hello everyone
I've had the same office job coming up on 1 year. It's on my university's campus. For summer, I'm working the requested 14hweek, 7 hour shifts 2 days in a row, then off the rest of the week. The amount of weekly hours is no problem, but I've never worked such a long shift before, usually 3–4 hours when classes are in session.
I'm a graphic designer so I'm just sitting at a desk this whole time. And I'm realizing how NECESSARY "horizontal time" is to regulate myself. I've always been a bed potato, but since classes & school year shifts aren't more than a couple hours at a time, I never noticed that I was actually resetting in between my responsibilities.
I feel like utter shit for the last 2–3 hours of these shifts and a zombie for most of the rest of the day. I get 2, 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. The back cubicle area I work in has a tiny, uncomfortable loveseat thing that I attempt to fulfill this need with, but it doesn't really work. There's no other furniture that could really work.
Any accommodation requests would likely be unable to happen — not because my bosses don't care — but both what the university would allow them to do plus our space restrictions. It's a small building and a pretty weird layout.
Any recommendations on other ways to self-regulate that might help this? thanks!

Every day I wake up and dread seeing my lazy coworker. It is so infuriating to even say good morning to him at this point because I hate him so much. For some context, there is a total of 3 of us in the office, 2 technicians (me and my good coworker) and a clerk (useless one). I have worked here a few years longer than the clerk and right off the bat when he was hired he went to my boss and told him I watch movies at work. There's so much downtime (I work in a tech office) and yeah sometimes I'll throw a movie on to pass the time when we have no calls (my boss was aware of this). Anyway, the point is this man came into our office starting problems. He started telling us "I am not allowed to do that" when I'd ask for assistance on a task. His title is clerk which here means he assists us on a lower level by doing little things like moving tech from one place to another or connecting someone to a printer. Really easy and quick tasks that can be handled by him when we are swamped with more important calls. He will do anything to avoid doing a task though and it's so frustrating. He once asked someone who requested tech support for a meeting if they could move their entire meeting time so I could assist them instead of him since I was busy working with a list of other calls. All the meeting required was a laptop to be connected to a display with an HDMI cable. He refuses to speak and will text me in the same room as him asking for help or sending me tickets. He is rude and has an incredibly short fuse. He will slam doors and sigh so loudly when he actually has to do his job. He constantly pisses people off around campus and has been labeled as "creepy". I really do not understand how he is still employed here. He takes lunches for up to 2 hours daily (we are allotted 1 hour) and will take several personal calls throughout the day. I have made my boss aware of his horrid work ethic and firing him was talked about for months but nothing came of it. I love my job and have worked hard to get here yet I constantly think about leaving because I can't stand my coworker.

Hello all! I am currently finishing off my A-Levels now, and I have two main choices of University that I've been considering, but I can't make my mind up with.
Before I continue I live in South England, near Hastings, and so Surrey is 2 hours away, whilst NT is 4 hours away. So at Surrey I've chosen Psychology with a placement year, which requires me to get grades BBC. At NT I've chosen Developmental Psychology with a placement year, which also requires me to get a BBC.
I've been to both campuses, and I have explored both cities, and these are my pros and cons for each:
Surrey -
Pros: Campus Uni, everything is close together. High student satisfaction, quality of teaching, and placement promises seem very good. Closer to home, and closer to London, if I ever wanted to travel there.
Cons: Expensive, both for accommodation and regular cost of living stuff. Guildford, whilst a nice city, seemed quite small and not very popular with nightlife.
Nottingham Trent -
Pros: WhatUni voted it 1st in student satisfaction, and has marginally higher rankings for both the course, and the quality of the University itself. City Campus is very close to ... the city, which I've seen very good things about. Cheaper accommodation and cost of living, and a good postgraduate employment promise.
Cons: Further away from home, and being smack dab in the midlands is far away from London and all that. Apparently Nottingham is a more dangerous city? I can't think of anything beyond this.
Beyond these points I feel like I don't know enough to make a decision, and I'd appreciate any help or insight I can get from both current and past students. I'm stressing, alongside all the revision for my exams, I feel like if I don't make a decision now then there won't be any accommodation or something (despite all rooms still having loads of space.)
Thank you for reading up until now, and I can't wait to read all your responses!

I have a teacher which in this case is my boss. Not really teaching me anything. Manages my day and what I do throughout it. I have a recess and a lunch. 2 recesses one in the morning and one in the afternoon. 15 mins long. I also have a lunch. Since I'm an adult I do get off campus lunch privileges.
However if Im late I can get written up just like in school. Do it enough times I'll get suspended. In this case fired.
I can fall in love at work just like at school. We get awards. We also get pizza parties. Sometimes we get early release.
No homework!! Also no tests!!
I get paid money! Real adult money. I can buy anything I want. Well if I can afford it that is. After I pay rent, oil companies, phone companies, farmers, my car so I can get to work. After that I can buy whatever I want woohoo!
This is incredible. I just loved school so much. I get to do it again for the next 30+ years!!! Wow!! How fortunate I am.

I've started today - May 27th, and day 1 is complete!
I've started today because my fiancé is deploying again, he left this morning. I wanted to jump straight in. He's gone for another three months, so I should finish 75 hard a few weeks before he gets back and we go straight on holiday. Would be nice to have a body to show off at the beach lol.
My outline is:

• Drinking 1 gallon of water - I have a 750ml water bottle I'm going to take everywhere, and 1 gallon is 5 full bottles.
• No alcohol - shouldn't be a problem at all. I only drink socially and have no worries about avoiding alcohol.
• Outdoor exercises will include walking, running in the park, and maybe staff/sword practice (I live on a college campus so anything outside will mean being seen and maybe judged... the sword is padded, not steel so looks a bit stupid)
• Indoor exercises will include a gym mix (I do weights, treadmill running, and bike a lot), karate (2 hour classes 2-3x per week), and sword classes (2 hour 1x per week)
• Progress photo will be fine - I don't want to share photos online but I think I'll enjoy looking at the changes
• Diet will focus on eating meals from my university halls, which are actually pretty healthy, balanced meals, and certainly better than how I eat right now. No takeout/deliveries. Avoiding junk food (exception is piece of dark chocolate on occasion). A big aim is to cook food using cook book recipes with a focus on Mediterranean meals.
• 10 pages won't be a problem at all, I have a huge pile of self-help, self-improvement type books (figuratively - they're mostly ebooks) to read so that's good.

First Thoughts on Day 1

• The gallon of water was the worst bit. I woke up so early and I feel like I've just been chugging glasses of water constantly. I've mostly worked from home today, I know I'm going to hate this when in a library or in my office.
• Outside exercise was a 50 min walk, and inside exercise was weights. I hit 10K steps as well, which isn't a 75Hard goal but I like to hit 10K a day
• Progress photo was fine, though I realised I don't have many good places in my flat to take one!
• Diet was good - my uni hall had a very nice lunch on offer, and in the evening I made Greek salad with feta filo parcels.
• I've started my reading - one of those self-discipline army books I know my fiancé would hate
• On the side I'm doing Duolingo and meditation, and I got both of those done today too.

(this is my personal review, I don't have any affiliation with Anbernic or its distributors)

1. Introduction

I have quite a few handheld gaming devices: the Nintendo DS, the Steam Deck, the Nintendo Switch, and several models from Anbernic like the RG405M, RG35XX, and RG353P. While these are all great in their own right, I found myself not using them much because of my busy lifestyle. Most of these devices aren't very pocketable; even the ones that fit in my pocket still feel bulky and require a conscious effort to carry around.
Enter the Anbernic RG28XX. This device is small enough that it isn't a problem to keep it in my pocket literally all day, every day. I can pull it out whenever I have a spare moment to play. That alone makes it a winner in my book. But the fact that it has enough power to also emulate more intense systems like the PSP and N64 has quickly turned it into one of my favorite gaming handhelds overall. It's certainly getting more use than any of my other devices at this point.

2. Design and Build Quality

2.1 Appearance

The design of the Anbernic RG28XX is similar to a classic Game Boy in terms of look and feel. I opted for the transparent black color, and it looks great. Honestly, all of the color options on the website look pretty amazing, each adding a unique aesthetic to the device.

2.2 Build Quality

The device feels somewhat sturdy, but it's pretty clear that it's a $50 device. The housing is plastic, and I doubt it could survive a drop on concrete. Luckily, the subtly textured plastic gives it a good grip, so I don't feel like there's any danger of it slipping out of my hand. The buttons and ports feel pretty sturdy as well.

3. Display and Audio

3.1 Screen Quality

The display looks quite beautiful to me, although I'm not an expert on this kind of thing. The resolution of 640x480 is perfect for the types of games this system is meant to emulate. While the aspect ratio isn't a perfect match for some systems, I found that pretty much every system looks good. The screen size is 2.8 inches, which may sound very small, but keep in mind that the original Game Boy Advance screen was 2.9 inches and worked just fine. I've never had real problems with the screen being too small, except on some PSP titles like Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, where the text was occasionally a little hard to read. For some weird reason, the stock firmware enables bezels on some systems, which doesn't make much sense given the very small screen size and limited screen real estate. You're just filling up usable screen space with something that isn't the actual game you're trying to view, so I strongly recommend disabling those.

3.2 Sound Quality

The audio is not great but not terrible either. The device has a single mono speaker, so you don't get stereo unless you plug in headphones. The headphone jack and amplifier work just fine. It's probably not going to win any awards for sound quality, given that they're likely using the integrated DAC and headphone amplifier built into the SoC, but I haven't heard any noticeable distortion, clipping, noise, or other artifacts.

4. Controls and Usability

4.1 Buttons and D-Pad

The feel and responsiveness of all the buttons and the D-pad are pretty good, with the D-pad being especially good. The ergonomics of the device aren't great given the small size, but they're still better than I expected. I was kind of dreading longer play sessions because I figured my hands would probably cramp up, but I was surprised to find that I can actually play for a decent amount of time and remain comfortable. The four face buttons are a little bit too small and placed a little too close together, which can occasionally lead to awkward moments when trying to hit multiple buttons at the same time. However, it hasn't been too bad. The shoulder buttons work pretty well if you adjust your grip a little bit. If you try to use your fingertips to hit the shoulder buttons, it's not that comfortable, but using the middle of my index fingers below the middle knuckle works great, preventing any kind of strain or cramping.
The main downside of the shoulder buttons is how clicky they are. They're quite loud, and if you're playing in bed at night, it could be problematic for some people. Luckily, my wife is a deep sleeper, so the button noises don't bother her, but I imagine some light sleepers might have issues with them.
The lack of an analog stick or sticks isn't the end of the world. I've found ways to do controller mapping for systems that traditionally have an analog stick, like the N64 and PSP, so that I can play most of the games I like and they still work quite well. You don't always get perfect control this way, but the games are still totally playable. Some examples include Smash Brothers on N64 and NHL Hockey 2007 on PSP.

4.2 User Interface

The built-in stock firmware works well enough for me. On every other Anbernic device that I own, I felt compelled to adopt a custom firmware because the stock OS was really not great. However, that doesn't seem to be the case with the RG28XX. The stock firmware does everything I need, and the navigation is pretty straightforward. There are even some quality-of-life features like fast shutdown mode, which allows you to automatically save your game state upon powering down the device and then load right back into the game where you left off when it's powered on again. No real complaints here, though the major negative thing I have to say is that they've enabled button press sounds by default, and they just sound awful. Why, Anbernic, why? To any new user, disabling button sounds should be the first thing you do after taking the device out of the box.

5. Performance and Game Library

5.1 Performance

Anbernic claims that this device can handle anything up to N64, NDS and PSP, and in my experience, that is true. However, for PSP games especially, you need to sacrifice some quality-of-life and performance aspects to get the games to run well enough to play. For example, on PSP games, you will likely need to use frame skip for anything but the absolute lightest titles. Additionally, even though the device can technically play Nintendo DS games, the lack of a touch screen and the small display mean that many NDS titles are just not going to be fun to play on this device; you'll have to display a single screen at a time and switch between them with a button press. I've had some luck with games like Mario Kart DS, but overall, it's not ideal for NDS gaming.

5.2 Game Compatibility

The included game library is actually pretty great. Anbernic has done a good job lately of cutting out all the garbage titles and duplicates, making the library fairly easy to navigate. That said, I don't actually use any of the built-in games; I provide all of my own on a separate SD card, which works perfectly for me.

6. Battery Life and Portability

6.1 Battery Life

The battery life on this thing is simply amazing. I've seen people run tests where it can play games for over 8 hours. I personally haven't tested this myself, but I have been able to use it for days on end, playing here and there in my free time, and have been shocked with how well the battery holds up. Note that you will want to enable fast shutdown mode in the firmware to make sure the device actually fully powers down when you hit the power button. In the original default firmware that shipped with the device when it launched, pressing the power button only puts it to sleep, which basically burns battery at nearly the same rate as when the device is running, minus a little bit saved with the screen turned off.

6.2 Portability

This is the number one selling point for this device for me. I have plenty of other devices with bigger and better screens, better control options like analog sticks, and more power to play more demanding games. However, since those are just a little bit too big to comfortably fit in my pocket all day, every day, I just don't use them that much. I'm very busy with a super demanding job and a family to take care of, so my gaming sessions often happen during odd times, like when I'm commuting on public transit, finishing lunch early and taking 15 minutes before getting back to work, or maybe 20 minutes before bed. I don't have hours to sit around playing games. I need to rely on something that's always in my pocket and that I can pull out when I have a spare moment here and there. If this description fits you, then I think this device is going to be great for you.

7. Additional Features

7.1 Extras

The main extra feature on this device is probably the mini HDMI output. I haven't personally used it because I have a Steam Deck and Switch hooked up in my living room and don't really see myself connecting the RG28XX to the TV. However, I've seen some videos on YouTube that show the HDMI works well, providing a decent option for those who want to play on a larger screen.

7.2 Firmware and Updates

The stock firmware works well for me, as I mentioned before. It's also great to see that Anbernic has put out several updates since launching the product. There are also several custom firmware options available, though I haven't had a chance to try those out. I'll just say that the default firmware works well for me, and it's great that the open nature of this device is allowing the community to provide other alternatives.

8. Pros and Cons

8.1 Pros

• Powerful enough to emulate all of the systems that I care about.
• Super portable and pocketable, take it with me anywhere comfortably.
• Fast shutdown mode allows for short play sessions.
• Great looking screen despite its small size.
• Just configurable enough to do everything I want.
• Default firmware and game library will work well for most people.
• The price makes this an absolute steal.

8.2 Cons

• Small size makes ergonomics a bit of a problem.
• Face buttons are too small and spaced too close together.
• Feels a bit cheap at times.
• Buttons make a little too much noise, especially the shoulder buttons.
• Some comfort issues when pressing the shoulder buttons and triggers.

9. Conclusion

The RG28XX can be a perfect device for people who are looking to do specific things, and I just happen to be one of those people. It turns out that portability is probably the most important thing for me when it comes to one of these devices; otherwise, I wouldn't have a device on me at all times and therefore just wouldn't be playing games as much. I would have bought this even if it only did SNES/GBA, so the fact that it can also play more demanding systems like PlayStation, N64, and PSP is just a bonus. Plus, the open nature of the device means that the community will be able to continue to iterate and improve it far into the future.
The main caveat here is that there might be some people for whom this device is absolutely the wrong purchase. If you're mostly looking to play more powerful systems, for example, or if ergonomics are very important to you, or if you don't mind using a larger device that's a little bit harder to fit into your pocket, then you should probably look for something else. On the other hand, if you're mostly looking to play older systems (PSX and earlier) and you want a device that is small enough to always carry with you, this is the one.

I'm a new attorney with about 10 months experience. No kids or dependents. Currently working at a small ID firm making $78k with 2040 annual billable requirement (170 a month). I'm not particularly happy where I am due to a poor work life balance and a difficult to work with supervising partner.
I recently got a job offer with my state's DOJ to do medical malpractice where I'd be defending state doctors. Trying to figure out if I should accept the offer. Here's my pro/con list.
Pros: 1) 42.5 working hours a week with 1 hour paid lunch per day and two paid 15 minute breaks (currently working 50-55 hours a week) 2) Better benefits (employer would cover 75% of health, dental, vision, and life insurance and 25% of the same for any kids/spouse in the future. My current employer is 50/50 and only for health) 3) 14 holidays, 10 sick days, 10 vacation days (since I'm billable at my current job, I don't get any of these, but I can take time off whenever I want so long as I make up my billables, which in my experience means no days off) 4) I would get to go to court more often, which is what I want to do 5) No billables 6) Pension 7) No longer having to work with my difficult supervisor who is not very keen on mentoring 8) After 6 months, I can come in earlier and leave earlier or come in later leave later. 9) After 6 months I can work remotely 1 day a week either Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays 10) Any time working over my required hours if I have to work on the weekends or stay late would either allow me to work a shorter week for the next week or, budget permitting, that extra time gets converted into vacation time.
Cons: 1) Pay is less ($67k). They usually offer 3% raise a year and promotions every 3-5 years for an extra $5k (so there's a ceiling on what I can make) 2) The commute would be roughly 45 minutes each way whereas my current commute is about 10-15 minutes each way (my lease is up in September so I could move closer after that) 3) I know nothing about medical malpractice (but I'm also willing to learn) 4) Less flexibility in my schedule (at my current position I can come and go as I please to a certain extent)
Worth noting that long term I would ultimately like to end up in an in house counsel type of position. I'm unclear if a position like this would help/hurt/not affect my chances of getting an offer for in house counsel years down the road.
Thoughts on this offer? Career advice?

The Real Brianna of My Dreams

Michael Ambrosio
The current day is May 1st, 2024. I believe I might have found Brianna. And she’s gone. . .
About eight years ago from this date, I would have my first encounter with this mysterious girl. With all of this having taken course over such a long amount of time, a lot of the details are blurry compared to how solidified they used to be to me. But, back to the first encounter, although encounter sounds more like a passive aggressive frightening experience, I’m not sure what other word I might use to describe it. Maybe it was a chance meeting or divine intervention, but encounter gets the meaning across a bit more fluently, as every time I would find this girl I would be in total shock, utter disarray, and my heart would beat so fast I’d feel as though a heart attack was right around the corner.
*The first time I ever met her was through a dream. . .*
I can’t remember what this particular dream was. I’m not exactly sure what happened in it, why I found it so profound, or how it even got me to begin thinking about this girl. All I know was that it got my attention and I began to pay attention to this idea, this one night miracle where I first met this mysterious woman.
The night I had that dream, I’m pretty sure I thought nothing of it. Who doesn’t have a dream every so often where they’ve met their true love, their other half, their once in a lifetime love of their life? I’ve always been a bit of a hopeless romantic and I’ve always known that this was one of my deeply ingrained character traits. From my first ever year in school in first grade, I had a very large crush on this girl, Ashley Amaya, and I remember wanting so badly to be her crush as well. I even remember a moment from school when I saw a spider crawling towards her and me while walking across a paved walkway to get to our next class, and I leapt towards it and crushed it, despite having a massive fear of the little demons at the time. But, I did it to impress her!
All that to say, the first dream wasn’t extraordinary, and instead it was just another more than usual somber morning when I woke up only to realize the beautiful woman I had just met was probably a mixture of something I ate and some tv show I’d probably seen the afternoon before. Time would go by, the memory of that first dream fading to the farthest recess of my mind with only a hint of any remote recognition still reminiscing in the deepest abyss of my head.
But, this is when what started out as a dream began to become a bit more substantial. This is when Brianna began to plague my mind.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I began to have recurring dreams of being in love with this mysterious woman. She began to become more familiar in a very inconvenient and unreliable way which was of course through the remembering of my dreams. In the beginning stages, I’d only ever catch glimpses of her face and the reset was usually a silhouette or a very rushed moment. The rushed moments were hard to describe but they were full of light, always this wonderful warm yellow light and though they were rushed, time also slowed down significantly in a perplexing way that I still can’t really understand to this day.
I’d see her dark brown hair flowing and filtering the light into these tiny and magnificent rays making a twinkling in what was usually a dark atmosphere. I’d catch the corner of her mouth turning ever so slightly into a warm beautiful smile as she looked away, something else in the vicinity stealing her attention for the moment. There were intense feelings of joy and tranquility and there was a warmth about the situation I could only hope to ever feel in the true cold and lightless world we all collectively call home. Something about her was so intensely special, and the fact that I even got to share a dream with her was the highest privilege I could’ve ever received.
As time would go on, I’d continue to have these dreams. She always stayed the same, with her long dark brownish red hair flowing ever so gracefully. It got to the point that when I would have these dreams, I would’ve preferred to not wake up, just so I could spend more time with her.
Over a year would go by. At this point in life I was still just in high school and still brand new to learning life in the real world compared to the sheltered view I used to have. I had just gotten a job at the local Home Depot as a cashier, literally a few weeks after I got my license since my parents were unwilling to pay for gas for me (as good parents should do!) I was still figuring out life with my friend groups and trying to balance the reality of starting to become more mature and take on more responsibilities while still trying to cling to my childhood of digging holes and bashing legos against the wall with my brothers! It was an odd time, which I guess many can easily familiarize themselves with the timeframe as we’ve all at one point been teenagers.
One of the biggest things in my life I remember being a bit troublesome though, was all my friends I had made and my groups of people I had become so entangled with. With going through these changes, I had some friends that were still absolute children at heart and some friends who were practically ready for college! I had loads of moments through those years where these friends I had grown up with would start to feel like strangers and I’d begin to not really feel as though I had a social place to call my own.
Work was a new outlet, and I actually used to love talking to people as a cashier, ringing up their items, and learning the social norm of small talk that would amount to nothing less than an afterthought. I made a lot of friends with people who were retired and with college kids who seemed to be the coolest bunch around, who knew how to live life and have fun doing it. It was such a variety of friends where I’d talk to Tina about her granddaughter or Jim about his retirement and stock options and then I’d go up to Isaiah and he’d tell me about all the dates he’d been on or all the party stories of him and his friends living life to the fullest. It was a pretty great time in my life though, because one thing especially it taught me was how to be social, though this process would still take years and years to fully develop until I was in my early 20’s to be fully confident in my ability to put it on and be charismatic if need be. The reason I mention so much about this job though, was there was still a deep and unrecognized subconsciously aware desire in me to meet the one.
Home Depot of all places was the first time I saw her. In person. . .
I remember it was a day much like the rest of them. After having struck up some conversation with our customers and being a little groggy from waking up at the crack of dawn for the early shift, it was time for me to finally get some lunch. While taking my usually route from the front of the hardware store I stopped at my usual coworkers stations to say hi or make a passive joke as I strolled happily on my way.
I can’t exactly remember why, but I had the need to talk to one of my managers, and it was something I needed a response for by the end of the day, so I figured before I clocked out for lunch, I’d get that little task out of the way. But, on the way back to my manager’s office, which was this little 10 foot hallway with doors on either side, one leading to a bank of sorts, and the other side hosting two doorways to offices, I was stopped in my tracks. Right next to the old clock-in machine were two seats where you’d usually sit and wait if the manager’s doors were closed so you could catch them as they walked out. They were also the seats I had sat in when waiting to get an interview for this first job of mine, where I nervously and anxiously awaited the outcome so many years ago.
In one of those broken down, flat cushioned little seats was a girl so beautiful, I literally lost my breath at the sight of her. I knew immediately who she was. She was the girl from my dreams I had been having over the course of that past year or so. Recently through my dreams, I had learned a very crucial detail about her and that was that her name was Brianna, and there sitting right before me within a few steps walk was the girl.
I froze. I made eye contact. And I immediately turned around and walked away. How I wish beyond wishing I would’ve said hi now. . .
Seeing that my manager was currently in the process of onboarding her as a new employee, I decided to take up my little question with my manager a bit later and I went to lunch. While walking into our break room, I ran into one of my new co-workers who I had become pretty good friends with. His name was Brad Brad.
At this point in time, I had more of an idea and more of a recognition of the fact that these recurring dreams of mine were something special, though I hardly let anyone know because of how embarrassing and odd it was. I mean, who would go around blindly telling people about some chick that they’d been dreaming of that they were totally in love with?? (Definitely not me eight years late. . . ) But with Brad Brad, I trusted him and had told him about the story a few days prior to running into her.
Not knowing her name and only having seen her face, I walked up to my friend and asked him about the new possible employee. He immediately knew who I was referring to her as he had seen her just a bit ago and apparently gotten to know her slightly! I asked him if her name was Brianna, being almost definitively sure that that was her name, and just wanting to check to see if I was either certifiably insane, or possibly blessed with this odder than life knowledge.
Brad immediately confirmed her name was Brianna and asked if I had spoken with her, and this immediately had me out of breath, terrified of how the girl from my dreams was truly true and realer than life. I don’t remember exactly how the rest of the conversation went down, though I can safely assume I was blabbering like a lunatic and telling him every single detail of every single dream I had had of her before. I walked out to get lunch knowing that I’d finally become acquainted with Brianna over time in the work atmosphere which was a relief to me, knowing how social I was at work while in comparison to how introverted and quiet I was at school. Life was looking to good to be true.
Brianna, didn’t get the job.
A few days would go by and my excitement to go to work was through the roof. Never before had I had so eagerly gotten in my car, driven to work, and immediately clocked in in hopes of seeing this new girl around the work place. A week would go by and my thoughts of her were still as excited as ever, but I began to realize that there was still training, a full on hiring process, and that it would most likely take time for things to get in motion. A few weeks would go by and then a month and an unsettling worry began to haunt me as I started to wonder if she didn’t actually get the job.
I started going around asking all of my fellow co-workers if they knew her or if they had any ideas of if we were hiring anyone new. I became obsessed with what we called the, “war board,” which was a schedule of all cashiers’ schedules for the day, what departments they would work in and so forth so on. But, I never saw Brianna’s name pop up, and I began to realize that I might have missed my one and only chance of getting to talk to Brianna.
As time progressed I finally decided it was time to talk to Brad about this new girl since he had been the only one I had talked to about her, and this is when the strangest thing ever happened. Brad had absolutely no idea who I was talking about. He could tell I was obsessed with the idea though and he saw how persistent I was that I had had the conversation with him before, and he even sympathetically lied to me about knowing her just to appease my insanity by saying,
“Ohhhh yeahhhhhhhhh! I remember who you’re talking about!”
I was crushed that the only person who knew her didn’t remember her and at the time I’m unsure of why I didn’t ask my manager to see if they knew who I was talking about. Maybe it was embarrassment or the thought of not being able to see other potential employee’s information that scared me. Either way, I wish I had asked more and been more determined in finding information on what had happened to Brianna.
Months and months on end would go by and the fascination with work would disappear as I got older. I’d check the war board on a pretty consistent basis always hoping that by some miracle, Brianna would show up to work for the day! And even though we eventually would go on to hire an incredible Brianna that I’d become such dear friends with, she wasn’t the same one.
I remember how I used to day dream about Brianna walking into the store and how I would recognize her and how we’d instantly fall in love. Especially on those hot hot Summer days when I was stuck in the garden department with nothing but my thoughts and a dream. As life began to progress though, I realized I didn’t want to only dream about Brianna. . . but I wanted to find her! What good was all my wallowing around if I didn’t make any active attempts to find her!
*Thus began, the searching for Brianna. What might just be an everlasting one. . .*
I began to take a reality check on this recurring girl who haunted my every thought and when wondering on how I would find a girl from my literal dreams, I thought maybe the first best place to look would be there! Literally in my dreams. I took on an idea I had borrowed from the movie Inception where first thing in the morning, if you try to remember your dreams you’d have a better chance of seeing more details.
Doing more research into this line of thought, I read about dream journals and how some people keep entries of their nightly subconscious activities in order to become better at what’s called lucid dreaming, where basically, you have full and utter control of the dream and realize that you’re in it while still sleeping. My dream journal over time would start to slowly fill and fill with some pretty crazy stories and hilarious dreams. Actually, I wonder if I still have it. If I can find it, I’ll drought down one of my entries here for you to read. . . whoever “you” might be.
I won’t lie when I say I found it in about one minute. It was sitting on my desk right next to me. Oddly enough, my first journal entry is far further in this story than I thought as it was written on October 9th, 2022 (thank God I wrote down dates!) Here goes my first entry.
10-09-22 (#1)
My first dream, I remember being at Home Depot, working while pushing carts. I was very sick and delusional and the atmosphere was rainy and dark. All I could feel was gloom and sadness. There was no one to help me which added to the exhaustion. A customer managed to break 3 carts in half and I had to try and fix them, but I couldn’t. The feeling of wanting to go home was very strong.
10-09-22 (#2)
This time I was in a small class with two other men. It was our first day and our professor was already making us write books worth of homework. But, she soon assigned us Minecraft assignments and the rest of the class was devoted to playing Minecraft. A mixture of falling while playing the game repeatedly occurred and was frightening, yet exhilarating and fun.
Though my timeline of the dream journal and me beginning to write it might be skewed in this story I’ve been telling, as you can see from October 9th’s dreams of the year 2022, it was in fact something I started to do. There were quite a few pages from this journal missing and I can’t recall if they were pages of old homework from school and the notebook was one I self-recycled or not. But, I thought I had started writing these way earlier in my life. Maybe one day, I’ll write up all of these dreams into some sort of official funny document, but as of right now, they’ll all stay in that book. It might honestly be for the better!
Either way, it’s obviously apparent that I became obsessed with this idea of Brianna and I began to play my life events in my head over and over again, and this might have been harmful to me later on, but at the early stages of these occurrences, I was very much into reading. Being the introvert that I was in school, and having no access to a smart device, I used to read so so so many books all the time! My best friend in high school wasn’t any other student really but the faculty and staff, specifically our school librarian Mrs. Hogue.
Every time I’d walk into that library which was probably like twice a week, she’d see me and know it was time for me to become obsessed with a new story or spend the next however many months of my life engrossed in a series. I absolutely loved Mrs. Hogue and while she was very strict with all the other obnoxious kids, she loved me too. We used to talk about life and such and the day I graduated, she was one of the people I made sure of to talk to her and wish her a goodbye to.
Anyways, this obsession with writing and reading of mine was one that really flourished during high school due to these circumstances. It feels rather odd writing now when I haven’t gone about it aside from formal essays and school work since specifically 2018.
2018 was the year that I decided to run with a lot of these creative concepts my mind had created over Brianna and turn them into an actual book with full on character development, a family for Brianna, a place to live and friendships and occupations of all sorts! This is why I mentioned just earlier that this might’ve been more harmful to me, because, sometimes I can’t remember with Brianna what’s memories and what’s a figment of my imagination developed by a creative and passionate former younger writer of myself.
Either way, at this point in my life you could tell I was so devoted to the idea of Brianna being a real person, and this one specific idea plagued me like no other.
The idea was that Brianna was also dreaming of me and that we could only communicate through our collective dreams.
This idea for a young hopeless romantic was intensely alluring and from this idea became the now published and only book of mine, “The Fracture of Reality.” In this book, there’s two main characters named Ian and Brianna. Ian oddly enough matches almost identically all my physical and intellectual traits, some of the only differences being him having a place of his own, a pretty successful job and a bit more muscle, almost as though he were a version of myself I hope to one day be.
*Brianna, well, she was and is the Brianna that I know.*
The premise of this book was, well how should I put it? Better yet, I’ll just plug in the summary from the back of the book I wrote many years ago!
“Dreams and reality are relatively similar terms. Dreams describe and amplify events that occur in reality whereas reality can capture what little glimpses of the dreams remain. But, it never occurred to me that the two could blur together. Only when it was too late did I start to realize that reality was fracturing…”
Although this summary doesn’t really expound on what the book was about, only now do I find it so profound that I established this saying, this line of thought while I was still younger. I’ll write to you now that the basic premise of the story was a bit of a thriller! Ian begins to have these dreams where he meets and speaks to this mysterious tranquil and beautiful girl. He starts to fall in love with her as he slowly begins to realize that she is in fact real and having dreams of him also. But, with his dreams comes the slow beginning of his down fall where his dreams start to predict horrific events that will occur relatively soon. Along with the dreams comes the mental breaking down of his sanity with a deadly progression exponentially on it’s way to happen far too soon. Through the connecting of his dreams, he needs to find Brianna who he hopes when finding her, will stop the terrifying decline of his conscious nature.
In the end, and \[insert spoiler warning here hehe\], Ian finally meets up with Brianna only to have one of his dreams predict a horrible event of him and her being hunted by some men that Brianna had gotten in bad with during her youthfully naïve years. The story ends with Brianna and Ian in a cottage after Ian in real life has been shot. The story ends with Ian being unsure as to whether or not his dream reality is real life, or if his reality with the pain of the bullet in him is the truth. Brianna tells him that it doesn’t matter, and tries to convince him that the current peaceful reality that they’re currently in? That that moment and that present feeling is real, and that’s what really truly matters.
Look at me, doing a synopsis of my own books six years later! Writing this book and creating my dream journal and doing research was really the first phase of my obsession with Brianna. The older I’d get though, the more it’d become real to me. I’m unsure as to whether the past eight years of my life has made this idea so authentically real to me, but now I see this all as fact rather than speculation and a possible decline in my sanity that I used to be subconsciously aware of.
More years would progress in my life and would lead to the graduation of my high school and the starting up of college at my community college. There, I’d me one of my best friends which will most likely be my best friend for life KJ, but it was also a time of maturing and shying away from the ideas of Brianna as much. Rather than focusing on the idea of her, instead I got so busy with work at Home Depot, balancing friendships at community college, and still trying to socialize with my family that I hardly thought of her.
But, circumstances would change and even though I went a while without thinking about her, she was always there. When I began my first semester at Columbia State and accidentally sat next to this absolutely beautiful girl named, you guessed it, “Brianna,” I thought that she was her! Only to find out like literally two days into the semesters that she was married, whoops! But I still became friends with her and weird stuff like that would occur every so often, but at this point in time, life was changing so rapidly and my mind was always so distracted that Brianna began to fade.
I’d still have my occasional dreams and when those hit, it’d be more difficult than it used to be. The feeling of wanting to stay in those dreams was so strong and so hard to swallow when I woke up and realized it’d only been in my head.
With school starting though, my priorities changed a lot in life! My job was the least of my concerns at Home Depot and I’d more often than not skip all of my shifts as it always drained me of all my energy having to socialize with a bunch of people I didn’t care for or care about. All the small talk became irritating and whenever I was there, I guess I had come to associate that little hardware store with the idea of loss and gloom. I mean, if my dream journal didn’t speak enough for itself, I think it’s because I missed out on my one and only chance to actually talk to Brianna.
My new priorities were to make as many friends as possible and to turn this new page in life and that’s exactly what I did! I was incredibly social and went out of my way to introduce myself to total strangers just to try and escape the old Mike and pursue a new version of him.
*It wouldn’t take long for Brianna to come back to me though.*
Nobody that tells you how quickly life goes by can truly explain the depths of what that means and you sort of need to experience it yourself, and with the pandemic of Covid-19 happening around 2020, those two years at community school and the two years at MTSU would go by like a wisp of air. Like a breath, poof the time went by. Sure there was quite a bit of stuff that happened throughout that time, like me beginning to fall in love with creating content through YouTube about Minecraft, getting internships and freelance work for my degree as a Graphic Designer where I won competitions and published my art in many places and had the opportunities to be in a crazy high end internship.
But the amount of time, was just literally gone. I was too busy. Brianna became an afterthought.
That is, until fairly recently. To drop some dates for you, I created my first official youtube channel on September 18th, 2019 and published my first video four years ago a day after I made the channel. At first, my channel of Minecraft specific content was created both to prove to my brothers that I could create content as incredible as the youtubers we watched, but it was also just in hopes of turning it into an actual career since it was something I genuinely was okay at. Having had architecture for for years in high school Minecraft felt like a more creative and liberating way to express those abilities and live them out in an actual environment I had created. But also, Minecraft was an excuse for me to turn off my mind.
Covid and the pandemic was sort of the greatest thing to ever happen to me, because it gave me so much time to think and play this wonderful game. I know I mentioned above how I didn’t think about Brianna that much, and that part is true, but when I had those dry moments of playing Minecraft and grinding out some simple tasks of literally just breaking and placing blocks, my mind would wander to her. I used to choose the most essentially mind numbing tasks of mining for hours upon hours which only consisted of holding down a button and occasionally moving your character around to mine some more. But though the task was completely and utterly boring, my mind was active as ever thinking and wondering about Brianna.
Finding these quiet moments in life were far and few between, but I began to cherish them. All the moments from day dreaming while mowing the lawn and sweating to death in the 100 degree sun, to sitting in my car after a long first four hours at Home Depot while staring at a semi-vacant parking lot, to even just the long walks across my enormous campus at MTSU or the long walk from parking spots I chose purposefully to be super far away from my campus at Columbia State. These moments while rare, gave me a chance to keep Brianna at least in the back light of all the real life moments I was constantly distracted and thrown around with.
But, going back to Minecraft when I got into youtube, this changed everything.
I went from having at least some spare moments to having literally no moments at all. The only time I would rest was when I had experienced such bad burn out from trying to do everything everywhere all at once, and between that and the occasional sleep I would get, my mind had no time to think. I still can easily get into that workaholic mind set sometimes and it’s a dangerous one to be in, but I’ve gotten better as I’ve figured out why I believe I fell into that mindset in the first place.
*The reason was to escape Brianna’s grasp.*
As I went through school hanging out with friends and making new one’s internationally through the development of an ever expanding youtube channel, I had just about no time for anything. The only time I had to stop and think was my 10 minute drive to get food and even in those moments, I had no time to think, because I was too busy driving trying not to get killed by crazy drivers.
Three years of school went by before I finally said that enough was enough. With school being as difficult as it was, I decided to “retire” from my newfound love of youtube because in all honesty, it was driving me mad. My retirement video from Minecraft came out on December 5th, 2022. I stepped away from the never ending grind and set out to enjoy life and the little moments that life offered.
*The only problem with this was that my mind began to ponder Brianna once again.*
At this time in my life, after retiring I was actually working for a famous youtuber named PrestonPlayz. It was a random freelance job and for the past year or so I had been jumping from freelance to freelance work with little regards to cost and payments real life had always waiting around the corner for me.
This would make me end up ultimately getting a job back at Home Depot for a few months to pay off debts I had incurred from being financially stupid and buying stuff I didn’t really need. But, between all the financial problems and weird life situations I had so much more time to think about Brianna. The dreams of her still occurred every so often but the frequency at which they had started to occur was less and less. Maybe this was all due to me reaching a new level of maturity, but I’m still not entirely sure what caused it. Maybe it was the distraction of a busy workaholic life or the hopes to find someone, really anyone that was a girl that would love me that I could love back.
But, like I said my mind began to think about her more and more. I began to see her in my thoughts like I had years ago previously and it almost felt like I was back sliding into some weird territory I had just grown oblivious to with the amount of time that had passed. Either way, that was my life. A jumbled mess of thoughts and ideas all scattered in a brain far too busy to stop and breathe coming to the new age of silence and habit.
*With my mind able to breathe, I thought of her again. . . and then I saw her again. . .*
I can’t remember the exact day or time of year, but on one of these days of my “retirement” I was driving home after having just gotten some taco bell. (I was obsessed with the place back then) Driving up my street, I saw a girl with long dark curly hair and bright pink clothes, what might have even been pajama pants on her, walking up my street! I didn’t think much of it until I looked into my sider mirror and saw her face and saw that it was the one and only, Brianna.
Brianna was walking up my street right next to my house. In person. Alive and breathing.
I panicked and jumped out of my car with my taco bell nearly crashing to the ground as I roared into park in my driveway with my car. With bare feet, since I used to drive with no shoes when I went to fast food place, I dove onto an aggregate driveway and started running down it, knowing that there was no way on earth I was missing my chance to finally talk to her. I had nothing but time that day, and I was overly excited to finally introduce myself in person
But when I turned around, Brianna was gone. She’d simply vanished into thin air? I still don’t know how or why, but she was gone. . . possibly gone forever. . .
This experience drove my efforts to find her to another level of passion as I began to research through many google forums and sites and social media platforms praying to God that I’d be able to find her. It didn’t matter if I had to cross the entire ocean to get to her, I was going to find Brianna, no matter what.
I started to revisit old ground and went to the Home Depot I had worked at, asking the new manager there if he could search records and being able to find her that way. I found old coworkers I used to work with and asked around trying to find any trail or any lead and couldn’t find a single thing. I even managed to find Brad Brad’s Instagram and messaged him only for him to have literally no idea what I was talking about, go figure.
With nothing working and having literally no idea on what else I could do, I began to passionately work on a project called, “The Bri of My Dreams.” What this basically was was an ARG or alternate reality game which was a puzzle game I setup for my prior youtube community to solve and have fun with. But, it was more than that. It was the telling of the story of Brianna in a way that I could hopefully publicize and gain some popularity on so that maybe instead of me finding Brianna, she’d be able to rather find me! So, I started working on it behind the scenes unbeknownst to anyone in my community that I was going to use this new found passion project to hopefully find her, but also to bring me back to youtube content creation.
To this day, I’m still not sure why I wanted to go back to youtube. Well I know some underlying reasons, that being tied loosely to Brianna, but now many months later still being at it, I’m unsure as to the real reason why I still create stuff on there.
Either way, after creating an entire animated short film with a script and what I consider to be one of my greatest projects of all time, “The Bri of My Dreams” project was finalized and ready to publish. I put it out there hoping that it was only a matter of time before I finally heard from her.
Hardly anyone noticed I’d returned to youtube, let alone my project failing horribly as only close friends I knew even attempted the puzzles.
My final efforts produced literally no results, and well, this brings me to about right now, this moment that I’m actually writing this all down on May 1st 2024 at 4:21 p.m CDT. For the past few hours I’ve written down all of this while listening to The Caretaker album on youtube, a depressing soundtrack meant to represent the stages of alzheimer's.
This morning while sitting around doing nothing really, I looked up Brianna one last time, despite me telling myself I would be done with her after my ARG project. I found a girl, about the same age as me that matched the name and the description. Her father’s name was funnily enough the same as my own, Michael.
What I found about her and her father were obituary statements.
I’m unsure if it’s okay or morally right to even think that might’ve been her, but something I noticed when doing research about Brianna in my earlier days. . . For some odd reason there’s a lot of young beautiful Briannas who unfortunately die in their early 20’s. It’s an odd and horrifying fact I’ve come to know over the past few years through my odder than odd research.
But, this case I found today? Well the exact date this Brianna died on correlated almost exactly when my dreams stopped of her.
I don’t dream of Brianna anymore. I haven’t for years. . .
I think the reason I’m writing this, is my own way of finally saying goodbye. Wherever she is, I hope she’s okay. I hope she’s well. But as for me, life continues to go on and it’s finally time after these past eight years to finally say. . .
Goodbye Brianna. I’ll miss you. . .

Hi, I am a recent high school graduate going into biological sciences in the fall and was planning to live in dorms. I applied back at the end of February and have yet to receive a response from housing on whether or not I got an offer for a room.
I applied to live in university hall dorms and was wondering what it’s like. In terms of social life as I do like being around people. I’m not huge on parties since I don’t drink or do any drugs, but I still like to socialize and was wondering if it’s easy to make friends in dorms or do people just keep to themselves most of the time. In terms of lifestyle what is it like. What are the pros and cons of living in university hall. I know the food choices are horrendous since it’s all just fast food but apart from that what are other negatives and good things. Also do most first years get accepted with a room?
Aside from this is off campus housing. What are some pros and cons. I already have a room rented out for me that gives me a room with my own bathroom, a desk and closet. The owner and my older brother are the two other people I would be sharing the red rod the faculties with. It is a really good offer but once again I wanted to get some idea on how social life would be like. I don’t like being on my own I prefere to have others, I don’t mind noise except if it’s too much when I’m studying. I feel like living off campus will be cheaper but would it be harder to make friends, or be involved with activities happening at school. What are some pros and cons of living off campus, what would you guys suggest is a better option. On campus or off campus for first year?

Isa akong batang laking mahirap. All the kinds of bullying naranasan kona and kahit I am on my adult stage na bakat na bakat padin sa ala ala ko kung ano ang mga napagdaanan ko during my years of schooling.
During my elementary days way back mga 2004-2010, baon ko 2 pesos a day pero hindi pa araw araw may baon. Minsan nag aabot sila mama at papa ng 5 pesos ng monday and that's it for the whole week. I am too innocent in those time kasi Im proud to say na never ako nag cocomplain to my parents regarding that,siguro dahil alam kong wala din naman magbabago if I ask them kasi I know na walang wala din naman talaga sila. Minsan yung mga kaklasmayt ko pa noon tinatawanan ako pag tinutulog ko lang ng recess time namin kahit yung tiyan ko tumutunog sa gutom, while them enjoying their meals and have money on their hands to show off. They don't wanna be friend with me either kasi di ako nakakasabay sa kung anong meron sila kaya ako yung typical na batang PAPASOK sa skul ,UUPO,TAHIMIK at magsasalita lang pag kinakausap. Ang tanging alam ko lang non is disiplinado ako ng mga magulang ko kaya naman never ako nanlimos ng kahit ano or nainvolve sa gulo or na guidance sa skul, if my conflict man non sakin at sa klasmayt ko, umiiwas nalang ako at mananahimik kasi takot akong magkamali eventhough sinasabihan na nila ako "DUWAG" "LAMPA" etc.... One time may pinapa project si teacher sakin that requires money to buy it. Sinabi ko din naman kila mama pero they can't provide so pagpasok ko ng umaga sa skul, sobrang kabado ako kasi lahat sila may maipapasang project and ako lang wala. Then when my name called by our teacher sinabi ko yung totoo but the teacher just say "Baka gusto ako pa magprovide para sayo" sabay tawa. Until then naging hobby na nya akong pagtawanan infront of his co teachers at sa mga students at ako lagi inuutusan taga bunot ng puting buhok nya.🤣 well nakakatawa nalang sya sakin now pag naaalala ko
Fast forward... 2011 Highschool days... I enter highschool like elem na walang wala din. All my things are old, from bag to notebooks, yung lapis ko parang nasa 3 inches nalang ang haba kasi di ko napapalitan. Even my slippers have butas na which is naging reason ng bullying din. Yung ibang klasmayts ko laging kinukwestyon bakit daw ganun di ako mabilhan ng mga magulang ko pero di ko sila sinasagot. Just like elem days, ako yung tipo ng stujanteng tahimik lang sa upuan, kaya ang tingin ng guro namin sakin "MABAIT" pero may mga guro padin na hindi talaga ako nagugustuhan dahil sa bagay na wala ako na meron madalas mga klasmayts ko. Malayo ang skul namin sa mga bahay namin kaya nagbabaon kami ng pang lunch namin. Madalas baon ko araw araw is itlog,pancit canton na isang piraso tapos ginagawa kong pang recess at lunch na yun. Even that thing I was questioned lagi by my klasmayts but I don't answer them. I was so lonely nun kasi wala naman gustong makipagkaibigan sakin, even if may groupings, I was left alone and doing my activity alone. If you guys are wondering how's my marks in school? I was a regular student and never ako na fail sa subject ko kasi yun din habilin ng magulang ko sakin. I was so obedient to my parents even those times na pinag aabsent nila ako para magtrabaho sa bukid at para may baon ako sa school.Then the next day, I will be punished in school for being absent without telling them my reasons. I know how hard my life is kaya nangangako ako sa sarili ko na I have to finish my studies kahit anong mangyari. There are some teachers who love humiliating me in front of many students for the things I have, such meron daw ako shoes na old pero walang socks, butas ang pantalon, and ngilaw na ngilaw ang puting uniporme signs of it being old enough. One thing I am struggling about is yung yellow pad paper, yun kasi gamit namin ng highschool and most of them have it tapos ako pag humihingi ako ayaw din naman ako bigyan, kaya ang ending I'm using notebooks as alternative for it. My teacher would question it again pero same thing, my silence is my response. In those years, teachers are allowed to beat students as sign of disiplina and I was beaten as a punishments for not providing projects and unattended classes dahil sa need ko kumita ng pera para may pambaon. Pag binabalikan ko siya, awang awa ako sa sarili ko. And those people who treated me that bad, I still remember them but I forgave them. Masakit lang pag naaalala ko😭 I just can't imagine na nalagpasan ko siya na ako lang magisa at walang nasandalan even my parents. All those bullying I have received from my society, inako ko lang magisa yun at none from my siblings and parents knows about it.
Fast forward...2015- 2019 College... This one is the most legit na sobrang hirap. Pero bago pa mag umpisa ang semester nun I confront my self na kahit anong mangyari " I have to be a regular students,walang bibitiw at wag na wag babagsak sa kahit anong subjects
1st -2nd year college ko, I tried everything I can, to provide for my own tuition fees and allowances. Yes nagbibigay sila mama at papa pero hindi kasya, minsan 150- 200 lang kaya nila iabot for a week allowance, ang bording house ko laging delayed ang bayad, and my tuition is always on hold kaya laging suki ako ng special exam. Pinasok ko mag work as taga dilig ng halaman and care taker ng isang bar and grill for the night and study in the morning. I have no choice but to do it cause ayokong mag stop sa pagaaral. Kaya naman pag sumasahod ako sa part time ko, binibili ko ng mga sapatos sa shoppee and then I resell it on facebook market online around the city. After my class ng afternoon dun ko sila minimeet up sa city and there I earned money. Tho, of all the efforts and hardships na ginagawa ko still my studies is my top priority. I was so payat sa sobrang pagod, puyat at stress.lagi pa akong nag nose bleeding and I was so worried for my health pero tuloy ang laban. Again, none from my siblings and parents knows about it. I kept it all alone and di din naman sila nag tatanong kasi they thought I am doing fine dahil wala din naman silang narerecieved na reklamo sakin. BULLYING? ofcourse di padin ako nakaligtas jan, I was called "EWW ANG ITIM, MUKHANG MATANDA kasi di nakakapag ahit ng balbas at nakapagpagupit" minsan sasabihin pa nila "Huy kumain ka naman para ka nang kalansay" without knowing my whole story. One time I cried inside the confort room kasi I couldn't help myself na mainggit sa mga classmates ko nun na after class they will be having a talk about san sila mag lulunch if sa Jollibee ba, mcdo or sangyup. Samantalang ako, after class I was so busy meeting people with their orders. Minsan nadadaanan ko pa sila sa fast food having a good time while ako may bitbit na malaking basket puno ng sapatos na idedeliver.🙂 If my mandatory na event sa skul na need attendan, I used to ask people I don't know if may pwede ba akong mahihiraman ng susuotin tapos sasabihin nila try nila hanapan ako pero they then laugh at me afterwards. I feel so ashamed of doing it but I have to. So ayun na nga iniignore ko lang yung mga moment na tinatawanan ako sa looks ko, sa mga bagay na wala ako na meron sila. Basta focused ako sa acads ko nun at sa pagkita ng pera.
During my 3rd yr college. Yung part time kong work nagsara so I was forced to stop working with them na. And so yung pagbebenta ko ng sapatos nalang ginagawa ko. I was so lost that time kasi diko alam ako gagawin ko. Malaking tulong yun sakin lalo na 2yrs nalang kailangan kong tapusin sa pagaaral at mas malaki ang expenses ko na.Isang araw papasok ako ng gate sa skul and there are posters around our campus about scholarships and yung minimum qualified average. I have know idea if abot ba ng average ko dun sa offer ng scholars. so I run towards our registrar to request for a certificate of my grades. My world just stop for a while and I'm in tears kasi naabot nga. 86.04 yung average ko and the asking is 85.0.lang. moving forward, I got the scholarship and it helps me with my tuition fees. Kaya ang pinoproblema ko nalang non is bording house ko. Until meron na namang ibang offered na scholarships sa city so kahit sobrang haba ng pila,tiniis ko kasi I know it will save me. Luckily God is so good to me kaya I got them. That's why sa huling taon na pagaaral bago grumaduate, everything goes well and smooth because of those 3 scholarships. I Gave up selling shoes and focus sa exams nalang until I manage to graduate.....
July 2019.... FINALLY GRADUATED AND A CERTIFIED DEGREE HOLDER OF PSYCHOLOGY....
2024 update about me? I am now in a good path, I took a career that is relevant to my degree and still want exploring more things...

I have a 3.5 ton ruud that was put in by a pair of guys that normally do industrial for a not so bad price to replace a worn out a/c from 1992 that the compressor had croaked on. Has been working just fine ever since.
Only thing is I’m worried with is during the last summer the run time was excessive on the worst days. Really hits the power bill.
In 97 deg outside weather with 60% humidity I am getting a 14 to 17 degree drop in temp between the farthest vent and the return. It keeps the house to ~75-77 deg but that kinda is the limit if it really hot outside. It has to run a long time to do this, Like lunch until 11pm on the hotter days.
I have already: 1.) took the condenser fan off and carefully rinsed out the coils in the opposite direction of airflow without bending or disturbing the fins. 2.) Replaced the two 1” thick filters with same width and height 5” inch thick versions. 3.) added more insulation to the attic and switching out my curtains for energy saving ones last fall. Planted grape vines on north east wall of house to shade the walls from the sun. 4.) swapped all of my lights for leds bulbs. 5.) added a powered attic vent fan with thermostat to try and cool the attic down (air handler is in attic of two story house.
Not sure what else I can do, feel like missing something
I think the end run answer would be to get a separate unit in addition to the existing one but before I go that route am feeling a bit adventurous and want to ask the pros;
Are cleaning the evap coils something a moderately knowledgeable person can do? It’s in a precarious spot in the attic. You tube vids make it look simple as spraying Cleaner.
Did I miss anything obvious?
At work so might not respond right away.

Heeeey ! I am back with the first review for this banner ! For those who saw me fight with Reddit and several deleted posts, I am sorry, posting this was not easy 😅😅
We're starting with Artem's surfing card, so without further ado, let's start !
Card review
Artem - Ocean's enchantment
As always, the notation is subjective, especially the art one.
Art : 3.5/5 Story plot : 7/10 Story writing : 5/5 Total : 15.5/20
Review summary :
After getting a mission from Celestine, Rosa and Artem go together to the beach so that she can take pictures of him during one of his hobbies. This cozy and short vacation will give them the opportunity to forge unforgettable memories.
Review act per act :
Act 1 :
At a seaside hotel, Rosa, still not quite awake, feels an obstacle at the edge of the bed. Still not opening her eyes, she tries to push it out but "he" gets closer to her neck and tells her to wake up. She finally opens her eyes and sees Artem already dressed up for the day. She asks him why he is already up since they went late to bed. They have been working at Boatview City near the sea the past few days and they only finished working on the case yesterday afternoon. They then got into a hotel they booked there for a few days of vacation before going back to Stellis. He tells her that it's now the best time to surf and reminds her she wanted to learn surfing. Rosa complains that she wants to sleep more so Artem says they can stay in the hotel and come back again another time for surfing. She asks why not tomorrow and he says that tomorrow it will rain. Rosa suddenly feels more willing to get up, telling Artem she might not learn how to surf but she will be taking pictures of him doing so. He asks her why and she realizes she never told her why she wanted to go surf with him. She reveals that it's a mission from Celestine. One month ago, in Celestine's office. Rosa gets closer to the desk to see what her boss is showing and sees tons of pictures of Artem in his usual suits. She comments that there are a lot and Celestine says that's the reason she called Rosa. Themis is doing a directory of their attorneys and they are missing a few photos for the "personal hobbies" section. Rosa tells her she will ask him but Celestine says he won't have what she wants since he doesn't take pictures of himself. Celestine suddenly mentions that Rosa didn't see Artem while surfing, which makes her puzzled because she didn't know he was surfing. She only knew his shooting and driving hobbies. Celestine explains that it happened before she came in the company and that he looked very cool while surfing. She continues suggesting to her to take a small break after their upcoming work in Boatview City and take photos of Artem surfing meanwhile. Rosa accepts, thinking that she would like to see him surf too. Back in the present, Artem comments that he remembers the trip and it was a really good time. Rosa comments that it's a shame no photo was taken. He says that he didn't take pictures because taking one means saving the memories related to it and since he was just relaxing, he didn't need to remember it. Rosa is surprised because she didn't know he saw pictures like this. She takes his hands and says that it's different so they have to save a lot of memories because they are together. Rosa then asks why he didn't tell her he surfed and Artem answers that he never had the opportunity to do so. He gets closer to her and adds that since they have many years ahead of them, it would be more fun to explore things about him like this. He then asks her if she wants to sleep more and Rosa shakes her head while hugging him, saying that she is getting up. They agree on going out to the sea together.
Celestine is like a matchmaker happy to see her favorite couple doing couple things and pushing them. Please, never change girl.
Tho, I beg HYV to give us ONE MORE Shooting Artem card. An SSR.I t's been so long since a mention of him shooting, I would like a fully focused SSR about shooting.
It starts softly. I know it's a “Tears of Themis” signature move, but not putting any flashback would have been better for the flow and cuteness of the moment (so like, starting the card in Celestine's office, then a fast forward to them being in the hotel kind of).
Act 2 :
They gather their stuff and head to the beach. Despite it being only 8 o'clock, a lot of people are already there. Holding hands, they go closer to the sea. Rosa comments that a lot of people are surfing and Artem explains that it's a famous spot. She then notices the waves are not as big as in the promotional video, to which he explains that it's a beginner area with less waves. Artem suggests going in an area with more shade and she agrees. Then, they go to select their surfboards and Rosa notices hers is bigger than Artem's. He tells her a larger board is easier to control than a small one. She guesses that a smaller one is for those with more skills. He agrees, adding it is faster and more agile. Then, they start the lesson. Artem introduces her to basic moves, which is practicing how to catch the waves and stand up while being on the beach. Thanks to his explanation, Rosa quickly grasps how to do it. Artem compliments her and then suggests going into the water. She asks if she can and he says that practical experience is a must and not only theoretical experience and he will always be by her side. She agrees so he ties the surfboard rope on her. After a thorough check they go on the water. But Rosa realizes it's nothing like practice. Each time she tries to control a wave, she fails and falls into the water. Artem rushes to hold her and she hugs him, refusing to let go. He asks if she doesn't want to learn anymore but she answers that she just wants an intermission. Artem agrees, saying they should change position so that she doesn't get sunburnt. He turns his back to the sun, creating a shade for her. While seeing other beginners fall several times, she comments that surfing is hard. Artem argues back that it's not hard and it's simply because she is not used to it. Rosa asks him if he had difficulties learning and he says that he didn't and adapted quickly, maybe because he likes it. She realizes she doesn't know why he likes this sport, so she asks if it's because it de-stresses him or if it's for the thrill of conquering the ocean. After thinking, Artem answers that he never considered surfing as an extreme sport which conquers the ocean and what he does is challenging his own limits. Rosa wonders about the last part so he asks her what she thinks is the most important in surfing. She answers “skill and power” so as an answer, Artem places her hand on his heart. He tells her the most important thing is the heart and feel the rhythm of the waves, adapt the breathing to the sea and be harmonious with the waves. Rosa thinks that it doesn't sound like something he would say since he is logical and meticulous at work. She thinks that what he described feels really similar when Artem asks her what is wrong. She says it's nothing and she should now test if what he said is true since she rested enough. After starting again, she feels the breath of the sea like Artem taught her and ends up finding the rhythm of the waves. Rosa announces to Artem she found a wave and he congratulates her before instructing her to try to stand up like he taught her. With shaky legs, she manages to stand and move forward. Feeling free, she exclaims happily to Artem, who is watching her silently and he compliments her. But, soon enough, another beginner crashes into her and she falls into the water. Rosa, panicking, splashes everywhere calling for Artem. She hears him reassuring her but can't make up from where the voice comes, her vision as confused as her mind, so she continues to splash around. She soon strikes hard against something and she hears Artem grunting. He reassures her before grabbing her hand, taking her into his arms and dragging her out of the water. Feeling him against her calms her down. Artem asks her if she is hurt and she denies, saying she just felt dizzy. He asks if she still feels so and she denies. Remembering how she hit Artem in her panic, she looks at him and sees a red trace near his lips. She touches it, asking if it hurts, but he answers that it's fine. Rosa asks again to be sure and he reassures her before asking if she wants to go again. She answers him.... :
— No, which surprises Artem. She reminds him of the mission she has and he says he remembers, but they still have time so she can try for a bit longer. Rosa says that she is fine and she also wants to take photos for their own memories. Artem says he will do whatever she wants.
— Yes, so Artem suggests holding the board for her. Rosa says that failure is not an option, which makes him wonder why she is so strict all of a sudden. She answers that she has other plans after, which means taking pictures for themselves on top of Celestine's mission. Artem says he will do whatever she wants.
Oh wow, when she panicked and accidentally hit him, it was kinda funny actually. Also I wished she asked him when he started/tried surfing for the first time because I'm SO curious, but maybe it'll come later.
Act 3
They return to the shore, where Rosa takes her camera. Artem asks what she wants him to do, and she tells him to stand under the coconut tree with the surfboard and look at the sea. He does as she said, but unsure of the exact spot she wanted, he asks her for confirmation. She tells him to hold his pose and keep looking at her. While taking pictures, she is dazed by the sight which makes Artem ask her if she is alright. Flustered, she says that she is okay and they need to do the next pose. Rosa looks around before telling him to lean against the empty lookout platform. Artem obeys but struggles a bit with the surfboard's position. She heads over to him and help him adjust his and the board position. She is standing on her tiptoes, pressed very close to him. He asks what he should do and Rosa tells him to be in a pose he feels comfortable in. Artem repeats her words, then pulls her into his arms and puts the surfboard in a way to cut them both off from view. He tells her he thinks taking photos just of him is too boring so Rosa asks him what he wants to do. Not answering, Artem pushes her against the board and says that since its a memory shared between them it would be more meaningful to take it together. Not far from them, people seems to be cheering for the surfers, meaning many of them are going to be coming back on this part of the beach. Rosa pushes against his chest, telling him a waves are coming their way. Artem says he knows, so she asks why he hasn't let her go yet. He simply answers that they haven't taken a picture yet. He hugs her tighter and tells her to focus on him, lifting the camera in front of them. But, since he is not familiar with it, he starts recording a video instead of a photo. Unhappy about it, he says they should try again but Rosa takes the camera from him, telling him to go surf first. Seeing that there are a lot of people in the water now, he agrees a bit reluctantly. He tells her to be safe meanwhile and she answers jokingly that she is not a kid. She notices Artem doesn't seem to want to leave her alone, so she pulls out the board from the sand and urges him to go, adding how she waited so long to see him surf and she wants to take cool pictures. He tells her to stay safe and after smoothing her hair a bit finally goes join the surfers. A huge wave rushes toward Artem, which makes Rosa immediately anxious. But the next minute, Artem emerges from the waters on his board. While admiring the sight, she remembers the reason why he likes surfing. She realizes why his description felt familiar : because it's like their relationship. She snaps a photo, capturing this unique moment.
Rosa loves him so much it's soooo cute to see. And Artem is so caring and clingy, that was also cute to see. It's so fluffy aaa ~
Act 4
Once he is back, Artem asks Rosa if she could take the photo she wanted and she happily confirms she took several. She tells him she realized he likes intense sports, like driving and shooting and now she can add surfing. She continues saying she thought he was the steady and careful type but he gets further from that image now. Artem is shocked before realizing she was joking so he ends up laughing. He puts his hand on her shoulder and says that it's too late to run from him now. Rosa says she never thought about running away. At this moment, her stomach rumbles, making her realize that surfing made her hungry. Artem, holding back his laugh, says that he is hungry too. She asks him if he is laughing at her and he denies, saying instead that she is cute. After this, they get changed and head to a seaside cafeteria. The canteen is simple but well frequented, which Rosa points out. Artem explains that it has been here for more than 20 years, makes their food with local products and only opens during the summer. He hands her a menu in which Rosa discovers a flyer for a fireworks festival. She tells Artem, shows him the flyer, explaining that tonight is the last day for it and asks him if he wants to go. He agrees, mentioning he never watched fireworks in the summer. His eyes stop at a specific spot, making Rosa curious. She sees a picture of a couple playing with sparklers. She wonders in head if Artem wants to do that and as confirmation, he asks her if they can do this tonight. She asks him why M. Wing wants to do it and he pauses, not expecting this question. After a short while, he explains that when he was little, he saw a neighbor child using sparklers and the image is still engraved in his mind. Rosa teases him saying he is jealous, but Artem agrees honestly and asks her if she can fulfill his wish. She agrees, immediately thinking they need to go buy some so that they can make memories and overwrite the one from his childhood. After lunch, they go to search where to buy the fireworks. The sparklers in the city are locally sourced and environmentally friendly but after several shops, they still didn't find any. They end up in a shop converter from a residential house. Rosa rushes into the shop and asks for sparklers at the same time as another woman. They look at each other shocked, the woman sitting on a bicycle, arms wrapped around the guy cycling. Rosa asks her if they want sparklers too and the woman confirms, explaining she wants to light them with her boyfriend. The employee says they only have one box left because a lot of couples are buying them today. Artem asks if they can share them and the young employee says it's bad luck to split a full box of sparklers in this town. Rosa asks what they should do and the employee suggests a competition with the winner earning the box. The other woman asks what competition it is and the employee says they can draw lots and decide. Artem takes her hand and agrees to join like the other couple. Rosa is designated to draw the lot so she pulls a paper from a candy tin, which says "Candy Game". The employee congratulates her on getting the hardest game, and Rosa thinks about how "lucky" she is.
Okay this whole arc was SOOOOOO cute actually, it was simple, yet cute and touching omgggg. Rosa teasing Artem and he responding to it, him complimenting her, then at the restaurant how he opened about his childhood memory and how honest he was when Rosa teased him aaaaaaaaaa ! It was really cute and full of chemistry, I'm so happy about it, that was a beautiful moment !! They are absolutely adorable and comfy together. I love them so much.
On the other hand, now I am worried. What the heck is this absolutely stupid superstition ?? Why was the employee acting suspiciously like this ?? Well let's go on…
Act 5
Having to play this game to get the sparklers, Artem asks about the rules. The employee explains to them that the boys will have their eyes closed, and the girls will have to transfer a candy they have previously put in their own mouth to the other's mouth. They have five minutes to guess the three flavors mixed in the candy and they can only guess wrong once. The employee is smiling, shaking the bag of candies. Rosa says it's more of a party dare than a competition. The employee says it is adapted from a truth or dare game. Rosa gets the feeling the employee just wants them to put on a show. Rosa thinks about how embarrassing it is going to be but also about the fact Artem has no relevant experience since he rarely participates in the truth and dare. She looks at him and realizes he is also looking at her. Artem tells her they can forfeit if she finds it too embarrassing. Rosa asks if he doesn't want the sparklers anymore and he says that they can do it next time. But she remembers how he looked while recalling his memories and her desire of making summer memories with fireworks. Rosa tells him they should compete and it won't be too embarrassing since he will have his eyes closed. She also wants to make him happy since he never played with sparklers. She asks him if he is okay and Artem says he is willing to try as long as she is his partner. The other couple, seeing they agreed, also decide to compete. The guys close their eyes while Rosa is noticing the flavors are quite common except for a fruit called red coconut, which has a light flavor which can be overshadowed easily. Thinking about a way to make it easier for him, she bites into the candy and looks at Artem, who looks kind of "obedient" with his eyes closed. While blushing, she puts a hand on his shoulder, which makes him ask if she is ready. Since she has the candy between her teeth, she can't answer, so she brings it to his lips. After transferring it, she watches him tasting it. He guesses orange and grape fairly quickly which she confirms, and she tells him the last one is red but plain in taste. He tries java apple but is wrong obviously, so they have only one last chance. Their opponent has already remembered the taste but not the name of it so it makes the girl anxious, urging her partner to remember. Artem, feeling nervous too, starts to bite down the candy in pieces. Wanting to help him, Rosa goes to the shop, which is filled with natural cosmetics. She asks the employee if she has some lip balm and among them Rosa manages to find one red-coconut flavored. She buys it, as well as a bottle of water then goes back to Artem after applying the lip balm. She tells him to spit the candy on a paper and to rinse his mouth with water which he immediately does. 1 minute left. Then, Rosa puts her arms around his neck and asks him to say what her lips taste like before lightly kissing him. After some time, Artem says with uncertainty red coconut while releasing her and the employee congratulates them. The employee sells them the sparklers while the other couple, forced to admit their defeat, leave on their bicycle. Artem takes Rosa's hand and smiling, he tells her they should go back to the beach. They are back there as the sun is setting. There are only people waiting for the fireworks remaining on the shore. Artem suggests lighting up the sparklers before the show. She agrees, but wants to do a ritual before, which puzzles him. Rosa tells him to forget about it for now and tell her more about how the kids played when he was little. He says it wasn't special, but they ran around chasing each other which made it look like giant fireflies. She says it's the common way of playing with them and today she will show him something different. She takes his hand and drags him to a higher place.
I had to pause the vid to rant about this part... (sorry it's going to be a bit long so you can skip if you want to continue the review). I'm sorry, imo the story got ruined by this, I find the whole scene there so crudeeeee 😭
You know, I find the action of switching a candy with a kiss ***actually*** VERY cute, but in private. Like, when a couple does it as teasing or playfully, I absolutely ADORE that kind of scene... For example, one having a candy in their mouth and then their lover kissing them without warning, stealing the candy from them and watching them getting angry/flustered... Or the one having the candy in their mouth kissing the other, pushing it into the other's mouth and asking "How is it" while watching the other utterly confused face. Stuff like this, in private OR even in public, but at least it being a spontaneous action from one of the parties involved. But for a “dare” or a competition, in public, without one of them being the one prompting the scene like it was done there nooooo, it made me uncomfy ;;;;;;;;;; Idk if y'all know this thing, but I consider this like the garter game in weddings. I find it similar to the level of crudeness as this "competition" was. While others might find it "funny" or "traditional" or "sweet", I do not like it.
But they really wanted the sparklers to make Artem's wish come true so they had no other choice lowkey… Artem and Rosa are still kind of private with PDA too like orz
Employee/store, get a grip 😭 Girl, go play otome and watch romance drama if you want to see people kiss… It would have been SO CUTE in a different context... And they had to buy them ? They weren't gifted by the store for having done such a "contest" ? *sigh*
On the positive side, I feel like Rosa was really Rosa when she suggested a different way of playing with the sparklers and dragged him around. It really felt like her and it was great to see.
Act 6
Once she found a good spot, Rosa asks Artem to help him. She takes a seashell lying around, hands it to him and asks him to write the names in the sand. After he has carefully written the last letter, she takes his hand, which makes him wonder if he did something wrong. She denies, saying she forgot something and with his hand, they draw a heart around their names. Artem asks what's next and Rosa tells him to simply watch. She takes out a sparkler, scrape it with the shell, spraying the ignitable particles on the heart. While he is surprised, Rosa explains that she saw couples doing that on the campus but he might find it childish. Artem takes another sparkler and imitates her, saying it's not childish but also new for him. He continues saying he didn't do much when he was a student, which was academically fulfilling but lacking emotional experiences. He might have seen stuff like this happening but he didn't pay attention since he felt like it had nothing to do with him. Since he was indifferent before, he wonders if the romantic memories he gives to her are enough. Rosa says she doesn't think that way and she prefers him as a "blank slate". When Artem asks her why, she says it's because every little thing they do as lovers will feel new to him that way and the memories they make together will last longer. The moon slowly rises when Artem asks her opinion. She says that for her, all that matters is doing everything she wants to with the person she loves. After this, they decide to light up the heart to see how it looks. The fire makes its way from one end of the heart to the other, being watched by them holding hands. Rosa snaps a picture of the heart, saying that in the future, when they see this photo they'll be reminded of today. Artem mumbles that even without he will remember, but Rosa doesn't hear it, so he switches topic and asks if they should take the last sparkler out. She agrees and he helps her to light up the last one. At the same moment, the fireworks display starts, lighting up the sky. Completely absorbed by the spectacle, Rosa forgets about what she has in hand, until Artem grabs her wrist and hugs her. He tells her he also wants to do a small ritual. She is puzzled, so Artem continues, saying she watched fireworks with her classmates or friends before. He asks if they were as beautiful as the current ones. She says that they were as big, gorgeous and eye-catching as those. Artem's eyes dims a bit and, as he intertwines his hand with hers, he says that's the reason why he wants to do this ritual : to make the experience totally different from the ones in her past, so that when she thinks of fireworks and sparklers, she will only think of him. Rosa realizes he must have felt a bit jealous, which she finds cute. Getting closer to him, she asks him to close his eyes, adding she will make sure to complete the ritual since she said she wanted to make good memories for him. He understands so he agrees and she kisses him. Their kiss deepens and Rosa is soon out of breath so Artem pulls back, asking if she feels better. She says yes and, to dissipate the awkwardness, she looks at her almost burned out sparkler, which reminds her she didn't take a photo. She hurriedly tells Artem about it and tries to grab the camera but he stops her and the sparkler burns out. Disappointed, Rosa says she wanted to have a beautiful memory. He puts away the sparkler and, lifting her chin, tells her to not feel sorry. He tells her that some memories don't require anything to remember. Artem tells her he will always remember every single thing that happened today before asking her if she will forget. She denies, realizing he is right. He suggests going back to the hotel now that the firework spectacle is over and she agrees. Arm in arm, they walk towards the future together.
I loved this moment between them, Artem getting slightly jealous and opening up about him not being sure he is giving enough to Rosa… It washed away a bit the previous act. Tho when she said “blank slate”, I think it could have been worded better 😅
Personal opinion :
What I liked :
The act 4 in its entirety. It was great, so great, the small teasing from Rosa (which is *surprisingly* kind of rare in their stories now that I think about it considering how teasing Rosa actually is), Artem casually saying Rosa is cute, him asking to do the sparklers and explaining this memory from his childhood he recalls with regret/jealousy… I loved it so much.
What I disliked :
THAT scene. Like, I don't mind PDA if one of the party is doing it willingly. One of my favorite scenes for Artem Rosa is that public kiss at the end of Belle Nuit d'Amour (masterpiece of a card) because it meant so much in this particular moment. But forced PDA is such a yiiiiiiiiiiiikes. This is a huge downside of this card, I liked it until this point which left a bitter taste. They managed to salvage the card with the moment at the end but the Candy Game was unnecessary imo.
Also, I would have loved to have more background about Artem and surfing. Did he learn it before the company trip or during the company trip ? Was it willingly or by coincidence ? How did it happen ? Questions we might never get the answers to…
Would I recommend getting this story ?
No and 70% because you would need 200 pulls to be guaranteed to get it and anniversary is very close. Double SSR banners are not worth pulling except if you like both of the MLs and wouldn't mind getting one or the other.
That's it for now ! As always, do not hesitate to share your opinion about the card ! For now, I will try to do read the other card fast and do the review asap so that it can be posted tomorrow !!

So I was commited to boston college but then I got off the waitlist at NYU and now I'm unsure which to choose. PLEASE HELP. Both will run me around the same price so don't factor cost into decision. Im also an engineering major at both and am looking to pick up an economics major too.
NYU Pros
Prime location
Close to home (still dorming)
Prestigious reputation
Access to better opportunities
Vibrant city nightlife
Highly diverse
NYU Cons
No traditional campus
Hard to find a sense of community
Limited school spirit and sports events
Location can be overwhelming
Large student body may mean less individualized attention
Boston College Pros
Beautiful campus
Easy access to the city without living in it
Lovely school environment
Better faculty-to-student ratio
Boston College Cons
No fraternities
Predominantly white and Christian, concerned about fitting in as a brown student
Dislike for the Boston Celtics (Knicks fan)
Please help me pick I only have 2 days left. Give me any advice, ask questions, anything. Be as raw and da as possible. Please and thank you

Petty Revenge on Girls that Bullied Me
(Heads up - this is a long story)
I went to a pretty small private high school with a bunch of relatively wealthy kids. I was a part of a very small group of lower income scholarship kids on campus. Aside from being one of the only girls without designer clothes, makeup, shoes, ext., I was also a bit weird, self-conscious, and awkward - (but hell, who isn't at that age). For the first three years of high-school, I had been a part of a small close knit group of friends who I had been really close with (ie. Kevin, Derek, Mark, Dani, Kate). However, at the start of my senior year my small group merged with a larger, much more popular gang of friends because two of the guys in my friend circle began dating two girls in theirs. In the beginning, I didn't mind the change in social scenery. I met new people and made a bunch of new mates. However, as time went on, I noticed that my old female bffs got really close with the 15+ band of popular girls that were a part of the newly blended friend group, and began casually excluding me from their daily excursions off campus and occasional weekend hangout sessions. I initially was a bit taken aback by this, due to the fact that all of these girls were really nice to me when we hung around each other at school and often even went out of their way to compliment me or walk with me to class. I eventually shrugged it off and told myself that I wasn't entitled to their time and that Kate & Dani were allowed to have fun with different people without me. No big deal, right? Wrong. Towards the end of the year, my oldest friend, Kate, starts hosting bi-monthly sleepovers at her house with ALL of the girls in the friend group - except for me. Not going to lie, being the only one left out was really painful. I mean, I would have understood if one of the popular girls had hosted these get togethers and decided against extending an invite to me but Kate was one of my best friends. When I asked her why I wasn't invited, she explained that she didn't think I would be, “a good fit,” for these types of events and that she didn't think they'd be “my sort of thing”, but she assured me that it was no big deal and not to read into it.
Despite her reassurances, I was devastated. I hated being literally the only girl in our group that wasn't included and it hurt that I didn't really understand why. I wanted to push it out of my brain, move on, and pretend like it wasn't happening but every other Saturday, I was bombarded with endless videos and pictures on social media of these girls having a blast at Kate's house without me. To make matters worse, other people began noticing that I was the sole girl in the group continuously left out of these regularly scheduled festivities. When my friend Derek finally asked me about it, I told him that Kate didn't want me there. Seeing how noticeably sad explaining everything made me, Derek decided to invite me to “guys paintball night” which was scheduled on the same Saturday as the next upcoming girls’ sleepover. Typically, these paintball games were a ‘no girls allowed’ type of thing, but he thought the other guys would make an exception for me because I had previously played a lot of paintball with my older brothers. He told me that if Kate didn't think girly activities suited me, that maybe bro bonding outings might be a better fit. Even though it was an insanely kind gesture, I knew he only invited me out of pity, so I thanked him and told him I'd think about it, (while in my head, thought of ways to politely decline his offer at a later date).
Saturday morning rolls around, and I apologetically text Derek that I couldn't make it to the guy's paintball game that evening because I couldn't get my car to start (an obviously made-up excuse). Much to my surprise, a few hours later Derek shows up at my house with a van full of his new guy friends to pick me up because he didn't want my imaginary car problems to keep me from having a fun time “hanging with the boys.” Having run out of excuses as to why I couldn't go, I ultimately caved and jumped into the crowded car. Initially, I thought I'd feel uncomfortable being the only girl in attendance but I ended up having a really good time and was invited to play with them again the following Saturday.
At school the following week, word got around that I had been invited to ‘guys night.’ I overheard many of the girls complaining that they had never been allowed to go before, and that it wasn't fair that they had made an exception for me. Stirring the pot, Derek told them that while he'd love for them to attend, unfortunately the boy's weekly paintball games always fell on the same date/time as Kate's slumber-parties. When Kate suggested she'd move the sleepovers to Fridays, so that the girls could go to both, Derek snarkily responded that he didn't think it was a good idea because paintball wouldn't be “a good fit for the girls” and wasn't “her type of thing.”
The next day, Kate came to me and asked me if I'd like to attend her sleepover that Friday and then go to the paintball game with her and the other girls on Saturday. Deep down, I knew she had ulterior motives for inviting me but honestly, I was just so happy to finally be welcomed to join her elite girl gang that I overlooked her obvious insincerity.
At first, I had a blast at the sleepover. We watched movies, ate junk food, played dumb games, did each other's makeup, ext. Towards the end of the night, Kate suggests that we take a dip in the pool, but I tell her that I left my swimsuit at home (5 min drive) and that I needed to go back and grab it. I had walked downstairs and out the front door, before realizing that I had left my keys in my purse back inside. Noticing that the front door had locked behind me, I walked over to the side of the house to come around through the backdoor, but as I approached the tall side gate I overheard all of the girls talking about me whilst sitting around the backyard pool.
“Why’d you even invite her?”
“Did you see her Walmart makeup? No wonder her face looks like shit.”
“The only reason she gets invited to paintball games with the boys is because she's sleeping with half of them”
“Slut.”
“Pick me”
“Cheap hoe”
“Weirdo”
The onslaught of cruelty had me frozen in place, unable to move or speak or runaway. But it was Kate's mean-girl responses to each of these insults that broke me. She told them she was only friends with me because she felt sorry for me and even went as far as to apologize to the other girls for killing the vibe with my presence but assured them it would be worth it when they went to the paintball game with me tomorrow.
After what seemed like an eternity of listening to them bash me, they finally changed the subject, giving me an opening to grab my bag and get out of there. I didn't want them to know that I had overheard them talking shit or see how much their words hurt me. I just wanted to go back home, hide under the covers and never come back out. I left the party without saying anything and later texted Kate that I wasn't feeling well and that I wasn't going to be able to take them to the paintball thing tomorrow.
The next day, Derek called me to ask why Kate and all the other girls were blowing up his phone for the location/time/address of the paintball game when I was supposed to be the one taking them. I told him everything. He was furious and wanted to confront them about it immediately but I swore him to secrecy because I didn't want to cause a bunch of drama right at the end of my senior year. He eventually agreed but made me promise that I wouldn't just let this bullshit go unchecked.
For the next two weeks, I avoided everyone at school and ate lunch alone in my car. I just couldn't stomach Kate and the rest of the girls' fake-niceness and friendly small talk when I had heard all of them say vile things about me. One day, Derek barges into my car, saying that he has a plan to get back at the girls. Apparently, with prom coming up, Kate, at the behest of the rest of her mean girl squad, had asked Derek to help nudge certain guys in the group towards asking the girls who had crushes on them to the upcoming senior prom, (ie. Kate wanted to go with Guy A, Alice wanted to go with Guy B, ext.). So Derek had the ingenious plan to play Puck, and arrange for the wrong guys to ask the wrong girls to prom in a very public and over-the-top fashion that would prevent them from saying no, (ie. Pair Kate with Guy B and Alice with Guy A).
Initially, I was worried that his plan might ultimately ruin prom night for the innocent boys that he planned to use as pawns in his revenge scheme but he assured me that none of them had even been planning on attending the event and that they probably wouldn't stay past pictures. Over the next couple of weeks during paintball games, me and Derek began nudging all of the guys to ask out the wrong girl to prom. The guys were reluctant at first, and didn't express much interest in going but eventually came around after we promised to pay for the next two rounds of paintball and plan all of their prom-posals for them.
After gaining the guys’ consent, we set to work on orchestrating 12 of the most outrageous prom proposals that the school had ever seen. For example, one guy asked Dani over the school's morning news announcements, while another asked Kate in front of the entire football stadium during halftime. Despite both girls being asked by each other's crushes to attend the dance with them, the roaring crowd of onlookers made it impossible for them to say no.
To say this caused drama amongst the girls’ friend group is an understatement. They all blamed each other for seemingly ‘seducing’ each other's crushes and not respecting their previously established ‘dibs’. By the time prom rolled around, hardly any of the girls were still on speaking terms with one another. Meanwhile, Derek and I smugly watched the manufactured drama unfold while sitting on the sidelines eating metaphorical popcorn.
On prom night, many of the girls pregammed at Kate's house which resulted in drunk screaming matches, dresses getting deliberately ruined, and even Kate's car getting keyed by the girl whose date she allegedly stole.
When they finally showed up at the venue to take pictures, they were all visibly upset and disheveled from fighting one another.
The guys and I ended up having a great time that night (after their dates eventually ditched them). Derek and I left early to grab pizza and revel in the success of our plan.
Anyway, the point of this long story is that sometimes karma is a bitch, and that bitches name is Derek.

So our family was able to return to DLR since our last trip in 2016. These are just my observations so your mileage may vary. So here's the highlights for good or bad:
PROs:
DL app, Genie +. Coming from the old FastPass experience, this was familiar territory. Gone was the bum rush at rope drop for the coveted FPs for RSR.
CMs. They were outstanding, especially our hostess at River Belle Terrace. She was a wealth of infornation on using LL, Genie and standbys to maximize rides.
Toy Story parking. Arriving on all three days between 8 and 9 am was a short security line and there were buses ready to load. The bypass lane at the plaza was a nice touch when we drove past the Harbor Blvd foot traffic that was checking in through the east plaza. Easily several hundred people, maybe upwards of a thousand, getting in for rope drop on 5/21.
Galaxy's Edge: it was new to all of us, and getting in first thing allowed us to walk onto Smuggler's Run and RotR. Definitely need more time to go through the shops but this trip was more focused on maximizing ride experiences. Rope drop also allowed us to ride Pirates, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, and Big Thunder with 5-20 minute waits before the lunch crowds got too crazy.
CONs:
Merch. Felt like all the homewares and higher quality shirts/clothing was replaced with ears and pals. I have both versions of the Oswald mechanic shirt and nothing even comes close to it that I saw. The Disney Dress shop in DTD only had one dress. Back in Dapper Day 2016/2017 the shop had a dozen or more dresses. The CM said they're looking for a new supplier but it was dissappointing to see the lack of higher-end coture at the resort.
Pixar parade. As the major parade for DCA, this one fell flat. Floats were spaced really far apart to make it feel longer and it looked like fewer support actors per float. As the union talks continue it will be interesting to see if there ends up being less actors and more flat screens on the floats. My hands-down favorite is SoundSational for DL and Paint the Night for DCA, and I don't know if either will look the same after the union agreements, if they return.
Reserved Parade dining. This one is partly on us as we couldn't tell what the meal plate contained from the mobile listing. It was hard to justify $50 per plate for mostly desserts while waiting 75 minutes at the table for the parade. CMs again were understanding and refunded us so we ended up at an inside table at Wine Country and watched the parade from the terrace.
Influencers/bad guests. I will always say that 99.9% of park guests are wonderful. We all understand we'll be bumping each other with strollers/chairs/scooters, maybe merch bags or just ourselves. A quick 'Sorry' and we're understanding our embarrassment to each other. Now, this was the first time I saw: Teens get removed from the Symphony Swings becuse they wouldn't stop hanging onto each others swings or twisting after being warned over PA twice. At least the remaining riders got a do-over.
Indiana Jones was stopped right when we reached the up stairs in the load space. A CM walked by with a cell phone that I could hear them saying that this was the culprit. 3 or 4 jeeps were stoped mid-ride and one was unloaded as it stopped before entering the first temple door. About 15-20 minute wait was needed before the ride was clear to resume.
OVERALL: Good value getting the SoCal 3-day passes. I'd consider adding the park hopper upgrade and Genie+ on days we plan for rides, and not for days we shop or need rest. Pounding pavement wears us down, so taking a hotel break mid-day is a must to surviving the night shows.
Day 1 - Tues Disneyland; short ride lines in the morning and great food at River Belle (Cuban, Buttermilk Chicken and their coleslaw. OK, not gonna lie. I was shocked to get a raspberry mule at RBT. I don't remember being able to get any alcohol outside of Club 33)
Day 2 & 3 Wed/Thurs DCA; Avengers's campus/Webslingers, and riding Incredicoaster and Grizzly Rapids 3 times each with decent standby waits. Loved that some restaurants still have walk-up options besides mobile ordering.
Between being exhausted by 4 pm each day and the crowd crushes for Pixar Night and World of Color, we skipped out on both. It also was grad/prom nights for alternating parks so there were those park hours to be aware of.
This was the first experience that I wanted for my younger kid whose now old enough to make their own memories. We'll look forward to the day we can visit the re-opened New Orleans Square with Tiana's, HM, Pooh's Adventures and Bear Country.
Dinner at Céntrico, River Belle, and Wine Country were superb. The standout was the lamb birria at Céntrico.
Glad we avoided staying until Fri with the re-opening of Fantasmic. I'm reading how the crowds for that were insane.

Would you call this a stingy act? Date with my girl gone wrong. Short recap: Several years ago (probably around 2008), i and my girl had spent a year together dating at the time, and I was in my final year. We lived as neighbours in the same off-campus student's lodge. The school was located in a rural area, hence no access to good restaurants, supermarkets, malls and other places a couple could go to have fun. So we hardly ever did go out. On some fateful day, we had a break from school, due to public holidays and I decided to go to a nearby town to do a market survey/window shopping of some computer parts (I am a computer enthusiast). She had complained earlier on, that she was quite bored, so I decided to kill two birds with a stone, by asking her to come along with me so that we could have the experience together. Long story short, we went on the survey, which took about two hours plus and by time we were done, we were hungry and exhausted and luckily there was an eatry around that area. I decided that we should go in and have lunch. I made a rough estimate in my mind, that it would probably cost the both of us 5k to have a meal and drinks similar to other eatries which I was accustomed to at the time. But on getting to the checkout, I realised it was almost twice my estimate (at this time I was not working and paying for this meal of almost 10k was to come from my monthly allowance from my parents which was basically 20k). I quickly improvised given the situation i found myself and asked my girl to take her order. She requested for some fried rice and some chicken, while I just requested for a meatpie and drinks to subsidize the cost and then requested for 2 spoons so we could share the rice (Total cost now came down to roughly 6k). The waiter promptly obliged and hence i paid and we proceeded to our seats with the food. She asked if I wasn't going to order food for myself and i replied by telling her that I ordered for two spoons so that we could share (I could have some of her rice and she could have some of my meatpie). I noticed her countenance changed and she didn't like the idea. I asked her why she was upset and she couldn't mention. She commenced eating and I picked up my spoon to dig in to her rice (we always eat together from a plate at home, the difference now is that we are in public) and immediately I put my spoon in she stopped eating and refused to eat the food any further, safe for the few spoons she had eaten before I joined her. I tried to cajoule her to continue eating but she refused and at the end of the day I had to continue eating the food alone. I tried to make things lively on our way home by making one more stop before heading home, where I bought her some novels. (she loved reading romance novels back then) she picked 2 of them but still her countenance didn't really improve much. On getting home and some days later, when she was finally able to talk about it, she opened up and told me that she sees what I did at the eatery of not ordering for 2 plates of food for the both of us as a very stingy act. I tried to explain to her why It had to happen that way but she took it with a pinch of salt. Recently after all this years have passed she reminded me about that incidence again in an unrelated argument and I was shocked that despite my explanation of that event she kept it at the back of her mind as a reason to judge me as a stingy person. Now my question to the ladies (mainly because I am a man and understand that we see things from different perspectives) and anyone patient enough to have gotten to this point: Is this act really a stingy act? And please explain your answers. Probably telling me how you could have handled the eatry situation better if you were in my shoes.

Hello, I just got into UBC applied sciences on the vancouver campus and got an offer from UOFT industrial eng a week ago and have 4 days to decide where to go... Here's my pros and cons list if someone can help dissect:
Pros (UOFT):

• I live near the GTA
• UOFT is more "prestigious" I guess, but this doesn't matter to me as much (I lied, I definitely would like to mention going to a top school)
• Better connections, great profs, school looks great
• easier for me to get the program I want (mechanical engineering) as I just need to maintain a 60 average to transfer
• Coop program is great, basically guaranteed an internship (except no flexibility with length of coop times, I would prefer to do multiple 4-6 months coop then one 16 month so I can gain a variety of experiences but that's just me)

Cons:

• known for being extremely rigorous
• expensive tuiton (14k)
• Would probably have to commute because toronto is so expensive (commuting time: 1h10, and even if I wanted to live on res I don't have guaranteed residence because I applied late

Pros (UBC):

• general engineering, lets me pick where I want to in case I don't end up thinking mechanical is the way to go
• guaranteed res, would get to build a community and making friends might come easier for me
• campus is great + would get to live in bc
• known for being a little bit more laid back then UOFT and more social life
• tuition is 1/2 the price

Cons:

• would need to get a flight back home for summers/breaks, and need to go through the hassle of moving provinces
• would kind of be on my own, don't really know anyone going to UBC
• co-op program is not as strong (?) as UOFTs (I was planning on coming back to Ontario and do my coops here so I'm wondering if that would help me?)
• needing a competitive GPA to get the program I want, I really do not want to be stuck in a stream I hate

if I live on res for UOFT, it would be cheaper to go to UBC. However, if I live on res for UBC it would be cheaper to go to UOFT. I was hoping for UBC I could pay off each year through my coop pay tho. Lmk what you guys think.

hello as a ex jeetards I am here to give my 2 cents on this topic. if your rank is bad ie more than 1 lakh then GGSIPU is here for you.
Your major reason for joining ip uni should be--- you don't want to waste money. If you feel really good after seeing mait stats of big companies then calm down most of them are off campus... it's pure student hard work the college has nothing to do with it.
less money wastage and chill academics is what ip brings you
if you have delhi quota then rank of 1-2 lakh can land you in good college with good branch. my tier list is like this
MAIT pros- no attendance , better tech crowd , good alumini network , better fest. cons- bad location
MSIT pros- good alumini cons- jaat crowd, poor infra, attendance mandatory
I mean it when I say poor infra there class rooms might be worse than your school ones.
BVCOE pros- good location, good infra, 35+ societies in college, no strict attendance, fully ac classroom
cons- this time no fest :)
USAR pros- gov college, nice infra cons- no placement record first batch is yet to pass
ADGITM
i don't like this college even i bit. I got this college in 2nd round.Man the location is bad really bad. the college looks good from outside but when you enter there was no ac where the registration work was going on.
no AC and bad location makes this college big no for me.
wait till the spot round- there is best shot for bad rankers to get good college. last time there was delhi quota in spot round people with 1.8 rank were also getting it in bvcoe. Don't get disappointed by checking round 1,2,3 ranks on sites.
I don't know much about other colleges.
ALSO----- don't expect much on hifi side from ipu college. I joined ip uni because I had a guilt of wasting my parents money in jee and I didn't want that to increase by joining private college with 15-20 lakh fee for 4 year:)
if you have any other doubt feel free to talk to me
also- there was one guy cprabud. usne drop liya tha jee time wali id se baat hoti thi. where he is now 🥲. i remember fakeer too. those days were lit I miss every 22-23 tards ♡

So, i just picked them up on sale.
And i shall be comparing them to the Technics AZ80, Sennheiser Momentum 4 Headphones, and even Soundcore L4NC.

Pros:

Sound: Good, loud, vibey. Good for podcasts and dance music. Not as good as the AZ80 or M4, but you won't be upset with the sound. Also LOUD.
ANC: The reviewers were not lying. They are comfortable, they are quiet. The ANC is like nothing i've ever heard before. I'm a former sound engineer for a radio station, i know sound, this is amazing. They are more silent than taking good quality earplugs, and shoving them in deep. AND the ANC can handle loud machinery noises like engines, lawn mowers, weedeaters etc. unlike L4NC which has a spazz attack with the weed-eater. HOWEVER, i tested it in a busy supermarket. it blocked everything. talking, machinery noise, engines outside, everything. EXCEPT the beeps from the scanners and cash registers. So if you work in a place like that and want to block those sounds, these buds block everything EXCEPT those sound. really makes them stand out.
Comfort: The stock tips are good. Grippy, sound blocking and tight. However, you will need to sacrifice that comfort to get the best ANC/sound. Going to bigger tips really helps with the ANC and bass, but doing so leaves you with the 'there's something stuck in my ears' feeling that's missing with smaller tips. also, they don't stick put to far, so while you prob don't want to side sleep with them, you CAN, and they're better than AZ80, L4NC or headphones. This is something i do on weekends before i get up. they are almost the same shape as the AZ80 on the bottom, so if you like those, these are almost the same.
Touch Controls: big. sensitive. any part of that metal part is the touch pad. and you can access all controls from one bud. slide up/down for volume, tap for music on/off. double tap forward, triple tap reverse, press and hold for ANC mode.

Cons:

Battery life: Barely acceptable. 6 hours max. AZ80 gets 7 and M4 gets 60. oh well. Also, there is no option to turn off the ANC to extend battery life. ANC. Transparency. Pick one.
ANC: the M4 has an option to turn on 'wind noise reduction' It doesn't work very well. AZ80 also has wind noise reduction and it works GOOD. When you're biking, you hear the wind, and the longer it goes on, the less you hear it as the ANC adapts. So if you're push biking, you want the AZ80, because while the ANC is not as good, it does handle wind.
Wind noise reduction on Bose? Go fuck yourself. No. even with the OMG ANC, the wind noise is loud. Also the ambient occlusion is terrible. This is the 'OMG, it's so loud when i talk or eat things!' effect. when you eat it's shockingly loud. AZ 80 handles this really well. Also, ANC does not handle loud bassy bangs, like a slamming door. AZ80 does. the ANC can't stop it all, but it tries. Bose actually makes it worse.
Transparency: Bad. Really bad. the bose cost 4x as much as the L4NC, and THEY have better transparency mode. The transparency is distant and tiny. when it's on you will find yourself wondering if it's actually on, or are you just hearing through the earbuds? the one feature is that it has a volume cap, so sudden loud noise are not that loud.
Customization: Go fuck yourself. No customization. Well, you can change the EQ settings, and change the name of the buds, but that's it. want double tap for this instead of that? Go fuck yourself. the ONE control you can change is the long press. It defaults to ANC mode, but you can switch it to Alexa, or immersion modes. that's it. want the controls to disable when you take them out, so your phone doesn't start doing things when you're taking them off, like the AZ80/M4? Go fuck yourself.
Fast Charging: Go fuck yourself. AZ80 gets more than half a charge in 20 mins. if i swap buds at lunch and they're half charged, my 20 min break gets them up to full charge. End of the day, when they're making noises about low charge, go have a 30 min shower, back at 100%. Bose, no. 70% charge, 20 min break while i read, still 70% charge. Appears to charge faster if you actually plug the case in. M4 takes 2 hours to go from flat to full, and that's 60 hours of constant use. HUGE fucking battery. oh, no wireless charging either.
App support: Go fuck yourself. the app is bare bones, clunky, and lacking features. also, you cannot adjust the ANC. It's ANC on/transparency. That's it. You can make a custom mode with LESS ANC or more transparency and switch to that mode, but that's it. Also the synthesized voice is weird, and reads out EVERYTHING. so when you switch to your PC Desktop - 1L8KG2D it read it all out. in like that chat voice from 10 years ago.
Want to turn that off? Go fuck yourself.
You speak German, but not english? Go fuck yourself. M4, L4NC, AZ80 all have the option to turn all of that off, change language, beep, etc. want the music to stop when you switch on transparency mode [M4, AZ80] Go fuck yourself. if you want to hear someone talking to you you have to tap the the earbud once, then long press. basically, unless you have at least 3 seconds warning, someone is going to be standing around waiting for you. or you yank them out. it does have autostop when you pull one out, ironically.
Multipoint: all the reviewers complain about this. There is actually multipoint, sort of. Kind of like the apple buds. you can select from any of the sources you've paired to. sort of manual multipoint. it's really slow, and the prompt for it is a tone that sounds like you banged your head on a wooden wall. it's very odd. L4NC had garbage multipoint, but after 2 updates, it came right. M4 has shit multipoint. if you're paired to computer and phone, and one beeps, the headphones play choppy static. AZ80 is flawless. switches instantly and with no noise.
To finish up, these bud seem like the boss said 'Gimme max ANC. Don't waste a single second on anything else. No customization or anything. Go.'
If you need epic ANC and good sound, these are the buds for you. They do ANC and good sound, and not one damn thing else.
IF you can put up with all the other crap. or specifically, LACK of options, they're ok.

Schools: University of Southern California vs UC Irvine
Intended major: Cognitive Science Similarities: both socal, so nice weather :) got into usc off appeal and the deadline is may 31st, help please 🙏🏽🙏🏽
UC Irvine Pros: - in-state tuition - easier opportunity to transfer to other UCs (yes i’m aware it’s hard, but letter of reciprocity makes the process more straightforward) - pretty campus !! - california cc credits transfer super easy Cons: - bad social life (i hear it’s a suitcase school) - need a car to travel - guaranteed housing only for first year
USC Pros: - LOS ANGELES (i want the city life in college cause i don’t think i’ll do it later) - national merit scholarship (33k each year) - sprint admit saves me a lot so overall COA is 50k a year (vs 40k at UCI) - much more school spirit + alumni network - private school facilities (better advising, no waitlist for classes) Cons: - spring admit, idk how hard it’ll be to make friends a sem later - B.A degree, apparently slightly harder to get a job out of school (tell me if this is wrong) - is the cost worth it? (return on investment…)
Tiebreaking considerations: - how much of a difference does ba vs bs make? - how toxic/spoiled child is USC really? - USC professors/research opportunities (in comparison to a public) - any info from spring admits about their experience would help <$ tldr: 40k @ UCI, 50k @ USC (the difference is manageable for my family, but is it worth?) also how does being a spring admit change your experience?
i’d appreciate any help, somehow this decision is way scarier 💀💀

Hey I've been admitted to both of these programs and is leaning towards Laurier but I can't get over the uoft name 😭. I also have a few off topic questions.

1. Is it better to live on res or live off campus? I was initially going to rent with a friend off campus but he goes to WU. But leaning towards res now.
   
2. How difficult is it to get into coop? I've heard a lot of mixed answers. A lot of people are saying its fairly easy but there's also people saying its rlly hard and super competitive. I'm worried that I don't get coop. Also is it easy to maintain a high gpa? I would assume it's easier to maintain a higher gpa at WLU than UofT.
   
3. Will it be easy to fit in as an Asian? I've heard there's an ok sized Asian population here but when I went to Waterloo and went around campus (not inside tho) I didn't see a single one lol. Just curious what the numbers r.
   

Laurier BBA
Pros:

• Really good coop program (only if i get into coop tho)
• Tier 2 B school (ik rotman is also tier 2 but have no idea abt utsc managmenet)
• Ik they send a decent amt of ppl into IB each year

Cons:

• Got to move away from home and rent
• In Waterloo - heard its a dead dead city

UTSC Management
Pros:

• Coop
• Uoft name (may or may not help w/ finding jobs in the future)

Cons:

• Hard to maintain a high gpa
• Commuter school
• High tuition; heard it jumps to nearly 20k in 2nd year onwards? (It says 15k on their site tho, not too sure)
• Heard you have to study all year round and get no breaks + super math heavy?

Thxs.