As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

ASalaam Alaykom everyone! My Husband and I recently started the Muslim Marriage Podcast where we talk about healthy relationships from a Muslim lens. The first two episodes, the Talking Stage and the First Year are already up, and new ones will be available on Thursdays In Shaa Allah.
I'll post the links below (mod approved). Please feel free to share them with friends and family.
Here is a link to our YouTube Channel:
https://youtube.com/@themuslimmarriagepodcast?si=dMLbKLwSMVAuAKXR
And for Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0xlyjP8qM7mv2YRcdWWmeh?si=G1SlwmgfS8O_KtvY031j4w
All feedback and topic suggestions are welcome!

Hello fellow Deckers,
I love my deck and I use it to play Steam games as well as Epic games.
Recently I was playing an Epic game (Rise of the tomb raider) and reach about ~70% of completion of the game. From times to times, while I was putting the deck on sleep during the game session, at the next fresh launch of the game, the Epic launcher asks me if I want to upload local save to the cloud or sync the current cloud one to local. I always choose Local to Cloud.
Ok so far so good.
Recently, I joined the Steam Family from someone of my family who has the same game but on Steam. I've not downloaded it in my Steam library but I can see it.
Last game session, I tried to save before exiting but no previous saved slot to overwrite appeared as it usually does. I exit the game anyway but the next launch I have an error message saying that it can't find any saved data in steam cloud and that I should create a new profile (which I refused).
Does anyone know how can I retrieved my saved data?
I've tried to go on desktop mode, exit steam, launch epic game store and launch the game but I've the same error..
I use Lutris and launch the game from the Epic Game store (which is annoying, especially with the dock, as it means two splash screens only responsive to touch screen to launch the game but epic gives more often good free games...).
Thank you for your help !

Hi. So my husband (34m) and I (34f) are part of our local church community. My husband plays in the band and recently two other members of the band have broken up -Kyle (20m) and Sophie (21f). Kyle was venting to my husband recently about the situation and told my husband that since they brokeup that Sophie has had a one night stand with another guy. Of course my husband told me and now I’m torn about what to do. I don’t know either Kyle or Sophie particularly well, however Kyle’s whole family attend the church and Sophie now just goes by herself. Given that it’s a church setting, I am concerned about her reputation and her feelings should this information come to light however I also feel it’s not my place to meddle. Obviously if I say anything to Sophie, she will know that Kyle told my husband who told me, and she may feel that she’s the target of gossip, which she may become anyway as Kyle is telling people about her personal business - I feel as they’ve broken up she is free to do what she wants although i might’nt agree with it. I want to say something so she knows to steel herself should anyone else say something. However if Kyle told my husband and no one else and I blab to her then I’ve broken Kyle’s confidence in my husband. I’m just worried about Sophie should this information come out and she is shamed and leaves the church which would be awful for her. Quite torn about the whole situation but I understand ultimately that I have absolutely nothing to do with it

The NYT reported the results of an article in the journal Nature which showed that more than 80% of major modern flowering plant lineages originated in a sudden burst of invention that began around 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic Period. Links to both sources are below:
NYT (free link): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/science/a-new-tree-of-flowering-plants-for-spring-groundbreaking.html
Nature (free link): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07324-0
​

David agreed to organise another search party in the following week, and another in the week after that. It comforted Lee to know he was at least doing something to look out for her, even if she wasn't here to realise it. If he couldn't have Clementine back, something he hated the very thought of, he needed to honour her. Her promises, her legacy, her meaning to him could not be forgotten — and neither could she.
They'd been out looking for hours. Since they set off at first light, the sun had circled in the sky and come back down once again, painting the already orange gates with a golden hue. It was tiresome and their feet ached with the aftermath of walking for miles on end, but it came with the satisfaction of knowing a bed was waiting for them back at the base. Though, he still felt a part of him missing. In a way it was almost like he'd earned the right to have found her, how after all this patience and all this time, shouldn't he be entitled to that payoff now? He walked along with his small group back into the gates, down-trodden. How was he to continue deceiving himself of hope when for all he knew, it was hopeless? That was something he berated himself for even thinking. She had to be out there somewhere, of course she was.
"Open the gates," he called to the person on watch. The large wall of rust and metal creaked, revealing their sanctuary. AJ would be in the nursery, probably colouring wildly on a paper, anticipating just as much as Lee was for when they could retire to their home of the living quarters for a good night's rest.
Ava rushed out of the gate towards Lee in a hurry, not slowing down for a second. "Lee!"
"Hey, Ava. What's-"
"She's back."
He opened his mouth, to exclaim with delight, to ask where she was, maybe to burst into tears — everything, every sound and colour, seemed to jump into existence all of a sudden. His legs weren't worn down with fatigue any longer, and they called for him to start running. Where to, he didn't know, but he needed to see where she was. That's when he heard her voice again, something he realised was a greater privilege than he ever remembered, and stopped in his tracks.
"Lee." Clementine appeared behind Ava, leaning out to look at him. She looked at him with her eyes wide, her mouth that opened in shock turning into a wide grin. She ran towards him and enveloped him in a hug.
"You're back! You're okay, sweetpea!" He said, the words sounding imaginary even to him. "I missed you, Clem. I was so worried about what happened while you were gone. You- you've grown a bit taller." He could hardly believe his eyes, but they didn't lie or show any falsities: just, for once, the light in his reality. Ava smiled at the two of them, crossing her arms comfortably.
Clementine laughed, pricks of teardrops forming in the corners of her eyes. "I tried to get back to you so many times. I- There was so much going on. I didn't know what to do, I-" She hugged him again, burying her head in his shirt to mask her tears. "They said AJ's okay. He's going to be okay, Lee. He'll live." Her voice was muffled and shaky but pitched with glee, with relief and with joy. It appeared she was in just as much disbelief as well.
"I know, Clem. He's better now. They helped him."
"About time," she said quietly, though she smiled.
"Let's go inside the gates, come on. How did you get here? Did you have any help?" he asked, a million thoughts swimming through his mind.
She nodded. “I found people who wanted to help. Lots of people. The ones I came here with were put into quarantine for bites — they only let me out here because they knew you were looking for me.” Then she stopped in her tracks, both taking the time to survey the surroundings and glance at Lee. “You never stopped?”
“Never.”
Clementine grinned up at him. "I knew you wouldn't." Her smile then faded, but the glimmer in her eyes remained: whatever she was troubled by, she seemed to hold onto some hope, or at least she did now that Lee was there. "Lee, I have to talk to you."
"What's going on? Is something wrong?" He watched for her reaction cautiously. When she didn't move, he asked again. "Are you in danger?"
She shook her head and began walking further away, slowly down the unfamiliar streets of New Richmond. "Not here. We need to go somewhere quiet."
Something in Lee felt disturbed again. It should all be over by now, with Clementine reunited with him and AJ better than ever. By all means, they shouldn't have any more problems to deal with. Sure it was unrealistic, but hadn't they earned the right? It was like danger was hanging over his shoulder, eyeing his every move and ready to step in.
"Let's go to the nursery, okay? No-one should be around to hear us around now, and besides, you should see him." He placed his hand on Clementine's shoulder, kneeling down to her level. "He’s really missed you, you know."
"He- he did?" She whispered. The smile on her face revealed she had no doubt he would feel otherwise, but just hearing this was like the first melodic tune after a lifetime of silence.
He nodded.
She rubbed hastily at her eyes again. "Take me to him, please."
...
She sniffled, masking the tears she was choking back as she looked down upon a sleeping AJ inside a crib. "I never would've thought...I mean, even you, I thought we might never get to see each-other again. But I was always so scared for AJ. I knew you could handle things, but he was- he's so little, Lee. I didn't know if he could take much more." The drops cascaded down her face, and she turned her head sharply towards the ceiling to stop them from falling. She breathed in deeply and looked back at the toddler one more time. "My little goofball."
"He was tough."
"That's for sure."
"Lingard helped us out."
Her head propped up again and she wore an intense expression. "He did?"
"Of course he did. He found more antibiotics, and he's going to be taking them for a few more weeks, and..." He stopped himself when he noticed her silence. It wasn't unlike her, but this was a different kind, the kind that silences even those outside of it. "I know you have your issues with what happened, Clem, and so do I — but he really did help. AJ is better now."
She shifted uncomfortably.
"Lingard is a good man," Lee continued.
"I'm not saying he wasn't. But Lee," she said, eyes darting to each side in turn. "We cannot trust them."
He looked confused. "What?" Just as he had begun to fully trust them, maybe more than he ever had in the time he had been with them, it came crashing down like it had before on that night of the plan. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
Clementine straightened herself up, preparing herself to explain. "I didn't leave for no reason, and it wasn't by choice. Joan forced me to leave."
"Joan forced you? Clem, are you sure-"
"I wouldn't lie to you, Lee!" she defended.
He held up his arms to ease her. "I know that. I'm just saying that if Joan wanted you gone then how come she's allowing you to walk free now?"
"I haven't seen Joan yet, and I don't think she knows I'm here, but I'm betting she's going to have something up her sleeve for when she finds out." Clementine rolled her eyes at the thought of the woman leading communications, being one of two council leaders she wasn't afraid to show her distaste for. "There's a lot that happened while I was gone. I didn't come here all by myself, for starters. I came with a group."
"Where are they?"
"They're getting quarantined somewhere, but I don't know where it is. I found them in a town called Prescott, and things got a little complicated along the way."
Lee had questions upon questions inside his head. "How so? I thought Prescott was a good town; they helped us out with supplies just a few days ago. Are you in trouble with them?"
She looked him directly in the eye, lowering her voice again. "No, Lee. They're in trouble with us. Prescott was raided by the New Frontier and burnt the place to the ground — one of the men I'm with, Javi, had his niece murdered, and we have a woman shot in the stomach. That's why I told them to come back here, to get her medical help."
At last, something at least seemed to ring a bell. "Javi and Kate?" He'd heard those names before. "They're-"
"David's brother and wife. We all met outside the gates." She nodded, a bitterness taking over her countenance. "I thought with his family in a state like this, he wouldn't turn us away. I still haven't forgotten about what he tried to do before I left. Besides, I came back because I knew that if you were still out there, you needed to know the truth about the others."
"Others?"
"I don't trust anyone in the New Frontier except you, Lee. The men who attacked Prescott are up to something, and we need to figure out what's going on."
"Slow down, Clem. I don't doubt you, I think something is going on, but not everyone might be involved. Ava and Paul have always looked out for us. Even David-"
"You think you can trust David? He's the last person I want to be around. I'm sure he's got something to do with all of this. We could've lost AJ forever because of him."
Lee rested his back against the wall in defeat. "Clem, this is a lot to take in."
She nodded, but still looked impatient. "I don't want to play it safe anymore, Lee. We have AJ safe and sound, we can leave right now."
"If you're right about people working against us in the New Frontier, then they'll spot us running off a mile away. I’m gonna take us to your group, okay? I need to talk with them."

"Euron's gifts are poisoned". We first hear this phrase after the Ironborn take the Shield Islands:

Victarion had expected the Crow's Eye to give the lordships to his own creatures, Stonehand and the Red Oarsman and Left-Hand Lucas Codd. A king must needs be open-handed, he tried to tell himself, but another voice whispered, Euron's gifts are poisoned.
When he turned it over in his head, he saw it plain. The Knight was the Reader's chosen heir, and Andrik the Unsmiling the strong right arm of Dunstan Drumm. Volmark is a callow boy, but he has Black Harren's blood in him through his mother. And the Barber . . .

So it seems like Euron can't keep the islands and just wants undermine his rivals by giving it to their most leal men, something which Euron himself later admits:

“Your victories are hollow. You cannot hold the Shields.”
“Why should I want to hold them?” His brother’s smiling eye glittered in the lantern light, blue and bold and full of malice. “The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand, and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts.”

House Harlaw

So why in the world did Rodrik the Reader, probably the smartest Ironborn out there, go along with it? He definitely noticed the scheme, as his conversation with Nute the Barber indicates:

Nute laughed. “What rose can harm the krakens of the deep? We have taken their shields from them, and smashed them all to pieces. Who will protect them now?”
“Highgarden,” replied the Reader. “Soon enough all the power of the Reach will be marshaled against us, Barber, and then you may learn that some roses have steel thorns.”

Well, one thing to note is that the Harlaws took Greyshield in an unusual way. It was taken by Ser Harras Harlaw, the chosen heir of Rodrik the Reader. He took the whole island by himself:

"The Knight took Grimston by himself. He planted his standard beneath the castle and defied the Grimms to face him. One did, and then another, and another. He slew them all... well, near enough, two yielded. When the seventh man went down, Lord Grimm’s septon decided the gods had spoken and surrendered the castle.”

This method of conquest, with minimal loss of life, stands in stark contrast to typical Ironborn plunder, rape and kill tactics. We don't know exactly what happened on the other islands, but it must've been much much worse, given we have scenes like:

The streets were strewn with corpses, each with a small flock of carrion crows in attendance.

and

At some point Left-Hand Lucas Codd decided he wanted one of Lord Hewett’s daughters, so he took her on a table whilst her sisters screamed and sobbed.

The Lords of the other islands were either killed (Lord Humfrey Hewett and Lord Moribald Chester) or had to flee after their son and heir was killed (Lord Osbert Serry), meanwhile Lord Guthor Grimm is merely captured.
And that's not the only way he distinguishes himself from the other ironborn. He’s a knight, which is virtually unheard of on the Iron Islands because they don't follow the Faith, earning him the nickname "the Knight". Given that he is half andal (his mother is a Serrett) and proud of it (he quarters his shield with the Serrett, Harlaw sigil) and given his status as a knight, it stands to reason that he probably follows the faith of the seven. Rodrik is very tolerant of the Faith and greenlander customs himself. He even had a septon on his island to attend to his books. And he explicitly rejects the Old Way:

The Old Way died with Black Harren

House Grimm

It's interesting that of the four islands, the Harlaws chose to attack Greyshield. The name Greyshield reminds us of Greyiron, Greyjoy and the Grey King. While the name Grimm is also reminiscent of the ironborn. The only characters with that epithet in our present day story are Grimtongue (one of the crew on Asha Greyjoy's ship Black Wind) and Gelmarr the Grim (an ironborn raider in Theon's crew). Not to mention that linguistically it fits right in with other Ironborn houses: House Sparr, House Drumm, House Grimm.
The sigil of house Grimm depicts an iron shield and longships. Iron is of course associated with the ironborn and iron islands and the longships are the chosen ships of the ironborn. The only other houses with longships on their sigil are House Farwynd and House Hoare, both Ironborn. Not to mention that historically Torgon Greyiron used Greyshield as his stronghold.
So it seems like House Grimm has some ironborn roots, but they're definitely followers of the faith since they have a septon who even has the ability to surrender the island.
Now I don't expect the average Ironborn to know this, but given Rodrik's intelligence and love of reading, it's safe to assume that he probably knew this or at least pieced it together before they attacked the Shield Islands.

How the Harlaws can keep it

Like House Grimm, Harras follows the faith (or at least he was knighted by the faith), and has both ironborn and andal roots, which he explicitly shows on his personal sigil. He also went out of his way to kill as few people as possible and not kill the current Lord. He also has the benefit of contrast as the other Ironborn are being total maniacs around him, making him seem even more gallant by comparison.
Furthermore, he can truthfully explain that he and his family voted against this raid, and just wanted peace and more integration with the mainland in general.
There's also still the possibility of a marriage pact. We don't know the family tree of House Grimm. If Lord Grimm is single/widowed he could be married to an older Harlaw (e.g. Gwynesse Harlaw) who can't have children. This would make Harras still the future Lord, but makes it more peaceful and eases the transition. Other Harlaws can also be married, like Boremund's sons, or Sigfryd's grandsons, but Harras himself is also single. He's also the heir to Harlaw and has a Valyrian steel sword. If he decides to marry a Grimm, this would definitely not be a bad match for House Grimm.
I think that when the Reach attacks the Shield Islands, and Lord Grimm is confronted with the possibility of

1. Having a lengthy fight in which many men will die and many of his ships and infrastructure will be destroyed, while simultaneously risking being executed as a hostage. Or...
2. Not having any of that while also having a marriage pact with a strong house (e.g. marrying his daughter to a strong, gallant, culturally similar, valyrian steel wielding heir to one of the most powerful houses in Westeros)

He will pick the second option.
Harras might even fight against another ironborn when the Reach arrives. He would probably prefer to not fight against Maron Volmark, since house Volmark is sworn to house Harlaw, but the other two aren't even of a noble house. Lord Serry has fled and can still make a claim on Southshield, so (assuming that Serry isn't too old to have another heir, and there's no Serry that Harras could marry to a Harlaw) it would be best to attack Nute the Barber on Oakenshield. Given that Nute is very dumb it would be trivially easy to fabricate a conflict with him if Harras doesn't want to be seen as an opportunistic backstabber by the other Ironborn.
It's explicitly stated that the people of the shields often intermarry:

The men of the Four Shields oft married one another, he knew, just as the ironborn did.

So if a lot of nobles were indeed raped and killed, as we have every reason to believe, then maybe someone of house Grimm could be heir to other islands. If Harras marries (or brokers marriages between house Grimm and house Harlaw) and then liberates them, house Harlaw could even stand to gain two or more islands. Looks like Euron's gift wasn't nearly poisonous enough.

My SIL can from a family of all boys, I think this has started the problem. To be blunt she really wanted to be siblings with me and my sister and it was really uncomfortable. It was constant invites to hangout and constant texting. Stomping over boundaries like not using my name, very grabby, wanting to discuss topics that I don’t even discuss with my sister and so on. We have talked to her before and my brother and it doesn’t help
Really it made me super uncomfortable and did the same with my sister. We are both busy people, my sister is in the middle of her masters and I am working a ton. We do not have much free time and we wanted to hangout.
We were just going to grab dinner and watch a movie. I got a call from my SIL asking what time for dinner. I asked what she meant and she told me it was the sister hangout. I asked how she knew about it and my brother mentioned it in passing. I told her this is just for me and my sister. She told me that I was her sister and asked for the time. This went back and forth a few times.
I eat fed up that she kept inviting herself and told her that she is not my sister and she is not invited.
I got a call from my brother calling me a jerk and I need to apologize

Gullible-Soft-8628:
Dec 18, 2022

Lower back pain related to PVPS? Same side as my bad ball with epididymis inflamed with fluid .. every so often I get lower back and abdomen pain. Is it related or do I just suck?

I had same thing, very related. I recommend NO Vasectomy, and get a reversal ASAP. I am 3+ months post reversal, 95% relief from pain, 100% relief from brain fog and low drive issues.
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/yvgw6x/lower_back_pain_related_to_pvps/j0sb6f1/
I recommend a reversal ASAP. Dr Hickman recommended minimum of 6 month wait. Heavy, congested feeling, orgasms were pitiful, brain fog, low back pain. Had a reversal September, as of Dec 18, 95% pain relief and feel continuing improvement. Brain fog gone, orgasms back to normal, drive is good again. I recommend Dr Hickman from New Braunfels TX. Professional and economical, $3200 versus the 8 to 10k that most of the others will charge
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/znmezh/how_long_would_you_wait_post_vasectomy_to/j0sc7wz/
Another testimony... I suffered 6 months until i got the reversal. I am 3+ months post-reversal. Thank God I am Almost 100% pain-free, much better frame of mind, back to jogging, cycling, and hiking with my family. I know this isn't the cure for everyone, but it would definitely be my first choice.
Be prepared for roller-coaster healing process though, the first 2 months post reversal were rough, up and down, but its leveled out big time.
Don't give up hope, there's better days ahead
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/zfad7z/deleted_by_usej0sdbb1/
Highly recommend a reversal asap if you're having pvps, its the best chance to get back to original. Vasectomy is a disaster, don't do it, its not worth the risk
https://www.reddit.com/queensland/comments/zlfdg9/metrocentre_vasectomy_redoreversal_for_pvps/j0ws43
Back to jogging, lifting, playing with my children, etc.
https://www.reddit.com/queensland/comments/zlfdg9/metrocentre_vasectomy_redoreversal_for_pvps/j0wsg91/
I second the recommendation to NOT perform surgery on genitals... too many nerve endings down there
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/vccbzq/pvps_for_years_now_and_still_pain_post_reversal/j0wu2q6/
Maybe some can handle the pvps better than I could, it was devastating. Not many people write back in on blogs like this after-the-fact, you just happy to get beyond. Life can get back to normal. Its condoms and all that again, but 1000 x rather this than live with depression, pain, and a 10lb weight between my legs. A reversal was a lot of ups and downs the first 2 months for me, but thank God I'm living pain free and feeling terrific at 3 months post... If you need to wait a while, hang in there, better days ahead!
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/znmezh/how_long_would_you_wait_post_vasectomy_to/j11lxud/
I can post a positive. Had pvps kick in at 2 months. I hung on doing exercises, antibiotics, everything 'conservative' in the books with no success. Had a reversal at 6 months, September 2022, am feeling 100% better. I know its not 100% for everyone, but its the best bet, get things back to as 'original' as possible. Lots of ups and downs the first 2 to 3 months post reversal, but never as bad as the pvps
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/zep1fx/did_a_reversal_make_your_pain_worse/j11n86s/
Real results are closer 1 in 20 will suffer pvps. I had a reversal 6 months later... 6 months of sheer misery. If you are the 1, it will ruin your life. Look up the pvps blogs on reddit, PVPS is VERY UNDERRATED. But then again 19 out of 20 get away with it and are super happy. your choice, but most vasectomy doctors won't tell you the real risks
https://www.reddit.com/Vasectomy/comments/zkmcxu/have_consult_scheduled_this_week_but_pvps_odds_of/j11p6i3/
Dr Marks has good referrals. Dr Hickman in New Braunfels Texas did my reversal, very happy with his work. 3+ months post reversal and pretty much back to normal, thank God.
Dont figure on pvps going away on its own, never heard of it getting better by itself. But maybe there are some who don't write about it
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/yonicu/does_anyone_have_pvps_like_this/j11q2qe/
Pvps pain was bottom of testicles radiating up in to abdomen. Days of laying in bed, couldn't walk at times, heavy, congested feeling, lots of brain fog and depression.
Reversal pain was Swelling, bruising, like the inside of the whole scrotum was sore when i moved. That pain took a month to leave. Then i had the heavy congested feelings from time to time, but less each time and further apart. Almost like the congested epididymus took time to empty out?? I don't know. I'm still tender at 3.5 months, had 3 long days on the road this past week and today i had to take ibuprofen to keep going. But this is the first pain in weeks, the trend is definitly going right at this point... still praying for 100% healing but much better than pre-reversal. But i'm just one story... wish you the best
https://www.reddit.com/postvasectomypain/comments/zep1fx/did_a_reversal_make_your_pain_worse/j1f5xxa/
Metadata:
ID: 3868d1b7
Name: Gullible-Soft-8628
Vasectomy Date: 2022-03
Source: reddit
Posted: 2022-12-18
Location: USA
Storycodes: LTP,SGR,LL,OTR,DC,PYH
Reversal Date: 2022-09
Months: 8
Resolved: Yes

My IB exams will be over tomorrow (it’s listening Dw). Here’s my take for future students. IB is not worth doing, I will try to include all the popular aspects— could be useful for parents and students interested.

1. Cost

Let’s be real. IB is hella expensive with little to no ROI for its worth. I spent 15lakhs (almost $15,000) inr for 2 years while my friend doing a different program spent 2lakhs inr ($2000) (can be more cheaper). And now we both are going through a similasame college process for international.

1. Credits

Let’s be real you can just take IB exams for IB certificates and get IB credits. If you’re doing JEE you guys already cover more than our syllabus except for options, which are relatively easier. Just check in with your current program and IB to see if the syllabus is similar—at most they are the same.

1. Prestige

If you’re going in IB for prestige you’ll make a big fool of yourself. Yes I know with time management you can do everything, the reality is NO. You’ll see your friends completing their 12th way before you (in my case it happened not sure about others) the only prestige you’ll feel is for those 2 years you can tell yourself you did the IB but no one will care.

1. Mental health

Well all subreddits related to IB cover this no need to go through it again but yes not worth it. Much better with other programs

1. Ease into first year

Okay let’s be honest here. You will know how to do an academic report better than the rest, you will nail your first year. What’s next? A person who hasn’t done the IB will soon get to your level after 1-2 semester. Then what? Did you honestly pay $15,000 for “easing into university” which already costs multiple life savings? Just do an online course on academic report in summer (can be free if you’re smart) and you’re better off than us.

1. bETtEr tImE ManAgemEnt sKillS

Bro stfu. Are you seriously paying so much to learn time management? All I see when people are arguing about why you should do IB is that it forces you to manage your time. What kind of a lame argument is that? You utilize time management, for that matter all skills, in your daily life. Want to improve time management? Do school, join sports, start an NGO/clubs— there time management cheaper than IB.

1. Universities prefer IB students more

Okay no. That’s just a marketing scheme and sadly I was caught in it. Do you really think a university will prefer one program over the other? Discriminating against the fortunate and the unfortunate? Please don’t be like me and fall into this trap, schools and IB only want your money, for that matter all programs in this world, Education is a business please get that through your head. My own university says that we compare IB students against IB STUDENTS, so what’s the point?
Ofcourse there are more reasons and ofcourse I might be wrong in some. I would do the IB again if there is more ROI to it, for now there isn’t. I would have saved a lot of mental and financial stress both for my family and myself if I didn’t do the IB. I truly regret taking this program not because it was hard but how unnecessary it was.

I’ve always been really into ghost stories, or urban legends in general. The White Lady, haunted dolls, vampires, black eyed children, that kind of stuff. I know that, today, people my age aren’t big fans of that kind of horror anymore, preferring it things like the Backrooms, analog horror, all the new kinds of scary media. Honestly, I get it, things do need to evolve, and when we see everything that’s happening in the world, it’s understandable that a good old ghost story don’t do the job anymore.

Still, the “old fashioned” horror (it’s not that old, but things move fast on the internet) is always my jam. I grew up watching youtubers investigating haunted places, ghost hunting, with all their accessories, EMF meters, their little radio thing that they use to listen to radio frequencies so that they can hear any interference, their antenna that beeps when something approaches it, voice recorders, special flashlights, and let me tell you that all this, it was doing it for me.

So, since my, probably 7 years, I dreamt of doing these things myself. Of course, I tried everything a young boy is able to do, like Ouija or stupidly walking around my house with my phone filming, hoping that some random deceased person with unfinished business will show up to, I don’t know, have a chat. I wish I could say that other people’s judgement doesn’t affect me, but that would be a lie, so, going in to high school, I had to socially tone down my interest for those things in order to have friends. None of my friends and classmates knew about my persisting passion for ghosts and creepy stories.

I realize that keeping this such a secret is a bit ridiculous, especially approaching my 18^th birthday, but, you know, it would be even weirder to reveal it after hiding it for almost 6 years like it was something super taboo. So here I was, I started hiding my passion at 12 to avoid other’s judging it, and I’m now still hiding it at 17 to avoid others judging the fact that I hid it… A bit pathetic I got to admit.

Anyway, everything started a few days ago. I have an art history class at school and the teacher really likes to give us big works of research. This time, he had a new idea, the whole class will be divided into groups of two, and each group will receive a building from our city that the teacher had choose for his architectural and artistic interests, and we’ll have to give it a visit and write an analysis on the different things we’ll notice and link it to what we saw in class. Since all the buildings were not public places, he had asked the authorization of every property’s owner.

Honestly, this could have been worse. This actually sounded kinda cool to do. Now, what I was concerned about was who will be my partner. Obviously, I was hoping for one of my friends. After explaining the rules and exact instructions for the work, he started to announce the groups. I was waiting to hear my name, anxious, as all my friends were slowly starting to be put into their groups.

“Joshua!” The teacher said (yeah that’s my name). “You will be with…” I was holding on to my chair. “… Elizabeth!”

I turned to Elizabeth, and we looked at each other. Neither one of us seemed excited. It wasn’t a terrible pair, I thought to myself, I just didn’t know what to think of it exactly. Elizabeth was a pretty popular girl, not that I was an outcast or anything, but she was still way more popular than me. I didn’t know much more about her, despite the fact that we were in the same class since my first year of high school, but it looked like she was going to be an okay partner.

The teacher then gave us our building. I won’t reveal the real name of what he gave us so I’ll call it “Guaraldi’s Street 22”. Apparently, it was a pretty old house that had somewhat of an historic value to it. The teacher gave us some information so we wouldn’t stumble there without any prior knowledge. The owner was an old woman who had always lived there. She was apparently very glad to open her doors to young students and was ready to answer any questions we could have. He warned us that she had a weak audition and that we would have to speak loudly. The teacher then recommended us to do a little bit of research before going there, so we could already have some idea of where we were entering.

I then found myself in front of Elizabeth. I think the last time we even talked to each other was months ago when she was distributing a test to the class and that I said “Thanks”, so, yeah, not a lot of background. I noticed, and I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never paid much attention to her, that she was dressed in kind of an old style, she wore some clearly used dungarees. The date the teacher had scheduled for our visit was on Sunday, and we were Thursday.

“So, hum, I guess, we can both do research on our side, and we’ll meet, maybe at lunch break tomorrow to get on the same page. Is that good for you?” She asked me.

“Yeah, that’s good, we can do that.”

“Okay, then, see you tomorrow.” She said.

“See you.”

On that she turned her feet and left for her break. The rest of the day went by and I got back home. As usual, my mom wasn’t there, she often has to work late as she’s a single mom to me and my little sister Rosa. I ate my diner and went to my room. I opened my computer to start my research. It wasn’t hard to find information, even though things were repeating themselves a lot: “so much historical meaning for the city”, “a perfect example of “art-deco” architecture”, “a house filled with stories”. There was a lot of talk by local medias about it, but not much actual facts.

It was so weak, that I had to go to page 2 of the search results on google, or, as I like to call them, “the abyss of the internet” (I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not often that you have to go there).
Then, something caught my eyes. It was a forum about paranormal experiences, and the address was mentioned on a post. I immediately clicked on it and read the whole thing. It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling story I’ve read, but here’s what it basically said.

Apparently, the owner opened the house as a cottage during the summer, and the person posting was narrating what he experienced during his passage there. He described a very special and kinda suffocating vibe that was apparently all around the house, and the feeling of being observed all the time. He also talked about hearing voices at random moments. They were brief but often mentioned his name. The end of his testimony talked about his last night, when he said he saw a little child with no facial expression in front of his bed, who slowly started to climb into it and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him outside of his bed. The poster said he eventually succeeded to push the kid away, despite his unreal strength, and that the boy ended up running out of the room, laughing. When he spoke to the owner about it the next morning, she said that it must have been his imagination playing tricks on him, as she didn’t believe in paranormal and that nothing similar ever happened to her.

This wasn’t much, it could have been a complete lie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my curiosity. The story was as basic as it could be, but it was so specific for it to happen in that place, which was absolutely not famous, and even less for any paranormal events. I kept that in the back of my mind and continued my research, but I didn’t find much more, so I went to sleep.

As I was lying in my bed, I was thinking. What if the person who posted his story said the truth. This was the first time I was going to enter somewhere that old and charged with history, this could be the perfect place for my first ghost-hunt. But of course, I was going for school and won’t be alone, plus, it’s not really respectful to the owner, who kindly opened the doors of her family house to us. And even if I wanted to, I’d be constantly with Elizabeth, so, it was not really an option. I looked at the EMF meter I received for a birthday on my shelf and thought to myself that this would be for another time.

The next day, as planned, I met with Elizabeth at lunch break. We started to share the results of our research, where I did not include the post from the forum for obvious reasons. We talked a bit before coming to a clear conclusion.

“Yeah, the thing is, we have the same exact stuff, there isn’t much interesting infos to be found online, except very surface level stuff.” She said.

“Yes, I think we should prepare the questions we want to ask the owner instead.” I answered.

“You’re right, do you think you can have yours for Sunday?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

We exchanged a bit more and eventually went back to class.

On Saturday, I prepared a few questions to ask the owner.

Then came today, Sunday. The meeting was planned at 11AM. I woke up normally, took a breakfast, got dressed, everything. Before leaving my room, I took one last look at the room and I saw my EMF meter. It was like he was begging me to take him. I grabbed it and left. I didn’t know if I would actually use it, but I had it. It had an option where instead of lighting the small lamps he was vibrating, so I activated that and put it in my pocket.

I arrived at the house and Elizabeth was already waiting for me. We knocked and we could hear the owner walking towards the door saying “Yes, yes, just a second.” She opened and she looked like the sweetest thing ever. She was short and had a naturally kind face. We could see that she was clearly dressed and make up for the occasion. She welcomed us and let us in happily. The hallway was very pretty, I understood why our teacher got us this house, it was indeed very interesting. The walls were covered with paintings and old pictures, mostly portraits. On everyone of these, the people had a very serious look, but that’s not unusual for old pictures.

We walked to the living room where she served us tea and we sat together.

“So, I think you have some questions for me?” She asked. You could see that she was very glad to talk. “Don’t be shy, I’m open.”

Elizabeth started to ask her first question then I did, and we could ask her everything.

The house was her family’s for many generations, but it hadn’t always been theirs. All the persons in the hallway, paintings or pictures, were previous habitants of the house, and they went as far as the 15th century, so, yeah, it was all pretty old. She said they could only know the identity of some of the first generations but that a lot of the people were non identified. She answered a lot of other questions regarding the architectural and artistic heritage of the building, and she was surprisingly very interesting to listen to. Her enthusiasm and kindness were contagious, and we both couldn’t help but ask more questions.

Eventually, we arrived to the end of our list, and it was time for us to visit, take notes, analyze, all that. She asked us not to touch anything, as a lot of things had a lot of value, but let us wander free in the house. She said she’ll be making cookies for when we’ll be done. Elizabeth and I found ourselves alone in the living room and finished our tea.

“God,… She’s adorable.” Said Elizabeth with a smile.

“Yes, she’s so sweet, I wasn’t expecting that.” I said.

“Let’s, maybe start with there.” She said, pointing to the room besides us.

We got up and entered it. The walls were covered by huge bookshelves. Elizabeth started to take notes, looking at the room, and I started inspecting the books. There was probably a more than a thousand books, and some of them looked super old. I read the titles of some of them, and the least I could say was that it needed to be rearranged. “Cooking Asian Food”, “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince”, some old book with the title erased, and even a CD in the middle, it was a bit random.

We eventually moved on to the hallway. It was a bit oppressing with all those eyes who seemed to observe us. Elizabeth did mention how it felt a bit weird and we started to take notes again. At some point, my look stopped on one painting at the back of the hall. It was a young lady, dressed classically, maybe a bit poorly even, for someone who would have lived there. She was kinda pretty, if I’m being honest. But the reason why it caught my eyes was that it was the only one who was smiling. All the other people represented looked dead serious, but her, she smiled. A sweet, even caring and warm smile. I noticed that it seemed like she was staring at me. Of course, a lot of paintings give that same impression, but it was more intense on her.

My heart skipped a beat. I was sure that I just saw her winked to me. I let out a gasp. I was convinced she winked at me. The vibe went from slightly oppressive to extremely heavy. Then we both heard it.

“Elizabeth.”

An unrecognizable voice had just whispered. Elizabeth turned to me.

“Did you say that?” She asked.

“Elizabeth.”

A younger voice this time. We were facing each other, so we knew it couldn’t be one of us this time, and the owner was in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide and she slowly walked towards me.

“Elizabeth.”

She jumped.

“WHAT THE… fuck?” I let out. We were looking around us.

“Joshua, I don’t like this…”

“Yeah, me neither.”

We were frozen in place, with all the paintings looking right to us.

“Elizabeth.”

That time it was a deep voice, and it came from behind us. We turned. Slowly, all the faces of the paintings and pictures started to clearly move. They were opening their eyes wide and opening their mouths, maintaining their serious, and now even melancholic look.

“Holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck is that, what is it!” Elizabeth was mumbling, panicking as I was starting to breathe faster.

All the people started to say her name together on repeat: “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth…” I turned my head to the painting of the young lady from earlier, and she was the only one that wasn’t moving, still the same smile, she looked at peace.

I don’t remember exactly what I was whispering at that moment, but we were both freaking out.

We heard some scratching noise. Long, dirty hands with sharp nails, almost inhumans, were piercing the pictures and paintings. The eyes of the people were becoming all black, and their jaws were opening more than humanly possible as they kept on repeating her name. The hands were all getting closer from us. We were now touching one another, completely surrounded by those hands. Then, they moved way faster and a lot of them got their nails right into Elizabeth’s skin and pierced it while descending all over her body.

She screamed loudly out of pain. It was a terrifying scream. All the hands got to their pictures and back inside of it while closing what they pierced. Soon, the pictures and paintings were back to normal, but Elizabeth was bleeding from all over her body and was on the floor, crying. I got to her level and tried as much as possible to reassure her, but I wasn’t very effective as I was myself in shock and terrified.
We heard the owner walk towards us.

“What’s happening to you two? I heard screams, are you okay?”

She entered the hallway and saw the scene. She looked completely shocked.

“But what happened?” She asked.

Both of us were unable to answer to her, we had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make us sound crazy, so we just looked at her with whatever faces we were making at that moment. She didn’t wait long and went to take a first aid kid. She sat down and put some bandages all over Elizabeth, as I was reflecting on what happened. When she was done, we both wanted to leave, so we said that we had what we needed for now. She looked sorry and packed some cookies for each of us. As we opened the door to leave, she articulated one last phrase.

“I hope you’ll come back.” She had a look and a tone of sadness. We got out and were now on the street.

We both looked at each other. She was covered in bands, like she got into a huge fight. I started to speak but she lifted her hand.

“Not today. Another one.” She said. “I’ll see you at school.” And she left.

I got on my way too and gave one last look to the house. The old owner was watching me from her window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression was.

I was too tired so I ignored it and went back to my house.

I’m posting this now that I’m back at home. I have no news of Elizabeth, but she did add me on Instagram, so…

I have no idea what I should do now, I have so many questions, so, if anyone has any theories, I’ll take it. I’m also open to questions of course…

State Police handling of cold case raises questions (freep.com)
A yearslong Free Press review of the case is chronicled in the eight-episode podcast “Where Secrets Go to Die: The Disappearance of Derrick Henagan.” Findings include:

• State Police sent cadaver dogs to the home of a former state trooper, David Moeggenborg, to search for Henagan’s remains.
• They lab tested an ax from Moeggenborg's home for blood and fingerprints.
• They redacted police reports under the state Freedom of Information Act, released to the Free Press, about an interview they conducted with Henagan's girlfriend concerning her possible ties to Moeggenborg.
• One outside investigator told the Free Press that the girlfriend, Dyanna Maddox, boasted of having Moeggenborg in her back pocket. Maddox denies any involvement in the disappearance.

The State Police also waited months to examine some evidence and years before interviewing members of Maddox’s family, several of whom struggled to remember timelines.

Hi there! If you are a FFXIV player in need of a home on Hyperion, we'd be thrilled to offer you one!
We are looking to grow our small gathering of like-minded players and friends so that no matter when you log in, you'll have a supportive, relaxed and lighthearted community to interact with at your own pace. We are mostly working adults with families and time limitations, so we like to keep things as light and drama free as possible for the time we do get to spend in-game.
Edge of the Light was established in 2019 and we host a good mix of new and veteran players, some of which have just started playing, while others have been around since 1.0! We generally are a more casual focused FC that run weekly events such as treasure map nights, mount farming, glamour hunting and other group focused shenanigans.
Our approach to recruitment is to see if we fit you and not the other way around! We are hoping to slightly expand our numbers so you'll always find someone to do something with should you choose to, while still retaining that smaller community atmosphere.
While we don't have any playtime or attendance requirements, we are still primarily a social focused FC and expect a reasonable effort at being a part of our community. We understand everyone has different speeds at which they hop out of their shell and energy meters to social interaction and will always do our best to accommodate these things!
Edge also currently owns foggy sunny beachfront property in Mist! Our medium sized Adventurer's Guild-esque house is located in Ward 20 Plot 4, feel free to come and hang out!
We have a dedicated Discord as well! Please take a look at our welcome page there for a listing of our rules and general guidelines. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me in a DM here, in-game (Faeduin Tyr) or on discord @ faeduin. Discord is not required but is heavily encouraged to join Edge of the Light as we organize our events and meet ups there, we are a community first and free company second!

• https://discord.gg/jrk73mGjJd (New members will need to be assigned a role before being able to access any other channels.)

In a FC already or on another server / datacenter and just want more friends to do stuff with? Drop on by anyway and become an Edgy Friend!

So I am 25 now, and I just finished college at 23, today's marks my 2 years after graduating.
Before talking about the problem I think it is better to share some of my life for context. So I was majoring in digital art in japan and mainly learn about anime style art and all the related stuff to the industry, after I graduate I went back to my home country because at the time it was corona and there isnt many (or any tbh because no one in my class manage to land a job)job opening and my portofolio is still pretty bad since basically the college is my first real formal education for art, my high school and junior high art class is basically non existent hence lack of overall quality and mastery too. other reason for going back home is also to be with my parent, and just making my sister burden less because we live with toxic aunt and it is pretty stressful and causes my mom to lashes out sometimes. while my parents is close to 60 they are healthy, and since most artist doing freelance job anyway and I was planning to be freelancer too later on so I am thinking it could work.
And now 2 years passed what I didnt expect is how high is acceptable quality nowadays,hence I still cant make a living as a freelancer but now I am at the point where I understand what choices I have and what kind of quality and art type is needed in the industry nowadays, hence I am starting grinding by posting art as frequent as possible now.
But the aunt toxicity is becoming worse with each passing day, and now every neighbour actually hate us because she says we dont feed her or tend to her need, and everyday keeps on scolding and bully my mom while also making a mess in the house, it is becoming so bad that my dad that works outside the town even got scolded on phone for no reason.(for clarification we paid all the bill for 15 years now and she free to use it, the only thing she paid is her food but since she cant work because of overdose even those we gave her, and yeah her argument we dont give her food is we dont buy her what she wants(mostly super oily and greasy and expensive food)) (As for why we dont kick the aunt out, every other family actually threathen us and says we are asshole if we did so, even though they live with her just for a year and almost divorced with their partner because of her, but when we took her back boom we are the asshole now, so yeah kinda not possible and I tried, but being the 'young ones' basically means I dont have rights)
And everytime my mom wanna vent the main target is always my dad and me, with the main topic is complaint about me still struggling, which starting to get to him mentally, same goes with my aunt and other relatives they did the same too to my dad and me.
Hence because of all the said condition, I am thinking to just move out and getting work in japan company or other places because now my art is on the point where I feel confident is on par with the industry standard, because at this point, although I feel bad to my sister and dad I think with me leaving is actually gonna give a better condition because with that no one knows my situation and it isnt possible to use that to pressure my dad.
Sorry for kinda long post, basically my question is, do you think I am wise in thinking to move out ?because it seems like everyone hates and super salty to me and my dad so I think it is better if I leave so they cant say anything anymore, and also I could have more calm enviroment to live in.

Under contract for a home that is currently being renovated. It's essentially a flip, but I was able to build a list of the things we wanted done and the owner is under contract to deliver those items before we close. (He's a family friend so we are probably making a huge mistake that will ruin friendships, but what's done is done)
We had an inspection after going under contract, but it was pretty weak as much of the key items were under construction and will be reviewed by city inspector. Items noted:
Rotted flasia board/trim in a few places (to be repaired) Radon in basement (to be vented) Few others random things....
Anyway, things that the inspector did not note that I am curious about....the water heater is 11 years old, and I think we'll want to replace it soon. Furnace is 15 years old, but I think it's probably in decent enough shape for the moment. Roof is 12 years old and other than the flascia board (which freaks me out a bit, looks ok)....I am planning for these things to be done in the next 5ish years (roof maybe longer but the rot gives me extreme anexiety)...I am curious about other things that people unexpectedly had to replace that I should plan for. House is having upgraded electrical and plumbing, bunch of trees down and the obvious cosmetic crap (kitchens, bathrooms, basement, etc.)...it's a 1960s build, so it's bulky to some standard technique, but probably has asbestos in joint compound and insulation. (We'll just leave that alone, if possible). Any other oh shits we should be aware of? Thanks!

Bro what even was that lol. One of the 15 mark questions (which have been essay based in every previous paper) asked to draw 2 annotated diagrams to support your answer which is new I guess but I really didn't expect that as it has never been done before. Feel free to share opinions below. I think it was a fun challenge that was unexpected but the wording of the question was a bit confusing making it sound like you were supposed to already have diagrams to use at first, but no you had to draw and annotate them yourself.

Episode 8 - The Peppino Puppet Troupe
^{Episode aired February 22nd, 1976}
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Note to all participants
Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.
Note to all Rewatchers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the anime spoiler tag if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.
—
Staff Highlight
Noriko Tobe (Noriko Ohara) - voice of Conchetta

An actress and voice actress best known for being the voice of Nobita Nobi in the Doraemon franchise and the lead female villains in the Time Bokan franchise —most notably Doronjo in Time Bokan Yatterman. Tobe was a child actress from a young age, having joined a children's theater company, and after graduating high school became a noted TV Drama actress in the early days of commercial broadcasting. Her first voice role was in 1965’s W3 and her first named role was in 1966’s Harris no Kaze. Tobe became a voice actress exclusively after marrying, as it allowed her a less demanding schedule for the purpose of raising children. Her son is noted Sunrise animator Atsuo Tobe. Some of her most notable roles include Conan in Future Boy Conan, Marine in Under The Sea Boy Marine, Oyuki in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Hiyoshi Gou in Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V, Princess Mirenjo in Time Bokan Series: Yattodetaman, Wansa in Wansa-kun, Claudia La Salle in Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Do You Remember Love?, Peter in Heidi, Girl of The Alps, Serge in Kaze to Ki no Uta, Yanyan in Time Bokan Series: Itadakiman, Ryūzu in Galaxy Express 999, Dolphin Prince in Dolphin Prince, and Miime in Captain Harlock: Mystery of the Arcadia.

Daily Trivia

In the original work, no reason is given as to why Marco’s mother needs to go to Argentina, and the rest of his family situation is not elaborated at all.

Screenshot of the day

• ‘I am a man.’

Questions of the Day:
1) What do you think of Peppino and his offer to Marco?
2) What do you make of Marco and Pietro’s argument?
Your job ruined our life.

I’m thinking of switching my family plan from simple to T-mobile and buying four phones (three iPhone 15s and a Samsung flip z5). We spoke with the associate, and everything looks nice, but where’s the catch? With trade-ins, we’d get the z5 for free and the iPhones for $370 each. The associate claimed that the downpayment would be refunded to us in the form of a credit each month. Is it worth it?

Hi guys, thinking about starting making Youtube content
(Mostly about self improvement but with diagram and facts and some humor if possible).
But I noticed that there been too much similar content and I know that to success is to be unique.
Please do help me vote which one is to your liking. If you think my idea is suck and have other opinion, Please do feel free to let me know! Thanks!
1) Whiteboard style teaching (with face)
2) Book drawing style (no face but with hand)
3) Art tablet style (hand and computer screen)
4) TV News anchor style (Im not so sure about this one)