This past year has been a crazy ride, and I need somewhere to let it out.
On this day last year, I(27M) received a FaceTime call from my parents. They're based in Asia while my brother (25M) and I work / go to school in the US - so we have a set time for weekly catchups over the phone. But this time it was weird that they didn't just call. It was the first time in years since they video call me.
Mom(55F) and dad(57M) showed up on my phone screen, but mom didn't have any hair. They told me that she had been diagnosed with late stage cervical cancer a few weeks back and that she had immediately started chemo. My parents got their annual checkup just a few months back, but she was unlucky. The cancer had developed quickly in an area hard to detect, so it was found at a late stage. But fortunately she was receiving the best treatment available, and her company was helping our family with medical expenses. I cried after hanging up. I never thought I'd have to think about my mom's mortality this early. It felt like I was caught in some nasty prank, and I didn't know what to do. At least on screen my mom seemed lively and optimistic with the situation at the time.
I quickly decided it was best I fly over to Asia and help out my parents. Luckily I had recently quit my full time job to start my own business, so I wasn't tied to a company or a geographic location. My brother was starting a program at his dream grad school later that summer, and I was happy to help him focus on it. Instead he would immediately head to my parent's and stay with them until I wrapped up my life in the US and moved over. I had my last hoorah with my friends, gave away my furniture, and packed up my suitcase. I had been living with my girlfriend at the time, and carving myself out of the apartment was more painful than I ever expected. Saying goodbye sucked, especially when I didn't know when I was coming back.
Fast forward a few weeks, I moved into my parent's house. The next few months would be a blur of numerous trips to the hospital, a life in a different country. We were getting into the groove of things, and chemo actually started chipping away at my mom's tumor. But spending large chunks of each week at the hospital, working on my business at night(my work requires me to match US time zones), and having no social life in the country started taking toll on me. I barely knew anyone in the city and I'd have days and weeks not physically speaking at all. My mental and physical health deteriorated, and eventually after much thought I decided to break up with my girlfriend of four years. I just didn't think I was being a good partner with all that was happening in my life, and I had no clue when all this would end - especially given the time difference and distance. It was rough ending things with the most serious girlfriend I ever had, but I had to focus on my family and she understood.
I soon realized that my mom's cancer wasn't the only thing I had to face. I had to figure out my complicated relationship with my dad. I wouldn't call him a bad guy. He has good intentions but he's a troubled man haunted by his job and childhood tragedies(death of siblings, relationship with family, his parents stopping him from pursuing his dreams, etc) Since I was young he struggled with communicating his thoughts / emotions and abusing alcohol. He was never really present in my upbringing, as he sunk away to his room after work to watch TV without helping around the house much. Yes there were moments where he drove us to school a few weeks and took us fishing a couple times, but those gestures faded away by the time my brother and I were 10. When drunk, he broke things around the house regularly, and at his worst he physically assaulted me when I was a teenager. We never really had a legitimate conversation since (he never really talked unless he was drunk), and my mom acted as a sort of a shield / translator between us throughout the years. But he did work and provide for the family for decades, and I should not forget that. Now that I'm older I do see why he was so upset and aggressive back then. I'm finding myself slowly forgiving him over the years. But it also can't be an excuse for what he did and I still find myself deeply affected by his actions.
My dad's aloofness continued into December 2023. In some ways it felt like he was denying to accept the gravity of the situation. He continued drinking heavily and depending on my ill mom for housework / meals. I was upset because it seemed like my mom was still carrying most of the burden even with cancer and he was doing the bare minimum to help our family. I was tired and depressed. I uprooted my whole life, and for months I haven't been able to make much progress in my personal, professional, and social lives. But he wasn't contributing much for our family. I guess he thought improvements in my mom's health would continue and she'd recover soon.
Around new year, chemo stopped making progress, and my mom's condition began worsening week by week. Some of her organs started having issues, bringing debilitating pain. The doctors tried different treatments, radiotherapy, etc, but the situation kept on heading south. Her stays at the hospital grew longer, and she started cry more often. At times her pain would be so terrible that she'd scream into my arms saying that she doesn't want to continue living anymore. Every day I can still hear her cries and it's messing with me. I hate losing someone strong / kind like her inch by inch. After seeing my mom's state worsen, my dad started turning around and investing more time / attention to our family. He cut down most of his drinking and began spending most of his free time with her. I think he finally started realizing that he could actually lose his wife. I do appreciate him stepping up, and he and I started cooperating on nursing mom and getting through house chores. Sometimes I feel guilty for this, but I'm still having difficulty trusting him 100% given all we've been through. It's still tough to spend 1:1 time with him.
Fast forward to now, the situation hasn't improved much and my mom hasn't been home in months. Even phone calls and texts are difficult for her now. The doctors are planning on trying one more treatment, but if it doesn't work we'll likely have to begin preparing for the worst. I saw on reddit that old photos help cancer patients a lot, so I went through our family album to show digital copies to my mom. I can't remember the last time I cried that much. Thankfully, my brother is now in town on vacation for the next few weeks, and he's been very helpful. We're grateful that he had a successful first year at grad school, and him returning has been a breath of fresh air for our family. Seeing my brother has been helping my mom a lot as well. I'm sure my brother is feeling his own shock and guilt with all that's happening to our family. I hope he's able to find strength within himself.
But I need to face the fact that my mom started taking morphine and that the doctors began discussing hospice. My parents and I took the past few weeks to organize my mom's finances, taxes, and legal work. It's still surreal that I had to go through my mom's stuff. She has been strong / stoic throughout this whole process, but I can't imagine what pain / thoughts she's dealing with when my dad or I'm not around. I can't imagine what it's like to even begin thinking about the end. A miracle could happen, but nothing is guaranteed. All I can do is just take each day as it is and keep moving forward.
I took a pause on work in the last few months to focus on helping my family and recovering my health. I'm slowly but surely spending up my savings though, and I feel like I'm being left behind professionally and socially. I'm finding myself depressed not being able to make progress with my life and career. I have no friends and I can't remember the last time I took a legitimate break. I can't help but wonder how my business will work out, whether I can become social again, and what my future will look like. But it's been so difficult to plan anything because any day / week my mom's situation can shift drastically. And at times I feel guilty thinking about myself when my mom is suffering this much. I'm trying really hard to keep a routine with exercise and work so I can keep myself healthy to continue helping my parents. It's been a challenging fight to keep all these things balanced.
But I also can't deny that I've seen a lot of beauty in life as well in the past year. So many friends and family helped us out, and I sat down with my mom with deep conversations on life. I've also changed / grew tremendously, and my perspective on life / death matured a lot. I learned the importance of mental / physical health. This dark period in my life also could be the beginning of a relationship with my dad. I don't do social media but so many friends remembered our family and reached out proactively. Thank you everyone. All of the other problems I had in life seem so small / solvable now, after all I've gone through. Imagine how easy those obstacles will feel once all this is over!
I have no idea how all of this will resolve, but I just hope my mom doesn't go through much pain. Sometimes I just want to drop everything and give up but I want to help my mom as much as I can until the end. She always tried her best to give my brother and me the best possible life. A few weeks ago, she told me that she has no regrets because she gave us all her love over the past 20 to 30 years, a feat that other moms might take 50 to 60 years to accomplish. She really did her best and she was the greatest mom I could ever have.
I'm curious what kind of person I'll become after the dust settles. Daydreaming about what's to come after these tough times keep me going. The rest of the year probably won't be pretty though, especially if my mom's health worsens. In whatever way this situation resolves towards, I won't disappoint her. I hope I can stay strong throughout and I'll keep giving life my best.

Reddit: u/smooth-option-4375 Discord Name: Swag Name and House: Waymar Corbray of House Corbray Age: 24 Cultural Group: Andal Appearance:
A tall man, lean yet muscular after the fashion of a professional athlete. He has the build of a knight who favors lithe dexterity over sheer strength.
When garbed for battle he is an intimidating figure, wearing a mail hauberk and chausses covered with a blackened steel cuirass, with a white surcoat emblazoned with the sigil of his house: a black raven in flight carrying a red heart. On his limbs, he wears steel vambraces, darkened black, enclosed around his forearms and simple should guards. On his feet, he dons hard leather boots with steel toes, that rise to meet steel leg greaves.
On his side swings a scabbard that holds his ancestral longsword, its pommel housing a dark red ruby in the shape of a heart. The guard as simple as it is ancient.
Though young he has a well-worn face, making him appear some years older than he ought to. Hardened from long hours in the sun and scarred from battle. He has piercing blue eyes, and cheeks rough with stubble.
When on the road, he will be found with a travel-stained cloak and hood, tied to his shoulders. Never far from his side is his massive, pitch black destrier Warlord, who stands at the considerable seventeen hands high at the shoulder.
Compared to most nobility he makes a pitiful sight, his armor is darkened, scratched, and dented. His clothing torn and mended a dozen times over. Dressed in hardy cloth and wool rather than more extravagant furs and silks. Despite his outward appearance however, he bears the heart full of valor and chivalry.
Trait: Strong Skills: Andal Knight (e), Swords, Water Dancer, Riding Talents: Etiquette, Heraldry & Tourney Lore, Outdoorsmanship Starting Titles: The Wayfarer, Hastiluder of Hearts Home Starting Location: [Starting Event]
BIOGRAPHY:
Ser Waymar Corbray was born into the noble house of Corbray in the year 1 AC to the Raven Knight, Lord Corwyn Corbray and Lady Ellyn Hightower. The pair spared no expense with any of their children despite the houses less than robust financial situation, thinking of it as the most sure of investments.
Lady Ellyn, a woman of refined taste and abnormal learning saw to it that Waymar (and the other children) were all well versed in etiquette and had a firm grasp of the intricacies of court life. In particular she bonded with Waymar, Corenna, and Tristan by sharing her love of literature, music, arts, and story telling. This had the dual purpose of sharing her loves but also ensuring the children grew up knowledgeable and well-rounded nobles.
On the other hand, Lord Corwyn focused on their martial educations. Where Colmar received the lions share, especially in terms of governance and lordship, Waymar was free to pursue and focus solely on knightly pursuits. Lord Corwyn himself, well known across the seven kingdoms as 'The Raven Knight' was both a superior commander and deadly swordsman, teaching the now famous Ser Rolland his art.
One of, if not the first momentous events that shaped Waymar's life was the birth of his younger brother Tristan. Tristan grew up with great difficulty, small, frail, and lacking the ability to speak many considered him ill-fated and treated him with contempt. Waymar however quickly developed a deeply engraved sense of guardianship over Tristan, and the two grew inseperable. Each day Tristan would attend his brothers studies, and each night Waymar would regale his brother with stories of epic heroes, fell deeds, and legendary champions.
The second was the Mooncrest Tourney, where Waymar entered in secret as a Mystery Knight: The Knight of the Wild Wood. During the tupinaire, Waymar encountered his elder brother and defeated him soundly. He went on to fight and overcome the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Malwyn Blackwood. Earning himself a knighthood when his identity was later revealed, for scoring seven strikes in seven seconds, with each strike having the force of three men'. This day was one of the best and worst days in the young Waymar's life: It was the day he was knighted by a living legend and it was the day a rift was formed that would never heal, between the two brothers.
The third was young Tristan's plan to study at Oldtown. In an attempt to separate the ever more violent Colmar and the young Waymar, Tristan convinced his parents to allow him to study at Oldtown and to take with him a small entourage for security. Amongst them was Waymar who, during there travel entered into the Strawberry Hall tourney.
His showing there was impressive if varied, fairing well in the melee, tupinaire, and archery contest, even going so far to claim first in the footrace. Unfortunately an administrative error meant that he was disqualified from the joust, his match timing being changed at short notice and the heralds unable to contact him in time to advise him of such.
This was however the start of his errantry. Taking near a year to return to Heart's Home where he stayed for only handful of weeks before departing again.
Now a man grown, Waymar travels Westeros following the tourney circuit, participating in as many as he can. The knight has earnt himself the moniker ‘The Wayfarer.’ A mocking title meant to demean him and his families fortune as he would walk rather than ride from place to place, lacking the funds to have a second horse and unwilling to tire his treasured destrier “Warlord.” Despite its original purpose, he bears the title with great pride.
Unbeknownst to lords and commonfolk alike, even those within the Halls of Heart’s Home, Waymar has been sending his earnings home to his younger brother who has been named Castellan of Heart’s Home, though for what purpose only the pair could know.
TIMELINE:
10 AC — Lord Corwyn and Lady Ellen marry. 3 BC — Colmar Corbray is born, eldest son of House Corbray and Heir to Hearts Home. 1 BC — Corenna Corbray is born, second eldest of House Corbray. 1 AC — Waymar Corbray is born, second eldest son of House Corbray. 6 AC — Lord Corwyn leads a band of knights against the Root Father & the Sons of the Tree. 7 AC — Trisan Corbray is born. 10 AC — Waymar attends the Maiden Bay tourney and begins his dream of becoming the Greatest Knight in the Realm. 14 AC — The Cavaliers visit Heart’s Home to secure recruits and sponsorship. 18 AC — Colmar Corbray marries XXXXX of House XXXXX at age 21. 19 AC — Mooncrest Tourney is held, Waymar enters as a mystery knight defeating his elder brother Colmar. 19 AC — For excellence with arms and unyielding valour Waymar is knighted by Ser Malwyn Blackwood, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. 20 AC — Ser Waymar rides under Ser Godric Royce against the mountain clan raiders of the Burned Men clan, his first battlefield proper. 20 AC — Corenna Corbray marries Marq Grafton of Gulltown. 21 AC — Tristan leaves for Oldtown, intending to study at the Citadel and stay with their cousins. 21 AC — Waymar enters Strawberry Hall Tourney with mixed results, being suspiciously disqualified from the Lists. 22 AC — Janyce Swyft and Tristan Corbray become betrothed. 22 AC — The first piece of the Winged Knight armour is found, the quest for more pieces begin. 22-25 AC — Waymar travels Westeros largely by foot, earning himself the moniker Waymar the Wayfarer. 25 25 AC — Start Date

FAMILY TREE:

Auxiliary Character -------------------------
Name and House: Tristan Corbray
Age: 18
Cultural Group: Andal
Appearance:
A young man with who looks as young as he is, Tristans black hair is unruly and quite long, resting on his neck and usually covering his ears. Despite his inability to speak, Tristan has a warm and genuine smile. His eyes are a deep thoughtful blue, with freckles adorning his nose and cheeks. His skin pale, indicative of the long hours he has spent inside studying. Despite being called timid he moves and dresses with a quiet confidence and grace that comes from self-awareness. For Tristan, his silence is not a barrier but instead a weapon. Tristan is not the most striking nor handsome man, but he bears a comfortable and approachable appearance that endears him well with others.
Trait: Erudite
Skill(s): Scrutinous, Scholar (e)
Talent(s): Mechanisms, Puzzles, Arts & Music, Cyvasse
Negative Trait(s): Mute
Starting Title(s): The Timid
Starting Location: Starting Event
BIOGRAPHY:
A ferociously keen mind, Tristan is a maester born, with an endless appetite for puzzles and mystery and an eerie ability to calculate. Despite being considered a fool for much of his early life, he has blown away his detractors with his prodigious intelligence. At the age of 15 he entered the Citadel to study, and in just three short years has earned himself no less than 8 links being: black iron, copper, both yellow and red gold, silver, brass, lead, and pewter.
With his father’s recent illness, he has been summoned back to Heart’s Home and named Castellan of the Castle and aide to the Lord. Rumours abound as to how his elder brother has taken this, having shortly afterwards departed on a quest for the Wing Knights legacy.
Supporting Characters -----------------------------
Name and House: Martyn Rivers Archetype: Trader (+4 bonus to Trade)
In his youth Martyn Rivers was a sellsword in the riverlands. He first entered service with House Corbray prior to the battle of Misty Moor. Later, he returned to permanent service after the Riverlands went up in flames. Lord Corwyn took him in first as a trade caravan guard, but in the years since he has reached the lofty heights of seneschal.
Name and House: Maester Dormund Archetype: Scholar (+2 lore searches, +1 treating others)
Maester Dormund has served House Corbray for three generations, serving first serving Lord Corwyn’s Father Corswain and now advising the young Master Tristan. He is one of the few that both knows of, and understands Master Tristan’s sign and short hand conversationally, the others being his mother, sister, and favourite brother.

India is making rapid advancements towards lowering its dependence on fossil fuels and switching to green energy mode. With an ambitious target to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030, the Indian government has announced the NATIONAL GREEN HYDROGEN MISSION as a part of its ambitious target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2070 to mitigate the risks of climate change.
The mission will empower green hydrogen producers in India to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia without incurring any transmission costs for 25 years straight. The proposed mission also aims to facilitate the gradual rollout of hydrogen fuel cells and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) buses and trucks through a pilot program. To address the relatively higher capital costs associated with FCEVs during the early stages, financial support will be offered to bridge the viability gap.
As per the latest green hydrogen news, the Indian public sector oil and gas companies have announced to build a combined capacity of 38000 tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by the next financial year. Private player INOX Air Products has recently announced its plans to establish its inaugural green hydrogen plant in India. As per the announcement by the company, the green hydrogen project will be set up in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, with an annual capacity of 190 tonnes. This clean energy will be provided to Asahi India Glass Limited (AIS) through a 20-year offtake agreement, as stated by the company in an official release.
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months ago, i mindlessly bought a pair of concert tickets for an acquaintance and i. shes constantly asked to attend a concert together for almost a year now. the opportunity finally came and i felt compelled to buy tickets. to add onto this, i scored front row/meet and greet tickets (which aren’t easy to get). for the longest, i’ve been struggling to decide on whether or not i should go?
i need advice and i need help making a final decision ASAP. i made a list of pros/cons to give more context on things :) side note: she has other friends sitting directly behind us and she’s closer with them, so if i weren’t going, accommodations/having company are already set up well.
pros of going to the concert: 1. it’ll be a new experience and memory i can always look back on postively 2. can help strengthen our bond/make memories (which is somewhat meaningful to me bc i’ve been trying to build friendships) 3. front row! plus meet and greet..which i’d love to do bc i’ve never done that 4. a way to celebrate the end of my semester 5. i’ll get signed items, selfies with artists, and cool memorabilia 6. i know most of their songs on the setlist 7. my ticket was paid for (as a gift)!
cons of going: 1. parent doesn’t approve of my plan bc they’re rightfully concerned about the following below 2. gas, food, merch will cost like $400 total and money is tight for me rn as a college student 3. traveling on my own 4. will have to work harder on gaining my money back 5. on a time crunch because i’ll have to drive back home after concert ends (i struggle longterm driving past 1am, i could get sleepy) 6. general safety risks as i’m going with acquaintances i met online 7. i saw most of those same performances last year, it’s not drastically new. the only new thing is the meet and greet for me. 8. i have had longterm anxious/uneasy thoughts and feelings about going 9. these artists are not my most favorite in the world, i am only a casual listener
pros of not going: 1. if i sold the ticket (which i easily can for more than the price i bought it for) then i could put that money towards my favorite singer i am anticipating to see in their 2025 concert 2. i stay home comfortably and stress free 3. i saved $1200 that i can put towards future funds 4. will not worry my parent 5. can attend a grad party i was invited to 6. i am assured that i am safe at home 7. i can get started on studying for my summer class that i HAVE to pass 8. i can always hang out with acquaintance another time, when i am in her city
cons of not going: 1. fomo/missing out on the meet and greet 2. missing out on getting rare interactive moments with artist 3. missed out on potential good memories for myself and with these acquaintances
please help me decide😭this is stressing me out that i lost sleep over this

Okay so i (17F) and my friend (16F) met through a game late last year and we been friends since. We both are busy highschool students living in different countries, yes i said different countries. So when we talk sometimes its cultural differences we learn about.
But recently she been telling me about a group of dudes she's been talking to (they play val together) so they added her in a discord chat but during this time she was also dating someone. See i thought he was young or just her age from the way she said he acted.
So i asked how old he was she simply said he was 20, FUCKING 20!!! i laughed it off cause i thought maybe she was just joking or being sarcastic but i jokingly made comments Abt him being two old for her. I recently got a text from her three nights ago saying how she broke up with her boyfriend, she then also went on talking about the dudes she plays with.
There is 4 or 5 in total or those are the ones i know about. I started asking more about them and their ages AND BITCHHH she said the oldest is FUCKING 25 AND ALONG WITH THE REST AND THE YOUNGEST IS 20!!!.
She tells me how her and the oldest have been flirting with each other for the past few days and he would 'hint' about liking her. She have said before she likes older men which is not a problem, but the thing is that she still is a minor and i been trying to tell her to not go through with it or to be cautious of them but she doesn't listen to me she thinks that I'm overthinking or is 'jealous' of her (i have a bf i haven't told her yet)
I just thought i was being a good friend by watching out for her.
(P.s she thinks everything is a fantasy and romanticize alot of things that shouldn't be.)

I am 25F and I have wasted a lot of time. This is mostly a rant, but I really need some advice as well.
I live with my parents. I lived with them when I went to college and never moved out.
I have a BA in English. I graduated right after the pandemic when the job market was pretty weak. I tried to apply for some positions but most of them were very far (my parents live in a village. It takes around 2 hours to get to the city by public transport, 1 hour by car but I didn't have a car back then). And because my country and city are smaller, there weren't many remote options, especially for people who were just starting. So I settled for remote tutoring. I work 20 hours a week and I have a low average monthly income. I often feel tired from even 5 hours a day (one-on-one conversations are exhausting for me) and I'm scared/too lazy to take on more hours. It also means that for the past 4 years that I've been working, I didn't have any PTOs, benefits or any career movements. I'm not sure I can even call it a work experience.
I don't have any irl friends. I lost contact with my school and college friends as soon as I graduated, and as I work remotely and leave my house very rarely, I don't meet new people. If I do go out, it's usually with my mom and little sister. Partly because I really like them and theur company; mostly because I don't have other people to hang out with and I don't want to do it alone. The only friends I have are the ones I met online playing computer games.
I have never had even as much as a kiss. And I'm not unattractive, a few guys back in high school and college were interested. But I always got scared and became distant as soon as I could feel some interest from them. I am in an online relationship now, and at first I entertained the idea of actually meeting with him and maybe even living together, but now after almost a year I realize it's not something he wants to do. He's in a similar position (never dated before, doesn't have many friends offline etc) and when I said this relationship might not be for me, he got so sad. At this point I'm only with him because I don't want to make him sad.
I don't even have much money despite living with my parents and not paying rent. I spend it regularly on games and online shopping and now I have maybe enough to live for about 4 months, if I were to stop working.
And I really just waste a lot of time, by mindlessly scrolling social media. I used to read and watch a lot, and learn new things. I don't do that now.
And looking at everything, I realize that I'm the one who let things get this bad. I have financial support of my parents but I never did anything but be lazy and scared. I have a car now. I'm trying to learn programming but I keep seeing that the situation on the market is pretty bad, and my motivation often disappears for weeks. I'm afraid to act and I'm afraid to change. So how do I get my life together?

6ft3 SW - 336, CW 309, GW 240 20:4 Exercise - swimming/walking Diet - low carbs
I 33M Around 6 years ago I was around 196 pounds and then slowly gained weight until I was 336, my diet was trash and my only exercise was drinking, I knew I had gotten bigger but honestly didn't think I looked that bad I went from XS clothes to XXXL.
Suddenly I started to see the weight gain more and more until I don't ever like a photo of myself anymore. Im feeling in a good place now I have a plan, I'm sticking to it and loosing weight well. IM works for my lifestyle and this sub has helped massively.
My worry is once I'm down the weight I want to get to I'm still not going to like what is looking back at me. Does anyone have any tips on what they did as they got slimmer to reinforce to themselves that they are looking better. Hopefully it won't be an issue but part of the reason I'm feeling better this time around is because everything is planned. I'm hoping with some forward planning and positive reinforcement this will become a none issue.
Thanks for any advice in advance

UNMARKED SPOILERS BELOW, I will sadly go into spoiler territorry so often the post would look like a bad SCP Foundation article if I tried to black out every single one.
First thing I thought upon finding out about the Wizard Three in Sigil was to notice an opportunitty to include more iconic characters. As we learned more about their role I noticed several complaints about them. Like, "why are we having epic level NPCs relegating the work to mid-level party"? Or "isn't Tasha evil? What is she doing here?" Or "how the hell did Kas fool Tasha, who knows Mordekainen very well?". And so an idea to fix these issues all at once presented itself to me.
In this version of adventure, the PCs are summonned not by Wizard Three, but Wizard Nine. Nine iconic, high-level wizards or other magic users from across D&D worlds or even beyond. They were all summonned to Sigil, to each tap into one of Outer Planes of appriopriate aligment and channel that power into Wish, so the Will of the entire multiverse wishes of Vecna's death. Once it fails, the wizards realize it means one of them must nto be who they claim, possibly an agent of Vecna. So they immediatelly lock themselves in Sanctuary - only PCs can enter and leave because they weren't i nthe room doing the casting of that super Wish. And every time they return with next piece of the Rod, they find Wizards in most disfunctional game of Among Us ever, often probably erupting into violence - this is nine geniuses working AGAINST each other as everyone suspects everyone.
Now, you could keep the original reveal, where Mordekainen is the imposter. If you do, I would advocate against bringing any magic users who know him, like Tasha, Elminster, Storm Silverhand or Dalamar the Dark. If you decide to change the imposter's identity, you can happily bring in some of them, but I would avoid those who know each other (so if you want Elminster, then no Mordekainen or Dalamar).
Evil characters can work with this group because of several reasons, which they should be open about. They may vary from "You think I don't realize Vecna is going to screw ME over alongside everyone else", through "uppity gods need to be put in their place, especially this one" to "I would love what the guy is promising to do to all creation, but I'm not bending my knee to NOBODY!".
Below is a list of proposed characters to use from as many worlds I could think of. I will be comign back to this post to add more names and more worlds with further research, potentially going even beyond strictly D&D settings. You ca drop your own suggestions, I will happily add them to the list with next edit. All requirements are that the character is able to cast 9th level spells, if you have any notes for potential DM willing to use them, please provide them as well.
Eberron - I noticed most of suggestions for Eberron are of evil variety, due to the setting's lack of high-level heroic NPCs (with two exceptions that cannot leave their seats of power), but we'll work with what we have

• Mordain the Fleshweaver is the most popular suggestion, being a rare Chaotic Evil 18th level Wizard in Eberron. An issue is that Mordain is often used, and even recommended by Keith Baker to be used as Eberron's stand-in for Vecna. If you wanna run adventures with Hand or Eye of Vecna in Eberron, they are hand and Eye of Mordain. This may disqualify him, but you could alternatively play into it. Have Mordain rant Vecna is "ripping him off" or call the lich "a pale immitation of true dark sorcery".
• Hektula is Keith Baker's personal choice for a standin for Tasha. She is a pwoerful Rakshasa Archmage, with passion for collecting forbidden tomes of dark magic, serving one of the Overlords and firmly Lawful Evil. I certainly could see some laughs when wizards realize there's an impostor among them and all eyes turn towards Hektula, who goes "Of course, blame the shapeshifter!".
• I have seen floated idea for Sora Kell or her three daughters. The Daughters canonically in 3rd edition had levels 10 or 11 on top of being half-fiend Hags. You could maybe handwave that they get to cast 9th level spells as a coven, Sora Kell is more ambigious, with no statblock and her lore giving vibes of Baba Yaga, fans compare her to Demon Lords in power level. Personally I feel she would stand out too much.

Exandria (Critical Role) - I noticed most Exandria characters don't reach this high level - even Circle of Brass from Calamity were level 15. However, I found two options to provide a bit of fanservice for any critters at your table, both Chaotic Good:

• the Mighty Nein Reunion got us level 20 versions of Caleb Widogast, so he's great excuse for a DM to do their best Liam O'Brian impression of angsty bi diseaster wizard who really wishes he was back with his boyfriend, instead of being trapped here with all those asshole wizards.
• Not a wizard but a Bard, but if you want to bend a defintion a bit, Scanlan Shorthalt could be pulled out from a moment in time before he lost an ability to cast Wish. Considering this happens in final episode of Campaign 1 and their final enemy was Vecna, it would be thematically appriopriate.

Krynn (Dragonlance)

• Raistlin Majere is by FAR msot iconic character of the entire Dragonlance, the go to if you want to include an iconic Dragonlance character. Dragonlance Saga 15 anniversarry lists his aligment as Neutral, while 3rd edition book Legends of the Twins lits him as a Neutral Evil - the latter is after he becomes master of Time and Present and so powerful enough to be included.
• Dalamar the Dark - after Raistlin's demise, Dalamar was touted as new most powerful wizard, he was paired with Mordekainen and Elminster to form original Wizard Three. He is also listed as Neutral Evil, but I would argue he could be Lawful Evil.
• Fistandantilus - the greatest wizard before Raistlin, he is also Neutral Evil, but I woudl argue he's more CHaotic Evil, due to his tendency to backstab other wizards to steal their power. I honestly cannot see this guy working in this adventure, he seems like he would try to bodyjack someone and get 8 Desintegrates to the face.
• Phalin Majere - if you want a good-aligned representative of Krynn, Raistlin's nephew, Phalin is basically a magical prodigy and chosen one and firmly Lawful Good. The issue may be that it may be hard to find a time where he is powerful enough to be here, but before Wizard magic on Krynn went away (because all Gods, including Gods of magic, f*ed off to space and then had the whole planet stolen from under their noses) and he had to reclass to Sorcerer, starting all the way from the bottom.

Magic the Gathering - there are many worlds in this franchise, but they're often very shallow, so I will group this stuff together.

• My first pick would be Liliana Vess, originally from Dominaria, nowadays hanging out on Arcavios, home world of Strixheaven. Strixheaven book lists her as true neutral, and she has a history full of twists and turns where this character development from original evil could be justified. Personality-wise she could be the easiest quick replacement for Tasha, even if you don't feel like putting in the whole group of nine wizards. Also if you have player bringign back a Curricullum of Chaos PC for this game I can only imagine their jaw drop upon seeing "Provesso Vess" among greatest wizards in the Multiverse, snarking at all of them.
• Teferi Akosa, originally from Dominaria, now his homeland of Zalfir became a separate plane. He was always extremely powerful, what if accidentially phasing his whole country out of time and space, he was always heroic and good intended, but often prone of getting unwaranted suspictions from others, which makes him good for this kind of plot.
• From Ravnica we could pull either Jace Beleren or the dragon-mage Niv-Mizzet, during their respective time as the Living Guildpact, representative of all 10 Guilds of Ravnica. In this position their could fit well for neutral-aligned places of aligment chart, Jace leaning towards Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral somewhat more.
• Speaking of Dragons, here is a crazy idea - Nicol Bolas, one of greatest villains in Magic as Chaotic Evil representative. Okay, it may be not a good idea, I cannot imagine a situation where he doesn't try to hijack the plot and take Vecna's place or just kill everyone when the problem of potential traitor arises. Still, the idea of this really evil demigod-drgon being his petty, snarky self towards other iconic characters is kinda funny.
• For a reach more into Magic's past, we have Urza, original protagonist. He would fit well into Lawful Neutral or even Lawful Evil role, considering last time he dedicated himself to stop multiversal-level threat, original Phyrexia, his means quickly "begun resembling Phyrexian ends". This is the guy who honestly tried to outeugenics a wizard nazi "for greater good". Seriously, so much of Magic lore can be summed up with words "Local Man Ruins Everything" and picture of Urza.
• A different type of Magic candidate is Jodah, ultrapowerful Archmage who is not a planeswalker like others, but had often maneuver around them, so he is used to having to outsmart powerful people. He represents all colors of mana so he would fit for any of middle collum positions.
• Jodah old associate, Jaya Ballard, could also work very well, considering she did eventually ecame so powerful some planes confused her with a diety and established religions to her. She strikes me as a Neutral Good candidate.

Mystara - one of my beloved classic worlds, poses an issue because it never conformed to classic 9-types aligment, isntead opting for lawful (defined as "altruistic") and chaotic ("selfish"). A rare exception, 2e book Glantri: Kingdom of Magic, was a big help here.

• Prince Haldemar of Haaken - protagonist of series of short stories "Voyage of Princess Ark". Daring explorer, captain of flying ship Princess Ark, hero of Empire of Alphatia. Champions of Mystara describes him as good and heroic but having "typical Alphatian chaotic thendencies". As such I'd lean towards Chaotic Good or Neutral Good.
• Bargle the Infamous - Chaotic Evil, if D&D ever had something close to the Joker, it was Bargle. Bargle was originally an evil wizard who kills mentolove interest of the player in introductory adventure of Red Box, but this made him enemy #1 of whole generations of players and elevated to first iconic evil wizard. I would be wary of using him, as any D&D veteran or grognard may forget about Vecna in favor of trying to strangle the guy with his bare hands.
• Demetrion Karagentreropolus - most powerful Archmage in Empire of Thyatis (think: fantasy Roman Empire), he is of lawful aligment and described as sometiems working secretly to undermine Emperor's decisions that he finds to be bad for the Empire and its people. As such he could slot as Lawful Good.
• Empress Eriadna the Wise of Alphatia - current Empress of Alphatia, canonically of Neutral aligment, she rules msot powerful empire in the world and probably haven't conquered all of it only because her subjects care more for magical research and getting high. She's 80-years old.
• Prince Zandor - 40-years old son of empress Eriadna, described as "chaos personified", his aligment is "Chaotic (very)". Thanks to Mr. Welch it became popular to play him as wizard version of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Use him if you want a comic relief.
• Master Terari - former Emperor of Alphatia, he abdicated in favor of Eriadna and disappeared, he now runs magic school in a small kingdom of Karameikos, he is working to ascend to Immortality (basically godhood without calling it so).
• Principalities of Glantri have multiple Princes of various all kinds of aligment. The country got 2e book which gave them classic aligment., I will list them below, but two I would avoid are Eitienne d'Amberville and Jaggar von Drachenfels, since they are actually Immortals (Rad, patron of magic and Diamond,, discount Bahamut, respectively). Immortals officially aren't Gods, but this is often a distinction without difference, so I cannot see them showing up in Sigil without Lady of Pain nuking the whole building.
• Princess Carnelia de Belcadiz y Fedorias (Lawful Neutral, extremely beautiful, known for her horrible temper) and Princess Carlotina Erewan ((LG, basically discount Galadriel) rule two Elven principalities, the latter rules more traditional Elves, the former's subjects are...Spanish Elves. Yes, really. They do not like each other.
• On the evil side we have Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany (wizard Nosferatu, which is like Vampire with less weaknesses, he's Strahd on steroids), Princess Dolores Hilsbury (actually a Night Dragon, undead dragon-shaped mosnter, in disguise) and Prince Brannart McGregor (lich, he's actually from real-world Scotland, I kid you not). All three are Chaotic Evil and hide their true nature, though considering Morphail looks like he walked out of set of Dracula, they aren't trying very hard.
• Rounding Glantri princes we have Prince Jherek Virayana (Neutral, master of illusions, he deflected to Glantri from their mortal enemies, Ethengar Khanates, so he is used to being under suspiction for treachery) and Prince Harald Haaskinz (LG, he's kinda new guy in the club).

Oearth (Greyhawk)

• I don't want to spend much time on Oerth since I suspect anyone using this will use either Mordekainen and/or Tasha, who are already in the module. But some alternatives could be any of wizards who have spells named after them - Bigby is neutral, Tenser is Lawful Good, Leomund is Lawful Neutral or Lawful Good, Nystrul is Neutral, Rary is Neutral Evil

Toril (Forgotten Realms)

• Alustriel was already included. She and her five sisters (not counting Dove Silverhand, who is a Ranger and a Ghost) all fit similair role as "big good immortal sorcerress". With exception of Alassra Silverhand a.k.a. Simbul the Witch-Queen, who is Chaotic Neutral, they're all Chaotic Good, so I see little point switching Alustriel for another one if you want CG spot to be fit by someone from Toril. I would also be wary of using Storm Silverhand, who, according to Ed Greenwood, helped real Mordekainen recover after his role in Curse of Strahd and has a "friends with benefits" relationship with him.
• Elminster is also Chaotic Good, I don't get why WotC shy away from using him. I get he is controversial, but his exclusion has been kinda awkward here. They really don't think Kas can fool Elminster, but he can fool Tasha? As far as I know only one of them slept with Mordekainen, like come on! Anyway, if you want to use him, Elmisnter is also Chaotic Good, so kinda redundant with other Choosen of Mystra.
• Larloch the Shadow-King or Szass Tam could each work as a powerful lawful evil lich, that allies with the good guys out of spite against interloper god that dared throw their weight around and claim godhood over THEIR world. Larloch in particular is no stranger of going against gods and their servants, who seek to rewrite rules of magic that is basic of his power - just ask Shar and her servants at Shade Enclave.
• While characters from Baldur's Gate 3 end their adventure around 13th level, Book Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villain contains statblocks of multiple characters from previous two games. Edwin Odesserion, infamous Red Wizard of Thay, is among them, powerful enough to fit in the group.

Domains of Dread (Ravenloft) - I put this one last because of unique use we could have out of Domaind of Dread in this campaign. You see, we know that characterstrapped in Demiplane of Dread cannot leave that easily, they need Dark Powers' permission. And Dark Powers are backing up Kas. I have also seen multiple complaints how both main antagonists of this campaign - Vecna nad Kas - are absent from most of it, with many ideas being thrown around about having Kas as an active rival that competes for pieces of the Rod. It occured to me that he may play that role, while we still have an impostor - another character trapped in Demiplane of Dread could be working with Kas and the Dark Powers in exchange for their freedom. This way we could even allow PCs to sherlock holmes who the traitor is between collecting different pieces of the Rod, and still can have Kas show up with hordes of monsters to steal the Rod later. All that matters is they do not impersonate a character of the same aligment. Here are some candidates for this role:

• from Forgotten Realms, we could reach for semi-official suppliment minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy, written by lead writer of first two Baldur's Gate games. It suggests an alternate fate for main villains of Baldur's Gate II - Jon Irenicus and his sister Bodhi - that places them in Demiplane of Dread, leading their own evil cult working towards their escape. He is neutral evil, she is Chaotic Evil
• From Mystara we have Meredoth, main antagonist of classic Ravenloft module Ship of Horrors, condemned to Demiplane of Dread afre his negligence caused his subjects to die of starvation. TWICE!. He is cursed to be unable to discover new magic on his own and having to steal knowledge, so he would be itching, as a mole, to steal from other eight wizards in the room. He's Chaotic Evil.

That's for now, but rest assured, I shall be returning to this post to update it with more characters, potentially more campaign worlds even. Your suggestions whom to add are always welcome.

With the rapid development of residential energy storage in Europe, it has emerged as a key player in the realm of energy transformation. On one hand, the imperative of transitioning to renewable energy sources is undeniable. On the other hand, certain regions grapple with weak grid infrastructure, intensifying the demand for localized residential storage solutions. As the industry matures, accompanied by declining raw material costs, the prices of residential storage systems are starting to decline. Simultaneously, the burgeoning demand for Energy Storage Systems (ESS) suggests ample room for further market penetration.
Moreover, residential energy storage products primarily cater to consumers (To C), necessitating a competitive edge in product quality, brand recognition, and distribution channels to ensure sustained profitability.
In 2022, the energy storage industry witnessed a meteoric rise, evolving from its nascent stages. By 2023, however, demand tapered off amidst shifting policies and inventory dynamics. Now, in 2024, the trajectory of the residential energy storage sector is poised to be influenced by a multitude of factors, including sustained policy support, product innovation, channel optimization, dwindling inventory levels, and declining interest rates. The forthcoming discussion will delve into the anticipated future of the industry, drawing insights from the experiences of international energy storage enterprises.
SolarEdge:
SolarEdge dominates the European market, offering cost-effective products that pose a challenge for our enterprises to match. Renowned as a top player in solar and storage inverters across Europe and the United States, SolarEdge boasts a market share that reigns supreme in both regions.
Established in Delaware in 2006, SolarEdge experienced rapid growth through strategic collaborations, notably with Tesla SolarCity from 2013 to 2015, culminating in its NASDAQ listing in 2015. The 2017 mandate by the United States NEC requiring solar PV systems to integrate Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE) with rapid shutdown functionality played to SolarEdge's strengths, enabling the company to swiftly expand its market share.
According to data from Wood Mackenzie, SolarEdge secured the 7th position in global inverter shipments in 2022, firmly establishing its dominance in European and American markets.
SolarEdge's product portfolio encompasses a diverse range of offerings, including solar and storage inverters, energy storage systems, uninterruptible power supplies, electric vehicle charging stations, and integrated solar and energy storage solutions. These solutions cater to various sectors, spanning from residential and commercial to utility-scale ground-mounted power installations.
In 2023, SolarEdge introduced the SolarEdge One software, marking a significant expansion into the realm of virtual power plants. Through sophisticated algorithms, this software facilitates new energy power trading, empowering customers with advanced solar and energy storage solutions. By bridging the gap between software and hardware, SolarEdge continues to bolster its product ecosystem, solidifying its position as a leading provider of comprehensive new energy solutions.
With a strong focus on customer collaboration, technological mastery, and leveraging the benefits of U.S. trade policies, SolarEdge has consistently excelled.
The first phase, starting in 2013, saw SolarEdge achieve rapid revenue growth through strategic partnerships, notably with Tesla SolarCity. During this period, the company experienced a remarkable compound annual growth rate of 83.7% from 2013 to 2016.
In 2017, the introduction of stringent safety regulations by the U.S. NEC mandated the use of Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE) with rapid shutdown capabilities in PV systems, rendering traditional string inverters obsolete for residential energy storage solutions. SolarEdge, with its mastery of the requisite technology, swiftly capitalized on this shift, rapidly expanding its market share and witnessing substantial revenue growth in 2018 and 2019.
The third phase unfolded in 2018 with the imposition of 10% tariffs on Chinese PV inverters under U.S. trade policies. SolarEdge benefited from these trade barriers. Subsequently, in May 2019, tariffs were increased to 25%, prompting Huawei's withdrawal from the U.S. inverter market. Despite the overall growth of the new energy industry, SolarEdge experienced a revenue decline in 2023, attributed to the industry-wide destocking process.
Reports indicate that market demand in Europe and the U.S. was disrupted by high interest rates and policy uncertainties. In 2023, SolarEdge's revenue from its inverter, optimizer, and backup battery businesses reached $1.37 billion, $900 million, and $380 million respectively. This represented a 20.8% increase, a 20.5% decline, and an 11.8% decrease from the previous year. Furthermore, sales figures stood at 1.013 million sets, 17.4 million sets, and 744 MWh, marking declines of 0.8%, 26.6%, and 2.2% respectively compared to the previous year. The unit prices were recorded at USD 1,356 per set, USD 52 per set, and USD 0.51 per kWh respectively.
The substantial decline in optimizer sales can be attributed to the superiority of micro-inverter solutions over optimizer and string solutions in meeting the stringent MLPE requirements set forth by the NEC for rapid shutdown functionality.
In 2023, the company's photovoltaic business revenue in the European and U.S. markets amounted to $1.81 billion and $760 million, respectively. This represented a 15.8% increase in Europe but a significant 35.9% decline in the U.S. compared to the previous year. While the beginning of 2023 saw some relief in the industrial chain situation, the European market initially experienced rapid growth despite a slowdown. However, the latter half of the year was marred by high interest rates and policy uncertainties in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy, resulting in a substantial contraction in market demand. Although the company's revenue from the European market maintained modest growth, the growth rate declined by 55% compared to the previous month. Similar trends were observed in the U.S. market, exacerbated by the transition of California's NEM 2.0 policy to 3.0, which created a vacuum in the demand for distributed PV storage.
In 2023, the European and American market demand was significantly affected by uncertain policies, with expectations for gradual recovery in 2024. Throughout the year, power optimizer shipments fluctuated, reaching 6.4 million, 5.5 million, 3.3 million, and 2.2 million sets from Q1 to Q4 respectively. Inverter shipments followed a similar pattern, with 330000, 335000, 274000 and 74000 units shipped during the same period. Energy storage battery pack shipments also varied, with 221 MWh, 269 MWh, 121 MWh, and 133 MWh recorded from Q1 to Q4 respectively. However, in the latter half of 2023, impacted by lower demand and high inventory, SolarEdge's shipments experienced a sharp decline compared to the previous month.
Looking ahead to 2024, several developments are anticipated in the following regions:

1. Germany: Expectations are that certain tariff caps will be lifted in 2024, resulting in higher electricity prices in the country. Consequently, the return on investment (ROI) for photovoltaic (PV) installations is projected to increase, fueling continued growth in residential PV installations.
2. Austria: It is anticipated that the value-added tax (VAT) on PV power generation, introduced at the beginning of 2024, will be repealed.
3. Netherlands: The uncertainty stemming from the 2023 election and the changing net metering policy led to a sharp decline in PV installations in Q4. Recent decisions by the Dutch Senate indicate a potential sustainability of net metering, prompting optimistic market responses in the future.

Enphase:
Anticipated shifts in demand are on the horizon as the second quarter of 2024 draws to a close.
Enphase stands as the undisputed global leader in microinverters, spearheading advancements in solar, energy storage, and charging solutions. Founded in 2006 in Delaware, Enphase revolutionized the market by introducing the world's first microinverter, the M175. In 2011, Enphase embarked on a global expansion strategy, penetrating the MLPE market in Europe, Australia, and other regions, culminating in its listing on the NASDAQ in 2012.
Leveraging its pioneering status in the MLPE sector, Enphase has continually enhanced its microinverter products, elevating power output from 175W in the first generation to 550W in the eighth generation. The latest iteration of inverters boasts additional features such as split-phase grid connection and off-grid capability. As a result, Enphase commands a market share exceeding 70%, firmly establishing itself as the industry leader.
Building on its expertise in microinverter technology, Enphase embarked on a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions, consolidating businesses in energy storage, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and cloud services to develop comprehensive solar and storage solutions for households.
In 2016, Enphase introduced its inaugural residential storage product, marking its entry into the energy storage sector. By the close of 2020, the company unveiled the IQ Battery residential storage system, expanding its product portfolio to encompass residential energy storage solutions. Enphase IQ Batteries operate on low-voltage DC power, mitigating the risks associated with high-voltage DC power and enhancing system safety and efficiency.
In 2021, Enphase ventured into the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market with the acquisition of ClipperCreek. The following year, the acquisition of GreenCom positioned Enphase as a leading provider of home solar, energy storage, and charging system solutions, bolstering its offering with Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.
Thanks to favorable policies, expanded channels, and enhanced product competitiveness, Enphase has experienced rapid revenue growth since 2019.
On one hand, Enphase has reaped the benefits of supportive policies such as the NEC 2017 mandate requiring residential PV systems to integrate Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE), driving demand for the company's microinverters. Additionally, the 301 tariff prompted Huawei's exit from the U.S. inverter market in 2019. Furthermore, the IRC's gradual reduction of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) subsidy from 2019 onward stimulated PV market growth. The introduction of the IRA in 2022, alongside the extension of the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (AMPTC) and Advanced Energy Project Investment Tax Credit (AEPITC) subsidies, has had a significant impact. These subsidies, extended to 2032 and 2030 respectively, have bolstered Enphase's microinverter production.
In terms of channel expansion, Enphase's acquisition of SunPower's subsidiary in 2018 solidified its position as the exclusive supplier. Moreover, strategic partnerships with Sunrun, LG, Panasonic, Solaria, and GRID Alternatives have further expanded its reach and market presence.
Regarding product development, Enphase has concentrated on promoting its IQ 7 and IQ 8 series microinverters since 2019. With conversion efficiencies of up to 97.5%, these inverters cater to a broader range of solar panel installations. Additionally, the higher power range of Enphase's inverters ensures compatibility with solar panels in various regions, while the company's commitment to efficient after-sales service has reduced average waiting times to less than one minute.
By the latter half of 2023, Enphase faced increased pressure in both the US and European markets due to weakened demand for energy storage and high inventory levels.
In the US market, the transition to NEM 3.0 and elevated interest rates dampened investor confidence in residential solar storage investments. As per the company's investor communications, revenue from the US market dropped by 16% and 35% in the third and fourth quarters of 2023 respectively, compared to the previous quarters. Notably, the California market experienced a sharper decline, with Enphase's microinverter sales falling by 25% and 27% in Q3 and Q4 respectively, while non-California markets remained relatively stable.
In Europe, the anticipated demand recovery in the latter half of 2023 fell short of expectations, exacerbating distributor inventory backlogs. Enphase's top three European markets—Netherlands, France, and Germany—faced distinct challenges. The Netherlands saw hesitancy among users awaiting the removal of the net metering program, while seasonality impacted the French market, and the German market grappled with feed-in tariff reductions. Consequently, market demand and shipments related to residential PV in major European countries all experienced declines.
According to Enphase's investor communication disclosures, microinverter shipments in 2023 were as follows: 4.8 million units in Q1, 5.2 million units in Q2, 3.9 million units in Q3, and 1.6 million units in Q4. Additionally, battery shipments totaled 102.0 MWh, 82.3 MWh, 86.0 MWh, and 80.7 MWh from Q1 to Q4 in 2023 respectively. However, in the latter half of 2023, microinverter shipments experienced a sharp decline due to weak demand and inventory accumulation. Enphase estimates that channel inventory will normalize by the end of Q2 in 2024, with shipments expected to increase again in Q3. Conversely, battery sales, buoyed by NEM 3.0, continue to rise.
Currently, the European market shows signs of recovery, while the California market is anticipated to gradually improve. The Dutch parliament recently confirmed that net metering policy will remain unchanged in the short term, and electricity costs have increased in France and Germany. Consequently, it is expected that the company's business will reach its nadir in the first quarter of 2024. In the United States, non-California markets are poised for swift recovery after interest rate fluctuations. However, the California market's recovery may take several quarters due to the transition from NEM 2.0 to NEM 3.0. Nevertheless, given the high electricity costs, the integration of solar and energy storage offers a higher return on investment under NEM 3.0, leading to a gradual recovery in market demand.

Hi! I’m 20 years old and in law school,you maybe have read other stories of mine and mentioning AGAIN my school.No wonder its 95% of my life and I’m not even doing it right.The 5% that was left is my family.I have emotionally immature parents and im always the one calming the waters and getting ahead of their problems maybe this may have changed my pov in relationships .I am not an outgoing person i like my safe space(school-home),im midsize and my parents always have been mentioning me that I should loose weight cuz it doesn’t look good.And so on lately they have been asking me a lot if im dating or anything.I don’t date,i never have.Always wanted some serious and mature relationship,I don’t like getting to know people from socials since i believe that catfish is another problem(always we rise expectations for somn we never saw live yk)so i always think I don’t have the time to date or get to know people.I asked dmy friend one day how do I look from the outside? Do i look friendly?And she said that you have a neutral or 0 emotion face expression i mean you give positive energy but this is it.I mean im 20 having that first kiss or first boyfriend doesn’t matter as much as it would if i was 15 right?

I started seeing a teacher when I moved to a new city for a new job (met on Hinge). I was working long hours at the hospital during COVID but got to see her a few times a week. She was a single mother with a 6 month old which I did not mind but as I got to know her I discovered the following things. After 11 months of knowing her she gave me an ultimatum to get a ring and be engaged within the next 3-4 months. Looking back, I ignored and dismissed a lot of things. Here are the things I learned and want to know if you think there are red flags.
• She had cheated on her ex-husband with a man at a party. When I asked her what the issues were in the marriage, she said he was a nice man but just neglectful of her in the marriage.
• She spent the next 5 years with the man she cheated with on her ex-husband. She left that man because “he wasn’t going to move on up in the world and make something of himself.” In other words, he wasn’t going to make more money or climb the social status ladder per her. I asked if he was good to her. She said - yes! He was an amazing partner otherwise.
• Then she found a man who is wealthy and educated and a lecturer, who has a good family and generational wealth including properties. He told her that he was polyamorous. She chased him and tried to convince him the entirety of their relationship to convert to monogamy for her. I spoke with him directly because he is the father of her child. He said that she moved fast and was talking about marriage within 3 months of knowing him. He was unwilling to really change his lifestyle and even took her to orgies and shared books on poly lifestyle with her to see if she would be okay with being his main person while he does poly. After 11 months or more of dating and eventually living together, she finds out she is pregnant with his child. She tells everyone that she missed the pill for a day or two and got pregnant. (When she told me this I was very surprised because my understanding is that it’s quite rare to get pregnant with just missing one day). She found out she was pregnant and decides to keep the baby. All the while trying to convince the baby’s father to marry her. He eventually told her that he didn’t want the child or a family. While she is figuring this out with him, she began sleeping with a dentist during pregnancy. I asked her about this choice and why not stay with this dentist. She said that he was burning out and was looking to leave dentistry. Once she knew that the baby’s biological dad would not marry her at any cost, she calls up the ex-boyfriend and starts sleeping with him once the baby is born.
• During our relationship, I discovered recently that she was always scanning for other men and keeping her options open. I am so disappointed and upset with myself for ignoring the red flags.
Tell me if you knew this history about a person, what conclusions you would draw and if you would get into a long-term relationship with them? Thanks for the input.

I am an incoming medicine student and I am about to replace my 5 year old Windows laptop. Since I already have a 14 PM and an M2 IPP, I thought of going beyond my comfort zone and just buy a MacBook for the sake of fully utilizing the Apple ecosystem.
My work on a laptop will just consist of me browsing through large PDF books and making and using flashcards within Anki and Quizlet. Also with occasional Zoom meetings and web browsing. I’m really not a heavy or a “Pro” user which is why I am initially leaning on a 13-inch M3 MBA but I just discovered that MBAs doesn’t have a 120hz screen which is a HUGE bummer for me. All of my devices now have a 120hz refresh rate, even my 5 year old laptop, and whenever I am using a gadget without the same refresh rate (like my parents’ phones) for a long period of time, I can really observe the difference and experience some eye-strain.
Which is why now, I am planning on getting the 14-inch MBP with 512GB SSD and 8GB Unified Memory but after researching about it both in this sub and on YouTube, one conclusion always comes up and it is to steer clear away from the M3 MBP because of its 8GB Unified Memory and go with either the M3 Pro or M3 Max instead.
My question is, with my budget for the M3 MBP, am I really better off to choose from the M3 MBAs? I badly need the higher refresh rate but the M3 Pro and M3 Max MBPs are way out of my budget. Or is the M3 MBP with 8GB Unified Memory fine with me given that I am not really a “pro” user?

Hey there, so here's what I'm doing - I started OC and I plan to play with this character through all official campaigns - OC -> SOU -> HOTU and yes I realize I will be vastly overleveled - that is fine, it's part of the journey (kind of recreating what I did like 20 years ago when playing the game for the first time) so I don't mind blasting through the content. Now I'm actually really enjoying the build I'm playing and the idea behind it was to get as many defensive bonuses (like saves, ac, or straight up immunities) without going completely meta. So here's what I'm rolling with:
Half Elf STR14 DEX12 CON 14 WIS 15 INT 10 CHA 12 (I'm typing from memory so I hope I didn't mix it up but it looks fine). First 2 levels into Paladin which combined with half elf gives me immunity to sleep, disease and fear and +4 against enchantment and CHA to saves. Now after this I'm pumping cleric levels for a while and top it up with a couple blackguard levels for additional saves, a stacking bull strength and... well here's where I'm stumped - how many levels of BG should I take. I plan on being mostly melee, self buff but I do want to mix some offensive magic in as well - so far using call lightning for large aoe groups but the idea is to open up with one or two strong spells then charge into melee. I do want to lean into the theme of undeath - so far I'm summoning a Skeleton and buffing it with what I can to fight alongside me and I'd like that to continue. Not using a henchman just focusing on my undead pal.
I kind of regret going 12 dex (I was thinking of going to 13 and taking dodge but I scrapped that) instead of 14 CHA but with eagle splendor and some items I can reach 18-20 CHA anyways which is +8/+10 to all saves in the end which seems strong enough, I'd rather focus on the theme more than power.
Do you guys have any advice? Maybe I should switch something up? Most importantly how many levels of Blackguard to take? I like the idea of casting darkness (does half elf vision allow you to see it or do I need true sight since its a magical effect) and utilizing BGs sneak attack but I do want my offensive cleric spellcasting to not be useless. I realize I'm trying to do everything at the same time but that's kind of the point - I don't need to be the best at anything, sort of like a cleric version of a bard I guess.
Playing on hardcore d&d rules if that matters and took air and knowledge domains since I love lightning and wanted to be self sufficient without using a rogue/bard hench.
The blackguard idea didn't even appear in my head until halfway through act 1, I thought it would be weird that my characters last name is Light of Dawn (yes, I'm still fuckin' edgy even at 35, sue me) and be an evil blackguard but the more I thought about it the more I loved it. Imagine this character walking in introducing herself ad the Light of Dawn before slitting the throat of some random guy that bumped into her before summoning undead and razing the entire village. Its like spitting into Lathander's face. Take that!
Oh right, almost forgot - could you recommend me some higher level modules? Ones I could tackle after I'm done with HotU? Something level 30+ I guess? Or whatever level you end up more or less at the end of that xpac - it's been a while since I last finished it.
edit: all my attributes so far have been going into WIS - I plan on doing this until 20 and then I'm not sure, more WIS or STR instead.

This is an extreme long shot but I’m looking for an old YouTube video that involved some of minecraft craziest creations. It would be around 8-10 years old roughly. I distinctively remember the intro to the video, it was minecraft steve (maybe steve not 100% certain) riding a railway in minecraft with commentary over the background saying “NOTCH CREATED MINECRAFT, FOR PEACE AND TRANQUILITY, BUT HE NEVER EXPECTED, FOR IT TO GET TO THIS LEVEL” then epic music blah blah and then it shows some insane builds. I’m not sure if the video has been deleted or maybe I just can’t find it but it’s such a nostalgic video for me and I’m hoping someone knows the name of the video or has seen it before. If anyone remembers it and can find it I would appreciate it so much. Like I said, a long shot but you never know.

Legit I've had it with these people. Each one I felt wasn't enough to post here but man there have been so many I'll just throw th;em into a single post

1. Won't move back Wallace: Doors are closing on other transit users and he's just standing there with loads of room behind him. He's holding onto a handrail even though there are seats empty and his arms are outstretched. He won't move an inch so I (a smaller woman) have to duck under his arm and make room for those behind me. It's not like he has any mobility concerns that prevent him from moving back, in fact he's choosing to stand there when empty seats are behind him. This continues for 5+ stops on the crowded subway so it's not like he was getting off soon anyway
2. Purses Pam: Her purse gets its own seat even though there's a young mum with her toddler standing in the aisle. Also makes sure her cane is across the aisle so other bus riders will trip unless they see it and step over it.
3. Lying Linda: Just like Wallace, she didn't want to move back. But she told everyone it's because she was getting off next stop. After next stop, behold she's still on the train. Again and again, it's always next stop but she's still there! Others notice that she's just lying about needing to get off when she really just doesn't want to make room for others. Someone asks her to move back so she responds by stretching her arms across the aisle and grabbing both handholds on either side, and saying "why don't you make me?" Gosh these people
4. Sportsball Steve: Drunk old guy in a sports jersey staring creepily at young women on the train. He's burping, farting, and doing all sorts of gross stuff nice and loud. Puts his feet up on the seat across from him and just takes up loads of space despite the train being crowded and plenty of other riders don't have a seat. His snack wrappers are all over the floor around him
5. Mr. and Mrs. Forgot my stuff: At the bottom of a crowded escalator to the station, the wife suddenly decides she wants to find something from her husband's backpack so they stop right there in the middle after they stepped off to slowly unzip the bag and look for it. This nearly causes a pile-up from the 20+ other travelers on the same escalator who literally cannot stop and will crash into them because they're blocking the way. Legit so dangerous and lots of people could've been hurt. Like can we not walk 10 feet and then look for it? cmon now

Which ones have you run into? Why do they have to be such total jerks on public transit?

Little back story here but curious to see how others would proceed.
One of my friends got fired from our previous company (company X) right around the time I got laid off in February. We can call him Rob. I wasn’t at company x anymore for two years but we kept in touch.
For some context, he’s on a partnerships/sales overlay team. He was on a sub team organized by the verticals and he had a coworker who turned into an enemy. Let’s call her Malory. She was generally bad at her job and only got by by hanging on the coattails of the sales team in her vertical to feed her leads. The entire team is metriced by net new partnerships and my friend usually was at the top of that leaderboard quarterly globally. For two years he’s been in the position of consistently exceeded quota. He was up for promotion by his manager at the end of the fiscal year back in January.
Malory has one of those toxic feminist personalities where she thinks she deserves everything she wants because she’s a girl. Malory was livid that she was passed over for promotion despite not hitting her quota for 7 quarters in the past 2 years. Instead of looking at her self for her own shortcomings, she chose to play the blame game.
Turns out for the past 6 months prior to him getting fired, she had been plotting to get him fired. The perfect opportunity struck when a new hire on an adjacent team was hired who happened to be Asian (very few in our office). We can call her Yin. Our company has a zero tolerance policy against racism and so Malory reports overhearing Rob calling Yin an asian slur supposedly multiple times. Due to the policy, Yin isn’t even questioned directly but only Malory is because she filed the complaint. Rob is questioned but only asked vaguely if he has used racial slurs or if he can recall an “aggressive” encounter in the office. 2 days later he is fired with no explanation of what happened or exact reasons why he was fired, just that his employment is at will. Mind you the day before he got promoted :/
Yin resigns 1.5 months after Rob is fired. Reasons unknown.
Fast forward to now. He has been interviewing but being in this job market for the past 4 months has really taken a toll on him. He’s gotten 20+ rejections on well suited jobs in sales and partnerships.
He is currently interviewing for a consulting company that solely consults for company x. The role is a sales role selling professional services. A big part of this role is maintaining the relationship with the sales reps in the same office he was fired from. Rob is concerned that Malory might still be a threat to his job. He still doesn’t have concrete evidence that Malory is the reason why he got fired but all roads lead back to her.
Malory’s and Rob’s role were on an island in the org that collaborated with sales when needed. The sales teams don’t even know why Rob even left. They think it was a layoff due to the restructuring of the team as 4 others were fired/let go.
The risk that they will ever interact again is <10% but could very much be a possibility at in office meetings, happy hours, customer events, etc.
If you were Rob would you take this job or would you move to a different industry to avoid looming doubt that Malory is going to attack again?
He’s been calling me non stop for advice and I don’t really know how to help the poop guy.
Tl:dr - friend did great at his job, female coworker got jealous of his promotion, coworker suceeds in getting him fired, friend is now interviewing at a partner where he will work with old sales team, scared he’s gonna get made by coworker again.

Hi! I'm 23 years old female from South Korea. I'm studying at Yonsei University. I'm looking for a language exchange partner to improve my English skills.
I want to develop listening and speaking skills because I hope I can work abroad someday. I have an Opic IH level, and I want to improve it to AL level.
It would be nice to meet you through Zoom meeting or Google Meet once or twice a week! I can teach you Korean. For instance, I can teach you real expressions I use with my friends or we can also talk about difficult topics and so on.
I like traveling and lived in Sweden as an exchange student last semester. I am also interested in social welfare and human rights issues. After graduation, I want to work in marketing and e-commerce business. I also like K-pop🎶
Dm me if you are interested!

I am a medical student and need to go on different rotations to different communities. I am on a communtiy right now where they put me in the basement of an elderly couples home. Its a lovely home with a nice backyard. However, 1 year ago, another student was attacked by the couples daughters dog. I knew this and asked not to be placed in the home. The school did not let me and promised they did an investigation and the dog was no longer at the home. I emailed them multiple times saying I cannot live with a dog. Well to my suprise, i come home today and hear barking! The old couple thought that when I was at work, they should leave the dog at home! The worst part is, the dog was inside the upper part of the home which had a direct, non locked entry to the basement! I called them and they told me oh not to worry the dog is harmless and to not be scared. I am so upset and left the home with none of my belongings! My coordinator is not taking this seriously. I cant relax or even go home now that i know these crazy people will bring a giant doberman home WHO HAS ATTACKED OTHER STUDENTS! What would you do?

(F24) Some bg: I live with my boyfriend and in-laws. I love them, they’re a great family and I fully intend on marrying my bf. He knows I hate children, and on our first date we discussed it. I’ve had several nervous breakdowns where I imagine him changing his mind on me(been together almost 3 years), and he’s talked me through it, promising me that he is fulfilled with having me in his life. Now, I know he respects me, I feel it. I think he understands why I am like I am. My grandma, for example, did NOT want many children but ended up with five. “God will decide how many” my grandpa told her. This explains why my grandma was never that involved with us, and I absolutely do not resent her. I actually really admire and respect her (she passed around 2009).
I was made to be a little therapist for my mother and her issues with my problematic older sister, to the point where I, as a young child would wonder why my mom couldn’t just force my sister to go to therapy. “she doesnt want to” well no shit, but your’e the adult???? I also have a memory of my mother crying in her studio when I was around 12, we were home alone and she told me “I wish I hadn’t given up my career to have kids. You should wait” Wow thanks mom! I love knowing im a source of pain for you 💕 Not going to give mental problems later on (I’ve had major depressive disorder for 12 years now). I even remember demoting Ariel from my favourite princess when she became a mom in the second movie because I thought it immediately made her lame as fuck 😭🤧
Anyways.
Our neighbours have 4 kids. I have NEVER seen their parents, but they always play outside on OUR LAWN. My in-laws are very sweet people, I can tell they get a bit annoyed, but they like kids, and they don’t want to discourage children from being outside instead of on the internet. I agree with this, and even though they fuck up the grass playing soccer, its not really MY house and I, personally am not expected to maintain the lawn, so idgaf.
I even feel a little bad for them. Last halloween, they looked extremely bored. My MIL and I went out to decorate the lawn, and all of them crossed over to ask if they could help us with the decorations. My initial reaction (in my head) is 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮. But even though I dislike children, I am not mean to them and I don’t let it show. How will you say no in from of your MIL without looking like an evil witch? They helped us. I ended up hanging out AND supervising (parents nowhere to be found, knives, etc around us (they ended up carving the pumpkins my MIL bought for us to carve) with these 4 kids for around 3 hours. In my mind, I was like “this us my good deed for the year” LMAO.
Anyways. Back to the lawn issue. They play soccer and often kick the ball into the backyard. Now, I’m not a fucking witch and understand that it happens, but they got into the habit of playing on the lawn while waiting for the school bus in the morning. Whenever they kick the ball into the yard, they obviously panic since the bus is coming and proceed to bang and kick on the front door while clicking the door bell 7000009 times. I put up with it around 10 times, until one day, I told my bf that we should just pop the ball and tell them our dog got to it first. Sorry! Happens! He originally laughed and said “Yeah we should” The next day it happened again. “Can I pop the ball?”
“You cant just pop their ball, baby, its kind of mean”
I went on to talk about how when I was little I wouldn’t even think of ringing the bell to a house in the morning because my parents would’ve been pissed at me. My parents were actually very strict with me growing up which I guess solidified my CF status as I now have 0 tolerance for misbehaviour. Other things I’d like to point out is that they are aware that we have a dog, and enjoy pissing him the fuck off by banging on the window to get his attention. So we’ve gotten a beautiful dog loosing his shit wake up alarm along the doorbell, rung as if someone is desperately trying to run away from a serial killer by seeking asylum in the house, but no, its just kids wanting their stupid ass ball back before they get picked up for school.
When I told my bf that they cant just keep doing that because its FUCKING RUDE, he said:
“I think you’re just a little intolerant of children, babe” NO SHIT??? I HATE KIDS DUDE!!! Then he said something that really pissed me off.
“How would you feel if our dog was poisoned by a neighbour because its barking uncontrollably. It’s not a correct reaction.”
FIRST OF ALL: MY DOG IS NOT ALLOWED TO BARK UNCONTROLLABLY. I HAVE TRAINED IT TO NOT DO THAT BECAUSE I HATE CONFRONTATION. If kids are coming to terrorize him in HIS OWN PORCH, I am not going to yell at him for that. But that’s irrelevant. Whenever my dog is out on the yard, there is NO BARKING UNCONTROLLABLY because its annoying as fuck at ANY time of day and I ACTUALLY CONSIDER my neighbours.
Second. how the fuck is that equivalent to the situation?
“Are you serious???? You’re comparing someone KILLING my animal to me popping a fucking soccer ball that’s worth no more than $20????????????? And how dare you fucking say something like that when I literally BABYSAT THEM ON HALLOWEEN. I have been NOTHING but nice to them”
I even stop smoking on my porch if they come out out of consideration even though I LIVE HERE, not them.
We actually had a bit of fight over it but then he apologized to me over the comparison. “Yeah, I guess it’s not the same, sorry, I just couldn’t think of something else to compare it to, but you cant just pop the ball without at least trying to talk to them first”
Tbh in my mind, tough world. Not every stranger is going to be nice about teaching random kids a lesson. Its not my responsibility to play mombie to some RANDOM ASS kids. but then I started feeling like an evil witch. It does make more sense to talk to them first.
the argument and convo ended with me apologizing to him. “you’re right. I’m sorry for saying this.” And I do feel ashamed of suggesting to pop their ball. I guess my real bone is with the parents, but I cant help the fact that I hate children. I decided from now on that any comment on the kids its over. But will I also refuse to interact with them beyond a greeting. I am nobody’s free babysitter EVER AGAIN.

It was late November 2015. I was 51 and one year past my divorce (which was not related to cheating) when I became so disgusted with myself that I knew I had to pick myself up. I was alone for the long holiday, and although I wasn't really sad or lonely, I felt empty. However, I had some extra time to consider how does one picks oneself up.
I made a list of potential New Year resolutions that were individually realistic. Some were really easy and stupid like “have your chipped front tooth fixed” and “take & post a selfie”. These smaller tasks fueled my confidence and provided the energy boosts needed to tackle the more challenging resolutions, like starting a weight loss challenge at work.
Skip ahead to March 4th 2016. I had a Friday lunch date with a married client that I met two weeks prior. Of course, it was not a real date, as I wouldn't impose myself on a married woman, nor would I risk my career or my ego, especially if the signals she seemed to be sending were just a product of my wishful thinking, stimulated by checking off some boxes on the list on the fridge dated 1/1/16.
The following is my thank you note to her for a great date as well as for helping me check a lot of boxes over the past few weeks. I sent her a link to it as it is in the form of my first ever online post (one more check box, YAY!).
************************************** We were only 1 minute in the hotel room; her jeans in a ball on the floor. She sat at the foot of the king sized bed and backed her way into the stack of oversized pillows lining the headboard. I followed as If attached by a leash. I landed somewhat awkwardly on my elbows between her legs finding myself squarely face to face with the tattoo. This tattoo, that she so shamelessly revealed just a week ago, the same tattoo that has been scorching my thoughts and the same tattoo that she promised me complete and unlimited access.
It’s been a long time since I have been here or anywhere near as nice as here, between the legs of a beautiful woman 20 years younger and far out of my league....even when I was her age. I took a second to drink in my fortunate situation. I admired her panties. All day I was so hoping she would wear those same panties as before. She didn’t. These were different but similar enough. The delicate lace and silk perfectly framed the tattoo on her hip. She did not disappoint. There is a fruity jasmine scent, intoxicatingly pleasant, and oh so subtle. It is not here. I’ll need to find its source. I want more of that. (I remember being thoroughly impressed and thinking to myself “This girl is good”.)
I briefly forgot that there was someone else here besides myself and the tattoo. How long have I been down here perving out on her? I wondered. I hesitated, and then apologetically looked up half expecting a well-deserved snarky glare. What I found instead was an ear to ear compassionate smile followed by a tilt of her head and an arch of her eyebrow that said “I like that you like that, carry on”.
With confidence restored that we were still in sync, I adjusted myself so that I was in a good position to thoroughly enjoy what I came to do. I kissed the tattoo hard and gave it a good lick. The challenge for today was “Taste the Tattoo” and I won. I did a small celebration gesture that she rolled her eyes to. I continued to kiss and taste all around until every freckle got some personal attention. As I got to the upper most reaches of her inner thighs, I looked up to check in as I was about to cross a new line. For the first time she was not looking back at me but had laid her head back deep into the pillows, her eyes closed. I took that as a yes!
I marveled at the softness of her inner thighs on my cheeks as I gently placed kisses up one and down the other. As I kissed her through her panties, her hips responded by arching her up in anticipation of each next kiss. Before long, those wonderful panties were just getting in the way. I stopped and pondered whether to just slide them aside or remove them or to risk interrupting the mood and attempt a complete wardrobe removal as we were both still fully dressed except for her jeans.
I didn’t have to ponder long as she knew what she wanted and it was not any of the options I was considering. Still lying back with her head semi submerged within the pillows, she held out her arms as if gesturing for a hug. I moved up her body and when I got close enough she pulled me in for a kiss.
Unbelievably, this was our first kiss. I found it odd that we had not kissed yet and was grateful she thought to stop for a moment to have a kiss. We kissed some and then I settled in to thoroughly enjoy it. However, the kiss to come was not the kiss I was expecting or a kiss I was ready for. It was a kiss that could ruin everything.
Technically, there was one kiss before. It was an awkward kiss 5-10 minutes earlier just after we entered the room. All in about the time it took for the hotel door to close behind us, she tossed her bag on the sofa, had her jewelry off and set on the nightstand while I emptied my pockets and silenced my phone.
We approached each other, and as we met I was looking at the place where the tattoo would be under her shirt and behind her jeans. They were higher cut and could not be pulled down that far to get to the tattoo. They would have to come off. To just reach in and do that would be an uncharacteristically bold move for me. But I did have unquestionable permission to have the tattoo in any way that I desired. I reached down with both hands and took hold of the waistband on each side of the button. I didn’t see her simultaneous move in at me at first. Just as I felt the metal of the button, I felt her reaching her arms around my neck and realized that she was tip toeing up for a kiss. It caught me unexpectedly and I think it showed on my face that it did. I tried to recover and moved back in to accept her lips on to mine but it turned into an awkward peck.
I scolded myself for the selfish moment and just as I was trying to formulate a recovery gesture, she, without missing a beat, gently dismissed my fumble and gracefully restored the momentum. “Oh” she said with surprise in her tone, while looking down at my fingers ready to release her button. Then, in a more playfully quizzical tone, she followed with “I guess you want to get right to THAT then” and she stepped back away from me where I lost grip of her jeans. She replaced my fingers on the button with hers, paused, maybe waiting for me to look up to her eyes, which I finally did, then flashed me a devilishly naughty smile and pulled her jeans down to the top of her boots. She then proudly announced, mostly to herself, “You really are going to let me have fun with you, aren’t you!” seemingly shedding any doubts in her mind that I would go through with this. She then sat at the foot of the all white linen king sized bed, removed her boots and jeans and backed her way into the stack of oversized pillows lining the headboard.
Back to our kiss. The kiss that from now on I will reflect on as our first kiss
Responding to her hug gesture, I moved up her body and when I got close enough she pulled me in for a kiss. I didn’t flub it this time, but again, I didn’t know it was coming, and prolly I should have. It took only ten seconds to adjust and synchronize to each other’s kissing form. It was warm and succulent and sweet and was wonderful. I really was surprised at how nice this felt. I don’t recall married kissing being this enjoyable. I remember saying to myself “Damn, this girl can kiss”.
I was on top, in a position that wasn’t going to be comfortable for as long as I wanted this to last, so I backed away to reposition but she held tight indicating she didn’t want me to move. I gestured at the space next to her and she relented. We then settled in facing one another side by side; her smile confirming that this was a nice place. We were hugging and kissing, pulling each other closer and looking into each other’s eyes. Our legs intertwined and our hands were roaming, but not really in a sexual way, more like trying to make as much body contact as possible. I couldn’t get over how I felt so much more familiarity than there was. What I did not recognize at the time was that this was the physical intimacy catching up to match the virtual intimacy we have been sharing online.
Soon the intensity escalated and it was getting very hot very quickly. The intensity and passion that was building was not something I ever expected or planned for. This was the rare kind of making out where accidental hickeys happen and inadvertent “Oh god I love you’s” slip out. Not that either of those was going to happen but my safe, non-committal no emotional strings encounter was getting too hot to not risk introducing emotions into the situation. And that could happen.
At some point I was no longer kissing her lips and mouth but was kissing her.
I broke contact to catch a breath and maybe get some control of the fire. We stopped for a moment to breathe and cool off. She slid herself on top and I rolled over on to my back to accommodate her. She looked at me with eyes that appeared to agree that it was a good time to slow it down. She closed her eyes and she seemed to enjoy that I was rubbing her back with both hands that I slipped up under her shirt. She presented her lips for me to kiss and then her cheek for the same, then neck and ear and lips again. Her long hair had fallen down around us, surrounding our faces like a vail creating a tiny private and even more intimate space. Inside here it was darker and the temperature and humidity rose quickly. We were breathing each other’s breath between kisses. All of a sudden I noticed that Jasmine was back. Not subtle this time, but deep and fulfilling. I loved it.
This fragrance stuff really works. The next morning just after waking up, I caught an unexpected subtle whiff on my skin under my watch and my heart jumped by 20 beats. Who’d a thunk it possible?
The passion was building again but since I was aware and cautious now, I wanted to enjoy and go with it. I thought I could keep it measured and I did for a while as it does take two. The kissing slowed to half and so did the passion. However, the rest of our bodies started to make up for it and the touching evolved into the sexual. She was still on top of me and my hands were exploring and squeezing on her panty covered butt, then under and in those panties. Her body contact became more targeted as she was now very deliberately mashing her fun stuff all over my fun stuff. The kissing subsided but replaced with the audible accompaniment of her squeaks, moans and quicker breathing timed with her mashing I was no longer in control. The passion was under control but being replaced with something intimately erotic.
I abruptly escaped by gently rolling her over on to her back then getting up and knelling between her legs. I took a moment to catch my breath and wanted to say “That is getting WAY too intimate. Can we get naked and have sex now?” However, I tugged at her panties and said something dorky like “can we take these off now?” Yes, we were still both fully dressed except for her jeans
Since I am the kind of guy who doesn’t kiss and tell, (well, only tells about the kisses) and this is not the forum for it, I am not going to talk about the sexy part over the next 30 minutes. I will tell you that we did finally each get ourselves unceremoniously naked and then the sexy part finishes where it started, with me finishing all over that beautiful tattoo. Of course I did a small celebration gesture that she rolled her eyes to.
*************************************************
Cuddle time. Our snapchats leading up to this encounter were heavy on the anticipation and buildup but didn’t contain a lot of detail about or define what stuff would happen during our “fun” time together.
Me: “Ok then, tomorrow lunchtime, I’m in.”
Her: “OMG Are you saying that you are REALLY going to come here and let me have fun with you?
Me: “I’m REALLY going to come there. I am REALLY going to fully inspect that tattoo, as well as the neighborhood where the tattoo lives.
Her: “I so can’t wait to get my hands on you.”
Me: “WOW….Now that this is real and going to happen, my heart is beating so hard that I am afraid that people can see it through my shirt.”
Her: “You have to tell me, are you being SERIOUS right now? You can’t say this and not show up. It’s OK if you are teasing, but you have to say so that you are now….not tomorrow!!!”
Me: “I am SERIOUS and I PROMISE I will be there. You have gotten to me, BAD. All week with the way we have been talking..err..I mean snapchatting; I can’t get you out of my head. Then today with those tattoo snaps you sent; I can’t get up from my desk. LOL…..NOT kidding NOT teasing.”
Her: “I am BAD, and I like having FUN. I am going to have so much fun with you!!!”
************************************************
The only specific things I recall us acknowledging we would do with our “fun” was tattoo inspection and cuddle time. So as soon as cleanup from sexy time was done we both knew what time it was. For me, as good as the inspection was the cuddle was better. Just as during the sexy time we changed things up and we got to cuddle many ways. We started face to face full contact hugging just like our kissing time with some but less kissing and more being in the moment.
We were still hot (temperature hot now) and sweaty so that didn’t last long. She turned over and we spooned some. I was still craving full body contact but it was still so hot that we had to separate a bit. No contact spooning if you will, with just my one hand caressing her exposed shoulder and arm and hip with an occasional butt cheek squeeze.
It was about that time that we had our first ever personal conversation. On the project there were lots of flirty banter and some personal stories but almost always as part of a group. We had many phone calls and a few project meetings with just us two but never did the conversation get personal. Until now the only personal talks (Chats) we have had have been via Snapchat. I don’t recall who asked the first question of the other, but it was like a dam broke and we started filling in the details of our lives, our feelings and all the things we chatted about.
There was a lot to tell and we were giddy like children (child) best friends re-meeting on the first day of school catching each other up on our summer vacations. At one point she had something compelling to say and faster than a fish out of water she flipped back to facing me so she could gesture with her hand and punctuate through her expression. She landed close. Closer that I think she meant to at first and just a bit awkward I felt. But I was wrong. She didn’t back up an inch. I really couldn’t see her hand but I could feel that she was using it in the 2 to 4 inches of space between our chests. Her face was right into mine. She would lean back or up just an inch when she wanted me to see her eyes or smile or frown for emphasis, then settle back into the pillows with our foreheads or noses or cheeks touching. It was the farthest thing in the world from awkward.
If there was a recurring theme for the day it would be HOT; in every sense and synonym of the word. Again, it was getting too sweaty to remain that close. This time she broke contact to catch a breath and escape the heat. We stopped talking for a moment to breathe and cool off. She sat up, crawled to, and grabbed the (sexy time) clean-up towel that was at the far foot of the bed. She turned around so that she was kneeling facing me as she brought the towel up to her chest to absorb the beads and drips of sweat that had accumulated. As I watched, I again thought of my great fortune to be right here right now feeing what I feel and seeing the beauty before me. She pushed the towel down across her belly button and it fell into her lap.
I observed the soft sunlight reflecting off the white sheets, the white towel, and the white pillows bathed her in perfect light creating just a hint of subtle shadows in all of the right places on her angelic white skin. I started consciously taking photos with my mind. I wanted to capture every nuance and note every detail. I don’t know if I will ever be here again.
I don't recall if my next realization was comprehended in a split second, or if it took ten seconds to develop, but a terrible fear washed over me that for the first time in forever, she was beyond my touch and her next action might be to look for her panties or go jump in the shower. We were after all, deep into the second hour of her hour long lunch.
As I was preparing myself for the pain soon to come, I couldn't understand where it was coming from. I had the BEST DAY EVER, but I felt like an exhausted child who just watched the Disney fireworks finally and knows what that means.
What the hell? What is happening in my head? I don't even know this girl, let alone have feelings for her beyond she made my dick feel good at lunchtime.....and, I guess my ego is healthier since I met her. I have not cheated on my diet since she turned on the flattery the week before. I was sure it had to be somehow manipulative, but I hoped that if only a 5% chance it wasn't AND she liked me AND her mom was single, made it easy to keep my snacking to peas & carrots.
My self esteem has been skyrocketing too, as I have been checking a lot of boxes on my refrigerator. LOL, so many in fact, that I have been adding things to the list after they happened that I didn't dare put on it as they seemed pretty unobtainable just two months before. "Get sent a nude selfie, check. Have the confidence to send one back, check. Take a hottie 32 year old client out to lunch and fuck her brains out, check.
Did I just discover that I like girls who make my self esteem feel good more than I like girls who make my dick feel good?
Shit, that wasn't even on my top ten list. Smart, funny, pretty, Kind, whatever is the opposite of bitchy, fun in bed, boobs and/or an age appropriate figure is always nice, curious, someone you can trust to see you at your worst. Before today, "genuinely being a boost & support of my self esteem" was 10th.
Then BAM. I was hit in the face with the towel. Damn girl, I hope you can handle a spanking because I was just on the verge of making an interpersonal discovery of some importance over here, I thought to myself. I noticed the slightest or possibly mock look of concern on her face as she asks "you're not having any regrets or second thoughts over there are you?". I reflexively replied "Oh god no". Then with some emphasys, I continued "today was incredible. I REALLY needed this and you were PERFECT, thank you".
Again she did not disappoint. She crawled to the top of the bed on the far side and then to me over the pillows and laid down at a 90 angle to me on her stomach parallel to the headboard with her head nearly right on top of mine. She propped herself up a bit on her elbows and we kissed deeply. It was nice.
I made a few attempts to shake my internal drama, get out of my head and get back to my goal of picking my self up after my divorce. Oops, I mean back to pleasing a beautiful woman who clearly was not yet done having her fun with me. The emotional rollercoaster ride over the last hours, days & weeks completely blew out my brains ability to generate or absorb endorphins or whatever happens in a situation like this. Shortly after we had joked around while showering together, kissing goodbye (just like when I kissed my endorphin killing ex wife) and going on back to our separate lives.
I drove the hour or so home, brought my dog to the park and had healthiest and happiest cry I ever had. I don't know what I was feeling or why, but I was feeling again and it brought me much relief and contentedness.
We texted a bit that evening confirming that we each enjoyed our time together and agreeing that we should do that again sometime. The next day, Saturday, her husband took their 5 & 8 year old sons somewhere for the day. We checked in with each other again over text and chatted some about our lunch but the spark or excitement we usually had was not the same.
I reached out again that evening and asked if she was in a place that we could talk on the phone. She resisted but did call me (our first personal phone call). It took her 24 hours to let her cry bubble up. It turns out that our emotional experiences were remarkably similar, albeit from different perspectives.
She much later reveals that she felt emotionally dead for her hubby. She evolved to a bad place where she wanted fuck anyone but her hubby but still fucked him twice a week and had to appear happy to do it, killing her brain chemistry.
We rode the best and worst roller coaster in the world for 6 or 8 months....until the the Cocaine eventually wore off or the unobtainable became obtainable and it wasn't the the same rush for either of us any longer. She was the closest thing to a drug addiction that I ever felt. I never wanted anyone or anything like I wanted her.
My hope is that this story helps one person answer the question "Why the hell would he/she risk giving up their wonderful & loving family for an hour with a douchebag or a skank?"

I know all this will sound like the old adage: to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but recently, I've been pondering about the weapon used by Imu on the kingdom of Lulusia and its effects. We've all noticed the similarity of the hole left on Lulusia to the Enies Lobby's one, the only difference being that Enies Lobby still has a portion of the island remaining. (There is even an iron gate around the hole, so the waters there, are not that deep.) This led me to wonder what could have created such a peculiar situation, and looking at the map of Enies Lobby from above, it occurred to me that what is present at Enies Lobby might be the 'shadow' of Joy Boy. To elaborate: in the past, the weapon might have been used against Joy Boy, or perhaps Joy Boy sacrificed himself using his body as a shield to protect the inhabitants of that island.
If you notice, the island has a central body and two small portions on the sides; I believe the central portion could be the shadow of Joy Boy's torso or perhaps a shield, and the lateral ones his legs and feet. One of the land isthmuses that connected the central part to one of the lateral ones must have given way over the years.
Bonus Theory 1: The central whirlpool might have been caused by that weapon used in the open sea, perhaps against Joy Boy's ship.
Bonus Theory 2: Blackbeard's fruit makes him immune to this weapon, which is why he was desperately seeking it.