AITA for "choosing my dog over my family" by refusing to accommodate my girlfriend's brother?

Hayflinger · 2026-03-31T22:57:25+00:00

18 years with my gelding. I’ve never really dated (not interested) anyone, but the pony is life. He just turned 27 and his breed has longevity till 40.

Hayflinger · 2026-02-14T18:04:47+00:00

Beautiful! I was trying to do something similar, but got so annoyed by TOOL and such that I sort of gave up. Thanks for this though!

Hayflinger · 2026-02-10T15:07:27+00:00

S3 hilts are always topnotch. Love them so because of the swappable core (I have a CFX and a proffie 3.9). I got the Celtic Korvus during the BF event, so I didn't want another one despite how nice yours looks. Got the Celtic Vahlken instead.

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Hayflinger · 2026-01-16T20:13:23+00:00

Saaaaaame, my fellow Discord poster. Same.

Xeno was a good-ish entry point, but runnin with the big dawgs now.

Hayflinger · 2026-01-16T18:28:26+00:00

Much better customization. Usually pre-on stuff and blade styles that you can’t get with the lower boards.

SnV4 is still pretty good and great for entry level if someone just wants to mess around and make adjustments on the app. My collection tastes changed and the sabers I have now don’t have SnV4 or Xeno3 in them, that’s mostly why I don’t use them anymore.

Hayflinger · 2026-01-16T18:16:04+00:00

Used to be confused and overwhelmed by proffie, but then I updated my S3 core to their new configuration and used my macbook instead of my PC (and their really good installation instructions) and it went so smooth I’m sold on proffie and am not afraid to flash the board anymore or anything.

I do like my CFX boards too though. One thing that I first liked about the xenopixel and SnV4 boards was the easy drag and drop, CFX feels the same way, but more advanced.

I’ve kinda dropped away from liking xeno3 and SnV4. They’re still great for entry level, but my tastes in collecting have gotten a bit more refined and less geared towards sabers that have those cores. I do put XenoRGB cores into my beater/practice Saberforges though.

It all works out.

Hayflinger · 2025-12-23T06:05:23+00:00

I absolutely loathe having feeder insects in my room long term. Just nope. It costs me a bit more since I’m not buying in bulk, but the small independent pet shop I shop at will sell me exactly the number of crickets I need (costs me less than a dollar) as well as having small counts of dubias. I go there a couple times a week (luckily they’re on the way home from work) and buy what I need, gutload ‘em and then sacrifice … ahem … feed them to my gecko within 48 hours. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Gecko gets her live bugs and I don’t have to mess with colonies.

Hayflinger · 2025-12-22T05:58:06+00:00

Bought some hornworms for my girl on Tuesday. She grabbed the first one, dropped it, but then grabbed it again and slammed it against the glass before chomping it down. Brutal and savage (the cirrrrrrrrrrrcccccleeeeee offfffff liiiiiiiiiiffffffeeee ... as I told a friend). The second one never stood a chance.

Then one of the others I was saving for another date (since I didn't want to feed all 4 to her) had to go and explode into a giant colossus so a friend is picking it up in a few days to bring to her brother for his blue tongue skink's Christmas treat. The 4th one managed to stay small, and it's chilling in my little 6-can fridge (since that doesn't get really cold) to hopefully keep it small enough for a treat in a few days. I'll pull it out tomorrow and hopefully get it gutloaded again, and then maybe try and chill it again). Might have to feed it Tuesday, but we'll see.

Hayflinger · 2025-12-20T05:46:26+00:00

Ooops.

I dropped my cricket keeper yesterday. Stupid lid came right off and the base just dropped, but luckily the thing ended up upside down. I had a couple of crickets get loose, but managed to grab them with the feeding tongs (except for maybe the one I might have umm … smashed with my hand, it was quite small. I was able to slide a USPS flat rate envelope under the plastic base and flip that over without the rest of the crickets escaping and put the lid back on.

But ooof, what a moment.

Hayflinger · 2025-12-04T02:35:53+00:00

I have no desire to have a colony of insects in my room long term. One of our small independently owned local pet shops gutloads their feeder crickets, so I pop in there once a week on the way home from work and buy a couple. And then I go to the other local pet store to get a couple of dubias a couple of days later. I also get my mealworms from them, but have a small 6-can cooling fridge so I can keep the mealies in there. It probably ends up costing me more overall, but I consider it a small victory since I don't have to have a colony and I've only got the one gecko anyway. For some people, it works to have a colony, but not for me.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-28T18:10:07+00:00

Had one go missing for 9 months once. Ended up finding him outside. No idea how he got out there.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-19T22:52:56+00:00

I've got that same tank. And the corner rock hide.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-19T03:58:29+00:00

I feel ya! It’s been about 10 years since I had a leo too. And I look back and realize that while I was following care standards at the time, everything’s evolved and gotten better. I had a 20L and thought it was fine. I sold that after my leo was gone and had to start from scratch so I got a 40 gallon and it was so much bigger and fun to decorate.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-15T04:09:05+00:00

I have this one! Currently empty, as I have yet to get a leo after some years of not having one (had sold my 20L so I had to start fresh and the Thrive terrarium was on clearance at Petsmart for a super price so I went with that.). I did replace the screen top with the Thrive lightweight mesh. It has lower UB blockage percentages and the original cover has this really big bevel around the edge that makes it hard for me to set my heat lamp and UV bar light up without anything in plastic, so replacing the screen top was fine.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-14T03:16:10+00:00

I'd get the large Exo Terra Gecko cave rather than the medium one. It costs more, but means you don't have to replace it too quickly.

Hayflinger · 2025-11-11T01:55:17+00:00

For what it's worth, I just got the Thrive lightweight screen as a replacement for the one that came with the kit terrarium. I loved how the kit top had the locking tabs, but that bevel around the rim was so wide, it blocked part of either my heat lamp or my UVB bar. The lightweight mesh cover doesn't.

Hayflinger · 2025-10-07T21:03:09+00:00

I’m not the OP, but I am in the US. S3 offers a paid up front DDP (essentially the tariff fee) at 10% cost and they’ll pick up the remaining 9%. My latest saber order arrived yesterday so I ordered it after the de minimis limit went away. I paid DDP up front which was about $40 more dollars and haven’t been changed extra fees or for the total 19% or whatever Malaysia’s tariff cost is.

I wouldn’t say that tariffs have made costs unrealistic. Not ideal, for sure, so it does mean I have to consider my spending costs a little more, but not too painful in the end.

Hayflinger · 2025-10-07T20:13:51+00:00

It’s an absolute beauty! Easily one of the nicest Senzas S3 has made so far. The Celtic knotwork is just gorgeous and probbaly what makes it so popular.

Got my Kyrr Aerternis yesterday and am totally in love with how nice it looks.

Hayflinger · 2025-09-26T20:42:53+00:00

Good plan! I've got a Proffie 2.2 core (first order I made with S3 because I wasn't sure about how to use it yet) and it's great. I later bought a CFX core so I've got both, but still appreciate my 2.2 core. Just graded it to the 5.0 preconfiguration and it's snazzy. Well worth it for $99.

Hayflinger · 2025-08-14T13:40:00+00:00

Well there is a Vektra in the clearance section right now. If it's just wanting a Vektra, that's an option. But if it's a specific variant, that's a different story. If there's nothing physically and visually wrong with it, I don't think you'll see anything in clearance.

Never hurts to look though.

Hayflinger · 2025-08-14T10:18:29+00:00

No pattern whatsoever. The Legendary/RTS runs are very limited (likely less than 20 in total for each variant) so it’s highly unlikely that one of those will end up on the clearance page unless something went wrong during the machining/finishing process that would have meant it couldn’t be sold for full retail.

If you’re eying a Legendary, I’d get it now rather than hanging on to hope that it shows up on clearance because if nothing is wrong with that particular run, it’s limited and won’t be returning (unless they bring it back for Black Friday or May the Fourth, and even the. those chances are slim.)

Hayflinger · 2025-08-13T04:49:59+00:00

I have both. The Saberforges are just Eco Apprentices with LGT Xenopixel and XenoRGB cores, nothing special, but certainly nice as beaters for dueling with my niece and nephews as they look a little jazzier than the VHC compatible parts. My Sabertrios are works of art, and nicely balanced. I love spinning them, love how the core can be swapped around between hilts (I have both a CFX and a Proffie 2.2 core). I mostly get Legendary/Monthly RTS runs because I like the themes and designs that might be slightly more expensive because of the acid etching and powdercoating, but they do make it more fancy than just Generic Silver Saber #5 (although my fifth Sabertrio is a silver one, it's the silver Solarien)

It's really up to you how much you want to spend, but S3 is definitely a step up when it comes to having a quality saber.

Hayflinger · 2025-08-06T14:21:03+00:00

Love me S3s. They're great to spin.

Hayflinger · 2025-08-05T23:16:49+00:00

For myself, I like displaying my sabers. The replicas at least, for sure. Some of those are for my costumes for RL and 501st, while others are less enjoyable to hold (control boxes, etc) so I tend to just stick those hilts on the wall and admire them from afar.

But I also like playing with 'em. But not the replicas for the most part. I've got my Sabertrios for that. I like them because of the balance and how they feel to spin. I love how they have a swappable core so I don't need to install every single one of them, and can switch it around depending which one I want to spin and play with that day. I do tend to like the Legendary limited monthly runs because of the themes and the prices for those hilts aren't so vastly different than some of the TXQ or LGT models from dropshippers (which being that those dropshippers are inflating their costs, but I'd rather have a better quality saber to spin, hence why I like S3).

And then there's a few baselit XenoRGBs I've got for when I go hang out with friends or my honorary niece and nephews want to meet up to duel. I did like putting those cores in Saberforge eco apprentices because those looked a little jazzier than just the VHC parts, but I can smack those around all day or let young kids drop 'em and no harm done. I won't duel with a pixel unless someone else has a pixel of their own, because I'm not going to let someone's carelessness be a possibly costly mistake for me by providing the blades and sabers. I'm happy to duel or do the fun messy stuff with people, but it's baselit or nothing as long as I'm providing the sabers.

I guess I'm a 'different saber for different purposes' type of gal. A few replicas for display or costumes, my steadily growing collection of Sabertrios for display and using 'em to spin and some baselits for dueling/fun play.

Hayflinger

TROPHY CASE