Non-denominational church near me

I (23M) met a girl (22F) at university one day through mutual friends. We became close, started studying together, talk about life, general schoolwork etc. At first I thought she was just interested in being friends, so I didn't want to ask her out and make things awkward.
Over time though, I felt she was enjoying my company more than her other friends. Since meeting 2 months ago, she's been open to sharing personal aspects about her life like her relationship with her family, what makes her stressed and telling me how she's getting jealous of her friends findings partners and getting engaged. She also said she doesn't have any single friends and that all of them are in relationsips. To me, I felt like she was signaling that she's available and I was planning maybe she would be interested if I asked her out in the near future. That, plus I notice that she scans the room to find me after an exam or class and likes walking with me instead of her other friends.
One week after that conversation though, she's was giving me the cold shoulder when we were in our friend group and I overheard her telling our (female) friend that she likes tall and muscular farm guys. I'm 5'9 and 120lbs and haven't stepped foot on a farm before. It honestly took a toll on my self esteem. If I wasn't her type, why would she give me all this attention? Catching her stare from the corner of my eye, leaning in close to talk to me, laughing when I'm not trying to be funny. Was I misreading these signs as friendliness? Even if she was just being friendly, why would she abruptly treat me as if I didn't exist and get irritated when I tried to talk to her when one week prior everything was perfectly fine?

Underground housing complex, for the people without shelters. Firstly if you think about it makes the most sense, because it would get rid of all the tent issues that we see on the surface, this complex facility would cost around $45M and it's 285,650 Square feet, and approx. 450 feet below the surface. The only real way to get down would be from elevators on the entrance of the office or escalators near the elevators. The elevators will all be illuminated with Neon tube lights so it's not pitch black, the walls will be decorated with art so it's not bland.
Okay I know there's a lot of concerns regarding flooding, don't worry I got that covered. There will be drainage holes on the surface, with large vents to allow mass amounts of water to flow through, there will also be drainage holes on the inside towards the bottom. This is incase a flash flooding event will take place, the elevators will be reinforced with thick plastic so there won't be any conductivity or short circuits.
The air vents will be present throughout the entire complex forcibly pushing out stale air and bringing in fresh air from the outside via Fan units on the outside, these will also be cleared of any debris periodically.
Each housing unit will come with 1 bathroom, 1 closet, 1 bedroom and 1 living room with a kitchen equipped with a sink, fridge, and all the bare minimum for Wifi and TV.
There will be large glass panels in a Hexagonal shape toward the ceiling to allow these people to view what time of day it is and the weather conditions.
Again the only entrance is through the front office complex.
And I know what you're going to say. What about fires? A fire emergency system will be in place that will spray concentrated foam at to snuff out the flames rather than water which in certain periods fans the flames. Every unit will also be equipped with a fire extinguisher.
Give me one reason why my plan won't work?
The reason it won't work? City council members are greedy and only care about people who pay for rent. The goal here is to house the Homeless for 1 year, 12 month contract, only if they recently lost their houses or foreclosure or they were in a family situation whatever the case maybe.
What happens after 1 year are they kicked out? If they prove that they have found work and aren't doing drugs, they can have a 3 month extension.

Good afternoon! I am curious if anyone here has tried psilocybin mushrooms to help accept their prognosis.
I’m having a hard time letting go off parts of myself that are imbedded in my youth. I feel like my “life is over” and Its been really difficult to come to terms with the nature of a fibromyalgia prognosis as something that doesn’t go into remission. I have had a lot of suicide attempts up to this point, including a lot of near misses.
I struggle with depression and anxiety “independent” of my diagnosis.
I’m freshly college aged, diagnosis took about 8 years, to rule out different conditions and they wanted to make sure it wasn’t related to growth. (as usual!) My bone age was 14, and i didn’t grow after that point. I am sacrificing my schooling plans to work on my mental and physical health.
Cannabis has been extremely helpfu, I’ve been on pregablin and gabapentin (separately) as well as amitriptylines and SNRIS.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about psilocybin in a therapeutic setting, but I can’t find any information to it. I would like to be in a space I know is safe and there is a clinician. I have a feeling my experience with psycadelics will be different or more intense given a change in perception.
I just really feel like I need everything to be put in front of me, no matter how intense. I’m struggling to connect the dots on my own or see it through a different lense. I also have a C-PTSD diagnosis and I know it impacts the way I view everything.
I’ve done a lot of work for myself but I’m trying to accept things I can’t conjure with my consciousness. There’s a lot I want to do and don’t know how to be gentle with myself.
I am also very curious about anyones experiences, suggestions, or insight. I am slowly feeling exhausted by western medicine. With love, thank you!

Hi there, I'm looking to find a friend, either near or far that's keen to build a long-term mutual effort connection with each other!
I’d describe myself as friendly, open & compassionate, I also carry the qualities of being honest and straightforward in a easy going sense which in the typical way us Aussies are renowned for!
I keep active with going to the gym, running, cycling, occasionally swimming laps and in the warmer months snorkeling. I also enjoy being creative with drawing cars, practicing songs on the guitar & heading out and about to participate in photography
When I need to wind down I enjoy listening to music (mostly Alternative pop/rock/folk/electric) on occasions after all that exercise with recovering in the spa or sauna. Not much of a couch potato but sometimes I don't mind abit of TV shows (usually comedy/drama/docos) finally for those gamers out there I also play abit on the playstation.
Thanks for reading and if I've piqued your interest fell free to send me a chat message, I'll genuinely appreciate it :)

She is 4.5 months old. It was.so.hard. with triple feeding from the begining due to poor latch. At one point I had to rebuild my supply and it took weeks of battle.If You know how mentally ( and physically!) draining is this game of pumping more for a mere 0.5 oz more when You need it - You know.
Recently I had to be with LO for about two weeks completely alone with no help. I didnt pump 8 times a day at this point but 5 and still I almost went coockoo.
Anyway. Baby started to eat more eagerly from breast finally, I started to offer it at night instead of bottles with great results. I control with an app how much milk I produce so I know it is not more than before ( a bit less actually, maybe 12+ oz a day), and still more and more is left in the fridge everyday.
So...i guess my journey is maybe getting near an end? But I am so scared of finishing, its almost like a Stockholm syndrome. When I summoned all my power to go down from 5 to 4 ppd, which was my dream, I wasnt even happy. For me it is, like, if one is innocent and after 4 months of Gulag goes to "just" prison... I am not "happy".
And I am so scared that I will drop more pumps and then something will come up and I will end up with no milk supply. I dont have it in me to rebuild it again, this will be just game over. If someone can relate please share.

I’m just confused. How am I meant to play with other people? I’m on Xbox btw.
I can’t join a clan because when I try to search for clans it only lists me like 50 clans that are nearly full. And it does this for…everyone. So then you try to send in an application and it gives you an error code that “they have too many outstanding applications”. And there’s no way to filter by size! Awesome!
I have some dungeons I want to do. How can I group with people? Weird…no way to group up in game that I can find. I can see who is near my area but I don’t have every single fucking area in the game memorized so telling me that XxWeinerSalad7xX is in the Uail Basin doesn’t do me any good. I don’t want to add them as a friend…I just want to group up for a dungeon.
Well, maybe I’ll see someone in the wild. Nah…not really. Only in towns or occasionally you’ll cross paths with someone and they’re gone faster than if you were the AT&T guy inside Costco and they just made eye contact.
So what’s the point? Why make this a “social” game?
I can’t do Jack shit with anyone else unless I download 17 other apps or scour Internet forums to play with people. I don’t understand.

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“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
Anecdotes
“As the fire consumed the house around me a single figure walked calmly through the flames. He neither flinched nor hurried as he was nearly seared by fire, a cacophony of wood and smoke and death. He walked towards me, his hair of charcoal, his breath still seen in that cold night.
He did not ask if I was okay, he did not get my permission, nor did he check to see if I was still alive, but grabbed me as though I weighed nothing, and rushed out of my once home. Laid me delicately on the grass, and rushed into the next engulfed house.” - Caelum Civilian
“It is said that out of the six Human generals, the one called Noah is the most docile, most calm, and weakest of them. It is also said, he could kill any of us without hesitation and certainly without effort. Both of these facts are true.” - Caelum General, Codename “V”
Legal Name
Noah Taliesin
Preferred Name
Noah Taliesin
Nicknames
The Keeper
The Hero
The Master of Deaths
The Prince of The Hellworld
The Calm Before The Storm
Birthday
Earth time: February 23, (year unknown)
Descriptions
Known Facts: Male, Human. Approximately early twenties during the war.
Possibly: Of average Human height and weight. European descent. Blond hair. Large scar that blinded his left eye.
Possibly: Below average Human height and weight. European descent. Black hair. Wears glasses.
Early Life
Born on Earth, in the small walled town of Eden. To two currently still living parents (names unknown) he was their only child. He was not interested in politics, or in school, having a fear of public speaking and a stutter. Spending most of his childhood reading and writing short stories and novels. Usually about the tribe of Legacy’s that attacked Eden’s walls. He attended Eden’s only school from elementary to high school “Don Juan School of Eden”.
Becoming Mayor
Once he turned eighteen, the election of Eden's new mayor took place. Like all elections in Eden it was decided by placing names of all the members of the town in a hat above the age of eighteen, excluding all previous mayors and people interested or accused of being interested in becoming mayor. His name was drawn to his dismay, writing in his diary that night “Shit.” and leaving the rest of the page blank.
He was forced to lead the town and did so for a few months, until The Dropped landed on Earth, there seeing an opportunity in getting aid to help fight off the Legacy's asked The Dropped leaders (Harry, Jay and Rue) to fight them, which they agreed to. Moving the other seventy-five members of The Dropped into Eden, and helped fight off the Legacys.
First Contact
Once the Caelum prisoners landed and captured Rue, and after Rue killed five of the Caelums and escaped, the First Caelum Human War took place. Eden became the main base for The Dropped and a truce was formed with the few Legacy tribes still at war with The Dropped.
Noah became a general in the conflict. During this time The Dropped began to teach him how to become a good leader. Getting him over his stutter and fear of public speaking, along with teaching him how to fight.
One day near the end of the war an unknown person found a cache of firearms and explosives in a bunker under Eden. This turned the tide of the war leading to the surrender of the Caelum prisoners.
The Great War
Once the Caelum prisoners explained that they were forced to come to Earth to test if it was worth conquering by The Queen, it was actually Noah who first vocalized joining the rebels, going to the Caelum planet and overthrowing the Queen. Once the ships were repaired the Humans and Caelums went together to their home planet.
After The Battle of the Factory and its capture by rebel forces, Arcade, Harry, Jay, Jude, Rue and Noah became the Human leaders of the rebellion. The next nine months were marked by dozens of battles and heavy casualties on both sides.
Noah’s leadership was instrumental in several victories in the war including The Battle of The 7th Station, The Great “Retreat” and The Burning. Most notably the rescue of the captured Human generals late into the war. Known as Operation: Ark.
Current Affairs
Noah is still alive and still the mayor of Eden. It is not known if he is married or has children.
References

1. The Most Feared Man In The Galaxy
   
2. The First Battle
   
3. Here’s To The Losers
   
4. Deadly First Contact
   

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So the title. It really does. I really just don't have any friends. There's no one to talk too, to hang out with, to tell my stories too. Very very boring.
Like there's this guy I like, ugh his so Qute, yea his short and skinny, but his so so Qute. oBsessed. His so my type it's actually funny. Well he looked at me the other day and I nearly died inside. He looked at me with that, you know how you look at someone, then look away and then look back again. Yea that one. OMYYYY I'm being delusional again, he probably doesn't even know my name.
But like you see, I can't tell anybody about this, I'm freaking telling adults on reddit this, which is so sad OMMYYY.

Yes, yes, I'm sure by now, you have heard about subreddits locking, privating, or "going dark" during this time period. If you haven't, here's a good source to read about what's going on.
TL;DR: On June 12th, the subreddit will be locked. The subreddit will remain locked until the situation shows signs of genuine improvement, or will instead be made private if the situation grows much worse.
I'm not about to stand on a soapbox and preach as to how you should feel about the API changes, nor am I going to try to upload a tabloid-styled infographic with a Rick and Morty joke about how serious this choice will affect Reddit and why you should be shitting yourself about it. You're also not going to see me commenting on a massive post about how """proud""" I am to be closing the subreddit in protest and be added to "le goodboy list". However, we have used the Reddit API in the past to run a couple of themed bots, generate download links, and provide great automation for our moderation, mostly on the parent subreddit, /cursedvideos. This subreddit has grown substantially more busy in the part year or so, and this API was crucial to our growth and development. If these changes were made three or four years ago, our subreddit wouldn't be nearly the size it is today.
Reddit is a place for self expression, and connecting with people who share the same interests as you. It's about open ended discussion for virtually anybody. Myself, our moderation team, and our tens of thousands of active subscribers all love cursed videos, for instance; and although we love to bicker and moan at each other, this opportunity has let us all share media we enjoy with so many other people (although this is just a glorified shitposting sub and you all know that). Having a service like this that is accessible to everybody for practically free has left a great impact on virtually millions of people, with thousands of newcomers everyday. There's a reason why "Create a Subreddit" is such a pronounced feature; it's something that literally anybody with an account can do.
A limitation to any service will always come as a disappointment, whether is come from inaccessibility, greed, or lack of proper staffing. It's pretty disappointing to see the team that began this experience grow to be so out of touch with their community. While we understand that expressing personal opinions or trying to create panic about these changes is not productive, it is important to acknowledge the value that the Reddit API has brought to countless communities.
On June 12th, the subreddit will be locked. You'll still be able to view old videos and comments, at least for a while, but you won't be able to submit videos or comments. We were intending on unlocking everything once again on the 14th, but with the climate of this situation continuing to grow even worse, I don't believe that would be beneficial for the situation. The subreddit will remain locked until the situation shows signs of genuine improvement, or will instead be made private if the situation grows much worse.
Ah. I rambled. I do that a lot. Anyways, that's pretty much it.

Hello from the other side of the globe...
First, PSA: Aarn finally came out with the new Pace Magic, now in 30L and 40L (used to be 22L/33L) with much more substantial fabric. Fair bit heavier than before (831g/866g on my scale vs. 644g for the old 22L) but probably worth it for the capacity and durability.
Second, while looking over the new packs I came across a pair of odd plastic attachments hung from webbing near the bottom of the pack, which after some sleuthing turn out to be Woojin Plastics "stick holders". Turns out they were on the old pack too but they came tucked into the front mesh and I never noticed them. I think they're supposed to hold trekking poles, but it's not real clear to me how they work. I know a bunch of you are using Aarn packs (thanks again for turning me onto them!) so I figured this would be the place to ask.
Any thoughts?

This happened a year ago. My gf and I are seasoned campers/hikers. We went to one of our favorite remote places in an area of Appalachian Mountains. As we were coming to one of our regular spots, we came up against 3 hunters. They did not look so friendly. They were being passive aggressive and warned us that “we just might get shot bc we aren’t wearing orange. We just might look like dear to someone”. At this moment something isn’t right. But I say(not the best thing) “well, you might be to stupid to be hunting if you think we look like dear”. They did not change there stand-offish/aggressive posture(with rifles in hand). As I had my hand on a revolver in my pocket, my gf tried to break the tension with mentioning that we forgot to put on our orange hats in our back packs(don’t really have). Then we part ways. I’m trying to tell my gf that something is up with those guys. She keeps blowing it off. We get to our spot 20mins later. Right around 45mins to sundown. I am chopping wood while she is working on food/other things. The hatchet breaks/ricochets, hits me in the wrist and cuts some tendons. She noticed something and laughs “did u cut your hand off lol(not knowing). For a second, everything ran through my head. I know the cut was serious. But the first thing I thought of were those hunters. I just said “we got to go”. She started packing quickly as she saw my wrist. We were packed and put the fire out. With my wrist wrapped up, we walked quickly back to the main trail. I stopped and look behind us down the main trail, to what was a vary long road like trail going up the side of a mountain. Near the end(300~yards) were the trail curved. Those hunters were sitting over there. They could see our fire through the trees. I have no doubt in my heart they were watching us and waiting for it to get dark. My gf did not notice and I never said anything. All I could think about was something bad happened so something worse did not. Took 1.5hrs to get to the truck and 2hrs to get to a hospital. After getting surgery in my hometown, I made a full recovery. I will never be convinced that it was all coincidental.

found this sweet girl near st johns rd and 52nd st. she is not microchipped and is very underweight. i have gotten her treated for fleas and parasites and i am caring for her in my home. already posted this in various places to no avail, so figured i'd try here. dm me if you think you know her!

Leased a Kia Forte-GT Line 2021 in September 2021. There's about 500 dollars left in lease payments expiring in October. I was going to go a few dealerships to get it appraised to see if I could get money for it. It does have some minor scratches on it but zero mechanical issues. The Kelly Blue Book puts my car's value at around 22.5k. I was looking at dealerships around me and one is selling a 2020 Kia forte GT line with 30 thousand miles at nearly 23k. Would it be reasonable to ask for 21.5k. The residual on the car at lease expiration is about 14k.

Is there a cheap place to get probing done? The only place near me that does probing costs $1500 per eyelid for a a total of $6k for both eyes done.

Jasper frowned as he read over the letter, the summons looking like no other mail he’d ever received.
On Saturday, you are summoned to attend Midnight Visitation as part of your rehabilitation. Attendance is non-negotiable, and refusal will result in forced attendance followed by time spent in solitary. Be ready by no later than eleven. The Warden
“Whoa, that's pretty cool,” said Gavin, reading over his shoulder, “Who do you know that would come all the way down here at midnight to see you?”
Jasper didn’t know, and he told him as much. He was in here for killing the last person who had given a crap about him, and he couldn’t think of anyone who would make the trip in the daytime, let alone at night. His parents had disowned him after he’d killed her, and most of his family refused to have anything to do with him. Some of his cousins would still accept his letters, but few of them would bother to write back. Jasper was perplexed by the invitation, but, by the sound of it, it wasn’t much of an invitation anyway. Attendance seemed to be mandatory, and he was pretty sure most of the guards on the compound would enjoy dragging him there in chains.
The letter had come with their mail, and it was one of the few times the guard had called his name. The last year and a half had been difficult for Jasper, but he was getting used to making it on his own. He’d done it all his life, hadn’t he? His mom and dad had been too busy with their own thing to care about their middle child. Barbara was the smart one, Reggy was the athletic people person, and Jasper…well, Jasper was the screw up. His grades had never been too good, his achievements few and far between, and when Grace had come into the picture, his parents figured it was the best Jasper could do.
Jasper had agreed with them. Grace had been his everything from the moment she agreed to go steady with him. Grace was motivated, a natural saleswoman who had strived for something more than middle management. She had a successful business by the time she graduated college, and Jasper was happy to stay at home and keep the house. Jasper provided her with stability, someone to come home to who lacked the means to do any better, but he couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted.
That's why she had left him, and that's why he had killed her.
He couldn’t stand to be apart from her, couldn’t stand for her to be with someone else, and now he was stuck in Stragview for his lapse in judgment.
That's what made the note so cryptic, and the longer he thought about it, the shorter the list of people who would come all the way out here at night became.
He did a little more than wait, he supposed. Jasper had asked around about this Midnight Visitation, but no one seemed to know much about it. The younger guys all shook their heads, and the older guys clammed up when he asked them. It was like a magic spell had been cast over the whole thing, and when you asked some of these guys, it seemed to sap the life out of them before your eyes. Garth, one of the more gregarious murderers on Jasper’s block, had looked downright scared when he’d asked him about the visitation.
“I can’t say nothin,” Garth had said, “and neither will you once you go. It’s a secret that you keep after that. It’s something that changes you, or you keep going back till it does.”
“What changes you?” Jasper had asked, but Garth wouldn’t say anymore.
“Get away from me. Get away, before he thinks I told you.”
He’d left in a hurry then, their chess game only four moves in, and Jasper found he had more questions than before.
He supposed that all would be answered on Saturday, and as the days passed, he found himself a little excited by the whole idea of the thing.
When Saturday night finally arrived, Officer Gauge found him on his bunk, his best uniform still looking ragged, as he waited for whatever might come. Gauge held out a pair of cuffs, telling Jasper that he’d have to cuff him before they left. Jasper nodded, putting his hands behind his back, but Gauge told him that in the front would be fine. Jasper shrugged, it was his show, and let him cuff him in the front. Some of the guys who were still awake made suggestive noises as he left, some of them telling him to enjoy his “night visit”, but a lot of the older guys were noticeably quiet.
Gauge led him to the visitation area, the little spot behind the staff check-in area, and when Jasper shook his cuffs at him, Gauge told him to sit down and put his hands on the eye hook on the table. There were a few guys in here, some of them Jasper knew, but most he didn't, and they all seemed to be cuffed to the protruding hook in the center of the table. Jasper started to buck, but realized it wouldn’t do any good. Whatever this was, they would have him one way or another. He set his hands down on the table, and Gauge pulled a lock out of his pocket. He secured Jasper to the spot before leaving in an all fired hurry.
Whatever was about to happen, Gauge clearly didn’t want any part of it.
Jasper glanced around the room, taking in the men who sat around him. There were about twelve in all, all of them shackled to the table, and they were all spaced so that at least three chairs separated them from another inmate. Most of them looked confused or unsure, but a couple of them looked like they knew what was coming; knew and weren’t looking forward to it. One of them, a big bald bruiser named Dennis, had his head against the table as he cried nakedly between his elbows. Another who Jasper didn’t know was praying in fast spanish. A third, Jasper thought his name might be Conroy, was thrashing around as he pulled at his bonds. His eyes were roving around like a scared horse, and he kept pulling at his cuffs until he heard a lock click near the back of the room.
Then he went still and Jasper thought he saw him listening for something.
A pair of double metal doors at the back of the room burst open then, and Jasper saw a small group walk in unattended by guards. Two of them were children, a pair of twins who looked ghostly under the dim fluorescents. One was a dark haired woman who sat down in front of the man as he prayed. The last was a tall, homely woman who took the seat across from a younger inmate that Jasper couldn’t put a name to. The young man stiffened as she sat down, and the pair was close enough that Jasper could suddenly see that the problem wasn’t the womans face, but rather what was on it. She had a crop of mold growing from ear to ear and as it wove around her eyes, it made her look like she was wearing glasses.
“Hello, Emanuel.” she said, her voice thick but not unhappy to see him, “I see prison had suited you.”
“What the fuck is this?” the inmate said, trying to back away and failing as the chains caught him, “you ain’t real. You look like my ma, but you ain’t my ma.”
“Of course I am, Em. How else would I know about how you drowned me in the bathtub? How else would I know what you did to me before you buried me in the basement? How else would I know how much you cried before you turned yourself in? You felt me watching you from the corner of your room, and it ate at you until you couldn’t take it anymore. The same way,” She leaned in slyly as she grinned, “that you ate at me after I was gone.”
The inmates started making a sound like someone choking on air. He kept pulling away from the woman, but the chains brought him up yet again. Jasper looked away, but he could see similar scenes of horror unfolding around him as more people joined them. The twins sat down in front of the sobbing man, but he wouldn’t lift his head. He wouldn’t look at them, couldn’t look at them, but the longer Jasper looked, the more he could see the bruises around the necks. The deep purple marks looked like individual fingers, and they seemed incable speaking through their bruised throats. They sat menacingly across from him, and every peek he gave them was followed by a hopeless cry of terror.
Others came, men, women, children, mothers, fathers, wives, and everything in between. The inmates' reactions were as varied as the specters. One man could only repeat the phrase “I’m sorry” as a half naked boy of seventeen sat silently across from him. The mother and son he had seen first were now sitting with her hands on his as he rocked and shook his head in negation. What could only be an older man's parents asked if he were proud of what he’d done to them, but he only sat silently and stared right through them.
Jasper wondered when it would be his turn, but he didn’t have long to ponder.
“Sorry I’m late, dear. The commute was dreadful.”
His breath came out as little more than a puff of smoke, and when he turned to look at her, Jasper could tell that it was Grace only by the necklace that she wore. He’d given her that necklace for their third anniversary, and he supposed her parents had left it on her when they buried her. Her face, a face he had loved so much, was gone. She looked like a burn victim, like a used up match stick, and the eyes that looked back at him glowed from empty sockets. Jasper wanted to scream, wanted to pull away as her red and oozing hand came out to touch his, but he couldn’t muster the strength.
She was burnt, her beauty stolen in death, and that too was his fault.
After he’d blind sided her, begging for another chance, she had told him to get lost. She said she couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t give her children, and suggested that he go back to his moms house before her new boyfriend found them together. At the mention of a new boyfriend, he grabbed her by the neck as she turned away and slammed her head against the wall of the stairwell outside her apartment. He had kept right on doing this until she stopped struggling, and even then he did it a few more times. He only stopped when her head began to dribble something besides blood and he realized he had broken her skull. He was scared then, afraid that he would get caught, and when he put her in his car, he wasn’t sure what he intended to do with her.
The police had caught him in his parents backyard, one of her neighbors having seen the whole thing, but by then, Grace had been a charcoal briquette.
He’d heard the funeral had been closed casket, but apparently they hadn’t closed it tight enough.
“Whats wrong dear? Didn’t you tell me you couldn’t live without me? I believe it was a little bit before you smashed my head against the wall. I assumed that, since you’d taken all that time to burn me, that you wanted me to look this way. Well, have a good look, Jasper. See what you’ve done to your Grace!”
Every word she spoke sent flakes of her tongue and lips onto the table, onto his hands, and onto Jasper’s face. She was leaning in closer, bringing her horrible visage closer to him, and Jasper felt his sanity beginning to whimper. As she brought the remains of her blackened lips together, he added his scream to the others. As they pressed against his flesh, he let his eyes roll up to the whites. He tried to stay conscious, but the sheer horror of the situation was eroding his mind. This couldn’t be. Things like this weren’t real. Grace was dead, she couldn’t come back to torment him.
As he regained consciousness, he found that he was still chained to the table and the terrible Grace was still sitting across from him.
“You seem to have gotten a little sleepy, my love. That's okay. The Warden was nice enough to extend invitation for the whole night, and I was more than happy to come and see my best fella.”
Jasper screamed, screamed until his throat broke, and when Gauge opened the door at five o’clock, all those present were as silent as the grave.
Gauge led them away like a flock of lambs, easily correcting them when they tried to stumble out of line. He had been doing this for a while, two or three years at least, and he had learned not to question what went on behind that door. He heard begging, screaming, the mad laughter of the deranged, and at the end of the month, he found an extra five hundred dollars added to his check for every Midnight Visitation he conducted.
His smile curdled when he remembered what the Warden had said to him when he gave him the position.
“I know you’re struggling to feed your appetites, and its only a matter of time before you end up inside these walls for doing something foolish. Why not let me help you feed those urges, and in exchange, I won't tell anyone what sort of debauchery you get up to in your spare time.”
The Warden was a weird one, but Gauge had to admit that he always kept his promises.
Gauge wondered what he put these poor saps through, but quickly put it out of his mind.
The Wardens games were none of his concern, and how he chose to discipline his inmates was his business.

So I met this very awesome guy near Christmastime 2013 in Oakland, CA while fleeing a bad family situation in Arizona. We were immediately in our own world, falling in love fast when the reality of his divorce-in-process and some of my own circumstances started to interfere. When I stopped seeing him he started drinking very heavily and got sick. We were both pretty bummed it didn’t work out, but said goodbye on very good terms. When I returned to Arizona (2014) and was bussing to work at night, I saw him. The night of a gorgeous full-moon later that year in December, no less. I was walking from the bus stop to work when I saw someone standing at the corner up ahead, looking down at a cell phone. This alone was odd, because I never saw ANYONE on this stretch at that time of night. The closer I got, the more I realized it was the guy from Oakland. I couldn’t understand why he would be in Arizona, or how he could know where I was. My stride quickened as I was excited to approach and maybe talk to this person, but when I got about 50 yards away and could see it was DEFINITELY him (aside from this strange “softness” to the skin on his face he did not normally have - but the haircut, sideburns, his height, build, shoes, and clothes were incredibly uncanny) he looked up from his phone, directly at me, and then took off at a full run up the adjacent street. I hurried to the corner, looked down the street he’d run up, and saw absolutely no one. This was a friday night. I would work whole weekends (group home for foster youth) and return home on Sunday mornings. When I got home I took a very long nap, as that was my routine at the time. When I woke up, I had received text messages from the guy in Oakland, out of the blue. He said he had been thinking of me since it was Christmas time again, and that he just wanted to say hi. I asked what he’d been doing that friday and he said he’d simply worked, gone home, and gone to bed. I told him what I’d experienced and he had no more answers than I did. I had several dreams later that someone was relaying his passing to me at a party in Oakland, but shrugged it off as my own fears toward his struggle with alcohol. Nonetheless I run google check ups on him every once in a while. Just recently found out that in 2021 he passed away at the age of 41. I’m not sure how and will likely never ask his family, but it feels like I was being warned and did nothing to reach out to him. This all does fit the classic doppelganger definition so well, so I thought I'd share!

Yes, yes, I'm sure by now, you have heard about subreddits locking, privating, or "going dark" during this time period. If you haven't, here's a good source to read about what's going on.
TL;DR: On June 12th, the subreddit will be locked. The subreddit will remain locked until the situation shows signs of genuine improvement, or will instead be made private if the situation grows much worse.
I'm not about to stand on a soapbox and preach as to how you should feel about the API changes, nor am I going to try to upload a tabloid-styled infographic with a Rick and Morty joke about how serious this choice will affect Reddit and why you should be shitting yourself about it. You're also not going to see me commenting on a massive post about how """proud""" I am to be closing the subreddit in protest and be added to "le goodboy list". However, we have used the Reddit API in the past to run a couple of themed bots, generate download links, and provide great automation for our moderation. Our subreddit isn't nearly as busy as it used to be, but this API was crucial to our growth and development. If these changes were made three or four years ago, our subreddit wouldn't be nearly the size it is today.
Reddit is a place for self expression, and connecting with people who share the same interests as you. It's about open ended discussion for virtually anybody. Myself, our moderation team, and our tens of thousands of active subscribers all love cursed videos, for instance; and although we love to bicker and moan at each other, this opportunity has let us all share media we enjoy with so many other people. Having a service like this that is accessible to everybody for practically free has left a great impact on virtually millions of people, with thousands of newcomers everyday. There's a reason why "Create a Subreddit" is such a pronounced feature; it's something that literally anybody with an account can do.
A limitation to any service will always come as a disappointment, whether is come from inaccessibility, greed, or lack of proper staffing. It's pretty disappointing to see the team that began this experience grow to be so out of touch with their community. While we understand that expressing personal opinions or trying to create panic about these changes is not productive, it is important to acknowledge the value that the Reddit API has brought to countless communities.
On June 12th, the subreddit will be locked. You'll still be able to view old videos and comments, at least for a while, but you won't be able to submit videos or comments. We were intending on unlocking everything once again on the 14th, but with the climate of this situation continuing to grow even worse, I don't believe that would be beneficial for the situation. The subreddit will remain locked until the situation shows signs of genuine improvement, or will instead be made private if the situation grows much worse.
Ah. I rambled. I do that a lot. Anyways, that's pretty much it.

Jasper frowned as he read over the letter, the summons looking like no other mail he’d ever received.
On Saturday, you are summoned to attend Midnight Visitation as part of your rehabilitation. Attendance is non-negotiable, and refusal will result in forced attendance followed by time spent in solitary. Be ready by no later than eleven. The Warden
“Whoa, that's pretty cool,” said Gavin, reading over his shoulder, “Who do you know that would come all the way down here at midnight to see you?”
Jasper didn’t know, and he told him as much. He was in here for killing the last person who had given a crap about him, and he couldn’t think of anyone who would make the trip in the daytime, let alone at night. His parents had disowned him after he’d killed her, and most of his family refused to have anything to do with him. Some of his cousins would still accept his letters, but few of them would bother to write back. Jasper was perplexed by the invitation, but, by the sound of it, it wasn’t much of an invitation anyway. Attendance seemed to be mandatory, and he was pretty sure most of the guards on the compound would enjoy dragging him there in chains.
The letter had come with their mail, and it was one of the few times the guard had called his name. The last year and a half had been difficult for Jasper, but he was getting used to making it on his own. He’d done it all his life, hadn’t he? His mom and dad had been too busy with their own thing to care about their middle child. Barbara was the smart one, Reggy was the athletic people person, and Jasper…well, Jasper was the screw up. His grades had never been too good, his achievements few and far between, and when Grace had come into the picture, his parents figured it was the best Jasper could do.
Jasper had agreed with them. Grace had been his everything from the moment she agreed to go steady with him. Grace was motivated, a natural saleswoman who had strived for something more than middle management. She had a successful business by the time she graduated college, and Jasper was happy to stay at home and keep the house. Jasper provided her with stability, someone to come home to who lacked the means to do any better, but he couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted.
That's why she had left him, and that's why he had killed her.
He couldn’t stand to be apart from her, couldn’t stand for her to be with someone else, and now he was stuck in Stragview for his lapse in judgment.
That's what made the note so cryptic, and the longer he thought about it, the shorter the list of people who would come all the way out here at night became.
He did a little more than wait, he supposed. Jasper had asked around about this Midnight Visitation, but no one seemed to know much about it. The younger guys all shook their heads, and the older guys clammed up when he asked them. It was like a magic spell had been cast over the whole thing, and when you asked some of these guys, it seemed to sap the life out of them before your eyes. Garth, one of the more gregarious murderers on Jasper’s block, had looked downright scared when he’d asked him about the visitation.
“I can’t say nothin,” Garth had said, “and neither will you once you go. It’s a secret that you keep after that. It’s something that changes you, or you keep going back till it does.”
“What changes you?” Jasper had asked, but Garth wouldn’t say anymore.
“Get away from me. Get away, before he thinks I told you.”
He’d left in a hurry then, their chess game only four moves in, and Jasper found he had more questions than before.
He supposed that all would be answered on Saturday, and as the days passed, he found himself a little excited by the whole idea of the thing.
When Saturday night finally arrived, Officer Gauge found him on his bunk, his best uniform still looking ragged, as he waited for whatever might come. Gauge held out a pair of cuffs, telling Jasper that he’d have to cuff him before they left. Jasper nodded, putting his hands behind his back, but Gauge told him that in the front would be fine. Jasper shrugged, it was his show, and let him cuff him in the front. Some of the guys who were still awake made suggestive noises as he left, some of them telling him to enjoy his “night visit”, but a lot of the older guys were noticeably quiet.
Gauge led him to the visitation area, the little spot behind the staff check-in area, and when Jasper shook his cuffs at him, Gauge told him to sit down and put his hands on the eye hook on the table. There were a few guys in here, some of them Jasper knew, but most he didn't, and they all seemed to be cuffed to the protruding hook in the center of the table. Jasper started to buck, but realized it wouldn’t do any good. Whatever this was, they would have him one way or another. He set his hands down on the table, and Gauge pulled a lock out of his pocket. He secured Jasper to the spot before leaving in an all fired hurry.
Whatever was about to happen, Gauge clearly didn’t want any part of it.
Jasper glanced around the room, taking in the men who sat around him. There were about twelve in all, all of them shackled to the table, and they were all spaced so that at least three chairs separated them from another inmate. Most of them looked confused or unsure, but a couple of them looked like they knew what was coming; knew and weren’t looking forward to it. One of them, a big bald bruiser named Dennis, had his head against the table as he cried nakedly between his elbows. Another who Jasper didn’t know was praying in fast spanish. A third, Jasper thought his name might be Conroy, was thrashing around as he pulled at his bonds. His eyes were roving around like a scared horse, and he kept pulling at his cuffs until he heard a lock click near the back of the room.
Then he went still and Jasper thought he saw him listening for something.
A pair of double metal doors at the back of the room burst open then, and Jasper saw a small group walk in unattended by guards. Two of them were children, a pair of twins who looked ghostly under the dim fluorescents. One was a dark haired woman who sat down in front of the man as he prayed. The last was a tall, homely woman who took the seat across from a younger inmate that Jasper couldn’t put a name to. The young man stiffened as she sat down, and the pair was close enough that Jasper could suddenly see that the problem wasn’t the womans face, but rather what was on it. She had a crop of mold growing from ear to ear and as it wove around her eyes, it made her look like she was wearing glasses.
“Hello, Emanuel.” she said, her voice thick but not unhappy to see him, “I see prison had suited you.”
“What the fuck is this?” the inmate said, trying to back away and failing as the chains caught him, “you ain’t real. You look like my ma, but you ain’t my ma.”
“Of course I am, Em. How else would I know about how you drowned me in the bathtub? How else would I know what you did to me before you buried me in the basement? How else would I know how much you cried before you turned yourself in? You felt me watching you from the corner of your room, and it ate at you until you couldn’t take it anymore. The same way,” She leaned in slyly as she grinned, “that you ate at me after I was gone.”
The inmates started making a sound like someone choking on air. He kept pulling away from the woman, but the chains brought him up yet again. Jasper looked away, but he could see similar scenes of horror unfolding around him as more people joined them. The twins sat down in front of the sobbing man, but he wouldn’t lift his head. He wouldn’t look at them, couldn’t look at them, but the longer Jasper looked, the more he could see the bruises around the necks. The deep purple marks looked like individual fingers, and they seemed incable speaking through their bruised throats. They sat menacingly across from him, and every peek he gave them was followed by a hopeless cry of terror.
Others came, men, women, children, mothers, fathers, wives, and everything in between. The inmates' reactions were as varied as the specters. One man could only repeat the phrase “I’m sorry” as a half naked boy of seventeen sat silently across from him. The mother and son he had seen first were now sitting with her hands on his as he rocked and shook his head in negation. What could only be an older man's parents asked if he were proud of what he’d done to them, but he only sat silently and stared right through them.
Jasper wondered when it would be his turn, but he didn’t have long to ponder.
“Sorry I’m late, dear. The commute was dreadful.”
His breath came out as little more than a puff of smoke, and when he turned to look at her, Jasper could tell that it was Grace only by the necklace that she wore. He’d given her that necklace for their third anniversary, and he supposed her parents had left it on her when they buried her. Her face, a face he had loved so much, was gone. She looked like a burn victim, like a used up match stick, and the eyes that looked back at him glowed from empty sockets. Jasper wanted to scream, wanted to pull away as her red and oozing hand came out to touch his, but he couldn’t muster the strength.
She was burnt, her beauty stolen in death, and that too was his fault.
After he’d blind sided her, begging for another chance, she had told him to get lost. She said she couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t give her children, and suggested that he go back to his moms house before her new boyfriend found them together. At the mention of a new boyfriend, he grabbed her by the neck as she turned away and slammed her head against the wall of the stairwell outside her apartment. He had kept right on doing this until she stopped struggling, and even then he did it a few more times. He only stopped when her head began to dribble something besides blood and he realized he had broken her skull. He was scared then, afraid that he would get caught, and when he put her in his car, he wasn’t sure what he intended to do with her.
The police had caught him in his parents backyard, one of her neighbors having seen the whole thing, but by then, Grace had been a charcoal briquette.
He’d heard the funeral had been closed casket, but apparently they hadn’t closed it tight enough.
“Whats wrong dear? Didn’t you tell me you couldn’t live without me? I believe it was a little bit before you smashed my head against the wall. I assumed that, since you’d taken all that time to burn me, that you wanted me to look this way. Well, have a good look, Jasper. See what you’ve done to your Grace!”
Every word she spoke sent flakes of her tongue and lips onto the table, onto his hands, and onto Jasper’s face. She was leaning in closer, bringing her horrible visage closer to him, and Jasper felt his sanity beginning to whimper. As she brought the remains of her blackened lips together, he added his scream to the others. As they pressed against his flesh, he let his eyes roll up to the whites. He tried to stay conscious, but the sheer horror of the situation was eroding his mind. This couldn’t be. Things like this weren’t real. Grace was dead, she couldn’t come back to torment him.
As he regained consciousness, he found that he was still chained to the table and the terrible Grace was still sitting across from him.
“You seem to have gotten a little sleepy, my love. That's okay. The Warden was nice enough to extend invitation for the whole night, and I was more than happy to come and see my best fella.”
Jasper screamed, screamed until his throat broke, and when Gauge opened the door at five o’clock, all those present were as silent as the grave.
Gauge led them away like a flock of lambs, easily correcting them when they tried to stumble out of line. He had been doing this for a while, two or three years at least, and he had learned not to question what went on behind that door. He heard begging, screaming, the mad laughter of the deranged, and at the end of the month, he found an extra five hundred dollars added to his check for every Midnight Visitation he conducted.
His smile curdled when he remembered what the Warden had said to him when he gave him the position.
“I know you’re struggling to feed your appetites, and its only a matter of time before you end up inside these walls for doing something foolish. Why not let me help you feed those urges, and in exchange, I won't tell anyone what sort of debauchery you get up to in your spare time.”
The Warden was a weird one, but Gauge had to admit that he always kept his promises.
Gauge wondered what he put these poor saps through, but quickly put it out of his mind.
The Wardens games were none of his concern, and how he chose to discipline his inmates was his business.