u/Born_blonde

Hello all! I‘m in the market for a canoe, but overwhelmed with my options.

I’ve kayaked most of my life, have an inflatable stand up paddle board, and done some canoeing here and there as well. I finally have the space to get my own boat- as before I’ve had to rent- but not sure what to get.

I mostly paddle on rivers, but would also go on some large lakes once I get my own boat. I’m in the southern Midwest/Ozarks region, and mainly will paddle there. Waters are usually calm to at most Class II, lots of both shallow windy rivers and calm slow ones and lakes. I do mostly multi day paddles and camping (but I pack similarly to a backpacker, so gear space isn’t AS much of an issue), but I want to start taking my 60lb dog with me on my trips, so need to have space for her to be able to be in the boat with me.

I‘ll be solo besides my dog- I’m a petit woman, so while I’m fit, I still need something I can handle putting up on top of my car myself and portaging alone. I’m also a fresh grad, so while I’ve saved up about 1k, I can’t afford a 2-3k boat, as nice as that would be. About $1800 is probably my upper limit, but that would start getting uncomfortable. I’d try to save more, but I want to actually get to use the boat over the summer months when the weather is nice. I’ve looked on marketplace, but unfortunately solo canoes aren’t very popular it seems around my area, and I haven’t found any.

What brands and styles of canoe would fit my needs the best? I’ve seen good things about the Old town discover or the Equif Adirondack ?

I graduated with a graduate degree recently and started my first traditional corporate office job about 5 months ago. At first, I loved it- flexible schedule, friendly team, ok(ish) pay for entry level, and promises of growth, professional development, and meaningful work.

Now that I’ve settled in, though, I feel incredibly underutilized and overqualified.

A coworker left shortly after I started, so I’ve been covering both their role and mine. Even doing the work of two people, I still have huge amounts of downtime. I can realistically finish most of my work in a day or two. I’ve already come up with new projects to work on outside of my responsibilities, completed them, and still struggle to find more work.

My manager is also very new to management and previously worked my role before being promoted. I sometimes feel like she takes my feedback personally, especially when I point out inefficiencies or mention not having enough to do. She’s very hands-off overall, but occasionally nitpicks minor things in ways that feel more about establishing her newfound authority than actual performance issues, and i suspect isn’t giving me more work because she’s trying to keep that authority- even though she claims she’s slammed and has so much work to do.

Now they’re hiring a replacement for the role I absorbed plus an intern, but every attempt to discuss what my responsibilities will look like moving forward keeps getting brushed under the rug. From what I can tell, there isn’t additional work waiting that I’m not doing yet in the interim- meaning I‘ll probably end up with even less to do soon. The lack of communication on this is frustrating me, as I have no idea what to expect.

The job itself isn’t terrible:

• flexible,
• low stress,
• decent people,
• stable.

But I didn’t take this job because I wanted to spend 8 hours a day pretending to be busy. I want challenge, development, and growth.

I’m also confused because they recently lowered the education requirement for the role from an associate’s degree to just a high school diploma/GED, despite hiring people with master’s degrees into these positions. So wanting to pay less for more, I guess.

So I guess I’m wondering, is this just normal “first office job” culture shock? Or is this a sign the role genuinely isn’t a good fit for me long-term?

Would it be bad to start casually applying elsewhere before hitting the 12-month mark at my first “career” job? i wouldn’t leave unless i got an offer for something better. But I don’t want a big black mark on my resume leaving a job too soon, and I’m also worried that i could end up worse off leaving. But gradually, I’m dreading work more and more because I hate how under stimulated and underworked I am.

TL;DR:
Recent master’s grad in first corporate office role. Job sounded growth-focused but turned out to be extremely slow and underchallenging, even while covering two positions. Manager is inexperienced, communication about my future responsibilities is vague, and I spend most days trying to look busy. The job is stable and flexible, but I feel professionally stagnant already. Is this just normal adjustment to office life, or should I start looking elsewhere before hitting 1 year?

I just finished practically all of the Monstrous Mate’s collection and honestly love S. E. Wendel’s writing style. The plot, worldbuilding, pacing, romance, and emotional payoff are all 10/10 for me. I’ve read almost all of her books, and now feel a bit empty for a new story, as I feel I’ve hit so many of the big, top authors in this category.

Other series/authors I’ve loved:

• {Whispers of the Deep by Emma Hamm} and a lot of her other work
• {Spider’s Mate by Tiffany Roberts}
• Some of the {Dusk Walker Brides by Opal Reyn } (especially 1, 3, 4, and maybe 5)
• {Radiance by Grace Draven}
• Books by {Zoey Draven} and {Ruby Dixon}
• Blood Mercy / the {Blood Grace series by Vela Roth}

At this point, I feel like I’ve read most of the bigger paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy romance authors and I’m running out of really good, juicy, well-written stories with both strong plots and quality spice.

What I’m looking for:

• Strong worldbuilding
• Interesting, layered characters
• Romance with actual emotional depth
• Good pacing and immersive plots
• Spice, but I still want it to feel well written and meaningful to the story

A few favorites off the top of my head and why I loved them:

• Radiance — beautiful relationship development, believable characters, and a story I’ve reread multiple times
• Whispers of the Deep — incredible worldbuilding and really memorable characters
• Spider’s Mate — surprisingly wholesome while still being spicy, with such unique characters and setting
• Blood Mercy — immersive worldbuilding, intricate characters, and a story that completely pulls you in
• {Halfling S.E Wendel} and the rest of the Monstrous World books — love the balance between cozy/wholesome moments and darker emotional depth

I’m definitely forgetting some because I go through these books ridiculously fast. I’m open to pretty much any paranormal, fantasy, monster, or sci-fi romance as long as it’s genuinely well written and immersive.

Please give me your best recommendations. Feeling empty with the lack of these monstrous/alien men in my reading lol.

* apologies for any formatting issues