army base.
I’m hesitant to describe the game too much. One - because I don’t remember it perfectly because of the way it shredded my brain. Two - because I don’t want to pass on any of the trauma the game gave me to anyone else.
From what I remember, the game was relatively unfinished, and that made it more eerie - the monsters were just blank outlines without faces which would kill you, the music was low and humming and barely audible, everything was dark, the controls were jerky.
Yet, the game was incredibly addicting. I played it over and over and over again until my parents made me come home.
I stayed up almost all night thinking about the game. When I did sleep, I felt like I was just in the game in my head.
Corey wasn’t at school the next day again. I didn’t think anything of it until I walked out of class at the end of the day and saw local news T.V. trucks parked out front.
I heard what they were talking about, interviewing students and parents. An unnamed student had killed himself and his family that day at their home. I found out it was Corey on the bus ride home.
Very few details came out. All I ever found out was Corey took the dad’s shotgun and shot both parents, and his older sister, all in bed, all still sleeping. I didn’t want to know much more.
I stopped playing video games for a while. Yet, the game wouldn’t get out of my head. I just kept wanting to play it.
I eventually went to the video game store at the mall. It was lorded over by a man named Morton. Obese. 20s. Shoulder-length hair, and an air of odd arrogance, he made video game shopping at a suburban town in Ohio feel like you were trying to buy records in Brooklyn.
I approached Morton with fear. He was a hulking figure to my 13-year-old self and he had his own little empire at the only game store in town.
“I’m looking for a game, I, uh, um, my friend had it, but I can’t find it,” I started in.
“Ta-ta-ta-today…junior,” Morton mocked me with a line from Billy Madison.
The other guys in the store chuckled, turning my face to beat red.
“Have you ever heard about an unmarked Playstation game ‘from Japan?”’ I asked.
Everyone about Morton changed. He looked around the space to see if anyone was still listening then he motioned me closer, and spoke quieter.
“Where did you see that game?” He asked.
Now it was my turn to get closer and talk quietly. I explained it was Corey, and who he was, and what he did.
Morton looked even more interested, and stressed out.
He took me to a back room. Dark, the only light coming from an arcade machine in the back and a lit cigarette dangling from the teenage lips of another kid.
I knew the kid. His name was Nat. He was 15 and was known in the area as a video game prodigy. He had won just about any tournament for any game ever held in several counties and he had an interesting style - he had long hair at a time when everyone had short, he wore tight clothes at a time when everyone wore baggy, and there were rumors he did professional video game testing in California during school breaks. Nat hanging out in the secret back room of the video game store was very on-brand.
Morton had me sit down at a table as he started demolishing fun size candy bars while he told me the backstory of the video game “from Japan.”
The game wasn’t from Japan. He wasn’t sure where that mythology came from. The game was very much from the U.S. It was created by the U.S. government. When school shootings started becoming a thing there was a panic about video games, specifically first-person shooter games being the cause.
The C.I.A.’s solution was to work with a video company to create a first-person shooter game to release and hype up but to subliminally program as to control the player’s mind and steer them to non-violent thoughts.
“How do you know all this?” I asked Morton.
“The game is a real thing,” Nat said while never stopping banging away at the latest version of Mortal Kombat on the machine in the corner.
I let Morton go on. Nat was the ultimate authority to me. His girlfriend, Calyn, was my first love, even though she didn’t know who I was. She was a year ahead of me in school and I didn’t even know how she existed.
But back to the game. The game didn’t keep kids from being violent. Video games couldn’t fucking do that, but something they programmed in the game destroyed the kids who tested it - they couldn’t focus on anything else and it terrorized their minds - making them think monsters were coming to kill them, basically making them severely schizophrenic.
The worst part was something in the game seemed to make kids really want to share it. All of the test kids snuck the game out and made copies of it.
Unless someone was skilled enough to make it through the game and beat it, the game seemed to ruin their brains, and their lives, Morton explained before saying he was out of information.
“Have you played the game?” Morton asked me.
I affirmed.
“Where is the game now?” Morton asked.
I explained I had no idea. I assumed it was with Corey’s family and their stuff. No way I could get access to it.
At that point Morton explained that he wished me luck, but he could offer me no help.
“Do you know who has ever beaten the game?” I asked Morton as I could feel his body energy beg me to leave.
“I have,” Nat’s voice rose up from the corner of the room.
Nat left the room before I could ask anymore questions.
-
The game permeated my brain. All I wanted to do was play it even though I had no way to. I would see the monsters hiding in the shadows of my parents’ house and I’d stop - wait for them to jump out and attack me. I heard that terribly ominous musical score of the game in the back of my mind all the time.
If I slept, all I dreamed about was the game, and getting killed in the game, and it all felt real.
This went on for a couple of days and kept getting stronger and stronger. I had to keep playing the game.
I lost control. I got out of bed in the middle of the night and snuck out my bedroom window.
I made it to Corey’s house in a flash. There was no police tape or anything you’d expect in a movie. It was just there. The way it always was.
I went to the back of the house, where I knew there was a door that went directly into the basement, where Corey’s gaming setup was. I took the longshot that it was left unlocked.
Now this all might sound crazy, but as a severe drug addict for a good chunk of my life, trust me that my desire to play that game that night was stronger than any desire to ever do drugs, that’s how intoxicating and addicting it was. Nothing was going to stop me.
The door was unlocked and if you want to doubt that small town cops 25 years ago were that lazy…try me.
I got into the basement. The house was cold, dark, and empty, but Corey’s Playstation was still set up right there in the basement. I checked the disc inside. It was the game.
I turned on the Playstation and the game came to life. I started playing.
My feet felt like they were welded to the floor. My fingers superglued to the controller. My eyes couldn’t leave the screen.
There was no getting away from the game. I played for I have no idea how long.
I can’t remember anything until I was standing in that dark basement, playing the game, and I felt strong hands wrap around the back of my neck. Then a powerful force pushed me to the ground.
I was on the ground and I looked up and saw endless shadows filling the room around me. Dark and faceless. They looked just like the monsters in the game.
The monsters were moving in on me. They were no longer in the game. They were no longer in my head. They were now living breathing with me and dangerous.
And they were going to be on me very soon and the power they radiated at me communicated to me that I wasn’t going to last long against them.
I also got a powerful sense of something they wanted me to do. They were telling me to go to school the next day. They were telling me where my dad kept his gun. I was losing myself in their messages.
Then all of these feelings started to fade. Then the TV cut out - the game no longer broadcasting.
Someone else was in the room. Not just me and the monsters. They were dressed in all black. I couldn’t make out anything identifiable about them, other than they were human like me, and they were pushing away the monsters and they took my hand.
They got me out of the house.
Then they disappeared.
I looked back into the basement of Corey’s house - there was nothing but darkness inside.
But then, I saw a blue light come to life inside the basement room.
The game had come back on again, and it was calling me back inside with its siren song…
I was ready to go back in, taking my first steps that way when…
Someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me away. They drug me all the way back to the sidewalk where they stopped and whispered into my ear:
“Go the fuck home. I won’t help you from here.”
They let me go and were gone in the night.
I walked home.

Im a 19 year old guy and I'm currently nearing the end of a one year course im doing at a school in Spain. All the people from my class always go out to drink and one of my roommate sometimes asks me to come along to drink with them . I don't like going to bars and drinking at all and especially not with people I'm not really friends with(my classmates), I feel left out when I'm around them. Im also scared that if I don't go out with them and socialize.. I won't really ever be friends with them but I just don't like going out and drinking. That's just not my idea of having "fun".
I'm just in this really bad spot and I don't feel really good.
What'd you guys think I should do?

Hi all, I’m back with the full series following on from my last mini-series, Angland U. If you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it, as it serves as a prologue and an easy entry into the THJ Universe, which started with The Hunter’s Journey. I have tried to make it so reading THJ isn’t necessary if you read the prologue, but it will provide more insight into the world than my prologue will (it’s a lot easier to go into the full depths of something with around 2,000 pages than it is with around 40-50 after all.)
Fair warning, there will be some adult themes in the series, so reader discretion is advised.
So, without further ado, enjoy!
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Prologue / Previous / Next
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Daniel rolled his left arm in its socket as he read his new assignment once more, excited to finally be getting out of constant lessons, training, and parades. He shut off the holoviewer and retracted it back into his bionic arm, allowing his hand to snap back into place, banging the back of it a couple times to make sure it was seated properly, and letting out a small sigh of relief that it was still holding up after so much punishment in basic training. He quickly checked his bags once more, making sure he had everything on him, completed one final check of the room, and then exited it. He walked down the hallway and hopped into the lift, heading down to the ground floor. Once there, he walked over to the reception, where he checked out of the hotel, and then made his way over to the hotel's subway entrance.
Upon entering the subway, he identified the military door and scanned his pass, letting him through the secure door to the private platform, where a half filled carriage was waiting. He quickly boarded and found a seat, watching the door for another 30 seconds before they closed and the carriage began to move. Less than a minute later, the carriage slowed to a halt at the other platform, and everyone began to disembark. Once he was off, Daniel quickly pulled his uniform straight, making sure the creases were still crisp and that his brassard was sitting correctly, before touching his headdress to make sure it was on straight, and he then began to walk up the stairs and left the subway.
Looking out onto the runway, he spotted his transport almost completely loaded, a massive 350 metre wide behemoth of a flying wing, an ASWT-16. As he walked towards the military security terminal of the spaceport, two privates stood to attention and saluted him, which he acknowledged quickly so they could get back to their business. He scanned his pass on the security terminal, and then walked through the attached gate, scanning him and finding nothing of concern. He quickly removed his headdress now that he was on an active airfield, and stored it in his bag before jumping on the nearby shuttle bus, which collected a few more people before the doors closed and silently drove towards the transport, coming to a stop just before the ramp. Everyone quickly disembarked, and the bus headed back to the gate the instant the last person was off, and then the group all quickly boarded the transport, rushing to get one of the better seats. Daniel didn’t rush though, and instead headed to the subtly comfier seats with an actual real window that peeked over the surface of the wing, reserved for officers like himself, and he stuffed his bags under it.
As he waited for boarding and loading to wrap up, he flicked his metal hand back and checked his messages on his holo once again, looking to see if any of his family or friends had responded. As expected, he had a quick good luck message from his Dad, and absolutely nothing from his Mother, but all his childhood and University friends had responded, barring the one person he really wanted to hear from. He knew she had read it, the app indicated as such, but she hadn’t responded. He hoped she was just writing a really long message congratulating him and wishing him luck, but he couldn’t just help but worry that she hadn’t taken the news well.
He forced it out of his mind as the loading ramp began to close and the transport crew called out their final checks. He raised both his arms off of his lap as a crew member checked to make sure his belt was on, and once the crew member had checked everyone on the row, they found their own seat and sat down. Less than two minutes later, a low rumble could be heard as all twelves thrusters roared to full power, and the transport began to quickly accelerate down the runway, taking off with its full 4,000 tonne load.
Daniel watched the fields blitz past out the window, each one getting smaller and smaller as they ascended faster and faster, until he could just about make out the curvature of the Earth, feeling a small jolt as the thrusters switched from their air breathing modes to their vacuum modes. It didn’t take long until all he could see out of his tiny window was the black void of space above the wing. The wing in question suddenly became a hub of activity as numerous panels began to wing open or retract, allowing a pylon with a long pod on the end to raise up, which began to glow a dull blue as the star formations visible to him began to distort.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please,” one of the crew members began. “We are now at warp, and it is safe to walk around the craft. ETA for Mars orbit is 30 minutes, so please make sure you are buckled back in before that happens. The gravity generator isn’t the strongest on a transport like this, so the docking manoeuvres could pose a danger. Also, please don’t enter the cargo grid, gravity is weaker there, and any magnetic objects could be ripped from your body. I don’t fancy having to retrieve your body for the medic because a piercing got ripped out.”
Daniel looked over to the other passengers, noticing that one of the plain clothes personnel was grimacing and holding their legs tight together, while their friend next to them bumped their shoulder with a poorly masked grin. He shook his head and got to his feet, giving them a stretch while he had the chance, and checked his holo to see that it was now disconnected from the network as expected. He snapped his hand back into place, finding that the connection for his little finger wasn’t engaging properly, so he gave the back of his hand a firm smack and thankfully managed to regain control of his extremity.
“Should probably get that looked into, Sir,” the Lieutenant sitting next to him said.
“Yeah, I’ve got a replacement ordered. It’s been messed up since basic, and I’ve finally gotten approval for the latest model,” Daniel explained.
“Is requisition that bad at the moment?”
“Only for the full suite I need.”
“What do you need that’s in short supply?”
“Sorry, but that’s need to know,” Daniel told him, knowing that the parts weren’t restricted information to someone of his rank, but he was still happy to use it to avoid unwanted conversation at the moment.
“Of course, sir. My apologies for asking.”
“No harm done,” Daniel assured him as he straightened his shirt and made his way towards the front of the transport.
He opened the doorway into a corridor, and then immediately made his way into the office space, taking a seat in one of the four cubicles and logging into one of the computers, pleased to see that his travel profile had been uploaded before takeoff. The data was sparse, but it was all he needed at the moment, which was mainly the bios of his soon to be subordinates, and more importantly interview and trainer notes. None of them had any real world experience in the world of electronic subterfuge, though they did all pass the training and tests with perfect grades like him, even if the tests missed off a few handy tricks he’d utilised on occasion. It meant that he would likely be irreplaceable if the ship was in a dangerous situation, though he knew that would be the case just from him being in a position of authority. He was a little disappointed by the prospect of almost always having to be at his post, but such was Navy life.
He continued to look more closely at their bios, making a mental note of the comments made against them. They all seemed to be by the book types, which means that he would have to teach them some dirty tricks at some point, but it at least meant that he wasn’t likely to have a rough time with them. They all originated from various colonies though, so he was wary of the tribalism that could cause. It should have been trained out of them so they all acted as a single unit, but pride was often something hard rooted.
“Five minutes till Mars!” a crew member shouted into the room, before moving onto the next.
Daniel took his que to wipe his profile in case it got missed due to tight schedules, and logged off. It might not be his responsibility to do so, but he’d be damned if someone else messed up and he and his new team got hurt for it. He left the cubical and made his way back to his seat, buckling in and allowing himself to be inspected once again.
He looked out the window once again as the warp pylon powered down and the distortion effect stopped, causing the green and blue surface of Mars to take up the majority of his view. It remained in his few for only a few moments though, as the transport began to turn and roll as it aligned with the station. The warp pylons quickly stowed themselves in the wings again, and the transport edged forward, sliding into the hangar after a minute or two of travel. There was a small bump as the craft touched down, followed by a droop as the hangar’s gravity was turned up to normal levels.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Mars Stardock 02. Please disembark to allow for unloading of supplies,” the crew member from before announced.
Not wanting to get caught in the crowd, Daniel jumped up from his seat, picked up his bags quickly, and was the fourth person to exit the transport. He looked at the unloading tractors that were entering the room, noticing that they had a particularly large one usually reserved for ship modules. He was surprised that something like that would be coming from Earth given Mars’ manufacturing capabilities, but he probably couldn’t find out what it was without putting his rank at risk, so he elected to ignore it. Instead, he headed over to the hangar exit and scanned his pass, confirming his presence aboard the station.
As he began to walk down the corridor of the station, following the signs for the habs, he checked his messages once more, finding that he still hadn’t received the message he was hoping for. He did his best to hide his frustration, and continued on until he reached the nearest short stay habs, walking past the honeycomb array of pods designed to pack in the lower ranking spacemen of visiting ships if the ships weren’t serviceable. Thankfully for him however, he was able to keep walking until he reached the officer’s cabins, picking an empty one and assigning it to himself.
His temporary accommodation was little more than a small bed, a desk, and a stool, but it served his needs. He dropped his bags on his bed, and quickly activated his arm’s scanners, checking the room for any bugs, which he found none of. He knew there was practically no way of someone knowing which room he’d end up in, but he couldn’t be too careful. Happy that he was safe, he opened the makeshift compartment on his arm, removing the memory chip that had sat there for almost five years at this point. He carefully hid it in the ceiling light cover, and exited the room, locking the door behind him. He knew that after five years of no-one looking for it that was probably safe, but he wasn’t going to take the risk.
He began to look at the station signs again, managing to find a layout map. He quickly committed it to memory the best he could, and made his way to the station’s clinic. Once he finished the short walk there, he checked himself in, and was assigned to a room, which he entered and sat down on the bed within it. He let out a small sigh as he looked around the room, waiting for the doctor to arrive, and began to study all the posters and displays, containing information on a bunch of medical advice that was inapplicable to him.
“Sorry about the wait,” an old and balding man in a medical uniform apologised to him as he entered the room, carrying a large long black case.
“It’s not a problem,” Daniel assured him.
“I’m Dr Middleton,” the Doctor informed him. “Now, may I just confirm your identity please?”
“Lieutenant Commander Daniel Hardbrooks,” Daniel replied, handing over his military ID.
“... Indeed you are. Just a couple of quick questions before we get onto why you’re here. Can you please confirm the purpose of your visit?” the Doctor asked, handing his ID back.
“To receive a replacement mechanical prosthetic arm, containing equipment I am not allowed to disclose.”
“And can I confirm that you don’t need a socket upgrade?”
“No, I have the latest socket after my last one broke during basic training.”
“Perfect,” the Doctor replied, checking a few boxes on his holo display. “Will you be recycling your old arm, or will you keep it?”
“Recycle. This thing will probably break if you look at it wrong,” he explained, taking off his shirt and holding up his scratched and dented arm.
“A mk IV-C. I’m surprised it’s still working. Well, you’ve got a nice new mk XXII-NM. I’m pleased to inform you that a starsteel heatsink was successfully sourced, as well as some other components that are simply blank on my display,” the Doctor told him as he handed Daniel the case. “The profile from your old arm has been transferred onto this one, but you will have to map any new functions.”
“Of course,” Daniel replied, pressing the lock and allowing the case to scan him.
After almost ten seconds of waiting, the locks popped off, and the lid opened to reveal his new arm. It looked almost like a real arm in shape, except he had given it a custom carbon black with white trim paint scheme, and replaced the plates that visually simulated muscle with armour and electronics. Happy with his new appendage, he grabbed hold of his current arm and popped it out of its socket, laying it on the nearby table before picking up his new arm and locking it in place, checking to make sure the seal engaged properly.
He rolled his shoulder, surprised at how smooth the motion was, making him realise just how bad his old arm was performing. He then began to twist his arm and wrist while flexing his fingers, finding that each motion felt like it had less purpose, but they instead felt much more natural like his real arm. He then performed a systems check, making sure none of the secret stuff was displayed, before giving the doctor a thumbs up.
“It’s working perfectly. Thank you for your help,” he told the Doctor as he put his shirt back on.
“You’re very welcome. Please tap here to confirm your appointment has been completed,” the Doctor instructed, pointing at his holo display.
“There. All done,” Daniel replied, performing the action.
“Thank you very much. Any issues and concerns, please check back here or to any other military approved clinic as soon as possible.”
“Will do. Thanks once again for your help,” Daniel told him as he left the clinic.
Daniel made his way straight back to his hab, entering it and testing out his new scanner, finding it to return the same readings of his room, but he could now read practically every electromagnetic and aetheric signature within half a kilometre, with the larger signals of the station’s fusion generators easily detectable from almost two kilometres away. Satisfied, he quickly retrieved the memory chip from the light cover, and stored it within the new secret high security compartment he now possessed.
Satisfied, he left his room once more and entered one of the nearest lifts. He punched in the button for the observation deck, and braced himself slightly as the lift accelerated rapidly, bringing him to his destination in a matter of seconds. He stepped out of the lift and into what was essentially a ball of transparent metal, overlooking the whole station. He walked over to the edge, and took in the sight of the disk shaped station floating over the distant Martian landscape. He could just about make out some of the smaller hangars from his vantage point, but what he was more interested in was the docking arms on the outside of the disk.
He could make out three corvettes dock on a single arm, and another one on an arm of its own. The next three arms were empty, with the next two servicing a frigate each, followed by three arms servicing destroyers. He was able to identify the classes of the destroyers, identifying two as direct combat ships, and the third as a light drone carrier. Finally, he rested his eyes on a single ship taking up two arms that were far longer than the others, the expedition cruiser, CNS Trailmaker.
His soon to be new home.
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Prologue / Previous / Next

Hey all! Thanks for reading!
My 8.5month old has been sleeptrained via extinction since 4.5 months. Other than a few bumps in the road mostly due to teething and traveling, he's done great since then. He's been on two naps for a while now and generally falls asleep quietly in a matter of minutes.
However...the last 3 days he has been super upset and resisting his second nap. He does the routine fine and lays down without protest, but within a few minutes of me leaving he stands at the bars of the crib and wails!! It's awful to listen to and I've had to rescue the nap each time. He then is super overtired and cranky for bedtime as he only does 30min naps when rocked to sleep (he can only connect sleep cycles when he puts himself down).
We are currently on 3/3-3.25/3.75. He naps approx 1.5hours for each nap, plus or minus 15min depending on the day.
I recently upped the first wake window from 2.75 to 3 because he was having short naps. This seems to have resolved this issue. I've been playing with upping the second wake window to 3.25 because he doesn't always seem tired enough.
He's also been teething quite a bit the past week, so maybe that has something to do with it as well?
Open to any suggestions, thanks for reading!

This happened over the weekend after a little to much St. Paddy’s day celebrating.
A little back story, my niece is 33 and single after a 9 year long term relationship that we all thought was heading towards wedding bells. But covid lockdowns really took its toll and showed her that he was never getting down on one knee. Since then she has been on numerous dates with what seem like great guys, my wife and I even tried to set her up with a couple of people but it never comes to much. A month max then she ditches them.
Her and my wife (36) have always been super close, sharing everything with one another. She has broke down to her on a couple of occasions, that she will die alone, never have kids etc.
So let’s get to the fuck up, last weekend we invited her and her new love interest over to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day. But she arrives alone and told us that it wasn’t working out with her new man. Same old story as before and an overly emotional niece starts throwing back drinks like there’s no tomorrow.
Fast forward a few hours, we had dinner, went to a local bar and spent the evening drinking. When the night is coming to an end, my wife and niece decided to keep the party going back at our place. They open a bottle of wine and get to the drunken girl chat, I leave them to it and head to bed. An hour or two pass and I get woken by sobbing coming from down the hall, my niece is in a full on break down and I get up to try settle things down and get them to bed.
As I walk down the hall way I hear her crying out, “it feels like nothing, I need more” between her wails. Not thinking much of what she’s saying I swing the door open to she my wife holding my sobbing niece in her arms as she continues to cry “I need to feel stretched, why can’t any of these guys satisfy me”.
I lock eyes with my wife who is giving me the get the fuck out look as my niece hasn’t noticed me yet. I reverse out the door and down the hall again, but no before hearing her final cry of “Is it to much to ask that a guy has a big cock to fill me deep and hard”.
Next morning my niece didn’t wake until the AM with the worst hangover, I can’t look her in the eye anymore and I struggled to make conversation without thinking about her very big demands in her relationship.
TL;DR
I walked in on my wife having a drunken heart to heart with my niece confirming she is a size queen and why she never sticks with a man.

I have always disliked and felt super anxious in airports and during flights and have drank alcohol to excess every trip in the past ten years. But yesterday I made it 12 hours through airports and flights without a drink. The craving was strong, hard to resist, but seeing a bunch of old people getting hammered made the decision easier. I had a tonic water and lime at the bar and felt good about it. Also, my first time to a bar without drinking alcohol. I’m hoping to stay strong on this trip but I’m traveling Costa Rica solo and there’s happy hour signs everywhere I look. Anyone have input on how to maintain sobriety on the first vacation abroad since taking the leap to avoid alcohol?

Honestly I'm just so drained right now. It feels like as a family we're drowning in life and there's no time. I have a son born in July 2020 and also have a daughter born in September 2021 (our kids are 14 months apart). My husband works full time and then usually has to bring work home. He works 7:30 to 5:30. He'll then go to sleep around 11 and wake up at 2-4 and work for another 3-4 hours on work. I work part time for the job I used to do full time and hate it. I work from home and it's IMPOSSIBLE to find the time to get the hours in. As a side hustle to pay for all of the kids expenses and for our yearly vacation I sell children's clothing online. My son goes to daycare 2 days a week for socialization and both my son and daughter have a little gym class once a week (each), my daughter has a swimming class, and my son has a music class. They get so much enrichment out of these classes and love going to them. I try to take them to the zoo or library on fridays our free day. Our families live at least 2 hours away or more and we feel like an island. I try to work during nap times or at night but I've been falling behind and missing deadlines and I'm at risk of losing the part time job. My house cleaning has fallen more and more behind to the point where I'm stepping on laundry in the laundry room. The kids have been sick on and off for what feels like months. We're struggling to have any type of escape from the stress and it feels like it is just so relentless and crushing. We're trying to get ahead financially, but it feels like that's not happening any time soon. We have outgrown our house because we don't have an attic or basement and I'm desperately trying to find a way to fit us all in without a crowded home. Give the kids room to play and us to live. I'm not sure why I'm making this post, but honestly today was just the straw that broke the camel's back. My son gagged on a fig newton bar walking into school and vomited the bar up in front of the principal's office. I had to spend 15 minutes cleaning that up. On the way home, my daughter who gets car sick vomited in the car and I had to wash the backseat and her car seat and give her an extra bath. We have two shih tzus (1 is 3 years old and the other is 2 years old), Our girl Arya has extreme nervousness and I finally got talked into trying her out at our groomer where we take our other dog. We took her in November and again today to get her used to the process (just a nail trim and bath). The groomer came out when I came to pick her up and started telling me how unacceptable it was to go five months between seeing her and that if I couldn't commit to taking her every four weeks, then she would have to go to a vet and get her sedated for grooming because she is so anxious. Here's the thing, we wouldn't do that, we have been scissor cutting her hair when needed ourselves. It's so time consuming that I was hopeful this could be one less thing to do. But $80 extra dollars a month is even more of a strain and I was so upset that it felt like she was shaming me for neglecting our dog and not taking her all along. There's so much else in our lives, but it just feels like we're surviving less and less each day. I've had a lot of losses right after my July baby was born and we feel crushed by life. Today just feels like a hard place to be in. I don't know how people do parenting? Our kids are 2 and 1.
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Edit: Just now I got a message from my child's daycare saying he has had diarrhea twice and if he has it again it's their policy to send him home for a week.

Hi. I wanted to share a vision as objective as possible on my time in Cuba. I moved to Europe 2 years ago, and many ask me about the political life and situation in Cuba. I want to share it here to also hear the opinions (genuine opinions, not hate speech, for that I can go back to Cuba) of those about the nation.
I did my military service, and studied journalism for 3 years. I worked for state media and also independent media. I had close relations with people that are both currently forming part of the PCC apparatus and that are fighting against it and/or imprisoned.
I made documentaries about the poorest neighborhoods in Havana. I saw horrible things that I would like to not share here in fear of this post been removed.
I worked for Juventud Rebelde, Cubadebate, Prensa Latina, Periodismo de Barrio, El Toque, LA Joven Cuba, La Trinchera and others media that I currently don't remember.
I have former classmates that were forbidden by the government to exit the country until they resigned from their former newspapers for being against the state. I have left-wing friends that have also been prosecuted, one of them the famous guy with the sign "Socialism Yes, Repression No".
I left Cuba two months before the July 11th uprising, and it's a good thing I did because I would probably be among the hundreds that are still imprisoned.
I can say, of my time in Cuba, that people really don't care if the government is communist or not, if the ones who govern are left or right. They want food and medicine. Both of those things are in scarcity. They never really cared about freedom that much until now, because their needs where somehow met. Now that they have nothing, is when they have lost fear and manifestations are becoming more common.
My fear is not the government not falling, because I'm certain it will, my fear is having another 60 years of intolerance but ruled from the far right.
Like the Cubans that left behind, I don't care who rules Cuba, all I want are free elections and a tolerant society where all ideas can be heard. I saw people being detained for being against Socialism (and I don't want that), I don't want people to be detained for being against Capitalism either.
What I want to avoid is to become an unhealthy and scarred nation that hasn't learned to health its wounds. I say this because I've been in Hungary, in Spain, and both nations haven't come to terms with their past. Hungary does everything it can to erase their communist past, and Spain still upholds many monuments and followers of the Franco's era. Those nations are stuck, stagnated and can't build a future because they are erasing the past they need to build it upon.
But both nations did something we need to do: to not follow the steps of those before them. The Communist killed many people in Hungary, but the mew government did not start trials against them. The Franquists killed many people in Spain, but the transition government did not start mass trials against them. We want things to change in Cuba, but just doing firing squads against those who did them 60 years ago is not going to build a free country, it will just prolong the fear we have lived with.
No, I'm not talking about just give hugs and kisses to everybody. I can't do that either. I want something that it's getting harder to find: a truly free and tolerant society.