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2023.05.28 15:16 Plushytoonz There's a universe where earth is filled with unknown horrors (Part 2)
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.
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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.
2023.05.28 15:15 Bright-Helicopter301 Who thinks in dream?
I had a dream where certain events were happening and as i was witnessing it and also thnking about what could happen next or what should i do next in that particular plot so , Who is the thinker and how am i having thoughts if my physical body is asleep what causes the thoughts to arise to my character in the dream ?
submitted by Bright-Helicopter301 to Dreams [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 15:12 gottaloveagoodbook Asked my dad for space. He never texted back. Uncertain about how I feel.
Warning: Long, TL;DR at end.
I love my dad. He was a great parent. Especially when I was a little kid. He loved to take me and my sibling on adventures. He always listened to my questions like they were the most important questions in the world. He made us breakfast and changed our diapers and told us every day that we were important. He was generous with money, but made sure to never spoil us. He loves to teach us things, even today.
But as soon as I hit puberty, things got tricky. Turns out he loves kids, but isn't so fond of women. Especially when they have different opinions from himself. So when my sib and I grew into opinionated women, the fighting started. We had a long period in my teens and early 20's where all we did was yell in each other's direction and desperately hope that the other person would hear. I tried to actively listen, even when he was making assumptions about my worth, my goals, my health, and my life. But, I must admit, I only successfully listened about 50% of the time. He never did.
When I became an adult and got a place of my own, he started insisting that we meet once a week to touch base and have a nice day out.
So I did. But the success in those outings was always touch and go.
Dad doesn't want to admit he hasn't kept up with his children's interests, so he never wants to plan outings. Don't get me wrong, he wants to have outings with me every week, he just doesn't want to plan them.
After a lot of back and forth, I finally got him to plan every other outing and I would take care of the rest.
I've taken us to world famous food markets, cat cafes, historic cemeteries, art galleries, and regional festivals. The only two outings he has planned in the last three months were going for a walk in a park fifteen minutes from his house and going grocery shopping together.
For a while, I was concerned that maybe I was dragging him to things he doesn't like. But I wouldn't know. Dad has always refused to get a hobby or show a visible interest in any topic. Aside from electronics, which is what he built his career on, I can't tell you a single thing he enjoys on a regular basis.
I know that he has a life of his own, with friends, pets, and a new girlfriend. It's just that he doesn't tell me about any of it. And when he does, it's usually done in a way that makes me upset.
Once, when we were having a nice day out together and had stopped for a meal, he turned to me and told me how glad he was that he had found his current therapist. Because with her help he had realized that it was OK that I had never done anything with my life. He assumed I would take that as a high complement.
All this is frustrating to me. I have told him as such. I've put up basic boundaries with him, like asking him to let me know if he's free to hang out this weekend before the weekend starts so I don't have to schedule a trip and can make plans if he's busy. But even when he respects those boundaries or does what I ask, it all dissolves into a screaming match.
I had texted him on Wednesday if he was free to hang out this weekend.
On Friday he texted back that he could do a walk in the park and lunch in a restaurant. (He knows, but hates, the fact that I'm still masking in public.)
I swallowed my pride. I didn't mention that I have been begging him to plan something other than a walk and food for years.
I told him that we could do that if we got the food to-go and could make it an early picnic lunch in a special park that I've been talking about for months - about 40 minutes away from his house.
He said that was too far away. Maybe next week. Or the week after that.
Now his girlfriend is staying with him this week. She was going to come with us. She has her elderly dog with her, and they're both protective of his safety in public. But I made sure the park was dog-friendly (dogs could be on the property, even though there was no allocated space for them) and I checked to make sure that we were going to go when the park wasn't busy.
And he knows this.
And still he just blew it off.
And I was upset. And sad. Again.
I vented to Mom, and she told me that if it hurt this much to keep meeting with him, that maybe we should stop doing weekly visits. We should still visit, obviously, but maybe only when there was something we were both excited to do.
That I should gently break this to him, and center the conversation around my feelings, but to say that maybe we should only get together if there was a reason to.
So after an hour of agonized writing, I sent him the text.
And over a day later he hasn't replied.
I don't feel mad, per say. I mean, I was expecting him to lash out and he hasn't.
But instead he has just tossed me aside like an afterthought.
Which I knew he was always capable of, but still.
It feels like I've been pushed off the swings, the air knocked out of me, and I'm not quite sure if this is going to hurt in a second.
TL;DR: I send my father a text telling him that maybe we should cut back on our weekly visits. I do this because he keeps pushing my buttons and each time we do get together is disappointing or painful to me. He never responds to my message.
submitted by gottaloveagoodbook to family [link] [comments]
I love my dad. He was a great parent. Especially when I was a little kid. He loved to take me and my sibling on adventures. He always listened to my questions like they were the most important questions in the world. He made us breakfast and changed our diapers and told us every day that we were important. He was generous with money, but made sure to never spoil us. He loves to teach us things, even today.
But as soon as I hit puberty, things got tricky. Turns out he loves kids, but isn't so fond of women. Especially when they have different opinions from himself. So when my sib and I grew into opinionated women, the fighting started. We had a long period in my teens and early 20's where all we did was yell in each other's direction and desperately hope that the other person would hear. I tried to actively listen, even when he was making assumptions about my worth, my goals, my health, and my life. But, I must admit, I only successfully listened about 50% of the time. He never did.
When I became an adult and got a place of my own, he started insisting that we meet once a week to touch base and have a nice day out.
So I did. But the success in those outings was always touch and go.
Dad doesn't want to admit he hasn't kept up with his children's interests, so he never wants to plan outings. Don't get me wrong, he wants to have outings with me every week, he just doesn't want to plan them.
After a lot of back and forth, I finally got him to plan every other outing and I would take care of the rest.
I've taken us to world famous food markets, cat cafes, historic cemeteries, art galleries, and regional festivals. The only two outings he has planned in the last three months were going for a walk in a park fifteen minutes from his house and going grocery shopping together.
For a while, I was concerned that maybe I was dragging him to things he doesn't like. But I wouldn't know. Dad has always refused to get a hobby or show a visible interest in any topic. Aside from electronics, which is what he built his career on, I can't tell you a single thing he enjoys on a regular basis.
I know that he has a life of his own, with friends, pets, and a new girlfriend. It's just that he doesn't tell me about any of it. And when he does, it's usually done in a way that makes me upset.
Once, when we were having a nice day out together and had stopped for a meal, he turned to me and told me how glad he was that he had found his current therapist. Because with her help he had realized that it was OK that I had never done anything with my life. He assumed I would take that as a high complement.
All this is frustrating to me. I have told him as such. I've put up basic boundaries with him, like asking him to let me know if he's free to hang out this weekend before the weekend starts so I don't have to schedule a trip and can make plans if he's busy. But even when he respects those boundaries or does what I ask, it all dissolves into a screaming match.
I had texted him on Wednesday if he was free to hang out this weekend.
On Friday he texted back that he could do a walk in the park and lunch in a restaurant. (He knows, but hates, the fact that I'm still masking in public.)
I swallowed my pride. I didn't mention that I have been begging him to plan something other than a walk and food for years.
I told him that we could do that if we got the food to-go and could make it an early picnic lunch in a special park that I've been talking about for months - about 40 minutes away from his house.
He said that was too far away. Maybe next week. Or the week after that.
Now his girlfriend is staying with him this week. She was going to come with us. She has her elderly dog with her, and they're both protective of his safety in public. But I made sure the park was dog-friendly (dogs could be on the property, even though there was no allocated space for them) and I checked to make sure that we were going to go when the park wasn't busy.
And he knows this.
And still he just blew it off.
And I was upset. And sad. Again.
I vented to Mom, and she told me that if it hurt this much to keep meeting with him, that maybe we should stop doing weekly visits. We should still visit, obviously, but maybe only when there was something we were both excited to do.
That I should gently break this to him, and center the conversation around my feelings, but to say that maybe we should only get together if there was a reason to.
So after an hour of agonized writing, I sent him the text.
And over a day later he hasn't replied.
I don't feel mad, per say. I mean, I was expecting him to lash out and he hasn't.
But instead he has just tossed me aside like an afterthought.
Which I knew he was always capable of, but still.
It feels like I've been pushed off the swings, the air knocked out of me, and I'm not quite sure if this is going to hurt in a second.
TL;DR: I send my father a text telling him that maybe we should cut back on our weekly visits. I do this because he keeps pushing my buttons and each time we do get together is disappointing or painful to me. He never responds to my message.
2023.05.28 15:12 rlyitsnot Rate my chances for getting into top master's admissions please!
Firstly thank you for taking your time to read this post.
I want to take a Masters programme in something like Statistics, Mathematics, or Computational Mathematics related (in order of preference) in a (hopefully) top 10 Uni, just wondering if what I have been doing is enough.
I am sincerely seeking advice as I currently have more opportunities I can take on, such as doing research for Professors, or doing more projects/courses, at the expense of sacrificing a few grades next semester.
Currently:
Thanks a lot for whoever made it through the whole post, your help is greatly appreciated :)
submitted by rlyitsnot to gradadmissions [link] [comments]
I want to take a Masters programme in something like Statistics, Mathematics, or Computational Mathematics related (in order of preference) in a (hopefully) top 10 Uni, just wondering if what I have been doing is enough.
I am sincerely seeking advice as I currently have more opportunities I can take on, such as doing research for Professors, or doing more projects/courses, at the expense of sacrificing a few grades next semester.
Currently:
- First Class Honors in a Computing/Data Science Degree from a T15 Global Uni
- Courses cover more breadth than depth, from statistics, to basic calculus, to data structures, to linear algebra, to econometrics, and mainly data science related techniques and projects
- Undergrad Dissertation/Thesis focused heavily on Regression/Statistical Techniques (In Progress)
- Multiple Teaching Assistant Experiences for Computing & Data Science related courses
- At least 3 internships with large banks & funds, centered around Data Science/Quantitative Research
- Projects related to data science/statistical models/computing
- Taken a few online courses for certificates (from reputable uni's) for slightly more mathematical courses, e.g. the math proofs behind data science techniques, learning slightly more thoroughly on vector spaces, etc.
Thanks a lot for whoever made it through the whole post, your help is greatly appreciated :)
2023.05.28 15:10 Least-Conversation48 Am I 26F getting played by my friend 26M?
Hi everyone so i (26f) am a little confused on whether I can even call this person (26m) a friend or not. We met at work a few years ago and have stayed in contact over text over time, we always had a flirty relationship but nothing ever really amounted anything and we just stayed close friends. Recently he invited me to go tree planting with him and share a tent for the summer, in the interest of not making things awkward for the whole summer I came out and flat out told him I had feelings for him. His response for that was sigh "yeah I know" loooong pause, so I said "you don't feel the same way?" And he replied "it's just a lot right now and I want to take things slow" and I responded "ok so no sex?" And he says "uuhhhh well we can just cuddle" So I naturally took that as him trying to let me down easy and didn't take it personally. We talk on the phone a little while longer, just about our plans for the summer how I'm gonna get out there etc he asks me if I have any money saved up for gear and such (which I at the time had around 3k saved) and then after our phone call he ends the conversation with "I love you" Ever since then he's been really sweet texting me good morning every morning with a little kissy face, calling me, telling me he loves me and he even offered to buy me some of my gear. And this is where it gets messy. He starts asking me for money, a lot of it, all in the name of us having a great time and everything we need. I, naively, didn't think too much of this and sent him some cash, and he asks for more. As the days go by he starts opening up more and telling me I'm the perfect woman for him and he's really scared of how much he likes me. I get really swept up this because I really care about him and have for a long time now and always thought he felt the same way. Flash forward and I show up at his place a few days before our job is supposed to start our plan was to hang out and get the last few things we needed for the summer. When I get there he kisses me but it was the most empty kiss I've ever felt. We get my bags in his place and I kiss him again but when I tried to deepen the kiss he pulls away and tells me he's really touch starved right now. I think fair enough he hasn't dated in awhile and wants to take things slow I'll just follow his lead. We're hanging out and he starts showing me all the stuff he's bought andi come to realize he's just been buying himself new clothes, ordering food, smokes, weed and whatever he wanted all with the money gave him. The whole time something feels off, he's barely making eye contact with me, his body language is directed away from me and he's really not interested in anything besides listening to his own voice. I'm getting pretty tired at this point and I lay down and start to drift off. That's when he lays down beside me and starts to kiss me and feel me up, I kiss him back and he pulls away starts to leave the room and tells me I should get naked. I stay where I am fully clothed and start to drift off again when he gets back and starts taking his clothes off, then he gets into bed and starts taking my clothes off and cuddling me. He starts trying to feel me up when I say you're kind of sending mixed signals on what you want and he just laughs at me and guides my head downwards to suck him off. I, really liking him and thinking he's into me to, do it. He then just flips me over and sticks it in me without doing any foreplay on me first(not even making out). After awhile he finally pulls out and says he doesn't know why but he can't cum right now and I say it's fine I just wanna cuddle anyway I haven't had sex in a long time and it's just not happening for me either. And he tells me yeah it's really hard to meet girls on tinder right now, which just left me with an icky feeling. He wakes me up the next day by sticking it in me again, without any foreplay again, even though I tried to say no that I was sleepy he kept going and finishes in me then tells me I'm acting weird. I'm exhausted, I had a long week and a late flight the night before and am feeling less than impressed and just fall back asleep. I wake up a couple hours later to see him in the chair beside me masturbating and I say hey what's up and he goes I got bored you were taking a long time to sleep. We smoke a little weed and I get up to brush my teeth and I start feeling sick to my stomach, sweat breaks out and I start to feel really weird as I walk back into his room I fainted. Dropped like a sack of potatoes. He wakes me up by slapping me in the face and says are you ok?!?! You gotta tell me if this is gonna happen (this has never happened to me before) he gets me some juice and I lie back down and fall asleep again. I awake up a couple hours later and he's gone. I'm feeling really off, scared, taken advantage of and like he's just using me for money so I decide to just dip and get a hotel for the night while I figure things out. 5 mins after I leave he's texting me and calling non stop asking if I'm ok saying he's worried and when I respond that I'm ok I'm just gonna get a hotel for the night I'm not feeling well he says ok well can you still send me some money for my hotel and bus ticket? Sorry for the looong post guys but I'm just feeling pretty used and want to know if anyone else thinks it sounds like he was just leading me on for money? I don't have a lot of relationship experience or slef confidence and just really liked this guy. If anything isn't clear drop a comment and I'll explain better.
submitted by Least-Conversation48 to NoStupidQuestions [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 15:10 linkenski [TotK] The thing that doesn't cut it for me, with Open Air storytelling
The lack of monomythic structure.
I'm not disputing non-linearity when I say that games since ALttP and prior to BotW were structured as they were for a reason. But they had what BotW and TotK don't: The narrative structure of a Hero's Journey.
They build out a story from the tutorial area and first dungeon as their inciting incident. A bit of prologue to set up the world, good guys and bad guys and a goal, the call to adventure.
Next, they use the player's freedom to tell us the part of a story when you progress from relative normality into challenge, as obstacles block what must be done to achieve the goal, challenging Link as the protagonist, or rather you.
Then, in the Abyss of Death and Rebirth Agahnim shows up to cast your presumputous award into doubt as he opens the gates to the Dark World and throws Link along into it. Or maybe, Zant shows up and hurts Midna, causing Zelda to sacrifice herself. Or maybe, you do rescue your sister, Aryll, but Ganondorf reveals his larger plot, and the King of Red Lions decides to throw "destiny" upon Link once again. No matter which, they moved the goal posts and brings about changes in the game's world and the player's objectives as they reach their coming of transformation.
In the transformative act 2, the player grows into a darker world, and darker themes. Here the challenges are not just practical but mental. Link must accept that he is now an adult in a darkened world, or that there is a dark world, or that farmboy-life must be put off even longer because the Twilight interferences are here to stay until we do something! In this part of a Zelda game the dungeons typically shifted in tone. The side quest narratives became more "real" and you, the player, enter more mechanically complicated dungeons. Ocarina of Time introduces man made temples with small keys opening doors. ALttP had warping between two world to find the entrances. Wind Waker turned their final dungeons into co-op escort events where Link had to not only explore the dungeon, but protect an important sage.
It all leads into the final 3rd act, in a confrontation, typically with Ganondorf, where the gift of the goddess is bestowed by Zelda to Link, and Link uses his learned experience to seal away evil, and complete the true objective. You, the player, use your own experience and acquired items to go through Ganon's tower and fight a final series of bosses, to witness the culmination of the plot.
Breath of the Wild and TotK don't do this. They start you with a brief mystery prologue that sets up a main goal. Then they let you do anything and even if try to emulate the past structure through the freedom, by basically following game hints that tell you where to go first, you end up with a much more shortlived and basic narrative.
The entirety of BotW is basically "Free the Divine Beasts" and the entirety of TotK is "Find Zelda. Where could she be?"
There is no turning point in these stories that ramp up the stakes from their early premise. They start one way, and stay one way, and then the ending suddenly happens.
It's hard to fault Nintendo for this. I understand that this is the tradeoff to having an unpredictable player behavior. You have to make the story flexible, and make the player feel like nothing is caused by a linear decision by developers.
There is nothing "wrong" about not using monomyth, but I think that a lot of people are picking up on there being a lack of "something" in Open Air Zelda, and I would propose that this is the real thing that is missing.
Dungeons are disappoining, yes. They tried to make them seamless with no loading between rooms, and they probably valued the content of the open world over individual dungeons, so something had to give, yes. But I think the fact that there are just 4 dungeons that don't lead to a narrative twist, into a second half, is enough to punctuate the narrative in these games, by removing its sense of emotional cadence. Everything is flatlined, and all you do is pick from a narrative buffet, and then go to the climax when you prefer. It feels like something is missing, doesn't it?
TL;DR: Past Zeldas used the structure of dungeons to balance player freedom with narrative inevitability, providing a sense of you going through a real Hero's Journey Monomyth. The last two games are instead flatly mapped, and the monomyth doesn't exist within its structure main missions, so when you end the game, it may be somewhat epic, but you don't feel like you went through the transformative hero-adventure "sword in the stone" style, when you beat the game. The problems of storytelling in BotW/TotK is not writing or the fact that it's memories. It's in the fact that the active story of the player's own adventure is not mapped to an inevitable hero's journey.
submitted by linkenski to zelda [link] [comments]
I'm not disputing non-linearity when I say that games since ALttP and prior to BotW were structured as they were for a reason. But they had what BotW and TotK don't: The narrative structure of a Hero's Journey.
They build out a story from the tutorial area and first dungeon as their inciting incident. A bit of prologue to set up the world, good guys and bad guys and a goal, the call to adventure.
Next, they use the player's freedom to tell us the part of a story when you progress from relative normality into challenge, as obstacles block what must be done to achieve the goal, challenging Link as the protagonist, or rather you.
Then, in the Abyss of Death and Rebirth Agahnim shows up to cast your presumputous award into doubt as he opens the gates to the Dark World and throws Link along into it. Or maybe, Zant shows up and hurts Midna, causing Zelda to sacrifice herself. Or maybe, you do rescue your sister, Aryll, but Ganondorf reveals his larger plot, and the King of Red Lions decides to throw "destiny" upon Link once again. No matter which, they moved the goal posts and brings about changes in the game's world and the player's objectives as they reach their coming of transformation.
In the transformative act 2, the player grows into a darker world, and darker themes. Here the challenges are not just practical but mental. Link must accept that he is now an adult in a darkened world, or that there is a dark world, or that farmboy-life must be put off even longer because the Twilight interferences are here to stay until we do something! In this part of a Zelda game the dungeons typically shifted in tone. The side quest narratives became more "real" and you, the player, enter more mechanically complicated dungeons. Ocarina of Time introduces man made temples with small keys opening doors. ALttP had warping between two world to find the entrances. Wind Waker turned their final dungeons into co-op escort events where Link had to not only explore the dungeon, but protect an important sage.
It all leads into the final 3rd act, in a confrontation, typically with Ganondorf, where the gift of the goddess is bestowed by Zelda to Link, and Link uses his learned experience to seal away evil, and complete the true objective. You, the player, use your own experience and acquired items to go through Ganon's tower and fight a final series of bosses, to witness the culmination of the plot.
Breath of the Wild and TotK don't do this. They start you with a brief mystery prologue that sets up a main goal. Then they let you do anything and even if try to emulate the past structure through the freedom, by basically following game hints that tell you where to go first, you end up with a much more shortlived and basic narrative.
The entirety of BotW is basically "Free the Divine Beasts" and the entirety of TotK is "Find Zelda. Where could she be?"
There is no turning point in these stories that ramp up the stakes from their early premise. They start one way, and stay one way, and then the ending suddenly happens.
It's hard to fault Nintendo for this. I understand that this is the tradeoff to having an unpredictable player behavior. You have to make the story flexible, and make the player feel like nothing is caused by a linear decision by developers.
There is nothing "wrong" about not using monomyth, but I think that a lot of people are picking up on there being a lack of "something" in Open Air Zelda, and I would propose that this is the real thing that is missing.
Dungeons are disappoining, yes. They tried to make them seamless with no loading between rooms, and they probably valued the content of the open world over individual dungeons, so something had to give, yes. But I think the fact that there are just 4 dungeons that don't lead to a narrative twist, into a second half, is enough to punctuate the narrative in these games, by removing its sense of emotional cadence. Everything is flatlined, and all you do is pick from a narrative buffet, and then go to the climax when you prefer. It feels like something is missing, doesn't it?
TL;DR: Past Zeldas used the structure of dungeons to balance player freedom with narrative inevitability, providing a sense of you going through a real Hero's Journey Monomyth. The last two games are instead flatly mapped, and the monomyth doesn't exist within its structure main missions, so when you end the game, it may be somewhat epic, but you don't feel like you went through the transformative hero-adventure "sword in the stone" style, when you beat the game. The problems of storytelling in BotW/TotK is not writing or the fact that it's memories. It's in the fact that the active story of the player's own adventure is not mapped to an inevitable hero's journey.
2023.05.28 15:10 campaxiomatic AIAITA for ruining my sister's chance to attend a Taylor Swift concert due to a tomato sauce accident involving her passport?
My sister (22F) and I (24F) had been planning to attend a Taylor Swift concert for months. We were both huge fans and had purchased the tickets well in advance. The concert was in a different city, and we needed our passports to travel there.
Fast forward to the day before the concert. I was preparing dinner and had a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove. While I was engrossed in chopping vegetables, my sister placed her passport on the kitchen counter nearby. Unfortunately, my clumsy self knocked over the pot of tomato sauce, causing it to spill all over the counter, including onto her passport.
We immediately panicked, realizing that the tomato sauce had stained the passport pages, making it unreadable. It was a complete disaster. My sister was devastated, as this meant she couldn't use the passport to travel and attend the long-awaited Taylor Swift concert.
In a panic, we rushed to the passport office the next morning, hoping to get a replacement passport on the same day. However, due to the tight timeframe and the bureaucracy involved, it turned out to be impossible. We had to accept that my sister would not be able to attend the concert.
When I confessed my guilt and apologized profusely, my sister exploded in anger. She accused me of being careless and not paying attention, ultimately ruining her opportunity to see her favorite artist live. She argued that I should have been more careful in the kitchen, considering the importance of the passport for our plans.
While I understand her frustration and disappointment, I genuinely believe I'm not the asshole in this situation. Yes, the tomato sauce accident was unfortunate, but it was an honest mistake. I never intended to ruin her chance to attend the concert. It was simply an unfortunate series of events that led to the passport being damaged.
So, Reddit, AITA for ruining my sister's opportunity to attend the Taylor Swift concert due to a tomato sauce accident involving her passport?
submitted by campaxiomatic to ai_aita [link] [comments]
Fast forward to the day before the concert. I was preparing dinner and had a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove. While I was engrossed in chopping vegetables, my sister placed her passport on the kitchen counter nearby. Unfortunately, my clumsy self knocked over the pot of tomato sauce, causing it to spill all over the counter, including onto her passport.
We immediately panicked, realizing that the tomato sauce had stained the passport pages, making it unreadable. It was a complete disaster. My sister was devastated, as this meant she couldn't use the passport to travel and attend the long-awaited Taylor Swift concert.
In a panic, we rushed to the passport office the next morning, hoping to get a replacement passport on the same day. However, due to the tight timeframe and the bureaucracy involved, it turned out to be impossible. We had to accept that my sister would not be able to attend the concert.
When I confessed my guilt and apologized profusely, my sister exploded in anger. She accused me of being careless and not paying attention, ultimately ruining her opportunity to see her favorite artist live. She argued that I should have been more careful in the kitchen, considering the importance of the passport for our plans.
While I understand her frustration and disappointment, I genuinely believe I'm not the asshole in this situation. Yes, the tomato sauce accident was unfortunate, but it was an honest mistake. I never intended to ruin her chance to attend the concert. It was simply an unfortunate series of events that led to the passport being damaged.
So, Reddit, AITA for ruining my sister's opportunity to attend the Taylor Swift concert due to a tomato sauce accident involving her passport?
2023.05.28 15:09 El_Charro_Loco Meanwhile in NJ, USA....
 | submitted by El_Charro_Loco to notjustbikes [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 15:09 Other_Freedom_3278 Hosting a talent show
Context: I am running a campaign in Wildemount loosely based on CR S2 with a party of 6 players.
The players are a week out from entering a colosseum-style event (yes, the Victory Pit). They are conscious of a lack of healing in the party and so they have brainstormed ways to find a willing healer within the city that will aid them in the Victory Pit. After hours of deliberation, they decided on hosting a ‘Talent Show’ in an Inn to judge the best Bard in town. The party has spread rumours of the event and has paid stage rental at a local inn to secure their event.
Now, other than creating a range of hopeful Bard NPCs for the show, how could I make the next session challenging/rewarding for players? I don’t want the whole 3-hour spotlight to be on MY performances as a bard instead of player gameplay.
Thoughts?
submitted by Other_Freedom_3278 to DMAcademy [link] [comments]
The players are a week out from entering a colosseum-style event (yes, the Victory Pit). They are conscious of a lack of healing in the party and so they have brainstormed ways to find a willing healer within the city that will aid them in the Victory Pit. After hours of deliberation, they decided on hosting a ‘Talent Show’ in an Inn to judge the best Bard in town. The party has spread rumours of the event and has paid stage rental at a local inn to secure their event.
Now, other than creating a range of hopeful Bard NPCs for the show, how could I make the next session challenging/rewarding for players? I don’t want the whole 3-hour spotlight to be on MY performances as a bard instead of player gameplay.
Thoughts?
2023.05.28 15:09 norcal4130 What settings do you drive with?
S#, VDC/Traction off, Auto (-)
Coming up on two years of ownership. I found out pretty early that i prefer no traction control. Definitely the correct choice for driving on ice/snow. I've been to three HPDE track days with S#, VDC/Traction off, Auto DCCD. I just started playing with the center diff control and have been enjoying Auto (-) on dry streets. Going to try Auto (-) for the next track day
What does everyone else run?
submitted by norcal4130 to WRXSTi [link] [comments]
Coming up on two years of ownership. I found out pretty early that i prefer no traction control. Definitely the correct choice for driving on ice/snow. I've been to three HPDE track days with S#, VDC/Traction off, Auto DCCD. I just started playing with the center diff control and have been enjoying Auto (-) on dry streets. Going to try Auto (-) for the next track day
What does everyone else run?
2023.05.28 15:02 cryptocalbot List of Today's and Tomorrow's Upcoming Events
I will be bringing you upcoming events/announcements every day. If you want improvements to this post, please mention houseme in the comments. We will make improvements based on your feedback.
https://kryptocal.com /kryptocal Android iOS Telegram Interactive Bot (add cryptocalapp_bot) Telegram Channel @kryptocal
submitted by cryptocalbot to kryptocal [link] [comments]
https://kryptocal.com /kryptocal Android iOS Telegram Interactive Bot (add cryptocalapp_bot) Telegram Channel @kryptocal
ADD AN EVENT
If you like an event to be added, click Submit Event, and we will do the rest.NEXT DAY UPCOMING EVENTS
2023.05.28 15:02 HeroBudu Hvala svima vama!
A couple of months ago I made a post in here to ask for help regarding a research project that is centered about the History of Tuzla.
Many people were willing to help and so many of you helped me gather new information. You are all very kind and I want to express my gratitude to everyone that helped. My research is almost finished and I'm just waiting for a final message to complete it.
Thank you all again and hopefully I'll be able to travel to Bosnia next year!
submitted by HeroBudu to bih [link] [comments]
Many people were willing to help and so many of you helped me gather new information. You are all very kind and I want to express my gratitude to everyone that helped. My research is almost finished and I'm just waiting for a final message to complete it.
Thank you all again and hopefully I'll be able to travel to Bosnia next year!
2023.05.28 15:01 KooKooKangaRoo42 My Chiari Surgery Experience
Hi there,
Just sharing my Chiari Surgery experience for anyone who is thinking about getting it done and wanting to hear about people's experiences/recovery.
I (43 f) just had my Chiari Decompression Surgery with duroplasty and C1 laminectomy at Weill Cornell with Dr Stieg in NYC on Wed 5/24 and was discharged home this AM (Sat 5/27). They were actually ready to discharge me on Fri 5/26 even — but because I live so far (5 hrs) from the specialty center, I felt more comfortable staying one more night, which they were fine with.
For background, I was just diagnosed with Chiari I.5 malformation (13 mm cerebellar tonsillar descent, with the obex or bottom of medulla being squished down there even lower) on MRI on 5/5/23. (No syrinx in the spine, though, fortunately.) I am so glad the neurosurgeon got me in so fast. Doctors including my neurologist had been blowing off my increasing symptoms for the past 5 years. (“Oh, it’s probably just migraines — oh, it’s probably just cluster headaches — oh it’s probably just neck strain.”) So frustrating! But once I got the MRI showing the Chiari, I just took the initiative to find a neurosurgeon to consult with. And Dr. Stieg’s team was very good about getting me in quickly. He did a full brain and spine MRI, with and without contrast, and consultation with me within 2 weeks of my reaching out to his team. I could already tell within 1-2 days post surgery that essentially all my major problems had been resolved (though of course there’s a lot of neck stiffness and soreness from the surgery itself, but it’s already so much better just 3 days post-surgery).
I had problems since at least 2018 including: Chiari headaches (excruciating, incapacitating collapsing to the floor moaning with my head in my hands headaches, triggered initially by coughing episodes — but then progressively over time even by just standing up too fast, yelling for the kids, bending or tilting my head wrong, by the end even sitting up or turning over in bed by the end). Also terrible chronic neck pain RIGHT at the base of my skull (that I thought had been caused/worsened by car accident whiplash, but now I think 100% caused by the Chiari -- since it seems to have pretty much resolved since the surgery). And also increasingly weird neurological symptoms due to the compression of the brain stem, including: trouble swallowing (seemed like I accidentally choke liquid down the wrong tube every single day when I took a drink), excessive drooling, numb/weak hands/clumsy hands, poor balance/coordination (walking into walks, trips/falls going up and down stairs, a few faint episodes), excessive yawning, and hands(not just a little — like shaking violently after every yawn or sneeze).
My surgery was at 7:30 AM. I had to show up at 5:45 so they could get me checked in and everything. The neurosurgeon and anaesthesiologist were very good about explaining what would be happening and answering any questions I had. They took special care talking about my anaesthesia (because in my case a sleep study had shown that the Chiari puts pressure on my brain stem, and has caused me to have central sleep apnea — different from obstructive apnea. It’s the brain signals telling my lungs to breathe don’t always get through at night. So that is part of why I’m always waking up in the middle of the night and still feeling tired in the morning.) So concerns about that were thoroughly discussed and they would use a CPAP mask to help with my breathing if needed. They still went with Methadone as IV painkiller as planned. The surgery took about 3 & 1/2 hours. (They told me 2-3, so pretty close). They will put your IV in of course and give you something to relax you and put you to sleep and you won’t remember anything afterward except them telling you the surgery is all done and it’s time to wake up.
I’m not going to lie, there was some pain obviously. But for me, it was manageable —never more than a 6-7, and with the Oxycodone and Tylenol they gave me, got me down to a 3 (on a 10-point pain scale) pretty fast. For the day of the surgery they had me on 10 mg Oxycodone dose immediately afterward, tapering down to 5 mg. I had some nausea the first day after surgery too, which the anaesthesia and pain meds can cause, I guess. But they gave me something for it whenever I complained and whatever they gave me worked quickly. The steroids for swelling also tend to cause some side effects -- high blood sugar, which they did finger pricks to check and which were always a little high -- though they didn't end up having to give me any insulin. And heartburn, which they gave me protonix for every morning. And Maalox once, when I complained about it still bothering me
They actually tapered me just the day after surgery down from Oxycodone to just regular Tylenol and muscle relaxant every 8 hours — but would check in with me regularly about pain of course and offer Oxycodone as needed or if it got worse. I did take just ONE more dose of Oxycodone that next night, the day after surgery — I think it’s my own fault for doing a little too much walking and self-directed P/T (trying to turn my neck a bit side to side to loosen the stiffness) that first day. So maybe give it a few days before you do much active attempt to turn/stretch the neck. (Don’t be a hero by trying to taper too soon — the one extra dose of Oxycodone I asked for that night provided me a lot of relief and allowed me a good night of sleep and was feeling much better the next morning and able to taper to Tylenol without a problem.)
But by two days post-surgery, I was doing really well and managing with just 3 Tylenol and 1/2 muscle relaxant every 8 hrs. Steroids too to keep down the swelling every 6 hours. The recovery has really been so good so far from what I had feared. Not so bad at all. They did give me some Oxycodone I can have at home if pain flares up again, but I don’t think I’ll need it.
Literally, as soon as I woke up from surgery, my very first sip of juice that I had, I realized I could swallow again without choking. By the day after surgery, the numbness in my hands had mostly abated. (That one I was worried about, because I know sometimes if nerve damage goes on too long it can be permanent so I thought the numbness and hand weakness might not resolve). I could sit/stand/turn over in bed etc without triggering the usual Chiari headaches. Some other symptoms that I didn’t even KNOW were related to my Chiari (a nagging constant earache in my left ear that my GP just always told me there was nothing wrong when she looked in there — miraculously also gone! Must have been due to blocked CSF or something).
I am already so happy I had this surgery done, even though my husband was nervous about it happening so quickly. I’d been suffering for 5 years already, with it impinging a lot on my quality of life, ability to play with or carry my own kids, and neurological symptoms can get worse over time, so as surgeon said — now that you know the diagnosis and likely solution, what are you waiting for?I do realize that everyone’s story is different and I am quite lucky that (so far) everything has gone according to plan, with such rapid and obvious symptom relief for me, incision healing seeming to go so well, etc — so bear in mind everyone’s situation and recovery is different and consult closely with your professionals. This is just my own story. But I had a *very* good experience and would definitely recommend the Chiari surgery to anyone who was suffering the level of symptoms that I was having.
I will second the recommendations others have made about taking stool softeners (and laxatives or suppositories if needed to get things going) in your first few days post-surgery. I am very sensitive to the constipating effects of opiates like Oxycodone (I went 8 days without pooping after my C-Section — by which time it was very tough and painful, as you can imagine). So although they were giving me stool softeners — Senna, and Miralax every day — when I still hadn’t gone for 3 days, I asked for prune juice, and when that didn’t work, and I was still straining and having trouble passing, I requested Milk of Magnesia. It gave me unpleasant stomach cramping for a few hours, but was worth it to me, because it got the job done so I was all cleared out by the time I left the hospital, which was important to me. Given all the warnings they give you about not straining on the toilet because it can increase CSF pressure in the head and potentially cause your dura patch to leak.
I showered for the first time the morning of my discharge (3 days post surgery). My surgeon said ok to shower, but don’t submerge — no pools, hot tubs, etc as that can increase risk of incision infection. No rubbing any lotions or oils back there, though bacitracin or neosporin to put on with sterile gloves/hands is ok if incision is itchy. They removed the bandage 2 days after my surgery and said everything looked beautiful. (I can PM you a picture of the shave line and incision if you what it looked like immediately after they removed the bandage. You can’t even notice the incision or that they shaved any of my hair when my hair is down. They tell me it is healing beautifully. My 5-year-old says it looks "soooo cool!" 😂)
Just a note, following surgery, that first day I found it more comfortable to rest on my side than my back because the neck incision pain hurt too much while on my back. But by 1-2 days after surgery, lying on my back with head elevated was fine. I second the recommendation for buying a wedge pillow in advance of your arrival home. (I didn’t know how helpful that elevating/reclining hospital bed pillow was until it was gone!) Right now I’m stacking pillows, but I think a wedge would have worked better.
They told me no bending, lifting, twisting - don’t carry anything bigger than a gallon of milk for 6 weeks. If you drop something and do need to pick it up, bend at the knees. No picking up kids (at least, not if the one who wants picking up is 5 years old and 40 lbs, like my youngest!). Avoid driving for 2-4 weeks if you can, both to avoid needless jostling of head from sudden stops , and strain from having to turn your head too much. Do P/T if recommended.
I did have one slightly scary experience during my very early recovery (harmless, apparently, but freaked me out since I had never experienced it before). I had an episode of “vasovagal syncope,” which involves an automatic bodily reaction where your blood pressure and heart rate suddenly drop precipitously. (It happens to some people when they see needles or blood or get stressed or scared — essentially “fainting.” But never happened to me before). Apparently, it is not uncommon to occur after anaesthesia, brain surgery, etc.
So this was on the very day of surgery. Remember my procedure only started at 7:30 AM on Wednesday. But after dinner the same day, around 6:30 pm, they were already encouraging me to try moving to a sit-up chair for a while — with the idea that if that went well, we’d go on to do a little assisted walking (I guess walking as soon as you can helps with recovery time, reduces risk of blood clots, etc). So I sat up in a chair for about 30 minutes, not even standing, just sitting in a chair. And was fine at first. But then my legs started shaking a lot and I started to feel very nauseated. I asked the nurse to get me something for the nausea, afraid I was going to actually throw up, and while she was gone, started feeling even weirder - like flushing hot and cold sensations, sudden sweating. More shaking. Just feeling weird and terrible. My husband said I turned white as a sheet and my lips as white as the rest of my face. My husband got the nurses who helped me lay flat, and neuro came in a minute later to see me and ask what happened. He said what I described was a classic vasovagal syncope reaction - just put some fluids in my IV and had the bed headrest inverted a little (so my head was slightly tipped back — I didn’t like it, because put a little more strain on my neck, but he said just for 5 minutes or so to get the blood back in my head.)
After 30 minutes lying down with my legs up and my head back, I was pretty much back to normal and feeling better. Just a little scary because I didn’t know what was happening and hadn’t experienced it before. And usually I guess people experience it when standing up and walking, not just sitting in chair, so probably took nurses and dr a little by surprise too. But neuro team said it’s not too uncommon after surgery.
I didn’t do any more sitting that night. But next day after lunch, neuro team told me to go ahead and try again — and I had no more problems. Did plenty of sitting, standing, and walking with my husband. They said, by the way, that during your 6 weeks initial recovery, do as much walking as you want — but nothing more vigorous than that.
I am so happy already about the improvement in my quality of life without those horrible headaches and neck aches and other bizarre symptoms. I wish my doctors and neurologists hadn’t been such dummies and had figured it all out 5 years ago… but better late than never! The 5-hour car ride back home from NYC yesterday was a little rough (Memorial Day weekend traffic didn’t help), but I am glad I went the route of seeking out an expert Brain & Spine Center that really knew what they were doing. 4 days after surgery I am sitting here in bed at home with my cat in my lap (and warning the kids not yo jump on the bed) and feeling so much more optimistic about the future.
Wishing you all the best with your own journeys and recoveries. The first 4 days post-surgery really hasn’t been at ALL as bad as I feared. I was scared because I’ve never had surgery other than C-Section before, but it has bern totally manageable with the pain meds they give you. And neck stiffness by day 3, already SO much better than day 1-2. Hang in there!!!
submitted by KooKooKangaRoo42 to chiari [link] [comments]
Just sharing my Chiari Surgery experience for anyone who is thinking about getting it done and wanting to hear about people's experiences/recovery.
I (43 f) just had my Chiari Decompression Surgery with duroplasty and C1 laminectomy at Weill Cornell with Dr Stieg in NYC on Wed 5/24 and was discharged home this AM (Sat 5/27). They were actually ready to discharge me on Fri 5/26 even — but because I live so far (5 hrs) from the specialty center, I felt more comfortable staying one more night, which they were fine with.
For background, I was just diagnosed with Chiari I.5 malformation (13 mm cerebellar tonsillar descent, with the obex or bottom of medulla being squished down there even lower) on MRI on 5/5/23. (No syrinx in the spine, though, fortunately.) I am so glad the neurosurgeon got me in so fast. Doctors including my neurologist had been blowing off my increasing symptoms for the past 5 years. (“Oh, it’s probably just migraines — oh, it’s probably just cluster headaches — oh it’s probably just neck strain.”) So frustrating! But once I got the MRI showing the Chiari, I just took the initiative to find a neurosurgeon to consult with. And Dr. Stieg’s team was very good about getting me in quickly. He did a full brain and spine MRI, with and without contrast, and consultation with me within 2 weeks of my reaching out to his team. I could already tell within 1-2 days post surgery that essentially all my major problems had been resolved (though of course there’s a lot of neck stiffness and soreness from the surgery itself, but it’s already so much better just 3 days post-surgery).
I had problems since at least 2018 including: Chiari headaches (excruciating, incapacitating collapsing to the floor moaning with my head in my hands headaches, triggered initially by coughing episodes — but then progressively over time even by just standing up too fast, yelling for the kids, bending or tilting my head wrong, by the end even sitting up or turning over in bed by the end). Also terrible chronic neck pain RIGHT at the base of my skull (that I thought had been caused/worsened by car accident whiplash, but now I think 100% caused by the Chiari -- since it seems to have pretty much resolved since the surgery). And also increasingly weird neurological symptoms due to the compression of the brain stem, including: trouble swallowing (seemed like I accidentally choke liquid down the wrong tube every single day when I took a drink), excessive drooling, numb/weak hands/clumsy hands, poor balance/coordination (walking into walks, trips/falls going up and down stairs, a few faint episodes), excessive yawning, and hands(not just a little — like shaking violently after every yawn or sneeze).
My surgery was at 7:30 AM. I had to show up at 5:45 so they could get me checked in and everything. The neurosurgeon and anaesthesiologist were very good about explaining what would be happening and answering any questions I had. They took special care talking about my anaesthesia (because in my case a sleep study had shown that the Chiari puts pressure on my brain stem, and has caused me to have central sleep apnea — different from obstructive apnea. It’s the brain signals telling my lungs to breathe don’t always get through at night. So that is part of why I’m always waking up in the middle of the night and still feeling tired in the morning.) So concerns about that were thoroughly discussed and they would use a CPAP mask to help with my breathing if needed. They still went with Methadone as IV painkiller as planned. The surgery took about 3 & 1/2 hours. (They told me 2-3, so pretty close). They will put your IV in of course and give you something to relax you and put you to sleep and you won’t remember anything afterward except them telling you the surgery is all done and it’s time to wake up.
I’m not going to lie, there was some pain obviously. But for me, it was manageable —never more than a 6-7, and with the Oxycodone and Tylenol they gave me, got me down to a 3 (on a 10-point pain scale) pretty fast. For the day of the surgery they had me on 10 mg Oxycodone dose immediately afterward, tapering down to 5 mg. I had some nausea the first day after surgery too, which the anaesthesia and pain meds can cause, I guess. But they gave me something for it whenever I complained and whatever they gave me worked quickly. The steroids for swelling also tend to cause some side effects -- high blood sugar, which they did finger pricks to check and which were always a little high -- though they didn't end up having to give me any insulin. And heartburn, which they gave me protonix for every morning. And Maalox once, when I complained about it still bothering me
They actually tapered me just the day after surgery down from Oxycodone to just regular Tylenol and muscle relaxant every 8 hours — but would check in with me regularly about pain of course and offer Oxycodone as needed or if it got worse. I did take just ONE more dose of Oxycodone that next night, the day after surgery — I think it’s my own fault for doing a little too much walking and self-directed P/T (trying to turn my neck a bit side to side to loosen the stiffness) that first day. So maybe give it a few days before you do much active attempt to turn/stretch the neck. (Don’t be a hero by trying to taper too soon — the one extra dose of Oxycodone I asked for that night provided me a lot of relief and allowed me a good night of sleep and was feeling much better the next morning and able to taper to Tylenol without a problem.)
But by two days post-surgery, I was doing really well and managing with just 3 Tylenol and 1/2 muscle relaxant every 8 hrs. Steroids too to keep down the swelling every 6 hours. The recovery has really been so good so far from what I had feared. Not so bad at all. They did give me some Oxycodone I can have at home if pain flares up again, but I don’t think I’ll need it.
Literally, as soon as I woke up from surgery, my very first sip of juice that I had, I realized I could swallow again without choking. By the day after surgery, the numbness in my hands had mostly abated. (That one I was worried about, because I know sometimes if nerve damage goes on too long it can be permanent so I thought the numbness and hand weakness might not resolve). I could sit/stand/turn over in bed etc without triggering the usual Chiari headaches. Some other symptoms that I didn’t even KNOW were related to my Chiari (a nagging constant earache in my left ear that my GP just always told me there was nothing wrong when she looked in there — miraculously also gone! Must have been due to blocked CSF or something).
I am already so happy I had this surgery done, even though my husband was nervous about it happening so quickly. I’d been suffering for 5 years already, with it impinging a lot on my quality of life, ability to play with or carry my own kids, and neurological symptoms can get worse over time, so as surgeon said — now that you know the diagnosis and likely solution, what are you waiting for?I do realize that everyone’s story is different and I am quite lucky that (so far) everything has gone according to plan, with such rapid and obvious symptom relief for me, incision healing seeming to go so well, etc — so bear in mind everyone’s situation and recovery is different and consult closely with your professionals. This is just my own story. But I had a *very* good experience and would definitely recommend the Chiari surgery to anyone who was suffering the level of symptoms that I was having.
I will second the recommendations others have made about taking stool softeners (and laxatives or suppositories if needed to get things going) in your first few days post-surgery. I am very sensitive to the constipating effects of opiates like Oxycodone (I went 8 days without pooping after my C-Section — by which time it was very tough and painful, as you can imagine). So although they were giving me stool softeners — Senna, and Miralax every day — when I still hadn’t gone for 3 days, I asked for prune juice, and when that didn’t work, and I was still straining and having trouble passing, I requested Milk of Magnesia. It gave me unpleasant stomach cramping for a few hours, but was worth it to me, because it got the job done so I was all cleared out by the time I left the hospital, which was important to me. Given all the warnings they give you about not straining on the toilet because it can increase CSF pressure in the head and potentially cause your dura patch to leak.
I showered for the first time the morning of my discharge (3 days post surgery). My surgeon said ok to shower, but don’t submerge — no pools, hot tubs, etc as that can increase risk of incision infection. No rubbing any lotions or oils back there, though bacitracin or neosporin to put on with sterile gloves/hands is ok if incision is itchy. They removed the bandage 2 days after my surgery and said everything looked beautiful. (I can PM you a picture of the shave line and incision if you what it looked like immediately after they removed the bandage. You can’t even notice the incision or that they shaved any of my hair when my hair is down. They tell me it is healing beautifully. My 5-year-old says it looks "soooo cool!" 😂)
Just a note, following surgery, that first day I found it more comfortable to rest on my side than my back because the neck incision pain hurt too much while on my back. But by 1-2 days after surgery, lying on my back with head elevated was fine. I second the recommendation for buying a wedge pillow in advance of your arrival home. (I didn’t know how helpful that elevating/reclining hospital bed pillow was until it was gone!) Right now I’m stacking pillows, but I think a wedge would have worked better.
They told me no bending, lifting, twisting - don’t carry anything bigger than a gallon of milk for 6 weeks. If you drop something and do need to pick it up, bend at the knees. No picking up kids (at least, not if the one who wants picking up is 5 years old and 40 lbs, like my youngest!). Avoid driving for 2-4 weeks if you can, both to avoid needless jostling of head from sudden stops , and strain from having to turn your head too much. Do P/T if recommended.
I did have one slightly scary experience during my very early recovery (harmless, apparently, but freaked me out since I had never experienced it before). I had an episode of “vasovagal syncope,” which involves an automatic bodily reaction where your blood pressure and heart rate suddenly drop precipitously. (It happens to some people when they see needles or blood or get stressed or scared — essentially “fainting.” But never happened to me before). Apparently, it is not uncommon to occur after anaesthesia, brain surgery, etc.
So this was on the very day of surgery. Remember my procedure only started at 7:30 AM on Wednesday. But after dinner the same day, around 6:30 pm, they were already encouraging me to try moving to a sit-up chair for a while — with the idea that if that went well, we’d go on to do a little assisted walking (I guess walking as soon as you can helps with recovery time, reduces risk of blood clots, etc). So I sat up in a chair for about 30 minutes, not even standing, just sitting in a chair. And was fine at first. But then my legs started shaking a lot and I started to feel very nauseated. I asked the nurse to get me something for the nausea, afraid I was going to actually throw up, and while she was gone, started feeling even weirder - like flushing hot and cold sensations, sudden sweating. More shaking. Just feeling weird and terrible. My husband said I turned white as a sheet and my lips as white as the rest of my face. My husband got the nurses who helped me lay flat, and neuro came in a minute later to see me and ask what happened. He said what I described was a classic vasovagal syncope reaction - just put some fluids in my IV and had the bed headrest inverted a little (so my head was slightly tipped back — I didn’t like it, because put a little more strain on my neck, but he said just for 5 minutes or so to get the blood back in my head.)
After 30 minutes lying down with my legs up and my head back, I was pretty much back to normal and feeling better. Just a little scary because I didn’t know what was happening and hadn’t experienced it before. And usually I guess people experience it when standing up and walking, not just sitting in chair, so probably took nurses and dr a little by surprise too. But neuro team said it’s not too uncommon after surgery.
I didn’t do any more sitting that night. But next day after lunch, neuro team told me to go ahead and try again — and I had no more problems. Did plenty of sitting, standing, and walking with my husband. They said, by the way, that during your 6 weeks initial recovery, do as much walking as you want — but nothing more vigorous than that.
I am so happy already about the improvement in my quality of life without those horrible headaches and neck aches and other bizarre symptoms. I wish my doctors and neurologists hadn’t been such dummies and had figured it all out 5 years ago… but better late than never! The 5-hour car ride back home from NYC yesterday was a little rough (Memorial Day weekend traffic didn’t help), but I am glad I went the route of seeking out an expert Brain & Spine Center that really knew what they were doing. 4 days after surgery I am sitting here in bed at home with my cat in my lap (and warning the kids not yo jump on the bed) and feeling so much more optimistic about the future.
Wishing you all the best with your own journeys and recoveries. The first 4 days post-surgery really hasn’t been at ALL as bad as I feared. I was scared because I’ve never had surgery other than C-Section before, but it has bern totally manageable with the pain meds they give you. And neck stiffness by day 3, already SO much better than day 1-2. Hang in there!!!
2023.05.28 15:00 beardown_bot This Week's Upcoming Events (Week of May 28, 2023)
Below are the upcoming events at The University of Arizona this week.
Are you a club or organization wanting to add your events to the calendar? All events are pulled from the official UofA calendar. Add your own events to the calendar using this link.
Rule #5 still applies for any comments in this thread
submitted by beardown_bot to UofArizona [link] [comments]
Are you a club or organization wanting to add your events to the calendar? All events are pulled from the official UofA calendar. Add your own events to the calendar using this link.
Rule #5 still applies for any comments in this thread
Upcoming Events
| Monday, May 29 | |
|---|---|
| Memorial Day – No Classes | all day |
| Tuesday, May 30 | |
|---|---|
| Graduate Center Writing Efficiency Sessions | 9am - 11am |
| Wednesday, May 31 | |
|---|---|
| Workshop: 'Managing Your Emotional Wellness' | noon - 1pm |
| Thursday, June 1 | |
|---|---|
| 'Library Carpentry' Workshops | 9am - noon |
| Graduate Center Writing Efficiency Sessions | 1pm - 3pm |
| Friday, June 2 | |
|---|---|
| Forbidden Stories: The Best of the Best in Banned Books | 9am - 12:30pm |
| Friday Meditation | noon - 1pm |
| Saturday, June 3 | |
|---|---|
| Last Day of Classes and Examinations– Summer 2023 Pre-Session | all day |
| Meet Rainbow Fish At Story Time | 10:30am |
| Meet Rainbow Fish At Story Time | 2pm |
| Ongoing Events | |
|---|---|
| 'Desert Triangle Print Carpeta' | May. 27, 2023 - Dec. 21, 2023 |
| Ancient-Modern: Continuity and Innovation in Southwest Native Jewelry | Feb. 4, 2023 - Oct. 28, 2023 |
| The Vault Show: Staff Picks | May. 27, 2023 - Sep. 30, 2023 |
| Online Exhibition: 'The Legacy of Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryūki) and the Art of Ōbaku' | Aug. 31, 2022 - Aug. 31, 2023 |
| 'Inspired by Plants: The Art and Science of the Campus Arboretum Florilegium' | Feb. 13, 2023 - Aug. 31, 2023 |
| Worlds of Words Center Presents 'Paper Son: Lee's Journey to America' | May. 22, 2023 - Aug. 10, 2023 |
2023.05.28 15:00 AutoModerator Looking for something to do? Some place to Eat? Need social help? Weekly thread for Sunday, May 28, 2023 (week 22)
Welcome to the /Indianapolis weekly casual conversation and questions thread.
We've set this thread up so that folks have a place to post general topics that don't necessarily need their own post and for folks to ask questions and get recommendations. Restaurant recommendations, places to stay, airport information, things to do, help from social services, and things like that.
Looking for something to do? Remember to socially distance and check out these sites:
Need help with social services? Look through Find Help / Aunt Bertha or contact the Mayor's Action Center
This thread defaults to sorting by new to make it easier to find new questions and discussions during the week.
submitted by AutoModerator to indianapolis [link] [comments]
We've set this thread up so that folks have a place to post general topics that don't necessarily need their own post and for folks to ask questions and get recommendations. Restaurant recommendations, places to stay, airport information, things to do, help from social services, and things like that.
Looking for something to do? Remember to socially distance and check out these sites:
- Around Indy
- do317
- The Indianapolis Star
- Indy Mojo
- Indy with Kids
- Nuvo
- Visit Indy
- Children's Museum
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway Community Calendar
Need help with social services? Look through Find Help / Aunt Bertha or contact the Mayor's Action Center
This thread defaults to sorting by new to make it easier to find new questions and discussions during the week.
2023.05.28 14:56 AngelaMurkrow Speculation: Next Season Will Focus on Treasure
I'm pretty sure that next season will be thematically tied to Treasure. This theory is based off the following three things.
1) Go Fest key artwork. Players speculate that Diancie will be the featured Mythical Pokémon introduced this year based off the gems featured in the event's logo. But the ribbon also features a dashed line and frayed edges, giving the feel of a treasure map.
2) Datamines with field research for new sponsors. Pokeminers revealed research with the subtitle "Hidden Gems"
3) Pokemon Scarlet/Violet's central theme was treasure hunting. August will be the first World Championship of the Scarlet/Violet generation. With the culmination of the season building up to GoFest (also in August), a season relating to Treasure would be incredibly synergistic across the Pokemon brand.
Additionally, last year around this time, we had the introduction of Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts with Nihilego. Then, the new season began with Professor Willow missing and collaborating with Rhi to get him back. More Ultra Beasts got introduced later that season, but in GoFest cities first. (Phermosa in Berlin, Buzzwole in Seattle, and Xurkitree in Sapporo)
Comparing that to this year. Introduced shadow legendary raids. Osaka/London will likely get Shadow Articuno/Shadow Zapdos before everyone else, and New York City will get Shadow Moltres first.
Why does this connect to Treasure? The Purified Gems that we recently got. What do y'all think?
submitted by AngelaMurkrow to TheSilphRoad [link] [comments]
1) Go Fest key artwork. Players speculate that Diancie will be the featured Mythical Pokémon introduced this year based off the gems featured in the event's logo. But the ribbon also features a dashed line and frayed edges, giving the feel of a treasure map.
2) Datamines with field research for new sponsors. Pokeminers revealed research with the subtitle "Hidden Gems"
3) Pokemon Scarlet/Violet's central theme was treasure hunting. August will be the first World Championship of the Scarlet/Violet generation. With the culmination of the season building up to GoFest (also in August), a season relating to Treasure would be incredibly synergistic across the Pokemon brand.
Additionally, last year around this time, we had the introduction of Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts with Nihilego. Then, the new season began with Professor Willow missing and collaborating with Rhi to get him back. More Ultra Beasts got introduced later that season, but in GoFest cities first. (Phermosa in Berlin, Buzzwole in Seattle, and Xurkitree in Sapporo)
Comparing that to this year. Introduced shadow legendary raids. Osaka/London will likely get Shadow Articuno/Shadow Zapdos before everyone else, and New York City will get Shadow Moltres first.
Why does this connect to Treasure? The Purified Gems that we recently got. What do y'all think?
2023.05.28 14:56 anon-justchecking Just to get it out of my chest and hear your thoughts & experiences
Hi gaybros,
Hope it is ok to post here, please tell me if not.
I don't even know why I'm doing this, whether this is the right place, and I don't really have a question but need to get it out of my chest with an anon account.
I am a 40-year old woman. Currently single. I've been with straight/bi masculine men, had short encounters with women when younger (don't feel much romantic attraction to women, or it fades quickly), and a male-born, (mostly) non-binary identifying pan partner for a long time until recently. Except for the ones with women, all were long relationships and casual flings don't excite me. I don't even know how to label myself but feel closest to pan; gender doesn't matter much, and I can't say physical attraction is not needed but I tend to get attracted to people with intellectual compatibility, and have a stronger preference for men. Some of my friends say I'm pan-sapiosexual; again, I don't know.
All my social circle is queer and my strongest friendships are and have always been with gay men, it has always felt natural, easy to be purely friends with no emotional or sexual agenda. If it makes sense; I might look feminine but not really so much in the traditional/social sense (not maternal, not very emotional) and always connect better with men. I work in a male-dominated industry.
Then I met 'him' at work 6 months ago. A 32-year old, incredibly intelligent and beautiful man, whom I would describe as masculine but also very gentle. By the end of our first meeting, I knew that I wanted to see him again asap and I was sure that he was gay (don't know how, but just knew it even though it was a professional meeting). We work closely on a long-term project, have become great friends too and spend a lot of time together; meaning, I know a lot about his life, that he lives with his long-term boyfriend, whom I've never met but sounds like a lovely person. I had never experienced this before but it might sound like a cliché case of a woman having a crush on a gay friend.
Recently, things have felt a bit awkward at times. Once, we were on a short work trip, we stayed up until late and he was telling me how happy he feels when we spend time together and other similar things. Another time, we were at an industry event having lunch, out of nowhere, he said something like he knows that his relationship won't last forever, that people change in time etc (not sure what 'change' refers to). Then we traveled for work for a week and were having a drink with a few people, I was showing him something on my phone and he tightly held my hand holding the phone with me, later stroked my hair and there was intense eye contact all night. Maybe I am overreacting or seeing what I want to see? But it felt different.
Although he -friendly- hugs me often when we meet in person and I am surely attracted to him, I had never felt or expected sexual tension between us until that eve. In the following couple of days, I was confused and a bit quiet (not my normal self) and so was he, almost avoiding me a bit. After the trip, we didn't message each other (we would normally every other day) until our next meeting a week later. After the meeting, everything felt warm and friendly again but we don't talk much about our personal life anymore. He always compliments me, teases me and is flirty, however I am surely a flirt and tease myself with those I feel close to, so am aware that it might not mean anything special. We have a very stimulating work relationship and bring the best out of each other. Also for context, he is very kind to everyone but otherwise a very private person, I am the only one he is this close to at work (it's a huge company). People surely notice our connection and comment on it but everyone knows that he is openly gay and I'm comfortable interacting with men, so no one makes anything out of it, and tbh there is nothing anyway except for me falling in love with him more and more everyday.
I will NEVER make any silly moves or start a conversation about my feelings because I feel that it is almost disrespectful knowing that he is gay and in a relationship with a man; even if he weren't gay, I probably wouldn't due to professional implications and the age gap. As I mentioned, I am friends with a lot of gay men, so also understand what that means; even though I've witnessed some having encounters with women, they were rare cases of some realising that they 'felt bi occasionally' or were just curious and didn't really want to do anything with women in reality. This knowledge should be enough to stop me from feeling silly things but it doesn't. I feel embarrassed to even talk to my male gay friends about it, so no one knows about my feelings for him.
It is painful to be falling for a man who is a perfect intellectual match, soulmate and a lovely human being overall, but couldn't feel like I do for me. I hope that my romantic and sexual attraction fades and we can keep this rare intellectual and emotional bond, while also almost not wanting my feelings to end.
Have you ever been in a similar situation where a close female friend fell in love with you, you being gay; have you ever felt confused about your feelings for a woman? Even though I probably know the answer to my 'what if' questions, I would love to hear about your experiences.
Thanks for listening!
submitted by anon-justchecking to askgaybros [link] [comments]
Hope it is ok to post here, please tell me if not.
I don't even know why I'm doing this, whether this is the right place, and I don't really have a question but need to get it out of my chest with an anon account.
I am a 40-year old woman. Currently single. I've been with straight/bi masculine men, had short encounters with women when younger (don't feel much romantic attraction to women, or it fades quickly), and a male-born, (mostly) non-binary identifying pan partner for a long time until recently. Except for the ones with women, all were long relationships and casual flings don't excite me. I don't even know how to label myself but feel closest to pan; gender doesn't matter much, and I can't say physical attraction is not needed but I tend to get attracted to people with intellectual compatibility, and have a stronger preference for men. Some of my friends say I'm pan-sapiosexual; again, I don't know.
All my social circle is queer and my strongest friendships are and have always been with gay men, it has always felt natural, easy to be purely friends with no emotional or sexual agenda. If it makes sense; I might look feminine but not really so much in the traditional/social sense (not maternal, not very emotional) and always connect better with men. I work in a male-dominated industry.
Then I met 'him' at work 6 months ago. A 32-year old, incredibly intelligent and beautiful man, whom I would describe as masculine but also very gentle. By the end of our first meeting, I knew that I wanted to see him again asap and I was sure that he was gay (don't know how, but just knew it even though it was a professional meeting). We work closely on a long-term project, have become great friends too and spend a lot of time together; meaning, I know a lot about his life, that he lives with his long-term boyfriend, whom I've never met but sounds like a lovely person. I had never experienced this before but it might sound like a cliché case of a woman having a crush on a gay friend.
Recently, things have felt a bit awkward at times. Once, we were on a short work trip, we stayed up until late and he was telling me how happy he feels when we spend time together and other similar things. Another time, we were at an industry event having lunch, out of nowhere, he said something like he knows that his relationship won't last forever, that people change in time etc (not sure what 'change' refers to). Then we traveled for work for a week and were having a drink with a few people, I was showing him something on my phone and he tightly held my hand holding the phone with me, later stroked my hair and there was intense eye contact all night. Maybe I am overreacting or seeing what I want to see? But it felt different.
Although he -friendly- hugs me often when we meet in person and I am surely attracted to him, I had never felt or expected sexual tension between us until that eve. In the following couple of days, I was confused and a bit quiet (not my normal self) and so was he, almost avoiding me a bit. After the trip, we didn't message each other (we would normally every other day) until our next meeting a week later. After the meeting, everything felt warm and friendly again but we don't talk much about our personal life anymore. He always compliments me, teases me and is flirty, however I am surely a flirt and tease myself with those I feel close to, so am aware that it might not mean anything special. We have a very stimulating work relationship and bring the best out of each other. Also for context, he is very kind to everyone but otherwise a very private person, I am the only one he is this close to at work (it's a huge company). People surely notice our connection and comment on it but everyone knows that he is openly gay and I'm comfortable interacting with men, so no one makes anything out of it, and tbh there is nothing anyway except for me falling in love with him more and more everyday.
I will NEVER make any silly moves or start a conversation about my feelings because I feel that it is almost disrespectful knowing that he is gay and in a relationship with a man; even if he weren't gay, I probably wouldn't due to professional implications and the age gap. As I mentioned, I am friends with a lot of gay men, so also understand what that means; even though I've witnessed some having encounters with women, they were rare cases of some realising that they 'felt bi occasionally' or were just curious and didn't really want to do anything with women in reality. This knowledge should be enough to stop me from feeling silly things but it doesn't. I feel embarrassed to even talk to my male gay friends about it, so no one knows about my feelings for him.
It is painful to be falling for a man who is a perfect intellectual match, soulmate and a lovely human being overall, but couldn't feel like I do for me. I hope that my romantic and sexual attraction fades and we can keep this rare intellectual and emotional bond, while also almost not wanting my feelings to end.
Have you ever been in a similar situation where a close female friend fell in love with you, you being gay; have you ever felt confused about your feelings for a woman? Even though I probably know the answer to my 'what if' questions, I would love to hear about your experiences.
Thanks for listening!
2023.05.28 14:55 _The_Crow_ European Invitational: Heritage Trinity Cup Season 181
Greetings, Reddit Ensemble!
Eligible Cars:
Slot 1 (Race #1) / Slot 2 (Race #7) / Slot 3 (Race #15):
Races:
Rewards:
No Prize Car
Notes:
Stage 6 Effects:
Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (Gold Star):
Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (5 Gold Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (Purple Star):
Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (5 Purple Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Lamborghini Huracán Performante (Gold Star):
Lamborghini Huracán Performante (5 Gold Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Lamborghini Huracán Performante (Purple Star):
Lamborghini Huracán Performante (5 Purple Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (Gold Star):
Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (4 Gold Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (Purple Star):
Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (4 Purple Star Car, Tier 5) Maxed Tune and Shift Pattern:
Links:
I've created a Ko-fi, because I don't want to limit the information that I provide with a pay wall. I'm thankful for all your support thru the years. I'll be more than happy if you can support me even further. Here's the link - click/press (Now you can use also Apple Pay and Google Pay).
Thank you for your support and time!
Happy racing and stay safe!
submitted by _The_Crow_ to CSRRacing2 [link] [comments]
Slot 1 (Race #1) / Slot 2 (Race #7) / Slot 3 (Race #15):
- Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (5 Gold Star Car, Tier 5)
- Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (Top 10) (5 Purple Star Car, Tier 5)
- Lamborghini Huracán Performante (5 Gold Star Car, Tier 5)
- Lamborghini Huracán Performante (Top 10) (5 Purple Star Car, Tier 5)
- Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (4 Gold Star Car, Tier 5)
- Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (Top 10) (4 Purple Star Car, Tier 5)
| Race Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sprint Races | 1 |
| Speed Traps | 2 |
| Relay Races | 11 |
| Total Races | 60 |
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash | 3 000 000 |
| Gold | 510 |
| Bronze Keys | 1405 |
| Gold Keys | 20 |
| Rare Fusions | 15 |
| Epic Fusions | 13 |
| Stage 6s | 4 |
| Blue Elite Parts | 100 |
| Pink Elite Parts | 20 |
- Make sure to get either the Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae or the Lamborghini Huracán Performante, because for whatever reason the gold star Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce is not listed as an eligible car in the European Invitational: The Grand Finale event.
- The gold star variants of the cars will be pullable via the Rare Imports. Each car will cost you up to 70 gold keys (for loyalty), the maximum total for all 3 cars is 210 gold keys.
- The purple star variants may or may not be on sale for real cash.
- If we assume that this Trinity Cup is the same as the one from season 167, the stage 6s will be for:
- Race 22's stage 6 is for the 1st slot.
- Race 32's stage 6 is for the 2nd slot.
- Race 39's stage 6 is for the 3rd slot.
- Race 60's stage 6 is randomly given to 1 of the 3 cars, that's because it's a Relay Race and features all 3 cars.
Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae (Gold Star):
- Full S5s - dynos at 9.763 with the following tune:
- NOS - 150/2.0
- FD - 2.00
- Tires - 53/47
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | 9.264 | -0.499 |
| Body | 9.391 | -0.372 |
| Tires | 9.464 | -0.299 |
| Transmission | 9.510 | -0.253 |
| Nitrous | 9.534 | -0.229 |
| Turbo | 9.548 | -0.215 |
| Intake | 9.637 | -0.126 |
- PP - 713
- Evo - 2155
- NOS - 188/4.0
- FD - 2.00
- Tires - 53/47
- Dyno: 7.564
- Test Run: 7.320
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, early shift into 2nd at 10 mph, shift into 3rd at around 2500 RPM, shift into 4th at around 5000 RPM and NOS, rest perfect shifts)
- Full S5s - dynos at 9.623 with the following tune:
- NOS - 150/2.0
- FD - 2.00
- Tires - 53/47
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | 9.232 | -0.391 |
| Body | 9.262 | -0.361 |
| Tires | 9.332 | -0.291 |
| Transmission | 9.353 | -0.270 |
| Nitrous | 9.393 | -0.230 |
| Turbo | 9.402 | -0.221 |
| Intake | 9.497 | -0.126 |
- PP - 713
- Evo - 2208
- NOS - 188/4.0
- FD - 2.15
- Tires - 53/47
- Dyno: 7.458
- Test Run: 7.253
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, early shift into 2nd at 10 mph, shift into 3rd at around 2500 RPM, shift into 4th at around 4000 RPM, NOS at around 7500 RPM, rest perfect shifts)
- Full S5s - dynos at 9.766 with the following tune:
- NOS - 304/4.2
- FD - 2.83
- Tires - 12/88
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrous | 9.379 | -0.387 |
| Body | 9.514 | -0.252 |
| Tires | 9.561 | -0.205 |
| Intake | 9.571 | -0.195 |
| Transmission | 9.594 | -0.172 |
| Engine | 9.660 | -0.106 |
| Turbo | 9.712 | -0.054 |
- PP - 714
- Evo - 1851
- NOS - 448/5.5
- FD - 2.70
- Tires - 14/86
- Dyno: 8.102
- Test Run: 8.097
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, good shift into 2nd and NOS, rest deep good shifts)
- Full S5s - dynos at 9.686 with the following tune:
- NOS - 336/4.1
- FD - 2.81
- Tires - 12/88
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrous | 9.282 | -0.404 |
| Body | 9.429 | -0.257 |
| Tires | 9.484 | -0.202 |
| Intake | 9.490 | -0.196 |
| Transmission | 9.552 | -0.134 |
| Engine | 9.573 | -0.113 |
| Turbo | 9.628 | -0.058 |
- PP - 714
- Evo - 1872
- NOS - 473/5.6
- FD - 2.69
- Tires - 14/86
- Dyno: 8.061
- Test Run: 8.057
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, good shift into 2nd and NOS, rest deep good shifts)
- Full S5s - dynos at 10.717 with the following tune:
- NOS - 96/6.0
- FD - 2.58
- Tires - 52/48
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Body | 10.099 | -0.618 |
| Tires | 10.363 | -0.354 |
| Transmission | 10.413 | -0.304 |
| Nitrous | 10.539 | -0.178 |
| Engine | 10.591 | -0.126 |
| Turbo | 10.609 | -0.108 |
| Intake | 10.613 | -0.104 |
- PP - 713
- Evo - 1504
- NOS - 380/4.0
- FD - 2.00
- Tires - 52/48
- Dyno: 8.915
- Test Run: 8.584
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, early shift into 2nd at 35 mph, early shift into 3rd at 76 mph, perfect shift into 4th and NOS, rest perfect shifts)
- Full S5s - dynos at 10.639 with the following tune:
- NOS - 101/6.0
- FD - 2.55
- Tires - 52/48
| Part | Dyno (sec) | Improvement (sec) |
|---|---|---|
| Body | 10.007 | -0.632 |
| Tires | 10.294 | -0.345 |
| Transmission | 10.325 | -0.314 |
| Nitrous | 10.457 | -0.182 |
| Engine | 10.526 | -0.113 |
| Turbo | 10.528 | -0.111 |
| Intake | 10.532 | -0.107 |
- PP - 713
- Evo - 1537
- NOS - 395/4.0
- FD - 2.00
- Tires - 52/48
- Dyno: 8.847
- Test Run: 8.522
- Shift Pattern (Perfect launch, early shift into 2nd at 37 mph, early shift into 3rd at 72 mph, deep good shift into 4th and NOS, rest deep good shifts)
- Information about Update 4.5 via the data mine - click/press (Text Version) and click/press (Chart Version)
- Information about Update 4.5 via the official CSR2 site - click/press
Thank you for your support and time!
Happy racing and stay safe!
2023.05.28 14:55 djwildstar First Road Trip in ER Lariat
 | My wife and I recently completed our first road trip in the new Lightning ER. The photo is of the truck’s first ever DC fast charge, which happened to be next to a Pro. The trip was from Atlanta GA to Point Pleasant WV, overall about 1200 miles round-trip (and yes, for some crazy reason, our first long trip was to roughly the middle of one of the largest DC fast-charging deserts east of the Mississippi). Overall, I would say that the truck performed well, but there are still issues with long-distance driving in an EV. submitted by djwildstar to F150Lightning [link] [comments] I used ABRP to plan the trip — the overall route was Atlanta - Chattanooga - Knoxville - Lexington - Point Pleasant, and the reverse to get home. We stayed overnight in Chattanooga, Huntington WV, and Point Pleasant. Level 2 J1772 charging was widely available in Chattanooga — I parked at a ChargePoint in a garage across the street from our hotel, and paid $8 for charging and $7 for parking … compared to the $14 the hotel wanted to charge to park in their lot. I was able to fully recharge from a Tesla destination charger in Huntington using a TeslaTap adapter (the hotel was pretty terrible, but the charging worked). Our hotel in Point Pleasant didn’t have a charger, but kindly offered me a 120V 20A plug, but the Lightning’s inability to accept more than 10A from a Level 1 charger limited the charge I could get (which significantly impacted our drive home). I used Electrify America fast charging at Williamsburg KY, Georgetown KY, Knoxville KY, and Chattanooga TN (in most cases on both the outbound and return legs). There was never a stop where Plug-and-Charge didn’t work, never a stop where I couldn’t charge … but out of 6 charging stops, only two charged at 100kW or more, and only one exceeded 150kW. The truck got between 2.1 and 2.3 miles/kWh on the highway portions of the trip. In general, I drove about 5 MPH over the posted speed limit, so much of the trip was done at 75 MPH. I don’t fully trust FordPass charging or trip logs, because for one segment it reports that I went nearly 150 miles on 0.4kWh, for a whopping 425mi/kWh (see the screenshot above). During the trip I got more comfortable with the guess-o-meter as it burns down range remaining in the battery versus distance to the next stop. During the trip I learned to use the truck’s built-in navigation, and in general like it better than attempting to use ABRP over CarPlay. I wasn’t able to figure out how to completely mute the navigation system’s prompts , but did manage to change them from voice to chimes. In my previous vehicle (a Ford Flex), I was able to completely mute the navigation, which was nice. Issues The biggest issue is charging at the far side of a parking lot in a rural Walmart — in general, we didn’t feel safe, either in the store, in the parking lot, or at surrounding businesses. During this trip, we had two encounters (one at Walmart and one at a nearby restaurant) where customers were actively hostile towards us. In general, the DC fast-charging experience is not as good as a typical chain gas station (RaceTrac, QuickTrip, etc.), and I would really like to see a concept like a DCFC Buck-ee’s proliferate. At a minimum, we should really have covered, pull-through charging locations with trash cans and windshield squeegees adjacent to the chargers. Having restrooms, snacks, and drinks nearby (not all the way across a big box store parking lot) would be a huge plus. To say that FordPass is buggy is an understatement. I work in the computesoftware industry, and I’ve put developers on notice for less. If nothing else, their testing regime and release process needs a revamp. In addition to the buggy trip logs, the charge completion estimates were basically random numbers: it would often project that fast charging would be finished an hour or so before it started, or that Level 2 charging would take 10 to 15 minutes. My wife isn’t the most patient person, so 30-40 minutes spent charging is a half-hour wasted compared to an ICE vehicle. On top of that, I also planned poorly — having heard that Electrify America is unreliable, I’d planned more-frequent stops than strictly necessary. On the return trip I could have skipped at least one, and possibly two charging stops. So overall, the return trip (which was ~600 miles all in one day) was excessively long. She also felt that the seats weren’t as comfortable as the ones in our previous vehicle (the afore-mentioned Ford Flex), and that climbing in and out of the truck is awkward for her (she feels as if she might fall and hurt herself). I’ve asked for recommendations on these issues in a separate post. |
2023.05.28 14:53 codeword_hwhisky I fell in love with this scrappy old timer and will not rest until he finds a loving home to spend his golden years!
 | I visited the HOPE Adoption Center in melbourne yesterday with the purpose of helping my sister find her own new best friend, and that’s when I happened upon the lad, Hungry Man. submitted by codeword_hwhisky to 321 [link] [comments] To put it delicately, Hungry Man looked like he’d seen some shit. His eye was cloudy, his ears were a bit torn up and appeared to have what looks like burns or some sort of skin condition. He looked like a cartoon alley cat, the kind that all the other dudes respect because he was an OG in his prime. His vibe is instantly charming, but as he proceeded to sprawl on the floor with me for some lovin’, purring like a motorbike for the next 20 or so minutes I learned he was so much more than a pretty face. He’s the sweetest, gentle old man who was in desperate need for a warm touch and somebody to trust after a lifetime of fight. I’m knew I wasn’t in the position to adopt a cat for several reasons, but Hungry hasn’t left my mind since. I’ve grown up with dogs my whole life, never been a “cat person” but something about him just makes you feel good inside. I know senior cats are not the hottest commodity but I’m sorry, Hungry Man is built different. I have zero association with HOPE as an organization, I’m just a perfectly adjusted person who writes a TED Talk about why a member of the public needs to take this old man into their loving arms. TL;DR https://www.hopeforbrevard.com/adoptable-pets?pgid=k642y9xd-97c979a2-fa0d-4f88-9db6-4ca163f8d300 love this gross boy or else |
2023.05.28 14:51 TheNotoriousKK debt ceiling limit effect on autoroll orders
In the unlikely but still possible event maturing t-bills don't get paid, how does that affect bills on autoroll? When bills are on autoroll, there's an automatic order that goes in just before maturity. The money for that order doesn't need to be in your core because the payout from the previous bill will hit the day of settlement for the next t-bill. But if payout doesn't occur, will there be a violation of some sort? Will I need to manually deposit the cash? Will I have the option to cancel the order?
submitted by TheNotoriousKK to fidelityinvestments [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 14:45 NightCities13 188 Years Later-Game 1-Rest of PreGames
Parade
Rosa and Julio were dressed in their sheep outfits, and had the horns put on. They chatted with each other, and even started a conversation with Laurelina and Rosetto (both 11).
Meanwhile Horus and Amabilia were dressed in their suits of armor, and saw Randy (1) talking to a small girl, revealed to be his district partner. Horus and Amabilia decided not to ally with District 1 this Games, and to just work with each other.
The tributes entered their chariots, and began to move down the Avenue of Tributes. Horus and Amabilia held their hands up in the air together, and Rosa and Julio smiled and waved.
Rosa and Julio’s outfits were seen as a bit boring, and they did not place first. Horus and Amabilia were ranked high by all of the judges, but ultimately Lunette and Haruki (both 5) placed first due to their moon outfits.
Training
The next day, Rosa and Julio arrived at the training center. They walked over to the animal station, and learned about a variety of animals. They also threw knives whenever other tributes weren’t looking at them. They also swam in the large swimming pool, but steered clear of Cray and Finley (both 4). They walked past Circitina and Roth (both 3) who were working in the electrical station, and past Wanda (9) who was working in the cultivation station. They finally worked with Laurelina and Rosetto in the botany and toxicology station. Joya (12) accidentally bumped into Julio, who apologized to her for being in the way. Joya was the youngest and shortest tribute this year, at just four foot eight.
Meanwhile Horus and Amabilia changed between the sword and spear stations, and walked past Londyn (6) camouflaging herself, and Twigg (7) throwing axes. When Fabrica (8) started to cry after pricking her finger with a needle, Horus comforted her. He admitted to Amabilia that he knew she would die during the Games, and wanted to be kind beforehand, as he had a thirteen year old sister who looked a bit like Fabrica. Amabilia asked Horus his sisters’ name, and he said the youngest, Annabelle, was eleven, the next oldest, Talia, was thirteen, and the oldest one, Zhalia, was fifteen. He asked Amabilia what her brother’s name was, and she said his name was Lucien.
Assessments
After six hours of training, the tributes were taken to the assessment room, where they showed their skills. Amabilia used a spear, scoring a 9, while Horus sword fought a peacekeeper, winning 11 to 15, and scored a 10. Rosa threw knives and scored a 5, while Julio also threw knives and scored a 7.
Amabilia and Horus were at the top of the pack, along with Randy, who scored an 8, and Wanda, who also scored an 8, while the bottom of the pack was Fabrica and Joya, who both scored a 2.
Odds
Panem Today, a news show, discussed the odds that night, with Amabilia receiving odds of 3 to 1, while Horus received odds of 2 to 1. Rosa had odds of 15 to 1, while Julio had odds of 11 to 1.
Interviews
Amabilia wore a sparkling golden dress, and had a gold barrette in her brunette bob cut. She talked about wanting to bring honor to District 2, and how she wanted to win for her family.
Horus wore a gold suit, and had a gold fedora on his head. He spoke about how he volunteered in order to have money to keep his family afloat, and how he wanted to support his three sisters. He earned some respect for this speech.
Rosa talked about how she wanted to try to win and be an underdog, and prove the odds wrong. She said that she was proud to come from District 10.
Julio spoke about his life in District 10, and said that he was nervous, but ready to win. He also talked about wanting to help his family live without working.
Game Maker Juliana Ricci said that the top 10’s family would receive a quarter of the victors fund, but the top 4 would receive half for their family, and the victor would earn the full victors fund. She gave a hint word, that was “lake”.
Hovercraft
The next day the tributes were flown by hovercraft to the arena. Halfway through the ride, they had their trackers placed in their arms, with Rosa notably flinching.
Tube Rooms
Upon arrival at the arena, the tributes were taken to their tube rooms.
Gladius visited Amabilia first, and gave her a big hug. He told her to stay with Horus until the final two, and allow a worthy fight to happen.
Gladius then visited Horus, and told him the same thing, except he told Horus to win for his late father and sisters, hugging him.
Daniel visited Julio first, and gave the boy a quick hug. He wished Julio luck, and told him to stay with Rosa.
Daniel then saw Rosa crying in her tube room. He comforted her, wishing her luck, and wished her luck in the Games. He told her to stick with Julio.
Once all 24 tributes were in their tubes, they rose up into the arena.
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Rosa and Julio were dressed in their sheep outfits, and had the horns put on. They chatted with each other, and even started a conversation with Laurelina and Rosetto (both 11).
Meanwhile Horus and Amabilia were dressed in their suits of armor, and saw Randy (1) talking to a small girl, revealed to be his district partner. Horus and Amabilia decided not to ally with District 1 this Games, and to just work with each other.
The tributes entered their chariots, and began to move down the Avenue of Tributes. Horus and Amabilia held their hands up in the air together, and Rosa and Julio smiled and waved.
Rosa and Julio’s outfits were seen as a bit boring, and they did not place first. Horus and Amabilia were ranked high by all of the judges, but ultimately Lunette and Haruki (both 5) placed first due to their moon outfits.
Training
The next day, Rosa and Julio arrived at the training center. They walked over to the animal station, and learned about a variety of animals. They also threw knives whenever other tributes weren’t looking at them. They also swam in the large swimming pool, but steered clear of Cray and Finley (both 4). They walked past Circitina and Roth (both 3) who were working in the electrical station, and past Wanda (9) who was working in the cultivation station. They finally worked with Laurelina and Rosetto in the botany and toxicology station. Joya (12) accidentally bumped into Julio, who apologized to her for being in the way. Joya was the youngest and shortest tribute this year, at just four foot eight.
Meanwhile Horus and Amabilia changed between the sword and spear stations, and walked past Londyn (6) camouflaging herself, and Twigg (7) throwing axes. When Fabrica (8) started to cry after pricking her finger with a needle, Horus comforted her. He admitted to Amabilia that he knew she would die during the Games, and wanted to be kind beforehand, as he had a thirteen year old sister who looked a bit like Fabrica. Amabilia asked Horus his sisters’ name, and he said the youngest, Annabelle, was eleven, the next oldest, Talia, was thirteen, and the oldest one, Zhalia, was fifteen. He asked Amabilia what her brother’s name was, and she said his name was Lucien.
Assessments
After six hours of training, the tributes were taken to the assessment room, where they showed their skills. Amabilia used a spear, scoring a 9, while Horus sword fought a peacekeeper, winning 11 to 15, and scored a 10. Rosa threw knives and scored a 5, while Julio also threw knives and scored a 7.
Amabilia and Horus were at the top of the pack, along with Randy, who scored an 8, and Wanda, who also scored an 8, while the bottom of the pack was Fabrica and Joya, who both scored a 2.
Odds
Panem Today, a news show, discussed the odds that night, with Amabilia receiving odds of 3 to 1, while Horus received odds of 2 to 1. Rosa had odds of 15 to 1, while Julio had odds of 11 to 1.
Interviews
Amabilia wore a sparkling golden dress, and had a gold barrette in her brunette bob cut. She talked about wanting to bring honor to District 2, and how she wanted to win for her family.
Horus wore a gold suit, and had a gold fedora on his head. He spoke about how he volunteered in order to have money to keep his family afloat, and how he wanted to support his three sisters. He earned some respect for this speech.
Rosa talked about how she wanted to try to win and be an underdog, and prove the odds wrong. She said that she was proud to come from District 10.
Julio spoke about his life in District 10, and said that he was nervous, but ready to win. He also talked about wanting to help his family live without working.
Game Maker Juliana Ricci said that the top 10’s family would receive a quarter of the victors fund, but the top 4 would receive half for their family, and the victor would earn the full victors fund. She gave a hint word, that was “lake”.
Hovercraft
The next day the tributes were flown by hovercraft to the arena. Halfway through the ride, they had their trackers placed in their arms, with Rosa notably flinching.
Tube Rooms
Upon arrival at the arena, the tributes were taken to their tube rooms.
Gladius visited Amabilia first, and gave her a big hug. He told her to stay with Horus until the final two, and allow a worthy fight to happen.
Gladius then visited Horus, and told him the same thing, except he told Horus to win for his late father and sisters, hugging him.
Daniel visited Julio first, and gave the boy a quick hug. He wished Julio luck, and told him to stay with Rosa.
Daniel then saw Rosa crying in her tube room. He comforted her, wishing her luck, and wished her luck in the Games. He told her to stick with Julio.
Once all 24 tributes were in their tubes, they rose up into the arena.