Hey everyone! I thought I'd repost this on my new profile (previously u/-Legal-Eagle-) for your reference before it is removed from my old profile. Also, if you find my advice useful, please check out my profile for more advice or tutoring services. Feel free to comment or DM me if you need anything.
With my LSAT and law school admissions journey complete, I wanted to take the time to share my journey and hopefully provide some useful tips along the way. I'm sure you will have heard a lot of what I am about to say a thousand times over, but I thought it might be useful to provide a holistic and comprehensive guide that attempts to bring together some of the best advice that I have picked up throughout this process.
Also, this is meant for anyone and everyone including those who haven't even began to think about the LSAT and those with multiple official exams already under their belt. I am going to use some more specific LSAT jargon meant for those with some familiarity with the test, but there will be many general tips for everyone scattered throughout.
I would like to preface by saying that this is largely based on my own personal experience self-studying, tutoring, and working with others. Please consult with many different sources and do your due diligence as you consider each tip I provide. Without further ado, here is my humble attempt at a guide to the LSAT.
When I first began the LSAT grind, I scored in the low 150s on my diagnostic exam, and while this was disheartening at first, I eventually achieved an official exam score of 174 after approximately 5 months of studying. Since I self-studied for the large majority of my journey, I found myself running into various obstacles and having to continuously refine my roadmap to success. Rather than go through the same process of trial and error that I went through, here is the roadmap outline that I would follow if I were to start all over again from blind diagnostic to test day success:
1. Start with a BLIND Diagnostic Exam:
While this might seem quite obvious to the more experienced of you, many beginners, including myself at the start of this process, do not know where to begin and might be stuck in a paradox of choice. The best way to get started is to take a completely blind practice exam. Try not to expose yourself to any LSAT study materials beforehand and go into the diagnostic exam knowing as little about the exam as possible. You might be tempted to study beforehand to avoid the disappointment of a low diagnostic score, but you must resist this temptation to avoid any misguided preconceptions or bad habits. Through this diagnostic, you will be able to truly identify your foundational strengths and weaknesses which you could and should revisit throughout your studying journey.
2. Decide on your plan of attack:
A mistake that many beginners make after deciding to take the LSAT is jumping into studying without having a structured and thoughtful plan, leading to inefficiencies, lack of focus, and inconsistency. One of the most important factors of success on this exam is the formation of good habits, and you cannot form good habits without a consistent, efficient, and disciplined study plan. There is no one size fits all approach to studying for this exam. However, here are some questions you should ask yourself to find the right plan for you:
What is your goal score? Your answer to this question depends on your long-term goals. Research which law schools would be most suitable for you based on their location, employment data, faculty, administration, student groups, journals, etc. After you put together a tentative list of law schools, look up what their median GPA and median LSAT is for their most recent enrolled class. If your undergraduate GPA (and law schools mainly care about your undergraduate GPA, so do not include any further education) is below their median GPA, then you should probably aim to surpass their median LSAT by at least a few points. However, if your undergraduate GPA is at or above their median GPA, then you should still aim to surpass their median LSAT, but you will still be in a strong position if you score at their median LSAT. After this research, you should have a goal score range by which you can gauge your progress and adjust your studying.
What is your timeline for taking the exam? Setting a timeline for your studying is important to staying focused and disciplined. Decide on which official exam you will be sitting for and then make a study schedule that allows for at least 150-300 hours of studying leading up to the exam. For example, if you are planning to take the August exam, you have approximately 13 weeks to study. Hence, you should dedicate yourself to studying 15-25 hours per week until the exam. Of course, the number of total hours you study depends on your diagnostic score and your goal score, as well as how quickly you progress while studying. If you find that halfway through your study schedule, your score has not substantially improved or you still have to make significant progress to reach your goal score, you may decide to ramp up your study time to 30 hours per week. The most important step here is that you commit to consistent study time, and that you remain flexible as you gauge your progress throughout the journey.
What learning styles/mediums work best for you? This is a matter of both preference and accessibility. Not all learning resources are equally available to everyone. However, many learning programs and materials are becoming increasingly affordable, giving everyone at least some choice in their method of study. Most importantly, you should do research into what your options are and weigh them accordingly. There are a variety of LSAT books available both new and used including but not limited to the LSAT Trainer, the Loophole, and the PowerScore Bibles. Of course, using a book requires a higher degree of discipline and self-accountability. On the other hand, there are a variety of online programs as well which provide a similarly structured curriculum and will even integrate your personal study schedule such as 7Sage and the LSAT Demon. You may even be able to find a relatively inexpensive tutor through Reddit or Wyzant if you require a bit more external accountability or a more personalized approach.
Lastly, what study methods are most effective for you? Everyone should incorporate a mix of foundational concepts, drilling, and practice in their studying, but it's important to recognize which method is most effective for you. Perhaps you find taking PTs (practice tests) garner the greatest score increases. Hence, you should dedicate more study time to taking PTs. Throughout your journey, you should constantly be aware of which study methods are most effective and adjust accordingly.
Once you have definitively answered these questions, you will have prepared yourself to optimize your study time and decrease your exam anxiety. Those preparing for the LSAT might be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content and their limited timeline, but, by crafting a practical and efficient study plan, you won’t be inundated with content and will be assured that you are making the best use of your time.
3. Learn the Material:
Now that you’ve set yourself up for success, it’s time to actually sit down and do the work. In the following, I’ll outline some of what I found to be the most important strategies and concepts for each section of the exam:
Logical Reasoning:
Logical Reasoning is the core of the LSAT. The lessons learned from this section are essential throughout the exam and need to be learned inside and out. To succeed in this section, you need to learn the language of the test makers, argumentation. Every question contains an argument, and you need to be able to translate those arguments by learning to identify their building blocks: background information, premises, sub-conclusions, and conclusions. Once you’re fluent in argumentation, every stimulus becomes substantially easier to simplify and understand. Second, your argumentation toolbox is not complete without the ability to identify flaws in argumentation. A large proportion of the arguments put forward in LR questions are not foolproof, in fact, some of them are really bad. Additionally, these arguments are only flawed in a limited number of ways, and you need to be able to identify each of the fallacies that the test makers have at their disposal such as ad hominem, causation, and circular reasoning flaws. The ability to identify these flaws will allow you to answer the majority of questions on the exam since, by knowing the flaw, you will be better able to attack it, resolve it, or point it out. Last, but not least, know your question types. There are only a limited number of question types that the test makers will put forward and you can easily look up what these question types are. For each question type, you should have a unique approach and understand what reoccurring signals to look for in the stimulus and answer choices. While I won’t repeat this for the other sections, this is true of every section.
Reading Comprehension:
You will hear from many people that reading comprehension is the hardest section to learn, and this is true in some sense. Success in this section relies on skills that are developed throughout one’s education. However, there are many strategies that can boost your performance and bolster your skills. Developing a reliable shorthand/note-taking system is a priority when learning this section. A shorthand system can reduce the time you spend on questions and also allow you to better retain crucial details. Your system depends on your preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, and discovering your approach will require some trial and error as you test different note-taking strategies. For me, I would write a very short (4-5 words) summary of each paragraph as I finished reading it. I would also utilize the LSAC interface’s highlighters to color code different components of the passage’s argument (e.g., orange = conclusion/main idea). This system was designed in order for me to easily distill the most important aspects of the passage and allow me to easily reference the text for smaller details. There’s no way of getting around this next obstacle though and it has to be faced head on: your reading speed. Reading comprehension requires a balance between reading speed and information retention (i.e., the faster you read, the less information you retain and vice versa). However, if you can increase the speed at which you read without sacrificing any information, there is no downside. That is why I’d recommend reading non-LSAT material in your free time through magazines, novels, and newspapers. Of course, this will help you to both increase your reading speed and your reading stamina. Lastly, this next tip that I utilized during every reading comprehension section I took is more focused on your mindset when approaching the section. No matter what the substance of the article, convince yourself mentally that you are incredibly interested in the subject matter. It may be difficult to trick yourself into enjoying some of the drier topics, but simply telling myself that I wanted to know more about the subject and actively asking questions about the material led to increased focus and closer analysis.
Logic Games:
If you are registered for the June LSAT, then this especially applies to you. If you are planning to take the exam at a later date, you will not have a logic games section, but you should still read the following. These skills as well as previously mentioned skills/tips apply across the entire exam and do not exclusively apply to any one section. First, master formal logic. Your mastery over the rules of formal logic and your ability to apply them is the difference between -5 and -0 on logic games. When I say master, I mean that if someone were to wake you up in the middle of the night and ask you to identify the necessary and sufficient condition in ,”I will not go outside unless it is sunny”, you should be able to answer in under five seconds. This will allow you to easily unravel and represent convoluted language in a significantly more understandable and digestible way. Along with this, develop a foolproof diagramming method that does not consume too much time but also is easily understood in a high-pressure environment. Before I had perfected my diagramming, I would often represent rules, game boards, and pieces in a confusing manner which led to me forgetting about certain aspects of the game or misapplying a rule. Your game diagrams should be compact and excessively clear in what they represent. Logic games are already difficult as is so do not make it more difficult by making a confusing diagram. Last but not least, make deductions. I have heard that some people choose to make deductions as they work through the questions, but I found it much easier to make as many deductions as possible before jumping into the questions. At first, I struggled to uncover key inferences which led to wasted time and wrong answers. However, after diagramming a game, I began to move through each rule one by one, and examined how each interacts with the game board as well as every other rule. Another rule of thumb for making inferences is identifying rules in which a game piece repeats (e.g., “A is before B” and “B is before C” both include B) and seeing if you can uncover any resulting conclusions.
These tips are in no way exhaustive, but I hope that they provided a good overview to guide your studying and help you make incremental improvements.
Step 3: PRACTICE
Now that you have learned all of the fundamentals of each section, it’s time to put them to use. After all, learning all of this material is pointless if you can’t apply it on test day. Practice is an essential component of your test preparation for two primary reasons. First, it allows you to develop a standardized routine. When I say routine, I mean every logistical/strategic aspect of the exam including but not limited to your pre-exam preparation, your logic games diagramming method, your reading comprehension note-taking/shorthand method, time management strategies, and more. You should have deliberated upon, tested, and habituated each of these routines prior to your official exam by implementing them during PTs under test-day conditions. The LSAT is already a very stressful exam so you do not want to waste the precious time you have on exam day thinking about how you should annotate a reading comprehension passage, for example, and tinkering with different strategies. No, your strategies should already be tried and true on exam day. Second, if you never practice taking the exam, you will never know where you need to improve. Taking PTs are incredibly important as they allow you to evaluate your progress and signal which concepts, sections, or questions you need to work on or revisit.
Now, how should you practice? There’s no getting around it. You need to take practice exams under simulated official exam conditions. Set a timer for each section, take the required break between sections, and only use the equipment that will be allowed on test day (i.e., authorized computer, water, scrap paper, writing utensils, etc.). This is the only way for you to estimate how you will perform on test day and accustom yourself to the conditions of the official exam. I completed approximately 2-3 practice exams every week leading up to my official exams. It is even better if you save the more recent practice exams for the week or two before your official exam since those are going to be most similar to your exam. However, it is important that you do not just mindlessly take practice exams which leads me to my next point: blind review.
I know, I know, blind review is extremely time consuming and tedious, but it was essential to my success on this exam. If you do not know what blind review is, it is basically when you do not reveal the correct answers of a practice exam after you have completed it, but instead complete the exam over again by checking and revising your answers. At the end of this process, you will have two scores: your actual score and your blind review score. The main reason for this is that you will now be able to see more clearly where your weaknesses lie. If you corrected a previously incorrect answer during blind review, then you likely got it wrong due to the time constraint or testing anxiety rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of the question. If you failed to catch an incorrect answer during blind review, you need to make it your priority to fully understand your error, analyze the question, and then revisit the concept that the question covers.
Once your weaknesses are exposed during blind review, you can target those weaknesses by reviewing the conceptual material and then drilling the question/game/passage type. If you do not know what I mean by drilling, I mean that you can create and complete custom problem sets that focus on your weakness until you have addressed the weakness.
Step 4: Profit
Now it is time to take your official exam. First, you have to register for the exam and decide on whether you will take it in-person or online. There are benefits and drawbacks to each and you have to decide based on your personal circumstances. For the online format, you are going to need a very quiet room with a strong internet connection. You will need to remove all prohibited material from this room including books, posters, electronics, etc. Additionally, the online proctoring system can be quite a hassle and very finicky. It requires you to download a program prior to test day and then share your screen, video, and audio with a remote proctor. Proctors may interrupt your exam due to compliance issues (e.g., your face is not in full view). Additionally, there is a small but nonzero chance that your exam is placed under review due to suspected noncompliant activity during your exam period and possibly even canceled as a result of said review. However, there are obvious benefits to online testing. You can take the exam in the comfort of your own home if that is an option for you, and you generally have much more control over your environment. You take the exam on a computer of your choice that you are comfortable with. You use your own scrap paper and writing utensils. For the in-person format, there is little to no preparation required beforehand except for scheduling an appointment at a nearby test center and bringing a valid ID. You will be ushered into an office-like room filled with a number of small cubicles. In each cubicle, there will be a desktop with a monitor, mechanical keyboard, and mouse. There will be a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and you will also be given a booklet of scrap paper and writing utensils. A very compelling benefit of the in-person exam is that your exam is much less likely to be placed under review/canceled for suspicious activity. Your test session isn’t recorded and you do not have to connect with a remote proctor. You will not have to worry about the internet connection or whether or not your test-taking equipment is prohibited or not. Basically all you have to do is show up and take the exam. However, there are definitely drawbacks to the in-person exam as well. You will be in a new environment that you are unfamiliar with. There will be the noise of the other test takers in the room with you typing on keyboards, clicking their mouse, coughing, sneezing, leaving/entering the room, etc. There are definitely inconsistencies between the testing centers as well. Some minor, but noticeable issues that I experienced during my in-person exam included audible conversations coming from outside of the room, dark orange scrap paper on which I could barely see pencil marks, dull/broken pencils provided by the testing center, and barely functional noise-canceling headphones. Do not expect the testing centers to be a perfect, controlled environment and anticipate issues/annoyances.
Once you’ve registered and exam day has arrived, it's time to do exactly what you practiced. I would not recommend that you make any last-minute changes to your testing routine/strategies. You have put so much work into perfecting your routine, and it would be a shame to throw that away when it really matters. After about 3 hours, you’ll have officially taken the LSAT. Congratulations! Now, it is a waiting game. Despite the exam taking place on a digital platform and being graded instantly, you will still have to wait about a month to receive your results. It is up to you whether you would like to continue studying during this wait depending on how you felt about your exam performance although I would keep any studying very light. Enjoy your well-deserved break.
Step 5: Score Release
You’ve now waited for what feels like forever and you receive the score for your first official exam. If you reached your goal score, congratulations! You have now finished a crucial component of the law school admissions process. You’re not done yet though. It’s time to start thinking about putting together your law school applications (which I may write another guide about soon). If you did not reach your goal score, don’t worry! Appreciate the fact that you are now more familiar with the official exam process and jump right back into studying/practicing again. If you were very close to your goal score, then I would recommend registering for the soonest upcoming exam and focusing on practicing through drills and PTs. If you were quite far away from your goal score, it might be worth evaluating your weakest sections/question types and jumping back into foundational concepts. Whatever you do, DO NOT cancel your first official exam. First, law schools only really care about your highest exam score, so do better on the next one and this one won’t hurt you. Second, you need to have at least one non-canceled score in order to even apply to law school. Let’s say you cancel your first test and then do even worse on your second test, then what? I would only recommend canceling a score if it is not your first exam (and you did not cancel your first exam) and it is lower than one of your other scores (e.g., you scored a 165 on your first exam and then a 162 on your second).
The End!
I know that was a lot. I could probably think of more to write, but you are probably already overwhelmed with information so I’ll leave the rest to you. I want to reiterate that these are all tips that I’ve picked up over my studying journey and I cannot guarantee a score increase based solely on these tips. After all, the most important thing is that you put in the work yourself and do your own due diligence to find what works best for you. If you have read everything up until now, you may be certifiably insane (the mark of a great law student) and thank you so much for considering what I have had to say. Remember that this is just a small part of your journey. Your LSAT score is not only just a single part of your law school applications, but it is an even smaller part of your career in the legal profession. I am not diminishing the importance of the exam, but please maintain a sensible perspective when you are feeling stressed and anxious about the LSAT. Make sure that you maintain a healthy work-life balance, keep pursuing hobbies and interests that you enjoy, and give yourself a break every once in a while. Your mindset and mental health is half the battle. See you in law school!

Sorry this is a throwaway account
My front door(s) has three locks. Two on the “screen door” (it’s not actually a screen - it’s just metal bars) and one on the main door. There’s one deadbolt, and two standard locks apart of the doorknobs.
Now the house is located in a pretty unsafe neighborhood/city. This city has been number one in the murder rate in my country for several years running. Although the number has diminished in recent years and we no longer hold the #1 spot, I’m still cautious of my surroundings.
Ever since I moved in, about a month ago, I’ve kept the doors locked pretty much 24/7. And when I mean locked, I mean that all three locks are locked. This also includes the two locks on the back door.
About a week ago, my mother comes to move in with me. We got into a disagreement regarding the back door being locked after she accidentally locked herself out. So we agreed that we would only lock the deadbolt & keep the doorknob unlocked so she can’t lock herself out. This applies to the back door only. This also doesn’t mean she locks the doors, but this just means she won’t complain when she tries to go outside and finds the door locked. I still have to go around and lock the doors before bed or whenever she leaves because she simply doesn’t lock them.
A couple days later, we have a similar disagreement regarding the front door this time, where she insists it doesn’t need to be locked while we are home. I am not comfortable with this. I voice my concerns & we come to the agreement that we will only keep the deadbolt on the screen door locked when we are home and lock everything else when we are gone.
Now here is where the issue arises. Today, I go out to walk the dogs & pick up a beverage from a local store and no one was home so I locked all three front door locks. I get home, and instantly my mom starts berating me about how she really had to pee & she can’t handle unlocking three locks every time she comes home. We get into a disagreement and I told her that I do not feel comfortable only using one lock when nobody is home, and I reminded her of the previous compromises and suggested that she use the back door when she really has to pee since it’s only that one lock. This all resulted in her insinuating that I can’t understand because I’m not a 55 year old women who can’t hold her bladder (she has no known medical conditions) and she’s not going around back (she didn’t give a valid reason as to why she wouldn’t use the back door.) For context, the driveway is on the side of the house so the distance to the front door versus the back door is minimal, if not easier because there’s no steps leading to the back door like there are with the front door.
Basically we kept arguing until she started screaming that I’m being inconsiderate and to leave her alone. So I went to my room and wrote this. So Am I the Asshole for locking the dooinsisting that we lock the doors when we leave?

PART ONE THOUSAND AND ELEVEN
[Previous Chapter] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]
Sunday
“Daaaaddy!”
Levi groaned, for the shouting whine from his bedside dragged him kicking and screaming out of sleep in a way no other alarm could. Only two other sounds garnered a faster reaction from him: someone vomiting right beside him or his baby girl screaming in either pain or fear.
He opened one eye, wondering if someone had ever made an alarm that sounded like either of those last two. Parents everywhere would never sleep in again, so maybe not.
A blurry red-headed vision was so close that he could smell her morning breath as it tickled his nose. “Heeey,” he yawned, pulling away enough to bring her back into focus. “What’s up, Peaches?”
He didn’t recognise the room they were in. Not even a little bit. He sat up fast and looked around, causing Maddy to let out an ‘eep’ of fright. “Daddy! You made some come out!”
And then the events of the night before came crashing in: the party, the knowledge that his roommate was going to have the kind of company Maddy didn’t need to see, the invitation to stay in Luke’s old room, and Maddy’s late-night escapades after he’d dropped like a rock after doing a double shift to make it to the party.
He saw Maddy’s uncomfortable wiggle-dance and the strained look on her face and remembered he’d locked the door. “Oh!” He flew out of bed, scooping her up in the process. If he ended up getting peed on, it was his own fault for not setting an alarm for his baby girl’s tiny bladder.
He unlocked the door and dove around the corner, willing to go through the shut bathroom door if he had to, but thankfully found the room open and vacant. Then he flipped the toilet lid before depositing her on the ground in front of the toilet. He immediately pivoted away, not because he was embarrassed by her but because Maddy had grown old enough not to like him watching her go to the toilet. She was starting to get antsy about her bath, too, but until she could adequately bathe herself and not merely play with her bath toys the whole time, that was a hard ‘don’t care’ line.
“Do you want to have a bath, baby, or wait until we get home?” he asked, crossing the room to hold the door almost shut to prevent anyone else from seeing her either.
“I don’t got clothes, Daddy,” she answered like he was an idiot.
Word choice aside, the sentiment was true. They’d borrowed the shirt she was wearing from Charlie. “Well, we need to figure something out, Peaches, because you are not leaving this house in only a nightgown and no underwear.” He’d send Charlotte out to buy her some clothes if he had to.
He heard the toilet flush and Maddy move up behind him, and turned long before she could touch him. “Three guesses what I didn’t hear, young lady?” he asked with a paternal frown. He pointed at the vanity when she looked up at him without a clue.
“But I can’t reach!”
“Then what are you supposed to do?”
Her shoulders slumped. “Daddy, c’n you help?”
He then smiled. “Better.” He put a hand on top of her head and spun her towards the vanity before guiding her forward. After they crossed the room, he loosened the faucet without turning it on and curled his hands around her waist, lifting her high enough that she could lean over the sink. She washed her hands, rinsing them thoroughly, then scooped the water and let it fall over the faucet before turning it off. Not that water alone would wash away the ‘germs’ of the initial contact, but the sentiment was there. Her mother had been a nurse, after all.
“Is Mister Larry still here?”
“I don’t know, baby. But how about we go and see if we can track down either Aunty Charlotte or Robbie and figure out where we’re at, okay?”
“We’re in Uncle Luke’s and Aunty Charlotte’s home,” she said, again like he was an idiot.
That had been a rather stupid thing to say to a three-and-a-half-year-old. “Alright, Miss Smarty-pants. And what are we going to eat for breakfast in Uncle Luke and Aunty Charlotte’s home if we can’t find them to ask them, hmm?”
“Food, silly.”
Clearly, he was going to have to up his game in parental rhetorical questions. Gone were the days when she’d take him at his word, and she was only three. Thirteen was going to be fun. “Right,” he muttered, shaking his head as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
While holding Maddy’s hand, he peeked in the open door across the hall from the bathroom and saw a very plain bedroom in terms of the rest of the apartment’s décor. At first, he’d thought it was a guest room until he remembered the teenage kid Robbie had recently adopted. This was probably his room.
He’d seen Charlotte and Robbie’s room the day they moved Charlotte in here, so a quick glance to confirm the room was empty was all he needed on that score. That left two doors on the right. And since both were close together, with the one on the left barely a couple of feet from the other and the front wall separating the living room, Levi was willing to assume the second one was a half-bath or a powder room or something. He went to the second door and knocked.
“Yeah?” Mason called from inside.
Levi opened the door and poked his head inside. “Hey, you wouldn’t by any chance happen to know where Robbie or Charlotte are, would you?”
Mason was at his desk, drowning in paperwork, it seemed. “Robbie, no,” he said, shaking his head. "As for Charlie, I’d try her office next door, between us and Boyd’s studio. She has a massive garage refit happening soon, so last I checked, she was in there getting things ready.”
The emphasis on his sister’s preferred name wasn’t lost on him. A sharp, jarring motion to his right caught his eye, and he saw something that really belonged in a space program somewhere.
“What the hell is that?” he demanded, ducking down low enough to see Robbie’s adoptee with his eyes glued on whatever was going on overhead and his fingers typing in a blur of speed.
“Naughty word, Daddy!”
Mason snickered at Levi’s slow blink. “It’s a gaming system courtesy of Robbie’s family. The damn thing is very addictive, though, and I haven’t told Brock that there’s a screen you pull down from inside the headset to cover your eyes that takes the game into 3D playing.”
Levi whistled. “I don’t even want to know how much that costs.”
“I know, and this Sectra table here is up there too,” Mason agreed, gesturing at the electronic display beside him. “But it certainly makes learning a lot more fun.” He tilted his head forward. “Isn’t that right, bunny?”
Bunny?
Maddy leaned into Levi’s leg, but she was grinning ear to ear when she nodded. “I wanna be a vert when I grow up,” she declared, looking up at him.
“Vet, baby,” Mason corrected. “We’re vets. Sounds like “bet’ and ‘get’ and ‘set’.”
“Vet,” Maddy repeated.
“There ya’ go. Step one is getting the name right.” He glanced up at Levi, his cheeky grin on full display. “Step two is getting Daddy to save up for the rest of his life to pay for the classes.”
“I hate you,” Levi whisper-smirked, and Mason pursed his lips in a cocky air-kiss.
Still shaking his head, Levi waved at Mason and left the room, leading Maddy through the kitchen and living room and into the hallway outside. For so many years, his baby brother and their friends had crushed themselves into that ninth-floor horror show, and no amount of pleading from everyone would budge Luke. Not pressure from their parents nor peer guilt from his brothers, who refused to bring their families over to the cramped space.
Charlo—Charlie was the only one who visited regularly, and at the time, he’d put it down to her being skinny, single with no kids, so she could squeeze into whatever gap she found. He knew who she was really visiting now, and Robbie had better be ready for the mother of all guilt trips coming from the family to make an honest woman of their sister. Nascerdios descended or not, he’d be a dead man if he broke her heart.
Thinking about his little brother’s relationship with all these men, it was like Luke knew the payoff was just around the corner. People like them didn’t live like this.
Well, Maverick kind of did, but he’d worked hard for what he had and could rattle off his list of sporting injuries to prove it. Robbie and Sam had simply taken a running dive off the world’s highest diving platform and landed in the kind of wealth the rich and shameless could only dream about.
Luke—Lucas was lucky in a different way. Yes, his friendship with Robbie and Sam had certainly opened the right doors financially, but what Levi had seen of Boyd’s work yesterday, the big guy was well on his way to becoming his own type of rich; much like Mav did for his family. And like Marley, Lu—ucas wouldn’t have to work a day again in his life if he didn’t want to. (Though he had just made detective and loved his job, so Levi couldn’t see him quitting anytime soon.)
He knocked on the closed door. “Come in,” Charlie called, proving Mason right. And like Mason, she was sitting behind a desk covered in paperwork with a phone cradled against her shoulder.
“Aunty Charlotte, we’re hungry!” Maddy declared, and Levi closed his eyes to hide from his sister’s evil chuckle.
“Well, we can’t have that, sweetie,” she said, and he heard the phone click as it was dropped onto the receiver. "Daddy gets very grumpy when he’s hungry.”
“It’s not the only reason he gets cranky,” he said, opening one eye a slit to give his baby sister the stink eye.
Charlie cackled and slid out from behind her desk. “C’mon. Robbie has your breakfast all ready for you in Voila.”
“We didn’t want to start going through things and guessing what we could eat,” Levi explained as they backtracked to the main apartment.
“That’s fine. Grab a seat—any seat,” she said, gesturing to the line of kitchen barstool chairs as she moved through the living room. She headed around the island and over to the box under the window without checking if they had.
Levi wasn’t thrilled about the height of the barstool chairs off the floor. “Do you have a belt or something I could use to tie Maddy in?”
Charlie swung around to him. “Oh! Oh, yeah! Hold on.” She slipped around the island and down her side of the apartment, coming back from her room with the kind of square booster seats that could be found in a restaurant. “Robbie ducked out and got this for her this morning.”
Levi scratched his head as the booster was attached to the second chair along the front of the island. “Where’d he get that from at this hour?”
Charlie looked at him derisively. “This is Robbie, bro. You know he’s got connections all over the place.”
It killed Levi not to ask for more details, but given it was probably either connected to the Nascerdios or, more likely, a wealthy former client in the city that still looked favourably upon Robbie, he hadn’t wanted Maddy to overhear the specifics of the latter. Too many times, his little girl had asked Robbie about different ‘gifts’ he’d been given by clients and how she had wanted to do whatever he did to get presents like that. ‘Over my dead body’ had been his mental declaration.
Maddy was pulling on his boxers. “Up, Daddy,” she said, holding her hands over her head for him.
Levi lifted her into the seat, and then buckled her in. In the meantime, Charlie went back to that wooden box, lifting the lid. “Robbie has this gift with food, so assume everything in the place is for you to eat, because it probably is.”
“Not everything,” Levi countered at Maddy’s wild squeal of delight. He gave her hand a firm squeeze. “Do not take anything without asking, young lady, or you’ll be in big trouble.”
“But Daddy…”
“It’s Daddy’s call, Maddy,” Charlie said, backing his play. She turned, holding a plate with two fist-sized Minnie Mouse-shaped waffles (the bow between the ears made it Minnie) with some type of white marshmallow fluff spread across them and a honey drizzle that drew perfect facial features on each. “Here’s breakfast for one cute-as-a-button Dobson,” she said with a flourish, sliding the plate in front of Maddy and pulling out a children’s stubby fork from the cutlery drawer.
“It’ll have to be cut u—” The words died in Levi’s throat as Maddy stabbed the nearest piece, and it broke into a small, bite-sized piece that Maddy happily popped into her mouth.
“Imma bi’ ’irl,” she said, in and around her food.
Levi tapped her nose. “Big girls don’t talk with their mouths full, Peaches.”
When he glanced at Charlie, she’d gone back to the box and returned with a dinner plate of fluffy scrambled eggs on two pieces of toast with cheese and bacon, and three sausages cut almost in half longways on the side. She nodded at the seat beside Maddy, then slid the plate into the empty spot at the end. “Siddown, bro.”
He might have whimpered a little on the first bite as Charlie went and poured them both a glass (technically, Maddy got a plastic tumbler) of citrus juice (not orange), leaving the jug on the bench between them. “Help yourselves to as much juice as you want. Even if you wipe this whole jug out, there's plenty more.”
“This is really awesome, Charlie. Thanks.”
Charlie placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder as she moved around the island into the hallway. “Anytime, Levi. But now I’ve gotta love you and leave you. There’s a mountain of work to get through in my office, so are you good here?”
“Totally. Thanks again, sis.”
As she walked out the door, Maddy held out a piece of her waffle to him. “Try?”
Waffles were usually too sweet for his blood, but this was the game he’d set up with her a long time ago to make her at least attempt to eat new foods. He couldn’t very well expect her to eat what he wanted her to if, now and again, he didn’t reciprocate the motion.
The honey and marshmallow whip (which tasted nothing like the jar-bought type) melted into the perfectly heated/not-too-hot waffle, giving it a sweet crunch as if it had just come out of the waffle iron. His surprise must have been written all over his face, for Maddy giggled, and he grinned. “That’s yummy.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” she hummed, just as he always had when a new food passed the initial taste test.
* * *
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!!

Buckle in, guys - this is going to be a long one. Also, I come out of the closet...as a Swiftie. HMU if you want me to bring friendship bracelets to Brooklyn.
Any resemblance to real people is...not coincidental, actually.

Race Information

• Name: Boston Marathon
• Date: April 15, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Boston, MA
• Website: https://www.baa.org/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11188906240/overview
• Time: 3:04:31

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Don't totally kill my legs	Sorta
B	Get the finish	Yes
C	2:55	No
D	3:00	No

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	20:25	6:35
10	20:50 (41:15)	6:43
15	20:39 (1:01:54)	6:40
20	20:44 (1:22:38)	6:41
Half	4:31 (1:27:09)	6:38
25	16:20/20:51 (1:43:29)	6:45
30	21:43 (2:05:16)	7:01
Heartbreak Start (20M/32K)	10:03 (2:15:19)	7:24
Heartbreak End (21M/33.6K)	6:56 (2:22:15)	6:57 (lmao)
35	5:30/22:29 (2:27:45)	7:22
40	27:03 (2:54:48)	8:42*
Finish	9:43	7:08*

(Boston does intermediate splits late-race starting 35k (35K, 23M, 24M, 40K, 1 mile out), so so the last two splits are aggregates.)

Race Information

• Name: London Marathon
• Date: April 21, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: London, UK
• Website: http://www.tcslondonmarathon.com
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11231697234/overview
• Time: 3:09:57

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	3:09:30	No
B	3:09:59	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	22:25	7:12
10	22:36 (45:01)	7:16
15	22:31 (1:07:32)	7:15
20	22:23 (1:29:55)	7:13
Half	4:58 (1:34:53)	7:16
25	17:45/22:43 (1:52:38)	7:19
30	22:27 (2:14:59)	7:13
35	22:42 (2:37:41)	7:19
40	22:34 (3:00:15)	7:16
Finish	9:42	7:08

(London's app shows aggregate splits, so if you look at my official times it'll look like I was perfectly even throughout.)

Opening

Some people overthink their training programs. I overthink my race recaps.
Okay, OP. Why did you do this to yourself?
tl;dr: I'm basic.
Like a lot of people, one of my goals is to be a six-star seven-star finisher (thanks Sydney). Boston and New York were relatively easy to check off, and they've both kind of become my "regulars." I did Chicago last fall after a long delay - originally I was planning on doing it in 2020, but you know what happened. You might have heard about it!
For London, I applied to the lottery - or as they say across the pond, the ballot - last year and got rejected like everyone else does. I had a backup plan, though - I was going to apply to be a pacer. Two of my friends (David and Jazmin) had paced London last year and had a good experience, and they asked me to throw my hat in the ring this year.
...Okay, but OP, HOW did you do this to yourself? I want the deets.
Step 1: qualify for Boston again. (You can do it at Boston, but I don't recommend it because that is absolutely stressful. On the other hand, the one thing worse than trying to BQ at Boston without one in hand is trying to BQ in New York when it's 75 degrees.)
Step 2: apply to be a pacer and pray. London has open pacer applications, although I think they preference returning pacers. Also pacers that have actually paced marathons before. Neither of which applied to me at the time (I had signed up to pace Philly, but applications opened around NYC for this year). However, one thing I don't value is my bodily integrity so I just put down the fastest times I felt comfortable doing.
David, Jazmin, and I got the acceptance emails about a week later. David would be pacing 3:25, Jazmin would be pacing 3:40, and I...would be pacing 3:10, or the fastest group I put down. I remember being at work and listening to "Cornelia Street" by Taylor Swift when I read my email. The only way it could have been more on-the-nose is if it had been "London Boy."
(Also, justice for "Lover.")
Since I'd never internationally traveled before, I applied for a passport in November (just before Thanksgiving). Keep that in mind.

Training/Preparation

*starts laughing with a seamless transition into sobbing*
...ooh boy.
General training (or what SHOULD have happened)
My friend David coaches a group of us, adapting the training program that our club coach used. We're fairly heavy on the MP work, and surprisingly not so much on threshold. A typical week looks like this:

• Monday - easy 60m. Normally, this is about 7 miles.
• Tuesday - track workout; ~2 miles up, ~3 miles total on (at 5KP or faster), ~1-2 miles down
• Wednesday - easy 60m
• Thursday - tempo/MP work (because I know I'm gonna get yelled at). 1-2 miles up, up to 90 total minutes at ~MP down to ~HMP (for me, ~6:30 to ~6:00, roughly), couple of miles down.
• Friday - easy 60m
• Saturday/Sunday - easy one day, LR the other day. LR's normally easy (~8:00 pace or so), but sometimes includes MP chunks. We go up to 23 miles (or 3 hours).
• (Bonus) Doubles whenever I can fit them in during marathon blocks...and strangely enough, I'll usually double on Wednesdays regardless because our local Fleet Feet has a 3-mile group run Wednesday evenings. And yes, I know this is insane but apparently I'd rather be crazy than be alone.

Normally, most of my runs are with friends - so I'll run their easy paces (a bit slower than what I'd run on my own), and then we do our workouts at our own paces.
What ACTUALLY happened
Post-Chicago, I was pretty much unstructured, but ran a couple of more races:

• I paced a HM two weeks post-Chicago (0/10 do not recommend pacing a 1:30 HM on a course with 800 feet of elevation two weeks after your goal marathon, those first few miles hurt).
• I ran with a friend at NYC to help him get a BQ (which he ran 5 minutes under - he's 47, so we did just under 3:15).
• Philly went surprisingly well, considering I had done like two marathons in the previous month and a half.
  • On the plus side, we ended up splitting 1:34:30/1:35:20ish. So a bit hot at the start, but not overly so.
  • On the downside, I ended up taking two bathroom stops. Shout out to my co-pacer Mu for...you know...not having his bladder decide to be embarrassing. Shout out to Liz (the Philly coordinator) for having the good sense to give me adult supervision.

Meanwhile, a bunch of other things happened:

• My primary training partner from last fall tore his meniscus and still can't run.
• Jazmin decided to get a private coach, but still asked me to do some of her workouts with her.
• Another one of my friends made his comeback after being hurt last year - and he's following Daniels and his own schedule, and also asked me to run with him on occasion.
• Meanwhile, the rest of the group stuck to the same schedule I posted before.
• Also, I should mention I'm a terminal people pleaser and hate making decisions.

So by the time it was time to hop back into training, I was floating around pretty aimlessly and - because I didn't really have any performance goals this cycle - I tried to run with everyone as much as I could. I...do not recommend this. By February, I was looking at my messages and considering going into witness protection while figuring out which long run out of three I wanted to show up to.
Suffice to say, my training was disorganized as hell. I think I got a couple of 70-mile weeks in back in February, but kind of fell off in March when I was still dealing with some niggles of my own and also work things. Somehow, I managed to do a couple of races:

• I ran 1:19:5x at NYC Half (like half of this sub apparently).
• Also, I ran a sub-36 10k. A week before Boston. In retrospect, this might have been a mistake.

Meanwhile, my original passport seemingly never arrived. I ended up finally calling the passport center about a week before my London flight (I would have called earlier, but work was crazy and if I'm nothing else, I'm wildly irresponsible), and somehow managed to get an appointment before I left. In Boston (I live about 4 hours away). The day after I was supposed to come home from Boston.

Boston

Pre-Race
This was the less stressful event - on Saturday, I went up with my friend Joe who was spectating. Did the standard Boston race weekend stuff (shout out to Puma for their Sunday shakeout, the amazing panel, and for actually feeding us), met up with our other friends running Boston Sunday, and had dinner with our friends Jazmin and Janna (who were running) and Janna's husband Mark (who was not).
Also, I got my bib signed by Jenny Simpson on Saturday.
Monday, I just did my usual race prep - which is absolutely no prep whatsoever. (To wit, breakfast was "coffee and a banana loaf from Dunkin'.") I met up with Jazmin - who was planning to leave that night - and caught a shuttle to the Common with her. Funny enough, on the bus to Hopkinton we met up with our friend Cole who was getting his sixth star at Boston.
Race Day
I figured I'd go for an "easy 2:55" because Chicago gave me way too much confidence. I started from corral 3 and caught up with Cole (in corral 2) within the first mile. We mostly ran together for about 6 or 7 miles and then I lost track of him. I just assumed he'd dropped me because he's much faster than me. (The guy's currently a 2:30s marathoner. I say that because his lifetime PR is in the 2:20s.)
Gradually, it got warmer and warmer, but I was still feeling relatively good through the first half. I kissed one of the Wellesley students in the Scream Tunnel (to be fair, I was going to mind my own business, but she was standing on top of the fence holding a sign saying "Kiss me if you can reach," and I'm 6'5" and do not back down from challenges), but I mostly maintained pace into Newton.
And then I realized a few things:

1. While the temperature may have been approved by Rob Gronkowski, it was definitely not approved by me.
2. I ran a 2:47 last fall, so I had exactly zero reason to continue to try for a 2:55.
3. I also had to do this again in six days. And that was the deciding factor to just throw in the towel.

So, the last ten miles or so I mostly run-walked, which concerned my friends back home. (I contemplated posting to our WhatsApp group mid-race but that would have been weird.) It felt funny - it's only the second time I've "given up" on a marathon, and while I felt about as good as you can feel after doing 16 miles straight at MP, it was weird to just be so casual about things when I felt like I could still continue to race if I really wanted to.
Anyway, so, long story short:

• Around mile 18, I actually ended up running with a guy that I'd recognized from NYC 2022 - that day, he went down on the side of the course. At Boston, we ran together for about half a mile going back and forth...and then I just let him leave me.
• Somehow, still managed to set a Heartbreak PR. I think.
• I totally missed Joe, Mark, and the three blondes Joe and Mark recruited to cheer for me around mile 25. (I regret to inform all of them that three hot women are not quite as good at getting my attention as three hot men are. 💅🏿)

My finishing time was 3:04:31. Which was my slowest Boston to date, including 2021 where I keeled over on Boylston and ended up in the med tent. I still finished in like 3:00 high or something that day. (This is not a flex, and should not be considered a flex. That day sucked.)
Post-Race
I managed to get myself back to our hotel (also, ended up taking a selfie with an older gentleman on the Silver Line), and waited for Jazmin. And waited. Opening the tracker was pretty worrisome, as she'd slowed down a ton.
Finally, she finished, but she had a rough time. Thankfully, her coach found her at the finish and drove her over to our hotel. And one of her friends picked her up and drove her home. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty worried about her for London six days later.
(I'm intentionally being vague here, but...yeah, it was rough.)
I also found out that Cole finished about 15 minutes behind me (he said he'd been sick the week before, which I didn't know until after the race). Janna did pretty much the same thing that I did, in jogging in the back half. She still ended up on the Fast Women Instagram page (as she should).
Anyway, Janna, Mark, Joe, and I had a rather interesting dinner, and then it was back home on Tuesday. For most of us, anyway.

London

But first, Boston (again)
I did the math and - yeah - it was actually less expensive for me to go back home than to just stay an extra night. Welcome to marathon weekend. Paid through the nose for an expedited passport ($225), but...hey, I managed to get it. Shout out to FlixBus for the hook-up. Honestly, I recommend the 6:30 AM buses.
London (for real this time)
To Taylor Alison Swift: Why would you drop a double album on London Marathon weekend. Not only that, while I was taking a red-eye trans-Atlantic flight. Joe Alwyn wasn't even running it (and I'm not even sure Matty Healy could run 26.2 feet), so you don't even have that excuse. Janna suggested I buy the in-flight WiFi. I opted not to, and in retrospect that was the correct decision. (FWIW, TTPD is okay, but not worth $8 to United. That said, "So Long, London" into "But Daddy, I Love Him" is a hell of a choice.)
Anyway, for London, I flew in with Jazmin and my dad (who was also flying trans-Atlantic for the first time), and meeting David and another one of our friends (who is also named Joe) in London. If you are keeping count, we're up to three Joes in this recap already. Due to an opportune seat swap (shout out to the lady who wanted to sit with her husband, I don't care if you were telling the truth or if you just felt sorry for me), I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep on the flight.
We landed mid-day Friday at Heathrow, got into London, and my dad and I checked in to our hotel. (Right next to Waterloo Station, actually, which was nice!) Or we would have checked in, if everyone wasn't evacuating the hotel because of a fire alarm.
We did manage to get checked in after everything was sorted out, and then it was off to the expo (or the show, as London puts it). When we signed up, we had to volunteer for a 2-hour shift at the expo - and in our infinite wisdom, we chose the 3:30-5:30 shift. I spent most of that shift trying to explain why we ran out of 3:20, 3:25, 3:50, and 3:55 pace bands (god speed to the pacers for those groups).
Also, I picked up my gear for pacing - including the uniform (excuse me, kit), pacer flag, and the shoes. In my case, because I have clown feet (14 US/13.5 UK), they ended up being 1080s. And since London strongly encourages us to wear NB, I did not bring my usual shoes (Endorphin Elites).
"OP, it seems like you make a lot of poor planning decisions," you might be saying if you're still reading this. And...yes, yes, I agree. (Technically, I could wear whatever shoe, I'd just need to cover the logos. But I figured I'd be running 22 minutes slower than my PR so I'd be fine regardless.) I will say the 1080s are comfortable, though. Very loud - it's the London colorway, so imagine my size shoe in highlighter yellow, orange, and hot pink - but comfy.
Got back to the hotel, had dinner, argued with my dad about English electrical ports (despite what they look like, they are not USB ports), and tucked in for the night.
Saturday was mostly sightseeing - David, Jazmin, and I did a shakeout run around Westminster and caught the start of the Mini Marathon, and then my dad and I walked around a bit. Also did a night bus tour - shout out to Emma and Julie from Golden Tours - and had the standard pasta dinner. I went to bed around 9...only to get woken up at 10 by yet another fire alarm. After stumbling outside in 5-degree weather and back to our hotel, I somehow managed to get back to sleep.
Race Morning
Whoever labeled Waterloo East on literally every map by the platform instead of the entrance: your mum.
After having a surprisingly leisurely breakfast and a surprisingly hard time finding the entrance for the train station, I managed to hop the train out to the start of the race. Met up with David and Jazmin (apparently they were in the last car and I was in the middle of the train), and then we went out to the pacer meetup in the basement of the Clarendon Inn.
Imagine a small basement room with 140 people speaking multiple languages crammed in together, and that kind of approaches the chaos we were dealing with. You also have to add in a very assertive British guy with a whistle (shout out to Akram, the London coordinator). From past experience, David and Jazmin decided to leave for the corrals (or waves - I feel like London has its own language) around 9, and I went with them to our starts (blue for me and Jazmin, green for David).
I put on my flag (which I've never run with before - every other race has been with a hand-held sign) and immediately became one of the most popular people at the London Marathon. Most of my time was spent going, "uh I guess I'm running even 🤷🏿‍♂️," which I am sure boosted everyone's confidence in me.
The Race
London is similar to NYC where there are three separate starts that merge into one course. London's merges are a bit earlier than NYC's - Blue and Green merge in the first mile or so, and then Yellow/Red merge in around mile 3. (Not sure why they use two colors for that start!) The major difference is that there isn't one unified starting gun - in fact, the starts are pretty spread out, and it feels more like a rolling start. From big-race experience, I knew my GPS would be off, so I'd have to rely on my elapsed time and my pace band. I tried to yell out splits every mile and every 5k (so yes, I was the annoying American with the especially annoying New Jersey accent yelling out random numbers).
The first mile was relatively easy and uncongested - in fact, I was a bit concerned because I was a little fast (7:11 by my reckoning). And then we came up behind the Green 3:15 pace group. Famously, Comrades Marathon (at least - I'm not sure if this is a South Africa thing, or specific to that race) refers to their pace groups as "buses." I can see the comparison, as trying to maneuver safely around the pace group while knowing I had my own group felt like trying to parallel park a double-decker bus.
Somehow, we managed to pass them relatively safely...and then we came up behind the Yellow 3:15 group. I was pretty stressed, I'll admit. (The next largest race I've been a pacer for is Philadelphia, which is at most 1/4 the field size.) Somehow, I managed to keep people with me, although I admittedly didn't look too much.
That said, it says something when Cutty Sark feels like one of the more open places on the course.
We crossed Tower Bridge and got to halfway in 1:34:55 by my watch. Okay...but a little bit slow. My preference is to be 15 seconds under at halfway, and 30 seconds under at the finish. But hey, I was well within the window, right? The halfway window was 90 seconds under to 30 seconds over, which I was within.
Heading out to Canary Wharf, we actually got a good look at the pro men coming back - Munyao, Tola, and AdvancedRunning favorites Bekele and Cairess. I don't think I've ever been that close to the pros at a major before, so that was pretty cool. If Bekele is reading this, hi, I was the weird tall guy from London. (The one with the flag.) Please continue wrecking my age grading.
Meanwhile the chaos on the course shifted from fighting through slower groups in other starts to wading through the carnage of people blowing up. I don't know if it was especially bad, but - again - it kind of hits different when you know people are following you and also you're on English roads in a world major.
As I was going, I was keeping track of the splits. I knew it was going to be close...but when I saw 3:01:16 at 25 and checked my band (which said 3:01:10 for a 3:10 bang-on), I knew things were close. For reference, pacers' flags at London actually say "Sub [pace]" because they're expected to come in up to a minute under their time. My target was 3:09:00 to 3:09:59. We could make it, but it'd take a bit of a push.
Coming around Buckingham Palace, I was checking my watch and checking the time. I thought I'd make it. And then I crossed the line and stopped my watch.
3:10:00.
Fuck.
Post-Race
But hey, some people managed to hang with me. (Shout out to Nathan on the PR!) I gave (and got) congrats, took a couple of photos, picked up my stuff, and handed in my gear. Like hundreds of other people (my god like hundreds of us), I stopped by Waterstone's, went up to the cafe, and got a tea and scone. (Very good post-race fueling, I must admit.) Got back to the hotel, showered, and went out for pints and dinner post-race with the gang and my dad.
Also, I checked my official time. 3:09:57. I made it, but just barely. It was a bit slower than I'd like, but hey - not too shabby for doing this in 1080s.

Epilogue

So Long, London
Jazmin made it through a bit off target (like 19 seconds, I think), although it was a bit of a struggle, she said.
David...had a rougher go of it. He himself was injured going into the race, so he had to take his flag down around mile 22. He still managed to finish, though.
As for me: Got home that Tuesday. Told myself that I wouldn't do this again next year as we were going through Newark passport control (aka: Satan's butthole). Changed my mind after I got back on Eastern time, went back to work, and realized what I'd missed. Ran a trail 10k (Leatherman's Loop) the week after because (again) I do not value my bodily integrity. (Also, it was an impromptu midlife crisis.)
It took me a while to gather my thoughts - and even longer to edit this down somewhat. And yes, this is actually edited a bit from where it was.
Finally, one thing I've kept coming back to is the Boston Globe article about 26.TRUE that came out around the same time as the Boston Marathon. I highly suggest you read it - I couldn't decide whether to lead or to end with this, but at any rate it's worth it.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

I know I'm risking being bashed and downvoted for this but I will take it, I need advice and experiences to help me make my decision.
I have had a very rough few years health-wise. It took me 7 years to be diagnosed with endometriosis after being told several times the pain was in my head. I had excision surgery in 2021 and since then I've had hormone-related health complications like breast lumps being biopsied, endometriomas in my ovary and extreme pain, and a traumatic MMC last September that ended up requiring two rounds of medication followed by an emergency D&C and an infection of my uterus.
I am now 20 weeks with my rainbow baby. This pregnancy has been ROUGH. First my betas were not doubling. Then they couldn't locate the pregnancy in the uterus and told me that it was an ovarian ectopic. Two weeks later and the doctors on standby to perform my ectopic surgery, baby was in the uterus with a heartbeat. I had extreme morning sickness and migraines, followed by a retroverted uterus that caused complete urinary blockage where I needed a catheter to pee. I developed severe abdominal pain, they found an endometrioma in my ovary, and also found out I have pelvic congestion syndrome, and hydronephrosis of my kidney due to my bladder issues in the beginning. I have been on modified bedrest since 16 weeks. I have daily vertigo dizziness episodes and insomnia every single night.
Having said all that, I am tired of the surprises, I am tired of having no control over anything, and I am tired of being in so much pain all the time. Reading ALL that could go wrong in a natural vaginal birth, I am having daily thoughts about an elective c-section. The appeal to me is the fact that I can research the hell out of it and get myself prepared, which really helps my anxiety. Also, being calm and knowing what to expect are things I crave.
Yes, I know it is a major surgery. Yes, I know there are risks to every surgery. I just don't think I can endure the uncertainty, the pain of labour, having my vagina torn open or worse yet, ending up with an emergency c-section. I don't care about a scar. I don't care about having to get physiotherapy for potential complications in my core. I don't care about never experiencing natural birth. All I want is to bring my baby boy home and be the best mother I can be, without anymore trauma to have to add to my long list of medical trauma.
I have been seeing a counselor since my miscarriage, she is a doula as well and super pro natural birth. I was referred to a prenatal psychologist by my midwife because all of these health issues and uncertainties and bad news every week have put me in a bad place of not believing I will bring a baby home.
I am ready for all comments and experiences - please hit me with your sincere thoughts about a scheduled elective c-section for a FTM.

Hey all.
It's been quite a while since GvK came out. Three years, to be precise. Three years it's been since Adam Wingard swooped in to save cinemas with a bombastic love letter to monster movies. Three years it's been since Godzilla and Kong fought for the first time since 1962. Three years it's been since we were properly introduced to the Hollow Earth. It's 2024 now, and we still know next to nothing about it.
The anatomy of Earth in the MV is confusing, and it is probably going to stay that way. I've accepted that -- I think the community has, too. Sci-Fi doesn't make sense sometimes, and that's okay.
I still have questions, though. A lot of them. My biggest one has to do with the gravity inversion. Why? Why does gravity start pulling upwards?
Here's my theory:
Planet Earth is wholly hollow, like an egg. Not only is the shell 800 miles thick, it's extremely dense. Super extremely dense. As a result, spacetime is warped, creating a gravitational well.
According to the theory of relativity, gravity is the result of a massive warping of spacetime. If I understand correctly, mass affects gravity. For example, if Mars had more mass, its gravitational pull would be stronger. The reverse is also true: less mass = a weaker gravitational pull. Get it? Yeah? Great, let's continue. No? Don't worry -- try this.
Alright, back to my egg analogy.
Gravity works both ways in this scenario, pulling stuff towards the exterior surface and the interior surface. The 'drawing point' isn't located in the hollow center, but rather in the middle of the shell, 400 miles deep. A hollow planet wouldn't warp spacetime like a spherical planet would. Get it?
If you were to dig a giant hole and jump in, you'd fall. Then, after 400 miles, gravity inverts -- you'd start flying upwards, maintaining your previously achieved velocity. Gravity is now pulling you back down towards the point of inversion, gradually slowing you down until you start falling again. Gravity once again inverts, and you fly upwards until you start falling again. You wouldn't be able to escape the shell's gravitational well unless you somehow got out of that hole.
HEAVs are built to withstand this inversion, allowing them to pass through without problems.
You may recall that, in GvK, Hollow Earth harbors life on both the floor and the ceiling, with a void separating the two landscapes.
The planet's interior surface is one of these dual landscapes. Get it? Great. But wait, what about the other one? We'll get to that in due time, don't worry -- I need to explain just a few more things.
Let's get on with it.
A 'mini-planet' resides within Earth's hollow -- that's the Inner Earth (not to be confused with the interior surface of the shell!). It's a lot smaller than Outer Earth, and therefore has weaker gravity (explaining why Titans seem to move more fluently down there). The Inner Earth's surface is the second HE landscape.
One last thing: what's with the zero-G zone? Well, the zero-G zone seen in both GvK and GxK is where the gravities of Inner Earth and the interior surface of the shell meet, cancelling each other out and creating a void.
There's a neat diagram that shows it pretty well. Here. If you still don't get it, feel free to comment -- I'll try my best to answer.
I've got no idea how Axis Mundi works, but this is how I think HE works in the MV. What do you think?

"Wade! Good to see you back buddy!" Nathan said aloud as he and F approached Wade and Tina, the two breaking their embrace before looking to their friends.
Wade chuckled a bit as he responded to Nathan's greeting, Tina giving a pleasant smile as she stood behind him. "Same to you, man. How're things here?"
"Better than any words I could use for the situation!" Looking behind him, he gazed at a group of the worker drones that were rescued from the factory, having been brought aboard in order to transport them to a safer location. Their faces were of varied gratefulness and smiles as they made conversation with some of the troops onboard. "The rescue-ees are happy to be out of that place, far as I can tell!"
"They sure look like it." Wade said with a pleased smile, admiring the success of his and the Coalition's efforts as Nathan's friend Kurtis came over to the four.
Catching sight of Tina, the veteran drone gave a sly look as he correctly guessed the identity of Wade's accomplice. "Oh, and I see you found your girl you were telling me about."
The drone in question gave a blush of embarrassment as Wade held her hand, chuckling smugly as he introduced Tina. "Ah, yeah. Nathan, Kurtis, F, this is my girlfriend Tina. She's one of the best pilots I've met and known in my life, along with her sister Jasmine."
Tina's blush intensified heavily at Wade's words, a laugh breaching her mouth as she spoke to Wade's colleagues. "Well, I don't like to boast, but my sister and I DID fly for the military a while back."
Nathan and Kurtis gave impressed laughs as F chuckled at the amusing meeting, the former of the duo speaking as he shook Tina's hand. "Heh, well it's a proud pleasure to meet you, Miss Tina! You've got quite the partner with you, I'd say. He helped save F and Gerard from an accident during our time on Ceres."
Tina raised a hand to her mouth in shock as she looked to Wade, surprised by the news of his heroics at his new job before chuckling. "Well, it's not too surprising, I'd probably be dead if he didn't come in to help us." Remembering that F was involved in her rescue too, she glanced to the disassembly drone before quietly adding, "You too, darling."
F gave a thankful smile at the pilot drone as Wade spoke up on Tina's statement on her rescue. "Well, I'd also be done for if you didn't save me back there, with that disassembly drone squad." Tina nodded as Nathan looked to the drone couple in surprise at their stated feat.
"More of them? How many? Three? Fo-" The miner drone asked as Wade answered him mid-sentence.
"Three, and they put up a nasty fight. One almost got me before Tina shot at her with one of those guns these militia guys brought. A trooper must've dropped it during the fighting." Nathan gave an uncomfortable look of shock as Wade added, "One of them looked kinda like you too."
Tina pulled out her gun before holding it at attention, Nathan nodding in admiration of her efforts as she spoke up. "Think I could keep this one? We pilots usually carry sidearms like these, but I lost mine when they kidnapped me aboard the station in orbit."
Nathan and Kurtis looked to each other before nodding in agreement. "Sure, gonna need a holster though. Wouldn't want it to fall out that nice coat there, would we?" While Nathan gave his answer, Kurtis was already heading to the storage bays at the back of the ship, planning on grabbing the sizable holster wrap for Tina's weapon.
"Of course." Tina replied as Kurtis grabbed the desired gear, shutting the cargo door as he returned to the group. Taking the holster in her hand, she handed the pistol to Wade before speaking in between her efforts to attach the holster to her upper leg. "Thanks for the compliment, by the way."
"Don't mention it." Nathan replied back as F stepped up in between the group, wanting to add her own praise as the group looked to her.
"Glad to see so many together in arms here, especially when it's work colleagues like the boys here." Looking to Tina, she continued. "And Nathan's right, Miss Tina. Your partner is quite the guy, I'm a little surprised he didn't join the service. Him and his brother would've made great men if they fought in the ranks."
The positive air was quickly shattered upon the mention of Ron. Nathan, Wade, and the others all looked to F as her eyes became golden rings, the warrior drone realizing her mistake too late as she began to raise a hand to her face.
"...Yeah. Yes, we sure would have." Wade said solemnly, nodding lightly with a slight smile in his attempt to lighten the comment and, in turn, the mood. His smile faltered once again as he saw the others still frowning in sorrow, Wade joining them shortly after before remembering something. "Uh... Nathan? You did bring his body back here, right?"
Nathan nodded hesitantly as he glanced to the cargo bays at the back of the ship. "Yeah, I uh... We put him near the others we managed to recover before we left."
Tina listened with concerned eyes as she held tightly onto Wade's hand, the former worker drone tightening his own grip while speaking further to Nathan. "Good. Maybe, after this is all over, we can... Make preparations for a service. Ron deserves that at the least."
"So... h-he's in one of... those?" Tina asked dreadfully, observing the body bags lying next to each other in front of one of the cargo bay doors before looking back to Nathan, who looked down at the floor before replying.
"...Yep." Initially, Tina started to move, morbidly concerned over Ron's exact fate before stopping herself, still holding Wade's hand as she stood next to him again. Catching a glimpse of her attempt to see Ron, Nathan raised a digital eyebrow at her. "You, uh... want to see him?"
Wade looked down to Tina, who returned the gesture as they pondered over the uncomforting idea. She admittedly didn't want to see Ron, fearful of seeing what was left of him after that battle, but in a twisted way, knowing Wade wouldn't lie to her about a close relative like Ron being dead, she desperately felt the need for even the slightest sense of closure.
Looking to each other, Tina finally built her strength up, giving the faintest nod to Wade as her answer. Accepting her willingness, Wade slowly looked to Nathan, who needed no further gestures or words as he slowly walked over to the body bags, Wade, Tina, and their colleagues in tow. Upon reaching the bags, Nathan knelt down as his friends stopped behind him, Wade and Tina watching as he slowly unzipped the bag open. Despite her effort to be brave, Tina couldn't help but let out a horrified gasp upon seeing Ron's body, immediately noticing the large wound with dark, dried blood at his chest.
Nathan shook his head in dismay as he looked upon the sight of his fallen friend in the flayed bag. "It was when we made our second attempt in raiding the factory back there. We... We managed to pass through most of the halls without much trouble, but... we we're ambushed as we got close to the conversion room."
"G, the disassembly drone that helped the company abduct me, attacked us, along with several other troopers he brought with him." Wade added, him and Tina holding each other tightly as he continued. "We fought them off well enough, but G got an upper hand on me. He almost killed me, but.... Ron got in the way." Tina felt herself beginning to cry as she collapsed into Wade's chest, the former worker drone embracing her ever more tightly as she wept for their friend.
F shook her head in dismay, disappointed in herself as she spoke up. "I could've saved him, if I hadn't let myself get beat down like that. I-"
"F!" Wade said sternly, F ceasing her self-degrading as he tried to ease her guilt. "We did the best we could. If anything, it could've gone a lot worse."
Kurtis patted F on her back as he spoke up on his co-worker. "He was a good man, tried to bring out the best in people. Taught Wade that ideal well, too." He looked to Wade with a smile, the drone taking the compliment with the same gesture as he lightly patted Tina on her back too.
"*sniff* Y-Yes... He d-did try to make life brighter with his actions." Tina croaked as she slowly lifted her head up off of Wade, wiping the digital drops off her face as she added, "He... Him and Wade did well to so many with their farm they had back home, Jasmine and I helped transport their harvests all across the colonies."
The group gave looks and nods of admiration at the labor Tina described, Wade nodding in affirmation as he added, "Yeah, we held that place up for a long while. But if it weren't for the recent storms that ran through this place, we probably would still be farming." He began to chuckle slightly as he noted the events after the storm. "Heh, then again, we probably wouldn't have gone to Ceres if that was the case. So, I'm quite glad life changed our course on that endeavor."
Nathan was about to speak on the matter, but was stopped as Kelly walked out of the cockpit area, speaking to Wade specifically. "Mr. Wade? Our operative and her boss wants to see you and some of your team, says it's about the trouble you and the others went through."
Wade and Tina looked to each other with raised eyebrows before looking to their friends, F raising a hand as she spoke to the couple. "Well, you heard her. Let's get up there." Looking to Nathan, she motioned for him to follow her before glancing to Kurtis, who nodded to her before kneeling down to seal Ron's body bag.
Turning back to Wade and Tina, F smirked at them as they quickly made their way up to the small bridge of the ship, Tina speaking to Wade about the interior and where to go. "I do remember these ships a bit, now that I think about it. There should be a smaller room at the top above us. Come on."
Holding her hand, Wade and Tina made their way into the cockpit, F and Nathan close behind as the four walked up the small steps to the pilot seats. Right next to the ascending steps were another set of such steps, albeit going the other way into another room as Tina mentioned. The lover drones walked up the second set of steps as they entered the room, catching the sound of a conversation in their ears.
"Yeah Tess, they did a number on the security forces from what I've been told by Mr. Kurtis. He seems quite pro-" J stopped as she heard a startled gasp coming from the entrance near the cockpit, spotting her requested visitors as they took notice of her.
Wade, however, was immediately in shock, Tina also spooked by the familiar face as her love drew a sword before holding it out defensively. F and Nathan looked to the two in surprise as the former raised her arms slightly as to calm down Wade, knowing this J wasn't an enemy.
"Whoa there, easy now." The human hologram said with her hands raised as Wade and Tina gave a faint glare at J, who stared unamused with her hands to her hips.
Easy, Mr. Wade. I'm a friend." J stated as Wade kept his blade trained at her.
"Didn't we just kill you out there earlier?" Tina asked as she held onto Wade's arm, J smirking as she took in the amusing detail.
"Oh, yes. I believe you must've taken out one of my clones, not surprised. I killed a few myself back there." The corporate drone replied as Wade lowered his sword, surprised at J's words as she looked to him.
"Clones?" Tina said in bewilderment, confounded by the idea of multiples of the same drone running around.
"So, there's more of you?" Wade asked as he swapped his sword back for a hand.
"Indeed there are, Mr. Wade. Effective disassembly drones get cloned more often." J answered as she cringed slightly, remembering part of the reason she ended up here. "Though, admittedly I wasn't efficient enough recently. I'm a clone of one of the old units dispatched about two decades ago, before the Disassembly Division was officially instated."
Tina raised an eyebrow at J's explanation. "Recently? If you were away all that time, what could've possibly stopped you now?"
The murder drone groaned in slight annoyance as she reluctantly explained her answer. "Well, the colony we were supposedly sent to wipe out was quite persistent. During one of our raids, some brat with a ray gun blasted me in two." Regaining her composure, J flicked her hair with a smirk. "Then again, my clones should be better than they are, the Administrator seems to have a dislike towards me, as far as I can tell."
Wade and Tina glanced at each other as they took in the news, perplexed at the story they were hearing as the former spoke up. "Well, I sure hope so. Your clone didn't put up as much of a fight as I was expecting."
"Right..." J said with a look of disappointment before clearing her throat. "But besides that, we don't have time for THAT kind of backstory. We've got a lot of talk to do, Mr. Wade."
The holographic human raised a finger, drawing Wade and Tina's attention as she spoke. "Say, didn't J tell me about a human friend you had? A 'brother' guy?"
J nodded as she now also became curious over their missing acquaintant. "Ah yes, Ron, I believe. Do you know where he is, Wade?"
The two drones looked down in sorrow as Wade answered in dismay. "He uh... he didn't make it."
J allowed a concerned look to breach her shield of confident pride as her human friend spoke up, sounding sad at the news. "Oh, I uh, I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. W- er... Carter."
"It's alright," Wade replied as he held Tina's hand, looking up to J and the hologram before continuing. "at least he's not hurting anymore."
"My... condolences, Mr. Carter." J said, calling Wade by his last name now as she recovered from the tragic news. "But, it seems you've found someone else important. Who's your friend?"
Wade perked up a bit as he prepared to introduce Tina again. "Ah, yes. This is Tina Fowley, my girlfriend. She was among those captured by the company, I got her out before they could turn her, however."
"She's a pilot too." Nathan chirped from behind Wade, J and her boss stifling laughs as they took in the amusing description of Wade's partner.
"Well, she's quite the cutie, I'll say." The holo-human said in amusement, Tina blushing at the compliment as J spoke as well.
"Indeed she is, good find, Mr. Carter." Chuckling to herself, she remembered that she hadn't even formally met Wade earlier, prompting her to return the effort. "Well, now's as good a time as any to introduce ourselves." Looking to the hologram, J spoke. "Though you probably know who I am, name's J. And this is my boss, Tessa."
Looking to the human girl with a pleasant smile, he spoke to her. "Well, pleased to meet you, Mrs. Tessa."
"Good to meet ya too, Wade!" Tessa replied energetically before bringing herself back to a more serious stance, Wade and Tina feeling a bit surprised by the change of air as she spoke further. "And as much as I hate to cut the pleasantries so short, J and I have some important things to brief you on. So, take a seat and get comfy, everyone."
Noting the pair of chairs in front of the small table J and Tessa were standing on the other side of, the couple took them as Nathan and F stood behind them, simply listening in as J began to explain the matter at hand. "So, you both are probably wondering what this whole mess was all about, correct?"
The two drones nodded as Tina spoke up. "I heard it was having to do something with being recruited for the Disassembly Division, that group you spoke of a second ago. Why did they need to steal me away from my sister up there?"
"Well, the thing is, they didn't." Tessa answered, putting her hands to her hips as her companion explained further.
"Indeed, a simple memory transfer and body scan would've sufficed, but it seems the Administrator was in a bit of a rush." Crossing her arms, J continued in disgruntlement. "From what we gathered, this was done by her as per request by the company CEO, Mr. Jenson. He wanted the Administrator to recruit more drones under a new model of disassembly drone, with slight upgrades that would presumably remove most of the persistent issues each of us have." Shaking her head in disappointment, J finished with, "But, it's clear she cared little for how they were acquired, and way too far overboard with her efforts."
Wade held back his anger as he felt his certainty on the ones responsible grow with J's explanation. "So, it's true? Your people did all this? Got my brother and countless others killed for us?"
The corporate drone seemed to give a sluggish wave of her hand as she replied to Wade. "Well, you see, this whole ordeal is much more complex than it seems." Readying a holo-projector from her hand as it showed the image of a worker drone, dressed in a maid uniform. The hair was silver, two strips of it going down the sides of its head, as well as bearing a bow at the top of it all. Though the hologram made it hard to tell certain details, the drone's eyes appeared faintly as yellow through the blue hue from the hologram light.
Wade, Tina, and their companions eyed the seemingly innocent worker drone in puzzlement as J spoke again. "Now, you should count yourselves lucky, cause what I'm about to tell you is something corporate wouldn't let me spew out to anyone under certain statuses." Looking to Tessa, she continued with a sly smirk. "Then again, it'd probably be forced out of us anyway later on even if we didn't decide to tell you. So, now would be the best time to give you a run-down of the truth we have to share."
"Truth?" Wade asked with a raised hand, J nodding in affirmation before replying.
"Yes." Clearing her throat, J began. "You see, the Administrator was not a creation of JCJenson. At least, not in the way they intended. In fact, she was once a normal worker drone, just like you and I were." Wade raised an eyebrow as J's holo-projector shifted to show a building, a large, very old looking manor that went up a couple of stories high. As Wade and his cohorts observed the structure, J continued her story about her and this Administrator's origins.
"A long time ago, at this place we'll call Elliott Manor, my boss, who was still a child at the time, brought in a few worker drones left outside in a dump near the mansion, mostly composed of scrapped worker drone bodies. Upon bringing us in, Tess would fix us up so we could be her friends. I myself, along with three other drones, were her closest companions. Her family weren't so keen on having us around, but, to keep their daughter happy and to make us useful, Mr. and Mrs. Elliott put us to work keeping the place tidy." The disassembly drone's projector shifted again to show J and her three fellow workers, dressed in the same maid attire J was shown in earlier. Wade and Tina stared at two of them, as they resembled the disassembly drones they fought earlier, most notably N and V.
"Among the four of us here, THIS one would be the biggest problem." The hologram zoomed into the worker drone displayed earlier, postured in a strange, slouched over posture.
"Her name is Cyn, and, unlike J, V and N there, she was more broken than I had surmised back then. Spoke like some old artificial voice generator thing." Tessa stated, pointing at the highlighted drone before Tina decided to speak up on the backstory.
"How broken? Was there something wrong with her coding?" She said as she put a hand to her core.
J nodded lightly as she gave her answer. "Most likely. Do you remember the protocol tape for proper disposal of worker units? Seen it at all?"
Tina and Wade shivered a bit as they thought of the presumed tape J spoke of, dread creeping in from their memories of seeing it as the latter of the duo answered. "I think so, once during a little maintenance time I had years back. I think it was called... 'Zombie Drones'?"
"That's exactly the one." J said with a nod before continuing. "Well, if you saw it all the way through, the pie chart diagram points out the outcomes for OS complications should a worker core be improperly terminated. Out of those outcomes, the smallest, least likely one was 'potentially hazardous mutations'." Pointing to Cyn on the hologram, J continued further. "As for Cyn here, she befell said mutations, and they would come to not only affect her, but all of us at the manor too."
Tina's eyes went wide as she started to click the pieces together, recalling herself reading up on the incident J was hinting at years earlier during a class she took at the college she and Wade attended. "Wait... You, you don't mean SHE was the one who caused the Elliott Gala Massacre?"
J nodded in affirmation as Wade spoke up, confused at the revelation. "Wait, I remember looking into that too. Didn't the news say it was some mass murderer that did it?"
"That they did." Tessa replied as she added to the story. "However, that was a cover-up by the company to hide part of what really happened."
Pulling up what appeared to be a large room full of people inside, J explained the tragedy shown on the projector. "Tessa's parents didn't treat the drones under their service well, and Cyn seemed to despise them for it. On that day during a gala hosted by the Elliotts, Cyn, utilizing the mutations I mentioned, slaughtered the entire attending party there." Glancing to Tessa, J finished with, "Tess and I tried to stop her, but... it was too late."
Holding their hands to their mouths, Wade and Tina looked on in horror, Nathan and F sharing similar dismay as the four looked to Tessa. Knowing their desire to hear how she was spared, Tessa spoke to them. "Despite seeing her kill my parents and everyone in that room with my own eyes, Cyn spared me from the carnage. Took me away to some place so I could be kept quiet."
Raising a hand, F spoke up. "Well, wait a minute, how did Cyn join the company after all that?"
"Good question." J replied, pulling up an image of Cyn and a man, whom Wade recognized as Halloway before the corporate drone explained. "Upon the arrival of law enforcement and agents sent by the company, they found Cyn, who had already turned me and the other worker drones from the manor into the first disassembly drones. After some chatter between the two, Dr. Edgar Halloway, a simple materials recovery officer at the time, struck a deal with her. Talking with the authorities, they managed to convince them to keep the incident on the down low while they took Cyn and her drones in for study. Through said study, addition of protocols and official installation of Cyn into higher company positions, not to mention the creation of the Disassembly Drone Division, the rest is history."
The four drones looked on in stunned shock, taking in Tessa and J's story with unease as Wade spoke up. "So, this new body, the crazy shit that we just went through... it's all cause of this Cyn being? And those who are helping her?"
"That's right." J answered as Tina raised a finger, still concerned over the capabilities of the Administrator as she spoke.
"But, how did she convert you all into what you are now? What were these 'mutations' exactly?"
Tessa sighed a bit as she prepared to explain the origins of this horrible program. "Well, from what information I could gather before I got out of Cyn's clutches a while back, the researchers put to work studying Cyn and her abnormalities came to regard the latter as some kind of program, which grew stronger and more capable quite fast as it was kept under the company's leash. Eventually, they gave it a name: AbsoluteSolver." Pulling out what looked like a smartcomm, Tessa flicked her finger over it as she explained further. "Despite all logic, the AbsoluteSolver program, or, Solver, could generate various things out of thin air, as well as manipulate objects and living beings in many ways. To be blunt, it's like some kind of freaky magic powers for drones.
"Seeing that they could learn a lot from this program, as well as use Cyn's abilities to wring out all kinds of products and items for them to sell and use, the company instated the Solver Project, a research group dedicated to understanding the AS and its potential." Raising a finger, Tessa looked to Wade as she finished her explanation on the Solver. "Said program has been branched out to several other planets over the years, helping to spread this virus as far as possible for purposes we're certain aren't good, given that one of those planets got devastated by an experiment one of the teams did involving the virus."
The news that this infection brought harm to one of the colony worlds didn't sit well with the lover drones, both of them looking on in dismay as J gave more details. "And with that in mind, this recent effort has only cemented our belief that Cyn is up to something sinister. So once we reach the base here in Nevada, we have to make preparations for bringing this Solver Project to a halt... BEFORE it can harm any more people."
Smirking deviously, Tessa raised a finger as she glanced to Wade, who looked to her with concern as she spoke. "By the way Mr. Carter, that Halloway guy you ran into earlier? He leads one of the main teams working on the project."
Wade scoffed in annoyance he was reminded of that man. "Doesn't surprise me, seemed like he was really close to the Administrator from what I saw." Then, thinking on the reason for this briefing he was attending, Wade looked to J and Tessa curiously. "Why are you telling us this?"
J crossed her arms as she explained. "Because, Mr. Carter, YOU are the only disassembly drone we managed to recover from that place. And, given your exceptional performance there, your help would be much appreciated in our mission."
"Mission?" Tina said with a raised eyebrow. "So we're not done yet?"
"For us, not in the slightest. We've got some explaining to do with the government officials stationed at the base we're heading to. As for you all," J answered before looking to the four, all of them returning the glance as she continued. "...that depends on what you all have to say. Can you lend us a hand?"
Glancing to each other, Wade and Tina gazed into one another before nodding in agreement, turning back to J and Tessa before giving their decision. "Well, after what I just went through, and what happened to my brother... I'm sure as hell gonna bring those bastards to justice in one form or another."
"Yes, Wade and I have some talking to do with this 'Dr. Halloway' fellow before this is all over." Tina added, her and Wade holding each others hand as J gave a smirk at their vigorous determination.
"I'm glad to hear you two feel the same on the matter." J said as Tessa put her hands to her hips, slumped slightly as she spoke in a disappointed tone.
"Unfortunately, it may be a minute before we see some action. Once we reach the base, you all will find a place to rest for the time being. Since it's a military base, it should be safe from any major retribution attempts by those blokes at the company." Pulling out her smartcomm again, she continued once more. "As for us, we'll talk to the leaders there and see what their decision will be on the matter."
The quartet seemed to grow concerned over that last part, Nathan raising a hand before speaking his mind. "So, if they say no? Does that mean...?"
J and Tessa glanced to each other before the former answered the veteran drone. "Well, in that case, while it will be harder without official military support, the Coalition will take us wherever we need them to in order to put a stop to the Administrator. Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Taking this somewhat comforting news to heart, Tina and Wade nodded in understanding before the latter spoke to the operatives. "Well, that's good to hear. Whenever you do get an answer, give us a heads up."
"We will, Mr. Carter." J replied to Wade before shifting in her stance, Wade and his friends standing up together as their disassembly drone superior spoke once more. "With all that said, you're all dismissed. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask."
"Thanks for clearing this up, Mrs. J. You too, Tessa." Wade said gratefully before turning to the exit, Tina walking with him as F and Nathan walked over to the operatives.
"Wade? Do you mind coming down to the bay below? I... I have something to show you." Wade nodded to her before they made their way down, the four people behind them continuing the chatter as the couple went to have their long overdue privacy.
Stepping out of the cockpit behind them, Wade and Tina sighed in comfort as they saw the troops busy with their tasks, not giving a glance to the two as they walked close to the sealed door of the transport. Admiring the enormous view the large window in the door gave for a moment, the two drones looked to each other as Tina dug into her pocket. "I was hoping to do this when we got back home, but... I got this from Eridanus while I was visiting." Finding her token of love to Wade, she pulled out the small box she showed off on the call earlier, opening it to reveal her present.
Wade admired the blue gemstone with wide eyes as Tina pulled it out with great care. "Wow... It's beautiful."
Tina chuckled as she extended the gem's necklace band out. "I knew you would, I just happened to stumble upon it while exploring the forest during a tour." Putting the two necklace bands around Wade's neck, she clipped the present together before pulling her arms back, adoring Wade's new add-on as she finished her sentence. "I felt it would be something nice for you to remember me by, while we're away from each other."
Wade smiled at Tina as he expressed his appreciation for the gift. "It certainly will." Stiffling a chuckle, the former worker drone held Tina's hand holding the box as he spoke further. "But, no matter how far apart we are, nothing could fill the space you hold in my heart."
"Same in mine, dear." Tina replied as she gazed into Wade's eyes, noting the faint green in his yellowed visor as she looked on in hopeful amusement. "And yet, even after all they did, I can still see those eyes. Changed from the soft, cool grass to the warmth of a blazing sun." She said while putting the box away, then placing a hand onto Wade's face as he looked off with a blush.
"Tina, I..." Wade began, unsure of how to put his thoughts to words as he tried to find them. "I don't know what they did to me, but I won't let it ruin our relationship." Holding her shoulders, Wade spoke to Tina further. "You're the most beautiful being I've seen in the whole universe, your warmth, your flight prowess... I want to protect that. I want to protect you."
"Oh, Wade." Tina murmured as the two touched their heads to one another, holding each other close in their efforts to provide affection. Such affection intensified as the two joined their metal lips, sharing a long kiss as they enjoyed their moment of awkward romance together.
...
Location: New Nellis Staryards, Nevada
The Chameleon transports zoomed over the large military air base as they arrived at their destination, several A-20 planes flying about over the base as they either carried out flight sorties or, more likely, investigated the arriving craft coming towards the base. After about an hour of flying over the country, the Coalition-USN task force finally arrived at the designated area to begin unloading their rescued drones to an area they could be protected more efficiently.
As the transport began to descend, Wade, Tina, and their friends observed the sight outside the window, spotting several landed aircraft and even a few docked warships. They admired the many ships resting for repair and refurbishment while they prepared to land and disembark for the base outside.
In the small bridge of the dropship, one of the two pilots tapped a button on the control panel, putting a microphone to their mouth before speaking into it. "Base Control, this is Transport Chi-729-B, we've got assets from the recent op lead by Captain Preston aboard. Request permission to land."
"Permission granted, Chi-729. Welcome back." The officer on the other end replied as the transport descended further, two lightningrod jets breaking off as they permitted the craft to land on their grounds below them.

Age: 30
Sex: Male
Height: 5’6”
Weight 125
Race Filipino-American
Duration of complaint: ongoing
Location: Florida panhandle area
Any existing relevant medical issues: chronic gastritis
Current medications: LOTS! Currently in hospital.
Just two days ago, I was pulling out onto the highway from a notorious blind spot. It was an intersection with lights. My lights turned green, and I gradually sped up to merge into the eastbound lane. As soon as I passed the brick wall blind spot in my left, I got halfway across the first two lanes when there was suddenly a blue SUV flying at 60mph straight toward my driver side door. He was running a red. This wasn’t yellow turning red.. he blatantly ran a red light that was red for 2-3 secs already. Maybe distracted driving.
BOOM. He made impact and T-boned me right at my driver side door. My passenger blacked out but I remember every bit of it. The impact was something worse than I’ve ever even imagined. The pressure I suddenly felt on every square inch of my body convinced me that I was only going to be alive/conscious for a while longer and that adrenaline was holding me together. Maybe dramatic but I’m being honest with what I felt. I remember watching the glass shatter from the windows and everything loose in the car went flying. My passenger’s shattered glasses were laying on my left lap while my left leg was draped over the impacted driver door. I had to physically grab my leg and hoist it over it to allow the firefighters to use the Jaws on it. They removed both the driver door and rear driver-side passenger door. They cut my driver seat out to access me and then life-flighted me to hospital where I am now.
It has been two days. I haven’t been able to roll onto my stomach or twist or bend at the waist or anything. Can’t raise my knees toward my chest. I feel like a vegetable and I’m genuinely concerned that there is nerve damage with the way I currently feel. My fear is that the damage will be permanent and that I’ll never fully gain control the way I used to. X-Rays and CT scans revealed a broken pelvis in the front left, as well as an accompanying broken Sacrum(bone connects to tailbone).
I’m scared I’ll never walk right again or that if I do manage to walk again, it won’t be anything near the same. I worry about stairs and I worry about bowel movements. I haven’t pooped since being here but I’m sure that’s attributed to all the drugs I’m being pumped with along with my inactivity due to bed rest. My bladder is extremely tender upon feeling my abdominal area with my hands, and it takes a lot of effort to get the pee to come out sometimes.. even when I feel my bladder desperately full. All I can do is lean a little to my left, and let the pee just kinda… happen.. in a pee cup they gave me.
Sorry if this is long. I just had a break down with my nurse trying to help me stand. I couldn’t even twist my body to get positioned for it. It was humiliating. I’m ex military and have always been an athlete. Varsity sprinter in school, football, swimming, and now I’m an eggplant. Now I can’t even physically get out of bed. I can’t even put on my own fking socks. I’ve never been through something so traumatic.. I feel like my life is being stolen from me. The hatred I feel towards the negligent driver who hit me is unparalleled right now. I just want my life back
TLDR: Broke pelvis and sacrum in high speed T-bone accident. I was hit by someone negligently running a red light. I was in a 2024 Elantra while the offending driver was in a SUV of some sort. Life flighted to hospital to discover broken sacrum and pelvis(front left). Been immobilized in my hospital bed lying on my back ever since.
Is it possible to come back from this? I really feel like my life is being stolen and depression is setting in.

I think it was all the way back in like 2018 that I first heard of NVLD, and ever since then I've known that there was a quite high chance that I might have it.
Despite knowing this though I've been for all these years quite reluctant to embrace it, or even to educate myself more about the condition, which, now, after just having at last educated myself about it quite in depth like I'd never had til now, I'm just realizing what a huge mistake it was, putting off learning about such a significant part of myself for six whole years for no reason lol
The main reason why I hadn't done it til now I think is due to the two neurodevelopmental diagnoses I already have: autism & ADHD.
There isn't even the slighest doubt in my mind that these aren't misdiagnoses but two conditions I very much have, never having contemplated the possibility that NVLD might replace any of them, so when I first learned about NVLD & about the huge overlap between its traits & features & those of both autism & ADHD, I was left quite confused honestly, wondering how the hell was I supposed to tell whether I had it or to the contrary just related to so many of its traits & features due to their huge overlap with those of my two actual official diagnoses.
This might've been completely in my head on its entirety, but I also felt like, given the extent to which the NVLD community's being constantly put in the position of having to fight for its validity as a legitimate condition, insisting again & again on how it's its own thing separate from both autism & ADHD & on how kids that actually have NVLD are misdiagnosed on a vast scale with these two more "mainstream" conditions people so often confuse NVLD with, me coming here alleging to be a triply comorbid case of autism, ADHD & NVLD (or even more than these three tbh: developmental coordination disorder, better known as dyspraxia, is another developmental condition that just like NVLD I've known for many, many years there's also a quite high chance I might have but that I've been putting off as well for all this long truly looking into for no good reason), and therefore completely blurring the lines between NVLD & the other two conditions that the NVLD community is constantly trying so hard to draw as sharply as possible, might not have been received by it in the most positive manner.
But now that I've finally educated myself in depth about the condition (and btw I appreciate the fact that, unlike the other times I did a little bit of research about the condition years ago, when most of what I was able to find centred on the NVLD features & traits that are shared as well by autism & ADHD, which as I've said left me quite confused, wondering how was I supposed to tell whether I had it or not if its features & traits were the same as those of the two conditions I already had diagnosed, now however so much of the info on NVLD available online is in fact centred on its more distinctive features & traits it doesn't share with either of the other two), it's so unequivocally apparent to me that I do in fact have NVLD.
To begin with, being gifted, autistic & an ADHD'er, I've had my IQ professionally assessed by a diverse range of different school counselors, psychologists & psychiatrists many times through my life since I was a kid, and the discrepancy between my verbal IQ & my performance IQ has always been shockingly large, the former being much higher than the latter (and again, being gifted, it isn't like my performance IQ is that low either, it's just average, so my verbal IQ is really, really high; given though how verbal intelligence is more plainly noticeable than performance intelligence, I sound more gifted than I actually am, and therefore people seemingly often get from me the erroneous impression that I'm not just gifted but highly so when the reality is that I'm "just" moderately gifted XD).
But it isn't just the huge contrast between my verbal IQ & my performance IQ why it is now glaringly clear to me that I do have NVLD, I already knew since I first learned about NVLD in like 2018 that this was very characteristic of NVLD (hence why I knew for all this long that there was a quite high chance I might have it), it's mostly having properly researched the condition for the first time & then looking now at my life & seeing how well it all lines up that's made me see it.
Grouping my NVLD features & traits by these seven domains:

• Visuospatial awareness: couldn't be more clumsy than I am, always bumping into people, stumbling into anything I possibly could, finding myself on the verge of losing my balance & falling over, not calculating well the distance between me & what is around me (furniture can sometimes be the worst when it comes to this)... the only thing I don't fully relate to when it comes to this is that sometimes I do manage to orient myself remarkably well in new enviroments, but it's purely a visuospatial memory thing, not really a visuospatial awareness one.
• Visuospatial construction: couldn't have poorer fine motor skills, didn't learn to tie my shoelaces til I was like thirteen, always have had & still have awful handwriting (to make things worse I also have essential tremor lol), have always sucked at drawing, have never understood puzzles in any way whatsoever, handcrafting sounds like the worst nightmare imaginable to me, my room & most especially my desk are always tremendously messy both due to my executive dysfunction (can you even imagine how terribly bad my executive dysfunction must be having autism, ADHD & NVLD?) but also due to the fact that I don't know where should I assemble everything...
• Visuospatial memory: can't lie, I don't really struggle with this, in fact as I've said this my visuospatial memory is quite great even, at least enough so to allow me to sometimes have remarkably good orientation in new environments despite my awful visuospatial awareness.
• Visuospatial scanning/tracking: couldn't be more terribly awful than I am at this. Have you ever played Where's Wally? / Where's Waldo? Yeah, I wouldn't be able to find him in a million years lol it also says here where I'm looking all this up "locating things in presence of clutter", but tbh even in the abscense of clutter (let alone in its presence!) I can't seem to find anything lol I can spend ten minutes searching my phone to then find it laying in plain sight with nothing obstructing its view from me, and it also says here "maneuvering in places or situations where other people or things are moving around quickly and in different directions", obviously complete nightmare, would undoubtedly manage somehow to fall over to the ground & end up dying run over by the crowd.
• Spatial estimation: yeah, no, have no idea what length does anything have, every time I dare to guesstimate anything's length everyone is like "The fuck are you saying? He's like fifty metres away from here, not ten! Are you dumb?" (imagine if I lived somewhere with the imperial system which on top of that makes much less sense & is much more arbitrary than the metric one lol).
• Three-dimensional thinking: this includes on the one hand "imagining how things will look when rotated", which is also a no, can't imagine that at all, and on the other "route finding, following directions to a location", and regarding this, my visuospatial memory as I've said is quite great even to the point of allowing me to sometimes have remarkably good orientation in new environments despite my awful visuospatial awareness, but I don't think any of this counts given the fact that that's not really three-dimensional thinking (and had I to try to orient myself exclusively using three-dimensional thinking I'd surely end up hopelessly lost in seconds).
• Interpreting information presented pictorially: yeah, also completely rubbish at this, whether it be diagrams, figures, graphs or, most especially, analog clocks. Maps however would be an exception to this. I mean, if the map in question were a city plan then no, it wouldn't be an exception either, I do suck badly at trying to orient myself with them, but I'm a complete geography nerd so I've spent an ungodly number of hours (probably many more than you're imagining) through my life obsessively looking at all kinds of maps of all kinds of places, sometimes I open Google Maps & spend a whole hour or two aimlessly wandering through its world map looking at the most random places lol so yeah I do love maps (probably in spite of my profound deficits when it comes to "interpreting information presented pictorially").

So yeah, there's no denying it, I do have NVLD lol or developmental visual spatial disorder if you will.
There're two other types of NVLD features or traits though, at least a few steps further removed from the realm of what strictly is visual spatial in nature than the features & traits I've just covered I think, but which are still often listed time after time as very characteristic of NVLD, but tbh they don't really correspond to my reality...
These are struggling on the one hand with maths & on the other with reading & listening comprehension, seeing the broader picture, pattern recognition & grasping highly advanced & complex concepts.
When it comes to maths the reason why I don't really struggle with them I think is that, at the end of the day, I'm gifted. My visual spatial intelligence is extremely low, but my mathematical intelligence & other stuff also grouped in the category of performance IQ aren't that low at all, they're just average. I do struggle though with more than a handful of things within the field of maths, and these seem in fact to correspond with what other people with NVLD tend to struggle the most with as well when it comes to maths: fractions, decimal numbers, geometry, matrices... the more "visual spatial" side of maths I guess, but there's also a more "logical" side to maths centred around applying reasoning to a certain problem that's been laid out, and this latter more "logical" side of maths I've always been quite talented at & fond of tbh.
When it comes to reading & listening comprehension, seeing the broader picture, pattern recognition & grasping highly advanced & complex concepts, giftedness must also be I suppose part of the reason as well why I don't really struggle with any of this, but tbh I think it's even more of an autism thing: both autistic people & people with NVLD are characterized as being very detailed oriented, but whereas people with NVLD seemingly struggle really badly with seeing the broader picture (which I suppose is also what leads to difficulty grasping highly advanced & complex concepts & with reading & listening comprehension), this isn't the case with autistic people, who, rather than characterized as way too lost in the little details to see the broader picture, are often described as bottom-up thinkers (as opposed to allistic, that is, non-autistic, people, who seemingly are top-down thinkers in the overwhelming majority of cases). As bottom-up thinkers, the details are always what we first take in when we begin processing whatever we might or might not be tackling, but unlike with people with NVLD this isn't at all a "can't see the forest for the trees" situation, quite the contrary, we make sense of the forest by first understanding the trees individually, then how are they linked to the others, how do they interact & finally how does that network of trees function together as a broader system, hence understanding the forest. People with NVLD seemingly also struggle as well with pattern recognition, which ironically is known for for being one of the greatest autistic strengths, and which I also think is most likely precisely why despite being just as much detailed oriented as people with NVLD, autistic people seemingly struggle much less with seeing the broader picture: we first examine the details, then start recognizing the patterns that these details form, and from there keep moving upper & upper to increasingly wider patterns til it is from an ample enough scale to grasp the broader picture that the analysis is being made. So yeah, when it comes to this I definitely identify much more with my autistic than with my NVLD side lol

Hey everyone!
With my LSAT and law school admissions journey complete, I wanted to take the time to share my journey and hopefully provide some useful tips along the way. I'm sure you will have heard a lot of what I am about to say a thousand times over, but I thought it might be useful to provide a holistic and comprehensive guide that attempts to bring together some of the best advice that I have picked up throughout this process.
Also, this is meant for anyone and everyone including those who haven't even began to think about the LSAT and those with multiple official exams already under their belt. I am going to use some more specific LSAT jargon meant for those with some familiarity with the test, but there will be many general tips for everyone scattered throughout.
I would like to preface by saying that this is largely based on my own personal experience self-studying, tutoring, and working with others. Please consult with many different sources and do your due diligence as you consider each tip I provide. Without further ado, here is my humble attempt at a guide to the LSAT.
When I first began the LSAT grind, I scored in the low 150s on my diagnostic exam, and while this was disheartening at first, I eventually achieved an official exam score of 174 after approximately 5 months of studying. Since I self-studied for the large majority of my journey, I found myself running into various obstacles and having to continuously refine my roadmap to success. Rather than go through the same process of trial and error that I went through, here is the roadmap outline that I would follow if I were to start all over again from blind diagnostic to test day success:
1. Start with a BLIND Diagnostic Exam:
While this might seem quite obvious to the more experienced of you, many beginners, including myself at the start of this process, do not know where to begin and might be stuck in a paradox of choice. The best way to get started is to take a completely blind practice exam. Try not to expose yourself to any LSAT study materials beforehand and go into the diagnostic exam knowing as little about the exam as possible. You might be tempted to study beforehand to avoid the disappointment of a low diagnostic score, but you must resist this temptation to avoid any misguided preconceptions or bad habits. Through this diagnostic, you will be able to truly identify your foundational strengths and weaknesses which you could and should revisit throughout your studying journey.
2. Decide on your plan of attack:
A mistake that many beginners make after deciding to take the LSAT is jumping into studying without having a structured and thoughtful plan, leading to inefficiencies, lack of focus, and inconsistency. One of the most important factors of success on this exam is the formation of good habits, and you cannot form good habits without a consistent, efficient, and disciplined study plan. There is no one size fits all approach to studying for this exam. However, here are some questions you should ask yourself to find the right plan for you:
What is your goal score? Your answer to this question depends on your long-term goals. Research which law schools would be most suitable for you based on their location, employment data, faculty, administration, student groups, journals, etc. After you put together a tentative list of law schools, look up what their median GPA and median LSAT is for their most recent enrolled class. If your undergraduate GPA (and law schools mainly care about your undergraduate GPA, so do not include any further education) is below their median GPA, then you should probably aim to surpass their median LSAT by at least a few points. However, if your undergraduate GPA is at or above their median GPA, then you should still aim to surpass their median LSAT, but you will still be in a strong position if you score at their median LSAT. After this research, you should have a goal score range by which you can gauge your progress and adjust your studying.
What is your timeline for taking the exam? Setting a timeline for your studying is important to staying focused and disciplined. Decide on which official exam you will be sitting for and then make a study schedule that allows for at least 150-300 hours of studying leading up to the exam. For example, if you are planning to take the August exam, you have approximately 13 weeks to study. Hence, you should dedicate yourself to studying 15-25 hours per week until the exam. Of course, the number of total hours you study depends on your diagnostic score and your goal score, as well as how quickly you progress while studying. If you find that halfway through your study schedule, your score has not substantially improved or you still have to make significant progress to reach your goal score, you may decide to ramp up your study time to 30 hours per week. The most important step here is that you commit to consistent study time, and that you remain flexible as you gauge your progress throughout the journey.
What learning styles/mediums work best for you? This is a matter of both preference and accessibility. Not all learning resources are equally available to everyone. However, many learning programs and materials are becoming increasingly affordable, giving everyone at least some choice in their method of study. Most importantly, you should do research into what your options are and weigh them accordingly. There are a variety of LSAT books available both new and used including but not limited to the LSAT Trainer, the Loophole, and the PowerScore Bibles. Of course, using a book requires a higher degree of discipline and self-accountability. On the other hand, there are a variety of online programs as well which provide a similarly structured curriculum and will even integrate your personal study schedule such as 7Sage and the LSAT Demon. You may even be able to find a relatively inexpensive tutor through Reddit or Wyzant if you require a bit more external accountability or a more personalized approach.
Lastly, what study methods are most effective for you? Everyone should incorporate a mix of foundational concepts, drilling, and practice in their studying, but it's important to recognize which method is most effective for you. Perhaps you find taking PTs (practice tests) garner the greatest score increases. Hence, you should dedicate more study time to taking PTs. Throughout your journey, you should constantly be aware of which study methods are most effective and adjust accordingly.
Once you have definitively answered these questions, you will have prepared yourself to optimize your study time and decrease your exam anxiety. Those preparing for the LSAT might be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content and their limited timeline, but, by crafting a practical and efficient study plan, you won’t be inundated with content and will be assured that you are making the best use of your time.
3. Learn the Material:
Now that you’ve set yourself up for success, it’s time to actually sit down and do the work. In the following, I’ll outline some of what I found to be the most important strategies and concepts for each section of the exam:
Logical Reasoning:
Logical Reasoning is the core of the LSAT. The lessons learned from this section are essential throughout the exam and need to be learned inside and out. To succeed in this section, you need to learn the language of the test makers, argumentation. Every question contains an argument, and you need to be able to translate those arguments by learning to identify their building blocks: background information, premises, sub-conclusions, and conclusions. Once you’re fluent in argumentation, every stimulus becomes substantially easier to simplify and understand. Second, your argumentation toolbox is not complete without the ability to identify flaws in argumentation. A large proportion of the arguments put forward in LR questions are not foolproof, in fact, some of them are really bad. Additionally, these arguments are only flawed in a limited number of ways, and you need to be able to identify each of the fallacies that the test makers have at their disposal such as ad hominem, causation, and circular reasoning flaws. The ability to identify these flaws will allow you to answer the majority of questions on the exam since, by knowing the flaw, you will be better able to attack it, resolve it, or point it out. Last, but not least, know your question types. There are only a limited number of question types that the test makers will put forward and you can easily look up what these question types are. For each question type, you should have a unique approach and understand what reoccurring signals to look for in the stimulus and answer choices. While I won’t repeat this for the other sections, this is true of every section.
Reading Comprehension:
You will hear from many people that reading comprehension is the hardest section to learn, and this is true in some sense. Success in this section relies on skills that are developed throughout one’s education. However, there are many strategies that can boost your performance and bolster your skills. Developing a reliable shorthand/note-taking system is a priority when learning this section. A shorthand system can reduce the time you spend on questions and also allow you to better retain crucial details. Your system depends on your preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, and discovering your approach will require some trial and error as you test different note-taking strategies. For me, I would write a very short (4-5 words) summary of each paragraph as I finished reading it. I would also utilize the LSAC interface’s highlighters to color code different components of the passage’s argument (e.g., orange = conclusion/main idea). This system was designed in order for me to easily distill the most important aspects of the passage and allow me to easily reference the text for smaller details. There’s no way of getting around this next obstacle though and it has to be faced head on: your reading speed. Reading comprehension requires a balance between reading speed and information retention (i.e., the faster you read, the less information you retain and vice versa). However, if you can increase the speed at which you read without sacrificing any information, there is no downside. That is why I’d recommend reading non-LSAT material in your free time through magazines, novels, and newspapers. Of course, this will help you to both increase your reading speed and your reading stamina. Lastly, this next tip that I utilized during every reading comprehension section I took is more focused on your mindset when approaching the section. No matter what the substance of the article, convince yourself mentally that you are incredibly interested in the subject matter. It may be difficult to trick yourself into enjoying some of the drier topics, but simply telling myself that I wanted to know more about the subject and actively asking questions about the material led to increased focus and closer analysis.
Logic Games:
If you are registered for the June LSAT, then this especially applies to you. If you are planning to take the exam at a later date, you will not have a logic games section, but you should still read the following. These skills as well as previously mentioned skills/tips apply across the entire exam and do not exclusively apply to any one section. First, master formal logic. Your mastery over the rules of formal logic and your ability to apply them is the difference between -5 and -0 on logic games. When I say master, I mean that if someone were to wake you up in the middle of the night and ask you to identify the necessary and sufficient condition in ,”I will not go outside unless it is sunny”, you should be able to answer in under five seconds. This will allow you to easily unravel and represent convoluted language in a significantly more understandable and digestible way. Along with this, develop a foolproof diagramming method that does not consume too much time but also is easily understood in a high-pressure environment. Before I had perfected my diagramming, I would often represent rules, game boards, and pieces in a confusing manner which led to me forgetting about certain aspects of the game or misapplying a rule. Your game diagrams should be compact and excessively clear in what they represent. Logic games are already difficult as is so do not make it more difficult by making a confusing diagram. Last but not least, make deductions. I have heard that some people choose to make deductions as they work through the questions, but I found it much easier to make as many deductions as possible before jumping into the questions. At first, I struggled to uncover key inferences which led to wasted time and wrong answers. However, after diagramming a game, I began to move through each rule one by one, and examined how each interacts with the game board as well as every other rule. Another rule of thumb for making inferences is identifying rules in which a game piece repeats (e.g., “A is before B” and “B is before C” both include B) and seeing if you can uncover any resulting conclusions.
These tips are in no way exhaustive, but I hope that they provided a good overview to guide your studying and help you make incremental improvements.
Step 3: PRACTICE
Now that you have learned all of the fundamentals of each section, it’s time to put them to use. After all, learning all of this material is pointless if you can’t apply it on test day. Practice is an essential component of your test preparation for two primary reasons. First, it allows you to develop a standardized routine. When I say routine, I mean every logistical/strategic aspect of the exam including but not limited to your pre-exam preparation, your logic games diagramming method, your reading comprehension note-taking/shorthand method, time management strategies, and more. You should have deliberated upon, tested, and habituated each of these routines prior to your official exam by implementing them during PTs under test-day conditions. The LSAT is already a very stressful exam so you do not want to waste the precious time you have on exam day thinking about how you should annotate a reading comprehension passage, for example, and tinkering with different strategies. No, your strategies should already be tried and true on exam day. Second, if you never practice taking the exam, you will never know where you need to improve. Taking PTs are incredibly important as they allow you to evaluate your progress and signal which concepts, sections, or questions you need to work on or revisit.
Now, how should you practice? There’s no getting around it. You need to take practice exams under simulated official exam conditions. Set a timer for each section, take the required break between sections, and only use the equipment that will be allowed on test day (i.e., authorized computer, water, scrap paper, writing utensils, etc.). This is the only way for you to estimate how you will perform on test day and accustom yourself to the conditions of the official exam. I completed approximately 2-3 practice exams every week leading up to my official exams. It is even better if you save the more recent practice exams for the week or two before your official exam since those are going to be most similar to your exam. However, it is important that you do not just mindlessly take practice exams which leads me to my next point: blind review.
I know, I know, blind review is extremely time consuming and tedious, but it was essential to my success on this exam. If you do not know what blind review is, it is basically when you do not reveal the correct answers of a practice exam after you have completed it, but instead complete the exam over again by checking and revising your answers. At the end of this process, you will have two scores: your actual score and your blind review score. The main reason for this is that you will now be able to see more clearly where your weaknesses lie. If you corrected a previously incorrect answer during blind review, then you likely got it wrong due to the time constraint or testing anxiety rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of the question. If you failed to catch an incorrect answer during blind review, you need to make it your priority to fully understand your error, analyze the question, and then revisit the concept that the question covers.
Once your weaknesses are exposed during blind review, you can target those weaknesses by reviewing the conceptual material and then drilling the question/game/passage type. If you do not know what I mean by drilling, I mean that you can create and complete custom problem sets that focus on your weakness until you have addressed the weakness.
Step 4: Profit
Now it is time to take your official exam. First, you have to register for the exam and decide on whether you will take it in-person or online. There are benefits and drawbacks to each and you have to decide based on your personal circumstances. For the online format, you are going to need a very quiet room with a strong internet connection. You will need to remove all prohibited material from this room including books, posters, electronics, etc. Additionally, the online proctoring system can be quite a hassle and very finicky. It requires you to download a program prior to test day and then share your screen, video, and audio with a remote proctor. Proctors may interrupt your exam due to compliance issues (e.g., your face is not in full view). Additionally, there is a small but nonzero chance that your exam is placed under review due to suspected noncompliant activity during your exam period and possibly even canceled as a result of said review. However, there are obvious benefits to online testing. You can take the exam in the comfort of your own home if that is an option for you, and you generally have much more control over your environment. You take the exam on a computer of your choice that you are comfortable with. You use your own scrap paper and writing utensils. For the in-person format, there is little to no preparation required beforehand except for scheduling an appointment at a nearby test center and bringing a valid ID. You will be ushered into an office-like room filled with a number of small cubicles. In each cubicle, there will be a desktop with a monitor, mechanical keyboard, and mouse. There will be a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and you will also be given a booklet of scrap paper and writing utensils. A very compelling benefit of the in-person exam is that your exam is much less likely to be placed under review/canceled for suspicious activity. Your test session isn’t recorded and you do not have to connect with a remote proctor. You will not have to worry about the internet connection or whether or not your test-taking equipment is prohibited or not. Basically all you have to do is show up and take the exam. However, there are definitely drawbacks to the in-person exam as well. You will be in a new environment that you are unfamiliar with. There will be the noise of the other test takers in the room with you typing on keyboards, clicking their mouse, coughing, sneezing, leaving/entering the room, etc. There are definitely inconsistencies between the testing centers as well. Some minor, but noticeable issues that I experienced during my in-person exam included audible conversations coming from outside of the room, dark orange scrap paper on which I could barely see pencil marks, dull/broken pencils provided by the testing center, and barely functional noise-canceling headphones. Do not expect the testing centers to be a perfect, controlled environment and anticipate issues/annoyances.
Once you’ve registered and exam day has arrived, it's time to do exactly what you practiced. I would not recommend that you make any last-minute changes to your testing routine/strategies. You have put so much work into perfecting your routine, and it would be a shame to throw that away when it really matters. After about 3 hours, you’ll have officially taken the LSAT. Congratulations! Now, it is a waiting game. Despite the exam taking place on a digital platform and being graded instantly, you will still have to wait about a month to receive your results. It is up to you whether you would like to continue studying during this wait depending on how you felt about your exam performance although I would keep any studying very light. Enjoy your well-deserved break.
Step 5: Score Release
You’ve now waited for what feels like forever and you receive the score for your first official exam. If you reached your goal score, congratulations! You have now finished a crucial component of the law school admissions process. You’re not done yet though. It’s time to start thinking about putting together your law school applications (which I may write another guide about soon). If you did not reach your goal score, don’t worry! Appreciate the fact that you are now more familiar with the official exam process and jump right back into studying/practicing again. If you were very close to your goal score, then I would recommend registering for the soonest upcoming exam and focusing on practicing through drills and PTs. If you were quite far away from your goal score, it might be worth evaluating your weakest sections/question types and jumping back into foundational concepts. Whatever you do, DO NOT cancel your first official exam. First, law schools only really care about your highest exam score, so do better on the next one and this one won’t hurt you. Second, you need to have at least one non-canceled score in order to even apply to law school. Let’s say you cancel your first test and then do even worse on your second test, then what? I would only recommend canceling a score if it is not your first exam (and you did not cancel your first exam) and it is lower than one of your other scores (e.g., you scored a 165 on your first exam and then a 162 on your second).
The End!
I know that was a lot. I could probably think of more to write, but you are probably already overwhelmed with information so I’ll leave the rest to you. I want to reiterate that these are all tips that I’ve picked up over my studying journey and I cannot guarantee a score increase based solely on these tips. After all, the most important thing is that you put in the work yourself and do your own due diligence to find what works best for you. If you have read everything up until now, you may be certifiably insane (the mark of a great law student) and thank you so much for considering what I have had to say. Remember that this is just a small part of your journey. Your LSAT score is not only just a single part of your law school applications, but it is an even smaller part of your career in the legal profession. I am not diminishing the importance of the exam, but please maintain a sensible perspective when you are feeling stressed and anxious about the LSAT. Make sure that you maintain a healthy work-life balance, keep pursuing hobbies and interests that you enjoy, and give yourself a break every once in a while. Your mindset and mental health is half the battle. See you in law school!

It’s such an “Oda thing” to make something called “Mother Flame” quite literally be a flame, and a tiny one at that, but beneath this seemingly straight-forward design lays a much, MUCH deeper meaning (which is also very much an Oda thing). I don’t think people realize just how intrinsically tied The Mother Flame and its creator Dr. Vegapunk are to the very source of life on Earth – the Sun. After all, Vegapunk’s other namesake, “Stella”, quite literally translates to “Star” or "Sun".
https://preview.redd.it/1h9zswyaqszc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=db8a458da80df80b06cb9732833c1862487ac0d3

Dr. Vegapunk’s Origin

I’m sure that by now pretty much everyone is aware that Vegapunk is heavily based on a real life theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein. Old Vegapunk’s design - that of an old man with gray hair, a mustache and a large tongue - is pretty much a 1-to-1 adaptation of Einstein’s appearance, down to even the tongue.
https://preview.redd.it/hdkhb71fqszc1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=9496e3e3afd1048ec3097dfdedd5cf971376bb86
However, Vegapunk isn’t meant to be a simple 1-to-1 adaptation of Einstein, but rather an amalgamation of a bunch of real life scientists. The apple-like lid on Vegapunk’s head is a reference to the famous story of Sir Isaac Newton discovering gravity after an apple fell down on his head. Vegapunk’s goal of providing the world with free energy is something that Nikola Tesla always dreamed of doing. And yet, ironically, the ^(2nd) most important inspiration behind the character of Vegapunk is actually a not-so real scientist – the mythical inventor Daedalus.
Jacob Peter Gowy's The Fall of Icarus (1635–1637)

The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus

The name of Chapter 1114, “The Wings of Icarus”, is a reference to the famous story of Daedalus and Icarus. According to the Greek mythos, Daedalus was a mythical inventor who created wings made of feathers and wax to escape from Crete (an island) where he and his son, Icarus, were held captive. Icarus, in his arrogance, ignored his father's warnings and, wanting to reach Heaven, flew higher and higher until he got too close to the Sun. His wings melted, and he fell into the sea where he met his end. This is where the saying “he flew too close to the sun” comes from. Interestingly, the myth of Daedalus and Icarus is quite similar to another Greek myth, the fall of Phaethon.
https://preview.redd.it/t2wh6m1kqszc1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=22dbc311551f6718b648ab30a1caf906656a63d5
Phaethon was the son of Apollo, the Greek God of the sun and light who insisted on driving the chariot of the sun. Even though Apollo warned him time and time again that this would bring about his end, Phaethon refused to back down. Eventually, Phaethon got what he wanted, only to realize that he did not have what it takes to control the chariot’s horses and fell down to his death.
In the case of Vegapunk, “flying too close to the Sun” would be a metaphor for him studying the Poneglyphs and learning about the Void Century which is what eventually gets him killed. However, when Vegapunk talks about flying too close to the Sun the panel of Mother Flame appears on the page. I believe this is because Mother Flame is quite literally a piece of the Sun.
Chapter 1114

The Mother Flame

When talking about the real life scientist that inspired Vegapunk’s character, I purposefully left out one - J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist often called the “father of the atomic bomb” due to his contribution to its development.
Drawing by \"u/Stich_kun_draws\"
The Atom(ic) bomb got its name due to the process known as “Nuclear Fission” in which an atom is split into smaller nuclei, releasing a VERY LARGE amount of (nuclear) energy (which then makes the bomb go “boom”). Another process from which nuclear energy is derived is “Nuclear Fusion.)”. Like its name suggests, fusion is the opposite process of fission in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form one or more different atomic nuclei. It’s the process used in Thermonucleafusion weapons, second-generation nuclear weapon design, and, more importantly, nuclear fusion is how the Sun generates its energy.
A diagram of fusion in the Sun
What Vegapunk created wasn’t the flame we saw but rather the container (the “tank of water”) in which it is located. The flame - a piece of the sun - is the energy source whose power is then harvested and contained in the machine and which is then used to power the weapon known as the “Mother Flame”.
Mother Flame next to a basic diagram of a thermonuclear weapon. The A&Mu on the machine is a pun for “Atom”. In Japanese you can read “&”as “to”, which then makes it “Atomu”
This would explain Vegapunk’s willingness to create such a thing. You see, nuclear power - besides generating A LOT of energy - is one of the cleanest, sustainable energy sources as it reduces carbon emissions. If Vegapunk wanted to create a power source to fuel the entire world which is sinking due to man-made causes, then harnessing the power of the sun is the way to go. And just like in real life, such a powerful invention is destined to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
https://preview.redd.it/kfw8147wqszc1.png?width=1455&format=png&auto=webp&s=8efc4ea46890259e83c06f199e186343cefbf682

The Ancient Weapon Uranus

The moment we got our first look at the Mother Flame in Chapter 1060, we had people theorize it was the yet-to-be revealed Ancient Weapon Uranus. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after the latest Chapter I think it would be hard to imagine a weapon more fitting to an “Ancient Weapon” moniker. The only question now is; which one is the weapon - the power source (flame) or the machine it powers? I’m pretty confident in what the answer is, but I want to walk you through my train of thoughts first.
https://preview.redd.it/kcgn4awyqszc1.png?width=1535&format=png&auto=webp&s=c568d08d67e94d3190c25ec48f93e3c36c50bd74
We know that the “Great Kingdom” was an ancient civilization which 900 years ago had a technology even more advanced than the one of today. We also know that the Twenty Kings/Kingdoms, that would eventually form the World Government of today, united in the common cause of destroying the said Kingdom by the end of the Void Century, 800 years ago. However, “just because you shot Jesse James, doesn’t make you Jesse James”; just because they defeated the Great Kingdom doesn’t mean they can properly utilize their technology. This is where Vegapunk comes in.
Vegapunk is the first and only person to successfully recreate the technology from the Great Kingdom. The Five Elders value his work so much that they are willing to compromise on many different occasions, most recently seen with Mars avoiding destroying Punk Records in the fear of losing The Mother Flame. If he were to destroy it, then there would be no guarantee that another of its kind could be created. That’s precisely why I believe that the Ancient Weapon that we know by the name of Uranus is the little flame we see inside the machine - the source of the machine’s power.
https://preview.redd.it/sprspftzqszc1.png?width=1031&format=png&auto=webp&s=62d8a3a741d0b3522e46a26d4b0d3024a2db2f9a

The Lunarians

“Luna” is a Latin word for "moon" and in fiction, the term "Lunarian" is sometimes used to describe the inhabitants of the moon, but despite all this, there has yet to be any indication that Lunarians actually originate from it. When Enel learns the history of the Sky People in his Cover Story (Enel's Great Space Operations), Lunarians cannot be found among the tribes, which possess distinctive wings on their backs as well, that came from the Moon.
Chapter 470 Cover Story - Lunarians are nowhere to be seen
Furthermore, Lunarian biology is rather unique when compared to that of Sky People, to put it lightly. They possess tremendous vitality and resilience to harm that borders on invulnerability, allowing them to thrive in any natural environment alongside the ability to generate and manipulate fire. In the world of One Piece, we have seen with the Fish-men that these intrinsic characteristics are born out of necessity, as Fish-men are said to possess ten times the physical strength of normal humans to survive the underwater pressure.
So why would Lunarians have such resilience, while the Sky People don't, if they indeed both originate from the Moon? Is it because Lunarians don’t originate from the Moon but rather from the Sun? Their night-invulnerability and fire manipulation could be a natural evolution born out of necessity to survive the harsh heat of the sun.
https://preview.redd.it/jkllhrg6rszc1.png?width=820&format=png&auto=webp&s=fdff3491c55de46c243e75b5e1b864caca4b5fe0
I know what you are thinking; even for One Piece it is silly for anyone to be able to survive the heat of 15 million degrees Celsius (!), but that is the heat of the Sun’s core. The heat of the Sun’s surface is “only” 5,500 degrees C which is around the heat of Earth’s core (5,200-6,000 degrees) and around 20 times hotter than the hottest lava. I can totally see Lunarians feasibly surviving that in a world where a normal person can just fly to the moon, breath in space, and not freeze to death in the process. Or maybe I’m thinking too big. Maybe they just came from a Planet that is very close to the Sun.
The Lunarians might have, at one point in time, lived on the Moon where they got their name from, but they originate from the Sun from where they brought a piece of it – the Mother Flame.
Chapter 472 Cover Story

Conclusion

One last myth I wanted to mention is about Prometheus. Prometheus is one of the Titans and a god of fire, best known for defying the Olympian gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge, and more generally, civilization. He is also sometimes presented as the father of Deucalion, the hero of the flood story, which I feel is quite relevant with the recent revelation of the One Piece’s world sinking. I do not know exactly who is meant to represent Prometheus but it’s very likely that the Mother Flame was stolen from the inhabitants of Great Kingdom, 800 years ago when the 20 Kings united to destroy it, and then finally used in the present to re-shape the world.
https://preview.redd.it/nby7prdbrszc1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6f9daef049e6ceb09e2136425f83a473dc2aae9
I do not think that it’s a coincidence that Vegapunk designed Seraphims after Lunarians and that Oda named them after the highest order of Angels in Christian angelology, nor do I think that the name of Chapter 1114 (Wings of Icarus) is just some random creative decision. Everything so far points toward the Lunarians being the ones that brought the Mother Flame from the Sun – and with it technology and knowledge – before having it stolen during the Void Century.

Tl;dr

The Mother Flame is a literal piece of the Sun, brought to Earth by Lunarians, and an analogy of a nuclear PoweWeapon. In order to create a source of endless energy for the world, Vegapunk harnessed the power of the flame, which was then used to power the Ancient Weapon Uranus.

If you enjoyed reading this make sure to give me a follow for more weekly/bi-weekly One Piece posts!

Like the headline says once in a while i don’t know what i do but it feels like i pulled irritated something in the bottom right side. Right after surgery this is the location where i had the most pain so clearly something is tender there. Has anyone else been still experiencing these pains this far out from surgery? It also almost feels like it affects my bladder I wish I could see inside there but just worried this is something I will have to deal with forever. Any similar experiences would help greatly!

It’s such an “Oda thing” to make something called “Mother Flame” quite literally be a flame, and a tiny one at that, but beneath this seemingly straight-forward design lays a much, MUCH deeper meaning (which is also very much an Oda thing). I don’t think people realize just how intrinsically tied The Mother Flame and its creator Dr. Vegapunk are to the very source of life on Earth – the Sun.
https://preview.redd.it/dqbs6jkjenzc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ece95312cc427327255cfb1917f803c1bb49edc

Dr. Vegapunk’s Origin

I’m sure that by now pretty much everyone is aware that Vegapunk is heavily based on a real life theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein. Old Vegapunk’s design - that of an old man with gray hair, a mustache and a large tongue - is pretty much a 1-to-1 adaptation of Einstein’s appearance, down to even the tongue.
https://preview.redd.it/uk9dwc8lenzc1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=bfbda836f11d09a86e4e6912667f1e6f581fe892
However, Vegapunk isn’t meant to be a simple 1-to-1 adaptation of Einstein, but rather an amalgamation of a bunch of real life scientists. The apple-like lid on Vegapunk’s head is a reference to the famous story of Sir Isaac Newton discovering gravity after an apple fell down on his head. Vegapunk’s goal of providing the world with free energy is something that Nikola Tesla always dreamed of doing. And yet, ironically, the ^(2nd) most important inspiration behind the character of Vegapunk is actually a not-so real scientist – the mythical inventor Daedalus.
https://preview.redd.it/an5iprjmenzc1.jpg?width=2362&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6f7b6fa1039f4d1647bdce0139d5eb0ae463663

The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus

The name of Chapter 1114, “The Wings of Icarus”, is a reference to the famous story of Daedalus) and Icarus. According to the Greek mythos, Daedalus was a mythical inventor who created wings made of feathers and wax to escape from Crete (an island) where he and his son, Icarus, were held captive. Icarus, in his arrogance, ignored his father's warnings and, wanting to reach Heaven, flew higher and higher until he got too close to the Sun. His wings melted, and he fell into the sea where he met his end. This is where the saying “he flew too close to the sun” comes from.
Interestingly, the myth of Daedalus and Icarus is quite similar to another Greek myth, the fall of Phaethon.
https://preview.redd.it/fs0x6qknenzc1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=d43ca944dd67d88faf9b9a1b5c560f3d9b176429
Phaethon was the son of Apollo, the Greek God of the sun and light who insisted on driving the chariot of the sun. Even though Apollo warned him time and time again that this would bring about his end, Phaethon refused to back down. Eventually, Phaethon got what he wanted, only to realize that he did not have what it takes to control the chariot’s horses and fell down to his death.
In the case of Vegapunk, “flying too close to the Sun” would be a metaphor for him studying the Poneglyphs and learning about the Void Century which is what eventually gets him killed. However, when Vegapunk talks about flying too close to the Sun the panel of Mother Flame appears on the page. I believe this is because Mother Flame is quite literally a piece of the Sun.
https://preview.redd.it/8vitxz8xenzc1.png?width=1466&format=png&auto=webp&s=afbb01b447e1b205fff7105e4dc2461b28643750

The Mother Flame

When talking about the real life scientist that inspired Vegapunk’s character, I purposefully left out one - J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist often called the “father of the atomic bomb” due to his contribution to its development.
https://preview.redd.it/4abdmt8yenzc1.png?width=879&format=png&auto=webp&s=d30b260f6b85a312b7e1988a8e476f71a1ee45da
The Atom(ic) bomb got its name due to the process known as “Nuclear Fission” in which an atom is split into smaller nuclei, releasing a VERY LARGE amount of (nuclear) energy (which then makes the bomb go “boom”). Another process from which nuclear energy is derived is “Nuclear Fusion.)”. Like its name suggests, fusion is the opposite process of fission in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form one or more different atomic nuclei. It’s the process used in Thermonucleafusion weapons, second-generation nuclear weapon design, and, more importantly, nuclear fusion is how the Sun generates its energy.
A diagram of fusion in the Sun
What Vegapunk created wasn’t the flame we saw but rather the container (the “tank of water”) in which it is located. The flame - a piece of the sun - is the energy source whose power is then harvested and contained in the machine and which is then used to power the weapon known as the “Mother Flame”.
Mother Flame next to a basic diagram of a thermonuclear weapon
This would explain Vegapunk’s willingness to create such a thing. You see, nuclear power - besides generating A LOT of energy - is one of the cleanest, sustainable energy sources as it reduces carbon emissions. If Vegapunk wanted to create a power source to fuel the entire world which is sinking due to man-made causes, then harnessing the power of the sun is the way to go. And just like in real life, such a powerful invention is destined to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
https://preview.redd.it/ghkevodsenzc1.png?width=1455&format=png&auto=webp&s=47842552db6a6be70fd91b13aecf57be5710b415

The Ancient Weapon Uranus

The moment we got our first look at the Mother Flame in Chapter 1060, we had people theorize it was the yet-to-be revealed Ancient Weapon Uranus. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after the latest Chapter I think it would be hard to imagine a weapon more fitting to an “Ancient Weapon” moniker. The only question now is; which one is the weapon - the power source (flame) or the machine it powers? I’m pretty confident in what the answer is, but I want to walk you through my train of thoughts first.
https://preview.redd.it/29pvnqkvenzc1.png?width=1535&format=png&auto=webp&s=2095217bd34961478ba1149140d6fc029fe6ed57
We know that the “Great Kingdom” was an ancient civilization which 900 years ago had a technology even more advanced than the one of today. We also know that the Twenty Kings/Kingdoms, that would eventually form the World Government of today, united in the common cause of destroying the said Kingdom by the end of the Void Century, 800 years ago. However, “just because you shot Jesse James, doesn’t make you Jesse James”; just because they defeated the Great Kingdom doesn’t mean they can properly utilize their technology. This is where Vegapunk comes in.
Vegapunk is the first and only person to successfully recreate the technology from the Great Kingdom. The Five Elders value his work so much that they are willing to compromise on many different occasions, most recently seen with Mars avoiding destroying Punk Records in the fear of losing The Mother Flame. If he were to destroy it, then there would be no guarantee that another of its kind could be created. That’s precisely why I believe that the Ancient Weapon that we know by the name of Uranus is the little flame we see inside the machine - the source of the machine’s power.
https://preview.redd.it/47bb31o0fnzc1.png?width=1031&format=png&auto=webp&s=4bf0d7e8b419df25cac2f2bafcdee108de1d3a32
I believe the machine is also the weapon but where you can build another machine, you cannot “build” another power source

The Lunarians

“Luna” is a Latin word for "moon" and in fiction, the term "Lunarian" is sometimes used to describe the inhabitants of the moon, but despite all this, there has yet to be any indication that Lunarians actually originate from it. When Enel learns the history of the Sky People in his Cover Story (Enel's Great Space Operations), Lunarians cannot be found among the tribes, which possess distinctive wings on their backs as well, that came from the Moon.
Lunarians are nowhere to be seen
Furthermore, Lunarian biology is rather unique when compared to that of Sky People, to put it lightly. They possess tremendous vitality and resilience to harm that borders on invulnerability, allowing them to thrive in any natural environment alongside the ability to generate and manipulate fire. In the world of One Piece, we have seen with the Fish-men that these intrinsic characteristics are born out of necessity, as Fish-men are said to possess ten times the physical strength of normal humans to survive the underwater pressure.
So why would Lunarians have such resilience, while the Sky People don't, if they indeed both originate from the Moon? The answer is because Lunarians don’t originate from the Moon; they actually originate from the Sun. Their night-invulnerability and fire manipulation is a natural evolution born out of necessity to survive the harsh heat of the sun.
https://preview.redd.it/aha1lj94fnzc1.png?width=820&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a43402b67fe7baafebaf49e38693afcd89f703b
I know what you are thinking; even for One Piece it is silly for anyone to be able to survive the heat of 15 million degrees Celsius (!), but that is the heat of the Sun’s core. The heat of the Sun’s surface is “only” 5,500 degrees C which is around the heat of Earth’s core (5,200-6,000 degrees) and around 20 times hotter than the hottest lava. I can totally see Lunarians feasibly surviving that in a world where a normal person can just fly to the moon, breath in space, and not freeze to death in the process.They might have, at one point in time, lived on the Moon where they got their name from, but they originate from the Sun from where they brought a piece of it – the Mother Flame.
https://preview.redd.it/ti5iv7kblnzc1.png?width=1031&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd235cf0ae447bcea68f4cbc4eb1b21fe0fff2a4

Conclusion

One last myth I wanted to mention is about Prometheus. Prometheus is one of the Titans and a god of fire, best known for defying the Olympian gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge, and more generally, civilization. He is also sometimes presented as the father of Deucalion, the hero of the flood story, which I feel is quite relevant with the recent revelation of the One Piece’s world sinking. I do not know exactly who is meant to represent Prometheus but it’s very likely that the Mother Flame was stolen from the inhabitants of Great Kingdom, 800 years ago when the 20 Kings united to destroy it, and then finally used in the present to re-shape the world.

I do not think that it’s a coincidence that Vegapunk designed Seraphims after Lunarians and that Oda named them after the highest order of Angels in Christian angelology, nor do I think that the name of Chapter 1114 (Wings of Icarus) is just some random creative decision. Including Vegapunk’s other namesake, “Stella”, which can be translated to “sun”, everything so far points toward the Lunarians being the ones that brought the Mother Flame from the Sun – and with it technology and knowledge – before having it stolen during the Void Century.

Tl;dr

The Mother Flame is a literal piece of the Sun, brought to Earth by Lunarians, and an analogy of a nuclear PoweWeapon. In order to create a source of endless energy for the world, Vegapunk harnessed the power of the flame, which was then used to power the Ancient Weapon Uranus.

If you enjoyed reading this make sure to give me a follow for more weekly/bi-weekly One Piece posts!

So I've just been quoted £995 for a 5-day DAS course. It's not dissimilar to what many training schools charge. I ask the title question because the amount of test fails I see in this sub has led me to believe that riding schools aren't packaging their courses properly and due to restrictions around riding big bikes they know that once someone has paid the lump sum for the course they don't really have much options but to see it through.
The course breakdown is as follows:

• Day 1: Full day training on a 500cc or 650cc bike for £205 (6 hrs)
• Day 2: Full day Module 1 Training for £225 (6 hrs)
• Day 3: Half-day Module 1 practical test and bike hire for £115 (3 hrs)
• Day 4: Full day Module 2 Training for £250 (6 hrs)
• Day 5: Half-day Module 2 practical test and bike hire for £200 (3 hrs)

This is with somewhat limited riding experience, only 8.5 hours on a manual bike to date. I've held a full car driving licence for over 15 years and cycled peak time London streets too (I'll leave the tales of racing commuter cyclists to a different sub). My motorcycle licence journey this far has cost me:

• CBT in 2015 on a 125cc moped: £89 (7 hrs)
• CBT in 2023 on a 125cc geared bike: £160 (6 hrs)
• Theory test: £23
• Big bike day in March 2024 on a 650cc: £50 (1.5 hrs)

For the 5-day course, the hourly rate comes to approximately £41.5, assuming both Module 1 and Module 2 are passed on the first attempt. However, in case of failure, retests incur additional costs of £115 for Module 1 and £200 for Module 2.
Considering the frequency of test failures discussed on this sub, I decided to investigate pass rates. It's evident that my local test centre in Mitcham consistently falls below the national pass rate for both Module 1 and Module 2. Conversely, centres like Norwich, Bangor, and Dundee have exceptional scores for Module 1, while Ipswich, Swindon, and Leicester stand out for Module 2. Ipswich, notably, boasts impressive pass rates of 91% for male candidates and 92% for female candidates.
Here are the pass rates for Module 1 and Module 2 across various locations:
Module 1:

• National Pass Rate (2019-2024): Male 76%, Female 56%
• Mitcham (London) April 23 to March 24: Male 70%, Female 54%
• Norwich April 23 to March 24: Male 89%, Female 70%
• Bangor April 23 to March 24: Male 84%, Female 80%
• Dundee April 23 to March 24: Male 80%, Female 81%

Module 2:

• National Pass Rate (2019-2023): Male 72%, Female 70%
• Mitcham (London) April 22 to March 23: Male 59%, Female 61%
• Ipswich April 23 to March 24: Male 91%, Female 92%
• Swindon April 23 to March 24: Male 80%, Female 85%
• Leicester (Wigston) April 23 to March 24: Male 84%, Female 84%

Provided I go with the above quote and pass first time I'd of spent £1,317 over 38.5 hours of training. What's really frustrating is unlike learning to drive a car where you can build up experience outside of formal lessons in a family member's or friend's car provided you have insurance, there isn't much scope for the doing the same in learning to ride a big bike. You can potentially hire or purchase a 125cc but even that doesn't seem to cut it now that I've experienced being on a 600cc.
There are supermarket car parks that lay empty that could double as a makeshift training yards if only there was a platform and policy that allowed big bike owners to hire their motorcycles in closed spaces with their supervision. I think £10-15/hr would be a fair price. A few cones, the DVSA manoeuvring area diagrams, a laser measure and you've got a mock Mod 1 test centre. Just a thought.
How many hours of training did it take you? How much did it cost you and how much experience did you have before hand? Has anyone done the DAS specifically in an area that has a high pass rate?

I have an 87 z31 2+2 with a powered drivers seat and i cannot for the life of me figure out whats wrong with it.
Ive tried looking at the diagrams and schematics in the fsm, but they are a little more complicated than what i can understand.
The previous owner of my z ripped out a lot of "unnecessary" things like the entire ac system, vacuum canister, egr, radiation fan shroud, and probably some other things im unaware of or have forgotten at this very moment.
In the diagrams of the power seat functions, i believe i saw an air pump, and vacuum lines but again dont quote me.
Are the seats electronically controlled, vacuum controlled, or a mixture of both, and if there is supposed to be an air pump for the seats, where would it be located if it hasnt been removed?

[FIRST][LAST]
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Captain Farva
A gentle giggle rose from the foot of my bed. I curl up in my blankets at first not willing to be woken by the kids; Whatever they were up to; my mind still foggy from morning dreariness. I heard chief Donu exchanging excitedly with someone not far away in engineering speak, my tired brain could not parse. The tones of synthetic beeps, and electrical humming slowly entered my awareness. I raised my paw to wipe the morning dew from my eyes but I felt some kind of resistance to my paw. I sit up confused, I am not in my bedroom, or my quarters aboard my ship.
I am on a soft bed, with a soft blanket made of a finely woven material draped off my form. Around me is a curtain wall hung off of a curved metal pole which encompasses the entire bed, and I am flanked on both sides by medical equipment. Boxy screens display what I assume to be my vital signs accompanied by a strange blocky alien script. Inspecting my arm I notice an IV drip is inserted into the vein. Feeling a fading headache I reach up to my forehead where I feel a bandage covering a tender wound. Where Did I….
A sharp meep escapes my mouth. I am on the predator ship!
I quickly begin to tear at the IV line, not wanting whatever poisons the predators are feeding me to further enter my body. The room goes quiet, the curtain wall is disturbed, I focus on tearing away the bandage, panicking my coordination falters but I almost have it out when a paw reaches out to stop me. A cream colored venlil has rushed to my bed frantically batting at my arms in an attempt to stop me from saving myself.
“Captain, please let me help. I don't want you to hurt yourself!”
Not thinking, in full stampede mode I back hand the interloper with my paw.
A startle meep escapes her lips.
The IV is ripped out with the sudden motion.
Orange Blood begins to drip from the improperly removed IV.
This site further raises my heart rate.
The Venlil Recovers and I recognize her.
“Nurse Fila, What are you doing? what's going on?!”
“Farva you need to calm down, your going to be alright let me look at that arm”
“NO!”
I pulled my injured arm away. Jumping up to stand on the bed. Why was Fila working with the predators? What had they injected into my body?
“What are they holding over you! Why are you working with the predators! Where's Nyan?!”
“Captain Farva please calm down, These predators are different, they don't want to hurt us, you need to believe me”
It must have been some mind altering drug, these predators clearly have her under their spell! I needed to get out of here. I couldn't force her to come with me. I needed to escape and regroup, and pray to whatever gods will listen that I could get off this ship somehow.
I bolted from the bed crashing through the curtains, they did not move out of the way fast enough and my mass caused the curtain rods to be hoisted from their housings. I collapsed upon the floor, my movement hindered by the tangled mass of predatory linens. I struggled against the vile curtain entrapment. I had to use my claws to tear my way free of them. I looked up, predatory growls of surprise, and startled meeps echoed out from all around me.
My peripheral vision was filled with images of both predator and prey alike, I was surrounded on all sides. Nurse Fila was behind me stunned by my sudden actions. Donu looked towards me with concern, and I looked to the far end of the room to see Nyan, In the clutches of a blond haired predator. Digging her claws into his young flesh.
Donu gets up gesturing with her tail in a placating motion. “Easy now Farva, don’t do anything rash!” Donu speaks.
They have her too!
I bolt past her and the massive predator standing next to her. I go to grab Nyan, but he is pulled from my reach! The large predator turns her body to shield me from her catch.
“Hey easy now!” It barks, holding Nyan away from me.
Nyan reaches his paw out past the predator. A horrified look in his eyes.
With only the frantic strength a mother could conjure, I grasp his outstretched paw and pull him from the predator's grasp. With him once again in my arms I see the door to the pen we are in begin to open. Wasting no time, I bolt full sprint from the door. Only to be met by a large black mass. A tall impenetrable wall of muscle, cloaked in foot to shoulder black artificial pelts. Holding a colorful pink box, no doubt gaining that color from being caked in the blood of innocent prey animals. I raise my paw not holding Nyan to swipe at him, to rip my way past him. But before I can make contact my arm is grabbed by the predator's meaty digits. It holds me tight just below the paw where the wound from the ripped out IV sits. Blood dripped from the wound, no doubt triggering its bloodlust. I drop Nyan to free my other paw, I go to swipe the predator to free my arm but again I am stopped. I look to my right to see Donu restraining my arm.
“Donu let go!” I scream. “You're not of your own mind!”
“My mind is fine thank you!” She replies.
I turn to kick her away, striking her twice with quick kicks. Desperately trying to free myself from her deranged clutches. I wind up to kick a third time only for Nyan to wrap his whole body around my legs.
“Nyan Stop” I cry, my heart beating at a million light years per hour.
“Please…Don't hurt Teal’c and Donu” Nyan pleads.
I frantically wiggle my body desperately trying to regain autonomy from my traitorous captors.
“Im going to sedate her” proclaims my former ship nurse Fila.
Grabbing a Needle she stalks towards me, eager and willing to deliver me into the jaws of her captors.
“That will not be necessary” says the large predator holding my arm. He sets his package upon a nearby bed, and grabs my other arm from Donu, and then easily flips me around. And holds my arms behind my head, he then proceeds to kick my legs out from under me and forces me to the ground in a vice-like headlock.
“BE CALM CAPTAIN FARVA” It bellows “Further resistance will only cause more harm to yourself, and more worry from your crew, listen to them”
“Captain please just relax your safe, if they wanted to hurt you they could have a long time ago” Donu almost seems to try and trick me to the predator's side. But I see her glancing nervously towards the cut on my arms. Deep down I think she knows what that means. Nyan also pleads with me to listen. It's at this I begin to tear up at the hopelessness of it all. I wail out in despair frantically thrashing to free myself from the predator's death grip but to no avail.
I sit here once again, bested by predators, having failed those I love, but instead of rotting in a cattle pen or in the belly of an Arxurs stomach. They lie in a different kind of pen, their minds’ no longer theirs, as they fall victim to the predator's spell. Brainwashed to serve as the perfect compliant cattle.
Nurse Fila approaches a needle in her hand.
“I'm going to sedate her I need to look at that wound”
“Hold up a second” speaks the blond predator, she seems to be calming down.
The truth is I have no will left to fight, I have been bested time and again, there is only sorrow left and self pity. I only wish for a swift end now. I don't wish to live with the weight of this long string of failures weighing on my mind any longer. I go limp in the predator's arms.
“Please just… make it quick predator” I manage to say, sobbing making it hard to talk as I get out the words between snuffling breaths.
“It's okay Farva, please don't be sad” Nyan pleads as he clings tightly to my waist.
The predator holding me growls quietly into my ear. “I am going to release you now, do not attempt to harm nurse Fila as she is trying to help you now, do you understand?”. I tilt my ears in the affirmative, nothing happens for a moment until Donu signals to the predator who I guess whose name is Teal’c that I responded in the affirmative. My arms are slowly brought to my side. My left arm is released but not the wounded right one. Teal’c displaying some knowledge in medical etiquette seems to be intentionally applying pressure to the wound to prevent bleeding, I am led back to the bed.
Nurse Fila is about to attempt to fix my wound but is stopped by the blond predator.
“Allow me, this should go a lot more smoothly with this.” The blond predator produces a strange golden metal device, it appears like a strange wiry gauntlet, with metal claws and a strange crystal in the center. It emits a strange pulsing sound that I cringe at, but I am held firm by nurse fila, I can't look away as the strange glow it emits passes over my arms. The curtain of despair lifts for a moment, replaced by incredulousness as before my eyes the wounded artery in my arms miraculously seals itself, as elegantly as a flight suit being zipped up. My arm is left feeling slightly warm which soon fades, any sign of the wound is gone.
Fila speaks in an incredulous tone.
“It is endlessly baffling how your medical bay is stocked with simple alcohol based disinfectants and primitive bandages and sutures. Like something I'd see in a primitive yotul field hospital, while simultaneously containing healing tools so advanced they would make the finest Zurulian theoretical medical engineers sell their own tail.”
The blond predator lets out a high pitched broken chortle, which my translator pings as laughter. “I don’t know what a Zurulian is but compared to what we've seen this is nothing, this is a miniature version of the same technology used in a Goa'uld sarcophagus, which can reanimate dead tissue, bringing people back to life even after complete brain death.”
“Fascinating” Donu replied “what is the nature of this radiation”
“That technology itself is actually derivative of an ancient healing device created by our distant primordial ancestors the Alterans, which emitted subspace based healing radiation. We currently have the original device back in our home dimension being reverse engineered back in area 51” Spoke a third predator, who was standing up against the far wall.
He seemed to be holding onto himself quite fiercely, perhaps he struggled to hold in his bloodlust, unlike the two predators currently at my side.
“For predators they have such wondrous technology Farva” Donu says as she takes my paw and massages it gently in an attempt to ease my anxiety. “I almost wouldn't believe it if not for what they have shown us so far. Tell me, do you know how they got us off of our ship?”
A wave of realization washed over me as I sat dumbfounded in the bed. How did they get us off this ship? My brain had been in nonstop flight mode since the battle. I had been so occupied with survival I never stopped to contextualize my mere presence, on this ship, in one piece, why had we all seemingly awoken in this ship's hangar bay. No wait we didn't awaken, most of us were standing. Maybe we were drugged and removed, with no memory of the lost time. But that couldn’t be right. I was looking at the countdown to the core explosion. It had hit zero. I saw the flash myself.
“I was on the bridge holding Nyan in my arms, but after that I remember being in that hangar bay, with Nyan, in the exact same position.”
“The humans have a technology that allows them to break down matter at the atomic level, transfer it via an electromagnetic molecular confinement beam, and reassemble it at a different location completely remotely!” Donu excitedly proclaimed.
“You were teleported directly from the bridge to our ships hangar bay with your crew, and Donu to our infirmary due to her severe radiation poisoning.” Commented the blond predator.
Nyan finished crawling up the bed and snuggled into my side. “They fixed Donu, Samantha fixed her with her healing glove!” Nyan excitedly brayed, his tail wagging uncontrollably.
My stomach dropped, how had I forgotten, how did I let that slip my mind, Donu was subjected to at least 3.6 standard units of gamma radiation. Her presence here was a miracle. I hugged her tightly, my guilt for my actions only increased, how could I neglect the damage done to one of my oldest friends. Was I so predator diseased that I forgot to think of my herd?
The predator whose name was Samantha spoke ”Yeh sorry it took us so long, we cut it a lot closer than we wanted, but we had to adjust our transporter lock to account for the radiation flooding the ship, the levels experienced were harmless for the most part, but enough to cause problems.”
The fear chemicals were slowly draining from my mind, my head became clearer as I started to consider the actions of these predators so far. They had offered to help my ship while risking their own vessel, they had tried for peace before throwing themselves into battle, they had little reason to help us and little reason to try and take our technology as their capabilities seem to surpass ours in many ways so far.
I looked towards the blond haired predator, towards Samantha.
“Why did you help us? What do you hope to gain?”
She responded ”Well now we would like to maybe get some intel about this local region of space, we are not from around here and frankly we could do with some help securing some parts. But with that in mind we didn't really expect anything out of you when we first got your hail. We helped because you were in trouble, and your situation sounded dire.”
“And I'm just supposed to believe that! Prey ships would be waging pros and cons before even thinking about helping another ship under attack, especially with not knowing anything at all about the other ships capabilities”
Donu squeezed my paw and interjected. "These humans aren’t like normal predators, they are pack predators, they are very social, and even appear to feel genuine empathy, they even eat plants, they have been feeding us from their own reserves!”
“How is that possible?” I ask, having never heard of such a thing.
“Well where we come from” Samantah responded ”Omnivorous life is extremely common, not just on our home planet but nearly every one of the thousands of habitable planets we have visited contain omnivorous life in some form or another, It is an incredibly beneficial evolutionary trait.”
“Thousands! How can that be, our scientist have never encountered such a thing”
“That's the thing, they're not from this galaxy Farva, they're not even from this dimension!”
Donu gets into explaining the technical aspects of the Daedalus's faithful journey to our dimension, while Nyan, an always hungry growing boy, runs off during her explanation, to approach the large predator known as Teal’c.
“Can I have another donut?” he asks, pointing to the box that I now realize is not covered in blood but instead merely painted a gaudy pink.
“You may, but only after you have completed your grooming rituals, it is important for little ones such as yourself to learn and maintain proper hygiene practices” Teal’c spoke, his growls almost seeming to take up a fatherly aura.
He looks disappointed slightly but then his ears and tail perks up as he runs behind Samantha and out of sight, he remerges with a hairbrush and plops himself down on the predator's lap. To which she responds by snarling at him intensely.
“Donu” I shriek, interrupting the third predator's speech on the volatile nature of fourth dimensional space. Shocked at how quickly the predator could go from civility to volatility so rapidly. I was quickly calmed by Donu and Fila assuring me that this was merely an odd habit of the humans. The upturned teeth baring signaled happiness to them. Samantha made it clear to me that since her jaw was not clenched it did not indicate aggression. Her explanation sounded dubious, but after further observation, her following actions did not seem to indicate she wanted to harm the boy. Nyan offers her the brush once he sees that I am finished panicking.
She gives and odd closed mouth smile. "You have an almost PHD level knowledge of physics! don't tell me you don't know how to brush your own fur”
His tail gives a meek wag. ”I like when you do it, you have such nice flat nails and warm fingers!”
He makes his eyes go wide like a pup pleading for attention. The predator’s resolve immediately falters. ”Awh how could I say no to such a cute little angel”.
Samantha begins to help the boy detangle his fur, running her long grasping appendages through his fur in combination with the brush to gently pull apart the knots. He’s already clean from the grime that was present on him from when we were back on the heavily damaged ship, speaking of which I gesture to nurse Kila.
“Kila, how is the crew? How are they holding up? why aren't they here?”
“17 survivors including yourself, the humans have set up a triage center in their hangar bay, keeping the crew together and trying to give them some space, their stable but many of them are bedridden. They're quite scared naturally but,“ nurse Kila gives a look towards the humans “but I think we are going to be alright.”
“So what happens now?” I asked, “you aren't from this dimension and you said you were having drive problems, can you fix those? What are your plans for this dimension?”
The third predator stalked out from his isolated corner to address the room in a posture that emphasized the obvious restraint that was required to contain his instincts around us. “Hi ummm.. My name is Doctor Rodney Mckay, I think I can help with that question, simply put, our drive system uses a specialized quantum subspace field generator to warp 4th dimensional space in a way that allows us to track and catalog dimensional eddies as we call them, and track their specific frequencies which allow us to…….”
------- one long boring explanation later ------
“Ah So I see, you came to this dimension by mistake and need a replacement part that you cannot manufacture yourself to return home, but you think we might be able to manufacture a replacement with our industry?” I asked for clarification from Rodney.
“I discussed with your chief engineer earlier, we should be able to reproduce the part we need at what Donu described as a hyper fabricator, the meta materials available in your dimension you use for warp travel should be sufficient to recreate the part we need”
“In exchange I believe we can help you with your little arxur problem.” Spoke Samantha, running her grasping appendages through the fur of a contented Nyan, who was happily munching away at the strange circular Staryu-like treat the human Teal'c had presented him. Samantha proclaiming it to be sourced from his personal stash.
I was taken back by the revelation that they wanted to offer further assistance, when the predators first mentioned their damaged drive system, I thought they might try to leverage our place as rescued survivors as a means to get access to the part they needed to repair their damaged vessel. But now they were offering further assistance in exchange?
“I don’t understand, you've already done so much? Why would you help us more and risk more damage to your vessel?”
“Well if you want the reason we are going to put on paper, “Samantha said, ”it's to gather intel about a potential threat, and to ensure trust and cooperation of the locals to better expedite the procurement of mission critical drive components. If you want our real reason, its that no one deserves what has been done to you, we can't stay because we have responsibilities in our home dimension, but we don't see why we can’t help you while we are here.”
“So wait, are you proposing what I think you're proposing?”
“I am, from what we learned from your crew the arxur take a large portion of their abductees as cattle, we can track your subspace trails quite quickly and we think we have a good chance of hunting down the arxur transport ships.”
Nyan angled his head to look at both me and the human. Hope in his eyes, the idea of getting my family back would normally seem like an impossible dream, but here I was being comforted by predators, offering to risk their lives for a very lopsided trade in our favor. An ember of hope for the first time in many claws went alight in my chest.
I looked to Donu, who while trying to hide it, looked forlornly in Nyans direction. He was so happy to hear about a rescue plan and excited by all the predators' incredible technology, but while my family was young and fertile enough to be taken as cattle and potentially rescued. I had little doubt that if his family wasn't eaten, or killed in the bombing of the colony, the arxur would have no reason to hold a couple of such advanced age as cattle.
While I myself was a meek prey and a hopeless failure of a military officer, these Humans, despite obviously being fierce predators, had shown off an odd compassion. If anyone could; stand up to the arxur, and hunt them in return it was them.
I would help them anyway I could, they were unfamiliar with our foe, but they have shown themselves to be quite adaptable so far. Working together, we just maybe had a chance at making up for my failures. To set things right, and to save innocent prey from a fate worse than death.
“I think I may have to take you up on your offer kind predator”
Officer Report - Captain Caldwell
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
Our interim chief engineer Dr.Mckay has successfully clamped open the 4th dimensional hole in space ; as he calls it; so we are clear to jump through this dimension freely without losing our path back to our home dimension. While my first impulse would be to jump to Earth, Unfortunately it seems that this dimension’s earth cold war went hot and it is currently a bombed out waste land. That being said carter and Mckay have struck a deal with the captain of the destroyed venlil defense frigate, in exchange for aiding in the rescue of captured civilians, they are willing to grant us access to the advanced manufacturing equipment needed to repair our Quantum drive.
While the antagonistic cannibalistic arxur are certainly an intimidating foe, they are not invincible and our ship stacks up favorably against theirs when specialized techniques are employed. The problem they cause for us is more unique. Carnivores are rare in this dimension and seemingly more so are omnivores. The Herbivore species known as the venlil are quite afraid of us, having dealt with these arxur for so long, and also due to a seemingly quite intense biological fear response, have been very wary to deal with us. Fortunately due to our admittedly unusually charismatic crew, and their admirable diplomatic efforts, we seem to have gotten them to calm down a lot since we initially transported them onto our ship. I am going to check up on the venlil crew and captain in the Medbay now, as they will be the most essential venlil to our efforts going forward.
As I walk in it seems that captain Farva is fast asleep, while Rodney appears to be using a Donut to explain the workings of a stargate to the aliens engineers.
“Okay so the stargate, you see this donut, imagine it's about 10 venlil tall, and made of metal” Rodney picks up another donut and hands it to the Child named Nyan. ”Okay first off don't eat that, secondly imagine you are a ancient alien race, and you want to get to point A to point B as fast as possible. Ftl isn’t quite fast enough so what if you could instead skip the trip and skip to the end. The stargate network allowed the ancient alternans to simply walk from planet to planet” Rodney used his finger to gesture from donut to donut in his explanation of the stargates, speaking about their functions as well as their dangers, mentioning some notable accidents associated with their use, like unwanted time travel, stellar poisoning and dimension hopping, the ladder being a large part of why we were here in this dimension to begin with. Most concerningly however, the venlil Nyan took a bite out of the donut when rodney finished his explanation.
Samantha was working quietly with nurse Fila and looked up from some chemical diagrams when she noticed I had entered the room. I asked if I could have a word, and took Her, Rodney, and Teal'c aside to have a meeting with them. We left the room due to the venlil’s exceptional hearing, as we had previously discovered when various medics made some inappropriate comments on how the venlil were “cute enough to eat '' thinking they were out of earshot.
Having taken them aside I spoke up. “I have already told this to Shepard and our medical staff in the hangar bay, and I would like to congratulate you on your remarkable progress on bridging the gap with the venlil. Going from shoot on sight in the hangar bay to literally eating out of your hands in a matter of hours represents some major diplomatic prowess.”
“Thank you captain” Samantha Said.
“There behavior is indeed most unusual” followed Teal’c
“But seemingly quite understandable given what they have been through with the wraith, Sorry! Arxur, Freudian slip.” chimed rodney.
“I would love to look at the biosphere of one of their planets, their ecology seems preposterous judging by the way they describe it. But they are a space faring species so they presumably know what they are talking about.” added Samantha.
“I myself am curious based on what you reported general, their dimension is quite odd but I suppose ours would be weird to them as well, but we have responsibilities back home.” I responded curtly. “I do have a question for you all though, The Venlil are a herbivorous species with intense emotional reactions and societal values pertaining to the consumption of meat, including animal products correct?”
Samantha answered ”We have been avoiding the subject of meat consumption as much as possible, focusing on our plant based foods for the venlil’s comfort, and they have been happy to keep that topic to a minimum after the initial introductions, but I don't believe they would respond well to the idea of consumption of…..” Samantha trails off with a worried look. “Oh god wait, please don’t tell me”
Teal’c looks confused, Rodney facepalms.
“You do know that donuts have eggs in them? Don't you.”

Hi and thank you to all of you - your posts, comments, insights played a huge part in my success today as I passed my PMP exam with AT in all the domains.
I want to give it back to this community by sharing my own preparation and exam experience. Please do not compare this to your own preparation as I feel everyone has their own perception of 'comfort' and 'confidence' when it comes to exam preparations.
Background:
5 years in the construction industry/management consulting - managing capital projects. This helped me a little bit in familiarizing with Traditional concepts of the exam during my preparation. I am currently in a position where I am supporting PMO service to a client, which again helped a little bit. I had little to no knowledge of Agile before preparing for this exam.
Study Resource and Tips:

1. Andrew Ramdayal's (AR) Udemy Course - https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-certification-exam-prep-course-pmbok-6th-edition/ Most of my knowledge for the PMP exam content came from this course. I went through the course at 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x depending upon my level of comfort of the topic. I took notes as needed. I do not recommend printing Andrew's resource sheets that he has tagged with his course items/chapters as I felt most of it can be covered using your own hand-written notes (or atleast I know I learn faster that way). His Mindset Videos are EXCELLENT. Highly Recommend.
   
2. Andrew Ramdayal's TIA Simualtor - https://tiaexams.com/product/pmp-exam-simulator-course/ Bought this after I was done with AR's Udemy course to test out my knowledge. In all honestly, these simulators are great for preparations and I would highly recommend taking these mocks tests.
   
3. PMI Study Hall - Bought this because of all the reddit posts/comments recommending the Study Hall mock tests. I absolutely recommend this. If there was anything that came close to the real exam it was the Study Hall Mock Test. This prepared me the most for D-Day from a exam question type/length/wording perspective.
   
4. 200 Agile Questions PMP Questions and Answers by David McLachlan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNIHysh2ZW4&t=20967s Great resource. Once you have finished Agile section on AR's Udemy Course (or any other instructor's course) - I'd recommend watching this video at 1.5x to revise your Agile knowledge and understanding. In all fairness, I only watched upto 170 questions and I believe there are some really really great questions in his videos.
   
5. PMBOK VI Edition and Agile Knowledge Book - I read the books once. Did it significantly improve my understanding? - No.
   

Study Routine and Mock Scores:
I was studying everyday (I planned it out on Excel and tried to stick with it mostly) with a full time job that required anywhere from 40-50 hours/week commitment. On weekends, I studied for over 6 hours easily.
Started watching AR's videos on Oct 12, 2022
Finished watching AR's videos on Oct 21, 2022
Took AR's Course Exam on Oct 22, 2022 - Score 85%
For the next week - Oct 23 - Oct28
TIA Mock 1 - 69%
TIA Mock 2 - 69%
TIA Mock 3 - 77%
TIA Mock 4 - 86%
TIA Mock 5 - 80%
TIA Mock 6 - 75%
OVERALL - 76%
Kept revising some key concepts from my handwritten notes.
Oct 29, 2022
Study Hall Mock 1 - 73% (Moderate - All Correct, Difficult - Mostly Correct, Expert - Got only a couple correct)
Didn't take the 2nd mock test.
Took 2 Study Hall Mini Quizzes - Scored 33% and 57%
Oct 30, 2022 - Nov 2, 2022
Was at a client location, so could barely revise anything and only watched David McLachlan's 200 Agile Questions and AR's Mindset Videos whenever I could.
Nov 3, 2022 - D-Day! Woke up with a mild headache as I flew redeye back home to take the exam. [O DO NOT RECOMMEND TRAVELLING OR ANY BIG TIRING ACTIVITY THE DAY BEFORE]
Exam:
Reached the testing center 40 mins before the exam, they allowed me to start the exam before the time, I just wanted to get it over it at this point. Started the exam, felt like I was taking the Study Hall mock test to be honest. The first 60 questions I dont think I had much difficulty with. The 60-120 is where I struggled and 120-180 was probably the easiest. Finished the exam with 30 mins remaining.
0 questions on SPI/CPI/EV calculation
0 questions on Org Structure
0 questions on Risk Management/Response Type (Avoid, Accept, Transfer, Mitigate)
0 questions on network diagram/float calculations
0 questions on conflict resolutions (smoothing, withdrawing,............)
A ton of questions on Agile Situations (Mindset id the key!)
2 drag and drops - 1 on agile roles and 1 on - parkinson's law, student syndrome (took me by surprise, had no idea and I completely guessed it)
8 - multiple choice questions (choose 2, choose 3)
Exam and General Tips:

1. Time Management is the key here. I marked on the sheet of paper that they gave, the time I was finishing up the 60 questions mark. This always kept me in check with time remaining and how many questions have I completed/remaining and what my velocity (see what I did there ;]) should look like for the rest of the exam. The timer starts at 230 and countdown till you reach Q60 and then the screen to review your first 60 questions comes on, the timer DOESNT STOP while you are reviewing so manage time accordingly if you have a ton of questions to review (hopefully not). Then you get a break for 10 mins. Your exam starts at Q61 and so does the timer from where you left it. Q120 - same review screen, the timer is still going on while you review and then you get another break for 10 mins. The exam then starts at Q121 and goes upto Q180, you get to review your last section.
   
2. Please utilize the breaks during the exam. It really helped me to just step out, drink water, eat a cookie, use the restroom. Do whatever helps you remain calm.
   
3. Please hold yourself accountable to a study plan and stick to it. This will help you oriented towards taking the exam in a given timeframe and will set you up for success.
   
4. I don't think memorizing the 49 process will do you any good. Understanding the process, its inputs, its tools and the output is way more valuable and important than just remembering the processes. I remember all 49 by heart (I did it just for the sake of it but realized it was redundant as I was getting the grasp of how different process interact anyway) and it didn't really help anywhere today on the exam.
   
5. Watch the AR mindset videos. Watch the AR mindset videos. Watch the AR mindset videos.
   
6. Review ALL the questions you get incorrect on TIA, Study Hall or whatever mock exam you end up taking. It is essential to understand the WHY? behind the correct answer and almost everytime the correct answer had something to do with mindset. This will help you fill any gaps in your understanding.
   

Good luck to all of you! I hope each and everyone of you succeed. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
#pmp #projectmanagement #project