So I'm M29 started swimming back in 2003 non stop till 2012 then got back in 2018/19, I had to stop for many reasons mainly logistical and financial, Today i had my 1st session since 2019 in a local semi-olympic pool and I'm feeling indestructible, i forgot how much i loved swimming and how much it's been a core part of my childhood, i felt like i was finally home. I was too excited and forced myself a bit (didn't do any physical workout since 2021), i was just happy to be swimming again and soon i learned my athletic limits lol and I'm okay with them, now i know relatively what my goals will be. I swam a total of 650m: 200m freestyle, 100 backstroke, 150m breaststroke and the rest with a swimming board between my legs and swam only with my hands back and freestyle (the last two were to release back pain). I'm gonna do 2 sessions of 1h30 a week and i can't wait for the next session even tho the subscription makes 10% of my salary. I'm so happy till the point I'm sharing this with you guys even tho I'm a passive scroller, I'm open to all advices and tips from you guys about what to eat and stuff like this. Sorry for the long post.
TL;DR: I'M BACK TO SWIMMING AFTER 5 YEARS AND I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT IT.

I have,had painful severe treatment resistant depression.after along trial journey in now on a maoi for three years that's performing miracles I still enjoy discussing reading learning substances how they affect the bran and basically pharmacology
I think back and remember the time frustrated I went the all natural route and the tons of stuff I tried
I rember how almost everything has a great amazing profile but never really lived up to it most had subtle effects if any.there were exceptions like kava for example,one exception though unlike kava was definatly strong but unlike kava for me was horrible I rember DMG if get the main brand can't rember the name but like a green and white box? Anyeay I rember it was made to be sublingual and after putting DMG under my tongue like a prescription med the effect was robust fast and potent I kept using it for a while because A it was something that actually worked B wasn't quite sure how I felt about it effects then I learned just how strong it was,the INSOMNIA.the insombia from dmg was so intense i mean i coulf not sleep a wink upon taking just a singular sublingual tab.iknew it wasn't just me as I tricked my brother into taking one and he immediately came and yelled at me ,what the hell did you give me I haven't slept in days ? Not sleeping allowede time to really evaluate DMG and. I was finally certain I hated hated it's effects they were extreme potent and depressing!
I. Also know it wasn't me because I'm not positive but I believe it in fact is named from the Olympics and almost in general altogether.
I'm just curious if anyone else messed with sublingual DMG . A had insomnia B noticed it had potent robust fast acting effects C felt it's effects were not pleasant At all ? Ty for reading and in advance for any reply !

14M, I don't really remember my height and weight, White.
After being outside for 4 hours during Special Olympics track meet, I developed a red rash on my legs. I thought that this rash was a sunburn. The rash had a stinging sensation, no unbearable pain. I had a good deal of sun exposure during the event.
Don't take medications, and don't drink, smoke, or use recreational drugs at all.

A couple of projection clicks kick off the next trailer before the footage is shown. as shots of a college campus appear, while kids are walking around,a narration opens with "This is story of five young women, A rocker, (showing footage of her and a band performing karaoke on stage at a rec center) an athlete (showing footage of her running hurdles on a track), a cheerleader (rooting for her team and her boyfriend during a football game), an outcast (basically a goth kid), and an academic (showing footage of her study for a book report on the novel "the most dangerous game"). "They were college students, sorority sisters, and the best of friends since childhood (which shows footage of them as kids,teenagers, then the adults they became later in life) until the night their perfect worlds were shattered beyond repair". "What started as an innocent practical joke drew the ire of a dangerous gang who followed them home (while the narration is going on they slashed the tires and disabled the motor to the gangs car in retaliation/defense of an uncle and two four year old children who were being bullied by the gang, then it's cuts to the gang breaking in to the sorority house and while try as they may,the girls are no match for the gang) and savagely beat and kill their housemother" ( one gang members holds the other residents at gunpoint in a corner of the house, five others pin the five girls down to the floor and make them watch whole the gang leader (who has a scar in the shape of a hook from his eyebrow to his ear ) and his second in command beat the housemother almost to death) you see and hear the girls crying and pleading not to kill her and offer to fix the car in exchange for her life but to no avail, the housemother tries to comfort the girls, knowing that she's about to die "there,there now. Everything's going to be ok, you girls be good you hear me?" Then hook-scar blows her face off with a shotgun and blood and brains splatter all over the girls while they're bawling their eyes out as he coldly says ".....and to all a goodnight " one gang member wants to waste the other girls but hook-scar grabs his shirts and forcefully reminds him "WE'RE DONE HERE!!!!, no lets get outta here before campus police show up". The next morning the girls are interviewed by police, but they don't tell them what caused the attack, after the housemother's funeral the girls are confronted by one of their fellow sisters and gives them a key that one of the gang members left behind. "What's this? ", "I don't know ", "Looks to me like a storage key, there's a storage area downtown let's go take a look later tonight". Later in the night they match the key with a storage unit number, and they open it up to find all kinds of firearms (shotguns, M-16's, 9mm's, AK-47's, you name it) "What does this mean?" "Isn't it obvious?, if the police can't do anything we'll do it ourselves, we have all the weapons we'll ever need to defend ourselves, but where to start?" "Hey,do you guys remember Mr. Gomez's class reports on the most dangerous game?" Next few shots would be the five girls loading ammo mags, strap on ammunition belts and loading their new found guns "NOW..,these five young women are on safari, hunting their quarry in the most dangerous environment know to man.............the criminal underworld", on this night they would be known as,THE MAN-HUNTERS!!!" and it would be a bloody and violent montage of them killing pimps,drug-dealers, etc. setting traps,lures and snares for perverts, child molesters, and rapists and when word got around that the girls were using weapons from their own storage unit,hook-scar beats the gang member who dropped the key to death and declares they were going on a hunt of their own, second to final shot shows an abducted athlete held prisoner by hook-scar who starts cutting off her fingers one by one (because he "doesn't like sticky fingers touching his property") followed by her bloodcurdling scream of pain while blood splashes in her face, final shot shows the four girls breaking in to rescue the athlete and killing the remaining gang members while hook scar takes a shot to the side and a deep laceration to the side of his neck. While he's crawling towards the exit the four girls patch up the athlete's hand (who's missing a thumb and half a pinky finger) and walk straight towards him with gun barrels pointed at him, and while spitting blood in his face the athlete mocking taunts hook-scar with his own phrase ".......and to all a goodnight". And while he gives the girls his own bloodcurdling scream of defiance, flashes of light from the gunshots and smoke fill the theater screen and freeze frame with the narration returning, "The Man-Hunters,.......pray you're not on their endangered species list"
A 70's title card appears "COMING SOON"
The grindhouse theme returns while another title card appears, "OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION"

This is taken from and is copyright protected by globalsoup.net, a website that promotes flash Fiction with annual writing contests.
I am reprinting these Flash Fiction Prompts because they are outstanding ways to freewrite and offer plenty to work with for those who want to learn how to write Flash Fiction.
So check out these prompts and the article and work some of them into your journal! Post the best responses!
100 Awesome Flash Fiction Prompts - Plus Bonus Prompts!
We’ve put together 100 flash fiction prompts, each one designed for a very short story. These prompts will probably be best suited to a story of between 300-1,000 words. If you want to write a longer story using these prompts, you can easily expand these ideas to fit a story of any length.
What is flash fiction?
Flash Fiction is defined as a very short story that can be anywhere from just a couple of words to about a thousand in length. The beauty (and difficulty) of writing flash fiction lies in trying to tell a complete story in so few words. Great flash fiction is succinct, emotive, thought-provoking, and impactful.
What’s the difference between flash fiction and a short story?
The only difference between flash fiction and a typical short story is the word count. However, this scarcity of words means that writing flash fiction can feel like a completely new skill. Just like the short story is a different animal to the novel or novella; flash fiction is kind of unique.
When writing flash, you’ll need to use fewer characters, a simpler plot, and you’ll have to make each word count. This is why editing is so important. You have to be brutal. Cut out everything superfluous and really make sure each and every word is performing an important function in the story. If you’re interested in writing very short fiction, why not check out drabbles? Drabbles are stories of exactly 100 words in length, and they can be a great way to practice keeping your stories very, very short.
How to plot a flash fiction story
When you sit down to write flash fiction, you must begin by choosing an appropriate plot. You cannot simply use a short story plot and tell it using fewer words. A typical flash fiction plot is like looking at one part of a story under a microscope.
For example, let’s look at prompt #21 in our list of 100 Flash Fiction Prompts:

1. Two people on a sinking ship must decide who should take the last seat in the last lifeboat. If you were writing a novel about a sinking ship, you’d probably want the actual sinking to be the climax of the story. Of course, there are infinite ways to write a novel about a sinking ship, but this would structurally be the most obvious. You’d use the first part of the novel to introduce your characters and describe the voyage leading up to the sinking and the sinking of the ship would be the dramatic climax, leaving the last part of the book as the resolution.

The golden rule of writing short stories is to begin as close to end as you can. So, to turn the same story from novel to short story, you’d probably want to begin with the ship sinking. You haven’t got time to introduce the characters before the action begins, so you’d need to feed in exposition and backstory here and there during the events.
All stories need a good climax. So, you would find the most dramatic moment in the story and build up to it. Perhaps your climax would be the two main characters having to decide who will take the remaining seat on the last lifeboat.
Finally, you need a resolution. In a longer short story you do have time to bring in some kind of satisfying resolution at the end.
But, if you’re writing flash fiction and your story is only a few hundred words, you really need to zoom in on one tiny moment in that story.
You don’t have time to tell the entire story of a sinking ship, but you can turn one moment into a story.
We’ve chosen the lifeboat situation as the key moment in this hypothetical story. Two characters must decide which one of them will take the last seat on the last lifeboat. This is an appropriate plot for flash fiction because it’s simple, high-stakes, dramatic, and thought provoking.
Not all flash fiction will have a plot quite this dramatic, but all great flash fiction will have a plot that can be expressed in just one or two sentences.
If you have a plot in mind, but it seems more suitable for a longer story, you can sometimes find several flash fiction plots hidden within it. Just look for little stories within the story, like the lifeboat moment in our hypothetical tale of the sinking ship.
This brings us to our top tip for coming up with ideas for flash fiction stories:
if you’re ever stuck for ideas, you can find little stories within the story in books, movies, and TV shows. A full length feature film might have as many as 20 little incidents in it that could easily be flash fiction.
Don’t directly write a story based on the film, though. Just carefully pick out those little moments, write down what’s happening as a one or two sentence plot, and then use it to inspire your own, completely original flash fiction story.
One of our 100 Flash Fiction Prompts was actually taken from the movie Pulp Fiction!
How to write very short flash fiction
There are several reasons writers might start writing flash fiction. Of course, it could be that they just love and enjoy the form, but sometimes they’ll be a more strategic and practical reason at play.
Perhaps they want to practise the process of writing stories within the confines of a certain word limit. Maybe they are trying to develop a daily writing routine and they don’t have a lot of free time. It could be that they’re trying to break a habit of not finishing writing projects, or perhaps they are entering a flash fiction competition.
Whatever the reason, very often when we sit down to write flash, we must work under an imposed or self-imposed word restraint. We’ve set ourselves (or been set) the task of keeping the story under a particular number of words.
So, how do you plot a flash fiction story when you have to keep your story very, very short.
We’re not going to discuss stories of 100 words or fewer here. Technically, those stories are still flash, however, we prefer to categorise 100 word stories as drabbles and anything under 100 words as micro fiction.
But what if you have to keep your flash fiction story under, let’s say, 300 words? How do you write a flash fiction story that short?
The answer is: get your microscope out again. Remember earlier when we said writing flash fiction is like looking at part of a story under a microscope? If you have to write very short flash fiction, you’ll need to zoom in even further.
Let’s look at a couple of examples from our 100 Flash Fiction Prompts:

1. During a match, a young boxer must decide whether to throw the fight.

If you had 1,000 words to devote to the story, you could have time to tell the story of the entire fight. With only 300 words, it might be better to zoom in on the very moment when the boxer must choose whether or not to go down.
In a longer flash fiction story you might have time to go into detail about why he’s in this situation and why he’s so conflicted. In a 300 word story, you might only devote one or two sentences to his gambling debt and the large sum of money waiting for him if he goes down in the third round, as instructed.

1. A family must decide what to take and what to leave behind as a wildfire approaches their home.

If you had 1,000 words to devote to this story, you might be able to write about the whole process of choosing what to take and what to leave behind. You might be able to mention many different choices and have the whole family participate in the story. You’d be able to go into some details about certain choices and the stories behind individual objects or mementos, as well as the implications of choosing certain things over others.
With only 300 words, it would be advisable to zoom in on one member of the family and to focus on one profound and important choice.
How to write a flash fiction story
Now you have your mini plot, you still need to make sure your flash fiction feels like a complete story. It should still have a beginning, middle, and an end.
Just like a short story, you may need to bring in a little exposition here and there to give texture, context, backstory, and to bring some depth to the characters. But, unlike a short story, you won’t necessarily need to end with a full, detailed resolution. It’s quite common for a flash fiction story to end with a quick twist or plenty of ambiguity.
Flash Fiction is much more about eliciting emotions and provoking thought, than setting up and resolving a complex story.
100 Awesome Flash Fiction Prompts
A young ballet dancer chooses not to tell the other dancers in her troop about a loose paving stone outside their dance studio.
Two sisters realise they’ve both been on a perfect first date … with the same man.
On the car journey home, two parents realise they’ve left their child’s favourite teddy on a park bench several hours away.
A writer suffering from writers’ block looks for inspiration in a strange place.
Set 200 years in the future, a young man realises he’s too emotionally dependent on his robot assistant.
A young woman discovers she’s taken the wrong suitcase home from the airport. The contents of the case make her question her own life choices.
A murderer realises he has only 10 minutes to dispose of a body.
A child decides to walk home by themselves after their parent forgets to pick them up from school … again.
Your protagonist manages to talk the grim reaper out of collecting their soul.
Your protagonist suddenly realises they’ve been living in a simulation.
A young couple has chosen to spend the night in a haunted house to fix their marriage. Your story starts just as things get very weird.
Your protagonist finds a letter they wrote to themselves when they were a teenager.
Your protagonist must decide whether or not to drink from a fountain that erases all painful memories from the mind.
Your protagonist comes across a street called ‘Memory Lane’. They quickly realise the name is eerily apt.
A bride finds out something startling about her future husband an hour before the wedding.
Your protagonist finds an advertisement for a company that promises everlasting youth.
A youngest sibling shows up at a family reunion they weren’t actually invited to.
Your protagonist finds a piece of paper with a spell on it. If they say the words out loud they aren't sure if something terrible or wonderful will happen.
Your protagonist is watching a jazz band play when they realise they know the drummer from somewhere — but where? It takes a whole song for them to figure it out.
Your protagonist must meet their ex for lunch to tell them they’re now engaged. It’s been just a few weeks since they split up.
Two people on a sinking ship must decide who should take the last seat in the last lifeboat.
During a match, a young boxer must decide whether to throw the fight.
Your protagonist must pack their belongings before moving to a new colony on mars.
A pilot realises they have lost control of their aircraft.
Your protagonist doesn’t want to attend their 100th birthday party — and for good reason!
Your protagonist gets stuck in a lift with their ex … 5 minutes after breaking up with them.
A child says goodbye to the fairies in his garden before moving to a new home.
Your protagonist saves someone’s life … and then wishes they hadn’t.
Your protagonist arrives at a blind date. They’ve been set up with someone they actually know a little too well.
Set in a dystopian future in which public displays of affection are banned, your protagonist faces an agonising choice.
An agoraphobic must face their fear in order to save something important.
Your protagonist must make her partner fall out of love with them. Both their lives depend on it.
Your protagonist is hiking with her small children, they come face to face with a grizzly bear and her cubs.
Cinderella and Prince Charming realise they got married too quickly.
A message written in graffiti on a bathroom wall has serious implications for your protagonist.
Your protagonist finds a bag, looks inside, and realises the owner might just be their soulmate.
Your protagonist has been seeing the same stranger everywhere they go for months. They finally decide to confront them.
A couple realise their relationship is over during the trip of a lifetime. They’ve been saving up for the trip for years.
A public debate sees two previously married people letting their private grievances come into their arguments.
Your protagonist plans their escape from a retirement home.
A couple realise their fundamental beliefs are at odds with each other.
An artist develops an obsession with drawing a next-door neighbour.
Your protagonist finds themselves trapped in a cabin with a group of hikers during a heavy snowfall.
An ice skater must face going back on the ice after a dangerous fall.
A couple must decide their plan for New Year’ Eve. They both have secret reasons for their choice.
A family must decide what to take and what to leave behind as a wildfire approaches their home.
Your protagonist is waiting for someone important at the airport. They begin to think that person isn’t going to show up … and then they realise why.
Your protagonist must find their way through a maze. What they find in the middle of the maze is the last thing they were expecting.
An actor waiting in the wings has forgotten his first line.
Your protagonist is wrongly identified as a hero. Do they come clean?
Your protagonist realises their past is catching up with them.
Your protagonist overhears something that has serious implications for them while trying on clothes in a changing room.
Your protagonist is in a costume shop trying to decide what to dress up as for Halloween.
Your protagonist realises they’ve slipped into an alternate dimension.
A surgeon must make an impossible choice on the operating table.
A pregnant journalist interviews the mother of a missing child.
Your protagonist must ask his girlfriend’s father for his blessing, only to discover the father knows his deepest secret.
Your protagonist sees something on social media that will change their life forever.
Two work colleagues realise they’ve been dreaming the same dreams for weeks.
A reluctant daughter comes to terms with having to carry on the family business.
Your protagonist realises she must go on the run.
Two bank robbers disagree on their plan to rob a bank. This leads to a disastrous consequence.
A strange case of deja vous leaves your protagonist convinced of supernatural interference.
A sceptic begins to question their beliefs during a psychic reading.
Your protagonist uncovers a scandal at their workplace.
A hapless cook tries to recreate her late father’s favourite recipes in an effort to feel connected to him.
Your protagonist has a premonition that makes them certain they can’t visit their mother-in-law for Christmas. Now he must convince his husband.
A young backpacker discovers something unexpected in a cave.
An impulsive character and an indecisive character are brought together by chance. They must make an important choice.
Two characters cleaning up after a party discover an object that sheds light on something strange that happened earlier.
Two strangers are trapped together during a blackout.
Your protagonist must take a leap of faith in order to save something important to them.
Your protagonist discovers a huge part of their life has been a lie.
Your protagonist has set up an elaborate way to propose. Inexplicably, everything goes wrong.
Your protagonist must buy a dress for her mother’s funeral.
Your protagonist goes back to her favourite city in the world, only to find it has completely changed.
While stargazing, your protagonist realises the stars are forming secret messages in the sky.
Your protagonist hears a news story on the radio that will mean the world changes forever. However, she seems to be the only person who heard it.
Your protagonist is crossing a frozen lake. They see something under the ice that definitely shouldn’t be there.
A workaholic must come to terms with retirement.
An Olympic athlete must decide whether or not to report their teammate for doping.
A young mother feels isolated from her childless friends.
Your protagonist is about to realise their greatest ambition. Will it be everything they were hoping for?
Onboard a spaceship, a couple prepare to go into stasis for hundreds of years.
Your protagonist has an obsession with thinking about the past.
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, your protagonist meets an unlikely love interest.
Your protagonist visits a place from their childhood and realises their memories of that time might not be accurate at all.
A small child has decided to run away from home. Her parents watch on with amusement as she decides what to put in her backpack.
On a whim, a bus driver decides to radically change his route, much to the chagrin of his passengers.
Dystopian. A couple in love are only allowed to spend time with each other one day a year.
A shapeshifter begins to realise their powers are fading. They must decide what form will be the last one they take before they cannot change again.
The devil visits your protagonist with an offer on her soul.
Your protagonist suddenly has the ability to read minds. There’s only one place they want to go now!
Your very wealthy protagonist has designed a simple test to see who will inherit her estate.
An archaeologist discovers something that will change how we see the history of the world. It could be dangerous. Does he keep it to himself?
Your protagonist must clear out their late mother’s house. She discovers an incredible family secret.
Your protagonist is meeting his brother. They haven’t seen each other for 20 years.
Your protagonist develops the ability to see the world literally through someone else’s eyes.
Your protagonist starts to believe their partner might be a spy.
Your protagonist discovers a hidden camera in their living room.
Looking for a flash fiction competition? Check out our ‘Big List of International Writing Competitions!’ Looking for inspiration? Why not check out our list of the 20 Greatest Short Story Writers of All Time! Just received another short story rejection? Here’s our post about ‘How to Deal With Story Rejections’ Bonus Prompts! Two characters waiting by the side of the road realise they are both meeting the same person.
A woman loses her young niece in a busy shopping mall.
Three strangers must solve a riddle in order to gain entry to a secret club.
A poor woman must borrow ingredients from her neighbours to bake her husband a birthday cake.
A waiter finally finds out why an old man has been coming to the restaurant where he works every day at exactly the same time.
Two work colleagues must decide which of them is to take the blame for a terrible mistake at work.
Your disgruntled protagonist goes to confront the couple next door about the strange noises they’ve been hearing at night.
A family dinner party sees three characters make three very surprising announcements.
Two women argue over who should get to buy the last dress available in a store. How do they decide who should get it?
A young couple find out they knew (and disliked) each other vehemently as children.
Love writing stories? Register now for our free 7 Day Story Writing Challenges. Write a short story in a week, get extensive feedback on your entry, and compete for a prize of £500 in each round of the challenge. Register today!
Mastered the art of flash fiction? Now you can try submitting your stories to literary magazines! We’ve compiled a list of the best literary magazines that don’t charge a reading fee! Check out our Big List of No-Fee Literary Magazines.

My husband died 8.5 years ago. He was 25 years sober when he died...I never knew him when he was drinking...we met years after rehab. I had one drink before I knew him, it just wasn't part of my life. Then he died and I started drinking.
For the first few weeks it was morning to night. I knew it would only be for a time, I brushed off friendly concerns and wanted to just get through those first days. The morning drinking didn't last, but the drinking did. I had to live with the cold pain of losing a spouse, a part of me gone forever...a life I could never go home to again. Drinking helped, then I met someone.
I needed company. I needed distraction. We drank together. A lot. At first it was fun, this is never something I did with my husband so it was new. As time went on the fun wore off and I was left with a drunken boyfriend who broke promises, treated me badly, would disappear, the pain added to my grief. I waited too long, but I ended it.
I continued to drink. During the time we were together, I had found a bar near my house and had become friendly with the bartender. I counted on him to keep me company, listen to me cry, pour me drinks, then drive me home after the bar closed. I wasn't happy, but I didn't have to spend evenings alone. I got to know people at the bar and they became my friends. I was spending most evenings down there sometimes going early, staying on my barstool from 3pm to midnight several days a week. I didn't have a problem with alcohol, I had a problem with being alone, alcohol fixed that.
A lot happened in the past 8.5 years, but alcohol played a role in most of it. Relationships came and went...none of them good. I had bad nights, I had good nights. I did a lot of great things and volunteered my time at several non-profits, always being praised for what a blessing I was to them. The nights always ended the same though...at the bar. The grief was constant, but I was able to take a break from it...I just needed a margarita in front of me.
Four days ago I said something about my drinking and my aunt (in recovery) told me to take a look at the 20 questions. I did and got 10. I figure everyone said yes to several of them, but no. No, she said they didn't. It was like a piano landed on me. The last 8.5 years of drinking flashed in front of me like some sort of silly sickening montage of events. It all started making sense.
I had worked through so many issues with grief, cptsd, depression, anxiety, health issues, etc. and I've been trying to figure out what the block was...why couldn't I move past these things? Now I saw the answer: Alcohol. The answer was so simple...removing alcohol from my life could change everything...everything, but one thing. I would still be a widow.
I've never been a widow sober. I started drinking the day after my husband died and I've drank most every day since. I've never done this sober. I've healed a lot, but continued to suffer, continued to not know what to do except numb myself. Now what? Now what do I do with the nights alone? Now what do I do when that cold pain revisits me? I'm so hopeful about the possibility of having a life without alcohol, but hate that it will still be without my husband.
I know my husband would be proud of me. I know he would want sobriety for me. I just don't know how to do this. I knew sobriety with my husband, but I've never known it as his widow. This is what scares me today. I'm on day 4 and I'm going to have to figure this out. Alone.

My husband died 8.5 years ago. He was 25 years sober when he died...I never knew him when he was drinking...we met years after rehab. I had one drink before I knew him, it just wasn't part of my life. Then he died and I started drinking.
For the first few weeks it was morning to night. I knew it would only be for a time, I brushed off friendly concerns and wanted to just get through those first days. The morning drinking didn't last, but the drinking did. I had to live with the cold pain of losing a spouse, a part of me gone forever...a life I could never go home to again. Drinking helped, then I met someone.
I needed company. I needed distraction. We drank together. A lot. At first it was fun, this is never something I did with my husband so it was new. As time went on the fun wore off and I was left with a drunken boyfriend who broke promises, treated me badly, would disappear, the pain added to my grief. I waited too long, but I ended it.
I continued to drink. During the time we were together, I had found a bar near my house and had become friendly with the bartender. I counted on him to keep me company, listen to me cry, pour me drinks, then drive me home after the bar closed. I wasn't happy, but I didn't have to spend evenings alone. I got to know people at the bar and they became my friends. I was spending most evenings down there sometimes going early, staying on my barstool from 3pm to midnight several days a week. I didn't have a problem with alcohol, I had a problem with being alone, alcohol fixed that.
A lot happened in the past 8.5 years, but alcohol played a role in most of it. Relationships came and went...none of them good. I had bad nights, I had good nights. I did a lot of great things and volunteered my time at several non-profits, always being praised for what a blessing I was to them. The nights always ended the same though...at the bar. The grief was constant, but I was able to take a break from it...I just needed a margarita in front of me.
Four days ago I said something about my drinking and my aunt (in recovery) told me to take a look at the 20 questions. I did and got 10. I figure everyone said yes to several of them, but no. No, she said they didn't. It was like a piano landed on me. The last 8.5 years of drinking flashed in front of me like some sort of silly sickening montage of events. It all started making sense.
I had worked through so many issues with grief, cptsd, depression, anxiety, health issues, etc. and I've been trying to figure out what the block was...why couldn't I move past these things? Now I saw the answer: Alcohol. The answer was so simple...removing alcohol from my life could change everything...everything, but one thing. I would still be a widow.
I've never been a widow sober. I started drinking the day after my husband died and I've drank most every day since. I've never done this sober. I've healed a lot, but continued to suffer, continued to not know what to do except numb myself. Now what? Now what do I do with the nights alone? Now what do I do when that cold pain revisits me? I'm so hopeful about the possibility of having a life without alcohol, but hate that it will still be without my husband.
I know my husband would be proud of me. I know he would want sobriety for me. I just don't know how to do this. I knew sobriety with my husband, but I've never known it as his widow. This is what scares me today. I'm on day 4 and I'm going to have to figure this out. Alone.

I may have missed some more recent (late 2023-24) declarations, so let me know if I should add anything I've missed.
Stugotz personal record book. Sorry if the links are expired on some things. They're old.
[Time Stamps] Started to use them in late 2019. They may not be exact based on what podcast app or service you use. But they'll be close.
I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS:

FOOTBALL

(1) UCF is the 2017-2018 national champion.
(2) If Kirk Cousins goes to the Jaguars and not the Jets, no championship he wins will count in the personal record book.
Note (2)(a): Still pending sort of since Kirk is with the Vikings now – possible in future he could go to Jags.
(3) Eli manning has 1 ring. He doesnt get one for throwing a ball into David Tyree's face / Tyree getting a football stuck in his helmet.
(4) Carson Wentz has a Super Bowl 52 ring.
Note (4)(a): Foles does not have a Super Bowl 52 ring.
(5) The Raiders defeated the Patriots in their divisional playoff matchup in 2002 (Tuck Rule game), and then would defeat the Rams in Super Bowl 36.
Note (5)(a): In this scenario also, Bill Belichick was also "fired and looking for a job" after the Tuck Rule game and has 0 rings.
(6) If the 2017 Patriots won Super Bowl 52, James Harrison would not have a ring (Patriots lost to Eagles).
(7) Peyton Manning has one ring (Broncos ring does not count).
(8) Peyton Manning must give such ring he lost (above) to Von Miller, who thus has 2 rings.
(9) Aaron Rodgers can have all the rings he wants for keeping all of central Wisconsin employed.
(10) Brian Billick has 0 rings (2000 Ravens Super Bowl) because that defense carried him.
(11) Tony Boselli is a Hall of Famer.
(12) Tarik Cohen is an honorary Jew.
(13) JuJu Smith-Schuster is also an honorary Jew. L'Chaim.
(14) Drew brees has three rings for winning the super bowl for the city of New Orleans.
Note (14)(a): There was discussion on this where the number started at three, went up to five, came down to two, but it ended up at three.
(15) Mike McCarthy has no Super Bowl rings.
Note(15)(a): Dan also has this in his record book, and it is the first entry into the Le Batard Personal Record Book.
Note 15(b): In fact, McCarthy has -3 (Negative three) rings.
(16) Any Super Bowl rings Antonio Brown gets with the Patriots will not count in the Stugotz personal record book (9/9 Weekend Observations National Hour 2).
(17) Ohio State's 76 to 5 victory over Miami (Ohio) on 9/21/19 does not count.
(18) Due to Bill Belichick's 219 wins with Tom Brady, Bill's week 7 2023 victory over the Bills was actually his 81st victory and not his 300th victory.
(19) The 2002-03 Miami Hurricanes actually won the Fiesta Bowl/BCS National Championship game against Ohio State.
(20) If JJ Watt joins the Texans for the 2024 season or later on, none of the Super Bowl rings will count in Stugotz's personal record book

BASKETBALL

Kevin Durant
(1) If Westbrook wins a championship and beats Kevin Durant along the way in the playoffs, Westbrook will have won 2 championship rings.
(2) "STRAP IT ON BOYS, GONNA TAKE YA FOR A RIDE:"
Kevin Durant has 0 rings (Zero rings)
Kevin Durant has -1 rings (Negative 1 rings).
Kevin Durant has -4 rings (Negative 4) (As of 4/11/18)
Note (2)(a): This number is subject to change based on Stugotz altering rings to the "-4" current total. Specifically as seen recently when Stugotz adjusted the number from (i) 0 rings to (ii) -1 rings to (iii) -4 rings.
Note (2)(b): Here is a tweet transcript of the conversation where this was discovered.
Archive link
(3) If Kevin Durant wins an NBA title for the NY Knicks, he will gain 11 rings.
Note (3)(a): As seen above in "(2)," Kevin Durant has -4 rings.
Note (3)(b): [Math] If Durant were to remain at -4 rings, and subsequently win an NBA title for the Knicks, he will have 7 rings total. This was specifically stated (-4 + 11 = 7), and a question about a non-specifically stated Personal Record Book entry is posed below in "Note (3)(c)(i)."
Note (3)(c): If the Golden State Warriors had won a championship playing 3 on 5 with Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant would have 1 ring.
Note (3)(c)(i): [Confusion] I am unsure if "Note(3)(c)" means he would gain +1 ring, and therefore be "up" to -3 rings total. Possibly, Stugotz means if the Golden State Warriors had won a championship 3 on 5 with Durant, Kevin Durant would be at +1 rings total (Positive 1 rings).
(4) Kevin Durant's dagger in Game 3 did not count, because according to Stugotz, none of Durant's stats count. KD's official statline last night was 0/0/0 and the Cavs blew the Warriors out by 40.
(5) Anything Kevin Durant has done with the Warriors so far is not in Stugotz' personal record scroll.
Note (5)(a): Stugotz did not take his feathered pen and write anything in his scroll (King Roy approves).
(6) Westbrook has ALL of KD's rings.
(7) For every time KD says he doesn't give a BLEEP, Stugotz adds 2 "I do give a BLEEPS" in the personal record book.
(8) Per Dan, speaking on Stugotz' behalf, Kevin Durant has no Olympic Gold Medals (9/18/19 National Hour 1 @ 00:07:50).
Michael Jordan
(1) Jordan has 9 rings because:
(a) The Rockets have to give their 2 rings from 1994 and 1995 to Jordan (+2); and
(b) The Bulls would have won the 1999 Finals over the Spurs if Jordan didn't retire (+1; 9 total).
Note (1)(a-b)(i): Put LeBron's rings in a box and put Jordan's rings in a box. Jordan is +6 by the way over LeBron box-minus, despite box-minus sounding like a dumb stat.
(2) Michael Jordan was suspended for 2 years for gambling (Said 4/25/18 Hour 2, 14:30 in podcast).
Note 2(a): HOWEVER, MJ still has 9 rings as see above in (1)(a) and (1)(b).
(3) Any game Michael Jordan played wearing the uniform #45 does not count.
LeBron James
(1) If LeBron James goes to the Golden State Warriors, every Championship he wins will result in a deduction of 2 previously won championships.
(2) The Miami Heat LeBron teams were the GREATEST teams in the history of sports (5/7/18 Local Hour).
(3) The Miami Heat LeBron teams were also the MOST INTERESTING teams in the history of sports.
(4) If, after the 2018 NBA Playoffs:
(a) LeBron does not make it to the finals and the Celtics do; and
(b) The Houston Rockets do not make it to the finals and the Warriors do; and
(c) LeBron goes to the Houston Rockets for the next season, THEN
LeBron is allowed to win rings that count in Stu's personal record book.
Note (4)(a-c)(i): HOWEVER, Harden & Chris Paul - if they remain on the Rockets with LeBron on the team - are not allowed to have any of the rings won with LeBron count in Stu's personal record book.
Note 4(a-c)(ii): To quote the big man Stu (with Dan agreeing of course), "Do it on your own” (Dan agrees here).
(5) If LeBron wins an NBA Championship with the 2018 Lakers roster (as of 7/23/18), then that wins counts for 6 rings.
Note (5)(a): Thus LeBron would have 9 rings.
Kyrie Irving
(1) Kyrie Irving hit one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals History, but was only in that position because of LeBron James. Kyrie Irving, did hit one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals history that won everyone on that team a Ring, except for you (Kyrie). (3/9/20 Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 07:00).
Note (1)(a): Stugotz: "A little revision to the uhhh Stugotz Personal Record Book that I'll come around to writing...or Mike will." I'M WRITING IT YOU IDIOT MORON JACKAL
Misc. Basketball
(1) The Houston Rockets have 0 (Zero) NBA Championship victories.
Note (1)(a): See "Michael Jordan (1)(a)" for reasoning.
Note (1)(a)(i): [Restated Reasoning] Michael Jordan is actually in possession of those 1994 and 1995 Rockets rings because Michael Jordan would have won those championships if he stayed in Chicago.
Note(1)(b): [CONFLICTING HOT TAKE] Stugotz has also said Jordan didn't get the Rockets' rings because he was actually suspended for gambling.
Note (1)(b)(i) NEEDS CLARIFICATION PLEASE. Stugotz keeps going back and forth. In "Michael Jordan Note 1(a)," the opposite of "Miscellaneous Basketball Note (1)(b) is stated because he has gone back and forth on this issue.
(2) Steve Kerr has no rings as a coach. In fact, he has never even coached a game.
(3) Mychal Thompson (Klay's dad) has no rings. (Said on Zach Harper podcast).
(4) Clyde Drexler no rings (Said on Zach Harper podcast).
(5) Giannis Antetekoumpo is pronounced Yani Adababoombo.
(6) As long as James Harden has his beard, he cannot win any championships.
Note (6)(a): If the Rockets win a ring, then the ring goes to the beard.
(7) Lamarcus Aldridge cost the Spurs game 2 of the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals, even though they won.
(8) If the Sixers happen to win a championship, Sam Hinkie gets a ring.
(9) Chris Paul has NOT made a Western Conference Final since he had to join the Rockets to do so.
(10) Michael Jordan winning the NBA Finals in 1999 also means that Tim Duncan only has 4 rings instead of 5 rings.
(11) The Warriors only have 1 ring
Note (11)(a): Durant still has -4.
(12) Boogie Cousins cannot win a NBA Championship and have it count if he does so with the Warriors.
(13) Billy Donovan was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2017 (12/13/17 @ 28:10 Hour 1).
Note (13)(a): The Thunder blowing the 3-1 lead to the Warriors that year had nothing to do with Donovan. It was Durant's fault.
(14) The OKC Thunder actually did win the WCF against the Warriors in 2017 when up 3-1.
Note (14)(a): This does not apply to Durant though.
Note (14)(b): The Thunder also beat whoever they would have played in the Finals. Durant still no ring.
(15) Embiid has his 2023 MVP taken away and given to Jimmy Butler.
(16) Caitlin Clark's NCAA all-time scoring record still belongs to Pistol Pete because unlike Pistol Pete, Caitlin didn't do it in 3 years and she did it with a 3 point line.

BASEBALL

Babe Ruth
(1) Babe Ruth is black.
(2) Babe Ruth never hit a baseball. Not once.
(3) Babe Ruth is the number two black baseball player of all time behind Barry Larkin.
(4) Babe Ruth is NOT a top 20 Baseball player of all time. He's a pitcher.
Note (4)(a): However This is somewhat confusing/interesting because:
(i) Stugotz has said "Babe Ruth is the number two black baseball player of all time behind Barry Larkin; and"
(ii) This MUST mean Stugotz can only have 1 black player in his top 20 Baseball players of all time Barry Larkin; because
(iii) The only way this can work logically is if in the list of greatest players #1 through #20, only Barry Larkin is on the latter top #1 through #20 list. I would like some clarification on if he wishes to change this take/record.
(5) Babe Ruth is also not a top 20 pitcher of all time.
Misc. Baseball
(1) Stugotz has declared that in his personal record book, Baseball no longer allows pitchers to hit (Stated on 05/03/2018 @ 12:38:52 P.M).
Note (1)(a): Excludes Bartolo Colon, and Shohei Ohtani.
Note (1)(b): You are either a pitcher or a hitter. Not both.
(2) If the Dodgers won the 2017 World Series Clayton Kershaw would not have had a ring.
(3) Wade Boggs DOES have a ring because he rode around on a horse with a beer afterward.
(4) Clayton Kershaw did not win an MVP award because the award for pitchers was already given, the CY Young award.
(5) Miami beat LSU in the 1996 College Baseball World Series.
(6) The 1986 NY Mets did not win the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
Note (6)(a): This "pains" Stugotz.
(7) The Red Sox retroactively winning the 1986 World Series may result in taking a ring away from the Mets.
Note (7)(a): Stugotz has to think about it though, he's not sure yet.
(8) Bryce Harper did not win the 2018 home run derby because he cheated.
(9) Kershaw's Earned Ring Average (ERA) is 0.00.
(10) Mike Minor (Rangers Pitcher) does not have 200 strikeouts in 2019. He's at 199 (National Hour 2, 10 mins 40 seconds in).
Note (10)(a): Chris agrees too. And who really cares (15% on poll do care).
(11) The 2020-2021 Mets, during the Coronavirus outbreak, are 0-3 and Jacob deGrom is somehow 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA and 1 complete game. The deGrominator. (Google Podcast 3/30 Hour #3 @ 19:20)

HOCKEY

(1) Ray Bourque doesn't have a ring.
(2) Alex Ovechkin may or may not have won the Stanley Cup against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Note (2)(a): "I mean he beat an expansion team . . . bunch of players nobody wanted" (We get the sense that Dan agrees).

TENNIS

(1) If anyone wins a major in Female Tennis without Serena Williams playing, it does not count and they have 0 rings.
(2) If Maria Sharapova wins a grand slam in which Serena isnt competing it doesnt count.

GOLF

(1) If Jason Day wins the 2018 Masters, it counts as an American winning (as far as bets are concerned).
(2) Vijay Singh did not play in the 2018 Masters.
(3) Steph Curry did not win the 2023 American Century Celebrity Golf Championship Tournament . Mardy Fish was the real winner.

SOCCER

(1) Lionel Messi is stripped of all his achievements for using HGH. He never played soccer. He is still 5'1". "Fraud."
(2) Soccer is dead.

NCAA DIVISION 1 WOMEN'S LACROSSE

(1) Rachel has more rings than Kevin Durant

MISCELLANEOUS

(1) Aqua?
(2) Rings plus-minus is the only way to measure greatness.
(3) The HBO Andre the Giant film was good, not great, and Stugotz didn’t learn anything.
(4) Benoit Lecomte (guy they interviewed) can not and will not swim from San Francisco to Tokyo in the personal record book because he is most likely taking a dip for a few minutes then coming back on the boat and enjoying some filet mignon by the pool.
Note (4)(a): "Do it without a yacht. And how about ya do it without the little magnetic field around you that keeps sharks away. How bout that. Allows dolphins through though? Anyway.."
(5) Justify (the Horse) only has a double crown.
Note (5)(a): This is the first ever double crown.
(6) Tango and Cash is in the action movie Hall of Fame. and Cliffhanger has the greatest 5 minute intro of any movie of all time.
(7) Maximum Security (a Horse) won the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
(8) Fruit Stripes Gum is NOT a 1st Ballot Hall of Famer in Stu's "Gum Hall of Fame." (08/12/2019 Hour 2 @ 15:25).
Note (8)(a): "It loses it's flavor so quickly"
Note (8)(b): Also, "[...] Bazooka...1st Ballot Hall of Famer." Also, "Big League Chew..1st Ballot."
(9) Chris Cote owns all intellectual property rights to the "Friends" (TV Show) Movie with a misleading preview that eventually has a climax leading to an intense murder mystery. (10/29/19 Hour #2 @ 03:15).
Note (9)(a): "If they make this without crediting Cote, they're stealing it."
(10) That guy killed the pigeon (12/10 Hour 3 @ 08:20).
(11) Billy owns the record for world's longest Plank (2/25, Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 30:55).
Note (11)(a): Possibly in just the Non-Marine edition.
(12) Zach Buchanan won a Pulitzer Prize for his story on the Madison Bumgarner / Mason Saunders rodeo fiasco (2/28/20 Hour #2; Google Podcasts @ 21:35).
(13) Findlay the Golden retriever holds the Stu Gotz Personal Record Book record for most tennis balls held in a mouth at one time by a dog at 6 (2/11/2020)
(14) Ace Davis (The kid who "proved" Tom Brady was cheating with science) and his fathefamily are heroes (4/1 Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 18:50).
(15) Dan did NOT do more push-ups than Domonique Foxworth (Dan did push-ups on a non-linear platform) (4/28/2020 Hour # 1).

SPORTS MEDIA DREAM TEAM™

Sourced from Google Podcast; 05/06/2020, Hour 2 @ 09:00
(Head Coach) Ernie Johnson - "When you look over to the bench, what you need is someone to stand tall, someone who is confident, someone who is competent, someone who has all the credibility -soaked in credibility - when you have the Head Coach of the Sports Media Dream Team."
(1; Point Guard) Mike Greenberg - "Doesn't really want to answer the big questions, but has no problem distributing those questions to other people who are happy to answer them."
(2; Shooting Guard) Stephen A. Smith - "Never met a topic he doesn't like. Short memory, doesn't care, Greeny could throw him anything and Stephen A. is gonna run with it even if he knows nothing about the topic. That is how it works. Stephen A. is the greatest of all time."
(3; Small Forward) Chris Fowler - "A do it all guy. Studio show? Great. Play by Play? Even better. Can do everything."
(4; Small Forward Replacement) Maria Taylor) - "Need Play by Play, need Sideline, need Studio Host - she can do it all"
(5; Power Forward) Dianna Russini - "You need some crazy, some don't mess with us, someone to tear someone's head off in the event that they come after one of us."
(6; Power Forward Replacement) PFT Commenter - "He just comes in and acts crazy, throws his arms and hair around, and give ya 5 to 10 really crazy minutes."
(7; In honor of the Chicago Bulls, Stugotz needed a Wennington, a Purdue) Scott Van Pelt - Dan debated whether or not SVP should be on the Sports Media Dream Team™. That's what he's doing.
(8; Bench Player w/ No Position Specified) Doris Burke
(9) Teased...

Everybody keeps saying that the new movie should be a Kong movie, and I do personally agree with this even though I like to see Godzilla, who seems to be a very long cameo in a movie that has his name written first. But that begs a question, hypothetically how'd you rewrite GxK to make it more like a Kong movie?
Mine is not the best, but I'll try my best.
The movie intro starts nearly the same, but remove all Godzilla scene, until the traps Kong set up collapsed, and Skar King emerged from the gap. Instead of destroying the outpost like he did in the movie, he'd try to lure Kong in the uncharted area without Monarch knowing. Then Kong ventures around, meets a Drownviper and almost gets incapacitated (doesn't make sense given that Kong killed it canonically), just before Kong gets drowned, Skar King takes the opportunity and swiftly saves Kong from the eel-like titan.
For Skar King, who is better be bigger and stronger than Kong, he should be extremely manipulative in an emotional sense, but the tyrannical sadistic side should be kept hidden until the big reveal. Kong, still too shocked and surprised to see a fellow species of his though he is a bit different, would immediately follow him around without any hesitation, who took him back to his kingdom. The red ape puts on a friendly facade and tells him that the Gojira species locked him and the apes up, thus, making Kong's already present dislike toward Godzilla grow.
When they get back to the kingdom, which doesn't contain Shimo like the movie did, Kong does express sadness after seeing how malnourished his species are, making his sympathy toward Skar King bigger. Here's a really stupid catch, prior to inviting Kong, Skar King basically becomes Kim Jong un and turns every ape into an NPC, which means actors. They'd act all scared and surround Kong, thus, fueling the big guy's remorse and empathy. The red ape would then introduce Kong to Suko, who'd later be Kong's companion and savior, and say that he could lead the apes to a better place, that's if he got the Hollow Earth energy with Kong's help. Wanting to free his people and the emotional manipulation from Skar, Kong instantly agrees without even noticing Suko's fearful expression.
Kong, Suko, Skar King and his armies set out to find the energy that could help the apes thrive. Along the way, Kong would notice Suko's anxiety around his own father but never question why. Nevertheless, the big guy would still bond over his nunchuck, and a montage of them skipping rocks on the lake and Kong teaching Suko how to properly throw a rock at someone's head (This might or might not be crucial). After reaching an unknown area, the whole scout manage to find a crystal that could help them control megafauna and even smaller titans (kinda like Shimo but wider range).
But upon acquiring the crystal, Suko suddenly snatches it from Kong's hand, and Skar King, along with his subordinates, laughs hysterically and says that Kong is a stupid moron. Skar King then reveals that he is the tyrant who caused the Titan War and starves the apes, and Kong realizes that the one who saves him was just power-hungry dictator. Confused, enraged and betrayed, Kong challenges him into a fight, and Skar King pulls out his whip, which then breaks Kong's rotten tooth. Kong does put up a good fight, but ultimately, he loses to Skar King's superior build and experience. Instead of chopping his head off with his axe, Suko says that throwing him off the cliff will do just find, and for once, Skar King agrees with his son. They take the axe and dump Kong's body over the cliff, but using his most powerful weapon ever (plot armor), he falls into a lake and survives but heavily injured.
He crawls back to Jia and Ilene, saying that he lost his home and people because of his stupidity and ignorance. Jia then tells him that she also lost her people and home and he will lose his species if he decides to do nothing. Kong gets motivated and is given a BEAST glove and instantly heads to Skar King's lair, where the tyrant is still flaunting his new piece of weapon that could help him rule the surface. When Kong arrives and once again challenges Skar King, who is surprised to see him but happy to accept the offer. With the BEAST glove, Kong clearly has the edge and sometimes grapples Skar and beats him up quite easily. Skar King spits out his tooth and tests his new toy, which attracts a bunch of Wart Dogs and Spineprowlers to attack Kong, who prevailed with minor injuries.
When Kong manages to pin Skar King down and chokes him, the tyrant swallows his pride and orders his subordinates to jump Kong all at once. The other apes hopelessly watch as Kong, despite being the strongest specimen of his species, can't fight all of the stripped apes. Even though one punch from his BEAST glove can put them to sleep, it's too much for Kong to manage, and eventually, he succumbs but still keep fighting. This desperate act seems to motivate the starved apes, but they don't have the courage to stand against them, but then, Suko, and Doug as his battle horse, roars as he throws rocks at his father's head. A small act of retaliation sparks a flame, and the apes all rush down to help Kong fight the Skar King and his armies.
Kong is then released and faces Skar King again, who is now more pissed off and swears that he'll kill every traitor when this is over. After a short fight in the arena, Kong and Skar King would then stop to catch a breath before continuing. Of course, Skar King notices the weakest Kong, Gnarled Finger, sneaking up on him, and he smiles before kicking the ape into the lava. Suko witnesses this and cries out in agony, and Kong, enraged, charges forward and goes all feral.
The final battle ends up with Kong prevailing and having Skar King at his mercy. Just as before Kong drops him into the lava like he did to Gnarled Finger, our protagonist chooses to spare him, but not without any consequences. Skar King, now utterly defeated and humiliated, and his army were now banished from his own kingdom by an outsider. He swears revenge and desire to take over the world, but Kong doesn't give a shit about his trash talking and throws the crystal into the lava, destroying it. The movie ends with Kong doing a victory roar along with his apes, and the our big guy is crowned King Kong.
The after-credit begins with a roar, and a broken crystal is dropped to the ground. Skar King, still could not let go of his revenge of both Kong and Godzilla, sadistically smiles as he grabs the crystal, and a roar of pain can be heard from a cave that seems to have two glowing blue eyes.
Yeah, not the best plot but that's all I can come up with. I'd have liked it more if Skar King was more of a threat instead of Shimo since he was hyped up so much. We heard the word 'hunger' in the reveal video, but in the film, he only ate once. No cannibalism, no eating Gojira, just... some Hollow Earth creatures. Ngl, I kinda hate it when the novel confirms that Kong could kill Skar King. Well, I hope that they release some comic about the Titan War, which could give us insight more about Skar King and his past.

I’ll try to keep this short as I can, I’ve made several posts over the years. I’m just feeling defeated and confused.
I’m currently a 25(M), and had a microdiscectomy on L5-S1 for a 20mm+ herniation (I don’t remember the exact size) in June 2022. Prior to that I was extremely active, I played college water polo up through the December 2021 season. Swimming for cardio is something I’ve done all my life and want to continue, I hate running.
I have a hard time remembering what the pain was like back in February 2022, but it must have been pretty bad since I wasn’t able to exercise (I have a high pain tolerance).
Post surgery was fine, I started walking again, getting back to work and normal daily activities such as running errands. Starting PT after 6 weeks (July 2022) and that was a brutal process I was so stiff and tight. I’ve never been very flexible.
The following 6-7 months, I solely did PT, stretched, and walked every day. Got to where I’d go for 4-5 mile walks at a 16 min pace. In February 2023 I began lap swimming again, this time I didn’t do flip turns, decided I’d just do touch turns to not put my back in a flipping motion. I started very slow and just did about 20 laps/500 yards (which is nothing compared to what I would do in the past).
From February 2023 – June 2023 I just slowly eased into swimming, got back to swimming 2,500+ yards. I also began lifting again, doing light machines and light weights. Did weight training at my PT office to make sure I was doing things correctly.
June 2023 – December 2023 I did well, I was swimming and lifting 4-5x a week. I might have been overdoing it but I felt fine. I’d do 30+ mins of pt warm up and stretches before swimming to make sure I was warm, then would do some lifting after I swam. I was doing some free weight stuff (bad idea) and was swimming fast again. I felt good and I felt like I wanted to start training again to play competitive water polo again.
December 2023 – was doing some light 10lb RDLs that I’d learned at PT. Hadn’t done them in a while and wanted to change it up for my hamstrings. After one set I felt some pain and discomfort in my back, something I hadn’t felt in a while and knew something was wrong. I stopped Immediately.
Went to the Dr. and got another MRI. New MRI shows disc herniation of 6mm at L5-S1 significantly smaller than the original. My surgeon told me it wasn’t surgery worthy and that it wasn’t compressing my nerve, and I don’t have much pain so I agree. He said many people can live with them, and they don’t even know, but I need to listen to my body and modify etc.
January 2024 – Since then I went back to PT, tried to come up with a good game plan for safe forms of exercising. It was hard to accept, but I decided I’d stop trying to push playing competitive water polo again for health reasons. I started slow again, swimming 3 times a week very slow and building up laps every week. I now do light machines to keep myself tone, that’s all I need and am happy with.
March 2024 - I got back to swimming 4x a week at a slower pace, I can maintain good form but still get winded. And I’ve been lifting 4x a week, all somewhat light weight all on machines. My feet are grounded, and my back or chest is against padding for support. Still do PT warm up stuff ahead of time, and stretch and roll out my glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors after.
April 2024 - I felt pretty good, just general stiffness when I wake up sometimes, and some days I get some achiness in my lower back and glut area but I accept that’s normal.
PT thinks my gluts and hip flexors are weak and my backs compensating for them. I guess I trusted them and agreed to do what thy said. But they started having me do back squats which made me nervous but felt fine. I started doing those several times a week. Then they had me start do incorporate hip trusts for my gluts, either with the barbell on my waist or using a machine at the gym. Then they wanted me to start doing weighted RDLs again and that’s where I drew the line. I was confused how if that’s how I hurt it in December then why would I do it again. They tell me I can do anything as long as I have good form, but I’d rather not risk it. They make it seem like I need to do them to strengthen my muscles and learn to load my spine again.
The surgeon told me no deadlifts and no hip thrusts. He said goblet squats are fine. It just made me not trust PT anymore. No matter what I tell them they tell me it’s normal and say I just need to get stronger. I felt like since doing some of the leg stuff I was getting stiffer and achier, so I wanted to get a second opinion
May 2024 – My dads good friend is a sports medicine professional, and he referred us to a good doctor he knows/went to school with in my area, he studied medicine at UCLA and works with sports and Olympic teams. I went to visit him to get some clarity on what exercises in the gym are safe for me to do and what to stay away from or maybe a new PT that he trusts. I was shocked when I went last week, he looked at my MRI results and said I have the herniation at L5-S1 and another 5mm herniation at L4-L5 that my surgeon didn’t even mention. The new doctor said I was having muscle atrophy from nerve compression and it could be serious and could need another surgery. He put me on a 6-day steroid pack and said if it relieves my symptoms then there would be some hope without needing another surgery. I have a call with him tomorrow to follow up on how I feel.
I’m confused. I don’t have bad symptoms. I’m stiff and my hamstrings are tight, but they loosen up during the day. I don’t really have any radiating pain down the leg. So, I can’t tell if the steroid even helped because there wasn’t much there to begin with. Over the last 6 days it hasn’t been as achy and tight when I get up in the morning, but honestly, just doing my daily activities such as going to work, walking around, etc. I don’t notice it at all. It’s just when I do certain movements like bend down, or twist a certain way, or lean backwards, then I feel some stiffness and pulling in my lower back and glut, but it doesn’t go down my leg it’s all centralized in my lower back. I don’t feel as achy and stiff so that’s good, but my QL and left glut still are a little achy when I think about it.
I’m just confused and frustrated. My surgeon told me in January there was no nerve compression and didn’t mention the second herniation. But then this new doctor makes it seem very severe and now I’m nervous. I’m frustrated that squat, hip thrusts, etc. have maybe been making things worse and I wonder If I need new imaging to see if they’ve gotten worse over the last 5 months. My dad’s friend who referred us to the new doctor also read my MRI report and said he would agree that if I don’t have that bad symptoms that my results wouldn’t suggest I need another surgery.
As I mentioned, up until a week ago I’ve been swimming 2,500 yards and doing some machine lifting 4x a week. And the symptoms aren’t bad, a little tight when I stretch and warm up, such as getting up off the ground after stretching I’m kind of stiff standing up straight again. Once I swim it loosens up and might get a little tight, but overall feels better after.
Just been a long two years since the surgery, and I don’t want another it was the most depressing thing I’ve ever gone through. All I want is to be able to swim some laps for cardio purposes (which I assume is safe) and then do some light machines at the gym to keep myself tone and have some muscle definition. But I want to know what machines are safe/what types of exercises to stay away from.
I know this is a long read. But any thoughts and Insight would be helpful. Thanks

abandon, ability, able, about, above, absence, absolute, absolutely, abstract, abundance, academy, accent, accept, access, accident, accompany, accomplish, according, account, accurate, achieve, achievement, acid, acknowledge, acquire, across, action, active, activity, actor, actual, actually, adapt, addition, additional, address, adequate, adjust, administration, admire, admission, admit, adolescent, adopt, adult, advance, advantage, adventure, advertise, advice, advise, adviser, advocate, affair, affect, afford, afraid, after, afternoon, again, against, age, agency, agenda, agent, aggressive, ago, agree, agreement, agriculture, ahead, aid, aim, air, aircraft, airline, airport, alarm, album, alcohol, alive, all, alliance, allow, ally, almost, alone, along, already, also, alter, alternative, although, always, amateur, amazing, ambition, ambulance, among, amount, analysis, analyst, analyze, ancient, and, anger, angle, angry, animal, anniversary, announce, annual, another, answer, anticipate, anxiety, any, anybody, anymore, anyone, anything, anyway, anywhere, apart, apartment, apologize, apparent, apparently, appeal, appear, appearance, apple, application, apply, appoint, appointment, appreciate, approach, appropriate, approval, approve, approximately, architect, area, argue, argument, arise, arm, armed, army, around, arrange, arrangement, arrest, arrival, arrive, art, article, artist, artistic, as, ashamed, aside, ask, asleep, aspect, assault, assert, assess, assessment, asset, assign, assignment, assist, assistance, assistant, associate, association, assume, assumption, assure, at, athlete, athletic, atmosphere, attach, attack, attempt, attend, attention, attitude, attorney, attract, attraction, attractive, attribute, audience, author, authority, auto, available, average, avoid, award, aware, awareness, away, awful, baby, back, background, bad, badly, bag, balance, ball, ban, band, bank, bar, barely, barrel, barrier, base, baseball, basic, basically, basis, basket, basketball, bath, bathroom, battery, battle, be, beach, bear, beat, beautiful, beauty, because, become, bed, bedroom, bee, beef, beer, before, begin, beginning, behavior, behind, being, belief, believe, bell, belong, below, belt, bench, bend, beneath, benefit, beside, besides, best, bet, better, between, beyond, bicycle, big, bike, bill, billion, bind, biological, bird, birth, birthday, bit, bite, black, blade, blame, blanket, blind, block, blood, blow, blue, board, boat, body, bomb, bombing, bond, bone, book, boom, boot, border, boring, born, borrow, boss, both, bother, bottle, bottom, boundary, bowl, box, boy, boyfriend, brain, branch, brand, brave, bread, break, breakfast, breast, breath, breathe, brick, bridge, brief, briefly, bright, brilliant, bring, broad, broken, brother, brown, brush, buck, budget, build, building, bullet, bunch, burden, burn, bury, bus, business, busy, but, butter, button, buy, buyer, by, cabin, cabinet, cable, cake, calculate, call, camera, camp, campaign, campus, can, Canadian, cancer, candidate, cap, capability, capable, capacity, capital, captain, capture, car, carbon, card, care, career, careful, carefully, carrier, carry, case, cash, cast, cat, catch, category, Catholic, cause, ceiling, celebrate, celebration, celebrity, cell, center, central, century, CEO, ceremony, certain, certainly, chain, chair, chairman, challenge, chamber, champion, championship, chance, change, changing, channel, chapter, character, characteristic, characterize, charge, charity, chart, chase, cheap, check, cheek, cheese, chef, chemical, chest, chicken, chief, child, childhood, Chinese, chip, chocolate, choice, cholesterol, choose, Christian, Christmas, church, cigarette, circle, circumstance, cite, citizen, city, civil, civilian, claim, class, classic, classroom, clean, clear, clearly, client, climate, climb, clinic, clinical, clock, close, closely, closer, clothes, clothing, cloud, club, clue, cluster, coach, coal, coalition, coast, coat, code, coffee, cognitive, cold, collapse, colleague, collect, collection, collective, college, colonial, color, column, combination, combine, come, comedy, comfort, comfortable, command, commander, comment, commercial, commission, commit, commitment, committee, common, communicate, communication, community, company, compare, comparison, compete, competition, competitive, competitor, complain, complaint, complete, completely, complex, complexity, compliance, complicate, complicated, component, compose, composition, comprehensive, computer, concentrate, concentration, concept, concern, concerned, concert, conclude, conclusion, concrete, condition, conduct, conference, confidence, confident, confirm, conflict, confront, confusion, Congress, congressional, connect, connection, consciousness, consensus, consequence, conservative, consider, considerable, consideration, consist, consistent, constant, constantly, constitute, constitutional, construct, construction, consultant, consume, consumer, consumption, contact, contain, container, contemporary, content, contest, context, continue, continued, contract, contrast, contribute, contribution, control, controversial, controversy, convention, conventional, conversation, convert, conviction, convince, cook, cookie, cooking, cool, cooperation, cop, cope, copy, core, corn, corner, corporate, corporation, correct, correspondent, cost, cotton, couch, could, council, count, counter, country, county, couple, courage, course, court, cousin, cover, coverage, cow, crack, craft, crash, crazy, cream, create, creation, creative, creature, credit, crew, crime, criminal, crisis, criteria, critic, critical, criticism, criticize, crop, cross, crowd, crucial, cry, cultural, culture, cup, curious, current, currently, curriculum, custom, customer, cut, cycle, dad, daily, damage, dance, danger, dangerous, dare, dark, darkness, data, database, date, daughter, day, dead, deal, dealer, dear, death, debate, debt, decade, decide, decision, deck, declare, decline, decrease, deep, deeply, deer, defeat, defend, defendant, defense, defensive, deficit, define, definitely, definition, degree, delay, deliver, delivery, demand, democracy, Democratic, Democrat, demonstrate, demonstration, deny, department, depend, dependent, depending, depict, depression, depth, deputy, derive, describe, description, desert, deserve, design, designer, desire, desk, desperate, despite, destroy, destruction, detail, detailed, detect, detection, detective, determine, develop, developing, development, device, devil, dialogue, diet, differ, difference, different, differently, difficult, difficulty, dig, digital, dimension, dining, dinner, direct, direction, directly, director, dirt, disability, disagree, disappear, disaster, discipline, disclose, discover, discovery, discrimination, discuss, discussion, disease, dish, dismiss, disorder, display, dispute, distance, distinct, distinction, distinguish, distribute, distribution, district, diverse, diversity, divide, division, divorce, DNA, do, doctor, document, dog, domestic, dominant, dominate, door, double, doubt, down, downtown, dozen, draft, drag, drama, dramatic, dramatically, draw, drawer, drawing, dream, dress, drink, drive, driver, drop, drug, dry, due, during, dust, duty, dwell, dying, dynamic, each, eager, ear, earlier, early, earn, earnings, earth, earthquake, ease, easily, east, eastern, easy, eat, economic, economy, edge, edit, edition, editor, educate, education, educational, educator, effect, effective, effectively, efficiency, efficient, effort, egg, eight, either, elderly, elect, election, electric, electrical, electricity, electronic, element, elementary, eliminate, elite, else, elsewhere, e-mail, embrace, emerge, emergency, emission, emotion, emotional, emphasis, emphasize, employ, employee, employer, employment, empty, enable, encounter, encourage, end, enemy, energy, enforcement, engage, engine, engineer, engineering, English, enhance, enjoy, enormous, enough, ensure, enter, enterprise, entertain, entertainment, entire, entirely, entrance, entry, environment, environmental, episode, equal, equally, equipment, equivalent, era, error, escape, especially, essay, essential, essentially, establish, establishment, estate, estimate, etc, ethics, ethnic, European, evaluate, evaluation, evening, event, eventually, ever, every, everybody, everyday, everyone, everything, everywhere, evidence, evolution, evolve, exact, exactly, exam, examination, examine, example, exceed, excellent, except, exception, exchange, exciting, executive, exercise, exhibit, exhibition, exist, existence, existing, expand, expansion, expect, expectation, expense, expensive, experience, experiment, expert, explain, explanation, explode, explore, explosion, expose, exposure, express, expression, extend, extension, extensive, extent, external, extra, extraordinary, extreme, extremely, eye, fabric, face, facility, fact, factor, factory, faculty, fade, fail, failure, fair, fairly, faith, fall, false, familiar, family, famous, fan, fantasy, far, farm, farmer, fashion, fast, fat, fate, father, fault, favor, favorite, fear, feature, federal, fee, feed, feel, feeling, fellow, female, fence, festival, few, fewer, fiber, fiction, field, fifteen, fifth, fifty, fight, fighter, fighting, figure, file, fill, film, final, finally, finance, financial, find, finding, fine, finger, finish, fire, firm, first, fish, fishing, fit, fitness, five, fix, flag, flame, flat, flavor, flee, flesh, flight, float, floor, flow, flower, fly, focus, folk, follow, following, food, foot, football, for, force, foreign, forest, forever, forget, form, formal, formation, former, formula, forth, fortune, forward, found, foundation, founder, four, fourth, frame, framework, free, freedom, freeze, French, frequency, frequent, frequently, fresh, friend, friendly, friendship, from, front, fruit, frustration, fuel, fulfill, full, fully, fun, function, fund, fundamental, funding, funeral, funny, furniture, furthermore, future, gain, galaxy, gallery, game, gang, gap, garage, garden, garlic, gas, gate, gather, gay, gaze, gear, gender, gene, general, generally, generate, generation, genetic, gentleman, gently, German, gesture, get, ghost, giant, gift, gifted, girl, girlfriend, give, given, glad, glance, glass, global, glove, go, goal, God, gold, golden, golf, good, govern, government, governor, grab, grace, grade, gradually, graduate, grain, grand, grandmother, grant, grass, grave, gray, great, green, grocery, ground, group, grow, growing, growth, guarantee, guard, guess, guest, guide, guideline, guilty, gun, guy, habit, habitat, hair, half, hall, hand, handful, handle, hang, happen, happy, harbor, hard, hardly, hat, hate, have, he, head, headline, headquarters, health, healthy, hear, hearing, heart, heat, heaven, heavily, heavy, heel, height, helicopter, hell, hello, help, helpful, hence, her, herb, here, heritage, hero, herself, hey, hi, hide, high, highlight, highly, highway, hill, him, himself, hip, hire, his, historic, historical, history, hit, hold, hole, holiday, holy, home, homeless, honest, honey, honor, hope, horizon, horror, horse, hospital, host, hot, hotel, hour, house, household, housing, how, however, huge, human, humor, hundred, hungry, hunter, hunting, hurt, husband, hypothesis, ice, idea, ideal, identification, identify, identity, ignore, ill, illegal, illness, illustrate, image, imagination, imagine, immediate, immediately, immigrant, immigration, impact, implement, implication, imply, importance, important, impose, impossible, impress, impression, impressive, improve, improvement, incentive, incident, include, including, income, incorporate, increase, increased, increasingly, incredible, indeed, independence, independent, index, indicate, indication, individual, industrial, industry, infant, infection, inflation, influence, inform, information, ingredient, initial, initially, initiative, injury, inner, innocent, inquiry, inside, insight, insist, inspire, install, instance, instead, institute, institution, institutional, instruction, instructor, instrument, insurance, intellectual, intelligence, intend, intense, intensity, intention, interaction, interest, interested, interesting, internal, international, Internet, interpret, interpretation, intervention, interview, introduce, introduction, invasion, invest, investigation, investigator, investment, investor, invite, involve, involved, involvement, Iraqi, Irish, iron, Islamic, island, Israeli, issue, it, Italian, item, its, itself, jacket, jail, Japanese, jet, Jew, Jewish, job, join, joint, joke, journal, journalist, journey, joy, judge, judgment, juice, jump, junior, jury, just, justice, justify, keep, key, kick, kid, kill, killer, killing, kind, king, kiss, kitchen, knee, knife, knock, know, knowledge, lab, label, labor, laboratory, lack, lady, lake, land, landscape, language, lap, large, largely, last, late, later, Latin, latter, laugh, launch, law, lawsuit, lawyer, lay, layer, lead, leader, leadership, leading, leaf, league, lean, learn, learning, least, leather, leave, left, leg, legacy, legal, legend, legislation, legislative, legislator, legitimate, lemon, length, less, lesson, let, letter, level, liberal, library, license, lie, life, lifestyle, lifetime, lift, light, like, likely, limit, limitation, limited, line, link, lip, list, listen, literary, literature, little, live, living, load, loan, local, locate, location, lock, long, long-term, look, loose, lose, loss, lost, lot, lots, loud, love, lovely, lover, low, lower, luck, lucky, lunch, luxury, machine, mad, magazine, mail, main, mainly, maintain, maintenance, major, majority, make, maker, makeup, male, mall, man, manage, management, manager, manner, manufacturer, manufacturing, many, map, margin, mark, market, marketing, marriage, married, marry, mask, mass, massive, master, match, material, math, matter, may, maybe, mayor, me, meal, mean, meaning, meanwhile, measure, measurement, meat, mechanism, media, medical, medication, medicine, medium, meet, meeting, member, membership, memory, mental, mention, menu, mere, merely, mess, message, metal, meter, method, Mexican, middle, might, military, milk, million, mind, mine, minister, minor, minority, minute, miracle, mirror, miss, missile, mission, mistake, mix, mixture, mm-hmm, mode, model, moderate, modern, modest, mom, moment, money, monitor, month, mood, moon, moral, more, moreover, morning, mortgage, most, mostly, mother, motion, motivation, motor, mountain, mouse, mouth, move, movement, movie, Mr, Mrs, Ms, much, multiple, murder, muscle, museum, music, musical, musician, Muslim, must, mutual, my, myself, mystery, myth, naked, name, narrative, narrow, nation, national, native, natural, naturally, nature, near, nearby, nearly, necessarily, necessary, neck, need, negative, negotiate, negotiation, neighbor, neighborhood, neither, nerve, nervous, net, network, never, nevertheless, new, newly, news, newspaper, next, nice, night, nine, no, nobody, nod, noise, nomination, nominee, none, nonetheless, nor, normal, normally, north, northern, nose, not, note, nothing, notice, notion, novel, now, nowhere, nuclear, number, numerous, nurse, nut, object, objective, obligation, observation, observe, observer, obtain, obvious, obviously, occasion, occasionally, occupation, occupy, occur, ocean, odd, odds, of, off, offense, offensive, offer, office, officer, official, often, oh, oil, okay, old, Olympic, on, once, one, ongoing, onion, online, only, onto, open, opening, operate, operating, operation, operator, opinion, opponent, opportunity, oppose, opposed, opposite, opposition, option, or, orange, order, ordinary, organic, organization, organize, orientation, origin, original, originally, other, others, otherwise, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, outcome, outside, oven, over, overall, overcome, overlook, owe, own, owner, pace, pack, package, page, pain, painful, paint, painter, painting, pair, pale, Palestinian, palm, pan, panel, panic, pant, paper, paragraph, parent, park, parking, part, participant, participate, participation, particle, particular, particularly, partly, partner, partnership, party, pass, passage, passenger, passion, past, patch, path, patient, pattern, pause, pay, payment, PC, peace, peak, peer, pen, penalty, people, pepper, per, perceive, percentage, perception, perfect, perfectly, perform, performance, perhaps, period, permanent, permission, permit, person, personal, personality, personally, personnel, perspective, persuade, pet, phase, phenomenon, philosophy, phone, photo, photographer, phrase, physical, physically, physician, piano, pick, picture, pie, piece, pile, pilot, pine, pink, pipe, pitch, place, plan, plane, planet, planning, plant, plastic, plate, platform, play, player, please, pleasure, plenty, plot, plus, PM, pocket, poem, poet, poetry, point, police, policy, political, politically, politician, politics, poll, pollution, pool, poor, pop, popular, population, porch, port, portion, portrait, portray, pose, position, positive, possess, possession, possibility, possible, possibly, post, pot, potato, potential, potentially, pound, pour, poverty, powder, power, powerful, practical, practice, prayer, preach, precisely, predict, prediction, prefer, preference, pregnancy, pregnant, preparation, prepare, prescription, presence, present, presentation, preserve, president, presidential, press, pressure, pretend, pretty, prevent, previous, previously, price, pride, priest, primarily, primary, prime, principal, principle, print, prior, priority, prison, prisoner, privacy, private, probably, problem, procedure, proceed, process, processing, processor, proclaim, produce, producer, product, production, profession, professional, professor, profile, profit, program, progress, progressive, project, prominent, promise, promote, prompt, proof, proper, properly, property, proportion, proposal, propose, prosecutor, prospect, protect, protection, protein, protest, proud, prove, provide, provider, province, provision, psychological, psychology, public, publication, publicity, publish, publisher, pull, punishment, purchase, pure, purpose, pursue, push, put, qualify, quality, quarter, quarterback, quarterly, queen, quest, question, quick, quickly, quiet, quietly, quit, quite, quote, race, racial, radiation, radical, radio, rail, rain, raise, range, rank, rapid, rapidly, rare, rarely, rate, rather, rating, ratio, raw, reach, react, reaction, reader, reading, ready, real, reality, realize, really, reason, reasonable, recall, receive, recent, recently, reception, recipe, recipient, recognition, recognize, recommend, recommendation, record, recording, recover, recovery, recruit, red, reduce, reduction, refer, reference, reflect, reflection, reform, refugee, refuse, regard, regarding, regardless, regime, region, regional, register, regular, regularly, regulate, regulation, regulator, reinforce, reject, relate, relation, relationship, relative, relatively, relax, release, relevant, relief, religion, religious, rely, remain, remaining, remarkable, remember, remind, remote, remove, repeat, repeatedly, replace, replacement, reply, report, reporter, represent, representation, representative, Republican, reputation, request, require, requirement, research, researcher, resemble, reservation, resident, residential, resign, resist, resistance, resolution, resolve, resort, resource, respect, respond, response, responsibility, responsible, rest, restaurant, restore, restriction, result, retain, retire, retirement, return, reveal, revenue, review, revolution, rhythm, rice, rich, rid, ride, rifle, right, ring, rise, risk, river, road, rock, role, roll, romantic, roof, room, root, rope, rose, rough, roughly, round, route, routine, row, rub, rubber, rude, ruin, rule, run, running, rural, rush, Russian, sacred, sad, safe, safety, sake, salad, salary, sale, sales, salt, same, sample, sanction, sand, satellite, satisfaction, satisfied, satisfy, sauce, save, saving, say, scale, scandal, scare, scatter, scenario, scene, schedule, scheme, scholar, scholarship, school, science, scientific, scientist, scope, score, scream, screen, script, sea, search, season, seat, second, secondary, secret, secretary, section, sector, secure, security, see, seed, seek, seem, segment, seize, select, selection, self, sell, Senate, senator, send, senior, sense, sensitive, sentence, separate, sequence, series, serious, seriously, servant, serve, service, session, set, setting, settle, settlement, seven, several, severe, sex, sexual, shade, shadow, shake, shall, shallow, shape, share, sharp, she, sheet, shelf, shell, shelter, shift, shine, ship, shirt, shock, shoe, shoot, shooting, shop, shopping, short, shortly, shot, should, shoulder, shout, show, shower, shrug, shut, shy, sibling, sick, side, sigh, sight, sign, signal, significant, significantly, silence, silent, silver, similar, similarly, simple, simply, sin, since, sing, singer, single, sink, sir, sister, sit, site, situation, six, size, ski, skill, skin, skirt, sky, slave, sleep, slice, slide, slight, slightly, slip, slow, slowly, small, smart, smell, smile, smoke, smooth, snap, snow, so, so-called, soccer, social, society, soft, software, soil, solar, soldier, sole, solid, solution, solve, some, somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometimes, somewhat, somewhere, son, song, soon, sophisticated, sorry, sort, soul, sound, soup, source, south, southern, Soviet, space, Spanish, speak, speaker, special, specialist, species, specific, specifically, specify, speech, speed, spend, spending, spin, spirit, spiritual, split, spoil, sponsor, sport, spot, spray, spread, spring, square, squeeze, stability, stable, staff, stage, stain, stair, stake, stand, standard, standing, star, stare, start, state, statement, station, statistical, status, stay, steady, steal, steel, steep, stem, step, stick, still, stimulate, stimulus, stir, stock, stomach, stone, stop, storage, store, storm, story, straight, strange, stranger, strategic, strategy, stream, street, strength, strengthen, stress, stretch, strike, string, strip, stroke, strong, strongly, structural, structure, struggle, student, studio, study, stuff, stupid, style, subject, submit, subsequent, substance, substantial, substitute, succeed, success, successful, successfully, such, sudden, suddenly, sue, suffer, sufficient, sugar, suggest, suggestion, suicide, suit, summer, summit, sun, super, supply, support, supporter, suppose, supposed, Supreme, sure, surely, surface, surgery, surprise, surprised, surprising, surprisingly, surround, survey, survival, survive, survivor, suspect, sustain, swear, sweep, sweet, swim, swing, switch, symbol, symptom, system, table, tactic, tail, take, tale, talent, talk, tall, tank, tap, tape, target, task, taste, tax, taxi, tea, teach, teacher, teaching, team, tear, technical, technique, technology, teen, teenager, telephone, telescope, television, tell, temperature, temporary, ten, tend, tendency, tennis, tension, tent, term, terms, terrible, territory, terror, terrorist, test, testimony, testing, text, than, thank, thanks, that, the, theater, their, them, theme, themselves, then, theory, therapy, there, therefore, these, they, thick, thin, thing, think, thinking, third, thirty, this, those, though, thought, thousand, threat, threaten, three, throat, through, throughout, throw, thus, ticket, tie, tight, time, tiny, tip, tire, tissue, title, to, tobacco, today, toe, together, toilet, token, tolerate, tomato, tomorrow, tone, tongue, tonight, too, tool, tooth, top, topic, toss, total, totally, touch, tough, tour, tourist, tournament, toward, towards, tower, town, toy, trace, track, trade, tradition, traditional, traffic, tragedy, trail, train, training, transfer, transform, transformation, transition, translate, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, transportation, travel, treat, treatment, treaty, tree, tremendous, trend, trial, tribe, trick, trip, troop, trouble, truck, true, truly, trust, truth, try, tube, tunnel, turn, TV, twelve, twenty, twice, twin, two, type, typical, typically, ugly, ultimate, ultimately, unable, uncle, undergo, understand, understanding, unfortunately, uniform, union, unique, unit, United, universal, universe, university, unknown, unless, unlike, until, unusual, up, upon, upper, urban, urge, us, use, used, useful, user, usual, usually, utility, utilize, vacation, valley, valuable, value, variable, variation, variety, various, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, venture, version, versus, very, vessel, veteran, via, victim, victory, video, view, viewer, village, violate, violation, violence, violent, virtually, virtue, virus, visibility, visible, vision, visit, visitor, visual, vital, voice, volume, voluntary, volunteer, vote, voter, voting, wage, wait, wake, walk, wall, wander, want, war, warm, warn, warning, wash, waste, watch, water, wave, way, we, weak, weakness, wealth, wealthy, weapon, wear, weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.

I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten
Critics Consensus: Back to Black's sympathetic approach to its subject's story is an overdue antidote to the tabloid treatment she often received in life, even if the end results are disappointingly pedestrian.

	Score	Number of Reviews	Average Rating
All Critics	40%	80	4.70/10
Top Critics	40%	30	4.80/10

Metacritic: 49 (18 Reviews)
Sample Reviews:
The film’s snaky on-and-off power begins with the British actor Marisa Abela, whose lead performance nails Amy Winehouse in every look, mood, utterance, and musical expression. - Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Back to Black is, like its heroine, flawed and fallible but frequently very affecting. - Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
Tells the story of Amy Winehouse but shows no passion in telling it and has nothing to say about the events that transpire. It’s the utter minimum of what a biopic can be. - William Bibbiani, TheWrap
Within its limits, “Back to Black” is a satisfying biopic. It’s lifted by Winehouse’s music and by the staggering performance of Marisa Abela, who plays Winehouse and does all her own singing in this movie. 3/4 - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Winehouse herself emerges as a tragic figure whose fiery spirit defined her as much as the vulnerability that fueled her finest moments as the vocalist who made you feel her heartache like it was your own. 3.5/5 - Ed Masley, Arizona Republic
A straightforward depiction of the painful events we all witnessed, softened by a compassionate imagining of how Winehouse might have gotten there. - Johanna Schneller, Globe and Mail
There are other, tougher, bleaker ways to put Winehouse’s life on screen – but Abela conveys her tenderness, and perhaps most poignantly of all her youth, so tellingly at odds with that tough image and eerily mature voice. 4/5 - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
There are moments when Abela disappears and Winehouse bursts on to the screen, like a magic eye picture blinked fleetingly into focus. But the film is wildly uneven and prone to catastrophic misjudgments. 2/5 - Wendy Ide, Observer (UK)
Because of the cautious gloss, the film is perhaps less enlightening or truly tragic than it might have been. 3/5 - Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph (UK)
The final scene, in particular, with its completely and utterly baseless, sensationalist implications, made me physically gasp in horror. 1/5 - Hamish Macbain, London Evening Standard
The ending, of course, is sad... Yet, for all its faults, the film is more celebratory than tragic. 3/5 - Ed Potton, Times (UK)
Back to Black is a fitfully enjoyable little package that will do wonders for the careers of Abela and O’Connell. But unlike Winehouse’s oeuvre, it’s not worth taking seriously. It’s just too afraid of the dark. 2/5 - Charlotte O'Sullivan, Independent (UK)
The film seems too tame, too tasteful, too frightened of alienating the fans: everything that Winehouse was not. 2/5 - Tom Shone, Times (UK)
[Amy Winehouse's] music remains in a different creative galaxy to this dispiriting film, which is at once twee and ghoulish. 2/5 - Danny Leigh, Financial Times
Sure, you will learn more – and hear more of the original recordings – in Asif Kapadia’s great documentary Amy, but Taylor-Johnson does a decent job of making a tight drama from the same tragic yarn. 3/5 - Donald Clarke, Irish Times
This is a middle-of-the road biopic about a musician who was anything but. It’s not great and it’s not terrible. 3/5 - Stephen Romei, The Australian
It has such reverence for Winehouse that it lacks the honesty the 2015 Oscar-winning documentary Amy was able to present. 2.5/5 - Wenlei Ma, The Nightly (AU)
Back to Black is not the worst of its genre. (Though this genre is, largely, a bad one.) Still, any estimation of the film crumbles the more time one spends diving back into the real Winehouse’s output. - Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
It comes not to blindly praise she who refused to go to rehab, no, no, no (and eventually did), but dear lord, does it ever come to bury her. - David Fear, Rolling Stone
A solid performance let down by a script that cherry-picks the facts and ultimately tells us less than we already know. Watch Asif Kapadia’s Amy instead. 2/5 - Hayley Campbell, Empire Magazine
Offers a pallid account of Winehouse’s story, ironing out some thornier issues, and bringing little that’s new, either in fresh revelations or distinctive angles on the familiar. - Jonathan Romney, Screen International
This is better than I expected (although my expectations were low). It does seem softened at the edges, and one can never forgive a falling-in-love montage set at London Zoo -- ever -- but I (mostly) didn’t cringe and it is respectful, if painful. - Deborah Ross, The Spectator
In her attempt to put the woman back at the centre of her own life, Taylor-Johnson has at least captured an addictive personality and achieved a powerful portrait of doomed love. - Kate Mossman, New Statesman
It is as salacious and cruel as any tabloid cutting from the noughties – only invested in the bloody ballet pump left in the street, not the complexities of living a very public life with addiction. 1/5 - Rogan Graham, Little White Lies
Everyone involved in the film approaches the late artist with love and respect, but its tawdry instincts and misguided sense of responsibility let her memory down. C- - Vikram Murthi, indieWire
Bizarrely, the one thematic thread that Back to Black does seek to tie its tale together with is the singer’s desire to have a child. 1.5/4 - Ross McIndoe, Slant Magazine
Like Winehouse herself, the film teeters on the edge, hovering restlessly between genre-subversive brilliance that complicates celebratory narratives about artistic genius, and well-worn, re-hashed tropes about tragic women. - Rebecca Harrison, Sight & Sound
A strong cast, in particular a stirring performance from Marisa Abela, is not enough to effectively convey the chaos and the tragedy central to the story of such a beloved artist. 2/5 - Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
Its punchlines lack punch, [but] what it does have is a frankly dynamite central turn from Marisa Abela. - Mark Kermode, Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)
SYNOPSIS:
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
CAST:

• Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse
• Jack O'Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil
• Eddie Marsan as Mitch Winehouse
• Lesley Manville as Cynthia Winehouse

DIRECTED BY: Sam Taylor-Johnson
SCREENPLAY BY: Matt Greenhalgh
PRODUCED BY: Alison Owen, Debra Hayward, Nicky Kentish-Barnes
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Sam Taylor-Johnson, Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Polly Morgan
EDITED BY: Martin Walsh
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Sarah Greenwood
COSTUME DESIGNER: PC Williams
MUSIC BY: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
MUSIC PRODUCTION BY: Giles Martin
MUSIC SUPERVISOR: Iain Cooke
CASTING BY: Nina Gold
RUNTIME: 122 Minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2024

Hi! Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the support on my last post, the days have been passing by easier since then. 🥹🫶🏻
Day 14 today, my counts started going up a few days ago! Neutrophils pranked me a little (0,00→0,05→0,00→0,02→0,04 today) but otherwise, everything else has been going up pretty well, hemoglobin and platelets especially! Still got pain obviously, and god awful issues with my bowel movements, but I'm managing! Optimistic for once in my life.
I realized that the only people who know my story are my doctors and part of my family. I love reading other people's stories, it makes me feel less alone (feel free to share yours if you want!), so I figured I'd share. I'll keep it brief.
Everything started with a cold that took a suspiciously long time to heal which left me with a really bad cough (that took 3 months to go away, my doctors tried everything 😭). Tiredness (5h naps during the day wouldn't cut it) turned into faiting episodes. Wounds wouldn't heal, bruises would appear. Swollen lymph nodes and gums. My last memory before getting the blood tests that changed my life was helping kindergartners (Vocational HS section where I'm basically learning to be a daycare teacher) explore a forest. In heels, without water and with no food in my stomach... Man, I really thought I could do anything. Sweet memory I cherish though.
After I got a few blood tests (I only remember my iron being 4x the amount it should've been, WBC 24k + 60% blasts) done we got a call from the lab to go to the hospital and re-do them. The hospital wouldn't re-do them because they said the results are clear, I've leukemia. The poor doctor started crying. I remember my reaction, “Leukemia? But I'm only 16.” (And now I'm turning 17 at the end of the month, how time flies) Saw a pediatric onco-hematologist on Monday. Said it looked like AML (later on found out it's "high risk, M4" but I don't exactly know what that entails) there's treatment available, said my dad can't stay as my caretaker (which I didn't understand then but I thank her for now), and then she left. She's not exactly very talkative...
Next day I got a portacath, and started investigations pre-chemo. Thankfully everything looked fine, hadn't spread to my brain, my lungs and heart were fine, basically everything was okay otherwise. Started chemo. Didn't go into remission after induction (I think I was at around 11% blasts) but went into full remission after second round. Two more rounds of chemo, then a SCT with my mom as the donor.
Now I'm looking forward to the future (although I'm also terrified of it and of the long term effects that I know I'll have to deal with). If everything goes well, my doctors have said I could maybe return to school at the start of September, which would be perfect for me since that's when the school year starts. It's genuinely my only wish. I value school so much, I know it seems ridiculous, but I studied a lot, got pretty good grades, even went to the national English olympics in 9th grade. My teachers have been very understanding too. I hope I'll be able to return, but I'll do whatever my doctors say. I don't want to set my expectations too high. I miss my teachers a lot. Also my cat, but she's having fun on the countryside! Meet Șoarec
The only thing I haven't been able to cope with is the less understanding people, haha. It really be your own family sometimes. Mom is my caretaker and although she's super sweet, she can be very rude about my pain, and pressuring me to eat/drink. Dad told me “God punished me and that's why I got leukemia” which left me stunned, I've been thinking about that for a month. Also the occasional “Oh, what's leukemia? Is it like, gamer over for you?” or “RIP” reaction when I tell someone my diagnosis. I'm gonna work these issues out in therapy though...
Hope this isn't too long or trauma-dumpy haha! Just wanted to share, this community has been very kind & helpful and I definitely wish I would've joined sooner.

in three weeks, T has helped me put on so much muscle i managed to outgrow a brand new binder that i had purchased to size up to begin with and holy shit the pain of wearing a too-small binder for a full work shift fucked me up. do not try to push through wearing a binder if it feels wrong.
for context, before T, i was really underweight and i couldn't outpace my fast metabolism to gain any meaningful weight. i'm 5'5" and bounced between 100-105lbs and i was strong for my size but that's not saying much versus the general male population. this is where i'd say a huge majority of my dysphoria lived, having narrow shoulders, the little fat i had all being at my hips, people assuming i'm too weak for even basic tasks. so at the start of this year, i really put my nose to the grindstone and have been practicing muay thai and weight-lifting multiple times a week like i used to pre-pandemic. i was doing okay at it! i'm never going to the olympics but i was feeling good.
and then i started T in february. my appetite has exploded and i've been putting away over 2300 calories per day just to not feel so goddamn hungry. i've been focusing on high protein foods and trying to drink a quart of milk a day and two protein shakes. it's also given me more energy and confidence to go workout and practice even if i'm not feeling 100% mentally up to it.
so, between all the food and the working out, i've managed to put on 20lbs of mostly muscle in 3 months and holy shit the difference is real. T is putting a majority of it on my upper body. but then also i don't get as cold as easily, i have more energy all the time, my posture is better, my clothes fit better, this specific dysphoria is evaporating slowly and holy shit i feel alive and present. but there's a catch.
none of my fucking binders fit. at first, say around late-march, i got an inkling my flavnt half-binders were too small. something just felt off cause i can usually forget they're on but i was just so aware of them. so i stopped wearing them and i sized up and bought a new one like 3 weeks ago. it fit and felt great, back to normal i thought. i wear my binders maybe 2-3 times a week normally, but last week i had really physically active work so i didn't wear it until friday with nothing but a t-shirt over it. and by the end of the day i was fucking suffering. i had shooting pains when i moved any part of my upper body. i was getting those cramps you get when running along your ribs, while standing still. i couldn't take it off my entire 8 hr shift + 45 min commute, until i got to my girlfriend's place. i spent the rest of the night switching between curling up into a ball or doing any stretch i could think of to get away from the pain, my girlfriend also gave me a massage but the pain stayed just as bad the entire time, it was constant. it felt like a stomach ache, chest pains, running cramps, and period cramps all at the same time. breathing was like i'd been holding my breath underwater for ages and couldn't catch it again. it went on all night until i took an ibuprofen and got very high, then it finally eased. when i was smoking, i had a hacking coughing fit that i think shook up my lungs and cleared me out, and i also had a laughing fit when i was high and watching youtube that also definitely did something to help in terms of muscle pain. it was the opposite of laughing until you're sore lmao. i'm okay now after a weekend of free-balling it with absolutely no sports bras or any compression and doing some yoga to stretch it out, but christ that was so much pain i was freaked out. and i have a decent pain tolerance! i've been hit by 2 cars, i severed a finger once, i've done combat sports on and off my whole life! i'm never making that mistake again.
the night i was rolling around in pain, my girlfriend wanted to check something. i just happened to have my rib and chest measurements in my phone from when i bought the new binder, so my girlfriend measured me again to check to see just how badly i fucked up, and i went from being 27" around my ribs to being 32" (i'm gonna make these lats into wings) and my chest went from 31" to being 34". my girlfriend just laughed and she just said "you're bulking up too much babe, it's a good problem to have"

The god of mischeif and pain appeara before you and offers you a choice between 2 powers.
The 1st power is Invisibility.
How it works: You can become invisible for up to 10 minutes a day. Essentially think like a battery that is recharged everyday at 12am. The time coast of your powers (pacific time, eastern time etc) will permanently be the time coast of when you initially gain the power, meaning even if you move across the world your powers still follow the clock of where you initially acquired them. The duration will never increase or decrease. You become completely transparent visually (even your clothes). You still make normal noise though. You cannot make anyone or anything else invisible (except clothes directly touching your skin).
The drawback: You are required to use all 10 minutes of your power everyday ( doesnt have to be consecutively, but the effect must remain active for at least 30 seconds at a time). Anytime you're discovered, one of your limbs or organs will randomly explode. Like if you run into someone and they realize you're there, your hand might explode. Or maybe your kidney. You might be able to survive the 1st time depending on which llimb it is, but you'll never know which. The explosion to your internal organs is contained within your body, but the external explosion to your limbs will vary in size with the strongest explosion possible being a hand grenade in scale. Anytime your presence is confirmed to be detected by anyone, the effect will activate. If someone is suspicious but not sure the effect won't happen. The effect will also activate if you haven't used the full 10 minutes by 11:59pm. The explosion itself cannot harm others, but the effect of the explosion can (meaning if your arm explodes, there's the possibility one of the bones goes flying into someone skull). The explosion itself can also harm other parts of your body but would be centered on whatever limb is chosen.
The 2nd power is Flight.
How it works: You can fly similar to superman. No wings required. Your flying is tied to your stamina, meaning your can fly longer, faster and higher the more you exercise. Your top flight speed is equivalent to your top running speed. You are not immune to the effects of weather or oxygen, meaning you'll have trouble breathing and feel extreme cold the higher you go. You can only carry people with you if you are physically strong enough. Your clothes and belongings still weigh you down. Running out of stamina mid flight means you'll succumb to the effects of gravity.
The drawback: Once a month, you have to spend 7 consecutive days running from a mercenary. If they touch you anywhere on your body (direct contact with your skin or flesh), you will lose your powers, 90% of your stamina and your lifespan will be shortened by 30 years. You can't come into direct contact with them. You can't harm them in any way (meaning you can't use any weapons or projectiles to harm them from a distance either). In terms of physically, they never run out of stamina and have super strength ,(eqyivalent to captain america) but their speed is equivalent to someone competing in the Olympic track team. They never sleep. You cannot trap them either (if your actions leads them into some trap that incapacitates them, they will teleport within 10 meters of you fully healed. If that's in the air, they will safely teleport to the nearest available solid ground.) After 7 days if they haven't caught you, they'll leave only for the process to start again next month. If you're caught, they'll never appear again. You don't know when the 7 days starts or ends. Their intelligence is around 160 IQ. They can choose to hunt you however they prefer (meaning they can spend a few days just stalking you without letting their presence known, which means it's possible you won't know the 7 days had started already).
Failure to choose one option results in a prolonged and painful death.

Olympic Triathlon Tips
I (28 male) am participating in my first triathlon in a week’s time and would welcome any tips to get through it (and enjoy it!).
Due to work and playing other sports competitively my training never really got going so I’ve done maybe 2 weeks of ‘training’. I have managed to fit in a few brick runs to get used to the feeling of getting off the bike.
Current times for each section, and I guess my targets, are: Swim (1.5km) - 30-34 mins.. pain points here are breathing consistently, after a while I’ll find myself coming up/out of the water.
Cycle (40km) - 1:30-1:45.. feel relatively comfortable on the bike but I don’t have a lot of experience with inclines so any tips on going uphill for a sustained period would be great.
Run (10km) - 40-45mins.. I’m a confident runner although I do expect this to be tricky and so would aim for being within an hour on the day.