So I 23F have been friends for 7 years with Jane 22F. When we were younger, a friend of mine wanted to confess to my friend William and texted me asking if he was single. I asked some close friends of his and Jane heard of it. She realized her feelings for him and told me to say he was taken so she could ask him out first. I did exactly that and the two of them started dating. William fell madly in love with her.
Almost a year later they had quite a messy breakup where Jane never really broke things off and William was devastated and never managed to get over her. I asked her multiple times to end things clearly and explain the reasons so he could move on, but she gave excuses each time. Jane still wanted to be friends with him though and continued to try and get the friendship back.
Three years later, William never managed to get over the break and Jane never brought the friendship back to what it was but is still trying. Me and William barely talk now but Jane and I did stay in contact.
The whole questioning of the friendship happened not too long ago when I realized that Jane severely embellished the “breakup” to their commune friends. Soon after she started telling me how William never really approved of our friendship and would always talk negatively of me. She also kept telling me about how uncomfortable it was because William still had feelings for her.
I still talked to William from time to time and on his side he was surprised I was still friends with Jane but still stayed polite toward her, never pushed himself on her and always stayed respectful of her boundaries from what I could see.
Last week, Jane told me she would not mind getting back together with William for a short time because she really needs some attention right now. I told her it was quite mean since William still has feelings for her and this would just destroy him again. Her reasoning is that he’s guaranteed to date her since he’s obviously still in love and she doesn’t wanna have to try. After a lot of arguing on this I basically learned that she has a crush on someone else but fears rejection and thus needs to feel desired. She deflected all my arguments with some reasoning that I personally find cruel. Especially since when she took a break from their relationship the first time, she described to me how she felt so bad because he looked like he got ripped apart. He was devastated, shattered and heartbroken, yet now she wants to take advantage of his feelings so coldly.
She plans on asking him out on her birthday party and even if I keep telling her it's a bad idea she seems set on this plan. Even if her actions do not directly affect me, I feel quite disgusted with the way she ignores that she’s playing with someone’s feelings and I don’t even know if I can talk to her again without being grossed out by the way she kept justifying her actions. I am considering just cutting her out of my life.
Am I exaggerating?

I passed my eligibility point last Tuesday and I'm just curious how long did it take for you to hear from them?

Before Matthew got here and showed himself to be a clutch performer and big-time producer, Barkov was under pressure to be a primary source of direct offense. But what we are seeing is the luxury of having the offense spread around. Chucky, Swaggy, the Sams, hell Montour and Ek, all producing for the team.
Barkov is a Selke award winner. He's incredible at driving play, but he is legendary defensively. It might not be obvious and it is not sexy, but he now has a primary role that looks different than last year. He is matched against the best the other team has to offer...and has succeeded in limiting our opponent's successes. Bergeron got back in the lineup and in spite of that, it resulted in us going 3-0 the rest of the way in that series. The top 4 for Toronto were practically non-existent, Carolina's offense sputtered to a near halt. These players didn't forget how to play hockey, and of course Bob is playing at MVP levels, but Barky has the freedom to play shutdown hockey against the league's best. Every PK, every PP Barky plays a role. So many of Tkachuk's heroic and dramatic game finishers are due to Barky. Watch the game 2 overtime winner. Barky wins the faceoff in the O zone on the PP, then goes to the open space in the far corner where he digs the puck out and keeps the play going...dishes over to Bennet. Reino, Chucky and they are running into the dressing room up 2-0 in the series. Barkov doesn't even factor on the scoresheet there but he created the opportunity. This happens time and time again over the course of the game if you are paying attention.
The intangibles. I'm not privy to what is going on in the locker room but every player seems to credit Barkov with the attitude he brings every day, with the level of play he brings to practice, and with the tone he sets in the room. The referees clearly respect him and that can go a long way as well. Not to even mention that the man has creativity, and skating and stick skills that put him in the top few % of players in the world and when given an opportunity to make a jaw dropping play...shows it.
Look past the scoresheet for a player like Sasha and it's pretty easy to see that the team is his. I would bet every other player in that room would agree. This...is my Aleksander Barkov appreciation post.

Hi everyone! I need advice on this one.
It's my first time having a female dog. She's starting to menstruate today, and since she's sleeping with me in bed, I find it rather messy to some extent. She doesn't want to wear diapers of all sorts, and she honestly doesn't want to sleep away from my bed.
Any advice on this messy matter? I can bear the mess, but i really want to be ready for future bouts. And how long do their periods last, anyway? And is it safe to bathe her when shes having her period?

I am 37y male, PhD. Scientific researh is my profession. Currently almost 3 years into CFS, and since last 1 year i think it has become severe. 1st year i didn't even know the name of my problem. Then, in 2nd year i started to look for it and soon realized i am a CFS patient. My baseline has gradually dropped from normal working person to just 1 hour or even less now. All this drop in baseline is maybe because I can't afford to quit. I have to keep going and see what happens. I have family, beautiful daughters, so i have to keep working for them. I am from Pakistan, but work abroad as a researcher. I have given above preamble just to let you know that i know what i am talking about. Now before disclosing the cure/treatment/remedy, i want to tell you that i have done many possible things like improving diet, being less anxious, supplementing etc. But CFS stayed with me. It was like "whatever had caused this illness, it might be no more there, but the consequences (CFS) is going to stay". Now, by end of 2nd year into this, when my CFS was turning into severe from moderate/mild, i was at home in Pakistan. I was preparing to move into another couuntry for my new job. For this i had to go to that country's embassy in another city about 400 km from my home city. I travelled whole night on bus, arrived there at bus station by dawn, spent 3-4 hours wandering here and there and taking teas from different resturants, just to kill time before the start of office time. At 8:30 am i left for embassy. I was done from there by noon. Left for bus station, i hopped on a bus back to my city. Now the bus i hopped on was kind of a passenger bus (you don't have to book in advance). It makes frequent stops along the way, and in it you will see many people who get on and off the bus to sell stuff. By the mid way, a person got on the bus, and was looking very active, fresh, healthy with bright white red face. He introduced himself to be affiliated with a Herbal Practice Center (Hikmat) in a nearby city to mine. Such people are common to be seen on buses selling their CHORAN (herbal powder). I usually don't buy from them, but i just wanted to listen him to feel a company. The things he described that: if you have this and this then try this Medicine, caught me by surprise. Because most of those things were typical CFS symptoms inside me. It is unusual for such a person to talk about such symptoms, they usually sell stuff related to stomach problems etc. I was amazed by the confidence he was talking with. But, i still didn't believe him and didn't buy anything from him. What he did before getting off the bus, he gave out a small pinch of medicine sample to many people near the bus exit gate, In Free. I was there too. Now, i didn't want to throw it away because it was after all some kind of herbal food stuff, and it is not good to throw away such thing. As i raised my hand towards my mouth to put that powder in my mouth, there was strong air coming in from the open windows on bus. Some of that powder went into my eyes and some into my mouth, and it was already a small bit. Anyways, i reached a city stop and took another bus to my city for final stretch of journey. In the start, the bus was packed with passengers, it was summer season. About when 1 hour jouney was left, i started to feel mentally calm, most of the passengers were gone by now. I started to feel quite fresh and active. It caught me by surprise that though i didnt sleep last night and was traveling and now the whole day i was awake and doing work and travelling and the next night has come over, but here i am feeling quite fresh. I thought that maybe my home is reaching close thats why i am feeling good. OK. I reached home, took a shower ate dinner and got to the bed for sleep, but yet i was feeling quite good. The next day i woke up, did all the morning routine, breakfast, toilet etc. and then went to my friend's shop, where i spend most of my time when i am at home. When i was sitting at shop i noticed that contrary to usual i was feeling quite good and active. I did not feel any pain or tiredness from the last whole day and night journey. This was strange, but i thought that this good time will be over shortly because even a CFS patient can feel sometimes a few hours quality time. Whole day passed quite good and i slept at night again very well. The next whole day was also similarly quite good. Thats how i lived like two whole days consecutively like a normal active fresh person. On third day, i started to feel again the fatigue and tiredness. But, what i have been through just now, i coudn't forget, neither i ignored it. What was it? How is it even possible that I who was at the verge of severe CFS, can feel so better for so long (2 days are quite long for a CFS patient). Anyways, the only thing i could single out was that small pinch of herbal medicine i took during journey. I am like 99.99% sure that it was because of that powder i ingested. But, my visa was granted and i had to depart soon abroad for work. Though, i did not find any chance to find that herbal medicine center, but somehow by chance, an approximate location of that store was still in my memory which that salesperson mentioned during the journey. Now, after arriving here abroad, i feel so sorry that i should have digged out that Herbal Practice center, because CFS is taking a lot of toll on my life, and i can't imagine continuing this way. Now, i am almost 1 year in this country, and soon going to home after few weeks. Now, the first and main goal of my life is to find that herbal center as soon as possible and get that powder for me. I am sure it will be the cure/treatment for my illness . I will keep you guys informed about it after testing that herbal medicine for 1-2 weeks. Hopefully, it will be the end of CFS for me. If it works on me, and am quite sure it will, then i will write here again, and if any one of you want it i will arrange it for you. Hopefully, you will also find your old yourself again. Regards. *** Once i am sure it works as i am hopeful, i may share my whatsapp etc so if any one of you may want to contact for the CHORAN. *** Secondly, if you are doubting that how am i coping with my job with CFS, then i can let you know that in my job i have to get the work done, time and presence at work at all time is not a critical requirement. *** my mail is [email protected] I may not be able to respond in these days because i am finishing my work contract. But, i will reply as soon as possible, and definitely if that CHORAN works on me.

I have recently started training in the so-called "original" Yang style that this organization teaches. I myself really cannot verify how original it is, however I do find it quite peculiar that the stlye differs to markedly from nearly every Tai Chi resource I have come across so far (which, I guess, might make sense if it really is the original style, as they claim). However, what I do find a bit weird is that classes are basically run on a "watch and repeat" basis, at least in my school. Meaning, the teacher just does the movements, we repeat and he explains almost nothing. Up to now, I have never experienced a class, whether it be Tai Chi Chuan or any other form of martial art or exercise, where this little info is given to the students.
Also, we've just about completed only the first part of the long form, which I know is not that much yet, however I am a bit surprised that the term "Chi" has not been mentioned a single time in all of these months. The only thing the teacher ever tests and corrects (also, generally just by pushing us into a different posture, not really by explaining anything) is whether our posture is "stable" as in a slight push when we're doing Zhan Zhuang. Again, this "pushing-correction" really does not help me or us learn, I feel, as we don't really understand why we did it incorrectly or why the new posture is better.
So, if anyone who has any experience in training with the ITCCA, I would be glad to hear from your experience and whether this style of teaching may just be special to this instructor.

Okay, so in the last few weeks my gameplay of fifa turned into an absolutely horrible connection massacre. Im playing on PC and it shows I usually have from 10 to 30 ping before the match, I play on wifi and I have a usb wifi adapter so I can connect to wifi, despite I play on wifi, my speedtest still shows about 50-130mb/s. However, in the last few weeks, no matter which mode I played in fut, I had like 30 lag spikes in one game, sometimes the game just froze, showed me all the red icons of bad internet connection and then when it unlagged, I still couldnt do a thing, until the game will go back to actual time sped up. I saw a similar post and it said that it started when they changed origin app to EA app, honestly I tried a lot of fixes, but still with 0 results, im bad at the game and my max finsh is 6-14 in FC, yet last week I got 2 wins, and this week I got 3. I honestly do not know how to fix my internet problems, maybe its just because of horrible EA servers, but then its even more sad because there's no fix. IDK what to do guys, and I just want to play some fifa for fun and I cant even do that.
Thanks in advance for all the help and tries.
Take care
-A helpless redditor

Education plays a vital role in the development. It is extremely important not only for individual but also for society. Education does not mean only to get a high degree but it creates a difference between wild and civilized person. Well established and coordinated education system is able to produce educated and trained persons. A student is lying at the core of the education system. Student performance is an effective gauge to measure the credibility of any education system in any country.
See Samples Of Free Undergraduate Research Projects For Students
Self esteem has a meaningful role in one’s performance. Self confident student show better result than low confident students. Self esteem as an influential contributor to academic success, productive behavior and mental and physical health in children. Support, may be moral or somewhat like financial, appreciation, praise, reward etc, is one of the factors that may enhance the student's grade in the class. Supportive environment have a substantial effect on student performance. Also, teacher attitude has a greater effect on the student performance.
Self-esteem is a life skill that is highly embraced by all societies at all stages of development. It is the process by which individuals rate themselves, acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them participate effectively in the society. Self-esteem education somehow determines the level of prosperity, welfare and security of people. It is the cornerstone of economic, social development and a principle means of improving the welfare of individuals. Students need to accept and value themselves to do well in their academic work.
Students’ academic performance is use of one’s aptitude in studying and making accomplishments and achievements in terms transfer of knowledge, communication skills negotiation skills and good grades and marks in examinations. However, Poor academic performance leads to students’ frustration and this can lead to negative self-esteem among learners which can later impact negatively on the economy of a country. It also causes psychological suffering to parents if they have to pay more money to take their children to other schools.
Education is activated through the cognitive, psychomotor and the affective domain. The affective domain in enhanced through life skills education, self-esteem being one of the skills. The development of life skills is a life-long process that starts in early childhood and continues throughout one’s life. Life skills education enables students to develop positive attitude towards self and others by transforming knowledge, skills and values into action .This enhances students’ abilities to make effective decisions and relate amicably with others in society. The three major categories of life skills: skills of knowing and living with oneself that include self-awareness, self-esteem, coping with emotions and coping with stress .There is the skill of knowing and living with others and that of making effective decisions. Where life skills education is well developed and practiced it can enhance the well being of society and promote positive outlook and healthy behavior among learners.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects. Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using classroom performance, graduation rates, and results from standardized tests.
The term ‘academic performance’ has been described as the scholastic standing of a student at a given moment. It refers to how an individual is able to demonstrate his or her intellectual abilities. This scholastic standing could be explained as the grades obtained in a course or groups of courses taken. Performance is a measure of output and that the main outputs in education are expressed in terms of learning, that is, changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes of individuals as a result of their experiences within the school's system. Thus, in determining academic performance, grades could serve as prediction measures and as criterion measures.
Academic performance therefore is largely identified by a range of statistical indicators. Performance is the level of attainment of a person in an examination, that is, how an individual is able to demonstrate his or her abilities in an examination. Hence, Performance has been regarded as a measure of educational output.
SELF ESTEEM
Self-esteem is the value an individual places on themselves relative to others. It is also what one believes and feels about themselves. It can also mean accepting one’s weaknesses as well as strengths, and that one feels that they deserve the respect from others. With self-esteem, one learns to build on strengths and to compensate for weaknesses. A positive self-esteem is crucial in maintaining academic performance among students.
A person’s self-esteem can be perceived as negative or positive depending on how one evaluates their worth. The value that one attaches to self leads to the level of self-esteem that they have. As a result, this level of self-esteem can influence ones performance of tasks in various situations in life. The two extremes of self-esteem are not desirable. Positive self-esteem implies that, comparing ones value to others, the individuals find themselves superior. This can lead to behaviors like arrogance, selfishness and difficult in coping with others. Such behavior may influence an individual’s academic performance.
Self-esteem has become a household word. Teachers, parents, therapists, and others have focused efforts on boosting self-esteem, on the assumption that positive self-esteem will cause many positive outcomes and benefits. Appraisal of the effects of self-esteem is complicated by several factors. Because many people with positive self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits, however, we emphasize objective measures of outcomes. Positive self-esteem is also a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals. It is noted that the modest correlations between self-esteem and school performance has indicated that positive self-esteem leads to good academic performance. Therefore, Positive self-esteem is the result of good academic performance. Efforts to boost the self-esteem of students have been shown to improve academic performance and many times have been productive. Job performance in adults is sometimes related to self-esteem, although the correlations vary widely, and the direction of causality has not been established. Occupational success may boost self-esteem rather than the reverse. This means that good academic performance boosts self-esteem and not the vice versa.
Positive self-esteem makes people more willing to speak up in groups and to criticize the group's approach. Leadership does not stem directly from self-esteem, but self-esteem may have indirect effects. Relative to people with negative self-esteem, those with positive self-esteem show stronger in- group favoritism which may increase prejudice and discrimination. Therefore, neither high nor negative self-esteem is a direct cause of violence. Narcissism leads to increased aggression in retaliation for wounded pride. Negative self-esteem may contribute to externalizing behavior and delinquency, although some studies have found that there are no effects or that the effect of self-esteem vanishes when other variables are controlled. The highest and lowest rates of cheating and bullying are found in different subcategories of positive self-esteem.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SELF ESTEEM: A NEXUS
Self-esteem is always attributed to best performances in tasks and at work place. Self value may strengthen the learners’ relationship with the facilitator. This implies that the students may benefit more from the teacher due to the free atmosphere. It also reduces problems like; truancy, absenteeism, drug and substance abuse and teenage pregnancies that are known to cause poor performances. Character building emanate from self-esteem. Students with self-esteem are able to manage and use their leisure time well. Moreover, they are able to choose good and reliable friends who can help in boosting their academic performance. Self-esteem is ones emotional evaluation of worth or judgment of one’s self attitude. Students with positive self-esteem are good at negotiation skills with others. They respect others opinion and listen to others views. They also have many friends for they embrace non-violent behavior in solving conflicts.
Students with a high level of self esteem tend to relate well with teachers and this can assist them make consultations in case of challenges in academic work as well as tackle assignments in good time. They take failure in examinations as a stepping stone to success. This implies that they work harder to improve whenever they do not perform well. When criticized by colleagues and teachers they take the criticisms positively. They have good interpersonal relationships. They excel in academic performance and recognize the role played by others in the same. When they deviate in discipline they are easily corrected. As students they dress well and decently always and not many teachers who raise complaints about their dressing code. Their academic discussions are harmonious and always labor to live in peace with colleagues. They are not overconfident about their knowledge and intelligence. The result of this is improvement in academic performance.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, self-esteem plays a critical role in academic activities of students; there is need for school administration to focus on life skills education to boost the performance of students in academic related activities.
Self esteem has a meaningful role in one’s performance. Self confident student shows better result than low confident students. Self esteem as an influential contributor to academic success, productive behavior and mental and physical health in children. Support, may be moral or somewhat like financial, appreciation, praise, reward etc, is one of the factors that may enhance the student's grade in the class. Supportive environment have a substantial effect on student performance. Also, teacher attitude has a greater effect on the student performance.

May 2023 Federal Election - Crikey's Winners and Losers

The May 2023 Federal Election is all wrapped up, and Australia has seen the return of BellmanTGM as Prime Minister, where he is likely hoping to serve more than 21 days as he did in February 2018. We saw a joint ticket run by ANCAP and LNP, and a surge of independent success! Crikey is here to dissect the results, and look at the winners, the losers, and the bronze medal winners.

Winner: Australian National Capitalist Anti-Authoritarian Party

House Result: 5 Seats (+3), 21.7% (+14.2) Senate Result: 2 Seats (+2), 55.2%* (+6.1) ± February 2023 Election *Joint ticket run with LNP, changes from last election is combined LNP+ANCAP vote.
Without a doubt, the resounding winner of the May 2023 Federal Election was the Australian National Capitalist Anti-Authoritarian Party. Picking up 5 house seats, and 21.7% of the national house vote, they have more than doubled their house representation, and increased their national vote more than any other party this election. Post-election, they gained a seat from Cookie_Monster765 who resigned from the leadership of the Commonwealth Party to sit as an independent, but this was short-lived, and he now serves Sydney as an ANCAP MP. Gaining confidence and supply from Independent MPs in porridge (Brisbane), and riley8583 (Cowper), ANCAP are enjoying a single party cabinet, severing their coalition with the LNP. Speaking of the LNP, ANCAP ran a joint ticket from the LNP, gaining their first 2 senators, and ending the left dominated senate, which will create significant legislative ease in passing the government's agenda. Also surprisingly, historical left leaning figures such as jq8678 have been prominent MPs for ANCAP, with an upset victory in “Magnificent” Moncrieff. jq8678 has previously served as a Social Democrat Minister, and was a founding member of the Green Left Party in 2021, but appears committed to the cause of "Freedom and Liberty".

Loser: Commonwealth Party of Australia

House Result: 2 Seats (-5), 10.7% (-20.6) Senate Result: 1 Seats (-1), 19.6% (-12.7) ± February 2023 Election
As ANCAP were resounding winners, the Commonwealth Party was the resounding losers of the May 2023 Federal Election. More than halving their house representation, and losing a third of their national vote in the house was a shocking election result. Safe seats like Melbourne fell due to the lack of a presence from incumbent buttsforpm. Hotham was another loss, however the extremely active BellmanTGM was an tough match for incumbent Adiaus. The two seats won by the Commonwealth Party were Sydney and Lingiari, in relatively non-competitive contests.
However the biggest lost for the Commonwealth Party didn't even occur at the ballot box. After these election results, Leader Cookie_Monster765 resigned and left the party. Their remaining MP, Jordology505 was next in line for leader, but after being elected for 5 hours he resigned, leaving the CPA without any house representation. Their final MP MLastCelebration is now leader but questions surround the longevity of the party. Another active member, former MP Adiaus jumped a possibly sinking ship with Jordology505 in order to join the newly formed Australian Labour Party, which brings us to the next winner of the election.

Winner: A United Left

We don't have election results for this, but after what can be described as a disappointing result for the Socialists, they have merged with the left leaning members of the Commonwealth Party to form a centre-left Australian Labour Party. Socialist Leader TheSensibleCentre stepped down from the leadership of the new party, with Jordology505 heading the party, followed by Adiaus as Deputy and model-slater as Party Chair. A party that can now concentrate a focus on the right wing government is a win for a united, and previously struggling left. While some may point out that Country Labor Party still exists, it understood there is an agreement between the parties to maximise electoral efficiency and not have left of centre candidates in competitive races against each other.

Winner: Independents

House Result: 3 Seats (+2), 17.4% (+10.0) ± February 2023 Election
If all the Independents were one party, the Independents would be the second largest party in parliament! While their election result was a success, this was strengthened by the defection of porriidge to the crossbench, increasing their total to 4 seats. However it's a good thing that independents aren't one party, because showstealer1829 took to twitter to let porriidge know that "F*** off. We [The crossbench] don't want you." Make of that what you will! However, a solid increase in the independent's vote and representation in the house, and with 2 independents providing C&S to the government, independents will be having a large say in how our nation will be governing over the following term. A win for independents, and likely a win for their respective electorates as they create a list of demands from the government!

Bronze Medal: Country Labor

House Result: 2 Seats (+1), 14.9% (+5.3) Senate Result: 1 Seats (-), 9.0% (+2.4) ± February 2023 Election
Crikey has a new award to hand out, the Bronze Medal! As the name suggests, these groups didn't suffer a loss, but it couldn't be called an outright win. The Country Labor Party enjoyed the comeback gain of long term MP for Capricornia, ARichTeaBiscuit, and the hold of Denison for Inadorable (who is definitely NOT a communist). While the House Result does look impressive, it is an inflated figure given that the CLP tend to run in populous rural seats, and national polls during the campaign have CLP support around 2.5%. CLP Leader Gregor_The_Beggar was re-elected once again, continuing his tenure as Senator for NSW since July 2020. While the CLP are not the political force they once were under the Greens-CLP Government, they aren't disappearing anytime soon, and this election confirmed such.

Loser: Income Taxation

The May 2023 Election has brought a party into government that seeks the eventual abolition of income taxation and a Senate controlled by the ANCAP and LNP. The previous LNP-ANCAP Government failed to get a large tax cut through parliament last term, due to the left wing senate, and it is almost certain that a similar package will be introduced and this time probably passed. Income Taxation is a loser of this election!

Bronze Medal: Liberal National Party

House Result: 3 Seats (-2), 14.9% (-12.3) Senate Result: 3 Seats (+1), 55.2%* (+6.1) ± February 2023 Election *Joint ticket run with ANCAP, changes from last election is combined LNP+ANCAP vote.
Prime Minister Griffonomics set out to "Sack the Senate" and undoubtedly that is what he has done. The Senate has been swept by the Right, holding 5/8 seats, and paving the way, finally for a right wing legislative agenda. However Griffonomics will not be at the helm for this agenda, and not even on the government benches as the ANCAP have revealed an entire ANCAP cabinet, relying on the support of independents rather than the LNP. While their Senate gains did not fall short of what the Liberal Nationals hope, they saw a loss of a few seats in the House, however the combined ANCAP-LNP seat total was still 8, the majority number. ANCAP became what many thought was just the senior party in government, with the LNP as a minority partner, but upon leaving the LNP, porriidge attributed it to the high likelihood that the LNP "would find itself in opposition".
If porridge's statement holds, this will shelve the left and centre onto the crossbench, with right wing parties holding government and opposition. It is hard to think there is much of the ANCAP agenda that the LNP would oppose, given their previous coalition, but it is surely disappointing for the LNP to lack a voice inside the new government. For the reason that the LNP have achieved perhaps policy goals, and "Sacked the Senate", but have failed to form government is the reason that Crikey awards them the 2nd Bronze Medal of this article.
That's all from us folks. he next term is hopefully one full of newsworthy things to write about, or we'll be out of a job! We hope you enjoyed today's article, please let us know!! (Also if you see any errors I am very tired)

I bought a house in the middle of the woods. It was cheap for its almost perfect place in nature and I would be a mad man if I even hesitated to think about buying it back then.
Sure, some may say that it is haunted or cursed, but I do not believe in the paranormal and with that I had nothing to lose. In the few decades I have lived here, nothing strange occured. I have been minding my own business, harnessing crops and vegetables for my own survival. I always liked the thought of a simplistic lifestyle and no connection to the outside world. I even insisted that the previous owners leave the key on the doorstep, so I would not meet them. I do not like other people. I do not even remember the last time I spoke to one.
I usually go on a walk at midnight. I only have to sleep for about. hours a day. I don‘t know when I adapted this skill, it feels like I have been doing it forever. I love to see the stars that shine brighter than I have always seen them when I was living somewhere else. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, no light dares to fight against the stars. It is beautiful out here and the warnings of a beast that roams the forest make me giggle sometimes. The Beauty out here would not allow some deformed creature.
My strolls usually take two hours, but recently I have been increasing it. I was feeling very awake and not tired at all, so I decided that I would take a different route as before because I was able to observe my surroundings sharply. As I was looking to my left I saw a dense cloud of fog that invited me for an adventure off course.
As I walked into much deeper fog, I noticed that the ground becam softer and wetter. Whenever my shoes touched the ground a sound of wet dirt was released. I did not have to think about what this mysterious area was, I knew that the area I lived in used to be moor, but due to forestation, it became less interesting.
Now I might admit that I got scared when I heard leaves and grass rattle in the distance. It was not loud, but it was the only thing I could hear. The wind was taking a break and the fog rose out of the wet earth without making a sound. The rattling had all my focus and I stood still for a second. My mind was completely surprised by this sound. I knew that whatever it was, it was tall enough to make the leaves shake. Maybe it was the beast that I was warned about.
I am no normal person, I admitted that already. My first instinct was not to run away and get home safely, but it was to attack. I knew where the sound came from and I was wide awake, so I just sprinted towards it, almost falling into the mud. It started running too, but I was faster.
I jumped and threw the beast onto the peat. The entire ground shook. A cloud obstructing the moon made it impossible to see what monster was now screaming in my face, but it did not take long before I could see it. I could already hear its heartbeat and I smelled its fear. It smelled good.
I tried to say something to it, but since I have not done so in years, my voice was just a complete mess. As it screamed, I noticed that it was just a boy, a human. I let him go and shivered in fear. I looked into a puddle of water next to me and saw my reflection.
Magenta eyes on a deformed face stared back. It took me a moment to realize that there really was a creature in the woods.
It was me.

I'm waiting for test results, but I most likely have brain cancer. So far, my only symptom is recurrent headaches, so I'm fully functional. I'm 42 yo, common law married, and no kids. I live in Quebec.
My job is permanent and comes with full benefits, including health insurance. I'll get 100% of my salary for the first year and 80% after that. I also have life insurance through my employer, which will pay a year of salary to my husband (about 75k), and my DB pension plan will go to him too.
I have a mortgage with my husband (200k left, house is worth 300k). My car is leased until october, with a very low payment. I have a small LOC that I pay back monthly, with a very low interest rate (same as my mortgage). No other debt. We have sickness and life insurance on the mortgage, and my husband can afford our house and everything else on his income fairly easily.
No other life insurance. I have a small savings account and a small RRSP from a former employer, worth about 30k together. I have a list of my accounts and passwords for my husband, in case he has to take over our finances quickly, but everything is up to date right now.
My only other responsibilities are my pets (a cat, a dog, and a horse). I'll have to make plans for them.
I'll need to make a will ASAP and a living will. Everything goes to my husband. I'm not close to my family and do not wish them to have anything.
What am I missing?

I was doing gi only for few years. Got to purple belt. Took a long break. Now i joined a new academy that has lot of no gi classes as well.
I feel like a new blue belt in no gi, which is okay. When i look at no gi instructions from John Danaher and Gordon Ryan i feel overwhelmed. I buy them all but now i am not sure where to start and how to proceed and what to do. Meta has changed to leglocks and submissions but i also love old school guard passing to side control which i want to work on. Then danaher has 5 no gi submissions dvd and there are ton of good guard passing dvds.
How do i proceed?

Note: English is not my native language so sorry for ane grammatical errors.
Hey there dm's of reddit!
A bit of context:
A long time gm here who started an amazing campaign with an amazing group of people a year ago. Last night we had a big showdown seassion and afterwards the adventure was over and we went into downtime in preperation for the next arc.
Today we talked about and for scheduling issues(most of us are students), we have to take a long break. How long? To october probably.
Now in the mean time we are planing to do some side quests, explore charaters back stories, and maybe try new systems...
However in my long experience with DMing, it seemes to me like the break is going to kill the campaign...
And now for my question, has any of you have ever been into campaign that took such a long break and came back as usual? If so, what did you do to make it happen?

Part 1
I stood up, awaken from my sleep from the knocking sound on the elevator door. My friends stood up with me as we all heard it. The sound of banging became so much louder. Giggling can be heard with it. What's behind the door is unknown and I'd rather not face it than die to this thing. In the edges of the door, thin fingers began to seep through it. Such horrible looking fingers. I watched the door getting turned into a broken mess. Something grabbed my hand and I saw it was Rishika's. I looked at her and saw fear and sadness on her face.
Questioning death can be answered by judgement, revenge, luck, curse, or just nothing. The concept fate over people sounds so simple that people think that it's ok that fate exists. Is it ok if I was in this situation? What if one of your loved ones died right in front of you by a murderer? You won't like it and you'd definitely blame god for that.
The door is beginning to make an opening. Sweat rapidly runs down on my forehead. My eyes widened with terror as I see the creature's face. It's as accurately described from the documentary. Its teeth shines like bright white marbles and its eyes are like melted butter. The creature's face slowly gets closer, while we stepped far back until there's no space for us to move anymore.
I can feel the cold shivering breath from its mouth. The breath that smells empty. From what I've heard, it's much stronger than the one we just ran away from. Ronald immediately punches the creature's face with his metallic fist. Steam pulses out from the gaps of it. He kept punching at it again and again but to no avail. It still not injured nor shown any pain. He only manages to recoil it farther back.
With a one quick slice, Ronald's hands fell to the ground. His scream was painful and terrifying to hear. I can see his face was in pain. Eyes widened with tears flowing down to his cheek. "Ronald!!" I heard Billy screamed out loud. Of course, this doesn't make any difference as the creature slowly crept closer and closer to us. I witness Ronald dying with his sockets bleeding so much blood. His eyes faded of life. If only he hadn't try to kill it out of bravery, he would've lived longer with us before our lives are taken away.
Its jaw started to open. The sounds of bone cracking can be heard within its teeth. The smile on its face grew more and more eerie. It laughs like a maniac ready to pounce on their victims. Such insanity can break people's minds with a laugh. I froze in place by the laugh. There's nowhere else me and my friends can escape from. What else can we do. Our weapons are futile here and this creature is far beyond comprehension.
Its many arms spread around the elevator room, trying to grab us with its menacing hands. We're going to die here and that's that. This would've been a goodbye to the world. I don't know the dead world in this universe. Many different universes should have a different afterlife. Here, I don't think there's a safe place after death.
Then, something happened right in front of our eyes. The creature was being pulled back by something. Something inside the darkness. I can hear it's the same women who saved me from the pale face. We couldn't see anything in the darkness but Billy's flames can surely help us along the way. I took his flamethrower and a torch. Lighting up the torch with it carefully. Not wanting to burn us. Turning off the flamethrower, I lighted the area with my torch in hand and saw them clashing each other with blade like arms.
We stepped out of the elevator with Ronald's dead body on Cody's arms. Why would Cody keep holding on to him for? He's already dead and there's no way for us to say a better goodbye. I guess maybe he wanted to bury him somewhere which I honored that idea.
She cuts the jaw of the creature that it screams the way a person should. I can see the whole body of the creature. It was humanoid and tall. About 9 feet tall and its body is dark skeletal human. It grabbed her with its large hand and threw her off into the wall. She crushes onto the wall with such heavy force. A groan can be heard from her before a blade penetrates through her abdomen. Her screams are both man and woman at the same time.
It's horrifying to hear someone scream like that if they're just human. In fact, it'll be much terrifying if she'd sounded like millions of voices.
She grabbed its face with her free arm and tears its face off. Its eyes bounces to the ground with a flesh grinding mush sound. The screams that came from within its voice box made a deafening pain in our ears that we both covered them with our hands.
The woman digs her sharp fingers into the creature eye sockets with the sound of digging flesh. She then splits its head with the pull of her hands. Black and bloody flesh spread onto the walls and ground. One of its discarded flesh landed on my shoe. My stomach twists and turns. Watching her brutally kill it while flesh and blood spills. I gagged, watching her 3 fingered hands dig into its throat and pulled out its large heart.
Geralt vomited to the ground, spilling the acid from his stomach. That didn't bother me. Instead I watched her feast on the heart. The sound of chewing on flesh and blood made me sick to my stomach from an imaginary smell of rotten flesh. The creature's body slowly melts away to the ground. Rendering it to be dead into a puddle of flesh and bone. There's now nothing left of it. Just a puddle.
"Holy shit." With just one word came out from Billy's mouth, the woman turns her head to look at us. Her eyes seemingly looked bright and harmless. Not sure whether or not if this is a tactic to hunt or it's really her instinct. The familiar color of her right eye caught my attention.
She fell to the ground with a big gap in her abdomen. Heavy breaths came out from her voice as she slowly gets back up on her feet. The light from my torch reveals her hoodie to be grey and the gap in her abdomen slowly began to heal itself. Small tendrils from the sides of the gap stitching back together.
I stepped back, giving ourselves space in order for us to escape if she'd attack us. I held my hammer high and so does my friends with their weapons. "Darwin wait!" Did I just heard her say my name? I didn't know what to do or how to react. Either it's just a hallucination or trickery. "How did you know my name?" I asked with the fear in my voice.
"I uh. I just guessed I suppose." Her eyes were on the dead Ronald in Cody's arms. She looked saddened by it. Even grieved. She shook her head and went back to to us with a clear voice. "But that doesn't matter. You all need to get out of here before he gets here."
"Who's he?" Geralt asked with both curious and nerving tone in his voice. Her eyes are widened in fear. An expression I never thought she could do and feel about. "Cain. He's coming here and you all need to get out of here."
I've heard about Cain before. You might know this story from a book. It's about 2 brothers, sons of Adam and Eve. Abel being the most favored man of god, while Cain being the least favorite and jealous. Cain killed his brother out of jealousy. God is not happy about this and he casted him away with a curse. He's just a man. Maybe who she was saying was someone who is also named Cain.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Said Cody.
"I can help you get out. We just need to go outside and find the pool of clean water. But, it'll be far away, so we need to hurry up." She walked passed us quickly in a hurry. Billy was going to ask but I lay his shoulders, giving him a metaphor of saying no. Of course, he grunted from that. Rishika gave a face wash to Geralt. He gladly takes it and wipes his mouth and stained jacket.
We followed her through the hallways of the darkness. Our torches lighted brightly around the darkness. I was behind the woman whose guiding us to the exit. I haven't thought of asking her name. For someone like her, she should have. The voids blood doesn't seem to affect her mind but I don't think that's really the case.
The image of her blue eyes makes me recollect the memories of my long distant past. I still don't understand. How could she be so familiar to me, even know my name. We never met each other and we're from different worlds. Either it could be she had mind reading powers or just a simple guess. "Thanks for saving us back there. What's your name."
"My name's..." She looked unsure as to what to say or even know her name. I think she was hiding her true identity which I can understand that. Hiding your own identity from other people is a good way to keep yourself safe. But you needed to plan and design your own disguise. You need to come up with a story that doesn't give confusion or any cracks for people to get suspicious. Famous people like movie stars or scientist or anybody related to that stuff mostly do this to avoid getting attention.
With a warm and calm voice, she answered. "My name is Enid."
"Sounds good. Why did you save us? How are you still in control of yourself?"
"I saved you because I wanted to save you all. I was never the kind of hero or something but I still have the heart to save you all. And I'm losing a bit of my strength holding myself together. Everyday, I have to eat the creatures here. You've encountered them before. If I don't eat them, I'm going to turn into them. Turn into the void. But the more I eat, the closer I'm going to turn myself in. I'm glad you guys are safe, but I feel bad to see your friend die. Sorry that I'm too late to save all of you in one piece."
"Yeah. Wished he had enough time for you to arrive. He was a brave and cool friend to have a part of the team. He's always telling stories about greek gods and mythologies. He's a boxer too. I think he would consider you to be one of us."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. He kinda sometimes look scary to me in the night but he's a really good man." Geralt joins with us with a nervous look on his face. His eyes are tired as ours but they're wide enough for us to see his shining eyes. Enid returned smile on her face, but it faded away quickly in a short amount of time.
We finally left the building safely with her guidance. The bright shining sky brightens around us. Giving us the comfort of our safety. But still, we grieved the death of Ronald. Billy grieved the most out of everyone else. He kept muttering all over and over while we were following Enid. His mutterings, from what I can hear are apologize. "Billy. It's not your fault. I think he knew as well."
"No it is. I kept saying mean and horrible things to many of you but mostly it's on him. I just wanted him to think I'm strong and all. I'm lost Darwin. And I shouldn't have said those awful things. All I want was to show you all that I'm strong. But look at me. I'm bloody weak and I can't do anything to protect you all. All I can do is to just stand still and spout bullshit."
He began sobbing so terribly that it shocks me to my core. His face turning red and he fell to his knees, unable to stand back up. We all stopped to try to at least give him the comfort we wanted give him. We've never seen him in such a state like this. Throughout our times together, he always acts like a jerk but now he's crying right in front of us. I didn't know what else to do except to sit down next to him. Ronald's body is now pale in Cody's arms. His eyes were shut.
"I know how it feels, Billy." Rishika, already knelt down in front of Billy, said with a warm tone in her voice. This has got to be the 3rd or 4th time I've heard her say a full sentence. Either way, it was encouraging. Billy doesn't seem to be able to reply. None of us does. "I used to be harsh and cruel to others because I wanted them to accept me. But I was wrong because that's not how it works. We can both change together. It's ok to be on your good side. It won't be too bad. I think Ronald would like that too."
"Look at me. Do I look like I can?"
"We all can. It's just how we grow in life."
"I don't know. Ronald's dead and I'm left to be the one who carries his death on my back. I don't think he'll ever forgive me."
"No. We don't know that. But what matters is that you move on instead of staying behind. I know it's hard but you have to if you want to change. It's ok to be scared. We're all scared."
"Yeah. Even me too. I get scared a few times but that doesn't mean that others will look down on me." Geralt stutters a bit in his voice but kept the strength to say those words.
"Same here. Even that I'm this, I'm still scared too." Enid joins in with a sad look on her face. For someone like her, I thought she never felt fear. I guess there are others like her can feel that way.
I wanted to tell him something too. Something that feels connecting to each other that I don't want him to be left alone. "You don't have to do this alone. I'm scared too and that's alright because that's human. We can help you Billy. You're our friend. And I think Ronald would consider you as a friend too."
Billy wipes his tears away with his sleeve. We all sat there for a few seconds before Cody lays his hand on his shoulder, which makes Billy hug him back. "It's ok. We're here." Ronald's body lay on the boulder 5 feet away from us. Cody reaches his arms as a gesture for us to join in. We all did. So is Enid. I didn't think anything else but to be on Billy's side.
Suddenly, our moment was interrupted by a thunderous noise came out of nowhere. Enid's eyes are widened in terror. The world around us shook from the thunder. In the sky, the small clouds started to turn from grey to the color of blood. Enid jumps right up, catching a look above as we all stare into the sky. What I saw gave me enough imagination to fear whatever the unknown has.
Large gigantic shining eyes watch over the world below us from the sky. Its pupils are too big that they nearly reached the edge of their sockets. The grin of that thing gave me enough horror to freeze in my tracks. How nightmarish it is to see a gigantic abomination such as this in the morning and night. People would definitely scream and run all over the place while the cloud's face watches over them like a eldritch god.
By the time I stepped back, it turned its menacing eyes towards me. I felt like it was staring into my soul. My very soul in my body. Its own saliva dripping from its mouth. Hungry for our souls. It didn't move nor spoke a word. Thunderous noises kept coming from the abomination. They were red lightning and menacing. If people get hit by them, I'm pretty sure they'll turn into whatever nightmarish flesh creature they'll turn into.
"Guys! We have to go! There's not much time!" Edin ran and so we followed. Cody picked up Ronald's body with us. Billy gained back his strength to run. And I slowly started to run as I kept staring at its menacing eyes. It doesn't leave me alone. I don't see it following me or do anything than to smile with evil intentions. This is different than the ones we encountered. Not because of their looks. It's because I knew its intentions and the void creatures, I don't.
A great thunderous red beam shot out from the abomination's mouth and a loud boom can be heard far away from us. The sound snapped me out and I began to run as fast as I can, trying to keep up the pace of my friends and Enid.
Nothing else happened as we run to our exit. The thunderous noises kept booming around us as the clouds above slowly turned into blood red. A drop of rain hit my forehead. I touched it with my finger tip and saw blood. The rain is full of blood. I nearly slipped to the ground but my jacket was caught by Geralt. "Don't worry Darwin! I got you!" He pulled me up and ran.
The feeling of getting closer to something crept inside my chest that I began to feel the sensation of hope. Hope is said to be for the weak but I say otherwise. Hope may be a blind way to believe in something but sometimes it can be true to which we reach to something we can achieve.
Enid stopped in her tracks. There, right in front of us, was a pool of clean water. It doesn't make sense. It's raining blood and there, at the pool, it's clean. Droplets of blood dripped into the pool, then faded away into the clean water. We were shocked to see the pool to be clean in the middle of a shower of blood. The atmosphere suddenly turned red. Dark red flames started emerging around the world. It's everywhere and I can hear the distant screams behind me. The screams are hard for me to explain. They're like mixed with many variety of species all together into a rhyme of symphony.
I turned around to see something dark falling from the sky above into the ground like a falling star. The world shakes beneath us. I knelt down to get balance as I kept watching the falling darkness land onto the world. Far away, a dark silhouette rises from the ground. It looked to be tall. I could guess it's 4 feet taller than us. My eyes can't see clearly due to the silhouette being too far away. More of them began to rise as more fell from the abomination.
I turned myself around, nearly losing my balance. Cody held Rishika by the arm and Billy knelt beside Geralt. Enid reached her hands out into the pool. Sparks of bright light emitted from her arms, spreading light around her. The pool began to slowly swirl into a vortex as the sparks of light began to increase. The harsh blow of the wind hits us, making me fall to the ground.
Then, a bolt of light sparked into life in Enid's grip. The bolt was so bright that I shielded my eyes from it. It's so that I won't get blinded by the light. I looked back to see that something is walking towards us from far away of our tracks. I don't know if it's just me hallucinating or if it's really real. I think I can hear laughter. A humane laughter. It's like it came from a demon king. The dark silhouettes at the sky fly around with their wings.
Their wings are of a bat and their body was humanoid and blood red. Their mouths are menacingly enough to make me push myself away from it as far as I can. It shrieks so loudly that I can hear it from that distance. It began to fly towards us and its claws like a hawks are ready to grab one of us to feast on. I stood back up as the world turned still. I pulled out my hammer, ready to defend myself from it.
The demon nearly scratched my face before a bullet teared through the side of its brain. I turned my head to see Rishika, already wielding her sniper rifle. "I got you." She turned around and shot another bullet at another demon.
I heard a crushing noise coming from Cody. He slams his club right at a demons head, exploding it on impact. The demon wore an armor set of dark stones that could come from hell itself. It was carrying a blade that shines pure diamond. Geralt penetrating his spear at the demons chest, electrocuting it from a high voltage. "Holy shit! This is crazy!" A shout came from his voice. A voice of panic.
I turned around when I felt something was approaching me. There was a demon with 4 arms and held a large hammer, bigger than the one I wielded. Its face full of hatred that Its eyes glared into my soul. I quickly swung my hammer by the time it swings its own at me. Our hammers clashes together, making a loud slam around us. It swung again but I jumped away from its heavy blow. It's the good thing we had those boots. They're able to give us enough push to jump twice higher than the original person can.
I then swung my hammer directly at its face. I made impact as its face tears apart from the slam of my hammer. A crunching sound can be heard from its skull. Its head exploded into a pool of blood with scattered flesh and bones.
I landed on my feet and watched the world turned into the new hell as dark flames emitted everywhere around the buildings and the ground. More demons are rushing towards us in a pack. So many of them with many horrifying different forms. My body is shaking from the fear I had in me. I nearly dropped my hammer as sweat begins to appear on my hands. I bumped my back as I stepped behind. Geralt, Rishika, Cody, and myself are close together with our weapons in hand. They're all sweating with fear on their faces. There's too many of them for us to take them down. "Come on! Let's show those freaks what we're made of!" Shouted Geralt. By the times we raised our weapons and the demons now 10 feet away from us, a bright blue flame blazes the demons. They scream in pain and hatred as they slowly melted into a sludge of fried flesh.
"I'm not going to let those bloody fuckers take you all away from me!" Billy's face is mixed with fear and anger. Feeling very glad that he joined us. If not for him, we would be brutally killed by the horrifying demons. Then, a loud burst of water and electricity emerged from behind us. Enid faces us with wide eyes. "Get in now!"
"Will it take us home!?" Geralt asks with a panic in his voice. I can see the sweat pouring down on Enid's face as she stares back at us in a hurry. "No but it'll take you somewhere safe! Somewhere you can start a new life!"
Cody, with Ronald's body in his arms, is the first to get in the portal. By the time he jumps into the portal in the pool, a flash of blue energy can be seen emerging out of it. Then goes for Geralt. He was scared at first as he cowers back. "Will I be hurt if I fall?"
"Don't worry. You'll be fine." And so, he jumps in and flashes of light emerges out.
Then goes for Billy. He looked back at Enid for a moment before he jumps into the portal.
Lastly, Rishika stops near the edges of the pool. She turned around to see Enid with a hurried look on her face but also with relief. "Thank you Eddie." Then she jumps into the portal.
Did I just heard her right? Did she just said my lost friend's name. "What did she just say?"
She looked at me with a sad look in her blue eye. I felt a connection between us, as if we've known each other. I don't understand. Why would Rishika say his name. Enid is a woman to say the least or she's really something else. A sudden memory flashed before my eyes.
I remembered the time Eddie shape shifted into the Ice cream man. It was a time when we were young. We both got the ice cream we wanted just for free without anyone noticing. It was funny but also worrying because we could get caught. But that never happened and still felt funny every time I remember that day.
"Eddie? You're Eddie." She nodded in reply. A gesture of yes. Then, right in front of my eyes, she formed into a grown up version of Eddie. The Eddie I remembered. My heart felt shocked as to what I've just learned. I ran to her and hugged her deeply than I could've ever done. We both hugged for a moment until she gently pushes me off. Tears started to appear beneath my eyes. I don't know what I was feeling but what I can say was joy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you would drag me with you If I tell you. You have to understand that I have to stay here. This is where I belong and I'm too dangerous to be with you."
"But we can figure things out together! We can go back to hanging out with each other! Play video games! Explore the world! Everything!"
"No Darwin. We can't. I'm a part of the void and I'm slowly losing myself. My left part of my face is nearly turning into the void."
"But we can fix that! We just need to find the answers to how we can get you better! I can't! I don't want to lose you again! I-"
"Darwin!" A shout came from his voice. I stopped with chills freezing behind my back. He looked at me in the eye with sadness. "I can't go back. I'm sorry I was never there for you when you graduated. I'm sorry for never waiting for you outside of school. I'm sorry for everything we could've done but we haven't! I have to save you. Even if it costs me my life. I don't want to lose you either. You have to go Darwin. There's nothing that can change my mind."
I thought I could finally bring him back. To do the things we've never have yet done. Here and now, this is our last time together. This is our last time to see each other again. He protected me wherever I go here. He saved me in order for me to live. I can't let him die here. I don't want him to be gone from me.
I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. Tears dripped down from his eyes and onto my head. I can feel the pain in my chest starting to rise but I didn't let go. "I'm sorry Darwin. You have to let me go. You can choose. I won't stop you."
He's right. I can't keep him with me. Throughout my life I wanted to see him again. Every night, I look out the window to see if he's there but there's no one but cars and houses. I can't keep doing this. I really have to let go. Tears pours rapidly beneath my eyes. I let go and wiped the tears from my face. "I guess this is a goodbye then."
A sad smile plastered on his face. The world around us slowly turned into darkness. The kind of darkness in hell. "It is Darwin. I'm so happy to see you again."
"Well oh well!! Look at what we have here!" A very modern European accent voice of a man emerged from the world before us. We turned to see a man with a worn off brown coat. His hat looked to be as old as the ancient times. And his face. His face made my stomach turn. Bandages wrapped around his face, except for his terrifying grin. His teeth rotten to the very core of his rotten body. I stepped behind Eddie with the hammer in my hands. The man grins much wider than I anticipated.
"You must be wondering. Who am I? Well. I'm the one and only, Cain. You might've heard me from a very recognizable book. Also, I'm afraid you two are coming with me. We have a lot to discuss and a ton of things to do together." With that, he started laughing like a total maniac. His herds of demons followed with a laugh.
"Goodbye Darwin." Eddie suddenly pushes me off into the bright blue vortex that'll be my exit. I took one last glimpse of Eddie standing before Cain. As I fell into the portal, I can hear the echoing laughter of Cain and his demons. I screamed out for Eddie but my voice was out of reach.
Then, I landed on my back on the ground. The portal disappeared before me. I quickly stood back up and reached to where the portal had opened. It was gone. I looked around to see that I'm on a hill. The dark blue night sky displayed above me with the stars shining above. My mind racing with thoughts and fear. Witnessing Eddie being alone to fight against the evil we are meant to escape from. I screamed into the sky as tears rapidly starts to appear. I fell to my knees onto the grass floor and slam my hands at the ground as I wept. I kept screaming and sobbing until I was too exhausted that I fell to the ground. I heard footsteps before me. There were many.
My body being picked up by Billy in the arm as he carries me with him. "Darwin. What happened?"
The only words I can say now were."He's gone."
​
It's been 2 years since we left that world. The world we now stand upon was nearly the same as ours. What I mean by nearly was that there are strange phenomenons happening nearly every month. A girl who can turn into a form of a robot and killed a cancerous beast in Queensland. A military war criminal who considers killing the supernatural as a job. Even the real life wendigo sightings are on the news papers. Still though, the place is still good in the morning. Except in the night, there are sometimes threats we don't know in the dark.
We built a team together, even gather some new friends along the way. Rishika grew to be more expressive and a lot more kinder to us. The time we killed a literal Bigfoot, she gave me a fist bump. Gave me a chuckle and a smile on my face.
Billy was getting better everyday. He responds to us with kind words than insults like before. After Cody had buried Ronald's body in a proper, he said his words of goodbye to him and gave him the picture he secretly held with him. It was a picture of us hanging out in a movie place. It's heart warming and depressing to witness what he did there.
Cody went off to work as a psychologist. He's still with us. It's just that he wanted to help people's mental health issues. He did really well on that one and he even gave us some advice for a change. I wouldn't consider mostly on his advice but some I can really try. That's also where he met the girl who can turn into a robot. We've met after the news broke out about an incident of a wild destruction at Queensland. Forgot to mention, we're at Australia. Just to let you all know where we are.
Finally, Geralt took pictures everywhere we go and writes down in his diary. The reason he does this is that we're in another world and thought he could take pictures of them and reflect on them. Sometimes we even got to have a photograph of us in the middle of the good times. He said it was to keep memories of our times together. A frame with a picture of literally us huddled together in a bright sunny day in Canberra.
Me? I was building a portal device, for me to teleport to different worlds. It's going to take a long time for me yes. Been building other things lately with Rishika too. Weaponry, gadgets, devices, and fixing stuff. I stuck around with my friends and we've made a great team. Made new friends along the way and learnt many things too.
2 years ago, after my moment of grief, I woke up from my exhausted moment to see my friends standing before me with a relief on their faces. I nearly cried by the picture of that moment. After that, we both watched tv together in my new bedroom inside of a hotel room. After Rishika finds a new home for us, we moved out to Melbourne Victoria as a new place of our home. We moved in to a farm house where there is a larger basement for us to do our stuff. We knew we had to get a job at this point, so we did what we can to find one. It's a good thing there's a city nearby.
Rishika, Geralt, Billy, and I took the job as being a part of an investigation of the paranormal. That's how we managed to meet up with a bunch of new friends.
I missed Eddie. I wished he could come with me and didn't have to die. But, I learnt that I can't drag him with me. He wanted to stay there. I can understand that. I know he's gone already. It's hard to let go. But sometimes we have to. To live out our lives well. I have to look forward. To better myself through experience.
This is my message to you. My readers.
You better to stay where you are now. Don't go to other universes. Because maybe, you'll end up in the most horrifying places you never want to go.

For about a year now, I (21F) have had an incredible crush on a football player (23M) who plays for our small town. After some time, I noticed that he often looks at me or smiles at me. he doesn't live in the same city nor do we have the same circle of friends, so I have no way of meeting him outside of the Football games. a month ago he sent me a picture of me from the game in my dms. unfortunately, since I overthink things and am introverted when it comes to meeting new people, our conversation was not long. I know that he still likes me, but I feel that he wants me to make the first move now, unfortunately I have no idea how. Do you have any advice on what to do, or how to ask him out on a date via Instagram?

Got laid off/fired from my job a couple weeks ago. I was performing well at my tasks. None of my projects were falling behind. However, my boss absolutely hated my guts.
It’s not the first time. This is my 7th job. Most of my bosses hate me throughout my career despite my work output. Primarily because I have a habit of arguing and needing to understand why to do X before doing it. Heck as a child my peers hated and bullied me my entire childhood, so it’s a behavior that’s been around for a long time. My personality is just not likeable.
The cycle that happens: boss thinks I’m really smart —> end up proving I am —> get good performance review 6 months in but told I’m too quiet and need to show my personality —> employ feedback and quickly boss dislikes me, get thrown under the bus for some project —> become under absurd scrutiny looking for any reason to fire me.
I’m debating going the entrepreneur route moving forward but I want to try my hand at 1 more job before I call it quits.
I have never kept a job longer than 2 years. The only jobs I had that were even longer than 1 year were: - startups where you are encouraged to have an ownership mentality - the one job where I put on a fake smile and hid my true personality.
The last part is what I want to do and try next time around and not be fooled again into showing my true self.
I ALWAYS get fooled when I’m told to ‘be yourself at work’ by my bosses…and soon after I start they really dislike me.
So moving forward I want to employ impression management and sociopathically create a work persona that is likable.
Are there any good books, videos, and/or tips on how to create one that fits the company culture I will work for?

I just want to vent out because I really couldn't get this off my chest. It's not really about just a casual joke but how it triggered again my dislike on gay culture. Even if I don't have a hetero SOGIE (I'm sexually fluid), it has been hard for me to belong to even just a small gay clique because of ignorance and unkindness among themselves.
About two weeks ago my brother invited me and my sisters to drink. We went out and drank in a bar and we were really enjoying ourselves specially because we haven't hung out for quite a while now, I mean, at least 7 years since we last drank together. After drinking in a bar he invited us to go to another bar that has a drag show. I was really excited because I've recently just been converted into a drag race fan after watching the first run of RPDR PH early this year.
Tbh the show had always been problematic for me because 1. I had never been able to dig it, same thing why I don't understand cosplaying or period dramas. I understood the discipline of costume and its semblance to more fine artsy form of fashion but I always knew it wasn't for me. 2. When I first attempted to watch it, I just stopped the video when I saw the muscular crew in their underwear. Sometimes even being catcalled by contestants themselves. I felt a bit offended for them. Like isn't this the same reason why we are hating on shows like Willy Revillame's: women in two-piece in the background, gyrating for cis men's objectifying eyes. Gay gaze is as oppressive as male gaze. Really hated it and I still couldn't get past it.
Anyway so we went to the place-- I already forgot its name. It's at the back of Rapture tho I'm not even sure if that place is still running.-- It seemed like we went there too early because there are still just a handful of people there. The hosts even noticed and greeted us. Also apparently before the show, a pair of transwomen hosts entertain the goers and would ask them to sing karaoke on stage. But before one sings, the hosts would interview you.
Time flew and we were enjoying the kanal humor of the hosts interviewing the people until they pressured our table to sing. We decided that our brother should sing and he obliged without any reluctance, we all grew up signing karaoke and it's part of family tradition anyway. On stage he was asked by the hosts usual questions: his name, about us siblings etc. eventually he was asked about his sexuality. Gays are always frizzy about other people's sexuality ano eventhough I still think it's supposed to be private. I remember a presscon where Tom Hardy was asked if he is bisexual. Instead of answering the question, he asked the journalist why he is asking a private question. If you think that Tom was just being sensitive, in extreme lengths, people just be outing other people.
My brother answered. We were all expecting the same answer: straight. But with a nervous tone he said he is bisexual. The face of my sisters when he said that. He is 34 years old and he just went out of the closet to us on stage. I was shocked but was really happy for him. Of course I always knew. My sisters never did. But I was happy that he finally had the courage to do that.
The host didn't know that and just went on with their question. I'm still silently celebrating in my head then they said the joke. "Bi now, gay later". Then proceeded to expand on that saying that men are just claiming that they are bisexual until they become exclusively gay once they get comfortable.
You know what this is? It's the same close-minded homophobic jokes of straight men about gay people. Straight men only like women so they think men liking men isn't natural. Gay people can only think that, because they only like men, bisexuality shouldn't be real. Denying bisexuals of their own identity while complaining that this fucked up society is giving them the same hell. Do not tell me that this is just a joke and I should just take it lightly because we all know that it's a genuine perspective from them told in a humorous manner. There's a difference. This ticks me off because this is the same reason why my brother took this long to come out as bisexual and had to endure years of self-shaming. The community that's supposed to accept him always say shit like this. And places like those, LGBT bars, are supposed to be a safe space, not just a haven to be non heteronormative but to be yourself, not just being gay.
I've read a study few years ago that closeted men are most at risk to contract HIV for so many factors. And a lot of bisexual men are closeted because even the community itself banishes their identity. The bi-erasure front comes directly from gay people. Bisexuals are gays of the gays. The gays do to them what straight people do to gays. It's fucking ridiculous.
But what else do we expect? Even among gay people they do shit like "masc only" segregation or they don't even know what a real versa top is, or the peak bi-erasure thing where they define a gay as "bi" if he is "no trace" or discreet. What kind of uneducated kajologan is that? On top of that, in relation to the RPDR crew, gays encourage each other to catcall men specially online. I cringe when straight friends do this and I still cringe when gay do this. It's just so easy to hate people with penises.
I tried but eventually just gave up to have a feeling of belonging with this ignorant and toxic community. I know education depends on the economic status so I can still believe that this ignorance can't be blamed to urban poor gays but I also see and hear this from gay guys who have post grad, who have the means so I don't think it's an issue of education anymore but it's a systemic mindset embedded within the culture.
Of course all of this just went over the head of my brother and let go of the "joke". He sang on stage and went back to us. Im just happy that he enjoyed that night and was drunk AF he threw up on the stretches of Aurora Blvd.

We moved in approximately 6 months ago. Neighbours have been friendly and approachable so far. We have a cat and now the weather is getting better he has started going outside and exploring more. Next door but one neighbour mentioned cat peeing in their garden and asked if we could do anything about it. We advised we obviously can’t control where the cat roams but we fully understand how annoying this can be so we gave full permission for them to scare/chase/even a quick spray with the hose to keep the cat away from the garden. All still very friendly. Fast forward a month or so and they installed what looked like one of those mosquito noise emitter things. We couldn’t hear it, my husband noticed it when taking the bins out (we have to go through the neighbours garden to do this) so we were not all that fussed. However the last few days they have either purchased a new one, or turned it up as there is a very high pitched sort of ringing coming from their garden every 10-30 seconds. It’s absolutely ear ringing and is making it impossible to spend any time in the garden. We can hear it from our front living room and the only way we don’t is if we have all the windows closed. How do we approach them about this? We want to keep it as friendly as possible and we fully appreciate they want to keep the cat away from their garden, and we are willing to help as much as we can with this, but the noise is antisocial and quite frankly feels a bit aggressive.

To get it out of the way first, obviously Avatar 2 was a massive success and is the 3rd highest grossing film of all time with 3 sequels on the way. Now to look over Disney's other major franchises:
Walt Disney Animation Studios: Strange World was a massive bomb of almost 200 million dollars.
Pixar: Lightyear was also a massive bomb of 106 million dollars. Plus with Elementals having mediocre reviews coming out of Cannes it doesn't seem that Pixar would be rebounding this year.
Disney Live action remakes: The Little Mermaids international box office reception has been horrendous. Even domestically there is a decent chance it opens under 100 million which would be pretty alarming considering how reliant it is on the domestic market to break even on its massive 250 million budget. It is going to be very difficult for it to reach the 650 million point to break even, a far cry from The Lion King, Alladin, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book which were all billion dollar or close to billion dollars movies.
Lucasfilm: Indiana Jones 5 has a disastrous reception at the Cannes which is pretty egregious considering how beloved the franchise is even by the hardcore cinephile crowd (Raiders of the Lost Ark made it on the recent Sight and Sound poll). It has a rumoured budget of 300 million which would be difficult to break even on for a franchise that has its last entry 15 years ago and with an 80 year old action star.
Meanwhile new Star Wars films have been announced but haven't been dated yet which has been the case multiple times since lackluster reception to Rise of the Skywalker. Star Wars seems to still have goodwill as a franchise considering the reception to Andor and Jedi Survivor but it seems that at the box office Disney is still not 100% sure about the franchise's viability.
Marvel Studios: Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness made almost close to a billion dollars coming off the hype of a New Way Home and without the markets of China and Russia. But the mixer reception to that movie combined with lackluster critical reception to Thor Love and Thunder, a decline of almost 500 million dollars for Black Panther Wakanda Forever from the original movie in 2018 and Ant Man Quantamania failing to break even is enough to prove that Marvel is on rocky waters as a franchise. Even the success of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has only been possible with an exceptional Word of Mouth that allowed it to overcome weak pre-sales something that proves that the Marvel brand has been damaged and the person responsible for that movie is now heading Marvel's biggest competitor.
It is also worth noting that Avatar as successful as it is is also a franchise that is heavily reliant on James Cameron's further involvement. Cameron has been pretty clear that he would be done with the franchise after the 5th movie which indicates that it is not a franchise that Disney can rely on long term for providing success.

Using the throwaway, as... Yeah.
I [25F] am in a long term relationship of 7 years. Engaged to my wonderful fianceé [24M]. We started dating as highschool sweethearts practically. Our relationship has not always been a walk through a garden. We sometimes fight, but I believe it is somewhat important for any relationship to do that, so you know you can withstand it. We have gotten very close, and are really standing strong together. Or... Atleast he is.
I cannot possibly comprehend, how much he is doing for this relationship, and I am trying to do the same. I cannot really even say in my own word how much he means to me.
Recently though, I started to be more comfortable with my own body, with myself as a person. And with the euphoria and joy it brought me... And my fiancee... On my side, I have been horrible. I started catching feelings to some of my friends... And not only my friends (Gender is not a problem for me as I know that I am pan, even before we started dating)... With some of them only on the more bodily level. With some of them, on the psychological aswell.
I feel like a whore... Like a really bad person... I do not want to actively cheat on him, he really hasn't done anything wrong, in the slightest. Yet my brain and my heart is actively making him slip away. I tried to talk to him about any possibility of an open relationship. And he declined, as he mentioned, that it would break his trust (Which I completely understand). Yet, it is eating me on the inside... I don't wanna lose the stability of the relationship, and lose a loved one, who is a part of me. But, at the same time, I am worried, that... with it going on like this. I might... Lose him anyway, even though, he did nothing wrong.
Was there anyone in my situation? What did you do? Is there any way, as for both of us to feel happy? Or are we doomed?
tl;dr: My heart is being a bitch, and catches feelings on other people than my fianceé