And I mean in a deep internal way (even though I do feel pretty cute on the outside!).
I grew up with a lot of self love even though I had some insecurities with social cliques as a child. But at the end of the day, I always knew I was an awesome little girl with lovely friends and a great family.
Then right at the end of my teens a series of traumatic events and difficult environments left my self worth deeply shattered. I truly felt like I was a fake, bad person with no value or self worth. And it felt like that for years.
Today though I'm sitting in my room, listening to music, playing a fun game, drinking sparkling water and feeling like life could not get better. Career wise, I have accomplished nothing impressive. I've never had a serious partner and am nowhere close to getting one. I want children, but who knows how that will happen. I doubt I'll be able to own a home with my salary and trajectory. But, my family and friends are alive and so am I.
I am safe. I am healthy. I have someone I can hug if I need to. I have a clean home to sleep in. This is enough.
I'm so grateful for my simple life. I've released myself of the need to be the best human living the most efficient, successful, and impressive life ever.
Today, I am nothing more than a human drinking a nice drink on a sunny day and I cannot think of anything else that could make me happier.

Stand musical Reference: the nursery rhyme “Baa Baa Black Sheep”
Stand Typing: Close range, utility
Category: Bound, substance creation
User Name: Jeorge Shepard
Stats
Power: N/A
Speed: A (ability activated very quickly)
Range: D
Durability: B
Precision: A
Potential: C
Stand Ability:『Baa Baa Black Sheep』has the ability to generate hollow cubes of black wool in front of the user’s finger, all matter that would be clipped by the wool, or is inside of it, will appear within the stand in a perfect replica of proportional positions, shape, size, etc., but made of a white wool. These wool replicas can be moved within the bag and rearranged however the user wants, and then by closing the bag, the cube will disappear and the things inside the cube will be rearranged in the same method that the user did. This can be used to instantly detach a persons heart or brain from everything that would let it be function but the user needs to not only get within touching distance, he just also have time to move the items in the bag. The black cube is deceptively hard to destroy, almost like it is made of thin sheet metal, but destroying it will restore everything it has encompassed, and the ability is stopped. The bag of the stand is also tougher than you would think.
Stand Appearance: The stand has the appearance of a cotton bag, with a depiction of a sheep skull bleeding from its eyes, with black wool stretching from behind it like tentacles.

Hi all,
I've been lurking here for quite some time (and commented here and there) but looking to join the community now, since I've been seriously looking into biotech as a career option now that I have very little hopes of getting off the waitlist for med school in Canada. I've been applying for multiple times and I really need to move on and stop putting my life and career prospects on hold.
Anyway... just wanted to ask this wonderful community any tips and sage advice to get started in this path. I've been applying to jobs on Linkedin (about 100-200) over the past few months but it hasn't been gaining any traction. Not sure if it's because I am doing somewrong wrong or my current method is not as efficient and needs some optimizing: I've been getting screening calls or 1st rounds, but not much more from there. I don't know if I'm lacking in the technical side of things compared to other candidates or I'm not simply not presenting my skills as best as I can (that being said, I do know there is a looming recession at the moment).
I've been applying to both smaller companies and big pharma/corporations in Boston, NYC, Philly, and Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) at the RA, SRA, and Associate Sci (different titles, same level it seems). Education wise I have an 2-year research-based MS and I've been on a career gap since I haven't been able to find any relevant positions. I do understand that a gap may be a turn-off for HM, especially in the States compared to Canada.
Some questions I do have are:

• if RA position asks for BS + 2 years of experience, does my research-based MS qualify? I've been reading conflicting advice because my research was indeed done in school (so it wouldn't count) but it was also done after I have graduated my bachelors (which means it would count as academic experience).
• How can I best address this career gap when asked? Do I just say I was job searching, or say I had a career transition since I realized medicine wasn't for me?
• Since I'm just sitting at home and sending cover letters and resumes every day, what can I do to improve myself in terms of skills and employability? Will doing a certificate (either a technique cert or a broader management cert) help? I am hoping to work in R&D (drug discovery or upstream process dev) and either grow into project management or go for a PhD when I have some money saved up.

Thank you to alllllll!!!!!!

If you, like me, is terribly excited about Dragon's Dogma 2 now that we've seen the game, scrolling the subreddit all day long in the vain hope that a year will pass in an instant, perhaps this will help pass that year, if but a little.

It’s Good To Be Home

First off, I just want to say how great it is to see the community so alive and full of excitement, speculation and expectation. I was, sadly, not part of the initial launch and excitement for Dragon’s Dogma. I did try the demo but it rather put me off the game. It wasn’t until significant pressure from word of mouth that I took the plunge, and even then it took me a good while to crack through the initial barrier of unfamiliarity and prejudice. But boy am I glad I did! It now sits firmly among the games I consider my favourites of all time, and there it shall remain I suspect.
Because of this, I am extra excited to be able to be part of that initial community driven discovery this time around, that hopefully isn’t ruined too much by over-zealous marketing on the publisher’s part.
Can’t wait to be there with all of you on launch day 😊

The Dragon’s Dogma Conundrum

The most fascinating thing about Dragon’s Dogma to me is the absolutely non-existent influence the game has had on the Western gaming industry. I specifically mention Western because I honestly do not know enough about -in particular- the Eastern gaming industry to say one way or the other.
So, looking at it through that lens, the game stands out as truly unique in a couple of key aspects:
· The vocation system. While I’m assuming this sort of system is quite common in Japanese RPGs, it is not in Western RPGs. “But Dragon’s Dogma is not a Western RPG either”, you might say. Which is true, but I feel like it is heavily inspired by Western fantasy and mythology. A wonderful bridge between the two flavours of games.
· The focus. Dragon’s Dogma… has got a story. While I truly enjoy the themes the game plays with, and find the world intriguing, I think we can all agree the delivery isn’t a home run. I would hesitate to call it outright bad, because it still manages to entertain in my opinion. However, it’s not the focus of the game, the core. That is the combat, the mechanical part, the gears under the hood, and this is something I find woefully lacking in Western-made action games.
If you look at the heavy-hitters of the last decade, games that have had a bigger influence, they tend to lean more heavily on presentation than actual mechanics. Games like The Witcher 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Attempts have been made at creating more involved combat experiences though. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima. However, while these titles have, in my opinion, better designed combat, they’re still very surface level RPGs, in the sense of gaining levels, stats, equipment and building your character. They are ultimately more about telling their story in a very high quality way.
Then we have the games that are actually more mechanically focused, but they tend to fall within the ever-growing genre of Souls-likes. And as much as I adore these games -though fatigue has really been setting in these past few years- they are not the same thing as Dragon’s Dogma. A more traditional adventure type game, with open-ended exploration and emergent gameplay, facilitated by a solid mechanical sandbox and world design.
When I first started playing Dragon’s Dogma, it reminded me in a strange way of Zelda. To this day I can’t clearly put my finger on why, but that impression has never left me. Ironically, the one game in the last decade I feel most resembles Dragon’s Dogma in a way is actually Breath of the Wild, a game that has undeniably left a gargantuan impression on the gaming industry on both sides of the pond.
Here’s to hoping Dragon’s Dogma 2 will shake things up a bit and inspire game creators to make things other than shallow action RPGs with combat and character building as an afterthought, dressed up in million dollar budget presentations.

My Take On The Story…

There’s been no end of speculation with regards to the trailer and what the story of this second installment will be like, so here’s what I think; most of it wild speculation obviously.
The game starts out with our main character in a jail somewhere. This is about as much as we know for certain. Enter, the dragon. The over-sized chili-chicken will come flapping over to ruin our perfectly good Prison Taco Tuesday and start wreaking havoc on whatever quaint rural settlement we’re sure to be incarcerated in. In the ensuing chaos, the marvel of stone masonry that is preventing us from taking a casual stroll down the lush countryside will, shockinly, collapse – allowing our daring hero to escape into the night!
Being a video game protagonist, however, means we possess a triforce of courage’s worth of not caring about imminent death, and thus we will pick up the nearest pointy broom handle we can find and charge at the fifty tonne, flying, fire-breathing, apex predator in order to save Ulrika, who will dramatically find herself in the barbeque-lizard’s immediate path.
Hence, we will meet our end, but the thing about a cycle is that the ending is also the beginning, and so our journey as Arisen begins. This will of course mean we will meet our first pawn, Karin, who will advise us to go to the encampment and seek an audience with the manager.
After galivanting through the local slice of pastoral not-Italy for a bit, learning that goblins and their kind ill like fire, we will arrive at the encampment where we meet the captain of the expeditionary force, Lionel Catsby. After being sent on some mission by our feline friend we will be tasked with seeing the safe passage of a wagon of probably super important contents to the regional capital of Vermund. A city hub which is the center of a racial conflict between the Beastren and the supremacist humans, led by our moustache-twirling, usurper king antagonist, with a penchant for bling.
Evilus Blingius, with the aid of his right hand man Brant, and his \gasps in French** pawns, has seized control of the capital and ousted the previous ruler, Empress Nadinia. Not only that, but he’s also posing as the Arisen -hence the pawns. The big shocker though, is that he is not in fact the Arisen, he is a mere mummer! He is only controlling the paws with his blatantly evil (you know because it’s purple) necklace. Of course, his faliure of a malevolent offspring knows his naughty secret, and he will UwU his way into our hearts, as we work with the underground movement to thwart the ruinous schemes of Evilus Blingius, and put Empress Nadinininija back on the Iron Throne.
Ultimately, it will turn out that, in a twist that could only have been imagine by the brilliant mind of M Night Shyamalan, Evilus Blingius was the dragon all along, and Prince UwU has been a pawn all this time. The reason -we know understand- he always kept his right hand in his pocket, was not in fact because he was having impure thoughts about court sorceress Wilhelmina.
After a climactic battle we take our revenge on the spicy pigeon-toad and ascend the proverbial throne and all is well again. Except now everything is fucked and there’s a big ol’ chasm opened up in the ground and you know the drill. Get the wakestones, go meet the Pathfin- err, I mean the Seneschal and do battle. Fulfill the etneral ring, this was the true throne all along. The End. Thank you and good bye.
See you in a year when the mysterious Olga will bring us to the ominous Witherwhite Isle 😊

Hello. Today I'm off on memorial day and feeling down. I can run allot of systems so I want to give back to the community and run a game. Please message me with a request and I'll update this post when a game is selected.
Games I can run: Any edition of D&D, Pathfinder 1e, CoC 6, 7, Pulp and Delta Green. I can run Fate, Starfinder, a dice lite system or GMless system. I can also run ASoIaF RPG, a 2d20 system like Fallout. And a few more obscure systems.
Just message me if interested. Thank you.
Discord and Roll20 will be used. Voice required.

TL;DR:
---
Me (22M) and my gf (22F) just broke up after almost two years of being in a relationship, because she doesn't feel the need for sexual intimacy at all and thinks that it will affect me too much if we continued, it all happened very sudden for me that day and I didn't have the strength to rationally think everything through at the moment, so I just kept affirming to everything she said since it all did make sense, but other alternatives were not mentioned (i think because of the stress that both of us were going through atm) and we broke up. I am ready to continue loving her in a long lasting nonsexual relationship (I haven't told her that in this way, since I was not sure if I really am ready). For me, I believe that she is the one, and I am willing to go all the way to support her. I will not be contacing her before talking to my psyhologist and waiting at least one week.
How long do you think that I should wait before contacting her?
---
Before we begin:
- I am a 100% phisically disabled person, I am able to do most of my daily things myself like walking , sitting down, getting my clothes on, showering, even having sexual intercourse but of course I am limited to my abilities when doing so. However I cannot stand up by myself without my special chair or the help of another person and I cannot climb stairs or walk down slippery stairs. I am also getting weaker day by day and am expected to be in a wheelchair through 10 years. The disability is physical but I have always been having a hard time talking and thinking rationally and objectively in extremely stressful situations, be it work or a relationship.
- I have an extremely high libido, my girlfriend hes a ow libido, which is getting worse day by day, from what we've talked about in the far past, it is affected by antidepressants she thinks.
- My girlfriend is suffering from clinical depression, takes antidepressants and comes from a family of narcisists (she is not one herself because she understands the principles that she has been raised by were wrong in quite a lot of ways) and she is also suffering from sexual family trauma. She does have a private therapist (psychiatrist) which she has been visiting every week once a week since I've known her. The depression plays a big role, but she is one of the most normal and rational people I've ever met in my life.
Now that you know all the variables, where is what happened in detail:
For the past 4 months she has been hiding from me that she lost intimacy/romancy in a sexual way and has been acting like everything is perfectly fine in that manner whenever we did have sex (She knows how to act things out to the fullest because of her unfortunate childhood where she had to act in the ways her parents wanted her to be). She has opened up to her psychiatrist about it a few months ago after she started noticing it. Since then, she has been getting ready to share this with me and in her head (end it) because she does not want to see me hurt if we continued the relationship.
I have noticed that she has been comunicating less with me the past two weeks by not saying "i love you" back and stuff from time to time etc. The last week it really hit my head when she said that we need to talk and continued to communicate less, she started to avoid going out with me because she couldn't stand having a good time with me this week and then just breaking up (at least thats how i understood her when she opened up that day). Last week I really started to think of why all of this could be happending and it stressed me out so darn much. The day when all of it happened, I was unable to get up from bed for a few hours cause I was that scared of what she could say that afternoon. I was thinking that she surely would not want to propose a break up. And when the afternoon came, she did, she said that we might be able to do this relationship but she is 99% that it would not work out because my high libido would most likely get me to suffer from not having intercourse... My brain stopped working after she mentioned "break up", I just kept affirming to the things she said because I was not able to think straight and tell her that I need time to make this decision and to talk to myself because this is very important.... We just both started crying after she said that she things it could not work out and I stopped talking and just went on crying with her, telling her that she is the best thing that ever happened to me and that I wont ever be able to find another person like her.
We split up in very good terms of course, but I never cried so much honestly... I was really heartbroken and I know that she was too...
After a day passed by, I came back to my senses (at least I think I did), so I started to rationally think about what she said and I did talk to my friends about it.
I really believe that I can go through it all even with my high libido, I think that I should call her after the first week passes and tell her to meet up. I want to tell her that she means everything to me and that I am completely willing to participate in a nonsexual longterm relationship and be her constant support unit as I always did and as I always will be. I can absolutely take romance away from sex and just keep it in hugs, smiles, kisses, cooking, nice things and anything else we plan. I want to tell her that I could not think rationally that day and that now I've given this nonsexual relationship some actual time to think about. I want to tell her that we need to be very open to eachother as we always have been (appart from this 4 months thing but I wont mention that). And of course I would like to propose her to take her time before making this decision and let her take a few days, even weeks to think. Of course I would also say that if there is something else bothering her, and there is some other reason because of which she does not want to stay with me, to tell me and that I will completely understand and that I will be able to move on with time.
Also the argument that she has given it enough thought through the past 4 months that she has been hiding it from me, I know that these things stress her out to the point where she is scared to fully rationally think of them even if she did talk it out to her therapist, and hence she could not come with any other proposals for our relationship to continue... But I might be wrong...I will definitely not rush it and I will not be calling her before I talk to my therapist.
How long do you thinkg that I should wait before calling her?
Thank you!

https://store.dead.net/en/grateful-dead/home/in-and-out-of-the-garden-madison-square-garden-81-82-83-dead.net-exclusive%5B17cd%5D/081227884291.html
I love this box set so much. Every show is fire! Early 80’s Dead is so good and this box set having shows from 81,82 and 83 highlight exactly that!
I only wish the dead had a couple 84 shows at MSG that were just as good. 84 had amazing moments as well. I have heard all the box sets and this is a top 3 or 4 for me. Spring 90, Giants Stadium and 30 trips are my favorites. This might be ahead of Giants stadium even. The performances are better than the giants stadium box set. What makes the giants one so special of course is the high quality.
Listening to dead and co shows now and the Spring 90 tour stuff makes me wish so badly that the dead recorded every show in 24 or 48 track starting in like 74. Or whenever 24 started being available. One can dream. But the fact our favorite band has this much music in high quality is pretty amazing.

Dad is concerned with his health. So he won't call me when I'm away at college. Makes sense. I'd call mom once a day, it's a five second call where she ensures I'm alive and then it switches to she's busy or someone else is calling. Then when I'm at home, even tho I try n be the good kid, do whatever help I can, I am made to feel like an outsider. Like I eat 3eggs each day, my dad said i should only eat 2. But my brother likes mangoes which are far expensive yet my father gets him tonnes of those every day, we have excess of those. And my mom, every time I just be playful and tease my brother she will act overprotective and silence me. Even when it's just a joke, like I say why didn't you put the dishes off the table, she will tell me 'oh, you could do it for him' etc etc Then every time he insults me or throws a tantrum it's my fault again. Even if he hits me it's my fault. There is no ounce of respect in his heart for me who is 7 Years elder to him. Bcoz mom loves him, and so does dad. Also, my mom had my brother bcoz my father's family and father wanted a son. Makes sense they love him well. But idk, I feel lost, at the verge of cutting the world away. Idk what wrong I did. I was always the good kid, I never went out of line, always behaved, scored well, got in a good college, never wore anything inappropriate, never interacted with boys, idk why I'm still not the first choice for either of them. 100% certain, if me and my brother were to drown, my parents would jump to save him. And idk why fate is this cruel to me. I don't have that beauty, outgoing skills, and that need to drive further ahead. I don't even have any goals anymore.

Growing up I could never ask my dad for anything. When my mom would text him for financial help with our expenses it was always “I don’t have it” or “I pay child support”. He would freeze up if he even felt like I was getting ready to ask for something whenever we would talk on the phone.I learned how to never ask for anything because I knew I wouldn’t get it, and he was ok with that. Regardless, I would still go to his house and smile like it was nothing because of the court order, because he was my dad, and because that’s what I was accustomed to. To this day we never talk about it.
It has been very hurtful having to watch my half siblings get the treatment I never received from him, while my older brother and I get othered. He has taken my younger brother on trips that he makes sure not to mention to us, helped with buying his first car, didn’t yell at him as much, and has recently had another child with his wife. My brother graduated high school at the same time that I graduated college this year and the family just decided that they were going to just add me into his HS grad party. I don’t even like parties and was never asked what I wanted. Now this brother is getting shipped off to the naval academy, so the next 4 years will be centered around him..and it’s triggering. Now I have to live through it all again with the new child.
My parents were young when they brought us into this life, so we were the guinea pigs that grew up in an emotionally volatile environment. They split, moved on, and we were left with all of the trauma. As the sacrificial lamb, I am now watching my younger siblings breeze through life while I deal with mental illness that holds me back from fully living mine, and from anything getting better. I try to move forward & dissociate from it but being apart of Gen Z and coming up in a time of high inflation and everything being unattainable, not even the future is exciting like it’s supposed to be. So now the past AND the future is bleak and I'm just existing with no escape.
Anyway…
I’m a well adjusted person overall but all of the burying has finally caught up to me (as it always does). I am seeking help but I don’t know what category my circumstances fall in to help myself or what to label it. All I know is that my experiences are parallel to that of a black sheep or an illegitimate child. Is there a name for this type of family dynamic/situation? What is someone that has experienced what I have called?

Time: The campaign is set to be weekly every Sunday starting between 18:00 CET and 20:00 CET depending on what suits the group best.
Tools: We will be using discord for voice and roll20 as our tabletop simulator. Due to this you'll have to have a working microphone and a stable connection.
Players of any sexual orientation, gender, religion, race and experience with tabletop games are welcome.
About the game: The group will be a team of phantom liberators called the "Specter Inspectors" investigating new supernatural sightings popping up at the beginning of the second industrial revolution in the UK. We will be following an altered version of The House of Lament and Curse of Strahd modules, allowing for more character arcs and interactive roleplay. The campaign is planned to take the characters from levels 1 to 15.
My main focus is on getting a group of incredible people who have good chemistry and creating a comfortable, inclusive and safe environment, that everyone will look forward to at the end of the week.
Once the group is gathered we will go through a collaborative character creation process on session 0 and make sure every rule as well as the plot are exciting to the players!
Applying to the game: If you're interested in joining please fill out this google questionnaire and I'll add people on discord after a couple days: https://forms.gle/RBiiVXsWgPzQDEYi6. Afterwards I'll schedule a voice call with everyone individually over discord to get a feel of your personalities and make sure everyone in the group fits together.

Gave GRE a few days ago in preparation to apply to PA schools. Got the scores I needed! V157, Q160. Experimental was verbal. Got the exact same scores on my powerprep 1 and did not prep much more (except for refreshing geometry skills) between then and taking the test. I used two weeks of gregmats 1 month prep bc I was honestly just lazy. (Also I love how you can narrow down weak concepts using the powerprep!!!) Only 3 of the 11 schools I’m applying to require GRE so it didn’t feel like the best use of my time to study. Ask me anything!!

This started several months ago but I didn't think much of it, but this issue seems to be becoming more frequent, happening 2-4 times per week during the daytime hours, which has led me to seek help.
My internet will go out and doesn't seem to come back on without restarting my modem/router. While the internet is out, the devices seem to be functioning properly - all their lights are active and I notice no physical indications that would tell me they are having issues - but I have no internet. Upon restarting the devices, the internet goes back to its regular speeds and is fine.
The most recent occurrence of this issue was about a day ago, within the hours of 11am-12am PST. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

When i created my account i had to verify my ID,
After this, the same day, I got my account restricted when my friend sent me 200€ after creating my account, it got INSTANT restricted, now it ask me proof of address, Bank statements and explaination on the payment, i'm not into sending them more information, is there a way to get my funds back without waiting the 180 days things without sending them what the ask?

I have fibroids with an enlarged uterus and I bleed heavily during my periods. However, the quality of Always brand pads has gone down a lot over the last few years. The adhesive is nearly non-existent and the pads shift around way to much in my underwear.
I’m considering reusable pads but are they okay with heavy periods? On my heaviest days, I have to change my pads 4 or 5 times.

Hi, I am Pasy - she/her and located within CET timezone. I have been roleplaying for many years now, can easily fill three or more paragraphs depending on situation and am always eager to keep the roleplay interesting and active.
With that small introduction out of the way, I am looking for pleasant RP Partners willing to tackle a thriving story within the Final Fantasy 14 lore. Preferably someone that is not afraid to play an original character for an own creation.
Couple requirements that I'd like to mention:

• please be 22 years or older :)
• I am looking for the male role (I don't mind 2x2 Rp, double that is, just ask ;D)
• Discord only Rp
• be understanding of real life; I do post regular, even more than once a day but this is not a given all the time
• communication is key, if you're unhappy with the rp, talk to me. I can handle :3

As for the idea/plot/characters: we can chit chat about this in private! I am open to a lot of topics, I do love some drama and romance (a lot of that actually), so I am sure we will find a sweet plot for story together!
If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask me privately!
Have a wonderful day!

My fiancée and I just got home from the hospital with our first daughter, I’m very curious to find out all I can do as a dad or should be doing to help with development on this journey
Ex: “month X I should expect X to happen and here’s what you can do with/for the baby” or “month X is coming up, make sure you’re prepared for X” Is there any resource like that out there?
I just feel absolutely useless since the baby obviously only wants to breastfeed and sleep, most I can get with her is a swaddled up stroll around the house for 5-10 minutes before she’s done with me.
Anyway, I saw an ad for Wonderdads when I was searching for this topic and it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, but after looking into customer reviews I found it is more of a scam.
Thanks for reading or for any helpful input. Have a good day!

We are marking our map with all the beaches, snorkel spots, restaurants and other activities and locations that require no reservations, so that we can day to day decide what we feel like doing or pick an area of the island to explore and know all the surrounding things in the area that we are interested in.
Do you have any favorite spots that require no reservations that you'd recommend we include on our map of things we can do spontaneously?
We are going in July, have never been to HI, and have a 4 and 6 yr old with us. Anything the kids would like is of particular interest.