I am seeking advice from anyone who can relate in any way, but mostly need to vent because this stuff actually lays heavy on me.
So, I (28f) have 2 siblings. My older sister (36), and younger brother (26). My parents have been together since they were 17. However their relationship/marriage has been anything but exemplary. My dad has always been very physically abusive towards my mother. I lived in one of those households where everyone feared my dad. Given my sister is 8 years older than I am, she witnessed and experienced way more in my home than I ever did in those short years before I was born. I have memories of seeing my dad beating my mom and sister on numerous occasions and for any reason. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t even need a reason. However, things in my household worked like a slinky going down stairs sometimes; where my dad would hurt my mom, my mom would in turn become offensive towards my sister and she turned around and was slightly abusive towards me. I was pretty depressed from an early age. For a period of time when I was small I truly felt like my family didn’t love me and I would often pretend to run away. My family found it funny at the time (I was probably about 5 or 6 when I felt this the most). My sis ended up leaving the house at 18, which was somewhat of a relief for me because she was always picking on me. A whole lot has changed since I was little. My dad is still a grouch, but he hasn’t hit my mom or anyone else since I was about 18. He grew up in a family that cusses a whole lot, and he remains that way to this day. But compared to all the physical stuff, words are just words at my parents house now. I’m sure anyone in that house would prefer to tolerate verbal abuse over anything else we have lived through on any given day.
It wasn’t until I was about 16 that my sister started showing more interest in building a closer relationship with me. Despite the way she used to treat me, it felt nice to finally have a good relationship with her. So we became close. She would let me in on the family secrets and gossip, and we would talk about our lives growing up. Eventually I brought up what she put me through as a kid in a conversation and she apologized. She also told me she had gone through the same type of conversation with my parents, where she confronted them for the way she was brought up. From what I gathered, there were lots of tears and apologies from both my parents.
Her family started growing pretty rapidly around that time, and as a single aunt I absolutely adored her children. She ended up moving to a neighboring city (about a 30 min drive), and it became slightly harder to visit her because of the distance. I basically went from being at her house every week- because she was about a 7 min walking distance away- to only being able to go over about once every 3 or 4 months due to the fact that our schedules hardly ever line up now. Sadly, I feel like we aren’t very close anymore.
Now to update you on more recent years; my sister now has 3 kids (16, 8, and 6). My younger brother has two kids (4 and 1), and I also have two kiddos (5 and 1). My brother- being 2 years younger- has always had the closest bond with me. We did everything together growing up, and now that we have kids all relatively close in age, we hangout about once a week or are in constant communication (we communicate through meme sharing on IG). Lol. My brother and I have a pretty close relationship with my mom. When we get together its nice. We have become a little tight knit family and help each other out whenever we need it. My dad and my sister have sort of decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the family though. My sis is very much “the black sheep” of our family, and my dad would rather just be alone. Speaking to him feels slightly awkward as he doesn’t really initiate conversation or express any interest in us. I feel like he might even be depressed, but because he has never really shown any true love for his family, none of us really bother to check up on him much. Still, I actually feel a little guilty for that too.
Things haven’t really started to bother me about my family until recently. Almost two years ago I got pregnant with my second child. Then a few months later we found out my brother was also expecting a child with his wife. Everyone was excited and of course we shared this news with our older sister, and she seemed happy for us when we announced it to her. However, she was a complete no show for both of our baby showers with zero explanations. We tried not to feel sour about it even though we knew for a fact she was off from work on those exact days. Then fast forward to this past winter. I got married. The venue we had chosen was coincidentally down the street from her house, literally like a 2 minute drive. However, she only stayed at the event long enough for me to see that she was present and she just upped and left with her whole family almost right after the whole bouquet toss thing. According to my brother who was sitting at the same table as her and her family, she left without even saying a word. I also wanted to mention how my father was nicely planted on a chair throughout most of the reception, and didn’t talk to anyone at all. He kinda just stared off into space or was fidgeting with a napkin on the table every time I caught a glimpse of him. I don’t know if I’m making it a bigger deal than it really was, but overall it was hard to not be a bit upset at them. I had a blast at my wedding regardless of this. I sure as heck wasn’t about to allow that from ruining what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life.
Then, after that it has just been nothing but no shows for the most part from both my sister and my Father. - My kids’ bday celebration held earlier this year; both didn’t show. - Easter family gathering; again. Both of them didn’t show. - My brother and his daughter’s bday celebration; Our dad finally showed. Sister did not.
At this point, my brother is fed up of trying to include our sister or our father in anything. Both have shown that they clearly don’t want to be involved in anything we do as a family. Even when it comes to doing something as simple as texting them just to know how they are… if someone else from the family doesn’t initiate the text, we will literally never hear from either of them. However, the only reason I keep insisting that we shouldn’t stop inviting her is because her children love spending time with us and all their little cousins. I have literally heard all of them begging their mom to bring them over to spend time with us. Not to mention that I have a pretty close relationship with my teenage niece (She kinda sees me as her ‘cool auntie’ and closest family member).
Should I just let my sister be? Should I keep pushing this idea that we could all one day become one big happy family? Like, it literally breaks my heart to think about our children not growing up around each other. The very few times that we have gotten together as a big family, it was so awesome. Everyone was so happy. I think?
I really don’t know what to think of all this. Any thoughts or advice on what to do would be nice. Sorry if this became very long to read or hard to follow. I just feel so strongly about my family and my thoughts about them are so jumbled.

When I was a young Air Force staff sergeant at a deployed location, I correctly applied Air Force Instruction (AFI) to a situation that inconvenienced a large group of contractors.
When my flight chief, a master sergeant, verbally reprimanded me for supposedly violating local policy, I pointed out that the local policy was unlawful and void on the basis that it contradicted AFI, which is the highest level of lawful order that can be given by anyone in the Air Force. Whereas local policy was an order given by a major, the AFI was an order that was given by a general. Thus, the local policy was an unlawful order insofar that it directed me to violated an order given by some superior in rank to the major.
Now, these days, AFI’s allow certain levels of command to waive certain AFI requirements, but they outline the level of higher command which must approve the deviation, and it’s a lengthy process of documentation. It’s not something that can just be waived willy-nilly by a commander because he or she can’t meet the requirement, which is what the case was at this particular location.
Anyway, I stood my ground and explained to Master Sergeant Z why I did what I did, using not only the AFI itself but thoughtful reasoning as to why my response ought to take precedence over the local policy, even if we were to ignore the superiority of AFI. He responded with, and I quote, “Listen STAFF SERGEANT (he said “staff sergeant” in a very condescending tone), when I give you an order, don’t think; just do.”
Fast forward to the tail end of the deployment. I was summoned to his office to sign a document. As I approached, someone was exiting the room and held the door open for me, so I entered. That’s when he started berating me for entering without knocking. He ordered me to exit the room; but this time, I was to knock and await instructions before opening the door.
So I promptly turned around and, in verbatim compliance with his directive, I knocked on the door and waited to be told to exit. He flipped his shit and yelled about how I was being a smart-ass insubordinate, and I informed him that I was simply doing as he ordered me to do without thinking, as he had previously ordered me to do.
Anyway, he issued a Letter of Counseling (LOC) which I delightfully rebutted by pointing out that I was simply complying with his orders. I got the LOC rescinded, and I we parted ways after the deployment had ended, never to meet again. I’m now retired and enjoying life, but I would occasionally tell this story to my colleagues as a warning about abusing one’s rank to “win” an argument and to ignore sound reasoning. Yes, there are times in the military when one must simply follow the orders that he or she is given, but those scenarios are usually restricted to combat and other emergency-type settings—which the one I described was not.

They won't chose sides over gender issues or abortion rights but yeah 3rd part apps is where they draw the line... Fuck off... Do you really think reddit cares… does anyone really care? If you think reddit is going to change their mind cause they lost one day of revenue you're insane and you really just sound like a little bitch whining about it. I'm gonna spend all fucking day on Reddit on the 12th just because fuck these stupid subs thinking they have some sort of moral stance over the wrong issues

It's expected that Leech Life is the move TiMi wanted us to use for Buzzswole, the jacked mosquito, but it's mostly worse than Superpower.
Given that Leech Life was meant to be a powerful move, the devs did everything in their power in an attempt to balance it; having the move's damage and effects cancelled by CC and literally allowing Pokémon to escape with any sort of dash; of which almost every Pokémon has, excluding Eject Button.
The restrictions put in place to keep this specific move from becoming overpowered, surprise surprise, makes it automatically worse than Superpower in the meta of busted Pokémon. The time it would take to bait out a target's dash would likely result in them already being out of Buzzswole's range and being free to fire upon him from safety. Both the damage and the healing are both gradual, hence giving the opponent's teammates ample time to CC Buzzswole; not only cancelling the move but denying it healing which makes it multitudes easier to take down. Sure, go ahead and try a Full Heal for size; it only lasts so long, and Hinderance Resistance doesn't protect you from everything.
This contrasts greatly from Superpower, which is not easy to react to due to the move initiating on contact; from where the target is guaranteed to become immobilized and take big damage. Of course he can't suplex an Unstoppable opponent; that always screws him over, but at least then he still has the rest of the mobility from the second part of the move. On that topic, did you know he can even grapple Charizard during its post-Unite-Move Hinderance Resistance? What does Leech Life have on that? Even though Superpower does not give Buzzswole any health recovery, it makes up with what's basically guaranteed damage on an opponent and potentially a group, and by a vast amount.
Obviously, one wouldn't go about buffing it by making it impossible to interrupt; that'll almost be the situation with Urshifu. Leech Life should be able to drain the health of the target more quickly, though maybe to a lesser extent. I would propose reducing the move's maximum effect by a quarter, but reducing its cooldown along with the change as to make the move much more reliable.
Yet again though, I'm mostly focusing on my side of this argument so I may have skimped over some wack interaction that'll be a reason to complain about a rework like this.

CBF = Childhood Best Friend
I need help to figure out if my female best friend of 16 years, may have feelings for me.
Backstory of our friendship: CBF and I have been friends since I was 6 and she was 5. To be honest I’m not sure how we met, but she recalls that we met while waiting for the school bus. All I know is that shes been part of my life for the past 16 years. We lived in the same neighborhood for 8 years and she lived in the house across from me. We also went to school together, From elementary to high school. Growing up we would get teased by family’s and friends because we were always together. I started to find her attractive during middle school years. One day I was dared to asked her to be my girlfriend for one day by my friends, and she said yes. It was awkward af, we both didn’t have experience in dating since I was in 7th grade and CBF was in the 6th grade. So nothing happened, no kiss, no holding hands. Since we only agreed to date one day, we went back to being friends the next day. Since then no kiss or any sexual act has ever happened between us. We both also dealt with depression when were teenagers. And it didn’t help that her parents and my mom don’t believe in depression, so we relied on each other. We were each other’s rock during our toughest time in life. We also never shared the same circle of friends. She has her own group of friends and I have my own. When we hang out it’s always just the 2 of us. We share our secrets, insecurities and goals with each other. We have a strong friendship bond.
Our rough patch: We had a rough patch when I went away for college. We didn’t talk much in my freshmen and sophomore years. Not until covid hit and I went 100% remotely to finish college. Because of this I moved back to my hometown. She chose to attend in our local hometown college and we reconnected when I moved back in my junior year. Since then we’ve been inseparable again.
Present: Were in our early twenties now, we’ve both been in relationships with other people and had flings with other people. We’ve always supported each other when it came to relationships, career, and Mental health. We also talked about our sex life, we’re very transparent with each other. We also never met each other’s bf/gf. We’re also only very comfortable to be vulnerable in each other’s presence. We grew up kinda poor, and we’re both the oldest sibling in our families. Our hispanic parents were hard on us and we had to grow up quick take care of our little siblings. Due to this we don’t have a very healthy relationship with our parents, so we rely on each other for emotional support. Also to add we rarely do physical contact, we rarely hug each other. A couple years ago we had the “talk” where we asked each other if we had feelings for each other. At the time we both said no. I lied, I did have feelings for her but I didn’t want to lose my CBF. So I buried those feelings, if she’s happy with just being friends with me then I’m okay with that. We hang out once or twice a week. But we constantly call or text each other.
This is where the mix signals start to show. In 2022 we started to casually see people. We’ve always supported each other when we started to date other people. But this time, she seemed jealous. She would make snarky comments about the person I was seeing. She would always say how I can do better. She would constantly message me when ever I went on a date with my partner. This seemed way out of character for her. On my birthday, my CBF made me a cake, made muffins and bought flowers for me. She also took me out to eat that day. Now here’s another big mix signal, while she was seeing her fling, she told me that he was jealous of me because CBF wouldn’t stop talking about me to him. One day CBF and I made plans to go to the beach at night and stargaze together. But I also invited my male best friend to hang out with us. Towards the end of the night my male best friend asked if CBF and I dated before. I said no, we’re just friends. He said that we playfully flirt with each other and that I should ask her out. Recently we’ve been joking around of how we act like a married couple, I would joke with her that I want a divorce and her response would be “never, you’re stuck with me forever.” CBF has also started to be more physical with me. When walking side by side she would bump into me with her shoulder constantly, she would also bump her foot with mine accidentally underneath the table to many times. A few days ago we shared a electric scooter together on her recommendation, and her butt was literally touching my crotch. She also recently started to call me sweetheart, and compliments me on my looks saying how cute I look with a beanie. One time we were thinking of moving in together, and her mom joked that we would hook up if we did. Usually CBF would make a gross comment about it or quickly shit the idea down, but this time she said “if it happens it happens.” My male best friend says that she definitely has feelings for me. He says by the way she looks at me and playfully flirts with me. So now I need other peoples opinions on this, does my CBF have feelings for me or am I just overthinking. I would hate to ruin this friendship due to misinterpretation. She’s one of the most important people in my life.
TLDR: Is my female best friend of 16 years giving me mix signals that she may have feelings for me. She playfully flirts with me and has started to call me sweetheart. Am i being oblivious or am I misinterpreting our friendship?

The NBA Finals 2023 is finally here, featuring an epic clash between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets. Fans are eagerly waiting to witness the intense showdown between these two powerhouse teams.
If you’re wondering where to watch the NBA Finals live, I’ve got you covered. In this article, I’ll explore various options for streaming the Heat vs Nuggets games and provide some free streaming alternatives.

Broadcast Information

The NBA Finals will be broadcasted on ABC, one of the major networks covering the event. To catch the action on ABC, you can tune in to your local ABC channel through cable or a TV antenna. However, there are several online streaming services that also provide access to ABC, making it easier for cord-cutters to enjoy the games.

Streaming Services

1. DIRECTV STREAM: DIRECTV STREAM offers ABC as part of its channel lineup. You can subscribe to their service and access the NBA Finals through their platform.
2. Hulu + Live TV: Hulu + Live TV includes ABC in its streaming package. By subscribing to Hulu + Live TV, you can stream the games live on ABC through their app or website.
3. FuboTV: FuboTV is another streaming service that carries ABC. You can sign up for their subscription and watch the NBA Finals on ABC using their platform.
4. YouTube TV: YouTube TV is an excellent option for streaming the NBA Finals live. It provides access to ABC, allowing you to catch all the games in real time.

Over-the-Air Antenna

If you prefer a more traditional approach, you can use an over-the-air antenna to watch the NBA Finals. This method enables you to access local broadcasting stations, including ABC, without relying on a cable or streaming service. Simply connect the antenna to your TV and tune in to your local ABC channel to enjoy the games.

Free Streaming Options

While some streaming services require a subscription, there are a few ways to watch the NBA Finals for free online. Here are some options:

1. FuboTV Free Trial: FuboTV offers a seven-day free trial that allows you to stream the NBA Finals without paying. After the trial period ends, the service starts at $74.99 per month.
2. ESPN: ABC and ESPN have a partnership for broadcasting the NBA Finals. If you have access to ESPN through a cable or streaming service subscription, you can watch the games on ESPN’s website or app.
3. Reddit: Reddit is a popular platform that hosts various streams, including NBA games. Although we don’t endorse or encourage unofficial streaming, some users may share links to live streams on Reddit. Keep in mind that these streams may not always be reliable or of good quality.

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International Streaming Options

If you’re located outside the United States, you can explore different streaming options available in your region. ESPN offers international streaming in over 200 countries, excluding Mexico and Latin America. Depending on your country, you may need to download the ESPN app from your device’s app store and sign up from there.
In the UK, NBA games can be watched through NBA League Pass, NOW TV, Sky Sports, and the BBC. NBA League Pass provides live streaming for all NBA games.
Canadian fans can catch the NBA Finals on TSN and Sportsnet Now streaming service, SN Now.
Australian viewers can watch the NBA Finals on ESPN/Kayo Sports or stream every game through NBA League Pass.
Remember to be cautious when using unofficial streaming sources, as they may not have proper broadcasting rights and can potentially pose security risks to your device.

What if you are outside the united states and struggling to stream NBA from your country

Don’t worry; I have a solution for you. With the help of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) like NordVPN, you can enjoy live NBA action no matter where you are in the world.
As mentioned earlier, streaming services and broadcasters often restrict access to NBA games based on geographical location. This can be frustrating for fans residing outside the United States, as they might miss out on witnessing their favorite teams compete in the NBA Finals. However, by using NordVPN, you can bypass these restrictions and unlock access to NBA live streams.
NordVPN is a trusted and widely recognized VPN service provider. It offers a secure and encrypted connection that allows you to browse the internet anonymously and change your virtual location. By connecting to one of NordVPN’s servers located in the United States, you can appear as if you’re accessing the internet from within the country. This grants you the ability to access region-locked streaming platforms that broadcast the NBA Finals.

Here’s how you can use NordVPN to watch NBA live from anywhere:

1.) Sign up for a NordVPN subscription: Visit the NordVPN websiteand choose a suitable subscription plan. They offer different plans depending on the duration of your subscription.
2.) Download and install the NordVPN app: Once you have subscribed, download and install the NordVPN app on your preferred device. It is compatible with various platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
3.) Launch the NordVPN app and log in: Open the NordVPN app and log in using your credentials.
4.) Connect to a server in the United States: Browse the server list and select a server located in the United States. This will assign you a U.S. IP address and make it appear as if you’re accessing the internet from within the country.
5.) Access NBA streaming platforms: Now that you’re virtually located in the United States, you can visit streaming platforms such as ESPN, ABC, or NBA League Pass to watch the NBA Finals live. These platforms typically require a subscription or may offer free trials, so make sure to choose the option that suits you best.
6.) Enjoy the NBA Finals: Sit back, relax, and witness the thrilling NBA Finals action from the comfort of your own home, no matter where you are in the world.
It’s important to note that using a VPN may be subject to terms and conditions set by the streaming platforms. However, NordVPN has a strong track record of providing reliable and secure access to geo-restricted content.
So, don’t let geographical restrictions dampen your NBA spirit. With NordVPN, you can cheer for your favorite teams and players as they battle it out in the NBA Finals, no matter where you reside. Grab your NordVPN subscription, connect to a U.S. server, and get ready to experience the excitement of live NBA action from anywhere in the world.

Enjoy the NBA Finals!
With the NBA Finals heating up between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets, you have multiple options to catch all the thrilling moments. Whether you choose a streaming service, use an over-the-air antenna, or explore free streaming alternatives, make sure to use a VPN to enjoy the electrifying action of the NBA Finals.
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Originally published on Medium.com

Astrology has a vast and rich history that dates back thousands of years. It is the study of celestial bodies and their impact on human behavior and events. Astrology has been utilized as a tool to understand personality traits, forecast future events, and offer direction for significant decisions across civilizations and cultures worldwide.
While some people may regard astrology as mere superstition or pseudoscience, many people who find value and meaning in its teachings continue to be enthralled by it. We shall look at the history, tenets, and several schools of astrology in this essay, as well as its applicability today and its detractors.

Origins and Historical Development

Astrology's beginnings can be seen in prehistoric societies including Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. The first accounts of astrological traditions originate from Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE, where priests known as astrologers examined and deciphered celestial omens. Events like floods, battles, and the future of kings were all predicted using these insights.
The ancient Egyptians also created a system of astrology, correlating particular traits with various celestial bodies and utilizing them to forecast people's fortunes and traits. In a similar vein, ancient Greeks thought that human affairs were influenced by the locations and motions of the planets and stars.
From the fourth century BCE to the first century CE, the Hellenistic era, astrology underwent tremendous development. Around this period, astrology started to borrow concepts from other cultures, such as Egypt and Persia and was heavily impacted by Greek philosophical notions. Major contributors to the science, including Ptolemy and Claudius Galen, laid the groundwork for later astrological techniques.

Principles of Astrology

The foundational idea behind astrology is that there is a connection between things that happen on Earth and the locations and motions of celestial bodies. It is based on the idea that everything in the cosmos is interrelated and that the celestial bodies are symbols or indications of the forces and influences that have an impact on how people behave and what happens in the world.
A key element of astrology is the birth chart, commonly referred to as the natal chart or horoscope. It shows the positions of the planets, the sun, the moon, and other celestial bodies with respect to the Earth at the precise moment of a person's birth. The birth chart's interpretation is extremely individualized and takes into consideration the particular constellation of planetary positions and aspects that affect a person's life.
Astrology acknowledges that events and characteristics are not caused by celestial bodies and their placements, but rather represent a mirror or a symbol of deeper underlying energy. It implies that these energies engage with a person's free will and consciousness in ways that give rise to the possibility of self-awareness, personal development, and conscious choice.

Branches of Astrology

Astrology encompasses various branches and specialized fields of study, each focusing on different aspects of human life and the cosmos. Here are a few notable branches of astrology:

1. Natal Astrology: This area of astrology focuses on interpreting a person's birth chart to reveal personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, and recurring themes in their life. In order to identify prospective courses and life experiences, it examines the placement of the planets, houses, and aspects within the chart.
2. Mundane Astrology: Mundane astrology looks at the connections between astronomical occurrences and global phenomena like political shifts, calamities, and societal trends. It offers an understanding of historical and global events by attempting to comprehend the larger-scale effects of planetary motions.
3. Electional Astrology: Choosing the most fortunate moment for significant occasions, such as marriages, business initiatives, or the launch of new projects, is the task of electional astrology. It makes use of astrological principles to select advantageous planetary alignments that coincide with the intended outcomes of the event.
4. Medical Astrology: The link between celestial bodies and human health is examined in medical astrology. It looks at the birth chart to pinpoint any potential health issues and offers all-natural cures and preventative measures.
5. Relationship Astrology: Synastry, another name for relationship astrology, focuses on examining the dynamics and compatibility between people in various kinds of partnerships. It contrasts and compares the birth charts of people to determine their strengths, weaknesses, and general compatibility.

Relevance and Criticisms

Astrology has survived throughout history because it may give people who want to understand themselves and the world around them more insights and significance. Numerous people turn to astrology for solace and direction, using it as a tool for introspection, personal development, and decision-making.
Astrology is criticized for lacking scientific validity and empirical support. They claim that any connections between celestial bodies and observed human behaviors or occurrences are just coincidental, and any accuracy in astrology forecasts can be attributed to chance or personal interpretation.
Additionally, some contend that astrology can potentially be harmful if people just use it to guide vital life decisions, omitting other crucial elements like human agency, critical thinking, and societal influences.
Despite these objections, astrology nevertheless has a sizable following and influence in contemporary culture. With the advent of online birth chart calculators and horoscope readings, it has adapted to technological changes. Additionally, astrology has made a home in popular culture, having an impact on art, literature, and entertainment.

Conclusion

Astrology has developed over thousands of years into a complicated and varied science. Astrology continues to provide people with insights, direction, and a sense of connection to the universe despite the fact that some people may be skeptical of its concepts and methods. Its continued appeal reflects the continuing human yearning for purpose, self-discovery, and a greater comprehension of the factors that influence our lives.

This is a crosspost from whatcarshouldibuy
My car is in the shop, and the prognosis is not good. It's an older Subaru Forester that saw a few too many New England winters and is now coated in corrosion and rust. It's definitely been the best car I've owned, and while I hope it can be saved, I'm looking for alternatives just in case.
I drive, on average, 1600 miles per year, which I'm told is extremely low mileage. Daily driver, super short trips. Almost 100% of those miles involve hauling stuff: like where the car is packed to the gills and is slowish to accelerate because there's so much stuff in it (and in the Thule on the roof). About 75% of those miles involve either driving on rugged terrain, unpaved roads, or 'off-road' situations. I do tow occasionally but not enough for that to be a factor in looking at a new vehicle.
The only other criteria I can think of is that I like to sit up high on the road, have good ground clearance (for the terrain) and have a lot of visibility. I'd also like something reliable and where it's reasonably easy to find parts. My brother has a Volvo and nobody outside Volvo dealerships knows how to fix it; I don't want to be in that position.
The Forester fits pretty much all of my needs, but I'm living in a different state now and used Subarus are harder to come by. Are there other vehicles I should be looking into?

So here is the thing. This season way more people will reach CQ then any other season. Literally all you have to do is go to an event location. Canp till the t-rex is free, jump in it and then run people over. I think this event is wrong. The t-rex should've been a thing or it should've been just a vehicle. No roar, no i stomp and vehicle is gone, none of that. They still have a height advantage that way. You can barely see players in it. The only thing is right about the t-rex that it dies somewhat fast. This event should've been made like the chinese dragon one where they reused the grappling hook from the spider-man event. 5-6-7 small event location with semi-good chest in the middle. Not airdrop guns but like stonger loot you could find anywhere else, like m4, or m24. You would still get the respawn card but there would be no t-rex. The velociraptor and the flying dinosaur should be ramade so they are sligthly better then they are now. This event over is like a 3/10 cuz players who otherwise would reach ace, with a 1.5 maybe 2 k/d now will reach ace dominator or even cq with a 4.0 , 5.0 k/d. But when they cant get the t-rex from the event they are like a 0.6 k/d player.. so basically useless and only good for recalls.

I realize this is a small subreddit, but I don't really know where to post.
I've been with Bank of America since the late 90's.
In all honesty, I fucking hate the bank. I've lived through them itemizing transactions according to amount, instead of date, so they could maximize the NSF charges to my account, all the way to when I found out they recycled account numbers and allowed a person with checks from the 80's with my recycled account number, but a different name, cash the checks and run my account to -$3500.
I hate them, but they have locations all over the US, so I use it for convince.
Yesterday, I went to B of A to cash a payroll check. I wanted to cash some, and deposit the rest. Teller says I can only cash it, and if I want to deposit, I have to take the cash and put it into the ATM.
OK, whatever, I can do that.
I put my card in, and enter my PIN so I can cash it.
The Teller sees my account amount, and then gives me the check back saying she can't cash it because I don't have enough funds in my account to cover the check if it bounces.
This is a payroll check from my work, on an account that has been owned by me since the late 90's.
I mean, I get trying to dissuade fraudulent checks, but seriously? They won't cash a payroll check from an account that is over 25 years old?
What happened to make this shit bank so much worse?

In short, Living Awareness is the creative ground of intention and intuition, and at the same time, it is the source of the sparkle, joy and vitality that we enjoy when we are in touch with our own being; it is our bridge to the creative ground, in which all things abide and from which they spring. More in-depth: to answer this question properly, we need to introduce another closely related term, that of Living Consciousness, as they go in tandem - Living Awareness and Living Consciousness, that is. Before going more into the details, let me say this: there is a whole book written around this area called Awaken the Living Awareness Within, so creating an all-encompassing answer in a relatively short space is quite a task - you can learn more about it here.
The terms Living Consciousness and Living Awareness arise from personal experience that best describe the aliveness of the experience of being alive, of being fully awake and aware whilst exploring the physical reality, the world around us, and the possibilities of human life by occupying the vehicle better known as the human body. Living Awareness is all about experiencing our core essence, experiencing life directly, experiencing reality directly, experiencing humanness in the most direct way possible; and Living Consciousness is all those experiences put together – from cosmic to galactic, to human, animal, plant, and so on.
In terms of consciousness, at the deepest level, there is but Oneself – One undivided Self; hence Oneself. There is but One all pervading Spirit; there is but one First Cause that has its Being of itself, and on which all other beings depend; there is but one Infinite Being, so there is but One Awareness. This is where Living Awareness comes in, for you see, both the individuation – the experience of being an individuated human being – a person, as well as Oneness of Life, Oneness of Reality, are experienced through Omnipresent Awareness. In this respect, Living Awareness knows itself by itself, in itself, as itself, through itself. It is this very recognition and acknowledgment through many different facets of the same that can be called Living Consciousness.
And because both Living Consciousness and Living Awareness are closely related to Self-Realization and its natural progression, Self-Actualization, let us add a little more perspective and context. Advaita Vedanta (Ancient Non-Duality Tradition) defines Self-Realization as the knowledge of the True Self – beyond both delusion and identification with material phenomena, defining the manifest material world to be temporal – an eternal play of shakti or energy; the immutable principle or the Ultimate Reality is beyond space, time, and form – therefore, it cannot be described, quantified, reasoned, or explained – all that exists on a differentiated basis can only be directly experienced as itself. Hence, the “outside” world that we perceive with our senses as being solid, and believe to be made out of a dense material – is actually existing in consciousness, which goes on to say that everything is happening within consciousness where the mind appears.
In other words, the mind is a localization of consciousness – believed to be located in the brain and situated in the head, which in turn is a part of the human body. The body itself is an image in the mind, and everything in the mind is happening inside consciousness. Therefore, the individuated, solid, dense, located entity called “I” – is the manifestation of an idea – created by the mind as a form of an image; this, in turn, takes place inside the mind – residing in consciousness, inside which a flame of Living Awareness infinitely flickers, you see? And if one pursues to find the ultimate nature of the mind, they would end up realizing that the ultimate nature of mind is that aspect of the mind which remains constantly present in its experience – this is the Eternal Essence that cannot be removed or excluded in any circumstances; in other words, it is pure presence – Infinite Living Awareness.
Living Awareness is too close to itself to know itself as Infinite Living Awareness, and therefore the only way to know itself is through individuation and the creation of the finite mind. The finite mind isn’t an entity as such, but rather an activity through which the Infinite is able to know the world. Therefore, the finite mind is the activity of Infinite Living Awareness, which has the ability to vibrate within itself – creating the form of the finite mind. This activity then makes it possible for the Infinite to know the objective experience – enabling the Infinite to know itself through the finite mind. This knowing is Living Consciousness, you see?
Living Awareness is the creative ground of intention and intuition, and at the same time, it is the source of the sparkle, joy and vitality that we enjoy when we are in touch with our own being; it is our bridge to the creative ground, in which all things abide and from which they spring. Living Awareness is shared with every particle within All Life, and thus Living Awareness is the Heart of Living Life – this eternal, Infinite Awareness observes every part of the Creation by utilizing Living Consciousness as the means; consciousness arises when awareness observes the Creation or any part of its many emanations – so in this sense, Living Awareness is also aware of itself as the other (mirror). In order for the Infinite to know itself as something that is finite, it has to pretend to be separate from itself – this is the way in which the Living Awareness creates consciousness through which we perceive the world around us.
If one were to ask how does Living Awareness differ from awareness, they would get an answer along the lines of: not by much, other than that of emphasis being placed on the experiential aspect of it – to differentiate between mere idea and something truly alive. Living Awareness is all about experiencing our core essence, experiencing life directly, experiencing reality directly. This type of experiencing is beyond all indirect methods we commonly depend on for knowing about our experience – such as thinking, sensing, reasoning, feeling, and believing. Just in the same way as intuition doesn’t need reasoning for it to work, so in the same way is the case with direct experiencing, you see?
Hence, it goes without saying that indirect experiencing is limiting in more ways than one. You see, our senses only give us indirect information, which means that we filter in the things that we are familiar with, and filter out the things that we have no prior knowledge or comprehension. And so it goes that the mind and the senses filter out the reality of pure presence – that of Living Awareness. And this is where the difficulty comes in: there is more to experiencing direct connection to all Life than any language could ever describe – language can only convey an idea of what direct experiencing is like, and because language cannot ever describe the true essence of our existence and our experience of it, we are forced to use sounds, signs and symbols in an effort to re-connect with the Life-force that runs through everything.
Learn more: https://www.infinitequantumzen.info/2023/05/what-is-living-awareness-beyond-consciousness-pure-presence.html Book on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NDT3GMH

Often I'll be getting ready to leave the house and see that my hair is too frizzy or dry looking, and I don't have time to shower (and even if I did, 90% of the time my hair dries weird after showering). I have some argan oil I use that's supposed to help keep it more sleek looking and tame frizz down, but if my hair is already messed up then argan oil won't save it. I have a styling creme that can tame the top of my head (I use it mostly to add height to the front since it tends to stick up towards the back) but it's not meant for the middle/end part of long hair.
Routine is one of the old spice gentlemen's 2 in 1 shampoos (ik about the 2 in 1's but I swear they work better for me somehow) and the wavy curly leave in conditioner. I used to have the moisturizing conditioner also from the wavy curly line but I haven't used it in a long time since it's been out of stock where I am.
So what can I do if I'm on my way out the door and need to tame my hair frizz/dryness down quickly? And preferably something without a strong or feminine scent

Like the title suggests, I'm trying to start my FIRE journey but dont know where to start. I've been a part of this sub for a few months now, and looking at the rising prices of just about everything / cost of Living, would like to generate an amount wherein I can live comfortably, if not retire early.
Details of my income / investments till now are below. If any info is missing, I'll keep updating in the description as well.
Age - 27 F Income - 11 LPA Savings - 11LPA in FDs 1.5L in MFs 1.5L in SIP Spendings - 2.5LPA ( accounting monthly expenses, medical/car insurance paid yearly and misc. expenses)
Background - Have been in the workforce for only 3 years. Stay with my parents, so majority of my salary gets saved as no rent /bills to be paid. Dad has his own business, so was heavily influenced to invest in low risk instruments ( debt instruments, FDs).
Any pointers or direction of how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard him mention past lives a few times in a way which would seem to indicate he belives in them. Usually someone who belives in past lives would usually have some belief in some kind of soul or something which is reincarnated. As far as I am aware Eckart has a more Buddhist way of seeing things where he sees the ego as the temporary thing we pick up and then the once consciousness as what we are. In traditions like Hinduism where they believe in reincarnation there is usually more of an idea of a soul which is perhaps described as your "part" of the one consciousness. Eckart dosent seem to acknowledge any kind of intermediary between the being we see and absolute consciousness.

Sam hadn't quite got used to his circumstances yet.
He was currently stood in a room that was the same size as an aircraft hanger. However, instead of the echoing emptiness of a warehouse, the finely crafted room was warm and comforting, if not a bit ostentatious.
The opulence on display made the man from humble origins baulk. He had stayed the night at a palace for the first time in his life and it was an alien serpent's. His 'bed' was an emptied pool. A bowl of some sorts that had been filled by a team of slithering aliens with pillows of various sizes. They apparently usually slept in a heated depression in the floor. The man assumed at least, based off what he knew from Earth fauna any way, that this would be enjoyable for them. To him it felt like he'd fallen into a trap.
During his fitful sleep, someone had snuck in and stolen his clothes. In their place was a length of fine silk. A scrape at his door confused him for a moment before he realised it was their 'knock'.
"Come in!" He said, grasping the length of silk and pulling it behind a moveable wooden wall. He assumed it was where he was to get dressed. He had no doubt it was yet another servant to give him more stuff or drop food off or something!
"How are we this morning?" Asked a pleasant voice.
"Fine, just... just figuring out if I'm wearing this or if I've grabbed a curtain by mistake."
A polite laugh.
"It's a semi-casual outfit of a male taurian. You share similar builds."
"Taurian? The horned ones?" Thinking of thr large brutes that had stolen him.
"Horned taurians are females, hornless, or ones that have their horns hidden are male."
Sam was still struggling. Was he meant to wrap the silk around himself? Over a shoulder?
"Ah, I may need some help before your queen sees me. I'm not quite getting it."
"I can certainly help."
The voice came from above. Looking up, the iridescent scales of her Majesty glimmered as she smiled down at him.
Oh crap, the queen herself had come to see him and he'd assumed it was a servant without looking. How can something that colossal move so quietly?! The ssypno race grew and grew as long as they had access to ample food and heat. Being the queen, every corner of her territory offered her tithes to allow her titanic proportions.
"Allow me, arms to the side." The lower set of arms reached out and masterfully plucked the strip of fine silk from Sam and straightened it before perfectly flicking it over and around Chris's body.
He had been 'gifted' to the queen after being abducted from Earth. The moment she had figured out that he was sentient, or sentient enough at least, she had immediately refused to treat him as an object. Although, some acting on both their parts was needed. There were other humans on the ssypno homeplanet and if the queen outlawed humans, they would be put into danger.
"If we can make it so that every noble on the planet wished to 'have' a human, the criminal elements will not waste humans on using them or selling them to the undesirables. It will be better for them to market their 'stock' to the nobility." She pulled away after securing the toga to review her work. She rested a finger to her chin as she gazed down at him.
Only a fraction of her was in his room, her bulk, blocked the door. Looking up at her, it was as if some great statue had come to life. Like he was a tiny rabbit stood in front of some gigantic anaconda from the depths of the amazon rainforest.
"Once the supplies of humans on the planet dwindle or we know who is holding them, we can begin our raids. I already have my royal guards beginning a quiet organisation specifically for the search for unregistered offworlders." She explained.
"But in the meantime, we have to act as if you're totally into humans as accessories?" Sam finished, a crick in his neck forming.
"Quite. Are you still willing to adorn me for a time? You can still say 'no', I will not force you."
"If you don't condone it, humans will start being used elsewhere?"
"I'm afraid we're quite certain. It's happened before I'm ashamed to say." She confirmed with a nod.
Sam sighed, he wasn't afraid of snakes, but her size intimidated him.
"The ball is in a couple days, we must begin preparing you. I'd rather not have to rely on methods of calming such as gas or suggestion. First, we need you to be comfortable with me."
"I'm comfortable." Sam tried to convince her. She gave him a withering look before leaning down suddenly and pushing her face towards him until she was inches away and still coming.
Her skull was as wide as a single mattress, realistically she could swallow him whole and her eyes were focused solely in him. He took a step back and bumped into the wooden divider he'd been hiding behind. A tongue flicked out and wiggled infront of him causing him to flinch.
Her eyes watched him, unblinking.
"I do not doubt your bravery, but do not doubt my intelligence. We must be as one, I must be able to trust you and likewise you must be able to trust me. With your life, if necessary. "
"How do we start then?" Sam asked, glad when her head pulled away.
"First, is touch. You will be my crowning jewel of the evening. Many will be focusing on you. It must look as if you are comfortable and are not meeting me for the first time, let alone being used as a veil."
Sam was to be draped across the giant queen's snout during the ball. Better than the alternatives that could leave him batter, bruised or motion sick.
"I want you to climb into my coils."
"Climb in?"
"Humph, make no mistake, I could simply grab you and drop you in, but that would be counterproductive."
So, shortly after, Sam began to climb up the Queen's body. The coils were huge, each section taller than he was, but her brilliant scales gave him plenty of handholds. Reaching the top, his legs dangled into the centre of what looked like an organic black hole.
Without hesitation, he let go and slid into her coils feet first.
He discovered quickly that she had expert control over her tail. It writhed and rolled with the same flexibility and control as his own tongue.
He briefly even felt the strength that lay there too. She gave him one good squeeze and that was enough to remind him that was could have killed him with ease.
All that said, by the time he got accustomed to being held, he and her Majesty were having a conversation. All around him, she pressed in against him, he should uave been afraid, but instead he was calmed. She promised that she would protect him and... he believed her.
WolvensStories
Tip Jar

Hi. I just got this course and I'm excited about it. But something is not clear to me. There is also part with Physical Exercises. Should I do them all every day? Or one each week since there are 10 videos.
I know you suppose to do the breathing exercise, pushups, and shower last, but where do I squeeze the yoga in? And also when should I do the horse stance and the other clod immersion exercises? Thanks in advance.

Hello!
Here is my feedback to the developers of MTGA which I would like for them to read and probably do something with it. This post is solely devoted to the non-core part of the game, which I consider to be a premium part of it: cosmetics. Let me start with the most recent events.

1. Pre-orders

Now with the LotR preorders out we can compare them with what we had before. For 2 sets, starting from ONE, we had a split preorder which was known before that as Play bundle which was targeting those who don't want to buy packs (mostly those, who builds their collection through the drafts). I will still consider both play + pass bundle as one bundle since that's how I buy and it makes the comparison easier.
Both ONE and MOM play bundles were of the same value:

• Sealed token
• 2 draft tokens
• 5 Play-In Points
• 2 different mythic card art sleeves
• 2 different mythic cards + their styles
• Unique pet
• Mastery Pass

And compare it to the LotR preorder:

• Sealed token
• 2 draft tokens
• 5 Play-In Points
• Mythic card art sleeves
• Mythic card + style
• Mastery Pass

So if we pre-order LotR we lose a mythic card, its parallax style and a pet. If you take the pet's value from the store we are missing out on (1200 + 3000 + price_of_the_mythic_card) ~= 4200 gems or 20$. So we buy essentially the same product which we bought previously but now we are getting 20$ less content from a bundle which costs 40$. So get basically half of what you usually get. Not cool.
Yes, the pre-order can still be considered good in terms of gems-to-$ but it doesn't matter to me, because I felt like we had a contract which terms won't be worse as we proceed. Yes we didn't signed anything but since the things have been the same for some years I used to some particular treatment and wouldn't mind the terms to improve. But when the terms deteriorated it left me confused to say the least. That's why I choose not to buy any of the pre-orders this time (first time since IKO!): you violated the contract so I have to abstain from buying it, even if I want to—I just can't condone such a behavior. And given that my main game formats are Historic + Alchemy + Limited I'm the target audience for this set and pre-order, what an irony.
So whoever is in charge of this change just lost a customer who has been buying the product for 3 years (apart from me not playing during VOW-SNC). And even if the next set is done better than this one, like the old ones, the damage is still done, you lost some of the goodwill. From now on the pre-orders are no longer must buy for me. Nice!ly done.

2. Daily deals

Since the DD has been introduced we had the following unwritten contract:

• 40-50% off the most recent cards (mostly 50% with occasional 40%).
• 50-75% off the older cards.
• Occasional, but not rare, 80-95% off some card. Cards usually playable.
• All rare duals/triome land parallax styles within ~2 weeks of the set release. All at once for 50% off.

Personal story of how I dealt with these deals. I bought all the lands. Bought all the 60%+ outside of the cards I deemed unplayable. Bought most of the 50% if I could imagine playing some of these cards later. Many of the cards I ended up never using but that was ok. Also I was unwilling to spend more than 3000 gems per day, just a personal quirk. I spent a lot on DD styles. Anyway, it was always fun to check the DD every day and read what other people think about the cards offered: what is playable, how good they are etc.
Of course, there was a room for improvement for the DDs: more thematic sales, like tribals, deck that won something, most played cards in this month etc. (like a few days ago was the best deal in months, featuring Creativity card styles; both discount and card selection were great). Instead, some 7-8 months ago you broke this contract and filled the DD with uplayable cards, which sometimes are not playable even in the corresponding draft format, accompanied by the bad discounts.
Now we have 20%-40% for the new and old cards alike. Most of the time the card selection is boring even for bigger discount. There is nothing to read about the deals because it is mostly gloom and despair. In ONE you didn't even sell all the rare dual land styles which never happened before! I don't know what numbers are telling you but as far as I'm concerned you almost killed the thing that needed an improvement and it is sad. Why almost? Because I still have hope.
Now personal story of how my dealing changed. I do not buy anymore styles which I won't play today or tomorrow. They became expensive and I don't want to buy them. Only what is necessary I buy. And it doesn't matter anymore if it is 50% today because I know that everything else will be expensive tomorrow so I'd rather keep my money for what I really need. For example, recently the MOM Kogla card was offered for 50% and while before it was a snap buy (because I see myself playing it in some unknown-yet deck), now I just abstained because right now I don't have or see the deck I want to put it in. With this change I mostly stopped using gems to buy styles because the rare occasions I buy them, I can use gold which keeps growing for having nothing else to spend it on. Since the DD has been introduced I almost never had gold on my account until 6-8 months ago. Now I almost always have it. Oops.

3. Card styles

And finally I want to point out the most egregious part of the negligence toward the premium content and us, buyers. Implementation of the so called depth art card styles, or parallax styles as we, MTGA people, call it. Here are the problems with them that I know of.

3.1 Styles exist/existed but not applied to the cards.

There are many cards which were lacking styles before these styles were added through the spellbooks or conjuring of the corresponding digital-only cards (aka Alchemy). Most of them were also applied to the older cards but not all of them. Cards like Colossus Hammer, Blood Artist and Youthful Valkyrie all have styles implemented but you can't buy/apply these styles to the existing standalone cards. That should be fixed.
NOTE: this and later lists are not comprehensive and are here to illustrate the problem, not to build an exhaustive list of all the problems. I'd appreciate (and hope the devs would too) if you improve these lists by commenting with the cards these lists are lacking.

3.2 Styles for the tokens.

While you seem to have some kind of diligence as far as main cards are concerned you seem to casually ignore tokens which these cards are producing. The most egregious example is the release of MOM where no card generates a parallax token. Not a single one. The main theme with incubators and none of them are implemented properly. Guys, that's really really bad. You seem to not understand that for us, buyers, the token is as important as the main card. And I'm not just talking about cards like Sunfall or Ral's Reinforcement where it should be obvious. I'm talking about consistency: I want my part of the board to look consistent, which means all the permanents on my side should not have borders.
If I have cards that I can't make lose borders then the consistency dies and I stop caring about other cards, essentially making me not wanting to buy anything at all! One more time: tokens are as important as the main card, they all should be parallaxed. And if some card, having parallax style, produces non-parallax token then it should be considered a bug which has to be fixed. We don't know if the card worked before or not and we shouldn't bother to know that: no style, report, get it fixed. As simple as that; for everyone.
Speaking of which the following list presents you with the cards (category of cards, really) which used to produce the styled tokens but not anymore (and for some this "anymore" is how long, year, more than a year?): Wedding Announcement (staple card in virtually any white deck in Standard!), Verdant Command (squirrels), DnD treasures (Prosperous Innkeeper and many other playable cards), Legion's Landing. Is this list exhaustive? I don't think so but these I came up with anyway. What should we do with the styles we bought months ago? Should we ask for refund en mass? Thinking...
And there is another list of playable cards which to my knowledge never produced styled tokens: Saprolings (Slimefoot and Squee is now a playable card, sapros should be styled), Devils from “Ob Nixilis, The Adversary”, Rhino for Titan Of Industry, Cats & Dogs from Jinnie Fay, Angels from Resplendent Angel (staple in the angels).
So 2 lists, the first one is full of bugs the second is full of job-not-done. I know that, because I'm curious and have been playing this game for long. Average user doesn't and shouldn't know that. So for the avg user both lists should be the same: bugs. And bugs should be fixed. Since these bugs are in the premium content they should be fixed ASAP. The only thing that outclasses it is the core gameplay. And for these bugs there should be a separate category on a normal bug tracker where people can get some feedback, not this seemingly abandoned self-hosted User Voice where you post to oblivion.

3.3. Non-existent styles for the staple cards.

Now let's go to the territory of missed opportunities. The following list contains the list of cards which are staple in meta decks but never had the styles for them added:
Munitions Expert, Reckless Charge, Shoreline Scout's conjured Land, Regal Force from Freyalise, Sterling Grove, Parhellion II, Damping Sphere, Elvish Clancaller.
And here is another list with not staples but solid cards which saw and still see play in probably not tier 1 but solid competitor decks: Dwynen's Elite, Spawn Of Mayhem, Legion's Lieutenant, Champion of Dusk, Vicious Conquistador, Herald's Horn, Shaper's Sanctuary, Archon of Emeria.
And finally to some interesting example which we had with SIS (bonus-sheet subset to Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered, or SIR). We have styles for Falkenrath Noble, Kruin Outlaw and Barter in Blood but don't have styles for Snapcaster Mage, Avacyn's Pilgrim (and/or Young Wolf), Griselbrand. 3 whatever cards have styles while 3 playables with 2 of them iconic (?) do not. Who planned the implementation of these styles? Good game.
So this section is about missing opportunities. Why? Because you fail to present me with the options to buy. I want to buy styles in general but I snap buy the styles for the staple cards I can play every day and in multiple decks. We have tons of cards, mostly from the time when there were no paralax styles, still not implemented. But with SIR & SIS we had a newly introduced to Arena set which has most of the cards unstyled. Not cool.
I get it, you have only so much you can do with the resources you have. I really do and if you can't for some reason style every card from the past let's implement the priority queue where we, the users, will vote for what should be implemented next. You create a list of all the not-implemented card styles and we vote. You implement the top-voted style and remove it from the poll. That way we will see progress, have influence on what should be done next and you will see what styles people are not interested in and can be safely ignored. Implemented styles should be put into the patch notes so we know when to come back and vote again.
So that's how I see the final solution:

1. All new-to-Magic sets should be fully styled. It is your face, it is what new and casual users will meet with first. You can't tolerate half-baked premium content there.
2. New-to-Arena (but not to Magic, like SIR) should be fully styled if possible. If not then the priority should be deduced from the MTGO data (or other data you think is better) of the most playable cards in the formats Arena has some access to (Explorer ~ Pioneer, Modern ~ Historic, Historic Brawl ~ Commander) and implemented accordingly. The rest should be added to the vox populi list of delayed implementation.

3.4 A few words about other styles.

Sagas is another thing that is a bit controversial and inconsistent. Most of them are not parallaxed and, in my opinion, the saga permanent itself should not be parallaxed. It doesn't need this treatment they are good as is. But some of them still should have parallax styles. Why? Because some of them produce tokens or transform. You had Tymaret Calls the Dead parallax style implemented which reflects on the saga but not tokens. Instead it should produce parallax tokens and the saga itself can be unstyled (anyone have other opinion on that?). The same goes to other token generating sagas like History of Benalia and others. But the more important ones are the NEO sagas which transform into creatures. While, again, the saga permanent doesn't need to be parallaxed the resulting creature should.
So when you implemented everything mentioned in this post I will finally being able to have my side of the board fully styled in one consistent style. For which I paid real money because there is no way for a f2p player to style their decks fully and consistently. As far as I'm concerned it is a win-win for both parties. Because the other way to have your side of the board consistent is to not have styles at all. And that is lose-lose for me and you.
--
The last topic I'd like to touch is parallax lands. IIRC the last parallaxed non-full art basic lands were implemented in Eldraine and then you stopped (snow lands in KHM were also gorgeous). The only full-art lands which got parallax styles were Nyx lands from THB. It is the other thing that you are missing out: probably not every set has beautiful basics but LotR has some, why not implement the parallax lands there? Same goes to some full art lands. I get it that you need a square to have the land looks cool but some of them can be cut to squares and still look good, so maybe experiment some? Lands are sellers, aren't they?
Personally, I stopped buying lands after THB because they have borders. I really like my THB lands but don't mind to buy some others to have some diversity across the decks. Oh, and give the people who wasn't lucky playing during THB an opportunity to buy these parallaxed lands. Take their money they are throwing at you!
Anyway my long feedback post is finally over, not that I don't have anything more to say, I just think it is enough for now. I hope u/WotC_Jay and other people responsible for making decisions for this game will read it in words and spirit. If I was harsh in some words, I don't really meant it that way. I wish this game all the best and hence this post. But only you can make it happen, so...
Your Go

I am looking for a RP partner to play Muse A in this plot something to note is that this can be a F4F plot. I have lots more to talk about and what I’m looking for as muse A so, If you are interested please do message me.
A few quick things to consider are my RP requirements are
❗️Reply in 1-4 paragraphs per reply (or more I like long replies)
❗️Use Realistic face claims
❗️And please be in the CST time zone. Enjoy.
————
Muse A, a wealthy bachelor from a prominent family, was preparing take over the hosting for the grand bi-yearly ball famously hosted by their family, where exclusive deals such as vacation homes and luxury cars were being auctioned off for charity. Where everyones identity was kept secret
Muse B best friend, and a family friend of the host. Offered muse B an invitation to the ball as her plus one, only because she got left behind by her boyfriend Last minute. Regardless, Without a doubt Muse B accepts and comes to find that her friend lends her an amazing dress to go to this masquerade ball. Grateful for such but felt out of place among the opulence, the only thing she could offer was to be on their prized possession on their arm of the rich friend.
And throughout the night, although miss B felt they looked the part. Rich and golden. She felt out of place knowing her real status. But With muse b being single and without a true date to the ball. Muse B stands by the dance floor and gazes at the loving couples dancing. Muse A immediately notices and is infatuated with muse B and ask her to a dance. They hit it off,
Muse A using their bachelor Charm to swallow muse B in. But she didn’t fall for it like most have when they knew of the tire identity of muse A. She wanted more valuable information, true information from the man behind the mask and they were able to laugh the night away about the silly yet luxurious event. But muse a was actually into what muse A was about. Finding out about this person. Muse B starts to like them more and more. And muse A finds Muse B to be the best thing to have come of the night and takes muse B away from the crowd to reveal their identity. But just as muse A finds themselves ready. Job pulls them away and Muse A disappears into the fog of people as the song ended.
Both muse A and muse B tried to leave the hopeful memory of the ball behind as it was almost like neither of them existed. But Determined to uncover the truth, Muse B embarked on a mission to find out who Muse A truly was before time ran out. They retraced their steps, seeking any leads that could lead them back to the person who had stolen their heart at the ball. With a combination of perseverance and sheer luck.
Will muse B find out who truly muse A is before time runs out? Or will they successfully find muse A and live the life of love and luxury?

Officiating a wedding next month for my cousin and her soon to be husband. They’ve basically scripted out everything they want said and the flow they want which is great! It’s not a religious ceremony.
The part I’m stuck on is where they want me to talk about my relationship with them and how I know them and presumably something about their relationship I and others notice about them etc.
Obviously I can’t ask someone to write it for me, but can anyone share what they wrote and what I should include? If you’re more comfortable please feel free to DM me if you’d like. TIA!

My ex got out of rehab yesterday. Prior to him going into rehab we had been broken up like 3-4 months. The break up was not my decision and I was pretty upset about it because I had JUST 100% emotionally supported him through 5 months of another rehab program and a year of his downward spiral into alcohol prior to that.
I thought him getting sober would mean that I would be getting my fun loving, great boyfriend back that I had for 3 years so I was heartbroken to say the least. But I eventually went no contact for a couple months after the breakup until I was having a tough time and reached out to him. Since he was sober he seemed pretty happy to hear from me and offered words of support. But I still kept my distance not wanting to get hurt.
Then the end of April the called me randomly and we had a weird conversation where he sounded overly happy and talked to me about meaningless stuff and I could tell he was drinking but I didn’t want to accuse him of anything since we weren’t talking much as it was. Then I didn’t hear from him.
About a week later I heard from a woman I’m friends with that he checked into rehab, she knew because she worked there. I was just happy that he was safe. When I say his drinking is bad, it’s BAD, he is a serious alcoholic with a serious problem. To get him to go to rehab the first time me and his family had to show up with a uHall and pack his apartment up, break his lease, and forceably get him out of his apartment because he literally stayed in there for a YEAR and drank 24/7.
Anywayss, I reached out to his mom about halfway through his stay to see how he was doing because it’s not like I don’t still love and care about his well being. So I was SHOCKED when she told me that his sister had died, which is what triggered his relapse. And even worse, she died from her alcohol problem. I was sad, I knew her well from holidays and what not, and I was even more sad for him and his mom. He had just lost his dad prior to his first relapse. She told me that he only wanted to stay in rehab for 30 days and she wanted him going to sober living. While I wished she pushed for a longer stay in rehab I thought that would be a good idea for sober living because that’s where he was living when he had long term sobriety when we met.
SO, I was surprised when he called me last night. I was really happy to hear from him first of all, I want to say that. A huge part of me really misses him, 4 months after a 3 year relationship isn’t a long time to get over someone that you’ve occasionally been talking to. We talked about how his stay was, his feelings about his sister, my life and then he told me HES STAYING IN HIS DEAD SISTERS APARTMENT. My first thought was “you have got to be kidding me!” His mom has always been kinda spacey and ridiculous. It was super hard for me during his first relapse to get her to do anything meaningful to help him other than her offer him words of encouragement. But considering she just lost her daughter to alcohol and she’s aware how serious his problem is I’m surprised she let him take over her lease. Especially considering we had just learned that his downfall was living alone and having the opportunity to drink in peace with no one watching him. The only way he got to rehab so fast this last time was because he moved in with his moms boyfriend and he was around him all the time and obviously noticed his relapse. From the phone call I gathered that all her stuff was still there too, all her clothes and medications, everything. He said “if the roles were reversed I’d want her to have my apartment” but in reality I think he wants to continue to be alone and that’s his excuse for making it okay for being there.
I’m extremely worried about him. I’m in recovery from alcohol myself and I know firsthand how many people relapse right out of rehab, especially if they didn’t want to be in rehab to begin with….he said he didn’t even remember being taken to rehab. I also want to note that my ex doesn’t have that many friends, if any. He lost most of them when he just stopped going to work (he had a lot of money) and the few friends he made in rehab don’t live here or have relapsed. He’s always had this sad mentality that he has to do things alone and be alone. I hate that for him. He really is a very personable, very attractive, fun, super fit guy when he is sober but when he drinks, he throws his entire life into it. And I just don’t think 30 days is enough to get over your sisters death and then MOVE INTO HER APARTMENT AROUND HER THINGS…wtf. I didn’t contact him today because I’m still in “I don’t want to get hurt” mode. But I worry so much about him. My friend thinks he needs me, from her time checking in on him when she was working. And a big part of me still wants to be with him. But I don’t want to seem like I’m nagging him like he’s a kid that needs to be checked on or that I’m actively trying to get back with him when I know he’s probably fragile and probably doesn’t want a relationship with anyone. Am I being reasonable for wanting to be back in his life? He told me last night that he was sorry for the last few months and not being there for me more and how even his life situations were no excuse for his behavior in the past towards me. What should I do? Do you think I have enough reason to worry as much as I am?