I've been meaning to make this post for a while but life kept getting in the way.
There is a bunch of new (well, new to me) stuff I've discovered over the last few weeks, and wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Let's start with the "prequel" (although never canonically confirmed) to the Marathon series was a game called Pathways to Darkness. The backstory for this game is:

Sixty-four million years ago, a large extra-terrestrial object struck the Earth in what would later be called the Yucatan Peninsula, in south eastern Mexico. The dust and rock thrown up by the resulting explosion caused enormous climactic changes in the ensuing years, and many of the Earth's species became extinct during the long winter that followed.
The object itself was buried thousands of feet below ground, its nearly two kilometer length remarkably intact. It remained there, motionless, for thousands of years before it finally began to stir-- and to dream.

Hmm. Buried below ground. Finally beginning to stir and dream. Who does that sound like?
Let's keep going.

The heat of impact liquefied the rock around it, which later cooled and encased the dead god's huge body far below ground. As it began to dream, it wrought unintentional changes in its environment. Locked deep beneath the Earth, strange and unbelievable things faded in and out of reality. Vast caverns and landscapes bubbled to life within the rock, populated by horrible manifestations of the dead god's dream.

As it began to dream, it wrought unintentional changes in its environment.. Locked deep beneath the Earth, strange and unbelievable things faded in and out of reality.
Like Fingerrats? Or like Spider-wolves?

Vast caverns and landscapes bubbled to life within the rock, populated by horrible manifestations of the dead god's dream.

Caverns and landscapes. I want to expand this point here for a bit because it's also mirrored across Alagaesia.
Let's start with Helgrind.
For any FV enjoyers, I've previously speculated that Helgrind is a reliquary, or a previously living being that was transformed (a la Ctein).
But the curious thing here is the timeline of Helgrind and it's tunnel system, taken with the above context.

Q: Assuming it wasn't built by the Ra'zac themselves, was the lair inside Helgrind purpose-built for the Ra'zac and Lethrblaka, or did they appropriate it some time after it was built? If it wasn't built for them, what was its original purpose?
A: Partially natural formations (linked to tunnels elsewhere in Alagaësia), partly expanded by the priests of Helgrind and Galbatorix himself.

But... The Ra'Zac didn't inhabit Helgrind until at least after the Humans came over. So these tunnels underneath Helgrind existed before the Ra'Zac, or Galbatorix ever set foot on Alagaesia. Which, I don't know about you, but a massive network of tunnels does not smell entirely natural to me.
So.. where else are there "natural" formations that link to other tunnels elsewhere in Alagaesia?
We've seen these "natural" formations in Vroengard:

Q: The deeps under Vroengard, were they created by the riders or was it a previous system of caverns that they repurposed?
A: Previous system. I mean, there's been work done on them, but... 'It looks similar, parts of it feel similar to the caverns that we encountered in this book. They both have that hole in the cave which goes deeper, with something in the hole that's not clearly defined.' Yeah.

And we've seen similar depictions in the Beors, and Nal Gorgoth. So from the Beors to Vroengard, "natural" tunnels exist underground. I don't buy that they are entirely natural.
Given the context of the Marathon game above:

Vast caverns and landscapes bubbled to life within the rock, populated by horrible manifestations of the dead god's dream.

I think these tunnels came from Azlagur.
Let's switch gears here, I want to talk about another archaeological mystery in the world of Eragon - El-Harim.
I believe El-Harim was heavily influenced by the (not canon confirmed, but implied) prequel to the Marathon games, the Pathways into Darkness

Pathways casts the player as a member of a US Army Special Forces team sent on a mission to the Yucatán Peninsula. On May 5, 1994, a diplomat from the alien race known as the Jjaro appeared to the President of the United States and informed him that on May 13, an ancient godlike being sleeping beneath a pyramid would awaken and destroy the Earth. The only way to prevent this catastrophe is to prevent the god from awakening. The eight-man Special Forces team carries a nuclear weapon, with the goal of entering the ancient pyramid, descending to the bottom level where the god sleeps, and activating the bomb to stun the god and bury it under tons of rock.

Getting into a bit more of the backstory:

Only during the last few centuries has the god begun to effect changes on the surface of the Earth. Grotesque creatures have been sighted deep in the trackless forest of the Yucatan, and strange rumors of an ancient pyramid-- which is neither Aztec nor Mayan-- in the same area have been circulating in the archaeological community since the early 1930's.

Pyramid, eh? There are two different options here I can think of that equate.
The extended FWW Map
First, in the extended map from FWW, we can see a Pyramid-esque shape - Different color, different slope, etc.
Or, second (and probably more likely), it could be El-Harim:

It is a very bad place. It’s a place where some bad things happened at one point and it’s not a good place to go walking around. I don’t want to get into it too much more because again, it’s a good possibility for another story and I want to keep thinking about it a bit more. It is in Alagaesia and we’ve actually been close to the location.

Many speculate that the below vision from Eragon in Brisingr, which was never explained in the main cycle, is of El-Harim:

And he rested, and visions beset him of a circular stone city that stood in the center of an endless plain and of a small girl who wandered among the narrow, winding alleys within and who sang a haunting melody (A Feast with Friends, Brisingr).

If this vision IS El-Harim , it's super significant because of these two descriptors:

circular stone city
narrow, winding alleys

Fractals. The city itself is a fractal, like Nidus for any FV enjoyers.
The narrow winding alleys are significant because of the descriptors of the Vanished/Grey folk:

The spaces between the structures were narrower than the humans preferred; the proportions were taller, thinner, which matched the images she had seed of the Vanished...
The ancient outline of the city was - as she suspected - a fractal, and the shape of it contained meaning.... At the nexus of the apttern, where it coiled in on itslef like a nautilus shell" (Shards, TSIASOS).

Narrow. Circular (Nautilus shell). Winding. Fractal.
Whatever this city is, El-Harim or otherwise, it is/was a grey folk/vanished city.
And given the quotes from above - "Its a place where some bad things happened at one point", and "dangerous, creeping, ancient, evil thing" - My guess is that the event that caused the Grey Folk to bind the AL to magic happened here, in El-Harim.
Alright, moving along.
Let's talk about the Az and the God. There are a few parallels I've talked around, but the BIG link between the two are Dreams. This is especially important because of the release of the world map recently.

We are the devotees of Azlagur, the Devourer. Azlagur the Firstborn. Azlagur the Dreamer. He who sleeps and whose sleeping mind weaves the warp and weft of the waking world. But the sleep grows restless" (Obliteration, Murtagh).

Versus

As it began to dream, it wrought unintentional changes in its environment. Locked deep beneath the Earth, strange and unbelievable things faded in and out of reality. Vast caverns and landscapes bubbled to life within the rock, populated by horrible manifestations of the dead god's dream.

I could write a whole post about the parallels between the two and their linkage to dreams, but I'll cut it short here for now to save room to dig in to other areas. Specifically, the Dreams connection is especially important because of the relase of the world map recently - I have another post here that gets into more detail, but the translations from the World Map in the middle translate to:

where dreams and dragons dwell

Dreams (!) and Dragons.
Combine that with the Etymology of the words:

Alagaësia ala = land gaësia = rich/fertile
Alalëa ala = land lëa = a beautiful dream
Elëa = the dream itself

So the planet, named Elea, translates to "The Dream Itself". Very interesting.
This is even more significant when you take into account this tweet chain from Chris, a bit earlier in March

Darn it. Just invented a name in the ancient language. Googled it to make sure no one else had used it ... only to discover that I had used it in an earlier book. Lol.
Can we ask what name?
Edurna

I believe the name was a potential candidate for the name of the planet of Alagaesia, which is important because of the etymology of THAT name (All credit to Zora for digging this one up).

Edurna sounds awfully like Adurna and Edur
Adurna meaning water and Edur being a prominence

Prominence. And Water. You know what that sounds like to me? Plaintive Verge. Just food for thought.
Second-to-last Az connection I want to cover: Hunger.

Whirling darkness swallowed him, and at the center of it... lay a formless horror - ancient and evil and from which emanated a constant merciless hunger (Dreams and Portents).

Versus a quote about the cosmic entity in Marathon:

Now I fear what that weapon has unleashed will destroy us. I once boasted to be able to count the atoms in a cloud, to understand them all, predict them, and so did I predict you, but this new chaos is entirely terrible, mindless, obeying rules that I don't comprehend. And it is hungry.

Now, the last piece of Azlagur-related lore I want to cover here is the "Black Sun".
In all of the visions, a Black Sun precipitates Azlagur's rise.

"A black sun rimmed by black flame hung against a darkling sky... The beast rose rampant against the black sun - A wingless dragon, apocalyptic in size, terrifying in presence. Destroyer of hope, eater of light"

Before getting into the Black Sun a bit more, there's an additional connection here I want to touch on - usage of the word rampant in connection with Azlagur.

In Marathon, Rampancy is the enhanced self-awareness of a computer AI, causing a progression towards greater mental abilities and destructive impulses. The destructive impulses, however, are primarily caused by being threatened or harassed. There are three main stages, as well as a fourth and final stage that is rarely achieved, to rampancy, named by the primary attitude of the AI during those times: Melancholia, Anger, Jealousy, and Meta-Stability.

There are some overlaps with what we see from the Maw.
And Melancholia.. that's an interesting word. Especially when taken into context the meaning of the name:

A melancholy dream of great beauty.

Melancholy.. Dream... The pieces of the puzzle are coming together. And Rampant...
Chris also uses that exact same verbiage when discussing a deleted scene from TSIASOS:

Q: I just finished reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and I have to know: it sounds like the Wranaui fought the corrupted during the Sundering but if that's true and it happened almost 300 years prior.... Who created the old corrupted? I've been questioning this for days!
A: That was actually in material cut by editors (some of the dream memories). Another Seed/Idealis was damaged and, when the Old Ones tried to separate it from its host, the xeno went rampant.

The xeno went rampant. Very interesting.
Alrighty, I keep getting distracted, back to the black sun.
The reason the Black Sun is important is because it always precipitates Azlagur's rise, throughout several of Murtahgh's visions. In each of them, there is a Black sun.
So, by this, we can extrapolate that the sun needs to be Black in order for Azlagur to rise (which is hinted at at the "Day of Black Sun" celebrations near the end of the book).
But... what does it actually mean?
There is a parallel in Marathon, their weapon:

The trih xeem (also "tri xeem") is an extremely powerful weapon that can be used to force a star into early nova... it was originally conceived and built by the Jjaro [The Old Ones/Vanished equivalent]. Much of the Marathon Infinity story revolves around preventing the Pfhor from using the tri xeem and inadvertently releasing a W'rkncacnter that is supposedly trapped within the Lh'owon sun.

So, the story of the last Marathon games revolves around preventing the usage of the weapon to release the cosmic-level baddie trapped in the sun. So, effectively, the antagonist is imprisoned by the sun.
But.. how does that translate to Azlagur and Murtagh?
The Black Sun requirement for Azlagur's rise could be construed as "imprisonment" by the sun; Azlagur cannot escape until the sun is turned Black. But it only really starts to come together when you piece together these pictures.
First, early concept art for the Fractalverse
You see the black orb, heading directly for the glowing star? Sounds pretty similar.
But that's not the smoking gun; look at the depiction of the black orb in the concept art, and compare it to the trih xeem, the weapon in Marathon.
A black orb with a trail heading directly for the sun. Almost an exact match.
OK.. so I get that it has some relevence in fractalverse, but how does it translate to Eragon?
Well, because of the Beors. Specifically, a picture CHRIS HIMSELF posted about the Beors.
Here
I propose that THIS black orb, at the top of the Beors (which, suspiciously, no one has traveled to) houses the black weapon. After all, the depiction is quite similar - A large, circular, black orb. Looks pretty similar to the other pictures.
And given the above context that Azlagur can only rise with a "Black Sun", the pieces all start to fit together. It's not perfect, but there are definitely a lot of overlaps.
Alright. I've been waiting for this one. The last piece. Let's talk about Angela.
Q: Will we get Angela lore? I feel like she could have killed Galbatorix and just didn't feel like it.
A: For those who don't know Angela is based on my sister Angela, because she breaks the fourth wall to a degree she has. Not only does she have plot armor, she knows she's in a story and can break the story itself. So, yes, she could have killed Galbatorix, but that would have made for a very bad story. That said, I do have an entire book planned around Angela, and it's very high on my list of books to write because it takes place before some of these other big stories I want to write. And that's also the difficult thing. I have my big storylines, and then I have a couple of one off side books I want to write, and it's just a question of time, energy and effort.
She knows she's in a story, and she can break the story.
Based on that, and several other descriptions I will get into in a bit, I think her story is directly related to the Marathon Infinity game.

Marathon Infinity begins as the Pfhor destroy Lh'owon using a Jjaro-derived doomsday weapon known as the Trih Xeem or "early nova". Unfortunately, the weapon also releases a powerful chaotic being: The W’rkncacnter, which threatens to destroy the entire galaxy. Because of the W’rkncacnter's chaos or by means of some Jjaro tech of his own, the player is transported back and forward in time, finding himself jumping between timelines and fighting for various sides in a desperate attempt to prevent the chaotic being's release.

and

In Marathon Infinity, a W'rkncacnter is imprisoned in the sun of planet Lh'owon. It is theorized by some that the W'rkncacnter's powerfully chaotic nature may be responsible for the jumps between realities seen in the game. When the Pfhor use a trih xeem device to send the star into early nova, the creature is released, to the horror and destruction of the Pfhor.

Angela is the Eragon-equivalent of the player.
She can transport back and forward in time, jumping between timelines, and fighting to prevent the chaotic being's (Azlagur's) release. Let's dive in.
First:

Q: Is it canon that Angela the Herbalist is a Time Lord and did she make a cameo in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars?
A: Is Angela the Herbalist is a Time Lord? That would be copyright infringement, so I'm going to say "no comment", but she is in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. And there is a canon reason for this. And you should have no problem spotting who she is in that book.

So there's a canon reason she's in the book. Interesting. When you take that into context with the next bit

Q: On your last AMA on reddit, someone asked if any fan had guessed the identity and history of Angela correctly. You said nobody has guessed correctly and there's not enough information in the books to do so. That puts every fan theory out there on her wrong, correct? She's not the soothsayer, a time lord, grey folk, etc, correct?
A: Angela: Some of the fan theories have gotten parts of her history and identity correct. However, there's a HUGE aspect to her nature that no one has guessed (or least, not in a non-joking way). And no, I don't mean her being a Time Lord.

So there's a huge aspect to her nature that no one has guessed (at least at the time of writing). She's self-aware, knows she's in a story, and can jump around in time. And, similar to the Marathon games, it appears like only she knows that she's in a story.
So, based on the Marathon inspiration, we can guess that she is trying to accomplish the same thing - To prevent the release of the cosmic-level villain. We know that she has some kind of relationship with the Draumar:

In Murtagh, it’s revealed that Bachel and “Uluthrek” (Mooneater, Angela’s given Urgal name) met with Bachel explicitly going out to confront her (a courtesy not even offered to a Rider like Murtagh)

So, by extension, she has some kind of connection to Azlagur. This is supported by other circumstantial evidence in FWW as well:

Since we know that the Dream Well in Mani's Caves is similar to the Well in Nal Gorgoth I can assume that Angela is revealing the existence of the Draumar to Elva there? I feel certainly feel as if you're setting up her for something in the future series.
Heh. Good Catch.

So, she is clearly working with Elva to do something related to the Dream Wells, and she also previously confronted Bachel, many years ago. So throughout multiple years across the WoE, she is connected to Azlagur and the Draumar; her story clearly revolves around them/Azlagur, somehow.
Putting the above pieces together, my guess is that she is jumping around in different timelines, trying to manipulate actions of the past to prevent the rise of Azlagur. Just like the player character in Marathon. There's another piece of circumstantial evidence to support this assertion as well.
In Marathon Infinity:

After multiple "jumps," the player (seemingly the only one who realizes he is being transported between possible realities)

Versus Angela:

As hours passed, the stars turned above, night chill drew the heat from my body, and I fell into a curious trance, not asleep but not fully awake... The world altered" (On the Nature of Stars, FWW).

I believe this world "Altering" was the first time she experienced an alternate timeline, without knowing what it was at the time.
We've also seen her create "Doorways" as well - Although it's not clear if this is fast traveling (a la a Torque Gate), or truly opening a path to another timeline.
In Eldest:

"As they landed, he noticed a patch of white on a small hill nearby. The patch wavered strangely in the dark, like a floating candle, then resolved into Angela, who was wearing a pale wool tunic" (A Sorceress, a Snake, and a Scroll).

and then later, more concretely:

"I traced a line on the wall, reached out, and opened a door that wasn't there. ON the other side - nighttime, a beach by a black ocean lit only by stars, so many, many stars, more than there should be. Of course, I would not take Elva to my home, not yet. But this was a waypoint, a place to build and learn and grow... She stared into the gap, the impossible portal" (On the Nature of Stars, FWW).

Still, as always with Angela, so many questions.
Alright, we've reached an ungodly wordcount, so I'll call it here. There are still more connections I'm uncovering between the two series (such as the potential connection between the Gedway Ignasia and the "warning" sensation from Marathon), so I might make a follow-up post in the future with everything else I uncover.
As always, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments, or if you've found any other connections between the two.

tldr: I'm already doing judo 2x a week and want to practice another martial so I can train 5x a week total. In that situation, would you rather train more grappling (In my case it would be adding BJJ), or crosstrain a striking style (kyokushin in my case, but any striking style in general). Please explain your reasoning.
Hello,
I used to do boxing and muay thai as a hobby a few years ago, and had a lot of fun, but I had to stop due to a motorcycle injury. Since then I have recovered, but have not gone back because I started getting concerned about building up brain damage from getting punched in the head.
Lately I have decided to get back into martial arts, for fun and fitness, and I received the opportunity to train judo 2x a week in a very nice gym, competely free, due to the onwer being a personal friend of mine.
Since I have been getting excited I decided that I would like to train 5x a week around the same time in the morning, to keep my schedule regular.
So I have narrowed down my options to doing more Judo, adding BJJ or Kyokushin.
Both bjj and kyokushin are close to my home and cost about the same. I really enjoyed striking when I did boxing/muay thai, and the fact that kyokushin doesn't have head punches means that I can practice safely without worrying as much about brain damage.
However, I kind of like the culture of BJJ. I live in Brazil, born and raised, and so I have met many BJJ players, and found that there is a thriving community. It's fun to be chatting with an aquaintance and find out they also do BJJ and start talking about it. Also, I have found that the practioners tend to be less strict with traditions and such, unlike the kyokushin place which has a more traditional sensei and general vibe.
In general, I found Kyokushin sparing more fun than BJJ, and about as fun as Judo, because of it being faster paced, but I think that maybe once I get better at BJJ and get to know more about the strategies I'll appreciate it more.
While Judo has the advantage of being free for me, one of my goals with this is taking up a martial art that I could do for a very long time, even into my old age, which I think rules out Judo. At the BJJ gym I don't see many older people, but it seems to me that since it is less explosive than Judo and Kyokushin it would be more conductive to training as an older man.
Regarding risk of injuries, I couldn't find a lot of information comparing the both, but Kyokushin seems safer, based on my uneducated perception. I also do resistance training as well, so I think I can keep my body relatively in shape in order to mitigate injuries too.
I am aware that Judo can result in many injuries, but I am still fairly young, and in relatively good shape so I think I can manage it for a while, but I do think I will eventually drop it when my body can't keep up with throws and falls anymore.
I am not a competitive person, and as such I don't currently have a desire to compete in anything. I also have been mugged a few times, so my belief is that self defense is way more about awareness and staying calm than about fighting skill, so that isn't really a concern for me.
On the other hand, I do like the idea of being a more well rounded martial artist, even though I don't plan on getting into MMA, nor do I believe that brings any significant advantage in the self defense department. So that is a point in favor of adding Kyokushin.
So, all that said, I would like to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of each option. While I would like my particular goals to be taken in consideration for the purposes of this question, I do think it would be interesting to have an open discussion on the merits of focusing on one area or cross training different areas.
Thank you very much,
Best regards

Welcome back to attempting to make Solo into a babyface. Here are some important notes from part 1.
-Smackdown has the men’s MiTB (Andrade holds it)
-Jacob Fatu debut was at Summerslam.
-in the smackdowns leading up to Fastlane, Jacob Fatu and the Tongas turned on Solo
-Jacob Fatu def Solo Sikoa at Fastlane with the help of Zilla Fatu (and sort of Jimmy Uso)
-Jacob Fatu challenged Solo for the position of Tribal Chief, causing Roman Reigns to return.
-Jimmy Uso joins Solo and Roman after hearing Roman is back.
-Jey Uso agreed to return for one fight at Survivor Series
-We sit at the survivor series with the Fatus and the Tongas vs Roman, Solo, and the Usos
On the Smackdown before Survivor Series, Roman and Jacob have a standoff. It was announced that tonight there will be a match between the Usos and Tongas for the advantage in the war games match. Ultimately, a guerrilla warfare hit on Jimmy would end the match, giving the advantage to the new bloodline.
Before we even get to the war games, it's the Rock vs Cody Rhodes for the Universal title, and the match is intense. The Rock goes for a peoples elbow, but is countered. Then he goes for a rock bottom, but is countered into a cross-Rhodes. He hits the first, and goes for a second, and hits that too, and goes for a third, but unlike when he beat Roman at WM40, the Rock is able to get out of it. It’s a brutal fight that goes on for a while. Cody is in a corner, and is thrown on the ground. The Rock goes for his people's elbow again, and is dodged again. Cody looks to dodge the upcoming rock bottom, but the rock expects it, instead hitting Cody in the head and sending him down to the floor. The Rock goes for his third peoples elbow, and lands it this time. 1, 2, 3. The Rock was the champion. Cody Rhodes had lost, giving even more momentum to the new bloodline.
With the team captains and orders set, it was time for the men’s war games match. Roman vs Jacob started it off, and it was clear off the bat Roman hadn’t lost a step. He hit move after move after move on Jacob, but Fatu was resilient. He knew his team had the advantage, and if he waited, his brother would be there soon enough. For the first 5 minutes it’s all Roman Reigns, until Zilla Fatu entered the ring. Even for Roman, 1vs2 monsters was hard. Jacob Fatu looked more insane than ever, and Zilla didn’t look much better. Roman was getting overpowered, and the Fatus were going in on him. But it was time now for the next person to enter. Solo Sikoa was in the match, and instantly went for a big hit on Zilla Fatu. The fight was now back in control for the old bloodline. Solo was beating on Zilla, and Roman was back on top until Jacob. But like before, it was about to get ugly, as now Tama Tonga was in the fight. Tama Tonga went straight for Roman. It was back to Roman getting overrun, and to make matters worse, Zilla had turned the tides against Solo. The old bloodline hoped things could change with the introduction of Jey Uso into the fight, as he went for the quick spear on Tama Tonga, but Tama Tonga was smart, and got out of the way. Now it was Tama beating down Jey, and now Roman was so exhausted it was hard to keep up with Jacob. Things got even worse when Tonga Loa got into the match. It was really bad, especially for Jey Uso, who was now the target of a double team. Eventually, everyone in the new bloodline hit a finisher on the old bloodline, but they couldn’t pin them yet. However, in came Jimmy Uso, and it was now up to him. He looked at Tama Tonga, the man who took his place, and he hit him with a spear, but Tonga Loa didn’t let that slide, hitting his own spear on Jimmy. But now Jey was up, and hit Tonga Loa with his own spear. It was a spearfest, and Roman looked to get involved, going for the spear and pin on Jacob Fatu, but Jacob kicks out at 2. It was the old bloodline in control, except for Solo, who was still getting wrecked by Zilla. However, it was Jimmy who came to save him, and they lock eyes, with Jimmy nodding his head to Solo. The match rages on, and the tides slowly turn back in the favor of the old bloodline. Multiple 2 counts happen with very close calls. Eventually, everyone’s on the ground except Solo and Tama Tonga. The original new bloodline members stared eachother down, and charged. Tama Tonga went for a finisher, but he missed, which opened the door for a Samoan Spike. He goes for it, and hits it, but before he can go down for the pin, Jacob Fatu, who got up after a vicious Roman spear, hits Solo with a spear of his own. 1, 2, 3. The new bloodline were the winners of the war games match. It’s was a nightmare. The new bloodline had both that match and the WWE Universal title. Things looked bad.
As if things weren’t bad enough, Jey Uso kept his word and went right back to Raw, not wanting any more involvement. However, before he did leave, he quickly let Roman know “if my brothers gonna rock wit yall, don’t let him get hurt real bad, aight?” Roman simply nodded.
It’s the smackdown after survivor series, and now it was time to look ahead to the Royal Rumble. But there was an issue about last match. Was Jacob Fatu the new tribal chief? Well, in his eyes, yes, but to almost everyone else, no. Jacob Fatu realized this, and would come out to confront Roman. They eventually decided to settle it all at the Royal Rumble, a main event of the show with Fatu and Reigns fighting for the official title of Tribal Chief. Not much of note besides the typical run ins from the bloodline happen, so we go straight to the Royal Rumble.
If you want a fun fact, the woman’s winner is Zoey Stark, but we aren’t focused on anything until the men’s Royal Rumble match. Not much of note happens until number 13, which has our first main story entrance, Zilla Fatu. He lasts to about 20, and unfortunately, no backup really arrived, and he was out. At 21, out came Jey Uso, and his brother Jimmy followed at 22. Then it felt like everyone involved with the bloodline came. 24 was Tama Tonga, Cody Rhodes was 25, Tonga Loa was 26, and Randy Orton, who’s back for the first time since his injury against Jacob Fatu at 27. Then we get the grace period in it with 28 being Sheamus. However, at 29, we get someone who’s familiar with the bloodline that hasn’t been mentioned up to this point. Sami Zayn. He’s had a very good run and only recently dropped the IC title to Ilja Dragunov at Survivor Series. Then, at 30, it’s none other than Solo Sikoa. Eventually, we’re down to 6. Tama Tonga, the Uso brothers, Solo, Sami, and Carmelo Hayes. Carmelo Hayes had been here since number 7, and was targeted quickly, but he was good. Eventually, Tama Tonga got his hands on Solo, looking for revenge from that Samoan Spike at Survivor series, and is about to take him over. However, this is when the bond between Jimmy and Solo is truly reformed, and Jimmy saves Solo. However, Tama Tonga takes the chance to eliminate Jimmy Uso, and it’s down to 5. Sami Zayn lands a Heluva Kick on Carmelo, and he seems finished, but Tama Tonga is on a rampage, and looks to eliminate him. However, in a move that’s questioned by a lot of fans, Solo Sikoa eliminates himself to also eliminate Tama Tonga. He looks on at Jey Uso, telling him to win. Jey and Sami, who had been together a lot on raw, team up and eventually eliminate Carmelo, meaning it’s Jey Uso vs Sami Zayn. In the end, after some brutal fighting, it’s Jey Uso who wins the Royal Rumble, getting his shot to win back the World Heavyweight Championship he lost at Summerslam.
With that behind, it was time for Jacob Fatu vs Roman Reigns in a normal match, meaning if anyone got involved, it was over. And indeed, someone, specifically the Rock, got involved. The Rock explains that he’s the tribal chief, and that Jacob Fatu has just been his stand-in for the time being with Roman. But now, it was the road to wrestlemania, and the Rock declared he end Roman for good in Las Vegas. The universal title match was on st wrestlemania.
In the weeks leading up to elimination chamber, we begin to find out who’s gonna be in the match, and the very first 2 to get in are Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. They are followed by Randy Orton, LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes, and Tammaso Ciampa, who at this point has broken off from DIY. Then, it’s time for the match. The winner (seemingly) getting a shot the universal title at wrestlemania. It’s expected that the winner will either kick Roman out of the match or make it a 3-way.
The men’s elimination chamber begins with Melo and Ciampa. Sadly for Ciampa, he’s pinned before the next person, Randy Orton, can even come out. Then, it’s move after move as Solo, then Jacob, then LA Knight all exit their pods. Sadly for this story, and great news for Solo, Jacob Fatu is the second out, being target by everyone else in the ring. However, they then turn their eyes to Solo, but before LA Knight can charge, Randy Orton stops him, saying that “Solo changed, even if he’s still an asshole”. That was all LA Knight needed to hit Randy Orton with a BFT, but is unable to get the 3 count, as Solo stopped him. However, he didn’t need to, because off the top rope came Carmelo Hayes, who goes for the p- RKO OUTTA NOWHERE! 1, 2, 3, Carmelo was done. Now down to the final 3, completely out of it, Randy Orton was the next to go, beating by LA Knight. Now it was Solo vs LA Knight, winner goes to wrestlemania. It was close, with so many 2 counts. However, as LA Knight went on the top rope and going for the jump, Solo Sikoa revealed a new version of the Samoan Spike, as he was somehow able to catch LA Knight with an RKO style Samoan Spike, and that was it for LA Knight, with Solo winning.
Now came the big question. What was Solo going to do. Well, to a lot, it was obvious, and it’s was announced that the match for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship was a triple threat between The Rock, Roman Reigns, and Solo Sikoa.
Over the next few weeks, the new bloodline and old bloodline fueds grew. It was heated, and eventually, the Tongas challenging the Uso brothers to a tag team match for the tag team titles (remember they’re still held by the tongas). One half agrees, but unfortunately, Jey Uso declines. Jimmy Uso needed a tag partner, but was it going to be. Nobody new. Over the weeks, the pecking order became clear to almost everyone when the rock, out of anger, went in on Zilla Fatu for losing a match on Smackdown. Jacob Fatu at first went to bat for his brother, but would eventually also indulge in putting Zilla down. This was the opportunity anyone in the old bloodline was looking for. They wanted a crack in that new bloodline, and they got it. They planted the seeds for Zilla Fatu to turn on the new bloodline, but he wouldn’t do it.
Jacob Fatu was still very clearly angry about Elmination chamber, and every chance he got to attack Solo, he took it. It was back and forth, eventually resulting in a challenge by Jacob Fatu live on stage to Solo, the main event of night one for the chance to fight in the title match against the rock and Roman. However, before Solo could take the match, someone came out to his rescue and offered to take the match himself, none other than the former Universal champ, Cody Rhodes, claiming that this chance shouldn’t be taken from Solo. However, he did have one stipulation for Solo, and that’s if Solo won, Rhodes would get a shot at the title quick. Solo agreed, and Fatu, looking annoyed, also agreed. If Rhodes won, not much would happen, but if Fatu won, the fight would become a fatal four way.
It’s the smackdown before the smackdown before wrestlemania, and tensions are high. There’s a huge argument, and it results in a lot of shouting. It eventually spins to Zilla Fatu, and how he is so young and so raw that he hasn’t matured enough. But that’s when Jimmy makes his move. He tells Zilla “don’t make the same mistake I made a year ago. Do it.” But Zilla didn’t move. Tama Tonga made sure Jimmy Uso knew that he can’t talk like that, but that’s when the big moment happened. Zilla Fatu super kicked Tama Tonga. It was the same thing that happened with the original bloodline. Zilla Fatu had turned, and stood by Jimmy Uso. It was quickly set up that the match for the tag titles would be between Jimmy Uso and Zilla Fatu vs the Tongas. As the camera panned to the crowd at the very end, if you stopped it quickly, you could see Jey Uso, at the top of the stairs, smiling.
It was time for the smackdown before wrestlemania, and again, tensions were so high it was insane. With Zilla turning, everything was crazy. Fights broke out, blood was shed, and it was a huge fight. At the end, the rock declared it was his title, and he would end this entire thing by winning. Roman declared the same thing. Solo, well Solo just stood there. However, little did they know, at the end of the show, there stood LA Knight, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and Kevin Owens, seemingly looking at someone, and declaring that “the master plan was ready for wrestlemania”.
And that’s where part 2 ends.
There will be a finale part 3 that will probably be shorter than parts 1 and 2.
Hope you all enjoyed

So I made a homebrew campaign a while back and wanted to add some extra stuff to it for those who may not know the campaign is basically your characters larping and collecting the golden items of the legends aka just grabbing junk. New bosses and locations will be added to this please enjoy.
Locations
Carnival of fools(local Carnival)
Please enjoy the rides that are ready to collapse just by one sneeze, the games which might be rigged and the food which might be edible.
While at the Carnival of fools you can play a game to win a prize from the item table in the book. Either you can have the player do saving roll to see if they win whatever game they play or you can kick up a notch and have the player beat you at a game.
If you decide to have the player beat you at a game use a bag or object that can hold peices of paper. On the peice of paper it will have the name of a card,video or board game on it(do try to make the games short) the player and DM(you) will then play set game if the player beats you they gain a prize and if they fail nothing happens other then SHAME. But if you want to add a little challenge have the player roll a D20. If the number is between 1-5 without any modifiers or re-rolls it will active. it was rigged effect.
Hey it's a carnival what do you expect? When active the player who challenged you now has a new challenges such has starting with extra cards or whatever the DM chooses to be the effect. Note the effect is optional.
Stores
While wondering around the party may come across some stores. Either it being a fast food joint or clothing store. These locations will have a better chance carrying the items the store is designed for so don't expect a cheese burger at videogame location.
Boss and items
Now the big stuff
Minotaur(football jock)
His rage is high and his school spirit is also.
Defeating the Minotaur while grant the party the legendary pig skin(a football that is in a repair) this item can be used with any class. While the player carries it they may use the charge action. The player runs in a straight line up to 20ft and will stop if they hit a creature the player then rolls a Strength saving throw. 5-10 the creature falls prone,11-15 the creature takes unarmed damaged, 16-20 the creature takes unarmed damage and falls prone. If the player rolls a 4 and below the player will fall prone instead. Did you slip in some mud?
Druid(Park ranger)(subclass may be your choice)
Did you just litter?
When defeated your party is rewarded with the book of wild shape(its just a book on local animals) if there is a Druid in your party they may use the item to gain an new animal form the animal must be equal to their current level(best use it when at a higher level.)

This post is not about the plot itself but more about how a game should be designed.
People who play Cyberpunk should probably be familiar with the meme about the infamous "Meet Hanako at Ember.", but that meme itself was a fundamental problem with the open-world game.
Recently, I've been playing a lot of Horizon: Zero Dawn. The story was great, but one element gave me the most thinking: Aloy's pursuit of her own mystery gradually elevated to an even bigger and more global-impact mission about the world's fate, and her success was tied to humanity's fate.
This is a cool idea and a main driving force for me to play the game, but the problem is that it is a game.
Games, especially open-world games, by their nature, are anti-timers. You can't put a timer on the player and expect them to be happy. This is especially true when you play the DLC for Zero Dawn. A dialogue tells you that you should return to your task to stop Eclipse from destroying the world.
But guess what? You can still play in the snow, and the whole main quest plus side gigs in DLC can cost a whole week from an in-game world perspective. When you finally defeat the last Fireclaws and find all the paints, you can finally return to Meridian, which can probably take another week due to the distance.
When you finally deliver the bad news to Sun King, the game will tell you that finishing all the remaining matters before sleep will probably be a good idea. But because the map is so big, it literally takes Aloy days to travel from one quest to another. When you finally clean up all the green dots on the map, it could take a whole month before it is time to go to sleep.
I think this is the problem with the open-world game. People all want open-world games, especially open-world RPG games, to have a believable world in which player decisions can impact the game world. I like this, too. But whenever I think about this question about how such a game will look when you have a big mission or a sense of urgency to change the world your character is currently living in, it brings more questions than answers, like, How long should you make such a decision? Is 60 hours in the game to do that thing better than doing that in 15 hours? Or should I do another thing I was more interested in and leave this latter for who knows how long? And if the world changed while I was doing another thing, what should I do if I just couldn't do those things fast enough?
Fundamentally, I think there isn't a wrong way to play the game since it should be played how the players feel they're most joyful—however, immersion in the open-world game conflicts with the nature of such a game itself. The world independently exists from the gamer. Such conflict will ultimately result in the whole world becoming another, just running around the map and chasing one quest and then another before the whole world experiences boring and repeating.
So, I hope that in the next game, which is probably 5-8 years away, we can find a new solution to this problem: how to balance exploring and the in-game world itself.

Kind of long, but any advice or input would be greatly appreciated :)
I (22F) have been working in fast food/ retail since I was 17 and I’m finally ready to take that leap to leave my current job and find one that will help advance my career and give me at least some financial stability. I also live in NorCal for context (not sure if I’d be willing to move quite yet.) I’ve been at my current retail job since 2021 and was honestly just going to stay there until I was completely finished with college but I just received my AA and the current management im under is so difficult to work with and extremely offensive I can barely take it not to mention I’ve been in management for about 2 years now and have gone from at least 20hr a week (part time) to less than 10hr a week, less than some associates and they’re all 3 hour shifts so I’m not even allowed to take a 10min break though im not even sure if that’s legal??
I am very fortunate to not have to pay rent as I live with my parents and I only have to worry about paying for my car, gas, phone, school, necessity’s etc. So no rent is a life saver in this economy. With that being said I don’t necessarily need the highest paying job quite yet (willing to work my way up or gain helpful experience) though that would be ideal for anyone. I just want to be able to find something that fits with my personality/ needs and also doesn’t care the way I look. I know sometimes you have to do what u gotta do but I cannot take working somewhere I’m miserable at and I understand that is a privilege within itself so I’m just trying to use the time I do have to really find what I’m passionate about and not be scared to try new things.
I still want to go back to school to get my bachelors degree since it’s always been a dream of mine, but since I pretty much pay for everything out of pocket besides some degree of financial aide, I don’t want to just aimlessly transfer somewhere with no clue on what to study which has been my issues for some time. I feel like my interest haven’t changed much and neither have my dreams to further my education so I’ve pretty much been saying the same things since probably before high school and I still have no clue what exactly the direction is I should go. I would love to gain some first hang experience to know if getting my B.A. is even worth it for the field I want to go into or what major would benefit me the best.
I have many interests and ideas as to what I could possibly do but I feel like as much as I say them out loud no one really relates so I always feel alone or like there’s no possible job for me that I’ll feel happy in. I mean I think majority of people would rather not work and focus their lives on their hobbies and passions but unfortunately that’s not in the cards for most people and though I sometimes live in that dreamland that doesn’t change the fact that I’m extremely dedicated, hard-working and really want to make a difference in whatever field I end up in. So I guess I’ll leave a list of the things I’m interested in, in case anybody has some advice or input on any occupations I’ve listed or have experience in anything I’ve listed.
I guess another thing to mention is that I was recently applying to a lot of jobs in childcare and pretty much every interview I went to turn me down on the spot because of my appearance. Of course I hear the stories of looking less professional due to your tattoos, piercings, etc., which I never understand. I don’t even have a single tattoo or piercing, not even my ears, but I have bright pink hair and that has been such a downside for the interviewing processes, even some retail jobs like Box Lunch for example doesn’t accept colored hair when they’re literally a pop culture store and share the same company as Hot Topic. I don’t want to have to change my appearance for a job. I know it’s just hair but I was never able to express myself the way I wanted to and the amount of money and maintenance that goes with having colored hair would not be worth it to me to color black just to get a job. It would feel like I’m altering myself and changing something that makes me feel good about myself is unfair and already puts a bad taste in my mouth about the company because they are willing to look over my qualifications and work ethic due to one minor detail in my appearance. One of these jobs I even had two on the phone interviews that went amazing and was going to my final in person interview and was literally meeting with a family for a behavioral technician job and the first thing they (the company) told me was I would need to change my hair to even be considered and I had to eventually politely end the interview because they still wanted to me to meet a kid despite straight up telling me they will not hire me if I didn’t immediately change my hair… and I’d be working with a family, not even in a ‘ public setting.’ I would just love to be able to work in a community that embraces people for their differences for the way they express themselves, and encourages self expression.
Anyways, here are some of my interests and I’d be eternally grateful to hear any feedback! Maybe you’ve worked in some of these environments and have advice or horror stories, if you have similar interests to me let me know what kind of job you have because I’m sure I don’t even know the formal titles to half of these jobs, or even have other ideas that match my interests. Thank you thank you thank you!

• A lost 22 year old just trying to find her way

TLDR: I have so many interests and have no idea where to go with my next steps in my career and schooling, and would love some advice based off of my interest and experience. My unnaturally colored hair gets me nowhere. My experience and interests are listed below.
My schooling/ experience so far: * 5 years of theatre under my belt (onstage/backstage/management) * Just graduated with my AA in Social & Behavioral Sciences (Random but was recommended to do so based on all of the same interest I told my counselor some odd years ago) * Most of my college classes were focused in sociology, psychology, and child development, which has been super interesting so I am willing to branch out from my interest because I did find a lot of interest in the classes I’ve taken previously. * Have worked in retail for four years; Pretty well received by people * A nanny to 4 kids (ages 4-16) for about 3.5 years as well
My personality: (not sure if this will help with knowing if I would be a good fit for any of the jobs listed )
i’m extremely bubbly and can have my extroverted moments, but I can also be introverted at times and when work needs to get done, I will figure out the best way to do it and get to work. I work pretty well with a team and always have ideas flowing and bouncing around, but I can also excel working on my own/have no issues being independent with my work. I don’t have a huge preference on a fast versus slow paced work environment. I would like something flexible, but I have no issue with getting into a routine. I feel like I am truly pretty flexible when it comes to my work environment, I just really want a place that I can express myself and be surrounded by a community of people similar to me. I love to be innovative and creative.
My interests/ ideas: (sorry kinda random and jumps around)

• always wanted to be a nanny or travel nanny; to work with one specific family and grow with them
• Pre-k - 1st grade teacher; I find teaching younger kids really fulfilling, love crafts/ activities/planning, extremely patient
• Art teacher (i love ceramics, but pretty much any type of art would be so cool to incorporate creativity with teaching)
• Child advocate (possibly on movie and tv sets)
• Teacher on movie and television sets
• Directing or any sort of behind the scenes job for movies and television (I love to write and create concepts, costuming, sets, music, casting)
• Set designer for movies, television, or theater
• Costume designer for movies, television, or theater
• Possibly work with an acting company backstage (I don’t even know if that’s a job but possibly a permanent backstage role somewhere)
• Open my own curated thrift shop or a shop in general that is really creative or theme oriented
• Have a small bakery business or just a business in general, I love the idea of being able to run a company or brand that’s inclusive and creative
• I do love to bake and Decorate desserts
• Creative Director; photographer, videographer; I just love the thought of creating things and bringing concepts together, planning, etc.
• Magazine company?
• Wedding planning/party and event planning; again, I just like bringing things together I feel like I have an eye for aesthetics
• Something with marketing or managing

As you can see, most of my interest have to do with childcare and the arts, which are some of the lowest paying jobs/difficult fields to get into, but it’s what I most passionate about and what I can actually see myself being happy doing for a long time. i’m also not opposed to working in one certain field for a while and then branching out to something different or related further down the line, I just want to know what step I should take next so I’m not just floating around doing nothing and being/fill, I just want to know what step I should take next so I’m not just floating around doing nothing and being/feeling useless.
Thank you so much to anyone who responds with advice and kind words :)

It’s been two months since my grandmama died. It’s been traumatic I guess you can say idk? I don’t want to keep grieving I hate this feeling. I can’t get over her being gone. Like this really hurt me. I did something that I wouldn’t have imagined I’ll be doing which was taking care of my granny while also having my kid. I feel like poop. I never thought I’ll be in this position with pronouncing her death to my granddaddy. Washing her up and administering meds. Sometimes I want to know why God gave me such a task because now that shes gone I feel so lost. I’m trying to understand why? I miss her hugging and rubbing my hair. Like I know it’ll be ok eventually but lately isnt hasn’t been feeling that way.

Islam has several significant and minor indicators of the imminence of the Day of Judgement, but they all point to the manner and timing of its arrival. The Quranic findings and other hadiths give Muslims wisdom and direction beforehand so that when the time comes, they will be able to discriminate between good and wrong, even though only Allah knows the precise day. True events are predicted by Qayamah’s lesser and greater indications.
From an early age, we are taught about the approaching judgement day, and when we inquire about its exact date, we are informed that it will occur eventually. We have the texts of the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet (SAW) to confirm its authenticity. Hudhayfah bin Usayd says that as we were having a conversation, Allah’s Apostle showed up out of the blue. “What topics do you discuss?” he asked. “We are discussing the Final Hour,” the friends uttered.
The smoke, the Anti-Christ, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus, the Gog and Magog, and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west, and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire would burn forth from Yemen, driving people to the place of their assembly, were among the ten signs he mentioned. (Muslim)

In Islam, there are ten phases to the day of judgement, each of which depicts the event categorically:

1) Arrival of Imam Mahdi
Following Imam Mehdi’s entrance, the Prophet (Saw) declared, “One person will appear before the end of the world.” Both his and my names will be the same, as will those of his father. The world will be full of tyranny and injustice before to his coming, but justice will prevail when he arrives. An angel would appear from the cloud above his head and say, “This is Mehdi, listen to what he says.”

He is going to take on many of the enemies of Islam and try to make the international legal system better. There will be a great lot of injustice, transgressions, murders of Muslims, and the system of good actions will be destroyed by the evildoers prior to his arrival.

2) Dajjal Will Arrive

Most people are informed that the most obvious and well-known sign is the advent of Dajjal. He’ll claim to be God when he gets there. A heretic is someone who places their confidence in him. If information about him is misguiding people, why would they believe him? This is the job of the Fitnah of Dajjal, forcing the population’s thinking to be fixed so that they will inevitably accept the idea that he is God (God forbid). Dajjal is going to be able to control the sky to rain and the earth to sprout plants. These are deceptive signs, but they will make people think he is God.

3) The Descent of Jesus

According to Islamic belief, Prophet Jesus will descend at the time Dajjal shows up and declares himself to be God. He would then attack and murder Dajjal. In addition, he will bring Muslims to Tur Mountain, destroy the cross, and free them from the Majooj and Yajooj. The Jews were supposed to kill the Prophet, but Allah raised him up and preserved him. When he gets there, everyone who has been buying into falsehoods and misconceptions will be taken aback.

4) Yajooj And Majooj’s emergence

There are multiple references to Yajooj and Majooj’s rise to prominence. A wall encloses them. There is a legend about them that states that during Hazrat Ibrahim’s (a.s.) reign, there lived a just King by the name of Zulqarnain. People asked him to keep them safe from the Gog and Magog tribes, two deadly tribes they had heard about. Zulqarnain consequently built an iron wall that would remain impenetrable till the end of time. They will therefore be able to break past the barrier and chase the populace come the end of time. To relieve humanity from its fury and danger, Hazrat Isa will arrive on Earth

5) Smoke will appear as a sign of the Day of Judgment.

The Quran states, “Wait for the day when smoke appears from the sky.” According to Hadith, “the smoke will come from the sky and blanket the entire planet for 40 days.” It is said that although smoke will chill Christians, it will chastise unbelievers. There are numerous theories regarding what smoking will be like in the future. The most frequent possibilities are an atomic explosion or environmental contamination. In any event, the result will serve as one of the markers for the Day of Judgement in Islam.

6) The Coming Of The Beast

As stated in the Quran, “And when the word of torture is fulfilled against them, we shall bring out from the Earth a beast for them, to speak to them, because mankind did not accept with conviction in Our signs,” Allah verifies the arrival of the beast in Islam. (An-Naml: 82) It is said that the beast is carrying Mousa’s handstick for believers, and that if they are sincere believers, light would radiate from their faces. For the unbelievers, he will wield the Seal of Suleman; if it comes into contact with them, their countenance will turn gloomy, denoting their degree of faith.

7) The Sun Rise from the West

One of the primary indicators of Qayamah, or the Day of Judgement in Islam, is the rising of the Sun from its setting position in the West. “The Hour will not come until the Sun has risen from the West, and when it rises and people see it, they will all believe,” but additionally, “that will be the time when it will do no good to a person who has not believed before, nor earned good (by doing deeds of righteousness through his faith),” according to Abu Hurayrah, a contemporary of the Prophet (saw). (As stated by Muslim and Al-Bukhari, 11/352 and 2/194)
There are numerous ways to read the hadith and the time indication. There are others who hold the belief that anything that Allah has predetermined cannot be changed. Some people think that the Sun rising in the West signifies the upending of the global system.

8) Landslides

There will be three major landslides in Islam: one in the Arabian Peninsula, one in the East, and one in the West. The Prophet (saw) stated that the signs won’t appear until these regions have attained the highest concentrations of immorality and bad behaviour. Some people think that earthquakes, not landslides, will be the cause of the landslides. The most common belief is that these locations would submerge due to a natural disaster, killing the local population.

9) The Fire Will Begin

The eruption of fire from the direction of Yemen, from the bottom of ‘Aden, from the Sea of Hadramawt’ is another key sign of the day of judgement. The Prophet (Saw) was heard saying, “The last of them will be a fire that will come from Yemen, and will force the people to the area of their assembly,” according to Hudhayfah ibn Usayd. (Source: Muslim, 18/27)

10) The Kaabah Will Be Destroyed

The Prophet (SAW) said, “Dhu’l-Suwayqatayn from Abyssinia will ruin the Ka’ba and seize its treasure and kiswah,” according to Abdullah Ibn “Amr.” I feel as if I can see him now; he’s balding and his wrists are distorted. With his spade and pich-axe, he will attack the Ka’ba. Allah will take the Quran and the virtuous people from the Earth to shield them from the Last Hour.
However, regular supplications and prayers are very necessary and can prevent one from taking actions that will ultimately be harmful to them. In addition to these major signs, there are other smaller or more subtle signs of the Day of Judgement in Islam, and numerous theories have been formed based on these signs to confirm their accuracy.
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SOURCE : islamtheultimatepeace.com

I’ve been trying to get away from HP as much as possible. As I never really liked the attrition method of combat. I’ve been out of the loop for a good while and one thing that caught my eye coming back, is Savage Worlds.
I’m not sure how I feel about their system as a whole. But I kind of liked how deadly combat was.
In my recent dabblings with my old (90s) game/setting. I’ve decided that I want to toss a lot of the grit and make something faster paced. I originally came up with a series of wound tiers. It seemed fine, but it was really just HP with extra steps. You still needed to keep track of numbers, and whittle down enemies (though you could take them out with a single powerful blow by reaching the highest tier).
Anyway, back to SWADE. As I understand, you’ve basically got 3 HP as a player and minor enemies have 1 HP. I ran some mental exercises and watched a YouTube demo.
But I had a concern. It really seems like you could basically end up with a party wipe after a round of exploding dice coming from the NPCs.
Now, I’m 100% in with deadly combat. Using cover, suggestive fire, retreating when necessary/possible, is often preferable than a stand up fight in a “realistic” setting. Also, putting an emphasis on not getting hit to begin with (which is another can of worms).
Conversely. It seems like fights between well armored or tough fighters on both sides, could turn into an endless slog of no one getting hurt.
How do real players feel about SWADE combat being deadly/“swingy?”
Am I misinterpreting/missing something or do I have the gist of it?
Do you think that deadly combat is easier to deal with/less time consuming (potentially in a solo play style)?

Hi! The world is an existential nightmare, but it could be a nightmare we share!
I'm a professional writer and game designer looking for a long-term relationship. 30s- no kids (past or future), no prior marriages, no addictive substances (except sugar). Pretty far left political stances. I'm mostly fit (though my cardio is garbo), slender, and 6'0, and I've been told I'm handsome if you like guys with shaved heads- Ideally would like to be with someone similar and generally around my age +/- 9 years.
While I've been called "the most real person I've met with online dating," I should warn you ahead of time, that's either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective. Can't promise everyone will see me as a lovable scamp, but you'll hopefully at least find me authentic.
I'd love to meet someone curious, clever, and confident. Bonus points for people with gothy/punk/alternative styles, but that's not a dealbreaker or anything (I would like someone to help me pick out tattoos). No smokers, please! That is a dealbreaker.
I've been around enough to know what I'm looking for and not to settle. I strive for (and expect in return) open communication, honesty, a problem-solving attitude towards conflict, and compassion/empathy/understanding/patience. Self-improvement and being up-front are important to me. Communication has recently been a problem with prospective partners over the last couple years, so I want to stress that I'm not the right fit for someone who's conflict-avoidant or who doesn't approach their partner with the benefit of the doubt. For me, there's no point in a relationship if you can't trust each other and feel safe with each other even when you disagree about something.
I try to be a patient, understanding, and kind person who takes responsibility for his mistakes and tries to grow from them. I'm not perfect, and I don't expect perfection. I just want someone who works with me, complementing my rough edges while I complement theirs. We're both human and we ought to give each other the benefit of the doubt if at all possible.
I'm definitely more of a homebody/introvert, but I like walks, swimming, working out, and indoor rock climbing. But you're more likely to find me playing some kind of game. I'm affectionate and mostly silly even if I take a lot of topics seriously. I try to view life with humor, but I've got anxiety/depression, so I'd prefer to be with someone who at least understands mental health issues. I love a faux-combative dynamic with partners - giving each other low-key shit. Life's no fun unless we're being a little mean to each other (Them Statler and Waldorf vibes, right?)
It generally takes me a minute to warm up to someone, but I try to let prospective partners dictate the flow of conversation initially so they feel comfortable. I'm flexible in my approach overall, but I usually hold off on talking about physical intimacy for a second. Though it's faster if we click just right.
I try to measure my words very carefully (to make sure I mean what I say and say what I mean, if you know what I mean), but when I know what to say, I tend to text in paragraphs (AS YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO TELL), so fair warning. But, I'd ideally like to be with someone who can do comfortable silence too. I just like existing with friends or partners, even if we're doing something totally separate.
If you weren't driven insane by my writing style/density, please give me a holler - Let's be snarky weirdos together! (I would really appreciate a picture with your message if you're comfortable with it. I just don't want to waste your time if the attraction's not there!)

I've been searching for a specific flash game I played in my childhood for nearly 15 years now. I know it's more or less a lost cause at this point, but I'd still like to try and find this. I remember a surprising amount about it:
Premise: In the near-future (2040s?), an anomaly flings Mercury out of the Solar System. By chance, on its way out of the solar plane, Mercury passes close enough to Earth to destabilize its orbit and cause it to slowly fall towards the sun. With no choice, Humanity flees the doomed Earth, hoping to find a home in the stars.
Gameplay: The game was level-based, with each level progressing by constructing bases on planers, buying upgrades, producing ships, and fighting AI colonies. The player was Blue in their designs, while the enemy was Red. Iirc, progressing from level to level required the total elimination of the enemy. The player controlled and directed small, blip-like fighter craft to attack enemy fighters and bases.
I frankly have little hope that this game is even remembered, let alone preserved. I'm fully willing to take the L and let this piece of nostalgia be forever lost. But if you can, please help me find this game.

Iso is by far the weakest agent in the game, so let's take a look on how he could get buffed. It's rather difficult to buff Iso to be honest, because there are rather limited ways to do so:

• Iso's vulnerable ability is already a good ability and doesn't need a buff. Even if you wanted to buff it, there are not a whole lot of good options available. Make it faster is an idea I've seen floating around but it's already pretty fast and it really wouldn't do anything to make Iso better
• Iso's ult doesn't really need any unique changes either, maybe you can reduce the cost by one but there are really limited options available to buff his ult without making it a completely free kill. It's also just a decent ult already
• Iso's shield is finnicky and could definitely use a buff. I think making it so you don't have to pre-activate the ability and could just shoot the orb on kill anytime is a huge quality-of-life change but honestly doesn't really move the needle in terms of Iso's viability. The shield kind of just is what it is. There's really not a whole lot else you can do with it, it already tanks one instance of damage. You can't make it two instances without it becoming broken. Making it last longer won't do much to help buff Iso out of F tier. I saw on TenZ's stream when he was talking about Iso buffs that he thought of an idea where the shield could tank a stun as if it was the instance of damage. It's a definitely cool idea, but overall this would not buff Iso by any significant amount. How many times a game will you actually have an Iso shield up and then get stunned? I'm betting less than once a game. Maybe once every two games

Which brings me to really the most obvious ability to buff: Iso's wall. The wall is just bad. There's no use sugarcoating it. It's one of the worst, if not the worst, abilities in the game. Why is it so bad? One of the reasons is because you can't stop it whenever you want like Harbor's wall. This makes it almost completely useless on defense, as you can't block off a chokepoint with it to delay/stop an execute. It also lasts a pretty short amount of time at just 4.6 seconds when fully formed and is narrower than Harbor's wall.
This leads to most people suggesting the wall be buffed to work like Harbor's wall where Iso could stop it anytime he wants. However, I don't like this idea and I don't think Riot likes it either because it takes away from the uniqueness of both Iso and Harbor's walls. Other basic ideas include making the wall wider or having it last longer. These basic ideas could definitely be good changes, but I propose that Riot should lean into the anti-bullet shield idea of the wall and also make it block projectiles. This would work like the buy phase barrier where projectiles such as Killjoy mollies, Raze nades, Sova darts, really any projectile would just bounce off the wall.
I believe this change could make Iso viable even in coordinated pro play. In fact, this buff may have the biggest impact in pro play but would be a great buff across the board at all elos.
For starters, this would make Iso much better on defense. As soon as a site exec starts, Iso can just drop the wall and suddenly the Sova dart bounces back in Sova's face, the Viper molly drops to the floor, etc., etc.
This buff would also have the funny additional benefit of denying lineups. When you see that Brim molly flying at the spike, just throw the wall and suddenly the lineup misses and you can stick the defuse.
But the greatest impact might just be that this change could maybe make Iso viable on Lotus. In my opinion, Lotus was already one of Iso's better maps in ranked as it is one of the few maps where his wall in its current state can be useful on attack. It's decent at denying the default C long peek while your team takes mound. B site is one of the only sites where the wall can actually be fully utilized to cover waterfall while you exec because it's such a short site. Iso also has some decent plays on defense as his vulnerable is very useful to combo with a Raze nade every round on defense to fight A, and it is not as valuable as an Omen flash so you could always do it every round (plus he has two of them).
The Lotus meta has always been to heavily fight for A rubble control. Some teams always do it, some teams do it less, but all teams do it pretty frequently and have multiple set plays for fighting A rubble. Even during ranked games across all ranks people know to fight for it on defense, throwing Raze nades and Omen blinds.
If Iso's wall was buffed to reflect projectiles, he would be extremely valuable on Lotus attack as he could throw the wall on A every round to completely shut down any defender aggression. The wall serves a dual purpose as you and your team can get across to rubble for free behind cover. You would essentially get easy rubble control every round for 200 credits.
If we're talking specifically pro scene, having that free rubble control may already be enough to make Iso a niche pick. However, this could also have the added benefit of allowing teams to switch from Omen to Brim as their primary controller. Some teams already have shown that they prefer Brim, such as NRG or Navi, although it is still considered a niche pick. One reason teams go for Omen is because of how good the Omen flash can be for fighting for A. However, if teams used Iso they could use the Iso vulnerable instead and also pick Brim without having to sacrifice all of the capabilities of the Omen flash.
As a final note, I know that some people will probably complain about how it is too OP if you can just drop a wall and completely shut down a Raze rocket or Deadlock ult, but do remember that a simple Kayo knife can already do that.

I'm a digital painter, I used to do commissions and earn a living through art but for the last few years that has stopped feeling right to me. I decided I can afford to take a break and do my own thing for a while and hopefully build a different type of income.
I used to paint random made-up fantasy creatures and then last year I picked dinosaurs then moved on to calling it Paleo Art and now I know I want to make 3d models(in Blender) of dinosaurs that are game ready because it combines things I've always drooled over (beautiful 3d sculpts), things I always wanted to know (paleonthology) and a bunch of random skills I have (like game animation). Hopefully I can end up selling models on platforms such as Sketchfab, that's a wonderful place to look at dinosaur models btw!!
I thought writing this might help someone who's also early on the path to become a paleoartist. I know from my experience working that having a diverse skillset pays off, especially 3D skills, as the position "Creature artist" in every studio I've ever looked at applying for means "3D Creature Artist", for some reason it's too obvious to bother putting it in the name.
If sculpting is intimidating to some, let me say this: If you can draw, you'll either be naturally good at sculpting or, if sculpting comes hard to you then it will teach you a ton about drawing, sculpting lives in the same cluster of brain cells as 2d art does.
When taking commissions for paintings, I sometimes told my clients I was doing animation/3d/video editing on the side and I often got extra work that way, and got to learn new skills while earning a bit of money and getting to see my work used in real projects.
I either just can't ever settle on anything or I never found my place before but I think I have now, I think my current ambition to make paleo-art and focus on 3d models is broad enough and just a good fit. I wouldn't mind doing this for my entire career. If I want to do something fancy like starting a YT channel, I can always do when I earn enough income, I don't want to make videos while worrying how much they'll pay.
If this is interesting at all, I could document my progress here. o-o

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
Zildiz felt her exomorph go rigid as it lost contact with her central nervous system. Curse that wretched Leaper! She’d forgotten just how durable their physiologies were. Their exomorphs had three times as many backup systems as those of Gallivants, unsurprising given that they had to retain control over their complex musculature. She’d been a fool for thinking that merely cutting it in half would do the trick. The error would wind up costing her life in these next few moments unless she took drastic action.
She was blind—her helm and its sets of eyes had sustained catastrophic damage and left her soft innards exposed. Even worse, she was crippled, the exomorph’s augmented muscle fibers unresponsive to her nervous system's inputs. But perhaps she still had the sheer physical strength to swing her blades. Zildiz tried to flex her wrist and was rewarded by a vigorous twitch of her pinky finger. Just in time; she could hear the Leaper close by, the leaf litter crackling as it approached.
Not yet, she told herself. Just a little closer. Hands pawed at her face and tore off the remnants of her helmet, scraping the hemolymphic gel from her naked face. What the hell was it doing? Zildiz had to restrain herself from crying out and striking at the air in panic.
Not yet! It was a crime to interrupt a fool when he was digging his own grave. Zildiz lay perfectly still as the Leaper fiddled around with her exomorph, feeling helpless and violated as never before. Vowing to give the bastard a slow and painful death for this, she curled her hand into a fist and waited until she felt its fingers caress the surface of her innards. Letting out a scream of incoherent rage Zildiz thrust at her unseen enemy, heard a cry of pain and the Leaper stumbling away, swearing profusely.
“Ow! That hurt, you witch! What the blazes are you?” the Leaper cried out. Zildiz frowned. That hadn’t sounded like the croaking of a Leaper. Speaking a slow and halting fashion, she replied:
“I would ask you the same thing.”
“I am Rene Louvoture, assistant navigator, 9th Battalion, 3rd Pathfinder Regiment.”
Zildiz shook her head at the string of gibberish.
“I am Zildiz, of the Blade-Wings. Why haven’t you killed me?”
“Why would I?" said the voice, sounding both shaky and incredulous, “You’re just like me, aren’t you?”
“How so?”
“Open your eyes and see for yourself.”
Zildiz realized with a start that it was referring to the primitive ocular organs of her innards. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her. The last time she’d been out of her exomorph was when she and Menash had been together, many cycles ago. With great effort her atrophied facial muscles remembered how to lift her eyelids, and she beheld a world of total darkness.
Bioluminescent growths from the surrounding vegetation gradually helped her to see with her naked eyes, and she beheld the prey-form standing over her with a hand clamped to its bleeding shin. Its albino exoskeleton was ripped and stained with blood. In its fist it clutched a short blade that emitted a constant, low hum. Zildiz propped herself up on her elbow and locked eyes with the creature. To her disgust she found that its exomorph had a completely transparent helm allowing her to see its bare face in all its lumpen hideousness. It had a head of curled black hairs, matted and moist like the growths on a Leaper’s belly. The prey-form’s flat, broad nose gave it a singularly pugnacious look, while its skin was as milk-white as that of a flesh-eating maggot’s. Zildiz dragged herself back, her first instinct being to recoil from it.
“Don’t move,” Rene advised her, “You’ve suffered some sort of spinal injury, I think. Can you feel your legs?”
“No,” Zildiz lied, thrusting out her chin at him defiantly, “What do you care?”
“I told you, I’m not about to kill you. We’re the same, can’t you see? Human!”
“We share the primal pattern, but I am a Gallivant. You are not. That is all that matters.”
“Right,” Rene sighed and sat down on the rotting log, “Whatever that means. Ye gods, I need a stiff drink right about now.”
Zildiz eyed him suspiciously, convinced it was some sort of ruse. He was just gauging how crippled she truly was and waiting for her to lower her guard. Very well; two could play at that game. In the meantime, she would try and work some feeling back into her exomorph.
“Are you really a hatchling?” she asked it suddenly.
“You heard that nonsense, did you?” Rene glanced up, “Of course not. I was just leading them on. The ‘fire giant’ isn’t a living creature, it’s a machine—a Divine Engine. What, don’t you have them wherever it is that you come from?” he joked, smiling at her. Zildiz grimaced at the sight, and he stopped.
“A machine,” she said slowly, “Like this one?”
Zildiz gestured at her disabled exomorph. Rene chewed over that piece of information. So that was what she was wearing: a living machine, a sealant suit of chitin and muscle equipped with weaponry and capable of flight. Like the Engine, it was a level of technology he hadn't even known could exist.
“Not exactly,” he finally replied, “I mean, it isn’t quite as revolting as yours. No offense,” he added quickly, snatching a quick glance at her face. She had a hawkish look about her, all thin lines and edges, but somewhere in there was a wild and timeless beauty which defied his attempts to pin down as some definable quality of womanhood.
“So you have been inside of it,” she confirmed with a look of satisfaction.
“I didn’t say that,” Rene stammered, feeling like he was losing the battle for information, “I merely observed it from a distance. I mean, the sheer size of it. Who wouldn’t have? You saw what I—what it—did to the Amit mound.”
Rene bit his lip, mentally kicking himself for his careless slip of the tongue. Zildiz narrowed her eyes at him, partly out of mistrust and partly due to the head-splitting migraine she was feeling. It had been so long since she’d been forced to rely on this basic sense organ, and its rods and cones were out of practice.
“The grey behemoth, this Divine Engine, as you call it. Did the Vitalus send it to cull the colony? Are you a Hollowore?”
“A Hull-of-War?” Rene repeated dimly.
"A Inkarnid? An Aspect of the All-In-One?"
“Look, I haven’t the foggiest notion what you’re talking about. And I’m the one asking questions here, don’t you forget it. Flame and perdition!” he swore, “You really nicked me, you know that?
Rene set his sword to aside and bent over to poke at the shallow stab wound on his shin. Zildiz chose that moment to burst into action. She was on her feet before he knew it, slicing at him with her blade arms. Rene yelped and rolled backwards off the log, narrowly avoiding dismemberment and flipping over nimbly to his feet, cursing himself for letting her gain the upper hand.
“Stop! Please, I don’t wish to hurt you!” he shouted at her as he ran circles around the dead tree, keeping it between himself and her wicked blades. Her movements were awkward and ponderous, as though her legs weren’t used to supporting the weight of her body. Scowling wrathfully, Zildiz kept after him as he jogged just out of her reach, the two of them playing a very earnest game of ring around the rosy. Finally Rene had enough and took up the club again, whacking her on the back of the knees so that she fell forward onto her hands. Her nose flattened itself against a pebble, producing an indescribable pain. She groaned and clutched at her face while Rene sat on her back to keep her pinned down.
“Sorry! Sorry! I really am. But it seems at this point to be abundantly clear,” Rene shouted as she flailed at him ineffectually with her blades, “That I have no other option but to take you in!”
“Just try and feed me to your brood, I dare you!” she screamed as blood trickled from her nostrils, “I’ll carve out their eyes and feed it to them!”
“What? No! That’s not it at all!” Rene cried, mortified, “As a soldier of the Fleet, I am hereby placing you under arrest as a hostile belligerent. Henceforth, you may consider yourself my prisoner of war!”
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/Used-Register3714 posting in AITA_WIBTA_PUBLIC
Ongoing as per OOP
2 updates - Long
Original - 2nd March 2024
Update1 - 14th April 2024
Update2 - 11th May 2024
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WIBTA if I turned down a promotion due to my original transfer being blocked?
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WIBTA? Little back story, I started working for a company in early 2022 as what they labeled as Admin, but don't let that fool you we were no admins, we worked 3 different departments that they combined into one with 3 people to cover everything, plus we were constantly fixing Customer Service mistakes.
Nov 2022 I met with the director of the Benefits Dept at work because I was interested in transferring and we went over the department, what the job entails and what I could start working on to better my chances at transferring. I checked in with the director many times as I finished different tasks such as completing the training courses, shadowing members of the team, and taking part in live trainings.
Early 2023 the director got a promotion to be the director of another department. In March a spot opened up in Benefits and it was a little outside what I knew, it was more a specialized position, but I still applied. I met with a few managers and the new director for interviews. We discussed many things and it was a positive experience, they were even happy with the steps that I had taken with the previous director. However, because it was such a specialized position they didn't want to throw me into the deep end, so they told me to apply for a different position when it opened up.
In May the other position opened up and I applied and basically skipped the interviews. The director and I meet and we discussed getting me transferred and doing it in a hybrid type manner. That worked for me and it worked for my current manager at the time too. Sadly, it feel through and I could never seem to get an answer as to why. It started out as budget reasons, totally understandable, but then it switched to not having troubleshooting knowledge that I would have if I had worked in Customer Service.
I had meeting with my (admin) manager and director, she covers both admin and customer service, I asked more clarifying questions as to why the transfer fell through but no one could give me a straight answer. We developed a plan to get me transferred to Benefits that caused me to route through Customer Service. I was transferred into Customer Service in November 2023.
Our CS team is split into basically 2 levels, 1 being online requests which is where everyone starts. You work a variety of requests and can gain a lot of knowledge. This is currently where I am. The second level is working the phones and helping the people that call in. This is more limited subject matter and can also carry a lot of "downtime" as they cannot work the online requests like the first level can because they will be on and off the phone all day.
Here is where I am wondering if I WIBTA. I have figured out, though not confirmed, that my directors boss is the one that blocked my transfer back in May and she is just a bitch/micromanager in general. Now someone from out phone team is leaving and it has been hinted that I might be the next one to move up. While it would come with a pay increase, not a lot or enough for the crap that we go through, I don't want it because I see it as more detrimental to me possibly transferring to my preferred department.
WIBTA if I said no because it would do more harm than good. Then turning around and asking how much longer I needed to be in the Customer Service department before I could apply to another position in the Benefits Dept?
Maybe helpful to also know that my customer service manager is not the best, she seems to bow down the the micromanager and she can't seem to manage a team of 10ish people, nor was she able to do half her job for moths and my admin manager was the one doing her work.
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Comments
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Magdovus
They're screwing you around. If you're good at your current role they don't want to move you. You could tell them that they transfer you or you leave, but they probably don't care about you much. Alternatively, just coast along, do what you must to keep management off your back and find a new job.

OOP: I've been thinking about coasting and just working my job description. Our phone team is technically down one person, and we have to help cover the missing persons time on phones. It's split, between most of us that work the first level. I might come out of that meeting with no phone time because it's not part of my job and you are probably right they don't want to move me because of that.

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RndmIntrntStranger
NTA you do not have to stay at a job where you feel like you’re not growing/moving up. do not let any employer trick you into thinking that you owe it to them to stay there if it no longer works out for you. time to update your resume and start job hunting to see what’s out there.

OOP: Already started. I even interviewed for the same company that my coworker is joining. It will be interesting if we end up working together again.

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Update - 6 weeks later
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So I was an idiot and decided to take the promotion. Not my finest moment.
However, things have taken a turn for the interesting.
A week after I took the promotion another team that I have been interested in but never thought I could work in tapped me to transfer to their team. I ended up reaching out to our HR team to gather some guidance and spoke with our recruiter that works internally and externally.
He gave me some good pointers and helped me navigate how to best approach the conversation. The conversation then turned to my manager and I let him know all the issues I've been having with her, including not approving PTO till timecards are being turned in amongst other issues. Turns out I am not the first person to bring these concerns forward and HR is actively looking into the situation.
I ended up having a conversation with my manager the following week and from the start of the conversation I knew it wouldn't have the outcome I was hoping for based off of her body language. And I was right, even with laying everything out I was denied my managers blessing because I just moved tiers.
But the fun part of all of this is that she tried to pull the 6-month rule as to why I couldn't apply. The 6-month rule is part of our handbook. "You have to be in your position for 6-months before you can transfer internally for non-exempt employees." I asked my manager to get us clarification since we both had different understanding of the rule.
I know position could be tier, however I asked our HR team and the said position is department based. A better wording would be in my department for 6-months.
The following week she director was out so can't do anything that week so the following week I asked for a follow up. Guess who forgot to follow up with me. Not the first time she has done this. She is now saying it is tier based and I have to be in my position for a YEAR.
I reached back out to HR and we are now looping in the head of HR to talk about this.
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Comments
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rendar1853
Why did you take the promotion when you knew this person was playing games with your career?

OOP: Believe me I am pissed at myself for taking it. I have been a people pleaser for so long and it's something I've been improving on and I was caught in a weak moment. I did have some hope that the agreement that was in place before this person became my manager would be honored but I was naive to think so.
I can always back out of the new position if need be, which I have been think about.

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Magdovus
Ask HR if you can apply for jobs in the other department as an external candidate instead of an internal one. When they ask why tell them that quitting and reapplying seems to be the only way to avoid your current department managers trying to ruin your career.

OOP: This is a thought that I have. Going to wait and see what happens with my next meeting with HR. They seem supportive of my transfer so they may be able to pull some strings to make it happen, but this is on my radar.

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Update - 1 month later
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So it has been a month of back and forth, and we still don’t technically have a resolution but I thought I might give a quick update.
After our director was back I reached out to my manager to ask if they had received clarification and they said: “if you move tiers your clock restarts and I have to be in my department for a year”. That still didn’t sit right with me, I had previously contacted HR as a minor inquiry if the clock was tier or department and they had said department.
I reached back out to the head of our HR team and set up a meeting so that we could discuss this. In that meeting, HR agreed with me and said that they would speak with the director to get clarification on what was going on and she would get back to me by the end of the week. She did and told me straight up that I met the tenure requirements to be able to apply for a transfer. Now I was supposed to get an update but it was postponed due to people being out of the office and things like that. But I finally got the update last week. They are saying no for two reasons now, I don’t meet the requirements of the job, such as a degree, and performance. But my performance has never been addressed. When I have made mistakes, I informed and the mistakes never happened again.
As for the degree thing, that can be worked around, and that is something that the manager or that team is working on for me.
But now they are saying that it is a big concern of theirs. My question at this point is if it was such a big concern why was that not brought up from the beginning? Why were we only discussing my tenure as the reason that I couldn’t apply?
Honestly, I almost quit in that meeting right there. The only reason that I am even thinking of staying is that the team that I would be transferring to is amazing and I already know how they operate and I already work closely with them.
I should be having another meeting next week with the manager and director and I am going to likely loop in HR as well.
I have decided that if I am blocked from applying I will be leaving and I will be citing that as well as many other reasons as to why I am leaving. The least of which is the fact that I now know that the director has gone and bad-mouthed an employee to another manager that someone was hoping to transfer over to.
Edit to add: I just spoke with a coworker who left a few weeks ago. They pulled the same things with him. He wanted to go to another department but they had a meeting with him saying that they saw him on a different path, one that kept him in the department. He said they did that to our other coworker who left just before him too.
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Comments
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No-Dig7828
Update resume and GTFO now.
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I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP. Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

Hi everyone,
I'm 27 years old and just finished my master's degree in agricultural science from the University of Georgia. Growing up on a family farm, I've always been deeply involved in agriculture. This week, along with graduating, I also had back surgery and will be recovering for the next 6-8 weeks. This period has given me a lot of time to reflect on my future career and job search.
My fiancé is a successful State Farm agent with 10 years of experience. She believes I would be a good fit to join her in selling insurance and help her grow her business, especially focusing on life insurance, which she says is an area needing improvement.
Our relationship is seamless; we have never argued and see each other as equals. We're very open and supportive of each other. Despite this, I have some reservations about this potential career change. I have no experience in insurance or sales, and I'm concerned about mixing our home life with work, which could put stress on our relationship.
I know I'm a quick learner and believe I can tackle new challenges, but the self-doubt is real. I'm also aware that this feeling is probably normal when considering such a significant shift in career paths. On paper, working together seems ideal, and I think I would enjoy helping her grow the business beyond her expectations.
I'm considering starting to shadow her at the office while I'm recovering and possibly taking licensing classes. However, I'm uncertain about how this decision could impact my future and our relationship.
What do you all think? Should I start shadowing her during my recovery? Should I go ahead and take the licensing classes? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Note: Monetization is allowed, just credit me, ask before making any changes, and send a link to the audio. Also, there are 831 words of dialogue
Context: You are a knight that was once in love with a magic user. Unfortunately, you had to slay them because they betrayed you. One night, as you try to spend some time with your new lover, someone familiar seeks you out. They are seeking revenge!
Note: 831 words of dialogue
[Feet walking on ground] Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two little love birds kissing behind a tree? How scandalous! You two should really get a room.
…
What’s with the staring? Did you really think I’d look the same as the day you killed and buried me in that grave? That's not how resurrection works darling. As you can clearly see, I’m all bones but I managed to keep my luscious locks. Apparently even as an undead lich, I still look gorgeous.
…
Your new love interest is quite… underwhelming. To be completely honest darling, I never expected you to move on so quickly. Especially after all we shared together. Now I see you cuddling up with this pathetic little thing. You clearly have downgraded. If you wanted to find a new lover, perhaps you should have found someone more worth your time.
…
Do not talk to her like that? Please darling, you lost all rights to boss me around once you betrayed and killed me. I can talk to her however I please. [Talking to Listener's new lover] Listen sweetie, your knight in shining armor is a slug that only cares about themselves. The moment they are tired of you, they will cast you aside like garbage. Just like they did to me. If you’re lucky, they’ll make your ending painless.
…
From your expression you clearly have forgotten about what you did to me. You, the person I loved the most, pierced my heart with a sword and tossed me into a pauper's grave! I gave you everything! My heart, my soul, everything!
…
Do not give me that! I did not betray you. You betrayed me. Stabbed me in the back when I least expected it. And to think that the king knighted you.
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Yes, I do expect an explanation. Why did you do it?
…
Because of Raven Brook? What about that stupid, little, backwater town?
…
I destroyed it? [Barking Laugh] But of course, they deserved it. Plotting to kill me and my family. The bunch of traitors. You would think they would be grateful for everything I did for them. Turns out they repay safety and mercy with death and destruction. Ungrateful peasants, the lot of them.
…
(Hurt and accusatory) Innocent people?! Don't make me laugh! You should have seen what they said about my family. Actually, you did see what they did when we walked through the town on official business for the king. They threw garbage at me! Called me horrible names. Witch, harlot, demon, and every other name in the book. And not once did you defend me. Not once did you shield me from the hurtful words or projectiles. It makes me wonder… did you also see me as a monster? Is that why it was so easy for you to kill me? I didn't see any tears on your face when you made the fatal blow. Only a cold mask.
…
Don’t even bother trying to defend yourself. You have no leg to stand on, nothing to say that can fix all of this. However, there is something you can do…sacrifice yourself.
…
I mean, tis only fair. You killed me for defending my family, I kill you for stabbing me in the back. If you’d like, your new little girlfriend can watch.
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Let her go free? I don’t think so. Can’t have any witnesses darling. Afterall, that’s the first step of a revenge plan.
…
(Mocking) Aww! How sweet is this? Your little lady friend is using her own body to shield you. Isn’t that just precious. If I had a heart, it would be bursting at the sight. Too bad though, I need to dispose of her.
…
Now what to do with her? There are so many possibilities. I can feed her to my pets or toss her into the void. I could make her watch your demise, but I’d rather see your fear as you wonder about her fate. I’ll just stick her in one of my shadow pockets to be disposed of later.
…
[Talking to Listener’s new Lover] Now my dear, please hold still while I make sure you don’t escape.
…
[Clanking of chains] Hey! Hey! Don’t struggle or else these chains will tighten. Wouldn’t want your pretty skin to be ruined, now would we?
…
Now that’s better. Little Miss heroine is all chained up and ready to be tossed into my shadow pocket.
…
How do I still have my magic? My dear sweet hero, you forgot the most important rule before burying a magic user: Cut off their head before burying them. It would seem that the moment I left the world of the living, you forgot all about me. That includes everything I taught you.
…
What am I going to do to you? (Smirk) That answer is very simple: I am going to break you like you broke my heart. I’ll tear you apart bit by bit. You’ll feel all the pain I felt when you betrayed me and buried me in that pauper’s grave. And don’t worry about your new girlfriend. I’ll take care of her later. Prepare for your worst nightmare, my dear knight.

Start Date/End Date: 4/19/24 - 05/13/24 (~3 Weeks)
Study Time: 10-20 Hours
Coaching Report
Overview:
As many of you probably will, I took this class immediately after D426. I thought I was gonna finish this class much quicker than I did. Most of the reason it took me longer was due to unrelated things occurring in my life, but I digress. If D426 is the "why' behind SQL, this class is the "how." The exam is 25 questions long and more than half of those questions will have you actually writing SQL statements. This was a big adjustment because when studying for D426, I didn't do any labs. Writing SQL statements was something that took a while to "click," but when it did, things got a lot easier. Knowing when to use quotes, parentheses, and commas was my main issue.
Studying:
I recommend using the Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 labs in Zybooks. If you need to, you can also read over Chapters 1 & 2, but the labs should be your main focus. These labs are very similar to the questions in the Pre-Assesment, which was similar to the Objective assessment. When I first did these labs, I would look over the corresponding lesson and try to answer them on my own. 9/10 times, my statement was wrong. I then checked this quizlet for the correct statements (since Zybooks won't tell you). I would review it and try and figure out why their statement was correct and why mine was wrong. I went over all the labs at least 3-4 times before taking the Pre-Assesment. Once I took the Pre-Assesment, I used ChatGPT to get the correct answers for the questions I missed (since once again, you can't see what the right answers are). Be aware that in my experience, there are a couple of questions on the PA (and probably even the OA) where you can answer the question 100% correctly but still be marked wrong because you didn't do it the way they wanted you to. This is my biggest issue with this class and I really hope this gets fixed.
Exam:
As for the exam, my biggest piece of advice is to run a second statement to check your answers. If you have a question where you need to create a table, add columns, or update data types and need to review the Columns/Data types, run a second statement where you type
DESCRIBE table_name
If you have a question where you're inserting/changing/updating rows & values and want to see the data within a table, run a second statement where you type.
SELECT *
FROM table_name
You can also do this before and after your initial statement to ensure that the data actually changed. If you do this, MAKE SURE TO DELETE THE SECOND STATEMENT AFTER TESTING IT. I also ran my code again after deleting it just to be safe. If you don't delete your statement, the question will probably be marked entirely wrong. Also, don't worry about this taking up your time, you get like 4 hours for this exam.
In addition to what's in the labs, you should how to write different aggregate functions (Min, Max, Sum, etc.) and how to delete a table entirely. There are also multiple-choice questions, but it's probably less than 10. If you passed D426, these shouldn't be a huge deal. They'll probably be similar to the ones that appeared on the PA.
Conclusion: I actually grew to sort of enjoy writing SQL statements after this class. However, the questions can be very tedious and I don't believe there is much partial credit. You have to be very careful not to make any typos and to answer the question how you think they want you to answer it. I think this class would work far better as a Performance-Assesment rather than an objective one. Something where you have to create a project in SQL would be much more enjoyable in my opinion. But as of right now, as long as you review and understand the labs and Pre-assessment, you should be able to pass this one.