I'm ready to get totally clowned on here but honestly how do you count. So far I've been making do with vibe "counting" (getting used to match ups and know the opponent will reach a move at the same time as me so I know when to catch, try for CMP etc.) but I always get hard stuck around mid-Veteran and would like to be able to break through this barrier. I feel like I have the general skill and lots of good IV meta mons so counting is what's holding me back.

I've had my pro friends explain it to me irl and obviously I get the general concept of it but I'm a dumdum when it comes to math (especially mental math) so my brain short circuits when I have to start factoring in all the different turn type moves. (This is especially why I hate going against Incincerate users lol). Sidenote is that the mental math on the fly element is why I always tell people who talk down on pogo PVP that it requires a lot of skill (a different type of skill, obviously, from like VGC).

Anyway, is there a super simple ELI5 for dumb people method for counting that doesn't require you to do constant mental math on the fly? Or am I just cursed to never get counting?

I tried Catch Cup but I don't have anything worth building or running that I caught this season... and I've been playing Guinea Pig Cup since it launched but the past 2 days have been insanely laggy, like 3/5 sets have frozen to where even closing and reopening the app doesn't help and I'm forced to take the loss.

So now I'm being forced to play ML. And frankly it's kinda fun because I'm busting out my bb Meloetta and it's catching a lot of people off guard :) (only ACE ELO before you ask)

My mother just passed away. I had to send her active passport back to Gatineau for it to be made inactive.

I went to Canada Post and they said the very minimum option with tracking is $18. That seems absurd to me, beyond the fact that I can't just submit it to a Service Canada location.

I live in the US for work at the moment and I figured I'd rush send it while I'm interring her ashes in Canada. It costs about the same to send it via UPS or USPS from New Jersey compared to what it cost from Ontario to Quebec. How is this even a thing?

So I'm already extremely annoyed that all my photos have to be redownloaded in order for me to view them properly but I get that that's a part of iCloud Photos or whatever.

But I was recently traveling quite a bit and made sure to download two PDFs from my Dropbox into my Files app on my phone so I could read them while I was on the plane.

I downloaded them at the gate, made sure that the files in Files showed NO cloud icon, and made sure to open each up in Preview to ensure that they were openable and fully downloaded.

Guess what happened the second we took off? I go into Files and... you guessed it, the PDFs were somehow not openable and they had the cloud icon next to them.

Literally within 15 minutes, I downloaded files and then they were automatically deleted and put into cloud storage. No way for me to "make available offline" like in Dropbox or GDrive.

And to add insult to injury, I went to look in Dropbox and the files were sitting there available for me to view even though I hadn't made them available offline!

WHAT THE HELL APPLE. LET ME DOWNLOAD THINGS TO MY PHONE PERMANENTLY.

I have a CDG polka dot wallet that has a lot of sentimental value (from a loved one who passed) but it's a bit worn down.

Does CDG offer any services to renew/repair leather work? Or if anyone knows of third party services that do that, I'd be grateful to know.

Thanks.

CAVEAT: I'm only just starting Season 6 here so please no spoilers for the rest of the series please

After the White Caps separation, the reunion at the end of S5 seemed pretty lowkey/anticlimactic. Which is fine, not everything has to be fireworks.

What I did seem to miss was a moment where Carmela really decides that she has to compromise herself to get back together with Tony.

Obviously she realizes she lost after Tony tainted all the lawyers. But I feel like after the very explicit scene where we see Carmela make a spiritual choice to "cheat" on Tony with the principal, we never really see her interiority again.

There is that kinda subtle moment where she basically asks Tony for a bribe (the spec house funding) and you can see it on her face she knows what she's doing. Subtlety is fine, and this show is wonderful at it, but after that, the reunion proceeds as if nothing happened at all and they live in "marital bliss" again, with Tony bribing her with a car and jewelry, etc. and then they have a typical sitcom arc of loving the sushi restaurant (which I loved btw). We don't see any internal conflict from Carmela again, about choosing the "life of sin" of enriching herself from mob lucre, or even an emotional conflict about still feeling betrayed by Tony but choosing to suppress that in favor of material comfort.

I dunno I'm just curious if at the time of airing, everyone saw this as a natural progression for Carmela as a character or if people felt it was a bit hollow, as I do now?

Okay so I've been sitting in bulkhead a lot thanks to free upgrades on United (and I might actually stop because I'm finding the extra leg room is not usually worth all the trade offs) BUT one thing has been coming up a lot and that's people just tramping through that area to go to the other aisle's bathroom, going to go talk to a friend, and so on and which has included either stepping totally over my legs that are up (which makes me super nervous because if you trip and fall, you're breaking my legs), stepping on my toes, kicking my bag, etc.

My instinct is to be annoyed and protective of this space because I see it as akin to like trying to cross from aisle to aisle through a regular seating row. But I also recognize I don't "own" this space even though it is definitely part of the allotted space that I have as part of purchasing the seat. Obviously when flight attendants need to get through, that's all fine.

But having clumsy passengers tramping through like it's a regular thoroughfare, to me, is not right. Some teen rushed through on my flight just now and stepped on my toes to get to the other bathroom. Didn't apologize or anything. I put up my legs and when he came back he stood there as if I should put my legs down to let him cross. I pointed behind me and said you can cross back there (the next actual crossover where they store the carts/have garbage bags/water refill station). He looked confused but then went on his way.

So yeah, thoughts?

Overall time from USCIS receipt of our application to the green card being in my hand: 85 days!

Hey everyone,

I got so much assurance and clarity and moral support from people in this sub, so I just wanted to pay it forward by sharing back me and my spouse's approval timeline. People's timelines from the past really helped us, so hopefully ours may help those who are still in the middle of the process right now! Solidarity!

First off, I wanted to share what I always wanted to know when seeing other people’s approval posts: me and my spouse’s backgrounds (which likely helped us in ways that are largely unquantifiable).

• 3+ year relationship. Gay Asian couple. USC is trans. Beneficiary has Canadian citizenship. Both fluent/native English speakers. USC working full time retail; beneficiary was previously on H1B in higher education (prestigious institution). USC's FT income was enough to qualify as sponsoring the beneficiary, so beneficiary did not have to produce any financial docs.
• Long distance within US (living in separate states because of work)

Our bona fides:

• Joint bank account statements
• Authorized credit card user
• Retirement account beneficiaries
• Shared digital accounts (iCloud/Apple Music/Nintendo)
• Listed spouse as emergency contact for a pet
• 3 years of Venmo transactions
• 3 years of call logs
• 3 years of text message screenshots
• Screenshots of USC family group chat that beneficiary was active in (we believe this one was quite important)
• Detailed relationship timeline
• Photos spanning relationship, many with USC family included

Our timeline:

• 12/18/2025 - married
• 01/05/2026 - mailed out paper application via USPS. Concurrent filing of I-130, I-485 (including 1-693, I-765, I-864)
• 01/09/2026 - USCIS confirmed receipt of application
• 01/30/2026 - payments processed for I-130, I-485, I-765 (ACH, not credit card since we heard there was risk of being flagged as fraud and having the transactions blocked)
• 01/31/2026 - notice of biometrics scheduled
• 02/17/2026 - payment processed for I-131
• 02/18/2026 - biometrics appointment
  • I-485 status changed to “being actively reviewed” immediately after appointment
  • I-765 status changed to “still being processed”
  • Notice of Interview was scheduled
• 02/23/2026 - notice of second biometrics appointment scheduled
  • initial 131 app had an error, so had to resubmit and thus had to do 2 separate biometrics appointments between this and the 485
• 02/25/2026 - second biometrics appointment. Status changed to “case still being processed” immediately after.
• 03/04/2026 - biometrics for emergency advance parole (EAP). Received on the spot. Happy to answer any questions about this process, if anyone has them.
  • We had uploaded some recent bona fides to the online portal. We also brought copies of all our original bona fides + additional materials to the interview (recent bank statements since application, officer accepted them but she said she had seen enough from the original app that it wasn't really necessary)
  • Verbally approved on the spot (CONDITIONAL, 2 YEAR)
  • Only questions were: Confirming date of marriage; USC name, confirmation of address; Applicant name, verbally asked I-485 questions
• 03/27/2026 - online status for I-130 and I-485 changed to case approved
• 03/30/2026 - received new SSN in mail
  • was told by the officer at my 02/18 biometrics interview that I should contact the SSA to tell them about my status change and they would issue me a new card, but I received a new card in the mail 5 days after the interview on 3/30 before I could even contact them!
• 04/02/2026 - paper notice of I-130 and I-485 approval received
  • Online notice that card was produced
• 04/04/2026 - green card received
  • Note: DID NOT ever receive approval of 131 or 765 since the 485 was approved first, which supersedes the other two.

Happy to answer questions in the comments! Boarding a flight now though so responses may be delayed.

Edit: Sorry for delay but I think I've responded to everyone. Should add: We are thankful to Kseniya on YouTube who we followed and watched religiously. Extremely helpful stuff. On a related note, be VERY organized with how you present your package (as Kseniya advises). This will make things go as smoothly as possible for you and the agent processing your app.

I’m lucky I’m done teaching for the semester so I’m gonna settle in with some beers and pizza and play all afternoon and night.

Been dying to try Hive!

2019 eGolf SE.

Okay so I'm in NJ and spring weather has finally come around. Very frigid winter this year, and my entire washer fluid line froze for like 2 weeks.

Everything seemed fine after it thawed out a bit, was able to spray back and front just fine.

Just left town for half a week for an emergency. Car was parked in my apartment parking lot (uncovered). When I started it up, a funky plastic smell started coming out of the vents.

Very weird. I ran it for a bit and opened the windows and it went away. (Subsequent trips, plastic smell was back.)

But then just today, I sprayed the rear window and water started leaking out on my foot on the gas pedal??! wtf?

It didn't seem to be doing it when I sprayed the front. Water would also come out when I made a turn or something which made it seem like something was collecting and sloshing around.

Anyone ideas on how to identify and fix this? 99% it's the fluid line leading to the rear that's leaking... but don't know how to find it