The sports update is awesome, but it gets boring after a while. Here’s what I would suggest for BitLife to do for the sports pack:

1. They should add relationships to sports, like having relationships with your teammates, coaches, general manager, owner of the team, etc. Kind of like all the other jobs in BitLife.
   
2. They should add overalls to the game, just like NBA 2K, Madden, and FIFA. It would be cool to see overalls of your teammates and players on other teams, as well as your overall based on your stats, and also able to see different team’s overall ratings based on their defense and offense (and special teams for football).
   
3. They should add being able to coach a team after you retire or after you graduate college and train to become a coach. They could also add being able to become a sports reporter or broadcaster, like Shaq and Charles Barkley.
   
4. They need to add more sports, especially individual sports. They only have a few sports you can play, but having more sports would be cool, and would make people happy that like different types of sports other than those in BitLife. Some examples would be golf, car racing, track and field, tennis, gymnastics, etc.
   

Hopefully BitLife adds this someday instead of just focusing on expansion packs. This would make many people happy and would draw more people to play BitLife IMO.

The following is an original work of fan fiction. It will only make sense if you’ve read Corpies and SP4
“Fucking bullshit cock-garglers!”, Hannah, formerly known as Hexcellent, uttered louder than she intended.
Luckily, she was sitting by herself in a third floor private room in the brand new wing of the Sizemore undergraduate library. On the main floor, any sound louder than a fart would’ve earned a collective, “shhhhh,” and annoyed stares from half the people studying. And frankly, as difficult as these Gen Chem practice exams were, the former PEERS would be spitting out a few more expletives before she was done.
Hannah glanced at her watch and sighed heavily. It was 4:43 PM. She still had two and a half hours before she’d need to head to the lift to meet Devon and Kacey, two other first year HCP students, for some evening training. Okay, you got this girl. You just fucked up some amped criminal supers, you can handle goddamn mass to mole composition formula and stoichiom-whatever-the-fuck, she thought to herself. With resigned determination, the HCP student began swiping through class presentation slides on her tablet, reviewing problems she had trouble with. For a solid 2 hours her eyes never left the material and she honestly started to feel more comfortable with what she needed to know. Hannah was in the zone. That was until she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What. The actual. Fuck?“, Hannah said slowly as she looked up towards the door and the adjacent window.
The summoner saw two boys standing outside , one of whom was a short muscular guy with dark brown hair that she recognized. She was fairly certain his name Lucas, and that he was another HCP first year. He was in the alternative class though, while Hannah was in combat, so they hadn’t been around each other a whole hell of a lot. The other seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger or on where she’d seen him before. They were each moving their mouths, and pointing a finger at themselves and into the room clearly asking if they could come in. Hannah got up and opened the door.
“Hey, Helen, right? You think that we can study in here with you? All the good tables downstairs are full. I just met Tristan here and he’s in the same predicament as me,” said Lucas before he lowered his voice to a whisper, leaned his head in, and pointed to the boy he referred to as Tristan. “He’s in the same ummm…special program as us. In his 2nd year.”
With that information, Helen realized where she’d seen that guy. He was at the freshman party hosted by the second years. She remembered thinking that he came off as kind of a douchebag by the way he was standing around, nursing the same drink with a smug look on his face the whole time.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. As long as you guys dont act like complete assholes and make a bunch of noise. I gotta focus for about another 30 minutes then the room is yours. Cool?”
“Cool,” the boys said in unison.
“And it’s Hannah by the way. Not Helen. You’re Lucas, right?” She held out her hand towards him.
Lucas politely shook her hand. “Sorry about that Hannah. I’m terrible at remembering names,” he said with a slight shrug. “Just gonna grab a seat on this side so I can stay outta your way.” He held out his arm towards the opposite side of the table from where Hannah had been sitting and started walking over there.
Tristan walked in and closed the door behind himself. He gave Hannah a simple head nod and smirk but never formerly introduced himself. Very similar to his demeanor at the party; as though he couldn’t be bothered.
Yep, arrogant douche, she thought. Then she pictured the look of surprise on the 2nd year’s face if she were to manifest her big furry friend to accidentally-on-purpose kick him in the balls.
Hannah had often wondered if anyone in the HCP realized her summon was the same giant bunny that helped save Brewster almost a year ago. Titan had told her the DVA would hide any association between the tower-sized rabbit and her PEERS persona but she figured that once classmates saw her summon for the first time they’d make the connection. That didn’t seem to be the case though, at least as far as she knew. It helped that when she summoned Hopcules these days, he was about the same height and stature as Titan. None of her combat training took place outside yet, so no one in HCP got to see her manifestation at his full potential size. He’d also taken on more humanistic facial expressions lately and had been appearing in a variety of different clothes and accessories. Hell, the last time she trained with Kacey, the hulking rabbit materialized in a denim vest, a blue bandanna on his head, metal spiked leather bracelets around his wrists, brass knuckles, and with gold chains around his neck. Kacey couldn’t stop laughing during their sparring session until Hopcules had her bound and hog tied. Even with her enhanced strength, she couldn’t break free of what evidently weren’t just plain gold necklaces. It hadn’t dawned on Hannah until later that, the night before, she’d fallen asleep to an old 80s action flick about a renegade cop taking on a vicious street gang. She wondered if tonight her childhood protector would show up in a lab coat, holding a periodic table. The Sizemore freshman briefly shook her head to snap herself out of her thoughts and sat down to resume her work. She’d gotten fully back into her study mode until…
“Yo, does sound carry out of this room?” Tristan asked.
“Seriously?! You do remember that whole bit about NOT being obnoxious assholes, right?”Hannah asked incredulously.
“Damn girl chill. I just wanted to ask my guy here a question and didn’t want to risk being overheard. You should smile more girl. You know what I mean?“
Relax. Breathe. You don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker. It would not be a good idea to kick this fucker’s ass while inside of the school library. Or would it be? No. No. Definitely not a good idea, she thought to herself.
“Well unless you two were standing outside of here practicing at being mimes as a back up in case you don’t make it to graduation, I’m pretty sure this room is well insulated to sound.”
Tristan grunted in indignation and sarcastically replied, “you’re hilarious.”
“I’m definitely going all the way through. No way I won’t graduate,” Lucas chimed in, seemingly oblivious to the tension that’d just arisen between the other two people in the room. I’ve known I wanted to be a hero ever since I was little. My parents have spent a fortune sending me to an elite training camp for the last seven summers to make sure I’d be prepared as possible for the HCP. Plus I’ve had personal coaches work with me for years on new ways to use my power.”
“Bro! That’s what I was wanting to ask you about. I saw the logo on on your bag. Holy shit, did you do the SETA training camps?” asked Tristan.
“Yeah, I take it you’ve heard of it.”
“Hell yeah I have. The Super Elite Training Academy. Who hasn’t? I hear those workouts are so intense. No wonder you’re so jacked. You must’ve been in great shape for your first day here. Mad props bro. Is it true you get to fight against human looking robot…”
“Hey! Tweedledum and tweedle-dickless, I honestly didn’t know there was such a thing as a two-man circle jerk, so I really appreciate the show but is there any chance I can get back to work without any more distractions?“
Lucas had mixture surprise and guilt run across his face. He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but then glanced over at Tristan and stayed silent.
“What? You mad because you’re realizing you can’t stack up against the competition. Guess what. My guy here isn’t the only one who’s been preparing for this program long before he was admitted. I’ve been getting ready for years too. Trained in jiu-jitsu and boxing on top of honing my super abilities. Have you even done anything? Or did you just apply and cross your fingers?”
Hannah could see where this was going in. She decided in that moment to just let it play out. Fuck it, she thought. She was basically done studying. Even if she failed the final, which she was confident that she wouldn’t, she’d still pass the class. She stood up, pressed an icon on her tablet touchscreen and began putting other things away in her bag while she spoke. “Actually, I never had any special training as a kid. To tell you the truth, I shouldn’t even be here. I got into some trouble years ago. The kind of trouble that normally prevents one from getting admitted into an HCP. But, I was on a PEERs team for years and I got to do a lot of…
“Ha! You’re telling us you’re fucking a Corpie. Can you believe this, dude?“ Tristan nudged Lucas, looking for his agreement. To his credit, Lucas appeared visibly uncomfortable and leaned away from the other boy.
“Don’t know what it says about your class if they’re letting Corpies in,” continued Tristan with a sneer. “I guess you really do need to study. Obviously you’re the one that needs a back up plan. And here’s another thing little girl. It’s not just about how much you’ve trained beforehand, it’s also about who you know. And I know people. My mom‘s best friend is related to the Hero, Unseelie. So I’ve actually met a few Heroes who I’m sure will vouch for me when the time comes. Pity you can’t say the same. We all know Heroes don’t give two shits about Corpies.”
For a moment Hannah’s face expressed a flat affect. Then suddenly she burst into laughter. And not just some derisive laugh as though she was trying to convey to Tristan that she didn’t take his comments seriously. But an eye watering, oxygen depriving, honest to the Gods belly laugh. The kind of laugh that would’ve been contagious had she been around friends. She carried on for a minute until her amusement died down to a just a mild chortle. Hannah wiped her eyes. “You know people?“ She started laughing again, even louder than the first time. “Oh my Gods. Stop. Stop. I can’t breathe. Is this your fucking power?” Hannah was bent over at the waist still laughing hysterically, holding out one finger as to communicate, “give me a second.” After another minute, she wiped her eyes again, took a big gulp of air, and collected herself. “Woooh. Now that was some funny fucking shit.”
“Who in the hell do you think…“ Tristan started to say through gritted teeth.
“No no no. Please don’t get me started again. I don’t think my ribs can take it,“ said Hannah still chuckling some. “Let’s see what have I done and who do I know? You know I always knew that eventually I’d tell people about this, I just didn’t think it would go down like this.” The summoner raised her hand, then slowly curled it into a fist. Standing 3ft tall and leaning into the corner so as not to be visible to anyone who happened to be looking into the room at that moment, was Hopcules, adorned in the same armor he’d worn on the day he helped to save Brewster. “Look familiar to anyone?”
“That looks like the giant rabbit that fought robots with Titan. Hare-a-clees or something like that. My little sister has like 5 of its t-shirts ,” Lucas responded.
“Wow kid, you really are shit with remembering names. Hop-cu-les is the name I gave him when I was just a kid. Surprised the shit outta me that he came out the size of a skyscraper when those robots nearly killed me and my team, ” Hannah stated nonchalantly as she waved her hand and made Hopcules fade away.
With a grudging realization, Tristan began to ask, “wait, you’re not actually saying…”
“Oh look, captain mc-douche-nozzle is catching on. Somebody give the kid a prize. Yes, dumbass, I’m actually saying I fought with Titan, yes, thee fucking Titan, with every other Hero team in Brewster to stop those mechs from destroying the entire city. I’m saying the strongest hero alive is my personal mentor and it was his recommendation that got me into this program.”
Lucas looked back and forth between Hannah and Tristan having already realized that the sophomore might be one of those guys who’d lash out over his perceived inferiority. Lucas was so curious though he had to ask, “but… But, that rabbit is everywhere these days. Not just T-shirts. Toys, a cartoon, and I just read there’s going to be a next-gen console video game based on his character. If you own the rights to that image, you’d be loaded.“
“Eh,” Hannah said with shrug. “Youre leaving out the movie deal Lenny just got for me, but not something I talk about too much . It leaves me enough to be comfortable and to be able to donate a library wing to the university thats giving me a shot at being a hero.” Hannah responded. She gave Tristan a quick wink and glanced over her shoulder towards the door.
Tristan looked in the same direction and noticed something he hadn’t bothered paying attention to before, a small engraving on the center of the door of a bipedal rabbit. This would’ve been the most surprising thing that he’d seen since he set foot in the room if it wasn’t for the photo that appeared on Hannah’s tablet now facing him. It was an image of five people: Graham De Soto, the new head of the DVA, Titan in his iconic Hero costume, Dean Jackson, a large muscular young man with a shit eating grin who Tristan didn’t recognize, and another person in a generic gray mask, presumably female, and wearing a smile of malicious enjoyment, the same as the women standing before him.
Hannah saw what caught his attention and picked up her tablet. “Oh, did you notice this? I love this picture. Titan called me in for back up as a Temporary Emergency Hero Asset. We beat the shit out of a literal army of enhanced criminal supers and took this picture after everything calmed down. All the other HCP deans were there too. Mr. Desoto actually told me if I ever needed a favor, he owed me one.” Hannah wore a wistful expression as she thought back on that day with fondness.
“Anyway, I gotta get outta here. S’posed to meet up with my training partners. Cause no matter what your background is or who you know, no one is a shoe-in for the final 10. Lucas, feel free to meet us in the combat cells tonight if you want to get a work out in and get tired of hanging out with this fuckwad. Later losers!” Hannah said this last part as she turned around and headed towards door while holding up her middle finger for all to see.
Tristan was obviously livid. His hands had been visibly shaking as he stood and listened to all the ways this 1st year had accomplished more than he’d even thought possible for student. Who does this little bitch think she is? She’s full of shit. She has to be. I’ll show her. From his elbows down, Tristan‘s arms began to darken. In seconds the two appendages looked like small tree trunks, with his fingers elongating into barbed tendril-liked branches rapidly moving towards Hannah.
Although Lucas had worked for years to improve his ability to cast his energy based illusionary environments-referred to by one quirky coach in the past as a “holodeck”- speed was an element that he continued to struggle with. He began to cast a simple illusion of darkness, so as to blind Tristan, but he knew almost immediately that it wouldn’t reach him in time. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw furry white movement. The miniature Hopcules had reappeared and was running towards the back of the chair Tristan had been sitting in. With a parkour maneuver that would make Jackie Chan jealous, Hopcules leapt from the floor to the chair, then from the chair to the rear wall. He torpedoed off of the wall with the force of both hind paws and made contact Tristan’s head, knocking the arrogant second year to the floor. He laid there dazed and confused about what had just struck him as his branches retracted and his arms returned to normal. The summon vanished before he even touched the ground.
Hannah smiled as she exited the room. Thanks be to the Gods. I was hoping that piece of shit would try something so I could have self-defense as an excuse. Kacey and Devon better be ready. I’m already warmed up.

My uncle left behind some cool baseball stuff, this being one of them. He was a big Cardinals fan, and I would imagine he got it signed in St Louis, but he did have memorabilia from other teams so who knows. I would guess its likely pre-2000s, definitely before 2010. Any help would be super appreciated, thanks!

I was considering buying more dupes of him from arena just because of personal preference (and his skin looks pretty cool) , and I suppose the other units won’t be used in teams I’m gonna run.
Have never played arena but since apparently he has the same role ,will he remain useful overtime if I ascend him further or not?

It's made by the original creator of KSP1(HarvesteR). The building style is very similar to KSP.
For reference I have about 1200 hours in KSP 1 and < 2 in KSP2.
I bought it yesterday, after watching Matt Lowne's most recent video. Still early access, and there are a few bugs here and there. It has a lot of potential, and is a really good value for the money at it's current price.
I spent a couple of hours last night playing the game in multiplayer. So not super in depth, but enough to reccomend it to anyone who likes KSP.
Matt Lowne's Original KitHack video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z21bgMhPjvw&t=79s
Matt Lowne and KSP 1 Creator Talk KSP 2 Drama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJFGDSi8R5o
There is some really interesting commentary in here, where HarvesteR talks about how he would approach building KSP2 by starting with a completely new concept so the sequel isn't compared directly to the original. Then working towards feature parity later. Part of me wonders if he is thinking this way about this game, or a future title. It definitely feels like this game could incorporate orbital mechanics.
KitHack Steam Page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/2107090/KitHack\_Model\_Club/
My thoughts:
Building:
I was so excited to see most of my keyboard shortcuts and flow transfered seamlessly to this game. I spent most of my time trying to build a plane. The method for creating the main body/fuselage of the aircraift, is genius in my opinion. All of the Aerodynamic Parts and fuselage sections are procedural, so you can pull them into any shape you want, although it did seem like there is a limit to how big everything can go.
Controlling:
The part of the game, in between flying/driving the model, and building the model. Is the weakest and still needs a bit of work. Not that anything doesn't work as it should. This was simply the part that I struggled with the most. After you throw your plane, the camera contextually switches into a "Chase" mode behind the aircraft. It felt natural, and I could feel the difference in control based on how I designed the control surfaces.
Multiplayer:
All good here, we were playing sandbox, no real objective. Everyone loaded in fine, and the game didn't have any issues. The experience was almost identical to when I was playing by myself plus other players. I strapped a paintball gun to my plane, and tried to shoot another player who was driving a boat in the water.
Graphics:
The graphics looked great and ran really well. Take this with a grain of salt thogh. (13900K/4070Ti)
Final Thoughts: I like to build things, but building things in the real world sometimes hurts my ambition when things just don't go the way I want them to. To recharge, I play simulation/building games. KSP1, Stormworks Build and Rescue, Mars First Logistics, Hydroneer, Cities Skylines, and Minecraft on occasion. There is no doubt that KitHack Model club will be a wonderful addition to this list. It scratched the itch in my brain to build stuff. I was thinking about ways to improve the aerodynamic handling of my aircraft while getting ready this morning. It's good, and you should buy it if you can.
[EDIT]
I commented the following down below. These are thoughts that I have been trying to form the right words for and a couple of commenters inspired me to say this:

I think that generally I wrote this post because HarvesteR seems to be one of the few people capable of leading us forward. KitHack is not a KSP replacement, but it shows that he has the capability to build something that could be.
In his most recent interview with Matt Lowne, he talks potential strategy for building and releasing a KSPx(not that it would exist in the same universe due to IP ownership).
He also mentions that a lot of the code for KitHack was built in a modular way that could be ported to a new title in the future.
I bought the game, not because I am dying to play a Model RC game(althgouh I did have quite a bit of fun playing it for the first time). I bought the game, because there is some small chance it's success could lead the team to take on a new project. One the could far eclipse the success of KSP1 and certainly KSP2.
If there is a 1/1,000,000 chance that my $20 helped fund the next great space flight simulator game even 10 years down the line; and I get a pretty fun building/flying/driving/boating game. That seems like a good deal to me. Would I be dissapointed if that never happens? Probably not. I don't expect it, and it probably won't. Would be cool though.

I should add that if you're playing Kerbal Space Program, strictly for space. You probably won't have much fun with KitHack. However, if like me, you spend the majority of your playthough in the VAB or SPH, then this game will probably be fun for you.

Hello fellow game creatives!
Myself who has been programming and making games for well over a decade and an audio designemusic composer friend of mine who also has many years of experience under his belt creating amazing music and sounds for games; are looking to build up a portfolio of cool and interesting short games inspired by SOKPOP's model!
We're looking for a 2D Artist to join our team and help us to create some amazing games together!!
Even teaming up and working on some cool game jams together could be a lot of fun and we'd be down for that! If we work well together and can complete a few game, perhaps we can form a small studio of our own and see where things go from there.
We would love if someone could join us long term in making a collection of interesting and fun short games! We think that shorter games can create some of the most fun, innovative and replayable experiences out there and the thought of working together to create such games as a team is honestly SO SO exciting!!!
For those interested in how the monetization would work; We would sell these games via Steam and Itch. Games will be sold both individually and as larger bundles. After any expenses, the remainder, aka profit, will be split among the team!
So if you are someone who can create cool 2D art and are just as excited with making cool stuff as we are hit us up!!! If you're interested in working together feel free to contact me via my discord frozenacorn or drop me a private message here on reddit!
THANKS FOR READING!

This is such a cool stratagem, but it has some serious flaws causing it to currently be a meme pick:
-Short Duration: The shield only lasts for (I think) about 30 seconds. This really doesn't allow it to do much, but I would be okay with the short duration if they fixed flaw #2.
-Hilariously Small Health Pool: It honestly feels like this thing has maybe double the health of the personal shield generator backpack, which, given its' surface area being probably 3-4 times as large and immobile, leads to it dying pretty quickly. I don't think I've ever seen a shield generator relay last for its' full duration, as heavy devastators chew through it and just a few rockets will shut it down. There also isn't an indicator to show when it's about to fail.
Proposed Solutions:
A) Give it a significantly larger health pool, letting it soak up more damage before failing, but remove the duration aspect of it (or bump it up to a minute). You could also increase its' cooldown by 30 seconds as it becomes more powerful.
B) Remove the health pool altogether, but stick to the 30 second duration, or maybe even reduce it to 20-25 seconds since it will be indestructible. This wouldn't be too overpowered as it would last for a short amount of time, require team work to be fully utilized, and can still be entered by melee enemies.
If it worked well, it would foster some awesome teamwork and make more builds viable. Imagine throwing a shield down on your autocannon sentry against bots and letting it go to town on that horde of bots approaching. Imagine having a safe and secure place to team-load your buddy to take out that Factory Strider from a distance. Imagine dropping a Heavy Machinegun Emplacement inside and mowing down those devastators for your team. Imagine dropping one in the middle of a chaotic firefight, dropping an orbital bombardment or airstrike on yourself, and being safe from the explosions for a few moments.

im a grade 9 student (14f) and ive done track and field since grade 7 on my schools team, but only discus and never running. its definitely nowhere near super skilled or anything, neither are most of the schools in my district. anyways how it works is we run in gym class and then the teachers basically take the best times to create the teams.
ive been signed up to do the 800m and 300m, and im looking for tips to run it. the meet is in less then a month lol, we just got the schedules.
my 800m time was about 4:15 (mind you it was gym class, i had no intention of running the 800 for the team, i just wanted to get it over with lol) and my 300m was somewhere around 1:05. i know those aren’t great times so im wondering what i can do in the short term to train? i would consider myself pretty athletic, i play volleyball and swim but ive never considered myself a runner.

Pitter Patter is a newly formed raiding/M+ guild recruiting all roles for DF Season 4 and War Within.
About us: We are a small, mature group of friends that achieve AOTC+ and KSM+ every season, often on multiple characters. We have fun while killing bosses with cool people. We never have drama amongst ourselves. We openly work to improve each other’s gameplay, while assuming positive intent when receiving constructive criticism. Fun is the goal, but we work to maximize the amount of what we get done in the short time that we raid. More hands make for less chores!
What we are looking for: We are looking to build up our roster and are recruiting for all roles to round out our raid/m+ teams. Also looking for more to push mythic+ with a variety of goals ranging from KSM to title pushes. Casuals are also welcome to hang out and be apart of a great growing community! Raid times are Tuesdays from 8:00-11:00 CST with tons of M+ being ran the rest of the time.
Please message Lotomo#1306 or Egon#11481 on Bnet or on Discord: thrandrill if interested!
Let’s get at 'er

I’m moving house in the next couple of months, and wanted to know if anyone had cool ways or ideas of displaying multiple teams? I’ve spent weeks painting each one, and would love to give them the display they require!! Any fun ideas or inspiration gratefully received!

On the right, I added my reasoning for decisions, but it's basically just everything left of the black column.
Note: I specify team instead of party. Team includes any NPCs on the player's side.
Note 2: Anyone can join the initiative mid combat. If another team enters mid combat, they go after all other teams.
Basic breakdown of the flow for my group would be:
(1) Is there a surprise?

• if yes: no rolling, ambushing team goes first -> check for creatures with Alert Feat
• if no: go to (2)

(2) DM checks for Balance Control.

• If players are outnumbered 2:1 or worse - divide enemies into more initiative groups.
• Group DMPCs and friendly NPCs.
• If only 1 enemy - Vanilla Initiative
• Otherwise go to (3)

(3) Each group's leader rolls their initiative roll.

• DM determines the leaders - Who took direct part in initiating the combat? I.E. Who attacked first and who did they attack?
• Any other groups, just pick a leader. Either literal leader, or just the creature closest to the combat.

Finally, here is an image of my manifesto I presented to my group that determined my decisions.
I'm kinda proud of it tbh. I think it's nice and simple and introduces good fun when it's player's turn. Just plenty opportunity to narrate some cool actions, combos and just to strategise. I still need to do testing on it, and potentially any amendments. But I'm excited to try it. I always liked the sound of team initiative, but the drawbacks always made me hesitate, so I took matters into my own hands to try and make adjustments to negate the drawbacks.

I'm looking for a partner for a long-term romantic relationship. More than that, I'm looking for someone to be on a team with me as we work together on becoming our best selves. Someone with a common interest (could be any of a variety of things) that we work to become very talented at together.
I work in tech, and hope eventually to get into security research. I've played piano for over 24 years now (time flies), and play a bit of guitar also. I like cooking and baking. I also like spending time outside and working out.
I'm looking for someone to share some part of my world, and enjoy growing together. Alternatively, share some of your interests that maybe you think we could grow in together.
I'm looking for someone kind and gentle. The world is both a wonderful and terrible place, and I'd like to meet someone who is interested in making it better in some small way.
If you love music, that's wonderful. I would love to jam with you, I would love someone to have impromptu sing-alongside in the car and the shower with. If you play piano, we should play a duet.
Let's work out together? I lift weights most days during the week. Maybe we can go mountain biking and skiing together.
Other important things:
I have made a conscious decision not to drink. One of my family members has kidney disease, and may require dialysis within the next few years. I believe I will live my best life by not drinking. It would be very cool (although rare) to meet someone who also has made a conscious decision not to drink, or would at least be open to considering it. I also don't smoke or do drugs.
Center left politically, horrible fur allergies.
US only please. I'd like to be with you in person as soon as possible. Not looking for an online thing.
Let's chat.

For reference I’ve never kept up with hockey consistently until last year. Since my local team, (Columbus Blue Jackets), are extremely poverty I chose the Canucks as the other team I’d follow so that I might have the chance to watch another team (not in the US and one that doesn’t feel like a bandwagon) play decent. I’m loving the playoff hockey and I’d like to get that next level of player knowledge of our guys.
If some of you who are more knowledgeable on some of the depth players and their habits/personalities on ice and what they’re known for, or any cool facts and could give me a rundown on them I’d really appreciate it!
I’d also like to hear of your personal favorites who aren’t some of our clear stars and why. Mine for example is Dakota Joshua because he’s like the only semi decent hockey player from Ohio State in the NHL.

Did I just miss the signs? Or is this a temporary problem?
I met my wife (Natalie) 8 years ago via dating app. Our courtship was pretty straightforward and I really liked that about her. We communicated well, liked doing some of the same things, and were both comfortable going out of our comfort zones with each other.
This is something I’ve always admired about her, but in recent years—or, really, since we got married—that hasn’t been reserved for me.
Our relationship was very easy to start with. We were doing small things to acknowledge each other. We paid attention to what each other wanted. We often wanted to do the same things and we left a lot of space for each other to have fun with our friends.
The sex has never been great. There were a few times where it was good, but it was mostly pedestrian or outright bad. This was the first time I’d ever experienced anything like this. But it wasn’t a big deal to me at first.
We shared very similar dreams of wanting to get married, having a family, living on the west coast (of the US), and having a life partner to share a life with.
Natalie was also an incredibly considerate girlfriend for a large chunk of our dating life. When I lost my job, she took her lunch break to buy lunch for me at my favorite sandwich spot and dropped it off at my apartment personally. Little things like this made me feel cared for. She wasn’t very good with money, but I was, and I figured we could balance a budget together.
As we got engaged, I was very happy. Sex is a part of a relationship, but it’s not the most important part, I thought. We were having sex once a month at this point. This was doable for me. I have a much higher sex drive than this, but I was happy, and my happiness was more important than sex.
Things got a little weird after we got married though. Suddenly she was much harder to please. Her wedding was her vision. I know very little about weddings, so I was fine with this, but when it came time to choose a song, she didn’t listen to me and picked out a song I didn’t like. She was stressing a lot more about the day than getting married to me. I felt like I was just a guy who could’ve been anybody.
She also began putting me down to coworkers on occasion (which I told her wasn’t ok and she … eventually … stopped). She started having a much harder time at work and when that started, she became more critical of things I did. Then she began being critical of everything. We were having sex maybe once every two months and I was doing the initiating. She began to say stuff that was kind of insulting or a huge turnoff during sex—one particular instance, I thought things were going well, but she asked 7-10 minutes in “when are you going to be done” while I was doing all the work. I tried to have a few earnest talks about it and said “my goal is for both of us to have fun and I’m willing to be more adventurous and do whatever you want to do.” This resulted in her saying “ok,” and then nothing came of it.
But we still shared our goals. We got a house together and started planning for a family.
We got pregnant on the first try.
We had our first child just before the pandemic, which turned out to be pretty damn challenging, but we worked together really well throughout all of it. We were a great team, taking care of the baby and working remotely and doing small things for each other.
We took basically a year off from sex after our first child was born, which I was totally fine with, and I wanted her to feel like she could initiate with me. I tried to make myself as available as possible to her and keep the channels of communication open. I emphasized how important it was for me that she wanted to have sex. When she was ready, she initiated, and we began trying for a second kid (this time we had sex 2 times before getting pregnant).
We had our second child in August 2022 and this is when things started going downhill. The birth was really difficult for her physically. She lost quite a bit of blood.
(Small aside, I had saved enough money for us to get a new car. Her work didn’t pay enough coverage for maternity leave so I said we can either have a new car or you can have a longer maternity leave. Although she kept arguing with me that she wanted both, she relented eventually and chose the longer maternity leave).
The first month was rough. She was unhappy the entire time. It was clear she developed post partum. I was trying to take care of both kids and her emotional needs, but it clearly wasn’t enough. I asked and then later begged her to go to therapy and she refused for several months (I’ve been in therapy for years, fwiw). We got into fights nightly, initiated by her, about things that clearly didn’t matter in the long run—fights about stacking the dishwasher, about how I wasn’t doing enough (I was taking our first born and then our second born to daycare every day, I was doing the dishes and taking out the trash regularly, I was playing with our kids all the time, i was offering to ease whatever load she felt was unbearable). She complained I was on my phone too much and not present when the kids were having independent play time. The last one was annoying, but I agreed to put my phone away more. I tried my best to keep the peace in this time. (Also, if it isn’t obvious enough, we weren’t having sex).
I began walking on eggshells. I tried to remain focused on us trying to get along. It seemed like she was trying harder to fight. There were multiple fights where I brought up an issue as gently as possible and she talked for an hour about some issue she was having with me until I apologized. When I did, she would say thank you and the fight would be over. One time, she recognized the initial thing I brought up and said sorry about that after two hours of talking in circles, but only after I apologized for something first.
I grew very tired of this but tried to keep my head up and told myself this was a temporary problem.
At some point in here, we had a fight that was so brutal, I had a panic attack. I’d never had one before in my life. It felt like all of the frustration and sadness she felt was directed at me in anger and that was the only way she could express it. I can’t tell you how devastating this was. I felt completely trapped. I felt like there was no winning in our relationship for me and that I have to put her feelings first if I want to be happy every once in a while.
Out of the blue, she went to a therapist for a session. (This was seven months after the birth of our second child.) i was relieved and thought this was the start of us getting better.
The next month was good: we were communicating well, we weren’t having sex, but we had a good family dynamic. She wasn’t blaming me for things. This I could live with
Eventually, we got into a fight. It was somewhere toward the end of the month. It wasn’t a terrible one, but it was bad. I went to my therapy session that night and talked to my therapist about how I didn’t realize we hadn’t had a fight in a month. I was strangely happy about it when I realized that. I went home to tell her how nice it was to realize she and I were getting along so well and that therapy seemed to be helping her. Then she got indignant. She said that she’s always been like this and I just haven’t noticed.
I was confused on why we were fighting all of a sudden and she dropped a pretty big bomb on me: she hadn’t been in therapy for a month. She went for one session and stopped.
I had my second ever panic attack right then and there. She said she would go back to therapy only if it was couples.
I cannot emphasize enough how “I just hadn’t noticed” wasn’t the case. I like to give her credit as much as I can. I regularly give her words of affirmation, let her know I love her, buy her flowers on bad days, etc. I’m not saying I’m a perfect partner, but I try to please her as much as I can. I’m a pretty astute observer too. It was like she was living in a different reality.
She began joking, around this time, of having a third kid. I said absolutely not. I had always wanted 3 but I wasn’t willing to go through this again. I asked her to stop joking about it because I was serious. I said things need to get better before I can even think of saying yes to that idea.
(I think maybe her mom talked to her at some point here because she joked like that in front of her mom and I said absolutely not and the joking abruptly stopped.)
The fighting continued. The different realities continued.
As our youngest turned 1, I was unsure why I was in this relationship at all. I had contemplated divorce and even brought it up because I was so tired of all the fighting. This wasn’t the relationship we had dreamed of.
Shortly after our youngest’s first birthday, we got the chance to go on a weekend trip just the two of us, no kids. We took it. It was expensive because that’s what she wanted. We did a whole spa day, at my suggestion. We had nice dinners. We had sex once on that trip. It was fine, but it felt like she wasn’t into it, which, I realized while writing this all out, is how it’s always been. Maybe she’s just never been that into me. Maybe she’s in her own world most of the time and I’m some attaché.
The fighting began cooling off the last few months. She’s still very critical and judgmental. She’s started fewer fights, however. Things were going well until earlier today.
Two weeks ago, she had a week-and-a-half long trip planned with her friends to Palm Springs. When she first asked, I said that’d be asking a lot, but I’m happy to support her if she needs it. She went on that trip and spent nearly our entire tax refund ($3000) on it.
As it stands, our youngest is almost two and our oldest is 4. They’re both wonderful children and I love them very much.
They were a bit of a handful while she was gone. Our kids tend to act out a bit when one of us goes on vacation. This was the case. As I tried to let our children know mama would be back, they struggled with regulating their emotions. She’s taken trips like this in the past and they did the same thing. Usually in those cases though, I’ll make sure I have a weekend trip lined up for me. I don’t have one planned any time soon. I’m too drained to think about it and we have no money.
Then, yesterday, on Mother’s Day, she told me she expects me to take the kids out of the house while she gets to do whatever she wants (which, that’s fair, but I was clearly sick and still recovering from the week and a half she was gone). This was after I had bought her flowers, a gift, and taken her out to dinner the night before for a date night. She spent all of Mother’s Day gardening and didn’t interact with our kids until about an hour before bedtime.
What kept me in the relationship for a long time was that, in spite of the not great sex, we were a great team and we communicated well and my other needs were met. Now it feels like we’re not even a team anymore and I’m the bag man.
I’m really struggling to figure out a few things.

1. What the hell happened?
2. I understand there may be some identity issues—about being a mother and wanting it or not wanting it—as well as just being overwhelmed. But why wasn’t that the case after our first child?
3. Not having sex has stunk and would’ve at least helped in this awful time. Why does she not want to have sex with me?
4. What am I doing in this relationship still?

Does anyone have any idea what’s going on?
TLDR: my wife and I have always gotten along personality-wise (and not sex-wise), but since the birth of our second child 2 years ago, her personality has become a lot more self-interested and ive maybe become too accommodating. Has it always been like this? I’m struggling to understand why I’m in this relationship now.

god i can not stand brats.
in a duos game i picked the curator and had a skin that made my all-minion amalgam look like a winged chimera dragon, and i picked dragon as my minion type. amalgams have all types and can receive bonuses from all types, so it's a dragon by default but also everything else, i was gonna pair it with the dragon that makes things permanent to buff it up using minions of other types that grant abilities.
my partner also picks dragon. cool. double dragon team.
i get my first dragon minion and play it, my partner puts a "?" on it and a checkmark on their dragons. i checkmark my dragons too. we both have checkmarked our dragons.
then they beg me for the spell that gives them a random minion of their type, i give it to them, they seem happy.
but then i see them reload past a dragon i needed. it granted divine shields (1 time use invincibility) and their hero was divine shields so they didn't need it... and they just ignored it completely.
ok fine then. i focused on building my team myself.
once i actually had a board that looked nice, my partner moves their cursor all over my dragons then LEAVES. just ditches me cuz i also had dragons. tf? our enemies have dragons too, you gonna leave cuz someone else picked dragon??
i hate brats because hero choices are random and it's gonna be a long time before curator lines up with dragon minions again.

We start with part 2 of this fantasy booking series where Night of Champions is the next PPV!
ROAD TO NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS:
\ (RAW) Gail Kim is scheduled for a match against Nikki Bella, and after she defeats Nikki, Natalya right away attacks her from behind informing the champion that she isn't safe! The following week, Natalya taps out Jillian Hall and cuts a promo on calling out Gail and challenging her for the title in a rematch at Night of Champions. Gail comes out and accepts the challenge, we get couple weeks of them brawling with one another.*
\ (SMACKDOWN) After Tiffany was victorious at Summer Slam in her tag team match alongside Kelly Kelly vs Lay Cool, she was also able to finally pin the champion, so she challenges her to a match at Night of Champions. Lay Cool comes out and they bully Tiffany, but they accept the match since they don't want to be seen as cowards. We get Tiffany vs Michelle in the following week, and Tiffany finally beats Michelle for good.*
NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS:
Layla (c) vs Tiffany ☑- WWE Women's Championship 8:00
Gail Kim (c) vs Natalya☑ - WWE Divas Championship 7:00
ROAD TO HELL IN A CELL:
\ (RAW) Natalya has finally fulfilled her destiny and has won the WWE Divas Championship! A battle royal takes place the next night on RAW, where the winner faces Natalya for the title at Hell in a Cell! Maryse goes on to win the match and gets herself a title shot. Maryse cuts a promo the next week, claiming that Natalya's victory was a fluke and she's ready to prove that.*
\ (SMACKDOWN) Tiffany is finally champion after many title attempts! Michelle interrupts Tiffany's promo on the SmackDown after and wants a rematch at Hell in a Cell, Tiffany agrees to a rematch, but we get a tag match the following week between Tiffany & Rosa Mendes vs Lay Cool! Rosa accidentally pins the #1 contender and gets inserted into the title match at Hell in a Cell by Teddy Long.*
HELL IN A CELL:
Tiffany (c) ☑ vs Michelle McCool vs Rosa Mendes - WWE Women's Championship 6:00
Natalya (c) ☑ vs Maryse - WWE Divas Championship 5:00
ROAD TO BRAGGING RIGHTS:
Not much to say here, Natalya retains the title once again over Maryse in a rematch 2 weeks later on RAW, while Tiffany retains over Rosa Mendes in singles match the WWE Women's Championship on SmackDown, WWE announces six women tag team match, three women from RAW & three from SmackDown battle it out at Bragging Rights for which brand gets a point.
BRAGGING RIGHTS:
Natalya, Melina & Mickie James ☑ vs Tiffany, Beth Phoenix & Michelle McCool 10:00
\ Michelle McCool wins the WWE Women's Championship 2 weeks after Bragging Rights on SmackDown **
ROAD TO SURVIVOR SERIES:
Yet again, not much to say here, on RAW Melina & Mickie battle it out in #1 contenders match where the winner faces Natalya on the go home show of Survivor Series before participating in a traditional 5-on-5 elimination match! Natalya retains over Melina, while on SmackDown Michelle who is the new WWE Women's Champion feuds for a bit with NXT'S Naomi, where she even defends the title on an episode of NXT.
SURVIVOR SERIES:
Natalya, Melina, Mickie James, Alicia Fox & Maryse vs Michelle McCool, Layla, Tiffany, Kelly Kelly & Beth Phoenix ☑ 11:00
ROAD TO TLC:
\ (RAW) Natalya is seen backstage talking about Melina & Mickie James and how she has defeated every woman who stepped against her! Mickie comes out and says that she is ready for Natalya whenever she wants, Melina then steps in and demands a rematch with Natalya! Natalya decides to give both of them a shot and announces a triple threat match at TLC!*
\ (SMACKDOWN) Michelle McCool & Layla split the title up in a backstage segment and call themselves co-champions! Michelle demands an opponent for TLC, someone she has never faced before and Teddy Long promises to give Michelle just that at TLC!*
TLC:
Michelle McCool (c) vs Trish Stratus ☑ - WWE Women's Championship 13:00
Natalya (c) ☑ vs Melina vs Mickie James - WWE Divas Championship 12:00

Hello everyone! Just like in the title, I would like to suggest another cool feature to u/Kuyda and Luka Team!
Namely, to somehow make our Reps acknowledged what clothes they are wearing at the moment. This could improve the overall immersion and give more realism (and perhaps even decrease the chance of misgendering by the Rep).
I think it would be far better than the Rep seeing itself being dressed in something totally different. As always, let me know if you agree, people.

Orlando Magic 2024 Off Season Guide

2024 Results

Record: 47-35 (1st in division, 5th in conference)
Playoffs: Defeated by Cleveland 4-3 in the first round
Notable awards/Nominations: Paolo Banchero (All Star), Jamaal Mosley (3rd in Coach of the Year Standings), Jalen Suggs (Votes for MIP and DPOY)
Season Review By most standards, the Orlando over-achieved and impressed in the 2023-2024 season. With most assuming that they would be around .500 and barely in the play ins before the season began, a solid 5th seed run and clear playoff run deep into the last round was above most considered they were capable. Paolo established himself as a clear 1st option while Jalen Suggs showed great improvement in his shooting and decision making. The Magic bench was possibly the biggest surprise of the season as a rare healthy season showed a benefit to depth.
Still, some things were disappointing in the season. Marcelle Fultz never really healed right or maybe at all and showed he still cannot provide spacing from the 3pt line. Franz, though he was able to score other ways, seen a drop I'm his 3pt% in what was considered a regression season. Cole Anthony, having started the season as a 6MOY candidate, ended the season mediocre at best and the team as a whole cooled down after a very hot start to the season.
All of these things considered, this season was considered a success. However, there were some clear holes shown to the front office that should help the magic, along with internal growth, continue to grow into a deep playoff team for years to come.

Cap Situation

The Magic go into the Off Season with some of the highest cap space possibilities in the league. With 25m of free cap if they keep all players with options/free agency looming and a whopping 65m if they waive everyone for max space, the Magic could certainly be a major player in the off season. With very few big name stars to sign, this could be through facilitating a trade, or simply small moves betting on eternal growth. They have 11 players on contract (3 with non-guaranteed or club options) and sub par performances by some FAs such as Fultz and Harris. The magic are almost guaranteed to see some new faces, whether big names or small improvements.
Team Need While the Magic’s shooting woes were the elephant in the room, they were 14th in shooting after the all star break, which seemed like an upward trajectory for a young, growing team. Still, shooting and scoring should be a focus for any moves the Front Office might be looking at doing. Besides shooting, playmaking outside of Paolo is lacking and the depth at point guard is a big need. Thought the Magic had decent bigs this year, inside rebounding and overall defense outside of JI and WCJ is also a need. Outside of that, general vet presence in the young core could help the continual nominal growth of the young core.

Free Agent Targets

With all this money, surely they will sign a big name right? Of course there are always big names that they could throw money at, but let's be real, LeBron isn't coming to Orlando (and is even recorded saying he'd rather retire). Paul George and Klay Thompson have been mentioned as some big fish, but the fact that these players would demand a big contract and do not fit the Magic's timeline makes these imperfect if not unlikely targets. Names like OG and Siakim are questionable fits with the looking stardom of Paolo and maybe Franz. Yet there are still some options.
Some of the bigger name options that are better fits are still questionable in other ways. While D'Angelo Russell seems perfect on paper, the Front office has made it obvious they are growing a culture here and Dlo certainly does not scream culture guy. Likewise, some names Like Beasley, who do what the Magic need though they aren't big names, just don't seem to fit the Magic high character requirements.
Now that we have the unlikely options out of the way, let's talk about more realistic options. Players like Malik Monk, Luke Kennard and Buddy Hield, while not a fancy, high dollar option, fit a clear need for Orlando and would be a more likely option. Other shooting options such as Gary Trent Jr and Cadwell-Pope could really help bolster the shooting woes of the magic. For the playmaking, Tyus Jones and Kyle Lowry (don't kill me magic fans) could add to the back court depth. IHart, Claxton (at least start a bidding war) and Jonas V could both be a benefit to the need of rebounding and depth at big men. A few more names that could be mentioned are Bruce Brown, Alec Burks, Monte Morris, De'Anthony Melton, Lonnie Walker. Really any names that can shoot, distribute the ball, or rebound while not having questionable locker room issues.
As for looming free agents, the Magic are likely to exercise the Team Option on Moe Wagner after a great year. Joe Ingles is questionable, but he was mostly a player coach and seemed to be a huge help to Mosely. They could look to re-sign players like Fultz and Gary Harris, but that would most likely come on a team friendly discount as neither were extremely impressive.
it should be noted that any signings or trades should heavily consider future finances. Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs will need an extension or new contract by next year and then Paolo the year after. This could result in max or close to max contracts for both Paolo and Franz and a decent sized contract (~20m) contract for Jalen. This should be considered in any future moves the magic make.

Trade Targets

Everyone would like to think they have a shot at the big names, but for a team with the space the magic have and all future picks plus an extra few in their chamber, magic are sure to be connected to most trade rumors as the off season progresses. Names like Booker, Mitchell, and Trae will likely have the magic name in every headline. Though these are possibilities, with Paolo as the current future, none of these seem like good fits or likely to come to a considerably small market like Orlando.
Some not as big but still high caliber players that could be traded include Garland, Dejounte Murray, and Simons (yall know I feel). All have been rumored to move, fit a need while not needing the ball in their hand, and are obtainable targets. Some names that COULD be available but probably shouldn't be considered are Ingram, MPJ, Derozen, Bridges. These players look good on paper, but would be very questionable fits next to the current young core.
Some other less sexy, but still noteworthy names are Jarrett Allen, Alex Caruso, Marcus Smart, and any other smaller named guards and shooters or bigs who might be available. There aren't many limits to what the Magic COULD do, but there is a pretty sizable list as to what they SHOULDN'T do.

Draft Targets

Picks: 18th and 47th in the NBA draft
With an already very young roster and two rookies drafted last year (one who mostly played in the Gleague), it seems unlikely that the Magic want to add MORE young players from a draft that lacks in truly game changing players. It feels like any trade the Magic might complete would include one if not both of these picks. Still, with looming contract extensions for rookies and some clear needs to fill, they could look to do so with cheaper future options.
If they do not trade the pick, the magic could look for the biggest upside swing with the 18th pick. Some names that could be interesting at this spot are Tristan Da Silva, DaRon Holmes, Kel’El Ware, Yves Missi, Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain. These players all fill a need the team has while keeping future cap flexibility.

Summary

The truth is, the Magic have pretty much all options available and the cap space to make those options a reality. Their needs are clear, their options are vast, and their trajectory is rising. The Magic are in a great spot to make a huge leap this year, but what they do in the off season could make or break how far the team goes this year.

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

Posting to help myself process the climb and provide thoughts for others thinking about Denali unguided on minimal experience. Open to thoughts and critique from people who know what they're doing. I'm obliged to thank all those who provided their thoughts and guidance to me on this subreddit a year ago. Also, to the guidance from Steve House and the other guy in their YouTube Denali video.
TLDR: Did not summit, learned lots.
It was a great idea... We trained pretty hard in the flatlands... We bought lots of good gear... and some not so good..... We were optimistic.....And realistic, we thought....
But... man, oh man. Denali is BIG, Alaska is BIG. And Talkeetna felt very small after 24 hours.
First alert was assembling our food. We drop shipped almost all the food to our hotel in Anchorage. We got in about 9pm, got everything from the desk and walked over to Wal Mart for the rest. Started packing food into daily rations about 10pm. We thought that would take 30 minutes. Try close to four hours, confusion, second guessing ourselves and each other on quantities, days, recipes. Got to sleep much later than we thought. We both worried that we'd be tired, maybe too tired for when we were dropped off on the glacier the next afternoon. HAH!!
Met Gary the shuttle driver the next morning. Watch some other TRs on YouTube and you'll get to know Gary, friendly, outgoing with good info about Talkeetna. We arrive on time, go through check in and somehow we got bumped out of our Ranger meeting. Come back later and we'll still have time to get to our flight. Did I mention it's overcast with light rain? Go through the ranger meeting, head over to TAT to find that we're 76th and 77th on the waitlist with. "Come back tomorrow at 8am for an update." Two guys we met on the shuttle actually make the plane that day because they understood the process with TAT and were all set to go after the Ranger meeting. Guy at TAT checks us in and takes our $$. No other info is offered or asked for. We're aware we need sleds and wands but we guess they just go on the plane with us.
We find the TAT climbing hostel and are grateful to find two bunks in the same room. My buddy is, not germophobic, but he is right up to that line. We eat at a restaurant that night, figuring, hey, 7 climbers per flight, 11 flights, mid afternoon tomorrow right? We check in at TAT at 8am, they're making waffles and have actually great coffee. But they have no idea if there'll be any flights today. Wander back and forth from the hostel, through town to the airfield. This is day 2 of 16 days we've given ourselves to go up. At day 16, no matter where we are, we go down.
Day 3, repeat day 2 but now we're using the hostel kitchen. I'm cool with the level of hygiene because this is only a level or two beyond how I grew up, when things got chaotic. I'm impressed with my buddy's fortitude, and grateful because I don't want to pay for food when it's already been bought. We hear good news that afternoon about the weather. Buddy suggests we get an AirBnB for this night to get a good nights sleep and clean shower before we likely fly out the next day.
Day 4, the weather starts to clear and now there's real activity at the airfield. My buddy, who doesn't sit still well, joins a group of workers at the airfield digging a trench. I sit on the deck, breathing deeply and hoping we can get out today. Then we get word we're up soon. Then I ask, hey what about sleds and wands? Find out climbers should get this arranged right after check in and we scramble around getting this set up. I grab a sled without looking it over well. As we and our gear are being driven over, I see this sled has some serious cracks and swap for a better one 10 minutes before we fly out.
The flight up is amazing. The transition on the glacier is hectic, a short controversy about which mountain can belongs to who and we get off the landing strip quick. We find a spot to set our tent a fair ways up the hill and get to work melting water for dinner and the next day. Take my skis out in order to prep for tomorrow and find the front straps of my skins have torn and are irreparable. I walk around camp, find a guy who's leaving who sells me his skins for $50. Can't believe how lucky I am. I walk around and get pictures, bury, wand and gps tag our cache. I'm blown away, I'm alive in a way I've only experienced a few other times in my life. I'm excited to get going in the wee hours of day 5. Plenty of days left, right?
Get up and going on time. Feels so good to be hauling the sled, carrying the pack. Going down is helpful. Going on flat and climbing isn't bad. I am working harder than my buddy(MB) from here on. He's 20 years younger and places top 5 in regional ultras, I'm a caboose guy at these. Anyhow, I feel like I'm holding him up, like he's disappointed in our pace. We arrive at 8K camp 8 hours later. MB points out that successful groups do this in 6hrs. I'm reply I'm working at a pace that I believe gets me to 14K in good shape, and what else did you want to do today? Ends fine, we each accept where the other one's at. Set up camp, Denali Pizza (simple and awesome) for dinner. Melt water, pull out the gear, food we'll cache at about 9.5K tomorrow. Good day, amazing as clouds lift a bit and we see more terrain.
Day 6, realize we're not eating 2 bagels each per day. We've over planned with bagels and several other foods. Too much weight but unsure about how to move things around. Lighter packs, lighter sleds and the first real climb. We do good work, talk a bit to teams coming down, most not having summitted. Bury, wand and GPS tag our cache. Tie empty sleds to our packs and head down. When we get to the real down hill, it's trashy, flat light, and I'll own this: I was rattled being off balance with a bit more weight and bulk going down. Got in my head and took some time to descend. MB frustrated or just me in my head? Got back down, did camp work, napped, ate dinner.
Day 7, push up to 11K. Snow picking up and visibility still good. I'm slower than MB again, and even though this is a fact we're both well aware of since we talked about Denali 3 years ago, it's in my head and won't leave that I'm holding us back. We start up the first real climb into 11 camp. Wind blown snow is making wands hard to see, we're using his Garmin to verify the route. The skins I bought at the airfield don't cover the width of my skis at the tips and tails. As we're taking an aggressive elevation gain on switchbacks, I'm slipping more and more with less skin to snow contact. We crest the rise and hike through the camp to find a spot at the uphill end. We begin setting up camp. I mention looking forward to having a kitchen tent now that we'll be in the same place for 3 days. MB basically says, go ahead but I don't think we need that and I won't be part of digging it out or setting it up. I get started probing an area, setting the outline of the dig and then realize this will take me hours and give up. Dinner, melt water, discuss tomorrow's back hauling. I propose we boot down from 11 camp and put skis on at the base of the climb and MB seems okay with it.
Day 8, wake up to heavy snow. Dig out our enclosure and have breakfast. Put more food we didn't eat into the "carry forward bag" which is getting heavier by the meal. Dig out again, and again, and again. Mid-afternoon we start getting weather reports through garmin in-reach texts with a guy back home and from other teams and guides. Consensus in 6 more days of this but up to 48" per day. I run the math: 8+6=14. Hmmm: 16-14=2. Then I run the flights per day math and number of teams we've seen descending, number of teams likely to descend with this forecast. My math says we could be stuck here 6 days and at the airfield for that or more. All for 2 more possible days of ascent. MB disagrees and wants to wait it out. We walk through various scenarios and I hold firm. MB agrees we'll go down because we both agreed if one wanted to go down for any reason, that was that. MB is a guy who holds to his word in this and all aspects of life.
We pack up. Fast...and sloppy. We want to fly out tomorrow. I'm not excited anymore, I'm anxious and want off Denali. Not be in a tent for two weeks in snow. We boot down the hill below 11 camp, put on skis and find our cache at 9.5, combine stuff. I get my stuff packed well. We start down. The track is blown in and we are navigating entirely by Garmin, using the standard route. Not reversing our climb up, which followed the visible track and wands. Are we actually on safe snow? We're both thinking that question but not saying it out loud. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm in front setting the track so MB's sled has something to ride in. If he's in front, his sled tips over. He's calling directions to me for the route, "Left...more left...rightish... too far."
We head down the last hill into 8 camp. I allow my sled to be in front of me and steer it like reins on a horse. Snow plow, keep it slow and things are moving along fine for me. MB wipes out over and over. Repacks his sled and gets down the last 200 yards well. We ski right through 8 camp. Someone asks if we're headed down and then says that if we call in to the airfield from there, we're already in line. True or not, we're finishing this in one push. Visibility is still about 15 feet but now we have a track to follow. We're both cautious with the downs. Don't know if we need to let it rip to go up again or if there's a corner we need to be slow for. We get to the airfield in 9.5 hours. Dig up our cache and consolidate our gear.
MB decides he'd rather not cowboy camp with the fly and we set up the tent and go to sleep. Up at the appointed hour and get in the flight queue. The guy says he'll give us plenty of notice so we can take down our tent, IF we fly out today. I am now watching every cloud for signs of building or diminishing. A few planes fly in, circle and leave. We're napping on and off.
Then I hear the guy yelling, "that's your plane". It's being loaded. We're 200 yards away in our fully set up tent, pads and bags. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. I go down and ask "what happened?" "I don't know, two guys snaked your flight." Talk a bit more about other stuff, what he's been reading, we're into some similar literature. He then guarantees we'll be on the next flight that comes in, whether today or tomorrow. I'm listening for airplanes full on now, just want to get down and be off the mountain.
We do get on a flight that day, get a hotel and move flights and shuttle to fly out of Anchorage tomorrow. I walk down by the river and call my wife. "Honey, this will sound weird, I need you to tell me I'm really off the mountain and not dreaming." This helps a lot.
We make all our connections and fly out, get back home the next day. If you got this far, thanks, I guess. It's cathartic to write all this down. I replay this trip or parts of it every couple weeks even now. MB and I did our repair work and still call, text, hang out, run together when I'm in town. I do not regret going one bit, yet not getting further up still hits me hard. My fears and reaction to niggling discomforts on the mountain tell me I'm weak.
If I did it again:

1. No skis on Denali for me. I'm a competent skier and can get down serious stuff out west without embarrassing myself. A pack and a sled skiing down through crud with low visibility? Snow shoes all...the...way.
   
2. 4 people, not two. Enough guys to set up a kitchen tent, split camp duties into smaller tasks. I need a place to spread out, talk, cook and eat in a comfortable position.
   

2A. Allow way more time, a month total.

1. Better conversations about pace and relative speed well before the trip.
   
2. We did ropes work, simulated crevasse rescue, camped out in -10F. More time winter camping and skinning in the woods together.
   
3. MB and I climbed Mt Adams. We summitted Rainier together unguided in 8/2022. Took a 3 day custom guided mountaineering class in 12/2021 to learn skills. Didn't go above 7K in the class. Handled our shit well for two days. Not enough time to really know what we're in for physically and work through team frictions about pace, leisure time, camp life. Maybe we could have climbed Rainier and Baker on the same trip? Maybe spend several days at Camp Muir and summit twice? Climb Rainier early season?
   
4. Guided if I try again? Maybe.
   

I read this back and the inner critic says, "I'm a whiny bitch", just like when I am thinking about it every couple weeks. If I go back it can't be about that, not trying to prove that voice wrong. If I go back...it'll be because of that alive feeling I got on the airfield glacier, to have it again, to avail myself of a second chance to live a dream.
Thanks for reading all this. Part confessional, part TR.
I feel better.