This particular rat, I've been planning to take to the vet because he's always been stiff and squeals easily. Other than that he's been pretty healthy and active.
I had my rats free ranging and I got up to stop one from climbing somewhere that had a bad fall. I got that rat off and put him down then headed back to my desk. I heard 2 loud squeaks and noticed 2/3 of my rats were near my feet. One of them is fine and didn't react to anything when I inspected him. The one I most likely stepped on was still able to walk, move around, jump but was inclined to run under furniture instead of run in the open like usual. He also ran away from my hand. By time I was able to pick him up, he jumped and squealed and I couldn't touch really anything without him squealing and jumping around. Usually he's startled by being picked up and does a squeek, but he still lets me pick him up usually. He is incredibly difficult to pick up now; he jumps and screeches, and I have to keep him low to the ground because he will jump out of my hand. He's hard to inspect because he's so jumpy.
They're all back in the cage now and he is able to climb, he's eating, acting mostly normal but I know for a fact he got hurt. I will be taking him to the vet as soon as I can, but I wanted to know what to expect until then. Has this happened to anyone else and do you have any advice in general?
I have absolutely no idea where I stepped on him and he squeaked rather than squealed when it haplened. I'm most worried I stepped on his head or something but I literally have no idea where it happened. I just don't want him to die before the vet opens up tomorrow- that's my main concern. Internal bleeding or brain damage

So, as some of you may know, I had been experiencing a terrible losing streak lately, dropping games that I really shouldn't to the point that I had been 0+ 2= 5- in the past seven games. However, during the past weekend, I felt a sort of divine bout of inspiration swell up inside of me and wanted to try something new out. Of course, the very next day I find out that I'm getting a bye in the next round.
Since I'm a guy who operates on emotional state, I knew I couldn't allow this chance to cool down, so I decided to take a risk and enroll into Saturday's Quads games (G30;d5). I had the unfortunate circumstance of having a last minute entry bump me down to a lower section, which I out-ranked by a good 150 points at least, so I knew I needed at least a 2,5/3 in order to preserve my rating. A link to the study (which was requested previously when I did this) is linked here: https://lichess.org/study/fbOOHr9S/VZl1kEAa

Game 1: In the first round, I was paired as White against a young Indian WCM. I'm primarily an 1.e4 player, but these little rascals have been tactically outplaying me for the past several games, so I decided to change things up and went for an anti-QGD. I actually ended up messing my move orders early on, which allowed her to equalize early because I couldn't guarantee the appearance of an IQP or hanging pawns structure on the board to play off. However, she seemed to be confused by the resulting position — I noticed that young players in these situations tend to attempt to form tactics when the board is quiet, but as a result she ended up floating aimlessly. There were actually two opportunities when she could have obtained an advantage, but she missed them and we ended up going into a rook and bishop endgame. I've also noticed that kids are notoriously terrible at endgames (which as somebody raised on the Soviet school of chess I find hilarious), as she misplayed what I considered a pretty basic endgame, although she was in time trouble at this point (and so was I). I ended up securing the passer and marching it up to victory. 1-0 for me.

Game 2: I was playing against a young Chinese kid as Black this time around and I went for the same strategy in the English Opening: slow the game down as much as possible and not allow any tactics to be induced into the position. And even though there were some moves that the engine ultimately wasn't a fan of, I succeeded in my strategy and ended up with a small edge. I did however miss an opportunity to play a blockade in the middlegame (rapid game, what can I tell ya?) which meant he had an opportunity to secure a plus if he gave away his h2-pawn for the f3-pawn. However, he didn't notice it and went for an endgame a pawn down. However, we both were in a fair bit of time trouble at this point as well and the endgame was quite complex with each side having 5-6 pawns with a knight vs bishop. I messed up some maneuvering that I probably would have gotten on longer time controls... I'll have to work on my endgames some more so that it'd come more intuitively. However, at a moment when he had a chance to equalize, with 30 seconds on the clock, he blundered straight into a fork and instantly resigned on the spot. 2-0 for me.

Game 3: This time, as Black, I was against a fellow Russian player who also scored 2-0 in the previous two rounds, so as they say: the winner takes it all. We went into a fairly well-known sharp line of the Sveshnikov that is no longer played at top level anymore after Peter Leko's 12...Rg8 neutralized it. He ended up fumbling the theory badly and gave a completely winning position for Black. However, I fumbled it as well by going into the endgame with a solid edge rather than pressing the winning position. The issue being that I spent several minutes on calculation before realizing that I actually didn't have enough time to calculate all the variations of the incredibly sharp line, so I was satisfied for going to a positional plus instead. Which we both ended up fumbling a little, but I ended up breaking through with my rook on the queenside and emerging a pawn up with the king on the back rank that I exploited. He resigned as soon as he realized how hopeless his piece-down position was. 3-0 for me.

In conclusion, not bad, scoring a performance rating of 2369 and going from 2127 to 2173 USCF. However, there were definitely a few issues I have to work on despite the wins: the first game needs some work on opening theory and move transpositions if I want to adopt the quieter 1.Nf3 into my repertoire — I can't allow Black to equalize that easily early on. The next two games I had a bit too many fumbles in the endgame, despite their complexity, especially in the second game, which I shouldn't have pissed away like that (42...g4? was an especially sketchy move) so I need a bit more work on knight vs bishop endgames especially. The third game was fine for the most part, but could use a bit of improvement on calculation abilities and especially back rank understandings: I was actually a little confused as to what I should have done against 32.f3 if it had appeared on the board, so that was a combination deficiency right there. Other than that, I can't say that I'm not happy with the result, and hope this offsets some of the rating loss that will be incurred in the ongoing tournament.
Any suggestions and questions are welcome. :)

Hi all,
I'm a recent college grad (22, male) going to be working full time in Manhattan starting end of June and looking for a studio in Brooklyn (Bushwick, Crown Heights, Prospect Park, etc). Budget under 1800/month. Open to long or short term, really anything I can find. Any leads would be super helpful, as I don't have much time left.

Desperate Car Wife: A Journey in the Making (part.7)
My husband's next "victim" .... A golden brown 1997 Chevy K/1500 Extended Cab
I had a feeling he'd buy this truck at some point... A buddy of his owned it and he would always make comments and cash offers whenever he saw the truck. About 3 or 4 years later my hubby finally got his wish! I still remember the night we brought it home... Unfortunately, that same night, during the wee hours, some delinquent teens went around the neighborhood and were keying cars down our street! He parked it on the street since he had planned to wash it first thing.... Hub was up early the next day, so excited to have his new baby; ready to give her a good wash and start marking his "territory" with that good 'ol "JB Treatment".. We walked out and discovered the truck had been keyed all the way from the driver's side door to the rear fender!! I can't describe how super p@##ed off he was without using a list of colorful words, but I'm sure y'all can imagine... I'm just glad I was there to help calm him down; to this very day I truly feel that had he given into his anger, he would've gone off his rocker, and that day would've been much like that famous line from Liam Neeson in Taken!! But after about an hour of watching what looked like a crazy man, pacing back and forth, looking over and over at the nearly 7' long scratch, while cursing up a storm, he managed to calm down "somewhat" and immediately ran down to AutoZone... $150 later, he had what he needed to make it as invisible as possible. It was deep in spots; the entire scratch had passed through the top coat and in some areas it was all the way to the base paint :(
Over the next year, he went over the entire body with a clay bar, compound buffed, then waxed and polished... She was easily a 10 footer for sure! Eventually he found some wheels and bought matching tires.. (He has a thing about mismatched tires LOL) She was lookin' like a pretty nice truck, so shiny and new, nearly flawless on the outside.
Side Note: I remember one night, not too long after he finished all that hard work, we were bbqing at our friend's house; the one who sold us the truck. It was well after midnight when we were finally ready to leave, (hubby was highly intoxicated), I ended up having to pull the truck out first because a huge bush was on the other side where he had backed in too close and couldn't open the passenger side door. Well he was too drunk and way too tall to try to climb over the center console thru the driver's side, so he wanted me to pull the truck out and he'd just hop in. I was like "there are branches sticking out of the bush and I think I might scratch the truck"... I insisted my hubby just pull it out a little and then I'd take over. (if anyone was gonna scratch it, I'd rather it be him!) To give some insight: there was another car parked on the driver's side, giving me very little room to work with... But he refused and said he'd guide me.. Famous. Last. Words!!!! As soon as I started to pull away, I heard scraping sounds!!!! I stopped and was sooo upset because I knew it would happen! I thought for sure he would be so p@##ed at me for scratching it! I had tears, I felt so bad!! He had just finished getting that truck looking new again and the hours of labotime spent doing so... I couldn't stop sobbing, even when he, surprisingly, wasn't mad at all!! He actually blamed himself because he made me move it.. I blame the alcohol for his chill response!!! After repeated "sorry's" and "it's okay's".. we get home and he grabs his container of Mother's compound and starts buffing out the scratch.... Next morning I looked at the spot and to my excitement, the scratch was gone... it didn't go through the top coat!! Couldn't even tell that there was ever even a scratch!!!! \Wipes sweaty forehead* What a relief that was!*
Next came the.......... you got it! The Sound system! \ insert smirky laugh here LOL **
A slimbox would just not do.. he tried, but at this point in his obsession with bass style audio, he wanted more bass. Well for those of you that don't know, more bass means not only bigger subs and bigger boxes for those subs, you also need higher quality tweeters and mids with their own amp system plus crossovers, a powerful amp just for the bass, bigger batteries (yes, that's plural), a bigger alternator, fuses galore, expensive wiring , etc... Not only is that crazy expensive to do, but it also required him to eventually remove the bench seat. I had no clue to all of this till I started going with him more often to the car audio shops. Needless to say, I was not a happy wife when it came to the price tags... I was perfectly happy with decent sound and a small sub, but something so crazy loud wasn't that big of a deal to me, however, our bank account would say otherwise LOL ... it wasn't my daily driver, so I didn't really care other than the costs for everything... he just could never be happy with the sound and continuously changed out the subs, boxes, decks, you name it... he did it more than once over on everything! So that was the first strike to this truck and I... (I know it sounds a bit harsh for a 1st strike, but I wanted a nice family vacation, not bigger and bigger subs... Remember my "limits" motto??)
I liked driving it around town, though the driver's seat was broken in the upright position, so I had to drive with a pillow behind me. (Strike 2!!) It never bothered him because he's so dang tall, and I rarely drove it as it was, so the seat wasn't a priority... Then I took it on the freeway, the steering became very loose. I don't know how to describe how it felt to me, other than it felt like it was severely out of play... My hubby never seemed to have the same issue and always would reassure me that "it's just how the truck drives''... So he hasn't messed around with the steering column at all. Well, I don't trust it or feel safe in it, so I refuse to drive it. I have had to take it on the freeway a couple more times since then and I still hate driving it... it still felt way out of whack for me; taking curvy turns was the worst, I couldn't even keep it centered in my lane! Nerves shot and blood pressure at its highest.... Strike 3!!! I absolutely hate driving that truck!!! She is a pretty thing after a good waxing, but that's as far as I take a liking to her...
$10k later, including a rebuilt tranny and 2 DIY transfer case replacements, the truck is nearly perfect in my husband's eyes.... but then the poor thing falls to vandalism once again! :( :( :( Only this time it was 2 slashed tires and a broken windshield! This time we filed a police report! But of course nothing ever came of it, unfortunately.... It was easy to replace, but costly and getting no justice after being vandalized twice (parked in the driveway the 2nd time), left us feeling sour and foul mouthed.... Now we have cameras on the driveway and street! Regardless of the vandalism, there's always something needing to be replaced it seems... this truck feels like a money pit in my mind... strike 4...
Special Note: If you have found or follow me on Twitter (DsCarWife) and come here to read my posts... I have a little treat tweet coming! Stay Tuned!
Part. 8 coming soon

< Ep 4- Part 2
Based on the fourth round of the elimination contest and the results
Spoiler tag only for basic character spoilers.
[Cut to the stage with Chris and Chef sitting at a judges table]
Chris: Alright first up is the Narwhals with Ella, Dakota, and Staci.
Tsumugi: And assistance from Beth!
Chris: Yeah, yeah whatever. Begin ladies.
Sayaka: [to herself] Here goes nothing. Please don't let me die of embarrassment.
[Sayaka begins to sing one of most popular songs]
Makoto: Oh, I love this one.
Kaede: Makoto, focus on the piano keys please. We're still not ready yet.
[Sayaka starts to dance around the stage]
Chris: Yes, pretty good, though I have no idea what those words mean.
Chef: Seems to be a one woman show so far.
Miu: Don't you worry because this shows about to heat up thanks to me! [she aims her invention]
Chris: Dakota...what exactly is that going to do?
Miu: Don't blink! [She fires at Sayaka as her body erupts into light and smoke. She can still be heard singing. Her old clothes are blown away against the backdrop]
Chris: Flashy and impressive.
Chef: Um please tell me that isn't the girl's clothes over there.
Miu: Wait for it…
[The smoke clears. Sayaka can still be heard singing]
Himiko: Behold, the Ultimate Magician is here now!
Chef: Okay then where is the- Gaagh!
[Sayaka suddenly appears over Chef's shoulder singing to to both of them in a completely different outfit]
Miu: Yeah, sing it girl! [Miu aims again and fires]
Chris: Agh! Dakota, not in my eyes please! Ugh, Chef, give me something to clear my eyes.
Himiko: Here you go. [She's now in Sayaka's place next to them holding a handkerchief]
Chef: Are these the girl's other clothes now?! [Referring to the clothes blown into his face]
Miu: Look, I can't control where they go to alright. Just enjoy the show you two!
[Another burst of smoke and Sayaka's back on stage. This process repeats a few more times with Sayaka disappearing and reappearing all over the stage every time in a new outfit and Himiko in her place until Sayaka finally finishes her song]
Sayaka: *pant* *pant* So what did you think?
Miu: Yeah, pretty impressive right?
Chris: Well, while I couldn't understand any of the words being sung, I will say I did appreciate the theatrics of it all.
Chef: Though, I could've done without all the girl's clothes strewn everywhere.
Chris: We give it a 4 each so an 8/10 for the Narwhals. Not a bad start. Rhinos are up next with Sugar, Katie, and Geoff.
Gundham: Are you sure you can handle knives?
Peko: Of course, like he said they're just tiny swords right…
Hiyoko: You just better not hit me! *Deep breath* Let's do this.
[The music begins and Hiyoko begins dancing her traditional Japanese dance]
Chris: Again with the Japanese songs. You don't see us going around playing songs that scream we're Canadian.
Hiyoko: Just shut up and pay attention!
Chef: I'm a little curious what the hamster boy is doing over there.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, you're up. Just aim for the spots Mukuro already hit in the backdrop.
Peko: Very well. [She throws the first knife. It flies past Hiyoko but not without her having to dodge a bit]
Hiyoko: I said watch it, you klutz!
Peko: I got this, okay…[throws three more all just barely hitting their mark and missing Hiyoko]
Chris: Okay extreme traditional dancing huh? Not bad…
Gundham: Go now my Dark Devas! [Maga-Z and San-D make it onto two of the knives and start posing. Cham-P slumps onto the lower knife as Jum-P springs off of him onto the higher one.]
Chef: Interesting use of the little rodents.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, bring it home with a few more.
Peko: Wait, where do I throw them?
Kazuichi: Um…I don't know Mukuro was just going to throw them to give more platforms for Gundham's hamsters to dance around on but we didn't get that far in practice. Just anywhere I guess.
Peko: Alright….[to herself] just don't hit Hiyoko or the hamsters. Hgghh!! [She throws the next knife and it flies to much to the right, slicing the sleeve of Hiyoko's kimono]
Hiyoko: Ahh! My sleeve! [The knife sails passed and straight towards Cham-P. He tries to jump out of the way and ends up falling off the knife and sending it clattering to the ground. This sends the rest of the Devas in a panic as they leap off the backdrop and onto Hiyoko] AGGHHH! No, get off me you filthy rats!
Sonia: Hiyoko, be careful don't hurt them!
Hiyoko: No stop! Get out of there!!! [She tries to keep dancing but is convulsing around, continuing until the music finally stops] *pant* *pant* [Her kimono tattered and loose from flailing so much, the Devas climb their way out and run back to Gundham]
Gundham: Be still my Devas, everything is alright now.
Hiyoko: Uggghhhh!!! Your stupid hamsters ruined my performance!!
Chris: *ahem* Well it definitely wasn't good. What do you think, Chef?
Chef: I liked the part with the knife throwing around the little brat. But other than that it's a two for me.
Chris: A two for me as well. So that leaves the Rhinos with a final score of 4/10. Octopi you're up next.
Peko: I'm sorry, I guess I'm not the best at knife throwing.
Aoi: Don't worry, Peko, we don't blame you. When we lose we know exactly who to blame.
Byakuya: I wonder who you could be referring to.
Hiyoko: Can I vote Gundham's stupid hamsters off the island instead!?
Gundham: Over my mortal body.
[Cut to the Octopi backstage still trying to work out their instruments]
Chris: [off camera] Come on, Octopi. Hurry up, we don't have all day.
Kaede: No, we can't do this, they're not ready.
Akane: Look on the bright side we probably can't fail worse than the Rhinos.
Kaede: I know but it's still going to be pretty embarrassing. Byakuya's right it's impossible to expect anyone to match our talent this quickly.
Taka: Wait, Kaede, that's it. We just need to reverse that thinking. Instead of them matching you two, how about you two match them?
Ibuki: Um, Izzy's a little confused at what you mean about that, Topher.
Taka: Listen up you two [whispers to Kaede and Ibuki]
Kaede: Huh, oh…oh my that might actually work.
Ibuki: Absolutely, we can make this rock hard!
Makoto: Wait, you didn't tell us what you're even doing.
Taka: There's no need. You two just go up on stage and play like you normally do.
Nagito: So poorly?
Taka: The girls will handle the rest and let your luck carry us to victory. Now go, Chris is waiting!
[Cut back to Chris and Chef at the judge table]
Chris: Finally, it seems like the Octopi are ready. Looks like we have a musical performance by Sky, Cody, Harold, and Izzy. Should be interesting at least.
[Stage opens with Makoto on the piano and Nagito on the bass guitar. Both begin playing simple melodies still rather amateurly]
Chef: This is the best they can come up with when it comes to talent?
Chris: I know, I feel like I'm back at my middle school talent show.
[Suddenly Ibuki bursts onto the stage shredding her guitar to Nagito's melody but in a way where it blends in with hers.]
Chef: Huh, that doesn't sound half bad. Could do without the piano though.
[Then Kaede slides in next to Makoto and does a musical scale matching the simple keys Makoto's playing]
Chris: Woah, what the?
[The stage immediately erupts into a complete harmony of guitar and piano. It turns into a rock ballad as Ibuki's guitar takes center stage only giving a moment to breathe as Nagito plays his simple melody as a solo and Ibuki takes back over]
Akane: This is actually working!
[Next Kaede takes center stage as her fingers dance gracefully over the keys purposely missing the notes that Makoto's melody is satisfying and taking the moment final moments to play one of her favorite classical pieces]
Chef: *sniff* It's beautiful.
[The grand finale has Ibuki and Kaede do a musical showdown, each playfully hitting back at each other with their own song. At one point stopping their playing to let Nagito and Makoto play their tunes against each other before finally jumping back in and finishing the set off with a big loud cacophony of noise. Ending on a complete silence after Kaede does one final slam on the keys and Ibuki one final power chord.]
Ibuki: Oh yeah, how was that for you!
[Octopi burst into applause and cheers. The four performers take a bow.]
Chris: I've got to admit that was mighty impressive. To not only blend guitar and piano but also those two's terrible playing is, dare I say it, extremely talented. It's a five for me.
Chef: *sniff* Huh, what?! Oh yeah a five from me as well. Man, that piano song reminded me of my childhood with Mama. What was that again…Debut…no Daberry?
Kaede: That was Debussy. It's one of my favorites.
Chef: Yeah, that was it! Man, that brings back memories.
Chris: Well I have to say it looks like we have a clear winner with a perfect 10/10 the Octopi win this competition. Of course we still have the Lions left. While I doubt they can match that we'll see if they at least don't come in dead last. It can't be any worse than the Rhinos, am I right?
[Cut to Lions backstage]
Mahiru: Well, Chihiro, are you able to fix it?
Chihiro: Sorry, film cameras aren't really my specialty. I'm going to need more time and maybe some help from Miu.
Kaito: Great, then who's going to perform with Angie and Nekomaru now?
Mondo: We still have Kirumi, right? She said she’d be of assistance.
Angie: Never fear Tyler and Brick. For Atua has answered my calls for help and has determined that Mike shall be our new performer, Nyahahahah!
Hajime: What, me?!
Angie: But of course, Atua senses great power inside you, and so you'll be perfect. Plus you must have great trust in Atua. More So than Tyler.
Hajime: But I…what am I supposed to do?
Mondo: Don't look at me man, Angie's in charge here.
Angie: Just follow my lead and let the beauty of making art and Atua guide you.
Nekomaru: Also make sure to catch everything I throw at you.
Angie: Let's begin. Places everyone!
[Cut back to Chris]
Chris: Alright, last up we have the Lions with Angie, Lightning and Courtney.
Celeste: Actually a change in plans Chris, as Mike will be taking Courtney's spot.
Chef: Mike? Does that guy even have a talent?
Chris: Well, we'll see. It's showtime!
[The stage opens and Angie and Hajime are in front of a pile of mud. Hajime's staring awkwardly at the audience]
Chiaki: Go, Hajime.
[He waves at Chiaki, but is immediately cut off by Nekomaru jumping on stage]
Nekomaru: All right team, ready and….. create! [He immediately starts throwing artists' tools at the pair in a rhythm. Hajime attempts to catch each one and passes it to Angie who is busy forming the mud.]
Angie: Hi, hi, hi, keep it up Mike and Lightning. This mud dries quickly!
Hajime: Agh, I'm going as fast as I can! Woah, there.
Nekomaru: Time to speed things up then. OVERDRIVE!!!
Hajime: [to himself] Dear Atua, please no.
[The strange dance continues of tools being thrown and just as quickly discarded, as Angie works faster building up her mud creation until finally it looked to be completed]
Chris: Hold on a sec…….
Angie: Aaaaannnnd…Wah Lah! How do you like it, Chris? [Angie turns to reveal a life size sculpture of Chris smiling down at his human counterpart]
Chris: It's beautiful! That's an immediate five from me! This is going to make a fabulous camp centerpiece.
Hajime: *pant* *pant* Are-are we done?
Kaito: I think we actually won this.
Kokichi: Of course, haven't you seen any underdog story? You always come from behind and claim victory.
Angie: Hmmm….ah not quite yet. Atua has shown me one more improvement. Lightning, I need a pretty rock over there by the seashore. Hurry, before the sculpture hardens.
Nekomaru: You got it!!!
Hajime: *pant* W-wait, Angie. I think we've done enough, we really shouldn't push it.
Angie: Nonsense Mike, Atua has spoken that this masterpiece will not be complete without it.
Hajime: B-but-
Nekomaru: I GOT IT! HAJIME, HEADS UP!!! [He launches the rock straight at the stage]
Hajime: Oh no-HGGGHHH!! [He catches in straight in his gut]
Mondo: Wow, he actually caught it. Pretty good for a-
Mahiru: Hajime, look out behind you!
[Hajime stumbles backwards from the impact and bumps into the sculpture, ultimately knocking it over and smashing on the ground]
Kokichi: Ooooh, that's not how those stories go. Maybe they really are fictional lies.
Kaito: Go Kirumi. [He pushes her on stage as she calmly walks over and begins cleaning up the rumble]
Hajime: Ugghhh. I've *cough* got it.
Angie: Oh my! On second thought it probably wouldn't have helped anyway. Chris seems different now.
Chris:................
Kaito: So uh Chef. You heard Chris. He already gave us a five so how about you?
Chef: Well it is impressive but ultimately you didn't have coordination to work as a team but I'd still give a three. Mostly for the maid girl's diligence.
Mondo: So, that still gives us an eight tied with the Narwhals then?
Chris: Nope! Uh uh, I retract my rating! For building up my hopes and dreams, and firmly crushing it. You get a Zero! Lions I'll be seeing you at the campfire ceremony immediately! Actually…let me mourn my losses first.
Angie: Well, this is not how Atua saw this going at all, but a very impressive display, Mike.
Hajime: Uh, yeah sure.
[Cut to the campfire ceremony]
Chris: Lions, you know why you're here. So let's just get this over with! In fact you probably already know who the bottom three are so in order is Cameron, Tyler, Brick, Blaineley and Courtney. You're all safe. [The donuts are chucked at them]
Mondo: Woah, watch the hair, man!
Chris: Celeste, Max, and Trent are also safe with one vote each.
Ryoma: Wait, someone actually voted for me? [He looks over at Celeste]
Celeste: What? I told you I would. No need to stare at me like that.
Chris: And looky here, surprise surprise it's the final three dream smashing performing losers. The first one safe is…….Mike.
Hajime: Well, that's a relief.
Chris: And the last one to receive a jelly donut is…………..
………….. Lightning.
Nekomaru: Thank you, I promise not to let you down again, team!
Angie: Oh my…what is this?
Chris: This is you not getting a donut, Angie, which means you're out of the competition. Serves you right for getting my hopes up!
Angie: Atua definitely did not see this coming-woah!
Chef: Yeah, yeah, blame whatever God you want girly. Time to go.
Angie: Bye-yonara my friends. I hope we stay in touch. Visit my island someday!
[Confessional]
Mahiru: Look it wasn't because of Angie's reliance on Atua that we voted her off…..okay maybe it was. I mean seriously we could've won if her God didn't demand that final addition. Maybe it was for the best.
[End]
[Confessional]
Kaito: Finally! That's one incompetent leader off our team. Maybe these guys will start relying on others for a change. Like me!
[End]
Chris: Quite the shake up as we lose our first team leader. Will the Lions be able to work as a team without her. I mean who else are they going to listen to....Tyler?
Kaito: Hey, I heard that!
Chris: Find out next time on Total Drama Triple D of Danganronpa Despair Disaster.

End of Episode

Let me be the first to welcome you to the MotheOffspring, Nurturing/Support, Teaching/Education Resource Network, or? M.O.N.S.T.E.R. Nursery. My name is Sassy, short for Sasquatch. Yes, THAT sasquatch. Are there other kinds?! I'm a HCC (Healthcare Cryptid) here at the nursery. I also teach humans the survival basics of coming across a baby monster in the woods.
Anyhoo, you're probably wondering why Sasquatch are utilized as Labor and Delivery nurses. It's simple, really. We're natural born mothers. You see, we just love babies! We always have! All of that nonsense about whooping, tree knocking and vocalizations that we do in the woods when you guys are camping? Don't get scared! That's just us shouting out to our boys letting them know we have humans in the woods! Humans could possibly have a BABY with them. Now, I don't like to judge based on looks, but those bald human babies are so ugly? They're cute! Poor little things look like they have mange, though. Who would think a bald puppy is cute? Ew.
I digress. So, when it came to the M.O.N.S.T.E.R. Nursery? We were the natural choice. Even though I happen to be female? History tells us that male nursery nurses happen to have the best bonding with our little devils. Well, little devils and whoever else was born that day. Just look at Chewy over there bonding with that litter of werewolf pups born on the last full moon. He's so maternal? He's practically a breast.
Now, all babies are not created equal. Have you ever wondered which monster's baby is the loudest? I can promise you that you'd rather listen to that werewolf pup litter any day over being 5 minutes late with Baby Siren Head's bottle. I had a headache for a week. When Vlad and Countess Bathory had their little undead bundle of joy last month? You'd be surprised how quick a Bigfoot can prick and milk their finger to get a fresh bottle of nutritious blood for that adorable, pale little parasite. He definitely had a healthy appetite, especially if you were B positive. Vlad and Countess Bathory couldn't have been happier. Patient satisfaction has always been a priority for HCCs (Healthcare Cryptid) since day one! We've never gotten below a 5 on the Jack Link's scale of 0 - 5 jerkies. We are collectively very proud of this fact! It's such an accomplishment for Bigfoot and all of Sasquatch kind.
Okay, I could understand why you think we're a little full of ourselves. I, mean, when Sasquatch are the chosen ones to be the top requested HCC? It's a far fall to the 2nd position. Look, we can't all be God's Chosen Ones. Yes, he exists. Yes, he created us. You're getting distracted, again. We aren't all going to argue semantics on what is Creationism and what is Darwinism and all of that. I'm too busy trying to teach incompetent, um cough cough, INTERESTED humans how to provide the most basic care for any creature's neonates (medical term for newborn) that they might stumble across while enjoying hiking, camping, fishing, etc. The priority? The newborn. Additional concerns?
1) MotheFather finding humans around newborn and attacking them.
2) Humans treating the scenario like an episode of "Jack Ass" and thinking it's a good idea to "mess with" the newborn and? Again? Mom/Dad attacks them.
3) Basically? A human breathing will set Mom/Dad off. Most creatures just don't want humans around. They can't be trusted. Sorry, Guys. It's been that way every since you refused to credit Chewy in the '67 Patterson–Gimlin film.
So? Your first reaction, if you see a baby creature? Look for it's parents. If you see them? Run. Run fast. Like, put Forrest Gump to shame kinda runnin'. Those parents don't want you there for any reason at all. Pick 'em up and put 'em down the whole way back down the trail.
If you don't see the parents? Proceed slowly and with caution. Now, don't let everything I've said scare you into not helping a baby monster. They're babies, after all. Please, check on them. Just be aware of your surroundings so as not to frighten the wood creatures which will, in turn, attack you. Then? It's just a bad day for everyone involved.
So? Depending on the woodland creature? You'll want to know what action you need to take to help the baby and? Hopefully? Survive assisting. The first thing you'll want to do is call out/whistle, whatever you have to do to try to get someone's attention. Look around and listen. What do you see and hear? If it's nothing? Again, proceed with caution. If you hear howling, growling, tree knocking, whooping, any of these things? Leave, either their parents are still around or we're there and will then takeover. I know. It's confusing to try to tell when we're tree knocking hoping you have a baby with you or if we know there's a baby around and we don't want you around the baby. Really, if at all possible, just don't mess with the babies if you don't have to. With that having been said? Let's proceed!
As you cautiously approach? Keep making noise letting everyone know you're there. We don't want to scare the life, or afterlife, out of these little ones. They're at their most vulnerable right now. Let's use Chewy's patients today as an example. You traipse along and stumble over a werewolf den. Well, that's not something you see every day. You hear soft whimpering. About 4 or 5 little werewolf pup heads pop up out of the den. How's everyone looking? Is anyone hurt? No? Then check your supplies. It just so happens you were successful fishing earlier. Werewolf pups love fish almost as much as moonbathing and cutting their baby teeth on a human femur. They'll be thankful, the Alpha male and female will be thankful and you'll really be thankful. You get to walk away, karma and limbs intact.
Next? It would be highly likely that you'd come across a wendigo, skinwalker, rake slenderman, etc. besides just a litter of werewolf pups. Try to prepare yourself as much as possible for these encounters. The better prepared? The better off everyone will be. The best part? These creatures won't want your everlasting soul in infancy. Those challenges don't present until adolescence. So? Enjoy the respite for the moment. Now? No matter what the situation? You'll always want to approach with caution and announce your arrival. It's saved not only many a human? It's saved a lot of cryptids as well. Try to have some sort of food item on you that's rather filling. You'd prefer that over them making YOU the food item.
So, as we proceed down the trail, there's a cabin to the left and it's the last house but do not enter, please. The last good hearted Samaritan did and, well, let's just say he had a run in with a girl locked in the cellar who wasn't quite herself. That's probably about the most PC way of explaining demonic possession. Anyhoo, there was bad press for a year and visitors to the park fell off, it just was a big mess. They ended up doing some kind of cybernetic enhancement and now the good Samaritan has a chainsaw for an arm. He's done a great job keeping them all in line. Overall? That was one we got right.
Since I brought up Vlad and the Countess Bathory's bouncing little bundle of bloodsucker? It's important to know that if you are in your domicile, and R.V.'s count, vampires cannot enter without an invitation from you. So, if you are camping in your R.V. and someone comes knocking late at night? Don't answer. If they aren't a vampire? They can come back the next day. If they don't come back? You definitely made the right decision. Now, the problem is? If you encounter a vampire in the wild. Hopefully? They've already set their sights on whoever they picked that night to be their victim. If not? A dropper of Holy Water as perfume on either side of your neck is a nice deterrent. Again, if the little count is there by himself? He's clearly gotten away from the castle. He needs returned immediately. Go to the nearest tree that displays a "break in case of emergency" box. Break the glass, take the bag of beef jerky out, shake it. Every Sasquatch in a 5 mile radius will come running to you. Point the baby vampire out and we'll be glad to take it from there.
Something I should bring up to our do-gooders ready to risk it all: if you can't swim? Don't try to help aquatic creatures. It won't end well. It never does. Little fry just aren't acclimated to landlubbers. Merpups are tough for even us to handle. They get scared, you can't swim, bad things happen. So? If you're determined to help any baby monster no matter where they reside? Take swimming lessons. You'll thank me. Trust me on this.
Don't let the fae trip you up, either. They're mischievous. They'll also try to sneak a changeling in on you if you do bring your human babies to the forest. If you respect walking around fairy rings and respect mother nature? The fae shouldn't be an issue. If you don't? Well, you were warned.
So, what have we not covered? Flying creatures. Yes, they present a challenge even we Sasquatch find difficult. It's hard to assess the needs of a baby that's wrapped in the arms of a mother flying 75 feet above your head. Even though the task is daunting? It's a challenge we'll definitely take on. We just watch and wait for Mom to go on the hunt and we take a peak at that tiny little velociraptor in that nest, with it's mouth hanging wide open, just awaiting a morsel. Now, the Mothman's baby was an experience. Cocoons are just something you have to see for yourself, especially when they're 6 feet tall. It's truly fascinating!
I think that covers everything for today's lesson. Bear in mind, we're beginning the summer season here in the U.S. Encounters are going to increase between cryptids and humans so be aware and care when it comes to our babies. We're aware and care when it comes to yours. Stay safe and Sasquatch on!

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Gotta love Adams mom being an ace!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Krill was mildly uncomfortable, and so was Sunny.
They had all been invited to what the humans described as a "black tie" event on mars, mostly for political delegations, rich sponsors, a couple of famous people, and the occasional member of the UNSC or the GA. Most of the GA reps were Rundi, since they tended to like this political sort of thing.
There was at least one Tesraki, who had made the executive decision to come, since he saw financial opportunity in getting to know some rich humans.
Sunny had been invited to stand in for the Drev counselor, who could not attend due to some issues back on Anum. Dr Krill and Dr. Katie had been invited to attend the event in case medical personnel were required for any reason.
Adam was the only one who had been invited for himself.
The black tie event had been sent by way of a physical letter which Adam had called, "Excessively pretentious." in a day and age where everything was sent electronically.
The fact they had managed to get a letter to him out in the middle of space in the first place was pretty impressive.
Sunny hadn't really known or cared what all of this meant, but Adam had been nervous and very serious about the dress code. Despite thinking the entire thing was pretentious, that didn't stop him from immediately sending away for his mother's help.
Sunny was, of course, encouraged to wear ceremonial formal armor to the event.
Krill was keeping very close track of this odd human behavior, constantly asking questions as Adam was preparing himself.
"Why don't you just wear a regular suit?"
"Because that would be a social faux pas."
"A what?"
He sighed,
"I don't know, it's french or something. I think it's a ballet term. It just means it would be a social screw up and people would totally judge me for it."
"They would judge you for wearing the wrong thing?"
Krill wondered curiously, Adam nodded,
"That is the point of these parties, and has been for the last two and a half thousand years. These parties are honestly just the biggest pissing contests where people try to out dress each other in subtle ways, and the old people who know what they are doing make fun of the new people for having no idea how to do it properly."
Krill looked interested,
"How fascinating. So, it is a way to show your status subtly?”
"Oh yes. Status is a big deal. It started to go out of style for a while, but this whole adherence to dress code has come back with a vengeance in the last few years. The fashion world has seen an upheaval in pretentiousness, and celebrities have been laughed out of parties for trying to be avant-garde."
"To be what?"
"Sorry, pretty sure that's also french too? It means new, interesting, or out of the ordinary usually to make a statement."
Sunny leaned in a little,
"And they expect an air force commander to know how to properly dress for black tie?"
"They don't, which is why they invited me. I am supposed to make others look good by looking bad myself. Of course, I also make them look good by being invited in the first place. Of course, joke's on them because I have a secret weapon on my side..."
He patted the front of his shirt,
"Thank you mother."
"I am now confused."
Adam waved a hand,
"Yeah, I know, It's pretty stupid…”
"I thought you recently decided that you like dressing up?"
The human turned in place a couple of times in front of the mirror, trying to get a better view of himself,
"Correction, I have always enjoyed dressing up – got that from my mom – what I don't enjoy is the pissing contest that comes along with it.”
"What is that?"
"Bow tie."
"You look like someone's Christmas present."
He adjusted the bow tie,
"Well than someone is getting a sexy as fuck Christmas present now aren't they?"
He said and winked at Sunny, while buttoning up the front of the 'waistcoat' and pulling on the jacket.
When he was done, the two aliens had to admit that he really did stand out, all in black, black pants, black tuxedo jacket, cuff links, black tie, black waistcoat, and a purple/blue carnation threaded through the buttonhole on the lapel.
His shoes were almost as reflective as the mirror behind him.
"How do I look?"
"Like a goofy idiot, but the suit wasn't going to change that."
He lifted a finger to flip Sunny off.
"Not very dapper of you."
Katie said from the doorway.
They looked up to see Katie, who had also commissioned a dress from Martha, and honestly made Adam look a little plain.
"Ready to go?”
"As ready as I will ever be."
[…]
Krill kept a shrewd eye on all the strange human protocols.
As far as dressing up went, Krill could immediately see who the “In-crowd” included. Most of those people understood the rules Adam had laid out for him, wearing the proper evening attire, where those not in the “in” wore clothing that approximated the rules, but missed them on several occasions.
The way the evening was set up was a little bit more like a “ball” as Adam described, being announced as they were walked in, and then ordered them to mingle with the crowd. Adam and Katie got a few glances from the “in-group” who seemed surprised that a simple ship captain would know anything about formal evening attire.
Sunny just found the entire thing hilarious.
All of this subtle dressing up to impress each other?
If Drev held balls, instead of dancing they would probably just beat each other to death.
But here, there were a lot of subtle clues and hints that went right over her and the Doctor's heads, while Adam seemed to know what he was doing.
As they walked in waiters offered Adam an alcoholic drink, while Krill received sugared water, and Sunny a rather strange tincture that was generally just water with plant flavoring... It was pretty good though, so she didn't complain.
They were met on arriving by the event coordinator, whose eyes opened wide when she saw Adam, pausing and holding out a hand.
Due to the conflated and rather twisted nature of black tie events in the future, Adam took the hand, and bowed a bit, lowering his head, a strange area between the less formal handshake and the more formal kiss on the hand, which was also not a thing in societies post WWIII
"Commander, I... you look..."
She trailed off, even to Sunny it was clear the woman hadn't expected him to know anything.
He smiled icily at her.
Krill leaned in in fascination.
This was one of the most intriguing parts of humanity. The polite way in which they were totally rude to each other.
"Well thank you. My mother has a Ph.D in the information age and a masters in historical fashion."
That shut the woman up and she politely dismissed herself, walking away with a straight back.
Adam smirked,
"Her dress isn't the right length for an evening event."
"I thought she coordinated the event?"
Sunny muttered,
"She couldn't coordinate herself out of a paper bag."
He winked at Sunny and Krill,
"You can't out-dress the son of a historical fashion expert. Simply not possible, my mother even used the correct materials."
He tugged lightly at his jacket.
Dr. Katie had disappeared on entry, leaving the three of them to wander about the room as Adam pointed out the other important people.
There were a few military commanders, Rundi, and the aforementioned Tesraki.
There were at least five major political leaders, and even larger handful of actors who had their hands in charities or political causes related to the event.
Adam was only halfway through his first drink, when he was waylaid by one of the younger actors.
Even Sunny could tell straight off that he was not dressed appropriately.
He had clearly tried very hard, but his efforts were in vain.
While everything looked alright from a distance, up close something was wrong about everything. The material of his jacket, the style of his shirt, the type of pants, the lapels on the coat, and even the patterned pocket square, which should have been a solid color but wasn't.
He was joined by another group of men, who then began some pretentious conversation about noticing how Adam was new to these sort of events. The way they spoke made it pretty clear they had no idea who he was or what the proper dress code was either.
Adam smiled and didn't say anything.
"And what do you do for a living?"
One of them asked,
"Simply an UNSC representative."
"Ah that explains a lot."
They glanced down at him with pointed looks.
The conversation continued. Sunny wondered why Adam didn't just shut them all up by telling them exactly who he was, but Krill had a theory that Adam was just playing with them as a human way to build up the moment so that he could socially crush them.
As humans do, their conversation wandered until it eventually moved around to the UNSC and other related topics.
One of the men nodded knowingly,
"I am somewhat knowledgeable on the subject myself."
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"Are you?"
"Well yes, I have a brother in law who flies shuttles and planes for the UNSC. Tell me, what is your opinion on the D-4 class engine on a F-90 darkfire. I honestly think they are rather overpowered for what is being asked of them."
Adam frowned,
"The darkfire doesn't have a D-4 engine. That is a warp classification which-"
The man raised a hand,
"No no. I heard my brother in law talking about it. Personally, I think they should have just kept the jet engines they would have been plenty enough power to make it into orbit.”
The commander's face scrunched in confusion as he shook his head,
"No, it's a fusion engine, and the jet engine can't fly in the upper atmosphere because there is no lift-"
"Look, Adam, was that your name? I generally tend to know what I am talking about. The darkfire jet engines would have plenty of power to make it into atmosphere…"
"But it’s a jet engine which implies it is for a plane and not for a rocket-"
The guy cut him off again and continued to ramble onward about how he took some engineering classes in college and would know what he was talking about. Since Adam Joined the UNSC and didn't go to college, that he probably didn't know anything at all, or at least that is what they said in not so many words.
Sunny was getting a bit annoyed and would like to have squished the guy, but Adam just shook his head at her.
She stayed silent and grumpy as the other men continued to correct Adam on knowledge of his own favorite aircraft.
*"My brother owns a spaceship with a class E warp core.”
One of them boasted. Adam rolled his eyes,
"There is no such thing-"
"My brother owns the craft, I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about. It's one of the most powerful cores in the galaxy."
"Um, I don't think…"
"Yes, the E is more powerful than the A. A ship like the Harbinger or the Enterprise would only make it part of the way across the galaxy but the-"
He kept going.
Adam looked like he was dying, but why didn't he say anything?
It was just then that someone appeared from the crowd.
Sunny recognized a political figure they had met at GA summits on occasion.
He raised his glass and stepped into the group,
"Ah commander! I am glad to see you could make it."
The group of men glanced at each other in confusion.
Adam nodded,
"It's good to see you too counselor."
He motioned to the group,
”We were just having a fascinating discussion on warp engines."
"Oh yes?"
He turned to look at the men,
"Than I am sure the commander has also told you about his escapades as a darkfire pilot."
The satisfaction Sunny got from watching their faces was priceless, almost orgasmic.
She could tell from the look on Adam's face that he was feeling similarly,
"Well, no we had not made it to the subject…”
"I was just going to explain to them how the duel E 20 engine has both a jet engine and a fusion engine. The jet engine for flying in atmosphere and the Fusion engine for moving out of atmosphere considering that the jet engine is not powerful enough to lift the craft without air buoyancy."
Sunny was laughing on the inside.
"Ah yes. I seem to recall a discussion along those lines. Tell me commander, what about the Harbinger's engine is it a class A-1."
Adam nodded,
"Could potentially get you to the other side of the universe if you asked her. The classification system is A-D 1-4 on each, so my ship has one of the most powerful engines mankind has ever bothered to build."
He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the other men, who were beginning to slink away.
Sunny chirped in pleasure.
The rep nodded as they left,
"I heard the futility of your conversation from the other side of the room."
"Thanks for the help. I was dying inside."
The two men laughed and took their drinks.
Krill was very pleased with his examination on how humans subtly tried to one up each other with their dress and understanding of certain topics, though it seemed odd to him that someone would claim to be an expert when it was, in fact, their brother or brother in law who knew about the subject and not them.
But he supposed that was the social nature of humanity.
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

Hey all,
I just tried to jump start my mom's '98 Camry, but once everything was hooked up and grounded, the alarm started going off and wouldn't stop; on top of this, the entire car locked up and couldn't be opened with either the fob or the actual key itself. Nothing in the manual said anything about any of these things happening during a jumpstart, is there something wrong with the car (other than a dead battery)?

Hello there! I’m a 21 year old nonbinary identifying person. I use they/them pronouns and I would say I have a more neural style but sometimes I like to present more feminine. I have been on testosterone in the past but am not currently on it and I have had top surgery. I’m bisexual so I’m open to any gender as long as you're not cis. I want to be friends or have a Potential relationship with someone who understands what it’s like to not identify as your birth gender.
Appearance wise I’m 5 '3, very chubby, have short brown hair that has blonde on the top (possibly dying it blue or purple soon) I have hazel eyes and wear glasses. I also have one tattoo on my wrist and want more in the future and I want my ears pierced too.
A little about me is that I’m into ddlg and mdlg or just a caregiver whichever you identify as. I like to be treated as a little princess who gets lots of attention and affection. I like paci’s, sippy cups, stuffies, blankies and watching cartoons. I would say my little space is around ages 3-5. Not sure if I’m a voluntary age regressor or an age dreamer but I know I like being treated little.
When I’m not in little space I like video games, still cartoons, painting, coloring, some anime, camping and traveling when I can. I enjoy playing hitman, stardew valley, Minecraft, Pokémon, animal crossing and botw. I like watching the owl house, amphibia, friends, ducktales, svtfoe, hellava boss, Steven universe, studio ghibli films, just getting into bluey too.
I’m looking for either other queer little friends or non little friends or caregiver(s) or a caregiver(s) for a potential relationship if we really click. I’m open to either mono or poly relationships. But I have more experience in mono relationships. Also I’m from Pennsylvania but you could be from anywhere though North America is preferred.

Hey reddit, let me start out with an apology for any errors I make, I'm dyslexic, this is my first time posting here, and I'm still really anxious and upset about everything going on, in particular as I have diagnosed PTSD and G.A.D. It also is probably appropriate to give a trigger warning for just about anything one could be sensitive too, from assault, to cancer, to death, because my life has had it all lately.... This is the very long winded story of how my neighbor couple, who are a toxic combination of entitled and addicted to some kind of uppers, are trying to make my life a living hell, and, how I am not retaliating and it's somehow making them even more hateful...
Relevant backstory about me/my home situation- I (36F) bought my house all by myself (yah!) in 2016 before everything got super expensive. I am a career musician, but because what I make performing in an indie band and in royalties varies WILDLY from year to year, I also am proud to be the primary child care provider for my niece, and three other long time family friend's children who are now between the ages of 5 and 7 but have come to my home for daycare and even over nights and weekends sometimes since they were infants we're all like a little extended family. I live alone other than my little pets and the children who are often here.
In June 2022 I was misdiagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (most deadly kind of breast cancer) and spent 6 weeks helping my parents and the kids and my friends get ready to help me... then lose me basically, before it was determined it was NOT inflammatory breast cancer (yah!) I just had Regular old precancerous tissue being made to look even worse than it was because the tissue had also developed an antibodic-resistant infection allll over the tissue under my breast. Ultimately good news except the very next day one of the moms in our little childcare group died instead. Like some kind of nasty joke God was making that wasn't funny and I'm still not over. Then, my insurance company decided to fight me over surgery to have the tissue and infection removed while cycling me through endless rounds of antibiotics and more invasive (but cheaper for my insurance) treatments. I did the best I could to keep up with my home and life and still help with the kids but I was *really really* sick until February of this year (2023) when I finally got my surgery, and I'm still really struggling with the lose of my friend both for myself and her son. I also have no money or savings or anything of a safety net left anymore. I had to access it all while I was sick and paying for my surgery/medical care (so you now know I'm American I suppose).
Now, onto the neighbors...
In August 2022, this couple moved in nextdoor and have been single handedly changing the block vibe from "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where a few of the parents smoke weed here and there" to "Nightmare on Elm Street featuring Crack" and I am not sure that I have ever seen so up close and personal the inner workings of.... sociopaths? Or whatever the correct name for people who are habitual lairs and take pleasure in causing harm to others (and maybe each other?). They are heavy drinkers, heavy cannabis users (no shade, I got my med card before surgery and with edibles I didn't even need other prescription pain meds!! but anything can be a problem for some people), and most unfortunately they do some kind of pills or something that make them very "up". While the wife is typically too "out of it" to maintain work, the husband works from home as some type of an accountant and seems to keep it together, and make just enough money, to maintain their "lifestyle" which basically means they do a lot of drugs and super weird addict things, but with an aura of entitlement. It's a toxic combination.
The couple, who I will call Sackie (44F) and Jam(41M), originally presented themselves as an older couple with Sackie in particular having many health issues.... and I will admit I first mistook her for being older and originally assumed her manner of speaking (a bit low, mumbled and slurred, without a good awareness to social cues or appropriateness, like trying to talk to me about how her brother molested her but her mom payed off the law to make it go away or how later she started a business with said mom, but her mom started having an affair with Jam's boss and that's how they met... in front of the children and/or in maybe my second conversation with her) for some kind of stroke. It was only after many awkward rambling conversations with Sackie that I realized they were actually not much older at all, and her many health issues (more on this later) were fictional or simply from withdrawals/drug use. I did learn, however, that Jam and Sackie have a long, sorted, unpleasant history, with just about everyone they'd ever met... and somehow, it was always they who were the victims.
Now, I try very hard not to victim blame and I know from personal experience that sometimes good people have strings of unfortunate events in their lives-- but Sackie's recounts of events were often hard to understand, or contradictory to previous stories she had told, sometimes even within the same conversation. So I knew almost right away she wasn't a reliable narrator, but, with our houses being located about 12 feet apart, my original misinterpretation of them as an older couple, and with Sackie intentionally lying about some things to get my sympathy.... I had no idea how bad they both really were or what I was in for...
I first spoke with Sackie more than just saying hi in passing sometime around Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving) when she knocked on my door to ask if she and Jam could give me an extra out door Christmas ornamental they had. I thought they were just being Christmasy and kind. I didn't have the kids at my house that week and Sackie smelled the cannabis I had been enjoying on my couch (a rarity honestly) and said, "oh is that what I think it is?" Paranoid that she was offended I blurted out, "oh yes I have a cannabis prescription, this is probably TMI but if you notice me home and slagging a lot it is because I am waiting for breast surgery."
Sackie's face lite up, "Thats not TMI, I'm waiting for breast surgery too! I had uterine cancer and now I'm waiting for a double mastectomy. And don't worry I'm a medical user too" Now, I have since learned this to be a lie, but at the time it definitely made me feel sorry for her and I was just relieved I hadn't been "caught" by a neighbor who was offended by cannabis.
However, once Sackie learned I had weed.... well, she wanted to be my best friend. In fact, she almost invented a fantasy friendship with me. Asking for my number in case they needed someone to look in on their pets during the holidays to quickly turned to her calling and texting pages and pages of messages-- about how Jam abused her, and was cheating on her, how she had nobody and was so scared approaching her (fake) upcoming double mastectomy, how he'd made sure her name wasn't on the house when they bought it and he'd locked her out of all their money... and could she please have some weed because she was so sick? Oh she had a seizure because she was so sick could she please have some weed?? It went on and on, always about wanting weed, rides places, confusing pages of texts about how she was watching "dead to me" and how it was so unfair she didn't have a friend like those characters?? Could I be that friend??
It was intense. And I didn't handle it well. I did my best to just respond to her slower and slower apart and just be nice but short and say no that I didn't have or couldn't do XYZ for her.
Her begging and neediness intensified rapidly, sometimes she would come to my door and knock and ask for weed and I would feel obligated to give it to her just to get her away. She was always on something a lot more intense than weed when she'd knock. It was scary and sometimes the kids were here. She started texting me asking if I had "anything stronger" than weed and when I was understandablely like "no I don't do those things" she sent me about four pages about how she just meant "xanxa" because she used to have a standing prescription for xanxa and it helped her so much but she had "quit all her medicine except good ol weed and seeing a chiropractor" and was doing oh so much better now but just needed some but it was okay because she found another friend to give it to her.
This was the first time I expressly told her no and not to ask me about that type of thing and where she started to turn her fantasy friendship into me into a fantasy feud.
Shortly after she sent me another page long text saying, "not to be a bitch but I'm done with our one sided friendship." I responded that I understood, at this point it was Dec 22nd (2022) and I was just trying to spend time with my family. I said something like, "I understand, I have some health problems that make it hard for me to make new friends or even keep up with my current friends, but I will see you around as a neighbor." And hoped to never hear from her again.
Oh, how short that hope was. Several days later I started getting pages of frantic apologies, but also trying to make me feel guilty, and more frantic apologies, and letting me know that Jam is not cheating on her and evil and leaving her with nothing, and they're both such great people and always here if I need anything!!!
It's honestly hard to explain how unstable even her "nice" texts would sound and I'm not sure if we can post screen shots in this sub, but trust me, this woman and her husband are just constant, intense, invasive drama. While she and Jam both made me uncomfortable, almost like watching for when I would first let my dogs out in the morning or when a friend left my house and texting me about it... waiting on their front porch chain smoking for me to come outside then rushing over to talk-block me into conversations about other neighbors they hated, Jam's bosses affair with Sackie's mom, to tell me how sick they were, about how Sackie had to quit multiple jobs because her bosses would always sexually harass her... And stupid me would just try to kinda smile and nod and get out of the conversation.
I was so uncomfortable and somewhat scared of them because of the way they would talk about other people and each other and... its hard to describe but if anyone has even been close with someone using something like meth, you know how crazy their behaviors can be, even if they are being "nice." But until April 2023, they were just a bother, not a danger.
April was when Sackie's fantasy friendship with me turned into a full blown fantasy feud...
In early April, I was supposed to be recovered enough from surgery that I could work again so I to started to watch the children every week again, and apply for music gigs again... but unfortunately got a staph infection in my left breasts wound. I ended up being in a lot of pain and back on antibiotics and pretty out of it on my couch for a few days, though I managed not to be hospitalized again (yah!).
During the few days I was pretty much out of it during the infection, Jam and Sackie decided it would be a good time to get really "uppered" to rip up all the ornamental ivy in our shares breezeway (fine) but also OFF THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE AND OUT AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. They pulled down wires on the side of my house and did this during rainy season meaning they exposed my homes foundation to massive amounts of water no longer protected by plants and top soil.
I was in total shock. They hadn't asked permission, or even mentioned disliking the ivy, and they were clearly on something and STILL trying to rip up things around my front porch.
My kind, 70 year old father was over on April 14th, to help me do some weatheseason appropriate yard work I was struggling to do one my own because of the staph infection and we decided we had to try to say something to them about it, because at this point they were out front talking about what they were going to do AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. But again, wanting to keep peace my dad and I went outside and my dad just politely asked Sackie about what they were doing and, said something along the lines of, "well okay, just please don't do anything else on our side because we are going to take care of that ourselves..." and before he could even finish Sackie suddenly, in her slurred speech, yells "Do you think I'm fucking Stupid??" at my dad.
Now, at this point I can't take it anymore. My father thought he was going to have to change my diapers while I DIED this year. He does not deserve to be yelled at by some methed out neighbor. So I said, "Sackie, don't speak to my father that way, he is just looking out for me."
At which point Sackie LOSES IT and starts hollering to Jam and possibly just herself about how my dad and I are "so rude and trashy" and how they can do whatever they want because, they want things to look nice, etc etc, at which point I was just like, "come one dad let's go inside."
My dad and I worked on some chores in the back yard, then he was like, "I know we didn't do anything wrong, but let's go apologize because you don't want to have neighbor issues."
However, when we went back out front Sackie was literally pacing back and forward in the breezeway ranting to herself about how she had every right to do whatever she wanted with what I can only describe as a look of pure and total unhinged insanity. You know how when actors play their first role on screen after doing stage acting for years and so their movements come across as completely over the top? That's a lot how Sackie looked that day stalking up and down alley talking to herself, like a director had just told her, "act really nuts!" Except Sackie wasn't acting. My dad said, "okay, well, we tried, some people just want to be upset," to me, and we went back to working on my house.
Keep in mind, I was still on heavy duty antiboditics and fighting a staph infection at this time, and was trying to get the house in shape for my kiddo who's mom had passed away to be able to sleep over at my house that night to give his dad a little break. I figured Sackie would bitch about me to Jam and whoever else she could get to listen (like how she would speak about others to me) but eventually get over it and go back to trying to have her fantasy friendship with me, because after all, she was able to nag me into giving her free weed occasionally, and all my dad and I had done was ask her not to do anything else on my property, right? How mad could she be?)
Well, apparently, something I have now learned, is when someone addicted to uppers decides you are their fixation, they are as addicted to causing you hell.
The following day Sackie (and Sam according to her texts) sent me pages and pages of texts, again I'm not sure on the character limits or screen shot policy here, but basically she sent me about 10 text pages about how my dad and I were so rude and disgusting and she and Jam had the right to do anything they wanted as the breezeway is "their's " (again, that is their property on that side but only up until a foot and half or so away from my house, and definitely not around my front porch) and how she and Jam have always been so nice to me and I'm just such a terrible person, and "YOU'RE WELCOME " for how that side of my house will look?
She used a lot more curse words and details than that, many of which were not even truthful and were hard to understand, and kept bringing up a Tupperware container and a cloth canvas bag that she had left some kind of soup she made for my friend (my friend who Sackie also made extremely uncomfortable but would try to be polite to her when she was outside smoking) when my friend had to stay with me for a few weeks after she had to get a hysterectomy and needed help recovering, and saying "and just throw out that Tupperware I gave you, you have no idea the kind of niceness I've constantly given to you!" (remember friends, even this major pushover knows-- kindness done with the expectation of something in return is just manipulation) Like, somehow this unwanted soup she'd left my friend when she was recovering here in March 2023, made it okay for her to do whatever she wanted on my property?
This also feels like an appropriate time to add that it was when my friend was recovering at my house that I learned the extent of Sackie's lies about her health. Remember how I said she'd gained my sympathy by pretending she had breast cancer and was waiting on a double mastectomy? Her story was that she had found out she had uterine cancer after a miscarriage and she'd had to have a full hysterectomy and the cancer had spread and so she needed a double mastectomy now but she was having trouble with her insurance and her husband, that is why she wanted to mold me into her "Dead to Me" friend, right?
Nope. Apparently not. As, she told my friend that, "she knew exactly what she was going through because she had just terrible, terrible, periods and has endometriosis too, just like my friend, but she hasn't been able to get the hysterectomy she needed yet because she didn't have a doctor because she didn't do Western Medicine anymore, all she needed was a chiropractor and weed... oh and the hysterectomy for her terrible endometriosis just like my friend." She also said something that implied her husband was getting her a boob job, for cosmetic reasons, and there had never been cancer at all. I have no idea if the miscarriage was a lie too or not, and it isn't really relevant other than to stress, that Sackie and her husband really have a hard time with the truth.
Anyway, after her round of nasty texts after the ivy incident, I sent her back an extremely polite and short text, saying I was sorry she felt so offended by my dad and I asking her not to do anything else on my property, and I was very happy to respect their wishes for us not to communicate and I wished them well.
The next two weeks or so, until April 29th 2023, Sackie and Jam made me uncomfortable but were manageable. They did things like intentionally stacking hay against my fence, talking loudly to each other about how "trashy" I was, and at one point in time even pretending to do yard work but actually just smashing the side of my house with shovels! They even had someone else over at some point they were intentionally loud explaining too about how disgusting the ivy was and what a favor they were doing "cleaning it up".... but honestly I didn't even really care.
My paralegal friend recommended I start documenting things though, because she said some of the worst people she's seen in court are functional, entitled, drug addicts and I should not assume they would return to reason, and that it would be a good idea if I let the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer know what was going on, start documentation, and draft up a cease and desist to send if they did anything else and man, she was right, so right in fact, we didn't even have time to send the cease and desist.
On April 24th, out of nowhere, she sent me another several pages of unhinged texts, once again talking about how I should thank her for ripping up my ivy, throw away her Tupperware, how I was a terrible person and she and her husband and everyone think I'm on the Spectrum (hey man, autism is highly under diagnosed in women and that isn't the insult they think it is, but I could tell she thought she was calling me the R word), and just nasty absurd abusive things.
I sent her a text simply saying "Do not communicate with me or anyone at my house or threaten me or my pets again."
I found that dumb Tupperware and canvas bag she kept bringing up like it was gold, and put them on a porch along with another letter saying the same as in my text.
Jam responded this time, by smashing the Tupperware and leaving it back on my porch....
Now on April 29th, while I was hosting a sleep over for 3 of the children, and, as bad as this couple had been, I honestly believed they weren't bad enough to cause me trouble when the children were here with me. Looking back, I can't tell you why I gave them that kind of credit. Sackie self published a childrens book in her early 30's, and spoke of volunteering at children's libraries, at least according to her, and I suppose I thought that meant she'd have a respect for kids even if they did not have respect for me.... once again, I was wrong.
Around 5 or 6pm, the kids and I went out onto my front porch to bring our pizza inside at the same time as Sackie was getting out of getting out of her drug dealers car with him, she began screaming profanities at me, saying I was disgusting, threatening the pets, and other things I couldn't really understand fully due to her slurred speech once again but verbally assaulting me but this time, in front of the children was the last straw I had.
I quickly got the kids inside, away from her, and served them the pizza. I told them not to worry about the neighbor, that she was a kind of sick that made people yell when they shouldn't sometimes and they should just ignore her. I made sure they were content talking amongst themselves and eating pizza and strawberries- and went to call the police and finally told them about all the ongoing harassment, threats, begging, drug use, and now screaming and profanities in front of the children and asked for help.
Then I got ahold of one of the other moms who came and picked up all three of the kids, and we just pretended that we decided it was a better idea for them have a sleep over at her friend's house than mine. The kids were fine, but as soon as they left I lost it. Just big gut crying. The months of being nagged for weed, rides, and favors, getting passive aggressive texts about not being Sackie's new insta best friend, feeling like I was being watched constantly, worrying about Sackie saying inappropriate things in front of the children, dealing with Jam's creepy stares and used car sales man persona, the past weeks of their new upper fueled obsession with my property line and being the new fixation of their abuse, trying to be kind to them even as I struggled with my breast disease and Sackie trying to me as an emotional punching bag and free weed. I was finally crying so so so hard, my neighbors on my other side (a lovely couple my age) heard and rushed out and had me come wait inside and were so so so nice to me while I looked insane (did I forget to mention I'd let the kids 'do' my make up, meaning they'd painted my whole face with eye shadow including giving me a sparkly beard?) until the police arrived.
Now I live in a really nice neighborhood, but I am in one of the highest crime cities in America and our politicians and police staff are internationally questioned, so I was actually really impressed that the police came, cared, and, that somehow in my state, I *still* apparently looked less insane than Sackie and Jam.
They responded fairly quickly, and patiently looked over the wild texts from Jackie, my accounts of her and Jam passively terrorizing me, and checked out the side of my yard which they had originally ripped up the ivy and started this whole insane fantasy fight with me over.
They very much believed me and said I should have called them sooner, which surprised me. Sackie refused to come out and speak with the police but Jam came out to speak to the police via using his back door so Sackie could keep hiding.
The police came back and let me know that if Jam was the lesser of my two issues that I needed to becareful because they couldn't do anything on "hear say" but that Sackie had refused to speak with them and Jam reeked of alcohol. They said they told them to leave me alone, and that I had already agreed to do the same, and to just leave me alone, but that if they did anything I needed to call them because of how bad Jam, the lesser of the two, looked.
They left, I thanked them and my kind neighbors and felt like, it must be over right? Because if you do things like send pages of rambling violent, threatening texts, destroy property, and take so many drugs that your speech is slurred 24/7, and the cops come and tell you stop bothering your neighbor, you'd be scared right?
Again, I was mistaken to assume that Sackie and Jam's line of thinking would be at all on the side of logic, even in terms of simple self preservation. As soon as the cops left, Sackie and Jam came into my front yard and began to loudly talk about how disgusting I was to each other again. At this point I have both of their numbers blocked on my phone, but Sackie must has used one of those apps that allows you to text people who have blocked you and messaged me... "Have a great weekend"
So I go ahead and call the police who again, I am both pleased, and surprised, and a little scared by how quickly they return because my city is very high crime and for them to pay any attention to my calls means they must have clocked the neighbors as actual threat.
Sackie and Jam did go inside before the police came back though, and this time they both simply refused to open the door to the police. I imagine they had done many more drugs at this point.
The police said that they couldn't do anything since technically nothing had a record yet, but suggested that I file for a restraining order and provided all of the information I needed to do so. I was still sort of wishy washy about having a legal issue with my neighbors, but after talking it over with a few close girlfriends, one of them messaged me passionately outside of our little group chat about how much this couple, Sackie in particular, was behaving like a lot like her mother, a meth addict with a sense of entitlement who made her neighbors and everyone around hers life hell, obsessing over property lines and turned down begging, until eventually went to prison for 13 years for stabbing my friends dad. He lived thankfully.
But she was right, and my earlier mentioned paralegal friend helped me put together my paper work and evidence for a restraining order which we filed that Monday (April 30th).
They were served their papers on May 4th and thankfully, that *did* scare them into leaving me alone. Jam and Sackie would still intentionally talk badly about me to each other outside when they knew I could hear, and I imagine Sackie was trying to tell anyone who would listen what a bitch I was, but as long as myself and the children were unbothered I felt fine.
The court date came and I made the mistake again of assuming court mediation would be enough. Sackie showed up using a cain and pretending to be feeble, sickly and older, like she had done to me when we first met. Jam still looked creepy but wore a suit. My lawyer, who is also my middle school boyfriends father as an aside, was pretty confident I could get a full restraining if we went to court, but they agreed to restraining order terms as long as it stayed off their record for the purposes of background checks.
The way this works in my city is if they violate the terms it then automatically becomes a full order of protection-- but if they don't it gives them a chance to keep their records clean. It also would save me some money, because even though my lawyer was handling things at friend prices he couldn't do it for free. So I agreed to that. They were to stay away from me, my guests, not contact me on any platform, not harm me or my pets, it all seemed pretty fair and reasonable to me.
But alas, Sackie and Jam are not reasonable people. Literally the moment they got home from court Jam began working on some kind of project in his back yard, cursing about me to himself and clearly back on some kind of upper, he assembled and drilled this... strange tarp thing to my fence ???? Yes, my fence, and yes, this is illegal but I didn't have any luck getting the police to come out this time.
It has continued on this way. Them trying to do everything they can to harass me as much as possible without technically violating the order.
They're still trying to make my life hell, and, I am pretty sure my only option is to wait for them to physically harm me, on camera, for anything to happen.
So yes. That is how I kept trying to give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt, and in exchange, they're making my life hell. As I type this now Jam is out in the front yard, hovering on our property line, watering the grass, breathing heavy, grunting, and giving my ring camera dirty looks.
I don't have a good way to wrap this up, but, it felt good writing it all out to share anonymously. Thankyou reddit.
neighborsfromhell

Hello, and welcome to Music’s Biggest Night!
That’s right, it’s the GRAMMYs. The year is 1994 and our category is Best Alternative Music Album. We’ll be rating each of the five nominees on Indieheads, but before we get to the nominees, a quick word about rates.
Hey, quick question, what are rates?
Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!
Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

Introduction

The GRAMMYs are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in the music industry. The name derives from the trophy, which is shaped like an old-fashioned gramophone. The awards celebrate a variety of categories, but we’re going to be looking at Best Alternative Music Album or, as it was called at the time, Best Alternative Music Performance. The question of what “alternative” really means can be debated forever, but the original intent of this award was to celebrate non-mainstream rock albums which were heavily played on college radio. The category first appeared in 1991, so in 1994 the award is still pretty new.
And now, let’s meet our nominees!

Belly - Star

Belly are the act here that seem discussed least frequently on Indieheads, so I’m excited to see what everyone thinks of them. By the time of starting Belly, Tanya Donelly (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) had already been in two other classic indie rock bands. She was a co-founder of Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersch, contributing vocals and guitar for the band’s first decade, though she’d only get a handful of songs per album. Donelly would later start The Breeders with Pixies bassist and vocalist Kim Deal. The Breeders’ debut, Pod, featured Deal as the primary songwriter because existing record contracts prohibited the two from sharing primary writing credits. While they originally intended to alternate albums, Tanya had begun to form Belly by the time it was her turn to do a Breeders album. She recruited Fred Abong (bass) and brothers Tom (guitar) and Chris (drums) Gorman as they’d all known each other while going to high school in Rhode Island.
Belly co-produced most of their 1993 debut Star with Tracy Chisholm. Gil Norton, who’d previously produced Throwing Muses’ self-titled debut, produced four tracks, including singles "Gepetto," "Slow Dog," and "Feed the Tree." "Feed the Tree," one of the album’s highlights, would be the band’s highest charting hit, reaching 95th on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Modern Rock Chart. Star is an effective fusion of alternative rock with jangle pop, dream pop, "haunting" folk, and even some light country influences. At the 1994 GRAMMYs, Belly were also up for Best New Artist with Blind Melon, Digable Planets, and SWV, ultimately losing to R&B singer Toni Braxton. Belly released a sophomore album King in 1995 and Donelly released several solo albums before reuniting with the King lineup to release a third album in 2018. While Star may not have achieved the canonical stature of some of 1994’s other nominees, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable release from a strong songwriter who’d finally gotten the chance to make an album-length statement of her own.
Are Indieheads gonna feed the tree? Will this be an album to die for?
Tracklist:

Someone to Die For
Angel
Dusted
Every Word
Gepetto
Witch
Slow Dog
Low Red Moon
Feed The Tree
Full Moon, Empty Heart
White Belly
Untogether
Star
Sad Dress
Stay

Nirvana - In Utero If you were wondering where “Heart Shaped Box” was in the Guitar Hero Rate, well I’ve got a treat for you!
Kurt Cobain (vocals and guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass) met while attending Aberdeen High School in the late 1980s. They shuffled through various names, ultimately deciding on Nirvana because Cobain wanted a name that sounded beautiful and nice instead of mean and raunchy. In their early years, they worked with several different drummers, recording 1989’s Sub Pop debut Bleach with Chad Channing on drums. Channing left the band as they worked on their follow-up to Bleach. Kurt and Krist met drummer Dave Grohl days after he’d moved to Seattle following the break up of his Washington DC band Scream. The addition of Dave solidified Nirvana’s classic lineup. The trio began seeking a major label to buy them out of their Sub Pop contract as they were dissatisfied with the label’s lack of promotion and distribution of their debut. They eventually signed with DGC Records per the recommendation of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Upon signing, they began work on their major label debut, Nevermind, with producer Butch Vig. 1991’s Nevermind was an unexpected success, bringing grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream and even surpassing Michael Jackson on the Billboard albums chart.
In the aftermath of Nevermind’s success, Cobain felt he needed to reclaim his punk ethic. Wanting to depart from Butch Vig’s slick production on Nevermind (don’t worry, we’ll still be hearing from Vig a little later), he sought to work with Steve Albini. Albini was pretty famous in the underground for his work as frontman for Big Black and various production work, including PJ Harvey’s Dry, which he sent a copy of to give Cobain an idea of the acoustics in his studio. Albini dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" (more on R.E.M. soon!) but decided to work with them because he felt bad for them, recognizing them as "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with." The band pushed for minimal label oversight and recorded In Utero fairly quickly, wrapping recording sessions in as little as 13 days. The album was noisier and more abrasive than Nevermind, resulting in much dispute between the band, Albini, and the label. Cobain sought to make the kind of record he’d enjoy owning as a fan and began having second thoughts about the sound when listening to it at home. The press picked up on conflict about the album’s sound. The band denied this and even DGC president David Geffen called Newsweek to explain they would release whatever Nirvana recorded. Behind the scenes, the band tried to fix the album’s sound in the mastering process, which Albini was strongly against, though he’d later supply an alternate mix for the album’s 20th anniversary re-release. R.E.M producer Scott Litt was brought on to remix “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies” which were intended to be the album’s singles.
In Utero was released in September of 1993 following a low-key release strategy which released “Heart Shaped Box” as a promo-only single to various rock station formats but not Top 40. Walmart and K-Mart initially refused to stock the album due to its back cover and the title of the song “Rape Me.” (A content note on that song, while it is interpreted as commentary on the invasive music press, it was intended to be a lyrically literal anti-rape song from the perspective of a victim. As this is a rate, you can score this song however you see fit, but I hope it goes without saying that everyone should please be respectful of this subject matter in their comments.) Despite In Utero’s abrasive sound and reduced mainstream promotion, the album still debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts and was well-received by critics. The music often hits harder and faster than Nevermind, containing more of the “punk” feel that Cobain was aiming for compared to the grunge of Nevermind and the band’s Seattle contemporaries. Check out this MTV clip if you’d like to see how college students in 1993 received this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwhwy7S4qA) The band toured America shortly after In Utero came out and embarked on a European tour that was cut short as Cobain suffered from a drug overdose. A couple weeks later, Cobain died by suicide. As with the subject matter of “Rape Me,” I want to request that everyone is respectful of this in their comments, I will ask for edits (or omit comments myself) if they are inappropriate. Despite the tragic ending, Nirvana is still seen as one of American and alternative rock’s most important bands and In Utero remains highly regarded to this day.
Will our comments be all apologies? Are the results of this rate gonna be, uhhh, dumb?
Tracklist Serve the Servants Scentless Apprentice Heart-Shaped Box Rape Me Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle Dumb Very Ape Milk It Pennyroyal Tea Radio Friendly Unit Shifter Tourette’s All Apologies
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People If there’s a band who can rival Nirvana’s stature in the American rock canon, it’s gotta be R.E.M. They are often cited as one of the first “alternative” rock bands and were important for the college radio format. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums) released 5 albums with independent label I.R.S. Records, evolving from a jangle rock sound on their early albums to a louder, more anthemic sound on their final record for the label, Document. After “The One I Love” became their first mainstream hit, the band signed to Warner Brothers, kicking off a second act that resulted in yet another 5 album run of great music.
At the start of the 90s, R.E.M. opted out of touring and became a studio band. The band recorded demos for the songs “Drive,” “Try Not to Breathe,” and “Nightswimming” at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios while mixing their 1991 album, Out of Time. Out of Time was a huge success, arriving as alternative rock was becoming mainstream. It spawned the massive single “Losing My Religion” and even ended up winning the GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. After concluding some promotional duties in early 1991, the band returned to the studio to continue work on what would eventually become Automatic for the People. This would be the fourth of six records the band would produce with Litt. The band traded off instruments in the studio, with Buck playing the mandolin famously featured on “Losing My Religion,” Mills playing piano or organ, and Berry playing bass. Their initial attempts to make a harder rocking follow-up did not pan out, as the band found they were writing better without drums. The material began to take on a more melancholic tone. The lush orchestration of Out of Time is rendered in a somber greyscale, with arrangements contributed by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Lyrically, the album muses on loss and mourning, prompting rumors that recently balding Michael Stipe was dying of cancer or AIDs. Luckily, he was not but that is the lens through which some critics and listeners received this work. The album also finds room for political commentary, most noticeably in “Ignoreland” which pushes against Republican politics of the time, but also in opener “Drive” which calls back to the group’s work with the Rock to Vote movement, for which they added a petition on the longbox packaging of Out of Time.
Automatic for the People released on October 5, 1992 (gotta love the GRAMMYs odd eligibility window) debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike its predecessor, it never quite reached the top spot, thanks to Garth Brooks. Six of the album’s 12 tracks were released as singles including “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts” which has unfortunately been watered down through years of ironic use in comedies, the cryptic, Andy Kaufman referencing “Man on the Moon,” and “Nightswimming,” an emotional piano ballad that has become a fan favorite. The album was critically acclaimed upon release and, while perhaps not as fun as something like Murmur, this nocturnal bummer is regarded by many as one of the band’s masterpieces.
Will everybody hurt? Are R.E.M. going to get a raw deal?
Tracklist: Drive Try Not to Breathe The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Everybody Hurts New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 Sweetness Follows Monty Got a Raw Deal Ignoreland Star Me Kitten Man on the Moon Nightswimming Find the River
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream The Smashing Pumpkins formed in 1988 when Billy Corgan (vocals and guitar, he prefers William Patrick Corgan now though) met James Iha (guitar) while working at a record store in Chicago, Illinois. They performed as a duo with a drum machine, eventually adding bassist D’arcy Wretzky after meeting her at a show by the Dan Reed Network. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was recommended by a friend of Corgan’s after the trio were booked to perform at Cabaret Metro under the condition that they’d play with a live drummer instead of their drum machine. With Chamberlain on board, the band’s classic lineup had been formed and their sound began to shift in a harder rock direction.
Siamese Dream, the group’s 1993 sophomore album, expands on their 1991 debut Gish in every possible way. The band switched from Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records to Virgin itself. Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s massive Nevermind right after finishing work on Gish, returned to produce the follow-up. Where Gish’s $20,000 budget and month of recording time was “unprecedented” for Vig, Corgan and Vig spent four months on Siamese Dream and went $250,000 over budget. This is what happens when you let Billy overdub everyone else’s guitar and bass parts (something the rest of the band wasn’t particularly happy about) to get as many as 100 guitar parts compressed into one song.
The meticulous studio process paid off, as Siamese Dream was a bigger hit than Gish (peaking at 10 on the Billboard 200.) The band’s influences from metal, dreampop, and shoegaze give the album a layered and unique sound compared to the grungier alternative music of the time. Singles “Cherub Rock” and “Today” have been featured in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogame series. While never released as a single, “Mayonaise” has become a fan favorite and won a Rolling Stone poll for best Pumpkins song, beating out singles from Siamese Dream and the band’s follow-up double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Judging from some early discussion since this rate was announced, some of you seem pretty excited to rate “Mayonnaise.” While Mellon Collie took the band to the height of their popularity, Siamese Dream is often regarded as their masterpiece and one of the best rock albums of the 90s.
Will we be sweet sweet to the Pumpkins? The rater in me is the rater in you, I’ll send this ballot over to you
Tracklist: Cherub Rock Quiet Today Hummer Rocket Disarm Soma Geek U.S.A. Mayonaise Spaceboy Silverfuck Sweet Sweet Luna
U2 - Zooropa Formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, U2 (Bono on vocals, The Edge on guitar, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums) have become the top-selling Irish musical act of all-time, with an estimated 170+ million records sold. Across the 80s, U2 evolved their early post-punk sound to the anthemic rock of The Joshua Tree. While touring America for that album, the band recorded Rattle and Hum, a hybrid live/studio record (and accompanying concert film) which documented the tour and the group’s fascination with American roots music. Despite the album’s commercial success, most consider it a misguided failure. Even Bono admitted at their final show for the album’s Lovetown Tour that “we have to go away and dream it all up again.”
1993’s Zooropa catches U2 at their most adventurous. 1991’s Acthung Baby and its subsequent Zoo TV tour rebranded the band for the new decade. While they continued working with Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, they updated their sound with influences from electronic, dance, and industrial music. On stage, they dabbled in irony to counter the sincerity of their 80s output with Bono playing characters such as The Fly and Macphisto. Emboldened by the critical and commercial success of this album and tour, they began working on a promotional EP during a break between Zoo TV tour legs. Despite working quickly in the studio, this EP expanded into a full-length album, requiring the band to travel between concerts and the studio in Dublin to finish working on the album during the first month of the “Zooropa” leg.
Zooropa finally arrived in July of 1993 and it shows the band doubling down on their early 90s ideas. The sound of the album, built from loops of soundcheck jamming and leftover sketches from Achtung Baby, ventures even further from traditional rock instrumentation and songwriting, bolstered by production from Brian Eno, Flood (moving from an engineering to production role), and The Edge, credited as a producer for his first time. The fragmented nature of the album’s production is reflected in the eclectic tracklist which bounces between the multi-movement art-rock of the title track, dancefloor fillers like “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car,” and ballads like “For the First Time” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” Unique vocal choices like The Edge’s spoken-word rapping on lead-single “Numb,” Bono’s falsetto on “Lemon,” and a Johnny Cash feature on closer “The Wanderer” help the album feel more varied than U2’s previous material. The album’s lyrics often examine Zoo TV’s concepts of “sensory overload” and technology more explicitly than Achtung Baby.
While U2 are reluctant to acknowledge Zooropa now (likely influenced by the failure of 1997’s Pop, a rushed, mixed bag of an album that stretched audience’s tolerance for 90s U2’s tendency toward electronic music and irony to a Rattle and Hum-like breaking point) the album was successful when it came out. Zooropa debuted at number one in several countries and finished ninth on 1993’s Pazz and Jop poll. It would also go on to win this GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music album, with Bono shrugging on stage, shouting out Smashing Pumpkins, and promising to “the young people of America” that they will “continue to abuse our position and fuck up the mainstream” in his acceptance speech. (https://youtu.be/-DNXfFy8Ido?t=69)
Will U2 stay the champions in our rate or will they be faraway so close to the top?
Tracklist: Zooropa Babyface Numb Lemon Stay (Faraway, So Close!) Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car Some Days Are Better Than Others The First Time Dirty Day The Wanderer
Bonus Rate Since this rate is 5 albums instead of the usual 4, a bonus rate has been omitted.

Asking for a friend because he doesn't have reddit, he recently downloaded fallout 4 and got mod organizer 2, and is having trouble opening the game, when it opens the mods don't load at all. he has script extender which I thought could be the issue, since I have vortex and that is a problem for me. but we struggled to do the "old Launcher" trick, but couldn't find it at all. We haven't actually done anything with the files just yet so I doubt that's the issue. Really I'm just stumped so I decided to consult reddit for help. I'll send the load order when I can, since he has to go through it.

Anime Movie(すずめの戸締まり)! Here’s options for downloading or watching The Summer streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit,1movies, 9movies, and yes movies, including where to watch the anticipated anime movie at home. Is Suzume available to stream English sub & dub? Is Suzume streaming? Is watching Suzume on Crunchyroll, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix, or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option / service.

Watch Now: The Summer Online Free

The wait is almost over! Suzume — the latest Japanese animation film — is coming to theaters this weekend. Luckily, we have you covered on all the ways you can watch it!

While movie fans will be able to see the smash-hit film Suzume in cinemas and theaters starting on April 14, 2023, those unable or unwilling to see the film outside, need not worry, as it will likely be made accessible for streaming soon. Makoto Shinkai's new film Suzume (The Summer) will hit American cinemas this Friday, and every indication suggests Suzume will be as popular here as it has been in Japan. Furthermore, American viewership will be bolstered by all the fans who access the film via an online streaming service.

One of the most anticipated Japanese animated films of the next period, The Summer, is directed by the legendary Makoto Shinkai, who is the same face behind the successful masterpiece “Your Name”. The The Summer movie is set to be released later this year, however, the production house wanted to let the Otakus be in suspense by releasing a new Trailer. The film is produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho.

Is Suzume streaming? A new feature film from Makoto Shinkai is always something to treasure. Recent hits Your Name and Weathering With You have garnered widespread praise for their beauty and storytelling, creating high hopes for Suzume.

The director, Makoto Shinkai, is a well-known figure in the animated movies space. Best known for his work “Your Name” or as it is called originally, “Kimi No Na Wa“, he has directed several masterpieces to date. His work is appreciated by many. Therefore, there’s no doubt how wonderful The Summer is going to be, and just like you all, as a part of the culture, we are excited too.

Sony has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute the film online, which means fans can expect to find the movie on the entertainment company's Crunchyroll brand anime streaming service. Unfortunately, at this time, there has been no official announcement from either Sony or Crunchyroll as to when Suzume will be available online. Currently, for fans who want to see the film in the cinema can order tickets online for a show via the Crunchyroll website.

So where can you watch Suzume? Is it on HBO Max? What about Netflix? Here’s everything we know about how, when, and where you can watch The Summer:

The Summer Release Date
You can watch Suzume in cinemas from April 14, 2023. The film is getting a wide release, making it likely that your local cineplex will have showings, at least for opening weekend.

The English version of the CoMix Wave Films and Makoto Shinkai movie The Summer is about to appear outside Japan, but streaming isn’t available just yet. Crunchyroll revealed it will be in theaters starting on April 14. 2023. However, this initial release will be limited to theaters. It won’t show up physically, digitally, or streaming worldwide until after its initial theatrical run.

While you can’t start streaming The Summer in English yet, here’s when the movie will debut in theaters in various countries outside Japan.

April 12, 2023: It will appear in France and Malta.

April 13, 2023: It will appear in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Slovak Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

April 14, 2023: It will appear in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Gibraltar, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Southern Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

April 20, 2023: It will appear in Colombia and Portugal.

April 21, 2023: It will appear in Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and Romania.

April 27, 2023: It will appear in Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

April 30, 2023: It will appear in Iceland.

Where To Watch The Summer Online
As of now, the only way to watch Suzume is to head out to a movie theater when it releases on Friday, April 14. You can find a local showing on Fandango.

Watch Now: The Summer Online Free

Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait for it to become available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Prime Video, Vudu, Apple and YouTube.

When Will Suzume Be On Streaming?
While a digital release date for Suzume has not yet been announced, most movies typically become available to rent or buy around 45 days after their theatrical release. If this film follows the same trajectory, you may be able to watch from the comfort of your home by late May 2023.

Since the film is being distributed in North America by Crunchyroll, it’s likely that Suzume will also join the streamer’s library in the future. You can sign up for a subscription for either $7.99, $9.99 or $14.99 — or you have the option to do a 14-day free trial.

How to Watch The Summer for Free?
There are currently no platforms that have the rights to Watch The Summer Online. MAPPA has decided to air the movie only in theaters because it has been a huge success. The studio, on the other hand, does not wish to divert revenue. Streaming the movie would only slash the profits, not increase them.

The only easy way to watch The Summer streaming free without downloading anything is by visiting this web page. You can stream Nope online here right now. This film will be released on 14 April, 2023 and received an average rating with a 0 IMDb vote.You can also find this film in English, French, Spanish. Click on the corresponding flag below to change the language.

As mentioned above, the dark fantasy is only released theatrically as of now. So, people who wish to watch the movie free of cost will have to wait for its release on a platform that offers a free trial. However, we encourage our readers to always pay for the content they wish to consume online and refrain from using illegal means.

Is The Summer on Crunchyroll?

No, it is currently not available for streaming on Crunchyroll or on any streaming platform.

That being said, the film is being distributed internationally by Crunchyroll with Sony, and they were responsible for bringing the movie to theaters. The movie saw its theatrical release in March 2023, but fans still have to wait for streaming it online.

Since Crunchyroll holds the rights to the anime and currently has the Demon Slayer: To The Swordsmith Village anime series available for streaming, it is believed that the movie as well will eventually find itself on the platform. However, Crunchyroll is yet to give any official confirmation or details regarding the specifics, making the fans

The film is director Makoto Shinkai's seventh major animated film release, but if the previous two films, namely Your Name and Weathering With You are any indications of how Suzume will do, then it is likely to be one of this year's best anime movies. Like Suzume, both Your Name and Weathering With You follow the story of average teenagers who are suddenly forced to come to grips with supernatural forces they do not understand, but must nevertheless overcome. In addition, Suzume is being produced by Japanese anime production house CoMix Wave Films which has a long history of collaboration with Shinkai dating back to his first video productions.

Will Suzume Be On HBO Max?

No, Suzume will not be on HBO Max since it’s not a Warner Bros. movie. The company announced last year that they would no longer send their theatrical films directly to the streamer. Instead, they’ve implemented a 45-day window between theatrical premieres and HBO Max releases.

Will Suzume Be On Netflix?

No, Suzume will not be on Netflix — at least not any time soon. While it’s possible it may come to the streamer at some point in the future, you’ll just have to head out to a movie theater or wait for it to become available on digital platforms in the meantime.

Is The Summer on Hulu?

Viewers are saying that they want to view the new anime movie The Summer on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the free episodes of this series streaming at this time. It will be exclusive to the MTV channel, which you get by subscribing to cable or satellite TV services. You will not be able to watch it on Hulu or any other free streaming service.

Is The Summer on Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime’s current catalog does not include The Summer.’ However, the film may eventually release on the platform as video-on-demand in the coming months. Therefore, people must regularly look for the dark fantasy movie on Amazon Prime’s official website. Viewers who are looking for something similar can watch the original show ‘Dororo.’

Is The Summer on Funimation?

Since Funimation has rights to the film like Crunchyroll, its official website may include the movie in its catalog in the near future. Meanwhile, people who wish to watch something similar can stream ‘The Summer.’

How To Watch Suzume Free Streaming on Reddit?

You can watch Suzume on Reddit without having to create an account or supply your credit card information. Click the play button below to begin viewing the film immediately. There are also no advertising or pop-ups here; instead, you’ll find great material! So why not watch Suzume online right now? It’s completely free and easy.

Do you want to watch Suzume online for free? 123movies, Reddit, and google drive all have Suzume. You may now watch Suzume 2023 free here on Hulu!. Click the play button below to begin watching Suzume streaming online. There’s no need to register or provide credit card information!

How to Watch The Summer Movie Online For Free?
Most Viewed, Most Favorite, Top Rating, Top IMDb movies online. Here we can download and watch 123movies movies offline. 123Movies website is the best alternative to Suzume (2023) free online. We will recommend 123Movies is the best Solarmovie alternatives.

There are a few ways to watch Suzume online in the U.S. You can use a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes or Google Play. You can also watch it on-demand or on a streaming app available on your TV or streaming device if you have cable.

The Summer Movie Cast and Characters

The Summer was written by the director Makoto Shinkai himself and stars the following actors:

The anime movie is voiced by
Nichole Sakura as Suzume Iwato
Josh Keaton as Sota Munakata
Jennifer Sun Bell as Tamaki Iwato
Cam Clarke as Hitsujiro Munakata
Roger Craig Smithas as Minoru Okabe
Amanda Céline Miller as Rumi Ninomiya
Rosalie Chiang as Chika Amabe
Allegra Clark as Tsubame Iwato
Joe Zieja as Tomoya Serizawa
Lena Josephine Marano as Daijin
Bennett Hetrick as Suzume Iwato as Bennet Hetrick
Mela Lee as Miki
Jennie Kwan as Mami
Abby Trott as Aya
Jake Eberle as Shige
What is The Summer About?
The Summer is an animated fantasy adventure film, produced by CoMix Wave Films, chronicles a high school girl and a mysterious young man trying to prevent a series of disasters across Japan. Commissioned in 2020, the film is both written and directed by Makoto Shinkai.

A seventeen year old teenage Suzume meets a strange man who is searching for a special door. The duo together discovers the special door in an old abandoned house located in the mountains. With captivating force Suzume is drawn towards the handle. By stepping through the door, this teenager opens a portal to the unknown and more similar doors start appearing throughout Japan. Now, Suzume needs to travel throughout Japan whether across the mountains or through the sea to close each such door to stop the Door of Disasters from destroying Japan.

Just turned 38 and realized that by focusing on my career, I have been actively avoiding any kind of companionship outside the realm of people I see on a daily or weekly basis. Everyone around me is either married or in a serious relationship. I have some casual friends but outside of that, I have felt the impact of me purposely distancing myself from women I could have made a connection with. I'm hoping to change that by finding someone that I can have great conversations with and put smiles on each other's faces.
I haven't been on any dating apps for years and when I did, I met with people I couldn't connect with on a deeper level.
About me:
I am an introvert by nature but am always pushing myself to go outside my comfort zone to socialize. I'm slim, active, have no kids, and love animals. My co workers always ask me if I can house sit while they go on vacation and happily do it. I enjoy cooking for people, especially my co workers and I frequently cook batches of BBQ or homemade chili. I work in IT and love helping people. I like to make my rounds around my work while there is downtime and see how everyone is doing. I'm a huge baseball fan and love the SF Giants. If you happen to be a Dodger's fan, things might work between us ;). I'm a big fan of breweries even though I am not an avid drinker but it's always fun to try new beers in a public area. For TV shows, I enjoy watching The Office, Seinfeld, and Frasier as my "comfort" shows.
If you would like to know more about me, send me a private message. I'd like to keep things casual when we first chat to see if there's a good connection. Tell me a bit about yourself in the opening message :)
Just got catfished twice here so far, so a verification photo would be nice.

Hello grants community!
I am reaching out to gather some valuable insights and ideas for my sustainable protein business based in Guatemala. Our mission is to tackle environmental challenges by mitigating emissions and providing alternative sources of animal feed through insect farming. We believe that insects hold tremendous potential as a sustainable protein source, and we are dedicated to harnessing their benefits for a greener future.
In our business, we primarily focus on using insects such as black soldier flies, mealworms, and crickets to transform organic waste into high-quality protein. This not only helps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also provides a valuable source of nutrition for animal feed, promoting a more circular economy.
We are particularly interested in hearing from this community about potential grant opportunities, partnerships, or innovative ideas to scale up our operations and have a broader impact. We are open to suggestions related to market development, research collaborations, sustainability initiatives, or any other aspect that could contribute to our mission.
Your input and expertise would be immensely valuable in shaping the future of our sustainable protein business. We appreciate your time and look forward to engaging in insightful discussions with you all.
Thank you in advance for your support and contributions!

Hello, This is my first time posting in this community, sorry for the long post. I would appreciate some advice on a situation at work.
I currently work in HR as an admin assistant/recruiter hybrid role... I have been doing it for almost two years but I finally got burned out. I asked at the beginning of March of this year to transfer to the recruiting department full-time. It took my boss two weeks to finally accept my request and post my position, she sent me an email that she wanted someone fully trained before I became a full-time recruiter, and I would lose a dollar pay. I said whatever, I figure it would take a month at most and a dollar less was worth peace of mind.
March and April went and she had only done one interview. I started to get really mad. People kept asking me when would I become a full-time recruiter, and I could not give an answer that didn't involve me bad-mouthing my boss's seeming lack of urgency. At the end of April, another non-Hr supervisor position was open. After much thought and deliberation, I decided to just go for it. I contacted the VP of HR and she supported the move and talked to that manager and gave her blessings.
The manager interview me the first week of May and he told me that it was basically a routine interview because he got permission and I am considered a very hard worker. All I needed was my review and to complete a supervisor class. My current boss came back from a week's vacation and I explained to her that I was completely moving out of HR. She didn't seem happy, but she had no input at this point. One day she called me to her office to tell me that it was time for my review, that she had spoken to my new manager and told him that I wasn't going anywhere until she had a fully trained replacement, and that the other manager was not happy with what she said and got huffy at her. I got very angry.
Fast forward to May 10 and my dog passed away. Between my anger and grief, I wrote a very nice email that it was time to have my duties offloaded and for me to move on to my new position. All she reply with was, sorry but no, I need a fully trained replacement. I'm very upset, and at this point, I'm afraid I am going to snap at this manager for being so selfish. She needs a fully trained person at the expense of my own training and personal development.
Anyway, this past Friday, they finally found someone to replace the admin role, (they actually posted another position to replace my recruiting duties, funny how it takes two people to replace me). But now my current boss says, oh we should have a hard transfer date in JULY!! I'm livid now. What can I do at this point? Can I do anything at this point? Has anyone dealt with this type of situation?

M... You are in my mind and heart everyday all day. And I ask myself why?? Is it because im lonely?? Is because I have a hard time letting go?? Is it because you are still my wife?? And haven't Divorced me yet?? Is that a sign??? I don't know why i think like this??? You've been with E since February of last year. Only two months after it was over. I know I brought this on myself I was a horrible partner, husband and friend I was a P.O.S Drunk who took you for granted. I lied, I cheated. I was abusive. And I'am truly sorry and very regretful for all of it. I understand why you had to leave you gave so much to me you had nothing left for you yourself and i didnt see what i was doing to you. I was so wrapped up in trying to forget my past by being a sloppy drunk i forgot to look at my present and future and see the person that would change my life forever. All you asked me to do was get the help I needed and i was to selfish.. it took you leaving me to open my eyes only then did i seek help i really needed. I started going to therapy and have been going since you left January of 2021 you still gave me a chance to prove myself to you and i fucked that up by cheating on you after i got out of rehab for the second time. There is no excuse for me being a shitty human being i can't blame anything in my past for that just because i was abused should have made me treat people differently i should have been kinder but it wasn't until you called me out on my bullshit. Even at the end you still showed me Unconditionally love i've never felt that before. To be honest it scared the shit out of me and made me want to run because that's what I've always done. I didn't know how to communicate with you. I didn't want to open up and have you see me as less of a man. But thats what I should have done because I honestly know you would have never judged me. There are so many things I feel I owe you. So many apologies but the words I'm sorry lose meaning after being said all the time and not changing the behavior. I Never wanted to change for anyone until you left me. I've realized you were my home my teacher my friend my partner my lover my wife. I'm not telling you these things. To get you back. I'm telling you because you helped me open my eyes and I owe you a thank you and an apology. I'm greatful you've found the happiness I couldn't give you.. I'm only putting this out here because I needed to say this to you. But will never have the chance to speak with you again. You are truly the best thing to ever happen to me. Lesson learned. I miss you and hope one day you can forgive me. I love you because you showed me what that means. Your shithead D

Im new to Diablo and have a few questions.

I have a barbarian build, and some times my player is using his 2h slashing then will use the weapons in both hands. How do i control this?

&

As a barbarian, what stats should i be looking for in my gear and weapons?

Thanks for the input. Im open to tips just wana build a strong player.

this is my second time taking the test (took back in oct 2022 with the whole retake promo. couldn't commit to dec due to family/test center being booked). Now, planned it at June but still dont feel ready (yes, most of isnt from learning within this subreddit), i have learnzapp and my ready score is at 45%. i barely use and ive been just reading more of the books and re-reading it, wanted to understand the concepts more. i dont feel like im ready but im kinda lost and asking the cissp communitiy for help/input. should i just push back the test? Theres no job pressure for this. Its a career move for me, my current position is in system admin. been working in the IT industry for 7 years

PS - any other helpful tips will be great. much appreciated

Fl studio input couldn't be opened

"11/10" -IGN

End of Episode

Introduction

Belly - Star

Watch Now: The Summer Online Free