People who run home health businesses in NJ, assuming you bill 3 units of ther ex and 1 unit of a TA for each patient, how much is your average reimbursement?
Considering stepping away from my OP job, doing home health and slowly build an OP clinic…

As the title says I am removing my Parrot OS as I don't use it as much as I used to. If anything I have gone back to using the most common method of using a VM (Virtual Machine), whether that is using Kali Linux or Parrot OS. The other part being that I am re-installing Ubuntu which I have been using a lot more recently. So I decided to remove Parrot OS and re-install Ubuntu which I have been using for a while now (well since my last post basically - after installing Ubuntu) but not consistently. I am aware that there are many other posts like this one, but as a person who likes to do thigs properly and some what by the books I want to make sure I get this right so I don't have to mess with it again.
​

Question 1

• My first question is more for my curiosity but, should I install the "Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS" or the "Ubuntu 23.04"?
  • Since I'm basically a beginner and plan to use Ubuntu more often like a daily drivemain OS which is for both work and possibly gaming, which version would you suggest for me to use?

​

Question 2

• This second question is more about setting Ubuntu up, Should I just let Ubuntu automatically partition the drives how it wants to, or is it better to manually partition the drives my self?
  • The reason I'm asking this is because I'm going to give Ubuntu the full 500GB, but I want to make sure that it is partitioned/setup correctly. Obviously there are many different ways in which people have setup their manual partitions, but I was wondering if there is a more official way of doing it.

​
Here are my PC specs for anyone who wants to know:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 32GB, 3600MHZ, 2 X 16
Motherboard: MSI
GPU: GeForce RTX 30 Series
​
Here is an example below of what I have found:

• ROOT
  • Size: 30000MB, Type: Primary, Location: Beginning of Space, Use: Ext4 journaling file system, Mount: /
• SWAP - Changed size compared to the YouTube video
  • Size: 128000MB, Type: Primary, Location: Beginning of Space, Use: Swap area
• HOME
  • Size: Rest of the Drive, Type: Logical, Location: Beginning of Space, Use: Ext4 journaling file system, Mount: /home

Source (URL at current time): https://youtu.be/A3au3qrNf9A?t=148
​

Question 3

• My final question is more about graphics, colour settings and gaming. As I already know that it is possible to play steam games on Ubuntu with the off few changes, I was wondering if there is a way in which the output display can have its saturation increased?
  • The reason I'm asking this is because I have already set my saturation high on my Windows 10 through the GeForce Control Panel, but I cant seem to find a way to do it on Ubuntu.

​
Hopefully I'm able to get some help and thank you for taking the time to read and help me even if the solution or methods doesn't work.
Post Added On Date: 28/May/2023

Hi,
So basically I wanted to ask if there is anyone here who has tried Uber for extra income here as a foreigner, did you have any problems because of the language, license ,taxes, ... Etc ?
And another question to anyone who's doing Uber here ? Around How much can be expected from around 4hr at night on weekdays and the whole weekend?
Thanks for answering! If it helps with advice I'm in Gdynia

Contact me to get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator by chatting me on +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator.
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The topics inside Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course include:

1. Agency Navigator course Core Curriculum
   
2. Custom E-Learning Platform For Agency Owners
   
3. Financial Planner, Revenue Calculator, Outreach Tracker & More Tools
   
4. Websites Templates, Funnels, Ads & More
   
5. Template Contracts, Sales Scripts, Agreements & More
   

The lessons in Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator will teach you how to:
- Starting Your Agency
- Finding Leads
- Signing Clients
- Getting Paid
- Onboarding Clients
- Managing Client Communication...
...and much, much more!
To get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

Contact me to get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator by chatting me on +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course is one of the best products on how to start a marketing agency.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator includes over 50 hours of step-by-step training covering EVERY aspect of building an agency from scratch. This is almost a plug & play system with enough success stories to back it up! Signing clients, running Facebook ads, building out your team, on-boarding clients, invoicing, sales... this course has everything covered for you.
The topics inside Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course include:

1. Agency Navigator course Core Curriculum
   
2. Custom E-Learning Platform For Agency Owners
   
3. Financial Planner, Revenue Calculator, Outreach Tracker & More Tools
   
4. Websites Templates, Funnels, Ads & More
   
5. Template Contracts, Sales Scripts, Agreements & More
   

The lessons in Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator will teach you how to:
- Starting Your Agency
- Finding Leads
- Signing Clients
- Getting Paid
- Onboarding Clients
- Managing Client Communication...
...and much, much more!
To get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

-----At-A-Glance Updates-----

• Job search IS BACK, and! we ESD is now asking us to report Activity Details, starting this week (8/8) Added 7/9 ESD: Last Minute Change to Job Search Reporting: >>>Click "Yes", Not Requiring Details to be Reported<<<

Added 6/13 Return of the Job Search on July 11, FAQ
Added 6/15 ESD Clarification: 1 Job Search Activity on PUA, 3 for PEUC
Historical Clarification: Job search suspension is tied to the Washington State covid-19 emergency declaration, it has nothing to do with State Reopening Phases or Federal Benefit Extension guidelines. Recent post and reply on the subject.

• Possible Batch Processing Issue delaying some payments ~24-48hrs.

See this poll

-----

This is the Weekly Thread! Please post here.

• New Rule - Low Effort/Duplicate/Searching
• New Rule - Automoderator - Age/Karma Minimums
• State of the Sub 3/26
• State of the Sub 2/4
• State of the Sub 1/19
• The Archive
• The Roadmap to The Archive

------Foreword-----

It is important that users have a Post in which to comment and share their questions and experiences. It is also important to me as a moderator so that I can track the development, propagation or disappearance of issues related to Paid/Processing/Posting; which currently is very very was* difficult because of the volume and number of duplicates, and the lack of information provided by users who do not include their claim type and bank.
I urge you, when posting, to include your bank and your claim type.
I urge you, as much as you can, anticipate delays for weeks with holidays.
Request for separate threads will be entertained, if you can send me a direct message with a good reason that is backed by some sort of evidence.

---------

The most consistently accurate and applicable is in The Archive and The Roadmap

-----Weekly Claim Questions------

NEW 4/12: ESD's site for Weekly Claim Questions - Reporting Earnings
NEW 4/12: ESD's site for Weekly PUA claim Questions
NEW 4/12: ESD's site for Restarting your Claim
ESD's site for Waiting Week/ When Will Payments Start
NEW 4/12: What if I didn't Work this Week?

• Added 2/1/2023 ESD: Reporting Vacation PTO pay Reporting Vacation PTO while employed, see italic section, for Reporting Lump Sum PTO payouts (like during severance), see block text section

2 jobs? Paid Late? Reporting Complex Earnings
Added 7/5 What if I wasn't AA for 2 days or less last week? WBA gets prorated, no Add'l fact-finding
Use a Password Manager, otherwise you might Lock Your Account and have to contact Technical Support
Added 4/22 Traveling and Claiming: "Able and Available"? Cannot Mark Yes to AA
Added 7/7 Website won't work? Call in the Claim, or do it later - it will stay there for 5 weeks
Added 8/22 How to File a PUA Claim By Phone - From ESD Handbook & Our Community
Added 8/22 MFA Code Is Timing Out or Late? Switch to Google Authenticator App
Added 8/29 Severance pay: 3 Laws
Added 10/4/2022 Advice: 2 job offers, How to Accept One and Reject Another, Report on weekly claim

-----Processing/Paid/Posted-----

• After a Weekly claim is submitted, it first says “Processing-Web ^￦ ", then^¥ “Processing”, then “Paid”, and it takes 48 hours on average to post in an account, if the amount is significant, refer to this post. Related Post
• The average time between when the payment shows "Paid" and when it appears in a bank account is dependent on the bank.

Weekly claims that are filed by web are generally all processed sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. So if you filed a a claim last Wednesday it will probably not be processed until the following Tuesday.
(￦) If you did your weekly claim via the web. Weekly Claim status is "Processing - IVR"? Normal: You filed by phone IVR means Interactive Voice Response
(¥) This happens when the submission moves from "Submitted" to "Processed", within Online Activity

• Weekly Claim says " Paid - 0"? It's normal temp status
• NEW 4/9: PUA Claims pending after being processed? Upload a Document says "Railroad/Existing Claim"? This is normal
• Are your weekly claims PENDING? Go here to find out Why

------Known Issues------

3. Appearance of "Waiting Week" on some pre-existing claims
_______(1/9) WA House Minority Leader (R) J.T. Wilcox did not approve the Extension of 20.21; the WA Governor's 10th successive proclamation which waived the waiting week, by sending the Governor a letter the day the extension lapsed Contact him directly at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). So on Jan 7, ESD Policy Director Dan Zeitlin filed an Emergency Rule, which appears to have no end date. It is believed that due to no rule prohibiting a waiting week between Dec 28-Jan 7, that some pre-existing claims erroneously began to show this. See this post and comments.
Update (1/23) New FAQ from ESD ON Waiting Week

11. (New 1/19) Changing your address/phone numbebank account will likely stop payments, and require an Identity confirmation that may take 6-8 weeks. (Because of a continuation of an Audit) See above in Best Practices for changing eServices notices/letters from Mailed to Electronic. See this post

5. (NEW AS of 1-11) Disappearance of Weekly Claim Prompt Link. As suggested in this post and reply, it is solvable manually by calling the call center. . (New 1/25: Additional Info: Details of Resolution call) Another example (2/11) Another example 3/2

1. After Potential New Claim Filing on 6/12: Issue recurring

-----Roadmap Sections Expanded Above-----

Weekly Claim Subsection

• Job Search Requirements 10+ entries
• Processing/Paid/Posted Issues 5+ entries
• Weekly Claim Questions 5+ entries
• Earnings Deductions / Working Part Time 5+ entries
• Refusal to Work/ Suitable Work 5+ entries
• Able and Available 2 entries
• Known Issues 19+ entries

------Perspective--------

We are all on government benefits; this is not an employee employer relationship where we always get paid at the exact same time every week; they do not have the same responsibility to pay at a predetermined time and it's unreasonable to hold them to that standard. They will get around to paying us when they get around to paying us, unfortunately. Holding that expectation is a false hope, and being constantly disappointed is not a productive thing. .

Is she cheating? Need advice
Ok I need advice. I'm trying to figure out if she cheated or if I'm being paranoid. We have been together for 9 years, married 4 years. I have a strong gut feeling she cheated which I know is worth something but I don't have proof.
About her: she's 28, fit, cute, and a personal trainer at a large gym. She is incredibly outgoing and the life of every party. Literally everyone she meets loves her. She is so nice and laughs at everything. Unfortunately I think guys often interpret that as flirting even when she isn't. Still, she is very sexual and had 25 partners by the time she was 19, which is when we met.
We have an amazing relationship and we've been incredibly happy. We have a lot of freedom and live a very full life.
Now the story: This started about 3 years ago. So she starts working at this large gym. Of course everyone loves her, and she's a main character in the personal training department right away. She tells me stories after work, talks about the other trainers (mostly guys), all very innocent. I've never been threatened when she talks about other guys because she's so obviously not interested and because I'm quite a catch. Tall, muscular, very successful.
But then she starts talking about one trainer in particular, and her tone and body language are just different. Almost like she knows she shouldn't be talking about him. Like she's feeling me out.
He's older (40) but fit and decent looking as he's a personal trainer. She mentioned to me how he won a physique competition, and I just wasn't that impressed. I said I thought it was weird he's a trainer at 40yo and not married. She was quick to point out he's nice and has a gf. I 100% got a vibe this is a work crush.
Few weeks later we host a department party at our house and all the trainers come over. This guy approaches me and kind of sizes me up right away in the backyard asking about how far the property line goes (not a huge yard). He then goes on to say how wonderful my wife is and how she is a ray of sunshine and that I'm a lucky guy.
More weeks go by and he doesn't come up in conversation much like the other trainers do, which is odd, because they definitely talk, and they are definitely both main characters at the gym. When he does come up, again, it's not like when she talks about other guys. It's like she's walking on eggshells and watching my reaction.
Also weird is often times I'd look at her snapchat location while she's at work, and it would be a few blocks away from the gym in the neighborhood. I chalked it up to a bad approximate location. But now that I think about it, the snapchat location seems to be pretty laser accurate.
So this goes on for a year, then we move away for 2 years. We just moved back and joined the gym as members. We go to the gym together and everyone is so happy to see her. 15 min conversations everytime we bump into someone. A week or two later we are both lifting weights, and the guy is in the gym too. I catch him looking at me several times but he never approaches either of us which is very weird. Again she's been gone 2 years and everyone else comes running up. The next day she goes to the gym by herself and when she gets back, she tells me she saw him and they caught up and that he didn't want to interrupt our workouts the day before.
So far just a feeling, right? That's why I never asked. Well yesterday we were getting ready for the gym and I said we should fuck first as she was down to a sports bra and panties. She said let's do it after. I said how about before, during, and after? She laughed and said "during?" I said yea, there must be a good spot, what do you think off the top of your head? She immediately replied "idk, behind the basketball court.." she didn't have to think at all and wasn't trying to come up with ideas. She didn't throw it out there like that would be fun or crazy. Almost more like she stated it as fact.
So I said, oh whats back there? She said there is a personal training storage room but you have to be a trainer to get in.
This is what is finally making me think these can't be coincidences. I don't want to be toxic, but I checked her phone after this and she has innocent text history with lots of trainers, and while she does have his number, not one text? Why have his number then? I'd think they'd have texted about something innocent at least once.
Ok that's my story. Am I crazy? What should I do?

I've never played fighting games too much, but recently picked up the Street Fighter 30th anniversary collection. I noticed Ryu is amazingly transferred and started wondering about the others (Tekken, KoF etc).
Since I never played those fighting games I wouldn't know what the differences between those games are. Every game is really well implemented in smash with great detail so I would like to know how this was done for those fighters.
Thanks!

We inherited a three year old Yorkie when a family member passed. Cute as a button. Her previous owner did nothing to train her. To the point where she doesn't seem to care where she goes as long as there is carpet. She does not give any cues that she has to go out. Its like she believes she is doing what she is supposed to do. She has been here for 3 months and I have yet to see her poop.
Growing up we always had dogs, but much larger breeds. I know how to housebreak them. But I don't know how to undo a bad habit that has been reinforced for over 3 years.
We have 3/4 acre of fenced in yard but she is so tiny (5 pounds) and likes to hunt that I worry she would chase something under the fence and get out.
So far we have tried walking her on a regular schedule. Pee pads and attraction sprays. Controlling access times to food and water. Taking her out soon after she eats. At some points I have taken her out and within minutes of being back in the house she will poop on the rug.
My only next option is to create her a lot more. And only let her into the rest of the house after she has gone. If she wont go its back in the create. I don't like this option.
In the three months she has been here she has hit my living room rug so many times I've had to rip it out. This issues needs to get fixed before i can install new.
Any thoughts ?

Many of the “convenience” items aren’t that convenient and don’t save much time. Two examples:

1. Hummus is effectively chopped up chickpeas, and if you just buy the chickpeas and mash them up yourself you can save 80%
   
2. Most muffin/cake/brownie mixes don’t save that much time compared with just mixing up the ingredients. I just made blueberry muffins and I had the batter mixed up by the time the oven heated up. Also cleanup was no harder compared to a mix.
   

I think we have been conditioned that “this is how to do it” because that is what our parents did, and I can imagine that when cake mix first came out it was a smash and felt convenient, but you can save a lot of money with taking a lot more time.

I have recently started training in the so-called "original" Yang style that this organization teaches. I myself really cannot verify how original it is, however I do find it quite peculiar that the stlye differs to markedly from nearly every Tai Chi resource I have come across so far (which, I guess, might make sense if it really is the original style, as they claim). However, what I do find a bit weird is that classes are basically run on a "watch and repeat" basis, at least in my school. Meaning, the teacher just does the movements, we repeat and he explains almost nothing. Up to now, I have never experienced a class, whether it be Tai Chi Chuan or any other form of martial art or exercise, where this little info is given to the students.
Also, we've just about completed only the first part of the long form, which I know is not that much yet, however I am a bit surprised that the term "Chi" has not been mentioned a single time in all of these months. The only thing the teacher ever tests and corrects (also, generally just by pushing us into a different posture, not really by explaining anything) is whether our posture is "stable" as in a slight push when we're doing Zhan Zhuang. Again, this "pushing-correction" really does not help me or us learn, I feel, as we don't really understand why we did it incorrectly or why the new posture is better.
So, if anyone who has any experience in training with the ITCCA, I would be glad to hear from your experience and whether this style of teaching may just be special to this instructor.

Sorry I tried to post a video but I couldn't figure it out, but here's what I do, and although this is an expensive/end game method, I think its the fastest.
​
You need an elytra, a lot of fire res pots and a lot of fire works. When in the nether look for the large lava lakes, pop a fire res pot, dive in and get hunting. Ancient Debris, for whatever reason, will spawn exposed to lava, making them very easy to spot once in the lava. Use the elytra to get into fly mode in the lava and zip around using the rockets to find more and more.
​
Couple tips:
- always keep a fire res pot in your quick slots, if you don't have an extra, get out!
- if you only see one exposed piece of debris, dig around underneath it, often times you can find more.
- to get home quick I set spawn and keep an extra end chest and shulker box ready to off load debris and gear and then just jump into lava, I got no time flying back through that nonsense in the nether.
​
I wanted to get this out before 1.20 as upgrading to netherite gear gets much more expensive. If you are in the end game and have the extra resources, give it a try, you will be surprised how quickly you can get a stack of debris. Happy mining yall!

technically I decided to stop seeing my relatives about five years ago, but the thing is, it's not like we ever saw each other much or talked to each other. Aside from a few text messages from aunts. Same with my family when I moved away... my siblings never contact me anyway, my dad never called me/texted when I was at college, forget any other point beyond that (except if it was for something logistical). The only person I would call sometimes was my mom and she barely ever called anyway... yet just being away from physically was a net positive (at least when I moved across the country- unfortunately, even though I moved away for college I did have this great feeling of freedom and "finding myself", growing in self-esteem....it was basically high school 2.0, very isolated and anxious and depressed). On the bright side I guess I feel less guilty because, hey it's not like anyone is calling anyway. But I'm just realizing how weird this dynamic is.

Education plays a vital role in the development. It is extremely important not only for individual but also for society. Education does not mean only to get a high degree but it creates a difference between wild and civilized person. Well established and coordinated education system is able to produce educated and trained persons. A student is lying at the core of the education system. Student performance is an effective gauge to measure the credibility of any education system in any country.
See Samples Of Free Undergraduate Research Projects For Students
Self esteem has a meaningful role in one’s performance. Self confident student show better result than low confident students. Self esteem as an influential contributor to academic success, productive behavior and mental and physical health in children. Support, may be moral or somewhat like financial, appreciation, praise, reward etc, is one of the factors that may enhance the student's grade in the class. Supportive environment have a substantial effect on student performance. Also, teacher attitude has a greater effect on the student performance.
Self-esteem is a life skill that is highly embraced by all societies at all stages of development. It is the process by which individuals rate themselves, acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them participate effectively in the society. Self-esteem education somehow determines the level of prosperity, welfare and security of people. It is the cornerstone of economic, social development and a principle means of improving the welfare of individuals. Students need to accept and value themselves to do well in their academic work.
Students’ academic performance is use of one’s aptitude in studying and making accomplishments and achievements in terms transfer of knowledge, communication skills negotiation skills and good grades and marks in examinations. However, Poor academic performance leads to students’ frustration and this can lead to negative self-esteem among learners which can later impact negatively on the economy of a country. It also causes psychological suffering to parents if they have to pay more money to take their children to other schools.
Education is activated through the cognitive, psychomotor and the affective domain. The affective domain in enhanced through life skills education, self-esteem being one of the skills. The development of life skills is a life-long process that starts in early childhood and continues throughout one’s life. Life skills education enables students to develop positive attitude towards self and others by transforming knowledge, skills and values into action .This enhances students’ abilities to make effective decisions and relate amicably with others in society. The three major categories of life skills: skills of knowing and living with oneself that include self-awareness, self-esteem, coping with emotions and coping with stress .There is the skill of knowing and living with others and that of making effective decisions. Where life skills education is well developed and practiced it can enhance the well being of society and promote positive outlook and healthy behavior among learners.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects. Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using classroom performance, graduation rates, and results from standardized tests.
The term ‘academic performance’ has been described as the scholastic standing of a student at a given moment. It refers to how an individual is able to demonstrate his or her intellectual abilities. This scholastic standing could be explained as the grades obtained in a course or groups of courses taken. Performance is a measure of output and that the main outputs in education are expressed in terms of learning, that is, changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes of individuals as a result of their experiences within the school's system. Thus, in determining academic performance, grades could serve as prediction measures and as criterion measures.
Academic performance therefore is largely identified by a range of statistical indicators. Performance is the level of attainment of a person in an examination, that is, how an individual is able to demonstrate his or her abilities in an examination. Hence, Performance has been regarded as a measure of educational output.
SELF ESTEEM
Self-esteem is the value an individual places on themselves relative to others. It is also what one believes and feels about themselves. It can also mean accepting one’s weaknesses as well as strengths, and that one feels that they deserve the respect from others. With self-esteem, one learns to build on strengths and to compensate for weaknesses. A positive self-esteem is crucial in maintaining academic performance among students.
A person’s self-esteem can be perceived as negative or positive depending on how one evaluates their worth. The value that one attaches to self leads to the level of self-esteem that they have. As a result, this level of self-esteem can influence ones performance of tasks in various situations in life. The two extremes of self-esteem are not desirable. Positive self-esteem implies that, comparing ones value to others, the individuals find themselves superior. This can lead to behaviors like arrogance, selfishness and difficult in coping with others. Such behavior may influence an individual’s academic performance.
Self-esteem has become a household word. Teachers, parents, therapists, and others have focused efforts on boosting self-esteem, on the assumption that positive self-esteem will cause many positive outcomes and benefits. Appraisal of the effects of self-esteem is complicated by several factors. Because many people with positive self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits, however, we emphasize objective measures of outcomes. Positive self-esteem is also a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals. It is noted that the modest correlations between self-esteem and school performance has indicated that positive self-esteem leads to good academic performance. Therefore, Positive self-esteem is the result of good academic performance. Efforts to boost the self-esteem of students have been shown to improve academic performance and many times have been productive. Job performance in adults is sometimes related to self-esteem, although the correlations vary widely, and the direction of causality has not been established. Occupational success may boost self-esteem rather than the reverse. This means that good academic performance boosts self-esteem and not the vice versa.
Positive self-esteem makes people more willing to speak up in groups and to criticize the group's approach. Leadership does not stem directly from self-esteem, but self-esteem may have indirect effects. Relative to people with negative self-esteem, those with positive self-esteem show stronger in- group favoritism which may increase prejudice and discrimination. Therefore, neither high nor negative self-esteem is a direct cause of violence. Narcissism leads to increased aggression in retaliation for wounded pride. Negative self-esteem may contribute to externalizing behavior and delinquency, although some studies have found that there are no effects or that the effect of self-esteem vanishes when other variables are controlled. The highest and lowest rates of cheating and bullying are found in different subcategories of positive self-esteem.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SELF ESTEEM: A NEXUS
Self-esteem is always attributed to best performances in tasks and at work place. Self value may strengthen the learners’ relationship with the facilitator. This implies that the students may benefit more from the teacher due to the free atmosphere. It also reduces problems like; truancy, absenteeism, drug and substance abuse and teenage pregnancies that are known to cause poor performances. Character building emanate from self-esteem. Students with self-esteem are able to manage and use their leisure time well. Moreover, they are able to choose good and reliable friends who can help in boosting their academic performance. Self-esteem is ones emotional evaluation of worth or judgment of one’s self attitude. Students with positive self-esteem are good at negotiation skills with others. They respect others opinion and listen to others views. They also have many friends for they embrace non-violent behavior in solving conflicts.
Students with a high level of self esteem tend to relate well with teachers and this can assist them make consultations in case of challenges in academic work as well as tackle assignments in good time. They take failure in examinations as a stepping stone to success. This implies that they work harder to improve whenever they do not perform well. When criticized by colleagues and teachers they take the criticisms positively. They have good interpersonal relationships. They excel in academic performance and recognize the role played by others in the same. When they deviate in discipline they are easily corrected. As students they dress well and decently always and not many teachers who raise complaints about their dressing code. Their academic discussions are harmonious and always labor to live in peace with colleagues. They are not overconfident about their knowledge and intelligence. The result of this is improvement in academic performance.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, self-esteem plays a critical role in academic activities of students; there is need for school administration to focus on life skills education to boost the performance of students in academic related activities.
Self esteem has a meaningful role in one’s performance. Self confident student shows better result than low confident students. Self esteem as an influential contributor to academic success, productive behavior and mental and physical health in children. Support, may be moral or somewhat like financial, appreciation, praise, reward etc, is one of the factors that may enhance the student's grade in the class. Supportive environment have a substantial effect on student performance. Also, teacher attitude has a greater effect on the student performance.

May 2023 Federal Election - Crikey's Winners and Losers

The May 2023 Federal Election is all wrapped up, and Australia has seen the return of BellmanTGM as Prime Minister, where he is likely hoping to serve more than 21 days as he did in February 2018. We saw a joint ticket run by ANCAP and LNP, and a surge of independent success! Crikey is here to dissect the results, and look at the winners, the losers, and the bronze medal winners.

Winner: Australian National Capitalist Anti-Authoritarian Party

House Result: 5 Seats (+3), 21.7% (+14.2) Senate Result: 2 Seats (+2), 55.2%* (+6.1) ± February 2023 Election *Joint ticket run with LNP, changes from last election is combined LNP+ANCAP vote.
Without a doubt, the resounding winner of the May 2023 Federal Election was the Australian National Capitalist Anti-Authoritarian Party. Picking up 5 house seats, and 21.7% of the national house vote, they have more than doubled their house representation, and increased their national vote more than any other party this election. Post-election, they gained a seat from Cookie_Monster765 who resigned from the leadership of the Commonwealth Party to sit as an independent, but this was short-lived, and he now serves Sydney as an ANCAP MP. Gaining confidence and supply from Independent MPs in porridge (Brisbane), and riley8583 (Cowper), ANCAP are enjoying a single party cabinet, severing their coalition with the LNP. Speaking of the LNP, ANCAP ran a joint ticket from the LNP, gaining their first 2 senators, and ending the left dominated senate, which will create significant legislative ease in passing the government's agenda. Also surprisingly, historical left leaning figures such as jq8678 have been prominent MPs for ANCAP, with an upset victory in “Magnificent” Moncrieff. jq8678 has previously served as a Social Democrat Minister, and was a founding member of the Green Left Party in 2021, but appears committed to the cause of "Freedom and Liberty".

Loser: Commonwealth Party of Australia

House Result: 2 Seats (-5), 10.7% (-20.6) Senate Result: 1 Seats (-1), 19.6% (-12.7) ± February 2023 Election
As ANCAP were resounding winners, the Commonwealth Party was the resounding losers of the May 2023 Federal Election. More than halving their house representation, and losing a third of their national vote in the house was a shocking election result. Safe seats like Melbourne fell due to the lack of a presence from incumbent buttsforpm. Hotham was another loss, however the extremely active BellmanTGM was an tough match for incumbent Adiaus. The two seats won by the Commonwealth Party were Sydney and Lingiari, in relatively non-competitive contests.
However the biggest lost for the Commonwealth Party didn't even occur at the ballot box. After these election results, Leader Cookie_Monster765 resigned and left the party. Their remaining MP, Jordology505 was next in line for leader, but after being elected for 5 hours he resigned, leaving the CPA without any house representation. Their final MP MLastCelebration is now leader but questions surround the longevity of the party. Another active member, former MP Adiaus jumped a possibly sinking ship with Jordology505 in order to join the newly formed Australian Labour Party, which brings us to the next winner of the election.

Winner: A United Left

We don't have election results for this, but after what can be described as a disappointing result for the Socialists, they have merged with the left leaning members of the Commonwealth Party to form a centre-left Australian Labour Party. Socialist Leader TheSensibleCentre stepped down from the leadership of the new party, with Jordology505 heading the party, followed by Adiaus as Deputy and model-slater as Party Chair. A party that can now concentrate a focus on the right wing government is a win for a united, and previously struggling left. While some may point out that Country Labor Party still exists, it understood there is an agreement between the parties to maximise electoral efficiency and not have left of centre candidates in competitive races against each other.

Winner: Independents

House Result: 3 Seats (+2), 17.4% (+10.0) ± February 2023 Election
If all the Independents were one party, the Independents would be the second largest party in parliament! While their election result was a success, this was strengthened by the defection of porriidge to the crossbench, increasing their total to 4 seats. However it's a good thing that independents aren't one party, because showstealer1829 took to twitter to let porriidge know that "F*** off. We [The crossbench] don't want you." Make of that what you will! However, a solid increase in the independent's vote and representation in the house, and with 2 independents providing C&S to the government, independents will be having a large say in how our nation will be governing over the following term. A win for independents, and likely a win for their respective electorates as they create a list of demands from the government!

Bronze Medal: Country Labor

House Result: 2 Seats (+1), 14.9% (+5.3) Senate Result: 1 Seats (-), 9.0% (+2.4) ± February 2023 Election
Crikey has a new award to hand out, the Bronze Medal! As the name suggests, these groups didn't suffer a loss, but it couldn't be called an outright win. The Country Labor Party enjoyed the comeback gain of long term MP for Capricornia, ARichTeaBiscuit, and the hold of Denison for Inadorable (who is definitely NOT a communist). While the House Result does look impressive, it is an inflated figure given that the CLP tend to run in populous rural seats, and national polls during the campaign have CLP support around 2.5%. CLP Leader Gregor_The_Beggar was re-elected once again, continuing his tenure as Senator for NSW since July 2020. While the CLP are not the political force they once were under the Greens-CLP Government, they aren't disappearing anytime soon, and this election confirmed such.

Loser: Income Taxation

The May 2023 Election has brought a party into government that seeks the eventual abolition of income taxation and a Senate controlled by the ANCAP and LNP. The previous LNP-ANCAP Government failed to get a large tax cut through parliament last term, due to the left wing senate, and it is almost certain that a similar package will be introduced and this time probably passed. Income Taxation is a loser of this election!

Bronze Medal: Liberal National Party

House Result: 3 Seats (-2), 14.9% (-12.3) Senate Result: 3 Seats (+1), 55.2%* (+6.1) ± February 2023 Election *Joint ticket run with ANCAP, changes from last election is combined LNP+ANCAP vote.
Prime Minister Griffonomics set out to "Sack the Senate" and undoubtedly that is what he has done. The Senate has been swept by the Right, holding 5/8 seats, and paving the way, finally for a right wing legislative agenda. However Griffonomics will not be at the helm for this agenda, and not even on the government benches as the ANCAP have revealed an entire ANCAP cabinet, relying on the support of independents rather than the LNP. While their Senate gains did not fall short of what the Liberal Nationals hope, they saw a loss of a few seats in the House, however the combined ANCAP-LNP seat total was still 8, the majority number. ANCAP became what many thought was just the senior party in government, with the LNP as a minority partner, but upon leaving the LNP, porriidge attributed it to the high likelihood that the LNP "would find itself in opposition".
If porridge's statement holds, this will shelve the left and centre onto the crossbench, with right wing parties holding government and opposition. It is hard to think there is much of the ANCAP agenda that the LNP would oppose, given their previous coalition, but it is surely disappointing for the LNP to lack a voice inside the new government. For the reason that the LNP have achieved perhaps policy goals, and "Sacked the Senate", but have failed to form government is the reason that Crikey awards them the 2nd Bronze Medal of this article.
That's all from us folks. he next term is hopefully one full of newsworthy things to write about, or we'll be out of a job! We hope you enjoyed today's article, please let us know!! (Also if you see any errors I am very tired)

Ok, let me get your opinions - quality, quantity, and $$$ (looking for something a step above Wegman's with similar pricing). I'm looking for freshest produce, fish, chicken, etc.
From my research it seems like best produce goes to: United Market in San Rafael.
Organic produce - is the way to go: Good Earth, prices are obviously higher than other markets but seems to be average, if not slightly below average, for other organic produce.
Poultry: Seems like you can pick up Rocky or Mary's at United, Safeway, Nugget. Looking for air chilled premium chicken.
Red meat: Don't eat much of it...I'm guessing Nugget is the way to go...or is there a local butcher?
Fish: Does anything compare to just getting delivery from the port in SF? I'm thinking
https://oneoceanseafood.com
https://fishmongerdon.com
Perishables: This one I am caught up on - looking for good quality Vodka Sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, sun dried tomato pesto, basil pesto, Indian sauces (Tikka), Thai red curry, etc. What compares to Wegman's? The only thing I can think of would be a Safeway - but I'd be hard pressed to every step in a Safeway (terrible quality for atrociously high prices).
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Bottomline:
-It seems like a majority of the best produce and poultry shopping can be accomplished at United Market - is this the BEST PRICE to QUALITY market in Marin????? Is Nugget Market superior in quality and/or price though?
-Is fish delivery service from the pier worth it for best quality?
-Aside from finding like Felipio Berio sun-dried tomato pesto is there any need to every step food in a Safeway? Can I find good quality and not extremely overpriced sauces at other grocery stores?
-It seems like the top tier markets are Nugget, United, Good Earth, and Lucky in Novato. Then there is Whole Pay Check, Trader Joe's, and Sprouts - not sure where they rank in the equation?
-Overpriced and not worth it seems like: Andy's, all Safeway derivatives, and Woodlands.
-What is the role of the Farmer's Market and Marin Community Farm Stands & CSA (MCFS)? Is this better quality/price?

So as the title says, I've been fired from my job and I believe it was an unlawful termination of my contract. My ex employer is in all truth a nasty piece of work, he has a major god complex and insists that everything is run in the store in his way with absolutely zero deviation from his master plan. I've heard of previous employees who were let go for totally unethical reasons before - one was fired because he "couldn't afford to pay her furlough" through lockdown - while others, like me, were met with blatant unprofessionalism and were refused the opportunity to work our notice and was forced to take holiday instead.
So the reasons I was given for being fired are that I was supposedly appearing vacant when working on the shop floor - something I couldn't recall happening and asked for examples of on the CCTV, but never received - was slow to complete jobs - which I realized early on and did my best to cut out unnecessary faffing about with unneeded stock to speed things up, which he responded in kind with screaming at me in the store room for daring to do something differently - and severe problems with timekeeping - something I've been struggling to manage for decades but can't get right. I was diagnosed with adult inattentive ADHD three days ago and am looking for ADHD coaching sessions so that I can learn how to successfully manage these symptoms, but at the start of my employment I made my boss aware that I was pursuing the assessment and gave him an outline of things I might need some level of adjustment for in the meantime.
He clearly didn't like me as a person very quickly, and I feel he was looking for reasons to fire me after just a month. In the 6 months between then and now, he's not provided me with any written warnings, seemingly not done any research into ADHD (he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language when I mentioned things like time blindness and sluggish cognitive tempo today) and provided no reasonable accomodations such as a refresher on how to do particular infrequently occuring things on the till, let me do my jobs in a marginally different way that doesn't rely so much on working memory and running around the shop floor unnecessarily, or even provide a generic job list so I can check them off as I do them.
Essentially none of this feels professional in the slightest, and I want to know if anyone has any thoughts on what I can do about the situation? I have no intention of returning back to work there - I'd much rather look elsewhere - but it feels so unlawful I feel like it needs at the very least flagging up somewhere. Any advice is greatly appreciated

I've switched using French press a year or so ago and been using ground coffee (find grind) all this time. Recently found out buying ground coffee is not good and decided to get a Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. I've set it to 28 to get coarser grind and then used the same amount of grounds (8 scoops) to make the coffee. It was very very light. I did some research and it's suggested to use 1:15 ratio for regular strength.
I have a 50oz French press which is 1500grams which means 100g of coffee grounds. I just tried that and it seems like a lot of grounds comparatively to how much I used before. The plunder went down only 3/4 of the way. The coffee is way better but is that too much grounds? I am guessing coarser grind requires more of it to brew correctly and actually it's more expensive to buy beans and grind myself.
Please advise.
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Thanks!

Part 1
I stood up, awaken from my sleep from the knocking sound on the elevator door. My friends stood up with me as we all heard it. The sound of banging became so much louder. Giggling can be heard with it. What's behind the door is unknown and I'd rather not face it than die to this thing. In the edges of the door, thin fingers began to seep through it. Such horrible looking fingers. I watched the door getting turned into a broken mess. Something grabbed my hand and I saw it was Rishika's. I looked at her and saw fear and sadness on her face.
Questioning death can be answered by judgement, revenge, luck, curse, or just nothing. The concept fate over people sounds so simple that people think that it's ok that fate exists. Is it ok if I was in this situation? What if one of your loved ones died right in front of you by a murderer? You won't like it and you'd definitely blame god for that.
The door is beginning to make an opening. Sweat rapidly runs down on my forehead. My eyes widened with terror as I see the creature's face. It's as accurately described from the documentary. Its teeth shines like bright white marbles and its eyes are like melted butter. The creature's face slowly gets closer, while we stepped far back until there's no space for us to move anymore.
I can feel the cold shivering breath from its mouth. The breath that smells empty. From what I've heard, it's much stronger than the one we just ran away from. Ronald immediately punches the creature's face with his metallic fist. Steam pulses out from the gaps of it. He kept punching at it again and again but to no avail. It still not injured nor shown any pain. He only manages to recoil it farther back.
With a one quick slice, Ronald's hands fell to the ground. His scream was painful and terrifying to hear. I can see his face was in pain. Eyes widened with tears flowing down to his cheek. "Ronald!!" I heard Billy screamed out loud. Of course, this doesn't make any difference as the creature slowly crept closer and closer to us. I witness Ronald dying with his sockets bleeding so much blood. His eyes faded of life. If only he hadn't try to kill it out of bravery, he would've lived longer with us before our lives are taken away.
Its jaw started to open. The sounds of bone cracking can be heard within its teeth. The smile on its face grew more and more eerie. It laughs like a maniac ready to pounce on their victims. Such insanity can break people's minds with a laugh. I froze in place by the laugh. There's nowhere else me and my friends can escape from. What else can we do. Our weapons are futile here and this creature is far beyond comprehension.
Its many arms spread around the elevator room, trying to grab us with its menacing hands. We're going to die here and that's that. This would've been a goodbye to the world. I don't know the dead world in this universe. Many different universes should have a different afterlife. Here, I don't think there's a safe place after death.
Then, something happened right in front of our eyes. The creature was being pulled back by something. Something inside the darkness. I can hear it's the same women who saved me from the pale face. We couldn't see anything in the darkness but Billy's flames can surely help us along the way. I took his flamethrower and a torch. Lighting up the torch with it carefully. Not wanting to burn us. Turning off the flamethrower, I lighted the area with my torch in hand and saw them clashing each other with blade like arms.
We stepped out of the elevator with Ronald's dead body on Cody's arms. Why would Cody keep holding on to him for? He's already dead and there's no way for us to say a better goodbye. I guess maybe he wanted to bury him somewhere which I honored that idea.
She cuts the jaw of the creature that it screams the way a person should. I can see the whole body of the creature. It was humanoid and tall. About 9 feet tall and its body is dark skeletal human. It grabbed her with its large hand and threw her off into the wall. She crushes onto the wall with such heavy force. A groan can be heard from her before a blade penetrates through her abdomen. Her screams are both man and woman at the same time.
It's horrifying to hear someone scream like that if they're just human. In fact, it'll be much terrifying if she'd sounded like millions of voices.
She grabbed its face with her free arm and tears its face off. Its eyes bounces to the ground with a flesh grinding mush sound. The screams that came from within its voice box made a deafening pain in our ears that we both covered them with our hands.
The woman digs her sharp fingers into the creature eye sockets with the sound of digging flesh. She then splits its head with the pull of her hands. Black and bloody flesh spread onto the walls and ground. One of its discarded flesh landed on my shoe. My stomach twists and turns. Watching her brutally kill it while flesh and blood spills. I gagged, watching her 3 fingered hands dig into its throat and pulled out its large heart.
Geralt vomited to the ground, spilling the acid from his stomach. That didn't bother me. Instead I watched her feast on the heart. The sound of chewing on flesh and blood made me sick to my stomach from an imaginary smell of rotten flesh. The creature's body slowly melts away to the ground. Rendering it to be dead into a puddle of flesh and bone. There's now nothing left of it. Just a puddle.
"Holy shit." With just one word came out from Billy's mouth, the woman turns her head to look at us. Her eyes seemingly looked bright and harmless. Not sure whether or not if this is a tactic to hunt or it's really her instinct. The familiar color of her right eye caught my attention.
She fell to the ground with a big gap in her abdomen. Heavy breaths came out from her voice as she slowly gets back up on her feet. The light from my torch reveals her hoodie to be grey and the gap in her abdomen slowly began to heal itself. Small tendrils from the sides of the gap stitching back together.
I stepped back, giving ourselves space in order for us to escape if she'd attack us. I held my hammer high and so does my friends with their weapons. "Darwin wait!" Did I just heard her say my name? I didn't know what to do or how to react. Either it's just a hallucination or trickery. "How did you know my name?" I asked with the fear in my voice.
"I uh. I just guessed I suppose." Her eyes were on the dead Ronald in Cody's arms. She looked saddened by it. Even grieved. She shook her head and went back to to us with a clear voice. "But that doesn't matter. You all need to get out of here before he gets here."
"Who's he?" Geralt asked with both curious and nerving tone in his voice. Her eyes are widened in fear. An expression I never thought she could do and feel about. "Cain. He's coming here and you all need to get out of here."
I've heard about Cain before. You might know this story from a book. It's about 2 brothers, sons of Adam and Eve. Abel being the most favored man of god, while Cain being the least favorite and jealous. Cain killed his brother out of jealousy. God is not happy about this and he casted him away with a curse. He's just a man. Maybe who she was saying was someone who is also named Cain.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Said Cody.
"I can help you get out. We just need to go outside and find the pool of clean water. But, it'll be far away, so we need to hurry up." She walked passed us quickly in a hurry. Billy was going to ask but I lay his shoulders, giving him a metaphor of saying no. Of course, he grunted from that. Rishika gave a face wash to Geralt. He gladly takes it and wipes his mouth and stained jacket.
We followed her through the hallways of the darkness. Our torches lighted brightly around the darkness. I was behind the woman whose guiding us to the exit. I haven't thought of asking her name. For someone like her, she should have. The voids blood doesn't seem to affect her mind but I don't think that's really the case.
The image of her blue eyes makes me recollect the memories of my long distant past. I still don't understand. How could she be so familiar to me, even know my name. We never met each other and we're from different worlds. Either it could be she had mind reading powers or just a simple guess. "Thanks for saving us back there. What's your name."
"My name's..." She looked unsure as to what to say or even know her name. I think she was hiding her true identity which I can understand that. Hiding your own identity from other people is a good way to keep yourself safe. But you needed to plan and design your own disguise. You need to come up with a story that doesn't give confusion or any cracks for people to get suspicious. Famous people like movie stars or scientist or anybody related to that stuff mostly do this to avoid getting attention.
With a warm and calm voice, she answered. "My name is Enid."
"Sounds good. Why did you save us? How are you still in control of yourself?"
"I saved you because I wanted to save you all. I was never the kind of hero or something but I still have the heart to save you all. And I'm losing a bit of my strength holding myself together. Everyday, I have to eat the creatures here. You've encountered them before. If I don't eat them, I'm going to turn into them. Turn into the void. But the more I eat, the closer I'm going to turn myself in. I'm glad you guys are safe, but I feel bad to see your friend die. Sorry that I'm too late to save all of you in one piece."
"Yeah. Wished he had enough time for you to arrive. He was a brave and cool friend to have a part of the team. He's always telling stories about greek gods and mythologies. He's a boxer too. I think he would consider you to be one of us."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. He kinda sometimes look scary to me in the night but he's a really good man." Geralt joins with us with a nervous look on his face. His eyes are tired as ours but they're wide enough for us to see his shining eyes. Enid returned smile on her face, but it faded away quickly in a short amount of time.
We finally left the building safely with her guidance. The bright shining sky brightens around us. Giving us the comfort of our safety. But still, we grieved the death of Ronald. Billy grieved the most out of everyone else. He kept muttering all over and over while we were following Enid. His mutterings, from what I can hear are apologize. "Billy. It's not your fault. I think he knew as well."
"No it is. I kept saying mean and horrible things to many of you but mostly it's on him. I just wanted him to think I'm strong and all. I'm lost Darwin. And I shouldn't have said those awful things. All I want was to show you all that I'm strong. But look at me. I'm bloody weak and I can't do anything to protect you all. All I can do is to just stand still and spout bullshit."
He began sobbing so terribly that it shocks me to my core. His face turning red and he fell to his knees, unable to stand back up. We all stopped to try to at least give him the comfort we wanted give him. We've never seen him in such a state like this. Throughout our times together, he always acts like a jerk but now he's crying right in front of us. I didn't know what else to do except to sit down next to him. Ronald's body is now pale in Cody's arms. His eyes were shut.
"I know how it feels, Billy." Rishika, already knelt down in front of Billy, said with a warm tone in her voice. This has got to be the 3rd or 4th time I've heard her say a full sentence. Either way, it was encouraging. Billy doesn't seem to be able to reply. None of us does. "I used to be harsh and cruel to others because I wanted them to accept me. But I was wrong because that's not how it works. We can both change together. It's ok to be on your good side. It won't be too bad. I think Ronald would like that too."
"Look at me. Do I look like I can?"
"We all can. It's just how we grow in life."
"I don't know. Ronald's dead and I'm left to be the one who carries his death on my back. I don't think he'll ever forgive me."
"No. We don't know that. But what matters is that you move on instead of staying behind. I know it's hard but you have to if you want to change. It's ok to be scared. We're all scared."
"Yeah. Even me too. I get scared a few times but that doesn't mean that others will look down on me." Geralt stutters a bit in his voice but kept the strength to say those words.
"Same here. Even that I'm this, I'm still scared too." Enid joins in with a sad look on her face. For someone like her, I thought she never felt fear. I guess there are others like her can feel that way.
I wanted to tell him something too. Something that feels connecting to each other that I don't want him to be left alone. "You don't have to do this alone. I'm scared too and that's alright because that's human. We can help you Billy. You're our friend. And I think Ronald would consider you as a friend too."
Billy wipes his tears away with his sleeve. We all sat there for a few seconds before Cody lays his hand on his shoulder, which makes Billy hug him back. "It's ok. We're here." Ronald's body lay on the boulder 5 feet away from us. Cody reaches his arms as a gesture for us to join in. We all did. So is Enid. I didn't think anything else but to be on Billy's side.
Suddenly, our moment was interrupted by a thunderous noise came out of nowhere. Enid's eyes are widened in terror. The world around us shook from the thunder. In the sky, the small clouds started to turn from grey to the color of blood. Enid jumps right up, catching a look above as we all stare into the sky. What I saw gave me enough imagination to fear whatever the unknown has.
Large gigantic shining eyes watch over the world below us from the sky. Its pupils are too big that they nearly reached the edge of their sockets. The grin of that thing gave me enough horror to freeze in my tracks. How nightmarish it is to see a gigantic abomination such as this in the morning and night. People would definitely scream and run all over the place while the cloud's face watches over them like a eldritch god.
By the time I stepped back, it turned its menacing eyes towards me. I felt like it was staring into my soul. My very soul in my body. Its own saliva dripping from its mouth. Hungry for our souls. It didn't move nor spoke a word. Thunderous noises kept coming from the abomination. They were red lightning and menacing. If people get hit by them, I'm pretty sure they'll turn into whatever nightmarish flesh creature they'll turn into.
"Guys! We have to go! There's not much time!" Edin ran and so we followed. Cody picked up Ronald's body with us. Billy gained back his strength to run. And I slowly started to run as I kept staring at its menacing eyes. It doesn't leave me alone. I don't see it following me or do anything than to smile with evil intentions. This is different than the ones we encountered. Not because of their looks. It's because I knew its intentions and the void creatures, I don't.
A great thunderous red beam shot out from the abomination's mouth and a loud boom can be heard far away from us. The sound snapped me out and I began to run as fast as I can, trying to keep up the pace of my friends and Enid.
Nothing else happened as we run to our exit. The thunderous noises kept booming around us as the clouds above slowly turned into blood red. A drop of rain hit my forehead. I touched it with my finger tip and saw blood. The rain is full of blood. I nearly slipped to the ground but my jacket was caught by Geralt. "Don't worry Darwin! I got you!" He pulled me up and ran.
The feeling of getting closer to something crept inside my chest that I began to feel the sensation of hope. Hope is said to be for the weak but I say otherwise. Hope may be a blind way to believe in something but sometimes it can be true to which we reach to something we can achieve.
Enid stopped in her tracks. There, right in front of us, was a pool of clean water. It doesn't make sense. It's raining blood and there, at the pool, it's clean. Droplets of blood dripped into the pool, then faded away into the clean water. We were shocked to see the pool to be clean in the middle of a shower of blood. The atmosphere suddenly turned red. Dark red flames started emerging around the world. It's everywhere and I can hear the distant screams behind me. The screams are hard for me to explain. They're like mixed with many variety of species all together into a rhyme of symphony.
I turned around to see something dark falling from the sky above into the ground like a falling star. The world shakes beneath us. I knelt down to get balance as I kept watching the falling darkness land onto the world. Far away, a dark silhouette rises from the ground. It looked to be tall. I could guess it's 4 feet taller than us. My eyes can't see clearly due to the silhouette being too far away. More of them began to rise as more fell from the abomination.
I turned myself around, nearly losing my balance. Cody held Rishika by the arm and Billy knelt beside Geralt. Enid reached her hands out into the pool. Sparks of bright light emitted from her arms, spreading light around her. The pool began to slowly swirl into a vortex as the sparks of light began to increase. The harsh blow of the wind hits us, making me fall to the ground.
Then, a bolt of light sparked into life in Enid's grip. The bolt was so bright that I shielded my eyes from it. It's so that I won't get blinded by the light. I looked back to see that something is walking towards us from far away of our tracks. I don't know if it's just me hallucinating or if it's really real. I think I can hear laughter. A humane laughter. It's like it came from a demon king. The dark silhouettes at the sky fly around with their wings.
Their wings are of a bat and their body was humanoid and blood red. Their mouths are menacingly enough to make me push myself away from it as far as I can. It shrieks so loudly that I can hear it from that distance. It began to fly towards us and its claws like a hawks are ready to grab one of us to feast on. I stood back up as the world turned still. I pulled out my hammer, ready to defend myself from it.
The demon nearly scratched my face before a bullet teared through the side of its brain. I turned my head to see Rishika, already wielding her sniper rifle. "I got you." She turned around and shot another bullet at another demon.
I heard a crushing noise coming from Cody. He slams his club right at a demons head, exploding it on impact. The demon wore an armor set of dark stones that could come from hell itself. It was carrying a blade that shines pure diamond. Geralt penetrating his spear at the demons chest, electrocuting it from a high voltage. "Holy shit! This is crazy!" A shout came from his voice. A voice of panic.
I turned around when I felt something was approaching me. There was a demon with 4 arms and held a large hammer, bigger than the one I wielded. Its face full of hatred that Its eyes glared into my soul. I quickly swung my hammer by the time it swings its own at me. Our hammers clashes together, making a loud slam around us. It swung again but I jumped away from its heavy blow. It's the good thing we had those boots. They're able to give us enough push to jump twice higher than the original person can.
I then swung my hammer directly at its face. I made impact as its face tears apart from the slam of my hammer. A crunching sound can be heard from its skull. Its head exploded into a pool of blood with scattered flesh and bones.
I landed on my feet and watched the world turned into the new hell as dark flames emitted everywhere around the buildings and the ground. More demons are rushing towards us in a pack. So many of them with many horrifying different forms. My body is shaking from the fear I had in me. I nearly dropped my hammer as sweat begins to appear on my hands. I bumped my back as I stepped behind. Geralt, Rishika, Cody, and myself are close together with our weapons in hand. They're all sweating with fear on their faces. There's too many of them for us to take them down. "Come on! Let's show those freaks what we're made of!" Shouted Geralt. By the times we raised our weapons and the demons now 10 feet away from us, a bright blue flame blazes the demons. They scream in pain and hatred as they slowly melted into a sludge of fried flesh.
"I'm not going to let those bloody fuckers take you all away from me!" Billy's face is mixed with fear and anger. Feeling very glad that he joined us. If not for him, we would be brutally killed by the horrifying demons. Then, a loud burst of water and electricity emerged from behind us. Enid faces us with wide eyes. "Get in now!"
"Will it take us home!?" Geralt asks with a panic in his voice. I can see the sweat pouring down on Enid's face as she stares back at us in a hurry. "No but it'll take you somewhere safe! Somewhere you can start a new life!"
Cody, with Ronald's body in his arms, is the first to get in the portal. By the time he jumps into the portal in the pool, a flash of blue energy can be seen emerging out of it. Then goes for Geralt. He was scared at first as he cowers back. "Will I be hurt if I fall?"
"Don't worry. You'll be fine." And so, he jumps in and flashes of light emerges out.
Then goes for Billy. He looked back at Enid for a moment before he jumps into the portal.
Lastly, Rishika stops near the edges of the pool. She turned around to see Enid with a hurried look on her face but also with relief. "Thank you Eddie." Then she jumps into the portal.
Did I just heard her right? Did she just said my lost friend's name. "What did she just say?"
She looked at me with a sad look in her blue eye. I felt a connection between us, as if we've known each other. I don't understand. Why would Rishika say his name. Enid is a woman to say the least or she's really something else. A sudden memory flashed before my eyes.
I remembered the time Eddie shape shifted into the Ice cream man. It was a time when we were young. We both got the ice cream we wanted just for free without anyone noticing. It was funny but also worrying because we could get caught. But that never happened and still felt funny every time I remember that day.
"Eddie? You're Eddie." She nodded in reply. A gesture of yes. Then, right in front of my eyes, she formed into a grown up version of Eddie. The Eddie I remembered. My heart felt shocked as to what I've just learned. I ran to her and hugged her deeply than I could've ever done. We both hugged for a moment until she gently pushes me off. Tears started to appear beneath my eyes. I don't know what I was feeling but what I can say was joy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you would drag me with you If I tell you. You have to understand that I have to stay here. This is where I belong and I'm too dangerous to be with you."
"But we can figure things out together! We can go back to hanging out with each other! Play video games! Explore the world! Everything!"
"No Darwin. We can't. I'm a part of the void and I'm slowly losing myself. My left part of my face is nearly turning into the void."
"But we can fix that! We just need to find the answers to how we can get you better! I can't! I don't want to lose you again! I-"
"Darwin!" A shout came from his voice. I stopped with chills freezing behind my back. He looked at me in the eye with sadness. "I can't go back. I'm sorry I was never there for you when you graduated. I'm sorry for never waiting for you outside of school. I'm sorry for everything we could've done but we haven't! I have to save you. Even if it costs me my life. I don't want to lose you either. You have to go Darwin. There's nothing that can change my mind."
I thought I could finally bring him back. To do the things we've never have yet done. Here and now, this is our last time together. This is our last time to see each other again. He protected me wherever I go here. He saved me in order for me to live. I can't let him die here. I don't want him to be gone from me.
I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. Tears dripped down from his eyes and onto my head. I can feel the pain in my chest starting to rise but I didn't let go. "I'm sorry Darwin. You have to let me go. You can choose. I won't stop you."
He's right. I can't keep him with me. Throughout my life I wanted to see him again. Every night, I look out the window to see if he's there but there's no one but cars and houses. I can't keep doing this. I really have to let go. Tears pours rapidly beneath my eyes. I let go and wiped the tears from my face. "I guess this is a goodbye then."
A sad smile plastered on his face. The world around us slowly turned into darkness. The kind of darkness in hell. "It is Darwin. I'm so happy to see you again."
"Well oh well!! Look at what we have here!" A very modern European accent voice of a man emerged from the world before us. We turned to see a man with a worn off brown coat. His hat looked to be as old as the ancient times. And his face. His face made my stomach turn. Bandages wrapped around his face, except for his terrifying grin. His teeth rotten to the very core of his rotten body. I stepped behind Eddie with the hammer in my hands. The man grins much wider than I anticipated.
"You must be wondering. Who am I? Well. I'm the one and only, Cain. You might've heard me from a very recognizable book. Also, I'm afraid you two are coming with me. We have a lot to discuss and a ton of things to do together." With that, he started laughing like a total maniac. His herds of demons followed with a laugh.
"Goodbye Darwin." Eddie suddenly pushes me off into the bright blue vortex that'll be my exit. I took one last glimpse of Eddie standing before Cain. As I fell into the portal, I can hear the echoing laughter of Cain and his demons. I screamed out for Eddie but my voice was out of reach.
Then, I landed on my back on the ground. The portal disappeared before me. I quickly stood back up and reached to where the portal had opened. It was gone. I looked around to see that I'm on a hill. The dark blue night sky displayed above me with the stars shining above. My mind racing with thoughts and fear. Witnessing Eddie being alone to fight against the evil we are meant to escape from. I screamed into the sky as tears rapidly starts to appear. I fell to my knees onto the grass floor and slam my hands at the ground as I wept. I kept screaming and sobbing until I was too exhausted that I fell to the ground. I heard footsteps before me. There were many.
My body being picked up by Billy in the arm as he carries me with him. "Darwin. What happened?"
The only words I can say now were."He's gone."
​
It's been 2 years since we left that world. The world we now stand upon was nearly the same as ours. What I mean by nearly was that there are strange phenomenons happening nearly every month. A girl who can turn into a form of a robot and killed a cancerous beast in Queensland. A military war criminal who considers killing the supernatural as a job. Even the real life wendigo sightings are on the news papers. Still though, the place is still good in the morning. Except in the night, there are sometimes threats we don't know in the dark.
We built a team together, even gather some new friends along the way. Rishika grew to be more expressive and a lot more kinder to us. The time we killed a literal Bigfoot, she gave me a fist bump. Gave me a chuckle and a smile on my face.
Billy was getting better everyday. He responds to us with kind words than insults like before. After Cody had buried Ronald's body in a proper, he said his words of goodbye to him and gave him the picture he secretly held with him. It was a picture of us hanging out in a movie place. It's heart warming and depressing to witness what he did there.
Cody went off to work as a psychologist. He's still with us. It's just that he wanted to help people's mental health issues. He did really well on that one and he even gave us some advice for a change. I wouldn't consider mostly on his advice but some I can really try. That's also where he met the girl who can turn into a robot. We've met after the news broke out about an incident of a wild destruction at Queensland. Forgot to mention, we're at Australia. Just to let you all know where we are.
Finally, Geralt took pictures everywhere we go and writes down in his diary. The reason he does this is that we're in another world and thought he could take pictures of them and reflect on them. Sometimes we even got to have a photograph of us in the middle of the good times. He said it was to keep memories of our times together. A frame with a picture of literally us huddled together in a bright sunny day in Canberra.
Me? I was building a portal device, for me to teleport to different worlds. It's going to take a long time for me yes. Been building other things lately with Rishika too. Weaponry, gadgets, devices, and fixing stuff. I stuck around with my friends and we've made a great team. Made new friends along the way and learnt many things too.
2 years ago, after my moment of grief, I woke up from my exhausted moment to see my friends standing before me with a relief on their faces. I nearly cried by the picture of that moment. After that, we both watched tv together in my new bedroom inside of a hotel room. After Rishika finds a new home for us, we moved out to Melbourne Victoria as a new place of our home. We moved in to a farm house where there is a larger basement for us to do our stuff. We knew we had to get a job at this point, so we did what we can to find one. It's a good thing there's a city nearby.
Rishika, Geralt, Billy, and I took the job as being a part of an investigation of the paranormal. That's how we managed to meet up with a bunch of new friends.
I missed Eddie. I wished he could come with me and didn't have to die. But, I learnt that I can't drag him with me. He wanted to stay there. I can understand that. I know he's gone already. It's hard to let go. But sometimes we have to. To live out our lives well. I have to look forward. To better myself through experience.
This is my message to you. My readers.
You better to stay where you are now. Don't go to other universes. Because maybe, you'll end up in the most horrifying places you never want to go.