Hello. My Samsung galaxy A51 phone was dropped earlier today. https://imgur.com/a/Q877Fxd As you can see in the picture the corner is starting to bleed. However, i am not educated about these kind of situations. I am reaserching a display replacement.
1)Some stores near me replace A51 screens with a title LCD screens, but this phone has super AMOLED screen, whats up with that?
2)How much on average does it cost to fix this? I live in Latvia.
3)How should i choose company that fixes it? Just go and check multiple companies, check prices and choose the lowest?
4)Only the small corner has some actuall physical damage. Could this be somehow fixed by warranty(dont know much about it and dont know how to check if i have one). (phone was a gift)
5)Could this f-up the phone it self somehow?

This post contains spoilers for Absolute Batman: The Killing Joke. I believe I have marked all of the spoilers but may have missed one or two.
I recently purchased Absolute Batman: The Killing Joke (30th Anniversary Edition), and I was SO excited to read it. I'd heard from this subreddit how it's the best Joker story to ever be released (other essentials being A Death in the Family, The Devil's Advocate, and, arguably, The Batman Who Laughs). Although I knew the plot of TKJ already, I didn't know how all the pieces fit together. I also got the deluxe edition, which included concept art, scripts, cover illustrations, and the original version of the comic from 1988.

The Good

As soon as I turned to the comic itself, I was blown away by the quality of the art style. The colors were vibrant, and I would often stop and stare at character's expressions to appreciate the detail (e.g., the Joker's unkempt hair, the wide eyes of the doppelgänger in Joker's cell when Batman grabbed his collar, the blood and coffee Barbara spilled when she was shot). I also liked how, as the main plot progressed, the authors fleshed out the Joker's backstory in parallel. It almost makes you feel bad for him. ^Almost.
There are also a couple good one-liners (e.g., the Joker preferring for his past being multiple choice) and moral dilemmas. For example, the Joker insists that everyone is just one bad day away from insanity, and that's exactly what made him the Joker to begin with: he joined a payroll heist, things went south, and he fell into a vat of acid, becoming the Joker. However, he fails to account for when the "average man" isn't broken by unfortunate events. Jim wasn't. Batman wasn't. Barbara wasn't. They all adapted and kept going, despite what life threw at them.

The Bad

Unfortunately, this is where the praise ends. The whole comic feels rushed and incomplete, as it skips over scenes the reader might be interested in seeing such as:

• Which punchline did the Joker mess up during his comedy act? I would have liked to be the judge for the joke itself rather than being told "I [the Joker speaking about himself] got nervous and messed up the punchline."
• How did the Joker go from working at the chemical plant to becoming a comedian? I know he thought he could become a successful comedian, but why comedy instead of, I don't know, real estate or something? Especially with a baby three months out, it seems unwise to quit a stable job and throw yourself into the comedy scene
• How did the Joker escape from Arkham? Did they bring in the wrong prisoner from the beginning, or was there a swap during the Joker's incarceration?
• How deeply ingrained is the Batman-Joker dynamic? Is it like the Batman-must-always-have-a-Robin dynamic, or is there more to it than that? Bruce starts to mention this on p. 18 but is cut off when the scene changes to the Gordon's home. All Bruce says is, "How can two people hate so much without knowing each other?"
• Barbara (the person, not the nude pictures of her Jim was forced to look at) does not appear in the comic past p. 25. Would it have been too much trouble to include a final scene where she sees the Joker again post-injury, is fitted with a wheelchair, or grieves with her father over what they've lost as a family?
• Why don't we get to see Barbara's friend, Colleen, stay with Barbara in the hospital? Also, who is taking over for Commissioner Gordon while he is away? We never learn the name of the man with the cigar that appears to be acting in Gordon's place
• What is happening on p. 33? Is Batman searching for clues about the Joker's/Jim's whereabouts? Why is there no dialogue? It's just a montage of him beating up criminals and showing others a poster of the Joker. Also, why would members of Batman's rogue gallery need a reference picture of the Joker (e.g., Penguin, Catwoman?)? Surely the Joker is infamous enough to not require a mugshot. Of course, Bruce could have just sat around to wait for the Batsignal where he later receives a free ticket to Joker's carnival
• The Joker's profile mentions he is 6'5" which seems physically impossible. There are multiple inconsistencies where the Batman, who stands at 6'2", towers over the Joker (even ignoring the bat ears that give him a height boost). This comes off as lazy artwork to me
• Where do the Batman and the Joker go after the ending on p. 53? I realize the Joker says he is beyond help, so do they continue the cycle of capture, incarcerate, escape, repeat or does something else happen? I recognize this is supposed to be a cliffhanger, and I would have appreciated closure. Brian Bolland mentions the following in his 2008 afterword to The Killing Joke

Speaking of which, it's time I revealed what really happened at the end of THE KILLING JOKE: as our protagonists stood there in the rain laughing at the final joke, the police lights reflecting in the pools of filthy water underfoot, the Batman's hand reached out and...

That's it. He doesn't even say what "really happened". The quote ends after the ellipses. Bolland just leaves us on another cliffhanger. Did the Batman take a chance on rehabilitating the Joker? Did the Joker return to Arkham, implying Batman did things by the book like Jim asked?

Comparing The Killing Joke to Other Batman Runs

Some say comparison is the thief of joy. I agree, and for the sake of this post, I do not care.
I'll admit, even though I've watched animated Batman storylines for as long as I can recall, I am fairly new to the Batman comic runs. I've started with the "essentials", including Batman: Hush (8/10), Absolute Batman: The Killing Joke (5.5/10), The Batman Who Laughs (3/10; could not finish due to confusing plot and random introduction of characters), Batman Knightfall (currently reading and thoroughly enjoying), and Batman: The Black Mirror (have not started but looks good). I tentatively plan on getting A Death in the Family at some point so I can experience the Jason Todd story. However, if it ends up being like TKJ, where it is centered around pure shock value resulting from a horrible circumstance, then I will likely skip it. If it dives into more nuance of Batman's regret of not killing the Joker while he had the opportunity and the accompanying moral dilemmas, then I'll give it a chance. I kind of already got that piece by reading Batman: Hush (Batman almost kills the Joker after Catwoman nearly dies at an opera performance. Jason Todd is "resurrected" but was actually Clayface), so the jury remains undecided as of today on the necessity of reading A Death in the Family.
In particular, when you compare the origin story of the Joker to Bane, as detailed in Knightfall, TKJ pales in comparison to the amount of time Knightfall spends on Bane. The Joker's origins occur over 10 pages; Bane's origins occur over at least 45 pages (and counting... Knightfall's first volume spans 630 pages). Also, the authors of TKJ specify that TKJ is supposed to be a comic about the Joker, not Batman. If this is true, why don't we get more of the Joker? There's so much untapped potential involving the Joker's backstory, his escape from Arkham, and how he might attempt to reconcile failing to "break" Jim/Batman/Barbara. I realize I don't have the full context for these events, but I would have appreciated a small glimpse of them somewhere in TKJ.
I know DC is fully capable of writing longer stories, and I'm disappointed that didn't happen with TKJ.

Should You Read This Comic?

As one of my favorite villains says, the answer is multiple choice. It depends on your preferences because while some of you may want to experience the comic itself, others may enjoy the 2016 TKJ film more and not need to read the comic.

1. You are interested in the origins of the Joker and don't mind reading a short, 53-page comic. You might not have all of your questions answered, yet there is still a coherent plot, spectacular art, and interesting characters. You can either purchase the standalone comic or get the deluxe edition which includes more content (53 pages in regular; 288 pages in deluxe). Conclusion: Read the comic
2. While it might be cool to know how the Joker became The Clown Prince of Crime, it's not pivotal to you because the Joker exists as he is, known origin story or not. You are content reading a plot summary online or watching the movie, whether in its entirety or as clips on YouTube. Conclusion: Skip the comic. Read summaries or watch the movie
3. You don't care for Batman. For some reason, you are only interested in Squirrel Girl, yet here you are, reading my post. Conclusion: Do whatever you want I guess...

Conclusion

I don't think TKJ is a "bad" comic.
A bad comic lacks a coherent plot, fails at building a world you care about as a reader, and has boring characters. TKJ is not any of these things, yet it remains a mediocre comic at best, hence my 5.5/10 rating.
My primary motive for writing this post was to vent my frustration that the comic wasn't longer and didn't do more with the plot or characters. Much like the recent-ish Star Wars sequel trilogy, it suffers from missed potential. When I saw the length of the book, I was expecting something similar to Hush or Knightfall. Something I can finish over the course of a few days or weeks. Instead, what I got was a mere 53 pages, and I finished it in less than 30 minutes.
I've typed this post without doing extensive research on the making of the comic. Everything you've read is from my brain alone, not the Internet or any YouTube analysis videos. If I'm somehow missing a follow-up to TKJ or you think I'm a complete idiot for disliking parts of this comic, please tell me. This is a "Discussion" post, after all.
Cheers!

Hi guys! I could really use some skincare advice because I am so frustrated with skincare right now.
For the last month or so I've been trying to get rid of a seemingly random onslaught of clogged pores/closed comedones/whiteheads on my chin and near the corners of my mouth. There have been no changes to my skincare, toothpaste, diet, or literally anything else (it does not fit the symptoms and characteristics of perioral dermatitis as far as I can Google).
For probably the last year and a half, I have been dealing with tight, dry skin that would often get a bit hot and uncomfortable towards the end of the day, but I was dealing with it because I had finally found a routine that didn't break me out. I am still struggling with dryness, but the recent clogged pore problem has made me get rid of anything potentially heavy in my routine. This has slightly improved the clogged pores but has also intensified my dryness, and by the afternoon my skin is incredibly tight, hot feeling, a bit itchy, and so uncomfortable.
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Here's what I was using pre-clogged pore issues:
Vanicream Gentle Cleanser
Cosrx Advanced Snail Mucin Power Essence
Vanicream Moisturizing Cream
Tretinoin 0.025% (every other night)
La Roche Posay Cicaplast Balm (this gives me milia/also clogs my pores, but I would use it sparingly every once in a while to ease dryness, or to use on special occasions to help my makeup sit right and not cling to my dry skin)
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Post-clogged pore issue routine:
Vanicream Gentle Cleanser
Vanicream Moisturizing Lotion
Tretinoin 0.025% (every night)
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Since changing my routine I feel like my clogged pores have been reducing in size, but the dryness is out of control. Any advice or product recommendations to ease the dryness but not worsen clogged pores would be so immensely appreciated.

Just got a 2014 Forester XT from a family friend, and I have no idea how well this car was maintained. Looking to make sure that it lasts a while, and besides taking it to the dealership for a full service I'm unsure if I should look at anything in particular. Car has 100,000 miles/163,000kms.
My first thought was just take it in for the 100,000kms service, which includes plugs, CVT fluid change, full inspection. Major concerns for me are the CVT, carbon build up/engine care, and suspension right now (minor vibration at highway speeds, possibly some minor noises coming from the right front/rear? - wheel bearing?)
Anything else I should add to this list?

I was on my way to the grocery store, just like any other day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, but my mind was racing. Racing with thoughts of anxiety and fear that had been haunting me for years. I had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the voices in my head were relentless. They told me to do things, things that I knew were wrong, but I couldn't resist.
As I approached the crosswalk, I saw the crossing guard standing there with her stop sign up, stopping the traffic for nothing. There was no one in sight, but she just stood there, staring at me. I felt a shiver down my spine as I drove closer to her, and the voices in my head grew louder. They told me to ignore her, to run through the crosswalk and continue on my way. And so I did.
I accelerated and drove straight through the crosswalk, ignoring the crossing guard and her stop sign. But as I passed through, I felt a jolt in my stomach, a feeling of something hitting my car. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the crossing guard lying on the ground, along with a few other people.
I panicked and stopped the car, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The voices in my head were screaming at me, telling me to run away, to leave the scene of the accident. But I couldn't. I had to face the consequences of my actions.
As I got out of the car, I saw the people lying on the ground, injured and bleeding. The crossing guard was still unconscious, and the others were screaming in pain. I didn't know what to do. I was paralyzed with fear and guilt. I knew I had caused this, but I couldn't remember hitting anyone. It was as if my mind had blocked out the entire event.
The police and ambulance arrived on the scene, and I was taken away in handcuffs. I was charged with reckless driving and causing bodily harm to multiple people. My mental illness was taken into consideration, but it didn't excuse my actions.
I spent years in prison, haunted by the memories of that day. The voices in my head never stopped, and the guilt never faded. I had caused so much pain and suffering, all because I couldn't control my own mind.
Now, as I sit in my cell, I often think back to that crosswalk and the crossing guard who stopped the traffic for nothing. Maybe she knew something I didn't. Maybe there were people there, and my mental illness had blinded me to their presence. Or maybe it was all just a coincidence, a tragedy waiting to happen. But one thing is for certain, I will never forget that day, and the horror that followed.
You might be wondering -- if you are in a cell, how do you have a phone? Well, dead children always come with dead possessions.
(Feel free to use on tiktok, instagram, twitter, etc. as long as proper credit is given!)

A bit of a mean title, I’ll admit, but let me make my situation. I want to start by explaining why I’m with this woman in the first place. Gf and I have been together for about a year and a half now. We’re both graduate students in different fields at the same university. She is one of the most empathetic people I have ever met. Cares so much for animals and people, always trying to be as conscious of her actions as possible. Even from our first date, I have always felt like I can talk to her about anything. She’s hardly ever judgmental about anything and she honestly seems to love hearing me talk about my interests and the feeling is mutual. We’re both huge nerds and we could talk for hours without getting bored of each other. Her patience seems to be endless. Even when I’m being a total jerk, or making a big deal of something stupid, she is always able to have a rational discussion with me. Whenever we fight, which is extremely rare but less so these days unfortunately, we always are trying to reach an understanding rather than to ‘win’. And in the end we always mutually apologize and make sure we express affection.
In short, it’s the most communicative and most loving relationship I’ve ever been in and I admire her so much as a person. Full stop.
The issue, however, is that we seem to be on track for codependency. Gf doesn’t drive and we live in an area where driving is extremely important, so I’m taking her around and giving her rides constantly so she can meet her basic needs. I have expressed concern over this and she has a history of car related trauma, so she refuses to learn to drive. There is no negotiation on this matter so I simply have to be her caretaker in this regard. Gf has no money on account of being a graduate student and not being able to have a job due to not driving. So I usually pay for everything. Gf has no friends on account of her severe social anxiety while I am constantly making new friends and going out to network. She struggles to go anywhere in public by herself without having a panic attack. I try to bring her to social outings but she frequently says inappropriate things and I feel constant anxiety about vicarious embarrassment. She doesn’t enjoy these social outings either, so most of the time I don’t bring her along. It’s not that she’s lonely. She seems to thrive in solitude. But being the one person in her life outside of her family (who are extremely abusive) she is constantly calling and texting me when I need my own space. I’ll be panicking, trying to write a midterm paper, and she’ll call me 5 times until I pickup to tell me what her cats did. Or she has to call me before making ANY decision to get my approval/input. She seriously cannot make any decisions on her own. It’s tough to set this boundary because when I try to let her just do her thing she often makes terrible self destructive choices that honestly baffle me. I have tried to communicate how this bothers me to her but doing so makes her feel like a burden, and that makes me feel extremely guilty.
She recently started therapy, so I’m hoping things will improve and she will try to become more autonomous, but she has repeatedly expressed that she isn’t interested in driving, working, or making friends. Her plan thus far seems to be to depend on me her whole life and I’m not in a field that makes a lot of money.
This worries me because I love her so much, and she loves me too, but I often don’t feel like her partner. I feel like her surrogate dad. I’ve repeatedly tried communicating all of this to her and all it has done is make her feel insecure, but she refuses to do anything for herself all the same.
So I’m at a crossroads: I can either leave this loving but flawed relationship or stay and wait for signs of improvement. Any input or thoughts would be appreciated.
Tl;Dr Gf is highly dependent but is the best relationship I’ve ever had. Makes me responsible for meeting her basic needs. Should I leave?

Flexers delivering downtown, in any of the larger cities, what's your secret? Are you parking in the middle of the road? Are you circling the block 4 times to find an actual spot?
We live right next to one of the distribution centers, so whenever my wife goes to pickup her route she checks to see if it's downtown, and if it is she comes back to pick me up. Having a passenger in the car allows us to stop in the no parking zones, passenger only zones, 5 minute parking for pickup only. Yet somehow we are still either late on deliveries or over the block schedule.
Any tips would be appreciated.

After years of confusion I finally contacted Sony to reset the Legends mode license on my account and let me buy the PS4 GoT directors cut upgrade. Eager to try Iki Island on my replay.
I’m curious though - has it ever gone on sale? Haven’t been able to view the price previously. Just looking at the $20 content upgrade, no PS5 upgrade or the like.

So me and my gf are pretty well equipped on one of the official servers. But sometimes when we want to play it'll rain or do something else that makes us have to log off. Is it possible to go to a different server and continue adventuring there? I know it'll randomly spawn us somewhere, but I'm afraid if we go back to our original server, it'll screw up and we wont be near each other again.

It was suggested I make a full post from a comment in another thread.
I work in ecommerce as a fractional brand owner, consultant, and have a software company around data collection designed for the Shopify + Klaviyo ecosystem. We work with brands ranging from a few hundred thousand a year to $80+ million. In that past I ran Marketing for a consumer hardware company that started on Kickstarter and was later acquired for around $50 million.
So I've seen ecommerce from all sides up close and personal including retail relationships and large partnerships with massive brands.
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I've now made the transition to Data First ecommerce marketing without exception.
Here's my advice for anyone looking to start a store or scale an existing store.
This is a condensed version of my exact playbook.
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Part 1: The reality of where we're at within the ecommerce landscape
The average DTC ecommerce company spends more on advertising than the cost of the goods being sold.
The markup of between 4-10x is what they rely on to makeup for the difference.
As a consumer, you're actually paying for them to advertise.
We're all collectively paying Facebook and Google for product discovery, which in turn makes everything more expensive.
How warped is that?
Adding to the irony, most brands would be thrilled with 2.5-3x if they could sell in bulk which is what they would get from a wholesale account.
So if you can come up with a way to move volume, brands would love you.
(sell through is a separate issue in retail and wholesale)
The costs associated with digital advertising are so high these days that it prevents growth for a lot of brands.
For small brands this is causing cashflow crunches that shouldn't be there.
(add in rising costs of goods, shipping, and inflation...things are tough right now)
This is especially true in CPG where a 12 pack of carbonated flavored water has to sell for $48.
This isn't sustainable.
We have an unhealthy obsession with digital advertising.
While everyone is focusing on attribution and being told that email is the answer for retention, everyone is largely ignoring the shift continuing to take place in digital advertising and the increases in the costs associated.
Email addresses aren't free and few even track the email signup to conversion rate.
Even well optimized ads often have CACs that are higher than the first order AOV product costs.
The fact that a CAC to LTV payback period exists is all you need to know about how inefficiently things are setup.
You're betting that enough people return in order to cover the initial amount of money that you spent to get someone to shop the first time.
Madness.
The math just doesn't check out anymore for a lot of brands, our addiction to digital media has allowed for monopolies to dictate prices, profit billions a week and essentially forces people into taking outside investment.
Maybe you'll go viral?
Our current systems highlight a trend that doesn't benefit the little guy in most situations and in fact has been systematically setup to prevent people from growing.
Bottom line, building a following is time consuming and expensive.
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Part 2: What current optimization looks like and the gaps
The average brand for every $1 million in revenue will spend about $300k in ad spend to do so or 30%
The average brand fully optimized will spend around $200k to do so or 20%.
This translates to a 5x blended ROAS.
But it's one and done.
This figure incorporates return customers into it as it's a blended average.
When we look at a paid acquisition channel:
A super great ad campaign might do 5x.
Most brands would be thrilled with ROAS of between 2-3x.
But on average across all of them with first touch, it's likely you're somewhere around 2x being considered good.
The same brand is chasing at max around an 8% conversion rate on a day without a big sale or an email boost.
They are actually happy with anything over 2%.
The truth is, there's a massive amount of inefficiency in ecommerce.
But when you take a deeper look, it becomes quite clear why this is the case.
There's 9 points in the customer journey that can all play a role in conversion for a first purchase.
Audience Creative Ads Landing Pages Popups Offers Product Pages Price Product
Often they aren't aligned.
The audience isn't known. The creative doesn't speak to that audience. The ads don't stand out in a feed. The landing pages are trying to just sell. Popups don't offer any real value and show only once. Offers are the same for all traffic sources. Product pages lack all the necessary information. Price is usually inflated or unclear on the value. Product looks the same as other competitors.
The truth is, most of the time, website owners are just too close to the problem to see the issues.
We're all very good at creating the company journey, we're all pretty bad at creating the customer journey.
A lot of this stems from not knowing your audience and not seeking to understand your audience.

Your success starts with attracting a quality audience, one that is looking for a solution and has the budget necessary to purchase from you.

It's about molding your copy and content to match what they are looking for while providing the value needed for them to feel comfortable making a purchase.
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Part 3: The framework we recommend to everyone these days even those starting out
Good rule of thumb - product should have at least 5-6x margin on it.
If product costs $1 - sell it at $5-6
Here's the exact framework we recommend to brands from sub $5k a month to $6mil+ a month:

1. Pick your hero product, offer a reduced price through paid acquisition channels only, hide the url from search or gate the offer by requiring a signup form with data collection to access the link. Cap this at one item per purchase per person, first purchase only.
2. Put them in a separate welcome flow, if they leave the page or don't add something to the cart, they won't be able to access the offer, some will buy at full price, some won't, on email number 3 which should be about 15 hours the first email, give them the link to the offer again. If they don't sign up you can double tap them later, with a smaller offer.
3. Collect data during signup connected to revenue, orders, and conversion rate, baseline the conversion funnel, aka subscription to conversion rate.
4. You should average at around 15% opt-in rate and at least 20% subscription to conversion rate. This means for every 100 people that click on your ad, you should see 3-4 purchases (3-4% conversion rate from cold traffic). Your CPC should be around $0.50-1.00 which means you're paying between $50 and $100 for 3-4 purchases which puts your CAC at anywhere between $12 - $33.
5. If you're not hitting these numbers, you have a CRO issue or quality of audience issue. Figure this out through data relationships.
6. Use data for repeat and return purchases to understand likely buying periods, generally, the top 25% will purchase again within about 8 days from the first purchase, top 50% will do so in around 16 days, top 75% 30 days, 90% within 60 days, and 99% can take up to 5 months. (these are percentiles, ignore the 90%+)
7. Know your numbers on repeat purchases and offer discounts and bundle suggestions relevant to existing purchases accordingly. Don't go too early, but know your confidence intervals based on the sale number and automate all of this.
8. Email campaigns should now be automated and straight forward, product releases, company updates, customer spotlights, and occasional sales (though you really shouldn't need sales anymore if you have your automation setup proper) this should reduce your emails so people will look forward them again.
9. Stop tracking ads by ROAs, instead pay attention to the cohorts that are driving repeat revenue by signup data patterns and answers they provide to determine trends on quality. Now adjust your entire acquisition strategy to find more people with patterns like those that are regularly converting more than once.
10. Become data first, profit and grow.

Sidenote: This framework works on repeat for multiple purchases. If you're one and done YOU REALLY NEED TO COLLECT DATA AND SCALE to move into retail distribution. Buyers want to see sell through and knowledge about your ideal customer and what matters to them. They have large email lists, but you need to help them connect the dots.
If you have data, it's that simple. It's all offers and timing.
Some of the things to really pay attention to - CAC to 1st purchase AOV - this is pretty much your guiding light on if you have a profitable business.
It's all about getting the best margins in whatever business you start.
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Part 4: The exact popup strategy we use to collect usable data to leverage into strategy
This is the exact framework we use with clients to grow their businesses through data collection.
You can do this with a combination of current tools on the market right now.
(Disclosure: we have a tool that combines all these as our software and provides context relevant to revenue, orders, and conversions but there are alternatives on the market that don't provide the context.)
(This post isn't about our product though, we're not a public app, so use what you've got.)
If you're a small company multiple tools will cost you around $400-$600 a month.
If you're more than $10 mil revenue multiple tools will cost you $4000+ per month.
The following framework assumes that you've realized that you should be using multi-step forms with live data collection to collect intent data during a popup offer beyond just an email or a phone number.
Not sure that these are? Just Google "multi step forms intent data" and click on the top non-sponsored post.
Statistically 50% of people will never open your email and emails aren't free so at least trade for some valuable intent data from everyone that subscribes.
The below uses popups, some people hate popups, but they work really really well, find the highest intent purchasers and are a treasure trove of data collection prior to a purchase.
Whatever discount your providing is made up for by the amount of data you can collect and leverage globally across your entire marketing stack.
It's not a reduction in revenue but an investment into a higher conversion rate and optimized advertising.
This is a really important mind shift to embrace. Odds are you're spending so much money on advertising and really not getting any real qualitative value out of it.
Follow this framework:
Strike the right balance between data collection, conversion, and customer experience through popups.
Make them multi-step to collect data related to the customer journey as it matters to the customer. Make sure that you’re tying these data points and combinations to things like revenue, orders, and conversion rates.
Home Page Popup Clear offer 8-10 seconds after someone arrives
Landing Page Popup 20-30% scroll usually only targeted at your paid traffic Can split test different offers based on url or utm
Product Page Popup 45-60 seconds after landing page Depending on how you are sending traffic to this page, you can limit it to people having taken action on your home page or landing page forms e.g. if visitor dismissed Home Page or Landing Page form and not subscribed show Product Page Form, if not then do not show
Thank You Page Embed or Popup (prefer popup from results) Embedded post purchase survey OR Post purchase popup with the same questions (this one has a higher response rate)
Quiz Stand alone page after someone clicks on a link or a button Do not ask for an email Do not just present products at the end, instead send people to a landing page with the product results with context as to why they were selected, offer alternatives at the end
Quiz Follow Up Popup (for after people take quiz) 60% scroll tied to the landing pages with the quiz results Same offer as before, triggered only if quiz is completed Reduce the questions to complement ones asked in quiz By default to get to this page the quiz has to be completed
Yes this could be considered a lot of popups but people will only see one if they subscribe and at max they see 3 only if they hang out on a product page for a really long time.
The double tap on the product page makes the average business an additional 18-20% in revenue through signups and averages up to 40% subscription to conversion rate so it's super high intent data collection.
When we do data modeling we only use the signup forms, we do not use quiz or post purchase as they are both pre-purchase trend related during the discovery phase and post purchase is too limited to actually show anything more then trend data. Data on the upfront side is more reliable.
Part 4: Why Retention is really secondary acquisition and how to treat it appropriately
If people don't shop more than once you're likely going to take a hit to revenue.
Most retention strategies are actually secondary acquisition strategies facilitated by discounts.
Unlock free money from people that converted by automating from the customer journey perspective.
We are a largely discount adjusted society these days, so lean in strategically, knowing your margins.
Understand your cohorts based on intent signals to maximize revenue while balancing repeat purchase offers.
Some people purchase again in as little as 8 days some take 5 months. Most never purchase again.
As a general rule of thumb focus on the first 45 days for repeat purchase, through content and education post purchase and remove people from offers and sales. If the experience is good and there's a need they will come back within 45 days. This will maximize your CAC payback and prevent you from losing more margin via discounts.
Day 45-90 position offers to unlock that second purchase for people that didn't purchase again, go deeper on offers until they buy, pay attention to your unit economics to understand profit v. cac payback.
(Note exact times vary by cohort and data combination, so segment your list appropriately, or find a service that can help you do this, you'd be amazed what the proper data can tell you.)
During this period mix it up with offers that include bundles so you can raise the AOV, usually of the same or similar products they purchased. Also cross sell products other people with similar buying habits made as well to increase your odds of conversion.
This has been the blueprint for years. For most companies if people don't buy a second time in 45-90 days they never will at a percentage worth paying attention to.
They will wait for big sales periods or new product releases to dive back in to the customer pool.
You can tweak based on events and behavior but it's more effort than it's worth most of the time.
There is a downside though to running this playbook, when you couple this with normal occasional sales and specials, you really need to have your acquisition down solid.
If you do this cadence, people will be trained to ignore your offers and wait, so you'll usually have to bribe bigger on the discount ladder.
This will also impact your topline acquisition costs, you'll get more low quality people trained on discounts.
And you're going to do a lot of chasing people that won't come back when you start to not be able to distinguish between people that purchased because they wanted to vs. those that were just waiting for a sale.
I don't disagree with it, I've talked previously about torching lists if you don't get a sale in the first 90 days and just putting them on slow informational updates and only including them in on large sales and new product launches.
To me this isn't retention, it's milking the living shit out of someone that's taken an action and getting them drunk on discounts to continue purchasing.
It's successful if your margins can support it, but I've seen it being used as a crutch to drive revenue at all costs.
Reminder though, revenue is not profit.
​
Part 5: Goal of this post and Stats
I've tried to simplify this for a reddit post that people can find value in, this is a subset of more than 120,000 words that I've written about ecommerce over the last few years.
This approach is data first. As such a lot of agencies and other marketers hate it. Largely because it's an audit on all ideas and breaks everything down to simple mathematical testing.
You're running businesses and businesses are math.
The other reason people don't like this approach is that if you have enough of the right data, you don't need agencies and you quickly realize that they are largely spending time on the wrong things.
While we were building all the tests around these things for the last few years we looked at ecommerce as a blank slate, no rules.
So we opted to run our playbook on a commoditized good, good margin, but super competitive.
We decided against sales, leveraged 2x use discounts on signup, and have kept our ad creatives and campaigns to a minimum (40 creatives and 40 campaigns or so in 2.5 years, this is not a typo).
This goes against what all common advice is in ecommerce.
Stats on current store we own part of and run all marketing strategy for:
Financials:

• $12k year before I joined
• $220k first year I joined
• $550k second year
• $2.5 mil estimate this year

Current Performance KPIS:

• $10-$12 First time order CAC
• $30 AOV first order
• 6% conversion rate
• 20% repeat purchase rate
• 3.5x blended ROAS (high growth with a low AOV impacts blended ROAS)
• ~30% net profit

Assets:

• 40 pieces of creative total for ads
• 40 campaigns total for emails
• 3 key email flows

​
Part 6: My take on modern ecommerce
Ecommerce brands that stay digital only should grow via two channels max (Facebook, Google) to between $2 million - $8 million a year in revenue and look to sell to Private Equity or Holding Company.
It's a sprint that with the right approach and funding can be done in less than 4 years with a valuation of between 1.8x - 3x depending on your margins. Without funding it will take slightly longer and you'll have to forego a salary.
On the low end this nets you out between $3.6 - $24 million for your work.
With a small team of 4 people you can all walk away with an average of between $225,000 per year to as much as $1.5 million a year if perfectly executed with all work done internally.
The trick here is that the value is 100% in the exit for most ecommerce businesses.
During heavy growth the majority of all profits have to be reinvested into inventory and marketing.
​
There is a trend to pay attention to though, the rise of the influencer and celebrity led brands.
Increasingly, creating a product isn't the hard part, marketing the product is the hard part. By and large most products are completely commoditized at this point and you'll have knockoffs popping up in a matter of months if you're product is successful. Brands take years to develop.
You're not Ryan Reynolds, if he's reading this, even he'll tell you that, you're not getting paid millions of dollars for movies and being paid by studios to be front and center promoting yourself across all the airwaves.
The amount of bought for press that allow celebrities to create successful businesses in spaces like booze (Teremana Tequila, Aviation Gin, Dos Hombres Mescal, Skinny Girl Vodka, etc.) which is largely all the same at the end of the day shouldn't be overlooked.
It's all marketing today, cost effective marketing and getting your product into hands at the most affordable price with a quality product that people look to purchase more of.
​
Last bit on this and I can't stress this part enough.
KPIs are largely outdated in today's marketing environment.
ROAS - Return on ad spend, shouldn't be measured in a fixed time frame. CTR - Click through rate, it's the quality not the quantity. CAC - cost to acquire a customer - I actually like this but narrow it cost to acquire a first time customer AOV - average order value - separate this by first purchase v. returning purchase
At the end of the day, micromanaging an ad account will not provide results, but taking a holistic look at your entire customer journey can provide outsized advantages.
If you can understand the quality of audience, then you can influence CAC, if you can influence CAC, then you can build sustainable growth models, if you can build sustainable growth models, you can build a profitable business.
If you follow the steps above and you meet the criteria, you'll know inside of 90 days if your business can be successful.
A closing note on data, near 100% of the people collecting it aren't collecting the right data, it's become something people check a box to rather than properly leverage. It's a complicated topic that isn't widely spoken about.
In truth there's a big difference between people that say they are "data-driven" and those that actively understand how to use data to drive efficiency increases.
All that said, for the love of all things, focus on building an audience first, it's 10 million times easier to succeed if you have an existing audience that is adjacent to your product and industry.
So here's where I tell you to sign up for my course and join a paid cohort of moderated Q&A sessions every Friday!
Entirely joking, there's no course, there's no newsletter.
I know how reddit gets with things like that.
If you have questions, drop them on this thread, if there's a lot of the same ones, for the sake of time I might just record a video to save my fingers from typing the same thing over and over.
Happy Wednesday and good luck!

Do not share this anywhere
Back again, this time with my JNMOM. I cut contact with her completely last May. I went NC because she is a forever narcissist and cannot handle any criticism.
Long story short: I’ve always tolerated her even though she wasn’t the greatest mom growing up. Always very critical, I wasn’t allowed to have my own opinions, even up until adulthood. I got married last May and when I told her me and SO did not want a wedding, she almost cried at the restaurant. Well… we had a wedding bc my mom just cannot take no for an answer. Now here’s the thing: About 10 years ago, I was sexually assaulted. Shortly after, my mom “found green” in my car and kicked me out to my grandmas. (I didn’t drive with it, I didn’t purchase it for myself- it’s b.s). Shortly after my wedding last May, I found out that my mom didn’t believe what happened to me bc I didn’t allow my lawyer to speak to her. Can you blame me? I could never be honest with my mother, in fact- when I told her this eventually, she made me feel like it was MY fault asking how much I drank to get that drunk etc. ouch! I could never confide in her and thought that maybe if I was honest things would change but ultimately she punished me for it. Then the whole Roe overturn, it’s very personal for me. I’m 100% pro-choice and my mother… isn’t, considering what happened to me.
I’m devastated that not only did it take 10 years for my mom to admit she doesn’t believe me, but that trauma was never really resolved. Shortly after my wedding I started therapy and had an awakening. I realized my mom gaslit me my entire life. We went to therapy once together and she literally denied every.single. thing she has ever said and done that’s hurt me. Normally, I’d be ok. But she texted me yesterday asking to get dinner. My response was “I’m not interested in fighting in public. Please go to therapy”.
Here’s the finale: my sister just informed me that my mother took her anger out on my sisters and step dad when she got home from work due to my response. She also said I was “humiliating her”. How is that possible if we don’t have a relationship? She also stated she wasn’t going to therapy.
I have my first baby on the way with SO and I’m just really sad again. I want my child to have a grandma but not this kind. I have given her the tools but she refuses to use them. Thanks for reading,

• sad woman.

I'm a (relatively) new DM. I've been running a campaign for about a year for a handful of very close friends. They have gone from levels 1 to 7 in that time. We have fun, there is zero drama, and they trust me as a DM despite it being my first time and having never actually played 5e. The last time I posted here I got absolutely hammered by the community because my post was unclear. I'm giving it another shot because I've got myself stuck.
The players have been working for an elven nobleman and paladin who wanted help shutting down a necromancy school, which is actually an ancient necromancer's lair. Said paladin got a big head and wanted to prove himself to his father (chief advisor to the king of all elves) by trying to infiltrate the dungeon with very little help. He was abandoned by his hired hands, captured, and tortured by a priestess who hates elves.
I thought there was little hope of them rescuing their friend alive, but against all odds they actually did it through careful planning and some excellent saving throws. We ended the session with them finding him unconscious, naked, chained to a bed, with his body covered in supernatural burns. He was making death saving throws but they successfully stabilized him. I told them that whatever happened to this poor guy is beyond their ability to heal. They are about ~2 weeks' travel from the major metropolis in the world, and the players strongly indicated that they want to get him to safety first and foremost, despite not "clearing" the dungeon. Fair and reasonable, but I didn't plan for it!
I'd like to make the act of getting their noble benefactor safely to the city a unique and fun challenge for the players, but I'm not sure how. I've got random encounter tables ready. We do gritty realism in the wilderness, so no long resting overnight until they are in a safe haven. The options I've come up with so far are:

1. Combat encounters where they have to babysit their cursed and magically-injured friend. I was thinking that creatures from the dungeon may come after him and try to take him away, but we do a lot of combat encounters and I'd like to (maybe) try something different. Or do both a combat encounter like this AND some other stuff.
2. Weather or other effects hinder their travel, forcing them to take exhaustion levels or something in exchange for hurrying. It's currently winter in a semi-arid place (think Texas hill country). I have an encounter table that includes freezing cold / high winds, snow, thunderstorms, and so forth. I guess this would require some kind of ticking clock.
3. Almost everyone in the group can heal. I was thinking something along the lines of having them do some kind of group ritual to heal him to a degree, with the drawback that the ritual also weakens their characters considerably until they make it to the clerics in the city who can help. That would make combat encounters more deadly but might feel cheap to the players. I think they would be alright with it since it's temporary and it would be their choice to do the ritual or not. They would know the risks up front.

Hopefully someone out there has some mechanics to help me flesh this stuff out or has other ideas. Again, I intended for this guy to die and them to finish the dungeon, so I'd like this transport to feel high-stakes, dangerous, and a unique experience. I've done skill challenges in the past and some have worked well but others have fallen flat.
Thanks in advance for your time and consideration!

A year ago when I rented a Polestar 2 with the Pilot package, I found the adaptive cruise control slow to react in stop-and-go traffic. It was bad enough that at least once I got honked at for not moving fast enough.
Since I was renting the car, I didn’t know much about the feature and whether there was a way to adjust the reaction time or the distance to the car in front of me. I also don’t know if this feature has improved in the last year with software updates.
Since I live in Los Angeles this is a pretty important feature for me. I don’t need a car that drives itself, but I do need it to handle the throttle and braking in stop-and-go traffic (which often lasts for an hour or more).

I’m looking to get a board gtr2, I’m on quite a tight budget so have been seeing if any deals are about (second hand ,sales,etc). Looked at a second hand board and they were happy to give me some info on to phone and I’m new to the eskate world and they were happy to help , I also found a deal(which unfortunately was expired but still live) contacted about it and I’m impressed with their communication online and on the phone. So I will be buying an evolve board , they have a great product (ridden a gtr2 and a gtr 1 ) looking to get a gtr2 as soon as I can with summer approaching in the uk

I moved to this state 6yrs ago to finish college and met my ex/had our son in the meantime. We’ve since broken up and just recently got to a place where we can be friendly/cordial for the most part. I come from a big family that has always helped each other out, and I really want to move back to my home state to be near them. We have no support system in the state that we’re in other than my ex’s mom and she often doesn’t help out for no reason other than she just doesn’t feel like it. Meanwhile I have a least 20 family members back home that are always asking when we’re moving back and offering their support. My ex flat out refuses to move even though he also has family in the state I want to move to, saying he likes it here and likes his job, and thinks he and I can raise our son alone without any support and that I’m in the wrong for taking him away from his father. I just need advice on if I really am in the wrong, because I think it’s ridiculous to stay in this state for the next 15years for his benefit, while I have no family or friends and can’t even count on him if I really need help because he lives paycheck to paycheck and doesn’t have a car. & what it would look like trying to coparent with a child so young when the other parent lives so far away?

I’m looking to go back to work after a hiatus and considering clinical research. I would love to have recommendations as how to make smart moves in order to get in the industry.
I have an associate degree in nursing and an uncompleted BSN. I don’t have an active license but my goal for the next few years is to get licensed in my state and finish my BSN. I can not do bedside nursing for health reasons and I’m looking for a more sedentary job with a more family friendly schedule. I have patient facing experience in nephrology and did an internship in qualitative research during my BSN but that was a long time ago.
I live near a big, prestigious, academic research center and they seem to be hiring CRC assistants all the time and don’t require a bachelor degree. The pay is very low but I could afford this if it helps me jumpstart a career.

• Would that be a good way to get started in clinical research and does this allow growth?
• Is there a specific field (oncology, medicine, psy, etc) that I should prioritize or avoid if I want to eventually transition to CRO or pharma?
• Nursing jobs are competitive in my area and usually require 1-2 years of critical care experience which is nearly impossible for me to get. Would working as a CRC assistant, possibly moving to CRC would help getting a nursing job in clinical research once I get licensed?
• What skills should I try do get before applying? I'm looking to hone my excel skills and familiarize myself with GCP right now.

Any other advice is welcome.

Hey folks, this is kind of random but I figured I'd shoot my shot here and see if anyone had some recommendations.
With the housing market so janky, and us currently owning a small home already, I've been considering means of expanding our existing home to give us more room and options. At least for the next couple years until it's a good idea to purchase a new home. We currently have a 2br home, and the 2nd room is my home office. With us wanting to have a baby potentially soon, things would be a bit tight. And I need my work space. So I'm trying to think outside the box(no pun intended).
I've considered converting our single car garage into a home office, and then getting a good sized storage shed to move everything into. I've also considered buying, renting, or contracting a detached home office in the backyard. Like one of those shipping containers people convert into a comfortable work space. I figured if I can have a small detached room with power and AC(or at least windows), I could make that my little office/man cave. And then the interior 2nd bedroom could be available for the fiance/kid. This would be eliminate the rush to buy a new, bigger home anytime soon. But obviously I'm curious about cost effectiveness and whatnot.
So my question is, does anyone here have any recommendations for me with this predicament? Any suggestions for providers of mobile offices or contractors who build them custom? Or do you think it's a better idea to go the garage and storage shed route? Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

My brain was churning in fear, and near immediately I started self soothing. I told myself - I am safe, I love myself, and a new one that popped into my head as I was reciting - I trust myself. Trust is huge because a lot of my drinking has been completely out of control and unsafe, scary stuff. Like several days ago. My last and final. But I thought to myself, I want to feel safe and loved and if I want to feel those things I have to trust that I can provide that for myself so into the self love mantra it goes. I read one post yesterday where the OP said that they kept telling themselves how they wanted their life to be until they actually believed it - so that’s what I’m doing. I can believe that I have no control and am unsafe and unpredictable or I can believe that I am in control and safe and loved, and that I trust myself. So I choose to believe in me. Every time now, moving forward. Even if some days it will just be a faint whisper, I will be whispering it into truth.
I had more but for now this is my share. This sub, and I’ll say it again, is something special. I have never, never had a place where there were so many like minds and so much caring. Beyond helpful. Illuminating and compassion filled. So thanks, you’s ❤️

Apologies if the title doesn’t make sense. Also I’m sorry this is long. I’m a talker, and I have this thing where I think every detail is important and I have no clue how to shorten things.
So basically when I was 6 months pregnant I found out he had been talking to his ex for awhile.
Background on the cheating: when I found out, he had been talking to her for many many months. I read through every single message, literally for hours, and nothing physical or sexual happened. She’s in Canada and they’ve actually never met in person. He dated her for a few months right before me and she was quite abusive towards him, and overall is a very toxic person.
After I discovered the cheating, I obviously was very pissed and absolutely heartbroken. I thought we had the perfect relationship. When you take away the cheating, he literally is beyond amazing to me. He is so incredibly kind and gentle towards me, would always communicate and spend time with me, got me incredibly thoughtful gifts, constantly complimented me and always gave me affection. I have been in many abusive relationships, so he was quite a breath of fresh air. I thought at first maybe it was love bombing, but there was never a dark side to him. He just always stayed kind. So to say I was shocked by the cheating is an understatement. Now looking back, he didn’t hide talking to her that well, I just was incredibly trusting because of how lovely he was to me.
Once I found out, I told him I was leaving and that we were done. Cheating was not something I would ever tolerate, especially bringing a baby into this world. I genuinely wanted to know why, so putting my feelings aside I did face the situation with curiosity. I love figuring things out, especially when it has to do with peoples mental health and motives, so I got somewhat obsessed with figuring out why. Especially because in this situation there was nothing sexual, and he always claimed to really really hate her, and even when I read the messages they were soooo boring. And she was so mean and often really cringey. I didn’t understand it, especially with how happy he seemed with me.
At first he claimed he didn’t know why he wanted to talk to her, that he did hate her as a person and was fully happy and In love with me, that he didn’t want her, etc. This wasn’t enough for me and I didn’t believe it so I kept grilling. Basically I ended up finding out he has issues with compulsive lying (I understand this because I struggled with compulsive lying when I was a teenager and was able to get out of it), and we figured out that he never liked her, never was attracted to her, he just was consumed by the desire to make her love him and give him affection. We connected this back to his mom, who left him when he was very young, had another family, and was always very cold to him when he asked for affection. Him mom left him with a very physically abusive dad. So overall he has a lot he struggles with, especially with receiving love and affection from those close to him. He claimed there were some feelings there for his ex at one point, but me finding out made him aware how unreal they were, and how much he didn’t want to loose me.
There’s a lot more that goes into it, but basically given everything I found out I decided to give him somewhat of a second chance with conditions.

1. If I ever found any evidence of anything that even closely resembled cheating or lying ever again I would be gone. So fast that he wouldn’t get to say goodbye.
   
2. He needed to go to therapy. I would be going to therapy, we eventually would be doing couples therapy, but bottom line he needed to go himself.
   

He agreed 100% and since then he has earned a lot of trust back. He has actively used the techniques I used to stop compulsive lying, and we check in daily about any white lies he told. And I do believe he has made a lot of effort to work on himself and am proud of him with how much change he’s made. I know for sure he hasn’t been speaking with her or doing anything with anyone else, I have access to everything. Unless he is physically cheating solely during his work hours. But that’s besides the point.
So to the point of this post. He hadn’t been going to therapy, granted we had a lot going on with the end of my pregnancy, our only car getting stolen, and then the traumatic birth of our daughter and many medical issues she had afterwards. But now she is 4 months and things have calmed down, so I reminded him of the condition and that this was the only reminder I would give. He immediately found someone and has been to 3 sessions so far.
But here’s where the issue is. He was offered a job that would be a great opportunity for him career wise, it possibly would be a little bit more money wise, but no insurance. My daughter and I are insured through the state, so no worries there. But if he took the job (and he most likely will because it’s a great opportunity for him) and was left with no insurance, we would not be able to afford his therapy and we both agree only once or twice a month would not be enough, especially for the price.
Should I drop that condition? I don’t really want to but realistically we couldn’t make it work with him being our only income. I’m not sure if there’s other services for people who need counseling/therapy who can’t afford it. I’ve also considered taking up a part time job on his days off, just to afford it, but I’m not sure if that’s too intense just for some therapy.
Any advice is appreciated <3

TW: domestic abuse, violence
My best friend has had this deeply dysfunctional situationship with an abuser for two years now. We all hoped it would flame out or get better. It's done neither, not really. When I first met him, he was a charmer, he knew what felt like half the town, he could hold a whole room in the palm of his hand, he put a lot of good into the world. He still can do that, sometimes, but I've been watching that light flicker and dim for a long time now and it breaks my heart. At the bottom of things, he's thoughtful and observant and that's why I owe him a lot; he might not be book smart but he sees a lot, and I think people have been too hard on him in that respect anyway. He taught me how not to hate myself when decades of effort hadn't stuck. I quit drinking because I saw how it was impacting people around me. We're a good team and I'm a better person for having known him.
And this wretched asshole is not a good person, they're not a good team. She's chipped away at every friendship he has- forget half the town, there are only a handful of us left now because we're the only ones stubborn enough to stick around through her tantrums and bans. She lies about him, stalks him, gets other people to spy on him, makes scenes where he works, harasses him, hits him, bites him. She's an abuser, pure and simple, and she's figure out if she plays the victim and cries, people will let her get away with it- worse, they'll help. I hate seeing the way she exploits the good in people nearly as much as I hate seeing her abuse him. She's lied to and about a lot of people I respect and care for, just to get her way. She's used so many people and wouldn't know hard work if it bit her. She's bullied God knows how many people out of our gym and while I've tried to maintain strict containment for years- she's blocked on every platform, I don't speak to her, I avoid being in the same room whenever possible- even that isn't enough for her anymore. I'm going to talk to the gym owner about that, but like...FUCK YOU. Fuck you, you lazy dishonest coward, fuck you and your sad-ass bullying, fuck the way you treat people like things, fuck you for being so goddamn stupid, fuck you for everything you do. You want to run around playing Becky Badass, well, go right ahead with me- except you won't, because you know I'll actually defend myself (My best friend, bless him, will not, because he knows how it will look and what she will make up to hurt him) and it won't be fucking pretty. Like...I really do not want to fight anyone, not ever, because I grew up with my mom whaling on me and my dad with impunity and then lying about it. I really do not believe in physical violence; I train MMA six days a week, but for the challenge and for the community, not because I want to mess someone up. But also, at the same time...I train MMA six days a week, and I am always watching my back and the door when I am out with him, and I'm not going to sit there and let someone beat on me. Don't start none, won't be none, as they say. I hate that this is something I have to spend brain power on at all. If this miserable ass was Thanos-snapped out of existence, the world would be a kinder, safer, smarter, better place.
I know this isn't my call to make. I know I can't force anything. All I can do is be there, lend a hand, tell him he deserves better, try to help other people she's hurting or using. I'm already not engaging and I know that I need to have boundaries about how much I can help without hurting myself too. I worry I am not managing that well, and burning out because I remember growing up like this and I want to outlast another one, I want to make sure he's got one person there to say, no, you don't deserve this. I know what my place is here and I'm sticking to it, I just...wish I had my friend back. This nervous, mean guy isn't him. I want to laugh together and not worry about her showing up or war-dialing him to punish him. I want not to have to be quiet as a mouse when she calls because he's not allowed to talk to me. I want my friend back and I want this rotten piece of shit to stop hurting people.