u/lavender-bread

I have no one I can talk about this so I had to vent somewhere.

We're a family of immigrants. My sister got pregnant by accident with a guy she'd been dating for 3 months. Our parents convinced her to move in with him and marry him. She did (though they never got to marry), and it was a huge mess.

So a few years later they separated. My sister was left with the kid and she decided to bring in our mom to help her raise him, since she doesn't want his dad to be involved at all.

The thing is, our parents are abusive. They have been abusive to her as well. And now they're extending that same treatment to her kid.

I live in a different city so I'm unable to help directly, but I've offered help multiple times and each time she refused, for whatever reasons I don't understand.

I'm a nursing student. I have even considered going into pediatrics partly because I can help her with the kid and alleviate some of the burden.

But nope, she doesn't want me to interfere at all. She broke down one time and said our parents is all she has. It hurt me to hear her discard me like that, specially when I think having a sibling who's in Healthcare can be a huge help when raising kids. I know my aunt who is also a nurse helped us a lot when we were kids.

The kid has been diagnosed with ADHD. I have ADHD as an adult, so there's a chance he'll also have to deal with it the rest of his life.

She says our parents tell awful things to the kid and he cries every day. She claims she won't let them treat him the same way they did to her, and that she'll protect him, but I don't think you can do that while having them live with you. She says she doesn't even feel comfortable letting the kid alone with them.

And I think the worst thing is that she doesn't let the kid go to school. She claims she's homeschooling him, but she doesn't have any experience in teaching, our mom was a highschool teacher but she doesn't have experience with little kids, and I'm not sure how throughout is this homeschooling they're doing, or if it's happening at all.

So this kid, as far as I understand, is completely isolated. He doesn't have friends because my sister only allows him to be with her or with our mother.

My sister is also lying to the family court about what's happening, so even though I've looked up programs available to help families, she refuses them because she's scared somehow they'll find out the truth.

I'm at the end of my wits. I don't know what to do. It genuinely causes me distress to know they're fucking up that kid's life because my sister is not only fucked up in the head, but also refuses to let anyone help in any way, or seek help herself. She's effectively dragging that kid down with her.

And I would've called any authority in the matter a long time ago if it wasn't because we're already in a vulnerable position as we are, and it could make this worse.

I know my sister has been affected by how our parents treated her, and it's common for victims of abuse to cling to their abusers, but when a kid is involved, it's your responsibility as a parent to do what's best for them. And it seems like that hasn't clicked with her yet.

I know she has trauma and I know how difficult it is to raise a kid alone, but she's refusing everyone that isn't our parents, the same parents that beat her with a broomstick and said to her kid that he's weird. She's not protecting him as she thinks she is and idk this all looks extremely messed up and irresponsible of her.

Edit: thank you for the responses, I am looking into which authority in this country and help with this.

So I'm thinking of making this trickery domain cleric, but more like a benevolent trickster instead. I looked up in the forgotten realms wiki the deities that fit trickery domain but most of them are of evil alignment, and there are some inconsistent ones like Sune, who is listed for the trickery domain but it doesn't show up in her page. Tymora and Garl Glittergold are the only good aligned ones officially listed with Trickery domain, but I was wondering if there's any more?

I hate how slow this process has been. I first saw a gynecologist two months ago and I don't know why, but he put me to be seen by a general doctor after I did all the blood tests and ultrasounds. Even the ladies that schedule appointments said it was odd.

I've been waiting two months to get another appointment because apparently there's a waiting list. I've waited two months for them to call back and they haven't.

And I finally managed to schedule an appointment with an endocrinologist only to find that the earliest available date is on September. Great.

I mean better than not even knowing when I'll be able to see a gynecologist, but still.

I can't believe I'll spend about a year just beginning to treat my PCOS. And if whatever they put me on doesn't work, it'll probably take another bunch of months to set an appointment. This is torture.

Many years ago, I saw a glimpse of a gore video someone was watching on their phone when I was on the bus. It was very packed so we were basically squeezed next to each other.

I mindlessly glanced at his phone and saw him watching a video of two women laughing at a man lying dead on the ground. It was obviously filmed with a phone. The man was laying on his stomach, and a huge hole in the back of his head where you could see his brain slipping out. The two women were shoving their hands inside the hole and taking bits of his brain and shoving it in front of the camera, laughing.

I felt sick. It's been a couple of years since then and I still kinda remember those two women laughing while having bits of a brain in their hands. It haunts me sometimes, to know that there's people who are genuinely, irrevocably evil in this world.

Also this was many years ago, before AI got good at faking videos, so I know for sure this was real.

The last time I saw gory content was way back in the early 2000's where people would "prank" you on the internet by showing you jumpscares of gory videos or something similar. Like the one where the guy jumps off a cliff to a lake, and splits his head in two.

Anyway, it kinda makes me feel a bit dead inside knowing that people in this world, many people, take pleasure in other people's suffering. That they revel in it. I genuinely think there has to be something wrong with people who deliberately seek out this type of content, wanting to see people get murdered or suffering like that.

I don't know who was that guy, whether he deserved to be killed or having his corpse being toyed with like that. But it just shocked me the pure joy the women took in playing with his insides, like it was some sort of game. It escapes all my logic and reason as to why someone would enjoy that.

So as the title says, I like the forgotten realms setting and I want to learn more about the lore, but everywhere I look, the lore is... messy.

I'm not gonna lie, I played BG3 and I liked the world building. But after stumbling through the wiki and reading some posts here, I am still not sure where the FR world stands currently.

For example, there were a couple of cities that I liked, then turns out that in the latest events those cities are either destroyed or taken over by evil armies. Someone made a map of Faerun in the most recent timeline and I wish WotC made more resources like that to help people understand their world better.

Also this is just me, but I was disappointed to find that there is an entire continent which looks out to be FR's new world, and it's been pretty much forgotten in recent material. As a Latino, I was hyped to see what fantasy counterpart they could come up with based on south American culture, only to find the typical "ohhhhh human sacrifices and savage tribes and stuff".

(I think the closest thing I could find were some characters from Amn who have vaguely Spanish sounding names, and Amn being vaguely resembling of Spain history with taking gold from the Americas and having multiple colonies there.)

Anyway, I just want to learn more about it and not have a headache trying to make sense of it all. Are there any up to date books or resources about the world building someone would recommend to a total newbie?

So I recently saw a nutritionist and she gave me some guidelines about my diet, and I'm trying to follow it to the best of my ability, but the biggest problem is that I am hungry all the time and it's torture.

And it's not craving. It's actual, physical hunger. I know when I have cravings and this isn't it.

I cut off sugar. I finished all the sugar I had in my kitchen and haven't bought any more for about 3 months. I still got Splenda but I don't use it often, only when I make tea.

I cut off flours. No pasta, no pancakes, no bread of any kind, alright. A bit hard because I used to make peanut butter sandwiches in the afternoon, but I just replaced that with Greek yogurt.

I already cut off coffee because I have an anxiety disorder, so that was already a restriction I had from my psychiatrist before. I also only drink lactose free milk. No juices or any sugary drinks either.

And the stains around my neck are slowly getting lighter, but on the other hand... I'm so hungry all the time.

I woke up and had breakfast. She said 2 eggs and a slice of cheese. Two hours later and I'm hungry again.

I had lunch 3 hours ago. Rice and beef liver (I actually like beef liver). I'm hungry, again.

Is this supposed to be like this? Because I feel miserable, to be honest. I hate feeling hungry every few hours. And it's not like I'm doing intense physical activity, I'm just working on my desk.

Edit: forgot to mention, I have insulin resistance.

I'm 32 years old and sometimes I think about buying a car, since that seems easier than buying a house/apartment, but I'm terrified because even as a pedestrian I've had multiple incidents on the road because I get distracted.

Luckily I don't live in the US and I don't need a car. Public transportation is pretty good where I live. Cars are more like a luxury or commodity than something you need to get around.

But every now and then I think about getting a car to go camping or travel around comfortably with my dog, maybe even do some car camping, but I get terrified of whatever accident I could have on the road because I get too distracted while I'm out.

I used to have a bike and I nearly crashed into a car one time, and I scratched my knee pretty badly when I did everything to stop. And the place I currently live in doesn't have a parking space for bikes, so it's annoying having to drag it to my apartment.

Once again it's not a big loss for me, I just thought it'd be nice to have my own car, but I think ADHD makes me a menace on the road.

I've always been an extrovert. When I was a kid, I was really outgoing, and even today I still enjoy being around people and I feel energized after it.

But with ADHD it makes social interactions so hard. I feel like I end up babbling on and on about whatever I'm thinking about and I end up annoying people around me. I've always been told I talk a lot, or that I'm constantly seeking attention.

To nobody's surprise, I also have terrible anxiety. So I'm stuck between being anxious about doing the slightest wrong thing when socializing *and* wanting to socialize and talk to people.

I've been working from home for about 3 years and I feel so isolated. I still do it because it helps me save money and I'm also studying, so it makes commuting a bit less of a hassle.

But yeah it sucks to the point I feel so anxious I don't want to say a single word.

I only wanted a place to discuss my hobbies, as I have no one in real life who shares them and I like to express how much I like something without feeling out of place.

But so far I've found remorseless pedophiles, miserable people who just want to be angry about something or someone, and insufferable elitists.

Even when I make the most polite, insignificant questions, I get downvoted and someone finds something to be angry about.

I first thought ​maybe someone was tracking my posts and downvoting everything I post. But then I make another account and it was the same after a while. So it's the subs that are full of lunatics.

I am tired of dealing with this shit. It's so baffling how badly people want to spread their misery to others. Like it's a crime to not be as bitter or obsessive as they are.

"hey guys I have this opinion about this character"

"how DARE YOU to not feel like I do about this character!!!! you're obviously every -ism under the sun!! downvote!!"

Like I'm not even mad that people disagree with me. I'm fine with people not agreeing with me or having different points of view. What pisses me off is that people are looking for every opportunity to be as nasty as they can towards someone, just because. I already take a lot of shit IRL to be also taking shit online.

If the price of wanting to share my hobbies is dealing with bitter losers online, I'd rather go back to enjoy my hobbies in private. It makes me sad, because I don't have people to talk about them with in real life, but I also don't want lunatics online to ruin how I engage with the things I like.

Como prefacio, yo nunca he encajado con la cultura Venezolana. Hay muchas cosas que no me cuadran, y desde la infancia me he sentido como turista en mi propio país.

La viveza criolla, todo tiene que ser con enchufe o contactos, el acoso disfrazado de chalequeo, lo atrasada que esta la sociedad, etc. No le tengo amor al pais, y no tengo un sentido de pertenencia a un lugar donde he tenido mas que todo malas experiencias.

Me sentido mucho mejor después de emigrar. Logré estabilizarme y estoy planeando irme a Europa tan pronto termine mis estudios.

Ojo, no digo que Venezuela no tenga nada bueno y que otros paises no tienen nada malo. Pero incluso con las cosas buenas que puede tener, simplemente nunca fue el lugar para mi. Con o sin crisis, igual me hubiese ido. Quería saber si otros que han emigrado han tenido experiencias similares?

Warning: I am a D&D newbie whose only official sources are the 5e player handbook I got from the D&D Beyond app.

Why do clerics have maces as their default weapon? They are spellcasters, so why don't they get a staff?

I was thinking about this because in other RPG I've played like Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem, the healer archetype almost always wields a staff. You don't expect them to be doing melee damage in the middle of battle, so why give them a melee weapon?

Again, sorry for the dumb question, but I couldn't think of any other place to ask this.

This is going to be dumb as shit but whatever. I am scared of dying. I've thought about my own mortality since I was a kid. I'm turning 33 this year and that has just gotten worse.

I think about how my life has gone until now and I can only feel anger and regret at everything. At the fact that the situation at my home country got so bad I was forced to immigrate and spent my 20's working my ass off in restaurants and call centers to rebuild my life a bit. The fact that I was physically and mentally abused by my family and I'm still having to deal with it. The fact that it was until now that I was diagnosed with ADHD and my life could've been so different had my parents given a fuck and got me help earlier.

I didn't want to spend the last decades of my youth like this. I wanted to travel, to make friends, to do so many things. I had so many dreams. I hate that life had to fuck me over like this.

If I was fucked because of my own mistakes, fine, it'd be my fault and I could at least have done something about it. But the worst part about mass disasters, wars, or political strife is how powerless you are against all of it. You can do nothing. Only try to survive.

I've always been aware that my time in this world is limited. I hate that even at this age I can't make peace with that. Every day I think about how my life has gone, the time I have left, and how scared I am of dying.

I wasn't raised religious. Neither of my parents are particularly religious. So even when I try to turn to God for some comfort, I can't feel nothing. I wish there was a way to make me feel better, to make me feel like I'll be alright. But nothing has been able to save me from this dread of ceasing to exist. To not be able to be myself anymore, to not be able to experience or feel anymore.

I am now at an age where I have to start to prepare for my older family members eventually passing away. A family friend already did, and I wasn't particularly affected, but then what about my uncles and aunts? What about my parents? It's painful to watch them age.

My parents were abusive. But a part of me still wishes we could have a good relationship. I know it'll never happen, but I have nightmares about them dying and I feel so devastated that in this life, they never once cared about anything but themselves.

I just regret that things had to be like this. I have worked so hard to build a life where I can finally be in peace. But even now, I am so full of regrets.

And the worst part is, I am scared because I love this world. I love people, I love the sky, I love flowers. I wish I was here forever, to see it all. But I know I won't. I know everything ends one day, whether I want it or not. And I'm so scared of that day coming eventually, getting closer every year.

Nothing has been able to bring me comfort and I hate that everyone seems to accept it and I can't. I feel so stupid for being scared.

Ryukishi07 is a Japanese writer who is mostly known for the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. Recently he gained a lot of fame for working on Silent Hill f story.

A lot of people praise him for his stories having complex female characters and feminists views. And I also appreciate that as well, but Ryukishi07 is also a huge lolicon, which gives me conflicted feelings about him.

Like, can you call yourself a feminist when your stories have sexualized little girls? Yes, the other female characters are great, but I can't ignore how he fully supports child characters doing fanservice.

People have gone as far as calling Umineko no Naku Koro Ni feminist literature, and while I do agree the story is amazing and the female characters are as well, it also has questionable scenes about the younger female characters being sexualized. You can say this was toned down in later episodes, but it's still there nonetheless.

I dunno, I wanted to get you guy's opinion on this. I personally don't feel comfortable calling a guy a feminist while he fully supports having his child characters be sexualized. Maybe he can write great female characters and have progressive themes in his stories, but I can't ignore him being into little girls as well.

I just watched the anniversary video with the two Asuka, and I don't get all this hype around AsuShinji being confirmed or anything.

Yeah, Asuka has a crush on Shinji. That's not new. The Shinji we see in the video isn't the real Shinji either, it's all in her mind or some fantasy world.

I personally don't see why there was so much hype from this video. I saw it more like celebrating that Asuka from TV show will probably make a comeback.

But the part where she fantasizes about a life with Shinji and then rejects it came across to me like she wants to follow her own path, independently from whatever Shinji does or doesn't.

Anyway, I saw all these posts about how it was "confirmed" or how it was "canon", but all I saw was a revisit of Asuka's feelings about herself and Shinji. A bit of a stretch to say anything is confirmed about them, to be honest.

First of all, I don't get angry because people don't know things. I get a lot of calls from elderly people who don't know jack shit about computers or phones and while yeah, it's annoying, I can let it slide since I don't expect old people to know how to handle a tablet or browse a website.

I can even forgive people who live in rural areas, most of the time they don't know how to use a computer, much less how to troubleshoot basic stuff.

Still, I think in this day and age you're really getting yourself fucked over if you don't know how to to basic stuff in a computer. Most everyday paperwork is done online, sometimes you don't even have an option to go to an office and get it done there, so you're left having to go on a website either on a computer or phone or tablet. And more and more things are switching over to being done online anyway.

Ignorance isn't a sin, at least not in my book. Calling customer service/technical support and refusing to listen to anything they say and then get angry that things aren't working out for you is a fucking sin in my book.

And I try to be patient. It must be frustrating to deal with a machine you don't know how to operate. That's fine. But then what's the point of calling for help and then act like you don't need help? I've received so many calls from people who clearly don't know how to even browse a website and when I try to instruct them on how to do it, they just don't listen and do whatever they want, until they snap because it's not working and then I have to stand there to take it because call centers are allowed to let their workers get verbally abused like that.

"Now scroll down to the bottom and you'll see the option to-"

"Okay I scrolled down and I think I see it, I'll click on that"

"No, wait-"

"Now I'm on a page that doesn't have what I want, why is this so hard? It shouldn't be this hard!"

Jesus fucking christ Mike it wouldn't be hard if you just DID WHAT I TOLD YOU TO DO. WHY DID YOU CALL IF YOU JUST WANT ME TO STAND THERE WHILE YOU FUCK AROUND THE COMPUTER? AND THEN HAVE THE GALL TO GET ANGRY BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW JACK SHIT WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

Brother, you get angry at the person on the line (whose job is to help you btw) because you're incapable of following instructions. I get it, you probably have an inflated ego and pride and can't admit you don't know how to handle the big scary machine in front of you, but at the very least you should put that aside for 5 minutes and let me do my job in peace. For once.

Once again, I don't get angry because you don't know. I get angry because you want to act like a smartass while calling fucking tech support. It's the most self-contradictory thing ever. "Yeah bro my house is on fire and I came to the firefighter station to get help, but can totally handle it on my own, no prob".

I don't consider the 60 year old grandma dumb because she doesn't know how to use Google. I consider Cindy a dumbass because she called to get help with editing a word document and doesn't even let me talk.