Me & partner are considering a ~10 days holiday in the dolomites in september this year. We are super active and enjoy hiking and trail running. If there's somewhere we could rent road bikes for a day or two that's something we'd like to do as well.
In terms of the hiking we enjoy a challenge and are fit, so arent afraid of physically demanding routes, although nothing too technical- easy via ferrata is probably our limit. Be cool to scale some smaller peaks. We would rent a car but would prefer if hiking options and trails were walking distance from where we were staying. Open to both day hikes and multi-day with stays at refuges.
Ideal place to stay would be in or near small town with a restaurant or two and a small supermarket, but still super scenic. We prefer to stay in self-catering places (apartments, airbnbs) or even camping, rather than hotels. Budget is not unlimited but happier to pay more for nicer places. We would prefer to stay in only 1 or 2 places for the duration of the trip.
Any suggestions very welcome!

Things woud be one way for a year. Everyone would go by a specific baseline. Then one day - things changed and some person wouldn't get the memo. So they would do things how htey had been done for a year. Then they would get gaslit and told things were never done that way.
I started to question myself so I kept a notepad in my pocket. I'd write down dates and exactly how something happened. Then when it was re told a few months later, I'd refer to my notes knowing they were full of crap and I was right.
Someone would do some minor thing and everyone would act like they killed a man. Like a guy left a receipt under his matress one day. They took that as "gear adrift" and destroyed his rack. This guy was one of the only people who worked or followed the rules 99% of the time. And that is how they treated him.
he once hadn't eat in 36 hours and was about to get his chance, but his watch relief relieved him ten minutes late knowing hte galley was closing simply because they wanted to miss 10 minutes of their watch knowing the guy hadn't eaten. The guy gets mad and everyone tell him to quit crying and doesn't say one thing to the late relief. But they had eviscerated him over a fucking receipt under his matress.
We would have battle station drills. I was maybe 4 months away from getting out with my honorable. The pipe patching team was all brand new people with no leader. That had no idea what to do. But the chain of command would send them into drills by themselves. Totally setting them up for failure and if a real event happened they'd maybe die.
One day I get irritated because it is the end of battle stations and they are sending these guys in alone. The person running hte drill and testing them knew what was happening. There was never any equipment left at the end, and I felt their lives were worth something... So I take charge of the team for the drill and I take them in and htey are just doing abysmal and won't listen to anything I say and the person running the drill is just giving me shit like - "You're supposed to be leading these guys, where are your boots, where is your hat, why don't they know this." And I am just thinking, this is what I get for trying to do the right thing. That stuff wasn't as important as educating and preparing them.
One battle stations my team had finished their drill and it is near the end of battle stations. A second class comes in and says, "Eagle, get an air tank and follow them!" There were no air tanks because it was the end of the drill. There was also no boots or hats. I know it is going o take me a minute to find some so I ask the group and the second class - where are the ygoing so I know? No one would acknowledge I was speaking.
I find a tank, hat, and boots, and I walk through a fir barrier the directio nthe group went. A Chief and First class are standing there gabbing. I ask, "Am I supposed to be on air? Where am I supposed to go, what team am I helping so I know what to do?" They wouldn't acknowledge I was speaking. I try to get a response for maybe 3 minutes. So I go through another fire barrier and just can't find anyone nad have no clue.
Suddenyl the Chief and First class come through the barrier and th first class is yelling at me, "Why the fuck aren't you on air? Chief, this idiot isn't on air!" And I am looking at him like are you kidding me???? And I say something mildly snarky and he loses it, "What the fuck is this guy's problem?" And the Chief said, "Oh, e jst has an attitude problem." And I am just standing there like, yeah that's it. Not the fact that I asked you for three minutes if I neede to be on air and never got a response.
----
People would try to enforce rules across the board like there was never any special cirumstances.
We'd paint te sides of the ship and we couldn't wear our gloves because they would stick together and get ruined. You couldn't work with the fingers all stuck together. Out hands would be numb and we'd be walking from the wuarterdeck to the berthing with our hands in our pockets wet and shivering live a dog. And someone would shout at us and tell us to, "Get our fucking hands out of our pockets." Because the rule was no walking with hand in in pockets.
I'd have watch as midnight, then go straight into sea and anchor, then wed have to clean everything up, dress the lones, bring in messenger lines, etc. I'd be walking through the hangar bay at half past noon with some stubble on my face. Some Chief would stop me and just yel at me for 15 minutes because I had stubble, "When was the last time you shaved?" And I'd tell them, when I got up this moninging - and before I could say I got up at midnight they'd just lay into me on how the rules state I have to shave everyday and blah blah. And I am just thinking, are we done - I have a mountain of work to do and if I'm lucky we'll get an hour of liberty before curfew - was I really supposed to excuse myself from mooring the ship to go and shave?...
We stood bridge watch and lookout watches. I got off watch at 3am one morning and I step into the hangar bay piss tired with my hat on. Underway you don't wear a cover except for on the bridge. It's 3 am. Me and one other guy were theonly person in all three hangar bays. This guy is pointing at his head frantically like someone is going to die because I have my cover on at 3am on my way to my berthing where I'll get 3 hours of sleep. And i am thinking, like why is this guy so concerned - is this really his biggest worry in life?...
It boiled down to no one having any empathy or thinking into things. No one stopped and thought - these people are barely sleeping, barely eating, getting abused physically and mentally... Maybe I should cut them a break.
One summer me an one other guy did a job by ourselves that was usually 12 people. We'd get 20 minutes for lunch. We had to go to this barge because were in a ship yard. I had to poop. So I poop and I had ten minutes left. i go to the galley to find something I can take with me. They had these individual ceral cups. I took one and this guy just loses it on me, "Hey! No taking food off the mess deck!" So I pretend to put it back and stick it in my coveralls. The guy sees me and I just bolt.
I literally ran to the lower level and into a head to scarf down dry cereral. The guy didn't even think - maybe this guy is just hungry and htis is his only meal today - he is covered in paint and carrying a life jacket - maybe I should let this one slide.

Just had 3 drivers in a row accept the ride and then not move at all.
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The third one stayed put for a good 10 minutes being just 300 meters away until I asked via in-app chat whether everything was fine; the car immediately stated moving. The driver was frenetically spraying disinfectant when I entered the car, and wouldn't move until I displayed the ride in the app from my phone.
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Also, yesterday a driver asked that I send a picture from my pickup point before he started driving towards me, and later said something about "making sure the ride wasn't fake".
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Some additional details:
- Ride was from near Chit Lom station to Chinatown, at around 1 AM
- Payment method was set to card
- I have a spanish sounding first name and an arabic sounding last name
- I signed up to the app with an indian number, about a week ago
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Is my experience normal due to the ride or due to being farang, or is there maybe something about my profile that puts drivers off?
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Thank you

Hi so I was just wanting to get some advice on this situation whether it’ll be necessary or not. Basically I started my new job at a buffet style restaurant yesterday and I was at first very excited because it seems like a chill work environment and it’s a very short commute from my house. I completed all my forms, met some of the staff, watched a training video and I was ready to start training. This is when it turned sour. The manager left for the evening and with essentially zero training they threw me out on the grill to start working. The only other person out there was completely unhelpful and after 10-15 minutes left to ‘go to the bathroom’ leaving me alone to man the grill. One thing they also didn’t stress was just how slippery the floors were. In the interview they suggested I get non-slip shoes however didn’t stress it and said I had a month to get them. Little did I know that they were essentially a necessity. I was slipping and sliding around while working alone during the dinner rush without even an hour of experience. And sure enough I slipped and my arm caught the grill, causing me to suffer a burn up and down my right forearm, right in front of the customers. I immediately ran to the back and started pouring cold water on it as the owner (who happened to be visiting that day) came to me to start filling out a workers comp report, which I did. I then reported to a nearby outpatient clinic and got some basic help and bandages, as well as a few prescriptions I had to go pick up the next day because it was late enough by that point that my pharmacy had closed. Later that evening the owner called to check in on me and ask how I was doing and to inform me that the worker who was supposed to ‘train’ me got a good talking to, but really I just translated it as “pretty please don’t sue us”.
So that brings me to today, the owner wants to speak with me in person and while I don’t want to pursue legal action nor do I think it’s necessary I do think this is clearly a huge oversight on their part. The owners ok’d me being out there, the supervisor ok’d me being out there. My coworker didn’t care at all about training me or informing me of the risks and now i’m paying the consequences. I’ve never been injured at work this severely before, let alone on the first day, so in general getting some advice on on what the next few days might look like and what I should say to the owner would help a lot.

it been a month (sorry but am even more poor now so i cant buy anything, i still have a few but i have to space it out)
am i sitting here at 10 pm (i write the review in multiple days sometimes lol) making a review because i have to declutter my cloths and am TERRIFIED, yes absolutely is it wort it yes
it a few days later and now am watching the fast and the furious am at the 8 right now, ill probably be done by tomorrow, it a fun marathon, right now the best one is the first, but like as a kid my fav was always the 3 one, guess when we grow up our taste grow up too lol
what's a duet: it a concept created by osmofolia (am pretty sure as i never seen it before) where a perfume is made by 2 perfume, so lets say you have exquisite corps that's the perfume you buy, when you receive it you gonna have 2 bottle, vanilla milk and smoked lavender musk, when you layer them on your skin, they become exquisite corps! but the fun part is that you have 3 perfume, and the 2 bottle you get are amazing layering notes (as it their hole purpose) so you can add them to any perfume you want
LIKES: tea, patchouli, tart fruits, close to skin smell, greens (grass, moss, leaf's of all sort (tomato leaf yum)), atmospheric/realistic, citrus, frankincense, cedar, most fruits actually, soil, roses, lavender, salt, sage, cannabis, rosemary, cozy gourmand, marshmallow, smoke, cinnamon actually most spice, pine/fir, violet leaf/violet, i like stuff that feel wet (fog, ocean, rain), ambergris
DISLIKES: ozone, aldehyde, oud, sandalwood, cinnamon leaf, big silage, white floral, especially tuberose and gardenias, but also just florals in general, alcoholics, vetiver, perfumy perfume, most milk, tar, when company say “for woman” or “for man”
HATE OR LOVE no in between: Hay, jasmine, incense, pink pepper, fancy woods, most resins, iris/orris, petrichor
to your attention: this is not really a critique, but it still normal i don't gush over everything, am talking about my taste not trying to sell you anything, i like all the company i talk about and if i don't i will say it. i am a bitch but don't let your feeling get hurt over a little dumb post please ;) love yall lets do this
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HONEY DUST you mean pollen right?
notes: pollen, hay, honey, beeswax, powdered sugar
though: so on the bottle there the name of the duet (what a spellcaster leaves behind) and a number not the name of the note, and when i got them i was too lazy to look it up to make sure i wrote the right name so i just did it by memory, so now on my bottle it written "pollen" lol. i do think it perfect for this perfume it super dusty to the point were if you have pollen allergy i would tell you to stay away from this, it also gives me the same harshness grass perfume give me sometime but it not at all green wish is kinda weird too maybe the hay? idk but it welcome, this perfume is the mix of comforting sweater and seasonal allergy, weird but i love that in a perfume
color: golden yellow dust of pollen in a gold ornate jar sitting on a red tinted wood table
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ANTIQUE BOOK if vanilla ice cream and white wood had a child
notes: paper, leather, glue, old book, cedar, vanilla, cetalox
though: every single book fragrance is either super chemical or super woody marshmallow there just no in-between and this is a woody marshmallow that dry down to a sandalwood-y thingy, i don't hate it but i do think it better as a addition to another perfume then by it own. but on it own i think it perfect for the book ladies that are a little (a bit) more conservative then me (and always ladies in a non gendered way lolll i just have a booktok person in mind and shes a woman, but it not a woman perfume none are)
color: a hard cover book with no letter printed on any of the page (your gonna say, oh a drawing pad, nah, a small hard cover where they just made a mistake on the print and there nothing) and also you know the wood you can find around lake and the sea, it super white and soft, that but in a 2x4

WHAT A SPELLCASTER LEAVES BEHIND cream pollen
notes: pollen, hay, honey, beeswax, powdered sugar, paper, leather, glue, old book, cedar, vanilla, cetalox
though: this is interesting the antique book note almost lost itself in the honey dust, but then you smell honey dust on it own again and your like ok i see it much more chill on the dusty-ness, i get it i get it, it also a perfect on the name i love it! what a spellcaster leaves behinds it so descriptive and cute and definetly perfect for the perfume, you can imagine the scene, a big dusty book closing, the dust particule going everywhere, someone closing a candle and then a door.
color: a huge dusty, very dusty book, with gold corner and yellowing pages
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VANILLA MILK sweet brown milk (smell better then it sounds)
notes: cream, caramel , heliotrope, vanilla, milk, musk
though: that's not for me, for sure, i mean to be fair my skin don't work with anything milk, my only love is milk shaka from Damask Haus, to me this is sickly sweet, but i don't think most would think that, if you like a milk caramel this is for you for sure, this is concerning because of the realism, i mean it smell like warm milk, and the thick light brown caramel that looks like melted plastic but actually taste pretty good, just very artificial, witch is weird cuz caramel sauce is so easy to make and i don't get why restaurant and ice cream shop don't make it themselves it like 3 ingredient, butter, sugar and cream, (brown sugar if you want butterscotch) but anyway you also have a bit of a floral note but it just adds to the warm milk, really interesting i see this being very popular with the gourmand people
color: a room temperature glass of milk forgotten on a oval shaped table, you know the big ones in wood, with a super big feet underneath, they always have some middle piece of broderie made by some grand mother and and a flower pot full of fresh flower (white heliotrope this time) on the other side of the table there a caramel cream pie
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SMOKED LAVENDER MUSK gay fur
notes: lavender, smoke, oakmoss, musk
though: lavender smoke is a pretty common mix, i don't particularly care for but i love this, it fun it sexy and the lavender pretty realistic. if you know a bit about queer history, lavender been a symbol of gay-ness (lol) since the end of the 19th century, and idk if it since i know this fact that i believe all lavender perfume are gay, well this not the exception (i really don't think there one, it like violet) idk know why exactly but this perfume is just very queer to me, only downside, cuz it really smell good, it that it doesn't last super long contrary to vanilla milk that's super persistent
color: light purple fur coat, and a black leather cat suit with cowboy boots and a big chunky belt, but truly it just a smoke lavender love

EXQUISITE CORPS They are cold like porcelain
notes: lavender, smoke, oakmoss, musk, cream, caramel , heliotrope, vanilla, milk, musk
though: you know i bitch a lot about name accuracy but this is spot on, does it smell like a crops, i mean no, not that i know of (and idk every dead i seen was in dust form not corps form) but it has this cold creaminess mix with the floral it just exactly the name. this is amazing if you put just a little bit of the vanilla milk (my opinion, but don't you think this concept is amazing for that you can dose your 2 perfume to make exactly the combi you prefer) i just think it better when it the smoky floral that take the lead it more mortuary less floral caramel
color: cold, soft but lifeless skin. resting on a pile of white and purple flower, white coffin, 2 small marble column on each side to witch rest on top flower pot. people crying
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7/11 STEAMED MATCHA LATTE a dammed good matcha latte
notes: steam, matcha, warm milk, green tea, cream
though: this is the best of them all, by far, on it own, it just so perfect, the matcha super realistic, it super creamy it has this amazing grass quality and i just sweet enough, as a tea note lover THIS, IS perfect. i were it the most out of the 6 and any combination of the 6. oh last thing it kinda also smell like white chocolate just so you know but there literally nothing else i can say to this perfume it a perfection in simplicity
color: white chocolate and matcha ganache, i kinda want to make a matcha latte recipe but it would be too long cuz there way to many step to make a fancy matcha latte, you'll have to imagine it lol
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COLD RAIN ON PAVEMENT perfectionism
notes: cold air, humid air, puddles, rain, concrete, tar
though: i hate ozone/aldehydes, but objectifly this one is not too bad, osmofolia has a goesmin single note that is actually realistic rain this one is not (to me) but it still adjacent, it wet, bright, soapy and and a bit floral, i mean ofc i wont like a perfume that give me a headache, but that's not the perfume fault right like, i know this perfume is beautiful, it gives me Ghibli rain scene, like in Arrietty, Totoro or Kiki the Little Witch, it rain but in a very aesthetically pleasing way, am doing a fast and furious marraton but after i feel like watching all the ghibli movie
color: walking next to a flower shop after the rain, a little brightness in the thick of the concrete jungle

ON THE CORNER OF JINHU ROAD too pretty
notes: steam, matcha, warm milk, green tea, cream, cold air, humid air, puddles, rain, concrete, tar
though: every one that read my reviews know 2 thing for sure about me, i hate ozone/aldehydes like we seen right before and i have weird references, well weirdly i don't hate this, i mean not on me it would still give me a head ache like ozone/aldehydes always do but it pleasant, i think it the creaminess, it kinda chill out the harshness of cold rain on pavement, but it still has the buzz-ness, it like a soapy, after the rain drinking a matcha latte (that has some kind of white floral syrup in) it pretty, too pretty for me
color: walking next to a flower shop after the rain, a little brightness in the thick of the concrete jungle but the flower shop is also a coffee shop and you get yourself a matcha latte
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MIX AND MATCH, if you get it you get it if you don't you don't ok
Matcha + Milk = Brown Sugar Matcha Latte
Matcha + Lavender = Dirty Matcha
Matcha + Book = White Chocolate BonBon
Matcha + Pollen = Fancy HoneyBee With Her Little Tea
Milk + Book = Alpha, Eating At The Library
Milk + Pavement = Frolicking, Naked After The Rain
Milk + Pollen = Sexy Picnic
Lavender + Pavement = Smoking In The Flower Field
Lavender + Book = Gay Woodworker
Lavender + Pollen = Ashtray, Potpourri
Pavement + Pollen = Electric Bee, Buzz Buzz
Pavement + Book = Little Bookstore In Old Montréal
Pollen + Book = Reading in the Sunroom
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i could do a combi of 3 perfume but that just to much work, but if you do please share in the comment your favs lolll
this month as been kinda hell, am still working on my move (to no where lol) and am nowhere near done, now am starting to make the boxes (tomorrow) and it stressing me the fuck out, anyway on that note, how do you make pr? loll (half joking) cuz yeah i miss doing these review, but dont worry i still have maybe 5 review left if i don't count the discontinued stereoplasm
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also, have a great night love xoxo

Hi lovely people,
We just came back from our first trip to Japan and it was truly a memorable trip. We spent over 3 weeks in Japan from 07th May until 30th May. WE LOVE JAPAN! Can't wait to come back.
A little bit about us: We are both ~30y olds and enjoy a mix of urban, outdoor and culture during our holidays. We are foodies, but not hard-core as in we don't specifically organize our trips around restaurants. There are so many restaurants in Japan, it is hard to get a bad meal. We enjoy just wandering around neighbourhoods. Mostly low/mid-budget stuff with a splurge once in a while.
Our travel itinerary can be found here
General comments

• Time period of travel: We arrived 7th of May which is the last sunday of Golden week. We specifically wanted to avoid Golden week, as we heard it can be crazy busy due to domestic travels. And we also didn't want to go too late in May because June is rainy season in Japan. We were pretty lucky with the weather overall as we only had a couple of days of rain, most days were sunny and we even had some days of sweltering heat :O
• Like other people suggest, try to get in shape before you go! We are both in average shape. Almost every day we walked around 20.000 steps or more. The only rest days we had were the days where we were switching between cities, i.e. sitting in trains for longer periods of time. No complaints ;). I brought two pair of shoes: water-proof hiking shoes and one pair of light-weight running shoes. Switching between shoes was nice, I didn't have any blisters during my time in Japan luckily. All the walking compensated all the eating though!
• Check whether region specific JR passes might work for you. We decided against getting the nationwide JR passes as they didn't fit our needs and were expensive and instead opted for a regional JR Setouchi area pass. It was perfect for the Shimanami Kaido. We could travel from Osaka to Onomichi -> Hiroshima/Miyajima -> Kyoto. And it also gave us access to Nozomi shinkansen (fastest) and a great ferry ride between Matsuyama and Hiroshima.

Japanguide has a nice overview of all the passes : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

• Be flexible (That's how we like to travel). I mapped out most of the sights beforehand according to must-see's and mapped out what other interesting sights there would be in those areas. The day before or in the morning, we would decide what we would do roughly, sight-see according to neighborhood and just wing it a little bit. We just love to wander around and see what we come across, mixed with some google maps + "explore" function. Some days you are just tired and just want to hang out in a park, or you have temple-fatigue and want to do something entirely else. Same with food/restaurants, we usually just used google maps to see what kind of great restaurants were near us at that moment. We haven't lined up more than twice our whole time there and still ate wonderfully. We do tend to avoid overly hyped stuff anyways. I do keep in mind that everyone has their own ways.
• Buy e-sim if possible, it is the cheapest and easiest way. My partner bought an e-sim and it was so convenient! My phone unfortunately didn't support it and I had to buy a sim. I opted for getting one at BIC camera, which was the cheapest I could find. 10GB for 30 days for 3200 yen.
• Keep plastic bags for trash. Buying food from conbini, and eating it somewhere? say yes to that plastic bag, because you will need it to stash your garbage until you are back at your hotel where you can throw it away or you find a garbage bin at the train station per chance. I read about this a lot on this subreddit, but still I found it astonishing the lack of trash cans. Fascinating how the streets of Japan are so damn clean.
• Try Pokari sweat. :) I tried it for the first time there and I was hooked immediately. It is awesome! Best electrolyte drink ever and it definitely saved me during those hot sweaty days there. CC lemon is also great!
• Go for a haircut or some other beauty/massage treatment. The hospitality is amazing in Japan. You won't regret getting pampered in Japan. They have all kinds of crazy treatments. I got the best haircut of my life for 4400yen.

Trip report

PS. I am not mentioning everything we did in this post. I will just mention highlights. It is still a long read though ;).
D1 - D2 Osaka
We landed at Kansai airport. Before our trip, we also bought train vouchers for Osaka online (https://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/). Best decision ever, because the journey was rough and we were exhausted by the time we landed. We only had to exchange our vouchers at the station and off we went.
Osaka was nice city to start with as it is a more manageable "smaller" city whilst recovering from our jetlag. Despite being smaller, I do think it is worth a visit. Osaka is so iconic at night. We stayed at a spacious Airbnb near Kuromon Ichiban market.

• Takoyaki :) We had our first try of takoyaki at Takotako King instead of one the places at Dotonbori to avoid the crazy lines. You can sit down, have a beer and yes the takoyaki is amazing. It should be crunchy on the outside and deliciously goeey on the inside, doused with sauces and katsuobushi. Man, I wish I could go back and eat it again. It is true, you can't get great takoyaki outside of Osaka, at least I didn't get that same crunchy gooey combo again in other cities.
• Discount sushi from Takashimaya department store. For the budget-minded, this is a no-brainer. Around 7PM, an hour before closing time, you can get delicious fatty tuna maki at discount prices in the basement of takashimaya. Other foods at the department store food floor such as the fresh mochi are delicious also. Takashimaya is my favorite department store for food I think!
• Osaka castle - Our first castle in Japan. The green roof and the golden ornaments are beautiful and unique!
• Dotonbori - iconic :) fun to walk along. The queues are long there. We avoided eating at Dotonbori.
• Shitenno-ji - beautiful pagoda with buddha statues inside. Do pay the fee to go inside and see the garden. You can also go into the pagoda and walk up.
• Huge fan of Shotengai's, Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street. They are so quintessential Japan.
• Ramen Tendo, the first ramen joint that we tried in Japan, so it has a special place in my heart. They specialize in chicken broth with lots of umami katsuoboshi flavor. Noodles were great too, very bouncy. Delicious! Little did I know that this ramen joint was really one of the best we would have this trip. It set the bar high for sure!
• Visit a local grocery store. Maybe it is just me, but I love to browse at local grocery shops (KOHYO namba Minatomachi) and be fascinated by all the different things they sell. It is also a great place to buy food souvenirs, like miso, green tea etc. Lots of pre-cooked meals/ fried stuff. Just a wider selection than your typical conbini. And again discounts if you go ~1hr before closing time.

Skip Shinsekai: We visited during the day and it felt very empty to me. More like a tourist-trap, the eateries didn't look appealing to me. Maybe during the evening this area is more fun.
D3 Nara
We did Nara as a day-trip from Osaka.

• Yes, to feeding the deer. It is touristy, but it is so much fun to be chased by cookie-crazed deer. One more thing: deer's fart a lot. We were wondering where this weird high pitched sound was coming from, those are actually deer farts.
• Todai-ji is very impressive, definitely a must visit.
• Just wander around in Nara park, it's very lush and beautiful and has many more shrines and interesting sights, such as manyo botanical garden. I wish we had one more day to explore Nara but oh well maybe next time :)
• We ate lunch at Magura Koya, a small restaurant run by a lovely elderly couple. Delicious tuna dishes. I had a tuna sashimi bowl and my partner the fried tuna set meal, so fresh!
• We had the best pork bun at Hourokutei at the end of the Higashimuki shopping street. It's a small hole in the wall, but omg the squishy-est juicy-est porkbuns ever.

D4 Onomichi
After staying in Osaka for 3 days, we headed west for the Shimanami Kaido. We decided to stay in Onomichi (Hotel Beacon Onomichi) for the night before we started our two day bike trip. For this part of our trip, we picked up our 7-day Setouchi area pass at Shin-Osaka JR station. I just want to mention that I really love the hospitality of the staff in Japan. The JR office people were so nice and helpful. We reserved our seats for the shinkansen and off we went to Onomichi. Onomichi is a lovely little seaside town to just stroll around and take in the views. I really recommend spending at least half a day here. Don't skip it!

• Senkoji park observatory - we walked up to the observatory (ropeway available), please walk up as there are lots of nice alleyways, shrines and cats along the way :). The view is amazing, especially at sunset.
• Cat alley: honestly, every alley is cat alley.
• Onomichi Shotengai - very retro, lots of cute shops. We bought a nice poster from a little granny there.

D5 & D6 Shimanami Kaido -> Matsuyama
The next day, we picked up our reserved cross bikes from the general bike rental and off we went. Honestly, biking the shimanami kaido was the highlight of our trip. We took two days to bike the whole way, one day would definitely be too rushed for us. We stopped at Ikuchi island (Shimanaido NEST) for our halfway stay.
The sights along the way were great! It was so much fun to go down-hill, the uphills were do-able. We had great weather also, not too hot and no rain. Everything was clearly indicated, we just followed the blue lines. I felt very safe biking in Japan. PS. My butt did hurt from the saddle, so be warned! Bring some cushioned pants if you want to be safe side.

• First pitstop after the first bridge was Hassakuya. You have to stop here! They have delicious strawberry and citrus daifuku! The citrus had a bitter aftertaste, but they are famous for their citrus so its definitely nice to try.
• Just enjoy the views, stop everywhere to take pictures. There are lots of things to explore along the way.
• Stop at roadside stations such as > tatara shimanami park and yoshiumi iki-iki-kan. Especially before you take on the last bridge just do a little pit stop. It's a nice place to take some pictures of the insanely long bridge and have a citrus/vanilla soft cream.

https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ for more info and bike rental
We decided to bike one-way from Onomichi to Imabari and we have no regrets. I liked that we ended the bike trip with the longest bridge (4km!!). Imabari is very industrial, but after the fun long way down from the last bridge and being exhausted from biking you just want to get to the station and stuff yourself with pastries from the bakery at the station and go on to your next destination. Thus, we immediately took the train to Matsuyama. Originally, the plan was to enjoy the famous onsen in Matsuyama, but we didn't have enough time and we were also pretty tired. After checking-in at the hotel, it was already 4, we made our way to Matsuyama castle but unfortunately, we were too late to go in. It was still nice to view it from the outside and walk around the park. We planned to do sightseeing in Hiroshima the next day, so there was no more time to explore Matsuyama further.
D7 Hiroshima -> Miyajima
After Shiminami Kaido, we headed towards Hiroshima/Miyajima. We took an early ferry from Matsuyama. The ferry was included in the setouchi JR pass, so we gladly took advantage of that. It's a nice way to get to Hiroshima, just one last view of the Seto inland sea. One remark: if it is not JR serviced transportation, you do have to obtain separate tickets. Normally, just showing your setouchi JR pass is enough to get onboard the train, but for the ferry you do have to go to the ticket desk and show your JR pass to obtain the ferry tickets.

• Peace memorial museum - a history we must not forget and do not want to repeat
• We tried another Hiroshima speciality for lunch: Hiroshima Tsukemen. This tsukemen is GREAT. One of my favorite dishes. We ate at Tsukemen Karabu Tokaichimachi. The spicy umami dipping sauce is very addicting!

Surprisingly, it was very hard to find affordable good accommodation in Hiroshima. It was the weekend and two weeks before G7, so maybe that was the reason why it was harder to find accommodation. In the end, I found a nice simple hotel on Miyajima island and it was a good decision after all! After a long day in Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima to stay two nights. Staying on Miyajima island is lovely especially when all the day-trip tourist leave.
D8 Miyajima
Honestly, Miyajima is truly magical. Another highlight of our trip! We started the day early to get ahead of the crowd and that made it all so much more enjoyable. Seeing shrines and temples without a crowd is truly 1000x better! If you can stay at Miyajima island, do it! You don't have to splurge on expensive ryokan (although it would have been nice). We stayed at Sakuraya, which was very budget-friendly.

• Itsukishima Jinja - Nice but Daishoin and surrounding nature were the highlights for me.
• Daishoin - it is the most beautiful shrine complex I have seen in Japan this trip. I think it's because it was so quaint and it was embedded in the hill, surrounded by lush green nature. There were multiple complexes. There was a pathway studded with Jizo statues, buddist cave, prayer wheels and much more. While we were there, a ceremony with a monk was ongoing and everyone could participate in helping burning the origami peace cranes made by children, to make their wishes come true. We bought a little peace crane made from the ashes to remember this moment.
• Mt. Misen - we hiked up from Dashoin. It was ~2hrs? of steep stair climbing, 500m elevation gain. A challenge for sure but we definitely earned our way going down by ropeway :P. Views are great! go go! There is a bus to the ropeway so you don't have to suffer if you don't want to.
• Momijidani park - If you don't like Momiji trees, you can't be my friend.
• Snack along the Miyajima ometesando street. Crowded, but the cakes are great!

One remark, our hotel didn't include dinner and all the restaurants on the island close quite early. Luckily, with our setouchi JR pass, we could take the ferry for free, so went to the mainland for dinner. Just keep this in mind, when booking your stay.
D9 - D13 Kyoto
We took the early train to Kyoto and checked in at Tokyu stay Sanjo-karasuma. We had 5 days to explore Kyoto and by this time we had lost our FOMO a little bit and also decided to take it a bit more slow. We still ended up walking a lot anyways but at least we were sleeping in.
The day we arrived,15MAY, was supposed to be Aoi matsuri so we headed to Kamo river to see the festival. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed due to the slight rainfall and we had no clue! but we were next to Kyoto botanical garden and we decided to visit that instead!

• Kyoto botanical garden: it is a lovely garden with a huge variety of plants and trees to see. Really well maintained and during our visit there was a great rose garden in bloom. I recommend going there! It has a nice japanese garden section too with momiji trees and moss. A greenhouse with orchids. Lot's to see here. Only 200 yen.
• Arashiyama area - I really loved this area, not just for the bamboo forest. Togetsukyo bridge and Katsura river were the highlights for me. You can walk along the both sides of Katsura riverbank. A nice way to get to the bamboo forest and bypassing the busy beginning at the start of bamboo forest is by walking along the katsura river bank into Kameyama park and following the signs to Okochi sanso garden. You will end up at the backside of bamboo forest, which is the nicest part. We went more north to visit Pottery Tanuki, this area was very nice and quaint to walk around; bamboo, shrines and traditional houses everywhere.
• South kyoto - Fushimi Inari + Uji day trip - We visited fushimi inari around 9am and it was already very busy! If you hike deeper into the Tori gates, it gets more quiet. We decided not to hike to the top, but instead do a little loop and we stumbled upon some lovely fox shrines. After Fushimi Inari, we took the train just a little bit more south to Uji. If you like matcha, visit Uji. It is a scenic little town with lots of matcha specialized cafes. We ate at Torikiku, famous for their matcha soba and udon. I had the best matcha icecream dessert at Nakamura Tokichi Byodo-in. Again, the river views are beautiful! It's a great daytrip from kyoto. On the way back to kyoto, we spontaneously decided to visit the Gekkeikan Sake museum. It's a small museum, mostly about the history of Gekkeikan, but for 500 yen entry fee, you also get 3 small sake tastings. Fun for an hour or so. I wouldn't go all the way here just for the museum, but for us it was a nice stop on the way back to Kyoto.
• Gion - visit Gion in the evening and just wander around the little streets. Hanamikoji street is one of the more famous streets there.
• We ate amazing gyoza lunch at Gyoza-dokoro Sakemasa. Best gyozo of our trip.
• Higashiyama area - Heian jingu shrine, visit the attached garden for a fee, definitely worth it! We ate amazing mazesoba and ramen for lunch at Menya Yamahide. We also visited Kyoto handicraft center in this area where we bought an ukiyo-e painting. There was also a vintage antique market at that day. We just browsed a bit around the market and honestly that was a day worth of exploring :).

I didn't mention everything we did in Kyoto here. We also had so much more planned for Kyoto, but didn't get around to it, which was totally fine! We were also a bit temple-fatigued by that time and needed a slower pace. Hopefully next time, we can visit some of things we skipped. Furthermore, some days were incredibly hot (30 C degrees and humid) or we had whole days of rain. On those days, we decided to go shopping instead.

• Sanjo Meiten-gai shopping arcade , Compasso teramachi. One long shopping street between Omiya and Kyoto-kawaramachi station. My favorite shops were: Standard products, Tokyu hands and Loft.

D14 - D15 Takayama
After spending 5 days in Kyoto, it was time to leave the city and head for the Japanese alps. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we changed to a limited express to Takayama. It took around 3 hours to get to Takayama, but we didn't mind. Train travel = resting time for our legs! Also, the views from the train were great!! I really enjoyed this train trip to Takayama. We arrived around noon and immediately checked in at our hotel (Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama). We had two nights in Takayama to explore the town.

• Hida beef - it's the wagyu of this area and I found my favorite place to eat it: Ajikura Tengoku. We went there twice for lunch, because it was that good. It was our first time in Japan to try yakiniku and sukiyaki. I really do appreciate the taste of wagyu but only in small amounts. I couldn't eat it everyday, because it's really so rich and yes paying for the premium cuts really does make a different in taste and texture of the wagyu beef.
• We really loved Takayama. Again, if you have time, stay overnight and wander around the streets during the evening when all the daytrippers leave. The town has such a nice vibe and it still has a very local feel to it.
• Miyagawa morning market. Fun to stroll around
• Hikaru museum - we stumbled upon this via google maps. It's a mayan temple-inspired building, very unique. You could visit the place just for the architecture itself, really impressive. It has a very nice collection of art. When we reached the top floor, there was a whole exhibition dedicated to a specific religious person. We didn't know beforehand but this museum is connected to a cult. Suddenly, it all made sense why this museum was so unique. We didn't mind, but it definitely puts the whole experience in a different light. It's a 1-hour walk from downtown, there is no direct bus connection unfortunately.
• Hida folk village - Open-air museum with nice re-builds of traditional mountain houses. We spend over half a day there. You can see local craftsmen doing their thing and you can also participate in pottery for example. There is a lovely pond and it is just pleasant to walk around. it's only a ~10 min. busride from Takayama bus station. You can buy combined entryfee+bus combo tickets at the bus station.

D16 Kamikochi -> Matsumoto
After checking out of our hotel in Takayama, we took the 7am bus to Kamikochi. We were only going to spend a day here, and then continue our way to Matsumoto to stay overnight.After ~1 hour of bus, we finally made it to Kamikochi. The Japanese alps are amazing. I wished we stayed longer in this area, but just the bus ride alone to Kamikochi was already a great with the views. We decided to hop off at Taisho pond bus stop and walk along all the major sights in the park. We had no specific plan. Just hike around as far as time allowed. For lunch, we stopped at this cute teishoku restaurant, where we ate katsu curry, a big lunch to fuel our walking. We also saw wild japanese macaques and lots of wildflowers where blooming during our time there.At the local shops, we bought some yummy pastries to snack on. I had the tastiest baumkuchen with cheesecake center and my partner had a chocolate ganache cookie. I really regret not buying more kamikochi pastries to take home while we were there.After spending the day walking around, we hopped on the 4pm bus towards Matsumoto. Checked in at Tabino hotel lit Matsumoto, where I relaxed in the onsen.
Tips:

• We were only carrying backpacks, so we hiked with them until we reached the kamikochi bus terminal, where you can drop off you bag at the storage for a small fee.
• Reservation is mandatory for the bus Kamikochi -> Matsumoto, you can do it online or while you are at the busstation before hiking.
• Transportation in the Japan alps is mostly by bus, do reserve ahead if you go at peak times. Main bus company is Nouhi bus: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/.)

D17 Matsumoto Tokyo
After sleeping in, we did some sightseeing in Matsumoto before we moved on to Tokyo. We really liked wandering around in Matsumoto. Lots of cool shops with local crafts. We didn't know but the biggest national crafts fair is held in Matsumoto. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for one day, but next time we would love to visit this crafts fair!
Matsumoto Castle - I really like the interior of the castle. It has been renovated, but still contains that castle feel. It is 5 story castle and you are allowed to climb all of it. It also included a pretty extensive gun/weaponry exhibition. Do arrive early because you do have to line-up within the castle to get from one floor to the other. This is due to the steep stairways, on which they allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Matsumoto city art museum - There was a nice exhibition from Yayoi Kusama. We didn't know but Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto. It is a good replacement exhibition if you aren't able to snatch up tickets for Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo.
Nakamachi street and Frog street - street with persevered houses with craft shops, cafes, brewerys. What more do you want.
After spending the day in Matsumoto, we took the train to Tokyo, our last destination of our stay. We decided to stay in Ueno (Hotel resol ueno). This hotel was located close to Ueno JR.
D18 - D24 Tokyo
Last 7 days in Tokyo. By this time, we were just enjoying everything at a much slower pace. Tokyo is huge! Staying near the JR line is indeed a must like everyone said. I could go on hours about Tokyo, I am just going to mention some highlights here.

• Anmitsu at Anmitsu Mihashi. My favorite dessert! It contains agar jelly, mochi balls, red bean paste, fruit and a scoop of matcha icecream.
• shopping in Ginza - It's nice to go during the weekends when they close of the streets for cars. We liked visiting flagship stores of Muji, Uniqlo. Go to Itoya if you are a stationary freak.
• Ueno park - Museums, shrines, Lotus pond. Have a look at their website, there are almost always events in the park. :)
• Tsukiji market - very busy, but fun to have a look. Lines everywhere. Look for sushi restaurants that open around 11am, line up at one of those places. I don't think it has to be the one with 4.5 rating and 1000 reviews. Why? There are so many good restaurants in Tsukiji area. We went to Tsukiji Kagura Sushi.
• Hamarikyu gardens - Bonsai pine trees pruned to perfection. Ponds filled with sea water, thus there were seabass, little sardines and jellyfish in the water. Very special! You also had a nice skyline view from the park which is a cool contrast! It was nice and quiet.
• Tokyo Skytree - best view :) it also has a great shopping complex attached to it.
• Asakusa area - Senso-ji
• Yanaka Ginza - we went during the weekend and there was live music, little stalls and just very lively in general. Really nice to spend a morning. Largest preserved cemetery, which apparently welcomes visitors a lot for flower viewings. It is a preserved neighborhood with traditional houses and lots of shops selling crafts, gifts, souvenirs, and unique snacks.

That's it!
For 24 days, we spend around ~2500 euro p.p. (excl. 1000,- flights). This amount includes food, transportation, entrancefees and shopping/gifts. so average is ~100 euro/day. We didn't track every cost. Hotel costs were 900,- pp, which ranged from 50,- to 120,- per night accommodations. The conversion yen/euro is also great at the moment, so it might have contributed!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Let me know if there are any questions.

background info -
medications: keppra 500mgXR, 2 pills once daily. Cyclobenzaprine 10mg once daily. Ramelteon 8mg once daily. Estradiol Valerate .1ml (40mg/mL) once weekly.
medical history: TS (tourrettes syndrome), CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder), DID (dissociative identity disorder), dissociative amnesia, ADHD, ASD, somataform disorder. Microdiscectomy 1.5 weeks ago (recovery going well).
the event: A couple days I had a scary experience where my family almost had to call 911 to get me medical attention. I was in the middle of eating my lunch when I felt my aura coming on. I was able to get myself to the bedroom and into the bed so I was in a safe place. I had my first seizure. I came out of the room asking my partner for help getting me back to the couch (from this point on I lose consciousness / awareness, and this is all recounts from my partners observation and my best assessment). I had a hard time walking, stumbling and almost falling to the couch. Once they got me onto the couch, they gave me 50mg of CBD tincture mixed with water to help combat the seizures. Over the next 15 minutes I proceeded to have seizures back to back. I was unaware through all of these seizures, except for tiny blips in between where all I could feel was this immense pain in the right side of my brain, almost near where my temples lay. Full convulsions through all of these events. The only reason they did not call 911 is because I stopped having seizures at 15min and 26sec. Once I was on the other side of the seizures, all I could feel was this crazy intense pain in my brain. I usually get headaches after my seizure events, but this was the most amplified pain I have ever felt. I was unable to speak for 30 minutes afterwards according to my partner. At this postictal stage I am dealing with my usual symptoms (confusion, aphasia, headaches, derealization / jamais vu). I was aware of them trying to communicate with me, but when I was prompted to speak it was almost as if my own body forgot how to communicate. It was like I didn't even have lips to open in the first place. I was able to communicate with short grunts and alike sounds at the 15 minute mark. And then all of a sudden I was able to communicate again, still dealing with my postictal symptoms at this point.
I don't know what to do and I am so scared and alone through all of this. My first seizure was February 14th, and my neurologist team is still helping me figure out the accurate diagnosis through all of this. My initial EEG months ago read normal, I have 2 full weeks between now and my 72hr EEG, and another week after until I go back to my neurologist. I am so scared that something like this is going to occur when I am alone, and the thought of going status is scary enough without the rest of my current medical complications. I called and informed my neurologists PA of this event just to cover my ass but I haven't heard back from them. I don't know if this is a vent, a cry for help or support, or what. But I am scared, confused, and alone. I don't know what to do.

So I (F21) live at home with my parenrs (F48, M 52), Older sister Anna (F24) and some younger step + half siblings (M17, F14, F10).
My parents are both in high up, demanding positions. But it wasn't always like this. Growing up my mother was a single mother, meaning my sister and I didn't always have it the best. My older sister was responsible for taking care of me after school and often would cook dinner before my mom would come home late from work. She did this as younge as 11 y/o. After my mom got a better job and got married life improved but my sister was an adult and I was nearly 18 by the time that happened.
I say this to point out Anna and I are close as well as self sufficient. Because my parents have demanding jobs we often end up making sure the younger ones eat dinner on time or have to remind the parents the kids still haven't eaten. Yesterday I went on a bad date and was upset about it. My sister and I decided to order some food to feel better. It was just Chipotle but we wanted it. The food arrives and my parents came out of their offices seeing the delivery. They asked me where the rest of the food was. I told them Anna and I had ordered food for ourselves.
They proceeded to call me selfish for not getting food for the younger kids. I was honest and said I didn't have the money to add $60 to my bills so they could eat, besides, Anna had paid for her own meal. They said they could have covered it but I don't like doing that because they're bad at returning the money (realistically my parents owe me about $750 in paying for the kids food just this year). When I said I couldn't risk not getting paid back my mom said I was an asshole. She then insinuated i was treating them differently because Anna is my "full" sister. I took deep offense to this and pointed out that its not my job to take care of the kids no matter how we came to be related. My parents and younger siblings went to a fancy restaurant for dinner that night and my mother has been cold towards me all day.
I can see how it would have been easier for them if I had helped with feeding the younger ones but they're not my kids. I'm also in college so I don't have a lot of money to begin with. AITA?
EDIT: To add context I was not in the house during the evening on the date and had missed when dinner is usually figured out (6-7pm). I didn't know they hadn't been fed until our food was delivered just before 9pm (their bedtime).

Title. I’ve been stuck at a restaurant bar that trained me from scratch and I feel like I’ve hit a wall with what I can learn there. I’ve heard that a hotel near me needs bartenders but I want to make sure I’m prepared before I go in. I can make the common shots and cocktails (the teas, margs, old fashioned) all day no problem but when it comes to drinks that introduce vermouth and different bitters, even stuff like mint, I don’t even know what’s popular or necessary to learn beforehand
Any tips?

Some background: I’m not expecting a resolution to this memory that could easily have happened one way or the other, but the uncertainty has been bothering me lately, so I need to vent.
I (late 20s F) have been with my partner (late 20s M) for 6 years. Let’s call my partner Jake.
Jake is best friends with, let’s call him Aaron. Jake and I used to spend a lot of time at Aaron’s house, mostly the two of them playing video games and me watching, pool parties with friends, etc.
Aaron also has a sister (mid 20s F) let’s call her Nicole.
Aaron and Nicole’s parents, let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. R, we’re pretty ‘cool’ and friendly in the sense that they were always around, liked to be part of the conversations when Aaron or Nicole had friends over, hang out with us even if we were all drinking, etc. I felt like they were more involved than most other kids’ parents, so I genuinely liked them.
Aaron’s room is in the middle of a small hallway, with Nicole’s room to the left, and a bathroom to the right.
I don’t remember the exact timeline, but I believe this specific incident happened in summer 2020, almost 3 years ago.
Jake, Aaron, and I all smoked a blunt (I don’t smoke anymore, but I believe this may be relevant to the story).
Aaron and Jake decided to walk to a fast food restaurant near Aaron’s house, probably ~10-15 minute walk each way. I felt too high so decided to lay on Aaron’s bed, with the door to his room open, until they got back.
This is where things got weird.
Something was wrong with Nicole’s door, I can’t remember exactly what, but Aaron and Nicole’s dad, Mr. R, was fixing her doodoorway/doorknob or something like that. So, it made sense that he was pretty close to Aaron’s doorway. Aside from me, he was also the only one home at that time.
I noticed Mr. R’s shadow in front of Aaron’s doorway. This made it seem like he was closer to Aaron’s room than where Nicole’s doorway was.
Now, I don’t know if I was just very paranoid, or if this next part was really happening.
I heard what I truly believe was him masturbating and quietly moaning. I froze. I was internally panicking and felt lightheaded. I was so anxious- too scared to get up, say anything, or even move. I texted my boyfriend several times with messages ranging from “hurry back” “I need to go home now” etc.
Several minutes later, the front door opened and Mr. R’s shadow was quickly gone. It was Mr. R’s wife, Mrs. R. She said “helloooo”. And eventually walked to Aaron’s room and was making small talk with me, about how I’ve been, etc. Mr. R was still no where in sight.
A few minutes later, Jake and Aaron came back and I told Jake I needed to leave because I wasn’t feeling well. When we got in the car I told him exactly what I thought happened, and of course mentioned that I don’t know if I was just being paranoid, if the shadow and sounds were because Mr. R was working on Nicole’s door, etc.
But then Jake said something that freaked me out. When he was with Aaron and received all of my texts, pretty urgent in tone about needing to leave but not sharing details, Jake said he literally said to Aaron, “we should hurry back, hopefully she’s not getting r***d or something.”
Of course, this was about 3 years ago, and I still feel uncertain about what actually happened.
Some additional context, Mr. R is a local chief of police, so if anyone could legally get away with doing something like that, it would be him.
I’ve only been to Aaron’s house once since then, ~1 year ago, summer 2022 with Jake to drop off some dessert to Mrs. R. Nothing out of the ordinary happened when I saw Mr. R, we were there and gone in less than 5 minutes.
I also feel so weird thinking about the possibility that he really was just fixing Nicole’s door and that I’m insane for even thinking the alternative. But I can’t shake the memory of the shadow position, the sounds I heard and what I perceived them to be, and how panicked I felt.
Either way, I guess I’ll never know what really happened that night, which is unsettling..

As the title says, I worked as an extra in extras during the ross kemp episode so i thought id share my experience.
Never got to meet ricky or anything, but obviously saw them on set. the extras who I worked with at the time seemed to outcast me a bit. I know a couple of them were acting as if they were above the rest of us since they got to talk to ricky on occasion since they shared the same agent at the time.
I tried to get into contact with the agent frequently, not because I wanted to be mates with ricky, but I wanted bigger roles and seeing how I was an extra in a show about extras it felt a bit degrading in a strange way. anyway, the couple of people who shared this agent told me he was only willing to work with people he saw a huge potential for in the future and that Id have no chance. big words.
During the set, ricky frequently went off set into his agents cabin for what i assumed were lots of tea breaks since he'd always make jokes about having two lunches because he did so much "work". i was able to get close to his cabin because I wanted to accidently bump into him and see if I could play it out smoothly and say I got the chance to meet and work with Ricky Gervais. The two co-workers i mentioned previously told me never to go near his cabin because I'd get into the shit but i didnt listen, once in a life time opportunity!
Once i got round the side of his cabin, i started shaking loads because i could hear him murmering to somebody who i assumed was his agent and i was really nervous at this point. I could see under his cabin since it was one of the portable ones, sort of like a caravan but on stands. Just as i was about to turn the corner and make my excuse up on the spot, I tripped over a banana peel and saw straight under the cabin. At first It looked like somebody was noshing Ricky off so I took a closer look. Turns out, his agent was a gay 6 foot chimp with glasses.
And as for the two co-workers I had, they turned out to be ant and dec.

This can be a repeated topic on this sub but I want to vent out as I feel extremely disturbed after this.
I was out with my family for lunch in a buffet restaurant ( this was one of the high five places , not boasting just adding context). 2 gentlemen sat at our adjacent table, though I didn't meant to eavesdrop, I could clearly hear their talk . Throughout the course of their meal which lasted atleast 2 hrs , that's the point we left, they were continously talking about stories of women in their circle who are demanding lavish life despite coming from tier 2 and villages. How women always want to marry better person and live of them as a leech(their exact words). They were discussing a story of their friend's who supposedly earning 40lpa, owns 2000sft house and takes his wife out every now and then but is opting to divorce. The girl apparently made him goto a mall in Malaysia which made him very upset as his wife is obsessed with shopping. No offense here, but why the hell are the generalising? They way they were talking about how women with low economic background should dedicate their life in slavery to the husband's famiky was very demeaning. These men were not oldies, they could be in mid 30s. This has disturbed me a lot as when I look for a partner , I mostly look for companionship. Ending up with such egoist would be really end of the world for me. I am literally scared ppl especially that I haven't seen much successful relationships around me. When I read posts on reddit saying women are gold diggers , always ignored them considering that is some small number of ppl but witnessing this kind of ideology in reality shook me.
Tldr: shocked over a conversation between 2 men claiming women only see money.

I’d been dating this girl for nearly a year. A couple of months after we started dating it was her birthday I sent flowers to her workplace on her birthday as a nice surprise and took her for dinner a few days later where I presented her with a gift that she had mentioned on her twitter feed that she liked.
My birthday was nearly 8 months later and we’d had some ups and downs but I’d gotten her a bag for Christmas and was always generous when we went out paying mostly for meals and drinks. Although we did split other means too.
I would also add that we had an argument about gestures whereby I was being taken to a very fancy restaurant for work and she kept sending me messages saying that it would be a good gesture if I took her along or had food sent over for her I knew she was joking but she kept going on about it until I snapped and told her that gestures work both ways… she still didn’t get it and made a joke about what like thumb wars. I sent her a voice mail saying look I know you’re just joking but you literally went to Paris a month ago and didn’t bring me anything back despite me saying that I loved French wine. She bought the cheapest bottle she could find for 8-10 euros (her words) for us to share…
She apologised and we made up.
So I was planning to go away for my birthday with friends but then didn’t and my gf asked if she could take me to dinner.
She was away the week before in Greece seeing her dad but we had agreed a date for my birthday diner not on the day itself but towards the end of that week.
Day of my birthday she texts me at noon all of my friends and family had texted or called earlier.. to say happy birthday can I book the restaurant now. I was a bit surprised she hadn’t done it earlier but ok.
Day of my Birthday we meet for dinner no card or present but she did pay for dinner. Couple of days later she’s like she would like to surprise me with some new lingerie and asked me what I liked. I’m like whatever you like but she insisted that I give her some options - sent her some and said should I get it for you? She was like yes. Few days later after discussing with some friends I asked why no card on my birthday.
She told me she didn’t think she had to as she was meeting me after my birthday and that she never does blow out dinners like this so I should be lucky. We been out for dinner before so didn’t get this…- subsequent arguments about this and fact I’ve brought her lingerie she finally mentioned that she doesn’t do gifts as she thinks their tokenistic but she does experiences instead. For me dinner on someone’s birthday is a low bar… she told me I should draw a line and she’d do better next time but thanked me for letting her know…
This is something I couldn’t get over and while she offered to return the lingerie we continued to have massive arguments where she finally told me I need to just draw a line under it…
Tldr - I think my gf likes receiving gifts more than she likes giving them. Should I dump her or try again to explain why I’m hurt?

This does NOT include my Airbnb.
This is purely just for Ubers and restaurants.
I will be eating breakfast and lunch in.
Eating out 1x a day- I do NOT drink so I don’t have to worry about alcohol.
I’m a 23 year old girl- so it’s not like I have the diet of a caveman either.
This would give me 200 reis/day
I will be in São Paulo.

My wife and I (sub 30) are currently upset with each other because of this food situation we were in. Two days ago, she took out some beef from the freezer to defrost to make lunch. I wasn't aware of the plan, had cravings, and I know she likes a certain restaurant, so I ordered UBEREats and got delivery. Food came, she loves it, nothing is wrong.
Beef goes back into the fridge.
​
Fast forward two days later, we finished the takeout (lots of leftovers for multiple meals). Today, she was going to make the beef as lunch and she realizes the food is spoiled. She is extremely upset we wasted food and is putting all the blame on me for not adhereing to her plan and wasting food. AITA?

Ok a little backstory, and TL;DR at the bottom. I’ll try to be brief. A few years ago I dropped out of Uni (end of sophomore year) because of a disagreement with the math department. I couldn’t understand the indian teacher’s accent so I skipped the classes to teach myself calculus. 95/93/97 on my major exams, but no attendance so I failed the class. Eventually talked them into giving me a D, but it ruined my GPA and I lost my full ride. Didn’t want loans, so I dropped out. Felt like a major waste of my time, 2-5 years gone, as I went to a college prep middle and high school and had no life due to studies. But I think I found a way to salvage this, and accomplish what I really want to in life.
Since I dropped out, I worked in construction and toursim, and found out my passion is travel. New cultures. Different lifestyles. Most of my friends are in Europe, and I really want to relocate there. In particular, I want to live near the Adriatic sea, in the mountains or on the coast, or in the Tatras or the Carpathians. In these places I like the culture, its cheap, and real estate is way more accessible, especially if you are capable of doing a major reno project.
THE QUESTION: Is it a viable strategy to choose a low-cost of living country, get a student visa, do a full immersion for 1-2 years, learn the language, graduate, and then upgrade to some kind of residence permit, buy property, and then try to get citizenship? People do it all the time in the US.
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: I want a chill uni experience over there with a modest amount of downtime. I don’t want to study constantly and waste my time in books. I’d even like to continue to learn construction while I do it. Maybe apprentice a stone mason part-time. Most important is the degree. I want to do something that gives me total flexibility on where I live. Don’t want to have to relocate based on where work is available. Even if I’m just teaching english online, as long as that supports a modest life in whatever country, thats enough for me.
You’re a real champ for getting through this.
TL;DR What Eastern/Balkan city do I go to for a chill student experience and a navigable track to citizenship, and what do I study for the most flexibility in relocation.

I’d been dating this girl for nearly a year. A couple of months after we started dating it was her birthday I sent flowers to her workplace on her birthday as a nice surprise and took her for dinner a few days later where I presented her with a gift that she had mentioned on her twitter feed that she liked.
My birthday was nearly 8 months later and we’d had some ups and downs but I’d gotten her a bag for Christmas and was always generous when we went out paying mostly for meals and drinks. Although we did split other means too.
I would also add that we had an argument about gestures whereby I was being taken to a very fancy restaurant for work and she kept sending me messages saying that it would be a good gesture if I took her along or had food sent over for her I knew she was joking but she kept going on about it until I snapped and told her that gestures work both ways… she still didn’t get it and made a joke about what like thumb wars. I sent her a voice mail saying look I know you’re just joking but you literally went to Paris a month ago and didn’t bring me anything back despite me saying that I loved French wine. She bought the cheapest bottle she could find for 8-10 euros (her words) for us to share…
She apologised and we made up.
So I was planning to go away for my birthday with friends but then didn’t and my gf asked if she could take me to dinner.
She was away the week before in Greece seeing her dad but we had agreed a date for my birthday diner not on the day itself but towards the end of that week.
Day of my birthday she texts me at noon all of my friends and family had texted or called earlier.. to say happy birthday can I book the restaurant now. I was a bit surprised she hadn’t done it earlier but ok.
Day of my Birthday we meet for dinner no card or present but she did pay for dinner. Couple of days later she’s like she would like to surprise me with some new lingerie and asked me what I liked. I’m like whatever you like but she insisted that I give her some options - sent her some and said should I get it for you? She was like yes. Few days later after discussing with some friends I asked why no card on my birthday.
She told me she didn’t think she had to as she was meeting me after my birthday and that she never does blow out dinners like this so I should be lucky. We been out for dinner before so didn’t get this…- subsequent arguments about this and fact I’ve brought her lingerie she finally mentioned that she doesn’t do gifts as she thinks their tokenistic but she does experiences instead. For me dinner on someone’s birthday is a low bar… she told me I should draw a line and she’d do better next time but thanked me for letting her know…
This is something I couldn’t get over and while she offered to return the lingerie we continued to have massive arguments where she finally told me I need to just draw a line under it…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743776/
So like I do... I heard about a brain thing today, that the anterior insula cortex (please forgive me if I get any of these words wrong) is less active in narcissistic people. And it mentioned that it has less blood flow and more grey matter in the left AI.
So I was curious because some autistic people are extremely empathetic and some struggle with that so I go and look up this part of the brain in relation to autism. What I found is that the AI has less connectivity than neurotypical people. Meanwhile our frontal lobes have a lot MORE connections.(also recently saw that autistic/ND people have much less synaptic pruning in childhood and have a lot more neurons, which is part of what makes narrowing attention difficult)
It does talk about how this affects awareness and affects responses to faces. I think for some people this could result in struggles with connecting to how other people feel or self absorption but like I said others have the opposite of that problem. I could see, just like conjecture, that part of the reason that some of us are so sensitive to others' feelings does have to do with that intense frontal cortex activity and how impossible that can make it to limit what you're aware of. But I guess it's a different kind of awareness of others or a different way of feeling their feelings in your body. And of course those of us who had to learn to assess everything about people and mask by performing emotional care-taking to keep safe definitely use a lot of intellectual or cognitive ways to do that.Personally I do a lot of analyzing people's feelings to connect, and when my feelings are hurt I want them to make me understand on an intellectual level, and my toxic relationships have been motivated by figuring someone out at times in addition to the emotions.
Sometimes I feel like I can know what someone's, like, ENTIRE deal is after knowing them very briefly. I used to be really vulnerable and unaware and dismissive of those observations when I was young but I'm in my mid thirties now and I can spot deception, and toxicity, and psychological hang ups, and pretty much any other vague thing about a person. If I know someone a little better I can know deeper things, that they've never told me, and I've realized lately that I need to pretend like I don't know these things and respond to *just* what someone is telling me more often when it comes to emotional connection/care. WHOOPS...
But ok. Oh man. When it starts talking about "The AI (Anterior Insula) appears to track the feelings and perceptions associated with bodily states" I JUST LAUGHED. LIKE YUP I can barely perceive myself. "tracks perceived thermal intensity" YUP can't regulate my body temperature, can't stop feeling hot once I'm hot."thought to play a role in the experience of emotion derived from information about bodily states" "participating in visceral sensory and somatic sensory roles" YUP managed to ignore pain conditions for at least a decade, broke the data set for a research study on pain perception, broke my leg and didn't make a sound because I was in a restaurant and didn't want to draw any attention, and because I couldn't tell I was in pain.
I've told my autism therapist many times that I can't sense my own body, and I don't feel things in real time. And even though I'm really good at understanding how other people feel and responding to their needs maybe that's more of a learned behavior or maybe I only struggle with feeling my own feelings! I also think that maybe, where it references brain activity when feeling pain or seeing a loved one's pain, that my interoception problem greatly changes my ability to perceive my pain but not my AI response to others' pain, that would be my theory.
I also thought the part that showed those with damaged AI having an easier time quitting smoking, super interesting!!! I've always been able to smoke without becoming totally addicted. Or it has been easier for me to stop than others.
I also think it's interesting that pain perception changing drugs like opiates don't change my perception. I don't think those receptors have much power in my brain to interact with pain.
This is all really interesting because lack of connectivity between my super active frontal cortex and the rest of my brain has seemed to be the problem for me and my mental health, completely.Nothing I learn in therapy seems to help translate to the parts of me that are actually creating the nervous system stress response, my freeze response, my now uncontrollable and widespread pain that I couldn't keep blocking out.
I know all this stuff about how to be better and nothing seems to connect to my body, which needs to do the real work. I can't think myself into doing better, and I really wish I could, because I know so much about how to do it!!! I don't have the ability to do much of my day-to-day anymore, it's just gotten worse as I got older, and I have these comorbidities with EDS and that affects your amygdala too and it's like...We know how much of this is purely neurological, and that neurology is making my brain feel like it's being attacked by a bear, nearly 24/7, except it's being attacked by overwhelm. And part of that is because of this, because I can't feel my own body, and my emotional responses to things get very delayed.And as much as I feel like I can connect to others, make them feel connection, I often don't feel like other people truly connect to me, or could respond to my needs through observation or even communication and maybe that relates to this too.Maybe part of that is not being able to feel emotional connections to people in the same way. Maybe I have this (neurotypical) idea of what it's supposed to be like and my emotions don't feel "the way they're supposed to" and I have to figure out what emotional connection feels like when it's so hard/impossible for me to engage in the sensory data happening in a moment.
Anyway there is a lot of cool stuff in this article/study that was really interesting for me, maybe you will enjoy it too.
PS I forgot to note that the study brings up autonomic responses like the GI tract which I know is also a huge thing for a lot of autistic people.

I'm screeching with excitement, but trying to quell it in case anything goes awry. Things are looking promising for a new serving/bartending position at a Persian fine dining restaurant less than 10 minutes away. Owner has been in the industry for a while, including at a Michelin star place in DC. All the chefs have great backgrounds (including one who was on Hell's Kitchen lol). Owner says you can make damn good money there, not making promises but providing estimates (typically $400 minimum/shift then a 5% sales tip-out). They're also open for lunch, so there will be plenty of shifts to pick up and it means I can have a flexible schedule. PLUS, they offer benefits!
This is a HUGE step up from working at a pub just three months ago. I've been searching for that unicorn location and this might just be it. I am SUPER excited to learn the history of Persian cuisine and share it with guests. Wish me luck and cross your fingers that things go well!

I typed all of this up right as I woke up from this dream so I apologize for any and all grammatical errors.
Had a dream that I went to a high school to work on something and all of the high schoolers were doing the thing they normally do when they see someone new. One kid had came up to me and was wondering what I was doing so I showed them that I was trying to put together some sort of presentation. I saw others putting together tables and they were going to need the tv so I started to try get my stuff together and get out of the way. They all started singing what seemed to be some song to do with their school spirit, and this one person who I thought was a student sat next to me and was clearly trying to impress the stranger they had just meet with singing. They kept looking over to me and singing and I just kept awkwardly smiling and nodded with approval so they didn’t feel weird about singing near a stranger. After a while I realized this was a teacher then the presentation started, the lights dimmed and everyone was watching whatever was on the tv that I was trying to use, which for some reason was crooked. I spotted all my things and started trying to gather them when the teacher sort of suggestively asked me if I had done Rocky horror picture show. To her, it seemed she knew who I was and she was trying to remember, while also sounding like she wanted me to remember as well. I explained that I hadn’t done that show with her because I was not from there, at this point the teacher was a very small (like smaller than a water bottles size small) and was not happy when I said that Rocky Horror isn’t a good high school show. She insisted it was and I insisted it was her own selfish opinion that made her think that. I explained that there was suggestive themes such as sex, death, and cannibalism that just was safer left not done in a school, but she insisted. I started to try and gather all of my things but I couldn’t find all of my parts to my pc. I tried not to worry about her constantly trying to reason with why she thought it was ok to do the show and look for my computer and peripherals so that I could leave and be out of the way of everything going on and get back to work. At this time, I kept losing track of where this tiny woman was while I was talking to her, my focus would shift from a rogue popcorn, to a doll on the ground, and then finally to her when I could spit her (this for some reason felt normal). I couldn’t find my monitors and all my things were scattered. I found my small bag but, nothing was in it. I started picking up things and putting them in the bag as I moved around looking for my stuff. I managed to pile together my pc and some other things but strangely while I was putting stuff in my bag I could feel something strange happening and my underwear came out of one side of the leggings of my pants. Embarrassed, I tried to hide them back in my pant leg because this teacher and I had been back and forth arguing about the Rocky Horror thing. I slid them back up my pant leg trying to get out as fast as I could but upon passing an area with a whole lot of electrical lost and found items, I searched for my monitors. In looking I picked up a few things that I found interesting like a GameCube controller which I thought was cool, so I picked it up and started seeing how well put together and how quality it was. One of the students noticed this and shouted that I was trying to steal it. I placed it back down and kept trying to search for other things of mine so I could leave asap. I found my old iPad that I haven’t used in years and I remember thinking “why is this here?” right before the now full sized teacher grabbed it out of my hands. Her now towering over me, I claimed that it is mine and she asked if I could prove it and I was confident I could find some proof that this is my old iPad. I grabbed it from her to show her and she asked if I was “some kind of professional” to which I replied that “I was”. I spoke to her explaining my level of expertise and why this iPad and equipment was mine and how I could prove it, while at the same time walking back to the other side of this cafeteria toward where my pile of stuff had been, trying to look through emails or any other way to prove my legitimacy. Once I got to my pile of stuff, all but my monitors were there, but there was now a sword on top of my computer. Staring at the sword, puzzled, I looked back across the room towards the teacher and she had grown bigger once again but this time an upwards of 9 feet. She started moving towards me and as she did her legs turned to something snake like and she began slithering toward me as her upper body began to change. I grabbed all I could and went towards the door that when opened, showed a swirling blue void that seemed unending. I decided to take my chances jump. I eventually fell into a similar but much older looking room. The walls were constructed of bricks and the lunch tables now long dining benches. Candle lights lit the room and a lady came to me and asked if I was ok but all I could think to ask was “where are my monitors?”. She looked extremely puzzled at my question and I could tell she had no idea what I was talking about. I took a closer look around and I immediately started to realize that I had traveled to the past.
Lmk what you think! -My thoughts are that the two places where the same but in a different period of time. The fantasy in my wants to believe I went back to the origin of the shapeshifting snake lady. How do y’all interpret this?

Almost immediately after Glacier was established as a national park, Louis W. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway, began building a series of hotels, chalets and tent camps throughout the park. The buildings were modeled on traditional Swiss architecture, and were part of Hill's strategy to portray Glacier as the "American Alps" or "America's Switzerland." The accommodations would in-turn help the railway promote tourism to the new national park, while at the same time promote their rail line as the primary mode of travel to the park. This would also allow them to compete against their chief rivals; the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway, who were already transporting tourists to Banff and Yellowstone by that time.
The Belton Chalet in West Glacier, and the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier Park were the first two hotels to be constructed by Great Northern. Both acted as gateways from railroad depots to the interior of the park. Between 1910 and 1915 the railway also constructed eight Swiss-style backcountry chalet complexes, each connected by a network of trails. The complexes were strategically located at Two Medicine Lake, Cut Bank, St. Mary, Sun Point, Granite Park, Many Glacier, Gunsight Lake and Sperry Glacier. Tent camps were also established at Red Eagle Lake, Cosley Lake, Fifty Mountain and Goat Haunt. The chalet and tent camps were located roughly 10-18 miles apart. During their prime most of the chalet camps could host between 100 and 150 guests per night. Hill would explain to newspaper reporters that the “lodges would be located only far enough apart so that the man on foot even could make the trip and obtain sleeping accommodations,” and that “hotel accommodations of a more prestigious type or tents for the most modest could also be furnished.”
As construction on the new chalets progressed through the early 1910s, the railway also constructed the trails that would connect each of them by foot or horse travel. Because of a lack of federal funds, the Great Northern Railway assumed financial responsibility for all trail construction during this time period, but was eventually reimbursed as funding became available. Some of the earliest trails developed by the railway included Swiftcurrent Pass, Gunsight Pass, Mt. Henry, Red Gap Pass, Gable Pass, Triple Divide Pass, Piegan Pass, Pitamakan Pass and the St. Mary Lake trails. Many of these early trails were routed along Indian paths, prospector trails or old game trails. Great Northern would continue to improve or construct new trails within the park into the early 1920s. As the network of trails expanded, organized tours by horse concessionaires began to emerge. In 1915 the Park Saddle Horse Company became the sole concessionaire for the park, and began organizing a series of guided tours that utilized the existing network of chalets and trails. This included the North Circle, South Circle and Inside Trail trips, which encompassed roughly 163 miles of trails, each of which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The company also offered the Logan Pass Triangle Trail trip, which traversed across the heart of the park utilizing routes from the other tours, as well as the now abandoned Logan Pass Trail. The concessionaire offered a variety of options, from half-day excursions to extended trips lasting up to two weeks. Most of the so-called circle tours, however, lasted between three and five days. During the 1920 season the company charged roughly $4.00 per person, per day to take one of its saddle-horse tours.
The park visitors that took these tours were “guided by ‘cowboys,’ lunched near glacial lakes and then dined in comfort on Chinese linen and blue willow china”. Park rules dictated that the Park Saddle Horse Company had to furnish at least one guide for each ten tourists on a trip. Parties could reach as large as 180 people and 200 horses. It’s estimated that the concessionaire used more than 1000 horses during its peak, with at least one source estimating as many as 1500 head of horses. The 1922 park brochure bragged that there were "more saddle horses used in Glacier than in any other similar recreational area in the world". From everything I’ve read that record has never been surpassed.
The saddle-horse tours were the dominant method of seeing the park until the Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed in 1933. Although the tours continued for another ten seasons, they came to a permanent end after the 1942 season when America became fully involved in World War II.
** This article is an adaptation from my book, "Ramble On: How Hiking Became One of the Most Popular Outdoor Activities in the World", which chronicles the rich and compelling history of hiking.