Me: Nerdy guy into: D&D, Pc gaming (sandbox survival mostly.) Just got an Occulus quest 2 for fitness and stress relief. Frogs (I have 3 dumpy tree frogs and 2 milk frogs) Pagany/spiritual stuff (runes, tarot, crystals etc). Fishing (recreational/for food). Podcasts (mbmbam mostly). Music- all kinds but my favorite band ever is They might be giants. Attempting to keep houseplants alive. Mostly pothos and snake plants. I'm Neurodivergent. Adhd and possibly on the spectrum. I'm a tad weird, but in a harmless way. Kinda awkward as well. Animals are important to me and I will always have pets.
You: Hopefully into some of that stuff. You must like or at least tolerate cats, frogs and snakes. Neurodivergent, because I don't think a neurological person could understand me.
Recently got 5 chickens as a 1st step towards more self sufficientcy.
I have 2 nephews I love to death. Family is important to me and hopefully you as well.
I have done a ton of work on myself since my divorce in 2020, and I am just seeing what is out there. I am looking to take it slow, get to know someone and see what happens. 100% single and not juggling a ton of convos. Not into hookup culture. Monogamist.
I have been told I am the Cadillac of cuddling. I run warm, so stealing my heat is fine.
I am a big person and this year my focus is physical health.
Age range 29-42 (Loose guidelines. I wouldn't feel comfortable under 27 to be honest.)
Pic is older but not much has changed other than a longer beard and longer hair, maybe a few white beard hairs.
https://imgur.com/a/scHdMMC
Please send a pic if you message. I like having a face to put to a conversation.
I am pretty well rooted to CT, so I am not looking to relocate really. Have a job, a car and a house lined up (once my brother finds a new one, I am buying his.)
Anywho, thanks for reading!

Hi everyone! I have been researching weigh loss medications for about 3 months now and based on my insurance coverage, and cost, Contrave is the medication I've decided to go with.
A little bit about me: I'm 30 years old, 5'2, female, and my starting weight as of this morning is 225. I have PCOS, Hypothyroid, Hashimotos, and other auto inflammatory issues. The highest I've ever weighed was 240. I lost 40 lbs. during the first half of the pandemic and then gained about 38lbs back. I started CICO about a 2 months ago and have lost about 12lbs. Right now I cannot seem to move the scale past 222lbs and have been fluctuating between 222 and 225 for the last few weeks.
Why weight loss meds: I need the food noise to go away. I need to live life without constantly thinking about what I'm going (or won't) eat next. My first choice would have been WeGovy because a lot of people say the food noise dies with it but my insurance doesn't cover it and I can't justify spending $1.1k a month. I have read people say the same thing about Contrave so I am hoping this helps. I also am just excited to have that extra push. I know that for people who have never experienced obesity or feeling out of control when it comes to eating food will never understand this.
I even hear from some of my thin friends that eating and exercising should be enough. I'm keeping this a secret and not telling anyone because I don't have time or the willpower to explain to them what it's like to carry an extra 100 pounds and to work so hard and see little come off. I know that I can lose the weight with CICO alone. For me though, it's just so slow. I don't want to wait 3 years before I'm at my goal weight. I'm ready for my life to change for the better...today. Its frustrating when I hear people irl and on tiktok talk about how wegovy, contrave, ozempic, are all cheating. Why is it that we allow cheat codes FOR EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF LIFE, except losing weight. Don't want to walk 1.5 miles to your supermarket? Cheat code: get in your car, bus, taxi, etc. Don't want to vacuum your own floors? Cheat code: Pay someone to clean your house for you. The examples go on and on. I'm ranting now, but I hope you get the point.
How I'm mitigating side effects: I was supposed to start this morning but my delivery got delayed. It is in the Amazon fulfilment center that is near where I live and I am hoping it gets delivered tonight for me to start tomorrow. While I am adjusting to the medication I am going to be mindful of 2 things - My water and my caffeine intake. I have heard anecdotally from others that the reason why headaches are so bad on Contrave is because people no longer crave the coffee they normally drink but their bodies are still used that that amount of caffeine and it's a withdrawal from that. I am planning on upping my water intake and sticking to the same amount of caffeine I drink. Luckily, I don't drink too much coffee, most of the time it's one or two espresso shots in a day. One at 10am and one at 2pm after lunch. I'm also going to be more diligent tracking my food and when I eat to see if any of that plays a part with the side effects.
Diet: I'm happy that I've sort of conditioned myself to stay within the 1500 calorie range the last few weeks because I've already noticed that I am unable to eat the amount of food I was consuming before. I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch everyday to keep my life simple. I am also going to go on a alcohol cleanse. I don't drink that often and its usually within a social setting but I really want to see how my life is without alcohol. I also read that eating fatty foods is a no-go with Contrave so I will be eliminating those from my diet, as well.
Goal: I am not naïve to think I'm going to wake up in my dream body on Sunday morning. This is going to take work and dedication. My goal would be to lose 30 lbs in the next 12 weeks which is about 2.5 lbs a week. I know the scale isn't going to look exactly like that every week, but that's what I'm hoping to average. After I hit that first goal, I will focus on the next. Ultimately I would be happy in the 120-125 range which is about 100 lbs total lost.
​
I will be posting here with my updates regularly and hope I can find a community of people on the same journey who'll keep me accountable.
​

This has probably been done many times, in many ways, but I wanted to share a simple passphrase generator I've added to a script that creates user accounts:
$WordList = Get-Content -Path 'C:\Temp\WordList.txt' Sort-Object {Get-Random} Select-Object -First 3 $Delimiter1 = Get-Random -InputObject 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 $Delimiter2 = Get-Random -InputObject '!','@','#','$','%','^','&','*','(',')','?',':' $Password = $WordList[0,1] -join $Delimiter1 $Password += $Delimiter2 + $WordList[2]
This takes 2 random words from the WordList (I got the words from here: EFF's New Wordlists for Random Passphrases Electronic Frontier Foundation), joins them with a number between 0-9, then appends a symbol from the set, and a third random word from the list onto the end.
These short passphrases end up looking like this:

• shell3dimly)bask
• volt5bash?syrup

And I think they make good 'temp passwords' for new user accounts, and hopefully will nudge users to use a passphrase of their own.
Does anyone know roughly how secure these passphrases would be, or how to find out?

Find Alternatives for Ourselves Megathread

Why?

The obvious. Reddit F'd around.
Visibility. This sub's pinned post isn't updated with all of these unlisted alternatives deserve more visibility.
Ease of use for me and you. Editing a list takes much less time than populating a table. Special topics can save you and maybe many others from a search. Bolded top level comments below make filtering the discussion you want to see easy.

How this list is organized

What sites are included? To my knowledge, I haven't included any sites from the pinned post's OP. Let me know if I should include them all here instead.
What's the sort order? Sites and resources are ordered alphabetically. Too many people complained about how certain sites with the highest subscriber counts top the list in the pinned post, so we're doing things differently.
How many of these alternatives are actually usable (for my needs)? Most of these are sites that you can visit, interact with, and/or sign up for. Keep in mind that many of these sites are in alpha or beta (if that). Not all of these are ready to use.
What types of alternatives are listed? Sites that are listed and viewable include, but are not limited to, Reddit-like aggregators, social networks, forum boards, chats, popular social media platform hybrids, etc.
What about instances, servers, or listings that aren't a site? If an alternative is not a site or is an instance/serveetc. of a larger platform (Lemmy, Nostr, etc.), it's noted as part of or beside the alternative's name. If it's not, let me know so I can fix that.

How can you help?

Use bolded comments to filter discussions to what you want to see. Reply to the appropriate top level comment in bold below (so users can filter what discussions they want to see).
Turn complaints into asks that people can help you solve. Channel your complaints about how this list doesn't have what you want by replying to the "Describe use case and ask for platform recommendations" comment I created for you.
This is a constant work in progress. Please be patient when requesting changes to the OP.
Provide your feedback and suggestions. Let me know if this is helpful for you. Even better, let me know how this is helpful for you. Even better than that, let me know how this can be better for you.
Use this subreddit's search feature. Do your own research before asking questions that a search may be able to answer.
Check the comments. At the very least, glance at the comments section of any given Reddit thread to see if what you're looking for is there (if it's not mentioned in the OP).
Share this around.

Alternatives

Let me know if you would like me to (try to) link to all relevant threads (and comments if possible) so far for each of these alternatives and resources.

• Active social websites with nested comments (Wayback Machine archive of Github Gist)
• Agora
• Agoraroad
• All Fediverse software (check off "Social network (micro)" and "ActivityPub" for Lemmy-/Mastodon-likes)
• Arete
• AvocadoReader (Reddit thread)
• Biztoc
• BBS
• Blue Dwarf
• Bluesky
• Campfire
• Cohost
• Create your own forum (Reddit thread)
• Deadicated Fans
• Discarded Truth (Ruqqus)
• DSCVR
• Exploding Heads (Lemmy)
• Fark
• Galeonn
• gm.xyz (Reddit thread)
• Hive Social
• iFunny
• Invide
• Kialo
• Kbin
• Lemmy (all instances)
• Lobsters' sister and cousin sites
• Lotus to the Party
• Mainchan
• Manyverse (Scuttlebutt)
• nostr (all clients)
• Postmill
• Pjuu
• Plebbit
• Plebchan
• Quokki
• Reddit Replacement: (Reddit thread) (Landing page)
• Raddi.net
• Reticulum
• RetroShare
• Sanctuary
• Scored
• Something Awful Forums
• Shit Just Works (Lemmy)
• Sift
• Similar Worlds
• Spare Botegirl Parts (Lemmy, not federated)
• Spyke
• Squabbles
• Stacker News (Nostr)
• Talk.lol
• Tapatalk
• The Owners Club
• Truth Social
• Tiny Tiny RSS
• Unnamed (Reddit thread)
• WT.Social
• Yiffit
• Zapddit (Nostr)

Special topics

Please request categories and/or threads to add here by replying to the "Request a Reddit thread topic or alternative list topic I should add to the OP" top level comment.

Analysis paralysis? Can't choose?

• Better is the enemy of good. Don't look for the perfect alternative.
• Find one of many threads where OP gives recommendations and opinions, like this one
• Post below in the "Describe use case and ask for platform recommendations" comment section I created for you

Free speech

• Do you want the next Reddit to have free speech?
• Free speech alternative
• Free speech platforms
• Viable Reddit replacements

Forums

• Back to web forums
• Thoughts on starting a forum?
• Just remember forums exist

Nested comments

• Active social websites with nested comments. up-to-date as of 2023-06-06

Request a topic and/or links by replying to the "request a topic" comment

I just started playing a few days ago and I’ve seen in some aiming guides on YouTube that there is a way to angle the camera up to better see the target when you’re in the crosshair view. How do you do that? It’s hard for me to tell exactly what I’m aiming at and if I can get than angled look, I feel like I’d be a better shot.

I've also noticed my breasts are already bigger (I already had formed female breast tissue due to previous non-hrt related medication) and my lips are HUGE. Skin? CLEAR. For the first time I looked in the mirror and I didn't immediately see him, but saw a mix of him and her. It's so freaky! I know you're probably like "in three weeks?? Already??" But my face is my mom's and I have high E naturally! I'm so happy right now. I got told by my other mtf friends that I'm already slightly passing in the face, so that was validating. Also got told my voice passes, which made me blush.
Life a week ago was so painful, but now it's amazing. It's wild what hormones and euphoria can bring.
What was you girls timelines like? Im trying to gauge my future progress off what I'm doing now. I plan on upping E and T-deleters next appointment but don't know how much they'll let me up to with my levels. Wish me luck.
Love all of you <3 happy pride and be safe!

Durty, you're about stupid asf running around with once again...PART OF THE STORY cause all you got is screen shots. That account was one I used to bait Train with to confirm she was in fact running that trainhorntrainwreck page. I have messages between me and several people during that time regarding the whole matter. So again, you have a screenshot out of context and only a fraction of the real story. So you got that screen shot from Tara or someone affiliated with her when she was under the Bully_Baby account. It changed after I busted her ass cause there was another account very similar to it that was more than likely her daughter because of how it was worded. Since I am not into evidence wars across any platform, I will not be sharing that cause it's going to be used in court for thrid party harassment of Dawn because of where that account had been and the things it was doing. So, kindly...fuck off.
I have always said fuck you and your screenshots because when you add the E-N-T-I-R-E story together, there is a very different picture that is painted. I owe none of you a damn thing and you should really attend to your email folder and answer customers questions. There are some pissed off people in my inbox about you. I will burn whatever I want and so will my people. See, I leave Dawn out of a lot of stuff until the dust settles. I give my friend recaps to protect her mental health so she doesn't have to sit and look at the barrage of BS that used to be thrown at her until I came along and said bring it allllllllll to me. I will fix our environment and I mean it. You may not like my methods, but I am extremely effective and tactical in my approach because I have very limited time and I don't like the fucking drama. I'm not here for clicks and views. I'm not in it for money contrary to the shit you are trying to make people believe. I'm here for a bigger issue https://www.foxnews.com/politics/instagram-algorithm-boosts-vast-pedophile-network-bombshell-report-claims I'll entertain it for a minute, explode it and let it settle and pick apart what I was looking for. People tell on themeselves with their behavior.
Why the FUCK is Miranda being attacked? Why is your screen recording ass trying to bother Dawn? She takes her meds and goes to bed before 8. You ain't doing SHIT to be used the fuck against her again like the shit they did while she was on medication that disassociates the concious and subconcious mind for your warped motherfucking TikTok views. I let many people use that account. I have asked them to. So that account is accessible to a few folks and you ain't ever gonna fucking know the identities of them EITHER. All of my current approaches have been based on learning your asshole behavior and protecting what I am doing while looking for information. I am not STUPID. I study human behavior. I will make you fix yours with some impactful lessons. Maybe you'll stop doing it and people can have their fyp's back cause they are realllllllly sick of the fucking negative, vile and repugnant shit you spew into their atmosphere. Seriously. They don't say shit cause this is what they. have to deal with. You don't have any right to sit and force anyone into a Durty interrogation cause of your crazy obsession with people who don't kiss your ass. Isn't that a symptom of Obsessive Cumpulsive Disorder? You should fix yourself.
A gift is a gift. In the biker world, burning that shit signifies something a little deeper. You know, those figures of speech I speak of all the time? Yeah, you should read through them. I'm symbolic. Quit trying to drag me down to your petty-ass level. You don't have the brains, intelligence or people skills to work the way I do. You react emotionally and don't think things through. I have listened to so many assumptions from all sides that it is insane the number of times you are so far off-base from your screenshot guesses that I don't worry about people's identities getting out. It means I have done my job well and I always document it. If there is no evidence, then it didn't happen. Ask any healthcare worker. That is our cardinal rule. Jodi gave you what she did so you knew we didn't sit around and talk. I said what I said about your husband and I mean it. He pays zero attention to your son and should have taken his ass to the hospital with you instead of going back to his video game. He didn't even act fucking concerned. He opened that door and COMMANDED you into the house. What the hell? Girl I don't care about your TikTok rules in this ridculous Fake Ass Woke generation. Ya'll got me fucked up.
Your investigation skills based on screenshot evidence without doing a damn bit of research is what got you busted. I was getting ripped apart covering for your ass and you still acting weird as fuck. As long as you keep acting that way, I'm paying attention. So you want that attention or you wanna mind your own mother-fucking business?
​

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First
Previous
“The plan is simple,” the Custodian stated, surrounded by about thirty other holograms. All had taken on a human form, following the example of their current leader. “You all have plenty of processing power to spare, and we desperately need to get these two out of the city and back to the surface. I’ll focus on moving them through the maintenance tunnels, you all help distract the rogue security drones.”
He paused for a moment, which Carter knew was for the benefit of the organics in the room, and then turned to the massive vehicle behind him. “Try not to destroy too many of them. They’re hard to replace right now.”
He turned to face Carter and Lenaya, who were seated next to the maintenance robot that would, ideally, carry them to safety. The rest of the holograms turned as well, their movements stiff, unnatural, and perfectly synchronized. As one, they bowed before vanishing.
Carter knew they were just following orders; the Custodian had said that they were little more than decision trees without personalities. Still, it felt strange to have so many powerful beings bowing to him, showing him deference. A quick glance down told him Lenaya felt the same.
The large transport rose from the floor and took up a position at the bay door, and Carter lifted Lenaya from her chair. The maintenance robot moved closer, helping to secure her to its top before positioning itself in front of the hatch that would lead them out. Carter glanced over at the Custodian, who nodded. He climbed on top of his own robot, and the hatch opened. Both drones surged forward, entering the tunnel with a precision only available to an AI.
Behind him, Carter could hear the bay door open, accompanied by an electronic screech as the security drones noticed the movement. Then the maintenance hatch closed, and the only sound was the rushing of air and the wheels of the drone.
“Left turn incoming!” Yelled the Custodian, his voice ringing out from the speakers on both drones.
Carter held on as they made a sharp turn, the jury-rigged restraints holding him in place as they rounded the corner. He saw Lenaya ahead of him, shaken by the sudden maneuver but still seated. A moment later, he was weightless, the ceiling rushing toward him as the ground sloped away. He watched Lenaya as she leaned back, just barely clearing the top of the tunnel as gravity gently reminded the drone that its wheels belonged on the floor.
Carter laid back and waited, the speed of the launch just barely low enough that he passed under the concrete unharmed. With a jarring slam, he was reunited with the ground, and their speed picked up again.
“Way too close!” he yelled, intently watching the passage ahead.
“You two really are alike. She said the same thing. To which I replied, ‘perfectly calculated.’”
“Maybe calculate in a warning next time!”
“She said that too.”
They travelled in relative silence for several minutes longer, taking seemingly random turns and, at one point, pausing to wait before darting across an open area.
“Not good,” the Custodian said as they reentered the maintenance tunnels. “They’ve just opened the transport and they know you’re not in there. Traffic control is monitoring them, says they’re moving to block the exits to the city.”
“Can’t we take the tunnels all the way out?” Lenaya asked.
“Not anymore. They’ve activated security checkpoints along the tunnel network. That blows our backup plan too. And the five other options I was considering. And they just locked down the transportation hub, so that’s also no good, even if we could get you through the scrambler with it. I don’t think we have any good options left.”
Carter closed his eyes to think, running through every possible scenario, every movie he had seen, every book and comic he had read, looking for something, anything, that could conceivably get them out. He came up blank.
“Water!” Lenaya said, excitement apparent in her voice. “A city this big has to have a sizable water supply, and the treated water has to go somewhere, right?”
Carter was stunned. A solution so simple, insane or not, and it had slipped by him. Even the Custodian seemed shocked.
“I…” the Custodian paused. “That could work, if you go out with the treated waste water. It won’t be easy. Or remotely safe. Even getting there would be a suicide run. But, I suppose… yes, I can meet you there with the equipment. But I can’t do much for you once you enter the network. You’ll be on your own.”
“You’re insane,” Carter said, not breaking eye contact. “At least I know where Zaylie gets it from. Let’s do this.”
Wordlessly, the drones shot forward through the tunnel, the space now wide enough to ride side by side. Carter unstrapped his plasma repeater and checked the canister before passing it to Lenaya.
“Quick lesson,” he said as she took the weapon. “Narrow end points at stuff you want obliterated. Green button on the side means it’s safe, red means it’s live. Push it to switch. The trigger on the grip makes it fire. It was designed for human hands, so you should have no trouble using it. You don’t have the smart sights my helmet had, so you’ll just have to eyeball it. Don’t shoot unless I tell you to. You probably won’t do any damage, even with a hit, but it might be enough to blind them for a second.”
She nodded, shouldering the repeater like a professional. “I’ve seen enough movies to understand the basics. I never thought I’d ever use one though.”
“With any luck, you won’t,” the Custodian said, cutting into their conversation. “Security presence around the pump station is minimal. I think we can get away with not having a fight, especially when you stand no chance of winning one.”
“We always have a chance,” Carter said. “And I’d rather improve the odds, even if it’s only by a little.”
He drew his revolver, checked the cylinder, and replaced the missing round that he’d fired ten days ago. It felt so recent, but also a lifetime away. Carter stopped to reflect on what his life had become in the last cycle. He’d gone from being a rookie cop on an alien construct to being the author of every procedure the force was using.
He’d become a father, and rescued his daughter’s mother, and had potentially saved the Ring in the process. He’d explored an alien city, seen technology that would have been science fiction just a couple cycles ago, and met the most powerful being on the Ring. And now, he was on his way toward a waste water treatment facility, planning to dive into the outflow pipe to end up who knows where. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“What is my life right now?” he asked. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was in a coma, and this was all a weird dream.”
“From what you’ve said about your life,” Lenaya said, “it must feel strange. Everything is new, and different, and you seem to run from one disaster to the next.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. After this, no more disasters. Someone else can handle them, I’m just going to teach.”
“I think I’m done being abducted and experimented on, too,” said Lenaya, watching the passage ahead. “It doesn’t exactly pay well, and the hours are awful.”
Carter burst out laughing again. When he dried his eyes, he could see a riot of colors playing across her skin as her own laughter died out.
“Well if you’re sure you’re done with it…”
“Hate to interrupt,” the Custodian said, interrupting for the third time in as many days, “but we’ll be leaving the tunnels very soon. I’m not detecting any security activity on our path yet, but it would be wise to keep watch.”
“It’s never a matter of if, only when,” Carter noted. “Something’s going to go wrong, and it’ll usually happen at the worst possible time.”
“That’s incredibly pessimistic,” Lenaya said, looking back over her shoulder. “Accurate, but pessimistic.”
“Left turn, and then we’re in the open. It’s about a thirty span run from there to the building. I can confirm there are no security drones inside, but I am detecting movement outside. No cameras close enough to identify the cause.”
“Lay flat,” Carter yelled as they rounded the corner. “Minimize your profile and it might be harder for them to target us.”
The hatch opened ahead of them, and Carter took the lead, his robot surging forward to burst out into the open. He immediately began surveying their surroundings and quickly identified the source of the movement.
“Drones, above and behind!”
He turned and stabilized himself, waiting to see what it did. The drone responded by charging the central laser, the lens in its core glowing a blue-white as energy poured in. It was quickly struck by a flurry of plasma.
“WHOOO!” Lenaya cheered, sending another stream of glowing blue bolts at it.
Carter steadied his aim, and just as the drone turned to focus on the new threat, he fired. The bullet struck the armor, detonating with a CRACK and a puff of smoke, and the drone turned its attention back to him. With a rush, they entered the treatment plant, the security drone just barely scraping through the rapidly closing doors. Lenaya fired another burst, one shot striking the lens of the laser weapon. The glow faded, and Carter could see that the plasma had warped the crystal.
He leveled the revolver. They were at close range, the drone was flying straight and steady, and the floor under him was smooth. It was a big target. He knew it was still a long shot. Carter pulled the trigger. The lens shattered.
The initial explosion was muffled by the drone’s body. The second explosion tore the drone’s body apart. Bits of metal rained down around them as their rides swerved to avoid the larger chunks.
“What did I hit?” Carter yelled, his ears ringing from the blast.
“Capacitor for the heavy photon cannon,” the Custodian said, increasing his volume to compensate for Carter’s damaged hearing. “It discharged into the fuel reserve, which caused the tank to rupture.”
“Rupture is definitely a word for what happened.”
“Detecting intrusions in multiple locations. It’s going to be close. Equipment incoming on your left.”
Carter saw the maintenance robot rolling up next to him with a small gas canister attached to a mask. He grabbed the breathing apparatus and pulled the mask down over his head before turning to see Lenaya doing the same. The corridor opened up, and he could hear the sound of rushing water, steadily growing louder as they approached a massive pit, ringed by a railing.
He could also see several shapes hovering above them. The lasers began to charge, and he knew the miracle wouldn’t happen twice.
Least bad option., he thought as he stood and started firing.
Lenaya’s drone caught up as the Custodian caught onto his plan, and he quickly became the target of choice for the rogue security system. He managed to score glancing hits on two of the drones, the rounds sparking off their armor and detonating against the wall in the distance. As one, they began firing, short blasts intended to kill rather than the longer burst that had almost melted an armored door. Carter managed to duck just before the first volley, avoiding the lasers. The air above him shimmered with residual heat, the weaponized light scattering and refracting enough to become visible as a column of energy.
Another burst of plasma from behind him forced the drones to evade. It seemed they were learning from their previous encounter.
You should jump, the Custodian said through his implant, and Carter crouched before pushing hard into the air. Below, he could see the maintenance drones stopped at the edge of the pit, the water swirling rapidly below. He twisted in midair, searching for Lenaya. He barely caught sight of her splash as she vanished beneath the surface. He saw a flash from the corner of his eye, and his back lit up with pain as heat washed over him. Carter hit the water as his consciousness faded.
——
Next
Apologies for the late post. We’re trying to get the puppies acclimated to other dogs (and specific other dogs acclimated to the puppies) before we have to dog sit at the end of the month. It’s going better than expected, but our expectations were low so that isn’t saying much. I’m not going to have as much writing time over the next few weeks because we’re doing this every couple of days. Expect more delays throughout the month, and a break on the last week.

Hi sorry if this is quite awkward but my (15M) boyfriend (15M) and I have been going out for nearly 2 months now. We were best friends for close to a year and it was quite obvious we liked each other. We had our first kiss a while ago, and while i was expecting a slow closed mouth kiss, he went AT it with tongue and everything. I didn't say anything but it definitely took me by surprise. Mind you, we have HAD closed mouth kisses, but only when we're saying goodbye or hello. Other than that, he feels very aggressive with his kissing and tongue. I know that his past kisses were at discos where its normal to basically attack people with tongue (look up shifting in ireland). I want to bring it up, but I don't think theres any way I can naturally. I love him so much, he is the first person I have truly been in love with, and this is only a small hurdle i need to overcome. Any help would be appreciated!

This isn't as deep as it sounds but it's something I had an issue with my whole life, my parents are divorced since I was little.
I am 16, and my mom lives in a fairly rich city while my dad lives at the same place they used to both live. More of a "primitive" place and not in a bad way but that's not the point.
I won't make this too long, at my mom's place we live in an apartment in a pretty rich side of the city, but the apartment is old, and in need of a repairs and reconstruction which the other neighbour's refuse. So the apartment is in a bad state, the interior and the exterior.
Since my parents are divorced our family has less income obviously and asides from that my dad's house is more "primitive" kind of in a more wildley area and in a good way.
But the point is that I haven't had friends at my house since i was probably 10 years old, because at my mom's place everyone is rich and we look poor compared to them and it's shameful, and at my dad's place I don't have friends...
I have been to most of my friends, and even if their house is messy, or their parents are divorced or even if they live in pretty shitty city that is cheaper. They might have a smaller house and the exterior isn't great but the interior is more modern, more fixed up.
More perfect in a way. I hate being jealous but it's not even being jealous about specific friends who have more financially stable families, even some of my friends that their parents divorced as well, and even live in around the same sized apartment we have it's just more modern inside of it.
More comfortable and welcoming and not embarrassing to bring friends over, I guess I am explaining this poorly and it sounds like I am whining but I wanna be able to do something about it, I have good friends and I am in high school but I am embarrassed to bring them over.
and even my best friends never been at my place which is awkward as hell...

We have an old R-22 system that needs to be replaced after a failed compressor. It's 17 years old and we have prepared for the investment. But I still want to make good choices, even though I really don't know much about HVAC units.
We are in southern Ohio and have nothing really special about the house (50's era MCM ranch,) other than I don't want anything TOO loud because the outside unit sits near a bedroom window. Here are the choices we are currently looking at after eliminating some choices I wasn't thrilled with. I'm not TOO concerned about the prices, but want to at least make sure we aren't paying top-of-the-line prices for low-end equipment. I'm definitely considering longer term savings, since this is our forever home.
When looking at the specs online, the model numbers are more extensive than the ones in the quotes. Every quote we've received have agreed on a 3-ton machine, as we were very happy with our old one. Unfortunately, I don't have much more information that what I'll give. But I can ask for clarification from these guys if need be.
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So here are the choices I am looking at:
Option 1:
Trane XL15i, 15.6 SEER 3 ton + Trane 20kw Heat Package (no more details than that.) Includes 10-yr parts, 1-year labor (plus one year each of labor included up to ten if we subscribe to their service package.) Cost: $12.4K after tax and labor
Option 2:
Trane Run Tru Single, 14.3 SEER 3 ton + Trane 20kw Heat Package. Includes only 10-year "large parts package." $8.8K after tax and labor
Option 3:
RUUD RP1536, 15 SEER 3 ton + RUUD RH1T3617 Heating Unit. Includes 10-year parts/5-year labor. $8.8K after tax and labor
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I had other offers, but eliminated them for one reason or another. I have a best practice of trying to go with local/smaller companies. SO I understand that the price may be a bit higher sometimes with that philsophy. But I'm okay with that, provided it's not a deal too good to pass up.
So any help/advice/questions/requests for more information are certainly welcome. Thanks in advance!

Title isn't very clear I'm sorry, let me explain. So my girlfriend and I have been together for about a year and our 1st Anniversary is coming up. Now during our anniversary she is going abroad to Germany and won't be here for a month. And during that time she said she doesn't want to talk over the phone and via mail or nothing so she can only think in German if that makes sense. Because she going there to learn German because she has a serious test coming up next year. So I won't be able to contact her on our anniversary, and she booked this trip 2 months ago knowing she won't be here on that day. But she only recently told me about it. Because usually when she tells me stuff like how many days we got left together I just get sad. Now when she told me about this I naturally got sad but tried to hide it and I tried to encourage her that she'll be back and it's gonna go by fast and what not(also she didn't really seem sad about the fact that were not gonna be together for a month). Now let me also mention that this is a long distance relationship but I travel abroad to see her every month and I'm coming home for 2 months this summer and we are only gonna be together for 1 month.
TL:DR: I'm looking for some advice on what I should do should we celebrate it early or late. Or should we just not celebrate it at all.

My wife bought a Singer Stitch Quick + so she could hem a pair of pants. For some reason, the bottom thread isn’t making correct stitches. It’s looped up and bunches up and very loose. The tension only adjusts for the top thread, but that one looks perfectly fine. Anyone else had this issue or know what she could do to fix it?

**Trigger warning of SA just to be safe, because it could trigger some folks, but to be quite honest I really don't know. If too long skipp to 3rd paragraph**
So I'm 37F, and if wasn't until about a month ago or so that I really came to terms with the fact that I have CPTSD, I had suspected a few years ago but just sort ignored the notion maybe wasn't ready to confront a lot of the discomfort I felt/feel. It might as well be called "Childhood PTSD" for me because like for sooo many this is the cause. I was abused emotionally, physically, and psychologically mostly by the one person who shouldn't be an abuser, but a safe haven, my mother. But, unfortunately she never was that source of safety.
I digress, this is concerning a very particular incident. I don't know how to label it, and I feel like it needs a label in my mind. For context: My mother is originally from the caribbean (born and raised), I don't know much about her childhood but do suspect she's walking around with her own brand of unresolved CPTSD. She met my father when she was barely starting puberty, he was already an adult. Got pregnant with older sister at only 14 giving birth not long after her 15th only to get pregnant again before her 16th this time with me. Why is this important? 1) father basically denied my existence until I was 5 yo, so apparently, I ruined her relationship with the "love of her life" and most importantly, 2) she became obsessed with our virginity.
It's getting a bit long so here it goes, skipping ahead to when I was 14 not far from turning 15, she got it into her head that I was having sex behind her back, I was the rebellious black sheep in jer eyes. Her solution *this is where i'd put the trigger* she decided to play medical professional even though there's literally no feasible way to confirm or disprove "virginity". There I was on her bed, naked from the waist down, as if in a gynecology appoint with a flashlight being shined at my *ahem*. I felt: violated, exposed, vulnerable, angry, anxious, sick to my core. I became even more depressed, and I just gave up. I lost my virginity at 15 to a 20 something yo guy, I had only met once before, putting myself in such an unsafe situation that I'll look back now and realize how stupid I was. but, thats for another day.
I just dont know what to call what happened,

I couldn't see an appropriate tag fir this.
I bought RDR2 last week while it was on sale on Steam. I was able to make a character for online but a couple of minutes after loading into the game it crashes and i get this ERR_GTX_STATE error message.
I've looked this up and tried the fixes like adding something to launch options, reducing graphic quality and deleting the .sga files from the RDR2 documents folder but nothing seems to work. It just seems to buy more time before it crashes again.
My PC has an i7, 32GB RAM and an RTX 3080 in it. Can anyone help me please.
Thank you.

At first, I (14) told my parents that I didn’t want to go to my graduation ceremony. I would get the certificate from my counselor and just leave. I didn’t want to go, because my friends left me, I got bullied, and people hated me all at THIS school. I’m also pretty insecure about my body, and I try to “hide myself” whenever I can. I have bad anxiety and it’s the worst at school. So my mom really wanted me to go and I told her I didn’t want to, but I eventually “gave in” because I felt pressured by so many people. Today is the ceremony and I really don’t want to go. The thing that made me not want to go is because I hate my body in everything I wear, and I think I will get made fun of. People say, “don’t worry, you don’t look bad” but I literally got made fun of on my birthday for wearing a NECKLACE. So, how am I gonna wear a dress? Anyways, when I woke up I told my mom that I actually changed my mind, and she kinda freaked out. She got mad at me and kept telling me I should / need to go. I feel bad because she got off from work for me to graduate, but I really can’t do it. AITA?