Get back in the saddle: Modifying Trust and Rediscovering Adoration
Presentation:
At the point when a relationship closes, it can leave you feeling lost and yearning for the individual you once imparted a profound association with. In the event not set in stone to get back in the saddle and modify what was lost, there are steps you can take to expand your risks of reviving the fire and restoring a caring bond. In this article, we will investigate viable methodologies to get back in the saddle and make an establishment for a more grounded and really satisfying relationship.📷
Self-Reflection and Self-improvement:
Prior to endeavoring to get back in the saddle, taking part in self-reflection is fundamental. Investigate your activities and ways of behaving during the relationship. Distinguish regions where you might have improved and assume a sense of ownership with your slip-ups. By exhibiting self-awareness and an eagerness to transform, you show your ex that you are focused on improving as an accomplice.
Give Them Reality:
After a separation, feelings can run high, and the two players need time to recuperate. Regard your ex's requirement for space and cease from unnecessary contact or seeking after them perseveringly. All things being equal, center around your own mending and self-improvement. Utilize this opportunity to rediscover yourself, seek after your interests, and become your best self. At the point when your ex sees the positive changes you've made, they might be more disposed to reexamine the relationship.
📷
Modify Correspondence amicable:
When an adequate measure of time has elapsed, you can start contact with your ex. In any case, moving toward this correspondence in a well disposed and harmless manner is significant. Begin with relaxed discussions about normal interests or shared recollections. Abstain from examining the past or raising delicate subjects. Building a positive and agreeable air will lay the foundation for an expected compromise.
Exhibit Change through Activities:
Only words are adequately not to get back into the game. Show them through your activities that you have truly changed and gotten to the next level. Put forth a cognizant attempt to resolve the issues that added to the separation. For instance, in the event that correspondence was an issue, work on improving as an audience and communicator. Activities that reflect positive change can assist with revamping trust and show your ex that you are significant about making the relationship work.
Center around Profound Association:
To get back in the saddle, center around remaking the close to home association that once existed between you. Be mindful and truly keen on their viewpoints and sentiments. Show compassion and understanding, and be steady during testing times. By supporting profound closeness, you make a strong starting point for a restored and enduring relationship.
📷
Look for Proficient Assistance if necessary:
Now and then, proficient direction can be useful in getting back in the game. Consider couples treatment or relationship directing to resolve any well established issues and work with open correspondence. An impartial outsider can give important bits of knowledge and help both of you explore the difficulties of remaking the relationship.
End:
Making your ex return is a sensitive interaction that requires tolerance, self-reflection, and veritable exertion. While there are no certifications, by zeroing in on self-improvement, remaking correspondence, and exhibiting positive change, you can expand your possibilities reviving the affection you once shared. Keep in mind, regarding your ex's limits and wishes during the process is significant. Eventually, the objective is to make a solid and satisfying relationship in light of trust, love, and shared understanding.

This one is going to be long. I posted in another subreddit and got banned, so ill try again here with a lot more details. Now, based on the comments I got (I did read all of them) it was obvious that I needed more details. A LOT of people were caught up on the “retaliation” part, which I do feel like there was a bit of it, but my main purpose for the post was to find out if it's even allowed for any higher-up to just straight up tell the professor who said what, not if the professor was allowed to email us, which I think a lot of people in the comments got confused about. I was going to post an edit a little later but I was literally perma banned from the whole subreddit! I have no idea why. Anyways, on to the edit I was going to post. I know there weren’t many details in the post but good lord, some of you filled in the holes with some funny and hateful thoughts lol I can tell some of u are shitty teachers that hate when students call them out. Go grade some papers and get off Reddit with all that hate lmao Some background. I (25f) am finishing up my A.S. at a community college. I have all my final grades except for the one science class in question here. For those in the comments talking about “you all passed so was he really that bad.” When I said in the comments that we all passed with a high grade I meant that we know how to estimate our own final letter grade based on all of the assignments and test grades we have gotten throughout the semester. All our grades are uploaded to a system that we can check and stay on top of our grades. So, he has not posted our final letter grade yet but for most of us, we know we passed. Again, no thanks to him. It was an online class, so we were meant to be mainly teaching ourselves but regardless, that's not the issue here. However, based on all his bad ratings on RateMyProfessor, he is shittty in person too. Before anyone says, “Well then why did you take his class then”, he was the only one doing online options this semester and I needed online, unfortunately. I’ve had crap professors before so I figured I would just tuff through it. I’m going to post the most recent email I wrote and the rude (at least in my opinion) email our prof. sent. The email I wrote was a big summary of all the concerns we have been having that we have tried to talk to our professor about, but he just shrugged us off and didn’t care. (For the people who assumed we skipped this step and went straight to the big boss. I hope u find happiness in life. Some of u were so mean for no reason). He was hard to get in contact with cuz he never answers emails and hardly even hosted his own office hours. So, we emailed the subject’s department. The department was replying to us but only with the basic “Ok I hear you, we will look into it” every time but nothing ever happened. It started with just one student sending one email and cc’ed the other students that wanted to be involved. After a few weeks of nothing changing that student sent another email in the same thread and we, the students that were cc’ed, sent emails of our own on that thread. THIS TIME in the next weekly announcements, he made it clear that he knew people in the class were reporting him. We were all kind of pissed at that but has also said he was extending the office hours so we can reach him more. So while we were a little mad, we decided to leave it as is, since they obviously did talk to him and he is making some change. Right? WRONG. Nothing changed, he was still missing his new office hours. So a few weeks later after, one of the students emailed the department again with no reply and emails a second time a few days later. A few days ago the department replied by forwarding our professor's response to the department, to us. Again, not sure if they are allowed to do this. Heres the email our professor sent to the department head a few days ago. Sam was the student to send the last two emails, so we think this is why she was being targeted in this email. And keep in mind, Sam is a female, and the professor knows that. Names are changed.
-Q1 In his first statement Sam claims: ‘Our final exam is tomorrow (5/19), and we were never given a study guide or even a breakdown of how the exam will be structured’ This statement is unfounded and unjustified. In fact, on May 2 students received basic information about the final exam which stated that According to the Academic Calendar, the Final exams should be taken during the final week. Therefore, it has been planned on May 19 and will be available to you from 10am until 11:30pm. … As mentioned, this is a cumulative and open book exam and like the Midterm exam it will give you 25% toward your final grade. The exam time is usually 90 min (or 2 acad. hours), but I decided to give you some extra 15 min, so you will have 105 min to complete the test Also, on May 5 I posted another announcement, which stated : ‘As a part of preparation for the Final exam (mentioned in my previous announcement), I would recommend to continue reviewing your past modules, or start reviewing, if you didn’t yet – it will be useful” And, as always let me know and join my office if you have any QQ or need my help. Nobody was mentioned about so-called study guide during my office hours, or by email; it was not mentioned in my syllabus but it was surprising why only Sam raised this question now perhaps this is part of his retaliation. Q2 he also wrote: We finally received some assignment grades yesterday for items that were due as long as 8 weeks ago. These grades are accompanied with feedback, which would have been really helpful to have before the end of classes. This is an unjustified statement, and again it is not clear- who is ‘We’? what item were due 8 weeks ago? If he wrote about some other students, then the last two labs were due 4/26 and 5/05. The syllabus states that lab reports is due one week after students received the lab assignment, but there is no statements about when the grades should be posted. However, the last labs were available on the system for an additional 5-6 days to allow late submissions; so in this case he should say due as 1 and 2 weeks, but not 8 weeks ago as he wrote. If he was writing about himself then, it is not clear which lab he was talking about in his email. Most likely it is about lab8 and I already explained about his wrong format and suspicious circumstances. Sam was nice and polite in his previous emails and as a courtesy I was trying to help him which unfortunately took a lot of my time. Our help center and E-Learning and personally Mr. teacher tried to help, but were not able to open his strange file. And after all this should I be punished by my student for trying to help him? Also, I would like to confirm about the related question: all graded lab reports are supported by my detailed feedback – not just by check marks. - Q3 Sam wrote “After previously reaching out to you to discuss our concerns, Professor posted a retaliatory announcement on our Blackboard page, which is downright unprofessional and inappropriate”. This is his next baseless and illusive allegation. In fact he is the one, who retaliated because of his 0-grade. It is inappropriate and shameful for Sam to use such provocative and unjustified methods. -Q4 “Other students have been unable to get a response from him via email when they pose questions.” Again, this is totally wrong and fabricated accusation. He speaks NOT about himself, but about other students- who namely? If fact, I always try to answer to every single email I received. My system is full of emails especially received from the members of this “small group” and it can be confirmed at any time. I am confident that, if Sam could redirect his huge email-writing Energy into the study of physics course then everyone may be happy and benefit from this. Unfortunately, it looks much easier for him and his “group” to write emails. -Q5 “Our weekly modules have continued to be vague, leaving students to have to take on the material themselves. It is not clear what actual “teaching” this professor has done this semester. Students are expected to learn new concepts themselves or find a tutor”. This is another groundless blame and I reject this strange and false claim. Again, he is not my teacher’s assistant and he doesn’t know the real situation in the class, but always refers to ‘other students’. How it can be stated that he learns by himself ? Why he was registered in my class if he never attended my office hours, never asked me any questions about new concepts, homework, labs. He uses my designed quizzes, my created tests, lab assignments and then states that learning himself. Before the start of semester he could read on blackboard that this is an asynchronous class which requires a lot of reading. As mentioned above, I always reminded my students to contact me if they need any help (it is still on the blackboard). I offer various forms of instructional materials on my blackboard - through the recommended text book with the methodically selected homework problems, the modified lecture material and solution in PP, and very useful educational Videos. Frankly, I don’t think that Sam has a textbook or even he reads my educational Modules. If interested, I could offer him a special time (in addition to my office hours) to help him with any topics, but unfortunately, he totally ignored these good options and preferred to write complaints via emails. -Sam also wrote: In summary, and as previously stated, it feels that our class has been set up for failure. This is one more pure absurd and illusive statement. How seriously this student can write such a fake statement without any justification? Where did he obtain this false information? – it is a mystery. He has no idea about what he is writing: how the class is set up for failure if its doing very well and the class average in Midterm and Final exams are both above 86. Sadly, Sam and his “group” were able to create very tense and frustrating working atmosphere not only for me, but for everyone including my department and our academic affairs. As you can see his allegations are illusory and fabricated. I strongly feel that Sam have enough experience in using such fraudulent method during their previous semesters at BMCC oand at different colleges achieving their dishonest goals - to get high grade at any cost. Therefore, he was asking you to curve the final exam (there is also another similar fact). If we support their method by ‘bending’ under their fabricated emails, then they will continue creating similar nightmares for next targeted faculty. And lastly, I will carefully study how this situation was possible to happen in my class and will try to find necessary measures to avoid it in the future. Also, hope you will protect me from this unfair and fabricated accusations. End of email.
Now here is my email that I wrote in response to this. And yes I really did send pictures to prove everything I was saying. I cc’ed the president and vice presidents of the school in my email and have not got a reply yet but if still nothing is done what do I do next? Good afternoon all, since my class and I are being called liars and have not received any help from the science department in this matter, I have decided to clarify things and add some attachments that might show otherwise.
First, I would like to say that the retaliation from Professor has been DISGUSTING, especially in this most recent one. I wish he was able to "redirect his huge email-writing Energy", as Professor said, into the emails he writes to his students. I think I can speak for all my classmates when I say we believed our concerns would be anonymous. Instead, names were named and now we all are being targeted by the professor. Sam specifically for some reason is being attached, insulted and misgendered multiple times in his most recent email. I have CC'ed Professor to save you the trouble of forwarding him the email anyways. Regardless of the issues that we have been having, the way this has been handled by the professor and the department has been horrendous and unprofessional. From March 11 of our first email to today, nothing has changed. Let's break down where our issues were since I feel like we have gotten lost. Labs: As Professor stated, "The syllabus states that lab reports are due one week after students received the lab assignment, but there are no statements about when the grades should be posted", he is correct. There is no statement in the syllabus that says when he will post grades but is that really a valid reason to not post grades until over a month after the due date and never collect or grade a single homework assignment until the very end of the semester? We have labs due every week, but all of them, except the last one, were graded over a month after the due date. At the beginning of the semester, my classmates and I were confused and had many questions throughout the first few labs because grades and feedback were not being posted so we were unsure if we were doing the assignment correctly. After finally getting some feedback from him on labs we had a better idea of what was expected but this should have come much, much sooner. These concerns should have been covered after the first lab, not after 5 or 6 labs. Office Hours: Professor has many times said that all of these concerns can be fixed if we joined his Office Hours. Now at the beginning of the semester, he only had one day with only one-time slot available that most of the class were not able to attend due to time constraints. After our many comments, the one thing that was half resolved on March 15th was the addition of two more time slots throughout the week. I say half resolved because although he added more time slots, there were times when he was not joining the office hours or replying to emails during these times. If he is not able to make his office hours for any reason he should have passed that information to his students so no one was left in a waiting room on Zoom like I was. This happened on more than one occasion and to more students than just me. Also, it is my understanding that office hours are there if extra help is needed. These hours shouldn't be a safety net he can fall on for not preparing us properly. We should not need to go to his Office Hours to ask him to grade our work. We should not need to go to his Office Hours to ask for feedback that he is taking too long to hand out. We should not need to go to his Office Hours to ask when and if homework will be collected because he wasn't specific about homework. We should not need to go to his Office Hours to ask what the grade breakdown of the class is because he also didn't put this in his syllabus. We should not need to go to his Office Hours to have him grade our homework. Office Hours should be an option if needed, not a requirement. Homework: "The homework is mandatory and should be completed by the end of each week. Note: Students are not expected to submit HW on weekly basis, but you should always be prepared, if I ask you to submit them at any time. So far there was no such request yet, but you will certainly be informed by a separate announcement later during this term." This is an announcement that the professor posted about homework. After over half the semester had passed and we were nearing the end of the class we were beginning to wonder if he was ever going to collect the hw at all and if the all work we had been putting into homework was going to go to waste as it wouldn't be collected and graded. Another classmate and I were able to join one of the office hours and ask him about this weird homework policy. He told me that it was not his responsibility to grade our homework or give feedback since we as the student needed to look in the back of the textbook and find the answers to grade ourselves. We received no answers as to when the homework was to be collected but it was made clear to me with how he was talking that he simply didn't want to go through the trouble of grading any work. Which added to the extremely late grades of our labs. He ended up only collecting 2 out of the 14 homework assignments for a total of 5 points. It was very discouraging to do 14 assignments that were in no way short or easy and then only have 2 of them count towards a small percentage of your grade. Final: Professor replied to Sam's claims: ‘Our final exam is tomorrow (5/19), and we were never given a study guide or even a breakdown of how the exam will be structured’ was not helpful or addressed the actual problem. Telling us the time frame of the exam IS NOT a breakdown of how the exam will be structured. The type of questions, how many questions, the point breakdown of each question, etc, is a structured breakdown. Some of these were answered in the description of the final on blackboard on the day of the final, seemingly because he was called out on it. Also telling us "I would recommend to continue reviewing your past modules, or start reviewing, if you didn’t yet – it will be useful”, does not count as a study guide. "Nobody was mentioned about so-called study guide during my office hours, or by email; it was not mentioned in my syllabus but it was surprising why only Sam raised this question now perhaps this is part of his retaliation." We again see him trying to use his office hours as a safety net. We should not have to go to his office hour in order to ask for a study guide that is supposed to be given to us. He offered us a study guide for our midterm. While it was posted very last minute, it was still posted. We expected the same for the final but never received one. Was this a retaliation act? I have NEVER had a professor not offer a study guide for a final. Also, Sam was not the only student to ask about the study guide. Professor was in fact emailed about the study guide by other students to which he didn't reply to. It is very discouraging and appalling that this class has been emailing since early March and it is now the end of the Semester and we have received zero help. It's even disgusting that we received this kind of treatment and retaliation from Professor that is also the Deputy Chairperson for the Department. I feel like none of our concerns were taken seriously and we were all made out to be bad students who just wanted an easy A. "Sadly, Sam and his “group” were able to create very tense and frustrating working atmosphere not only for me, but for everyone including my department and our academic affairs. As you can see his allegations are illusory and fabricated. I strongly feel that Sam have enough experience in using such fraudulent method during their previous semesters at BMCC oand at different colleges achieving their dishonest goals - to get high grade at any cost. Therefore, he was asking you to curve the final exam (there is also another similar fact). If we support their method by ‘bending’ under their fabricated emails, then they will continue creating similar nightmares for next targeted faculty." I pose the same questions, has anyone in the department actually read his response and does anyone think this is an appropriate response? He is making it seem as if we are all lying in order to get higher grades. I can promise you this is not the case. I can't speak on the personal grade of my other classmates as that is not my business to air however I can speak for myself when I say since my fall 2021 Semester to now I have received straight A's with the exception of two B's. Please go ahead and look up my record. I in no way need to lie and cheat to get my grades and it's revolting that a college professor and Deputy Chairperson for the Science Department would accuse almost an entire class of such acts while referring to us as "Sam's group". If someone in the department would take the time to look him up on RateMyProfessor then you would see that we are NOT the first students to have these problems with this professor. These ratings date back to 2017 stating the same problems we are currently facing. All of his "good ratings" have dislikes on them proving that those are lies. How long have you been letting this professor slide by? Because it is highly unlikely that in 6 years we are the first students to raise this concern. As I stated in the beginning, I have attached a PDF with pictures backing up what we have been trying to convey these past few months. I hope with the added attachments you can see that Professor doesn't need protection from these "unfair and fabricated accusations" as he called it. end of email.
Is the subject department allowed to just forward emails TO the person we are complaining about? Are they allowed to forward emails they get from the professor, to us? Cuz I don’t think the professor would have said some of the things he said if he knew we were all going to read that. I know this was long but I didn't want to leave anything out this time. Mods If something is wrong or missing, please let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks
TLDR: My Professor was trash all semester and we as a class have been emailing the subject department with complaints but were being ignored. Come to find out at the end of the semester that they have been telling the professors exactly who said what and showing him our emails about him this whole time. The professor responded to the department with a rude email about us that the department then showed TO us. I'm not sure if the department is supposed to be doing any of this and I escalated the issues to the president and vice president of the school but no response yet.

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I work at a Bowling Center on a military installation. We have a league player who is belligerent to all of our staff, calling them names, demanding we over-accommodate her and give her special treatment. She walks behind counters and into offices like she owns the place. She helps herself to drinks from the snack bar and when we try to say something, she runs to our boss to tell him we were 'rude' to her. I could go on and on...the list of issues we have had with this person is huge.
Management knows but does not say anything because the leagues are our 'bread and butter' and 'bring the money in'.
What options do we have? We love working here and the team we have but we are all done with being treated this way. We want to file some type of formal complaint, maybe with USBC but are unsure if that would even do anything (or if that is something we could do). The goal would be to have her no longer welcome in our center (and we know management could easily do that but won't).

Timestamp-https://imgur.com/a/2WAVNH0
Video- https://imgur.com/a/LbM5svs
Pictures-https://imgur.com/a/Q70bunX
Hello everybody!
I’ve got a good one today.
This is a Mac 2 in Magnacut with the Fastback style of milling. It is a flat ground blade. I am at least the second owner. I have used, carried and sharpened it. I have not abused it. It is in great condition aside from snail trails/light scratches. A “spa” treatment (if they do them) would clean it right up. It’s currently running on Skiff thick washers. It will come with Skiff bearings and original bearings. Centering is a hair towards the show side but it can be centered. When the thick washers are in I run it like this for the action I like. With bearings in it can be perfectly centered with little sacrifice of action. It has their geared backspacer installed but also includes the original stand offs. I have the original clip installed but it will include an MXG clip as well. Original box included.
SV $550 PayPal f and f or Zelle
I’ll look at trades but I can’t add cash.
Comment before messaging please.
I will ship USPS Priority via Pirate Ship within 24hrs of purchase.
Thanks for looking.

Hello, friends!
I am a Help Desk Analyst for a small internal IT department within a mid-size company. I started this job to pay the school bills since I desired to graduate without student loans. I also wanted to build work experience in IT. Some people love school, some don't, I view it as a necessity to get to a job that I want.
I have a two-year degree already and transferred to a university to finish my bachelor's. I am 4 semesters away; I took the two-year degree at an expedited rate and have been taking the 4 year at a rate just over part time.
I have been at this company for just over two years now. I started with no degree and basic knowledge of TeamViewer (used it to help my grandparents with their computer while growing up) and a desire to learn. The first year I learned how to work effectively with end users, and all that goes along with that. In the past year, my boss/mentor has given me access to more infrastructure and even approved the expense for a macOS MDM where I saw a need to more effectively manage updates (we have ~20% mac environment, and it was %50 of our network vulnerabilities). He has mostly allowed me reign over the MDM config, and I have developed a simple and effective method to solve our needs for IT without causing the end users frustrations (except for the people who had their personal iCloud syncing their work files to the cloud - nixed that real quick).
In my review this year, they offered me a nice bump in pay and my boss expressed a desire to give me access to the rest of our infrastructure during this year and mentor me into a higher-level role for a promotion next year (a year out from graduation). I was very excited to hear this, as having been on this sub I know that this treatment is almost not heard of in the industry.
Firstly, any advice from someone who has undergone similar mentorship would be greatly appreciated! I am a bit intimidated, but my boss has been very good to me, and I trust him.
Secondly, I am curious what sort of pay scale I should expect going from Help Desk to Sys. Admin. They have been more than generous already, so I am not super worried about it. I live in Ohio, if that matters.
Thirdly, if there are any easy mistakes you've made early on as a Sys. Admin that you could save me from, I'd love to hear them!

I cannot emphasize enough how large the Walker family is, and in the runup to their visit there was a lot to be done. Thankfully, when you’re the richest person on the planet, you can make things happen really easily.
We still lived in the same house, there was just, I don’t know… no need to get something larger. It was large enough to be comfortable and small enough to be cozy and just the right size for privacy and there was a room for everything. The only real indulgence it had was probably the library full of old books. Both William and Rebecca had a thing about those, humans get sentimental about stuff like that, sometimes. It was a quiet room to read in, and nothing more.
But, with this many people descending on the city, something had to be done. I reached out to several hotels and reserved enough rooms for everybody and then some.
I reached out to Roger at the local grocery, who then put me in touch with the local grandmothers who usually cooked there and I said, “On this date, there will be over two hundred people showing up from not just out of town, but from all over the world, and we have only one kitchen in the house…”
To put it shortly, after arranging for single big conference room at one of the nicer hotels, I had a dozen old ladies from a dozen different regions eager to share their cooking with us. Naturally it goes without saying that I paid everybody well… and the local grocery made a mint off my bulk buy of food for them to prepare.
Of course it wasn’t just a business deal, you may recall my mention of how the old would prepare food at the store, making it more of a community center where ingredients were stored than just a place of commerce?
Well over the years of attempting to build ‘community’ around themselves, those engaged in the service industry experience a tonal shift in their treatment. This was nowhere more pronounced than at celebratory events, family reunions, graduations, weddings… and in these events, those who worked at the event, were considered part of whatever was being celebrated.
So, grandmas could be grandmas. They’d come bearing food, and be treated like they were Walkers themselves. While Earth was still riddled with localized hierarchies in their general work atmosphere, a great many positions that are service based are not about server and served, but more as a friend or family member, albeit for a brief time.
Mistreating the one feeding you is considered one of their worst social gaffes.
To Latunde I gathered a roster of the number of pets that were going to be brought along, which was a substantial number. Humans are very fond of keeping animals around. So much so that after I got the total list of cats, birds, dogs, and bought enough from his store to ensure there was plenty to go around…I wrote up a proposal.
“In the event that crews ever become integrated with multiple species, a pet friendly policy regarding human crewmembers must be written. Many of them simply cannot be properly content without something to look after, ergo a program of pet placement and training should be developed as part of any plan to draw human and alien crews together for any extended voyages.”
If you’re reading after the fifth edition of this book, then you’re aware that there is now an organization that expressly trains certain work animals for life on board military and civilian ships and incorporates human crewmembers for that purpose, thus satisfying the peculiar human need to keep animals around.
That proposal of mine, I’m proud to say, is why that organization exists.
There was, of course, only one other thing I had to do.
I’d have to tell Lisa I was leaving. And naturally, I’d also have to ask her if she’d like to join me at the Walker family reunion.
I’ve learned a great deal about human relationships over the last few years. I still remember Halbert Jones, the young man who worked in the information technology department in the same cooperative as Fauve. He lasted all of one date because he couldn’t handle her place in life. After that, she would only go out with people who were related or at least connected to some form of prominent figure.
Some have criticized her over the years for this. But if those criticisms bothered her, she never showed it. For better or worse, her life was different, and so she would only see people who understood those differences already. Who could blame her for not wanting to go through that same experience twice? Nobody whose opinion would matter anyway, that’s who.
But other than that foundational nature that lead inevitably toward nepotism in some form, I learned a great deal from others. Most importantly the thing that had to be kept up was communication. Not necessarily about ‘everything’. Neither she nor Bonny Red would ever discuss with me whatever the contents of their ‘agreement’ with one another happened to be.
But in most respects… and that meant I’d have to explain things, I couldn’t just wait until the last day and then say ‘see you in a year’.
That would not go over well. Just as importantly, I don’t think a simple phone call would do for something of this sort. If I was going to take her on what humans refer to as a ‘date’ before leaving for so long, the least I could do was tell her in person.
Naturally I knew she wouldn’t be happy about it, but what had to be done, had to be done. I routed her ticket to her just as I reached the front door of her apartment. According to her schedule she wasn’t working today, and I promptly heard the ‘ding’ beyond the door that indicated she’d gotten the notice.
It didn’t take long for me to get a message. ‘Thanks for the ticket, I assume you bought yourself one too but… why so far out? You know we could just go today, right now, if you wanted. I’m not working after all.’
I knocked. I had a way into her place, of course. But it just didn’t feel right to use it when I didn’t actually live there and she was present to admit me.
‘Just a second, somebody is at the door, I need to throw something on and get it, give me a call in like five minutes.’
I huffed a little, it figured. She opened the door a moment later, she was barefoot and wearing a simple summer dress. There’s a funny thing about human fashion designs, they can vary wildly from place to place, with new ones coming out almost daily.
However the simple and practical ones seem to just ‘stick around’.
As soon as I saw her, I felt more than a little guilty, and looked down a little. “Hey, hey, my eyes are up here, buddy.” She said and waved her finger up and down in front of herself to draw my eyes up. Her smile faded a little when I didn’t huff or wag my tail.
“Hey, Bailey, what’s going on? Nobody is supposed to be sad after buying tickets to a waterpark.” She insisted and stood aside to let me in.
The door closed behind me, and I just ‘spat it out’, as humans say.
“I’m leaving Earth.”
I really don’t know what I was expecting. Some tears, a big hug and a plea not to go. Dismay, anger, confusion, maybe?
But all she said was, “I’m betting Bonny Red will owe me big for this one.”
I don’t know what she meant exactly, but she waved me over to her couch and said, “Just tell me what’s going on.”
Humans… they never fail to amaze me.

Hello, friends!
I am mostly a lurker; I am a Help Desk Analyst for a small internal IT department within a mid-size company. I started this job to pay the school bills since I desired to graduate without student loans. I also wanted to build work experience in IT. Some people love school, some don't, I view it as a necessity to get to a job that I want.
I have a two-year degree already and transferred to a university to finish my bachelor's. I am 4 semesters away; I took the two-year degree at an expedited rate and have been taking the 4 year at a rate just over part time.
I have been at this company for just over two years now. I started with no degree and basic knowledge of TeamViewer (used it to help my grandparents with their computer while growing up) and a desire to learn. The first year I learned how to work effectively with end users, and all that goes along with that. In the past year, my boss/mentor has given me access to more infrastructure and even approved the expense for a macOS MDM where I saw a need to more effectively manage updates (we have ~20% mac environment, and it was %50 of our network vulnerabilities). He has mostly allowed me reign over the MDM config, and I have developed a simple and effective method to solve our needs for IT without causing the end users frustrations (except for the people who had their personal iCloud syncing their work files to the cloud - nixed that real quick).
In my review this year, they offered me a nice bump in pay and my boss expressed a desire to give me access to the rest of our infrastructure during this year and mentor me into a higher-level role for a promotion next year (a year out from graduation). I was very excited to hear this, as having been on this sub I know that this treatment is almost not heard of in the industry.
Firstly, any advice from someone who has undergone similar mentorship would be greatly appreciated! I am a bit intimidated, but my boss has been very good to me, and I trust him.
Secondly, I am curious what sort of pay scale I should expect going from Help Desk to Sys. Admin. They have been more than generous already, so I am not super worried about it. I live in Ohio, if that matters.
Thirdly, if there are any easy mistakes you've made early on as a Sys. Admin that you could save me from, I'd love to hear them!

Providence police are investigating a report of a home invasion at gunpoint on Tuesday afternoon.
It occurred off Valley Street, near the Providence VA Medical Center. Police were called to Regent Avenue shortly after 3 PM on Tuesday for a report of a home invasion. Upon arrival, police met the victims — two men — who said they had been in the basement when two men in ski masks entered and approached them. The suspects reportedly pointed a gun at them and order them to face the wall. One of the men said his wallet was stolen. The other victim told police he tried to fight back by grabbing a tool on the ground. He said one of the suspects was able to take it from him and then struck him over the head with it. The suspects then reportedly fled the scene. The victim who was assaulted was taken to the hospital for treatment. Detectives are investigating. https://www.golocalprov.com/news/two-victims-robbed-assaulted-in-daytime-home-invasion-at-gunpoint-in-provid

I'm a job coach and I help people in difficult situations get a maintain employment. Last week we had a meeting where the job developers present new jobs in the area so we can tell our clients. One of the jobs brought up was this big company that does a lot of different stuff, but they were wanting us to send our clients to work at their treatment center.
Our clients are a mixed bag, but most of them are struggling in some way, shape or form. I would never send someone in that situation to work at a treatment center, the risk of them doing damage to themselves or others is too high. I told my supervisor as such and she said she'd pass along my concerns.
They recently sent out the written list of jobs and under the same company as the treatment center I noticed the job title 'adoptions specialist'. I immediately had a sinking feeling but decided to look it up just to be sure and it not animals they're adopting.
I'm not usually one to be fully convinced something is a pipeline but holy fuck if there ever was an example, it's this. I'm literally sick to my stomach upset and I have no idea how to handle this. At first I was just grossed out, now I'm horrified but how do I explain this to someone who doesn't get it? I know that due to most people's perception of people like me they'd probably think I'm just some silly sjw or something. I feel like I need to say something, but I also feel like I'm going to be the only one.

Dodgers @ Reds - Thu, Jun 08

Game Status: In Progress - Score: 3-0 Dodgers

Top of the 4th, 0 outs, bases empty, 0-1 count with Fernando Cruz pitching and Chris Taylor batting. James Outman is on deck, and Austin Barnes is in the hole.

Links & Info

• Current conditions at Great American Ball Park: 71°F - Sunny - Wind 9 mph, Varies
• TV: National: MLBN (out-of-market only), Dodgers: SportsNet LA, Reds: Bally Sports Ohio
• Radio: Dodgers: KTNQ 1020 (es), Dodgers Radio AM570, Reds: WLW 700
• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

	Dodgers Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Betts - RF	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.255	.364	.532
2	Freeman, F - 1B	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	.331	.404	.562
3	Martinez - DH	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.273	.310	.623
4	Muncy - 3B	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.205	.336	.508
5	Peralta - LF	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	.252	.284	.353
6	Vargas, M - 2B	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.232	.333	.432
7	Taylor, Ch - SS	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.201	.268	.453
8	Outman - CF	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.230	.322	.454
9	Barnes, A - C	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.093	.179	.107
	Totals	11	3	3	3	2	1	8

Dodgers
BATTING: TB: Freeman, F; Peralta 2. RBI: Freeman, F (40); Peralta 2 (22). 2-out RBI: Peralta 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Vargas, M. GIDP: Vargas, M. Team RISP: 2-for-4. Team LOB: 3.
FIELDING: DP: (Taylor, Ch-Vargas, M-Freeman, F).

	Reds Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Newman - 1B	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	.275	.339	.373
2	McLain - SS	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	.340	.392	.511
3	India - 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.278	.360	.418
4	De La Cruz - 3B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.500	.600	1.250
5	Steer - LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.290	.369	.489
6	Stephenson, T - DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.245	.329	.361
7	Hopkins - RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.273	.333	.273
8	Barrero - CF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.222	.303	.333
9	Casali - C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.169	.290	.203
	Totals	10	0	2	0	1	3	6

Reds
BATTING: 2B: Newman (9, Kershaw). TB: De La Cruz; Newman 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: McLain; Hopkins. GIDP: India. Team RISP: 0-for-3. Team LOB: 2.
FIELDING: DP: (Ashcraft-India-Newman).

Dodgers Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Kershaw	3.0	2	0	0	1	3	0	33-20	3.11
Totals	3.0	2	0	0	1	3	0

Reds Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Ashcraft	2.2	3	3	3	2	1	0	46-26	6.78
Cruz, F	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2-2	6.30
Totals	3.0	3	3	3	2	1	0

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Top 3	Freddie Freeman singles on a ground ball to left fielder Spencer Steer. James Outman scores. Mookie Betts to 2nd.	1-0 LAD
Top 3	Reds challenged (tag play), call on the field was upheld: David Peralta singles on a line drive to center fielder Jose Barrero. Mookie Betts scores. Freddie Freeman scores. Max Muncy to 2nd.	3-0 LAD

Team	Highlight
CIN	Bullpen availability for Cincinnati, June 8 vs Dodgers (00:00:07)
LAD	Bullpen availability for Los Angeles, June 8 vs Reds (00:00:07)
CIN	Fielding alignment for Cincinnati, June 8 vs Dodgers (00:00:11)
LAD	Fielding alignment for Los Angeles, June 8 vs Reds (00:00:11)
CIN	Starting lineups for Dodgers at Reds - June 8, 2023 (00:00:09)
CIN	Elly De La Cruz's infield single (00:00:19)
	De La Cruz's first stolen base (00:00:16)
LAD	Freddie Freeman's RBI single (00:00:20)
LAD	David Peralta's two-run single (00:00:26)
LAD	Matt McLain strikes out swinging. (00:00:08)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Dodgers	0	0	3								3	3	0	3
Reds	0	0	0								0	2	0	2

Division Scoreboard

BAL @ MIL 02:10 PM EDT
CHC @ LAA 09:38 PM EDT
^{Last Updated: 06/08/2023 01:29:18 PM EDT}

Foundations of Humanity 29 (Healing Words) - an NoP fanfic
​
Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for establishing the Nature of Predators Universe, and for allowing Fanfics to flourish! Thank you again, u/Braquen, u/Acceptable_Egg5560, u/BiasMushroom721, and last but not least u/Liberty-Prime76 for proofreading! This is my side of the Nature of a Giant crossover!
First -- Previous -- Next
​
Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil tourist
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 11th, 2136. Middle of 3rd Claw
Tarlim was the first to see me as I marched toward the table, tossing the still-open pad into its center.
“Predator Disease is anything! Whatever they need to put you away!” I cried, vacillating between grief and outrage while Tarlim looked through my research.
“They don't work! None of them do! Hundreds are being thrown into those facilities for everything from active murder, to jaywalking,” And Tarlim met my gaze, “to complaints. Complaints! The most positive source said ‘a dozen cured every year’. From a sample of hundreds! No names! No sources! Just their word and a ‘trust me, bro!’ And that’s only maybe from the ‘jaywalking’ section, not even the people who need real help!”
I pulled my ears down taut, embracing the pain to distract my panic, blind to Alvi’s desperate attempts to calm and comfort me. “The facilities don't help anyoneI But every one of them punishes, no, tortures Venlil for something they cannot control or choose. Not criminals, not those who did something, just… just so many people who did nothing wrong! Who had no record beyond a-a single half-shorn screening!!"
I stopped to breathe, my voice faltering as I started again, “And we sent you there. I checked, you did nothing! Not even a complaint! The only charge on your record, even according to that pro-exterminator trash ‘Moralen’s Pred Guide,’ was ‘resisting arrest’; whatever the brahk that’s supposed to mean. You were only barely an adult, and… we still sent you there. I’m… I don’t… I’m so sorry, Tarlim. I won’t plead innocence; we did this. Our people, all of us, failed you in the most impossible, embarrassing way. I’m…”
You’re what?? Sorry?!
My body went limp as I felt the weight of my people’s sins against all of us, distilled into this Person’s real experience. “No. Just a sad ‘sorry’ doesn’t even begin to make up for what happened to you. I don't know how to make this right, or if it’s even possible to do so at this point. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
I looked up at him. At Tarlim. He… he had begun breathing erratically, short and fast, tossing his chest wool about. His ears twitching in fear. Had- had I said something wrong? I saw Alvi lean towards him with worry in her affect. “Hey, you okay?”
Tarlim didn’t show any sign of having heard. He grabbed onto his knees and pulled them to his chest. Jacob stood and began running his hand along Tarlim’s back. I didn’t know what to do! How do I fix this? Should I do something? Wait? I-
I heard a chime coming from Tarlim’s shoulder pack. As soon as it was heard, it was like he transformed. The look of panic and confusion was replaced by a determined calm as he began taking steady breaths. He seemed to be coming around again.
Maeve leaned forward, looking uncertain at her words. “It’s alright Tarlim. We are here with you. You’re not alone. ”
“C’mon buddy, you got this.”
A murmur, too small for a Venlil of his size, “Th-Thank you.” Then Tarlim’s ears swiveled back to me, “Valek… you… you are the first to say that. To really say that, and to mean it, too.”
My tail swayed in honest joy, while I closed my eyes to give him comfort, as he started again, choking on phlegm brought on by tears,
“It has been years since my lawsuit. In that time, I can count the people who supported me on one paw. One paw!” He held up four claws for emphasis. “They helped me get on my feet. Let me release my feelings. And just… they were there for me. They gave sympathy, but you…” I panted, trying to control my breathing. “You didn’t. You called me dangerous. Feared me. You were… you were them.” He swept his arms at the oblivious crowd below, “In all those years, all that time, nobody, not one, had ever apologized. Not sincerely.”
I tried to show kindness and welcome, happy to have another friend. “You’re a good person Tarlim. I know I won’t be the last.”
…
A short silence fell over us all, before Maeve spoke up, “Not to give conversational whiplash, but absolutely to change the subject: What do you think about Venlil Cuisine, Jacob? I am quite partial to the Juicefruit, even if I need a small towel for every bite.”
“Good subject change,” he took a drink of his soda and set it on the table. “There’s this thing that translates to Firefruit, and it’s amazing! Got this nice zest like a lime but a sweet spice like a jalapeño! Its juice goes great on a lot of things!”
“Oh then you may like this,” she shifted a plate of fried veg across the table, “This one is fried Deeproot. It’s got quite a ginger kick to it, but the fry brings out a lot of sweet too!”
Tarlim’s affect softened as we spoke on kinder things. “Deeproot? That’s rather tasty.” He uncurled himself and swung his ears genially, “Have you… have you been on the planet long?”
Maeve met my eye, and pulled Alvi onto her lap, her voice taking on a wistful remembrance, “Feels like a new life… but my calendar says just over two weeks! A lot has changed since I walked on the station.” Her voice trailed off, while my tail flicked comfort and Alvi leaned her weight against Maeve.
Tarlim continued his curiosity and asked Maeve, “So what do you think of our planet? Apart from the… poor welcoming.”
Maeve waved her hand dismissively, “Oh those poor pups were just doing as nature intended; honestly it just made your planet more familiar! Really that’s the surprising thing, despite twenty lightyears across the galaxy, everything is still so familiar! You have trees that remind me of the Redwoods, you have cities that are just like ours, if shinier, and Alvi here worked in customer service!” She ruffled Alvi’s crown affectionately. “I never imagined I would feel so at home on another world!”
I stepped back from the conversation and helped myself to what was left of the food, enjoying the sharp tang of the Deeproot.
Maeve breathed a contented sigh under her veil, before facing Jacob, “How about you, Jacob? How are you handling the planet?”
Jacob finished another drink of his soda. “Ah would say that outside of the station incident, it has been going well. After we’re done here, ah am going to be getting my own apartment to live in since Tarlim’s isn’t big enough!” He snorted in amusement. “Don’ worry about me living in an apartment. Ah have mah ways of winning people over.” He picked up the last of his fried dough. “Relatedly, be careful with Venlil drinks. Their ‘lite beer’ is our equivalent to distilled whiskey.”
Maeve laughed lightly, “Glad to see they know how to party! It’s an equal trade though, what they call an ‘energy drink’ is on par with weak tea. I was so glad my handler got me a 10lb bag of beans and a french press.”
“Lite beer? What do you guys consider strong?” Alvi asked, and I had to agree with her concerned tone.
“Tarlim called it distilled Ipsom,” Jacob responded. “60% alcohol. That’s pretty strong fer most humans. Our whiskey is usually 40-50%. What about y’all? What do you call strong?”
Alvi perked up, excited to share one of her happy memories, “I used to hang out at The Roost when I was in the capital, and they kept a bottle of 90% behind the counter for Venlil only: distilled and fermented Goji juice, aged in Nishtalian hardwood casks. It was really good, but I’ve had stronger.” I had to admire how proud she was to say that. Even I would struggle at that amount!
Jacob leaned back, his shoulders tense with surprise. “Jeezus! And this is just drinkable Ethanol, right? Not Methanol?”
I recoiled at the awful memory of my first time with Methanol. That disgusting stuff? Blech!
“Ew, no, I hate the taste it leaves on your tongue. And after what happened at my 16th, I’m not touching that stuff any time soon.” Alvi seemed to share in my distaste for that glorified spoiled speh.
“Yeah,” Tarlim chimed in between sips of his Sprunk, “I hear the Zurulians experiment with drinking that stuff specifically, but it seems to be just them. Even they don’t usually drink at our level.”
“That’s incredible!” Maeve chimed in, “That stuff makes us go blind. Doesn’t stop people from homebrewing it anyway though.”
My tail flicked in concern; I mean, methanol is bad, but were humans so frail that it would make them go blind?
Tarlim, however, seemed somehow amused! “You guys are crazy. Why would you do something that would cause you to be disabled?”
“I never said we were smart!” Maeve, to my astonishment, laughed along with Jacob. “Seriously though, it's complicated. The insultingly short version is: humans experimented with alcohol for literally our entire history, some post industrial nits thought it was evil and banned it, so people made their own. Bootlegging Moonshine became its own culture, even the not so smart parts, so methanol based drinks are still around.”
“But seriously though, to turn blind.” Tarlim’s voice was full of worry, and his tail didn’t hide it. “Why do something that would cause them to be cast out?”
“Cast out??”
A silence fell over the table, while Maeve and Jacob watched Tarlim, who began to shrink under their gazes. I hadn’t been expecting this reaction; wouldn’t humans do the same? Isn’t that what… Wait. Maeve wouldn’t, not in a million years! Why did I think that humans would do this?
“Why,” Jacob asked, “would you think we would cast someone out?”
“B-because that’s what… we… oh Speh!” Tarlim did his best to bury his face in his paws, and I hid behind my ears. “Why did I think that? It isn’t true- of course it isn’t! The exterminators said it! Gods!”
“Yeah,” Jacob said as he shook his head slowly, “that ain’t what we do. We try to help them live as normal a life as possible.”
“Yeah,” Maeve agreed. “We teach them how to use guiding sticks, give correctional implants, or help them learn braille!”
That last word caught my attention. The translator seemed to struggle with it, saying it was some form of communication for people who couldn’t see, but not how. “Braille? What’s that? The translator didn’t quite get it.”
“It’s a kind of writing.” Maeve explained, “Little bumps whose patterns translate to a letter. A blind person can pass their fingers over the bumps to feel the pattern and thus read through their hands.”
“Don’t y’all have something similar?” Jacob directed his question at Tarlim, “you told me once that the Xeno-what’s it hospital.” He twirled his hand dismissively, “You said it had classes. Don’t they teach stuff like that there?”
“Those…” Tarlim spoke up, then hesitated. “Those classes are for families. Teaching them how to care for their herd members. Not for… us.”
Jacob shook his head. “Okay? Ah mean, that’s fine fer families, but what about someone without one? Or if they go somewhere the rest of their herd doesn’t?”
"It depends on the family," Alvi added her voice, "some will go without to stay with the weak, but some will just…" Her ears fell, "leave them. And for those that don't have… don't have a herd they…"
A deep sadness drifted from the Giant, “Sleep on the streets.”
“Bullshit!” Jacob slammed his hand against his table. “I’m not gonna lie and say we humans don’t have homeless, but no support if they don’t have a family or herd? None? What about shelters? Food banks? Those… those bunkers everybody evacuated to in panic!”
“We have food banks!” I piped up, wishing to add some hope to the gloom, “We don’t let people just starve! If people are tight on money, they are completely free to visit one of the social centers or food banks! They have services there to match you with a herd, and sometimes they give community service. It's considered pre-disease treatment.” But I couldn’t ignore the Tarlim in the room. "Sometimes people fall through the cracks. And sometimes, as I just learned… they are dropped through."
"Oh my god…" Maeve sighed, her face pointed at nothing.
“Hold it. Pre-disease?” Jacob’s voice dripped with skepticism. “So you're saying that someone visiting one of those places would be saying they have your Predator Disease?”
I answered immediately, "Not necessarily. It is more supposed to prevent herdless behavior. I've never been in the system, though, so I don't know what it looks like inside."
“It’s a big room.” I wince at Tarlim’s tone as he interrupts. “A bunch of bunk beds crammed together in the center with Exterminators watching over at all hours as you eat, sleep, and… everything else. Watching for the slightest excuse to cry Predator Disease.” He let out a huff of distaste. “When I was in the facility, there were five inmates who tried to stick around me despite what the faculty said.” He stared directly at me as he said the final words. “Three of them were snatched in one of those places. There’s a reason I slept in the streets.”
“But… but they wouldn’t…”
I remember the photo. I remember the corruption on Emerald Marble. I remember the testimony from Clegal Falls. So many children, abandoned by their families.
"Who am I kidding. I want so badly to believe we aren't like that, but…" I pointed despondently at my pad in the center of the table.
"It's ok, Valek, this is actually familiar to us." Maeve's voice soothed my melancholy, as she tried to rub my head with her elbow, "We haven't solved those problems ourselves, but we have made huge strides. Hopefully, more opportunities and less facilities may give them a fighting chance."
“Here’s hoping,” Jacob agreed.
I heard Tarlim sigh, but his tail… wagged?. “And as little as it may be, there is now at least one city with no Facility at all.”
A city with no facility. Somewhere that people with… possible Predator Disease roamed free. For two years. And yet, this place… it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t in chaos. There weren’t people being devoured in the streets at all times. There was… there was nothing. Just a normal city…
How could so few have realized…
“By the way,” my train of thought was interrupted by Jacob’s voice, “bit of a subject change, but Maeve. Are you going to eat any of your food?” He gestured to our plate. “You haven’t even touched that since we arrived.”
Maeve flipped her hand, and her voice was light and kind, "It's quite a pain to eat through this. I'd already had enough before you guys got here, I'll be fine."
Jacob shook his head. “Ah don’t buy that. There’s only one plate in front of you, and it’s only been nibbled.” He leaned forward, placing his elbow on the table. “It’s the teeth thing, isn’t it?”
Tarlim signaled concern, while his ears locked onto Maeve. “Are you not eating just so I don’t see your teeth?”
Maeve was quiet for a moment. She was thinking about her next words, like I had seen so many times before. "... I'm sorry I lied to you, I should have seen you're more comfortable than the average Venlil. Teeth is a part of it, yes, but I have had the most intense reaction from my eyes and hair. I'm red-headed, rather brightly I'll add."
Jacob leaned back in his chair, and chuckled, "Oh, No!"
Tarlim’s affected slid to confusion, "I don't get it, what am I missing?"
"Uhh, there's no easy way to say this bud, but her hair makes it look like she's doused and speckled in Venlil blood."
Of course, there really isn’t a good way to say that. It was the most alarming thing about Maeve when we first met, and Alvi took almost three paws to get used to it! I hoped that Tarlim wouldn’t freak out too badly.
He stared blankly. “Ooookaaay? And why is that a problem?”
Whut.
“Wait,” Alvi was the first to speak, “you aren’t bothered?”
Tarlim cocked his head quizzically, “Why should I be? It’s a fur color. I have seen pictures of Sulians with a pigment that makes them look like the color of our blood.” I could only stare in shock as he simply sipped from his soda. “Don’t starve yourself on my account.”
Ok Tiny, you're laying it on a little thick. You don’t have to be that nonchalant.
My ears focused on him as I called him out, “Alright, how are you so calm about this? Even the braver Venlil on the station were nervous around humans that weren’t their partners. Why aren’t you?”
“Guys, look at me. I tower over all of you. What could they do to me that a prey couldn’t? That…” His whistling laugh dripped with irony, “that a prey hasn’t already done?”
What they… that hasn’t… that has to be the most cynical reason for bravery I’ve heard.
I remembered the video of the station incident. My father’s rifle, ready to fire. The shuttle driver dropping us in the middle of a forest. And through it all, Maeve’s smile never left me.
I joined the four of them in boisterous laughter at the ridiculous reversal of everything I have ever known and been taught. When the world is upside down, what can you do but laugh?
Shortly after, Maeve regained her breath and answered, "I'm glad you can laugh about it! Well, consent given…" and she removed her veil entirely.
I watched as Maeve removed her head covering, marveling at the luscious waves of sunset falling against her shoulder. I couldn’t stop my tail from swaying as I saw her bright smile light up the entire room, and set my heart ablaze; a fire more hungry than any Exterminators’ torch. And in that moment I wanted nothing more than to feel her hair in my paws, scent her salt on my tongue, and hear our jubilations rattle off the walls of wherever we stood. To know her, completely. And maybe ‘biblically’.
Tarlim spoke with certainty, as if stating a fact that was beyond obvious, “You have very nice eyes,” Damn right, she does. And my snout bloomed at the well deserved compliment. “The color reminds me of a freshly sprouted Darkwood leaf.” Tarlim turned his attention to me, “From what I understand, you two are very brave to have seen her without her mask.”
I flapped my ears to shake off my reverie, and I breathed deeply as I remembered how we began. "It took time. We had talked by text for a couple weeks before the meetup, and our introduction in the room went smoothly. But when she took off her hair wrap, I… I could hear the sound of blood on the ground. I tried to dive under the bunk, but I missed. Woke up in the clinic with a nasty bump." and I laid my paw on the place of impact, now well healed.
Jacob chuckled. “You certainly weren't the only one to react by freaking out.” He turned his visor towards Alvi. “What about you?”
"My first time was in the forest." Alvi started, "Maeve was… having a hard time. I caught her eyes when I was trying to talk to her and… I uhh… I fainted!" She pulled her ears in front of her face, "and the second time! We were in Valek's b-" her voice caught in her throat.
I met Alvi’s eye while she sat on Maeve’s lap, reaching out to offer comfort as I picked up her story, "It's ok, Alvi. Our first rest at the farm we were all sharing a bed, Maeve's spare room wasn't finished yet. Maeve's uncovered face was the first thing Alvi saw when she woke, and she locked up. At least we took the opportunity to get used to eye contact."
"How about you two?" Maeve spoke to Tarlim directly, "You mentioned you were from the first wave on Prime Station? I'm glad you both made it out of the attack!"
“Nah,” Jacob waved his hand, palm facing out, “Only one of us was on the station.”
Tarlim sighed in disappointment, “Yeah, I’m certain you can guess why it wasn’t me.”
Maeve sympathetically returned his disappointment, “Ah. I can see why your size would be a prohibitor. Though I’m certain a human would have gotten creative to make a fix. But no use lamenting what is already done. And you, Jacob?” She switched to facing Jacob, and asked through a bite of fried sweetwood. “How did you fare in the attack?”
Jacob shrugged, “ah volunteered to help recover drifters after the raid cause, well, Spacesuit.” he gestured at his sadly un-blue pelts, “But Ah’m sure we can talk about that even more in a bit. Fer now,” he shook the now empty fried dough bags, “Ah don’t think these were filling enough. Do any of y’all have suggestions on what else to eat?”
“Not around here if you’re looking for ‘filling’,” Maeve answered, “If I’m being honest, as delicious as I find their food, everything has been very calorie-light. I would ki-- uh… be very excited for some pasta. This girl needs her carbs!” Her giggle was adorable. I could tell she was about to say something else, but she recovered well.
“Well why not eat some Stringfruit?” Tarlim offered, excited to be helpful, “It’s one of the more dense foods, more content and less juice, and has a good amount of protein inside. Good savory taste, in my opinion. Or maybe some more Bunt leaf salad. Hearty plant. Bit neutral, but that makes it good with just about everything. And even though it’s not my taste, firefruit is a good option for calories.”
I was impressed; He was more familiar with some of our foods than even my parents! Maeve and Jacob looked at him in surprise before he clarified, “I’m big! Need to eat more to fuel my size!”
Maeve lit up in another smile, “I will take those notes! The three of us can check a cafe that we passed on the way. But Jacob, what were your first impressions when you got to Venlil habitations? The smell took some getting used to, but at least it’s not sour…” Her question surfaced memories of her teeth on my neck, and I hoped my bloom wasn’t noticeable.
Tarlim’s ears turned in confusion, “Smell? What scent do you mean?”
Maeve shrugged, “It’s just something I noticed while on the station. Humans have their own scents, some stronger than others, but I noticed that the Venlil are especially thick; might be a consequence of having to taste the air. You, for example, remind me of when I took a nap in a field of honeysuckle.”
In response to Maeve’s words, Tarlim leaned forward for a scenting breath.
It was an interesting part of our biology. While our lack of a physical nose caused many to assume that we Venlil had no sense of smell, that wasn’t quite true. Our mouth and tongue had more taste receptors than most other races, so we could taste the air much like other races could smell it; though we were less sensitive and more specialized. We would be able to discern the difference between fruits one day apart in age, but things like petroleum products were completely scentless to us. Maeve and I had a wonderful conversation about the differences in our biology when that was first brought up.
Tarlim appeared to approve of our choice of shampoo. “Interesting. If multiple people were using the same scented fur-care, I can see how it would be overwhelming at first. But Jacob is going to get his own apartment. We’re just waiting to hear from the magistratta with news. Should be on this paw or the next. I’m sure that sleeping on a couch wouldn’t be an accurate impression.”
“Certainly not,” Jacob agreed. “Just thankful the apartment is tall enough!”
“Yeah, I can stand straight with my ears flat. Barely fitting for me, but good headroom for humans!” Tarlim flattened his ears, mimicking his issues with low ceilings, before laughing amiably.
“But fer now,” Jacob calmly stood from the table, “my stomach demands to be satisfied. Perhaps we could all check out that cafe y’all noticed?”
Alvi’s ears excitedly perked, “That would be fantastic! They had a stringfruit soup bowl with spiceleaf and nightberry on the window that I’d love to try! They're just leeward of the Dome, about two streets over.” Maeve set her down before standing as well.
Tarlim was next to rise, agreeing and swinging their tail in clear joy and friendliness. Maeve and Jacob reapplied their coverings before we all walked as a herd to the exit.
​
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UPDATE: Some folks have weighed in below with stories about friends from Clinica doing really well, and it is also clear that their approach is less likely to be fatal. So I don't want to imply that this is definitively not a good place for people to go. But I did find some things in my research of Clinica that I found very surprising which were not made clear to me when I talked to them. I'm sharing them so that others know and are aware of these factors in their decision making. I'm just a guy, I don't have a crystal ball or good data about Clinica Ruiz outcomes across the board.
I am seeing lots of patients considering Clinica Ruiz and figured I'd post an actual thread here.
I researched this clinic a few years back and was surprised by what I found. My personal concerns were:

• Clinica Ruiz uses a lower intensity of chemotherapy than many of the HSCT programs in the US, Canada, Italy, etc. A few years later, some of the docs involved with those centers expressed the same concerns I had (that what they are doing does not appear to reset the immune system (see quotes below))
• Clinica Ruiz is not telling patients that this procedure is very different in intensity from the HSCT being done in many of the studies
• It sounds like Clinica is also treating patients who, based on current data, are not likely to get benefit from the treatment (see article and quote below). I personally talked to one patient who did treatment there, relapsed after, and was allowed to repeat the transplant with them. This was a big red flag to me.

This article mentions two neuros who have done some impressively successful studies in HSCT for MS (Dr. Freedman from Canada, Dr. Georges from Fred Hutchinson cancer center) voicing the these concerns.
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“This is not your typical HSCT,” Freedman said. “This is low-level HSCT. Ruiz does it because people will come down there and pay for it. He’s not what I would consider to be one of the centers that I would ever recommend anyone going to. And the procedure that he’s using is one that is least likely to produce major side effects.”
That, Freedman said, is because Clinica Ruiz uses a lighter form of chemotherapy.
“They’re certainly not wiping out the old immune system,” he said. “They’re not wiping out immunological memory.”
And that’s important, Freedman said, because the entire treatment depends on fully wiping out the existing immune system.
Dr. George Georges, a medical oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who is helping to lead a major, National Institutes of Health-sponsored study on HSCT, agreed with Freedman.
“It is not a dose of chemotherapy that completely wipes out your immune system,” Georges said. “It does not completely kill off your own hematopoietic stem cells.”
What that means, Georges said, is that the next step — the infusion of stem cells — is rendered unnecessary.
“You don’t actually need the stem cell support or infusion to rescue patients from this dose of chemotherapy,” he said. “Transplanters do not consider this a real transplant.”
Freedman had another reason for doubting the efficacy of Clinica Ruiz’s treatment. Based on what Flynn had told him about her medical history, he postulated that her MS had progressed too far for it to respond to HSCT.

https://whyy.org/segments/a-stem-cell-treatment-for-ms-offers-some-patients-hope-but-is-it-hope-that-will-last/
When I looked at Clinica, it looked like their protocol was optimized for speed, to reduce costs, to increase profit. As nearly as I can tell, their treatment protocol takes a couple shortcuts - reducing intensity of chemo and expediting the stem cell collection/infusion process so that cells do not need to be frozen. It is hard to say if these are OK or not, but I am suspect based on the fact that other places in the world are all doing one of two protocols (myelo or non-myelo) and Clinica Ruiz is doing something very different from either of those two which looks milder than either.
Personally I wanted the most intensive HSCT I could get, and it was not made clear to me that Clinica Ruiz's HSCT was milder and less intensive than some of the more formal studies being done. I almost chose to do HSCT at Clinica, and I felt very misled after learning this and decided against this. I want this info out there so patients know.
I can't say for sure who this procedure is/isn't good for as (per comments below) some patients have gotten good outcomes. And (based on mortality stats) I'm sure there are patients who would have also died with a highemore intensive dose from some of the more intensive approaches who are obviously better off for not having done the more intensive approach.
But personally I found myself very wary of the procedure given the lack of transparency around intensity, the lack of data-driven studies (beyond a self-reported study), as well as the fact that Clinica has historically transplanted people who don't seem likely to get benefit (like the one in the article noted above).
Anyways, I hope this is helpful info for those considering options.

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Hello all.
I’m just a regular retail investor that is active within various investor communities. I am not affiliated with any publicly traded companies. Recently I’ve taken to sharing information with other investors in live webinars and the reception has been terrific. I have been asked by a number of investors here and on other platforms if I could provide some insights on some pivotal upcoming developments in the psychedelic sector. So today at noon EDT, I will host yet another one of those webinars where I will cover high level details of 2 very significant positive catalysts that center around the drug MDMA that are due in just days and/or weeks. This will not focus on any one company in the psychedelic sector but rather the catalysts themselves. I would like to extend the invitation to all of you.
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Topic: Significant Incoming Positive MDMA Catalysts Explained
Time: Jun 8, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Duration: 30 Minutes (approx)
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Agenda:

1. Overview of Psychedelics & MDMA
2. The Path to MDMA Regulatory Approval
3. Catalyst 1: MAPS MDMA Phase 3B (MAPP2) Results
4. Catalyst 2: Australia MDMA & Psilocybin Patient Treatment

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