When I hear or read about a film that's relatively obscure, it's a struggle to find it to watch. When I say obscure, I mean films in the vein of Love Exposure, 964 Pinocchio, Throw Away Your Books Rally in the Streets etc.
(I chose the above examples knowing they're relatively "popular" examples of arthouse. But they would be obscure for most mainstream viewers, and probably the first titles to come across for someone who's getting into more obscure variety of arthouse films. I just mention them to make clear what I mean by obscure arthouse film. In fact, they're all available on Internet Archive.)
Criterion Collection and MUBI are probably the most formal places to find and watch arthouse films. But they don't always have really obscure ones.
Internet Archive have many films, some obscure ones too, but really deep dive types seem to be absent or sometimes in broken files.
Torrenting sometimes helps, but even when you find the torrent link for an obscure film, the seeders are so few that it's unable to complete the download.
Not to mention that most of these kind of films have never had DVD releases, or at least are not available anymore.
So where do you find truly obscure films that you hear about on Letterboxd, blogs, magazines or from someone, when they're unavailable in the above mentioned sources?
Do you have go-to places (websites, forums?) for films that have a few hundred or thousand logs on LB or IMDb at most, and only a few reviews if any? How do people who write about them online find and watch them?
Here are some films that I wanted to see recently but couldn't find to exemplify what I mean by really obscure: A New Life (2002, Grandrieux), Timeless Bottomless Bad Movie (1997, Sun-woo)**, Injured College Girl (1995, Slocombe).
**: This is on Internet Archive but the file was broken when I last checked.
PS: Maybe these are all not that hard to find and I'm just bad at searching for films. Guide me if you think so, I wanna know how to look for obscure titles.

So I got a cool story idea from the book I read, and here it is. I have it all pretty much figured so just looking for advice!
Title: Sleepover
A high school girls track team has a sleepover party after winning the state championship. The main character is a 15-16 year old girl named Ruby. The party is at her friend Blaine’s house. Suddenly, a girl begins acting strange and drugged, and she disappears. Everyone freaks of course, but can’t get a hold of the authorities because the cell signal has been intercepted and the car stolen. Alone, they try to make a plan and figure out what the heck is going on. More people disappear, romance is sparked, but all the while a subplot brews. Parker, Ruby‘s 14 year old brother, has found himself with the wrong crowd, and is selling illegal drugs and bootleg alcohol to high schoolers. A group of college students from the local university have recruited him as an inside man, basically. They need money to pay off their loans and other debts, and run a drug business and prostitution ring. The story also follows Parker through his rough year and his recruitment. Heath, the leader, along with Parker, are staking out the house, taking the girls and spiking the drinks.
The romance aspect of the story is between Ruby and a girl named Camilla, who has secretly had a crush on Ruby. They comfort each other through the night, and it develops into something more. I imagine this as a side plot, just for fun. I’ve never written a WLW love story though, so I would like tips.
PLOT TWIST:
Coming back from the restroom, Ruby sees her friend, Blaine, being taken. She looks at the attacker, and sees her brother. Devastated, she realised that she told her brother everything when he asked. Where the party was, when, who was coming. She calls everyone in, and they manage to fight him off and he flees. While everyone worries, Ruby runs out of the house to look for Parker. She finds him injured, shot by Heath, and bleeding out on the ground in a nearby alley. She is with him for his final moments, and he tells her everything. Enraged at the situation and mourning her brother, she looks where Parker said and finds Heath, the gang leader. She confronts him and eventually shoots him in the leg with his own gun. Ruby calls the police using his phone, and directs them to Blaine‘s house and Heath‘s hideout. They find most of the captured girls, and arrest the injured Heath. She returns to the house, and reunites with Camilla. However, Blaine was never found. Maybe that’s a story for another day…

Hey! Sorry for any grammar mistakes! English isn't my Mother Tongue.
I must add that I will delete this thread once I get some satisfactory answers. I keep my condition low profile on the internet...
I will make a HUUUUGE TLDR because my lore encompass 32 years of living existence.
Since 12 to 21 I was gifted. Could read books, study Calculus, make high grades at school. A therapist in joint work with a shrink and a medical team, when I got my first Schizophrenia outbreak, which was triggered by the 21s, calculated that my IQ went from 142 to 81.
It is under normal scores. I faced it very well. Did a few courses at GOOD universities, never finished any.
Next year I decided to finally finish a Major. Which is PRETTY hard. Maths and such. My current shrink said that I have an under level IQ. But it is possible. I just need to rely more on hard work and study and less in intelligence. In sum, effort over intelligence. Naruto instead of Neji, if you like animes.
Has any Schizophrenic here or parents of Schizophrenics could relate if:
You or your families lost lots of IQ and if they achieved an Uni Major, especially a Hard one?
Thanks!

I have a couple theories but want to see what Reddit thinks.
Myrtle Wilson isn't even described as particularly pretty. From the book:

She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering.

Book is public domain, available here. I can't speak for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie or any other interpretation beyond Fitzgerald's original work.
No, I don't have an essay due; high school was decades ago.

Okay, sorry if this is all over the place but I want some insight from others not involved in the situation whatsoever. Feel free to ask for any clarity etc.
I (29F) and my husband (36M) have 2 kids. To protect their privacy I would prefer not to share details but I will share vague info. They are elementary aged. I put off my own schooling to focus on getting our kids established and we do virtual homeschooling. My husband has never been able to hold down a job due to a few health things (anxiety that he uses medication for, and a few years in he got diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and EOE but he doesn't stay on top of his own care). We live with my mom. He has lived with me under my moms roof for what would have been 12 years later this year.
Here is where I am asking for insight.
My mom witnessed him becoming more and more emotionally and verbally abusive. She sent him to his grandmas March 1st. My brother and I drove him down and we slept there and drove home the next day. He has been down there since. So 2 months. It was originally supposed to be around 2 weeks but then they asked about him staying another week. He was supposed to call my mom and they were supposed to talk about him coming back home. The one phone call they had he was making an excuse for why he yelled at me on the phone since he'd even been down there and then all he cared to talk about was his doctor(nurse practitioner) not sending his medicine, his insurance issues and all about his medicines. He is addicted to prescription drugs as well. If more info is needed I can elaborate but trying to keep this as short as possible but with enough details. He has also told us to go file divorce papers(I have never indicated separation, this was simply my mom wanting him to appreciate us and treat us better which it seems he is a narcissist and incapable of loving anyone but himself), custody, coparenting etc. So in his mind his is flipping it into US needing to work on our marriage instead of HIM working on how he treats me and our children.
He has barely talked to our kids. In the beginning I kept complaining about his lack of talking to them, then he would only try to call late at night. As I mentioned, they are school aged. I'm talking like 9:00pm or later he wanted to talk to them. Like I said, he didn't work and was aware of them having early mornings so this irked me. I told him he needed to stop putting us all off until the end of the day and it was completely rude and disrespectful to our kids time. He said he's busy and calls when he can.... I told him that's unacceptable and he needs to carve out a little time earlier in the day for them. I told him not to call after 8:00pm, which is still late quite frankly but better than 9 or 10. He has talked to them less than 10 times(don't know the exact amount so being generous with an estimation) I can look at my call log if necessary and try to weed out when he actually talked with THEM. Anywho, there was one Thursday night when he was supposed to call and I gave him a time and said no video chatting(he always tries to force me to be involved and I was busy and didn't want a camera being shoved in my face). He asked why not. I explained it wasn't a good night. He asked if he could video chat them Friday instead because he had things he wanted to show them. I made sure I was clear on what he meant and asked if he meant NOT talk to them "tonight" in order to videochat "tomorrow"? (this happened in the past hence the "") He said yes. He had not talked to them in 2 weeks at that point. So I was mad that he didn't ask if he could talk to them tonight but videochat them tomorrow as well....but then he said he was busy anyway so that would work better.....okay. Friday comes. He CALLS them. He was SO distracted on the phone and BARELY talked to them. He mentioned his brother had reached out about hanging out so I am thinking he was texting him while on the phone with them, but I don't know. I told our older child he was supposed to videochat so they mentioned it to him and he took a few minutes to send the link(iphone to android videochat) our child texted because it was taking so long. He finally sent the link and they were videochatting. He wasn't trying to show them anything. I mentioned he was supposed to show them stuff. He mentioned a coloring book and they had to ASK to see it. Then they ASKED about grannys dog so he showed them the dog. I gave them a time limit but gave wiggle room for the sake of our kids. I realized the chatting was going nowhere because he just wasn't interested in talking to them. Our older child mentions needing to go, then he says something like the child hadn't said they needed to go, in order to make it look like he "cared" like, "oh mommy said a time but I don't remember what it was so we probably need to go" they were over 10 minutes past, and I knew it but again I gave wiggle room for the kids. I chewed him out in a text and he admitted I was right and he was distracted and gave 348724985 excuses for what happened that day as to why he was distracted but I didn't want to hear any of it.
My kids very rarely bring him up. I ask them here and there how they are feeling about things and they are both sad but one of our kids even said that daddy was mean sometimes. That crushed me. I didn't know they felt that way. I didn't realize how bad things had gotten. I know what I went through and dealt with, but I was so blind to how he was doing them. I feel awful. And it came from the kid I would least expect it to come from cuz he seemed to give them more attention. I don't think the kids have asked to call him a single time. If they did I would absolutely not stop them, I'm not keeping them from talking to him. I am however setting boundaries on his side of things because he has no respect for our kids and their time. While he was on the phone with them he even brought up having issues with his doctor(NP) and meds. He talked to them for maybe around 30 minutes, most of which was the kids trying to talk and him saying.....uh......what? and telling one kid he was proud of them, they asked what for, he said......uh.....you're getting so big.
Side note; he mentioned I always have to say "something" (I am calling him out on his crap and not allowing him to use excuses anymore) and if I can't be peaceful we can't coparent. He informed me via TEXT April 17th that he now LIVED there. Has been so uninvolved already but ESPECIALLY now). I told him he has NO right to tell me how to COPARENT when he can't even PARENT to begin with and told him to ask HIMSELF a few questions and if he couldn't answer them he needs to reevaluate how good of a parent he is before trying to come at me for how I am PARENTING. I DO IT ALL. Anyways, like I said, we virtual homeschool and he was "involved" enough to know basics. So one of the questions was what grade both kids are in. He responded with his answers. He was wrong on both. Couldn't tell me what clothing size one was and was wrong on shoe size for both as well. He did get one of the kids teacher and speech therapist right but the teacher is a repeat from our older student and the speech therapist has been with us since the beginning so I knew he should know at least THAT one. I'm wondering if he googled what size one may be in because he mentioned a size not common to all stores but I do give him credit for answering what he did correctly. Its the ones that are incorrect though that are of issue. And I didn't correct him. He wasn't supposed to send me answers. I said to ask himself. He was just to cocky thinking he was really getting himself a "gotcha" moment. It makes me sad. I did tell my kids not to answer any questions if they videochatted(which I admit I didn't like doing, but with all circumstances I don't want him using them to answer questions making it seem like he knows more than he truly does) I told my older child what grade he thought they were in and they pointed out, "I was in ---grade when he left....." But we kinda laughed about how stupid/silly/dorkish it was and I am NOT trying to make him look bad. I shield our kids from a lot because I don't want their opinions of anyone swayed any way due to something someone else says. Same goes for their dad. Regardless of how I feel about him and the way he's done I don't want them holding things against him and distancing themselves due to things that don't need to divulged to them to begin with.
I'm sorry this was a lot, and it's probably all over the place and a mess.. I just need insight or opinions from someone that isn't involved or related to either of us so opinions won't be swayed. If any more info is needed in regards to myself or my husband feel free to ask.
I will also be moving forward with my schooling possibly this year or next depending. I wanted both of our kids established and while I'm not sure I'm quite ready because my younger student still requires more help and needs improvement with reading for me to be fully comfortable I may be able to start online courses in the meantime if able to do so before doing in person things eventually. My husband was no help with the kids and when he sat in or did attempt he had ZERO patience and was awful. So I limited what I would ask him to help with and did all the "heavy lifting" myself. We are all doing much better mentally and our younger child is unlearning some behaviors and is a completely different kid. They are coming out of their shell and while they've always been loving now they are even more sweet and loving and involved with others. I have seen so much improvement. And their dad has not mentioned talking to them SINCE that friday which was May 3rd, so it has been 10 days at this point.
Thank you to anyone that has read this trainwreck. If you think I handled things wrong and have advice on how to better handle things as well please feel free to advise away. While I am hoping I won't get ripped to shreds, I appreciate blunt honesty and can handle constructive criticism. :)

Hi everyone! This is gonna be a long one but tldr: what can I do if I have severe mold poisoning and my landlord is refusing to help ?
Bit of background, I (21f) have been at my apartment for around 9-10 months now. This is in California. The unit is a first floor apartment with almost no natural light and it faces a pretty public walkway. After a break-in attempt early in my lease my roommates and I decided to keep windows closed at night and only open when we are home.
The problem started when we moved in, I’m in college and it’s California so I got a nice ish apartment but it’s definitely cheap. I noticed some residual mold stains around the sink during my initial inspection and noted it. There was also a big mold growth inside of one of the bathroom drawers. I noted these on the inspection sheet my leasing office gave to me but they did nothing. Not even 3 months into the lease I noticed mold growth everywhere. The windows got condensation at night so there was mold all over the blinds, the windowsill and the wall next to the window. I also noticed my clothes in the closet molded and the baseboards in the bathroom did. I went to leasing and they tried to blame it on me, said it had to be an active leak and gave every excuse in the book. Long in short I’m stuck in my lease until the end of August (I can’t afford the lease cancellation fees). However recently I started noticing more health problems at my apartment, going to sleep and waking up really tired and dizzy, being really nauseous, constantly shaking, a cough and fungal infections on my leg. My mom gave me a moisture meter to test if there was a leak and on one wall the reading was a 22, aka very high. I went away to my parents for Mother’s Day and felt so much better but upon returning to my apartment today I got so dizzy and all the symptoms returned. It is really difficult to do school in these. What can I do? Is there any renter protection?

WIBTA if I cut off my aunt and sister after a trip to the UK they paid for?
To give back story, I 36F am a therapist who has been making in on their own since I was 17. Growing up was not easy… let’s just say my family was a mess. I have made the best of my life… I graduated high school in 3 years, BA in 3 years, took 3 years off and got my MSW in 2 years. I have significant student debt. I have been lucky in the past few years where I was able to take out a mortgage on a small 800 square foot home. I moved away from a city and state I loved to do so. I wanted to pursue a better financial position for myself but that meant going across the US. Still I live pretty much pay check to pay check.
In addition to poor family live and a hard financial situation. I have major medical problems. I have had 12 surgeries before the age of 36 and still need several more. I can’t afford to take the time off or the medical expenses. For example I had a hysterectomy in December and returned to work after 5 days. Due to my medical situation I am not in the best shape and I know I am overweight. At this time I am about 240 lbs. I eat pretty healthy and avoid most junk and fast food. Weight is difficulty due to my inability to workout or stay extremely active. FYI I am still pretty active and DYI large house project including making my own paver stones for my stone which was about 5 tons of cement I mixed by hand in buckets.
My only aunt on my father side lived 5 hours away from my new location. I reached out to her when I moved as we have had a distant relationship but still maintained contacted. She never seemed interested in making our relationship stronger even though I was only a 5 hour drive from her instead of 20. About three years after my move her ex husband passed away. She suddenly was interested in having a relationship with me. As I do want to have relationships with the remaining family I have I met her where she was at. I don’t hold a grudge. I went to visit her while one of my siblings was visiting her in 8/2023. She found out in that trip I wanted to visit the UK the following year. She asked if I’d like to go with her on a trip. FYI she had taken me on a similar trip for a graduation present from grad school. I did not ask her for either trip and would have been happy postponing my trip due not being able to afford the trip on my own. (The reason I wanted to go to the UK is my middle sister lives there and has for the past 21 years… we have large age gaps in my family. I am the youngest) Money is tight for me and always has been.
She has been wonderful and paid for many things… again nothing I have asked for … she has even denied me paying for meals on this trip. I have tried to pay for small things or pick up small gifts when she is not paying attention. Well we have 4 more days on the 13 day trip, staying with my sister at this point in the vacation. All I want to do is book a flight home and tell her and sister to f**k off.
My sister, her husband and my aunt have been making comments for the past 3 days about other peoples bodies. How it is unacceptable to be large or have a potbelly. We are sitting down at afternoon tea today ( not high tea just a cup of tea) and she starts talking about one of her son’s friends, older sisters not dating because men do not find her attractive. I was a bit confused…there is always someone out there for someone. She mentions the woman’s weight which is not to much more than my weight is the grand scene of things. I mention this and she says oh but it’s different because of XYZ. Immediately I am sensitive as my weight is a sore spot. I excuse my self to bathroom but have a long cry to myself and just can’t shake it. After tea we continue walking the gardens. I explain to my sister privately I am upset. She tells me to ignore it take a deep breath and how this was not directed at me. I explained I knew it was not towards me but it still hurts. My sister just continues to justify the actions of everyone. I stated it is hard to hear how my loved view people who are overweight because I know I am. There is no hiding it. My sister quickly got defensives and stated no one would ever think that of me due to my medical stuff. I replied but if that is how you all people like me there must be some underlying judgement, it’s human nature. Hello, I’m the therapist… you don’t just turn off your natural judgements for one person in your life. Again my sister disagreed with me. So I said I was just going to keep my mouth shut and wanted alone time in the evening and to be left alone. I can’t help but feel judged by my closest sibling and aunt. The tears just won’t stop. My romantic partner has offered to send all the money he has to fly my home immediately. I thanked him and told him I loved him but I don’t want to start that drama.
Right now I feel like a performing monkey as she keeps asking me disclose all the trauma from childhood as well… as she did not know what was happening in my family. I don’t feel like I can deny her as she spent all this money on me.
Would I be the asshole if when I return from this trip in 4 days to cut my sister and my aunt off for their judgements and invaliding my feelings after they have spent so much money on me?

Hi again I know what I post and tell is kind if upsetting but this is kind of a vent account ig? So sorry if you wanted something else.
So I’ve been friends with “O” for three years now. And it was a good friend ship in the beginning she was nice but jokingly mean but I matched her energy. Some lines were crossed but it wasn’t serious. But in 7th grade she started to date my friend “A” and it was cute and smooth sailing. Until they started to put me in the middle of everything. And before school ended they weren’t so good and it got worse over summer. (TW this contains talk about overdose, attempted suicide and self harm) They would both have these moments where they would say they where going to commit suicide and two times I and the other person really panicked. On one day O was going to overdose by sending us a photo of pills and it was a mess but we got her mom involved and she was fine. Another day A said she was but it was serious I was at my dads house and O called me crying and I was trying to calm her down and after we hung up I called my mom panicking snd my mom texted my step mom so we drove to A”s house and she wasn’t there, it was a whole thing. But they had bad communication and it was killing me to where I believe I should be dead and I used to harm myself sometimes but of course other things pushed me at the time but this was a major one. But after they broke up it was messy. O would talk bad about A too me and after I would tell her stop she would for a few minutes but I just let her cause I thought “she’s just grieving”. It got worse and other stuff happened and now she’s just manipulative, abusive, and condescending. Ofc there’s other stuff but I’m running out of time to type. Please tell me if I should I have a plan to have a talk with her but ofc there stuff I’m not telling so please tell me if I should or not. Everyone around thinks i shouldn’t be her friend.

I wanted to make this post specifically for the people who are trying to compare Colin to Simon and Anthony, a comparison that I think is unfair considering how different they are from each other in terms of personality and life experience.
It seems like a lot of people expect every single male lead on this show to be a dark, brooding man with a traumatizing past that continues to affect them in the present. I think we've seen this with Simon and Anthony. Another male lead that would fit into this category would probably be Michael, and book! Phillip.
What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that with season 3, we're getting a completely different type of lead with Colin. He's not going to be some tortured soul with a cold exterior and a dark energy. I always describe him as more of a golden-retriever type of man (which is personally my favorite). Show! Phillip also seems to fall into this category of leading man (which is why I'm also super excited for Philoise), and possibly book! Gregory (my fave book of the series) as well.
I came across this post about the 8 heroic archetypes, and I think the male leads of this show all fit into different categories. Note that some of their characteristics do overlap:
Simon is The Lost Soul: "Tortured, secretive, brooding, and unforgiving. But he’s also vulnerable. He might be a wanderer or an outcast."
Anthony is The Chief: "The quintessential alpha hero. He might have been born to lead, or perhaps he conquered his way to the top, but either way, he's tough, decisive, goal-oriented. That means he is also a bit overbearing and inflexible."
Colin is The Best Friend: "He’s kind, responsible, decent, a regular Mr. Nice Guy. This man doesn’t enjoy confrontation and can sometimes be unassertive because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We all knew this guy in high school and didn't appreciate him. If we were smart, though, he's the guy we married. He’s a people person and he’ll always put the needs of others first. But he’ll always be there. He’s a people person and he’ll always put the needs of others first."
Benedict is The Charmer: "Fun, irresistible, a smooth operator, yet not too responsible or dependable. He might be a playboy or a rogue, but he’s doesn't commit to a woman easily He’s not crazy about hard work."
Phillip is The Professor: "The first time you meet him, this logical, introverted, and inflexible guy might not be your idea of a hero but take another look. He is genuine about his feelings. At work, he likes cold, hard facts, thank you very much, but he’s also honest and faithful, and won't let you down."
Book! Michael is The Bad Boy: "This is the rebel, or the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He's bitter and volatile, a crushed idealist, but he’s also charismatic and street smart."
Book! Gareth is The Warrior: "This man is the reluctant rescuer or the knight in shining armor. He’s noble, tenacious, relentless, and he always sticks up for the underdog." I'm going to be honest, I had a hard time figuring out Gareth's archetype, so if anyone has any better suggestions, let me know in the comments.
Book! Gregory is The Swashbuckler: "This guy is action, action, and more action. He’s physical and daring. Fearless, he's a daredevil, or an explorer. He needs thrills and chills to keep him happy."
Now of course, there is definitely some overlap with these characters. For example, I think Anthony could fit into The Chief and The Lost Soul. Michael could fit The Bad Boy and The Charmer.
But TLDR; every male lead is going to be different and comparing them to each other doesn't make sense.

Ok so, the pump is working fine > I have tested it thoroughly with Cinebench and Primer 95 passing with flying colors and keeping the temps within 75-77. The problem is on the aesthetic side, being the screen which has become unresponsive as I open CAM > Lightning > LCD display, clicking on the different drop-down menu options to no avail and still showing me that template of the NZXT logo and Liquid Temp (which is accurate in CAM as it fluctuates).
Troubleshooting:

• Checked windows update
• Power cycle my computer
• Power cycle the pump and LCD
• Revo uninstaller > reinstall CAM
• Force changing JSON file to DX12 from Vulkan
• Disable and Uninstalling iCUE

Their support over the phone has to be the laziest that I have ever witnessed... I pushed for log analysis because, apart from power cycling and disabling iCUE, none asked for it and instead proceeded to RMA as an easy way out. I wish I had known about this problem before pulling the trigger on buying it for aesthetics... It was working just fine.
Thier response:
Hello!
Thank you for reaching out, and sorry for the trouble for the issue you are experiencing with the CAM software. The issue you are describing is unfortunately outside of the scope of our Customer Support team and we are unable to provide a direct resolution at this time. Due to the nature of this issue, we will be escalating this issue internally to the CAM development team and will be closing out this ticket. Our development team will be provided with your contact information and CAM logs so that they can follow up with you directly via email if necessary.
Any suggestions, guys, are greatly appreciated. I am seriously considering buying another AIO that actually works and asking Amazon for a refund...Any suggestions on those are also welcome lol

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead in the next 24 hours.
Whether that's the Costella family, or whatever this is, I'm not sure.
The police are taking forever, and part of me knows they're either refusing to believe me, or RC got them too.
I'm holed up on our school bus, so I've got nothing better to do.
I want to tell you about my team.
We met in our sophomore year.
Strangers standing outside the club room.
Levi was the freckled brunette who wouldn't stop talking about Game of Thrones.
Sunny, a pretty redhead, told him to shut up.
Tom, a sandy blonde, nodding his head to music corked in his ears.
I just wanted to be part of a club, and get away from my overbearing mother.
I won't say it was a perfect start. Our school was lacking in funding, so anyone could join, which made us more of a Quiz Club. I had some serious anxiety, so I stayed on the sidelines for a while, watching, rather than taking part.
It's not like we actually talked to each other initially. The first few weeks, we played Jeopardy, and attempted to find more members to cement us as an official Academic Decathlon club.
Unfortunately, though, it was just the four of us.
Which made it extremely hard for us to be taken seriously.
According to Google, Academic Decathlon teams were made up of nine members, placed by their GPA.
Our principal laughed at us, but he did let us become official.
Which was out of pity, I assumed.
The club was assembled, and we started meeting up after school.
Sort of.
Sunny barely showed up, and Levi didn't take anything seriously, preferring to spend the time telling us about his weird family turf-war.
Our principal dumped us in a tiny classroom with a resident rat living under the floorboards.
There was barely enough room to move, and the four of us crammed together for three hours was less than appealing.
Still, though, I wanted to be part of a club.
I had grown up with parents who were obsessed with board games, so I was pretty good at general knowledge questions. Our club room was too small for anything else but three desks (Sunny and I shared one) and a whiteboard we had to shove through the door.
But, again, we didn't start as an Academic club.
It was more akin to Story Time Club.
Arriving late on my third day, armed with quiz cards from home, I found Tom and Sunny completely mesmerised by Levi’s storytelling skills, drowned in shadow.
They didn't even turn the lights on.
I strictly remember squeezing next to Sunny, and hearing the words, “But there was so much blood all over the floor, and my Mom told me to go upstairs and hide under the bed…”
Sitting in front of them was Levi, perched on a desk, his legs swinging, a whiteboard marker between his teeth.
Sometimes he'd get up, and illustrate parts of his story.
It sucked that his drawings were all stick people.
I won't go into full details of his life, but Levi grew up as part of a family who had… interesting methods of making a living. I had seen the guy’s father multiple times when we hung out at his place, and, yeah, my friend’s family definitely had Soprano vibes.
Levi’s Draw My Life was nothing to do with the club, but it did bring us closer.
Even if, at that point, I was considering leaving.
But it's not like it was easy to walk away from these guys. It's like finding your soulmates. Levi wasn't the only one with an interesting life. Sunny Lang was an ex kpop trainee, who was kicked out for being too fat, which led her to develop a severe eating disorder, and a hatred for her own body.
Sunny explained her family were originally from Boston, her mother growing up in Korea.
She signed up for an idol agency focusing on creating a new girl group, and had gotten all the way to the final stages, before being kicked for her weight. Sunny told us her story with a smile, though there was a hollowness in her eyes I couldn't ignore. The other girls were judgemental bullies, and the idol diet and brutal regime almost killed her.
Sunny lived in a tiny apartment with 9 girls, who would tear each other apart for a chance to debut. Sunny said all the other girls debuted, and when we (not so patiently) asked for names, she shrugged, admitting she signed an NDA that prevented her spilling the beans.
What she did say, was the K-pop idol is a product, not a person– and are made and moulded into a product.
She had zero interest in throwing her humanity away to become a manufactured doll.
So, one of us was the son of an underground family, and the other was an ex idol.
Tom was an aspiring horror writer with a famous older step-brother.
His story times were usually, That one time I went to the Met Gala.
When it was my turn to reveal my story, I told them the only interesting thing about me.
I could smell when something bad was going to happen.
They laughed, but I was being serious.
When I was a kid, I smelled my mother’s brain tumor.
I remember it smelled like curdled milk.
I asked Mom why her head smelled of mouldy milk, and Mom laughed and said it was her shampoo.
It was actually a grade two tumor growing inside her brain.
Thankfully, the tumour was found quickly and removed.
Growing older, I became sensitive to smell. The little girl choking on the bus smelled of singed wood, and the old man crossing the road stunk of gasoline.
In the fourth grade, my classmate Alex Castor smelled of lemons all morning.
I sat behind him, choking on the stink all the way through class.
Ever since I met him, Alex had always smelled… off.
It was a distinct smell I could never understand, and as the days and months and years went by, that smell morphed into a subtle orangey musk that was so strong I had to cover my mouth and nose. Then, he smelled like lemons.
During Recess, I watched Alex fall off of the jungle gym, straight onto his head.
Alex Castor was dead before the paramedics arrived, my panicked teacher attempting CPR when his brains were leaking out of his ears.
The school claimed it was an accident, but Alex would have been fine if the jungle gym wasn't built on solid concrete.
I told my team members this, and Levi was sceptical.
“You can smell bad things?” He said, his lips curved around his milkshake straw. In the early days, we hung out in the local bar. It's not like we were allowed inside, but Levi could get us in anywhere.
I was squeezed between Tom and Sunny, while Levi took the seat opposite us. I couldn't help noticing our waitress was insisting on free milkshake refills, her frantic eyes glued to Levi.
I had zero idea why. Levi Costella was about as intimidating as a fruit fly.
Wearing a white shirt with a popped collar, a leather jacket thrown over the top, Levi was giving rebellious Harvard student, rather than son of a crime family.
Leaning forward, he raised a brow, clearly not believing me.
“So, you're like a stink psychic?”
I shrugged, sipping my own shake.
“Sure.”
I wasn't planning on telling him the club room smelled off on our first day.
Once we actually started the club, Levi surprised us as the smartest member, and getting to know him further, I came to the realization his family were infamous in our town.
However, his parents hid it well. Lucy and Michael Costella were the owners of a popular ramen store in our town, hiding under the facade of two successful business owners. The Costella’s were an attractive family.
Lucy was a sophisticated brunette with a lipstick smile, Michael, a handsome fluffy haired man who looked like he modelled glasses.
The two were fiercely protective over their youngest son, not so casually reminding us behind grinning smiles, that if anything happened to Levi, we would automatically be involved in the family.
I mean, they did laugh and say, “We’re joking! Look at your little faces!” when Sunny went deathly pale. But there was definitely truth behind their words.
Being Levi’s friend was… challenging at first.
Tom and I were in his room studying for finals, and an alarm went off, flooding Levi’s room in red light.
I had zero idea where it was coming from, but it locked all the doors and windows, forcing the Costella residence into temporary lockdown. Levi didn't seem fazed, casually mentioning his parents were taking care of it.
He had a whiteboard set up in his room, and was standing in front of it, cramming all of our textbook notes into one easily digestible drawing.
Levi wasn't just smart.
He was Ivy League smart, so we had struck gold with him.
His family were questionable, and yes, sometimes I did fear for my life, but as the more time we spent at his house, the Costella household became a second home. We got used to the alarms.
I just brought along ear plugs.
I wish I was writing this post about Levi’s family, and sure, they are a factor in what is going on right now, but I want to preface this by saying the events below involve the 2024 scholastic decathlon final in our town with the school’s listed:
Starbrook High School.
Ratcliffe High School.
Please note, the incident that took place last night was immediately covered up, and all phone footage was destroyed. Our town is mostly out of the way, and does not show up on Google searches.
We also have our own version of the academic decathlon, which is a more town-level competition, due to lacking funds. The four of us were desperate to start competing with our schools.
So, we started taking things a little more seriously.
We got a coach.
Mr Hanes, who was hesitant at first.
In his words, “You will hate me as your coach.”
He started by recruiting more members, announcing, “If you want to be taken seriously as an actual club, then I'll be taking the reins from now on.”
He did, and with our teachers guidance (and sometimes brutal honesty), we reached a level where we could start competing with other school’s in town. Now, none of us knew this, but Mr Hanes was obsessed with winning.
So, club meetings were twisted into two hour study sessions with no talking, followed by Mr Hanes Jeaprody, which was Jeaprody, without the actual fun.
We were quizzed multiple times, answer cards and practise questions quite literally thrown directly in our faces.
I hate to admit this (I really hate to admit this) but Mr Hanes’s tactics worked. Sure, we had been mildly brainwashed by our slightly unhinged coach, but with Levi Costella, we destroyed our competitors. Like I said, our town held their own version of the academic scholastic decathlon, but it was pretty much the same, with some changes.
Ten subjects. Language and Literature, Math, Social Science, Economics, Art, Music, Interview, Speech, and Essay.
Unlike the official Decathlon, ours was more like a game show, with the ability to be knocked out if a team member answers a question wrong. Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins. Team meet ups were either tests, study sessions, or quizzing each other.
Which leads me to last night.
The finals were held in the reigning champions, Ratcliffe High School’s, auditorium.
And we were about to win our town’s Scholastic Decathlon 2024 Championships.
Well…I was knocked out in the music section. Standing next to my coach who I was sure was going to asphyxiate from excitement, I could smell the sudden potent stink of lemon. I tried to ignore it at first, but the more questions my team were answering correctly, the smell got worse, suffocating my senses.
This wasn't just lemon. The stink was like a burning, singing smell trickling into my nose and the back of my throat.
It was stronger than what Alex smelled like.
This was suffocating, drowning my thoughts.
“Are you okay, Cassandra?”
Mr Hanes nudged me when a Ratcliffe girl was struggling to answer a question, only for Sunny to jump in with the answer. “You look quite pale.”
I nodded, forcing a smile.
My gaze was on the Ratcliffe coach, a scary looking blonde woman, whispering in one of her student’s ears.
The Ratcliffe kid freaked me out. He was way too tall, dark blonde hair, and bulging eyes I swear were not blinking.
His gaze was glued to Levi, who wore a smug grin.
There was a smaller girl next to the Ratcliffe kid, a Macbook balanced on her knee. Every so often, he leaned into her, the two of them in deep conversation.
“I'm just nervous.”
I jumped when Ratcliffe scored a point, their side erupting into cheers.
During the break, we had a mini team meeting.
Sunny rushed to the bathroom to freshen up, and I noticed a Ratcliffe girl with a bouncing ponytail following her.
Ignoring our coach’s speech, I joined the two girls in the corridor, that lemony scent hanging thick in the air.
I caught them in an awkward position.
The Ratcliffe girl had her fingers pinched between the material of Sunny’s dark blue shirt bearing our school’s name.
Sunny looked confused, her lips parted like she was going to yell.
Ponytail dropped her hand, suddenly, with a nervous laugh. “Oh! I'm so, so, sorry,” she gushed. “You had, like, the biggest spider crawling on your back.”
Sunny caught my eye, shooting me a reassuring smile.
“Thanks.” She made sure to keep her distance. “Uh, where's your bathroom?”
The Ratcliffe girl nodded down the hallway. “It's just down there. I'm going there too if you want me to show you?”
Sunny motioned for me to go back to the auditorium. “Uh, sure! That'd be great!”
I did try to follow them, only for Sunny to cough loudly.
I took the hint, reluctantly heading back into the auditorium.
My team was hyping each other up, Levi in the centre, sweating through his team shirt. He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “I can't do this,” He groaned. “Ratcliffe High is known to play dirty, man. They're unbeatable.”
“In what way do they play dirty?” I asked, joining them.
Levi gulped down water, shrugging.
“I dunno! They're already trying to distract me with the stink eye.” The boy narrowed his eyes at a grinning Ratcliffe kid who, after noticing our stares, jumped to his feet, waving at us.
“Hey guys!”
“That's Harry Cartwright, the son of the Cartwright family who tried to kill my parents in the third grade.” Levi mockingly waved back. “As you can see, their kid is a fucking sociopath.”
Huh. I wasn't expecting the smiley kid to be the mobster’s son.
Harry Cartwright was not what I expected.
Unlike his team members, he was the only one in casual clothing, a short sleeved white shirt and jeans, a pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head.
Tom went pale.
“Fuck.” He hissed. “He’s one of you? Then those bastards will have a reason to play dirty, right?”
Levi shrugged, averting his gaze. It was the first time I saw his eyes darken, like he was subtly telling the boy to back off.
“The Cartwright’s have been trying to buy our land for a while,” he muttered. “I wouldn't put it past them to use the Decathlon as a way to attack.”
“Attack?!” April, another member of our team, hissed. “Like, attack attack?”
Mr Hanes grabbed the boy, resting his hands on Levi’s shoulders. “Ignore them,” he said. “Hey. Look at me.”
Levi did, raising a brow.
“You're losing that spark in your eye, young man.”
“Spark?”
Our coach nodded. “Look at me, kid.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “I am looking at you, Mr Hanes.”
The man was shaking. I was guessing his whole career (or coaching career) was on the line.
“They know they're losing, Mr Costella.”
Hanes shook the boy, squeezing his shoulders. “You are being positive and Ratcliffe doesn't like that. They want you to be nervous. They want to make you second guess yourself and lose confidence. Don't let them get into your head.” he smiled, giving the boy a playful shove. “Kick their asses.”
“Exactly!”
I didn't realize Sunny was back from the bathroom.
The faint smell of lemons had followed her. I noticed a wet patch on her shirt collar, though she was quick to smile at me, admitting she'd spilled water down herself. Sunny wrapped her arms around Levi, squeezing him into a hug.
She hung on for a little too long, Tom dragging her away with a laugh. “Good luck, all right?” she backed away, ruffling his hair. “We’ve got this!”
When I hugged Levi good luck too, I had to resist covering my nose.
The smell of lemon was unbearable, just like fourth grade Alex.
But it wasn't as potent as earlier.
I vaguely remembered the smell starting to fade once Alex’s body was being carted away on a stretcher.
Following my captain through the crowd, I was right. The smell was less suffocating. Before he went back to the stage, I grabbed the back of his shirt.
The material was soaking wet.
“How are you so wet?” I said, swiping my hands on my shirt.
“Huh?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. Do you remember what I told you in sophomore year?”
Levi settled me with a confident, but nervous smile. “Thaaaat you're scared of clowns?”
“No. I mean the boy who smelled of lemons.” I gritted out.
Levi surprised me with a laugh. “What are you talking about?”
Something ice cold trickled down my spine.
Levi did know what I was talking about. He brought up my stink sense a day earlier in front of his parents, and I had to cover his mouth to shut him up.
Leaning close, I whispered in his ear. “You stink of rotten lemons.”
He nodded slowly, pulling away. “Uh… thanks?”
I bit back a hiss of frustration. “No, you don't understand what I'm saying–”
“Starbrooke High School,” The host announced. “Can all members please return to the stage.”
Levi held up his hand for a high five.
“Can we do this later?” He winked. “I'm kinda busy carrying this spelling-bee on my back right now.”
I nodded shakily, high fiving him, and letting him jump back onto the stage.
Before his words hit like a tidal wave, ice cold water slammed into me.
Spelling Bee?
Slowly making my way back to the stands, Levi’s mistake was circling around my head. He did win a spelling bee, but that was in middle school.
Thankfully, the smell of lemons was gone when I returned to my seat.
Mr Hanes handed me a soda. “Chill out, Cassandera, it's just a game.”
He could talk. The guy was on his fifth coffee.
Mr Hanes was not chilled out in the slightest.
Surprisingly, the event went well. I was half expecting my team to be crushed by the rafters, or caught in a blaze started in the crowd. But we were doing well. No, we were winning.
Reaching the climaxing round, Sunny choked against a smug Ratcliffe boy, joining me on the sidelines.
Levi answered the next question with a confident smile.
We were winning, but Ratcliffe could still catch up with a miracle.
The second to last question was to Ratcliffe, and it was general knowledge.
”Where on the human body would one find the *orbit?*
I knew the answer, and so did Levi, his lips breaking out into a smile when the Ratcliffe boy was hesitating, eyes wide.
Our school’s buzzer went off, Levi slamming his hand down.
Bzzz!
The host turned to our team. “Starbrooke, can I have your answer?”
Levi nodded, shooting our team a victory grin.
“It's…!“ He opened his mouth to answer, his jaw slackening suddenly.
The boy’s shoulders slumped.
“Uh… “
“Um…”
“Huhhhhh…”
Levi inclined his head, blinking, his eyes glazing over. There was a sudden, hollow vacancy that sent chills down my spine. It was like someone had reached into his skull, and yanked out his brain, leaving a shell in his place.
To my confusion, our team captain frowned at his buzzer like he'd never seen one before. He pressed it, exploding into child-like giggles.
Bzzz!
The audience laughed along nervously.
Tom nudged me. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz!
Levi’s entire body was slumped, his hand slamming down on the buzzer.
I caught something pooling down his chin.
“Is he… drooling?” I whispered.
Mr Hanes looked mildly horrified. “Has he been drinking?
“Levi?” Tom spluttered. “Drinking?!"
Whatever we were watching, however, was definitely influenced by… something.
Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz!
“Young man, that is not a toy!”
The host wasn't amused. “Starbrooke High School, I need an answer from you,” He nodded to Levi, who was pressing the buzzer, his smile growing.
“Once again,” The host backed away, like Levi was contagious. “Where on the human body would one find the Orbit?”
Levi cocked his head, lips parted.
His gaze found the overhead lights, and he winced, his lips curling into a frown.
“Starbrooke High School!”
Levi jumped, tipping his head back and blowing a raspberry. “Palm tree?”
The audience laughed, and I started feeling nauseous.
Across from us, I could see the twist of a smirk on the Ratcliffe coach’s lips.
Bzzz! Levi slammed the buzzer again giggling.
“Starbrooke High School, if your team member continues to act like this, I will be forced to disqualify all members.”
Our captain stopped, gaze glued to the host, his hand creeping towards the buzzer, like it was a big red button.
The audience loved it, laughing like they were watching a sitcom.
“He wouldn't.” Tom whisper-shrieked.
The auditorium was silent for a moment, awaiting Starbrooke’s response.
Levi stuck out his tongue, slamming his hand down.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz–
When Tom dragged Levi away from his podium, a Ratcliffe girl hit her buzzer.
“Starbrooke High School, you are disqualified,” the host announced. “Ratcliffe High School, do you have an answer?”
It was Ponytail who nodded with a grin.
“The answer is the eye socket! The Orbit is part of the eye socket!”
“That is the correct answer.” The host was distracted, his eyes glued to Levi.
“Ratcliffe High School wins.”
Levi jumped when the Ratcliffe wide erupted into cheers.
His eyes were wide, clinging onto the buzzer for comfort.
Next to me, our coach looked like he was going to faint.
I barely noticed Ratcliffe’s victory, too busy watching our team captain, who was Harvard bound, tipping his head back and smiling at the ceiling like a new-born baby. Tom dragged the stumbling boy over to me, his mouth twisted.
“This was Ratcliffe, right?” He hissed, shaking our captain, who was struggling, squirming in his grip.
“Did they put something in his drink?!” He prodded Levi. “Hey! What did they do to you?!”
Still, though, drugging his drink didn't make sense.
Levi never left the auditorium, and kept his water bottle with him the whole time.
How did they even manage to slip something into his drink in the first place?
Did I smell our competitors drugging him?
Sure, intentionally inebriating my teammate was morally wrong and illegal, but why could I smell lemon?
“I doubt it was Ratcliffe.” Sunny squeezed next to me. “I've been watching them. They're harmless.”
“Then how the fuck do we explain this to his parents?!” Tom whispered, grappling with Levi, who was fighting to get back to the buzzer.
When Tom let go of him, he dropped onto the floor, crawling over to his podium. It was like watching a child.
Who was determined to piss off the adults.
Levi jumped back to instead feet, his gaze was glued to the host, a smile curved on his lips, when he slammed the buzzer again.
Bzzz!
“Someone, please remove the Starbrooke boy from the stage!”
I was embarrassed, our whole team ducking our heads as our captain was forcibly removed from the podium.
Mr Hanes grabbed Levi, pulling him off of the stage.
I expected our coach to be mad at him, but I think the teacher was more worried, a phone pressed to his ear while he forced the boy into a sitting position.
No, I don't think it's influence from alcohol, I could hear his conversation.
Levi kept trying to get up, mesmerised by the buzzer. The teacher was firm but gentle. “Hey. Sit down, all right? Keep still.” He went back to his phone call, gently prying Levi’s eyes open.
From what I can see, there's nothing wrong. He's just kind of…
Mr Hanes swiped his own hands on his jeans. ... wet?
Team Ratcliffe came over to rub it in our faces, though I was still tuned into our coach’s hissed whispering.
Water? No, I don't think it's water. It smells… no, I haven't told his parents…
“You guys did awesome!” Ponytail's voice was sugary sweet. Too sugary.
She held the 2024 trophy, bearing a satisfied smile. I noticed the Ratcliffe members were surrounding Harry, like guards.
“Better luck next time, okay?” She held out her hand, her eyes twinkling.
“No hard feelings?”
“Control your dog.” Harry said, amused eyes flicking to Levi, who was once again sprinting back to the fucking buzzer. His eyes had visibly darkened, lips curled into a triumphant smile.
Harry Cartwright was watching Mr Hanes chase our team captain like it was his own personal entertainment.
I had to look away before I died of second hand embarrassment.
“What did you put in his drink?” Tom demanded. “Weed? Edibles?” the boy attempted to shove Harry, only to be pushed back. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
Harry’s smile didn't waver. “Like I said. Control your mut.”
When the Ratcliffe team walked away, our red faced coach struggling with Levi, who was behaving progressively more erratically, informed us we were longer welcome inside the school.
Tom suggested calling an ambulance, but our coach was hesitant.
We all knew who Levi’s family were.
On the way out, Tom matched my stride. He was frowning at our team captain struggling to walk.
The way he was acting was already eyebrow raising.
But walking at an angle and being unable to stand up straight was worrying.
“I don't think they drugged his drink.” Tom muttered.
We pushed through the doors out of the school, and I revelled in the cool night air grazing my cheek. “If they did, he would be acting out of it, right? So, what's the deal with him acting like–”
“A child.” I finished for him.
“Yeah.” Tom leaned closer. “Do you think this has something to do with their turf war?”
I slapped at a bug creeping across my cheek.
Levi fell over again, this time bursting into giggles.
“Almost definitely.”
Levi was right about Ratcliffe playing dirty. I didn't realize how dirty until we were on the losers bus home. Levi was in the seat next to me, and the kid hadn't moved since we left Ratcliffe, his eyes wide, lips pulled into a dazed grin.
Bzzz!
The noise startled me from slumber. I was drooling, my head pressed against the window. Outside, the sky was pitch dark, and squinting through the glass, I couldn't get a bearing on where we were. I thought I was hearing things, but when I sat up, I heard it again.
Bzzz!
It was close.
Leaning over the boy, I glimpsed a smear of scarlet on his headrest.
I choked on my next words.
“Tom.”
Tom was in front of me, listening to music.
He didn't reply, his head of dark blonde curls nodding to the beat.
“Levi.” I managed to get out. I prodded him, and his head lolled into his shoulder. “Hey. Can you… sit up?”
Bzzz! Bzzz!
When the boy didn't move, I gently grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward myself, something contracting in my stomach.
I don't know how long it takes for your mind to fully register something, but my body was already reacting.
Levi’s seat was infested with bugs, eating their way through the upholstery. I was aware of my body moving back. I threw up, instantly, screaming into my hand.
The back of my best friend's skull resembled a deflated soccer ball, what was left of his brain leaking from his skull where a swarm of skittering bugs chewed their way through brain tissue, metallic legs scratching the curved, pearly white of the base if his skull.
Levi’s head hung, his body flopping into mine.
But his eyes were still open, lips still stretched into a smile.
Blood ran in thick rivulets from his nose and ears.
Bzzz!
I could see them, black writhing dots alive in his eyes, wriggling movement under his skin.
“Tom!”
I jumped up, stumbling into the aisle, my stomach heaving.
And it was only when I was on my knees, swiping bile from my lips, when I realized the others weren't reacting.
Tom wasn't moving.
I pulled an Airpod out of his ear, a long, slithering string of pink attached to the end.
There was a stray bug skittering across his hand, his face starting to twitch and writhe.
Moving back, I checked myself over, my hands shaking.
Head.
Shoulders.
Hair.
Clawing through it, my breath was stuck in my throat.
Arms.
Legs.
Feet.
Mr Hanes was slumped against the window, a reddish froth bubbling from his mouth.
Sunny.
I started towards the back of the bus, but all I had to see was her bowed head, half of her skull chewed through.
Sunny was in a far more deteriorated state, her face had been ripped through, a skeletal smile glinting in the dim.
The thick black smear on the window next to her was moving.
When I screamed for the driver to stop the bus, he ignored me.
If anything, he stamped on the gas.
I moved forward to shake him, before glimpsing a bug creeping down his face.
Calling 911, the operator laughed at me.
“Bugs are eating your friends.” He said. “Do you know the penalty for calling with bullshit pranks?”
The bus didn't stop, so I stayed at the front, while the bugs took over the back, eating through my teammates.
After four hours, I risked leaning over the seat next to Tom to check on Levi.
They were eating him.
Chewing all the way through skin, muscle and bone.
I tried to stop the bus, but the driver’s hands were tightly wrapped around the wheel.
Another hour, and blood was seeping down the aisle, crawling with bugs.
Levi was gone, and in his place, a buzzing skittering pile of bugs, that I thought were going to move to a second victim, maybe burrowing into the seats.
But, no.
These things began to tremble, replicating.
Building.
Slowly, nothing became static, and static became muscle.
Then bone.
Then flesh.
When a body began to slowly form, moulded from the dead boy, I stumbled back.
These things weren't eating Levi Costella.
They were rewriting him.
…
Edit: I'm still on the bus. I'm 99.9% sure that I'm infected with whatever this thing is. I can't stop fucking itching.
I keep picking them off me but they won't stop. This bus isn't going to stop until I'm like the others.
…
Edit 2:
I can feel them chewing into my skull. They're in my ears. I keep spitting them out. Please, someone get them off of me. Help me. I don't want to die at 17.
Edit 3:
Still alive. Still breathing. Maybe they're leaving me alone????? I think I'm okay. There is a pile of bugs at my feet, but they're crawling off of me.
Edit 4:
Levi really wants to go home. Like, he just told me he REALLY wants to go home. He's got a gift for his parents.
~~Edit 5 :) ~~
Levi is next to me right now, an odd smile on his face.
The bugs are not finished building him yet, but he'll be ready soon.
We will be ready soon.
Your son says hello! He is a wonderful boy, is he not?
Mr and Mrs Costella, I cannot wait for you to meet him.
He is our greatest achievement, and rest assured, you will give us what we want.
Warm regards.
The Cartwright's.

How is it people go day to day at all? literally, how is 99% of the population not conscious? can you not see? or do you think maybe it is beyond you? it doesn't affect you? its not as bad as it seems? or some other ignorant and delusional psychological self comfort.
surely its not like the movies, and some people observe while others get herded from paddock to paddock, a rare few genius and outliers of all which are Neurodivergent
our world both sputtering and struggling to function and simultaneously being destroyed by neurotypical people.. just consume and steal and take from those who care about detail and precision and perfection.. disgusting..
literal ants sprawling for crumbs, yet no real thought, not even as an individual, no leader, no queen, may as well be a smooth brain koala grasping at leaves even it cannot digest. brain dead apes that just take take take, live in a social hierarchy and invent concepts like "bullying" that make zero sense because we all pretend we don't live in this sick social fuck fest of a game, but we do live here. and everyone just lies fucking willy nilly every second of every single day..
yet people just accept it as so.. how does anything less than perfection ever prosper, how come people want problems, want pain, want misery? and toss it up to "balance" or some other misnomer to make themselves feel better.. how the fuck does youtube videos have soft corners, yet we still make cheap mass produced shit with sharp edges that no one ever buys and gets thrown in the ocean to destroy the very thing that keeps us alive..
EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that gets made. not used, not bought. not sold, IT AFFECTS SOMEONE DOWN THE LINE, all these people "doing their own thing" all these simultaneous problems and projects.. video games for example, we have hundreds of studios making hundreds of shit games, wasted hours, wasted resources, everyone branching off to make their own failures, all because of corporate dried shit sniffers thinking they know everything, feeding the greed machine, when people forget, movies, music, art... these are our god forms, the ONE thing we ACTUALLY have.
otherwise we are just smooth brain fucking animals crawling around in our own literal shit, we are so aware of the microscopic world, yet ignore it until it shuts down our social structure.. fucking idiots... old school systems.. fucked up laws.. governments that lie.. you call yourself an ADULT? how the FUCK did you let this happen?
we live in a bureaucratic world (worst fucking word in the world, both literally and visually, linguistically and literature, fucking awful word.), and just like the word itself, it should not exist AT ALL, governments and rules and laws that make NO sense and only benefit those looking to exploit those who cant think for themselves, steps for steps for steps that lead no where..
yet when it comes to that same logic and reasoning, as an individual, it is illegal, criminal, frowned upon even, and then the average person is so dumbfounded by such a concept it gets laughed into the firey pits of hell where we are all fucking headed anyway
intstead of everything being FAIR and TRACKED and LOGICAL, having laws that MAKE SENSE, we live in a clusterfuck..
every single detail, increment, ownership, every number word and piece of data, ALL should be recorded and traceable to a source
EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, should be accounted for, there should be NO THEFT or MISSING items
for example: DE CRIMINALISE DRUG USE - SOLVES ALL YOUR DRUG PROBLEMS. LESS ADDICTS, LESS DEATHS, LESS CRIME.
BAN CENSORSHIP. ENABLE TRUE FREE SPEECH, BEING OFFENDED IS NOT ALLOWED, NOT EVEN TAUGHT, OFFENCE IS PHASED OUT.
Increase right to repair laws, teach repair and mechanics in schools, change school catchments and also reduce work commutes, create large synchronized communities with a balance or trades and education across well distributed areas, abolish the "central business district"
abolish any and all destructive and parasitic practices, become full sustainable regardless of the cost (no MATTER how expensive self sustainability is FREE in the long run) what don't people understand about this most basic shit...
if you don't want problems.. STOP FUCKING MAKING PROBLEMS.. but that's just it isn't it... people WANT problems.. the average person wants a series of manageable problems they can feel good about on a daily basis..
After 2-3 whole days of using broken software, broken system, shitty bureaucratic rules, waiting for idiots, waiting for technology either to load or to buffer, waiting for something to arrive waiting for THINGS to happen with services that "track" but will straight up just be inaccurate to the point where not knowing would be better..
i've always said, its easier to read a book with no internet collection, and easier to watch a video with a fast one, but with a slow and broken connection, nothing is possible. we live in a society on inescapably broken systems, if they didn't exist, we would be free and happy, if they worked perfectly, we would be free and happy, but instead we CHOOSE to live right in the middle
who the fuck is this world built for...

I need cat help. I have two cats and they are great but they are destroying my sanity. Also, we move in less than a month and I have wonder if this is the chance to improve some tricky behaviors that have emerged.
They are always under my feet. I trip over them in the baby carrier and feel terrible but I don’t see them with the carrier on. I walk on eggshells. This might not be fixable, but it’s worth mentioning.
They constantly try to escape. Leaving and coming home is SO HARD just from dealing with the cat escapes. I have to leave at minimum 4 times a day for school drop off and pick up. They escape a LOT. I made them a catio. They liked it initially but now have broke out of it a million times …they like it but not as much as escaping. Part of me wonders if I could let them outside with an air tag and a better collar (I heard some are possibly better than the three I have tried so far), but we will be on a very busy fast street and we have a train on the other side. I think coyotes will be less inclined to be near our house but the cats are not conditioned for traffic and could run in front of a car. But I do wonder…
I read a self help book on cats (Total Cat Mojo) and followed the recommendations. I got cat toys and play with them every day. They still zoom and meow at night. I made vertical spaces and cat scratch spots. They still prefer the kitchen counters and scratching the couch and carpet. (I might try a motion air spray for the counters and a scent spray for the couches. I also have some fun hide-y holes and perch/tower ideas in store for the new place). I have had to replace so much furniture that they have destroyed. I got a cat-proof couch and they are really testing the limits of it.
They are fed well and loved immensely by the family, but if they are outdoor cats they will likely die (it is considered inhumane to have them as outdoor cats in this area on account of the coyotes , but we have a stray cat problem so it is also very encouraged to adopt, which is what we did). They are a bonded pair that was fostered indoors since birth from a feral mom, but they hate being indoor cats now. We got leashes thinking we could train them and walk them but they hate the leashes. They break out of breakaway collars. They are so sad inside. I just feel like there is no fixing it unless I let them outside but we are on a busy street and if a coyote doesn’t get them, a car definitely will.
They drive me crazy but I love these little buddies and want them to thrive. How do I set this new living situation up for success? We have a smaller home and no longer have the views/vaulted ceilings/second floor…but we have a big yard and could make a bigger catio and could update the new spot to be more optimal possibly. I love the cats and I want them to love their lives with us. I do believe they are mostly happy. They get treats and pets and they are played with and snuggled by all of us.
One more note (kudos to you if you read all this. I feel like I’ve written a book at this point): in the last year we were gone for about seven weeks at which point we had two different cat sitters. Anytime we go on trip we get the same cat sitters who know them at this point. We also have visitors a lot. Like all the time. Also I was pregnant and had a new baby in the last year. So the cats have dealt with a ton of change over the last year and they’re only two years old. I can honestly say that we will be slowing down the rate of change a lot in the new house (but will still have the occasional trips and house guests).
Thank you for reading this. Any advice is welcome and appreciate it for our sweet little buddies.

Hi, so this is definitely something I've put off way too long and I guess I'm just seeking some empathy and/or advice. Apologies in advance for the length.
About a year ago I was overseas in Asia for a program and decided to (re)start my orthodontic treatment (I'd previously had braces as a kid in middle school, but they left me with extreme flare to the point that I could not—and still cannot—fully close my lips). The orthodontist I chose told me that my jaw was too small to fit all my teeth and recommended that I pull a couple teeth and then use Invisalign to bring in the flare (this is also what was recommended by the 5-6 other orthos I visited, both in Asia and America, so I don't have a problem with this diagnosis/treatment plan). We started treatment, I paid about $5.5k USD and they gave me a year's worth of trays (to be switched weekly) along with the papers to transfer to a new ortho once I returned to the States.
Unfortunately due to some mental health struggles and family matters, I stopped wearing the trays a few months in and I guess I never picked it back up because I felt guilty for putting it off despite knowing it would only make the situation worse—yet that's what continued to happen. It sounds stupid to me now but I was also afraid of the ortho or the techs being angry with me for not wearing the trays (one of the technicians did indeed get pretty aggressive with me when I skipped a tray once) and didn't have the mental energy to deal with that at the time. I'm in a much better place now thankfully mental health-wise and finally have the headspace to address my teeth—but it's been so long that I'm almost sure that the flare is even worse than it was before, not to mention the holes from where they plucked 4 of my teeth!
I would really, really just like to be able to close my lips and not look like I have an underbite from the side (I have to pull my lower lip over my upper teeth to close my mouth and because of the thickness of my lips and the flare of my overbite, my lower lip sticks out beyond my upper lip and makes it look like I have an underbite) Again my teeth are aligned and straight but just really flared. I can't go back to my original ortho obviously because they're in a different country, and I know I probably can't use any of the year's worth of original trays they gave me— 😭
I know I have to see a new orthodontist and let them evaluate my teeth, but I guess I'm just scared to do so and also face the bill—is it likely I'll have to pay another $5-6k to restart treatment? Has anyone else ever started treatment in another country and then passed the papers to another ortho in the US to continue treatment? (I've never done this before and am not really sure how it will work) Also, an additional complication is that I'm graduating in about a year and will be moving states again once I leave my university—should I start seeking treatment now or should I just tough it out with fanned-out teeth and 4 holes for another year before I'm back in my home state? 🥲

Hey everyone! It's been a while trotting around the internet parts where we can just chat about nothing. Without dating myself, I miss those old school Yahoo! Chat days, talking about nothing with no one in particular, and letting the time flashby. I'm genuinely interested in just chatting about...whatever! I know that's rather broad, but be it video games, books, or anything in between, I'd love to talk to you guys and make new friends!
If you reply, please let me know your name and age! If you need icebreakers, may I recommend the following:
1) What's your all-time favorite book/TV show/musical artist and why? I know it's a generic question, but it definitely helps to know someone's tastes! 2) What's your favorite food? Similarly, you get to know someone by this answer! 3) What's one random thing you've never told anyone else?

Hi - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in...
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STAT OF THE WEEK: Kohl's sales have shrunk by $2.3B since 2019. During that same period of time, the company lost 1.3M customers who no longer shop with the retailer.
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BigCommerce is exploring a sale after attracting takeover interest, according to sources who chose to remain anonymous due to the confidentiality of the information. The sources said that BigCommerce asked investment bank Qatalyst Partners to solicit interest from potential buyers that include private equity firms, but that the discussions are at an early stage and no deal is certain.
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Squarespace announced that it will be going private in a $6.9B all-cash deal with private-equity firm Permira, who agreed to pay $44 per share (a roughly 30% premium). Although Squarespace never lost 90% of its share price like BigCommerce, it has experienced a tumultuous time on the market since its IPO in May 2021 — opening around $49.50 and at times trading in the low $20s. Shares rose nearly 13% to $43 in pre-market trading upon release of the news.
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ByteDance filed a lawsuit in US federal court seeking to block the new law that would force the sale or ban of the app within the country. The lawsuit challenges the law on constitutional grounds, also citing commercial, technical, and legal hurdles, as well as opposition from Beijing. Legal experts say the legal battle will play out in the courts in coming months and likely will reach the Supreme Court.
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OpenAI unveiled its newest model, GPT-4o, designed to turn ChatGPT into a digital personal assistant that can engage in real-time, spoken conversations and interact with users using text, screenshots, photos, documents, and charts. The new version of ChatGPT also has memory capabilities, which means it can learn from previous conversations. It will be available to both unpaid and premium customers alike. OpenAI also announced that it would be launching a desktop app with the GPT-4o capabilities, giving users another platform to interact with the technology outside of a web browser.
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Amazon launched in South Africa last week, marking its first marketplace in sub-Saharan Africa, and bringing its total number of marketplaces worldwide to 22. To launch the new marketplace, Amazon is offering free delivery on first orders and on subsequent orders above R500 (about $27), access to 3,000 pick-up points, status updates via WhatsApp to track orders, 30 day refunds, and 24/7 customer support. The marketplace was supposed to launch in the country in 2023, but got delayed due to changes in priorities within Amazon.
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In an unlikely partnership, Instacart is partnering with Uber Eats to expand into the restaurant delivery business. Instacart will add a new tab for restaurant delivery to its app in the coming weeks, the listings will be provided by Uber, and the food will be picked up and delivered by Uber Eats drivers. Customers will receive the same prices on both apps and Instacart will receive an affiliate commission on orders. It's a strange partnership though given that Instacart and Uber Eats actively compete on grocery delivery. Are they planning to merge? Uber says no.
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Apple's advertisement for its latest iPad Pro sparked criticism for showing an animation of musical instruments, paint cans, cameras, record players, and other symbols of creativity being crushed by a giant machine, with the output being the new iPad Pro, which the company says is the thinnest Apple product ever. In this context, “crushing” was supposed to symbolize “consolidating” and “compacting” — with the visuals meant to showcase how the new iPad Pro puts the power of all these tools into the hands of creators in one thin device. However online commenters criticized the ad as insensitive and as symbolizing a “destruction of the human experience.” The ad hit the web on Tuesday, and by Thursday, Apple issued a mea culpa and apologized for the campaign.
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Google is encouraging merchants to enable conversion annotations on their Google Shopping ads, which offer social proof that highlight a product's popularity. Conversion annotations like “best selling” or “3K shopped here recently” would provide visual cues about a product’s popularity or sales performance directly in the ad unit. Annotations like these are par for the course with e-commerce retailers including Amazon, Walmart, and Temu, which all employ similar tactics. They can provide valuable info for shoppers and also help with conversions. However they also open data privacy concerns, given that Google is not the actual retailer or marketplace selling the items, so a merchant would have to share this purchase history data from their e-commerce platform with Google — which technically most already do by giving access to GA4.
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Shein is attempting to join the National Retail Federation as it pursues regulatory approval to go public in the US. The company believes that NRF membership would boost its chances of receiving SEC approval. However so far, Shein has been rejected numerous times. An anonymous source familiar with the matter said someone with heavy influence at the NRF is strongly against the Shein's admittance. However board members who spoke to CNBC said that Shein's membership application hadn't come up in meetings, and that they aren't involved in deciding which companies are granted access.
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Amazon is leading the way with selling home goods, capturing 18.8% of consumer home furnishings spending, compared to Walmart's 7.3% market share. Notably, Amazon’s gains in the furniture category come in spite of the company’s decision to phase out two of its three furniture brands last year.
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Stanley, which is projected to do $750M in sales this year, up from $73M in 2019, after seeing its water bottles become a status symbol thanks to TikTok, is now expanding into trendier accessories. The company is launching a line of bags called the All-Day Collection which include a mini cooler, backpack cooler, and Quencher Carry-All, designed for someone to sling their Stanley over their hip.
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Jack Dorsey left the Bluesky board and deleted his account on the service he helped kickstart, claiming that Bluesky was “literally repeating all the mistakes” he made while running Twitter. Dorsey says he never intended Bluesky to be an independent company, but rather, an open source protocol that Twitter was supposed to be the first client of. He also confirmed that he is financially backing Nostr, another decentralized Twitter-like service popular among crypto enthusiasts and run by an anonymous founder.
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Amazon is deploying 50 electric trucks in California, which it claims is the largest EV fleet in the country, as part of its mission to eliminate pollution from its global operations. The trucks will be integrated into first-mile operations, moving goods from container ships at the ports to fulfillment centers, as well as middle-mile operations, transporting packages from fulfillment centers to delivery centers.
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Wix launched a new tool called AI Portfolio Creator, which allows a user to upload and organize large-scale image collections, select the type of portfolio they want, and then have the AI tool sort and generate a portfolio with clustered images, recommended titles and descriptions, and personalized layout options.
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Amazon is now requiring all dietary supplements to be verified by a third-party testing, inspection, and certification organization — which is something that not even the FDA requires. Amazon is the largest supplement retailer in the US ahead of Walmart and Target, and its new requirements are expected to put more pressure on the industry, which is being scrutinized more than ever.
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Alibaba is revamping its flagship retail website Taobao for the first time in seven years with a focus on providing a smoother search and buying process. The website overhaul comes ahead of the 618 sales event, China's second-largest annual shopping event. A few weeks ago I reported that Eddie Wu, the CEO of Alibaba Group, would now be directly overseeing its domestic e-commerce arm which includes Taobao and Tmall Group, and it sounds like he's hitting the ground running with his new responsibilities.
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Amazon is hosting its first-ever Amazon Book Sale, a new shopping event starting on May 15th that offers up to 50% off print best sellers and up to 80% off Kindle Books. The six day shopping event will exclusively run in the US, and Prime-membership is not required to take advantage of the deals.
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FTX reported that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded. The company owes about $11.2B to its customers and estimates that it has between $14.5B and $16.3B to distribute to them. The caveat is that customers will receive the USD value of their holdings at the time of the exchange collapse, and not the actual crypto holdings themselves, which means that they'll miss out on all gains during the past two years during which BTC went from around $16k to now over $60k. Better than nothing though, that's for sure.
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800,000 consumers in Europe and the US were duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a network of fake online designer shops operated from China, which comprised one of the largest scams of its kind with 76,000 fake websites created. The scammers used expired domains to host its fake shops in order to help avoid detection by websites or brand owners, and more than 1M orders were processed in the past three years alone.
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Beyond Inc, which owns Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, and Zulily, reported that its Q1 net loss swelled to $72M from $10M a year ago, while its operating loss widened to $58M from $8M. The company's active customers grew to 6M, up 26% from nearly 5M a year ago, however, its average order value dropped to $173 from $220 a year earlier.
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TikTok will begin automatically labeling AI generated content when it is uploaded from certain platforms like DALL.E 3, Adobe Firefly, Photoshop, and Microsoft Copilot. TikTok will also start attaching Content Credentials to content, which will remain on the media when downloaded, allowing other platforms to read the metadata.
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eBay is testing an Add To Cart button in search results that opens a Quick View window, allowing buyers to skip the listing page. Technically the button should probably not be labeled “Add To Cart” since it doesn't perform that action, but rather, displays a quick view window with three buttons: Buy It Now, Add To Cart, View All Details. Sellers are worried that buyers will miss crucial details in the product description that may lead to increased returns and negative feedback.
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Amazon is planning to launch its fleet of drones in Tolleson, Arizona, but the city's extreme temperature is hampering its efforts. Drones can't operate in temperatures exceeding 104 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that Tolleson crosses for a full three months of the year.
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A US district judge dismissed X's lawsuit against Bright Data, a data-scraping company accused of improperly accessing X system and violating X terms and state laws when scraping and selling data. The judge basically said that if X owned the data, it could perhaps argue that it has exclusive rights to control it, but then X wouldn't be able to enjoy the safe harbor of Section 230, which allows the platform to avoid liability for third-party content. Can't have it both ways!
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Nintendo is discontinuing its X integration for the switch on June 10th, which means users will no longer be able to post screenshots or videos to the platform from their device. The drop in support also affects games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which had game-specific options to send out tweets. Microsoft Xbox dropped support for X in April 2023 and Sony Playstation dropped the service in October 2023 due to the increase in X's API access fees.
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Amazon claimed that its recordable incident rate — a metric that comprises all injuries requiring “more than basic first-aid treatment” — at its US warehouses has improved by 24% since 2019. However the National Employment Law Project challenged Amazon's injury data in a report last week, claiming that Amazon's overall injury rate in 2023 was 71% higher than that of other employers in the sector at 6.5 cases per 100 workers.
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Amazon Ads announced three new advertising formats for streaming TV including shoppable carousel ads, interactive pause ads, and interactive trivia ads. Amazon did not say when the new ad types would officially launch, but noted that it will formally present them at a presentation on May 14th.
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Meta is rolling out an expanded set of generative AI ad tools that can create full image variations with text overlays, expand images to fit across different aspect ratios, and generate alternate versions of headlines and other ad text. The features will become available globally to advertisers by the end of the year.
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Square introduced a tool called Square Kiosk to allow self-service ordering at fast food restaurants. The device is a combined software, hardware, and payment solution that allows customers to select exactly what they want with customization options, upgrades, and add-ons.
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The European Parliament announced new measures to make packaging more sustainable and reduce packaging waste in the EU, including reduction targets of 15% by 2040 — which sounds far away but is only 16 years away?! As part of the new rules, the EU will set maximum empty space ratios for e-commerce transportation, ban certain single-use plastic packaging types, and beverage distributors and take-away food will have to offer consumers the option of bringing their own container.
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Indians who pre-ordered Teslas in 2016 are giving up and seeking refunds of their deposits after Elon Musk canceled another visit to the country last month. Disillusioned Tesla enthusiasts in India say they will now buy a car from the company only if they see it in a showroom, or they'll buy a different electrical vehicle from a company that actually exists in the country.
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Target is limiting its Pride Month collection to select stores this year instead of rolling out the merchandise nationwide like it typically has for the past decade, due to backlash the retailer experienced last year. Last May customers in certain stores knocked down LGBTQ+ merchandise displays, angrily approached store employees, and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.
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E-commerce spending from Jan 1 to April 30, 2024 rose 7% YoY to $331.6B, according to Adobe Analytics. One trend Adobe identified during the period is a shift of online spending to purchasing the cheapest goods across personal care, electronics, apparel, home & garden, furniture, and grocery.
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Plus 7 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest, including Shopify's acquisition of Peel, a tool that integrates with a merchant's tech stack including Klaviyo and Recharge and helps them analyze their sales data to improve customer retention.
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I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter
PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

I swear the books keep getting the age of the characters mixed up. I'm reading Spy School British Invasion, and in the first chapters it says that Erica is 16, but then it says later on that Ben is 13 and Erica is 2 years older than him. That would mean that either Ben is actually 14, or Erica is actually 15. It also mentions that Murray is one year older than Ben, saying he's 14- all in all, it just doesn't add up. Atp I've just gone with what I think makes sense (Ben being 14, Murray being 15 and Erica being 16), just because I think it indicates a passage of time.

Inferno! Last time we did this was on the 17th of January. Pretty intense row to run where the goal is get as far as possible in the 23 minute block.
Today's focus is accumulating distance on the rower in an epic row to run.
Row / Tread Block - 23 minutes * Reset your row monitor and set it up for a 23 minute count down * 100m AO row, 160m (0.1 miles) (PW 80m / 0.05 miles) tread * 200m AO row, 160m (0.1 miles) (PW 80m / 0.05 miles) tread * 300m AO row, 160m (0.1 miles) (PW 80m / 0.05 miles) tread * For each subsequent round add 100m to the row (same tread distance), repeat until the finisher: 1 min AO row * Record your total row distance
Floor Block 1 - 8 minutes * Back to back: * 10 total x TRX alligator * 10 x bench chest fly * 10 total x seated reciprocating shoulder press, rest * 12 total x alt low side plank
Floor Block 2 - 8 minutes * Back to back: * 10 x TRX high row to bicep curl * 10 x reverse fly * 10 total x high plank pull through, rest * 12 total x bird dog
Floor Block 3 - 4 minutes back to back superset * 12 x reverse crunch * 12 total x dead bug, rest * Repeat until finisher: 1 minute of either reverse crunch or dead bug at an increased intensity
DC commentary: >! For today’s workout we have Inferno - OTF’s signature workout where you are tracked on your total row distance. Don’t bother signing into the treadmill today as you will need all your logged distance on the rower! \ \ You start on the rower and set it to a 23 minute countdown. Row 100m and hop off (without signing out of the rower) and on to the treadmill. If you are a jogger / runner you will run 160m (power walkers are half distance) before getting off to do the next row round of 200m. Repeat this and continue to add 100m to the distance each round until you get to the last minute where you are doing an all out row. Record your total distance in the challenge tracker and you are done with the most intense part of this template. \ \ A few of the tips I have for the row / run are: \ - Go as fast you can manage on the treadmill - I start at an all out and may have to drop speed a bit on the later rounds but you want to get the treadmill done quickly. \ - Consider doing this benchmark as a power walker if you are a jogger or on the border line of runner - you can probably power walk half the runner distance faster than you can run it. Obviously if you are tracking for consistency and you have always run it then continue to do so. \ - You can save a bit of time by not fiddling with the foot straps on the rower. I keep them snug but don’t bother tightening them for the row so I can just slip them in and out. \ - If you have the fancy rowers with tablets don't log into the treadmill tablet as you want to keep the rower logged in. I don't really bother logging into the treadmill at all as it just takes time away from your rower. \ - As you reach your row distance goal each round, give the handle a big pull as the distance will keep accumulating as you hop off and get back to the run. \ \ No PR today - I had Mrs DC’s birthday dinner last night so a bit of 🍷 probably got between me and a PR but still happy with 4527m. To be honest, having done this one a few times now I am just happy with being reasonably consistent rather than trying to kill myself for a leaderboard mention. We have a few folk in our studio that can crush over 5000m so I am pretty far off those distances! \ \ The floor work is either prep work for the row to run or a bit of a cool down to be honest. Three blocks - first two uses weights and the TRX strap and the last block is a core blast. I went a bit lighter as I was toast after the row to run. No lunges but we do have some shoulder presses today. \ \ This is a tough challenge and will test your rowing capacity. Inferno is an automatic a 1 (🪶) out of 5 for gentleness. !<

I am the Department Chair for grades 6-12th, ELA, and I’m also a full time teacher. Our instructional coach, who really does nothing except delegate senseless tasks, is voicing to “others” how I’m not doing my job. Their saying this because 1. I didn’t send out a book room schedule to organize the already organized book room 2. Two weeks before testing, I didn’t host the Poetry Slam during the students lunch period for poetry month
Yeah, forget testing, grades, working with other teachers to determine how we can “move the needle” with certain students, revising and editing staff members’ papers who are in school, funding and providing testing resources, the school newsletter, and countless other things. Just say bc I’m not missing your butt and bring buddy buddy with you is the reason why you’re salty