Nutrition facts of graham crackers

I just started an internship and I really like working with the other interns it’s a lot of fun, and we are given actual meaningful tasks that I feel like I’m learning from.
The only kind of concern I have is my manager, I don’t know if being ungrateful but they seem very overbearing. Always around always micromanaging even though they’re not in a technical role and don’t even have a technical background.
Current schedule is in person everyday, as far as I can tell every other intern is remote because their manager is lenient. As the schedule is decided by the manager. Before the job I was told it would be hybrid, from what I can tell it’s up to the manager to decide the hybrid layout.
Everytime I bring up this up to my manager, they say we can “discuss” it later and always reiterates how they have to keep an “eye” on us.
Didn’t wanna come yesterday because of the air quality in New York is so I let them know I decided to work from home, and they kind up blew up on me and were irritated from the fact that I took an autonomous decision and “decided upon my own” to not come in. Also kept going off that it was last minute even thought I texted a whole 2 hours before as that’s how long my commute is.
I just can’t really comprehend this, I feel like I’m owned. I’ve never experienced this before from any manager in any internship or job and literally don’t know what to do or who to go to.
Is there any advice or steps I should follow?

Three days ago, my housemates were alive.
And I wasn't losing my fucking mind.
Three days ago, I awoke to my housemate, Misty, shaking me.
“Get up!!”
Misty was usually the last to roll out of bed out of all of us, so I figured it was something important. My housemate wouldn’t get out of bed for nothing. She valued her sleep—often comparing her bed to a safe haven. Her place of solitude. I was right there with her, until she startled me out of slumber. I opened my eyes to find her face roughly three inches from mine, her expression lit up with excitement I couldn’t justify this early in the morning.
She smelled of toothpaste breath and her raspberry scented body wash. Her thick black curls framing her face were still damp from what I presumed was a shower, hanging in tangled knots in front of wide, almost unseeing eyes. When I first met her, Misty Kang had been my crush for a while. With a Korean father and a Texan mother, she definitely caught eyes when we hung out. We had a thing in freshman year, which quickly fizzled out once we started living together. Never date your housemates.
I will just say that.
Over the last few years, Misty has become one of my closest friends.
When she knew I was at least conscious, my housemate was grabbing my arm and yanking me out of bed. “Get up!”
I was barely awake, and those were the only words I could fully distinguish.
I shooed her away for a moment and swung my legs out of bed, taking a minute to blink sunlight out of my eyes coming through the blinds. “Sam.” Misty was in front of me again.
I don’t think she understood the concept of being half asleep.
She wouldn’t leave me alone, waving her arms wildly. Her shadow under the soft morning light almost reminded me of one of those inflatable tube guys.
“Huh?” My voice was a low croak, and her smile widened.
“Guess who’s just scored tickets for an actual screening of the first five minutes of gameplay for the most anticipated game of the decade?”
“What?” Her string of words wasn’t making sense in my caffeine deprived mind. It just sounded like gibberish to me, initially.
Like we were in some cheesy commercial, she was the lead, and I was the confused NPC with the WTF expression. But when I went over it in my head, words started to slide together like a jigsaw puzzle. Misty didn’t get excited about video games. Well, she did. Though, my housemate was one to get excited on behalf of someone else. After living with her for a while now, I had concluded she was a follower.
By that, I mean whatever others thought or did or said, she copied it. If her Twitter followers were mad at bad takes, she would drop all of her own opinions on said follower and focus on what other people said. We had Korean barbecue for takeout the other day, and Misty clearly did not like it from the creased look on her face, and her very obviously spitting it politely into a napkin.
Jay, my other housemate, liked it.
And so did I. So, naturally, Misty announced she wanted more.
I had to watch her suffer through two more portions before she excused herself—presumably to throw up. Blinking at my housemate who was clearly excited for Jay, I resisted the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes.
“Slow down. What game? What are you talking about?”
I got out of bed and threw on my robe, half aware of the mess from last night on my desk. Another attempt to finish an essay which just wasn’t happening. The monster energy cans and takeout Chinese wrappers were embarrassing. I got a basic run-through as I headed downstairs with Misty right behind me, practically breathing down my neck. From what I understood, there was a Reddit post.
That was all I got from Misty’s squealing. She leapt down the stairs after me with a spring in her step. The clock above the front door told me it wasn’t even 9am. The smell of bacon, however, was quick to arise me from the dead.
Jay was in the kitchen making breakfast. I noticed his laptop was open on the table, and every so often he’d peer at it with wide, almost disbelieving eyes. Jay and Misty were complete opposites, which made them great people to live with. Jay was a quiet book who was slightly on the pretentious side, routinely quoting something philosophical to piss me off.
He had rich parents on the other side of the world, but the guy himself was fairly humble and had mostly detached himself from said family.
My housemate was usually well put together. In fact, I barely saw him in his pajamas, excluding game nights. That morning, however, he was a disheveled mess, still in yesterday’s clothes.
He offered me a grin. I glimpsed sauce from last night’s dinner still staining his chin. Jay hadn’t brushed his hair or even put on deodorant.
I caught a whiff of BO when he ducked in front of me, his gaze glued to his MacBook. It was rare when Jay ignored basic hygiene, so yeah, I was going to guess this was a pretty huge thing. “I did tell her not to wake you up, y’know.”
His slight aussie accent was always refreshing on a morning. Born in Australia and moving to the states when he was ten years old, Jay still had a slight tinge in his accent. I had seen pictures of his family, and the guy had definitely gotten most of his dad’s genes, thick brown hair, and freckles. While his dad was built like a pro wrestler however, Jay was leaner like his mom.
I shrugged. “I was already awake.”
“Liar.” He didn’t look away from his laptop.
Looking closer, I glimpsed the Reddit homepage.
“So, you have won something.”
Jay didn’t answer. I could tell he was excited by the way he could barely keep still, bustling around the kitchen, barefoot. “Coffee?”
His voice was more of a Misty-like squeak, and I half wondered for a moment if they had switched bodies, or he had at least become one with my other housemate through a chemical explosion. In our kitchen, which was yet to be cleaned after a cooking disaster several nights ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if something was living on the countertop. I nodded, slumping into a chair. “What’s going on? Why is Misty freaking out?” I nodded at his laptop. “She said you’ve won something?”
As if my housemate couldn’t hold it in anymore, he nodded, turning his screen towards me. “You know____, right?”
“Yes.” I sipped my coffee, eyeing a toaster strudel sitting on the countertop. "You mean the game which has been coming out for a decade."
He ignored that. “Well, what if I told you one of the developer’s posted on the official sub this morning?”
“For _____?"
He nodded with a grin, and I wondered it this was one of those rare times when Jay was blindly looking through a red flag to see what he wanted. I had heard of these types of scams, and Reddit was a breeding ground for them.
Gamers were pretty intense. I didn’t realize I was pulling a face until I caught his lips curving into a smile. Jay was usually the skeptical one.
“You don’t believe me.”
I downed my coffee to avoid replying. When I had drained the cup, he was still staring at me with amused eyes.
“What?”
“You think it’s bullshit.”
I shrugged. “You said it,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that game isn’t even partway through development. Didn’t Twitter leak a still last year? Also, they’ll be bringing out a new console before that game comes out.”
I leaned back in my chair. “It’s more of a pipe dream, at this point.”
“The leaks were fake,” Even he didn’t look sure. “Anyway, that’s not the point. One of the dev’s posted on the official sub this morning. He asked if we were all excited for the new game, asked if we could post some of our favorite NPC dialogue, and he’ll DM winners.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded at the screen. I had already checked my phone for an internet meltdown concerning this post, but there was nothing. “And where is that post now?”
Jay didn’t look at me. “It was deleted. So it only reached a certain number of people.”
“Oh, it was deleted?” I couldn’t resist a smile. “What a coincidence.”
When I laughed, Jay scowled, showing me his screen—navigating his trackpad to his Reddit DM’s.
To my surprise, there was actually a message from what I guessed was a throw-away account.
While I was skim reading the DM, Misty hurried in, all dressed and ready for the day. I peeked at her outfit from Jay's laptop. Cute.
Extravagant, but cute. My housemate cranked the radio up before bouncing between us, a toaster strudel hanging out of her mouth.
Misty was a living animated character. Ignoring her wide smile, I turned back to the screen. “Congratulation!!” The DM started with capitals.
It took me reading it twice to realize there was a clear spelling mistake. I sent Jay a pointed look, but he was too busy practically vibrating with excitement. If the guy had any more caffeine, he was going to explode. “Since when did winning DM’s start with a typo?”
“I knew you were going to say that.” Jay curled his lip. “They were clearly excited when typing the message.”
“But this is supposedly an official,” I said. “Surely they would make sure it’s professional?”
My housemate didn’t reply, shooting a look at Misty, who rolled her eyes.
“Wow.” I squinted at the screen. “I am so sorry for caring about your safety. You do realize these types of scam’s usually end up with you being sold on the black market, right?”
I shuddered. “I’ve heard horror stories about underground markets specializing in illegal organ harvesting.”
“Or…” Jay’s eyes were glued to the screen. “You could be happy for me?”
I frowned at the rest of the message, which was just a capitalized freak-out about the upcoming release of the game, before inviting Jay (and a friend!) to a five-minute preview of gameplay, as well as a Q&A. There was a location and a time, which was brow-raising. “10 at night.” I said. “Who hosts a gaming convention at 10pm?” I leaned my chin on my fist. “Unless they wanted to lure as many gullible people as possible, and ship them to some organ harvesting factory on the other side of the world.”
Jay scoffed. “That’s dark.”
“You’re actually considering going to a 10pm gaming convention in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying to wake you up.”
Jay nudged me that time. “It’s real. Relax.”
“And.” I pointed to the screen. “No phones? Why would they ask you not to bring your phones?”
“To stop us filming content,” Misty sang. “Duh.”
I groaned, leaning back in my chair. “You’re on his side? This is clearly shady!” I didn’t get mad unless something was seriously pissing me off, and this was one of those times. Jay was a smart guy. There was no way he was falling for this bullshit. I thought he was joking around when he spent the day tracking the location on Google Maps. I went to class like normal and got updates through text. At lunch, Jay agreed with me and said it was in fact shady, and he wasn’t going. By afternoon classes, he was texting me in paragraphs explaining his own skepticism but had found several “friends” on an online forum who were also going and had changed his mind once again. The guy couldn’t make up his mind. He was driving me crazy.
Misty sent me several videos of Jay pacing the kitchen with his MacBook in his hands. She was broadcasting his mental breakdown via Instagram stories. But then she started to send me pictures of herself in different outfits, asking me for my opinion on each one. At that point, I turned my phone off. My housemates had lost their fucking minds. I did my own research though, just to make sure I wasn’t actually going to lose them to a shady cult.
I searched for the game itself, but just as I thought, it was shown as still in development. Every “update” was just fan speculation.
There were YouTube videos and TikTok’s of fake leaks, but nothing was real. It was either AI generated, or badly edited. By the time my classes had ended and I had turned my phone on, I had a barrage of missed calls and texts.
Most of them were from Misty with her outfit changes, and Jay changing his mind again.
This time he was convinced it was all a scam, his texts full of typos and crying emoji's which he never used. Before it hit me that Misty was most likely using his phone to text me.
I was right. When I walked through the door, I was greeted by both of them sitting on the stairs. Misty was scrolling through Jay’s phone, while the boy had his head in his hands. According to Misty’s last text, he was back to being excited to go.
From the look on his face, eyes shadowed with sleep circles, light brown curls slipping from under his hood, I wasn’t sure what Misty meant by “excited”. The guy looked the complete opposite. His mind had been consumed by the game, and the idea of seeing new content.
When I dropped my bag and folded my arms, fixing the two of them with my best disapproving parent look, Misty jumped to her feet. “Sam!” she waved Jay’s phone at me. “Did you get my texts? We’re actually going now!”
The 100+ texts on both messenger and iMessage said otherwise.
I nodded, my gaze on Jay. “Both of you do realize it’s a scam, right?” I softened my tone despite growing progressively more irritated. We were grown adults, not kids. I could understand a group of teenagers falling for it, but two twenty-three-year-olds?
This time, I ducked in front of Jay. “Hey.” I pulled down his hood, and he groaned, burying his head in his knees. “I don’t want to freak you out, so listen to me, okay?”
I exhaled out a breath. “I’m not saying something bad is going to happen to you, because it most likely won’t—and yes, I admit I’m being paranoid.” When he lifted his head, blinking through bedraggled curls, there was a faint smile on his lips. “But.” I said. “You are most likely going to end up disappointed. Which I don’t want, because you won't shut up about it for weeks."
I was only partly joking.
For a moment, I thought my housemate was going to wake up, and nod, laughing at how crazy it was.
Before shook his head and jumped up.
“I’m going to take a shower, alright? I should start getting ready."
I admit, I exploded at him.
We argued while he was in the shower, and I paced up and down the hallway, coming up with multiple reasons why he was definitely going to die, and only two positives if it was in fact real. In the end, I gave up worrying all together. I didn’t say anything when the two of them were hurrying around looking for shoes and missing car keys. I didn’t realize they were gone until the door was clanging shut, and a text was coming through. I didn’t look at it until an hour later, and I had calmed down.
Jay: 1h ago: Stop worrying, lmao. We’re good! I’ll keep my phone just in case. I’ll make sure to avoid the organ harvesting 😉
Another from Misty a few minutes later: “Love you! Chillll, kay? 😭😭 It’s going to be fun! I’ll take pics!”
…
Followed by: “Oh shit, we can’t. I’ll try to sneak some!"
Attached to the text was a photo of the two of them. Misty with a wide smile and a peace sign, and Jay who looked like he was mid-shout, his eyes on the road.
Those texts were… at least comforting, I guessed. Maybe they were right. I figured I was paranoid, and they in fact would really be okay.
But that didn’t stop the anxious coil in my gut when I tried to force down takeout pizza. I attempted to focus on my essay to distract myself, but I couldn’t stop glancing at my phone, and checking Twitter. There was a hashtag on the DM, which was just “PlayStationGO.” When I searched for it, however, nothing came up.
Sure, it was a private convention and only a select few knew about it, but nothing could escape Twitter.
Somewhere, someone must be talking about it. After scrolling through endless tweets though, I realized I was wrong. There was nothing.
That put a bad taste in my mouth.
10pm came, and I held my breath all the way through a Netflix TV show I was forcing myself to watch, half asleep, slumped at my desk.
I could barely distinguish the plot.
I just had a vague idea of the character names, and some of their motivations.
Midnight passed, and I was struggling to stay awake.
I glanced at my phone.
No messages, just a notification from Spotify reminding me my favorite band was playing nearby.
1am.
Still nothing. I fell back to sleep.
2:48am.
This time, I stayed awake for a few minutes glaring at my phone before my eyes grew heavy.
3:16: am.
My phone buzzed with a text from Jay, but I could barely desipher it: "can't feel help my head hurts Canshdhsn727272_6798mi/!! _&go home please. (Sent from: PlayStationGo™️ BETA)."
3:27: am.
3:54: am. I was wide awake, blinking at a notification which had popped up from an unknown number. I was trying to figure out what number it was, when my phone vibrated again and I almost jumped out of my skin.
After a moment of hesitation, I answered it.
I was trying so hard not to think of the possibility of it being the emergency room, or even worse, the cops.
All of my worst nightmares had come true in a single second.
“Hello?” I whispered in a croak.
“Are they in the house with you?” The stranger’s voice came through in a hiss of interference.
His words sent my mediocre dinner lurching back up my throat. “What?” I managed to get out. “Who?”
“Your friends.” He said, and I leapt to unsteady feet, my gut twisting and turning.
“No.” I found myself taking slow strides toward the window, brushing back the curtain and peering out into the night. “Why? Did something happen to them?” I paused.
“How did you get my number?”
“That does not matter.” His voice rattled in my ear as I rushed downstairs, almost stumbling down the bottom two. “I need you to get out of that house. Now. Get as far away as possible.”
I could hear his rapid breaths.
He was driving. I could hear the rumble of the engine. With my phone pressed to my ear, I obeyed his instructions, pulling open the door and stepping out into the cool night, a brisk breeze grazing my bare arms was just enough to stop my thoughts spiraling.
I was barefoot, in nothing but a robe, staggering down the driveway. The night was calm and silent; our neighborhood was asleep, each window drowned in darkness. I couldn’t breathe, my clammy fingers wrapped around my phone, as this stranger broke down over the phone. “Whatever you do,” he gasped out.
“Do not, I repeat DO NOT remove the PlayStationGo—shit!! He hissed out, static rattling the call. The guy seemingly got ahold of himself, and the wheel, and continued. I started to walk—where I was going, I had no idea.
The stranger lit a cigarette. I heard the click of a lighter and his exhalation of breath. “It was a BETA version, but we had to rush it. This was not my idea. My boss is a greedy man. He wanted to release the game last year, which would have meant widespread infection. Luckily, that did not happen. We did manage to delay it, but only by a year.” His words barely made sense to me as I struggled to get a word in, peering in the dark. “It was supposed to be a virtual experience of the game—a whole new angle of gameplay. But testing was difficult. First, on monkey’s, we lost multiple subjects. Tonight was supposed to be a…well, I guess you could call it out first attempt on human subjects,” his laugh was bitter. “I knew the tech wasn’t finished. And I tried. Believe me, I fucking tried. I tried to blow the whistle, but these bastards know where my parents live."
Something squirmed its way down my spine.
“So my friends were lab rats?” I said stiffly. “You used them?”
I fucking knew it.
I knew it was too good to be true.
“Yes and no. Listen to me, the people I work for are hunting them down. Trust me, I don’t want my bosses to find them because a life of experimentation will await them. Torture. Do you hear me? It does not matter if subjects fail. They don’t care. As long as there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel for them, they will see it as a win, and bring the publication date closer. They will not be treated as humans. Your friends signed a contract before trying out the tech, where the small print stated that, under section 3, player engagement, all subjects must agree to offer themselves as participants in later updates. I silently cursed Jay for always skipping the terms and conditions when buying games." The man stopped to breathe.
“I have told you multiple times, and I won’t say it again. Get as far away from that house as possible. I will take care of them. I will make sure of it." The sound of squealing engines, and I stopped power walking, coming to an abrupt stop. The silence of the night around me, compared to the sound of the highway he was on, traffic horns and the wind rushing through the window was an eerie contrast, a disturbance to the heavenly bubble we were trapped in.
“What do you mean ‘take care of them?” I had to swallow a yell. “Hey! What are you talking about?
“I’m sorry.” Was all he replied with. “I’m afraid it is too late. There was once an opportunity to save the mind during the initial level of the demonstration. However, once the PlaystationGo has been fully attached to the base of the subject, we no longer have control of it. Once integrating itself into the cerebral cortex, the PlayStationGo can only be removed by signing out of the player’s account,” his breath was heavy. “On this unfortunate occasion, however, your friends are unable to navigate the system due to a malfunction which scrambled their brains,” He trailed off. “Which has left them stranded in the game."
I let out a breath. “Right.” I said. “That’s.. bad. I mean, it’s a fucked-up piece of technology, but they’re just playing a game, right?”
There was a pause, before the man laughed.
“Young man, I don’t think you understand,” he said. “The PlayStationGo was created to give the player a full virtual experience of our game. The PlayStationGo is not a physical object. Created with nanotechnology, it attaches itself to the subject’s brain and is supposed to create a personal gaming experience for each player. As I said, however, it is not finished. It is yet to be released to the public, and of course, we are expecting certain ethical arguments due to the controversial—”
I pulled the phone away from my ear, shaking my head. I didn’t need to hear his attempts at trying to save his own skin.
“You need to help them,” I whispered. “Do you hear me? Can you do that? Can you help them?!”
“That is what I am trying to tell you,” He said.
“I know you are upset and confused, and believe me, I offer my apologies. But you need to listen to facts. During initial testing, our subjects were conscious enough to know where their home was. We are unsure why this happens, though we have linked it to territory, as well as the main character of the game heavily influencing their actions. I have been tracking them from the testing facility, and they are incredibly close. Please get as far away from there as possible. If you are no longer in the vicinity of the house, I can end this quickly and quietly before we gain attention.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Maybe start fucking screaming at him, because he was talking about getting “rid” of my friends, after their mistake.
“Do you understand me?” He said, when I couldn’t reply. “Your friends are lost causes!”
Before I could answer, though, headlights were suddenly coming around the corner, and I found myself paralysed to the spot. The car which swerved twice, crashed into several trash cans, before reversing and coming straight towards me, was not Jay’s car. Jay’s car was an old hunk of junk he’d gotten from a scrapyard. Jay’s car had doors which were practically hanging off, and a stereo which exclusively played either static gibberish, or old tapes I had no idea how to use. This car was bright yellow, and definitely had an option to drive itself. When the car came to a stop, inches from careening into me, I lost all control of myself.
I was vaguely aware of my phone slipping from my fingers and hitting the sidewalk. But I was too busy staring at the two shadows in the front of the car. The driver, and the passenger.
And the muffled screaming coming from the trunk.
When the door swung open, a figure stepping out, I did not recognise my housemate.
The stranger told me I wouldn't, but I didn't believe him.
Jay had left the house in casual jeans and a sweater, bearing the game's logo.
Now, I found myself face to face with a man with my housemate's face and features, his smile and eyes-- but something had been severed in his eyes and twisted in his expression. For one, Jay was wearing a suit I knew he couldn't afford, the sleeves torn, collar pulled open, smears of red staining the front.
His pants had cufflinks, and the Rolex on his wrist had definitely been pulled off someone's corpse.
The silver was stained a revealing scarlet. Drinking in his face, he looked like Jay. His curls hung in front of his eyes, freckles speckling his cheeks, but everything else wasn't. It wasn't until I was glimpsing what was moulded into the flesh of his hand, did I remember how to move. But then I was taking all of him in, everything my mind had intentionally skipped, because I didn't want to believe the stranger on the phone. Nanotechnology, the man had said in a hiss.
Fiction, I had thought.
Before I saw the reality of it, a writhing metallic like substance glued to the guy's temple, and slowly, very slowly, inching down his cheek, already forming around the bridge of his ear, a very faint blue light flickering.
Something must have alerted him. His cavernous eyes left mine, and he twisted his head—and I heard the sound of his neck snapping, his head lolling to the left slightly, his eyes flickering. I watched his whole body seem to sway back and forth, ready to fall forwards.
Before the newly formed device on his ear turned red, then green.
It was almost like he was… rebooting. As if coming back to life, Jay lifted his head at an awkward angle, before looking straight through me. The blood vessels in his eyes had popped, rivulets of red beading down his face. He should have been dead, I thought. No. No, he was dead. That… that thing was keeping him alive. “Well, shiiiittt,” he said. I could sense the game dialogue which had taken over him, forming on his mangled tongue.
“I’m a man on a mission.”
In jerking movements, he turned and marched back towards the car, opening the door, and sliding into the front seat.
I remembered how to move, ducking to grab my phone, before something slammed into the back of my head—and I saw stars.
I didn’t remember hitting the floor, only the soft sound of her voice, a seductive murmur repeating NPC dialogue, and her kitten heel sticking into my spine, forcing me onto my face.
Misty. I was expecting her to get it over with. But when she dragged me to my feet, sticking the barrel of a gun into the flesh of my neck—I figured she was still playing the game.
Twisting around to meet her eyes, lifeless and empty, only filled with light from the device which had taken over half of her face, I felt sick to my stomach. This thing wasn’t a games console or a virtual reality headset.
It was an attempt at coercing and programming something you already don’t understand, to do something impossible.
I could see that in the way the things had visibly chewed and eaten through her flesh, devouring her from the inside and out. I could see what was left of the dress she had worn earlier, but something must have gone wrong with her too. Because Misty had thrown on another outfit over the top, a diamond necklace hanging from her neck.
I caught a thin river of red pooling down her right temple, trying to ignore the twitchy way she moved, just like a character. From the way Misty walked, stumbling, I already knew she was gone. My housemate had newly acquired strength, throwing me in the trunk of the car where three other hostages were, and slamming it shut on my attempts to reason with her. She didn’t tie me up or restrain me.
In the dim light I could just make out though passing streetlights, I could see the trunk opened from the inside. Which was too easy.
Still though, Jay was driving recklessly, and every time I tried to throw the damn thing open, I was knocked backwards, rolling into a screaming girl, who was bound by her hands and feet. It took me multiple attempts before I had the trunk open, freezing cold air blasting me in the face. I untied the other hostages, but when I told them to come with me, they just stared blankly at me, and continued begging for their lives—and it only took me glimpsing what was attached to their temples, a familiar writhing metal plate, for me to understand. They too were playing the game. This time, as NPC hostages.
I found myself gingerly touching the trembling metallic flesh of the girl's fingers bound in rope. It had a slimy consistency, and I swore, I felt something bite into me.
No way, I thought.
This thing was sentient, yes. But it wasn't living.
Listen, I wish I could tell you what it was like to jump out of a moving car, but I can’t.
I remember it as lunging out of the trunk, hitting the freezing cold air, before hitting the ground head first, neutron star collisions exploding in the backs of my eyes.
What I do remember is waking up on the side of the road. Hours later. The sky was bright blue, a scorching sun blinding me when I managed to force my eyes open.
The early morning rush hour flew by as normal, and I wondered how ignorant American people had to be to ignore someone knocked out on the side of the road.
It’s not like I was nowhere near civilization. There was a fucking Subway right next to me.
When I had gathered myself, I remembered I had no phone. I couldn’t go home in fear of running into my rogue housemates playing their own fucked up version of _____ in their head. My plan was to try and find my phone, get in contact with the stranger who blew the whistle on my friends being dangerous, and find them. They couldn’t be far., right? And even if they weren’t themselves… someone would be able to save them.
If someone could do this to them, surely they could reverse it.
I felt sick, tired, and I was starving.
So, with some loose cash I’d found in my pocket, I bought a Subway and a Coke.
The woman at the counter smiled widely at me. She leaned forward, with a wink. “Nice cosplay!”
Cosplay?
I didn’t understand what she meant until I swore I felt something… move its way up my pant leg. I ignored it, and it happened again, this time it felt like something was… biting.
A bug, maybe? I had been laying on the side of the road for around six hours.
When I went to the bathroom, though, I found myself staring at an all too familiar glint of silver creeping its way across my temple. Like it was sentient, parts of it sider webbed towards my ear while the rest writhed into my hairline.
I pulled up my pant leg again, and there it was, a fungus-like metal substance which had already formed in two solid metal masses on my knees. I remember grazing two fingers across the thing beginning its slow feast of my flesh. I remember trying to pull it off, hissing in pain when I risked ripping off my own skin with it. I remember shaking my head and being in denial, even when the lights dimmed above me, and the bathroom door in front of me became more of a shadow. When I strode back through the Subway store, I began to see slight flickers of light above each person, highlighting something not quite there yet.
I could see it already starting, beginning to take over my thoughts. Cars which sped past were suddenly highlighted, and at the corner of my eye, if I concentrated, the outline of a map was starting to appear. Even now, when the room is almost completely taken over by shadow, and my thoughts are half my own, and half not—when a metallic device is beginning to form over my eyes—I know if I hold on, this thing won’t take me. I have considered killing myself, but that wouldn’t… be right.
How could I kill myself when there is so much left to do?
This developer was right. I don’t even know where I can sign out. There’s what looks like the beginning of some kind of index when I look up, but it’s not… finished. I can still see entangled pieces of code struggling to load what I’m guessing was log out. Whatever this thing is, it’s taking over me. Fast. Like a fungus, like a virus, it will not stop until it’s dragged me into the game, until it's leeched itself onto me.
I can feel it happening right now. It's been slow.
Almost painfully slow.
But maybe that is the point. Maybe part of the game is to feel my own thoughts beginning to unravel in favor of something else entirely.
Fuck.
Time is going by…. Fast.
Five minutes ago… I was trying to get home. But I can’t remember where I live.
I can’t concentrate.
I can’t think straight.
I have a phone—but I don’t know how I got it. Did I steal it?
Every time I move, the slowly emerging map comes to life at the corner of my eye jerks with my movement. There is a car parked nearby.
I know it belongs to the man with a child.
But a confusing blur of light is highlighting it to be something of importance. Reality is crashing in front of me, replaced with contorting shapes and bursts of color I have to blink through.
I keep hearing... sirens.
Jay is messaging me.
On what, I'm not sure.
But I need to find him.
I’m sure one mission won’t hurt, right?

Hey everyone! So I met a dr who would like me to take some of his patients for nutrition counseling. I’m a pretty new RD so I’m kind of lost lol. It would be private practice route, as I wouldn’t get hired by him or a company. I would be for consult.
Anyone have any experience with this? I’m just looking for some steps I can take/requirements for this type of thing
Thank you :)

I don't really know if anyone can help me, but I'm looking for a YouTube workout program. I prefer it when someone is actually a certified personal trainer and when they either have a program or at least a monthly calendar to follow. It feels like I've tried everyone, so I'll list everyone that I've tried and some more information to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

• Sydney Cummings Houdyshell, Nourish Move Love, and Bodyfit by Amy
  • I used to do Sydney's workouts all the time, but lately she's been having some weird combinations that I would compare to "dumbbell dances" and I feel ridiculous doing them (plus it feels like I could possibly hurt myself). I feel the same way about Nourish Move Love and Bodyfit by Amy.
• Heather Robertson and Penny Barnshaw
  • I honestly wish I enjoyed their workouts, but I get so bored during them, which makes me not want to do them.
• Fitness KayKay, Growingannanas, and Fit by Mik
  • I haven't done many of their workouts, but the ones that I have done all are no repeat. I know most people like no repeats, but it just makes me feel overwhelmed.
• Chris & Edi
  • I don't really like the fact that they don't include a warm up or cool down, especially in their hour long workouts. Plus I have adjustable dumbbells so depending on how the workout is set up I have to stop and take the time to change the weights that I'm using. I don't mind doing this, but during an hour long workout it can tack on another 30 minutes sometimes on top of having to take the time to warm up and cool down.
• Everybody's favorite Caroline Girvan
  • Okay, so I've done Caroline's workouts a couple of times and I did enjoy the ones that I've done. My issue is that whenever I start one of Caroline's programs after about a week my knee starts to hurt due to a past injury. She's the only trainer that I've tried that causes this. It even happened when I tried her calisthenics series.
• Halie Harasyn
  • I absolutely love her workouts, but I've done most of them and she hasn't posted anything new since February.
• Tiff x Dan
  • So I've never actually done one of their workouts before, but I've seen them use titles like "10 minutes flat abs workout for insane results" and it just gives me an icky feeling. I know it's to get clicks, but as someone who used to have major body image issues I just don't feel comfortable supporting people who title their videos that way.

Thank you so much in advance to anyone who has a suggestion. I'm sorry for being so picky.

When I'm in the park, I am constantly aware of where my daughter (8F) is. Every 4 or 5 seconds, I have her in my eyesight as a minimum. f I am sat talking to someone she is in my view.
I am conscious of any adult or teenagers who are in her vicinity and monitor if necessary.
My ex wife (who works for a children's charity) and constantly tries to tell me how to manage my daughter as 'I work with kids, I know what I'm talking about' who has never been promoted, is being 'bullied at work' (i.e. isn't performing) was sat with another mother, a nurse. Both of them were completely oblivious to the fact that their kids were approached by a random stranger, who asked them to leave the park and go with them to get some hairbo together. It did seem more centered on her friend from the sound of it.
Both the kids said no, walked away and then told their mothers what had happened.
The ex wife doesn't remember seeing anyone, but has a full description of the man and what he was wearing from both of them. I spoken to my daughter and reassured her. It sounds genuine. I have used this opportunity to praise her for what she did right and what to do if it happens again (I have already spoken to her about this)
Ex wife is phoning 101. I've sent an e-mail to our schools safeguarding lead (park is right next to the school).
I am finding it very hard to treat my ex wife as a serious guardian now tbh. And I'm seriously considering going full access.
I'm picking her up tomorrow from school. We will be going to the park together.
I mean I am constantly aware of where my daughter is. I don't think this is a particularly novel thing?

Hey everyone,
I came out as non binary about a year and a half ago but haven’t really told many of the people in my life except my partner, my younger sibling (who also came out a few years ago), a couple close friends, and recently my mom. They’ve all been supportive, especially my partner she is the actual best. I’m amab and was using he/they at first but the more I leaned into and started accepting myself as non binary the more ‘he’ began to feel wrong and off. I recently switched to they/them and the euphoria of doing so was incredible. It’s like I’m finally allowing myself to be fully myself. I’ve come to realize I’ve been nb my whole life but only just now finding the right vocab to describe my experience.
However …
Now I’m dealing with anxiety and dysphoria, like majorly. I’m 27 and feel like I’m so late coming out, whereas everyone else I know in my life who’s come out it’s been like late teens/early 20s. Been trying to work through the imposter syndrome.. Now that my pronouns are they/them I feel like I need to come out to everyone because I just keep getting misgendered which makes me very uncomfortable but holy shit it feels so scary. I’m already very quiet and have struggled socially my entire life. Now adding the fact that I’ve got to explain to people that I’m not male or female just adds another layer of anxiety. I’ve updated my pronouns on my social accounts so at least some people see it there which makes it easier not to have to explain in person but lots of people still don’t know. Someone please tell me this gets easier? Like how do I just casually come out to people and let them know my pronouns and that it makes me very uncomfortable to be called man, bro, he/him etc ….? I struggle with people pleasing and feel like I’d be being too much for correcting ppl or telling them my pronoun preference..
Also the dysphoria.. I’ve never been terribly uncomfortable with my appearance but at the same time never fully happy with it. I’ve gone back and forth my whole life with growing my hair, cutting it. Growing my beard, cutting it. Now that I’ve come to terms with my gender I’ve realized long hair+no facial hair is what I’m most comfortable with. But now I’m dealing with pattern baldness (woo genetics!) that is slowly creeping in and making me feel very un-cute and lately I can’t stand the sight of the stubble on my face even though I shave daily. I shaved my legs recently and that feels great and comfy and affirming af and I want to shave the rest of my body too but also it grows so fast and am worried about upkeep. Any folks here gotten laser before? I’m considering it now. Any other tips for keeping facial and body hair at bay?
Anyways, back to the anxiety thing - I’ve always tried to remain somewhat in the background due to my anxiety and pretty much only wear black because I feel like anything else draws attention to me. I’ve been slowly updating my wardrobe with more stuff from the women’s section - jeans, shorts, a few cute not super feminine looking blouses, sweaters, and some cardigans. I want to be more comfortable wearing things that are a bit more feminine though like stuff with floral patterns and maybe even dresses and skirts but feel like I will be too scared to go out in that. Just fear of others judgements but also I live in the south US where our government is actively trying to oppress lgbtq folks… I’m about to move to the northwest though, thankfully, where I think I will feel safer.
Anyways, just needed to get all this out. The past few days the dysphoria has been hitting hard as well as the anxiety around coming out. Like I’ve been questioning wether it’s even worth it or if I should just stay closeted my entire life and learn to be ok with being perceived as and called a man. The thing is though, I don’t want to. I’ve been hiding my whole life and I’m tired of it and want to be seen and appreciated for who I am. It all just feels scary and overwhelming though…
Any support, advice, etc would be much appreciated.

Hi there!
I'm 28 years young, (going on 29!) 6ft, currently living in the South of England. Not nearly as posh as it sounds, there's a lot of potholes and it's constantly wet, so there's that. I'm currently a server in a traditional English pub. I essentially make people happy as I put food in front of them, so that's my job description. I get good tips though, so it's not all bad.
In my spare time, I love listening to ambient music as I read, or play video games. Basically, I love detaching myself from reality and can find good ways about it. I also love looking at (often out of my budget) places to visit, and often thinking about what those places would be like. I miss travelling all over and am getting back into the swing of it though. Let's share travel stories! I'm also a pretty big fact nut, so quiz me on things! My speciality is flags, so be sure to ask!
I'm looking for someone who is kind, caring and will put up with my kookiness! I don't mind on location, if we live on the opposite sides of the world and fall for each other and I have to relocate, then that's okay with me! Photos are available on request, don't worry!
Anyways, I hope you have a nice day! And maybe chat later? I'm mostly online, so feel free to message me whenever!
https://ibb.co/album/RjRWYd - here's me! I'd love a photo of you back, although if you're super shy, you don't have to!

Has anyone else in here noticed a general disdain for mountaineers and alpine climbers by climbing gyms?
So, last night my brother and I met up at our local climbing gym just to do some practice and such between being able to make it out into the hills. After being there about 30 minutes I was about halfway up the wall when I saw a gym employee coming up to my brother who had me on belay and telling him to lower me immediately. When I got back down to the floor he informed us both that we were being kicked out immediately. He said the reason we were being kicked out was because my brother was belaying me off of a munter hitch (We use our own rope not twisting up the gyms) and the fact that we were climbing in boots rather than climbing shoes. He said "both of those things are very unsafe and you're going to get one of yourselves killed doing that". I was just taking aback, It's not like we had crampons on and were front pointing into their wall lol. And, they didn't even just ask us to switch over they asked us to leave and banned us from the facility.
Overreaction, or did I overstep a bound here?

Ok, with Gwen and her dad’s pride flags I know most people are saying they’re for Gwen. I’ve put myself into the group that thinks it’s more for Gwen’s Peter Parker! (Although both is good, of course!) It got me thinking though, has Gwen and her Dad ever used pronouns for Peter? I was thinking back on both movies and I can’t remember if they ever refer to her Peter as (he/him). If not, do we get masc nonbinary rep then! Can anyone fact check me on this?

For starters I've always had a problem with Littlefinger lying about the dagger. I find it a very risky lie and there's nothing to say he won't get trapped at his own game without starting a war (chaos). For me there are a lot of holes in this part of the story particularly with Tyrion not telling anyone in the capital. But that's another detail that bothered me about the show:
​
The thing that struck me in the show was precisely the meeting between Catelyn and Petyr at Bitterbridge, Catelyn should want to kill Petyr for lying to her and starting this war ( even if it's not the only reason). But no, in the series she blames him for that and that's it. She moves on. Wtf?
What's more, by this point she's already spoken to Jaime (after the king in the north scene) and knows that the Lannisters don't seem to be responsible (excluding Joffrey the real culprit).
​
Except that in the books, Catelyn has never spoken to Jaime before going to Bitterbridge and she doesn't meet Petyr there because Littlefinger only comes once Renly is dead. So Catelyn doesn't know that Littlefinger lied, because even though Tyrion defended himself, she's still suspicious, and rightly so. It is only when she returns with Brienne that she will truly discover that Petyr lied by talking to Jaime.
​
That's made more sense to me.
​
Littlefinger still remains a mystery to me, especially the fact that he advises Ned Stark after Robert's death so that there will be no war, when his aim is precisely war... Fortunately, Ned doesn't listen to him... But that's another subject.

This isn't so much my story, as it is my family's, but I want to share my thoughts, just because I think this is a perfect example of how self-centered and narcistic many Christians are. I was raised devout Catholic, and a percentage of my family (not the majority, but loud minority to be sure) are extremely conservative and vocal still today. The majority of my siblings and I no longer participate in Catholicism and have all but abandoned religion entirely- a point if deep pain and personal betrayal for my parents, I am sure /s.
Anyway.
One of my cousins (who was once quite conservative) has chosen to take a firm stance on her political views, social concerns, and religious perspective. Because they run contrary to my aunt's views (and the rest of that loud minority), this has caused quite a bit of tension and strife in the family. But here's the thing.... For the most part, I don't think my cousin's expectations and beliefs are that insane. She's told my aunt that she does not want my aunt blessing her children or discussing religion with them. That's... not that bad, in my opinion. It's her right as a parent.
I was discussing the situation with my mother (who brought it up to begin with), and I told her basically the same thing..... It's not crazy that someone wants to parent without the interference of certain things they don't agree with. Christian folks do it all the time, and when they do it it's moral and virtuous and right. But when someone with a different set of beliefs does it, it's scandalous and dangerous and "not right". And in this case, the entire situation is being spun into a saga about my aunt and how hard this is for her, rather than it being about my cousin and the fact that she's made a decision and that's all there is to it. It's very weird and kind of Twilight Zone- esque, and the cognitive dissonance is really something to see.
Christians have to make everything about them- because heaven forbid its ever about someone else and has nothing to do with their persecution complex.

Let’s look at the facts,
In his first season with the club he got promoted to the premier league (which included a huge streak of draws when they struggled to score after Dani’s incident) also getting to an FA cup semi final that year
In his second season he was part of a huge title challenge that also included a low patch in scoring between Zavi and Total football
He has a perfect centre back build, very tall and averagely built compared to Issac who appears to me as shorter and stockier
He wasn’t in the team when Issac got the captaincy and arguably should be next up if not for him being too blunt, but him being blunt also gives me more evidence of his talents since we all remember “I made no mistakes to forget about, Colin did”
The evidence against me is that he didn’t get a Holland call up in the international break but I’m putting that down to politics!
Also honourable mention to Zoreaux who also had 2 good season for equal reasons and was always shown to make good consistent saves but was a part of a relegated side in season 1

my book is titled “when my heart speaks” & for months if not a year now, I’ve had the idea to make my cover art a minimalist human heart with flowers & butterflies coming out of the heart’s tubing.
I’m getting ready to publish here within the next month or so, and so I was trying to figure out pricing, and upon searching for similar books to estimate about where my pricing should be, I found another poetry book with very very similar cover art to my idea.
her art was a minimalist heart, with flowers growing out, but no butterflies.
despite the fact that I came up with my cover art idea on my own, and had never seen her book when I came up with mine,
could I get into trouble for publishing a poetry book with such similar cover art?
thank you!

This is an anecdote my mother has given me, but I tend to think it's true and generalizable...
When I was young (elementary school age), I was playing with my friends at the playground and ran up to my mom to tell her to look at some cool thing one of my friends was doing! She asked, "which one?", and I proceeded to describe my friend to her in every possible way other than the fact that the child was black. I just truly didn't see color and honestly, I don't think most children do.
Now, I understand the utility of doing away with the "I don't see color" rhetoric... but that's for adults! Children, unless otherwise instructed, are the epitome of non-bigoted IMO and I kind of feel like we should leave them in that state as long as humanly possible.
I'm not sure why we're going out of our way to get our children to start thinking in terms of labels and classifications and "us and them"? There is plenty of time for that when they get older, but would it not be more beneficial to allow them to exist in a reality with no labels as long as possible?

I woke up this morning with a few disturbing thoughts. This is pure speculation. I enjoy playing out hypotheticals and felt like recent events might suggest some new ones (to me at least) that I wanted to share.
The assumption for this speculation is that the Whistleblower is correct and telling the truth.
When it comes to alien contact we have typically imagined, via media and fiction, 1 of 2 scenarios: they are either conquerors or benevolent helpers. In both these scenarios human beings are important, worthy of conquest or assistance. What if it's neither? What if these entities are completely disinterested in us? This is an existential terror of a different, weirder kind.
It would provide a possible explanation for why contact might have been kept secret for so long. Imagine a government saying "Yea, they are here. They are flying around doing whatever they want, we have not been able to communicate with them and they seem to have no interest in doing so. They are advanced beyond imagination and respect no border or authority. We don't know why they are here or where they come from. We are not in control". This would be a very hard truth to swallow and potentially extremely corrosive to society. We have enjoyed a belief in our absolute dominance on this planet for millennia. We are exceptional.
Governments might have calculated that it would be better to keep things secret until such time as they can get somewhat on top of it. At least make meaningful contact and gather some information on motives and level of threat. In the meantime the military gets an absolute monopoly on the science. Things may have started out that way and persisted for 70+ years. Perhaps we are no closer to answering those questions and so the status quo was just preserved.
In the darkest extrapolation of this line of thought, perhaps we do in fact have the answers but they are unacceptable. For example, if we are in fact living in a simulation and the beings/craft are avatars of whatever run that simulation. In those types of scenarios it's not hard to see why authorities might have deemed that ignorance is bliss.

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Tried every fix; none of them worked. This issue showed up with the latest update. Game was running just fine before that.
The fact that a lot of people are facing this makes me think riot wrekt something up in their updates.
Has anybody found any proper fix?