Natures great. Even If its just a local park next to the highway. I love going into more desolate places in parks. Places surrounded by trees and tucked away into nowhere. I liked to drag my friends in on it aswell, as much as they hated it. There are always these two specific friends I'd drag, they wouldn't bother resisting anyways.
Only went to parks and forests in the day, since the dark always freaked me out a bit. Gradually though I would start going out later and later for the fun of it- but never too late, maybe right before sunset. We always wanted to drag a few more friends along but most of them live a town over, or would just not be bothered.
Don't blame them but I've always loved going out to these parks and forests, and me and my trio haven't stopped either. Its always great to feel some fresh cold air as you wonder if a druggies going to jump out at you, or if a fox is going to swipe past your feet, or if you'll misstep and tumble down a hill. The adrenaline is what makes it fun, right?
Well not always apparently.
Nothing was really different on this day. It was just an average day in April. Nice weather, weak winds, good day, good vibes. The park was as still as ever, people would usually come here to feed the ducks and thats about it, maybe go for a light jog. That's only in the park area though, the forest bit is usually untouched, but not by me.
"Come on guys, it'll be fun! I'm sure nobody is there" I'd say to my friends. They'd get scared easily, so I always had my fair share of pranks and today was no different. I'd just pull a prank, come out, see them scared shitless and we'd laugh it off.
We went down a side path into a deeper part into the forest, I went last as of course I needed to be the first one out, and it was time for my prank. I screamed at the top of my Lungs and bolted out, making sure neither saw me before I lunged into a Bush and sat there waiting, waiting for them to come around so I could jump out and scare them. But they never did. This confused me as there were only three paths, the whole thing went around in a circle, there was a forest entrance and parking lot you could exit from- but we were nowhere near that.
There were three paths they could have taken, an upper path near the highway, a middle path I'm between bushes and trees, and a bottom path that connected the entrance and parking lot. Sitting in a Bush got annoying so I got up and went up a small hill in between the middle and top path and sat on a bench there.
I sat on the benches there for a while, it got darker and darker. I sat there for about 5 minutes, just soaking in the sun and waiting for the other two to pop out- maybe they've finally turned the tables on ms.
My phone pings. 'Hey are you wearing a pink shirt?'.
I sat there staring at the message. What a random thing to ask- especially since you've just had the life scared out of you! I was wearing a purple shirt- but that wasn't visible either as I wore a grey fleece over it.
'No, why?'
I waited about a minute for the response, and when I got it- it was as if the whole world has frozen.
'There was someone crawling in the bushes with a pink shirt, we don't know if it was a guy or what, he didn't move like a person'
What? A guy in the bushes? At this time in the evening? As the sun was setting?? 'Where was he?'
'Somewhere in between the top and middle path, are you there?'
Absolutely not, time has completely stopped now. Everything's gone quiet. The cars, the birds, the trees. It was like they were waiting for someone to speak.
Rustle. Heavy rustling. Almost like a person was struggling in the bushes beside me.
I didn't know what that was, it could've been a fox or bird or maybe even an apple that fell but I wasn't going to hang around to figure it out. I ran for it, practically throwing myself off the hill, barrelling through bushes and ending up flat on the grass beside the entrance. Soon running back to grab my friends who were frozen in place and beelining it out of the parking lot.
We still don't know what it was, no face was seen, it had freakishly strong looking hands, long legs, it crawled around how you'd expect a spidermonkey to crawl, and of course its pink scruffed shirt. It seems like maybe I should keep to forests in the bright day.

Help!! I am weaning off the pump after an almost year long EP journey. I’m down to 2 ppd and have the most stubborn clog I’ve ever had. I’ve gotten quite a few since I got down to 3 ppd and thought I was in the clear since I’ve been down to 2 pumps for a month and supply has drastically dropped. It’s been almost 5 days and nothing is working! I’ve done the ibuprofen/ice, hakaa, light touch massage, etc. I just started sunflower lecithin yesterday. I’ve just been doing my normal 2 pumps because I’ve seen overdoing it will make it worse. My plan is to call my doc tomorrow but just wanted to see if there was any advice out there in the meantime. I’m not really having any pain, but I’m worried it will turn into mastitis. This part is just me venting- I’m so disappointed that this is how my journey is ending! I’ve been weaning down from 5 ppd since January to prevent clogs but it’s been one after the other, and it’s always in my left side. I’m only producing like 10 oz per day, and I just want to be done. I’m proud I made it this far, but I wanted to end on a good note. Okay, that’s all.

Hi all, good friend of mine is in need of upgrading his 8 year old hardware.
We’re salvaging the case, his SSD’s and peripherals but he’s upgrading from 1080p on an ancient VN panel monitor to 1440p. Looking to get 60fps average in newer games preferably as close to ultra as we can get for as many years as possible. The dude plays mostly WoW, Diablo, modern warfare, as well as the new AAA releases like Hogwarts legacy and whatever Souls-like game comes out, Assassins creed, etc.
This is the parts list I came up with, but I’m a bit out of the loop when it comes to the performance of the mid tier price point hardware. Can you guys just take a look and see if there’s anything obvious?
Inb4 AMD graphics card. The dude is completely tech illiterate, and I have to drive to his house to do any sort of debugging or maintenance work, so I’d rather not deal with any potential AMD driver hiccups and have to listen to him whine about it. TIA!
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor	$296.93 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$45.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock Z790 PRO RS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$194.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory	$115.98 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI GAMING X TRIO GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card	$869.99 @ GameStop
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 GT 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$129.99 @ Walmart
Monitor	LG 27GN800-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor	$296.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1950.77
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-26 08:51 EDT-0400

Hello folks, I'm not really sure where to go for some good and honest advice so I figured I'd reach out here. I would like to start off with by apologizing if I use any incorrect terms or if something I say upsets anyone. I'm so new to this that I honestly don't know what I'm doing or talking about and my intentions are solely to find out any advice and get as much help towards the situation as possible. Please don't take any offence to my misuse of words, I will happily learn and adjust as I continue down this path, and I appreciate any help I can receive.
So let me just start with the context. I recently started dating a woman who has young twins (boy/girl) under the age of 2. I don't think the boy has been diagnosed, but the girl has been through a couple of tests and the doctors seem to think she's on the spectrum (not sure how "severe" it is personally, but from what I can gather it's not too bad?). I have never had to deal/interact with anyone with autism personally (family or friends) and feel like I'm slightly over my head with trying to help her learn and grow as a toddler. We've only been together for a few months so I still feel like it's "not my place" sort of concept, but at the same time I really like this woman and therefore I need to be there to help her support and raise the kids as well, since I don't see myself going anywhere, atleast any time soon (if that makes sense so far). I'm basically asking for advice and/or tips. Anything like toys that will help her grow/develop/learn (she likes to climb, throw things and run), any sort of programs I can look into for heme/her mom to help us help her develop? Any do's and don'ts?
I'm really sorry for my ignorance folks, I truly do apologize if I've used incorrect terms or wording. Please help me understand and learn more, I would love to be able to handle this situation in the best way to help this girl develop to her full potential. Honestly, ANY advice will be better than what I'm working with currently, and I appreciate anyone taking the time out of their day to help me prepare for what could possibly be my future family

Yet another fight against cheaters. This time, apparently, we had skill issues with bucketing water with zero holes in the lower & mid, because the rates at which we were getting water were alarming and we almost sunk.
Meanwhile, our opponents haven't landed a single shot after we demasted them and were all bucketing their ship. And they were so skilled, apparently, that they didn't even have to bucket through the grid, because they are SOOOO GOOD they can bucket straight through their hull. Into our ship.
We still sank them because we managed to triple board and kill them, but that victory still leaves sour taste..
The control and abilities cheaters have in this game is just baffling. It's not just average speedhacks or aim assist or wallhack, it's a fucking godmode with how they break the rules and mechanics of the game.

I grew up in the 90's. Watching the X-Men cartoon, collecting the trading cards/action figures, but only occasionally dabbling in comics (I read a decent amount of Spawn.) Now I'm 36, I really enjoy the MCU, it's been pretty damn good so far but I wanted more. I thought I would give comics another go. Why not, right? Looking into what stories I wanted to explore I stumbled upon Secret Wars (2015) the synopsis stood out to me because DOOM is my favorite villain, but then I discovered there was a LONG list of required reading to fully understand that story......
We don't need to re-hash all thay because it's been covered on reddit a TON already.
I just wanted to say WOW, I honestly thought reading this material wouldn't hold my interest. To be perfectly honest I approached it with the attitude that i would find it childish and boring. Lots of pretty colors but no real substance. I was DEAD wrong. So far I have read; Secret Warriors, the Hickman Fantastic 4 run and S.H.E.I.L.D. (My favorite so far, so mind bending. Should be an MCU show, but I'd be scared they would destroy it.)
I am just starting Ultimates:Thor and will move on to Avengers/New Avengers/Infinity shortly.
Comic books are awesome. That's all really. Re-discovering them has been awesome. Can anyone point me in the direction of an epic Magneto story?

So I got conq on my main as english and then went rus on my alt and just got conq again today.
For english I almost predominantly went abbey of kings (because it's fun), and in pretty much every game I'd go 1TC heavy feudal aggro and then react accordingly to the opponent. Didn't play a single 2tc into white tower game (more on this in a bit).
For Rus 99% of the time I went kremlin into boar and 1tc feudal aggro, in some cases if my opponent was going FC I'd go 1-3 knights and then go castle myself.
Some thoughts:

• Rus definitely felt a bit harder to get conq as english. Ironically English was my worst matchup with a whopping 25% win rate (lol). I've put this down to god awful decision making against the 2tc WT build. Basically I'd always try and ram rush the 2nd tc down and at this level players are good enough to defend the 2nd tc and then go castle behind.
• Rus eco feels kinda meh compared to most civs. Your food bonus has to be fought over, and whilst the wood eco is strong you invest a lot into towers and siege. The farm transition in particular is very difficult (unless you go 2tc).
• Horsearcheknight with boyars fortitude and fervour is a rediculously good comp. Highly mobile, tanky af, and just all round a lot of fun.
• My biggest problem with english was always getting siege out, as Rus this was just so easy it felt pretty good.
• English abbey is definitely a weaker build than Council Hall, the king is far too expensive for what he is and although you can get production buildings up your feudal eco is just not strong enough. I found dark age maa into abbey was only really strong against abba, maybe delhi if they have a forward gold.
• Playing Rus exponentially improved my scouting and macro. Knowing when and how to take pocket ecos, getting the correct upgrades, scouting what the opponent was doing made a huge difference.
• Special shoutout to the 3 malian players trying the mass warrior scout build against knights/spear combo - some pretty easy elo right there.
• When using kremlin gremlins don't waste the first ticket aimlessly, you aren't going to get much done. Save the tickets for a big fight, my favourite use for them is to flank the enemy army and snipe their siege.

Ultimately, decision making and good macro combined with game sense is what I found to be the main differentiation between winning and losing games. Even against English I 100% lost because I made the wrong decisions. Basically I am a firm believer that you can get to conq 1 with any civ. Think I'll go Chinese next which should be interesting.

So up until the Enterprise E the trend with Enterprises was that each ship was bigger and better than it's predecessor. Also each one represented a technical leap for Sf, The Excelsior was a substantial jump over the then nearly forty year old Constitution design, there's beta canon that says the Ambassador launched in the 2320s, and the Galaxy was launched in the 2360s, so there was a roughly forty year gap between each Enterprise which gave Sf time to make each new ship substantially better than it's predecessor. Then there's The E, launched less than a decade after the Galaxy class and mostly using tech of the same generation but only a few years, rather than decades, more advanced. It's of the same generation as Voyager and The Defiant.
Now a lot of people say The E is the better warship and pound for pound I'd tend to agree, but pound for pound the best warship in the UFP at the time was probably the Defiant, so why didn't they make The E a Defiant class then? The E is still primarily a ship of exploration, but without the facilities to house families, nor the excess capacity that was built into the Galaxy class with the intention that it could be filled out later. That's the thing with the Galaxy class, the Sovereigns are much leaner designs, they're still modular, but the extra space on a Galaxy means that if fully kitted out it could potentially do everything a Sovereign could and more, and if fully refitted for war with the type 12 phasers and quantum torpedoes of the Sovereign I don't think a Sovereign would stand much of a chance in a one on one fight.
For the Sovereign design to be a true successor to the Galaxy class there would need to be tech involved that wasn't backwards compatible with the very recent Galaxy class. If type 12 phasers just can't be fitted to a Galaxy then there's a case for the Sovereign being the superior combat vessel, but the Enterprise is supposed to be the flagship, it's supposed to represent Sfs priorities as an exploration, diplomatic, and humanitarian force for good, the weapons are for self defence, so even if a Sovereign could kick a Galaxy's ass that shouldn't be the deciding factor.
So, having said all that, why do you think Sf decided to make a Sovereign the new Enterprise rather than a newly built or upgraded Galaxy Class? Where there no new Galaxy's being built? That seems odd to me given how new the design was and Sf planned for those things to last for decades, just like the Mirandas, and the Excelsior's. Where the refits not as good as a Sovereign, maybe, but it feels implausible to me given the size disparity. Perhaps Picard requested a ship without families but none of the in service or up and coming Galaxy's were ready for that, so they gave him a Sovereign instead? To me that's the most plausible explanation, and they named his new Sovereign The Enterprise as a mark of respect for all he and his crew had achieved up to that point. What are your thoughts?

Album: https://imgur.com/a/Tb5IEUd
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/iY70NPy
Blade Gallery Custom Knife Link: https://www.bladegallery.com/shopexd.asp?id=105453
Good morning swappers, hope everyone is having a nice morning. I present to you something pretty incredible today, the most rare piece in my collection. This is a one of a kind custom Trevor Burger Urban with a gold dark matter carbon scale, a darkwashed titanium scale and clip, blackened hardware, and a hollow-ground Damasteel blade. For those who don’t know, Damasteel is a company that makes high-performing Damascus steels, which means that this knife is meant to be used (performs like CPM-154). The action on this guy is fantastic, with the snappy click of the ceramic ball detent from front flipper deployment, to the hydraulic close when disengaging the lock. The action on this is ridiculously addictive. The blade is also the sliciest blade I’ve owned, with a perfect hollow grind that laser beams through material. Fit and finish is spectacular, with no blade play, lock stick, or any issues of any kind (perfection is the norm for Trevor Burger’s customs). I’ve looked this knife over for multiple hours, just admiring its beauty, and in that time, have not found any issues with the fit and finish of the knife other than a snail trail on the clip from the previous owner.
From a practical standpoint, this thing is perfect for EDC. Fits in the pocket with no problem, very lightweight, and the blade shape and handle profile are super comfortable. Aesthetically I like the balanced lines of the Urban the most compared to the other Burger models, it just looks so clean and sophisticated. Don’t be fooled by the mesmerizing blade, this is a tool that is meant to be used, and can handle the same tasks a sebenza would be used for. This knife new was $990.
[TV 850]/[SV 900]
I’m mainly looking to trade this which is why I’ve kept my SV high. I’d prefer even trades or trading down. The only reason I’m putting this knife on the swap is because I’ve got another custom front flipper on the way. Please shoot your shot! I’m open to any and all trades!
Specifically looking for: - Shiros - Grimsmo Rasks - Rockstead Knives - Magnacut McNees MAC 3.5” - CRK Zaan - Eutsler DUK/Dukling - Strider knives - Jason Guthrie knives - Bradley Maria’s knives - Anything cool

1.Stop talking about him. Melanie has a new boyfriend and is in a happy relationship. There’s little to no reason to discuss this man.

1. Y’all are acting mighty parasocial acting as if you personally know him and Melanie. Oliver Tree is a character. A persona. Anything he does or doesn’t do while in character shouldn’t be taken seriously as there’s a real living breathing human being behind the bowl cut. He’s satire.
   
2. Show me a shred of evidence to suggest that their breakup was an awful traumatizing experience Melanie can’t let go of. They dated for like less than 6 months,YEARS AGO! LEAVE HIM ALONE! She’s dating someone else! He doesn’t matter!
   

4.Everytime there’s a bad person in Melanie’s music you all think “REFERENCES TO OLIVER” but did it cross your mind to think she’s not drawing from her own experiences but rather a persona. And if she is maybe it’s not Oliver. Because what trauma did he cause that she wouldn’t mention that has her writing music about him a year after the breakup.
5.That fucking dress means nothing. It’s symbolic of the vintage style she had that over the years she let go of.
6.Melanie said they ended on good terms. So no matter what subtext you’re seeing in Oliver’s music or Melanies she said “GOOD TERMS!”. So unless you have evidence and receipts and not egregious speculation just be quiet and stop acting like he’s the root of all evil.

1. The hoop’s y’all jump through. The stretches you make. Jesus.

Hey, So obviously there is always much more context that can fit into one post. However, I think I should start off with what has really fucking grinded my gears with this girl. We will call her Megan and my boyfriend Tom.
Him and her and 20 l am 22. We have been together for a year.
Tom and Megan have been friends for about 5 years. When I first met her I thought she was OK. I tried to make an effort so invited her to my birthday, to make matters worse Megan and Tom's sister are good friends and met via him. My birthday was a day time boat trip. Her and his sister came along, and brought a bag of cocaine onto the boat. Sat there keying coke and chain smoking cigarettes not all that concerned about what me or my friends thought of this. I tried to make an effort again, I invited her over for some dinner with him and I. She was nearly 2 hours late and spent the whole time talking with him about people I don't know. On top of this, I think she's made herself far too comfortable. As I mentioned she's friends with his sister, him and his sister used to live together and whilst he was away Megan went over and slept in his bed (not with him, as I said he was away) even though she lives a stones throw away, is invited to family functions such as CHRISTMAS DAY (?!?!) and follows all of his family on social media even if he doesn't. Way too involved for my liking.
He used to have a cocaine problem himself, he doesn't touch it since being with me but every single time they are together more or less they end up going on an expensive binge until 7am or whatever the next day.
He went out with her the other day and I really tried to be ok with it because I don't want to make him resent me and control him. But before he left I just started wailing. He asked if he should still go and I said yes fine. Whilst he was out much I was hyperventilating and being sick, I had to go to my mothers and she texted him explaining that she was worried I was going to hurt myself and does he know what's wrong because I wouldn't give any answers. This was a physical reaction and I had no control over it. I saw him the next day. He basically said that he is not willing to end the friendship and that I just need to get some help. I cannot cope with it. What do you think I should do? What should he be doing?

If the order you are on can’t be completed for some reason, like the restaurant didn’t get it or someone else picked it up or the restaurant is closed… DONT JUST CANCEL IT AND SEND IT TO THE NEXT DRIVER. Take four or five effin minutes to call support about the order not being fulfilled so that it doesn’t just get money added to it and sent to another driver so they too can go waste their time and resources to find out the information you already know. It’s NOT THAT HARD, YALL.
Have a little respect for your fellow delivery drivers and save the next driver the time and pain of driving there for no reason. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and resources and it pisses the customers off to where they are likely to give a bad rating and no tip to the person that actually did what they were supposed to do and got their food to them.
A few bad apples that don’t care about anyone else make everyone else look bad. This gig is easy… have some pride in what you’re doing and take a few measly minutes to provide proper service (notice I said 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕖... it doesn’t even have to be GOOD service— just do it right!) so you don’t screw over the next driver who could be a single mom of three trying to feed her children between her chemo treatments by doing deliveries. It’s not that effin difficult to be a decent human.

We met in college and hit it off instantly. A year later we've always been together and been there for each other through the ups and downs. Our communication often feels like it's fading because of our careers but we always bounce back like there's no distance between us. There's always been some intimate tension between us and we've made out once and came close to an accidentally second when she got too close to my face once lol but the comfort in the scenarios are so high when they happen everything is so fluid.
I was at my best buds wedding a few days ago in Dominican Republic and I got a bit buzzed and typed up a draft in her convo but I didn't send it because I knew she was talking to other guys and I was talking to other girls but we always find ourselves coming back to each other. I was reading my draft and fixing some errors and out of habit of proofreading and I sent it when it was okay purely impulsively.
I'm terrified because she often gets panic attacks when she gets overwhelmed by her emotions especially when it catches her off guard. But tbh I'm a bit relieved to finally get it off my chest. The weight of my feelings for her was getting heavier everyday and I was just holding on to it to preserve our bond and not complicat things also out of respect. But I realize she means that much to me and if I truly did respect her then I should tell her the truth.
Im just afraid of coming off selfish because I don't think I'm good enough for her at all, even though she depends on me sometimes. I just know that I personally have a lot of things to work on for myself ESPECIALLY mentally and emotionally. I'm aware that I'm broken and damage, so I'm working on repairing myself and yet she doesn't care about what stage I am in my life, she still always ready to jump in and stand by my side cause she knows I'll always be there for her as well.
All this to say that's is why I sent the message but I'm just not sure where she's currently at in her life, or whether or not she has room to take that chance with me on going further. Truthfully I don't think I'm ready either but I know I can be for her. She's only ever put my life at ease and call me out of my slack during my self improvement journey and the way we're so in tune with each other almost seems too much of a coincidence to ignore and remain silent.

Hello everyone!
I am writing this post because I, during my time at Marriott Bonvoy, have heard the phrase ''I wish I had known this sooner'' way too many times. I have gone through many emails and spoke to a plethora of guests over the phone over the years and I, through this post, wish to share the best tips I have as well as give information on what is possible and what is not possible when requesting exceptions to be made. Just FYI; I have gone through sales, account management, supervisor, ambassador service and finally case resolution. The sales -> account management -> supervisor is standard flow. The Ambassador Service and Case Resolution teams are later stages.
First and foremost. Marriott Bonvoy is not a loving wife. You can love it but it will not love you back. Bonvoy is a system and you need to use it.
1.) Let's start with what riles everyone up and that is status.
Marriott has a strict policy that a status must be earned. Exceptions are EXTREMELY rare. I would say approximately 0.1% of the status exceptions get approved. I have seen a single exception be made and that was for a customer who had 8 years of Platinum and Titanium and was, due to illness, unable to reach Platinum that year. It was late December and he had 49 Elite Nights. An exception was made for him that one time. Same rule wouldn't apply for higher tiers and this was only because he would probably have retained it if he had registered for the Platinum Elite Challenge. For Titanium and Ambassador no exceptions will ever be given.
That brings me to the next point. Use the Platinum Elite Challenge to your advantage. You can register once in a calendar year. If you are aiming for the Lifetime level and are already close to the required amount of Nights, you can just fill in the years with the Challenge. Please do note that retroactive registration is impossible. You have to register prior and there is no exception. Once you register, no changes to the dates will be offered, no exceptions whatsoever that I have seen and that's the policy.
We do not offer status match with other programs. If you wish to avail of our bonuses, you have to stay at our properties. Marriott Bonvoy has the most hotels in the world and we don't care about your status at other programs. There was one exception to this and that was the pandemic time. During the pandemic we did offer it. It was the decision of corporate to try and steal customers from other brands. Use the Platinum Challenge if you really wish to have a status.
2.) Points expiration
Agents are able to give exceptions both via email and via phone if you encountered issues and were under circumstances that have prevented you from travelling. The circumstances eligible for exceptions are military service, long term illness and delay when purchasing Points. The agents will not proactively name these but if you do, they will offer a small extension.
You can always purchase 1000 Points online for 12.5 USD to extend the validity of your Points. Alternatives are to go and buy a coffee at the hotel and send us the hotel bill but that's more of a bother than just buying the Points.
Considering this data is considered protected by data protection regulations, we will not save nor relay the information to anyone. You can decide to share the details of your illness but the agents are not allowed to save it.
Only one exception is given per account.
3.) SNA availability / expiry / reinstatement
The Suite Night Awards do not entitle you to every suite. The categories at Bonvoy are Standard Room, Premium Room, Standard Suite and Premium Suite. You can only use them for Premium Rooms and Standard Suites. Higher category Suites are not offered using the Suite Night Awards. No exceptions. That is the contract given to hotels.
Only hotels that have rooms and suites offer the use of Suite Night Awards. Resorts rarely offer the use of Suite Night Awards. If you wish to stay at a resort, book your stay and if they are offered, you will see the pop up to use SNA. If it doesn't, it is safe to assume that they simply do not accept them. Alternatively and especially if all rates are prepaid, call the service hotline and we have a list that we can use to check if the property participates.
No exceptions will be given to expiry of the Suite Night Awards. NONE. If you have cancelled your booking that had SNA approved later than 2 PM 1 day prior to arrival and have lost them. Nothing can be done. It is simply the policy and we have to follow it. We do not have the option to reinstate them.
For best results; if you have sufficient SNAs and the trip is an important trip for you.. book two different properties and submit requests to both of them. Wait for approval. If both get approved, simply cancel the one you like less or cancel the one that didn't get approved.
4.) Special status requests for credit cards
We can not adjust your status if you have a credit card. The request needs to come from the card issuer. Call the number on the back of the card to request it. The requests will be approved and your status updated within 10-15 business days. There is no bypass to this. The request has to follow a single straight line. We can not contact the card issuer on your behalf.
Basically:
Customer -> Card Issuer -> Bonvoy -> Status Upgrade Approval
But doesn't work like this:
Customer -> Bonvoy -> Card Issuer -> Bonvoy -> Status Upgrade Approval
5.) Compensation and resolution of on-property issues
If you are still on property, the main point of contact should be the front desk for any facility issues. You should report immediately as the hotel staff might be able to resolve them and improve your stay quality. If you call the CEC, most agents will then call the front desk on your behalf but in general it is the hotel solving those. We can not influence them much.
For members that are entitled to arrival gifts, if the hotel staff doesn't offer it you have to take it up with them. There is a compensation for this but you need to demand this while on property and discuss it with the front desk manager. Please do bear in mind that that compensation can not be given out once you have left the property. It is simply the rule and we can not bypass it.
If it is benefits and policy related, most hotels will know what you are entitled to and you can always use the benefits sheet if they are being stubborn. If, after that, they still are denying you access to what you are entitled to by the program, we will step in. You can call or send an email. Calls are better for a timely resolution whereas for bigger issues I'd say you write an email and have the response in writing.
Staff related issues should be reported to us... as we are above property supervision.
6.) Third party bookings
I see a lot of escalations for benefits with third party bookings. We can not do anything in regards with those. You will get jack s***. We do not care about who booked it for you, you get nothing. I had an Ambassador who arrived at a property and expected the benefits. It was his company that booked it for him through a third party website and he got nothing. You can forget about it. The property will MAYBE be lenient or oversee the fact but you can, in general, forget about your on property benefits, Points and Elite Nights. Marriott is open to establishing discounted rates for companies if they wish to book through us. They will get either a code for website bookings, employees can call and book it and some companies will get a system to book through.
Some agents will, if you request credit for such a stay, add good will gestures to your account in form of a little bit of Points but no nights. Such exceptions are mostly given to new members to incentivize them to book directly but no such thing will happen for higher tiered guests who know the policy. These Points will only be given once.
7.) Missing stays
Missing stays can and should only be requested once the 14 days timeframe has passed. We count the stay as missing then. This is as per the policy and hotels have to pay a small fee each time we credit a stay. If we do it ahead of time we are harming the hotels. The website will also not allow you to submit it if the timeframe has not yet passed (sometimes buggy and allows it). Sending them via email directly will get you in most cases the ''wait for the timeframe to pass'' template. We can make an exception if you have a stay that you wish to book immediately and need the Points to complete the stay. You should call but do be ready to book it with the sales associate.
Titaniums are the biggest violators of these and usually are really crybabies when it comes to this policy. I often see 5 requests being sent immediately after they leave the hotel. Stop. Please.
Design Hotel properties have to add the stays manually themselves as per their contract. We can not add it. We will simply forward your request to the on-property team. You will usually get them faster if you contact the hotel directly.
8.) Best Price Guarantee
Absolutely has to be done through the website. We can not adjust prices over the phone. There is a dedicated team arranging the prices and approving the guarantee requests.
Please do bear in mind that the rate has to have the same conditions as our flexible rate. Prepaid rates do not count. The reasoning behind this is that a reseller might buy the rooms out in advance and offer them at a later date with a price slightly lower than ours. That doesn't mean that their price is better. They are just trying to sell what they already paid for. Bundled travel rates do not count. Special discounted rates offered by some third party loyalty programs do not count (reasoning is that they are actually paying for the price difference or are taking no profit whatsoever).
9.) Requesting compensation will often net you 0 Points
When you are sending a complaint, be descriptive and state your issues. Do so in a non demanding way and be honest. The agents that are entitled to give compensation will then offer it proactively as part of our First Contact Resolution procedure. We will report to the property to improve then.
Demanding will make us investigate more.
Please also do not abuse this system as it will get you banned. I have banned more than a couple of accounts for this matter. The bans are indefinite and non reversible if given out by the case resolution specialists.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I am open to adding noteworthy ones to the main thread.

Hey everyone,
I’m (30F) back in the dating scene after my failed 5 year long relationship.
I’ve had a few dates here and there with guys I’ve never seen again but I am now currently seeing 2 guys at the same time.
We’ve only had coffee, drinks or dinner. I’m kind of still looking to just get to know them better but I somehow feel awful about dating both of them at the same time. I can feel that they seem a little bit invested.
One seem like he would be a good match because he’s quite extroverted and I’m introverted and I think I need that balance in my life. The other one is introverted and it’s my first time ever dating an introverted man, but he really intrigues me and he also seems to have a good situation.
I feel uneasy about dating the 2 of them but my brain is telling me I’m not doing anything wrong.
I may go on a short trip with the more extroverted guy and surely, he’s going to try something the. And I’m not sure I’m ready for that when I haven’t made up my mind yet.
Am I doing something wrong?? Would you think upset if you found out the person you’ve been on a few dates with is seeing someone else at the same time?

I am an international student in 11th grade, and since the beginning of this school year I've been preparing to apply for U.S universities. I was very optimistic at first but joining A2C definitely lowered my expectations lol. I thought I had good enough stats and ECs (1570 in the SAT; ~3.9 GPA assuming a linear grade conversion; 1st place in a national general culture competition; a medal in the international olympiad in informatics; 1st place in the last qualification test in my country for the international math olympiad; I teach programming to my classmates as the leader of the programming club; I'm looking forward to creating a school chess club with my friends; I'm even about to take part in political activities) Sounds pretty good right? I thought I can reasonably expect a T20 uni if I write decent essays. Well apparently students twice as competitive get rejected from what I considered to be safeties. Alright, I just have to slightly lower my bar then. Well, that's without considering the price. The plane ticket alone is about half of our monthly household income and we are a family of 6 : and the tuition fees are just an order of magnitude higher than what I can afford to pay. So I'm in a tough spot where I'm not good enough to get into the financially generous universities but I still can't afford what I would consider to be target colleges unless I get significant scholarships/financial aid (I've head asking for aid doesn't really help your application) so I will have to lower the bar even more. But at this point is all this shit even worth the effort? If I'm not even going to a good american uni I might as well just stay in my country and get way more bang for my buck. If you're in the same boat can you please share your decisions and perhaps some advice to make this dream more reachable?

I did not crush on all the shy nerdy sometimes slightly awkward Asian girls in school.
But when I did have a crush it was one of them, and the day one of them introduced me to her mother I got hard in my pants because my infatuated imagination let me believe we would make babies together some day.
When I taught college some of you got a little flirtatious with me and I almost died. Various students would try to flirt with me from time to time. Alarm bells would go off and I’d keep my distance. But it was more of a struggle if it was one of you.
I'd still like that good old-fashioned date with a mostly proper East Asian woman between 18 and 40 years old (I'm flexible on this) who would like the conversation and who can observe reasonable physical boundaries no matter how flirtatious we might get while talking. We can talk about almost anything, but hopefully mostly about you.
I'm mostly white, always nice, well-educated, and, well, just generally well.

I don’t really care about my HM time except in the context of 1:23-1:25 being a good predictor for a sub-3 marathon. I can’t help but wonder if going through the taper process (and, thus, reducing volume) to do proper HM races is time that I could have spent moving toward my ultimate goal. Until I’m ready for an 18:30 5k, I don’t see the point in me racing a 10k or HM in the meantime. Same with not racing a Half until I think I can do a 38:00 10k.
I’d estimate a 19:40/41:30/1:35 split between the three races right now, which is a little conservative according to my Garmin’s predictions of 19:25/41:08/1:33:30. I’ve been on 55mpw (including two double-digit-mile runs) for about a month now and have just started introducing speed work the last couple of weeks.
But, this could just be my inexperience talking. What are your thoughts?

CW: Racism
I saw another post on here the other day about Rictavio's 'racism' towards the Vistani, and it reminded me to type up my thoughts on it (and yes, the quotemarks around 'racism' are intentional - I'll get to that).
Firstly, a disclaimer to say that racism is an abhorrence in every way/shape/form. By discussing this topic, I'm not meaning to make light of the issue, so apologies if it comes across that way. It's easy for me to talk about racism in an imaginery game shared between friends, when real-life racism is so much more of a complex and awful issue. Also, I'm a white guy living in a first-world country (the UK; I'm actually Welsh, so I have received some extremely rare abuse because of that, but it's hardly comparable...), so I understand that I'm privileged.
A lot of folks are uncomfortable with the way that Rictavio and his tiger are portrayed in Curse of Strahd - that he's trained a tiger to hunt the Vistani, a race of people - and that's totally understandable. The simple solution is to change it or to take it out entirely. I'm not a fan of including racism/xenophobia in D&D and therefore CoS (e.g. I don't do the thing where some Barovians are xenophobic towards non-humans or the more unusual races). I did leave in the tiger thing though. Rictavio/Van Richten was the fated ally (or "Strahd's enemy") in my game, and so it presented an interesting and unusual dynamic between him and the PCs. The more it panned out, the more I realised something.
My take (in summary) is this: Rictavio isn't racist. Instead, he's so focused on his goal (defeat Strahd) that he's completely oblivious to the fact that what he's doing could even be perceived as such - until someone points it out to him. At best, he's 'accidentally/unintentionally racist'. Allow me to explain in more detail...

A means to an end

As we know (although I didn't want to mention it too early on in the post, in case a CoS player saw it by accident), Rictavio is actually the disguise used by Dr. Rudolph Van Richten, the legendary monster hunter.
I can't remember where I read this (in fact I thought it was so ingrained into VR's personality that I genuinely thought it was one of his written ideals/bonds/flaws), but a good way to think of VR is that everything he does is a means to an end.
He is so focused on his goal to take down Strahd that he will do it any way he can. And he's doing so in a methodical way, not necessarily a logical one. Almost like he's thinking: "What can I do to take down Strahd? One way to make him weaker is to take out some of his allies. Some of the Vistani are his allies..." and his idea has spiralled from there.

Too focused on monsters...

Van Richten has spent his life fighting monsters, starting with the vampire who turned his son. He's presumably defeated many more. He's written books on monsters. Since the start of his decades-long quest to defeat evil, he has been immersed and engrossed in the study of monsters - of evil.
Despite his quest for good, he's been doing it for a long time. A looong time. That has to take a toll on someone. When you spend a long time learning about and fighting monsters, you're always thinking about monsters - and, unfortunately, you might start to think things/people that aren't monsters are monsters. Or at least put them in the same basket.
If we carry on pulling the "Strahd's allies" thread I started to pull on above, we know that he knows vampires inside and out, as well as monsters capable of necromancy (Strahd is both). So he knows full well that Strahd has allies that include but are not limited to: bats, rats, wolves, vampire spawn, zombies, skeletons, wights... He also knows that some of the Vistani are his allies. Can you spot the odd one out? Amongst that list of mindless/controlled beasts and undead, one of them is a group of people.
I like the idea that VR has become so jaded with researching and fighting monsters that he's unfortunately looking at the Vistani in the same way.
Deep down though, VR is good - he's just lost his way with this one.

How it played out in my campaign

Rictavio/VR was my players' fated ally, so - despite his 'curse' - he travelled with the PCs as they traversed Barovia and its perils.
Ezmerelda appeared not long after they discovered Rictavio's true identity, and also joined the group. He was surprised and also worried to see her, knowing full well that his tiger could attack her (in fact, at one point, he commissioned Blinsky to create a vampire doll instead - using some of Doru's clothing - and swapped the Vistani doll out for the vampire one, so that it would develop a sense for the undead instead). He kept the tiger in its wagon at all times as a result. The only exception was Strahd's dinner invitation at Castle Ravenloft: Ez abstained (she'd already annoyed the count by trying and failing to slay him, as per the "Ezmerelda's Retreat" event), so they travelled without her - and when they encountered a corpse flower on the Svalich Road after leaving, he let the tiger out for that fight.
I dropped another clue beyond the above: the tiger was mostly docile in the wagon on their travels, but when Arrigal got close to the wagon one time, the tiger lurched and roared from inside.
Then, when I rolled the 'Vistani bandits' random encounter on the road one time, the tiger got free and attacked. Understandably, my players were mortified - they knew immediately what was going on, without me having to spell it out further. One of them suggested that they turn him into the Vistani, and that they put him on trial - an expected but awesome curveball in our campaign, resulting in one of its most memorable moments.
Naturally, Ez was also shocked and repulsed. VR panicked, trying his best to explain his intentions: he's not racist, it was just a plan to try and take out some of Strahd's minions, explaining his theory that the Vistani based outside Vallaki all work for Strahd. This is where Ez corrects him:
Ez: "Jeez, VR! What the hell?! There's children in that camp! Didn't you know that?! Your tiger could've hurt or even killed them!"
VR: "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know. I just assumed it was... oh, by all the good gods, what was I thinking?!"
This pivoted the perspective of VR: he's not a horrible old racist (or at least not intentionally), he's someone who's only just realised how stupid, ridiculous and dangerous his tiger-training plan was - and Ez gave him one helluva wake-up call over it.
I also like the idea that despite being this smart monster hunter, he's not perfect. Not every plan he has will be perfectly executed. And boy - he has got this one very, very wrong.

Why I like this version

• I'm new to D&D and DMing as of 5E, but I understand that some fans of older editions of Ravenloft were upset with this depiction of Van Richten (cue the 'Look How They Massacred My Boy' meme from The Godfather). This version suggests he's not as messed-up as could be interpreted.
• If your players discover the journal entry (about how he used zombies to massacre a Vistani tribe, in response to them kidnapping his son to give to a vampire) before the truth comes out about his tiger, then... wow. He can do all he can to try and explain his position, but it's not gonna look good. More fuel on the fire.
• If the players ally themselves with VR (whether he's the fated ally, or just a minor ally who helps from within his Tower), then the players will have to decide what they're going to do about it. Despite turning VR into the Vistani (see above) and taking part in the Vistani trial, they held off on passing the evidence (the Vistani doll), which I found very interesting. Thanks to that, he was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence. Did they think VR was too valuable to lose, despite this glaring flaw? It added an interesting dynamic to the campaign. I even got Madam Eva to privately offer to redo her reading (to get a 'replacement' ally for them) and yet they still declined.

Anyway... Like I said in my intro/disclaimer, this is a complicated topic, which I hope I've done justice (I probably haven't), so here's hoping I don't get downvoted to oblivion, eh? 😅
Thanks for reading. I'd be curious to know the thoughts of others. Do you agree or disagree? Does my theory have merit, or is it as silly as VR's plan to train the tiger in the first place? You tell me.

So I got a full-time job as a motion designer at an agency which I'm very happy about, but it feels a bit overwhelming at times and wanted to know if anyone else has had similar feelings in their first role.
So first off I thought there'd be other motion designers, but I'm the only one at this ~40 agency. So even though I'm like mid level at best, I feel as though they see me a senior motion designer and expect high quality stuff (which I will try my best to provide of course).
I find it hard to be creative and work for 8 hours a day. I have like 4-5 hours of solid productivity in me, but I have to bill EVERY hour of my day to someone, I feel weird doing so even if I'm not being super productive during that time. How do you all agencies do that?
Also there's no lunch break (the job is remote) so I don't really get any time to decompress unless I want to work later than 5 to make up for the time I was taking a lunch.
When I first got hired they put me on this one long animation, and from all the storyboarding and animation I constantly worry that I'm going to hit a snag and it won't look good and I won't know how to fix it or make it better.
I also worry that I won't be able to finish the animation is the budgeted hours for the project. I'm trying to make it look as dope as I can but I just get so brain fried towards the end of the day, and then that just rolls over to the next day and I'm just feeling less productive as the week progresses
Just really wish there were other motion designers to learn from/work with. I don't feel ready in my career to be taking on this much as once.
Thanks for listening to my rant lol, would like to hear stories from other people in their first roles and maybe how they overcame similar struggles.

Setup includes:

• Beard type: Indian, WTG direction from cheek to ear
• Pre-shave: Hot watetowel
• Cream: Old Spice
• Brush: Gillette synthetic white
• Razor: SSH-01 Pearl Closed Comb
• Blades tried: The Gentleman, Gillette peramsharp (green), Feathers, Gillette super Platinum (black)
• After-shave: Alum fitkari, Nivea Sensitive Balm

Few of you have helped me by replying earlier to my posts - i learnt about different passes, beard mapping, angling, practicing moving the razor without a blade in it, hot towel/water, etc. Thanks much for those tips, my father never taught me how to shave. I had been a Gillette mach3 user for 2 decades but shaved irregularly. I now shave atleast twice a week.
The other day i tried using Gillette mach3 just to see how different it felt and i think I've forgotten how to use it, lol. Couldn't go beyond few strokes.
Good thing with DE is getting clean shaves like i haven't got before. It makes me want to shave. So far my favourite blade is peramsharp green ones out of all 4. I still have Wilkinson and Winner blades left to be tried.
After number of tries I've understood one thing, no matter what i do i always have extra strands of tough hair that don't cut. Even after 3 passes i had to not apply the cream and use my 2 fingers to stretch the skin from ear to cheek slowly and keep stroking the spot being uncovered to get those little hairs that refuse to be cut. Because of this, i have stopped applying shaving cream for ATG. And simply start stretching and complete the shave. Otherwise i ended up with 4-5-6 passes. Without doing this there's always some strands left.
II don't know how YouTube videos and most people get clean BBS shaves, I'm unable to. But this change has helped me. And now it's clean throughout and even.
I think i got hold of the technique fairly good, as i was able to keep a French beard, goatee, only moustache using DE razor. Till last week i used feathers and didn't get any nicks or cuts either.
But yesterday I tried Gillette Super Platinum (black) and my god i received so many cuts nicks, red areas. Under the lip cut didn't stop bleeding for several mins and i had to put a mountain of turmeric powder on top and lie down to make it stop. Lesson learnt - you can never relax when try a new blade. But it surprised me as i went without nicks and cuts using Feathers which I've read are supposed to be sharpest and they do feel so too.
One trouble area is neck, i have to have last pass on it without cream too but still very few strands get left out sometimes, i guess that's part of it because of the sloping curve and inability to pull much skin?
Oh the blade samples i bought was using the contact details of someone who sells at reddit sub. So big thanks to /Wicked_edge and /Wetshavers_India for being my internet parents for teaching me how to shave, where to buy, to try different blades and so on.
When i first started shaving in Jan it took me about 40 mins in total to complete the shaving cleaning etc. Now I am able to complete within 20 mins.

I don't work at that much; I lift lightly + I like to run; I run almost everyday not so much to work out but, because I find it fun. That being said it's been quiet difficult since I can't really eat normally. I'm not allowed in the kitchen during the day but, I sneak food up to room before my family is awake. I mostly only bring up snack food since most things need to be refrigerated or heated up in the microwave.
So I'm wondering what are some good substantial foods I can hide? It can be anything really; if I don't have it I can just buy it so any suggestions welcome.