Kid gets iphone taken away, airs out grievances on paper. Thanks for getting them stuff sometimes but damn get off their back about being ungrateful and yelling! They're just in a bad mood sometimes. Bonus: Parents turned this into gift wrap. Every Christmas gift for everyone in family; this.

https://ift.tt/3oYLJUV via /r/ChoosingBeggars https://ift.tt/2U0eSRA

Wanted to share a stash of games left at my parents house for years. Everything from Pokémon red to fallout 3 and magazines my parents would be me as a kid when we went to the grocery store.

https://ift.tt/32cX0HD via /r/gaming https://ift.tt/34R0KQK

Parents saying goodbye to their kids and sibling that are going to school.

https://ift.tt/3e0bq2u via /r/GachaClub https://ift.tt/2HwjGLT

Great to see kids who love insects (and parents who encourage them!)

https://ift.tt/35ABdKy via /r/Entomology https://ift.tt/2Hr2NSR

The house my sim was able to build for her kids after she made it as a social media personality, modest and somewhat homelike hehe.She passed but atleast her kids have a happy home.Spot the shrine they made their parents❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤

https://ift.tt/31ECAXL via /r/Sims4 https://ift.tt/37A8AQz

Does anyone else feel like your truest self around your children?

To my fellow raised by narc turned parents themselves: do you find that you’re guarded and damaged except around your kids? For example, I’m quite uncomfortable with physical affection. I don’t particularly like when people hug me or snuggling even if I like the person. But I genuinely enjoy hugging and snuggling my kids. It’s like you always question people’s motives but with your children, you don’t have to. Idk if that makes ANY sense. I just feel like my most genuine self when it’s just me and my kids. Anyone else feel that way? via /r/raisedbynarcissists https://ift.tt/3ksyZTT

SHORT STORY PREMIERE: We're Here For The Animals

I actually liked Albany. Sure, this town was far from Georgia’s finest. Far from having any recognizable achievements other than a high crime rate and even higher poverty. But hey, it beat Stanwyck. At least, there was shit to do here, you know. And Alicia and I were never bored.We moved into our apartment back in January. A nice modest place on Lake Chehaw. Affordable considering Alicia’s job at the hospital’s HR department and my gig working for the hospital’s after-school program A.K.A. the extended daycare for all the doctors and nurses’ kids. Given the low rent and us being in our late-20s, I’d even call the apartment ‘luxurious’. Certainly perfect for the time being.Then there was the local zoo. Chehaw Park’s glorious zoo was only a mile away. Using the season passes Alicia bought, her and I could journey through Albany’s array of animals anytime we wanted.There were the usual fun and games. The bears, the reptile house, the funnel cake fries. Even a full-fledged petting zoo. But what captivated us most about Chehaw was how this wasn’t so much a zoo as a conservation. There were no Joe Exotic hijinks here. These animals had room to roam. Acres upon acres for the critters to feel right at home.The zoo’s motto was We’re Here For The Animals and they lived up to it in every way possible. Certainly from what Alicia and I saw.We loved it there. Those trips turned from weekly to nearly daily. Alicia even applied to be a volunteer several times only to be met by radio silence. The same happened when I’d ask about bringing a few of the kids from the after-school program for a field trip. But still that didn’t stop us nor end our committed membership. The Chehaw cult had claimed us long ago.You couldn’t really blame us. Albany, Georgia didn’t have that much going on. We had it all here: the black bears bathing in their metal tubs, the paranoid meerkats always on the prowl, the stoic stork soaking up its solitary existence… and last but not least, Chehaw’s infamous gator pit, a small lake chock-full of over forty alligators. Sure, some were teenagers but most of those bad boys were over ten feet long… and given how most of the water was covered in green algae, we couldn’t tell for sure. They could’ve been even bigger.So yeah, we knew the zoo up and down. Every exhibit, every creature. So imagine our surprise when we saw where Chehaw was introducing a new attraction that Saturday: gator feeding. For only three dollars a person, Alicia and I could be a part of Chehaw history!Everything was set. We got up around eleven A.M., Alicia did her thing after my patented twenty minute shave and shower. Needless to say, she still had us running late... Sure she showered and had her morning cup of coffee, but those essentials weren’t easy for Alicia. Particularly when it came to make-up, hair, and wardrobe... And yes, this was all for a gator feeding.After I was strong-armed into complimenting her brown eyes and smooth brown skin, Alicia had me judge a few of the outfits. I went with the first one: casual jeans and a blouse.We got to Chehaw surprisingly early. 12:50 to be exact. The two of us stepped up to the ticket booth, our water bottles filled with alcohol.Already the heat was rough. The sweat sinking through my tee and long brown hair… My sunglasses no match for the bright sun. Neither Alicia nor I had prepared for the unusual October humidity.The parking lot wasn’t too full. No one was ahead of us in line… but Chehaw had constant turnover, and man, this fucking ticket guy was clueless. We sputtered for a minute with ‘Bryan’. Nice enough guy, nice enough looking guy with his big eyes and blonde bushy beard. Your typical college stoner attempting to man the front desk for Albany’s only zoo.“Yeah, it starts pretty soon, so how do we get tickets?” I asked.“Uh, hold on!” Bryan said at a lethargic panic. “Just, uh, one minute.” He grabbed a walkie talkie.A hand reached out and snagged mine. I looked over at Alicia’s beaming smile. Those flawless pearls. I couldn’t help but crack up... but still hoping we wouldn’t miss anything.“You thought I was the reason we’d be late,” she quipped.“Yeah, yeah,” I replied. She let go and slid her hand around my skinny waist. “Just hope they’re not too crowded.”Amidst our amusement, Bryan stuttered on the staticky walkie-talkie. His sweat and trembles intensifying.“Will, this is gonna be fun,” Alicia told me. “We’ll make it.”Apparently, she sensed my frustration. Per usual. Before I could respond, Bryan faced us.“Hey, they’ll take care of y’all down at the, uh, Beastro!” he said.The Beastro. Located at the center of the zoo, the small stand offered us our pick of sausage dogs and sodas. And now those final few feeding tickets.But in the meantime, we got to rush past several exhibits. The bears and wolves in particular. For once, they were right at the fence, eager for attention. Roaring and crying out even… But just our luck, this was the one time Alicia and I were in a hurry.Finally, we reached the Beastro a few minutes before one and got our tix. Standard ticket stubs complete with large numbers. Alicia number 21, me number 22. So far, so good.We made our way back through the park. Took that quick right turn on to Chehaw’s bridge. There the crowd sprawled before us. Not that it was too much: twenty people comprised of brawny couples born and bred in south Georgia, the occasional single mom, and the occasional older hippie. Considering our relative youth and how we didn’t have any whining kids, Alicia and I stood out but not in the awkward way.Together, we walked past excited children and one overexcited father to get closer to the end of this makeshift pier. Regardless of my concerns, this wooden dock was sturdy enough even if I remained unconvinced on how stable those railings were.All in all, we had enough room for the twenty-plus patrons. Leading past many trees and all through the marshland, the dock provided everyone a panoramic view of the gator pit.Immediately, we could hear the gators’ guttural cries. Their howls all through Chehaw. A call of the hunger…Holding Alicia’s hand, I led us past the eager feeders. Straight to the roofed edge where the Chehaw employees were. A couple of high school volunteers and a guy in his late-20s who looked to be in complete command. Wearing a blue Chehaw tee shirt and khaki shorts, Nathan’s voice boomed over the alligators’ chorus. I’d actually seen the guy a few times, usually near the reptile house. His boisterous aura and tall stature made him a natural for the zoo’s cheesier attractions. And there he was taking charge of the teens under his watch, his glorious Southern accent matched by the beard and glowing eyes.As we got closer, the sunshine further boiled us. The beams oh so bright… but still, we could see the fearsome gators lining up along the dock. All through the lake… They formed a creepy cluster to say the least. Chehaw’s pit known for its green water and the gators damn sure took advantage of the camouflage. Still I could still see them lurking… this close to feeding time, they didn’t bother hiding like they did on our idyll weekday trips.There were over twenty gators ranging from huge to slender but all of them big enough to devour me whole. Their heads huge, their mouths even larger. The carnal stares never blinking. Each one of the creatures like statues until blood hit the water...“So how does this work exactly?” Alicia asked me.“Not sure,” I chuckled.We stopped a few feet away from Nathan and his crew. Up close, I could see the buckets of what I figured was meat at their feet. A Ziploc bag of dirt in Nathan’s grasp certainly didn’t look like normal gator food. But hey, maybe they were on a diet.Our tickets got us a couple of cups of this healthy shit: the dirt and murky meat Chehaw’s college volunteers handed us. Weirdly enough, they even made us keep the tix.At first, the feeding was fun. Those alligators at least half-ass responded to the half-ass food. They swam around and took their snaps, showing off their arsenal of sharp teeth. Of course, the creatures were huge and ferocious like we expected… They kept the crowd entranced for sure.But I never heard much from Nathan and the gang. I guess I expected more of a goofy demonstration from Chehaw’s finest rather than a feeding free-for-all... That is, until Nathan finally made his move.“Alright, folks, my name’s Nathan!” shouted the employee. He took a few steps forward, closer to Alicia and I. “And as you can see.” He held up a cup. The paltry protein. “What we gave y’all ain’t much.”“Damn right!” shouted the bearded redneck to my right.“Well, we’re gonna fix that,” Nathan said. He looked over at his young assistants. “Ain’t that right, now?”“Mm-hmm,” said a pretty coed holding a large clear bucket.“Okay, so,” Nathan started. He took the container from her. “We’re now gonna feed our gators, the right way!”“What do you mean?” the redneck asked, his voice gone from confident to confused.By now, I noticed most of the kids cowering beside their parents. Most of the children no older than eight. One boy in particular stood out, especially the way he had his arms enwrapped around his mama’s leg. A beleaguered single mom at that.“Y’all know what I mean,” Nathan teased. There in the October heat, he scanned the scene. Looking at each and every one of us... By now, the gators were back to being submerged underwater. Back in hiding… “They need meat!”“Meat?” I heard a mom ask. “But we just fed them...”“Oh no,” Nathan went on. In a confident stroll, he walked past all of us, right up to the front of the dock. Our only exit. “They need real food now.”The high schoolers then stopped beside him. Henchmen for this employee of the month.“What they crave most is human meat,” said Nathan’s Georgia drawl. His eyes inspected the crowd, that hungry gaze devouring us. “And today it’s gonna be one of y’all!”Instantly, I felt my heart sink. Felt the wave of chills… felt Alicia wrap her arm tightly around me.The redneck father of two took an angry step toward Nathan. “What the Hell are y’all talking about!”Nathan just stared on at him. No fear, no concern on that calm face. “You heard me.”“What’d you say-”A cool click interrupted everyone! Then several clicks followed...I looked over to see those ‘volunteers’ were no longer holding food but firearms! Each of the college helpers wielded pistols pointed right at us, holding us hostage here at this gruesome gator pit!“What the Hell!” the single mom cried.“Nobody move!” one of the volunteers yelled.“What the fuck…” I muttered. I still felt Alicia hanging on tight. For dear life.“Now listen!” Nathan announced with pride. He pointed between all twenty-two of us. “One of y’all’s gonna be the big winner!”“The winner!” I heard the mom shout in dismay.“Yep!” Nathan held up the container.There in the tense heat, I now saw what was inside. The many small slips of paper.“What the Hell!” I heard Alicia say. “What is this!?”“We’re gonna feed the gators now!” Nathan proclaimed in his holy roller tone. “We’re here for the animals, remember!”The redneck glowered at him. “What the Hell does that mean!”Ignoring him, Nathan held the bucket toward the coed. “Draw it!”And draw she did. The girl stuck her hand inside and grabbed a slip.Now I felt Alicia’s grip slicing through my flesh. The dread dominating both of us.“Will, what the Hell...” I heard her say.I wanted to reassure her but couldn’t. Not exactly easy amidst this creepy confusion…The coed brought the paper right up to her eager eyes. Ready to read its number for this raffle from Hell.“What the Hell are y’all doing!” the redneck shouted.And Nathan stayed calm the entire time. Stayed indifferent… all while the gators got closer. Their eyes watching us in that greenass water.“What’s it say?” Nathan asked the girl.“Eighteen!” she yelled.Shivering, I looked on at Chehaw’s horrific helpers. Their smiles so wide. All of them like little excited elves ready to identify their gator pit sacrifice.I heard the child cry out! The unsettling sound of a helpless kid.Alicia and I turned to see the single mom and her terrified son. The ticket in his hand. Neither of us had to guess what number it was...The mom held her son close, both of them weeping. “No!” she screamed.“You heard her!” Nathan challenged the mom. In a sudden motion, he held his hand out toward the boy. His grin so wicked. “It’s feeding time, son!”“You sick son-of-a-bitch!” the redneck said.A warning shot into the sun silenced him! Hell, it silenced everybody… everyone except Alicia.“No! Take me!” she said. Alicia threw her empty cup down and stormed up to Nathan! All as the guns and gators watched her every move... “I’ll do it!”Nathan confronted her. His eyes aglow, his smile oh so bigger.“Alicia!” I cried.Ignoring me, Alicia hurled her ticket at Nathan. “Don’t kill him!” The ticket fluttered to Nathan’s feet. “Take me instead!”Battling those tears, the mom lowered her head. Refusing to let go of her son...I pulled Alicia toward me, refusing to let go. “Babe-”She struggled to break away. “No! He’s a kid, Goddammit!”One of Nathan’s teenage goons got closer. Put that pistol closer to our faces. “Ain’t none of you replacing them!” he warned.“Definitely not them,” the coed quipped.“Mommy!” the kid’s shrill cry erupted. Pure horror to our ears.The mother held him even closer. “No!” She glowered at Nathan. “Just take me then! Not my child!”Nathan faced her. No hint of emotion on that eerie expression. On that blank soulless canvas.“You hear me!” the mom yelled.“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Nathan said. He leaned in closer, his skeletal hand reaching toward the boy. “But we have this raffle for a reason now.”Horrified, the mom gripped tighter to her kid. “No!” she screamed. “You’re not taking him!”I scanned the scene. Scanned the other scared patrons. The ‘lucky’ losers of this lecherous lottery. But now we were all forced into silence by Chehaw’s cavalry. The armed teens holding us on land, the alligators guarding the lake.Shit, I thought to myself. There’s no way to escape...Nathan reached closer for the boy. The sacrifice. “We’re here for the animals, little boy,” he teased. “Just remember that...”“No please!” the mom yelled.But none of us could do shit… nothing except watch.Nathan snatched the boy by the shoulders. Leaned in closer for dramatic effect. “It’s your lucky day, little boy!”The mom struggled to pull her weeping son away. “No!”But Nathan didn’t let go. He had the kid hooked. Had him eye to eye, man to man.I now saw the biggest gator zoom up closer toward the pier. He was ready to eat. Ready for carnage.“You won!” Nathan congratulated the child. He then lifted the boy higher! The mom hanging on but with absolutely no chance of pulling him back.Nathan put the child inches away from his face and let out a triumphant cackle! “It’s just a joke, boy!” His laughter echoed through the trees. The boy still shedding tears. “Now you can tell everyone about your Chehaw experience!”The gators’ grunts grew louder! That big motherfucker led the charge. Led them all to camp out right below us.“Let him go!” the mom shouted.“Tell everyone about my sacrifice!” Before anyone could react, Nathan thrust the kid into the mother’s arms. He turned and scurried up to the edge of the dock. Confronted his crowd! Nathan’s showmanship still shining through. The smile still well on display. “We’re here for the animals!” said his manic mantra.“What the Hell are you doing!” the redneck shouted.Nathan turned and jumped right in! Straight to his death.His beloved alligators were waiting for him. The messy massacre only took a few minutes… A feast of flesh for the Chehaw Zoo’s most notorious residents. But never once did Nathan scream. Never once did any of the volunteers flinch, much less attempt to help a man who didn’t want to be helped.Several of the creatures chomped down upon Nathan, fastening their tight clamps deep into his skin.The water went from green to red. The change vivid. The blood running thick. Organs, stray pulpy pieces, and the remnants of Nathan’s uniform decorated Lake Chehaw… And yet, Nathan never cried. Never screamed. Never once was in pain as he became those gators’ next meal.Uneasy, Alicia broke away from me and stopped straight at the edge. A front row seat for the carnage.“Alicia!” I cried.I stopped next to her. Together, we saw Nathan’s gift to the gators. The severed limbs and crimson candy that’d be the real meat for this meal.Of course, the king gator got a large chunk of Nathan’s head. The prized possession after all...Both of us consumed by terror, I wrapped an arm around Alicia. About the only damn thing I could do considering the gruesome sight before us. The weeping mother and little boy all we could hear in this quiet tension.“Alright!” the coed’s glowing voice gleamed through the gator pit.Alicia and I whirled around to see her standing tall in the center of the dock. The other workers right behind her, the firearms still in their hands.In the October heat, the coed clapped with joy. “You know how we’re here for the animals.” Her deranged grin then got bigger. “So now who’s ready to watch me do the bear feeding!”“What the fuck…” Alicia said.Not missing a beat, the coed looked right at me. “We’ve got so many more animals to feed!”The male worker behind her leaned in closer. The kid no older than sixteen. “Y’all wanna watch me with the Boa constrictor?”14 via /r/rhonnie14FanPage https://ift.tt/3kpfdc5

Something just always seems to come up

This is going to sound so much like whining but I felt the need to get this out somewhere so thanks for reading.The past couple weeks have been really fucking demanding. There are some delicate details but the TL;DR version is that one of my wife’s friends has an ex-husband who has been getting very aggressive lately, to a point where she hired a lawyer and didn’t feel safe picking up and dropping off their kids (they have shared custody). So twice, I was in a parking lot, watching from my own car, to make sure nothing happened during those exchanges. It also meant going to the friend’s house a couple times to watch the kids (5 and 7) while the friend, my wife and the other adults in our group had their own “therapy session” in another room. The last time this happened, when we got home, I told my wife “I need some time with some of my friends; I feel like I’ve given a lot of time and energy to this other group which you’re closer to, and I need some time for me.”I reached out to a friend and planned an evening hang session.And then Covid decided to flare up considerably in my area, so the governor said “no unnecessary home visits”. Great, so there go my plans. However, my wife is currently out to dinner with one friend, has outdoor plans with others tomorrow, and I’ll be sitting at home all weekend. On top of this, we were supposed to go visit my parents next weekend whom we haven’t seen in almost a year (we saw her parents in July) but who the hell knows if that’s gonna happen.I get that the whole Covid thing is out of our control but fuck... it just feels every time I try to set something up for myself, life comes in and says “Nope!”Anyway, that’s my vent. Thanks for reading. via /r/Vent https://ift.tt/34oBYao

My grandmother left all of her inheritance to me (36M) and nothing for my sister (37F) and it's causing problems in the family

throwaway time because I don't want this attached to my main.Me (36M) and my (37F) sister growing up were really close to our grandmother, my mom (58F) and my dad (60M) were very young when they had us so my grandmother practically raised us, we spend a lot of time with her and she always spoiled us a lot, she paid for all of our studies (it was really expensive went to med school and my sister went to nursing school).We've always remained close to our grandmother, our grandfather died before we're born and she never remarried so she was always lonely and we being around helped her a lot, she was always excited to see us.The thing about our grandma is that she is a VERY religious Catholic (she was always religious but when our granddad died she turned to the church to help grief), growing up she always took us to church and always encouraged us to follow her faith, I consider myself a Catholic but I'm not that religious although I still attended church with grandma and go to confession at least 2 times a year, my sister always tried to do the same but it was very clear that she didn't like it so when she was 17 she asked our grandma if was okay if she stopped attending church, our grandma was very sad with this but never pressured her so she let it go, my sister and she always remained very close.Things started to change when my sister started dating M(40M) M is a Muslim, my sister dated him for about three years in secret (of my grandma, my parents were not happy with this but she told them) but M proposed to her, my grandma meet him but my neither he nor my sister brought up his religion, two weeks before the wedding my grandma find out that M is a Muslim (to this day I really don't know who told her I think it was my parents but they always denied that) well it was a disaster, my grandmother demanded that my sister break off the engagement with the Jihadist (this is how she started to refer to him), well they got into a huge fight my grandma treated to disown her, my sister didn't break up with M, my grandma didn't attend her wedding and then she disowned her.This caused a huge rift in our family (it was honestly very similar to a divorce) my grandma refused to be in my sister presence and we started doing separately holidays (grandma got easter, my sister thanksgiving that type of thing), my grandma refused to hear or talk about my sister and she considered my sister death to her. We expected her to reestablish some contact when my sister gave birth but she never met my sister kids (14M,13M,11M), they never spoke to each other in these last 16 years.On the other hand, I remained very close to her, she absolutely loved my wife (i honestly think she liked my wife more than me) and she was always a present grandmother in my children's life (11F,9F,7M), my wife is also a catholic (and she is more ''active'' in that department than me) so our children where raised Catholics as well.Which brings us to the present, my grandmother died last month at 81 years old, despite her age we were not expecting that she was always very healthy.On to the issue: my grandfather was very wealthy and he left everything for my grandma. When she died she left her house to my parents (it is a big and very expensive house) and her beach house to me, the rest of her stuff to me as well (she had a lot of jewelry). The problem is the money she had around $13,6 million she left $1million to me and my wife, she left a trust fund for each of my kids of $4 million the fund itself is in my name but they will gain access to that fund when they turn 18, the only thing she left for my sister was her favorite bible and a donation of $500k in my sister's name to the local church she used to attend.Well, my sister is absolutely furious with this she is complaining that her kids didn't receive anything and that my kids receive a lot more than they should, she demands that I shared the money with her family and my parents think that my grandmother was being unfair to her, my nephews are also complaining a LOT and her husband is calling me every day since.I feel like anything that I do would cause a lot of problems, my wife thinks is our children money and I shouldn't do anything but she would be ok whatever I choose (she means it, my wife is pretty much the least selfish person on this earth, she is very submissive and non-confrontational), my parents think that I should share at least a bit of the money but I feel like in the future my kids will resent me for this.I really don't know what to do here Reddit, any advice is appreciated. via /r/relationship_advice https://ift.tt/35rQJZj

From a player who has been playing this game since the very beginning: watching the current state of Halo is physically painful

So, I know, very dramatic title. I have been playing Halo since the day CE was released. I have logged literally thousands of hours into Halo 2 including a mind boggling number of runs through the campaign, glitch hunting, and learning different speed running tricks to make it through the legendary campaign without going *completely* bald. I've played multiplayer in LAN parties or splitscreen with friends and family since days I can hardly remember because I was so young when I first started playing (my parents weren't exactly scrupulous when it came to censoring things that didn't involve nudity or sexual content). For me, Halo was one of the biggest parts of my childhood. Please understand that when I say this series means a lot to me, I know it is a stupid thing to have as my fondest memories, but it was one of the few escapes in an otherwise shitty childhood full of abuse and emotional neglect. So, when I say that seeing the state of Halo right now is physically painful for me, I am being pitifully genuine.Now, I am not one of the Halo purists that believes Bungie=good, 343=bad. I enjoy the story of Halo 4 thoroughly (in my opinion, the best story in the series from a purely literary view). I really enjoy Halo 5 multiplayer, I think it is better than both CE multiplayer and Reach multiplayer (CE was fun, but obviously dated. Reach was the second worst in the series, just edging out over Halo 4 because it still *felt* like a Halo game to me.) There are even components of Halo 5 Multiplayer I like better than many of the offerings in the beloved Halo 3 multiplayer (Warzone is incredibly fun. It's just a shame it takes so long to get into a game from my experience.) 343 has made some good games, but those games have been filled with mistakes that have greatly tarnished the series.Enter Halo Infinite. This was 343's chance to buck the yoke of past failures and move forward into the future. Tight lipped marketing teased just enough about art direction and character to show that they had listened! Halo looked like Halo, Chief has perhaps the best look he has had in the series. The Banished were in! Something new to the series during the tenure of 343 that I actually really liked! They took something that was their own, but still felt like Halo and put it into the game. I was excited, they had finally made me feel like they understood they could put their own spin and direction on the series without ignoring the people who have made this series one of the most beloved and successful franchises in the history of gaming. Then came the gameplay reveal and I was... Disappointed. Not angry mind you, I actually really liked the gameplay itself. The art direction looked cool, there were cool new sandbox elements, the grappling hook turned out seeming pretty damn fun to use. I even really dug the idea of a semi-open world sandbox and liked the way encounters played out. The only issue, it seemed, was mediocre lighting, a few subtractions from the sandbox that were loved and to a much lesser degree I didn't like the inclusion of sprint (though this is something that has never been and will never be a total deal breaker for me.) So yes, I was disappointed that the first showing after years of work and holding things close to the chest the game still looked incomplete with only a few months to launch. It wasn't that I had lost excitement, I honestly didn't care about lighting as much as many, I was more annoyed that 343 had shown they hadn't learned from their past mistakes.We've been through this rodeo twice, 343 releases a game in an incomplete or broken state, people get mad, they fix it and it becomes a pretty solid game over time, but it is too late and people have already jumped ship. This was one of the biggest lessons they should have learned by now and it seemed they somehow didn't. Some time passed though, and MCC started to get better and better, and we learned they made the decision to delay Halo to make sure it was complete! They were listening to community feedback, they were promising awesome customization (which is the only reason why I rate Halo Reach highly in spite of one of, in my opinion, the worst multiplayers in the series), they were making things like grappling hooks equipment in the sandbox! Not only that, they were knocking MCC out of the park all of the sudden, all good news! Faith restored. I became something of a 343 apologist for a short period there."Yeah, the shotgun isn't there, but they can release that later and it isn't too bad to miss out on a gun or two from the old sandbox.""Sure the lighting was bad, but the graphics outside of that looked pretty good, and the art direction was exactly what many of were hoping for!"And finally, "Coatings sound scary, but I am sure they are just cool patterns and we can change colors!"Then, Halo 4 came to MCC, they had wildly improved the customization (Seriously, it approaches reach in my opinion,) they had added new options, and they had a little blurb next to different armor patterns. "Coatings" they called them, and you could change the color independently! They were listening, I was right, and 343 had learned that ignoring the community was stupid so they gave us a little breadcrumb to show us they were listening. Then, not terribly long after (and I have to believe as a result of that little mishap), they let us know the truth. They were removing a major tenant of spartan customization that has been around practically forever. Let me level with you, I honestly don't care all that much about coatings versus colors. Yeah, I will miss the longstanding tradition I have of making my spartan colors match the colors of the A-team van as closely as possible, and then using the EOD helmet so I look like a badass red and black stormtrooper... But, frankly, you rarely see that in multiplayer or campaign anyways. 98% of the time spent playing you are either red, blue, or green. The problem with this change isn't that I can't live without my childishly A-team themed spartan, it is simply that 343 just isn't listening to us.They have shown time and again, through broken releases, incomplete releases, arrogant changes to make the series *theirs* without giving proper respect to the people who made this series the cultural phenomenon it was, and much more. This change isn't the reason I am upset, this change is only a part of a long history of a one sided relationship with a company I want to believe cares (and I honestly believe that the MCC team at least cares because they have done so much to show they are listening) but clearly is either too arrogant, ignorant, or belligerent to care what their community wants. Many of you may think this is a REALLY stupid and meaningless thing to get upset over, and you know what: you are absolutely right.In the grand scheme of my life or anyone else's life, a video game will never be more important than their family, their home, their health, their livelihood, or any of those other truly essential things. I understand that. Even if I have great memories, even if it hurts to see something I love mistreated by a company I want to like in spite of the fact that they keep showing (again, outside of the incredible MCC team) that they don't care enough about the fans to listen: at the end of the day it *is* just a videogame. It might hurt, but if I choose not to spend $60 because I don't like the direction a video game is going it will be no skin off of my back. I won't lose my house, my wife, my kids, my job, or my car because I didn't get a $60 videogame. I will just move on and spend my $60 on something else, and you have to believe that the majority who isn't nearly as attached to the series will do the same with far less trepidation. But, it might help to remember that for the developers of the game, this IS their livelihood. This game pays their rent, pays their mortgage, puts clothes on their kids back. So , while for most of us the choice not to buy this game is no more than a passing thought or a pang of longing for what was: for the people who are making this game it is so much more important that people like me choose to spend their $60 on something that is *just* a videogame at the end of the day. via /r/halo https://ift.tt/3dQwMiL

Anyone else's kids showing psychological impacts?

My 7yo is always a little explosive and has had therapy, has OT etc and we generally work hard on keeping him on an even keel. But never to such a degree as with the current situation. He is the kind of kid for whom remote schooling is truly deleterious as he needs the structure and socialization to feel grounded, but his hybrid school is not showing signs of returning full time for his age perhaps all year. He also has severe sibling rivalry issues, not helped by his younger sibling being full time. He's full of so much anger and frustration, and isn't able to even learn in a pod with the kids in his cohort on off days, per the school. He's having screaming meltdowns and has now started kicking things and throwing things - then at other times he'll pore over old photos of his classmates through the years that we have in books. The 1-2 days per week he is in person, he is so much calmer but otherwise it's pretty bad. Is anyone else experiencing similar? I am considering temporarily moving to a state where schools are open as we both work remotely and he is pretty good at making new friends, though of course I am also concerned about infection but perhaps at this point more concerned about his mental health. Would love to know what other parents are experiencing? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/31EszJZ

My sister is the worse person I have ever met and I think I hate her

I don’t think I have ever met a more vile, self absorbed person in my life. I could make a list of the things she has done to me but I don’t even care about that right now. We both have cats. I love mine, he’s my baby. I love hers too, I consider her my own. They will both have been with us for 5 years in a few weeks. Yesterday she abandoned her. Left her out in the middle of no where apparently. She was such a sweet girl. She wasn’t very cuddly, but she showed affection in her own way. My sister didn’t like that. She wanted her to cuddle her like mine does me. You know what tipped the scales today? The cat wanted to go outside and didn’t come back in when she tried to get her. So she brought her to what she called the middle of no where and left her there. She told me about it so I wouldn’t be looking for her and talked about what she didn’t like it was the most mundane thing in the world. Like she was bringing the trash out. My poor baby.This isn’t even the first time she’s done something like this. She had a dog, one of the sweetest I’ve met. You could tell she came from a neglectful home but it didn’t phase her. She loved everyone. She kept bringing her back to that miserable place every time she got tired of her. You know why my sister finally got rid of her? She moved out with her boyfriend and the boyfriend paid more attention to the dog. She has done this before too. When she lived with her now ex wife they would pick up strays and abandon them when they didn’t have the personality they wanted. She even told me how her wife killed one of the strays because it killed a kitten they got. What did she expect? You can’t just put two cats together and think they’ll automatically get along. She talked about the wife killing the cat as if it was the most normal thing in the world.She no longer considers me her sister after my boyfriend heard the conversation about her abandoning the cat (we were Skyping when she came into my room to tell me, we live with our parent) and called her a bitch. She’s mad because I let him. I agreed with him. Now we’re both the trashy ones, and I’m choosing water over blood and she can’t wait until she can hit me. The hypocrite she is. She didn’t say anything when her wife stole from me and threaten me. All of that is justified in her perspective. I don’t even care. I just want to know where she left my baby so I can bring her back. She doesn’t deserve that. But according to my sister abandoning her was better than what she wanted to do when she got out, beat her.I know she’ll continue this cycle. She tosses people and animals like trash when things don’t go her way. The kicker is she wants kids. The kids won’t be whatever cookie cutter image she has in her head like none of her pets were. Will she toss them too when they don’t like her enough? When whoever she tricks into having kids with her pays more attention to them?I hope the cat is okay. Anything could happen to her. She’s so small and delicate. I miss her. I just want her to be safe via /r/TrueOffMyChest https://ift.tt/3krTss0

My life has been a living hell created by myself.

What can I possibly do besides suicide when my life has been nothing but a huge brick to the face because not matter what I do to fix my problems. More arise and wont stop! It's a nightmare I'm posting here because I wanna be heard, I have nothing to lose I have no family no friends and the person whom I cared for and loved so much, left me because of my past because I was destined to be stabbed and treated wrong for the rest of my life ? and I am witness to my mistakes in the past never been to jail never broken the rules too much never been a drinker or a party guy too much. I was born in a different country called Panama between north and south america, my mom left me in that country 1 year after I was born, she left with my siblings my oldest sister and brother, I was raised by my grandfather and grandma they were all fantastic and good parents to me throught my childhood till I was 6 and my grandfather died of cancer all suddenly lung and throat cancer even tho he had quit many years b4 but I guess still happened. Then my mom called and told my grandma to not put me in the school for the whole year cuz she was coming to get me, she was currently living in the US and became a citizen, so the whole year went by and never came and got me. I was disappointed, I was then raped by someone who my grandma left me with after school the next year after I I turned 7 I never remember the incident for a long time. 6 years later she somehow came and got me with my new green card, I was removed from my friends and everyone I once knew and was very close to . A month after I got here not knowing English at all was sent to middle middle school and 2 years behind because of my language barrier I was put in a advance esl class for the whole year my teacher was a bad teacher and used to lose her shit with me because it was hard for me to concentrate, used to call me stupid becUse out of all the 12 students there, I was the only one not talking much but is because I was intimidated, somehow I passed the class and left that school from Dallas, I then moved to McKinney Texas and went to high school there, i did a whole year there and then my mom and my brothers and I, had to move to Dallas again during winter, we then moved to mesquite tx and stayed there for 5 years on and off becUse me and my mother got into it many times because she always treated me as different than my siblings so i started not caring and just left high school and started living with friends since I was 16 and 17 I was out and doing my own things for a little while I even moved to Oklahoma then back to Dallas and had my first 2 childs with two different woman one fucked me over and the other one just kinda kept me out and my other one fucked me over and cheated on me while I was a at work, she would call her ex husband and take off with my daughter and never paid a thing in my apartment I cooked and cleaned when I could after work, I worked in a commercial printing warehouse and I worked almost every day maybe one day off and, somehow my green card went missing out of my wallet and a week after that, everything started to hit me hard, my ex had waited till I got fired and then I went to take a nape with my daughter so i could wake up and have energy for my next move, but when I woke up, my newborn daughter took off with my daughter and my car and then i called cops but they couldn't help because that was her mother but if I would had been awake would have been a different story, I then got into a big depression i let some friends stay there while i would go to work and stay at my .moms for a while cuz the job was close to her house, and but I couldn't keep paying for my apartment no more becaUse my new job didn't paid me enough and then I had no ride to go to my old place because those friends stopped responding, and my parents wouldn't take me so I then find out that those friends of mine got cops called on my place and they were trying to run drugs and party hard there and so they got caught and I didn't have enough time to go get my things and leave so I lost everything I had, and now that I had no green card I could not find any jobs that would hire me so I met another chick who also cheated on me and got pregnant and didn't tell. Me and so a year passed by and after I got with this burnt survivor chick, my ex finds my number and texted me asking me 8f I wanted to meet my son and I did and he looked like me and we had a connection within a few weeks of been meeting up with him, 4 weeks later she asked me and my girlfriend at the time if we could take care of him because she couldn't and she didn't want him and I was all excited but I was living with that burned chick and I only donated plasma and did odd jobs from time to time to help but then Anastasia which was the burnt chick, got all excited and said she wanted to help me get my kids back and so I thought was strange but I accepted and thanked her for it but after a few months of him staying with us and making me very happy, Anastasia starts telling me that she called CPS on. My sons mom. Because she wanted to have my kid living with us without her ever coming back for him which it bothered me becUse that was kind of unnecessary and so my ex's kid got taken away and my son was then. Involved with CPS under some type of plan, to keep my sons mother away from my son, then a year or so passed by and Anastasia starts to act different and accuse me of shit because she had PTSD and other mental issues and so she was the type to wake up in the middle of the night screaming, or punching u, or to start a fight, and one night she took it too far and I had to grab my son from the bed because she started arguing with me and swinging her hands around like a child, I was afraid for me and my son and so she got up and while I had my half sleep baby on my. Arms she tried swinging at me so I turned my body and turned again and grabbed her arm and slightly pushed her onto the bed so I tried walking out with my son and she then ran to the front door and blocked me from going anywhere so I freaked out and called the cops and so I get her to calm down and I then the cops come and hear my story and hers but she was lying to them saying I hit her when I never hit no woman I told them. That I was defending my self and my son and that she hit me and I showed my Mark's and I told them I did pushed her because she was way too close to me while acting odd, so then she gets taken away and they asked me to press charges and but I never did because I felt bad and I did care for her and I didn't want to do that to my son so the day I went to sign the documents releasing her from her going to court, but also mostly because she begged me and begged. Me and also asked my mom to get her to get me to just not press charges on Anastasia and believe it or not I signed it and gave her the benefit if the doubt but the moment i did that, she went and called her parents and told them all of the things that happened and made me look horrible, why?, I have no idea, so then I started doing drugs because she got sick and got taken to the hospital I had to take care of my kid alone for a few months and had no job so had to come up with ways, I used drugs to keep up with my shoes because I was so tired, I was known around the complex because I was working on people's cars while I had my son at day care paid by cps, I got addicted but never let it keep me away from taking care of my kid but then she came back for 2 weeks I had to help her off the bed and to shower and to do all sorts of things and her treating me like shit everyday and screaming and omg it was the most stressful thing and was messing with me and then she went. Back to the hospital for 2 more months and then she comes back and made my life hell because I told her I was doing drugs and told her why but then I thought I could trust her but she turned out to be the devil and used that against me and started pushing me back and while I would go out to make money, she would go behind my back and assume i was cheating or God knows what when I was at work I had witnes3s, but she was also signing documents and suddenly I wasnt getting any kind of taxes so she started getting ng all of this money and I didn't know how taxes worked but when I did find out she was keeping all of this money from having my child living with us I got mad and confronted her about it cuz non of it was going to him we had all of his toys donated to us so where was this money going and so she would say she had it hidden for him and I just left it alone but then I had a bad feeling so I asked her when could she help me find a way to have me sign my sons birth certificate but because of my legal situation I couldn't do it my self, so I made her have power of attorney and she said she would help me but never did instead she would lie to me till the very end then got me caught up with CPS and locked.me out of the house and took off with my kid and I never got to sign it and then cps found meth in my system and so yay, now I was stuck with this embarrassing shit and after passing everything for 8 months. They kept lying to me telling g me I would see him as long I comply and I did the best I could but then I got with the woman of my dreams and but my ex found out about her and threw cps on her and her daughter and I 3nded moving with her temporarily and then months go by and now my current woman was getting very stressed out blaming me for her having cps on her for no reason. Just jealousy I guess and I got under alot of pressure and hurt by everything i was doing to help others and trying my best to do better at life I end up moving to my friends home and my coworker and we would work on his house on cars he was my teacher but my cousin dies and my uncle died too from covid and so I lost my shit and started doing meth again 2 wise and somehow I blacked out and messaged my friends brother and my best friends 14 or 16 year old daughter and I couldn't remember and I then lost my job and my best friend and then I apologized to them and couldn't believe that i did that and i feel so bad every day. And but i was still with my woman and i told her what i knew and to forgive me but i never seen anyone behind her back i was very truthful to her but after months of knowing then that guy calls cps on me about it saying I sent a nude to a minor or solicited to a minor and the worst part is that I ain't even that type of person fuck no and I felt disgusted and I wanted to hung my self because I was on drugs my woman lied to the cps guy so he could leave us, me alone and I thanked her, but ever since, she has not been the same, i don't wanna lose her she is my everything because we help each other and thanks to her i have been staying clean thanks to her I treat her like my queen but today she told me she wanted to leave me because of the past and she just wanted to be loved again was the only reason I was chosen to be with her but now because my past even tho I was truthful, she doesn't trust me thinking that if I do drugs again I would probably do that again. And I promised her I wouldn't but is my word vs everyone else's I feel like the world is against me even tho I only have eyes for her and good heart for others. At the same time I'm trying to get me a lawyer to get a green card and work again. And I'm trying to get a lawyer to help me get my son and prove that he was kidnapped and that I was scammed and my self situated but I feel like. NOt matter how hard I try and nor how much i help others to change my luck, I end up getting fucked over or back stabbed and hurts and since last year I have been very suicidal because I know I am a piece of shit and I keep failing at life and there's alot more to the whole story than this but is all I can let out for now and needed... advice because I feel like I'm going insane. via /r/SuicideWatch https://ift.tt/31yilux

He wants to “give us a proper go” but.....

Little bit of back story 1st..... we’ve been on and off for the best part of a year, started out as fwb I then wanted more than more but he didn’t so we went separate ways. A few months go by and he gets in touch as he was in need of a friend and a place to stay for a while, while he sorted new living arrangements out. So he moves in and a couple of months go by and in that time we gradually went from just friends to fwb to being a couple (the L word was definitely floating about for both of us). Things take a sudden crash as he had to move in with his parents to look after his toddler while the mother was in hospital having another baby, she’d told him that it wasn’t his that it was someone else’s but then hits him with actually it is yours. He never wanted kids and she knew that and told him she wasn’t able to, their 1st was a complete surprise and Drs told her she’d never be able to have anymore and she does. Unsurprisingly he took it hard that this baby is suddenly his (dna was done) and he spiralled and told me it was over. He didn’t go back to her, he can’t stand her but he supports his kids and works his arse off to provide for them. Another couple of months go by and I get a text apologising for how he was towards me and that he just wasn’t able to cope with the bombshell and have a relationship at the same time. We start talking again and before we know it we’re back to being fwb and sort of casually dating.... well one night I’m out having drinks with my neighbours and he gets jealous cos I’m talking to a bloke and yet again vanishes on me!!! But a couple of weeks later he apologises and after a good talk we decide to give us a go, unfortunately he starts hanging out with one of his old mates and goes off the rails and decides he’s not ready for a relationship and needs to concentrate on his kids and work. Long back story I know lol I tell him he’s been an utter knob (in much harsher words) and that he’s hurt and messed me around for the last time. At this point you need to know that I have a bpd and feel emotions and situations to the enth degree, what may only be a small mole hill to me is a huge erupting volcano!!! After I’ve sent him a couple of weeks worth of pent up feelings, he finally tells me that because he was hanging about with this so called mate he’d managed to blow all of his savings and was embarrassed by the situation he’d put himself in and couldn’t face telling me. So now after a few weeks of talking and just hanging out with the occasional benefit, I told him that I wanted more and it was decision time. We could either just date exclusively and take it from there or stop altogether no more fwb. He managed to drag it out for a couple of weeks but decided that he wants to give us a proper go this time and no more messing about...... Now here’s where I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive etc or what, he said that he doesn’t do introducing to his parents as he finds it embarrassing and them embarrassing, it’s his daughter’s birthday party tomorrow and I’m not invited and he’s not really shared any information about it either. He won’t even introduce me to them but has no problem being around my kids!!! I feel like he’s ashamed of me, I wasn’t ready to meet his kids before as I didn’t want to get attached to them only for things to go pear shaped but I think we might actually get somewhere this time as we can’t walk away from each other. I just still feel like I’m completely separate from the rest of his life.. Am I just overreacting????? In relationships I go all in pretty much straight away and share everything so this is all new and strange to me!!! Someone please help sort my head out and give me your outsiders view of this via /r/relationship_advice https://ift.tt/3kio4vY

Just found this sub today, and have a lot to get off my chest. (Vent I guess)

So for context, I was never a very religious person up until about a year or so ago. As a kid, my parents did believe in god but didn’t like actively go to church, and really didn’t seem to know all that much about the Bible. Around when I turned 9 or 10 or so, my mom was suddenly saved and she forced me and my dad to go to church every Wednesday and Sunday. My dad was saved shortly after as well, but overall he isn’t extreme about his beliefs when compared to my mom.I really didn’t like going to church in general, and after constant bickering my mom actually let me bring my ds with me. Her logic was that I would listen to the priest in the background, but we all know I didn’t lol. Around age 15 or so she stopped making me go.Thing was, I actually didn’t really believe in god at all for most of my church going time. Sometime in middle school, I had started looking up atheist related YouTube videos and other online info, and started to doubt my belief. I had always believed in god as a kid, I just never read the Bible and didn’t really know anything much about the specifics of Christianity. When my mom started making me go to church after being saved, I learned a little more about Christianity but for the most part didn’t learn much during church due to my adhd. (And by the time my mom let me start bringing my ds I had stopped even trying to pay attention)The breaking point of me losing my religion was one time me and my mom were walking outside of a grocery store. I had at the time been thinking a lot about religion and my own doubt in it, so in my head asked god a simple question: “Make the sky go black for a split second, and only I can see it, just to show me that you’re out there.” Weird request sure, but I was always a weird kid so w/e. As to the surprise of no one, nothing happened. On that day I had completely lost my religion.For most of my life in high school I just didn’t believe in god. I wasn’t like an edgy reddit atheist type, so I wasn’t flaunting this fact or anything. Whenever anyone at school asked about it, I always said something to the likes of “Well, if god is real why doesn’t he just come down here and tell us himself? Why does he act so cryptic about his existence, and if he didn’t want people to go to hell I’m sure him delivering a message would pretty much ensure that everyone on earth would go to heaven.”Skip forward to sometime in senior year, a traumatic event happened to me (don’t want to talk about it specifically for obvious reasons) and I suddenly started praying all the time. I still never read the Bible, but I believed that there was some sort of higher power helping me with my life. It was basically like I believed in a God, but not any particular one. I still had my doubts during these times, but always shot them down due to me being a nervous wreck, afraid that if I dare disrespect god by questioning his existence an event even worse than the previously mentioned traumatic one would happen to me.Recently, I’ve become a lot more chill about all of this. It’s been a year since that dreaded event and I’ve been questioning a lot more lately. I start to think that maybe I suddenly started believing in a god due to a mix of fear, anxiousness, and loneliness, rather than a genuine belief in a higher power. I also just see all of this awful, despicable shit being done in the name of religion and think that if there really is a god, why isn’t he doing anything about all of this?That was really long, rambly, and probably poorly written but I needed to ramble on about it to someone. via /r/exchristian https://ift.tt/2HxP4sI

The next generation of naming trends

The dominant themes of the 2010s were “softer” and shorter classic names for boys (Noah, Liam, Owen, Ethan) and longer, vowel-heavy, feminine girl names (Olivia, Isabella, Sophia, Amelia). But these names have been in mega-style for a long time, and likely won’t last at the top of the charts. What’s next?My predictions:Boys: I think nature-inspired names will start taking off in a big way for boys. River, Ash, etc. Still softer-sounding, but less traditional and biblical. I also see boys names getting a touch longer and fancier, with the rise of names like Sebastian and Julian.Girls: The rapid rise of Harper (and Kennedy, for that matter) is, imo, a harbringer of things to come. I think girl names will be getting more consonants, more unisex-sounding, and more surname-y. I can see more names like Parker, Chandler, Collins, etc. climbing higher, perhaps with more feminine middle names for balance. I also think there will be an uptick in nature names for girls, but not necessarily the feminine flower names - more like Sunny, Winter, Meadow, and of course Juniper.Especially as gender-conscious Gen Z begins to have kids, I think the polarization between male and female names will lessen. Parents won’t feel the need to make sure their sons’ names sound “strong” and their daughters’ names sound “elegant.” As a result, boys’ names will get fancier and girls’ names will get less fancy. via /r/namenerds https://ift.tt/3ojYCsw

AITA for not letting my sister and son visit my home?

My wife and I recently moved back to a moderate sized town in the Appalachians. The area can be a bit touristy and when we lived here the first time we noted (half jokingly) that people only wanted to visit us during the fall when the leaves are changing.Last week my sister texted me to let me know that her and my nephew's dad (they've been in a on-again-off-again relationship for years and I don't know how to refer to him) were going to be in town sight seeing and that she would love to see me and my family. She then asked if it was cool if they stayed the night. She gave us 12 hours notice but I said it was cool, I didn't really care. This was during the week and my wife and I both had work the next day and my kid had school.We cleaned sheets, cleaned up the house (which we still haven't completely unpacked yet) bought some frozen pizzas, and prepared for company. The night went fine, we watched Netflix most the night and the next day they left around noon.Fast-forward to this week, my parents are supposed to come visit. Given that we've moved around a bit the last few years I typically only see my parent's a handful of times a year. Turns out, my sister had asked my mom if she and my nephew could come with them this weekend.The conversation went something like this. Mom: "You're sister is probably going to come this weekend too." Me: "No she's not." Mom: "Yes she is." Me: "NO....she's not."The whole situation really infuriated me. My kid never gets to spend time with my parents because we live so far away and on top of that, my nephew has basically been raised by my mom. He's at her house all the time, day and night. Or, my mom is constantly running errands for my sister, picking my nephew up from her house, (a 35-minute drive) dropping him off, getting him ready for school, putting him to bed, etc.I get it, both his parents do shift work but the boy is 6, I feel like they could have figured out a better system by now other than having my 65 year old mother take care of him nearly 5 days a week. I just wanted my parents to have a nice quiet weekend away from all that. Not to mention, last time we all stayed together my mom spent the weekend chasing my nephew around while my sister relaxed. Not to mention you don't just invite yourself over to other people's houses!I ended up texting my sister and telling her how selfish she was being and how her and her baby daddy are basically running my mom ragged. Now my mom and sister are saying I'm acting ridiculous and over reacting. Who's the asshole here? via /r/AmItheAsshole https://ift.tt/31zEc4P

My dad and me

I just want to write this because I keep it inside so much.I’m a 26 year old male who is really doing my best. When I was 13 I caught my dad cheating and that ofcourse subsequently led to my parents divorcing. My dad married the woman he cheated on my mom with and I was forced to go there twice a week. Most of the time we would argue and he would throw me down the stairs, get on top of me and scream in my face.She ended up getting sick with cancer and lost her eyesight in one eye. My dad left her shortly after.I was in the army at 18, shortly after my first return home my uncle and aunt who I was very close to because I would talk to them about how little I wanted to be alive and how much pain I felt also got divorced. They had 2 kids together.Within a month of their divorce my dad and my aunt moved in together and began dating, shortly after were married. This obviously resulted in my dad being exiled from the family.What is most painful is that he was a horrible father to me and my sister. Both of us have decided to never talk to him again. My sister just had a son that will never know his grandpa.His Facebook is a tribute to his new family, with photos of my uncles kids who will have to grow up to understand that their mom married their dads brother and they are raised by both.My dad is a very successful businessman, both my uncle and aunt are lawyers.And I feel forgotten and unwanted. This is what I’ve felt my whole life. I stumbled across a picture of him and my new step brother who seriously has the same name as my uncle. (Mikey).If you didn’t know him personally you wouldn’t know that he has actual children who he just acts like doesn’t exist. And it really hurts.I don’t like living my life and I feel so much pain. I just want to be my own man and move on to be successful. But I just feel so stuck and so hurt. via /r/offmychest https://ift.tt/2ToTAMR

TIFU by putting my 5 year old on a water ride

Buckle up (unlike us) this story is long. Obligatory "this happened last year."Last year, my husband surprised us with a trip to a local amusement park. It has lots of rides and it was the first time we had taken our Spawn.The day started great. We started with mini golf because we got there before the rest of the rides opened, it was a nice cool day for our side of the country, and we were playing to our usual family rules, which are to cheat, often and obviously. We had a blast and when the park finally opened, we went in. I have a 9 year old, who is usually pretty timid, and a five year old who is a constant whirlwind, just never stops.We decided to walk around the park and let them choose the first rides. My five year old immediately chose a water ride, for which she was just barely tall enough. There's not much of a line, we waited less than five minutes. The boats don't stop and don'thave seat belts. You just jump in and off you go! They're a ton of fun, and you get absolutely soaked during the ride. Our nine year old was with me, 5 was with hubs getting into the next boat.9 and I are in the boat when I hear a blood curdling scream from behind us. 5 has freaked out and won't get on the ride. Hubby takes her back to the entrance and waits for us.I think we could have convinced her that it would be OK, if the next part hadn't happened. 9 and I are approaching the last big hill to climb, soaking wet and cackling our faces off, when the boat ahead of us stops. We collide with them, and shortly thereafter two more boats hit us. We're stuck and there's no safe way off of this ride. Teenagers behind us are screaming that we're all going to die. Awesome.We sat for about half an hour, I'm comforting my kid and cracking jokes with the parent ahead of us, and two workers walk up to us on the safety rails. We're rescued! It took a lot of convincing to get 9 to walk the safety rail and hop the gap, but we did it. One of our rescuers told us that the water level was lower than it should have been and that's why the first boat got stuck. They closed the ride for half an hour to pump in more water. 5 was watching with my husband from an observation deck the whole time.5 no longer wants to go on any rides but the carousel and bumper cars, while 9 got a taste of adrenaline and wants to conquer EVERY. RIDE. IN. THE. PARK. I'm thrilled! My usually timid little is so excited about something previously deemed "scary." But 5 still isn't budging. Intermittently throughout the day, she asks to go try the water ride again. We try, repeatedly. She always backs out. That's ok. It's not a life or death matter. We're all having fun regardless.We're there all day alternating who is on the carousel or bumper cars with 5. Finally we're about to leave, ten minutes to closing time, and 5 decides she can't go without riding the water ride. We go back, and for the first time since the first ride, there's no line to wait in, and a boat is approaching. Hubs doesn't want to ride any more. He has back surgery two years previously and is starting to get achy. It doesn't matter, three can ride in a boat. 9 hops in, I follow. The water is rushing and loud, people are still screaming and the big roller coaster is roaring above us. I can't hear anything. 5 reaches out for me and I grab her and pull her in just before we cross the "too late" line.She's screaming. Absolutely terrified. "No mommy, I wanted YOU out! I don't want to, I don't want to, I'm scared!" She's screaming and clawing at me, trying to get out of the boat. There's nowhere to get out. We go through a dark cave and she's absolutely flipping out and I'm just trying like hell to hold on to her so she doesn't get hurt. I'm not a big lady. I'm 5'2" and she comes to my waist, and she's STRONG, from all the whirlwinding she does. We spend three and a half minutes screaming and struggling. She's crying. I'm crying. I feel AWFUL. I'm alternatively apologizing profusely for misunderstanding her and trying to comfort her as we're plummeting toward what has to seem to her like deep, open water. By the end of the ride we're both shaking, sobbing, her from terror, me because I feel like the worst mom on the planet. Still, a year later, she will not let anyone pick her up when her favorite thing used to be being thrown around on the trampoline and being held to fly like an airplane.TL;DR: Couldn't hear and scarred my five year old for life by pulling her onto a water ride at an amusement park when she wanted ME to get OFF. Still feel like my mom card should be revoked every time I offer a hug and she says "please don't pick me up." Still suspect that she peed on me during the ordeal. via /r/tifu https://ift.tt/31xiUoH

Am I lacking empathy for not caring if my uncle dies?

I know this sounds bad, but please hear me out. My (24f) uncle (64m) and I had a pretty normal relationship growing up. I’d stay at his place with my cousins on weekends my parents went out of town, we’d watch cartoons and have fun, and he was the fun uncle.As I grew up, I noticed that my mom (53 f) would give him handouts and help him pay for utilities quite often. No problem, he’s disabled, and hard times happen. But after a while, he started expecting it and acting entitled. It became a trend that he’d only call my mom or hang out when he wanted something from her, and I wasn’t ok with that because that’s her money, not his. He’d also do or say questionable things like siding with his daughter after her kids were taken away because she was abusing them or saying my mom was out to get him when she did nothing but help him.About 2 years ago, I talked to my mom and told her he was using her and she should cut him off. She agreed, but she told me that she felt really guilty. When I asked why, she told me he had abused her as a kid, and she felt like it was her fault and he didn’t understand what he was doing. He was in his teens, and she was under the age of ten, so I pointed out he should have known better by that age, and she had nothing to feel guilty about. She agreed and cut him off, though she still maintains contact with his son, who is a saint.She texted me yesterday letting me know he is now in the ICU dealing with stage 4 COPD, and he might not make it. I told her that I didn’t want to know anything because if I found out what hospital, I might speed up the process and then attend his funeral to dance on his grave. While she agreed, she told me that I shouldn’t stoop to that level and should show respect for the sick and the dead. I don’t feel bad at all. My family doesn’t know what he did apart from my parents and I, and I seem to be the only one to hate him for it and refuse to forgive him just cause he’s dying. Does that mean there is something wrong with me? via /r/SeriousConversation https://ift.tt/2Hqy8Va