Gas buddy springfield missouri

I’ve been substituting schools in/out for weeks, please help!
Background: ORM, Missouri resident, undergrad at Jesuit midwest school, applying after 1 gap year, peds interest and looking for a collaborative school (ideally in the midwest), not super research-oriented
Stats: MCAT 521 / cGPA 3.99 / sGPA 4.0
Clinical: ED Scribe 1600 hrs, Shadowing 60 hrs (Peds Surgery + Derm), no volunteering
Non-clinical Volunteering: Best Buddies 120 hrs, underserved high school mentoring 120 hours, underserved K-12 tutoring 120 hrs, free health clinic secretary 90 hrs, senior socialization program 40 hours; I’m still doing Best Buddies and just picked up the socialization program after some time away
Research: 2 yrs in a basic science lab 400 hrs with 1 poster presentation
Leadership: board for Best Buddies and high school mentoring club ~200 hrs each, Supplemental Instruction Leader for gen bio 300 hrs
Other work: Pharm Tech ~300 hrs
Hobbies: Piano since I was 12, haven’t competed since high school but did ensemble through college; have been learning Spanish since graduation; picked up ice skating recently bc I’m a huge hockey junkie and I want to play
School List:
In-state:
Mizzou
SLU
WashU
(Can’t do UMKC due to a strict genetics requirement RIP)
OOS Private:
Vandy
Emory
Hofstra
Rochester
Sidney Kimmel
Boston
MCW
WMed
Creighton + Loyola (Jesuit connection)
OOS Public (tried to go with schools with around 4%+ OOS acceptance rate):
UVA
Michigan
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Iowa
Indiana
UMass
UCF
USF
Arizona Phoenix (I know it’s a long shot but I love Phoenix/Tempe)
Thinking of adding Wayne State
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Thanks for reading!

Planning a road trip in late July for mountain biking in Colorado from Toronto, ON and trying to decide which route would be the best for part of the journey from Indianapolis to Grand Junction. By best I mean not boring with stuff to see while driving, and some interesting stops. Planning to cover this part in 2 days. Any suggestions for stop highly appreciated. Will be travelling alone. Does it make sense to avoid tolls? Split it evenly between two days or try to cover as much as I can on the first to arrive earlier into the mountains on the second?
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I bought a missouri scratchoff ticket from a gas station (6/5/2023) because it showed a chance to win a side by side. After buying and reading the ticket the only way to win the side by side is to register the ticket for the drawings. But the drawings expired January 2021. I literally bought the ticket for the chance to win the side by side and feel like I was scammed. Do I contact missouri lottery about expired tickets being sold? Is this considered false advertising? Friends are all saying to get a lawyer but I feel like at the most I might just get the $10 I spent back and be laughed at. Thanks for any advice.

Currently working as a senior backend engineer. Seeking a lateral move (with higher comp) / more advanced position within the next 12-18 months. Please let me know what you think!
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The A.I. doesn't cuddle. As charming as your Snapchat virtual boyfriend may seem, he can only trace and reflect your words, not trace your skin as you melt into relaxation.
The body pillow doesn't hug back. The fill count is never just right, even if you're always able to find your favorite nuzzle spot and fall asleep next to restrained fluff. You want to be held, pulled closer, and feel the warmth of someone else against you as bodies mesh.
Swiping right doesn't reveal compatible cuddlers. A hookup doesn't reveal their affectionate side. Your affectionate radiance isn't easily matched: it requires nourishment and encouragement to thrive.
I'd like to meet your inner cuddler shining at her full supernova strength. You've recognized your enjoyment of quality cuddling, found your way to a specialized sub, and just need some encouragement to be fully affectionately expressive without restraint.
Cuddling is not just foreplay or after care, but its own affectionate adventure. Free-flowing expression in an almost affectionate dance when resonating with a fellow cuddle enthusiast. Cuddle with a similar level of comfort you'd express in a relationship or enjoy a new way to explore your affectionate self.
I'm 38, single, sane, and bathe regularly. I live alone in the SoMa area of San Francisco with a gas fireplace to keep things toasty on a foggy night and two air purifiers to scrub away at least some of your worries. When not cuddling I enjoy hiking, biking around the city, drinking good coffee, training dogs for a local non-profit, watching Giants games, and exploring new restaurants. I make dark chocolate and wine as hobbies and have a good supply of both if you'd like to pair with a cuddle session.
I've had some good cuddle buddies in the past and I'm hopeful this subreddit attracts cuddle enthusiasts. I enjoy cuddlers who don't just lean against someone but instead find new ways to be wrapped up in my arms or wrapped around me. You should have good hygiene, realize when your many layers of clothing can be abrasive or inhibiting, recognize when your extra long hair presents a choking hazard, and be a generally easy-going person.
Curious if a good cuddle buddy is possible? Send a chat/message and say hi!

I'd like to meet your affectionate side shining at her full, supernova 🌟 strength. The inner cuddler that enjoys being held, finds relaxation in traced skin, and demands more than the mediocre or indifferent experiences the randomness of dating might provide. A craving for affection and closeness, met with enthusiasm and nurtured, in an environment that makes you comfortable enough to be affectionately expressive without holding back.
I've had some quality cuddle buddies in the past and I'm hopeful it can happen again. Past cuddle buddies have enjoyed:

• Reconnecting with her affectionate side, sometimes repressed or dormant after being under appreciated in past relationships
• Slowing down a busy world and escaping into a set of arms for relaxation and connection
• Revealing affectionate preferences she never realized existed, such as how she likes to be held and when she feels most relaxed

I'm 38, single, sane, and bathe regularly. I live alone in the SoMa area of San Francisco with a gas fireplace to keep things toasty on a foggy evening. When not cuddling I enjoy hiking, biking around the city, drinking good coffee, training dogs for a local non-profit, watching Giants games, and exploring new restaurants. I make dark chocolate and wine as hobbies and have a good supply of both if you'd like to pair with a cuddle session.
Cuddling is not just foreplay or after care, but its own affectionate adventure to be nurtured and encouraged. I'd like to awaken your inner cuddler, appreciate her, and create comfort to pursue your affectionate cravings.
You should bathe regularly, realize when your many layers of clothing can be abrasive or inhibiting, recognize when your extra long hair presents a choking hazard, and be a generally easy-going person. Ideally we'd like each other enough to cuddle more than once, getting more comfortable with time and exposure.
I've developed an appreciation for expressive cuddlers and flowing affection. Curious if a good cuddle buddy is possible? Reach out and say hi!

https://imgur.com/a/EJVTflg
My 12" carbines both had an adjustable gas block. Fully open it would fail to cycle cheap ammo like Wolf or my buddies reloads.
I replaced the gas block with a standard mid length. Everything cycles well now, but casings eject at 4:00 to 5:00 and ricochet off the upper.
While that's ultimately fine, I thought I would buy some tungsten weights and experiment with the buffer.
The weights I received are slightly shorter, increasing the existing free space in the buffer. See image
I only started with one weight, but that still adds another 3/32 of play.
The original buffer came in a kit with an SB4.
Will this be detrimental to the operation of the buffer? Do I have to purchase additional spacers or different weights? Is there a spec for how much free play the buffer should have?
Additionally, my buffer has a couple deep dings from the retaining spring plunger. I don't know how that is possible. When I close the receiver with the bolt in the forward position, I can see the back of the bolt push the buffer back a little. This implies its not possible for the buffer to extend far enough to ding itself.

Amid a galaxy of brutal chaos there are stories to be told, tales of valor and justice, of fear and despair. But amid these stories are the guttering flames of adventures untold, the potential for a universe of entertainment and savage joyous fun. The Oblivion Cycle embodies just this kind of crafted chaos, creating the potential for creative exploits and raucous tales. If you are new to the TOC setting feel free to join the community at TheOblivionCycle to check out some of the background lore or to discuss themes with other readers. I thank you all for your support and continued willingness to read, as always, Please Enjoy!
+ Part 1 + Previous + Next +
_____________________________________
Continued From Part 4
Bittu scratched his wrist idly as he stood next to his newly assigned cruiser. It wasn't the new ride that had him nervous though, it was the huge armoured cyborg standing across from him on the opposite side of the vehicle.
At first he had been shocked by the thing’s, no, the man’s true identity. The fact that he had originally mistook Abel for some sort of new combat robot still rankled his pride. He should have noticed the man’s demeanor when they first met, instead he had let his bias get the better of him. Well, no more.
Trying as hard as he could to ignore the fact that his new partner was not exactly a living being anymore he unlocked the cruiser and opened the driver side door. Abel opened his door and they both sat at the same time.
Abel stared straight ahead for a moment before turning to look at him, his helmet visor dark enough to hide his limited biological features. “Well, this is it. I finally get to do something more than running laps for testing.”
Bittu just nodded, not knowing exactly what to say to the man. He had been mind wiped, he had no memory of his past or who he was. Bittu found the entire situation exceptionally dark and twisted. Now he was no stranger to such concepts as internment and forced labor, criminals were treated to such activities all the time. But to wipe the mind of someone and then turn them into that. He shuddered at the thought.
“Hey what’s wrong, are you cold or something partner?” Bittu heard Abel ask him. The genuine concern in the man’s voice made up his mind. He would do everything in his power to find out what had happened to the man. He needed to know.
Bittu sat up and shook his horned head. “No, I was just thinking about something chilling. Anyways, we should get moving. We have patrol duty on level ninety eight it seems.”
Abel nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”
Bittu turned on the car, its promethium powercells warming up before the electric motor turned on. Checking his mirrors he pulled out of his spot and drove them quickly to the exit ramp. Not a moment later they were out of the station and moving down the wide boulevard that connected the Hollow Pass precinct to the rest of the city.
Bittu adjusted his dark polarized glasses as they stopped at an intersection, the lights a solid red indicating that it was not yet time to go. As the traffic passed in front of them Abel remarked “Wow, there are so many. I wonder how many people there are in Shikago in total?”
Bittu responded automatically “Shikago stratocity, population of two hundred million souls this time of the year. The second largest stratocity on all of Kondirak.”
Abel whistled softly. “Two hundred million? How is that possible, where do they get the food to sustain that many people? There are no farms around the city, the area is a wasteland from what I have read.”
The light turned a solid green and Bittu checked both ways before pulling through the intersection. Too many times he had almost been hit by some asshole running the red because they thought they could make it. He glanced at Abel and answered his question “There aren't aboveground farms you are correct. But about twenty miles out where the pollution belt ends there are large substacks filled with hydroponics. Those alone wouldn't be quite enough however so the city imports from Draken V in the Draken system. Are you familiar with it?”
Abel shook his head “I must admit that my knowledge of the place is fragmented at best. I assume that it is an agricultural world?”
Bittu chuckled “Yeah, kind of. More like a massive slave plantation.”
Abel looked at him sharply. “Slave plantation? What do you mean, the Union does not allow slavery on account of…” The cyborg started to say but Bittu cut him off.
“Slavery by any other word is still slavery. The people of Draken V might as well be slaves, wage slaves at the very least. The plantations are all owned by a single family, one man controls the entire planet and all the trade that happens on it. They set the prices of everything, from the food to clothing to the price of clean water. They use their power to keep the farmers poor and dependent on the company for support. It should be illegal, but through some quirk of fate a loophole allowing such treatment under the law exists.” he said with some bitterness, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel till his knuckles turned lavender.
Abel seemed to think for a few moments. In the hige man’s silence Bittu took them off the main road and onto one of the elevated highway ramps. As they passed from the ground level to the raised roadway Abel finally spoke.
The cyborg spoke with a bit of anger in his modulated voice. “That is wrong. That's sick, how can the Union just stand idly by and allow such injustice to happen?”
Bittu nearly shouted as the anger burning in his gut threatened to get the better of him “The Union doesn't care that's why! What are the lives of a few tens of thousands of peasant farmers to the billions that rely on their labor!?” he stopped himself, his breath coming in short gasps such had been the force of his outburst. He could feel his tail lashing in the small space behind his seat.
Abel looked at him, the mechanical servos in his neck whirring softly as he cocked his helmeted head. “You sound like this is personal.”
Bittu glanced at his new partner, the large metal man seemingly impassive and uninterested. But Bittu got the impression that the man did care, that he cared a lot. Otherwise why would he have even bothered asking, Abel didnt know him. He had nothing to prove. Bittu made up his mind, sighing deeply he dodged a slow moving transport truck and then began speaking.
“I was born on Draken V Abel. I watched my parents toil their lives away in those fields. They could have provided us with modern equipment, but they didn't. The most sophisticated thing we had looked like the rejects from some Aumite colony. Steam powered tractors and livestock drawn plows, of course we didn't know any better. It was the way things were.” he paused as he had to maneuver around another slow moving vehicle on the skyway.
Abel butted in “That sounds wrong. There are no laws against that kind of treatment?” the big cyborg asked him.
Bittu shrugged and said “No, it appears not. That's why I left. I wanted to find justice, but all I ended up finding was more corruption. Everywhere I looked I found pain and suffering, the strong exploiting the weak. I figured if I wasn't going to make a difference I might as well take some of the evil bastards with me you know?” He said with a savage grin.
To his surprise Abel started to laugh. Bittu was a bit upset, the whole story and he laughed? Before he could give the human a piece of his mind the man spoke “Well, then you certainly picked a good place to do it. Shikago is almost as corrupt as it gets. I feel the same way, I only have a few weeks of memory to draw from, but already I have seen debauchery and greed. Up at the highest possible levels too. It's my mission to expose this corruption and take the guilty down a few pegs.” Bittu smiled as the man finished.
What a grand day that would be, the high and mighty of the city's elite no longer being untouchable. It would never happen of course, but who was he to crush a poor cyborg’s dreams?
Instead he turned his attention back to the road. They had already moved a few levels down and were approaching their patrol zone. He shifted to the exit lane and drove onto the ramp down to the elevated highway that circumnavigated the city level. The level looked markedly different from the ones they had just descended through. In his years in the massive stratocity he had noticed a distinct hierarchy to the city. The higher up the structure one traveled the more opulent the construction became till you reached the administrative spires near the VIP space port at the tip.
The buildings on level ninety eight looked well built, but worn down by the passage of time. The city itself was a few hundred years old, its infrastructure slowly deteriorating as the city work crews fought an ever losing battle to maintain the behemoth structure.
Abel pointed out the window and asked “What is that?”
Looking towards the man’s gesture he saw a large structure in the distance. Its exterior was painted a ruddy rusting orange color and it was tall, almost reaching the ceiling far above. “That? That's the level ninety prison megacomplex. Its minimum security and houses most of the criminals we pick up on day to day operations. Petty thieves, tax evaders and the like. Maximum security lockup is three levels down, and it's not a place you want to visit. Trust me.” he said ominously.
Abel asked “Why not?” to which Bittu sighed.
He looked around for an exit ramp and then took it saying “It’s just not a very nice place. The people are scum, the guards are scummier. You don't get assigned to work a position guarding that festering shithole by being on your superior's good side. That posting is a punishment, the worst of the worst get sent there. Life without parole, lock the door and throw away the key types.” he explained as concisely as he could.
“Oh.” was all Abel said in response.
Bittu shook his head, his patrol glasses dampening the glare of the prevalent halogen lights bordering the main road they were driving down. He turned a corner and pulled to the edge of the road.
Abel looked around and asked “What's happening, where are we?”
“Nothing’s happening, yet at least. And we are in the side alley behind a Shabino’s sandwich joint. We are holding position till we get a reasonable report to move on.” Bittu informed the man.
He suddenly wondered if Abel could eat. Before he could ask him however he heard the scanner fizz as it picked up a local transmission. “All level ninety-eight responders we have a reported break in on Seventy-fifth and Twenty. Please be advised there are reports of gunshots in the area.”
Bittu looked at Abel and smiled as he turned on the lights and sirens. “That was fast, looks like it’s time to get to work!” He said cheerfully as he stomped on the gas pedal.
The cruiser shot forwards with powerful acceleration and Bittu smiled even harder. This was what he lived for, the rush that preceded bringing justice to the scum that rummaged around the city. He took the first corner a little hot and Abel exclaimed as they nearly sideswiped a delivery van.
“What the, whaaoh! You almost flattened that pedestrian Bittu!” The cyborg exclaimed as they whizzed down the street, civilian vehicles screeching out of their path.
Bittu grinned and said “They had plenty of room. Besides, they should know to get out of the way.”
He saw Abel shake his head from the corner of his eye but the man said nothing more, instead he pulled his gun from the partially internalized leg holster that Bittu hadn’t seen before.
It looked like they were going in full bore, he grinned again as they neared their target. The bad guys wouldn't even know what hit them.
***********
Abel sat back into the padded seat of the cruiser as he tried to ignore Bittu’s somewhat erratic driving.
They took another corner at high speed and Bittu finally started to slow the vehicle down. Abel looked around and noticed that they had arrived at the location of the call. Several buildings down there was a small group of people standing huddled under the awning of a large apartment complex.
Bittu parked the car across the street and Abel climbed out with his gun drawn. He was using a modified variant of an EMP50, a popular electromag pistol well known for its stopping power.
As soon as Bittu exited the cruiser he spoke to his assistant “Sirens off, crowd control mode.”
The cruiser’s siren shut off followed by a repeating message from the vehicle “This is a police action, do not interfere. Interference with a police action is punishable by a three month sentence in minimum security lockup.” Abel shook his head slightly at the message. What a world they lived in.
Bittu motioned for him to follow and crouched down behind the cruiser on the opposite side from the building. Bittu looked at him and asked “Alrighty then rookie, this is your first crime scene. What do you think?”
Abel looked over the edge of the cruiser’s roof. He could see the entrance to the building. A brick facade with small windows and a side escape stairway. It looked to be some manner of apartment complex complete with a front lobby area. The small crowd of onlookers had moved back from the building when they rolled up but were still close enough to be in danger. He thought about it and then turned to his partner.
Abel gestured to the onlookers and said “We need to get these people back, then we should breach the atrium.”
Bittu nodded and flicked his violet eyes over towards the rubberneckers. Standing he shouted loudly in his tenor voice “Hey, get back. What do you want to get shot!?”
Abel frowned at the nerivith man’s lack of tact but had to admit it was effective. The crowd dispersed almost instantly at the sight of an angry officer waving a shotgun.
With the crowd dispersed and out of immediate harm's way Abel looked at Bittu and said “Let me go first. I have a much better chance of surviving a bullet than you do. Even with that vest on.” He said pointing to the shorter horned man’s aggregated hyperdiamond buckyweave vest.
The vest was capable of stopping even small caliber hypervelocity rounds and some types of laser and beamer shots. Though Abel was pretty sure the man wouldn't want to test the claim.
Bittu nodded and motioned to move out saying “Ok then fair enough. But don't get blown away on your first mission. Tegu will take it out of my tail.”
Abel gave the man a reassuring pat in the shoulder and the stood. With all the speed he could muster he shot across the narrow road and to the front of the building. His back slammed against the brickwork, shattering it in a few places as he held his gun at the ready. Nothing shot at him and so he eased over to the front entrance.
Pulling up his wrist embedded computer he reported “Officer Abel responding to an altercation. Reports of gunshots in the area.”
After a moment he motioned for Bittu to cross and waited till the pink man was standing on the other side of the building's interior entrance.
Bittu looked at him and asked “You're not calling in for backup are you?”
Abel shugged and said “Not unless you think we need it.”
Bittu grinned widely and shook his horned head. “We have got this. From what I can see its a standard break in, smash and grab. The gunshots could be anything from hostile action to self defense. We should proceed with caution.” the smaller man nodded.
Nodding back Abel cracked open the front door of the building. It was regular glass not glazmite and so it would offer no protection against potential attack. Peeking around the corner he saw the coast seemed clear. He threw the door open fully and Bittu grabbed it and secured it to the wall to keep it propped open. They moved into the building’s atrium together. The large decorative room a little worse for wear.
The wallpaper was faded, the chandeliers dusty and the decorative pillars were chipped and damaged. All in all it looked like any of the other buildings on the same block. Cheap and affordable housing to those less fortunate and of lesser means.
“This place is a dump.” Bittu hissed.
Abel was inclined to agree but instead replied “And yet this is far from the slums. I wonder why our guy decided to rob this place. The inhabitants clearly don't have much in the way of wealth.”
Bittu shrugged his narrow shoulders and stalked alongside him. “Who the hel knows. Or cares, we get the baddie and then we haul em back to the station for questioning. As long as they don't resist arrest that is.” he said a little darkly.
At the end of the tiled floor there was an elevator. Abel looked at it and then decided that the stairs might legitimately be the safer option. “Do we know what floor the disturbance was on?” he asked his partner.
Bittu shook his head “No specifics, just that it was in this building and on one of the upper floors.”
‘Great.’ Abel thought silently. Just their luck to get put on a unknown altercation. All they had to go on was the rumor of a crime, not a report of the crime itself. He squared his shoulders and started up the stairs.
Bittu halted and asked “What are you doing? The elevator is right here, Abel?”
Abel shook his head. “I wouldn't trust that elevator with my life, much less the lives of multiple others if we alert the criminals to our presence.”
Abel continued up the stairs, smiling slightly as he heard Bittu sigh and move to follow him. He lifted his EMP50 up and into a ready position. He looked around a solid stairwell wall quickly before ducking back into cover, he hadn't seen anything.
It was then that Bittu moved up to his side and produced a small electronic scope. “It pays to come prepared. All clear, see?” the man said as he poled the tool around the corner and continued up the stairs ahead of him.
Abel shook his helmeted head. He was definitely still learning the ropes it seemed. It was his first day actually on patrol afterall.
Bittu and Abel continued on in that fashion, checking floor after floor for signs of the disturbance when Abel stopped. Another sound reached his enhanced hearing, a crying baby, the sound of someone treading over broken glass, the click of a hard object bumping into something.
Abel motioned for Bittu and whispered “This is the floor.”
His lanky partner adjusted his bullet resistant vest and asked “How can you be so sure? You know something I don’t rookie?”
Abel tapped his helmet and said “I am possessed of greatly enhanced hearing than you. I can hear suspicious activity on this floor, trust me.” Turning from his more experienced partner he approached the landing door. The building was old, low tech, the door was an old manually operated swinging design. This made it a relatively easy affair to open it a hair so he could peek down the long apartment hallway. He saw nothing immediately out of the ordinary and so switched his helmet to alternate frequencies.
Looking at the carpeting he noticed a slight thermal residue that picked out a series of overlapping footsteps. He cocked his head.
“Bittu, we have more than one potential hostile.” Abel said as he closed the door silently.
Bittu opened his mouth and said “What? How could you possibly, you know what. Nevermind. Another fancy gadget of yours I assume?” Abel nodded and the man just huffed. Bittu passes a long fingered hand over his face, his features a mask of different conflicting emotions.
From what Abel knew of the nerivith they didn't suffer from anxiety and stress in the same manner that humans did, though if he had to guess he would say that Bittu looked a little stressed at the moment.
“Should I call for some backup Bittu?” Abel asked him.
The man seemed to think about it for a few moments before saying “I don’t think we should wait. We are here on scene, we can call for assistance if you want Abel, but we are going in now.”
Abel nodded and quickly sent out a general alert saying “Officers need assistance on Seventy-fifth and Twenty, the Greystone Plaza building. Multiple suspects, potentially armed and dangerous. Over and out.”
Bittu nodded and Abel flung the door open before rushing into the cover of a nearby doorway. Bittu followed him on the opposite side. The door was caught by its hydraulics and closed with a soft sigh, not giving them away.
Bittu made the hand motion for advance, putting his shotgun away and pulled out his sidearm. A compact black pistol that looked like a field modified IAC Port-25 high capacity handgun. The twenty five round pistol was common in law enforcement for its ability to reliably put out a lot of rounds and keep on spitting lead in the dirtiest of environments.
They crept towards the sounds of the disturbance. After a few meters Bittu cocked his head and looked at him sharply, it seemed as though they had gotten close enough for him to hear the sounds as well.
Abel was soon able to hear a set of voices arguing quietly. The first was a high pitched yet strangely masculine sounding voice, perhaps a swanith male. The other sounded like a slaaveth, the low throaty gurgling accent markedly different from the first.
The swanith voice asked “Why did we have to keep this little shit alive again?”
The slaaveth gurgled back “Because that's the job we got sent to do. We intimidate the bastard, maybe take a hostage so he pays up. Now stop arguing and grab the bitch. We need to go before some blueskins show up.”
They were almost to the opened door now, Abel was just reaching out for it when Bittu cursed loudly and threw himself flat to the ground. Abel only had time turn his head to the far end of the hall before he was struck by a powerful blow to the upper chest.
The force of the impact knocked his heavy cybernetic body backwards and onto his back. He maintained his grip on his gun though and let off a trio of low powered shots towards the newcomer. He missed, the large trench coated attacker ducking back into the cover of the hall’s end.
Bittu asked “Are you alright Abel? Talk to me buddy!”
Abel growled “I’m fine, not a scratch. That was very unfortunate timing, I never even heard that guy come up the stairs.” He climbed to his feet and shoulder charged the door he had heard the thugs hiding behind.
He burst through the flimsy wood in a shower of splinters and scanned the room for targets. There were none, Bittu followed his grand entrance as Abel moved towards the bedroom area of the small apartment. He popped around the corner and found a human man’s body lying on the ground. The man was alive but appeared to be badly beaten, what's more the window of the bedroom was open.
Abel moved to the window and found it led to the escape ladder and into a narrow alley. Looking out the window he saw the two thugs were busy trying to escape, they had almost reached the ground by that point.
Abel smiled and glanced at Bittu behind him in the doorway “Hey, check this out.” Before Bittu could comment, Abel jumped off the edge of the escapeway.
He had pulled the same stunt before from three stories, now they were six stories up, fully double what he knew his body could handle. As he fell through the air he thought about the consequences of his actions if he had taken it too far. There was a chance he wouldn't be walking away from this. But what choice did he have? His only other option was to let the two escape, and that was not an option he was willing to consider.
The dark asphalt of the alley rushed up to meet him at tremendous speed, he heard one of the crooks just before he landed.
“Hey, do you hear that?” The swanith male asked the other.
Before either of them could so much as utter another word, Abel hit the ground like a meteor. The asphalt cracked and a cloud of debris was thrown out from the force of his armoured feet digging craters into the ground. His right leg took the brunt of the strain without too much difficulty, the limb going dark yellow in his internal monitors. Abel heard a terrible snap as his left leg failed under the extreme load. The limb folded under the impact, pieces of alloy spiraling off towards the two goons. The slaaveth man grunted as he was struck in the leg, yelling in alarm and limping off with a small bundle in his arms. The swanith wasn't so fortunate, a large sprocket caromed off the small avian’s cranium and instantly knocked them unconscious.
Abel grunted in shock and tried to aim his gun at the fleeing man, but found that in the confusion it had fallen from his grip. Abel growled in frustration as he ignored the abundant warnings flashing through his mind. His internal organs had handled the strain almost without issue, but his legs were both fucked.
His left leg was scrap metal, it wouldn't respond to his commands at all. His right leg wasn't much better, the limb twitching spasmodically at random intervals. He had limited control over it but the feedback from the damage was starting to give him a headache and so he forcibly severed the connection to his lower extremities.
Immediately a horrible sense of cold numbness swept through his whole body, the slow burning ache returning. That all too familiar sensation, as if something vitally important was gone. He felt empty, his insides hollow and his mind swam for a while before he heard a voice.
“Buddy, Abel? Come on man, wake up. What the hel were you thinking, by the lords that was a fucking stupid thing to do.” Bittu almost screamed at him in a near panic.
Abel lifted an arm and pointed at the still unconscious swanith male lying at the bottom of the stairs. “I got one though.” he wheezed, laughing painfully.
Suddenly Bittu smiled as well, shaking his head. “You are one crazy son of a shrij, but yea. You sure got one alright. Was that a piece of your leg that knocked him out?” The man asked in wonder.
Abel chuckled again “Heh heh heh, yeah. Mutherfucker wasn't expecting that for sure. What a rush eh?”
​
End of Part 5
==End of Transmission==

They rambled 'til the sun turned red. The big blaze was setting on Bull Creek, and they'd gotten drunk enough to prove it. Turner hunched over his hickory countertop, ice rattling in his empty glass. His Stetson hung low, his gray fuzz suspended over the table's fine wooden ridges.
Joining him that evening was kindred spirit, Digby Jones, running the opposite end of the counter. Another brother past his expiration date. He sat back on the creaky barstool, raising his pint to polish off a bit more whiskey. Alcohol was hard on the ol' liver for Jones, ever since he cleaned up his act. He was still soaking up the rye.
"Awful nosy people 'round here, then." Turner muttered. His company fought to keep him grounded. "I s'pose so. Ain't nothin' special in that cellar anyway. Just some bodies."
The banter caught a coy wheeeeeeeeeeze from the old man, ripped from his drunken stupor. Jones beamed at his grin. "No, ain't nothin' in that cellar. Just more of this shit!" He raised his glass for emphasis. Jones cackled, his buddy backtracking into offended confusion.
"Now-- who's even sayin' all that? Who's got business in my floorboards?" He waved a perplexed hand. Jones pressed his palms into the hickory, tapping the table as he leaned in. "Isaac reckons it's some'n to do with Dean Whitley's daughter!" He reeled back with laughter. Turner's balled fist pounded the counter.
Gruff teeth-grinding spat out his mouth. "Damnit, I knew it. I done told that boy..."
"Oh Lawrence, say it ain't so! You, with the paper-man's daughter?"
Rolled eyes. "C'mon, Digs, it's not like that." His laugh drug on and dried up. "I know, I know. It don't sound like you anyway, Lawrence. Not with your Catherine expecting, now." His burned-out chuckles left in a sigh. But Turner said nothing. By then, he was clasping the countertop with both hands, pinning Jones' attention with dry eyes.
He had already given up his oath to secrecy.
"Yeah, well... Do ya really wanna know?"
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The wooden cut-out raised, peeling back on its iron hinges. A lantern passed through, dangling faint light over two pairs of boots. The hatch closed.
They trudged past crisscross shelves with moonshine décor. Rows of bottles chained over rows of bottles. In a corner, the duo outlined long rods and a bucket hat sat on a barrel. Remnants of their fishing days in the south-east. So they trailed, stepping 'round wood beams and old memories.
The journey ended with Turner sitting the lantern atop a dresser. Wrinkly fingers slid the top nook back, unveiling a patterned trinket box in the dim gas-light. The top lifted off, and the old man carefully plucked its contents of a red bandana.
There was silence. Still, Turner lifted a finger to his lips. Shh.
"What am I looking at?" Jones whispered.
His buddy unfolded the bandana wrapping, a six-piece tucked inside.
Jones buried his suspicions within. "...Hell of an iron."
"You act like you've never met her."
"...Met her?"
"Yeah, Digs." A piercing, oiled gaze. "It's Catherine."
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His Stetson hung from its hook, his gray fuzz rocking back 'n forth in the hickory chair. His constant movement, the homeostasis of drunken restlessness. A sandy breeze tumbled in their far-off gaze. And Jones was frozen, nails curled 'round the end of each armrest; an anxious slouch in his chair.
Their eyes were best left apart. Under lantern glow and moonlight, they instead peered into the desert. It was like a pebbled ocean. A long beat sat in the air; the saddle of confession.
"...You told us she went to see her mother, up north."
The soft whale-sound of the bellowing night wind.
"I did."
Sweat drunk in his scalp, watching the old coot finger with the frame. Just as, wind chime kisses rang overhead.
"...Why her?"
It came out like a demand.
"She bit my shoulder."
An avian dot curved in the black sky.
"...I don't understand."
Turner rocked. And rocked. And stopped to think for a moment.
"Life's complicated, Digs."
And he rocked. Crickets sounded in the dunes. Jones tried to lighten the mood, in denying disbelief.
"...Shoot her any?"
"Fuck no."
Another injection of adrenaline to Jones' system. He clamped his eyes shut.
"...Why not?"
Another end to Turner's rocking. Even he pondered on his quick response. A perverse stare mapped out each ridge of the sidearm. Wherever he was looking, he arrived.
"Lord knows I hate to give her away."
Jones lifted a hand to sponge the liquid caking his cheek.
The old man lifted the muzzle, pointing its tip like a compass into the night.
"Y' see it?"
Eyes scanning the deep.
"No sir, I don't." Jones panted.
The wasteland's belly groaned, and the aching was the wind.
"It rides at bedtime. A posse like thunder. Horses without hooves..."
The man leaned forward in his chair with a squint.
"They're wranglin' somethin' out there."
Jones was out of questions. He didn't want to know anymore. He nestled his temple in his palm. By then, he had just been speaking on Turner's accord.
"Is that right, Lawrence?"
Turner's index coiled onto the trigger, his thumb fingering the hammer.
"Yeah."
The hand over his head had become a mask for his eyes. Jones offered a final inquisition.
"What are they wranglin' on, Lawrence?"
Catherine clicked. Her voice was a gargling of blood. Her intonation said she had accepted that bubbling red long ago. By now, she only tasted moonshine.
"The spirit of Dean Whitley. It's out there, in that desert. Maybe it's the hooves."

Yo glue. You don't use this place so you'll never hear this but I got to tell someone and I'm not going to send it to you and sound even crazier I don't want you thinking I'm some kind of psychopathic stalker and I want you to feel comfortable and respected with your boundaries. So let's get down to brass tacks.
Girl when I think about you and all this s*** that went on and I think about me. It reminds me of when in pulp fiction Bruce Willis is popping Marcellus Wallace (Ving rhames) in the face saying "you feel that?" That's your pride f****** with you or some s*** like that.
Man glue how the hell are my feelings going to be hurt and how can I be so selfish as to even think that I deserve to be respected or put any expectations on you I'm not going to go into huge detail. Reason being is because the rest of the world will hear it but you probably won't but at least out there in the void I'm going to make it to where the respect you deserve this voiced from me and that you're honored for the things that you've done selflessly. Being thet our sister birthday was yesterday and she's no longer with us I think she would smile from above knowing that I finally said something like this.
Hey let me say thank you for real. Thank you for shutting my ass down and thank you for this list I'm about to go through which I will go into detail at a later time.
I'm going to write a story about our lives. I'm telling you it's going to happen. I started three separate writings and I'm ready to scrap them all to tell our story. I'm going to focus on that in my writings anyways on to the summary of what glue means to me or what I acknowledge about glue.
What you were up against.
When we met. You a teenage girl. Abandoned by one parent in a very vile way. The other parent was raising you. We were running around, you got sick, and you were in the hospital for weeks with some very serious troubles. Towards the end of the hospital stay cuz I was in there with you the whole time. The other parent came said that they won't going to deal with you and for you to figure it out a young girl in the hospital. The crazy part is you had done nothing wrong. That was my first real dose of surrealism in people next to some childhood stuff from one of my mother's boyfriends. And shortly after you were told you didn't have a home to come back to as a teenage girl in the hospital the doctors came in and said you would never be able to get pregnant or bare children. You moved in with us me my mom and my sister. And after all that you have been through you would think that you'll be nervous or anxious or things will be awkward. No. You stepped into the home and you immediately brought light into it that it was missing. You immediately were a part of the family and you were a part that was missing the whole time that no one ever knew about. You became a daughter to my mother a sister to my sister and more important things than my words can express right now to me. You kept a strong mentality and glue you were always the caretaker. You dealt with me a young pig-headed man very much in love with you with the drug addiction you catered to me. But not like a slave you catered to my soul there is never someone that I can ever dream of to treat me the way you did. You were loyal man you were my everything. I was yours. None of this is going to be an order but I've traveled with you across the country. We moved to Louisiana. I got a job on the tugboats. You were in the middle of a new scary town. And here I was gone 30 days at a time. But you held on. That was a really stressful time when I look back and that was a time when even though it was an experience I regret that decision because being gone that long from you at that young seemed okay then but even though my buddy's family was around I should have been there. But we did it the best we could. Eventually that didn't work out I'll never forget two cats in a 1984 Ford escort and all our s*** driving all the way to the East Coast. That escort could do some runs now. Anyways we moved to the beach. Being close to home my drug addiction was still an active Factor at all times you held on every time you could. When we move to the beach we decided we were going to do other things we came back to the city. That's what my sister move to the beach with her friend and we were in the city and got to call she had been in a car wreck.
We fly down to the beach before that even cut my sister out of the car we made a 2-hour drive in about 45 minutes. They will my sister in you were right by her side by my side you were there fam you were going through it with me, with her, with the parents. The wheel her in she said she couldn't feel her legs. Boom paralyzed never going to walk again. Thank God she lived and thank God she has such an amazing sister beside her during it all.
After rehabilitation the situation that it happened put my mom into a absolute mental tailspin. So we stuck around as my mother could barely function to tend to my sister.. to your sister. So you a young young woman who had been s*** on by her family. Took over my mother's role and began caretaking for my sister, all the while taking care of my mom with her mental episodes and and down time, and taking care of a loving man with an addiction that had selfish tendencies and you filled the role of all three caretakers and still manage to love me and show me affection with a smile on your face. You took care of the whole house. You took care of the animals. I'm not talking about any of the good really that I did or anybody else did I just want you to be recognized here.
We decided to move to Florida after a long time of you taking care of my paralyzed sister and helping her acclimate until she started lighting it up. What she took off and became president the Honor society went back to school started doing fundraisers was in the Miss wheelchair state runnings eyeballing Ms wheelchair America..once she got in her groove... We went on to Florida.
In Florida you dealt with a man that had just found the purest cocaine he had done in a long time for dirt cheap prices. Through pretty much the whole stay we were there the years we were there. But I wasn't completely a lost cause so in Florida you became a business partner, an entrepreneur, an inventor, a teammate, a valuable asset, Chief cornerstone that all things business relied on between us and my buddy that we went into business with. Your pragmatic approach and abilities dominated with mine. The things I fell short in you could put into place... I don't want to say my inventiveness and idealism was the exact complimentary opposite to that where you lacked. But I'm going to be straight up with you you were just as inventive, sellable, full of ideas, practical enough to make it happen, and able to execute. So you were still at a young age early twenties the most amazing business partner I could ever ask for. Not to mention the fun in the sun the palm trees the tacky gold the new cars living on the beach man I was built for that s*** and I know you were. Eventually when the big collapse of the towers came, and us with our lack of savings which was a big part my fault. After September 11th the market just crashed and we didn't do business and s*** started going backwards and we sold our debt for what a couple thousand bucks? To watch my friend hold on to that business and buy us out of all that debt until it finally bankrupted was insane he really held on to that dream.
Anyways by the time we get back to our hometown not only is my sister been in a wheelchair now my sister develops a tumor on her pituitary gland Cushing's disease. My drug addiction is full force when we pull back into town. You jump right into action taking care of her everyone and by this time your family had got back in your life your parents. And you forgave them and let them in boy I'll never forget to work it took for you to get over that I remember the days that I sit with you and helped you work through that stuff. But you forgave you opened your heart and you opened your arms and embrace family. And you took care of everyone.
We get married. I get you pregnant the first child. I'm so far in addiction now that we're back home ground zero for those old habits. You're neglected, I'm high, selfish,I'm ashamed so basically I either don't come home because I've been up all night High s*** spending all of our money. And I mean all of it taking right out of my pregnant wife's and the baby's mouth to serve my f****** addiction. and you just held on. Remainder Rock still taking care of my sister. Still being there for my mom. And absolutely the polar opposite of what the doctor said when we first met about not being able to have kids. So after neglecting you constantly pawning off tons of responsibilities on you and spending every penny we had and expecting you to take care of the kids and never being home and being unavailable because I had a disgusting ratchet ass bottom of the barrel love affair that started with cocaine but once I tried to sling and learn how to cook cocaine became Crack to be exact. I traded you, businesses, vehicles, Mom Dad the kids, stability love, God, futures, anything everything I traded for that nasty b**** crack. Mind body Spirit trade it at all.
And what did you do you kept managing with what you we had you kept trying to hold it together and you held on for dear life.
Now you had already become a daughter to my mother and you were a sister to my sister so my part to play in that has nothing to do with y'all's relationship at this point. There's a very painful thing that I'm even scared to talk about maybe one day. Anyways finally you said you couldn't do it anymore I had driven us in the dirt I had literally turned us into basically homeless people with kids and I just could not stop when I would get to the bottom I'd bring a jackhammer and I'd find a new bottom. And you finally took your eyes off of me and you looked at what was the most important our child and you said it's time to separate you had to do it. Our separation you still tried to work with me as I got off the drug short-term and you came back and that's when I got you pregnant. That's what I want to talk to you about one day when we have time. But that has nothing to do with the honor you deserve because you are always were and not a doubt my mind always will be a loyal honorable commendable Royal woman a true virtuous woman.
Anyways when we started talking again during the separation I got you pregnant again. We got back together to try to make it work for both our kids now. But I wasn't going to give up crack for you all the families all the religion all the money and all the happiness in the world. I was that f****** stupid. God is good because I didn't 12 step my s*** out of there with that God come down and put a disgust and a chill in my bones about that s*** and made it disappear overnight. Maybe another time because it was way too late when it happened. Anyways I got you to raise two kids stole all of our money stole all of our food stole everything we didn't even have gas half the time. You hold on. You held one. I still have the claw marks in my soul from where you didn't want to let me go because you were that committed and that good of a woman. That in tune with family.
You went on to raise the kids by yourself you hooked up with another dude he got you pregnant then you dealt with him abusing you physically. Torturing that household. I know he's changed but I know some of this s*** that he did to my kids because I could see it in their eyes every time I would drop a fork. Thank God they healed from that. Whether they healed fully especially one of them I don't know. But then the question would have to be raised does the pain in the issues they go through revolve around him or revolve around the traumas from me. Cuz a dad supposed to be there. You basically dealt with him terrorizing y'all raising hell you've told me some of the things that he used to do to you I don't see how you can still talk to me like he needs you and you've got to be there for him but that's on you and I respect it but the way that you explain some of the things that he did to you to me it makes me sick to my stomach because I could just never see myself like harming you physically over and over and over again and doing things to you in other forms of physical abuse and getting pleasure or control out of it. But I can see taking you everything you ever owned and never given our kids a chance or anybody else and giving it all to crack can I so I don't know there. I just know it blows my mind. But I think it comes a lot from the fact I left us so bottom of the barrel out back from my addiction that as long as somebody was providing you felt some form of security over top of what I left you with which was complete insecurity. Maybe that's why you stuck around for the abuse and still justifiy it over top of the things I've done to this day.
You raised his kid, you raised my kids, you were the one true parent you were two dads you were one mom. You were a counselor, a provider a mediator a caretaker a teacher a protector a shelter a guide a mentor a motivator a problem solver you were a parent and you played the role of three parents. Plus you worked plus you were there for my family whenever they needed you. You were there for my sister all through her Cushing's disease. And there's so much more because you were building towards the future on your own establishing financial security vision for yourself holding the fort down getting damn near no financial help from me none 00.
I incurred 135,000 child support debt with you. How's that for deadbeat dead? See this isn't about the arrogant narcissistic guy you think I am this is about who you are. Let's just fast forward so we getting locked up for child support even though you had already told me you weren't working on getting all of that got rid of. And yes you may not believe this but my whole f****** inheritance is going to you not one red cent goes to me because you earned that. Yo you earned like 50,000 times that times a hundred times 50. All of the money in the world in my opinion is still not enough compensation if it was given all to you for the things you've done.
Now fast forward to my sister dying she's on her deathbed she's checking out. you stay and active part of her life and you check on her and you stay by her side and you are there with her as a friend you coming you become her caretaker in the end you help my mother you stand by my family side we see my sister into the Afterlife and we live the lives we live.
I come to the city out of the blue I'll come to find out there was a warrant out I get arrested. With some help from another family member if y'all bond me out with $13,000 cash. A week later I'm called by the courts they said we didn't have to show the decision could be made without us there and when we pop up they walk out and they say here here's your piece of paper sir. You owe $14.75. I'll look at the piece of paper it says Mr so and so your debt with child support enforcement has been cleared in full please pay us these $14 processing fees and your case is closed. You smiled me a smile at you.
And you said the most horrific thing I've ever heard in my life from someone. I'm being cynical here because it was really the most amazing thing but I hate the term because I'm a basket case. You looked at me and said be better do better.
Fast forward after that I started trying to get my s*** together started trying to help you with vehicles and stuff around the house and somehow... Some f****** way... I had the audacity to get offended by the way you were treating me. And I had a nervous breakdown. And I begin saying things to you the absolutely weren't true that I absolutely didn't mean and I f****** flaked.
You with no contact to protect yourself.
Look at what you have done how could I have done that?
Anyways I've seen my mom turn on you with her words. I've seen your parents turn on you, I've turned on you, seen your friends turn on you, I've seen a world I've seen your ex's turn on you, but you know what I've never seen you turn on the people that you give your ability and your honor to and your bonds to I've never seen you turn on them ever.
You didn't turn on me you were protecting yourself.
Glue you were the strongest f****** woman I've ever met and you are worthy of an award that his world renowned and recognized because there are so many things that I haven't said here.
You are The Rock, you are the glue, you are the ties that bind... You are the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 versus 10 to 31 is the description of who You are. Even to the point of where our kids were raised by you to place the dwelling now that you're at. You have taken in so many other people's kids you're like a parent to everyone. You excel at every job that you do. Vital asset to every team that you join. Highly efficient highly intelligent. Insanely gorgeous. Smart funny. God your sense of humor is so f****** awesome.
I'll see things in pictures my brain sees things in pictures and I just see pictures of you sometimes where always if we were around somebody that was down you would do the goofiest s*** you had to do to get them to smile because that's what you do. Just like sis did and this is her birthday gift from me because she told me several times to think about how hard you have worked. And she begged me to draw that picture before she died I got it toward the day before she died it was so important to her that picture is me holding her hand and her grabbing a star and her feet rooted to the ground and the roots coming into my feet and it says my brother taught me to reach for the stars my sister taught me to remain grounded.
And it's weird because I look at that and I think about how much of a icon and how much of a aura and presence glue was see y'all were glue one and two. And I'll go get that picture that she had me draw and it brings these overwhelming senses of things because I miss her so much but it brings you into the picture too because you always kept me grounded and I could envision anything anything on vision and you could take it for what it was and you could be like okay it's not that practical but it can be done and you would make the systems that made it happen no matter what it was I could create anything with you. You are after all Earth. I'm air. Reach for the Stars grounded etc.
Do you have so many amazing qualities and you have done so many honorable things. And for my sister's birthday I honor you her sister because the things that she said really ring true now. If you never talk to me again I respect it, if you want us to try to have some kind of working amicable relation I respect it but I have to have communication, you are so much of everything good and honestly I still love you so much thatI fall apart in your presence. But forget me man for real f*** me. Glue I want you to be happy you deserve happiness and if I take away from that then I need to shut my f****** mouth and I need to take that s*** so I went down and I need to smile because I know that you're happier. I truly know what it's like to want something so bad because I have for years but I never got healthy I'm just now getting around to taking care of myself. But I have for years wanted you and when I couldn't have you that's when you became Bruce Willis and you was popping my ass in the face saying you feel that boy that's your pride f****** with you.
Will glue I'm swallowing my pride. I want you to be happy no matter what I want you to be honored. If you ever do decide you want me in your life in any form please give me the communication I need to approach it healthily if not I'll f*** it up. I'm not even going to ask you what you want I'm not going to bug you but if by some chance in hell you ever find this letter just know at any point anytime you can reach out to me and ask for anything. I have taken and taken and taken and you have given and given and given it's time for me to sit the f*** down shut the f****** and love you the way you're supposed to be loved. And that means unconditionally loving you for who you are not loving you for me loving you because I absolutely adore who You are and I want to see the best life you can have happen.
You probably can't see your value and priceless coming out of my mouth or anyone else still does not do it justice.
Going to write a story about us glue.
And I promise to never promise again and just show you by allowing you the power dynamic you deserve to make your own choices and get the happiest healthiest life you can without me interjecting you've done it well this far better than me. Have made myself look like a total helpless loser in this but we both know what I'm capable of and what I'm about. If you need a roll for me just communicate it. I'll give it my all even if giving it my all means standing outside the box looking in but never burdening you with the fact that I am anymore.
And I'm not going to bring it up. Man I hope one day you get all the things you deserve.
You're admired appreciated loved and honored. By many. You are the Chief cornerstone woman. You are woman all woman.
I love you always will. Have my power dynamics take what you need and should you ever need me to flex my power because we both know all you got to do is make the call and I'll flex on whatever the hell you need me to as hard as you need me to and I'll scoop my ass right on out the way if that's what you need after it's done
Thank you glue
Buy some odd chance should you ever want me to be the one to try to love you communicate with me and point me in the direction I'm so f***** up out here I need direction and I know that they could be poisonous to you so you being The logical thinker that you are take that for what you will.
I've never been able to fully give myself to anyone else because I truly feel that to this day I will take my love for you to the grave.
You're that special.
Should I ever get a chance to love you and stand by your side of your man again you're going to have to let me die and and come out of the death of at least once because I'll die of happiness and wake up I just I wouldn't know how to handle it.
To me it's like imagine somebody said hey here's this egg but it doesn't have a shell that's just made of the rubber stuff that holds the shell together and you've got to run this egg 3 MI of mountain terrain in 20 minutes or the whole world ends.
Well I would just take the f****** egg and throw it on the ground. That's how I've been treating things. That's what I'm relearning everything.
It could be a detriment to you you know the sign of this always protect yourself and do what's best for your happiness but if I could love you again and be your man the things I would do I can't tell you because that would be the same old same old and honestly I just don't know.
I just know I love you you've always been everything to me and there will never be anyone that compares and there never has been.
Thank you for who you are

My girlfriend and I broke up on our one year, on the 29th. This same day my grandpa had passed away and I was also dealing with not being able to compete in my lifelong sport anymore from a week prior. She broke up with me because I wasn’t working around this time due to playoffs for my sport (needing to travel) causing me to take a leave of absence in order to not get fired. We had an idea of where we wanted to go for dinner but she was upset to hear that I didn’t have enough money to pay for the whole dinner as I had to pay for insurance and gas that same day; and that I did not make the reservation a week prior. I am a broke college student who was trying to play out his last season of baseball ever, after 18 years of hard dedication. She didn’t believe in me and kept telling me to quit even though I had several college scouts in interest. That’s besides the point though, she didn’t like that I wasn’t productive enough with work and with school as I didn’t do well during my first two semesters in 2020-21, causing me to obtain my associates later than her. She felt embarrassed by me. I haven’t really been upset until recently, as I have not been able to stop crying the past couple days. She still shared her location with me so every other night I made sure she was home safe after work even though we hadn’t been talking. Last night she was at a middle school parking lot at 2am and my buddy who just so happens to live down the street from it was on his way home and I asked him to check out what she was doing there. As soon as he got there she hopped out of the backseat of a car of her coworker. Needless to say I feel betrayed, hurt, angry and more sad than I have ever been; even more than when my mom passed away. I texted her furiously out of per emotions and she denied having sex with anyone and that there were two coworkers in there including a girl. She understandably was extremely upset/uncomfortable that I had done this and I feel extremely guilty and ashamed of myself for stooping that low. She had told me that we could still talk and that she just didn’t have time for anyone else right now. I feel like an idiot and don’t know how to mend my feelings in order to recover from this. She was my first true love and I always tried to find ways to make her show me love back but she never did. I don’t know why I’m so attached to someone who didn’t love me. Any advice for recovering would be appreciated.

Their exchange carried them through the week-night 'til the sun turned red. The big blaze was setting on Bull Creek, & they had gotten drunk enough to prove it. Turner hunched over his hickory countertop, ice rattling in his empty glass. His Stetson hung low, his gray fuzz suspended over the table's fine wooden ridges.
At his home that evening was kindred spirit, Digby Jones, running the opposite end of the counter. Another old man clinging to the dark hair of youth. He sat back on the creaky barstool, lifting up his pint to polish off a bit more whiskey. Alcohol was hard on the ol' liver for Jones, ever since he cleaned up his act. He was still soaking up his rye.
"Awful nosy people 'round here, then." Turner muttered. Jones fought to keep him grounded. "Ain't that the truth. Either that, or ya really do got some'n fancy in that ol' hatch."
The banter caught a coy wheeeeeeeeeeze from the man, pulled from his mix of pondering & drunken stupor. Jones beamed at his grin. "No, I ain't got nothin' in that cellar. Just more of this shit!" Turner raised his glass for emphasis. Jones laughed, his bud backtracking into offended confusion.
"Now-- who's even sayin' all that? Who's got business in my floorboards?" He waved a perplexed hand. Jones pressed his palms into the hickory, tapping the table as he leaned in. "Isaac reckons it's some'n to do with Dean Whitley's daughter!" He reeled his head with a cackle. Turner pounded the counter with a balled fist.
Gruff teeth-grinding spat out his mouth. "Damnit, I knew it. I done told that boy..."
"Oh Lawrence, say it ain't so! You, with the paper-man's daughter?"
Rolled eyes. "C'mon, Digs, it's not like that." Jones' laugh drug on & dried up. "I know, I know. It doesn't sound like you anyway, Lawrence. Not with your Catherine expecting, now." His burned-out chuckles left in a sigh. But Turner had said nothing. By then, he was clasping the countertop with both hands, pinning Jones' attention with dry eyes.
He had already given up his oath to secrecy.
"Do you really wanna know?"
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The wooden cut-out raised, peeling back on its iron hinges. A lantern passed through, carried by two boot sets. The hatch closed.
They stepped past crisscross shelves with moonshine décor. In a corner, Jones outlined rods & a bucket hat sat on a barrel. Remnants of Turner's fishing days in the south-east. He trailed in pace with the brother, stepping 'round a wood beam here, over a canyon portrait there.
The journey stopped with the lantern sat atop a dresser. Jones stood over Turner's side. His wrinkly fingers slid the top nook back, unveiling a patterned chest in the dim gas-light. The top lifted off, & he gently plucked the contents of a red bandana, sitting it by the lantern.
There was silence. Still, Turner lifted a finger to his lips. Shh.
"What am I looking at?" Jones whispered.
His buddy unfolded the bandana wrapping, a six-piece tucked inside.
He buried his suspicions within. "...Hell of an iron."
"You act like you've never met her."
"...Met her?"
"Yeah, Digs." A piercing, oiled gaze. "It's Catherine."
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His Stetson hung from its hook, his gray fuzz rocking back 'n forth in the hickory chair. His constant movement, the homeostasis of drunken restlessness. A sandy breeze tumbled in their far-off gaze. And Jones was frozen, nails curled 'round the end of each armrest; an anxious slouch in his chair.
Their eyes were best left apart. Under the lantern glow and moonlight, they instead peered into the desert. It was like a pebbled ocean. A long beat sat in the air; the saddle of confession.
"...You told us she went to see her mother, up north."
The soft whale-sound of the bellowing night wind.
"I did."
Sweat drunk in his scalp, watching the old coot finger with the frame. Just as, wind chime kisses rang overhead.
"...Why her?"
It came out like a demand.
"She bit my shoulder."
An avian dot curved in the black sky.
"...I don't understand."
Turner rocked. And rocked. And stopped to think for a moment.
"Life's complicated, Digs."
And he rocked. Crickets sounded in the dunes. Jones tried to lighten the mood, in denying disbelief.
"...Shoot her any?"
"Fuck no."
Another injection of adrenaline to Jones' system. He clamped his eyes shut.
"...Why not?"
Another end to Turner's rocking. Even he pondered on his quick response. A perverse stare mapped out each ridge of the sidearm. Wherever he was looking, he arrived.
"Lord knows I hate to give her away."
Jones lifted a hand to sponge the liquid caking his cheek.
Turner lifted the muzzle, pointing its tip like a compass into the night.
"Y' see it?"
Eyes scanning the deep.
"No sir, I don't." Jones panted.
The wasteland's belly groaned, and the aching was the wind.
"It rides at bedtime. A posse like thunder. Horses without hooves..."
The man leaned forward in his chair with a squint.
"They're wranglin' somethin' out there."
Jones was out of questions. He didn't want to know anymore. He nestled his temple in his palm. By then, he had just been speaking on Turner's accord.
"Is that right, Lawrence?"
Turner's index coiled onto the trigger, his thumb fingering the hammer.
"Yeah."
The hand over his head had become a mask for his eyes. Jones offered a final inquisition.
"What are they wranglin' on, Lawrence?"
Catherine clicked. Her voice was a gargling of blood. Her intonation said she had accepted that bubbling red long ago. By now, she only tasted moonshine.
"The spirit of Dean Whitley. It's out there, in that desert. Maybe it's the hooves."

1. "I messed up a jump skydiving. I was able to correct the situation and pull the pilot chute for my canopy, but I was very, very close to having my reserve go off. The reserves are generally reliable, but it’s still nothing I want to test. Landed fine and then got a very stern talking-to for pulling so low."
2. "Just google 'Levey PCH,' then ask away…I’ll be very surprised if anyone can beat what happened to me. THANK WHOEVEWHATEVER you believe in for Apple, Scorpion, UCLA, and the LA County Fire Department and Sheriff's Department."
3. "Minutes before it happened, I was under the Cypress structure that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California (which was a magnitude 6.9). I was traveling north underneath the double-layered structure and felt creepy and claustrophobic on the brightest day. I raced to get out, as I always did, because I hated being under it. After getting out, I felt like my tire had gone flat and started to weave around in my lane, then I noticed that everyone else was losing control and hitting their brakes too. That was the earthquake. I didn't find out until later about the collapse, and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I'd never felt so close to death before."
4. "I was rappelling off the top of the tallest building in Bangkok (200 meters, or 656 feet) as a promotional stunt. I was supposed to rappel down to the 10th floor, land on a small balcony, and then traverse over to another building. The wind shear off the building was enough to blow me 20–30 feet away from the side of the building. Picture a spider hanging by a thread in the wind. As I got close to the 10th floor, I noticed that my rope had been cut and no longer reached the balcony, let alone the ground. The rope was about 10 feet short of the landing. So, still blowing away from the side of the building, off and on I waited until I was just above the balcony and dropped the last several feet onto the deck. Super pissed but alive."
5. "Going to school in San Francisco, I got off the bus to get cigarettes and a soda at a liquor store. I stopped at the trash can on the way out to open my cigarettes and soda and walked half a block up the street when a crane fell off the roof right where I'd been standing 30 seconds before. The crane operator was killed, and half a minute earlier, I would have been as well."
6. "Although being an ironworker comes with its fair share of risk, as long as you don’t become too incompetent, things can be safe. But that is easier said than done, seeing as the days are long and the work is physically draining. One day, I was about 60 feet in the air rigging a beam to be lowered to the ground. I signaled the crane operator to 'cable up' (lift the beam), but the beam wasn’t budging. I decided to look down the beam to see what was wrong...BANG! Before I knew it, the beam broke free and came up at my face with about 2,000 pounds of force. It knocked off my hard hat and hit every edge of my safety glasses, missing the side of my face by a quarter inch. I thought I had died, it was so sudden. I should never have put myself in what we call 'the line of fire.' I’ll never forget how close my kids were to losing their father that day because I let my judgment slip. Still gives me goosebumps talking about it."
7. "I got hit by a car and walked away with no injuries. The Sunday before final exams during my last semester of college, I went to the library at 6 a.m. to study. At 2 p.m., I needed a break and started walking back to my car. At an intersection, I stopped, made eye contact with the driver of a car at a stop sign, and started walking across the street on a crosswalk. The next thing I knew, I was up on the windshield of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. He hit the brakes, and I rolled off the hood of his car and landed on my feet. I was so freaked out that I told the guy I was fine and left. Later that afternoon, I went to the hospital to get checked out and had no injuries. The doctor told me to buy a lottery ticket on my way home because I was so lucky."
8. "While I was doing the dishes, my hip bumped the dial on my stove, turning it to ignite, but I didn't notice, so the stove was leaking gas all night. In the morning, I could tell something smelled off, but I have a hard time smelling things, so I just figured it was some old cauliflower rice I had thrown out the night before. To deal with the smell, I lit not one, but two candles, one of which was right next to the stove. Later, after coming back from running errands, as soon as I opened the door, I felt instantly violently ill, like a migraine and the flu all at once. Probably 20 minutes later, I finally saw the knob on the stove and realized what was happening."
9. "One time, I was watching TV in my lounge room and I was sitting on the floor eating. We have a really big TV and we had an earthquake, but I thought it was a train passing by. It wasn't. I ran out of the room as everything started to wobble, and the TV nearly fell on top of me."
10. "I went to summer camp when I was 15, and for our last weekend activity, they took us to Martha’s Vineyard and rented us bikes. Now, I loved riding bikes in the park as a kid but had never ridden in the street. But since 'you never forget how to ride a bike,' I figured I could do it. I headed out and tried to go up a street that was very steep. I started to lose control of the bike, and I fell into the street in between a truck that was hauling a trailer (I fell in front of the trailer). I saw this huge wheel coming at me, and my leg was stuck from the fall. I screamed as hard as I could and hoped it wouldn’t kill me (others told me they heard it a few streets away). The driver luckily heard it and slammed on the brakes; I was scuffed up but otherwise fine. You can indeed forget how to ride a bike."
11. "I got hit by a train. I was living and working at a college that has train tracks running through it and only a stop sign before you cross them at the vehicle intersection. You had to cross the tracks to leave campus. I was headed to the gym in July, and the windows were rolled up and the AC and radio were blasting. I’d crossed that crossing a thousand times, so I stopped a bit, passed the stop sign, and looked right, but the train was coming from the left. Its horn blew, but I panicked when I heard it, so I hit the accelerator but braked immediately. I was already on the tracks. It only hit my front end and dragged me about 200 feet down the tracks. I only had a broken rib, three cracked ribs, and a pretty gnarly cut on my finger. The people at the next crossing probably thought they saw someone die."
12. "My last day of driver’s education class, we were just about back to school. We were all feeling pretty good because we’d passed our tests that day. I was in the rear driver’s seat and had a classmate driving, one next to me, and a teacher in the passenger seat. We went through a green light at LITERALLY the last intersection before school when a car blew through the red light going 55 mph and slammed into us on my side, just a few inches back from where I was sitting. It spun our car into the intersection and kept going! We were all concussed and had to be taken to the hospital, but that was it. When we went to retrieve my bags from the trunk of the wreckage at the salvage yard, the shop owner admitted he hadn’t answered my ringing phone because he didn't think we had survived, and didn’t want to break the news to everyone calling me. Two inches between me and being crushed alive. In driver’s ed!"
13. "I was walking to class one day, and the shortest route went under a viaduct. It had been snowing and melting on and off for the past few days. The viaduct is about 100 feet high, and just as I was about to walk from under it and onto the pavement, a 6-foot icicle fell those 100 feet and smashed into the ground in front of me. Suffice to say, I took that as a sign not to go to my lecture and turned back home!"
14. "I was asleep in the passenger seat of a car on a highway when we flipped going about 80 mph. We rolled a few times and landed in a ditch. Airbags did not go off, and I shattered the passenger-side window with my skull. I literally walked away from it and didn't go to an ER until a few hours later. I literally had a concussion and one teeny bruise on my right arm, but nothing else. The nurses told me that if I had been awake for the accident, my neck would have snapped and I'd have died immediately. Whenever I tell people, they're always stunned — imagine my reaction waking up to a missing side window and a crushed car and being fully functional! I feel lucky every day that I was asleep and still have my life."
15. "There was one time my sister and I were driving down a long road with a huge cemetery. I thought it would be funny to hold my breath because people say if you don’t, the spirits of dead people will haunt you or something. When I held my breath, my sister slowed down to torture me. I was a little annoyed, but at the stop sign at the intersection, this car going really fast didn’t even bother to slow down. They even swerved into our lane, so my sister had to barely dodge. I swear, though, if my sister hadn't slowed down to torture me, we would have been in a bad wreck. Now I’m not annoyed that she did that, I’m lucky."
16. "This isn't dramatic, but it's continued to impact my life on a daily basis. When I was 11, I was playing baseball with the rest of my gym class. We took a time-out to argue about who was batting next, and I stood behind home plate, staring into left field. Play resumed, and no one told me to move. The strongest guy in the class laid down a single...and hit me in his backswing...with the baseball bat...in the middle of my forehead. I suffered skull fractures and a brain bleed. To this day, I have anxiety driven by the traumatic brain injury. The neurologist said that the fact that he hit the ball saved my life. Had he swung and missed, I would have died."
17. "I was in college and I had just finished my last class of the day. It was a short walk to my car that consisted of crossing a pedestrian crosswalk on the street separating the school from parking. On each side of the crosswalk were speed bumps so cars were forced to slow down. At this time of day, a good number of students were getting out of class, and a large herd of us started crossing the street at the crosswalk. There must have been 30 of us. I was stupidly looking down at my phone and was walking rather slowly. I didn’t realize that I was lagging behind. Everyone else was on the other side and I was still in the middle of the street. At the same moment, I noticed a freaking DUMP TRUCK whizzing by in front of me. It was probably 1–2 feet in front of me. Either he didn’t see me still crossing or he didn’t care. After I got to my car, all I could do was sit there in silence for a while and contemplate what could have just happened. Even as I write this, I shudder."
18. "This is definitely not the craziest cheating-death story, but it was definitely scary. I was at a waterpark with my family, and I don’t do well with heat and stairs — something about the combination makes me faint. We went on a waterslide that uses tubes, and it was a long trek up. I apparently was so sick from heat exhaustion, I passed out as I was next in line and hit my head on the tube. If it weren’t for the tube, they aren't sure I’d be alive right now."
19. "It was during Christmastime, and my mom, my little brother, and I all wanted to go look at Christmas lights near the middle school. There was a hill and then a lane where you would wait for the light to turn green and then you had to turn left. Well, the main light had turned red, so it was our turn to go, and thank god my mom checked before going, because if she hadn’t checked, a truck would have hit us, going like 60 mph, straight through the side of our car where my little brother was sitting."
20. "I was 4 or 5, and we were living in Estes Park, Colorado. At that time, I was challenging myself to go closer and closer to a river they have there. I was caught by the current and would’ve run into several rocks and a waterwheel if it weren’t for my cousin, who reached down, grabbed my arm, and saved me."
21. "I survived hitting an elk in the Canadian Rockies and going down a mountain 15 times end over end, stopping 20 feet short of a whitewater river. I gave myself first aid. Doctors said I would never walk normally again and I'd have brain damage. I sent one of them a picture of me with three gold medals around my neck."
22. "In the fall of '15, I was riding my motorcycle to work on a foggy morning. A truck with an enclosed trailer ran a stop sign in front of me while I was driving on a 55 mph road. I was unable to stop, ran into the trailer, and was pinned underneath the trailer, being crushed to death. A farmer was on his dirt bike behind the truck going to meet another farmer for coffee who lived on the corner of the intersection. Once he realized I was pinned, he ran to get his friend and his friend's skid-steer loader. They then used the skid loader to lift the trailer off of me and began CPR. Luckily, right as they started, a sheriff's deputy arrived on scene and took over. I owe my life to those two farmers. If they hadn't acted, I would have died underneath the trailer, as there would have been no way for first responders to lift it off of me (it had thousands of pounds of equipment in it) in time."
23. "I've always been handy with tools and taught myself how to do things; I've been changing flat tires for anyone who'll let me. However, one day when I was about 18 years old, my buddy came over to chill, and he had his dad's brand-new Tacoma. So we chilled for a couple of hours, and when it was time for him to leave, we noticed that his front tire was flat, so naturally, I volunteered to change it (no prior experience with independent suspensions). I placed the jack on the frame and started to go at it — lifted the car enough to take the flat out. But when the fully inflated wheel was fitted, it didn't have clearance. My first thought was to get a second jack. Half my body was underneath the car, putting the jack in, when I heard a creek, and the next thing I knew, the car slipped. The car ended up with the front end touching the ground, and I got a big scrape mark on my shoulder. To this day, I don't know how or why I did not die under that Tacoma."
24. "I lived alone with my dog. There was a hole in my gas heater, so it was leaking carbon monoxide, but of course I didn't know that at the time. My dog woke me up one morning, barking and whining, and I thought she had to go out to potty. When I sat up in bed, I got so dizzy and thought I would throw up. I ended up passing out twice, once hitting my head on the bathroom cabinet, very close to my temple, and once hitting my chin on the toilet seat. I called my boss — the only phone number I remembered at the time. (This was before cellphones.) She called 911 and they came to get me. They figured out I had carbon monoxide poisoning, and I was in the ER for eight hours that day. The doctor told that when blood gases are at a certain amount, the victim goes into a coma, without fail. Mine were more than double whatever that number was. He said no matter how much my dog was barking, I should not have woken up."
25. Finally, "I was at the beach with several of my friends, my sister, and my mom. Mom was sitting on the beach watching us. We were around 11–14, I believe, but no younger than 9. Kind of out of nowhere, we started getting sucked under the water in a rip current. I was being sucked under the pier and slammed my face into the barnacles. We were screaming for help, but at first, no one came. As I was being dragged under the water and coming up screaming for help, I could see people just staring and could hear my friends also screaming for help. Finally, people started jumping into the water to save us, including my mom. She jumped in and instantly got sucked into the current but managed to grab one of my friends. She used her body to shield him from the razor-sharp barnacles."

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Seeking feedback on my resume. Currently happy with my role, but looking to put myself out there and see if I can make a lateral move (with better compensation) or advance my career within the next 12 months. After receiving some productive feedback from this group, I modified my resume with the following changes:

• Compressed 2-page resume to a single page
• Simplifying bullet points and removing unnecessary information

Please let me know what you think of the current state of my resume!
https://preview.redd.it/f2dphbakq24b1.png?width=1656&format=png&auto=webp&s=b4c446106fe2d2e5c35d035f90fd92bfe98fbd9e