Gotham was a sad and dirty place, the criminal's run the streets living in fear not of the GCPD but of the Batman. Batman had once fought crime with three companions, a fourth added later but as Time went on and each child grew apart from their master and becoming their own person. Jason was dead Barbara was paralysed Grayson was training as a police officer Timm retained loyal.
Barbara Gordon had suffered at the hands of Batman, she had lost her ability to walk at the hands of the Joker, she lost her best friend at the hands of the Joker but she blamed Batman. Years had passed since then and in time she had gained her independence once more and built a life as a cyber security officer for GCPD and in his guilt Bruce had spent millions developing a chip, which once implanted in her spine she would regain her ability to walk. Will the surgery be a success? Could she walk again? Would her Boyfriend have time to support her all the way? How will this affect their relationship?
Thank you for reading this far. I'm looking for someone to play as Dick Grayson, Jason Todd or Bruce Wayne. I'm only interested in a romantic relationship between Grayson and Barbara. Potentially slice of life and cute. Barbara and Dick are in there late 20s early 30s All partners must be 18+ SFW Only on reddit not interested in moving apps

Friendly reminder to avoid “All My Sons Moving” as this company lures in potential customers with a low initial quote that holds no weight. Quoted ~ $400 while the final bill was nearly 1k. Complete and utter scam. Hidden fees that should be included with the first quote, instead they are added on top of it. Sad we had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Alarms were raised in the unincorporated community of Paris Crossing, Indiana, on August 21st, 2003, when a concerned resident noticed the unusual prolonged absence of his neighbor, 54-year-old Dennis Wayne Foster. In December 2002, Dennis had received a devastating diagnosis; stage 4 lung cancer. In January, he was told he had six months to live.
Aware of Dennis's recent diagnosis, both friends and family made efforts to check on him regularly. After nearly two days without seeing him, Dennis’ concerned neighbor conducted a welfare check. Unanswered knocks at the door prompted the neighbor to look inside, where he found Dennis motionless on the floor. The neighbor promptly contacted authorities.
Responding officers swiftly made entry into the log cabin. There, on the floor amidst a pool of blood, lay the body of Dennis. A cursory examination revealed a single gunshot wound to the head as his apparent cause of death.
Despite finding no signs of forced entry, detectives did discover Dennis’ home had been ransacked. The perpetratos absconded with several valuables, including an unspecified number of firearms.
A pillar of his close-knit community, Dennis hailed from nearby Seymour, Indiana, where he spent three decades at the Cummins Engine Company. Following a divorce in the 1980s, Dennis relocated to Paris Crossing. Utilizing a backyard sawmill, he constructed a two-story log cabin nestled amidst the trees on his expansive 35 acre property. There, he established a small engine repair shop, and indulged in his passion for the outdoors through archery, fishing, and hunting.
Dennis's most defining characteristic, however, was his immense generosity. He had a reputation for readily offering assistance to local residents facing hardship, even at times placing himself at risk or succumbing to exploitation in his eagerness to help.
The investigation into Dennis's murder commenced quickly. A small pond on the property was dragged, but yielded no results of investigative value. Detectives also examined a safety deposit box belonging to Dennis at the local bank, however the contents of the box were never undisclosed.
Detectives also conducted multiple interviews with individuals from Dennis's social circle, including friends, family, neighbors and other acquaintances. Among them was 53-year-old Paul Stucker, though the nature of their relationship remains unclear.
Following Paul’s 2014 conviction for the 1983 murder of 34-year-old Johnny Hodge, he was again questioned regarding Dennis's death. Paul and Johnny had been incarcerated together at the Michigan City, Indiana facility in 1983, when Johnny, who was serving a life sentence for a double homicide, was found fatally burned within his locked cell. Though authorities eventually gathered sufficient evidence to convict Paul in Johnny’s murder, a connection to Dennis’ death was never established.
Dennis's family tragically suspects his generosity may have contributed to his demise. They theorize the perpetrator was someone he sought to assist;
WAVE3 NEWS 2007
“Dennis Foster's family wasn't surprised he died four years ago. In fact, they were preparing for the 54-year old's death, but they weren't prepared for his murder.
Foster's only daughter, Denise, says there were almost no limits to her father's kindness and generosity, especially to those with little or no money. She says the people he helped often took advantage of him -- and spooked her.
Denise says "he had made friends with people I was afraid of, that I had become very conscious about taking my kids to see him, of doing unannounced visits."
Denise believes her father was likely trying to help the person who ended up murdering and robbing him. She can't understand why someone would kill him. You see, Foster had Stage Four lung cancer, and had only a month or so left to live.
"So I was shocked when I found out he had actually been murdered," Denise said. "I had resolved myself to the fact I was going to lose him to cancer."
Denise is convinced the killer's still in southern Indiana. That's why she asked us not to use her last name or say what city she now lives in.
"We've got some new information on this case," said Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin.
Police believe they're a tip or two away from solving this four-year old murder case, and Goodin says investigators want to catch Foster's killer. "This person was in the last days of their life and someone's cold-hearted enough to kill them and end their life even sooner than it was going to happen."
Dennis was laid to rest in Commiskey, Indiana’s First Marion Baptist Church Cemetery. Sadly, his case remains unsolved.
Sources
Newspaper Clippings/Death Certificate/Photos
Find a Grave
Wave3 Article
Dennis’ Home

Hello everyone, GrimaIsBestWaifu here. As you might know, I am a massive fan of Book IV and its characters. Today marks around four years since I officially came around to Book IV after initially being a hater. Needless to say, as a Book IV nerd and enthusiast, I secured a copy of FEH's second art book at the first opportunity in order to further immerse myself in my passion. While it's an illustrations book first and foremost, I found the most value in the sections that went into detail about the lore, story, and characters of Books IV and V (but mostly IV, heh).
As of today, there is no official English version of this book, so non-Japanese readers are limited in how much information they can glean from it. This is a tragedy I can't abide, being heavily invested in FEH's story and wanting others to be able to appreciate it too, despite its flaws. There is also a decent chance that some information contained in this book will be changed or omitted in the official English version, so in that event I hope this might serve as an attestation to the "original" version. In this post, I intend to go over the section that describes the events that take place in Book IV's story. To see my translation of the section of the art book that expounds on Book IV's lore and characters, go here.
Disclaimer: I am not a native Japanese speaker, nor am I fluent in the language. English and Japanese are very different languages, so I will do my best to make things flow nicely in English while retaining as much of the original meaning as possible. Italicized text indicates my own speech, words that do not come from the book. The book's story recap is also told in past tense, but I use present tense in my translation here because I think it flows better and is easier to understand.
Chapter 1: The Dream One day, Alfonse and the others are summoned by Queen Henriette. According to her, an inexplicable incident has occurred in one of Askr's border villages in the wheat country where all its residents have fallen asleep. All efforts have been exhausted in attempting to save the sleeping villagers, who appear to be having nightmares, but none awaken. Henriette tasks them with investigating the sleep sickness there. The Order of Heroes complies, and after entrusting them with the Redolent Censer, she sends them off to the village with a smile. On the way to the village, Loki appears before the party and speaks in a way suggesting she may know something about the sleep sickness. It's possible she is planning something yet again...Alfonse and the others cautiously forge ahead.
As the Redolent Censer continuously burns with poison-nullifying incense, they arrive near the village. Sharena feels at ease and expresses gratitude towards her mother, who gave them the treasure in order to protect them. But in that moment of relaxation, she lets out a big yawn. Anna scolds her before stifling a yawn herself. Upon noticing this, Alfonse and Kiran are also beset by a fierce drowsiness, rendering them incapable of standing. By the time they realize the censer is ineffectual, it's already too late, and they are unable to resist closing their eyes...
Alfonse is with Henriette, along with Zacharias and Veronica. He is confused due to only having vague memories about why they are on a mission together. Suddenly, Zacharias attacks Henriette and corners Alfonse alongside Veronica.
Then, a girl abruptly appears and envelops the surrounding area in a dazzling light by reciting an incantation and prayer, causing Zacharias and Veronica to disappear. As Alfonse is yet again confused by the situation, the girl smiles brightly and says, "I'm Peony! I'm a ljósálfr—or light elf, you might say. I'm from the land of dreams, Ljósálfheimr." (This quote is transcribed from the official ENG script and is not a direct translation of the book's text, which uses the JP quote)
Chapter 2: Missing You (JP: One Person, Missing) The dream realm, álfar... Peony puffs out her cheeks when Alfonse cannot believe his ears. They regroup with Sharena and Anna, but Kiran is nowhere to be found. Even after following Peony's advice and trying to bend the dream world to their wishes, Kiran remains missing. Peony guides the party in their search for Kiran, claiming that the Dream-King Freyr could help.
While on the move, they fight off soldiers of nightmares, who are born from the fears of mortals and take on the forms of Heroes. Sharena also speaks with Peony about possibly having met before somewhere in the distant past. Peony responds that it might have been in a dream, and the two smile at one another, since they are quite similar and it appears they will get along well.
There a girl appears with black wings fluttering. She turns out to be Triandra, the Nightmare. As a dökkálfr from the realm of dark dreams, she is giving mortals nightmares under her liege's orders. Alfonse and the others confront Triandra when she tries to erase (In JP, the word for "erase"/"extinguish" is frequently used in place of "kill" when pertaining to the álfar) Peony. Triandra withdraws after being put at a disadvantage, stating that she won't give up.
Peony leads the group to a location with a large bed(s). Sleeping in a dream is the way to gain an audience with the Dream-King, so Sharena and Anna fall asleep. Before following their lead, Alfonse notices that he can't remember his childhood very well. Though that disquiets him, he nevertheless trusts Peony and closes his eyes. Peony is overjoyed at their faith in her as she watches them.
(In the ENG version, Sharena mentions that there are "many" beds, but the JP version doesn't make any indication of their number. Due to the fact that this art book previously mentions THREE adults being able to fit on one, it's possible that Alfonse, Sharena, and Anna all slept on it at the same time and that there is only one. However, the possibility that there are multiple of them remains open)
Chapter 3: Gullinkambi (JP: Horn of Gullinkambi) Alfonse and the others arrive in the realm of fantasy, the dream within the dream, by Peony's invitation. There stands Dream-King Freyr, who gives Alfonse the horn Gullinkambi. By remembering one's self from before falling asleep, wishing to return to the waking world, and blowing the horn, Alfonse and his party, along with the wheat country village's residents, can awaken. However, Freyr continues, stating that they must first drive back the two dökkálfar who have invaded Ljósálfheimr and are showing mortals nightmares. While offering his thanks, Alfonse asks about Kiran's whereabouts. However, even though he should know everything about the dream world, Freyr does not know where Kiran is, them being one who exists outside of the world's reason. He advises them that should they blow the horn, Kiran will also awaken. Thus, the party wakes up from the dream within the dream in order to begin their march and fight the dökkálfar.
The group traverses the dream realm following Peony's lead. Suddenly, Kiran appears before them. Though Alfonse and the others are relieved to see them, they halt in their tracks upon spotting who was next to them. "I am Plumeria, the dökkálfr of lewd dreams." (Again from ENG script)
Plumeria attacks the group along with nightmare soldiers that take the forms of Heroes from "Genealogy of the Holy War". Alfonse and the others fight them off, but Kiran also withdraws as if accompanying Plumeria. Peony states that this is because Kiran has been trapped by the dökkálfar's nightmares. Alfonse clenches his fist tightly, swearing to get Kiran back.
Chapter 4: On Dark Wings (JP: The Fluttering of Black Wings) The two dökkálfar show nightmares to mortals in Ljósálfheimr under their liege Freyja's orders. While Plumeria makes her disdain towards humans known, Triandra shows signs of concern towards Peony, who is her opposite in role.
The party continues traveling across Ljósálfheimr by following Peony's slightly dubious directions in pursuit of the dökkálfar. Anna and Alfonse can't wrap their heads around the actions they take in the dream world that would be illogical in reality. Suddenly, Sharena's gaze falls on a certain field of flowers. She says she remembers playing with girls her age in a flower field in a dream. She also remembers there being a girl similar to Peony, but Peony herself doesn't seem to recall this.
The party arrives at the Dream Gate, where the dökkálfar along with soldiers of nightmares lie in wait. They take up their weapons and repel the dökkálfar, after which Peony prompts Alfonse to blow the horn. Then, a crestfallen Peony bids them farewell, stating that they will forget about álfar like her, but that she will always watch over them, and she gives them a smile. Alfonse and the others close their eyes, trusting that they will meet again in a dream someday.
As the sound of the horn reaches Freyr's ears, his sister Freyja appears before him. Her true objective is to take her brother to Dökkálfheimr, over which she rules, while he is defenseless after handing off the horn. Were the Dream-King to leave Ljósálfheimr, order would be disrupted and nightmares would begin to flow into the mortal world and become reality. Freyja burns with jealousy upon witnessing her brother worry over the humans. Thinking to recompense them for stealing her brother's heart, her smile widens.
Chapter 5: Twisted Reality (JP: Distorting World) Alfonse wakes up to the smell of incense. Apparently, contrary to how much time they'd perceived, only a moment has passed in reality. While the other members of the Order confirm that everyone is fine, Alfonse notices that Kiran is missing. But strangely, Sharena and Anna cock their heads when he says Kiran's name. "The summoner of legend was called Kiran, right?" (ENG)
Alfonse is shocked when it doesn't appear to be in jest, based on Anna's tone of voice. Just then, an earth-splitting laugh rings out. The party prepares for combat, only to find that there stood Surtr, the king of Múspell who should've in the past been defeated. Though shocked, Alfonse faces off against Surtr, who ends up vanishing like the Zacharias and Veronica from in the dream. As the villagers awaken, unidentified troops are reported to have appeared in various places. Alfonse heightens his vigilance, suspecting that nightmares are manifesting in reality, as the group moves to eliminate those forces.
Though Sharena really can't remember Kiran, her gaze wavers from a profound sadness welling up inside. Alfonse cheers up his sister by swearing to do something about the situation. If nightmares can be defeated in the dream, they can be defeated in reality... Under this presumption, the Order marches on and discovers Peony being attacked. After rescuing her, she successfully uses her power to make Sharena and the others recall their lost memories. Then, Peony informs them that nightmares have been able to flood into the real world because Freyr has been taken to Dökkálfheimr, the nightmare realm.
Chapter 6: Dreaming Reality (JP: Dreams in Reality, Reality in Dreams) According to Peony, Freyr's sister Freyja is in Dökkálfheimr, and because they are in the same place simultaneously, the "Waking Dream" is allowing nightmares to spill into reality. In order to put a stop to the Waking Dream, the group searches for a ljósálfr who lives in a misty forest...Mirabilis, the Daydream. On their way to the forest, they encounter the real Veronica. After finding out about the situation and what the Order's objective is, Veronica states that she will come along. She says this is because she heard that her brother, Bruno (Zacharias), and Xander have returned from their travels and are now in the misty forest.
After the party arrives at the forest, they split up in search for Zacharias, Xander, and Mirabilis. Parting ways with Sharena and the others, Alfonse and Veronica venture deep into the forest and find the former two. Veronica smiles upon being reunited with her brother after such a long time apart, but her shoulders slump when she hears that he and Xander must soon leave again. She faintly smiles again when Zacharias invites her to join them, stating that he doesn't want to make her feel lonely anymore. Seeing this, Alfonse asks Zacharias if they could work together to fend off the nightmares. Apprehensively, he agrees, to which Alfonse continues. "...Thank you. As I thought, you aren't really Zacharias. [...] You said something you shouldn't already know." (This quote is a translation of the JP, since I feel the ENG line doesn't fit as nicely in this context)
At this, Zacharias and Xander's attitudes change. After repelling their assault, Veronica declares her cooperation with the Order. She then urges Alfonse to tell her about his memories of being with Zacharias. However, he realizes that he cannot remember anything from long ago for some reason.
Chapter 7: Steeped in Twilight The Order of Heroes realizes the severity of the situation that has befallen them after hearing that nightmares have reportedly been appearing unceasingly across Askr. They head deeper into the forest in search of Mirabilis so they can go to Dökkálfheimr, save Freyr, and eliminate his captors. After the scenery becomes blurry for a moment, Peony searches the surrounding area and happens upon Mirabilis. She rubs her eyes, appearing to be sound asleep. Peony pleads with her, wanting to get to Dökkálfheimr by way of Mirabilis' daydream powers. Just then, Triandra appears, the dökkálfar having also invaded the real world. She creates a nightmare embodiment of Hel, ruler of death. After defeating it, with Mirabilis in tow, the group departs in the direction of the point of twilight, which is close to Dökkálfheimr. Along the way, Sharena is bothered by a feeling that she has also met Mirabilis in a dream in the past. She believes that she, Peony, Mirabilis, and two other girls did something important together.
Eventually, they arrive at the point of twilight. It seems that here, they can cross into the nightmare realm by being given a "particularly scary daydream" by Mirabilis when day gives way to night. However, Triandra attacks them once more. Soldiers of nightmares come at them without end as they are surrounded by the sea with nowhere to run. Veronica calms the others down as they panic, stating that she will handle their pursuers on her own while they go on ahead. The last time they were in the dream world, only a moment passed in reality. Because of this, Alfonse and the others believe they will make it in time, so they close their eyes and make their way to the nightmare realm.
Chapter 8: Wallowing in Love (JP: Drowning in a Dream of Love) The group ventures into Dökkálfheimr. They are quickly met with Plumeria, who mystifies them with a bewitching sweet scent, but they somehow manage to fend off her attack. While in pursuit of a retreating Plumeria, Alfonse hears the voice of a sad young girl. However, he doesn't know whose voice it is, and the group marches on.
After catching the gentle scent of flowers whose fragrance is different from that of Plumeria's nectar smell, Sharena mentions that she remembers it. She claims it's the smell of the flower field in which she played with the other girls in her dreams. She then recalls swapping hairstyles and clothes with one of the girls who greatly resembled her, and even going to each other's homes. Anna is startled, thinking this sounds like a "changeling". As Anna explains how changelings are álfar who switch places with human children, Sharena listens with an absentminded countenance.
Plumeria again stands in the party's way, accompanied by nightmare soldiers modelled after Heroes from the "Awakening Outrealms", as they hurry to Freyr's side. However, the Order emerges victorious once again and goes on ahead. While wounded in her defeat, Plumeria hears the voice of a young girl crying for her mother, which she remembers. There, Freyja appears and grants her strength, healing her. After rising to her feet, Plumeria asks if she was a mortal before Freyja gave her life as an álfr. Freyja's expression clouds over, and she tells Plumeria that her father didn't love her or her mother, so he abandoned them. And because her daughter interfered with her desire to be with another man she loved, Plumeria's mother threw her into the bottom of a well and left her there.
By Freyja's words, Plumeria was a child nobody loved. But now, after drinking the nectar and becoming an álfr, she should just forget about that past. Her voice filled with compassion as she speaks, Freyja gives Plumeria a smile.
Chapter 9: Violent Fantasies (JP: Dream of Killing Someone) (Curiously, the recap begins with the events of Chapter 9 - 3, skipping over the first confrontation with Triandra in this chapter)
The queen of nightmares, Freyja, has abducted her beloved brother Freyr to her realm. With an ecstatic expression, Freyja declares that they shall fill the mortal world with their dreams. Freyr is dismayed, lamenting that Freyja originally didn't wish for the destruction of humans and that the two of them have already succumbed to ruin. He regrets turning human girls into álfar in order to drive back the disaster that befell the dream world in the past, when mortals gave up their dreams. Burning with jealousy over his constant concern for mortals, Freyja clenches a certain necklace.
Alfonse and the others rush to rescue Freyr, defeating Triandra, who stands in their way. As she stands up, saying that she can't yet afford to disappear (In a similar vein to what was mentioned above, the word for "disappear" is often used instead of "die" when pertaining to the álfar in JP), memories of her mortal past also pile up in her mind. Freyja appears before her, telling her that she and her younger sister were viciously abused by their non-blood related father. To protect her sister, who was in danger of losing her life, Triandra killed their father. Freyja assures her that she is not to fret over this, since she only did what she could. To this, Triandra quietly responds that she is alright.
Alfonse and the others finally reach Freyr. However, he has come under the curse of the necklace Brísingamen, and all of his dream powers have become Freyja's. With both of their powers in her grasp, Freyja has become the ruler over all dreams and is now able to freely control the dream world and bend reality itself to her whim. None are able to oppose her... Helpless against the unrelenting onslaught of Freyja's replicas and nightmare soldiers from all directions, the group falls back. However, the path leading back to Veronica has entirely vanished. "There is no way for you to survive. Taste despair in your attempts to escape." The nightmare queen sneers at them, exceedingly beautiful, (This line was very awkward to translate, I am sorry)
(To my knowledge, the quote used above doesn't actually appear anywhere in the Japanese script. It seems to just be a concise rephrasing of Freyja's dialogue at the end of the chapter)
Chapter 10: Lack (JP: Loss) The Order takes Freyr with them as they continue to flee. According to him, so long as Freyja is the ruler over all dreams, they can neither escape nor subjugate her. Even so, not wanting to give up, the group thinks of a plan. Just then, Freyr begins to tell of his and Freyja's past piece by piece. As a child, Freyja was always crying from being mocked by everyone over having a mark on her face. Freyr would steadfastly comfort his sister, who came to only smile for him. Then, she stated that she wanted to join herself to someone compassionate like Freyr when she grew older. She eventually matured to become beautiful, but didn't accept anyone's affections.
Sharena reassures Freyr along the way, to which Freyr confesses that the dream world once teetered at the brink of ruin. The only ones who could prevent the destruction of the dream world and save the hearts of mortals were children from the real world. But children who partake of dream nectar can no longer return to their world... Because of this, Freyr thought that perhaps if the children were in unfortunate circumstances, they would be happy to become special versions of themselves. He sacrificed innocent children in order to save the world even knowing it was sinful. After this, Freyr falls silent.
Their withdrawal fruitless, Freyja once again corners the Order of Heroes. Though she mocks them over their futile efforts, Freyr states that there is one way for them to escape.
"Freyja's power is the sum of our combined strengths... Therefore, one of us must be shed..." (ENG)
Freyr petitions the Order and offers himself up to them. Discerning his meaning, as Freyr can no longer manage to end his own life due to Freyja's control, Alfonse and the others cut him down.
Freyja cries out as she asks Freyr if mortals really are so precious to him that he would throw his life away for their sake. However, Freyr responds that nothing is more important to him than she is. It is because he loves her that he doesn't want to see her destroy the mortals, which is why he should disappear. Leaving her with those words, Freyr bids his sister farewell.
Freyja wails in sorrow and despair at the loss of her most beloved brother, after which she vanishes to some other location, bringing the dökkálfar with her. Due to Freyr's demise, dreams stop distorting reality. Now, they must wake up and return to their world. To grant Freyr's final wish, and to reunite with the missing Kiran...Alfonse and the others press onward.
Chapter 11: Plumeria's Dream (JP: Plumeria the Lewd Dream) The Order wakes up the the sound of Veronica's voice calling out to them. Just when they begin to relax, thinking everything is back to normal, Freyja appears before them. Chaos unfolds as everyone wonders how that can be, when nightmares shouldn't be able to encroach on reality anymore... The group is once again forced to engage in combat as they retreat. Freyja then tells them about the álfar's past as if to mock them. The álfar were originally human children who played together, who were called to the dream world in order to save it. She also describes how Mirabilis was a child who was abandoned by her mother after she was born. Finally, she tells of how among those children, the only one who didn't become an álfr was Sharena. Enveloped in Freyja's light, Sharena suddenly clutches her head in pain and faints.
After regaining consciousness at a boulder to which the group retreated, Sharena tells Alfonse that she now vividly recalls what happened in the world of dreams. "We wanted to save the world... Only...I stayed behind..." (ENG, but for curiosity's sake, the JP line goes "Only I wasn't able to become a hero...even though we said we'd save the world together...", which I think hits harder)
Sharena profusely apologizes with tears spilling from her eyes, saying that she might not really be Alfonse's sister. That she would play changelings with a girl who looked just like her, and that they would genuinely trade places upon waking. That she has memories of the small, run-down house in which the girl she'd exchange places with lived. That she might just be an ordinary child who swapped places with Princess Sharena in the dream world. And that as a consequence, the real Princess Sharena wasn't able to return home... Sharena appears discomposed as she suddenly recalls so many memories. Alfonse soothes her, saying that her memories of that house must have come from when she'd wake up as the other child.
Desiring to have them suffer like her after losing her brother, Freyja sends Plumeria after the group so the álfar will be made to kill each other. Plumeria follows her commands without saying a word and stands in the way of Alfonse and the others. She attacks them while looking like she is in tears...saying that she doesn't need reality, and that she wants to be in a dream forever. The party cannot hope to survive without fighting back so long as she continues to target them. Thus Alfonse and the others deal the final blow against Plumeria through their heartbreak. She grasps at the air and cries out for her mother over and over again like a small child as her body disintegrates. (I already felt really bad playing this story chapter in-game, but having this description makes it even worse...ow, my heart)
Even with Plumeria's defeat, the nightmares' assault does not relent. How can this be, when the Waking Dream shouldn't be able to occur with King Freyr dead? After assessing and reflecting on the situation one more time, Alfonse finally formulates an answer. "This has all been a dream... From the very beginning... Everything. All of it." (ENG)
They have been in a dream since the time they heard about the sleep sickness from Queen Henriette. If this is a dream, they should be able to return to reality this time if they blow the horn Gullinkambi in front of the Dream Gate. Alfonse marches on determinedly.
The Order takes a rest on the way to the Dream Gate. At their base, Anna reports to Alfonse about Sharena's condition after having stayed with her for a while. Afterwards, she begins to make small talk about a dream she had a little while ago about being a squirrel. She comments on how strange it is that she was convinced she was a squirrel in the dream, even though she isn't one... At this, Alfonse feels as though he is catching onto something.
Chapter 12: Triandra's Dream (JP: Triandra the Nightmare) Alfonse witnesses a daydream during the group's respite. A dream of the World of Steel, with towers stretching up high enough to pierce the skies. Peony calls it a grey world where people have forgotten how to dream. To make the álfar kill each other, Freyja sends out Triandra again. However, Freyja ponders why Plumeria and Triandra obey her orders without regard for how they are effectively being used and discarded. She asks Triandra why they would go so far as to throw their lives away in service to her. Triandra responds that she and Plumeria adore her, and that perhaps it is because mortals want to help those they care about even if they get nothing in return. Freyja shakes her head at this, being a god who doesn't understand this sentiment. She watches with a conflicted look in her eyes as Triandra departs.
Alfonse and the others fend off the advancing nightmares on their way to the Dream Gate. They are met with Triandra standing in their path, and upon seeing her, Peony's expression changes. Triandra speaks of how she could not forgive herself for being powerless to protect her younger sister as a mortal. Her dream was to obtain the power she desired in order to strike down those who would do evil. After she loses against the Order and collapses to the ground, having lost her power, she gazes at Peony and apologizes to her.
"Forgive me... I wanted to keep you safe just...a while longer..." (ENG) "...S-sister..." (ENG)
As Peony's words sorrowfully fall from her lips, Triandra's body disintegrates.
Led by Mirabilis, the group arrives before the Dream Gate at last. Following Freyr's instructions to "[p]icture the world outside the dream, and wish to return," (ENG) Alfonse sounds the horn, but for some reason, nothing happens. Alfonse goes over his thoughts once more, trying to figure out if there is something wrong with his thought process. Then, he remembers what Anna said a little while earlier. "If what I suspect is true...then the life I remember before the dream...is not my life at all..." (ENG)
Just then, Kiran appears before the Order. Alfonse is elated upon their reunion, but Kiran appears to be under the control of nightmares. With the help of Veronica and the others, he manages to render Kiran unconscious without killing them. By Peony's suggestion, they remove the hood that conceals their face. Under the hood of the collapsed Kiran...was unmistakably Alfonse's face.
Alfonse's suspicion is then confirmed. The reason why he couldn't recall his memories with Zacharias, and why he dreamed about the World of Steel, is because his past with Zacharias doesn't exist and the World of Steel is where he truly hails from.
"I am not Alfonse. [...] My name...is Kiran!" (ENG)
When they remember their true self, Freyja appears and tells them that they are having this dream because they wished for it. That Alfaðör, creator of all things, decided that Alfonse should no longer exist after he defeated Hel, sovereign of death. The Creator's will always comes to pass, and thus the real Alfonse is dead, so Freyja says.
Chapter 13: Reality Freyja continues, saying that Kiran gave form to this world and took on Alfonse's role out of grief over his loss. She claims that because Kiran is one who exists outside of the world's reason, if they combine efforts with Freyja, they could make the dream persist forever and have all their wishes come true. However, she declares that should Kiran choose reality, they will wake up in a world without Alfonse, and that she will use her power to take the lives of all of the álfar. With that, she disappears.
Peony states that because Freyja's nightmare powers still cover the area, they will be unable to use the horn. Even the álfar do not know if Freyja's pronouncement of Alfonse's death is the truth or a lie. A painful reality may await them... Holding onto that sense of unease, Kiran and the others head in Freyja's direction.
"Peony... My best friend, who I played with in the flower garden... That was you, wasn't it?" (ENG)
Sharena speaks with Peony, positing that Peony had switched places with her and drank her share of nectar because she knew there would be no going back to being human. Even so, Peony smiles, saying that making people happy was her own happiness. That neither of them know who was who originally, and that they are both each other, like two halves of a whole. If they defeat Freyja and return to reality, Peony and the other álfar will in turn be erased and the Order will forget about the dream. Sharena sobs over not wanting to lose a friend again. At this, Peony gives her a ring made of flowers. (It's a "chain" in ENG, but in JP it's described as a "指輪", as in a ring you put on your finger)
"[Even] if we do forget, that does not undo everything that's happened. [...] But if...if there's some way you can remember me, then maybe we can meet again someday, somehow..." (ENG)
Sharena and Peony join hands and nestle up close to one another as if in prayer.
On the other hand, Freyja's heart is swayed by emotions she cannot comprehend. Unconsciously, she begins to speak to Triandra and Plumeria, but both of them have disappeared in carrying out her orders. Though she insists that only her brother matters to her, as though trying to convince herself of it, her expression gradually clouds over. Kiran and the others eventually reach Freyja, and after defeating nightmare soldiers that appear one after another, Freyja herself finally falls as well. She disappears, leaving them with the proclamation that she will use all of her remaining power to erase everything about the álfar from existence.
The end of the dream draws near. The sound of the horn reverberates through the dream world. As she expresses her gratitude, Peony's form grows faint.
Kiran awakens to a voice calling their name, which turns out to be Alfonse's. He tells them that they, along with everyone else, had fallen asleep for three days and nights. Sharena seems to not remember anything and smiles as though nothing had happened. However, during their mission, Sharena discovers that she is wearing a flower ring on her hand. She is perplexed by this and clutches her chest, suddenly feeling like her heart is being torn apart. Then, someone claiming to be Sharena's childhood friend comes for a visit. Upon laying eyes on the person in question, her eyes tear up.
"Good morning, everyone! I'm Peony! I'm a ljósálfr—or light elf, you might say. I'm from the land of dreams, Ljósálfheimr." (ENG)
In Dökkálfheimr, Triandra and Plumeria, who should have disappeared, open their eyes. Before them stands Freyja, who tells them that they have no need to obey her any longer. Freyja's life fades away, having lost most of her power in reviving Triandra and Plumeria instead of erasing the álfar. She herself doesn't know why she did so even though she doesn't love anyone except her brother. In spite of this, she gave up her life for the sake of others, just like her brother had laid down his life for the mortals he so loved. Triandra and Plumeria vow to find a way to revive Freyja. The children weep as they grasp Freyja's hands, to which Freyja says that she truly cannot understand. Even so, she responds that she is happy and smiles gently.
And thus concludes the story of Book IV, neatly summarized as presented in the art book. I apologize for any inaccuracies in my translations and any confusion they might cause. This was an intensive passion project born from my love for Book IV, and I hope those who took the time to read this very long post found some enjoyment out of it. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please do share them if you so wish! I very much enjoy discussion about everything Book IV. Also let me know if there is any other material you'd like for me to translate, and I might make an attempt in the future. Thank you for reading!

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

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

METHODOLOGY

Link to more detailed writeup on our methodology

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

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

#100 - Stefon Diggs - Buffalo Bills - Wide Receiver

Previous Ranks

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

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

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

Previous Ranks

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

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

#98 - Bradley Chubb - Miami Dolphins - EDGE Rusher

Previous Ranks

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

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

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

Previous Ranks

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

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

#96 - Dion Dawkins - Buffalo Bills - Offensive Tackle

Previous Ranks

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

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

#95 - James Cook - Buffalo Bills - Running Back

Previous Ranks

2022
N/A​

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

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

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019
N/A	N/A	77	N/A​

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

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

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

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

Previous Ranks

2022	2021	2020	2019
N/A	10	N/A	N/A​

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

#91 - Justin Simmons - Denver Broncos - Safety

Previous Ranks

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

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

Link to Positional Tracker Sheet

Link to Ranker Reveal Sheet

Link to Hub

Link to Previous Post (Honorable Mentions)

One said: "Who are we and where have we come from?" And after decades of debating, we forgot to add one equally important question: "Where are we going?"
Since our independence from the Soviet Union, Georgia has become a dot on Western radars. By "Western," I primarily mean the USA, because the USA is the main ideological powerhouse of the so-called “global West.”
A former Soviet state in the Caucasus region with a troubled (and potentially more tense) relationship with Russia is an asset. Georgia became hard pro-West with Saakashvili in power (undoubtedly a hard pro-Western ruler, speculatively even a USA proxy). During this time, the USA didn’t take any vital steps to strengthen Georgia’s economy, sovereignty, and freedom. The USA gave $6 billion over 30 (!) years to Georgia (200 million a year), which is pocket change for them. In comparison, they gave $26 billion in just one payment to Israel to continue bombing Gaza civilians. It’s also important to mention that most of this money didn’t go to the government and people but to NGOs. But even if this money had been given to the government, it would hardly be anything to strengthen the economy. That’s just not how the economy works. No important infrastructural, defensive, or other partnership deals were made. Georgia went to Afghanistan) and Iraq to pledge their allegiance to the USA and even became the third largest contributor of troops. Georgia lost 38 soldiers in these missions, in wars we had nothing to do with. So having a couple of battalions in the Middle East for just $6 billion is a good deal for Uncle Sam.
The West didn’t even reconsider their relationship with Russia since their brutal invasion of Georgia in 2008. Our “friendly” nations held parades on Red Square, had new deals made, and their leaders ate burgers with Medvedev. As if August 2008 never happened.
There is a logical question: why?
Well, the answer is clear: because they didn’t have to. See, when you have “your bastard” in power of a certain country, propagandizing that all (economic, defensive, cultural) ties should be with the USA only, you don’t need any other investment in that country. In other words: why should we spoil our relationship with Russia if Georgia will be our guy anyway? And for many years that was true actually, there was no real alternative to the USA but now we have a different picture - there is a country, a promising country, a scary country.
Don’t consider this as an anti-Western rhetoric from me. Not in the slightest. Western values of freedom and liberty are most attractive and possibly the best. But being part of Western civilization is one thing, and real geopolitics is another. People often confuse them with each other. One might say: well, USA is our friend!
To that, I’ll answer:
There are no friends.
International politics, and mainly realism school of politics) (started by Machiavelli and now held by John Mearsheimer), is not a matter of family and friends. It’s a free-for-all battleground with no morals and no higher authority. Therefore, there are no relationships as we ordinary humans are used to: there is no friendship, love, or jealousy—there is only one thing: survival and everything that concerns that. There are no friends—only contemporary allies; there are no enemies—only contemporary adversaries. A state does everything in its power to survive, and if something threatens its security, it does everything in its power to eliminate it.
The USA is no friend of ours. No one is, no one was, and no one will ever be. You, the person reading this, will put your personal interests aside if your friend needs help. You’ll act altruistically and self-sacrificially because you love your friend, you have a personal relationship, and you’ve known that person for years. No state has ever done that and will ever do this (in the current system)
We are alone, always were alone, and always will be alone in pursuing our interests. Yes, we have allies and will have allies with whom we share our interests, but no more than that. It is our path to walk, and we should never, ever consider anything but the security and well-being of our people.
Considering what the actual hell is happening in the world right now.
Since the end of the Cold War (not 1991, but unofficially in the '80s when it was clear the Soviets lost), USA became the global hegemony. There was no other global power to threaten its dominance. USA reached its fourth phase , and as others before them (the British, Mongols, Romans, and so many more), it influenced every part of the known world. From the Middle East to South America, there was no country to challenge them, and even if one appeared (for one reason or another), the USA swiftly “dealt” with them. And as we unironically repeat the worn-out phrase “history repeats itself,” it indeed does. Like those before them, the USA is becoming a victim of its own system—in this instance, capitalism. In their golden era, capitalism pushed businesses to move their production lines to “cheap countries,” and the best of them was newly “half-decommunized,” poor and large China. Americans probably never would have thought that they were creating one who would challenge them in the future and possibly even end them. And so, for the first time in 50 years, we have a truly bipolar world. We have entered a new Cold War era.
In the blue corner, we have the reigning champion, devastator of the Middle East, Mr. Coup d'état himself—the mighty and powerful USA!
In the red corner, we have the title challenger from Asia, octopus of economies and surveillance, oppressor of Hong Kong and Taiwan, young and furious—PRC!
Bruce Buffer would have said this in some parallel world (though with the shit happening now, he might as well do it in this one).
We have a situation now where both sides rush to make “factions,” getting as many countries on their side as possible. It’s an unusual situation for the USA because, for many years, there was no alternative—you either were with the USA or were dead. To add fuel to the fire (in the White House), China’s foreign policy is much more attractive to third countries. Xi’s famous “One Belt, One Road” initiative is a clear example of that. On the other hand, the USA still has a lot (and I mean A LOT) of leverage left in other states. By forming BRICS, the global south challenged the USA and the most important and powerful weapon in their arsenal—the US dollar. China does everything slowly and methodically to dethrone the USA, and by the looks of it, everything plays into their hands.
Why does China do that?
When you grow to a certain size, you attract enemies of your size. The USA and China naturally became adversaries because when you grow big, your interests multiply, and so does the overlap between your interests and other big powers' interests. And as we said above, one only acts on behalf of their own interests.
China already has on their side: Russia, most of Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Iran, probably Turkey, a lot of African countries (predominantly in the sub-Saharan belt), Hungary, Brazil, India, South Africa, and a lot of countries that were traditionally allied with the West have hinted at jumping ship if they see the China option as winning and more beneficial (e.g., Saudi Arabia and, by extension, all Arab countries). It seems like a race to win Europe, and whoever gets Europe wins the race.
That’s where we come into play.
Unlike the US, whose soft power consists of installing regimes and propagandizing their ideology as the only way of achieving “American Dream™”, China acts differently. They build tight, mutually beneficial economic ties and economic deals only they can offer and that can’t be beaten. With that, they guarantee that certain third states will never misstep from their path—no one shoots a duck that lays golden eggs. So to have Europe, China needs strong, constant economic ties to Europeans. Meanwhile, the USA needs to isolate the EU as much as possible (*cough* Nord Stream 2). But it seems Europe is not keen on maintaining the status quo and also seeks ties with China, since their economy has been slowing down year by year, the workforce is declining, and migrants appear to be more of a problem than a solution. Europe needs more economic diversification (presumably with China), and for this, they will be willing to let go of multilateral peace guarantees between NATO countries.
NATO was beneficial to Europe for decades since they didn’t have to worry about defense and spend money on defense. First of all, when you are bordered by countries that are also NATO members, you have nothing to worry about, and secondly, the USA did all the heavy lifting. In return, the USA requested a unified foreign policy. “If I go to the Middle East, you shut up and go with me.” And it was mutually beneficial for a long time. But as Bob Dylan said, times they are a-changin.
After Russia engulfed Eastern Europe in fire, trade between the EU and China halted, and both of them started seeking new routes since Russia was unacceptable and unreliable for Europe and China was not keen on it either. So the "Middle Corridor" idea was revived, connecting China to the EU through four countries: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia/Turkey. This corridor not only priveded safe trading route but also the shortest one, shortening delivery time from 50 days to just 14. China building infrastructure in Georgia and in the aforementioned countries and also starting construction of a port in Anaklia even more solidified this theory. This route is essential for China, Europe, and most importantly (or as I said, the only one that matters) for Georgia. This route is not only a big economic gain but also a huge security and prosperity guarantee, since both the EU and China will be keen on maintaining peace in the region to not disrupt trade. This may come in different ways to Georgia.
(what I’ll describe below, of course, is the best way scenario, not the most likely one, but realistic nonetheless.)
From China, Georgia can get Abkhazia and Samachablo in one way or another. And no, as I said before, there are no friendships and gifts in geopolitics. This may happen not because China = good, China = kind,but because it just may be very beneficial to them also.. Since they most definitely will want security on their trade route, it’s in their own interests to have no separatist regions near major transport hubs (fortunately for us, the Anaklia port will be right beside the de facto border), and since China has major influence over Russia (especially after 2022), it won’t be hard for them to ask (demand/make a deal with) Russians to withdraw forces. Sounds unlikely ? well china already did this in Yemen (again, because it was in their interest ro have safe passage for their cargo on the Red Sea)
On the other hand, if this route goes through, the EU will most likely want to have more control over Georgia rather than having it act on its own. For that, they might give us EU membership. The other trend that also benefits Georgia in that matter is the gradual shift in power in the EU. As I stated multiple times, entities act only in their own interest. Therefore, EU enlargement happens only when it’s beneficial to the EU. One can be beneficial to the EU in two ways: politically and economically. With the right-sided shift in EU politics, political enlargement will become more and more frowned upon, and economic enlargement will become favored. This will accelerate 10x if China starts bringing some final assembly plants and factories to Georgia since it might as well be cheaper and more profitable for everyone.
But, there always is a “but.”
It can’t go this smoothly, can it? Of course, this project has enemies—quite big ones, actually.
First of all, it’s of course our old one—Russia. Our northern neighbors are losing touch in the Caucasus; they are even losing Armenia. Having a strong, sovereign Georgia right at the border won’t be their dream scenario. It’s also notable that if the “middle corridor” doesn’t go through, the second most likely option is to renew trading through Russia, meaning this project is costing them influence and revenue. But fortunately for us, Russia has become China’s lapdog—an aggressive, pit bull-like lapdog, but a lapdog nonetheless.
But even worse than that, our adversary is becoming (or has already become) the worst single country to have on your enemy list—the USA. This trade route is a big no-no for Uncle Sam, and they will do almost everything to disrupt this project. (Yes, including that.) A country that used psy-ops, bribery, and propaganda to stage coups in more than 60 countries will stop at nothing to halt this project. That is my biggest fear.
Ironically, the viral TikTok trend during the “Russian Law” demonstrations quoting, “Next time somebody tells you, ‘The government wouldn’t do that,’ oh yes, they would,” refers to the CIA pretending to be vampires to overtake the Philippines. No, sadly, I’m not kidding and yes they succeeded.
We must never let ourselves be dragged down by Russia, the USA, or any other country. Honestly, fuck Russia, fuck the USA, and fuck China if it benefits us.
We don’t owe anyone anything.
We must choose sides based on who offers us the most; that's who ends up having deals with us; that’s who ends up winning...
P.S.
Who is a Georgian?
What does it mean to be Georgian?
Is it blood?
Language?
Religion?
nah
For me Georgian is someone who prioritizes Georgia’s interests above all others, even if it goes against their internal beliefs.

Forever was truly a generational moment where the four biggest names in the hip-hop industry then, namely Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Eminem, hopped on a song together. This song also marked the return of Eminem from his hiatus. Every verse was top notch but it is universally accepted that Eminem had the best verse out of all of them, which is a hugee feat to accomplish.
Which four names in DHH colliding would make the scene explode as Forever did at it's time?

This story took place between 2022-23. It is long but there is a backstory that is pertinent to the information. All names are fake.
So I (27 F) was friends with Amy (29F) for six years. We met when we worked at the same place. We had been through a lot together as friends in that six years including breakups, deaths, divorce and significant friend group changes. Amy was married when we first met but ended up getting divorced. We live in Town A which is almost dead center between two other towns, Town B 45 minutes south and Town C being about and hour north. This is important for later on.
When Amy and her now ex-husband separated with the divorce pending she started dating that same summer (2021) they were not officially divorced until early 2022. In July of 2021 Amy met Xander (34M), and they started dating that month. Xander and I got to know each other more as their relationship progressed and I really liked him. In Fall of 2021 I found out that I was pregnant which was exciting as I had had a miscarriage not long before. Amy and Xander were both very happy for us. I was due in summer of 2022 just a few day after my own birthday. Fast forward to May of 2022 (I am now about 6.5 months pregnant). Xander contacts me privately and says he his planning on proposing to Amy on their one year anniversary and asked me for help with the ring. I was excited for the two of them and immediately said yes I was happy to help! He asked if I could come with him to go ring shopping as I knew what she liked/wanted and had access to her Pinterest. We set up a day and I waddled around three different jewelry stores with him helping him pick out the ring. Prior to his and my appointment I took my friend out and had her casually walk around and look at rings and had the salesperson get me pictures as covertly as they could. We ended up picking out a gorgeous ring and I kept it hidden at my house until he was ready to propose.
My baby shower was set for July the day BEFORE their one year anniversary and when he was planning on proposing . Now I did NOT pick this date. Amy and my mother did as they planned the entire thing. I wasn't even told the theme until I saw the invitations. I wanted it this way as I had a rough pregnancy and was tired and sick a lot of the time. Amy asked me for a guest list with contact information for these people and that was the extent of my contributions. The week of my baby shower I kept trying to get Amy to come with me to get her nails done and she would just refuse so without spoiling the surprise I let it go. I show up to my baby shower to see MAYBE 8 people. I was hurt but figured it was summer and a lot of people may have already had vacations planned so while I was sad I was grateful for who came and got us gifts. I found out later that this was not the case.
The proposal happens the next day and she says yes and the planning begins immediately. About 2 weeks later I am about a month away from my due date and Amy lets me know that her and Xander have picked a date. May of 2023, barely ten months later. I was a little shocked because that isn't a lot of time to plan a wedding and I was about to have a baby. I let her know that I will do what I can to help her plan and be there for her but that wasn't a lot of time to plan (or pay!) for all the things and I will need her to be gracious with me as I learn how to be a new mom. She said she totally understood and would also do what she could to support me and baby. She asked me to be her MOH and I accepted with the conditions that she understand that a lot of the maid of honor things I may not be able to do simply because of how quickly she was getting married and the baby's imminent arrival. Again, she said she totally understood and just wanted me to be a part of the wedding as much as I was able to be. She also said she totally expects baby to be at the wedding and is already thinking of how to accommodate for baby's presence there. That made me feel good and confident that this would all work out.
I ended up having my baby almost a month to the day later however it was an emergency c-section. It was not the beautiful happy moment that most people imagine as I almost died. I don't even remember holding my baby for the first time. The most prevalent memory I have is fighting to open my eyes and stay conscious and hearing the doctor ask my husband if we had talked about choosing between me and baby... (Everyone came out on the other side alive and healthy, thank goodness!). Amy and Xander came to visit us in the hospital after the birth and at this point had not been given full details of everything. When they showed up my husband let Amy hold the baby and gave them the run down of what had happened. All I got was a "Oh my gosh!" and then Amy went straight into talking about wedding plans... I should have said something then but was honestly just too tired.
Things begin to happen a little faster now. Baby and I had a rough time and had to go back into the hospital after being born. We only had to stay one night but when she was informed all we got in return was a "Oh no. I'm sorry." Now I didn't expect her to do something spectacular but it honestly felt like it just didn't matter to her. A few months go by and wedding planning is still happening. They selected their venue which was just past Town B. I called and made her a dress appointment the following January/February as well as started looking around for makeup artists for her as she doesn't typically wear makeup ever and I wear it regularly. There is a wedding dress shop that was right up her alley style wise located in Town B where Amy worked. I had a Saturday appointment set for her and I to go and take a look around. That week (like Monday or Tuesday) I found out that she goes to the shop ALONE and ends up finding her wedding dress. I was again shocked but told her, from the pictures she sent after she had already bought it. That the dress looked amazing. I expressed that I was upset that she went alone but glad she got such a good deal on it (think $2k dress on sale for $800).
She asked me last minute to go to floral shops with her on day and thankfully my husband was home that day and able to watch the baby. I agreed and we ended up driving to every single florist in town only to be turned away by all but one because she didn't make an appointment and the person she needed to talk with for wedding arrangements was unavailable at the time. By the end of that adventure she told me how upset she was that she had only been able to get one quote. I was blunt with her and said that she should have made an appointment or at least called ahead to see if anyone was available. She said that typically the MOH (i.e. me) sets up those appointment. I was annoyed and had a little heart to heart with her and said "I understand that but the last appointment I made for you, you ignored. I also am having a really hard time right now. If you need to pick someone else to take on the MOH duties I totally understand and there will be no hard feelings. I will even still give a speech if you would like me to." She said it was fine and she wanted me to be MOH still. We also had planned on going to a bridal expo the following weekend and I reminded her that most of those people would be there as well as others. She was placated by this it seemed and we ended up going to the bridal expo with her two other bridesmaids.
Now I had met these two other women ONCE. They were friends with her fiancé and she had only met them 3-6 months prior. While they were not mean or rude to me they certainly weren't welcoming. I kept getting comments like "well you are the one with a kid" or "I'm glad you didn't have to bring the baby". It rubbed me the wrong way but again I didn't say anything because it isn't about me right now. Amy ended up booking no one at the expo but did sign up to have a jewelry party. I ended up being unable to attend because I was having a really rough time and my kid was still not sleeping through the night at the time and my husband and I were having a really bad argument. I do admit I should have told her about what was going on and I can see how it hurt her that I didn't tell her but I was in the thick of it, sleep deprived and struggling with post partum depression. I did end up apologizing to her.
The next issue was the makeup trial. I told her specifically beforehand that she will more than likely have to try a few different artists because each has their own unique style and since she doesn't ever wear makeup they will all probably feel strange to her. I did have her look over the photos of the makeup artists that I think she would like and have her put in order the ones she wanted to try. After the appointment she told me that she felt like she looked like "a tranny" and hated the artist I picked. Again I was annoyed and told her that I was doing the best I could and this was difficult because she does not wear make up and there isn't much else I can do other than look online and message some people.
Now the bach trip became the next problem. A group chat was made to include myself and the other two bridesmaids. Amy is not one to go out and drink (she doesn't even drink at home) so I explained to the bridesmaids that I think a fancy dinner would be perfect. We could find other things to add to it like a theater show or something like that. We selected a theater show and a really fancy restaurant that I know Amy would love dates hadn't been decided yet because we had to nail down some details still. They agreed but when it came down to the actual planning things got really quite and I never got a reply. I didn't want to tell Amy either because she was already upset with me over the makeup artist trial I had set up for her.
At this point I am getting burnt out between her, the baby, and all the other issues going on that she was FULLY aware of (I had been fired from my job the day before Christmas Eve so now finances had become difficult). I told her again that I was struggling with everything and would understand if she wanted someone else to act as MOH as I was still just doing the best I could but it didn't seem like it was enough. Again she told me she understood.
The next big issue was the bridesmaid dresses. A couple days before the appointment both me and my kid ended up getting sick. I let her know that we would be unable to go. She asked me if I was sure and that other people would be there to help me with the baby included her soon to be SIL and one of her bridesmaids moms... I told her "I am not driving my sick baby to a different town to have absolute strangers hold him just to try on dresses. Especially during flu season." She said "Okay well I guess I will send you some pictures of what we pick." I told her fine and that was it. I should note that the bridal shop she selected was in Town B so I would have to take my baby all the way down there. I didn't get pictures till the next day. The dresses had been selected and all I had to do was get a dress that was the color assigned to me. I selected several that I liked that were within my budget and sent them to her. She nitpicks all of them and says my tattoo will be visible in all of them. Again, color me shocked. Up until this point she had NEVER mentioned my tattoo (on on left side of my chest and partially on my shoulder) being an issue. I vented to my husband and he helped me calm down and said while he thinks it is strange that she is suddenly against my tattoo when hers are visible in her wedding dress I should at least try to see if there were some styles of dress that I liked that met her criteria.
I ended up buying one of those multiway dresses that you can change the style of the top so that we could find out that worked for us both. It was in this god awful lilac tone that looked awful on my skin tone but not my wedding not my choice. She came over that weekend after it arrived to look at it. I hadn't even shown it to her when the subject of me being MOH comes up again and I told her the same thing as before, that I was struggling but doing my best and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if she felt like she needed to pick someone else to do the things she was expecting of me. Girl RAN out of my house crying when I said this. I looked at my husband like "WFT just happened?" as, again not the first time we have had this conversation. We didn't talk for almost a week (not normal for us) until i asked her to come over and talk so we could figure out what was going on. She shows up and starts going in on me saying how everyone else who is engaged is getting all of these trips and gifts and she isn't. How this should be so much more fun for her and it isn't. How she isn't happy that I am not doing all the MOH stuff that I should and she understands that I have a baby but she just isn't happy. She said that since the baby showed up everything is different and I never have time for her. She said "I had to get my wedding dress all alone! Yippee for me!" and now I am ANGRY.
I snapped and told reminder her that SHE chose to go in on her own after work and try things on. That we had an appointment set up and she just ignored it. I also reminded her that I asked for grace while I figured out how to be a new mom as she was the one who decided to get married within less than a year. That she was the one who went around to placed WITHOUT appointments and expected everyone to drop things for her. I also warned her to watch her mouth when it came to my baby because I had gotten pregnant before she was engaged and let her know before the baby was here that things would be different since I was now responsible for a whole as human. We had a heated argument but eventually came to an agreement that I would still be MOH just without the duties (i.e. I would be giving a speech and walking down the aisle as MOH and on the website as MOH but nothing outside of that now). I told her that I was planning on getting just her and I appointments to get out nails done before the wedding as a present for her and some much needed one on one time for us. She said that sounds amazing and she would love to do that. I gave her the tentative date I was thinking and she agreed. I thought things were, while a little tense, on the mend.
Fast forward and I see photos of her and the bridesmaids, her future SIL and some other woman at her bachelorette party. I had apparently been uninvited and not told. I was EXTREMELY hurt by this. The following weekend I see MORE pictures of her at a DIFFERENT Bach party that her coworker threw for her. I ended up checking her website (as I did periodically) and what do you know? I had been removed ENTIRELY. Now, while I understand that I had signed off on giving up my MOH duties, my understanding was that I was still MOH. I see her future SIL is now listed as MOH. I show my husband and he is also confused as he was home when her and I had our heart to heart. I message her the next day and asked if we could go get coffee and talk. She took awhile to respond but eventually did.
Since this story is so long I will try to summarize as best I can. It started with me gently confronting her about how I saw the website and I thought it was a bit rude that she didn't just tell me that she was replacing me in all aspects and not the ones we had talked about. She said she understood and should have told me before doing anything. I told her that in all honesty I didn't believe her because she had repeatedly told me that she understood things but her actions showed otherwise. I then brought up the bach party and how I wasn't even told anything and she said NOTHING. I explained how it made me feel and asked how she didn't notice I wasn't there and why she hadn't reached out to see where I was? So it was either she didn't care that I wasn't there OR she was made aware that I wasn't there which meant her new "friends" had lied to her OR she had asked them not to invite me. Again she said NOTHING. When she did respond it was a string of "I'm sorry" and "I wanted you there". We talked about it some more but honestly I felt like shit and just didn't care anymore. I told her that we would need to work on things because this was ridiculous and I was seeing a pattern now (including before her wedding/engagement). She said that she agrees and wants to work on things.
We left it at that and a week later I messaged her to ask her what type of manicure she wanted so I could let the salon know. She then informs me that she already had an appointment with the other bridesmaids for the SAME DAY that her and I had agreed on... I snapped. I responded with "Okay" and ignored her for the rest of the week. The day before the wedding she sent me a message asking if I was still coming. I did not respond. I understand that I should have said something and how my silence probably hurt her but I was just so done. So AITA for not going to her wedding?
**Edit: I forgot to include the baby shower guest list! She kept asking me if anyone had RSVP'd yet which I thought was weird since it was HER number on the invites (from what I could see of the sample invite my mother showed me). I later found out that she had been in charge of the invites and apparently didn't send most of them out or follow up with people. The 8 people who were there were the people who my mother invited personally.

Today (Friday June 7th) I finally passed my G Road Test at Downsview and it feels like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. (Test was at 10:01am)
I’ll breaking it into sections, backstory, experience, and tips.
Little backstory; I originally got my G2 in 2022 but I felt unconfident that I passed with my own skills so I held off driving on my own and driving in general. Fast forward a year later, I was practicing for the G test with an instructor and booked it at Downsview at 9:55am. I felt confident since I was practicing the route an hour before hand. However, I failed the first time. I had 2 major errors which were my fault and I checked the score sheet and it had 13 or so minor errors. My confidence was pretty much gone (partially cause the examiner made me nervous) and I held off driving for 9 months or so.
9 months later, my license was going to expire soon (July 2024) and so I went for lessons with a new instructor My anxiety and nervousness about the test was pretty bad as I was left still sad about the first G test. Did 6-7 or so lessons (including one on the day of which was today) and my test anxiety was through the roof as my instructor did not practice the route at all and we only practiced merging once or twice per lesson.
A week before my 2nd attempt, I was so stressed because I didn’t want to fail and spend even more money into something a lot of people can do. But, my mind was always in self doubt. You could say, financially I was more stressed than the actual driving itself.
Heading into the test, 2 hours before I was watching videos on the route and pretending I was driving along the route, making sure I was doing my mirror checks, blind spot checks, left right left checks, mirrors every 5 seconds. It helped a little bit with anxiety. By the time I got to the test Center , I didn’t feel it but my heart was racing high according to my smart watch (around 150bpm and 160sbpm during the test). As I checked in and got back to the car, I was nervous af but I was doing breathing exercises to help not feel that anxiety. When the test started, I still felt nervous as I didn’t know what to expect with the examiners mood. However, as the longer I drove the more relaxed I became as the examiner was chill (not friendly but not rude/condescending). It also helped that the traffic wasn’t too bad. Although, my throat and mouth were dry af but I didn’t want to risk anything by sipping water when I could have.
By the end of the test, I was worried about the results as I couldn’t get to 100 on the acceleration lane due to traffic and the examiner sorta tried to rush me on one lane change right when heading back. When I turned off the car, my examiner told me “*My Name, you are actually a pretty good driver. Congratulations you passed” and I felt so relieved, like butterflies released from my stomach. I checked my scoresheet when I got home and I only had 3 minor errors (none were for the highway portion, including the merge) compared to the double digits last time. So I felt even more happy about that. This time around, compared to my G2 pass I feel like I actually passed because of my skill and that I’m actually a half-decent driver xD
Tips: If you have test anxiety like me, just try to think positive even if the thoughts creep up. Just remember if you’re afraid of doing the test, at least do it (to some degree) afraid. A quote that helped me was “Focus on your actions, not the outcome. It is all you can control” (points if you know where this is from). Chew gum if you have to, doing breath excerises. Think about the present, not the future or past.
Now for the actual driving test part, like many have said this test is mainly focused on your observations and judgement. Do not rush things, that’s how I failed the first time. Make your turns/lane changes when it’s safe. Remember on lane changes that a car could always try to pass you, especially on the highway. So make sure to do your mirror checks and if you a see a car catching you, do not try to force the lane change. Just keep calm and wait until there’s a good gap. Of course though, with traffic you’ll have to make a judgement call. Always do a shoulder check when approaching your turn. Remember to do left right left checks when proceeding through intersection, scan your mirrors every 5 or so seconds (you don’t have to do all 3 each time). When you’re stopped, keep yourself busy. Look at your mirrors, look left right, look ahead just don’t always stare straight at the car in front of you. You need to know the surrounding around you.
Anyways that is all and my personal experience. I’d like to thank those who posted/replied with useful tips on this sub to those who are also feeling anxious about the test. You can do it. Good luck to those doing their g2/g test in the future. So glad I’m done with the process.

Hi All,
Not sure if this is the right sub but here goes.
I've had this issue for several years now but now want to do something about it. I have music on my laptop and iphone going back to 2010 (downloaded locally on my previous mac ages ago) as you can see from the image. At some point in the last few years a lot of my songs became greyed out and I can't play them on any device. I am certain this is due to apple music/cloud issues and possibly started around the time I first got apple music/enabled cloud music but not 100% sure. It is frustrating because I have quite a few songs downloaded and now greyed out and unplayable. I am worried that they are now lost forever. Is there any way I can sort this out
https://preview.redd.it/mdkxwej9a65d1.png?width=1860&format=png&auto=webp&s=3148c451c95672c538923bf8aab06badfad03ffc

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Home didn’t feel the same after I returned from the hotel. My dad knew that I knew how he’d gotten that high-paying job. And he knew what I had been doing to help us make ends meet before getting entangled with Creole. It got even worse when one day he walked in on me as I was applying the ointment to cover my scars. That broke him. He started crying uncontrollably upon seeing me with the deep scar on my neck and my missing eye surrounded by my skull. It was the first time I’d seen my dad cry like that. And I couldn’t do anything to console or help him. Because I knew if I did, I would start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.
We were both at rock bottom, with my mom trying in vain to figure out why we were so upset. Creole must’ve known what I was going through and allowed it to continue. For an entire month, he didn’t call on me for anything. And that worried me more than if he did. Because there was always the looming and constant fear that he would get bored with me. And him being bored with me probably meant my immediate death.
It was a relief when I was home alone again that I received a knock at the door. I looked down at my phone to make sure that I still had plenty of time since my last ointment appointment. Satisfied that I had plenty of time I stood up and answered the door. Seeing that smiling face and red uniform instantly brightened my day a little.
“Hey Jacob, what’s he got for me this time?” I asked him as the forever smiling bellhop stared at me with his button eyes. He happily presented me with an envelope and gave me a little salute at completing his mission. I took the envelope and opened it up, sighing when I saw the all too familiar handwriting.
“Marvelous Ms. Mace! It would seem that I require your skills in another endeavor. Jacob shall escort you to the store, and do make sure to bring all your tools. K.C.” I heavily exhaled through my nose and invited Jacob into the house so I could gather my things.” I quickly ran upstairs and rounded up my lockpicking tools, pepper spray, and this time a pocket knife as well. I’d gotten myself one after the ordeal of the hotel. Just as I was applying more ointment and resetting my timer I heard the front door open and a bunch of grocery bags rustling.
My heart instantly dropped. My mom had gotten back earlier than expected. I quickly finished putting the ointment on and ran downstairs as quickly as I could. I nearly ran into my mom as she was hanging one of the bags on the stair railings.
“Jesus, Maria, Jose, Macedonia!” My mom shouted in surprise. I half expected it to be because of Jacob but a glance around the first floor revealed that he wasn’t anywhere in sight. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” My mom sighed fanning herself dramatically.
“Sorry Mom,” I apologized, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her. “I’m going out, ok?” I told her. She looked at me judgementally, mostly at what I was wearing before wishing me good luck and the usual million things to be careful of. I nodded at all of them and parted with a kiss on her cheek. As I exited the front door it was my turn to nearly have a heart attack as Jacob surprised me by poking his head out of the bush next to the front door.
“How’d you get in there?!” I silently shouted at him. He pointed at the open window just above the bush. And I couldn’t help but snort and giggle at the thought of him diving out of the window into the bush once my mom had arrived back at the house. I helped him to get out of the bush and brushed the leaves off of his uniform.
We started making our way towards the voodoo shop all the while my mind continued to wander in various scenarios in which my situation was going to end. Most of them with me and my entire family dead or turned into voodoo dolls.
“Jacob?!” An unknown voice broke my endless doom loop. I looked up and Jacob and I stared at a sketchy dude across the street from us who quickly ran over and grabbed Jacob by his gold-trimmed collar. “Where the fuck have you been man?! I’ve been trying to call you for months!” He shouted at Jacob who just stared at him with his permanent smile and tilted his head in confusion.
“Leave him alone, we’re trying to be somewhere asshole,” I told the guy, grabbing Jacob by the arm and starting to tug on it. The guy looked at me like I was literal shit on his shoe and stared back at Jacob.
“Who the fuck is she? More importantly, why the fuck are you dressed like this? It isn’t Halloween you freak,” he shouted at Jacob. He continued on about how he hadn’t made a single delivery in months and that some scary people were looking for him. Jacob continued to stare blankly at this guy before turning to me and taking his hat off.
“Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore me!” he shouted at Jacob as he placed the hat on me. I stared at him in confusion before he lifted his hands to cover his button eyes. He then lowered his hands and pointed at me. It took me a few seconds to figure out he wanted me to cover my eyes. So I hesitated for a moment before lifting my hands and covering my eyes.
As I covered my eyes I heard the guy let out a choked scream before a sickening crunch and tearing, overpowered the sounds of his muted screams. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and suddenly wondered something. My glass eyes didn’t have an eyelid. So how exactly was it shut right at that moment? Did it turn off on command? I didn’t have long to wonder at the logistics as I felt Jacob’s hat being taken off of me.
I lowered my hands and was met by Jacob’s usual smiling face. And not a single stain on his uniform at all. I looked at him and then around us in confusion. There wasn’t a single sight of the asshole. Not a body part, not a drop of blood not even a scrap of clothing. Absolutely nothing. I knew better than to inquire about what had happened so I simply continued our walk towards the voodoo store.
“Mace! It’s been so long! How’s the eye treating you?” Creole asked me, giddy with excitement upon seeing me. I was instantly reminded how much I hated him. His stupid smile and his constant giddiness. It irked and annoyed me.
“It’s fine, sir,” I told him as dryly as I could. As usual that didn’t register at all to him and he simply nodded and looked over at Jacob.
“I see you two came upon some trouble. But Jacob handled it, so no harm done!” Creole said with a smile and walked over to the register. I followed after him and watched as he picked up the template doll from the register and started tossing it up and down in the air.
“What’s the problem this time?” I asked him, stuffing my hands into my jacket pocket. He stared at me for a moment with that toothy yellow grin for a few moments before letting some giggles rise up from his throat. I could already tell that this was going to suck.
“Seems, that while I was away. A rat got into some of my potions. Made quite the mess of the shop, you should’ve seen it! Now that lil ol’ rat has run off and made a nest in the high school. I’m gonna need you to deal with it for me.” He smiled as he caught the template doll in midair and gave it a hard squeeze in between his gloved fingers.
“No,” I told him. That got his attention. He raised a brow at me and tossed the doll onto the register table. “I can’t,” I said as I felt my heart beating out of control. Since I was a little girl I had an absolute phobia of rats. Everything about them disgusted me and freaked me out. And now I had to go and kill some probably giant monster rat.
“Oh Mace, we both know you ain’t in a position of refusing me.” Creole extended his hand out to me and the contract that I signed with him. He was right, I had no right to refuse him. But at the same time, I’d rather have him kill me than have to face a giant rat. Not to mention if it had gotten into his potions, there was no telling what that thing had turned into.
“Can’t you have the cops handle it?” I asked, still trying to find a way out of it. Creole slammed his fist down on the hard wooden table and I swear it felt like the entire shop would come crumbling down in top of us.
“You’ll be doing it. Understand? I don’t want to have to visit your parents any sooner than I have to, Macedonia.” He told me in a low and gravely voice. His yellow teeth sharpened into fangs and I quickly looked down at the floor and finally nodded after a few moments of trying to think of a way out of it.
“Yes sir…” I told him submissively.
“Splendid! Jacob will be coming with you, naturally. You two seem to make a good team.” His mood shifted instantly once I became cooperative. His usual bubbly and happy personality returned. I simply nodded and looked over at Jacob. He kept up his permanent smile and gave me a little wave. I returned it with a half-hearted smile of my own.
“Well off with the two of you then, the sooner you deal with that rat the sooner you can go home again,” Creole said with a smile as he dismissively waved the two of us away and without giving me any other way of protecting myself from whatever monster rat he’d accidentally created. I sighed as I followed after Jacob as he fished out the magic skeleton key and inserted it into the voodoo shop’s door.
I watched as the door contorted and warped into one of the high school’s main doors. I grabbed the metal handle before Jacob could and pushed it open. Being inside the darkened school was like having one of those nightmares where you’re back in school again, or when you come to school after hours and the entire building is eerily quiet.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I mumbled to Jacob as we started making our way towards the cafeteria. If a giant rat was going to be anywhere, it’d probably be there. We passed several photos of past classes and clubs and I came to a stop at the photo I had managed to get into. I’d snuck into cheer practice with Jess who had been a cheerleader and had gotten my picture taken with the whole squad. It brought me back to simpler times and was a cruel reminder of what had happened to my friends.
I looked over at Jacob and noticed that his button eyes were trained squarely on a photo. I walked over to him and noticed he was looking at a picture of the video game club. And staring straight at me with a happy and toothy grin was the old Jacob. Before dropping out and becoming a drug dealer, before becoming an undead bellhop. Jacob kept staring at the photo for a few more seconds before turning to look at me. There was no indication on his permanently closed and stitched smile that he felt any different but something felt off about him.
As I was about to ask him what the matter was, but a loud crash and rattling came from the direction of the cafeteria. I instantly shoved my face into Jacob’s chest in absolute terror. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hard squeeze. I don’t know what it is about Jacob that gives me such a calming response whenever I’m near him. Whatever it is, it was powerful enough to give me my strength back as I quickly dug into my pockets and pulled out the can of pepper spray and my pocket knife.
“Okay…I can do this…right?” I looked back at Jacob for confirmation. He gave me two thumbs up and we continued on course toward the cafeteria. Finding the doors locked I quickly handed my items to Jacob and got on my knees to begin picking the lock. It was second nature to me at this point, there had been plenty of times during high school where I had broken into the cafeteria to steal some food or a snack. In just a few swift flicks of the pins and tumblers the door swung open.
Jacob went first before motioning for me to follow after him. It certainly seemed like the rat had been here. Judging by the simple fact that the tables and benches were strewn and thrown in every possible direction. In the direction of the kitchen, the whole metal screen separating the kitchen from the cafeteria was broken and bent in various directions. I was suddenly realizing that I was probably going to be fighting a bear-sized rat with only a knife and some pepper spray.
“I don’t hear it,” I whispered to Jacob as the two of us began approaching the kitchen. We poked our heads into the utter devastation that had happened to the kitchen. Appliances were ripped from the wall, the freezer door had been ripped from its hinges, and the remains of dozens of frozen lunches were strewn about in every possible direction.
I picked up a frozen round pizza and said a silent prayer for the only decent thing the school ever gave to me. Despite all the destruction, however, there was no sign of the rat. I suddenly became afraid that the thing could turn invisible. It was then that I noticed that Jacob was staring up at the ceiling. I quickly dropped the pizza and followed his gaze upward, terrified that the rat was hanging from the ceiling like the mirror version of me had done. But instead, I was greeted by a giant gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Well, it isn’t here. Where the hell else could it be?” I asked Jacob who looked back at me and shrugged. I groaned and started looking around at the floor trying to think of where it could be. I stared too long at the floor though as my new glass eye just popped out of my head and fell to the floor.
“Oh fuck off,” I hissed in anger as I quickly dropped to my knees and began scrambling after it. I managed to catch it just before it rolled under the stove and cleaned it as best as I could before inserting it back into my skull. As I was letting the magic item return vision to my left side I stared at the stove for a moment before a thought crossed my mind.
“What about the home econ room? They have a cooking class there.” I quickly stood up and Jacob quickly nodded. The only problem was that the home econ room was on the other side of the school from where we were. Plenty of chances for the rat to ambush us. So as we started walking down the halls towards the home econ room I made sure to hold on to Jacob’s hand. Our high school isn’t even that big and yet the walk from the cafeteria felt like it took sixty years, mostly because every single noise caused me to stop and wait to see what was going to pop out and attack me.
By the time we entered the area where the home econ room was, I was able to hear something rummaging around and destroying things in the classroom. It seemed that my hunch had paid off. The only problem was that I was too scared to move even a muscle. I looked back at Jacob and he gave me a thumbs up. I squeezed his hand tightly and nodded back at him, letting go of his hand and fishing my can of pepper spray out of my jacket pocket.
I glanced into the classroom through the window. Besides the absolute devastation of the classroom, I watched in horror as a giant rat’s tail was dragged along the floor like some enormous worm. I quickly shook my head and turned to Jacob.
“I can’t do it,” I whimpered at him, feeling the onset of a panic attack incoming. Jacob rubbed my arms and waited for me to slightly calm down. I did my best to get a hold of myself and again peeked into the window of the destroyed kitchen room. I got a good look at the giant rat as it broke into one of the stoves. Most of its fur had fallen off in giant patches, and giant spikes were piercing out of its back. As it turned its head to toss the stove away from the wall I could see that one of its eyes was missing. I breathed a sigh of relief, it was blind in that eye just like I was.
I took a deep breath and carefully tried to open the door, but the handle only jiggled a little, it was locked. That slight movement of the door triggered the rat, as it quickly whipped its head towards the door. My eye met its eyes, as it still had its right eye along with a giant cluster of eyes above and below it.
“Shit,” I mumbled as it let out a loud screech and proceeded to charge towards the door. I felt Jacob quickly grab me and shove me away just as the giant rat busted down the door on top of him. I landed on the floor on my ass and watched as Jacob struggled to keep the rat from bringing its full weight on top of him and squishing him into a puddle.
“Hey, shithead!” I screamed at the rat getting its attention. I aimed my pepper spray at it and pressed down, spraying it in its giant cluster of eyes. It let out a pained shriek and fell over as it tried in vain to get the stinging chemical spray out of its eyes. I quickly dropped the empty can and winced as the stinging began to form in my good eye. One good thing about having a magic glass eyeball is that it isn’t affected by pepper spray, so I at least had one advantage over the rat.
At least I thought I did, as a deep rumbling noise came from deep inside the rat, I took a step back as I held my knife out in front of me as if it was some kind of sword or spear. I watched in disgust as a new cluster of eyes spawned from the empty eye socket, and before I could process that, the rat pounced on me and pinned me to the floor. I thrashed and kicked trying to get it off of me, and even began stabbing it in the neck. It screamed and began rumbling again as long slender tentacles began to spawn from its back and began thrashing around like whips.
“Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding!” I screamed as I began stabbing it in the face and the eyes, any spot that could get it off of me, doing my best to avoid its mouth which was constantly snapping and gnashing at me. One of my stabs ended up landing underneath the rat’s snout and I was too careless. The knife became stuck inside him and I tried to use my left hand to give me more leverage to pull it out. In doing so I got too close to its mouth and it clamped down on my hand.
I screamed my fucking lungs out, and on instinct yanked my hands out of its mouth. And watched as my pinky, ring finger, and half of my middle finger remained in the rat's mouth. I let go of the knife and clutched my bloody hand with my other. The rat eagerly chewed on my fingers and was about to come back for more when Jacob slammed a metal desk chair against its head. It stumbled and looked over at him, just in time for Jacob to bring it down on the rat's head. It screeched and quickly began scurrying away. Instead of chasing after it, Jacob quickly dropped to his knees and began taking care of me.
“W-we gotta get outta here, before it comes back,” I whimpered, staring as a fountain of blood came pouring out of my damaged hand. Jacob quickly ripped off his sleeve and made a tourniquet and a bandage for me out of it. I couldn’t really stain it since it was the same color as my blood. Jacob quickly picked me up bridal style and ran towards the stairwell entrance just as I heard the rat coming back for another attack.
We entered the stairwell and Jacob quickly rushed us upstairs just as the rat crashed through the door. We made it upstairs and found ourselves in the science wing of the school. Jacob quickly ducked us into a classroom that happened to be open and quickly closed and locked the door, pushing a chair up against the door as well. We both ducked down as we heard the rat running past us on a wild goose chase to find us.
I whimpered and winced at the pain stinging from my hand. It was then that a terrifying thought entered my mind. I wouldn’t be able to pick locks with a hand like this. At least until I could get used to only having two and a half fingers. Would Creole get bored of me if I couldn’t pick locks anymore? I looked around the classroom and suddenly was struck with a familiar feeling. Like I’d been here before. I looked over toward the teacher’s desk and was flushed with memories of the only science class I’d ever enjoyed and passed with a grade higher than a C. Mr. Picot’s chemistry class.
“Jacob, I have an idea.” I winced as I stood up and quickly whispered to my smiling savior. He quickly came over and got on his knees as I wobbly sat up on mine. “In that cabinet,” I pointed towards a big metal cabinet. “Mr. Picot keeps some dry ice in a thermal cooler. We can make dry ice bombs to fight that thing.” I told him, Jacob quickly nodded as he agreed to my plan. He helped me stand up on my feet and the two of us walked over to the cabinet. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the tools.
Jacob helped me as he held the left hook pick steady for me as I used my good hand to fiddle around. I was lucky that Mr. Picot used a pretty cheap lock for the cabinet. After only two failed attempts we got the locker opened. Jacob quickly opened the cooler and pulled out the small block of dry ice from its container. I went under Mr. Picot’s desk and quickly grabbed a couple of mini water bottles that he always had on hand in case someone needed some water during a test.
Jacob carefully drained each bottle so only a little bit of water was left and cut the dry ice into little chunks, wrapping them up in a paper towel and adding them to the water bottle. I was impressed at how skillfully he was doing this. I’d always imagined Jacob as the typical school-hating wanna-be gangster. But here he was proving that he knew what he was doing. The water would stop an immediate release of the CO2 into the bottle and give us time to chuck it at the rat.
Our best bet was going to be getting it to swallow one, so with our arsenal of six bombs made and carefully being carried by Jacob in a lost and found backpack we’d found in the classroom, we exited the classroom and started making as much noise as possible. Banging our hands against the lockers and me screaming as loudly as I could. Soon enough we heard the loud scurrying running towards us again.
It had changed again, with its mouth having split open like a flower full of teeth and bleeding gums. If I didn’t walk away from this completely traumatized of rats I was going to be very surprised. Jacob reached into the back and pulled out a bomb, giving it a good shake before tossing it. Unfortunately for us, it blew up midair and sent a loud bang throughout the school. That didn’t seem to bother the rat as it kept charging towards us. I quickly took a bottle from Jacob and started rushing towards the rat.
It tackled me to the ground and screamed at me with its giant gaping mouth. I shook the bottle as well as I could and stuffed it into its mouth, acting quicker on this occasion to pull my hand back out. It swallowed the bomb and I winced in anticipation. As if on cue the bomb exploded in the rat’s throat and nearly decapitated it. It staggered over me for a few moments, as if trying to figure out why it had lost function of its whole body before it tumbled to the floor and let out a long death gurgle.
“Thank god,” I sighed as I crawled out from under it. Jacob was carefully opening the bottles to relieve their pressure. It turned out we only needed one after all. I walked over to him and shoved my face into his chest, letting a wave of emotions come over me as I began to cry uncontrollably into him. Everything bubbled to the surface at once, my fear of rats, my situation, my hopelessness, everything all came to the surface at once. I stood there crying into Jacob’s chest for a good five minutes before I finally got some bit of composure back.
The two of us made our way back down to the first floor and toward the main entrance. As we were about to leave I looked back to see Jacob staring at his old picture again. I wondered what he could be thinking about, but I figured it was better not to dwell on that, so I simply opened the door and stepped back into Creole’s shop.
“Mace! Goodness girl, what happened to ya?” Creole asked in shock which I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or fake. He walked over to me and quickly grabbed my hand, removing Jacob’s makeshift bandage to get a good look at it. “Oh dear me, quite the nasty bite it gave you, huh?” He asked me, that stupid smile replaced with a look of concern on his face.
“Can you fix me, sir?” I asked him as he looked at the hand and reached into his pocket. He wordlessly doused my hand in some potion and I half expected my lost fingers to start blooming like some flower or something. But instead, the bleeding ceased completely.
“There we are. That should deal with any infection as well, can’t have my new toy breaking so soon after I bought it,” he said with that stupid smile returning to his face. I stared back at him and felt my anger boiling over. I was his toy. No better than a frisbee he could throw around. And easily replaceable if he broke me too badly.
“What about my fingers?” I asked him, wanting to know if he could do anything with them. He stared at them for a moment before letting go of my hand and shrugging.
“If I had them I could sew them back on. Unfortunately, we don’t have them do we?” he said with a smile that quickly grew sinister as I was sure some other horrible idea had crossed his mind. “I could always chop it off and give you a new hand,” he said with a sinister snicker. I quickly held onto my hand and backed away from him.
“No thank you. I’ll manage with this.” I told him as I turned to leave, surprised to see that Jacob had replaced his damaged uniform in the time I had been talking to Creole.
“Oh, Mace my darling? You still can pick locks, can’t you? I would hate for your injuries to end that hobby for you,” Creole asked me as I kept my back to him. I looked down at my hand and bent my remaining fingers. It was doable, it would just take me a long time to get used to.
“Yes, sir,” I told him, opening the front door and listening to the sad bell jingle its tone as I left the shop. I was sure that he was just looking for any reason to break me further and get rid of me. Or he would finally get bored of me and get rid of me that way.
Either way, I was resolved with one simple goal. Free myself from King Creole by any means necessary.

My hs girlfriend of 3.5 years broke up with me a couple of weeks ago and it's been hard since. We still went to prom together and after that, I had no contact with her and was basically over her until she called me crying one night saying that she had "ruined everything" and was "so sorry about everything" and ended the phone call by telling me she loved me. Keep in mind the reason she broke up with me is because her new 'friends' manipulated her into thinking that going out to drink every night and sleeping around is a better way to experience life than with someone who had done nothing but love and care for her all of hs. Shockingly, these same friends have been unable to hold a relationship for more than 2 months. However, the night after she called me crying she went out to a bar with one of her male friends and stayed there from 8 pm to 2 am so to me it seemed like that phone call was just to make me feel bad. And she succeeded in doing that because like the idiot I am, I actually thought she could change and that we could make the relationship work. This week our school's graduating class is down at the beach and this is the time when everyone drinks, smokes, sleeps around, and basically is a degenerate. During the first couple days I was still trying to make things work between us as she made it seem like we were still together, however, a day or two ago she was plastered drunk on the beach (in a state I've never seen before) and then later in the day she told me she was going home but when I checked her location she was 90 streets away from where she's staying and come to find out she was with a random guy. Since finding that out I've blocked and removed her from everything as I can't stand anything to do with her.
My question is, where do I go from here? We're going to the same state college and I just don't know how life is without her, I don't know how to talk to girls because I've spent so much time with her, and anytime I'm left alone all I can seem to do is think about her. I know the best thing to do right now is to focus on myself, but any time I try to I just end up feeling lonely. I know that she is not at all the girl I fell in love with but obviously it's hard to just get over her.
Another question I have is should I tell her parents about our breakup? She has yet to tell her family that we've been broken up and they think that we're staying in a house together which is why they've been relaxed about her coming down here as they love me. Also apparently she is saving telling them for when she inevitably gets in trouble to make it seem like she's doing whatever she gets in trouble for because of the breakup. My idea was that after this week I'd gather all her things from my house including every gift she's given me, drop them off at hers, and then sit down with her parents to explain the situation as not only has she been lying to their faces about our situation, but about everything else in her life. I know this seems like a revenge plot or something, but I genuinely love her parents and I can see how sad they are to not be able to spend time with her at all and I feel like they just need to know the truth.
Lil Update: I've been seeing a lot of responses telling me that this is normal behavior for 18 year olds and some telling me that I should partake too. I agree on both parts. Yes, this is 'normal' for 18 year olds to be drinking, partying, and such, however, I'm an Orthodox Christian and try to avoid it as much as I can, so I won't be getting drunk, smoking, or taking drugs anytime soon, but I will do my best to move on and talk to other girls as I think I deserve to look for someone who shares the same values and mindset as me.
I've been reading every response that you all leave and I appreciate all of them. Yes, I agree that what she does now is not my business, so I think I'll just bring her stuff to her parents, tell them we've been broken up and that we haven't been living together as to not take any blame for what she does.

• Delizia di Marshmallow: there’s a reason this one is the most mentioned/popular scent of hers. The only one I’ve upgraded to a full bottle ~so far~. A fluffy, airy, freshly opened bag of marshmallows. STRONG sillage and projection. Like somebody unleashed a giant ferocious jar of marshmallow fluff with legs into the wild. I’ve had people stop dead in their tracks and go, “WOAH something smells good, like cookies/brownies/baked goods/etc” and somebody said they could smell me coming around the corner (oops) I don’t spray more than twice so beware! It has this interesting element where I can’t smell it directly on my skin when I put my nose where I sprayed…yet people (and me) smell it all around me like a cloud. So again beware! I don’t really think it has a baked quality btw, it’s more raw fresh unbaked MARSHMALLOW but it’s so obnoxiously sweet and vanilla that I could see people interpreting it as just cookies/sweets/etc. Would prob layer well if you did one lil spritz. Sprayed this twice after a shower and a week and several showers later without spraying again my bathroom still smelled like marshmallows. So two sprays lasted one week and hung around like a stage 5 clinger. The way this oil sticks around is insane, like weaponized marshmallow oil. 💅🤍 No marshmallows were harmed in the making of this scent btw, at least I don’t think they were, but it seems like they had to milk thousands of them to get to this point. Yup. Thousands of marshmallows being milked on a marshmallow farm, that’s all this is. Anyways… IT DOES WHAT IT DOES AND IT DOES IT WELL. 9/10.
  
• Bonbons a la Vanille: DUPE ALERT, if plagiarizing perfume was actually a thing (thankfully not) this would be an example in court 😂 this is Victoria’s Secret Vanilla Lace, which has been discontinued for years. If you loved Vanilla Lace, I’ve found your dupe! It brought me straight back to middle school when I was exploring different vanilla scents trying to find The One. Totally not a metaphor for my love life. I have since found better vanillas for my chemistry (see delizia de marshmallow above…) so I’m going to respectfully pass. I don’t like the smoke note in this, it reads as “cigarette vanilla” on my skin and I hate cigs. Might keep for nostalgia though. It honestly has a hint of chalk and smoke that the original Vanilla Lace also had that kept it from being my holy grail back in the day. Nobody talks about the chalky element of Vanilla Lace…er, Bonbons a la Vanille, so I’m going to call it out right now. But bc I’m a sucker for nostalgia and spent lot of fun times with my friends dosed in Vanilla Lace: 5.5/10.
  
• Douceur Brûlée: a salty, sweet, buttery lemon pound cake drizzled in syrup. Very sweet and gourmand but so well crafted. Something about this scent took me straight to folk festivals in the late summer and early fall, when people sell their homemade lemon cakes and then there’s the oakmoss (earthy moss and trees) dancing in the background. It’s kind of an atmospheric gourmand and I love that! I’m scared wearing too much of this might offend some people because it also has such a heavy syrup quality? But a little bit dabbed on during a cool summer morning or cool fall day sounds divine. 🥞🍋🍞🧇🍯🍮 She’s delicious. She’s interesting. She has an artistic yet grounded view. She’s not for everyone but she evokes emotion and is so worthy of love. Ugh and I didn’t wanna mention buut full disclosure in case you have the same problem: sometimes on the WRONG day oakmoss has a tiny tiny hint of urine/sweat with my chemistry 😭 which has kept me on the fence about buying a full bottle of this even though it’s otherwise really nice. 🥲 It’s not every time and only a hint. The rest of the notes are fantastic, but maybe the salt and oakmoss gives me that sweat/urine impression on a hot humid day? So sad and keeps it from being a 9. The rest of it though touched my heart and I otherwise totally “get” the love…it’s delicious in low humidity…7.5/10.
  
• Cocco alla Vaniglia: IF YOU LOVE COCONUT AND VANILLA scents, this will be your jam! It’s creamy, beachy, comforting coconut and vanilla - it’s very well done for what it is. Beachy without smelling like cheap sunscreen. I’m not the biggest fan of coconut, but I enjoy and respect this. This might be easier to wear than Douceur Brûlée for some people because it’s sweet without getting into syrup territory. If you like the way Aussie deep conditioner smells (in the cylinder purple bottle), it’s kinda like that but better (a lil less chemical and more complex). It also evoked wonderful memories of staying in a beach house during the summer and deep conditioning my hair with coconut oil after spending all day playing in the sand and sun and being on the rickety wooden boardwalk :) ..there’s some subtle wood grounding this scent imo (sandalwood?) even if it’s not listed as a note. 🏖️🥥☀️🐚🪵 6.5/10.
  
• Oui Plus!: no offense but yuck. The notes had me so curious, but this was a scrubber on me. Smelled like a cheap $5 smore scented candle on my skin. Not gonna lie, the graham cracker note itself seemed pretty delish and has a yummy honey element so congrats if that’s what dominates the scent for you, but it quickly disappeared on me. Cheap chocolate and patchouli dominated. The chocolate note smelled sooo cheap on my skin. Remember those Hershey scented lip balms at Walmart? Not rich or delicious at all. Mixed with the patchouli and it was nauseating, felt like too much going on. Really wanted to love this. I didn’t get any of the coffee scent either. No marshmallow to sweeten the deal. Womp womp. 3/10.
  
• Cacao Noisette: I was scared of trying this bc of the chocolate note after Oui Plus left me repulsed. The added hazelnut and lack of patchouli allows the chocolate to be smoother and less repulsive in this but it still unfortunately has a Hershey Lip Smacker element upon opening. However it’s not entirely one dimensional bc this perfume blossoms into a cozy musk in the heart of it like being wrapped in a warm sweater so that part is nice. It’s autumnal and that part I love. 🍂 It’s inoffensive for being chocolate. There’s a yummy caramel latte in here too. Or perhaps you’re digging into a Milky Way bar in your cinnamon scented home after trick or treating. I can’t hate this and want to keep sniffing. There’s a coziness to this scent that’s lacking in Oui Plus. I just don’t think I love Kyse’s interpretation of chocolate, but I do strangely like the musk in this bc it’s cozy sweater instead of ick, and no weird smoke note either. 6.5/10.
  
• Gateau de Carnaval: the opening of this scent shocked me because I was immediately reminded of a preppy girl in high school/college instead of a carnival? Citrus cleaner is lightly spritzed on a dusty wooden school desk with red berries and hairspray in the background. Once it dries the high school/college nostalgia weirdness fades away and it’s clean and sweet with a strange sterile note on my skin in the heart of it. Hairspray still? Once it settles further, I find the dry down more interesting and pronounced than Zucchero Filato, but I can’t figure out what it is. Lemon? Bread? Something about it is oddly uplifting and addictive as I inhale. Lemon bread and cotton candy? It’s a bit too doughy, but I prefer the dry down to the opening. Strange but fun summer scent. Definitely a roller coaster ride on my skin but it makes me smile. I’m going to come back to this and find out what else my nose can discern. —ok I’m back, and after typing that out I just cheated and read the notes. The brown sugar and apricot listed makes sense, and the apricot is a little bit artificial. Still fun. 🥖🧡🤎🍑🍋 For keeping my attention, and because I’m an ex Pink Sugar stan and also find a hint of cotton candy in this, 7/10.
  
• Zucchero Filato: the dry down is a bit too similar to VS Vanilla Lace/Bonbon a la Vanille in that chalky/smoky note on my skin comes out but it’s more muted and tolerable here. I technically prefer this to Bonbons a la Vanille I guess only bc the smoke is less pronounced but they’re similar. But Bonbons (vanilla lace) gets nostalgia bias. The sweetness is less vanilla here, and more well rounded and foody. There’s a beachy element in the opening that surprised me! A creaminess that is very faint coconut/beachy perhaps? Nothing in this scent is LOUD so that’s cool, it would work out ok for a lot of people imo. It’s not a scrubber but still I’m going to pass because it’s nothing revolutionary and as much as I love the gourmand, it’s like smoked food which I was actually expecting the other carnival one to be, and nothing really else stands out and wows me. I get no fresh cotton candy, no addictive candy floss, no berries, once it dries down it’s mild creamy sweet smoke… bc it’s too safe and boring: 5/10.
  

TLDR; nothing beats delizia de marshmallow. I certainly couldn’t beat this giant fluff cloud in a fight 🤍🍦🦷🐇🕊️☁️🍨🎂🥛🍼🩹🤍⚪️💭◽️🗯️

I keep thinking about the arguments I had with my family, and I can barely make sense of them. They were so circular and would go on for hours and hours. I'd truly feel like I was fighting for my sanity half of the time, and I'd often wind up sobbing and screaming hysterically whilst my family comforted one another about having to deal with someone so awful.
One of the final ones was what I call Car Gate. Despite being a mundane misunderstanding, it was one of the catalysts for the estrangement.
Apologies for the length of the following. I can't believe how long it is! I like to write as if I'm an investigative reporter. That being said, thank you to anyone who reads about what is, in reality, the most boring argument on the planet. It's probably too self-identifying and I'll have to delete it at some point, but I can't stop thinking about it and worrying that I have all the details wrong.
When my dad passed away from cancer, my mum decided she wanted to give my brother my dad's car and give me half the value of the car in cash (ie. my brother would get a £6k car and I'd get £3k). My mum kept repeating that it was a 50/50 split. It didn't sound right to me, but I was so surprised that I was getting anything at all, I just thanked her and didn't think much more about.
However, when I explained the deal to my partner, he pointed out that it wasn't 50/50 because my mum was essentially giving my brother £6k and me £3k.
I said I must have misheard because my mum had been very clear that she wanted things to be 50/50 between my brother and I.
Before approaching my mum, I talked everything through in therapy, and I spent ages rehearsing what to say beforehand both in my head and with my partner. I was incredibly nervous, even though I was sure I was making a fuss about nothing.
Unfortunately, as expected, the talk went down like a lead balloon. When I asked about the arrangement, my mum said, "Yes, that's right because that's fair." So I calmly pointed out the maths, and my mum said I was being patronising and gaslighting her. At one point, my mum broke down in tears and said that her husband had just died (as if I hadn't also just lost my dad). I felt horrible because I didn't know how to explain things in a way she could understand, and everything I said seemed to upset her more. I will admit, after a long back-and-forth and my mum accusing me of gaslighting her again, I snapped and angrily told her that she didn't know what the word meant. I also told her to stop acting like a child (my mum acted like a little girl whenever we had any kind of conflict). I felt very angry and upset. At that point my mum began shaking, sobbing and repeating that I was scary, horrible and gaslighting her. I took some very deep breaths and apologised for losing my temper and repeated that I just didn't understand her maths. My mum then started messaging my brother for support. My brother told her that he had actually agreed to pay 50% of the price of the car to make things fair. My brother also reassured her that he'd get the best quote for the car because he wanted to be fair to me.
My mum kept repeating that she knew she'd been right all along. I apologised profusely. After that, my mum tearfully said she was sorry too; that she was stupid with maths; that she knew what the deal was, but I'd made her so nervous and flustered that she couldn't communicate it. I felt horrendously guilty and ashamed.
Sadly, this isn't where the insanity ends.
For the grand finale, my brother told me he got a quote for the car from a shitty website which, from what I understand, makes offers so low you don't normally accept them unless your car has been written off as scrap. My brother said he did contact a couple of car dealers but "didn't hear back in time". There was no deadline, but he said he knew "I needed the money" (I told him that I could wait). He said it was for my benefit he wasn't going to look for any other quotes. The quote was a few hundred pounds below the amount my mum had originally estimated and said she was going to give me. My mum said that she would "give me the extra money" because "it's what we'd agreed". She sounded so chuffed with herself for giving me "even more than what the car was worth". I thanked her and said nothing about the website in question or my brother's role in all of this.
I believe that the family narrative now is that it was all my misunderstanding and that my mum relayed everything correctly from the start. After the estrangement, one of my uncles spoke to me about the incident and said, "No, your mother was right. Use your maths, dear. She told you that your brother was paying her 50%." At best, I'm sure people say I approached my mum in the wrong way, and that my mum only got flustered because she was treading on eggshells around me and my anger issues.
I feel insane just writing all of this. Like, maybe I was horrible? Was I being greedy and entitled? After all, my mum gave me money that she didn't have to. How could I have spoken differently to her? Maybe she did tell me about my brother giving her money and I forgot??! Why didn't I drop the argument and try so hard to explain things to her? Why did I say anything at all???!!!
The thing that I cling to is that, unlike when I was younger, I mostly kept my cool and sincerely apologised when necessary. At least I think I did, because my mum says I didn't...
FML, it's been 1.5 years, and this is the loop my head goes in every time I think of these arguments and my part in them.
Fin.

This is a follow-up question to the problem described here which appeared out of nowhere (well, "nowhere" = by changing the properties of subreddit.flair in the API).
It breaks the whole purpose of my subreddit-only bot, but ok, let's be pragmatic: how do I now retrieve my user's subreddit flair, if at all?
I used to do this:

 flair = subreddit.flair(user_name) flair_object = next(flair) # Needed because above is lazy access. user_flair = flair_object['flair_text'] 

But now, on next(flair) the error described in above link appears.
When doing a print(vars(flair)) just after flair = ..., I get:

{'_reddit': , '_exhausted': False, '_listing': None, '_list_index': None, 'limit': None, 'params': {'name': 'CORRECT_USER_NAME', 'limit': 1024}, 'url': 'LilMoWithTheGimpyLeg/api/flairlist/', 'yielded': 0} 

Sure enough, no trace any longer of 'flair_text'...
(Also, no idea where that LilMoWithTheGimpyLeg/api/flairlist/ originates from, it's not a sub I knowingly visited anytime.)
Unfortunately, nobody got informed about this change.
Thus the questions:
(1) Is it known by admins, if this was a deliberate change? Or does it perhaps just affect me for some reason?
(2) Is there a workaround? Because if not, I can just delete my 100+ hours bot (with a sad and simultaneously angry face expression). The flairs system of my sub relies on automatic flair settings. But if I can not even obtain them in the first place...
Thanks in advance!

Aristos Petrou - Ruby Da Cherry - Ruby Da Berry - Ruby The Fucking Ape - Ruby The Fucking Orangutang - Ruby Rugarou - Ruby Soho - Ruby Da Archangel - SLAMDUNKASAUR - SLMDNKASR - Yung Plague - 7th Ward Lord - 7th Ward Dragon - 7th Ward Charizard - James $pleen - Yung Mutt - Norman Atomic - Oddy Nuff Da $now Leopard - SPOOKY DA SCARY - Lil Uzi The Anti-Christ - Yung $lumber - Pluto Bwah - Lord Of Loneliness - Yung $now - Romeo Da Black Rose - Shawty Burn-A-Church - Lil No Flash - The $uicidal $hepherd - Papa Pine - OG Lion Mane - Lil Oozing - Choking Boy - Prince Mononoke The Frozen Shogun - $nowmane - Yung Maraschino - Lil Infected - Lil Waaaaaa - Yung Ooze - Raindrop Walka - Prince Of Tides - DUCKBOY - Blanco Leopardo - George Washington’s AR-15 - $outh$ide $hawty - Maire De Gras Ville - 40 Blunts - That Guy With Diamond Horns - SuicideLEOPARD
Scott Arceneaux Jr. - $crim - Budd Dwyer - $lick $loth - $carecrow - Yung $carecrow - Lil Cut Throat - Lil Remains - Anthony Mars - Yung Health Ledger - $uicide Christ - Pontiu$ Pilate - Lil Half Cut - Yung Christ - Young Emphysema - $witchblade $crim - Tony With The Tommy - Tony Wit Da Tommy - Trap House $crim - OG Giraffe Neck - Lil Murder - Yung Death/Lil Life - Yung Hank Moody - Hearse Boy - Lil Choppa - Lil Famine - Charles Lee Ray - Northside Shawty - Northside Shorty - Big Grieve - Yung Lowdown - Lil 2/3rds - Who Boy Boy - Souja Rag Murder - Lil Cig - Banny Da Pint Drinker - Wetto - El Wetto - Yung Wetto - Wetto Indiana $licky Fort Wayne - Lonely Boy - Yung Miyazaki - Yung Slenderman - Yung October - Black Window - OG Corpse - Yung Mane - Lil Hurt - Junior - OG Worry - Lil Gage - God Of The Liars - Yung Sex Symbol - Lil Dark - Cut Throat Van Gougha - $lickity - $lickity $loth - Yung Pharaoh - Yung Camcorder - YungXrist - Big Luh TRX