Has anyone had a direct deposit posted to their account in the last day or so or has it been returned? Payday is tomorrow and I am a tad anxious.
HR said my new direct deposit wouldn’t go into effect until our next payday and they are watching for my deposit to be returned. I’m not sure anyone knows what to expect at this point but I cannot help but wonder what happens to our paychecks. Are they going to get kicked back? Lost in limbo like all of the withdrawals?

Hello fellow Brisbanians!

It's (almost) that time of week again. What are you doing this weekend?
Looks like it's market week across Brisbane. Some markets have specified being cashless. Some may ask for a gold coin donation - it's always wise to take *some* cash/change to a market day.
Personal pick of the week has to be the The Temporary Route Tour by the Transport Museum - I'm an anorak at heart. Don't forget to take a Boogie Break this Saturday afternoon. Boys - Free Men's BBQ at New Farm Park on Sunday. Get warmed up for the weekend with Women's Origin this Thursday.
There are some gaps on the list - Thursday needs fleshing out. Also missing are some live/local music and smaller sports clubs. As time goes on, I should hope to find more of these events for this list. There's also a plethora of local pubs doing all kinds of things throughout the week - does your local stand out above the rest? Let us know.
As always, feedback is welcome - and don't forget to check the comments for any events I've missed!

About Me

I do this for, firstly, it's nice to do something for your community and secondly, a wee bit of market research. I hope to get myself in to the events business after 20 years of working in, on and around food and beverage service. Until then, I'm half-employed - working the NRL this weekend, as a guard. (Please be nice! I'm nice. And bring your ID!) I also sell movies on eBay - the list is short until I can fully develop a disc cleaning process to offer a proper Playback Guarantee for the physical media fans. Lastly, I'm hoping to join the Australian Self-Employment Scheme soon in an effort to get out of the dole hole - for good. Until then, you're welcome - but you're under no obligation to - donate via PayPal.
Let's get on with it.

Thursday

What: Women's State of Origin Where: Suncorp Stadium When: Thurs, Gates at 1815 Price: From $20 Tickets: https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=WORIGIN124

Friday

What: Brookfield Show Where: Brookfield Showground When: Fri 0900 - Sun 1800 Price: From $30 Tickets: https://www.brookfieldshow.com.au/shop/
What: NRL Magic Round - SOLD OUT Where: Suncorp Stadium All Weekend. Details: https://suncorpstadium.com.au/what-s-on.aspx
What: Ipswich Show Where: Ipswich Showgrounds When: Fri, Sat, Sun Price: From $25 Adult Ticket: https://www.ipswichshow.com.au/purchase-tickets
What: Local's Weekend Where: Brighton Hotel When: Fri - Sun Bookings Recommended - https://brightonhotelmotel.com.au/events/locals-weekend/
What: Town and Country - Country Music Festival Where: Regatta Hotel - 543 Coronation Drive When: Fri 1500 - Sun 2000 Price: Free Entry https://regattahotel.com.au/events/town-and-country/
What: Brazilian Styles Dance Workshop Where: 163 Boundary Street, West End When: Fri 1930 - 2330 Price: from $10 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/friday-night-mixed-brazilian-styles-social-night-with-samba-workshop-tickets-894096866797
What: Hanksy Motorcycles and Hans Coffee Cup Cafe Where: 13/58 Bullockhead St, Sumner When: Fri - 1730 - 2130 Price: Free
What: Brookfield Show Where: Brookfield Showground When: Fri - 1800 Price: From $30 Adults Tickets: www.brookfieldshow.com.au

Saturday

What: Paniyiri Greek Festival Where: Musgrave Park When: Sat 1200 - Sun 2100 Price: From about $17 Ticket: https://tickets.paniyiri.com/outlet/event/a293ee70-d8d1-4da4-9201-a170f6f385d2
What: Distillery Road Market Where: 124 Distillery Road, Eagleby When: Sat 0900 - Sun 1600 Price: From $18 Ticket: https://www.thecollectorsmarket.com.au/event-details/the-collectors-market-may-2024
What: CaBBaret Shine Bright Like A Diamond Where: The Rosie Theatre When: Sat 1800 - 2200 Price: From $25 Ticket: https://events.humanitix.com/cabbaret-shine-bright-like-a-diamond
What: Warehouse Clearance Furniture Sale Where: 72 Donaldson Rd. Rocklea When: Sat 0900 - Sun 1600 Price: Free
What: What We Design Market Where: Coorparoo Square When: Sat 0900 - 1300 Price: ?
What: Doggo Day Where: Vend Virginia When: Sat 0900 - 1300 Price: ?
What: Food Truck Night Market Where: Mt Gravatt Showgrounds When: Sat 1600 - 2100 Price: $3 Adult Entry Ticket: On the door
What: A Night At The Museum Where: QLD Museum When: Sat 1715 - 2030 Price: Family Tickets $115 - Cashless Event Ticket: https://qm.t.qtix.com.au/qm/events/018a4549-e927-08f4-a97e-5ea613e044b0
What: Carseldine Market Where: 532 Beams Road, Carseldine When: Sat - 0600 - 1200 Price: ?
What: Pawfect Day on the Green - My Crosby Markets Where: 770 Mount Crosby Road When: Sat 0900 - 1400 Price: ?
What: The Temporary Route Tour - Transport Museum Where: Muller Road, Adelaide St or Gympie Rd When: Sat - 0715 Price: $20pp - Bring lunch money Ticket: Call QOCS Member Peter Donaro on 0476 838 012
What: Modern Jive in the Wild Where: Kangaroo Point Lower River Terrace When: Sat 1430 - 1730 Price: FREE Ticket: Come and go as you please
What: Southside Collective Markets Where: 270 Kelvin Grove When: Sat 0800 - 1200 Price: ?
What: Eight Mile Plains Satellite Hospital - Open Day Where: 59 Levington Road, Eight Mile Plains When: Sun - 1000-1300 Price: Free - TOURS BOOKED OUT Ticket: https://pahospital.eventsair.com/eight-mile-plains-satellite-hospital/reg/Site/Register
What: Slow Food Market Where: 44 Wolverhampton St, Stafford When: Sat 0730 - 1200 Price: ?
What: Cars and Coffee Where: 107 Fison Ave, Eagle Farm When: Sat - 0630 Price: ?
What: Weaving is Healing - Two Day Workshop Where: 152 Mt. Coot Tha, Mt. Coot Tha When: Sat - 1030 - Sun - 1530 Price: $220 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/weaving-is-healing-two-day-weekend-workshop-brisbane-part-1-tickets-849242526257
What: Ars Nova to Impressionism - One Equal Music Where: St. Brigids Church When: Sat - 1900 Price: U30 $30 - Adults $60 Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1177930
What: Clay Class and Speed Dating - BYO - AGE: 25-37 Where: Wesley Taylor Art Studios When: Sat - 1830 Price: $49 Tickets: https://ignitesocialbrisbane.com.au/event/clayspeeddating/
What: Napoleon Champagne Dinner Where: TAMA Dining, 740 Ann St When: Sat 1900 - 2200 Price: From $299 Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/napoleon-champagne-dinner
What: TeamMoto Kawasaki Demo Day Where: 2 Kensal St, Moorooka When: Sat 1000 - 1400 Price: ? Tickets: https://www.teammoto.com.au/blog/teammoto-kawasaki-demo-days/6669/
What: Lions vs Richmond When: Sat Where: The Gabba Tickets: https://thegabba.com.au/Events/Brisbane-Lions-v-Richmond-(2).aspx.aspx)

Sunday

NB: Many markets are still accepting vendors. Contact directly.
What: Adoption Day at PetBarn Where: 2021 Wynnum Road, Shop B4, Wynnum Plaza When: Sun - 1000 - 1500 Price: Free
What: Bowl Carving Workshop - SOLD OUT Where: Armoured Heaven, Station Road, Yeerongpilly When: Sun - 1300 - 1600 Price: $160 Tickets: https://plantempire.com.au/collections/workshops/products/bowl-carving-workshop-19-may-2024
What: Walking in Wartime Where: Museum of Brisbane When: Sun - 1030 - 1200 Price: $25 Adult Tickets: https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/walking-in-wartime/
What: Redcliffe Markets - Stone Tree Collection Where: 79 Redcliffe Pde When: Sun 0800 - 1400 Price: ?
What: Little Monsters @ Netherworld Where: Netherworld, Fortitude Valley When: Sun 930 - 1130 Price: $10p/p Tickets: https://www.netherworldarcade.com/event/little-monsters-3/
What: UQ Social Runners Club Where: New Farm Park When: Sun - 0700 Price: ? Tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScY8N9vovDDEpSPqSn-_FWObazs58r6j-0qhrwLowOrfwGZOA/viewform
What: Spice World Where: New Farm Cinema When: Sun - 1600 Price: $14 - $19 Tickets: https://www.fivestarcinemas.com.au/new-farm/movie/spice-world-the-movie
What: Free BBQ for Men Where: New Farm Park When: Sun 1030 - 1200 Price: Free Ticket: None. RSVP FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1002051341045618/1002051371045615/?active_tab=about
What: Valampuri's Exhibition & Sale (Indian Retail) Where: Darra Motel & Conference Centre When: Sun 0930 - 1600 Price: Free Ticket: None - RSVP FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1175219386750361/
What: Main Street Orion - Springfield Markets Where: Orion Springfield Central When: Sun 0900 Price: ? Ticket: None
What: Japanese Sunday Market Where: 123 Charlotte St When: Every Sunday from 1000 Price: Free Ticket: None
What: The Curated Market Where: Floor 10, 53 Vernon Tce, Teneriffe When: Sun 0800 - 1100 Price: $5 Cashless Event Ticket: On the door
What: Suitcase Rummage Where: Brisbane Square When: Sun 1200 - 1700 Price: Free to attend Ticket: None (as buyer)
What: Vintage Exchange Market Where: 102 McDonald Road, Windsor When: Sun 0900 - 1400 Price: ? Cash Welcome
What: Slowly Made Locals Market Where: 37 Collingwood Street, Albion When: Sun 0800 - 1500 Price: ?
What: Winter Warmers Pop-Up - I Want A Greyhound Where: 9 Saint Amand St, Sinnamon Park When: Sun - 0900 Price: ?
What: Her Wardrobe Markets Where: Mt Gravatt Showgrounds When: Sun 0800 - 1200 Price: Free Ticket: None, www.herwardrobe.com for more info
What: PX Model Swap and Sell Where: Albany Creek State School When: Sun - 0900 - 1300 Price: $5 Entry / $25 Sellers Ticket: Contact https://www.facebook.com/ipmsqld
What: CavRoad Markets Where: 12 Cavendish Road When: Sun 0700 - 1300 Price: Free - Parking Available
What: Dungeons and Flaggons Where: The Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill When: Sun 1400 - 1900 Price: FREE Tickets: Bookings may be required, contact venue

BoxOfficeTheory Presale Tracking
USA Showtimes As of May 10
Presales Data (Google Sheets Link)
BoxOfficeReport Previews
DOMESTIC PRESALES
Back to Black EA+Thursday Comp: $0.34M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.29M EA+Thursday comp. Yikes bikes (May 12).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($0.28M Thursday comp. Not great. Let's say $.3M (May 14).)
  
• filmlover (Looking at the sales even for the early shows on Wednesday it's on the anemic side (and nothing that's likely to boost it over the next days). Feels like we're about to see how low a biopic about a famous musician can go (May 10).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($0.45M EA+Thursday comp.)
  
• Rorschach (Zero tickets sold on Thursday and only four on Friday. I don't think I'll be missing much (May 13).)
  

IF Thursday comp assuming $2M for keysersoze123: $1.82M

• abracadabra1998 ($1.23M Thursday comp. My model has been pretty good for animated/family releases in the past, hence why every comp is so eerily similar. Still, looking at others' numbers and how much lower mine are, I am wondering if summer break might be something to consider here; from what I am aware, here in Minnesota most school districts don't start break until June (May 13). Hoping for some real acceleration this last week but not looking good (May 12). One week out, not impressed in the slightest (May 9). Rising against comps as expected, due to the short release window, but I am still failing to see anything that suggests the numbers given by some other outlets (May 5). The release window for this is way shorter than all these comps so those numbers will naturally go up. Decent growth in the last three days (May 2).)
  
• AniNate (I'm gonna guess that Nick IP spot for IF this morning ratcheted up interest, Fri-Sun sales at Canton now close to 200. Also of those 200 about 50 were for XD. Not the usual overwhelming presale split but not insignificant for a kids movie also playing on two standard screens (May 13). 45 sold at the five nearest Cinemarks for Thursday previews so far, so yeah there's evidently some kind of regional variation (May 13). I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11). I dunno, I have no comps but I feel like local presales is a pretty sizable haul a week in advance for an original non-Disney kids movie (May 9). I did see a surprising amount of single sales looking at IF charts (May 1).)
  
• charlie Jatinder (Hmm. So no real Regal impact it seems at katnisscinnaplex's theaters (April 30).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($1.95M Thursday comp. Definitely looking around $1.75M Thursday for now (May 14).
  
• DAJK (Selling pretty well so far here (May 4).)
  
• el sid ($2.4M Thursday comp. Friday up so-so 116% since last Monday. I chose Jungle Cruise, Dolittle, Elemental, Minions 2 and Sonic 2 as comps (always counted on Monday of the release week for Friday) and the true Friday number for IF would be 6.6M at the moment. In this case the comparison numbers were very similar, around 6-7M. Overall it was a boring counting today which lasted too long for so few action. And judging from some random samples Garfield also saw no significant jumps (I also didn't expect much, it's still too early IMO). Thursday up 92% since last Monday. I hoped for a bit better jump till today :( but it's also not too bad. So for Friday no big numbers but up 75% since last Monday (and the jump must have happened pretty recently) (May 13). Up 73.5% since Monday (where it had 143 sold tickets). Best sales in California, not doing too bad between the coasts. The number today is ok to me (May 12). Not really signs for a breakout for Friday so far, but very solid. It will not really get 4-6M Thursday e.g. compared to Migration but from most comps the number could be pretty decent (May 7). Looked good for the film, both on Thursday and on Friday (May 6).)
  
• jeffthehat ($2.07M Thursday comp.)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.98M Thursday comp. Thinking somewhere in the 1.2m-1.5m Thursday range despite a couple of higher comps (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (I would say it should hit 2m previews or even more if walkups are strong. OW probably in mid to high 20s for now. Its Friday sales are not that much higher than thursday for crazy IM like say Panda 4 (May 14).)
  
• RichWS (15 screen theater near me is giving IF peak Marvel number of showings. I know it's short and the market is quiet, but damn (May 14).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.39M Thursday comp. Really not much going on. Don't think walkups will be super strong either (May 13). Not much growth (May 10). Pace is collapsing a bit. Continues its downward trend (May 7). After a strong start, this has cooled off quite a bit (May 4).)
  
• Tinalera (Pretty quiet Vancouver and Calgary area (May 13).)
  
• vafrow ($0.5M Thursday comp. It's going up, but slowly. The thing that hit me looking at the numbers is that the most popular format so far is the VIP theatres, which are 19+. With such low sales, you can't read too much into anything, but it kind of speaks to how this isn't grabbing the family crowd (May 14). Some marginal movement, but we're running out of time for this. At this stage, I expect my market is an anomaly, but I still hope and expect it will close the gap in the final few days (May 13). Still nothing (May 12). Still nothing happening. I did check Friday sales, and it was a lot stronger with 51 tickets sold. That's better, but still not tremendous. I also checked the wider radius, where it's pretty much exactly where Haunted Mansion was, which hit $3.1M opening (May 11). Still nothing really happening here (May 10). Since the last update, they released full showtime sets, and it actually lost two showtimes rather than gain. From the sound of it, it might be doing better in other Canadian markets, particularly BC (May 8). Numbers are still really low, making the standard track fairly useless. I did do a larger 100km radius track, encompassing the broader southern Ontaro market (~8M population, MTC4 being about 70-80% of the market). Even against Haunted Mansion, which underindexed here, it's not doing well (May 4).)
  

The Strangers: Chapter 1 Thursday Comp: $1.12M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.88M Thursday comp. Not a good update at all but I am wondering about the summer break deal here as well. For Back to Black it shouldn't affect it much I would think (May 13).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($1.23M Thursday comp. Weird comps. Let's go for $.5M-$.75M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($1.6M Thursday comp. From what I saw, it had an ok jump till today but the jump till Wednesday will be way more important. But so far, decent presales (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.4M Thursday comp. We could have a preview battle on our hands! (May 14).)
  
• Rorschach ($0.48M/$6.03M/$4.16M Thursday/Friday/Thursday+Friday comp. Tarot had more tickets sold for Thursday compared to its Friday showings when I checked the Monday before it came out; hence, why the comps are so all over the place at the moment. The Thurs + Fri comp does appear to be a reasonable middle ground (May 13).)
  
• TwoMisfits (TMobile deal for May - $5 ticket to The Strangers Chapter 1 next Tuesday (May 9).)
  

Furiosa Thursday Comp assuming $5M For keysersoze123: $4.31M

• abracadabra1998 ($5.46M Thursday comp. GxK obviously really propping the average up but for now I could see that settling at around $5 Million, still good pace! (May 12). Really good stuff in this market (May 9). Reallyyyyyy good day 1 here. I want to note that: NO I do NOT think preview numbers will be that high; it's just highlighting the fact that this is likely a movie that will be running hot in my market, as cinephile blockbusters usually do. Next update I will have T-14 comps, which will be a lot lower due to the short release window (May 8).)
  
• AniNate (Skimmed through ThuFri and Valley View (Cleveland vicinity) has sold roughly 60 Furiosa tix so far while Tinseltown (Canton) has sold 40. I'm guessing the upfront audience does lean more toward the urban/cosmopolitan sensibilities (May 9). Presales show there's definitely some hype for this. Regal gonna irritate trackers again, offering no upcharge IMAX for Furiosa (May 8).)
  
• Charlie Jatinder ($3.05M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($5.8M average Thursday comp (without Exorcist 2) (May 12). Furiosa continues its strong performance in "my" theaters. The movie yesterday had already 1.310 sold tickets (for Thursday, May 23). Up 15% in ca. 24 hours which isn't bad at all after the first rush. Already comfortably in front of The Fall Guy's final sales (it had 1.071 counted on Thursday for Thursday) and almost on par with Civil War's final sales (1.357) and also the Apes finally had not more than 1.657 sold tickets in my theaters (May 11). I also can't complain about Furiosa's presales in my theaters, not at all. Already 1,138 sold tickets (in all of "my" 7 theaters) for May 23. 14 days left. Promising start. Civil War on Thursday of the release week for Thursday had 1,357 sold tickets and The Fall Guy finally had 1,071 sold tickets (May 9).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($3.51M Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (It has way stronger sales than Garfield and that is expected. I am thinking of 5m previews for now (May 14). I think this is a solid OD presales. With a short PS window its probably looking at 5m+ previews (May 9).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($4.44M Thursday comp. Keeps climbing at a strong pace (May 11). This continues to grow at an excellent rate (May 10). Really strong day 2. The short presales is for sure a factor (May 9). Not seeing much of a breakout. Still pretty solid start to presales (May 8).)
  
• vafrow ($2.9M Thursday comp. It had a good day (May 12). Mediocre day 2 (May 10). Not the hottest start. IMAX is the format of choice though, so, ATP will be high (May 9).)
  

Hit Man

• vafrow (Getting a theatrical release up here in Canada, and early signs are that it might get a pretty decent screen count. Not super wide or anything, but a pretty decent amount for a weekend that has a lot of other releases (May 14).)

The Garfield Movie EA+Thursday Comp: $2.24M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.76M EA comp and $1.19M Thursday comp. Still not really accelerating, and the EA is falling against comps (May 12). Good EA numbers, but many of these comps were PLF-only EA, which this is not, so I think the ATP will be quite lower and that should be adjusted for (May 9).)
  
• AniNate (I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11).)
  
• el sid (The very even sales are a good sign (May 7). For Sunday, May 19, I can already report that also in my theaters it looks very good for Garfield. They will for sure add shows soon. It has so far only 1 show/theater and the shows are almost sold out, between 1 and 4 seats are still available. So my guess still is that this movie if it's not totally bad (and first reviews here were quite positive) will become a (big) hit. Seems not much on Thursday but it's a step in the right direction (May 6).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($2.52M EA+Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (Its definitely weaker than even Elemental. That said these movies tend to finish strong and so I am not writing it off so early. Just that the long PS window is irrelevant for them. They could rather start presales like a week before release and it would be all the same. Meh. We have to wait until next week to gauge where its going to finish. It has very low ATP as well and actual would be even lower as its going to see tons of kids tickets (May 14). Early shows are regular digital shows at 1PM this sunday. So ATP will be very low. I think 500k ish at best. Preview let us see how things go in the final week. Presales at this point are almost non existent (May 13).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.14M Thursday comp.)
  
• vafrow ($0.4M Thursday comp. Comps don't paint a pretty picture though. EA shows are doing okay (May 11). Still no sales for my core sample for previews. But I did the larger sweep, which shows the interest right now is the Sunday early access shows. Looking at sales patterns, it's mainly blocks of 3/4 tickets, so likely families grabbing some. It's worth noting that the May holiday in Canada is the weekend of May 17-20th, not the weekend after with Memorial Day. I can see families prioritizing getting out the holiday weekend when they have more time (May 4).)
  

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Re-Releases (June 8-10)

• BoxOfficePro (Fathom Events has also announced that select Regal Cinemas will present the films in 4DX on June 22/23/24 for Fellowship/Towers/Return respectively (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Up to ~1,400 shows now with new locations picking it up and others adding a second showing. LotR1 has sold 831 seats OD, LotR2 sold 715 seats OD, and LotR3 sold 735 seats OD. For comparison, Phantom Menace didn't break 800 tickets until T-3 and we're still over a month out. JW3 comp is currently around 9m (it was at 1,670 tickets sold at this point!) (May 6).)
  

Inside Out 2 Average Thursday Comp: $7.22M

• AniNate (I do see a few 1-2 spots for Inside Out on Saturday. Think some M-F workweek adult fans might be putting down money for that (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Already at 180 shows for previews in my areas and still has a few theaters left to post. For comparison, Godzilla x Kong finished with 197, Kingdom of Apes 190, and Kung Fu Panda 205 (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (Too early to judge presales as ticket sales just started early this morning. Families dont book tickets on weekday mornings. Wait until evening today to judge it. From a release perspective its way bigger than all animation movies seen recently including Panda 4. Easily the biggest I have seen in a long time. Only movie which is not comparable is Mario but that was not just a family flick (May 14).)
  
• Porthos (On the Saturday of release weekend (ie NOT EA) there is a special event screening for IO2: INSIDE OUT 2: FUNKO FAMILY EVENT! (2024) Sat June 15th. Might boost the OW slightly, depending on how wide this event is and how much more these tickets will presumably cost (May 11).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($7.22M Thursday comp. Well, I can't really tell if this is a breakout or not yet. Looks very good especially in the first few hours. These are probably terrible comps, but might as well try something (May 14).)
  
• TwoMisfits (I'm kinda shocked at the opening set from my Cinemarks... 2 screens (1 PLF, 1 not) and 6 showings at my PLF 14 for Thursday (and 11 showings on the same screens once it runs full day - 7 PLF b/c 1 is 3d on the reg screen, 4 not)... 3 screens (.75 3d, 2.25 not) and 9 showings at the non-PLF 12 for Thursday (and 12 showings on 2.25 screens once it runs full day)... So, 2 and 2.25 screens for the weekend presale sets... Disney must be charging a huge % for themselves b/c this is an Elemental opening set at my PLF...a little more generous for Thursday at my non-PLF, but then they too drop to an Elemental opening set after the adult Disney base Thursday rush... (May 14).)
  
• YM! (n fairness it's only been an hour but yeah sales are softer than I expected. However, it is a month out and will largely skew more towards kids than say TLM/Across so wasn't expecting a blitz like them. Here at Marcus theaters are going all out for IO2 with it having the lion share of PLFs with it getting both screens when there is two PLFs with tentpole like levels of screens (May 14). Was taking a look at Marcus Cinemas to see that they have preloaded Inside Out 2 showtimes which seem to start at 3:00 pm on a Thursday. It seems like Marcus is going all out on it as judging from showtimes it's taking away all of Bad Boys’ PLFs in that theaters that have two+ PLFs are giving all to IO2 (May 11).)
  

Domestic Calendar Dates (last updated May 3):
MAY

• (May 14) Presales Start [Inside Out 2]
  
• (May 16) Presales Start [Bad Boys Ride or Die]
  
• (May 16) Thursday Previews [Babes + Back to Black + If + The Strangers: Chapter 1 + The Blue Angels IMAX]
  
• (May 17) Presales Start [Ezra]
  
• (May 19) Review Embargo Lifts [Garfield 9 PM EST]
  
• (May 20) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Homecoming Re-Release]
  
• (May 23) Thursday Previews [Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga + Hit Man + The Garfield Movie + Sight]
  
• (May 26) Presales Start [Bikeriders]
  
• (May 27) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Far From Home Re-Release]
  
• (May 30) Thursday Previews [Ezra + Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle + Robot Dreams + The Young Woman and the Sea]
  

JUNE

• (June 3) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man No Way Home Re-Release]
  
• (June 5) Presales Start [Despicable Me 4]
  
• (June 6) Thursday Previews [Bad Boys: Ride or Die + The Watchers]
  
• (June 8) 1-Saturday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 9) 1-Sunday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 10) 1-Monday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 13) Thursday Previews [Inside Out 2]
  
• (June 15) 1-Saturday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 16) 1-Sunday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 17) 1-Monday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 20) Thursday Previews [The Bikeriders + Janet Planet]
  
• (June 27) Thursday Previews [Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- + Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 + A Quiet Place: Day One]
  

JULY

• (July 2) Opening Day [Wednesday: Despicable Me 4]
  
• (July 4) Opening Day [Thursday: Possum Trot]
  
• (July 4) Thursday Previews [MaXXXine]
  
• (July 11) Thursday Previews [Fly Me to the Moon + Untitled New Line Horror movie]
  
• (July 18) Thursday Previews [Twisters]
  
• (July 25) Thursday Previews [Deadpool and Wolverine + Didi + Fabulous Four]
  

AUGUST

• (August 1) Thursday Previews [Harold and the Purple Crayon]
  
• (August 8) Thursday Previews [Borderlands + Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us + Cuckoo + The Fire Inside + Trap]
  
• (August 15) Thursday Previews [Alien: Romulus + Horizon An American Saga Chapter 2 + Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure]
  
• (August 22) Thursday Previews [Blink Twice + The Crow + The Forge + Slingshot]
  
• (August 29) Thursday Previews [City of Dreams + Reagan + They Listen]
  

Presale Tracking Posts:
April 23
April 25
April 27
April 30
May 2
May 4
May 7
May 9
May 11
Note: I have removed most tracking data that has not been updated for 2 weeks. I think there is value in keeping data for a week or two but at a certain point they start to lose their value and should not be treated the same as more recent tracking data.

the suicidal
step out
into death
who am i to judge ?
for what eternity holds
no-one knows
the low reading aged
if you write something they can’t understand
then according to them
its your fault
so they reject
this is the path of mediocrity
and cretinism
all religions schism, narratives of homogeneity require force to maintain (which can be extremely brutal historically)
Knock Out Asinine Nits
photos
staring out from a smooth granite block
if not quizzical
then should be
stuck in eternity
like that
somewhere
there must be a couple that mesh
and get along with each other
somewhere
i’m gone
the world rolls on
i disappear
and appear
the pages of a book that flick through
some words rest
and others don’t
skimming stones
eventually
stop
and sink
rhoticity explained to me, i now understand it, but otherwise i wouldn’t have had a clue except for the joking use of irish, scottish, canadian or usa accents
i think the zen term "seamless monument" is a metaphor for reality, you can’t penetrate it, there’s no artefact of manufacture since it has no seam, it can only be traversed, which btw is the basic philosophical problem of existence, there is no "inner" reality that subsumes "the detail of being"
“ I m currently 16 years old and a "child prodigy". I started university at 14. I have thus far only received one grade which was not an A+. It was an A-. I have memorized 100 digits of pi, the periodic table, and most of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks. I am learning Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Sahidic Coptic, Spanish, and Italian. I just like old languages. I don’t have to study long — I have a nearly photographic memory. When I do study, I just write things out over and over. I am a very visual thinker, so I remember pictures. Ask me anything ! ”
ed. she also has ehlers-danlos syndrome and is ADHD
in my view, the languages are a big mistake, they interfere with each other
“ Why do you think that ? ”
the languages you list are particularly disjunctive its a heavy learning burden with heaps of "opportunity costs" and the skill is becoming increasingly redundant with AI translators
also my experience of polyglots is they get damaged in some way
the brain is not infinitely capable, beware of burning it in waste of time activities, which to be honest a lot of so called education is
dr. alan cole argues that zen masters are in fact "made-over" daoist sages
i would go further and say that the koan system involves the same sort of "puzzling process" as the tao te ching
when you hear this sort of crap from the policy making elites, no wonder china is a problem !
the real impact of the one child policy may be the scarcity of anyone at the higher levels of government or policy being able to think straight
of course, this is to the advantage of the west and is the same problem japan had in WW2, idiots determining their strategic direction
boundaries crossing
abatement of being
from this perspective
everything looks crazy
really ?
do you ever listen to anything outside your own echo chamber ?
sad souls
in the twilight of their lives
mumbling gibberish
the words of others
are not your own
if you actually understood
why wouldn’t you use your own words ?
time separates
that childhood intensity
fades
as the branches grow apart
what was not seen at the time
is now seen
you are not well read and have an "anti-creative" mindset !
i’m getting on in years and just can’t be bothered to deal with your hubris
good-bye
ed. the net is full of these entitled gen Z’ers with a deeply entrenched intellectual inertia created by a malfunctioning education system
valves, muscle, connective tissue, timing
easy to see how it can go wrong as we get older
this dynamic core of existence in the center of our chests where every beat needs to be followed by another
i think religion can be regarded as a hallucination, the hallucination being that a literary work is real, perhaps most easily seen in the beliefs of ancient egypt, what are the pyramids and all those smaller tombs about ?
the reification of stories
these people
who
rather than bringing something to the table
only
take
and
are
impertinent
with
it
the puzzle of the poetry of others
seems to need the conversion
into something
i understand
"the girl on a bulldozer" (2022), a good tightly written kdrama
caodong poetry 23; verses on master fushan’s sixteen themes #4; touzi; translated by suru

1. not falling into life or death

on the day when the golden rooster heralds the coming spring
the jade hare conceives, entering the purple palace
reeds bloom on both shores, shadowing egrets
an old fisherman lifts his oar, dispersing mist, returning home
.
不落死活。 金雞日裏報春時。 玉兔懷胎入紫微。 兩岸蘆華映白鷺。 漁翁舉棹撥煙歸。
.
my reply
one day
the distance travelled
catches up with you
and you have arrived
.
one day
the distance travelled
catches up with you
you
have
arrived
ed. the terms in suru’s translation are very chinese and have a historical perspective, so i have "reworked" it into something modern that people will understand
“ ChatGPT-4 scored higher than 100% of psychologists on a test of social intelligence ”
hilarious
a tui calls
stunning the silence
my day is filled
with melody
ed. the tui is a new zealand native songbird
if you have ever attempted to count the number words in a book or whatever, which i have, count the number in a couple of paragraphs, then multiply by the inverse of whatever proportion of a page it is then multiply by the number of pages and i figure you get within 10% which is close enough
i’ve written millions of words, its like an exclusive club and its interesting to know who else is in it
giacomo casanova’s autobiography
the book comprises 12 volumes and approximately 3,500 pages (1.2 million words) covering casanova’s life from his birth to 1774
i have read most of it, people misunderstand him as a legendary lothario, but he is much more interesting than that

First Previous Wiki
Ezeonwha was walking down a long hallway. The dry and plain painted walls and the pure white lighting of the lower levels of the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office helped to frame the dingy realities of those who could only afford these floors. Not even capable of having windows, these were for those who were the cheapest of the cheap or those who mingled with them. He'd passed several Guides on the way in, their claws echoing in the halls as a sign of authority in this lawless land.
Here, mediocrity was king, and he was a loyal servant. He drew his cloak closer about his neck, unwilling to reveal himself to those who weren't already equipped to see through it all. He was famous enough to be an abduction target if he let his guard down. This place was no exception, though Justicar tried to make them such. Too much security on the higher levels and too little on the lower levels. That was the way of things.
Another hallway, this one marked with bullet holes. Two contractors and a Guide were discussing the pricing of the fix project when he turned the corner. Their voices quieted to nothing, the stillness pressing down upon them with the same intensity as the false lighting. Ezeonwha clacked his jaws, giving them a low bow before continuing on his way. He saw the Guide's eyes light up with the sign of his implants getting a reading. It was another impromptu way of tracking via facial recognition, but it was an ancient practice.
Nothing was new about what the Guides did; only how many of them seemed to be on general patrol. Had Justicar hired more of them or actually done full conversions for all of them? Those arm cannons surely weren't cheap or ethical to insert into unwilling participants. And giving a victim a gun they couldn't be disarmed of was a very bad idea, even for Elders. And Justicar was better than most Elders when it came to abject stupidity. He'd likely only been dropped a few hundred times as a child versus the more likely Elder average of a few thousand.
Ezeonwha chuckled at his internal joke, heading deeper underground into the complex. He was going to a certain meeting, and it would be best not to be late. Even if the Guides tracked him, it wouldn't be negative. The group he had been approached by a few days ago wasn't a terror group. He'd looked them up. They dealt in 'freedom and liberation from all chains.'
The Eyes Of Liberty had focused upon Penny as their latest propaganda target and perhaps as a valuable ally in their fight against all tyranny. Though such a flowery message was likely steeped in idealism for the lower ranks, with more pragmatic and likely richer inner circle elites and leaders ensuring the pot would always simmer but never boil or grow cold. That was the way movements such as these managed to skirt the line between inaction and terrorism.
It was a dangerous thing to do. But these were dangerous times. If Penny left, he'd die. Someone with a grudge would kill him. It was a given, and he'd made peace with it now. He needed to get to work, to help others like him and those worse off, with just a small piece of the meager time he had left.
He was in the system as a friend of Penny, so little scrutiny would fall on him as he came and went. He had a new friend, one who was very interested in connecting to Penny.
The offer had come through his communicator, and he'd answered it given its interesting title. After a lengthy discussion about their goals for him and Penny, he'd agreed to at least have a meeting. He didn't tell them that he had a tracker from Phoebe, which would 'be impossible to miss' if things went badly. He knew the value he had, which was why one of the androids was also accompanying him under the guise of being a Sprilnav.
The android was 'walking' on all fours, its mechanical motion entirely silent. It was obscured by a wave of holograms and hard light holograms that would ensure that it wouldn't be considered suspicious beside him. His only guard was a capable one, and Phoebe had all the confidence of an AI who knew that the destruction of her android would only be an inconvenience for her.
Ezeonwha came to an unmarked door with a well-worn door frame. One knock. One pause. Two knocks. Another pause. Four knocks. He waited, and the door swung open. Eight Sprilnav greeted him warily but warmly, their eyes shifting to Phoebe.
The inside of the room was a dull red, coming from a pair of lights in the center of the ceiling that cast dark shadows near the edges. The whole room felt dark and dangerous, and the walls were lined with guns, computers, and several drones. Shelves and drawers were neatly stacked against the wall, as well as five couches and four double beds with ladder access to the top portions.
Bags of food rested atop a trash compactor unit, and the room service button on the inner side of the wall that Ezeonwha could see in the mirror was worn down to the raw metal. No paint jobs here, only grit and business. The room faintly smelled of body odor and assorted foods. Not entirely unpleasant, but also not what he'd expected from a group with sich a flamboyant name. Perhaps they worked in cell-based units. And that was another thing.
Minds were visible in the distance of the mindscape, but the people here were huddled together mentally. They appeared to be haphazard, but Ezeonwha recognized an old army-type defensive formation a mere step from each of their positions. They were more than they appeared. Though based on how their room looked, they probably weren't veterans, just decently trained.
As they walked through the doorway, a scanner activated. One of the Sprilnav, wearing a headset with numbers and letters swirling on the inner side of the visor, called out: "Phoebe android. Commando variant. Risk assessment: Certain Death. Ezeonwha. Carrying two pistols, one hidden in the pack on his left, and the other tucked inside a strap near the lower bottom of his chest."
That made them all pause, sizing each other up. Ezeonwha smiled nervously, failing terribly to break the building tension once again. His nerves started to get to him, but finally, Phoebe spoke. "Well, friends. I, for one, am happy to talk of the business of liberty. Tell us, what do you have in mind for my friend Ezeonwha?"
"It is not about him, AI. It is about the freedom all sentient beings deserve, and which we shall bring to the galaxy no matter if we are alive or dead."
"An honorable goal to strive toward," Phoebe said.
"Thank you. Your words are quite kind for your type."
"I didn't know I had one," Phoebe replied. "But thank you."
Ezeonwha turned his head toward the Sprilnav with all the fancy equipment.
"What is the best way for me and Penny to help in the fight?"
"The best way would be for you to start killing the gang leaders you come across. Barring that, have Penny ignore the graveyards, and continue freeing the slaves as she ought to. The dead have their freedom; the living need her work more."
"I agree with my companion," another of them said. "So far, Penny has done more for the fight for justice than any other on Justicar in generations, so it is a terrible thing to ask more, but we must ask. Even knowing the terrible toll it would have if she loses the Judgment, Sprilnav are at stake."
"People are at stake, you mean," Ezeonwha said. "There is no need to bring species into this."
"There would not be, but it is still a clear factor," another of them said, a female who looked more shifty in her gaze and demeanor. The Eyes of Liberty seemed like one of those groups with too much division.
"Do you disagree with each other often?" Ezeonwha asked innocently.
"Here and there," the tech guy said. "Not often enough to be a problem, and not when what matters is at stake."
"But that is the thing. How can you agree on when something that matters is a stake?"
"Is this a test?"
"Why would it be? Think of it as a genuine concern," Ezeonwha said. "To associate with your group, I have to be certain it will be resilient to change and risks escalating in the future. If the gangs cannot strike at Penny, they will pick the next best targets. Currently, that is me. If I associate with you in a way they can find out, and I assure you they will find out eventually, you all may be at risk as well. And your group's seemingly cell-based design also means large scale mobilization is difficult, ineffective, and risks severe coordination issues which cannot be quickly or safely remedied without changing core security features of it."
"You deduced all of that from context? You are smart, Ezeonwha. And have a good brain in your head. Everlasting knows we need one of those between all of us."
They all shared a laugh.
"I am not as young as I may look," Ezeonwha said. "Penny is not properly learned of the danger that faces us here. I am. The Underground will kill me when this is over. Do you want to die alongside me, all for your beliefs?"
Silence descended again. Ezeonwha kept the pressure on them when one of them stepped forward. "For freedom and liberty? Yes. I would die for that."
"As would I."
"And I."
They all declared the rest in orders that followed the patterns Ezeonwha was noticing. There were variances in their levels of belief and faith in their purpose. Each person had a different level of value difference, which meant that their lives would be worth more or less comparatively.
Cohesion was weaker, too. Not a full defector team, but likely pieces of several. Was that by design from a higher up leader, or was that just circumstance? Another thing to figure out later, that wasn't critical yet, but he would know before he truly went on any missions with them, if he did at all.
He suspected running messages to Penny would be the majority of their tasks. The quality of intelligence the Eyes of Liberty had offered was substantial. Perhaps enough for Penny to turn herself from a major annoyance to the gangs into an actual existential threat. With Justicar's swarming protection of the Fort Court and the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office, there was a limited amount of things that even the gangs could do. And if the rumors were correct, a Progenitor would be partaking in the trial.
"To be clear, if I join up with you, Phoebe would come too."
"Why would we let an AI join us?"
Phoebe smiled. "Without me, you'll die in this fight. You have trained for around 2000 days. You're acceptable combatants, as is Ezeonwha. But you are fighting in a city, and underneath it. You need to know how to keep a low profile. You need to know how to move through a crowd, get in and out. And you need to keep collateral damage to a zero, or the gangs will use you like they have others who had your purpose and were less careful to justify their 'protection' continuing. If you march in there and kill 50 slavers, if you kill a few slaves or a single bystander in the process, your credibility will be smeared. And frankly, with me on your team, you won't get blown up by an IED when you try clearing your first room in a fortress."
"IED?" One of them asked, while the rest digested her statement, going through various levels of offended looks.
"Your translator is too cheap. Improvised explosive device. Here, that can be old engines, reused oil, cracked plastic, frictional fuel bombs, circuit extruders, sodium splash grenades, as well as the more military style attacks they can pack, from small micro rockets all the way up to lower level fission or fusion bombs. Though if you're in a fight with those things involved, you're already dead."
"Why?"
"Because unless you're Elders, or holograms, a nuke will kill you whether you're right next to it or just inside the same shield. They concentrate the thermal pulse, so your bones would be ash before the pain hit your eyes."
"And what protection could you bring against that?"
"Telling you it's there before you start the attack. That is, if you listen to me. I value your lives over that of this android, but also I value Ezeonwha over all of you combined. I will not prevent him from doing this, but I will have you all know the risks involved."
"We are prepared, Phoebe. We have done much of the training you say, though we do not believe the gangs would plant explosive devices in their own fortresses. There is too much risk around that, with betrayals so common. However, the minefields we have scouted are easy to defeat with the right tactics. Perhaps you can give us a briefing on those, too?"
A challenge.
"I can, depending on how long you wish to do this for. But I have the stamina for either hours or weeks, depending on which you choose."
"What of your batteries?"
"They are of sufficient quality," Phoebe assured.
"I hope so."
Their tech guy nodded, more numbers flashing on his visor. Ezeonwha hoped he had a different way of display, like through an implant or something, for the missions in darker areas. The Underground was, by its name, not a place where much natural light was to be found. And the gangs controlled all the power systems in their territory. It was another part of the racket.
"Why aren't you guarding Penny?"
Phoebe's back straightened, a subconscious posture change to make her seem more confident. Ezeonwha caught the tactic for what it was, though without extensive knowledge of bipedal forms, it was less likely the surrounding Sprilnav knew it.
"Penny proved before a trillion eyes she's capable of fighting Elders, Progenitors, and a Dreadnaught Captain. Not to mention her immense power. I can shoot bullets, but she can literally snatch them out of the air and eat them. She has her own way of doing things, and it is a good way."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Penny landed in the rubble and headed for the Vaquah with a trail of survivors behind her. Many of them, she could recognize the marks of slavery on, with numbers or brands on their skin or just the trauma crouching in their eyes dulled by the pain of a long life in a work camp. Penny went through the wreckage to the shield surrounding the rubble and the defining line between the rest of the city and the destruction. Several news drones flew above her.
More were arriving from various directions. The soft footsteps grew into a constant drumming sound, like a beating heart of doom. Penny marched with them, heading to the spaceport. A large medical operation there quickly rerouted many of its various branches to the most injured freed slaves.
Penny pressed her considerable psychic energy on the entire group, accelerating their healing, slowing bleeding, and generally repairing their bodies and cells from the trauma they'd suffered. But the cloud over their heads did not brighten. The atmosphere remained tense and mournful. Many of them had lost friends, family, and more. She had no right to ask them to feel any different.
She had freed them, that was all. They were not her servants. She was not their ruler.
Several of them came up to her, offering thanks in the small ways they could. Kind words. Attempts at hugs. Even offers of devout prayer and worship, which Penny respectfully declined. She knew, as did most of them, that veneration for her deeds was inevitable. She didn't want to be seen encouraging it at all, since this was a public place where many eyes were upon her.
She knew that it would be misconstrued as a threat if she did. Religions were some of the most major threats entrenched powers could face if not properly co-opted by the state to suit their needs. And here, the 'state' was a military dictatorship billions of years old, ripened with corruption, money, and the immortality of Elders sporting technology beyond any other in the galaxy.
The sky was blue with shields overhead. The Vaquah hung in the distance, its thrusters gently burning to keep it aloft. A trail of shuttles linked the massive ship with several spaceports, including this one. Penny watched the freed Sprilnav get on it one by one, promising themselves to a new life aboard her ship. Technically, they were citizens of the Autonomous Peoples' Stars.
That protection, Penny knew, was why the Vaquah and its innocent inhabitants were still intact. Elders already had hired mercenaries to attack it. They'd failed, thanks to Rimiaha and Penny, but also the defenses of Kashaunta's Grand Fleet when it was in higher orbit. Kashaunta, despite her willingness to use Penny as she would, also had a certain intelligence and empathy. It was highly selective, and only money and power seemed to flip that switch.
But Penny needed the Elder, and Kashaunta only had use for her as an asset. She palmed the new communicator Kashaunta had issued her after the last one's destruction. Kashaunta's hologram appeared. It looked around, noticing the news drones in the air.
"Not here."
"Where?"
"You will know."
In the mindscape, a Sprilnav appeared on Penny's layer. They felt odd to her, almost like the minds of certain humans high up in the hivemind's network. Penny greeted the Sprilnav warmly.
"Hello."
"Queen and Elder Kashaunta requests your presence on her flagship."
"Very well."
In reality, Penny looked around at the crowd. She waited until it dwindled to nothing, and then spoke.
"Displace."
Conceptual energy twisted, and she stood on Kashaunta's flagship, though nearer to the edge than she'd expected. The Elder was waiting for her in an outfit that looked much like pajamas, though they were under a few armor pieces that appeared anything but decorative. Now that Penny noticed it, it was the same sort of armor that Yasihaut had worn to their last encounter, which interfered with conceptual energy. The Sprilnav were highly advanced. She wondered just how far their technology could go. She'd heard mentions of some ships having artificial gravity, and of nanites and programmable matter. But nothing certain.
"Hmm," Kashaunta said, giving Penny a once over. "You have come back. Shall I assume you are still my ally?"
"Nervous, are we?"
"Nervous is what you should be, Penny. The Judgment is coming. Ten days. Indrafabar and Justicar will both be on the court as High Judges. That is not good for us at all. So I figured a bit of prudence was in order. I have thought long and hard about this, and with the great battles of our time so fast approaching, I figure it is time to mend our relationship before the chasm grows any wider."
Kashaunta motioned to a special looking sword sheath on her back. Slowly, she drew a sword. A Soul Blade. Penny began to draw up her armor.
"Oh, I am not wishing for a fight, Penny. I know the damage you could do, even in my sanctum in the sky. Tell me, do you know how Soul Blades are forged?"
"No."
"Good. And tell me, do you know why they draw so much power to swing, even for Elders and beings as capable as us?"
"I have a few theories."
"I am sure you do," Kashaunta said. "But here is the thing. Soul Blades are typically weapons assigned to highly promising Elders, or even Progenitors. Filnatra, undisputed sword master that she is, can wield them as easily as breathing. If I were to swing this blade, there would be no drawback. Why?"
"Because you own that Soul Blade."
"Because this Soul Blade is mine. It is not just something I own. I own around seven or so more Soul Blades, with some weapons nearing their quality lying in my various vaults even now. You did not detect them, because I willed that not to be. I need you to understand this, Penny. You have power. You have might. But you are not invincible. My Soul Blade, if it struck you, would not cutely separate Nilnacrawla or Cardinality from you. Nor would your speeding space entity be able to block this blade with his flesh. If this cut you, it would release unending agony upon you before you exploded in a burst of burnt gore."
Penny sighed. "There is no need to threaten me. Allies do not threaten each other."
"But you do not see me as an ally. You see me as your means to get through the Judgment. You believe I see you as nothing more but a linear singularity maker, and perhaps a passing curiosity I'm backing on a whim. You neglect to imagine that there might be firmer reasons why I back you, and why more Elders are getting drawn into this conflict. You believe I am comfortable with showing you my more pragmatic and ruthless sides because I am comfortable with the fact that you cannot harm me. That you would not dare to do so, when you need my assistance so badly. That I might even be aiming to normalize my 'new' self with you."
"That is hardly my belief alone."
"Is it now."
Kashaunta grinned. There was no warmth in her gaze.
"Nilnacrawla," Kashaunta said. "Cardinality. Exile. Come out and show yourselves. You are being rude as guests."
Exile detached from Penny's head. He grew into the shifting array of fractals and shapes she was more familiar with. What had once grated on her eyes did so no longer. Kashaunta stared at the speeding space entity for ten seconds, then looked back up at Penny.
"He will not work on us. I will cover his form with holograms if he walks through my ship out of courtesy for my workers and crew, if he cannot."
"I am capable, Queen Kashaunta."
"You are quite knowledgable, aren't you?" Kashaunta mused, looking at him hungrily. "Oh, how I wonder what secrets you have in your head. How many of ours do you know?"
"I will not be taken as a hostage," Exile said.
"You will not because I decide not to," Kashaunta said. "Formally, our species are still at war. There is no treaty."
"The Sp'rkial'nova no longer exist."
"Yes, they do," Kashaunta said. "The name was discontinued for use regarding the lesser specimens we created. But I can assure you, Exile, if you wish to go by that name here, that we still do exist. I am a Sp'rkial'nova in the flesh. In the blood. In the mind. In the soul."
"Say what you will, Sprilnav. It changes nothing."
"On that I agree. Though our views on how things are may differ, and yours is wrong, your opinion is not valuable enough to matter."
She turned to Penny. She would have defended Exile, but he gave her a simple shake of his head area.
Nilnacrawla formed out of psychic energy in front of Penny. Cardi did the same beside her. Kashaunta tapped a claw on the ground. Tables and chairs appeared. A chef brought in food that looked passable and a few decent attempts at human cuisine.
"We do not have to eat, though I would expect that all of you at least sit at the table. We will discuss our grievances, and how to solve them before we proceed with the future. We shall first go to the matter of the Alliance. Penny, many in their number wish to establish contact with you. Do you agree to this? If so, I will add their communicator numbers to the translation program I have reserved for your personal use, in case your own device needs another sudden replacement."
"I agree."
"Good. A first step of diplomacy, I would say. Agreement. Now, Nilnacrawla, you look like you have something to say to me. What is it?"
"Free Meridia."
"Meridia was detonated by planet cracker during the 139th Sector 9 Border War. I am sorry more could not be done."
A cold draft of air rushed out of Nilnacrawla's nose. He glared at her. "You let them die."
"I did not. A Grand Fleet was defending that star system, and three came to lay siege. I am many things. A tactician, a queen, an Elder. But I am not a god. I cannot perform miracles. I evacuated 30 billion people from that world and its surrounding stations before the planet crackers hit it. 4 trillion more souls died in that blast. The best I can do is to offer an apology."
"That will never be enough for what you did. If you had never established your nation, they would still be alive."
"They would be slaves. Chattel slaves, not that cute little 'wage slavery' concept privileged people throw around. Perhaps I should remind you just how much darker that reality would have been for your female descendents, specifically. I am a brutal warlord, a dictator with an iron fist. But my claws do not squeeze nearly as tightly as I could. Metrics say that I could extract at least 370% more profit from my people if I simply enslaved them. But despite the shock this may bring to you all, I do have principles. The Autonomous Peoples' Stars are my people. My nation. My empire, if you think I'm imperialist. But I protect them as best I can."
Nilnacrawla's cold anger didn't lessen. Penny placed a calming hand on his front left thigh. He blinked. He let out a long, pained sigh. And he bowed his head to her. Not to Kashaunta, but to Penny.
"There is no need to be cruel."
"My language was accurate, Penny. He is a strong Elder. Everlasting knows he's stronger than most of these fools. Nilnacrawla was and is a hero of the Source war. I respect him enough not to mince words, or to give platitudes. Coddling is for babies. Nilnacrawla is far more mature."
Kashaunta turned to Cardi. "You have been remarkably silent in this, concept."
"I have."
"A wonderfully succinct statement. Perhaps you can shorten it further. But nevertheless, you and I will be working together with Penny much more in the near future. Rest assured, if you refuse to become more independent, you will be nothing more than a crutch for her to rely on before leaving her to fall when you are ripped away."
"When, Elder? I would like to think your protection is sufficient."
"I am sure the truth is quite the opposite, dear. I will now get to the point. Penny needs to move faster, and needs to break out of her shell. She needs to be pushed to do more. She has signed a binding treaty, which shows she is capable of more than barbarian aliens, as some Elders would call her. You, Cardinality, will help her be a high achiever. To do this, you need to learn more about your own history.
That is the theme of the year, after all. History. My history, Penny's history, Sprilnav history, and even Gaia's history, it would seem."
"Gaia? What do they have to do with all of this?" Penny asked.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that."
"Excuse me? You don't get to decide that, Kashaunta. You will tell me. I refuse to be coddled, like you say. I demand the respect I am owed."
"You forget yourself, Penny."
"I remember myself, actually. I am all I need to be. I can become all I need if I must. You can hold your backing against me all you want, but you won't withdraw it. As you said, more binds you and I than mere money and ideology."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then I've doomed my species and my nation to war, and this planet to the full power of my wrath."
"Wrath, Penny. Wrath. The Sprilnav have many words for anger, rage, hatred. There is the desire for vengeance, in varying degrees. There is that for justice, which does differ. And that for belonging. I know you believe you are standing up to me as a way to assert your own authority in this relationship of ours. You believe I see you as inferior, and will pull back my help when it is profitable for me. I will not offer you the consequences of what your words could mean.
You already know them, and that argument is as stale as your view on us Elders. I will say this once, Penny. You are the Champion of Humanity. The apex predator of your planet, the only one mostly in charge of an Alliance that does more than merely dream of overthrowing us. It is easy for me to say you are not a threat, though I do not ignore the threat you and your nation are trying to become. Gaia will be a part of your movement, but even my information is not entirely complete. I will not mislead you by claiming I know Gaia's link to this, just that there likely is one.
And I am not unreasonably petty. I am willing to put all our animosity behind us and start anew. Even if you are not willing to do the same, I am willing to make this work for us. You have more people to care for than just the Alliance, now. Do not forget them."
"A lot of words that mean nothing."
"Because you heard, but did not listen. Perhaps it will be easier this way, Penny. I want you to win."
"Explain."
"You wish to overthrow the current Sprilnav led order of the galaxy. Your path to that will likely be through mass slave revolt. A viable strategy that I could spread far beyond just this planet. And I actually agree with you. This Judgment, this utter insanity around the Alliance and your species has shown me the truth. The Elders as a class and a species cannot be trusted to rule any longer. We need new leaders. Better leaders."
"And yourself?"
"As the hypocrite that I am, and the power-hungry ruler of the Sprilnav, I would obviously exclude myself from that number. Let's be realistic. The Sprilnav will never accept a non-Elder ruler. If you wish to see what our insurgencies would be like, imagine the 2090s Struggles of Asia. Expand that to billions of planets, large and small. Countless ships and space stations. We have more collective ships than you have people. And as your military planners know, there is no such thing as an unarmed ship. Without us, without me, your plans are stillborn. Your galactic Alliance or whatever you make will fall to pieces without proper counseling. In essence, my offer to you, and you alone, is this. The galaxy, for the Sprilnav."
"Who backs your offer, with the power to give it?"
Progenitors Lecalicus and Nova appeared in the room.
"I back Kashaunta," Lecalicus wheezed.
"I observe her offer, and wish it a proper outcome," Nova said.
"Thank you, esteemed Progenitors," Kashaunta said, standing just to bow to them. Penny stared at Nova, balling her fists.
"There will be time for battle later," he said. "But not now. Hear out her request. She does not make it lightly."
The Progenitors disappeared.
"If I accept your offer, it will be on a written record."
"No. It will not be, because if that record is written, my nation will be facing war on all sides. A better idea would be for us to keep this under wraps."
"Perfect for betrayal," Nilnacrawla muttered.
"It would be, yes. But consider the second part of this situation, Nilncrawla. If word of this galactic offer, not just the Pact, were to get out, which is why two Progenitors who know the price of interference were called here, it would mean the deaths of Penny and all her kind. Or do you forget what rapidly approaches us?"
Nilnacrawla frowned. "I did. I apologize, Penny."
Kashaunta spoke up again.
"Penny. You believe I will betray you. So I make an offer of collateral. An offer so unbelievably sacred for us Elders that many would recoil at the mere thought of it. Now that you have signed a backed treaty, you are fully qualified."
Kashaunta grabbed her Soul Blade and presented it to Penny.
"What does this mean?"
"Nilnacrawla, tell her," Kashaunta said. "She will trust your mouth more than mine."
"Bonded Soul Blades are priceless artifacts," Nilnacrawla said. "To offer one to another is the ultimate gesture of trust and respect among many martial Sprilnav cultures. It can also allow for a mind bridge, a soul pact, or a proposal for marriage between two great houses, martial families, or Elders of great wealth and power. To offer this to a human... to anyone... is an ultimate sign of backing, and one of trust.
It is a sacrosanct honor, the absolute agreement of speaking truth and respect. The words I can use in any human language are insufficient to describe the weight of this honor. This gesture is one of absolute truth. Family lines with hatred going back millions of years would never dare to violate this honor."
"Only one Elder in history did so, one who once led a group known as the Stannic Resistance. He does so no longer. Penny Balica, Champion of Humanity... if there is nothing else I can give you to prove that I do really back you, there is this."
"...Just how low are my chances in the Judgment for you to resort to this?" Penny asked.
"They are not zero, but your battle with be incredibly difficult even with this boon of mine. The future of the galaxy, I now realize, hinges on the outcome of this. If we do not have enough trust, they will sniff it out, and we will fail."
So she had no choice. But as Nilncrawla continued to explain in her mind, Kashaunta was getting the worse side of the deal. Which meant she was throwing her backing behind Penny for real, beyond all reproach and retraction. Kashaunta, the most powerful Elder in the galaxy.
"And if I reject this gift, or your reasons for it?"
"Circumstances would demand that I kill you and then myself using this blade as a way to cut apart the dishonor, before my remains are dumped into a black hole to be forgotten forever. I would not do this."
"A dark and archaic custom," Penny said. She would have said more, but she looked at Nilnacrawla's face. He was clearly deeply uncomfortable. Her five words had shaken him more than anything she'd ever said to him before.
"You do not understand," Nilnacrawla said. "This is not something to joke or lie about. With a Soul Blade Pact in play, all else must cease. Right now, there is you, and there is her. Accept or decline. The choice, your only choice, is yours."
"How will this look to the Elders in the court? To the Sprilnav, and the people who back me?"
She could see how it would be a boon and a curse.
"You, and I," Kashaunta said. "The whole of the universe between us right now is you and I. No others exist until this one act is done. There will be trust or there will be death. No in between. No middle ground. The nature of this bond will be a Pact of Blades."
Conceptual energy swirled between them. Penny's natural translation, as part of the hivemind, failed for the first time ever. Her communicator likewise did not translate the words Kashaunta spoke.
"Eis nama kaste Penny Balica, sun lanci Dorima Kashaunta. Ko'ri, lanci nupa bes na Dorima'Pecunyanova. Sp'rkial'nova. Sun. Homo Sapiens."
The air grew thick with tension. It was not just emotional, either. Psychic and conceptual energy gathered. The mindscape started to distort as more and more eyes began to view Kashaunta and Penny. But all of them were Sprilnav eyes. All of them were Progenitors. Nova's appeared brightest and largest, nearly six times the size of the next largest pair. They stared at her, sending psychic and conceptual energy down upon her in waves that forced her and Kashaunta to kneel to the ground.
"I apologize for my earlier words," Penny said. "I should not have denigrated this."
Penny stood for an hour, deeply contemplating the Pact. If it was as Nilnacrawla was describing to her, it was a promise that Kashaunta would not break. If she was offering it at all, especially to Penny, it meant she had a level of trust in Penny's capability far above what Penny had previously thought. Apparently, there were even higher agreements than this that were possible, with this Pact being the lowest level of bond and considered unbreakable with the enforcement of consequences coming from the Progenitors themselves.
She thought of her place in Justicar and the wider universe. Hours passed like water. And then, by the end of it, after nearly 19 hours, Penny finally had decided. She gave a short nod to Kashaunta, who had been kneeling to Nova all this time.
Kashaunta gestured at the sword. "Tol, nopa shikai."
Nilnacrawla fed her a few suggestions on what she would need to say.
"I come to this Pact seeking peace, justice, and hope," Penny said. "And a promise not to betray one another, by lies or by treachery."
Nilnacrawla translated Kashaunta's next words to her.
"I come to this seeking trust, understanding, respect, and peace," Kashaunta said. "And a promise not to betray one another, by lies or by treachery. I make this Pact before the gods, those who equal them, and those who surpass them. I bind them to an oath of silence regarding this event, until I directly instruct them otherwise, in a state of a sound mind, body, and soul. Here, we shall step into a future that needs both of us, casting aside that which is unimportant to focus on the ultimate goals we have. I offer my Blade to Penny Balica, of species Homo Sapiens. In this way, we forge a new future, and walk a new path. I accept the Pact."
"I accept the Pact."
Nova and a hundred Progenitors descended. Nova grew larger, and Kashaunta knelt to him. Penny remained standing. His sharp teeth glittered in the light. He pressed his claws to Penny's chest, and to Kashaunta's chest.
"The Pact of Blades is made before the Progenitors. We agree to your vow of silence. The penalty of breaking it will be dismemberment and disposal into a black hole. Penny Balica, Engineer Kashaunta. To break this Pact without mutual agreement is to call down our collective wrath upon yourselves. You both have agreed, and are of sound mind, body, and soul. The Pact is forged. By sword, by word, by action. I, Nova, Everlasting, Lord of the Progenitors, King of all Sp'rkial'nova, Heir to the Mantle of Power, Heir to Narvravarana, Progenitor, Elder, and Sprilnav, declare the deed done, etched in time, space, and Reality."
They winked out of existence one by one, leaving Penny and Kashaunta alone, to ponder the future. Penny's thoughts turned to the Judgment, and her confidence she could win it began to waver. How much worse was this Judgment going to be than before?
Penny stared at Kashaunta's Soul Blade. With careful fingers, she took it. Kashaunta sat up, satisfied.
"Now we can begin. I shall compile all the news about you I can find, and we shall see how to address the questions the High Judges will ask. Now that you trust me, I cannot betray you."

The post is a little long. Sorry in advance. But I started watching the Anime not too long ago about and quickly finished it. I'm not a huge Manga reader but I enjoyed the story so much I gave it a try and caught up in about 2 days. Thought I'd share my thoughts: the [mostly] good and the bad. There will be some spoilers but nothing major. So read at your won risk.
The Good
The show is amazing. The story goes in a very unexpected direction and makes it difficult to predict what will happen next. I went in this completely blind and spoil free which is unbelievable in today's age. I've always heard this show is way more intense than the art style suggests but even with that warning I was still surprised. The lore of the show also had me reading/researching all kinds of things I missed and other crazy theories. How does Bondrewd's helmet work? If he can transfer conscious, why hasn't he been to the very bottom of the abyss, after all, he's visited the 6th layer and went back up (assuming he sacrificed a lackey to die to the curse on the way up just to transfer his consciousness back to another host)? So many questions. Luckily the show is already approved for a season 3 which is really exciting
The emotional impact of these characters can't go unmentioned either. I feel like even characters I hate like Bondrewd, are important to the story. Even a part of me can understand why he does what he does. He's like a "necessary evil" to progress the world of the show forward. The graphic scene of what he did to Prushka was intense!
I nearly had a heart attach in the latest chapter when Nanachi sacrificed himself to save one of twin sisters on the 6th layer
Faputa backstory was amazing too! Felt bad for her and bad for the villagers at the same time. I didn't know who's side to be on.
The Bad
This isn't really about the show itself but needs to be mentioned as a con. Apparently the author releases chapters extremely slow, so although the conclusion of the story seems to be close, it likely won't be animated or released in a chapter anytime soon. Even for the approved season 3, it's likely we won't get that for a while.
For me, there aren't much bad but I can see why others get uncomfortable watching the show or have other concerns. It does have some inappropriate sexual suggestions for characters that are pretty young. Stuff like Riko and Prushka talking about males body "parts" and Reg getting 'excited' is a bit unnecessary. But here is where I think the art style comes to save the day. Instead of being overly sexualized (like other shows), it feels more like the show is highlighting how gruesome the Abyss is to add a level of realism to the dangers they face, and importance of research for these archeologists. It also highlights how smart some of the characters are for their age.
Conclusion
All-In-All, I feel as though nothing is so major where I'm completely turned away from the show. A lot of the things I see complaints about feels necessary to the story to highlight how dangerous the Abyss is with a few sprinkles of occasional awkward "fan service" here and there. If you can even really call those weird moments fan service instead of jail time.
Please feel free to suggest any shows that you'd think are just as good.

Sorry in advance for the long read. Early last year, my parents divorced. Months after both parents found new homes, I (17M) found out that my dad sexually assaulted my mom, and that that was the reason for their divorce. I got this information from a journal that my dad left out that included, in written detail, how he sexually assaulted my mom and did not see anything wrong with it. After reading this, I started feeling distant with him and our relationship has been strained since. Soon after learning about this, I started living with my mom more because I felt uncomfortable going to my dad's (previous agreement was week to week switching houses).
Last fall, my mom opened up a custody case to try to get full custody of me, which I fully wanted. She lost the case. My dad knows that I do not want to live with him, and that it causes me extreme anxiety and depression. For example, the first week I went back to live with him (after the custody case) I had frequent (daily, multiple times a day) thoughts of self harm, major depressive episodes, and anxiety attacks. I told my dad about this and he told me (his words) "too bad because you're staying with me and thats the way it's going to be". I was/am extremely emotional distraught and lacking of a support system while staying with my dad. To be clear, my emotional problems are directly correlated to the knowledge of the sexual assault. I am disgusted with my dad and hate staying with him, but every time I bring this up to him he does not accept my point of view. Every week I am with him I am afraid I will self harm, and while I have not yet, I feel that it is an inevitability. I am scared for myself but I don't know what, if anything, I can do since the case has already been resolved. I am in therapy and my therapist knows about these issues.

Boss and District Manager make me quit, costs them big time I'll start by saying that I never thought I would be on here, but after listening to SLASH, Am I The Jerk, and Ripe on Youtube I thought it time to tell my story.
For context, I (M 23) used to work at an electronics and entertainment store for three years and quit due to issues between workers and management. I had worked with a friend (M 36) at this place for a year or so. This friend was a good guy and great to hang out with when things weren't busy. He would find a job at another company and we would keep in touch as he would come in and chat occasionally. He would become a manager at one of these stores a small distance away. Each time he would try to sway me to come and work for him. I still liked what I was doing then and didn't think it was the right time to switch jobs. But again, due to management issues, I finally decided to quit and take up my friend's offer.
For the remainder of this story, my friend will be referred to as Dumb Boss. After a week or so I started at this new job I will not name, but they sell mattresses and rhyme with Jeep Hummer.
The first month of the job went very well as Dumb Boss trained me and another new employee, and the pay was very nice, and the work was nice with small amounts of actual labor. By the second month, things were doing okay as Dumb Boss continued to train me and the other employee more, but it started to change as my training would be halted in the process every time before I got to even finish. He would continue to do this every single time I was being trained, and stop it mid-session and start from scratch the next day I worked with him. I would never be able to even finish most of the day's training and only learn beginning things. I would say more about the training but it would say too much about where I am from and am.
A small time later I would get the news that my grandfather would pass and would wake up early to get the news. I would inform Dumb Boss later in the day before my shift of what had happened. My call would be very short as I told him of the passing and asked if there was any way I could call out that day. He would show some sympathy and tell me I could get the day, but after that, he didn't know. I would have to bring proof of the death and I would have the obituary already to show. He would go on to tell me the next day that I was in as I would only have that day to grieve that I would not be able to get any more days for my grandfather's death as grandparents weren't supposedly covered under bereavement as directed by him and Dumb District Manager (He'll be relevant later). On the day of my grandfather's funeral, I would have to work and Dumb Boss would have off. Me and the other employee I worked with, and is smarter than me when it comes to job things, talked about the situation of bereavement and who counted. She would ultimately look this information up for me and show me that grandparents were covered under bereavement and the information Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager was not true. This made me upset and frustrated, enough to punch holes in walls, but I didn't. I would call Dumb Boss and tell him I was upset that the information he had given me was wrong and that I had missed my grandfather's funeral, something a person can't go back and do again. He apologized but looking back on it that phone call he showed little remorse or care. The next time I worked with him the same could be said in person. I would get no apology or communication from Dumb District Manager either about the situation. This was strike one.
Skipping some time to the next event I and everyone else were to attend a meeting for the whole district at a store about 100 miles from where I lived (Dumb Boss would have his own the day after ours). I was paid for the travel and had arrived at the store and worked with everyone that had shown up. Enter Dumb District Manager who was there for the meeting and mostly stayed on his computer the entire 8 hours we were all there. I thought everything went very well for my first meeting like this as we were being trained better than at our own stores. The next shift I worked with Dumb Boss and thought it would be a decent day, but would not be. I greet him and get ready as the store hasn't opened yet, him telling me he has to talk with me once I have finished. We talk and he tells me that even though the meeting/training went well Dumb District Manager and a couple of others had reported to Dumb Boss, as he had wanted them to, that I wasn't as good at the meeting as I thought. They had reported to him that I had been overly fidgety, barely worked with others, and was dressed like a cartoon. Please keep in mind, that I am no top-notch person. I make mistakes and like many other people no 100 percent good at a job. I do have issues with my legs that require them to move. I was nervous around people I had just met and did communicate with people in the training. Finally, I didn't understand why I would be dressed like a cartoon when I was the same as everyone else; in a shirt and tie. We talked about it then and throughout the day what went wrong and why, even though did my best, I was being treated like a negligent employee. This would go on Dumb Boss saying things like this to me and telling me I am not cut out for this and to just quit. This was strike two.
Strike three would happen two months or so later when the store would have a massive sale and pressure was on me and the other employee under Dumb Boss as he would press to make quotas that month or we are faced to be chewed out by him following his chew out by Dumb District Manager. The final day of the sale I would receive a nice old couple and when finishing up with them as I talked with them and the other employee talked with them they had purchased an item and had left to wait for it to arrive. Dumb Boss would walk over to me after they had left. Dumb Boss would tell me that I had a choice after they had left, either leave for the rest of the day and take disciplinary. The second choice was to stay and lose the commission on the sale I helped the elderly couple with. Now I did not know what he was going on about and he told me that because the couple I was working with had been talking with had talked with the other employee and she had left the floor and went to the back to collect herself. I would later find from her that she was just frustrated about the sale and trying to reach her quota and not because of what Dumb Boss was bringing up. I decided out of my own frustration and everything else that had been happening to just take the rest of the day and come back the next shift refreshed and able to talk to Dumb Boss with calm and collect. I would return and talk with Dumb Boss trying to keep a level head and would almost lose it as he told me that because I left he reported it to me being sent home to Dumb District Manager. After choosing the option to better help myself financially and leave and save my commission I would be given the third much later option of getting the commission taken away, losing the pay from the lost hours, and taking a disciplinary action regardless of what I did. This was the option that was forced on me after we talked and I knew this was it.
I was done and would put my notice in on the job about two weeks later and only need to give one week as Dumb Boss wanted to hire a new replacement and train them before the holidays. He even had the audacity to set up an interview for my replacement right in front of me. I was done like I said but I wasn't going out without a bit of a fight.
Something they had taught us throughout this job had been to say something if we see something. This was implied for any sort of ethics violations or issues that couldn't be brought up to management and be sent to an outside company they work with and their H.R. department. Remember that sale that we had at the store, well the sale was meant for friends and family only and no one else. Dumb District Manager told everyone to use the sale on anyone, he didn't care who and wanted the "coupons" we used gone, and if we didn't make the quota chewing would happen. This was considered an ethical no-no and Dumb District Manager and Dumb Boss didn't care as long as the coupons were gone. I would send in the ethics complaint stating what had been going on with the coupons. I know what some of you are thinking, I could have gotten Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager on harassment, lies, etc. but unfortunately, two things happened. I am not as smart to put things like the lies and harassment on paper and turn it into H.R. The second is that I did send things to H.R regarding what had been going on via the ethics and how I was being treated but this went on deaf ears as Dumb Boss already told them crap to get out from this.
Basically, I left the last day with not even as much as a goodbye or good luck. I didn't need it though as I had pretty much left my own goodbye for him and Dumb District Manager with the ethics complaint.
I didn't hear much of what happened after I left, but after calling the other employee I worked with did I get more info. Turns out the ethics complaint actually went somewhere. She told me that Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager were under investigation and that they were both getting their own write-ups for what they had pulled and lost the commissions not just for one sale but for the entirety of that month's commission totaling around 15,000 dollars.
If you can't hurt them where it counts, hurt their pocketbook.
P.S. Never doing another sales job ever again.

Me (M25) my girlfriend (F25) and friend (M29) applied to tour these apartments (built roughly 7 years ago) that were running a move in special. If you moved in by certain date you get discounted renter for duration of lease. The woman seemly in charge reaches out via phone and asked what days we had available and we schedule a time. Fast forward to the tour, we walk the apartment everything is good and we begin the process of asking all necessary questions: What are all the other fees you guys charge, when would we need to make payments for rent, deposit, pro-rated rent for the remainder of the month we would be moving in, etc. She begins to explain all the fees and we explicitly ask about a pet fee as we have both a dog and cat. She insisted there was no pet fee, nor a pet deposit and that we wouldn’t have to worry about that. That shocked us as we had currently been paying a substantial pet fee at our current residence and understand most other places charge them.
We leave the apartment really happy about the price, the condition of the apartment and decide to apply. Application fees are $100 each applicant ($300 total) and there is a $399.99 application hold fee. This is so they cannot rent the unit out to anyone else while they process our application. All together is was $699.99 plus tax to apply. The application fees were listed as non refundable and the hold fee would be returned only if the application was denied. That all seems a bit steep but considering what we paid to move in to the place we currently are it, it seemed somewhat normal. We call the woman who walked us through the property back and say we’d like to apply, she takes my card information over the phone and says she will be in contact.
A few days go by and we hear nothing. We reach out and can hardly get a call back or a logical answer on how long this process should take. The woman is constantly giving us the run around and whenever we call and someone else answers, they do the same thing. This continues for a week. At the same time all of this is going on, our scheduled move-in date stays the same and continues to inch closer and closer to move-in day. Another week goes by of the same run around before we finally get an answer that we’ve been approved. We see it as a bad sign but also consider the fact it just took awhile for the applications to process and we move on to signing the lease. The lease states that we are getting a discounted rent at $1699 a month, and the space for pet rent and pet deposit is left blank. It’s stated that upon signing the lease and being approved there is 48 hours to make all necessary move-in payments. We signed the lease on a Thursday and didn’t hear back from then until Monday night after calling Friday and Monday with no response. We get a call back Monday at 6:00 PM asking if we can do an orientation at 1:00PM the next day. We state that we all three work and although Tuesday is our scheduled move-in date, after getting no response we had not planned anything in advance in terms of time off work. We agree to come in not at 1:00 PM but at 5:45 PM and over the phone they state they have some concerns. They state the women who showed us the property and who has been assisting us in the whole process has since been fired and that we would have to pay a pet deposit of $1000 and $50 a month for each pet ($100 total extra each month) if we wanted to move-in and get our keys.
I explained to the person we met with that this is a legal binding contract and that if they choose to break it we would like to get a full refund. The person claimed they would not be able to make any accommodations or issue any refund for the applications or hold fee and that by the fair house act, he cannot legally not charge a pet fee and pet deposit.
Sorry this is so drawn out, Im just stuck in shitty situation and felt the need to explain as much as I could. I have attached the lease for reference. I have already decided to go through small claims court, but wanted some advice before I start the process. Thanks in advance for any insight into all this

My son 13m father was absent for 4 years. He texted here and there and would occasionally pick him up for a few hours and drop him off. I never withheld. We have not had any direct contact since 2016 aside from when he wants his tax return. He only texts my son. Visits were once every 3-4 months. CO from 2011 says he has EOW. Long story short, he has a new gf and renewed sense of fatherhood I guess, and wants to start exercising his visitation exactly as it’s written.
He dropped this news on me when I was in the hospital giving birth to my child in November. Demanding I (and only I) immediately begin driving my son to him EOW. Obviously I couldn’t do it right then. Nor was I going to after so many years. He immediately filed contempt.
In the probate hall on hearing day, I saw he had just had a hearing with his other BM. Hilarious. So, the judge already knew he was absent from his other child a ince their case was right before ours. However, he was apparently only absent from them for 1-2 years. When we were called up, the judge stated that since it’s been so long since the CO was written, she wasn’t going to force anything, but that I was still technically in contempt. I found that a tad confusing. She said to my ex “clearly it’s been a tough year for you, you’re welcome to file a modification, as this CO doesn’t reflect the current situation.” That was that. Sent us home.
I know he is going to say in his complaint for modification that he was never absent. He’s been writing things to me in emails like “I’ve been there all 13 years”, as if he’s planning on just printing it out and bringing it in with him to our modification hearing.
What are ways that I can prove his absence if need be? Luckily we lived in an apartment building for 3.5 of those years, so he had to text my son “I’m here” when he picked him up. I also have all the texts where they’ve made plans, but he could always lie and say that was on top of his visitation I guess? I want to be as prepared as possible. I made a spreadsheet of every visit since 2020.
My goal: I really want to step up plan in place, as my son currently does not want to go with him.

Here's an idea for a mod.

• Persistent online world
• You spawn in one of the cities
• You can hunt animals for resources, chop tree's for wood, mine ore etc.
• You can sell there materials to NPC's for gold, or sell them to other players
• With your gold you can rent out one of the houses in a city
• Each city has a bank, you deposit your gold in your bank account
• Rent is taken out every 12 hours (real-world time), if you fail to pay rent you get kicked out.
• There is a skill tree for each profession
  • Blacksmithing
  • Tailoring
  • Woodworking (create furniture)
  • Alchemy
  • etc
• If I am a tailor I might need certain items that only a blacksmith can make (e.g. belt buckle)
• Players rely on trading with other players to get materials they need
• Each city has a marketplace, you can rent out a stall (daily cost) and hire an NPC (daily cost) to sell your items for you, so you can still make money while offline.
• You can also rent out a empty block of land outside of the city where you can build your own house or place of business.
• For example, I can save up enough gold to rent a block of land outside a city and build my self a lumber mill, I can hire some NPC's to go out and chop wood and cart it back to the mill where they will process it into wooden planks and other timber materials, then I can instruct the NPC's to deliver the processed materials into the city and hand them over to my vendor NPC.
• Business is picking up, I make a lot of gold, more and more players are joining the server, rental properties are starting to run out. I rent some more blocks of land and build some houses and rent these out to new players.
• There are NPC service workers such as guards that patrol outside the city to kill wild wolves.
• We as players are unable to fight, so wolves kill us easily.
• There is a tax system where each resident has to pay a daily tax that pays for NPC service workers (such as the guard)
• Players can vote on the tax rate and where the tax money is spent.
• For example players decide to lower the tax rate, this means there's less funding for guards, in turn the wolf population starts to rise and more players die to wolves.
• Other areas tax money can be spent is welfare, new players get a daily pay-check to help them get started.
• When you rent one of your houses out to a player you both sign a contract which looks something like this:
  • John Doe agrees to pay 12 gold per day to Bob Smith
• If John misses 3 payments in a row then Bob has the option of going to the property and removing all of Johns belongings and placing them outside in crates. The door lock is also replaced, now Bob can find a new tenant.
• John will have to go bring a cart to haul away his crates of belongings if he wants to move them into another property.
• John is sent a letter from the court saying he owes Bob 24 gold and the payment is due in 4 days, if he fails to pay he will be arrest by guards and put in court where other players will play the role of jurors. John will have to use VOIP or type out his defence and try and convince the jury to extend his payment due date, otherwise he goes to prison.
• Optionally instead of all players voting like a democracy, one player will be king and they will choose the tax rates.
• Each server has a list of laws that the king can change.
  • Tax rate %
  • After how many missed payments can a Landlord evict the tenant
  • How many guards are currently hired
  • Welfare pay-check
• If the community are not happy with the king they can cast a vote to dethrone him. Once this happens an election period start that lasts 3 hours. In this period any player can register them selves as a candidate to become king, they have 3 hours to go around to each other player and sweet talk them to convince them to vote for them.
• After 3 hours the vote is cast and a new king is in place.

Hi- I've got a weird problem.
My taxes are all prepared via H&R Block software. Ready to file. Finished them on 4/15. Paid my balance due and my estimated tax payments for 2024, but didn't file my return yet. I wanted to file an extension entirely in order to extend my deadline for contributing to my Solo 401(k) (the deadline, as I understand it, is my tax filing due date, including any extensions), and thought it might be awkward if I filed my return before or on the same day that I asked for an extension.
H&R block charges I think $20 to e-file an extension. I didn't want to pay for that since there are several free options. Landed on TaxAct, since among the places that advertise free extension filing, they were the most recognizable name to me. Filled out all of the required info to file my extension. Submitted it. Got a confirmation page (and took a screenshot, thank God) that said "Filing Extension - Complete." This was all on April 15.
Thought it was weird that I didn't get an e-mail confirmation regarding the filing of the extension, nor any update about it being accepted by the IRS. Called TaxAct customer service 2-3 days later, and asked them to confirm that it was accepted by the IRS. The guy I talked to said he has a record of me logging into my account on April 15, but that my extension was not filed. I told him I have a screenshot of a confirmation page from his website, and he basically told me I am wrong, and that I don't. He also said that I could file the extension any time by going back and repeating the process (which appears to have been false, as I'll discuss below).
I called back a few minutes later and talked to another agent because frankly it seemed like the first guy was gaslighting me. She told me that while it's true that they don't have record of my extension being filed, they actually don't maintain those records except if I file my 1040 through them. She said they let people file extensions on their website without even registering for an account, so there's really no way she (or the other agent) could even check to see if it had been filed. That gave me some level of peace.
But after a while, I kept checking my account transcript on irs.gov, thinking I remember the account transcript last year mentioning my extension. But even up to now, basically a month later, there's still no indication that I'm on an extension.
Called the IRS tonight, and they told me that no extension has been received, and that it would have been processed two weeks ago at the absolute latest if it had been e-filed. They also said that it's not possible to file the extension again after the fact, contrary to what the first TaxAct agent told me.
Based on my understanding of the rules, I'm not super worried about getting a late filing penalty per se, since I've paid everything I owed on the 15th. But what does worry me is that, with TaxAct having apparently e-filed my extension to Santa Claus at the North Pole instead of with the IRS, I might have trouble with my Solo 401(k) contribution deadline. I'm fairly certain that the 401(k) custodian will allow my contribution and doesn't check whether I filed an extension or not, but I still think there could be a problem with my contribution down the road if the IRS is of the opinion that I didn't file an extension and, therefore, my contribution deadline was April 15. But I really don't know the mechanics of that. Is it a situation where I can wait to see if they ever throw a fit about it, and then defensively show them my screenshot showing I filed the extension?
Does anybody have any suggestions (other than potentially sue the pants of TaxAct if they actually cause me not to be able to make my 401(k) contribution), or any clarification that can help me understand my situation a bit better?

This one right here... https://www.reddit.com/martialarts/comments/1cm05tl/what_do_you_think_of_the_statement_bad_people_are/
It was fun so here's the long follow up. That bad advice that random older dudes kept giving me was the least worrying thing in those three hours of analyzing that church's security measures. I hit up a friend of mine that has a whole lot more security-specific training than I do just to see if I was overthinking things. Bro has taught me a lot, and I still try to make the trip once or twice a year to train with him. Between emails and a phone call I think I did a pretty good job of compiling our conversation. Most of the convo is also here but I'm not a shameless self-promoter on Tuesdays.
This isn't so much about martial arts or fighting or self-defense, but it probably is helpful and good discussion because a lot of you would hopefully give a crap about these same issues.
DC (Me): When I arrived I drove around the building and no one was posted at any of the 3 front entrances, at least not outside and visible. There was always someone at either of the 2 back entrances and the 1 north end entrance.
TF (The Friend): If someone is truly invested in safety they would have all doors covered, including the main entrance(s). Now maybe their thinking is the main entrance is where people come and go and it might be “uncomfortable” for visitors however we are talking about KEEPING PEOPLE ALIVE. To me that is worth the slight discomfort. And one way they could accomplish it without having to make it an uncomfortable experience is put “greeters” at the main entrance dressed in their Sunday best but they are actually part of the security response team. Those greeters need training in profiling, body language, situational awareness and of course the surface level expected things (firearm, hand to hand, situation specific training such as an active threat). Also does this place have security cameras? Security cameras need to monitor the entire property. And keep in mind people stake out places, plant things at places, etc during off hours. Cameras are a must. Want to make some money? Offer to install a system for them. I’ll help you.
DC: There was no mention to me of where first aid kits and AEDs are located in the building. I know where one AED is on the lower floor but it’s a 4-story building. Considering that I was outside the most heavily-traveled door, it would seem prudent for me to know where those are if I see someone get hit by a car or grab their chest and fall down.
TF: An emergency doesn’t always mean a violent situation. It could be someone suffering a heart attack, a child getting run over by a car driven by an 80 yr blind church goer or just a simple amputation of a finger because they are making sandwiches in the church kitchen. Every single floor needs to have multiple AEDs and COMPLETE first aid kits (that’s a whole class in itself – how to stock a first aid kit). I say multiples because you want quick easy access to one of those item no matter where you are at in the building. I don’t know how big the place is but even starting just by putting a complete first aid kit and AED at the N and S ends of the building is a good start along with training the congregation on CPR. You don’t need the piece of paper from a class, just get someone who knows how to come teach.
DC: Along the same line, no emergency action plans were provided. What to do if part of the building has to be evacuated for a fire or smoke? In case of severe weather or tornado threats what parts of the building should be evacuated and what are the safest areas to move people to until the danger passes? They might have these plans somewhere, but what’s the point if you don’t share them with the ones who would have to execute them.
TF: This is a mistake. There has to be an evacuation plan to remove as many people as possible from the building should something occur (fire, active threat, etc). If there are tornado shelters obviously that’s the safe spot for that specific situation. Many times the evacuation plan put in place can be used for multiple threats (active threat, fire, chemical spill, etc) because it’s about removing the people AWAY from the danger. And YES you are 1000% right those plans/routes need to be shared with EVERYONE in the congregation. When people do not know what to do or where to go there will be chaos, always. The people in charge might THINK they are going to be the go to person to provide guidance and manage the crowd but I will tell you when shit hits the fan no one is listening to them. People will be stepping on their own just to get out. With that being said, any evacuation plans that are created need to be drilled by the entire congregation. It could be done 10m before church for the next 6 Sundays to make sure EVERYONE knows the plan.
DC: It gets worse. There actually is no active shooter plan in place. Apparently some Lt. with the local police department will be doing an active shooter training in the future. I'll be in attendance with the lowest hopes in the room.
TF: This should be interesting and disappointing. My first question to him would be “What are your qualifications/experience to teach this? Have you experienced it first hand?”. Or is everyone looking at him because of his “label” which really means nothing other than that is his occupation that allows him to pay his electric bill. I have yet to see (other than myself) anyone put on a close to reality active shooter training session. Most people (law enforcement included) do powerpoint presentations. Unfortunately many “experts” teaching how to survive an active shooter situation think 4 hour Powerpoint presentations, statistics and cute acronyms are properly training people to survive one of the worst experiences a person could face. Powerpoint presentations do not save lives… ACTION saves lives! You know that though.
DC: Same with an active stabber, no plans there. Or at least no one could show me a plan.
TF: Same as the active shooter.
DC: Here's one you'll love. In the event of a person being violent, the directions I was given were to stay away, make a call over the radio, and let someone else come deal with it. They're also bringing in another security consultant (a former Navy SEAL, just like those three guys who all claim they killed bin Laden) to do de-escalation training at some point. I'm skipping that shit.
TF: I’ve always said if you can remove yourself from a situation that is the best way to increase your odds of staying alive. HOWEVER – there are some situations where immediate action is needed NOW! Especially if you are responsible for the safety of others the goal is to not only eliminate the threat but also minimize damage (limit the casualties). The other night we worked full blown knife attacks. I asked someone to demo with me. I slaughtered him with 20+ stabs/slashes in about 5 seconds and that was before he hit the ground and I mounted and continued. My point – the longer an event goes on the more damage innocents will experience. If you have time to go make a phone call then you have time to take effective action that works towards eliminating the threat and minimizing damage. Their suggestion to call someone else is so typical of people who have no concept of how violence really works (let someone else handle your problem…lol). No one cares for your life more than you do. It’s your responsibility. And regardless of what someone’s propaganda says about their label it still takes time to make a phone call, it takes time for someone to arrive and even when they arrive there is no guarantee they will even engage the threat. The overall goal for ALL VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS is to make the even AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE. The longer a violent event continues the odds of you leaving lessen and the odds increased causalities goes through the roof.
Poster's note: When he and I say we're going to train someone in knife attacks rather than knife defenses. The partner (the attacker) is going to be training on how to freaking stab you just as hard as you're training to resist being stabbed.. Rubber knife, protective gear and 100% stabbing vs 100% resistance, for advanced students, is a fun time. If you're wearing the pads you're going to get your ass kicked. He wasn't actually training his class how to go on stabbing sprees.
DC: This was one that’s not even related to fight skills or ability to engage a threat. There was not even a quick introductory rant on recognizing suspicious people or behavior. The more I talked to other volunteers the more I realized none of them had a clue.
TF: This is touched on in my answer to your first question. People who are determined to execute violent activity do not walk around with signs or flashing lights. It’s not always obvious like in the movies. They blend in and lay low until the moment to take action. These church people have no clue what they are doing. It’s all what I call “surface level thinking” meaning the basic stuff your average person who is inexperienced in the subject thinks of – “Get a police officer officer in our group to teach us something.” Teach you what? How to hand out traffic citations? “We have retired military this or that and retired law enforcement and a former rodeo clown who are packing heat during church.” Ok have they ever dealt with using their weapon when there is mass chaos and people screaming/running everywhere? Bullets only travel in a straight line and do not go around innocents if they are in the way. But just because someone has a firearm doesn’t mean they have the mindset to use it.
DC: You’ll love this one. 5 minutes before the church service let out we were told to call it quits for the day, before everyone in the building started filing out to the parking lot at one time.
TF: Do you mean the response team was training, etc and the church had you guys leave 5 minutes before the congregation got out? That ties exactly into my comment in question #1 about appearance/comfort level. Why hide it? Is there anyone in the church (or the world for that matter) that would disagree the world is getting more violent? Everyone knows it is… they’ve either experienced it or seen/heard news stories so why not put it out there that the church takes the safety and well being of their members SERIOUSLY? I have a saying I came up with once when I was talking to a place about active shooter training and they said it couldn’t be hands ons and they were hoping more for like a speaking engagement because their policy doesn’t allow physical contact. My response – “Until you put people before your policies, your people will continue to die.” And that’s just plain truth. Everyone is so worried about policy/comfort level they are putting that before the actual goal of saving people’s lives. If you are getting ready for a championship basketball game what should you do in practice? Play some damn basketball. Well if you are wanting to learn how to save your life/others in a violent situation what should you practice? VIOLENCE. Why would you do ANYTHING ELSE in practice than what you are preparing for? It’s not logical. I think the congregation would approve and love the idea that “their church cares”.
DC: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the building’s security measures? Is it fucked, or am I crazy and overthinking it because I am oddly OCD about details sometimes?
TF: I would give them a grade of 2 (at best) out of 10. You are 1000% on point on everything. You have training. You understand violent situations but you’ve been trained by someone and a group that has experienced it and knows how violence REALLY unfolds. The people who are in charge with this “security” policy at your church have ZERO experience and ZERO training. Imagine this - would you want a surgeon who has no education in operation and no experience to attempt to perform a life saving surgery on you? A question I would ask them is - "How SERIOUS are you about saving lives?"

I bought some 96" curtain rods and brackets from the Home Depot website that were shipped directly from the vendor. I decided I didn't need them, and they are unopened in their original packaging. I see that the return label says they are being sent to "Home Depot RLC 8617" in Phoenix, AZ.
I'm familiar very generally with what happens in a return center like this -- items are sorted, some are sent back to the vendor, some are liquidated, some are donated, some are trashed. But I don't understand how that determination is made or the details of what happens. I'd like to use my items as an example to get into the specifics.
My motivation for asking all of this is that I am very concerned about the sustainability impact of returns, knowing how much gets thrown out.
I'll be sending two boxes. One will be a very long 8.5' x 4" x 4" box with curtain rods, with packing paper. The other a small 6" cube with the brackets. Someone will open each box and make some kind of determination.
* If the items are unopened, are they guaranteed to be sent back to the vendor, or might they still be liquidated or trashed? Does this depend on the vendor and what their agreement is? If so, how does the person examining the item figure this out? * Is there any information I can see on my return label that might give me an indication of what is likely to happen/ what that agreement is? * The curtain rod box is hard to open because it's so long. Is the person examining it really going to take those 8' rods out (which requires a lot more than 8' of room) to examine each to see that the plastic bag containing the rod is unopened? If they do, are they going to put it back into the same box I sent it in before sending it back to the vendor (or doing whatever with it)? Suppose the box breaks in the process of them inspecting it, or they tear the bag that holds the curtain rod. Then what happens? * Is there a risk that the worker just thinks "this super long box is too much of a hassle, I'm just going to say it's damaged and throw it into the liquidation pile" or something like that? * One of the brackets that will be in the other box (the small one) came in an unlabeled plastic bag. I can tell what it is, but it might seem weird to a worker who sees it and wonders why there's no label. Is that likely to affect what happens next? * The curtain rods cost $35 each and the brackets were $20 each. Does the price range of the items affect whether they are treated one way or another?
* If an item goes to an RLC and it is determined that it should go back to the vendor, does it go immediately from there to the vendor, or is there another step in the process? (Will an RDC or other warehouse type get involved in my order? Are RDC and RLC the same? Sometimes they seem to be used interchangeably as I've searched around the web)
Thanks so much in advance to anyone who is able to shed some light on this!

Hi, I am a big fan of Gigantic. I have been playing this game for the last couple of weeks and was thoroughly enjoying every second of it. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz around this game, specifically from people complaining about it not being free-to-play. Instead, this game has a price tag of $20 with no microtransactions.
Many people believe that this $20 price tag is hurting the game and that turning it into a F2P game with microtransactions might help the player base grow. And while I’m sure that these people have some valid points to support their case, I believe I can come up with a good enough counter-argument as to why the F2P model might not be the best way to go moving forward. After some careful consideration and a bit of research, here are my two cents on the issue:
Argument #1: Gigantic have tried going F2P before and it didn’t help them one bit.
Back when Gigantic was first released in 2017—where it was first developed by Motiga—the game was initially released as a F2P game. Despite that, at the time, it did not help the game whatsoever in terms of acquiring a sizable player base, which led to it shutting down a year later. Now, you might argue that Gigantic’s initial shutdown can also be attributed to other factors such as having to switch publishers mid-development, causing it to have a rocky launch. Another possible contributing factor is also the timing of its release, where games like Overwatch have already gained a massive following—taking most of the attention away from Gigantic.
With that said, some of you might still think that the F2P model might work for Gigantic this time around. However, I don’t believe that is very likely. Currently, Overwatch 2 still dominates the market of hero-shooter games and League of Legends is still going strong as one of the powerhouses of the MOBA genre. The current situation is more or less the same as it was back when Gigantic was first released. If nothing has changed before, do you honestly think the developers and publishers of this game would want to risk making the same mistake again? If it already didn’t work the first time, what makes you so sure that it’s going to work the second time?
Of course, there's still a chance that the F2P model might work, though it is not a guarantee. I believe many people out there are highly overestimating the effect of the F2P model on a game like Gigantic, thinking that it might miraculously turn this whole situation around when there is clearly already evidence that suggests otherwise.
Argument #2: There are examples of similar games out there that are massively popular despite not being F2P when it was first released.
I’m going to use Overwatch again, as it is the game that most people would compare Gigantic to. Remember back when Overwatch first released, it was priced at $40, and that was only the bare-bones version on PC. If you get the “Game of the Year” Edition, the price goes up to $60. If you get the “Collector’s Edition”, it goes up to a whopping $130. That didn’t stop it from being one of the most popular games at the time, now does it? Of course, Overwatch had only turned into a F2P game after it had gained its massive popularity as Overwatch 2.
And then there’s TF2—another game that is often compared to Overwatch. Back then, before it turned F2P, TF2 as a stand-alone game cost $20. If you buy it as a bundle with the Orange Box, it costs $50. Yet another game with a price tag that only got turned into a F2P game after it got popular, not before.
In both of these examples, putting a price tag on a game clearly did not deter customers from buying them. These games did not need the F2P label to be popular, so why should Gigantic be any different? Why is Gigantic so viciously hated for putting a modest price of $20 on a game when there are similar games who had done similar things and ended up becoming massive successes? When you look at it from that perspective, it simply does not seem fair.
Argument #3: The F2P model with microtransactions is shady as hell, even at the best of times.
Of course, there are also massively successful games that started out as being F2P from the get-go, the most notable ones being League of Legends. Out of all the games out there, many consider LoL to have one of the best F2P monetization models. The items that you can buy with real money are mainly cosmetic items and are not pay-to-win. You can play the game as much as you want without spending any real money. And if you do have some extra cash to spend, you are welcome to buy any of the skins to make your champion look just a bit cooler. It’s a pretty good system overall. Surely, if LoL can benefit from it, Gigantic can too, right?
That is until you realize that LoL players spend an average of $92 per year on this so-called “free-to-play” game. (Source) And that’s only an average! There are more extreme cases of people spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year on this game. When compared to that, $20 for a game like Gigantic might as well be a drop in the bucket. How is it possible that, for a supposedly “free-to-play” game, people on average are spending more money than they do with traditional games in the long run? It’s ridiculous!
Now, I’m sure that there are some of you out there who have enjoyed playing LoL for years without spending a single penny. If you are one of those people, good on you; you have more self-control than most of us. I’m sure that, from your perspective, paying $20 for Gigantic just doesn’t seem worth it to you. That is a fair and valid point and I completely understand. However, if the statistics are to be believed, most of you LoL players out there are not that type of person.
Most of you do not have that kind of self-control. Eventually, FOMO is going to hit you hard and you'll cave into that pressure. Eventually, you will be inclined to spend more money than you should and even lose track of how much you are spending. Eventually, the act of paying money itself becomes a habit and then, all of a sudden, you’re playing the equivalent of a down payment of a car on this game—a game which, may I remind you, does not require you to pay any amount of money to play in the first place! Is “free-to-play” actually free to play if you’re just going to end up paying money anyway?
Try as you might, you’re going to give into that temptation eventually. That’s how F2P games are designed. They manipulate you psychologically. Games like LoL did not get as big as they did on a gaming community that is good at self-control with their money. Sure, maybe the F2P model is a financially sustainable model if done right. That doesn’t change the fact that F2P games are shady at its core even at the best of times and are downright predatory and exploitative at the worst of times.
Sure, maybe you think that all that money you’ve spent on the game is worth it. Maybe you bought all those skins with absolutely no regrets whatsoever. If the game is good, then it totally deserves whatever amount of money you’re paying it, right? To which I ask you this: if you’re already willing to spend that much money on a F2P game like LoL, why would you be so apprehensive to spend $20 on a full game like Gigantic? Is $20 really that big of a deal when compared to all the other gaming-related purchases that you’ve made throughout your lifetime? Plus, that $20 is a one-and-done deal, after which you don’t have to pay any more money. You literally cannot toss in the down payment of a car into this game even if you wanted to!
The team behind Gigantic are probably aware of the negative reputation of microtransactions. While I don’t know for certain, I suspect that they have heated debates amongst themselves before settling with the final asking price of $20 as the best compromise in order to rid the game of any microtransactions. Even though $20 might seem a lot at first when compared to its F2P competitors, on average, playing Gigantic is going to cost you less money than playing LoL in the long run. That’s because Gigantic is designed like a real game, not a glorified Skinner box.
For a long time, people have been complaining about microtransactions in video games—so much so that not even games like LoL are completely free of criticism. Gigantic dares to take a step towards the right direction by introducing a reasonably priced game that doesn’t have any microtransactions even when it probably should. Assuming that the team did so under genuinely benevolent reasons, Gigantic should be praised for taking such a bold step, not condemned, and I just really want to get that out there to all of you guys.
+++
Of course, on the off-chance that Gigantic might actually go F2P in the future, all the points I’ve made so far will be rendered moot. And while I might be a bit upset at their decision to do so, if they truly think it is what’s best for the survival of the game, I have no right to stop them. At the end of the day, the point I’m trying to make here is that Gigantic’s $20 price point with no microtransactions is not without its merits. Plus, Gigantic is just a really, really good game in general that totally deserves $20. Make of that what you will.
+++
TL;DR
Gigantic tried going F2P before and it didn’t work
There are examples of non-F2P games of a similar genre that end up becoming successful
Seriously, fuck microtransactions!

Hello everyone,
My mom Was diagnosed in February with limb onset ALS. Currently, her legs don’t work at all so she needs to be transferred out of her bed to a wheelchair using a house lift. Her arms have begin to get weaker, especially the one, and she’s started having more difficulty coughing.
She wants to avoid the suffering in later stages of the disease and is choosing medical assistance in dying within, she thinks, the next two months.
Has anyone else had the experience of supporting a pALS through this process? We’re in Canada it’s legal here and there’s a system set up that she’s already approved in.
What were your experiences like? It’s hard to know that the reason for her death won’t ultimately be the disease but it will be her own decision that she’s just suffering so much and it’s time to go. I feel like I put a bit of extra effort to make each day fun or joyful in a way partly because I just want her to feel good, but also unconsciously that maybe if I can help her enjoy what remains of her life, she will delay doing MAID.
Does or has anyone else struggled with these issues?
What did you do with your final few pre- MAID weeks to get the most out of that time together?

One year ago I adopted two female Burmese cats. Originally it was three of them, the two girls and a boy who all lived with an elderly lady who sadly passed, hence why they were up for adoption. I adopted the two females, because the male had already been adopted and I didn’t want to spilt the two girls up. They aren’t siblings, they just had the same owner. There’s about a year between them. The place I rescued them from a recognised rescue centre, it was a little strange in that it was a little bit run down, but the cats seemed in good health when I visited them. And then brought them home immediately, I was sent all their paperwork etc in a couple of weeks by post and it all checked out:
The older female (6 years old) she is very confident and friendly. However, she loves to chew plastic, bags for life, electric cables and also loves to obsessively lick my skin.
The younger female (4) is more grumpy and reserved. However does love a cuddle here and there. She will literally grab food and run off with it. She will also persistently try and open kitchen cupboard doors. When she succeeds at openining them, both of the cats will eat what’s inside (including a whole packet of bread sticks, a tea cake, a packet of crisps)
I adore these cats! I obviously feed them twice a day, as advices by the James wel beloved bag on how much to feed in door cats. I feed them 21g twice a day.
Although I feed them plenty, they still try to get to my food and my housemates food. They will snatch and run off with food. Put their heads into stuff and go crazy, acting like they haven’t eaten. I also had to move the kitchen bins into the bathrooms because they were knocking them over and eating out of them.
I got some cable ties for the cupboards and they lasted a while, now they’ve managed to open them again.
I worm them regularly as directed by the vet so I’m not worried about that.
Personally I think it’s a behavioural thing, and they’ve learnt if they do it they’ll get more attention even if it’s annoyed at them attention.
They are indoor cats, they always have been, and due to their age and gullibility I’m not sure I’d want to let them out. I live in a busy city.
They have each other’s company and also my flat mate whilst I’m at work.
I’d like to train them not to go onto the kitchen counters because they really get themselves in the way when I’m cooking. Especially if it’s meat or fish, it’s impossible to have them in the same room without them going ballistic and trying to get the items that smell good to them.
I’ve basically just ranted… I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or has had any similar situations which they have solved etc.
Also fyi, I don’t have a door on the kitchen, otherwise that would be an easy win.
Many thanks

Warning: This post contains chapter 261, so only read it after you've read that chapter! Also this post is 10% cringy, 50% analytical, 40% theory crafting. Hope you enjoy!
Now that Kaiser's flashback is over, it's time to analyze where Kaiser's character arc seems to be heading this match.
Kaiser's proof of originality I think what's most interesting about Kaiser is that while the backstory explained Kaiser's mentality, we've been seeing signs of who Kaiser is as a person even before the backstory. His way of speaking theatrically, his constant obsession with sinking other players into despair, his self-harming attitude, and even the way he treats Ness as a person. All of what we've been seeing as been building up to the current backstory that we're witnessing unfold in our eyes.
Now, let's talk about the originality of Kaiser.
https://preview.redd.it/gt93j21qfh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=c74caf91fb7bdccb3636ab3cf66af7d62aefb1e9
Kaiser is a complex character, but if I were to sum it all up. His environment brought out the monster known as malice. He's someone whose perception of love has been warped due to him being constantly tortured by his father. To him there is no such thing as kindness. In the world he lives in, you can only show kindness through the act of malice.
The act of hurting others and destroying their dreams brings him one step closer to being human. It explains the actions of Kaiser throughout the NEL, he isn't the type to play nice with others. While others would introduce themselves with a simple hello, he would rather introduce himself by challenging others to a fight as seen at the start of the NEL).
https://preview.redd.it/7uwrquwgjh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=69609b27a2f203221f32ea7c263c29835267917d
We've seen before that certain players in Blue Lock come from unfortunate homes and soccer is a means of escape to them. For Kaiser, it's no different and it's warped the way he views football. It is impossible to play football as a single person, soccer as a sport is one that requires you to communicate with your teammates and to craft plays to crush the opposition.
In order to counteract this level of teamwork, he created a single weapon to prove his individuality and sink his opponents into despair. That weapon being known as the Kaiser Impact. A weapon not born out of love, but pure malice. Even with such an invincible weapon, it's still a sport played by 11 people. Most people in his situation would have realized that they need to make a friend or at least a teammate they're on friendly terms with.
https://preview.redd.it/xdtvobcxkh0d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=d242eba1fc3f30b0fc299e2b77da7537f661ee39
But instead, he decided to find someone that would be loyal to him to a fault. Somebody that couldn't challenge his ideas and wouldn't question him. Someone he could bring hope to and easily corrupt their heart. And that person being Ness, now before I dissect more into Ness and Kaiser's relationship. Let's take a quick moment to answer a question that a few people are wondering in this match. Even though Kaiser is such a talented player, why is his current level of play not as satisfactory?
Ultimate performance
https://preview.redd.it/e4qt3lpglh0d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fde1a2243319caab7603b596af2460e953eaa2c
So far in the current match, we've had 2 goals scored and each of them were done by a clash of peak performances. The first goal being a clash with Shidou and Charles pulling a similar move as the final goal scored in Ubers. And the next goal being scored by a clash of three players colliding their ultimate performances in order to score in this match.
Each of these goals were scored by following the proposed formula that Hiori explains in the panel above. Hunger -> Suitable Goal -> Flow -> Ultimate Challenge -> Peak Performance. Let's use Kunigami as an example! His hunger was destroying Shidou which transformed into his suitable goal of man-marking him. Leading him to reach the state of flow and having successfully completing his ultimate challenge of stopping Shidou, he reached his peak performance allowing Isagi and Hiori to make use of this.
If you've been reading so far and paying attention. In order to succeed in this match, you need to fulfill two simple conditions.

1. Reaching your peak performance
   
2. Collaborating with someone else's peak performance to score.
   

And so far, Michael Kaiser has failed at reaching both of these conditions. So, let's start with condition one and how his character arc is leading to that.
The path to being human
This section of the post was inspired by this comment from u/Zukiinis: Inspiration!
https://preview.redd.it/kdz4qdpxoh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=449f55e823606d2442e6a55d8bdbac538b04f834
There are a lot of things eating at Kaiser right now, but if I were to name the biggest one. It's the fact that his current ego is not the one that will lead to his best performance. This ego of hurting others through malice is something that is eerily similar to that of his father when he was heartbroken. It's an ego that was born as a result of that day.
But this current ego leads him to seeing himself as not human and to plunge all of his foes into despair and to reign over his teammates as a tyrant. It's one that dissociates himself from reality and leads him to believing he's someone not worthy of love. Which has given him a warp sense of view on his relationship with Ness and one that was possibly blooming into a friendship. It's true that Kaiser approached Ness with the intent of using him as nothing but a tool. But is that how their relationship has stayed throughout everything?
https://preview.redd.it/4vrtxt7dqh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ca8a1b5b71f7b7f694481de80f2c79ba698759d
If Kaiser considers Ness as a tool, then why is he openly laughing with him? Why would he allow someone else to touch his hair and get close to him? Better yet, why would he open his heart to someone else and reveal that part of his past? In Kaiser's mind he may consider Ness as nothing but a tool (currently), but his heart and actions are speaking differently. He's treating Ness as more of a friend, something that Kaiser has never had before in his life and has no way of knowing how to act with a friend. I'm pretty sure the concept of friendship is foreign in Kaiser's mind. So, where am I going with all of this?
https://preview.redd.it/ym8az2xyqh0d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=e593a01e66020d8eb3043eb192a3618157b10f6a
I (and many others) believe that Kaiser is on the verge of an awakening. When Kaiser first awakened his ego, it wasn't out of despair as Kaiser seems to believe. But it was out of the fact that he wanted to protect the one thing in his life that he learned to love, the one thing that his father was attempted to take away from him. A soccer ball, Kaiser didn't awaken his sense of identity due to malice as he seems to believe, but due to the fact that in the first time in his life he learned to love something.
I believe that Kaiser at the end of this match will learn to view himself as human and will start to learn of the concept of love. And for that to happen he needs to receive a similar trigger and that trigger will be when he's on the verge of losing Ness. Which I'm not sure how that would happen, but what better way to awaken Kaiser fully by having his rival Isagi stealing Ness temporarily by forcing a pass out of him. Which will potentially spiral Kaiser to despair and lead to the birth of his evolution.
https://preview.redd.it/0yk5udvqth0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5bc553ccc75879d92c01066dddca83dd4e424e4
So, why do I think Ness being almost taken away from Kaiser is the key to his evolution? I think the ball in the flashback is literally just Ness and is foreshadowing the future for this two. The current Kaiser is very abusive to Ness and simply treats him as the ball in his flashback. Someone who is there to just be obedient to Kaiser and not make up a fuss. But I think what's really interesting is that the ball (Ness) is Kaiser's only companion and the moment he was about to lose that companion. It sparked the birth of his ego and prompted him into action.
Interlude: Ness's evolution So, if Kaiser's evolution is linked to Ness being taken away, then what is the key to Ness's evolution? I believe Ness's evolution will come before Kaiser's evolution and the key to that will be seeing Kaiser in despair and being on the verge of almost giving up. This will spark Ness to unleash his creativity and try to make a play that will allow for both him and Kaiser to succeed. But Isagi will be the first one to notice this change and will run to the perfect pass course forcing the pass out of Ness as he hoped Kaiser could have read him. Once Kaiser sees this interaction of Isagi stealing Ness's pass, that will be when Kaiser will awaken.
Honestly, I imagine it'll be a mix of Bachira's evolution for Ness and a Barou like conqueror moment for Isagi.
Now, let's move on to the final act of this post
A weapon not born out of malice, but pure friendship
https://preview.redd.it/ooh9acuyvh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=82c7aedf44f2577e18efc51ba199513bcc2d00ea
Kaiser's whole character arc seems to be heading in a direction where he's being forced to discover who he really is as a player and to understand what he wants. And in order to do that, he's being constantly met with the same level of despair that he forced onto others. In order for Kaiser to reach his peak performance, he has to fight with the same intensity of ego as he felt first when he discovered himself for the first time.
And I think one of the main things that needs to happen is Kaiser is taking a moment of introspection (possibly on the bench after Noa swaps with him). Understanding that behaving like his father isn't the best way to move forward in life. Him being constantly obsessed with putting others in despair is clouding his judgement and leading to him making reckless mistakes that he would normally avoid. And most importantly to realize that he no longer sees Ness as a tool, but as a friend for the first time in his life. Leading to him accepting Ness's creativity and to stop berating him.
And if Kaiser does possibly get benched, I think it'll be the moment he goes back to analyzing the field and planning his moves accordingly. Which will lead to Kaiser utilizing Ness's imagination on the field and leading to both of them succeeding in their ultimate challenge. Which is...
Making the Kaiser Impact: Magnus succeed.
https://preview.redd.it/t7zig57qsh0d1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=82c34d109d5ef278b2edd7dfe60056c33cb4e0e7
If Kaiser Impact was a weapon born out of an individual talent to drive those into despair. The Kaiser Impact: Magnus will be a weapon born out of a collaboration of peak performance to turn a 0 into 1. In order for this weapon to succeed, there are two main conditions that need to be fulfilled.

1. The ball must not be in motion
   
2. Kaiser has to perform the Magnus
   

Each of these conditions are absurdly difficult to perform in a moving game and it's almost impossible. But with someone who loves unexplainable things and another that loves trying the impossible. It's quite the perfect challenge for them, isn't it? Anyway, I'm sure many of you see where I'm going with this. But for this shot to work, Ness will have to perform a godly maneuvepass utilizing those ankles of his to lead the ball into having zero motion. While Kaiser will have to arrive at the perfect spot in time to use the Kaiser Impact: Magnus and unleash it.
This weapon will be born out of Ness and Kaiser's peak performance. I imagine that once Kaiser and Ness scores the final goal, this two will be on better terms and Kaiser will actually put effort into treating Ness as a friend. The path to being human isn't easy, but all it takes is one single friend to make you human. Ask Ray Dark, he knows what I'm talking about.
My face after completing this post
And that's the end of my theory/analysis. I hope you enjoyed it, let me know your thoughts!

TLDR: I need to lose a lot of weight. I am successful when in a consistent calorie deficit, but I feel so hungry and irritable when doing so. Does it get better or are people just hungry all the time when losing a lot of weight and maintaining?
I (32F; HW 240 CW 225 GW 165) nailed a healthy diet in January and lost a good bit of weight, but I struggled with feeling so very hungry and deprived during that time.
I was aiming for a 1,800 calories a day goal after working with my doctor, and usually found myself between 1,400 and 1,800 cals. I had a higher calorie day about 1-2 times a week. I had fewer processed carbs, a protein goal (80-100mg) and water intake goal (130oz). I was also getting 10,000 + steps a day, even if it meant walking around my house for 45 mins at the end of the day lol. It was working! I was a bit less consistent in February/March, and then almost completely fell off in April/May.
I have a prescription for Wegovy and I'm on week 2 and have decided I don't want to continue. Side effects are honestly ok, and it really does affect my appetite and make eating fewer calories so much easier. I see why it works so well - if I always felt like this I would rarely ever even reach 1,400 cals a day. I really am anxious however to be on a medication forever, and the long term side effects and stigma around it just freak me out. Plus, I've kind of proven to myself that if I'm consistent, I can lose and maintain for a while. I really want to be able to do this.
I gained 60+ lbs in two years after taking Lexapro for postpartum anxiety and depression and I was relieved to finally be off the meds last year. Unlucky for me the weight wouldn't budge after simply stopping. I'm mostly healthy but at high risk for type 2 diabetes and have developed high cholesterol and back pain.
Anyways, I want to get back into what I was doing earlier this year and make it a lifestyle, but I have a hard time imagining spending most of my time feeling very hungry and unsatisfied.
Do you eventually feel more full from less? Please tell me that if I can push through for longer than before and I can maintain a deficit without feeling hungry, tired, and irritable.

So, I'm presenting here a basic game loop which I've always used since my teen days. It's basically pretty standard, but a few soft changes, primarily when dice are rolled, cause non-obvious effects which I invite you to consider.

1. GM Describes the scene
2. Thoughts This phase is used when something is unusual or dramatic and can sometimes be cut out for speed. Basically, you go around the table and ask the player what their character is thinking or feeling about the situation. This gives everyone a chance to say something before any actions are performed, gets the player involved in the character's thought processes and let's them give exposition that brings more depth to the character. It helps get them into character while reinforcing that everyone will get a chance to speak!
3. Actions Now that we know how everyone is thinking or feeling, I ask each character what they are doing in the scene, again, speaking to each player in order. If we get to a skill check or more than a minute or two passes, we cut-scene to the next player and ask "while they are doing that, what are YOU doing?" Do NOT roll any checks!
4. Results As you get back around the table, resolve the check that led to the cut-scene and then ask what that player does next (back to step 3) Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

This does a few things. First, people have much less of a tendency to talk over each other because they know they will get a chance to speak. You can speak out of turn if its to another player, like "No! Don't touch that!" You also focus on each player which means that players that are shy or might otherwise not get a chance to speak, will always have somewhat equal play time. Everyone gets a turn.
You avoid rolling checks before the switch for two reasons. First, it adds a degree of suspense. Second, if the next player knows if the check was successful, they will play as if their character is acting after the other rather than simultaneously. This is important to match the role-play with the passage of time.
Imagine if player 1 is picking a lock. If they fail, this quickly devolves into "I try too" from the other players. If they don't know the result, they now have to deal with what to do with the passage of time while someone works on the lock. Maybe they stand there and wait, and that drives home the passage of time as each player waits on the one picking the lock. I will ask what they do while they wait, where are they looking? This prompts some to guard a doorway with a readied action or begin searching an area, or whatever that character is good at. This can even be routine where each player is busy doing something specific and helps differentiate the roles in the party to form a cohesive team.
The players know these events happen simultaneously. If the lock does not open, we ask player 1 (who just failed) what they do next, which might be to continue working on the lock (a good time to add a tension pool die if you use that mechanic). The other players have hopefully chosen their own actions and will be less likely to "me too" things while really driving home the passage of time, and the players that are just waiting become as impatient as their characters.
It's worked very well, especially in large groups where quieter players sometimes get left out.

So recently I found out that my first cousin went to my grandparents and asked for some of their land (5 acres to be exact) for the 15 used as farm land to pay the property taxes. They have much more timbepasture land. So not only did they get over $50,000+ of free land they essentially screwed it up for the children to keep the property because now the land that paid the property taxes is only 10 acres and won’t cover the year of taxes and we know 3 of the 5 kids would never pay out of pocket to keep the place. There are 11 grandchildren and one took it upon himself to get FREE land without concern for the other 10 grandchildren or 5 children. Deal was mommy would pay out of her inheritance but mommy is now saying that was never said and now she gets less and she is poor and needs the money from my grandparents dying to find her retirement. She has always been “broke” for 35 years I have known her she has been just too broke to pitch in on parents gifts, get her children gifts, her grandchildren gifts etc. it’s so annoying that an adult that is 60 does nothing to better their life and is betting on what they get when their parents died to fund their retirement. So the other sister she works with loves and lives for drama along with her entire family has decided to try to bad mouth me to the whole family for saying it isn’t right for 1 of the 11 grandkids to get over $50,000 free! Plus could sell it for way more if they choose not to build. Other sister is on a smear campaign, because she loves to be in the middle of every thing. She got her whole family (Pussy husband that goes along with everything she says, daughter that got with her husband while he had a live in girlfriend betting on no longer having to work once birthing their children, son in law that has anything because mommy and daddy paid for it, and spoiled grandson that gets in trouble but doesn’t no wrong) aunt treats her other daughter like scum of the Earth and who’s son stays away if he can help it because of psycho mom and oldest 36 year old golden sister who’s mom and dad pay her cell phone bill. All that was said by me was that it wasn’t fair to the other grandkids, has somehow turned into me thinking that I would get the property once grandparents were dead, which is hilarious because I go over every day to help them not out of ever thinking I would get anything but because I love my grandparents and will help them in any way they need help unlike 98% of the others that we basically BEG to help out 86&85 year old grandparents. I have gone to my grandparents almost everyday for over 8 years to help and land was only just acquired less than 2 years ago by my selfish cousin and his wife that thinks she deserves the world but hates everyone. I “swore” at my grandpa and called him a “son of a bitch” like who under 60 says son of a bitch LMAO!? I “want the land to myself” (never thought I was getting anything) and whatever they can think of to try to talk bad about me and discredit me for their own sick wants. Called psycho aunt out, the psycho aunt that wanted my grandma home without physical therapy after she broke her hip at 81, brought her home after being septic then talked shit on the grandchild and her husband for “being know it alls” and rushing grandma to the hospital which turned out to be septic shock! Then proceeded to bad mouth them to the family for thinking they know more than them. Psycho aunt and her little 12 year old keep up that they are right and everyone “against them is wrong”. They are a bunch of psychos. 12 year old wants to act like he is grown. Been suspended twice the year for comments made on social media one that resulted in the FBI becoming involved the other involving himself in drama he wasn’t even involved in! Guess he takes after grandma and grandpa, and Auntie! A bunch of disgusting humans not directly involved but wanting to be involved because they are bored losers with no life. Grandson will be in Juvie the next 3/4 years. No one to blame but the whole family but they will like they did the son for selling dope but shouldn’t go to prison because “he grew up in a small town”. Just wanted t get it off my chest how messed up these self centered losers are. Also Cousin had a sister that also wouldn’t get land like him but it’s ok mommy is not cares about one of her kids!