tl;dr : 25 male, 26 female, 2 years of relationship. Trying to accept my gf history.
We started as friends with benefits for 2-3 months. I wasn't that into her but I always thought it would be possible. Maybe out of fear of attachment.We then started getting exclusive and started dating lets say 6 to 7 month in since we met.
I learned weeks before the official dating status that during the friends with benefits period she had met with other dudes and slept once with a dude other than me. The meetings are ok we were not together but the sex had made me so angry. I nearly stopped it there. I felt betrayed and disgusted. Because i had based the relationship on something that wasn't sincere. But out of love I continued
I had a few experiences before but less than 5. Her history is 10. I learned recently that what she meant by 'history' is not what i meant. Let's not go into details but she did stuff with 16 guys. Wasn't just kissing btw.
I used to love her easily easily way more than she did. During the first year of the relationship. After that, my love lessened and her's grew. We have known each other now for 2 years. Having kinda accepted all this, learning the 10 to 16 recently kinda sarted the doubt again.
I do find it too much. It's in the span of 18 months too. She lost her virginity late and i was just the next one. Honestly i feel like just any other dude. I did speak with her about this. She is sadenned that it bothers me but doesn't regret it. I understand.
I really can't stop thinking about this sometimes and it annoys me. And it's eating away at the relationship and my love for her. Nearly 2 years now.
It's hard to talk to her about this. Not the right time now but i want to know. I tried before, many times, but she isn't really into communication. She is really shy with her emotions. I understand. I know that we have to work on communication before going into this further. I would just like an opinion in the meantime.
How should i deal with my feelings without hurting her?

Moving on
Moving along
I have to be strong
Let go of times bygone
 
Everyday and every night
Memories come fill my mind
Thoughts and faces
Beautiful places
 
In my dreams I see you again
With your beautiful smile
It sends chills down my spine
Making me feel things hard to define
 
It's a comfortable pain
Like a sunny day with cold rain
Because I wish you were here
And my dreams make you feel near
 
But I need to move on
I need to move along
I have to be strong
Let go of times bygone

I have been in college for two years after being in the military and I can’t believe how much more miserable I am when compared to when I was serving. At least in the military it felt like I had a purpose (even though I really did not) and I felt so much more fulfilled. I have good grades too, a 3.8 gpa only because this past semester I got a few Cs and I think I am going to get two more this semester after getting all As. Only reason is I stopped trying because of how miserable I feel. I am thinking of learning how to be a gunsmith instead, I know there is not much money in it, but at least I can work with my hands and on something I enjoy. I found a program near me and I would actually just get an AS in Gunsmithing instead of getting my BA in Econ and since I am already done with GE, it is only like 40 credits I need to take. Is this the right choice? Or should I sacrifice my happiness to make more money? What would you do in my situation.

My girlfriend and I moved into a new apartment a few months ago. It is a loft above some businesses in a downtown area; absolutely gorgeous. We have a large back balcony which is our own space but separated by a 3 foot high wooden fence, the other half being blocked by a privacy wall. As we are nearing into spring I have been out on the balcony figuring out how to decorate and also getting fresh air. Today I noticed my neighbor, who clearly has a dog, has been letting their dog SHIT on their balcony! There are big dried turds completely littering it and i’m almost certain the beast pisses out there too as I can get whiffs of it here and there. I have never heard or seen the dog, but it’s obvious the owner is too lazy to take their dog outside for a walk and just lets it go out to use the bathroom. There really is no way of me being able to contact them as I don’t know where their front door is to leave a note. I’m nervous about the warmer weather. I don’t want to be enjoying outside while looking at/smelling dog shit/piss. I also like to let my cat walk around the balcony for fresh air and don’t want her to be near poop.
Dog owners are assholes. Dogs are disgusting. Is this something I should write to the landlord about or should I mind my own business?

Been with Boost since '10, never had issues. Bought a new BRICK phone (FEB 3)I can't activate, no worries, the old 4G phone still works.....
Now it doesn't. I can't be without a phone, after work I'M SWITCHING TO T MOBILE FUCK BOOST

tl;dr : 25 male, 26 female, 2 years of relationship. Trying to accept my gf history.
We started as friends with benefits for 2-3 months. I wasn't that into her but I always thought it would be possible. Maybe out of fear of attachment.We then started getting exclusive and started dating lets say 6 to 7 month in since we met.
I learned weeks before the official dating status that during the friends with benefits period she had met with other dudes and slept once with a dude other than me. The meetings are ok we were not together but the sex had made me so angry. I nearly stopped it there. I felt betrayed and disgusted. Because i had based the relationship on something that wasn't sincere. But out of love I continued
I had a few experiences before but less than 5. Her history is 10. I learned recently that what she meant by 'history' is not what i meant. Let's not go into details but she did stuff with 16 guys. Wasn't just kissing btw.
I used to love her easily easily way more than she did. During the first year of the relationship. After that, my love lessened and her's grew. We have known each other now for 2 years. Having kinda accepted all this, learning the 10 to 16 recently kinda sarted the doubt again.
I do find it too much. It's in the span of 18 months too. She lost her virginity late and i was just the next one. Honestly i feel like just any other dude. I did speak with her about this. She is sadenned that it bothers me but doesn't regret it. I understand.
I really can't stop thinking about this sometimes and it annoys me. And it's eating away at the relationship and my love for her. Nearly 2 years now.
It's hard to talk to her about this. Not the right time now but i want to know. I tried before, many times, but she isn't really into communication. She is really shy with her emotions. I understand. I know that we have to work on communication before going into this further. I would just like an opinion in the meantime.
How should i deal with my feelings without hurting her?

We had been checking weather reports tirelessly for two weeks, until we finally found our spot. The following week should be nothing but sun and smooth winds, so we tentatively decided that to be our slot. Our small crew consisted of me and my friends Josie and Frank. Josie’s dad owned the boat (and he still needed to sign off on our plan), so we had to reserve it ahead of time, and make sure that we got it back in pristine condition, on the dot, and preferably with a nice coating of wax or whatever they use to make boats shine like candied apples.
Monday arrived and the weather was still solid, and Josie’s dad had reluctantly signed off on our plan, so we decided not to wait any longer and take it out the next day. The idea was to have a two day mini-cruise; just us hanging out on the boat and maybe docking it for the night at a nearby town. Although Josie’s dad was a hardass, he had taught her how to drive and maintain the boat since she was a kid, so really, the worst thing that could happen is that we wouldn’t have enough snacks.
Me and Frank met at the parking lot, and saw Josie standing on the boat at the end of the dock. Her dad was with her, lecturing her about some winch or other, Josie rolling her eyes next to him, barely maintaining her attention.
“He really can’t leave her alone even for a couple days, can he?” Frank asked, keeping his voice low as we stepped on the long dock.
“Josie or the boat?”
Frank chuckled, then quickly returned his resting poker face as we reached the boat, Josie’s dad turning around as he heard the planks creaking under our feet.
Before he could say anything, Josie ran up from behind him and said “Hi boys! You brought the food and snacks and the five gallons of vodka, I assume?”
“Aye aye, Captain!” we replied in unison. It was Josie’s dad’s turn to roll his eyes.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” he said to Josie, starting to walk down the small ramp down to the dock. “And remember, two days, no more. I expect you to bring her back in one piece.”
“Sure thing, dad!” That was Josie’s way of saying yes, yes, yes, I get it already.
Josie’s dad gave us a stern look followed by a slight nod as he walked past us. He never really liked me or Frankie, a bunch of hooligans, as he’d once called us when we were kids. For the record, me and Frankie didn’t like the guy either, so at least the feeling was mutual.
After her dad was out of earshot, Josie yelled “Are you ready kids?!” putting on her damndest pirate voice.
“Aye Aye Cap-TAIN!” we screamed and sprinted up the ramp and into the boat.
After an exchange of hugs we unloaded our groceries into the mini-fridge below deck, then met up with Josie, who was already sitting inside the helm. “Ready to leave, crew?” she asked. “Let’s rock this boat,” Frank replied. The amount of bad jokes this early in the morning was surely a great indication for what the rest of the day held.
It wasn’t long until the shore behind us was gone, the tranquil open sea spreading out in all directions. Josie seemed to know where we were going, but at that point I could no longer discern what direction we had even come from.
Me and Frank sunbathed and joked around on the deck until Josie emerged from her cocoon-like cockpit. “Sorry to interrupt your hi-LARIOUS hijinks, but I’d propose we have some lunch soon.”
Like destiny, the word lunch produced a unified grumble from both me and Frank’s stomachs - the universal horn of yes please, food please, now please.
“We can stay here for a while, then we could start heading towards the town,” Josie said.
Feeling bad that she was doing all the heavy lifting, I asked her “You need any help? It’s your boat, and us your honored guests, so don’t be afraid to command us, cap’n!”
“Please,” Josie replied, “when I get a chance to drive this boat, I take it. Dad’s been hogging it like crazy all summer. Besides, it’s not like you guys even know what half of the things on this boat are called, let alone what they’re used for.”
“Well, that’s the driver’s seat,” Frank said, pointing at the helm.
“That’s called a helm, my dear. Frank - you just earned yourself the honorary job of heating up our lunch.”
“This ain’t no Ford Prius, I see,” he replied as he got up and started to take lazy strides towards below deck.
“Toyota,” I said.
“What?”
“Prius is Toyota. Not Ford. Come one, let’s go make lunch for the captain.” I got up to follow Frank, nodding approvingly to Josie.
We had cheap microwave meals for lunch, seeing as the boat didn’t have a stovetop or an oven. For some reason - maybe it was the soothing sounds of the ocean lazily slapping the boat, or the warm afternoon sun - the food defied its low expectations and tasted great.
Afterwards we had a little siesta where I almost fell asleep until Josie said “Shall I take course towards the town, then?”
Through a straw hat laid across his face, Frank mumbled “Aye aye.”
“You sure you don’t need any help?” I asked Josie one again, but she was already jumping into the helm, excited to get back at it. “You guys just take a chill, I’ll get us where we need to.”
As the motor’s soothing hum returned, I got myself a bag of chips and sat on the deck, watching the horizon. Frank still had the hat on his face, which either meant that he didn’t want to be bothered, or that he’d fallen asleep. Either way, I was happy to just sit under the sun as the boat slowly rolled towards our destination, cutting a line into the flaccid water behind us.
“Shit, Shit SHIT!” Josie screamed. I must’ve fallen asleep, and as I got up the half eaten bag of chips crushed under my foot.
“What, Josie? What’s wrong?”
“What’s going on?” Frank parroted as he stood up, the hat falling beside him.
“There’s a fucking storm coming,” Josie said as she frantically pressed buttons, her eyes darting across the dashboard of the helm.
I turned around and looked at the horizon. Dread filled me as I saw an infinitely wide wall of dark clouds spread across the sky, making contact with the water in a misty gray curtain. I noticed that the ocean was no longer level, for it was rippled with small waves that thumped the sides of the boat in eager anticipation.
“I thought it was supposed to be nothing but clear skies,” Frank said. He’d walked beside me, taking in the horror beyond the horizon.
“Ex-fucking-actly, Sherlock. It came out of fucking nowhere,” Josie snapped, holding the wheel tightly in her right hand as she fiddled something with her left.
“Okay, Josie, I know this might sound stupid, but bear with. Why are we going towards the storm?” I asked, trying to not seem disingenuous as I turned around to face her.
She gave a sigh, stopping what she was doing and looked me in the eyes. “That’s where the town is. It’s the closest place to dock right now, and the storm’s moving faster than any I’ve ever seen. If we go back it’ll catch up to us and we’re fucked. If we go through it, we’ll spend the least amount of time inside it, giving us at least a chance.”
“A chance at what?” Frankie asked.
“A chance at getting out of here.”
“Any port in a storm, I guess,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, to which Frank gave me a concerned look.
The air had turned cool, so I went and changed to warmer clothing, Frank doing the same. Coming back up to the deck, I saw that the storm had moved closer. A lot closer. Josie instructed us to put on life jackets and to stay below deck, not to come out unless she asked us to. We put on the puffy orange jackets and promptly hunkered down below deck. The increasing waves were already rocking the boat uneasily.
“Are we gonna die?” Frank asked, his voice whimpering as he looked up at me from the opposite bench.
Although the question had already burrowed itself into my mind as well, I replied “No, NO, man, we’re not gonna die. Like Josie said, it’s just a quick ride through and then we’re back on dry land,” hoping that my words held even a sliver of truth.
In a matter of minutes, the sky turned dark and the boat started jumping on waves, like a rollercoaster rapidly going up and down and up and down. The rain tore into the boat like a machine gun as thunder sounded from across the way, lightning flashing the sky white erratically. Frank’s lunch quickly escaped his stomach, coming out in an arc of brownish green vomit that splattered across my legs and the floor. I was too scared to care, and he was too frightened to apologize.
The storm kept getting worse, the waves becoming larger as evidenced by the deeper dives and longer ascensions. Water was constantly slamming the deck, some of it trickling down to our feet. Through the two small windows the cabin had, it was near impossible to know whether we were on top of the water or under it, or which way was up or down. Although the storm was loud, I could still hear Josie cursing and screaming as she battled the waves and tried to keep us afloat, which was the only indication that she hadn’t been swallowed into the depths below. Frank was sweating bullets, his face a pale white. I wasn’t doing much better either, the words it’s gonna be ok it’s gonna be ok repeating in my mind.
Slowly the storm started to ease up, the waves thinning out and the rain becoming only a slight patter. Neither Frank or me said anything, though, not wanting to jinx it before we were safely back on land. Soon, the boat’s rocking lessened severely, and I could see sunshine coming through the windows.
“Hey guys, you okay? You can come up now,” Josie yelled, her inflection hesitant but calm.
Frankie apologized for the vomit as we got up and made our way up the steps. Josie was standing at the front of the deck, tumbling through her soaking wet hair with her fingers.
“Ho-lee shit, did we just survive the fucking apocalypse?” Frank asked rhetorically, his eyes darting between me and Josie.
“Josie! You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine,” she replied, waving her hand like nothing abnormal had happened at all.
I walked up next to her and said “We got through it, didn’t we? Now just let’s get ourselves back on land, eh?”
“Yeah, well, that’s the problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look,” she said, holding her hand out at the pale horizon, like she was presenting it on an invisible platter. “Where’s the town?”
“What do you mean where’s the town? We got through the storm, so shouldn’t we be able to get through to it now?”
“That’s the thing. It should be right in front of us.”
“Where’s the storm?” Frankie yelled from the back of the boat.
“What do you mean ‘where’s the storm?’ We just went through it” Josie yelled in annoyance, still peering at the horizon.
“For fuck’s sake, come here,” Frank replied.
Josie looked at me and rolled her eyes, then started walking towards Frank as she gave a long sigh. I followed tepidly behind her.
As we reached the back of the boat, I realized what Frank had meant. There was no storm, nor clouds, or even residual waves. “What the fuck,” I exclaimed under my breath, right as Josie started sprinting around the boat, looking in all directions, her head swiveling in frantic motions, her hair throwing beads of water around like a dog drying up after a swim. A minute later she joined us, panting, and said “It’s all just water. There’s nothing on any side. We’re in the middle of the fucking ocean, the storm’s gone, there’s nothing.”
“Shit, shit, shit…” Frank muttered as he started to tap his foot on the deck, holding himself in a tight hug as he shivered in his wet clothes.
I turned to Josie. “Well we shouldn’t be far off from something, right? It’s still day, and even with the storm we couldn’t have gone too far.”
I could see that Josie was tired. She looked like she had aged about ten years in the last twenty minutes. “Okay, okay, you’re right. Let me just check some things and figure out where to go.”
Josie left for the helm, leaving me and Frank to stare in silent horror at the lazy, blue ocean that seemed to stretch infinitely in all directions.
After a long minute Josie called to us “Guys… you better come check this out.”
She was staring intensely at the dashboard of the helm as we arrived.
“Okay, so good and bad news. Which first?”
“Good, please.” Frank replied, recovered from the worst of the shivers.
“Okay, so the good news is, uhh,” she began, still fiddling with controls as if to double check her suspicions “the boat seems to be in running condition. There’s no damage to anything that would prevent us from going forward.”
“So what’s the problem then?” I asked.
“Check your phones.”
“What?” me and Frank said in unison.
“Check if you have a signal, internet, anything.”
“Shit,” Frank said. “Yeah, mine too,” I replied as I looked at my phone and saw that there was absolutely no signal or internet.
“Yeah, I don’t have a signal either - just had to check. And it doesn’t stop there,” Josie said, “compasses, readings, all of that - it’s shot. I can’t navigate us anywhere, and I have no idea where we are.”
Frank started to freak out and walked towards the front of the boat, his wet shoes squishing as he stomped angrily. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK. What the fuck do we do?”
“Well, as I said, we can still move. The only question is where. I have a faint idea of where the sun was when we first headed out, and I suggest we try to mimic its movement back to the dock,” Josie said to me while keeping her eye on Frank.
Frank was now squatting on the deck, his hands gripping his neck as he stared down at his feet.
“That sounds smart. Then if we see the storm again, we can recalibrate. We should probably be hitting land at some point, right?” I said to Josie.
“That’s my logic, at least.”
“You with us Frank?” I asked, turning to him.
“Yeah, yeah. I guess that sounds smart,” he replied in a solemn voice under his breath.
“Need any help?” I asked Josie.
“Take care of Frank,” she said quietly. “The best thing we can do is stay calm.”
Josie revved up the engine and turned the boat around carefully as she mapped out our approximate direction, and then we left towards a horizon that was no different from the others, guided only by the sun’s approximate movements.
As Josie manned the wheel, me and Frank cleaned up below deck and dried our clothes. As we were finishing up, he said he’d stay below deck, as he needed some time to think.
Looking at the sun, the day was slowly turning to evening. It was summer, so we still had daylight for a few more hours. I went up to Josie to see how she was doing.
“Frank’s below. Said he needed some time to think. I don’t blame him - this is indeed a bit fucked up, isn’t it?”
“Logically, we should hit land at some point,” she replied, her eyes fixed on the horizon, her presence distant.
“How are you doing, Josie? You just pulled us through hell. I know you don’t need help with the boat, but I’m just saying -- I’m here if you wanna talk.”
Josie sighed and turned to me. “Thanks. I think right now what I need is to get us safely back home. Once we’re back you can buy me a beer and then we can talk.”
I nodded, and then turned my head to look at the horizon. Noticing something in the distance, I said “Josie, uhh, what’s that?”
She turned her head back to survey the ocean.
In the distance there were small, dark peaks rising from the ocean, like the tips of underwater mountains rising above the water. They’d appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
“I -- I don’t know. But I think we’re gonna see soon enough.”
I stayed with Josie as we approached the peaks. As we got closer, it was obvious that there was no land between them. Instead, they shot up from the water in thick spirals that tapered off the higher they reached. As we got closer we could finally realize their true size. Although some were smaller than others, most were the equivalent of tall office buildings, some reaching even higher. They spiraled and twisted in the air, arcing like blades of grass in the wind, and it seemed like they could fall down at any moment, but they did not move or shake in the slightest. There must have been twenty or so, and they all looked similar despite their differences in size; dark, mostly smooth yet also scratched, like charred meat on a grill.
“You have any idea what these are? They look like… trees or something, except they don’t have leaves or branches,” I said to Josie.
“Never seen anything like it. Must be some rock formations or something. Maybe there’s an underwater volcano that bursted lava out and it solidified -- I really don’t know. But those should only happen deeper in the ocean, far away from land.”
I heard Frank coming up the stairs. He looked better than he had before, his step lighter. Although I’d been afraid he’d been brooding, I guess having some time to think really did help.
As he saw the spiraling towers, his face turned into a twisted and confused half-frown as he said “What the fuck are those?”
“We don’t know,” I replied, “but it’s the only thing we’ve seen so far.”
Soon the closest spiral towered just a mere two hundred yards away, its wide shade casting upon the boat. From a distance it had been hard to decipher the dark structures, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that their anatomy was… abnormal. Stretches of surface material were mostly smooth, but all of the spirals seemed to have slight craters that were formed above the rest of the exterior. It looked like they had been bombarded by meteors of differing sizes, although even if this had been the case, how had they not been immediately broken, I do not know. They were beyond any logic I could muster.
“So, anyone know what we’re looking at?” Josie askied, surprising both me and Frank - she was usually the one to know things, us just tagging along for the ride.
“No clue, captain,” replied Frank as he stared upwards in dismay at the towering spiral.
“Still no,” I said.
Suddenly the boat’s end shot up, followed by the front, ascending us a good ten yards in mere seconds. Frank and I were knocked down on the deck, but Josie managed to hold onto the walls surrounding the helm. The boat kept rocking as waves hit us from behind. I slowly stood up with my knees bent for support, and went to help out Frank who was still laying on the deck, his eyes wide in panic.
Once I’d gotten Frank up, Josie had already managed to make her way to the back of the boat. We held onto the railings along the boat’s edge and walked as fast as we could through the oceanic turbulence to catch up with her. Once I saw what had produced those waves, I wanted to get back to land more than I ever had before.
In the distance tens more of the spirals had emerged from the ocean, some even larger than the ones we’d seen. They dripped with water, and some were covered in green algae. Somehow they’d been quiet, merely disturbing the water as they’d shot up.
“We need to move! One of those things could shoot up under the boat and sink the whole fucking thing!” Josie screamed, running back inside the helm as the waves slowly calmed down and became smaller. I leaned on the railing to see if there was something underneath us - not that there was much I could do, even if I saw a gigantic spiral shooting up from the depths.
The water beneath the surface was unmoving, holding an abyssal darkness. It seemed as if the light penetrated less than it had before, and what was deep below was nothing but pitch black shadowlands.
Just as I was about to disembark and head towards Josie, something moved in the water. I craned my neck farther over the railing to get a better look. It looked like two large masses were separating from each other, unearthing a ravine.
Josie had gotten the boat moving, and we were starting to turn towards an opening between two of the spirals. As the boat circled, I got a better view of what lay below. The ravine widened, and inside it I could see a dark, whitish yellow mass peeking through. As Josie cranked us up to speed the yellow mass had opened up into a large, oval shape that seemed to span across the ocean floor. Its center held a deep, dark circle that sucked in light as if it were a black hole, twisting all things inside of it.
Then it closed up again. I sighed in relief, hoping that no more spirals would emerge.
Suddenly it opened up again in a furious motion, wider than before, into a perfect circle. Then it hit me - it was an eye, larger than anything I could think of. Although we were moving at full speed, it was so gargantuan that we weren’t making any headway.
It had blinked.
“Josie? Frank?” I screamed as I turned around and saw Frank on the opposite railing looking down at the water, witnessing the same thing I was seeing.
Frank turned to me, his face a washed white, and his mouth slightly agape. “They’re tentacles. They’re fucking tentacles, look!” he pointed at one of the bigger spirals. “They have fucking suction cups and all! Shit, SHIT!”
As if on cue, the tentacles started to return to the water, splashing as they did so, producing strong currents in the water. The boat was immediately caught up in the chaos, going up and around huge waves and being dragged by the water’s shifting volume. Frank sprang below deck, and I followed him. From the small round windows I could see one of the gargantuan tentacles dropping back into the water, the boat just barely missing its tip and almost sunk by the shifting ocean.
Josie ran inside with us and exclaimed “The storm is back! It’s fucking back! I can’t maneuver the boat worth shit!”
As she closed the door behind her, we were flung to the side, my ribs hitting one of the cabinets, producing a painful crack. I could hear the rain start to scratch at the boat, and soon we were engulfed in darkness, the rain gunning down on us through the waves. The boat rocked and swayed worse than it had before, and at some points I was sure we’d gone under, buried into the deep sea, never to see the sun again. We held on to whatever we could as water trickled through the sealed door and started pooling up on the floor.
Slowly, but steadily, the storm started to pass, the boat regaining its level status along the water. The darkness outside faded into a dark red. Once it was possible to stand with relative ease, we emerged from the cabin and walked up to the deck.
“Everyone okay?” Josie asked.
“I think I’m gonna --,” Frank replied, and promptly ran to grab the edge of the railing and vomited yellow bile into the water, his stomach empty of food from before.
“My ribs got a beating, but I don’t think anything’s broken, “ I said. “What about you?”
“I’m fine. Just some bruises. Look,” Josie said, walking to the other side of the boat.
On the horizon, we saw the evening sun illuminating a crimson glow behind a small town some 500 yards away.
“Frank?” Josie called out.
“Yeah?” he replied through thick phlegm that sounded like it was stuck to his throat and running down his nostrils.
“We made it.”
We docked at the unfamiliar town and found a small hotel - probably the only one there - just a quick walking distance away. Once we got our phones dried off, Josie’s seemed to be the only one that still worked. As she looked up our location she nearly dropped the phone on the ground.
“I -- I don’t know how, but we’re quite far from home,” she said, her voice produced in quick breaths.
“How far?” Frank asked.
“Some 480 miles away.”
We checked and double checked her phone, but she was right: somehow we’d ended up nearly 500 miles down the coast into a small fishing town.
We were so tired that we decided to get some sleep before giving the bad news to Josie’s dad. The next morning Josie called him up and explained the situation, giving him the simple version: a storm had hit us, and after we got out we’d arrived here. I could hear the screams he gave her through the phone - apparently he was sure we’d driven the boat all the way to this ghost town in the middle of nowhere and docked it here, just to spite him. Josie didn’t respond to him much, only apologizing and telling him to come pick us up.
A day later he arrived, furious with us - and especially Josie. Once we showed him the boat I thought he was going to burst into a thousand tiny pieces, for I’d never seen a man so angry before. Although I think he overreacted, it was true that the boat was in shambles. There was water damage throughout the interiors, most of the equipment was shot, and large scratches were present along the exterior’s white paint.
Josie begged him not to drive the boat back home, but he insisted, not hearing a word her daughter was saying. We drove his car and arrived home that night.
As promised, me and Josie went out for a beer a few weeks later after her dad had settled down enough to let her out of the house. We went through the events of the trip in great detail, confirming to each other that it really did happen - although we disagreed on one thing.
Josie still thought that the spirals were just magma turned rock, and the whole thing was just extremely bad luck. According to her, we got held up by a superstorm or hurricane that moved our boat on top of an active underwater volcano, and then got hit by that same storm later as it moved across the ocean at miraculous speeds. Her theory was that the storm moved us along with it, making it possible to traverse such tremendous lengths with ease.
But Josie didn’t see what had been underneath us. Her theory was that the ‘eye’ I saw was simply lava cooling down as it emerged from the ocean bed. But she hadn’t seen it blink.
Frank of course seen it as well, but I haven’t heard from him much after the incident. According to his mom, he’s been cooped up in his room, drawing yellow circles on black pages. He’d told her that he needed some time to think.

My baby had his 4 month well baby checkup yesterday and the pediatrician noted that his pupils were slow to constrict when she shone light in them. She was not sure what that could indicate, but we left with an urgent referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist. Wondering what conditions this could be a sign of and what we should expect from the visit with the specialist. For background, he:

• Tracks moving objects near and far (watches me walk down our hallway and back)
• Reacts to bright light like entering a bright room or going outside by closing his eyes
• Looks at lights, windows, light up toys, etc.
• Makes consistent eye contact with us and smiles when we smile
• Grabs small toys and objects
• Enjoys looking at books and high contrast illustrations - smiles and babbles at them

His pupils do change in size and they do so uniformly. No wandering or crossing of the eyes. No other health issues that we know of and he was full term.
Any ideas or insights on the initial exam would be welcome!

I’ve tried two gastroenterologist clinics near me and both have no interest in ordering it for me.

Hey! I offer boosting and coaching services for a reasonable price up to diamond 4 on following servers: EUW,EUNE,TR,RU
Add me on discord for more information and to discuss the price:
DC: Ρat#5948 - please use copy+paste due to special symbol
I'm using VPN and Offline mode to stay discreet. Boosting anywhere from iron to diamond 4 in a very short time for a reasonable price. I play mostly jungle/mid lane but below platinum I can play all roles and all champs. Been here over 4 years now and still offering great prices! DM me for pricing, we can always negotiate.
Vouch threads:
Old: https://www.reddit.com/Lolboosting/comments/ot60yg/good_boi_pat_vouch_thread/
New: https://www.reddit.com/Lolboosting/comments/xvg04d/pats_eloboosting_vouch_thread/

I’m having to remake most of the world because my computer and external drives were fried via lightning strike to my house so I only have what I could remember and the notes I was able to find on my phone. I’ve been making this world on and off over several years, I’ve written short stories I never posted anywhere because I was too afraid to. The last time I shared my own writings was nearly fourteen years ago, I was told to give up and kill myself, that I’d never manage anything (as someone with severe unmediated depression at the time, I very nearly did try to kill myself after that). This was when I was twelve, openly said I was twelve and was posting on a forum for young writers to get help and advice so they could improve. I didn’t write or even try to world build for years after that, but with the support of my mum (my one supportive parent) and my best friend that loves writing short stories in tabletop game settings (mostly oWoD) convinced me to put the past behind me, ignore those people and start doing this thing I loved. So for the past five ish years I was first jotting down ideas and stream of conscious stuff that I looked at later and deleted because it wasn’t good enough. Just the past two years my best friend has really encouraged me to pursue my writing and story crafting more strongly and to save everything so that even bad things can be dug into to find the problems, improve from that and extract the bits I liked and that I’d done well. With most of my old work gone I’m gutted but a part of me is enjoying being able to remake things in a new way that I wouldn’t have had the nerve to do before. I’m wanting to run a DND campaign in my world and I’m working on fleshing out the basics of the world. I’ve done a timeline of the various eras/ages throughout my worlds history and how it led up to the way the world is now. I’m also starting to work on brief descriptions of the different races that inhabit the world to this day. I’m sharing this to get your opinions on my work as it is, the timeline and racial descriptions (I’m working on doing all the races in my world but the only one that’s in a presentable state is my dwarves profile)
Timeline and history
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wv9JeoexJIKFlSVYiT0Qa70USWInp5JYjTg6ekUiCd8/edit?usp=sharing
Races (very in progress)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11CAgoTMvxF7Ty4DP4Fs8xK0hK2WU7I9UcJkWnHDKnY0/edit?usp=sharing
The races stuff I’ve only started working on beyond shower thoughts today so it’s very rough
Please share your thoughts, opinions, questions and advice but I ask that you don’t be too brutal, I’m finally starting to get a great deal of enjoyment out of writing again.

My ex and I were together for 3 years and I thought they were the love of my life. We were planning our lives together and I was blissfully in love. At the 2.5 year mark, they got very drunk and they slept with someone else. I was devastated. They were very remorseful and promised it would never happen again. I came home one day unexpectedly and caught them heavily crying. They said the gravity of what they had done had really hit them. They really tried to put in the work to make the relationship work again. However, over the next 6 months, I couldn't let it go. I lacked trust and I picked fights. I cried a lot. I needed them to prove their love any time I had doubt. We were up and down and I became quite distant. They were clinging harder and harder but I found it hard to be affectionate. Looking back, I think we needed a break to reassess our future. However, we did not have that conversation. We had a fight, they got drunk and did what I pretty much goaded them to do, they kissed someone else. They said they didn't feel good enough for me. We broke up but said we'd try to remain friends. A few days after the breakup, I got drunk, hooked up with a guy in the club, left the club with that guy and ended up being raped. I kept this very quiet. My ex was not told. In fact, after this night I refused to ever speak to them again.
They text. They called. They wrote me long love letters calling me the love of their life. They begged me to take them back. They tried heavily for a year, a medium amount the next year (despite having a new girlfriend) and the contact attempts (though reduced) lasted for about 7 years after our breakup. I never responded. It was like I detached myself completely from the situation. I also detached myself from the rape. I felt nothing.
We broke up 20 years ago.
About 5 years ago, I began to open up about my sexual assault and received therapy. And when I did that, I remembered my ex and how much I loved them. It was like I was experiencing the breakup for the first time. I discussed it with my spouse and with their understanding, I decided to send my ex a message to say sorry for no contact and also to explain what happened to me and that I thought it affected my judgement. I told them that they were a huge part of my life and how utterly sorry I was and that they deserved better than that treatment. I wished them happiness and success.
That was 18 months ago. I know they have read it but they never responded.
Logically, I knew there was a possibility they wouldn't. Logically, I understand that it took me nearly 20 years and who I am to expect a speedy response. Logically, I understand that maybe they couldn't give a damn. But fuck, it really hurts that they didn't respond.
I feel very vulnerable. I feel that they possibly thinks I'm a complete freak sending that information and apology so many years later. I wonder did I misread the situation and that they never really loved me. And I wonder if they'll ever respond.

So I passed my PMP exam today(3/21/23)! I seriously kept reschedulings for the last year! My eligibility expiration was 3/27/23 (I know I’m the worst lol) I literally waited until the last 30 days before my exam to start studying. Honestly, life and work just got the best of me. I also figured because I’ve been a project manager for several years and specialized in project management in grad school that studying would be a breeze. WRONGGGGGG!!!!!!
But I’ll tell you this much… SH humbled tf out of me! Haha I got a 45% on my first mini exam, a part of me died right then and there haha.
I took my exam at home, had no technical issues… thank goodness! The first half of the exam wasn’t completely terrible forsure some tricky questions. Took both my breaks, breezed through the remainder of the exam since the questions were pretty easy for me, and wrapped up the exam with 45 mins to spare!
The exam "police" did annoy me the first 15 mins of my exam I was adjusting myself in my seat and he sent me a warning to stay in the camera view then as I was trying to stop myself from crying when I saw the congrats screen I got a final warning that he will revoke my exam * eye roll*
Anyways on to the good stuff. I used a few resources to prepare, i am sure most of you have seen but if this helps anyone then great.
Udemy: THANK GOODNESS FOR JP and AR PMP exam courses! I used both to start off with but ended up sticking with JP, maybe because all of his dad jokes kept me mildly engaged lol once I finished that I actually ended up printing out the exam outline and I went through JP PMP Illustrated course. I had to watch all at 1.5x no offense to these guys and their teaching methods I just personally have the attention span of a toddler lol Also, AR's mindset is like Project Management gold, which is why I was able to breeze through my exam.
Books: AR exam prep book. I mostly used this for topics I really struggled to understand or pay attention to in the videos. And taking the extra practice questions at the end of the chapters didn’t hurt either!
SH: I spent a lot of time arguing at my computephone screen because honestly sometimes the answers made no flipping sense but whatever I learned to read the questions in a VERY literal sense. When I first started using SH I was randomly doing mini-exams and practice questions which is where I first messed up, kinda went into it with no strategy BUTTTT then I begin going through JP PMP Illustrated Udemy course (btw it’s based on the PMI exam outline) and it started to click for me.
So my thought was whenever I’d finished a task area in the PMP illustrated course I’d go complete the respective practice questions in SH, since the SH practice exams sections were also based on the exam outline. Please note that before I started doing this method my practice questions and mini-exam scores were trash! I was scoring somewhere between 45-55% But once I started doing this I saw a major improvement in my scores. I began ranging between 70-85% which brought my overall avg practice score to be 74% and my avg practice exam score was 64% which put me in the 89% overall rank for SH. And that’s with expert questions btw(too lazy to calculate without expert).
The ONLY thing I calculated without expert questions was the 1 full practice exam I complete. I said YOLO and didn't take the second practice exam. With expert I scored 71% and without expert I scored 79%. My exam questions were damn near identical to the moderate/difficult SH questions.
YouTube: I reviewed Ricardo Vargas process videos twice and did that process mapping game a few times. Just review til I felt comfortable.
David Mclachlan I really enjoyed his videos because of his process of identifying keywords and his breakdown of all the answer choices. I watched his videos for agile,waterfall and pmbok 7 questions. I didn't finish all of them but I watched enough to get the hang of it. Sometimes I’d watch while I was cooking or just sitting on the couch.
Reddit: You guys have been great with your threads and exam tips. I’d like to give a special shout-out to u/third3rock. Your notes were amazing! You deserve all the caffeine your heart desires! :) Funny enough during one of my breaks I scanned through the guide and BAMMM same topic came up on my exam.
P.S. I didn’t do TIA practice exams because SH was stressing me enough to last a million lifetimes.

I just reached 7k mmr today!
It took me 4 months (>600 games) to climb from 5k3 to 7k with some frustrations and hardships, so here I would like to share my experience in case it could help somebody else going through the same phase.
https://preview.redd.it/4girdj22a5pa1.jpg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7fc3144bbe687ce67aac818bb9b7a7391e51bc8f
Briefly about me:
- I transitioned from HoN to Dota 2 at the end of April, 2022
- I only play support positions (30% pos 4, 70% pos 5) - so my experience is only applicable to support players
- My favourite heroes are also my most picked ones (see image)
- My most hated ones are the ones I ban every game - Tinker and Arc Warden
Alright, let's get to it.
What are the differences between a 5k and a 7k MMR support?
Note: I will not mention the baseline skill that I think most players between 5k and 7k already have. If you are interested in my experience of climbing from 2k to Immortal, please check here: https://www.reddit.com/learndota2/comments/ys8nsa/if_you_need_to_break_down_your_ranked_progress/
So, the main differences between a 5k and 7k support are:

1. Hero knowledge: To reach 5k mmr, you don't need much knowledge of heroes, you just need to know briefly about their kit, such as whether they have a disable or a survival ability. But on the way to 7k, you need to understand relatively well the heroes in the game, such as their strength, weakness, power spike, timing of spike... in order to boost your team's power or devise a strategy to mitigate the enemies'.
2. Observation and planning: As a pos 5, your main role is macro-strategy - you plan where to ward, which part of the map to control, when to force a teamfight... Occasionally, you need to venture into enemy territory to place a sentry to block ancient camp, or place an aggressive ward. Hence, observation is crucial - you should absorb as much information of your enemies as possible, and based on that, devise the most optimal plan for you and your team. In teamfights (which should often be in your advantage if you are doing the correct planning), observation and communication will help you identify the teammate to save, enemy to shut-down, or combo chain to break. For the combo-breaking, usually pos 4 is better for the job, as the heroes commonly picked for this position have the best kits for the task. As a pos 4, your main role is more on micro-controlling the enemies, by roaming, calling shot-gank, provide aggressive vision and smoke etc... Both role need substantial amount of information from the enemy heroes in order to make the correct decision, thus, observation and planning skill is crucial for supports to climb to 7k.
3. Itemization: As a support, your first item choice is crucial. The choice of this item should be based on the enemies draft and power spike (and hence you need hero knowledge). A single item choice could mean a difference between winning and losing the first ganks/teamfights, thus help shaping the snowball effect. A 5k support would usually get the item he/she is most comfortable with, but a 7k support will get the item that is most optimal for the situation. A Glimmer Cape and a Force Staff can be completely different in usefulness, depending on the context. Itemization is dependent on a good sense of observation and planning.
4. Read the game flow: Another difference I could think of is the ability to read the game flow. Based on hero knowledge, observation and planning, and itemization, a support could make calls to charge in or retreat, depending on the chance of winning a teamfight. This ability can also improve with experience, but I think it will improve significantly faster if you actively consider all the points above in your gameplay.
5. Teamwork and communication: If you have the above 4 points better than your enemy supports, chances are you will be climbing for sure. However, if you really want to climb fast, teamwork and communication become very important. The higher level of synergy, the stronger the team; the more efficiently you communicate, the more chance of you positively influencing your teammates (e.g. via enemy kills, avoided ganks etc...) which allow them to capitalize on the benefit even better. I've had an average of 61% winrate over the last 100-200 games, and constantly 64-68% winrate over a 25-game period. But sometimes, the MMR system will put you with significantly worse players comparing to your enemies. There is nothing that can be done in those times, except trying to remain calm and stop playing for a while.

Cheers!

I remained the RA of my dorm for the rest of my undergrad career. Then, after I graduated, there were some problems lining up a job. Apparently Stewart Newman's father was a biochemist, and little Stewart was destined to fend off extradimensional invaders (and yes, I know there is one reader who is now furiously typing up a letter explaining that the Chchshiuuni are NOT from another dimension, but I've read the Wikipedia article three times and I don't understand the distinction. You're reading my memoir, not my scientific explanation of extranormal invaders). His father, Victor Newman, was killed when the laboratory he worked at was hit by a meteorite, which, according to the investigative report, passed through 6 cylinders of various compressed gasses, ricocheted off a 7th, broke through a water line, shattered 9 containers of various other chemicals, then cracked the isolation unit on some kind of algae they were breeding for research on biofuels. This happened at 4:41 AM. Apparently this created something of a perfect storm as the chemicals reacted with the water and a very specific molecule produced by the algae acted as a catalyst which worked together to form pentanitroethyltoluenic acid, which is, according to the laws of chemistry, a chemical which desperately does not want to exist. For those not versed in chemistry, this stuff makes TNT look like HBO. That was supposed to say "H2O" but the I actually like it better this way. Anyway, the molecule was being synthesized in the laboratory for over four hours, until Victor arrived at a little before 9:00. His foot crossed the threshold and the laboratory detonated.
Prior to this event the company that ran the lab had just spent a bundle on a new security system with off site recording. This was the only evidence that could be used to put together the events, as according to the official report it "was as if God pressed the delete key".
So now that that story is floating around on Google there weren't a lot of labs that wanted to hire me. So I said fuck it. My ride is being paid for, let's go for a master's degree. Not like I had anything better to do. So I stayed in my dorm, working on my masters, and continued to be the RA.
A lot of the other RAs had horror stories about their dorms. About the nightmares they put up with. For me, for the most part, it was a breeze. If you want to become an RA and have an easy time with it, I have a few simple steps to insure you have it good.
Step 1: inherit the position from someone who's widely respected (thank you Helga)
Step 2: that person who is highly respected should make it known that you're carrying on their torch. (Thank you Helga)
Step 3: have really great women in your dorm. (Thank you Mr Pols)
Step 4: do your very best to fill the size 19 clogs that have been left for you to fill (wait, are clogs German? Oh who cares, I just said the Chchshiuuni were from another dimension)
That's not to say it was easy. I just didn't get the horror stories that others got. I never had to deal with Shane the Showerless or the Roach Incident. What I did have, however, were a lot of young women to look out for. And a lot of young women who came to me with their problems.
By the 2nd week I'd learned everyone's names, knew their majors, had a general idea about their schedules, home lives, and study habits. I knew who was a hard worker, who could keep a secret, who could hotwire a car, who could safely and reliably distill liquor and extract THC (It was me for those last 2 things. Hooray for biochemistry!) Not that I admit to having done any of those things, at least until the statute of limitations has passed. I also knew who needed help in their classes, who was too naive to go to a party alone, and who I could send them with to be sure they had a good time and made it home safe and sound.
In my third week as RA I called Helga because I missed her (I LOVE YOU HELGA) and we talked for like four hours and I gave her the rundown on everyone there and my assessments of such. Helga is many things, but a braggart is not one of them. It came as a surprise when Helga gloated for a full ten minutes about how she was right in her assessment of me. And yes, I guess it was pretty clever of me to "throw together five Amy's and a Rachel for frat party safety patrol." Rachel and Amy 3 were eye candy to serve as a diversion, Amy 2 and Amy 5 were recon to search for overly intoxicated girls, and Amy 1 and Amy 4 could either extract said girls like a SEAL team or steal booze like a… uh… SEAL team, as the situation dictated. By the end of the year they all had radios they used to stay in communication. I don't know where they got them, but they said they didn't buy them and were really evasive when asked about their origins.
Having taken over for Helga, I also grew something of a reputation. I kept her open door policy, any time, any problem, come talk to Shannon. You didn't need to be in my dorm. You didn't even need to be a woman. Hell, you didn't even need to be a student at our school. If you had a problem, I was available.
No one has problems at 2:00 on a sleepy afternoon when you've got a lot of energy and not enough to do. So this policy did make things a fair bit harder for me. Don't get me wrong, I've never regretted my policy, but problems did happen at almost comically inconvenient times.
For example, when I was having a really, really bad period and throwing up every six seconds, Amy (which Amy? I'll never tell. Just kidding, it was Amy 4) came to me because she'd just found out her childhood dog had died. What did I do? Chug half a bottle of pepto and force down half a pint of butter pecan while I comforted her. I kept it down, too, until she was back in her room asleep.
Little innocent Hannah got invited to a party the day of her last midterm, and really wanted to go. I had 4 mid terms left, and AMY team 6 was out or commission studying along with all my other go tos. So I went with her.
I don't think I'll ever forget that night. Hannah, sweet little innocent Hannah. Gorgeous, doe eyed Hannah. Naive, sheltered, quiet Hannah. Hannah is stunningly beautiful, and anyone who has met Hannah will know she has a very sharp wit and a way with words. What I didn't know is that she had a tongue sharp enough to kill a man at five paces. Hannah got rip roaring drunk (she did five shots in the 30 seconds it took me to pee) and then proceeded to massacre the entire fraternity.
Gary Fogelbaum was a senior, and a total dude bro. He was alright in a crisis and I do appreciate what he did when Pepper broke her leg, but at this point his respect for women left a bit to be desired. He could talk shit with the best of them, and he could take it better than he could dish it out. Five words. Five fucking words, and she left Gary Fogelbaum crying. He earned it. To be clear, she hadn't met Gary before. He sauntered up to her and hit on her, right in front of me. After her second no, he grabbed her hand and put it on his stomach and said "how can you say no to those abs."
Before I could knock his teeth out, Hannah, kind, caring, compassionate, saintly, Hannah disemboweled him. Right there in front of everybody. "Abs won't make daddy proud."
After that it was like something out of a Tarantino movie as I tried to steer her towards the door. Guys got in her way to try to avenge Gary and were verbally slaughtered without mercy. Heads were rolling, viscera was flying, blood was gushing. Nearly to the front door, someone grabbed her wrist.
Hannah spun with a gaze that could vaporize lead and her eyes landed on a short, skinny guy with glasses, who said "you almost forgot your purse" before handing it to her. She snatched her purse, shoved him against a wall and kissed him so hard I think his soul briefly left his body. And then we left. He's engaged to Hannah now, and I've got to say I'm a little jealous.

If you boost me, I can boost back

I graduated my BSc in August last year with an average GPA, no internship due to the 3-year research university programme. I’ve started my job search in November and had around 5 interviews so far but didn’t get any offers. Unfortunately since I’m an international student, I have to head back to my home country soon and that means I’ll have to adapt to a whole new job market and working culture, and I feel quite pessimistic finding a job in my home country because of that. So I also had a back up plan to do a Masters in ChemE this fall as well.
But before that what can I do to enrich my knowledge and experience as a chemical engineer? or basically something that can help me boost my CV for future internships? I’m currently learning a new language, taking online courses and learn to code. I’m also planning to take some GMP training once I’m back in my home country since its much more affordable there.
Taking a gap year makes me so guilty. It stresses me out seeing all my peers achieving things, getting jobs and opportunities. I feel like my life is stagnant at the moment and I don’t know how make myself feel better about this.

So if anyone is interested, an update:
Sunday I contacted Boost Mobile and told them I was on the way to the store to start the protest. I was then presented (for the first time after more than 25 hours of customer service chat) with a simple temporary solution - buy a new boost mobile sim card and activate it on my current locked phone with a new number until Boost gets their internal issues resolved so they can unlock the phone -
Simple, right- well, just coming up with the $6 to buy the SIM card at Target took until mid-day yesterday. Once I inserted it, you can guess the outcome- I can't activate it on my current plan- a plan that I once again paid for a week ago just to get them to release my port out pin, a plan that they have since added a credit to for Next months bill. They can't add it to that account or activate this sim card. To activate this sim card, I would have to pay for a whole new plan.
This is insanity, I get that- I haven't responded angrily to the people here attacking me- most everyone is ignorant to the reality of being homeless, and I can't get angry at them for that nor do I hope they will ever have the personal experience to understand -
I am trying here. I am a healthcare worker. I finally got an interview at WakeMed for a position I hope I get - trying to follow up with that is a big part of why I'm so desperate to have active phone service. I had to walk for two days to make that interview as my dog can't walk very far. I had to tie my dog out with a note while I did the interview - the first and last time (I hope) I have ever done that
I get it, my life, practically, would be so much easier without my dog, but she is all I have to live for. To people saying I am putting her in a horrible situation and dont care for her, I angrily object. I recently spent the last of my money on food for her rather than eat myself. 15 years ago I was homeless for 5 years. I tried repeatedly to get out of it, and it only 'stuck' when I got my puppy Arya 10 years ago. For 10 years I provided her with a home. Four years ago I got a job as a Patient Transporter which led to the rent to own situation on the trailer which turned out to be a scam. It is so easy to go back to homelessness once you've been in it, and I would have multiple times over the last ten years if not for her. Now I've been forced back into it.
So I can't give her up. I know I'm close to having to and it kills me everyday- she saved my life, she is my life. She never leaves my side. When I worked at the hospital I arranged a split shift schedule (10-2 and 4-10, 4 days a week) just so I could go home and walk her every day. I keep her warm and safe even when I can't do that for myself. She turns 10 next month.
I had an acquaintance that was letting me use his basement for her while I worked at a theater recently. My dad became deathly ill, I had to step away from that job and when I returned the acquaintance revoked the basement. There is no dog care or any solution that allows me to manage a theater and have a random schedule that bounces between opening and closing at 2am. I know for some people reading this they are screaming in their head to just get rid of the dog- I can't and won't unless I become incapable of caring for her.
The hospital position will be a set schedule that I can get dog care for her and will afford me the ability to get a place to live.
To everyone saying I should cut my losses and move on - in a normal world I would. Right up until I lost my home, I had a Pixel and Google Fi service. That phone was broken when I was hit by a car shortly after leaving the hospital - I was doing Uber eats on a scooter. I had to go to Boost Mobile as I was approved for an ACP plan.
Boost sent emails saying they had accepted the plan but they never sent me a phone and have charged me every month for 8 months for it. I had tried for months to get my ACP ported over to qlink and now that I have and thought I was finally out of Boosts clutches this whole thing started again.
I know, believe me, about the internal issues- these issues predate that by months- still, I was as patient as possible through the hack issues and would have never tried the port out if I hadn't been told last week that my phone was unlocked and finally given the port out pin- well, not given it, they made me pay them for another month of service before they would give it to me. I am not expecting them to ever resolve the hack issues at this point- this is not the issue. The issue is they told me my phone was unlocked.
And now, I've spent even more money - I know $6 is nothing to most, but I have nothing - only to realize once again I'd been offered another solution just to get me out of chat.
And to those telling me about wifi and such, believe me, I know- I had a tablet that I loaned to another homeless person when his phone broke and then he disappeared. I currently can only do any of this in wifi, but that presents one of the unknown issues of being homeless with a dog - to be on wifi I need to be in a public place and every hour I'm sitting outside Panera or Starbucks is another hour where someone may act on misplaced concern about a homeless dudes dog. As of now, when I leave this place and walk 40 minutes back to my tent, I will then spend the night staring at the ceiling, wondering if I'm not hearing about an emergency with my father and just going over the Cruelty that is the Boost Mobile situation over and over again until I finally fall asleep in the early morning
And I know a Hunger Strike is crazy. I know this is insane- I do have mental health issues- depression and serious difficulty sometimes with social interaction, and lately every day has been a bad mental health day- I took that into consideration when putting off the Strike.
I did get the meeting with the Housing guy moved to tomorrow, so my plan now is to return to the Store Thursday for the strike. To the people saying I shouldn't be protesting at a store that can't do anything - I completely agree! Constantly phone and chat customer service at Boost will push this idea that you can just go to a Boost Mobile store and they can help. This is a lie and they know it. I point this out. I point out that it will be a four mile walk to that store. I point out that the nice but frustrated gentleman that owns that store only has the option of calling Boost support - he just sells phones. Yesterday still, I was told multiple times to go to a store for this new issue with the SIM card.
I am desperate. I have no options. I can't protest Boost Mobile by 'sitting' online. The Boost store is the only physical location where I can stage a protest. And I know a protest makes little sense since no one will care. My only thought is that an attack on the PR front is particularly undesirable to them currently since they are trying so desperately to keep the DISH hack under wraps
I never once panhandled in all the time I was homeless years ago- I'm capable of work and hate the idea of strangers helping me when I can correct things myself, so I can't beg now. But, if there is anyone in the Raleigh area (or someone willing to ship one to my mom's or friends address) that could loan or give me an no longer needed, unlocked phone, I could activate my qlink service and be done with this until I get the stability again to sue the crap out of Boost Mobile. I would in theory only need the phone until they resolve the internal issues at boost and can unlock my current phone.
I do encourage everyone here that may be having similar issues with Boost to go to the Better Business Bureau and report them or post to a thread discussing Class Action lawsuits even though our contracts prohibit us from participating in one - they seem responsive in those arenas.
So hopefully, good news about temporary housing tomorrow - I've been reluctant to even pursue that as there are people with children who need it more and despite the stress of it, I'm actually capable of getting out of this. Then Thursday, I go to the Boost store with a tent and signs and start my protest.

So I’m going through a very high conflict divorce. I have a restraining order against my soon to be ex. We have asked him to supply needed documents to move forward with mediation and his lawyer claims to have everything but won’t send it over. We asked them in January to supply everything and now it’s nearing the end of March and we still have nothing. My lawyers want to take them to court again for this. Do I look like such an asshole for taking them to court for this? I literally just filed something because my ex was overcharging our accounts when he wasn’t supposed to. Half of me thinks my lawyers just want money, the other half thinks this might be necessary if I ever want to divorce him.