My niece is a young teen and has been having some trouble with my sis/her mom and moms bf of 4ish years. The kids (15f, 12m,9m) lived mostly with their father before he passed. The bf openly ignored their father at family events, only talks about himself, doesn't have friends of his own and says he has no family. He says he works a lot and I admit he drives a flashy car but he always tries to talk the group out of doing anything he deems expensive no matter the occasion.
The real issues started about a year ago when he started staying over there more. The house changed for him, a weekend guest. The thermostat went from 72 to 78. 78 isn't entirely uncommon in our hot state, but niece started puberty kind of late and has had hot flashes for the better part of two years. She took to cold water baths after the thermostat went up. He's got a half shelf of stuff in the fridge non of the kids can have but if niece buys something with her own money and it's not kept in her room he'll snack on it, etc.
Now sister and bf are talking about moving in together.
It might be important to point out that not only do we live in a hot state, our family grew up swimmers and running around in our swim suits. We're very comfortable with each other in swim attire or even covered similarly.
Niece called me in shambles a week ago because the bf, wh she didn't know was over, was in the kitchen when she went to get a snack in shorts and a sports bra and her mother's boyfriend told her since he was moving in she was going to have to start covering herself decently. She's never considered it indecent and neither does our family, her mother "tried explaining" to the bf but he doesn't want to hear it.
The worst part is kiddo just started getting breasts and they're already coming in strong. So now she feels like if she doesn't walk around her house in a moomoo or a sweater her likely soon to be stepfather will be staring at her chest.
It has caused a LOT of family issues, that came to a head last night when niece said she was going to apply for emancipation when she turns 16 and all hell kind of broke loose. Everyone was yelling over each other but I swear I heard the bf say slut, he denies it.
After things cooled down a bit I approached my sister who assured me she still wants bf to move in. I pointed out that I have a second bedroom and that niece has great grades and could Lilley qualify at a highly sought magnet near my house and that maybe it would be smart to let her come stay with me for a bit to hopefully avoid all the legal stuff. Sister kicked me out of her house.
This morning I got texts from both my sister and her boyfriend about how I'm sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, but I don't think my sister is actually considering my niece's feeling here.
AITA for offering to have my niece live with me?

Hey everyone,
Im trying to complete my home everything dex and I'm missing a handful of pre-gen8 moves. I never had a 3ds or before and my first non-emulated Pokémon game was sword, so there's no easy way for me to get these moves. I don't need the actual pokémon, so touch trading is fine. The moves I still need are:
Barrage, Beak Blast, Frustration, Heal Order, Heart Stamp, Hold Hands, Hyperspace Fury, Ion Deluge, Magnet Bomb, Mat Block, Miracle eye, Nightmare, Powder, Relic Song, Rolling Kick, Rototiller, Signal Beam, Sky Drop, Sky Uppercut, Smelling Salts, Snatch, Spotlight, Steamroller, Syncronoise, Trump Card & Wake-up Slap
Thank you in advance, Monkey <3

Hello fellow designers! Our team is working on a application that enables users to curate clinical trials, and the following designs aim to help users specify some rules to find a specific cohort that meet certain criteria. The team came out these 2 versions to represent the rules and nested rules. We wonder which version you think is easier to understand the OAND relationship between these rules/grouped rules as UX experts. Looking forward to seeing your selections as well as hearing any feedbacks or thoughts on these designs. Thank you for your time in advance!
https://preview.redd.it/blrnnzg5ne4b1.png?width=1942&format=png&auto=webp&s=1fe0f08f190d1c03bce3a6d9eec6872f72f88f2f
View Poll

Who I am: Business Operations, Revenue mgmt., BI ...
What I'm Targeting: a Real Estate Asset Manager position
Why I'm Seeking Help: I'm seeking help because I've been out of the traditional workforce for four years and I have questions about my marketability and competitiveness.
Reason for my hiatus -> employer needed me to move out of state. I couldn't because I was acting as a caretaker for a family member. I explored an interest, made money connecting businesses and ideas, hustling in a business of one to get small consulting gigs.
​
https://preview.redd.it/yq0wbmksoe4b1.png?width=815&format=png&auto=webp&s=fae751d23cd89366ded5f2ffe79adc7e1f5a1e85

Playing around with small magnetic spheres (sometimes called "Neocube"), a common building block to create larger shapes is a ring of 6 spheres (plus multiple lines around), resulting in a regular hexagon. Another building block is a ring of 5 spheres, resulting sort of in a curved pentagon with 120° angles between adjacent edges. Playing around further, I created corresponding shapes with 2-12 edges, and one abomination with 16 edges, and always 120° angles between adjacent edges.
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2-6 edges
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7-12 edges
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16 edges
Is this part of some series? Anything I can look into on the conceptual side? Do the shapes with ≠6 edges e.g. relate in any way to non-Euclidean geometry? Especially the >6 edges shapes feel really interesting...
EDIT: added pictures, messed it up in the initial post somehow...

First. Previous.

A few folks reported last night's upload as turning up blank, likely due to a bug on reddit's end, so we're having another try with it. Let me know if this does or doesn't fix things.
Who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned M1?
The use of 1200 millimeter shells serves no strategic purpose for my opening and, tactically speaking, places me at a slight disadvantage than had I used any one of my other, more potent weapons.
Mmhmm, they do have their downsides. According to my weapon subsystem computer, I must now wait 4.421 seconds for the shells to traverse the distance between myself and my enemy. Such a stretch of time is, of course, a wholly inconsequential blip whose passing is less significant than the tiniest mote of dust in the vast and boundless lifespan of the universe in all considerable scenarios.
All considerable scenarios, of course, except for the possibility that one might find themselves under the effects of several time-dilating performance enhancement drugs.
Which I am.
I very much so am.
Of course, I'm nothing if not patient. To occupy the interval we find ourselves waiting, allow me now a brief tangent to preach the gospel of the combined 1200mm turret, targeting computer, and ordnance inventory computer, an old self-contained weapon system that bears the simple designation of “M1”:
The most foundational concept one must grasp about the M1 is that it is not an effective weapon as a simple matter of scale. While exceptions do exist, the simple nature of space means that larger warships face a rather generous economy of scale with regards to one’s ability to outgun and outweather any smaller adversaries. As is only natural, I am the most resplendent paradigm of this law, large enough to sit comfortably on the edge of what can be considered a planet and well-armored enough to ram one and win.
Ah, but you already knew that, didn’t you? Unlike the M1, one would be remiss not to both know of and be thinking about me constantly. I can say with full confidence that I practice what I preach, but once again I do digress.
As to be expected from a weapon originating in a period of time in which humanity’s warships were several orders of magnitude smaller than myself, these old holdovers certainly wear their years.
The M1 is not a good weapon system. Everything about it, down to the targeting computer’s ability to account for gravity-induced bullet drop and atmospheric drag, reflects its crude nature as something better suited for ancient oceanic warfare than space. The materials used in the gun barrels are impure, molecularly inconsistent alloys, the computer boards large and demanding. Its autoloaders are finicky and prone to jamming, and many of the targeting solutions fail to account for some of the more intricate corner cases one must account for in space combat.
In a perfect example of their obsolescence, we still have 2.721 seconds until the shells are expected to reach the enemy ships. Had I used my secondary armaments, a pair of megaMAC cannons that fire projectiles with diameters to rival cities, I would not have been able to complete a single sentence before the near luminal bolts would reduce the tightly bunched enemy crafts into little more than atomic smudges with the sheer kinetic energy they convey.
I have not fired my megaMAC cannons, however. I have fired my 1200mm multi-purpose M1s. This is because, for all their flaws, they are good weapons.
A weapon does not have a service life spanning multiple thousands of years without merit. As with similarly archaic, yet still used arms (such as the veritable M1, the timeless M1, and, of course, the M2), it has not survived for lack of redeeming qualities.
As a consequence of its age, there exists a truly staggering variety of ordnance that can be crammed into the M1’s barrels and lobbed at one’s enemies, all of which have been carefully cataloged in my mat-fab schematics to be produced at my leisure. This, however, is not even close to the reason why the M1 is such a good weapon. Much like everything else about the M1, the shells are woefully outdated, the primitive 5-meter long projectiles are slow, inaccurate, and easy to intercept.
However, the effects are quite pretty.
Yes! This is what makes the M1 such a good weapon system! The fact that it pleases me personally and nothing else! Unlike more advanced munitions, there exists a certain splendor to the inefficient explosive mixes that many of the shells employ.
For this sole redeeming quality, I employ the otherwise archaic, dilapidated, and useless weapon at every possible opportunity.
It is quite obvious that M1 was kept in active service for several million years for me and me alone to use their silly bullets. How thoughtful of them! To be blessed with perfect precognition and use it exclusively for such a noble goal as to lighten up the skirmishes I take part in that little additional amount!
Many people disagree with me, stating that no, the M1 was only installed on myself as an afterthought due to the sheer number of their surplus stocks still around at the time of my construction. They are, however, incorrect, as their opinions are at odds with my own (the more important perspective). At least two sailors who have served aboard me agree with the fact that the M1’s munitions are slightly prettier to watch than my other weapons’, cementing my stance as the sole correct one.
The projectiles I have selected to be the first things I’ve lobbed at another living thing in nearly fifty thousand years are none other than a personal favorite of mine: The KP-83, a nuclearly shaped penetrating shell that is capable of sending scalding lances of vaporized bismuth miles through warsteel. Like many other of the M1’s patterns, the shells are expensive, unreliable, illegal to use against organic targets, and, most of all, excessive.
And how salaciously, decadently excessive they are! I love them! To even think of violating the Atom, steadfast and revered, for such a mundane purpose as an upscaled APHE munition is absurd! Yes, friend, the KP-83 is a perfect expression of the absurd technological lengths humans will achieve for the sole purpose of killing, a potent statement of their sheer stubborn refusal to roll over and let The Enemy drive us to extinction, even in the nascent stages of interstellar exploration.
Less than a quarter second, now. I watch in eager anticipation as my shells close the final few kilometers towards The Enemy fleet.
More beautiful than a flower in bloom, more lucent than a sunrise, more radiant than a newborn’s first smile, the first nuclear explosion blossoms before the enemy fleet. The first are the shells detected and shot down by their point defenses, clearly detectable by the lances of vaporized bismuth that sear forward from the fireballs, yet the sewing pin-shaped detonations grow closer and closer until…
..contact! Blessed, rousing contact! My reward electrode buzzes with electricity, signifying multiple successful impacts with The Enemy’s ships.
As the ephemeral light fades, I take in the damage wrought. Whole swathes of The Enemy’s hull plating have been shattered and scorched where it was kissed by the nuclear fire, and I can pick out the brightly-glowing pinpricks of slag from where the lances of vaporized metal penetrated their alluring forms. The afflicted ships reel slightly before accelerating to correct, implying a dizzying blow.
Ha! What a joke! Had I not known better I would have assumed that they had been seriously maimed by the KP-83 shells, yet such a thing would imply flimsy, non-reinforced interiors, like those of a civilian craft! Clearly, this, too, must be some extension of the facade they so stubbornly uphold.
And yet…
And yet…
And yet, I haven’t even begun in earnest! I have a whole second until my volley connects. Whole gigabytes of munition spreadsheets and readiness data stream into my expanded consciousness as I pore over my options, considering what might make for the most efficient follow-up killing blow. Perhaps I should employ my primary weapon?
Ha! What a stupid question!
To even think that I would allow a conflict to end before it could even begin! I really must be going senile with age.
Why, anyone with even a modicum of common sense understands that war is art, and furthermore, that art takes time.
What possible harm could it do to prolong this skirmish by a few mere hours, or perhaps days? None, of course! It would be unbecoming of my eminence to be a bad sport in war by ending the conflict too early, after all.
The Enemy’s fleet becomes illuminated, if only for a second, by the muzzle flashes of their cannons as they attempt to emulate my opening volley. How laudatory! I’m flattered that they hold me in such high regard as to mimic my opening attack.
Why, I’m so impressed that I’ve begun to entertain the notion of allowing their shells to land on me as a statement of thanks. Such a thought is aborted, of course, the moment I realize such an attack could harm the beautiful luster of my paint. I shudder to even conceive of such a horrible fate.
Unfortunately for The Enemy’s crude emulations of my tactics, naval warfare no longer exists in the age of the broadside, nor has it for several millions of years. I spool up my short-range jump drives— all thirty two of the apartment-block sized mechanisms— prepare my drone bays, and order another volley of KP-83 shells to be loaded into my M1s.
The Enemy’s shells, accompanied by a wave of missiles, hurdle the final few kilometers towards my surface before they-
THOOM
-detonate, filling the empty space where I had been just a moment prior with nuclear explosions of the mundane variety.
Why tolerate a risk to my vanity when I could instead expend the charge in one of my jump drives to simply vanish from the area? Of course, positioning myself above them on the stellar plane is certainly a tangible side effect of preserving my good looks.
I elect to release a swarm of stiletto hunter-killer corvette drones as an opening move, supplemented with a volley of 320 anti-ship missiles and yet another volley of 1200 millimeter nuclear shaped charge shells.
Much like my previous volley, this provides little tactical advantage whatsoever, instead fulfilling the exalted role of entertaining me.
While agile, the apartment block-sized drones are woefully frail, occasionally dwarfed by some of The Enemy’s (historic) munitions. Still, they serve well as harassment and defense fodder for more worthwhile projectiles. The anti-ship missiles are fast, yet once again, their scale reserves them better to maiming and euthanizing already shattered craft. I have already spoken on my beloved 1200 mm cannons.
The Enemy are quick to turn themselves and loose another volley. Rather than attempt another short-range jump, I elect to yaw upward and accelerate away from the incoming projectiles.
Alas, the shells reach me before I can complete my maneuver. I ignore them even as they close in, opting to continue my acceleration.
Unopposed, The Enemy’s munitions hurdle towards my perfect hull before-
BRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrT
-they pass the invisible threshold dictating the minimum engagement range for my point defense weapons and are swiftly obliterated by well-placed streams of 120 millimeter high impact rounds.
I did say I’d rather my paint go unmarred, did I not?
My anti-ship missiles are the first to arrive at The Enemy, honing greedily towards their still hot missile bays and cannon housings. They answer with interceptors of their own, yet the miserable defenses are neither fast nor potent enough to pose a worthy barrier to the entire volley of missiles. As the thirty two surviving hypersonic projectiles smash violently into The Enemy’s foremost craft, my drones warp into their formation and begin peppering their engines and sensory structures with their miniMAC emplacements.
The Enemy responds predictably, directing much of their fire, as well as every close-in weapon, into slaughtering the trespassing craft.
Just in time for the second volley of nuclear shaped charge shells to kiss The Enemy’s hulls unopposed. Two hundred and thirty seven shells successfully detonate, with one going off in the barrel (tragic, but unexpected with the finicky munition) and two experiencing failures of their fuze assemblies, exploding as dirty bombs.
How spectacular! How dazzling! A perfect display of timing, predictive acumen, and raw, unfettered talent by myself! How I’ve dearly missed the ability to demonstrate my impeccable skill!
My thoughts go hazy with euphoria as my reward system detects a successfully executed multi-step tactic and responds accordingly. I push against the incoherence, refusing to allow my concentration to wane for even an instant.
THOOM.
Having long completed my maneuver and weapon preparation, I allow my short-range jump drives to propel me in-line with The Enemy’s formation. Even before the exotic particles disperse from obfuscating my sensor data, I fire my conventional magnetic railguns, relying solely on my predictions to guide the projectiles.
Forty-eight railroad car-sized superluminal bolts of iron illuminate the void with their streaks as they tear through space, with thirty-one instantly shattering The Enemy’s ships with their absurd kinetic energy. I curse myself for my sloppiness, yet my MACs were not the reason for such a maneuver.
No, that honor would belong to my tertiary armaments: two truly titanic Gamma Ray emitters, placed in an over-under arrangement on my bow. Half an instant later, after my targeting sensors regain the clarity lost from my recent jump, the twin arrays activate.
Their wires thrum with unfathomable voltages as the emitters begin to exude their deadly radiation, the titanic servos emitting an audible whine as they threaten to give under the stress of pitching and yawing their sports field-sized lenses at absurd speeds, yet hold firmly.
Though the beam itself is invisible, even to my broadband sensors, the effects are quite the opposite. Crafts caught in the scything beam begin to shrivel and carbonize as their reflective hull coatings are overwhelmed, their interiors begin to slush as the metal making them up loses consistency.
Though it lasted only a second, the damage is immense with nearly every sufficiently small craft in their cone of fire burnt away instantaneously.
THOOM.
I jump once again.
Directly into the point blank trajectory of what I easily recognize to be a salted fission nuclear missile, courtesy of The Enemy.

First. Previous. Next.

Posted this in a comment but thought it might be worth sharing as a separate post. I do not recommend using the magnetic usb-c connection tips for nreal glasses. I used the most recent ones available (I think 100w 40gb/s 90degree tips, they seem.to have 2 styles of 90 degree ones, I use both). I used them on all my usb c devices, including high/fast charging (samsung m8 monitor, s23ultra phone, some headsets for work) but recently damaged the port from either trying to remove the tip from my s8+ tablet or they somehow shorted. Had to get the port replaced completely. This happened recently, so I want to look into how to properly and carefully remove the tips as they go in very snug. (Instructions recommend looping thin string/floss and to pull out, which i did but had to use a lot of force) I admit it's convenient, and the magnetic connection is strong enough to not easily disconnect at all. But i wouldn't risk damaging the port out of convenience if I had a choice at the moment. I think I initially followed someone's recommendation on the subreddit but wanted to atleast state a potential warning with using them.

Hey everyone,
Im trying to complete my home everything dex and I'm missing a handful of pre-gen8 moves. I never had a 3ds or before and my first non-emulated Pokémon game was sword, so there's no easy way for me to get these moves. I don't need the actual pokémon, so touch trading is fine. The moves I still need are:
Barrage, Beak Blast, Frustration, Heal Order, Heart Stamp, Hold Hands, Hyperspace Fury, Ion Deluge, Magnet Bomb, Mat Block, Miracle eye, Nightmare, Powder, Relic Song, Rolling Kick, Rototiller, Signal Beam, Sky Drop, Sky Uppercut, Smelling Salts, Snatch, Spotlight, Steamroller, Syncronoise, Trump Card & Wake-up Slap
​
Thank you in advance, Monkey <3

Depression, a pervasive mental health condition affecting millions worldwide, can cast a shadow over every aspect of life. While traditional treatments like medication and therapy have their merits, there is a growing demand for alternative approaches that address the unique needs of individuals. Enter Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy—a revolutionary non-drug treatment that offers new hope to those seeking relief from depression. At the TMS Center of Wisconsin, we are at the forefront of this magnetic treatment, empowering individuals to overcome depression and reclaim their lives. In this blog post, we will delve into the essence of TMS therapy, its benefits, and how it has become a beacon of hope for those in search of effective and personalized depression treatment.
Read More: https://rollbol.com/blogs/1625770/Magnetic-Therapy-for-Depression-at-the-TMS-Center-of-Wisconsin

Hello everyone, I have a 2016 535i that I purchased at 64k miles. Pretty well-maintained car and engine runs well. I have been changing the oil every ~5k miles with castrol 5w-40 and the OEM Mann oil filter. However, when I looked at the filter today, I noticed some tiny metal flakes in each pleat. The flakes appear to be non-magnetic. Car currently has just under 80k miles and runs nicely. Attached is an image of the oil filter; should I be concerned? https://imgur.com/a/mrtAwhr

https://ev-lectron.com/products/lectron-tesla-to-j1772-adapter-max-48a-250v-for-tesla-high-powered-connectors-destination-chargers-and-mobile-connectors-black?utm_source=UE%20%7C%20Non-Openers%20Of%20C5.1%2FM10&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UE%20%7C%20C5.2%2FM10%20Tesla%20to%20J1772%20Charging%20Adapter%20Price%20Drop%20-%20June%205th%20%2801H1XWSW02NK86G7DDZ9FYTP0Q%29&_kx=ZoZ48hO9raN3ZLQx1wTx-JyBpWa9SQG8hDhryab3yTk%3D.VKk3G7
How well do these work? What's involved to access a supercharge for a non-tesla vehicle?

Hi, I finally hit the order for a new 15" macbook air to replace my mid 2015 i7 macbook pro 15" retna. The old laptop has served me well, but the 2nd battery is down to less than 1 hour of Rocksmith :-(
The new 15" macbook air looks perfect to replace it - with 6 speakers (13" only has 4) big screen, good battery life and light (much lighter than the macbook pro 16")
My question is - is there anything I need to do to make Rocksmith work/fly on the new non-intel macbook? Do all the usb-A to thunderbolt/usb-c connectors work? Anything extra you needed to do?
Thanks

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting

6-4-23
A lot has happened since the last time I did one of these so I'm sure I'm going to forget somethings. My dad's dog of 13 years being together past away 3 weeks ago. I'm slightly worried about him but he does seem to be ok right now.
My mom and step dad got a new dog and I'm hopeful that my dog and their dog will get along. If they won't then it'll have a bad outcome.
I've been on a date with 2 different women so far this year. One of them I thought there was a connection in our 2 dates but got ghosted (not surprised at this point lol). Then immediately went on 6 dates with a different women but I feel like I waited too long to become intimate and she found someone else. I think this is my fault but what annoyed me the most is "your a great guy and would make a girl very happy". I've heard this so many times I'm starting not to believe it. If I'm such a "great person" then why don't others see it?
I've been going to a lot of car shows and won a trophy in my class. I'm doing it more for the charity part but a trophy is always nice. On Memorial day weekend a veteran stopped by my car as I was putting stuff away and told me we had the same last name (we are defiantly not related). He then mentioned we should go out to eat and go fishing. I agreed in a non-serious manner. Then I started thinking about it more the more I thought how I can make a veterans day just by taking him out for lunch.
I'm going with a good friend tonight to the arcade. She wants to get me a magnet she got from the U.K. and it's a nice change of pace.
I've acknowledged seasonal depression but I've never had it before until last winter. Summer time is here and I'm feeling a little better but also still feel lonely most days.
I got new glasses in the first week of May. The guy said my head to too big my my old ones and it's bending the frames outwards resulting the glass becoming loose. So I got bigger ones and I'm enjoying the wider view of clarity. Also I bought some $80 shoes. They are the most expensive pair I've bought so let's hope they last.
I'm 100% going to drink this weekend.