Just some things I’ve noticed and would want pre-trip me to know:

1. Food is very important here. Finishing everything on your plate is good! Leaving food may be seen as ungrateful, so if you don’t think you’ll finish and there’s a “half-portion” option, go for that. (I have native family here that took me to dinner-as an American I’m used to big portions and leaving food- they thought I didn’t like what I ordered when I couldn’t finish everything)
   
2. Avoid strong smells, even if it’s good. I’m a perfume girl back home so I brought some of my favorites in mini sample sizes. I haven’t used them once. It’s a rule back home anyway to avoid perfume on public transit, and I completely miscalculated how much of my time would be spent riding the metro each day.
   
3. This might be an obvious for some, but I had no idea what “tax-free” shopping was before I arrived. If the shop is tax-free and you’re spending at least 5500¥, you get in a special line, show your passport, and you don’t have to pay Japan taxes. Just make sure you calculate your total before getting in line. Also side note: if you’re planning on buying lots of tax-free stuff from Don Quijote, they wrap it up and tell you not to open it until you’ve landed back home. So if you’re like me and want to use some of the stuff for your stay, make a tax free transaction then a regular transaction for immediate use.
   
4. Some places don’t like cameras. In LA, everyone is vlogging or posting or snapping pictures- it’s normal and considered free marketing. But places like anime merch shops and some markets/ konbinis have signs. I even got yelled at for trying to snap a picture of a food stall. It’s weird to me that they don’t want people showing others what they sell, but still respect these signs and owners wishes.
   
5. Pasmo and Suica aren’t exactly the same. I got a Suica card on arrival thinking they were based on limited research. Suica works great for the central Tokyo lines (Lines with a single letter eg. A, H, Z). Had to go to Shibuya to get a pasmo when I didn’t want to keep buying physical tickets for the JR lines (Lines with two letters eg. KK, JN, KO). You can get by with just a Suica and some cash, but when a million other tourists are in the ticket line trying to get back into Tokyo, having a Pasmo really saves you.
   
6. Not really advice, but recommendation for early risers based on my experience: shopping and other stores usually don’t open until 11am. If you’re like me you’re ready to start the day at 7 or 8am. I recommend getting to the area you’re going to be spending the day in, getting a coffee, then going to the nearest park/ shrine to stroll in. It’s a great way to get some sightseeing in while waiting for stuff to open.
   
7. Humidity is a killer here. If the weather says 60F and sunny it’s gunna feel 10 degrees hotter because of the moisture. It makes sense why you hardly see people in denim. Even still, women are still wearing long sleeves. Older women wear linen and maxi dresses, while younger go for shorts, skirts, and lightweight cargos. If you don’t care about fitting in, tank tops and light baggy jeans are the way to go.
   

Sorry for the wordy post. Again, this is stuff I have noticed and would tell past me about. I hope this is helpful for anyone traveling to Tokyo soon!

As we all know, there are many factors that can determine the rise and fall of a memecoin. Here, I'm going to explain to you all the Hege Theorem on why Hege can't fail, won't fail, and will eventually reach well over 100mil. It's written in the stars and if you're a community member you probably know already, but I'll split this post into different factors to show you why Hege is the most solid project all-around, and why you should consider buying it and holding it for a couple months at least.
This post aint AI stuff, so don't expect me to say that "our vibrant community fosters a crispy and original project revolutionizing the blockchain". No bullshit, just straight facts.
Hege Factor 1: Dev and Team. Hege Dev has shown again and again that he is trustworthy and dedicated to the project. He has been in the chat every day, communicating every new development and marketing move with the community with maximum transparency. And he obviously hasn't sold a penny. There's also rumors that he'll be quitting his graphic designer job when we reach 10mil MC and go full-on working on Hege. The team supporting our Dev is also composed by chads who recognize the long-term legitimate nature of the project and want to see it thrive. A lot of big holders are in the team too, so many top holders wallets are doxxed and support the chart. Our top holders and loyal whales often also do matching buys, help the chart boom during pumps, and give the community daily TAs on the state of the chart and what to expect from it. Our liquidity to MC ratio is excellent and extremely attractive for whales, memecoins with double our MC have less than our liquidity.
Hege Factor 2: Organic+Paid Marketing blending strategy.
Hege is an extremely promising, yet still very young memecoin. We are only 4 weeks old. For our first 2-3 weeks we relied almost exclusively on organic growth, which brought us from 1.5 to 8 millions just by the sheer power of our narrative and viral graphics. Now, we are taking a blended approach and spending our growing marketing funds to encourage the community. We have already had three big calls just this week. Two were from Chinese influencers, as the asian market access will get us a lot of new buyers and attention. Both influencers have 120k+ following on X, and we expect more whales and big buys in the next days as general market volume recovers. We also were called from the Whale Everything X account (140k+ followers), and a lot more marketing is on the way. We have a CEX listing wallet to gather more funds to be listed in CEXs and a separate marketing wallet where the community and top holders put quite a lot into regularly. It's actually amazing how much (and how many) people believe in this project. Most importantly, we have a newly launched online merch shop which just like everything Hege is extremely cool. Multiple Hege accessories and clothes, and all profits go directly into the marketing wallet. There's also plans to film a video of someone dancing in the club in full HEGE outfit (chad Dev offered 500€ out of his own pocket to whoever would do it)... And it's gonna be a banger.
Hege Factor 3: The community.
Hege's community is unlike any other for a couple of reasons. We are very active in the TG chat, have more groups for different nationalities, from spanish to chinese and Dutch. We have a special Hege After Dark chat for everything...freaky being discussed in the night time. Everyone has a ton of fun and makes new friends in the Hege Fam. The vibe is extremely wholesome and immaculate, so just come vibe with us. You won't regret it. Community and Dev/team also have a ton of trust in each other and believe in this project like no other. We have our own subreddit, X account, crazy cool website, TG community and Discord chat. $HEGE is a movement and it cannot be stopped.
Hege Factor 4: Insane graphic potential.
Something that is not discussed nearly enough about Hege is the crazy quality of our memes, graphics and content. Our Dev is a graphic designer and it shows. Hege has its own recognizable palette with bright, simple colours that are easily memorized and recognizable. New Hege memes come out on a weekly basis. We have just released the first Hege short, and quality is only going up from here. Our merch is therefore also extremely cool, and I think it looks insane even without considering the project behind it. Some of the accessories and clothes are something I'd consider buying if i saw them in an actual shop. And remember all the profits from it actually go into hege's marketing wallet!!
Hege Factor 5: Listings
We have been listed on CMC just last week, and we are now planning to get listed on CEXs to boost our presence and volume, and break through tens of millions of MC. We have some hung members of the team already contributing a lot of Sol to allow us to get listed. But we know we are getting there, sooner or later, cause Hege is a memecoin with a dream, and his dream is to smash. No way we're letting our boy remain a virgin. Which brings us to the key to understanding our project
The ultimate Hege Factor: The Hege Narrative™
All wars and great things on this earth were originally caused by someone wanting to smash. Think Troy. We will destroy civilizations for pus*y.
Well, we are here to make Hege smash his dream girl, Hegena. Hege is a redemption story at heart: he is a little fat, his parents became roadkill when he was just a baby, and he's now going through high school being bullied by the chad hedgehog Hendrix. Hendrix also stole Hegena for himself. The only way for Hege to finally get to smash Hegena is to become a successful memecoin. By making Hege rich, we're unlocking new viral chapters of his story. At 10mil MC, chapter 3 will be uncovered. Help us get Hege to smash and take his dream girl back from his bully!!!
Right now, you could be convinced about the solidity and strenghts of the project. You could be thinking...
"WHY SHOULD I BUY NOW THO?"
Well, the answer is simple: we are on a dip. After a low volume slow weekend (as most weekends are) we are currently hovering around the 3-4 mil area. Last time we had this kind of consolidation (actually lower, going to 2.5mil) , we pumped to 8.4 mil in just two days right after. These last couple days, a lot of volume and interest has been sucked into GME hypecoins, but that will soon be over. Once people realize their profits, they will put it back into the coins they trust and can sleep on, and Hege is the perfect example of that. Don't miss our next pump over 10 mil, it's getting closer: join the Hege Fam now and be a happy man in a couple of weeks.
Check out our socials, shops and website. You'll easily understand why this project's originality is so attractive, and you'll see what the hype is all about. We're just getting started.
WE'RE GETTING HEGE LAID.
CA: ULwSJmmpxmnRfpu6BjnK6rprKXqD5jXUmPpS1FxHXFy
🦔Hege Links🦔
Website: Hegecoin.com
X: https://twitter.com/HegeCoin

Hi everyone,
My cat has ran away a few weeks ago and we are pretty sure we know the area he is hiding in, and since the area in question is not accessible to people (locked), we are trying to figure out when he comes out with trail cameras. We bought one and were loaned another - the one we were loaned is quite good (in terms of image quality anyway) and ours is quite cheap (the cheapest we could find locally from a professional hunting shop). We have struggled quite a bit with their placement, and we thought we had figured it out mostly, but the last few nights have been a bust. We know for sure that loads of wildlife had been around (mostly cats, foxes and birds) and that the camera should have picked them up, but somehow it didn't. We know the cameras were on - they picked up a cat or two - and the food we left disappeared, but something seems to be wrong and we can't figure out what is happening.
Apologies in advance for the long post, I am not sure which details are relevant and would take any advice you can have.
To summarise: one camera in the vegetation (we suspect that is part of the issue), one on a metallic pole (used to work perfectly at that exact location until a few days ago, and now only has one or two pictures a night despite us having proofs that wildlife came by and ate the food). Cameras only up at night, with at least a few photos every night proving that they work (mostly around the times we are there, so 10pm and then morning so around 7am).
We are always setting up the cameras in the beginning of the night (10pm roughly), putting some food, and then going back to collect them early in the morning. Since it is a public location, we are wary of leaving them for too long.
Bonus fox picture before going into the details:
At least we have good footage of one of our local foxes feasting on the cat food
Context: see the little drawing here for the location, plus a few pictures: https://imgur.com/a/7TOFZ6T
Camera 1 is the camera we were loaned. We tried originally to have it in the location of camera 2, but it didn't pick up anything for some reason, so we exchanged them. Current location of Camera 1 is a metallic lamppost. The first two nights it was on the lamppost we had amazing results, with great footage of the local cats and foxes (see picture with the ginger cat). However, the last two nights we have had absolutely nothing - see picture from last night. On the video that followed we saw one of the cats eating a bit of food before leaving, but then nothing until we came to pick up the camera in the morning, and by then there was zero food left so we know something came to eat it. Is there something I am missing with this camera angle that might cause issues? There is a small gate next to the lamppost, but it is below the camera and shouldn't cover the captor or anything.
Camera 2 is on a small tree surrounded by a bush, and with a lot of vegetation around. As much as we try to stabilise it and remove the vegetation, it is an impossible task, leading to the camera showing nothing but a bit of grass and moving leaves. Still, we are surprised that it does not pick up the moving cats, as it used to, and we know for sure they were around. Again, camera working overall since it picked up one cat last night (but we know there was at least one more, plus birds etc). Yet we think that camera picked up our missing cat the other night but we are not sure - the cat was hiding behind the bushes, and it is difficult to differentiate one hiding black and white cat from other black or black and white cats... If you have any suggestion on how to improve this location (short of cutting everything - again public property and trying to leave as little trace as we can), I'd welcome it.
I live in a European country with a very wet climate and but the captors did not seem impacted (they still showed up pictures, even if blurry, after a bit of rain/dew - the location of camera 1 is more susceptible to water since no shelter, but camera 1 itself seemed to have less blurriness overall than our camera which we put in location 2). The weather is mild lately, with temperatures of minimum 8 degrees Celsius at night, more likely around 10-12.
Any advice on this whole situation? Thanks in advance!
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Apologies for the text, but I find this fascinating;
The Bronze Age of civilization in the west (read, from the Middle East through Europe) completely collapsed in approximately 1150 BC. Historians aren't entirely sure why, though there are a lot of theories. One thing people point to are 'Sea Peoples', which are groups of either invaders or immigrants fleeing or causing parts of the collapse. All we know is that it happened, we have no idea why.
This civilization, based on bronze, was very advanced. The two main components of bronze are copper and tin. Tin is actually pretty rare, so they didn't have a lot of tin mines
So how does this apply to Christianity?
Archaeologists in the Levant theorize that the Philistines may well have been Greek immigrants, escaping the collapse and moving east. There are a lot of artifacts from the area (Dating to after the collapse) with Greek appearing styles. These artifacts have more in common with ancient Greek artifacts than they do other Levantine groups.
Now we do know that the bronze age empires did have international trade, but these artifacts date from after the collapse.
Meanwhile, King David is said to have reigned roughly starting 1,000 BC. There's a block of stone from the 9th century BC that calls out the House of David. This means that King David was likely real. Especially since the stone would have been carved within about 100 years or so of David's death at the least, and no more than 200 or so at the most. That is a very short period of time in which to fabricate a fictional king.
SO, what does this mean?
It is entirely possible that David became king of an Israel that existed because the surrounding empires around them collapsed, giving them the freedom to establish their own kingdoms. In addition, this also means that David might well have gone to war with ancient Greeks who moved from Greece to the Levant to escape the collapse of their civilization.

In February this year I visited my doctor to discuss my anxiety, low mood, lack of enjoyment and just general depressed feeling. Prior to this I had tried everything to improvement my mental health - mindfulness, improving my diet, exercise, losing weight, reading, talking - but I found myself in the same position over and over. Low and anxious. I just wanted to sleep all day.
I was prescribed 50mg daily of Sertraline. I was initially reluctant to start as I was scared of the side effects. I believe that’s quite a common feeling.
After a week, and a particularly stressful time at work, I took my first dose.
I barely slept that night. I had read that it might affect my sleep and realised I should’ve taken it in the morning to reduce any negative effect. After shifting to mornings my sleep went back to normal (not great, but I could at least sleep)
My side effects were limited. I began sweating a lot. Though I wasn’t particularly hot - which made it more inconvenient as I would just sweat buckets unknowingly.
I had maybe two or three waves of anxiety unlike anything I’d experienced in the past. These lasted anywhere from a second to an hour. But did pass.
I couldn’t orgasm. But this resolved after a few weeks.
I had no issues drinking alcohol. In fact I weirdly felt like I had a higher tolerance. Not sure if that was the tablets or just a higher than usual amount of social occasions attended.
I had bizarre dreams. But to be honest I quite enjoyed them.
The worst thing for me was my short term memory just went. I often struggled to remember names and work tasks. When reminded the memory would come rushing back like some long forgotten memory. I described this to the doctor as previously having a million thoughts rushing through my head almost kept things at the forefront. Now that voice was quieter but the constant reminders had gone with it. Strange.
I felt that my anxiety and social anxiety was massively reduced overall. But almost to the point when I was apathetic. I was freed to take on backlogs of work without the anxiety but honestly was not bothered about getting started or really the consequences of not completing work tasks.
I fell out of the habit of exercising. Exercising was a mental relief for me and I do generally enjoy it. But on sertraline I just didn’t feel motivated to do it. And I didn’t really care what the negative aspects of it were.
For the reason I took it upon myself to come off medication. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS WITHOUT MEDICAL GUIDNANCE. But I am an idiot so just cut down over to nothing over the course of a week.
I haven’t had any negative withdrawals. I’ve been able to just continue as usual. I am enjoying exercise again and feel my memory is back - but along with the racing thoughts.
I would say my experience overall was on the positive side. And I can see how medication can help vital to calming down that mental chatter for many people. But for me I wasn’t strong enough to continue to be motivated on medication.

There is a man in our neighborhood who is repeatedly sexually harasses and assaults golf cart girls and waitresses and continually gets away with it. What can we (neighbors) do legally?
I live with my parents in an HOA community on a golf course. Here is a list of things this man has done (and “consequences” he has received). All girls are in their early 20s.
Stuck money in a golf club waitresses bra. She reported this and nothing was done, so she quit and wrote a ton of our neighbors an email about how she was disappointed no one advocated for her and he didn’t suffer any consequences. We are able to see the email.
Another girl reported him for an unknown reason. He then waited until she was alone in the clubhouse and confronted her. She said he was yelling at her and saying she was full of shit. She quit shortly after and rumor is that she checked herself into a hospital (she had previous abuse in her past).
Said to another waitress “I wonder if you taste as good as you smell” he was suspended for this comment for 3 months.
Said to another girl when asking her name “how about I call you Princess”
This last girl was a waitress at our clubhouse and he walked up to her and put his hand on her back and slid it down to her butt and rubbed her butt. She immediately walked away and told her coworkers and filed a report that night. Apparently the people who own the company questioned him and two coworkers and he denied it and her coworkers said they didn’t witness anything. The company told her if she doesn’t make this a thing they would give her more hours so she could quit her other job. She took this opportunity. They also told her that she needs to wait on this man like it never happened.
Each time these events are brought up, he gets a light consequence (short suspension) or just a vocal warning. And he continues to do it. Most of my neighbors and I are fed up. He is disgusting and these are young girls who need these jobs. His wife is supporting him. Now, he is threatening to sue neighbors for defamation of character for talking about these incidents.
My question is: Is there anything legally that we can do as a community to ban him from our community centers? Should/can we consult with a lawyer? Can he actually sue us for spreading the word about his actions?
We were thinking of creating a petition and bringing it up at our next board meeting to show how strongly our community stands against him. The newest girl that he touched on the butt will not go to the police.
Also, these are happening in different time frames, different clubhouses. So these girls don’t know each other and unlucky they would be conspiring against him. It’s always the same man. Thanks for any guidance or help.

Howdy.
I've been taking Sertraline for two years. In short, I gained 30 pounds since I started taking it. My diet and exercise HAVE NOT CHANGED.
In fact, I was binge drinking and binge eating to cope before getting psychiatric help. I drink maybe once a week now. I eat fruits and veggies and cheese. I have actually increased my activity level, as I started circus training, which is much more intense (and takes more frequent/long training hours) than the basic weight training I was doing before. So please don't start the "SSRIs don't cause weight gain it's the increased appetite" comments. This is my experience.
My question is for people that have experienced the same that ended up coming off of Zoloft. I have stopped taking it, and want to know if the weight dropped when you came off it? If so, how long did it take?

One of the biggest challenges in Zen scholarship is connecting the dots between koans, which are historical records in the form of transcripts of real people having real conversations. Where religions and philosophies tend to produce sermons and book long arguments, Zen Masters mostly just answered questions. This leaves the audience to piece together a coherent whole from these koan interviews.

Zhaozhou's Lifestyle

Easily the most beloved Zen Master in human history, Zhaozhou was also famous for his very short answers, often in the form of entendres, often using quotes. Here are two quotes that independently are fine, but together cause some problems:

1. A monk asked, "During the twenty-four hours, how is mind put to use?" The master said, "You are used by the twenty-four hours; I use the twenty-four hours. Which of these 'times' are you talking about?"
   
   • Time spent in the movie theater is not the same as time spent in court pleading innocent to felony charges; those are lifestyle choices.
2. A monk asked, "What is your intention?" The Master said, "There is no method to it."
   
   • "No method" is certainly a lifestyle.

What's the big picture?

Zhaozhou argues that his "using the 24 hours" lifestyle does not depend on methods, at least when you put the Cases side-by-side. Whatever conclusion we draw from this we can of course test, by putting these Cases side-by-side with other Cases from Zhaozhou, or even other Masters.
But what is the result?
Zhaozhou once remarked that the Family Custom in Zen was "having nothing inside, seeking for nothing outside" which strikes me as more of a summary of previous teachings than a teaching. Does that betray a "having" or a "method"?

You make the rules

What's interesting to me is whether people would be willing to embrace this "use the 24 hours" AT THE SAME TIME as "having no method". It seems like these two statements represent opposite poles in modern pop culture, with people either working hard at life or people not having a strategy for anything from paying the bills to education to creative contribution to society.

.

Welcome! ewk comment: What does "no method" look like though when you are so deliberately engaged in everything you do?

I think my mom has Se, Ni, and Te.... however, two people on my previous post believed she was xSFJ (but didn’t elaborate why). What do you guys think? Please explain why you think yes or no.
NEED TO BE PRODUCTIVE + BUSY

• Absolutely cannot relax without doing something productive first, even on the weekends.
• Once told my cousin (who worked 5 days a week 7am-5pm) that she should look for part time shifts on the weekend since she has all that free time. I legit thought she was insane for believing that.
• I often don't tell my mom when I have an off day because otherwise she would expect me to still be productive otherwise.

NEED TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF HERSELF

• Always keeps an eye out on how she can self-improve and be better. Be it aesthetically, financially, lifestyle-wise, health-wise, etc. She especially pushes it on to me. This also includes education and career, always pushing me to aim for better positions and get more degrees.
• Her favorite topic is finances. Always wants to know how she can live comfortably now and later. But this also causes her lots of anxiety.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE IN STEAMROLL KIND OF WAY

• She's very quick to help give advice to someone, but it's often unsolicited and also quite forceful. Instead of suggesting it gently, her wording is more like "you should do this, then tell them that, you have to also do this or else it'll cause you trouble." She means well, I just don't think it's appreciated or welcome
• Also does not realize that her advice is unsolicited. Which is ironic because she expects emotional support and sometimes lashes out at me if I just give advice, yet she does the same and doesn't realize.
• Really reminds me of Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec for this trait.

DEFINITELY JUST KNOWS THINGS

• Showed my mom this korean tv show, Fantastic Duo, where several contestants perform together and the artist of the song picks one to sing a duet with. Within legit 5 seconds of it starting, my mom pointed to one contestant and said "seems like she'll get picked" and she was right. I was shocked. I showed her another clip and she also immediately pinpointed the right person.
• When I asked her how she knows, she said she always has been able to know things like this without explanation. According to her, it just comes to her suddenly.

SOMETIMES SEEMS UNSURE WHAT TO THINK

• My mom has strong opinions and beliefs, and often cannot be swayed. A little stubborn. BUT there are times where it seems like she doesn’t have a strong opinion (or one at all), and then if I express leaning one way she will strongly agree with me and take on that belief.
• Not out of insecurity or “just because”, but it feels like she was on the fence with no strong opinion and then once seeing points made that she isn’t against, she will strongly agree and believe in it.

VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE

• This might be an excessive amount for a function, but she's constantly anxious and she very easily spirals. She'll be fine one moment, then if I bring something up, she'll immediately spiral and won't stop ruminating about it even though I said it's fine and not a big deal.
• Also constantly worries abut making the wrong decision. Even if she made the right decision, she'll sometimes be like "What if we chose the other decision?" The reasoning for this seems to be more that she's considering too many perspectives and cannot decide what the overall right choice is.
• My perspective of her anxiety is that nothing can get her out of the muck. If I give her objective reasoning, it only temporarily relieves it and I can see it. She'll firmly say "yes you're right" with relief, but you can tell she still only says it tentatively compared to her usual self.
• Continuously repeats topics and points over and over within one conversation. Or she'll say ABC, then we move on, then a short bit later we come back to the conversation and she'll repeat ABC even if I provided moral support and logical reasoning to try to relieve her thoughts. Her repetitive points on her pain points go nowhere and is also never solved.

FIERY, AMBITIOUS PERSON

• Always been hot-headed and fiery, both in temper and passion. She has this aggression in her to want to get things done. Very Type A kind of person.
• The kind of person to thrive off of negative feedback so she can be like "I'll fucking show you"
• Constantly comparing herself to others like "oh this person has good traits, I should be like that too" or "this person's trait is bad, I know now to not be like that."
• The kind of person to say "there are no stupid questions" but then you ask one and she'll say "use your fucking head, what a stupid question"

RARELY SEES HERSELF IN THE WRONG, BUT EVENTUALLY SELF-REFLECTS

• Self-explanatory, but she very rarely sees herself as wrong. She is stubborn and will hold steadfast to her opinions and beliefs in the moment. I don't think I've ever heard her apologize, and especially not admit she was wrong in the moment unless there's concrete proof.
• That said, if you give her time to brood about it, she'll come around and admit you have a point. She still won't apologize, but she'll say it in a "I get it, objectively it's right" kind of way.
• E.g., she got PISSED at me a couple years ago for not making a big deal on mother's day. Then some months later, she and I were talking and she said "I even told the friend that we have to be understanding of our own actions. I got mad at Gorgo about not celebrating mother's day once, but then I later realized I can't blame her. We never celebrate holidays and I don't do anything big for her birthday either, so why should I have expected her to celebrate mother's day?"
• It was like an indirect admittance through an irrelevant conversation she had, something she never brought up with me.

CARES TOO MUCH WHAT OTHERS THINK

• Yes to what society thinks, but I mean this mostly with personal relationships. If she has to make a decision that benefits some people and not the others, she worries way too much how the unfavored people in the group will be impacted.
• One time we ordered custom clothing from a store, and we weren't very happy with the end result. The tip amount was up to us, so I stood firm on a certain amount. My mom objectively sided with me, but emotionally wondered if we should give more because even though the result wasn't good, the store owner still went through all that trouble.
• I feel like this goes hand in hand with her anxiety.

USED TO BE SPONTANEOUS AS HELL WHEN YOUNGER

• My mom has all these wild stories of her when she was younger. She'd be traveling across the country with her friends by train, then randomly she'd get off at a stop and be like "okay I'll see you guys back at home! I actually wanna get off here" shocking her friends. And this was pre-cell phone times too. My mom today cannot fathom how she never got kidnapped or something.
• Once, she got tuberculosis and had to be hospitalized for some days. Once she was discharged, she went straight to the salon, got her hair done, and went to the club to dance lol
• Definitely was the leader of her friend group and everyone always relied on her for fun and plans
• She no longer is like this. Could be due to growing up, could also be due to the after effects of depression she had a few years ago. More of a homebody now.

KEEN EYE FOR AESTHETICS

• I've always believed that if my mom led her ideal life, she'd be an interior designer. She has an eye for things, and I don't know how to describe it.
• One time, we were figuring out what to do with this blank spot in my room. We fiddled around for a bit, then she had an idea, went downstairs, hauled up the large ottoman we had and placed it there. Looked great immediately and has been there ever since!
• I don't remember this, but she has told me how everyone would compliment the outfits she'd pick out for me, or the younger girls at work would compliment my mom on her outfits. And genuine compliments, not fake ones, as she says.

MISC.

• Not into fantasy/sci-fi. You will never catch her watching that genre. She likes political movies, action, based on true stories, spicy romance.
• Not into deep talk. Very much talks about strictly relationships/people, productivity/how to be your best self either internally or externally, etc.
• Very spiritual and religious (buddhism).

Will answer any questions you may have. Thank you!!

Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurin’s The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly there’s a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says there’s no litrpg in this anthology)
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quail’s desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.

• Special Guest Kopratic: So this guy really wants to go to Mars, but it’s pretty dang expensive. Fortunately, what’s not as expensive is paying a company to trick him into thinking he’s been to Mars by implanting false memories into his mind. Unfortunately, things go wrong, and before he writes up a scathing Yelp review, he gets his money back, his wife leaving him, and his life falling apart.
• It’s a story I’ve read before. Not this exact, specific story, but the bones of it. Virtually visiting another time or place. It’s never real, but they tend to beg the question: Do memories create reality? Maybe this particular story was one that inspired, even if indirectly, the others. Maybe it’s a trope that had been used before, and the author was just putting his own spin on it like the ones that came after.
• I did like it. I thought that it was annoying how the secretary was described as being topless in practically every scene she was in. It went from, “Oh in this society that’s a normal thing, and body paint is a sort of fashion item” to “...we get it.” It was a minor part of the story at least.
• The twists were pretty good, too. There’s a moment where you start to question things alongside the protagonist. Maybe the false memories did work. He’s not supposed to know they’re fake, but he does. But he also has things that can’t possibly be explained by ways of “implanted memories.” Or maybe they can. Even until the very end, the story keeps you guessing. It did a good job of keeping the tension alive.
• In a sense, the story asks the question, “What is reality?” and fits in nicely as an entry into the realm of cyberpunk.
  
• Farragut’s thoughts: We’ve read Dick before in Science Fiction. Between that story and this, if I hadn’t read two of his novels already, I would’ve thought Dick was a comedic SF writer because of how funny I’ve found his short fiction so far. I vaguely recall (ha!) having seen the movie Total Recall, but I’m not sure PKD has ever had a faithful adaptation of his works. Anyway, this is just a fun story—not as wild as the film, but just a plain fun examination of memory and reality.
  
• fanny’s thoughts: The editor points out that each filming of Total Recall gets worse and this is correct. I had never read the story and I did like it despite it being a story I have seen before. Dick did a great job of making the reader doubt memories and the reality for the character. There are a lot of careful details throughout the short story that play with this concept and add to the general confusion of what is real. The story is not the most amazing thing, but it is very well done and a bit twisty.
  

“Speed” by Misha (1988)
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that I’m lost.

• Farragut: We’ve read Misha before in Science Fiction. She’s a very cyberpunky type author, but I’ll be darned if I understand half of what’s going on here. There’s data as currency, there’s an all powerful computer named Juno 888 (I think?), there’s a car chase with a barbed-wire tripwire at neck level (ouch), there’s indigenous ghost dancers, and I had a hell of a time connecting the dots. It didn’t help that for the first couple pages I didn’t realize Speed was the character’s name, which made the story even more abstract at first. I absolutely know there’s someone out there who loves the crap out of experimental/transcendental stuff like this, but it wasn’t me.
  
• fanny: I was beyond confused reading this one. For half the story I thought the character was the computer, 888, but then I realized it was Speed. I am not sure that helped though. I feel like this was too experimental for me and it just missed the mark. The good part of this was the trading in data and the trying to steal data, which was an interesting technology application.
  

“Computer Friendly” by Eileen Gunn (1989; also available in her collection Stable Strategies and Others)
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.

• Farragut: Gunn is an oft-nominated writer (including for this story), but ended up winning the 2005 Nebula for “Coming to Terms”. I really loved this bizarre future (she’ll play computer fetch with her dog when he has downtime from managing data traffic), and Elizabeth is an adorable character to follow as she navigates the shocking new revelations about her world. The help she gets from some of the obscure entities on the network is perfect, especially when they realize that their current world is a little too predictable these days. Highly recommended, especially for Elizabeth’s “hacking” methods.
  
• fanny: I loved this story and following Elizabeth through it all. Elizabeth is a fierce, determined little girl who doesn't want anything bad to happen to her friends. She goes to extremes for this and gets help from the weirdest sources within the network system. The net system, entities, and the world are so well thought out and carefully crafted. It felt fully realized which is unusual for me to find in a short story. Absolute loved this one.
  

“I Was a Teenage Genetic Engineer” by Nisi Shawl (1989)
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.

• Farragut: Shawl is a multiple-award-winning author and has done a lot of work on promoting diversity in SF/F. A very short story (under a thousand words), it’s also got a very mythic and poetic tone to it, like a confession as a parable. Very evocative, with lots of classical allusions.
  
• fanny: Such a short story and such a unique concept. I liked that the main character made the entire Pantheon and unleashed the Greek gods back on the world. I found the description of creating Psyche the best part. This story is a bit experimental, but worked for me.
  

“The Gene Drain” by Lewis Shiner (1989)
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.

• Farragut: Shiner was a member of the Turkey City Writer’s Workshop which is considered a “cradle of cyberpunk”. This story was quite amusing, and you can see the differences between the overly-technological humans on Earth and the extremely weird worshippers of Johnny Carson. The author does a great job of encapsulating all the changes since the ship left in little throwaway lines, and the ending was both disturbing and funny.
  
• fanny: I found the whole premise quite ridiculous, but a nice way to show how too much technology can change society. The worshippers of Johnny Carson return to earth and manage to get a leader who has a bad experience with tech. The extremes he is willing to go to is both realistic and slightly disturbing. The ending is amusing, but it is serious too. I like how Shiner balanced absurdity with real society challenges. But also cult of Carson.
  

That’s it for this week! Check back the same time next week where we’ll be reading and discussing "Deep Eddy" by Bruce Sterling, "The Yuletide Cyberpunk Yarn, or Christmas_Eve-117.DIR" by Victor Pelevin, "Wonderama" by Bef, "comp.basilisk FAQ" by David Langford, and "Spider's Nest" by Myra Çakan.
Also posted on Bochord Online.

Hello! My name is Charlie and I’m from the great state of Michigan! I’m looking for some new long-term friends, doesn’t matter if you’re near me or not. I’ll keep it short, so here’s a bit about me:
I work in the auto industry and travel a bit for my job, mostly around Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. I have been out of school for two years and was a business major.
I am a casual, mostly single player gamer but I am open to playing games together! I love racing games, rpgs, strategy games, and Paradox history games. I play on PS5 and PC!
I also love watching tv and movies, or YouTube. I’m a big music fan, love taking walks or hikes and just enjoying nature, taking drives, trying new food, going to museums, history, politics, NFL and college football, and Formula 1!
I’m a bit introverted but once I’m comfortable with people I can be a real chatterbox. I think I have a good sense of humor and am decently smart, as well as kind and very honest.
I’d love to get to know you, especially if we have things in common! Please don’t be shy and hmu with a short introduction about you!
Hope you have a nice day :)

I'm coordinating interviews and, yes the IT industry is a little funny right now, but can we respect people's time!? I'm trying to coordinate interviews with our team, and their calendars are ridiculous! Candidates are not going to last if we have one interview a week and there are three rounds. I try to explain to them if they want the role filled they need to make time for it. But no! I see availability, I book it, and then the day of the interview, they say there's a client meeting they can't miss. Where the hell was that meeting when I was coordinating the interview?!
Advice & Venting: How do you work with team members who seem to not understand, pushing interviews out a week to two weeks is not ideal. Yes, candidates are a little desperate right now and willing to take what they can, so it's just tough! I'm an internal recruiter advocating for candidates.
*Please specify the industry & location.

I sometimes reminisce about this vivid dream I had as a child of 3 or younger. It is very peculiar. In this dream, I was an adult woman. I couldn't see my own face, but I had red hair. It started out with me opening the door to a house and stepping out into the driveway. It was a 2 or 3 storied bungalow type house. There was a blue car (maybe from the 80's or 70's? Definitely not modern) parked. A man (maybe in his 30's, blond) sat in the driver's seat waiting. There were two kids playing on a swing tied in a tree. The dream would then cut to us driving near some ind of fence while a some song played on the radio. We would park by a short metallic gate which would swing open with a nice loud creek. I grabbed the kids (two boys) from the backseat and we would all walk to a gravestone and the man would lay down some flowers at its foot. He would them step back and put his arm around me and kiss me and the dream would end.
Now here's the weird thing about this dream. I grew up in India and had no idea about graveyards and other western things at that time. I couldn't have heard of it from anywhere because, we never watched english movies or shows or anything. I didn't even have youtube then. I didn't even know people could have skin that white or that they could have red/ blond hair. The whole dream was from the actual perspective of an adult woman who was definitely taller than I am even now. I didn't know english at that point, but all the conversations in the dream were in english, and only later in life when having that dream became a regular thing did I start to understand what was going on. Another thing that was quite bewildering was that the whole scenery seemed pretty typical to some country like the US. I have always lived in a flat, and the house in the dream was a bungalow, which I think are somewhat common in the west. The man in the dream who I am assuming was my husband was very affectionate with me. My parents had an arranged marriage, they were never affectionate with each other. I didn't know people who were married loved each other and expressed it physically at that point.
I had this dream very often as a child (almost every day at some point). I am 17 now and still have this dream sometimes. Sometimes I see it in 3rd person. It has been bugging me for a while now, but I can never seem to catch a glimpse of my own face in the dream. Now that I know somethings about the world, I am starting to recognize more and more weird things such as the midwestern accent. It was there when I had the dream for the first time and every other time, but I have only recently recognized. A friend of mine thinks its some kind of past life memory but honestly I don't believe this. Can anyone try and make sense of it?

LinkedIn can be a sales goldmine when used strategically.

Among all the social media platforms out there, LinkedIn stands out as the go-to platform for professional social networking.

But with over 900 million people using it, how do you stand out?
It requires more than a compelling bio and a polished profile image.
Do You Know??

According to the latest statistics, 40 million people use LinkedIn every week to search for jobs, and three people a minute are hired on the site.

This article will cover:

1. Keywords
2. Headlines
3. Profile completeness
4. Job title optimisation /Work Experience
5. URL Optimization

What Is LinkedIn SEO?

How Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works for LinkedIn???

LinkedIn SEO is all about optimizing your profile and content to boost your visibility and ranking, offering a myriad of opportunities for career progression, business networking, and establishing a prominent presence within your industry.
When you fine-tune your profile’s headline summary, work experience, and skills section with specific keywords, you can boost the likelihood of appearing in LinkedIn’s search results.
Imagine someone searching for specific keywords or skills related to your professional background – a well-optimized profile significantly increases the chances of your profile being featured in their search results.
On top of that, LinkedIn profiles can also show up in traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google, expanding your online presence.
Beyond profile optimization, the impact of SEO extends to your content. LinkedIn posts and, particularly, articles have the potential to rank within LinkedIn’s search engine, showcasing your expertise within the platform.
Furthermore, these articles, with their long-form nature and valuable insights, can also rank on traditional search engines, leveraging LinkedIn’s high domain authority for increased visibility both on and off the platform.

Why You Need to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile:

An optimized LinkedIn profile is one where every part of your personal profile is filled out and shows audiences what you do, who you are, and what you are an expert in.

This helps your profile rank higher in LinkedIn searches and builds trust among those who might want to connect or follow you.

Do You Know??
Even more compelling? Some 44% of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 a year. That’s a considerable bump up from the national median income of $68,703 per household.
Let's Dive in:

6 steps to help improve your LinkedIn SEO optimization for better results.

Step 1: Keywords.

A keyword is a word or phrase that searchers enter into a search engine. Learn more about Keyword Research. Examples of keywords and phrases include:
Example:
In seo bint e jamil, 'Digital Marketing Manager' is the keyword.

• Freelance Digital Marketer
• Certified Digital Marketer
• Best Digital Marketer

For LinkedIn, create a list of 7-10 words or terms that your ideal client would use when searching for the service you offer. For example:

• SEO Digital Marketer
• Digital Marketer Agency
• Digital Marketing Expert

Now, use these keywords throughout your profile in as many sections as possible, including your:

• Headline
• Role descriptions
• Skills and endorsements
• Skills and endorsements section. LinkedIn prioritises skills already in its database, so when adding a new skill, start typing it, then select the most relevant suggestion that appears.

Step 2: Profile Completeness

To rank highly your profile will need to be 100% complete, with every profile section completed. Consider using bullet points rather than paragraphs, and format the text so it’s easy to read.
Let’s take a look at what you should focus on to fully optimize your LinkedIn profile.

1: Images Optimization:

When you’re setting up your profile, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a solid profile picture.

LinkedIn can be a sales goldmine when used strategically.LinkedIn can be a sales goldmine when used strategically.

Among all the social media platforms out there, LinkedIn stands out as the go-to platform for professional social networking.

2: LinkedIn Background Photo:

Background photos are like billboards. You can use this space to show your accomplishments and awards or offer free resources.

LinkedIn Background Photo Optimization
You should also:

• Add a tagline to inform visitors about who you are and what you do
• Include your website URL and social media handles
• Include a call-to-action (CTA) or provide clear instructions on how users can get in touch with you
• Make sure you avoid placing any important information on the bottom left — it won’t be visible

3: Craft a Keyword-Rich Tagline /Headline:

Your LinkedIn headline sits just below your profile image and name. Customising your headline is not only critical for SEO, it’s also an important part of your personal brand - how people view and perceive you on the platform.

LinkedIn automatically populates your headline with your current or most recent position – however, you have the option to customise it. Remember, you want the headline to create an informative and impactful snapshot of yourself.
Linkedin Headline Optimization
When creating your headline:

• Include your role title
• Include your industry
• Include your specialty
• Use all of the 120 characters available
• Steer clear of emoji use

Headline Example:

For a digital marketing manager, a similarly optimized tagline could be, "Innovative Digital Marketing Strategies to Elevate Your Brand's Presence" — placing the target keyword "Digital marketing strategies" prominently at the start.

4. Featured Posts on LinkedIn

The Featured section on LinkedIn is a space on your profile where you can highlight important content.

LinkedIn Featured Section
It’s near the top, below your photo and headline. You can use this section to showcase:

• Articles or blog posts you’ve written
• Videos
• Images, graphics, or infographics
• Documents, like case studies or whitepapers
• Testimonials or other achievements

Featured content isn’t permanent, so you can change it up to include new content as regularly as you like!

5.Create a Compelling “About” Section

The About section is the meat of your Company page. Here, you have the space to go into more detail, telling the story of your brand and naturally incorporating relevant keywords throughout.

About Us LinkedIn SEO
Here are some components to consider including in your About section:

• Your brand vision. Articulate the impact your company aspires to have.
• Mission statement. Use action-oriented language to describe how you plan to achieve your vision.
• Company values. Articulate your brand values to showcase your company culture and principles.
• Brand differentiators. Clarify your brand’s positioning to differentiate your company and its offerings from competitors.
• Products and/or services. Provide short overviews of your main offerings using clear, searchable terms.

Here’s an example of the beginning of an About section for a data analytics company:

At ABC Company, we democratize data analytics, enabling businesses of all sizes to unlock insights through our intuitive, AI-powered analytics platform.

Finally, you can add in some “Top skills” as a way to remind readers what your services are. This also presents another opportunity to add in your keywords.

6.Work Experience

When I’m looking at someone’s experience section on LinkedIn, I’m looking to see if they meet the criteria of the role beyond a job title. Their job duties and achievements give me a better understanding of their scope of knowledge and specific skill sets this role needs.

LinkedIn “Work Experience” section

Fields for LinkedIn experience entries

Each position on LinkedIn has a combination of required (*) and optional fields:

Required fields for LinkedIn Work Experience entries

Title*

List your position title, including any relevant keywords. Sometimes job titles benefit from being revised for common searches.
Example: "Content Marketing Manager" might be more search-friendly than "Manager, Marketing Content."

Company name*

Many companies already have a company profile on LinkedIn and will autocomplete from the LinkedIn Company Page in the dropdown as you type.

Employment dates*

This is usually shown by a start and end date. If you’re currently working in the role, click “I am currently working in this role” and it will automatically list your end date on your profile as “Present.”

Industry*

This doesn’t display on your profile. Select the best match and keep going.

Optional fields for LinkedIn Work Experience entries

The profile gets much more interesting with the additional, optional work experience fields including:

Employment type

Location

Sharing the location can give people reviewing your profile a sense of where you’ve worked (and where you’re likely based).

Location type

Choose from On-site, Hybrid, and Remote. Showing that you have experience working in a certain capacity can be valuable to some recruiters and employers. Example: If you have a work history in remote roles, you may be a strong candidate for additional remote roles.
Description
This is a written summary, usually two or three sentences long, that allows you to show your job duties, achievements, and expertise. By including relevant information with a few highlights and key accomplishments, you can improve your odds as a job seeker.
Pro tip: To further optimize your LinkedIn profile, consider using ChatGPT for your LinkedIn summary.

7.URL Optimization

LinkedIn allows you to personalise your URL, changing it from the automated URL, which is usually quite long and contains a random assortment of numbers. Upon updating make sure you update your email signature, business cards and other marketing collateral.
URL Optimization in LinkedIn SEO

• Standard URL example (not optimised): https://www.linkedin.com/in/seo-bint-e-jamil323389/
• Custom URL example (optimised): https://www.linkedin.com/in/seo-bint-e-jamil/

To change your LinkedIn public profile URL:

For LinkedIn Public Profile URL:

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
   
2. Click View profile.
   
3. Click Edit public profile & URL on the right side.
   

• You’ll be redirected to the Public profile settings page.

1. Under Edit your custom URL on the right side, click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL.

• It'll be an address that looks like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.

1. Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box.
   
2. Click Save
   

Drive Results with LinkedIn SEO Optimization

By enhancing the different components of your LinkedIn profile page with a strategic approach to LinkedIn SEO optimization, you’ll be much more likely to appear in search results. This will go a long way toward increasing your visibility and helping drive more business opportunities. Remember that SEO isn’t just a one-time effort, but rather an ongoing process that requires regular attention and updates to deliver your desired results.

I've skimmed through some posts about Chinese military affairs, and there are just too many errors and biases. Let me give you an introduction to the current Chinese military and military strategy from the perspective of Chinese themselves. (My English is not very good, so my expression may not be fluent or clear enough, and there may even be mistakes).
In 2015, the top command believed that the previous military management and command system lacked clear division of functions and specialization, making it difficult to efficiently coordinate operations among different services. It was also inadequate for coping with high-tech warfare between major powers and high-intensity localized conflicts under conditions of informatization. Without improving the command structure, the PLA's combat capability would be severely restricted. Subsequently, the PLA began implementing reforms. The goal of the reform is to adapt to informationized warfare by assigning military management and operational command to different services and theaters, allowing each theater and service to focus on its own development and thus enhancing the overall combat effectiveness of the entire military.
I. Overall Strategy
China's defense policy is defensive in nature. The government stated in its 2019 white paper, "We will never threaten any country or seek any sphere of influence." It pursues a policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons and does not participate in any military alliances. This is different from the Soviet Union. Although both are socialist countries, China, unlike the Soviet Union, does not seek global military presence or pursue "world revolution." For us Chinese, ideology is not important; reality is what matters. Under the central strategy of "centering on economic development," China's defense strategy is destined to be defensive in nature.
II. Potential Conflict
The only region where large-scale conflict could potentially occur in China is Taiwan.
The military is working to build Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities to prevent U.S. military intervention in China.
Although foreigners like to refer to China and Taiwan separately, this is incorrect for both the CCP and the Taiwanese authorities. Regardless of whether it is the "People's Republic of China" or the "Republic of China," Taiwan is a province, because they both claim sovereignty over the entire territory of China. In their dealings with other countries, they all demand one or the other. That is where the “one China” principle comes from, that is, you can only choose between the Chinese Communist Government and the Taiwan authorities.
This situation stems from the civil war many years ago, in which the Kuomintang government lost all internal provinces except Taiwan Province. You can see today's conflict between Taiwan and the mainland as a continuation of that civil war.
The CCP has always tried to achieve true national unity, even nominally (one country, two systems allows Taiwan to retain its military and all political systems unchanged, only requiring the Taiwanese authorities to recognize themselves as a local government, while the CCP is the legitimate central government). However, obviously, this has not been smooth. The Taiwanese authorities are unwilling to accept only becoming a local government, even nominally.
If you were to ask me whether the mainland would attack Taiwan? My answer is I don't know. As long as Taiwan is still called the "Republic of China" and remains within the framework of "One China," not seeking to become a "Taiwan Republic" hostile to China, then armed conflict is unlikely to occur. As long as Taiwan nominally belongs to China, its ideology and system are something we don't particularly care about. If the "Republic of China" in Taiwan seeks to become a "Taiwan Republic" and willingly becomes a forward military base for the United States against China (Taiwan is only a hundred kilometers away from the mainland's heartland, and even deploying short-range weapons there would pose a huge threat), Then there's a possibility of war.
However, both sides have been calling out to each other for 70 years—whether it's the CCP aiming to reunify Taiwan Province or Taiwan planning to counterattack and unify China. So, who knows?
This is an analysis from a historical and geopolitical perspective. "Freedom" and "democracy" are good things, but this is not the real conflict between Taiwan and the mainland. That's all I'm going to write, and sometime I can talk more about how the Chinese view U.S. military actions and the strategic goals and approaches taken.

I’ll try to keep this short but there is a lot of nuance. In the past 1-2 years I have recently reconnected with some friends from my younger days (high school into young adult hood). We will call them Aaron (27 M) and Ashley (28->29 F) and I am 28 F. I previously stopped talking to both of them because of unfulfilled promises. Back in 2018, Aaron’s fiancé had moved to another country with his son and my boyfriend of 1 year plus had left to attend a family wedding and would be gone for close to a month.
Aaron and I in our mutual distress wanted to figure out a solution to our problems. Aaron was unable to fly due to not having papers as was worried his fiancé was lonely and I wanted to be with my partners family. Aaron had promised he would have paid for me to go on my trip before everyone left so my boyfriend’s dad did not count me in the budget for the tickets. With his fiancé leaving it then became I would go be part of the wedding then go stay with his fiancé for a bit. Aaron eventually ended up trying to proposition me for sec in exchange for the spend and that did not rub me right. This eventually carried forward into other issues tied to his affections and expectations of me which resulted in us no longer being friends.
We reconnected in 2022 where he apologized and explained more why he did what he did. My boyfriend asked if I was sure I wanted to welcome him back into my life and that he would trust my judgement if I choose to, which I did. Ashley and I stopped being friends back in 2017 because we had planned a trip for us and our partners. She stated she would use her buddy passes since she was a flight attendant to make the ticket costs cheaper.
The week before the trip it becomes I cannot bring my boyfriend. I was very confused by this. Severely confused by this so I asked why she said she didn’t feel comfortable with it. So I said okay. Don’t use your passes. We will pay for our trip and we can stay with his family. She said she still wanted me to stay with her. So I said okay. We will come, he stays with his family and I stay with you. We can all hang out and grab lunch and stuff and him and I go on dates and such.
Then she explicitly states the trip will not happen if I take him with me. Then she tries to turn it into a trip with people we have not seen from high school to recreate a sleepover we had in the 8th grade that got ruined by our parents. (That’s another story. I will add here my mom does not like Ashley never has) in the end it was all just too much and I decided that I no longer wanted to be friends with her because what she was doing was messed up especially so close to the trip. This on top of all the on and off issues I had with her through the duration of high school just didn’t seem worth it to take into adulthood.
Now 2023 Ashley reached out and apologizes. I was very torn up about the decision but after speaking with my therapist and weighing the risks decided it couldn’t hurt to try again. Both my gf and my bf were opposed to the decision but at the end of the day the choice was mine and I chose forgiveness.
Fall of 2023 my gf and I were planning a Christmas trip and Ashley said she didn’t get to see me while she was I my country because of the traumas she was dealing with with her mom so she would like to see me now. I told her I was going to fly out to spend the holiday with my gf so I didn’t think it would be possible. She stated she would see me in the time before I went to see my GF. I told her because of the trip I couldn’t afford it. She said that’s fine.
She would pay for the ticket for me to see her and I worked out an arrangement with my girlfriend where we would split the fair for the flights between all three locations and said her to do what happened the last time and I said yeah I can trust her. It doesn’t happen and that will be that. Lo and behold it does not happen because Ashley says to me two weeks before oh I overdid my shopping on Black Friday so I can’t buy your plane ticket. Ofc this makes me gf big mad and she says see I told you so. She was also confused why I was not upset. I explained that it wasn’t that I was not upset simply that it doesn’t really change much. I just won’t ask her for anything again. Which I haven’t and won’t.
Fast forward to spring 2024. The group is back together, we’re having weekly calls and our group chat chatting and having a blast. We decide we haven’t spent time as a group since 2017 so we should go see Aaron where he lives. I state very openly that I won’t be able to afford this trip. (Both Aaron and Ashley make a minimum of twice my income). Aaron says that’s fine I’ve got you covered. I question it and explain my hesitances because of both past situations. He said that’s fine don’t worry. I said okay. Let’s do this. The trip is slated for now (may 2024) and encompassed Ashley’s birthday.
A lot of things start happening in Aaron’s life and the ticket purchase gets repeatedly pushed off. This starts to make Ashley antsy so she buys her ticket hoping it pushes Aaron’s to buy my ticket. It does not. In moment of anxiety Ashley starts booking airbnbs for her self and asking how much I trust Aaron to follow through. I assure her that I do trust him follow through which I did. Because outside of the one trip he hasn’t not come through when I needed him too. I also stated at worst I end up buying my own ticket but I need to see what my expenses will look like in the end.
We are down to the wire my ticket is not bought so I start adjusting my bills. In the end I am not able to afford the ticket because even after short paying my bills I was left with roughly $120 which isn’t enough to book a flight or an airbnb for a week.
I told Ashley I would still try to figure it out and reached out to Aaron once more. He said yeah he has the money now but it doesn’t feel like a good time. The energy is off and he wouldn’t want me to come and something bad happens. I agree because what else would I do? It’s not my money nor does he actually owe me anything.
Ashley reaches out because I forgot to get back to her. To confirm The plan and I explain that I won’t be able to come because I really can’t afford it and it doesn’t make sense for me to put myself in a situation to be in a strange country with no emergency funds.
Ashley decides my friendship with her will fully change and she won’t take my word for anything again because I didn’t come to avoid having a bad trip not taking her feelings into consideration.
In the midst of this I start feeling anger towards both of them because Aaron didn’t come through as promised and Ashley has written me off over choosing responsibilities. My boyfriend said to speak to both of them and express what I am feeling to see what happens. I was able to resolve things with Aaron and come to a mutual understanding. However when I reached out to Ashley, she said she is on a high and doesn’t want to deal with this right now. She is making new friends and would like to clarify that I am no longer her best friend. She will listen to me when I talk but that’s about it. In my eyes that is a therapist not a friend and I already pay someone for that.
Am I wrong if I decide I don’t want to fix things with Ashley? Is she right for deciding I am not worthy of actual friendship?

We met through normal means, we were swiping on people on an app until someone catches our eye, we just so happened to catch each other’s eyes.
We spoke, and we found out that we matched well. We matched so well that we moved to exchanging numbers not even a few days later, we both would come back to each other at the end of the day and chatted for all hours of the night. You and I would track the times we’d be free and start talking about anything and everything that hindered us or troubled us. We would exchange memes and fun videos that had both of us rolling on the ground.
Shortly after, we had our first date. I didn’t think much about it until I realized that we both were so compatible to the point we didn’t realize the time, you had picked me up at 10am and we left each other at 9pm, we spent the entire day with each other, talking and laughing, listening to each other and gauging each other’s personality.
You were a golden retriever while I was your black cat, you were the sun to my moon, the light to my dark, you were my everything… I hoped at that moment, nothing took you away from me.
We started dating a week later, you confessed after we’ve spoken about our affection for each other, that night was a night I’d never forget, we had just gotten our dinner, you spilled some broth on your shirt and you complained and whined like a child, it made me giggle. I took us to get some coffee, we ended up ordering drinks that were too sweet for our liking, we were keeling over and giggling over the fact we couldn’t finish the drinks due to its sweetness.
The next day, we went on our first date as a couple. It was such a sweet moment, as we laughed and played all day, enjoyed each other’s company and finding our affection for each other slowly deepening.
Days went by, and we realized we were head over heels for each other, we didn’t want to leave each other, messing up pre-made plans to meet up prematurely, and having fun while we’re at it. It was such a moment where I felt alive, I felt happy, and I felt free. I felt nothing could harm us and what we had… until it did.
When you told me about your parents… I was hoping the judgement would change at the end of the day, I might not be someone that your parents wanted, but everyone around you saw how you glowed by speaking about me, or thinking about me, they commented saying you were smiling more, laughing more, you were brighter with the thought of me in your mind. It made me warm inside at the thought.
Shortly after, we shared our first kiss… It was awkward, but it was sweet, and a moment you and I will never forget, the two of us were red in the cheeks, laughing and giggling and basking in the feeling of finally having our first kiss. I was your first.
We got closer after that, I leaned more into you, and you leaned more into me, we were slowly becoming each other, with the habits that we both adapted from each other. We shared our first “I love you”s and it felt right.
That was 3 weeks ago, as suddenly you dropped the bomb that your family hadn’t agreed to our relationship, we knew our relationship was a ticking timebomb, but we didn’t expect it to explode in our face so fast, and on our first month together, right on the dot. I begged for you to keep us a secret, you gave in. I was happy, and for a moment I hoped you were happy too, that I fought for us… Until the next day, you told me your parents had lectured you, and you disappeared from my life.
D, I miss you… I want to back, I want you home in my arms, I want to kiss your forehead and look at you with all the love I have in my body, I want to call the name I have for you, I wanna card my fingers through your hair and I wanna cup your cheeks to kiss your sweet lips. If I had a chance, a single wish that could change our lives right now, I would wish for you to come back, for your parents to give us their blessing wholeheartedly.
I don’t have the guts to find someone else as you are my person, I will wait for you, and I will continue loving you for as long as I shall live. Maybe you’ll move on, but I won’t. I love you too much to let you go…

Yours Forever,
M

I'm going to be honest. I really didn't like Restoration. I could go on about what I didn't like, but suffice it to say, I liked it quite a bit less than the "Shisno Trilogy." So I wanted to think about what a perfect ending to Red vs Blue would have been for me. One of the reasons that Restoration failed in my eyes was because it was going for a story with a large scope and action when the team just didn't have the resources to make it work. So, I'm going to go for the exact opposite of that.
We begin right where Season 17 ended in Wash's hospital room. Carolina and Doc decide to stay with Wash to continue helping him get back on his feet, and the three give a temporary goodbye to the Reds and Blues as rest of the group leaves, not really having anything to do while they wait for Wash to get better. Soon after, Donut would leave as well, given his realization that he didn't really like any of the Reds or Blues anyway in the previous season.
As the Reds and Blues make their way back to Blood Gulch, they meet other people that they met along the way, and we learn about how them and the galaxy has been doing since we last checked up on them. Chorus has finally established a proper peace with the UNSC, Locus is finally a full-time good guy, etc.
Essentially, in this season, there's no real overarching plot or villain. There's not even any action scenes. It would just be dedicated to saying goodbye to each character individually and giving them a good conclusion. and one by one they leave the group, having found some kind of higher purpose or just move on with their life. Lopez probably goes with Donut, Tucker goes to go take care of his kid. Sarge realizes that none of the Reds are taking his shit anymore, and decides to become a drill instructor, and takes Caboose with him because he'd miss that rascal. Sister and Grif decide that they want to go home to make amends with their parents or something, but Grif tells her to go on ahead as he wants to at least see Blood Gulch one last time.
Eventually, once we arrive back in Blood Gulch, it's just Grif and Simmons left. The whole place is empty, as it has been for a very long time. They climb up to the top of Red Base one last time and ponder life's great mysteries.
Simmons: "Hey, you ever wonder why we're here?"
Grif: "What!? It was your idea to come all the way back here in the first place, dipshit!"
Simmons: "No, moron, I meant in the cosmic sense. Like, why we were born and all that shit."
Grif: "Fuck if I know! You missed your chance for philosophizing Eighteen Fucking Seasons ago, do not come to me with this shit now."
Simmons: "God, fine, fuck you, asshole."
There's a pause. Grif breaks the silence by sighing.
Grif: "Look. I don't fucking know why we're here, and I don't give a shit either. But... You know... I guess after all this, I'm kinda glad that I am."
Simmons: "What? Don't give me that, you never wanted to do ANYTHING."
Grif: "Yeah, yeah, save it. It's just like... one of those things that you didn't want to do, but once you do it, you realize just how much fun you were having the whole time. And how much you liked the people you were doing it with, even if you said you hated them all the time."
Simmons: "Grif..."
Grif: "So I guess what I'm saying is... thanks, Simmons. If I had to spend all of my existence in a box canyon with two identical bases at either end and a bunch of idiot soldiers, I'd probably hate it a little bit less if you were there, too."
Simmons: "You know what? Same, buddy."
Then they embrace, or kiss if that's what you'd prefer, and whatever the ending song for this season is begins to play
As the credits play, we see glimpses of how the Reds and Blues are doing since they departed. We see a short vignette for each of them. The final one shows that Wash is starting to do a bit better, and is getting married to Carolina, and they're sending out invitations to all of the Reds and Blues.
There's a post credits scene. We see everyone gather for Wash's wedding, but then an argument starts over something stupid, everybody starts yelling at each other, and then it ends.
...Anyway, that's how I'd do it.