I have seen some older posts on this issue and want to bring it back up for any new clarity or fixes;
My home 5G internet drops 2-5 times a day for a couple min at a time. What started as a silly nuicience has started to impact my work. I've seen this is a pretty common experience depending on location, and know I'm in a prime spot for Verizon 5G in general, (I use GoogleFi for cell service and can track cell towers for Verizon and it is always full service.)... Is this a "you have to live with it" issue, or is there a remedy? Because if it's unfixable theres unfortunately no way I can continue with it.
Thanks in advance!

Character Summary

A high ranking demon Max Hale managed to trap in a special amulet prior to the outbreak of the ex-virus. Max used Cairax's body in a reverse-possession to become a superhero, and over time people started chanting Cairax's name with hope. This displeased the actual Cairax, who tortured Max to no end when their shared body became an ex after unspecified relations with a zombified Jessica Alba. When Max successfully revives himself in the Mount, Cairax follows suit to enact his terrible vengeance upon the sorcerer, as well as every living thing in the Mount.

Appearance

Its body is hairless, with leathery, bruise-colored flesh. It's head is like a monstrous, deap-sea fish; with cloudy, saucer-like eyes, a thick brow ridge, and a forest of fangs and tusks jutting out of its lips. It has a curved spine; long, spidery fingers with dagger-like nails; a barbed tail with a spiked tip, and

thick-toed, hoof-like feet.

Powers / Abilities

Cairax's powers vary depending on the human body hosting the demon's transformation.

Through Maxwell Hale's body

Unless otherwise noted, all feats performed in Maxwell's body are after he was turned into an Ex.

Strength

• Was weaker than St George and Cerberus when he was alive.

Striking * Smashes St George hard enough to bring him to his knees and crack the pavement beneath him. * Strikes St George hard enough to hurl him into a wall and stun him
Biting * His bite cracks pavement * Is strong enough to bite through St George's bullet-proof skin
Lifting / Pulling / Pushing * While not under Peasy's control, shakes a garbage truck its chained to * Throws an Ex at St George * Flails St George around while biting him * Lifts a phone pole and swings it at St George * Smashes St George into the pavement repeatedly before throwing him * Shakes a massive rolling gate protecting The Mount * Throws St George against a vehicle, stunning it and denting the vehicle * Drags St George behind him with little effort * Its tail alone is strong enough to slam around and fling St George * Slams St George into the pavement and tosses a car aside

Durability

Piercing * Stated to be bulletproof * Bullets ricochet off of its hide without it noticing * Unphased by a hail of gunfire * His tongue is not as resistant as his hide.
Blunt * Is thrown into a concrete pillar hard enough to crater it, stunned for only a moment * Hit by multiple dead bodies being swung at him, unphased * Takes an uppercut from St George and only loses a tooth * Staggers back when hit by a Metro car * Is knocked back by the same Metro being thrown at him, continues fighting almost immediately * Smashed into a wall by St George using a telephone pole, hard enough to crack the cinderblocks, unharmed * St George using all his strength is able to punch out Cairax's teeth and break its ribs and sternum * Survives having a Chrysler smashed and stomped on top of him
Grappling * Over 100 feet of thick steel link is enough to keep him restrained when he's not controlled by Peasy * St George is strong enough to break the muscles in its tail * Resists having its head ripped off by St George
Regeneration (while alive) * Cairax heals faster than Maxwell. * While not immune to the Ex virus, Cairax's form can last several days / weeks before succumbing to it, compared to Maxwell's mortal body having one hour left, tops. This is after the bite already had time to spread. * Is able to feel the Ex-virus spreading weaving its way into his blood and muscles
Other * Stated to be fireproof * St George breathing fire in his face is harmless

Speed

• Cairax's reflexes are much faster than Maxwell's

Other

• Cairax can smell fear
• (while alive) His tail has a mind of its own

Maxwell's Medallion

• The medallion contains the light of a black sun, and allows Maxwell to bring Cairax's body from the demon realm into the mortal realm for him to control.

* Removing or destroying the medallion around his neck will revert Cairax back to Maxwell's body.

Personality

• (while alive) [Maxwell states he would never deliberately hurt an innocent person while in control of Cairax's body,] though he acknowledges his tail may not feel the same way

* Cairax is entirely motivated by chaos, corruption, and ruining the lives of mortals.

Scaling * St George * Cerberus

Here’s the script of what they’ve said to eachother over text today:
(for context they were gonna go out and do some errands together. my dad needs to study for his test, so he and my mom are rushing to get stuff done. my mom says “we can hurry so you have time to study. i don’t want to be the reason you fail your test” my dad gets very pissed and blows up, he gets out of the car, leave his wallet, slams the door almost breaking it, and walks home)
M: I can get the gift cards if you just let me know how many, how much and where to. I have your wallet.
D: I'll get them myself. You just go enjoy being by yourself. As far as my wallet goes I trust you with it Do with it as you please though. I won't blane you or accuse you of anything
M: Sorry my honesty upset you. I want nothing more than you to be successful and was trying to be supportive. Blew it. Whats new.
D: It's not your "honesty" It's the fact that you accused me of blaming you if I fail. That's total bullshit but once you say it three times (or more) the marital damage is done. Keep being your positive happy self I will keep being the finger pointing bastard you see me as. Thanks for pointing that out to me repeatedly between home and the park. I really needed to hear how you honestly see me.
M: Its time for counseling
D: Why? I'm not going to disagree with anything you say. I will shoulder all the blame. All you do is spread joy everywhere you go and remind me how much of a finger pointing bastard I am. I believe you when you say so why go to a counselor to hear it from someone else. I am the issue. I should just be thankful you even mention my name without telling everyone how you truly feel about me and how you see me. Go spread your joy to the world
M: Im not spreading joy anywhere. I need help communicating better.
D: All you tell everyone is how happy you are and that you are spreading joy, I believe you when you say it. If I am quoting you incorrectly I am sure you will let me know. You seem to communicate quite clearly. I've heard you all day very directly. You definitely say exactly what you want, when you want, and how you want and damn be if anyone takes exception to your truths or take offense. You communicate very clearly. I'm going to go study and make a long list of who to blame when I fail. Always blame others for your failures is my motto. Thanks for confirming that.
(a few hours later, my dad stormed away earlier and left his wallet in car. he is now studying for his test at his office alone)
M: Will drop off your wallet
D: I don’t need it thanks though
(she then proceeds to go drop it off for him at his truck, it’s locked. it is NEVER locked.)
M: you never lock your truck!
D: I don't need my wallet I'll get it when I am home
M: You Intentionally locked it so I couldn't leave your wallet for you
D: I am trying to study but I will be done I'll come out to get my wallet since it is important to you
M: I’m home
D: I think it's funny how you think l'm always out to get you or am playing some sort of game with you. I locked my damn truck because I wasn't thinking. Got my mind filled with being label by my spouse of 30 years as a finger pointing game playing bastard. Kind of has you do things without thinking but you go ahead and assume the worse of me.
M: Not thinking badly of you at all. I was surprised I dont hate you At all Im grateful Your feedback makes me a better person
D: Im tired of arguing through a phone You can put me in my place and accuse me of more game playing when I get home I'll stop trying to study so I can come home and you can call me more stuff in a few minutes
M: No thanks

I feel like I've tried every possible solution I've tried online, but none seem to have worked. As a disclaimer I'm not tech illiterate, however I'm not especially knowledgeable and it's possible I could have missed something obvious.
I'm using Google Chrome on Windows 10, with AdBlock Plus and McAfee WebAdvisor extensions. I've noticed an issue on a few websites where the buttons on the page will not be clickable despite being visible, so my cursor doesn't change when hovering over and they don't do anything when clicked. I've noticed this on Google, YouTube and Fandom, but it might affect other sites that I haven't visited as much. The strange issue with YouTube is that only some videos seem to be affected, whereas others don't. Sometimes this renders the page unresponsive, particularly with YouTube.
I tried disabling my AdBlock on one video and the issue remained. I've also tried downloading Brave browser, which immediately crashed on opening a YouTube video so I've uninstalled it.
I've troubleshooted my internet connection and sent a ping command, cleared my cache and browsing history at least three times, removed two extensions, blocked third party cookies, checked for Chrome updates and graphics driver updates, and restarted my browser after all of this. Nothing seems to have worked.
I'm not sure if it might be my laptop, which is a few years old now. I'm fairly confident it's not my internet connection as this works fine on other devices like phones and consoles, and checking online indicates that YouTube isn't experiencing any issues at present.
Thank you in advance for any advice or help, and apologies in advance if I don't understand some of it straight away!

39 F here.
My whole life, I've had a very strong "fawn" response to stress. I was always hiding from my parents if they were in bad moods, or wanting to get out in front of any groundings by being super helpful and polite so maybe they'd forget why they were upset with me. Had trouble making friends until I discovered a natural talent for just nodding and smiling whenever anyone talked to me. Turns out if you laugh at the right times, people think you have a lot in common with them!
Anyway. Fawn Response got me through a lot of hard times. I always tried to show people what a wonderful friend I could be, how I would always lend a sympathetic ear or shoulder, and if anyone needed ANYTHING (short of possibly a kidney,) I was first in line to offer it. I might have come off as a bit overeager, in retrospect.
It took me until my early thirties to realize that, as fleetingly satisfying as it was to feel "helpful," it was never reciprocated. Nobody went out of their way to thank me or show me that all my help was appreciated. I was constantly taking on more tasks and responsibilities that I could have said no to without the world coming to an end. I finally started paying attention to how I felt when I said yes to something I didn't really want to do...and found out that turning it down without a lengthy explanation or apology was often enough. People didn't care that much.
Now, though, I'm in a fight with my sibling (younger) because we can't seem to communicate the same way anymore. She went through some trauma last year and she's come a long way, but there are still a lot of things she "can't" talk about and will not let me talk about, even in passing. I have not asked for a comprehensive list of Forbidden Topics from her and being snapped at MID-SENTENCE to "not talk about XYZ" annoys the living fuck out of me. Fawn Response comes back online REAL fast and I find myself bowing and scraping to her every wish, like that's actually going to help her heal. I got snarky during a phone conversation last week and she and I ended things by hanging up on each other because I had displeased Her Highness with my rude tone.
Look, I love her and she's my best friend in the world. But fighting with someone who is both family AND best friend sucks. The truth is, she has gone through shit I never have and hopefully never will, and it's changed her. I don't know how to make room for her trauma and still have a healthy relationship where we can talk without sniping or avoiding topics. One thing I DO know is that Fawn Response doesn't help me here anymore than it does in any other scenario. And I will not go back to my shitty people-pleasing habits even for her.
My therapist will hear all about this soon, but for now, just wanted to get it off my chest.

For those who use the PayByPhone app to pay for parking around Greater Vancouver, please be aware that the company has initiated a junk user fee of 15 cents ($0.15) per transaction.
I realize that 15 cents may not seem like much if you are paying $8 for parking. However, for those of us who use the extending parking time feature to add more time to an existing parking transaction, 15 cents is a lot when the transaction may only be 25 cents.
For example - if you parked at a meter for $3 per hour and figured you would only be there for 45 minutes or so giving you 15 minutes extra but you later realized that you needed another 5 minutes for what previously was 25 cents, those 5 minutes now cost you 40 cents. The company just increased your parking rates by 30 cents (15 cents for the original hour and then another 15 cents for the extra 5 minutes).

Have had bluecurve for three years, with only occassional issues mostly with TV ( bluecurve 6 router and wifi TV portals, all devices wifi connected ). Past month or so, have had a lot of wifi disconnects and laptops not able to reconnect. Have tried the usual, power cycle router, uninstall/reinstall wifi devices, 2-3 online chats with Shaw, one Shaw tech visit where he swapped the router for another of the same model ( refurbished ). Things work for a while and then laptops drop wifi connection, oddly usually mid afternoon, while IoT devices remain connected ( they are 2.4GHz, while laptops prefer 5GHz ). More than one laptop involved, all are Windows 10, latest patch release. There are no splitters in the cable, only one line from outdoor box to bluecurve modem connection.
I have noticed that when one or more laptop devices have dropped their internet connection, ( windows wifi status changes from the pie shaped icon to a globe and text reads " Connected, no internet", so it seems the laptop is still connected to the router, but not beyond, but I'm not sure about that.
Also noticed that for the most part, my work laptop on VPN remains connected to the corporate network. Today, I disconnected the VPN on work laptop and my personal laptop immediately reconnected to wifi/internet. I did confirm that work laptop was connected to 5GHz wifi, same as the problematic personal laptops.
Wondering if vpn connection takes priority of bandwidth and starves the other devices, causing them to disconnect? Sounds stupid, I know, but I'm at a loss here. One online Shaw Tech did confirm she saw unusual behavior on my modem from her side but I don't know what that meant and when the on-site guy did his tests, all was good and in fact speedtest was amazing on all devices ( until about 10 minutes after he left... ).
At the moment, I am using my phone as a wifi hotspot for work laptop/vpn, but don't want to have to do that if it really isn't the issue.
Apologies for the rambling, but appreciate any suggestions and/or stories of similar experiences.
I've considered switching to Telus Internet/TV services but I like the simplicity of the one modem and wifi TV portals that the Shaw Bluecurve 6 uses, while I think Telus has more pieces of equipment and doesn't offer wifi TV portals yet ( I may be wrong ).

Please, I really need support right now; I’m anxious and unsettled and can’t seem to shake it off.
A stranger came to our door yesterday and rang the doorbell. They were acting weird; their vehicle was parked halfway in our driveway at an angle and the driver’s side door was opened. They were there a while, looking at their phone before ringing the bell again. It felt wrong so we didn’t interact at all; I pulled down the blinds. When they left, they reversed their vehicle back several houses before pulling forward again slowly and looking directly at the blinds while passing our house.
I tried to think up reasons for it to have been something benign, but their posture, behavior, our location being pretty out of the way…I don’t know. It gave me such a bad feeling.
I don’t think I’ll ever feel safe at home, not entirely. It’s too easy to imagine someone trying to hurt me and my husband and our pets; I have nightmares about it sometimes.
It makes me feel sick; I’ve had PTSD and severe agoraphobia since I was a child, and sometimes between real-world experiences and death threats online, I can’t cope. Why can’t people just leave us alone? We’re happy and in love; we have interests and passions, and hobbies; we’re entire human beings and just want to live a quiet life. We don’t want to bother anyone.
It was our anniversary yesterday and we didn’t leave the house because we felt unsafe. My heart is heavy and I feel like crying. I feel really, really alone.

I'm an old man, but still should have known better to click that link to watch the NCAA lacrosse finals today.
And now I'm getting constant pop-ups and notices. My phone (Samsung) has AVG Antivirus, CCleaner, and Malwarebytes. I ran all of them, at least I think I did, but the pop-ups are still happening.
I'm not a technical person at all, and even though this is nostupidquestions, I still feel pretty stupid at the moment. Thank you for any comments or suggestions.

-Age/Sex: 20 y/o female to male transgender -Height: 5’4 -Weight: 260 lbs -Prescribed meds: Testosterone 150mg/g (15%) topical cream daily, Seroquel 100mg, Ivega shot 117mg once a month, Trazodone 150mg, Lithium 900mg, Hydroxyzine 50mg PRN up to 2x daily, Diamox 500mg, levothyroxine 50 mcg -Substances: Alcohol (had a recent relapse and infrequent but insane use of cannabis when I use it—haven’t used cannabis in 17 days). Also nicotine (vaping) -Medical Conditions: insomnia, cyclic vomiting syndrome, IBS, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and congenital anosmia -Mental Health Conditions: Schizoaffective bipolar type, PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, cannabis use disorder, possible alcohol use disorder (but not officially diagnosed). Duration of complaint: 1-3 days
So, I’m someone who struggles with substance use and goes to AA. Life has been super crazy and I just had a friend cut me out of their life late last week which triggered a manic episode for me starting a few days ago. When I get manic, sometimes I get psychotic (not right now), sometimes I get suicidal (not right now), and sometimes I do high risk behaviors like binge drink/use, do like 16 random unsafe hook ups in a week, etc. I talked with a crisis line to talk myself out of meeting someone random at 4am for a hook up in a van in a very bad area of town today. I sleep every other day. I have zero appetite. Etc. I’m definitely in a manic episode (and was just in psychiatric inpatient for a manic and psychotic state while sober for like a month).
So, I relapsed with alcohol last night because when I’m in a full blown manic episode not drinking/using is almost impossible. I’ve had 8 drinks since 3am today (didn’t sleep last night due to mania) and I’m worried of consuming more tonight and days beyond that. I’m currently sober. I struggled more so with alcoholism when I was 18 and then it flipped to cannabis when I was 19 (when I started receiving help for substance use). The last almost 2 years, I’ve drank like once every 2-3 months but binge drink every time I drink.
I literally tried every coping skill in the book this time around to stay sober. I tried showering, journaling, meditating, working on the 12 steps, talking to my sponsor and support system, calling a crisis line 3 times last night, distracting myself, all of the AA sayings (take it one day at a time), going to AA meetings, etc and nothing stopped me from drinking. I literally almost started crying in Walmart today because I was trying so hard to walk out of the store to not buy alcohol but I did it anyways, that’s how much I’m struggling with this.
I’m not suicidal because I believe god will not let me die at this point, but I have had a lot of prior suicide attempts and I feel hopeless and shame over the whole situation.
I feel like I’m spiraling. I’m trying to sign up for a mental health and co-occurring PHP currently and will get a decision on it Wednesday. But, I’m wondering when I would need alcohol detox vs just PHP since I’ve never sought detox for alcohol. As for withdrawal symptoms, they are minor. Anxiety, hands shake very little, and my resting heart rate is around 118 instead of my normal 95 when I’m not drunk (it’s closer to 125-130 when I drink). I have never had a hangover so that’s not a symptom. The internet isn’t super clear on the threshold between just doing PHP vs needing psychiatric inpatient for detox. The place I’m requesting PHP from said at a minimum I would need to be drinking heavily like I am for 72 hours and/or I can’t stay sober for PHP once that’s set up for me in order to qualify for detox. Is this accurate?
The second thing is I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. However, I’m worried I’m gonna show up to it under the influence (not extremely but noticeable from my emotions and how I talk). I know for therapy that if you show up intoxicated the therapist ends the session and you go home. Is it the same with a psychiatrist appointment? If so, would I just call that morning to cancel the appointment, explain the situation, and follow my psychiatrist’s recommendation from there? I don’t drive, but I would hate to take the bus all the way there only to be told I need to go home 2 minutes later.
I feel lost and I just want to make the best choice for myself (as much as I really don’t want to go back into psychiatric inpatient). Even though I’m using, I really don’t want to and I’m trying my hardest not to drink and I just can’t stop. Please don’t judge. Any advice is appreciated.

Chapter 1
Camila
I cursed under my breath when my car suddenly stopped in the most dangerous place in L.A.
I was in the middle of the road in a popular neighborhood where the enemy held a stronghold. They must not know a girl like me was stuck here — a lady carrying drugs worth hundreds of thousands in the trunk of her car.
I began to hit the steering with my fist and stared at the front of the car as if I would understand the problem by looking hard. Then, I sighed again. This was indeed a terrible situation. But I had learned not to panic in dire circumstances like this. All I needed was an idea of what I should do and do it fast.
I picked up my phone from the holder and dialed Lucio's line. It rang and rang, but he didn't answer. That was Don, the man who sent me on this mission. He was a busy man and wouldn't answer random calls unless it had to do with successful delivery.
But I was in danger, and he could lose me and the goods in the car.
I looked out of the window to have a clear view of my location. The Gerrard Lorenzo cartel dominated these areas. I would be skinned alive and fed to the dogs if they knew I was one of Lucio's girls.
I removed the key from the ignition and tried again, but the car only stuttered for a few seconds and stopped. My heart had begun to beat fast and repeatedly. The time was getting late, and I began to imagine wild and dangerous stories — of assaults and girls who lost many things or their lives for being the mafia moll for a cartel. What would happen if a swarm of boys (drug dealers) came around and found out I was that girl?
I was the girl who pushed drugs for Lucio — the Spanish guy who terrorized them, the enemies, with his ways.
I picked up my phone and dialed his line again. He had told me to move the drugs to those who would sell them in Beverly Hills and return home as soon as possible. My job was to be fast and carry the money home without hassle. The phone rang for a few minutes, and I said to myself, “Please, Lucio, pick up, pick up,” many times.
He didn't pick up the call, though, and my anxiety multiplied.
I looked out the window to my left and saw a four-story building. I could not step down and ask for help, and I dared not leave the car alone to look for help. I couldn't open the trunk for any stranger because of the bags in the trunk. There were four of them, and all of them were fully stacked. This was my job, using my beauty as a tool to drive safely through the street and handling drugs for those who paid for it.
Trying to start the car again, I said a little wish as I turned the ignition. It stuttered like it did before and stopped. I needed to update Lucio pretty fast. I had been on the road many times and on long journeys, and I knew when it wasn't safe.
I heard a car coming along, so I pulled out my pistol from my pants. I had rarely fired a gun except some years ago when I was made to punish a guy who tried to assault me. Lucio made me do it.
The car drove past without care that another vehicle was parked and the occupant was a young woman.
I put my pistol back in my pants and tried to start the engine again. For the hundredth time, it failed to start. The only option was to call for help, the fastest I could get. So, I picked up my phone and called the only person I knew could answer on time. David. He was one of the soldiers and lived some hours away from here. He had helped many times like this. Sometimes, he would send a boy to come around, and sometimes, he would go around himself and bail me out. Not usually in cases of stuck cars, but those involving police and street fights. He had been the guy.
I called him thrice and listened to the phone ring each time, but he didn't answer. My hands began to shake as I put the phone down. The night would get late, and when it came to moving drugs, this amount of drugs, I should have a way to protect myself in case anything went wrong. The night, too, was my best bet.
I pulled out the gun again and stepped out of the car. First, I put it closer to my left hand and stood outside the vehicle. Then, I opened the hood, trying to see if there was something I could touch that would miraculously save the day. Then, I would run the errands, return to my place, and text Lucio I had delivered the package. Once my job was done, I would get paid.
Nothing made sense under the car hood. They were just metals and bolts and wires.
I heard footsteps coming along the road and looked up toward the place. They were boys, and you could tell they had been drinking from the slurry words they threw around to how they laughed like they were being paid extra if they could sound a little louder than the person beside them.
I was fucked. They were five in number, and my mind went to the last time I had a moment like this. If Lucio hadn't intervened, three boys could have assaulted me ten years ago. That was the beginning of our relationship.
I put my hand on my waist and grabbed the gun's handle. I wouldn't pull it out if they didn't do anything stupid. But if they did, so help me, God, they would be dead in a minute.
"Ma'am, do you need help?" I heard the voice from a distance. Before I could turn my head, two boys were beside me, looking down at the inside of the car. "Try to start the car, ma'am," one said.
I rushed to the driver’s seat and tried to start the engine. The boys told me to stop, and they began to do a few things. They were probably college students returning from a party? I couldn't figure out what they were doing with the car. All I knew was I would be happy if they could start the engine.
The engine started. They worked on it for a few minutes, and it made a blaring sound and started. I almost jumped for joy. Then, I got out of the car.
"Thank you so much," I said.
"If you have booze in the car, we will appreciate it," one of them, who had done nothing with the car, said.
"I don't have booze, but I've got this," I said, bringing out five hundred dollar notes. I handed them the cash, and they thanked me. Then, they walked away in the other direction.
I started my car and drove toward Beverly Hills, where I would deliver the drugs.
The road was quiet because it was in the dead of the night. I was a little late to deliver the drugs, but this usually happens. Sometimes, you get to where you want to go on time. Sometimes, you must take a different route because you got tipped that the cops were on the way. The bags of drugs were stacked with some bar soap, too. It had never helped during the search, but I had never been stopped and searched for the past two years I worked for Lucio.
I arrived at my destination some hours later and drove into the compound. There was the usual flirting with the guys. Then, they took the bags out of the vehicle. The drugs were tested, and I was allowed to go. I texted Don instantly. This time, he read the text but didn't reply.
Soon, I was on the raid again, like the driver that I was. One delivery in the middle of the night, and I had been paid more than I could earn as a bartender. I could have stopped working at the bar, but Don owned the place and needed me there. He trusted me with his affairs and business. We could get married in the future when he was ready, but I was sure that was a big lie.
I was close to the road that led to my house when I saw a car behind me. I saw the light flashing before my eyes. I tried to keep it off, but it followed like a parasite would follow its host. This was a chase, and driving was one of my favorite hobbies besides dancing on the pole. Stripping was my job some years back.
So, I hoped the car wouldn't fail me again as I began to speed. This was the road between Beverly Hill and San Diego., and it was dark and lonely.
Eventually, my car failed me and pulled over when I needed it to start moving fast. I held my pistol and looked at the inner mirror.It was too late to fight, and it was time to accept defeat. Holy Mary, forgive my sins, I said. Damn, I had forgotten how to pray the rosary or anything related to the church.
I put my gun down and waited.
Then, someone corked a gun from a dark distance. Footsteps began approaching, and I shut my eyes and raised my hand. This was probably a message for our Don, for something he had done wrong or had been doing. A gun was pointed at me through the side window, and I looked up to see it.
More tears pushed out of my eyes, and I shut them tighter like I was ready for a final call. Then, the sound of a gunshot followed. I was not the one who fell, but the man standing by the car door.
I looked around the area and saw a man coming along. He corked his gun again, and the vehicle behind started, and a few gunshot exchanges followed.
I didn't know what to do, but sitting and screaming didn't help. So, I lay down in the car and stifled my screams by biting my lips hard.
Some minutes passed, and everything died down. I got up slowly and looked out of the side mirror and at the road. Two men were on the floor, the one who had tried to shoot me and another man who had appeared like an angel and shot at the first man.
One was dead, and the other was bleeding out by the side of his arm. At first, I wanted to drive off. This was what Lucio would have wanted me to do. He would like it if I had run for my life. But if this other man had not risked his life as he did, it would be my body lying dead now and not his.
I opened the door of the car and looked at the man. He was still breathing but on the floor, almost dead.
"Hello, sir," I asked.
He didn't answer, but I noticed he tried to move or lift his hands up.
So, I ran closer to him.
"Sir, I can get help," I said.
He shook his head. He got on his feet as if he had not been shot or bleeding badly. He stared at me like he was not there, just a moving body without life. A ghost. "You should get out of here. They will come back for his body," he said. Then, he began to walk down the road. He only took a few steps when he crashed on the floor and collapsed completely.
I rushed towards him and noticed he had passed out. If I could get him home, I could get him some help. So, I began to drag his body toward his car.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C41F6W2W

Possible spoiler alert?
I am so fuming right now I just noticed this. Besides the obvious, Michael was so underappreciated by Jan for being weird and quirky around the client, as I am rewatching the episode I am discovering more and more.
First of all, Ryan brought Michael's dry cleaning and Pam literally threw them under her desk. I get that it might be weird for Michael to dry-clean his jeans, but Pam also knows that he loves those jeans and they are very important to him. So what he dry-cleans them? They even came with a hanger which she could just use and hang on the coat rack right behind her.
Second, Micheal changed the location of the meeting which is overseen generally, Jan was very against this, but it made a huge impact on the client's mood.
Then Michael wants to carpool with Jan, which is pretty nice of him, but Jan was also against this.
when they arrive at Chilli's Micael finds out that Jan has just divorced. He doesn't even look at the client anymore because he thinks Jan's feelings and well-being are much more important than that. Jan avoids him... again...
GOD, it's like everyone was against Michael in this episode.
After that, he calls Pam for his jokebook. After that phone call, Pam takes his screenplay from his drawer and just starts reading it. OMG PAM STOP!!! After making fun of it with Jim, they all gather around INCLUDING DWIGHT???
aaand after that filming crew kinda pushes him to talk about what happened with Jan even after he says that he does not wanna talk about it.
Anyways I was pretty angry about the mistreatment Michael was having in this episode and I felt bad for him and he was still being so nice to everyone about it.

It was at midnight exactly when everyone who was awake promptly passed out.
It wasn't an instant 'fall to the ground like a corpse' mass unconsciousness. It was just this sudden and intense state of exhaustion that made it impossible to stay awake.
Ours was a mining town, averaging around 70,000 population, and recently being hit by recession that made finding work a pain in the ass. And with the mine running dry, it was all we could do to keep afloat.
I was out for a stroll when the exhaustion hit, I was crossing the street when this oppressively heavy state of exhaustion just hit me. I panicked, of course, thinking that I was having a stroke or something, desperately trying to get to the other side of the crosswalk.
Then darkness.
It was the sunlight that woke me up, I squinted in the hellishly bright light and fumbled around for my sunglasses. Why I kept sunglasses on my person in the dead of night was because I was that kind of asshole who wanted to look cool. My mileage definitely varied on that front, but it was at least an attempt.
Still, when I managed to find them, confused as to why I was on hot asphalt, I put them on, only for them to immediately fall off. I was forced to open my eyes, and that's when I saw my hands.
At first, I thought it was the mother of all sunburns, being so bright red, but when the sound came out of my mouth, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. First and foremost, I was covered in bright red scales, I had these short, sharp claws at the end of my hands, on top of which my feet were utterly fucked up, and I had a tail.
I scrambled for my phone, wondering if it would even register my touch, Thankfully, it did.
You know those memes where someone takes a picture of an animal, and it looks really fucking funny? Guess whose first picture was like that. I turned on the camera, flipped the camera so I could see myself on the screen, and accidentally took a picture as my new snout filled the screen.
I tried to get up, but I realized that my clothes were too big, and that I had gone from a solid 6 feet and dropped to a measly three. Bear in mind, the average height of a person with dwarfism is a solid four, and I know this because I did an entire project on it in ninth grade.
I had no idea what the hell I was, if I was the only person like this, and I was forced to use my XL shirt to cover my otherwise naked body, tearing the shit out of it with my new feet claws, and being faced with the reality that being a three-foot lizard meant I had to crawl through my dog door.
Thankfully, Brutus didn't even seem phased, he just walked up to me, tail wagging, and very much wanting to be pet, which I did, very carefully. I needed something pure and wholesome in the world to keep me from going insane.
That was around six AM.
Now, googling 'Help, I've turned into a three foot lizard' didn't help at all, and I sure as shit didn't want to walk all of the way to my parent's house and potentially freak them out, but I did have my brother.
James is a furry, I'll just say it flat out. Like, an absolute turbo furry. It had taken me time to get used to the idea that he liked furry characters, and I knew a lot of the art he liked dealt with this kind of situation.
I was desperate, and I needed someone on my side. When I called him, it rang and then went to voicemail, and I proceeded to continuously call him, because he will eventually wake up. I got ready to call him again when a notification came up saying he wanted to FaceTime.
I braced myself for his inevitable squeeing when he saw I'd been transformed into a tiny little lizard.
I didn't expect him to be one as well.
Of course, he was the one who was fucking ecstatic, and it took me a lot of attempts to get him to listen to me, which he eventually did.
"Bro." I said, the words slipping out of my mouth weird. I had to carefully enunciate, moving a tongue that was completely alien to me inside of a mouth that didn't work the way I was used to. "What the thuck ith going on?" I asked. "Do you haff any idea what ith going on."
It was painful, really. Of course my brother spoke fluently. It didn't occur to me until he was halfway through his diatribe about TF triggers that I said, "Hey, wait, you're speaking another language." I paused. "I'm speaking another language!"
Like, it all translated into English for me, but we were very much speaking a language that was full of sibilants and yips, yaps, and naks.
"Oh, yeah. That's Yipyak." He said.
"What the fuck is a Yipyak, and if this is some sort of deez nuts joke, I'm going over there and clawing you."
So he explained that we were both Kobolds, creatures from Dungeons and Dragons, and our native language was Draconic, more specifically a pidgin language known as Yipyak.
"Alright, scholar of the Kobolds, what do we do about this situation, because people are going to freak out."
"Brother." He said. "There's no way in hell it's just us."
Part of me knew he was right, but I absolutely did not want to believe it.
Naturally, people gathered around the Town Hall.
The screaming started around eight AM, as people woke up to find themselves turned into Kobolds. Some of them were screaming in joy, others were as horrified as I was, but that wasn't the worst part.
Only half of us were Kobolds.
Mom and Dad picked us up, because they could reach the pedals. They were, of course, very concerned, but they helped us out because they loved us.
Most of the people who arrived who had been turned into Kobolds had to make due with shirts hiked up to their waists and tied off with a belt, the rest just stood around. Naked. There was one weirdo who just made a loincloth and was looking very proud of himself.
Weirdly enough, I actually kind of wanted one.
So, there we were, engaging in what was effectively a cultural exchange between the nerds and furries and the rest of us normal folk. Really, the only explanation as to how and why this happened was. "Fucked if we know, but it has knock-on implications for the rest of the universe."
The Humans- wow, that was a thought I just had, and not one I could just not have- The Humans were of course upset that this had happened and that our entire town was facing a crisis that we didn't know how to deal with.
But the furries had hypotheses.
First, the facts as we knew them. Exactly half of our population had been transformed. The only people who transformed were the D&D nerds and the furries, with the rest being directly related. The transformation only seemed to only effect family members in the same generation, which is why a husband and wife were Kobolds, but their kids weren't. Finally, there was nothing like this happening anywhere else in the world.
Therefore, the hypotheses were thus:
A. Some sort of wild magic surge triggered the transformation. And yes, magic was real because some of us could use it. Me included.
B. The D&D universe actually existed and was bleeding into reality. This excited the D&D players, because it meant they could go on an adventure.
C. There was a Dragon somewhere, maybe in the mine, and it wanted minions. Nobody liked this idea. Well, nobody said they liked it. I felt weirdly okay with it.
D. This was just Some Weird Shit, so let's just move on.
Naturally, someone leaked what happened, the government came, and, well, that's when we discovered that anyone entering the town limits had a roughly 50/50 chance of getting instantly turned into a Kobold. We also determined we could leave, but the way was blockaded because nobody wanted this to spread.
To the government's credit, they didn't take away our civil liberties to dissect us, they just showed up, brought scientists, and started trying to figure out what was going on.
The rest of us just had to adjust.
We couldn't really live in our own houses anymore, I mean, they're not even built for people with Dwarfism, it was even worse for us because we couldn't even reach the counter. So we just did the best we could. Some carpenters got together and started building houses that were proportional to our size. Kitchen appliances weren't going to be of any real help, so we just had to make due with houses that didn't have any electricity, but at least worked well with space heaters.
One of the best things about these houses was that they were quick to make and were easy to navigate. Some of the people built medieval-style housing, which I found myself increasingly attracted to as a place to live. Some of the D&D players were part of something called the Society of Creative Anachronism, and they hand made a lot of clothes that, for whatever reason, my stupid little Kobold brain liked, so here I was in a thatch-roofed house proportional to my size in medieval clothing that I could not fathom why I liked it.
In fact, I'm beginning to hate who I used to be.
The first sign that I was experiencing a dislike of my Human body was when I saw a picture of me and just got angry. Like, I smashed the frame against the floor and tore the thing to shreds before I got a hold of myself.
I catch myself only talking in Yipyak, and being annoyed when I have to switch to English. Not to mention, I've begun practicing magic. I can't explain how it works, I just know it works, it's helped me keep the place clean.
I know how to cast six of these spells, though, two of them exhaust me. The D&D nerds identified them as 'Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Mending, Firebolt, Detect Magic, and Magic Missile.' Basically, the power do to a lot or really minor effects, the ability to create a magic hand that does whatever I want it to, the ability to fix some things, and the ability to throw fire at something- all at will. As well as the ability to see magic and the ability to throw magic at something that will always hit.
A lot of utility.
So with Detect Magic, I was able to determine that the town was surrounded in a cylindrical magic field, I actually took the time to help mark the border so people wouldn't accidentally become a Kobold. Other things I was able to figure out was that it was a '9th level' spell with Transmutation.
"Oh, that's Mass Polymorph! But that spell only effects ten creatures."
"Well, whatever it is, it's made a hell of a mess of things." I said.
Well, something came out of the mine earlier today, it was a giant fucking rat, and I used Magic Missile to kill it. I was halfway through skinning it when I realized I was skinning it, and that I had never skinned an animal before. I kept at it, and brought it to the warren.
The warren?
Yeah, that word fits.
I have these weird moments of self-awareness where I suddenly remember what life used to be like, and how much I had changed. How much the others changed. Some of them had changed their names , and I realized with a start that I didn't want my name anymore.
But there's another one that's just on the tip of my tongue.
Ruuk.
A Kobold came up to me, wanting some help with something. He said my old name and all I could say in response was, "My name is Ruuk."
He didn't even question it, and immediately started using it. I helped out with what he needed- he'd broken his hoe and needed it fixed, which I obliged.
It struck me, as we hit our first year of this, that I didn't want to go back to being a Human.
​
[Navigation for 'Dragon Rising'- [1] [2]]

So. I am in my early thirties. I‘m just going to sum up what my father is like (he certainly doesn’t have a personality disorder but he is - let’s say -troubled) and I would like some opinions on the kind of person he is just by merely describing his actions. He cheated on my mum when I was roughly 5 years old, for about 6-9 months, in my parents shared bed in their apartment. My mum was living in another city in my grandparents home at the time, together with me so they would take care of me and she could pursue her studies. My dad was supposed to follow and until my mum found out about the cheating, he came over every weekend. Then of course came the divorce and he married the woman he cheated with. Every weekend, when he picked me up from the train station when I visited, he made me feel ashamed and incredibly anxious. I would often forget things and when I arrived, he would lecture me and yell at me and intimidate me in public for what I had done (e.g. not bring enough clothes or forget to charge my phone). Also we once went to a farmer’s market when he picked me up, together with his wife and at a stand, one of the ppl working there said something like : „you can give this to your mum“ and I said „that is not my mum“. Later, his wife complained to him how that sentence had hurt her deeply and he went on to tell me how I had hurt her feelings and should not do/ say such thing ever again. On weekend visits, he always found things to make me feel ashamed or genuinely terrified of him and his unpredictable outbursts, he would then tell me to go to my room and reflect on what I had said / done (I was like 7 or 8) and later I had to tell him everything I had supposedly done wrong. He would also publicly shame me until I was crying and wait until I calmed down and in the moment I calmed down and he noticed I’d stop crying, come back to lecture me again so I would start crying again (because in his anger he feels righteous to punish and make you feel bad for your „mistakes“) Fast forward: when I was 12, he had my first half brother. I visited for the first year or so, until one day his wife (she probably didn’t sleep much) yelled at me when I was staring blankly ahead which she interpreted as me staring at her breastfeeding. „Stop staring at me like that!!“ That was shortly before I was supposed to take he train home and I couldn’t stop crying for hours. Self explanatory by now I never got an apology for the way she‘d hurt my feelings or that my dad would step in for me. Then she got pregnant with the second child and my dad stopped calling me. Before this, he tried to take my mother’s custody away because supposedly she was neglecting me (which is not true, but she couldn’t do it all because she was a single mum). Then we did speak again after a couple years, when I was 18. he then stopped speaking to me again after I had some struggles to start my studies due to mental health issues (he was paying me and angry I didn’t follow through with anything yet also didn’t ask me or start a civil conversation but instead wrote me an official letter with heading and title saying he‘d cut my alimony payments). The past years, it was a rather lose contact with one visit three years ago - until he called me for my birthday (so far like he did every year except for those with no contact) and went on for half an hour about how intelligent and great and smart and all the things his older son is. From then on, I tried to ignore every call as best as I could. Then last year was the cherry on the icing, my brother called and wanted to talk, so we did and he just casually explained to me how my dad told the two of them stories of how I was bullied in school (which are intimate stories for me and I barely know my brothers) and, even worse, stories of the things my mother supposedly had done to fuck me up, e.g. I quote „force her from therapist to therapist“. I then went on to cut off all contact but I since cannot get over the fact that he keeps telling them stories and I have no control over what he tells strangers (strangers to me) about my life and which of my vulnerabilities he gives to them when I know nothing about them in return. Him controlling The entire narrative and leaving out all the details that could make HIM look bad makes me feel so helpless and he doesn’t care, thinks that this is completely normal behavior because triangulation was modeled to him with his own father (who was a sicko btw). I feel betrayed and used as a means for him to strengthen his bond with his sons). Anyway, I often feel like my story isn’t „bad enough“?

Over 30 years ago myself and two others were involved in a police stop/ profiling in Columbia, MD that resulted in property destruction, bodily injury, and public embarrassment. The stop was intense! There were a swat team, police dogs, helicopter... After they concluded they search, the commanding officer admitted they made a mistake and acknowledge the destruction property. He gave us his card in anticipation... The incident was reported the now defunct Columbia flier, the local news paper. Soon after, we were contacted by a few law firms expressed interests in representing us. At any rate, we retained an attorney, young guy. He took the case with enthusiasm. Over the following months, we made several trips to his office, including a deposition. And the last we formally heard from him was that they (police) wanted to settle and that an offer was pending. Ok, great! But months passed we did not hear from our attorney. After a fairly long time, we weren't able to reach him by phone. I went to his office to no avail. He had moved. Years went by before I was able to locate him. I went by there, no avail. At that point he had a secretary. On one occasion called his office, the secretary told me nothing came ever out the case. Obviously, they discussed the case. But never got a formal from them. This bothers me to this day. This is an injustice, I believe. I would appreciate any help or some sort of orientation as to find out if this case was ever settled with the department. Where should I start to get to the bottom of this? And what recourse do I have given the length of time? Is this malpractice? Shed some light, please.

Hello,
I am struggling since yesterday fighting with this error. I was using it without problem, but the tv got stuck, I had to reboot it, and when I turned it on the app had lost all the saved data and now the credentials are not working anymore, giving me always the same "Authentication failed for the above host".
On the iPhone/MacOS version no problem at all.
I tried all the "solutions" found here and on the web, changing the slash of the URL for the backslash, adding :80 at the end of the URL... Nothing is working. I am getting crazy also because I searched in the LG store and found no valid alternative.
Can you please help me? Thank you in advance.

I find it sad that my PA seems to be doing great, and for some reason it’s still very hard for me to believe.
I’m 33/f and husband is 39/m. Together for 13 years. Porn was an issue almost immediately in the beginning. We had issues with it off and on. Then I let it go around 2016.
We’ve had so many DDays, but I’ll only talk about the most recent two. First being February 25th of 2022. In which I found the following after not looking in his phone for 4 years.
— He at some point began to browse escort ad websites. Which lead to him at some point buying a cheap secret phone to contact them. In which he kept the phone in our vehicle in a compartment I never checked or under the seat.
— He kept forgetting to pay the secret phones bill, so at some point around May 2021, he started using his own phone to contact them. This would be his demise when at 4am one of them decided to text him, and I had a gut feeling to pick it up and check for some reason.
— Upon going through the rest of the phone, I opened CashApp to find money being sent to several female account names I didn’t recognize, starting in May 2021.
— I did some digging and got their real names and numbers and contacted them asking them to help me out with info. Only a few obliged. In one conversation he was telling a girl he’s been looking for an escort that does bareback and looks good looking for months. That he wants to meet up, but can’t at that moment, but wants to meet soon. Then sent her $50 as a good faith payment, and another $50 for a few nudes.
He denied everything. He used excuses such as “Someone hacked my cashapp account. Someone spoofed my phone number. Someone lost that phone in our vehicle.” Mother in Law passed away during this time, life got crazy, and we moved on from it. This is when he put a new passcode on his phone that I wasn’t allowed to access, after always having an open phone policy.
I was able to access it once while he was asleep in October 2022, in which I found links to OnlyFans. Assuming he clicked on a link being curious, I didn’t say anything about it. It sounds sad but I was mostly relived to not have found texts from escorts or the escort website. We had a talk about OnlyFans the year before in which he made it clear it was off limits for both of us.
Which brings us to the most recent dday, February 3rd of this year. We had some drinks and he passed out in bed with his phone unlocked. Due to some weird events the previous weekend, I had a feeling something was up. I even came to him and asked if he had a porn addiction again because of it, in which he smiled and hugged me and laughed, and assured me he did not. This is what I found the night he passed out with the phone unlocked.
— Several days with links to OnlyFans, in which the links showed he had an actual account.
— In his photos section he had screenshots of OnlyFans profiles. In the “deleted photos” section, a photo of an OF profile and an accidental screenshot of a porn video featuring “teen” and “step sis” in the title.
— A secret Instagram account and Twitter account.
— Looked through his TikTok Watch History and found out why he had been obsessed with the app for the last few years. He was watching half naked young women and accounts made to promote their OF accounts.
— That he absolutely had a raging porn addiction and it likely never ceased for any period of time.
— That for years when he got out of work, he was sitting in his truck in the back of the building watching porn for 45 minutes to an hour before coming home. This explained why he got out at 6pm, but got home at 7pm, despite working 5 minutes down the road.
When confronted the day after, he was defensive per usual. He tried minimizing like usual, “I know you don’t like the porn” and “I just like seeing naked women.” And “All men do it, good luck finding one that doesn’t do it.” After further discussions this is when he broke down and seemed to start seeing the light.
He dropped the defensive attitude, and suddenly came to me saying he felt he had a problem. That he wanted help. That he knows not all men do it to that extent and was always embarrassed. He signed up for health insurance and asked me to help find him a therapist. He started answering every question I had truthfully. Past and present. That the escort situation was a fantasy and he never planned on actually doing it, lied to them so they wouldn’t block him ( don’t believe that based on the screenshots. )
All of that to say this. The first two months after, It was very hard for me to believe that he wasn’t still using Incognito to watch it. Even though I was checking Google Activity and Location, I just couldn’t believe he was able to stop like that.
So a month ago I put one of those spy apps on his phone. I thought for sure I would find out then. The app logs even Incognito use, apps downloaded and deleted, everything. It’s been exactly a month, and not one single thing has popped up that he shouldn’t be doing. Nothing.
You would think that would make me feel better! Sometimes it does. But other times it just makes me feel like he’s using another device I don’t know about. It’s that hard to believe. I keep waiting to open the app and see something, and yet it never happens. In a way it almost annoys me sometimes, because I wanted to finally see what he browses in Incognito. What keywords he searches, is he still going on escort ads, ect. Yet there is nothing.
It’s sad that it leads to this, that even when they are doing everything right, it’s hard to believe. You just keep waiting for the shoe to drop. Since that’s how it’s always been. They promise to quit, but never did. You think things are great, then a bomb gets dropped. I truly wonder how long it takes for that feeling to go away.

I’m a great communicator. I’ve always been able to have conversations with everyone although for some reason, in the last couple of months I’ve noticed this skill that I’ve had for years begin to decline a little. I’ll have a few hiccups here in there but for the most part, it’s still good.
Those hiccups I noticed are more severe in recordings. I’ve done a few audio/video projects in the last few months and noticed that my in person communication skills doesn’t carry as well into recorded commentary. Stuttering, slurring, mispronunciation of words is a lot worse and it’s a huge shock to me because I’ve always been a good speaker.
I’m making 3 minute commentary videos for practice and what’s supposed to only be a 3 minute recording session in one go, becomes a nearly 15 minute recording session with all these errors I mentioned. The final product is really good because I obviously edit out all the mistakes. I’m annoyed at how time consuming it’s become to record and edit, it’s not, only about an hour in total to do both but I know I can do better.
I’ve got an internship this summer, gonna be doing radio and interviews. I’m still pretty confident in my ability to talk in person and probably over the phone but I’d like to hear any advice and comments to my anxiety in recording projects. It’s unexpected for me to have this issue and anyone who’s seen my past work as a speaker and communicator might agree. Thank you.