Had me this lil white boy as my cellie. His paperwork said 18 but he was 15. He got turned out my first night. I never went hungry, always had clean drawers, never had to shave my nuts and got ass everyday.

Hey Sportsfans — it's time for Week 7 of baseball Power Rankings: These baseball numbers have been forwarded directly from Manfred's office. They are accurate and caanot be questioned.
Every voter has their own style / system and the only voting instructions are these:

"To an extent determined individually, you must take into account how strong a team is right now and likely to be going forward. You must, to some degree, give weight to the events and games of the previous week."

TRANSPARENCY: This link will show you who voted each team where and has added neat statistics!
Check out the Auxilliary Post for added statistics and fun!
If something is a little messed up, feel free to pester me let me know.
Total Votes: 30 of 30. Another Perfect Vote!.

#		Team	Δ	Comment	Record
1		Dodgers	0	The Dodgers started off a mediocre road trip by sweeping the Marlins in dominant fashion, followed by a sleepy series against the padres. My early season prediction of the Dodgers's infield defense being the biggest issue was completely wrong. Mookie looks natural at short, and Muncy has been playing pretty darn well at 3rd. We will be using our prayers this week to pray that Shohei is going to be okay	27-15
2		Phillies	+1	It's tough to end the week on a walkoff loss to the Marlins and feel good, but it's hard to complain about a 4-2 stretch. Nick Castellanos might finally not be the worst hitter in baseball after he says he started treating hitting like glorified batting practice again. Ranger Suarez has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball, pitching to a 1.5 ERA and an astounding 0.72 WHIP with team wins in each of his starts. Somehow this performance isn't even all that surprising for a guy with a 4.18 ERA last year. He was this dominant in a half season between the bullpen and rotation in 2021 and has a career 1.62 ERA in 7 postseason starts and 2 relief appearances. This week: another weird scheduling quirk as they play a 4 game set against the Mets with the first two at Citi Field and the next two in Philly before the Nats come to town for a 3 game series.	28-13
3		Orioles	-1	I was hoping the Orioles would go 5-1 this week but they went 4-2. Still nothing to be super upset about. I think the main concerns right now are Mullins is hitting under .200 and Santander still not hitting the way he can. Yesterdays game was just not great so hopefully it was just a one-off and can be flushed and they move on. Blue Jays and Mariners are in town this week so it doesn't get any easier.	26-13
4		Yankees	0	Our pitching is so good right now. Anyone in the rotation could pull a Glasnow and write their number on a ball for a cute girl, and she’d call. Doesn’t even have to have their name. She doesn’t care if its’s Nestor Cortes or Clarke Schmidt. Yankees starter? She’s calling, and she’s shaving her legs beforehand. If we signed Pete Davidson for some spot starts there'd be a second baby boom. By the way, my nickname for Clarke Schmidt used to be Farte Schidt. He has very much made me eat my aforementioned schidt this year, and officially has the second-best starter ERA behind Luis Gil, as we all predicted. In other news, Judge and Stanton both have their pop at once, Soto is doing what Soto does, and Verdugo is playing sneaky good right now. We also officially took the season series against Houston 6-1, which feels GREAT. If only they were a playoff team so we could finally bounce them this year. Oh well. A Yankees-A’s ALCS it is.	27-15
5		Braves	0	The walk off loss hurts, but can't be too upset with a 4-1 bounce back week! Big time perfromance from our SP. Giving up only 4 ERs in 23.2 IP (1.52 ERA) in these 5 games. Our bats are not what we have come to expect, but that can't last much longer. Signs of life from Acuña and Olson and continued performance by Ozuna. If by the end of May we don't see massive improvement to our offensive numbers, I will be surprised. Until then, buckle up because the offense is coming.	24-13
6		Twins	+3	Another great week, Sausage be praised! We took series from the Blue Jays and Mariners with both blowouts and well-pitched close games. I think it's safe to say that the team has found its groove, and this is how the Twins can be expected to perform moving forward. The only blip has been that the bullpen is having a slight slump, but that will even out shortly.	24-16
7		Brewers	0	Paul Who? The only starting pitcher debut I care about is BOBBY GAS who threw 6 innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball in a win against the Cardinals. He fills a much needed spot in the Brewers rotation, and likely would have been up sooner if not for an injury of his own. Rhys Hoskins also had a monster week, racking up 3 HR and 9 RBI in hist last 5 games. I had my doubts this young lineup and shaky rotation actually could be a contending ballclub over 162 games, but I'm not going to argue with the results.	24-16
8		Guardians	-2	Another bad week. The Guardians had rough series against the Tigers and the mighty World Champion favorite White Sox. This coming week, we play the reigning World Series champs and the hottest team in our division. I'm not worried. Not at all.	25-16
9		Cubs	-1	The Cubs went 3-3 this week in what felt like a complete microcosm of their season. While they did get Justin Steele, Cody Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki back from injury, they lost Dansby Swanson and Yency Almonte, who had been a rare reliable bullpen arm. Christopher Morel also had a scare after tweaking his knee sliding into sexond, but fortunately is alright. Otherwise, the offense remained inconsistent, the starting pitching was outstanding, and the bullpen was abysmal at worst and heart-stopping at best. While he didn't continue his usual dominance against them, Ian Happ extended his streak of 62 consecutive games reaching base vs the Pirates. This week, the Cubs travel to Atlanta to take on the Braves before hosting the Pirates for 4 games.	24-17
10		Royals	+2	The Royals have a chance to be in first place by themselves this late in the season for the first time since 2016. It feels like a lifetime ago. Yes, it is just seven weeks into the season but hopes are usually gone by this point. Maybe this year can be different.	25-17
11		Mariners	0	Apologies for any typos, doing this from mobile is miserable. Not the best week, but given the pitching hiccups I can't complain too much. Woo is back (and hopefully staying back, him getting pulled was a bit of a scare.) The next few series are another gauntlet, and if the M's can make it through playing relatively well they'll be in a good positon to take advantage of their schedule for the end of the month and early June. Up next: 3 vs. Roy L's, 3 @ Oreo L's	22-19
12		Padres	+2	The San Diego Madres beat LA on both día de las Madres (friday) as well as Mother’s Day, wherein both we got great pitching performances from King and Darvish respectively. Arraez capped off the walk-off win on friday, and it was nice to see Bogaerts get one deep on Sunday. So far in ‘24 the Padres haven’t lost a series to the Dodgers, whether in LA, San Diego, or South Korea. It’s a bit cathartic, though I do wish there was less blue in the stands this weekend though. Really interested to see how they come out against the rocks, as SD was only able to split the 4-game series earlier in the season. This one lines up between the series’s vs LA and ATL, it could be a bit of a trap, hoping the Pads continue their series winning streak (which is now at 4) and just take care of business.	22-21
13		Rangers	-3	The baseball gods are unforgiving. Sacrfices have to be made and will continue to be made to the baseball gods. Oh dear baseball gods please forgive our hubris for thinking the baseball suffering was over. It was not but also, flags fly forever.	22-20
14		Red Sox	-1	The Sox have not been having a good May. Losing Casas has been brutal, and the expected bump in performance from Vaughn Grissom at 2nd hasn't happened (well, at least not yet). As a team we have a decent looking triple slash, but situationally they've been horrible. In high leverage PAs, the Sox are hitting .195/.264/.272 in 247 PAs. We have loads of talent, but there's always some issue whether it be defense or clutch hitting that holds us back from being truly competitive.	21-19
15		Tigers	0	The City Connects... phew phew phew. Looks like we got tire tracks laid on us after a truck ran us over. No thanks. I hate it... and that's not even mentioning the dumb hat. In terms of actual baseball, though, Tarik Skubal is still Skuballing. This week: 3 vs. MIA, 3 at ARI.	20-20
16		Rays	0	It was a .500 week for the Rays, and the good news is things are looking better, but only like maybe? Randy and Yandy seem to be coming back a bit; glancing at the lineup's batting avg in the game threads isn't painful anymore. Ben Rortvedt is over .300 in the catcher position which is unheard of for this team. The bad news is pitching is only bouncing back from abysmal to below average. A week against division opponents on the road will test if that improvement is here to stay or if it was just a new uniform bounce.	20-21
17		D-Backs	+3	The Diamondbacks have been winning more games of late but are still underperforming their Pythagorean record and are 3 games below .500 despite a +17 run differential. Reinforcements should be coming back from injury soon which should help.	19-22
18		Mets	-1	I prewrote a big and extremely negative blurb about the Mets getting swept by the Braves. That did not happen, Brandon Nimmo hit a walk off homer on Sunday Night Baseball immediately as I was about to close my computer. Never been so glad to be wrong. Bring on the Phillies and Marlins.	19-20
19		Nationals	0	Two large accomplishments for the Nats in the last week - 1) For the first time since 2021, the Nats climbed over .500 with an opening win over the Orioles in a 2-game series. 2) Patrick Corbin recorded a win this week vs the Red Sox (his first since 9/11/23 vs the Pirates). The Nationals quickly slid back under .500 losing the 2nd game vs the Orioles and then 2 of 3 against the Red Sox. James Wood is hitting everything in AAA (over 1.000 OPS) so there are lots of calls for HRCHU.	19-20
20		Blue Jays	+1	Very up and down week for the Cyrulean Winged Creatures of Ontario. A 1-1 split with Philly and a 1-2 tilt vs Minnesota extended a too-long stretch of not winning series. Turns out, the combination of bad offense and a bad bullpen is bad. But there have been some glimpses of hope, at least. Alek Manoah threw a gem on Sunday, giving up 0 ER and 1 BB over 7 IP with 6 Ks. Also, Vladdy is hot as shit right now; since the last week of March, he's been hitting over .400 with a nearly 1.000 OPS. Still, the Jays in general continue to underperform and hover just below .500. Mid-May is not the time to freak out and this team is in too deep to consider a full tear-down even in a lost year, but things will be getting worrisome if they can't pull out of this middling stretch that has defined the first quarter of the season.	18-22
21		Giants	+4	Believe it or not, the Giants had a winning week. They continue their flirtation with being a decent team. However, we would like the world to know about several issues	19-23
22		Athletics	0	Happy Mother's Day, say hi or I'll drop by. Rough week, our bullpen had some awful games esp w/ Kotsay's choices. Will possibly fall below the Astros this week as we play them along with the Royals, and unlike last year I don't think we're a better team than KC. Toro and Harris have been playing well with Soderstrom getting some reps in (A+ defense from them), but Gelof will likely return and change something there.	19-23
23		Reds	-5	What is the meaning of suffering? This question has stumped philosophers throughout the ages, but nobody has come up with an answer. On the opposite side of this, we have also been in search of evidence of the divine, and we’ve searched for it in things like the miracle of our world. But again, we haven’t found anything. What if we’re looking in the wrong place? What if suffering is the greatest proof of a divine presence? Suffering is an art. Perhaps the greatest art ever devised. Devised by who or what though? Some greater power looming over us all? Some great cosmic being who looks upon us the same way as we do ants? Some primordial consciousness created trillions of years ago in the Big Bang that’s been merely existing all this time and only gets enjoyment out of the suffering of others? How do we figure this out? Who do we ask? I have a suggestion, we can ask baseball fans. We are connoisseurs of suffering. Ask an A’s fan about the meaning of suffering and you’ll get your answer just by looking into their eyes. Ask a Rockies fan, or a White Sox fan, or even a long dead Expos fan. It’s weeks like this that make me ask why do people even like baseball. Why do I even like baseball? Well, I remember my grandfather, since I live in the midwest we always called him Papaw, and he was the biggest baseball nut I know. He got me into baseball at a young age, and I remember one day asking why he loved it so much. When I say he was a baseball nut, I mean he was a season ticket holder, bought all the merchandise, had books about baseball and biographies written by baseball players, he had all of it. He could tell you everything about the sport with ease. So I asked him why did he love baseball so much because at that time I found it boring, and you know I still to this day remember his response. He told me baseball is 3 hours of nothing happening, but when something did happen, it was the most beautiful sport god ever created. I loved that man. Anyway this is all a long way to say the Reds suck ass right now.	17-23
24		Astros	0	Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, especially yours. I'll visit her later, don't worry. The Astros continue to take 1 step forward and 3 steps back. Kyle Tucker is the man and we should extend him immediately. Our pitching is still mostly trash and no one deserves an extension.	15-25
25		Pirates	-2	Paul Skenes made his highly-anticipated debut on Saturday, and it was one of two games the Pirates won last week. And they only won that game after first blowing a 6-1 lead thanks to 6 (SIX!) walks with the bases loaded. At one point. Kyle Nicolas threw 12 straight balls with the bases loaded. The bullpen was so depleted that Nicolas had to pitch the next day after Aroldis Chapman gave up 2 runs and 2 walks in the 10th inning, only for Nicolas to give up another run on a wild pitch. The Pirates then hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning and lost 5-4. So yeah, that's how things are going in Pittsburgh right now.	18-23
26		Cardinals	0	Bro, I'm straight up not having a good time.	16-24
27		Angels	0	Hot and then cold and then hot again, Jo Adell hit three homers this past week. With a wRC+ on the season now standing at 134 and a wOBA of .363, the next step for him is now maintaining a level of consistency. With a bottom-ranking farm system, his future may not ultimately be in Anaheim. The looming rebuild is going to be a long and slow process and at the age of 25, it is hard to see much point in keeping him if someone else starts looking his way.	15-26
28		Rockies	+2	We have the longest winning streak in baseball. We just swept the defending champs. I'm pretty sure that means Rocktober is coming. In all seriousness, the Rockies finally gelled for the first time this season. The Rangers didn't play poorly, the Rockies just played well. The concern now is what kind of "Coors Hangover" we'll see.	12-28
29		White Sox	0	The White Sox had a shockingly good week while clinching the season series against the Rays and winning 3 of 4 from the Guardians over the weekend. They have been playing objectively better baseball lately (which means that their 72 wRC+ season stat was at 84 last week, and their pitching has been middle of the league since the start of May). It's not much, but it's something. Myself, I'm excited to attend my first ball game of the year tonight. Of course, I'll be going to the Schaumburg Boomers home opener.	12-29
30		Marlins	-2	So the fish still cant produce runs but at least we got burger back. Luzardo looks much better in his return to the bigs but oof braxton garrett. Somehow miami managed to squeeze out a win this week against two top teams but well see how they do against the tigers and mets this upcoming season.	11-31

This story was written and emailed to me by an anonymous source. And it’s one of the craziest most bizarre stories I’ve ever read. Ever! 😆 Enjoy the read. It’s long and ridiculously wild. ☘️
Okay so…
I went on vacation to Ireland with my brother last year. And had the most wildest experience of my life there.
Or should I say, we both had the most…wildest experience.
But More so me. And to Tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again after what happened.
As a matter of fact, no, I won’t go back.
So, it’s a Sunday night and it was pretty much our last day of vacationing.
My older brother Shane, wanted to go out… And I’m quoting him - “let’s get fuckin wasted tonight!”
So… We’re on vacation right? Why not? We had rented an Airbnb for the week, we had a rental car - we had a great week so far and we were having…
A proper vacation.
He was already dressed up and ready to go. I wanted to take a quick shower and shave so I told him to head out and I’d call him when I was ready for him to pick me up.
He says cool. He leaves, and I jump in the shower. He’s the one that knows the hot spots in Ireland better than I do. I mean, this was my first time ever coming here. So…
I take a shower, shave, and I get dressed. As I’m about to call my brother, the front door to our Airbnb opens up.
And Its my brother with two bad ass Irish women! They both jump on the couch and they’re laughing their asses off and my brother is just standing there looking at me with a sly grin on his face.
He looks over at the ladies and says - “Give me a minute please” walks over to me, puts his arm over my shoulder and walks me to the bathroom. He then whips out a bag of mushrooms and smiles. Ya know… The psychedelic kind.
I look down at the bag and I shake my head.
He says to me - “come on bro. We got two hotties out there who are trippin and they want to party. Don’t be a flake. This is our last night. Let’s make it special.”
I don’t like disappointing my brother but I was kind of hesitant.
I opened the bathroom door and take a look at these gorgeous women who were both sitting upright now and both looking at me as I opened the door. Both smiling. I smiled back. Closed the door… I looked at my brother and said - “Alright dood fuck it! Let’s do it!”
He gives me a huge hug, kisses me on the forehead, pours me a handful of shrooms and does the same for himself.
We both looked at each other to see who would go first. He counted to three and down the hatch they went. But they were the most unpleasant tasting mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in my life. They were disgusting.
I ran to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of juice because I was having a hard time chewing these nasty things.
But my brother Shane? No, he’s a pro. You give that guy a barrel of hay and he’ll eat it faster than a horse. The guy can eat anything.
40 minutes go by and I’m still straight as a pin. However, my brother on the other hand? He’s already trippin.
I think he had already taken some beforehand.
But in the next 10 minutes… These shrooms hit me like a ton of bricks! It was like this intense wave of cool and hot went completely through my body.
And I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times but have never felt anything like this before. It was so sudden!
And I feel fantastic!
The next hour went by so fast because we were having so much fun! And these Irish girls? Man… I had the sexiest one! A beautiful Redhead by the name of Katrina.
She was kind of short though. About 5’1” maybe? But good things come in small packages, right? Well, not really. And you’ll know why soon enough.
I don’t recall anything else that happened for the rest of the night after my brother left with the other girl. And before I continue with the rest of the story. My brother’s name is really not Shane. And the redhead girl I was with is not named Katrina.
You see I had to make up these names to protect me and my brother. Because what happened during the rest of the night? I don’t remember. But also, I’ll never forget either.
Okay so, let's get back to the story…
I do remember my brother leaving with… Let's just call her Gloria, Katrina’s friend? And me and Katrina, the redhead, stood behind. I do remember us making out in the bathroom together, but…Everything else after that? There’s nothing there. Nothing. I don’t recall anything from that point forward no matter how badly I try to remember.
This is what my brother told me he witnessed as he arrived back at the Airbnb five hours later with Gloria.
And until this day, I still don’t want to believe this happened. But according to my brother…
It truly did happen.
My brother is going to write this part of the story because he’s the one that has this locked in his memory for life. And for the sake of the story, my name will be Alex.
Here is my brother Shane’s point of view - his perspective on what he witnessed that crazy night. Wow man… This is so fucking nuts. So buckle up and be prepared. I understand you don’t know who I am, but I swear, I’m not a bad person. Okay.

• “Shane’s” story on what he witnessed.

Yeah so, I guess I’m Shane now. Unreal…
Okay. Here we go. Meat and potatoes.
We arrive back at the Airbnb and I see Alex outside in the front of the house wearing only socks and he’s running around on top of the grass like an animal yanking out handfuls of grass from underneath him.
I look at Gloria and we’re both baffled at what we just saw.
First thing I said was - “Oh yeah! This dood is off his rocker right about now - as I parked the car.
We both hop out of the car and walk up to the front door. I slide the key into the door, it unlocks, but there’s a chair behind the door and it’s tipped over blocking the entry way and only leaving enough space for a crack. We both awkwardly look at one another and as I’m about to call out for my brother, I hear someone sprinting towards the door and bang!
The fuckin idiot shuts the door on us.
I then knock on the door softly because It’s almost 1 in the morning as I don’t want to make too much noise. God only knows what this kid has been doing since me and Gloria left.
After I knock on the door a few times, I hear the chair getting pushed to the side and my brother slightly opens the door. I take a peek inside, and his nose is broken, lips are bubbled up and his left eye is completely shut, black and blue and swollen.
He then drops to his knees, and begins crying but no sound is coming out of him! You know… Like when you get smacked by your parents when you’re a kid and it shocks the soul of you? Yeah, that kind of cry.
I don’t react to what he’s doing to not scare the shit out of Gloria, because she’s right beside me. So I push the door open and tell Gloria to hang on a second and shut the door and lock it.
I pick his busted ass up and sit him on the couch. I look around the house and it’s in complete shambles. Our clothes are everywhere, there’s food all over the fuckin walls. It was chaotic. And my brother is now sitting up breathing frantically.
I ask him - “what in the fuck happened?”
He looks at me. Face looking like he got into a boxing match with Rocky Marciano and whispers to me.
“Dood… There’s a leprechaun in the bathroom.”
“A fuckin what now?” - I said with the most bewildered look on my face. I mean I must have… I wish I would have taken a picture of my face at that very moment. I should have taken pictures of everything so this idiot could see the havoc he wreaked on that night.
My imbecile brother continues - “I’m telling you. There’s a fuckin leprechaun in the fuckin bathroom and this little lucky charms motherfucker won’t tell me where he hid the gold!”
“A leprechaun in the bathroom. What the fuck happened to you?” I said as I felt my blood beginning to boil.
The Imbecile then says - “Don’t worry. Don’t worry! I hogtied that little bitch and stuffed my underwear in its mouth. It’s in the bathtub. But don’t go in there. Don’t go in there. This thing fucked me up!”
And now I can hear someone fumbling in the bathroom moaning very softly. I looked at my brother and said - “What in the fuck did you do Alex?”
He replies - “I’m telling you. It’s a fucking leprechaun.”
“Okay. Okay.” - I said. “Stay right here and just, don’t move. Don’t do anything. Just keep still.
His eyes were so huge and dilated. He was so fuckin high. He had heartbeat pulses pumping from the top of his head.
I rushed back over to the front door and told Gloria that my brother got into a fight with a couple of guys at a pub while me and her were out and that her friend Katrina left because she got scared. She told me that was the first time she met that girl tonight so she really didn’t care and shrugged it off. Which was a huge relief to me. I told her thank you for a wonderful night. She understood. W said our goodbyes. I shut the door. And now… What the fuck is in the bathroom? Or better yet, who, is in the bathroom? Because let’s face it. This motherfucker did not find and fight with a leprechaun tonight. No way. There’s just no fuckin way.
I rush over to the bathroom and my brother leaps at my legs, and he’s holding onto me for dear life, begging me!
He says - “Please don’t untie it! It’s got magical powers! PLEASE!!!
Now, at this very moment? I am sort of hesitant about opening the bathroom door. But I snap out of it and open it. What the fuck. A leprechaun? No, I don’t think so.
I open the door…
“Holy shit.” - I said while covering my hands with my mouth. The floor was smeared in blood as if someone was dragged, leading to the huge cast iron tub. Smeared bloody handprints were all over the tub. And now I hear the faint moan coming from the tub. My legs are shaking and feel like they’re ready to give out on me. I was scared shitless.
“What did my brother do? Who is in that bathtub? I pray to God Katrina isn’t in there right now.” - I said to myself completely freaked out.
I slowly walk up to the bathtub…
And sure enough, there is a hogtied person lying in it with my brother's underwear stuffed in their mouth with a ripped t-shirt tied around their head and mouth, but… It’s not Katrina.
It’s a little person. You know, a dwarf? And… He’s literally dressed up in a leprechaun costume…
And how, on God's green earth did he end up here?
He has no idea I’m standing above him. I reach down to begin untying him but he begins squirming and screaming. I told him to relax and that I was here to help him.
And then My imbecile brother Alex, rushes into the bathroom and tackles me down. Stands up and begins shouting at this poor bastard hogtied in the tub - “Tell me where it is you greedy little fuck! Tell me!!!
I jumped to my feet and slapped my brother back to his childhood. Grabbed him by the throat, tripped him and threw him to the ground and said - “are you fuckin crazy? Do you want to go to prison for kidnapping? What in the fuck is the matter with you? You dumb fuck!!”
He then looks up at me with this pessimistic look on his face and says - “It’s a fucking leprechaun dood. A leprechaun.”
I was absolutely dumbfounded and furious at this point. I have this stranger in my Airbnb rental, hogtied and gagged and squirming and screaming and my brother thinks that he’s a leprechaun…
I can’t make this shit up.
He was so fucking high on those mushrooms. He was absolutely convinced that this man was a leprechaun. So… I had to play the game.
It was the only way to help this poor son of a bitch that my brother had kidnapped and hogtied in our Airbnb rental.
I calmly whispered and told him to please leave the bathroom so I could interrogate the leprechaun and find out where he was hiding the pot of gold.
My brother slowly stood up to his feet, face busted up, his cock and balls all shriveled and tight, looked at the man dressed up as a leprechaun, smiled at him with an evil grin and just, walked away…
And as he walked away, I told him to go and please put some clothes on, lay down in bed, and that I would handle the leprechaun. That I, would find out where the gold was hidden…
And that’s all I’m saying. I’m giving the computer back to my dumbass of a brother to finish off whatever else he wants to write.

• Back to “Alex”

Pretty outlandish right? I know. I know. You must think that I’m bat shit crazy huh? Okay so, to make the rest of this long story short, my brother Shane never told me what he did with the poor guy I hogtied and, well… i don’t remember how this guy came to be in my possession. I really don’t.
The only thing my brother Shane told me was that he ungagged him, untied him, and that he was extremely pissed off. And that he had compensated him for his troubles.
Man, I felt so horrible. I felt so horrible…
What I do remember though is waking up that following afternoon with my face all fucked up. Dehydrated with a tremendous splitting headache. I had no clue as to why I looked and felt the way I did. It was terrifying.
All of our luggage was packed and my brother was just sitting there, legs crossed and his arms folded.
Hey man… Take it from me. Don’t do fuckin drugs.
Regards, “Alex” & “Shane”
Disclaimer- This story may not be used for anything other than reading, sharing your thoughts and enjoying it. Thank you. ☘️

This story was written and emailed to me by an anonymous source. And it’s one of the craziest stories I’ve ever read in my life. Enjoy the read. It’s wild. ☘️
Story by - Anonymous
Okay so…
I went on vacation to Ireland with my brother last year. And had the most wildest experience of my life there.
Or should I say, we both had the most…wildest experience.
But More so me. And to Tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again after what happened.
As a matter of fact, no, I won’t go back.
So, it’s a Sunday night and it was pretty much our last day of vacationing.
My older brother Shane, wanted to go out… And I’m quoting him - “let’s get fuckin wasted tonight!”
So… We’re on vacation right? Why not? We had rented an Airbnb for the week, we had a rental car - we had a great week so far and we were having…
A proper vacation.
He was already dressed up and ready to go. I wanted to take a quick shower and shave so I told him to head out and I’d call him when I was ready for him to pick me up.
He says cool. He leaves, and I jump in the shower. He’s the one that knows the hot spots in Ireland better than I do. I mean, this was my first time ever coming here. So…
I take a shower, shave, and I get dressed. As I’m about to call my brother, the front door to our Airbnb opens up.
And Its my brother with two bad ass Irish women! They both jump on the couch and they’re laughing their asses off and my brother is just standing there looking at me with a sly grin on his face.
He looks over at the ladies and says - “Give me a minute please” walks over to me, puts his arm over my shoulder and walks me to the bathroom. He then whips out a bag of mushrooms and smiles. Ya know… The psychedelic kind.
I look down at the bag and I shake my head.
He says to me - “come on bro. We got two hotties out there who are trippin and they want to party. Don’t be a flake. This is our last night. Let’s make it special.”
I don’t like disappointing my brother but I was kind of hesitant.
I opened the bathroom door and take a look at these gorgeous women who were both sitting upright now and both looking at me as I opened the door. Both smiling. I smiled back. Closed the door… I looked at my brother and said - “Alright dood fuck it! Let’s do it!”
He gives me a huge hug, kisses me on the forehead, pours me a handful of shrooms and does the same for himself.
We both looked at each other to see who would go first. He counted to three and down the hatch they went. But they were the most unpleasant tasting mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in my life. They were disgusting.
I ran to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of juice because I was having a hard time chewing these nasty things.
But my brother Shane? No, he’s a pro. You give that guy a barrel of hay and he’ll eat it faster than a horse. The guy can eat anything.
40 minutes go by and I’m still straight as a pin. However, my brother on the other hand? He’s already trippin.
I think he had already taken some beforehand.
But in the next 10 minutes… These shrooms hit me like a ton of bricks! It was like this intense wave of cool and hot went completely through my body.
And I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times but have never felt anything like this before. It was so sudden!
And I feel fantastic!
The next hour went by so fast because we were having so much fun! And these Irish girls? Man… I had the sexiest one! A beautiful Redhead by the name of Katrina.
She was kind of short though. About 5’1” maybe? But good things come in small packages, right? Well, not really. And you’ll know why soon enough.
I don’t recall anything else that happened for the rest of the night after my brother left with the other girl. And before I continue with the rest of the story. My brother’s name is really not Shane. And the redhead girl I was with is not named Katrina.
You see I had to make up these names to protect me and my brother. Because what happened during the rest of the night? I don’t remember. But also, I’ll never forget either.
Okay so, let's get back to the story…
I do remember my brother leaving with… Let's just call her Gloria, Katrina’s friend? And me and Katrina, the redhead, stood behind. I do remember us making out in the bathroom together, but…Everything else after that? There’s nothing there. Nothing. I don’t recall anything from that point forward no matter how badly I try to remember.
This is what my brother told me he witnessed as he arrived back at the Airbnb five hours later with Gloria.
And until this day, I still don’t want to believe this happened. But according to my brother…
It truly did happen.
My brother is going to write this part of the story because he’s the one that has this locked in his memory for life. And for the sake of the story, my name will be Alex.
Here is my brother Shane’s point of view - his perspective on what he witnessed that crazy night. Wow man… This is so fucking nuts. So buckle up and be prepared. I understand you don’t know who I am, but I swear, I’m not a bad person. Okay.

• “Shane’s” story on what he witnessed.

Yeah so, I guess I’m Shane now. Unreal…
Okay. Here we go. Meat and potatoes.
We arrive back at the Airbnb and I see Alex outside in the front of the house wearing only socks and he’s running around on top of the grass like an animal yanking out handfuls of grass from underneath him.
I look at Gloria and we’re both baffled at what we just saw.
First thing I said was - “Oh yeah! This dood is off his rocker right about now - as I parked the car.
We both hop out of the car and walk up to the front door. I slide the key into the door, it unlocks, but there’s a chair behind the door and it’s tipped over blocking the entry way and only leaving enough space for a crack. We both awkwardly look at one another and as I’m about to call out for my brother, I hear someone sprinting towards the door and bang!
The fuckin idiot shuts the door on us.
I then knock on the door softly because It’s almost 1 in the morning as I don’t want to make too much noise. God only knows what this kid has been doing since me and Gloria left.
After I knock on the door a few times, I hear the chair getting pushed to the side and my brother slightly opens the door. I take a peek inside, and his nose is broken, lips are bubbled up and his left eye is completely shut, black and blue and swollen.
He then drops to his knees, and begins crying but no sound is coming out of him! You know… Like when you get smacked by your parents when you’re a kid and it shocks the soul of you? Yeah, that kind of cry.
I don’t react to what he’s doing to not scare the shit out of Gloria, because she’s right beside me. So I push the door open and tell Gloria to hang on a second and shut the door and lock it.
I pick his busted ass up and sit him on the couch. I look around the house and it’s in complete shambles. Our clothes are everywhere, there’s food all over the fuckin walls. It was chaotic. And my brother is now sitting up breathing frantically.
I ask him - “what in the fuck happened?”
He looks at me. Face looking like he got into a boxing match with Rocky Marciano and whispers to me.
“Dood… There’s a leprechaun in the bathroom.”
“A fuckin what now?” - I said with the most bewildered look on my face. I mean I must have… I wish I would have taken a picture of my face at that very moment. I should have taken pictures of everything so this idiot could see the havoc he wreaked on that night.
My imbecile brother continues - “I’m telling you. There’s a fuckin leprechaun in the fuckin bathroom and this little lucky charms motherfucker won’t tell me where he hid the gold!”
“A leprechaun in the bathroom. What the fuck happened to you?” I said as I felt my blood beginning to boil.
The Imbecile then says - “Don’t worry. Don’t worry! I hogtied that little bitch and stuffed my underwear in its mouth. It’s in the bathtub. But don’t go in there. Don’t go in there. This thing fucked me up!”
And now I can hear someone fumbling in the bathroom moaning very softly. I looked at my brother and said - “What in the fuck did you do Alex?”
He replies - “I’m telling you. It’s a fucking leprechaun.”
“Okay. Okay.” - I said. “Stay right here and just, don’t move. Don’t do anything. Just keep still.
His eyes were so huge and dilated. He was so fuckin high. He had heartbeat pulses pumping from the top of his head.
I rushed back over to the front door and told Gloria that my brother got into a fight with a couple of guys at a pub while me and her were out and that her friend Katrina left because she got scared. She told me that was the first time she met that girl tonight so she really didn’t care and shrugged it off. Which was a huge relief to me. I told her thank you for a wonderful night. She understood. W said our goodbyes. I shut the door. And now… What the fuck is in the bathroom? Or better yet, who, is in the bathroom? Because let’s face it. This motherfucker did not find and fight with a leprechaun tonight. No way. There’s just no fuckin way.
I rush over to the bathroom and my brother leaps at my legs, and he’s holding onto me for dear life, begging me!
He says - “Please don’t untie it! It’s got magical powers! PLEASE!!!
Now, at this very moment? I am sort of hesitant about opening the bathroom door. But I snap out of it and open it. What the fuck. A leprechaun? No, I don’t think so.
I open the door…
“Holy shit.” - I said while covering my hands with my mouth. The floor was smeared in blood as if someone was dragged, leading to the huge cast iron tub. Smeared bloody handprints were all over the tub. And now I hear the faint moan coming from the tub. My legs are shaking and feel like they’re ready to give out on me. I was scared shitless.
“What did my brother do? Who is in that bathtub? I pray to God Katrina isn’t in there right now.” - I said to myself completely freaked out.
I slowly walk up to the bathtub…
And sure enough, there is a hogtied person lying in it with my brother's underwear stuffed in their mouth with a ripped t-shirt tied around their head and mouth, but… It’s not Katrina.
It’s a little person. You know, a dwarf? And… He’s literally dressed up in a leprechaun costume…
And how, on God's green earth did he end up here?
He has no idea I’m standing above him. I reach down to begin untying him but he begins squirming and screaming. I told him to relax and that I was here to help him.
And then My imbecile brother Alex, rushes into the bathroom and tackles me down. Stands up and begins shouting at this poor bastard hogtied in the tub - “Tell me where it is you greedy little fuck! Tell me!!!
I jumped to my feet and slapped my brother back to his childhood. Grabbed him by the throat, tripped him and threw him to the ground and said - “are you fuckin crazy? Do you want to go to prison for kidnapping? What in the fuck is the matter with you? You dumb fuck!!”
He then looks up at me with this pessimistic look on his face and says - “It’s a fucking leprechaun dood. A leprechaun.”
I was absolutely dumbfounded and furious at this point. I have this stranger in my Airbnb rental, hogtied and gagged and squirming and screaming and my brother thinks that he’s a leprechaun…
I can’t make this shit up.
He was so fucking high on those mushrooms. He was absolutely convinced that this man was a leprechaun. So… I had to play the game.
It was the only way to help this poor son of a bitch that my brother had kidnapped and hogtied in our Airbnb rental.
I calmly whispered and told him to please leave the bathroom so I could interrogate the leprechaun and find out where he was hiding the pot of gold.
My brother slowly stood up to his feet, face busted up, his cock and balls all shriveled and tight, looked at the man dressed up as a leprechaun, smiled at him with an evil grin and just, walked away…
And as he walked away, I told him to go and please put some clothes on, lay down in bed, and that I would handle the leprechaun. That I, would find out where the gold was hidden…
And that’s all I’m saying. I’m giving the computer back to my dumbass of a brother to finish off whatever else he wants to write.

• Back to “Alex”

Pretty outlandish right? I know. I know. You must think that I’m bat shit crazy huh? Okay so, to make the rest of this long story short, my brother Shane never told me what he did with the poor guy I hogtied and, well… i don’t remember how this guy came to be in my possession. I really don’t.
The only thing my brother Shane told me was that he ungagged him, untied him, and that he was extremely pissed off. And that he had compensated him for his troubles.
Man, I felt so horrible. I felt so horrible…
What I do remember though is waking up that following afternoon with my face all fucked up. Dehydrated with a tremendous splitting headache. I had no clue as to why I looked and felt the way I did. It was terrifying.
All of our luggage was packed and my brother was just sitting there, legs crossed and his arms folded.
Hey man… Take it from me. Don’t do fuckin drugs.
Regards, “Alex”

creepypasta #truescarystories #crazy #leprechaun #truestories

Disclaimer- This story may not be used without consent of its original author.

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Old-Scool Diet 2.O
"A comprehensive article on bodybuilding diet minutiae - and SO MUCH MORE
What follows is my version of an old school (mid-80s to early 90s) bodybuilding fat-loss diet/regimen, with an updated (2020's) dietary supplementation plan. This type of diet was very popular when I was a child and produced results for many who used it. I was reminded of such diets by bodybuilding writers such as John Romano, who wrote about the basic bodybuilding diet in an issue of Muscular Development sometime around 2008.
Although renowned for its simplicity, it can become somewhat monotonous. The key tenets of this type of fat loss diet are 1) being in a slightly negative caloric balance, 2) using a simplified shopping list of 15 or fewer items, and 3) taking in large amounts of protein, a moderately large amount of carbohydrates, and a small/modest amount of dietary fat.
You will consume 3-4 "whole-food" meals per day along with 1-3 protein shakes (more on workout days and less on off days). You should drink at least 1 gallon worth of calorie-free liquids per day.... the closer you get to 1.5 gal and even 2 gal (if you're really big) the better.
The Shopping List
So, you're at the grocery store and you're in and out within 10 minutes. You don't care about the weekly sales (unless they involve one of your "weekly 15" items). Thus, grocery shopping becomes a snap.
As for the items themselves, a basic "old school" bodybuilding diet would likely contain:

1. Eggs
2. Milk (skim or 2% or UF/CFM)
3. Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless)
4. Tuna chunk light, canned
5. Cottage Cheese (2-4%) & red-fat cheese
6. Lean Gr Beef or Sirloin, NY strip, etc Steak
7. Rice
8. Oatmeal
9. Whole wheat (or white) Bread
10. Apples
11. Oranges
12. Pasta
13. Frozen Berries
14. Bananas
15. Broccoli

Of course, you can rotate in other vegetables such as corn on the cob, salad greens, and lettuces (with light balsamic or low-carb vinaigrette dressing if a salad) etc etc.
Eating a variety of wholesome foods that are (by and large) as unprocessed (aside from rice and oatmeal which must be processed as well as some dairy items) as possible typically means you'll be getting a wide spectrum of nutrients, including both macro and micronutrients. A daily multivitamin/mineral tablet can ensure you're filling any gaps in micronutrient needs (vitamins and minerals). As for macronutrients, this diet provides the bulk of its calories as protein and carbohydrate with only about 10% of the daily calorie allotment being reserved for fats.
What is the logic behind the macronutrient breakdown?
You'll be eating about 45-50 percent of your calories as carbohydrates and 40-45 percent as protein with only 10-15% as fat.
Why 45-50% as carbohydrate? Carbohydrate is stored in the liver and muscles as a substance called glycogen. For every gram of glycogen stored within the body, there are 2.7 grams of water attached. This gives the muscles a pumped appearance and feeling. This also means the muscles are well stocked with stored energy. The majority of your weight training sessions will involve anaerobic exercise. This type of exercise utilizes the glycolytic energy pathway to generate ATP or Adenosine Tri Phosphate.
(Note: The amino-acid-based dietary supplement Creatine also supports ATP synthesis by donating Phosphate to ADP).
Having adequate amounts of both calories and carbohydrates helps prevent dietary-induced drops in TSH.... or Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. This, in theory (and empirical practice) keeps one's metabolism humming and prevents one from "drying out." Simply put, you'll get great pumps in the gym thanks to all that stored water (remember 2.7 grams of water is stored per gram of glycogen).
Energy-rich carbohydrates (grains and fruits) differ from fiber-rich vegetables. Not only do energy-rich carbohydrates provide far more calories but the calories they supply raise blood glucose levels markedly and rapidly. These types of carbohydrates are more easily broken down into simple sugars (glucose etc). Simple sugars and carbohydrates such as rice and white bread are termed high-glycemic (they spike serum blood sugar and insulin levels) while whole wheat or rye bread and things like oatmeal and non-starchy vegetables are deemed low-glycemic.
To be completely forthright and technical all carbohydrates and macronutrients provide energy. The phytonutrients, micronutrients, and fiber aside, carbohydrates simply provide a "higher octane" energy (than protein or fat). ATP is regenerated via the glycolytic energy pathway; carbohydrates stoke the glycolytic energy pathway most efficiently. Despite this, carbohydrates are technically unessential.
Fat and in particular protein can both be used to create carbohydrates. And both fat and protein can supply energy. But fat and protein contain essential nutrients the body cannot manufacture. These essential nutrients are essential fatty acids (EFAs) and essential amino acids (EAAs).
What about Protein?
Because you're getting roughly half of your calories from carbohydrates the protein you take in will likely be spared from providing energy - at least that's what we're hoping for. You're going to shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. The actual range of values would be between 0.8g/lb to 1.4g/lb (grams of protein per pound).
You're going to want to consume high-quality, complete protein from sources such as meat, poultry, fish, and dairy. If you have 4 meals and a shake and are taking in let's say 225 grams of protein per day that works out to 45 grams per "feeding." To be more realistic we'll simply say take in between 40-50 grams of protein per feeding.
Protein supplies nitrogen and the "building blocks" of skeletal muscle tissue (amino acids). Protein is essential because 8-10 amino acids are considered essential (other amino acids can become essential in certain situations or circumstances, they are called conditionally essential amino acids).
If you're 200 lbs taking in 1.25 grams protein per pound of bodyweight you're consuming 250 grams of protein per day. Protein contains 4 calories per gram. Thus you'd be consuming 1,000 calories of protein. At 45-50% of total daily calories, carbohydrates would comprise app 1.25x worth of calories as compared to protein. Thus, carbohydrates would come to 1,250 calories. Total daily calories would thus far be 2,250.
2,250 divided by 0.9 yields 250 calories, and at 9 calories per gram that would afford us a mere (roughly) 25 grams of fat. I would at least double this figure (not counting supplemental fats). 50 grams of fat adds 450 calories. 450 plus 2,250 yields 2,700 calories total. Thus, your diet breakdown will be closer to 16-20% fat (20% when including supplemental EFAs), 40% protein, and 40-45% carbohydrate).
Note: If need be, you can cut down carbohydrates by a few hundred calories and increase your protein consumption. This would change the dietary breakdown to roughly 40/40/20 (popularized by Barry Sears as the Zone diet).
You'll want to stay on this diet for a week and record how you felt, what you ate, and how well you slept. Every other day weigh yourself after your morning shit, shower and shave. If you maintain your weight the 2,700 calorie mark is your body's "set-point target." To reduce excess weight (fat) reduce your total daily calories by roughly 10-15 percent and exercise 3-5 days per week. Include cardiovascular training in addition to your weight lifting to further speed up your fat loss efforts. You can do LISS (low-intensity steady state) cardio (walking) or you can do HIIT (High-intensity interval training) cardio 2-5 times per week. Personally, I would choose 5 45-minute leisurely walks over other forms of cardio.
What about "fat burners?"
When people say "fat burners" they're referring to thermogenic agents which speed up the body's metabolism by some 5% or so (5-8% for an hour or two). In the 90s both Phentermine and the ECA stack were popular. These catecholamine-based compounds were potent appetite suppressants, particularly phentermine. The ECA stack was/is also a beta-adrenergic agonist. Since then a host of other supposedly "thermogenic" compounds and preparations have come into the limelight. Yerba Mate comes to mind, as do the popular OTC products Xenadrine and Hydroxycut. Even plain old caffeine is sometimes considered a first-rate "fat burner."
The truth is these products barely increase metabolic rate enough to make much of a difference. Most of their worth comes from their appetite-suppressant effects. Now, I'm not saying if you're suddenly prescribed Adderall or start smoking ice you won't lose weight - you will. It's simply that most weight loss, even from strong stimulants, comes from their appetite-suppressant effects.
The only "fat burners" that truly increase fat burning without the need for appetite suppression are L Carnitine and Cardarine. Cardarine is a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-delta agonist. Cardarine enhances lipolysis during exercise. Training increases energy availability by promoting catabolism of proteins, and gluconeogenesis, whereas GW501516 enhances specific consumption of fatty acids and reduces glucose utilization. L Carnitine can be beneficial to exercise performance and fat loss; paradoxically it also suppresses T3, or active thyroid hormone.
T3 or Cytomel can be used to markedly increase resting metabolic rate, but "T3 burns through muscle and fat indiscriminately." You can reduce the amount of muscle tissue being burned and attenuate the reductions in "muscle pump" experienced when supplementing with extra T3.
To do so you'll need to drink water like a camel and supplement your diet with beetroot crystals and citrulline malate. You'll also want to utilize Tadalafil or Cialis. Surprisingly, aside from increasing the pump one experiences from lifting weights Cialis also increases fat burning and creates more BAT (Brown adipose Tissue as compared to WAT... white adipose tissue), relatively speaking. BAT is metabolically active and behaves more like muscle in this respect.
To reduce muscle loss while on higher doses of T3 nothing short of AAS (@ least 200-300 mg/wk, if not 400mg + per week) will truly help. SARMS such as RAD-140 may be of some (yet limited) value. To be honest I would avoid T3 supplementation unless also using Testosterone (Enanthate 400mg/wk) or other AAS.
As for fats, their consumption is largely incidental on this diet and comes from the dairy, red meat, poultry, occasional salad, or handful of mixed nuts one might expect to consume if adhering to the aforementioned dietary principles .
This means the amount of saturated fat as compared to MUFAs or PUFAs will be somewhat high. To remedy this one can consume tuna packed in soybean oil as well as by supplementing 3x per day with triple concentrated, enteric-coated, fish oil capsules. These fish oil capsules break down in the small intestine and there are no fishy burps with them thanks to that enteric coating. They are extremely rich in the special fatty acids EPA and DHA, Eicosapentaenoic acid and Docosohexanoic acid.
One might also supplement with an Udo's Omega 3:6:9 blend of daily supplemental oil.
As for specialty fats, one must purchase the next two in supplement form. CLA is conjugated linoleic acid and it helps improve body composition over time by increasing muscle mass and decreasing fat mass. Sesamin has a host of potential health benefits. Together these two designer fats can markedly improve physical aesthetics, health, and overall well-being.
Finally, there is GLA or gamma linoleic acid. Unless you eat a lot of cashews you'll want to get this fatty acid in supplement form as well.
Note: You needn't supplement every specialty fatty acid mentioned to reap benefits from each fatty acid you choose to use.
The GOLDEN RULE of DIETING: CICO
Calories in vs. calories out. It's so simple yet so misunderstood. When you reduce dieting down to its least common denominator it's CICO you're left with. If you aren't gaining or losing weight you're at an established set-point. You're at current equilibrium. It also means you're essentially burning just about every calorie you take in (burning every single calorie to be more precise, it's just the body's ebbs and flows and an equilibrium setpoint is usually somewhat elastic ).
If you begin to regularly consume more calories than your BMTMR allot (and than you burn via daily movement and exercise), you will put on additional body mass (including both fat and skeletal muscle). If you begin to consume less than your BMTMR allot, and/or begin exercising yourself into a negative caloric balance, you will lose weight, typically a combination of fat and muscle (but usually far more fat than muscle, particularly if one lifts weights throughout).
Note: BMTMR = Basal & Total Metabolic Rate
So are all macronutrients equal then? I mean, do all macronutrients convert into ATP at the same efficiency rate?
Technically no they do not. Protein is far less efficient in its conversion to ATP as compared to fat or carbohydrate. Thus, it takes MORE protein to create "x" amount of ATP. Remember, ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate. It is the body's preferred cellular fuel for high-intensity, high-octane activities. In this sense, protein's inefficiency in converting to ATP means a calorie really isn't a calorie after all. (Because) It takes more protein calories to create "x" amount of ATP than if one were creating that same "x" amount of ATP from carbohydrate or fat calories.
Now that that anomaly is out of the way it's best to simply memorize CICO, calories in vs. calories out, irrespective of macronutrient source. This is the most practical, tried and true way to diet scientifically.
So you've established your caloric allotment for metabolic equilibrium and lowered that figure by 10-15%. You've added in 3-4 30-minute LISS cardio sessions per week in addition to 4 weight-lifting workouts. You're beginning to lose weight week in and week out and then your progress slows and eventually stalls. Your body has become accustomed to the lower calories and the extra workload. Unfortunately, aside from supplementing your diet with substances such as Cardarine or Clenbuterol, there is little more you can do outside of dropping calories once more.... (or adding even more cardio).
Over time these successive reductions in calorie allotment lead to a reduction in TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone. It's the body's way of slowing things down in an effort to maintain homeostasis. To continue improving body composition one mustn't merely lose as much fat as possible, but also must maintain the muscle mass one has - or even build a bit. Now I'll come right out and say it, if you're 6-10 weeks into a strict fat loss diet you're not going to be concerned with building additional muscle unless you're using Testosterone and/or other AAS and PEDs. Even then, if juicing quite a bit, at some point building muscle transitions into preserving muscle. No matter how much you're pinning if you aren't eating enough calories you simply cannot (physiologically) add appreciable lean fat-free body mass.
To boost the body's T3 levels one can supplement directly with T3 (Cytomel) or with pro-active-thyroid T4 (converts to T3 in body; Synthroid). There is supplemental T2 but I advise readers to steer clear of this thyroid analogue. Another way of boosting T3 levels, and a legal, natural way to boot, is by having periodic carbohydrate-rich refeeds and higher calorie days. Have a carbohydrate-rich meal every 3 days if on a lower carbohydrate diet as well as a higher calorie day once every seven to ten days whether on a mixed macronutrient or a lower carbohydrate type diet.
How many meals do you need to eat per day?
While there is potentially some slight advantage to eating several smaller to moderately sized meals spaced evenly throughout the day the science says "when you eat the bulk of your calories makes little to no difference." So if you'd rather have two larger-sized 1,350 calorie meals and then intermittently fast for the rest of your wake-sleep cycle (or "day" whether a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shifter etc) go ahead. That said, I would personally recommend at least 2-3 whole food-based meals and 1-3 protein shakes per day for best results in the gym. As for weight loss, remember it boils down to CICO: whether you have 10 270-calorie mini-meals or one 2,700-calorie smorgasbord makes practically no difference.
What about enhancing insulin sensitivity and improving glucose metabolism while imparting a nutrient-partitioning effect?
I first learned of the term Glucose Disposal Agent while reading Dan Duchaine's Underground BodyOpus. Dan was recommending an isocaloric diet at one point but I believe he'd moved onto cyclical ketogenic-type dieting by the early to mid-90s - and obviously by the time he wrote Underground BodyOpus. Because catecholamines work better in low (serum) insulin environments and because high levels of insulin in the blood render fat-burning enzymes such as HSL largely inert, it is a good idea to release as little insulin as is necessary/possible. Postprandial serum insulin concentrations share a direct correlation with postprandial (after a meal) blood glucose levels. To help optimize glucose metabolism and loweoptimize postprandial glucose numbers far more efficiently - while also driving nutrient partitioning by enhancing the selective expression of GLUT 4 (on muscle cells and not fat cells), one should consider the use of glucose disposal agents such as Na R ALA and Berberine HCL.
Over time the use of GDAs improves insulin sensitivity markedly, assisting in the significant attenuation of metabolic syndrome. Berberine alone has been shown in some clinical trials to perform as good or better than the popular diabetic medication Metformin. Na R ALA is the most bioavailable form of alpha lipoic acid and you need only 250mg 2-3x/day to reap major benefits. If you use the cheaper form of alpha lipoic acid use 400-700 mg 2-3x/day.
To these two GDAs I would recommend a form of Vanadium, Vanadyl Sulfate. I would also add a form of chromium, either chromium picolinate or chromium polynicotinate. There are scores of various GDA or GDA-like compounds to choose from. For the most bang for your buck start and stick with this 4 part GDA stack before adding additional GDA compounds into the mix.
Note: If you combine the regular use of GDAs with a modified lower or low-carb diet one can literally reverse Type 2 Diabetes, particularly if the disease is in its early onset stage(s).
Maintaining Energy (to train intensely) while on a reduced-calorie diet
When you lift weights getting that all too familiar "pump" feels amazing. Arnold Schwarzenegger once compared it to sexual release - even going so far as to claim the "pump was better than cumming." I would have to disagree with Mr. Schwarzenegger on that, but I will concede that getting a vein-bursting, skin-splitting pump (obviously I'm embellishing: no pump bursts veins or splits the skin) gives one a major short-term motivational boost as well as an endorphin rush. It also feels great and makes one look more muscular and vascular. But getting a great pump while in a major caloric deficit, particularly if one is restricting carbohydrates, becomes difficult to say the least. So how does one boost the body's high-octane "energy" source, ATP, without taking in extra calories?
If you were unaware that ATP can be supplemented directly (orally), now you know. PEAK ATP is a well-known ATP supplement. In addition to supplementing directly with ATP one can also utilize Creatine Monohydrate (or other forms of creatine) to behave as a Phosphate donor. Creatine is stored within the body as creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate donates its phosphate ring to ADP, or Adenosine Di-Phosphate, creating ATP, or Adenosine Tri-Phosphate. As you know ATP is the body's preferred "high-octane" cellular-energy-medium. Creatine and ATP are both important to high-intensity anaerobic exercise. But what about boosting the glycolytic energy pathway?
The body utilizes glucose and stored glycogen to replenish ATP. When glucose/glycogen is in low supply the body will utilize glycogenic amino acids (in a process called gluconeogenesis) to boost serum glucose concentrations, especially while involved in intense exercise such as weight lifting (bodybuilding). Supplementing (pre-workout) with whey protein isolate and/or EAA/BCAA+Glutamine can help prevent the body from utilizing its muscle tissue as a donor source for gluconeogenically-derived "energy."
Note: Glutamine can increase both hepatic and skeletal muscle glycogen stores (without carbohydrates).
Another thing you can do to enhance fat burning is to increase the proportion of fuel burned as fat during exercise. To achieve this supplement with the PPAR delta agonist Cardarine. Cardarine markedly increases cardiovasculaendurance capacity as well as muscular endurance. You'll be getting a few more reps per set on your higher rep sets and increasing the amount of fat (instead of blood sugar) your body is using while doing so.
Note: Stacking Cardarine with the infamous lipotropic L Carnitine may further enhance each supplement's effects.
Note: I have a separate article written on L Carnitine. See this article to learn everything you would ever want to know about L Carnitine in less than 5 minutes.
What about maintaining the muscle mass you built while in a caloric surplus after you diet your way into a significant negative caloric balance?
The supplement HMB, Beta Hydroxy Methyl Butyrate was over-hyped in the 90s. Everybody was looking for the "next creatine." And HMB showed promise. Then the research trickled in. Initially, HMB appeared to be of little value. Then more and more research poured in. Today we know HMB is most effective as an anticatabolic supplement.
HMB helps ensure the body remains in a positive nitrogen balance, but not by increasing protein synthesis. Rather, HMB reduces the breakdown of muscle mass (protein), and is particularly useful in lower-calorie settings, and/or high-stress situations (including recovery post-surgery and healing from serious burns).
You'll want to use a minimum of 3 grams of HMB per day. Amounts as high as 10 grams or more daily can be costly but are safe (and more effective than lower dosages, which does not necessarily hold true for other dietary supplements).
A second anticatabolic supplement you might consider is Phosphatidylserine or PS. The use of PS is reportedly effective in reducing excessive serum cortisol concentrations. Cortisol, a glucocorticoid, increases protein catabolism. This supplement can be costly to use, however.
Some trainees, gurus and gym pundits firmly believe the conditionally essential amino acid Glutamine is a potent anti-catabolic substance. The research on Glutamine's efficacy for athletes isn't clear; some studies show benefit(s) while others clearly do not.
If you're using appreciable amounts of protein powder (Whey Protein Isolate, Pea Protein Isolate, Caseinate, Milk Protein Isolate) you'll be getting about 4-5 grams of Glutamine (and precursors) per scoop (app 25 grams of protein. Most protein rich whole foods are also rich in Glutamine.
If you're in a caloric surplus (off season mode) then additional Glutamine is essentially a waste of money. Glutamine is best utilized while in the throes of strict dieting, when muscle mass losses are most likely. Glutamine can contribute to the Amino Acid Pool and act as a gluconeogenic donor if need be. Glutamine can also help restock both hepatic and skeletal muscle glycogen stores INDEPENDENTLY of carbohydrates (Glucose). To enhance glycogen replenishment, particularly in the peri-workout period, Glutamine must be taken in very large doses (up to 15-20 grams pre/intra workout & post workout).
Another thing you can do to reduce the loss of muscle mass while dieting is to raise your protein consumption to as high as 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Of course, you'll have to have a commensurate reduction in calories from carbohydrates and/or fat.
And remember, while dieting to maximize fat-loss your goal isn't to build muscle, but instead to maintain that muscle which you've already built. This means you must take care to avoid overtraining. Not only is overtraining unnecessary at this stage, but it can be extremely damaging to one's physique. You run the risk of injury anytime you step foot in a gym but the probability of injury is geometrically increased if one is overtraining, particularly while on a low-calorie diet. Limit your weekly lifting sessions to no more than 5. Don't go crazy on the volume (# of sets) and stay in the 8-12 rep range most of the time (you can do more or fewer reps but 8-12 is a great rep range for most). You aren't going to be setting any PRs here.
Can you tell us what a sample day of eating might look like?
Let's say you decide on 3 whole-food meals, 2 shakes, and a snack every day. Let's assume your shakes are composed of ultrafiltered skim milk (12 g protein and 8 grams carbohydrate w/ 0g fat per 8oz), 2 scoops whey isolate (40 g protein), a small banana, and 1/2-1 cup frozen strawberries. By themselves, the two protein shakes will supply 130 grams of protein. And remember, at the beginning of this article we said our hypothetical dieter was 200 pounds. Thus your total daily protein goal in grams was 250 grams per day. Hence, you need only consume 120 more grams of protein, divided between 3 whole food meals and your optional snack.
Your total daily calorie and macronutrient allotment breakdown:
Calories: 2,700 Protein: 250 grams, 1,000 Cal Carbohydrate: 310 grams, 1250 Cal Fat: 50 grams, 450 Cal
Note: the caloric/macro breakdown above yields appx 37% protein, 46% carbohydrate, and 17% fat. This differs slightly from the 40/50/10 breakdown we began with but the actual percentages are simply a guide post. If you're more endomorphic you should probably drop the carbohydrates to 37% and raise the fat to make up the difference (or add protein for the same reason). If you're an ectomorph or mesomorph you can handle the 46% carbohydrate level without missing a beat.
Note: Supplemental fats do add additional fat grams (and calories to your daily totals). Thus, your total fat intake will likely be closer to 80 grams per day. You may also take a shot glass or two of extra virgin, cold-pressed organic olive oil 3-5 times per week to increase MUFAs in your diet.
Removing the protein shakes' nutritional values (130 grams protein, 0 grams fat, and roughly 60-120 grams of carbohydrates: one protein shake may be simply protein powder with milk or water and ice) leaves 120 grams of protein, 50 grams of meal-derived fats (excluding supplemental fats) and approximately 190-250 grams of carbohydrates for the remainder of the day. These figures will be spread (evenly or unevenly) over 3 whole-food meals and one snack. This works out to 40 grams of protein, 80 grams of carbohydrates, and about 15-20 grams of fat per meal. Under this scenario, your snack would have to be something like sugar-free jello which has practically no calories whatsoever.
As for how you put together your meals....
Because your list of foods was basic and limited to 15 items you'll have an easy time putting potential menus together. Choose foods from your list and match up their nutritional values to fit the macronutrient and caloric allotment for each of your 3 whole-food meals.
Note: If you need more variety go ahead. The number of different foods you eat has no intrinsic bearing on the results you'll achieve from dieting. I give the 15-item limit to reflect the authenticity of old-school bodybuilding dieting as told by John Romano, the famous bodybuilding author, and for simplicity's sake.
Look up the nutritional value of the various 15 (or more) foods you chose for your diet and write them down on the front page of your diet journal. You're going to want to make use of nutrition labels anytime you deviate from your list of foods. And if you're not accurately eyeing up proper portion sizes you'll want to invest in a food scale. Studies have shown that people who didn't record what they ate often overate far more than what they self-reported they'd eaten. The same goes for people commonly overestimating portion sizes. That's why you're going to record everything you eat and weigh out or measure proper portion sizes.
So how do you know how many calories you should begin the diet with?
There are many useful diet and macro calculators available online. One figure I've come across quite a bit is 15-17 calories per pound of body weight as a good, "average" starting point. For a 200 lb person, this works out to between 3,000 and 3,400 calories per day, which might be a bit high. If consuming even 1.25 grams of protein per pound of body weight that 15-17 cal/lb figure leaves 2,400 "energy" calories to come from carbohydrates and/or fats. Our hypothetical diet above was 2,700 calories with 250 grams of protein for a 200-lb individual.
So the two figures (2,700 cal and 3,000- 3,400 cal are close enough to be compatible and would likely fit any 200 lb hard training individual quite well - but we can't be certain. The only way to do that is to keep a diet journal for a minimum of 7 days where you record every morsel of every foodstuff you consume, each and every day and night. You also tally up your macronutrient totals for each of the seven days. At the end of those seven days, if your weight has remained the same, you have found your homeostatic caloric setpoint.
Add up the total amount of calories consumed over the seven days and then divide the resultant figure by seven. You now have your starting caloric allowance. If you want to gain quality mass you would increase your calories by 10-15%. But, we want to lose fat, so we will cut out starting caloric allowance (homeostatic-setpoint) by 10-15%.
If you simply don't have the discipline to keep a food journal you'll also have trouble keeping track of calories later on in the diet and end up overeating, even if unintentionally. That said, 15-17 cal/lb of body weight is a good average starting range for most lifters.
If you'd like, I'm open for consultations.
Contact me for nutritional, dietary supplementation, and exercise regimen consulting.
Mike Renteria BigMikeRenteria@gmail.com BPVA Summer 2024
Photo: Gunter Schlierkamp, IFBB LEGEND, 2002 GNC SOS CHAMPION (Defeated Reigning Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman)

I’ve been around the sun a little over 36 times, and have figured a few things out I hear a lot of you struggling with. Here is all my advice for living your best life, inside and out. I’m a brown girlie growing up in the US so some of my experiences and advice might be specific to that but I hope most of it applies to anyone. My creds: I am old now with children, but I've got skin like my 3 year old (well... almost) a snatched waistline, and most importantly - decent mental health and self esteem (on most days).
Health
EVERYTHING starts here! Prioritize your physical and mental health. Every minute you invest into your well being here you will get back 10x with better energy, focus, positivity, and happiness.

• Exercise every day. You’ve heard this a million times, so if you’re not doing this ask yourself why. Do you think you don’t deserve to prioritize your health? Did your auntie tell you you should spend 3 more hours crying into your math textbook instead of “wasting time” on a work out? Or do you not know where to get started? You don’t need any special equipment - look up some videos on 10-15 minute workouts you can do at home. Make it a daily habit for a few weeks, and you’ll naturally start feeling the motivation and enthusiasm to do more. There is nothing on this list I can say with more certainty will make you feel, look, and BE better than this.
• Eat a balanced diet with lots of protein and veggies, carbs in moderation, and minimize sugar and alcohol. I had some food intolerances when I was younger that made me a really picky eater. You can just imagine how much my family, extended relatives, and family friends had to say about how awful this was. Well guess who’s not fat, and whose kids are all on track for high blood sugar and hypertension? That sounds petty, but the point is don’t listen other people’s nonsense about what you should be eating, or let yourself get peer pressured into eating garbage.
• Sleep. Don’t work/stress/reddit/whatever you’re doing late - it’s not worth it. Set a time when you’re done for the day, start unwinding, erect a mental brick wall between you and your imagined problems, and sleep.
• Drink water - more! Even more! You’re probably dehydrated right now.

Un-brainwash yourself from your family.

• This is such a constant theme in this sub. And I really, honestly get it. I felt like such a disappointment as a kid that one day something snapped, and I stopped caring about what my family said and thought altogether. I knew it would never be enough. I didn’t yell and scream about it - I still love my family. I just recognized that they are victims of their own family and cultural brainwashing and their anxiety is their problem. As an adult, I now make lots of $$$ in my very successful tech job, and they still find things to complain or be passive aggressive about. Tough chaklis for them!
• The expectations put on young brown women is ridiculous. Your families want an obedient little conformist who has the perfect parent-approved-career, that they can brag about to all their friends, who takes care of them into their old age. You need to recognize how much power you actually have in your situation. Get educated, get financially independent, and make decisions for yourself. Recognize that THEY will soon depend on YOU. YOU are the one who has to live with your life choices about your career and partner, not them. They will deal with it. Your mileage may vary depending on how cray your family is, but if you know what will make you happy you need to go for it - the people that love you and actually want the best for you will come to terms. Stop needing validation and approval from them at every step. They probably didn’t wake up and say “I’m going to emotionally handicap my daughter so she serves my needs the rest of my life”, but they didn’t need to because society did it for them. Forgive them, know better, and move on.

Personality

• Your entire experience of life happens inside your brain. Your self image and mental filter need to be as objective as possible. If you’re on this sub, it’s highly likely you are expecting fixing your looks will fix a lot of your other problems. While you’re working on that, take a fresh look at your emotional coping skills and social skills.
• Work on your hobbies, read some books, go to a concert, listen to some comedy, BE INTERESTING. LIVE A FULL LIFE. I have met a lot of people who were initially beautiful and attractive on the outside, and quickly found myself incredibly bored and turned off by how vapid, dumb, or uninteresting they were on the inside.

Now on to the LEWKS section!
Skin

• Tretinoin. Work your way up in strength, and always prioritize your moisture barrier and minimize skin irritation. I went crazy in my mid 20’s with this stuff thinking my skin was purging or overcoming sensitivity. WRONG! Just use a little at a time.
• Alternate with lactic acid or no treatment till you’re sure your skin isn’t irritated
• I used azaelic acid and Hydroquinone to get rid of hyperpigmentation around the mouth. A lot of brown ladies have gorgeous lips, and the darkness around the mouth can really detract from that. This is not for skin lightening - this is for hyperpigmentation - lighter is NOT better if I have to scream it from the roofs
• Wear sunscreen every day

Makeup

• Again, lighter skin IS NOT better!!!! Don’t wear foundation that is lighter than your skin, it is not a good look and makes you look sick. I mix a bronzing concentrate with a tinted moisturized to get my perfect shade in all seasons. Match to your neck and chest. Know your undertone, as a bronzer may not work for you. Our skin tone is such a halo if we play it up right.
• Color corrector instead of concealer - helps avoid weird ashiness from a too-light concealer.
• Eyes - I use a pencil to line my top waterline only, and go over it with a dark gel liner + fine eyeliner brush to get a gentle, tapered line. Lining your bottom eyes can make you look tired or give you an odd eye shape IMO. I use a neutral eyeshadow that’s close-ish to my skin as a base, and then a very very light handed bit of a darker color to give my hooded eyes some depth or tweak my eye shape as needed
• Brows - I use grand lash serum here (not on my eyes) + a light handed eyebrow pomade. No block brows.
• Lips - stain > lipstick, and moisturize your lips - make sure you don’t have peeling lips or lipstick. I cringe when I see lipstick that looks unsettled

Hair

• Toning is key if you have highlights. Don’t have gross un-toned highlights or balayage.
• Use deep conditioning masks and toning masks
• I use an airwrap and lightweight silicone based hair oil / serum, and always have a perfect hair day

Hardmaxxes

• Teeth - get braces and correct any asymmetry here first before doing anything else
• Filler - I would be very very wary of filler - I'm sure you've seen a hundred posts about how it doesn't go well for a lot of people. I have always wanted filler but now in my 30s I see that the girls getting filler in their 20s are starting to look a little... off.... I'm all for surgery if you want it, but save your money on something that won't make you look melty in 5 years.
• nose job - I'm still thinking about getting one, maybe I will one day. I struggle with whether this is my being brainwashed by western beauty standards, and I'm still figuring it out. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the rest of my face without going too nuts.

Edit: How could I forget hair removal!!! the bane of our existences.

• once every two months or so I shave my face as a way to exfoliate. Be careful about doing this depending on the rest of your skin routine as it may be too harsh if its already sensitized.
• I use an epillator on my arms and legs which pulls hair out by the root - this was such a game changing alternative to waxing and shaving
• I use waxing strips on my upper lip . As someone pointed out you can peel your skin off (happened to me!) if you’re getting started on tret. Don’t wax if your skin is sensitive.

Hey all, I’ve recently gotten my first espresso setup and am having issues with consistency.
Machine - Bambino Plus Grinder - Fellow Opus Scale - Fellow Tally Beans - Philz Jacob’s Wonderbar
I’ve been spending a lot of time (and beans) trying to dial in the shots, with no luck. I believe I’ve found the range on the grinder for a grind size that works, but I’ve been finding it difficult to dial in when something is causing inconsistencies.
I’ve pulled 2-3 shots on the same grind settings, with the same exact workflow, and have been getting (what I think) huge inconsistencies with the output. My workflow:

1. Weigh beans
2. Grind beans
3. Weigh grinds
4. Get grinds into the portafilter (using a funnel)
5. WDT
6. Some taps of the portafilter on the counter
7. Spread out grinds with finger as needed to be even
8. Tamp (Normcore spring loaded tamper)
9. Use the Breville razor to shave off excess
10. Dump excess and repeat razor as needed
11. Tamp
12. Load portafilter
13. Pull shot from machine (double shot)
14. Weigh shot
15. Taste

Also forgot to add that before the first step I do run the machine with no portafilter as some people suggested to do. Using the same workflow, I’ve just pulled 2 shots, here are the results:
1st shot: Beans weight - 17.5g Grinds weight - 17.7g Shot weight - 35.7g Pull time - 36 seconds
2nd shot: Beans weight - 17.5g Grinds weight - 17.2g Shot weight - 25.9g (!!!) Pull time - 37 seconds
So a few things. I’ve been reading about the Fellow Tally not being properly calibrated, and the adjustments seem to be everywhere for people. Some people are able to grind fine enough on the 1-2 setting (as advertised) but some people like myself need to use the 3-4 setting for grinds. It seems like QC for the Tally hasn’t been great. I’ve also seen videos of the top of the burr wobbling, which mine does as well, but there hasn’t been any conclusive info that says this is an issue, or if it’s just the nut on the top that makes it look like it’s wobbling. Additionally, I’ve been seeing retention issues with the Opus, is 0.5g significant? Haven’t tried RDT but I will, even though the Opus is advertised as anti-static.
But I’m pretty lost. Could the grinder be the issue? Could the Breville? Reviews seem to be amazing for an entry level espresso machine. This is my first espresso setup, honestly all of the grind sizes I’ve been using look the same to me haha.
A question I have is about the dose. From my understanding, since I’m using the Breville provided razor that shaves down the grinds to the same consistent size, this shouldn’t be a variable, correct? Am I correct to assume that even if I were to put 25g into the portafilter and tamp it, the razor shaving guarantees a consistent dose?
I think I’ll leave it here, but I’m sure I can come up with more details if needed. One last thing, before the Philz beans I had tried some Blue Bottle beans, I was still having consistency issues.
Any insight, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated! In my 1000 years on the internet, this is the first time I felt compelled enough to make a post on Reddit haha. Thanks everyone!

I just wanted to share a little about what worked for me in the hopes it may help someone else just kind of getting started or not sure where to start. I have been a vegetarian (20+ years) for a long time and of Mediterranean descent and culture, so the food was known to me and things I liked anyway. But I was a snacker and an overeater. So I adopted the food pyramid for the diet (not so much the specific Greek recipes) and built a new life around them. Here is the general plan:

• 1/2 cup mixed nuts for breakfast (+ coffee of course)
  
• 2 cups of grain/veggie combo for lunch: I make these on Sundays, so I’ll take quinoa/farro/brown rice/ww pasta, and then mix in veggies (either frozen or fresh cooked) and measure into containers.
  

-2 cups of whatever dinner: either same stuff I make for lunch, or avocado toast with eggs, salad with salmon/sardines, sushi, etc.
-often add a salad to dinner (if it’s not the main course)
-apple/pear with lunch and dinner
-eat nothing else; if really hungry, a handful of nuts just to take the edge off.
I went from 240+ lbs to 198 in under six months. Shaved 30 points off my total cholesterol. I don’t feel very hungry most of the time and have managed to kick my snacking habit.
Again, I didn’t use specific recipes, I just took a food pyramid approach instead. YMMV, and I did start going to gym, but an injury took me out for 2 months and I still lost weight, so I don’t think it depends on that.
Hope this helps inspire or even just help Someone figure out a framework to start down this path.

Have had a string of miscommunications with this person, I had enough and told her I'd be gone in 2 weeks which ends on the 9th. I found a place and was going to move on the 4th, but it bucketed down all day and I didn't want to damage my stuff so I didn't move. I didn't tell her that I had decided to delay explicitly, I honestly thought the fact all my stuff was there and I had until the 9th meant it wasn't necessary to say so. I head out to grab some dinner, she sends me a message saying she hadn't received rent as it was due that day, that's on me I forgot amongst everything else but I sent it right away. Only that it was the 4th and I was to be gone by the 9th so I only sent rent up to that date and told her as much.
Then she sends this "No, that doesn’t work for me. You said you leave today. I booked the cleaning of your room on Monday morning and I have some viewings. I’ll send you back $114 and you have to leave tomorrow. You don’t respect me, other tenants and our rules. The bathroom and the bin is still dirty. So you have to leave tomorrow."
To address those accusations, the bathroom is "dirty," means I just haven't cleaned it because I haven't moved out and I would do as anyone would do and clean after all my stuff is gone. The bin, we're talking about the big green council bin. There was 3 hot dog buns stuck to the bottom, I just dislodged them but left them there to be emptied on bin day. It's a bin after all idk maybe I'm wrong on that one, but whinging about rubbish in a bin is nuts to me.
So I'm assuming she's not going to give my bond back, but I hadn't moved out, so she's established that it's not up to standard while I'm in the middle of moving out. Cool, seems fair.
I should include, she sent this a couple days earlier, so I thought we're on the same page "Mike, you gave me a notice about moving 25th of April +2 weeks that will be 9th of May. You decided to move earlier- that is your choice, but your last payment will be hold 4th of May.
Before you leave, we’ll go through the room and shared areas you’ve been using. Don’t forget to clean everything after yourself, the room should look the same as when you moved in. Don’t forget to clean your bathroom ( the sink and the floor) after your today’s shaving and Citycouncel bin as well."
I feel I'm getting screwed out here, can the RTA or some other authority assist here or am I on my own?

so a few days ago i was preparing to take a shower, and in the mirror i peep my nuts and think about how hairy they are. this lead to an impulsive decision to just shave my nuts with an electric razor, no cream or anything. just a dry shave. and to be honest, i hated it after, i look strange and unrecognizable. i felt like bruce without a mustache. Not like it matters since i get no play but i dont feel like myself anymore and i thought i should confide in the community to get some insight on how to cope with the fact i got smooth balls now…

From subject, that should be “wrong”
So for the moment I managed to get the bridge wedge shaved down to where the strings are much more evenly distanced from the neck, from the nut to the end of the neck where the frets end, so higher notes aren’t so hellacious to play.
Going to work with the cheapie guitar I have now, a Gibson “Maestro” (read super cheap) while I get back into the swing. I read all your responses about Yamaha, and one about the lower end Martin, so thank you.
Will lighter strings make it easier and less painful to build up callouses again? Fingertips are sensitive, or do I just need to grit my teeth, suck up the pain until it doesn’t hurt so much? Sorry if I sound like a wuss, prepared to do what’s necessary as I’m also a singer, in vocal training, and the guitar will be my accompaniement, well that is the hope.
Just want to make sure I’m not doing things incorrectly, especially if there’s a less painful approach. Can only afford the vocal coach, so will be mostly self teaching for a while.
edits made - I can spell, believe me

This is a tale of a community centered around one of the most popular speedrunning games of all time, and how they set out to push a game to its absolute limits, and themselves to the height of human ability.
Almost everyone, even the top runners themselves, were convinced this feat of skill was impossible. They were wrong. This is the story of how Super Mario Odyssey was beaten in under an hour.

Background

Super Mario Odyssey is a platforming game released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console on October 27^th, 2017, only seven months after the launch of the Switch itself. After a decade of main-series Super Mario games which mostly featured 2D gameplay with linear progression (excluding the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2, which did feature 3D gameplay but still included mostly linear level design), it was a welcome return to the open-world, 3D “collectathon”-style gameplay that hadn’t been seen in the Mario Franchise since Super Mario Sunshine was released back in 2002.
Odyssey was an instant hit with both critics and players, and is still the third best-selling main-series Mario game today, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide. It is also, incidentally, a game that is very near and dear to my heart, which is why this writeup even exists.

The Gameplay

In the beginning of Odyssey, as is so often the case in Mario games, Bowser (the giant fire-breathing turtle-lizard) kidnaps the human Princess Peach and takes her across different kingdoms. This time, he's collecting an item from each one for their grand wedding. Meanwhile, our beloved Italian plumber protagonist, Mario, pursues them in order to save Peach from Bowser's evil, nuptial machinations. The game even ends with a huge showdown on the Moon itself, as Mario interrupts the wedding ceremony in the nick of time, fights Bowser one last time and rescues Peach (well, rescue’s a bit of a strong word. Yay, feminism?).
He is accompanied on his journey by Cappy, a Bonneter (a ghostly, hat-like creature) from the Cap Kingdom that possesses Mario’s torn hat. One of the main mechanics of Odyssey is using Cappy to possess different objects and creatures in the game, that allow Mario to borrow their unique mechanics to solve puzzles and move creatively. Another important mechanic involving Cappy is throwing him mid-jump and bouncing on him to gain an extra height boost.
During the game, Mario and Cappy travel around the fourteen kingdoms and collect moons (the main collectable) to power the Odyssey, their flying ship. Some can be acquired quite easily, while some require solving more complex puzzles and minigames or finding hidden locations. While the kingdoms themselves allow the player to wander around freely and collect as many moons as they desire in whatever order they please, the progression between kingdoms is (mostly) linear- a specific number of moons must be collected in each kingdom in order to move on to the next, and a player must go through all kingdoms in order to reach the end of the game.
Most of the other mechanics are basic Mario platformer moves: running, jumping, ground-pounding, flipping, and so on. Odyssey's movement is incredibly intuitive, fluid and easy to pick up, which is part of the reason why immediately after the game's release, Odyssey developed an unusually large and involved speedrunning community.

How Low Can We Go?

Let’s back up a little and talk about speedrunning in general. There are many ways to speedrun a game: collect all items of a certain kind, finish a certain area the fastest, beat everything there is to do in the game, and many other categories specific to each game. There’s even a meme category for Odyssey aptly called Nipple%, in which you need to get to the Sand Kingdom, earn 1000 coins along the way and buy the boxers outfit from the shop there (which leaves Mario with his chest proudly uncovered). As of today, the record is held at 7 minutes, 23 seconds and 667 milliseconds by Tyron18, and 907 runs in this category are registered on Speedrun.com.
But arguably the most popular speedrunning category in most games is called “Any%”. What does Any% mean? Quite simply, beating the game in as little time as possible- playing any percentage of the game required to beat it. In Odyssey, the Any% run begins when selecting the Save button on a new save file, and ends when entering the spark pylon at the end of the Escape segment on the Moon.¹
When Odyssey came out, the immediate question that was asked was “what is the lowest possible time for any Any% speedrun? What is the best theoretical record?”. In the early days after release, as with any new game, new strategies and routes were being developed rapidly, with new glitches and exploits constantly being found by the eager community (and subsequently patched with equal fervor by Nintendo).
Very soon after the community had started optimization of the speedrun, people began theorizing that an Any% run with a time of under an hour was possible. Colloquially, it was called “sub-one hour”. This eventually became the ultimate goal of the entire community, and one of the greatest speedrunning challenges in gaming history- beating Super Mario Odyssey in under one hour.

The Beginning

The first record was set by MonkeyKingHero on launch day, October 27th, 2017, and boasted a 02:11:54. During the first week or so, MonkeyKingHero and another runner, IMtendo, managed to bring the record down by over fifty minutes, down to 01:18:15 on November 3rd. To understand the absurdity of the situation, two more records were set that day, and one of them only lasted for thirty minutes.
Many notable and significant glitches, skips and exploits were found in these early days. For example, one of them was Dino Skip, in which you possess the dinosaur (yes, there’s an actual T-Rex in this game) in the Cascade Kingdom and use it to jump high enough on a nearby trampoline to skip straight to a mini-boss fight. Another important exploit found was Moon Cave Skip, which allows you to, with a series of precise wall jumps from the top of the Sphinx’s head in the Moon Kingdom, skip all of the Moon Cave (a very long gauntlet of platforming challenges with a mini-boss fight at the end) and go straight to the Chapel for the wedding ceremony. Huge chunks of time were shaved off with tricks like these.
After the first week, several renowned runners began to compete for the top spot as well: Vallu, a well-respected Mario speedrunner who used to hold legendary world records, Iwabi74, who still holds six Majora’s Mask 3D world records to this day, and Samura1man, widely known for his Super Mario Sunshine world record.
Of the three, Vallu began dominating the scene. He set seven new consecutive records in only five days, managing to shave off six whole minutes from November 3rd to November 8th, with his final record being set at 01:10:43. But then, amidst these juggernauts, a new challenger approached.
A speedrunner named Shaeden suddenly began topping the leaderboards and competing with Vallu, Iwabi and Samura1man for their hard-earned records. No one had ever heard of him before... until it was discovered he used to go by Pydoyks, and was known as one of- if not the best- Ocarina of Time speedrunners of all time and a true legend of gaming, prior to his disappearance from the internet around 2013. But he returned under a new name just in time for the Odyssey speedrunning craze, and he did not disappoint.
However, Shaeden’s complete dominance of the leaderboards did not go unchallenged. NicroVeda, a Canadian speedrunner, began to break Shaedens records, and Shaeden responded in kind. Between January 11th and April 12th, 2018, eleven new records were set only by Shaeden and NicroVeda, bringing the record all the way down to a whopping 01:03:16.
But then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked when version 1.2.0 came out.

Version 1.2.0- An Omen of Change

Originally, all speedruns were played on version 1.0.1 or the functionally identical version 1.1.0. Playing on version 1.0.0 was banned because it was very hard to obtain- requiring either a factory-reset Switch, or a physical copy of Odyssey that had never been updated, essentially forcing runners who played on a digital copy and wanted to stay competitive to buy a physical copy, and only made one additional glitch possible.
This glitch, known as First Moon Skip, is only possible in version 1.0.0.² It’s an incredibly finicky glitch that requires Mario to jump and dive across the water to the left of the bridge in the beginning of the Cascade Kingdom, jump up underneath an invisible wall and do a very precise dive to the platform ahead... but it saves 26 precious seconds.
However, on February 21st, 2018, version 1.2.0 came out. It added a new minigame named Luigi’s Balloon World, and more importantly, patched out several important glitches and made them impossible. As 1.2.0 was now the default version, 1.1.0 became as hard to obtain as 1.0.0, so the decision was made to allow the use of 1.0.0 and First Moon Skip. From that point on, all top runners exclusively used 1.0.0.
After the release of version 1.2.0 and the allowance of version 1.0.0 and First Moon Skip, NicroVeda pulled ahead in the race and Shaeden disappeared back into the shadows once more.

Stalemate

At this point, another runner became a top competitor- Suisaiga, who set the next four records, between April 30th and May 20th, and brought the record down to 01:02:30. These records were helped by the discovery of Nut Clip (an unfortunate name), a glitch wherein getting a moon out of a nut while simultaneously backflipping into a wall in Wooded Kingdom allowed the player to clip out of bounds and perform a set of highly precise movements (without even being able to see Mario moving!) to get another moon behind a nearby wall, before clipping back inbounds.
NicroVeda retaliated with a record time of 01:02:19, and Suisaiga responded in kind by setting and breaking another six consecutive records, with the last one being 01:01:57 on July 13th, answered by NicroVeda’s own 01:01:46 two weeks later. A runner named LilKirbs also joined the race at this point and broke NicroVeda’s record with a 01:01:32, and continued to trade records back and forth with Suisaiga and NicroVeda. However, as runs became more and more optimized, the fast-paced cycle of setting and breaking records began to slow.
Because of the linear progression of the game, speedrunners especially wanted to find continuity-breaking glitches that would allow players duplicate moons, or even to skip entire kingdoms instead of having to progress through all of them normally. However, as of today, no such glitch has been found, which meant the optimization of a speedrun depends purely on how efficiently runners can collect enough moons and complete each kingdom before moving on to the next.
The lack of any real game-breaking glitches meant that at a certain point, breaking new records became less about finding incredible exploits to shave off huge chunks of time and more about optimizing movement (with tricks such as roll-cancelling and spin-pound) and perfecting routing between moons.
Around the point the record dropped below 01:02:00, the speedrunning meta got so optimized that runners had to attempt incredibly hard glitches and skips that only saved a few seconds of gameplay just to get an edge- such as Double Sphinx Clip, which saved two seconds total but could cost you much more if you failed to set it up correctly. Another infamous skip that started being implemented around this time is Snow Dram- a decidedly sadistic jump in the Snow Kingdom, leaping from the Odyssey to a ledge with a moon chest on it in a move that only saved seven seconds. Hilariously, Snow Dram actually has nothing to do with the speedrunner named Dram55. A different skip in Sand Kingdom was invented by him and coined the Dram skip by the community, specifically because he didn’t want it to be named after him. After that, people just kept naming random strats after him for no particular reason other than to be petty.³
Many people began to believe achieving sub-one hour was impossible. The speedrun was so optimized that in order to finish a run in under an hour, runners would have to play near-perfectly, with any tiny mistake ultimately being critical. That level of perfection just wasn’t humanly possible, they said. But the records were still dropping- with NicroVeda setting a 01:01:07 on September 26th, the run was only a little over a minute from that ultimate goal. Could it truly be impossible, when they were all getting so close?

The Endgame

One man didn’t believe so. Chaospringle jumped into the Any% race with a vengeance, setting the first record to go below 1 hour and 1 minute, a 01:00:58, on the 15th of October. A true story: I was already following Chaospringle for a bit at this point as he started rising through the ranks, and actually screamed out loud when I got the notification for the video he uploaded of this run on YouTube.
Like all the other top runners at the time, he wanted to be the first one to get that sub-hour record, and he wanted it bad. He grinded runs like crazy, and set nine almost consecutive records (Equanimity also set a 01:00:38 on the 2nd of December), bringing his time to an astonishing 01:00:20 by February 10th, 2019.
But NicroVeda wasn’t planning on letting Chaospringle win that easily. He took the record back only a day later and improved it by nine seconds, and broke it again ten days later, on the 21st of February, with a time of 01:00:09. The time for optimization and rerouting was over- now it was just a question of who would be the first to complete a technically perfect run.
Then, the moment of truth. On February 22nd, just a day after NicroVeda’s groundbreaking record, LilKirbs managed to get that nearly perfect run. At the finish, the clock showed a new world record of... 01:00:00. Exactly.
The pressure was on. Sub-one hour was obviously possible, and LilKirbs had almost proven it. For a grueling twenty nine days, all the top runners were gunning for that record, and continued getting incredibly close, achieving personal best scores only seconds away, held back by incredibly minor mistakes.
Picture this: the day is March 23rd, 2019. NicroVeda has just failed a perfect run because of a tiny mistake on the Mecha-Broodal fight in Bowser’s Kingdom. He starts up another run… and it goes perfectly again. No mistakes. Not the slightest bit of hesitation. He plays through Super Mario Odyssey in such a way that no one thought was even humanly possible. And after the most perfect run he could possibly achieve, he finishes the Escape sequence on the Moon, enters the spark pylon, and presses “end” on his timer.
This time, it showed 59:59.
NicroVeda had officially become the first person to ever beat Super Mario Odyssey in under an hour.

The Aftermath

Remember the point I made about how after the release of 1.2.0, all top speedrunners exclusively used 1.0.0? Well, that was true… until the release of version 1.3.0 on April 25th, 2019, just a month after NicroVeda’s historic record was set. 1.3.0 still had the same problems as 1.2.0 in that several very important glitches were impossible on it, but that became irrelevant in the face of new, extremely fast loading times. So fast, in fact, that it became significantly quicker to play on 1.3.0 without those glitches, than on 1.0.0 with them.
1.3.0 changed the game. Where before getting sub-one hour was a rare feat of absolute perfection and skill, suddenly records began dropping even further below the fabled 01:00:00 mark. Another important glitch was found soon after named Daylight Savings Time Abuse, which allowed runners to spawn a moon instantly from a seed in Sand Kingdom instead of waiting 21 minutes by using some trickery with the Switch’s time system (and I’m going to be honest, I still don’t fully understand how this one works myself). This glitch, while difficult to execute properly, saved a huge amount of time and helped bring the record down even further.
At this point, NicroVeda and LilKirbs took a step back from Odyssey speedrunning, but not before Chaospringle had snagged six more post-sub hour records. The Odyssey Any% speedrunning scene ever since then has been dominated by two runners named Mitch and Tyron18 (yes, the one of Nipple% fame). As of today, the world record set by Tyron18 stands at 00:56:11, an absolutely astounding time that could possibly go even lower.
And what of our runners today? NicroVeda has mostly gone back to his previous niche of Wii Sports speedruns (yes, you heard that right), although he occasionally still goes back to Odyssey to take a crack at getting top 100 in the Koopa Freerunning minigame. Chaospringle still runs Odyssey Any% to this day and boasts an impressive current personal best time of 00:57:17 that sits in 8th place on the leaderboards, although he hasn’t held the world record since July 8th, 2019. LilKirbs transitioned to Super Mario Maker content- you might know him as the guy who beats all those unbeatable kaizo levels. Suisaiga hasn’t posted anything on the internet since 2018, so unless he goes by a different name now I have no idea what he’s up to. Vallu has since moved to Splatoon 3 speedrunning, and is smashing the records on the Side Order DLC with the same intensity he did Odyssey’s.
And Shaeden? Well, Shaeden did disappear… only to jump out of retirement in 2023 under the pseudonym Em0_oticon to absolutely shatter the Final Fantasy 14 Kugane Tower record by four seconds, making speedrunner Pint’s record- set only two days earlier- entirely obsolete. Pint was a good sport about it, though.
As for the future of Odyssey speedrunning… who knows? Even after the height of the 2018-2019 speedrunning craze has passed, Odyssey is still holding strong as a popular speedrunning game, and records in all categories are being broken to this day.
Every day, speedrunners in all manners and types of games attempt to do the impossible. And sometimes, they even succeed. If you asked me in 2018, I would have told you sub-one hour was entirely impossible myself. On March 23rd, 2019, I was proven wrong. Who can say which supposedly impossible record will be broken next?

Footnotes

¹ During the final Escape segment, in what is (in my opinion) one of the coolest moments in any Mario game, the player captures a defeated Bowser using Cappy and plays as him for the entire segment as they race to get out of the crumbling core of the Moon.
² Technically, it’s possible to get the glitch on all versions, it just won’t load the Madame Broodal fight later in other versions, which is required to leave the Cascade Kingdom.
³ There are a couple more strats named after Dram precisely for this reason: Ice Pillar Dram, Double Dram (also known as Dram Dram), Metro Dram and Bowser Dram. It eventually just became a meme in the community to name random strats after Dram, although the term "Dram" is also used to refer to any strat that makes use of the "capture warp" exploit that the original Dram Strat (Sand Dram) was created around.
For further reading, please consult Smallant1's retrospective video on the history of Super Mario Odyssey speedrunning. It goes into a lot more depth than I did about the different glitches and strategies found by the community that helped improve the speedrun, and also served as a great source of information for me while writing this post.
And if you want to hear more about the absolute madlad that is Shaeden/Pydoyks, here's a great video by Lowest Percent that explains that whole saga.

Timestamp: https://i.imgur.com/lfa6Vch.jpeg
Uppers: https://imgur.com/a/e8B3uLE
Other items, including scope and serials: https://imgur.com/a/C5NTouP
Msr pics: https://imgur.com/a/UmW8lSp
I accept Paypal, Venmo, Cashapp, Zelle, Apple Pay.
Bundles > Dibs.

PM ME HERE: www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=ihategunz

LMT Chodewar Upper Receiver + 9" 300BO Barrel

SKU: L7XS2A, L7BW1B
Never fired, no salt. Have two of these, selling one. Upper is from BTO, Barrel is new from d.wilson.
$1199 $1169 shipped

Clone Correct URGI 10.3

Here i've got a clone correct URGI 10.3 in a smooth shade of DDC. All parts are unfired except for the CH and Upper receiver. Had this assembled and sitting in my closet for close to a year now, i love looking at it but it's time i sell some extras.
Parts List:
Surplus Colt 13629 Keyhole upper
Daniel Defense 10.3 Barrel NSN Marked w/ DD GB and Tube
Geissele 9.3" MK16 DDC
Geissele DDC ACH, NSN Marked (shade matches MK16)
Surefire 4 Prong, NSN Marked
Asking $999 shipped

Sig 516 Complete Upper

SIG 516 OEM Upper, 14.5 P/W to 16" with SF3P Warcomp.
Catch and Release, not fired by me but swapped in Full Auto Cut BCG from a different 516, 200 rounds total.
$869 $839 shipped

WOA Barrel + Bolt + Tube

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/3-gun-mk-1-9-223-5-56-18-1-8-twist-w-gas-tube.html
18" 1-8 twist WOA MK1.9 Barrel
WOA Matched Bolt
WOA gas tube
270 rounds
I paid $400ish + 3 months of wait.
Yours for $369 $309 shipped

Larue MBT2S

BNIB 2x curved 2x flat (not skeleton).
$105 each

Eotech VUDU 1-8 LPVO SFP HC3

Mild salt as seen in pics, comes with box and stickers and papers. Glass is clear and no scratches
$869 $809 shipped

Barrels n Muzzle and Blast Cans (all 556)

Sig 3 Prong: $29 each
1x Mini King Comp from Strike Industries: $49 shipped
16" Colt 13629 Marked Barrel with shaved gasblock and BCM barrel nut. $199 $189 shipped

BRN4 Parts from Forsaken Build

2x BNIB Operating Rods, $59 shipped each
1x Mounted unfired operating rod, $55 shipped
1x 14.5/16in Gas Blocks: $109 $99 shipped

Mounts

Weaver Extra High 34mm Rings: $79 $49 New
Aimpoint PRO Riser spacer:, $10 addon
Nightforce 30mm 20MOA ultramount 1.54": $249 $199
Aimpoint Micro OEM Mount: same as this one https://aimpoint.us/micro-standard-mount-for-h-1-h-2-kit/ very light salt, $69 $49 shipped
ADM 30mm Mounts, one is 1316, one is 1324 and has 3 in cant. Comes with quality McMaster high carbon content screws. $169 each
Aimpoint Pro low Mount: $49 shipped

Sig Stuff

Sig Brace: chunky mfer, SB15 is the model. $39, light salt
Sig Folding Knuckle, new, $75 lshipped.
P365 grip: $25, light salt

Glock Stuff

Glock Sights: all takeoffs, $15 each. Tritium rear one is $30. $69 for all.

AK Stuff

JMAC: Non-Folding Stock/Brace Mount for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
1913 Adapter for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
MOE K2 AK Grip: FDE BNIB, $15

NVG Stuff

Norotos Mount + Head Mount + J arm + Infrared tag for dog leash: $89 shipped

Random Shit

BCM BCG 150 rounds: $159 shipped
Magpul Sling Mount RSA: $24 shipped
Bushmaster Commercial Spec Stock: $29 shipped
Tenebraex M68-ARD, works with Aimpoint PRO: $35 light salted but no structural damage to honeycomb
Aimpoint P2 Cap OEM: free addon
Vortex Solo 10x25: like new, $69 shipped
Sig MSR 1-6 with Mount, light salt on mount and one of the turrets, $249 shipped

Patches

Also patches if you would like some: https://www.reddit.com/GunAccessoriesForSale/s/NzKFRKbgjL

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/hTWqBNB
Uppers: https://imgur.com/a/e8B3uLE
Other items, including scope and serials: https://imgur.com/a/C5NTouP
I accept Paypal, Venmo, Cashapp, Zelle, Apple Pay.
Bundles > Dibs.

PM ME HERE: www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=ihategunz

LMT Chodewar Upper Receiver + 9" 300BO Barrel

SKU: L7XS2A, L7BW1B
Never fired, no salt. Have two of these, selling one. Upper is from BTO, Barrel is new from d.wilson.
$1199 $1169 shipped

Clone Correct URGI 10.3

Here i've got a clone correct URGI 10.3 in a smooth shade of DDC. All parts are unfired except for the CH and Upper receiver. Had this assembled and sitting in my closet for close to a year now, i love looking at it but it's time i sell some extras.
Parts List:
Surplus Colt 13629 Keyhole upper
Daniel Defense 10.3 Barrel NSN Marked w/ DD GB and Tube
Geissele 9.3" MK16 DDC
Geissele DDC ACH, NSN Marked (shade matches MK16)
Surefire 4 Prong, NSN Marked
Asking $999 shipped

Sig 516 Complete Upper

SIG 516 OEM Upper, 14.5 P/W to 16" with SF3P Warcomp.
Catch and Release, not fired by me but swapped in Full Auto Cut BCG from a different 516, 200 rounds total.
$869 $839 shipped

WOA Barrel + Bolt + Tube

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/3-gun-mk-1-9-223-5-56-18-1-8-twist-w-gas-tube.html
18" 1-8 twist WOA MK1.9 Barrel
WOA Matched Bolt
WOA gas tube
270 rounds
I paid $400ish + 3 months of wait.
Yours for $369 $309 shipped

Larue MBT2S

BNIB 3x curved 3x flat (not skeleton).
$105 each

Eotech VUDU 1-8 LPVO SFP HC3

Mild salt as seen in pics, comes with box and stickers and papers. Glass is clear and no scratches
$869 $809 shipped

Barrels n Muzzle and Blast Cans (all 556)

Sig 3 Prong: $29 each
1x Mini King Comp from Strike Industries: $49 shipped
16" Colt 13629 Marked Barrel with shaved gasblock and BCM barrel nut. $199 $189 shipped

BRN4 Parts from Forsaken Build

2x BNIB Operating Rods, $59 shipped each
1x Mounted unfired operating rod, $55 shipped
1x 14.5/16in Gas Blocks: $109 $99 shipped

Mounts

Weaver Extra High 34mm Rings: $79 $49 New
Aimpoint PRO Riser spacer:, $10 addon
Nightforce 30mm 20MOA ultramount 1.54": $249 $199
Aimpoint Micro OEM Mount: same as this one https://aimpoint.us/micro-standard-mount-for-h-1-h-2-kit/ very light salt, $69 $49 shipped
ADM 30mm Mounts, one is 1316, one is 1324 and has 3 in cant. Comes with quality McMaster high carbon content screws. $169 each
Aimpoint Pro low Mount: $49 shipped

Sig Stuff

Sig Brace: chunky mfer, SB15 is the model. $39, light salt
P365 grip: $25, light salt

Glock Stuff

Glock Sights: all takeoffs, $15 each. Tritium rear one is $30. $69 for all.

AK Stuff

JMAC: Non-Folding Stock/Brace Mount for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
1913 Adapter for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
MOE K2 AK Grip: FDE BNIB, $15

NVG Stuff

Norotos Mount + Head Mount + J arm + Infrared tag for dog leash: $89 shipped

Random Shit

BCM BCG 150 rounds: $159 shipped
Bushmaster Commercial Spec Stock: $29 shipped
Tenebraex M68-ARD, works with Aimpoint PRO: $35 light salted but no structural damage to honeycomb
Aimpoint P2 Cap OEM: free addon
Vortex Solo 10x25: like new, $69 shipped

Patches

Also patches if you would like some: https://www.reddit.com/GunAccessoriesForSale/s/NzKFRKbgjL

I get a super itchy throat about half the time I eat coconut. The reaction I sometimes get to coconut matches the reaction I get to other allergies I’m confirmed to have and have an epipen for. My reactions aren’t bad enough to kill me yet, but I have an epipen incase my allergies worsens and it could kill me. It’s so weird though cause I only react to some coconut, any coconut milk labeled as “dairy free” or “vegan alternative” I react to, but if it’s canned coconut milk or coconut cream for curry I don’t get a reaction at all. I also react to coconut shavings depending on the brand, some I react to and some I don’t :/ what I react to and what I don’t react to is always consistent, I never react to a coconut product Iv never reacted to before and I always react to coconut products Iv reacted to before. Anyone have any leads what this could be? Is there a compound or cell or something only certain varieties of coconut’s contain or something? Maybe a specific pesticide? My allergy tests can’t find the culprit.
I’m allergic to bees, pollen, banana, apple, all trees except oak and all tree nuts if that info is helpful at all

I've seen several nightmare vasectomy posts here lately, and wanted to balance the scales with a good story. This is in no way meant to belittle the terrible experiences some may have had with their vasectomies. This is just me telling fellow Dads about my good experience.
I booked my vasectomy just before Christmas and had it in early January. I opted for the "no scalpel/no needle" procedure, which cost about $150 as it was over and above what was covered under the universal health system we have in Canada. My wife and I have 2 lovely kids and our family is complete.
At my consultation, the doctor was very good about explaining the entire procedure, how the male reproductive system works, what to expect, what not to expect, and also what procedures they would follow if there were complications. I went into it planning that if I got bad vibes I'd simply not proceed. Vibes were good, so I booked.
Day comes... I'm nervous. Doctor compliments me on my shaving job and uses what I can only describe as a hypospray from Stsr Trek on my nuts. It uses pressure to push the anesthetic below the skin... no needle. It felt no worse than plucking maybe 2 hairs out at the same time. The numbing worked like a charm and he used a little device to punch a hole in the skin and pull out the vas deferens which he then cauterized to cut it and clamped. I thought he was still prepping when I saw little wisps of smoke - that's how painless it was. Definitely felt weird being manhandled though.
I was in an out in about 20 minutes. Walked gingerly for a couple days and had a tiny bit of lingering soreness like I'd been kicked in the nuts badly a couple of days ago. My wife and I enjoyed our marital privileges (wink wink nudge nudge) with one another a week later.. albeit a little gently.
I made sure to follow post-op instructions, which included frequent cranking of the hog (highly medical terms).
It apparently can take up to 12 weeks to clear any sperm out of your system, so at 13 weeks, I brought in a sample as instructed and within a few days had a call from my doctor indicating zero sperm and a complete success.
My wife and I had a celebratory dinner, with twinkies for dessert ifyaknowwhatimsayin.
I feel really good about this because it was so straightforward, and my wife has never been on birth control as she reacts very negatively to it. And condoms give me a rash so our main contraception for over a decade has been to simply... well you know.. which as we all know is not a reliable method.
Thanks for listening. I highly recommend this procedure for those on the fence. Make sure the vibes are good in the consultation and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Hi all, I am an early-stage clawhammer banjo learner and it’s going well, and I’ve realized I REALLY like the sound of nylgut strings over steel. Want to switch over to gut strings, but want to make sure I buy the right stuff. Current setup: Pisgah Possum Pisgah Hawk tailpiece Sampson Old Growth compensated bridge
Questions: 1. A ship told me my tailpiece was too narrow for for string loops. What tailpiece should I look for 2. Do I need to shave open the string slots on my bridge and nut, or are there replacement pieces I should buy?
I am terrified at the prospect of trying to widen slots and damaging the banjo.
Any help is appreciated; thank you!

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/PeA8Fi7
Uppers: https://imgur.com/a/e8B3uLE
Other items, including scope and serials: https://imgur.com/a/C5NTouP
I accept Paypal, Venmo, Cashapp, Zelle, Apple Pay.
Bundles > Dibs.

PM ME HERE: www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=ihategunz

LMT Chodewar Upper Receiver + 9" 300BO Barrel

SKU: L7XS2A, L7BW1B
Never fired, no salt. Have two of these, selling one. Upper is from BTO, Barrel is new from d.wilson.
$1199 $1169 shipped

Centurion Arms Chrome Sandcutter Carriers

3x New from factory, never fired or installed.
https://imgur.com/a/h6VuRLe
Paid $600 + $20 shipping. Selling for $205 each.

Clone Correct URGI 10.3

Here i've got a clone correct URGI 10.3 in a smooth shade of DDC. All parts are unfired except for the CH and Upper receiver. Had this assembled and sitting in my closet for close to a year now, i love looking at it but it's time i sell some extras.
Parts List:
Surplus Colt 13629 Keyhole upper
Daniel Defense 10.3 Barrel NSN Marked w/ DD GB and Tube
Geissele 9.3" MK16 DDC
Geissele DDC ACH, NSN Marked (shade matches MK16)
Surefire 4 Prong, NSN Marked
Asking $999 shipped

Sig 516 Complete Upper

SIG 516 OEM Upper, 14.5 P/W to 16" with SF3P Warcomp.
Catch and Release, not fired by me but swapped in Full Auto Cut BCG from a different 516, 200 rounds total.
$869 $839 shipped

WOA Barrel + Bolt + Tube

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/3-gun-mk-1-9-223-5-56-18-1-8-twist-w-gas-tube.html
18" 1-8 twist WOA MK1.9 Barrel
WOA Matched Bolt
WOA gas tube
270 rounds
I paid $400ish + 3 months of wait.
Yours for $369 $309 shipped

Larue MBT2S

BNIB 2x curved 2x flat (not skeleton).
$105 each

Eotech VUDU 1-8 LPVO SFP HC3

Mild salt as seen in pics, comes with box and stickers and papers. Glass is clear and no scratches
$869 $809 shipped

Barrels n Muzzle and Blast Cans (all 556)

Sig 3 Prong: $29 each
1x Mini King Comp from Strike Industries: $49 shipped
16" Colt 13629 Marked Barrel with shaved gasblock and BCM barrel nut. $199 shipped

BRN4 Parts from Forsaken Build

2x BNIB Operating Rods, $59 shipped each
1x Mounted unfired operating rod, $55 shipped
1x 14.5/16in Gas Blocks: $109 $99 shipped

Mounts

Weaver Extra High 34mm Rings: $79 $49 New
Aimpoint PRO Riser spacer:, $10 addon
Nightforce 30mm 20MOA ultramount 1.54": $249 $199
Aimpoint Micro OEM Mount: same as this one https://aimpoint.us/micro-standard-mount-for-h-1-h-2-kit/ very light salt, $69 $49 shipped
ADM 30mm Mounts, one is 1316, one is 1324 and has 3 in cant. Comes with quality McMaster high carbon content screws. $169 each
Aimpoint Pro low Mount: $49 shipped

Sig Stuff

Sig Brace: chunky mfer, SB15 is the model. $49, light salt
P365 grip: $25, light salt

Glock Stuff

Glock Sights: all takeoffs, $15 each. Tritium rear one is $30. $69 for all.

PDP Stuff

Tenicor Certum3 PDP: $79 shipped, like new SOLD
PDP V2 507k Optic Plate: ZR Tactical aluminum plate, $39, like new

AK Stuff

JMAC: Non-Folding Stock/Brace Mount for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
1913 Adapter for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
MOE K2 AK Grip: FDE BNIB, $15

NVG Stuff

Norotos Mount + Head Mount + J arm + Infrared tag for dog leash: $89 shipped

Random Shit

Bushmaster Commercial Spec Stock: $29 shipped
Tenebraex M68-ARD, works with Aimpoint PRO: $35 light salted but no structural damage to honeycomb
Aimpoint P2 Cap OEM: free addon
Centurion mlok covers: $5 addon
Vortex Solo 10x25: like new, $69 shipped

Patches

Also patches if you would like some: https://www.reddit.com/GunAccessoriesForSale/s/NzKFRKbgjL

This may just be because I’m pregnant and hormonal changes and all that, but for the past few months I’ve experienced some pretty bad chafing around my intimate areas along with skin darkening? I hesitate to call it chafing because I’ve been plus size for years and I’ve never had this problem, but my skin is raised and bumpy/itchy and it looks almost like an eczema outbreak (I have eczema but so far only on my arms and my outbreaks are small and infrequent, nothing like this).
My mother advised to stop shaving but again I’ve been shaving for years and years and this has never been an issue. I’ve ordered some turmeric soaps for the discoloration but would you guys recommend a moisturizer or some other routine? Desperate for advice rn, it’s driving me nuts.