Without you lyrics riders

Usually on the third day I’d always give in. But I was so fed up with myself. This morning I didn’t even think about it for the first time in forever. I can finally exercise without getting anxious about detriments to my lungs, I don’t have to keep track of that stupid fucking vape I always lose in my bed, even if I didn’t hit it I just wanted to know where it was at all times. I’m done trying to chase a head rush that lasts 3 seconds once every few days. I feel disgusted by it now, it makes my mouth hurt just thinking about the disgusting nausea I’d get from hitting it. If you have doubts, it’s so, so worth it. There’s nothing more daunting then feeling like an object has a hold on you, especially one that’s hurting you.

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33M, 180cm, 75 Kg, caucasian ethnicity, shoulder pain, 2 months, barrett's esophagous, smoker, drinking socially, no recreational drugs, germany.
Good evening,
I'd like to have an opinion on a therapy indicated by an orthopedic, regarding a shoulder pain I've been having lately. This pain has been going on for different years, although very mild, but in the last two months it increased quite significantly, to the point where I started having numbness towards the arm and the neck. I stopped using a backpack to get to work and tried not to put any weight on it and although it improved (no more numbness) I still have quite some pain.
Today I went to the orthopedics who visited me and said that my shoulder muscle are very tense and contracted. He said that the course of action would be: - 1 week Ibuprofen 600 mg 2 times/day, to get through the acute phase I am facing - 6 physiotherapy sessions to learn excercises which will help me with muscle management - starting any kind of sport (I have quite a sedentary life, apart from walking - usually around 7-10 km each week).
He blames this muscle pain to the lack of physical activity.
I am okay with the prescribed therapy, except I have barret's esophagous which was diagnosed last year (Biopsy says: Microfocus of a Barrett's mucosa of the type incomplete intestinal metaplasia without intraepithelial neoplasia (occupying <5% of the biopsy area)). Sorry for bad english, it's german translation. This year I had the checkup gastroscopy which showed no changes in the tissue, so next one is due in three years.
I am a bit worried about taking NSAID for a whole week because I know the impact they have on the stomach. I told him about this and he prescribed Pantoprazol as well during the same week of Ibuprofen. I am not very inclined into taking Pantoprazol, because last time I had very strong hyperacidic rebound when I finished the 3 weeks course therapy, which lasted for several weeks.
He said to start the therapy and if I feel any reflux or similar symptoms to stop it. I was wondering what your opinion is regarding the suggested therapy, if assuming Ibuprofen for a whole week is worth it from a medical point of view and considering the risk/benefit balance. Do you think that skipping this Ibuprofen step and going straight to physiotherapy would be useless? Maybe one week of Ibuprofen is not that big of a deal for my esophagous?
Thanks for reading.

This article contains a lot of film stills. For a fully illustrated version please click here -https://filmofileshideout.com/archives/bahman-farmanaras-profound-horror-film-tall-shadows-of-the-wind/
Bahman Farmanara’s early Film Tall Shadows of the Wind was released in 1979, one year after the Iranian revolution. It was based on a short story by Houshang Golshiri. The film was banned by the Shah before the 1978 revolution, and then banned again by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, after the revolution. It has no overt references to anything political, but it is a potent allegory about power, faith, fear, and subjugation.
Tall Shadows of the Wind presents us with a strange world that is difficult to describe. Surreal would not be accurate, it’s more of an alienated and empty world where reality is fuzzy around the edges. It might be closer to magic realist, but in a menacing and dark way that is not common in magic realist stories. We are watching people who live far off in a desert with nothing but each other to rely on. Their isolation leaves them without an outside world to keep them grounded.
The heart of Tall Shadows of the Wind is a rumination on belief. We, as humans, have a tendency to quickly and easily adopt irrational ideas. Our psyches were shaped by natural selection, which is guided by quick and simple results. Imagine two early humans sitting somewhere on an African savanna. One hears a rustling in the bushes and gets up to run. The other explains that just because the bushes made a noise doesn’t mean they are necessarily in danger, it could just be a mouse. The one who has jumped to conclusions without proper evidence gets up and runs away, but the one waiting for further information to properly confirm his hypothesis is torn to pieces when a lion jumps out of the bushes. The human who jumped to conclusions without fully considering the facts escapes and lives to pass down his genes. It is not quite as simple as all this, but as a result of dynamics like this, humans are more emotional than rational, which paves the way for superstition, religion, and other unfounded beliefs. Evolution is not concerned with end goals or outcomes, only with what works in the short run.
Our predisposition to jump to unfounded conclusions and ignore facts leaves us all vulnerable to manipulation. This is what Tall Shadows of the Wind is about. This is why it was banned both before and after the revolution. Whether those in power are put there by a democratic process or a military coup, their status is affected by what the populace believes.
The plot centers around a scarecrow that is erected in a field near a small town. The story’s protagonist, Abdullah, happens upon it and, in a moment of esprit, uses a piece of charcoal to draw a face on the white rags that have been bunched together to form its head. The playful gesture seems to unintentionally trigger a string of mysterious and frightening events. Some villagers are suddenly frightened by the scarecrow. Either they scream when they see it, or imagine that they see it in places where it is not. Others say they can hear the scarecrow hopping around on its wooden post in the night.
A scarecrow is a perfect means to examine the intertwined layers of fear and power. A scarecrow is a sham. It’s an illusion meant to fool birds into believing that a human is present. The scarecrow has no actual power. It is a harmless inanimate object. Its power is in its ability to fool a victim into thinking it has power. Its efficacy, its purpose is directly proportional to its ability to make its victims believe in it.
The fear of the empty, meaningless scarecrow is a metaphor not only for political power, but religious power as well. At the beginning of the film, there is a sequence where we see villagers worshipping the scarecrow. We hear the crowd chanting a plaintiff prayer over and over.
May he come to help us
May he come to solve our riddle
May he come to care for us
May he come to comfort us
May he come to tie our knots
May he come for our victory
May he come for our happiness
May he come for our justice
It forms a loud, menacingly fervent chorus. Humans have needs. They have a natural inclination to feel incomplete, dissatisfied, and restless. They pray for their problems to be solved and for happiness and comfort. The more elusive these things are, the more apt humans are to imagine a way to attain them. Our need for meaning, happiness, and satisfaction makes us vulnerable. This prayer is a litany of weaknesses that lead us astray and cause us to irrationally invest our hopes in random superstition.
As the fear of the scarecrow begins to take hold of the villagers, a woman seeks the council of the village elder. She is worried the villagers are being led astray. The elder shrugs his shoulders and says, “What can I do? I am the master of the village, not the master of people’s fears.” It is the scarecrow that is the master of people’s fears, which in turn means it is more powerful than the village master.
Where there is fear, there is almost always hope. In many ways, Tall Shadows of the Wind is as much about how people are controlled by hope as they are by fear. It is reminiscent of Piotr Szulkin’s O-Bi O-Ba The End Of Civilization. Manipulating people’s hopes is a risky game where the power of their faith can quickly outstrip your ability to control it. These villagers fear their new scarecrow god, and so look to him for salvation. The scarecrow frightens them, and so they look to it in hopes of gaining its favor, and perhaps sharing in its power. It's a bit like Stockholm Syndrome.
I remember teaching at a school in an impoverished neighborhood where my students couldn't distinguish between the words "fear" and "respect." I spent almost half a class period trying to help them differentiate the two, but they saw no distinction. For them, there was no other way to get respect. Respect for them was power, and power was taken by force or threat of force. There was an implicit assumption that there was no other reason to respect someone. This worldview stems from a lack of trust in general. Everyone is suspect, no one can be trusted to have your best interest at heart. It is a world without altruism, sympathy, or compassion. It creates a hierarchy of fear, where the baseline is a fear of everyone, which then calibrates your position of influence to how much fear you can inspire.
Tall Shadows of the Wind takes place in a nameless, desolate, almost colorless landscape where everything feels distant and strange. Without a specific context, the story feels more like a parable. It looks a bit like a Pasolini film, where everything is biblical and apocalyptic.
Not all of the scenes stitch neatly together. There are parts that seem like a dream, or perhaps a momentary detour. Some parts seem to fit into a chronology, but others just seem to float outside the narrative. Watching the film, one gets the feeling they're not entirely in the loop. We are observers who cannot fully understand what we are seeing, but that is also reflected in the characters who also seemed mystified. Certainly, confusion and miscommunication are essential ingredients in maintaining fear-based power. Reliable sources would unite people with information that people could use to challenge dictatorial power. Confusion keeps the populace divided, and therefore ineffective.
If the populace in the fairytale of The Emperor’s New Clothes could communicate effectively, the illusion would be dispelled. It isn’t even an illusion. No one is fooled, they simply are too afraid to relay what they honestly see with their own eyes. So too, the scarecrow. Neither the king nor the scarecrow has even asked for people to follow their lead, the populace does it willingly, hoping it will keep them in the fold. Foucault talks about the lateral nature of power, where hegemony is not forced downward from above, but exerted laterally by our desire to conform to the group. We are misled, not by the powers that be, but by our own desire to belong.
Tall Shadows of the Wind stays just vague enough to open a versatile arena of possible meanings. It is a potent and imaginative criticism of power that speaks both to leaders and followers. It is a nuanced exploration of how a state garners and maintains power. There is a primal set of desires and beliefs that are ignited and then harnessed, not simply by the will of one individual, but by a confluence of an entire society.

Region: NA / EUR Age: 18+ (majority in the community though are 30+)Discord:
https://discord.gg/VznjUrRSuc
Description: We are a community who strive to build an environment catered for older gamers in COD who just want to kick back after work, play games stamped with some great memories. Created in 2003, Adults choose to play with us because we provide one of the most honest, lax gaming communities for non-toxic Adults who want a home that won't have kids or teens barking orders at them, and drama free staff. No other community displays their Paypal info to prove 100% of their donations go towards the community. What we offer:
💠 Good Sportsmanship and will (no rages or blames for mistakes)
💠 Friendly, active, and generous members teaching new players while assisting the vets
💠 Never get kicked from community regardless of life activity (life comes first with us)
💠 We host charity events for groups like Doctors without Boarders and the Red Cross
💠 Players on 24/7 there's always someone on to group up with so you never play alone
💠 Non-abusive Staff that deal with any problematic players or situations in a fair manner
💠 A L3 Boosted Discord where you can Stream 1080p 60fps FREE for better tactical communication
💠 Channel Creation - Make your channel, lock/limit it and set it how you want to play with friends
Other Games We Play: Battlefield, Star Citizen, EFT, Division 2, Apex, D&D & many more Survival/FPS games

Dated Posted: 5/31/2023 Class/Spec: Resto Druid Faction: Alliance (willing to swap) Cleared: VOTI (7/8M) and Abberus (9/9H - 3/9M) Btag: Alleria#12113 Discord: Alleria#2599 Logs:https://www.warcraftlogs.com/characteid/58737593#metric=dps&difficulty=4 https://www.warcraftlogs.com/characteid/58737593#difficulty=4&metric=dps Raider.io: https://raider.io/characters/us/zuljin/Elleri%C3%A0 Armory: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/characteus/zuljin/elleri%C3%A0 Availability: Tues/Weds/Thurs - looking for a TWO(2) DAY raiding guild! Please do not contact me if you are recruiting for a 3 night guild. I cannot commit to a 3 night raid schedule. Thank you.
Looking for something chill and CE focused! I would prefer not to server transfer, but I will if I have to. I have multiple CE experience cira BFA, and Castle Nathria in Shadowlands as an unholy DK. I have played in multiple different raid environments, followed a variety of different leadership, and can adapt to whatever environment. This is my 3rd consecutive raid tier healing (with some experience in BFA and SL as well) and I don't think my guild set me up to play at my true potential this season or last. I'm looking for an environment I can flourish in. My guild fell apart on the officer end this week without 0 warning. Hit me up on discord for any inquiries! Please do not contact me if you are not going to reply to me when I reply to you!

I moved to a new place, new job, about two years ago. Not long after, I befriended one of my coworkers. We clicked and started texting and hanging out outside of work a lot. She was insanely smart and fun and, naturally, I developed a crush. I told her as much but she didn’t feel the same way, so I dropped it. Focused on moving past it without it being her problem and we went on being friends, even after I changed jobs, which was great! Until a couple weeks ago.
My friend has insomnia and anxiety and sometimes takes late night drives when she can’t sleep. So, a few weeks ago at about 4:00am, she calls me in a panic. She had blown a tire and didn’t have the tools to change it. So, I got up and went to help change her tire. We got her home and I stayed with her until she was able to calm down. Then, rather than have me drive home so late/early, she invited me to stay. Specifically, in her bed with her. I would have been fine on her couch or even driving home but, one thing to another, we ended up sleeping together (in both meanings of the phrase).
The next day, I left for work while she was still sleeping. This has been a rather abrupt change considering she’d previously told me she wasn’t interested in me like that and I’ve never brought it up since early on. A lot of confusing thoughts and feelings, thought repressed or gone, bubbled back up. I decided to not have any expectations and sent her a text basically saying that it had been new but not unwelcome. We can figure out where we’re at later. Let me know you’re alright. I got a short text response agreeing and saying that she was alright and then I didn’t hear from her for a few days.
Then she told me that, that night, she had been drinking. This came as a bit of a shock as, as long as I’ve known her, my friend has been sober. Not chip-carrying or anything, she just didn’t drink anymore. I knew some vague details as to why but I’ve never wanted to pry into her business unless she wanted to share. But that night, I guess she’d been drunk. I felt dumb. At no point in the night had I realized this. She had been really tired and stressed but otherwise had seemed fine. I feel like I should have paid more attention. She didn’t give me much more details, I’m actually not sure how much she even remembers of the night at all. She reassured me that she was okay and that things were fine and I thanked her for telling me and told her that if she needed anything, let me know. Said we’d talk more later.
Then I just stopped hearing from her. Weeks now and, other than one or two word responses to my texts here and there, she’s completely stopped talking to me. This hurts, I feel like I’ve done something wrong, but also, she’s an adult and it’s her call so I’m just going to give her space and hope it passes in time and we can be friends again. But what do I do with her birthday present?
I do woodworking as a hobby and, for her birthday this year, I thought it’d be fun to make her a shelf. I started it a month ago and have put a lot of time into it, it’s very specific to her style and, for an amateur, I’ve been pretty pleased with how it’s turned out. But now I’m not sure what to do with it. Is it violating her decision to distance from me to, I don’t know, drop it off at her house with a card, or even to give it to her at all? Do I hold on to it until a possible point that we’re friends again? She knew I was making her something but never knew what. I’m very open to advice about the relationship in general, I’d love to know what to do or to have what I’ve done/doing wrong pointed out but, specifically, her birthday is coming up fast and I need to know what to do about her present.
TL:DR: My friend has stopped talking to me after we unexpectedly slept together and I’m not sure if giving her the birthday present I’d made her would be crossing her boundaries.

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/bungie-aapi-history-month-cf
In celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month, the [email protected] club is glad to have this opportunity to talk more. A few of you may have noticed that we released a beautiful pin designed by [email protected], via the Bungie Store. Players can also support the AANHPI Heritage Month through the Bungie Foundation with a $10 donation through the Bungie Foundation and receive the “Harmonic Waves” Destiny 2 emblem. The emblem will also be included with the pin purchase.
We would like to also introduce to you a community artist whose artwork has revealed their passion and vision in blending their AANHPI cultural heritage and the world of Destiny 2. Please welcome—Plumli!
Hello Plumli! First of all, please tell us a little bit about yourself, and how do you feel about getting in the spotlight for Bungie’s AANHPI Heritage Month?
Hi, I'm Plumli and I'm excited to be here to talk about video games, art, and AANHPI stuff. Those are pretty much the only three things I ever talk about.
As my Twitter profile says, I am a part-time con artist and full-time Rob Liefield apologist. I'm one of those people you see selling art under a tower of posters at anime conventions. The second part of my job description is more aspirational, I'm actually a full-time graphic designer, and I wish I could be paid to be Rob's defense attorney. I'm also an Asian American who draws Guardians.
Your art has been nothing short of phenomenal, what got you into Destiny?
I started playing during the Destiny 2 beta. I've always gotten motion sickness easily, so I was very wary of playing an FPS. But from the moment I started, I noticed how absolutely buttery smooth the movement and POV was. I thought I was going to get into Destiny because I love the aesthetic of armored bounty hunters in a far-flung future, but no; it's how good it feels to just walk around and click heads. As for drawing Destiny, I had been involved in fandom culture and internet art for a long time, so when Forsaken rolled around, I figured I was obsessed enough that I should start drawing it. Also, I saw Byf's video on the Book of Sorrow and it was like brain worms.
Image Link
As we all know, the stories and characters in Destiny encompass a wide range of AANHPI heritages and cultures. Are there any specific ones that you’re most fond of?
When Drifter was introduced, I noticed a lot of people had the same reaction I did. This guy looks like the fun uncle everyone has, but he has been in trouble with the law too many times for comfort. He is the uncle relatives tell you not to end up like. He's the guy who rolls up to your parent’s house after three years of no contact with a get-rich-quick scheme. I love him. There's a Malfeasance ornament called the Red String of Fate which has Drifter's signature rustic jade look. In folklore, the Red String of Fate ties destined lovers together. The Drifter is a character who has run away from his fate from the very moment he opened his eyes; his fate as one of the Traveler’s chosen, the selected prophet of the Nine, and of course, the final fate that awaits all. The jade coin motif is quite cool too, after all, what's the difference between luck and destiny?
Characters like him flesh out Destiny as a world where even after all countries erode away and we huddle together for warmth under a cold unknowable god, our cultures and way of life will be given to the people of the future. It's in our clothes, the art on our objects, and the stories we tell.
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As an artist, have you ever felt that connection between your artwork and your heritage? What inspires you the most in delivering your personal taste when making Destiny 2 fan arts?
For me, art has always been a way to be closer to my culture and to connect to people who have similar experiences to me. I make a lot of nostalgic art and objects based on food items and nursery rhymes, so sometimes when people come by my table at events and tell me about memories of drinking chrysanthemum tea from a juice box as a child. Non-Asian people would sometimes come by and tell me about how much they love condensed milk on bread. It's simple interactions like those that remind me to be happy, not only for the life we have lived but for the people that lived it with us.
As for the second part of the question, I really love the armor design of Destiny 2. I love exploring the details and design choices for the armor sets I draw—I spend so much time trying to nail the littlest of details. Destiny armor is so rich in eclecticism, references, and design lore I love it. For example, the gear from the Moon features contemporary-looking clothing and weapons covered in knots, rags, feathers, and strange talismans. It suggests to me Golden-Age astronauts joined a voodoo cult to exorcise demons from the abyss—with guns. At the risk of making people who hate the fact I just mentioned the Dreambane set question my personal taste even more, my favorite armor set of all time is Scatterhorn. It looks like my Warlock crawled through a dumpster behind a Fallen cantina that definitely does not have an alcohol license. It says a lot about what kind of place the Tangled Shore is. Destiny 2 players feel strongly about what armor sets they like and do not like, and I think that speaks strongly to how diverse and imaginative these sets are. In Destiny 2, you can roleplay as a space marine, pretend you're front-row Paris Couture, be a cowboy, an occultist, the knight in shining armor, or glow with the strength of a thousand Gambit Jadestones.
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Not to exaggerate with stereotypes, but I guess we’re all familiar with how Asian parents often get wary about their kids making art or playing video games. Have your parents been through a similar dilemma? What does your heritage mean to you as an artist and a video game player?
I'm sure every immigrant's kid by the age of 16 has thoroughly psychoanalyzed the geo-social-economical-cultural-political conditions of their parents' upbringing enough to write several university papers on it, so I don't think I need to go too deep into what makes Asian parents the way they stereotypically are. In short, many immigrants want the world for their children, but the path to the world is very narrow, defined, and with a clear purpose to them. Playing video games after school at a friend’s house and drawing anime in secret notebooks is definitely not part of the path.
Contrary to my parents' anxieties, art and video games have given me pretty much all my job opportunities, and life-long friends and led to some pretty amazing experiences. I grew up in a mixed low-income neighborhood. In high school, me and my friends (all of different races, backgrounds, and abilities) would all sit around the library computers watching Halo machinimas and talking about video games, anime, and comic books. In my experience, I have always found the nerd community more accepting of minorities and LGBTQ folks. All this stuff we love connects us to vastly different groups and gives us a way to be a part of the world.
Are there any fellow AANHPI artists who you’re particularly inspired by, or any fellow AANHPI community artists who you’d like to shout out?
Honestly, I feel really uncomfortable answering this question because I know a lot of artists are very defensive about their identities for safety reasons. A lot of my art is about my Asian-ness and I do in-person events so it's not like I can hide my ethnicity. I know for a fact a lot of people in the Destiny 2 art community are AANHPI, but I don't want to name anyone without warning.
You mentioned you’re a graphic designer and love our newsletters, what game stats do you enjoy being recognized for?
My favorite stat is "most used Exotic." I switch things up so much every Season, it delights me to see something I haven't used in months top the list, and I can remember all the good memories of getting a shiny new Exotic and falling in love with it. Or alternatively the time I finally got the Graviton Lance catalyst that can only be completed by cosmology kills. But this was after its nerf, so I put in a lot of extra effort because I was convinced hey... when Void 3.0 comes out maybe this gun will be really cool right? Right!?
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Last but not least, is there something you would like to share with the wider Destiny 2 community as a fellow artist and gamer of AANHPI descent?
The path to the world is not so narrow, defined, or clear of purpose.
Thank you Plumli for taking the time and sharing your insights. Be sure to check everything else this incredible creator has shared right here to learn more about them and the love they have for a game we all share.
As we wrap up the AANHPI month, we want to thank the Bungie Community team for allowing us to share this focus. Lastly, thank you to all the players who continue to help us create worlds that inspire friendships.
That’s another Community Focus in the books, a bonus one to close out the month with some breathtaking art from a talented Guardian. More to come! In the meantime, feel free to mosey on over to the last Community Focus where you can learn more about Claire Corcoran and her amazing cosplay!

Kita opens her eyes to see her right hand laying in front of her. As her vision adjusts she remembers the interrogation and in a moment of panic, she sits up to assess the damage on her right hand. She brings it to her focusing vision to find all of her fingers perfectly intact. She brings up her left hand thinking she's misremembered, but she finds the same.
Nothing wrong.
She feels for the back of her head, where the wound was and the same healing has taken effect. She sat up much quicker than she should have, and she didn't get woken up by any pain.
"Your hand healed while you were sleeping," Says a young voice from behind her, "How'd you do that?"
Kita turns to see a little boy who hasn't gotten much sun. He must have been here for a while now. He's dressed in rags that wouldn't do much to keep him warm. Her eyes widen as she finally locks with his. How is he still alive? They're black. Like Kita's- He had his soul stolen.
"I don't know," Kita answers, but quickly realizes she's lied. The strength she felt. The feeling of… Fullness that she'd gotten from the souls. It's completely diminished. Ten percent of what it used to be. She can only cast one small spell with this. "How long have I been asleep?"
"I dunno. There are no windows in here so it's hard to tell. Half a day maybe,"
There are no windows, just dense, concrete walls on all four sides. The place stinks. Wreaks of body odour and mould. Ugh, she can't be here for long. She's not the raider type.
"Why did they put you here?" The boy asks, with his curious, soulless eyes.
"I was just trying to get to the marketplace,"
"Marketplace?" The boy giggles, "It's called the strip, silly,"
"The strip?"
"It is a marketplace, but no one calls it that here,"
Shit, they all must've known she isn't from around here whenever she called it that. Is that why they were so certain she was part of Chevo's crew? This is their territory, so raiding is either done by them or by competitors they'll want to snuff out.
"I also lost my soul," He says too loudly, prompting some of the other downtrodden prisoners to glare at her.
She covers his mouth with her hand and passes him a menacing glare for his intrusive psycho-analysing. This kid will get himself killed if he talks like that. People could be religious and make a scene if they hear such.
"You should speak less," Kita says, trying to shut him up.
Speaking to him in the first place is probably where she went wrong. Kids can be so damn irritating, and this one definitely meets the requirements.
She lowers her hand from his mouth after her mumbles in confirmation. "How did you end up here?" She asks him.
"Well, they said they could sell me for a lot of money… Ya know, because of-" With his finger, he draws a circle around his face. Trying to refer to the whole 'souls' thing.
Kita chuckles at his attempt at being inconspicuous.
"I'm Jan, by the way," The kid says, extending an arm out for a handshake.
"Kita," She responds, shaking the kid's hand. "Where are you parents, kid?"
"I just told you my name, and you call me kid?"
"Seriously?" Kita rolls her eyes.
"My parents said remembering names is important. Did you forget it already?"
"No, stupid. Your name's Jean,"
"It's Jan!"
"Jan, right. That's what I just said,"
Jan overtly rolls his eyes, mimicking Kita's fed-up attitude. "My parents are at home," He answers, wrapping his arms around his legs and drawing his knees close to his chest. "I haven't seen them in a while,"
"They live here?"
"No, I'm from a different city. I don't know where it is now, so… I don't think I'll see them again,"
"Sheesh, kid. That's depressing,"
"You asked!"
"I just asked where they were. All you had to say was 'Not here'. But you go and hose me down with your sad ass back story,"
"Oh yeah? Well, it's more depressing that a grown-up like you can get caught just as easily as a little kid did!"
"Uhm, did they hit you in the back of the head with a bat or some shit to bring you here? Or crush three of your fingers in interrogation?"
"No…"
"I didn't think so. It's much more difficult to get me in here than you,"
"Yeah yeah, you're here anyway," The kid points at Kita, grinning. "We're equals,"
"The only thing you're equal to is my left boot. As a matter of fact, my left boot is more useful,"
"Because it covers up your stinky feet!"
Kita chuckles at Jan's argumentative attitude. Screwing with him is pretty fun. As far as kids go, he's not that bad- He isn't some kind of spoilt brat.
"You know what," Kita says, "I was going to take you with me when I escaped this place, but after the stinky feet thing… I'm having second thoughts," She shrugs.
"There's no way to get out of here," The kid sighs, "There are so many guards upstairs. Anyone that gets out the cell doesn't come back,"
"So… They escaped?"
"No, they died!"
"Oooh, of course. Well, I won't,"
"How do you know?"
"Want to hear a secret?" Kita asks him.
"O...k," He answers suspiciously.
She leans over to whisper in his ear, "I can't die,"
"Liar! That's impossible,"
"You saw my hand heal, didn't you? I'm a hero with magical powers,"
The kid laughs, "There's no way you could be a hero,"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You bully little kids! You'd be a supervillain, definitely not a hero,"
"Whatever," Kita giggles, rolling her eyes. "Villains are cool too,"
"The dark one is not cool," The kid says, curling his knees closer.
"Agreed,"
It's settled then. Kita's going to try getting both of them out of here. Her other options aren't so great- Working for these raiders. Why the hell would she waste her time with any of that? And waking up buried sends some other type of chill down her spine. If anything, that option genuinely has her worried, so they need to leave and get out alive.
She'll need a couple of souls though… The two guards by the front door of the hall are an option, but getting them over here is a mission of its own. She looks around her to count four other prisoners, excluding Jan, sharing a cell with them. Three in the cell to her left and six in the cell to her right. Getting all of them won't be so easy. She can pull two at a time, and it takes about five seconds to consume a soul.
If she's quick with it. This can all be done in under a minute. Two, tops.
What then? How do they get out of here? She was brought down a few flights of stairs but she can recall how many, or which one would have the exit. Walking out the front door isn't the best idea anyway, maybe there's a back exit. Somewhere they send out cargo or something.
"Hey kid, do you know a way out of here?"
"Not really… Sorry,"
The two raiders guarding the main entrance suddenly unlock the cell Kita resides in- It must be decision time. They both step into the cell and walk straight past Kita to grab Jan by the arms.
"Hey!" He yells as he starts violently shaking his body to escape their grasp. "Let go of me,"
"Where are you taking him?" Kita asks as they drag him out of the cell.
"Shut up," A guard orders Kita, slamming the cage shut behind him.
"Let me go!" Jan continues to resist.
"Hey, Jan. It was nice knowing ya',"
He doesn't respond, he's too panicked. They are really planning on selling the kid. To who? Why would anybody purchase someone without a soul?
Crap. She's going to have to find him. Both of the guards have dragged him beyond the door, creating a window for her to get out of here before they return.
This isn't a big deal, she'll just have to improvise.
^{AUTHOR'S NOTES
Read ahead on RoyalRoad https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy
Kita's thoughts - Post Chapter 7
"Kid... I mean, Jan,"}

Vampire Red
Red woke up craving a cigarette. She also wanted blood, but unlike blood, her body would no longer tolerate cigarettes. Since her body reconstructed itself into the same turned state after resting, she would always want tobacco.
"Better than true death," she thought.
She rolled over and slapped off the alarm. It was the middle of the night─one in the afternoon. She shoved the shoulder of her husband, snoring peacefully beside her.
“Time to wake up. I am ready to ride," she said, and when he didn't move, she hit him on the shoulder.
“Ow! Bitch"
"Then get your lazy butt out of bed. We are meeting Spider and Boulder at the Moonlight," she said.
"If I had known being married came with hen pecking─" Eli dodged the next shot to the shoulder.
"You knew what I was when you married me, Sweetie."
He sighed and said, "Let's shower and have breakfast."
They were both naked, so the shower was just feet away. They scrubbed each other clean and played. Eli had been shaved when turned, so he always woke up cleanly shaved. He rarely told others since that just pissed off the men. Luckily for Red, she had been freshly waxed and also never mentioned it to her girlfriends. But her weight annoyed her.
Eli got glasses of Type-A for both of them, he was very partial to Type-AB negative, but that could not be bribed out of a blood bank at almost any price. They sat together, enjoying each other's company. Red had three glasses since her metabolism was not completely stable yet.
"Alright, time for us to get ready," Red kissed Eli on the Cheek.
Eli dressed quickly and went to get the bike out of the garage. It took longer for Red. As good-looking as the catsuits were, they were a bitch to get on. She struggled to get on her boots with only three-inch heels, as she felt she was tall enough. She grabbed her UV Blocking helmet and went to join her husband. She locked the front door, and Eli started the Harley.
Her husband was six-three, though not as thick as Boulder, but plenty big enough to be a proper escort for a girl of her size. She put her foot on the back peg and swung up behind him. Eli put the bike in gear, went down the driveway, and curved out into and down the street. Eli lived further out I-45 than Boulder, off Kuykendall Rd. Reaching I-45, he turned south toward town. Eli went through Houston, turning onto 288 going south. He went under 288 on Rosharon Rd and then proceeded north to the Moonlight.
They entered the parking lot, Eli Stopped near the front door, and Red got off the bike. She sighed. She missed being the doorkeeper, deciding who was acceptable and who wasn't. Eli parked the bike, came up to her, and escorted Red inside the bar. They went to the back partition and joined the gathering group.
Eli and Red took off their helmets. Eli gave a girl a twenty and asked if she would be willing to get a couple of pitchers of beer. The girl went without protest since she knew Eli and Red were Vampires and must stay behind the partition. When she returned, he told her to keep the change and poured Red and himself half a cup of beer.
Red, Violet, Dahlia, and Blanche were gabbing away. When Red asked where Calida was, they informed her that Dahlia and Calida were now both living with Scruffy, so only one came on Scruffy's bike at a time.
Red giggled, "And he is still alive? If I remember correctly, Calida had almost exhausted him to death."
Spider spoke up, "He stepped up, but he is getting a little gray in his hair."
Scruffy shouted from down the table, "That's a lie; they're blond highlights!"
Everybody laughed at that response. Dahlia hugged him, "They're just jealous, baby!"
Violet leaned over to Red and asked, "How are you, really?"
"Hungry, but on the order of being on a diet. Very controllable, but not exactly fun," Red said, "But it is getting easier as time goes on."
Violet replied with sympathy, "You are doing better than any new Vampire I have ever heard of. Your husband is a good man."
"But I haven't finished training him yet."
Violet laughed, "If you get it done, please tell the rest of us girls."
Red was about to respond when a girl came running up and said, "I heard Red is back?"
Before anyone could stop her, she came around the partition and stopped in her tracks, "What happened? You don't even look like yourself," the girl asked.
Everyone held their breath. Red paused and said, "The nastiest rehab you can imagine, my Dear!"
"I am so sorry, and I have got to be going. Be good!" She said and quickly left. Everybody looked at each other and smiled.
Violet cautioned her, "You scared her to death. Be careful what you tell people with that intensity. She probably imagines her worst hospital horror fantasy."
"That will keep her quiet anyway!"
Violet responded, "That it will!"
Later in the evening, Bob, the owner, came over. "How am I going keep the tourists out without you blowing smoke in their faces?" He kissed her on the Cheek.
"So you want me to train my replacement!" Red quipped.
"Nobody will replace you; welcome back!"
The evening was fun. The members of the group stopped by all night, welcoming Red back into the fold.
At about ten, Eli and Red packed up and drove North to home. They were riding up the long stretch of Kuykendall from the interstate to their neighborhood. They pulled into the driveway, opened the garage, and put the bike inside.
After closing and locking the garage, they went through the garage hallway interlocks into the kitchen. When Red was human, they installed all the Boulder Modifications. They were still just as valuable.
They set their helmets on the shelf just inside the hallway door and started toward the bedroom to get out the Daylight Rigs.
The doorbell rang. Looking at the monitor, they saw two men in suits were standing on the porch.

I asked a university professor in Biology this question:
How do you reconcile what you know about biology & genetics with the stories in the Book of Mormon that say Native American Indians are descendants of the Lamanites from Israel that came to America in ~600 BC? Genetics has clearly shown that Native American lineage maps back to Siberia & Mongolia and that the migration happened thousands of years prior to 600 BC.
His answer, as you might expect, was to tilt his head, squint real hard and find a way to interpret the Book of Mormon so that it does not trigger his cognitive dissonance:

The Book of Mormon does not claim that the descendents of Lehi were the first or only inhabitants of the Americas.

I like the guy, so I didn't push him - in an ideal world he would continue thinking about how ridiculous this is in the context of ALL archaeological evidence, but if he has made it this far without questioning the nonsense in the Book of Mormon, I'm not hopeful anything will change.

I have a bunch:

• "She's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever" (Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should've Come Over);
  
• "At the heart in every fool Is the hope you're stupid too" (The Swell Season - High Horses);
  
• "People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence" (Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence);
  
• "I've gone along with the sins that are versions of you" "I hear that telling moments divide And the only important moments Are the in between times" "And being confused is an exercise" (John Frusciante - An Exercise);
  
• "But some things are better broken Than left on the shelf" (Pain of Salvation - The Taming Of a Beast);
  
• "I'm living in an age that Screams my name at night But when I get to the doorway There's no one in sight" (Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage);
  
• "Every day a million people flow the street, their faces blank They talk but do not ever meet. They all have important things to do. They all have things to watch on TV. 'Cause they all watch life safe from a distance" (Pain of Salvation - Through The Distance).
  

Well, kind of. I keep replaying the scenario again and again, trying to get a near-perfect park. Because I'm trying to make it as nice as possible, each play-through takes several days, and even when I impress myself, I know I may not impress others.
So this post is to show off my latest attempt, ask for some thoughts, ask if anyone knows where I can try to get a couple of bits of scenery for a couple of areas, point out a couple of problems, etc.
First off, I use a lot of cheats for money in here, right at the beginning, to buy up all the land and build a mountain in the back corner of the map. But the game keeps track of it, and before the end of year one, I still manage to get everything paid back.
My Pirate Isle area seems to be coming together fairly nicely. I use a lot of custom rides, and theme with both the game standard pirate theming and some from Amazing Earl. I've got an inverted hairline coaster running with Earl's Peter Pan pirate ship cars circling the land, providing both a bit of a scenic view, and a coaster with quite decent stats. The animated giant squid and shark fins also come from Earl. There's a row boat ride circling a small treasure island, and a large pirate ship 'fighting' with a British warship. I've used a track for the row boat ride to keep things moving, but used the tile inspector to make it invisible, which may look better, but leaves the water looking a little more empty in the process. Thoughts on where to find more pirate scenery or how to improve the area would be appreciated.
I have a neat custom ride I learned to make from a YouTube video called Leap Frog (low launched freefall with a roto-drop car and a lift hill edited in which causes it to bounce gently a few times) which gets great stats for a sort of kiddie ride. I've themed it pretty nicely already, but two things I would love to add if I could find them would be a giant animated frog for right at the entrance, and if such a thing is even possible, three linked animated items which would be put right next to each other ... two lily pads with medium-sized frogs on them and an empty space in between. The frogs would occasionally leap between the two pads, passing through the center space. Don't know if this would even be possible, but if it would be, would look kind of cool. Also in the same photo, Earl's bounce house ride, surrounded by his walls and with a roof added looks fairly nice to me. (Used the ride vehicle editor to allow 8 people 'on the ride' because 4 seems a little limited to me.)
The other place I would love to find a bit of custom scenery is for the small inverted coasters that I have under the name of Bee Line. I have a few animated wasps helping to decorate this that come from the generic scenery, I'm pretty sure, but would be nice to have actual bees instead of wasps. I actually quite like and approve of these kinds of compact coasters that can still provide a somewhat exciting ride. Especially in a small park like Forest Frontiers, you're not going to be able to add in tons of huge coasters, but some small coasters that still provide some thrills, I think people could still enjoy them, even without absolutely raving about them.
The final place I could use a nice piece of animated scenery would be on the Black Widow mobius coaster, which has a couple of giant spiders, but they aren't actually black widows. Anyone ever seen a black widow animated scenery piece anywhere? This coaster was originally created by Stu, but I edited it to add in a couple of loops, in the process making it about 70% larger. Next time maybe I'll just stick to the more compact design. Also a problem ... while the stations do line up and share a tile next to each other, and it is set up for syncronized stations, for some reason it refuses to syncronize, lowering throughput slightly. Anyone have any thoughts on what's wrong?
In the Timber Mountain region of the park (can anyone guess what I grew up near) the area started with the park's train running through it, and a small Indian village on the top of one of the mountains (which you can barely see through the trees, but the land looks barren if you don't have a lot of trees.) The first ride created for the areas is a basic splash boat, followed by a log ride. Didn't want the log ride in the way too much, but also didn't want it to be too short or too limited, so it starts out on the bank of the lake, lifts up into the mountain, then heads into a cave, takes a drop underground and winds around UNDER the lake for a small distance, then comes back up and out of the mountain, interacting with the splash boats slightly.
Third was a powered mine train ride that was supposed to be a slow, scenic journey around the land, something along the lines of the Calico Mine Ride, but even with the ride editor, it seems to be impossible to get the powered mine train to run at a fairly slow speed, so it ends up being a full-blown roller coaster that I mostly regret building. Lots of custom flat rides, including a petting zoo, logging museum, wilderness museum, stunt show, and bucking bulls, plus the haunted house. Then I added on a runaway mine train, mostly circling the whole land, but also doing a little twisting and turning around the mountain and lake, and I'm mildly pleased with the way it came out. Finally, also ran a mine car wild mouse through the area, first running a small under ground section, then interacting with the water rides and train rides. Used scenery bits to hide much of the supports to keep the lake and the Indian canoes from being completely hidden under supports.
That should have been the end for the Timber Mountain area, but wasn't paying enough attention, and didn't leave myself room to build a water slide to get my six water rides to be able to win the best water rides award, and the smallest ride I could find to put in was a second rapids ride which I built on top of a couple of other rides in the Timber Mountain area. I don't like doing that, it looks halfway ugly, and even after a lot of work, it gets terrible stats. Yuck!
Maybe now I will finally convince myself to move on to Dynamite Dunes ... getting tired of Forest Frontiers. Thoughts?

Hi! my names Austin, I live in NH but was born and raised in FL, very different climates and cultures, but I have love for both!
I work full time doing mainly wood working, I enjoy what I do and I’m still learning :) it’s one of those occupations you genuinely could learn a new thing everyday for the rest of your life and never know it all
However, because of this and because of my tendency to be a homebody when I’m not working, I tend to have issues meeting people to actually date, and even more so finding people who share the same interests and energy as me, and so I’m here 😪 😂
A bit about me, I’m 6’0, blue eyes, black hair, and chubby but have a muscular build (have been on a health kick for a few years, have lost 150 lbs and I’m still goin 💪 )
for fun I like to weight lift/train, watch different shows (currently watching one piece and Vinland saga), play video games, and read, I also enjoy hiking, swimming, and shooting, but I don’t do those enough to label them as serious hobbies. I have a beautiful dog named Wilson, and people are always calling him my shadow, definitely an accurate description, he’s obsessed with me :) I don’t think I’ve ever spent any significant amount of time since I was a baby without a dog in my life and I don’t expect that to change, if you don’t like dogs we probably won’t click 😪
What I’m looking for is exactly what the title says, trying to catch your vibes, and see where it takes us…. I will say my long term goals are to have a happy, healthy, stable family, and if you’re someone who definitely doesn’t want kids we also may not click, who knows 🤷🏻‍♂️
I won’t write much more so we have something to talk about lmao, I will say though I need a gym partner for the days I don’t go with my boys 😪

I have 4 external HDDs that are normal USB 3 externals with enclosures. I have them on a rubber mat currently on their sides. I've looked for a long time without luck to find some kind of shelf or 'station' to put them in that minimizes vibration and hugs them nicely and takes up way less space than they currently do.
I know this isn't a 'usual' hoarder request, but I was curious if anyone has something similar or something they recommend. I'd rather not shuck them. Basically all of the results from amazon, newegg, google, etc are all for shucked/OEM drives that you plug into the device. I just want a decent, semi compact, shelf or array.
Thank you in advance!

In the US, based entirely on hearsay evidence from an alleged mental health professional, you can be tortured, detained, assaulted and forced into a locked psychiatric facility, where you are forced to read only the Daily Bread, which is a right winged Christian propaganda booklet. No concept of legal counsel or rights whatsoever is provided, as admitted by staff behind locked doors. In my case for example, they didn't give a rights booklet but lied in the medical chart that they gave a rights booklet. It is also normal to play Christian propaganda through the speakers and in group "therapy" sessions where attendance is mandatory or stays will be increased/you will be restrained. OhioMHAS, a state regulatory agency confirmed to me that they find this acceptable, as non Christians may restrain themselves in a portion of the hospital, however, whether this portion exists is questionable. Giving blood is mandatory upon hearsay without any informed consent or court order upon the patient, in violation of international law. Drugs are routinely forced as evidence for its necessity is fabricated.
In China, there was a time when Uyghurs were being similarly detained in re-education camps. Similar to the US, drugs are often given to the victims. However, in China this was a one time security measure and detentions are dwindling. In addition, international watchdogs like Amnesty International will condemn Chinese detention camps. Unlike the US, however, more literature may be afforded than just the propaganda booklets. Uyghurs are recognised as persecuted and thus there is no stigma in most of the western world against them talking about their experiences being tortured. However in the US, if tortured, the stigma follows you regardless of which country you're in, as you will never be believed. Lastly, in China, being detained in a re-education camp is unlikely to bring upon you criminal charges or permanent incarceration, whereas in the US, courts have ruled that hearsay may be used to indefinitely commit victims (Addington v Texas 1979)

Note: I make fun of books and authors, so if you really can’t take being poked at, Spindle Manor will do the poking for you with their long, sexy legs,
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Table of Contents: ctrl + f:
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Updates: #
Stats: ^
Recs: *
Conclusion: @
Answers: ~
Theme: Ö
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Welcome back to Reviewless Review Recs of May!
A short introduction to this post: Every book is recommended, regardless of how bad it is or not. You have the brain capacity to decide if you like it or not, don’t let a stranger make a decision for you.
I speak in the second POV and describe what the book is actually about, and not the false advertising of publishing companies. I do this with shitty jokes and satire and try to convince you to pick up the book, regardless of how I feel about it.
Unlike Hoover, all books deserve a chance….Sigh, OK, fine, fine, Barbara. Even….Even...Eleventh Cycle.
ARE YOU HAPPY, NOW, B-
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May*:*
May was filled with disappointment that a jury vote existed and the king of Finland didn’t win Eurovision. The world unanimously cried, but couldn’t be that mad that Loreen won.
Except this bitch.
I fucking wanted Alika to win so badly. I even voted and paid for the first time to give all my votes to her. Her song spoke to me and touched me that it’s never too late to go back to my work.
If Bomanz from Black Company can become a famous sorcerer at his rickety age, maybe we can too!
My favorites of Eurovision (from music videos only, I feel like every one of my favs bombed someway except Finland, France, and Norway):
Estonia
France
Austria
Czechia (wtf was that live performance...)
Finland
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In ACTUAL book news, I’ve been waiting patiently for the library to hand me the newest Mark Lawrence book that I’ve been waiting literally 3 and a half weeks now, but I still get bumped down on Libby...for some reason. Eh.
Also since I managed to finish “She Who Rides the Storm”, I finally started “Elantris”. Was a long time coming but was saving it for a while and thought it was finally time to tackle Sanderson. I started Way of Kings with the paperback version and boy, that was a mistake for my ADHD…
And, that’s why I got a Kindle last year.
Anywho, let’s get started!
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Some Updates: #
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• I started comparing last month’s stats with this month, just to see how everything is progressing cause I like working with numbers!
• As requested by a user, I have made the recs longer
• At the end of each Rec, I put a theme song that I thought fit each book appropriately. You can tell how much I loved Eurovision this year.

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Stats: ^
Books read this month: 10
Books I started*:* 13
Total amount of words I read (approx): 1,050,508 (-414,261,565) according to last month...I read way more. Not sure why the numbers are this drastic
Books published 2010+ : 8 (N/A)
Mary Sues & John Smiths: 11, give or take (7+)
YA books: 5 (+4)
Good smut scenes: 1 (+1?) I think it was in the Witcher, say what you will about the series, the man knows how to write smut
Light Novels read: 0 (-2)
Books that felt Souls-like: 6 (+2)
Audiobooks: 4 (N/A)
How many brain cells I lost: 529 (+500)
Brain cells gain: 175 (N/A)
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What other stats do you guys want to see?
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Guessing Game:
Want to know the real rating I gave each of these books anyway, even though the true spirit of this post is to decide for yourself anyway? I know there’s one of you fuckers in here, but here, guess the ratings and the answers are revealed at the end. You anarchist, you.
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Reviewless Review Recs: \*
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Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb*:* Read if you're in the ages 14-18, as this is possibly the most edgiest thing you might read about fictional Italy. Two teens are trying to solve a murder mystery in an alternate universe where Catholicism reigns supreme. Wait.
As an adult, this is a living personification of that one prozd video.
If you ever played Phoenix Wright, you’ll figure out the murderer in 5 seconds. If you haven’t, then maybe this would come as a surprise.
Atheism is talked about on the nose, you can't stop thinking about “Friends” because of "Roz" being mentioned every other second, and our intrepid MC goes to horny jail every other second when she's literally fighting for her life and not focusing on a gun that could disembowel her.
PTSD of war is represented by the male MC who probably once could be have been the trope of the “nice guy” in school that you never had had interest in, but 3 years later, because he sported 5 o’ clock shadow and has a barotone voice, he’s automatically hot.
Oh, and there are token bi, POC, and elderly people, but they’re only mentioned for a few pages, so don’t expect that much diversity. You think Archer, Maas, and Lobb could actually be friends with each other given how they write their books. A secret society. cough
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Ö Theme: Heat Waves – Lime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOokFwrmri4
Ö Runner up clip: Moist maker (this sandwich is actually GOAT, made it several times): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9FG4kg8HNU
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Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman :
Read if Percy Jackson wasn’t edgy and dark enough for you and need something similar. Uniorinically, this is actually not satire but an actual (sorta) rec. Structure is similar to Jackson but with none of the jovial themes and tropes. Think “Lightning Thief”, only dark and edgy with grotesque monsters and, not urbanite Greek deities, but evil people from the Crusades era.
You keep thinking you’ll meet the 4th character in the Sanderson reunion tour, but there’s actually only 3 characters that are on this journey, not 4. So that Italian will actually not join us even though you liked his character a ton and curse at yourself at a potential LGBT partner dude. One day.
You will also find yourself crying, not because of how the story ended, but how the epilogue ended and boot up AO3 to fix everything.
You probably should(n’t) give this book to your aunt for reasons you know in the back of your mind but your evil AF. Maybe offer this to at Christmas and explain that it’s a book about a pilgrimage...(which isn’t totally wrong) but you’re a little bastard that is gonna get an ass whopping next Christmas, but it’ll be worth it.
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Ö Theme: Alika- Bridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO9g5t3VSuw
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Time of Contempt (Volume (???)) by Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher)
Read if you want to see Geralt turn into a woke ally Boomer, Yennefer going to relationship counseling, and Ciri gets her wish in more ways than one. If you’re comparing Witcher books with each other, quality has gone up since Blood of Elves if that’s what you’re concerned about. We also see the Abyss Watchers making an appearance and then you think of Jerma’s Rat song in your head for inexplicable reasons.
This book is mostly about Yennefer trying to employ questionable (albeit understandable) parenting tactics on Ciri and being caught up in the after math.
As usual, book is dated towards rape, but the only saving grace is it’s “off screen” and not in your face, “Eleventh Cycle”, knock that shit off
Let’s be real, you can’t treat this series as a separate unique book to it’s own, it’s more of a long ass story that Sapkowski decided for marketing reasons to space it out in 300+ page books.
If you ask me what makes this more interesting than the previous books, it will be like asking me which regional orange looks different and bitch, I don’t got energy for that shit.
Ö Theme: Rats Birthday Mixtape
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The Curse of the Spectre Queen / The Rise of the Snake Goddess by Jenny Moke
Read if you like to imagine Indiana Jones as a teenage girl, but loves books. Instead of meeting hot girls, we meet hot 1920s men, which you get to decide how good or bad that is.
The BAMF slays and you wish we had her as our Jones instead of our shy book loving MC, but hey, at least this MC has at least one quality to her that has way more personality that anything Shannon can hope to write in her stories. (Yes I know she writes her books as if they were history books, that’s not the point, Meredith)
Spectre Queen’s plot is literally another book that will make you hug trees and will lead our characters across to Ireland. The next book is about a girdle, that you literally had to Google wtf a girdle was. You first thought it was a grill.
You wonder if the publishing agency struck a deal with the Irish and Crete travel agencies.
You also make a startling discovery that these characters are your OC from high school and middle school and your love interest OC from college mashed up into an adventure book that is oddly less erotic than anything Maas could create. You decide how good or bad that is.
Ö Theme: Indiana Jones Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog
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Mordew by Alex Pheby
Read if you want to read an MC bland as hard tack inherit powers that don’t make sense till past the 70% mark. You want to read a dark YOUTH ADULT novel. Can’t find anything that’s edgy and dark enough for you? Well, here it is!
Dark mansion with Igor from the Velvet Room with an obvious villain being obvious, befriending a young boy that supposedly wants the best for him.
What can go wrong?
There are Souls-like elements weaved in, but you’re not going to see much of it. It’s mostly a vibe/fart than a plot or atmosphere.
What this book is pretty much: boy wants to help dad, there are weird monsters living in the mud, and a mansion that totally wants to abduct/help kids. Totally. Oh, and be aware, animals die in this book. A lot. An entire species is pretty much annihilated for teenage hormonal reasons that won’t make sense even if you’re still a teen. (Yes, I was one too and I also didn’t go on genocides. Thanks, Dad, you are a gem.). Oh, and someone fucked an anthropomorphized hedgehog along the way. Yeah. That happened.
If you go into this book, DO NOT READ THE BLURB! It ruins the whole plot of the entire book. If you buy/rent it, don’t you dare flip to the back side. Just open to the first chapter and start reading. You’re welcome, Matt.
Ö Theme: La Zarra – Evidemment Unironically, I think this song fits rather well with Mordew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWfbEFH9NvQ
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Ö Runner up clip: Running in the 90s: You know why... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ0xBCwkg3E
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She Who Rides the Storm by Catelin Sangster
Read if you like Sanderson and wished he focused more on the characters rather than the world building. You also like the ooey gooey feeling of finding a red/blue ship that you wished was the main pairing, but you’ll have to settle them being the side ship. Oh god, why, every single time?!
While it does have romance tilt to it, this book focuses more on finding a cure for a mysterious illness and two of the characters are refugees from a religious cult that loves sunshine and that one weird horse mount from the Empire Strikes Back that you couldn’t take the auroshees seriously because of that.
Imagine that desert bar scene in A New Hope, but make it a whole book. But make it about a heist as a side plot that is barely touched on until the last 20% of the novel.
You also love doing puzzles in your spare time as you’ll be doing a lot of piecing together of the plot and world building from chapter to chapter. Unlike my problems, this one is pieceable and the last remaining piece is dangled over your head until the next book.
...Sangster is probably going to make you pay $20 for this singular piece, ain’t she?
Ö Theme: First Aid Kit - The Lion’s Roar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqS1MV_xA_I
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Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
Read if you want to have a blunt conversation with Bourdain about food, the faults of the kitchens, what not to do if you want to be a chef, and to be transported to the deepest, darkest alley where you might be knifed, but goddamn, the best chicken heart can be found here.
If you’re a bitch that’s easily spooked by curse words, then this probably isn’t for you. Though...you can sneak this to your cook boyfriend if you want to break up, because he already read the fucking book, Berta, I thought you knew him better by now!...Now you can finally segway to break up. Congratulations!
You’ll see the workings of a mind that was suffering. That was the reflection of this entire autobiography. Suffering and food. That’s life in reality, ain’t it?
Don’t expect cohesion or a semblance of logical flow of pacing. This book, like Mr. Bourdain’s mind, was a cluster fuck of erotically describing food, the dark corners and reality of the cooking world, and shitting on people because they were dicks.
He is sorely missed, and this isn’t a bit, but I still mourn his loss to the world. The world needs him again.
RIP to the GOAT.
Ö Theme: Okami – Sei-an (Aristocratic Quarter II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxXsEqNBTYE (Because he’s timeless and immortal even beyond death)
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Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Read if you got tired of everything happy and sunshine in Percy Jackson and wanted blood, death, knives, SKELETONS, AND 12 year olds that are surprisingly self aware of the fact that they’re a teenager. You want less consumerism and capitalism than what Percy Jackson pushed down your throat. Finally, no mentions of those fucking gold arches, Riordan.
Oddly, no parents are dead in this book. In every YA book you read, there is at least one parent dead, gone to get milk, or playing Tears of the Kingdom. Pleasant surprise for this narrator.
You are also a person that hates world building that lastS for pages and pages. There’s none of that in this book. Expect pages of dialogue like it’s a transcript of my parent’s arguments.
Mom, I don’t agree with you. No, I don’t agree with you either, Dad. You fucking little….Just plant the damn fig tree, for fuck’s sake.
From other sources, apparently the book series gets darker as books go on, so take that as you will. Listening to Eminem and Linken Park between books may increase levels of angst in the subsequent books.
Side effects include: angst, a potentially bi-found family that lasts 10 seconds, fear of skeletons, mourning for fictional characters, and teenagers being oddly logical.
Post script: This would actually make an excellent autumnal book cause of spoopy skeletons.
Ö Theme: Lose Yourself – Eminem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YuAzR2XVAM (I was yesterday old when I realized “Mom’s spaghetti” lyrics was this song)
Ö Runner up clip: Spooky scary skeletons
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The White Rose (Volume 3 of the Black Company) by Glen Cook
Read if you liked having Charm flashbacks of Volume 1, but want a great dopamine rush in Volume 3.
Night Circus got nothing on this book for reasons you’ll figure out later. Expect a lot of weird crack shenanigans such as talking rocks just to name an example. The Lady’s character is fleshed out a lot more than previous volumes. Twists and turns are aplenty and Croacker complaining he’s too old like an old grandpa shopping 10 AM at a Walmart.
Funny enough, Morgenstern is a lot related to this book in more ways than one. Move over, lady, Cook was the original writer of Night Circus, caramel popcorn and candy apples be damned! We’re eating crusty bread and thickened stew, bitch!
You’re not going to be at the edge of your seat until the last percentage of the book, but it’s worth the dopamine rush and emotions that are given in the end, long after you put the book down. You will find yourself wandering around the library wondering how you returned from a reality of flying manta rays and talking rocks...to old ass Swedes loitering in the lobby, discussing where to fika next.
You’ll need a lot of Monsters to process your emotions tonight.
You also finally figure out where Miyazaki got the inspiration for the Storm King in Demon Souls. All this time, you got mad at Miyazaki for inserting a giant manta ray for disappointing climax reasons. No. He may have understood Black Company more than we thought.
Coleydoesthings is also screaming at the top of her lungs by the end of the book, crying into her body pillow.
Ö Theme: MSR – Lord of the Wolves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izFwwGx-wmo (Someone help me on the EX Stages omfg)
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Conclusion: @
I’ll be traveling soon, so the books might be on the short side, but my dumbass quality will remain. Just sprinkled with a lot of curry, chapati, and a big helping of obesity.
God, my thighs can’t take anymore of America.
I think I’ll have fun reading Elantris cause it’s literally a love letter to Soulsbourne and I might learn a bit from it! Can’t wait for it!
I know it’s not book related too much, but what were y’alls favorite in Eurovision?
(Did anyone feel like Armenia just spent money to send that girl an expensive Tinder profile?)
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Answers: ~
Seven Faceless: 2/5
Between Two Fires: 3/5
Time of Contempt: 4/5
Curse and Snake: 3.95/5 & 4/5
Mordew: 1.5/5
She Who Rides the Storm: 3.9/5
Skullduggery: 3/5
Medium Raw: 4/5
White Rose: 4.5/5
If you have any constructive feedback, I’m open to them! Hope you enjoyed this month’s Recs!

This is the longest I’ve gone without alcohol (aside from 3 pregnancies/periods of breastfeeding) in 12 years.
Only a handful of people know about my sobriety, and when anyone has asked, “are you getting any help?” I say, “actually, yes.. kind of. There’s this sub on Reddit…”
Thank you all for your stories. The solidarity is heart-warming and encouraging and I’m so so so grateful to be here posting after lurking for 5 years. IWNDWYT.

Have a 2013 Carrier base model AC unit that doesnt want to start, and want to see what else I should check on the system before reconnecting it to power as its now eaten two fuses.
As-found when the system didnt come on, the panel had a blown fuse on one phase - i thought it might be a simple fix as they had the wrong type and the wrong size (30A!). I replaced both with the heavyduty slow blow 25a fuse (per AC panel max), but then the new fuse on the other phase from the first incident blew...no idea on how fast as the focus was on other janky wiring from the previous homeowner when it didnt start or appear to try to start. Fixing the fuses and measuring at the outdoor disconnect before reconnecting the unit showed the proper 120v+120v-240 total readings, so power at least makes it that far, nothing inside that access panel showed anything obviously wrong either.
Took the ac back panel off and found the start/run cap uF values out of range, which maybe cause the blow if the motors couldnt start (rated 35/5, measured mid 20s/0) ? There was no additional start capacitorelay installed. The parts list for the model shows these as part of the BOM, but maybe are optional especially as this was the bargain basement model...would you recommend adding a start cap & relay? Second to that, start cap and relay for ~$90 seems a bit steep when theoretically the 'hard start kits' that are everywhere seem to do the same job? Is there a functional difference besides the hard start kits would be cheapo components? I also cant seem to tell what size those hard start caps are, though this is a small unit (2 ton) - the BOM list has a ~195uF listed, maybe any of these would work?
I couldnt fully verify the contactor function with the fuses blowing, but the signal at least seems good as the side contacts measured correctly (which indicates no low pressure issues per some videos Ive seen). Would a worn/dirty contactor cause the fuses to blow? Id imagine that wouldnt be the case as it just wouldnt make connections...
I ran out of time yesterday to finish troubleshooting, but plan to check compressor ohms/continuity and fan motor ohms/continuity (though the fan spins without resistance) before putting it back together (with the new start/run cap at least, if not also a new start cap/relay).