Graco twin stroller with car seats

I am torn. I want to report my own sister to CPS for neglecting her child and putting him in danger one too many times because of her addictions and bad parenting. The thing is I know my sister would hate me, fall into a depression…because she does love her kid but she is an addict…and she often neglects him, doesn’t feed him, doesn’t cut his nails or brush his teeth. She recently crashed her car TWICE with him in the car (first time he was unharmed, second time he was mostly okay but wasn’t buckled in so he flew and hit the back of the passenger seat). Not only that but she doesn’t keep the house clean. She has him living in a pig sty. An unsanitized, disgusting, unhygienic home. Its not an environment for a child to be living in. I hate going to her home because of it. Its just disgusting. And that child has to live there. I have talked about this with her and she just doesn’t change. She needs rehab but refuses to go. She needs a therapist and mental health help but doesnt do anything to get it. Is she is unwilling to help herself then it’s impossible for me to help her. I cant change her on my own, she needs to help me help her but it’s impossible as of right now. What im worried about is my nephew. I would much rather have him be living with my mom (his grandma) and I. But she will NOT agree to that so my only option would be CPS. However…I would hate to put my family through that process. Any advice?

21/10/1
I worked with ychild to get her to clean her room. i did not help her but tried to tell her step by step on cleaning. ochild found out and started cleaning his room. He did well but missed something small. I asked him to finish this one section and he flipped out. I did not yell at him but did start to become heated because he was throwing a fit like a toddler. spouse came bursting into the room yelling at me for yelling at ochild.I think ochild knows he just can just yell and stomp to get spouse's attention and I will get in trouble and he will get to do whatever he wants. This is when I finally made up my mind that the only option is divorce. I cannot think that this marriage is fixable now. I did the dishes, cooked supper, cleaned the living room, swept, and vacuumed. spouse asked me when was the last time I cleaned the toilets. spouse slept with the kids.
21/10/2
spouse spent all day in her room working on her school work. I got the dash cams working in both of our vehicles. Worked with the dogl while walking with her harness. I put up all the laundry except for her shirts because there is no room in our closet and we are out of hangers. I picked up all the torn up trash and dog poop in the backyard. Did a water change in the aquarium. ychild has torn up her room that she cleaned the other day. I spent about an hour outside playing with ychild and ochild. I managed to get the kids in bed around 10-10:30pm. spouse announced that she was taking a bath. At the end of the bath I went in. She started talking about how after everyone went to bed she was going to stay up in the livingroom to work on school. She then told me i came in there for a reason and to tell her what was going on. So I asked if I could go down on her that night. She got angry and told me "does not need to be taken care of." I closed the door and left but I could hear her still going off on me. I feel deflated and unloved again. I don't know why I keep trying to bring the spark back in the marriage. spouse slept in our bed last night and ychild joined us. Today I cooked a breakfast supper and made pizza for lunch. I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep.
21/10/3
I started this journal and decided to try and write about the previous 2 weeks events. My goal is now to record the things I do in the house, my interactions with spouse and the kids, where spouse sleeps, and anything noteworthy on a daily basis. This morning I tried to talk to spouse (she sighed and looked annoyed when I started talking) about an interaction I had with ychild on our way to get breakfast this morning. ychild decided to talk in a way that makes it sound like she is cussing even when she isnt. I told her what I told ychild and spouse snapped at me when I tried to get into the details. If I know I am going to talk to spouse about something non-spontaneous I'm going to try and start recording the interactions. I cooked supper. spouse slept in our bed last night, ychild joined us after waking up.
21/10/4
Today we went to the state fair. It started out as usual when we go on the trip. late start, blaming, getting mad, yelling, her being upset. After getting to the fair the day went well. We didn't argue very much and the day was actually nice but long. Wife had a school meeting at 5. Went out to eat for supper then ice cream with the kids. As usual fight started when the kids only wanted to sit with Wife. Get home kids bathed and put in bed. Wife bought a special deodorant to help with smells in the breast/pubic area (something she is self conscious about) I helped apply it and try and kiss her breasts. She turns away and says she is cold. Helped wife put together kids lunch and backpacks for the next morning. Take the trash out. I shower and notice my wife isn't in bed when I get out so I assumed she was sleeping with the kids. She was sitting in the living room in the dark with her phone on facebook. Wife said she was going to bed but didn't want to "do anything." I go to bed also so I can spend some time with her. Once again I try and cuddle with her. I roll next to her and place my hand on her leg. I don't move it because it tickles or annoys her. After 5 min without her trying to cuddle and with her face buried in facebook I roll over. She can tell I was upset and said that she didn't try and cuddle cause my arm was pinning her down. This isn't true it was only on her leg and i wasn't applying any pressure. YChild ended up in our bed during the night.
21/10/5
Went to work today. no goodmorning or goodbye kiss. Worked all day, picked up the kids, brought them home and emptied their backpacks. Wife got home about 10min later. No hey how was your day. no hello kiss. Nothing. She disappeared into the bedroom again. Worked with Ychild on her letters because she isn't doing well in school. had a breakfast supper. Took the dogs for a walk. made OChild lunch. She complained because I had not yet done the dishes. Waited till the last minute to get their backpacks/clothes together for the morning. Complained because things were missing. feels like I never hear anything positive only ever complaints. Went to bed and wife finally makes it in. I don't really attempt to cuddle just put my arm on her leg and accidentally scratched. Thought I had made her mad so I pulled my hand back. A few minutes later and she rolled over and spooned with me (little spoon.) Its been years since this happened. Is she doing that because of my persistence and she is trying to make me happy? or is it because of a positive change. Only time will tell (success.)
21/10/6
Woke up and wife wasn't in the bed. I don't know if she woke up early or went to lay down with the kids in the night. She was in a mood when i got up. Complained because I hadn't put up the kids school laundry when it came out of the dryer so the clothes are now wrinkly. I let myself relax last night and did not do as many chores. I need to work on that and try and stay busy. ran into trouble picking the kids up from school. Their school fund raisers were supposed to come out with the kids. Ochild did not bring them out because he didn't listen to instructions from his teacher. Wife had to swing by and pick them up because I was already on the way home and the line was seriously backed up. Got home did the dishes, cooked supper, folded the laundry and put a load of laundry in, and gathered and took the trash out. Wife spent the evening once again in our bedroom but this time it was working on activities to help our daughter learn better for school. She did have a school meeting at 7 pm. I thought the kids would shower on the next day so I did not tell them to bath, but was overruled agrily by wife and gave my daughter a shower because her hair was dirty. Kids got to bed 1 hour late because wife kept overruling me on telling them to go lay down. After kids went to bed I got on my computer to play games. I put too large a load in the dryer and it took a long time to dry so I was not able to put it up before bed time. Wife went into the kitchen to make the kids lunches. I asked if I could do anything to help and she said no. I layed down in bed a little later than I was planning. Wife was very angry when she opened the dryer because I hadn't taken the clothes out and folded them, I had washed our large pile of clothes instead of the kids 1 day of clothes, when I folded the laundry I didn't put the towels in the bathroom because i did not want to interrupt her meeting so she yelled at me because the towels were not in the bathroom when she went to take a shower. I was berated very badly and once again felt unappreciated, emasculated, and unloved (hated maybe.) She said that I was doing more around the house only because I felt our marriage was failing (in a sarcastic tone of voice) and I wanted to be praised. I am doing it because it helps with my depression and honestly I am trying to get into the habit for when I inevitably divorce her. I turned off my emotions and went to sleep. No kiss goodnight and even saying goodnight.
21/10/7
Woke up at 3:30 am alone in bed. I assume the wife slept with the kids. I couldn't go back to sleep so I laid in bed. Closer to the alarm time of 4:30ish I got ready for work. When my wife came in I had to say good morning,she wasn't even going to talk to me. I had to initiate the conversation. I left 5 min early because I didn't want to be around her. I had to kiss/tell her goodbye which is usual. I'm not sure the last time the morning routine was initiated by her. several times in our marriage I have experimented with how long we would go without a kiss or an I love you that wasn’t initiated by me. Usually its several weeks and I almost feel like seeing how long it would take this time. Got home with the kids and stopped for our weekly
treat. Wife did not spend as much time in the bedroom as usual. I was tired so I did not feel like doing any cleaning. I cooked supper and we watched a show during supper. Afterwards she joined me and the kids in walking the dogs. We got back and watched a few more shows and then I helped her with lunches and getting the kids things together. Anytime something didn't go perfect she always had little comments and blamed me (like when she couldn't find Ychilds clothes or if a tape was missing.) all in all, the day wasn't bad and wasn't good either. I went to bed a little early and she decided to stay up and watch one of her own movies. I did not kiss her or say I love you. She did not say anything about it.
21/10/8
Woke up at a normal time. Wife and Ychild were in bed with me. The morning went ok and Ychild was very chipper and loving. Got home from work with the kids and went out picked up groceries and ate out. we stopped at some yard sales and had a decent fun time with minimal arguing. Got home and put up the groceries. wife's parents were coming over the next day and "we" cleaned the house. I did the dishes, cleaned the counters, vacuumed and shampooed the carpets, picked up the living room, cleaned off the fireplace, put up the clothes in the living room. It was 10:30 I kept telling the kids to go to bed and Wife kept overriding me. Telling me its the weekend and the kids should be able to stay up. I think 10:30 is too late for an 8 and 5 year old to stay up. I told wife I was tired and was going to bed. She complained that she was going to have to stay up and clean the house by herself. She said i didn't do enough. The only thing she could come up with when i asked her what i didn't do was keep the entertainment center clean and organized. Apparently i'm fine living in an empty house. Funny when she was a stay at home mom after she got laid off and then during the pandemic, the house was never cleaned. She stayed home all day everyday and never cleaned nor cooked supper or did the dishes. I feel like I am bending over backwards not only am I not receiving credit for what I have done. I am actually getting complaints for not doing enough. She eventually went to bed with the kids while I slept in my bed alone again. Not that I wanted her company after making me feel like that.
21/10/9
Got up around 7:00. I finished cleaning the carpets in the living room, cleaned the trash from the carpets, and swept the bathroom. We went looking at garage sales. Parents got there a little late in the day and spent more time with her sister than they did with us which is usually. I tried to get the kids to go to bed at a decent hour but was once again overruled by my Wife. She said the kids are on a school break and should be able to stay up later. I agreed but didnt think staying up till 11:30 at night should be the answer. They should be in bed at 9:30 and asleep at 10:00. Needless to say Wife slept with the kids.
21/10/10
Today we spent a great deal of the day traveling and going to yard and estate sales. It was a decent day with minimal arguing except for right before supper trying to get the kids to not cry when we wont buy them everything they want. Wife said I am fuel to the fire for the kids. It upset me that she constantly bad mouths my parenting style. Apparently not putting up with children throwing fits and actually punishing them instead of just letting everything play out without saying anything is a bad day. A thunderstorm came late in the evening and none of us went to bed before it passed. Wife slept with the kids again.
21/10/11
We all woke up early and took wife to work. When we got back I let the kids play and be kids. We did work on Ychilds worksheets for school. Ochild had a dr apt then we went to pick up wife. Got home and cooked supper and did the dishes. I also vacuumed the livingroom. spouse spent the entire evening in the bedroom working on schoolwork. Wife slept with the kids again.
21/10/12
Woke up with Ychild in my bed and wife at work. Had a good day with the kids. Ychild lost one of her (only pairs) of shoes. They played all day in the living room having a good time. Had leftovers for supper. Wife spent all evening in the bedroom working on schoolwork. Wife slept with the kids again. I was feeling very alone again. Just reminded me how we don't have much of a marriage.
21/10/13
Woke up early alone in bed. Had a good day with the kids. Helped them build a big fort in the living room. I did some woodworking today and got the pole saw from our neighbor. Walked the dogs before supper. Supper didn't turn out well, the pork chops were freezer burnt so we got taco casa. Wife spent the evening in the bedroom working on schoolwork. Another thunderstorm rolled in around bedtime. Wife slept with the kids again. That's 6 days straight sleeping in my bed alone.
21/10/14
Woke up at 3:30am got up but went back to bed and eventually sleep around 4:30-5:00. Woke up with Ychild in bed. I took the kids to several stores today and changed the water in the aquarium . Wife got back home and let the kids play. Once my wife got home I cooked supper and washed the dishes while she disappeared into the bedroom. Went back there and she was just laying in bed saying she was tired while watching tv. I convinced her to come and eat supper with the family at the table. Afterwards she went back to the bedroom for more bed and tv. She would rather spend time laying in bed and watching tv than spend a little time with me. I have been all alone with 2 kids all day (actually for the last 4 days.) Ochild convinced her to come out of the bedroom to show her something on his tv. I don't know what to do and no longer feel connected to my wife, I feel like I am all alone. Wife came out and before laying down with the kids mentioned I havent kissed her goodnight in a few days and to come kiss her. It was just a smooch but at least she took notice. I told her it feels like she wanted me to do that lately.She told me she was just stressed and tired from school work. She slept with the kids again tonight.
21/10/15
Woke up with Ychild in bed with me. Got the kids up and fed them breakfast. Wife got home early and we went to an estate sale. I made hotdogs for supper. Kids went to bed late. Wife complained about them not being asleep. I told her what she said about them being on a school break and me getting in trouble with her earlier for putting them to bed before 10:00 pm. It didn't matter, it was still my fault and still upset. Wife slept with the kids again.
21/10/16
Wife got up earlier than me. We left the house around 9 to go look at some neighborhood garage sales. had a decent day in the car with minimal fussing. Got home a little later than planned. Had Ychild start cleaning her messy room. Wife started complaining about the messy house again saying she is the only one who cleans. Apparently I am not doing a good enough job. What a surprise. did some laundry today. got the kids to bed around 9:30. They were constantly out of bed until 11:00pm with different things. I was getting upset with them and my wife strolled in and took over as usual as soon as the kids started crying. She actually came to bed with me tonight. I tried to cuddle with her but as usual she huffed as soon as I put my arm around her. She said she doesn't mind me cuddling, she just doesnt like it when I move my hand. She made no effort to return the love. I am glad for these interactions because it reminds me that I am not loved and why I want a divorce.
21/10/17
Woke up around 6:00 am with a stomach ache and bloated. Down to 238 lbs. Wife spent the day in the bedroom working on school. I did some laundry, trimmed the trees in the yard, and put out bulk pickup items. Cooked chicken fajitas for supper. Wife came down sick with something and went to bed early. Kids were asleep by 9:00. Wife was asleep by the time I came to bed.
21/10/18
Went to work. Not a bad day there. Got home and cooked supper, took the dogs for a walk. Tried to put the kids to bed at 8:00 Ychild started crying and got wife to agree to let her sleep in our bed tonight. All they have to do is turn on the water works. The wife doesn't want to hear them cry so she caves. Ychild slept with me and wife.
21/10/19
Went to work. Picked up the kids and went home. Cooked hotdogs for supper. Put up some laundry. Wife cut the Ochild and my hair. Didn't go for walk today. Got kids to bed on time. Wife slept with the kids.
21/10/20
Worked from home today. Picked the kids up for a half day. Stopped at chick-fil-a for lunch. Went to the fish store with the kids. Met Wife for the Ychild's parent teacher conference. Cooked chicken fajita nachos for lunch. Gathered trash, did laundry, and did the dishes. Cut out the pumpkin with the kids. Wife and I watched Netflix until bed. We lay down and I decided to try cuddling again. I rolled over to her and she actually reciprocated. She put her leg around mine and held my hand. It felt really nice.
21/10/21
Went to work. It was an uneventful morning and work. Picked up the kids and called my wife to meet us at DQ for a treat. We got home and my wife wasn't feeling well. She didn't eat supper. Me and my kids took the dogs for a walk while my wife stayed behind and took a bath. We watched netflix until bed again. Got the kids in bed on time. When the kids threw a fit when they wanted Wife to cover them up she said something in a low voice and refused to tell me what she said. I kept asking her and she finally told me "it's probably why you resent me." I didn't say anything because it was partially true. I do resent her because the kids prefer her, but they only prefer her because she constantly gives in their fits and I do not. So I keep being the bad guy and she get to be the fun yes mom. Later we started working on the kids' lunches. I got a bottled drink off the table and started to open it.She asked if it was old and I said i don't think so. She started to complain at me because she didn't want to give the kids an old drink. I started to explain why I didn't think it was old (the cap still had seals on most of the cap.) She told me I was talking too loud (I wasn't, I was talking in a normal voice.) She told me she didn't need me anymore so I left and went to bed. We went to bed angry with
each other.
21/10/22
Woke up still angry at her because it was such a little issue to get mad about. Things like this happen all the time. Little things that don't matter in the long run end up being blown up beyond what it should have. had a decent day at work then went and got the kids. ate at the olive garden. Ochild asked if he could have her phone. I explained to him that he could only have his tablet, not her phone or tablet. He got upset and wife immediately caved and gave him her phone. I explained to my wife that we agreed 2 weeks ago and they haven't had either this entire time. their behavior is much better but she said she isn't feeling well and just didn't want to hear it. i got home and unloaded the groceries. My wife started complaining about me unloading the groceries wrong. Apparently I'm supposed to put them on the table starting at the far end then work down the table from there. Like it makes a difference if you take an extra step either way the entire table is filled up and it doesn't matter which end you start on. Then my wife complained that I hadn't cleaned up the blood drops from the dog yet. I literally was only home for 2 minutes before she got home then we left but it's supposed to be my job to get it done with no time to spare. I cleaned it up and she started complaining that I cleaned it wrong. I used a baby wipe when I should have used clorox wipes. There is litteral pee on the floor and she is worried that the blood wasn't sanitized. Makes no sense. This all happened within 20 minutes. Needless to say she slept with the kids again.
21/10/23
Woke up for overtime on a saturday. i worked 7 hours on a boat on the lake. Come home and the wife is sitting on the couch watching tv and the kids are right next to her zoned out with electronics. she didn't do anything all day and has been binge watching netflix. she said
She wanted to go to a local festival today. I fixed myself a pbj for lunch then did the dishes. We went next door to help the neighbors put on their pool cover. After that we went to watch a country band perform at a local festival. We were there for 2 hours and she seemed
upset with me because she knows i do not like crowds and i told her i was there because it's what she wanted to do. that's supposed to be my job to do things i don't like to support her but I guess i am actually supposed to like it to avoid offending her. The kids were
horrible and kept fighting over her phone. It seems like im never gonna get her to put her foot down. Came back home and watched the last episode of season one of our favorite shows. Kids stayed up late and the wife slept with the kids.
21/10//24
Had a decent night's sleep. The kids were screaming when I woke up. Kids had a full day of playing. I took Ochild with me when I went to the store and I bought him lunch. We get home and I throw the kids' laundry into the washer. Wife and the kids made a pumpkin into a puppy for
Ochild's book report. I take Ychild to the store to get her own pumpkin. Kids are playing a game with a hula-hoop like mirror-mirror. My son asks the mirror who is the laziest and he puts it up to me. It really hurt my feelings. Wife talked to him and told him all the things I do (dishes, cooking supper, laundry, sweep/mop, vacuuming, gardening, mowing.) She listed all these things. I talked to her about it later and she said "well" like she really thinks I am lazy. She just listed off all the things I do and she talks to me like I am lazy. Ychild threw a fit at bedtime because her required stuffed animal is dirty from the dog. I begin telling her that she needs to take care of it and this wouldn't happen. Wife gets onto me about trying to teach her life lessons. Wife allows ychild to sleep in our bed with us. I don't think any of my lessons will ever stick when wife is there to overrule me and go softer on the kids. At least I didn't sleep alone tonight.
21/10/25
Woke up and went to work. Uneventful day at work. Get the gets and bring them home. I put up the laundry and started a new load. Picked up the living room and then cooked supper (smothered pork chops.) Afterward we walked the dogs (wife got home and was tired so she changed into pajamas) ychild was upset and wants her mommy to walk with us so she got peeved but changed into street clothes and we walked together as a family. We get back and sit on the couch for the next 3 hours watching netflix. Put the kids to bed then finish our netflix binge. After I volunteered to help fix the kids' lunch for the next day. She praised me for the speed that I made their lunch. Unfortunately ychild had spilled something in her lunchbox and I cleaned it. It got wet when I cleaned and my wife flipped out and got in a bad mood. the next 20 min was kicking me out of the kitchen, complained because i forgot to bring ychild's sweater in from the car, upset because i did not put the laundry into the dryer. I went to bed alone.
21/10/26
Woke up with my wife and ychild in bed with me. I started getting ready and my wife started complaining to ychild that she will have to go dig through the laundry basket to get socks because they never get put up. I spent all my time between getting home and cooking supper and putting up laundry. The both of us sat on our butts and watched netflix for hours the previous evening. we could have done those together but we didn't. Instead it's my fault because I didn't do it. Its tiring bending over backwards, feeling like you are doing the brunt of the housework, the only one working, the only one cooking and feeling unappreciated and getting bitched at for minor things. especially the 1st thing in the morning to our ychild within earshot of me. She is very passive aggressive and saying these things to my kids undermines my authority and prevents me from being an effective parent. Its things like this that leads me to believe that's why my son thinks I am lazy. I wonder what she has said to him so that I didn't overhear. I got the kids from school and brought them home. I immediately put up the clothes that had been folded but not put up. I cleaned the fish tank of dead fish and snails. I cooked supper (hamburgers), i wasn't feeling well so we didn't go for a walk, I got an old laptop together for Ochild to use. Wife and I watched TV for about an hour and got on my computer. Went to bed alone.
21/10/27
Wife and I had an argument at the end of the night. Went to bed upset.
21/10/28
Woke up with my wife and ychild in bed. Didn't say goodbye to my wife when I left. I had a decent day at work. Picked up the kids and brought them home. We didn't walk the dogs today. Wife had to stay late at school. Wife went to bed early with the kids.
21/10/29
Woke up in bed alone. Left again without saying goodbye to my wife. She was upset but I guess doesnt realize that our marriage is in trouble or just doesn't care and wants to maintain an illusion. Didn't have to pick up the kids from school today. We went out to eat for supper. Wife slept with the kids again. came home and mowed the lawn. We ended up eating out at Tuscan Slice. came home and the wife slept with the kids.
21/10/30
Woke up alone. Worked 10 hours of overtime. got home and immediately left to go do some halloween stuff at the big church. had a decent time with little arguing. Afterwards I ate at CFLA. Daughter got upset because she wanted to switch seats and I said no. I am tired of giving in
to the kids' every demand. When she started throwing a fit and told her she was about to get a spanking. Wife got upset because I will actually spank them and she thinks it doesn't do any good. The kids only really seem to do this when they know mommy is around cause when it's just me they behave. They know they can always get mommy on their side and turn her against daddy just by crying. The wife stayed in the bedroom working on schoolwork after we got back. The kids stayed up really late (11:30). went to bed alone.
21/10/31
Woke up alone a little later. Wife and ychild had slept with me. We ended up staying home most of the day. Wife stayed in the bedroom working on schoolwork. I played with the kids, swept, vacuumed, did the laundry, cleaned the living room, and cleaned the aquarium. We went to a local church event for trunk or treat and then we took the kids trick or treating down downtown. It was a decent night. We got home and the kids went to bed a little late.
Nov 2021

Arriving at Gatwick with a toddler and infant. What is the easiest car rental company to use, that will provide car seats? And easy to get to, upon arrival at Gatwick, I am flying alone with my 2 babies.

Hello,
I have a weird issue with my Android phone (Pixel 7).
I've been using Android auto in my car for a long time without any issue. Earlier this week I took the car to a carwash to clean the interior of the car, since then the phone is unable to connect to Android auto.
I've tried multiple good cables, and none work. Phone charges without issue, and there doesn't seem to be any dirt in the port.
I've tried cleaning the port with water, compressed air, etc... I've tried resetting the car dashboard to factory settings... still won't connect to Android auto.
I suspect some car cleaning product could have got on the usb-c cable that was dangling between the seats, and it could then have spread to the phone usb-c port.
​
Any ideas on how I could clean it or why it stopped working?

After hours of browsing classified ads, trying to search for an affordable and reliable car with plush seats with a minimum number of angles and bulges and non-protruding headrests.
This is what I found: -Buick LaCrosse 2015 125000 km 14500 CAD$. I like that it's more recent. It's a stretch for my budget. I'm concerned about the seats: there seems to be the same awful bulge in the upper part than in my Verano, which is killing my upper back, and the headrests seem protruding.
-Lexus ES 2011 189000 km 12500$. Paging that much for a 12 year old car with almost 200K seems risky, even if they're apparently quite reliable.
-Toyota Venza 2010 150000 km 10500$. Mileage less high than the Lexus, but still a 13 yo car.
-Hyundai Genesis 2010 151000 km 8200$. The least expensive of the four. That model seems more reliable than the ones Hyundai made afterwards, but it's still quite old.
I saw some Ford Fusion and Mazda that were more recent around 12-13000$, but the headrests seem really awful. I test drove a Ford C-Max yesterday, and the headrest was a huge problem, I had neck pain after that short test drive.
As a pointer, what worked for me for comfort in the past: -2012 Subaru Outback. Very comfy, also very unreliable -2012 Hyundai Elantra. Never had any issues apart from the AC condensator. I regret it a lot, but I know a lot of them from those years had engine issues. If it wasn't for that, I would consider getting another one. -2007 Honda Odyssey. It had all kind of issues and fuel mileage was bad, but it was comfortable

I have a 2015 GMC Sierra V8 crew-cab truck which is shaking noticeably (yet not violently) when I drive on the Interstate at 70+ MPH

• Year: 2015
• Make: GMC
• Model: Sierra
• Mileage: 62,200
• Engine size: 5.3L V8
• Transmission Type: Automatic

Last November, I had the vehicle's oil changed at the dealership (since I have a service contract with them), and they performed a tire rotation at the same time
Afterward, everything seemed normal, but I don't drive the vehicle very often since I generally work from home – and when I do drive it, it's generally just around town at 25-55 MPH, with no shaking at those speeds
In late February, I had to make a short trip to the next town over, and noticed the shaking right away
At first I thought maybe the Interstate roads were a little wash-boarded, but shortly after rode in a coworker's car over the same stretch of road, and it became apparent something was wrong with my truck
I took it back to the dealership, which performed a multi-point inspection (lights, battery, fluids, brakes & lines, shocks, shaft boots, tire tread wear & inflation) and passed everything, only noting Left-Front and Right-Front tread as 10, and Left-rear and Right-Rear tread as 9. The service manager assured me the lugs were torqued to spec, and the vehicle was safe to drive
Fast-forward to 1 week ago, and then also today, when I again had to make trips to nearby towns via the Interstate – everything feels fine until I reach ~70 MPH, and then the shaking begins
Sometimes when changing lanes, or taking a curve, the shaking will subside and the drive suddenly becomes nice and smooth – but after 2-3 miles, or after changing lanes or taking a curve again, the shaking comes back
Searching Google seems to suggest that my tires may have become unbalanced. If that indeed seems likely, can the dealership fix that, or is it better to go to a tire shop?
Otherwise, is another issue(s) that's more likely the cause?
Much as I love watching Donut on YouTube, I'm admittedly not the most mechanically-inclined person, so am at a loss for how best to approach getting this fixed
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, since I'm hoping to make a several-hundred-mile trip in the next 2 weeks and want to be absolutely certain the vehicle is safe
Thanks much!
*EDIT: To add info, the steering wheel does not seem to shake at all – just the truck itself, enough that I can feel it through the driver's seat. I have not made any customizations or changes, so everything is OEM. The engine is a L83 - VVT with Active Fuel Management, and the truck came with the "Max Towing Package" installed from the factory

Myself and my partner work full time and we have a toddler (almost 2). My job is more flexible with start times so I’m usually the one to drop him to the childminder in the morning. As anyone with a toddler can attest to, they are messy. As a result, his car seat is usually littered with crumbs and food bits etc. Most mornings, before I put him into his car seat, I will pull the bigger bits of food from the evening before, which is mostly crackers(I also collect him every evening) and throw them on the ground in our garden for the birds (we live right behind a park so there’s always gangs of birds around). I noticed after awhile that it was always the crows that came for the food not long after I threw it. Now I have started going out into the garden with extra food (left over dinners such as prawns, crackers nuts etc) to feed them, but my partner isn’t happy about it. He thinks I’m luring birds to shit on all the cars in the estate. I’ve just taken a liking to the crows and because of where we live, there is a huge bird population anyway. AITA for continuing to actively feed the crows?. I have also researched what is and is not good for crows so try to stick to that. ETA: I deep clean the car and seat once a week!

Hello all! I’m gonna be moving from Los Angeles to the Twin Mountain area for some seasonal work. I’ll be in New Hampshire from mid June till sometime in October. I’ve never been to NH before and looking for some things to do during my time off as well as any recommendations, tips and tricks to enjoy life out here. I’m 27 and I’m in the hospitality industry (mainly culinary). I enjoy the outdoors/camping/hiking, I’m a photographer, lover of flea markets, enjoy all things art, strolling through a museum or catching a theater production. I will have my car with me and plan on seeing the surrounding states as well as getting to cross into Canada, I’m also into off-roading but I’m not sure how much access y’all have to trails?. So any suggestion you think is worth it; wether it be a restaurant, hiking trail, museum, random point of interest, I’ll take it.

I (18M) am being sued by my friend's (17M) mother after his death in a car crash with me behind the wheel.
Eight months ago, after he had been lightly drinking, I drove him to go play golf.
We were smashed by another car on the way there, and my car was totaled.
He was not wearing his seat belt at the time of death. I don't have car insurance.
Mother is suing me for a six figures for his wrongful death believing I am responsible
Do I have any legal basis? Not used to this kind of stuff and I'm not very well versed in law. My first language is Arabic so apologies if this isn't written very good.

I've always been a very anxious driver and I haven't had consistent access to a car, so I only just got my driver's license (perfect test, but also my 4th test) after driving inconsistently with a permit for five years.
I'm moving to an area where I will need a car to get around, so I'm trying to buy a used car. The exact car I want, at a great price, is... a 3.5 hour drive away.
My boyfriend wants to go with me (in his car) on Saturday to check it out, but I'm worried what to do if I buy the car. If I try to drive it home, it'll be my first time driving alone, my first time driving for longer than an hour, and also probably my first time on the interstate (I've driven on highways but it's been a while with the inconsistent car access).
The drive is a 3.5 hour straight shot on one highway across the state (I-76 in PA if anyone is local). I've paid close attention to the highway in the passenger seat lately since I've known this might be a possibility, and it seems like, other than merging on and off and constantly maintaining focus, it seems like a fairly safe and easy place to drive.
I think with a bit of a pep talk and regular breaks I could probably handle the trip home. My parents say I can't possibly do it and that I should leave it there and have them come and pick it up and drive it home (which I absolutely do not want them to do), or else ship it. Which I could do, but will be a bit of a pain to arrange. It would probably be with a 3rd party, since this is a small used car lot that probably doesn't ship themselves, especially not shipping a <$10k car 230 miles. It would feel a little silly to ship a car that distance, but I would feel comfortable paying for it if that seems like the best option and if arranging it isn't too difficult.
I have no idea what to do.
Do I go forth and try to drive it home? How hard would that drive really be? I was feeling nervous but okay about the possibility of doing it before being told I absolutely couldn't do it. I do think there is a fair point there about lack of experience. But on the other hand, I do have a license and have driven for years and the only way to get the experience is to do it.
Edit: Alternatively, how complicated or realistic is it to get a 3rd party to ship a car just 230 miles? I'd feel embarrassed trying to explain it to the dealership, but if that was the hardest part I'd be okay doing it.

As many of you know on this subreddit know, the Nevada Legislature held a meeting on Memorial Day regarding the Southern Nevada Tourism Innovation Act, otherwise known as the SB509, which would provide $380 million in public money from the state of Nevada and Clark County for a 30,000-seat partially retractable roof ballpark that would cost $1.5 billion and built on the site of the Tropicana Las Vegas with an opening date of either 2028 or 2027 with the Athletics playing there as a replacement venue for the Oakland Coliseum after they relocate from Oakland. Public officials, residents and even some out of state people like Athletics fans in Oakland were invited to provide comments for and against SB50 or were otherwise neutral. After this hearing, John Fisher and Dave Kaval went to Carson City recently to speak with lawmakers on the bill. And that brings us to the question of what the Nevada Legislature will do next.
The Nevada Legislature is on a tight deadline to get the bill passed by June 5 before the regular legislative session expires, not to mention that the MLB Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred, has said the league could vote to allow the Athletics to move to Las Vegas during the owners meeting on June 13-15 which will probably depend if Carson City can pass this bill. Now, support for the bill is by no means unanimous in the legislature as some are skeptical of it's benefits or promises for the Las Vegas Strip and the Las Vegas Valley as a whole. Nonetheless, there are supporters within the legislature throwing their lot with Governor Joe Lombardo (R-NV) on the bill itself. Also, Las Vegas has experienced success in sports with the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and the NFL's Raiders to a lesser extent in addition to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators (the Athletics affiliate) drawing decent crowds to Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin South. The allure of an MLB team in the Valley and a potential tourist destination on the Strip to compliment the Golden Knights' T-Mobile Arena and the Raiders' Allegiant Stadium does appeal to some Las Vegans and Nevadans, including legislators, which gives this bill some serious weight. All of this can lead to option A: Most of the Nevada Legislature votes yes to provide $380 million to finance the Athletics ballpark in Las Vegas. In this scenario, the team would get what they want and ensure their relocation to the Sin City is a foregone conclusion with the MLB voting to allow it during the owners' meeting. It also means that the Aviators would share a market with their MLB parent club, similar to the St. Paul Saints and Minnesota Twins, and this could extend to the Las Vegas Ballpark as a temporary venue for two to three seasons if artificial turf can be installed, much like how the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers shared Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson with the MLS's LA Galaxy from 2017-2019 while SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was under construction for them and the Los Angeles Rams. Alternatively, the Athletics might remain at the Coliseum for two to three years while their new digs in Las Vegas are under construction much like the Raiders and Allegiant Stadium. Moreover, Oakland loses it's last sports team and is devoid of professional sports forever. Last but not least, John Fisher sees the net worth of his franchise go up and a shiny new ballpark with the potential to host multiple events besides the MLB overseen by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority.
However, the fact that there are some skeptics of SB509 in the Nevada Legislature means that they could persuade the others to vote no to giving $380 million to the Athletics, which will result in option B for the team. In that scenario, the Las Vegas plan is dashed and the Sin City is now off the table for relocation, which puts the Athletics in an awkward position as they need a new ballpark to replace the Oakland Coliseum by January 2024, or else they will be shut out of the MLB's revenue sharing agreement. Oakland wouldn't be an option under Fisher because they don't have a good relationship with the city, even with Mayor Sheng Thao open to negotiations on a new ballpark after Howard Terminal since, according to Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis, they aren't going to turn to the East Bay again. A rejection within Carson City might lead the Athletics to court Portland or Salt Lake City as a relocation destination since both cities are hungry for baseball and already have plans for an MLB-calibre ballpark which the team would see as an improvement over the aging and outdated Oakland Coliseum. Moreover, the Athletics would need to take up the ballpark plans for the Portland Diamond Project (PDX) or Big League Utah as well as gain support from local and state officials, business owners or unions to relocate there, which means starting from the ground up. They will face some challenges in either city like they did in Las Vegas and only one of them would get the team ruling out expansion.
Between the two options, I will say that the first one, option A, is the most likely outcome for the Nevada Legislature's vote on SB509 because the state of Nevada has a tight deadline and under pressure from the Athletics organization and the MLB's owners' meeting in New York to some degree to provide the necessary funding for a ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip. Oakland also doesn't have a good track record of keeping it's sports teams, as the Warriors and Raiders can attest, and the Athletics don't have a good relationship with the city, as mentioned earlier. When we enter the early days of June 1-5, we will see whether or not the Nevada Legislature will vote yes for $380 million for the Athletics' ballpark in Las Vegas.

So... Where to start? My girlfriend and I meet three years ago and at first, her family dynamic seemed dysfunctional, but not horrible. She attended my senior prom and I had good interactions with her parents and the first times I went to her home all seemed well but a little off... First I learned that the father did not work, with him claiming that he "had worked enough in his life." The family for about the first year I had known her they were entirely dependent on her mother's income which was inconsistent and often blown on cigarettes and junk food. I could tell things were rough, and I realized this my girlfriend kept me from seeing it by not having me over which was not necessarily a bad thing since the few times I was over I was made uncomfortable by her father and brothers (nothing horrible, just jokes that were directed towards me that I was not fond of). The last time I was actually welcome in her house was over two years ago and it was around that time that she began to open up about some of the worse behavior that she had previously kept from me. Her father had had drinking issues while she was younger and that he had been thrown through a windshield in a car accident which caused neurological damage, making him more violent and neurotic. He has beaten his wife and oldest sons (25 and 22) and the man has made horrible insults and threats to my girlfriend, ranging from him taking the car that she had bought with her own money to disowning her after she had defended her mother.
Her dad has also allowed his oldest sons to terrorize my girlfriend ranging from them physically forcing her to move out of a seat, stealing food she had bought herself, buying food for everyone else but not for her, and tearing apart her room like toddlers going through a temper tantrum. It is essentially psychological warfare in their attempt to tear her down. She is the most successful of her siblings with her two older brothers struggling to graduate high school, being unhealthy, and having no meaningful relationships with the resulting anger coming out on her and her mother. Her mother is also a case study since she has gotten in trouble with the law, has guilt-tripped my girlfriend out of money, and has used me as ammunition whenever arguing with my girlfriend by claiming that I was sleeping with other women just to make my girlfriend upset. She is a manipulator and liar but she is also a woman who is repeatedly placed under stress by her oldest sons who legitimately hate her and her abusive husband (but for the record, she has also physically abused him but I do not know all of the details).
Over the last two years, there have been continued escalations in the fights that have occurred between my girlfriend and her family members with each one ultimately coming down to the question of her moving out but nothing has developed. There is always an excuse for her not moving out to her own place, whether it be her having health insurance, being there for her two youngest brothers (17 and 10), or her fearing for her mother's safety but over the last six months things have gotten worse. One day in November last year I went to pick her up from her house and I heard her crying and yelling from the inside with her pleading with her brother not to destroy her room and her belongings. I immediately banged on the door with her brother opening it and I questioned what was going on and this resulted in me being kicked off their property.
Fast forward to yesterday and my girlfriend got caught in the middle of a domestic abuse situation, with her father beating her mother and throwing things at my girlfriend. I am seriously concerned that one of these days my girlfriend will be hit by one of his blows and there is nothing I can do to stop him but I do not see my girlfriend moving out anytime soon. Even with her own car, her already sustaining herself, the ability to stay at my parent's house for as long as she needs, and friends that would take care of her in a heartbeat she will not take action and she has needed to for years. She is embarrassed to ask anybody for help and she doesn't like to tell me much about what goes on in her house until the pot boils over. She is horribly afraid to leave and against her better conscience, she did not call the cops yesterday.
I do not see an end to this cycle of emotional and now physical abuse, and it culminates with her dad and brothers calming down for a few weeks or months before escalating again. She is a wonderful person and it baffles me that she is who she all-the-while growing up in this disaster of a family unit; but she needs to break free of these people and put the excuses aside before they drag her down anymore. She cannot stay with me since we go to different universities and I live in the dorms so it would be considered squatting and she is too proud to accept my parent's offer of staying with them.
I've envisioned a life with this girl, but personally, her family is not in that vision at all for they have done too many unforgivable things. If we were to move in together she would need to go no-contact with her family and no amount of apologies on their end would make me okay with them attending a potential wedding and I would never let her father hold a child of mine. I cannot ask her to have a falling out with her family, but if we are going to move forward in this relationship she would need to let them go, and I understand that this is a selfish line of thinking on my part, but how much longer will she use her younger brothers as an excuse to stay close with her family, until they are 18? Until they are moved out? I just do not know...
I'm exhausted and I feel defeated for there is nothing I can physically do to help her move. I'm stuck and guidance from you guys would be appreciated. Thank you all.

Tough Love
Jacob and his wife were drifting apart. His wife wanted a divorce. He wanted a vacation. He went on a vacation. The vacation was over and it was time to go home. Jacob was to pay for a taxi to take him to the airport. At the time, he was in the city of Eilat, Israel— its lights shined with its crowded sidewalks. Jacob waited for a taxi. The streets buzzed with incoherent chatter. People walked left and right, brushing by him as he stood on the curb. It was eight thirty, and his flight was at eleven. The airport was about an hour and a half inland, so he had to leave now.
* * *
He waited for some time, but when the taxi showed up, he got into the back seat and said hi to the taxi driver. The driver said hi back, and then the driver asked where he wanted to go, and Jacob said to the airport. After this small interaction (they didn’t talk much at first), the taxi driver pressed on the pedal and began driving.
The taxi driver tried to make some small talk, but Jacob didn’t really lead the conversation anywhere. He was too busy looking at the scenery. They drove by the sea for a little while, on the road, just above the beach. The taxi driver’s windows were open, and inside the taxi, he didn’t play any music, so Jacob could hear the sounds of the shore. The horizon with white stars was twinkling, grayish black, with splotches of dark yellow and purple filling up the lowest points of the sky.
* * *
After a while, the road turned away from the beach and went inland. Lines of yellow hills sat on each side of a steep valley. The valley, except for its hills, was at sea level where the river flowed out into the ocean. But the valley’s altitude grew in height as it traveled with the river inland. As one walked beside the river on the sandy road, starting at the shore, the river zig zagged up the valley and went up and into the sky. They drove through the hills, on one of the hill-sides, going up and down and through the windy road. Jacob tried to admire it all, but things like his wife were on his mind. She was beautiful, he thought, with her brown eyes and her brunette hair– so beautiful, he thought.
“Did you enjoy your trip?” The taxi driver asked Jacob.
“I don’t know. I wanted to get away for a little while. My wife’s been bothering me.” Jacob said. He was very buzzed, so he said what came to mind.
“I get that.” The taxi driver paused. “Why’s your wife bothering you?”
“My wife says I work too much. But I think it’s a good thing to support the family. We have large fights over it– screaming fights. Maybe I could have brought her on this trip, but I needed time alone to process it all.” Jacob said. “I don’t think she’s willing to compromise. Maybe I’m not willing to compromise. It probably is my fault, isn’t it?--” Jacob rubbed his eyes with his hands.
“Do you have any kids?” The taxi driver asked.
“I do. I have two kids.”
“Do you see them a lot?”
“I don’t, no. My wife and the nanny take care of them. Why do you ask?”
“Because you seem troubled.”
* * *
“What about you? Do you have a wife?” Jacob asked.
“My wife…? We used to live here in the city. We used to walk alongside the beach. Every year I put a flower by the ocean side. That’s how I feel about my wife. Maybe you should too.” The taxi driver said.
“I don’t know about that.”
“You may be looking at this from the wrong angle… But the way I see it– I don’t know you well, but you seem like you don’t want change to happen.”
“I do want change to happen, but I don’t think I have it in me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not strong enough.”
The taxi driver said nothing.
“Yeah. I think it was my father who did it to me. He used to hit me with the belt, you know? Whenever I came home too late. Sometimes he liked to hit me out of spite.” Jacob said.
“That’s no good.”
“It isn’t, no..” Jacob huffed out loud.
“Maybe you should say sorry to your wife.”
“It wouldn’t do me any good. I’m too deep into this thing already.”
“Then maybe you should think about it.”
“I used to cheat on my wife a lot; I don’t know how many women I got with before she found out.”
“What was the point of it all?”
“Because I’m sad. That’s what I’d like to think.”
“Well, change only comes out of action. You seem like you want to change, but you don’t want to go through the actions.”
“You’re probably right. But what will change about my actions? Nothing, probably.”
“That’s just a mindset.”
“You’re probably right about that, too.”
“Then I think you should think about the small moments. That could help.”
* * *
Jacob was a real-estate lawyer by trade. He worked on writing up the papers for deals for commercial estates. That type of thing. Big business guy. Ironically he didn’t enjoy the work much, but he was told by his father to pursue law because that’s where the money’s made. His father wanted him to be a successful example for his children because that’s what he never was. Jacob never really loved his father. He looked up to him, but he didn’t love him. Maybe he did love him in some ways, but he was a cruel father– the type to belittle him. His mother had died when he was young, so he had no maternal figure to look up to; it was only his father who lived with him and he didn’t really like that.
Jacob was born in the year 1972 as an accident because his mother and father didn’t really know each other too well. The mother and the father, they married after he was born, and the cancer wasn’t found until it was too late so the mother died young. In the ‘80s he went to a normal school district in the city of Cleveland, and his father worked as a construction worker attempting to make ends meet. Sometimes he didn’t, sometimes he did, and food was sometimes put on the table. They lived in a small apartment for which they called home. Sometimes his father liked to beat on him when he got drunk, peppering his face and chest with bruises, bashing his head against the wall. But, it was okay according to his father because that’s really what tough love was.
In his teenage years he used to smoke too much pot and drink with his friends while collecting his own thoughts. When he graduated in the top third of his class, he attended Ohio State University and worked as a waiter at a local bar by campus full time whilst living in the dorms. His eye bags hung low; he was tired most of the time and didn’t really enjoy the amount of work he had but dealt with it. He majored in English because he didn’t like the sciences much; he was a humanities guy by choice. He never really talked to his father once he went to college (although his father reached out to him on numerous occasions), living for himself, and he met a woman in that college that he fancied, and they loved each other mutually. The normal stuff.
Well, the dad got cancer of the pancreas, and he died soon after. His girlfriend thought that he’d cry at the funeral. She tried to comfort him, put her head on his shoulder, etc, but he never attended it, nor did he cry. He was above all that crying stuff.
In grad school the two got married, and after graduating from law school he had some kids, but he didn’t raise them much because he was too busy with work. He had to be the man of the house, of course– the man his father wasn’t. Ironically that came with the estrangement of his kids. The nanny could take care of them, as long as he worked, he thought. He made enough money for a nanny, he thought.
Though his wife didn’t like the idea of his callousness. She always thought he was that type, but when he worked too much (they made a lot of money with their big house and their fancy cars), that’s when the two began to drift apart. He used to stay overnight at his office instead of coming home, not really liking that family stuff. He used to cheat on his wife a lot; he probably had gotten with six to seven women before his wife even figured it out. He improved on it though, but their relationship was already strained— it was never the same thereafter.
* * *
When they reached the airport, Jacob got out of the taxi, and a wave of hot air hit him as he took his luggage out from the trunk, his shirt blowing in the wind. It was very warm at night with moisture in the air. He paid the taxi driver, leaving the driver a tip, and Jacob took his luggage and headed into the airport.
“Did you at least enjoy your trip?” The taxi driver called over to Jacob as he walked into the opening gates. But Jacob said nothing.
On the plane, it was very late in Israel, so most of the people on board slept, Jacob included. He slept for a while, and when he woke up, he drank his coffee and watched the gray blobs wandering in the sky.
When the plane landed, it was very late. It was the last flight to dock in the airport for the night. He waited for his luggage, and when he got it, he walked out into the cold air and took another taxi drive home.
He reached his home in the suburbs. When he opened the door, he entered a pitch black living room. He turned the light on and then sat in his kitchen, at the counter, where he poured himself a glass of brandy. Jacob thought and thought that night. Without a drive to change, nothing can change.
He walked up the stairs and entered the bedroom of where his wife slept, glass of brandy in hand, pretty drunk at this point. He sat on her side of the bed, but he didn’t shake her awake— no. He just sat there, contemplating his life choices. There was nothing he could do, nothing to change the eventual outcome of the predicament of his own doing. He said “sorry” to her as she slept, tears streaming down from his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” he said quietly as he sat there, thinking about the small moments, alone.

[first] [prev] [next] - [wiki]
The concept of shooting oneself in the foot is very much a Terran philosophy. While the Pubvians may plot and scheme against one another they always do so within the framework of their dominance philosophy. A Terran will, for no reason that can be explained, suddenly embark upon courses of action that lead to absolute disaster, including the destruction of carefully laid plans, even including the loss of their own life.
Thus, my Twelfth Law of Humans: A human will grab victory from the jaws of defeat and defeat from the grasp of victory in equal measure but what they will do with such accomplishments is nearly entirely up to chance. - P'Thok's Laws of Humans
Dead Terrans Still Kill - Blockbuster Lanaktallan Horror Movie franchise
It never fails. People always try me. They look at me and something in their brain tells them 'I can totally take that dude in a fight'. I don't know why. -Magnus Oathsworn
I love my brother, but I swear he could find a fight in a closet. - Surscee Oathsworn
Nakteti raised her head, blinking. She'd fallen over on her side and her nose had bled. Magnus was sitting up, frowning behind the clear macroplas shield of his combat suit. Surscee was still asleep and to Nakteti's eyes it looked like she had vomited and the suit's internal systems had cleaned it up. Chuck was still offline, his telltales blinking amber.
She looked at the four Terrans.
Chronotronic Knights of the Combine, she thought to herself.
She couldn't see their faces. The front of their helmets were armored, just three slashes where sensors were carefully guarded. The suits were sleek looking, with bulky shoulders and heavy equipment on the back.
Chuck had already broken their decryption and she was able to get a complete feed off of their armor.
All four of them were unconscious. Two were still having nightmares, another was shivering with mat-trans shock but nearing consciousness, and the last one was just starting to have their brainwaves and biological systems start to reset.
She couldn't remember her nightmare, just that it had ended with her screaming at a dead sky.
Nakteti knew she had stared at more than one dead night sky.
One of the Knights was obviously the leader. Of course, the rank of Lord Knight of the Black Rose might have something to do with it. Two were Lord Knights of the Sword, with the last being the Lord Knight of the Tome. Despite the voices, two were female Terrans, which Nakteti decided meant that all of them were using voice changers.
She had to admit, she didn't trust them.
She had read Terran history and knew that the Combine had seized control of Terran Space and the Republic, undermining the Republic during the war against the Mantid to seize power. That, in turn, had led to the rise of the TerraSol Imperium of Light.
The "Light" seemed to Nakteti to be the light of novasparks, planet crackers, and body incinerators.
She had checked their armor's time/date stamps, and the timestamps showed they were within a year of the estimated date of the attack on Terra and her colonies by the Mantid.
The question in Nakteti's mind, is just how xenophobic these Combine soldiers were. How they would truly react to a digital sentience that could walk around in a human sized frame.
How they would react to the twins.
While Magnus often appeared relaxed and easy going and Surscee was all smiles, gentle teasing, and laughter, Nakteti had seem them 'go to work' more than once.
Nakteti knew that Magnus's blade and Surscee's 'magic' would be more than a match for what the Combine troops assume was bleeding edge weaponry and armor.
She kept her eyes closed, lowering her head, using her armor's sensors, her datalink, and her retinal link to keep an eye on everyone else.
Magnus stood up, stretching, then moved over to his sister. He knelt down and shook her gently.
"Rise and shine, Arch-Magus," he said softly.
Surscee just groaned.
Nakteti waited until Surscee and the four Chronotronic Knights were on their feet until she got up. She feigned tremors and fatigue, following everyone out of the mat-trans chamber and into the primary control room.
One of the Knights, the Knight of the Tome, looked around.
"I don't know what it is, but I swear that it always feels like someone walked out just before we opened the door," he said.
"You're just paranoid," another said.
Other than that, they were silent as Magnus led the way out of the mat-trans facility. Like all three of the facilities Nakteti had walked through, the only path that was not sealed with heavy duty blast doors was a direct line from the front door to the central mat-trans chamber.
Once outside she waited for the four Knights to come out.
They stopped, looking around.
Buildings were blurred, with shimmering versions of themselves overlapping the most solid version. Shades flickered as they swept through the multiplicity of streets. The mag-line of the fusion plant that would normally be invisible was a glowing tube in the sky that visibly twisted.
A path wound between shimmerings. The path had half-meter wide and meter tall cylinders, attached to the ground with arm length rivets pinning the flanges down.
"Time is a little wobbily," Surscee said. She looked to the side at where a shimmering line of trees had limbs bowed with the weight of ripened fruit. She gave a sigh. "And lo, I rendered fruitless."
Magnus led the way slowly, with Chuck pulling up the rear and Nakteti holding tight to Surscee's hand.
The overlap between the temporal stabilizers made her stomach churn.
"These are disruptors and stabilizers?" the Knight of Tomes asked.
"Yes," Magnus said, pausing to check a red light. He opened the top and adjusted the controls. The red light winked out.
"You need something the size of a cargo ship to produce that," the Knight of Tomes argued.
"The Second Precursor War mandated some new developments," Magnus said. He looked around. "I was right. Keeping the area of effect tight is making sure we don't suffer any major disruptions to the structure itself."
"Second Precursor War?" the Lord Knight of Black Roses asked.
"Turns out the Mantid had an old set of enemies. The Lanaktallan, a herd species, and the Atrekna, a temporal adept species from another, dead, universe," Surscee said. She shrugged. "I do not know much, just what any other civilian knows."
"And the Mantid? We were fighting them too?" the Knight of the Sword with the toolkit hardcase on each hip asked.
"No. They are founding members of the Terran Confederacy. They fought the Lanaktallan and the Atrekna with us," Chuck said. "The Lanaktallan joined the Confederacy once they were defeated, in order to keep the Atrekna from devouring the universe."
"Huh," one of them said.
"We have to take another mat-trans to Alpha Layer. From there we move to the base of Space Elevator C19 dash 7A," Chuck said. "That's what we're using for a staging area."
"Why?" The Knight of the Tome asked.
"We're using the nanoforges and creation engines of our ship to manufacture the components needed to repair what we have to," Chuck said.
He got Nakteti's order to not explain that little bit after he finished talking.
"Low class forge and engines?" the Rose Knight asked.
"Yeah. Civilian grade," Nakteti lied.
They were silent again.
That hinky feeling strengthened but Nakteti kept quiet.
-----
Nakteti noticed that they never took off their armor. Not even to sleep. Not to eat.
She didn't say a word about the fact that Chuck handed out small temporal disruptostabilizers that would work in roughly a meter around the person holding it.
He didn't trust them either.
Magnus seemed cordial, Surscee friendly, toward the Chronotronic Knights, but Nakteti had known the twins for long enough to know that when they acted that way they were at their most dangerous.
She forbid them from boarding the ship. Telling them that there was dimensional barrier breaching damage to some systems and she could not update the ship's registry to include them as authorized personnel.
She eavesdropped on their complaints, but the Rose Knight counseled patience.
Nakteti made sure she was carrying both knives and her sword at all time. She made sure that they saw that using her gripping hands to hold onto something was an ingrained instinctive habit, so eventually they ignored her standing there, holding onto her sword tightly.
The repairs went faster.
Nakteti said nothing about the fact that the Knight of Tomes seemed to be the only engineer. The others just lifted and carried, and the Rose Knight often seemed slightly offended that he was asked to carry something, or turn it on or off, or just supervise the robots.
The work went slowly.
Michael insisted that separating the chronologically oldest layer first was the primary goal. Doing that would provide a baseline for the rest of the temporal banding and layers to be separated.
The Knights did nothing that Nakteti could grasp with her gripping hands, but she just felt that there was something off about the Knights.
Something strange.
They had avoided talking about, either changing the subject or ignoring any questions, what time period they were from after the Glassing. What their mission was or anything about it.
Nakteti understood military secrecy, but still, it made her catching hands itch.
The work went on.
-----
"Wait, so these so-called Atrekna showed up and somehow killed off all of humanity?" The Rose Knight asked. He was sitting at a console where Nakteti had had Chuck place the basic history of Terra and the Confederacy, as well as its predecessors.
"Yes," Nakteti said. "I was briefed more than once about the entire situation."
"How?" the Knight of the Tome asked.
"When I left it was called the Archeo-Reversion Temporal Attack," Nakteti said. "Apparently the Atrekna used the majority of their strength and power when they first arrived to try to reset humanity to pre-Glassing in the mistaken belief that humanity had been altered by the Mantid into a warrior servitor."
The Knight of the Tome shook their head. "How?"
"It involved their ability to alter time, to layer multiple time periods on top of one another, as well as other temporal attacks," Nakteti said. She spread her hands. "I'll admit, much of it was beyond my understanding. Then there was the Terran Xenocide Event. We're still not sure what caused that. While the ARTA only killed off roughly 20% of humanity, the Xenocide Event was catastrophic and happened roughly a year later."
"How many did it kill?" one of the Knights of the Sword asked.
"Over ninety-nine point nine nine six percent of the survivors of the first attack. They just dropped dead. The cloning banks cut out. The SUDS was offline," Chuck said.
"Then came The Vanishing, where the majority of the remainder, largely children, just disappeared, whether or not they had a datalink," Nakteti said.
"Then follow that with Shade Night," Magnus said. He tossed a slice of apricot in the air and caught it in his mouth. "That pretty much wiped out over seventy percent of the Galactic Arm Spur," he said, chewing on the apricot piece.
"So, how did you survive?" the Rose Knight asked.
Magnus shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess," he said. "I'm Pure Strain Human, largely unaltered. Living on a primitivism world. No datalink, no superluminals, none of it. Most of my family survived, although my mother disappeared after Shade Night."
"This just seems awfully convenient for you," the Rose Knight said.
"It's been anything but convenient," Nakteti said. "It threw the entire Galactic Arm Spur into chaos. Set back the war effort against the Atrekna and the PAWM both, nearly caused the surrender of the Unified Council to fail. That's not even counting over a dozen species attempting to take over former Terran systems."
She squeezed her blade with her gripping hands. "Catastrophic is a better term," she said.
Chuck looked up. "Michael says it's time to fire off the disruptor. That will separate the oldest temporal layer from the rest."
"It should also start up the master massive catastrophic trauma processing system," the Knight of the Tome said. "That should allow the repair teams to start fixing things."
Nakteti stood up, brushing her hands off. Magnus threw half of the remaining apricot to his sister, tossed the seed into the reclamator, then shoved the rest into his mouth.
Chuck nodded.
The Arch-Angel materialized. "I cannot proceed without master authorization."
The Rose Knight stepped forward. "Proceed."
Michael looked at the Knight. "Authority rejected."
The Arch-Angel turned to Nakteti. "Do you wish to proceed."
"Initialize," Nakteti said.
Michael flickered as there was a loud thrum that Nakteti felt in her bone marrow rather than her skin. She tasted sweet cherry-plums and tinfoil for a moment.
"Temporal Layer Zero separation confirmed," Michael said. "Uploading necessary tasks for next separation."
Nakteti just nodded, turning away.
Her hack into the armor had let her see the look of fury on the Rose Knight's face when Michael had rejected his authority, and the deepening rage, to the point his eyes began glowing amber, when Nakteti's authority had been accepted.
She filed that away as a problem that would soon manifest.
The work went on as the two temporal layers separated.
At the Zero Layer, damaged systems, repaired by Team Three's remnants and Nakteti's team, struggled to activate. The Zero Layer Michael managed to boot up.
The Zero Layer Michael reached out and managed to activate the master massive catastrophic trauma processing system.
The program took stock, enacting emergency protocols.
It reached out, looking for any I/O Port it could.
It found one.
-----
The garage was dim, a fire crackling in between two luxury cars that were rusted hulks.
A large burly man clad in heavy armor sat on a tree trunk he had dragged from outside, staring at the fire. One hand was idly scratching the petting nerve of a heavily armored canine unit. He held a bottle of whiskey in the other hand that he kept lifting up the bottle and pulling drinks off of.
The level of the bottle never lowered.
There were sparkles in mid-air and a series of harsh beeps, bongs, and a few electronic twangs with a background of loud static.
The man dropped the whiskey bottle as he stood up, his other hand dropping to his thigh to grab the butt of a pistol as it was deployed from the hidden compartment in the cybernetic leg. He drew it and stepped back.
The Emergency Services I/O Port in the ceiling flickered and came on.
A man made of swirling blue code stood next to the fire.
"Can anyone hear me?" he asked.
Daxin just blinked, staring at the first manifestation of the Digital Omnimessiah.
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So, I'm back. My previous entry ended with me going to sleep after taking my meds and having a conversation with Bert. Yes, I knew he was glowing in that conversation, but all my answers to his questions were either vague, honestly legal, or stuff that a neurosuppressant-addled coot would sarcastically jest about after taking his ten pills.
I'm just an old coot in his 20s I guess.
This entry involves the legbeard, who we'll call Kelly, and how I suck at turning down women.
I met Kelly on a dating site. I don't like dating sites and apps. There are no attractive women there. I suck at being attracted to women. I'm not gay, it's just that my standards aren't a walking vagina. I'm looking for someone I can share my life with, not a lay.
I usually swipe right on everyone who meets two criteria of mine on these apps, so I'll get a mixed bag of personalities. As long as they're White and not fat, I give them a chance. Call me racist and fatphoboc or whatever, but at least I'm not a pedophile. Let people have their dating preferences as long as they are not a pedophile! Pedophiles should probably prefer the rope anyway...
I digress. After telling Kelly I'm not interested several times, she kept insisting I become her boyfriend. She'd say that she wants me to be her daddy and how much she wanted to be my girlfriend.
Gross.
Because of the unrelenting insistence that we date, I reluctantly agreed partially because she started to talk about how her exes were abusive. I hate abusers with a violent passion and everyone deserves to be treated right, so I guess that was my motive.
Date night rolls around and I meet her. She was underdressed for what I told her was a "trial date," wearing an oversized Five Nights at Freddy's t-shirt, jean shorts, and crocks. Given, I wasn't in my Sunday best, but I put on a collared shirt, unripped jeans, and shined my boots beforehand. I was meeting her dad too after all...
Her dad was... strange. He's the type of skinny guy who looks like he smells of bug spray and wet cigarettes, but he didn't. He had unkept grayish-blonde hair and a beard of pube-like, equally colored facial hair. He tried to sound tough, but honestly, he had that eternal highschooler vibe. His personality was that of a white kid who pretends to be ghetto. Despite this, I remained as polite and humble as possible remembering today was for Kelly.
I kept thinking that this was for her and she was abused by guys before et cetera. Once I had her father's approval, we got into the sweet minivan I drove at the time and went to a local restaurant.
Once seated, things went as usual. Talked about work and interests more in-depth than you are able over text while sipping your drink while the other is talking. When it came time to order food I got an absolutely nasty look from Kelly when I asked the waitress for separate checks.
Kelly: "You know, the boy is supposed to pay for the girl on the first date."
Me: "Yeah."
Kelly: "Then why'd you ask for separate checks?"
Me: "Figured it'd be easier to do it this way that calculating the cost of gas to get here."
Kelly: "This place isn't too far from my house."
Me: "But yours is far from mine."
I figured I needed some misdirection to avoid some sort of turd-tossing match, so I didn't want to bring up the trial date thing. I was quick to change the subject.
Me: "So, do you like horror games?"
Kelly: "Oh, yeah! Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah..."
Everything else wasn't important. She was happy for the night. I got home safe. Perhaps most importantly, I had a meatball sub that was off the chain!
I get home, play some Witcher 3 while complaining to my friends about my evening. I mostly play video games to have something to do while shooting the shit with the guys.
To keep things succinct, we reaffirmed our plans for the weekend, I got called a "bleeding heart fascist" for my date, and we uttered not one sentence sans a racial epithet as one is wont to do while playing video games with the boys™.
Skip to the weekend and I'm out having a smoke about past noon. My buddy says he's dropping by soon. I see Bert and Ernie doing some weird shit with a dresser in their shed. One of the neighborhood kids who rides his bike around my street stops in front of my house to talk to me. He had a Nerf pistol in the pocket of his cargo shorts.
Let's call this kid Sidekick because he always stops by to ask me questions about gun stuff. He overheard me talking guns and cars with my friend neighbor across the street and he plays Call of Duty a lot. I used to be like him when I was his age.
Sidekick: "So I met a girl yesterday."
Me: "Cool, what's her name?"
Sidekick: "Her name is [name]. We got kicked out of the mall together."
Me: "Well, that's not so cool. Why's that?"
Sidekick: "We got accused of pushing some other kids down."
Me: "Did you?"
Sidekick: "You know my dad's still selling his Desert Eagle."
Me: "Ugh... anyway, do you want to date this girl? Is that why you were acting like an asshole?"
Note that I know this kid's mom. She's cool with him stopping by my porch to chat. By now; however, Bert and Ernie had caught ear of the talk of girls.
Ernie: "You gotta act like an asshole or else females won't even notice you exist."
Me: "No."
I was interrupted by Ernie.
Ernie: "You have to show her that you're the one in charge. If she says she doesn't like what you're doing it's a lie because she wants a stable man."
Bert: "And pay attention how often they laugh around you. Females also open their legs in your direction if you're the alpha male in the room. When they're sitting, I mean."
Sidekick had this "what the fuck" facial expression. I couldn't believe that I actually ran into these types of people.
Me: "I don't believe it. Sounds like the type of shit you'd hear from some dusted-out guru trying to recruit for LuLuRou."
This made Sidekick laugh. I lit a cigarette and waved at him. He knew I didn't like smoking around kids, so he got the queue to go away.
Me: "Sidekick, why don't you go find your friends. I'm going out with the guys soon anyway."
And that last line is one I would soon regret...

**Info:** 2007 Saturn Vue AWD 3.5L V6, approximately 155k. Bought it from a small business mechanic back in December so I'm still getting to know the car myself. There's an aftermarket remote starter that was installed with aftermarket fob but we don't use it. So about 2 weeks into owning the car, I have a no start situation one morning but the car eventually starts. I noticed flickering headlights and long story short, I found out that the VATS system is taking a crap likely due to the remote starter. Flashing lights like the alarm is going off while driving, intermittent power steering, and the car shutting off seconds after starting (and the telltale flashing of course). After some research, I came upon NewRockies and bought one of their modules. Initially we didn't put it in because after we stopped using the aftermarket fob, we stopped having issues until this past week when it began doing the blinking on and off of lights like the alarm system is going off again. Also, I'm not sure where remote starter is installed but it's not by the BCM because everything looked untouched which is where I did the install on the module. Before Saturday, we only had issues with startup and the lights blinking like an alarm with intermittent power steering (it would eventually stop happening but the gauges went crazy during each episode). Come this weekend, I noticed while on the highway that I had about 50% power to my windows and the airbag sensor was OFF when it should have been on (passenger in the seat). As I get off the highway, my BCM disconnects and I have no power steering. I assumed the engine was off but it wasn't and I still had driving ability but no power steering. I got to a lot about 100 meters down the road and that's when the engine slowly puttered out. It was definitely a rough idle before this happened. Got it towed home. We installed the module and noticed that instead of the telltale turning OFF, it would simply stop blinking (the instructions for the bypass module said the telltale would turn off). But I suddenly had a complete loss of power and couldn't even electronically lock my doors, forcing us to wait til the morning to re-do the relearn. So the next morning i took the battery out of my recently retired 97 Camry and used my jumper cables to use it as an additional battery pack. Surprisingly, it allowed us the finish the module bypass relearn. The dash lights have been randomly coming on and off, so we took the solid telltale sign to just mean it was ready since it happened at the 10-min mark every time during the relearn. So thankfully on the fourth/last crank of the relearn, it was fine (it cranked and turned over) but the BCM eventually disconnected and I lost all gauges. I tried to depress the gas pedal but I lost ability to revv the engine, with it eventually dying. After that, I just get clicks from my relay and the engine won't even crank now. It basically went the same route as it did on Saturday. Tech at NewRockies suspects BCM could be the culprit but I'm hoping someone may have had my similar issue before and could be of some help? I thought about disconnecting and reconnecting the BCM to see if the car will start and if it putters out like it has been then I would think that may be the BCM. I also read that they can discharge your battery and can also come on suddenly. I'm pretty desperate at this point. It's our only working car so I'm hoping I can get it back on the road and hopefully be able to even afford this. So any and all guesses would be appreciated and thanks to anyone who can offer advice.

I took delivery of an MG Astor Savvy Turbo AT a couple weeks back and I noticed a few issues that I'm not sure are design flaws general to MG Astor or component failures specific to my car. It'd be great if any fellow Astor owners (or otherwise knowledgeable folks) can chime in!

1. There's a grinding / scraping sound (audible enough to be heard / felt over music) from underneath the car when ACC / emergency braking triggers (manual braking however, is smooth). SA claims this is not out of the ordinary and that no parts are being damaged.
2. Rear seats' seat belt warning always goes off -- i.e., even with no rear passengers (no sensors?).
3. Wipers generally work fine but they go haywire at times and operate at max frequency unnecessarily, even in mild rain.

These aside, should I keep an eye out for any other issues (to bring up during the first service)? Thanks!

For a business venture I had to go to Russia, keep in mind this was long before the War in Ukraine, I was staying at a pretty high end hotel that was paid for by the company. The whole reason I was here was, the company’s headquarters was here and I was going to meet the CEO to discuss some boring business stuff but that doesn’t pertain to the story. On the day of the meeting I needed to take the Metro across the city so I walked to the nearest Metro station.
I headed down the stairs that looked like they hadn’t been walked on since the Soviet Union. As I walked it kicked up dust and I think a bit of soot. I walked down and made it to the platform to find a train already sitting there. I looked at where it was heading, realized I don't speak Russian and stepped on the train. I sat down on the hard plastic seats. These were also covered in soot and dust. As I sat there the train car started moving, strangely enough, without an announcement. I sat there for what felt like hours for what should have been a few minutes. Suddenly the train came to a screeching halt, then it collided with something, throwing me to the ground. I stood up and dusted myself off. I fixed my jacket as I looked around. I saw the doors to outside were open and a man voice came over a shitty PA system;
“Excuse me all passengers, please make your way to an open door, and start walking down the way we were heading, it is closer than walking back.”
He said this in perfect English despite having a heavy accent. I thought nothing of it and walked to the nearest open door, and stepped out onto the cold, hard ground. I started walking down the way and sitting in front of the train was a working flashlight. There was also a stopblock, like the one you’d find at the end of a track, but the track kept going. I picked up the flashlight and continued to walk down the track. By this point I had accepted that I would be late for the meeting, I was also absolutely terrified. I was hearing all sorts of noises around me, a scratch here, a short shout there, it was a living hell.I kept walking on and on, I eventually started to see a light, so I started running towards it. As I ran the ground slowly went from hard stone to a squishy flesh-like texture. I stopped and looked down to see I was in fact standing on flesh, I looked up to see the rest of the tunnel had turned to flesh. In the walls were people who looked to still be breathing. I felt sick. The light I was walking towards was a bio-luminescent bulb. I stepped back and started to run backwards.
I was scared shitless and wasn’t about to end up like those people. As the ground started to turn back into stone, I’m guessing the tunnel realized its food was escaping because it started to close its maw. I jumped forward, and it caught my leg. I stood up and started to limp towards the station I came from when a bright light was shown down the tunnel, then a loud train horn blared and I dove for the maintenance cove and ducked in there as the train came rushing past and I heard it crash into something at speed in the distance. I sat there stunned and wanting to go home. I stood up and started limping towards the way I came. It took hours but I eventually made it to the station that sat just the way I left it. I climbed my way to the surface to be greeted by several vehicles. As soon as I got up there a group of people were on top of me and questioning me.
I simply told them that I don't speak Russian and didn't resist as they stuffed me in the back of one of the cars. I was bagged and taken to a solid concrete room with one table. They took the bag off my head, someone came in, and for the next 5 hours I was asked questions. They then told me to forget all that I had seen and to never return to Russia. I sent my boss a text about the meeting and he told me that it was handled and I would keep my job. I was sent home in a private jet and was sent on my way when I landed.
I don't think I’ll ever recover from what I saw, it will stick with me and haunt me until I die. Take my warning, take it from someone who experienced this first hand, the Moscow Metro is alive and god forbid you ever come into contact with that thing.

I hope this question is not inappropriate for this sub. I apologize in advance if I might sound a little unhinged but that is the grief and pregnancy hormones talking. Trigger warning for pregnancy loss.
I was recently pregnant with mono/di twins conceived through IVF, where I single frozen egg transferred split into two. I made it through a great low risk NF scan at 12 weeks only to loose both twins at 13 weeks. Their hearts simply just stopped beating, and I had a medical induction. They had normal chromosomes and were identical girls. We don’t have an explanation for the loss but might get it after the autopsy, but that takes weeks.
At first when I found out about the pregnancy being twins I was scared to death. We already have a son who’s 15 months old. We always wanted children close in age but three under two seemed like a lot. We got so busy because we would have to move and get a new car but everything worked out. Slowly the idea of twins grew on me and I got excited, because even if it would have been hard twins are also so special and three kids was always my dream. But everything was ripped away when the twins passed.
We’re in deep mourning but also really want me to get pregnant again as soon as possible. We got 5 frozen embryos left and I can’t help but consider if we should transfer two at once and try for twins again. In reality I just want my twin girls back which is impossible but I also really fell in love with the idea of twins even though I was initially scared.
So my question is, is trying actively for twins totally crazy? I know the pregnancy will be high risk and I’ve read so much about how hard parenting twins is. But it also seems so amazing at the same time, though I don’t know if it’s a bad idea. Would anyone here who actually have twins try deliberately for a twin pregnancy?

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your last missive. I love it when you speak to me sweetly like that, and you deserve some honey back in return.
I understand that you want to be there for me in some way in the long term but need time to focus on your own healing and growth. I understand sometimes being too close to me for too long triggers certain thoughts and behaviors that you need time to examine. I understand that to a degree you want to trust that I can be as consistent and thoughtful as you want to be with me, but that we struggle with trust. Why? Because we are both moody people with sharp tongues and complicated histories.
Words fly fast, and some things that are said in jest, can make another person spiral into the pits of hell. Yet we both sense the other is well intentioned. I just want to clarify, that I never say or do anything with the intent of sabotaging you. Sometimes I can be thoughtless, especially when I get stressed out or haven’t slept. Or if you say some shit that gets me going. YOU KNOW HOW YOU ARE. I lose myself if I don’t take time for myself. I feel like we are similar in a lot of ways even if we have differing beliefs. For the record I don’t care what you believe in, I care about how you treat me. If you’re respectful and kind we are good. You could be a Satanist, but if you’re a nice Satanist then I’m cool with you. You can be conservative, love guns, the dirtiest nastiest rap music, whatever, just talk nice to me.
For the most part you’ve changed a lot. I notice that when I upset you, instead of trying to get back at me right away you just leave me alone now. Thank you for choosing peace! I appreciate that so much about you. I am learning how to choose peace more often too as I take time to calm down and think about my goals more often. It’s a balance between being fluid and in the present, but also thinking about the future/long term. I want you to know that I have so much respect for you as a person. Even if we decide that we are too toxic to be in a relationship together, I would love to remain friends because I think you are somewhat of an inspiration, and a good example of what I always thought of how a real friend should behave.
I will use the Barbie movie (LOL) as an example for what I am trying to illustrate here. I was checking out the trailer for the movie out of curiosity, and I realized it was an interesting story. Barbie is living in her dream/perfect world with all her friends and one day she asks the question: Are we going to die? Her whole world changes. She’s given a matrix red pill blue pill choice to go visit the real world and see what its like. She’s banished from the perfect world where nothing bad ever happens. I see this as her shadow work/hero’s journey. As she’s driving out of town on her own, she realizes someone was in the car with her. It was Ken! He told her she wasn’t going alone. He left everything behind and followed her into the unknown to discover the horrors of life with her.
I realized you had done something similar for me as a friend, you tried to understand who I really am. You were curious enough to learn alongside me. You changed a lot. People who can undergo multiple transformations have depth. I know where that depth comes from, and I have an enormous respect for it. I’m sorry if you ever felt disrespected by me when I said something thoughtless, because I have nothing but respect for everything you are as an individual and all the things you overcome to be who you are, nor would I seek to change anything about you that you don’t wish to change yourself. I only want to understand and support you when I am able.
Thank you for all the different ways you went out of your way to put a smile on my face and show me that you understood and cared about me. They will never go unnoticed or unappreciated. I love watching your character development. Very exciting edge of my seat stuff.