House sitting jobs near me

My great grandmother passed away when I was young, but I remember her as the sweetest and most caring woman in my life.
My grandma has told me stories about how kind and sweet she always was, and how she was like no other.
Utterly one of a kind.
My great grandma never had any enemies and always got along with everyone, but if you crossed her, she had ways of punishing and getting back at you.
My favourite story is when my great grandma was a young mother of 3 and was well known and liked among her neighbours.
But my great grandma's eldest son (my great uncle) was friends with this kid on the street that was a bit of a troublemaker.
One day, my great grandma discovered that her milk bottle deliveries were missing and it kept happening over a few days.
My great grandma suspected that it was the troublemaker friend, but couldn't prove it, so one day when he was over, she told him and her own kids that she would find out who is taking her milk.
And this was her trap.
She woke up early and saw that the milk had been delivered and was still there, so she poured a whole pot of salt into the milk and left it out and within a couple hours, the milk was gone.
And the best part, the next day, the troublemaker kid was throwing up all over the front yard of his house and after that the milk never went missing again.
Sweet revenge for great grandma!

Hello,
I am looking to take the Marketing CLEP in the near future. I signed up for Modern States, but I don't really want to do a lot of reading or I may stall. It looks like Modern States has more reading than I want. I have the REA study guide to read and will. Are there any complete video courses to teach me the material that are clear and will cover everything? I am not against using playlists on youtube, but I am concerned that if this is the only method I use, I may miss things. The only background I have with business type courses is a microeconomics class in high school about 25 years ago, so I actually need to learn the material. Thank you!

I've worked at a restaurant as a cook for 2 and a half years. Due to stress at work (minor micromanagement and constant/daily "jokes" or "trolls"), hours being cut and major schedule blunders, job security and stunted growth I feel it is time to move on.
The problem is despite those gripes listed above, I actually like the place and the people and am going to be sad to leave. I want give a good reason as to why I am leaving and let them down easy so to speak.
Management is fine but didn't my hours pretty hard this week so I'm thinking that is a fine reason to go with. As long as I don't completely throw management under the bus I should be fine.
I'd like a second reason at least though and I'm thinking of going with job security but that one doesn't hold up as well as the first. Do you have any ideas for me?

My aunt has been a surrogate mother to me since my real mother and I have a very hostile relationship. I believe I became some kind of surrogate to her too because she was never able to have kids of her own. The way she shows her love to people is by giving them gifts. When I was younger I appreciated these gift but at a certain point my room would be overwhelmed with overstocked shelves, a closet full of clothes that I never wore, and boxes of items that I would never use. I felt bad because at a certain point I would have to downsize and most of the gifts she gave me would go to good will or thrift shops. As I got older and later moved into my own house she had continued to give me gifts in large quantities. At first I was greatful for the help in furnishing my house but at a certain point she started to overdo it. Now I have no space to put anything in my small house. I finally mustered up the courage and told her that although I am grateful for the gifts she needs to ask me if I want something before purchasing it. That I feel bad for not using the stuff she gives me and I felt bad that she was wasting her money on me. Then she got angry at me saying that I should just use the stuff she gives me or that it would be useful eventually. Now reader I know that its nice to have stuff on hand just in case but not when I have enough utensils to stock all the resultants in town, knickknacks that are in boxes because I have no room on my shelves, and a wooden/ glass cabinet for the box of china that are both sitting in the garage since they can not fit in my house. I have tried to refuse her gifts nicely, tried to come up with a compromise by having her text me pictures of what she wants to give me so I can say no or yes, but this has left us constantly fighting over this issue. I love her so much but I can not accept her gifts without feeling bad for having to get rid of it later since I have no place for anything. Does anyone have some advice for how to get her to stop or atleast slow her down?

I'm freaking out. It's a urine test. I need this job badly. My current job is hell.
I think I took around 60 ml yesterday and 60 today before the thought occurred to me.
The active ingredients per 15mL are Acetaminophen 325 mg, dextromethorphan HBr 10mg, Phenylephrine HCI 5 mg. Please help.

I'm antisocial, introverted, on the autism spectrum, can't pass a driver's test so my parents have to drive me places, can't hold a job because of mental and physical health issues and live in a small backwoods town. I have no friends anymore not even online. I'm literally just sitting in my bedroom staring at the menu screen on my PS4 because I just don't want to play anything by myself and it's storming so I can't go outside for a walk. I just don't know what to do but I know I'm not happy just sitting here staring at the ceiling. I just don't know what to do with myself, I just feel soul crushingly alone but my battery for interacting with others is short lived at best.

Was just rewatching Series 5—my all-time favorite—for the third or fourth time and noticed that there appears to have been a scoring error in the final episode. In the prize task (most awkward thing to take home) Bob gets 1 point and Aisling gets 2 points. In the next task (get this coconut as far from the house as possible) Alex says that Bob got his coconut 33 meters away and Aisling got her coconut "a little bit further," with Sally coming first, Nish coming fourth, and Mark being disqualified for touching the ground. Seemingly then Aisling should have gotten 4 points for coming second and Bob should have gotten 3 points for coming third, bringing Aisling's episode total to 6 points and Bob's episode total to 4 points. But then right after this task Alex gives a scoreboard update and has both Bob and Aisling on 5 points. Am I missing something here or was this a scoring error?? Ultimately this wouldn't have made any difference in the final standings, but it got me wondering whether anyone has noticed scoring errors in other Taskmaster episodes?

Hello, I'm new here. Currently in the process of figuring some stuff out after having many people around me telling me I should be assessed for schizophrenia, including my therapist and my cousin whos a healthcare professional. I'm 21M in a few weeks. My uncle had schizophrenia so it's no mystery to my family. However, initially my mother brushed my symptoms off as I wasn't "running naked in the streets." My uncle was unmedicated and had other comorbidities and severe childhood trauma so that probably made things worse for him. I had a bad delusion that lasted around 18 months until around may of last year, I also feel like I have other people living inside my brain, they will have conversations and say mean or rude things to me or try to interrupt my day. This has been about just over 2 years with the people in my brain, or at least at full force, to a point they are very annoying.
I am diagnosed with mild autism since I was 9, however I never really had major social deficits especially with communication up until the past maybe year or two. I felt as if I was becoming more autistic at one point with the way I was communicating with people, however now I recognize that it's probably some form of disorganized speech and I tend to prefer typing over talking because typing I can reread and make sure that what comes to mind and I type makes more sense. Sometimes I just straight up cannot talk. Often I go to school and I don't say a single word, not because I don't want to, but because it's like I can't. If I do talk often it makes no sense and people look at me weird. But also it scares me because people look evil so how do I talk to someone when they look evil? And they treat me like I'm dumb too. But really, it's just the words aren't coming out properly. Sometimes I just say half a sentence and stop. People find this offputting and tend to not interact with me maybe they don't know how to. But my therapist says I need to stay talking to people and making connections otherwise it'll make things worse. If it's loud in my head though it's hard to talk anyways, so that's a different issue. Even when it's not loud though it happens.
I can talk to my friends, they can understand me for the most part and it's not as big of an issue with them but still sometimes makes things hard. So sometimes I just resort to typing for them too. Meanwhile, I used to be someone people would consider well spoken. I had people suggest to me to be a journalist or writer. But now, it's as if I can only really communicate with myself fully because I understand me and others don't as much.
I'm trying to talk to people more but it makes it harder and scarier when they don't know how to interact with me or understand me. It's lonely being at school (I'm in college) and I'm the only person alone, I do group work alone even, I never sit beside anyone, really only profs talk to me and barely.
How do you manage talking to people? Any advice?

One Piece Chapter 1079
Stuff at egghead happens
Cut to elbaf
The kidd pirates are fighting shanks fleet
Kidd is seen sitting down mad at how weak shanks fleet is and comments on how Kaidos crew were far stronger
Right as he says that shanks, his commanders, and dorry & broggy show up to the shores.
Shanks commanders “boss he’s attacking our fleet!!”
Beck: looks like he’s not very active though huh?
Roo: was he waiting for us?
Shanks to D&B: hey can you guys go back up my fleet they’re not exactly known for being the strongest.
D&B laughing: it’d be our pleasure!
D&B rush to the sea D&B comment on how this reminds them of the old days. D then trips B so that he can get to the battle faster and laughs at B.
SCs: “well rush their rear and take out some of his subordinates!”
Shanks: “be careful this is a 3 Billion man he’s not to be taken lightly”
3 of SCs (BS, BP&M, and Gab) then rush to kidds boat they’re about to take out kids subordinates then Kidd and killer clash with them.
Killer then notices the giant D approaching.
Kidd and killer are back to back Kidd facing the commanders and killer facing D whom has a big smile and preparing for an attack.
Killer to kidd: hahah I told you this seems suicidal!
Kidd with a smile: don’t chicken out on me yet partner!
Killer: never now let’s do this!
Kidd gets dammed punk ready and killer reeves up his blades.
In a fantastic double spread kidd attacks the commanders with dammed punk and killer uses sonic scythe(same attack used on kiado) on D.
Both D and SCs eyes are whited out and have heavy damage.
The rest of SCs are shocked while shanks is furious. shanks then blitz onto kidds ship and swipes kid with a named aoc sword slash kidd is knocked into a nearby rock.
Shanks then uses haki and KO’s most of the kidd pirates while killer is seen on his knees laughing “not even kaidos haki was this strong! but that doesn’t mean you can do that to my crew and captain!”
Killer rushes to attack shanks when he’s shot down by yassop in the head.
Kidd gets up from the attack badly damaged: “dam all this from just one hit?!! But I felt his presence his body isn’t as durable as BM or Kiado I can win this!
Just then he sees killer lying in a pool of blood from his head he senses that his presence is fading enraged he uses his awakening to gather all the metal from ships and even takes some of yasopp and becks bullets which catches them off guard.
Beck “whoa! Is he awakened?! This kid is more trouble than we thought”
Shanks sees the future of what kidd is about to do.
Everyone get behind me he’s getting ready for something big!!
Kidd uses all the metal to create a giant refined fist (about the size of King Kong gun) The fist is unconsciously coated with acoc which knocks out some of shanks fleet.
Kidd uses a brand new attack kinda like a giant slap.
Shanks gets ready for a counter attack commenting on the new generation we then see shanks leap into the air.
He briefly clashes with Kidd, shanks then uses DD and kid is quickly overwhelmed.
Kidd: so this is the overwhelming strength of the red haired pirates!!
Kidds face fades to white as a narrator text box shows up “this battle will go on to be known as the battle on the shores of elbaf! Also known as…. the final resting place of the kidds pirates!! Cut to the final panel of kidds left leg severed and in the water and another panel of shanks face shaded”
OP chapter 1079! end break next week.

One year ago I watched Elsewhere and Elsewhen and decided to create this account to share and discuss theories about the episode and then everything just (mildly) escalated. Simply little photoshops slowly became more and more complex edits. Posting here the last year, its been great. I guess I just wanna thank you all for every upvote, comment, award and what not, it truly means a lot to me. Being on this subreddit, seeing the creativity of other people here and being a part of it, is simply speaking just great.
With all of that said, I hope I was able to give something positive with the stuff i created, be it a smile, a laugh or just a little bit less of a shitty day. Lets see what the next year has in store and with that, thank you all again for being here :-)

I wonder if any of you have experienced similar things before, maybe during meditation? These had happened to me spontaneously well before I started to meditate regularly, and I couldn't not even get close to anything similar since then.
The first one happened about 25 years ago, when I was still a teen. It was the middle of the night and we were up at a friend's apartment, the others were talking and I was just quietly sitting there. Suddenly - I don't know how to explain well - I found myself in a different state of mind, and I had a vision. In that moment it became crystal clear to me that every morning when I wake up, I kind of "put on" my personality like one puts on their clothes, and this personality defines my life so much like a prison, there is no escaping from it and you need to live all your life among this restraint. So I felt it was two different "entities" in me - the eternal one without the restraints and the other one, which is my actual personality with all the boundaries, which will never break out of the cycle. It was a very strange and strong feeling. I was surely in a different state of mind because for those minutes I didn't even know where I was..
The second one happened a few years ago when I was walking home on a rainy evening after work, really tired. Suddenly I felt so intense happiness that I had literally never felt before in my life, I felt one with the universe, absolutely calm and content as well at the same time, it was out of this world.. ( I had no particular reason, especially as I was going through a kind of rough time in my life) It was again a very strong feeling out of the blue, like a flash of lightning and did not make sense at all afterwards.
So what do you think, what were these, spontaneous flashes of consciousness or just mind playing tricks? I never manage to get into either of these states while meditating, not even close.. And I guess I can't force it :)

I’m doing my CIL requirements right now. I shouldn’t have any issues that delay me, but being that I’m having a child in July and I just signed a lease on a house till February. Is it possible to delay my start date, and if so how long?

I'm at second year and don't think I'm doing as much as I should/other people are. My social life is ok I guess, I don't have that many friends but we go out sometimes. I was going out on average 3 times a week, but the thing is it's always with the same people, so it's only really to spend time with them and I never really got to meet anyone new. I've never hooked up with anyone at uni, there are few people on grindr near my age and I don't really know where I'm meant to find anything.
It doesn't help I'm not particularly attractive so its not like guys would stand in line throwing themselves at me, I never get attention from girls either (of course that's not the issue but you get my point). I see guys making out at clubs sometimes, and I just don't really know what to do.

Now, *technically* speaking a collab is nearly impossible given the nature of this game, but if we were to *completely* ignore realism, what collab would you like to see?
The characters from said series don't necessarily have to be SSRs or even units at all, since that would mean they need H-scenes and that seems rather limiting to me (and I don't want this to just turn into "what anime man do you wanna fuck"). Just an event related to the collab in some way works
To encourage creativity and show you all how far we can push the meaning of "collab" when answering this question, I'll go first:
Hatsune Miku. Not to get an SSR of Miku, no, but to get Hatsundere Edmond and Kagamine Quincy.

I, F22, am in the middle of my teaching internship. I was so excited at first and I was excited to graduate so I could start my career. However, it has been nothing but a nightmare. I had previously come to a point in my life where I accepted myself for the way I am, as I am someone who had a traumatic medical experience that stunted my growth and development at the age of 13. I am now getting the treatment I need and am beginning to look like a healthy 22-year-old. However, I still look pretty young and often get mistaken as a student. This is fine, as this has always occurred in my life. Because my issues are hormonal due to the loss of an ovary, I often experience severe bouts of depression and hopelessness. This will come in handy later. I guess I'm trying to see if how I'm feeling is justified.
First, the idea of an unpaid internship is so impractical, especially with the expectation that this is the primary focus of the semester. It's nearly impossible to have a second job to earn an income, trust me, I've tried. Gas is astronomically expensive right now, and I couldn't imagine the struggle of driving 45 minutes to an hour away to perform internships 5 days a week. I only have to drive 30 minutes, but I still have to fill my gas tank about twice a week. It's nuts. I'm afraid to spend money at all, even for necessities like paper, hygiene products, etc. I'm fortunate to have my bf, M24, who graduated last year and has a nursing degree. He's been so supportive this semester with paying our rent, groceries, and utilities, while I have been paying our water bill, car payment, insurance, phone bill, and all of our streaming services with the money I have saved up in anticipation for this semester. I had to quit my job because it was just too much to handle on top of everything I have to do. I try to compensate for what I can't do right now by buying my bf snacks, keeping the apartment clean, cooking dinner, washing our clothes, etc. But I feel like I'm fracturing because I cannot handle all of this pressure. My mental health is deteriorating rapidly because I can't find time to do anything for myself between all of the binders and lesson planning. It really makes me wonder if teaching is really worth it in the long run.
And now that the end of the semester is approaching, I'm going out to job interviews to start my career. Everyone talks about a "teacher shortage" but with the way that my interviews have been going, it seems like no one wants to give me a chance no matter how well I answer their questions or jump through their hoops. Teacher shortage my ass. I put my application in at 4 schools; I had interviews at 2 schools in the same district, and they did not look pleased with my responses at all. They acted like they wanted to be anywhere but in my interview, and they even rushed me out of the interview. They weren't even interested in the reason why I am wanting to teach, which is a question THEY asked. I come so prepared with a vanilla folder of EVERYTHING. Philosophy of teaching, sample lesson plans, a mock syllabus tailored to the district's policies, letters of recommendation, and an extra copy of my resume. I was supposed to hear back from the first school I interviewed for before spring break, but they never reached out. I reached out to show that I'm proactive and that I want the position. Still no response. Another school didn't even reach out for an interview. I applied at the school I'm doing my internship at as a last resort and I have to knock it out of the park. You would think that schools would WANT to hire first-year teachers because they're malleable, they're moldable, and they're cheap. They're starting at the base of the pay scale. Part of me thinks this is because I look too much like a student, which sucks. I stepped into the professional world where the only thing people judge is the way I look, despite how mature my professional wear makes me look. They judge me based on something I can't control, something that has had devastating effects on my life as if I'm not a person. It's absolutely disgusting to me.
The school where I'm doing my internship is rough. I go to school every day fearing that I'm going to be assaulted by a student or that my car is going to be keyed in the parking lot. I have a high school placement for both portions of my internship, so I'm at the same school for the entire semester. They filled their open ELA position, but they have a new position opening up, so I will still have the opportunity to be an English teacher if I get this job. But if I don't get this job, I won't be able to interview for any more positions because I only have 2 days that I can miss during my internship. One to take the PRAXIS, one to do interviews. Anything passed that will either get me booted out of the program or cause me to have to make up those days at the end of the semester, which will be cutting it close to graduation. I feel like I'm being backed into a corner that I can't escape. I know that I'm just starting out, but I don't want to teach at a school where I live in fear every day. Getting these kids to do anything is like pulling teeth. During my unit plan, I asked them to write a 5-8 sentence paragraph, and they acted as if I asked them to shoot their mother. The number of half-assed responses that I got back was soul-crushing. Even when I gave them a few days to work on finding evidence to support claims from their class reading assignment, did daily note checks, and told them they had been preparing the whole week to take their test, the responses were half-assed. Most of them didn't cite their sources or reach word count, which caused them to fail their test.
And above all, I feel like I will never be able to have fun again or even interact with my boyfriend again. We both live very structured lives because of our jobs so we have to sacrifice a lot of things that make us happy in order to earn a living (well, I haven't started my career yet). It's all a major shit show. I feel like we will never take a vacation because his hours are so long and his job is so demanding of every ounce of his energy and attention. Even though I will have summers off, I still will have to be available for professional development. I have to be so conscious of what I post on social media. I feel like I will have to look over my shoulder to make sure one of my students or their parents are not watching me buy alcohol or catch me in public because I feel like my job will be at risk. I don't know if these are growing pains or concerns that are extremely common.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I just had to get it all out there.

This is sort of a self-introduction and progress post, but I thought I would share an experience. In general, I think the advice to make small, gradual changes is good. I approve of it in principle, even though I haven’t been able to build up from these changes successfully in the past. But that is not what happened this time. I didn’t really choose my approach, rather I was somewhat driven to it…but, it’s working.
How it started:
At the end of 2022, I was having a combination depressive episode and midlife crisis moment that was only exacerbated by the bacchanalia and enforced gaiety of the holidays. In an effort to climb out, give myself a project or two, and turn crisis into opportunity, I decided to try out a few simultaneous changes to my diet and lifestyle, figuring that if even some portion of them stuck it would be an improvement. On December 31, I did the following:

• I stopped eating meat. I do still eat fish, but with a bias toward small fish (sardines above all, but also anchovies, mackerel, herring, etc.) and shellfish (clams, oysters, shrimp, crab, squid). I also still consume eggs and milk products. So pesco-ovo-lacto, but I have shifted to basing a lot of my meals around legumes and soy (tofu, tempeh). This was not primarily about weight loss or even health, but it has made me think about what I cook and eat.
• I stopped drinking alcohol. This, also, was not primarily about weight loss. I needed to start by determining how problematic my relationship to alcohol was.
• Then I figured that I may as well try to lose weight too. I eyeballed down my portion sizes, tried to eliminate junk food snacking, and aimed for protein and fiber at every meal while curtailing starches and sugar.
• I had never stopped going to the gym entirely. I’ve been going to gyms, off and on, for weights and/or cardio, since my teens. But my last real moment of high gym effort was 7-8 years ago, in my mid-40s, and it was eventually slowed by a shoulder injury and unrelated hospitalization. By late 2022 I was going 2-3 days a week, more or less just for cardio. This was certainly a good thing. But starting with the new year, I’ve been trying to increase my intensity, and on an ideal week now aim to go 5 days/week for strength and hypertrophy-oriented resistance work, with the standard goal of trying to maintain musculature while in deficit, along with 20-30 minutes of cardio in which I mostly try to get my heart rate up for a decent interval or two. On days 6-7, I usually get some walking in.
• I tried to start walking more in everyday life – notably, to/from work, which is about 1.5 miles away.

To be honest, I haven’t been counting calories or measuring portions closely. Since my old, bad diet had kept me hovering at 230+/-5 lbs. for a few years, I just figured that the new, improved version would be enough to kick me into deficit, and it has been. I mean, for starters, I was probably drinking 3-400 calories in alcohol per day; that’s 3/4 of a pound per week with no other changes. But I probably should get a bit more precise in the future.
How it’s going:
Not bad, over all. I probably came in a bit hot. I track my daily weight, a seven-day change, and then a trailing week’s average of seven-day changes, and for a bit in January that average seven-day loss was over four pounds/week. OK, water weight. But my February average was three pounds/week, and by that point I think any water weight effect should have disappeared. I’ve tried consciously to eat a bit more to bend that down to two pounds/week or less, and that mostly has worked in March. But my energy is up, so I think I escaped unscathed. My face is narrower, my waist has dropped from a tight 36 to a loose 34, and a 43 jacket that I couldn’t button three months ago is loose around the middle. The 46 is now a tent. My acid reflux has disappeared.
Beyond a planned “cheat day” on January 6, when we had dinner over friends’ house, I’ve stuck to my meatless diet, although I’ve compromised on salmon on a few occasions, particularly at restaurants whose version of vegetarian is dreary or protein-less. I’ll probably land on some version of flexitarian long-term, because of social obligations and because there are places I travel where non-meat eating can be harder, but I’m trying to be strict at home. I kept to no (significant) alcohol – I do still cook with wine – from January 6 until March 10, when we went on vacation and I had a few drinks over a few days. Then I stopped. Then I had a Guinness for St. Patrick’s Day. Then I stopped again. Empty calories aside, this was to be demonstrated. Likewise, I would be happy to land as an occasional drinker.
I do cook, and my staples for winter were a variety of bean/legume stews - ribollita, a variation on lentil and beef stew substituting roast mushrooms for the umami element, pea soup without ham, a ground nut soup, variations on chana masala. Also some other soups, like seafood gumbo and clam chowder (minus bacon). I still do have pasta (puttanesca, for one), just watch the portion size. Also, I do a lot of stir-fries with tofu, tempeh, or shrimp. For lunch, I gravitate to leftovers, hard-boiled eggs, hummus, or a can of sardines with some vegetables or fruit. For breakfast, a bowl with some added fruit and greens and a bit of muesli based around yoghurt or cottage cheese, or sometimes some eggs. I also make up big batches of foul mudammas – Egyptian cumin-lemon fava beans – throwing in some kale or spinach or a bunch of cilantro and keeping the olive oil grace notes down. Other favorite things include unsweetened kefir, good feta, and, for snacking, dry-roasted edamame, which is what I reach for instead of the salty snacks (chips, pretzels) I used to love. Highly recommended if you are not specifically sodium- or soy-adverse; look at that protein, look at that fiber.
At the gym, I think I’m still making slight strength gains, which, without measuring myself constantly, is the proxy for my attempt to lose more fat than muscle. In absolute terms, I’m not strong. In relative terms, well, the ship of my 25-year-old strength has probably sailed, but I wonder if I can get back to where I was at 45 (without having been lean, then). Possibly that will have to wait for maintenance.
I live in a city where DEXA scans are commercially available and affordable, so I had one in early February when I weighed 213. That showed 136.8 lbs. lean tissue, 6.6 bone mineral content, and 69.7 lbs. (32.7%) body fat. I set 175 lbs. as an initial goal weight based upon the idea that if I can maintain those lean mass figures, that would bring me a few pounds below 20% body fat. Big if, but it struck me as a point at which I might want to take stock and decide whether I want to glide toward maintenance or recomp or something like that. Plus, it was a college weight I remember. Plus, it would be an even 50 pounds. Or maybe I’ll decide to shoot for 170 or 165.
The last few weeks have given me my first pause and significant setback. We went, briefly, on vacation on March 10 and ate out a lot for the next few days, and the hotel gym facilities were sub-optimal. I was paying attention, but not religiously, and not weighing myself. And then, at the beginning of last week, I came down with Covid, and while it wasn’t a bad case I’ve been dealing with that for the last few days and certainly not trying to be in deficit. I’m mostly over it now, and was able to go on a walk of a few miles this morning, but for a variety of obvious reasons I do want to take it slow in going back to the gym itself. Still, March 10 195.4 lbs. to March 26 191.2 lbs., but some of that may not have been good weight to lose.
Fun things about being over 50:
I have a usual assortment of joint issues: back, ankles, a prior shoulder impingement, and bad patellar tracking on my left knee. Just four days of no exercise with Covid left the latter feeling really sketchy. None of this is improved by weight, but neither does it go away magically with weight loss. I’m still not going to be a runner.
I also tried to push weight on legs a bit quickly, and gave myself a bilateral high adductor strain – aka a groin pull – that has been lingering for a good eight weeks now. I do miss rapid recovery.
My testosterone tanked circa 2021. This is not something I’ve addressed. There’s an inverse feedback loop between testosterone levels and adiposity, so I’ll be curious to see whether it comes back.
Likewise, I’ve been on a statin and a blood pressure medication for almost twenty years. They have had very low side effects for me. I’ll be interested to see whether my doctor advises weaning off.
Fat on my face made me look young; as I lose it I’m starting to see more wrinkles. Worth the price, but still.
Finally, let’s just say that forum advice to keep hydration up and get a good night’s sleep have been at odds when I’ve been getting up to pee four times a night!

With Team Rocket ousted and my Mon topped off, I headed on over to Pryce's Gym. My plan here was simple enough, set up spikes with DaBleedin and then have Bohemian Petal Dance all over them, holdin a Persim Berry so confusion woudn't be a problem. It worked, and luckily no snow cloak shenanigans from the hail set up. I took a deep breath once it was over, watchin Peirce calmly walk over to his diseased Mon and sit down next to it after handin me the badge. It was different from Jasmines calm sadness, this one seemed, tired, which makes sense I guess, after all Pryce was pretty old, no tellin how many times he had to do this. I wonder how Bugsey, or Falkner reacted to their Mons death, Whitney was the first time I really saw the sufferin that comes from a lost mon, and even after that I didn't really pay attention to others reactions. I remember hearin prayin when I was leavin Morty's Gym, but a never really paid it any mind, and Chuck looked like he was about to cry his eyes out after beatin him. I was snapped out of my thoughts by Pryce askin if I was gettin cold feet; I wasn't really sure, but I knew I wasn't stoppin here, so I turned and headed on out. When I got outside however, I ended up bein bombarded with calls; First the professor called me, tellin me of a strange broadcast talkin about Team Rocket commin from his radio, then came Falkner and Morty, both of them talkin about havin to deal with Rocket Punks blockin the road to Goldenrod, next came Bugsy, who had peoples comin through Ilex forest into his town from there, and then Whitney, who made it pretty clear...
Team Rocket had invaded Goldenrod
Voltorbs droppin and poppin everywhere, she had people held up in her Gym, but she was tryin to fight off the grunts who were all too happy to keep her and her trainers inside. Worst of all they seemed to lock down the air as well, meanin the only way there was on foot. I grabbed CakebyDaOcn~, and at the last moment grabbed royals as well since I had yet to check out out that suspicious glimmer from back at route 42. Once I made my way there, wouldn't you know it, it was Suicune, again. As soon as it ran off, Esuine also appeared, talkin more about his own fathers legacy of chasin after that Mon. Funny really, I'm followin my own fathers path, and so was Whitney, hell everyone seemed to be pickin up after their parents. Made me think about Paul, is he pickin up after his own Father? I couldn't sit on that because Team Rocket was still attackin Goldenrod, and so I picked up the pace, leavin Esuine eatin my dust. I Past by Ecruteak, ran down to Route 36, and there I saw Morty and Falkner, along with some Gym Trainers, dukin it out with Team Rocket. I tossed out Slim Jim, and started barrelin through their lines with brute force while havin Bohemian and DaBleedin cover the us. Made a cut straight through their lines and all the way to the National Park. Apparently the local Bugs were given them trouble, which by all means was fine since it made my path all the clearer. Headed south, and kept that way till I crashed through the northern gates, no payin Rocket Tolls this time. Once in the city things seemed to quiet down, at least compared to out there. Most of the grunts here hangin around drinkin lotsa Miltank Milk. I was easily able to walk about and make my way to the main point of interest...
Radio Tower
I went in and headed on over to the stairs only to be stopped by a grunt blockin the stairs. I didn't want to get slowed down by grunts so when I asked where I was goin I quickly replied I was goin to answer the Daily Beuna Password. He looked at me like I was some Dunsparce, and rhetorically asked if I was listenin to the radio lately. I then remembered about what Elm said, meanin I really did sound like a Dunsparce, and instead turned and left the buildin. I had to sneak in some other way, but they weren't lettin anyone but Team Rocket passed. Then it hit me, some of my time spent here while doin the Pokeathalon thing included a Team Rocket photo booth, I could nab one there and sneak in that way. I headed on down to the undergroud area, feelin pretty clever, only to then be stopped by a grunt blockin the way in. Luckily he assumed I was a new recruit and handed me the much needed disguise, allowin me to sneak into the Radio Tower. Ran into a little hick up when Paul caught me and ratted me out in front of the guard, but then he spooked the guy right off. Apparently he got in a spat with Lance, who was nowhere to be seen, and got beaten down pretty badly, now he was lookin for revenge. That didn't include me so he let me do my thing, and I took the chance to get up there. Blasted past all the grunts with ease only to then make it to the top and find...
The Director?!
I gotta say, the moment was kinda shockin to say the least, what with this man throwin his own workers, the whole city in fact, into this mess. I approached him, takin over the intercoms on how Team Rocket was here to help them and all that. However once I slammed my hand on the desk he startled, and when his eyes met mine his voice went from solemn and deep to shrill and high pitched. I was surprised an old man could reach that fair a difference in octave, only for him to rip his clothing off to reveal the man underneath...
Petrel
Now things made sense (and thank Arceus he had his rocket uniform underneath), and he was pretty miffed I made it up here to cause him more trouble. However, he was also ready, claimin that while he lost last time at the Ninja Hideout, he wasn't gonna go down this time. Remember what I said before, about how much of a sleaze-ball he looked like, well his team this time consisted of what he called "His Secret art of the Six Bombs", I preferred to call it 5 Koffings and Weezing who's only goal was to blow up and act as if they knew no one, but I guess Petrel's rolled off the tongue a bit better. I tossed out DaBleedin, who blasted most of them away and the booms from the rest like they were his breakfast. With Petrel now a Rattata in a corner, he handed over the Basement Keys where they had the real director, as well as the keys to the top, hidden. He then scurried off, leavin me to go save the Director, and hopefull the city with it.
​
To Be Continued...
Previous Chapters
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Hey y'all, not sure if this is the right subreddit but I figured someone on here may know what I'm talking about.
My memory is failing me and I don't have the best description, but I'm hoping this will ring a bell for someone. About a year, maybe two years ago, my friend sent me a meme/gif that illustrates the effect that poppers have on you by using a visual of some sort of blow up kids bouncy house that went from deflated to inflated. I honestly may be way off with that description, and it may have been a flower blooming or something else completely different. The point is that it was a before and after, with the before shot conveying a restricted vibe with the after shot showing what could best be described as easy access.
So gaybros, care to help a straightbro out with this? Got a new gay friend who has an appreciation for crude humor and I think this would be right up his ally.