Growing up, I spent every Sunday going to a church my grandpa established, and afterwards my entire family would go over to my grandparent’s house for lunch. We would usually be there for hours, so many Sundays, my cousins and I would play gladiator outside in the backyard. We’d make weapons and armor out of whatever we could find, and just have a battle in the backyard. We did this from the time that we were little kids and all the way through my time in high school.

In my early college years, I had mentioned to my boyfriend (who i had been with since high school) that I really missed this tradition with my cousins.

He bought me this cute little gladiator doll to hang up on my car’s rearview mirror as a memento of those special times. No longer have that boyfriend, but I still have that little doll.

I’m really struggling to imagine this.

Well done

Wait, it seems like we don’t want to follow the rule of 3.

I think it’s rather fitting Edit: not a frump fan, nor am I a Christian. Was being facetious.

I’m sure you didn’t think so at the time, but that’s hilarious

Financial literacy would be considered an essential subject.

I see what you’re getting at - if we’re gonna allow our citizens freedom of speech, this is part of what it looks like. For the record, these dumb ass takes on my LGBTQ+ peeps do NOT align with my own personal feelings. However, freedom of speech is objectively a good thing.

Problem is that entities like Meta and X are suppressing the voices of people that are making comments against the status quo and challenging the uber rich, and elevating the voices of the bigots.

All that to say I think that’s why people are downvoting you, but I agree with you.

I want the intelligence, but could I settle for my current level of attractiveness?

Wallace or Shiloh.

It’s generally regarded as a shitty thing when someone has an affair with a married person. For said person to then go on and make a meme boasting about it is even more shitty.

Which VR game is this? Just got a headset and I love space games!

Why would there already be a fridge in the stationary and ink aisle?

S05E14 of Breaking Bad - Ozymandias.

I vividly remember watching it for the first time. I’ve had emotional reactions to movies and shows in the past, but not like this. This is like the immediate aftermath of everything coming to a head, and everyone’s acting made the whole episode so immersive. I felt like I was there, and this was happening to my family.

::: spoiler Specifically the scene of Skylar sprinting down the street chasing Walt’s car after he kidnaps Holly… or shit, the scene where Walt is wrestling with Walt Jr. over the knife. Or shit, just the realization that Skylar and Walt Jr. have that Walt essentially killed Hank. Everything is just compounded with the immense grief of losing Hank in such a brutish, unceremonious way. :::

This is still one of my top 3 shows. I’m not good at picking favorites, but I know it’s up there.

I second the motion of making the Louisiana Refund real.

In the past, i have because my mom would routinely snoop to see if I was still talking to the boy she forbade me to date (I was, and i got more clever about hiding it). The only way she let me keep a phone was if I didn’t put a pass code on it.

Fast forward to a couple of years after moving out of her house and in an emotionally abusive relationship. That dude ended up putting spyware on my phone (without my knowledge) because… well, idk, control i guess? I was messaging a close guy friend of mine, and my boyfriend fucking blew up at me, which is when I realized he had been spying on me. I wasn’t flirting with my guy friend or anything (we really didn’t have a relationship like that at all). he was just messaging me late at night because his step dad was abusive to him and I was helping him through that tough time. My boyfriend did not allow me to message another male after 9p.

Those had me paranoid, but can’t say I’m paranoid anymore. I’m married to a guy I trust, and he has my phone password info and I have his. I don’t snoop in his phone and I trust that he isn’t snooping in mine. Not like I have anything juicy in here, anyway.

But yeah, if you’re feeling paranoid without someone having previously violated your trust, it could be because you are doing things on your phone that you consider to be very private/embarrassing/nefarious? If so, that kinda makes sense I think. If that’s not the case, then respectfully, it might be good to see a mental health professional… life becomes a lot less stressful without worrying about shit like that.

I see you’ve never had the misfortune of being entangled with a narcissist.

I’m actually going to Guyana in January to see a couple of friends get married. Going to be there for a week. I’ve been there before - lovely, amazing people, but not a lot to do. I think I’m gonna check this out while I’m there.

The second one is at least an “easy” fix. I had Lasik a couple of years ago, and don’t get me wrong - it was weird and uncomfortable. But literally took less than 5 min, and they gave me an anti-anxiety pill beforehand.

The comment left by johannes is spot on. I can relate to a lot of how you describe your mom, but I very much share their mentality on the matter. At some point, you have to own that you are who you are because of your choices. Just because someone/something may have influenced or caused your flaws doesn’t mean you have to lay down and take it forever. If you do, that’s your choice and the blame shifts to you, whether you want to accept it or not.

It’s hard, but you’ve gotta realize that you have 2 “good” options. Either cut her out of your life and figure out how to be self-sufficient, or keep her in your life, but set boundaries. You cannot expect her to just change on her own, because thats not going to happen. It’s really difficult to set boundaries, but it worked for me and my mom. Granted, I needed to not be living with her or dependent on her to be strong enough to do it. If she is housing you, feeding you, cleaning for you, etc., she has a lot of power over you, and will continue to use that as leverage to get her way. And when she doesn’t have that power over you anymore, she’ll likely focus hard on the emotional power she has over you. You need to focus on getting out of her house so you can stand a chance at successfully setting boundaries.

Also helped a lot that my brothers helped pave the way. Maybe talk to your brother about starting the practice of setting his own boundaries since he’s more independent. Lean on each other. I would’ve struggled so much more without my brothers, and they are the only ones that truly knew what I was going through since they grew up with the same mom.

Good luck. It’s going to be a really difficult road, but don’t give up. Once you make it through, I promise life will be so much better, and you’ll be a stronger person for it.