Gene therapy has to be one of the fastest-growing segments in modern medicine amid increased focus on developing life-changing therapies for cancer and diabetes.
Genprex Inc (NASDAQ: GNPX) is one of the few clinical stage companies offering exciting investment opportunities in a segment growing at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1%. It is one of the few plays trading at highly discounted levels while developing therapies and technologies for treating a range of disorders, such as inherited diseases and cancers. Rather than treating patients with drugs or surgeries, Genprex is working on therapies that insert genes into a cell to cure various diseases caused by genetic variants. Gene therapies stand out partly because they are one-time events, although there might be additional dosages. With the Gene therapy market expected to grow to $29.47 billion from $7.54 billion in 2022, there is every reason to be bullish about Genprex's growth metrics and long-term prospects. Here are a few reasons why Genprex should be on your watchlist. TOP GNPX HIGHLIGHTS • GNPX stock is trading near a 52-week low with RSI near 46 - A strong bounce can happen ANYTIME • Dawson James has a Buy rating on the stock and an average price target of $5.61 - representing over 500% upside potential from current levels. • Genprex is home to some of the best technologies designed to administer disease-fighting genes most effectively. • Genprex has made impressive strides in developing REQORSA, its novel treatment for lung cancer. • With the Gene therapy market expected to grow to $29.47 billion from $7.54 billion in 2022, there is every reason to be bullish about Genprex's growth metrics and long-term prospects. Robust Gene Therapy Technologies Genprex (GNPX) is home to some of the best technologies designed to administer disease-fighting genes most effectively. As a result, its technologies have the potential to provide new breakthrough therapies for large patient populations struggling with cancer and diabetes. Nanoparticle Delivery System is the first systemic gene therapy delivery platform that can be used to enclose plasmids that deliver tumor suppressor genes. It also administers encapsulated plasmids which are taken up by tumor cells and express any missing proteins in the tumor cells. In addition, the company has REQORSA, a leading immunogen therapy drug for non-small cell lung cancer. The therapy is administered through the company's systemic gene therapy platform for cancer. Finally, Genprex boasts of game-changing GPX-002, a diabetes gene therapy comprising a novel infusion process. It relies on an endoscope and adeno-associated virus vector to deliver Pdx1 and Mafia to the pancreas. Lung Cancer Treatment REQORSA is the company's lead candidate drug currently in clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. The novel treatment positions Genprex to be a key player in treating lung cancer, the leading cause of death worldwide. Lung cancer causes more deaths than colorectal, breast, liver and stomach cancer. With the limited benefit from current therapies, Genprex novel candidate drug has what it takes to address the unmet medical need, more so in lung cancer patients. After successful clinical trials, the candidate drug has already received fast-track designation from the Food and Drug Administration. In a recent Acclaim-1 phase, ½ clinical trial REQORSA, combined with tagrisso(R) (osimertinib) for treating small cell lung cancer, was well tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities. The Safety Review Committee has already approved continuation into phase 2 expansion. A combination of REQORSA and Osimertinib has already received Fast Track designation from the FDA for use in the Acclaim-1 patient population. Genprex (GNPX) is already conducting preclinical research as it looks to explore REQORSA's potential use in other solid tumors. It is also exploring how other cancer-fighting genes can be used on its non-viral gene therapy platform. Multidisciplinary Management Team Genprex's (GNPX) long-term prospects are further affirmed by its multidisciplinary team of executives and advisors. The broad business experience in biotech and pharmaceutical that the team brings should allow the company to accelerate the development of its novel treatment for lung cancer and address the significant unmet medical need. The management team boasts of highly experienced personnel as part of its scientific advisory board that reviews research and development activities and provides recommendations to accelerate the development of the moving treatment. There is also a clinical advisory board tasked with overseeing clinical trials to ensure they are up to board or approval by the FDA. Why Genprex (GNPX) Stock is a Buy Now Genprex (GNPX) is among the few gems in gene therapy trading at highly discounted levels. With a market cap of about $41 million, the company is highly undervalued, given the milestones made in developing revolutionary technologies for administering disease-fighting genes in the fight against cancer and diabetes. In addition, the company has made impressive strides in developing REQORSA, its novel treatment for lung cancer. The treatment achieving fast-track designation from the FDA affirms how prospective the candidate therapy is in addressing one of the biggest unmet medical needs. Strategists in Wall Street have already taken note of the company's long-term prospects, with Dawson Jamesinitiating coverage of the stock with a Buy rating. In addition, the stock boasts an average price target of $5.61, representing over 500% upside potential from current levels. While insiders own about 4.5% of GNPX, their interests are perfectly aligned with that of investors. Likewise, institutions owning about 7.8% of the stock underscore the strong belief in the company's gene therapy pipeline. In the near term, the investment community could elevate the value of GNPX closer to that of its peers. If you need more info, Then you can view a really detailed report out HERE.

Hey guys, I haven't checked my reddit in a while, about a year, but i remembered i was visiting this and other subreddits about breakups constantly when i was absolutely destroyed by my last breakup, and just wanted to share my situation now, hoping that it might help anyone who is in pain.
So, long story short, I broke up with my ex on August 2021. We had a particular situation, we had the same group of friends (that's where we met) and we were living together with 3 other people, although we had our own bedroom. It was good for a while, until in October she slept with some guy. It absolutely destroyed me, I wanted her back and thought i couldn't live without her, but she didn't want anything to do with me. The following months were the worst period of my life, i cried my eyes out every single day, and I knew when she was with that other guy, cause whenever she left the house and spent the night out, where else could she possibly be?
I was also experiencing a though depression that forced me to drop out of university, and every day all i could feel was pain, i thought about her all the time, begging her to take me back (please don't do that), embarrassing myself constantly, but i didn't care. All I knew was that she was the one and my life was worthless without her. That went on for about 9 months, in June 2022 i finally find a new house and move out, she didn't even say goodbye to me, and things start to go slightly better, even though the thoughts about her were daily and constant, and the pain was still there. But that gave me the chance to detach, and I started focusing a little more about myself, say what you want but distance and not seeing that particular person sure helps, in one way or another.
We still saw each other once in a while cause we had the same friends, and after a vacation with them, out of nowhere, we end kissing and sleeping together. The following months were a rollercoaster of events, I'm not gonna go into detail right now cause I don't wanna bore you, but she didn't treat me very well and I shouldn't have keeping forgiving her and i definitely shouldn't have given her a second chance, but i did. We finally decide to try again in August 2022, one year after the breakup, and it was going really well the first two/three weeks, she said she really could see that in this period of time I changed for the better (and honestly, i don't wanna brag but I think I really did a good work trying to improve my flaws and overcoming my depression), she seemed really interested and super into me, but that didn't last long.
After a month, she decided that she didn't want to try it again anymore, not because of me, she just thought that at that point our interests about each other weren't strong enough, and even though she was super sure she wanted to stay with me at first, after a brief period this belief of her started to fade. I was angry and sad, I wanted to yell at her all the anger that I had, but still didn't want to drive her away from me. It was though but at that point I had more confidence in myself so I just swallowed everything. In the following months we didn't see each other often, but from January 2023 we sort of reconciled because we realized that even tough we couldn't be together, we still cared about each other and didn't want to separate completely. To this day, we are really good friends, we also see each other often, just the two of us, hanging out and having fun. To give you an example, my birthday was on May 17th, she organized the party, some practical jokes and surprises, and my friends were having trouble thinking about my present, so she gave them an advice and they got me exactly what I wanted. To be completely honest with you, I still have some feelings for her, and surely if she will sleep with some other guy it will hurt a little, but I'm now convinced that we can't be together, and that too hurts a little, but it is what it is.
All I'm saying is, even tough I still have feeling for her, I know that this is for the best. I once thought that my life was worthless without her, and couldn't live without her, but now it's different. Even though it's still hard to think that we won't be together, I know that I can live without her, that there is life without her, and that I'm ok and will be ok, and that there is a future for me. Thinking about my time when i was completely destroyed, I'm a little proud of where I am now, because I'm still not fully healed, but I'm in that part where I know that eventually everything will be fine.
So all of this is to tell you: I know it's hard, I know you're in pain, I know you think you can't live without that person. I don't wanna say that's not true cause you might have heard that a million time and don't wanna hear it again, so I will tell you this. YES, I know you feel that way, I did too, and nothing could convince me, all I can say is that it sucks, it just straight-up sucks and the pain is unbearable. The only thing you can do now is endure the pain, and stay strong, because you can. For what it's worth I'm sending you a hug, and telling you to stay strong because one day or another, these feeling will end, and you are gonna start to feel a little bit better, and that's just the first step. It will only keep getting better and better day by day, slow and steady. As I said earlier, I'm not fully healed yet, but I know now I will be someday, and I know you will too. There are only two things that can help you get better: yourself and time. I know this might sound clichè but I was really that guy that thought that my feeling for this girl were unique in the world, that no one could understand me, and that no one in the world could make me feel like she did. I was utterly and desperately in love with her, and I thought that in no way I could ever stop loving this person, or just let her go, and look at me now.
If i did that, you can surely do that too, I promise. I promise it will get better one day. Stay strong and stay beautiful, you just have to keep walking, and I know you can. I send you a hug and all the blessings in this world.

Gene therapy has to be one of the fastest-growing segments in modern medicine amid increased focus on developing life-changing therapies for cancer and diabetes.
Genprex Inc (NASDAQ: GNPX) is one of the few clinical stage companies offering exciting investment opportunities in a segment growing at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1%.
It is one of the few plays trading at highly discounted levels while developing therapies and technologies for treating a range of disorders, such as inherited diseases and cancers. Rather than treating patients with drugs or surgeries, Genprex is working on therapies that insert genes into a cell to cure various diseases caused by genetic variants. Gene therapies stand out partly because they are one-time events, although there might be additional dosages.
With the Gene therapy market expected to grow to $29.47 billion from $7.54 billion in 2022, there is every reason to be bullish about Genprex's growth metrics and long-term prospects.
Here are a few reasons why Genprex should be on your watchlist.
TOP GNPX HIGHLIGHTS
• GNPX stock is trading near a 52-week low with RSI near 46 - A strong bounce can happen ANYTIME
• Dawson James has a Buy rating on the stock and an average price target of $5.61 - representing over 500% upside potential from current levels.
• Genprex is home to some of the best technologies designed to administer disease-fighting genes most effectively.
• Genprex has made impressive strides in developing REQORSA, its novel treatment for lung cancer.
• With the Gene therapy market expected to grow to $29.47 billion from $7.54 billion in 2022, there is every reason to be bullish about Genprex's growth metrics and long-term prospects.
Robust Gene Therapy Technologies
Genprex (GNPX) is home to some of the best technologies designed to administer disease-fighting genes most effectively. As a result, its technologies have the potential to provide new breakthrough therapies for large patient populations struggling with cancer and diabetes.
Nanoparticle Delivery System is the first systemic gene therapy delivery platform that can be used to enclose plasmids that deliver tumor suppressor genes. It also administers encapsulated plasmids which are taken up by tumor cells and express any missing proteins in the tumor cells.
In addition, the company has REQORSA, a leading immunogen therapy drug for non-small cell lung cancer. The therapy is administered through the company's systemic gene therapy platform for cancer.
Finally, Genprex boasts of game-changing GPX-002, a diabetes gene therapy comprising a novel infusion process. It relies on an endoscope and adeno-associated virus vector to deliver Pdx1 and Mafia to the pancreas.
Lung Cancer Treatment
REQORSA is the company's lead candidate drug currently in clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. The novel treatment positions Genprex to be a key player in treating lung cancer, the leading cause of death worldwide. Lung cancer causes more deaths than colorectal, breast, liver and stomach cancer. With the limited benefit from current therapies, Genprex novel candidate drug has what it takes to address the unmet medical need, more so in lung cancer patients.
After successful clinical trials, the candidate drug has already received fast-track designation from the Food and Drug Administration. In a recent Acclaim-1 phase, ½ clinical trial REQORSA, combined with tagrisso(R) (osimertinib) for treating small cell lung cancer, was well tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities. The Safety Review Committee has already approved continuation into phase 2 expansion. A combination of REQORSA and Osimertinib has already received Fast Track designation from the FDA for use in the Acclaim-1 patient population.
Genprex (GNPX) is already conducting preclinical research as it looks to explore REQORSA's potential use in other solid tumors. It is also exploring how other cancer-fighting genes can be used on its non-viral gene therapy platform.
Multidisciplinary Management Team
Genprex's (GNPX) long-term prospects are further affirmed by its multidisciplinary team of executives and advisors. The broad business experience in biotech and pharmaceutical that the team brings should allow the company to accelerate the development of its novel treatment for lung cancer and address the significant unmet medical need.
The management team boasts of highly experienced personnel as part of its scientific advisory board that reviews research and development activities and provides recommendations to accelerate the development of the moving treatment. There is also a clinical advisory board tasked with overseeing clinical trials to ensure they are up to board or approval by the FDA.
Why Genprex (GNPX) Stock is a Buy Now
Genprex (GNPX) is among the few gems in gene therapy trading at highly discounted levels. With a market cap of about $41 million, the company is highly undervalued, given the milestones made in developing revolutionary technologies for administering disease-fighting genes in the fight against cancer and diabetes.
In addition, the company has made impressive strides in developing REQORSA, its novel treatment for lung cancer. The treatment achieving fast-track designation from the FDA affirms how prospective the candidate therapy is in addressing one of the biggest unmet medical needs.
Strategists in Wall Street have already taken note of the company's long-term prospects, with Dawson James initiating coverage of the stock with a Buy rating. In addition, the stock boasts an average price target of $5.61, representing over 500% upside potential from current levels.
While insiders own about 4.5% of GNPX, their interests are perfectly aligned with that of investors. Likewise, institutions owning about 7.8% of the stock underscore the strong belief in the company's gene therapy pipeline.
In the near term, the investment community could elevate the value of GNPX closer to that of its peers.
If you need more info,
Then you can view a really detailed report out HERE.

I actually started this in the last few days of April: I decided I didn't want to be someone who used to read a lot anymore - I only read five books in total in 2022, quite a shockingly low number. So I made a decision to force myself to read, 50 pages or for an hour, every day, whichever I got to last (does that make sense? If I read 40 pages in an hour I had to keep going, if it took me more than an hour to read 50 pages I couldn't give up). I'd say I managed it on around 75% of the days. I read:
Nabokov - Invitation to a Beheading. Easy enough to read, some beautiful writing and very funny in places ("Me want looky too," said the governor). More knowledgeable readers than myself here told me that apparently Nabokov denied any influence from Kafka at all, which is hard to believe. Lots of words I'd never heard before, quite a few of which it seems Nabokov made up himself.
F Scott Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise. I found this well-written but somewhat empty and annoying - "everything's fine if you're handsome and rich" - because I assumed that Fitzgerald was from a very privileged background. Then I read his Wikipedia page and he was from a very middle-class background with working parents which cast the book into a new light, gave it a lot of pathos - this was the life he wished he'd had as a young man.
Deborah Eisenberg - The Stories (So Far). A great collection of very readable stories. Most of the protagonists are women who kind-of hate themselves and let other people treat them poorly, repeatedly. Stand up for yourselves sisters!! Some really great observations and beautifully-written passages.
Kazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun. This one was cheating because I was already halfway through it and had lost it months previously. I found the first two-thirds fairly tedious and dull, a lot like The Sleeping Giant - what had previously been precise and restrained prose in his earlier work seemed to have deflated into limpness in these two most recent books. But there's a monstrous, horrifying and (for me) completely unexpected twist two-thirds of the way through the book which really made it worth reading.
I'm currently reading the end of Michael White's Leonardo Da Vinci: The First Scientist, which, again, I'd started reading previously and lost. Some really interesting details about Da Vinci's life and working practices but White indulges in a lot of speculation as to his mindset at various junctures which just comes off as pointless.
Anyway: making the effort to read has made me sleep better, feel calmer, feel like I'm doing something more useful with my free time, hopefully gives my kids a good example and most importantly somewhat restored my quiet feeling of smug superiority over colleagues/friends/acquaintances etc who never read.

Last year I finally realized my parents were very abusive and were the reason why I had such awful mental health. Basically I hit rock bottom when their abuse and a number of awful of things happened that caused me to become so depressed I made several unalive attempts.
The way that they just kicked me while I was at my lowest despite me begging and crying for love and kindness finally opened my eyes to how much they suck.
I live with my mom so I cannot cut her off. I do not have the means to move out anytime soon and my only other option is homelessness (truly there is no other option, I have NO ONE to help me or else I'd run for the hills). I did however try my best to cut my dad off since I dont live with him and he is currently taking the greatest toll on my mental health anyway. I managed to get himvto leave me alone for 7 months.
However he's trying his damnest to force himself back into my life and I feel like there is nothing I can do to stop him. No one has my back cause my family members downplay and normalize the abuse and my parents say I'm nuts and making it all up.
As a result my dad is constantly showing up at my moms house or my family tricks me into seeing him just so he can berate me and humiliate me. They even took the door of my room so they can come in whenever they want so I have zero privacy and everyone is listening in on me all the time!
It feels fucking awful. I'm constantly getting randomly ambushed just so my parents can gang up on me and tell me how they're going to get me committed for LIFE if I don't go back to "normal" (suppressing my trauma, keeping my sucidal thoughts to myself, acting like they are perfect parents and start regularly communicating with them). They are not kidding either. They already got me committed before my lying so I'm terrified.
Their abuse has conditioned me to become frozen and filled with fear when they gang up on me so I don't know how to defend myself. Even if I tried defending myself I need to tread very carefully because my dad will show my mom nasty texts I made about her when I realized she was abusive (I wrongly thought my dad would be on my side and I confided to him the horrors she put me through growing up). If my mom gets these text she will kick me and I'll be homeless.
Everything I have ever tried to camly say and has been run over and ignored so a civil conversation is not an option.
The day I first made the connection to my mental health issues and my parents abuse I was uncontrollably LIVID. I blew tf up for the first time in my life and that got my dad to leave me alone 7 months because he wasn't expecting me to curse, yell, and fight back. But now he's back and yall I cannot deal with round 2. I literally don't think I can survive it 😭😭
My mom is toxic 100% but she mostly leaves me alone these days so she is tolerable for now. My dad however is so cruel and it really feels like hes trying his hardest to destroy all my self esteem to regain control. When mom see him do this, it just encourages her to start back up herself.
I'm a 24 year old woman who is being treated like a child and it's making very difficult for me to fuction independently and believe in myself. I have no privacy, all my stuff is constantly being gone though or taken from me if they dont think I dhould have it. My parent's friend's friend's even know the gritty details of my mental issues because they want to humiliate and shame me into obedience. All my boundaries are being bulldozed over and I can't deal
Any suggestions for how to get my dad to leave me alone without getting kicked out by pissing him off?
TLDR: My dad keeps showing up at my moms house to bully me into speaking to him since I been trying to cut him off for his abuse. I need to get him to stop without triggering my mom to kick me out if he reveals some nasty things I said about her being abusive as well. A civil conversation to reason with him is not possible bc it all falls on deaf ears. What should I do?

Last year I finally realized my parents were very abusive and were the reason why I had such awful mental health. Basically I hit rock bottom when their abuse and a number of awful of things happened that caused me to become so depressed I made several unalive attempts.
The way that they just kicked me while I was at my lowest despite me begging and crying for love and kindness finally opened my eyes to how much they suck.
I live with my mom so I cannot cut her off. I do not have the means to move out anytime soon and my only other option is homelessness (truly there is no other option, I have NO ONE to help me or else I'd run for the hills). I did however try my best to cut my dad off since I dont live with him and he is currently taking the greatest toll on my mental health anyway. I managed to get himvto leave me alone for 7 months.
However he's trying his damnest to force himself back into my life and I feel like there is nothing I can do to stop him. No one has my back cause my family members downplay and normalize the abuse and my parents say I'm nuts and making it all up.
As a result my dad is constantly showing up at my moms house or my family tricks me into seeing him just so he can berate me and humiliate me. They even took the door of my room so they can come in whenever they want so I have zero privacy and everyone is listening in on me all the time!
It feels fucking awful. I'm constantly getting randomly ambushed just so my parents can gang up on me and tell me how they're going to get me committed for LIFE if I don't go back to "normal" (suppressing my trauma, keeping my sucidal thoughts to myself, acting like they are perfect parents and start regularly communicating with them). They are not kidding either. They already got me committed before my lying so I'm terrified.
Their abuse has conditioned me to become frozen and filled with fear when they gang up on me so I don't know how to defend myself. Even if I tried defending myself I need to tread very carefully because my dad will show my mom nasty texts I made about her when I realized she was abusive (I wrongly thought my dad would be on my side and I confided to him the horrors she put me through growing up). If my mom gets these text she will kick me and I'll be homeless.
Everything I have ever tried to camly say and has been run over and ignored so a civil conversation is not an option.
The day I first made the connection to my mental health issues and my parents abuse I was uncontrollably LIVID. I blew tf up for the first time in my life and that got my dad to leave me alone 7 months because he wasn't expecting me to curse, yell, and fight back. But now he's back and yall I cannot deal with round 2. I literally don't think I can survive it 😭😭
My mom is toxic 100% but she mostly leaves me alone these days so she is tolerable for now. My dad however is so cruel and it really feels like hes trying his hardest to destroy all my self esteem to regain control. When mom see him do this, it just encourages her to start back up herself.
I'm a 24 year old woman who is being treated like a child and it's making very difficult for me to fuction independently and believe in myself. I have no privacy, all my stuff is constantly being gone though or taken from me if they dont think I dhould have it. My parent's friend's friend's even know the gritty details of my mental issues because they want to humiliate and shame me into obedience. All my boundaries are being bulldozed over and I can't deal
Any advice for how to get my dad to leave me alone without getting kicked out by pissing him off?
TLDR: My dad keeps showing up at my moms house to bully me into speaking to him since I been trying to cut him off for his abuse. I need to get him to stop without triggering my mom to kick me out if he reveals some nasty things I said about her being abusive as well. A civil conversation to reason with him is not possible bc it all falls on deaf ears.

This was a few months ago and I have a new job now that treats me way better, but I have been reflecting on my previous job. I worked as a financial data analyst for a private investment firm that specialized in real estate (they did residential and commercial rentals) and got laid off unexpectedly because they hadn’t been acquiring anymore property since they couldn’t buy anything that could achieve the target returns they wanted. I started my career out of college there and spent the past 5 years working hard to help them grow and make their antiquated processes more efficient (the amount of paper these dinosaurs used and lack of functional software was astounding). I built multiple databases which allowed them to acquire more assets and access information quickly, switched them to another software which improved analytics, accounting, and operations, and their portfolio tripled under my time there.
I had issues with the job because they wanted me chained to a desk in the office even during the pandemic in April 2020 they made me come in and were able to finagle rules claiming I was “an essential worker”. It was taxing to say the least with no insurance plan provided by the company, no retirement plan until the end of 2022 with raises of about 2% each year and bonuses of 3%. I had to make my own IRA and pay $300 a month almost for insurance. They did not budge and any complaint I brought about it fell on deaf ears.
I had access to the company’s financials and despite the real estate economy getting crushed and interest rates rising, they were still performing very well with plenty of cash on hand to fulfill all their obligations. After all the work I had put in, with no warning, my boss calls me in and tells me I’m getting laid off and I’m getting 5 weeks salary severance after my 5 years of work that I had to wait over a month to receive.
After how much I built for them and improved things at their company this all felt like a slap in the face and really makes me not want to ever develop improvements for a company ever again because my previous company essentially took advantage of me and I got no reward out of it.
I was also the youngest guy at the company by maybe 20 years so I didn’t really have anyone who could relate to me. Everyone there seemed jaded and the way they talked about tenants was disgusting referring to them as drug addicts or bums. They had no problems raising rents for some single parent households $100+ per month because they could.
I know this is probably not a big deal, but it’s something that really bothered me and I wanted to get it off my chest. I don’t think I will ever be able to work in the investment sphere again, especially real estate.

So I think i found a relation between the 3 Shards on Roshar(Honor, Cultivation and Odium) and the main 3 characters on stormlight(Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan) on the first book while I was going for a walk.
So
Honor to Dalinar: so this is a little ovbious but I'll explain anyway. So in the First book Dalinar recieves visions from Tanavast, and he is the main representation of the concept itself. He tries to unite the highprinces in the first book, as que acts for the good of others instead of being selfish(eg. when he thinks to step down to Adolin because he thinks it will be better for the people around him not having a "madman" as a highprince), he follows his task and acts to how he thinks is morally right.
​
Odium to Kaladin: this one is a little more fuzzy, but let me explain. They both come from a different place and have a different perspective respect to the other 2, as Kaladin is a Dark eyes and in Words of Radiance and Oathbringer enters the nobility with a different perspective at what treat do the Lighteyes give to the Darkeyes and the nobility ranks itself. Odium(in SA perspective) comes from Ashyn, a different place, and has a different perspective around the other 2 shards about how to treat singers and humans, choosing which suits better his purpose, that is drastically different of both Honor and Cultivation(as Kaladin's purpose is take care of his men and both Dalinar and Shallan have different purposes, whether regarding or not those men). Also you could argument, regarding Kaladin, that many of his actions and thoughts of the first and second book are about HATING the Lighteyes, as Odium HATES the other 2 shards and everything in general because well.....he's like hatred's incarnation. This conection in the following books keeps dissapearing, instead being replaced with Honor, but in Rhythm of War it comes back in the form of Odium torturing Kaladin for going with him again.
​
Cultivation to Shallan: i'll start saying that both are to the other 2 quite mysterious regarding her plots and thoughts(they both don't know conections and plans related to her, like Shallan being with the Ghostbloods and Cultivation having Taravangian replace Odium) , they don't like to be the center of attention and prefer staying unseen, as well they both like tricking others into doing things for her(in the case of Veil). Regarding the first book, we can see the concept of Cultivation, the growth of things, being natural or not, we can se Shallan in the first book grow as an scholar in the first book, and thorough the series the memories of her past unlock and grow withing her, just like Cultivation did to Dalinar but slower. Lastly, both of them want to know things others do not, and discover the world in the case of Shallan, and discover the Future in the case of Cultivation.
​
​
Thats all, thank you so much for reading this, feel free to comment fails and other things i might have missed.

I’ll preface this by saying that the situation with the parking was disgraceful and I think anyone who got sent to the wrong postcode deserves a refund. Never heard of such a mess at an event! Likewise anyone who encountered issues with accessible facilities. I’m so sorry that the day was ruined for you all and I really hope they make amends for this.
But I was just wondering about those who did encounter the above - did anyone else have a good time!? My partner and I got a train and arrived about 11/11:30, no queue on the way in. No queues in the Craft Beer tent and though the queue for the merch tent looked long we were in after 10-15 mins.
We barely had to queue for drinks at any point, though stuck to the Craft Beer tent. Loos and water were fine early on though got busier later, but never queued for more than 15 mins or so. Toilets all seemed as clean as you might expect a festival loo to be. The worst queue was for food, but we definitely went at peak time and it was 30 mins at most. Quite standard for busy times at festivals in my own experience.
We managed good views of all the bands we wanted to see. Getting around was fine. We left a bit early to avoid surge of people leaving (9:45ish), got straight onto a shuttle and were home by midnight. We agreed it was one of the smoothest festival experiences either of us had ever had. Staff were so friendly and didn’t treat us like drunk idiots which I hate at other venues. So we were really surprised to read everything the next day!
So I was wondering, did anyone else have an awesome day?! Do I just have very low standards?! Last festival I went to tbf was Primavera 2022 which was a shitshow. 3 water taps serving 60,000 people. So maybe I’m just easily pleased now!
Not trying to brag with this btw I just wouldn’t want anyone who couldn’t go this year to avoid next year thinking that everyone had a shit time.

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• 9lobaldude

Germany: Ukraine can launch attacks on Russian territory to defend itself
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• 9lobaldude

White House: We are against strikes on Russian territory, but it’s up to Ukraine to decide
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• HarakenQQ

Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion announce breaking into Russia again
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news

• Hrekires

Woman who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 defects to Russia
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• petitbleuchien

Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House
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• Agent_Honeydew

Actor Danny Masterson convicted of two counts of rape at second Los Angeles trial
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science

• MistWeaver80

One in six people who had COVID-19 without first being vaccinated report still feeling health effects two years after the virus, according to Swiss research. 17% did not return to normal health and 18% reported covid-19 related symptoms after 24 months.
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• Wagamaga

Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into “the danger zone,” not just for an overheating planet that’s losing its natural areas, but for well-being of people living on it
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• IMBatUQ

Researchers have shown that an Australian wild tobacco plant could be used to grow medicines in large quantities bringing us a step closer to making 'growing medicines in plants' a reality.
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space

• caspy7

New 'quasi-moon' discovered near Earth has been travelling alongside our planet since 100 BC Live Science
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• fchung

Stunning Photo of Earth Taken by Europe's Powerful New Satellite
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• Gari_305

NASA’s UFO Research Team Briefs the Public
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Futurology

• Dr_Singularity

Scientists' report world's first X-ray of a single atom
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• filosoful

Bill Nelson, head of NASA: 'We want to protect the water on the Moon to prevent China from taking it over'
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• Happy_Escape861

New blood biomarker can predict if cognitively healthy elderly will develop Alzheimer’s disease
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AskReddit

• ParmaProscuitto

What would you ban if you knew you had final say?
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• Hecaroni_n_Trees

What’s something most people find attractive that you can’t stand?
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• ArcticCircleSystem

[SERIOUS] What organization or institution do you consider to be so thoroughly corrupt that it needs to be destroyed?
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todayilearned

• Specialist_Check

TIL of cascatelli, a new pasta shape invented in 2021 by podcaster Dan Pashman for maximum "sauceability", "forkability" and "toothsinkability"
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• Algrinder

TIL A chess robot in Moscow broke the finger of its 7-year-old human opponent after the boy made a quick move without waiting for the robot to complete its turn.
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• UralIveGotTonight

TIL that the acronym “R.I.P.” has been engraved on tombstones since at least the fifth century. “Rest in Peace” is the English translation of a Latin phrase with the same acronym.
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dataisbeautiful

• dpee123

How the job, nationality, and gender of celebrities have changed since the 1700s. [OC]
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• nearestneighbormaps

[OC] The United States of Nearest Neighbors. This is a map of the Continental US if the state borders were determined by the closest state capital (using the great circle distance).
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• roll_hog

Coors, Miller take Bud Light share amid controversy
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Cooking

• DueMaternal

Having a passion for cooking while being broke...
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• SquirrelofAnonymity

What are some good, simple sides to have with steak?
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• Electric_OwlDonut

What’s the ideal cooking oil for cooking ground beef & chicken, frying taquitos in a pan, and stir frying?
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food

• chashaoballs

[I ate] A 1lb Philly cheesesteak
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• fruscivnte

[i ate] donuts
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• mazdawg89

Pork rib sliders with bread and butter pickles on griddled keto buns [homemade]
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movies

• singleguy79

Sergio Calderóne Dead: ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean,’ ‘Men In Black’ Actor Was 77
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• MarvelsGrantMan136

Official Poster for Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’
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• Key_Damage_9220

New Poster for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
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Art

• Oddarette

Sushi Manatee, Oddarette (Me), Digital Painting, 2023
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• adanvc

Model 27. A Tribute to Hajime Sorayama, Adan Vazquez (me), acrylic on illustration board, 2023.
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• DChinh_2k

2 tuna cans pleas, by me, digital art, 2022
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television

• MarvelsGrantMan136

Danny Masterson Convicted on Two Counts of Forcible Rape, Faces 30 Years in Prison
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• MarvelsGrantMan136

Writers’ Shut-It-Down Strategy Has Been Effective, Executives Privately Concede
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• MarvelsGrantMan136

‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Adds Stephen Dorff, Iliza Shlesinger, Sturgill Simpson, and Five Others to Season 3 Cast
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pics

• cutHokusai

Arkansas VS Weed
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• CLE_BROWNS_32

Spotted in Cleveland, Ohio at a gas station. May, 2023.
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• aUsefulThrowawayAcct

Took a picture of my eye using the macro lens on my iPhone
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gifs

• bananimator

I turn into a hot dog
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• LadyAbraxus

NO STOPPING
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• wdfegwrwhgrhhrt

He want to say hello to everybody
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educationalgifs

• strictlayout053

Making of Vennetta
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mildlyinteresting

• tarheelsdend

This house that has a tunnel through a juniper bush to get to their front door
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• getyoutogabba

This car is full of bumper stickers that say bumper sticker
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• Rejected-Name-ID

Gas in Ohio costs 1 cent per gallon
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interestingasfuck

• ElPolloPayaso

Dish towel used by R. Lee to surrender to Union forces, known as the final flag of the Confederacy
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• AccurateSource2

The elephant’s penis is prehensile. They can use it to prop themselves up, swat flies from their side and scratch themselves on their stomach.
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• _kevx_91

Headquarters of the India National Fisheries Board.
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funny

• CallMeCaptainAmerica

The Nintendo Captcha System gave me an image of a dude taking a leak…
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• Fit-Card-8925

Cat sneezes into a bowl of flour.
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• lightmasterp55022

*If birds were humans. *
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aww

• fat_old_boy

Sport is life!
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• EasternBeyond

Help I am stuck on the sofa. What do I do
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• fat_old_boy

Red pandas eating red apples.
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Growing up, I hated birthdays. I knew every single one of them was going to be ruined by my parents' drinking (both of them), which would end up in a terrific fight and the day would be all about them. When I got older, we would go out to dinner at a restaurant they wanted to go to -- which featured alcohol. They'd get drunk, order what they wanted and I might have something to eat, but then again -- probably not, since I was the "designated driver".
Birthdays sucked. As an adult, for years I refused to celebrate them or even acknowledge them in any way.
AIDS in the 1990s, and the way it decimated a bunch of my friends (I'm gay), and then COVID in 2020-2022 changed my mind about birthdays. I never got HIV; I took pains not to get COVID since I already have a severe respiratory condition brought on by my parents' three-pack-a-day smoking addiction (total of six packs of second-hand smoke a day). I lost seven friends and relatives to COVID in 2021; a bunch more to alcoholism/addiction from 1980 through 2022; and I was widowed when I was 35 (my ex -- an alcoholic/addict was killed in a pedestrian/automobile accident). By the grace of God, I'm still here. I think that's worth celebrating.
My partner (not an alcoholic) has to work later today. I'm treating myself to lunch at a really nice restaurant downtown. Afterwards, I'm going to take a favorite drive out in the country: part of the drive features driving under a canopy of green trees which forms an arch over the road for about a half mile -- it's absolutely gorgeous.
Other people celebrate birthdays. I'm entitled to do the same with mine. Thank you, Al-Anon.

So I (23 M) had went to live with my mom (45 F)and sister and mom’s bf since my parents separated in 2015. Ever since the move my mom treated me as if I was a burden and not a priority. When we left I was entering my sophomore year of hs and where we lived was just in the line to where the school didn’t need to send a bus. As a result of that I had to walk to school for 3 years in snow,rain,sleet,hail, blistering heat you name it. I would ask her from time to time if she could drop me off as sometimes I wouldn’t want to make that walk… but her only response was she “didn’t want to touch his car” even though her bf traded in her car to get the one they had at the time. This was also around the time where my little brother was born… While I’ll admit I didn’t go out of my way to help her with the newborn she wasn’t exactly the best parent. There were times where she would get off work.. come home sit in her car for hours talking to her friend, come up stairs, and watch TV till she passed out. Then would try to throw my brother on me or my sister because she was “tired”. As the years passed I graduate HS even with all the turmoil going on. Over the summer I have a busy with the college I’ll be attending in the fall.. I tell my mother 2 weeks in advance when the date would be and when I need to be there.. the day comes and she tells me “she doesn’t have the car because he needed to go do something” so now I’m frustrated because the same person who told me since I was 7 how important education was, is the same person preventing me from getting one. Fast forward a couple months to when I get to the school, and I’ve been there about a month but I got there early because of football. The school I went to was D3 for most sports so it’s not like I was on scholarship or anything, I get called into the financial aid office and am told I’m in jeopardy of getting kicked out the school because my financial aid hasn’t been processed, it takes 3 attempts to get my mother to pick up the phone and had it not been for my football coach I would have been kicked from the college. Fast forward a year and I have to leave the school due to it being to expensive and her “not wanting to deal with that”. So in the fall of 2018 I go to my local community college. While I’m there it’s arranged that she has to drop me off and pick me up as the college is a ways away from our home. One particular day I’m waiting and she’s not there at the time she’s suppose to be. I think to myself ok she’s running late… however as minutes turn into hours it becomes clear that she simply forgot about me. I walk to the McDonald’s that’s near the college where she works… and is told my mother came to get me earlier than the time she was suppose to and if I showed up that her coworkers would give her a call and she would be back… she went home without me. Fast forward to the end of the semester and as I’m trying to register for classes I can’t because once again financial aid issue… so now I have to come out of pocket to pay for it. Around this time my older brother comes up from the city to stay with us. As said before I wasn’t much help with my brother as he was growing cause I was a 2 sport athlete in HS as well as in advanced classes, not my responsibility to care for a child I didn’t create. However my mom put on some sob story to my brother who came up here with some animosity toward me for “not helping mom”. When my brother arrived my mother started asking us for money as she was pregnant once again and her bf just lost his job cause his dumbass stole from a gas station and got fired. It didn’t help that he also had 3 children with a woman 3 Popeyes biscuits away from having her own gravitational pull. So now instead of being able to save so I can get the money needed to pay off my school she’s telling me I need to give her $150 a month to stay in a roach motel. It doesn’t help that atp in time she was rarely cooking so I was bring food from my job which I was basically paying full price for.. she’s gonna say “you should be happy you’re providing for your family” as if I’m not 19 years old. Fast forward and I’m finally able to pay off my debt and go back to school. This was in spring of 2020 so as you know covid hit shortly after. Once again once the semester was over could let get my transcript due to a overdue balance because I didn’t receive financial aid her response when I confronted her was “oh I don’t do computers I can’t help you” as if all the info wasn’t on the paper in front of her. Eventually the rules at the school changed and I was able to get my transcripts a year and a half later. I transfer and get accepted into Michigan state university. Fast forward to august of 2022 and I’m about 350 miles from any family. She tells me to send her my address because she wants to send me a “care package” that never came. As the year winds down I am informed that my father can’t come get me as he has prior obligations to tend to. While I’m the phone she has the audacity to tell me “don’t even ask me to come get you” so because of that I was stuck in Michigan for about 2 1/2 weeks longer than expected. I eventually get back home to NY and don’t plan on staying here longer than I have to. A couple days ago a conversation was brought up. She was saying how as she gets older with her having 5 children she’ll be well taken care of. I told her not to let it come down to me cause if it came down to me she’s going in a nursing home. She asked how could I do that to my mother to which I responded my mother died in 2015 idk who you are. While I can admit is a bit harsh I fell in justified with the years of BS I had to deal with so aita?

This is possibly the final update to my series of previous posts, "$500k the boring way", “$250k the boring way”, and my original post, "$100k the boring way". Those older posts have all the details but I will attempt to summarize. Also I just wanted to say that I really wanted to make the title "$1000K the boring way" but didn't have enough confidence.

Summary

Reached $1M net worth from a starting point less than -$100k in roughly 11 years, mostly through consistent saving. Net worth chart included below. All salary numbers are gross.

Quick^ish Recap

My wife and I are both 34 and live in the Pacific Northwest. We met when we were 24 and I estimate at the time that we had a combined net worth of close to -$120k. I’m an engineer (EE) and my wife is a public school employee.
On our journey to $500k net worth we:

• Both got graduate degrees.
• Found new jobs and moved from Midwest to PNW to be closer to family.
• Progressed our careers and salaries: $67k to $126k for me and $54k to $90k back down to $70k (part time) for my wife.
• Bought a house and refi'd it twice.
• Received $18k of student loan forgiveness.
• Had two babies.

Updates

It's been a while since my last post - it was definitely weird going back and reading through these previous snapshots of our life. The $500k update was posted in Dec 2020 and even though the pandy had been going on for a bit, (as we all know) we were in for a much longer ride than anticipated.
 
2021: I think it's telling that I had a lot of trouble trying to remember things that happened this year. I hate to call it a lost year because I'm extremely grateful for the extra time I got to spend with my young kids - we really just didn't do much due to having said young kids and an abundance of caution. I went through my phone photo highlights from 2021 to try and jog my memory and they all were geotagged at our house or a nearby town.
I actually found this pretty interesting from a financial perspective - on one hand, sure, there were less opportunities for spending on things like restaurants and social activities, and in the comments of my last update I had noted that our cash had built up really quickly basically on accident. On the other hand, the unknowns and challenges surrounding the pandemic and parenting really shifted my mindset around spending. I found it much easier to justify all types of purchases and spending because "well, whatever it takes to get us through this". I wouldn't say we went overboard or anything like that, more like we accepted a healthy amount of lifestyle creep into our lives. We bought the ridiculous inflatable kiddie pool (no it didn't last long), we started adding more "fun" stuff to our cart at the grocery, paid for little subscription services here and there, etc. For my own mental health, I basically completely stopped tracking spending, stocks, our accounts, bills, and most things finance-related (including this sub^{I'm so sorry}). Ultimately I think doing less during the pandemic plus our increased spending was more or less a wash financially.
At work, I officially maxed out on my salary band, so effectively I didn't get a raise. I'm pretty sure the COLA was also nonexistent this year which they blamed on Covid. I got to work 100% remote with no pressure to bring people back, which I really appreciated. With working a bunch of on-call nights and weekends I ended up at $136k for the year. My wife completed her first full year of part-time work which dropped her from $90k to $60k
We did end up buying a new car shortly after my last post in Dec 2020. Went with a Subaru Ascent (sorry to all the minivan fans from the previous comment section) and it turned out to be really lucky timing because we got it for insanely cheap and 0% interest and then the car market went crazy.
Our youngest joined our oldest at daycare in the fall for a total of $2,150/mo.
 
2022: At my job, I was feeling kind of stuck. At this point I had found that some side projects that I took on for "fun" (I did have a genuine interest/passion) had become basically additional full-time positions. I was getting a ton of recognition and accolades for the work I was doing, but no promotion or raise. The culture at my workplace was to protect/gatekeep the top engineering title at all costs, so my successes were constantly met with "you're doing great, just be patient" or "the optics might not look good to the other engineering departments" or various other BS. Ultimately, it made me start to resent my job that I really loved. I let my supervisor know early in the year that my patience was running low and eventually I would be forced to look elsewhere, which he understood.
On one frustrating day in the fall I decided to just have a quick look at the other similar companies in my area and happened upon a job posting that was kind of my dream role (essentially getting to do some of the extra work I had taken on as my full time job and drop the day-to-day stuff). It all happened very quickly after that: I got a call the morning after submitting my resume, then a week later I got a job offer 20 minutes after my interview had concluded. I asked for as much time to decide as possible, gave the offer to my current employer, and they made me wait a long time before coming back and saying they wanted to but couldn't match right now. So I left ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There's a ton more to say on this topic but probably too much for this post as it is so happy to continue down in the comments if people want. The CEO ended up requesting to do a personal exit interview with me, so that was cool.
Otherwise, 2022 was pretty uneventful financially. Obviously the market was down so not a lot of action or visible progress in our net worth journey. Was one of the first "extended" downturn-type period of time I've experienced in the market. I didn't change anything.
We took a much needed family vacay south of the border. Daycare raised prices by a reasonable 5% to $2,250/mo.
 
2023: I started my new job in late Jan, going from $135k total comp to $160k plus a $12k signing bonus and I no longer have to be on-call overnight. I heavily engineered my start date to make sure I was still able to receive a one-time payout my old employer did at the beginning of the year to make up for freezing the salary schedule during Covid. I also had something ridiculous like 700 hours of PTO paid out (RIP my taxes this year).

Side note: I do not recommend saving up as much PTO as I did, go live your life. I was saving aggressively to prep for us having kids, and then the pandemic happened so barely used any for a couple years. Happy accident that my banked PTO ended up getting much more valueable over the years as my salary was increasing rapidly.

Our house is great but as the kids are growing we are thinking it would be nice to have some extra space. We've talked to our realtor and lender to get the process moving but not in any specific rush. We will have to do some upgrades to the house like exterior paint, possibly the roof, deck upgrade (finished ourselves) but those are needed either way so just going to do them in case we decide to enter the market. The idea of getting a new mortgage right now seems so wild to me, but I know you can't time these things. It definitely would hurt to go from 2.875% to 7%. I'm considering exploring just adding on to our current house, but not sure if that's really feasible at this point.
Daycare is now $2,900/mo lol (this is even with our costs going down slightly as our son has aged into the older classroom). It was actually hilarious to me that they sent out a "We won best daycare in the region" announcement followed very shortly by a 30% price increase. It is what it is though - I think this is pretty solidly reasonable for the area.
We took a family trip to Disneyland a couple days before our son turned 3 so that his park entry would still be free. My mindset going into trip planning was "Disney is expensive, so if you want to go, just accept that". We used a few different little tips and tricks for saving money here and there but overall tried not to worry too much about complete optimization. With that attitude we had a great trip and to me at least the memories and moments with my kids were totally worth it. Do the princess breakfast.

Chart

Here is our entire financial journey summed up in one line. Apparently they don't do the thing anymore where it changes color when crossing over from negative to positive, that's a bummer (the first line on the y-axis is $0, not the x-axis). I really thought it would look like more of an exponential curve by now. There aren't really inflection points anymore besides the Covid 2020 drop, when the app would get confused, or accounts would stop updating from time to time, so here are the relevant dates in list form:

• 7/2/15 began tracking net worth.
• 3/29/16 crossed $0! We are worthless!
• 5/24/17 crossed $100k net worth.
• 8/10/18 crossed $200k net worth.
• 6/11/19 crossed $300k net worth.
• 1/17/20 crossed $400k net worth.
• 8/25/20 crossed $500k net worth.
• 12/3/20 crossed $600k net worth.
• 4/7/21 crossed $700k net worth.
• 8/27/21 crossed $800k net worth.
• 3/26/22 crossed $900k net worth.
• 5/1/23 crossed $1M net worth.

I enjoyed watching the time between milestones get shorter and shorter, and then 2022 happened.

Current Finances

• $100k in cash as an e-fund/new house downpayment savings, $6k in an HSA.
• $550k of investments, mostly lazy index 3-fund portfolio.
• $370k equity in our home
• -$10k of student loans remaining

Our savings rate was 40% from 45% one baby and 55% no babies. Now? I have absolutely no idea. Past me and part of current me thinks that's both hilarious and terrifying - who even am I?? I believe it's likely around the 40% mark still. I think part of me doesn't want to figure it out because it might be lower than I was hoping for and stress me out unnecessarily.

Now what

I told my wife the news that we were officially millionaires (that sounds so stupid typing it out) a few days ago and she asked "what does that mean". I said "literally nothing, lol". We are definitively in the "boring middle" phase of retirement savings, and so I don't expect any substantial changes.
When is enough, enough? I really don't know. I still want to retire early, but as I've grown into my career (and very much^mostly enjoyed the work) I've found myself less eager to leave. I think working from home has had a huge impact on this. It's probably time for a sit down with my wife to talk about our next 5-10 years and maybe map out a number that we would feel comfortable with.
It's for sure time to update the budget soon and get that back on track. My oldest will attend kindergarten in the fall, so that will be nice to cut our daycare bill in half. We may never see that money if it ends up going towards a larger mortgage, but I need to get an updated picture of our finances before we can figure out exactly what sort of house we want to afford.
Our student loans are what initially set me down this path of aggressively saving and investing. I find it kind of funny that despite all of our financial accomplishments, we still have not officially paid off our student loans. I'm holding out hope for the student loan bill to go through, so until there is interest being charged again, the last $10k will just sit there.
Not that I think anyone would remember this, but if you read the last post you know I was planning on making a will and getting some life insurance. It's been 2.5 years and I've made zero progress on those fronts, which I realize is terrible and I really need to get on that. Likewise, I still don't have a specific plan for the kids' college beyond "let's just generically save money and we will cash flow college or figure it out".
For my career, I've got one last level to go as an individual contributor in my field. If I stay at my new company, I'm probably a couple years out from achieving it, but I could probably get it as soon as the end of this year if I go back to my old job. That would allow me to end my career in the $200k range which I think is a solid goal.

The End End

Is this my last update ever? Maybe, who knows. Maybe a retirement update is in order many years down the road, but really I don't expect our path to there have anything new or interesting that I haven't already covered (wasn't that the whole point of this series of updates?).
Looking back on this, I like to think that I successfully made our journey to being millionaires as boring as possible. I was inspired at a young age to learn that the possibility of retiring early could be simple and didn't take an overwhelming amount of skill or knowledge. You just had to be as consistent as possible. I'm not to retirement yet, but I believe in the path we are on and I'm hoping someone will find similar inspiration by me just showing the receipts.
Finally, I want to sincerely thank everyone for reading and commenting over the years. As a loooooong time lurker on this sub I was so nervous for my first ever post and the responses I've received since then have been so uplifting and personally motivating. It means a lot. Back to saving and living our life now. See you around!^maybe

 July 21, 2022 per chart exchange = 1926119 July 21, 2022 adjustment = 4 x 1926119 = 7704476 July 21, 2022 from nasdaq = 9277796 

In this insightful article, Elad Ben-Israel, the mind behind the CDK, shares his love for the cloud, but also his frustrations with the complexity of building cloud applications. The challenges he identifies include: 1. Focus on non-functional mechanics: The need to understand and manage cloud platform mechanics instead of focusing on building valuable features for users. 2. Lack of independence: Developers often need to rely on others to handle parts of the deployment process or to resolve issues, interrupting their work flow. 3. Delayed feedback: The current iteration cycle in cloud development can take minutes or even longer, significantly slowing down the development process and making it harder for developers to stay in their flow state.

It's not just a rant

Elad is not just ranting about cloud development. He proposes a solution in the form of a programming language for the cloud. This language would treat the entire cloud as its computer. The language compiler will be able to see the complete cloud application, unbound by the limits of individual machines. Such a compiler would be able to handle a significant portion of the application's non-functional aspects, enabling developers to operate at a more abstract level, thus reducing complexity and promoting autonomy. Moreover, it could expedite iteration cycles by allowing to compile applications to quick local simulators during the development process.

The Winglang Project

Elad reveals that he's in the process of developing such an open-source, “cloud-oriented” language, dubbed Winglang. Wing aims to improve the developer experience of cloud applications by enabling developers to build distributed systems that leverage cloud services as first-class citizens. This is achieved by integrating infrastructure and application code in a secure, unified programming model. Wing programs can be executed locally via a fully-functional simulator or deployed to any cloud provider.

My Interest in Winglang

I, together with a group of dedicated contributors, joined forces with Elad to develop Winglang. While still in Alpha and not yet ready for production use, it's already possible to build some real applications.
Check out https://github.com/winglang/wing for more details.

Street Fighter Glossary

Shoutouts and sources: THE FIGHTING GAME GLOSSARY, The New Challenger team  

Boxer

A common name for the Street Fighter character Balrog. We aren't just describing his profession for fun, though; his Japanese name is M. Bison, so we need a clear way to describe which character we're referring to. See also Dictator and Claw.

Claw

A common name for the Street Fighter character Vega. Because the Japanese call this character Balrog, we often use this more general name when discussing him so there's less confusion. It's a problem that exists due to a triple name swap between three characters in the Japanese and English versions of SF, the other two being Dictator and Boxer.

Counter

Often used as shorthand for counter hit, especially if you are reading an on-screen message during a fight.
It's also a move that looks to catch an incoming attack, deflect it away, and automatically launch a counter-attack. You'll sometimes hear it called a "catch counter". You might just get one hit that sends the opponent flying, but some counters will let you get a full combo if it works. Lots of games have counters, from Street Fighter to Killer Instinct to Tekken to virtually every sword character in Super Smash Bros. It's kind of like parrying, except you don't return to neutral or get to choose your next attack.
Counter can also be used in the general English sense, as a technique that specifically wins against another technique. For example, you can counter pick your character matchup. Or you might say "that move is a hard counter to my strategy" if it stops everything you're trying to do.

Critical Art

The Street Fighter V-specific term for a super.

Crush Counter

A unique counter hit state specific to Street Fighter V that leads to highly damaging combos. If you counter hit your opponent with certain heavy attacks (each character will have their own list of Crush Counter moves), they will violently spin around as a glass-shattering sound effect plays, and they'll get put in a ton of hit stun. Many characters will be able to dash forward and still continue the combo with something beefy.
You can think of them kind of like a "super" counter hit, but tied to specific moves. SFV also tags dragon punches as counter-hittable during their recovery, which means you can wind up with your crush counter move and earn a huge punish when you block one.

Delayed Wakeup

The ability to slightly extend how long you stay on the ground after you've been knocked down. This is different from soft knockdown vs. hard knockdown, where you either rise immediately or stay on the ground for a set amount of time. In games with delayed wakeup, you can choose to make your hard knockdown ever so slightly longer, in the hopes that your opponent won't be able to easily meaty you or otherwise run their planned set play. Games like Ultra Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat 11 implement delayed wakeup.

Demon Flip

One of Akuma's trademark special moves; he jumps up into the air while performing a front flip, and then can choose several different unique attacks on the way down, including a divekick, a low attack, and a throw.

Dictator

A common name for the Street Fighter character M. Bison. We have to call him this because, in Japan, they call him Vega, so this helps us be clear about which character we're talking about. We have this same problem with Boxer and Claw.

Drive Impact

The character will garner armor that can absorb an incoming hit. Players can perform this technique by pressing R1+R2 (or just L1 if you're using simplified controls) and it costs one bar of your Drive Gauge. Source

Drive Parry

Players can simply hold down medium kick and medium punch to activate Drive Parry, which continually depletes the Drive Gauge until the buttons are released. If an incoming attack is successfully parried, the character will repel the foe's attack and some of their Drive Gauge will be replenished. Players can aim to perform a "Perfect" parry by activating this at the precise moment an incoming attack lands, which will net them some kind of additional bonus. Source

Drive Rush

Characters cancel out of animations early with a forward dash, presumably enabling them to perform otherwise impossible combos. This can also be performed from a Drive Parry, in which case its cost is reduced from three Drive Gauge bars to only one. This is done simply by double tapping forward while the animation for either a cancelable normal attack or Drive Parry is going on. Source

Drive Reversal

Similar to Alpha Counters/V-Reversals seen in Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter 5, respectively. Pressing forward and R1+R2 while blocking an attack will activate Drive Reversal, which causes your character to perform a counter attack that does little damage but that can give you some breathing room to get off of the defensive. Using this maneuver costs two bars from your gauge. Source

Overdrive

Which is essentially the Street Fighter 6 way of describing an EX move. Every character has a few special attacks unique to them, and players can give said specials additional enhancements (such as more damage, invincibility, further reach, faster speed) by performing the "Overdrive" version. This is performed by pressing two of the same button instead of just one when doing a special attack. For instance, if Ryu throws his trademark Hadoken special (quarter circle forward + a punch) he might enhance it by pressing two punches. Overdrive costs two bars from your Drive Gauge. Source

EX Move

A more powerful version of a special move, enhanced by spending some super meter. These moves have better properties than the base version of the special move, which may include more invincibility, more damage, or faster startup. The character often glows a different color, like yellow, while performing an EX move, just to make it extra clear what's happening.

Flash Kick

An invincible charge move made famous from Guile in Street Fighter. Hold down, or down-back, for about a second and then hit up plus a kick button to fly into the air foot first. It's a very common reversal and anti-air, but because it's a charge move, it needs more planning to use than a dragon punch.

Frame Trap

Two attacks back-to-back that leave a very small gap between them. The gap will be shorter than the defender's fastest attack, which means if they try to attack with a normal, they will get counter hit. Finding effective frame traps requires some basic understanding of frame data (or finding a good Youtube tutorial that has done the work for you!); you'll usually be looking for an attack that is plus on block, which lets you attack before your opponent afterwards, then swinging with a fast attack that "traps" your opponent who foolishly thought they could swing themselves.
 
Frame traps aren't foolproof, though. You can usually just continue to block and be fine until your opponent gets pushed out of range. Or, if you're feeling risky, you can try to get through the opponent's attack with an invincible reversal, which doesn't care about your opponent's pesky frame advantage.

Gap

How long your character has returned to neutral in between blocking (or getting hit by) two attacks. Like all discussions of time in fighting games, it's measured in frames. While you're in neutral, you can take any action, but be careful! If you are only in neutral for a few brief frames, there are some actions you won't want to take, especially if your opponent is looking to do a frame trap.
If your character blocks two attacks and there is no gap at all, we'll call that a true block string or say the offense is tight (it's also quite related to the Tekken concept of jailing). Sometimes players will just ask "is there a gap in that string?" just so they know whether they even have the option to do anything except block. Maybe if there's a gap they'll sometimes try a reversal to escape.

Gimmick

Also known as: Oki-Doke A plan of attack that requires either the element of surprise or a lack of knowledge from your opponent to work. The term is often meant in a negative way towards a strategy that wouldn't possibly work against well-prepared opponents, or something that can only work in the short term until your opponent understands the trick.
 
The term can also refer to a player who uses one linear but mostly effective strategy to beat lower skilled opponents, but who loses convincingly, with no backup strategy, when playing against better players who can defend properly. It may sound like gimmicks are kinda bad, but there's no better feeling in fighting games than to hit someone with a good one.

Gouki

The Japanese name for Akuma. Like with Vega, M. Bison and Balrog, there are some naming differences between some characters in the Japanese and English versions.

Hadouken

The specific name for Ryu and Ken's fireballs in the Street Fighter series, but it can be used to talk about any generic, forward-traveling projectile that is not a charge move.

Hit Confirm

Performing an attack, seeing that your attack successfully hit, and then reacting to this information by continuing the combo. That is to say, you "confirm" that your first attack hit before you launch further attacks, and if the attack was blocked instead, you stop and don't follow through with anything else. This is important because, usually, you will be canceling into a move that would be unsafe if it was blocked, so you only want to do it if it won't get you killed.
In some games this can be a pretty advanced skill, since you might not have a ton of time to recognize if your attack hit or not. In really fast cases, good players may even employ special tricks, like looking at the opponent's health bar or using special audio cues, to help them react as fast as they can.

Knockdown

Being knocked off your feet and landing on your back. Certain attacks commonly cause knockdowns, like sweeps, throws, many special moves, and in some games, simply getting hit out of the air. There are generally two types of knockdowns, hard knockdowns and soft knockdowns, which describe how long you have to lie on the ground before you can get up and fight again, and what options you may have (if any) while standing up.

Mixup

A situation where the offensive player has several ways to attack that each require a different defensive action to stop (such as blocking in different directions and avoiding throws).

Okizeme

Also known as: Oki The moment during a fighting game when your opponent is knocked down and you get to attack them as they stand back up. The defender's options are limited, so the offensive player gets to attack with all sorts of mixups or apply any mind game they choose. Some options include attacking with a basic meaty, doing a cross-up, or trying to bait their opponent's desperate dragon punch by simply doing nothing and blocking.
 
Okizeme (pronounced oh-kee-zeh-meh and often shortened to "oki") means "wake up offense" in Japanese, so the term mostly focuses on the offensive choices. If you hear someone ask "what's the oki going to be?", they are wondering what method of attack (or non-attack) the offensive player will choose to assert their advantage. It's closely related to the term wakeup, although that tends to focus more on the defensive choices (you might hear "I can't believe they did a wakeup DP!").
 
If someone asks "do I get oki after this move?", they're asking whether that move leaves them close enough, and with enough time, to threaten multiple different offensive options. Moves that "don't give you oki" will leave you far away and mostly end your offensive pressure.

Plink

An input trick where you press two different buttons on two consecutive frames. If you use an arcade stick, the best way to do this is to "drum" two different fingers across the two buttons extremely quickly. It will kind of feel a bit like a piano input. It's often notated with a ~, so pressing MP and then LP right after would be MP~LP.

Poke

An attack that's thrown out to occupy the space in front of you and remind your opponent not to try and come closer. Usually, this is a far-reaching and safe normal move with little risk. Pokes are often used to harass your opponent into doing something stupid, not unlike prodding a bear with a stick. If you use a poke to hit your opponent's poke, that's called a "counter poke".

Raging Demon

An iconic super for Akuma (and related "Evil" characters) in many Street Fighter titles. Akuma travels forward and grabs you, the screen goes dark, and after some rapid-fire hits in the darkness, you appear knocked out on the ground. Akuma then poses with his back to the camera.

Reversal

Reversal - An action taken on the first frame after your character recovers, such as after getting knocked down or exiting block stun. Sometimes conflated with "invincible reversal", an attack with invincible properties during startup.
%%%Shimmy Tricking someone into thinking you're going to throw them by walking close, and then, at the last second, walking backwards out of range so they whiff a throw tech attempt like a dummy. You can then pummel them with a huge punish.

Shoryuken

The specific name for Ryu and Ken's dragon punches in the Street Fighter series, but it's used to talk about any generic uppercut-looking move in pretty much any fighting game. Very often shortened to just "shoryu".

Shoto

An archetype in the Street Fighter series for a character that has a fireball, a shoryuken, and a tatsu. Their main gameplan is to play solid footsies with fireballs and pokes, and then uppercut you when you jump at them. Ryu, Ken, and Akuma are the quintessential shotos that appear in virtually every Street Fighter title.

Sonic Boom

A specific type of projectile that travels horizontally and is traditionally input using a charge command. Notably, they have considerably faster recovery than a fireball, but needing to have charge to throw one really limits the situations in which you can use them. Sonic Boom is the specific name of Guile's famous projectile, but it will often refer to any projectile with very little recovery.

Spam

Using one attack over and over again. Calling something "spam" or someone a "spammer" is the hallmark cry of the scrub, who is unwilling to find a strategy to beat any attack that hits them, no matter how telegraphed it is. Fighting game veterans will still use this term, but mostly in jest, or to give praise to a legitimate strategy. If you think someone is bad for using one move repeatedly to beat you, I'd recommend looking inwards and re-evaluating your strategy and game knowledge before lashing out. You might save a bit of embarrassment and you'll probably improve at the game at the same time.

Spinning Piledriver

A classic Zangief command throw in the Street Fighter series, executed with a 360 motion. Zangief grabs you, jumps high in the air while spinning, and then slams you into the ground. Commonly abbreviated to SPD. It also is a catch-all term for any grappler's command throw executed with a 360, across virtually any game.

Stagger

Stagger can also be used in its more common English meaning to describe attacks that are slightly delayed or off-beat from each other. Basically, you leave gaps between your attacks in tricky and unpredictable ways so your opponent thinks they're free to attack, then you smoke them with a devastating counter hit. You might hear something like "he staggered that heavy punch" or "nice stagger pressure" to indicate this.

Tatsu

The name of a shoto special move where the character travels forward with their foot extended, usually spinning like a top while doing so. It is sometimes called "Hurricane Kick" in English, but many in the community call it "tatsu", a shortened version of the Japanese name. Tatsus are often briefly projectile invincible which can help you win fireball wars, and they're often good combo enders too.

Tech

Most commonly is shorthand for a throw tech. It can also refer to the act of quick rising after being knocked down, as in "you should tech when you hit the ground". In Smash Bros. in particular, teching when you hit the ground lets you stand up in place or roll either left or right, which is super important for trying to escape offense.
 
It can also refer to recovering in the air after you've been hit by an air combo. Or, if all these definitions aren't enough, it's also used to talk about cool new strategies developed for a character, like "did you see that new Ryu tech posted to Twitter?" Confused at why so many fighting game terms have ambiguous meanings? You're not alone.

TO

Stands for Tournament Organizer. It's the main person in charge of running your favorite event, which could mean things like booking the venue, deciding which games to run, seeking out sponsors, and everything in between. Most TOs have a team of people working with them to make the event run smoothly, but they are kind of the front-facing entity of the tournament.

V-Reversal

A defensive mechanic in Street Fighter V that lets you attack while blocking. You consume one stock of your "V-Gauge" (which is also shared for use with your V-Trigger), and your character will do an attack which is invincible to all hits but can be thrown. Usually, your character will knock the opponent out of the way, dealing some gray life while you get some breathing space.

V-Shift

A Street Fighter V mechanic that lets you defensively dodge an attack and follow up with a counter-attack. For the cost of 1 V-Gauge bar (a meter also shared with doing V-Reversals and V-Triggers), pressing MK + HP in neutral will perform a V-Shift. You will emit a blue aura and do an invincible backdash, slowing down time if your opponent happened to attack at the same time.

V-Shift Break

An automatic follow-up attack you can perform after you successfully dodge an attack with V-Shift. By pressing MK+HP (again) during the slow-motion dodge animation, your character will lunge forward with a basic punch or kick that keeps your full invincibility from the V-Shift, causes a knockdown and deals some gray life. It's a way for you to get some breathing space if you don't have a good invincible attack to follow up with, like a dragon punch or a super, or you are worried about being out of range of those attacks. It's a slow attack, but fortunately it will be safe if it's blocked.

V-Skill

A character-specific Street Fighter V technique, activated by pressing medium punch and medium kick together. You can basically think of it like an alternate special move that builds your V-Gauge (used for V-Reversals and V-Trigger) if it connects with your opponent.

V-Trigger

A central comeback mechanic in Street Fighter V. Your "V-Gauge" fills up as you take damage or successfully use your V-Skill, and when it's full, you can activate your V-Trigger, which usually powers up your character in a unique way for a good length of time (or, for some fighters, it is just simply a strong one-time use move with no powerup).

Wakeup

The act of rising from the ground after you've been knocked down. Since you are usually invincible when you are on the ground, there's a specific period of time when you become hittable again; this moment in time and the decisions around it from both players comprise the "wakeup game".

I'm in need of some support from others who may have had similar experiences. Please be kind with constructive criticism 🥺
I (30F) dealt with my first rejection last night after speaking to a man (35M) I was really interested in for about a month and some. My background context: Separated/divorced in January, on the mend from back surgery in December 2022 but don't necessarily "appear" disabled to others. Pain causes limitations. I was upfront on my profile about these things. Things were going well from the start...very spicy. He was overly flirtatious from the getgo. I noticed some red flags from the start (speeding off right after dropping me off before I could even find my keys in the dark, seemingly scoffing at my attempts to get to know him deeper ("tell me how your childhood was growing up"), and not demonstrating initiative to go out on dates together unless I asked. More recently, on maybe the fourth/fifth time we spent together (we slept together early on), we walked to a nearby takeout place for food, and he kept walking more quickly than my back could tolerate in my current shoes. I had to prompt him multiple times to please match my pace so I could be next to him and interact with him. Later, I was waiting for my Lyft from his place and there were maybe 10 more min together. Instead of cuddling or holding light conversation/making plans, he pulled his phone out and just started scrolling in silence. It hurt my feelings because it felt disrespectful, considering how early in our courtship it was and that I took a Lyft to and from his place without expectations of him picking me up/dropping me off. Seemed he didn't really want to drop me home, anyway. Perhaps I should have kept my hurt to myself, but I let him know on the spot that it made me feel like he didn't value the fact that I came all this way to spend time with him and that it felt like he was "done" with me for the night. Phone use is normal and fine in a more familiar relationship, but it just felt inconsiderate, considering I had my Lyft map open and nothing else. I was staring into space trying to make eye contact with him to give him that hint so that I wouldn't have to say anything. It became awkward immediately after this. I tried doing damage control later over text and explaining in a very thoughtful way why it affected me how it did, and that I only wanted mutual respect and value for one another's time. That phone use could have waited another 10min until I had left.
I asked him where we stood yesterday, since he was texting pretty much every morning saying good morning, but that I wasn't feeling any engagement or true interest in me or getting to know me. He worded it something like "we're on different paths, I was only on my phone for a couple minutes, I don't want to put kid gloves on and I feel like that's what I might have to do, you have back issues and I don't want to be held back, etc."
I feel gutted. I have on my profile that I was recovering from surgery. I want a partner who is encouraging and will do outdoor activities I can tolerate in progression to more difficult ones. I said I'd be honest from the start, and I did my best. I want respect and empathy, and he hasn't given me that. We wished each other the best, but I'm sad and it's not sitting right with me that he didn't even attempt to have an in-person conversation to work on conflict resolution and communication with me. I had a lot of practice with this in my marriage, so I thought confronting the issue early and head-on would prevent future hurt. Instead, I shot myself in the foot. I want to be true to myself and my needs though, too. My last relationship was 10 years, married for 2, and I take pride in the amount of emotional and intellectual growth I've made. I want to share myself with someone who wants to value me and respect my feelings just like I respect theirs. This feels like such a failure, because red flags aside, I really enjoyed being around him. I was being strung along after the phone thing turned him off, and to me, that was not caring behavior. The phone thing seems like such a trivial thing that could've been worked through, but he didn't seem to care to even try. The back thing...same thing. Sometimes you need to give things more time before jumping the gun and leaving what could be a healthy, satisfying relationship.
Please help me get over this hump, Reddit. I'm juggling a lot of different life issues at the moment and I put so much energy into dating that I feel discouraged and...frankly, somewhat insecure (I've been in therapy and have had a great psychiatry regimen for years now, so I'm constantly working on myself). I'm a good person, albeit sensitive, but I always try to treat others how I want to be treated. This just doesn't feel good.

Preface: first anaphylactic reaction in ~2017, ended up in ER wit face/throat swelling, severe diarrhea, full-body hives; all of this starting 4-5 hours after last meal. ER doctor assumed bc last meal contained shrimp that it must have been an allergic reaction to shrimp despite having had shellfish in my diet since young childhood (I'm Asian, some form of shellfish is in literally everything). A few months after, very very stupidly had some shrimp without any reaction - not even a mild one. Felt safe, so continued to have shrimp, shellfish, and other seafood without any issues afterwards until recently.
Medical history/issues: hypothyroidism, PCOS, migraines (no known cause, since high school). Dx'd ADHD and ASD, on medication (Vyvanse) for ADHD as well as Levo for hypothyroid. Caught COVID 3-4 times between 2019 to 2020 (sadly not joking), 3/4 times were confirmed via PCR or antigen testing, fourth suspected but not tested. Masked and was vaccinated & boosted but alas...the germ had gotten so brilliant (lol)
Bg info: Current diet is mostly comprised of meat (chicken > beef >>> pork), white rice, vegetables (peas, lettuce, cabbage, carrot, corn, soy sprout, spinach, bok choy, garlic). Seasonings are exclusively salt, sesame oil, and/or soy sauce - experimenting with miso paste at the moment as I've had intermittent issues with it. I don't use herbs or spices. I cook most meals from scratch and don't eat out. If I don't cook, my "cheat" foods are usually Lunchables Turkey & Cheddar (shoot me) or Special K + fairlife or soy milk. For the most part I have fairly bland taste, thankfully. I don't touch seafood period anymore.
Timeline:

2020

• Officially began having chronic issues with allergies
  

  Shellfish suddenly began giving issues (facial swelling, lip tingling, hives, GI symptoms) which was unusual, but given that I technically was supposed to have a "shellfish allergy" not shocking. PCP rightfully scolded me for continuing to eat a "known trigger" and explained how stupid that was, I quit eating shellfish and cut out possible cross-contamination.
  

• No issues yet with non-shellfish
  

2021

• Mystery, non-shellfish reactions begin
  

  Begin reacting to non-shellfish foods that were previously safe. Oddly, these reactions are not consistent. One day I might fix a bowl of fresh strawberries as a treat and find that after eating just a couple, my torso is covered in hives but then the next week I'm fine. One day I could eat mushroom risotto safely, and the next I eat japchae that has mushroom in it and have hives and diarrhea. Sometimes I might even get a reaction just by sharing utensils/cups with someone who had eaten something. Ex: I was on a mini road trip with my brother who had eaten eel and drank from his straw, and to my surprise found myself itchy all over and suddenly having throat tightness/hoarseness...even though when I've eaten that same eel dish before, I've had no problems. Note that at this point I'm making all my meals at home from scratch and that my family is eating most of their meals at home as well, and that there is no shellfish at all at home (nor shellfish in cooking sauces, etc.)
  

• Start having odd non-food reactions as well
  

  Sometimes find that, although this might just be a psychological reaction, just smells can set me off. When I go through the seafood section of Asian food markets, for instance, I sometimes get hives down my back and throat tightness. Strong spice smells sometimes set me off too. Being in the vicinity of dogs, even just being in the same waiting room sat quite far apart, makes me puff up/teary/sniffly/etc whereas prior it might have just made me a bit sneezy. The severity seems to really vary on the day and the dog(s).
  

2022

• Reactions ramp up in severity. Throughout 2022, I end up in the ER five times after using my epi pen, one of those times after having to use both of my epi pens. Up until 2021 I'd never even had to use my epi pen once
• Around early part of mid-2022, the allergist PCP referred me to finally has an opening. She suspects alpha-gal at first and does skin tests and bloodwork. Both show NO food allergies whatsoever and alpha-gal is ruled out. At this point she tells me she is considering possibly a mast cell disorder, immune disorder, or something called idiopathic anaphylaxis (IA) and has me do a 24hr urine panel and wants to do a follow up to test for environmental allergies. We discuss my anaphylactic reactions and how to manage them safely and efficiently, with the caveat that she reminds me (wisely) that Benadryl doesn't stop anaphylaxis.
• Urine panel comes back within normal ranges. Unfortunately this allergist is pretty booked out so it takes literally months between appointments. For now she tells me to continue to avoid shellfish but that's about it.
• Over the rest of the year I tinker as reactions pop up (a LOT) and find that Benadryl works for anaphylactic reactions if I catch them early.
• I go on vacation with my family to Canada in Sept, where I have an anaphylactic reaction to a smoothie :))) Benadryl doesn't do anything here, unsure of if I missed the signs (I was way blindsided here). I end up in the ER and get gobsmacked by a 9k bill. This gets whittled down to 1k. Yay! After I get back to ✨the States✨ my doctor has me put on steroids and twice daily Zyrtec and Allegra until my next allergist appointment, which isn't until Feb 2023.
• As 2022 winds down, I'm getting proper scared to eat. I try keeping food logs, I try low-histamine diets and they seem to help but don't fully eliminate the symptoms.

2023

• Allergist has a situation that requires the appointment to be pushed to May. I'm still on the twice daily double dose of antihistamines, and still getting random hives and reactions to food that I shouldn't be having. I gave up on the low histamine diet around March but tried to keep note of the weirder reactions/patterns that I spotted.
• (May - we are here!) Finally got in. We discuss the food log which seems to be basically trash for all the good it does (as she puts it, there is no discernable pattern). She does follow-up testing for environmental allergies "just in case" and finds mild dust mite and dog allergies but only through blood work. Otherwise my blood work is, again, normal. Total IgE was at 162.0 IU/mL, with the standard range being 0.0 - 100.0 IU/mL. She put a note on my chart that said "Your tryptase level, inflammatory markers, complete blood count were all normal" and settled on a diagnosis of IA for now and suggested Xolair as a treatment plan, which I am now looking into. She also did offer to have me to set up an appointment for a food challenge for foods I felt unsafe trying by myself which I am planning on scheduling hopefully soon (if she has any openings) to try to fully rule out food allergies.

Odd Reaction Notes (dunno what to call this, most of this is just a page in my notes app for my allergist lol):

• happened just once but had leftover dakjuk (chicken porridge) with family which I normally don't do as I tend to skip leftovers and my face swelled up. The rest of family was totally fine though
• I tend to have more reactions in general on my period, and they tend to be worse
• reactions usually are related to eating food but not always? (smells are another consistent odd trigger)
• often have issues with heat, though that can also be a sensory issue for people on the spectrum so idk
• after hot showers often get tingling/prickling/itching all over and very flushed feeling in the face and ears regardless of where I shower (even in other people's showers, hard/soft water, whatever soap I use, etc). idk if this is normal? not as bad with lukewarm or cold water
• had a very bad reaction (was one of the times in 2022 that landed me in the ER) after spending a very long, hot, stressful day at the zoo which is one of the rare outliers in terms of anaphylaxis that had no ties to food triggers. Still not sure what triggered me here and neither is my allergist. The heat? The smells? An animal? Walking uphill for hours? The stress? A combo of the above??? Haven't noticed any similar reactions after working out so fingers crossed that was a fluke

Symptoms:

• General fatigue, I get about 6ish hours of sleep at minimum but usually still feel quite tired. If I let myself sleep "to maximum" (+10hrs on days off) I still feel wiped and tbqh I have no good reason to
• Hives (most often on my face, and then my back for whatever reason - my first thought was an allergic reaction to soap or detergent or sheets but changing these hasn't helped and it's been consistent across moves and while staying over at friends' places. occasionally spreads through rest of torso. I've almost never seen them on extremities, and only a couple times seen them on my thighs when coming home after being out in negative temps in the winter)
• Itchiness
• Rashes
• "Tingling"/shivering/shaking? Idk how to word this. This only happens during the severe reactions but it's uncontrollable and almost like when you're very, very cold. When it gets to this stage I usually am having trouble breathing and need my epi pen
• Swelling (again most often on my head area - if not my face, it's my throat...rip)
• Random nausea, doesn't seem to be tied to being on my period or eating/not eating food
• (moreso in the past year) often feeling oddly weak, particularly in my extremities. Hard to describe but it's like the feeling the day after you've had an insane workout except I haven't had the workout. On bad days I have trouble doing stuff like showering because I can't hold "heavier" things like the soap well, for instance, or I find my (13lb) cat too heavy to lift. But most days I'm fine. It just worries me that there are even days that bad :(
• migraines (unsure of if this is related to the "IA" or not, as this has been a thing since high school)

Some Foods I've Reacted To (Intermittently):

• Fresh strawberries (which I've eaten a gazillion times and been fine, but have read are high in histamine so try to avoid...sadly these were a favorite treat of mine 😭)
• Fresh grapes (another favorite treat, and one that confuses me as I've read they're actually supposed to be low in histamine???)
• Fresh watermelon (another another favorite treat...I fkn love fruit gd. Anyways this is one that I've seen conflicting info about, but isn't supposed to be particularly bad? At worst it's been labeled a histamine liberator, and the day I reacted when I ate it I hadn't eaten any high histamine foods)
• Seafood/shellfish
• Some fruit juice (can't remember what it was, but I think it was a citrus juice blend? Either way it was fine one time I tried it and not fine the next time, so I never tried it again)
• Fresh cherries (again another treat which I loved loved loved. This one consistently kept setting me off so I had to cut it out. They're supposed to be safe I think? But sources seem conflicting)
• Chocolate (seems to vary, but I don't eat much choco anyways so I don't get to test it out often)
• Energy drinks (I only drink Zero Ultra fwiw and at most a can a day. I do notice that sometimes on days I have a can, that it does set me off. Other days it seems to be fine, and then other days still it just seems to lower the threshold so to speak? Dunno if there's much basis for that scientifically but that's how it feels)
• Tomatoes (sometimes causes weird tingling in the lips/tongue)
• Seaweed (sadly...doesn't seem to matter the sort, whether it's used in soup or eaten plain with rice, etc. It all sets me off)

Phew. Sorry for the insanely long post. I'm at my wits end. It's been coming on three years now that I've been trying to get to the bottom of this and my allergist seems to be at the end of her rope too which honestly scares me a bit.
I'll admit that I've been extremely stupid about my "allergy" in the past (obviously if you're allergic to a thing, don't eat the damn thing!!!) but knowing now that I apparently have no food allergies, I feel like an idiot for the trouble my family has gone to in avoiding shellfish for my sake (especially with how hard it is to do that with Asian food). My family won't even eat it outside by themselves because of how severe my reactions have been the past two years. It feels really bad to think that all this stress and caution could've been for nothing.
I also feel so confused, because if I have no food allergies...why on earth am I reacting to food? Why are my reactions to food so inconsistent??? I don't know of anybody with food allergies whose allergies come and go. When I read the description of mast cell disorders or histamine intolerance, they seem to line up more or less with my symptoms, but having the test results come back negative and having inconsistencies with the low histamine diet does make me pause.
If it weren't for the fact that my reactions result in physical symptoms that are externally observable (hoarse voice, hives, swelling, low BP on monitor, etc.) I'd think this was all in my head/anxiety/panic attacks at this point. With my blood work and skin test results, it scares me that my allergist may just leave it at IA which doesn't answer anything for me. The way she explained it is that there isn't any known trigger (hence the "idiopathic" bit) which is 1000000x worse to me than any allergy.
To my knowledge IA isn't "supposed" to be tied to food-related triggers but what worries me is that, increasingly, my reactions aren't food-tied. But it does give me a (messed up?) sense of hope that much of my reactions do seem to be related to food and specifically eating it, so it might just be an allergy to something I don't know yet (🤞)?
I'd appreciate your input at all. Thanks for reading this huge wall of text :")