Throwaway account.
I desperately need advice on this, at this point I am basically all out of ideas besides pursuing legal action (which I am open to doing). I live in California and I have already reported this to the BBB and Attorney General, but I am not seeing any progress. At this point, I do not even care about the money. I am more concerned about pursuing this further so they cannot do this to someone else who does not have the funds or resources I do. Would like advice on how to proceed, adding a timeline of events below:

• I decided I want to clean out my closet. I happen to enjoy designer things (purses, shoes, watches, etc.) and decide I want to sell them if possible. I contact the online consignment shop TheRealReal as I have bought a few items from the site previously and figure I could easily make some money from cleaning out my closet.
• February 11, 2023 - A representative from TheRealReal comes to my home to pick up the items. I used this service specifically because I didn't want to deal with shipping (and if things were lost in the mail, the liability was not mine. More on that later). The woman shows up, takes pictures of everything I have (20 items total), and sends me a copy of the pictures and a list of everything she took with her. I'm told the items will be up and sold on the site within 2 - 3 weeks. The total of all items I would estimate is over $4000, however I am fine with getting a fraction of that back after selling and commission fees, I just wanted to get the stuff out of my house.
• March 22, 2023 - I reach out to The RealReal via their texting customer service chat inquiring about where my items were at in the process as it had been over 5 weeks and I had no updates. The customer service agent says they will investigate the issue.
• April 2, 2023 - I receive an email indicating they have received my items and are reviewing them for quality and pricing for their website
• April 4, 2023 - I receive another email indicating that they have reviewed and already sold 6 of my items. At this point I assume the items were not lost, but simply not attached to my account. They had been reviewed and sold weeks prior. The 6 items sold were of lower value (maybe $100 - $200 each item). I'm told I will receive a check in the mail for the items sold. (I have since received the check.)
• April 7, 2023 - I inquire again to ask where my higher priced items are at in the process and indicate that I'm unhappy about the updates and progress and would need to pursue more action if I don't receive clear communication. After this email, I am ghosted until I start a new email thread.
• April 14, 2023 - I follow up again asking the same as above.
• April 19, 2023 - I send a letter to The RealReal outlining the above and indicate I will pursue additional action if I do not hear back from someone about the status of my items as it had been 2 months. I sent this via email and via mail.
• April 28, 2023 - I receive the following email:
  • Thank you for your patience. After further investigation, we were unable to rectify our inventory regarding your above items. I can understand how frustrating this may be. Rest assured I am here to help make this right and have begun the payout process for these items. This means that I will send all of the information on file for the items in the package to our Merchandising team (photos, designer, style, condition, etc) so that they may price the items. Once priced, I will let you know exactly when you can expect to receive your payment, and how much it will be for. The RealReal will then "purchase" the item from you, and issue your commission as if it had sold on the website. We’re sorry that your experience with us wasn’t more positive and look forward to rectifying it as much as we can.
• I responded with the following:
  • Though I appreciate the response, the above solution does not rectify the 3.5 months of waiting for your company to come to this conclusion. You accepted a $700 pair of shoes and a $500 scarf, among many of my other items, and lost them. I utilized your in-home pick up service to avoid any issues with shipping. Before payment, I would like a detailed list of what the merchandising team prices the item to be worth, especially for the more expensive items that were sent (hermes scarf, louboutin shoes, amongst others). Based on your policy, items not sold would be returned to me. Because this is not an option (as you have indicated above that The Realreal has lost my items), I am expecting the full amount of the "sale" to be returned to me, as my items can no longer be returned. The "expected commission" is not an acceptable solution when the items cannot be appropriately evaluated because they are no longer in your possession.
• May 7, 2023 - After sending the above email, I have not received communication regarding the missing items. I chose to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in hopes they can move the needle.
• May 9 - 2023 - I receive an email that TheRealReal has received my complaint and are investigating. I receive follow up emails (unprompted) on May 11, 13, and 15 letting me know they are still investigating.
• May 15 - 2023 - I receive a check for the 6 items they were able to account for.

After this, I have no further communication from them. It's almost June and I still have no resolution. They have no accountability for the additional items they lost, and no one has reached out to indicate how much they are planning to "price" my items for.
TLDR: The RealReal accepted $4000 of designer items and lost them. They tell me they will pay me for my items, then ghost me. They have provided no updates or clarification after almost 4 months of back and forth. Need advice on what to do from here. Thanks!

I (F25) get a lot of compliments na I'm smart, pretty, goal driven, independent and successful in my field. Tho I don't see that I'm at this point yet.
My friends encouraged me to try to be in the dating scene this year. NBSB ako and focus talaga ever since.
And since I got some free time pa, I agreed. May mga nireto sila and I did try dating apps. And usually 1-3 dates lang then di na nasundan 😆
After nilang nalalaman yun sa work, hobbies and interests ko is bigla ko ng naffeel na nagttone down yun chats nila. Yun isa ang Sabi pa is ang high maintenance ko daw. Lol
Then yun sa last na naka-date ko, he's a year older pero he's in a shakey finances and I offered help. Not financially, pero on how to manage it lang and I got him a side job sa past clients ko. Then bigla na lang nagtone down na nman haha. Nakita ko na lang na may nilalandi ng iba sa soc med. HAHAH.
Just a little context about me, di ako nagpapalibre as much as possible. Minsan pa nga I'm the one paying. And I don't mind. I'm in for a quality time lang talaga.
And di ko talaga gets yun high maintenance, Kasi di Naman ako maluho sa katawan. I like to buy on sales or in divi pa din. I came from a poor fam, studied in a state u and I worked really hard to be where I am now. I'm working hard kasi it's for myself and not impress anyone.
Kaya ayun, sabi nun friends ko sa LinkedIn na lang daw ako magtry para same wave length. HAHA.
PERO ayaw ko na hahah, antayin ko na lang na dumating kung meron man. Nakakapagod ng ulit ulitin kung ano favorite food ko.

So my parents own a manufactured/trailer as their summe weekend getaway. It’s lake front, but they don’t own the land and they pay rent for it.
They are getting up there in age and even though they love going there, my sisters and I never go anymore as it’s 3 hours away.
I can’t help but think this is such a bad investment at this point. I’ve been trying to convince my dad to sell it and buy some land. For example, there is land 12 miles from us that’s about 7-8 acres and it’s only 2.5 miles from a pretty big lake. Sure, it’s not on the lake, but it’s a very short drive. Honestly they don’t even need to build on it. Get a 5th wheel RV and dock the boat. I think they could honestly could pull enough from selling the current place where they could get the land and RV without anymore expenses.
Don’t these manufactured homes/ trailers just depreciate in value?
I just don’t want to see them lose all the money they put into this place and I hate the idea of not owning the land, where you’re at the mercy of the owners and rent.
Am I wrong for trying to convince him of this?

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I'm currently in the process of interviewing for a position that will, according to Glassdoor, offer you the job by the second interview.
This would be my first sales position. It's 40k Base + Unlimited Commission. 100% Remote. 15 days PTO. All of this sounds great but I went on Glassdoor and read some reviews.
There's a 8 week training program which sounds great (I want to learn) but supposedly they will fire you by day 60 if you aren't showing enough promise. But if you do, you get a $1500 bonus. From what everyone is saying, these reviews seem extremely mixed. The quotas are supposedly unrealistic (RepVue has them at 65% met), and will not tell you what the quota is that has to be met. Plus 80 calls a day, 10 emails, and 150-180 minutes of talk time. Turnover is supposedly very high because of these allegedly unrealistic goals. Also, from what I'm seeing the product is "bad" and the market oversaturated. It is in recycling/trash dumpsters. There are even said instances of people losing sales because orders couldn't be met and the company told them to sell regardless.
I am wondering if I should take this position if offered to me because I don't want to set myself for failure due to bad product/oversaturated market/unrealistic quotas. If I were to take this and get fired early on, could this have a black mark on any possible future sales job opportunities?

So I'm going to start this off with a preface. This is going to be a loooooong post/list. Also, I understand that they have to do licensing and crap for all these, so we probably won't ever see them. Especially the some of ones from older games. Or just older cars in general.
Also, I would like them to start adding rain to more tracks. Like I want to try and drive around a wet Bathurst/Mount Panorama, or a wet Monza. I know most people don't bother with the rain unless the game forces you to, but tbh I think that GT7 has the best rain physics and graphics atm.
Now some of these cars have been In basically every GT game up until Sport looks at Toyota GT-ONE so it's weird that they aren't in 7. Maybe they're working on them and we just don't know about it. Idk.
So for race cars from previous games I'd like to see in no particular order: Toyota GTONE (TS020), Bentley Speed 8, Panoz Esperante (are you seeing a pattern with the first 3? Lol), Minolta Toyota 88 C-V, Gillet Vertigo, Lister Storm V12, Opel/Vauxhall Astra and Calibra touring cars, Audi R10, Lancia Delta S4 (only after they completely rework their offroad physics though), Pescarolo-Courage - Judd, BMW V12 LMR, Peugeot 905, RE Amemiya RX7 '04 race car, Toyota 7 '70, Lamborghini Diablo GT-1, Lotus Esprit GT-1, TVR Cerbera LM, and Vector M12 LM.
If you've read this far, thank you for actually reading my race car list. Now for a much short list.
For non race cars from the previous games I'd wish for: Lotus Espace F1, Cizeta V16, Autozam AZ-1 (with a 13b rotary swap option please, or if you wanted something stupidly crazy, a R26B swap), TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Mazda Furai (RIP), Nissan Stagea, and Saleen S7.
Now in case you're wondering, yes I just looked up the car lists for GT2-6 and read through them.
Now the only 2 tracks I can think of (without looking up a list like I did with the cars), I would like to have come back are Seattle and NYC.
Now, for cars I would like to see added that haven't been in the game previously, again in no particular order (some I looked ip, and some are off the top of my head): Lancia LC2, Gr5 Lancia 037 Turbo, Ford Zakspeed Capri Gr5, Porsche 935-78 Gr5, Porsche 917/30, McLaren M8A Can-am, Audi GTO IMSA (or even the Trans-am one), Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, Jag XJR-14, the rest of the LMH AND LMDh cars, Porsche 919 EVO, Nissan Skyline Group A (the 4wd one that won at Bathurst), BMW M1 procar RACE car, Ferrari F2004, Williams FW-14, Jordan 191, and Porsche 911 GT-1 RACE car (cause the Mclaren and CLK got the race version so why not the 911?).
For tracks the ones off the top of my head are Sebring and Adelaide. I'm sure there's others, I just can't think of them atm.
So if for those of you who actually took the time to read through my lists, thank you. Anyway, what cars and tracks would you guys like to see come back or be added? I know a LOT of these won't happen, but you never know.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/PQD7VxR
Few items for sale. Come as seen in pictures. Payment via PayPal F&F only. PLEASE COMMENT BELOW BEFORE SENDING A MESSAGE. Discounts for multiple items purchased. Thanks!
PICTURES: https://imgur.com/a/pCt5uru
11.5" Geissele Super Duty Upper in well worn FDE. NO BCG & NO MUZZLE DEVICE. Includes the charging handle. This upper has been painted a stripped several times. This was my first serious upper purchase directly from Geissele. The round count is ~6-7k. Not a single malfunction the entire time of shooting that was not magazine or ammunition related. A fantastic upper that is bullet proof. The barrel is CHF so there is plenty of life left! - $400
18" Upper with Criterion CORE barrel 223 WYLDE 1-8 twist, Badger Ordnance gas block and rifle length gas tube, white T marked upper, and a SOLGW M89 16.75" MLOK rail. ~300 rounds. NO BCG, MUZZLE DEVICE, or CH - $550
PENDING SALE RMR RM06 3.25 MOA red dot. Includes original box. Some wear marks but works great. - $350
Beyond Clothing Makers L5 Pant in Tiger Stripe. Brand new. Size 34 Long. True to size. - $70
Unity MLOK Hot button. Minor use. - $90
PENDING SALE Surefire DS00 Tailcap. Used and painted. - $80
PRI AMBI Gas Buster Charing Handles in FDE, your choice of style. Lightly used. - $85ea
Railscales Anchor Vertical Grip MLOK/Keymod - Black. New in box. - $110
Payment via PayPal F&F only. PLEASE COMMENT BELOW BEFORE SENDING A MESSAGE. Discounts for multiple items purchased. Thanks!

Hey,
I'm currently 38 and I have worked for 16 years in the same company. It didn't pay well but they adopted WFH long ago which really suited my lifestyle. I hate commuting with a passion, traffic drives me insane and there are no jobs locally as I live in the countryside. The experience I have is an SaaS company in the Hospitality industry. I started off in support, moved up to implementation, account management and customer success. But really, all of these roles were merged into one so I was never officially an account manager or customer success manager. I gained a lot of experience and confidence in the product suite, I know everything a hotel needs to suceed digitally. Due to the small company I was allowed avoid 99% sales related work as I hate doing sales. I don't care what things are priced at, I don't care if we sell things or not. I just want to help the people that I deal with as best as I can.
Anyway, I'm feeling a bit old. I had to quit that job due to personal reasons and take time off work for 1 year now. I decided to do a course while I was off work in Full Stack Development. I would like to try pivot my career there but that will require a salary cut. Which I don't mind about at all. But now I'm looking at getting a job again and I just don't know what to do.
I read Customer Success Roles, it involves sales as well as the usual stuff. I seen some Technical Support Tier 2 roles I could maybe apply to but I almost feel over qualified for them. I have 16 years of experience and now I'm dropping down to a support role at 38? I feel unhirable.
1 - Go full steam ahead with my course and try get some Junior related job in software development.
2 - Get a job as a customer success manager and just do the sales related elements as they request and stop moaning. Then within that company try switch to Software development or alternatively suitable roles?
3 - What other WFH roles would be suitable for me to apply to?
TL;DR - Worked for 16 years in the same SaaS company. I feel like working for that long in 1 company has hindered my career greatly. Trying to salvage and apply my existing career elsewhere, must be WFH. What options do I have?

As the pack of Black Wolves swarmed the Wendigo, Elincia and I crawled behind the ferns trying to get away from the fight. Part of me knew I was being a burden to Elincia. With her night vision and elvish agility, she could probably break through the circle of Black Wolves.
The fight intensified, the chaotic barking of the wolves was deafening and the screeching cries of the Wendigo filled the valley as it clawed and crushed the lesser monsters in its wake.
Suddenly, a Black Wolf landed in front of us. Elincia's eyes were wide open and her face blanched, devoid of the little color it naturally had. The Black Wolf was wounded, its hind legs broken and its ribs exposed like white knives protruding through its skin. Elincia nocked an arrow but she wasn’t fast enough. The wolf let out a long howl before the arrow landed between its eyes.
Elincia’s eyes reflected pure and distilled terror as the Wendigo leaned over the ferns, just by our side, with its eyes fixed on the corpse of the Black Wolf. For a brief moment, the moon lit up the body of the monster. It was a tall bipedal creature with leathery slate-black skin. Its limbs were long and gnarled, and ended in long brackish claws. Its face was covered by an ivory deer-like skull. The slits in the skull revealed two bloodshot eyes that surveyed the surroundings with ill intent.
The System description said that the Wendigo was once a powerful shaman who got turned into a monster by corrupted mana. A shiver ran down my spine as I wondered what kind of unholy metamorphosis had created such a creature.
The Wendigo waded the fern bed, just above our hideout. I could hear the Wendigo’s heavy breathing above my head. The smell of rot was almost unbearable. Elincia covered her mouth with both hands as the creature’s arm touched the ground a few centimeters from my leg. I changed the weight of my body and tried to fold my leg. A twig broke under my hand.
[Awareness]: You have been spotted.
The Wendigo’s eyes snapped directly to Elincia and before I realized what I was doing, I pulled the trigger, shooting point blank directly into the creature’s head. The muzzle flash lit the forest for an instant and my ears rang. The Wendigo stumbled back, burying its claws on a tree to not fall. The creature clung there as the blood poured from its shattered skull.
“Gottem!” I yelled, thinking the Wendigo was as good as dead.
Elincia grabbed the neck of my jacket and pulled me back through the ferns just as the Wendigo raked its claws in a deadly arc just a few centimeters from my face. The creature screeched in anger.
“How in the flying spaghetti monster is that fucker’s alive?!” I said as Elincia pushed me behind a boulder, out of the Wendigo’s reach.
“I don’t know what spell you just used, but stay put.” The woman yelled but her voice came muffled under the insistent ringing in my ears. Luckily, [Awareness] helped piece together what she had said.
Without waiting for any confirmation she turned around and ran through the forest, putting some distance between herself and the Wendigo. Elincia’s bright emerald eyes shone behind the bushes as she nocked an arrow and pointed at the creature. I noted a surge of mana emerging from the woman's body and the arrow head shone with a silvery gleam. She let go and the arrow whistled with an unnaturally high pitch, burying deep into the wendigo's calf.
Piercing Arrow. [Identify] Basic archery skill that improves the projectile’s piercing capacity.
The Wendigo’s screech rocked my spine and I knew I needed to put an end to the fight quickly. If the creature had enough defense to withstand a point blank shot, it should also have similar offensive capabilities.
Ignoring Elincia’s commands, I peeked over the boulder. The forest was pitch-black and the skeletal figure of the Wendigo blended with the trees.
“Come on, Robert, use your head.”
I hoped Elincia’s night vision didn’t make her eyes too sensitive to bright lights.
Pushing the mana out of my body I conjured a cold blue flame in the palm of my hand that illuminated the forest around me. Shredded corpses of a dozen Black Wolves covered the landscape.
The Wendigo stopped in its tracks and turned its head towards the flame of mana in my hand.
“Crap.”
Without hesitation, I raised the muzzle of my shotgun and fired. The spray of metal shredded through the Wendigo’s spidery arm, leaving it hanging from a single tendon. The wound was gruesome but it wasn’t enough to stop it. The Wendigo glared at me and crossed the distance between us in a heartbeat.
With no time to reload, I dropped the shotgun and reached for my knife.
My hand closed around the handle of my knife and set my mana free. A swirl of shining blue particles surrounded me and turned the small knife into a blazing shortsword that lit the forest around me.
[Swordsmanship] injected information directly into my brain. Distance, speed, trajectory. The Wendigo tried to tear me apart but I sidestepped to the right just in time to dodge, then, I hacked diagonally but the mana sword bounced off the Wendigo's healthy arm, leaving only a small scratch.
It was harder than the Elder Black Wolf.
My mana sword was enough to cut the skin of the creature, I only needed more power. I poured even more mana into my knife turning it into a blue beacon in the dark casting the shadows of the forest away. The mana blade grew until it was the length of a two handed sword.
Blood stained the Wendigo’s cracked skull and its wounded arm flailed around lifelessly. It might not be weak to buckshot but it was weak to magic. And I had a lot of magic. The Wendigo followed me with its gleaming red eyes. Its movements were cautious but I didn’t let my guard down. I had to fight defensively. If the monster reached me once, it was over.
Suddenly, an arrow bounced off the Wendigo’s skin. The creature seemed to forget about me because it turned around and bolted towards Elincia. Just as the Black Wolf had attacked me back in the ravine, the Wendigo seemed to prioritize the weaker combatant.
“Run, now!” Elincia yelled at me. She stood her ground, nocking a second arrow and aiming at the three meter tall creature running her way.
“You run!” I replied as I ran behind the Wendigo while [Awareness] fed a stream of information directly into my brain. I couldn’t let it reach Elincia.
There was no time to retrieve and reload my shotgun and no time to experiment with [Mana Manipulation]. I remembered my new skill. [Stun Gaze].
Without even reading the skill’s description, I looked at the Wendigo and activated [Stun Gaze]. The spell hit the creature and bounced back at me. A stabbing pain shot through my eye, and into my brain. I let out a grunt of pain and pressed my free hand against my face.
Skill failed! Wendigo Lv.39 cannot be stunned. [Identify] Your level is too low to perform this action successfully.
[Stun Gaze] seemed to anger the Wendigo because it tried to stop its frantic race towards Elincia, stumbling on its ruined arm and crashing against a tree. I pumped even more mana into my knife and the blade got longer, broader, and heavier. Part of my brain wondered why a mana blade could have weight if the mana itself was weightless, but the wounded screech of the Wendigo silenced my thoughts.
I couldn’t allow fear to paralyze me if I wanted to save Elincia.
[Awareness]: Frightened status, resisted.
I let my mana flow free, further increasing its length until it was hard to wield. Suddenly, I felt as if I had been thrown into an ice-cold pool. A shiver ran down my spine and I knew I couldn’t sustain my technique for long. My mana pool was getting dry.
You have obtained Mana Depletion (Advanced). Temporary
I ignored the system prompt. The Wendigo towered over me and tried to reach me with its sharp claws. I blocked with my mana sword and with a furious strike, I shredded the Wendigo’s claws. The creature staggered back as I waved the sword around like a giant torch on its face.
Another shiver ran down my spine, threatening to lock my joints in place, and I knew I didn’t have much mana left at all.
I used [Stun Gaze] again and braced for the pain. The spell ricocheted back at me and I felt a stabbing sensation in my eye. This time, the Wendigo froze for a millisecond, just enough for my [Swordsmanship] to find an opening. I slashed downward from left to right, putting all my strength in a single attack.
The blade sliced through the Wendigo’s skin, meeting more resistance as it went deeper into the creature’s body until it lodged deep within its chest. Instinctively, I tried to retrieve the sword but it was stuck. I closed my eyes and waited for the Wendigo’s claws to shred my body. But the blow didn’t arrive.
Dark crimson bloom of blood stained the Wendigo's hide, illuminated by the fading light of the mana blade. The Wendigo produced one last weak screech and fell to the ground just as the light of my blade failed.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You have obtained Mana Depletion (Critical). Temporary
My vision blurred and my legs faltered, the only thing that kept me on foot was the mana sword stuck in the Wendigo’s spine. When my last speck of mana was burned, the blade disappeared and I fell back but before I could hit the ground, Elincia caught me.
“We fucking did it!” Elincia said with a frenzied smile on her face. Then, she wrapped me in a tight hug that pushed all the air out of my lungs. I couldn’t help but notice how strong her arms were.
If I had to guess, she had leveled up a couple of times.
I didn't want the embrace to end but Elincia pushed me back and helped me sit on the forest bed. The moonlight shone a hole in the canopy, casting silver sparkles on her hair. She smiled enthusiastically and patted my back with a little too much strength.
“I swear I thought we were dead, but then you raised the metal thingy and bam! One arm less! You were pretty cool out there.” Elincia beamed. Her chest went up and down at an alarming rate and she had to take a moment to calm down. “I think I’m still a little deaf.” She added with a smile from ear to ear.
Leveling up was a hell of a drug.
“Praise me more.” I rasped as I let out a weak laugh. Both my body and my mana pool felt like a piñata at a children’s party.
Elincia’s expression suddenly became serious and a shadow of embarrassment flirted with her face. “Thanks for not ditching me back there, and I’m sorry if I was too harsh with you. You are a good man, Robert Clarke.”
I didn't know how to answer. It had been quite a while since I had received a compliment and my brain was too tired after being overfed by [Awareness]. I mumbled something unintelligible. Not even [Master of Languages] could help me to find the right words, however, I didn’t have to search more because a sudden prompt slapped my field of vision.
New title acquired!
Hot for Teacher. [Identify] Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad, I’m hot for teacher.
“I’m not a pathetic dude who falls for the first girl that talks nice to me…” I stuttered as my consciousness slowly slipped away. The edges of my sight slowly blurred.
You have obtained Denial Lv.1. Temporary.
“Oh, fuck off.”
Elincia’s worried face floated in front of me. “Rob? Are you okay? If you talk in your weird language I can’t understand.” She said with a hint of panic in her voice.
It might come off as judgmental and foolish, but I didn’t believe in love at first sight. It seemed too frivolous to me. No matter how cute, funny, and caring Elincia was, there was no way I was falling for her. And there was the fact she had a kid and, probably, a husband.
You have obtained Denial Lv.2. Temporary.
I wanted to fight back, fight against the idea I was falling in love, but my mouth couldn’t move anymore. The world around me darkened and my body became too heavy to sit straight. Elincia tried to keep me awake, first softly hitting my cheeks then shaking my shoulders. I tried to growl but no sound came through my lips.
“Rob? Rob? Don’t close your eyes, Rob.” Elincia said.
But I was so tired.
Elincia frantically searched her pouch for a small vial of translucent liquid. She pulled the cork and smelled the contents. Whatever scent she was looking for, it seemed to make the grade. Elincia opened my mouth and poured a drop beneath my tongue. I felt the effects of the potion spreading through my body, filling the hole inside my mana pool if only a little bit.
“Rob?”
The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was Elincia’s concerned voice.
* * * * * *
I woke up with the first rays of sunlight next to the remains of a campfire. More specifically, my [Awareness] skill awakened me with a stream of information filling my brain. The sound of the birds, the position of the sun, my bodily condition. I ignored it all. I felt drained. If a creature wanted to eat me I couldn’t do much to defend myself.
No. I had made the decision to stay in this world, now I had to face the consequences of my actions. Begrudgingly I opened my eyes just to find Elincia sitting on the other side of the campfire, by her side there was my shotgun and my knife.
“Morning.” I greeted, stiffly sitting up and taking a long sip from my water bottle.
“Morning, hero.” She greeted me with one of her mischievous smiles. However, this time I noted a hint of mistrust in her voice.
“Something happened?” I cautiously asked. After receiving that silly title from the System I had dropped like a sack of potatoes. I glanced at Elincia, searching for answers, and I couldn’t help but notice both my weapons were on her side of the campfire.
“Look, I’m not accusing you of lying or anything, but you are not a Scholar.” Elincia said with a conflicted tone. “After what you did to the Wendigo last night I know you have a fairly high level. What are you really? A Runeblade? A Spellblade?”
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
Elincia’s bow rested on her lap.
“Killing a Wendigo isn’t a feat a low level Scholar could achieve, I’m not that dumb. So tell me what those skills were.” Elincia replied pointing at my weapons. “Your explosive spell pierced through the Wendigo’s skin but Scholars can’t learn Elemental magic. Much less such powerful spells. Same goes for your [Mana Blade]. That’s a Spellblade skill, not a Scholar skill.”
I stretched my back and drank another sip from my water bottle while [Awareness] filled my brain with information. Elincia’s accusations revealed that she couldn’t peek into my status screen. It was a relief to know the System had some sort of privacy settings in place considering my last title, but privacy also made things more difficult.
“The artifact you have next to you is called a shotgun. It is a non-magical item that shoots high speed metal pellets created by a… Tinkerer.” I explained but Elincias facial gesture still showed doubts. “You probably tried to use it but it doesn’t have ammo in it. You can’t shoot a bow without an arrow nor can you shoot a shotgun without one of these.” I added pulling one of the remaining two shells from my pocket.
“Explain.” She said.
Next, I proceeded to explain how to operate the shotgun. Elincia opened the barrels and I explained how the explosive powder sent the pellets through the barrel at ridiculously high speeds.
“I’m not going to perform a demonstration because I only have two shells left. Without ammo, a shotgun is as good as a club.” I said as Elincia tried the mechanism without a shell inside the chamber. Bow and arrow safety might be similar to trigger discipline because Elincia kept the muzzle away from any of us and only put the finger on the trigger when she was going to shoot.
“What about the [Mana Blade]? There is no way your knife is a magic item, no matter how much mana I poured into it I couldn’t make it work.” Elincia continued with the interrogation.
“What do you mean? That was [Mana Manipulation].” I replied, summoning a small mana knife in the palm of my hand with the leftover magic power I had. Elincia’s mouth gaped.
“You are mana depleted! You are not supposed to be able to do that!” The half-elf woman jumped on her feet. “You can’t materialize a magic blade without the proper skill!”
I shrugged my shoulders and shaped a second mana knife.
I already suspected that my mana pool was something out of the ordinary and now I knew to what degree. The amount of mana I had was probably thanks to the System. The thought of telling her about my world crossed my mind. A world without magic, without classes, and without skills. A world where one had to practice for years and years to become minimally proficient at any task. I wanted to tell Elincia about the marvels of the modern world but I feared she took it as the words of a madman.
People who claimed to have traveled to other dimensions were deemed crazy back on Earth. In these lands it couldn't be much different. For Elincia, a systemless world might sound like a thing from fantasy.
In another situation I would’ve dismissed the allegations calling them baseless, however, deep down I wanted Elincia to believe in me. I scratched my chin, deep in thought. Actually, there was something I could try that might prove that I was a Scholar.
I used [Identify] on her.
Name: Elincia Rosebud, Half-Elf (Light-Footed, Night Vision).
Class: Alchemist Lv.26
Titles: Governess, Wild Child, Bad Reputation, Loner, Copper Alchemist, Favorite Teacher (5).
Passive: Archery Lv.3, Tracking Lv.5, Farsight Lv.1, Foraging Lv.5, Purify Water.
Skills: Potion Crafting Lv.3, True Shot Lv.1, Piercing Shot Lv.1.
Elincia’s potion pouch hit my face before I could react, breaking the skill contact and vanishing her character sheet.
“Hey! Are you identifying me?” She said in an unusually high pitch.
The half-elf cheeks were fiery red, contrasting with her usual paleness. While her hand searched for another projectile to throw in my direction, I pondered about my findings. Elincia’s skills and passives were fairly low level compared to her class level. It was possible both numbers were independent from each other. Class level might rise by gaining experience from monsters while passives and skills might grow by mastering said skills.
A twig hit my forehead, crashing my train of thought. At least I had discovered the etiquette regarding identifying other people. Despite the fact I would’ve died of shame if someone saw my titles, I tried to identify Elincia one more time as vengeance for the twig.
“Okay, okay, okay! You are a Scholar, I believe you! I’ll fulfill my part of the bargain. I’ll take you to Farcrest.” Elincia said, trying to regain some composure. She was still red as a beet. “But that doesn’t mean I completely trust you, hero.”
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I feel like I am one of very few DM shareholders who think that merging into Stratasys is a very good thing for both companies long-term, even though it means it will take longer to see a significant level of gains for those who have low to middle-single digits DM cost basis averages (i.e. $1.13-7.00). Am I the only one who thinks there is excellent potential for where the combined entity will be 10 years out, let alone 20 years out? Combined they have the printers, materials, software, distribution/sales network, and customer base to become a powerhouse.; not to mention the number of patents/IP and the level of R&D expertise to keep adding more materials to be printed.
I've worked out models based on average CAGR of 15% in revenues (starting from $810 million in 2023), 125 million outstanding shares, and certain valuation multiples (3X P/S to 5X P/S) that give a fairly conservative low point of $80 and a high point of $200 in SSYS share price 10 years from now of which higher CAGR could bring even higher share prices and valuations. As I said, these are low values and factor in decent amount of growth in additive manufacturing TAM based on historical trends which did not contain "mass production of end-use parts" which is not what additive manufacturing to date has contributed much towards.
Thus if you start with these base points and increase CAGR rates and valuation multiples keeping the outstanding share count intact, you're looking at higher numbers. Nothing is guaranteed, especially the higher valuations, but one can see that potential. The only difference is that DM shareholders are now only 41% of the combined business (which still is more than they would've obtained if using the exact share prices at close of 2023-05-23) so you get just below half of the piece of the pie... but when that piece is huuuuuge does it matter if you get $200 or $400 share price if your SSYS-converted average cost basis is $10-40?
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Hey everyone first post here. I'll try not to bore you all with too many details, just a quick brief overview so it can set the scene.
I have had chronic back pain since a workplace incident in 2010, eventually getting it to a manageable level I returned to playing non-contact sport around 2019 and things went great - for about a year. I had an incident on the sporting field where I landed on my neck.
As a result I now have permanent nerve damage in my neck, my left arm has constant pins and needles etc.
Adding to this I also suffer from severe anxiety and depression.
- - - Now after 18 months the prognosis is they can try to operate but there is no guarantee it will help. I don't want to be operated on, especially as it is in my neck - my spinal cord etc.
I have gone to my doctor (geez I have ZERO faith in her skills - she has so many stuff that's not on my file like when I had covid, she's deleted my prescription history 'because I'm not using those tablets anymore' and so much more) and wanting to get my injury classed as finalised.
Yesterday I received a call from the local hospital asking me to call and make a Physiotherapist appointment with their team... this is what is scaring me and really has me wondering whether I can cope mentally.
I understand the importance of physiotherapy I do, but no one is listening to the pain I am in and the effects this has. I will go to this appointment they will bend me, stretch me, give me exercises to do. I will come home, my body will be burning in pain, the pins and needles radiating everywhere.
I will be bed ridden for four days - this includes having to get my wives help to get up to go to the bathroom, get her help to sit up to eat etc. Then... just as I am able to function like an actual human again - you've guessed it its been a week and so time for the next appointment - rinse & repeat.
I am so concerned my mental health cannot take it- I can function relatively well as it is with some good days and bad days, on my bad days it takes a toll. Having 5 days a week where I feel like a complete waste of space and a drain on those around me - all while just being in more pain - does not sound like fun to me.

over the weekend, due to a combination of factors i started and hit 65 on my third character, a Orion KDF. i have yet to complete all avilable "story" missions on any of them, with the furthest being my first character which got through most of the dyson sphere missions before i decided to grind him to max level.
I think im ready to seriously consider a fleet, as i have come to understand there are fleet variants of ships that are better than the account unlocked Zen purchasble versions.. the best Excelsior for example is that one legendary one, but i dont wanna spend that much for my favorite ship. i am as a result torn on doing account wide T6 resolute or joining a fleet for the Fleet Advanced Heavy variant. i am aware that you can get a few fleet modules free, also that owning certain T6 gives module discounts for fleet variants... maybe benefical to get the one for all characters that i want to play with it and use the discount for the one i think could use it? honestly i might just get a Dilitium version
which leads me to my various characters.. by far my favorite was the Romulan, because it hit so many more story beats that did not feel like they were reliant on existing trek lore.. its story was longest, the most stand alone, and honestly satisfying... Origional Trilogy starwars surpassing in some ways to me, and reminiscent of. honestly the green Rom/orion hybrid i made for the run is also kinda the best looking in many reguards too. i wanna do the other Fed starts eventually too.. for sure my favorite is romulan due to the looks of that charater and the fact that there is Green Galore in their ships, which is my favorite color. i cannot stress how much i like green.
I actually learned how to demorecord, and make screenshots in free camera in the middle of typing this.
for the most part, a lot of the made for STO ships are not my style... but i think my favorite is the Vo'quv carrier... a MASSIVE ship that can hold full sized birds of prey is just such a fun concept, with the Customization options i did, it looks like a D7 ajacent design and actually fits TNG era trek klingon design. i also really like the Hapax warbird, which i started considering a T6 for, but have decided to wait until i can get the 2 variants i need to make it as fully functional as possible. Universal consoles kinda suck that you cannot get them without getting a ship that comes with them, unless i have missed something, i am still kinda new here. as far as i can tell tho, to get the Dual Vector assault on the Kara warbird, i need the Hakona as well, which provides the console.. I am a massive green Fiend, and if a better sale comes along will probably get the 2 ships needed to make that ultimate Kara..
which gets me to the last thing, Zen. yes i took advantage of the sale and have gotten the one T6 i genuinely intended to get from the start.. A Terran Lexington cruiser. its a Ody with a fighter hanger and a spinal lance! half the reason i want the Kara is because when fully outfitted it has not only a hanger and the lance but can do the prometheus thing where it splits into several ships! the combined cost with the discount that just ended was 4400, and being new, i didnt want to rush into that.. still tho its something i definitely want to do at some point.
i am enjoying the game a lot. I am still mostly staying in what is mostly starting content. Fleets are a concern as i do want the advantages they provide but playing multiple characters and the restrictions that most seem to have make that complicated and i am very cautious and unsure about actually joining one. I have a D'deridex which gets one of my top two favorite ships, even if it is slow and lumbering, i honestly cannot say i expected elsewise. I imagine Excelsior will be similar when i pull the trigger on one, and am sad that getting a Excelsior II is locked behind RNG of either Lootbox or one being reasonably priced on the exchange, which i have recently started looking into as well.
so overall, i am having fun. a lot of the higher end stuff is still out of my reach, quite possibly due to spitting my time over the past two weeks between 3 differant characters.. i use TFOs for finding upgrade to my gear as much as getting the energy credits still. there is that looming sense of "F2P walls" of time or money, but there is enough to play with that it doesnt feel like i cannot get far without feeding a Ferengi. about my only complaint so far, is i find it weird to see SO MANY BEAMS coming out of federation ships, which cannocially only fired one or two arrays at time due to energy constraints and the fact that those arrays were not really ment to fire like that. i actually wish they would "combine" beam arrays so they fire as a single beam.. same effect gameplay wise but visually closer to the seires the game is based on. honestly tho its a minor complaint and one i dont see changing given the age of the game.
i will also say, early levels are very very easy compared to 40+. Maybe its equipment or something but it seems by the time i hit around 30 or so in a new character the game goes from nothing really being able to hurt you to progressively harder. honestly the oppsite of the typical F2P powerfantasy, but i can see from other players that is probably due to gear as the number of times i have watched something like a Kelvin Vengance dreadnaught fly at warp 3 between objectives to instantly annilate everything in sight is pretty typical of F2P progression systems.. im not a expert on F2P games, but i played warframe, which starts of really easy, suddenly got hard, then became easy once you min-maxed builds..
as someone who loves theorycraft, min-maxing, just having fun with other builds, honestly im looking forward to getting where i can do experimental endgame builds.
​
well, that was.. long. longer than the last 2 anyways.. i feel like i just typed up a short essay.

I see a lot of expats posting about problems and challenges in their new country, and I am not objecting to that. When you're unhappy, this can be a good place to find some support or at least a sympathetic ear. But I've lived outside of my home country for nearly three decades now, and I'd like to share my story and some of the positives I've experienced.
I was born and raised in Norway. By all accounts, that's winning the birth lottery. I'm proud to be Norwegian, and that will always be a part of my identity. However, in my teens, small town Norway felt kind of boring, and I wanted an adventure, so I went on a pilgrimage.
I was a computer geek before geeks became popular. When you're a computer geek, Mecca is in Silicon Valley, or at least it was back then. And so for my first real trip outside of Scandinavia, I moved to California as a high school exchange student.
High school was different. There was homesickness, but there were also new friends, new activities and a whole new climate. I arrived proficient in reading and writing English, but my spoken accent was very characteristically Norwegian. By the time I left, I was basically fluent. A slight accent remained, but it was no longer a barrier to communication.
I came home with a very pro-US viewpoint. I was dazzled by this land of opportunity, and in retrospect, I was overlooking some of the negatives, even back then. But I decided that I wanted to go back to the US for college.
I did exactly that. This time, I moved to Texas and enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. This was my first experience really trying to live on my own (in California, I had had a host family) and it would be a lie to say that the international factor didn't make it extra intimidating. My dorm roommate told me he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be that far away from his family. Then his parents moved from Houston, Texas to Fairbanks, Alaska, so I guess he got to find out.
Even I can't find anything positive to say about dorm food, and there were some other problems. Surviving and thriving on a student budget could be tough, for one thing. But there's a silver lining to every cloud. I was able to obtain an off-campus work permit by showing the US government that the strengthening dollar had left my scholarship (in Norwegian currency) inadequate. Work permit in hand, one of the easiest student jobs I could find was a bus driver position with the university shuttle system. Not exactly your typical job for a computer science student, but it paid surprisingly well and I could schedule my shifts around my classes, so it proved a great fit. The only drawback was that junior drivers got no work over the summer when the university ran a much reduced bus schedule.
I solved that conundrum by going into trucking...helped in part by a really nice road trip I had stumbled into with a trucker friend the previous year, and by statements from him and others that I wasn't the trucker type and would never make it in that industry (challenged accepted!) Over the next few years, I was a college student from September through May, and drove trucks coast-to-coast every summer. I made it through 46 states and got paid to see the country.
That likely wouldn't have happened in Norway. Not because Norway doesn't have truckers, but because that kind of random detour from the "ideal" career path wouldn't sit well with Norwegian society. Norway likes social order. America likes individualism. I found that American friends found my little detour into trucking cool while Norwegian friends mostly just found it...odd.
Fast-forward a few years, and my first job offer out of college landed in my lap very unexpectedly. Through a friend in Norway, I landed my first full-time job. However, it wasn't in the US. Or in Norway. It was in Vienna, Austria. And it was too good to turn down, especially in an IT job market on life support after the .com bubble burst.
So I packed my bags and moved to Vienna. I still had an overly positive view of the US, although the way the US conducted itself in the wake of 9/11 would shake those convictions to the core. The job in Austria was fantastic in every way, I had fun at work, I had supportive coworkers...and then I had a few challenges.
One of them is that I have asthma. And in Austria in 2001, people still smoked inside. The first thing that happened in my new job is that I had to walk in and tell the three people I was sharing an office with that they could no longer smoke in the office. Thankfully, HR backed me up, but that didn't exactly win me any popularity contests I tried to be humble and explain as best I could that the asthma was beyond my control, and that did work...eventually. The ice thawed, and I settled into my new job.
But what about when it was time to go home? I did not have much of a social life at first. In the beginning, I could blame the language barrier -- much like my school English, my school German was inadequate at first. My coworkers were mostly fluent in English; the rest of Austrian society, not so much. And after all, I was in their country, it was only proper that I should learn THEIR language. So I put a lot of effort into that, speaking German with my coworkers and with anyone else who would put up with me. This was when I ran into another typical expat problem: Whenever I encountered an Austrian who spoke English, he/she would detect my foreign accent and switch to English unprompted. It took me a while to pick up on Austrian accents in general and Viennese German in particular, but eventually, I did.
That still didn't help my social life. Nor did the fact that bars and other similar venues were off-limits due to the aforementioned asthma. My coworkers were nice and polite, but Austria seems to have a bit of a taboo against socializing with coworkers outside of work. Truth be told, this is a nut I never quite did manage to crack. I did eventually make a number of friends in Austria, but the majority were fellow expats.
One of those friends was an American who had moved to Austria for personal reasons, but still tried to run a business along with a business partner of his back in Florida. To make an already-long story somewhat shorter, they hired me on a skilled worker visa and I moved back to the United States. I was excited to be in the US again, and I was not sorry to leave Austria behind. But I also don't regret taking the opportunity I was given in Vienna. I learned a lot from my years there.
Since then, my career path has been more normal. I've mostly lived in Florida since, with the exception of a few years back in Norway during the Great Recession. Even then, I wound up working for a well-known US company, so I'd sit in Norway fielding conference calls from Oklahoma and Texas. Then I moved back to Florida again because my wife (now ex-wife) decided she didn't want to live in Norway. At this point, I've lived in Florida continuously since 2012. And while I miss friends and family in Norway, life in Florida has been good to me. I've met great people here, and I've had adventures that wouldn't have been possible back home.
My asthma likes the Florida climate. Warm and humid sounds like a nightmare to some, but that warmth opens up my lungs and the humidity keeps the worst of the pollen out of the air. On the social scene, many Europeans call Americans "superficial", but I find that makes it easier to break the ice and make friends. So not everyone you meet is going to be your new BFF, but what's the harm in meeting them anyway?
People often ask me why I would leave Norway when the quality of life there is "so much better" (their words, not mine.) But quality of life is subjective. Sure, there are things I like better in Norway than in the US, but the reverse is also true.
Life has not been the straightforward path I'd envisioned in my teens, but it has been an adventure so far, and I can't wait to see what's around the next corner.

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Release Date: Nike SB Janoski OG+ Gorge Green
Have you has the chance to check out the Nike SB Zoom Janoski OG+? Recently unveiled in the Alabaster colorway, here is an official look at the Nike SB Zoom Janoski OG+ Gorge Green.
The Nike SB Zoom Janoski OG+ is a new skate shoe that combines features from the original version with an improved design. It comes with a design that makes the shoe more comfortable and has an overall better fit on the foot, both which will help you perform better on the the skateboard. This pair is fully constructed out of a Green suede upper with Black tongues, collars, and heels. Other details includes waxed laces, Stefan Janoski branded tongue labels, embroidered Swooshes on the sides and Cork insoles. A White midsole atop a Black rubber outsole complete the look.
Retailing for $95, the Nike SB Zoom Janoski OG+ Gorge Green is set to release on June 10th at select Nike Skateboarding retailers and Nike.com.
In release news, will you be going after the Air Jordan 1 High OG Washed Black on June 10th?
UPDATE (5/29): Nike announces the Nike SB Janoski OG+ “Gorge Green” will be releasing via SNKRS and select retailers on June 10th for $95.

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Release Date: New Balance 550 White Canvas
Suede, mesh and leather are all common materials we’ve seen on the New Balance 550. But, canvas? That’s a different one. Here is a look at the New Balance 550 White Canvas.
Opting for a tonal aesthetic, this canvas iteration of the New Balance 550 is given an upper constructed out of a textile hemp fabric. Joining the hemp build is the matching colored mesh tongue labels with the bit of suede material appearing along the collar and “N” side logos. Recurring features such as the signature “NB” and “550” branding remain in play. White laces anda Cream-colored rubber sole round out the main features of the sneaker.
Retailing for $120, look for the New Balance 550 White Canvas to release on June 1st at select retailers and NewBalance.com. The retail price tag is set at $120 USD.
In release news, will you be going after the Air Jordan 1 High OG Washed Black on June 10th?