Good stuff thrift huntingdon valley photos

We only met about 3-4 weeks ago and hit it off. Sexual chemistry, get along, etc. He was always chill at texting and stuff like that and always seemed like a detached guy but I feel like he wants me to chase him. Only hung out 3 times and this past weekend was great, he seems really into me. However, communication isn’t super frequent. He will text me once a day and it’ll be a super generic text like “how are you” or if he calls, it’s the same. Two days ago, I was the one who texted him good morning and then he didn’t respond until 4 hours later.. so I also let it sit and actually ended up posting on my story because I thought I looked good since I was preparing to take a passport photo. Right after seeing the story, he called me to say hi and told me to reply to his text later. I didn’t end up doing so because I got busy and he texted me at night to ask the name of a recipe I told him about only to leave me on read for all of the next day until I was the one who called him. When I called him the next day, he told me that he’s super busy now doing some work in his backyard but we still talked and he goes “alright, I’ll ring you later. If you don’t hear from me for a bit, just give me a call”
I never ended up hearing from him and never gave him a call either because I was tired and figured if he wanted to talk he would, but I also wasn’t stressing it yesterday since I was too tired anyway.
Today I invited him out with me and some friends— it’ll be a birthday thing and he said he might stop by but I bet I won’t hear anything from him until tomorrow or Sunday and it’ll be something generic like “how are you doing”
Our conversations in person are great and I know we haven’t been talking for that long. I’m just confused because it seems like he wants me to chase him? Or maybe he just doesn’t like me and I’m delusional?
We’re both 25

I have a situation with ex best friends from high school, met friends that wanted me to be there 24/7 and im a very beautiful introvert but I’m also a follower so we hung out all the time. We made so many good memories but at the same time it was so controlling, manipulative and I know now that I was hugely taken advantage of. Despite all of that, when I look back on photos where I’m smiling and having fun with them which there were genuine moments and the happy birthday messages, I get a wave of aww I wish we were real friends now.
I haven’t been able to make best friends like that since so it hits a little more. I’ve been my own introverted self and kept my limits mostly from how bad this friendship got.
They’ve reached out to me but when they do they are kinda manipulative and sneaky and just wanna know things about me. I really don’t do social media but when I post on Snapchat they are the first people to watch my story, I’m talking 2 mins after I post..
There’s some stalker stuff there but to be honest I secretly love the silent and subtle drama because I know they’re still curious about me and keeping someone hooked and having that tiny by of power is evily fulfilling…
Every once in a while I’ll post a pic of me that I know will catch their attention and get them talking because I just know em so well and I love it. Now I will say I have no drama in my life and I ‘hate’ real controversy so I keep my life pretty calm with good solid friendships so this is all I have and want 😂

Timestamp Hi mechmarket. I'm as out of this hobby as out can be, so don't ask me for trades or any other obscure details about the keyboards! Also, I apologize if it looks like I'm fishing for offers, I honestly don't know what the market looks like nowadays, let me know and I can adjust. All reasonable offers considered. Just clearing out the store room and will be offloading some stuff I didn't get around to 3 years ago (time flies!) JER-A06 (Mira Red, "Serial 1") The red boy. Back when JER-A06 made its debut in the western world (they had at least 1 domestic run), I was the first serial on the submission form. See post below for proof of serial and manufacturing pics. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96264.0 To my knowledge, this is the one and only red JER-A06 from that run, done as a special commission from Eve, in the same shade red as Mira. I have a spare original PCB that I ordered along with the keyboard. The current PCB is built with PCB mount vintage blacks with Spirit springs and lubed with 250g0 I believe (I don't know the weight, feels like 65-67g). The cable is a custom sourced thicc boi that I terminated myself into USB. Non-detachable, as suits the vintage idea of this homage keyboard. The key set is GMK Red Alert. Some minor scuffs on the bottom vertical side of the keyboard, not visible from the top (see pictures). $900 OBO (GMK Red Alert pending) OTD 456GT It was my daily driver at work for the better part of a year many years ago so exaggerations of it being a “wrist breaker” are a bit overstated. Currently soldered with Gateron pinks, lubed with 205g0 and 65g springs (I believe). Some tarnishing on the brass weights, one nick on the bottom. $2700 OBO (keyset separate, see below)
OG NCR dyesubs from a SAU-3077 with unknown sublegends The keyset on the 456GT. I sniped it from a eBay listing 4 years ago. PM me for more details on the listing (I attached a photo of the original photo from the eBay listing in the Imgur album). I haven't seen any other information about what sublegends might be. French-Canadian? It was shipped to me from some keyboard recycler in CONUS. Anyhoo, happy to hear offers on this. Condition wise it's probably a solid 7 to 8. Not NIB that's for sure, if that bothers you. I did use it daily for ~9 months after all (yes that probably cost me $1 a day in value depreciation idk) $1200 OBO Leading Edge DC-3014 with weird mix of keycaps The blue alps on these are a good 8/10 I'd say. I've attached a short typing video. The keycaps are all double shot from a variety of Chinese/Japanese alps keyboards, don't ask me about provenance. I might have photos of the original keyboards somewhere in iCloud but kinda lazy to dig out. You're probably not buying these for the keycaps anyway (although they are kinda neat for certain sub-population of weirdos here). The cable is not original but also comes from another similar vintage AT keyboard. $500 All prices include PP fees but no shipping. As always, happy to ship anywhere around the world, just ask for a quote. Thanks for looking!

Hello, I would like to seek fellow redditors opinions, input and recommendation on how I could better finetune my itinerary better. There's only so much I can think of, and plan as an individual, but with everyone's input and comments I can further refine and enhance the travel experience before I set foot into Japan. Do forgive me in advance for the theorycrafting wall of text.
I know it may be difficult to review the itinerary, so to make the review easier I have broken the itinerary down into specific sub-groups e.g. Shikoku, Kinki etc. Specific questions that I have are bolded.
Thank you in advance for taking your time to provide your opinions!
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Baseline information

• 32M, average fitness, solo traveller
• Public transport only (challenge); I have a driver's license but I have not drove a car for god knows how long so I would prefer not to test it against the green hills of Shikoku
• Interest: anime (select few), experience autumn/nature, visiting secluded spots, and just trying random stuff
• JP language skill: rudimentary at best (N4), but I will not shy away from speaking in simple, broken japanese or use a translator to communicate. Reading/interpreting kanji is not a problem (in general).
• Visit history: Visited twice (once to Hokkaido for ~8 days, and once toKyoto and Osaka for 8 days
• Will probably travel around with a (slightly) oversized luggage at ~166cm (A+B+C), that’s the only one I have with me. This will be a problem on the Shinkansen (but hopefully not so much on sightseeing trains/limited expresses).
• Will be visiting during (almost) peak autumn at 11 November, and will depart on the 16th of December
• Jet lag is unlikely to be a problem (1h time difference), but nevertheless I will maintain a low tempo on the first day to acclimatize to the environment
• Only thing firmed as of now is the air ticket, everything else is up in the air.
• I like planning/min-maxing to some degree, though I recognize that I may not fulfill all objectives during the trip and I am totally ok with that [its just a guideline or framework to give the holiday some structure, that’s all.] FWIW, I personally like traveling at a high tempo pace like some japanese travel show do (e.g. ローカル路線バス乗り継ぎの旅)

​
Specific goals/objective:

1. Experience Shikoku in autumn (specifically the views at Iya Valley) and in other prefectures (thus making nature sightseeing more of a priority this time round)
2. Experience Kanazawa for anime stuff
3. Experience the Shimanami Kaido in full (including any sightseeing spots in between the 6 island chains)
4. Bonus - try as many sightseeing trains as possible.
5. Bonus - if weather, time and schedule permits, try skiing as an option in Nagano.
6. Bonus - stay in as many onsen ryokans as possible, without breaking the bank.

​
Locked-in prefectures [i.e. I will definitely go to those prefectures no matter what]:

1. Shikoku (as per above objective)
2. Hiroshima (because its on the opposite end of the Shimanami Kaido)
3. Kanazawa (for anime related reason)
4. Tokyo (that is my starting and end point so it has to be included by default)

All other prefectures are basically float i.e. I am open to consider dropping said itinerary for something else based on your suggestion that aligns with my preferences/interest. Most of the other locations I added are prefectures that are often next to each other, or well-connected (apart from the initial Tokyo Kagawa jump via Sunrise Seto/Shinkansen).
​
Wait-list prefectures (prefectures that I want to go, but I don’t think I can realistically fit in without dropping other locations):

1. Snow skiing at Nagano (depending on how cooperative the weather is in early-ish December (would 2 days be sufficient?))
2. Ehime, Kochi expansion [spend 1-3 more days]
3. Izu Peninsula (~2 days, via Saphir Odoriko)
4. Nagoya + lower Nagano (Kiso Valley) (~3 days)
5. Ishikawa expansion [1 extra day at Kaga]

I am open to dropping a few days in Tokyo/Osaka etc to make that trade off [currently kept 3 days free for further development]. Alternatively, if the planning can be better optimized based on your inputs I might be able to do one of those without compromising on the base set. I would like to hear your opinion on what locations you would drop in the itinerary to make time for one of the above.
​
General planning philosophy:

1. My itineary adopts a breadth approach (cover as much area as I can humanely possible without rushing/touch-and-go) as opposed to depth (i.e. spending much more time within Shikoku than what I allocated); though I would be open to considering more days at selected locations if you have strong recommendations. My thought is to experience how different autumn is at various parts of the country (if possible), and maybe winter too (to a certain degree).
2. Due to the nature of my travel, I note that luggage logistics is a critical consideration when moving between prefectures; my thought is to park that luggage at the next hotel as quickly as possible so that I can free myself for sightseeing within the vicinity, or leave the luggage at the hotel after I check out until I am ready to travel to the next location. I will need to send (quite a fair bit of) emails to the hotels to confirm on this prior to booking.
3. I will attempt to minimize transit time between prefectures to no more than 2~3 hours a day to avoid having excessively long transport days (except the initial Tokyo Kagawa jump).
4. Because of the long trip, I will also need to factor a bit of downtime at night for administrative stuff (e.g. catching up a little bit on work, laundry etc).

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Shikoku (~7 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. I will need to exploit Limited Express trains as much as possible to minimize downtime between the 4 prefectures. Fortunately, for the most part these train frequencies are almost hourly, thus missing one train isnt too deadly consequence-wise.
2. The transfer between Kochi and Ehime [Matsuyama] is oddly quicker via express bus as opposed to trains (!)
3. For Kochi, my opinion is that it is best explored on car instead of public transport [it’s a really wide prefecture]; I feel that 1 day may not do it justice, but it is probably adequate for exploring the city centre as a whole.
4. There's a fair bit of uncertainties while planning this leg so I would deeply appreciate any advice you may have.
5. This current iteration is unable to weave in the Shikoku Mannaka Sennen Monogatari sightseeing train [四国まんなか千年ものがたり] ; if you people think its something not to be missed do let me know and I will reshuffle my timetable as such.

Day 0: Tokyo Kagawa (Sunrise Seto) [Saturday, 11 Nov]

• Touch down at Narita at 1720hours
• Transfer to Tokyo Station via NEX or Skyliner
• Settle administrative matters at the Midori-no-Maruguchi (e.g. get all the booked tickets etc from JR Pass, for Shinkansen and all other sightseeing trains) at Tokyo Station.
• IF Sunrise Seto ticket is obtained via the JR West portal booking, chill till 2200 and take Sunrise Seto to reach Kagawa (Takamatsu) at 0700 the next day. Try to snag the ticket online (likely via the japanese portal since there's no option to buy Solo Deluxe through the english/international website. Otherwise, compromise and go for Single)
• IF Sunrise Seto ticket is NOT obtained, proceed to take the furthest possible Shinkansen westwards (probably Okayama) and rest for the night.

Day 1: Kagawa (Takamatsu) [Sunday, 12 Nov]

• Chill around Takamatsu. Drop luggage at coin locker OR the hotel (near JR Takamatsu ideally)
• Look at whats left of Takamatsu Castle en route to the port.
• Day trip to Naoshima or Teshima to visit the art museums (Chichu Art Museum, Lee Ufan Museum etc).
• Ritsuin Garden in the evening (closes 1830)
• Find an eatery with Sanuki Udon for dinner if possible.

Day 2: Kagawa (Kotohira) Tokushima (Iya Valley) [Monday, 13 Nov]

• Morning trip from Takamatsu to Kotohira (either via JR or Kotoden). Visit Kotohiragu [includes inner shrine] and Kanamaruza Theater
• Return to Kotohira to pick up luggage, transit to Oboke via Limited Express Shimanto [Takamatsu Tadotsu Oboke]
• Retire at a local hotel around Oboke. If time permits, take the chance to explore around Oboke Gorge itself.

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Day 3: Tokushima (Iya Valley) [Tuesday, 14 Nov]
[Post-research note: I realized that there is NO public transport to Mount Tsurugi on a weekday. I will have to rent a taxi direct to Mount Tsurugi, make the 'climb', then thereafter take the taxi down to the other attractions. I am inclined to just go full hog on the private taxi and rent it (almost the whole day, probably 7~8 hours for 4300yen/hour) to save the trouble.
Otherwise, I will need to hike downhill which can be rather rough since its just a single lane road (looking at nearly 10++ km) so I think it wise not to penny pinch in the interest of both time and safety.]
Spend the day at Iya Valley.

• Take a taxi after breakfast to zip to Mount Tsurugi and speedrun it to the mountain peak (aka using the chairlift to speedrun a good chunk of the mountain) about 2.5 hours ~ 3 hours as per the Iya Valley guide
• Taxi from Mount Tsurugi chairlift down to Oku-Iya Niju Kazuraashi and cross it (~1 hour estimate)
• Taxi down to visit the mannequins/scarecrows at Nagoro Village (~3km downhill from Oku-Iya). (~1 hour estimate)
• Check out the Peeing Boy Statue (~0.5 hour estimate [its just looking at the statue that is overlooking the entire gorge is it not?])
• Cross the outer vine bridge Iya-no-Kazurabashi (~1 hour estimate)
• Taxi back to Oboke, and retire for the day (~0.5 hour estimate, thus looking at about ~8 hours taxi rental total, with some leeway for lunch break)

​
Day 4: Tokushima (Iya Valley) Kochi (Kochi) [Wednesday, 15 Nov]

• Transit from Iya Valley [Oboke] to Kochi via Limited Express Shimanto (again) after breakfast. (~1 hour transit)
• Park luggage at hotel [ideally near JR Kochi Station], then proceed to mill around Kochi, visiting places such as Kochi Castle [高知城] and Harimaya Bridge[はりまや橋]
• Transit to Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum [高知県立坂本龍馬記念館] via local bus which is also near Katsumatsura Beach incidentally. Chill at Katsumatsura Beach in the evening
• Return to JR Kochi, dinnesupper at Hirome Market (ideally to try out Kochi's speciality seared bonito). [is visiting the market more preferable during lunch OR dinner?]

​
Day 5: Kochi (Kochi) Ehime (Imabari) [Thursday, 16 Nov]

• Complete any remaining items in Kochi in the morning, then transit to Imabari via train (Kochi Tadotsu Imabari), via Limited Express Shimanto (yet again!) and Ishidzuchi**[TBC: this might be better done via highway bus instead which is faster at ~2-3 hours]**
• Drop luggage at Imabari for the next 2 days, either at Sunrise Itoyama OR Cycle no Ie. [both are well positioned for the Shimanami Kaido, and are also one of the selected hotels eligible for the Sagawa luggage transfer.] Ideally done just around lunch time, so that there's still the better half of the day to explore Imabari.
• Spend the remainder of the day visiting Imabari Castle (closes 1700) and Towel Museum (slightly out of the way) (closes 1800) [TBC: I note this place is quite out of the way from Imabari itself, even the JP website suggests taking a taxi (!) there from the nearby train station. Might have to drop this).
• Attempt to try some Ehime-related food specialties e.g. Taimeshi (Sea Bream), Ehime oranges, Champon for the next 2 days

​
Day 6: Ehime (Matsuyama / Imabari) [Friday, 17 Nov]

• Take the Limited express train Ishidzuchi to Matsuyama day tripping. (~1h one-way).
• Explore Matsuyama Castle, and the nearby Matsuyama Ropeway Shopping Street
• Visit Shiki Memorial Museum
• Visit Dogo Onsen [and attempt to soak in the waters if possible].
• Also consider looking at Ishiteji (石手寺) beside Dogo Onsen.
• Bonus: Subject to train schedule, if possible, attempt to secure tickets for the Iyonada Sightseeing Train (伊予灘物語), Futami leg [双海ふたみ 編] , and also visit JR Shimonada Station (JR下灘駅) at the same time.
• Bonus: visit Yawatahama Port where the movie Suzume took reference from,
• Return to Imabari via the same Limited express Ishidzuchi and retire for the night.

Day 7: Ehime (Imabari) Hiroshima (Shinamani Kaido) [Saturday, 18 Nov]
I am of the opinion that 1 day in Shimanami Kaido is adequate if I attempt just the main route which is about 80km [as a test run, I did 70km and finished it within 6-7 hours with lunch breaks included]. For now I will plan for two full days, however should I truncate it down to one day later, I will add an extra day to either explore Matsuyama or Okayama.
​

• Start off at Sunrise Itoyama [watch the sunrise, have breakfast here, cafeteria opens at 0700, rental opens at 0800] OR Cycle no Ie. Do paperwork to send luggage over to the next accomodation via Sagawa.
• I will (probably) follow the recommended 'extended' route on Cycle no Ie's website and do the following:
  • Take the west coast for Oshima (~13km) and cross to Hakatajima, with possible stop on:
    • Mount Kiro Observatory Point [I am aware that there's a steep incline so this would be contingent on my physical/mental status by then].
    • Nagahama Beach
• Take the coastal route for Hakatajima (~17km) and cross to Omishima and enjoy the coastal scenery
• Take the coastal route (again) for Omishima (~41km) (or lesser depending on how I'm feeling at that point) , with possible stop on:
  • -TBC: Okunoshima (there is apparently a ferry route to the well-known rabbit island via Omishima port. Not sure if anyone else have tried this particular route and if this is a better approach than going through Tadano-umi (though I would acknowledge that there's historical stuff to visit in nearby Takehara), and I would not be able to buy rabbit food in advance).[Based on Google Earth estimate, its about 3km for the entire island loop - seems doable within 2 hours to tour the poison gas museum with a bike and pet some rabbits).
  • Oyamazumi Shrine Treasure Museum
• End the day at WAKKA (Omishima) OR Guesthouse NEST / Soil Setoda (Ikuchijima) just beside Kousanji / The Hill of Hope (closes 1700). If possible, visit before closing, otherwise defer to next day.
• Try the ice cream at Dolce at Ikuchijima if possible.
• Bonus: if for some reason I am still ahead of time at this juncture (<1500), proceed to finish Innoshima and Mukaishima, then take a ferry to backtrack to Wakka/Soil Setoda or cycle back (last boat is ~1700) and rest; however, the next day I will zip straight to Onomichi via ferry after breakfast.

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Hiroshima + Yamaguchi (~4 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. Onomichi is a pretty good base to jump to Okayama to explore Okayama, Kurashiki or Tomonoura with the Shinkansen accessibility, but it is impossible to cover them all within a single day. If I finish the Shimanami Kaido within a single day or finish it early on the second day, I will have that extra time to visit those.
2. There's another sightseeing train etSETOra from Onomichi to Hiroshima but it only operates on Monday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday. For now the schedule could fit the train timetable pretty nicely.
3. Would anyone suggest visiting Miyajima in the morning or in the evening? This would help me determine the order for the Kintaikyo Bridge/Miyajima day trip. Watching the sunset at either destination is pretty good in my books.

​
Day 8: Hiroshima (Shinamani Kaido Onomichi) [Sunday, 19 Nov]

• Continue from Ikuchijima towards Innoshima and Mukaishima (~18km) via the western coast route after breakfast, with possible stops on the following areas:
  • Innoshima: Innoshima Flower Centre, Shimanami Beach [open to more suggestions]
  • Mukaishima : there seems to be a lot of brunch places like Willows Nursery etc, soak the view at Mukaishima Rest Park [TBC: open to more suggestions]

Ideally reach Onomichi just around lunch or earlier. Chill for the rest of the day, and if I'm still up for it, explore Onomichi, including but not limited to:

• Exploring the cat alley
• Visit the exhibits at Onomichi City Museum of Art
• Consider walking to Senkoji and Onomichi Hondori Shopping Street
• Look into trying Onomichi-style ramen.

Retire at a guesthouse/hotel near JR Onomichi that I have forwarded the luggage to.
​
Day 9: Hiroshima (Onomichi, Takehara+Kure OR Tomonoura OR Okayama) Downtown Hiroshima) [Monday, 20 Nov]

• Mill around Onomichi in the morning (if not done yesterday), with a side trip to EITHER Takehara/Kure OR Okayama/Kurashiki OR Tomonoura (choose one):
  • Takehara: stroll along the historical townscape [and look if they have any Tamayura-related merch], Okunoshima (if not done during the Shimanami Kaido leg / Kure: look into trying Kure curry/Niku-jaga and visit the Yamato Museum
  • Okayama: Okayama Castle (zip via Shinkansen) / Kurashiki : Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter
  • Tomonoura: stroll along the townscape during the day (zip via Shinkansen, transfer to local bus)
• Return to Onomichi (no later than 1400), board the etSETOra sightseeing train at 1437, and zip to Hiroshima. Enjoy the sunset along the coastline.
• Retire for the night at Hiroshima proper, probably near JR Hiroshima OR the bus terminal. If time permits, take a gander along the streets and see what takes me from there.

​
Day 10: Hiroshima (Downtown Hiroshima) [Tuesday, 21 Nov]
Spend the day surveying Hiroshima proper.

• Peace Memorial Park (平和記念公園) and Atomic Bomb Dome
• Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims (国立広島原爆死没者追悼平和祈念館)
• Hiroshima Castle
• Orizuru Tower (おりづるタワー)
• Shukkeien (縮景園)
• Optional: Mazda Museum / Kure (if not done the previous day)
• Try to source for Hiroshima-specific food: Okonomiyaki, Dandan Noodles

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Day 11: Hiroshima (with a day trip to Yamaguchi) [Wednesday, 22 Nov]

• Daytrip to Yamaguchi [Shin-Iwakuni] to visit Kintaikyo Bridge via Shinkansen. Also stop by the nearby Iwakuni Castle.
• Try Tonosama Sushi at Iwakuni if possible.
• Take the local train back to Miyajimaguchi and take the boat to Itsukushima.Take the time to stroll around the island and perhaps watch the sunset at the torii gate.
• Exit back to Hiroshima via boat to Hiroshima Port direct, and transit back to hotel.

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Shimane + Tottori (4 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. Matsue becomes the main jump point for Shimane just because of the subsidized highway bus from Hiroshima, and ease of access towards Tottori later. There's no direct train between Hiroshima and Izumo/Matsue (!).
2. Tottori is really wide size-wise, to the point that it feels more efficient to have two separate hotels in two nights (Kurayoshi/Misasa Onsen + downtown Tottori) rather than one hotel for two nights (i.e. downtown Tottori). Could be just me making excuses to get into an onsen ryokan however.
3. Is there anything interesting at Yonago (Tottori) that I should take note of? Based on my initial survey nothing in particular pops up (other than the Tottori Prefectural Flower Park).
4. Skipping Tottori Castle since it doesn’t seem to be interesting at first glance. Any other interesting things to at Tottori downtown (or nearby)?

​
Day 12: Hiroshima Shimane (Matsue) [Thursday, 23 Nov]

• Make good use of the 500yen highway bus from Hiroshima to Matsue. (3.5 hours transit). Fortunately the frequency is not too bad (7-8 buses per day, looking at 0800 departure or later); if there are still outstanding places to visit in Hiroshima I will visit them in the morning.
• Check in at a hotel near JR Matsue, and proceed to trawl around Matsue with whatever daylight is left. (TBC: am considering taking a few stops down to Tamatsukuri Onsen 玉造温泉 or Matsue-shinjoko Onsen instead of the typical hotel. Does anyone have any positive experiences there?)
• Attempt to spend the afternoon at the Adachi Museum of Art. Local train to Yasugi, transfer to free shuttle.
• Chill off in downtown Matsue for the night. Prowl for Shimane-specific food such as Naniwa Zushi (浪花寿司), Shijimi clams (しじみ), Izumo soba, Izumo Zenzai (出雲ぜんざい).
• Bonus: visit the Tottori Prefectural Flower Park for the winter Hanakairo Flower Illumination at Yonago at night [which is just beside Matsue. Free shuttle bus at Yonago bus terminal].

​
Day 13: Shimane (Izumo / Matsue) [Friday, 24 Nov]

• Day trip from Matsue to Izumo. (JR Matsue JR Izumo, swap to Ichibata local rail to Izumotaisha-mae)
• Take a stop at Izumo Taisha, as well as the nearby Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo (島根県立古代出雲歴史博物館)
• After lunch, return to JR Matsue and proceed to Yushien Garden (由志園) via bus. Enjoy the sunset over the garden.
• Stop by Matsue Castle on the way back.

​
Day 14: Shimane (Matsue) Tottori (Kurayoshi) [Saturday, 25 Nov]

• Transfer from Matsue to Kurayoshi in the morning via Super Matsukaze Limited Express (~1h).
• Settle down luggage at Misasa Onsen, then proceed to hike up Mitokusan Sanbutsuji Temple (三仏寺). Cater extra time just in case I have to wait for another fellow to pop up to climb in pairs. Estimated climb time excluding wait is about 2-3 hours both ways?
• Excess time to be spent sauntering Misasa Onsen and its nearby area such as the Nijisseiki Pear Museum [二十世紀梨記念館（なしっこ館)] and Kurayoshi Historical Quarter.
• Retire at Misasa Onsen for the night. Bonus: watch the constellations at night at Misasa Onsen on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 2100JST. Current plan does not fall within those 3 weekdays
• Bonus: take a short detour to Conan Town (postnote: not a big fan of the show).

​
Day 15: Tottori (Kurayoshi Tottori) [Sunday, 26 Nov]

• Transfer from Kurayoshi to Tottori (~35minutes transfer) in the morning, and proceed to tour around Tottori.
• Drop luggage, take a local bus to Tottori Sand Dunes, and visit the nearby Sand Museum.
• Transfer northwards to Uradome Coast via local bus and spend the remainder of the day there. Watch the sunset over the coast.
• Return to downtown Tottori, stroll around and call it a night.

​
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Hyogo, Kyoto, Osaka , Nara, Mie (10 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. Kinosaki Onsen is intentionally designed to be a slow-paced leg to recover [and also to make time to enjoy the onsens].
2. The limited express train between Kinosaki Onsen and Osaka stops by Himeji thus I thought of resting a night there instead of doing day trips via Osaka.
3. Osaka itinerary does look sparse but that is in large part because I have already visited most of them in the past. Nevertheless, I would like to experience how different it is in autumn compared to summer [based on those few destinations that I loved going previously].
4. I have kept one float day to decompress, OR shift to any of the other prefectures (TBC).
5. There are (multiple) special limited express train by Kintetsu; they're not covered by JR pass but nevertheless I would love to ride on those as an experience. The Kintetsu pass covers the basic fare only but based on my preliminary cost estimate, it is still worth getting it.
6. Is it feasible to compress Himeji and Kobe to a single day?
7. The itineraries for Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Mie are flexible since they're literally beside one another - makes it particularly easy to shift around base on ground situation.

​
Day 16: Tottori (Tottori) Hyogo (Kinosaki Onsen) [Monday, 27 Nov]

• Settle any outstanding sightseeing spots in the morning if required in Tottori, then transfer to Kinosaki Onsen via the Sanin Line.
• Make a pitstop at Amarube ('Sky Station') and marvel at the engineering work.
• Deposit luggage at the ryokan (or put in the coin locker), and stroll around and enjoy Kinosaki Onsen [after all its an onsen town].
• Try to hit as many of the 7 external onsens that are usable. Retire for the night here.
• Optional: go up the ropeway and oversee Kinosaki Onsen in the evening (last ride up ~1630)
• Optional: take a short hike up to Onsenji Temple.

​
Day 17: Hyogo (Kinosaki Onsen + Northern Kyoto (Amanohashidate) day trip) [Tuesday, 28 Nov]

• Optional: take a (very) early start to the day to Takeda Castle Ruins and witness the 'floating castle' effect in the morning (<0800).
• Day trip to Amanohashidate via ToyookaKyotango Railway. Do the funny bend-down pose on the bench at Amanohashidate View Land, and see how it feels like looking at the world inverted.
• Cross the sandbar and look from the other side (Nariaiji Temple / Kasamatsu Park)
• Select one of three additional side-trips:
  • EITHER take a local bus up to Ine to look at the Funaya + sightseeing boat,
  • OR local rail down to Maizuru to look at the Maizuru World Brick Museum + eat at the Michi-no-eki;
  • OR reverse to Toyooka spend time in the city itself e.g. Izushi Castle Town
• Return to Kinosaki Onsen, and continue experiencing the remainder of the onsens. Retire for the night here. Optional: ride the Aomatsu sightseeing train back to Toyooka.
• Optional: Take a trip to Ankokuji Temple (安国寺) in the evening. Likely to visit post-peak autumn which means less than ideal viewing conditions.

Day 18: Hyogo (Kinosaki Onsen Himeji) [Wednesday, 29 Nov]

• Transit from Kinosaki Onsen to Himeji via Limited Express Hamakaze (~2 hours).
• Deposit luggage at the hotel or the coin lockers at the station, then proceed for sightseeing.
• Walk along the Miyuki Street Shopping District which is en-route to Himeji Castle.
• Himeji Castle sector : Himeji Castle (姫路城), Kokoen (好古園)
• Take a local bus at Himeji Castle to go to Mount Shosha and hike up Engyōji Temple (圓教寺)
• Optional : Stroll along Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History and/or Himeji City Museum of Art which is beside the castle, OR Shosha Handicraft Museum which is just at the foot of Mount Shosha
• Optional: Make a detour to the Japan Toy Museum near Koro station (~30 minutes from JR Himeji). Closes 1700.
• Look for Hyogo-specific food: Kobe beef, steamed pork buns, sobameshi, himeji oden, etc

Retire at Himeji for the night.
Day 19: Hyogo (Himeji Kobe) Osaka (Dotonburi) [Thursday, 30 Nov]
Day trip to Kobe, before continuing further down to Osaka.

• Check out from Himeji, transit further down to Kobe for another stop before Osaka. Place luggage at the holding facility within the Shinkansen station.
• Take a visit to the Earthquake Memorial Museum (人と防災未来センター) to look at the devastation wrought by the 1995 earthquake.
• Stroll along Kobe Harborland (神戸ハーバーランド) and Meriken Park (メリケンパーク) , look at the Kobe Tower since its closed till 2024 for renovation, and look at the damage caused by the earthquake
• Optional: Head westwards to Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.
• Optional: Hit up the ASICS Sports Museum (アシックススポーツミュージアム)
• Look at the engineering feat that is the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge and the nearby Akashi Kaikyo Bridge Exhibition Center at Maiko. (Suzume no Tojimari)
• Return to Shin-kobe, pick up luggage, and transit to Shin-Osaka via Shinkansen, and then to Dotonburi/Shinsaibashi. End the (long) day in Osaka.

Day 20: Osaka [Friday, 1 Dec]
Osaka Nostalgia (acid) trip, speedrun edition: revisiting places that I want to go again

• Day trip to Mino Park and revisit the waterfall (I loved visiting it previously) via the Hankyu line in the morning.
• Zoom down to the Osaka Aquarium after lunch and walk around it (Minoo Umeda Honmachi Osakako Station).
• From there, race towards Abeno Harukas and watch the sunset/nightview at Abeno Harukas.
• Bonus: revisit Sumiyoshi Taisha if time permits.
• Spend whatever time remains at night at Nipponbashi Denden Town (shops close at ~2000) and Dotonburi (some stores are still open near midnight) and/or Shinsekai (新世界).

Day 21: Osaka (Nara day trip) [Saturday, 2 Dec]
Spend a day in Nara.

• Zoom from Namba to Nara via Kintetsu (note: non-JR)
• Explore Todaiji Temple, Kokufuji Temple, Isuien Garden and Kasuga Taisha.
• Optional: pass by Naramachi (奈良町) on the way back.
• Take the Kintetsu line down to Mount Yoshino. [TBC: subject to whether I am too early or late for the koyo.Based on last year's prediction I am about 1-2 weeks too late. Might swap this out to a Uji day trip instead in Kyoto.). Spend time walking around the Shimo Senbon and Naka Senbon and experience the autumn.
• Transfer back to Osaka. Bonus: take the Blue Symphony back to Osaka instead of the typical train. (non-JR)

Day 22: Osaka (Mie day trip) [Sunday, 3 Dec]
Day trip to Mie.

• Take the Iseshima Liner from Tsuruhashi Station (near Namba/Dotonburi) to Ise. Bonus: take the Hinotori from Osaka to Tsu, then transfer to Mie. (non-JR)
• Hit up Ise Jingu (伊勢神宮) [both inner and outer] and Okage Yokocho (おかげ横丁)
• Try to eat Matsuaka Beef or Ise Udon for lunch.
• Head westwards to Futamiokitama Shrine (二見興玉神社) / Meotoiwa Rocks; and if further time permits, go to Toba for the Ama Viewing Platform.
• Take the returning Shimakaze Limited Express train back to Osaka (note: only one train at 1630; if this train is missed, change to normal express trains). (non-JR)
• Retreat back to Osaka for the night. Consider doing any other night activities in Osaka if time, and body permits.

Day 23: Osaka ('north' Kyoto day trip) [Monday, 4 Dec]
(north) Kyoto day trip.

• Take a stop at the Kyoto Railway Museum. Optional: also consider heading to To-ji Gojunoto first if I reach Kyoto way early before 10am.
• Walk back to Kyoto station, and take a bus northwards to Kyoto Manga Museum.
• Hop on the bus direct from the Manga Museum to Kinkakuji. [bus 15]
• Select one of two side-trips:
  • EITHER head westwards to Arashiyama (note: already visited once in the summer but I still think it nice to visit in autumn/winter this time round). Bonus: experience sunset along the Togetsukyo Bridge.
  • OR head eastwards to Higashiyama (closes 1700), Philosopher's path etc (did not visit these in my past trip here so there's the 'new' factor, but it is going to be a physically taxing day. Also, most likely will reach here nearing evening i.e. closing time thus there's a limit to how much I can visit realistically).

Whichever choice, return back to Osaka for the night. Look out for Kyoto-specific food such as Yudofu, Saba Sushi, Warabi Mochi, Nishin Soba (にしんそば) etc.
Day 24: Osaka ('south' Kyoto day trip) [Tuesday, 5 Dec]
(south) Kyoto day trip edition (mainly Uji and Fushimi).

• Zip from Osaka to Kyoto via Keihan to Uji Station.
• Spend the better half of the morning in Uji.
• Visit the Byōdō-in and the nearby Tonoshima and Tachibana Island.
• Hike up to the Daikichiyama Observation Deck to oversee Uji as a whole. On the way down, explore Ujigami Shrine.
• Take the chance to buy some Uji tea as gifts to relatives. Have lunch along the Omotesando Road.
• Head further northwards to Fushimi, and do another hike up Fushimi Inari. (Note: visited once in the past but I liked the experience thus I would like to do it again.) Bonus: if its done in the evening.

Head back to Osaka and retire for the night. Consider doing any other night activities in Osaka if time, and body permits.
Day 25: Osaka (wildcard) [Wednesday, 6 Dec]
Spare day to do whatever I feel like doing OR reallocate this to another prefecture. Intentionally left blank for later planning
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Kanazawa, Gifu+ (4 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. Is it likely for the skiing season to open around 9~10 December at Shiga Kogen or Nozawa Onsen? Would very much like to try skiing for fun, but am uncertain if the snow condition would be satisfactory by then. Some of the skiing website indicates that these two destinations are usually the first to open. I would like to seek advise on this if possible [never skiied before].
2. As an additional question to point 1, is 2 days adequate just to get a flavor on skiing?
3. Kanazawa is a pretty solid jump point to Shirakawago/Takayama via express buses (~1 to 2 hour one way).
4. My initial planning considered going to Kurobe Gorge (Toyama) but apparently the railways are closed from December onwards. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
5. Another sightseeing train in Kanazawa that I can fit in nicely in my current plans (花嫁のれん), runs on Mon/Fri/Sat/Sun.

Day 26: Osaka Ishikawa (Kanazawa (Kanazawa cityside)) [Thursday, 7 Dec]

• Zip from Osaka to Kanazawa via Limited Express Thunderbird in the early morning (~3hours; ideally the 0740 or 0810 service). Drop luggage at the hotel near JR Kanazawa and explore the cityside.
• Have lunch at the Omicho Market (近江町市場), OR at Higashi Chaya District.
• Stroll around Kanazawa Castle (金沢城, Kanazawajō) and the nearby Kenrokuen (兼六園) / Seisonkaku Villa (成巽閣, Seisonkaku) .
• Consider visiting one or more of the nearby museums if possible:
  • D.T. Suzuki Museum OR
  • National Crafts Museum OR
  • 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
• Optional: Head southwards to Myoryuji Temple + Nishi Chaya District.
• Optional: Head northwards to Higashi Chaya District (if not done for lunch).

Any outstanding spots not completed today, to be rolled over to the next 2 days (if possible).

• Retire in Kanazawa for the night. Be on the lookout for Kanazawa-specific food: Gold-leaf ice cream, oden, hanton rice
• Optional: have a stay at Yuwaku Onsen for at least one night for anime-related reasons. (Hanasaku Iroha)

​
Day 27: Ishikawa (Kanazawa cityside) / Gifu (Shirakawago, Takayama) [Friday, 8 Dec]

• Day trip to Shiwakawago and Takayama via Nohi bus (non-JR, ~1h). Grab the morning bus express bus to Shirakawago and explore the place in the morning. Experience early snowfall (?) there. Optional: visit Ainokura on the way towards Shirakawago.
• Take another express bus down to Takayama for lunch (~1h travel time).
• Explore what Takayama has to offer. Stroll along the old town near the bus terminal and visit the Takayama Jinya. If time permits, stroll along the Higashiyama Walking Course.
• Optional: pay a visit to Hida Folk Village.
• Return to Kanazawa via Hida Limited Express to Toyama Shinkansen to Kanazawa, OR take the same Nohi express bus directly back (non-JR).
• Retire at Kanazawa for the night. Last express bus from Takayama to Kanazawa is 1630, arrive at 1845. Alternatively, head northwards to Toyama via JR and transfer to Kanazawa.

​
Day 28: Ishikawa (Kanazawa cityside / outskirts) [Saturday, 9 Dec]
Side trip to Wakura Onsen / Nanao for anime-related sightseeing. (Insomanics after Class, Hanasaku Iroha)

• Zoom from Kanazawa up to Wakura Onsen/Nanao via Limited Express Noto Kagaribi. Do some sightseeing related to Insomanics after Class and Hanasaku Iroha.
• Do some train spotting with two anime along the Noto Railways. Stop at Nishigishi station for some sightseeing. (non-JR)
• Return to Kanazawa in the evening from Wakura Onsen via the sightseeing train Hanayomenoren [花嫁のれん, last train 1630).
• End the night at Kanazawa.

Day 29: Ishikawa (wildcard) [Sunday, 10 Dec]
Spare day to do whatever I feel like doing OR reallocate this to another prefecture. Intentionally left blank for later planning
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Tokyo (~6 days)
Specific thoughts while planning:

1. Specific interest to target: anime/vtuber stuff, music (piano in particular), bookstores etc.
2. This is the point in time I should go ham on souvenier purchase if I have not done so. I'll probably get an extra cardboard box or duffel bag to lug with me to the airport to store extra stuff.
3. Would like to seek recommendation on where I should set my base for the 5~6 days here. For now I am planning to pit at Ginza, subject to availability and cost. My thought is that as long as its along the Yamanote line everything rolls I suppose.
4. Hard pass on Golden Gai on the Shunjuku leg (I do not drink).
5. There's way too many to list in terms of what I would like to do in Tokyo, but I have listed items that are of particular interest to me first within the available time frame. If you have strong opinions on specific locations do let me know.

Day 30: Ishikawa (Kanazawa) Tokyo (Ginza) [Monday, 11 Dec]

• Zip from Kanazawa to Tokyo via the Hoririku Shinkansen in the morning (just north of two hours). (TBC : If I can optimize my schedule better, I can try squeezing two days here for a stop at Nozawa Onsen / Shiga Kogen (Nagano) for a short ski experience).
• Deposit luggage at one of the Ginza hotels (TBC: subject to cost; might swap for another location later on)
• Explore ('south') Tokyo with the remainder of the day.
• Marvel at the architecture that is the Tokyo Station and its surrounding.
• Visit the Imperial Palace.
• Head south towards the Mori Art Museum (closes 2200)
• End the night with a stop at Tokyo Tower (closes 2230).

Day 31: Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku and Nakano) [Tuesday, 12 Dec]
Explore ('west') Tokyo, namely Shibuya, Shinjuku and Nakano.

• Start off with an early day visit to Meji Shrine / Yoyogi Park.
• Head up to Shinjuku. Spend the remainder of the morning and lunch exploring Kabukicho, Hanazono Shrine and Omoide Yokochō (ideally have lunch here). Also make a pit stop at Kinokuniya's flagship store at Shinjuku.
• Head northwards to Nakano Broadway and trawl for anime goods for several hours (closes ~1900)
• Head south down back to Shibuya and experience the crossing in peak night condition. Walk around and soak in the atmosphere. Optional: stop by the Ishibashi music store at Shibuya (closes 2000).
• Cap off the night and look at the night view at Shibuya Sky (closes 2230). Zip back to the hotel at Ginza.

Day 32: Tokyo (Akibahara, Asakusa and Sky Tree) [Wednesday, 13 Dec]

• Kick off the day with a morning visit to Asakusa (i.e. Sensoji).
• Transit over to Tokyo Skytree to watch the Tokyo cityscape in the day.
• Trawl around Akibahara for the afternoon. (Animate, Sega claw machines, etc).
• Also stop by Ochanomizu for sightseeing (Suzume no Tojimari)
• Zip back to the hotel for the night. If time permits, stop by the two flagship music stores along Ginza: Yamaha Ginza and Yamano Ginza. Also, visit Itoya Ginza (stationary store).

Day 33: Tokyo (Kamakura day trip OR Ikebukuro) [Thursday, 14 Dec]
EITHER take a day trip Kamakura, OR explore northern Tokyo (Ikebukuro)
Kamakura leg:

• Make a detour to Used Tyre Market Sagamihara Store to experience the retro vending machines. Then head southwards to Enoshima.
• Look at the giant Buddha statue and stroll along Hasedera.
• Take the Enoden to Enoshiima and explore the island.
• Take the JR back to Ginza and retire for the night.

Tokyo (Ikebukuro leg):

• Visit Otome Road for otaku related stuffs.
• Trawl the usual suspects such as Bic Camera etc.
• Make a stop at the Mejiro Gardens.
• Visit the Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library) at Waseda University.

Day 34: Tokyo (wildcard) [Friday, 15 Dec]
Spare day to do whatever I feel like doing OR reallocate this to another prefecture. Intentionally left blank for later planning
​
Day 35: Tokyo Home [Saturday, 16 Dec]

• Contemplate life at the hotel, doing whatever I feel like for the morning and early afternoon. Bonus: have an early breakfast at Tsukiji Market in the morning if staying at Ginza.
• Clear any last minute administrative matter (if any), or do (very) last minute sightseeing/buying. Most likely limited to Ginza and Akibahara.
• Get a nice lunch omakase to cap it off if possible. (taking recommendations if anyone has one, ideally meat/beef centric instead of just sushi).
• Head off to Narita from Tokyo Station via NEX just after lunch at 1430 1530 to Narita, flight at 1830.

END
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If you're still reading up to this point, here's my own personal ramblings/thoughts on JR pass usage:
I have thought of two ways of doing this for the first 21 days:
a. easy-mode : just get 21 days JR global pass before the price hike at 60450 yen, OR b. hard-mode: get a 7 day JR global pass (to cover the NEX fees, the basic fee on the Sunrise Seto to Shikoku, as well as limited express trains within Shikoku) (29650) + 5 days for JR Okayama Hiroshima Yamaguchi Area Pass (15000) + 4 days for JR Sanin Okayama Area Pass + 5 days for JR Kansai Wide Area Pass (10000) for a total of 59230.
The initial conclusion was to go with option A since that reduces the administrative burden, but I realized the individual passes do have its own perk which truimphs over the global JR pass. For instance, the Sanin Okayama Area Pass provides a (minor) discount for the Adachi Museum of Art; the Kansai Wide Pass covers the Kyotango route between Kinosaki Onsen and Amanohashidate which the global JR pass does not cover, JR Okayama Hiroshima Yamaguchi Area Pass covers JR buses within Hiroshima for free, therefore I am inclined to go with the hell option (option B) as it stands.
For the remaining 14 days, I could also get the global 14 day JR pass at 47250 yen but it is not worth it at all, because I will be relying largely on Kintetsu for the Osaka/Kyoto/Nara/Mie leg which the JR pass most certainly does not cover.

• For the Osaka/Nara/Mie/Kyoto leg, I intend to make good use of a mix of both local metro and the Kintetsu rail pass for 5 days (4900). If I do exploit Kintetsu's limited express train to its fullest, I should be able to save money by buying the pass. The Osaka Amazing Pass at 2600yen a day does not make financial sense for me this time round, given how little I am exploring within Osaka.
• For the Osaka Kanazawa, Shirakawago and Takayama leg, the preferred pass of choice is the Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass over the global JR pass, in large part because this pass fully absorbs the Nohi highway bus fees (which can rack up quite a lot at ~8000yen for a return trip between Kanazawa and Shirakawago/Takayama). Also this absorbs the Thunderbird fee. One major issue with my current plan is that it does not cover Wakura Onsen nor the sightseeing train.
• For the final Kanazawa Tokyo leg, the preferred choice is the Horuriku Arch Pass that covers the direct Shinkansen back to Tokyo, and the NEX fees to Narita when I depart from Tokyo. Will only break even with the pass at best unless I make a stop at Nagano.

So all in all, there's quite little incentive to get the global JR pass after I worked out my schedule, apart from the initial 7 days for the Sunrise Seto jump which the All Shikoku Pass will not cover.
Through the hodge-podge of multiple area passes, it works out to around 102890 yen for the whole trip of 35 days, contrast with 107700 yen for a 21 + 14 global JR pass. While there's a minor cost saving doing the hard way which sweetens the deal, the additional minor perks associated with the area passes sells it for me, as I would had to pay more out of pocket to cover non-JR pass buses/rails and such which would add up to much greater cost than I would had anticipated. Also, if I did this trip post-price hike in October, the calculus becomes a no-brainer: avoid the global JR pass like the plague.
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Thank you very much for your opinions, suggestions and advice in advance!

Hi
hope its ok to post here. Im 23F, 5ft 6, 130lbs, European.
I had a brain scan recently (MRI) and am awaiting the results, however im quite nervous about it. I've looked briefly at the scan as I was sent a copy, im not very good at this stuff but the things I noticed (with my untrained and unknowledgable eyes!!) is that my nose septum isn't straight, and that there is a big black space behind my cerebellum (not sure what it is?) I was being investigated for a possible pituitary tumour, ICP hypertension and chairi malformation. if anyone recognised any of these in the scans or anything else of note I would be profoundly grateful if you could help
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if anyone can help me at all I would be extremely grateful as im a bit nervous whilst waiting for the consultants report
​
Thank you very much in advance! I will post the scan photo below :)

Hi reddit,
My family and I are exhausted with the situation and we are worried that the scammer will bleed dry grandpa. So starting from the beginning - about a year ago someone send a message on WhatsApp to my grandpa saying "Hi Ireland". The photo showed young woman in sensual pose. Since then my grandpa has been talking to this number. He is very secretive about his phone and so we don't know what they are talking about. My parents live in another country so they can't keep an eye on my grandpa at all times. My grandpa sends sometimes "I love you" texts to my mom (by mistake - they are directed at the scammer) or other more inappropriate stuff too. Not long ago my mom received credit card details from my grandpa again they were directed to the scammer. I have posted this on Scams subreddit and received some good advices. We have contacted adult protective services. My grandpa and I live in Ireland so it's called National Safeguarding Office in here. They told us they can't do anything because grandpa didn't file a complaint ( grandpa thinks the scammer is a real woman so he doesn't want to file a complaint). We managed to get the number of "this woman". The number is from Nigeria. Can we do anything about it ? We are worried that he is going to get himself homeless with all the money he is spending on this scammer.
Reddit please help- any advise will be highly appreciated !

I’m bi and open to any gender. I don’t mind an age difference as long as it’s not too big.
Used to be an architect, but I’m currently a freelance artist and writer. You can check out my stuff just be clicking through my profile. I can also link/show more pics if u wanna see them! Always happy to show off my stuff haha.
You can feel free to stalk my profile in general. I don’t mind and I’ll probably be doing the same.
I'm Chinese-Filipino, currently living in the Philippines. I speak Mandarin and Fookien relatively fluently, along with English and Filipino. But English is definitely my best language and I’m probably gonna be using that 99% of the time we talk lol. Though if u wanna hit me up in Mandarin I have been wanting to practice it! Just be aware I’m like intermediate level at best.
I can seem quiet at first glance, but I get really really loud once I get close to someone. Friends have told me before that I have no volume control--or filter, and I tend to be really blunt. I'm not good at lying because I tend to show everything on my face (so you'll know if I like you or not.. Unless you're as bad at reading nonverbal cues as I am). Despite this, I like to use sarcasm a lot... Even online, which is really hard.. So I'm going to try not to do that here.
To sum it up, I might be a little weird but at least I won't be boring. :)
I’ve got a ton of different interests, which just checking the subs i frequent should tell you about. But to sum it up, I enjoy anime/cartoons/animation in general, some live action series too, video games (mostly handheld stuff, with some PC and my Switch—I’m down for some multiplayer games), fanfiction (a lot of times more than the original canon lol) and several niche interests. Also been getting more into fitness lately. Been playing badminton (and taking lessons) and trying vainly to learn how to dance via Youtube.
I don’t mind exchanging photos but I don’t like voice or video calls. Sisks. Hope that doesn’t make me seem like a scammer but I’m just more comfortable writing and chatting (i’m pretty wordy, as u can probably already tell, and I enjoy long messages like we’re writing letters to each other haha) vs talking. Also tends to be lots of annoying background noise where I live.
(Speaking of though, I can be reaally bad at noticing messages/replying back/etc. So sorry in advance for long wait times in between messages, but I’m trying to be better about that this year so let’s see, lol)

You read that right. And I’ve had shingles before on my shoulder that led to permanent nerve damage so I’m well aware of what the onset of it feels like. Last night the left side, upper part of my face started tingling/shooting pains and by the morning it was much worse, so much so that I did go to urgent care to get put on anti virals.
My ex and I have been broken up for about 5 months after a 3 year relationship. We broke up briefly about 2 years in, right around when I thought we would be moving in together. First heartbreak. He still talked to me ALL THE TIME. And of course I talked to him too, wanting to get back together. He ended up moving into a new apartment and I gave him practically all of the stuff we had been purchasing together for the previous 2 years and helped him move in. Sucked. Then his father passed away and he went into a downward spiral into alcoholism for I’m not kidding, a year. Like he stopped working and drank 24/7. He had a couple breaks of sobriety and we did get back together. Part of me thinks we did though because I was practically the only one in his life trying to help him as he slowly lost all of his friends and his family lived an hour away. I dealt with so much that year with him, trying everything possible to just keep him alive and help him find a way to stop. Eventually he went to rehab and got out of that apartment. His mom broke his lease and realized he cannot live alone. I supported him through 5 months of rehab, emotionally and financially.
Now during this time I ended up relapsing myself. Just not as bad. I caved and drank with him a couple times and that got me started. I would drink at night occasionally but it didn’t really effect my life. Until he went to rehab. Nearing his last month and a half of rehab he started growing distant, harder to get ahold of and the entire time not going on any passes wanting to see me, claiming he didn’t do the work required to leave the campus. My drinking got bad as I was insecure about our relationship. I decided that I needed to take a leave of absence from work and deal with my own issue. So I went to rehab.
When I got to rehab he practically ghosted me, it was even harder to get ahold of him. I almost stopped talking to him completely. Which was so weird because we never even had a conversation about being over or what the hell was going on. He made me feel like I was bothering him so I left him alone, feeling miserable. Towards the end of that rehab we finally talked and he told me while he loved me, he was sorry that he just didn’t want to be with me, heartbreak number two.
Needless to say that rehab didn’t work out. I went back to work only to keep drinking, except I stopped talking to him finally. Two months later I decided I was ready to go to rehab again and do it for myself and really try, and stay for 4 months instead of 1. About two weeks into my stay I had a terrible conversation with my parents and ended up calling him. He was happy to hear from me, told me I should have called sooner and was happy to be my contact for my phone calls. I was nervous about this, opening to door of contact but I did call him about often during my first 30 days when I couldn’t have a phone.
When I got my phone back I reached out to him only to go back to basically what he was doing to me last time I was in rehab, super slow to respond. I stopped trying and stopped texting him. Then about a month later he randomly called me. It was a weird 30 minute conversation about random stuff, he was overly happy and I could tell he was drinking. I didn’t want to accuse him so I didn’t say anything. Then I didn’t hear from him.
About a week later I hear from staff that worked weekends at another rehab that he was back in rehab. I was happy he was safe. Now about a week after that idk WHY I didn’t realize it sooner but I realized that a tech that worked at my rehab was one of the 14 friends that my ex has on Instagram. It’s just kinda a catfish photo and I kept forgetting her name when I saw her so I didn’t put two and two together. He follows her back and she ALSO follows his old profile that he doesn’t even use anymore. She only follows 21 people. They also follow each other on tiktok. I soon found out that they were in rehab together when he was in rehab for 5 months and she got at job at the rehab afterwards. I also found out from a client who was back in with ME but was AlSO with them that she had a crush on him but he never showed interest in her at the time. I know they didn’t follow each other until I went to rehab the second time though, so after we had been broken up for a couple months.
Now I did mention how this upset me to another tech and I was then told by head staff that I was not allowed to talk to other staff… about staff. So basically I have to deal with her running some of the classes I’m in. They did tell me that they weren’t going to tell her about my curiosity about the situation though. Which thank god because the following day his mom reached out to me and tells me the reason he relapsed was because his sister died from an overdose. So I didn’t need him getting out of rehab and hearing any drama. I just dropped it. Blocked her on social media so I wouldn’t have to see it and tried my best to focus on myself again.
Well, a couple days ago he got out of rehab and I guess the first thing he wanted to do was call me. He calls me and we have a good hour long conversation about what has been going on. I find out his mom is letting him take over his dead sisters lease, which absolutely worries me considering last time he was alone in an apartment he almost died. He goes on to tell me there is no excuse for how he hasn’t been talking to me more or been there for me more regardless of his situation and he was sorry about everything. Over all it was a good conversation, even though it left me worried for him. We talked about how I was doing and idk it was super nice to talk to him that way again. He thanked me for answering his call. I said “of course I’m always here to talk.”
That was 4 days ago. Part of me wants to reach out to him and see how he is doing, part of me thinks that would be codependent. But I’m constantly looking at my phone hoping he will reach out to me so we can talk. I DONT KNOW WHY I still want to be with him. I miss him so much. I miss how well he knows me and how easy it is to talk to him. I hate that I haven’t seen him in so long. And most of all im hella paranoid that since he isn’t talking me he is talking to this tech I see all the time instead and it breaks my heart. To note she is 5 years younger than him, has only 9 months sober herself, I don’t think she’s that pretty but that’s besides the point, I’ve been nothing but nice to her even though I really hate and feel super uncomfortable being around her. I hate that I can’t tell staff that it makes me uncomfortable. I’m worried that if I even do tell staff and it gets back to her, she will tell my ex and that will make things even worse. I keep telling myself to not make assumptions but it’s hard.
So here I am, trying to fix myself, I really want to get it right this time and yet this enormous road block is in my way because my heart hurts and I feel confused. I guess I’m just looking for words of support on how to navigate this or pull through for myself, I’m CLEARLY stressed AF because now I’m dealing with this illness. What can I do? How can I feel better, physically and emotionally?

This is super Long!!
AND
I’m not sure if this post is within the scope of this Subreddit… but I will try again.
Ok so my original post was removed before I was able to defend/ explain my side of this story. This was definitely not our brightest moment and I am in no way proud to sit here and tell everybody I was once addicted to heroine. It’s actually really hard due to the fact of what was said in the comments of my last post. But that isn’t why I am here. I’m not here to talk about my past and how I need to fix that issue because I’ve done that. That being said if you could please put yourself in my shoes and look at how my SO and I were treated during this time when we needed support and compassion, not betrayal and fake love from my MIL. MIL did try and manipulate the whole situation for no good reason other than to make herself look like she cared and make herself out to look like the “hero”. So this is another story but with a bit more explanation and background.
So me (31M yes,I forgot my age) and my SO (32F) have been together for about 4 years. Shortly after we made things “official” I found out that she was a long term heroine addict. She has been using for 10+ years. I explained earlier that at the time I was having trouble sleeping at night, but not why, but it was due to drinking too much red bull and I was on Adderall for my ADD. I drank to come down every night and when I found out about my SO and her heroine addiction she started openly doing around me so I became more and more interested in it over time because I seen how it just put her out!! I had to drink almost all day to barely fall asleep, so when I say inevitable, I mean if something is in your face like her shit was in mine, it more likely than not, is going to end up being very difficult not to try. Most people who have a heroine dependency know it only takes once or twice to be hooked. Kinda like someone eating ice cream in front of a lactose intolerant person. Not at all, I know, but I’m not trying to get too deep because I’m really here to talk about my MIL so don’t linger on our addiction.
So 2 years into our relationship my SO gets a feeling she could be pregnant. It wasn’t planned and I wish it could have waited until we were committed fully to sobriety, but that wasn’t in our cards. My MIL caught wind of my SO believing she was Pregnant and on Valentines Day gave Her a pregnancy test and a Flower. The results were in fact positive and we absolutely knew it was time to grow up and do better. MIL said she understood and made us believe we could confine in her and she would have our backs and she would Pray for us.
MIL called CPS on us when she was AROUND 7 months knowing we had a plan!We explained our situation and to CPS and they told us that they ultimately were not able to look into our case until LO was born. So she in essence tried to get him taken away right off Rip. It was later in the pregnancy when we found out we were expecting (LO Birthday is 6/27/21) so only giving my SO less than a month to find a doctor, to see Dr, and make a pretty drastic lifestyle change is definitely a little harsh. Maybe SO took a minute to get on Suboxone but how can you try and fuck with someone knowing they are putting in an effort to get better? And behind their back? (Rhetorical questions,To me it’s BS)
Anyways, she was all supportive to our faces but after we left or whatever she was off telling people we were 100% going to lose our LO. She told her sisters, her co-workers, and anybody else who knew us that we were handing rights over to her after birth because we couldn’t kick our addiction. She continued to fill her house up like she was truly going to come home with our LO. MIL completely child proofed her home to set the scene for her lies and delusions. We didn’t know. We thought MIL was just being extra and buying stuff for herself for when we “came to visit” but, nope!! She told people that “there was no way CPS will allow them to take that baby home” and “they plan to hand custody rights over to me before leaving the hospital” I even heard she had no faith that when our LO was born he wouldn’t have to go through withdrawals. All of which were UNTRUE. She KNEW SO was getting help so MIL wouldn’t have to be stuck raising our LO. We didn’t want that, we planned on getting Sober before baby came and that’s exactly what SO did. Unfortunately I wasn’t sober until after, but there wasn’t a time where both of us were using, one of us has always been sober taking care of our LO.
We did talk to everyone, even CPS, before leaving the hospital that needed to be informed and we were cleared to take him home! MIL still somehow convinced my SO that our LO was better off in her care and so CPS was called again to write up a “legal contract” (it was written with a marker on yellow lined tear-away type of paper) stating she had temporarily guardianship of our child for 6 months. All this entitled MIL to do was to go to his Drs appointments without us and to make critical decisions for him without our consent. Nothing else, we were not limited to seeing our LO or anything like that. She just needed to feel less like an idiot so I let her have her victory.
It didn’t last but maybe 2-3 months and she realized how time consuming and difficult it was to raise a newborn. She wasn’t able to do any housework and her sleeping schedule was abruptly interrupted and she just couldn’t handle it, so we of course, took him back and have been caring for him 125% since then like we always planned on doing.
Months later I don’t know what the reason was for my SO to be in her mothers closet, but she came across photos, along side court documents motioning to get full custody of our child. These were like the photos you wait an hour for at your local supermarket, but they were of my SO and I asleep with our LO in our arms, sleeping himself. Every picture it was one of us nodded off, looking as though we were high as a kite, looking after the LO. When In actuality we were napping with our NB, just like most new parents do, I’m sure!! But!!! she was snapping pics of us without our permission thinking she could carry out this delusion of us neglecting our LO.
She never admitted to doing us dirty, never once did we make any kind of remark, request, or even have a need for her to think she would be raising our child. She just needed everyone to see how great of a person she would be for stepping up. She needed validation for some weird reason.
As I speak my so is getting a text from her aunt saying MIL plans on taking in a homeless woman. AND SHE PROBABLY ISN’T EVEN HOMELESS!! Like she really has a problem!!!
My parents think she is unhinged, hopefully this completes the picture.
Edit: spelling/ grammar

it had been something that felt off for so long, something i had so much guilt for doubting, where i suppressed my gut feeling, and i lost trust in myself.i finally mustered the courage to first bring up to another of her best friends that things were not adding up. i was scared they’d tell her ‘lol wtf ur friend thinks ur a liar about something so serious’but, they agreed.
eventually, on another day, i suggested potential elements of borderline personality disorder in her, and this opened the gates to a bunch of little things that didn’t feel quite right but i still couldn’t say for sure. never seen the meds (when it was tablet chemo), never seen her sick, still drinking every weekend, declined my friend to see diagnosis for better understanding of the ovarian cancer, the fact the ambulance picks her up at night but her mum doesn’t even know she has it, she tells the hospital she needs to leave in the morning so she can see me that day, have never met the friends who took her to the hospital when the immense pain started (which i have yet to see again, 9 months later), refusal of every doctor in the state to get surgery as she mentioned she may want a child, debt and selling all properties to cover medical costs, much more that i probably don’t even remember honestly - these could all be things that were real. some of them might be in the event she does have it. but i am 95% sure this isn’t the case, and if not, im 100% sure the situation is extremely exaggerated and i have caught lies;…..
the thing that irked me upon this realisation is that when she was homeless for being outed (i have met her family, so lovely and made her a birthday party i went to following this, her sister is so generous, i thought ‘well they must be incredible actors pretending to be nice’ which again is possible). i used to drain myself to make sure she was safe, had somewhere to go and she’d refuse to come to my home. (the reason it was draining was because of the refusal and back and forth and saying stuff like ‘its ok ill just freeze and get assaulted, its comfy under the bridge???’ like in a half joking but not funny way. one night, after this refusal, i threw a jacket into the train carriage she got on as it left and started to cry. i talked to my dad because i was so upset, and finally told someone, my dad, that she had cancer. (she was not open about it at this point). dad, rationally, said ok, just check her location. this is not something that crosses my mind as i had trust, and don’t like to push boundaries of privacy in sharing that. anyway, she was already at home. and every time i checked, was still there. now, that’s fine if you text or later say ‘don’t worry, im home safe, all is good’. but that is not what happened; she continuously brought up homelessness from there as something scary and horrible, living under a bridge in the rain etc.so that was in my mind for sure.
anyway, flash forward to the last couple weeks, her friend and i hung out individually (rare) and talked. they said that she sent a photo of her getting the chemo. it was blood coming out of her arm. they questioned this; ‘aren’t they supposed to be putting stuff in?’ she said it was just a blood sample. they checked where she was on location, maybe not knowing it was shared via messages just recently before for a different case of meeting for dinner or something — and she was actually at a blood bank donation place. as soon as the friend told me this, dots were connected.
just days before, i checked her location when she said ‘chemo pumping into my veins, should be done in 30’ (we were hanging out later that afternoon). she was also at a blood bank, or the park near it maybe, this one different location from the last when the friend saw it. i checked thoroughly to see if any hospitals or anything were nearby. nope. this blood donation bank does not do samples, and they do not take donations from people with cancer (obv).
ANYWAY back to the friends perspective, they then received a photo of the bandage they give you. the friend responded something like ‘ohh cute, those are the ones they give you at the blood donation company’. then, they get a notification ‘___ has stopped sharing her location with you’. wtf?
my confidence in knowing whether it was a lie or not fell just a week before i was told this, because she fainted (for the first time I’ve seen) at a concert we went to. that put me back in the spiral. i think that could be from lack of eating or, dare i say it, possible faked too. but it sure seemed real and i really can’t say. but from hearing this story from the friend, i was quite confident she was lying.
consuming for my mental health, i started to obsessively check on the 2 days a week she claimed to get treatment. one of them, didn’t go at all, other, ended up at ANOTHER blood donation bank. a third different one. no hospital nearby. and this caused me to have a panic attack. which i never have. it triggered me so bad. the friend sure enough said later, she said to them they were at chemo that day. if you’re wondering why im getting less of this info, it may be because i started distancing myself from that part of the friendship as a defence mechanism, where previously i fed into wanting to make sure she’s taking her meds and stuff. like i said making sure she had somewhere to live killed me because no help was often taken (she did still stay here and there) and i still felt responsible. and also, she told me to my face ‘if i keep doing what im doing now, the doctors say i only have 8 months to live’ which made me cry in front of her and again spiral into making sure she was taking meds. anyway, i couldn’t do all that anymore.
also last week, the two of them were hanging out ( i can’t bring myself to do so atm ). she said that she suddenly felt sick, while they were in the change room. the friend said ‘oh shit no worries let me drive u to the hospital’. she refused, and literally escaped like running away while they were in the change room. again, they checked where they were and they were at a different friends house (the one she currently stays at and says is the one curing her cancer depression). but she was texting them like she was in the hospital !!!!!!!
it’s endless crazy lies at this point. does she think im stupid?im well aware it is most likely a mental illness and she is doing this for attention and to maybe keep people from leaving in a way. but i can’t be the one to open the flood gates from all the people she’s told by bringing it up. i just want to ghost, but i haven’t, because it raises flags… but i can’t bear to see her and pretend like nothing is wrong. nope. i don’t think its my responsibility to change her when i have already been chipped away and broken from this whole thing? but at the same time of course i want her to have help and i have so much love for her. what if the lies get worse - self harm? which reminds me she has had cuts on her leg she said was from her mum. it might be true but I CANT TRUST HER at the end of the day so??? GAG i hate this and the fact I’ve mentally struggled with this aspect of the friendship for like a year and now it’s caught up to me actually hurts so much. going to 2nd counselling session in 2 weeks

Well I'll be honest, never really saw me throwing myself in the /r4r pool of fish, but here we are and here I am! May as well try to make the best of it.
My name is Chance! My career is in public accounting where I'm currently a senior manager. Sadly as a result, my usual workday is all boring and spreadsheets and making sure people did their stuffs right (companies, not people). Nothing to do with taxes, all just normal boring accounting for every day business stuffs. I'm decent enough at the job and it pays well enough that I don't really see myself changing careers unless something external pops up and causes me to give it a second thought.
Physically - I'm white, 5'8", blue eyed, salt and pepper hair (been getting more gray since high school!), bearded currently, and have a bit of a belly that I'm working on losing. I'm a stockier built guy so I don't look as big as my weight makes me sound, but I could definitely use losing some weight! Here's a photo of me (scruffy beard is scruffy, I know)!
Politically - I lean left. People are people regardless of their beliefs, what gender they were both with and/or identify with. People deserve for their government to have their backs if they're in need, society would be better if everyone were a tiny bit more kind. There's more to be said, but you get my general idea there. I am conservative in some ways, just usually more fiscal rather than social ones.
Hobbies:

• I'm an absolutely *avid* gamer and enjoyer of great stories. With regards to gaming, I usually hyper-focus on 1-2 games and then have a smattering of all different kinds of stuff in alongside whatever that main game might be. At the moment that means loads of GTA RP and a little bit of a whole lot else.
• With my partner - I love watching movies, playing random spooky games with scared people watching, dragging friends into spooky games, and just chatting and kind of existing in a Discord channel/call while we do our own things. If we game together then awesome, but just kind of *being together* while not actually being together is nice too.
• Genres for entertainment? Action, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Family, Adventure, Drama, Horror, more!
• I honestly love all kinds of music (Metal, classical, orchestral, K-stuff, J-stuff, you name it). That said, I'm not a big rap/hiphop fan
• I'm a general animal lover. Dogs, cats, all things cute and furry. Cats are def something I've never had and always wanted though!
• Reading! You'll almost always find me with a book or three in progress. Currently reading the Deathworlder series from HFY alongside some various other things.
• I'm a fan of all things humor, be it dark, raunchy, normal, etc.
• History, typically in the specialty field of military history and WWI / WWII history. Check out TheGreatWar and WorldWarTwo channels on Youtube if you're interested in similar!

​
Relationship stuffs:

• I'm a HUGE texter. I love being in contact with my s/o little bits throughout the day, sharing memes, laughing at jokes, checking in from time to time. I'll usually be the first to send a good morning and the one to say good night.
• In-person, I'm a physical touch and cuddles kind of guy. I love showing affection through touching, cuddling, holding hands, snuggling up on the couch for a movie, etc. Just being able to show affection this way is one of my favorite things.
• I'm a very loyal and empathetic person. Once I decide that I like someone, I'm solid in my commitment to them and to making sure that I can do everything in my power to make them feel the same way that they make me feel. I'm not one to wander, think of others, or focus on the things about my person that aren't perfect. I take the good and enjoy it as best I can.
• I absolutely value communication. I'm open with what I think and feel, and hope that my partner is the same way. I don't like to hide things from them, and typically expect the same in return. It may end up being a lot from me if things make me feel passionately about them, but I'd rather you know than wonder.

General Bits:
I've been in... not very many relationships, and never in a "normal" relationship. I was in a 4.5 year long Long-Distance relationship as a late teen early 20's that ended with her cheating on me and getting knocked up, and recently got out of a ~7-month long relationship with a very close friend with whom we're still figuring out the getting back to friends part. Otherwise? I'm just a generally friendly and laughing kinda guy. I try not to take myself too seriously and try to keep things fairly simple and straightforward to the best of my ability. I'm a smartass, I joke, I pick, I try to make everyone feel as welcome as I can without breaking myself in the process. I'm opinionated but more than happy to hear opposing views.
Anyway, if you're still here, I'd love for you to reach out with some of your own interests, hobbies, and more! Maybe we'll be friends, maybe we'll be more? Only time will tell! :)

• Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US:

$1000 USD

• Are you open to refurbs/used?

Yes

• How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life?

1: performance 2: battery 3: build quality 4: form factor

• How important is weight and thinness to you?

Not important

• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.

15" to 16"

• Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.

I'll run Chessbase 17. Obviously a web browser. Maybe discord. Probably a few things for school too.

• If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?

I don't intend on using it for any gaming (besides chess if you count that)

• Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?

8+GB RAM
Last for 6+ years
512GB+ storage
Windows 10 or 11
Intel Core i5 or i7 (not sure which would be better since I'm not that familiar with tech stuff, open to other suggestions)
Bluetooth (does anything come without it anymore?)

• Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

I probably won't be buying for a while since I'd most likely have to save money for it. I should also say that I'm basically new to this stuff (I think I know basics), so please let me know if there's anything better than what I thought would be fine. I think a decent amount of storage is needed. I want this to last throughout college (Jr in high school now). Since you might not be familiar with Chessbase, here are what they say about this stuff:
System requirements Minimum
Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 8.1, Fritz 15 or ChessBase 14 or Komodo Chess 11/12 or Houdini 6. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen3, 8 GB RAM, Windows 10, Fritz 16 or ChessBase 14 or Komodo Chess 11/12 or Houdini 6.

 A little background info; I live in a popular tropical tourist destination & one of my jobs is as crew on a snorkel boat. I set up the boat before the trip, lifeguard, give history about the area, etc. My captain is also the owner of the business so what he says goes & knows the local waters like the back of his hand. Our company consists of him, me, & his GF who manages bookings, phones, emails. We aren’t low quality but we don’t offer full meals or entertainment on board & focus solely on the snorkel experience; because of that compared to the larger boats our private charters are lower cost than most competition. In turn, we often get penny pincher people. Onward to the main story. A family of 22 had been hounding our office before they even arrived to our location (our offices words). They were pushy and trying to get discounts and free upgrades so I was already dreading this charter. Generally we take a card number and charge it before the charter but this group was adamant about paying cash, office and captain said fine but told me to get payment before getting them on the boat. Our boat is 50ft long & stays moored offshore a few hundred yards so we use a water taxi to ferry from the shore to boat. I got dropped off to get payment, check the group in, and give them pre-boarding info. I walked up to the main guy paying for everything to start the process and that’s when things went downhill. M=me G=guy 

G: hello, which boat are we going on?
M: points to our boat that pretty one right there!
G: that’s not the boat we are going on.
M: yes it is, there isn’t any other boat sir.
G: no the boat looks like this shows me photo of boat from our website
M: yes sir, that is the same boat. We just had the bottom and paint replaced a month ago. I guess our office hasn’t updated our website, sorry about the confusion but I assure you it is the exact same boat.
G: well I don’t think you’re trying to deceive me but then why would they send me that photo?
M: I’m sorry I’m not sure what to tell you it is the same boat
G: well I think we need to go out and inspect it and look at it before we decide to go and pay for it.
M: I’m sorry sir that’s not how this works. We have already set up the boat for the charter and blocked any other bookings to accommodate your private charter. You can pay and we can take your family out for their excursion or you can decide not to go. We haven’t received payment from you so we have no obligation to you and no money to return. What would you like to do?
G: then we don’t want to go on the boat.
M: ok sir sorry it didn’t work out, you and your family have a good day.

 I picked up my stuff, turned around , got in the water taxi and left them on the shore. As we rode away I could see the guy already on the phone trying to call the office. I called his bluff & he was panicking because his whole family just heard him say they didn’t want to go; even though a lot did. Got back to the boat and explained to cap what happened, he said it sounds like he doesn’t want them on his boat anyway and their loss. We had planned to refuel after their trip but decided to do it now since we now had the morning open. They were still on the shore when we left but were gone when we got back. Once back on shore the other guys who run activities in the same area told us the group had hung around for about an hour. I guess the guy was very convinced we would come crawling back but when we didn’t the family started fighting since many had still wanted to go. Now they have to try to find another boat that has 22 spaces open and will most likely cost 2-3x more than us. It was totally worth waking up early without pay! 

For some context my mom and stepfather are split but not devoted appartly they both agree not to. My dad and step mom are also having truboes but mainly with money and their relationship and rn me trying to take up a job and also figuring out what my summer jobs are gonna be(I also work at Kroger and they want me to still be working their I have alot of outstanding thanks from their)
So I haven't posted in a while mainly my last post which was my first was very depressing which I still have depression and still feel sad about stuff and more sad about this stuff to but before it was talking about a guy my mom was dating she moved on from him after he went back to jail for some warrents but we picked him up from jail and she was supposed to start letting him live with her but told him he couldn't and he said that was fine he when to live with his friends I have no clue what his life is rn honestly don't care at all.
My mom has been not good lately mainly because she is in a predicament of soen sort tbh I done car anymore I just wns to leave when I turn 18 from all the bull shit in my family and just not talk to anyone she was dating a guy that tried to kill her then stoped and now she was dating my cousins ex husband but now not and turns out he was sleeping with my mom and her at the same time so tbh that's a problem and turns out my brother might have told my cousin that my mom and my cousins ex husband was sleeping int he other room for my brother but in all reality turns out that he walked into the hosue and they were screwing or something at the time I didn't realize what he was texting about but now I'm kinda worried my brothers scared and trying to reach a him to alj to him about it he is only 14 so I'm worried but still rn I'm kinda pissed at my mom my cousin and he ex husband and just all of the above people in this paragraph so yeah.
My stepfather I haven't seen in a while mainly just school my bio dads house since I'm gonna live their soon start figuring what I'ma need to do when i live their and stuff like that but I've been going to my step father's house here and their gonna be going their this weekend to after school ends I got a chem exam today when school starts and I can't sleep reason I'm making this post but basically I'm trying to maintain a relationship with him too along with all my parents and siblings too.
My bio dad is kinda not in a good mental place from what my step mom says talking about depression anxiety and possibly mpdwhich I'm not fond of because nobody in my family knows this but my cousin has it too and I'm the only only family member that knows this so it's kinda stressful tbh but my dad and I are gonna be building a old Kawasaki Vulcan 800 up for me when I get my driver's licence and then my motorcycle endorsement im M16 so I still have to have my driver's license to get a motor endorcmen so it's annoying but still me and him have plans to build that upa and also try to get a care for me.
My stepmom is well not what you think a regular step mom is tbh she gets annoying sometimes talking about my dad but I let her talk about it mainly because she needs to relaxe as all my parents do so I just let her talk and talk on the way home from my mom's house to hr and my dad's house when she picks me up after work on the weekends.
My cousin is a sweet cousin but we have grow distant like all my cousins have done with me she has mpd and it annoys me because one of her personalitys are dating a m22 which scares me I don't wns my cousin and her personalitys sending explicit photos to him or anything so I'm worried but I'm still trying to help her.
My brothers are nice I'm not gonna go into each one of them just my parents but I got one brother full brother halfe that's my step dad's and then three other half's that are my step mom's I love them all but it's annoying sometimes.
And in the end I don't even feel bad about all of this it's just something I'm writing about my feelings are none existent anymore so yeah.

Wrote some stuff down in a Google Doc every night, so it ended up being super long and rambly. Hopefully I was able to cut it down at least a little bit. I wasn't sure if I could leave references to individual businesses or Airbnb experiences in, so please let me know if I need to remove those.
I planned this trip 2 weeks before I had to leave, so I was in a huge rush. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone’s help here and on the Discord! It was my first time traveling solo, so I was a little more neurotic about it than usual. Also I don’t know how accurate the steps/distance on iOS is, but I figure there’s enough internal consistency to compare between days.
Some personal highlights
Tokyo

• Check out some listening bars if you’re down for a low key night with more of a focus on listening to music than socializing: Grandfather’s, Bar Martha, Bar Track, Ginza Music Bar
• Yoshikami is a pretty interesting (albeit pricey) place for dinner. It’s apparently been there since the 1960s and has a nice diner vibe.

Kyoto

• Otagi Nenbutsuji, Adashino Nenbutsuji, and Nanzenji were my personal favorites.
• Fu-ka near Ginkakuji for fantastic omurice.

Osaka

• I loved Osaka in general for its mixture of being laidback with big city vibe
• Izakaya crawl with Taka was amazing (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1018635). It’s true that you can plan a night of izakayas for free, but honestly I found the cost pretty worth it. Taka was a really cool guy and made for an incredibly memorable night.
• Okonomiyaki Chitose for okonomiyaki. Great food and great staff.

Monday, May 29 - arriving in Tokyo

• 3pm - Haneda Airport arrival. Withdrew money after immigration, picked up Suica card, then traveled to Ueno Station (close to hostel) to pick up JR Pass due to 1 hour line at airport. In hindsight, I obviously should’ve gotten the JR Pass the following day, but I was jetlagged and exhausted and wasn’t thinking. When I arrived at the hostel, I ended up falling asleep and decided to just start my trip officially the following morning.

Reflections If you’re an anxious planner or traveler like me, definitely don’t plan anything specific on the first day. There’s a good chance your plans will get derailed. The JR Pass line at the airport is often super long and if you can, try to stop by an office close to where you’re staying or near one of your stops.
Walked: 6540 steps / 3.1 miles
Tuesday, May 30 - Tokyo (Akihabara)

• 7am - Yoshinoya for breakfast (Random, but I wanted to try all 3 of the big gyudon places by the end of the trip just because. Even as a big completionist, this wasn’t worth it at all.)
• 8am - Walked around Ueno Park, then Ameya Yokocho.
• 11am - Gyukatsu Motomura for lunch at Ameyoko, which was absolutely incredible.
• 12pm - Walked around Akihabara and checked out the “Weird vending machines” on Google Maps. It was definitely weird. Would recommend if you’re kind of drawn to weird shit, and the hostel staff found it super entertaining when I showed them everything.
• 3pm - I ended up moving through Akihabara pretty fast (I have a bad habit of not being able to take my time with these things). I decided to stop by some places in Ginza, like the Sembikiya flagship store and the Okuno building (Room 306).
• 6pm - I was still pretty jetlagged, so I ate some dinner with people at the hostel and hung out with the hostel residents and staff.
• 10:30pm - Stopped by a convenience store to grab something for breakfast the next morning.

Reflections
Having a list of restaurants or specific foods (e.g. tempura, okonomiyaki) to pull from can be super helpful in being slightly flexible/spontaneous but also settling some of your (my) neuroticism. I had planned to check out Gyukatsu Motomura elsewhere but since it’s a chain and I had no idea what to eat, it helped me make a decision for lunch.
It can be a good idea to have an “overflow list” of things to do in certain areas. I thought I’d spend more time in Akihabara but I think I was still getting the hang of traveling/exploring without rushing around.
Walked: 27728 steps / 12.9 miles
Wednesday, May 31 - Kyoto (Nishiki Market / Department Store food floors / Kiyomizu-dera) * 7:30am - Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto * 10:15am - Walked to hostel and suitcase wheels ripped off on the way there (still left it there for storage). Original plan was to wander Nishiki Market and the food floors for Takashimaya Department Store and Fujii Daimaru, which I did for a bit. Then got a new suitcase at the large tax free store a block down, and walked back to the hostel to put my suitcase there. * 3pm - Check in with a new suitcase and head to Kiyomizudera. Three hours was more than enough time for me to wander around Sannenzaka, Ninnenzaka, and Kiyomizu-dera. I’m also not someone that is great at lingering to stop and smell the roses, though. * 6:30pm - Try to line up for Menya Inoichi. The line was already closed for dinner, so I stopped by Nakau for some fast gyudon/tonkatsu instead.
Reflections
Have backup plans for your meals, list out some ideas in the area but expect some of those to be derailed.
You might need an eye mask even if you splurge on a private room in a hostel. The blinds were paper thin here so I woke up at like 4-5am.
Walked: 26290 steps / 12.2 miles
Thursday, June 1 - Kyoto (Arashiyama / Ginkakuji / Philosopher’s Path / Eikan-do / Nanzenji / Gion) This was the day I was prepared to walk the most because of the itinerary. It ended up being pretty packed, but I think it worked out decently well. Both of these things would’ve been better off unrushed as maybe 2/3 of a full day, so I would’ve split this up into 2 days if I could have.

• 7am - Breakfast at a convenience store, then taxi to Otagi Nenbutsuji at 7:30am (opens at 8). It isn’t the cheapest option, but there also isn’t a great alternative. It was pretty empty and a great place to start the day.
• 9am - Walked to Adashino Nenbutsuji, which was also fairly empty but had a beautiful bamboo area that honestly was basically as good as the Arashiyama grove for pictures.
• 10am - Walked to Tenryuji, which included the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street along the way, then did the Arashiyama Walking Tour from Inside Kyoto, which was a great way to see a little bit of everything (https://www.insidekyoto.com/arashiyama-bamboo-grove-guide-walking-tour).
• 12:30pm - Walking tour led me to Togetsukyo Bridge, where I could easily bus over to the Ginkakuji area.
• 1:30pm - Grabbed lunch at Fu-ka, which was a small restaurant run by some very sweet people. The omurice there was amazing, and I would definitely love to go there again someday.
• 2pm - Ginkakuji -> Philosopher’s Path -> Eikan-do -> Nanzenji -> Gion. I was definitely not prepared for how much stuff there was to do at Nanzenji in particular! I definitely could’ve spent 2-3 hours there even rushing around. I ended up not being able to check out the inside of Nanzen-in and the big gate because I ran out of time. Upstairs from the Nanzenji arches there is a great walk to leave Nanzenji when you’re all done (Nanzenji Suirokaku). It takes you past a power station, and then down some abandoned railroad tracks.
• 5:30pm - Went to check out Gion and Pontocho. I couldn’t figure out what to eat for dinner, so I thought I’d give Menya Inoichi another shot. It was pretty early but the line was closed again. There was an amazing fried chicken place nearby called Loco Chicken (would definitely recommend too!)
• 7pm - Checked out Yasaka Shrine and Gion again now that the sun was down. It was nice but admittedly underwhelming after all the amazing temples I had seen. I was originally going to go to an izakaya for the night or experience some nightlife, but I was pretty tired and decided to call it a night.

Reflections
Even if you’re a rusher like I am, Nanzenji especially can take some time. Otagi Nenbutsuji and Adashino Nenbutsuji are a little out of the way, but definitely worth it. The preserved street isn’t all that exciting, but it is along the way from Adashino Nenbutsuji to Tenryuji.
Menya Inoichi apparently closes pretty damn early wtf, possibly due to running out of their limited supply of wagyu. Loco Chicken was suuuuper good though. I guess there see a lot of great food options and planning meals in advance should only be if there’s a restaurant I really want to stop by (e.g. Fu-ka).
Walked: 33577 steps / 16.4 miles
Friday, June 2 - Kyoto / Nara / Osaka

• 7am - Got up to go to Fushimi Inari Taisha. We were on the edge of a typhoon (apparently the landslide zones of Kizugawa were being evacuated?) so it was pouring rain, which meant it was really empty on the actual walk to the summit.
• 10am - Kintetsu train to Nara Park. It was pouring there too, but the deer were still out and about to get their food from visitors. I was a little tired at this point since my feet were soaked through, so I went to check out Todaiji and only took a brief walk around Nara Park before heading to my hostel in Osaka, so I could get my shoes washed and dried at a nearby laundromat.
• 8pm - I did an Airbnb bar crawl (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/4388157) in the Dotonburi area which was awesome as a solo traveler because I got the chance to meet other people much more easily and check out some local spots I realistically wouldn’t have gone to (or at least navigated easily). The guide was fantastic and fun, and it was a really nice way to get an introduction to Osaka nightlife. I would definitely recommend doing this on your first night if you want to spend some time in Dotonburi! You can find the listing for that one here: . One of the places we stopped by was called the Misono building, which had a bunch of interesting and quirky bars.

Walked: 27023 steps / 12.4 mi
Saturday, June 3 - Osaka (shopping streets and Dotonburi)

• 10am - Took a look around Denden Town and all the different streets in Osaka near Dotonburi (Kuromon Ichiba, Hozenji Yokocho, Ebisu Bashi-Suji, Shinsaibashisuji). I also stopped by the Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel, which was nice but also not something I’d consider a must-do activity. I imagine it might be even cooler at night when the lights are all on.
• 6pm - I did another izakaya crawl here, and it was AMAZING (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1018635)! The guide, Taka, has lived all around the world and has some incredible stories to tell about his life. He worked on farms in remote places in Australia, for instance, that even the Aussie guests were astounded to hear about. The vibe was definitely a lot more chill and not super conservative, if that makes any sense. It was the kind of environment where all the guests felt comfortable asking him how to swear in Japanese after the first round of drinks. If you’re not super uptight about stuff and want the feeling of local nightlife with some friends, this is a must-do in my opinion! Taka was such a cool guy and this was an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime experience. We stopped by to do some karaoke at the end, which I felt was mandatory since we were at its birthplace.

Reflections
Taka brought us to one of the streets that I completely missed in my research, which was Tenshinbashi-sushi. It’s supposedly the longest shopping arcade in all of Japan, at 2.6km long. Definitely something to check out!
Walked: 25782 / 11.8 miles
Sunday, June 4 - Osaka (Shinsekai, Abeno Harukas)

• 10:30am - Was starting to get pretty tired by this point so I slept in again, and got to Shinsekai around 10:30. I realized how much I loved the vibe of Osaka, which seemed much more laidback than the other big cities. I remember there was an adorable off leash puppy walking around one of the shopping streets, and a bunch of old people pulled out their phones and started chasing it down to take cute pictures. I might be totally off the mark from my few days’ impression of other big cities, but that just felt kind of unique to me.
• 11:15am - Lined up outside Okonomiyaki Chitose so I could get food there when they opened. Fantastic okonomiyaki, and the owner and staff were super great as well. They chatted with me a bit and joked around with each other while making the food in front of us. Great experience.
• 1pm - Went to Tsutenkaku to look around and check out the viewing area. It also had this big slide that you could pay to go down, which was quite fun too.
• 2:30pm - Walked over to Abeno Harukas to check out the observatory here. The view was fantastic and they also had a fun little VR bungee jump station where they put you on a tilt table and simulate a jump from the observatory area. Didn’t have time to check out the helipad because I had a timed ticket for the aquarium (which didn’t end up being necessary, it wasn’t super busy at this time).
• 4:30pm - Osaka Aquarium! I honestly considered skipping this and I don’t think it was absolutely unmissable, but it was a fun time. I really tried to take my time here but it only took 2 hours.
• 6:30pm - Grabbed dinner at nearby Tempozan Marketplace, then went on the Tempozan Ferris Wheel (waited for one of the clear bottom carriages). Another fun activity that I wouldn’t categorize as a must-do, but definitely worth it if you’re in the area.

Walked: 20954 / 9.6 miles
Monday, June 5 - Hakone This is the part of the trip that I embarrassingly botched, but considering I had less than 2 weeks to plan the whole thing while working full time, I’m trying not to give myself too much shit for it.

• 10:30am - Arrive at Odawara Station and leave luggage in locker there (packed a day bag). Transfer to the train that will eventually take me to Gora Station
• 12pm - Gora Station. Grab a quick lunch at some random cafe and walk over to the Open Air Museum.
• 2pm - Realized I spent too long at the museum and rush to continue the loop. Spend about 30-45 minutes at Owakudani.
• 3:50pm - End up waiting at Togendai until 4:25pm for the next pirate ship.
• 4:50pm - Arrive at Motohakone and decide I’ll do the quick walk to Hakonemachi and catch a cab to my ryokan (checkin before 6 if I want to make it in time for dinner). My big mistake here was not noticing that the taxi stand was empty already by this time.
• 5:10pm - Realize I’ve screwed myself at Hakonemachi and decide to take the Tozan Bus to another major stop to get a taxi. Yunnessen seemed like a good bet but the taxi stand was once again totally empty. Ended up wandering around for about 20 minutes and managed to flag a stray taxi.
• 6pm - Check in and realize my dumb ass accidentally booked without the dinner option and that I could’ve taken the long way to the ryokan after all.
• 7pm - Stop by a nearby kaiseki place for dinner. They seemed a bit wary about having me eat there and really emphasized that this was a set menu that took a long time (probably had bad experiences with tourists in the past?).
• 8pm - Get cleaned up and head to the onsen before bed

Walked: 17975 / 8.2 miles
Reflections If you really want to stay in Hakone for only one night and one day, I would recommend checking into your hotel/ryokan the night before and relaxing there, which gives you the next full day for exploring the city. YMMV of course since I did get to Hakone in the late morning, but I think doing the loop then ryokan will inevitably feel like it’s cutting into ryokan time.
Even though the Hakone transportation system is great, things like the Tozan Bus line can have long lines and alternative/workaround routes like in the big cities don’t really exist. Tight schedules are tough to stick to, and I nearly got stranded because I stood at one of the taxi stops around 5pm and it became clear that no one was going to be coming by.
Booking.com has a lot of ryokans listed as minimum 2 people (I just bit the bullet and decided to splurge), but the staff at Senkyoro were confused about why I paid for 2 instead of 1. Could be good to try to check with the ryokan directly in case you can save some money when booking.
Tuesday, June 6 - Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya)

• 6:30am - Leave for Odawara Station because I had to meet with a relative in the morning (like I said, definitely could’ve scheduled this better). Definitely misplanned this leg of the trip, and didn’t maximize my time in Hakone at all.
• 10:30am - After dropping off luggage at Asakusa Station locker near my hostel, met up at Shinjuku Gyoen, then walked around and grabbed lunch at Omoide Yokocho. Also stopped by Kabukicho and Golden Gai just to look around.
• 1:30pm - Originally planned to spend more time at Shinjuku and go to Shibuya the following day but I realized I didn’t have anything left to do. Walked to Shibuya and checked out the Hachiko Statue and Harajuku. Stopped by Iyoshi Cola. Shibuya Sky tickets were sold out so I had to come back the following day for my original reservation.
• 5pm - Hang out at Grandfather’s before dinner. Great place for people interested in listening bars!
• 6pm - Head back to my hostel (K’s House Tokyo Oasis) to check in, then swing over to Sensoji and Nakamise-dori to check out at night.
• 7:30pm - Grab dinner at Yoshikami, a Japanese style Western restaurant. Had a really good beef stew and cream corn potage. Went here in passing but would definitely recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.

Walked: 27632 / 12.8 miles
Wednesday, June 7 - Tokyo (Shibuya Sky, Akihabara, Bar Martha/Track) I spent a good chunk of my life in Shanghai, China, so I think the appeal of the big city stuff was a little lost on me (not a huge big city guy). In hindsight, I definitely didn’t need to allocate this many days for Tokyo. I definitely should’ve gone further to other areas for day trips that were recommended on the Discord, like Shimokitazawa, Jiyuugaoka, Koenji, Kamakura/Enoshima, Honmonji Ikegami, Yokohama, Nikko, or Fujikamaguchiko.

• 10am - Slept in and explored Nakamise-dori a bit after. Grabbed an early lunch and headed over to Shibuya for my Shibuya Sky reservation.
• 12:40pm - Shibuya Sky for a little over an hour. I wouldn’t consider a must-do, but it’s definitely a nice spot to get a good view of the city. Pretty similar vibe to Abeno Harukas (Harukas 300).
• 2pm - Headed to Akihabara to mess around for a little more and get some gifts for friends. Checked out all the different arcades and peeked at some rhythm gamers in their element.
• 6pm - Headed to Ebisu to grab dinner. Found a Japanese style Italian restaurant called “Uncle Tom” (Google translated name), used Google Lens to translate the photos of the menu and just pointed and ordered.
• 7pm - Stopped by Bar Martha, which was one of my personal must-sees. Some of the reviews online were pretty scathing, and I’m not sure if the staff have just mellowed out in recent years or the reviewers lacked self-awareness, but it was a great experience. You’re not allowed to talk too loudly or otherwise be disruptive (or take photos), but that’s really just your typical listening bar. The Tannoys sounded fantastic!
• 8pm - Went to Bar Track to check it out as well. A little bit more laidback than Bar Martha but with the same rules. Also a great spot.

Walked: 21181 steps / 10.3 miles
Thursday, June 8 - Tokyo

• 10am - Stopped by Tsukiji Outer Market to check it out. There was a fruit stall that sold a cup of Shine muscat grapes for about 2000 yen (super expensive but worth it just to try - they really were pretty amazing). Ended up meeting up with someone on the Discord for lunch, and we wandered Ginza for the Uniqlo and Muji flagship stores.
• 3pm - Split up with Discord buddy because he wanted to head to Shibuya but I had dinner reservations at 5pm. Wandered around a bit more and checked out Kabukiza and then went to Mantensushi Hibiya for 5pm omakase.
• 7pm - Went to Ginza Music Bar. A little difficult to find but very much worth the visit. It was relatively empty but it was a fantastic spot to round out my listening bar visits. It had a little more of a typical bar-like atmosphere but the music and sound system were just as amazing.
• 8pm - Head back to hostel to pack. Grabbed some last second ramen at Asakusashoten on the way back. Needed to be a little more intentional about cash usage here because I wanted to use it all up before leaving. After factoring in my subway and Skyliner costs, I ended up with 210 yen in my pocket and 7 yen in my Welcome Suica (I really should’ve just gotten a regular one) the next morning before my flight, and spent 200 yen at one of the massage chairs in Narita.

Walked: 19530 / 8.9 miles
Thursday, June 9 - Flight out from Tokyo

I don’t really know what to do, any advice?
So I’m being bullied by these two girls that I thought were my friends, we got into an argument were they ganged up on me before i sent them screenshots of all my photos and they circled something’s that were “sus” which somewhat started the argument as I said things back to what they said about my “sus” photos. They ended up ghosting me on the Saturday we had the argument and didn’t talk to me at school, telling who I thought was just their little group a whole different version where I was the bad guy that I can only assume was highly exaggerated. They didn’t say they didn’t want to talk to anymore they just basically said I was messed up and I thought that we make up on Monday. They ended up telling a bunch of people that I had “porn” in my camera roles at other bullshit, but the dirtiest photos that I had that they circled were legit just a girls outfit from Tik tok that I took a screenshot of because I thought it was a good fit (the out fit was an aliah core fit, search it up if you don’t know what it is but it’s definitely not “porn”) and the other was another screenshot from a Kernal Sanders edit that my sister sent me on tik tok. If I’m correct the video sprouted from yt as like a music video thirst trap and in the small clip I saw kernal sanders he didn’t have a shirt on and his abs were out. I took a screenshot and apparently that’s “porn” to them, a shirtless dude.They talked behind my back, make fun of me, spread rumors, tell people I have a crush on this dude that I only talked to for the time he was at my table in one class, and even stole my phone after thinking I “hacked one of their accounts on Roblox” fyi I didn’t and they have never told me their passwords but tbh their just stupid and it’s there fault for not putting an email or pin or phone number or something as an extra precaution. I thankfully got my phone back because my mom had one of the bully’s moms phone number and asked her for the other bullies moms info, they both gave me dirty looks the next day like I did something to them. I wish I brought it up with the school that day so they would get in trouble because I honestly doubt their push over Mom‘s did anything to them while I got screamed at by mine for not telling an adult. They’ve also sabotaged me and im sure have done other things I’m not aware of. I’m not really a social person and there’s like no one I’m close with and if I am close with them then one of the girls are closer. The only person who told me jack shit admitted that they would still be friends with the person who tormented me if she didn’t stop talking to her once she my friend asked for proof. It’s currently summer and I really don’t want to go to school again in two months knowing I’ll be tormented and get dirty looks from people who blindly believe them. More info about me is that I’m a girl, black, a straight a student with a perfect record and some more info about them is that one is white and one mixed I think but still very light, they will pick at me for anything by saying stuff in front of me for example racist things, things about how I look, my friends or lack of I should say and more, they are kind of on good terms with everyone and are not favored by teachers unlike me due to being chatter boxes skipping class in the bathroom , being rude, and just being bad students with bad grades. I haven’t done anything to them sense the argument months ago, but I am looking for advice to get the rumors to stop, what to do in general, and how to maybe get revenge without getting caught seeing as how I haven’t done anything back to them yet. Any advice?

24F I seriously think I have a shopping problem. I wouldn’t call it an addiction because I know how to reign it in. My financial situation and credit are still good thank god. I save a bunch of money for months then splurge usually by thrifting and sales shopping for stuff I’ve wanted. Usually clothes, makeup, jewelry. The pandemic really started my spree.
I can’t drive and am visually impaired. I think I am shopping as a way to feel grown for once. I haven’t really been able to be an adult yet. I’ve been in school my entire life at this point. I’m unemployed too as I’m getting through school. Therefore I haven’t had many adult experiences on my own accord, unless I ask friends for favors. I don’t get out much due to lack of access to transportation and social experiences as a partially blind woman.
I always try to dress up so others will take me seriously. Those with disabilities can get infantilized, especially women. I wanted my appearance to reach some semblance of womanhood and maturity to those around me. I’d shop brands like Anne Taylor, Express, The Row, etc. Others around me are getting married, engaged, buying houses, real jobs, doing the adult stuff etc. I figured if I can’t do those things yet at least I can look the part.
I feel incredibly guilty and quite stupid about it all. I spent so much money I could have saved. Out grew some things I purchased (I donate everything). I just feel crummy that I let it get to this point.
What would you do if you were in my position? I don’t know what to do really. I mean I’m definitely going to talk to my therapist about this realization when I’m back at school. To myself I am sorry for making stupid decisions like this!🖤