#friends don't let friends date

[thefauxsport]

Ok, so, here is the long awaited breakdown of the Danny Amendola story. I'm going to call this....

Friends Don't Let Friends Date... Danny Amendola

Maybe we turn this into a series about other athletes?

Anyways, here we go (this is long because I'm legit transcribing what's going on in this podcast and I probably shouldn't, but this is how I take notes!)

First off, I am relistening to the Barely Filtered Podcast with Aurora Culpo and Kristen Louelle Gaffney. Olivia was on their show that came out 5/24/2023 where she spoke at length about a previous "abusive" relationship. She never specifically names Danny Amendola as the culprit, but Kristen gives it away very early on in the episode.

For the uninitiated, Kristen is married to a guy named Tyler Gaffney, who at one time, was a bench warmer on the Pats. That's how Olivia and Kristen know each other. Tyler went to Stanford, that's how he knows CMC. They set the two up after she ended things with Amendola for the last time.

Now, the first question she gets about the topic is Kristen saying that she knows Olivia spoke on her show about being in an abusive relationship and how she has grown so much since they met. Kristen asked how she got out of that part of her life.

Olivia said it was challenging, and said that in hindsight she was addicted. She was in a cycle, and she couldn't break it. She said as it went on her self esteem plummeted and she became a shell of herself. "When someone beats you down so much, mentally, and then you become susceptible to that treatment and it doesn't stop. You get addicted to the highs because the highs are so good and the lows are so low and you know you're not supposed to be in it. But you hold out hope for those small positive moments."

She said she had to work at it a lot, to love herself enough to get out. "Very, very, very, very bad situation". She recalled being in a hotel room, praying on her hands and knees for clarity, and that was the moment she knew she was done. She said is was praying to her family that passed on for help in figuring out what to do, and something clicked and she was done. She said she blocked this person and never saw him again.

Then Aurora tells a crazy story. This was the part of the podcast that really stuck out to me. She was telling the story about how she had just given birth to her kid, I think the second one, and Olivia was with Christian, but they were still pretty new. They were going to go visit her, so she asked them to pick up some diapers on their way. They had just started dating. She bumped into Danny while at the store. Olivia interjects at this part and goes, "we think he was following me".

Apparently, Danny bumped into a diaper laden Christian. She said it must have been nuts because her ex also played football, but arguably not as well as Christian. So to imagine this guy bumping into his ex girlfriend's new boyfriend who is better than you and he just goes "hey. uh, you had a good season" and CMC just said "yea" and that he was going to go check out.

The next part of the podcast goes into how CMC helped get her out of rock bottom. Aurora said part of it is not manifesting the same relationship. She then asked how she could find happiness with a normal guy after the drama train that was Danny. Olivia admits to having some PTSD, and said she's afraid to talk about this person because he's scary. She said she struggled at the beginning and would cry because she didn't like who she was coming out of that relationship. She said she was scared Christian could be capable of that, but that was because she wasn't whole after escaping that relationship. She also admits to not being super confident in her relationship, but she can acknowledge that. He has his read receipts on and his location on.

Apparently, she'd wait up at night because Danny would be out there cheating on her "with tons of people" and she'd just be sitting there waiting for him to get home. "It's hard to be naive and think that everybody is going to have your back when you go through something like that because you really do figure out that wow, people are really capable of horrible things".

Aurora said that some guys would view the location on and read receipts on as being a red flag in girls. She said that people shouldn't apologize for needing some things and that Christian realized she was asking this of him not because of him but because of the trauma she had. Not sure I agree totally, but to each their own.

Apparently, Christian researched the cycle of abuse (which he probably already knew because if you listen to his mom's podcast, his grandfather was an abusive drunk).

This is when she mentions Danny being abusive. She said it's easy for people to question why you didn't leave when he broke her things, or when he was scary and threatening and "horrible things that I am not going to get into".

Never ask a surviver of DV this question, ya'll.

Also don't like that she takes blame for staying there, but I digress.

Aurora said part of her problem was Olivia would send her some of the things Danny would say about her to ask her if it was true. Belittling her and her career. "These are the guys, they want the hot bikini model on the internet, but they don't want you posting hot bikini pictures on the internet."

Olivia talks about the cycle again and reminds Aurora to not get into it too deeply again.

They (Aurora and their friends) started to try and gather evidence of all the times he was cheating by looking at photos and spotting his hand or his bracelet in girls photos and figure out when he was with other girls. They didn't want to go to Olivia with half evidence, and Olivia admits she saw some of it on her own. And apparently, people started to get annoyed because they would tell her what he was doing and she'd ask for advice and then ignore it all. Said that sometimes you might be done but the person in the relationship needs to get there on their own.

I think I'm getting a sty, which is annoying me at this point. So is the reference to Marianne Williamson. Quack.

Now they move onto social media and stuff and a lot more surface level stuff.

I'm gonna end this here, because I'm pretty sure this was all they talked about on him. BUT, I feel like she also touched on it on the Not Skinny pod, so I may relisten to that this week and if there's more to add I'll add to it!

Drop the next name you want me to delve into.

[onesnoopyaday]

I AM AT MY LIMIT

Snoopy #90

30/12/2024

description under the cut

[description: a cartoon-style drawing of Snoopy's head. Snoopy is a white dog with black ears. His eyes are shut and his mouth is a horizontal line. There are two large blue teardrops, one under each eye. The text "I am at my limit" is handwritten across the top of the image.]

[mikami1992]

You know what…

Celebrities are followed by the Paparazzi

and Bruce Wayne is a celebrity.

so… in a stroke of luck a paparazzi manages to take a photo of Bruce Wayne aged 50 or more with a muscular and strong body that is also covered in numerous scars…

and this was just a month after the "leak" of a photograph of Bruce Wayne where he looked like a normal body according to his age and where the use of Photoshop to "improve" the image was debated for days…

now we don't know what to think…

[spaghettipal]

thought I should let yall know we're making a dating sim, will be posting the whole game when it's in beta and when it's finished!

third image isn't art by us, credits to @kevinzhechair for that ^^

here is the concept, https://docs.google.com/document/d/19jv221DX7KlV_jqT9ATIZY_RfTyQNG5b6Ls469d_rRo/edit?usp=drivesdk

cooked this idea up with a pal on valentines day- just your average shongomonsiour (silly) Grunkle dating sim, but instead of trying to date them, you try to murder them!

[thefauxsport]

The ick is so strong it's about to kill me

[may8elle]

My biggest pet peeve with the cozy games with heart events for romanceable options:

Why do later heart events immediately mean that by the last one/two, they'll have kinda heavy-handed romance implications/vibes? I want to be bestestest friends with people and max their hearts out platonically, I wanna have my BFFsie AND my S/O - AND I DON'T WANT TO FEEL LIKE I'M LOW-KEY CHEATING ON MY S/O JUST FOR GETTING CLOSER TO FRIENDS!!!!!!!

Not only would it just be cool to have MORE aromantic options in general (listen I absolutely ADORE Krobus Stardew and I will FIGHT anyone who speaks bad on him, but it would be so cool if I could just roommate the others too without worry about romance- why does it have to JUST be him why can't I be bffs with Abby and we platonically move in together LIKE HHHHHHHHHH), but for people like me who feel Bad about doing shit like that, it would make the game infinitely more enjoyable

[somechickwhodraws818]

So me and my friend opened a gateway and we're fucking weak so...

Steven/Spinel/Connie is too damn slept on in this fandom. Where my polyshippers at?

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

Running into a dating dilemma issue I have not encountered in quite some time. Starting talking to two different people on an app at around the same time, went on a date with one of them last Saturday. It went surprisingly well, even fooled around a little for the first time in a long while. We have a second date at an arcade planned for this Sunday.

Other person was a little slower on the draw (not as timely with responses) and has offered to meet up this Friday. They seem nice enough, but now I'm kind of focused on the first person- but obviously that connection is also still in the exploratory stages and there are no guarantees that anything else will happen with them. I'm not great at dividing my attention when I'm interested in someone but I also don't want to count any chickens before they hatch (the chickens in this case being a meaningful or at least ongoing sexual relationship 🐣)

So the dilemma is: do I still go on the date with person #2? The way I see it I have three options- agree to the date and see where it goes, decline the date, or put it off until next week and see how I feel after the second date with the guy that I already met. I feel like I should make a choice soon but I truly don't know which one 😬

[jasper-unofficial]

ARCHER'S SIX-YEAR BL-ANNIVERSARY

TOP EIGHT FAVOURITE QUEER SERIES X COLOURS OF THE ORIGINAL PRIDE FLAG

[the rest of the anniversary gifs]

[britneyshakespeare]

you know something i don't like about modern culture (and i wonder to what extent the prevalence of dating apps has to do with it) is that you're, seemingly, not supposed to ask people you just meet in real life on a date anymore? you're supposed to ask them to see you individually to hang out, and you're not supposed to call it anything...? people act like declaring intent is impolite or something.

this absolutely sucks if you're a woman on the receiving end of this kind of thing all the time, from men you don't wanna see privately that way. i've felt so much guilt about it in my life. whether i say no or yes. i know i'm giving that man hope that it's a date, that i wanna go on a date with him if i agree to see him for coffee or whatever. but if i don't wanna go on this undeclared date, i have to reject the very concept of spending time with him at all, which feels SOOO much meaner and more personal, doesn't it? it feels like that to me. and if i do go, and i don't wanna go on another one (because i never enjoyed the it-pretty-much-being-a-date element of the time), it feels like i'm crushing his hopes after puffing them up just a little bit.

and it's like. "date" is not a dirty word. we have so many expectations nowadays around things. women used to sit around and wait for a man to propose to them, and it would be basically the only decision they could make in their life. not even really the choice to marry, but to whom they get married. and obviously marriage was very serious.

as courtship continued to develop into modern dating and boyfriend/girlfriend culture, it sort of decentralized the importance or marriage and valued getting to know someone you like romantically, with the implicit assumption that you're doing it with the attempt to better choose the 'right one' by spending quality time with them. decent enough. although even the words boyfriend and girlfriend are much more serious than they used to be. they did not always imply a serious commitment like they do today, especially if you're... basically, just not a kid anymore.

people have a certain amount of expectation of what anyone over 18 should do or want to do with a "partner"—like, if this were the 1940s, i would've had several "boyfriends" in my adult life, but i never called them that, and the modern sense of that word would not be accurate. if i went on a date or two and flirted with them, that'd be enough to say "yeah i went out with a boyfriend." i'm mostly indifferent to this change of vocabulary, but the point is i have no word to describe any of those guys that i just gave a chance, never felt much for, and didn't wanna keep seeing. not bad things; it's just experience.

and if we aren't bold enough to call things dates for the sake of the atmosphere not losing the low-stakes nature... it's like, no, it doesn't do that. it's just two people spending time with the elephant in the room. perhaps that makes it feel more relaxed if both people really are doing it with the same intent, let's-just-see-if-we-get-along, figuring out if you like someone you don't really know very well yet. testing it. but like. that can be a date. that's what a lot of dates are. when you meet the person on a dating app and just grab coffee without setting higher expectations, you wouldn't hesitate to call it a date. if it's that person from your college class, that's ruder or more presumptuous, somehow?

a date doesn't have to be a candlelit dinner with the violinist standing by. a date doesn't have to be high romance. a date doesn't have to end with a kiss or lead to a commitment, if things go decently. a date certainly doesn't have to result in two people having sex. a date can be nonchalant and friendly and just trying to discover if you have any chemistry with this person who piqued your interest. why is that NOT the initial expectation anymore? why is "date" a dirty word? why?

[stfulara]

do men even like women anymore?????

[thefauxsport]

Friends Don't Let Friends Date... Rory McIlroy

This man. Yes, this man. Don't let your friends date Rory.

If you don't follow along with golf, you may not know the walking rats nest that is Rory McIlroy, but you should.

Rory, when he was a wee lad, dated a beautiful girl named Holly Sweeney. They were childhood sweethearts! He left for a tournament and while there he met Caroline Wozniacki, the Tennis Star, and promptly dumped Holly for bigger and "better" things. Turns out, this didn't completely blindside Holly as Rory had told her upfront he liked Caroline while watching a match. By the way, they were living together.

So, he leaves Holly for Caroline. They get engaged, and Caroline seems to be totally cool with a lifetime of flat shoes and leaning down to kiss her dude. Until one fateful day, Rory called Caroline and 3 MINUTES LATER, she was doing the single lady dance. Rory dumped his fiance over a 3 minute phone call. A date had been set, invites sent out. Rory peaced the fuck out 5 months after putting a ring on it.

This was in 2014.

He next moved onto a woman named Erica Stoll. Erica was an employee of PGA America and had helped Rory when he overslept before a tournament. Not only can he not keep his red flags hidden, he can't set an alarm either. They met in 2012, were dating by 2014 (right after he and Caroline split), engaged in 2015, married in 2017. They had a daughter in 2020.

Then in May of this year, Rory left for a tournament, Erica and their daughter were at home, when Erica gets a knock at the door. It's a policeman, and he's there to server her with DIVORCE PAPERS. This shocked Erica because she had no idea he was leaving her, becaus Rory is a chicken shit coward who couldn't even tell his wife he was done.

Except, he's not. Since May, they have called off their divorce, and no one knows why.

Maybe he realized he'd be paying her a small fortune in their divorce and child support. He seems the type to care about that sort of thing more than his families happiness.

Anyways, avoid Rory, he sucks as a partner and he's too small to ride your ride.

[lunarharp]

Very important conferences.

[lyxchen]

Aaaaand once again. Sapphic people get nothing. Thanks XO Kitty. I really Was hoping that this show would be different but I guesss not

[softquietsteadylove]

Badly hurt Gil and a caring Thena? :3

Gil blinked up at the ceiling. He really had no idea what happened to him. Last he could remember he was at work. They had a soup special so he was trying to get out the big stock pots from the shelf.

"Seems I'm still your emergency contact."

He nearly jumped in the rickety little hospital bed. It was like a dream, seeing her there next to him. But she smiled, holding a little paper hospital coffee cup and looking like she'd rolled out of bed to be here. Not that she looked bad, of course, but he knew her comfy hoodie and leggings were disguising that she had been in her pajamas already before coming here. It was her 'throw something on' outfit.

She still looked beautiful.

"You're still mine, for what it's worth," she admitted, albeit more quietly into the pitiful little cup. "Awful lot of paperwork, I recall thinking when I first considered changing it."

"Uh, yeah," he blinked. He wasn't seeing double at least, and he was pretty sure the faint glow she had was just because of the yellow-y light of the hospital combined with her natural prettiness. "You know what happened?"

Her light commentary left her and she frowned, her shoulders drawing inward. "You slipped at work. It was only a few small stairs of a tumble, but you got knocked out. They had to bring you here."

"Shit," Gil cursed, flopping against the pillows again. He was missing their busiest night, and that was besides the fact that the restaurant would not be happy about having to file a workplace compensation for his little accident.

"Are you okay?" Thena asked more directly, but just as gently. She leaned over in the chair she had dragged as close as she could. "Do you remember anything?"

He groaned, ruffling his hair, although he quickly learned that was a mistake, given the pounding in his head. "I was getting out some stock pots to make the soup special. We, uh, are supposed to store them lower down but it's easier to keep the food more in reach and the pots higher up."

Thena raised her brows at him, in a blatantly unimpressed way. "Because why have to get up on your tip-toes for salt when you could instead concuss yourself with a steel pot?"

He winced, and not just from his migraine. "Yeah, I guess that's about it."

Thena sighed, and he shifted in the bed uncomfortably. She had laughed it off, but she didn't really have to be here for him. They had called her because he hadn't thought to change his paperwork since their breakup. She had left the comfort of her home just to sit here with him. "I'm just glad you're all right."

He gave her a poor attempt at a smile. "Sorry, Thena."

He would have understood her being a little pissed at him for the whole mess. But she blinked at him, her eyes all teary. It made his chest clench; he always hated it when she cried, as rare as it was. His shoulders even flinched, wanting to reach out to hold her out of reflex.

"I was worried," she whimpered out with a wobbly lip. "I got a call asking if I was your contact, and they told me you fell, and were knocked out, and I would need to be here before you could be released, a-and-"

"Hey, come on sweetheart," he whispered, attempting to lean over in the bed to reach out for her. It really wasn't manageable, and also everything hurt.

She spared him, moving over for herself to wrap her arms around his neck. Her face buried itself in his shoulder, in a way that was so familiar it was painful (more painful than his body full of bruises). "Never do this to me again."

"I won't," he promised immediately. He wasn't sure how real a promise that was, the floors could get a little slippery sometimes, and he wouldn't say he was as naturally graceful as Thena. But he rubbed her back and turned his head so he could bury his nose in her hair. "I'm sorry, Thena. I'm okay, I promise."

She pulled away, swiping at her tears and making sure she looked annoyed with him enough that it would be chastising. "I'll be the judge of that. They've recommended you not be alone for 24 hours after you wake up, just in case."

Gil made a face, "I'm guessing I'm not allowed to get that surveillance at work?"

"Not a chance."

He sighed; they were really not gonna like this.

"They'll live," Thena drawled as she picked up her coffee again, only to immediately make a face and put it back down.

Gil eyed the sad little cup. "That isn't decaf, huh?"

"I'm sure it would taste just as awful if it were," she lamented, at least sitting back in the chair as she rubbed her temple.

Gil looked at the clock and then back at her. "I'm sorry they dragged you out here."

But she looked at him again with those big, beautiful green gemstones-for-eyes she had. "I would have come even if it were the dead of night, you know."

He smiled a little. He couldn't help it. He was glad to know that they hadn't ended on such bad terms that she would leave him to his own health emergencies. "Yeah, I guess I do know."

Thena tilted her head at him. "Not that there will be any more of these little incidents, now will there?"

"No, ma'am."

"Hm," she hummed to herself, but he could see that little almost-smile of satisfaction at the corner of her lips. She liked establishing herself as an authority in any situation.

He always told her she wore it well, that it was sexy on her. But he kept his mouth shut this time.

Thena looked over at the bag full of his possessions. "I've heard this go off a few times. Your workplace, I assume."

"Yeah, it's probably the boss man making sure I can't sue him for emotional distress or something," Gil sighed. He had a flash of panic as Thena pulled his phone out, trying to think if there was anything embarrassing he wouldn't want her seeing.

Had he taken the heart off her name in his contacts? Had he changed the colour scheme from the green that reminded him of her eyes? Were any of his top texts about how he was most certainly developing feelings for his ex-girlfriend and current 'something' again?

But Thena pulled it out and handed it to him before settling back in the chair and pulling out her own phone.

He pulled it up with a faint smile. He had half expected her to immediately open it for herself and start texting in his place. There was a time when she hadn't had any problem commandeering things in situations like this. He had found it a little bossy at the time, not that he'd mentioned as much.

Thena looked up from her phone, "do you want me to mention this to the others?"

He smiled at her even more. They really were different from when they had broken up, and he was pretty sure it was for the better. "Yeah, that's okay. I'm sure we would have told them eventually anyway, right?"

"Hm."

Gil went back to his phone, texting the guys at the restaurant and his boss individually, assuring them that he wasn't dead or even injured all that severely. Although he would have to miss yet another dinner service.

"It's okay," Thena began, and sheepishly at that. When he looked up at her she dashed her eyes away, "that I came here...right?"

He blinked, "they called you, didn't they?"

She squirmed, and he saw that hand tuck her hair behind her ear. "Yes, but I mean...had you had your choice of who would come, would it have been me, is what I'm asking."

Did he really want his ex to be the one waking him up and taking him home and monitoring him, she meant. Was it weird that they were doing something like this after having dissolved their live-in partnership more than a year ago? And if it wasn't, shouldn't it be?

But Gil couldn't stop smiling. Maybe they'd given him something for the headache while he was still out, but he was just so happy to see her. It was so soothing to hear her voice, so easy on the eyes to see her familiar blonde braid, no makeup, lazy clothes, bags under her eyes and all.

Thena finally managed to look at him again, toying with the end of said braid.

"There's no one else I'd rather have here," he answered honestly (maybe a little too honestly). Thena smiled down at her lap, too pleased with the answer to hide it but too embarrassed to do so directly at him. "Really."

Thena pressed her lips tighter together, something she did when she was trying to make herself smile less, not that it ever worked. But it was cute to see these habits of hers again. "So be it."

He eased back again. Maybe they did give him something, or maybe he needed more now.

Thena took notice of the very slight movement and leaned over him again. "I'm sorry, Gil, you can't go back to sleep just yet. They said they would check on you every hour. Now that you're up, I'm sure they have tests they need to conduct."

He pouted at her like a boy, "but I'm tiiiiiiiiired."

She smiled at him, and before either of them knew it, she pressed her lips to his forehead. "I know. Just focus on me."

Well, that he could do. He drew his eyes up to her beautiful, flawless face again. At least it was a nice way to keep himself awake. "Tell me about your day. Don't tell me you also fell down some stairs and got knocked out by a stock pot too."

Thena laughed faintly, filling the stuffy silence of the room. "Nothing so exciting, I'm afraid."

"Gilgamesh?"

They both jumped faintly as the door opened and both a doctor and nurse came into the room. The doctor looked at both of them, "and Thena--you're his partner?"

"I'm--he's--we're-" Thena tried and failed to get out as the two professionals just stared, waiting for an answer. Under the immense pressure, she managed to squeak out, "yes."

Gil looked at her desperately, but she was turning her head almost away from even the doctor. Nothing could hide the bright pink building in her cheek and spreading to her ears, though.

"Okay," the doctor smoothed over the weird vibe between them, moving over to the free side of his bed. "Gilgamesh, I'm gonna ask you some questions, okay?"

"Sure," he answered eagerly, although he was busy looking at his cute, flustered 'partner' sinking back into her chair and avoiding looking at him for all she was worth.

[awweshuucks]

I have a spiderman 2099 Au in my head that I should probably write about in my notes app

I haven't read miguels comics but I know alot of the plot and stuff PLUS movie Miguel AND its an AU it doesn't have to fit so

19 year old Miguel.… with his lovely gf Xina…. Where he DOESNT cheat…. Bc idk why he did that to my lovely baby Xina other than the writers suck but I haven't read the comics so what would I know….