I recently graduated college and I'm relocating for my new job. I applied for an apartment, and was rejected for having very little credit history and having a few late payments.
I opened my oldest and only account just over 3 years ago, but that card ended up getting closed because I had too long of a period of inactivity and hurt my credit score. No late payments on it.
I've been renting the same apartment during college for 3 years as well, and was late paying rent by a day or two maybe 4 or 5 times during that span.
Otherwise, I really have no credit history. My vantage credit score is 650. The agency that assessed me didn't have enough information about me to even compute their risk assessment score. For the same reason, I don't seem to have a FICO score.
This apartment is fairly nice for my area, about $1700 monthly for a 1 bedroom. I am fortunate to have a job coming out of college where this is well within my budget. I asked everywhere I toured about how they assess applicants and they all gave an income requirement (that I meet) and basically just gave a vague answer about how they then review your credit history.
I understand that I'll probably have to select a cheaper apartment because of my lack of credit history, but how do I tell if I have a shot at a given place? I don't want to keep burning $50-$100 to apply to places that I don't have a shot for.
Also, is it my lack of history or my late payments that would be the bigger issue here?

After a couple of hours of non-stop work, R’aart still puzzled as it cut out yet another section of bulkhead from around the galley. It was supposed to be a technician, repairing and maintaining, not a deconstruction element. It looked over at its fellow Dravitian, Lindr, who was loading cut sections of structural members onto a servoloader, and raised its voice over the sounds of the cutter, “Why are even doing this? Those Terrans have already used all our spare bar stock. This just feels wrong.”
Lindr turns its triangular head to face where R’aart was silhouetted against the sparks and glowing metal from the cutter’s action on the bulkhead. “They need more reinforcing for the cargo bay project. I do not understand how they plan to terraform the vacuum, though.” It paused, “Do you think that those geriatric Terrans have suffered neural damage from the extended time in cold-sleep?”
R’aart finished the last line of the cut and a section of plating with edges glowing orange clanged ti the deck. As it sent the cutter into its cool-down safety setting, it offered, “I suspect that could be the case. The noises that pass for their entertainment…” It shuddered slightly. “However, Engineer Allyson holds them in high esteem. She spoke of them as if they were super-beings.”
Lindr nodded slowly, “Yes. But if they flaunt safety limits at a degree proportionally higher than Engineer Allyson does, relative to how she speaks of them, I fear for our safety.”
R’aart turned on its lower four extremities, fully facing its fellow technician. “As opposed to the Jaxorians that are bound to catch us?”
-=-=-=-=-=-
“The two Jaxorian vessels are will be within weapons range within the hour.” The Dravitian Captain’s words came over the music that still came from the Terran’s console on the bridge.
William sighed. “Crap. Okay, sooner than I wanted, but we can work with that.” He thumbed the control on his console and the sounds of The The’s Infecteddied away as he leaned in toward the microphone on the side of the touchscreen. “Hey guys. We have an hour before they blast us. How close to ready are we?”
AJ’s voice came over the console speaker, “Capacitors are all charged, and we’ve reinforced all the wiring to take the extra amps. These reactors are showing some strain, though, so keep that in mind.”
Tony’s voice sounded sort of hollow with the echos, “These engines will flare, probably for three minutes give or take. Because of the way I had to disable these dampers, once the flare starts there’s no way of stopping it, so make sure we’re aimed at empty space, okay?”
Allyson’s voice came next, “Pete says that he’s almost done with welding the braces. Everything’s wired, and there’s a relay switch set back in engineering.” Her voice paused, then asked, “And, once we get this set, what is it going to do?”
William chuckled, “Allyson, thank Pete and have him explain about Puff, okay? AJ, Tony, great job guys. Harden up anything you can, then see if there’s anything you can rig up that might stop invaders if things go south, okay?”
As the crew’s voices chimed in with their agreement, William cued up Yaz’s Situation and went back to his coding.
The Dravitian navigator looked over at the Terran, “Sir? May I be filled in on your plan?”
William’s fingers continued to work on the virtual keys as he started to speak, “Sorry, I’ve just been focused here. I should have said something before. We’re going to pretend to lose power in one of the fusion reactors, and let the crab-guys catch up. Then, when we get close, we’ll attack the ship that’s going to want to board, and then we’ll peel out, doing some damage to the other ship.” He looks up from the keys and over to the insectoid, “I’ll just need you to maneuver us so that the ass-end of this ship is pointed toward the enemy and the nose is headed toward about 10 million miles of clear space.”
The navigator’s upper set of extremities moved in small circles, a Dravitian gesture indicative of anxiety. “But if they board, we will all end up as feeding matter.”
William grinned a lopsided grin and shook his head, “Oh, I guarantee you that if they actually get on-board, they will heartily regret it, and we won’t go out on a platter.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
“Primary Command Crew to stations!” The sound vibrations rippled through the hydodynamic fluid.
The Jaxorian scuttled sideways out of his bunk and reached up with pincers that had small gems crusting the carapace ridges, and opened the interior hatch, feeling the slightly warmer water swirl into the bunkroom. He swam out and into the corridor, and scuttled toward the Command Center.
As he entered the large cave of the command room, he scuttled around the large black carapace of the Commissar as he moved to the weapons station. Keeping his legs in as close as he could to make himself as small as possible, he settled in and looked at the readouts.
The Coalition vessel they were chasing was rapidly coming into range. The power readings had lowered from earlier in the chase. The Jaxiorian offered, “High One, the prize will be in range for the main cannon in approximately [2 minutes]. Shall I begin charging the coils?”
The Commissar swiveled its eyestalks and took in the enhanced image on the gel projector screen. “It is a cargo vessel, yes?” she asked. Her legs churned under her and she turned her carapace to a more comfortable position on the grippy surface of the commander’s mound.
“Yes, Commissar,” answered the bright green Jaxorian at the intelligence console. “It appears laden with goods, including not only colony gear and edible beings shipped as cargo. They will be easy prey.”
The Commissar flexed her ebony bulk, “We will not fire. We could damage the prize. Ready a boarding party. Plot an intercept solution. Communicate with the escort and have them stand ready, but not to fire until I command it.” She paused, “And communicate with the prize. Alert them that they are to stand down and prepare themselves to submit.”
Activity started around the bridge as these orders were put into motion. On the screen of the weapons station, the tiny shape of the CCV K’gara B’rak slid within the orange delimiter of the targeter’s range.
-=-=-=-=-=-
“Heads up! They’ve taken the bait, and should close to boarding distance in about three minutes. Crew, get to your emergency stations, Tony be ready for my signal, and AJ, spin that reactor back up at the same time. Pete, you and Allyson make sure that the terraformers are set, because they’re going off first.” William’s voice came through all the speakers and communicators throughout the ship. “And if anyone’s been waiting on a last minute question, this is the time.”
William removed his finger from the communication control and waited in the silence. There weren’t any questions, though he didn’t expect any from the guys. And the Dravitians were good at following protocol, so they wouldn’t be panicking, at least outwardly. He waited another few seconds, then cued up the next bit of media, a slow build of steady guitar and base leading into a sudden beat that started the steady, almost ominous, beat of Don Felder’s ”Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride)”.
The Captain looked over from the navigation console, the chitinous plates of its face pale green at the edges, “The vessel closes toward our side with the main docking area. This is in accordance with your plan, yes?”
William nodded slowly, still watching the readouts and monitors that were displayed on his touchscreen. “Yeah, though I still hate these moments before we find out if everything works out. Oh, I know my guys did everything they could, but you never know what the other guy will do.”
The Captain cocked its head, “So we gave up running so that we could let the Jaxorians catch us, inviting capture rather than running until the very end?”
William chuckled, “Oh, they’d be able to run us down, but the only way to win that game is not to play. So what we needed to do is play with home field advantage and our tricks up our sleeves. It’s a classic FAFO situation.”
The Captain held its gaze steady, “I have no translation for ‘FAFO’, sir.”
William grinned, “Let’s just say that it’s one where someone gets the consequences they deserve for the actions they take.”
The Captain paused and looked back to the navigation console. “About two of your minutes, sir.” He poked at the touchscreen. “Did you realize that you have that noise playing on all of the broadcast communications channels as well?”
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Jaxorian communications manager continued to be perplexed. “Commissar, even once I have filtered the background noise and consulted the translator circuits, I do not understand this message. Perhaps it is in code? Perhaps the background noise is significant to interpreting the meaning?”
The Commissar shifted her bulky carapace, “Overlay the translation with the background noise and put it on speaker.”
”My, oh my, how this lady can fly, once she starts rollin’ beneath you. You know you just can’t lose, the way that she moves, you wait for her to finally release you. It’s not a big surprise to feel your temperature rise; you’ve got a touch of redline fever. ‘Cause there is just one cure that they know for sure; you just become a heavy metal believer.”
The Commissar scoffed. “Nonsense words. Continue the docking approach.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
The song had ended by the time the Jaxorian cruiser had matched speed and heading with the larger form of the old Terran combat freighter and was closing the distance between them, [meter] by [meter]. The cruiser extended a docking corridor to cover the [10 meter] distance that the ships would maintain once locked in place.
The smaller Jaxorian escort ship trailed behind slightly, as the Terran craft seemed to have something wrong with it’s engines and was making a sort of lazy curve that the cruiser was on the inside of to get to the Terran ship’s docking hatch.
Automated docking lights illuminated the main boarding hatch on the Terran craft, as if in invitation, and the corridor adjusted. Just as the seals touched, however, a Terran voice came across the open communication channels, yelling “WOLVERINES!”
The side of the combat freighter glowed orange, then yellow, then white, then boiled away into the pinkish-purple of plasma. As the engines continued their work, the metal burned away and joined the cloud, then arcs of lightning and superheated matter ripped and tore at the skin of the cruiser, boiling it away and adding its mass to the cloud.
The Terran’s voice came over the channels again, calling out, “Turbo boost, KITT! Everybody hang on!” Then came a steady drumbeat.
The ion engines at the aft of the Terran craft glowed blue, and grew brighter and brighter.
Across the channels a piano’s glissando running from high to low preceded its melody, adding to the drums which added a short run to the steady beat that they went back to.
As the flare behind it gave a powerful burst, like that of a nova, the hulking cargo ship lurched forward. The front quarter of the escort ship behind it shattered and peeled, as the freighter pushed ahead. As the freighter accelerated, the following blue-white flare from the four engines tore at the cruiser as it passed.
Again across the all the communication bands driving bass and guitar joined a female Terran who sang out, “Lying in your bed on a Saturday night; you're sweatin' buckets and it's not even hot. But your brain has got the message, and it's sending it out, to every nerve and every muscle you've got.”
The force of the flare cut straight to the central core of the cruiser, seeming to ‘unzip’ the ship, folding the two halves back from the longitudinal wound that the terraforming engines had formed. While the metal skin, structure, bulkheads, and decks peeled back, sections fractured and came away in shards, releasing the hydrodynamic liquid flowed out and boiled.
Explosions wracked the surviving portions of both Jaxorian vessels while the cargo freighter continued to accelerate, leaving the destruction farther and farther behind it.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Inside the CCV K’gara B’rak, crewmembers fought against the constant shuddering acceleration to move to where makeshift power cords had overheated and caused fires, or where the sudden thrust from the initial engine flares had caused bulkhead ruptures; where some slight flaw in the materials had given way as the ship had been taken far beyond the tolerances it had been built for.
While the Dravitian crew were frantically working in the corridors, the Terrans in the engineering bay were trying to take care of their pieces, but with grins.
Tony had a cut on his forehead from an unsecured tool from the workbench that had come straight back to the engine gantry where he’d braced himself. The force of the thrust had essentially changed ‘down’ by ninety degrees, putting him at the ‘bottom’ of the huge room. As he clambered from engine to engine, making manual adjustments, he had to keep wiping at it to keep the blood out of his eyes, and he was singing along with the music on the speakers.
”You've got so many dreams, that you don't know where to put 'em, so you'd better turn a few of 'em loose. Your body's got a feeling that it's starting to rust; you'd better rev it up and put it to use.”
AJ had tied himself to a rail by the control panels for the reactors, and was hanging near an open access panel with a heavy pair of gloves, holding something in place. His face was sporadically lit by electrical arcing from within the guts of the output transformers.
”And I don't know how I ever thought that I could make it all alone. When you only make it better, then it better be tonight. I'll be there for you tonight.”
Pete was climbing his way to one of the structural beams holding an engine in place. A crack had started halfway along it and wearing one of the cuttewelder backpack units that he never knew he needed so badly before, he was pulling himself along it to try to tack it back together.
”And if you don't have anywhere to go, you go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll. And your speed. Is all you'll ever need. All you'll ever need to know.”
Tony and Pete paused and belted out with the singer on the speakers, “Darlin’, darlin’! You and me we're goin' nowhere slowly. And we've gotta get away from the past. There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere, baby, but we should be goin' nowhere fast! It’s so much better goin’ nowhere fast.”
Allyson marveled as she worked on the main engineering controls, trying to direct the damage control teams that R’aart and Lindr led to the worst problems, and manage routing power through undamaged circuits to where it needed to go. She had to admit that the music fit the juddering speed in a way, but it was almost like these older men had simply come alive during this crisis, almost sustained by the continual playlist. It was probably the just the cold-sleep drugs wearing off, she told herself, but still…
-=-=-=-=-=-
On the bridge, William was using his console to try and help out the Captain, whose console with the Efficiency Interface was nearly useless in this situation. In the military code, there remained the ability to adjust how much power went to which engine within a few percentages of the synchronized setting. William had four different windows with their own sliders and readouts, one for each engine, and as Tony made a mechanical adjustment or some engine gave more or less thrust than the others, he tried to control it. The shuddering of the entire ship didn’t make this an easy job.
The music still came from his console as he worked, the singer’s voice continuing, ”Stalkin' in the shadows by the light of the moon; it's like a prison and the night is a cell. Goin' anywhere has gotta be heaven tonight, 'cause stayin' here has gotta be hell.”
William knew that all it would take was for one engine to get too far out of sync and they could rip the ship apart. The Space Venture crew all knew about that. They’d learned it the hard way. The first set of Troubleshooters bound for Mars, the ones to back up the team of Explorers who had been there for two months, and help them put together the parts for the permanent outpost that had landed a week before the ten Troubleshooters left LEO on the Space Venture.
”Dyin' in the city like a fire on the water. Let's go runnin' on the back of the wind. There's gotta' be some action on the face of the earth, and I've gotta see your face once again.”
The engines had flared that trip, and the smart controls didn’t have the capacity to stabilize them. One of the three engines had ripped off, tearing part of the cargo area open, and sending four of the first-generation cold-sleep capsules adrift. The other six capsules, along with the most of the tools, stayed in the hold while the two remaining engines flared them off into The Dark.
None of Earth’s space agencies of 2026 had ships capable of catching up to them, let alone rescuing them, so they had been written off as heroic figures and relegated to the list that included Soyuz 1, Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia. Besides, those people in their fifties chosen for the one-way trip for being the practical engineers with that creative mindset knew that they were expendable. They were never meant to come back to Earth anyway.
”And I don' know where I ever got the bright idea that I was cool; so alone and independent. But I'm depending on you now.”
That trip that should have taken two weeks had turned into almost two hundred years. They were rescued by an asteroid mining facility, but with the limited medical facilities there, only five of the rescued Troubleshooters woke back up. Robert Federman never came out of cold-sleep, his brain functions at such a low level that only medical support was able to keep the body alive.
Without ready transport, they stayed on that mining facility for more than a standard year, chipping in to pay for their keep, even as it stretched the supplies of the small facility’s crew. While the survivors weren’t up on all the technological changes of the past centuries, they learned fast, and before too long, had made improvements to the facility, making life easier and more comfortable there, solidifying their reputation as Troubleshooters.
After that, there were more long, slow trips on cargo ships, again and again in cold-sleep. William wondered if the others felt that sense of dread getting back into the capsules each time. Mark Haynes sure did. He broke down and huddled into a little rocking ball, and refused to leave that space station a couple of trips back. The little furry medics had helped him away, and some Skynet was going to try and help coax him back to reality. Supposedly there would be updates.
But for the last four of the Troubleshooters, they couldn’t stop. Finally they were going to get their chance. This last voyage was supposed to take them to help set up a new colony; not a human colony, but every colony was going to have problems to solve, and that’s why they had all volunteered so long ago. There would be something solid, with real gravity to live on.
A real alien world. But they needed to survive to get there. The ship just needed to hold together. Allyson had said it was overbuilt, but still…
”And you'll always be the only thing that I just can't be without. And I'm out for you tonight. I'm comin' out for you tonight.”
“Sir! I read our acceleration slowing!” The Captain chittered. The carapace plates of the insectoid were all very pale green, and all of its extremities seemed to be trembling.
William nodded slowly and adjusted one of the sliders before he keyed the mic and leaned down toward the pickup. “Looks like the nitrous is about done, guys. Hang on for just a little longer.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
After confirming that they were no longer being chased, the CCV K’gara B’rak slowed as the engines cut out so that they could be returned to normal operating specs. Communications had been established to a nearby Coalition vessel that was on its way to provide aid. Allyson, R'aart, and Lindr were in their exosuits, working to rebuild the structure where the plasma had eaten through the ship's outer skin.
William and Pete were playing gofer and being a second set of hands for Tony and AJ as they worked to try and get the reactors and engines safe enough to make it to a real repair facility.
The Captain walked into the Engineering Bay and it paused as its head swiveled back and forth at the disarray. “How? How did this area get to such a state?”
William chuckled and looked over from where he passed AJ new relays to replace the stressed ones in a fusion reactor. “Captain? I assume that you’ve heard the rumors about the way we humans deal with engineering problems, yes?”
The Captain walked over, his four lower extremities carefully picking a clear path through the parts, tools, and coils of wire. “Well, yes, but… Those are just stories. No-one would really take those risks…”
William chuckled, “Yeah, well, now you know first hand that they aren’t just stories…”
From inside the access panel of the nearby reactor, AJ’s voice echoed, “Word. We can really make a mess when we get going…”
The Captain nodded slowly, “I can certainly attest to that. But I do want to pass on my thanks, on behalf of my crew. I must say that I have never seen such work, and I never really expected to escape from the Jaxorians.”
William nodded. “Sure. Glad we could help. We’re Troubleshooters, after all.”

I have been reading the struggles with "Whatever you think" and this made a big mess today! I have sort of been looking for places to see where I could use this and how and today I found one by messing up.
My husband mows the yard pretty often and we have had these crazy rains and he needs to take care of it this weekend. I don't even remember him asking my opinion (he prob did not, but he did ask something about the mowing). Somehow we differ on the height of the mower and the length of the grass (seriously , so dumb). We got a little heated over this because it has been something we have never agreed on. Now as I am telling you gals about it I see how dumb it is to care about this! When he discussed mowing the yard, I should have said "whatever you think." This is 100% a job he does and never really lets anyone else do it because he likes to do it (because you ride a machine and listen to music, I do not see this as work, which is problem as well, I see it as a job in the yard my 6th grader can handle).
I totally understand that men do not want to discuss the minutia and I left the room after he said he was not going to discuss this with me. I was upset because I was sort of cut off and boom end of discussion.
I went to our room and just chilled for a bit and he came in later looking confused. This was the second time I did not feel he heard me when he asked me a direct question.
Today I cannot remember if he asked about mowing or was just making conversation, but earlier this week he did ask me a question and then completely ignored my answer. We have a broken ceiling fan that he is replacing and he asked what I would want it that room and I said canned lighting (to match a room we have already redone, right by that room, we have an old house have slowly redone it over the years). He was like 'no thats way more work than replacing a fan. True. but he knows we don't need a fan in that room and we do need light. So that prob won't get done for some amount of time...
So this decision is something we have discussed many times, and yet he asks? When we have discussed at length that the room needs light. We only have lamps in there because old house.
So I guess these are times I just say "whatever you think". I can see that is going to be a challenge.
The back story that he will never connect is years of resentment have built up inside of me over 'yard work'. He owns a landscaping company! They do more like new backyard install stuff, but he has never planted, mulched or done any yard work except mow on our property since we moved out (we have about an acre). The only other jobs he will do are the emergencies (a limb/tree falls and we have to get that done asap!, but every other yard decision I have made and done 100% alone). My kids will help some, but we are in the stage where kids are driving and working and gone quite a bit. He helped me buy some plants one time when I was getting the yard prepped about 2 years ago. He gets mad if I water too much and complains about that, but all the work that is done requires water to keep alive. I think (for me) partly the yard is a way for us to do something together as a family and if you eat here you shoudl have a job in the yard but he has no interest, just an interest in paying customers yards. I have to be fine with this and plant cactus?
Sorry for all the words. Thankfully we were able to apologize and repair before he went to work.
The last underlying thing is I have had zero self care this week!! We have going non stop for a month and also have had a really hard relationship month and we both ended up having a horrible cold this week and today is the first day we have felt much better. We also had no kids this week at home, all three were at camps and we were sick! We manged to go out Monday but the rest of the week was blah!!
Just being real with all of yall. These things start out silly, but they have a lot of emotions and hopes and dreams tied to them somehow.

So, here comes the issue... We broke on June of last year. So it's been a year. You will say. What's the big deal about asking for my things? Well... throughout the 10y we have known each other, I was always after him. I approached him & was after him for a year. I got tired, & "moved on". A year later he was the one who asked me out (finally). Well, this set up a dynamic in the relationship. All of our friends on both sides knew the story of "I was the one with the big crush on him and went after him until he was ready to be with me."
Well, for those 7 years... 3 years were hell for me where I was too in love to let go. He moved back into his hometown w/o thinking about the repercussions that would have in our relationship (this was 2020 right before the pandemic) but I thought we could work it out and eventually I would move there, too. he agreed. Pandemic hit, everyone's economic life went down & well you know, finding jobs became hard... From there on, I was the one always going to see him, never missing an event of his, doing everything to support him & make it work. In 2023 an opportunity appared for me to permanently move to his hometown... I called to give him the news & his answer was "that's the worst thing you could've said to me." & he broke up with me 2 days later. He used the usual discourse of how "he had to work on himself bc he wasn't on a good spot & the relationship wasn't in a good place either." I snapped at him. The relationship was good but he decided to pull all efforts from it. I just vented about everything I swallowed for the sake of not "bothering him." He let me go off without interrupting, and eventually, I calmed down & we ended things in good terms. He said sorry for being a shitty boyfriend but he couldn't do it anymore and I said that was fair. If you no longer feel it, you no longer it an that's that...
Now... 4 months later I wrote to him because I didn't like how I went off on him and just wanted to let him know we were cool & all. He answered back a couple hours later letting me know he was very happy to read my text and that it was mutual. It ended there.
You will say... well... what's the problem then? Well, he has a girlfriend now & I'm single. Given my history of being too in love with him & me basically "Adoring him above all else" I don't want to make it seem like it's me seeing he had a new girl and trying to get back with him. I don't want him back. Just like I said above, the guy drained me emotionally for years & I never want to be back into something like that again. But the problem is that he lives in another state & since the breakup for me was out of nowhere... (he broke up with me through a videocall) I left all of my Nintendo DS games at his place because I had lended them to him ): I'm a huge videogame fan & he has around 15 of my games.
I want them back. A lot of my friends have told me to wait till I have a boyfriend again so there's no misunderstanding. But the thing is that I'm in no rush getting a boyfriend. I mean, who knows? maybe tomorrow I will meet someone, but I'm not actively looking for one so who knows how long will that take.
Should I wait or would it be fair for me to ask for them? I was thinking texting his sister and telling her to get them for me and send them in a package (i would pay for everything) but I don't want him to think I'm avoiding him but I want to respect his new girlfriend. You don't need to be a genius to know it's awkward if an ex texts your boyfriend.
What should I do? Should I wait to be a new relationship?

Long story short Old associate trying to get job back but ended up getting temp for remodel. I had a problem with one of the other temps, straight up just mean for no reason and decided to pick on me. it's started with her calling me names in front of other people like “pussy” or when I cut myself on a staple from opening the boxes for the new tables she said " grown ass man crying about a lil cut" like bruh it was gushing blood and all I asked was where the first aid was. I told the boss I said I didn't want any problem's and I didn't want it to get worse.. well.. then it turned into threat's and under the breath comments side eyes and shit... this is where I kind just said f-it and messaged HR because the shit continued. listen.. ok I messaged my hr multiple times before but alas no answers so I made the header "THE BULLYING IS FUCKING INSANE" so she would actually read the damn thing, it did the trick lol..
on to the whole teams attitude towards me
they treated me like I didn’t do anything. we have a plastic only compactor and they kept putting styrofoam in it guess who cleaned that mess up .. they never broke boxes down just left them in front of the compactor like fr? They made me do it.. I would come back to start working with them and there like were have you been!? They act Like I’ve been in the bathroom the whole time.. it was toxic and sorry if this is everywhere I’m quite dumbfounded by the situation tbh, like dude I just wanted to be part of something and get my old job back ffs

I was a damaged person. But I was on the mend.
I had a pretty traumatic break up with my childhood best friend, turned girlfriend. I had known her since we were 8 years old. We had been boyfriend and girlfriend since we were 13 and had been so for 9 years until my junior year of college when she cheated on me in a very cruel way. It came to light that she had cheated on me many times before as well.
I loved her so god damn much! I thought we were one of those stories where two souls were knitted together from eternity to eternity, or some hallmark card bullshit like that.
I was emotionally shattered and it took me a while until one day about 2 years later, I woke up and thought about her, but then realized that I hadn't thought about her at all the previous day. It was glorious and I knew then that I was on the mend. After that, my healing process sort of exponentially snowballed and I was back in the saddle as far as relationships went. I started going on dates and meeting up with women.
I was a software engineer working for a large corporation. Because I was good at my job, and because I didn't have a family, I was given the opportunity to move to Singapore and lead a project there for what would be a couple of years but turned out to be 7 years.
The great thing about Singapore is that they speak the "King's English" when they're not speaking "Singlish" (a patois of mostly English with funky grammar, but with Malay, Chinese, and Hindi thrown in). So I didn't have to learn a whole new language to fit in. I just had to learn how to translate Singlish to English, which wasn't too hard after a couple of months of trying. I even learned the lingo and it would amuse my coworkers a whole lot when I spoke Singlish. They thought it was hilarious.
I was a good looking guy (still am!!) but I really let myself go in my depression. I was a tall, muscular 210 pounds when I broke up with my ex, but I had ballooned up to over 300 pounds. I started a workout regimen and lost it all but the workout regimen became sort of an obsession. It was the one thing that grounded me. After I went to Singapore, one of my business perks was a gym membership at "Fitness First", a local gym franchise. I was down to my previous weight, but I had to practically camp out at the gym because the best thing about Singapore is the FOOD. The food is incredible! However, you WILL pack on the weight if you don't get your ass to the gym.
The meet cute
I was working out one day much later than normal due to some overtime on my project and I saw a girl on a treadmill. The treadmill was the one I usually use because it was in the back and kind of out of the way. The girl was stunning! The thing that stuck out to me was that she was had her hair in a pony tail through a ball cap, which is a look I find very attractive. I was a little nervous because, even though I was fairly confident about the way I look, I was definitely batting out of my league with this girl.
I went to her and chatted her up after she got off of the treadmill. She didn't look me in the eye and didn't really engage. I figured that I had acted like what is now known as a "gym creep" and I figured it was a "swing and a miss!" I apologized and said I wouldn't bother her anymore. I stuck out my hand and said "I'm OP, by the way. What's your name?"
She hesitated and looked at me for a bit and said "Lilly" (not her real name).
I remember this exactly because she later said that it was what intrigued her about me. At the time, she was an actress/model who had done some print/public billboard type ads, product demo booths at expos, and even a bit part in a local tv (Mediacorp) series. She had started to attract public attention because of these (mainly the TV show and the ads that were hanging all around town at that time) not just from men but from women too and it was super uncomfortable for her.
The fact that I had no idea who she was relaxed her and made her think that I was attracted to her for her and not because her face was everywhere at the time. After she told me about it, I did notice her face everywhere. But photoshop was a thing even back then, so I didn't recognize her from her ads and I really don't look at ads, tuning them out. I also didn't watch her TV show because it was in Mandarin Chinese and I don't speak or understand any Chinese, and I wasn't in a position where I was required to attend or arrange trade shows.
In the years prior to meeting me, Lilly had undergone a lot of plastic surgery (breast, eyelid, facial contouring, nose job, lipo, etc). She said it got to where she didn't recognize herself in the mirror and it disturbed and depressed her. She hadn't particularly wanted the surgery but she got the procedures done at the behest of her family who wanted her to bring in more money and the people in charge of her career development (don't know the term). It was all very expensive and she felt like she owed her family and the talent people who managed her.
Later, I found out that she hated the public recognition. Not just from men, but mostly from women who were really catty about her plastic surgery. The people in charge of her were pushing her to start singing but she didn't have a good voice and would need a bunch of training for that. She was depressed due to not recognizing herself in the mirror any more and didn't want to follow the career track that she had been on. They were pushing her to do more figure/body modeling which was why she was in the gym. She was SUPER uncomfortable with that and constantly hungry and pissed off.
She was afraid that she would do some more modeling and then get married off by her parents to some rich mainland Chinese man that she would be ambivalent about (she preferred Caucasian men) and she'd be forced to be a traditional pampered Chinese wife living in Beijing.(Doesn't sound that bad to me. Some of those Chinese businessmen live crazy luxurious lifestyles.
Since I was working a lot of overtime, I kept going to the gym later at night and we saw each other and I would wave and smile and she would smile and wave back. OK I was kinda hoping to meet her regularly. I spotted her on a couple of exercises and we began to chat with each other a bit. A couple of times I had to steady her because she was fainting from being hungry and working out at the same time. I used that as an excuse to take her out to a hawker center, which like a mall food court but with delicious local food (not chain restaurants). We chatted and got along really well. It became a regular thing until I confessed I had a crush on her. We started dating after that until it got to a point where she practically moved into my place.
She, of course, had her share of guys interested in her. She was on livejournal at the time (remember livejournal??) and she was doing that and posting pictures of herself for her career mostly, but I'm sure she did enjoy the attention. She had one guy from Belgium who was really after her. He actually bought her 800 thread count sheets, which is an oddly practical but vaguely inappropriate gift. He actually visited Singapore on business (he was a tech sales guy) and wanted to meet up with her in a public place, a hawker center. I still had trust issues from my previous "love of my life" betraying me. To this day, I cringe at my behavior at the time, but I laid down a clear boundary. She could absolutely go see and hang out with this guy if she wanted to, but if she did, she'd be doing it as a single available girl and we would be through. She said she saw my face "turn to stone" and it was clear that she would lose me if she went to meet up with that guy. That honestly gave her pause about our relationship and she really considered ending it at the time. I didn't know that until much later, though. Certainly, I'm glad that she didn't. She didn't go meet up with the guy. To this day, we call the incident "The Belgian Waffle". OK so I call it that, she thinks it's stupid.
Meeting her family
Eventually, Lilly asked if I could have dinner with her parents, saying that they wanted to meet me. I bought some gifts, basically Japanese cookies in really nice packaging, and then we met. I did the traditional thing and formally introduced myself and asked them about their family and history.
At the time, Lilly got some criticism from her extended family because I am a white guy. There was a certain stigma attached to local girls who liked white guys. They called those girls "SPGs" which stands for "Sarong Party Girls", a derogatory name for the prostitutes who would entertain British expats at after hours parties "back in the day".
Over the next few months, I won over her family mainly by eating their food and being accepting of their culture. I grew up in Texas, so pickled jalapenos were common in my house...like salt and pepper, we put them on everything. Later on, I was the kind of guy who put tabasco or sriracha on everything. So eating their spicy food was no problem for me. I remember us both going shopping at an open air market and seeing an older woman cutting up cili padi. I asked if I could try some. She looked at my pale face and then at Lilly and she said I could. I bit into one and chewed it up as the woman looked at me with an amused look on her face. She was waiting for me to jump up and down with fire shooting out of my mouth, I guess. I disappointed her, but she and Lilly were impressed. She later told her mother and she was impressed too. She wanted me to eat one for her as well. Oh well, trained monkey time I guess.
The real test came when I tried Durian for the first time. This is the same food that "defeated" Andrew Zimmern, the "Bizarre Foods" guy. I actually liked it. I had a D24 durian, which admittedly is like the "beginner version" of durians. There are like 16 different types. When you get past the smell and actually taste it, it doesn't smell that bad any more. It's very sweet and creamy. It's like the taste overwrites your disgust of the smell. I think that's what really impressed them to an extreme degree. They started calling me an "egg", because I was "white on the outside but yellow on the inside."
I would visit her grandmother with her. In true Chinese fashion, Lilly and her brother Johnny were raised by their paternal grandparents while their parents worked full time jobs, so her grandmother was like her mom. She was in an elder care facility at this point, though. She didn't like living there, but it was all they could afford. We would visit her every week and she'd be very happy. She didn't speak any English at all so she and Lilly would just chat speaking Hokkien Chinese while her grandmother would pet my hairy forearms like I was a dog. She was absolutely smitten with my hairy forearms.
Meeting my family
After a little over a year, I took her back to Texas to meet my family. It was quite the culture shock. Lilly was amazed by red barns and hay bales, black and white Holstein cows, things she saw in movies about the USA. She particularly was impressed by the cluster mailboxes lined up on country roads ("So cute, leh!") We actually had to stop the car and take pictures of her standing next to them, smiling goofily for the photo. I made sure to take her to the Texas hill country during spring, when the hills are covered with soft green grass and festooned with bluebonnets, sunflowers, indian paintbrushes, black eyed susans, daisies, etc. I had to practically hold her down to keep her from picking them. It's not illegal or anything, it's just frowned upon and tradition to leave them alone. OK, I let her pick some. Give me a break, I was in love with the girl.
Driving was also something that kind of boggled her mind. Texas is huge, and traveling from my parents' place to visit my brothers and their families was a seemingly endless trek. Driving from Houston to Austin, to Corpus Christi was crazy long, even with the stops to visit my relatives.
Lilly was practically agoraphobic at the big sky in Texas. She was used to being in a forest of tall concrete and steel buildings, with only strips of blue sky available at the top. In Texas that sky went from horizon to horizon. She was also amazed at the uncountable numbers of stars at night away from the city lights. She later told me it was like visiting Narnia or something.
In Texas, she got her share of looks from guys, especially in the bigger cities. I wasn't jealous. I've never been a jealous guy, although my experience with my ex "love of my life" really put my radar up, I still was proud that other guys were attracted to her. My attitude was "go ahead and eat your hearts out, she's with me!"
When she met my oldest brother, it was like a cultural thing with her, so she was very deferential and respectful. I knew that my oldest brother was attracted to her because he was stumbling and stuttering when he was speaking to her, looking at her but kind of avoiding looking at her. I wasn't too concerned because he was a married guy with 2 sons and not a scumbag, but it was still pretty amusing to see "Mr. Smooth-don't-let-em-know-you-want-em-kid" at a loss for words.
My parents met Lilly finally (she was super nervous but she did really well) and later my mom brought me aside and asked me if she should re-set her mother's diamond engagement ring. I thought about it a bit, and then told her "yes". My mom's eyes started sparkling with images of unborn grandchildren and she smiled bigger than I had ever seen her smile (kind of unsettling actually). My dad later brought me aside and basically told me I couldn't do any better and I would be a "god damn fool" if I let her get away from me. I agreed. My dad then told me something that remains with me to this day: "She will make your life sparkle, son." (she has).
Before our time in the US was up my mom gave me the ring and I asked Lilly to be my wife in a field of wildflowers, which had become her favorite place to be in Texas. She said yes. Looking back, that was one of the happiest days of my life. It was up there with losing my virginity to "the love of my life" (who turned out to be a duplicitous crazy person but at the time it was really special), my wedding day to Lilly, and the births of our children.
The Engagement
When we got back to Singapore we had to pretend we weren't engaged because I had to ask her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage. I spoke with them and explained how my prospects in my career were good. I told them that I loved their daughter and that my family also loved their daughter. We had to schedule a phone call between my parents and her parents.
I had clued my parents in as far as the traditions go. In Chinese culture, the groom pays for the wedding rather than the bride. The groom also has to give the bride's parents certain auspicious gifts. My parents luckily had done a tour of China a few years before and knew all of this beforehand, having befriended their local tour guide who was saving up money for his own wedding at the time. On the call, they agreed upon a pinjin, which is basically "betrothal money". We started to plan the Guo Da Li ceremony which would take place in 3 months time, and 3 months before the wedding.
Unfortunately life threw us a curve ball and Lilly's grandmother died. It was bittersweet because, while Lilly missed her, her grandmother had become very old and infirm to the point where her quality of life was pretty low. All wedding stuff was put on hiatus until the funeral was over plus 100 days for mourning.
After that, we were able to do the Guo Da Li ceremony. I gave my future in laws a red packet of money plus special cakes and 12 mandarin oranges and gold jewelry. It all went very well.
Wedding planning started in earnest. I got some money from my dad (who insisted) but the lion's share was out of my pocket. During this process I was able to meet some incredible people. The stand outs were Richard and Jimmy. Rich and Jimmy were tailors and dressmakers. They were a couple and they gave my fiancée a really good deal on a wedding dress and cocktail dress if she agreed to do some print modeling for their business. They also made me a tuxedo and a suit. I offered to model for them as well and we all had a good laugh at that prospect (OK they were doing most of the laughing - ego still hurts from that one, guys).
The venue we were using was Chijmes. It's the same one used in the move "Crazy Rich Asians". It was back when they had first started offering it up as a venue so it wasn't crazy expensive at the time. Plus, it was a smaller venue for weddings. Usually weddings are held in large hotel ballrooms and are huge affairs (this is what I was told). The families both invite everyone they've ever met to come: Neighbors, business contacts, everyone. They all bring red packets filled with cash. We opted for the "small" wedding.
The Bachelor Party
We had planned bachelobachelorette parties on the same night (separate venues). Lilly's MOH threw hers while Rich and Jimmy threw mine. My best man was my dad (because he's the best man that I know) and so cigars and brandy would have been disappointing to my work friends and my future brother in law and cousins. I don't think anyone was prepared for what happened.
We had the party at the sushi restaurant of a friend of Rich and Jimmy's. It was after hours. We had some incredible sashimi and rolls. I even tried fish sperm. Didn't like it. I asked Jimmy are you sure it's FISH, sperm?? He said of course he'd never do that to me. To be fair, it did taste and smell very fishy. I don't know how human sperm tastes like (or maybe I do now, I don't know).
After the sushi was done, it was time for the entertainment, and oh boy. Rich and Jimmy hired a trans entertainer who sang show tunes. The thing is, she had an incredible voice. She was obviously biologically male, but she really carried herself with a lot more femininity than I've seen from biological women. She sang and told jokes and roasted me pretty thoroughly. My dad was there and he thought it was funny as hell. My friends from work, especially the Aussies and Brits, thought it was great, my future BIL and most of my future cousins did too. Other cousins politely excused themselves and left. I think the free flowing booze and beer kept most people there, though.
After her thoroughly entertaining performance, it was time for the dancers. This is kind of where it went off the rails. Rich and Jimmy hired exotic dancers...but they were all male or trans. Now, to be fair, it wasn't like they didn't tell me about it beforehand. They did. Personally, I thought it would be hilarious to announce that the strippers were here and then have male dancers come out. I have a twisted sense of humor, I suppose. I certainly wasn't going to cheat on the most beautiful woman in the world mere weeks before our wedding, so prostitutes and female dancers were completely out of the question for me. They jokingly suggested male dancers it and we laughed. I thought about it a bit and I guess I'm "take-the-joke-too-far" guy so I encouraged it. Lilly knew about it and thought it was funny as well and wanted me to video tape it while it happened. ("Yeah right you just want to ogle the dancers" "Of course, lah!")
What I wasn't prepared for was the PLATOON of banana hammocks that marched out into the restaurant. Smooth greased up Asian chests everywhere! My dad was of course shocked at first and then looked at me and we started laughing and the ridiculousness of it. My dad stood up and clapped his hand on my shoulder and put a mock serious look on his face. The people immediately around me witnessed my dad telling me that he loved me and accepted my life style choice and that nothing I could say or do would ever change the fact that he and mom loved me and accepted me. Thanks, dad. I was laughing during the whole thing and my future BIL and work buddies who were around me were laughing as well. My dad excused himself and said he had to go find my mom and tell her the "bad news about her future grandchildren" and left ("Can adopt, lah! Can surrogate, meh!" Thanks for the support, guys). My future BIL laughed and said that since all of the available male dancers were at my party, there were none available to attend his sister's party, so she was "safe".
Among the highlights of the evening is that I discovered that a few of my co-workers and future cousins were in fact gay. I was told to stay out of the ladies' room no matter what. I wasn't planning on going in but thanks for the warning. I was proud that we all only vomited in the trash cans and not on the floor (what a waste of some damn good sushi....and fish sperm). Rich and Jimmy stayed next to each other all night. I even saw them holding hands and looking at each other lovingly. To my shame, I was under the common misconception that all gay men were very promiscuous and I kind of expected them to pair off with the dancers. What I saw that night was a very loving monogamous relationship.
The Wedding Day
The day of the wedding came a few days later and I had the good fortune of being the first one in my family to experience the fun and interesting experience of a groom going through a Chinese-style wedding. I say "Chinese-style" because while we did do a lot of the traditions from a Chinese wedding, we did say vows to God before a Christian minister. This was something she insisted on as her family had converted from Taoism to Christianity (but still kept the Taoist traditions and festivals).
First up was the gatecrash. I went over to the her family's apartment and the MOH and bridesmaids stood at the door refusing to let me in unless I gave them $9999.00. Nine is a significant symbol to them. It means "longevity" I think. So the whole idea is for me to haggle the price down by doing challenges and games. I had to do a handstand and walk with my hands. I had to answer trivia questions ("What is her nickname for you?" "Cranky old man" "What is your nickname for her?" "Baby"). BIL and I had to do "the worm". I haggled them down to $99 which I paid to them in a red packet. My BIL and wife chided me for not going lower but my dad was there and was in his 70s and couldn't do any feats of strength.
After I "secured" my bride, we did the traditional tea ceremony with her parents and my parents. Lilly was dressed in a traditional red silk qipao, tailor made by Rich and Jimmy. I gotta tell you people, the qipao really does it for me! Not gonna lie, it was like cupid gut punched me when I saw her dressed in it . My parents were pretty stoic throughout but my mom sympathy cried with Lilly's parents when she tearfully did the tea ceremony with her mother and father. We received red packets from each set of parents. I was told the red packet her parents gave us had most of the bride price we paid in it. Her mom gave her her grandmother's jeweled antique watch and my mom gave her a sapphire ring (sapphire is my birth stone). As we left her home to go to Chijmes, I told her "we're keeping that dress, understand me??" She laughed.
We got to Chijmes, did the photos and she walked down the aisle in a beautiful white dress with a small train behind it with sequins on it. My dad gave me the ring. He was my best man. He was my best man because he's the best man I know. After the wedding, she changed into a champagne colored strapless cocktail dress another Rich and Jimmy original. THREE wardrobe changes, people! THREE! All with different hair and make up and she did it super quick. I don't know what wizardry was invoked but we may be indebted to the hoary netherworld.
We honeymooned at the Fullerton Hotel. The old British colonial Post Office was converted to a luxury hotel in 2001. We stayed there for 3 days ordering overpriced room service ("Go to hawker center, lah! Much cheaper better food, meh!).
Emigration and Immigration
So a little bit before this time, a little event happened in New York. You might have heard about it. Anyway because some sexually repressed incels decided to murder thousands of people, USA's immigration was all jacked up. The INS went bye-bye. Then we had the BCIS for a brief moment, followed by the USCIS. I saw that my project was ending and my company helped me with her immigration. It was a pain, though. It seems like we had new forms to fill out every week while the old ones became obsolete. That's how I remember it, anyway. It was a pretty frustrating time and I almost had to leave her behind (it wouldn't have been permanent but it would be a long time). Luckily we were able to make it time.
For explanation purposes, we didn't get LEGALLY married in Singapore. We had the religious ceremony but no "government contracts" were involved. This is because, at that time at least, it was easier to bring over a fiancée than a wife, for some reason. So Lilly was a "90 Day Fiancée"!! We got married at the county courthouse when we finally were able to go to my new project. We didn't wait 90 days. We did in three (jet lag).
Unfortunately for her, we moved from Singapore, a 24 hour international class city, to a sleepy seaside town in the USA near a military base. Lots of fun was had with that. A total fish out of water story for another time (What is this "coin laundry"? Do you Americans have a place to wash your coins?).
My BIL got married to a beautiful girl and moved to Australia and opened a Bait and Tackle store in Surfer's Paradise on the east coast of Australia. He has 2 daughters. In 2012 he was caught cheating on his wife and lost everything. She moved back to Singapore with his kids, and he kind of struggled for a while. He got another bait and tackle store eventually and tries to see his daughters whenever he can. They don't have a good relationship.
Rich and Jimmy celebrated the decriminalization of homosexuality in Singapore in 2022, but they still can't get married. We still talk from time to time. Writing this, I find myself missing them. I had some really fun times because of them. I've never had better conversations in Singapore than with them while at Lilly's dress fittings (and my suit fittings).
We have been married for 21 years. She has never given up being a Singaporean citizen. She keeps her passport current. She's a "permanent resident" here in the USA. We have three kids, two boys and a girl. We are still married. She still wears her hair in a pony tail with a ball cap when she works out. She still wears that qipao on special occasions, which I try to achieve as often as possible. She's still my Baby and I'm still her Cranky Old Man.
Thanks for reading.

I make $150K right now as a Senior Finance Manager.
I was supposed to lose my job while everyone else stayed at the company. I was not liked and politics got in the way.
But business needs took a priority, I was promoted, and asked to stay. My enemies have been nicer to me. Have a lot of friends here that I like to work with. I like the work, my processes are set up, and I just like the job.
But, the company is doing its 5th layoff in my 3rd year with the company. 30% of the company is getting cut.
I got a job offer for $125K as a Finance Manager. Company is more stable & safer. But it's a lot of work and I like my current company & people I work with more.
My current company isn't going out of business. Even I lost a job, I can get a new one pretty fast.
What should I do?
I want to stay as the Senior Finance Manager.

So at my job we use metal handles. We cut and bend the metal and then send them into the city to get painted. The place we had been using went out of business and we found another one close by.
The first box of handles came back and we’re supposed to be painted red. They were painted half assed on one side and had dried paint droplets all over them. The paint was uneven and it was just a shit job.
I let it go as it could just be honestly a mistake. The next shipment came in and it was the same if not worse. In my anger since I’m the one that has to file down the droplets and try and fix the mistakes as well as sorting and repacking then I was pissed at this place. So I went to my boss and told him I was going to call the paint shop about the handle issue. He said fine, so I grab our shop phone and call the place. A woman answered and I asked to speak with the owner. It’s a small business so the owner answered in a few minutes.
I proceeded to tell him about the paint job on the handles. I asked “do you have a seeing impaired person painting these handles. We are paying $3 dollars a handle and I’m getting back shit!” Before he could speak I continued by saying it was like this in the first shipment and out of 150 handles I could use only 34. The rest I had to repack and store away. He said his son was the one painting them. I responded with “well your son either needs glasses or needs to find a new job that he can actually do cause painting handles is pretty damned simple”. He didn’t take to kindly to me saying that and offered to paint the handles again himself. I told him we aren’t interested in doing business with them anymore and I’d like a refund for the first and second shipments. He was reluctant at first but I told him people would be hearing about how they do business and he caved.
After I hung up I went to grab my truck keys to go and pick up the handles we had dropped off earlier that week. My boss asked how the call went and I told him. He understood my frustration and anger but that I shouldn’t have done that as we have to find a new paint shop. I told my boss I’d deal with it and get it taken care of.
I eventually later that day found a paint shop and dropped the handles off.
I get back to the shop and my boss greets me at the shop door with “what the fuck did you say to that man?!” He had apparently called my work and spoke with my boss and told him how I yelled and swore at him and that I needed to be fired.
My boss didn’t fire me but I did tell him all that I said. He said next time just shut the fuck up. I said “yes sir” and then told him that I found a new painter and that they will have our handles ready by Friday of that week.
Everything went back to normal but I do feel like an asshole in a way. So AITA?

Hi All
I'm relatively new to this forum but wanted to give an update on my story.
Female 43, in a good job but struggled a lot more nternally. Managed to just get by but when I had my two kids, my symptoms were just amplified and become unmanageable over the last few years.
Spoke to GP two years ago who suggested ADHD and between then and now I tried to make appointments a couple times . Firstly tried ADHD doc but that was when they were just starting so never answered calls or mails. Then tried Dr Maria Rubeo and I thought she was all over the place, seemed a bit like a fraud also. No contact until 6am of appointment (that was 8am) and just was looking for payment. I cancelled that as it didn't feel right. Glad I did.
Tried ADHD doc in Jan this year and got my first appointment two weeks ago. Did qb test, bloods, ecg etc... I did say in another post that they 'forgot' me when I arrived but I was happy this was all covered in one shop. This was 300e
Two days ago I went on for my GP assessment (it's a GP led clinic and has access to psychiatrist on site). Met with Dr Eimer for a near two hour apt. She was lovely, easy to talk to. I had notes but she led the conversation and I covered everything. At the end she went through my do it profiler and my QB test. Honestly I think the QB results were very clear. 99% percentile. So I think she knew before I even spoke that I was ADHD, mainly inattentive but also combined hyper (internal). She confirmed my diagnosis at end of appointment and was happy to prescribe Concerta.will start next week when I pick it up.
I have a GP review in 1 month to see how meds are going , will be 150, but after that will be 75.
Overall very happy with process. They were very thorough and that put me at ease. While I was certain I have ADHD there is always a doubt isn't there. I think I was a simple case to be honest (no other issues re mental health or other potential diagnosed like autism etc...) so I didn't need to see a psychiatrist (think that is 350)
Just wanted to share as I know some are going through the process and considering ways to get diagnosed. I liked the fact they cover it all in one place and you don't have to get bloods etc elsewhere. Also very upfront re pricing. Also I have high blood pressure (medicated) and no issues getting meds as it is under control
Happy to answer any questions

The fishing vessel moved slowly down the Yukon river. The captain and only person on the ship sat at a table in the cramped galley with a bottle of brandy in one hand and a glass in the other. He hadn’t shaved in a week or two. He couldn’t remember how long it was. He didn’t even really know how long he was on the ship and it didn’t really matter anyway. He had no where to go. The ship was his home. He hadn’t bathed either but once again what did it matter? He was the only one on the ship. He had been down the river several times but this trip he had gone farther than he ever had. This was a one way trip. He just went wherever the river took him.
It was winter time and it was going to be dark soon. The captain looked out the galley window. The shoreline was thick with trees, snow and ice. He saw something within the trees. Some kind of animal, but he couldn’t really make out what it was. The animal stood up. It was tall. A bear, maybe. The captain turned, poured a glass of brandy and took a swig. He looked back. The ship was passing through a dense patch of fog. He couldn’t see the shore anymore. Perhaps the boat would hit a rock while in the fog. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything anymore.
He could hear a baby crying. He looked around the galley. There were obviously no babies on the ship but the crying grew louder. It was unbearable. It was as if the baby was right next to him. He turned back to the window. The fog cleared and he found himself passing through a riverfront town. He had never seen this town before. A street ran along the river bank and houses lined the street, all facing the water. He was passing a house where a woman was helping another woman get out of a car. The woman in the car was crying and she was holding a baby. The baby was crying too. The captain could not make out their faces but he could hear them talk clear as day. “That bastard!” The woman holding the baby cried as she stepped out of the car. “He couldn’t even be bothered to be here on the birth of his child.” “I know how you feel.” The other woman replied. “But he’s doin what he feels is right to help provide for his new family.” The boat moved on.
A few houses later he could see a party going on in the front yard. “Happy birthday!” A group of people shouted, all huddled around a picnic table. A child sat at the table with a cake in front of him or her. The child blew out the candles. “Who wants vanilla ice cream?” Someone asked. The captain smacked his lips. He hadn’t had ice cream in who knows how long and he could practically smell the freshly baked cake. His diet now consisted of mostly booze and canned meat. At the far end of the picnic table someone sat crying. The boat moved on. A man came storming out of the front door of the next house he sailed past. A woman came out behind him. “I’m not selling the boat!” The man turned and shouted at her. “This is my job, my life, my.. my passion.” “You haven’t caught a fish in weeks,” the woman shot back. “I don’t need this,” he replied. “I’m going to the pub.” “Oh sure, go drink your problems away like you always do.” The man climbed into a small pickup truck and drove off down the road.
The next house he could see someone sitting at a kitchen table through the window. The person was reading a news paper. “The factory is hiring,” an unseen voice said. The person put the paper down. “No,” the person replied. “That place will be out of business in a week. No one will want to buy canned meat.” The sun had nearly set and the sky was a deep orange. The ship sailed past a pub and within its small parking lot was that very same pickup truck. The captain looked through the large window of the pub. It appeared empty. Suddenly a pair of legs flopped down from above and stopped with a jerk in seemingly mid air. The captain watched in horror as the legs began to sway back and forth. The town had ended and the ship was soon sailing past trees again.
It was dark now. The captain turned and poured another glass of brandy. He stared into his glass for a while when he suddenly lifted his head and began to sniff the air. It smelled like smoke. He turned back to the window and the sky was lit up orange with flashes of red, white and blue. He sailed past a house that was engulfed in flames. Firetrucks, ambulances and police cars filled the street around the house. He could see a man sitting in the back doorway of an ambulance as the fire team worked on extinguishing the blaze. Two fire fighters approached him. “No one else made it,” one of the fire fighters said. “I’m sorry.” The captain began to cry and soon he was sailing through the dark again.
The captain got up from the table, bottle in hand. He took a swig and proceeded up the small set of stairs the deck of the ship. He stretched as he stepped into the cold open air, walk over to rail on the edge of the deck and looked up at the mass. No one steered the ship. It had a small engine but he didn’t need it. He went to take a swig from the brandy bottle but he stopped. He stared at the bottle for a moment. “Vile thing.” He lifted the bottle and hurled it into the river. He turned to go back below deck when he heard the baby crying again. He turned back and saw women holding babies standing along the shoreline. It was the same woman and baby. Over and over. Then it was just one. Just the woman. The ship hit the shore in front of the women.
The captain disembarked. The snow was thick and heavy as he approached the woman. He knew her. His wife. The captain fell to his knees in front of her. “Forgive me!” He pleaded. “It was an accident. I was wrong. I was selfish. I was just doing what I thought was right and I let my pride get in the way.” He looked down. “I came home. I was drunk. I went to light my pipe and left the lighter burning on the counter and I fell asleep. They couldn’t save you.” He began to cry. “I should have listened to you. I should have sold the boat. I should have gotten the job at the cannery. I knew we needed the money.” He looked back up at the woman. “Can you forgive me?” She didn’t respond. “Answer me!” He stood up. “Why won’t you say anything!” He reached for the woman’s shoulder but his hand passed right through her. Her body rippled like water with the passing hand.
“Youa’re not real,” the captain was confused and angry. “You’re not real! You’re just in my head! Be gone!” The woman continued to ripple and transform. The captain was in awe. “An otter?” He stared face to face at the otter now before him. The creature was as tall as he was. The captain began to laugh. “You’re an otter.” The otter placed a paw on the man’s shoulder and he began to convulse. His eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. A moment later he got back up. He too was now an otter.

The fishing vessel moved slowly down the Yukon river. The captain and only person on the ship sat at a table in the cramped galley with a bottle of brandy in one hand and a glass in the other. He hadn’t shaved in a week or two. He couldn’t remember how long it was. He didn’t even really know how long he was on the ship and it didn’t really matter anyway. He had no where to go. The ship was his home. He hadn’t bathed either but once again what did it matter? He was the only one on the ship. He had been down the river several times but this trip he had gone farther than he ever had. This was a one way trip. He just went wherever the river took him.
It was winter time and it was going to be dark soon. The captain looked out the galley window. The shoreline was thick with trees, snow and ice. He saw something within the trees. Some kind of animal, but he couldn’t really make out what it was. The animal stood up. It was tall. A bear, maybe. The captain turned, poured a glass of brandy and took a swig. He looked back. The ship was passing through a dense patch of fog. He couldn’t see the shore anymore. Perhaps the boat would hit a rock while in the fog. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything anymore.
He could hear a baby crying. He looked around the galley. There were obviously no babies on the ship but the crying grew louder. It was unbearable. It was as if the baby was right next to him. He turned back to the window. The fog cleared and he found himself passing through a riverfront town. He had never seen this town before. A street ran along the river bank and houses lined the street, all facing the water. He was passing a house where a woman was helping another woman get out of a car. The woman in the car was crying and she was holding a baby. The baby was crying too. The captain could not make out their faces but he could hear them talk clear as day. “That bastard!” The woman holding the baby cried as she stepped out of the car. “He couldn’t even be bothered to be here on the birth of his child.” “I know how you feel.” The other woman replied. “But he’s doin what he feels is right to help provide for his new family.” The boat moved on.
A few houses later he could see a party going on in the front yard. “Happy birthday!” A group of people shouted, all huddled around a picnic table. A child sat at the table with a cake in front of him or her. The child blew out the candles. “Who wants vanilla ice cream?” Someone asked. The captain smacked his lips. He hadn’t had ice cream in who knows how long and he could practically smell the freshly baked cake. His diet now consisted of mostly booze and canned meat. At the far end of the picnic table someone sat crying. The boat moved on. A man came storming out of the front door of the next house he sailed past. A woman came out behind him. “I’m not selling the boat!” The man turned and shouted at her. “This is my job, my life, my.. my passion.” “You haven’t caught a fish in weeks,” the woman shot back. “I don’t need this,” he replied. “I’m going to the pub.” “Oh sure, go drink your problems away like you always do.” The man climbed into a small pickup truck and drove off down the road.
The next house he could see someone sitting at a kitchen table through the window. The person was reading a news paper. “The factory is hiring,” an unseen voice said. The person put the paper down. “No,” the person replied. “That place will be out of business in a week. No one will want to buy canned meat.” The sun had nearly set and the sky was a deep orange. The ship sailed past a pub and within its small parking lot was that very same pickup truck. The captain looked through the large window of the pub. It appeared empty. Suddenly a pair of legs flopped down from above and stopped with a jerk in seemingly mid air. The captain watched in horror as the legs began to sway back and forth. The town had ended and the ship was soon sailing past trees again.
It was dark now. The captain turned and poured another glass of brandy. He stared into his glass for a while when he suddenly lifted his head and began to sniff the air. It smelled like smoke. He turned back to the window and the sky was lit up orange with flashes of red, white and blue. He sailed past a house that was engulfed in flames. Firetrucks, ambulances and police cars filled the street around the house. He could see a man sitting in the back doorway of an ambulance as the fire team worked on extinguishing the blaze. Two fire fighters approached him. “No one else made it,” one of the fire fighters said. “I’m sorry.” The captain began to cry and soon he was sailing through the dark again.
The captain got up from the table, bottle in hand. He took a swig and proceeded up the small set of stairs the deck of the ship. He stretched as he stepped into the cold open air, walk over to rail on the edge of the deck and looked up at the mass. No one steered the ship. It had a small engine but he didn’t need it. He went to take a swig from the brandy bottle but he stopped. He stared at the bottle for a moment. “Vile thing.” He lifted the bottle and hurled it into the river. He turned to go back below deck when he heard the baby crying again. He turned back and saw women holding babies standing along the shoreline. It was the same woman and baby. Over and over. Then it was just one. Just the woman. The ship hit the shore in front of the women.
The captain disembarked. The snow was thick and heavy as he approached the woman. He knew her. His wife. The captain fell to his knees in front of her. “Forgive me!” He pleaded. “It was an accident. I was wrong. I was selfish. I was just doing what I thought was right and I let my pride get in the way.” He looked down. “I came home. I was drunk. I went to light my pipe and left the lighter burning on the counter and I fell asleep. They couldn’t save you.” He began to cry. “I should have listened to you. I should have sold the boat. I should have gotten the job at the cannery. I knew we needed the money.” He looked back up at the woman. “Can you forgive me?” She didn’t respond. “Answer me!” He stood up. “Why won’t you say anything!” He reached for the woman’s shoulder but his hand passed right through her. Her body rippled like water with the passing hand.
“Youa’re not real,” the captain was confused and angry. “You’re not real! You’re just in my head! Be gone!” The woman continued to ripple and transform. The captain was in awe. “An otter?” He stared face to face at the otter now before him. The creature was as tall as he was. The captain began to laugh. “You’re an otter.” The otter placed a paw on the man’s shoulder and he began to convulse. His eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. A moment later he got back up. He too was now an otter.

I've hired him on May 13th and we are writing blogs on weekly basis, some blogs written by him and some by me. to get my website some ranking, I'm not an expert on SEO but understand some basic things, everything seemed fine , my website isn't that old , I understand this will take time. We message on a consistent basis, he does give me updates frequently and we meet via zoom here and there . But recently he made me kind of nervous by mentioning DA and PA which gave me the impression that he may be new to the business even though he claims he has years of experience.. The beginning of his message was wonderful: His message is below: to which I responded : Here is his message...
This week, I've focused on Off-Page tasks to enhance website traffic and improve its overall appearance and visibility across search engines. Here's a summary of the activities performed:

• Profile Creation
• Social Bookmarking
• Article Submission
• Article Promotion
• Pinterest Post
• Web Blog Submission
• Web Blog Promotion
• Product Listing
• PDF Creation & Submission
• PDF Promotion
• Quora Answer
• Content Writing
• Ranking Updates

Additionally, I'm excited to inform you that this week's Page Authority (PA) has increased from 11 to 12 compared to last week. Here's the screenshot for your reference:
My response : Thank you xxxx, , I mostly want to pay attention to ranking as I know Google doesn't care much about DA and PA since it's just a Moz rating , I know they are somewhat useful for good backlinks but I don't want to rely on them solely .I want to Focus on the metrics directly from Google to improve user experience. Such as : 1-Quality content over quantity 2- Improve my internal linking structure 3-Ensure my website is mobile-friendly, I did some updates with the designer a few days and that should help the mobile exp. 4-Improve my website and page speed as well because I noticed It has slowed down lately . Also, the new blog that was added on June 6th , I'd like to make a few changes.
I guess what I'm asking since my knowledge is limited , my instinct is telling me since things are getting 37 not indexed, 27 indexed in 30 days that this is good and he's doing a great job but that doesn't translate to sales and I mean zero sales . currently planning on doing ad work and wondering if maybe I should wait . Any advice would be appreciated .
Thank and regards,

Welcome to The 100-91 Reveal for the NFL Top 100 Players of the 2023 Season!

Players whose average rank landed them in places 100-91 are on this portion of the list revealed today. Players are associated with the team they finished playing for at the end of the 2023 season
Below you will see some write-ups from the community summarizing the players’ 2023 season and why they were among the best in 2023. Stats for each player are included below. Additionally, their ranks from previous years are available for y’all to see

METHODOLOGY

Link to more detailed writeup on our methodology

• Step 1: A Call to Rankers right after the Conference Championship games
  
• Step 2: Rankers from each team nominated players to rank, with a 11 game minimum threshold. Players are associated with the team they played for in 2023
  
• Step 3: The Grind. We instructed users to tier positions groups into T25, T50, etc based on 2023 regular season play only. This took several weeks as the rankers tiered each position group and discussed them. There were no individual player threads and no arbitrary position caps. Just questions and rankings.
  
• Step 4: Users submitted their own personal Top 125 lists.
  
• Step 5: User lists were reviewed by myself, u/mattkud, and u/MikeTysonChicken . The rankers were expected to answer questions about their lists. They were allowed to make any changes to their list, and were not forced to make any changes
  
• Step 6: The Reveal… where we are now!
  

And without further ado, here are the players ranked 100-91 in the NFL Top 100 Players of the 2023 Season!

#100 - Stefon Diggs - Buffalo Bills - Wide Receiver

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
22	38	10	74	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/BlackTieClip
Following yet another offseason of cryptic tweets and drama, Stefon Diggs showed up from the onset of the 2023 season as red hot as the lasers he was catching off the arm of Josh Allen - making it clear he came to play and leave everything out on the field. However, 2023 was a tale of two Diggs’ - and that's not a reference to Stefon's brother, Trevon, who unfortunately was out for the season prior to their two teams facing off in week 15.
Through the first 6 games of the year, Stefon Diggs was averaging 8 catches, 104 Yards, and nearly a touchdown per game. During that time, the Bills passing offense funneled the ball through Diggs and relied on his ability to make plays all over the field to remain productive. Diggs answered the call and delivered the type of results we've come to expect of him, however just like the team itself, Diggs’ season would fall off pretty harshly following the team's week 6 match up against the Giants. In the 11 remaining games of the season, he failed to produce a single 100-yard outing and would only catch 3 more total touchdowns on the year. It's important to acknowledge that the Bills as a whole struggled offensively between weeks 5 and 10, directly leading to Offensive Coordinator Ken Dorsey's firing after Buffalo’s week 10, 24-22, loss to Denver - a game in which Diggs only caught 3 passes for a total of 34 yards.
Once Joe Brady stepped in as Interim Coordinator, the Bills offense began healing as a result of changes made to their strategy, changes which resulted in a more balanced attack that trusted the run game and prioritized spreading passes around to a wider selection of targets in the air. This shift meant Diggs was on the field less, in addition to receiving less targets when he was out there running routes. The impact of this change is most plainly obvious when comparing Diggs’ stats from weeks 1-8 to 9-16. While this adjustment ultimately worked out in Buffalo's favor (they would close out the last 7 games of the year with a 6-1 record), it did drive an unfortunate statistical drop for Diggs. Diggs would still flash his elite hands and skills often enough to finish the season respectively though, earning a spot in the pro-bowl as well as finishing #13 in total receiving yards and #7 in total receptions. Tragically, what he will probably be remembered most for this past year (at least in the minds of Bills Mafia) will be the ugly, game-altering drop he had late in the Divisional round matchup against Kansas City.
Throughout 2023 there were all manner of rumors on whether Diggs was playing through an undisclosed injury or experiencing a falling out with the organization, true or not, it would be foolish to claim that Diggs isn't still a premier pass catcher in the NFL. Now a Houston Texan, Stefon Diggs will serve as another weapon for C.J. Stroud to take advantage of in 2024. Assuming he doesn't destroy the culture in Houston by manifesting into some sort of target-hoovering diva-demon like all the tired sports media personalities predict, expect the former Bills Captain to be a key contributor for the Texans next year.

#99 - Lavonte David - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Off-Ball Linebacker

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
60	95	43	76	N/A	35	N/A	99	27	11	N/A​

Written by: u/Ronon_Dex
After flirting with retirement and leaving Tampa Bay last offseason, Lavonte David stuck around for another year as a Buccaneer - year 12 (and soon to be year 13). And it paid off, yet again, as David stayed the impactful, complete LB he has been for over a decade.
Playing 956 (98%) defensive snaps, David was impactful across the board, recording 99 tackles (134 combined per pfr) with a 5.7% missed tackle rate, 4.5 sacks with 19 total pressures on only 76 pass rush opportunities, 5 forced incompletions and 1.1 yards per cover snap, and a ridiculous 61 run stops and 17 TFLs. His coverage stats took a bit of a dip from the past, but he was still solid while being incredibly impactful against the run. He's smart - see here how he diagnoses quickly, and beats the blocker to the spot before sticking the TE for a loss. He's exceptional at slithering through OLs - see here and here how he uses his speed and awareness to split through holes in the line and finish the play before it can start. Despite being 33, he's still really fast - if you're late on rotating in pass protection, he's already past you and sacking the QB. And he's always had a nose for the football.
David has been one of my favorite players of the 2010s and it will be sad to see him go. Few LBs are as complete as Lavonte has been for his career - he can do everything you want from an offball LB. Given that he's likely to retire pretty soon, this might be the last time he appears on this list, so I'm gonna break the rules a bit. Lavonte has always stood out statistically in two ways, by forcing fumbles and TFLs. As for FFs, the only LB with more is Cornelius Bennett, who was somewhat of a hybrid rushbacke4-3 OLB. Which means that among true off ball LBs, nobody has forced more fumbles than Lavonte David (tbf only tracked reliably since 1993). Similarly, I've never seen a player as adept at slicing through blockers to make a TFL. He has 160 career TFLs, 9th all time. No other offball LB is in the top 20, and only 4 other LBs have even 100. We might as well start giving out the "Lavonte David award" to whoever leads LBs in TFLs.
Put him in the HOF, cowards.

#98 - Bradley Chubb - Miami Dolphins - EDGE Rusher

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/cnvas_home
One word has followed Chubb throughout his career: Dynamic. Coming into his second year in a Dolphins jersey off a five-year, $110 million contract extension (recently restructured in the wake of injury)—Chubb managed to arguably elevate to higher levels of said dynamic play than even in previous seasons that saw him earn Pro Bowl recognition.
In 16 games this season, Chubb managed to thrive in a defense that utilized its front 7 in unconventional manners. Of the 837 snaps Chubb played: 36% of snaps against the rush, 57% against the pass, and 7% in pass coverage (top 20 in EDGE coverage snaps…over a dozen in the slot). Amongst his position, Chubb posted a top 10 pass rush win rate per ESPN along with top 15 pass rush and top 5 coverage grades per PFF respectively. This showed with 11 sacks, 73 total tackles, 44 hurries, and 6 forced fumbles (t-1^st in NFL) over the season.
Chubb has an uphill battle going into the next season with a torn ACL acquired in Week 17 against the Ravens. Still in the prime of his career and a leader within the locker room, Chubb certainly seeks to return to this level of form as soon as possible. There's a lot of money on the table for him.

#97 - Kolton Miller - Las Vegas Raiders - Offensive Tackle

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/ExpirjTec
Offensive tackles have always been highly sought after for one important reason; to keep their franchise quarterback healthy. Miller had a slightly different objective; keep Jimmy Garoppolo handsome, it's fine if he misses the season since he was far from a franchise quarterback; but Miller excelled, allowing the least pressures (only 16 pressures per PFF, compared to 18 for Tyron Smith and Trent Williams) out of any premier tackle. While he missed a few games due to a shoulder injury, Miller put in enough work to prove he's a top 100 player in the league.
Always one of the more underappreciated OTs in the league, Miller's impact was best felt by his absence; in the first missed game of his career, Jets defenders got to Aidan O'Connell several times, and the rest of the offensive line just looked flimsy.
Combining agile, quick footwork with enough armpower to seal off some of the biggest men in the NFL, Miller quietly dominated opposing pass rushers, and #74 could even scale multiple levels on the run to help his team generate big plays. Even when it didn't seem like there was much worth fighting for, Miller never gave up hope.

#96 - Dion Dawkins - Buffalo Bills - Offensive Tackle

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/Man_0n_F1re
The shnowman cracks the top 100 this year after a dominating performance in the trenches all season long. While offensive line play can be hard to parse and judge, Dawkins ranked 4th in the league among OTs in pass rush win rate at 93% and only allowed 1 sack. The 30-year-old from New Jersey (famously the home of the Giants and Jets) also provided numerous rare O-line highlights, such as the absolute shnowplow of a block he delivered against the Cowboys’ Damone Clark. His arguably career-best season also saw him named to the Pro Bowl for the third straight year.
The Bills shook up their skill positions on offense this off-season, but the core of the offensive line remains largely the same, and Dawkins will certainly be a leader of the unit. This off-season he signed a 3-year, $60.5 million extension, making him one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in the league. He has played in at least 15 games each season of his career so far, and Buffalo is clearly banking on his production to continue as the rest of the offense takes a new shape.
This year, Dawkins was also Buffalo's nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, due in large part to his foundation Dion's Dreamers, which provides mentoring services to troubled youth. Dawkins has become highly involved in the Buffalo community since being drafted in the 2nd round in 2017.

#95 - James Cook - Buffalo Bills - Running Back

Previous Ranks

2022
N/A​

Written by: u/packmanwiscy
Being a running back in Josh Allen’s offense is a bit tricky. Allen is virtually a one-man offense, willing to not only sling the rock deep but also bruise out some yards on the ground for himself. For most of Allen’s tenure in Buffalo, Bills running backs haven’t been the most productive, failing to produce a single season with more than 1,100 scrimmage yards. When Buffalo selected James Cook in the 2nd round of the draft last year, they sought to give Allen a workhorse back that could efficiently eat touches and take the load off of Allen just a bit. After a timeshare in the first year, the Bills let Devin Singletary walk and gave Cook the lead back role, and he did not disappoint.
James Cook is a true modern running back. His lightning quick acceleration allows him to hit holes hard and bounce outside if they’re plugged. He’s not the biggest or strongest back, but he can still shrug off arm tackles and churn for extra yards. Pass catching out of the backfield is a key part of his game as well, for a running back he’s very proficient at route running, catching the ball in stride, and running after the catch. He does everything you want out of a running back in the 2020’s NFL, and he rewarded the Bills with the 6th most scrimmage yards in the league. He’ll have to do quite a bit to pass his brother in career stats, but this season was a great start.

#94 - Elgton Jenkins - Green Bay Packers - Offensive Guard

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019
N/A	N/A	77	N/A​

Key Stat:
Written by: u/Letsgomountaineers5
One of the most powerful and positionally versatile offensive linemen in the NFL, Elgton Jenkins’ value to, and dominance on, the Packers OL has more than earned him his place on this list. Elgton is the engine that makes the Packers' run game go. Whether it be trapping, wrapping, or pulling to lead, Elgton is the Packers’ most-pulled lineman and their best (and one of THE best in the league) elevator to the second level on inside zone and duo run plays. Finally able to hunker down and stay, more or less, in the same position for a full season, Elgton was the driving influence on the Packers finishing top 10 in yards per attempt and top half in overall rushing offense, even while being near the bottom of the NFL in called run plays. It has yet to be mentioned how great he was in pass protection this year, as well. With a younger QB who at times held the ball a bit too long, Elgton allowed 0 sacks and had one of the lowest pressure rates allowed in football.
As mentioned before, Elgton is a dominant player in the run game because of the power he executes his blocks. His main weakness throughout his career has been his feet and ability to play in space, but this year he was tasked with reaching, trapping, and pulling to lead more than ever before. And as demonstrated here, he excelled in that role. The Packers were at their best when Jenkins was tasked with doubling and elevating or climbing to the second level immediately. Here, he displaces the LOS, comes off the 3T, and gets to the backer to create a lane for the back to follow into the endzone. In this example, the player engaged with the LT does not cross the LT’s face, so he quickly climbs to backer and creates a cut back lane for the back to gain 6-7 yards. As you can see, much of what the Packers did in the run game centered around 74, and he delivered time and time again.
In the pass game, Elgton used his strong anchor and well-timed striking to shut down every interior defensive lineman he faced. 0 sacks allowed, an absurdly low 4.4% pressure rate allowed, and the sheer dominance he displayed on tape has led many experts to call him a top 3 pass protecting guard in all of football. This is probably his biggest area of growth once making it to the NFL, as he always had the power in his lower half, but has improved his base and hand placement to truly stonewall any bull rushes he faces. And if you try and get cute by swimming or, god forbid, knowing your beat and jumping to swat the ball. Well, you will probably end up on your ass. He rose to the highest levels of competition, repeatedly shutting down (three examples there) the likes of Aaron Donald on a game-by-game basis.
Overall, Elgton Jenkins continues to push the established elite at the guard position, and with continued technical improvement, he looks to rise even higher on this list next season.

#93 - Will Anderson Jr - Houston Texans - EDGE Rusher

Previous Ranks
N/A
Written by:u/ExpirjTec
Will Anderson. What a full grown manderson. Only a rookie, but already the most electric pass rusher we've had since JJ Watt. His early season stats didn't quite show it, but since week 1 he's performed at a high rate already producing one of the top pressure rates in the league and opening up opportunities for the rest of the banderson. In four months, people went from criticizing Demeco and Caserio for trading a supposedly massive draft haul to Arizona for Anderson to realizing the incredible positive impact that the trade had. All according to planderson.
In his first season, Anderson showcased great pass rush ability, always working his way into the pocket, stuffed the run effectively, and even blocked a field goal; WAJ Swat, amirite? In fact, Lil Jon is rumored to be working on a song called "Turn Down for Wanderson", Daniels music video and all. JJ Watt is one of the all-time greats, but are the Terminator-Megawatt comparisons valid? Can Area 51 stand on the same ground as the Milkman?
(Yes, those are all real nicknames.)
Anderson's rookie year compares nicely with JJ’s , both on stat sheets and the eye test, and both got even better as the year went on; WAJ also walked away with the DROY award (though he didn't have to compete with Von Miller and... Aldon Smith?) Will he follow the same trajectory as JJ? In fact, he doesn't need to. It's fine if he doesn't. We don't need the greatest defensive end of the century, because Will Anderson is already damn good, does his job, and is certain to improve even further. Maybe he'll end with a gold jacket in Canton, maybe he won't, but we don't need that. What expectations we do have of him, he's easily exceeding, and on his current trajectory -- whether JJ-like or not -- he'll continue to exceed them for a long, long, time.

#92 - Deebo Samuel - San Francisco 49ers - Wide Receiver

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019
N/A	10	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/scmsf49
Deebo Samuel's 2023 season saw him compile 1117 total yards and 12 total touchdowns in 15 games (though that 15 includes a weird injured decoy game with 0 targets, a game with 9 snaps, and a quarter in a meaningless week 18). The best metric to summarize the impact that he has on the team: the 49ers were 11-1 when Deebo played more than 33% of snaps in a game and 1-4 when he did not.
8.8 yards after the catch per reception ranked first among receivers, making this the fourth consecutive season that Deebo holds that distinction (and he was 2nd as a rookie). The ascension of Brandon Aiyuk and full season from offensive player of the year Christian McCaffrey shrunk the role of one of the league's most exciting players, but he made the most of the opportunities he got, ranking 8th in yards per target among players with 1000 yards.
The most memorable game of the year for him is undeniably his hat trick against the Eagles amidst a tense race for the 1 seed, capped off by a 46 yard all-YAC touchdown. Contrary to popular belief, this is actually not how he gets all of his touches. His longest touchdown of the season, a 54 yarder against Seattle, and one of his back shoulder TDs (a new feature off the offense this year!) put the wide in wide back to remind fans (and a couple loud players) that Deebo is more than capable of killing you on traditional routes.
This was the final season for #19 in the Bay Area (because he's changing his jersey number to 1) and he once again left it all out there, putting together enough production to clinch a spot on this list despite a diminished role.

#91 - Justin Simmons - Denver Broncos - Safety

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
69	59	55	24	N/A	N/A	N/A​

Written by: u/BlindManBaldwin
Winners are remembered. The glory of sports comes from hoisting a trophy at the end, and everyone who touches it becomes immortal. To those who never touch it, they can still create a legacy through winning in other ways: big regular season games to get into the playoffs, and perhaps even winning a couple games in the tournament.
In this lens — losers have no space. Those who come up short get nothing. Sports are zero-sum. There are always winners and losers. Every immortality comes with a death.
Justin Simmons played 118 games with the Denver Broncos since 2016. In his rookie year, the team went 9-7 but missed the playoffs. In every subsequent season, the Broncos had a losing record. Despite his All-Pro play, Simmons never played in a meaningful football game in late December or January. In a team with a history of winning — Justin Simmons was a loser.
A ball on a memorial in 2021. Spending a weekend at charity events in the city months after getting cut. Maybe the problem is the binary. Pursuit of immortality driving everyone mad to the point of blindness. There is the trophy and that matters, but there are more things in life too. There are the connections. There are the emotions.
Justin Simmons never won a big game in Denver. He never played in one. But in 2023 — as he had done throughout his career — he proved himself worthy of immortality in the Ring high above.

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Hey everyone. I've already posted this on a couple of other subreddits but I thought I should try here because to be honest I've been feeling really low since this has happened and I could use a professional advice or to get reassurance if my phone is safe or not. I feel really stupid now but I fell for it and now I'm very anxious and I don't know what to do or who to ask. I was browsing instagram when an ad came up with ALDI's name and signs on it so I thought it would be legit, it was for winning Tickets for the 2024 Euro Championship. I opened the ad and was asked for my information including my full name, adress, birth date and phone number. Then I was asked if I'm interested in this or that...etc. Then I got an email and 2 SMS, all containing links to verify or win more. I haven't opened any of those 3 links. I've also recieved a phone call but my phone blocked it. What could possibly happen right now? What can they do with the information they have? Is it possible that I've got a malware on my phone from just visiting the ad, staying on it and answering the questions? ... My update after 3 days: So far I haven't recieved any spam messages, emails or calls. But I've updated my phone and later got an unremovable notification to finish updating my phone. It qanted to recommend some apps, on the top where two apps one for job searching and a cards game, I unticked them and clicked finish but the phone proceded to download them anyways. I checked the app name and it is Appcloud. It seems like a system app, I was able to disable it but not uninstall it. I have a samsung phone. Is that something I should worry about? I did google this app and it seems to be related to the new update of my phone and has nothing to do with the ad I clicked on. Could I possibly have malware on my phone right now? Is there a way I can be 100% sure

In a recent interview Yoshi-p was asked about job homogenization and his answer veered into encounter design philosophy:

...
Speaking of the general mechanics of the Jobs and my desire to strengthen the identity of the Jobs, it is still early to cover the issue in detail but there are two specific topics I would like to discuss. When developing the contents of Final Fantasy 14 there are two strongly interrelated elements that must always be taken into account: one is the "Battle Content", or the design of the battles and fights, while the other is the game mechanics of the Jobs.
Regarding Battle Content, we've received a lot of player feedback in the past and I've talked about it often. Let's say that in general we have directed development towards reducing player stress , and as a result we have made certain decisions. One example was growing the size of the bosses' "target" circle, increasing the distance from which you could attack them, to the point that it eventually became too large. Likewise, when it comes to specific mechanics, we received feedback from some players that they didn't like certain mechanics, as a result we decided to no longer implement them. In short, in general from this perspective I would say that we reacted in a defensive manner.
But I believe that as a team we have to face new challenges : looking at the example of mechanics, I am convinced that instead of stopping implementing the less popular ones we should ask ourselves first of all what was wrong with them, how we could fix or expand them. Similarly, as regards the target circle of the bosses, if on the one hand making it larger brings an advantage for the players - because it allows them to attack practically always - on the other hand it makes it much more difficult to express the ability and the talent of the individual player.
Our goal obviously shouldn't be to stress players for the sake of it, but at the same time we must take into account the degree of satisfaction they feel when completing content. I mean that there must be a right and appropriate amount of stress so that the satisfaction at the moment of completion also increases. And this is something we are already working on in Dawntrail and in the 7.x patches , we absolutely don't want to wait until 8.0 but we intend to tackle this challenge immediately.
...

You can read his full answer here: https://old.reddit.com/ffxiv/comments/1d9mlq9/naoki_yoshida_talks_about_job_homogenization_job/
As a tank player, what are you looking for from any new encounter designs?
Since the tanks haven't really changed in about 5 years, what keeps you excited to play the same tanks for the next 3 years?
Are there mechanics you want to see more or less of when playing as a tank in Criterion, Extreme, Savage, or Ultimate content?

WG please don't sleep on rebalancing couple tanks every 3 updates adding other meta braking tanks in the mix meanwhile........ bet so many other tanks are left out as well
used to be my favorite tank.. M46 patton, but obviously meta is moving and right now it became that it's one of those tanks that just puts your team in disadvantage..
The turret armor doesn't hold anything anymore since pen increased on new tanks like crazy.
Pen on standard AP rounds is 218.. this is to compare it with new premium tier 8 came in AAT60 came in with 230 pen on standard APCR, Nemesis - 225 AP, Iron Arnie - 230...
Those are TIER 8.. comparing to CS-59.. that one has AP 252 pen.. almost the same as Pattons premium ammo while CS-59 prem APCR has 293 pen while Patton 265.. the difference is massive.. then again.. there is no compensation for it.. as mentioned - armor doesn't hold off, DPM is the same, shell velocity is worse, slower, worse camo...
It is 3rd from the bottom on games played from tech tree mediums just above Obj 430 II and WZ-120.. then managing having terrible winrate stats, WN8 and DPG regarding tomato website stats
Solution is there
RU server improved (leave politics aside, it's about the game.. we all wanna enjoy the game, rebalancing of left out tanks they did a great job):
Dispersion 0.39 > 0.36
HP 1700 > 1900
PEN 218/265mm > 240/285mm
usually I don't care, but I'm tired of waiting.. what's the point of this game anyway, there is no end goal competitive so might as well as I recommend everyone to stop grinding for the tanks you don't enjoy, I enjoy Patton, was my only tank that brings some entertainment, the state it's left in is irresponsible and disgraceful..

I’m new to this. Last week, I got diagnosed with OCD. I know very little about the disorder, and am still learning to distinguish my experiences now knowing this. I don’t have support besides my therapist and psychiatrist. My best friends are all online. And I’ve started a new job which is usually a stressor, my symptoms flare up. I’ve also been going through some traumatic personal shit. I had an OCD related meltdown on text to a close friend last week. I just needed to know specific plans and escalated into a full on meltdown. I was already starting to spiral before that. One of my obsessions seems to be social isolation, in that case, I ruminate and compulsively want to check in on people even if they’ve said they don’t wanna talk to me. I’ve done it twice now, no answer. Our other mutual friend is also pissed over my meltdown. I wasn’t offensive, I just crossed some emotional boundaries because I couldn’t accept them at the time. I’ve been essentially kicked out of the friend group indefinitely. This has obviously triggered and confirmed a lot of obsessions and insecurities. Our mutual friend asked me to stop checking in, and that I’m not helping my case. I explained that it’s compulsions. I genuinely don’t know what to do. It’s been a week, I wake up shaking and ruminate for most of the day. Weed stops it, but it’s like a record that breaks and loops at a certain part of the track for a while. Has anybody had experience with this or had any success with this type of situation?

I’ve never been in this situation before so I apologize if it’s a dumb question. :(
Let me start a little in the past for some context. My company does yearly performance reviews and last year’s review was great. I can’t remember her words verbatim, but my supervisor essentially said that my work is fantastic and that all I have left to do is develop my soft skills. Toward the end of 2023, she and her boss nominated me to take an emerging leader’s class that they partner up with some other companies to fund and provide. The catch is, this class is for people already in or being promoted into management roles. I’m 2 steps below management of any type; the roles above me before you hit full managerial positions are senior (which has no supervisory duties and just demonstrates knowledge of the job) and then a lead position (which is also super limited).
At around the time I got nominated, they had already promoted 2 people into the lead positions. One of whom I’m taking this class with. Essentially, there is no where for me to go except into the senior position which is still a basic line level employee. Same work, just with more money. This class has been really awkward for me because I can’t relate to anyone in the class at all. I’m basically sitting in a class with people who could supervise me. I have to use a hypothetical, possible job that I have no idea about that I could have in the future as my frame of reference for everything. That’s all an issue for another day though.
I’m starting to get anxious and a bit nervous about where all of this is headed. We have zero turnover so it’s not like they’re training me to fill someone’s job. My boss implied at our biweekly 1:1s that they’re probably going to have to create a completely new position for me. It’s not unprecedented, with the turnover being as low as it is they’re forced to; it’s the source of the tier thing for my job I mentioned earlier. She implied that she didn’t want me in the senior role but to move up and do something else, but it was vague and I didn’t want to come off weird by pushing it.
I would like a more concrete answer than what I’ve been provided so far. My questions are:

1. Would it be inappropriate to ask about this during our 1:1s or should I wait for my yearly review meeting? I had a partial meeting yesterday about my merit increase and we’re hopefully meeting for longer next week. I don’t have the ability to walk into her office whenever and ask because we work hybrid so I’m only in the office one day a week which gets cut short because I have class on the same day.
   
2. What’s the best way to approach this topic without looking like an overeager and annoying employee? I would love to send an email to have something in writing but I feel like this is something that needs to be face to face.
   
3. When should I start to worry and/or consider it a lost cause and let it go? I really don’t want to be lead on; that’s not my company’s style but I have to have my own boundaries too.
   

TIA!

Part 2
​
It was late when I got back home but for as tired as I was, I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep a wink.
​
I went into my computer room and opened up my laptop, before plugging in the USB the bartender had given me. There were four folders on it, each one containing the feed from a different camera in the Rooster. I clicked into one of the folders at random and picked through the video files inside, looking for the stretch of footage that I needed. It didn’t take me long to find it either.
​
I clicked into one of the video files, and watched as the chaos of the Red Rooster played out before me. People drinking, flirting, laughing. Living their lives. Nothing I hadn’t seen before. I let the footage play for a bit, before getting up to grab myself a couple of beers from the fridge. When I got back, I started skipping through the video, waiting for the moment my two victims showed up.
​
When I’d taken the bartender's statement, he’d told me that he’d seen the two before, both separate and together. He didn’t know their names, but he knew their faces. Other patrons recognized them too. One of them had identified the red haired girl as ‘Kayley’ and had mentioned she lived down at River Ridge, a trailer park outside of town. Nobody had been able to name the Elegant Woman, although a lot of patrons had said they’d seen her around before.
​
Apparently, both of them usually came to hook up, leaving with a different stranger on most nights. Odds are, they’d why they were there on that night too. They’d come in at around 8:47. The Elegant looking dark haired woman seemed to be the one taking the lead, and seemed to be the one doing most of the talking. She and Kayley went to sit at the bar, talking amongst each other all the while. I couldn’t say for sure what they were talking about. Even if the file had audio, I doubt I’d have been able to single them out over the crowd. They looked at ease though.
​
They shared a couple of drinks. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary. I took a sip of my beer, watching them. Eventually, Kayley got distracted talking to a man further down the bar, while the Elegant Woman stayed at the bar, drinking casually as if she had all the time in the world.
​
The man in the suit came in at around 9:12.
​
My attention shifted to him the moment he came in through the door.
​
He fit the description that every witness I’d spoken to had given about the shooter. A tall man with a red beard in a black suit who was wearing a pair of reflective sunglasses despite the fact that it was 9 at night. Even beneath his suit, it was easy to tell he had a good physique, and his crew cut implied a military history to me.
​
Red Beard took a seat at the bar, a few seats down from the Elegant Woman. He ordered a drink, and nursed it for a bit, discreetly looking around at the other patrons of the bar but not seeming to look directly at either the Elegant Woman or Kayley. He just drank his beer, and when he was finished, he got up and switched seats, moving to sit beside the Elegant Woman. She looked over at him, putting on a charming smile as they talked. I almost got the impression that they were flirting with each other.
​
They kept talking for a while and as they did, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. If I didn’t know what was coming next… it would have caught me completely off guard. When she turned to take a sip of her drink, the gun appeared in his hand, almost without warning. She didn’t even have time to react before he shot her at point blank range. Three bullets straight to the chest.
​
I saw Kayley spin around and freeze up. Her entire body tensed, as if she was ready to lunge at the shooter. If that was her intention though, she never got the chance. He put two bullets in her without even thinking, then without so much as a glance backward, he took off toward the door.
​
I rubbed my temples, watching as the chaos of the aftermath unfolded. Some people called 911. Some, like the bartender, ran to the aid of the bodies. I saw myself run in through the door less than six minutes after the shooting had happened.
​
That was where I stopped the video.
​
I took another sip of my beer, and sighed. I rewound it a little bit, watching as the shooter came in and watching as he left. I might recognize this man on the street if I saw him, but other than his red hair and sunglasses, there wasn’t really much to go off of.
​
The way he left… he walked away almost casually, as if he had someplace to be. He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He was cold, calm, and professional. I guess that fit with the other murders, didn’t it?
​
I steeled myself to review the footage again, this time from another camera. Maybe there’d be something from one of the angles that I didn’t see. I checked the angles of the other three cameras. Two of them wouldn’t offer me much. One of them didn’t even catch the shooting. But the last one…
​
The last one looked promising.
​
It was situated near the back of the bar and through it, you could see out a window onto the street. It wasn’t the best view… but it was different.
​
From that angle, I could see a black sedan pull up to drop the man in the suit off. I saw him walk in the door and sit by the bar and from there, the scene played out the same as it did before. The man in the suit shot the two women and he left.
​
He strode out toward the sedan parked out front, got in the passenger seat and the sedan took off like a shot. There’d been a getaway driver. Interesting…
​
I set my unfinished beer down. I could drink the rest of it later. I needed to go on a little drive.
​
It was around 4 AM when I returned to the Red Rooster. I parked my car on the street, exactly where the black sedan had parked, and got out. The downtown area around me was dead silent. Lifeless almost. There wasn’t another soul in sight. But that was fine by me. That just meant that there were no distractions.
​
It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. There was a bank across the street and I walked toward it. The doors were locked, but that was fine. I could see what I needed through the windows.
​
Bank machines.
​
More specifically, bank machines with cameras. Cameras that were pointed right at the Red Rooster.
Perfect.
​
***
​
I was off shift the next day, but that just gave me time to get some actual work done. It was probably better I do it all from home. This case was Di Cesares now. I wasn’t sure what she’d do if she caught me working on it, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to find out. Judging by those fangs in her mouth, she wasn’t human either. Hell, I wasn’t sure if she was actually even from the State Police… I got the impression that Sheriff Smith didn’t seem to think so. But if she wasn’t with them, who was she with? Why hadn’t the State Police sent someone else? Had she done something to them? Even if she had, I couldn’t just believe that the State Police wouldn’t notice something like that.
​
No… there was something else going on here. But I could figure that out later.
​
First things first - I needed to review the footage from the bank machines. The bank was more than willing to give me access to the footage when I asked. They knew who I was, they knew what had happened and they knew why I was asking.
​
Once I got back home, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Just as I’d hoped, the bank machines had recorded the car that had been waiting outside the Red Rooster. I couldn’t make out the license plate from the footage… but I could see enough to identify the make and model of the car.
​
An Audi A6 Sedan.
​
I’m not much of a car guy, but I can say that there’s not a lot of Audi’s in rural Ohio. Even without the license plate, this shouldn’t have been hard to find. I made a call to a buddy of mine in the BMV, told him what I was looking for and within the hour, he had the results for me.
​
It turns out, there were actually only eight Audi A6 Sedans registered in our county and all of them were registered to the same company.
​
Apostle Security.
​
Naturally, I did a bit of research on them. Apostle was a mid-sized private security firm based in Cincinnati, although they had a few other offices in Ohio and some of the surrounding states. It’d been started by a man named Joseph Cray about ten years ago, although beyond that I couldn’t find out much about their history and really, I didn’t care. Their website didn’t list any offices in my county… but the BMV seemed to say otherwise. My friend there had given me an address outside of town and even if I was off duty, I figured that no one could give me any guff for taking a little scenic drive. And if I just so happened to see some black Audi’s that looked like the one that had been parked outside of Red Rooster last night… well, maybe I’d pass that information along to whoever was on duty at the time. I’m pretty sure it was Biggs and Hoffman. They could decide whether or not to tell Di Cesare. It would be completely out of my hands.
​
I headed out to my car, plugged the address I’d gotten into my GPS and took a little drive.
​
As I drove through the backroads leading out of town, I felt a sense of quiet apprehension. Maybe I was being naive, putting my hopes on this lead. But I’d done the work. If Apostle really was behind this, it would make sense for them to have some sort of location in the county. If I was right, maybe I wouldn’t find all the answers to this surreal mess of a case, but I’d at least find the shooters. That was something. At least people wouldn’t be dying anymore.
​
Christ… I still didn’t know what to make of the victims. The gills on Kayley, the fangs on Patricia Russell, the fractures on Geoffery Vickers bones. Maybe these people really were monsters? If so… maybe these shooters knew that. Maybe that was why they did it.
​
But even if that was the case - I still couldn’t just leave a roving kill squad to wander around unchecked. The way things were going, it was just a matter of time until one of the victims was just some innocent bystander. I passed by a familiar sign as I neared the edge of the county. An advertisement for the local Volkswagen dealership.
​
‘You’re in Smith Country!’ It declared, along with a prominent smiling photo of Aaron Smith himself. I’d always found that sign a little creepy. The eyes and the smile were both a little too wide. It made the man look downright unhinged. I’d never actually met Aaron Smith in person, despite working for his older brother. The Sheriff would mention him from time to time and I could see the family resemblance, but it was hard to imagine the face on that sign sitting down to an odd Sunday dinner with Sheriff Smith.
​
To be fair, they probably didn’t talk much. I don’t think Aaron Smith himself even lived in town anymore. He owned a bunch of other dealerships scattered around southwest Ohio. Smith Volkswagen was just the oldest. But the sign had been there forever, and why fix what ain’t broken, even if it is creepy as hell?
​
Either way, just past that unsettling sign was my destination. Once upon a time, it’d been a small auto garage that had long since gone defunct. It’d been closed down since before I moved to town. From what I’d seen, Smith Volkswagen had used the property as an additional lot to store the cars they had no room for, from time to time but it didn’t seem like they did that anymore. Now the place just looked completely dead. There were no cars parked out front, Audi or otherwise.
​
I pulled into the parking lot, and checked the address I had to make sure it was correct. This was definitely the place. I parked my car and got out, before making my way to the front door. I found it locked.
​
Naturally.
​
Guess my luck had to run out somewhere. Maybe this was a dead end? I already knew I probably wasn’t getting inside without a warrant, and I didn’t exactly know what my chances were of getting one.
​
I tried the door again. It still didn’t open. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a security camera by the door. I stared up into it. The presence of a camera probably didn’t mean much. Whoever owned this property probably wanted to deter adventurous kids and urban explorers from going in. Maybe it was nothing, but I still couldn’t help but find it interesting.
​
I considered just going back to the car but didn’t want to feel like I’d wasted my time, so I figured I’d snoop a little bit. I took a quick walk around the perimeter, peeking in through the windows that I passed. I didn’t see much, but judging by what I could see, this place wasn’t abandoned. I didn’t see anyone inside, but the inside looked awfully clean for an abandoned building.
​
Going out around back, I noticed that there were garbage bags in the dumpsters out back. Not a lot… but enough to confirm to me that there were people here. Maybe this wasn’t a dead end…
​
I heard a sudden mechanical whirr from the other side of the building that made me pause. I rounded the corner, moving along the back of the building just in time to see a convoy of five black Audi’s rolling out of the garage door, one after the other. They turned onto the road, moving almost in perfect sync as they headed toward town. I felt a knot form in my stomach as I watched them go.
​
I’d found the cars I’d been looking for… although if they were going somewhere, odds are that we’d be getting a call about it all too soon.
​
My heart was beating faster in my chest.
I knew I couldn’t just sit there and watch. I knew I needed to do something.
So I did.
​
I ran back to my car as fast as my legs could carry me, leaping behind the wheel and keying the engine. I tore back out onto the road, speeding after the convoy. I didn’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew that if I didn’t do something, people were going to die.
​
The convoy turned away from downtown, following the river north. They passed by the River Ridge RV park, moving further down the road towards the outskirts of the county. It was hard to say exactly where they were going. There wasn’t much out that way, not for several miles. But they were moving with purpose and so was I.
​
About ten miles past River Ridge, I noticed something up ahead. Flashing lights, like what you’d see on a squad car, although there was no color to them. They were just white.
​
The convoy in front of me finally began to pull off the road. I could see them passing another Audi, this one outfitted with an LED bar. Two men on the road waved them off. Both of them were dressed in well pressed suits and wore reflective sunglasses. One of them was bald with a very thick dark stubble, and the other had a familiar red beard and military crew cut.
​
The knot in my stomach grew tighter as I drove toward the men, waiting for them to stop me. I reached for my pistol, ready for them to make a move. They just waved me on, barely even looking at me. I still kept my hand on my gun as I drove past, watching Red Beard and Baldy like a hawk.
​
I could see two other men behind the parked Audi with the flashing lights out of the corner of my eye. They were on the ground, fidgeting with something. It took me a moment to figure out what it was.
​
Spike strips.
​
I’d seen them before. We’d used them back during my army days at vehicle checkpoints and while we’d never had to use them while I’d been working as a city cop, we did have them.
​
They were setting up an ambush here. The five Audi’s that had pulled off the road parked along the shoulder further down. I could see men in suits getting out of them. I didn’t see any guns… I guess they were still partially trying to be subtle. But I still had a feeling that they were armed.
​
I kept on driving, going further down the road. Stopping and confronting these men wasn’t an option. Maybe they weren’t interested in making a mess by shooting any random schmuck who passed by their little trap, but that didn’t change the fact that they were probably dangerous. Charging in and dealing with them by myself wasn’t a smart idea. So instead, I reached for my phone, and I called Biggs.
​
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey Sawy-”
“Ethan, we have a situation,” I said. “Who’s on duty with you right now?”
“Right now it’s Hoffman, why what’s going on?”
“Call Hoffman, call the Sheriff and call Lopez. There’s going to be another attack.”
“What? Where?”
​
“I’ve spotted some suspects setting up some kind of ambush ten miles north of River Ridge. How soon can you be here?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe?” He said, “Sawyer, where are you right now?”
“I just passed the ambush point. They’re gearing up for something, now move your ass!”
“Y-yeah, of course!”
Biggs hung up immediately, and I pulled off to the side of the road. I took a deep breath, before checking the magazine of my pistol and getting out.
​
I wasn’t going to charge in needlessly… but I needed to have eyes on this situation. It’d be easier if I could get closer on foot. Leaving my car behind, I dipped into the woods along the other side of the road, letting them hide me as I walked back along the road toward the ambush.
​
The river whispered beside me as I crept through the trees, and the steep incline leading down toward the river helped keep me low and hidden from sight.
​
I could see the flashing white lights of the parked Audi, and watched as they suddenly went dark. Red Beard was speaking into a walkie talkie, and on the far side of the road, I could see several men waiting by the five parked Audi’s. This time, they had guns. Assault rifles, by the looks of it.
​
I was right. There was another attack coming and it was coming now.
“Fish market’s on the move, gentlemen. Put out the nets!” Red Beard said.
​
On his order, I watched one of the men pull the spike strip across the road, while Red Beard addressed the men on the far side of the road. He spoke like a drill instructor and the men he addressed carried themselves like soldiers.
“As of right now, we are locked in on this operation! We run things smooth, we run it clean, we get the job done. No mistakes like last time! No stragglers! Understood?”
“Sir yes sir!” Came a familiar chorus.
​
After a few minutes, headlights appeared further down the road. I watched them from my vantage point, praying they belonged to Biggs. But the oncoming vehicle was too big to be a squad car. This looked more like an RV.
​
No…
​
This was a whole convoy of RV’s. Most likely coming from River Ridge.
​
I couldn’t count them all, but they were all heading towards the ambush… and that was when the pieces slowly began to click into place.
​
Kayley, the girl who’d survived… the girl the people at Red Rooster had been able to ID. She’d lived at River Ridge. If she and her friend from the other night weren’t human… then there was a damn good chance that there were others just like them there. Other women with gills. I guess River Ridge would be the perfect place for them… it was quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown and close to the water. Whatever these people were… it’d just about be the perfect place for them.
‘Fish market’s on the move.’
​
That’s what Red Beard had said.
​
The other killings hadn’t exactly been low key… if there were more girls like Kayley at River Ridge, odds are they’d heard about them. And odds are that once they realized they were being targeted too, their first instinct would be to get the hell out of dodge. That would explain why they were carrying out this attack in broad daylight too. They weren’t going off of their own schedule, they were trying to catch the monsters as they fled. And now their targets were here… drawing closer and closer to their massacre with each passing second.
​
There was no sign of Biggs or anyone else. They still had to be at least fifteen minutes out… probably more.. By the time they got here, the shooting would probably already be over.
​
I couldn’t let that happen.
​
For the record - I knew that what I was about to do was extraordinarily stupid, but I didn’t see a whole lot of other options. I couldn’t allow them to ambush those RV’s. I couldn’t. I didn’t really stop to weigh the pros and cons in my head. Sure, I knew that what I was about to do had a chance of survival that was damn near zero… but hey, everyone dies sometime, right? This was the only option I had available to me. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t really even a choice I made. I just did it. I took aim at the nearest target, and I fired.
​
I saw one of the men by the car, the bald one with the scruff grab his shoulder and stumble back a step. He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt. I shot at him again, but he was low enough to the ground and far enough away that I didn’t hit him. He hastily dragged himself off the road and behind the Audi. He still managed to stand, so clearly he wasn’t in that bad a shape.
​
The moment he heard the gunshots, Red Beard spun around, drawing his own pistol as he did. I knew that he saw me. I could see his expression creasing into a scowl the moment he did. Our eyes locked for only a split second before the air was filled with the sound of gunshots.
​
POP. POP. POP.
​
I felt a white hot pain sting across my arm as one of his bullets grazed me, and even though I returned fire I doubt I hit him. Red Beard dove behind his Audi, but behind him I could see his little kill squad moving in.
​
I couldn’t count how many of them there were. More than ten. Fifteen, maybe? Twenty at most? Who could say.
​
I retreated back into the trees, skidding down the forested incline toward the river as I waited for the gunmen to come for me.
“Keep off the road!” Red Beard snarled, “Watch your fire! Wait until you have a shot!”
He must’ve been trying to salvage this operation… Although from where I sat, the RV’s looked to be slowing down. Seems they’d noticed the gunfire.
​
Red Beard glanced in the direction of the RV’s, and I could see the gears in his head spinning. This was all going wrong… but he didn’t seem the type to give up. On the road, the lead RV moved to make a U turn. I could see Red Beard watching it, and took a pot shot at him. It didn’t hit him, but it did shatter the driver's side window of his Audi.
​
Roaring in frustration, Red Beard fired three shots back at me.
“Goddamnit! Fuck it! Squads 1 and 2, kill that son of a bitch! 3 to 5, intercept the convoy, NOW!”
​
I saw some of his men back off, running back to their cars. The rest moved onto the road, coming after me. I fired at them, and I saw one of them stumble back as I shot him dead in the chest. But he didn’t die. He stumbled, but picked himself right back up.
​
Great, they were armored too.
​
I was punished for poking my head out by a burst of machine gun fire. The trees by my head splintered as I dove down into cover. I lost my footing, sliding further down the incline toward the river. The only reason I didn’t fall all the way down was because I caught myself on a tree. Looking up, I could see about eight figures at the top of the incline, coming down off the road. One of them spotted me and opened fire. All I could do was scramble out of the way and roll further down the hill toward the water.
​
Gunfire followed me, but I couldn’t see who was shooting. I couldn’t see where they were. I couldn’t stop to try and get a shot. There were too many of them. I dove down to safety behind a fallen old tree. Bullets rained down on it, tearing off chunks of bark and sending splinters raining down on me.
​
I gripped my gun tight. My blood rushing in my ears. Somehow… I always wondered if I’d die like this. Dug into the dirt, with bullets whizzing past my head. Maybe there wasn’t any other way for me to die? Who’s to say? But I’d be damned if I didn’t take at least one of those bastards down with me.
​
I took a deep breath. Steeled myself for what I was sure was going to be my last stand.
​
Then, gun in hand I rose to return fire.
​
Only when the rifles went off, they weren’t aimed at me.
​
I could see the eight figures standing in between the trees, but they’d turned away from me. They were shooting at something else now, although I couldn’t immediately see what. I just saw a shape, moving between the trees. I heard the ground shift and saw a cloud of dirt fly up. One of the armed men was sent screaming down the incline, into the river. I wasn’t sure if he’d survived the fall or not.
​
One of the other men opened fire, only for the shape to grab his rifle, I saw them force it down, before lunging at his throat. He screamed as they sank their teeth into him, but didn’t seem to be able to put up much of a fight otherwise. Two of his friends opened fire on him, hoping to kill the shape that had him in its grasp. The ground seemed to shift beneath them, sending both of them down the incline and into the river. Within seconds, whoever or whatever the hell this was had just taken out half of the men who were supposed to be killing me.
​
They tossed the man they’d just bitten to the ground and for the first time, I got a good look at my savior. Clementine Di Cesare’s mouth was smeared red with blood. Her sunglasses were absent and in her blue eyes I could see an unsettling calm. As if this wasn’t so much different to her than any other mundane chore.
​
The remaining gunmen seemed to freeze at the sight of her, not seeming to know how to react until Di Cesare moved. She was fast. It was hard to tell if she was running, or if the ground simply shifted beneath her. She lunged for the nearest gunman, kneeing him in the stomach and tossing him aside like he weighed nothing, although while she dealt with him, the man beside him got off a lucky shot.
​
Before Di Cesare could deal with him, he emptied half his magazine into her chest… but she didn’t fall. Hell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. The guy who’d shot her on the other hand?
​
Blood dribbled from his mouth. His body jerked violently as he collapsed to the ground. It was as if he’d been the one who’d gotten shot, not her. Di Cesare barely paid him any mind, regarding the final two men with that eerie calmness.
​
I could see one of them stumbling away, trying to get back up the incline. The other one just gritted his teeth and decided to fight on until the end. He was smart enough to know that shooting her wasn’t going to work, so instead he pulled a combat knife from his jacket and charged at her, as if it would do him any good.
​
Di Cesare barely even reacted. She sidestepped him and casually sent him down the incline into the river below. I saw him tumble down into the river before crashing into the water below with a final scream.
​
Di Cesare watched him fall with a quiet disinterest, before her attention shifted to me. I took a step back, half expecting her to come for me just like she did with the others. Instead, she simply wiped the blood from her mouth before she turned away from me, and headed back up the incline, moving with purpose.
​
I hesitated for a moment before following her. Di Cesare stepped out onto the road and surveyed the scene before her with an intense gaze. Whatever Red Beards plan had been… clearly everything had gone catastrophically wrong. I could see some of the black Audi’s on the road, trying to follow the RV’s, although the one that got the closest to one of the RV’s near the back of the convoy got rammed by it and sent careening off the road.
​
The tires of Red Beard’s Audi screeched as it tore back out onto the road. I saw him behind the wheel, sparing Di Cesare and I a single glance as he took off at top speed. I raised my gun to shoot at him but Di Cesare seized me by the wrist, stopping me from doing so. I looked over at her, confused.
“Let them run,” She said calmly. “We know where they are now.”
​
She looked down the road, back toward the fleeing RVs, and seemed momentarily content. One of the five parked Audi’s, driven by the survivor of the group who’d gone after me sped onto the road and Di Cesare regarded it with quiet disinterest before walking over to the road spikes and beginning to move them.
“Help me with this,” She said coolly.
​
I hesitated for a moment before doing exactly what she asked.
“You called for backup?” She asked, as we dragged the spikes off the road.
“I did,” I said. “Wait, you’re not with them?”
“No,” She replied plainly. We packed away the spikes but left them at the side of the road. Someone else could collect them as evidence. “I was with the RV convoy.”
​
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“You were with them?” I asked. “So you knew about the attack?”
“I knew it was likely,” She said. “Although I didn’t expect you here, Deputy Sawyer,”
She tilted her head at me.
“Working behind my back, I see.”
​
“I was following up on a lead,” I said. “I tracked the vehicle that last night's shooter used to a garage just on the edge of town. I saw some cars leaving and figured it was probably bad news, so I followed them here.”
“I see… you’re quite sedulous, aren’t you?”
“Well I couldn’t exactly sit around given the past few days, could I?” I asked. “What the hell just happened back there, on the incline? How did you… what the hell did you do? I watched someone shoot you, then die of their own gunshot wounds! How the hell did you do that? What the hell are you?”
​
The questions spilled out of me without much thought, although Di Cesare didn’t seem to care much.
“That’s a question with a complicated answer,” Di Cesare replied.
“Uncomplicate it, then!”
“I’m an old soldier, same as you,” She said. “Maybe I know a little bit of magic… maybe I’m not entirely human anymore, but that’s what I am at my core.”
“Vampire…” I said quietly.
She didn’t answer, but there was a look in her eyes that told me I was right. At this point, after seeing what I’d just seen, I wasn’t in much of a state of mind to doubt it.
​
“So that trick with the bullet wounds… was that a vampire thing or a magic thing” I asked.
“Attribution spell,” She said. “Makes me harder to kill. Not a lot gets through it. I’ll tell you what. Give me your car keys, and I’ll answer any questions you have later.”
She extended a hand to me.
​
“I’m sorry, my car keys?” I asked, “Why?!”
“I need to follow the RV’s to make sure they make it out of the county safely. You said you’ve called in backup. You still need to be here for when they arrive. So… I’ll be borrowing your vehicle.”
I hesitated for a moment, before swearing under my breath and handing my keys off to her.
“Do what you’ve got to do…” I said under my breath.
​
She nodded.
“It’ll be returned to you when I’m done, no worse for wear.”
With that, she pushed past me and walked toward my car and all I could really do was just watch. She took my car, and sped off after the RV’s, leaving me in the road to clean up the mess.