Went through an old family album. There's my grandparents in the mid 60s with a two story house behind em. He was the only one working and it was apparently a low-level blue collar job, and they where 21 and 24. My parents, in the mid 90s with a house and big yard in a beautiful neighborhood. My dad was a year younger than I am currently (27) and was already an expecting father. He worked at the local dump, my mom was a waitress. Now here I am. Still living with my parents (which I understand is an amazing privilege, and I tell em every single day they're the best parents ever) because I can find a single job that pays even close to being able to move out. I have a fiancé and we're really happy, but man, I just want to start our independent adults lives.
She has Cystic Fibrosis and her insurance has her in a horrible deal, where she can't get any job, no matter if it's part time and pays minimum wage, doesn't matter, they will revoke everything, which would mean we would have to pay the 100s of thousands of dollars for her literally life saving treatments and medications. I went and attended a trade school thinking it would allow me to get a job that would allow us to live on our own with just me working, but even with the certifications, training, and connections I got, I haven't gotten a single offer, let alone a job. Hell, I would be happy with a 60k salary, we live in the pacific northwest, and the cost of living isn't AS bad as our neighboring states. But I can't get anything other than random jobs that pay barely above minimum wage, and despite my wonderful fiancé telling me otherwise, I can't help but feel I failed her, and myself, and hell my whole family.
Sorry for the rant post, I just needed to talk to others who may understand this kind of struggle.

i (21F) have this friend (24F) who has the richest family. they bought her the best house at 18, the best car at 17 and she has this huge monthly allowance even though she moved out. never worked a day in her life.
me, on the other hand, i have to work for my money. i'm not poor, i am very fortunate. i have a good job as an art teacher. but my salary is limited, if i run out i have to call my estranged father and ask for money, which is a shitfest.
i am very well capable of managing my income so i don't run out by the end of the month. but when i meet this friend, which has gone on to be every day now, i have no idea where my money goes. like i go inside of her house with 300 dollars and come out with 2.
i spend my hard work money on weed for her and then she gets these weird ass food cravings and expects me to fulfil those. i am not saying i don't smoke or eat the things i buy, but i would not have done a single one of these things if she weren't around. she smokes three times as much weed as i do, and i don't even like to eat, only she does.
i have been running out of money for three months in a row now. it's so hard. i can't go on dates, i can't have anybody over, i can't tell my mom. all i fucking earn this bitch expects me to buy her weed and trash food to inhale.
she pays for shit too, of course. but she's a nepotism baby. she's bourgeois. she's old money lol. i don't have that kind of money, and as rich as she is i expect she'd take on more of the expenses than i do, but when she talks about other people with the same problem, her mindset is "if you can't keep up, don't be my friend," which is sad because i love spending time with her.
would've loved it much more if she wouldn't crave some expensive ass iranian dish to oRdEr iN every half an hour. she almost always tells me she don't have money these days, and by that she means she's under 700 or sth dollars but when i say that i mean i'm 0. i'm officially out and under. no point in asking me to "give whatever you have," so i won't even afford a ride back home.
wow now that i wrote this i don't wanna be her friend anymore.

If anyone is looking for a show with a similar theme to Succession, I highly recommend the docu-series called "Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers (2022)" (available on Hulu, 10 episodes), directed by Antoine Fuqua.
It covers the same dynamics of family relationships within a billion-dollar organization, which naturally involves numerous stories and betrayals among the six children of Dr. Jerry Buss, the patriarch.
I would describe it as 50% family power dynamics, and 50% basketball stories. So if you are an NBA fan, and a Succession fan, chances are high that you'll enjoy this series.
The quality production is quite insane as they managed to interview most of the people and players associated with the LA Lakers since the 80s, as well as all the children of the Buss family.
Great watch overall !

WIBTA if I wanted to go to public high school?
Here's the deal. I'm(M14) homeschooled, have been my whole life. Here's the kicker - I'm gay. I have been for a while, but realized it more so recently. My parents, however, are majorly and openly homophobic. I know for a fact that if I came out to them, worst case scenario, I'm kicked out. Best case? No privleges(dunno how to spell that T-T), no friends, and definitely therapy.
I have these friends on my football team(let's call them Ben and Jerry) who have been extremely supportive(Ben is gay too). I've known them for since third grade, and I consider them my best friends. They're the people I feel safe around. I love them more than myself, and feel happiest around them. And they are going to public high school. If I didn't go to public school, I would still see them at club football. But even so, I want to be around them more.
You're probably thinking, "why wouldn't you go to public high school?" Well, I've been relatively against going to high school for a while, because of, well, people. I am also a pretty intelligent student(I am in 8th grade, incoming freshman, and am doing Algebra 2). If I went to public high school, I would probably have to do a lot of busy work, and deal with teachers and a completely different learning enviroment.
And here's the MAIN reason why I CANNOT go. My family is middle class. We are by no means poor, and are very fortunate. We also have three hundred dollars in the college savings accounts. For three kids. Therefore, I have to take running start junior and senior year to ease the price. However, if I took running start, I can't go to high school junior and senior year. This wouldn't be a big deal, but the high school I want to go to is not my district high school. If I took running start, I would be homeschooled again, and I would "transfer" back to homeschool, and end up back to my district high school for football.
HOWEVER. I cannot play sports after transfer from high school to high school. This would mean missing out on junior and senior year football. My mom has paid a lot of money over the years for my training. And I mean A LOT. She hopes that I can play college and get a scholarship, or at least play four years of high school for my college paperwork.
What I don't want to do is ruin my shot for college and a good future for some good middle school friends. UGH FML. But, I still want to go. SO. Reddit, would I be the asshole if I went to public school?
TL; DR (EVEN IF U DID READ, THIS MIGHT BE HELPFUL LMAO) If I went to public school with my friends, who unlike my homophobic parents support me, I would be throwing away my junior and senior year of football. My parents and I have spent lots of time and money towards football. I do not want to ruin my future career, college, and other opportunities for some good friends. But I still want to go. What should I do?

I'm a 25M and married to a 26F named Carol, and her mother, Danielle, who is 61, is a complete bag of garbage, and that's the nicest thing to say.
During Carol's childhood, Danielle would always belittle Carol and manipulate her into the most BS stuff, mostly always claiming that her father abandoned them in CO to seek fame and fortune in CA and refusing to pay child support, whereas she would actually spend said child support on her own self, buying books and clothes and not supporting her daughter. Danielle also changed Carol's last name on social security to Danielle's last name when she was a little kid, which made it incredibly difficult for Carol to find a job as an adult because she was an illegal alien to the US government. That meant she had 1 last name on her birth certificate, and a different last name on her social security card. Danielle also had a very crap job that didn't pay the best and had to get an apartment with Carol under Carol's name because Danielle had shit credit and Carol had a 0 credit score because she was 18 at the time and didn't have her own bills to pay. Danielle kept getting on Carol's case about not having a job, but Carol said she couldn't because of the name issue. They ended up getting evicted due to failure to pay rent because Danielle's job wasn't enough to pay for a luxury apartment and had to move in with grandma. Danielle later lost her job during covid and has been unemployed ever since. There's way too many scenarios about how Danielle would take advantage of her own daughter but I don't wanna bore y'all with the details.
Anyway onto the story.
Back in late 2021, while me and Carol were engaged, she wanted to join the US navy. She got her name changed to her father's last name on social security to match her birth certificate and even gave her recruiter child custody papers to prove her name. She enlisted, got through basic, completed her A schooling, and got her orders to serve on a ship. We got married in September 2022 before she was shipped to VA for her new orders.
While Carol was serving, and I spent time packing my belongings to move out to VA myself, I learned that Danielle was going to therapy to possibly move on, or so I imagined. I tried so damn hard to stay away from her during that time but she was always bugging me wondering why Carol wasn't talking to her during the day. I let her know on repeated occasions that she has no cell service on her ship, but to her, it was just one of those in-one-ear-and-right-out-the-other things.
I eventually made it to VA in December 2022 to be with Carol. We have been ignoring all of Danielle's calls for a while.
Fast forward to April.
Carol gets a text from Danielle asking her to call her to talk. They talk on the phone for a while and Carol learns that her grandma is not doing well. I also get my brothers HS graduation invitation in the mail and I wanna see him graduate in May, which means Carol wants to see her grandma because she fears that she may not make it to the end of 2023.
Danielle seemed to be super nice and Carol and I both thought she changed because of all the therapy she had been getting. So last week, we fly back to CO and Danielle loans us her car while we're there and was being way too nice to us like a decent human.
We see my brother walk across the stage and Carol gets to see her grandma. While there, we learn that grandma wants to move into a "more safer place" with Carol's aunt because of her health. And Danielle has to move somewhere else because, in her eyes, "everyone doesn't wanna take me in because the family doesn't like me". We told her that if we weren't living in a 650 square foot 1 bedroom apartment on the other side of the country, then we could help her. Again, she starts being even nicer to us while still in CO. I even warned Carol that her being nice could mean something bad in the future, given her past behavior. Carol agreed.
A few days after we flew back to VA, which was 5 days ago, Carol gets a text from Danielle saying that she's gonna have to live in her car because nobody will help her in. Carol asked her why she can't get a job and get her own apartment, and she said that "I can't get a job at my age", and "it's been too long", and "it's very expensive to live on your own, especially in CO". Carol told her that we unfortunately can't help her because 1, we live in a small apartment, and 2, we live 7 states away on the other side of the country.
So now here we are today. I'm at work and I get a call from Carol saying that she needs to be with me. I ask if everything's OK, because I can tell she's not. She said she would talk about it when she got there.
30 minutes later, she shows up and I go on my lunch break with her. She tells me that her mom literally asked for $1000 to help her move from CO to VA so she could be with us. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!! We told her multiple times we couldnt help her because we dont have that kinda room. We let alone dont have $1000 to just give away because we live paycheck-to-paycheck. I was so flabbergasted! And Carol told me that her being super super nice in recent times was way too good to be true (which is what I felt would happen). She either didn't get the therapy she needed, or she lied. Idk what the case was about that because there's no proof.
I wasn't around for this part, but Carol and Danielle argued over the phone, more like cussing each other out persé. Danielle was upset with Carol for not providing a home for her when she did it for her 1st 20 years of life and now Carol can't "return the favor". Carol then told her mother, "JUST FUCK OFF ALREADY!" before hanging up and blocking her completely.
Danielle is now homeless and living in her nissan sentra, but we couldn't care less. All those years Carol had to endure due to Danielle's entitled and narcissistic behavior is now biting her in the ass, and nobody wants to live with her because of this, because that bitch only cares about herself and knows what she's doing is wrong and doesn't give a shit. I personally and honestly don't care if she dies. I will piss on her grave when she dies

I’m 22 years old and I just lost 2000 dollars in gambling tonight. Overall I’ve lost over 10,000 dollars. This is the first time I’ve admitted I have a problem though. I need help on knowing what the first steps are and how to face your family. I’m Asian and this kind of thing in my family is not heard of like alcoholism is or anything like that so I’m so afraid of facing them. Any thoughts. I’m shaking as I right this I’m terrified for tomorrow.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)

AMMAN, Jordan - The future king of Jordan and an architect from Saudi Arabia linked to her country's own monarchy are getting married on Thursday in a palace celebration that introduces him to the world and emphasizes continuity in an Arab state prized for its longstanding stability.
The union of Crown Prince Hussein, 28, and Rajwa Alseif, 29, buttresses the royal family's order of succession, refreshes its image after a palace feud and may even help resource-poor Jordan forge a strategic bond with its oil-rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia.
Excitement over the nuptials - Jordan's biggest royal event in years - has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets.
"It's not just a marriage, it's the presentation of the future king of Jordan," said political analyst Amer Sabaileh.
The guest list is also expected to include Saudi aristocrats, as Alseif's mother traces her roots to the influential wife of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Her billionaire father owns a major construction firm in the kingdom.
Jordan has recently sought closer ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab petrostates, which once doled out billions of dollars to the aid-dependent country but since have reined in their spending.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Jordan^#1 royal^#2 king^#3 Saudi^#4 wedding^#5
Post found in /worldnews.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

Meal Kit Discounts
We are low income students and meal kits are great for both time and money purposes! Please use my referral links and help out our struggling family if you can- it would be a huge help.
Gobble- 2 Meals for 2 $18 (looks like almost $40 off). We get $20 credit. https://app.gobble.com/referral/G0BbTnVcY
Sunbasket - You get $90 off your first 4 deliveries, including $40 off the first box (if order over $60, $20 off if below). We get $40 credit. https://sunbasket.com/invite/Ebaa3319625
HungryRoot- You get $50 credit, we get $50. https://www.hungryroot.com/ZK3XWIXE
Nurture Life- Kids meals/I use them as light lunches or snacks. You get $30 dollars off each of your first 3 orders. We get $30. https://nurturelife.com?referral_id=H34PDX
Factor75- $120 off. Save 50% off on your 1st box, 20% off on your 2nd box, 20% off on your 3rd box, 20% off on your 4th box, and 12% off on your 5th box. They are also doing limited time free shipping on first box. We get $40 credit. https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-71D2T69ZB&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
Home Chef- $35 off. We get $35 credit. https://www.homechef.com/invite/ebaaa43
EveryPlate- $20 off. Rakuten offers another $7.50 cashback. We get $20. Code is ES-LXHYME
Green Chef- About $150 off first 5 boxes. 50% off first box, 22% off next 3, and 19% of the fifth. We get $25. https://www.greenchef.com/plans?c=HS-NYAYYMBYS&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
HelloFresh- $48 off your first box! $165 off total the first 6 boxes I believe. We get $10. https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/raf_lp11?c=FIH-BJXX43KEYU99&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=145&utm_invitername=Eba&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

Meal Kit Discounts
We are low income students and meal kits are great for both time and money purposes! Please use my referral links and help out our struggling family if you can- it would be a huge help.
Gobble- 2 Meals for 2 $18 (looks like almost $40 off). We get $20 credit. https://app.gobble.com/referral/G0BbTnVcY
Sunbasket - You get $90 off your first 4 deliveries, including $40 off the first box (if order over $60, $20 off if below). We get $40 credit. https://sunbasket.com/invite/Ebaa3319625
HungryRoot- You get $50 credit, we get $50. https://www.hungryroot.com/ZK3XWIXE
Nurture Life- Kids meals/I use them as light lunches or snacks. You get $30 dollars off each of your first 3 orders. We get $30. https://nurturelife.com?referral_id=H34PDX
Factor75- $120 off. Save 50% off on your 1st box, 20% off on your 2nd box, 20% off on your 3rd box, 20% off on your 4th box, and 12% off on your 5th box. They are also doing limited time free shipping on first box. We get $40 credit. https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-71D2T69ZB&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
Home Chef- $35 off. We get $35 credit. https://www.homechef.com/invite/ebaaa43
EveryPlate- $20 off. Rakuten offers another $7.50 cashback. We get $20. Code is ES-LXHYME
Green Chef- About $150 off first 5 boxes. 50% off first box, 22% off next 3, and 19% of the fifth. We get $25. https://www.greenchef.com/plans?c=HS-NYAYYMBYS&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
HelloFresh- $48 off your first box! $165 off total the first 6 boxes I believe. We get $10. https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/raf_lp11?c=FIH-BJXX43KEYU99&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=145&utm_invitername=Eba&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

Meal Kit Discounts
We are low income students and meal kits are great for both time and money purposes! Please use my referral links and help out our struggling family if you can- it would be a huge help.
Gobble- 2 Meals for 2 $18 (looks like almost $40 off). We get $20 credit. https://app.gobble.com/referral/G0BbTnVcY
Sunbasket - You get $90 off your first 4 deliveries, including $40 off the first box (if order over $60, $20 off if below). We get $40 credit. https://sunbasket.com/invite/Ebaa3319625
HungryRoot- You get $50 credit, we get $50. https://www.hungryroot.com/ZK3XWIXE
Nurture Life- Kids meals/I use them as light lunches or snacks. You get $30 dollars off each of your first 3 orders. We get $30. https://nurturelife.com?referral_id=H34PDX
Factor75- $120 off. Save 50% off on your 1st box, 20% off on your 2nd box, 20% off on your 3rd box, 20% off on your 4th box, and 12% off on your 5th box. They are also doing limited time free shipping on first box. We get $40 credit. https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-71D2T69ZB&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
Home Chef- $35 off. We get $35 credit. https://www.homechef.com/invite/ebaaa43
EveryPlate- $20 off. Rakuten offers another $7.50 cashback. We get $20. Code is ES-LXHYME
Green Chef- About $150 off first 5 boxes. 50% off first box, 22% off next 3, and 19% of the fifth. We get $25. https://www.greenchef.com/plans?c=HS-NYAYYMBYS&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
HelloFresh- $48 off your first box! $165 off total the first 6 boxes I believe. We get $10. https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/raf_lp11?c=FIH-BJXX43KEYU99&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=145&utm_invitername=Eba&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

Meal Kit Discounts
We are low income students and meal kits are great for both time and money purposes! Please use my referral links and help out our struggling family if you can- it would be a huge help.
Gobble- 2 Meals for 2 $18 (looks like almost $40 off). We get $20 credit. https://app.gobble.com/referral/G0BbTnVcY
Sunbasket - You get $90 off your first 4 deliveries, including $40 off the first box (if order over $60, $20 off if below). We get $40 credit. https://sunbasket.com/invite/Ebaa3319625
HungryRoot- You get $50 credit, we get $50. https://www.hungryroot.com/ZK3XWIXE
Nurture Life- Kids meals/I use them as light lunches or snacks. You get $30 dollars off each of your first 3 orders. We get $30. https://nurturelife.com?referral_id=H34PDX
Factor75- $120 off. Save 50% off on your 1st box, 20% off on your 2nd box, 20% off on your 3rd box, 20% off on your 4th box, and 12% off on your 5th box. They are also doing limited time free shipping on first box. We get $40 credit. https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-71D2T69ZB&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
Home Chef- $35 off. We get $35 credit. https://www.homechef.com/invite/ebaaa43
EveryPlate- $20 off. Rakuten offers another $7.50 cashback. We get $20. Code is ES-LXHYME
Green Chef- About $150 off first 5 boxes. 50% off first box, 22% off next 3, and 19% of the fifth. We get $25. https://www.greenchef.com/plans?c=HS-NYAYYMBYS&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
HelloFresh- $48 off your first box! $165 off total the first 6 boxes I believe. We get $10. https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/raf_lp11?c=FIH-BJXX43KEYU99&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=145&utm_invitername=Eba&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

Meal Kit Discounts
We are low income students and meal kits are great for both time and money purposes! Please use my referral links and help out our struggling family if you can- it would be a huge help.
Gobble- 2 Meals for 2 $18 (looks like almost $40 off). We get $20 credit. https://app.gobble.com/referral/G0BbTnVcY
Sunbasket - You get $90 off your first 4 deliveries, including $40 off the first box (if order over $60, $20 off if below). We get $40 credit. https://sunbasket.com/invite/Ebaa3319625
HungryRoot- You get $50 credit, we get $50. https://www.hungryroot.com/ZK3XWIXE
Nurture Life- Kids meals/I use them as light lunches or snacks. You get $30 dollars off each of your first 3 orders. We get $30. https://nurturelife.com?referral_id=H34PDX
Factor75- $120 off. Save 50% off on your 1st box, 20% off on your 2nd box, 20% off on your 3rd box, 20% off on your 4th box, and 12% off on your 5th box. They are also doing limited time free shipping on first box. We get $40 credit. https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-71D2T69ZB&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
Home Chef- $35 off. We get $35 credit. https://www.homechef.com/invite/ebaaa43
EveryPlate- $20 off. Rakuten offers another $7.50 cashback. We get $20. Code is ES-LXHYME
Green Chef- About $150 off first 5 boxes. 50% off first box, 22% off next 3, and 19% of the fifth. We get $25. https://www.greenchef.com/plans?c=HS-NYAYYMBYS&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt
HelloFresh- $48 off your first box! $165 off total the first 6 boxes I believe. We get $10. https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/raf_lp11?c=FIH-BJXX43KEYU99&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=145&utm_invitername=Eba&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

Hi Everyone,
I know this is long, but I want to include enough information of the situation for advice.
I’ve been currently working with my employer for slightly over 3 years. Over that time for 2 years and 8 months. I was not really engaged at work, never really spoke to anyone, kept to myself and just did enough to not be fired, thinking “maybe I don’t know what I’m doing after all, everyone else is smarter than me”. Even though at my previous employer in my native country everyone was impressed with my work and up to this day, still calls for my opinion and advice.
Over the last 6 months I got involved with a coworker on a project, he showed me the ropes and encouraged me to ask questions no matter how stupid they may seem and gave advice of how to go about interacting with mid management and executive. So I did, after which we also formed a friend relationship where I would discuss my personal life with him, him with me, and he even helped me plan and called in favors for discounts and free services for my engagement to my partner who moved here with me.
My engagement at work has seen a dramatic increase, even earning glowing comments from my manager and department manager very recently about my performance, increased engagement and intellectual curiosity since the last couple of weeks has seen me be more outspoken, I even told them this week about my engagement. This increase also earned praise from some coworkers to executive and other mid management this week as well. I now have workers from other departments contacting me for assistance with their projects and my opinions.
This week my coworker friend said to me, “you are a good guy, I like you, why haven’t you been like this the entire time you’ve been here?”
Background
I explained to him that my first week of working there a senior lead gave me an assignment. At that point I did not know that some technical terms meant different things and that we also had another word for the same thing in the US since the University I attended and in my native country everything is based on British instruction. My knowledge of the US up to that point is colour is spelt color, programme is spelt program, be aware that racism exists, etc. No idea terms for processes and technical things were different.
So I did the work based on what I knew, submitted it, and immediately he said it was wrong, so I asked what he meant and he commented “how don’t you know what X is? Weren’t you taught this at college? I said yes, and repeated what he asked me to do and said X term means Y and explained that I know some words are spelt differently in American English vs British English and since I realized I was wrong based on that if that was the case. He started to look annoyed and the look on his face told me he thought I was dumb. He did not correct me but instead told me to go figure it out. So after some googling (for days) trying to figure out how it is measured I discovered it and made note of it for future reference. I did the work and submitted (8 days later), which at the time if I was corrected and made to understand, it could have been done in 4 hours. After which a few weeks later he uninvited me from a weekly important project meeting saying “you don’t necessarily to be here, it’s almost done and you’re really just here to learn” he never gave me an assignment again and I spent the rest of the time bouncing from project to project, assignment to assignment in a disjointed fashion, since my manager really was trying to find work for me to do and I hadn’t found my footing.
Some time later the lead made a comment to me when I was trying to be friendly that he thought was funny.... “I can’t wait for your accent to change when you’ve been here for a while”. I did NOT think that was funny, it felt insulting, discriminatory, and degrading.
Since that comment, I remained silent, it was only 2 months at that point and it made me terrified to talk to anyone to make work friends. I did not speak up in meetings, developed a stutter and sought therapy because of constant anxiety attacks that I was not wanted. But I just spent thousands of dollars from my savings moving, bought a new car (since I knew I needed one in the US and there is no public transport option to my job) and I needed the money to pay for my cost of living. I then also began a plan to quit in 4 years after I became financially stable and was almost to the point I could pay off the car and move to another state where I have family.
Present Day
Fast forward to now, the coworker I made friends with went out of his way to make sure I understood, gave me the lead way to do whatever I needed to do to get the assignment done, encouraged me to ask questions and established a twice a week check in. That encouraged me to speak up at meetings knowing he had my back, say the things I wanted to work on and gave me back my intellectual confidence I had in my native country where I worked on projects that required a high degree of proficiency.
I even surprised my coworker with what I can do once I regained my intellectual confidence, to the point he was shocked at my level of analysis for the task at hand and my rational for each part of my process for the assignment he asked me to lead, even stating this is a lot of detail we don’t need to do that, but this is nice and useful for other projects.
I’m now to the point that my manager mentioned to me that he is looking into promoting me, which would result in an automatic 25k base pay increase to be at the bottom of that position pay scale and still be eligible for the regular pay increase later this year, because of the improvement he saw during my mid year performance check in. This increase would definitely make me financially comfortable and now I no longer have plans of leaving.
So the question now becomes...do I tell my manager even though it happened 3 years ago? Part of me says I should since if he’s done it to me he’s done it to others, another part of me says I should let sleeping dogs lie since the individual retires in 5 months.

Warhead:
If you do not know that I care about you, and exactly how, then we don't need to be talking, anymore. I do not share things that you and I discuss, except with very close friends of more than 10 years, and not in detail. Most of them are straight dads with at least one kid, so they're not interested in hearing how much I want to do anything specific. I haven't slept with any of them.
Your family is an entirely different matter.
I have declined meeting these people, multiple times. Whatever they have to say to me about you is irrelevant, and I'm not giving them any extra ammunition. You are clearly betrayed, angry, and worried. I'm only pointing those things out because I want you to remember that they have NOTHING to do with me.
They can't buy me. They can't impress me. Anything I could possibly accomplish by knowing them directly benefits YOU. However, if I continue to avoid them, they'll fill in the blanks with bullshit. I don't actually care about what they choose to do, but I do care about you thinking you're constantly being backstabbed and stolen from. That had to end someday, anyhow.
You are talking like my brother Rob, when he said he was concerned that my book and other activities would reflect badly on his job. This was so incredibly selfish, insensitive, and cruel, I STILL don't understand it, entirely. If my problem is not comprehending how evil and stupid people can be, then I've clearly wasted at least a decade of my education.
I think you know better.
You're prolly just cranky bc the d0pe train is done, for the umpteenth time. Don't drag me into all those shitty feelings. I will go there with you, to remind you that I'm not the problem, but I don't have to prove anything to anyone...including them. Or you, I'd hoped. Either I was wrong about you, or I didn't make myself clear enough.
Sadly, perhaps, someone like Lanie Bostwick could've been rather helpful, well above and beyond Barb, who went out of her way to tell me Lanie "liked gay guys." And you were worried that your privacy would offend me?
No, Mister Head. THEIR behavior is offensive.
I'm not afraid, but I also don't have a plan to use them, impress anybody, or coddle their thinking. It will still be incredibly awkward for me. It's not like I'm eager to hit the Yardarm at the fancy outdoor mall for happy hour. Most people who would be in such a place couldn't possibly be more different from me. It has absolutely zero to do with my orientation.
I believe it's occasionally useful to push thru things I find uncomfortable, just to see what's going on. This is because, despite how I usually sound, I don't actually believe that I know everything.
In all the time we've been speaking, I've never heard you this upset, including when you were speaking to Christine.
I am not embarrassed about you. You were correct in thinking that any similar behavior would be disappointing, but you projected your own reactions onto me, and I can't allow that. I will respect how you define yourself, and it's exactly what I've said, all along. Go back and read it for yourself.
You're not a "score." This is definitely NOT what I was after. Frankly, if I hated and resented you, then it would not only have saved me twenty thousand dollars, it would have preserved what other people think is my dignity and integrity.
Fortunately, few are fit to judge me or anything I do.
At some point, you can have that, too...and you won't need me to provide it. You are rewriting your own future as we speak. I have my own life to manage. I'm glad you're in it, and no one can make me feel shame for showing trust and affection to whoever I decide has deserved it. I also don't run around like a flaming nitwit telling strangers how wonderful you are.
I will be unavailable during our usual time, tomorrow. We can speak on Friday, but I'll definitely let you know if anything interesting occurs. I highly doubt it will, unless I wreck the bar.
Love, — $palephx

I’m shaking as I write this because it’s the first time I’ve ever really acknowledged I have a gambling addiction because I just lost 2000 dollars. My bank was already at -200 but it doesn’t notice it cuz it’s at night and I took out even more from Venmo cuz it doesn’t hit for two days. I don’t know where to start or how to tell my family I cannot face the shame. I was doing so well too I thought I could stuff it down but here I am desperate and tired. I’ve read the first steps to starting online but pls lmk if u guys have any specific tips for talking to ur families about this and stuff like that.

Hello Reddit Community. First time I’m posting via this Reddit channel and I could use your advice! Your insights and comments will be appreciated
Here is my situation:
I own a condo in NY (Queens borough) since 2002 that I’ve lived in and still live in for most of those years. From that perspective its been good for me. However, I purchased a condo specifically to have flexibility with renting when and if I needed to. I had moved out for a few years but had to return and I then had to deal with my tenant who would not get out and so it turned into a whole eviction process. An eye opening process especially here in NY.
I know that I want to move on from living in the condo as I have contemplated a change for a while. I’ve lived here many years and feel its just time for a change. Additionally, my immediate family who live in pretty close proximity to me (Parents & brother) are all moving to Florida soon. Being close to them was a pretty good reason to be nearby but with them leaving, that’s one less reason to stay where I’m located specifically. With that said, I have been on the fence about my options:
#1) Sell the Condo – Sell it outright and use the proceeds to rent temporarily somewhere until housing prices cool and buy then or buy investment property
#2) Rent the Condo – This would mean I move out, buy a new house but keep the condo and rent it again
In either scenario, I would be moving to Long Island, NY to be closer to my kids. There are pros and cons for each option which I will spell out below. I have been leaning towards a sell and getting out before what seems like an eventual downturn in the market. I want to make a decision by June2023 which is less than a week away
​

Info	Notes
Year of Home Purchase	2002
Year of Mortgage Payoff	2032
Mortgage Payoff Amount	~$54K
Unit	2 BR / 2 Bath + Balcony (1050 Sq ft)
Building Complex	5th Floor of a 6 Story Condo (Part of a 2 Building complex)

Note: Refinanced to a better rate when 20 yrs was left on mortgage to a 20 yr loan (rate of 3.875%)
​

Financical Stats:

Costs While I Live in Condo
​

Item	Amount	Notes
Mortgage	$933.00	PITI (Principal/Interest/Taxes/Insurance) per month
HOA	$1,256.00	Covers Building Insurance, SupePorters; Garbage/Snow Removal/Landscaping/Cleaning of Interior & Hallways; Covers Water Usage & Home Heating/Cooking (per month)
Total Cost	$2,189.00	Total Monthly Cost (minus Utilities) while Live-In Unit

​
Costs If I Rent Out Condo
​

Item	Amount	Notes
Condo Costs	$2,189.00	Condo Costs Listed Above
Condo Sublet Fee	+$250.00	Condo Sublet Fee**
Vacancy	+$183.00	10%
Renters Insurance	$10.00
Total Cost	$,2,632.00	Total Monthly Cost (minus Utilities) if I Rent Unit

**Note: The Condo requires a $250 sublet fee if I rent out my unit; They do this to discourage renting and maintain mostly owner occupied units
​
Decision - Keeping Condo & Rent It
Pros

1. Through Rental, tenant will pay off my mortgage over time (10 years remain)
2. In 5 years when the mortgage is down to half amount for example, I will prob have the flexibility to just pay the remainder outright and have a unit free and clear

Cons

1. The maintenance costs are a bit crazy to me but not necessarily out of the norm; There is an assessment that has just been levied for some major repairs and a 10 year loan has been taken out to do the repairs and minimize the per unit owner cost to a manageable size; That assessment is increasing maintenance to $1,256 p/month. A lot more than my PITI costs combined.
2. The condo charges a $250 sublet fee for renting out my unit; That would bring my total monthly expense over $2600; Based on what I researched I could get for rents in this area, not sure I can get $2600; Even if I could I would just be breaking even with no cash flow; Wont include amount needed for potential vacancy; The sublet fee kills my flexibility

​
Decision - Sell Condo
Pros

1. Would probably get top dollar on sale of home selling now; if there is a downturn it can be MANY years before I can get the money I would be able to get now (anticipate $425k to $450k)
2. Sell and use part of the money to buy new home for myself and/or use the money on alternate investment(s)
3. Keep the money liquid for opportunities that come up in the next 1 to 2 years
4. Free myself from the politics of the condo board and how the complex operates; A lot of the issues are financial in that over the years money has been collected and not well managed or spent which is why HOA fee is so high; this provides a level of inflexibility on managing expenses which I have limited control over

Cons

1. Don’t have that much left on mortgage; selling now would mean investing elsewhere via new long term mortgage at todays higher interest rates (albeit at smaller mortgage amt since I would be able to put down a larger down pymt); Additionally, at todays market prices, I would not be able to get a unit like this one for the price I paid over 2 decades ago and for the interest rate I have now
2. I have been wanting to build a real-estate portfolio and my thought has been that this would be my 1st unit in that portfolio and I should keep it & build from there; Selling would mean starting from scratch instead of building; However is this Condo Unit really a good investment? I'm doubting that based on numbers

I'm hoping the amount of info I posted doesn't turn anyone off from responding. I tried to give the full story so that you knew where I was coming from. Again your insights and comments are welcome! Please help!!

Hey everyone!
I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit for this but I wanted some advice on a situation with a friend.
So background context:
I (18F) am entering university this September, and am feeling pretty conflicted about my relationship with my best friend (18F) and I don't know how to handle it. Initially, I assumed she would be going to another university, so we could just drift apart and I could maintain a casual relationship with her. However, it appears to be that we'll be going to the same university, for the same program. This program only has about 200 students, so likely our classes will be the same, and so will our social circle. Currently, we're in a program with 60 students for high school and taking all the same courses and classes. Many of our clubs and ecs also overlap. So I basically am with her all day, everyday at the moment.
The issue: Before this friend, I used to be super social and had a lot of friends. Previously, I would hang out with a bunch of different groups, and if I ever felt like the conversation was boring or making me uncomfortable I would walk off from the conversation and wander to another group (essentially I was a floater). Typically, groups wouldn't be bothered by me walking off. Within the past few years, I have become more introverted. Thus, I'm more comfortable taking time away to be alone. However, while I now know being around people drains me and makes me feel tired, I do still enjoy it quite a lot. While I have become more introverted over the past few years. However, this friend is a lot more clingy. At the start of our friendship, when I would try to float off, she would trail me essentially, not letting me leave. Since she didn't really know most of the other friends on the same level, it made it difficult for me to go hang out with these other friends on my own (during the pandemic, so the only social interactions are for a half hour at lunch or the end of the day). I remember vividly once, I tried to walk off, and she latched onto the hook thing on my backpack so she wouldn't lose me in the crowd. I started to slowly feel trapped from this point forward. Even if I wanted to wander off just to be alone and go study, it became really difficult because she stuck so close to me. If I wanted to go to a club meeting, or anything, I more or less had to inform her. It feels like getting permission most of the time, and even then she tends to tag along. I understand that her intentions aren't bad, but I really just want to be left alone. I'm quite accustomed to my floating, and it gave me a sense of control.
Additionally, I had a massive fallout with my previous friend-group. It was a while back in 2017, however, it's taken me a long time to recover from that. Floating allowed me to maintain relationships without rushing into anything when I hadn't healed from my previous friend-group. I feel like her clinging on…I ended up in a friendship that I wasn't emotionally ready for, nor healed enough to handle.
Eventually, because she didn't want to hang out with other people - she's quite antisocial in nature - I would feel pressured to hang out with only her. Our high school cohort is about 60 students, so eventually people started to associate the two of us as a pair and would make remarks if I didn't hang out with her which furthered my isolation. Even when we do have moments with other groups, if she feels bored, or that they're wasting her time, I can almost feel the upsetness radiating off of her. I don't mind that they're wasting time and doing things slowly, it's a fun experience. Or at least it used to be…now all I feel is the wave of upsetness which keeps me from enjoying the whole thing. I feel like I have to leave because she wants to leave and that's the only way to appease her.
Additionally, she's very pessimistic/ cynical and egoistic. She often looks down on others and believes she is the best at everything. While I agree that she is very competent and capable, the way she expresses this makes me feel uncomfortable. She expresses it quite directly with me, however, I think other people can tell she feels that way based on the way she acts as well. As a result, people I used to be super close with have grown distant from me because it's clear she looks down on them. (Once again, I'm sure that other factors such as not talking to them as much as mentioned above contributes too, but her influence is on a level I can't control. This makes me spiral because I feel like I have no control over everything and I can't hold onto anything). I feel like I can't call her out because she'd refuse to accept it and I'd have to persuade her why she's wrong, rather than just having her accept it. I strugle to remember exact incidents unless I document it like this, and often just have the general idea of what's wrong.
Also comments like "You're being mean, or you've hurt their feelings" are often met with "So what? I don't care", the issue is I care. I don't like hurting people, and would rather try to fix things if I've made mistakes. I also don't like what that says about her. One day - such as the day I bring this up - if our friendship is over, will that be her response too? She won't try to be a good friend or good person, but will kinda go fuck all of it and hurt me without an ounce of remorse. I try to tell myself that different people have different perspectives, and I am not always right. However, no matter how hard I try, I just…I can't understand this at all, and it infuriates me.
Contrarily to her pessimism - as my mother is quite a pessimistic person - I have spent years working on maintaining my optimism, and trying really hard to be a good person. Obviously, she is not to blame for my mother's behavior. However, between the two of them, and because I'm around her all the time, I feel like I'm becoming more similar to her in this sense, and I hate myself for it. Of course, she's allowed to be cynical. I'm not saying being optimistic is always the right thing. There are many pitfalls, such as being naive, and getting hurt. Thus, I understand that being optimistic to the extent that I like to be, isn't for everyone. However, I hate how it's affecting me, and that it's around me all the time. I do appreciate our friendship, but I think this is one of our core differences that makes us incompatible
While I'm not soft-spoken, and will stand up for what I believe in, I try to avoid unnecessary conflict, and prefer to take a people-friendly approach. My friend is much more aggressive and often "rocks the boat" in group projects and friendships. This leaves me in a situation where I feel like I have to pick up the pieces to make amends because my own friendships are at risk. Additionally, even if I do agree with her point, I find it more difficult to solve problems (especially project wise) in the typical manner that I would. I can be more willing to find a compromise and handle it with less of a mess. It also makes me very, very anxious, and I hate it so much. We talked about it once and she said she knows it makes me anxious too, which makes it worse because she's still not willing to change, similar to the point about hurting others feelings. Another ex-bestfriend (18M) previously mentioned that it's technically not my responsibility, but I feel like people view her actions and feelings about things as similar to my own, which screws over my relationships.
Furthermore, she burned the bridge between her and the previously mentioned other best friend (18M), and tried to blame it on her not liking how he treated her. This also upset me, because I didn't ask for that. I also felt like because she had so much input on why my friendship with him was lacking, my pre-existing insecurities amplified. I realized wayy too late as to how unfair I had been. We had pre-existing expectations in our friendship for a number of years, and I suddenly went that's not enough. Our friendship was different and didn't tick every box, but that doesn't mean it was wrong? We both were happy, and that's what mattered. I realized at this point that I couldn't express that to her. Getting her to back off was difficult, and I started to feel scared of her to some extent. I was scared to talk to her (which surprised him, as it was atypical of me to be like this in any situation). Looking back, this was another clear red flag. Just the idea that I felt the need to shut myself down and not express myself is worrisome. (This male friend and I no longer speak for a number of reasons).
She's also known for crossing over boundaries, which caused one of my core friend groups to stop talking to her last year (and as a result of this and my ex-best friend (M18) being in this grp, I've also grown severely distant). While I can't blame the distance completely on her, I would have done my best to maintain one specific friend (F18) in the group if it hadn't been for other conflict she had with this friend. This event also caused me to realize how differently we often approach issues. She was quick to push the blame off herself. Typically, I tend to pull as much of the blame on myself as possible (also not healthy, I know M18 told me so), or if I do feel defensive. I try to apologize in the moment, sincerely. And I tend to reflect back often. I know that within the next few months, the heat of feeling accused will die down, and I'll be able to truly feel remorse from my actions and learn from them.
However, this crossing over of normal boundaries is also applicable to me. Often, we have to do what she wants if she's decided she wants to do something, regardless of what I want. While this is never directly stated, I always feel anxious to go against her and express that I'd like something else. Typically, I'm not like that with other people. The only way for me to disagree and say I'd like to do something else is to get on her level of pushy / aggressive, which I also find to be mean. I don't want to act like that. I also find it quite suffocating to express what I want because she's so pushy about what she wants.
This is further exacerbated by her parents. Her father in particular is very similarly pushy and has no regard for my boundaries. Last year when we went on a trip with both families to the Aquarium, they both made decisions about what we would be doing without me. My mom's quite sick and one of the activities (a visit to the beach) would cause her symptoms to appear. I tend to do most of the planning in our house and often have to be careful to take into account my family members' conditions in this sense. However, this impromptu decision to visit the beach got me in quite a bit of trouble with my parents, as they felt I wasn't being considerate of them. This made me feel really frustrated and trapped between everything. Additionally, my friend knows of my mom's condition. While I don't expect her to take that into account when making the decision, she should have informed me or had her dad inform my parents, and allowed for a conjoint decision. I also just didn't want to go to the beach - I was really tired at this point - but obviously (brown kid) I can't say that in front of her parents and argue.
Similar things happen for other decisions such as when we go out for other activities as well. Such as when we first became friends, often she and our other friend would want to go on walks outside (whereas I would much rather do anything else). I remember early on expressing that I didn't want to but they could go. Likely because my boundaries were ignored then and overstepped, I don't feel safe expressing that I don't want to do what she wants. And I know she won't take no for an answer through those experiences. So naturally, instead of going back and forth in an argument so I can not do what I don't like, I just am left to silently resign.
Additionally, we're both pre-med students, which creates a lot of competition. I do my best to find many extracurricular opportunities and scholarship opportunities (especially since I'm a first-generation student and my parents are unable to support me in ways that are not financial support due to various reasons). About a year after we first became friends - we've been friends for 3 years, since grade 10 - she and another girl who we were close with at the time, reached out to form a club behind my back. I know this probably sounds very foolish, but up till this point, I had shared the majority of extracurricular activities I had researched online. Additionally, I had founded a club a few months prior with both girls (we were all co-presidents), since they expressed interest after I had founded another club with another friend group. They had no intention to tell me that they were starting this new initiative. I had reached out to the organization to inquiry about stating a chapter for the three of us together and found out about it. It really bothered me and made me feel like I was being taken advantage of. When I expressed this at first, both girls shut down and got defensive. Neither was willing to admit they were wrong, and just tried to fight me. I am their friend? I was rightfully upset, shouldn't you at least apologize and show some remorse?
It should be noted that some months later, I expressed just how upset I was to the best that I could to both girls and we talked about it and came to an understanding. While the issue was resolved, I still think it's important context.
Now once again, this competition is further exacerbated by her dad once again. This year, I had compiled a database of scholarships. During a conversation, her dad had mentioned that we needed to be on top of things this year, such as scholarships. It had rubbed me the wrong way, so I had stood up for myself and mentioned we had a database of scholarships as a way to prove I was on top of things (I get told by my parents that I should work harder a lot, and it makes me upset because I'm really working my ass off). However, this prompted him at first to push my friend to show him this database and scholarship information. And as a result she became really pushy with me. Initially, I ignored her hoping it would go away. After all, I had saved her imo by telling him she was prepared which was a lie. She could have compiled something in the meantime to make up for it instead of bothering me about it so many times. She made me feel like I had to give it to her, that she was entitled to it. About a month in from this, he called me while I was at home, and spoke to me in...I don't even know how to describe it, but it was a pretty manipulative tone to get me to hand it over. I ended up handing over a couple of simpler ones I had (because I had spent hours researching those scholarships, and the information is also available to her on the internet, it just wasn't fair).
Plus, after the prior issue with the club, I assumed there wouldn't be anything like this. Exchanging homework was alright because it was quite evenly balanced, and often it was balanced our quite quickly due to the nature of school. However, this wasn't something she could pay me back for, and left me feeling used again. I know I was quite nice back then and helped people out a lot, but I hate being taken advantage of and treated like that. I also feel like it's just a shitty show of the other person's character.
I know that in this case, she knows her dad is in the wrong and tried to stand up for me at the start. I actually would probably just avoid him in a normal situation and not make a big deal of this.
However, I feel quite unhappy now, and as a commenter said, looking forwards 10 years I don't think the friendship in this state will be good for me. While I have thought of talking to her, as you can see above, either I have mentioned some of these things in some capacity and been dismissed, or the issue is who she is as a person. I sincerely believe that I have no right to dictate who she is as a person. But these core things disrupt my life and make things really difficult for me, so I'm not sure if I should keep putting up with them. I keep rationalizing to myself with "no one's perfect", "she's not completely at fault, I am top" and " I've also probably made mistakes and hurt her, I shouldn't make a fuss". However, as the commenter said if I'm unhappy then that's that. Forcing myself to continue feeling suffocated and unhappy because I feel guilty is just foolish.
Why am I still friends with her?
Well, while I am very isolated with no friends to hang out with, this connection feels more real? A lot of my old connections, I would wander around those groups, and no one would notice if I left. Sometimes, it made me feel really lonely like no one cared for me. They all felt like surface-level friendships. This often made it super easy to walk away when things got toxic (which I can't do right now), however, I often felt depressed and unfilled then. Whereas my friendship with her feels more genuine and deeper.
Additionally, we are quite similar in terms of SES and goals. It's quite easy to discuss familial issues with her when I need support, and from a financial standpoint, I don't feel pressured to spend with her either. Sometimes this can be stressful since she's more stingy than me, so I feel guilty for spending too (and therefore, going out with other friends and spending). We have also argued before on finances, and i sometimes can't understand why she's making such a big deal about things. I feel held back from spending as I please. However, unlike many other people; I never feel bad about saving. Using coupons, or points, or carefully checking multiple prices. We do that stuff together, so I don't feel bad doing it.
Our sisters have also really hit off, and it's a nice dynamic between the four of us and I don't know how they'll be affected or our families will react in general.
Being in a similar field means she understands not having the time to hang out (especially while we did IB). This expectation go hang-out more from my middle-school friends stressed me out a lot.
What I think is the best solution:
I'd love to remain friends and just have a crap ton of distance between us. The type of friendship where you see each other only on holidays (like once every 4 months?). That way we can quickly catch-up, and can be there for each other if needed, but I can go ahead and live my own life. Plus, I can find myself again and be the person I like.
I guess part of my worry with this is also clubs. We have many similar interests, and I want to join schools clubs without feeling tied down or running back into her. Often when I'm in environments with her around, I feel like I have to let her lead and I can't just be me and do me. I have to back off and step down or else she gets pushy. I tend to thrive more when I'm on my own without her whether that's working with a group or just leading in general. Even working with a group, while I've definitely gotten frustrated with them, we sort things out quite well because I'm handling situations with them my way. I want that back in every club in my life. But even now, pre-uni starting we've somehow managed to join the same pre-med club. And I feel like either we'll keep joining the same clubs or I have to back off and stop doing what I want to do cuz she's doing them to be able to unclip my wings and be free.
However, with us going to the same universities (in a city 2.5 hours from where we live now), I don't know how to get around all this. I also don't know how to tell her most of this without hurting her feelings. And even if I did, as I mentioned prior, the core of the issue is who she is as a person and how she carries herself. Just because I like being optimistic and nice doesn't mean I can force her to be that way. She's allowed to have her defense mechanisms, and we've discussed before how she believes her way of living is better than mine for her. (Her's being the pessimistic, and as she calls it "realistic" way, whereas mine is a lot more optimistic, sometimes naive, but imo it's simpler?). And no one has any right to say what is the right way to live for everyone? So that feels wrong...
I just want a casual relationship. I don't want to make an enemy out of her as I enter university because I have even less energy for that then the bs I'm dealing with rn. I just want us to be like friends, not best friends. And keep a lot of distance when we first go in. I feel like a huge part of the issue here is we passed the point in the friendship cycle where your supposed to drift off. Usually having that time away I feel like allows for a natural drift back in as you accidentally cross paths again. And I sorta want to just drift back now and naturally drift back to being friends later when / if it works out.
I guess the question is how do I explain all of this to her and reach a resolution without making an enemy out of her

Hi everyone,
Welcome to our monthly megathread! Please use this as a space to generate discussion and post your frugal updates, tips/tricks, or anything else!
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Share with us!
· What are some unique thrift store finds you came across this week?
· Did you use couponing tricks to get an amazing haul? How'd you accomplish that?
· Was there something you had that you put to use in a new way?
· What is your philosophy on frugality?
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Select list of some top posts of the previous month(s):

1. Frugal living: Moving into a school converted into apartments! 600/month, all utilities included
2. Follow up- my daughter’s costume. We took $1 pumpkins and an old sweater and made them into a Venus Flytrap costume.
3. Gas bill going up 17%… I’m going on strike
4. I love the library most because it saves money
5. We live in Northern Canada, land of runaway food prices. Some of our harvest saved for winter. What started as a hobby has become a necessity.
6. 70 lbs of potatoes I grew from seed potatoes from a garden store and an old bag of russets from my grandma’s pantry. Total cost: $10
7. Gatorade, Fritos and Kleenex among US companies blasted for 'scamming customers with shrinkflation' as prices rise
8. Forty years ago we started a store cupboard of household essentials to save money before our children were born. This is last of our soap stash.
9. Noticed this about my life before I committed to a tighter budget.
10. Seeds from Dollar Store vs Ace Hardware.
11. I was looking online for a product that would safely hold my house key while jogging. Then I remembered I had such a product already.
12. Using patterned socks to mend holes in clothes
13. My dogs eat raw as I believe it’s best for them but I don’t want to pay the high cost. So after ads requesting leftover, extra, freezer burnt meat. I just made enough grind to feed my dogs for 9 months. Free.
14. What are your ‘fuck-it this makes me happy’ non-frugal purchases?
15. Where is this so-called 7% inflation everyone's talking about? Where I live (~150k pop. county), half my groceries' prices are up ~30% on average. Anyone else? How are you coping with the increased expenses?
16. You are allowed to refill squeeze tubes of jam with regular jam. The government can't stop you.

I was doing okay. I am doing good. I am eating fear foods and gaining and going to therapy and participating. I got a new puppy, I am seeing friends, my family hasn’t fought in a bit. But right now I am overwhelmed with emotions. And when I get a wave like this my instead reaction is to punish myself like I did something wrong.
It’s so stupid My sister used my face wash and we are close I would have let her, but she didn’t ask. She said she didn’t know it was mine. I have not a dollar right now since I help support my family with what I have by giving it to my mom. Anyway my parents give her money for helping around the house but I don’t ask them to give it to me since I know they are struggling. Which is on me and my own stupid guilt. But now after using like all my product she says she’s gonna buy her own. She told me it was cheap [since it was a gift I didn’t know but it I still $30] and she told me I could probably buy another . But I told her I’ll just use some of hers when she got it . She got pissed and started to like accuse me of trying to sabotage her by telling her not to get a cleanser and asking why I wanted too since I said I didn’t even like cleanser. But I thought I lost the cleanser and forgot about it, and I was thinking about how I usually break out when I use products. She was acting like I was manipulating her or something. But I’m trying so hard right now to be honest and everything and open, and recover with a better nicer mind set. I have confided in her on this.
It really really hurts that I’m doing all this work and everyone just thinks I’m the same sick manipulative person. I know I have to gain trust but I. Was never trying to hurt anyone even deep in my Ed just appease my self . I feel really really defeated right now and I feel like I did something bad and I want to punish myself and now I’m picking apart my body and feeling guilty about eating soo good recently.
When I tried to confront it gently she said “aww today sucks “ and when I saw her earlier she was feeling depressed I don’t want on my conscience that I made her day worst. So i guess I’ll let it go.
Idk why she’s so snippy with me today though . She owes me nothing but I did miss going to the mall with my family because I was sick from being up all night with the puppy because I got up at 4am and the rest of my sibling s got up at 2pm cause they felt like sleeping in . I feel so much dread about getting up tomorrow, food guilt from eating late , and I hate that even if I’m right if someone’s mad at me I feel this guilt that adds so much fire to my Ed. And I can’t even talk about it with my family cause they said I use it to manipulate them as an excuse .
She said she was sorry but told me I shouldn’t of left it out of I didn’t want anyone to use it. Idk maybe I’m over reacting I was just wins someone in my life would listen to what I’m actually saying instead of just dismissing it as an Ed manipulation or hysteria. I work so hard But I’m tired of having no real support that I need. Only a few “I’m proud of yous” an a bunch of stereotypes.I want to give up so bad . I know I can’t but right no I want to and that makes me feel bad for myself. I want people to know me and like me and trust me and I feel like this Ed took everything from me and even when it’s gone it’s gonna haunt me like a ghost because even if I let it go the people that are suppose to love me and notice me never will.:(

Hi everyone! Just came back from my first trip to Japan. It has always been my biggest dream to visit Japan since I was a kid and I'm so glad I finally got the chance to go! The trip was actually planned by my boyfriend who booked everything for us in May, which is my birthday month.
Tips:
Make Reservations Months in Advance! We made reservations for cafes, activities, restaurants, and even trains months in advance to make sure we would be able to do everything we wanted; we were not taking any risks and we were so thankful for our reservations. Make sure to do your research about when to make reservations months in advance.
Pack and Travel Light. Japan isn't really suited for traveling with big luggage to haul around. The trains can get incredibly crowded, you’ll probably be walking around and using stairs frequently, and hotel rooms can be very small at times. I recommend bringing a small rolling luggage and a large backpack and only pack what you need. Leave some room in your luggage for souvenirs or snacks to bring back.
Get Yen immediately at the airport or at the nearest convenience store! You will definitely need yen for a good amount of places in Japan. My boyfriend and I tried to load money in our Suica but the machine we used only accepted yen. Luckily we found a nearby conbini that accepted our debit card but we couldn't use our credit cards for some reason because the atm required a pin number. I might have accepted Mastercard but we both didn't have one.
Bringing comfortable shoes is a must in Japan! I brought comfortable shoes and my feet still hurt by the third day because we were walking and standing most of the days. I also recommend buying Lion’s Foot Patch if you find it at a conbini (I think we bought them at Lawsons) as the gel patch felt so good after a long day of walking!
Plan more days to relax. Although I have no regrets doing all the fun things we planned for our trip, I do wish we had more rest days in Japan, especially when our feet were so sore and we were so sleep deprived from waking up early. I wish we would have stayed a full 2 weeks in Japan and planned relaxing things to do in between our activities like visiting an Onsen and staying in a Ryokan.
Get to popular places early! My boyfriend and I would wake up at 5am to get ready and beat the morning rush hour and to get to popular places before the crowds showed up, it definitely worked out well for us.
Use hotel luggage transport or lockers when necessary. The luggage transport was especially useful when traveling long distances and carrying luggage through the trains would just be a hassle. All we had to do was just talk to our hotel clerk and give him the information for our next hotel we would be sending it to, and the clerk did the rest of the work. The luggage would usually arrive 2 days after we sent it. For the rest of the time, we just used lockers at train stations to store our luggage as we went sightseeing.
Trip Report:
Sunday May 14: Arrival and TokyoDisney
Arrival at Narita Airport
Arrival was simple, fast, and easy. For immigration and customs, we just had to scan our QR codes and passport and also take a picture.
Yen situation
As we arrived at Disney by bus, we wanted to use the coin lockers to store our luggage. The lockers only took suica (maybe yen too) so we tried to buy a suica but the machines only took yen (it didn't look like it took foreign cards). We tried walking to 7/11but it was closed so we ended up just walking to our hotel to drop off luggage. We ended up spending more than an hour walking everywhere and only had 2 hours for Disney.)
Tokyo Disney
The only ride we had time for was the beauty and the beast ride and it was amazing! We loved our experience inside the castle and we were amazed how fluid the animatronics were. If I could recommend one ride in Disney it would be this one. We did have time to go on one more ride so we went on the Monsters Inc ride which was just a shooter game and was just okay.
Monday May 15: Tokyo- DisneySea
Before we went to disneysea, we wanted to try some convenience store food so we went to Lawsons and Family Mart. The convenience store food was delicious! The onigiri tastes better than the ones in the US, the chicken in the hot food section was so juicy and delicious! Definitely recommend eating the hot foods and drinks. We tried getting money out of the ATM with our Visa credit cards but it didnt work so we used our debit card because the atm required a pin number.
Tokyo Disneysea
We arrived at Disneysea almost an hour early and we still had to wait in line. After the gates opened, we went straight to Journey to the Center of the Earth, but it broke down before we were able to ride it. The staff did offer us a fast pass to use for the ride later when it would be fixed. When the ride was working again, we headed back, used the fast pass and immediately got on the ride. It was a fun. fast, and short ride. All the rides at disneysea are pretty short and are moderately thrilling. Afterwards, we went to the submarine ride, 20,000 leagues under the sea, which was a unique experience and a very chill ride. Next was the Indiana jones ride; it was fun and a much better ride than the one in california. Then we went to Tower of terror which wasn't too scary. We also went to Soaring which actually has really long lines and wait time but it was a cool experience. The ride with the longest line was probably toy story mania; we decided not to go on the ride because of the long lines and we've been to the one in california. Kings triton castle was the most beautiful area to look at and explore, our favorite part of the area was exploring ariel's trinket room. Lots of rides were closed the day we went so we didnt get to ride on the spirits roller coaster, autopia, and explorers. My favorite food i tried there was the Ukiwa bun.
We also got to eat at Magellan which is one of the more expensive dining options. We didn't make a reservation until that very same day but we luckily able to reserve a spot in the morning. The food was tasty and it was my first time going to a fancier kind of restaurant that offered 3 course meal that were all tiny portions. I got the cheaper option (around $40 or $60, i cant remember) and it was very delicious. My boyfriend got the most expensive option (around $100) and it tasted terrible! I wouldnt recommend getting the most expensive option there.
Tuesday May 16: Tokyo-Harajuku
Harajuku
We took the trains to get to Harajuku and it was a little overwhelming trying to figure out how to find our train the first few times but, after a while, it became a very easy process. We used google maps to find the trains we needed to take. Then at the train stations, we looked for signs with the name of the train line we needed and followed the arrows and asked for directions when we needed extra help. Then we used our suica card to tap into the specific station we needed to be at to find our train. Next we looked for the PLATFORM NUMBER our train would be arriving at and followed the signs for that number. Once at the platform, we confirmed if we were at the right place by making sure the ARRIVAL TIME, PLATFORM NUMBER, and TRAIN LINE on the digital signs matched the one from our google maps. Make sure to follow train etiquette by stepping to the side to let people out of the train and putting your backpack in front of you if the train is really crowded.
At Harajuku station, we put our luggage in coin lockers for the day so we could explore. We went to a conbini, grabbed some food for breakfast and went to Yoyogi park to eat since nothing was open at 7am. After eating, we went to Meiji shrine for a bit, which is also near yoyogi park, and then headed back to harajuku so we wouldn't be late for our mipig reservations.
Mipig cafe was our favorite cafe and one of our favorite experiences in japan! The pigs were so loving and friendly, they came right up to us and laid on our laps after the staff put some blankets on us. They were adorable and as many as 2-3 pigs would come up to us and sit on our laps. Some pigs would even get aggressive with other piggies if you gave one too much attention. Some pigs started chewing on my dress so I had to get another blanket to hide my dress from being eaten.
After Mipig, we wanted to get some food. We tried Marian crepes, candied strawberries, and some small cafes. We visited Anakuma cafe and it was definitely an interesting experience. A bear hand would come out of hole in the wall and give us candy and a coin to put in a gacha machine and it would also play rock paper scissor with us.
Next stop was Hedgehog cafe which i wouldnt recommend only because I learned later that hedgehogs are nocturnal and they were sleeping most of the time we were there. We ended up leaving early because there was not much to do as we felt bad disturbing the little guys.
Afterwards we visited the Kiddyland store and I enjoyed the studio ghibli section but they also had kirby, pokemon, and sanrio merchandise.
Teamlabs
Next we took a train to team labs, we got there early but we had to wait until it was closer to our reservation time before we could line up. After getting inside we had to put our shoes and backpacks in lockers so we could go through the water exhibition first. They offer shorts if you are wearing dresses as some of the exhibitions have mirror floors. I wasnt too into the water exhibition but I did like the lights exhibition and flower exhibition the best. Overall it was a cool experience and I got some amazing photos out of it.
Shibuya sky
Lastly we went to shibuya sky. We also couldn't get inside until our reservation time started. The elevator ride up was pretty cool as they played a video on the ceiling. They have some restaurants and cafes near the top, I wish I came earlier to try them but we were so tired I didnt want to stay too long. The top of shibuya sky was outside and it was cold (i wish i brought a sweater) but it was incredibly beautiful, especially at night. It's a nice place to relax and look at views. This was probably my favorite sky building out of the three i went (shibuya sky, umeda sky, and tokyo skytree).
Wednesday May 17: Nagoya-Ghibli Park
Ghibli park
We left early morning to get on the train and avoid morning rush hour. We ended up taking the Nozomi train to Nagoya. We bought our shinkansen tickets at the JR ticket booth. We recommend reserving seats as its only a couple yen more and gives you peace of mind knowing you get to choose your seats. We also grabbed some ekibens which were delicious, my favorite was the blue one with mt. fuji on it. Next we had to take a bus to ghibli park which was actually very hard to find. We had to ask for help to find it. To pay for the bus, you can use a suica card or yen to pay as you board the bus.
We arrived super early, and put some of our bags in the lockers. We went to lawsons nearby and bought a ghibli park book which features the exhibitions inside. We walked around the park a bit before we were allowed to start lining up for our reservation times. There are also no trash cans at ghibli park so make sure you bring a trash bag with you to take all your trash back with you.
Around 12pm we went inside and went straight to the first exhibition (Becoming characters in Memorable Ghibli scenes) and there was already a line to get in. Once we got in we took pictures with Noface from spirited away, ponyo, princess mononoke scene, and many more movie scenes.
The next exhibition we went to was the food exhibition (Delicious! Animating Memorable Meals). You can't take pictures in that area but it was cool to be able to interact in the kitchen spaces from your favorite movie scenes. Also, in the end of this exhibition, you can take pictures with totoro and the cat bus!
We visited the ghibli store next because I heard the lines can get rather long at the end of the day and I bought some merchandise from there.
Afterwards, we took pictures at the central staircase, the castle in the sky scene, and the scene with Yubaba.
Next, we took the elevator down to the bottom floor and took pictures in the arietty scenes, it was cool feeling so tiny while everything was supersized!
Lastly we went to the bakery to get some sandwiches. Unfortunately, the food does sell out and there were not a lot of choices left by the time we got there. The food we got was okay but nothing special.
Osaka: Ichiran ramen
After Ghibli park we took the train to Osaka. In Osaka, we lined up to get into Ichiran ramen. We ordered our ramen through a vending machine and it gave us our ticket to give to our server. We were seated in these small cubicle areas but we were also able to close the partition in between us so my boyfriend and I could share our table space together. I thought it was a unique dining experience; it was cool not having to say a single word to our server, and the food was also delicious too.
Thursday May 18: Osaka-Universal Studios Japan
Got to USJ an hour before it opened and there were still super long lines! As the gates opened up, we ran to nintendoland to make sure we got in. We went to toadstool cafe to get ticket reservations but they didn't open until 9am so we decided to take the single rider line for the mario kart ride, it was a bad idea. For some reason the single rider line still took us 30 minutes to complete and it felt like it was going slower than the regular lines. The mario kart ride was cool, it used like a VR headset and you were able to shoot shells at others but I really didn't understand what was going on.
Toadstool cafe
We went back to toadstool but all the tickets were gone, I tried talking to one of the workers if they would offer tickets later but I don't think he understood what i was saying. He actually just let me in the line after I asked a few times if they had anymore tickets for the afternoon. After waiting in line and ordering, we grabbed our drinks and table number and sat down at our table. The drinks were delicious! Definitely recommend. We also ordered some kind of mushroom pesto soup and it was bomb! We recommend that too since they don't offer it in the California Universal. We also got peaches cake for like $30 which is supposed to be for 4 people but just the 2 of us ate it. It was light and fluffy and we recommend getting it as they also dont offer it in the California Universal. The staff also came by and offered to take pics of us which was so nice.
Next we bought the limited edition wrist bands and started playing some of the mini games. We played about 3 games before we decided to leave nintendo land and check out the other areas because we also bought a reserved time to get back into nintendoland to use our fastpass for the yoshi ride.
We had a fastpass for the Jurassic park ride so we went on that next. Make sure you are prepared to get wet cause you will get soaked at the end. Then we went to Hogwarts and watched some of the shows they offered and grabbed a meatpie. We didn't stay long here as we have already been to Hogwarts in california. Next we got in line for the mario strawberry shortcake pancake and it was delicious light and fluffy! I think we also had a fastpass ride for jaws and that ride was actually really cooler than I expected . The next fastpass ride was for despicable me ride so we did that one too and it was actually better than the california version. And lastly we went back to nintendoland to use our reservation time and our fastpass for the yoshi ride. It was a cute slow ride but it had nice views of the park. I enjoyed it even though it was a kiddy ride. Lastly, we had the yakisoba shells and melon lassi and both were delicious
By this time our feet were so sore from walking for days so we left early to go rest at our hotel. I ended up being so sore and tired I just knocked out early. My boyfriend bought Lions Foot Patches from Lawson and put them on my feet while i slept. They felt so nice and cool on my feet. I recommed getting those foot patches while you're in japan.
We woke up for a late dinner and got some nearby mcdonalds. I'm not a fan of mcdonalds in the US but i wanted to try japan's mcdonalds to see if its better. I honestly didn't like the Japan Mcdonalds either even though it does taste different, I'm not sure what the hype is about with the japanese mcdonalds. I found that japan's convenience store chicken was much juicer and tasted better than the mcdonalds chicken.
Friday May 19: Kyoto-Fushimi Inari Taisha, Nishiki market, Ninenzaka
Fushimi inari taisha shrine
We got to the shrine early, maybe around 7am,and it was not very crowded but there were still people there. It was raining a bit so luckily i brought my umbrella, unfortunately my boyfriend did not, this would haunt him later. We took a picture of a map to see which way to go to reach the top as there are different routes you can take. It was a gradual climb up but my boyfriend really struggled as his feet still hurt from the days before. The gates were beautiful and there were so many areas to look at and explore as we climbed. Unfortunately my boyfriend was tired and we were in a time crunch so we didn't explore every area but I wish I could have because this was the most beautiful place I had visited in Japan. As we neared the top it started to rain more heavily and my boyfriend ended up getting soaked. The top of the shrine was anticlimactic, but we took our picture and headed back down. On our way we stopped by the little stores and bought an umbrella for my boyfriend which we were thankful they had some. As we went down the steps in the rain, my boyfriend accidentally slipped and fell on his back pretty badly. He ended up with a deep gash on his finger as the blood gushed all over the floor. Luckily I had some tissues to wrap up his finger. We headed back down the mountain and bought some bandaids at a conbini store. We also bought some strawberry daifuku at a small little shop and it was the best daifuku I ate in Japan. The mochi was a great consistency and the strawberry was the juiciest strawberry i ever had. I wish i had bought more from there.
Nishiki market
We went to Nishiki market around 11am and it was super crowded while the path was so small and narrow. We literally had to push through the crowds at times because there were so many people, it was not a fun time for me. I also ended up losing my suica card somewhere around there. I'm also not the biggest fan of seafood but my boyfriend is so he ended up eating most of the food. We ended up not staying long for all those reasons and ended up going to a nearby store that sold all kinds of different food which I liked a lot better because there weren't crowds of people there.
Ninenzaka
Next we walked to Ninenzaka which was like a 30 minute walk. It was still raining so we were just looking for a place to stop and eat for a bit. We went to Kudamono cafe and got the cloud dessert. It was pretty good and fluffy and the dessert looked so pretty. Afterwards, we had room for more dessert so we tried Meccha cafe. We ordered the matcha tiramisu and the parfait. The matcha tiramisu was probably the best dessert i had in Japan, I definitely recommend getting it! We also visited Donguri and bought more totoro merchandise. At this point, my boyfriend was so tired and soaked from the rain we decided to go back to the hotel. We took the bus this time and it was packed! We had to push people just to get out.
Saturday May 20: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka
Kyoto:
Arashiyama bamboo forest
We got to the bamboo forest early at 7am, there were a few people there but not too many like later in the day. I recommend going super early to beat the crowds. The bamboo forest was super short but it was still a cool area to check out and plus there are many things to do around the area. We walked to a nearby park next to a big river and the views were absolutely gorgeous! Kyoto is really breathtaking. After walking a while and checking out the scenery we headed back to the bamboo forest to board the Sagano Romantic Train.
Sagano Romantic Train
We had reserved seats for the Sagano Romantic Train and the views from the train were amazing! Get there early because you might have to do some minor paperwork stuff to print out your ticket if you reserved in advance. The reserved seating we had was in a train with no glass windows so you can just feel the air rushing through your hair as the train moves. Truly it was a memorable and fun experience with a lot of breathtaking nature views. After coming back to our initial departure spot on the train, we left for Monkey Park.
Monkey Park
We rushed over to Monkey park and by this time the streets of kyoto became much crowded as we had to dodge pedestrians left and right. We paid a fee to get into the monkey park and hiked our way up to the park, there were a couple benches to take rest if needed. At the top, you can see monkeys running around and playing with one another. We went inside a little building where you can buy food for the monkeys and feed them through windows covered with a mesh net. We didnt stay long as we had a full schedule planned for the day so we left to go catch a train to Nara but we did eat some amazing street food on the way. I don't know why but the street food in Kyoto was so delicious, the best I had in Japan probably.
Nara:
Nakatanidou
We arrived at Nara from the trains and went straight to Nakatanidou for some mochi and it was packed with people! It was even hard trying to get a space to watch them make the mochis. It was cool to experience the mochi making and to taste the mochi but I probably wouldn't go back there again because of the crowds.
Nara Park
After the mochis, we walked to Nara park and it was amazing! There were so many deers and they were so friendly and polite! This was my favorite part of nara for sure. For a few yen, we bought some crackers and found some deers that would bow everytime they wanted a cracker, it was too cute. The deers were literally everywhere, on the streets and even at temples.
Shrines
There were lots of shrines around the area but we came pretty late so most of them were closing up but the ones we did see were pretty neat to look at. We also ate some udon at a little restaurant next to a small lake, the views of the lake were amazing from inside the restaurant.
Osaka:
After Nara, we came back to Osaka and the streets were so crowded at night. I tried shopping at don quixote but there were just to many people to weave through that I just decide to give up and try a 10 yen cheese bread near the store. The line was kind of long but I decided to try it out, it was actually really big, not that good, and made my stomach hurt. I would not be getting that again haha
Matsusakagyu Yakiniku Restaurant
My boyfriend had reserved this place for Thursday but we were so tired that day that we decided to cancel our reservation. We decided to try to go in person on this day to see if we could get in. We were lucky that they had a spot available and we ordered a platter of A5 wagyu beef for more than $100 US dollar. Im not really a meat person but the beef was very tender and delicious and the service was very good. They took pictures of me and my boyfriend and gave me free ice cream for my birthday.
Sunday May 21: Tokyo-Joypolis, Akihabara, skytree
Joypolis
The next morning we took the Nozumi back to Tokyo and headed straight to joypolis. We got tickets that allowed us to go on pretty much any ride there. Joypolis was small but had some interesting and unique rides and attractions. My favorite was the rhythm rollercoaster where you play rhythm games on a small roller coaster. We also played a VR Laser tag which was actually pretty fun even though I dont really play VR. There was an Attack on Titan walkthrough attraction that was completely in Japanese so I didnt understand any of it but it had some very cool props inside. The other interesting attraction was a scary house, where you have to get into these lockers and a girl comes and bangs on them and then the lockers flip you back horizontally. It wasnt that scary but it was pretty unique.
Akihabara
Next we went to Akihabara just to check out but we were actually super tired so we didnt stay long. We went to a couple stores but to be honest it was actually kind of boring as I am no longer as into anime as I was when I was a kid so we ended leaving akihabara fairly quickly.
Tokyo Skytree
Instead of going to akihabara I kind of wish I just went to the tokyo skytree shopping area because there was so much cool things to do there! They have a pokemon center, a kirby cafe, studio ghibli shop, and so many stores to shop or restaurants to eat at! We also went to the top of skytree but it honestly wasnt worth the money as the very top didnt have that much stuff and we just had to wait in these super long lines to get both up and down the skytree. After the skytree, we found a yakitori spot and ate some beef skewers which were delicious. We wished we went restaurant hopping more as there were just so many places to eat in this area.
Monday May 22: Ueno Park and Departure
Ueno park
Before we left to the airport, we visited Ueno park which was only a few blocks away from our hotel. It had a beautiful lake which was covered with some sort of lily pads. The park was pretty big and it was nice just walking around the area.
Life Mart
We decided to stop at Life Mart to get some food before we left to the airport. The Meat was so delicious and was so cheap, and it had different options from conbinis. We took train back to Narita Airport, this train I think you have to reserve in advance.
Narita airport
Going back through immigrations and customs and tsa was super easy and fast. We recommended getting lunch or snack early because there were pretty long lines as our departure time approached.
We also bought Tokyo Banana for souvenir snacks to bring back to our families, its very delicious!
In the end, visiting Japan was better than I could ever imagine and I just cant wait to go back! Please let me know what your favorite parts of Japan are and what other areas in Japan I must check out!