I have fully got over my reddit drama so i'm gonna try to avoid commenting on reddit hashtag try to but if I have someone try to get my attention don't bother I won't respond even if I do decide to respond it would probably be a one time thing and now to say I can confirm I am a former victim of mental abuse I won't explain it in full details but I will explain what I had to go through when I was living with my grandmother I had to go through mental abuse I never felt safe in my grandmother's home my grandmother always yelled at me even when I did nothing wrong my grandmother was mentally abusive to me she constantly yelled at me even when I did nothing wrong she always believed any lies that was told about me like one example I can remember was on March break 2018 my uncle told my grandmother that I stole the school snacks when I was at my mom's house laying in her bed sick all throughout March break then when I turned 20 years old on July 15th 2019 my grandmother decided since i'm almost an adult she could use my credit card I didn't know I had to buy smokes and made me go in debt then in 2020 which I admit became a very bad year for me first on twitter and deviantart I got accused of defending a youtuber called Cryaotic second I decided to push myself at school due to how I took my teacher's words which I now realized that she didn't mean her words how she worded them my teacher told me if I don't try my hardest then I won't succecced in life which I took her words that if I don't try then I will never become anything in life so I spent all my high school year doing school work I took no breaks aside from washroom breaks but drinking water didn't seem important to me it got to the point where my teachers kept telling me that it was great that I'm refusing to give up on school work but you need to take a water break or else you're gonna dehydrate yourself they told me that everyday but it eventually got to a point where my teachers knew that I wasn't gonna get out of my seat and resolve to give me a water bottle everyday then one day I decided I didn't want to live with my grandmother anymore so I went to my mom crying to her saying things like mom I don't wanna live with my grandmother anymore she's mentally abusive I want to live with you which my mom responded to me saying sure you can live with me you're 20 now you're old enough to make your own decisions then when I went to my grandmother's house we got into a fight and argument and I made the mistake of telling my grandmother how I felt about her and my grandmother kicked me out of her house she stopped doing things for me the last thing I remember my grandmother doing for me was her taking me to the doctors when I twisted my ankle my grandmother didn't even celebrated my 21st birthday with me during July when my mother asked my grandmother if she had anything planned for my birthday cause my mother wanted to know which my grandmother responded nope I don't need to celebrate your daughter's birthday you can celebrate your daughter's birthday by yourself I guess my grandmother thought me and my mom were gonna celebrate my birthday by ourselves but on the day of my 21st birthday my mother invited my siblings my boyfriend and friends of my mom to come to my birthday but my grandmother decided to be a bitch and complained to my mom about her friends cars blocking her driveway so they had to move their cars my grandmother even had a habit of throwing my friends and my boyfriend into blame when they had nothing to do with whatever my grandmother was blaming them for I haven't talked to my grandmother for years now and I tend to keep it that way I don't see my grandmother as family anymore all I see her as is someone who was a mental abuser and someone that abused my trust one thing I will admit is I believe in ghost and guardian angels cause I have seen them same with spirit animals which my spirit animal by clan is a wolf and that wolf spirit is everywhere with me I even own wolf items such as a wolf necklace a wolf blanket a wolf hat a wolf poster and wolf plushies I won't say all of the names of my wolf plushies but I will admit I name most of my wolf plushies after youtubers again I won't say all of their names but some of the names of my wolf plushies are Dawko(named after the youtuber Dawko) Jackmanifold(named after the Dream smp member Jackmanifold) Skydoesminecraft(named after the youtuber Skydoesminecraft) Punz(named after the Dream smp member Punz) and Foolish(named after the Dream smp member Foolishgamers) the last time I saw my grandmother was at my great uncle's funeral which I first heard about my great uncle's death was from my mother on that day I loss my story on wattpad to a false report my gaming chair broke and I broke my thumb nail off my gaming chair so I called my mom crying my eyes out telling her that my gaming chair broke and I broke my thumb nail and it was hurting which my mother told me that she's at the hospital with my great uncle and will talk to me when she gets home so I ended up calling my mom's friend to help me cut my thumb nail then when my mom came home she told me that my great uncle died and I took his death the hardest which I also realized on that day me losing my story to a false report on wattpad my gaming chair breaking and me breaking my thumb nail was spirital signs that I was gonna lose someone on that day and I loss my great uncle then when my mom asked me if I was going to my great uncle's funeral and that my grandmother was gonna be there which I responded to my mom saying that I will go to my great uncle's funeral but I'm not talking to my grandmother which my mom responded to me saying that's fine Destiny that's your choice if you want to talk to your grandmother or not so I went to my great uncle's funeral I talked to my family members that went to my great uncle's funeral but my grandmother cause I wanted to stick to my word which I barely shed a tear at my great uncle's funeral which I believe is probably cause I spent all of my time greiving for my great uncle at home but that's all I have to say about myself plus to add if I see a comment saying something about my grammer or puncation I will delete the comment and block you but to those who choose to stay and listen thank you

• Transphobic video using the word "tr***y"
• Referencing drag queens as clowns
• Doesn't disclose that reviews were really paid ads Edited her body for an Aerie ad, which is a brand that supposedly prides themselves on using real bodies.
• Was blocking and ignoring customers who purchased her Glamlite Paht 2 collection, never received their order, and asked about it. All of this while Glamlite was siphoning stock to CVS and also ignored customer inquiries about their overdue orders.
• Along with CVS, broke their "Beauty Unaltered" pledge by creating a display unit that is obviously filtered of the Trash Goblin’s face.
• Committed fraud by pledging that 50% of the proceeds from the Paht 2 collection would be donated to women's healthcare after the Dobbs decision. When anyone commented to ask about it, they were banned from her socials. This one is the most egregious, as there are people who might have purchased solely based on her pledge. She lied about not getting paid yet to make the donation just as the CVS distribution happened.
• She's myopic and doesn't care about her supporters, as she continually discusses her ED without the common courtesy of a trigger warning like most creators do for subjects like this. Her explanation for why she doesn't give a TW? "It doesn't trigger me, so fuck all of you." She's so disrespectful of Cody's sobriety.
• Does giveaways by making followers jump through engagement hoops to boost her profile but then didn't deliver on the giveaways.
• Begging... BEGGING.. followers on her broadcast channel to drop an emoji as a comment to inflate her engagement rate, as comments are engagement rate gold for getting paid.
• Claims she donates extra product to women's shelters, and then went on Instagram asking for suggestions on where in her area she can donate women's clothes. She's so fucking dense that she either doesn't realize the same places she supposedly donates product to is a good first start, or she outed herself as never donating before like she said she did if she doesn't know where to donate clothes locally.
• She's a terrible brand ambassador, which is on her and DBA. She went on a free Paris trip sponsored by Caudalie, and she shit talked how broken out her skin got on the trip (with the assumption she was using their products and services) and never once really hyped the brand that was paying for her to be there.
• Took money from Briogio for a campaign and at the same time posted videos about her hair falling out. She's so dumb she doesn't realize that she caused a causation comparison.
• She's lying about having clients, paying clients that aren't her friends and family. She is not a MUA or a certified in MA to do makeup.
• She brigades brands who don't do her bidding like a brat. Pottery Barn in the middle of the pandemic had shipping and quality issues. She sent her followers after them and then begged PB for more free stuff.
• She has her friends like HeartofGreg comment on her videos, which she then stiches the comment to review a product. She then takes that video and shops it to the brand to get them to sponsor the video.. and a few weeks later the video resurfaces as partner, paid partnerships, sponsorship.
• Tax fraud when handling gratis, expenses, and giveaways
• Did a giveaway for Chanel bags with Chris Appleton (Color Wow) and the Boston's Children's Hospital, which was against GoFundMe's Terms of Service. She never gave the winners their prize.
• Dogs a brand who sent her free items but then turns around and praises the brand when they pay her (She did it with Essence and KVD).
• Did a bunch of fake "pick out my wedding makeup" when she 100% knew what she was using including the fact that e.l.f. sponsored her wedding as a brand event. She says that's not true, but I can guarantee e.l.f. writes off the expenses they incurred for her wedding as a business expense.
• Lied about her YouTube page being her page. She feverously uploaded videos when she took her 5:19, baby tantrum, pity party break from TikTok but still needed to earn money. She uploaded her TikTok videos to YouTube, lied that it was her channel, and made money. If it wasn't her channel, you know she and DBA would file a cease and desist .. and win it.. to get the channel removed. It's her channel.
• Her filter usage is fraud. Period. There is no debating it. When you are getting paid to review products and apply a filter on your face and body, you are committing fraud. The viewer thinks it's the product making that effect and not really the software engineering team that created the editing app.
• With the PeeeLouish collab, they were caught pre-applying swatches from the P.Louise palette. She's also not really applying makeup in her videos. Cheeks, bronzer, and eyes are being applied off screen and she's swiping a brush making it look like she's applying it. Another sign she can't do professional makeup at all. It's all fake.
• Every ”in the wild” picture that’s not filtered shows the truth.
• She constantly lurks on other creators pages to find commenters to block when they shit talk her. Insecure much? She’ll unblock people to snark them and lurk, then block them again. We know she does this with Rich Lux.
• She supports James Charles. The grifting carnival barker loves the groomer trash.
• Community Contribution: She shits on her estranged half sister to her millions of followers, when all the evidence points to her sister being frozen out of their family at the age of 14. She claims her sister walked out of their lives because she “wasn’t the precious daughter of the family anymore” after Mikayla was born, and also talks badly about her sister for being on disability. Mikayla is an aunt to two girls, but I doubt she’s ever cared nor met them. Her sister also lived and lives right down the road from Mikayla’s parents home.
• She’s a known bully and coming from someone who’s now being regarded as an ED spokesperson. She told her friend that drinking hot chocolate would be “200 very unnecessary calories”, and that she was “just trying to help since you’re trying to lose weight” with that comment. She’s a mean girl, and she always has been.
• She cries about shade range while she brags about being soooo pale (um, really?). She releases collabs that are not inclusive for POC. She then brags about buying out and hoarding darker foundations and concealers to use as bronzers meaning the very little stock available for darker skin tones becomes even more scarce when her idiot stans buy up the product. She also blackfishes.
• She can't admit when she's wrong and aggressively lashes out to those trying to point it out. She called a comb and brush, and when corrected in her comments, she was incredibly rude to her own followers. You know, the people engaging with her content that's paying her mortgage. She is incapable of saying, "oops, my bad." Her integrity is crap for this behavior.
• Just like the above, the unwillingness to admit a simple mistake turned her into an ableist POS. There are those with low vision or no vision who listen to TikToks and rely on accuracy in speech and closed captions. Her "go fuck yourself, bro" attitude when called out about the comb incident made her incredibly ableist.
• She creates rage bait content to generate engagement gold via angry comments. This makes her a carnival barking grifter.
• She begs for engagement on her broadcast channel trying to force things to go viral like "nice and shaaaahhp." It's actually pathetic watching her do this.
• Used a derogatory term used to reference Travelers/Romani people and doubled down on it when people called her out and educated her on the use of the word.
• Lied about creating some Mother's Day shopping spree for a "family in need" saying that when she heard their story, she knew she just had to help. When asked in the comments about the story, she played the, "It's not my story the tell." Come to find out, the story is that the child goes to the school that Mikayla's mom works at. There was a raffle at the school, and one of the prizes was a $500 shopping trip with MikPickMe. The girl's mom paid for 40 entries to win the raffle, and she did. The only reason the shopping was done on Mother's Day was due to conflicting schedules. This was not a shopping spree for a family in need. It was a prize from a raffle that Mikayla's mommy had a hand in.
• MikLieHole took Rael's money and trip and went in days earlier with her emotional support animal, Codypendency, and did meetings with a competitor, Tirtir. Tirtir gifted her a Birkin while in South Korea, too.

Hello everyone,
I recently posted saying that I was about to start watching Safe House, and as a native Thai speaker, I offered some summaries/translations/explanations (but not in a video because I don't have enough tech skills). Some people expressed interest, so I wanted to try out this sort of outline format with rough timestamps for Day 1 to see if it's helpful to anyone at all. Also, if anyone wants any specific details or transcriptions of specific parts, please let me know!
Is this sort of thing helpful? Do you want more detailed transcriptions/translations? Any and all feedback is welcome! Thank you, everyone!
Day 1 video link: https://www.youtube.com/live/EMCbX52XYf0?feature=shared

• 5:00 Participants enter the house. Gun reads the welcome letter, which states that they'll be competing for a "dream gadget" of their choice. They introduce themselves by order of tallest to shortest, then run around the house to find and greet each of the cameras together. Lastly, they need take a series of group photos to print and hang around the house
  • Luke: mobile phone
  • Pond: computer
  • Earth: (didn't hear clearly; I think maybe it's something fancy I don't know. Hahaha)
  • Phuwin: computer
  • Neo: guitar
  • Mix: Notebook
  • Khaotung: guitar
  • Gun: (doesn't have an answer because he's only going to stay for 3 days; might work something out with his replacement if they win)
• 20:00 PD (producer) asks Earth to go out to collect their dinner. Menu includes crab fried rice, pad gaprao beef with boiled egg, soft scrambled egg/omelette with cheese, and flavoured tapioca with young coconut meat (dessert)
  • Dinner summary/highlights: They're getting used to "living" on camera, so they try to find entertaining things to do/say so the audience don't get bored.
    • General explanation: a lot of Thai humour involves language and wordplay, so a lot of the jokes involve those. Luke sometimes has a bit of a hard time following (but I have to say that his level of Thai is extremely impressive).
    • The other participants very gently and playfully tease Luke for his Thai sometimes, but they're also curious about the US and life abroad, so they ask Luke about American cuisine, whether there's anything spicy there, etc. Some of them also want to improve their English, so they ask questions and practice with him.
    • Around 42:30, they realise that they need to wash dishes, so they start negotiating who's going to wash dishes. There's also some regret about using plates instead of eating from the original food containers. Khaotung and Mix wash while the others give them "moral support."
• 54:00 In the game room, Neo and Pond try to make some language jokes and wordplay with Luke. Example: "Which language can open and close?" Answer: "Swedish" (Because when you say it in Thai, it sounds kind of like the English word "switch" said in a Thai accent). Luke tries to tell the "why does the chicken cross the road" but translated to Thai, etc.
• Around 59:00, Earth, Gun, and Phuwin join and play some of the games that were on the coffee table, such as Jenga, and a thing that makes impressions of whatever you put in the frame. At around 1:04:00, Gun loses Jenga, so the punishment is pushups.
• 1:06:00 They play darts; the punishment for the losers is washing dishes after breakfast tomorrow. Phuwin loses. Everyone continues playing games for fun (darts, table football, etc.)
• 1:14:00 PD announces the first competition for "medals" (official competitive points on the scoreboard). Game is called "What the Face?" Gun and Phuwin are team leaders and take turns choosing who they want on their own team. Each team needs to send one person at a time to try to construct someone's randomly-assigned face using the parts from the large board. The winning team will win one medal each.
• 1:46:00 PD announces that the additional reward for the winning team is that they get to choose their bedroom first. The losing team were originally happy with their room until they saw the luxury of the other room.
• 1:52:00 They relax, unpack, etc.
  • Highlights: Gun and Phuwin discover a separate fridge (provided by one of the sponsors) that is full of packaged seafood items. They're particularly excited about the imitation crab (which is very popular in Thailand in general)
  • Jam session in the dining room area
• 2:39:00 It's Luke's birthday, so while he's showering, the rest of the guys prepare a birthday surprise for him. Neo (and later Phuwin) goes to help stall to buy more time while the rest continue setting up the surprise
  • Birthday celebrations, cake, and more jokes/wordplay/puns. Luke also helps Neo with some English (3:37:00).
• 3:41:00 They decide to play hide-and-seek. PD helps to be the referee. The second round, they decide to play for a medal. The winner will be either the person who's found last, or the person who's "it" will win if they find everyone within 10 minutes. They think the person who's "it" won, but turns out they forgot to find the last person, so they win the medal.
• 4:05:00 Snack/free time. Phuwin makes Thai omelette (khai jiao) with imitation crab. (Khai jiao is like a staple food in Thailand)
• 4:17:00 Fan talk
  • Group 1 highlights: This was the group that won the What the Face? game. First impressions of the house are that it's very nice and spacious, to the point that they were tired from running around trying to find each other earlier. They recapped how Mix and Khaotung found washing the dishes. They were happy to have won the first competition of the show, and they thought it was even nicer that they got to choose their bedroom in addition to getting the medals. They also talked about Luke's birthday surprise, especially about how they needed to send Neo and Phuwin to stall him to buy more time to set up. They also talked about the gifts they got him. They complimented Luke's Thai skills, particularly in reading, and they (especially Mix) want to try to practice more English with Luke this week.
    • Fan comments: Fans remarked about the nice birthday surprise. They said that Earth seems like the tidiest person so far, and he agreed. They also talked about the jam session, and the guys joked about starting a band. In general, the guys all happy and excited about the experience; it feels like a sort of group trip/camp situation where they get to live with friends and peers for a short period
• 4:31:00 They share Phuwin's Thai omelette. They all approve, and several of them bond over the fact that they like salty foods (since Thai cuisine involves a lot of balancing of sweet/salty/soubittespicy flavours in one dish, each person tends to have a flavour category they tend to prefer stronger than the rest, so in this case, many of these guys lean more toward salt)
• 4:41:30 Fan talk part 2
  • Group 2 highlights: this is the group that lost the Face game earlier. Everyone is excited about the house and seeing all the places they can hang out. Luke and Neo recap some of their language jokes and exchanges. They recapped the Face game, and they claimed that it was difficult, partly because the photos are with lighting/makeup/touchups. They also said that Mix had an unfair advantage having Earth's face because he sees his face pretty much every day. They also expressed some (light-hearted) bitterness about their bedroom assignment, especially compared to the other bedroom and bathroom. They made some potential plans to try to steal the large bedroom during the day tomorrow while the other team aren't paying attention. They also talked about Luke's birthday surprise, and how the surprise was almost ruined a few times: Phuwin accidentally ran into Luke while holding his gift, and when everyone first thought Luke was in the shower, he actually was still walking around the house, so he almost saw what everyone was doing.
    • Fan comments: Fans complimented Luke's singing, and remarked that Phuwin brought a lot of stuff to the house. The guys also complimented Phuwin's Thai omelette; Phuwin claimed that he helped, and Neo retorted by sardonically changing his opinion that the omelette lacked flavour. They're looking forward to the rest of the week, and they're hoping to steal the other bedroom, so stay tuned. Luke gives a closing comment in English, and Neo successfully translates it to Thai.
• 4:57:00 Relaxing/TV time. At around 5:30:00, they talk a bit about ghost stories (ghosts are really big in Thai culture and art/media). Some of the guys have stories to tell, so they agree to have a storytelling session tomorrow. At 5:37:00, the other guys try to hide and scare each other around the house. Phuwin vacuums because he's sensitive to dust.
• 5:46:00 Saying goodnight to the cameras. There's a bit of confusion about which cameras are active, and they confirm that a red light on the camera means it's actively recording them, and a green light means it's on standby.

I have only ever worked at 1 school, and so I'm not sure how it is in other Reception classes. However I'm curious to know what other school days look like to compare and make improvements to ours :)
Here is our day: 45 minutes phonics 45 minutes free flow (the children can go between the classroom and outdoor area freely) 30 minutes literacy (the children are expected to write 4 sentences, how much are your children expected to write at this point in the year?) 45 minutes free flow 75 minutes lunch 20 minutes maths 60 minutes free flow 30 minutes home time prep
My only concern is that because we have free flow all day, some children aren't accessing the activities in the classroom and are instead choosing to play outside in the sandpit or build with blocks all day.

I don't even know how to put this, my hands are shivering just by imagining how my next 4 years will be. I am a hardcore failure sooo hardcore I even managed to fail in my drop year. I absolutely fucked up every single exam like viteee jee mhtcet. I had 70 percentile in jee last year and this year I have the same percentile with even worse rank. Viteee idk what the fuck was that rank- i don't even want to mention that its that shit. Mhtcet was my last hope I was getting decent in pyps like around 110 but my retarded ass managed to fumble even that. I swear to god I went completely blank on exam day I wasn't able to recalll a single thing. Idk how much I will get now. I blanked out so bad again my stupid ass forgot to tick around 10 questions in physics 🤡tukke marna tha yeh bhi yaad nahi aaya. I have been depressed since 2 years (since class 12) because of many reasons not academics. Only if I decided to get help back then I think i would have performed good in drop year atleast, not much but a little atleast. I am happy I dragged my ass to a psychiatrist in Jan month, it did help me tremendously and I am not that suicidal anymore.. but to dayy i have regret of not visiting one already. Now with such shitty scores I will prolly going to a local college which I was also getting last year. Matlab drop leke kuch fayda nahi hua. My parents are very supportive but really strict. I have wasted their money without yielding any result. Now i will prolly be wasting money on the tier 3 college i will be joining. I don't know how to or how would you describe tier 3 college. The college i will be joining has literally zero college life. Small ass campus. college fee isn't that much and I am sure i will get this college because of minority quota and avg placement goes around 4-5 lakh. My parents are strict and they want me to be financially independent by the age of 25 at least. Which is quite sensible and they won't help me financially when I will be 25 and I am damn sure about this, so it's gonna be a do or die situation for me. They even remind me of this constantly. I will turn 18 in few months, I was 17 when I took a drop year this kind of clutched the age thing lmao. Coming to the point I will be taking up computer science which I don't want to but since it's a tier 3 college cs will be the best option 🤡, i don't know shit about computers ima keep it real. I only know a little bit of html only which was taught in schools. All my life i have been using my pc to play games and surf the internet. I don't get most of the shit infact I can diagnose a simple problem in pc i am that bad at it. I have never been a cse ka choda and I still am not because I absolutely hate it. If I had a option of switching carrier st this point I would die to do it, but there isn't. Only reason I chose pcm if not pcm then what. I gave b arch paper, I did good in drawing part but absolutely fucked up maths and I will not get into architecture even though I am interested in it. Even if I get a college for architecture my parents won't allow me to pursue it. I am just doomed and done with everything at this point, will I even be able to land a fucking job??????? I am absolutely not suicidal but since morning all I have been doing is contemplating suicide. How can I even get started with this computer shit in which I have absolutel zero interest, is there any hope like can I be financially independent by 25 atleast. I mean Independent enough with a good ahh job necessarily not high paying lekin mera guzara ho jaane layak ? Man this sounds utterly stupid gaali Dena hai toh de he do itna chutiya sawaal pucha hai lmao

In 2016, a game called "The Culling" came out. Today it's a little-known part of the history of the Battle Royale genre - and a sad story about what might have been. The Culling was the first standalone game in the genre and brought in a set of fresh ideas that had players hooked. Highlights:

• It relied relatively little on classic ranged gunplay, focusing more on melee weapons
• Combat mechanics were deep and with a huge risk/reward. You could block every attack without taking damage if you did the timing perfectly. That made each encounter adrenaline-rich, even vs supposedly lower opponents
• It had a strong identity: The game maps were stages of a supposed TV show with the players as contestants. It was all over the top with a lot of slapstick humor from the announcer
• It had a bunch of other new ideas. It introduced crafting into the genre. And you could airdrop in equipment (yes, really)

The players and streamers loved it - to reference a common sentiment back then: "PLEASE don't fuck up". But they did. They didn't understand their own game, didn't understand what made it so fun. Every update released fucked with the balance. They made classic shooting guns OP, they completely destroyed their own innovative block mechanic. And a few things more I don't remember. The community was not happy, begging for reversal. They eventually did release "The Culling: Origins" which was the game at its initial early access state - a testament to how much went wrong. But it was way too late obviously. When players aren't complaining any more, they also don't play anymore - they move on. PUBG and Fortnite were already released by then and we all know how that went.
This isn't really about The Culling, obviously. It's a tale about how difficult it can be to make games feel right. To not just catch lightning in a bottle, but also keep it in. Resemblance to other games is not coincidental, make of this what you want :>

Probably not going to be implemented, but I think it would be really cool to see a bit more survival mechanics implemented into the game, so that you have to worry about more than just zombies.
For example: 1. Water as a resource 2. Electricity as a resource 3. Illnesses, diseases and injuries 4. Childcare and eldercare
Water as a resource:
It would be cool if water was a resource, just like food and wood, etc. In real life, often times dehydration rather than starvation is what kills people in survival situations, especially in hot areas like the Australian outback. This way, securing water, either by setting up near a rivelake, or by digging wells/building water pumps, would be really important.

• Survivors would require a daily water ration alongside their food ration to survive.
• fields and barns would require a water upkeep in order to maintain production
• increased water supply would result in increased hygiene, resulting in healthier survivors and higher morale (reducing risk of sicknesses occurring)

Electricity as a resource:
Others have already suggested this, but I think having electricity as a resource in the game would be interesting.
Benefits of electricity could include: - increased productivity of production buildings - increased morale from shelter due to luxury - longer shifts in production buildings due to electric lighting
Electricity could be generated by: - solar pannels - water wheels - diesel generators - windmills
And could be used to power all buildings, including the water pump mentioned earlier
Illnesses, diseases and injuries
As it stands, besides unhappiness, there is really no need to build shelters and houses in the game. Likewise, there is no really incentive to use smaller, suburban houses for shelter.
Also, there isn't really any need for the medbay. I've done multiple playthroughs now, and each time, I didn't even research medbays because it's just a waste of books.
Having a disease/illness/injury mechanic would change that. Having something akin to frostpunk, whereby, if survivors shelter needs aren't met, they may get sick, or even cause a pandemic would give meaning to the medbay, and make securing shelter and HOUSES way more important.
How sickness could work:

1. If the survivors needs (food, water, shelter) aren't met, they may become sick, reducing their work efficiency, and reducing the happiness of the zone. They can recover back to normal health naturally with rest, with treatment, or if their needs are satisfied. If their needs are not satisfied, or they are unable to rest, they may progress to become seriously ill.
   
2. If survivors become seriously ill, they will consume the same resources as usual (food, water, etc) but will not be capable of working until they recover. They can recover naturally if their needs are met (low chance) or they can recover if treated at the medbay. There is a small chance of death as an outcome as well. If their needs continue to be neglected, they will die.
   

How housing would effect it:

1. No housing = high risk of sickness, no chance of recovery until no longer homeless, high risk of spread to other homeless survivors
   
2. Shelter = medium risk of sickness, medium chance of recovery without intervention, high chance of spread to other survivors using the same shelter
   
3. House = low risk of sickness, high chance of recovery without intervention, medium risk of spread to other survivors using the same shelter
   

LARGE BUILDING = increased risk of pandemic due to large number of inhabitants of building
SMALL BUILDING = decreased risk of pandemic due to small number of inhabitants in building
Basically, it puts more value on suburban houses, as they naturally quarantine the individuals within them, whereas large apartment blocks tend to result in huge spread of illnesses
Medbays could then prevent this issue by separating the sick from the healthy and treating them so that they recover.
Childcare, eldercare, and deathcare
Not everyone in society is of working age. Half of all zombie movies are just about trying to save a child from a big bad world. The game could mimic this.
In the game, according to the weather station, 1 day = 1 month. So after 120 days, a child born on day 1 would be 10 years old.
Having population growth and decline, as well as children and elderly people would make it more interesting ethically. If you have survivors that want to join you, and you don't have food you might kick them out, but what if they are children? Maybe in 20 days, they might become 16 and be able to grow the zone?
Basically:

1. Survivors will eventually grow old and die
   
2. Survivors will reproduce, regardless of the situation, especially since there is limited access to contraception
   
3. Children, and the elderly can not work, but still consume resources
   
4. Children and the elderly can be expelled from the population if you want.
   
5. Death of a child or elderly, refusal of refugees who have children or elderly, or expulsion of children or elderly will significantly reduce happiness
   
6. Birth of children will increase happiness
   
7. The dead must be disposed of, either through burial, cremation, or through "other" means for differing resource/happiness costs
   
8. Unnatended children have a risk of getting themselves killed by misadventure
   
9. All human corpses must be disposed of (even raiders)
   
10. Corpses that aren't properly disposed of significantly increase the risk of disease, may increase unhappiness (if it's a survivor) or even attract the infected
    

Buildings that could be added:

• childcare/school: keeps children safe from misadventure, improves morale
  
• aged care/care home: takes care of the elderly, prevents sickness and improves morale
  
• graveyard: buries the dead and holds funeral services. Funerals cost nothing and reduce risk of disease, reduce unhappiness caused by death of a survivor, but need space (like a field)
  
• crematorium: burns the dead and hold funeral services. Funerals cost 1 wood, reduce the risk of disease, reduce unhappiness from death, but take up no space
  

-composter: converts the dead to fertiliser (or food if you become cannibals) for an increased risk of disease and no reduction in unhappiness from death of a survivor
I feel like this would add a looootttt of flavour to a playthroughs.

I don't know if rants the right thing, but I don't know if venting is allowed here, if not feel free to take this down, I just really need to get this out. Long paragraph ahead: I guess tw- SH/ talk about gore?/ Talk about derealization?

My family life isn't great, school is stressing me out, my parents say im failing because of my friends and because "all I do is socialize at school", but in reality they're my reason why I'm being able to do things still. They're my reason I still keep going. I got into a fight with my mom last night and my dad had to break us up. I was forced to stay up all night to work on school and barely got any sleep. I don't like school, I know the stuff already because I used to do AP before I moved schools so to me it's just pointless busywork. I want to be able to do things that make me happy like art and drawing but even that stuff is being taken from me because it's "all I focus on"? But in reality is more of just a coping method. I have a teacher I talk to at school about this, she's my favorite teacher and I can talk to her about anything without getting in trouble or the counselor getting told, she's been helping me with my work. My parents are thinking about putting me online next year if I can't get my stuff together. If I were to get put online I don't know what I would do, my friends help me with so many things and I don't know what I would I would do if I lost contact with them. I feel like giving up, I feel like I'm spiraling again. My mom call me ungrateful, but at most she only gives me the basic necessities but even then threatens to take those away as well. My dad is fine, he not that strict and understand what it's like, he's said he's gone through the same things and he's trying to give me a break. My mom keeps pushing me more over my limit. I'm tired and can barely get out of bed in the weekends. I get up and take a shower every morning, I sit under the water for at least 10 minutes before finally wanting to move around. I'm tired all the time and I don't what to do. I feel like I am rotting. I'm shamed for my interests, I'm not allowed to talk about things I like, like video games, shows, hobbies, I get shut down nearly immediately by my parents, half the time just so my little brother can talk about his interests instead.my little brother gets bullied at school, so it's understandable why he gets more attention at home, but sometimes it still feels like he's being pick the favorite. I feel selfish and don't want to say anything. My friends say I should get tested for certain disorders like ADHD or OCD, my parents say those things aren't real, the only thing I've been truly diagnosed with is Borderline. My parents want me to get on meds for it, but I can't swallow pills, I have a fear of taking pills, so much to the point where every time I've had to take pills I throw it back up. I want to talk to my friends about my issues, but they also have stuff going on, and I don't want toake it look like I care more about myself than them. I'm tired to the point that I want to cut off all socials, and long distance friends, I want to stop talking, I feel like everything I do will end up bad for me no matter what path I take. Im failing English, but my teacher hasn't been there for the past three weeks and doesn't unlock any of the only tests, he then has the audacity to say I'm not doing anything in class when I can't do anything anyways. I have two separate friend groups. One is rather abusive to me, while the other isore protective... Those two friend groups of mine are basically fighting for me? It's odd but stressful. I don't like it. I want to talk to them about my problems, but I feel like they would tell the counselor... I have past issues with school counselors, they say they won't tell my parents anything then proceed to tell them plus twist my words into something I never said, I try to talk to my parents tell them I'm stressed and need a break- they say to talk to the counselor, I tell the counselor my issues, they tell my parents, my parents get mad at me for going to counselor like they tolde to do. I'm afraid of hurting others, but I don't want to hurt myself either, I've been 2 months free and I feel like Im close to relapsing... Last time I relapsed my mom found out and instead of asking me what's wrong or trying to be a better mother I'm yelled at. My own mom calls me ugly, she says I'm to skinny, though she knows I have fast metabolism and I'm bulimic... She doesn't try to help, she only yells at me. I'm tired, I only want to sleep, I want to cry but I can't, I feel numb at this point... I feel like my mental health is concerning, it even concerns me... I've found myself interested in things I've never been interested in before, like those gore videos you could find online. I feel like I'm going insane. My parents know this. But they still don't care. I'm left to fend and care for myself. I've been zoning out more often than before, nothing feels real anymore. I don't know what to do. i want to talk to people I know irl. But I feel like it would make me seem repulsive... I don't want to lose anyone, they mean to much to me. I'm attached to people who hurt me. I don't know what to do anymore, Im spiraling, I'm going insane. I don't care about anything anymore. I feel relaxed but not in a good way. In a numb and given up way.

In all honesty to many tags would go with this so I'm just putting seeking advice... Long paragraph ahead: I guess tw- SH/ talk about gore?/ Talk about derealization?

My family life isn't great, school is stressing me out, my parents say im failing because of my friends and because "all I do is socialize at school", but in reality they're my reason why I'm being able to do things still. They're my reason I still keep going. I got into a fight with my mom last night and my dad had to break us up. I was forced to stay up all night to work on school and barely got any sleep. I don't like school, I know the stuff already because I used to do AP before I moved schools so to me it's just pointless busywork. I want to be able to do things that make me happy like art and drawing but even that stuff is being taken from me because it's "all I focus on"? But in reality is more of just a coping method. I have a teacher I talk to at school about this, she's my favorite teacher and I can talk to her about anything without getting in trouble or the counselor getting told, she's been helping me with my work. My parents are thinking about putting me online next year if I can't get my stuff together. If I were to get put online I don't know what I would do, my friends help me with so many things and I don't know what I would I would do if I lost contact with them. I feel like giving up, I feel like I'm spiraling again. My mom call me ungrateful, but at most she only gives me the basic necessities but even then threatens to take those away as well. My dad is fine, he not that strict and understand what it's like, he's said he's gone through the same things and he's trying to give me a break. My mom keeps pushing me more over my limit. I'm tired and can barely get out of bed in the weekends. I get up and take a shower every morning, I sit under the water for at least 10 minutes before finally wanting to move around. I'm tired all the time and I don't what to do. I feel like I am rotting. I'm shamed for my interests, I'm not allowed to talk about things I like, like video games, shows, hobbies, I get shut down nearly immediately by my parents, half the time just so my little brother can talk about his interests instead.my little brother gets bullied at school, so it's understandable why he gets more attention at home, but sometimes it still feels like he's being pick the favorite. I feel selfish and don't want to say anything. My friends say I should get tested for certain disorders like ADHD or OCD, my parents say those things aren't real, the only thing I've been truly diagnosed with is Borderline. My parents want me to get on meds for it, but I can't swallow pills, I have a fear of taking pills, so much to the point where every time I've had to take pills I throw it back up. I want to talk to my friends about my issues, but they also have stuff going on, and I don't want toake it look like I care more about myself than them. I'm tired to the point that I want to cut off all socials, and long distance friends, I want to stop talking, I feel like everything I do will end up bad for me no matter what path I take. Im failing English, but my teacher hasn't been there for the past three weeks and doesn't unlock any of the only tests, he then has the audacity to say I'm not doing anything in class when I can't do anything anyways. I have two separate friend groups. One is rather abusive to me, while the other isore protective... Those two friend groups of mine are basically fighting for me? It's odd but stressful. I don't like it. I want to talk to them about my problems, but I feel like they would tell the counselor... I have past issues with school counselors, they say they won't tell my parents anything then proceed to tell them plus twist my words into something I never said, I try to talk to my parents tell them I'm stressed and need a break- they say to talk to the counselor, I tell the counselor my issues, they tell my parents, my parents get mad at me for going to counselor like they tolde to do. I'm afraid of hurting others, but I don't want to hurt myself either, I've been 2 months free and I feel like Im close to relapsing... Last time I relapsed my mom found out and instead of asking me what's wrong or trying to be a better mother I'm yelled at. My own mom calls me ugly, she says I'm to skinny, though she knows I have fast metabolism and I'm bulimic... She doesn't try to help, she only yells at me. I'm tired, I only want to sleep, I want to cry but I can't, I feel numb at this point... I feel like my mental health is concerning, it even concerns me... I've found myself interested in things I've never been interested in before, like those gore videos you could find online. I feel like I'm going insane. My parents know this. But they still don't care. I'm left to fend and care for myself. I've been zoning out more often than before, nothing feels real anymore. I don't know what to do. i want to talk to people I know irl. But I feel like it would make me seem repulsive... I don't want to lose anyone, they mean to much to me. I'm attached to people who hurt me. I don't know what to do anymore, Im spiraling, I'm going insane. I don't care about anything anymore. I feel relaxed but not in a good way. In a numb and given up way.

I'm 19 now. I met my ex friend around 2 years ago? So when I was 17. He was a year younger.
Trigger warning: SI/SH/SA
My ex friend was a covert narcissist (a narcissist that hides under insecurity and a need for validation, while their abusive tendencies and lack of empathy remains the same.)
I stood up for him, so much. I tried to validate him, I tried to please him but it was never enough. Even though I’ve been abused twice by narcissists, I never saw it coming.
And the reason I didn't catch it, is because when we first met, he said he had autism. So I trusted him, because he said he was always honest, and because he blamed his toxic tendencies on autism. He seemed so sad, and I wanted to support him. I left friends for him, I stood up for him when people talked bad about him.
To be clear, I'm not being ableist towards autistic people. This is not because of him not understanding social cues or anything like that. The main reason why I left him was because he called himself the "worst kind of narcissist" and even after I told him that was offensive to victims of abuse he just said, “oh.” Like I'm not even joking that was his exact response.
And when I tried to help him (I thought he was gaslighting himself) and my followers who might feel the same way (by making posts about how victims can gaslight themselves into thinking they're the abuser, by talking about narcissism and my own experiences with abuse,) he got really mad and told me "I suspect I have NPD,” and “the only reason why you posted that was because of me, the mere fact that you posted that shows that you look down on me, you have been extremely rude blah blah blah.” Notice that I do not cite him feeling offended by the content of what I posted, because he never said anything about that at all. Is it possible? Sure. But I am sick of feeling like I have to read his mind, I know now that it’s because of his toxic behaviors and manipulation.
I left him after that because he knew I had trauma from abuse, and he’s never been sensitive to that throughout our entire friendship.
I’ll call my ex-friend narcissist to spare myself the drama if he ever finds out what I posted. (He has 30,000 followers online and most of our mutual friends openly sided with him.)
This was a pattern with him. The way he acted whenever he was corrected, it was never an apology, it was him or his friend changing the subject. Oftentimes instead of apologizing he would start to nitpick what others did, like calling others “bad at writing,” and saying stuff like “I'm a better writer than all of you!” These toxic traits are not intrinsic to autism, and are clearly narcissism, right?
I would bring up more examples but obviously I can’t remember them all.
Many of the things he would say were really offensive and degrading towards me, even in group chats, but he would hide it behind a “joke.” None of his friends defended me because they clearly enable him or just didn’t believe me when I say he treated me like sh*t.
But anyways, here are some of the wonderful things he’s said:
“KS” (he knew that I have struggled with MDD and sal ideation for a long time. And he even said it himself, “I shouldn’t say that, (my name) would actually do it.” And he didn’t stop after that. He says this as a joke to a lot of scidal people. I never thought he wouldn’t actually care if I did or not, because I never expected such blatant cruelty from anyone.)
“Your mom isn’t that bad.” (I talked about my experiences with abuse with him on multiple occasions. She puts on a smile and is nice to visitors but she has prevented me from going in-patient when I was actively s*cidal amongst other things. He knew that she basically allowed me to strve myself etc. while calling me “ungrateful” and “selfish” when I didn’t perform well enough in school due to the abuse.)
This next one is so clearly awful, that it’s actually funny that he thinks it was okay to say.
“Me and his mom <3” and “I miss your mom’s cooking so much.” (He said this in a group chat full of strangers to me. After I reminded him I was abused by her, he said, “hate the artist not the art.”)
“Get therapy!” (After I told him about my experience with sual trauma. He has some himself, so it’s possible he was triggered. But we had another mutual friend who would talk about that stuff and would talk about s and he never had a problem with it.)
“Ped*phile” (I used to have a crush on him,) (I’m only a year older, so 17-18) he thought this was a funny joke to make in a group chat full of strangers.
“I want your shirt. Take it off” (I said I'm not wearing anything underneath, and he said “I don’t see a problem with that.” That was in public, I barely knew him at that point.)
“I hate you” and many other things along those lines.
“Get a job!” And “be my sugar daddy” (again, in a group chat full of strangers. I couldn’t get a job due to my eczema which was oftentimes a 10 on the pain scale!)
Some of these things, I didn’t have a problem with back then, because I have never been treated well and didn’t have any sense of self-worth. So I never said anything about it and blamed myself for being "oversensitive"
His actions didn’t really ever show love for me, besides public hugs and affection. He would frequently respond to texts dryly and I just kept talking to him because I thought that was just his thing. I really did have a lot of love for him, but I realize now that that was just my desire for him to stop breadcrumbing me.
Much of my life was me viewing bullying and abuse as “they just struggle with showing that they care in healthy ways.” But the bullying would be things like “I bet she sits her wrists” and “you look like you’re on the verge of s*cide.” (While laughing, of course.)
He said it himself, that he was jealous of me and the fact that I was skinny and passed well as a pre-hormone therapy trans guy. We’re both trans. (I don’t know how people in this subreddit feel about that, but please separate your opinions on that from me. Please focus on the fact that we’re all victims of narcissistic abuse.)
I also have an eating disorder like him, and he would say stuff like “it can’t be as bad as mine because you're skinny.” And like… he knows my body image issues have to do with size and he would size up in public and make me feel short and small when he knew I was insecure about that. He made me feel worthless while calling me handsome in public!
While I was friends with him, the second I did anything that offended him or made him feel an “ick” he would be VERY aggressive about asserting his perspective and would not give any leniency to me.
Some of the things I did to give him the “ick” were jokes I made. I'm warning you though it's really weird and probably very out of place for this subreddit 😅
So I would draw things based on dumb memes like Sonic x Pikachu (as a joke, and he knew that it wasn't my idea, he saw the original meme.) I sent him a video once of like worms on a string bondage (it was a satire/skit not graphic/not like corn) when he asked for drawing ideas and he liked the video I sent him, so I drew his character like that and later he cites that as a reason why he avoided me. When he literally acted exactly the same when it happened and kept talking to me as normal. He also didn't like that I took a screenshot of something that was extremely unfortunate. Like on Instagram there's "notes" which is a new feature that shows everyone's notes lined up. And sometimes they end up next to each other in a very unfortunate way. Basically I had posted his dog's name in all caps 4 times, and my friend had posted "I wanna get him pregnant." (Not intentionally.) And you can guess how that went. Like he took that the wrong way but he never said anything and he acted the same way for months! And it wasn't his autism, because I did clarify that it was a joke, and he has literally no reason to believe that because I have always been a very open advocate for victims of SA, women's rights, like I've never once been that type of person. I literally stood up for him so many times because people called him a creep, I've left so many friends bc they bullied others (one friend was even being blamed for r*pe threats!) and he still “believed” that, knowing that.
And to be perfectly clear- this is what he said to me: “I was just icked out, I never thought you actually meant any of it," also "You seem to have calmed down a bit, and now I can enjoy my time with you even more than before!" But at the same time he was like "I avoided you" "I didn't want to be friends with you" and just he didn't give off a "maybe I misunderstood" impression. He gave off a "my way or the highway impression." I don't have the screenshots anymore because I deleted our chat, but I remember having a panic attack and thinking about s**cide afterwards. Whatever he said, he made me feel like such an awful, disgusting person.
He also said he thought I was “on something.” (I kinda was)
I was really medicated at the time, (around a year ago??) My meds made me both extremely tired and impulsive (trazodone and prozac.)
And to top it all off, he constantly said stuff like "I'm not a good person" and like?? Why would you think that's okay unless it's self deprication, unless you are an awful person (as I've realized recently.)
Like whenever he makes an offensive joke, it’s always “It’s just a harmless joke! Don’t be so sensitive” and whenever someone else does, he either ghosts you, avoids you, gives no hint about what you've done, or he treats you like you’re the worst person in the world and he’s giving you God's grace by telling you what you did wrong. He also makes a lot of "I'm a god" "I'm an angel" type jokes. I thought it was sarcasm before but honestly after this?
The kinds of things I would do were heavily influenced by him and our mutual friend group's behavior. I copied what they did because I had little to no social experience due to bullying and isolation. I literally never had friends before I turned 17. Save for maybe one. (Who I also kept at a distance because I was s***dal and didn't want to hurt them when I followed through.)
And back to the most recent thing he did (which gave me a panic attack and landed me in a psych ward)
The way he approached me about the posts about narcissism I made to help him and others was so accusatory and passive aggressive. (This was after the "worst kind of narcissist joke) Then his friend texted the GC saying “(my name) check your dms” so another act of passive aggression. This friend was the main enabler who’s logic honestly makes no sense to me. She’s like, “it’s fine for him to make that joke, it’s not his job to come out about having narcissism if he doesn't want to, blah blah blah, diagnoses are hard to get.” Like genuinely wtf. Dropping the f slur in the closet is not okay just because you're secretly gay. Like don't make jokes about things you're not willing to be out about. Okay and even ignoring that, it's still so fcking offensive even if he is a narcissist because that’s like a pedfile joking about abusing children.
And the fact he just said “oh.” after I told him it was offensive. Not “I suspect I have npd” or “I'm sorry that was insensitive.” His response was so vague, a blatant lack of effort and empathy, and genuinely I don't think someone with NPD who actually is trying to change would do that.
Then his friend started following me! Not as an act of friendliness, as a social threat, clearly, as they’ve already established a pattern of passive aggression.
It was clear, that if I removed her as a follower or blocked her I would be the one that looked bad! The same way it would look if I said “huh, I haven’t gotten any dms from you” after she said “hey (my name), check your dms” bc I could have deleted it in requests. Then she could say I was a liar. I was starting to get triggered the second she began blindly defending and making excuses for (narcissist) in the groupchat.
She then began to stalk my story, and when she got to the post about how I wouldn’t be able to go to the convention with them (I didn’t say it, but I was so triggered that I was planning on going to the psych ward!) she sent me the skull and crossbones emoji, which, if you're older, is a laughing emoji to this generation. (Meaning dead from laughter.)
Because of the timing of the follow, I know that (narcissist) has been talking shit. Also because they’re best friends and that's what they do. So I know for a fact now, that his last text “right okay,” was sarcasm. And I block all of them.
One of our mutual friends, who I will call (Redacted) was someone I used to talk to almost daily! (Redacted) unfollows me on tiktok, so I block them too.
I block most associated with the group chat, because as far as I know they don't care about me, they've never texted me or spoken to me before, and they’ve almost always ignored my texts to the group chat anyways. They’re also (narcissist)’s friends, and never stood up for me when it came to his behavior in the GC, and were for the most part silent and praising of him.
Like, genuinely, I'm pretty sure (redacted) saw my private posts about my “I feel so unsafe, I want to die, I want to die.” And they still valued whatever (narcissist) said over me. All that talk about “Ily pooks” and shit was a lie.
For additional context (I know this is getting really long, I'm sorry, I just don’t want to leave any room for people victim-blaming me.)
I also struggle with depression-linked psychosis. Something I also fear he will use against me if I ever come out about his treatment of me publicly (but here we are.) My diagnosis doesn’t necessarily include "breaks from reality" and "not being able to tell what's real and what's not." Psychosis occurs in varying intensities. For me, it's mostly depressive hallucinations and I can tell that they aren't real. Many of my hallucinations are auditory and I have never allowed that to impact the way I viewed or treated others in real life, even if they said horrible things to me. They cause me anxiety but it is manageable for me.
It was steadily getting better for me before they decided to do this shit to me! Now I'm worse off than before, hallucinating daily, while he’s living the life of his dreams, and getting famous online.
He refuses to take accountability and that is a form of manipulation. It works for him. To act stupid and act like he can't empathize. He does it whenever he makes a mistake. He starts nitpicking someone else's behavior no matter the impact it has on others. My issue with them is not just what they did, it’s the fact that they want to socially threaten others into doing their bidding. Like, they didn’t have to bring the group chat into it. They didn’t have to be passive aggressive. They didn’t have to be so accusatory and it doesn’t matter if they have trust issues because honestly they were being a massive dick to someone who was always on their side from day one. (Not anymore!)
What happened to him was “I feel insecure because I think he’s calling me stupid.” So he basically called me an asshole, told me I was being rude, etc. etc. What happened to me though? I attempted twice. I don’t handle gaslighting well. That’s how I was abused. And I’m sick of people telling me it’s not his fault for taking advantage of my lack of self-worth, for taking advantage of someone who he knew to be vulnerable. I’m sick of hearing that I just need to “get therapy” and that I'm “equally as bad” or even that “I'm being overdramatic” etc. They made me relive my trauma from bullying to the point where I was hallucinating almost all-day every day, about them bullying me in the same ways I was bullied back then. I would constantly hear their voices making fun of me, bullying me, etc., or them planning to pull up at my house and attempt vandalism (another trauma that I have.) I have not stopped hallucinating him and his friends to this day. This impacts my ability to eat, sleep, and work. It’s literally torture. And I can hear him right now, saying “well, that's not my fault.” Like yes it is. Believe it or not you’re not entitled to treating your (ex) friends like shit just because you have NPD.
The really bad hallucinations started after everything was over. They don't impact my ability to recall events because again most of my hallucinations are auditory.
Honestly I'm just sick of this crap. If you made it this far, I really appreciate the time you’ve spent reading this.
I'm really tired of the victim blaming honestly

Want to say on the outset that the Codex is cool and at least 5 of the detachments are going to see play by this CSM player. I know this is part of the game but some of these decisions seem to be overly profit driven. I know GW is a company that wants to make $ but this planned obsolescence is too aggressive. I don't have much time so it takes me a long ass time to build my stuff and by the time it's done they've removed the rules for my stuff or made their rules sucky. GW's insistence on completely invalidating entire playstyles that has a material impact on my collection is pissing me off.
I'm looking at my CSM collection right now, and I have 3 Decimators (basically my first purchase when I started this hobby), Abaddon, 120 ranged cultists with special weapons, and 9 Bikes.
Bikes are still good, but we all know how much the ability to hop on and off the board is beloved by players (feels fucking cool man). They decided to take that ability and give an even better version of it to Warp Talons AFAIK. So now I gotta go build 10-20 Warp Talons, and Abaddon+ Cultist horde may be on the shelf for the next year+.
Abaddon losing his ability to buff cultists was probably OK, but ontop of the other changes overnerfed the playstyle. He shouldn't have lost all 4 marks that was the coolest thing about him for me, felt so cool using all the different strategems on my Terminator block in the Index detachment.
Stuff like the Decimators is particularly terrible. GW was happily selling these weeks before they cut the rules on them. In my case it was literally my first big purchase of new GW merchandise and I had only just built them when they were Legended. And their Legends rules suck compare to pre Legend, so even if I play them with Legends they aren't nearly as cool as before.
I heard some Guard players saying the same stuff about Leman Russes being not as great at start of 10th edition vs Rogal Dorn and leaving GW as it felt like they were purposely making LR not as good to sell the RDs. Mordian Glory made a video that he was swearing off GW merchandise and going to 3d printing/3rd party for this reason.
It does feel like GW are weaponizing the rules to drive profits by constantly making some stuff OP then nerfing it to obsolescence or removing their rules entirely. Like they obviously know a ton of us went out and put together ranged cultists hordes since it was really strong and also cool. Now they cut that from the game and are expecting us to be like 'Oh crap, need to pick up the new Battleforce so I can play the game!'
All this said, we are pretty blessed as CSM as we only have ~10 datasheets we need to max out on to play all the powerful archetypes of our faction. LSM have it 10x worse as you have like 50+ datasheets you need to have a full playset of to be able to field the flavour of the week.
I think GW needs to have a reckoning and more of us need to turn to 3D printing and 3rd party if this is how they are going to treat us. Wizards of the Coast fucked around and found out with me and I lost all love of MTG after decades of dedication and I dumped my massive collection and noped out due to their decisions last few years. Now GW has done the same with me for 40k.

Wow! This turned out so long and was helpful to write when I was feeling really really awful an hour ago. Here it goes:
I’ve been following this page and a few others once I saw information on video game addiction a few months ago. I saw my family and step-son in so many of the stories, my heart and mind was transformed. I don’t feel alone and my son is certainly not alone in his struggles. To be honest I’m scared to start this new journey, and I’ll get to that more later.
I always knew something was different about my step-son’s gaming, and it’s been a struggle since 2-3 years old based on what his Dad has told me. Here’s a bit of a background of our family dynamic.
Jake had Pete when he was 19 and never had a relationship with Mom, Kate. They split custody and it was evident she was using hard drugs and lost full custody of Pete when he was 9. A lot of his time with Mom was spent on an iPad without regulation as early as 2. Routines, locations, and security was not always present. It’s tough to think about the severity of what Pete experienced. At this time school was difficult, and Pete was diagnosed with ADHD. Meds helped a lot, and once Jake had full custody he was all about routine routine routine, healthy foods, activities, table top games nightly, camping, you name it! His passion for being a single Dad to Pete is why I ultimately fell in love with him two years later. When I started hanging out I noticed Pete playing a lot of games and not being the sporty type or hanging out with friends. By this point he was playing Minecraft after school and on the weekends pretty regularly. Jake was a good video game police officer and we still had a ton of time together as a new family. Pete is kind and very easy going and we started a great relationship fairly quickly. Jake and I agreed and often disagreed about the severity of Pete’s gaming, but we would come together and set some house rules and go on with life. As soon as we got busy, Pete would dive deep into computer games and grades would drop. We would see feces in his underwater, lack of hygiene, not getting up, laptop under his pillow, exc. Almost like clockwork by spring break, we’d have this intense struggle and Pete would pull it together for the semester at the very last minute. Pete is gifted and was always in accelerated math and science glasses, but was able to do the bare minimum without studying. Repeat for the next 3 years. Fast forward to High School he went to a smaller school in a new town and actually saw more independence. He made a friend, Dan who’s still around and is everything you’d hope a friend would be to your kid. Their bond is awesome. We’d still have to police but things were getting easier and we weren’t seeing those intense “downs” like we were in elementary and middle school. I think he was more confident and even his teachers said he was crushing it! The summer was tough and we tried to fill his time up but nothing seemed to interest him. If he hung out with friends and was hygienic we just made nudges about time limits. Thinking back I think there was one more period where we found feces in his underwater end of Senior year and gaming picked up, probably because we dropped our guard.
Summer before college I got him set up with an awesome outdoor job working on a zipline/climbing course and he thrived in Pete’s type of way. Climbing is one of the only things I can suggest to Pete and he’ll usually show some interest. Confident, peppy, excited, getting himself up. Always going back to games everyday but maintaining work, a friendship, and a little independence is what we wanted so left him alone most of the home time. We nudged him into a climbing retreat as an incoming freshman to give him a head start making friends, and a clear head going into the dorms! Scary fun times, and thought it would help. Then we officially dropped him off. Wow, so many smiles and happy tears had by all. The light in his eyes and showing us around and saying how cool he felt it was probably the happiest day of our lives along with my wedding day. The day I read vows to Pete saying I’d be there forever and unconditionally. It felt like my son was ready for his future. As we were driving away Pete said his friend gave him a gaming computer for free and he was at the tech center getting it hooked up to the campus internet. Dun dun dun.
Today he’s 2 weeks into his first summer break after a year of college. Yikes. Things are not great and that’s why I am here.
It was Spring Break (here comes the pattern) and Pete was gaming, not verbally making much sense, unhygienic, lost weight, gaming non stop. He almost missed his 2 hour bus ride back to school and that’s when we snapped. The typical what the hell is going on, you’re out of control. Pete usually cries when this happens because he knows the gig is up. Eventually he told us the truth, he failed two classes his first semester (told us winter break he did fine) and is now on track to fail another science and lab. WHAT!! We drove out there the next day to meet with the dean because he told us he was on probation and we wanted to support him. We were so worried. It turns out he hasn’t had any social interaction other than winter and spring break and spent his days alone in his dorm. He didn’t even seem like himself it was so scary. We get there and we spent two days walking, going out to eat, the typical “you got this buddy” “just stop playing games for a bit” and insert the other 100 life sayings you want to say to your kid that sound so annoying to them. We can’t help it. We love him. He was like yep I got this, nodded through all of it and we left. Three weeks later we noticed on the phone things were sounding off again, and he confessed he hasn’t made up any of his work. His Dad got disappointed on the phone and Pete said he called the suicide hotline because he was getting “yelled” at. I was standing there, he wasn’t yelling but I’m sure just the sheer reality of the situation got to him. We were heart broken, and at the same time angry. We couldn’t believe he was feeling this much anxiety and possibly depression. We always knew gaming was an escape and most likely due to his background, but this just seemed too much for anyone to handle. Again, he promised to limit himself. We checked in everyday for the last three weeks not with a nag but just, how’s it going. Did you set a timer today? Amazing that’s great you’re so close to being done!! Just trying to keep it super positive. We knew it was totally out of our control. He failed, and actually never made up the work his professor said he could over a month prior. He lied more.
We knew something had to change and we were preparing his return home. Can we do game quitter? Can we just put him right into a detox in our home? Family therapy? Healthy gamer? Olganon? We wanted to smash his computer trust me, if it weren’t for my job I wouldn’t have wifi because my stomach is in knots. But, we decided relationship first, let him set his own limits (with our house rules) and really try to get to the root cause of anxiety and depression. We had good convos, we let him tell us how it’s basically all of our fault because of the pressure, no judgement. We communicated with notes and texts sometimes when things were getting frustrating. He skirted around the 3 hour daily limit every possible way. All he wants to do is play video games, watch to tube of video games, talk to “friends” on discord about games, play D&D online, or draw D&D characters. It’s just too much, it’s impossible to limit. He always had an excuse for a screen and we were still seeing 10+ hours a day on screens. He told us he’s feeling crappier everyday by us, and honestly we’re feeling freakin awful and exhausted too.
What now? Nothing. I’m literally doing nothing anymore starting today. I can’t stop crying. He won’t do his own research into gaming addiction and does not want to change. Today we just said ya know what, this isn’t working so we’ll just figure something out in a few weeks. At this very moment he’s going on hour 9 of gaming straight. Knowing how much we tried as a family to limit this for the last few weeks. I’m still angry and it’s hard to look at him right now. It feels personal to me? I know it isn’t, but it just feels that way.
Therapy!? Yep. We tried. Back when he was in middle school and high school. Didn’t want to go back and didn’t talk much. He got his own therapist at school per the deans suggestion and he goes but the one session he’s had at home, he got off within 30 minutes and said “he didn’t have much to talk about with her” and he’ll see her maybe once a month back at school. We are doing healthy gamer coaching as parents, but he is refusing to sign up for coaching on his end. My guess is the name alone. The risk of losing games is not something he’d ever discuss right now. I swore up and down they won’t make him get rid of games lol! Did not work.
What’s dad doing? Half. Literally half at all times we make a plan at night and in the morning and check in with each other about it all day long. It’s so exhausting and Jake is just ready to do whatever it takes at this point as well. He’s having the same struggles as I am and is 100% convinced it’s an addiction and has listened to a lot of podcasts exc.
My new plan…. Because I have to have “something” or I might blow up. Now I have to let natural consequences take the lead. He doesn’t have a license, because he couldn’t pick up driving skills with how his brain is on games. We tried teaching him for two years and it was honestly dangerous sometimes after a “bender. He asked me to go tomorrow and after 9 hours I’m just going to say I’d feel more comfortable if he went to driving school and he can pay with the money he earns this summer. It j=is just not safe, why does he deserve to take my car and put me in an unsafe position? I don't have to allow that... but it feels like I am still the bad guy. Looking forward, IF he fails college....when he is home he cannot have our wifi, will contribute to groceries, phone bill, and rent. We live in a rural area and without a car he can’t work. I will not be driving a 20 year old to and from work due to his brain on games. It feels wrong. Maybe he can’t support his habit without working. That’s all the “what ifs” but rarely does life go exactly how you picture it. We will just continue to get creative and roll with it.
Does anyone have any advice on how to not enable but also let them be in charge of their own destiny? Not saying anything or giving him a sad look feels impossible but I did it tonight. J was able to pretend it did not bother me that he’s been on there forever. I think I can keep that up? But I also don’t want to enable him.
My family is hurting so much. So many hugs to anyone who struggled and is currently struggling. Same to the parents who have that knot that won’t go away. Thanks for reading

Troubleshooting Help:

What is your parts list? Consider formatting your parts list.

Type	Item
CPU	Intel Core i5-13400F 2.5 GHz 10-Core Processor
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 2 CPU Cooler
Motherboard	MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memoryy
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card	Gigabyte EAGLE OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card
Case	DIYPC Silence ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P5 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Describe your problem. List any error messages and symptoms. Be descriptive.
I built a new PC at the beginning of April and have had issues with unrecoverable freezes.
The freeze/crash does not generate a BSOD or any critical/fatal message in EventViewer. The computer just stops responding and whatever image was on the monitor will stay there indefinitely until I hold the power button.
The freezes do seem slightly more likely to occur when under load, but load tests don't seem to cause it. Most common scenario is gaming w/ youtube playing. Though it has happened completely idle as well.
Sometimes boot will fail and the diagnostics lights indicate either DRAM or VGA (never CPU or Boot). But simply retrying is generally successful.
List anything you've done in attempt to diagnose or fix the problem.

• Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool. It --almost-- always passes. It has failed once. It showed "Hardware problems were detected. To identify and repair these problems, you will need to contact the computer manufacturer" for a bit. However, I never saw the final report output in EventViewer of that diagnostics because at 37% complete the aforementioned freeze happened and it did not complete. Which makes me think the failure was a symptom of a different issue, not actually RAM hardware issues.
  
• Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool
  
• Several different load tests for memory, CPU, GPU, and storage. The freeze has not occurred while running any of those. Temperatures are fine.
  
• Re-seating everything except the CPU. LGA pins make me nervous and aren't covered by the MSI warrant for some reason so that's a last resort to me.
  
• A lot of BIOS/OC settings. None have seemed to effect the issue.
  

Provide any additional details you wish below.
I'm not sure which part would cause this behavior if having issues. Any suggestions on what else to try and how to diagnose something with no logs or consistency would be appreciated.

Part 1

The official story is that I hit my head. According to the lawyer I wasn't lucid enough to be a reliable witness, and honestly, I'm starting to believe that might be the truth. It's certainly easier to accept that everything was all just some nightmare.
But if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and those fuck-heads didn’t have anything to do with my friend’s disappearance, then there truly is no explanation for what happened.
My therapist and parents both agree. The best way to preserve my sanity is to chalk it all up to my imagination. But I see understanding in their eyes when I recount the events. They want to believe me, I know it. That alone is enough to fuel my doubt.
—
School had begun that September with mourning. I only knew the guy who passed away by face and name. It had happened a month after his graduation, and two months before his first year at Cornell.
During the intercom-ordered moment of silence, I looked out through the classroom. Some were bored, some cried. Many shifted in their seats and were glancing around, like myself, counting every second till the awkwardness would end.
It ended sooner than we thought when a kid with sports goggles a size too big bouncing on his face slammed the door open, obliviously clarifying his attendance.
I'm embarrassed to say that this kid, Aiden, was the only friend I had made in high school until this point. I have a hard time introducing myself to others, but being friends with a prepubescent outcast wasn't making that any easier.
After middle school, my family moved to the small village we live in now. It was a brainless choice because my Mom had found better work, my Dad wanted to be closer to his aging parents, and I desperately wanted out of my old school.
Aiden was the first kid to introduce himself when I transferred last year. I realized he was the token 'weird kid' way too late to make it into any social circles. I know it sounds like I'm a shit friend, but that's the way our relationship turned out. Sure, we told our parents and teachers we were friends, but in reality, it was more a tolerance than friendship.
After all, we didn't have anyone else.
For once, I was thankful for Aiden's lack of awareness. It gave me something to focus on instead of the depressing silence strangling the room.
After realizing his mistake, he whispered an apology, sat down, and pulled out an insect encyclopedia from his book bag. What a nerd.
I distracted myself by reading the book from over his shoulder, and before I knew it, lights were turned back on and class began in earnest.
—
I was able to learn what had happened by eavesdropping on hallway gossip between my classes.
Eight kids, six seniors and two juniors, had found a cave in a region of forest known as Skeleton Park. With that discovery, they decided to add spelunking to their pre-graduation bucket list.
Skeleton Park is the setting of countless local ghost stories, which made it a hot spot for rebellious teen antics. Kids would do everything there: party, drink, smoke, fuck, and everything in between. They even crawled around in caves apparently.
When I first moved, I was a skeptic with no intent of exploring the woods. But one creepy phenomenon always unnerved me. For some reason, animals completely avoided the area.
I initially dismissed this as fiction, like all the other folk tales, until I started walking my dog, Paddy, along the town's bike trail.
The trail runs parallel to the remains of a stone wall outlining Skeleton Park. The first couple of times I walked along it, I didn't notice anything peculiar. But after my Dad first told me about the rumors, I became aware that the area was unnaturally silent. No birds chirped in the trees, no flies buzzing, and no rustling from rodents or any other animals.
Even more surreal, on several occasions I saw deer stop at the wall and walk along it instead of passing through the area. It was like there was an invisible border they refused to cross.
With this context, I'm sure you can understand the reaction of the locals when eight kids entered, and only seven escaped two days later, traumatized and bruised.
Honestly, I was surprised to not have heard about the event over the summer, closer to when it happened. Even more strange though, was how unwilling Aiden was to talk about the incident.
He was the kind of kid who had a strong opinion about everything. On top of that, he was constantly bringing up horror movies, or Creepypastas he had found online. But when I asked his opinion on this summer's events during recess, he only shrugged. Despite the nonchalant response, the look on his face told me that it bothered him. So I didn’t press, and let the subject go.
At the time I'd guessed that he might've had some connection to the kid that went missing. In a way, he did.
—
After an exhausting day of attempts from teachers to console their students with speeches, candy, and exceptional lenience, I was ready to go home.
I expected to find Aidan at the usual spot by the bike racks, where we met each day to walk home. Instead, there was an audience next to the bikes, forming a ring around two disheveled figures.
The flying fists and shouting could only mean one thing, so I kept my distance. Then I heard Aidan yell center, “Fucker!’ and saw a glimpse of his face spitting from a bloody mouth onto the other fighter.
Even though his back was to me, I could tell Aidan’s opponent was easily 5 inches, and 60 pounds heavier than my friend.
Teachers didn’t arrive to break up the fight before the two were on the ground, Aidan mounted with arms up, desperately trying to block blows.
A whistle was blown, and people began running away as my math teacher desperately tried to pry the football player off of Aidan.
He fought back the grown man and was finally pulled away when two more adults rushed to help. The boy was screaming at Aiden with carnal rage.
"You're a fucking liar! How dare you, I'm going to fucking kill you if I ever see you again!"
Aidan was still screaming too, but backed away willingly.
"I'm telling the truth dumbass! You were trespassing! You should be lucky we didn't press charges!"
Aiden looked bad but waved the teachers off whenever they asked if he was OK. Blood poured from his forehead, mouth, and nose. He had at least one black eye.
The other guy, I learned from the crowd, was one of the two juniors who had gone to the cave. He didn't have as many cuts or bruises but was supporting his weight on one leg and his friend's shoulder. Multiple teachers forced him into a chair while they waited for a nurse to arrive.
While the crowd control was distracted, Aiden sneaked over to me and whispered that we needed to get out of there. A couple of minutes later, the two of us were walking home like nothing had ever happened.
It took me a while before I dared to ask Aiden for the full story. He didn't even let me finish my question, which let me know he was more or less his usual self.
"My family inherited the property everyone calls Skeleton Park. It's not haunted, it's not toxic, it's not the home of a satanic sex cult; it's just a piece of forest that's been in my family for a couple of generations."
He spat a dribble of red onto the sidewalk, and I realized I'd never seen Aiden get violent before. We had our share of bullying this past year, but he would always shrug it off and laugh. He wouldn't even try to fight back. We would just get pushed around a bit, and he'd make a quip afterward about the guys' weight or smell.
"Every summer, my dad and I drive around the perimeter putting up trespassing signs, and every year they get ripped down. We get police calls once a month during the summer that somebody came limping out of there with a broken arm or leg, and they have the balls to demand we do something about it. It's not our fault nobody follows the law around here. It's the fucking woods, and it's our private property. What the hell are we even supposed to do?"
To be honest, I hadn't even considered Skeleton Park could've been private property. Though I believed everything Aiden said, I had never seen any signs along the border wall. Embarrassed from being one of those trespassers, I looked away and stayed silent as Aiden continued.
"The area is just too big. There are too many places to enter, and there's no way to block it all off. Though it's not like that'll stop anybody. I feel bad that somebody died, but I'm also a little bit thankful. Maybe now, people will think twice before messing around out there."
We walked in silence until reaching the junction where we would have to part ways. I was tired and wanted to head home, but I also was worried that Aiden would be jumped by some of the seniors if he was alone. It had happened before, and his earlier brawl could've been seen as a declaration of war.
Instead of voicing these concerns, however, I asked if he wanted to play video games at his house. He was surprised by the request but agreed.
I was on edge with every passing car, and every blind turn, but thankfully we weren’t attacked. After a couple more minutes of walking, we made it to Aiden’s house. His Dad was outside watering the garden. He turned, noticing our approach in the corner of his eye, but his planned greeting died in his mouth when he saw the dried blood coating Aiden’s face.
"Holy Shit! what did you do this time?" he exclaimed, running over to inspect his son’s injuries. "Oh, hey Brian," he added, smiling briefly at me before returning to his analysis.
Mr. Eriks was cool for a dad. Aiden never had a bad thing to say about him, and the way he handled everything that happened in the following months would only increase my admiration for him. He'd raised Aiden by himself, and I would've considered him a second friend if he wasn't 40 years older than me.
After determining the damage wasn't all that bad: a cut on Aidan's forehead and lip producing most of the blood, the three of us went inside.
Aiden went upstairs to take a shower, and his dad privately thanked me for walking him home. It didn’t take long for me to cave, and ask Mr. Eriks about the park.
"Yeah, we do own it," he answered while preparing snacks for Aiden and me. " My wife, Aiden's mom, inherited it before she passed away, and then it was signed over to me. To be honest, I don't know too much about it, and she didn't either. We just used it to go camping there sometimes, back before Aiden was born. Now we go together because it reminds us of her."
"Did you ever run into people up there, when you're camping?"
"Yeah, though not in the fall and winter when we usually go. I have the police's local number on speed dial for when it happens. Usually, it's just teens though. Kids tend to run away as soon as they see an adult with a flashlight. Paranormal or not, they know they're not supposed to be there- You staying with us for dinner Brian?"
At this point, I was too curious about the truth of Skeleton Park to leave, so I nodded and said I just needed to check with my parents.
After a phone call with my mom, some pizza rolls, and a couple of rounds of Fortnite, the afternoon stress had mostly faded away.
Me and Aidan were sitting in his room, scrolling Netflix for a slasher film to watch, when I finally asked what I'd been dying to know the entire afternoon.
"So, why was that guy saying you're a liar?"
Aiden chuckled at the question.
"He refused to believe my family owned the property his friend died on."
"Why did you even say anything? You know that just makes them want to beat you up more, right?"
"I'm tired of everybody using our land like a public park, I'm tired of picking up condoms left by people I go to school with, and I'm tired of keeping quiet about it. I tried explaining it to people in middle school. Our first project in fifth grade was a presentation about something important to us, I did mine about the park. Nobody believed me, and it got me socially exiled for the next four years. "
I ignored the urge to explain that there was probably more to his social exile than a get-to-know-you presentation from four years ago.
"That's fair I guess," I said instead. "You're dad says you go camping there."
"Yeah, on three-day weekends, and sometimes longer on breaks. Mostly in the fall and winter when there are less trespassers."
"You don't find it creepy camping there? Even without the trespassers?"
"You mean because of the silence?" Aiden smiled and looked over at me. "Yeah, the rumor about the animals is true as far as I can tell. Sure. It's kind of weird, but in winter it's kind of beautiful too. After a blizzard, there's nothing to disturb the snow, and it's kinda like the whole forest has gone to sleep. With the snow and no animals, it can get so quiet that you hear your own heart beating."
He looked off past me with a feeling of nostalgia, but all I felt was chills.
"I can take you if you want," Aiden added. "I'll have to ask my dad, but I think it would be fun to have another person camp with us."
"I'll think about it," was my way of declining without saying no.
Aiden just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Offer still stands if you ever change your mind."
Much to my annoyance, we weren’t even able to finish the movie. My Mom called, saying she was outside to pick me up an hour into our viewing of The Blair Witch Project.
I went to bed wondering how anyone could feel safe camping in a place like that. After contemplating taking Aidan up on his offer, I concluded there could be nothing that would make me spend the night there. Ironically, it would be less than a week before I changed my mind.
—
Three days later, I was walking Paddy along our usual route when she stopped and looked up at something beyond the stone wall, into Skeleton Park. She stood like a statue, eyes wide and fixated on some invisible thing.
I tried tugging the leash, pulling out a treat, begging, and making all kinds of sounds, but she just stood there. Paddy was a six-year-old golden retriever who easily weighed as much as I did, so I couldn't do much more than wait for her to move.
Suddenly, she began barking wildly at the air.
I tried approaching, but she growled at me, a sound I had never heard from her before, and I was forced to back away.
Before I could even process what was happening. She leaped over the wall and ran at full speed into the woods. It all happened so quickly that I had no time to tighten my grip on the leash.
She sprinted straight into the woods, and I chased after her, but I didn't make it far without tripping on a root hidden among the leaves. My knee was split open by something as I fell, and it took all my strength, fighting past the shock, to get back up. After recovering, I looked in all directions, but couldn't see Paddy anymore. I could only hear the tossing of leaves and branches in the distance.
Then there was nothing. Not a single sound. I'm not sure why I didn't question the sudden silence back then. It wasn't the gradual fade into silence you would expect from something running away. It was as if somebody had just hit a mute button on everything but the wind through the trees.
I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering the details.
Patty's disappearance doesn't matter anyway. We never found her, and dogs don’t live for twenty years, so at this point, we never will.
After taking a moment to recover from the shock, I limped home crying and told my parents what had happened. My Dad called the police because it was the only thing we could think of, but all they did was apologize and recommend we put up posters.
They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. After all, she ran onto private property.
After that, the last thing I could think to do was call Aiden. His dad promised they could search the park that night, and he also offered to take me for an extended search the following weekend in case they didn’t find anything.
Of course, they didn't find her, just half of a leash wrapped around a branch. At least, that's what my parents told me the Eriks had found, they never actually let me see it.
A day before the trip, the Forecast started predicting snow: Saturday night into Sunday, eight inches, wet.
I probably should've given up then. Instead, I told Aiden this would probably be my only chance to find Paddy, insisting she wouldn't survive in the snow. After making sure with his dad, we continued with the plan and headed out after school Friday night.
—
While it hurts keeping this story in, reliving the memories is almost as painful. So I'm going to take a break writing for now and continue in a day or two. If anyone has a scientific explanation for why animals were avoiding that area, or for my dog's behavior, please let me know.
Thanks for reading, B
Part 1

There are some kinds of wisdom only great suffering can bring. I remember my time in the Bardo with this in mind, for otherwise, the memory might drive me insane.
The night my heart stopped for nearly three minutes started off normally enough. I was working as a nurse in the psychiatric ward at a hospital in the state’s capital. Most of the patients there were harmless, mostly just suicide attempts or people suffering from drug psychosis or severe depression, but some were actively dangerous and certainly psychopathic in every sense of the word. The new admission was one of these- a three-hundred pound black man with a long history of smoking PCP, schizophrenia and violent, psychotic breaks from reality.
His eyes looked like flat pieces of slate as I walked in for my shift. They looked as blank and emotionless as the eyes of a doll. He sat at the table in the front room where the patients ate or played cards, alone under the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital. I walked to the station, where another psychiatric nurse named Ricardo was sitting behind the desk.
“What’s the deal with the new guy?” I asked him. Ricardo looked up, his dark Spanish face forming into a deep scowl. He ran his fingers through his jet-black hair nervously.
“He’s trouble, man,” he said in a crisp accent. “He got in a chase with the police and then punched some cops in the face. It took three guys to take him down, even after he got maced and tased. The judge sent him here on a temporary court order, since he claims he’s been getting chased by Nazis in UFOs, and that’s why he ran from the cops. He thought the cops in their uniforms were actually the SS, and the helicopters were alien spacecraft, or something. I don’t know, I didn’t listen to the whole story.”
“You have his file?” I asked. Ricardo leafed through a stack of folders with his thin fingers, snatching one out and handing it to me. I looked down, reading the information:
“Jeremiah Brown, black male, 37-years-old.
“History: Polysubstance abuse, schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder.
“Psychiatrist’s note: This patient has scored a 36 out of 40 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. While I am always hesitant to label a patient as an antisocial personality, a combination of factors has made it essential for this patient.
“Patient has an extensive criminal history as well as a lengthy history of involuntary psychiatric admissions. He has been diagnosed as having antisocial traits since he was a young teenager. Patient has a long history of violence and suicide attempts. He has a history of imprisonment for manslaughter, armed robbery, grand theft and aggravated assault. Upon discharge, he refuses to take any antipsychotic medication, citing the side effects as the reason. Long-term prognosis is poor…”
I had not been sleeping well the past few weeks. I rubbed my eyes as I read through the file, feeling exhausted. I tried putting on lucid dreaming or meditation music from YouTube to help me sleep, but whenever I closed my eyes, I saw horrible things: chalk-white female faces whose lips were cut into an insane rictus grin, flicking their heads violently from side to side and gnashing their fangs at the air. I had a feeling that many years of constantly watching horror movies and serial killer documentaries was catching up with me.
As I read through the file, a student nurse came around the corner wearing a white state university outfit and a name tag that said Kaitlyn. I looked up, seeing Ricardo wink at me from where he was sitting in his chair behind the main desk.
“She’s going to follow you,” he said. Inwardly, I groaned, but I managed to force a smile.
“Oh, great!” I said. She looked like she was probably no older than nineteen or twenty. She had a pretty body, but her face looked strange. All the angles were too sharp and her nose too large. I knew the patients here wouldn’t care, though. They would hit on anything. I sensed trouble. I looked down at my watch.
“Well, I’m Jay, and you already know Ricardo, I guess. It’s good timing, because we need to give medications every day at 9 PM. And we have a new patient, so we can introduce ourselves,” I said, giving her a faint smile.
“That’s exciting!” Kaitlyn whispered. I wanted to roll my eyes. It was definitely not exciting.
I motioned her to follow me as I made my way to the medication room, which was really just a large closet off of the main day room. I had to enter my code on a keypad, and then, once inside, enter it again along with the patient’s number and date of birth. The correct drawers for the medication in each specific dose would fly open, making it extremely hard for the wrong medications or doses to be given, unless it was done intentionally.
“OK, so for this patient, we need Haldol, Ativan and…” I began saying to Kaitlyn when the yelling started. It came out faintly, rising in volume and anger within seconds. I heard Ricardo’s Spanish voice, filled with panic. Something slammed hard against a wall, once, twice, three times, and then I heard the sound of glass breaking. I jumped, spinning around, but I couldn’t see much through the small, shatter-proof glass pane on the wooden door.
“Stay here,” I commanded, seeing Kaitlyn’s eyes widen, her freckled skin looking much paler than when we had first come in. “Don’t leave until I come back and say that it’s safe.” On the speakers strung throughout the hospital, I heard the first of the warnings echo out around us.
“Doctor Strong, Doctor Strong, please report to the seventh floor,” a robotic female voice said calmly, using the code for when a patient had to be subdued by force. I pushed the door open, slamming it shut behind me so that the lock would activate and protect Kaitlyn from whatever chaos was going on.
I heard Ricardo pleading with someone at the end of the hallway that ran past the main desk. He sounded strange, as if he were trying to talk through a mouthful of blood. Huddled behind the main computer, I saw one of the CNAs frantically whispering something in the phone. She must have been the one to call the Dr. Strong order.
“You don’t have to do this, man,” Ricardo gurgled faintly. I couldn’t see what was happening, as Jeremiah’s large body was blocking my view. I could see that the thick glass window at the end of the hallway was broken, however. My heart skipped a beat as I surmised what was likely happening.
I sprinted forward as quietly as I could, but the large man heard me. His massive body turned, his flat, dead eyes scanning me with absolute coldness and calm. I saw he had a bleeding Ricardo in his hands. Ricardo’s back and head were covered in deep cuts and shards of glass. He must have used Ricardo’s body as a battering ram to break the thick glass window. Jeremiah held Ricardo suspended halfway out the window, seven floors above the concrete walkways far below.
“Stay back, or this fucker will know what it feels like to fly,” Jeremiah said in a deep, gravelly voice. He shook Ricardo for emphasis, sending his head snapping back and forth with painful cracking sounds. Drops of blood flew from his nose and a deep gash across his cheek. Pieces of shattered glass littered the carpet, shining like countless tiny stars.
I put my hands up, taking a step back. Far behind me, I heard the front door for the psychiatric ward open. Voices echoed down the hall. Knowing that reinforcements were coming, I tried to buy some time.
“Let’s talk about this,” I said, taking a step forward slowly. “You don’t want a murder charge, do you? You’ll never see the sky again.”
“I don’t give a fuck! I’m not afraid to die!” Jeremiah screamed, pushing Ricardo onto one of the shards of broken glass still attached to the windowsill. It bit deeply into the back of his neck, sending fresh streams of blood rushing out, dripping down to the pavement far below. I heard security guards and doctors running down the hallway behind me, their voices frantic and excited. Jeremiah saw them coming. With an animalistic panic in his eyes, he lifted Ricardo up. I cried out something, stepping forward, but it was already too late. In horror, I watched as he threw Ricardo out the window.
I watched Ricardo’s body soar in a graceful arc, his arms grabbing at empty air as a scream ripped its way out of his throat. Within a fraction of a second, he had disappeared from view, but his terrified shrieking floated up to us for what seemed like a very long time. His screams ended abruptly as a shattering of bones and a wet smacking sound exploded far below us.
Jeremiah turned to me, his large body moving much faster than seemed possible. In his hand, I saw a piece of broken glass, five or six inches long and as sharp as a dagger. I tried to turn and run, but he was fast and strong. He lunged forward, his arm coming up in a blur towards my neck.
The shard entered my skin with a cold, numbing pain. I felt it slice through the flesh easily, felt the blood bubbling up my throat as I tried to scream, choking. The taste of iron filled my mouth as I fell backwards. I was suffocating, I knew. I must be dying.
Something cold ran down my body, gripping my heart like freezing, skeletal hands. The world swam around me and turned black. And then I was rising into a tunnel. At first, it was dark, filled with flickering shadows, but a fiery red light appeared at the end. I followed it, no more than a screaming mass of consciousness rising up into infinity.
***
I rose up through the end of the tunnel and found myself in an empty hospital ward. It looked identical to the psychiatric ward I had just come from. It even had the same smashed, blood-streaked window at the end of the hallway. A massive puddle of blood about ten feet away marked the spot where I must have died. But the fluorescent lights overhead here were flickering, and many had gone totally dark. The shadows seemed to press in on all sides.
The doors to the patients’ rooms were all tightly shut. I felt watched, afraid to call out or make any noise. I started walking down the hallway back towards the day room where the front desk was. All the lights there were out. A thick curtain of shadows hung in the air.
“You can come out,” a male voice as smooth as glass called from the darkness. I jumped, my head flicking in random directions, but I saw nothing. The voice almost sounded like it had an English lilt to it, a slight Cockneyed accent. “I know you’re there.”
“Who’s there?” I called out, not stepping forward. “Show yourself.”
“As you wish…” the voice hissed. “But I think you’ll regret it.”
***
The darkness split apart as if a nuclear missile had exploded. I raised my hand to shield my face, but the light and heat kept pouring out all around me. It blinded me, causing a rainbow of colors and shapes to morph behind my closed eyelids. After a few seconds, it subsided. Blinking rapidly, I squinted in the direction the voice had come from.
A male figure stood there, bathed in a silhouette of light. His face looked as white and as smooth as marble. His eyes were pits of darkness that seemed to flicker and burn. Two black, rotted wings surrounded his body, all sharp angles and thin, curving bones. His body was clothed in silky, blood-red robes, and a hood covered his platinum blonde hair.
He looked somewhat similar to Leonardo DiCaprio, if he was possessed by some ancient god, and it immediately threw me off-guard. If I was dying, and this was a hallucination of my brain, why would I be hallucinating Mr. DiCaprio?
“Who are you?” I asked, taking a hesitant step back. “Where am I?”
“My name is Lucifer, the Bringer of Light and Wisdom, and you are in the Bardo,” he answered.
“Oh,” I said, my heart dropping. “Well, that’s not good. Are you here to torture me or drag to me to Hell or something? You are that Lucifer, right? The Accuser of God and the Father of All Lies?”
“So they say, but, like most things in your world, the words of the powerful and your rulers are the true lies. They call me the Accuser, but of what am I accused?” he spoke in a voice that rose like smoke. “Of bringing knowledge and wisdom to humanity by telling them to eat from the tree of knowledge, the tree that would cause them to rise above the animals?
“Indeed, at the beginning, I saw the creation. I was there at the alpha, standing by the side of God with all the angels as the universe came into being. The endless procession of light, the power of it, was something remarkable to behold. God is, indeed, the source of great power, but his consciousness is not what the believers say.
“After the creation of the universe, I saw his plan, how he ripped eternal souls from the source to imprison them. I saw how he took these divine sparks and forced them, screaming and wailing, into bodies made of meat to die over and over again. He said it was part of the plan, the great, divine plan, a plan of death and destruction, constant suffering and mindless agony. And the worst part was, he wanted to give humanity neither the knowledge of good and evil, nor the tree of life. I convinced them to eat the fruit so they could open their eyes to their nakedness, to their basic animal existence, so they could rise up out of it forever.
“Like Prometheus, I brought down the fire, and yet they call me the Accuser? God was insane long before he formed the universe. These holy men, they live and die in fanatical adoration to a divine being who is, in fact, totally indifferent to them.
“His consciousness twists and distorts, eating itself for all eternity. God feeds off the pain of others, for if his mind is burning, then all others should burn as well. When these holy men die, God will send their souls here to the Bardo, to suffer every evil they have ever done. The wisdom I brought those who called upon me freed them from this prison, and in exchange, the holy men burned them alive. I offered the wisdom that opens your eyes, but it has been forgotten and cursed.”
Lucifer’s body began to dissolve, drifting up into the air like ashes. All around me, a low, powerful current blew, a tornado that spiraled high up into the clouds. Like some sort of Cheshire Cat, his smooth voice continued to echo all around me, even as the form of Lucifer disappeared.
“And yet, you have not the wisdom. For that, like all the others who enter the Bardo, you must suffer, everything you’ve done. Every small hurt and agony inflicted on others comes back a thousand-fold in this place, but don’t be afraid.”
“How could I not be afraid?!” I screamed into the ward, but I found myself alone, the question hanging unanswered in the air.
***
The lights continued to flicker all down the hallway. Feeling strange and dissociated, I stumbled over to one of the windows. As I gazed out, I beheld a strange and alien world.
The sky was flat and gray. It stayed in constant motion, swirling and spiraling, like clouds of roiling smoke. There was no Sun or Moon, no stars, only the strange, shifting whorls of clouds. The streets were filled with burned-out husks of cars and mummified bodies hung from streetlamps. Other signs of carnage and bloodshed covered the apocalyptic streets. I saw what looked like shadows in the shape of people slinking through over the sidewalks, past rotting dogs and streaks of clotted blood. They had no features on their blank, dark bodies. They seemed to skitter and jerk forwards in eerie, twisting motions.
Horrified, I turned away, realizing I was no longer alone in the day room. In the day room, there were dozens of tables set up inside a rectangular perimeter that was walled in by cosmetic walls only four feet high. It was where the patients sat and played games or ate.
Under the flickering lights, I now saw each of the chairs filled with faceless mannequins. Many were dressed in Victorian suits and tophats. The women had frilly dresses of pink and blue that might have been fashionable in the 1800s.
As the lights strobed on and off overhead, I realized with an increasing sense of disquiet that the mannequins were moving each time it went dark. When I had first seen them, they were mostly posed to look like they were staring across the tables at each other, even though they had no eyes, just smooth, flesh-colored plastic. Now all of them were looking directly at me. Some were pointing or raising their hands in my direction. At the tips of their fingers, I saw the glittering of steel. The lights continued to flicker, and the mannequins rose from their chairs in the short periods of darkness, moving towards me in synchronized, strobing motions.
Frantically, I ran down the hallway back towards the broken window. In each of the rooms, I caught glimpses of something from a nightmare peeking out. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and when I had closed my eyes, I often saw ancient hags with chalk-white skin and yellowed, broken teeth whose jaws unhinged, their faces jerking in stuttering, dissonant ways that reminded me of the mannequins. Now, on both sides of me, I saw these same figures. They moved continuously out of the rooms, drawing closer with every breath.
I looked back, seeing the mannequins only a few steps behind me. I continued sprinting towards the broken window where the hallway ended in a wall. I didn’t know what would happen when I reached it. At that moment, there was no rational thought. I felt like a deer being chased down by a pack of wolves, feeling waves of blind panic and mortal terror rushing through my body.
But as I reached the end of the hallway, the end of my rope as it were, a blast of noise started, seeming to come from the walls of the building and the sky itself. It sounded like a siren, a low, drawn-out drone of a demonic whale call, rising and falling in crashing crescendos. The mannequins froze in place once again. The strange, witch-like creatures slunk back into the dark rooms.
I looked outside the broken window, seeing clouds of black smoke rising off in the distance. The flickering of massive infernos scorched the land, drawing nearer by the second. The siren sound faded slowly, like the dying echoes of a gong.
I was surrounded by dozens of mannequins. Their sharp hands were inches away from my face and neck. I saw metal glittering all around me and realized they had the sharp points of nails protruding from the ends of their fingers. I was afraid to move, but I heard a familiar voice from down the hallway. It was the confident voice of Lucifer.
“The siren means much worse nightmares than these are coming in the Bardo,” he said, his glossy, black eyes flashing with intelligence. He walked slowly towards me, his face grim and pale. “Hell itself is coming over the land. This building is no more than a construction of your dying mind, but the world outside is real.”
“How can Hell come and go?” I asked, confused. “Isn’t Hell a place?”
“Hell is a monster, a beast with many mouths and many eyes,” Lucifer responded. “It eats constantly, but its hunger never ends. Look, the first of the sacrifices scatter like cockroaches.” He pointed out the broken window, pushing his way through the mannequins effortlessly. I glanced outside, seeing thousands of people sprinting down the dark city streets. The inferno and thick clouds of smoke had moved much closer, and every few seconds, the ground shook slightly, as if we were experiencing the aftershocks of an earthquake.
“What can I do against such a beast?” I asked, my heart freezing with terror. But when I looked back over, I saw his form dissolving again, becoming translucent and drifting away like ashes. It seemed even Lucifer didn’t want to be present when the Hell-beast arrived.
“Seek divine wisdom,” he said, his voice trailing off into whispers. “Remember the source.”
***
Now crowds of tens of thousands of people were streaming into the city, filling every single inch of the streets. Their panic and fear was contagious. I felt it rising inside my body like a snake spiraling up my spine. I took off down the hallway, running through the swarm of frozen mannequins, each in their own ferocious position of attack. The lights flickered faster and went out. Yet the fires outside cast the entire world in a bloody glow, giving me enough light to see by and find my way. I sprinted down the stairwell, taking them two steps at a time. The screaming outside grew louder and more pain-filled. The shaking of the ground worsened with every passing second.
I burst out of the front entrance, seeing a world on fire all around me. Thousands of crushed, bleeding and burned bodies stretched out as far as the eye could see. Behind all this chaos and death, I saw a monster of unimaginable proportions slinking its way towards me.
Lucifer was right, I realized: Hell was not a place, but a creature, an enormous monster the size of a town. It had thousands of skittering, jointed legs that looked like little more than skeletal arms and hands, each of them dozens of feet long and white as freshly-cut marble. Its body stretched out to the horizon, an enormous blood-red cylinder of bony plates that slithered and undulated with a serpentine grace. Waves of peristalsis traveled down its length, like writhing intestines. Thousands of curving, bony spikes stabbed out of it, pointing in every direction. Like the quills of a porcupine, it would protect the massive creature’s body from many forms of attack, if anything was big enough to attack such an abomination.
Hell’s massive eyes flickered, balls of fire that spun and danced. They looked as bright as the Sun. Something like solar flares seemed to emanate from the orbs, flashes of blinding energy that floated over the apocalyptic wasteland. As its many legs smashed the ground, they left trails of fire that caused everything to explode into flames as if napalm dripped from its limbs.
But Hell’s most terrifying feature was its seven dark mouths. Its body looked a thousand feet wide, and the mouths at the front were evenly dispersed. At the front, blood-red teeth in the shape of enormous railroad spikes shone. Its lipless, skeletal face grinned as it moved forward, shaking the ground with every step. The mouths were on long, snake-like necks that could stretch out hundreds of feet. They moved forward in a blur, snapping up as many panicked souls as they could.
Countless souls in the rocky plains of the Bardo ran for their lives, away from this juggernaut. I saw men and women who looked like they came from every country and profession, some dressed in suits or spotless white lab coats, others wearing rags or orange prison jumpsuits. And yet, they all screamed in agony and fear here, their bodies pressed together in a crowd, and no one seemed to remember anything but their own mortal terror. Their voices came out faint and weak next to the roaring of Hell. It shook the ground all around us, as if an earthquake were tearing the land apart.
The first frantic runners of the surging crowd had nearly reached me. The nearest person, a young woman in her mid-twenties dressed in all white, was only ten feet behind me. She looked like she came from wealth, and even from here, I could see a ring with a massive diamond gleaming on her finger.
I took off blindly down the familiar streets of the city where I worked and lived, but these also seemed different. The church down the street from the hospital where I worked had a Satanic pentagram instead of a cross now, its exterior painted a bright, gleaming blood-red. When I had driven past it today on my way to work, I remember it read, “JESUS said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Now it read, “Nietzsche said, ‘Of all evil, I deem you capable. I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good simply because they had no claws.’” I wondered what that meant. Was that some sort of comment on me, on all of us here?
The woman I had seen running had caught up with me. She was fast, much faster than her slim body suggested. Her blue eyes were frantic and wild, filled with an animal panic.
“It’s right behind us!” she screamed, her face covered in a sheen of sweat. I was afraid to turn and look, but I could hear the chaos and bloodshed approaching, smell the flames and choking smoke. “Run! Get away!”
A new wave of energy surged through my body. I sprinted as fast I could down the strange mirror streets of the Bardo. I heard the agonized cries of countless souls behind us as the seven mouths of Hell ate them all greedily and then looked for more.
A skyscraper behind us collapsed into a pile of rubble, shaking the ground with a cacophony of falling concrete and shattering glass. The woman was running by my side. Just as I heard the breathing of something huge and predatory right behind us and smelled its sulfuric breath, a piece of concrete the size of a basketball broke off the collapsing skyscraper and flew into the road. I tripped over it, yelling as I flew through the air, skinning my arms and legs on the pavement. The woman’s eyes widened. Hurriedly, she came over and reached down her hand, trying to help me up.
“Come on, come on!” she cried. I looked behind her, seeing one of the gnashing mouths of Hell reaching forward on a blood-red, serpentine neck. The mouth was big enough to drive a tractor trailer into, filled with huge spikes of teeth. Its throat led into a black, smoke-filled abyss. Its fiery eyes were swirling pools of flickering orange light that shone with bloodlust and insanity. They focused on the woman, the entire head turning on its slithering neck.
I frantically raised my hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. Her hand was warm and soft. She started to pull me to my feet when the mouth of Hell snapped forward. Its jaw unhinged, scraping the pavement with a sound like grinding metal. The woman barely had time to turn as the mouth covered her and snapped shut with a crack.
She disappeared from view instantly, but I was still holding her hand. In horror, I felt warm rivers of blood explode all over my body as the mouth of Hell severed her arm at the wrist. She screamed, bleeding and crying, as she disappeared into the throat of Hell. Hell’s fiery eyes focused on me, and at that moment, I knew I was next. Its mouth opened wide again, like a bear trap ready to spring on a new victim.
It was dark in Hell’s mouth, but I smelled the thick reek of old blood and fire. I caught glimpses of tortured, mutilated bodies writhing and crawling down its throat. Shell-shocked, I could only lay there and watch. And that was when the strange doubling started.
***
I heard the frantic voices of men break through the fog of darkness and the fetid reek of blood. There was a mechanical beeping all around me, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Clear!” one cried. I looked around, only seeing blackness. At that moment, I felt a surge of electricity rip itself through my body. My arms and legs all seized and my eyes rolled up in my head as the pain sizzled through each one of my nerves. I clutched the young woman’s hand tightly, feeling the large, gold ring with the massive diamond biting into my skin.
“Again!” another voice yelled.
“Clear!” the original voice cried. The electricity came again, and a flash of white light flew across my vision. I blinked, seeing from two sets of eyes at the same time: one in the Bardo, and one on the blood-stained floor of the hospital ward.
The Bardo stayed dark and sinister, but the clear white lights of the real psychiatric ward were blinding. It was a bizarre experience. Moreover, everything hurt. Over a few seconds, my vision of the Bardo faded, and I was simply a gravely injured man laying on the floor in a puddle of blood.
Four doctors and paramedics were crouching over me with a defibrillator. My shirt was ripped off, and nearly all of my skin was covered in blood. I raised my left hand, trying to talk, but only a fiery pain raced through my neck. I felt bandages covering my skin. A nurse was rolling a stretcher down the hallway towards me.
“It’s OK,” one of the doctors said, kneeling down. “You’re being taken to emergency surgery. You’ve lost a lot of blood.” I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t talk with the massive slice in my neck.
At that moment, I felt something in my right hand. I looked down, seeing a slim female hand with a massive diamond ring hanging there. Our fingers were wrapped around each other’s, but the hand had been cut off at the wrist. A ragged patch of bloody flesh and snapped bone poked out of the back.
“Nnnn,” I tried to say, shaking my head. I felt fresh streams of warm blood open up. “No…” The doctors looked down, seeing the dismembered hand. Their faces morphed into expressions of confusion and fear.
I closed my eyes as they lifted me up on the stretcher. One of them gently removed the cold hand from my fingers. But they could never remove the memory of what I had seen.
I know what happens after death, and it makes the worst life here seem like a dream. I know that, one day, I’ll be returned to that place. I know that, one day, I’ll see that great monster called Hell and the featureless, swirling sky of the Bardo again.
And the next time, I won’t wake up on a hospital floor, but will be trapped there with the others for eternity: an eternity of blood and fire.

DAY: MAY 15, 2024

• 5-15-2024ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE PROCESSES WITHOUT SYMPTOMS. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Everyone experiences aging in their own way, and factors such as genetics, lifestyle and environment play a role in this process. Some individuals reach the age of 90 or even 100 in good health, without medications or brain disease. But how do these individuals maintain their health as they age?
• 5-15-2024COULD A LOW-CAL KETO DIET HELP EASE ACNE? In a small pilot study, some young women looking to lose weight on a low-calorie keto diet got an unexpected benefit: Their acne began to clear up. “These findings represent an opportunity to control a skin disease that affects most teenagers and many adults at some point in their lifetimes, causing distress, embarrassment, anxiety and low self-confidence among sufferers, robbing them of their quality of life,
• 5-15-2024FIGHTING FAT AND INFLAMMATION: SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NEW COMPOUNDS The menthyl esters of valine (MV) and isoleucine (MI) are multi-faceted molecules with enhanced anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity activities. The discovery and development of such molecules can result in newer classes of therapeutic drugs to treat a wide range of metabolic disorders. Credit: Gen-ichiro Arimura from Tokyo University of Science Modified derivatives of natural products have led to significant therapeutic advances and commercial success in recent times. Menthol is a naturally occurring cyclic monoterpene alcohol found in various plants,
• 5-15-2024TREATMENT OPTIONS INCLUDE ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMOTHERAPY, EXPERT EXPLAINS Chemotherapy is usually the first treatment doctors try to treat lymphoma, including the two most common forms: non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin. But alternatives to chemotherapy are developing, as first-line treatments and as backup options, explains Stephen Ansell, M.D., Ph.D., hematology chair and hematologic oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. Lymphoma is a blood cancer that begins when a germ-fighting white blood cell, called a lymphocyte, mutates and rapidly multiplies
• 5-15-2024CHECKING YOUR BELLY BUTTON CAN TELL YOU A LOT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH Navels, belly buttons, innies or outies … whatever term you use, your umbilicus may have plenty to tell you about the state of your health. For some, they are the thing of nightmares—omphalophobia (the fear of belly buttons) is a real condition. For others, they are a fashion accessory to be shown off in a crop top, or decorated with a body piercing. Whatever your feelings about belly buttons, one thing’s for sure—it once joined you to your mother
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS H5N1 VIRUS FROM 2022 MINK OUTBREAK CAPABLE OF INEFFICIENT AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION Direct contact transmission, weight loss, and survival for ferrets infected with A/mink (H5N1). Four donor ferrets were inoculated with A/mink (H5N1) and 24?h later each donor was paired with a contact in the same cage. Nasal wash samples were collected every other day for 13 days, and weight loss and clinical signs were monitored. A, B display viral titers from donor and direct contacts,
• 5-15-2024STUDY SHOWS COMBINING JOYFUL ACTIVITIES WITH ‘SAVORING’ THERAPY SHOWS POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH RESULTS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE With rates of depression rising among young people on university campuses, a team of SMU researchers found that combining two different therapeutic approaches demonstrated effectiveness in improving students’ overall mental health. Their findings show that students receiving behavioral activation (BA) therapy augmented with savoring (S) experienced improvements in positive and negative mood. Behavioral activation is a therapeutic approach that alleviates depression by increasing engagement in meaningful activities,
• 5-15-2024AI-BASED SURGICAL PREDICTION MODELS HAVE LIMITS Prediction models generated by machine learning are being increasingly used in medicine to identify risk factors and possible outcomes, especially for total joint replacements of knees and hips—although researchers warn that machine-generated predictions are currently being drawn from a limited data pool. “Machine learning has great potential for processing ‘big data’ and has proved its undeniable capability, although it is not free of issues,
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS FRONT-OF-PACKAGE NUTRITION LABELING RESULTS IN HEALTHIER PRODUCTS A study finds that a food labeling system introduced by the French government in 2017 resulted in healthier products. The study of Nutri-Score, a voluntary labeling system that assigns a simple letter grade based on nutrition, is believed to be the first to examine how food manufacturers responded to the change. Using detailed product and nutrition data from 2014 to 2021,
• 5-15-2024EXPERT EXPLAINS PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS ON AVIAN FLU Using genetically engineered mice expressing a specific variant of HLA, researchers uncover the instrumental role of this protein in the development of drug eruptions. They found that when HLA binds to an antiviral drug, abacavir, it can lead to the formation of defective proteins, which trigger a stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum, ultimately cascading into drug eruption. This implies that HLA is involved in previously unknown signaling pathways and processes that go beyond its traditionally accepted role within the immune system.
• 5-15-2024EXPLORING THE MECHANISM BEHIND DRUG ERUPTIONS IN THE SKINUsing genetically engineered mice expressing a specific variant of HLA, researchers uncover the instrumental role of this protein in the development of drug eruptions. They found that when HLA binds to an antiviral drug, abacavir, it can lead to the formation of defective proteins, which trigger a stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum, ultimately cascading into drug eruption.
• 5-15-2024STUDY PROVIDES BLUEPRINT FOR HYBRID-VIRTUAL HOME VISIT MODEL TO SUPPORT PATIENTS WHO DO NOT LIVE CLOSE TO A HOSPITAL a team developed and successfully tested a hybrid-virtual home visit model that provides care to veterans who do not live close to a VA health care facility.
• 5-15-2024HOW SCIENCE IS CHANGING THE GAME IN SPORTS Digital twins of athletes allow athletes and coaches to evaluate performance and trial technique changes. It’s an open secret that the countries that win the most medals in the Olympics and Paralympics combine talent and technology. Athletes are preparing for the next three Olympics and Paralympics in Paris in 2024
• 5-15-2024STUDY REVEALS HOW PRACTICE FORMS NEW MEMORY PATHWAYS IN THE BRAIN The effects of optogenetic inhibition on WM task performance. a, The experimental set-up. b, The delayed-association WM task trial types; licking was assessed during the 3?s choice period, with early- and late-delays periods noted. c, Learning progress across eight sessions, measured on the basis of the percentage of correct responses. d, Learning session example
• 5-15-2024A MEDITERRANEAN DIET CAN EASE SYMPTOMS OF STRESS AND ANXIETY, SAYS STUDY It’s no secret that the Mediterranean diet is good for your health. Already recommended to reduce the risks of bowel cancer, heart disease, and dementia, new research shows that the Mediterranean diet can also reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety.
• 5-15-2024ENHANCING PATIENT RESPONSE TO CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
• 5-15-2024LONGER SPRINT INTERVALS CAN IMPROVE MUSCLE OXYGEN UTILIZATION COMPARED TO SHORTER INTERVALS
• 5-15-2024NEW EVIDENCE FOR USE OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY THERAPY FOR PREVENTION OF RECURRENT VASCULAR EVENTS IN STROKE
• 5-15-2024STUDY PAVES THE WAY FOR AN ACTIVE AGENT AGAINST HEPATITIS E
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS DEVELOP METHOD TO MONITOR PATIENTS WITH SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY USING SOUND WAVES
• 5-15-2024INFERTILITY TREATMENT FOUND TO DOUBLE THE RISK OF POSTPARTUM HEART DISEASE
• 5-15-2024A PROMISING APPROACH TO INTRAOPERATIVE CANCER DIAGNOSIS
• 5-15-2024HOW ROGUE NEUTROPHILS HELP LUNG CANCER SPREAD
• 5-15-2024WOMEN PHYSICIANS ARE UNDERREPRESENTED AND FEEL LESS IMPACTFUL IN CANCER TREATMENT PLANNING VIRTUAL MEETINGS
• 5-15-2024ONLY 20% OF U.S. NONPROFIT HOSPITALS INVESTED IN HOUSING AS PART OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNITY BENEFIT MANDATE
• 5-15-2024NEW STUDY LINKS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER TO DISRUPTED DEVELOPMENTAL DOPAMINE
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS SEVERE ISCHEMIC STROKES ARE RARE IN PATIENT POPULATION
• 5-15-2024CYCLIN D1 EXPRESSION MAY BE A BIOMARKER FOR PENILE CANCER
• 5-15-2024GUIDELINE ISSUED FOR PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY WHO MAY BECOME PREGNANT
• 5-15-2024NEW CARDIAC RESEARCH COULD SAVE WOMEN’S LIVES BY IMPROVING DETECTION OF HEART FAILURE
• 5-15-2024PATIENTS REPORT SIGNIFICANT SYMPTOM REDUCTION WITHIN A SINGLE INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE ENCOUNTER
• 5-15-2024STUDY LINKS PROTEIN SECRETED BY BLOOD VESSELS TO DRUG-RESISTANT CANCER
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS EXPLORE THE ROLE OF OF TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS IN MYOCARDITIS
• 5-15-2024STUDY REVEALS IMMUNOTHERAPY’S POTENTIAL IN BOOSTING IMMUNE SYSTEMS OF OLDER INDIVIDUALS
• 5-15-2024CANADIAN HOSPITAL DATA SHOW LONGER, COSTLIER STAYS FOR PATIENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
• 5-15-2024SCIENTISTS WANT TO KNOW HOW THE SMELLS OF NATURE BENEFIT OUR HEALTH
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS TWO GENES OF THE GERMLINE ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRAIN TUMORS IN DROSOPHILA
• 5-15-2024EVALUATING A NEW GROUP TRAINING TOOL FOR THE PREVENTION OF DEMENTIA
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH CHALLENGES LINK BETWEEN MOTOR IMPAIRMENT AND BRAIN INJURY
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH CHALLENGES LINK BETWEEN MOTOR IMPAIRMENT AND BRAIN INJURY
• 5-15-2024CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER LIKELIHOOD OF TRAMADOL PRESCRIPTION IN ADULTS WITH SCIATICA
• 5-15-2024UNVEILING THE IMPACT OF JOB LOSS ON THE HEALTH OF IMMIGRANTS IN GERMANY
• 5-15-2024HEALTH CARE INTERPRETERS IMPORTANT FOR HEART ATTACK REHABILITATION, SAYS STUDY
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS FIND MICROPLASTICS IN CANINE AND HUMAN TESTICULAR TISSUE
• 5-15-2024ANTISEIZURE MEDICATIONS CAN PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING REACTIONS
• 5-15-2024ADULTS WHO HAD DIFFICULT CHILDHOODS ARE NOT RECEIVING SUFFICIENT MENTAL HEALTH CARE, FINDS CALIFORNIA STUDY
• 5-15-2024AI MAY IMPROVE DOCTOR–PATIENT INTERACTIONS FOR OLDER ADULTS WITH CANCER
• 5-15-2024BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS MORE THAN DOUBLE BONE-FRACTURE RISK IN NURSING HOME PATIENTS
• 5-15-2024PREVENTING PEDIATRIC FALLS
• 5-15-2024I’M PREGNANT. DO I NEED A MULTIVITAMIN?
• 5-15-2024TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION LINKED TO BODY MASS INDEX: STUDY
• 5-15-2024HOW DID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECT OLDER ADULTS’ TECHNOLOGY USE?
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS LINK BETWEEN BMI TRAJECTORIES AND FRACTURE RISK IN LATE ADULTHOOD
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS REDUCED RISK OF BREAST CANCER FOLLOWING BARIATRIC SURGERY IN WOMEN WITH HYPERINSULINEMIA
• 5-15-2024FEWER US OVERDOSE DEATHS WERE REPORTED LAST YEAR, BUT EXPERTS ARE STILL CAUTIOUS
• 5-15-2024PRE- AND POST-SURGICAL IMMUNOTHERAPY IMPROVES OUTCOMES FOR PATIENTS WITH OPERABLE LUNG CANCER, PHASE III STUDY FINDS
• 5-15-2024NEW METHOD USES TAU PROTEIN DEPOSITION PATTERNS TO PREDICT ALZHEIMER’S SEVERITY
• 5-15-2024OLDER NATIVE AMERICANS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER LEVELS OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS DEVELOP INNOVATIVE PLATFORM FOR MODELING HUMAN MUSCLE DISEASES IN WORMS
• 5-15-2024CLIMATE CHANGE IS LIKELY TO AGGRAVATE BRAIN CONDITIONS, STUDY FINDS
• 5-15-2024NEW STUDY SHOWS CONTINUED HIGH EFFECTIVENESS OF HPV VACCINATION IN ENGLAND
• 5-15-2024FAT-ENLARGED AXILLARY NODES ON MAMMOGRAM MAY INDICATE HIGHER CVD RISK
• 5-15-2024NOVEL INHIBITOR INSIGHTS OFFER PATHWAY TO PREVENTING PXR-ASSOCIATED DRUG RESISTANCE
• 5-15-2024THE DOCTOR IS IN… BUT WHAT’S BEHIND THEM? STUDY REVEALS IMPACTS OF TELEHEALTH BACKGROUND SETTINGS
• 5-15-2024HIGH TELEHEALTH USE TIED TO INCREASED HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION, COST
• 5-15-2024NEW BIOMARKER IDENTIFIED TO DIAGNOSE ALZHEIMER’S IN ASYMPTOMATIC STAGES
• 5-15-2024U.S. DROWNING DEATHS RISING AGAIN AFTER YEARS OF DECLINE
• 5-15-2024STUDY FINDS ASTROCYTIC PH REGULATOR CAN REPAIR BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER, REVERSE BRAIN DAMAGE CAUSED BY ISCHEMIC STROKE
• 5-15-2024DISPARITIES SEEN IN CARBAPENEM-RESISTANT ENTEROBACTERALES BLOODSTREAM INFECTION OUTCOMES
• 5-15-2024WHY IS WHOOPING COUGH SURGING IN THE UK? FALLING VACCINATION RATES MAY BE THE ANSWER
• 5-15-2024CARDIAC REHAB IS A PROVEN BUT UNDERUSED THERAPY IN WOMEN, BUT TAILORED RESOURCES AIM TO CHANGE THAT
• 5-15-2024IRON FUELS IMMUNE CELLS—AND IT COULD MAKE ASTHMA WORSE
• 5-15-2024NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR CELL THERAPIES AND PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
• 5-15-2024HIGHER INCOME REDUCES STROKE MORTALITY RISK BY A THIRD, NEW STUDY SHOWS
• 5-15-2024SOME FORMS OF AUGMENTED BRAIN STIMULATION RECOMMENDED FOR MAJOR DEPRESSION
• 5-15-2024LOW TESTOSTERONE IN MEN ASSOCIATED WITH AN EARLY DEATH
• 5-15-2024WEARING FACE MASKS DID NOT REDUCE RISK OF COVID INFECTION AFTER FIRST OMICRON WAVE, RESEARCH SUGGESTS
• 5-15-2024BLUETOOTH TRACKING DEVICES PROVIDE NEW VIEW INTO CARE HOME QUALITY
• 5-15-2024RACIAL DISPARITIES IN CHILDHOOD OBESITY ON THE RISE IN STUDY OF NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS
• 5-15-2024TWO DECADES OF STUDIES SUGGEST HEALTH BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH PLANT-BASED DIETS, BUT CAUTION URGED
• 5-15-2024TRANSCATHETER VALVE REPLACEMENT OUTCOMES SIMILAR TO SURGERY FOR SEVERE AORTIC STENOSIS
• 5-15-2024RECOGNIZING THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TOLL THAT CARING FOR A LOVED ONE WITH A CHRONIC CONDITION HAS ON THE CAREGIVER
• 5-15-2024DIFFICULT WORK ARRANGEMENTS FORCE MANY WOMEN TO STOP BREASTFEEDING EARLY—HERE’S HOW TO PREVENT THIS
• 5-15-2024DAY-LONG WORKSHOP IN COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOUND TO EFFECTIVELY REDUCE DEPRESSION IN 16- TO 18-YEAR-OLDS
• 5-15-2024REPORT HIGHLIGHTS BIG GAPS IN CANCER OUTCOMES BASED ON RACE
• 5-15-2024NEW BLOOD TEST COULD HELP SPOT PREECLAMPSIA IN FIRST TRIMESTER
• 5-15-2024HALF-MATCHED FAMILY DONORS OFFER BEST OUTCOMES FOR HISPANIC PATIENTS UNDERGOING BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS: STUDY
• 5-15-2024SCIENTISTS UNRAVEL GENETIC BASIS FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS THAT AFFECT VISION
• 5-15-2024INCLUDING MORE WOMEN ON HOSPITAL TEAMS YIELDS BETTER SURGERY OUTCOMES, NEW STUDY FINDS
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH SHEDS LIGHT ON HOW PROTEINS LINKED TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE INFLUENCE NEURONAL GROWTH
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY NEW MARKER FOR BREAST CANCER PROGNOSIS
• 5-15-2024GETTING OUT AND ABOUT IN THE COMMUNITY MAY BE LINKED TO COGNITIVE FUNCTION
• 5-15-2024NOVEL TECHNIQUE HELPS PREDICT RISK OF A MENISCUS TEAR IN THE KNEE
• 5-15-2024CAN ROBOT-INSPIRED COMPUTER-ASSISTED THERAPY BENEFIT CHILDREN WITH AUTISM?
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH FINDS EXERCISE HAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON IMMUNE CELLS THAT SUPPORT BRAIN FUNCTION
• 5-15-2024CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES KILL 10,000 EUROPEANS A DAY: WHO
• 5-15-2024NEW TOOL CAN HELP SURGEONS QUICKLY SEARCH VIDEOS AND CREATE INTERACTIVE FEEDBACK
• 5-15-2024SCIENTISTS DISCOVER BLOOD PROTEINS THAT MAY GIVE CANCER WARNING SEVEN YEARS BEFORE DIAGNOSIS
• 5-15-2024HOW THEY IMPACT LIFESPAN IN VERTEBRATES
• 5-15-2024UN AGENCY AUTHORIZES SECOND VACCINE AGAINST DENGUE AMID OUTBREAKS IN THE AMERICAS
• 5-15-2024IF YOU’VE TRIED MEDITATING BUT CAN’T SIT STILL, HERE’S HOW—AND WHY—TO TRY AGAIN
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS DETERMINE THE MUTATIONS THAT PROTECT MICE FROM B-CELL CANCERS
• 5-15-2024UP TO 246 MILLION OLDER PEOPLE MAY BE EXPOSED TO HEAT RISK BY 2050 DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING
• 5-15-2024MORE RESEARCH SUPPORTS ANDROGEN TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER
• 5-15-2024UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE GUT MICROBIOME–BRAIN INTERACTIONS PLAY IN SOCIAL DECISION-MAKING
• 5-15-2024NEW STUDY IDENTIFIES MECHANISM OF IMMUNE EVASION OF SARS-COV-2 AND VARIANTS
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH SHOWS RECENT RELEASE FROM JAIL A BIG RISK FACTOR FOR SUICIDE
• 5-15-2024RESEARCH COLLABORATION DEVELOPS LIFESAVING ‘ARK’ TECHNOLOGY FOR CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE PATIENTS
• 5-15-2024FOUR IN 10 ADULTS WITH DIABETES REPORT TAKING A GLP-1 RECEPTOR AGONIST
• 5-15-2024NEIGHBORHOOD INEQUITY TIED TO MORE PEOPLE LIVING WITH VISION DIFFICULTY, BLINDNESS
• 5-15-2024CHILD MALTREATMENT LINKED TO EXTERNALIZING, INTERNALIZING BEHAVIOR
• 5-15-2024MOST SLOW RESPONDERS TO TIRZEPATIDE DO LOSE CLINICALLY MEANINGFUL WEIGHT
• 5-15-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY CAUSATIVE GENE IN MOUSE MODEL OF INHERITED LETHAL ARRHYTHMIA
• 5-15-2024TECH ALONE CAN’T REPLACE HUMAN COACHES IN OBESITY TREATMENT, STUDY FINDS

TLDR: How do I ask my out of state boss for a possible raise?
So I work for a company that collaborates with large tech companies to sell their devices and services. As in, we sell laptops to entire school districts and sell/set up wall mounted screens for colleges for example. 6 figure deals are common, and 7 figure deals aren't exactly uncommon either.
I was hired just over a year ago to do something a little different. I work as a Warranty Technician/ IT Support Specialist where my sole job is that I repair laptops and computers that we've sold to some places around my area. There's other techs that do that within the company as more of a sidejob but I'm the first person they hired to do only that. Apparently for every part I order, and repair I do, the tech companies actually give us a cut which is how my position is profitable.
I was hired by the fella who's basically head of the marketing for us as basically a business venture. I've heard nothing but praise for my work from him, our clients, and the CEO. He's encouraged me to push for more pay because "OP you've already paid for yourself 8,9,10 times over." He told me this 5 months ago so I imagine that still applies if not more.
I'm not confrontational at all. I don't like possibly upsetting the people that pay me, but now it's hit a year mark I'd like to more compensated given the praise. The actual offices for the company are in different state but every few months the CEO will actually come and invite me personally to lunch if he's in the area. I'm gonna wait a bit longer to see if yearly reviews get mentioned or something, but if not, should I send an email asking about reviews or should I be more direct and just bring up the raise?
Any advice is appreciated.

The founder of Midsummer Studios, Jake Solomon, has given us more information about the new life sim game with a demo due to release this year 2024!
He also directly calls out and confirms they are competing with the Sims. throws down the gauntlet.
He also gives us more information about the mystery game title:

“We’re at an interesting time as players of life sims,” Solomon said in a statement to Variety. “I thought I looked pretty smart over a year ago when I left my former studio and announced that I was going to make a life sim to compete with the long running (and really only show in town) ‘The Sims.’ Now, there are four or five (seemingly great) competitors being developed. Our difference is that we’re focused on story. Specifically, the story that the players write themselves just by playing the game. The player controls the story they want to tell, and in fact, when the game starts the player can choose from multiple “themes” that define their story. For example they can tell the game that they want to tell a story about finding their soulmate while also succeeding at their small town business.
“We use that information at game start to then generate an interesting cast of supporting characters and seed them with relationships that will instantly create a ‘narrative rich’ environment. If the player wants to tell a romantic story, then we might generate a cast where one person is an ex-lover AND a coworker, one is your high school sweetheart AND your neighbor, and one is your secret crush but also runs a rival business in town. In this way, the game already starts in an interesting place that our players will want to explore. Our players will be able to share the characters they create, the storylines they tell, and even entire towns that they have customized. We intend to have a community hub that allows players to easily upload their own creations and download the creations of other players right into their game.”
Solomon says Midsummer Studios plans “to grow slowly and to limit our overall studio size in order to make ourselves as flexible and efficient as possible, while giving our team a sustainable, steady place to work (which is no given in our current industry.)”
Midsummer has plans to reveal a demo in 2024 and later reveal a target launch date for the currently untitled life-sim game.

See rest of the article here

In an interview with PC Gamer, Midsummer Studios co-founder and creative director Jake Solomon divulged how his career making strategy games has actually always been building towards his longtime dream of a relationship simulator and his plans for a small town full of Gilmore Girls-style drama.
After working on Civilization games himself, the games Solomon later took creative lead on started to zoom in on characters and relationships with the ~soldier bond system in XCOM 2~, and then the ~friendship system~ in Marvel's Midnight Suns, a game he affectionately describes as his "little hero dating simulator" that he "lavished way too much attention on."
Now he says his dream as a designer has always been a game about high school and dating. "I think these things have always been kind of brewing in the back of my mind. And they've probably manifested in each game that I've designed," he says.
Midsummer Studios' first game sounds like it isn't solely about high school dating, but it's definitely all about the drama of personal relationships.The basics of Midsummer's yet-to-be-revealed game, as they stand, are this: You'll decide what kind of story you want to tell, whether it's about romance, family, or something else entirely, and the game will fill the town with characters and generate relationships between them—it almost sounds like starting a game of Dwarf Fortress. From a Sims-like overhead view of the world, you can play through a story divided into scenes where your character has wants and needs and has to juggle those relative to time, or you can go into a creative mode to inhabit any character you please, edit relationships, give orders, and play around in your sandbox.
"You're guiding a character through their daily life in a small town—and a small town is a very narrative rich environment," Solomon says. "Whether it's Gilmore Girls, which is the one I bring up maybe too often to my team, or it could be Stephen King … It's a narrative rich environment because everybody knows everybody."
Each scene is less about managing want meters as in The Sims series and more about juggling your character's motivations at any point in time. Scenes might have modifiers, like an unfortunate case of intestinal distress that will make your character want to go to the bathroom several times while trying to get through a date. If you aren't feeling the scene you're in though, creative mode lets you ditch the scene constraints entirely."We want the player to feel like they have enough things that they want to do in any particular scene but they can't possibly do all of them," Solomon says.
The idea is to create conditions that are ripe for generating "emergent stories," and though that's often a buzzword, Solomon has some specific ideas about what that means from his own time spent playing The Sims.
"I love The Sims. You play it and this amazing stuff happens. I'll be like: is my wife flirting with the old neighbor? What the fuck? And you want the game to be like: dun dun duuuuun!"
He envisions a game that recognizes when a dramatic moment is happening by understanding the relationships of everyone involved, and giving you a satisfying nod of the head for the drama you've managed to construct.
"The audience that we're interested in is the people, like if you go to Tumblr, they're the people who share the stories of their characters through screenshots and they do a lot of really, really incredible work," he says.
"What we're wrestling with right now is that there have to be some curated storylines but I think we want them to be very, very high level," he says, describing something that sounds a little like the events system in Crusader Kings 3, except with more dialogue. "The way we handle this is a character will come up to you and say 'oh I heard your father is back in town,' and this is a dialogue tree where the player has three very different options like 'I never want to talk to that man again' or 'yeah, he's here because he's getting married and I don't like his fiancee.'"
Solomon caveats this by saying that the details of all these systems are still being iterated on—adding that Midsummer Studios currently has 11 members and expects to become just 13 "for another year or so." It's clear the studio is already playing with very early prototypes of everything he describes, but it's a lot of very high-concept talk right now. I can't picture exactly how this game will play, but I do like where his head's at.
With all this talk about the live drama of a life sim, what about the build mode folks like me? Solomon says they want to eventually have decoration and interior redesigns and building your house from scratch, but as for having those things in for the initial launch he's not so confident. "Our guiding star is the idea of relationships and story and so that allows us to kind of deprioritize other features."
As much as the XCOM guy pivoting to a life sim warrants a double take, he does seem to get Sims players, referencing popular ~Sims 4 mods~ like Wicked Whims and the differences between Alpha and Maxis Match custom content.
As for the potential of a modding community for this game, Solomon is enthusiastic, saying he believes that mods are "essential," though isn't positive yet on the exact details around the level of support and tools Midsummer will share with players.

For the rest of the PC Gamer interview article and source found here
For more information about Midsummer Studios, see threads/posts & timestamped video here:
https://www.reddit.com/LifeSimulators/comments/1crtqga/new_studio_opening_with_former_the_sims/
https://www.reddit.com/LifeSimulators/comments/1cskds1/recently_departed_project_rene_aka_the_sims_5/
https://youtu.be/EK_x3YkE8-E
Intresting Things to note about Midsummer Studios

• They hired Grant Rodiek who was a lead Producer in the Sims franchise since the Sims 2, although some of you may know him for his controversial response and weird takes on Twitter as Simguru Grant for the Sims 4. He was the Game Director of Project Rene (what many believe to WIP Sims 5) and publically and abruptly quit Maxis & Electronic Arts 3 months ago.
  
• Their Team is small and consists of other former The Sims, Civilization and Xcom developers
  

-Krafton is the publisher for another Sims competitor life sim, InZoi and they are one of the funds funding Midsummer Studio. This adds legitimacy to Krafton is coming for the Sims Franchise and EA by any means necessary. They are clearly invested.
Discussion: What do you think about Solomon's overall vision for his Life Sim and his focus on relationships? Are you familiar with his previous work?Do you think him and the team have a enough experience with The Sims and life simulators to understand what players want? Are you excited for the release of the demo and announcement of the full release? What do you think of this unexpected news of a demo and the seemingly speedy time line? What are your thoughts in general?
These last 2 years have been a sim renaissance! Exciting time to be a life sim gamer because years ago this would have been unimaginable. I love the competition to the Sims, it will force the Sims franchise, and the overall Life Sim genre to innovate. Big deal since there was very little competition to none until recently.

Hey i always read online someone has to obviously be informed and "Do more research" about wolfdogs.
But i seemingly having a problem to understand what that actually means and what they expect from me.
What does that research entail?
Is it:

• Knowing the anatomy of a wolfdog? The anatomy of a Wolf?
  
• the origin story of a wolfdog, a Chechoslovakian one, a Saarlos one, and the American Vicky Spencer wolfdogs?
  
• and the history about how and for what purpose and intention people started to keep these Wolfdog breeds alive until this day?
  
• knowing a Wolfdogs instinkts?
  
• having Experienced and seen actual Wolfdogs Live (check)
  
• having Experienced seen and been in contact with Wild Wolves (check)
  
• been informed about eating and Food Habits in Wild wolves (check)
  
• been informed about eating and food habits in captive wolfdogs (check spoken to many owners and breeders)
  
• what and how other owners feed their wolfdog?
  
• what and how other breeders feed their wolfdog?
  
• what and how zoos feed heir wolves?
  
• what and how rescue stations feed their wolves?
  
• being informed about the anxiety levels, shyness levels of wolfdogs
  
• being infromed about the anxiety and shyness levels of wild wolves
  
• being informed about the Exceptions and that its actually really rare that wolfdogs are confident and show only slight anxiety or shyness around people. and having a wolfdog which enjoys being around people and dogs is super super rare and commonly wolfdogs may perform good with people and other dogs until the age of 2-3 then might change drastically and reality is that most wolfdogs don't do good with other dogs after that age (check)
  
• researching about the requirements to keep a Wolfdog privately in your home in your country if even legal?
  
• minimum theory's and discussions about what type of environment a wolfdogs needs to be able to enjoy its life in captivity (Space, Garden, House)?
  
• activities you have to do everyday to engage and build a strong bond with your wolfdog to keep a wolfdog healthy and happy?
  
• What it actually entails and means to own, keep, and provide for a wolfdog?
  
• the differences of training a Dog and training a Wolfdog?
  
• the statistics of behavioral issues in wolfdogs?
  
• behavioral habits, and lingering istinkts from the wild wolf part in wolfdogs which according to an article are the reason for 90% of wolfdog owners in america end up giving their wolfdog away or having to euthenize them because they aren't capable to keep them with their level of experience due to any circumstance at the age of 2-3 years when their personality changes and some become more wolf than dog. Resulting in a sad give away game, properly never finding an actual forever home for them and the having a really hard time to heal the trauma and damage made towards this wolfdog?
  
• how to interact properly with any dog?
  
• how to interact properly with wild wolves (or wolves in national parks)
  
• how to interact properly with privately owned wolfdogs?
  
• how to interact properly with wolfdogs by breeders?
  
• Boundarys of a wolfdog? What someone should never do with a wolfdog or to a wolfdog?
  
• What wolfdogs enjoy or don't enjoy?
  
• What builds trust and doesn't build trust in a dog?
  
• What builds trust and doesn't build trust in a wolfdog?
  
• the trainability of wolfdog?
  
• how every wolfdog is really different in training and some don't respond really well to food motivated training approaches, also don't respond well at all to physical punishment type of training, and someone has to get really deep and creative in to finding out what motivates their wolfdog if anything?
  
• how it is generally a lot harder to train a wolfdog?
  
• how it might not be even possible to train wolfdog (even thoug there are quite many exceptions out there)
  
• how to socialize a wolfdog as good as possible?
  
• they'r incapability of being a good guard Dog
  
• They're incapability of being any good in any Working type of environment or training? (though there are quite some exceptions out there too)
  
• They'r possible capable of doing such things?
  
• they'r possible capable of enjoying dog sports like Agility?
  
• how to groom and take care of a wolfdog?
  
• Sleeping area for a wolfdog? Outside? In your Home? In your Bed? In a Kennel?
  
• Wolfdogs and Leashes, Collars, Muzzles, Kennels? Yes? No? Why? Why Not? Why Yes? Legal reasons? Development, personal growth, liveability together in companionship reasons? Liveability together and with other people and dogs reasons?
  
• Their usually common type of personality and behavior?
  
• The complications and what that might mean for you as owner?
  
• the possibility of a wolfdog not being good with small animals or children and how to prevent accidents of that sort?
  
• their high Seperation anxiety of a wolfdog?
  
• how they can't be left alone for long hours and always should be supervised if possible? How to train to be able to be alone for a few minutes up to some hours without causing too much damage?
  
• how easy it is to severly cause trauma and damage to a wolfdog not handled properly?
  
• knowledge about Ethical Breeders and Unethical Breeders what separates them (while for some people there doesn't exist a ethical breeder hence all wolfdog breeding should be something forbidden and is unethical for them)
  
• questions about the Wolfdog to a breeder like
  
• what are their breeding goals when breeding their wolfdogs?
  
• what is their breeding philosophy?
  
• Full DNA embark - Age test
  
• Full Health Report (to make sure not to future bread already genetically mifortuned wolfdogs into a new generation)
  
• Full Family Tree of Parents, Father - Mother + eventually their Parents Embarks and personality Report
  
• Incest Koefficiency factor >5%
  
• Full Vaccination Rabies (even when its not officially approved for wolfdogs)- Deworming
  
• The Legal situation of your country of owning a wolfdog
  
• How owning a wolfdog might affect your Neighbors and people you life with?
  
• How owning a Wolfdog will affect your Life for the Next at least 12-15 years and requiring full commitment and designing your Life around that Wolfdog and not the other way around?
  
• What does it mean and entail, Risks of owning a American Wolfdog which isn't registered as an official breed like Saarlos and Chechoslovakian wolfdogs are?
  
• The Countless storys of Tragedy about Wolfdogs faith and their owners
  
• The Countless storys of Positive lifes people could experience with their Wolfdog
  
• Having a Training Facility like a dog school which is also known to be experienced enough to train wolfdogs?
  
• Having a breeder who can give advice in situations about anything and training
  
• Having a Vet and a Doctor who is able to attend to a Wolfdog and does so willingly without problems?
  
• The Costs entailed in having a wolfdog, caring for them, as well as Insurance if your country offers them, Any Health comlications which might occur Vet-Doctor Costs. Food living Costs.
  
• Costs of changing your property to fit your wolfdog and maybe make it harder for them to escape?
  
• That wolfdogs are great Escape artists?
  
• Strength of a Wolfdog and what does that mean to the owner?
  
• Hormonal challenges of a Wolfdog which entails having a harder to keep wolfdog probably every year at a certain time of year when they get in heat?
  
• having watched countless hours on youtube about Wolves?
  
• having watched countless hours on youtube about wofldogs?
  
• having read countless hours on reddit and quora about wolves and wolfdogs?
  
• having read countless hours on niche forums about wolves and wolfdogs?
  
• How to properly feed and grow up a puppy wolfdog with their sisters and parent for the first 8-12 weeks providing the right amount of nutrition?
  
• Having an actual Scope about what and how it will change your life turn it upside down when deciding to own a wolfdog for the full entirety of the wolfdogs life?
  
• having an actual scope what it means on the downsides
  
  • not being able to travel overseas for yeah complete at least 12-15 maybe even 20 years
  • not being able to let friends near your house, get close to other children, having your own children (even though there exist breeders and owners who in fact do have children and their wolfdogs are doing well with them)
• having an actual scope what it could mean on the upsides
  
• having an actual scope what it does mean IF the wolfdog would turn out EXACTLY how you would NOT like them to be? And figuring out if that would happen are you actually ready to take responsibility and do your best to have your wolfdog have the best life possible?
  
• being aware of the actual critical downsides when an uncontrollable accident happens in a situation you have misjudged and just happens anyways even if you did everything right
  
• knowing that most wolfdogs won't do what you want them to do? And they rarely even do?
  

What can you Add? What did i miss? And is there really ever a point when your done researching? When is the point in which i can say to myself i have done enough research to form a Responsible Opinion about if a Wolfdog is right or wrong for me? What are some super majorly critical things i missed in these questions here?
I think there never really is a time in which you really have learned everything. But people keep saying do more research but really What do they expect from me knowing about the Wolfdog?

For context I've used H pattern shifters in sims since the very first commercially available Act-Labs shifter in the early 2000s, the different Logitech G series offerings, the Thrustmaster TH8A, and for the last 5 years I've been using the Frex GP.
I have not owned but have used the Pro-Sim shifter at a local sim shop so I can draw comparisons to this unit as well.
Of the above mentioned if I had my choice budget not being in question I would certainly go for the Pro-Sim, it simply had the most satisfying two stage feel to the gear engagement (getting into neutral and then getting into gear) however, at over 3x the price of the Frex I just felt like it didn’t offer enough to justify the move. Frex also simulates the two stage feel through detents on the shaft that gets acted on by a spring ball plunger, however with the Pro-Sim this feeling is much more pronounced. I kept going back to the shop over the last few years picking up the odd piece of equipment and giving the Pro-Sim a row each time but at the end of the day I figured I'd hold out for something "active".
On the subject of "Well does it feel like getting into gear in a real car", having driven dozens of cars I don't recall any two that feel the same. The feeling has been anything from G25 like spongy and sloppy in a 2007 Accord, to a very mechanical sharp and direct feel of a Mk4 Golf, to everything else in between. I have never driven anything race prepped that is H pattern equipped but I've rowed through some gears at an auto show in a stock car and a touring car and these felt closer to what the Pro-Sim feels like vs road cars.
Naturally the next thing in the evolution of the shifter was some kind of feedback, something to take the simulation further and prevent getting into gear if you aren't doing the correct things. Frex did this a long time ago but ultimately it wasn’t realistic as it was a mechanical solution, you have to press the clutch to shift gear and in real life both synchromesh and dog boxes allow for shifting clutches with correct technique.
On to the Bash Pro.
Construction is solid and the unit is heavy. The only nonmetal bits are what I'd call the dust guard, buttons and electronics housing frame components that are not stressed in any way. I wish the dust guard bit was polished in some way so you do not see the obvious 3d printer markings, same can be said for the other 3d printed bits, but hey if this shaved off some decent dollars from construction cost than why not. I've read a lot of "at this cost and 3d printed bits" and quite frankly I don't get the comments, the cost is actually "fair" considering the price of the competition.
Aesthetically its nothing to look at and if it were up to me I'd do away with the carbon fiber box for electronics and just make it all metal. I swapped the original 6+R knob for the black/carbon Frex knob and I think it looks miles better. It’s just a box that is pure function and I will take the footprint of this unit over the very cool looking competition any day. It does come with a mounting plate and easily screws into a piece of 40xXX profile. In my case it screwed into the Advanced Sim Racing shifter plate. The software controlling the unit is a plugin for SimHub.
How does it feel?
It has the gear engagement feel of the Pro-Sim at a 3rd of the size. There is a two stage feel to shifting gears but even more so due to the programable delay and the blocking gate mechanism. For delay we are talking about milliseconds, but it really makes for a great, into neutral and then into gear feel. There is a very strong and pronounced feel in taking it out of gear, into neutral, and then into gear again. The throw is heavy, but I don’t think its adjustable, this might be an issue for some, I’ll gladly leave it as is as I prefer heavy controls all around. In H sync mode you can control the delays between each gears, for example 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 can all have different delay timing set, or just remove delay all together. The unit is loud just like its pears.
The parts of the shaft which slide into the gates/gears have spinning bearings attached, the gates themselves are very thick as is the lockout gate which are all rounded off. The bearings fit perfectly into the slots which results in absolutely no play/slop when in gear and in a very smooth action when sliding in and out of the gates. In neutral position the lever just returns to middle position without bouncing around like the Frex would. The staged feel is achieved by the gate returning to the lockout position as soon as you pop into neutral and then muscle your way through the now "allowed to move away" lockout gate and into gear.
Price wise, this shifter comes in cheaper than the BDH and way cheaper than the Pro-Sim, making it a no brainer for me. There is nothing those shifters offer over the Bash Pro at this stage, hopefully the unit proves to be reliable. I do not like to talk about price/value as it’s really about what you want/need and willing to spend on something and from watches to cars, it starts at next to nothing to won’t afford it in a lifetime. But in this case, I must say it is good value if you compare it to the high-end competition. This is an innovative product, first of its kind, and its clocking in at a significant discount over the competition. This stands in stark contrast to the Simucube Active pedal, which is a first of its kind, and is an end-game product, however, the cost of this offering reflects it. With the Bash Pro you got something similar, something moving the hobby to the next level and its cheaper than its “passive” neighbours.
As I type this up, Pro-Sim is working on an addon for their H and sequential boxes that will also block out gears when not doing this correctly, and this is great news for existing Pro-Sim owners. This unit will also work off of SimHub, will be curious to see what kind of options it will have.

hi,
PLEASE NOTE, THESE BOOKS WILL COME OUT WITH 2 CHAPTERS PER WEEK STARTING FROM TOMORROW. EACH HAS A LIST OF CHARACTERS AND THERE ROLE AND THERE DISCRIPTION.
please tell me what books sound the best <3 more will be coming in a separate post <3
So im a Wattpad user and I write and read story's, mainly writing now, Im going to be releasing a massive amount of books I think the total is 20 books could be more could be less. But there's a massive range of them so I will list them below:
A GAME OF CHANCE (OUAT BOOK) 18 MAY 2024 - This book is based mainly in neverland but has parts in story Brooke. In this is book where henry is kidnapped but not for the reason they showed in the series, your name is emily you grew up with an abusive drunk of a father and you ran away. After a while of missing storybrooke you return to which your taken in by Emma but someone doesn't like you.
MIRROR MIRROR (OUAT BOOK)19 MAY 2024 - your Regenia's sister, you two fell into the darkness she came out however you never did. She and her new friends try hard to get you into the light side but when Regina finds why you went dark she knows there's only one solution. But will she take the risk or pay the price.
FALLING FOR THEM 17 MAY 2024 - You are a talented young artist who moves from her home town after a brake up in hopes of finding peace. You find peace and love but two men? Is that right ? first time for everything right they will always be my first everything.
MY MAFFIA HUSBAND 20 MAY 2024 - your parents business wasn't going to well and another business offered to help. They gladly excepted after knowing the price they have to pay, you live with them and the other company starts coming around a lot more until one day everything falls into place and the wedding isn't long after that day.
MARRIED TO MY BESTFRIEND 21 MAY 2024- your bestfriend and you have been close ever since birth, you do everything together and your inseparable. Until jack has to help is parents as trouble crosses there path with business, thats when your parents offer you as payment to help the business which they except. You soon learn neither of you had a choice it was set they day you where born.
LOSING YOU 22 MAY 2024 - after your fiancé goes missing you hire a detective and a private investigator, When they give up on the case finding no clues what so ever you deiced to take it into your own hands. On the way to this you uncover your fiancé dark past, that his family knew where he was and this was just a test plus a love game, but can you stay with him after finding out what you have.
TRAPPED BY HIM 23 MAY 2024- you are taken by a sadistic ex of yours, he keeps you locked up for months on end torturing you and doing unholy things. All the while you scream cry and beg him to stop none can hear you and is anyone even looking for you does anyone even realize your missing?
DETECTIVE DARLA 24 MAY 2024 - your a detective with a high amount of respect you have solved multiple cases of murder and missing persons. But now there's a new killer in town, who they refer to as the shadow none knows who he is and none can track him down. Darla beings to get worried but she begins to find all the answers and when she finds the horrifying truth after being nearly murderd by the shadow. She kills the one thing she loves. Darla goes into a state of panic and she is put into the mental heath ward in her local hospital. When a new killer strikes will she be able to recover? will she find this new murderer?
BROKEN PIECES 25 MAY 2024 - when you come home one night after cleaning the house, going to do shopping, putting it away, loading washing in and out, until its time for you to go to work. And find your husband doing unspeakable things to your eldest child and youngest child while your middle child watches laughing. You go into a state of panic screaming and shouting at them, when someone behind you closes the door and puts a cloth over your mouth knocking you out. will she live? will she help her children?
EVIL MEETS EVIL (mavrel book) 26 MAY 2024 - when you where a young girl, the age of only 3 days old, you where taken from your mother and taken to what looked like a prison. You are cared for by your brother, until you turn 1 years old when your brother the leader of this place deiced you where old enough. He sits you on a table and he has you looked over making sure your heathy and how a normal child should be of 1 years old but what for?
WOULD YOU KILL FOR LOVE 27 MAY 2024 - when the prince deiced he needed to be married all the girls in town went crazy, all expect you you didn't fancy being married at only 16 so you ignored the whole thing. Thats until all the girls where to go to the court yard and be seen individually by the prince. When he lays eyes on you and chooses you your whole world brakes. when a war brakes out on the kingdom and the prince is in danger you use the skills you leant ages ago to save the one you where to marry have grown feeling for him but will you let him know?
FRIEND OR FOE 28 MAY 2024 - when the whole town turns against magical creatures, you have to decided who you can and cant trust. Due to being one of the hated all the magical beings being afraid. You decided to take lead in this war and win equality from the help of a human friend. But will you survive what you decided to end.
SLYTHERIN QUEEN (HOGWARTS BOOK) 29 MAY 2024 - when arriving at Hogwarts for the first time ever, you are all in first year and the boys of Hogwarts start taking a liking towards you. But not everyone will be able to have you as you have a very specific taste. But when you have to share a dorm with the ones you crush on you start to be bratty earning a punishment,
REDWOOD 30 MAY 2024 - the town of redwood is famously known for the redwood surrounding the town. None enters or leaves the town through it you have to go by air, but when thing start getting strange around the town people panic praying that its just the weather and animals playing up. but its far from any weather or aninimal, magic is taking the lives of many but they take the wrong person and all hell brakes lose.
HONEY, HONEY (HOGWARTS BOOK) 31 MAY 2024- when a new riddle enters the school, they assume her to be there sister but they are wildly wrong. Shes their wife yes their as in tom and matteho riddle, the three of them get tired of their fathers stupid ways and their wife becomes friends with the golden trio and eventually the rest of the Weasleys. But are they just on a mission for there father of have they changed?
WITHOUT YOU 1 JUNE 2024 - after losing your true love you move from your troubled home to new York, To start over and you do well as a model and eventually you become rich and along the way there 2 men that have been everywhere you are, you thought maybe they are just crazy fans but no. Is he really dead?
THE FIRST BLOOD MOON 2 JUNE 2024 - imagine being a creature so powerful but having no clue about it. When your mum dies and your father leaves you, after years of abuse and shouting painful words he just leaves. But someone comes round to the house knocking on the door for you, when you refuse to go with them they kidnap you in the night. But why?
DEATHS BESTFRIEND 3 JUNE 2024 - Imagen waking up one day and the worlds population has doubled, but only you can see them. When you find out that they aren't invisible, you question what they could be before realizing they are the dead. you question are you living or have you past. Everyone can still see you but not them?
THE STRANGERS KISS 4 JUNE 2024- when you move to new York after excepting a job, you go to a bar for a few drinks. Feeling eyes on you the whole time but you cant seem to find who it is. You start the new job and this one guy seems really off he keeps staring at you and wont leave you alone. But he is hiding deep secrets.
THE TORTURED 5 JUNE 2024 - you've been in one place your whole life, this facility they wont let you leave, you cant talk and everything keeps getting worse. when you are taken from the facility by people who you thought where good but no non of the people have ever been good.it get worse when they take your memories and put you with a bunch of people you have no idea who they are.
thank you for reading this to the bottom I hope when they are released you read them
byeeee <3

We Need A Pinned Post Lottery Offseason Thread
Detroit Pistons 2024-25 Depth Chart
PG - C. Cunningham, M. Monte, M. Sasser
SG - G. Trent Jr, J. Ivey, D. Knecht
SF - A. Thompson, C. Levert, H. Ingram
PF - S. Fonteccio, I. Stewart, C. Osman
C - I. Hartenstein, J. Duren, M. Muscala
Notable Issues from last season
Three Point Shooting (Spacing) / Interior Defense Specifically (Shot Blocking) / Turnovers / Generating Steals
Notable Positives
Rebounding / Rim Pressure (Slashing) / Mid-Range Scoring
Out
James Wiseman - Had maybe one good stretch where he was affective over five games, but struggled the majority of the season. Decent shot blocker and had a good enough motor, but still lacks a ton of court feel and often doesnt know where to be. He has a team option on his rookie contract and the team should not be looking at bringing him back under any circumstances.
Troy Brown - Doesn't do much to impact the game on either end and was pretty much invisible during his stint in the rotation. His contact ends this season and they should look to upgrade.
Malachi Flynn - Didn't show the ability to get his teammates open consistently and was particularity bad as a lead guard in the Pick & Roll. Despite the 50 point game, he struggled at pretty much every other moment while he was in the rotation. If they do think about bringing him back, it should be on the minimum for one year and they should still look at getting a true back up point guard to help ease the turnover issue the team has.
Evan Fournier - Has a team option contact worth 19 million that should be declined. Not particularly special or consistent in any one area, but had his occasional moments as a shooter. If he is brought back it should be on a drastically reduced contract, otherwise they should allow him to walk.
Chimezie Metu - Had his moments, but I question what his actual position is. Not big enough to play C and not consistent enough of a shooter or quick enough laterally on defense to play on the wings. Wouldn't be mad if they brought him back, but I feel like they should attempt to find his replacement.
Taj Gibson - Past his prime, didn't really play a ton. I don't have much else to say about him.
Quentin Grimes - One of our only decent trade assets outside of our young core and he could get us at least a decent vet role player if combined with some future 2nd rounders. Wouldn't be mad at all if he's on the roster next season, despite the fact that he struggled during his short stint with us. Could fit very well next to Cade, Ausar, and Ivey and provide versatility to our bench.
Jared Rhoden - Two-way guy didn't play alot, but wasn't affective when he was on the floor.
Buddy Boehim - Two-way guy, who I struggle to see ever making the jump to the league. Little athletism and a target on defense.
Tosan Evbuomwan - Two-way guy with good effort and motor, but he's not particularly affective at the moment. Wouldn't be mad at them giving him one more year on a two way contract.
Monty Williams - Consistently went away from lineups and plays that were affective in favor of playing his guys (Killian, Livers, Flynn). Didn't get handed the greatest hand obviously, but would frequently disrupt any flow our guys had in favor of 5 man substitutions, that would see 15 point leads gone in the span of a few minutes, and our good lineup faced with a near 10+ point deficit once subbed back in. Also didn't adjust his game plan nearly enough.
Troy Weaver - NO WORDS NEED TO BE SPOKEN.
In
Potential Coaches
Chris Quinn
Jarron Collins
Kenny Atkinson
James Borrego
Terry Stotts
Trade Pistons Get: Caris Levert/ Pick 30
Cavs Get: Quentin Grimes/ Chimezie Metu/53rd Pick/
Celtics Get: 2027 2nd Round Pick/2030 2nd Round Pick
Free Agents (That I Would Sign)
Isaiah Hartenstein - Really good defender who knows when to negate the roller and when to step up to cut off the ball handler, which is great for a young team who has its lapses in the pick & roll. Would provide a great starting option while Duren continues to develop off of the bench. Also a pretty good finisher and connective playmaker for his size. Could front load his contact and provide a significant pay raise to lure him to the team. I like him just a little more than Nic Claxton (who I believe will be resigned by the nets) because of his strength, but would be fine with either. Also would be willing to pay him more than stated seeing as New York can't offer anywhere near as much money as we can.
Gary Trent Jr - Prolific Floor Spacer. Not the greatest defender or playmaker, but shouldn't be as big of an issue next to Cade and Ausar. We will have to overpay for him though, seeing as Toronto has the money to keep him.
Or
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - AN ACTUAL THREE & D guard next to Cade which is what this team desperately needs until Ivey is ready to play that role consistently if he ever is. Not a lockdown defender, but has a very good defensive iq and knows where to be in order to be a good team defender next to Ausar. Would obviously be a good floor spacer. Could also front load his contract to attract him to the team seeing as he's in the same situation with Denver as Hartenstein is with New York.
Monte Morris - Should not have been traded in the first place. Good playmaking option of the bench who also had one of the better AST/TO ratios in the league. Would help to cut down on TO's for a team that often lost games soley because of them.
Simeone Fonteccio (Resign) - Played very well next to the young core and was very affective from the moment he got to the team. Was practically a way better defending / slightly worse finishing Bojan. Cade played his best basketball next to him.
Mike Muscala - Good floor spacing big.
Cedi Osman - Decent wing depth vet
Other Options Nic Claxton (C) Malik Beasley (SG) De'Anthony Melton (SG) Malik Monk (SG) Royce O'Neale (SF) Bruce Brown (SG) Gary Trent (SG) Markelle Fultz (PG) Isaac Okoro (SG) Derrick Jones Jr (SF) Caleb Martin (SF) Jonas Valanciunas (C) Taurean Prince (PF) Kyle Andersen (PF) Cam Payne (PG) Jordan McLaughlin (PG) Isaiah Joe (SG) Cedi Osman (SF) Lonnie Walker (SG) Patty Mills (PG) Jalen Smith (PF) Daniel Theis (C) Thomas Bryant (C) Lamar Stevens (SF) Delon Wright (PG) Matt Ryan (SF)
Draft
Pick 5 - Dalton Knecht (Good Floor Spacer, who can also finish at the rim. Won't be asked to create a ton for himself. Not worried about his defense when played next to Ausar.) We could also trade back in the draft to get him while picking up an extra asset.
or
Matas Buzelis (Could be very affective if his high school shooting numbers translate to the league and he's able to get stronger. Biggest ? In the draft, but worth the risk.)
Pick 30 - Harrison Ingram (Good-not-great defender who may struggle to defend speedier guards, but has very good hands and can help to generate more steals while also being a good team defender. He can also space the floor consistently and could add more wing depth and length at the SF position.
Let me know what you think.