Alfa romeo giulia near me

I’ve noticed some cashiers near my place, where I shop regularly, never give coupons to me or others. Some of them are pretty nice, like spend $20, get $7. I’ve noticed sometimes coupons are printed out, but they don’t bother to give it. Is it just laziness and I need to directly ask for coupons? Or they steal them for themselves?

Mom as I said before in a different post I got my very first job ever at the age of 32. I will be 33 this month so yay for that too. But Mom I found out my start date. Its Tomorrow at 2pm. I will work three days this week. All 2pm to 10pm. I am beyond nervous. Its a job at a gas station. I will be doing a little bit of everything but mainly cashier.
We only have one car and thankfully my Partner is off two of the days I work. But I had to ask for a ride to work from a family friend who I call my aunt. I do not know much. Such as where to park if I take the car myself. And even though I could buy myself food at the store during the time I will be working, Im taking my lunch and dont know where to keep it.
My Partner wants to make my lunch for tomorrow. But as I said I dont know where to keep my lunch box. I dont even know when its appropriate to eat lunch or how to take my lunch or where I can eat it. I will need to eat before I go to make sure I can hold out until lunch. I am pre-diabetic. So I need to be careful of my sugar.
Plus my nerves/anxiety makes it worse when I get a drop. Luckily I enrolled in a special program my job has. So if I just need some sugar I can get it easily in the form of a small fountain drink or a small coffee. But I dont even know where to keep it because I am not allowed to have it near the registers or anywhere in the public eye.
I am so sorry this turned out to be long! But I wanted to share the good news! I know when Im starting! And I know the days I am to be working this week! I just hope I can have my birthday off. My partner is off then and he has a doctors appointment then too. Plus he would like to spend time with me on my birthday.....I am not sure how yo see if I can have that off....
I also have an appointment myself on the 20th...Im so nervous. Again I apologize for this being so long! Just wanted to share the good news and a few worries. Thank you for reading!

How far would you guys go to avoid social interaction?
For me, I have 3 grocery stores around my area all 5-10 minutes away. None with self checkout, tho I’m willing to travel 40 minutes to the other store that has a self checkout so I don’t have to speak to the cashiers. Also drive thrus- there’s some right near my house yet I would rather have them doordash’d with no contact than drive 2 minutes to get a burger 😭

I'm looking to buy a used trail bike (either full susp / hardtail) on Pinkbike. Some bikes look brand new to me and the price is $700-$1000 more lower than its original price. Unfortunately, none of these sellers live near me, so I don't have opportunity to check the bike in reality. I'm afriad of buying a bike that has problems. What should I do in this conditions?

Trying to find information on it, unfortunately the only dates I have been able to find relate to the theatrical release (which did not show near me) so I have been waiting to stream it. Does anyone have any information?

Hi all. I am in a nearly-2 year relationship with my bf and he has a 13 y/o daughter from a past relationship (they were married for a couple months). We have her 50/50.
From the get-go bf told me he only expected me to be a friend to his daughter (let's call her A). His rationale was- she already has a mom, nor did he want me to be that sort of role. (Thankfully). This is my first relationship involving a kid. I am also very introverted and I work a high-stress job so I tend to flourish on alone time. Additionally, I have implemented a lot of NACHO parenting tactics. (Saying this just to paint the picture here). Oh, and she is quite clingy and deploys a lot of attention-seeking behavior. She likes me a lot, but that usually means she likes to be around me talk to me etc etc esp when dad isn't around - he is usually busy scolding her to do her chores and such around the house. (She can quickly get on my nerves but I try to really be her friend when I am not trying to unwind from work and such). Soooo all in all I figured being her friend but also being a NACHO parent was a good fit for me.
A likes to also spend time at my bf's mom's house- she used to stay there a lot when she was younger and my bf was working. But still likes to go there sometimes.
We had a difficult conversation about 2 weeks ago and bf told me he sensed a "weird tension" between me and A from the start. He Didn't know if she was uncomfortable around me, or I around her, or vice versa. This definitely threw me for a loop. He said he noticed when she is usually around I usually retreat to the porch/ the bedroom and spend time alone. I told him that this is usually because when she is here, I am just getting off of work and need to un wind. He was really just basing these observations on my post-work self, which hell, doesn't like to really chat much with him either, Lol. So I think he realized his misunderstanding.
But about a week later the topic comes up again. He says A actually told him last week he should buy me an engagement ring as she really likes me (weird timing lol). So I guess that was proof of that. But he told me "I wish I knew how you really felt about her". I'm like... you know I'm introverted, I need my space, yet you have SEEN me be with her and hang out with her, we go places when you're not home sometimes... I don't understand what more you want me to do?? He didn't really say much but I have an inkling he is taking my NACHO parenting tactics as meaning I don't want to have anything to do with A.
A really does need a friend- I strongly believe her attention-seeking behavior can stem from emotional neglect as she bounces around from bf's moms home to our home to her mom's, all 3 of them (and me) work a lot, also bf and her BM are pretty strict and don't let her really be with friends, she tends to get herself in trouble. She also gets bullied a lot. So I try to be there for her like that but I refuse to step more into a mom role.
Ugh.. sorry this is so long-winded.... I feel like I am so confused with what bf really wants out of me in terms of my relationship with A. He seems to want me to just be her friend and on the other hand wants me to step in more, no NACHO parenting, be something else. I don't know. I also think HE is confused given the mixed signals here.
Insight??? :/

i used to be in great shape. i was an athlete for years and was always an even 110 lbs. up until about a year ago. i've always had "the ick" about fruits and vegetables, so once i moved out from my parents' i pigged out to a massive extent and gave myself a major junk food addiction. i do eat healthy here and there and i do like foods that have healthy things in them somewhere, but the unhealthy eating outweighs the healthy eating to a ridiculous extent, and the ability to eat fruits and vegetables on their own (let alone the recommended serving per day) is still pretty much nil.
so, combined with a recent sedentary lifestyle within the last year, i've gained a pretty hefty amount of weight (about 30-35 lbs.). i'm currently the biggest i've ever been in my life after having been a consistent and constant one weight throughout puberty as well as after (~10 years).
i know 140 lbs. isn't "fat", but i can tell i have a very high percentage of bodily fat in that number despite it still being fairly low. i do have some lingerings of muscle in my leges from my athletic days in high school, but if we're being honest i look like a stick with a beer belly, huge ass, and lots of cellulite on my thighs... so the muscle isn't really the sole driving force in that weight on the scale. i'm truly just textbook skinny-fat. genetically speaking, the people in my family are skinny with some muscle -- and before my addiction really took off, i was the same. i ate normally, though, and there was never any sort of restriction. that said, it was definitely less than how much i eat now because the food i was eating didn't have nearly as much empty calories.
see, with the empty calories comes a big, raging appetite for me. fast food isn't very filling for me despite its high caloric content, so i've also conditioned myself into pretty much always being hungry, and that hunger calling for more and more fast food. it's the perfect storm and it's how i know the weight gain isn't coincidental, or meant to be, or anything like that.
i really want to get over my fear of fruits and vegetables. i avoid them like the plague and it looks very ridiculous and silly considering the fact that i'm a grown adult. i also plan to get back into working out, but i know diet matters too, or sometimes even matters more. i don't want to predispose myself to heart conditions, pancreatic conditions, etc. at such a young age by continuing my awful diet of taco bell, soda, and microwaved meals... but being stuck in this loop has gotten me to the point where i turn my nose up at even the tasty-healthy stuff, like steak or potatoes.
what do i do?!

Many moons ago, I was a real military pilot, and I don’t recall keeping the opponent visual as being anywhere near as much as issue as it is with DCS. I’m using Track IR, and the settings seem smooth enough. The screen is a 4k 43” TV, and the GPU is a 2080ti. I don’t do too badly in visual fights when maintaining sight, but obviously have my behind handed to me otherwise. What am I missing?

We were long distance for just about the entirety of our relationship. Three hours away, we saw each other pretty often. Together for 20 months.
Within a few weeks of going exclusive, things slowly changed in our communication. I don't like to constantly be on the phone. He'd get upset when I didn't text him all day, if I'd go more than an hour without texting him. He wanted to have discussions about it. He wanted me to take time to listen to his emotions every day. I started to feel exhausted, I have a mental disorder, so does he. Being expected to listen to his every thought on top of my own depressive and occasional hypomanic episodes was hard.
Then I got sick during a year-long medication treatment. I lost my libido, I gained weight, my self esteem plummeted. He was always supportive and generous with compliments, especially about my appearance.
But things changed even more when he told me he wanted to move to my city. I suggested considering an open relationship so he could still have sex. He was excited and told me he'd move down to my city. I was excited, but now I find the timing saddening. He later told me several times that he did not move to my city to be near me. Hearing that was confusing, it just felt so wrong. I want to respect his decisions, but that felt like a gut punch, and he said it no less that four times on two different occasions. Once during a heated discussion whole I was in the thick of a depressive episode. That activated some devastating thoughts.
He started showing a more angry side of himself, and he started to blow up at me. Not always to fight, most frequently when he was frustrated at his own choices and after series of inconveniences. Stress. I wanted to lay down boundaries about taking anger out on me, I felt more afraid the more it happened. I told him my feelings, and he told me that my feelings trigger him and that I needed to accept his rage and just learn to leave the situation while it was happening.
I broke up with him the next week. He'd been in town for just three weeks at that point. During the breakup he told me that he moved here for me, and when I called him out on saying the opposite, instead of denying it, he rephrased it and dropped the subject. I still loved him, but I felt hopeless. I felt disrespected and scared. I felt guilty.
He picked up and moved hundreds of miles and then I broke up with him. New job, no friends in town that he really hangs out with. Just an ex girlfriend that broke up with him. It's been six weeks since I broke up with him. He's lived here twice as long as our relationship lasted once he moved in.
I hope he finds joy here. He asked me to check in on him and he told me he's hanging out with his coworkers now. I just don't know how to stop feeling guilty. I felt so much resentment building up within me when communication didn't work out and it started to feel like walking on eggshells. Why do I care so much when he didn't care about my feelings and frequently pressured me for sex and made me feel bad when I wouldn't have sex and then when I did and he'd question me about how much I enjoyed it and tell me that he felt inadequate so frequently. I needed to leave.
I just feel awful. I feel good when I don't think of him, and I keep busy enough alone and with friends to not fixate. Then I do finally think about him and i fixate on how it must be the opposite for him. He has no one to confide in and he doesn't get to feel the comfort I feel having my peace in my home alone. He wants to be with other people so much and he lives in a whole new city. I feel like I should've told him not to move. I wish he hadn't.

Okay so. This is a job for those of you google maps geniuses that somehow find a bunch of hidden gems in certain places. (Or simply people that live in the area and know a place that’s exactly what I’m looking for.)
The job is finding me a rivelake/beach, located in Maryland, I do not meant some sort of National park or whatever, I mean something hidden or secluded that not too many people know about. It needs to be located near New Carrollton/hyattsville/lanham (near any of these general areas), within 30mins driving distance.
Requirement: 1.Must be safe, I’m not trying to die from a river suddenly dragging me into a massive rock or get chemical burns. 2.Must be able to swim in it safely 3.Must have space on land, at least enough space to fit one of those white foldable tables basically.
First person to find me a place gets $10 via PayPal, first come first serve.

Had this post on my mind to possibly make for a bit, and then I just recently saw a post; 'is jehovah a fraud' and thought why not.
Here's two tiktok video(ik tiktok😮‍💨 but their simple and straight to the point, especially the second one) that explains Gnosticism:

1. https://www.tiktok.com/@aslanpahari/video/7192421730919435521
   
2. https://www.tiktok.com/@guided2thestars/video/7170189870437076270
   

So, from those; to me in a strange way, it kinda makes sense. For instances the part, if a God so based in genuine pure perfect love, knows when every person dies(that sparrow scripture heh) and is mournful about us dying(that's alot of constant mourning..) is allowing all this violence, pain and carnage to carry Just to prove a POINT to the world and the angels(angels who are 'perfect' beings which I feel they'd deduce from Satan loosing that their isn't a point to question God, and don't need to watch humans 'fail' to get a point) is he really That loving God depicted by Christianity?? I'll even bring up the obvious of example of 2 Kings 2: 23-25; 42 CHILDREN?? killed for making fun of a prophet, I even asked my father a long time ago what good reason for Jehovah to allow there to have children to be "torn to pieces"[I mean just imagining that pain and terror they felt]; and I can't recall his exact answer but it didn't even make sense, like it didn't give that 'ah okay they definitely deserved that.'
And just how the organization functions on catastrophizing everything, and it's all based on "It's so near, very very near now, etc." It's the perfect way to keep someone continuously in a state of fear and constant trepidation. And how many religions tend to overlap in small yet weird ways, similarities.
I mean even just taking the philosophical view of realities origins out from those videos; the point in things not seeming to be how the majority see it to be just scratches a distant itch that I've had for awhile before I even started questioning.
What are yall's thoughts on this?

Being told to deal with the Sorcerers now by the shadowy cabal of Asgorath-worshiping monks, I proceeded to do just that.
Well, more specifically, I looked for wherever the hell they holed themselves up in.
The faithful of Bahamut shot me frosty glares as I walked around the city unimpeded, though I did very pointedly give them a very strongly worded letter about spying on me and ambushing me, and that if Nakk wasn't going to tolerate their shit, he wasn't going to tolerate mine.
Hopefully, that bought me some breathing room.
Now, the Sorcerers hadn't fucked off elsewhere, or I would have gotten a lot of questions as to where they went. They still operated in the town, still used their magic appropriately, so it wasn't like they were being assholes about it.
But, considering I was being warned about them specifically, shit was about to go down.
Now, I didn't go alone. Not specifically. I had my Warlocks move about, searching for any clues as to the whereabouts of the Sorcerers.
Naturally, they were extremely dodgy about where they were going.
But, the more we looked, the more we found clues, the more we got closer until we realized they were gathering under the Council Chamber.
So there they were, all nine of them, not counting the however many probably awoke due to my machinations. Nine Sorcerers, Nine Warlocks, and me.
They were gathered around some sort of sacrificial altar that was stained with blood, on which they were very pointedly bleeding on.
"You know-" I said, startling them and causing them to look at me. "-If you'd just been respectful to my Master, you might have gotten more than you could have ever dreamed of."
"Ruuk, what are you doing here!?" Goss hissed.
"Looking for you before you get yourselves killed." I said. "I've been warned twice that you were getting into some shit, and here I find you bleeding all over an altar that isn't even configured right, you fucking idiots."
They shared looks, first shocked, then angry. They started yelling, my Warlocks screamed into their heads to shut up, which caused them all to rub their heads.
"Which one of you has the highest Level?" I asked. "Goss? Taklak? Kashak?"
"I am a solid Level 4!" Molo bragged.
"That's it?" I asked. "Fuck's sake, I'm Level 6. I've been out there busting my fucking ass. We got invaded while you were playing fucking secret society! People died!"
"We wouldn't have lost anyone, if Kurtulmak gave us power!" Hagnar snapped.
"No, we would have lost more." I said. "If you actually cared about the Warren, you would have been out there, leading rather than plotting."
"Says the man who's clearly getting boosted by Kurtulmak!"
I strode toward them, my patience wearing thin. "I want to make something very clear now." I said. "You've wasted more time trying to get stronger than it took me. You think hard work hardly works? Hit me." I removed my armor. "I'm wide open."
They didn't do anything, they just stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh, this? This isn't armor." I said. "It's a sign of my fealty to my Master. Now, Hit me."
The spells were flung at me, and most of them did hurt. "Nine of you." I said, grinning. "And you couldn't even hit me properly. Kneel."
They began backing away.
"I said kneel!" I roared.
They all fell over themselves as they tried to kneel. They all looked terrified.
"I am going to give you exactly one chance to make up for your foolish behavior." I said. "I will call you out one by one, you will approach, you will kiss my hand, and you will swear your undying loyalty to me, your Imperator, and the Empire that our Master will raise. If you refuse, I will end your pathetic excuse for a life right then and there. And if even one of you attacks me, my Warlocks will make that scream in your mind feel like a gentle tickle."
I held my hand out. "Goss." He scrambled over to me and knelt. He took my hand and kissed it. "I swear my loyalty to you, my Imperator, and the Empire our Master will raise." He said.
"Good. Stand among my Warlocks. Arix."
One by one I called their names, and they came. They spoke their vows, all nine of them.
I put my armor back on and said, "Excellent. From this moment on, every hour, one of you will go to my Tower, you will pledge your fealty to our Master, and you will allow him to mark you such that you can never disobey him again." I looked at them. "And if even one of you tries to escape, I will track you down as easily as I have now. You are marked, each and every one of you. I will make your deaths as slow and miserable as I see fit. My Empire has no room for traitors."
"Yes, Imperator!" They said.
"Dismissed."
They all left, clearly trying not to piss themselves or run. I felt a wonderfully powerful sense of pleasure and smiled. "Warlocks." I said. "Continue about your day."
I cleaned up the mess the Sorcerers had made left the Councilor Chamber. I ran into Tallyn on the way out.
"Brother." He said.
"Sibling." I replied.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"The Sorcerers were trying to summon a Demon for power." I said. "Considering they tried to petition my Master for power as well- he denied them, rightly noticing they did not care how they got power- I threatened to kill them if they kept trying, ordered them to submit to my Master, whereupon they will be marked such that they will no longer be a threat to the Warren."
He stared at me in utter shock. "Did you-? Do you hear yourself?" He asked in a horrified whisper.
"Brother." I said. "This is an outright Demon we're talking about. We're lucky they're fucking idiots and didn't make their altar correctly, so they were just bleeding on a fucking slab of rock with pentagrams and shit on it. They attacked me. That on top of your fellow Paladins ambushing me and accusing me of conspiracy-" I gave him a pointed look, "-my capacity of mercy is very low at the moment."
"Ruuk... What happened to you?" He asked.
"You and your Temple tried to kill me." I replied. "For the sins of compassion and mercy." I shrugged. "I've tried meeting you and yours half way, I sought atonement out of guilt, to rectify what I had done. I've tried to walk the path of good, and the cold, simply truth is, you and your order have not given me much incentive to continue to walk that path."
He was silent.
"Tallyn." I said, taking hold of his hands. "I miss the days when you were the good brother." I was able to see the exact moment when his heart ripped right in half. I walked right past him. I was tired of his shit, and at that moment, I wasn't going to play his or his Temple's game anymore.
I took a deep breath to try and center myself, as I started heading back for my Tower.
"Has it become your mission in life to leap merrily from the slippery slope?" A familiar voice asked me. I turned around, coming face to face with a gray-scaled Kobold, behind him were seven others with ruddy yellow scales.
"You've certainly changed since I last saw you." Bahamut stated. "A turn for the worse, it would seem."
I gave him a reverential bow. "I take it the Fizban persona wouldn't work now." I remarked.
"No, it wouldn't." He said. "All your doing, it would seem."
"Indeed. My doing." I couldn't help but smile.
"And with such pride as well. Walk with me, and understand I speak with you only because what I have to say is important."
I nodded and walked beside him, his seven companions following as inconspicuously as a septet of yellow Kobolds could- which I had to admit was surprisingly good.
"I am not happy." He stated.
"I sincerely doubt you would." I replied.
"With you, I expected it." He remarked dryly. "My followers have been playing fast and loose with their morals, day by day, their actions speak louder than their affirmations of faith, and what they say is, 'We are only concerned with our own power'. Does that amuse you?"
"No." I replied. "In fact, it pisses me off."
"The gradual corruption of a sect of holy warriors disgusts you?" He asked, his tone carrying a hint of surprise. "For all your posturing about, you still manage to get things done, even if they're via less morally sound standpoints."
"Is there a purpose to this beyond chatting?" I asked.
"Yes." He said. "One way or another, this Warren will become a theocratic nation, your faith spreads like wildfire, while the faith of my followers tapers off. You've manipulated events such that you are winning, and my followers have nobody to blame but themselves."
We stopped in front of the Temples, he looked at them. "Kurtulmak is relapsing." He said. "And you are walking a narrow rope between good and evil. Between judicious rule and tyranny." He looked at me. "And unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain contact with this world."
He paused, then added, "I will, of course, be supporting my faithful, trying to keep them on the correct path, but in the event they utterly fail, and the only option left is you, I would rather the lesser evil of you win than the greater evil that is my sister. This is not tolerance, this is ensuring that no matter what, the forces of good can always pick up the pieces."
"I understand." I said. "And Bahamut... I am sorry things turned out this way."
"Your apology is sincere." He remarked, surprised. "I am sorry for the way I treated you in Darastrixthurhi, I chose the wrong course of action."
"You don't deal in words, but actions." I said. "Therefore your apology is sincere."
"Within the mines, there is a yet-untouched vein of platinum in your Warren's mine, enough to supply enough holy symbols for my Clerics, and to forge one sword, fifth level down, three lefts, and at the far end. I leave it up to you how you will handle that information. And Ruuk, remember the entire point of you remaining down there was because you believed Kurtulmak could be redeemed. Do not forget that can apply to you as well."
He walked away, followed by his cadre of Kobolds.
'I sure as hell don't like his followers...' I thought as I headed for the mines. 'But I definitely respect him a lot more.'
My gear compelled me to do good, and right now, I was in a better mood. I gathered a few miners and told them to follow me. They did so hesitantly, but dug where I indicated. I watched as they dug maybe a half-mile before they yapped.
"There's ore here!"
"I know." I said. "Mine out the entire vein and take it to the Artificers. It's platinum, they're going to need it soon."
I left them to their work and headed for the Artificers. Once there, I had them gather around.
"You will be receiving a shipment of Platinum, once it comes in, you are to create enough Holy Symbols of Bahamut to equip each Cleric, as well as one sword. Once they have finished, you will deliver them immediately to my Tower. Do not tell anyone what they are. Understood?"
"Sure, but why?"
"Simple." I said. "I need them to get the fuck off my case and start realizing they're only hurting the Warren. Their God saw fit to speak with me, so it's in my hands whether or not they continue to measure out rope to hang themselves with."
It was several hours before the crates came in. I wordlessly picked them up and carried them to the Temple.
The Paladins were, of course, pissed when they saw me approaching. "Stop right there!" They snapped. "By the High Priest's orders, you are not allowed in here!"
"Your weapons and your faith isn't enough to stop me." I said. "Fucking try me."
I walked straight up to them, and my attempt at intimidation worked, as they backed away while I walked in.
Galax immediately noticed my entry, as did every Cleric and Paladin in the room.
"Who let you in!?" Galax roared. "I have expressly forbidden you from entry!"
"I let myself in." I said. I walked toward him, glanced around, and sighed. "Do you guys just not believe in tables, or is the whole ascetic aesthetic really this fucking sparse?"
"I am warning you, Stingtail, if you do not leave this Holy Temple, I will have no choice but to kill you."
I wreched the top off the crate I brought in, he glanced at them, then his eyes widened in complete shock. "What..? Those are..."
"Holy symbols to Bahamut, made from the vein of platinum I directed the workers to." I said. He stared at me, clearly incapable of comprehending what I'd done.
"Why..?" He asked.
"Because you've been playing fast and loose with your morals." I said, paraphrasing what Bahamut stated. "Even though you preach Bahamut's words, you've forgotten that actions are how you pray. You've become so enamored with bringing about the perfect theocratic kingdom of Bahamut, that you don't even realize you're telling the people you're only concerned with power."
I handed him the sword crate, which he opened.
"I want you to understand, Galax." I said. "Bahamut came to me and told me where the platinum was. I could have kept it secret, or I could have used it for literally anything else. Because as much as Bahamut was disappointed in you, he wasn't giving up on you. And as much as he's rooting for you, he understands if you fall, it's either the lesser evil in me, or the greater evil in Tiamat. And honestly? I'll gladly leap headlong into Hell if it means keeping this Warren safe. This is your last chance from Bahamut, and your last warning from me. Understood?"
"I understand." He said soberly. He approached me and hugged me. "Ruuk, oh Ruuk... I thought we had lost you."
"You did." I said. "And I'm not coming back into your fold." He let go of me. "I don't know what the fuck you need a platinum sword for, but whatever it is, if it's aimed anywhere near me, I'm exploding people's heads."
I turned around and left the Temple.
Returning to my Tower, I felt the anger I'd been holding in just melt away. I went upstairs and smiled when I was my Emperor was finishing up another armor set.
"That makes seven." He said. "Still far too little, but it's more than we had before."
"Tireless and industrious." I remarked as I approached him. I knelt. "I have news, some you likely won't like."
"Tell me this bad news first." He said.
"Bahamut decided to speak with me." I said. He tensed, his eyes widened as he looked at me. "Thus far, he's not particularly pleased with my... progress, but he's at least indicated he'd rather us winning over Tiamat." I paused. "He also told me of the location of some platinum. I deigned to give his worshipers holy symbols and a sword, as he had directed. As nice as it would be to have them fall under their own stupidity, we still need them."
My Emperor nodded. "There was no correct way." He said. "Keeping Bahamut less inclined to try and smite us is better than his Temple getting holy symbols. Was there anything else?"
"Yeah. I told them what he told me, he wasn't pleased with what they were doing, that they were acting like they only care about power, and that Bahamut came to me rather than them."
"I see." He said. "That devious old bastard."
"What is it, my Emperor?" I asked.
"It's unimportant." He said. "Was there anything else?"
I told him about the ambush, the Shadowscale Clan, and the Sorcerers- he indicated that a few had shown up and pledged their fealty to him, and that due to their transgressions, he ensured they would never disobey him.
"I made them some collars." He said, smirking. "Any time they go against my will, or they try something that will harm the Warren, it chokes them long enough to make them stop." He leered at me and added, "I should have done the same to yours. I'd never have it choke you, but the knowledge alone would have excited you, yes?"
"Not really, my Emperor." I admitted. "I'm terrified of choking."
"Is that so? All the better that I didn't, then." He looked thoughtful. "Tell me, was there any particular logic to your choice of giving Bahamut's Clerics holy symbols and a sword?"
I shrugged. "I don't like his followers." I said. "I told you what I said to Tallyn, I'm sick and tired of them being paranoid about me. Like, yeah, I admit that they have every right to be at this point, but when it was just you and me, they didn't even really give me a chance. It just felt like them going mask off and showing themselves to be no different than any other religion I've had the unfortunate experience to try."
"Yet you respect their God." He mused.
"Yeah." I said. "I do. Everything I've done out of spite was because of those hypocrites, every good word I've spoken to them was a challenge for them to get their shit together. I've never once done anything to spite Bahamut himself- though whether that was simple pragmatism on my part, or some latent desire to serve the first God to accept my challenge to prove they exist... I don't know. All I know is that I don't regret choosing you."
"As should be." He remarked. "These Monks, these followers of Asgorath, have you any thoughts on them?"
"As long as they are true to their word, I could see them having a place in our Empire." I said. "Having a group that's willing to deal with you if you go off the deep end and start oppressing the very people you started out wanting to protect is useful. At the very least, I'll potentially have a warning."
"And do you think Bahamut's Temple has a place in our Empire?" He asked.
"Maybe if they got their shit together." I replied. I looked at him. "My Emperor, was there ever a point you honestly considered compromise?"
"Yes, in honor of a fool who would choose to consign his life to a God he barely knew, simply out of compassion. I am ruthless, yes, I may be a liar when it is convenient for me, and I most assuredly will twist such compromise such that the letter, but not the spirit, is carried out. But when I make a solemn vow, I hold true to it. If you cannot keep a promise, nobody will believe you again."
"And nudging me toward evil?" I asked.
"You took the first step." He said. "Some actions transcend morality. Kindness to one's family, it is not merely good. It is an act that ensures survival, an act that builds trust. There is always room for kindness when it is deserved."
I nodded. "My Emperor... Do you see a place for Bahamut's Temple in our Empire?" I asked.
"Anything can have its place." He replied. "The only grudge I have held for him is that he- self-proclaimed Justicemaker- did nothing simply because our people were born of Chromatic Dragons. Perhaps in those days, we were born into evil, perhaps in those days, we were enemies... Yet they raged, knowing what Garl did was wrong... heinous even. It was targeted retaliation for something his children did first, for the natural result of- I believe the term is 'fucking around and finding out'."
"Good old FAFO." I remarked.
I heard the door open, followed by Molo meekly coming up the stairs. When he saw me, he looked terrified. He approached my Emperor and pledged himself, was collared, and sent on his way.
"Seven out of nine so far." My Emperor mused.
"Good, it means most of them got the memo." I replied. I heard the door open, then shut, followed by footsteps approaching us.
It was the Rogue from earlier. He knelt and said, "Master, Imperator, I am here to report that we have successfully managed to leave beyond the wall and enter our enemies' base of operations. We have managed to do this without being spotted. Our Leader is waiting for you."
I nodded. "By your leave, my Emperor." I said.
My Emperor nodded and I followed the Rogue down a street I've been on countless times, one that was open and public. I recognized the house I was led to as Nakk's, the rogue knocked, and the door opened.
"Councilor Ruuk, thank you for coming. I'm sorry to divert you just to fix some of my stuff." Nakk said amiably, gesturing for me to enter.
I simply nodded and went inside. The moment the door shut, he dropped the amiable demeanor and said, "Thank you for coming, Imperator. This way."
He led me into his house, then into a closet. I didn't expect the floor to move underneath us, but it led us down into a large room.
"You have a basement." I observed.
"This is my base of operations." He said. "This was where our sewer system used to be, cleaning it out was a headache and a half, but since we moved onto more sustainable means of addressing waste- Merti's idea to use it as fertilizer and the Artificers' Guild designing a means of filtering and cleansing urine being particularly inspired- we decided to make use of the existing architecture to ensure our stealthy movement through the town."
"That explains why nobody's really wised up to how you've been spying on everyone." I remarked. "What were your plans, before I found our Emperor?"
"Keep everything stable." He replied. I noticed there were a few Kobold Monks present among the dozens of Rogues. "Rogue, Monk, we're all Shadowscale." He said. "That being said, our Monks are strictly neutral, they made it clear they won't align themselves to a singular ideal, their only interest is ensuring the Warren does not devolve into infighting."
"As I've already seen." I remarked.
"They're happy with how you handled the Temple, though they can't fathom how you found the platinum."
"Bahamut visited me." I said. "I honestly thought he was being obvious."
"That would explain it." I didn't notice the Monk walking on my other side, but it sure as hell startled me. "You are here regarding the recent mission's success, we ensured nobody was detected."
"Our Monks do not identify themselves." Nakk spoke. "I don't understand it, but it's what they agreed was the right course of action, so we just go along with it."
"For the sake of convenience, you may call me Fox." The Monk spoke. "And before you ask, we have all elected to live apart from the Warren. We may walk the streets, but until things have achieved equilibrium, we will continue to observe from the shadows."
I nodded.
We came over to an area where a handful of Rogues were sat. They stood up as soon as they noticed us, and began casting spells to show the interior of our enemy's base of operations. It felt like a punch to the gut, seeing not only electricity clearly being supplied to them, but also having established sinks and refrigerators.
They glut themselves on what we struggled to provide for ourselves, things that needed miracles just to sustain us. Through tears of hatred, I spat out my incantation.
​
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I'm so close to being done with this game. Nearly every game I have with bronze/irons when the enemy are with plat/diamonds. EVEN IF I "carry" I cant do anything when there is 2/3 people on my team that are 1/14. I'm not a messiah at this game, or a bro player what so ever. I'm in sliver, but when I'm consistently going positive with the most damage on the team AS A SUPPORT MAIN I honestly don't know what to do. Currently on a 10 game loss because of this BS and IDK why I'm consistently going against people who are so much higher Elo whilst my team are lower Elo then me. Its such dumb matchmaking that it doesn't make sense.

It’s 7 AM and I just finished nursing my 10 week old in front of my clusterfeeding set up. I was randomly reminded me of the first time I ever clusterfed my firstborn. It brought a chuckle out of me, so if you’re clusterfeeding, I hope this helps you feel less alone.
I was a first time mom and read all the books. I was informed that 2 week olds nursed every 2-3 hours for 10-15 minutes per side, but somehow nobody ever talked about clusterfeeding. And for the most part, that was what she did. Fed every 2-3 hours like clockwork and slept the rest of the day. We got this, I thought. We had her at the height of COVID and didn’t get any sort of baby moon, so we were itching for a getaway. We booked a week in a local luxury hotel. I had visions of leisurely nursing my baby by the pool while a butler brought me bonbons.
Well, the day we checked in was the day she started clusterfeeding. And instead of eating bonbons by the pool, we spent the week confined to our room with a screaming newborn. I was not thick skinned enough to subject our fellow guests, who I assumed paid good money to stay in the hotel, to our newborn drama. So house arrest it was.
Four hours in I was pleading for my newborn to stop eating. My room service dinner was cold and I was losing my mind. This was not what they told me it’d be like! She was supposed to stop feeding 3.5 hours ago! My husband skipped his meeting, the first of many he would duck out of that week, to pace around the room with the screaming burrito, muttering “come on, you’re ok, you fed 10 minutes ago. You can’t possibly be hungry. Is it my swaddling? Am I not doing it right?”
You can’t possibly be hungry became the phrase we repeated the most that week. We just couldn’t believe it. We would hold out on feeding her, thinking there had to be something else, anything, keeping her screaming. But nope. It was hunger. And she was just a normal, clusterfeeding baby. In summary, we spent thousands of dollars to put ourselves under house arrest. The only thing I remember from that staycation was blood curdling screams. But at least it wasn’t my room and I didn’t feel obliged to clean it.
So, back to the clusterfeeding setup. After that debacle I decided to get comfortable. too comfortable, maybe. I was going to ride out the clusterfeeding in front of an RPG. Maybe I’d make a real vacation out of my maternity leave. We ordered a 4K TV, a hemorrhoids pillow, and a game controller and I hunkered down. Yes, I bought a whole ass TV for this. But a week after the TV arrived, as far as I could tell, my firstborn never clusterfed again. She still fed a lot, especially during teething, but the nearly all day marathons never happened past, say, 3 months.
This baby clusterfed even less. AFAIK, she is already out of the thick of it and she never did it too much to begin with. I never even finished the prologue of God of War before my excuse to skimp on chores ran out. Damn it. I looked forward to it. It just goes to show, parenting is never quite what you expect. And the best laid plans can go off the rails.

I'm (female) a 27-year-old with high-functioning autism and a learning disability (possibly having gained anxiety and/or depression w/suicidal thoughts from time to time on my worst days).
I'm working at a certain grocery store bakery (wont say the name but the first and last part of the name ryme and you just have to change the first letter), and have been for three years (4 in August). When I first started at the age of 24, I was a naive worker who believed that I'd be rewarded for paying my dues and working hard. So I was hired and worked about 3-4 days a week part time 6:30 - 1.
I first started working with a co-worker and a manager. A few months after co-worker left on the spot and I was left to man the bakery all on my own. My manager was running around taking care of things that I did know how to do while I did the most basic tasks and slowly learning the ways of the area. I was working About a year in I was offered full time, 6:30 - 3 six days a week since I was alone for the most part with benefits and all that for I think $11 an hour.
I asked if I could learn cake decorating things as that's what I really wanted to do as part of the condition of working full time, and they agreed. So after talking it over with my family (who also pushed for full time because of money). I stupidly agreed, thinking I'd get rewarded. Spoilers: I didn't. They pulled a few people around the store excluding myself to learn under a professional cake decorator and wouldn't let me learn even when I offered to or expressed my interest or dropped hints or the like.
Then came covid, I was manning the bakery and could open and close easily without having to worry about getting things done since I was able to manage my own time. What I couldn't do my manager did. Working in front of a hot oven, running around with a mask, trying to keep my head up. But in all honesty, I was no longer enjoying my work and dreaded every morning when I had to get up and go, only to be super happy when I was done for the day and had a day off.
Then came them deciding that instead of promoting me (which even I admit that I wouldn't want because I was already exhausted with what I was doing), they pulled someone from the deli to manage me. She was much older than myself and stated that this was probably going to be her last job before retiring, so in my eyes I felt like I was in trouble. She knew nothing about the bakery, wanted to do everything in one day just because she loved to bake and claimed to have no hobbies outside of work, and just generally left a mess around, ignoring my advice/knowledge unless she needed it, and enjoyed barking orders if things didn't go her exact way. But yet she was always super sweet when she needed something from me.
Then months later, we brought over a very slow co-worker who only listened to teh manager, refusing to do as I ask and just in gernal ignoring me. To make things worse, she LOVES to slack off and just stand around if given the opportunity to. Manger sees nothing wrong with this and in fact yells at me when I'm trying to help her around by giving advice. And she loves to take a week off frequently to "visit" loved ones or whatever (this is her claim). So instead of the managerworking by herself for certain days, I get pulled to work more days which stresses me out since I help on the family farm after work, so hardly any rest, just like this week.
I tried to quit after she went too far, but even after explaining my side to my parents, they refused to hear me out, and I was forced to go talk to the store manager who admittedly didn't do much but make it worse by giving me false promises whe I foolishly relaid my issues. Things haven't gotten better and I'm trying to look near that bakery to see if I can find another line of work in the same area or even try to look closer to home.
But what I really want to do is stay home and just work on my novel, or even try to do silk dying for a living. But my parents think that it's just being "lazy" and that they think they know better. Neither of them really had any jobs in the current day and age, so I'd love to see them do what I do and NOT be upset at the conditions. I guess I'm just posting this here because I'm not sure what to even do anymore.

I moved to a new city last fall and didn't know anyone. I'm pretty introverted and I have a really hard time making new friends, but I met a girl through a friend's acquaintance, and we quickly became really close friends. Or at least in my mind, she was one of my closest friends since I didn't really have any other friends in the city. She is super extraverted and grew up in this area, so she has a lot of other close friends, so I never really expected her to think of me as close as I thought of her.
For the past few months though we've been texting everyday and hanging out multiple times a week. Her roommates even mentioned that they see me come over more than anyone else. Also, on her birthday, she invited just me to come hang out with her instead of any of her other close friends. She's also been telling me for a while about how for her birthday she also wanted to take a small road trip to the beach with just a couple of her closest friends, including me, to just chill and relax for a day. I guess I'm just mentioning all of this to say that I was kind of glad that it seemed like she did think of me as a really close friend.
Well, she threw a birthday party this past Friday, and I was really looking forward to it. I've hung out with her and her friends before, and I always have a ton of fun with them and they are all really nice people. However, at this party, I just felt so awkward. A lot of her other really close friends came, including some from out of town that she hadn't seen in a while. I was excited to meet them because she always talks about them, but I barely even got an opportunity to speak to any of them at the party. From the start, she and all her other close friends were all grouped together, dancing, taking shots, and taking a bunch of pictures together. Every once in a while she would call out to other people to come join them, but she never called out to me. I know I very easily could've just joined in myself, but for some reason it felt like I would just be intruding. I was happy that she was having so much fun with her close friends, but I did feel a little hurt and left out, and I felt even more guilty about feeling this way because it felt selfish of me to want more attention from her to myself.
I did have fun at the party because I did get to talk to some people, but I overall just felt very left out and unwanted and ended up leaving early. I think I only had the chance to say maybe like 5 words to my friend the whole time because she was busy with her other friends. I thought I was just overthinking all of this and told myself it makes sense that she spent more time with her other friends since she doesn't get to see them nearly as often. However, the next day, I saw on her Instagram story that she did end up going to the beach without me, which really hurt me even more.
She hasn't spoken or texted to me since the party on Friday, and this is pretty much the longest time we've gone without speaking since we became friends. I did send her a cute dog post I saw on Instagram yesterday, which is the kind of thing we always send each other, but she hasn't even opened it. I know 2 days isn't long at all, but to me it's felt like an eternity, and as much as I want to reach out, I just feel too hurt and embarrassed that I feel hurt to say anything. Plus I don't even know what to really say. I feel weird confronting her about it because it seems like it's more of a personal issue with me than something she did, but I also feel weird about just not acknowledging it
Anyone have any advice? Am I just being overdramatic? Or should I try and say something to her?
TLDR: Felt super left out at close friend's bday party and got left out of other bday plans that she's been telling me about for the past few weeks. She's been ignoring me for the past couple days, and I don't really know what to do.

Okay so. This is a job for those of you google maps geniuses that somehow find a bunch of hidden gems in certain places. (Or simply people that live in the area and know a place that’s exactly what I’m looking for.)
The job is finding me a rivelake/beach, located in Maryland, I do not meant some sort of National park or whatever, I mean something hidden or secluded that not too many people know about. It needs to be located near New Carrollton/hyattsville/lanham (near any of these general areas), within 30mins driving distance.
Requirement: 1.Must be safe, I’m not trying to die from a river suddenly dragging me into a massive rock or get chemical burns. 2.Must be able to swim in it safely 3.Must have space on land, at least enough space to fit one of those white foldable tables basically.
First person to find me a place gets $10 via PayPal, first come first serve.