#apologies if the text is hard to read i added alt text in case you can't read it very well

[psychotic-nonsense]

TW FOR BODY HORROR

Stranger Things: Vecna's Generals AU - Character Sheets

Feel free to use these for reference, as these are the current designs and relevant information. This will override some old information posts, as their contents have been added to/tweaked/removed, but here they are for reference:

Original Master Post

Original Song List (Links still valid and playlists are updated)

Hawkins Civilians title expansion

[that-lemonade-witch]

New Moon Tarot Reading - Setting Intentions for the Upcoming Month (PAC)

🌑 The new moon is a time for reflection and new beginnings. It's a good time to think about your intentions for the month ahead. This Pick A Card tarot reading provides guidance on your goal and setting your intention. 🌑

Pick a pile following your intuition, which card, art, or crystal speaks to you most. Take what resonates and leave what doesn't. ❤️

Within each reading, the first card represents your ideal outcome; the second card represents where you are now and influences involved; the third card represents the past, both events and emotions influencing your present intention.

Piles (left to right): Crackle Quartz & Knight of Swords, Red Jasper & King of Wands, Moonstone & Queen of Swords.

Pile 1: Crackle Quartz & Knight of Swords

Your intention or goal this month is connected to financial stability and material success. This is something you've been seeking for a while, and you're so close you can almost taste it. Family or close friends are likely involved (or will be soon) in helping you, either directly or in indirect ways such as emotional support. Trusting in your intuition and listening to your unconscious emotions are part of what has brought you here along with your hard work and dedication to your craft. Don’t rush your interactions with others, take time to listen and empathize with them.

Pile 2: Red Jasper & King of Wands

You aspire to have mental clarity and control in your life. You may currently feel that you're lacking the strength to take on that challenge just yet. Recently, you've spent a lot of time and energy thinking about the past and reflecting on happier times. Beware not to allow yourself to get too attached or lost in memories, acknowledge both the good and bad in your past. Focusing too much on the past can become a form of self-deception that is getting in the way of achieving your goals. Also look out for other situations involving betrayal that may be occurring in your life. There is quite a way to go before you are able to fully achieve your goal of mental clarity and control over your life. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture and reasons why you chose that goal.

Pile 3: Moonstone & Queen of Swords

You seek feelings of fulfillment or completing an aspect of one of your broader aspirations in life and your journey. Rather than an end, it is a feeling of wholeness, achievement, and breadth of knowledge. This is your ideal outcome. In your past you encountered difficult decisions or set unrealistic expectations for yourself. You wish to feel certain in your decisions and capable of achieving your dreams. Be aware of this while thinking about the month ahead, reflect on how the past impacts your present experience and emotions. Trust in your intuition and emotions, be ready to listen to your inner voice. Don't rush important decisions, take your time and listen and be observant of your inner and outer world.

If you resonated with this reading, consider supporting me on ko-fi (link in source below).

If you're interested in a free tarot reading in exchange for feedback, see this post. To see a list of all my pac readings, see this post.

🌑 No matter your goals and intentions for this month, I wish you the best in achieving them ❤️

🖤 ~ 🌙 That Lemonade Witch 🌙 ~ 🖤

(Apologies for lack of / less detailed alt text for the images, when I was nearly done adding detailed descriptions, Tumblr somehow lost them. I'm still having trouble getting them to save.)

In case alt text didn't save properly:

First image: Three piles of cards are arranged in a slight arc on a soft blue and silver fabric. The leftmost is the knight of swords, he wears a red tunic, armor and helmet, carries a sword, and rides a white horse. The center is the king of wands, he wears a red and gold robe, gold belt, and gold crown, and holds a staff in his right hand. There's a lizard in the right corner of the card. The rightmost is the queen of swords, she wears a light yellow dress, blue cape, and flared crown. On her left shoulder sits a white bird, she holds a sword pointed downwards in her right hand.

Second image: Three cards are laid out, the king of pentacles, ten of pentacles, and queen of cups. The king wears a light yellow and red robe and holds a scepter and pentacle, he looks confident and wise. The ten of pentacles depicts two people, one younger and one older, and a dog standing in an archway. The queen of cups wears a complex gown made of light pink fabric and white ruffles, she has blue-green hair and delicately holds a cup above a bowl of water and seashell.

Third image: Three cards are laid out, the king of swords, seven of swords, and six of cups. The king of swords wears a grey and purple robe with yellow accents, he holds a sword point-down with a serious look on his face and a black bird on his right shoulder. The seven of swords depicts a person wearing a red cape trying to hide 4 swords while holding a 5th and 2 swords are at their feet. The six of cups shows two children sitting in long grass putting flowers into 6 cups.

Fourth image: Three cards are laid out, the world, knight of cups, and seven of cups. The word depicts a woman reaching to touch a wreath along the top of the card, 4 heads are in the lower corners, a human, lion, bull, and eagle. The knight of cups is in profile, he wears armor with the visor of his helmet up to reveal his face. He holds a goblet in his right hand. The seven of cups depicts a shadowy robed figure. Their left hand holds a mask partly below their face but there's only shadow, their right hand holds up a skull. A large lizard stands aggressively in the lower part of the card.

[dradelcra]

What the hell is in HJ-7???

(or possibly as close as an amateur can get)(Re-Upload)

(pt 1, because figuring fictional science is actually hard)

I apologize, this was originally colour coded for easier reading but adding the ‘keep reading tab’ only exists on the laptop and it neutralizes the lovely colours. I had highlighted important elements, chemicals and sections of the chemical’s reaction.

Nonsense below:

Now we already know that this chemical concoction is practically a thing of magic. Now whatever the heck that salt Dr. Jekyll was using is surely important because it’s state of purity is what makes or breaks the man.

Salts, in chemistry, are electrically neutral ionic compounds of oppositely charged ions. What does that mean? Opposites do attract (or in this case ying and yang it out). That probs explains why the salt ingredient is so important (lmao, cause y'know hyde (-) and jekyll (+). Anyways, we aren’t on that rn. We are on chemistry not philosophy.

There are a bunch of ‘white’ salts (irl), and since Robert (author) himself doesn’t know how the 'potion’ worked, we can assume that it’s something of some fiction monstrosity of something that actually exists. Might just be table salt.

Sorry, just had to pause this to say that, in my curse of events:

EVEN IN FICTIONS SOMETHING EITHER HAPPENS BEFORE OR AFTER MY DAY OF BIRTH. IT’S A CURSE I AM TELLING YOU!

Anyways, back to the analysis (i will be saying this often because this is being typed with my train of thought).

The thing that all salts have in common, is as I forementioned, the opposite ions (+ and -) which cancel each other,making it neutral and that it occurs in a solid state. (bookmark this because we’ll be needing her later in the text).

There are also some powders and a phial- i don’t major in chemistry, what the hell is a phial?

Ah okay, so you have the audacity to make me feel dumb by using alt names but can’t name your chemicals, huh ROBERT??

wait, phial glass? Is that how it’s spelt? I always heard the term but-

Anyways,

HJ-7 consists of phosphorus at least, being mixed with other contents, causing it to be red and pungent (Please note that phosphorus can be naturally (or as natural as it can get through heating) red.

Also (if it is red phosphorus):

This shit is not made for human consumption, no wonder Jekyll felt like he was dying.

It typically doesn’t dissolve in most liquids. It does, however, combine with halogens…

But, when we go further in text to 'colour change’, then it likely isn’t red phosphorus.

Phosphorus, also comes in a purple form (known as scarlet/violet phosphorus) but that’s derived from white phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulfide (and low-key being evaporated by the sun), but here Hyde jumps straight from a red liquid to a violet one.

That could possibly mean white phosphorus was in the red liquid, and was possibly mixed with carbon disulfide (and something to simulate the radiation of solar energy) to turn it purple. (being generous and assuming that the mixture changed because of phosphorus being the main element and not something else).

Crystals, I’m guessing refers to the salt, brightened the red mixture and caused witchy bubbly (effervescence).

Me: Proceeds to low-key cry.

I should also mention that carbon disulfide (contaminated with impurites, which is basically whatever isn’t it) gives off a foul-odur, or how you say pungent.

Bubbly or effervescence, presented in the text, is usually due to a chemical reaction producing oxygen (as far as I know).

Okay, bringing back the salt tab. I think it may be Sodium Bisulfate, one, because it’s chemical formula contains oxygen (NaHSO4), two, it is white, three, it is formed by partial neutralization of sulfuric acid by a sodium base (yes table salt can be used), and four, it is a stable and dry granular (crystal) product, thereby fitting the description of the white salt Jekyll used.

Now, why did I highlight neutralization? Because it can go wrong. (If I’m right, purity means that it’s the chemical compound of the item alone with no other additives, so say if my sodium bisulfate somehow had remains of sodium chloride during the neutralization process, then it is deemed impure).

The oxygen within the formula could possibly be released when reacting with the red phosphorus mixture, causing the effervescence, because when phosphorus reacts with oxygen it literally catches fire.

Hey, bubbles!

OH FUCK

REMEMBER THE CHEMICAL CHANGE I SPOKE OF EARLIER THAT NEEDED RADIATION.

GUESS WHAT ALSO RADIATES HEAT!!!!

FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

and being supposedly compressed in a small phial (because who needs lab safety), small, whatever consistency this thing is right now, slosh would heat up rather quickly. Dare I say, very hot.

Okay, turns out Dr. Jekyll likely used a Bunsen burner instead of relying on chemical reactions to explode heat the elements. Good to know, wish Lanyon mentioned that. Forget what I said about the fire.

Please note: Phosphorus glows this colour (green).

Another addition: How do we combine the Phosphorus, remember that I said it dissolves in?

That’s right, Halogens.

And you know what’s a halogen? Bromine.

WHAT COLOUR IS BROMINE?????

FUCKING

RED

(blood-red even)

But, now we have a problem.

I don’t entirely know how everything reacts with everything but I do know this: white phosphorus+bromine makes phosphorus bromide…

and that’s clear…as in clear in colour.

At least it fumes that fits a description.

I should also mention that Phosphorus reacts a bit…explosively…with it’s solvents and sadly, it does not fit the description of Jekyll’s calm and cool sliquid (solid-liquid) creation.

Unless, boil and smoke meant, sort of blew up lab, but I survived and it’s okay.

And also, it turns out that sodium bisulfate removes halogens…yeah, our phosphorus dissolvent.

DAMNIT, IT’S FALLING APART!

So close…why couldn’t the real life chemicals react similar to the fictional unnamed chemicals??

Sadly, i’m not a quitter.

Bruh

It explodes with everythinnnnggggg!!!!

Now I know how Dr. Jekyll felt…

Alright,

slight good news.

if Jekyll somehow is able to slowly add bromine to phosphorus bromide (which violently reacted before) in an environment of 0°C followed by a slow addition of water then it shouldn’t explode and becomes phosphoryl bromide.

This is pale orange and reacts with carbon disulfide, but we aren’t doing that yet.

Slapping more water on it’s liquid form turns it into Phosphoric acid and hydrobromic acid.

Now, you may be asking…

You just wasted my time, why didn’t you just start with Phosphoric acid???

Well to be fair…it hadn’t occured to me and-

“Phosphorus is an essential part of life. When combined with oxygen to make phosphates, it holds our DNA together, makes our bones strong and carries out fundamental chemical reactions within our cells” - The Guardian

So logically…I started with it.

Alright, so Phosphorus is therefore very important in doing it’s Hyde thing.

We have (white phosphorus + bromine; assuming, pre-made outside with proper fire safety) Phosphoric acid + carbon disulfide*  + ???? (red liquid) + sodium bisulfate (our salt) + heat= ????.

*I’m taking out carbon disulfide because our Phosphorus is now Phosphoric acid and we don’t need it. It will also kill if they are combined.

-End of Day 1-

Status: Failed

(What do you guys think will work? I’ll wait a bit before starting Day 2 to hear your responses).

(I’m thinking Phosphoric acid and Potassium Hydroxide since it has both phosphorus and becomes a red liquid. We can also bring back carbon disulfide if we do).

[torentialtribute]

‘Mo Farah punched and kicked a married couple’: Star accused of unprovoked attack

Mo Farah is accused of beating and kicking a married couple while staying at the Haile Gebrselassie hotel. A furious war of words broke out on Wednesday morning between Farah and Gebrselassie in response to Farah & # 39; s revelation that he was robbed during his stay at the Gebrselassie hotel.

Gebrselassie responded by suggesting that he was a & # 39; married athlete & # 39; had attacked and saved him from being held in custody by asking the police not to act.

Sir Mo Farah was robbed last month in the Olympic Legend Haile Gebrselassie hotel in Ethiopia "

Sir Mo Farah was attacked last month at the Olympic Legend Haile Gebrselassie hotel in Ethiopia

Ethiopian in more detail Farah is said to have approached the man after he suggested that he had followed him.

& # 39; Farah said to him: & # 39; Why are you following me? & # 39; & # 39 ;, Gebrselassie told the Guardian . & # 39; That man said he wasn't – and that was just doing his job.

& # 39; Immediately struck Farah kicked them and kicked them on foot, especially the husband. There were many witnesses.

Gebrselassie also suggested that he had entered to prevent the British star from being spoken by the police.

] & # 39; I don't know what to do. & # 39; & # 39; For example, when I responded to the two athletes in the gym and I kicked and hit, I was almost in custody.

& # 39; But I spoke to the police and said, "This is Mo Farah, he is a great athlete, he is an international name." Leave him.

& # 39; The police said, "Haile, why are you saying this? This is a criminal." I said, "Please, please." I escaped the police without a case. He left Ethiopia without asking questions.

& # 39; And finally he apologized for the attack – "OK, no problem, I was very angry, bla bla". I have always cared for him in different ways. But he treated us the wrong way. & # 39;

Farah tried to contact Gebrselassie several times, but he did not reply to his messages "

<img id =" i-22959554a0bc5df6 "src = "https://dailym.ai/2XBpuG6" height = "410" width = "634" alt = "Farah tried to contact Gebrselassie several times, but he did not reply to his messages

Farah tried to contact Gebrselassie several times, but he did not reply to his messages

At a press conference on Wednesday, Farah had claimed that on March 23 – his 36th birthday – he had a watch, two telephones, and £ 2,600 cash in four coins from his room in Gebrselassie & Yaya Village Resort nearby from Sululta.

In an astonishing statement that evening, Gebrselassie said that a report had been made to police about Farah who reportedly attacked a married athlete & # 39; in the hotel gym.

In further allegations, Gebrselassie said that there were multiple reports of shameful behavior that a person was not expected of his caliber, and his follow-up during his stay, by hotel staff & # 39 ;. It added that when Farah left the hotel after a two-month stay, he had not paid his 81,000 birr bill (£ 2,168) and that he was legally pursuing Farah for defamation.

A Farah spokesperson told Sportsmail : Mo is disappointed with this statement and the continued reluctance of the hotel and its owner to assume responsibility for this robbery. Mo fights all these claims that are an attempt to distract from the situation where members of his hotel used a room key and stole money and items from Mo Farah's room (there was no safe because it was defective, and Mo asked for a new one).

& # 39; The police report confirms the incident and the hotel acknowledged its responsibility and was in contact with Mo & # 39; s legal advisor. The hotel also offers a 24-hour front desk, a safe at reception and a safe at reception. Despite many attempts to discuss this subject privately with Mr Gebrselassie, he did not respond, but now that he does, we welcome him or his legal team to make contact so that this issue can be resolved. "

<img id =" i-9ab90a8fd67ae1e2 "src =" https://dailym.ai/2WPmxkZ /2019/04/24/16/12666244-6955739-image-a-3_1556120529806.jpg "height =" 406 "width =" 634 "alt =" Farah insists that his preparations for the Sunday to Sunday marathon are not

Farah, who was in Ethiopia to prepare

Farah, who was in Ethiopia to prepare himself

After 18 having stayed at the hotel in January, after returning from a training run on March 23, I discovered that his suitcase had been transported, with a watch next to £ 800, birr 20,000 (£ 534), $ 1500 (£ 1159) and 100 Euro ( £ 86) and two telephones.

Farah tried to make contact with Gebrselassie after he became frustrated about what he considered inactivity of the police

Farah said on Wednesday: & # 39; I had stayed there all the time from 18 January. That morning I left at half past five and I had always done that. I came back around 4:30 pm, grabbed the keys at the reception, went to my room, lay on the bed because I was a little tired, and then I noticed that my bag was open. I thought & # 39; S ***, I left my bag open & # 39 ;.

]

The Yaya Africa athletics village where Farah was staying when articles were reportedly stolen & it was locked but it is broken. Someone took the key to the reception, opened it, took my money, took my nice watch that my wife got me and two phones.

& # 39; The watch was sentimental – it cannot be replaced. They didn't want to do anything so I called the police, they came by, took things with them, went away, they said they arrested five men but they were released again.

But Gebrselassie was on his interview on Thursday that Farah & # 39; had returned his safe to receive two or three days before the incident & # 39;

In directing his anger to Gebrselassie, Farah said Wednesday: & I sent a message to Haile to tell him what had happened but he did not reply I did not say anything. He did not respond, even though it was his hotel. One of the guys from the hotel called him because I said I wanted to see him and he said: & # 39; We're working on it & # 39;

& # 39; We need two lawyers to look at it. I don't care about the money, just look at my watch.

& # 39; As someone who pays for a hotel, I am disappointed that they did not take good action.

& # 39; I just want him (Gebrselassie) to take responsibility for getting my things back. It is the responsibility of a hotel to get it back. You pay for every night – you don't get it for free.

Gebrselassie & # 39; s full answer to Farah's allegations on Wednesday afternoon

Gebrselassie & # 39; s complete response claims by Farah on Wednesday afternoon

& # 39; I had to move for the last & # 39;

Gebrselassie & # 39; s complete response to Farah's allegations on Wednesday afternoon because I felt uncomfortable. "

Sportsmail has seen a text message that Farah sent to Gebrselassie to find a solution. It read: & # 39; I want to let you know that I am disappointed that you have made no effort to steal my stolen money and especially to find my watch.

& # 39; I have tried to contact you several times and know that I am not responsible for what I say at the London press conference and how it affects Sir Mo. & # 39;

Gebrselassie's response to claim that Farah wanted to go to the vault for his money and said that five staff members spent three weeks at the local police were detained before they were released.To call Farah & # 39; s allegations of theft & # 39; unproven & & # 39 ;, the statement read: & # 39; It is with deep sadness that I sent Mo Farah to deceive me and my property. & # 39; [1 9459002]

It added: & # 39; I found today's allegations made by Mo with unproven premises, as a burden of reproach on my hard-earned reputation and company. My lawyers will handle the case accordingly. & # 39;

Source link

[rastagong-tearoom]

Serving of Tea #4: The last stretch

Excerpt from Devilman Crybaby, courtesy of reddit user Tomaiua.

Hello everyone!

I know it's been forever, apologies for this utter lack of updates. I am not dead yet, and I have been working on Sylvan Disappearance all the while.

It has been pretty challenging, though. It's also not over yet. I've had a pretty busy semester school-wise with a certain research project, and working on both a visual novel and my research consistently has been……… pretty difficult. I think I fared well enough, overall? Well, I still have some amount of work ahead of me.

At the same time, part of why this whole VN development thing took so long is because I didn't want to cut too much on sleep, social time, down time. For the most part, I have succeeded in this regard! Yeah for healthy habits!

Besides, I can announce that the scripting process of Sylvan Disappearance is now complete! This is the last stretch, finally.

Here is a brief description of what remains to be done:

Going through a last editing pass

I still haven't read the VN from back to back myself, and I absolutely need to do so! For the sake of editing the text itself to a satisfying level of course, but also to ensure the internal coherence of the story and to polish the general presentation.

I ended up changing a number of core scenes during scripting, and if I do not ensure that the whole narrative is consistent, some parts might feel somewhat strange in the final result.

I might also cut down on the length of certain scenes! The story currently sits at a little over 45 000 words, which is actually quite a lot. I promised myself that I would not hesitate in cutting down where possible, if appropriate. We'll see.

Soo, yeah, the whole thing definitely goes a bit further than a mere editing pass.

Some amount of external testing

It's tempting to skip this step, but I know I shouldn't!

In the field of game developement, it's usually recommended to test early and frequently. This generally holds true for parser- or choice-based interactive fiction.

I am not sure of the applicability of this idea to visual novels, though. Since they tend to be longer, and more linear —in short, more alike to regular novels— iterative testing doesn't seem as helpful. It usually doesn't make much sense to have someone read an incomplete draft, unless the projected length is very high, or specific feedback on a precise aspect is needed. (I'd be curious to hear the thoughts of other writers on the matter!)

At any rate, I'll be kindly asking a few friends for help regarding playtesting, I hope it will work out!

Correctly attributing every free-to-use asset in the story

This one is going to take more time than it appears.

As I explained in the past, I rely extensively on photographic backgrounds with permissive licenses for the story, and it will probably remains so for the foreseeable future. As you can imagine, this practice of reuse extends beyond backgrounds: all sound effects and music in the story are somehow free to use.

Whether or not they use a Creative Commons license (which explicitly requires attribution), the authors of all these resources ask to be credited for their work, as they rightly should be.

I always strive to be precise and exhaustive when attributing specific assets! It's basically the least I can do, and it's even very little in comparison with the real, hard work which went into the production of original music, sounds, photographs.

However, explicit and correct attribution is not that common. It might be because in the mind of creators and final users alike, there's something shameful or cheap in the act of relying in pre-existing work, which all ties into our expectations of high production values regarding digital works. This is of course very understandable, because commercial pressure requires market value. And there is obviously tremendous value in original art.

However, I genuinely believe that assets in the public domain or with permissive reuse licenses should be valued as sources of common wealth too. And this starts with rightly attributing these assets to the creators who kindly offered them to everyone. The Creative Commons non-profit offers us both a succint summary of good attribution and an in-depth look at the best practices for attribution. I highly recommend checking out the latter if you're interested in the topic!

The baseline is that good attribution does take a little time, but not too much. Ideally, the title, the author, the license and a link to the source should be included. There are no hard rules though, it is more of an general ethical recommendation. As stated in the page: “there is no one right way; just make sure your attribution is reasonable and suited to the medium you're working with. That being said, you still have to include attribution requirements somehow, even if it's just a link to an About page that has that info.”

The best practices page also acknowledges that attribution is harder in non-textual media, like games and videos, and suggests different methods of attribution.

I've personally settled with:

A succint summary of all the contributors on the itch.io page that will host the VN. It merely lists names by category.

This summary is also reported in the rolling credits at the end of the game.

An in-depth credits menu inside the game, accessible from the main menu at any time. Each track, sound and background is visible either with a thumbnail, or with an audio player. In all cases, the credits menu explicitly lists the author, the license, background information on the asset and a link to the source.

I won't lie, coding a credits menu takes a little time! I still think it's worth it, and I hope some players enjoy having a look at the assets that went into making the whole VN, and learn a few things about the numerous real-life locations and talents behind it all!

The credits menu itself is mostly coded now, though I still have to add the audio player for sounds and music, and to fill it with all the assets. I've also coded the rolling credits at the very end, and I similarly only need to fill them with the names of all the involved authors.

Attributing each asset with all the required information will take some time, though. It's relatively easy to get lost in the task, to spend hours tracking the source of each asset if it was not cleanly compiled somewhere prior to beginning. I learnt this lesson the hard way in the past.

For Sylvan Disappearance, I prepared myself correctly. I've been using a giant spreadsheet to keep track of each and every asset used in the course of the story, with all the required information easily accessible by column. I even added bookmarked assets that I did not intend to use at first, for easier reference in case they became useful. Here's a sneak peek:

Now all I have to do is reporting each and every line in the credits menu. It will take time, but it is doable!

A potential release date?

When will this VN finally come out? ...I... still can not say for sure.

This month, this much is certain! I am almost done with schoolwork, but I will most likely be busy again in the second half of April anyway. But overall, Sylvan Disappearance should be released by April 26 at the latest!

(Most likely, it will be released right before April 26.)

That is all for today! This should be the very last long-form serving of tea before the release.

I will endeavour to write very short promotional posts. And since I still cannot show anything else from the game itself, I will find something else. I already have a small idea, I think it can prove interesting!

Until then, take care everyone!

[datingadviceonreddit]

Okay, so this is going to be long and complex, but I believe it is all necessary to get a complete picture. This post is part advice seeking and part I would just like someone to listen. I’ll try to get in as much as possible, but I’m sure I’ll inevitably miss something. I am using an alt account since several people know my main and I’m a little embarrassed of some things.Date #1: Ok, so to start, I am M/24, she is F/18. We met on Tinder, I asked her on a date immediately and she accepted. This happened about mid December, right before Christmas break (we are both college students at the same school... well technically, more on that in a minute). So, we go on this date and it’s great, similar interests, taste in food, travel, and humor. She is intelligent and beautiful. What more can you ask for? I’m immediately struck. I am a bit of a hopeless romantic/fall hard and fast type (INFP, lol), but this is something I have come to recognize and I try my best to keep it in check.The first date ends, as we are leaving, it came up in conversation that I am about to catch the bus (my vehicle was broken at the time and I live off campus), no big deal, I’m used to it. She offers to ride me home. Now, normally I wouldn’t accept this offer (I’ve declined similar ones before this) as, while I wasn’t ashamed of taking the bus or too masculine to be driven by a female, those thoughts, unfortunately, still persist (“would I be seen as a loser for relying on a girl for a ride?” etc.). However, with her, I didn’t care... I rather have the extra 10 mins with her even if it meant looking like a loser.So, we ride to my apt, as we pull up I ask if she wants to do another date... she is interested. I ask for the following day (it is the last day before Christmas break and we both had plans to go home for break), she says she can’t do that. Obviously, that stung a bit (I know it was truly that she just didn’t have time, but still, you know?). However, on the bright side she does give me her number. We begin texting, but something becomes immediately evident. She is very slow to respond. Again, my hyper-emotional self begins to worry (“is she not interested?” “did she not mean it when she said she had a good time?” “Is she going to ghost me?” etc.).Now, this is the part where I’ll enter that I have suffered from depression for a lot of my life (never been clinically diagnosed, but, I mean... let’s be real, I think I know my own personality enough... and I think about loneliness, death and depression a bit too much to not have some form of depression). Anyways, I recognize some of the thoughts have in these situations can be irrational and again, I’m working on that (which is why I have yet to have a gross overreaction in this situation and there were/are actually more dates and more to this story).We continue texting, very slow on her end, but it is there. I begin to realize, she isn’t looking to ghost me, she is just truly bad/slow at responding. A month passes, we get back from break. I start to build up the nerve to ask her out again (it takes some time, and it should also be noted I am SUPER busy with school myself, a lot of extracurriculars). But I finally work up to it and try to set something up, however when I do I went roughly a week without a response (I didn’t want to message again too soon to seem too desperate... which is related to one of my main questions which I’ll get to in a minute... oh, also, I should note there was no kiss on the first date, that’ll be important later too).Date #2: She finally responds and apologizes, which, of course, I tell her no problem and am just happy to hear from her. We finally get a date set up for roughly a month after getting back from break (better late than never!). Dinner and a movie (or rather, movie then dinner). We go out, I have a great time, she appears/says she did too. She picked me up (vehicle wasn’t fixed quite yet... it is fixed now though, Woohoo!), drove us and dropped me off again (I did pay for everything, as I have with all our dates, not bragging or asserting that means anything, just thought I’d add it in case it helps with any advice). We get to my apartment and I immediately tell her it can’t be so long between our next date and she happily agrees. I’m so ecstatic with the thought of another date, I cheerfully tell her goodnight and get out... not thinking to read the situation if I could have made a kiss happen. That’s okay though, I figure, third date, this is going to be it. I’m going to make it happen.Our plans? One week later. Rock climbing (indoor) and dinner. The week passes (I’m gleefully counting down the days), it gets to the day before, she tells me she is at home (like, parents home, about 1-2 hours away), for a “stupid” reason, but she will be back for our date and she will explain then (bonus points if you know where this is heading... I had an idea at the time, but I tried to remain positive). Anyways, next day comes, date day, and I am all ready for the date, about to leave and meet her, when she texts me and asks if we can skip the rock climbing and just do dinner. She says she was really tired and didn’t get much sleep. I, obviously, told her yes. I added that she didn’t have to feel obligated to do dinner, that if she needed sleep I’d understand. After a bit of texting, I convinced her I was truly okay with it, so we rescheduled for 2 days later.Date #3: Ok, so the real date #3 comes. I meet her at rock climbing and it goes great as usual, I love talking with her, and we got a bit competitive (in a good way) with the rock climbing (she kicked my butt for those keeping score). After that we headed to dinner, on the way there, we were discussing our competitiveness and how we admired it in each other. I also knew she has played a decent amount of board games, so naturally, I get a great idea for the next date, game night! I mention it to her, and again she is immediately on board... except... yep, you remember that pesky little issue from earlier. For reasons (I know some of it, not all of it, but obviously don’t want to share any of it out of respect for her and her privacy), she is returning home for the rest of the semester and won’t be back until Fall (for those who called it, well played). Clearly, this is a bit of a bummer. She said she was leaving in a week, but that we could still do the game night before she left. I obviously agreed (remember, any time with her is better than none). We continued with our date and on our way to dinner... on the way, I basically brought up the fact that I really, really liked her, (she expressed the same, thank God), and that, if she wanted, I had my vehicle back and she didn’t live THAT far... that we could still try to make it work, if she was even interested. She said she had a similar thought, but wasn’t sure if I would be interested (can you say, “uh, duh?”).We continued and finished the date, it was great. However, as I knew she was/is going through a lot... I didn’t go for a kiss. We already had plans for a 4th date (game night) before she went back though. But, right after the date ended, I texted her and asked if she had heard of/seen/wanted to see the movie Game Night, because it would make a great lead up for our own game night. She did/didn’t/did. So it was another date, back to back, 4 and 5. Originally it was for this past Th/F, however, she had to move them up a day though, because she had to leave a day earlier than she thought. This was a bit difficult as it meant I had to shift some things on my schedule around, but I made it work (again, if it is to spend time with her, the “duh?” still applies). The only problem, none of my friends who originally planned to attend game night could make it (which is fair, because it was a last minute change). I was worried she wouldn’t want to do it just me and her, but she still agreed.Date 4#: We go see the movie, again, good time (we laugh at all the same parts, make some witty banter during the movie... but not too much as to be annoying/disturbing, all around great). Movie ends, I ask if she is hungry and offer to buy her dinner (wasn’t originally on the agenda). She says she is but unfortunately she has to pack still and needs to get back to her dorm. I completely understand and wish her a goodnight. Again, no kiss (I read the situation and I could clearly tell she was a bit preoccupied, which is totally fair given her current situation, so rather than try and make it awkward or make her uncomfortable or more stressed, I simply wished her a goodnight and told her I was excited for tomorrow/game night).Date #5: Game Night! I had a meeting (on campus) right before our date and so I said we could ride together after the meeting (in case you aren’t notice the theme, any extra time together is a bonus, even a 10 minutes drive). I said I could drive or she could, she offered (she has driven every time we have been together, and if her driving makes her more comfortable, then that is a-okay with me). We get back to my place and we get right into the games... however, in order to make up for the lack of people, and in order to give her a really good time before she left, you know I had a few surprises in store. Firstly, while bragging rights were on the line... I also got some other little prizes for the winner, to make it more fun. The next surprise will come at the end. Oh, and also dinner (pizza, because... pizza). We begin playing the games, she beats me at some and I win some (never let her win, because she has made it very clear she does not like that)... I obviously try to find a way to slip her most of the prizes though, because, come on, we know the prizes were mostly for her. Another amazing date... we played and talked for hours. We finish our last game, before she leaves though, I ask her to wait a second. I run and get a little “going away” gift bag I made for her (it included several things she likes/things from our dates... she likes books and she also mentioned she hadn’t read Ready Player One yet, so I got her a copy of that; she also likes coffee so I got her a Starbucks card, plus a few other small things related to our dates; and, of course, a short note wishing her safe travels). I go downstairs and give it to her, but tell her she can’t open it til she leaves.So, moment of truth. I know what you are all thinking (the two of you that are still reading at this point), did I kiss her?! The short answer: no. As we moved towards the door, preparing for our goodbyes, I mentioned that we had now had 5 dates and that I had an amazing time on all of them (she says she did too) and asked if it was fair to say we were dating and if she still wanted to continue to, which she said she did (this is when I gave her the gift). However, she said something along the lines of “well, I’ll see you again sometime,” (don’t remember word for word, but along those lines) and she seemed a bit distant, she didn’t really come in for a kiss, much less even a hug goodbye (I know the onus is “typically” on the man, but usually there is that 80/20 or even 90/10 rule, there wasn’t even a 1% here). On top of this, it was really late, we were both super tired; I did recognize she was likely still somewhat occupied by the move; I also was kind of afraid of a kiss in a sense, because what if it was amazing but then we never did end up seeing each other again? (Silly I know, but this is the brain I am working with). All these things combined, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I opened the door for her and said my goodbyes (all and all, still a great night... but do I regret not trying the kiss? Of course).This week/weekend I’m at a conference, so no chance of meeting up, plus I also recognize she probably wants time to get home/get settled before trying to work anything out between us, which, again, 100% understandable. So I plan/planned to give it at least until next weekend before I try to plan anything. However, I still continued to text her. And for the first few days it went really well (nothing crazy, but I actually got like 3-4 text from her each day). Then, it comes yesterday, where I didn’t hear from her once. And all that leads me to right here. Haven’t heard from her in over 24 hours (which isn’t unusual for her, but again, just trying to contextualize the situation). Also, to make it clear, my last message to her was a direct (not intrusive or anything like that) question, so it’s not like I was just like “hey.”All of that brings me to my two main questions. 1. Did I screw up by not kissing her? Has it been too long now? Or was it the right call given the circumstances? (Would love to hear from some female perspectives, especially). 2. What is the appropriate amount to text/message her? I don’t want to be (and am not, so appear to be) needy/clingy by any means. But I also want to keep the relationship/communication alive. I don’t want to let the flame die, so to speak. I know this is a tough line to tow, as too much messaging is needy (or worse, psychotic), but too little can lead to a weakening of that connection we have built and possibly yet another fizzled out relationship. So, any thoughts on how much to text? (And also appropriate things to say, other than just the constant “how are you today,” which I know is nice/sweet, but is it too repetitive/plain)? Also, any other general tips would be most appreciated! What’s in my head? What’s not? Am I worrying too much? Or just the right amount? Thank you so much for reading this far and for any potential advice! (Achievement Unlocked Ramblin’ Man: Listened to the problems of a hopeless romantic). via /r/dating_advice