I spent decades as a six-mile-a-day walker. I started having foot trouble about nine years ago but couldn't find a competent podiatrist at the time. Then, around 2020, my right foot and ankle started collapsing.
Imaging showed that I'd torn my posterior tibialis, my arch had collapsed and become arthritic, and I had several chronic sprains, including a new sprain superimposed over an old tear. I had three surgeries to repair all that damage, and it looked like the things that got repaired were doing well, but the collapse is still progressing. Now I have a torn tendon that definitely wasn't torn a year ago, along with new arthritis in a new place., so I'm planning for more surgery.
I've really been tearing my connective tissues just by walking around a little. I take my time when I walk, carry a cane, and never leave the house without wearing my ankle foot orthotics, but the damage doesn't stop. I'm trying to hang on to my mobility, and every surgery buys me a few more months of function before something else goes wrong. I don't know if I'm going to need to use a wheelchair someday. Maybe, and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but I'm trying to stay on my feet as long as I can.
Can anyone relate? Not that I want anyone else to be going through this, but it feels like I'm struggling alone.

Hi All; not exactly sure how to ask this but for context, I am severely myopic with double astigmatism. My vision is still correctable to 20/20, but without correction I sit around 20/800 and twice in the last few years I've had situations arise where my glasses broke in public and were beyond usability while I was alone. Both occasions were very stressful and rather frightening and really made it clear how non-functional I am without my glasses.
I just had my yearly eye exam last week and asked my eye doctor about the possibility of learning to use a cane; I don't want to use it full-time, I do use my glasses and don't have a problem with them for day to day, but I am prone to migraines and sometimes if I have a tension headache at the end of the day or am very tired my eyes start to feel strained and it would be nice to have the option not to wear my glasses on my way home. I've also worn glasses every waking moment of my life since I was six years old (over two and a half decades now) and sometimes I just want to go around without them when my eyes are tired or I have a migraine. I'm not embarrassed by how bad my uncorrected vision is or the prospect of using a cane but I definitely didn't want to jump into it without using the correct cane or without knowing how to use it correctly, so I asked my eye doctor about it and was very taken aback by both her and her intern's reactions.
Both of them immediately and aggressively started trying to get me to get contacts, which I would really rather not do because I find them extremely uncomfortable. I wore them regularly for several years when I was younger but stopped because of how uncomfortable they were becoming, and when I still said I'd rather use a cane just for getting to and from work without my glasses on if I have a migraine or even just for going on walks in my neighborhood without my glasses they tried to insist that I get surgery. I'm not particularly interested in surgery, I've never been particularly bothered by my eyesight and I'm moving states in a few months so timing-wise surgery isn't a good option right now. Also it's not something I'm passionate about getting done, which to me always feels like a good reason not to have any surgery. I know that since I'm still correctable to 20/20 I am neither legally blind or visually impaired, but I was so surprised by their horrible reactions, especially since they seemed overwhelmingly baffled and were *so* aggressive in pushing contacts or surgery.
I went into the appointment thinking that it wasn't unreasonable to want to learn to use a cane or learn how to function at a basic level without my glasses but their reactions were so overwhelmingly negative I'm afraid I'm overstepping myself and wanted to get other people's thoughts. I know how fortunate I am to still have correctable vision but sometimes I just want to be able to exist without them, 20/800 eyesight and all. They're my eyes and they don't work well on their own but I like them just as they are. Was asking to learn how to properly use a cane without my glasses when my vision is correctable ridiculous or invasive upon the blind community? If so, I didn't realize, and I apologize and will not pursue this further until my such a time as my eyesight deteriorates beyond correctability, but I was just so confused at how aggressive the eye doctor and intern were about me not learning to use a cane at all. They also kept emphasizing that insurance won't cover a low-vision specialist visit (which is fine, I can pay for an appointment myself) and how I they don't understand why I don't get contacts or surgery when again, I love my glasses and I'm not bothered by my non-corrected eyesight, contacts are uncomfortable, surgery isn't super feasible (and also just not something I'm interested in) and I just want to feel more comfortable in public if something happens to my glasses again.

For the bot: 120lbs, 5 foot 7, 23yo, female
I went to the ER about 36 hours after ingestion due to an inability to walk, resulting in me falling down 20 steps. I did not tell them that I overdosed so my emergency room evaluation was done based on the mechanism of trauma. I was kept for two nights due to difficulties with ambulation for pain management and n/v unrelieved with zofran, tigan, compazine, and patches. I was discharged today, still with severe BLE and RUE cramping and severe n/v.
After ingestion, I was unconscious for about 12 hours. Possible seizure activity because of severe jaw pain with no clear cause. Vomiting while unconscious; woke up covered in vomit. Soaked through multiple blankets and clothes with urine. Urine was coca-cola colored at one point. For about 12 hours after ingestion, I was extremely out of it. I fell a dozen times; I was practically walking sideways when I could stand even slightly; several times I had to crawl in order to move at all. I was hallucinating and having full conversations with people who were not there. I had blurry vision and severely dry mouth. I was dissociating, staring into space. I fell down my 20 steps multiple times, once allegedly (according to my neighbor) trying to catch myself on the railing and subsequently flinging myself over, landing on my stomach. I vaguely remember that but not really.
I finally went to the ER after I fell down while not feeling the OD effects too strongly and realizing that even after it wore off, I was not able to walk very well. I didn’t tell the ER I OD’d.
PT and OT wanted me to do physical therapy continued at home due to an inability to walk without tremors and muscle tightness. I was discharged with a walker and a cane.
They thought it could be rhabdo but said that that is not normal from a fall. I looked it up and it can be caused by a benadryl OD.
Notable labs, per MyChart:
--- Hemoglobin 7.4, transfused 1 unit of RBC
---VBG 7.39/35 w/ lactate 0.9
---BMP: Cr 0.88, eGFR 77
---CBC: WBC 5.3, Hgb 7.4, Plts 167
---LFTs: Tbili 0.5, Dbili 0.1, Indirect 0.4, Alk phos 55, AST 37, ALT 17
---CK: elevated at 718
--- UA 40 ketones, 100 protein
--- low protein, low calcium, low magnesium

Introduction

1. Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

• I've got a 1-year-and-half neutered red male Shiba Inu and he is my first dog. I have experience in training my dog.

1. Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?

• Through a breeder

1. Describe your ideal dog.

• compatible with Shiba Inu, easy to train, family friendly, no shedding, no drooling, looks scary like cane corso from a burglar perspective, queit, only bark to strangers, medium size or just a little bigger than a standard shiba, black color

1. What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?

• None yet still researching. I like the look of Cane Corso but I can't pick due to their size. Reading about American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff) right now

1. What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?

• Just the basics

1. Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?

• No

Care Commitments
7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?

• Couple walks daily for 15-30 mins each, 15-30mins fetch daily, 30mins training daily

1. How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?

• Couple walks daily for 15-30 mins each, 15-30mins fetch daily. No dog park. I can let them run around in the backyard daily as well

1. How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?

• I can bathe and dry them once every 2 weeks, and I can pay professional for the additional tasks such as trimming hair, brushing teeth and cleaning ears.

Personal Preferences
10) What size dog are you looking for?

• Medium, a bigger than a standard shiba (16.5+ inches height, 25+ pounds)

1. How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?

• No shedding or drooling, queit and doesn't bark a lot besides possible burglar

1. How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?

• I will not let my dog off-leash in unfenced area

Dog Personality and Behavior
13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?

• Prefer personal space

1. Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?

• No preference. I have a shiba that does its own thing but I think it would be nice to have another dog that is eager to please.

1. How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?

• Barking when someone is knocking or entering that they do not know. Okay with extended family member but not okay with strangers

1. Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?

• I have a Shiba Inu so they must be okay with each other but aggressive to other stranger dog is okay I can manager

1. Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?

• Backyard digging and destroying my lawn

Lifestyle
18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?

• Several hours at most when I need to go out but I work from home and have cameras

1. What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?

• I will be the mainly caretaker but there is a kid in the household

1. Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?

• I've got a 1-year-and-half red male Shiba Inu and neutered

1. Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?

• Yes a small child

1. Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?

• No. No restrictions

1. What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?

• California, USA

1. What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?

• Summer up to 100, winter as low as 45. Dog will be sleep indoor 75 controlled temp all day

Additional Information and Questions
25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.

• I've got a 1-year-and-half red male Shiba Inu. He's pretty standard-sized and has all the classic Shiba traits: aloof, stubborn, smart, playful and independent

Since he's not crate trained, I've made the kitchen on our first floor his hangout spot. I can leave him there by himself for hours while I work upstairs. I keep an eye on him through a camera all day. His routine usually involves a morning walk for his bathroom break, some fetch in the afternoon to tire him out, another walk in the evening, and sometimes I let him loose in the backyard for a bit.
Now, I'm thinking of getting him a buddy so he's got someone to hang out and play with. I've been eyeing black Cane Corsos because I love their look, but I'm worried they might be too big for us.
26) Feel free to ask any questions below.
I'm looking for a dog just a tad larger than a Shiba Inu, preferably black and guard-looking like a Cane Corso, and one that can get along with my Shiba. Any breeds you'd suggest I check out and research? What about the American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff)?

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WISH LIST:
Rare apparel
Overeater's Civil Engineer 1S/WWR (chest, left arm, right arm, right leg)
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******************************************************************************
COMPLETE TRADE LIST: (Thank you for your time browsing this huge list!!!)
FIXERS: AA/25/15r,,, AA/25/15v,,, AA/50c/15v,,, AA/50vhc/25,,, AA/50L/25,,, AA/AP/25,,, AA/E/Dur,,, Ari/25/15r,,, Ari/E/15r,,, Ari/E/25,,, As/E/25,,, B/25/15v,,, B/50L/25,,, B/E/Dur,,, BAP/25,,, Exe/AP/25,,, Exe/E/25,,, GouE/25,,, GS/E/25,,, H/50c/25,,, Jug/50c/25,,, Jug/AP/25,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50c/15v,,, Junk/50L/25,,, Junk/AP/25,,, Junk/E/15v,,, Med/25/25,,, Med/50c/25,,, Med/AP/25,,, M/25,,, MS/50c/25,,, MS/AP/25,,, N/AP/25,,, N/E/25,,, Q/25/15r,,, Q/25/15v,,, Q/AP/25,,, Q/E/15r,,, St/50c/25,,, St/AP/25,,, St/E/25,,, S/25,,, Su/AP/25,,, Su/E/25,,, T/50c/25,,, T/AP/25,,, TS/25/15r,,, TS/25/15v,,, TS/50vhc/25,,, TS/AP/25,,, V/AP/25,,, Z/25/25,,, Z/50c/25,,, Z/E/25
HANDMADES: AA/E/15v,,, I/E/25,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50c/25,,, MS/E/25,,, M/25,,, M/25,,, Q/E/15r,,, Q/E/50
HEAVY WEAPONS: AA/25/15r AGL,,, AA/25/90 AGL,,, AA/25/15r Cryolator,,, AA/E/25 Gatling Gun,,, AA/25/90 Harpoon Gun,,, As/25A/90 Fatman,,, As/25/15r Gatling Laser,,, As/25/90 Gatling Plasma,,, B/25/15r 50cal,,, B/E/Gho 50cal,,, B/50L/90 AGL,,, B/25A/90 Cryolator,,, B/50L/90 Cryolator,,, B/25A/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/50vhc/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/25/90 Ultracite Gatling Laser,,, B/25/Dur Ultracite Gatling Laser,,, B/90 Gatling Gun,,, Exe/50c/15r Flamer,,, Exe/25A/90 Gatling Plasma,,, Exe/E/25 LMG,,, F/50c/25 Cryolator,,, Jug/25/15r Cryolator,,, N/25/15r 50cal,,, Q/50L/90 Minigun,,, Q/E/Gho Mini,,, Q/50L/15r Pepper Shaker,,, T/25/15r Cryolator,,, TS/25A/90 Broadsider,,, TS/25/15r Gatling Gun,,, TS/E/90 LMG,,, TS/E/25 Minigun,,, TS/25A/15r Missile Launcher,,, V/25/15r 50cal,,, V/25/25 Broadsider,,, V/25A/90 Cryolator,,, V/AP/15r Flamer,,, V/25/25 Gatling Gun,,, V/50L/90 Harpoon Gun,,, Z/E/90 LMG
LEGACIES: Stalker's SS/1S melee: Baseball Bat,,, Bowie Knife,,, Chinese Officer Sword,,, Cultist Dagger,,, Guitar Sword,,, Revolutionary Sword,,, Walking Cane
MELEE: AA/SS/1S Cultist Blade,,, AA/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, AA/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, AA/40P/1S Gulper Smacker,,, AA/SS/1S Meat Hook,,, AA/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, AA/50c/15v Power Fist,,, AA/SS/1S Revolutionary Sword,,, AA/50L/1S Ripper,,, AA/SS/1S Spear,,, AA/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Ari/40P/1S Drill,,, Ari/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, Ari/SS/1S War Drum,,, As/40P/1S Chainsaw,,, As/40P/1S Drill,,, As/SS/1S Sheepsquatch Staff,,, B/50L/1S Chainsaw,,, B/AP/1S Chainsaw,,, B/SS/1S Chinese Officer Sword,,, B/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, B/50c/1S Drill,,, B/SS/25 Gulper Smacker,,, B/SS/25 Meat Hook,,, B/SS/90 Power Fist,,, B/SS/1S Power Fist,,, B/50c/25 Spear,,, B/1S Combat Knife,,, Exe/40P/25 Drill,,, Exe/SS/1S Fire Axe,,, Exe/SS/1S Pitchfork,,, Exe/50c/1S Power Fist,,, GouSS/1S Hatchet,,, GouSS/1S Super Sledge,,, GS/SS/1S Chainsaw,,, I/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, I/40P/40 Drill,,, I/SS/1S Golf Club,,, I/SS/1S Pitchfork,,, I/SS/1S Shepherd's Crook,,, I/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Junk/SS/1S Assaultron Blade,,, Junk/SS/1S Rolling Pin,,, Junk/SS/1S Security Baton,,, M/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, M/1S Gulper Smacker,,, M/1S Switchblade,,, MS/SS/1S Baseball Bat,,, MS/SS/1S Shishkebab,,, MS/SS/1S Shovel,,, MS/SS/1S Switchblade,,, S/1S Assaultron Blade,,, S/1S Cultist Blade,,, S/1S Revolutionary Sword,,, S/1S Spear,,, S/1S Tire Iron,,, T/SS/1S Baseball Bat,,, T/SS/1S Bowie Knife,,, T/SS/1S Golf Club,,, T/SS/1S Machete,,, T/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, V/SS/1S Combat Knife,,, V/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, V/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, V/SS/1S Shishkebab,,, V/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, Z/SS/1S Buzz Blade,,, Z/40P/1S Chainsaw,,, Z/SS/1S Fire Axe,,, Z/SS/1S Knuckles,,, Z/SS/1S Pipe Wrench
RAILWAYS: AA/50c/25,,, AA/50vhc/25,,, AA/E/15v,,, AA/E/25,,, Ari/25/15r,,, B/50vhc/25,,, B/E/15r,,, B/E/90,,, F/50c/25,,, F/E/25,,, GS/50c/25,,, H/50c/25,,, I/25/25,,, I/50c/25,,, Junk/E/25,,, Q/25/15v,,, Q/50L/90,,, Q/E/1P,,, St/50c/25,,, S/25,,, TS/50L/25,,, TS/50vhc/25,,, TS/50c/15r,,, TS/AP/25,,, TS/E/Dur,,, V/25/25,,, V/50c/25,,, Z/E/90
TESLAS: AA/25/15r,,, AA/AP/25,,, AA/25/25,,, As/25/25,,, B/25/25,,, B/25/90,,, B/25/Dur,,, B/25/Gho,,, B/15r,,, B/25,,, Exe/25/15r,,, Exe/25/25,,, Exe/25/90,,, Exe/50L/15r,,, Ext/25/15r,,, F/25/15r,,, GS/25/25,,, GS/25/90,,, GS/50c/25,,, H/25/15r,,, I/25/15r,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50L/15r,,, Med/25/25,,, MS/50c/25,,, M/15r,,, M/25,,, N/25/25,,, Q/25**,,, Q/AP/25,,, St/25/25,,, St/25/90,,, S/90,,, S/25,,, T/25/15r,,, TS/25/15r,,, TS/25/25,,, TS/50L/15r,,, V/25/15r,,, V/25/15v,,, V/25/90,,, V/25/250,,, V/25/Dur,,, V/50c/15r,,, V/50L/15r,,, Z/25/15r,,, Z/25/90
AA/25/25 Assaultron Head,,, AA/50c/15v Crossbow,,, AA/50c/25 Crossbow,,, AA/50L/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, AA/25/25 Gamma Gun,,, AA/50c/25 Pipe Bolt Action Pistol/Rifle,,, AA/25/15r Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, As/50c/25 Crossbow,,, As/25/25 Gauss Rifle,,, As/50c/25 Laser Pistol/Rifle,,, B/AP/25 Compound Bow,,, B/25/25 Gauss Rifle,,, B/25 Bow,,, B/25 Crossbow,,, B/25 SMG,,, Exe/50L/25 Alien Blaster,,, Exe/50c/25 Blunderbuss,,, Exe/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, Exe/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, Exe/50c/25 Double Barrel,,, Exe/25/25 Gamma Gun,,, Exe/E/25 Hunting Rifle,,, Exe/E/25 Lever Action,,, Exe/50L/25 Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, F/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, F/E/25 Double Barrel,,, F/50c/15v Thirst Zapper,,, GouE/25 Assault Rifle,,, GouE/25 Double Barrel,,, Gou25/25 Lever Action,,, GS/50c/25 Gamma Gun,,, I/50c/25 Combat Shotgun,,, I/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, I/50c/25 The Dragon,,, Jug/E/25 Combat Rifle,,, Jug/50c/25 Laser Pistol/Rifle,,, Junk/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Junk/25/25 Radium Rifle,,, M/25 10mm Pistol,,, M/25 Crossbow,,, N/25/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, N/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/50c/25 Assaultron Head,,, Q/25/15r Combat Shotgun,,, Q/25/1P Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/AP/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/25/15r Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, St/50c/25 Crossbow,,, St/E/25 Single Action Revolver,,, S/25 Radium Rifle,,, TS/25/15r Combat Rifle,,, TS/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, TS/E/15r Pipe Revolver,,, V/50c/25 Bow,,, V/50L/25 Compound Bow,,, V/AP/25 Crossbow,,, V/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, V/50c/25 Gauss Rifle,,, V/25/25 Pipe Pistol/Rifle,,, V/50c/25 Pipe Pistol/Rifle,,, Z/25/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle
ARMOR: Aristocrat's Civil Engineer chest LED/Cavalier
Aristocrat's Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Aristocrat's Heavy Robot left leg LED/Sentinel
Aristocrat's Heavy Robot left leg LED/WWR
Aristocrat's Marine right leg AP/Cavalier
Aristocrat's Marine right arm LED/WWR
Aristocrat's USA left leg LED/WWR
Assassin's Civil Engineer chest Strength/JWR
Assassin's FSA chest LED/FDC
Assassin's FSA left arm AP/FDC (2)
Assassin's FSA left arm AP/Sentinel
Assassin's FSA left arm LED/HTD
Assassin's FSA left leg AP/FDC
Assassin's FSA left leg Strength/HTD
Assassin's Heavy Leather left arm AP/WWR
Assassin's Heavy Robot chest Strength/WWR
Assassin's Marine left arm AP/Cavalier
Assassin's Marine right leg LED/Sentinel
Assassin's Sturdy Combat chest AP/Sentinel
Assassin's Trapper right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Assassin's Trapper right leg Strength/Sentinel
Assassin's USA left arm LED/WWR
Assassin's USA left arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Assassin's USA left leg LED/HTD
Assassin's USA left leg Strength/WWR
Auto Stim Civil Engineer chest LED/FDC
Auto Stim Civil Engineer chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Auto Stim FSA right leg LED/WWR
Auto Stim Heavy Metal chest LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Raider right leg LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Robot chest LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Robot right leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Auto Stim Marine left leg LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Ultracite left arm LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Auto Stim USA left arm AP/WWR
Auto Stim USA left arm LED/FDC
Auto Stim USA right arm LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA right leg LED/WWR
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/WWR
Bolstering FSA left arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering FSA left arm Luck/WWR
Bolstering FSA left arm Strength/WWR
Bolstering FSA left leg AP/Sentinel
Bolstering FSA left leg LED/Cavalier
Bolstering FSA right leg Strength/HTD
Bolstering Heavy Metal left leg AP/Cavalier
Bolstering Heavy Metal right arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Heavy Metal right leg LED/HTD
Bolstering Heavy Robot left arm Strength/Cavalier
Bolstering Marine right arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Bolstering Marine right arm Strength/FDC
Bolstering Raider right arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Sturdy Combat left leg LED/Sentinel
Bolstering Sturdy Leather right leg AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Trapper chest AP/Cavalier (2)
Bolstering Trapper right arm LED/Sentinel
Bolstering USA left arm LED/FDC
Bolstering USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Bolstering USA right arm AP/FDC
Bolstering USA right arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Bolstering Wood left leg LED/WWR
Chameleon FSA chest LED/Cavalier
Chameleon FSA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Chameleon FSA left leg AP/Cavalier
Chameleon FSA left leg LED/Sentinel
Chameleon Heavy Combat right arm LED/Cavalier
Chameleon Heavy Raider right leg AP/Sentinel
Chameleon Marine left arm AP/Cavalier
Chameleon Marine right arm AP/Sentinel
Chameleon Marine left leg AP/WWR
Chameleon Robot chest LED/WWR
Chameleon USA chest AP/WWR
Chameleon USA chest LED/Cavalier
Chameleon USA left arm AP/JWR
Chameleon USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Chameleon USA left leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Chameleon USA right arm LED/WWR
Chameleon USA right leg AP/FDC
Cloaking FSA chest AP/Cavalier
Cloaking FSA right arm AP/WWR
Cloaking USA chest AP/Sentinel
Cloaking USA right leg AP/WWR
Exterminator's FSA right arm AP/Sentinel
Exterminator's FSA right arm LED/Cavalier
Exterminator's FSA right leg LED/Cavalier
Exterminator's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Exterminator's USA chest LED/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's FSA right arm AP/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's FSA right leg AP/Cavalier
Ghoul Slayer's Heavy Metal left arm AP/Sentinel
Ghoul Slayer's USA left arm AP/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's USA left leg AP/WWR
Hunter's Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Hunter's Heavy Metal right leg AP/Sentinel
Life Saving Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Life Saving Combat left leg AP/WWR
Life Saving FSA chest AP/Sentinel
Life Saving FSA left arm LED/WWR
Life Saving FSA left leg LED/Sentinel
Life Saving FSA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Life Saving Heavy Combat AP/HTD
Life Saving Heavy Raider chest LED/WWR
Life Saving Heavy Robot chest AP/WWR
Life Saving Heavy Robot left arm AP/WWR
Life Saving Marine chest LED/Cavalier
Life Saving Marine left leg AP/WWR
Life Saving Trapper left leg AP/Sentinel
Life Saving Trapper right leg LED/Cavalier
Life Saving USA left arm LED/WWR
Life Saving USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Life Saving USA left leg Strength/Cavalier
Life Saving USA right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Mutant's Civil Engineer chest AP/WWR
Mutant's FSA left leg LED/WWR
Mutant's Heavy Combat right leg AP/FDC
Mutant Slayer's FSA left arm AP/Cavalier
Mutant Slayer's FSA right leg AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's Heavy Raider right leg AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's Trapper chest AP/Sentinel (2)
Mutant Slayer's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's USA left arm AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's USA left leg AP/Cavalier
Nocturnal Heavy Combat right leg Strength/Sentinel
Nocturnal Heavy Robot right leg AP/Cavalier
Nocturnal Robot left arm AP/Sentinel
Nocturnal Trapper chest AP/Sentinel
Nocturnal USA left leg LED/WWR
Nocturnal USA right leg AP/HTD
Nocturnal USA right leg LED/Cavalier
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Agility/WWR
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Antiseptic/WWR
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest AP/Toxic
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Fire resist/Cavalier
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Fire resist/FDC
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Intelligence/Sentinel
Overeater's Civil Engineer left leg AP/AWR
Overeater's Combat chest AP/FDC
Overeater's FSA chest Endurance/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Overeater's FSA left arm Charisma/FDC
Overeater's FSA left arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA left arm Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA left leg AP/HTD
Overeater's FSA right arm AP/JWR
Overeater's FSA right arm Strength/FDC
Overeater's FSA right arm Strength/WWR
Overeater's FSA right leg LED/AWR
Overeater's Heavy Combat chest LED/HTD
Overeater's Heavy Combat left arm LED/JWR
Overeater's Heavy Combat right leg Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Leather right arm Glutton/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Metal left leg Strength/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Metal right leg AP/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Raider left arm LED/Cavalier
Overeater's Heavy Raider left leg Charisma/WWR
Overeater's Heavy Raider right arm Fire resist/FDC
Overeater's Heavy Robot chest Endurance/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Robot chest Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Robot left leg Agility/WWR
Overeater's Marine chest Rad resist/FDC
Overeater's Marine chest Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine left arm Strength/FDC
Overeater's Marine right arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine right leg Fire resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine right leg Luck/FDC
Overeater's Marine right leg Perception/WWR
Overeater's Metal left arm AP/FDC
Overeater's Metal left leg Agility/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal left leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal right arm AP/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal right leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Raider right arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Raider right leg LED/WWR
Overeater's Sturdy Metal chest Strength/FDC
Overeater's Trapper chest Rad resist/FDC
Overeater's Trapper left arm AP/HTD
Overeater's Trapper left arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Trapper left arm Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's Trapper left leg Perception/WWR
Overeater's Trapper right arm Luck/WWR
Overeater's Trapper right arm Rad resist/WWR
Overeater's USA chest Cryo resist/HTD
Overeater's USA chest LED/WWR
Overeater's USA chest Poison resist/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Antiseptic/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left arm AP/HTD
Overeater's USA left arm Endurance/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Endurance/WWR
Overeater's USA left arm Fire resist/FDC (2)
Overeater's USA left arm LED/AWR
Overeater's USA left arm LED/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left leg Fire resist/WWR
Overeater's USA left leg Intelligence/FDC
Overeater's USA left leg Strength/FDC
Overeater's USA right arm Luck/Sentinel
Overeater's USA right leg AP/FDC
Overeater's USA right leg Intelligence/HTD
Overeater's USA right leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA right leg Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Wood left arm LED/Cavalier
Regenerating Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's Excavator right arm LED/Cavalier
Troubleshooter's FSA chest AP/WWR
Troubleshooter's Heavy Robot left arm AP/Cavalier
Troubleshooter's T-60 left arm LED/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's Trapper right leg AP/WWR
Troubleshooter's USA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's USA left leg AP/WWR
Unyielding Civil Engineer chest AP/Electrified
Unyielding Civil Engineer left arm Antiseptic/FDC
Unyielding Civil Engineer left leg AP/Electrified
Unyielding Civil Engineer right leg Intelligence/Burning
Unyielding FSA full set AP/Cavalier
Unyielding FSA chest Cryo resist/FDC
Unyielding FSA chest Intelligence/Acrobat
Unyielding FSA chest Intelligence/Dur
Unyielding FSA chest LED/JWR
Unyielding FSA left arm Cryo resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding FSA left arm Poison resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left leg AP/Acrobat
Unyielding FSA left leg Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding FSA left leg Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left leg Luck/AWR
Unyielding FSA right arm Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding FSA right arm Poison resist/WWR
Unyielding FSA right leg AP/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg Intelligence/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg LED/HTD
Unyielding FSA right leg Luck/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg Rad resist/AWR (2)
Unyielding Heavy Combat chest Strength/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Combat left leg Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Combat right arm Poison resist/JWR
Unyielding Heavy Combat right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Leather chest Cryo resist/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Leather left arm Rad resist/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Leather left leg Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Metal right arm LED/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Metal right leg Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Raider chest Agility/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Raider left arm Poison resist/FDC
Unyielding Heavy Raider right arm AP/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Raider right arm Charisma/FDC
Unyielding Heavy Robot chest Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Robot right arm Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding Leather left leg LED/WWR
Unyielding Marine chest Perception/Sentinel
Unyielding Marine chest Luck/WWR
Unyielding Marine chest Strength/HTD
Unyielding Marine left arm Cryo resist/HTD
Unyielding Marine left arm Strength/Cavalier (2)
Unyielding Marine left leg AP/FDC
Unyielding Marine right arm AP/Acrobat
Unyielding Marine right arm Rad resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Marine right leg Fire resist/WWR
Unyielding Marine right leg LED/AWR
Unyielding Marine right leg Luck/FDC
Unyielding Marine right leg Rad resist/AWR
Unyielding Metal chest AP/HTD
Unyielding Metal left arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Metal right leg AP/Cavalier
Unyielding Raider chest Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Robot left leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Combat chest Strength/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Combat right arm AP/AWR
Unyielding Sturdy Leather left leg LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Metal chest AP/WWR
Unyielding Sturdy Metal left arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Raider chest Intelligence/FDC
Unyielding Sturdy Raider right leg Intelligence/FDC
Unyielding Sturdy Robot right arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Trapper chest Luck/FDC
Unyielding Trapper left leg Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding Trapper right arm Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Trapper right arm LED/HTD
Unyielding Trapper right arm Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest AP/JWR
Unyielding USA chest Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding USA chest Luck/HTD
Unyielding USA chest Intelligence/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest Rad resist/JWR
Unyielding USA left arm AP/Sentinel
Unyielding USA left arm Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding USA left arm LED/Acrobat (2)
Unyielding USA left arm Perception/FDC
Unyielding USA left arm Poison resist/AWR
Unyielding USA left arm Poison resist/HTD
Unyielding USA left arm Rad resist/Cavalier
Unyielding USA left leg Luck/AWR
Unyielding USA right arm Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding USA right arm Intelligence/JWR
Unyielding USA right arm Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding USA right arm Poison resist/HTD
Unyielding USA right leg AP/Cavalier
Unyielding USA right leg Charisma/WWR
Unyielding USA right leg Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding USA right leg Perception/FDC
Unyielding Wood chest AP/FDC
Unyielding Wood chest Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Wood chest Luck/Sentinel
Unyielding Wood right arm AP/Sentinel
Unyielding Wood right arm LED/WWR
Unyielding Wood right leg Strength/WWR
Vanguard's Civil Engineer chest LED/Cavalier
Vanguard's Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Vanguard's FSA right arm Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's FSA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's Heavy Leather right arm LED/HTD
Vanguard's Heavy Metal chest Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's Heavy Robot right arm LED/HTD
Vanguard's Marine right arm Strength/WWR
Vanguard's Marine right leg Strength/Sentinel
Vanguard's Sturdy Robot left arm AP/Sentinel
Vanguard's Sturdy Robot right leg LED/WWR
Vanguard's Trapper left arm LED/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA chest Luck/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm AP/FDC
Vanguard's USA left arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm Strength/FDC
Vanguard's USA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left leg Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA right arm AP/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA right leg Strength/Cavalier (3)
Vanguard's Wood chest Strength/Sentinel
Weightless Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Weightless Civil Engineer chest Strength/WWR
Weightless FSA left leg Strength/Sentinel
Weightless Marine right leg AP/Cavalier
Weightless Trapper chest AP/Cavalier
Weightless Trapper left arm AP/Sentinel
Weightless Trapper left leg AP/Sentinel
Weightless USA chest Strength/Sentinel
Weightless USA right leg AP/Cavalier
Weightless USA right leg LED/WWR
Zealot's Trapper left arm LED/Cavalier
Zealot's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Zealot's USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Zealot's USA left arm AP/Sentinel (2)
Zealot's USA right arm AP/WWR
Zealot's USA right leg AP/WWR
PLANS: Alien Blaster,,, Alien head lamp,,, Alien table,,, Alien target practice poster,,, Assault rifle,,, Assault rifle wraith's wrath paint,,, Barbed walking cane,,, Baseball bat rocket,,, Baseball bat searing puncturing rocket,,, Bear arm,,, Bear arm heavy mod,,, Bear arm puncturing mod,,, Bloody curtain door,,, Bloody rug,,, Boxing glove lead lining,,, Camo Backpack,,, Cave cricket tube,,, Chainsaw ghostly grinder paint,,, Chainsaw septikill paint,,, Cultist adept hood,,, Cultist adept robes,,, Cultist enlightened hood,,, Cultist enlightened robes,,, Cultist eventide hood,,, Cultist eventide robes,,, Cultist incarnate helmet,,, Cultist neophyte hood,,, Cultist neophyte robes,,, Deathclaw gauntlet,,, Dense marine armor torso,,, Dense trapper armor torso,,, Dr. Bones,,, Dried wildflower bouquet,,, Electro Enforcer,,, Enlightened lantern,,, Executioner mask,,, Fire station bell,,, Flannel shirt & jeans,,, Fluttering moths,,, Fuzzy enlightened plushie,,, Fuzzy mothman plushie,,, Giant red dinosaur,,, Glowing flatwoods monster lamp,,, Hatchet electro fusion,,, Hazmat suit teal,,, Honeycomb paper blue mothman,,, Honeycomb paper brown mothman,,, Honeycomb paper ghost lantern A&B,,, Honeycomb paper green mothman,,, Honeycomb paper holiday tree A&B,,, Honeycomb paper icy snowflake,,, Honeycomb paper jack o'lantern A&B,,, Honeycomb paper jolly target,,, Honeycomb paper mothman globe,,, Honeycomb paper red mothman,,, Honeycomb paper ribbon bell,,, Honeycomb paper snowman,,, Honeycomb paper spider lantern,,, Honeycomb paper standing santa,,, Junkyard fountain,,, Machete sacrificial blade,,, Meat Tenderizer,,, Mutant hound diagram,,, Mutant hound taxidermy,,, Nuka girl area rug,,, Pepper Shaker,,, Peppino pig plushie,,, Pitchfork flamer,,, Plastiform Candle,,, Plastiform gingerbread,,, Plastiform nutcracker,,, Plastiform santa,,, Plastiform santa sleigh,,, Princess backpack,,, Protective lining marine underarmor,,, Protective lining raider underarmor,,, Puncturing pole hook,,, Punty pig plushie,,, Rad skull rider helmet,,, Radioactive barrel,,, Raw cement barricade,,, Sacred mothman tome,,, Scorchbeast queen plushie,,, Scorched tube,,, Shielded lining casual underarmor,,, Shielded lining marine underarmor,,, Shielded lining raider underarmor,,, Ski sword skate blade,,, Skiing outfit,,, Sledgehammer heavy searing sharp rocket,,, Small vault girl statue,,, Snallygaster plushie,,, Spiked walking cane,,, Star light,,, Straw goat,,, Super mutant diagram,,, The Fixer,,, T-60 BOS knight paint,,, TV Aquarium,,, Ultracite emergency protocols,,, Undershirt & jeans,,, Vintage water cooler,,, Wilber McPigg plushie,,, WV state bird rug,,, Yao Guai tube,,, Zenith alien blaster paint,,, Cutting fluid recipe,,, Fasnacht donut recipe,,, Fasnacht sausage recipe,,, Healing salve Ash Heap recipe,,, Healing salve Cranberry Bog recipe,,, Healing salve Mire recipe,,, Formula P recipe,,, Stimpak Diffuser recipe,,, Tato salad recipe
APPAREL: Asylum Uniform Blue,,, Asylum Uniform Forest,,, Asylum Uniform Pink,,, Fasnacht Brahmin mask,,, Fasnacht Buffoon mask,,, Fasnacht Crazy Guy mask,,, Fasnacht Deathclaw mask,,, Fasnacht Demon mask,,, Fasnacht Fiend mask,,, Fasnacht Hag mask,,, Fasnacht Loon mask,,, Fasnacht Raven mask,,, Fasnacht Winter Man mask,,, Emmett Mountain hazmat suit,,, Garrahan Foreman Outfit and Helmet
CHEMS: Addictol: 264,,, Berry Mentats: 3600,,, Buffout: 2059,,, Calmex: 855,,, Daddy-O: 1404,,, Day Tripper: 1142,,, Disease Cure: 539,,, Mentats: 1000,,, Overdrive: 493,,, Psycho: 3781,,, Psychobuff: 1903,,, Psychotats: 1881,,, X-cell: 658
FOOD: Canned meat stew: 75,,, Pepper: 3305,,, Salt: 2915,,, Spices: 1648,,, Sugar Bombs(w/rads): 1237
MODS: Enclave Aligned automatic barrel,,, Enclave Aligned short barrel,,, Enclave Aligned sniper barrel(3),,, Enclave Aligned splitter(2),,, Enclave Refined beta wave tuner(3),,, Enclave Severe beta wave tuner(2),,, Enclave Stabilized automatic barrel(2),,, Enclave Stabilized flamer barrel(2),,, Enclave Stabilized Sniper Barrel,,, Enclave True automatic barrel(2),,, Enclave True capacitor(4),,, Enclave True flamer barrel(2),,, Enclave True sniper barrel(3),,, Enclave True splitter(2),,, Enclave Vicious capacitor

We recently purchased a Golden Cricket foldable power wheelchair for my husband to use for travel and longer distance activities (like walking to a baseball game, going to the Aquarium or zoo). My husband is ambulatory with a quad cane; however, he has cerebral palsy and developed severe spinal stenosis about 2 years ago, which ultimately required a 4 level fusion in December 2022. He can walk unassisted indoors and up and down stairs if there is a railing, but ever since the fusion, he cannot walk more than about 2 blocks without getting too tired and/or needing a walker, which makes his shoulders hurt.
We decided it was time for a travel device that would fit easily in the trunk of a car and looked at the Golden Cricket, Jazzy Carbon, and several travel scooters (Travelscoot, Golden Buzzaround, Pride I-Go, Atto). Turns out, he doesn’t have the flexibility for getting on a scooter so Golden Cricket and Jazzy Carbon were our two options at our local mobility dealer. He couldn’t get his feet on the foot plate for the Jazzy Carbon so Golden Cricket it was.
We took it out for its first real ride yesterday where he accompanied his mom on a nature walk on a gravel path, and it worked surprisingly well. We both like that it’s relatively easy for me to set up, take down, and get in the trunk. Our first trip is short weekend away in Seattle Memorial Day weekend.
Anything we should know before the first time we travel with it?
Any thoughts or reviews on the Cricket? We are planning a trip to Italy (Florence and Lucca) and Paris next year, and I’m not sure how well it will handle the cobblestones. While he can get his feet on the Cricket’s footplate, his left leg likes to try to fall off. Any suggestions for a footplate extender for the Cricket?

This is the second half of my list for Oklahoma's execution roster. As mentioned in the first part, I broke it in half to comply with reddit's character limitations. For the link to part 1, please click here.
The currently executed 124 offenders, cases 63-124:
63. Robert Knighton (~1960s-2003, lethal injection): In 1973, after being released from a 1968 armed robbery conviction, Knighton went on his first major crime spree. He stabbed and strangled several men and women during many robberies and home invasions. The only victim that was killed, 32 year old Coffier Day, was shot dead while Knighton was arguing with him in his home. Coffier's father, 53 year old Claude, was also injured in the shooting. Knighton's first crime spree ended when he kidnapped a married couple and their 6 year old daughter. They escaped when the wife and mother of the family attacked Knighton with a knife to protect her husband and daughter. The family then notified the police of their abduction. Knighton managed to secure a 30 year manslaughter conviction and a 10 year armed robbery conviction with a plea deal, and was released to a halfway house in 1989. There, he began dating a female addict and befriended a teenage boy. The trio embarked on a nationwide robbery spree together. In Missouri, they shot and killed 59 year old Frank Merrifield and his 40 year old stepson Roy Donahue while robbing their home, and stole guns and money from them. In Oklahoma, the trio fatally shot a couple, 64 year old Virginia and 62 year old Richard Denney, while carjacking them. Their rampage ended when a woman in Texas grow suspicious of them circling a neighborhood. Knighton had a long history of theft convictions dating back to his childhood, and joined the Aryan Brotherhood in prison. Behind bars, he frequently attacked black and Native American inmates out of racial hatred for them.
64. Kenneth Charm (1993-2003, lethal injection): Charm and his teenage cousin lured a family friend, 14 year old Brandy Hill, into their car. They raped Hill and tried strangling her with a towel. When that failed, the cousins bludgeoned her to death with a sledgehammer.
65. Lewis Gilbert II (1994-2003, lethal injection): Gilbert and his teenage accomplice committed at least 4 robbery murders in Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma, but he was executed for the killing of 37 year old Roxanne Ruddell. They ambushed and kidnapped Ruddell while she was fishing alone. She was robbed of $3 and her truck, tied to a tree, and shot to death. The pair also fatally shot Ruth Loader, a 79 year old Ohioan woman, while abducting her from her residence, and gunned down a Missouri couple, 86 year old William and 76 year old Flossie Brewer, in their home. Gilbert was also sentenced to death for the Brewer murders by the state of Missouri, but was incarcerated in Oklahoma State Penitentiary’s death row.
66. Robert Duckett (~1980s-2003, lethal injection): After breaking out of prison, Duckett was picked up hitchhiking by John Howard, a 53 year old store owner. Howard agreed to let Duckett stay with him until he could find a job. The pair soon had a failing out, and Duckett was evicted by his host. He retaliated by tying Howard up with wire and then beating him to death with a fireplace poker. Duckett made off with his car after he switched the license plates, and took several bank bags from his store. He had a long violent criminal history, which included several incidents of assault and robbery. One of the incidents involved the beating of an 83 year old man. Allegedly, Duckett was previously gang-raped by other inmates, and suffered from PTSD from the incident. His attorneys claimed that Howard’s sexual advances trigged those memories, and he was killed as a result of Duckett lashing out at them. However, the prosecution shot the argument down, citing that the murder happened after Duckett was evicted from the apartment.
67. Bryan Toles (1993-2003, lethal injection): Toles and his two accomplices forced themselves into the home of the Franceschi family, and shot and killed the family patriarch, 39 year old Juan, in a struggle. Juan's son, 15 year old Lonnie, was also murdered "execution style" out of fear that he could identify Toles and his accomplices. The only survivor of the attack was Norma, Juan's wife and Lonnie's mother, who escaped by hiding in her older daughter's bedroom.
68. Jackie Willingham (1994-2003, lethal injection): Willingham was a door to door salesman selling perfume in an office building. One women, 62 year old Jayne Van Wey, he tried to solicit rejected him despite his repeated offers. Angered by her "rude behavior", Willingham attacked Van Wey when they had a chance encounter near the building's restroom. He dragged Van Wey out of a stall after following her inside, slammed her head against the bathroom wall several times, and kicked her head. Reportedly, Van Wey choked to death on her own blood.
69. Harold McElmurry III (1999-2003, lethal injection): While under the influence of meth, McElmurry and his wife Vicki broke into a home that a WW2 veteran, 80 year old Robert Pendley, shared with his wife, 75 year old Rosa. Robert and Rosa were both quickly subdued and physically restrained by the couple. McElmurry clubbed Robert to death with a pipe in front of Rosa, who was forced to watch by Vicki. Vicki then held Rosa down as McElmurry stabbed her several times with scissors. After killing the Pendleys, the McElmurrys fled with $70 in cash, a pair of guns, and the victims' car. A few days after the murders, they were captured by border agents while trying to cross into Mexico.
70. Tyrone Darks (~1990s-2004, lethal injection): Darks rammed his ex wife, 26 year old Sherry Goodlow, off the road as she was driving with their 2 year old son. After Goodlow crashed, Darks pulled their son out of the wreckage, shot her to death, and then drove away with him. Just before she succumbed to her injuries, Goodlow managed to call and notify the police about her son’s abduction. The police confronted and arrested Darks at his home, and they found the boy unharmed in their search. Darks and Goodlow’s former marriage was marred with violence, and he was arrested on numerous occasions for assaulting her. On death row, Darks was involved in a scheme to defraud a foundation for 9/11 survivors.
71. Norman Cleary (~1980s-2004, lethal injection): While burglarizing an upper class home with an accomplice, Cleary shot and killed a housekeeper, 44 year old Wanda Neafus, and took her purse and a cane that her employers purchased from the Smithsonian Institution. Cleary had a long criminal history and was previously convicted of beating an 87 year old woman in her home.
72. David Brown (~1983-2004, lethal injection): For several years, Brown violently harassed his ex wife and her family. In one incident, Brown abducted his ex wife and 11 of her customers from a beauty saloon she owned, and held them hostage until he surrendered to police. He was able to leave custody on bond and went into hiding. A few years after the hostage crisis incident, Brown broke into his ex wife's family home and gunned down her father, 47 year old Eldon McGuire.
73. Hung Thanh Le (1992-2004, lethal injection): Le crept into the apartment of another Vietnamese refugee, 34 year old Hai Nguyen, and found him watching TV on the couch. He struck Nguyen from behind with a weightlifting bar, and continued stabbing him with a meat cleaver when he screamed his wife for help. Nguyen's wife phoned the police, and Le fled with the couple's safety deposit box that contained $36,000 and their wedding ring.
74. Robert Bryan (1993-2004, lethal injection): Bryan shot and killed his estranged aunt, 69 year old Mildred, dumped her body on his parents' property, and forged a $1,800 check to himself under her name.
75. Windel Workman (~1980s(?)-2004, lethal injection): Workman beat his girlfriend's daughter, 2 year old Amanda Holman, to death while babysitting her in their home. His ex wives reported that he had a history of child abuse and often violently spanked their children during their marriages.
76. Jimmie Slaughter (1991-2005, lethal injection): Fearing that she was going to tell his wife of their affair, Slaughter stabbed and shot his ex girlfriend, 29 year old Melody Wuertz, and their daughter, 1 year old Jessica. According to court documents, Slaughter mutilated both of their bodies, and he carved an "R" on Melody's stomach. He tried pinning the murders on a black man, but the investigators and the courts dismissed his allegations.
77. George Miller Jr. (1994-2005, lethal injection): During the robbery of a hotel, Miller attacked the auditor, 25 year old Kent Dodd, with a hedge shear and paint cans, and took $122 from the register. Dodd was severely beaten, had muriatic acid shoved down his throat, and was left to die. Just before he died of his injuries, Dodd gave a description of his attacker to the police that matched Miller. A massive amount of circumstantial evidence, such as wearing shoes that resembled the bloodstained footprints next to Dodd's body, a microscopic drop of blood found on his shoes that was tentatively linked to Dodd, his wife's testimony of his unaccounted absence from their home during the murder, and what appeared to be Dodd writing Miller's alias that he knew him by in his own blood, convicted him. Miller’s friends also reported that he was broke and begging them for money a day before the murder, and his wife mentioned him giving her the same amount of money that was stolen from the robbery a day after it happened.
78. Michael Pennington (1991-2005, lethal injection): Pennington shot and killed a clerk, 20 year old Bradley Grooms, while trying to rob a 7-eleven grocery store. He left empty handed when the register failed to open.
79. Kenneth Turrentine (1994-2005, lethal injection): Under the belief that they were stealing money from him for drugs, Turrentine shot and killed his sister, 48 year old Avon Stevenson, and his girlfriend, 39 year old Anita Richardson, during confrontations in their homes. He also gunned down Anita's two children, 22 year old Tina Pennington and 13 year old Martise.
80. Richard Thornburg Jr. (1996-2006, lethal injection): A month after he was shot by an unknown assailant, Thornburg and his accomplices sought revenge by abducting 5 men that he thought was responsible from a trailer. Three of the hostages, 51 year old James Poteet, 39 year old Tery Sheppard, and 24 year old Kieth Smith, were gunned down on the spot, and Thornberg forced the fourth to shoot the fifth with the threat of killing him if he didn’t comply. They then burned down the trailer with the wounded fifth victim still trapped inside, but he managed to escape with his life. Despite being forced to put all the blame on himself in exchange for being spared, the fourth hostage still went forward to the police.
81. John Boltz (1984-2006, lethal injection): To spite his estranged wife following an argument, Boltz attacked her son, 23 year old Doug Kirby, with a knife. Kirby was stabbed a total of 11 times, and he received several fatal wounds to his chest, stomach, and neck.
82. Eric Patton (1994-2006, lethal injection): Patton forced his way into the home of 56 year old Charlene Kauer after she refused his pleading for money. After dragging her around the house as he searched for valuables, Patton stabbed Kauer several times with many different blades objects at hand such as scissors, barbecue forks, and kitchen knifes. Although he confessed to the murder, Patton blamed it on alleged demonic possession and his cocaine addiction.
83. James Malicoat (1997-2006, lethal injection): Malicoat slammed Tessa Leadford, his 13 month old daughter, against a dresser. After she died from the beating, he tucked her into bed, and waited until his daughter's mother returned from work to take her to the hospital. The doctors found that Leadford had been dead for several hours at the time of her arrival, and discovered several injuries such as broken ribs, bite marks, abdominal bleeding, and facial bruising on her body. By his own account, he had abused Leadford on a daily basis. For her role in enabling her boyfriend's treatment of their daughter, Leadford's mother was convicted of first degree murder and given a life sentence.
84. Corey Hamilton (1992-2007, lethal injection): During the robbery of a restaurant, Hamilton shot and killed 4 employees, 26 year old Sandy Lara, 24 year old Stephen Williams, 19 year old Ted Kindley, and 17 year old Joseph Gooch, and made off with $2,000.
85. Jimmy Bland (~1975-2007, lethal injection): Bland shot his boss, 62 year old Doyle Rains, in the head over an argument regarding a borrowed car and dumped the body in a creek. He was previously convicted of killing a soldier, Raymond Prentice (age unknown), and abducting the man's wife and son at the age of 19. Bland served a 20 out of 60 year sentence, and murdered Rains a year after he was released.
86. Frank Welch (~1987-2008, lethal injection): In 1987, Welch attacked 28 year old Jo Cooper, who was 4 months pregnant with her second child, in her home. She was tied up with leather straps, raped and violated with plastic toys, and strangled to death. Cooper’s body was found laying near her infant son by her husband. Another woman, 32 year old Debra Stevens, was also bound, raped, and strangled to death in her home in a near identical fashion a few months later. Although both murders went unsolved for several years, Welch abducted and raped a woman in 1994, and he received a 45 year sentence for it. His DNA samples was collected and filed after his abduction conviction, and linked to both Cooper and Stevens’ murders in a 1997 test.
87. Terry Short (1995-2008, lethal injection): In an attempt to kill his ex girlfriend, Short blew up her apartment complex with a firebomb. She and her family managed to escape, but the blast killed Ken Yamamoto, a 22 year old Japanese exchange student. Yamamoto had no connections to the targeted ex girlfriend's family beyond him having the misfortune of residing in the same apartment.
88. Jessie Cummings Jr. (1991-2009, lethal injection): Cummings was a polygamist that had married and lived with two wives. Under his orders, Cummings’ wives shot and killed his estranged half sister, 46 year old Judy Mayo, and kidnapped her daughter, 11 year old Melissa. He bound his niece to his bed with handcuffs to be raped, and stabbed her to death.
89. Darwin Brown (1995-2009, lethal injection): While robbing a grocery store with three accomplices (including Billy Alverson and Michael Wilson), Brown tied up the clerk, 30 year old Richard Yost, with handcuffs, and then bludgeoned him death with a metal baseball bat. The killing was caught by security cameras, and the footage was used by the prosecution to secure the convictions of Brown and his accomplices.
90. Donald Gilson (1995-2009, lethal injection): Gilson routinely physically abused his live in girlfriend's 5 children (who were all between the ages of 8 and 12 years old). The youngest, 8 year old Shane Coffman, was beaten to death with a board for defecating on the living room carpet. He and his girlfriend then hid the body by stuffing it in a freezer. The body was kept inside it for 6 months until it was discovered by a sheriff's deputy investigating the family's abuse allegations. Gilson's girlfriend was spared the death penalty with a plea deal, and given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for her part in her son's abuse and murder.
91. Michael DeLozier (1995-2009, lethal injection): While camping with his friends, DeLozier ambushed another pair of campers, 60 year old Orville Bullard and 54 year old Paul Morgan, and shot them to death. They stole Morgan and Bullard's generator, pick up truck, and other camping gear. To cover up their tracks, DeLozier and his friends set their victims' campsite on fire, and severely burned the bodies.
92. Julius Young (1993-2010, lethal injection): For breaking off their relationship, Young beat his ex girlfriend, 20 year old Joyland Morgan and her 6 year old son Kewan, to death with a baseball bat in their apartment.
93. Donald Wackerly II (1996-2010, lethal injection): Wackerly and his wife ambushed and gunned down Pan Sayakhoummane, a 51 year old Laotian immigrant, while he was fishing in the Arkansas River. After he placed Sayakhoummane's body in the man’s own truck, he pushed into a river, and stole his fishing gear. A few months after the murder, Wackerly’s wife turned him in to the police.
94. John Duty (~1970s-2010, lethal injection): Duty was given a life sentence for abducting, raping, and non fatally shooting a female store clerk during a robbery. While incarcerated, he tricked a fellow inmate, 22 year old Curtis Wise Jr. into allowing himself to be tied up as a part of a hostage ruse, and then strangled him to death with shoelaces. At the time of his murder, Wise was serving a conviction for burglary and contributing to the delinquency of minors. Duty's execution caused some controversy for the use of pentobarbital, a drug more commonly utilized by veterinarians to euthanize pets.
95. Billy Alverson (1995-2011, lethal injection): Alverson assisted the above mentioned Darwin Brown and Micheal Wilson in the beating death of Richard Yost while robbing a convenience store.
96. Jeffrey Matthews (1994-2011, lethal injection): Matthews and his accomplice shot and killed his great uncle, 77 year old Otis Short, while robbing the man's home. In the robbery, they stole Short's truck, his .32 calibre pistol, and $500. The pair also slit the throat of Short's wife, but she survived her injuries.
97. Gary Welch (~1993-2011, lethal injection): During a fight over a drug shipment, Welch and his partner stabbed another dealer, 32 year old Robert Hardcastle, to death with broken glass bottles. He was previously convicted of battery with a deadly weapon, and was off on probation at the time of Hardcastle's murder.
98. Timothy Stemple (1996-2012, lethal injection): Stemple conspired with his girlfriend to murder his wife, 30 year old Trisha, for her life insurance policy. With the help of his girlfriend's 16 year old nephew or cousin [sources vary], Stemple beat Trisha with a baseball bat, and rammed her to death with his truck.
99. Michael Selsor (~1975-2012, lethal injection): Selsor and his accomplice went on a crime spree and robbed several convenience stores. During their robberies, the pair shot and killed two clerks, 55 year old Clayton Chandler and 20 year old Ina Morris, and injured two others in shooting and stabbing attacks.
100. Michael Hooper (~1992-2012, lethal injection): Hooper kidnapped his ex girlfriend, 23 year old Cynthia Jarman, and her children, 5 year old Timothy and 3 year old Tonya, from her boyfriend's residence. He shot all three of them dead, and buried the bodies in a rancher's field. According to court documents, Hooper was hyper-violent towards Cynthia in their year long relationship.
101. Garry Allen (1986-2012, lethal injection): Allen shot and killed his fiancee, 24 year old Lawanna Titsworth, during an argument at a day care she worked at. He fought with the responding officers trying to arrest him in an attempt to provoke a "suicide by cop" outcome. Despite the officers' best efforts to avoid harming him, Allen lost his eye from an accidental discharge. Due to claims of him having schizophrenia, Allen's execution was a source of controversy.
102. George Ochoa (~1993-2012, lethal injection): A Southside Locos gang member, Ochoa and another hoodlum shot and killed a couple, 38 year old Francisco Morales and 35 year old Maria Yanez, while burglarizing their home. The murders were witnessed by the couple's 14 year old and 10 year old children and stepchildren, who then phoned the police after the shooters' departure.
103. Steven Thacker (~1980s-2012, lethal injection): Thacker kidnapped 25 year old Laci Hill during a botched robbery of her home, and took her to a remote cabin to be raped. She was then strangled and stabbed to death. He fled to Missouri, fatally stabbed 24 year old Forrest Boyd while carjacking him, and used his car to hide out in Tennessee. After the stolen car broke down, Thacker called a tow truck to pick him up. When the driver, 52 year old Ray Patterson, found that he was using a stolen credit card, Thacker stabbed him to death as well. As a teenager, Thacker committed several acts of auto thefts and burglaries. He also engaged in inappropriate relationships with underaged girls, and was released from a Florida prison after serving time for a bad check conviction months before his murders.
104. James DeRosa (2000-2013, lethal injection): DeRosa and his accomplice tricked a couple, 73 year old Curtis and 70 year old Gloria Plummer, that he worked for on their ranch, into letting them inside their house. After they stabbed the Plummers and slit their throats, DeRosa and his accomplice stole $73 and drove away with their truck.
105. Brian Davis (2001-2013, lethal injection): Davis went searching for his girlfriend and their daughter when he found them missing from their home, and called his girlfriend's mother, 56 year old Josephine Sanford, about their whereabouts. Sanford dropped by the couple's residence after failing to find her daughter and granddaughter. At her arrival, she was raped, beaten, and stabbed to death by Davis. He then left the body in the house, drove off with Sanford’s van, and injured himself in a car accident. As Davis was high while driving, he was arrested for being under the influence. The detaining officers weren’t aware of the murder until Davis’ girlfriend returned to the home later that night, and called 911 after finding her mother’s corpse.
106. Anthony Banks (~1978-2013, lethal injection): In 1978, while robbing a grocery store, Banks shot and killed a clerk, 22 year old David Fremin. A year later, he abducted Sun Travis, a 24 year old South Korean immigrant, from a parking lot. He then sexually assaulted Travis in his car and shot her in the head. Although he was captured and convicted for Fremin's murder, Travis' killing went unsolved until a 1997 DNA test. Banks was originally sentenced to death for Fremin's murder, but it was lifted in favor of a life sentence. He was condemned for a second time after his conviction for Travis' murder.
107. Ronald Lott (~1980s-2013, lethal injection): A sexual predator of elderly women, Lott broke into the homes of 93 year old Zelma Cutler and 83 year old Anna Fowler after cutting off their power. They were tied up with cloth, anally penetrated, beaten, and suffocated to death with pillowcases. The case attracted controversy when another man was erroneously condemned for the murders, and he spent 11 years on death row until a 1997 DNA test linked the murders to Lott. At the time of the discovery, Lott was serving time for two rape convictions.
108. Johnny Black (~1984-2013, lethal injection): Black, two of his brothers, and two other men went looking for a man they feuded with for a fight. While they were crusing on the road, the group encountered a rancher, 54 year old Bill Pogue, and mistook him for their target due to them driving similar vehicles. They forced Poque off the road, pulled him out of his car, and stabbed him a total of 10 times. Pogue's son in law was also dragged out and attacked, but he managed to escape with his life. Black was previously convicted of manslaughter for shooting 49 year old Cecil Martin dead in an argument.
109. Michael Wilson (1995-2014, lethal injection): Wilson was the third participant in the above mentioned beating death of Richard Yost to be executed.
110. Kenneth Hogan (1988-2014, lethal injection): Hogan stabbed 21 year old Lisa Stanley to death while she was babysitting his children. According to autopsy reports, she was stabbed at least 25 times. Stanley had previously accused him of sexual misconduct, and prosecutors believed that she was killed during an argument over the allegations.
111. Clayton Lockett (~1992-2014, lethal injection): Lockett, his cousin, and another accomplice kidnapped 23 year old Bobby Bornt, 18 year old Summer Hair, and Bornt's 9 month son after burglarizing a home. After tying them up with duct tape, they forced their captives to lure a friend, 19 year old Stephanie Neiman, with a phone call. Neiman was also bound and initially survived getting shot multiple times. Out of frustration, Lockett buried her alive, and she succumbed to a combination of suffocation and her injuries. Lockett and his accomplices also gang-raped Hair and beat Bornt, but spared them on the forced condition of their silence. His execution was controversial, as Lockett convulsed for 45 minutes after being injected, and then died from a heart attack. He also had a long criminal history, and was first arrested for burglary as a teenager.
112. Charles Warner (1997-2015, lethal injection): Warner raped his girlfriend's daughter, 11 month old Adriana Waller, and shook her to death. His execution sparked outcry, as the wrong fatal drug was administered by mistake, and Warner complained of "burning pain" as he was being injected. With the botched executions of Lockett and Warner back to back, the state of Oklahoma delayed further executions until 2021.
113. John Grant (~1970s-2021, lethal injection): While serving a 130 year sentence for armed robbery, Grant stabbed a prison cafeteria worker, 58 year old Gay Carter, to death. He had a long criminal history dating back to the ag e of 11, had several previous convictions of theft and armed robbery, and frequently fought with and assaulted other inmates behind bars. Due to reports of "adverse reactions" to the lethal drugs, Grant's execution was scrutinized by a number of national media outlets.
114. Bigler Stouffer II (1985-2021, lethal injection): Stouffer shot and killed his ex girlfriend, 35 year old Linda Reaves, in her boyfriend's home for breaking up with him. Reaves' boyfriend was also seriously injured in the shooting.
115. Donald Grant (2001-2022, lethal injection): During a robbery of a hotel, Grant fatally shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned two employees, 43 year old Felicia Smith and 29 year old Brenda McElyea, and ran off with $1,500. He spent $200 of the stolen on paying for his girlfriend's bail.
116. Gilbert Postelle (~1998-2022, lethal injection): Postelle’s father was badly injured in a motorcycle accident, and they suspected that 57 year old James Anderson, 56 year old Terry Smith, 49 year old Donnie Swindler, and 26 year old Amy Wright were deliberately involved. Out a desire for vengeance, he recruited Postelle, his other son, and another man to kill them. All four victims were fatally gunned down in what was described as a “blitz attack” on their trailer. He was an addict and had several arrests for drug possession and manufacturing dating back to the age of 12.
117. James Coddington (1997-2022, lethal injection): After robbing a grocery store, Coddington went to the home of a friend and co worker, 73 year old Albert Hale, to ask for money. When Hale turned him down, Coddington retaliated by beating him with a claw hammer. Coddington stole $525 and went on to rob 5 more grocery stores. Hale was left alone with his injures for nearly an entire day until he was discovered by his son, and died in the hospital a day later.
118. Benjamin Cole Sr. (2002-2022, lethal injection): Out of anger that her crying interrupted his Nintendo game, Cole beat his daughter from his second wife, 9 month old Brianna, to death. He was previously convicted of abusing his son from a different marriage in California.
119. Richard Fairchild (1996-2023, lethal injection): Fairchild got into a fight with his girlfriend’s 17 year old daughter after making drunken sexual passes at her, and was enraged that she left with a cab driver. He took his anger out on the girl’s younger brother, 3 year old Adam Broomhall, and scalded him with a wall heater. He then repeatedly hit the boy, threw him against a table, and fatally hemorrhaged his head. Bromhall received over 26 blows during the beating.
120. Scott Eizember (2003-2023, lethal injection): Eizember snuck into his ex girlfriend's house to lie in wait for her. However, her roommates, 76 year old A.J. Cantrell and his 70 year old wife Patsy, arrived home earlier then she did. He shot and beat them both to death and then fled the scene.
121. Jemaine Cannon (1995-2023, lethal injection): Cannon was put in prison for assaulting an unidentified woman. He managed to escape and stabbed his girlfriend, 20 year old Sharonda Clark, to death in her apartment.
122. Anthony Sanchez (1996-2023, lethal injection): Sanchez kidnapped 21 year old Jewell Busken from her apartment complex, and then raped and shot her to death. He amassed a following from the anti death penalty movement for claiming that his father was responsible, but such notions were debunked following a 2023 DNA test that concluded Sanchez’s guilt.
123. Phillip Hancock (~1982-2023, lethal injection): In 1982, Hancock shot a drug dealer, 27 year old Charles Warren, dead in a dispute over stolen jewelry and was given a manslaughter conviction for it. He was released after serving a 2 year term. About 17 years later, he shot and killed 58 year old James Lynch III and 37 year old Robert Jett Jr. in a drug house. Despite an eyewitness account describing Lynch and Jett begging for their lives, the case attracted scrutiny when Hancock's attorneys claimed that the shootings were done in self defense.
124. Michael Smith (~2002-2024, lethal injection): A member of the Oak Grove Posse gang, Smith was responsible for two separate fatal shootings on the same day. In one of his murders, he killed Sharath Pulluru, a 24 year old Indian immigrant that worked as a clerk, while robbing a gas station. The other murder occurred when he tried to confront a gang member that he thought was a police informant in his apartment, and gunned down the target’s mother, 40 year old Janet Miller-Moore, when she refused to give away her son’s location. Smith was also given a life sentence for delivering a gun to a shooter that carried out another gang killing.

Now, the reason I'm using the word "abandon" is because that's the word she keeps accusing me of.
It all started roughly 10 years ago. I was very close to getting forced out of the military for failure to progress, it's when you don't get promoted within a certain time period, & I could tell that it kind of freaked her our, but I made points & was able to retire, 21 years!!! Well, it's like something clicked in her because after that she couldn't control her spending. She maxed out several credit cards & when that well dried up, she started stealing. She got herself trespassed from multiple department stores. We were living paychecks to paychecks, but we were nowhere near broke. Our mortgage & bills were paid & there was food always in the fridge, but this wasn't enough for her. Then there were the animals. Pets of all kinds 7 dogs, 10 chickens, hedgehogs, ferrets, even a cat. I'M ALERGIC TO CATS!!! I told her to please stop & she promised every time that it was the last time only to break my heart & lie in my face over & over again. She stopped wanting to spend time with me. I'm an early morning/late night person. I usually get up around 630/700am & go to bed about 100/200am. Well, she'd get up about 100 pm & go to bed about 900/1000pm Next cane the arguments. It's like she would get upset over anything & everything. On my days off, I'd love to read or watch YouTube (Charlotte Dobre) & she told me that I should be doing something, that seeing me just sit there would piss her off. There's so much more, but i don't have the space to put it all out. I had my retirement, and my VA & I was working again, but that wasn't enough for her.
Well, one day, she "found" another dog. I told her to take it to the pound & she wouldn't. I couldn't take it anymore. I told her I was done begging just to be lied to all the time.
It's been over a year since we separated & I'm still paying the mortgage & all the bills, both cars & all the animals' stuff. I don't mind, but she still keeps saying that I abandon her. I just want to make sure that her & our son (18) have a roof over their heads. Maybe I am the A-hole. There are 2 sides to every story, but I tried. 🤷‍♂️😞
Edit: Yes, she's in therapy, but it seems to be making it worse somehow. I was in therapy for over a year & my therapy was amazing she was the one who pointed out a lot of this to me & convinced me that getting a divorce was the best option.
Heck, we even went to couples therapy a few times at her request, but once she saw that the therapist wasn't taking her side, she didn't want to do it anymore.

I am looking for help or advice on how to forgive my father for all that he has done to me. I am struggling to find the forgiveness in my heart, but I don’t want him to have power over me anymore. Every time I look at my dad, I am filled with rage for all he has done and said to me. I stood in front of my dad at age 12 in cowboy boots and a dress excited for the party of a relative only for my dad to say I looked like a “whore prostitute” and shouldn’t wear anything like that.
I am the only one left at home with my parents but soon will be moving out for college. About a year ago my parents began having issues in their relationship. My mother and father began to argue more often and soon my mother stopped sleeping in the same room and instead my mom joined me into my bedroom. My father began to drink and mix his pain medication. On this night I had come home from work and found my dad very angry on the couch with an empty bottle of tequila in the trash can. My mother was very loudly playing her music since she had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed. I didn’t say anything and went into my room to pick out my clothes so I could then shower. At this point I heard my dad get up and start trying to kick down the bathroom door. My mom yelled for him to stop kicking and to leave her alone. I ran out of my room and began to argue and tell him to leave us alone and to go to bed. At this point he turned to me and went to hit me, but stopped himself. I don’t want to get into details, but the night ended with him being arrested.
He proclaimed his love to Satan and said that he wanted us dead/ had hired someone to kill us for making fun of him for being disabled (he isn’t, he uses a cane around people for attention and has faked many illness,like cancer diagnosis, for attention) when we haven’t done anything but love him and make excuses for his behavior. During his week(yes only 1 week) in jail my mother promised me she would leave him, but didn’t. And allowed him back into the house knowing I was scared of him hurting us. I would lock my bedroom door at night and planned an escape plan if necessary. I slowly began to lose fear of him, and just began to hate him. Because he wasn’t charged with anything (my mother went to court and asked for them to drop the charges against my wishes) he had to complete anger management classes and refused to acknowledge the fact that he ever did anything wrong.
He never apologized for it, up until a month ago. Using the word apology loosely. He had come into my room and asked me and my mother to come into the kitchen where he held our hands and made us stand in a circle and said “I want you to forgive me for hurting you, I don’t remember doing it but if you said I did then I guess I need to apologize). My mom forgave him and I said I couldn’t find it in my to forgive him. He then said “You’re going to regret that, I am God and you need to forgive me.” After this incident my dad has turned to religion and church but I know he doesn’t really agree with what he’s practicing. He just feels guilty and needs a way out.
I need to find it in my heart to forgive him, but not for him but rather for me. He put me through hell, I was just a child and this deeply affected my schooling and grades severely. My teachers all noticed I was falling asleep in class because I was so scared to sleep at home while my father was home. I wasn’t ever allowed to speak about it to anyone to save face for my father (upon my mothers request). I hate being home and am excited to move out, if you have advice I would love to hear it since I have turned to everything I can imagine.

My favorite color is green. 💚 More specifically I really love a dark emerald, a teal, or like a phthalo green. I love green everything. You know that old lady that lives in New York that has cute green hair and everything in her house is green? I want that to be me one day. Everything I can have that can be green, it is. I have several pairs of green pants, green shirts, my mobility cane is green, my phone case, my dog’s collar. I love all little accessories in my life to be green. If I am ordering something, I make sure it comes in green.
Is anyone else like this? When I see my favorite color, I feel calm and happy and content.

TLDR: major right lower leg cramps in the same spot for years about every month, started happening a couple years after my leg broke 11 years ago.
Main story:
For years I've had these major cramps that would only occur around the same area where I broke my leg. It broke due to some pocket of gas or air that was trapped in my bone, weakening it, waiting for an impact. In early June of 2013, I fell over on my bike off a ramp and fractured my right lower leg, above the ankle (don't know which bone, but maybe 1/3 distance from the ankle to the knee).
The doctor who put my leg in a cast put the cast on with my leg improperly aligned, and this wasn't noticed or said or whatever until the cast was removed 6 months later and taken off earlier than the 9 months we were told by the doc. The nurse who took it off even told us that I didn't need a cast to begin with, I just needed a boot for a few months; hence why they were removing the cast early. My parents tried pursuing litigation, but the doctor just disappeared. He moved out of state before my cast was even removed (couldn't book an appointment with him, so we just had it checked out at the local hospital, that's when we learned about not needing a cast and such; xrayed and removed the cast same day), then he moved of the country before we got anything figured out. Ended up just dropping the whole thing, but I'm still dealing with the problems it caused. Never attended any physical therapy because my dad didn't think I needed it, but I walk mostly normal now when I'm not effected by the cramps, tho my right foot is noticeably pointed outwards; like so much so I've been called out by different band directors and a field judge during marching band for how my foot sticks out. Most people don't notice it tho until I say something.
My lower right leg is not in line with my knee, it angles out to the right more than normal (if I lay on my back, my left foot points mostly straight up, but my right foot lays down almost flat on it's side. When I stand up tho, I'd guess it's only 45° to right right if my knee is straight forward). A couple years after I broke it, I started getting an extreme cramp that would last 10 or 15 minutes every few months on the back side of my leg near where I broke it. It feels like my foot is trying to bend backwards: if I try to relax and give in, it shoots to a 10/10 pain, but if I resist and try to point my foot upwards or bring it back towards me then its only the 7-8/10. Lifting my leg up so it doesn't touch anything helps a bit. If I'm sleeping when it happens, I've gotten used to yanking the covers off of it since the weight of the blanket makes it worse.
And after the cramp is done, my whole leg is extremely sore and it hurts to walk on, sometimes I'd use my old crutch to help walk, but I've gone with a cane in the last 3 years when it occurs. For a few hours upwards of a day after the cramp, it could occur again if I moved my leg in the wrong way, specifically pointing it downwards too much. The soreness could last days or a week tho, and I would walk with a limp until the pain subsided, the cane and crutch helping to not put so much pressure on that leg and at least mitigated the pain.
I never really brought this up with my primary doc cause I just assumed it was related to the breaking of the bone and maybe the muscles were like trying to pull the bone back in place since my lower leg was misaligned. But a couple days ago, I just had the exact same cramp in my other leg?? Like exact same cramp, same spot, same feeling, tho for a much shorter time (maybe 2 minutes max), but the pain hurt just as much. Leg was sore and hurt to walk afterwards for the day tho I didn't need the cane like when it happens to my right leg. I was laying in bed asleep with a cover over my feet when it happened. I yanked the sheets off my legs like normal, but it was the other leg? I believe my foot was pointed far downwards (tippy toe sorta look but laying down) when I woke up, so maybe this was just a more normal cramp? It's got me concerned tho cause if this starts happening in both my legs, even if it's months apart at best between cramps, if they occur close together I'm not sure how'd I'd be able to walk well afterwards. This just got me more worried, but I am still more interested in my right leg and it's reoccuring cramps.
I'm planning on bringing this up to my doc when I see her in a couple weeks, but I wanted to get a few opinions from here before I do. Happy to answer any and all questions; I tried to put as much detail as I could here, but please ask if you need even the smallest of details. I tried looking up a diagram or anatomy of the leg see if there was an obvious answer (like the soleus or achilles muscles, maybe the gastronemius cause it hurts the most afterwards even tho the pain or cramp doesn't feel like it originates there), but I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor obviously lol.
Other details:
My left leg hasn't endured any major trauma like the right leg (no breaks or fractures, no major cramps like this until now), tho it is a few cm shorter than the right leg (not sure if the right leg being set wrong also lengthened it or if it's just naturally a little shorter, doubt it matter tho)
My left leg was never xrayed, so idk if it also an air pocket or whatever in the bone, but I'd guess it doesn't since when I broken my right leg, I actually fell over onto my left leg; despite that, it was somehow the right leg which broke.
I also did have a reoccurence of the left leg cramp a few hours after the big cramp, like what happens with the right leg sometimes when it cramps. Besides the duration and pain afterwards, this left leg cramp has been very similar to the right leg cramp.
Supplements haven't worked. I tried taking potassium and eating more bananas years ago, didn't change anything. My diet has changed wildly a couple times and none of it ever changed the frequency or severity of the cramps. My mom got me some over the counter medicine a year ago that is supposed to help with leg cramps and soreness, but it also did nothing even for the soreness afterwards.
Nothing really predicts these cramps either, they just happen randomly. I've had them as soon as a week or two apart, but I've also gone like 8 or 9 months without a cramp before. Typically, they happen about once every month, maybe month and half. I do occasionally get a general 1-3/10 pain where I broke my leg out of no where that lasts a couple days too. Not sure if it's like arthritis, or humidty like how old people say their joints predict the weather lol. I've not noticed a pattern yet tho, that dull pain just comes and goes also every few months.
Last thing I can think off: three years ago I pulled a muscle in my upper right leg. This is when I switched from crutch to cane because I went from using a crutch for a few days every couple months to using it just to walk every day. The cane was just easier and more practical especially since my job at the time required me to walk around a parking lot at the end of the day. This slowly went away over the course of maybe two or three months. Even tho I mentioned all this, I don't think it's related because I still had one of my normal major cramps in the lower leg during the same time. I just wanted to be very thorough in my details.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention: I'm male, currently 22, almost 23, and I broke my leg when I was 11, almost 12. The cramps have persisted through big weight gain and loss, diet changes, medicine changes, etc. And I still do get minor cramps in that leg and the other one too, typical cramps I think tho that are just caused by moving in a weird way, last about a minute or less, more uncomfortable than painful, don't leave last pain or soreness beyond maybe an hour.
These other super painful cramps just happen out of nowhere tho, they haven't ever occured when I was in school or working, never while driving or exercising: I'd guess the only pattern would be they happen when I'm more relaxed maybe? Most often when I'm laying down either bed, or couch, or reclining chair.
From what I can see of my leg during the cramp, it just looks like my foot is trying to point downwards. I don't see anything on/under the skin like ripples or tension in the muscles like I've seen in some videos. It literally just looks like my foot is pointing downwards; meanwhile I'm heaving and panting in pain, lifting my leg in the air, and holding that for 10 or 15 minutes while I try absolute hardest to, what feels like, not allow my foot to bend backwards.
So again, if anyone has any ideas of what anything might be, please let me known. I'm getting tired of dealing of dealing with the pain and I wanna get it figured out. And since my left leg did a similar thing, now I'm even more worried. I hope I didn't overwhelm with info lol, I've had plenty of time to try and understand what's been going on, but I think it's finally time to get some outside help.

Nearly 2 years ago now my 65 year old mom woke up one day experiencing alot of dizziness. She didn't describe it as vertigo but it looked like it a bit when she would have a spell.
Slowly, she began to have more and more issues moving her right side. It was a combination of weakness in the limbs, along with the feeling that her brain was not communicating to her leg. She was almost dragging it around instead of lifting it up. She's never felt pain or tingling through this entire experience.
Sometime after these symptoms started, she then got extremely swollen feet and I believe her heart rate was up so she went to the hospital and found out she has AFIB. (Apologies i don't know more on this, I have to pry information out of my parents)
A little background on my mom's medical history - she has had severe asthma and crohns disease since she was in her teens. Some skin cancer in the form of moles I believe have been removed and her diet is not great because she avoids fruits and vegetables claiming it's the fiber that irritates her crohns and I'm not doctor so I've always just gone along with it.
They of course saw doctors as these symptoms were affecting her walking. She has seen 2 neurologists who have said that there is nothing stroke like or otherwise in her scans that would be of concern or would cause this. She did roughly 6 months of physical therapy with no improvement (she's still declining today), and recently got an MRI which apparently showed "nothing" while my mom cried in her zoom doctor appt to go over the results. We do know she has a buldging disc in her back somewhere.
My mom went from being a little dizzy and wobbly when she walked, to using a cane to move around, to using a walker in her home. And now almost 2 years later, she is confined to two rooms in her home. Some days she can SLOWLY slide herself down their hallway to the couch on her own, but mostly my dad has to push her in her walker. She has no strength in her right hand or arm at all so she can't pick up a tiny glass of milk. We cut her food up for her like a toddler. my dad has to shower her and sometimes get her cleaned up when she can't get to the bathroom fast enough. Her walking is like watching someone learn to do it for the first time. Sometimes in her pauses you can almost see her telling her leg to move, but it's just not responding. Because all she does now is sit on their couch or lay on their bed, her body is suffering like someone who spends their life in a wheelchair.
She's withering away in front of our eyes and her doctors don't seem to care. Theyre passing her around like it's NORMAL to wake up at 65 one day and no longer be able to walk. She was not the epitomy of health before this but she was active. Looking forward to retirement. Going to her favorite sports teams games. I've lost my mom and she's wasting away in front of us.
I'm begging them to go to a hospital. They haven't. Please. If anyone has any ideas. Anything at all. Suggestions. Even if you agree, the hospital is the next step. I need to find a diagnosis. I have to know why this is happening. I cannot take anymore shrugs.

Hello all. I'm sorry if this isn't the right sub for this kind of post but I just really need help.
I was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in February after 5 years of pushing my doctor's. After further pushing, I also got my doctor to prescribe a wheelchair and cane due to how debilitating it has become. I'm certain something else is going on because things I've just been getting worse and my flare ups went from every few months to every couple of days. My primary care is really set on me not using a wheelchair long term, the whole if you don't use it you'll lose it thing, and was so hesitant to even try a wheelchair just for running errands and family outtings.
My main issues I've been having is that I'm on Aetna and Medicare part B (I believe). So whatever Aetna doesn't cover, the other insurance covers. But if Aetna won't even process it, Medicare won't cover it. Aetna is refusing to cover a wheelchair since I'm not elderly or bed ridden, their words exactly. (But I have to get out of bed to go to physical therapy and doctors appointments or my doctors won't take my pain seriously.) I had to pay for it out of pocket and just buy one on Amazon since they wouldn't even do a fitting. Is there anyway I can push back on this since my doctor has deemed it medically necessary? And not just a basic wheelchair, but a proper wheelchair. I know that would be incredibly hard but money is crazy tight so I just want to know if this is something I'd have to save up for.
The second issue is I'm also autistic so I have been masking all my life. So I mask my pain as well. I've had people treat me like a hypochondriac when I express my pain since childhood so I just learned to hide. I also know that if I don't just smile and try to make the best of my life even though it's so scary to feel my body get so weak, I will just spiral into a severe depressive episode. I think because I'm polite and tend to smile and make jokes, even though I rate my pain high and am very honest about how there are many days I can't get out of bed, my doctors do not take me seriously, nor my needs for a wheelchair. My doctors all seem to see it as a death sentence to be in a wheelchair but it's just another form of mobility aid to me. I'm already disabled in other ways, hence why having to buy a wheelchair myself out of pocket was so hard since I'm on disability. My labs showed up negative but my grandmother has RA and hers turned up negative too. They did one x ray on my back and it looked fine so I just feel like I'm at a dead end. It feels like my Fibro and CFS isn't enough for them to warrant a wheelchair but I'm really at my wits end. How do I make my doctors believe that yes, I can stand up and walk on my own, sure. But it is so immensely taxing.

Reminder! We're taking a temporary break from the last arc as The Inevitable gets fully introduced, then it's back to our regularly scheduled madness.
~First~
The Dauntless
The man he sees is of Asian descent and at the age where age is starting to hit him, but clearly has hit back hard enough that it’s backed off.
“Good to meet you Admiral...?” Admiral Cistern attempts and the man’s naturally narrow eyes narrow further.
“I am no Admiral. Until we determine precisely what has happened we will be working rather closely however. I am Observer Damian Wu. Your actions have necessitated the creation of an entirely new posting. Congratulations.” Observer Wu says.
“So they believe me?”
“The governments of Earth are uncertain. However the private and properly encrypted confirmation of implicitly trusted soldiers coupled with the samples and eyewitness testimonies of the first group has bought you time.”
“Time, time for what precisely?”
“Time for me to see. The Accounts of Sir Masterson, Mister Engel and several others have raised very interesting points. Furthermore having numerous agents sent back de-aged as punishment for failing a simple operation was... eye opening. To say nothing of the intact cadavers and entire barge of wealth.” Observer Wu says before there is a sudden thump behind him and an old woman in a stern charcoal grey outfit walks into view.
Her eyes are the same size, but there is the impression that one, or the other, is bulging out of her skull as she glares at them. She licks her teeth and for a moment there is the impression of a forest of iron nails protruding from her gums. But no. Just the yellowed teeth of a senior citizen.
“Madam Stepanova. Has anyone ever said it’s good to see you again?” Admiral Cistern asks.
“Not for months, and don’t you dare break that streak.”
“Good to see you again!” Herbert immediately chimes up. He gets the full glare.
“... I see Philip has gone out of his way to finish up with you.”
“Not just me!” Herbert chirps.
“I was to ask about the child.” Observer Wu notes plainly.
“I’m in my thirties. Advanced healing techniques also de-ages the subject. When it was still relatively unknown to use on humans I was hit with it the first time and lost over half my physical age. The second time it was much more refined, but the sheer damage I took meant I still was damn near forced backwards through puberty. As it stands I’m just barely on the edge of the first growth spurt.” Herbert says before saluting. “As it stands I am Intelligence Operative and Administrator Herbert Jameson, I’ve also earned the alien honours of Huntsman and Grand Patriarch for my efforts across multiple worlds.”
“I see, you were mentioned in the reports. A hundred brides?”
“Yes sir.”
“And openly living in the embassy of another political entity.”
“My wives and children are citizens there, and through marriage and fatherhood so am I.”
“I suppose congratulations are in order then.” Observer Wu says. “Now then, your information package including a warning about a political firestorm currently raging across the planet upon which you now stand. What has happened?”
“Operative Jameson discovered an absurdly large cache of an obscenely rare and dangerous material during a routine observation mission. The sheer rarity of the substance, coupled with the horrific method of it’s manufacture was so severe we had to share it with numerous other organizations. Which has led to a quiet panic across the entire planet, as of this moment there are...” Admiral Cistern checks his communicator. “Seventy four active conflicts my forces are aiding in quelling.”
“I see. It is severe enough that the entire planet is on alert?”
“It is severe enough that the living goddess of a major religion is perhaps moments away from declaring a crusade.” Admiral Cistern returns.
That revelation takes a moment to process.
“I see things have gotten rather exciting.”
“They have. Much of which I do not care to discuss across intergalactic communications. They’re far to easy to hack in my opinion.”
“Are they?”
“I assume that any communications I do not have in person as public information. I would recommend a similar outlook on operational security, our capacity to keep out spies and bugs is limited to the physical or direct messages, mail or recordigns on isolated devices.” Admiral Cistern says and Observer Wu nods.
“Prudent. Now this...” He begins before someone starts speaking very quickly in Korean. “Really? Then put them on screen. Let’s see them.”
Admiral Cistern has time to only raise an eyebrow before a screen opens in the call and the image of Lady Ticanped can be seen smiling at the camera. “Good. There you are. You received the proper payment I take it? Have your governments honoured their side of the bargain?”
“It is an unusual bargain to have a fortune placed in orbit of our world with a message of what is wanted in exchange.” Observer Wu notes.
“If there were any other method of having my wishes known, I would have used it.”
“How many people have been in contact with Earth?” Admiral Cistern asks as his mind whirls.
“A fair few I’d wager. We cannot enter ourselves, but that does not preclude us from sending care packages or making special requests. We know where your world is, and can easily calculate all the trajectories required to safely put an automated ship in orbit of your Earth.” Lady Ticanped says. “Now... did you bring them? Did they accept?”
“... They did.” Observer Wu states. “It also inspired numerous of our governments to send... other such individuals.”
“... I’m not sure I appreciate being left out of the loop.” Admiral Cistern says, he’s fairly certain of what’s coming. But he doesn’t want to voice such hopes.
“Your sons. Edward and Peter. And I presume other family members?”
“Some others yes. A few declined but sent personalized messages. We had to reduce the number of soldiers on this ship to ensure we had room for the packages, messages and passengers.” Observer Wu states before grinning. “It’s being used as a test to the viability of shuttling people out of Human Territory. Incidentally, if you are indeed the August Speaker of the Council...”
“I am.” Lady Ticanped preens.
“She is.” Admiral Cistern confirms.
“Then I would like to note, before I arrive on Centris officially. That Earth and her governments has declared all of Cruel Space as it’s Sovereign Territory and lay claim to all mining, salvaging and colonial rights within the reach of The Natural Null Repository.”
“You will not find opposition to such a proclamation. I assure you.” Lady Ticanped says.
“Good, because the first hints of colonization have begun. The ship designs that were sent to us are being tested and the rail system to place things in orbit is being upgraded as we speak.” Observer Wu notes. “But that is neither here nor there. We are here, we intend to investigate things further so we can finally and conclusively confirm things one way or the other. So until then, I have a distraction for you.”
“You know, stating that something is a distraction isn’t the best of...” Admiral Cistern begins to chide Observer Wu before the man steps to the side to show two people entering The Inevitable’s Bridge. “Edward? Peter?”
Herbert almost smiles as he’s forced to think as fast as he wants to move. He claps his hands and gets the attention of the bridge.
“I think we can afford the admiral a few minutes alone with his sons, don’t you all!” He says and people start to stand. Observer Wu looks suddenly off balance. “No not like that! Observer Wu my good man! Perhaps you could escort the young men to your own office to let them speak to the Admiral as he returns to his own office? After all, a reunion between father and sons is a special thing I think we’ll agree.”
“We have important business to attend to.”
“Then why bring in a distraction?” Herbert asks with a disarming laugh. “Everyone sit back down, good grief. Transfer the stream to the Admiral’s office please! Come on people, we’re professionals here!”
•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•
“You are every inch his student.” Madam Stepanova states plainly and Herbert beams at her. “Stop that, I will find a way to whack you from this distance.”
“Just jot a note down and I’m sure you’ll get all your recreational caning out of the way. Although my wives are certain to be upset with you if you take up the fun time.” Herbert sends back.
“I wonder if you’ll stay this brave when I’m in shooting distance.” She asks and he imagines that if it were only thing glass between them a gun would be out to emphasize the point.
“... Theoretically, if you get the math right, I am.” He glibly notes.
“It’s a bit on the easy side to dodge a shot that takes so long that the post would be quicker.”
“Sad but true, imagine if we could though, oh man assassinations would be easy.” Herbert remarks.
“Artillery are not assassination weapons.” She chides him.
“Anything can be an assassination weapon.” He counters.
“That’s Sir Philip speaking.”
“I am his student.” Herbert remarks.
“Yes you are.” She says with narrowed eyes. Then there is a smirk. “How is that girl doing by the way? His other student?”
“Currently? She’s keeping dozens of potential hot zones from heating up. Saving time, lives and money.” Herbert says.
“Good. At least one of you is doing something useful.”
“Well if her majesty wasn’t demanding so much of my attention I would be heading a massive investigation and defensive action. But some people need personal handling.” Herbert replies. “But that’s neither here nor there, my Streams are hard at work keeping things together. Besides, I’ve reached the waiting portion of today’s operation. My data analysts need to earn their paychecks after all. It’s good for the soul.”
“I see... Tell me boy, that title... What is a Grand Patriarch?”
“It means that an entire species has been shaped by me. That I’ve reached out and changed the very course of a people’s history. I have primed the Jallick Birds to speak to each other. To share their thoughts beyond basic hunting cries or mating rituals.”
“... So you basically taught birds to talk? Like parrots?”
“No, like teaching crows to have an actual conversation. Not mimic, speak.” He says.
“And I suppose you did this out of the goodness of your heart in between shifts while waving the union jack like a good pawn of Philip’s?”
“Actually I was outright forced into a family vacation by Grand Huntmistress and Grand Matriarch Yzma. My grandmother in law and living legend. She was curious about humanity and it was her way of poking at us to see what would happen. She liked it.” He says. “Of course, most people who get to multiple thousands of years of age are either obscenely rich, storied or skilled. Side effect of all that experience isn’t it granny?”
“If you want me to skin you with a rusted spoon just say so.” Madam Stepanova states.
“I want you to try.” Herbert challenges and there is a slight flicker of approval.
“And give you that much of my attention? Are you trying to stop me from doing my job?” She asks.
“Depends entirely on what your job is.”
“And that depends on your job.”
“You know what it is.”
“So it hasn’t changed since I departed? Field man being groomed for command?”
“Field man who takes numerous shifts of command. Oh, and my Identity as Private Stream is very, very widely used now as a low profile field agent. In fact we have a whole army of what appear to be child soldiers but are in fact assassins and bodyguards of the highest order.”
“And what’s the difference between the assassin and bodyguard variants?” Madam Stepanova asks as she smiles despite herself.
“A single lawful order.” He says and the very slight smile widens. She really liked that.
“Good.” She says before scanning the bridge. “There are several non-humans among your bridge crew. Are they properly vetted?”
“They are.”
“Are you certain?”
“I am.” He says with narrowing eyes.
“Really?”
“Madam Stepanova. You have not been sworn in as any part of this organization and are not currently on loan to us. Any further inquiry into our hiring standards, practices and the like are going to be met with refusal from this point.”
“Good. You let me in too far as is boy.”
“Nonsense, I gave you enough to form entirely inaccurate conclusions while still remaining accommodating and polite before our hacker audience.” Herbert says examining his fingernails. “Now, is there anything else?”
“Where is Sir Philip?”
“His loan period to us expired. He’s off following his additional orders. And no, I officially do not know what those orders entail.” Herbert says and Madam Stepanova’s smile widens ever so.
“A hunt then? Good.” She says. “I look forward to it.”
“The eyes of Mother Russia?”
“I do not answer to you boy. But I am no enemy and will occasionally be on loan.” She says and he nods.
“Good to know, unfortunately you’re not technically on loan to us yet as you’re still a week, perhaps two away.”
“Yes, which means I do not have to tell you about the passengers or the like.” She replies and his eyebrow goes up as a woman who had been scheming in life or death situations before he was even conceived and never actually stopping tries to bait him.
“No you don’t.” He concedes instead and her eyes narrow. Now the game truly begins.
~First~ Last Next

I have a character who took a bullet through the leg in such a way that it damaged but didn't completely sever his sciatic nerve. This was in the early 70s if medical technology would be a big factor. The bulk of my story takes place over ~13 years, he was in his mid 20s when injured and late 30s by the end of it.
From cursory research, he'd feel numbness and pain, and probably have some weakness as well. I was thinking he wouldn't have much feeling in his foot and maybe end up using a cane- I'm still debating if he'd try and tough it out or decide that his comfort and mobility are more important, but that's just as much psychological as it is about the intensity of his symptoms. Would he be able to balance on his bad leg without being able to feel it? I'm sure he'd limp at the very least.
For the pain, I was wondering if that'd ease up after a while, stay consistent throughout his life or ebb and flow based on certain factors. What are some measures he could take to help with that?

I’m 6 months sugar-free and I’ve undergone a transformational experience. I’m sharing mine in hopes that it can help someone else.
I’m 32 and since age 5 I’ve always been sickly with a plugged up nose and many food sensitivities. Constant blowing, sneezing, snotting everywhere. Loads and loads of tissues. My mom was woke before it was trendy to eat healthfully; she knew about the dangers of sugar and processed foods and was strict on not having these in the house, but her efforts were sabotaged by my father who wanted us to have a “normal childhood” and would hide Lucky Charms in his car for us to eat after my she had left for work. Despite her best intentions and unwavering boundaries, my mom could not stop sugar from finding me. At school, friends’ houses, etc., sugar was everywhere and I became addicted like the majority of us. I knew of the importance of vegetables and whole foods and prioritized those, but man if there were cookies around I would eat the whole bag. I cannot self-moderate my sugar intake.
Besides the debilitating congestion, I’ve had various ailments develop in the last 10 years or so:
-red, itchy, flaky scalp (this turned out to be omega-3 deficiency, went away with fish oil supplementation) and dandruff (which is still present).
-belly fat: Historically my BMI has been at the upper end of the “normal” range: ~23.5-25. 5’6”, 145-155 lbs. From playing basketball, track and field, and being generally active I always had nice arms and legs but since puberty I’ve had a belly resembling the end of first trimester pregnancy. In the last few years I started looking heavier despite eating healthier, and could not drop the weight.
-When i was 28 I developed a lesion on my chest that kept growing bigger and bigger. Steroid creams made it go away, but it always returned intermittently.
-feeling exhausted and drained most hours of the day
-needing to eat every few hours and feeling constant hunger
-irritable, bitchy moods
-periodontitis, receding gumline
-persistently stinky underarms
The turning point came when I found a wonderful naturopath and I was at a point in my life where i was tired of being sick and tired and willing to make serious changes. For my allergic rhinitis we tested for IgG antibodies and the following foods came up: milk, cane sugar, tomatoes, corn, and some others, so she suggested I avoid those. In following this elimination diet, I had thought my previous diet was healthy but I didn’t realized how far I had drifted over time, and just how much sugar I was consuming.
The first three weeks were THE WORST. Constant cravings, yearning for sugar around the clock. Salivating when I saw my friend eat an ice cream sandwich. Wanting to give up, but moreso wanting to give the diet an honest chance b/c I knew if I continued eating like I had been, nothing would changed. I gorged on honey butter toast and apples to feed the craving. It took two weeks to notice any difference in my health, but then I noticed I wasn’t as congested and I could actually breathe through my nose for hours at a time. After three painstaking weeks of starting the diet, I started to notice the sugar cravings becoming weaker and more bearable.
2 months in, this is what I wrote in my journal:
-66% reduction in nasal congestion, snot, sneezing
-better face skin, less pink and inflamed
-better poops, less soiling
-Wetter sex and higher sex drive
-A lot less severity and frequency of the hangry
-lost 5-7 lbs
-cleaner feeling teeth
-brighter, happier mood
As I was able to breath normally more regularly and not sick all the time, I noticed honey, dried fruit, and coconut sugar all triggered my sneezing and congestion. Around the 3 month mark I decided to cut all sugars out besides fresh/frozen fruit. I still have cravings, and I don’t know if they will every fully disappear, but it’s fine if they don’t b/c they are MUCH weaker and easier to ignore. 3 months in my blood glucose tested at 80, I’ve never seen it that low, I usually have 87-95 levels.
I stumbled upon Dr. Robert Lustig’s work on Youtube, read his book Metabolical, and now I’m on Fat Chance. Studying his work has been life-changing for me… Sugar IS poison- this is not a hyperbole. I suspect I had insulin resistance which interfered with my leptin signaling which is why I felt hungry all the time, despite eating every few hours. After cutting sugar, there were several weeks where I felt full and satiated despite only consuming 1000 calories or less each day. The excess belly weight melted off (without exercise), likely due to my leptin signaling being restored. When I reached 140 lbs my hunger returned and I began to consume a normal amount of calories again. (TLDR for Dr. Lustig’s explanation: When you eat a lot of sugar, you develop insulin resistance, which causes leptin resistance (the hormone that tells your brain you’re full, you don’t need to eat, you have enough energy and the body can go into "burning” mode). If you’re brain can’t see your leptin, it doesn’t know you're fat and thinks you are starving and need to go into “energy storage" mode.)
85% of my diet now is meats (pasture-raised), fish, vegetables, nuts and seeds, sheep yogurt, avocados, avocado oil, ghee. I don’t count calories. I eat until I am full. I consume fats, saturated fats and proteins without abandon. I am mindful of my carbs, including starch. Sugar is a hard no with few exceptions, e.g. coconut aminos b/c it adds a ton of flavor to dishes and I don’t binge on it. Society loves to preach “everything in moderation” but the truth is most of us suck at moderation. For me personally, it’s easier to have clearly-defined rules and not have to endure decision fatigue deciding if you can afford to eat this or that b/c I always find some way to justify it and there goes another pint of Ben and Jerry’s. For the first time in my adult life, I feel good about my stomach and can see my ab lines forming. I weigh 137 lbs, less than what I weighed in the 8th grade.
My tips on what worked for me to beat this nasty addiction:
Motivation: Keep a food journal. Can be what you ate that day, your motivations for quitting, improvement in symptoms, successes, failures, your measurements, weight. Don’t feel obligated to write in it, only when you notice something worth documenting. When I have moments of weakness, I read my entries to remember I’ve been here before and I know how things will turn out if I eat sugar.
Strategy: Rather than an all-or-nothing approach, cut out different classes of sugars one at a time: e.g. all cane sugar, then coconut sugar, then honey and maple syrup. Tailor this to whatever your specific sugar-reduction goals are.
Mindset: Get the idea out of your mind that if you accidentally ate something with sugar or if you caved and intentionally ate sugar that your whole diet is ruined so you might as well throw in the towel. That is a sneaky mind trick to get you to return to your old ways. Falling off the horse does not cancel out all the prior wins you’ve achieved. As soon as you become mindful and/or have reestablished control of the craving, begin again.
For all of you with doubts if this is worth it. It unequivocally, absolutely was for me. I’m never going back. I’m not willing to be a slave to my cravings and not have energy and be a mouth-breather. Sugar may be derived from natural sources, but the end product is not natural; it is a highly concentrated and purified product that is dangerous independent of its calories- it wreaks havoc on our hormones that control weight, hunger and satiety.
IF YOU CAN GET THROUGH THE FIRST FEW WEEKS YOU WILL BEAT THIS.

KT Tape seems to be working for my PF. Please watch the video about how to apply for best results.
I’ve been dealing with a severe PF tear for 6 months. I won’t go into the details of trying to convince my doctor something was wrong and the delays to get into PT and then an MRI and then to see a specialist. Of course the surgeon recommended surgery.
A friend mentioned that they taped their knees when they had to fly and that it really helped. I was picking up a prescription for Tramadol when I noticed a KT Tape display in the pharmacy. I thought why not try this. Well after a day my foot felt better. 4 days later and I can take my dogs for a walk without using a cane! So far so good.

Hey guys! This is a script of a battle from a fan roster I came up with, and my friend made some drawings of. Some things might be obvious in this, but I'll explain anyways. Text in italics, like this, means it's an action. A name in brackets like [THIS], with a colon after, means it's what someone is saying, their name being in the brackets. Anyone with an (S) after their name is a spectator who is speaking, not someone in the arena.
Anubis's Spectators:

• Amon-Ra
• Tefnut
• Ptah
• Osiris

Sun Tzu's Spectators:

• Genghis Khan
• Shizhen
• Zheng He
• Confucius
• Helu

The following is the actual story. Please enjoy!

An announcer’s voice echoes throughout the stadium. A voice not heard in centuries.
[ANNOUNCER]: I am honored to announce to the god and human spectators alike… the first round of Ragnarok!
Millions of cheers echoed throughout the stadiums, both by the gods and the humans.
[ANNOUNCER]: Our first contestants are entering the arena! On the gods’ side, you know him, you love him, Anubis!
From one of the two large gates leading to the arena, a dazzling man outfitted with jewelry and a crook steps out. Most prominently is what seems to be the skull of a wolf covering his face. Under what can be seen, Anubis seems to be attempting to hold back a laugh.
[ANNOUNCER]: Most well known for being the youngest god in all of Egypt, Anubis protected the graves of commoners and pharaohs alike!
Time flashes to the past. Anubis is younger, yet not a child, outfitted only in simple rags with his signature crook. He seems to have been trekking through a desert, but has reached his location of a small town. He walks up to the largest building he sees, and knocks on it.
[ANUBIS]: Anyone hoooome~?
The door swings open. The building seems to be a hostel. In front of Anubis is a young man, and behind the young man is a woman behind the counter. The man introduces himself as ‘Eman’.
[ANUBIS]: Nice t’meetcha, Eman!
Anubis smiled with childlike joy.
[EMAN]: Nice to meet you too. The man nodded. What can I do for you?
[ANUBIS]: I’d like ‘ta rent a room, please! Also, pardon my invasiveness, but that wouldn’t happen to be your wife, would it? Anubis pointed at the woman behind the desk.
Eman gave a hearty laugh.
[EMAN]: Of course, who else would she be?
Eman leaned in next to Anubis, bringing his voice to a whisper.
[EMAN]: She doesn’t want me to be telling people but… she’s going to have our child soon!
Anubis clapped and smiled.
[ANUBIS]: That’s wonderful!
Anubis proceeded to pay for his room and lay in the bed. He waited until the sun had set, and the town was dark. He stepped out into the middle of the town and held his crook upright.
Anubis was not born as the god of protecting the dead, nor did he choose to become it. He was born without a title, and cast down to Egypt, where he was expected to find himself. After being cast to Earth, Anubis discovered his hatred of humans. For decades he would wander Egypt, punishing humans town to town. How many humans he killed is unknown. All that remains is that his actions were known as the Ten Great Plagues of Egypt.
[ANUBIS]: I curse these people. By my power as a god, may they rot.
Anubis proceeds to hold his crook up for several more minutes. The town buildings into flames, then a beam of light appears from the sky. He seems to know what this means, as he smirks and shakes his head.
From the light, a man wearing the skull of a large bird appears. The god known as Amon-Ra.
[RA]: Anubis. You continue acting like a child. When will you realize you have responsibilities?
[ANUBIS]: You told me to find out what purpose I serve as god. This is my purpose.
[RA]: Indiscriminately killing humans?
From the hostel, a loud banging noise can be heard. Anubis looks towards it and sees Eman slamming on a window, attempting to escape. He scowls.
[ANUBIS]: What’s wrong with that?
[RA]: That is the job of a human, not a god. I’ll ask you once more, what god do you wish to serve as?
[ANUBIS]: The god of death.
[RA]: Too late for that. Osiris has that job. You know that.
[ANUBIS]: Then I don’t want to ‘serve’ as a god. I’ll just be a god.
[RA]: This is not an offer, this is an order. You must serve as a god.
[ANUBIS]: Leave me, Amon-Ra. I have no interest.
Amon-Ra sneers.
[RA]: Then I shall choose your godhood for you. You shall protect those of the dead. Those who you have killed, and more.
[ANUBIS]: You bastard…
Anubis’s role as guardian of the dead was merely a punishment by the god Amon-Ra to put him in his place. As a result, his hatred was redirected from Ra, to humans. Every human he had to protect was his own personal hell. Time flashes back to the future.
[ANNOUNCER]: Would you look at that folks? Anubis is brimming with excitement.
Anubis’s face distorts into a devilish smile. He whispers to himself under his breath.
[ANUBIS]: The first time I’ve been able to kill a human in so long…
[ANNOUNCER]: We can’t give all of the attention to our god however, as our human contestant is entering the arena! Known as a master of war, even proclaimed the guardian of humanity… Sun Tzu!
Sun Tzu enters the arena. He seems disheveled. Upon further inspection, there is a light missing from his eyes. Time flashes to the past again.
540 BCE, China. After the Battle of Bi, tens of millions of citizens were left without food. Millions were left dead. Families were ravaged most of all by the destruction caused. Sun Tzu, only four years old, had been left with no family at all. He lived in the slums of the city, with his only way of eating being to beg.
[TZU]: Ah, please! Does anyone have food?
A crowd rushed by Tzu. Hundreds of people, ignoring his calls. Tzu had always viewed his life as meaningless, but surely people wouldn’t run away from him.
[TZU]: Where are they going..?
Tzu followed the crowd and discovered a government official giving a royal decree.
[OFFICIAL]: His majesty Helu orders the body of one young human. Your family will be compensated for the departing of your loved one, but you must realize it is for the greater good of the state.
The crowd goes silent. No one offers up anything.
[TZU]: I… I will! I offer myself!
The crowd parted, allowing the official to see the young Tzu.
[OFFICIAL]: Oh, no young one… His majesty Helu is requesting a deceased body.
Tzu’s face remained unchanged.
[TZU]: I know that... Please, let me do this! Let me do this for my people!
The official showed a face of unsureness, and spoke to his advisor, who looked at Tzu and gave a nod.
The officials took Tzu off on a long voyage back to the emperor’s castle. After 33 days, Tzu was put before the emperor Helu.
[HELU]: What is this? I didn’t want a slave. I need the bones, not the human.
[OFFICIAL]: He was the only one who volunteered. He said he was okay with being killed, your majesty.
[HELU]: Volunteered? Not only that, but he’s willing to die?
Tzu looked up at the emperor and nodded.
[TZU]: I have nothing but my country, emperor. Please, let me do this.
Helu sat up from his throne and walked up to the boy. He looked deep into his eyes, then shook his head.
[HELU]: You are incorrect, boy. You have your nobility. I will not allow you to die.
[TZU]: But-
[HELU]: You shall become part of my family. Do not misunderstand, you will never be recognized as a royal, nor will you be in the line of succession, but you will be under my care.
Tzu’s eyes widened. He began to cry. After his family’s death, he found no use in crying. A waste of energy. Yet, now he couldn’t seem to do anything but it.
Twelve years from then, by not just the effort of the emperor, but Tzu himself, Tzu led his first army into battle. Tzu would go on to lead thousands more soldiers into battle. Out of the forty-five battles he had ever been in, the only one he had lost was one he was a bystander in, at four years old.
Time flashes to the present.
Tzu stumbles onto the stage.
[ANNOUNCER]: Sun Tzu seems to have the shakes already! Could it be that he had a few drinks before the match?
Anubis stares into Tzu’s soul.
[ANUBIS]: (to himself) No… That’s not it. There’s something off about him. I can’t tell.
[HELU (S)]: What’s wrong with him?
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: Shell shock, PTSD, who knows?
Tzu’s valkyrie, Gleipnir, runs next to him.
[GLEPNIR]: Tzu! Are you alright? Listen, if you don’t think you’re ready-
Tzu gives a half-hearted smile.
[TZU]: I’m more ready than I’ve ever been. Let's do this.
He grabs her hand, and in a flash of light she turns into a crossbow. The bolts of the crossbow surge with electricity.
[ANNOUNCER]: And… Begin!
Tzu’s hands shake as he grabs a bolt from his sheaf and places it into his crossbow.
[ANUBIS]: What’s wrong with you, gramps? For such a legendary fighter, you seem no more than a scared child, honestly.
The audience makes a collective sound of intrigue. Tzu shakes his head.
[ANUBIS]: You fought in tens of battles. Did you ever act like this? Is a god simply too much?
Laughs sprout from the audience of the gods, while the humans look on in horror.
[AUDIENCE]: This guy’s representing humanity..? No way… We’re screwed.
Tzu lets out a cowardice laugh, and flings his arms in the air.
[TZU]: You got me. But, wouldn’t you be scared too? To know your enemy is to know yourself, and I don’t know a damn thing about gods.
As Tzu puts his arms back down, he fires a rouge shot at Anubis, hitting him in the shoulder. Anubis gasps, shocked at Tzu’s skullduggery.
[CONFUCIUS (S)]: He who hits the first shot shall win. Tzu’s victory is determined in fate now.
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: We will see.
[HELU (S)]: Shouldn’t you be cheering for him? He’s on our side, at the end of the day.
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: I am but a realist.
[ANUBIS]: T-That was a lucky shot. I just had my guard down.
Anubis attempts to run forward, but stops himself. As the bolt surges electricity through him though, he follows through with his dash towards Tzu.
Tzu stumbles to dodge Anubis’s advance as he reloads his crossbow.
[ANUBIS]: It’s kinda sad, y’know? I took pleasure in killing people, but this? This just feels like I’m trying to stomp out a dog.
Tzu’s hands shake, approaching his own crossbow.
[TZU]: There is no pleasure in the taking of lives. It is a last resort, and any man who does it of his own will should be ashamed.
[ANUBIS]: For me there is.
Amon-Ra’s scoff can be heard from the audience.
Tzu grabs his bolt on his crossbow, surging electricity throughout his body.
Anubis gives a mixed expression of confusion, yet excitement.
[ANUBIS]: Is this guy insane?
Tzu looks up with a newfound confidence.
[TZU]: I didn’t spend my life fighting millions so I could cower when I met someone slightly stronger. Even if my body isn’t ready, my mind always is.
[ANUBIS]: I see… Then this will be fun.
Anubis dashes towards Tzu again, swinging his crook rapidly. Tzu dodges back.
[ANUBIS]: You can’t keep running!
[TZU]: Everything is fair in war, no?
Genghis Khan laughs in agreement from the stands while the other audience members look at him in horror.
Anubis throws his crook at Tzu, hitting his left leg and sliding back to Anubis. A small black patch appears on the area it hit.
[TZU]: What is this..?
[ANUBIS]: That’s your leg. It’s rotting. Anything my crook touches rots.
Anubis holds his crook to the sky, looking at it with an indiscernible expression.
[TZU]: If you think this means your victory, you have already lost… This is nothing.
[ANUBIS]: Oh really? Because it’s quite a shame. That leg will probably be gone soon, you know? The rot spreads quite fast.
[TZU]: I only need one.
[ANUBIS]: Minute? Or leg?
Tzu smirks and fires his crossbow, hitting Anubis in the stomach.
[TZU]: Both.
Anubis rips out the bolt and jumps towards Tzu, backing him into a corner and quickly closing the distance between them. Tzu begins fidgeting with his crossbow
[ANUBIS]: Don’t surrender now. I haven’t even gotten to the best part.
The entire stadium begins rumbling. Anubis holds his cane to the sky once again.
[ANUBIS]: You’re a good enough fighter to cause me a little trouble. So I’ll use it.
[ANNOUNCER]: It seems like Anubis is enacting some sort of grand finisher move… What could he be doing?!
[ANUBIS]: The Plagues of Egypt!
The entire arena becomes clouded in a dark thunderstorm.
[AUDIENCE]: What’s going on?
[RA (S)]: Here he goes again…
[TEFNUT (S)]: You think too little of him, Amon-Ra.
[RA (S)]: No matter what happens in this battle, he will always be a failure of a god.
An open gash appears on Tzu’s side, then a wound on his chest, then another, and another.
[ANNOUNCER]: It seems like Anubis’s move is opening all of Sun Tzu’s old wounds!
[ANUBIS]: I’ve brought back all of your old mistakes… Welcome to Hell.
Tzu gives a weak laugh.
[TZU]: This? This is nothing.
Gleipnir manifests next to Tzu.
[TZU]: I need you to lend me your strength, Gleipnir.
[GLEIPNIR]: I’m sorry, Tzu, but I cannot heal your wounds.
[TZU]: All I need you to do is make sure I keep producing blood, I can’t die of blood exhaustion, that’s pathetic.
[GLEIPNIR]: That I can do.
Tzu takes blood from his wounds and spills it on the ground.
[ANUBIS]: What’s that? Some human tradition or something? You’re trapped either way.
Tzu shakes his head.
[TZU]: Always offer your opponent an out, lest they get desperate.
Tzu fires three consecutive bolts into Anubis’s waist and leg. Anubis lets out a groan of pain.
[TZU]: While you were summoning your plagues, I modified my crossbow to become a repeater! Amidst chaos, there is opportunity; you should know.
Zheng He nods in agreement from the crowd.
Anubis lets out an exasperated laugh.
[ANUBIS]: Then I suppose it was an equal trade. Check your neck.
Tzu wipes his fingers on his neck to discover it too has begun turning back.
[ANUBIS]: You ran past me, but I managed to clothesline you with my crook. You probably don’t have any more than two minutes until it reaches your brain.
[TZU]: Then let this be a declaration of my will to live.
Tzu proceeds to take his last bolt from his pouch and cast it into the abyss. He puts his crossbow on his back.
[TZU]: I will defeat you with no more than my fists and my mind. You must be ready to put everything on the line to win.
[CONFUCIUS (S)]: What… is he doing?
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: He realized it. If he can’t win the war physically, he must win it mentally first.
Anubis throws his crook to the ground and dashes towards Tzu, grabbing him by the throat with his claws.
[ANUBIS]: Out of all of the humans I have killed… You were truly the most fun.
Before Anubis can kill him, Tzu hits Anubis in his kidney, causing him to fall to the ground.
[TZU]: Thank you, but our battle is not over yet.
Anubis laughs on the ground as he writhes in the pain.
[TZU]: You must continue to fight me. I cannot defeat you like this.
Anubis stumbles to his feet.
[ANUBIS]: You could’ve stomped on my head while I was on the ground… You could’ve finished me.
[TZU]: That is not how battles are to be won. It should be won with a fight of all of the power. Not just my power, but yours too.
[ANUBIS]: All of my power, huh? No, I think this is just enough.
Anubis walks towards the unarmed Tzu, and deals a kick to his chest, audibly shattering multiple ribs. Tzu’s blood spills everywhere. Anubis attempts to wipe it off his shoes.
Blood spills from Tzu’s mouth.
Tzu doesn’t move.
[SHIZHEN (S)]: You don’t think he’s…
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: Impossible! You think of him weak? If that was enough to kill him, he would already be dead.
[ZHENG HE (S)]: Get up, Tzu!
[CONFUCIUS (S)]: As long as you have us, you are not defeated, Tzu.
[HELU (S)]: Remember that boy who attempted to throw away his life! I didn’t let it happen then, I won't let it happen now! Fight, Tzu!
A bead of blood drops from Tzu’s head.
[TZU]: I know…
Tzu coughs.
[TZU]: I know that’s not your all!
The audience cheers for Tzu.
Anubis scoffs, and stands over Tzu menacingly.
[ANUBIS]: (reaching toward Tzu) When will you realize I’m not giving you-
Within less than a second, Tzu swiftly grabs Anubis’s left hand and breaks his wrist cleanly.
Anubis falls flat on his back, crying out in pain.
[PTAH (S)]: This is… embarrassing.
[RA (S)]: Pathetic, if anything.
[ANNOUNCER]: It looks like… Sun Tzu has totally immobilized Anubis’s left hand!
After a few seconds, he gains his footing.
[ANUBIS]: F-Forgive me for underestimating you, old man. But please, allow me to call you by your name.
[TZU]: I am Sun Tzu, Master of War.
[ANUBIS]: Sun Tzu, I give you my word, I will make this quick.
Anubis slams his crook into the ground and closes his eyes, he begins humming.
[ANNOUNCER]: What could this be? Is Anubis meditating?
The clouds from before begin to reappear. Droplets of blood begin raining from the sky. The moat surrounding the arena quickly turns blood red.
From the moat, a massive snake rises. Its eyes pour with blood. Anubis steps towards it.
[ANUBIS]: Shhh… Child of the Duat… Lend me your power.
The snake begins to dissolve, and Anubis turns back around. As he does so, his eyes can be seen pouring a black, viscous, liquid.
[ANUBIS]: Human… You have inconvenienced me greatly… So how about a deal? I’ll bring you Unyielding Death.
[OSIRIS (S)]: ‘Unyielding Death’, huh? Never heard of that before.
[RA (S)]: I believe he mentioned it to me before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen him use it. He takes the strength of one of his undead creatures. If he kills anyone when he’s like that, they are sent to a personal Hell he created for them.
[TEFNUT (S)]: (scoffs) That cocky bastard. He doesn’t need to do this, he just gets some joy out of it.
Anubis dashes towards Tzu again, but this time differing. His dash was hasteful, over in a blink. He had used his claws to slice Tzu’s knees, causing him to fall to the floor.
[ANUBIS]: Death doesn’t come that fast, though.
Anubis takes his claws and begins to burrow them in Tzu’s neck.
[ZHENG HE (S)]: That bastard! He’s never taken a life honorably ever, has he?
[TZU]: You coward… Even as a god against a human, you couldn’t have an honorable fight?
[ANUBIS]: Honorable? You threw that out when you fired that shot at me. I was unprepared!
[TZU]: Yet it was your fault… (Tzu wails in pain) T-The round had already started.
[ANUBIS]: Either way, I have no concern for ‘honor’. Especially not against a human.
[TZU]: If you abandon honor, then so too must I.
Tzu quickly takes out his crossbow and loads it with a hidden arrow he had put under his sleeve. He fires it, but it misses and flies off into the sky.
The audience goes silent.
[HELU (S)]: No… No way…
Genghis Khan holds a solemn expression on his face.
[SHIZHEN (S)]: That’s it… I only wish I could say he fought honorably to the bitter end.
Anubis lets out a wicked laugh.
[ANUBIS]: You had me going there for a second man! I really thought you had an ace, but nope!
Tzu’s blood begins seeping from his neck, slowly weakening him.
[TZU]: Anubis… Do you know what trigonometry is?
[ANUBIS]: … Why the hell would I know what that is?
[OSIRIS (S)]: What is Anubis doing? He should kill him right here and now.
[PTAH (S)]: It’s one of his pitfalls. He’s too damn curious.
[TZU]: It’s a human invention. I only learned about it after I was summoned for Ragnarok. It didn’t exist when I was alive.
[ANUBIS]: Yeah, yeah? So? What’s the point here? Are you forgetting you’re on borrowed time?
Anubis pushes his claws deeper into Tzu’s neck, getting closer to his artery.
[TZU]: I-It’s the concept of triangles, and it allows you to calculate things like trajectory. Does it not make you mad you don’t know something that humans do?
Genghis Khan’s eyes widened, as if he had figured out something.
[HELU (S)]: What’s he doing?
[CONFUCIUS (S)]: Filibustering for his last moments alive, I believe.
[GENGHIS KHAN (S)]: That’s not it… He’s doing something… This match isn’t determined yet!
[ANUBIS]: No… It makes me happy, if anything. Humans waste their time doing stupid things like that, while I have no purpose to learn it.
[TZU]: It was used by men who launched cannon balls from cannons, though. Couldn’t it help you protect yourself from things like that?
[ANUBIS]: When would I ever get hit by a-
Anubis coughs up blood as a bolt goes into his back, barely stopping before the heart.
[ANUBIS]: W-What… I thought you only had… one..? Where… did that come from?
[TZU]: That was my ‘one’. I calculated its trajectory, and from that I knew it would come back and hit you, dead on.
[ANUBIS]: Guess that… didn’t work out how you… thought though, right? ‘Cause… I’m still alive.
[TZU]: That is your problem. You are too quick to expect results. You must learn to let time take its course.
[ANUBIS]: What the Hell is that meant to-
Before Anubis can say another word, Tzu’s bolts deliver a lethal dose of electricity into Anubis’s heart, killing him instantly. Anubis begins to fade away.
[RA (S)]: I told you from the beginning. He’s a failure.
[PTAH (S)]: A failure to the humans, not to us.
[TEFNUT (S)]: Rest your soul, Anubis. You fought valiantly.
[ANUBIS]: You… I curse you, Sun Tzu! I curse you to the deepest pits of Hell! You think you’re better than me?! I am a god, you ingrate human!
Anubis fully fades away, leaving the audience speechless, but most of all the announcer.
[ANNOUNCER]: I’m shocked by the words leaving my mouth but… the humans… have won the first round of Ragnarok!

Lately, I've been following this trend where people mix fruit and sugar, allow it to mingle for a few days, and watch it transform into this amazing syrup that can be used in a variety of ways. With a few apples lying around in my kitchen, I had a light bulb moment: What if I tried this same concept with apples, but add some cinnamon along with the mix to make an apple pie type syrup that would be perfect for making drinks and baking? So, naturally, I had to give it a try. After experimenting with this syrup in several different drinks, I found it to be an absolute game-changer when paired with matcha! Here, I'll share with you how to make the syrup and ultimately make what I am calling an "apple pie matcha latte". Enjoy!
Video recipe for those that are interested.
Apple Pie Syrup Ingredients:
- 1 part apple
- 1 part cane sugar
- 1 tsp (4 g) cinnamon
Apple Pie Syrup Directions:

1. Cut the apple into small little pieces and add to a jar.
   
2. Add the cinnamon.
   
3. Muddle the apples a bit to draw out some of the juices.
   
4. Add in the sugar and give it a good mix.
   
5. Allow it to sit in the refridgerator for 48-72 hours and it should turn into a syrup.
   

Apple Pie Matcha Latte Ingredients:
- 1 tsp (3 g) matcha powder
- 2 oz (60g) hot water (176F/80C)
- 1 cup (240 g) high quality milk
- 1 cup (240 g) ice
- 2-3 spoons of the apple pie syrup
Apple Pie Matcha Latte Directions

1. Sift the matcha powder through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
   
2. Add the hot water and whisk until frothy.
   
3. Add 2-3 spoons of the syrup into a cup.
   
4. Add the ice, followed by the milk, and frothy matcha.
   
5. Stir and enjoy!
   

Cheers!

Today, just like I do every Saturday, I pushed myself to make it into town (about a mile) and then did the same thing coming home. I had my compression stockings on and held my husband's hand for support and momentum.
However, looking back over the last several weeks, I've been taking our walks slower, and slower with more pain and shortness of breath than I had in February.
So once we were home and I struggled to get out of the torture device that are those compression stockings, I basically said the following:
"I really don't want to admit this, but I think I won't be able to take our walks much longer."
My husband's response? "I figured."
He knows how much I struggle, and what once took us maybe 30 to 40 minutes to walk one way takes over an hour now.
Not to mention the fact that I love visiting our local retro game shop and talking to the staff since it's a special interest of mine (autism) and it's one of the only joys I have left thanks to the switch. This is an issue as I need to stand in place for a while, so it's even more taxing on my body (and the shop isn't large enough to fit something like a wheelchair).
I can get an ability aid like a cane. I could pay $10 to uber one way. But then I will lose the only intimate time me and my husband have by holding hands and seeing all the birds and flowers.
It's so disheartening. I keep trying to find something else that might be wrong with me, but even if I get all of my lab numbers back up, it won't fully cure me of this disease.
By pushing myself the way I'd been, I'm only fooling myself and making things worse.