A christmas carol wallpaper

For context, after the ball joint failed initially, my plan was to fix the car and then sell it to pay off its loan. Due to the circumstances below I'm unsure how much I'll be able to sell the car for as it progressively gets into worse condition. Would it be worth pursuing a small claims case to try to recoup the lost value of the vehicle?
​
Timeline:

• 11/02/2023 - My 2001 IS300 has ball joint failure
  • Mechanic garage owne"friend" (referring to as MGO) offers to tow car to their garage and to help with repairs
• MGO pre-diagnoses that the car will need a couple new parts but won't know for sure until putting it on a lift for a full diagnosis
• Week later, request for an update so I know what parts need to be ordered and how much for labor
  • MGO estimates $500 but hasn't put it on the lift to check for sure
• 12/18/2023 - visit MGO shop for Christmas party, see car is still not moved
• January MGO messages about having someone interested in purchasing vehicle after it's fixed
  • Followed up with asking what parts need to be ordered, offer to come help, MGO 'thumbs up' the message but didn't reply with any information or any update on when they'd look
• 02/04/2023 - friend K goes to MGO shop and offers to look at the car and help MGO move it to diagnose
  • MGO tells friend K they'll let K know when they plan to diagnose (implying later the same week), MGO did not mention this directly to me
• 4/20/2023 - City hit with flash flooding, shop is in flood zone, car is completely flooded along with many others
• 4/21/2023 - I go visit to help strip and dry the car - MGO claims shop liability insurance but doesn't cover flooding
• 4/22/2023 - MGO claims plan to drain fluids out of the car(s) to test if the engines still work
  • Ended up doing this for a few of the other cars on the property but not with the IS300
• 5/24/2023 - At this point me and K planned to tow the car off MGO property to take it to a different shop since the car had not been worked on/moved since the flood
• 5/28/2023 - Text MGO that K and I were going to pick up the car after I got off work, ask him to set the keys at the shop
  • I have a ball joint to get the car moving
  • MGO texts me during shift that they will try to get it on the lift (did not reply)
  • 2:30 MGO texts me at the end of my shift that the car was moved (did not reply)
  • 4:30 - text MGO that K and I are on the way with a tow truck, MGO gives me gate code
  • arrive at shop, see car has new body damage since the last time I came to help dry the car
• New body damage includes:
  • Front bumper had chain marks, clips were broken off and now unable to reattach straight
  • Fender dented
  • Passenger front and rear doors had new dents and scuffs
  • Previously broken ball joint inside wheel cut through wheel when it was moved by MGO

​
I have text/group message logs for most of the times I asked for updates and MGO did not reply with a straight answer. I have photos of the car when it got flooded, and then after it was damaged from being moved by MGO.

got the Gen 3’s for Christmas. They were fine for a couple months. But then, they just started being quiet, almost like it’s playing out of the outer speaker. I’ve messed with the settings, I’ve tried to clean them. But still if I listen to anyone else’s AirPods, they are so much louder. Any help?

It kinda sounds like a Christmas song, does anyone else get that vibe? I love it

I’ll start by saying my love language is gift giving. I love to give gifts and I don’t expect anything in return. Three years ago JNMIL gave my DH and I a kuerig. I was ecstatic and excited since I’d been wanting one for awhile and thanked JNMIL and told her how excited I was for the gift. The next year my DH and I were given a card containing a 100$ dollars. JNMIL’s DH (my DH’s stepdad) took me aside and told me that they didn’t want anyone to have to fake appreciation anymore so that’s why we got a card. Also they wouldn’t be giving actual gifts anymore. He was careful to say it quietly so no one else could hear him. That same Christmas the oldest SIL told me while opening a gift I gave her that she thought she had made it clear there wouldn’t be anymore gift giving. No one had told me and I was very embarrassed and felt horrible. The next year I stayed home with my youngest who was a newborn at the time and very fussy. Low and behold the oldest SIL got us a gift and I didn’t give them anything. The oldest SIL then messaged me and told me that they missed us and it must’ve been nice to stay home with the baby. Also let me know that she sent a book home with DH about how to raise babies. 🙄. I realize they loathe me completely, but what I don’t get is why not leave me alone when I stay home. Wouldn’t my absence be a relief? I get setting me up in no win situations.

The Zenith is the ultimate melee weapon in Terraria, introduced in the 1.4 update. It combines the power of many different swords into a single weapon. Crafting the Zenith involves a series of steps. Here's how you can craft it:

1. Obtain the necessary swords:
   
   • The Zenith requires a total of 11 swords as ingredients. You'll need the following swords:
     • Meowmere: Dropped by the Moon Lord.
     • Star Wrath: Dropped by the Moon Lord.
     • Terrarian: Dropped by the Moon Lord.
     • Influx Waver: Dropped by the Martian Saucer during the Martian Madness event.
     • Horseman's Blade: Dropped by the Pumpking during the Pumpkin Moon event.
     • Seedler: Dropped by Plantera in the Underground Jungle.
     • Starfury: Found in Skyware Chests or Sky Islands.
     • Enchanted Sword: Found in Enchanted Sword Shrines in the surface world.
     • Arkhalis: Found in the Enchanted Sword Shrines in the Underground or Cavern layer.
     • Daybreak: Crafted using Solar Fragments and a Solar Tablet in a Hardmode world.
     • Celebration: Obtained from presents during the Christmas event.
2. Combine the swords:
   
   • Once you have obtained all the required swords, go to a Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil.
   • Start by combining the Meowmere, Star Wrath, and Terrarian. This creates the "Star Wrath" sword.
   • Combine the Influx Waver, Horseman's Blade, and Seedler. This creates the "Influx Waver" sword.
   • Combine the Starfury, Enchanted Sword, and Arkhalis. This creates the "Stardust Dragon Staff."
   • Finally, combine the Daybreak and Celebration swords. This creates the "Zenith."
3. Enjoy your Zenith:
   
   • Once you've successfully combined all the swords, you'll have crafted the Zenith.
   • The Zenith is a versatile melee weapon that unleashes powerful and unique attacks.
   • It has incredible reach and deals massive damage, making it one of the most potent weapons in the game.

Crafting the Zenith is a significant accomplishment in Terraria, and it will greatly enhance your combat capabilities. Enjoy wielding its immense power!

Hey there,
I want to edit an image to work properly with the "depth-effect" used by lock screen wallpapers on iOS16. I'm struggling a bit as eventhough, for testing purposes I created an extreme contrast, it won't work. The phone wont give me the option to activate the depth effect. Can it only be achieved by having the whole picture depth-compatible? That would be a whole hassle as I really just want the top bit to be working.
Context: Just a little bit of the lower part of the dials is supposed to hide behind the first and second wound of the snake. 1st pic is the contrast I chose for testing, not working. 2nd pic is about the way I want it to lay out https://imgur.com/a/KX9SN2I

But the last laugh is on him.
I was married to an abusive POS that was an alcoholic and drug addict.
He sold/stole anything of value to fund his habit. Silly things like a yeti cooler, and clothes of mine.
He convinced me to quit working and I was fully dependent on him, making it hard for me to leave when he became violent.
We were beyond broke, my grandmother was paying our rent.
Eventually I caught him having an affair.
I wanted a divorce
After telling me he would let me have my divorce he refused to meet with the notary to sign that he got the divorce papers. “Ohh it’s Christmas” and just stupid excuses as to why he couldn’t sign.
In the meantime I was scared shitless of him. I had borrowed a gun, I had cameras all over my apartment. He threatened to burn my 86 year old grandmas house down with her in it. He was just a complete and utter piece of shit.
He emailed me and told me he would drag the divorce out as long as he could. That he wanted me to suffer.
January 11, 2019 he died in hospital and the cause of death is alcoholism.
I was still married to that bastard when he died.
But you what that means in the US? I’m a widow. And I can claim his Social security And while it’s not a whole lot it is the maximum you can get. Thank you oil companies and the outrageous salaries they pay.
He absolutely would have let me have that divorce had he known that. But last laughs on him because he’s now set me up to be able to retire at 60. Still have his last name unfortunately, but will be changing that soon enough. Oh

Hey all. New-ish US landlord here. I’m coming to you all about how to sensitively check that my tenant is doing regular maintenance/ cleaning the place as detailed in their contract.
It has become apparent to me that my tenant may be struggling with depression. Having suffered from past issues with anxiety myself I know how horrible it can be to know that you need to do something (scrub the toilet, cut the lawn, pay the bill, take trash to the curb), but have your issues inhibit your ability to consistently do so. However, my tenant’s recent issues seem to be contributing to the slow dysfunction of appliances and fixtures, and I fear that other issues may arise in the future which if left ignored could degrade more costly facets of the property.
Just a few examples:
• During a massive snow storm this past holiday season I got a call from her saying that the e-thermostat alerted her that the furnace was having trouble keeping up. Turns out that she hadn’t ever changed the furnace filter… Even though I had left a box of six furnace filters for her next to the furnace and written it in her contract.
• I got a call a week and a half after that that the brand new, reliable-brand, high-end refrigerator wasn’t consistently cooling and was resetting itself. When I arrived I found it packed with so much food that the door would barely close. There was no way for the fridge to circulate air so the motor was stalling. It had to be replaced.
• Two weeks ago my dad was in the neighborhood and when he drove past the house on his way home he noticed that the yard was close to 9” tall. When I drove past five days later it still hadn’t been cut. It has since been cut, but I’m concerned that it’s a habit and that rats will infest the property due to tall grass. Lawn maintenance and snow removal is written into her contract.
• The kicker: I texted her two days ago to see if any mail arrived for me recently(used to live there and USPS isn’t great at forwarding). Only then when I checked on her did she share that the toilet hadn’t been reliably flushing. I asked how long this was happening, and she stated “oh, about a month!” (a month without a reliable toilet in a single-toilet household?!). When I arrived at the house about 30 hours later to examine it she then told me “well of course it has been working since you texted”. I still went to look inside to be safe. To my horror I discovered that it was covered inside and out with a fine layer of piss, shit, and mineral deposits. Having lived there myself I know that even with a cleaning every three weeks it never got that bad. I’m worried that she isn’t cleaning the house, just tidying. As an aside to the toilet issue, she confided that the sink was no longer draining either… and it hadn’t been since Christmas.
How do I approach this sensitively while preserving the integrity of my property? Should I price out regular lawn care and a cleaning lady and include those costs in the rent, which is due for renegotiation in July? I’m actually looking to keep this lady as a tenant due to some reasons that would expose too much of her personal info for me to share here. She pays on-time. She has a great rental history. Her job can afford her more rent than is being asked currently.

I made this friend last year, who this Christmas turned toxic. I know they’ve been suicidal in the past, and I’ve tried to be understanding of their irrational behavior, and in many times put my worries for their well-being over my own, but I ended the friendship very recently with a letter and later a hug. I don’t think we have bad blood, and I haven’t removed them from my social media, because I still want to be here if really needed. They don’t have that many good people around them, and even though I can’t let myself be friends with them, I still care about them and it has lead me to check their social media every day. Seeing their BeReals really worry me, because it ether looks like they feel completely empty, angry, or that they just cried. I feel guilty for doing better without them, and I constantly have to stop myself from reaching out. I don’t want them to attempt, but I can’t involve myself without getting sucked into their life completely again, and it really hurts me. If they were to kill themself I would never ever forgive myself, but I am scared of their irrational behavior, and I can’t put myself in danger again. And yesterday I saw on their BeReal that they were listening to a song called “dinner is not over” and out of curiosity I checked it out, and it pushed my worries even more. I don’t know if they were thinking of me while listening to it, or if they were just casually enjoying the song, but yet again, in the picture they looked completely empty, if not angry. I just want them to be in a better place, but I can’t involve myself an to just have to trust them in their healing.
Also the lyrics that felt personal to me was: “I’ve tasted friendships, I’ve tasted you, I’ve tasted dying and it tasted good” as well as “you said something’s wrong, and I can say the same to you” I’m probably reading too deep into it, but I’m just scared and worried.

I'm asking this as the child. Would you be angry if the child wanted a relationship with the other parent as they got older?
I'm an adult (F27) but the past few years I have been in contact more regularly with my dad who was fairly absent throughout my life. I only saw him like twice a year growing up (around my birthday and around Christmas since when I was younger most of his family still lived around where I live). He moved to South Carolina when I was maybe 4. I live in New York.
I am hurt by him but at the same time I can't help but want some sort of relationship with him. He invited me to visit him for a week this summer and I want to go, but even though I'm adult, I'm terrified of telling my mom because I know she'll be angry. I understand where she's coming from, but I also wish she could understand me at least a little bit. Her parents didn't divorce and were always there for her so she doesn't know what it's like.
Would you be angry at your child for trying to keep in contact with the absent parent as they got older?

A message to readers: While there were frequent setbacks in the serialization schedule due to the accumulated health problems of the writers and production team, the production team's workroom cooling system and ceiling repair work became urgent, so after uploading up to episode 160, which we uploaded on June 2nd, our team would like to greet you again with episode 161 on Friday, June 30th after the production team's cooling system maintenance, workroom construction, and wallpapering is concluded after 3 weeks. In addition, as the webtoon is an ultra-long serial work, after the end of season 3, which is to happen before the end of this year, we discussed with the writers and the production team to at least have 3-4 months for sufficient rest and a reserve production period. In the future, we will do our best to become a consistent production team and editorial team so that readers' concerns do not deepen. Thank you.

Black Animus GP - 3,500c
CC4 Tactician Forest Green ARA-51 - 1,500c
Atomizer Set (Mixed Crates) - 6,000c
2x Black Centio - 5,000c
CC1 Tactician/Scorer Black Chakram - 3,000c/2,000c
PCC Chakram Set - Offer
Draco Set (Mixed Crate) - Offer
Zephyr Dynamo Set - 14,000c
ScorePlaymakeShow-Off Black Endo - 20,000c/10,000c/9,000c
Velocity Tactician Forest Green Equalizer - 1,500c
Turbo Turtle Burnt Sienna/Cobalt/Sky Blue Kalo - Offer
CC1 Goalkeeper Crimson Looper - Offer
CC1 Pink x2/Black/Cobalt/Lime/Saffron Looper - 3,000c
Striker Black/Crimson/Burnt Sienna Mendoza - Offer
StrikeTactician Burnt Sienna Metalstar - 1,250c/1,000c
Titanium White Octane - 6,000c
CC4 Scorer Octane ZSR - Offer
Tactician Cobalt/Burnt Sienna Octane RLCS - Offer
Velocity Slimline Set - 1,500c?
Secret Santa Scorer Burnt Sienna Peppermint - 2,000c
CC3 Goalkeeper Forest Green Pulsus - 1,000c
CC4 Scorer Proton - Offer
RL Beach Blast Aviator Burnt Sienna Quimby - 1,500c
Turbo Scorer Burnt Sienna/Purple Roulette - 2,000c/1,000c
Turbo Tactician Pink Roulette - 1,500c
CC3 Scorer Slipstream - 1,500c?
RL Beach Blast Tactician Burnt Sienna Sovereign A/T - 3,000c
PCC Crimson Takumi RX-T Super RX-T
Nitro Triplex Set - 4,000c
Sniper Sky Blue Triplex - Offer
Haunted Hallows Striker Vampire Bat - 1,000c
Golden Egg '20 Striker Crimson Voltaic/Black Looper - 1,000c Each
CC4 Goalkeeper Burnt Sienna Zomba - Offer
PCC Striker Black/Purple Zomba - 2,000c/1,000c
CC4 Saffron/Cobalt/Lime Zomba - 1,500c Each????
Secret Santa Scorer Burnt Sienna Christmas Wreaths Blueprint - Offer

SPOILERS FOR THE OFFICE (UK) BELOW
I was watching an interview clip with Jason a few days ago and this comment popped out at me:
“We modeled this literally after the British Office. You know, six episodes, six episodes, Christmas special. And here it’s turned into this with a three season arc.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uxNhuQu93qo
I’ve been thinking about this since the finale. The original run of The Office ran for two season and left some significant threads unresolved, the biggest being a romantic subplot between two supporting characters, and upheaval in the life of the main character who was left in a state of uncertainty. They eventually resolved those stories in a lovely 2 hour special that aired a year or two later.
Obviously the stage has been well set for a spin off. But I wonder if a special has always been in the plans?

The apartment was cheap, but not suspiciously so, especially given the relatively decrepit state of it. It was a 1 bedroom affair, the building itself constructed at some point before the Great Depression, and it certainly showed its age. The bathroom was prone to mold, the windows let in a draft even when closed, and the fact that it was up 6 flights of stairs in a building where the elevator seemed perpetually out of order certainly didn't help. However, beyond these usual allowances made for an affordable apartment in a city such as mine, there were no outward signs that anything wrong with the place. There were never any strange noises, unusual cold spots in the center of rooms, no eerie lights. For all intents and purposes, the apartment appeared utterly mundane.
It took me a frankly embarrassing amount of time to notice the door. 7 months in fact. I've never been much of a night owl, and on the rare occasions when I did have reason to be up in the wee hours my time was generally spent in someone else's bedroom.
At first, when I noticed the door, I assumed that I was hallucinating. I was, after all, in a fairly inebriated state, having just returned from a rather pleasant evening of laughter and debauchery. I already had experienced considerable difficulty in extricating my key from my apartment's lock, so I figured it was more likely that something had gone wrong with my perception rather than the unlikely scenario that a wood paneled door had suddenly materialized in my living room where previously there had only been wall.
It was old fashioned looking, with a shiny brass knob and wood the color of old leather. I shook my head for a moment and blinked, squinting at the object. The door was still there. I rubbed my eyes and closed them, counting down from 10. When I'd finished, I opened my eyes again. The door was still there. I'm not exactly sure what I thought counting down from 10 was supposed to accomplish. Beyond one mercifully brief experience with salvia at a very bad party, I'd never experienced hallucinations before, so I was sort of going off of what I'd seen in movies and TV shows.
There was something intensely unnerving about the door. It emanated a feeling of primal wrongness, I instinctually knew that I was gazing at something totally in violation of the natural order. It took a lot of willpower to do what I did next.
Having exhausted all other apparent options to my disorganized mind, I moved on to the next logical stage of inquiry; I tried to open it. The doorknob was cold to the touch, arctic even. It felt like touching the inside of a freezer. A shiver ran down my back, though I can't be sure in retrospect if it was entirely from the temperature. I tried to turn the knob. It didn't budge.
An immense sigh of relief escaped my lungs, releasing a breath that I didn't know I was holding in. Trying to think of what else I could do, I pulled out my phone and snapped a quick photo of the thing, sending it to my landlord, with a caption somewhere along the lines of "wtf is this dude, y is there a new door???"
Nodding sagely to myself, as if I had succeeded in doing anything of note, I stumbled my way into my bedroom and locked the door before falling into blissful slumber.
I awoke to the incessant screeching of my alarm clock loudly informing me that it was 7 o' clock, about 6 hours from when I had fallen asleep. I slammed my fist against "off" button and rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my other hand. In following with my usual morning routine, I then pulled out my phone and checked through my notifications.
Alongside the usual torrent of internet pseudo-acquaintances posting pictures of their brunches and whatnot was a text message from my landlord. "What are you talking about Christina", it read, "is this photoshop or something?"
At first, I didn't understand what he was referring to, but when the rusted gears of my sleepy (and hungover) brain finally started turning, I immediately jumped out of bed and scuttled over to the spot where the door had been just 6 hours prior. I did so with the intent of recording a video to further prove its existence to my skeptical landlord... but I was greeted with nothing but wall.
I texted my landlord an apology, lying and saying it was just a poorly thought out prank. Then I popped into my car and drove down to the local electronics store to purchase a camera from the grumpy underpaid college student behind the register.
Making my way over to the photography section, I searched a long while for the option that simultaneously fit my budget and the requirements for my investigation. Eventually, I found just the item.
It was a trailcam, the sort of thing hunters and geriatrics with too many acres of land and not enough hobbies use to observe wildlife. It had an SD card with enough space for several hours of blurry, black and white nightvision video, and most importantly it was cheap. I paid for my prize with the surly cashier and made my way happily back to my apartment.
I set it up securely in front of where the door had previously appeared, and, feeling like a genius, went about the rest of my day. I fell asleep that night secure in the knowledge that by morning I would have proof of what I had seen the night before.
The next morning, I rushed over excitedly to my living room, feeling like a child on Christmas morning. My giddy excitement died as I stepped into the living room, noticing the complete lack of the trailcam. Old Saint Nick appeared to have shit in my stocking.
I made my way back to the electronics store, forced once again into interacting with the student behind the register for whom my very existence seemed to be an inconvenience. Upon noticing my arrival, he sighed heavily. "Can I help you ma'am?" he said, emphasizing the last word with the same inflection one might say intestinal parasite.
"I'm looking for a cheap camera that will stream video directly to my computer." I said, trying my best to avoid mimicking the man's petulant tone.
Shrugging his shoulders and releasing another drawn out sigh, the cashier shuffled his way over to the photography section and picked out a small camera, rather similar to the last one I purchased, but approximately twice as much in terms of cost. "Do you have anything cheaper?" I asked, trying my best to sound polite.
"No." declared the cashier, with all the compassion of an exterminator crushing a cockroach beneath a steel toed boot.
I ended up paying the exorbitant price on my already abused credit card, and grumpily stalked back to the apartment to set up the new equipment, knowing I wouldn't get to see it after the night was over.
Nevertheless, I had to know how the door got there, and I needed to have irrefutable evidence.
The process to set up the new camera was a bit more involved than the last. There was all manner of fiddling about with connecting the device to my WiFi network and installing some new software to my computer, but by the time it was over it successfully uploaded footage directly to my hard drive where I could watch it at my leisure.
I went to bed that night wondering what I would do with the footage after I acquired it. After all, I couldn't really go to the police with it, could I? Excuse me officer, I imagined myself saying, but a mysterious door appears in my apartment at night, and I was wondering if you could send someone around to take a look? I'd end up institutionalized. Similarly, it's not like I could go to the newspapers either. I live in a big city, and the reporters have more important fish to fry than transient doors.
At some point while I pondered my options, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I was awakened by the banshee cries of my alarm clock, angrily informing me that it was once again 7 o' clock.
I jumped out of bed, excitedly moving over to my computer to check the footage, finding that there was about 5 hours of video. I had turned on the camera at around 10 o' clock PM, so that meant whatever happened to the camera occurred at about 3 AM.
I set the video to fast forward and watched it carefully. The first 2 hours or so showed nothing, just the regular blank wall. At exactly 12 o' clock, however, static engulfed the screen, and suddenly the old wooden door simply appeared, as if it had always been there. I rewound the footage and played it at normal speed, trying to discern anything that would show how the door suddenly manifested in the wall of my apartment, but the static was far too heavy to tell. The video simply got incredibly distorted for around 10 seconds, and suddenly the static dissipated and there was the door.
Even on video, just looking at it gave me the chills. That sense of complete and utter wrongness came through even from the screen. I shivered slightly and set the video on fast forward yet again. There was no change in the door for nearly 3 hours, but as the video crept closer and closer to the end, I switched it back to normal speed with about a minute to spare.
As I watched, the door began to slowly open. There was no microphone built into the camera, but I could imagine the ancient hinges creaking. I could feel my palms begin to sweat as I stared, transfixed. I glanced at the time remaining on the video, it was only around 30 seconds.
As the video progressed onwards, the door eventually swung fully open, revealing a black, yawning void beyond it. Static began to gather at the corners of the screen, increasing in intensity as I vaguely discerned something moving in the darkness. The quality was rapidly degrading, and I couldn't tell any specifics, but it moved in an almost spider-like manner, skittery and deeply unnerving. It seemed just about to come into view when the footage fully dissolved into static and the video ended abruptly.
I leaned back in my chair, contemplating my next move. While the video had certainly convinced me that I wasn't just going crazy, I knew that it wouldn't exactly convince the average person. I could easily have added in the static with editing, and the vague movement behind the door could just be computer generated effects or some sort of puppet. After a few minutes of pondering, I came up with an idea.
---
"I'm sorry, what?" exclaimed Lilith, who was trying hard not to choke on her iced coffee.
"A door. It appears in my apartment at exactly midnight. I have it on video", I replied, sliding my phone across the table of the coffee shop.
I first met Lilith in college, where we shared a course on the history of Gothic literature. She was a perfect picture of the stereotypical goth, with pierced septum, dyed black hair, pentacle earrings, and a wardrobe whose diversity of color could charitably be compared to that of a raven. We hadn't spoken in a long time, but I figured if there was anyone I should contact about this sort of thing, it would be her.
I'd condensed the 5 hours of footage down to a few minutes with the help of a free online video editor, and watched in slight amusement as Lilith's brow furrowed, her eyes glued to the screen. After the video ended, she seemed utterly amazed.
"Any thoughts?" I asked, pulling back my phone.
"This is some sort of joke, right? You're screwing with me?" she asked, utterly bewildered by what I had just shown her.
"No joke. No screwing around. I figured you'd be the one to ask about this, because of the whole, you know..." I said, gesturing at the leviathan cross emblazoned on her black t-shirt.
Lilith rolled her eyes at me and fidgeted nervously with one of her bracelets. "I'm not sure Christina, this seems a little bit outside of my pay grade. I don't really know what you expect me to do."
"I just need a witness of some kind. What I've got here isn't really enough to prove anything on its own, but if someone else sees it that might lend me a bit of credibility. If some random chick goes to the news complaining about a mysterious door appearing in her living room at midnight that's nothing, but if I get a witness then they might have to listen to me. Plus, I figured maybe you could, I don't know, set up some form of protective circle or sigil or something." As soon as the last words left my lips, I felt like a moron, but Lilith actually seemed to perk up a little bit.
"I mean, I guess that makes sense. How about tonight? I can come over at about 11 o' clock so we have a little bit of time to get ready", she said, a tinge of excitement in her voice.
"Sound's like a plan then, I'll text you my address. I really appreciate you doing this for me." We got up from the booth, exchanged hugs, and went our separate ways. I was skeptical about how much good Lilith's "magickal" expertise would do with regard to the unearthly door, but I had mainly mentioned it to get her interested.
I wish I hadn't.
---
About 12 hours later, I heard a knock at the door (my front door, in this case, not the impossible one). I peeked through the peephole, saw it was Lilith, and I ushered her inside. She had brought with her a black leather bag, bulging with various books, candles, jars, and other occult accoutrements.
"That's a lot of stuff", I commented, gesturing towards the bag, "are you sure you'll need all of it?"
She shrugged. "I figured it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd rather be overprepared than come up short."
"Seems reasonable."
I showed her the spot of the blank wall where the door appears and she began setting up candles and incense, drawing strange signs with chalk, and pouring salt in a semi-circle in front of where the door would be. As she worked, she occasionally read out loud from some cheap paperbacks with titles like "The Witch's Bible" and "The Unquiet Dead: A Field Guide to the Afterlife".
To be entirely honest it was incredibly underwhelming. I didn't feel any "mystical energies" or unseen vistas of space and time yawning before me. There was just a goth screwing around with some candles while reciting mangled Latin out of books she got for 4.99 apiece at a charity shop.
Nevertheless, I let Lilith get on with her business and sat back drinking some cheap beer. After about 45 minutes she seemed satisfied. The floor and walls were covered with crude sigils done in white chalk, and the whole room smelt of incense and scented candles. I checked my watch, seeing it was 11:48.
I offered Lilith a drink but she declined, instead just taking a seat and fidgeting a bit with her jewelry. We talked for a while about what the door could be, where it came from, that sort of thing. Lilith seemed convinced it was must be the restless spirit of a former tenant, but I was a bit skeptical. While at this point I could no longer honestly say I didn't believe in the supernatural, this didn't necessarily strike me as some sort of haunting.
"I don't think it's a ghost", I said, taking a sip from my near empty can, "it strikes me as something further beyond our realm of experience than that. Something, I don't know, alien somehow. I mean it changes reality itself doesn't it? It transmutes a wall to a door, and let me tell you that door was real wood and the knob was real metal. Aren't ghosts supposed to be intangible or something?"
Lilith seemed like she was about to say something before she paused, a weird look crossing her face. "Christina, what time is it?" she whispered.
I checked my watch, the digital face reading out 12:07. I turned to see the door. It had been there for 7 minutes and we hadn't even noticed its arrival. Something about us not having realized it was there bothered me far more than its materialization. Was it possible that I'd passed by it in the apartment before and just never noticed it? I'd previously assumed that I'd simply always been asleep or out of the apartment when it materialized, but now I wasn't so sure.
Lilith had turned to look at it too, after a moment saying "It's like it's always been there."
The next 3 hours passed slowly, painfully. We snapped plenty of pictures of the door at every conceivable angle on our respective phones, videos too, and decided that after it disappeared again we should take footage of the bare wall for contrast. Lilith and I chatted a bit, but it was hard to continue conversations for long. Now that we had noticed it, we could feel the wrongness emanating out from the door, as if we were being watched by something just out of sight.
I don't know if there is such a thing as true evil, some sort of absolute moral right and wrong on a spiritual level. But being near that door, I felt like I was bearing witness to an atrocity against reality itself. We spent the last 2 hours of observation in nearly complete silence. It seemed like the longer we were cognizant of the door, the worse the feeling of discomfort got. If you've ever been on a roller coaster, you'll be familiar with the feeling of going up the track towards a long drop, the tension in your very blood as you brace yourself for the fall to come. As we sat there, I felt something similar.
I almost wanted to call the whole thing off, just have Lilith and I go to a 24 hour fast food place or something and call it a night. But I had to know.
Unlike with the door's appearance, we noticed when it started to open. We sat there, paralyzed with fear and excitement as it slowly started to creak open, the worn hinges squealing just as I thought they would. The room grew significantly colder, until we were both shivering intensely. Behind the door was void, absolutely void. It was black as the depths of the ocean and emanated pure dread. The smell of incense and scented candles seemed to dissipate, replaced with a vague stench like rotting seaweed.
Finally, the entrance was swung fully open, and we sat there, staring blankly into it. We didn't even try to pull out our phones to record what we saw. The thought to do so didn't cross my mind until well after.
I could see something start to move in the darkness beyond, some sort of motion, spidery, skittering. It was coming towards us. I caught a vague glimpse of a long, thin limb reaching out from the door, coming towards us, grasping blindly from out of the dark, and then-
I felt the sun shining on my face, my entire body sore.
I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the ground, outside. There were trees overhead, but the foliage wasn't dense enough to block out the light which had awoken me. All things being equal, I would have preferred my alarm clock.
I stood up, painfully, taking stock of my surroundings. I was in a park, one which I had been to before, located a couple miles from my apartment. I looked for my phone, but couldn't find it. I began to stumble my way back home, trying my best to ignore my aching muscles. I called out for Lilith a couple times, but was met only with silence. She was gone.
As I limped my way along, a passing jogger called out "Nice tattoo". Confused, I looked down at my arm.
Burned into my flesh in white letters, as if through frostbite, were the words "BRING MORE".

Hi everyone, I decided to make this post because I honestly feel entirely alone and not really sure what to do so I just needed some other perspectives.
For context, I am a 22 year old female with parents who have been separated ever since I was a young age. I lived with my mother all throughout school until I turned 18, and ill be honest my dad never paid child support. He was also barely there but would occasionally get me a gift on Christmas or my birthday to show some sort of presence in my life. However, my mother was an alcoholic and I was constantly dealing with an emotionally abusive parent every day, on top of doing super well in school and never getting myself into trouble. I also had been working ever since I was old enough to apply (16) because she made me. Now, I am not making excuses toward a bad childhood but I feel that the context is important.
When I was 17 my senior year, I had decided I had enough of the constant misery of living with my mother and asked my dad if we could find somewhere to move. Everyone may be wondering why I didn’t ask sooner, and the reason is that my dad is not very smart (dropped out of middle school) or committed to anything and could barely provide for himself. But at this point I was desperate. We started by living off of my $800 I had saved throughout my years of working, sleeping in motels every week up until he could find a cheap place. At this point it was the end of my senior year, and I had basically completely cut my mother off at this point. Eventually he had found a 1bd apartment that we both have lived in for 4 years now, I have the bedroom while he takes the couch in the living room. I took two years off school for mental reasons but was working the entire time 40 hrs a week at a cafe before also working at a spa an additional 20 hrs per week. After being drained and starting school, I had taken a part time job which I am still at now.
My dad is very irresponsible with his money. He has a deal with our landlord to do work in exchange for rent, so in a way he is off the hook for that and only has to pay for bills and wifi. Now, I have always paid my own stuff and never asked him for money for a majority of my life. The only thing he provides for me is the rent and water bill as well as wifi of course, but I cover my own food, books for online school, clothes/phone, gas for my car, car insurance, our groceries and etc. I only work 4 days a week and get about 20 hours on average, but I have tried having two jobs and it was a lot. Again, I am in community college online and I wanted to focus on a degree, and so I actually plan to transfer to a university next year. I am paying for it all on my own, trying to save up. Last year, I had asked my dad to help me get a car. The car is used but basically brand new, and the only thing I have asked him to help with is my car payments ($384/month). Of course I am super grateful for this but I am also stuck because he basically reminds me how much I owe him (he agreed to help, it wasnt a loan I had asked from him). I do also pay $34 of the car payment, which isnt a lot, but I do pay for a lot of other things as well without his help. I give him money constantly whenever he asks for it, and there will be times he doesn’t pay it back for like a month. He has a really good job but works on his own schedule, and lately never works until a day or two before something is due. He has 0 concept of working and is at home constantly.
The money that I give him goes towards an addiction problem with cigarettes as well as another thing I dont want to specify, but know about. Anyways, this past year my dad has been completely on my ass because although I give him countless money im sick of having to wait forever to get my money back, I have started to refuse giving any but am manipulated into it by his yelling. Also, when I do ask he gets angry and he tells me hes doing his best? But never works.. If i was not trying to get a degree I would certainly look for a better job and leave, but my current one is perfect for the amount of schoolwork I have. For additional context I eat outside food often but 98% of the time I get him food too, and I understand it is a waste to eat out but he gets really mad when I come home after work and make noise in the kitchen, so its like I cant win. Not to mention, he constantly uses my car and the gas with it and doesnt refill it, asks me about every day for $20 and he gets mad at me for not getting paid more or doing more.
It is just super frustrating. I dont know what to do at this point and I know the easy solution is to move out, but when I do go to university I have no clue what I am going to do because I cannot rely on him for anything even though he barely provided for me most of my life. Any sort of advice would help, thanks.

Has anybody used unfinished fabric with a modge podge type sealer or wallpaper as the book cover outer layer?
If so how did it go?
If not, any thoughts on how it may turn out?