Chapter 1
“Ms. Burner am I boring you”. Lacy was awakened by her Teacher spouting off in her usual rant on how people never seem to pay attention in her class. “No Mrs. Hansen, I just dozed off.” Lacy hadn't remembered falling asleep. She tended to do that a lot. She would enter her mind and drift off into a space where she didn't have any thoughts, just an empty spot in her head. That was how she would fall asleep so easily. Her friends and family thought she was narcoleptic and that she needed medication, but Lacy knew that it was just something she had always been able to do. Time seemed to tick on and on in that soul sucking classroom as Mrs. Hansen droned on and on about some subject that Lacy would never need. She felt the sleep creeping in on her but fought it as another strike would end her up in the principal's office and another speech from her father on how she needed to focus in class if she ever wanted to make something of herself. Just as Lacy was about to fall asleep the bell rang making her jump. Lacy was the first to get up before she was stopped. “Lacy, can we talk for a second?” Lacy hated Mrs. Hanse's voice. It always sounded like she felt like she was more important than everyone else. “Lacy, I noticed that you haven't been completing the optional assignments I give yall, and the assignments you need to do you do the bare minimum. It's your senior year, you need to start taking your school work more seriously if you want to get into a good college.” Lacy had already heard this speech before and this probably wouldn't be the last time that she heard it. “I was just really tired today, Mrs. Hansen. I promise it won't happen again.” Lacy turned to walk away from her teacher. She used to get in trouble for doing that but lately it seems that her teachers have gotten used to it. Lacy hated interaction, if she could find a way to not talk to someone she would look for it. It wasn't hard for Lacy to be alone. It's not like she liked being alone, she just didn't mind it. Lacy left the classroom, the only thing on her mind was what she was gonna do this weekend. She usually just sits in her room and listens to music, but recently she started going to the park and would watch the ducks and people. She liked the park because it made her feel like things were going on outside of her life. “Hey Lace wait up” The voice was Collin, a guy who was very obviously interested in Lacy. He would call her Lace which annoyed her but she decided it was better to ignore him than start a conversation she didn't want to have. Lacy wasn't interested in Collin but she liked having someone around. “Do you wanna go to the overpass? Some other people are having a party there.” Lacy wouldn't usually go to things like this but this time she felt something pushing her to go to this party. “Sure, I just need to go home and change first”.
Chapter 2
Lacy walked through the front door of her house to a tv turned up too loud and her father passed out in front of it. From an outside view on Lacy you would look at her and assume that her family life was lacking, but Lacy’s father took care of her and loved her more than life itself. Lacy viewed her father as the best person on the face of the earth. After the loss of her mother, Lacy’s father took up a second job which caused him to sleep more. Lacy didn't mind, she just wanted her father happy. Lacy changed into a black dress and black leather boots and left to go to the underpass. While she was leaving her father awoke. “Lacy I didn't know that you were home.” Lacy's father was a burly man with a beard. The kind of person you want walking with you at night but in reality he was a gentle giant. He worked at a local hardware store and at night he would work as a gas station attendant. He was a hard working man that made Lacy feel as if she could be doing more. “Yeah dad I was just about to head to a party with some friends. I'll be back around nine.” Lacy wanted to stay in with her dad and watch movies but she knew that her father would have wanted her to socialize with other people her age. “You be careful, I can't lose you too.” The sentence came out of nowhere and Lacy didn't know how to respond before her father fell back to sleep. Lacy left the house questioning herself if she should stay or go. Lacy decided that her father would rather her go than stay and pity him. As Lacy was walking away from the porch she noticed a van parked across the street. She chose to ignore it and continue on to the overpass. Along the way she noticed that the van was following her. Lacy became worried and pulled out her phone to call her father. Suddenly Lacy was struck on the side of her head. “Grab her legs. The Shepard is gonna love this find. We gotta get this girl in the hole right away.”
Lacy drifted in and out of consciousness. The last thing she saw was a hole that had a dark aura around it.
Chapter 3
Lacy awoke to a dark hallway. She didn’t notice the building but could hear a crunching sound coming from an indescribable location. Lacy stood up and began walking forward not knowing where she was going. The Hallway felt like it had been going on forever. “Lacy” The voice sounded deep and demonic. Lacy thought that she was hearing things. “Lacy” footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, seeming to come closer and closer. “Lacy” A face peaked out of the hallway. Illuminated by the dimming lights of the hallway. The face was jagged, its eyes were sunken in and unnaturally open to the point where it looked like it was in pain. Its hair was tattered as if it had single strands poking out of its skin and its complexion was a ghoulish grey. The most notable feature was a smile that stretched its entire face. “Lacy” The creature looked at Lacy and stepped out of the shadows revealing a long lengthy body. Its arms were long and slender as if it had not eaten in a long time. Its legs were lengthy making it above seven feet tall. It had only a pair of underwear on and Lacy could see its ribs that looked as if they were trying to break out of its skin. The creature began running towards Lacy, smiling and eyes widening as if seeing Lacy was the best thing it had ever seen. Its teeth were normal except for the blood tint they had. Its neck looked crooked and longer than any human Lacy had ever seen. Without hesitation Lacy turned and ran down the hallway not looking back but could hear the creature getting closer and closer. She could almost feel its hands getting closer to her neck, fearing what the creature would do to her if it caught her. She noticed a door on her left which she could have sworn was not there before. She knew that if she tried to get to open the door now the creature would catch her. Lacy kept running counting the amount of lights she passes to make sure she remembers the location of the door. “Lacy” The creature kept saying her name as if it knew who she was. Lacy couldn't think about that now she had to focus on finding a way to lose the creature. Lacy was running out of energy and decided she had to make a desperate move. She dropped her body and turned around dodging under the beast's arms as it reached for her. The beast ended up having too much momentum causing it to stumble. Lacy took the opportunity to burst into a sprint counting the lights until she reached the door. The creature was still behind her but she had made some distance from making it stumble. She opened the door and closed it behind her. Disturbingly the creature tried to open the door as lacy locked it. It made no noise but continued calling her name. Lacy’s emotions caught up with her and she sat down and cried at her situation. Lacy allowed herself to feel hopeless for only a moment. She remembered her fathers words to her, “I can't lose you too”. Repeating these words in her head allowed Lacy to regain composure. She studied her surroundings realizing that she appeared to be in an apartment. The place was decrepit and looked as if it was abandoned. The furniture was ripped apart and spread among the apartment. It looked like someone had destroyed everything in a fit of passion. Lacy walked through a door which led to the main room. In the room was a tape recorder on a bed. Lacy picked it up and pressed play.
If you are hearing this then you have found yourself in a predicament that could not have been foreseen. I feel for you for I have found myself in the same situation. My name is Professor Crawford. I have yet to understand what this place is exactly all I know is that the being that chased me into this room is still out there. I can hear it against the door. It continues to say my name as if it is trying to coerce me out. I have never seen this being in my existence. It should have no recollection of who I am but yet it continues to say my name. This room has no other exits that I can find. I have no choice but to confront the being outside. May god have mercy on my soul.
Lacy looked around the apartment, checking every corner of the space not finding anything. She entered the kitchen and found a kitchen block that had a single kitchen knife in it. Lacy felt a force telling her to take the knife. She brushed it off and continued looking around. Abruptly the creature began beating on the door saying Lacy’s name. Just as the creature began banging on the door the tape recorder began playing again.
I do not know what this thing is. But it has one feature that can not be ignored. Thus I have dubbed this creature.
The Smiling Man
Chapter 4
Lacy ran for the knife that had tried to coerce her into grabbing it before. Just as the smiling man had broken down the door she grabbed the knife. The smiling man looked at lacy. Its head is covered in blood due to it slamming it into the door. “What are you? What do you want?” The man said nothing and continued walking towards Lacy. “LACY” As it was walking towards her Lacy held the knife in her hand. Determined to live she walked towards it holding the knife out towards the man hoping to scare it off. Suddenly the man burst towards her, its eyes widening and its mouth opening into a horrible smile. Lacy plunged the knife towards it, hitting it in the chest when it stuck its teeth into Lacy’s shoulder. Lacy’s adrenaline was too high to feel the pain so she pulled the knife out and pushed away from the man. She rushed out of the room hearing it running after her. She continued running hearing the creature say her name until she found a corner. Realizing what was happening she used the new found corridors to her advantage. The long hallway was turning into a maze of corridors. She managed to lose the creature but could still hear it saying her name. Mapping the maze out she maneuvered around the man. Sneaking up behind him she pulled the knife up and plunged it down into the man's shoulder. The man didn't make a noise instead peeling over in what seemed like pain. Lacy took the knife out and a sudden burst of rage stabbed the man again. Lacy continued stabbing the man over and over until it stopped moving. Lacy slumped against the wall, knife in hand, covered in blood and terrified of what she just did. She peered to her left and saw a hole. The hole was floating and had an aura around it. Lacy noticed the hole as the one the men put her into before she woke up in the hallway. Lacy contemplated if she should go into the hole. She had nowhere else to go so she stepped into the hole.

The following article may help you to explain what's Hi-Res music to your CD freinds as some of them may be mis-led into believe that "Hi-Res is useless" from information they got on the internet (especially from "audio science" discussion forums)

source: "768kHz for digital music sampling? Can you hear 384kHz? You're crazy... "(no-pseudo-science.blogspot.com)

Do I want to hear up to 384kHz? LOL... of course not 😂 768kHz sampling is for something else...

Hi-Res Audio DAC

The number one mis-understanding of why using Hi-Res music is:

"why we need to to hear frequencies that fall in the ultrasonic range (i.e. higher than 22kHz for most people)???"

If you asked similar question or answered someone's question like below, then you are pretty much belong to a group of people who don't know what's Hi-Res music is.

Hi-Res music is, in fact, to help your DAC to reconstruct better audio output for the audible range (yes, it is for the frequencies BELOW 22kHz with 768kHz sampling)...

(It is a real dialogue as I just saw it today in an Audio Science forum)

Someone asked:

Many DACs descriptions enhance in capital letters 32/768 kHz resolution. Is there any domain when such a resolution may be justified?

Other (more experienced member) replied:

Can you think of a circumstance where you'd even want a dynamic range of over 190dB and/or a frequency response up to 384kHz?

Apparently the Gray Moth can hear up to about 300kHz (gotta get away from those bats with that pesky echolocation thing), so there is that to consider if you want to record those sounds, but otherwise it doesn't seem to be useful for listening to music.

Sorry, I would like to help to debunk these misleading information on the spot in the discussion but I couldn't as I was stopped from replying that thread. I could only help here.

The wrong answer shown above is the number one mis-leading answer in an attempt to kill Hi-Res music (especially for the people who asked such question have limited knowledge about digital music / signal sampling).... I hope that guy won't really take the wrong answer from a supposed-to-be objective audio science based web site as a fact without checking more by himself.

Ok, then you may ask "then what Hi-Res do for us?" It is simple, let's see what it does first:

1. Over-sampling (ie. sample the original music signal more frequently within a second

2. More bits for bit-depth (i.e. 24 or even 32 instead of 16 bit)What are the benefits?

Over sampling helps to reconstruct final better audio signal from a DAC

1. Oversampling does help to reconstruct better audio signal as it improves anti-aliasing performance, increase resolution, and reduce noise.

2. In terms of sampling frequency, "Hi-Res" music (anything higher than 44k) is an example of oversampling (as in theory, only 44kHz is required). It happens during the ADC process. From point 1 above, it would help to regenerate better audio signal, hence, better music.

3. In terms of bit depth, "Hi-Res" music use more than 16 bit. It helps to reduce Quantization#Noise) error. it would help to regenerate better audio signal, hence, better music.

4. The purpose for using "Hi-Res" input is not for its ability to reconstruct signal outside the audible range. It is just a by-product. Yes, based on sampling theory, we can use 768k sampling to reconstruct signal with frequencies up to 384k but again, this is not what we needed.

5. Hi-Res industry used the by-product I mentioned in point 4 above as a marketing material when they initially pushed for SACD. It caused people who knows about the audible frequency range to consider Hi-Res music as snake oil (but it is not snake oil for other reasons stated above)

I don't want to go too deep about all the benefits here as it is extremely technical. If you really want to know. Let me know, see if I can help further.

(updated 29 April 2024, I saw this on facebook: Hi-Res Audio Hi Res: Why higher sample rates sound better and what you can do about it Facebook )

p.s.: Sigh... looks like one more guy (who asked the question above) was somehow convinced by the misleading info....

=========== Follow up ===========

update 28 Apri 2024:

that person was eventually banned for that thread as he was rising some concerns with his critical thinking. As stated in my other blog, "psueduo science hates critical thinking"; they cannot co-exist.

i don't even know what i expect from posting this here, but maybe writing it down will help.
in december of last year i matched with a guy on tinder. we had great conversations from the start and he was super sweet. back then, i was struggling a lot with my mental and physical health, since i suffer from 'generalized anxiety disorder' and dealt with dizziness for 3 months straight. after a few days of texting i opened up to him and complained about my symptoms. he asked a lot of questions about the things i was dealing with, told me how impressed he was by my self awareness and made it seem like he really cared.
after he told me he wasn't doing so well himself i offered to listen if he wanted to talk and he shared his story with me. a few months prior he had an accident while playing soccer. he broke his skull, had internal bleeding in his head and had been dealing with epileptic seizures ever since. i felt horrible after hearing his story, because obviously, he was going through a lot more than me, but i was the one complaining.
we texted for a few more days, talked about meeting up for drinks, but then stopped talking and just responded to eachothers IG stories here and there. 3 months later (march), we started chatting again..
he told me how happy he was, how much better he was doing and apologized for not reaching out. he also told me that he would still love to get to know me and i agreed on meeting up with him. even though he still had a lot going on, he wanted to know how i was doing and listened to my struggles all over again. we had another great conversation and both shared a lot with eachother.
somehow, the conversation stopped. a week later i wished him a happy birthday and a few days after that he responded "pretty girl" to my IG story but that was it. i didn't hear from him for 5 weeks.. i was a little disappointed and wondered why he never reached out, but just told myself that he's probably busy.
fast forward to 2 days ago.. i was about to go to bed and was scrolling through facebook when i saw a weird post of an "anti covid vaccine" profile. it was an article about a young soccer player who recently passed away from cardiac arrest and the description said "i"m not surprised so many young people pass away these days, because of the vaccine". i shook my head and was about to scroll past it, when i realized the guy looked familiar. (it was a picture of him in motion, while playing soccer so it was hard to tell)
after looking at the picture for a few seconds i realized who it was and immediately choked up. my first thought was 'omg i need to tell him that they used his picture for a nonsense article.' but then i started wondering if the article was real. i went to check the IG page of his soccer team but couldn't find anything, so i had hope the article was just a horrible joke. but just to make sure, i googled his name and there they were..
20-30 news paper articles, talking about the young soccer player who died out of nowhere at the beginning of april. he was already gone for 35 days by the time i found out.
i was staring at the ceiling, crying and just couldn't grasp it. 3 weeks before his death we were talking about meeting up and 13 days before, he responded to my IG story one last time.
i never got to meet him but my heart is still broken. i didn't have to talk to him in person to know what a great person he was. i was sure about that the day we started talking..
you may think i'm exaggerating by saying that i'm heart broken by his death, but he's the first person who passed away whom i talked to shortly before that. and the fact that it took me so long to realize he was gone just makes me even more sad. i even remember my dad telling me about a soccer player passing away back in april, but his name was never mentioned so i had no idea.
and now, i just have to live with the fact that he's gone. i don't want to complain too much, because if i'm heart broken by this, i can't even imagine how his family and friends are feeling, but it still hurts.
i guess the moral of this story is: live life to the fullest; reach out to the person you like; go on dates; tell the people around you how much they mean to me and just make the most out of everyday. at least that's what i will do from now on..

Posted this on raisedbynarcissists but I need more people to get mad at the situation like I have been.
As suggested I informed my extended family in the group chat that we're expecting twins. After the miscarriage I had last year, I am more than excited. We're already planning to buy a new car, make more bedrooms, etc.
.
And this mofo's reaction?
"Yeah, and how come there's no photos of me and your dad on your Facebook? I just noticed and that's not okay."
"Look at these elephants! Even them having to work!" (Bitch doesn't work. She's on her phone all day. I work my ass off, even if I'm pregnant.)
"Anyway, how many months now then? Nice pointy noses like their dad."
"Oh, it's been so difficult for me here. Retirement isn't easy."
.
Why the fuck do I even bother? I told this new in the family group chat. It was my foster dad at first who replied with congratulations then she said it was her using his phone to write. Bullshit.
Just pure bullshit and I'm raging now at the entitlement of this asshole.

As we all predicted this supposedly “new era” she’s going into (mind you to took her months to even get her daily schedule set with hella time in her hands and no real job) i feel like she’s gonna do a series of being a girl in her 20’s and how “hard” it is
There is so many other creators out there that I get inspired by because they have thing on their plate that’s relatable like daily life of a college student with a job . Or first generation student that is working towards her goals while balancing social life and school.
This, this is why she lost so many fans cuz she’s so out of touch Anyways i don’t care she lost followers and i hope more people realize she’s not the cookie cutter influencer she tries to be
Very bland very try hard very boring life behind those closed doors
Rhegan i know you watching this. Please think outside of the box for once and get off of chatGPT for your ideas and stupid segments names. Look into school or a job job . Like wtf is her goal in the next 5 years? I get it she’s young but most of us are tired of seeing this side of influencers who don’t do anything yet claim they are stressed, exhausted, and tired from their “hard” job. Like please go buss and serve a table

I'm not in any rush to get a new car. Although I do really want this one. Honestly it just looks like a perfect car. Even the base model has everything. Wireless android auto/car play, rear vents, smart entry, TSS 3.0, new infotainment looks great....and a hybrid for almost the same price price as a base accord LX which isn't a hybrid??? Incredible.
I'm hoping to get a great deal (I can be patient) on Facebook marketplace later on. I live in a densely populated area (DMV) and there are always cars on sale, you can't almost always find what you're looking for if you're patient enough.
I just don't see how anyone could choose the accord over this.

First Previous Next
​
{Sorry for the late post. I had some trouble with my scheduled summer semester pop up so I wasn't able to write this out as much as I wanted last weekend. Anyways, enjoy the domestic fluff of Damian and his newly expanded flock :) }
​
-----Damian-----
"The next one's simple. Say their name then (sit). Like this: Braxton, (sit)." As Damian said the command he raised his hand to around shoulder height and snapped. The Great Dane in question slowly sat with his usual amount of sass. Ree cooed in awe and Scales' eyes sparkled. Damian smiled as he pats the large dog's head with praise.
"(Good boy). Ok, you two. Your turns. Make sure to say the commands in English. I haven't taught them Common yet." He motioned to the dogs Damian picked for the two to learn the commands with. It took Damian a bit of trial and error figuring out what commands each dog knew and what ones had different commands for the same motion. Then it took even longer to retrain them to all follow the same commands. He kept in mind the 'specialized' commands for a few of the dogs and didn't try teaching them to the whole group. Ree tried the command he was teaching them first, his dog being Diesel.
"Trii-cheiu, (sit)." Ree raised his wing-arm, though he couldn’t snap he still did the gesture. The boxer he was talking to blankly tilted his head. Damian chuckled and helped out the bird, knowing they all tend to have problems pronouncing new words without a chirp to them.
"You pronounced his name wrong, he doesn't know you're talking to him. It's more like 'Dee-sell'. The 's' is sharp enough it is almost pronounced as a 'z'." Ree practiced a few times as Scales took her try. She pronounced her dog's name a bit slow, but it was recognizable.
"D-ing-oh, (sit)." The stocky dog hesitated, glancing at Damian for a few seconds, but eventually plopped down then panted in a smile imitation. Scales' tail wagged violently, and she wordlessly cooed and trilled happily. Dingo didn't yet understand that was praise so Damian jumped in really quick to let her know she did good.
"Good girl, Dingo! Good girl!" He made sure to over exaggerate his excitement and made wide happy gestures before smothering the dog in pets and scratches. Dingo goes wild. She jumps up, bounces around a few times, then bolts into excited zoomies. A few of the other dogs joined in on the zoomies. Ree tried again on his command.
"Dee-zell, (sit)." The boxer's cropped ears perked and he promptly sat. Before Damian could, Ree copied his bigwing's previous praising and flared his wings. "Good! Good boy!" He praised, overly happy. Diesel's whole body perked up and he jumped up, landed in a playbow, then spun a few times before joining in on the zoomies with a butt-tuck run when Damian smooched at him. Damian laughed at the zooming dogs and shuffled over to be closer to his chicks, just in case the dogs tried to do fly-bys.
"Good job, you two. We're almost completely through the basic commands. I didn't think we'd get through them this quickly." His chicks cooed, trilled, and wiggled happily at the praise. Damian chuckled and rubbed their feathered heads, making a few bits of baby-fluff fall off as he drew back. He played with the few bits stuck to his fingers and watched his chicks play with the dogs as they started to wrestle. All of the dogs were bigger than them, if only slightly, but they were gentle when letting the chicks join in.
As they played he looked over them. They had changed a lot in the last month or so since the disaster of their first flying lesson. In that time, they had a few more lessons and were almost completely capable of flight, they still had a bit of supervision when they did though. They had lost almost all of their baby-fluff and their adult plumage was sported on the vast majority of their bodies. They still had to shed the last bits of fluff and a few of their baby-scales but that wouldn't take much longer. Damian was still taken with their coloring and patterns. And often found himself studying them over and over like he used to with their parents when he first got here.
Ree was a slightly grey-tinted shade of green with his scales slowly getting darker the higher they went. His stomach was a dirt brown color with a more red-ish clay spot on his chest. All his plumage was a light orage-ish brown color and he had speckles of more pastel green under his right eye and in a clump on his left jaw. His beak took the coloring of Blueberry's, a near-black color, but had the shape of Ruby's. His ears took after Violet's, long and pointed like a stretched fox's. His feathers and fur were more pressed down and made him look slimmer overall. His eyes changed from their baby brown-gold color to a beautiful sky blue.
Scales, on the other hand, had the coloring more towards a bumble bee (from what he remembered anyways). Her main coloring was a bright sunshine yellow that slowly grew more towards orange towards her underbelly and beak. On her chest was a splash-like clump of pink feathers. Her scales were less than her brother's and were a deep brown-ish color. The feathers and fur edging them were a deep enough brown to basically be black. Her plumage reminded him somewhat of Ruby and Sky's. It had a gradual fade towards the end like Sky but the pink-ish color of Ruby. She had near-neon yellow speckles too, like her brother, but the clumps were a bit larger. She had them ending on her wing-forearms like Violet's and a big clump scattered around the left side of her face. Her feathers weren't quite as fluffy as Sky's but was pretty close. Her beak had the shape of Violet's and the near-white tan color of Ruby's. Her eyes had a beautiful dual color in each eye. The top majority was a hot pink/magenta color while the bottom and inside edge was more of a petal/pastel pink.
Both were gorgeous and made Damian wonder how the genetics of their species worked to allow that vast difference in coloration and patterns when compared to all four of their parents, who tended to be different shades of the same color throughout. Ree had finally slowed his quite concerning growth rate and was starting to level out around Damian's upper thigh/lower hip, exceeding the taller of his fathers by quite the margin. All four of his parents telling him that Ree was probably one of the largest of their species in multiple generations. Scales was now barely a third of her brother's size, if that, having evened out just barely shorter than Damian's knee. Apparently that was a bit shorter than average for the species with Ruby being more towards the upper part of the average size and Sky being borderline short.
A demanding snort drew his attention away from his chicks and to the window he claimed as 'his spot' so long ago (was it really only just over one of his years since he was brought here?). There he found Casper lazily curled and dozing on the floor with Ares propped up against her where Damian had set him to nap while he taught his chicks. Said child was no longer asleep though. He was very much awake and staring Damian down with an expression demanding to know why he thought it was a good idea to even dare to set him down and walk away. Nevermind Damian wasn't even ten steps away. Ares snorted demandingly at him again and glared harder at the human's amused snort back. Damian did walk over though and picked up the child when he raised his arms at him. Ares had changed a bit too over the month Damian had him. He'd filled out to a more healthy-looking weight, though he was still a bit thin, and Damian had finally managed to memorize how to properly trim the toddler's hooves and brush out his fur.
Ares still had the bird-like plush and brought it nearly everywhere with him. Said plush was now being whacked into the side of Damian's head. Apparently, Ares decided being held wasn't good enough and wanted something else. Damian tried blocking the hits or holding the toy, but the little brat only started using his hooves in his growing tantrum. Getting tired of being hit with no explanation, Damian took the advice of one of the texts he'd read about taking care of a Grongri child and yanked Ares away from him by his scruff to hang in mid-air. The toddler wiggled and squirmed to try and hit him more but eventually the tantrum dimmed, and he went limp, a small pout on his face.
"You ready to tell me what's wrong now?" He asked the child before he cradled him again. He'd only made that mistake once. He still had the bruises to prove it. Ares glumly flicked his right ear down (which he's learned is a non-verbal yes), pout still present. Damian finally cradled the toddler to his chest again and let him sniffle and bury against him in self-comfort until he was ready to talk. Damian glanced back at his chicks to see them flopped on the ground with the other dogs, all panting and exhausted by the play. Damian chuckled at them, earning an irritated crow from Scales. Damian snorted in amusement but let them be. Ares was finally willing to tell him what was wrong.
"Want learn too." Ares' understanding of both Common and English has come a long way in the past month. He still can't string a proper sentence together, but Damian can't tell if that is because of a lack of knowledge or just because he's a toddler. He has adjusted to the flock a bit too. With it being so different from the usual Grongri Sounder structure it is understandable. He does have a few hiccups here and there but now he mostly just watches the chicks' reaction to things when he is unsure.
"'Learn too'? You wanna learn how to command the dogs too?" Damian questions, making sure he had the same idea. Ares' ear flicked again while he nodded. Damian hugged him a bit closer.
"You're a bit too small for the dogs to obey you immediately but I can introduce one to you and have you start trying. How about that? Will that work?" Ares was quiet for a bit longer but eventually agreed. Damian smiled and praised him with a few pets, receiving a few happy rumbles in response. Damian glanced around at the dogs, trying to pick one for Ares to start working on. He doesn't think any would follow the commands without his own help but if he worked on one long enough it would eventually cave. His eye landed on Casper, who was still in the same curled position as before. She was the most maternal of the group and was the one who took to the children the easiest and quickest.
"Ok, little piglet. Let's start easy." He said as he set the runt down on his hooves. As he did he got Casper's attention and called to her. "Casper. (Stand)." The large white wolfdog looked at him then crawled to her paws. He praised her softly then turned back to Ares.
"Ok. We'll start with (come). Say her name, Casper, and tell her to (come)." He said as he sat down next to where the toddler stood. Ares' little hooves stomped a bit in his excitement, but he tried. He tested out the new word before he did. What he settled on wasn't the right pronunciation, but it was close. He could mostly pronounce the command correctly too, though with a pretty heavy accent.
"Gas-prrrr. (Come)." Casper tilted her head at the child and sniffed at him. She looked at Damian and he looked to Ares then back. Casper followed and glanced, then back. Ares deflated eventually when she still didn't approach so Damian thought up something quickly.
"Maybe she doesn't understand your accent. Try this," He patted the ground, "when you say it. She knows that gesture." Ares perked back up again.
"Okie!" He turned back to Casper and tried again. "Gas-prrrr." He crouched down and clumsily patted the ground like only a toddler could. "(Come)." Casper's ears perked but she still hesitated for a second before slowly padding over and stopping right in front of the child. Ares squealed in excitement, tail going wild and hooves stomping. Damian made his chuff-imitation as praise for the child as he pets Casper to do the same. Child happier now, he figures he could take the kid away for lunch without protest. Scooping up the toddler he received no complaint.
Looking to his chicks he clicked his tongue. He learned that was a good way to gain their attention with zero hesitation, no matter what they were doing. He found out by complete accident, to be honest. He was clicking at the dogs from a habit that hasn't broken despite the years away from the farm he grew up on. Sure enough, just like every time before, both chick's heads immediately whip up to look at him. Both still looked groggy like they had just woken up. They probably had.
"C'mon, you two. Lunch time." The two groaned but climbed to their feet. Damian smiled and them and patted them as they passed. Once they were well on their way, he called the dogs and gathered them as he left behind his chicks. The dogs happily trailed after, excited after they heard the word 'hungry' when he asked. He entered the flock's kitchen, pack in tow, only a handful of minutes later. He had to take a slightly more roundabout way over since some of the dogs hadn’t quite figured out the ladder-like walkways and ramps yet and he didn't want them to fall through and get hurt. His birds greeted him with their usual trills and Untruthful with their latest attempt at teasing.
"So, the Pack Master finally decided to grace us with his presence!" Damian let them know it was a good one by sending a tease back.
"I see you haven't gotten any less spikey yet, walking pincushion." Untruthful's eyes slowly shut in a smile and Damian sent one of his own back, momentarily closing his eyes in an imitation of them. Untruthful looked surprised then they eye-close-smiled harder, spike-crest wiggling their excitement. Damian chuckled at them and set down Ares in his make-shift baby seat.
He chatted with Violet as he grabbed and rationed out the dogs' small lunch. He ignored the protesting whines, grunts, and half-barks urging him to 'go faster already'. Violet advised him to use one type of meat instead of another because of both better nutrients for the dogs and there being more of it. He thanked her and did as told. The dogs' lunch wasn't that big, more of a snack than anything, but it kept them from pouting and begging when everyone else ate. It also had helped him give them meds when they were still healing. They were mostly fine now, apparently Galactic Standard medicine works faster than the stuff he remembers. Finishing with the dogs' food he picks up the bowls, stacking a few to do so, and turns around. He walked past the dogs, chuckling at the excited spins, bounces, and tippy-taps they did as they followed him. He glanced back at them once he made it to the wall the flock had designated as their eating area.
He gave them a stern look and waited. They all eventually sat down, some more slow and reluctant than others. Once they did he placed down the bowls in the designated spots. Braxton and Casper had two stepstool-stand things he placed their bowls on because of how big they were. Once all the bowls were down he turned to look at the dogs. He waited in silence for a bit, snapping or humming warningly whenever one tried to shuffle forward. Once he deemed it long enough he gave the sort-of-command he was on the tail end of teaching them.
"(Ok)." When he said that all six dogs ran over to their bowls and started to eat. Damian strode back over to the counter and helped his birds move some plates to the table then settled cross-legged in his usual spot, Ares immediately crawling into his lap and Scales fluttering to perch on the shoulder opposite the side her brother sat on. The flock started to grab food and eat as they chatted with each other. Damian grabbed a little more than a double portion of fruits, beans (or maybe they were berries?), and a few crunchy finger foods he thinks may be cooked or specially prepared insects. He grabbed roughly more than a single portion (for someone his size anyways) of meats, the few root vegetables presented, and what he thinks may be foods made of bone pieces.
Once his plate was full he placed it down in front of him he reached over to grab a smaller plate and started making that one with tiny portions, letting his three kids have free pickings of his plate as he did. When he finished that plate he sat it in front of mini, receiving a grateful squeak before she dug in. He then propped his arms on the table, completely ignoring both his plate and the children stealing from it as he chattered on with his flock. By the time everyone finished his kids had their fill and were starting to fall asleep like usual after eating.
As his flock started gathering their dishes and the extra food on the table, Damian glanced at what was left of his plate. He made a mental note of how there weren’t as much leftovers as before and to grab bigger portions for dinner. As his flock started to disperse he looked to the dogs and said one of the first new commands he taught them.
"(Pups)." He got their attention. "(Take)." He ordered as he lifted up the half-asleep toddler on his lap. The dogs made whisper-boofs to show they heard and the largest three walked over to pick up the kids by their scruffs. Casper (the biggest, though not my much) grabbed Ree, Braxton grabbed Ares, and Dingo walked over to carefully lift Scales from his shoulder. Once they had a firm grip, they looked to Damian for further instruction.
"(To bed)" He directed as he pointed out the door they came from. The pack turned and left him alone in the room. He sighed to himself once he couldn't hear them anymore and looked back at the leftovers on the plate before him. It was maybe under half a portion for his size, probably less. He glanced at the counters and saw all the leftover food was already put up. He could go grab more but even half a portion for him would be nearly three or four large portions for his flock. No. It wasn’t worth it. He'll just grab more tonight.
He ate the leftovers in silence. Since he's got the dogs his head has been a bit quieter, though not silent. Apparently he was still enough for the building to register the room as empty, and the lights cut out. He blinked and paused at the sudden darkness but there was barely a second of blindness before some of his voices put their hands on his mental controls, giving his eyes a boost of minor night vision. It wasn’t much better than his natural amount of it but it helped. He decided not to go turn on the lights again and continued to eat his food as he peacefully listened to the soft chattering of his voices.

He was sitting in a coffee shop slowly drinking his espresso. My God, he thought, this tastes so great after no coffee for days. He lost his percolator while tracking through the woods and had to do with tea. Now tea ain't that bad, but as a coffee drinker, he really missed his morning coffee. So he was enjoying it right now.
That is until he saw a man in the back of the shop staring at him. What was up with that guy? There seemed to be something off with him. And NO! Now he made eye contact, the man was coming to his table!
"Mind if I sit here with you?" the man asked. He tried to answer, coughed, took another sip of his coffee, and then the man was already sitting at his table.
He hoped it was not just some crazy lunatic. At home, his door was full of warding signs: "No unsolicited advertising brochures". "Not opening the door for salesmen", and "I am already converted" to just name a few. He avoided contact most of the time.
With one exception. He had fallen in love. Not just a bit. He could not think of anything else. He could not imagine a future without his love. And he was going to propose that night. What was up with this strange dude?
"So are you finally going to do it?" the man asked. What was he talking about? Surely this stranger wouldn't know what he was up to? He had to ask.
A muffled "what" came out of his mouth. Still confused about this man's behavior. There was something off, but he could not put his finger on what exactly. "What?" he repeated, clearly audible now.
"You know, got the rings ready?" came his reply. WHAT THE Funny? How could he know? "How do you know? Who are you?" he asked startled".
"Let me introduce myself. You can call me Mr. Boltzmann. I made you. And everyone else" told the man. This was getting weirder and weirder. Surely it was some lunatic. He already started to get up when he finally noticed the man was not breathing. Was it even a man?
"What, what are you" he whispered wide-eyed. Mr. Noltzmann smiled and said: "Let me explain".
And the man started to tell. He was from a universe without life. There may have been stars, but his universe was far past that. Every star since long died out and even the black holes evaporated.
Not even iron stars were left. Only some extremely low energy radiation remained in this dying universe with often only a photon or two at a time in his cosmological horizon.
Then. Mr. Boltzmann told him, he sprang suddenly alive. Only to be undone by the same random quantum fluctuations that granted him life. His mind was spinning. Randon quantum fluctuations? What? He slowly let his mouth fall open.
Mr. Boltzmann pauzed talking a moment. showing a gentle smile. Then he continued:
"Everything is made up of quantum fields. There is a certain randomness to them. About anything can happen if you wait long enough. Then I am not talking about a trillion years or any number you can imagine. Much and much longer. So I was randomly created. More or less.
In my case, it was two photons with a certain flare to it that triggered my consciousness. I realized that in a fraction of a second. My brain works a bit differently than a human brain. It is far and far more powerful.
To at least experience life a bit longer in that nearly-dead universe. I created a simulation, or a new universe if you will. One with life that would set up the exact right conditions to spawn me again in the new universe, so I can live there again".
"So what do I have to do with all of this"? He could not believe it. Or maybe? The man that called himself Mr. Boltzmann was too coherent for a regular lunatic".
"It is easy. I'm looking for the right kind of love. I think I have found it. Now if you will, please hold up your and your love's hand to the Sun once you put on the rings. Two photons will reflect from them and create another me. Please?" Mr. Boltzmann pleaded.
suddenly something started to dawn on him. He would play a part in every universe if Mr. Boltzmann wanted to live. Again and again, falling in love. He didn't know what he was talking to. A God? A devil? A lunatic? He did not care. First, he started to smile. Then he was grinning. For him, there was only one answer:
"Sure. I will make you and you will make me".

Title: None (suggestions welcome) Genre: Sci-fi Word count: 2694 Feedback desired: general impression
Chapter 1: The boy and his mother
1.1 The farm
Hagr stood at the edge of the farm, his gaze fixed on the vast expanse of Zandarius stretching out before him. The sky above was a canvas of swirling purples and blues streaked with the faint glow of distant stars. A cool breeze whispered through the air, carrying with it the enticing scent of Heyla flowers.
With a sigh, Hagr set down his mechanic wheelbarrow, the last of his chores for the day completed. He began to make his way back towards the farm, his footsteps crunching softly against the rocky terrain. As he passed through the pink and green garden, the aroma of his mother's porridge drifted towards him, tempting his hunger.
Despite eating the same meal every day, Hagr's stomach grumbled with anticipation. The suuka porridge was all he needed right now, its warm, comforting embrace promising to chase away the chill of the evening.
Arriving at the farm, Hagr took in the familiar sight of their plascrete igloo. Half of the structure was comprised of little octagon windows, through which the warm glow of a fire emanated from the chimney. It was home, humble yet comforting in its simplicity.
Entering the igloo, Hagr found his mother, Altha, bustling about the kitchen, preparing dinner. "Hagr, dear, could you set the table?" she called out, her voice gentle yet firm. Hagr nodded, a small smile playing at his lips as he arranged the mismatched dishes in their usual places. Each plate was different, yet they always ended up in the same spot, a testament to the routines of their daily life.
Once the table was set, Hagr ignited the moonlamp, casting a soft yellow glow across the igloo walls. Altha emerged from the kitchen, carrying a steaming pot of suuka porridge. "Careful, Hagr," she warned as she placed the pot on the table. "It's hot." Hagr nodded as he heard this many times before, his mouth watering at the sight and smell of the hearty meal before him. They ate in silence, the only sound of the clinking of spoons against bowls as they savored each mouthful.
After a moment, Hagr broke the silence, his voice tinged with curiosity. "Do you ever wonder what's beyond Zandarius, Mumu?" he asked. Altha hesitated, her expression guarded. "I don't know, Hagr," she replied softly. "But we have everything we need right here on the farm." Though disappointed by her response, Hagr nodded in understanding. Perhaps someday they would have the chance to explore together. Altha caught his eye and winked, a small glimmer of hope in her gaze.
As they finished their meal, Hagr and Altha moved to the small kitchen area to wash the dishes. The kitchen was cluttered yet cozy, with shelves overflowing with pots, pans, and utensils. Beyond the kitchen, the interior of the igloo was a snug retreat from the harshness of the outside world. A small cupboard, crafted from Zandarius rare Bennam wood, stood in one corner, its doors closed tight to conceal its overflowing contents. Nearby, a plush couch with pillows offered a comfortable spot to relax after a long day's work. Opposite the couch, a large hammock hung from the ceiling. Above it, a smaller hammock swayed gently in the breeze, providing a cozy nest for Hagr during the night. Every inch of space was utilized to its fullest, creating a sense of warmth and intimacy within the cramped confines of the igloo.
As the hour grew late, Altha reminded Hagr of their upcoming journey to Kihar. With a yawn, Hagr climbed into his hammock, gazing up at the stars through the little octagon windows above. "Goodnight, Hagr," Altha whispered, her voice soft in the quiet of the night. "Goodnight, Mumu," Hagr replied, his eyes closing as sleep overtook him. And with that, he drifted off, thoughts of tomorrow's journey fading into the comforting embrace of dreams.
1.2 The Trip
Hagr awoke to the gentle light filtering through the little octagon windows of their igloo. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he glanced around and noticed that his mother's hammock was empty. Mu-mu?" he called out, but there was no response.
Curiosity piqued, Hagr peered outside and spotted his mother tending to the kikkamoos, their pig-like creatures with reptilian legs and Fluffy tails. With a swift motion, he leaped out of bed, his movements practiced from years of experience. After quickly dressing himself, he hurried outside, calling out to his mother. "Altha!" he yelled, using her full name in his urgency. His mother turned towards him with a warm smile. "Haggie!" she called back, using his pet name.
Hagr wasted no time and dashed off to fetch Tsjoopa, their trusty mechanical unicycle cart already loaded with goods for trade. As he returned with the cart, he found his mother waiting back at the farm. "Ready to go, Hagr?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Absolutely!" Hagr exclaimed, brimming with energy. And so, they set off on their journey to Kihar, the nearest town for trading.
The road ahead seemed endless, traversing through vast and barren plains broken only by occasional patches of vegetation. Sparse woods flanked the roadside, offering concealment but little wildlife, a testament to Zandarius' unforgiving environment.
After a few hours of travel, they finally reached a landmark known as the Sharp Knives, a crossroad marked by sharp rocks jutting out of the ground. "We’re here, the Sharp Knives," Altha remarked, her gaze sweeping over the rugged terrain. "We're halfway there, Hagr." Hagr nodded, his eyes scanning the horizon. "Already? Time flies when you're in good company." A mischievous glint sparkled in Altha's eyes as she reached into the cart. "Speaking of good company, I brought something special for our halfway mark." Hagr's interest was piqued. "What is it?" With a dramatic flourish, Altha revealed a small container of sosuuka, a sweeter version of yesterday's porridge. "Sosuuka!" Hagr exclaimed, trying to sound enthusiastic despite his familiarity with the dish. Altha chuckled at his feigned excitement. "I thought it might be a nice treat for our journey." Hagr grinned, playing along. "Absolutely! Thanks, best mumu on Zandarius." Lost in thought, Altha gazed into the distance, her attention drawn to the gathering ominous clouds on the horizon, a harbinger of stormy weather to come. "We might have some rough weather ahead," Altha remarked, her voice tinged with concern. Hagr glanced up at the darkening sky. "Should we stop and wait it out?" Altha shook her head. "We need to keep moving. We can't afford to delay our journey." Guess we'll have to save the view for another time," Hagr sighed, reluctantly agreeing with Altha's decision while she nodded in understanding. "But, after all," Hagr declared, puffing out his chest with a hint of pride, "at ten years old, I'm practically a grown man! I can handle anything, even eating sosuuka on the way without spilling a drop." Altha burst into laughter at his boast. "Sosuuka without spilling? I'd sooner believe kikkamoos could fly!" Hagr joined in her laughter, the sound echoing across the desolate landscape as they continued on their journey to Kihar.
1.3 Arrival in Kihar
As Hagr and Altha approached Kihar, the plascrete town sprawled out before them, its streets winding like intricate mazes through the heart of the city. In stark contrast to the barren landscape of Zandarius, Kihar was a vibrant tapestry of life, with lush vegetation adorning every corner. Hagr’s eyes roamed over the cityscape, taking in the sight of the bustling alleys and the constant mist of smoke that hung in the air. Despite having visited many times before, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at the bustling energy of the tradetown.
As they ventured deeper into the heart of the city, the tantalizing aroma of food mingled with the sounds of chatter and laughter, tempting Hagr's senses and reminding him of the porridge-filled days back on their farm. Finally, they reached the local market, a bustling hub of activity where traders hawked their wares amidst the thick scent of spices and exotic foods. "First stop, Old Taramor's," Altha announced, her voice carrying above the din of the market. Hagr's thoughts drifted to Taramor, the old, grumpy trader who had been a fixture in Kihar for as long as he could remember. Despite his rough exterior, Taramor was one of the few honest traders left in the city, and Hagr had always respected him for it. "Sounds good to me," Hagr replied, his tone positive.
As they approached Old Taramor’s, Altha hopped off the Tsjoopa and turned to Hagr. "Hagr, could you fetch a crate of Heyla bottles from the back of the cart?" she asked. Hagr nodded silently, already moving to comply.
Entering the shop, they found Taramor snoozing behind his counter, the cluttered shelves and dusty displays a testament to his lack of care for his surroundings. Altha hesitated, reluctant to disturb the old trader, but time was of the essence. "Taramor," she whispered, her voice barely audible. No response. Again, a bit louder this time “Taramor”. Still no response. Growing impatient, Hagr couldn't help but raise his voice. "Taramor!" Startled awake, Taramor shot upright, his eyes wide with surprise. "What the hell's going on?" he grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Oh, it's just you two," he muttered, recognizing Altha and Hagr. Altha gestured to Hagr to take a look around while she spoke with Taramor. Hagr nodded and wandered through the cluttered shelves, his curiosity piqued by the assortment of strange and exotic items on display. In the background, a television played the news, and the volume turned low but still audible. A news reporter's voice cut through the air, reporting on the recent assassination of a high-ranking official. The military had already neutralized one suspect, but two others were still at large. The camera footage showed two figures cloaked in dark red and black, their faces obscured. Zooming in on one of the suspects, the reporter noted a tattoo of a three-headed monster on their neck, linking them to the notorious syndicate known as the Three-Headed Beast. "People are urged to remain vigilant," the reporter concluded, "and to report any sightings of the suspects to the authorities." "Hagr," Altha called out, pulling him from his thoughts. Quickly, he set down a strange-looking coffee maker he had been inspecting and hurried over to join them.
Outside, Hagr turned to his mother, concern etched on his face. "How did the trade go?" Altha hesitated before answering, her tone guarded. "It wasn't as successful as we had hoped, but we'll manage." Trying to sound confident, Hagr responded, "No need to worry, Mumu. We'll make it work."
As they made their way back through the bustling market, Hagr glanced at his mother. " Can we get some Uja skewers now?" Altha smiled warmly. "Absolutely, Hagr. Let’s grab some delicious Uja," she said, turning on their trusty, albeit rusty, Tsjoopa.
1.4 No place like home
As Altha and Hagr made their way home in the fading light, a bird soared above them, its silhouette dark against the dusky sky. They were nearing their farmstead, the exhausting trip almost at an end. Hagr turned to Altha, his curiosity piqued. “What is coffee?” he asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. Altha pondered for a moment before responding, “I’ve heard of it. It’s some sort of black drink. Similar to Puggatree juice, they say it gives you energy.” Hagr wrinkled his nose in distaste. He had never been fond of Puggatree juice, finding its thick texture and slimy consistency unappealing. With a shake of his head, he decided he didn’t want to try coffee after all.
As they chatted, unaware of the figure watching them from afar, the landscape growing darker with each passing moment, they finally arrived at the farm.
Altha unloaded the traded goods from the Tsjoopa, and with a nod to Hagr, she motioned for him to stow it away in the barn. Hagr complied, placing the Tsjoopa in the barn, where sturdy plascrete walls and reinforced wooden beams protected it from the harsh winds. With the task done, he made his way back to the igloo. As he approached, he noticed that the interior was unusually dark, the comforting glow of the moonlamp absent. With a sense of unease gnawing at him, he entered cautiously.
To his horror, he found himself face to face with a cloaked figure in dark black and red, his alien eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. Before he could react, he spotted his mother on the floor, tears streaming down her face, with another figure standing over her, a scarred human face, and a sinister three-headed beast tattoo on his neck. “Mumu!” Hagr screamed in terror. The figure with glowing eyes uttered incomprehensible words, while the scarred man cursed, "We can't leave any witnesses, Deskva.” Altha whispered urgently, "Hagr, stay calm. Everything will be fine." Hagr looked at his mother in disbelief, his heart pounding in his chest. "What's going to happen?" his voice trembled with fear. The scarred human scoffed, "We can sell the boy on the black market, but the woman? She's too old to bother selling. Not worth the hassle, Des." With brute force, Deskva grabbed Hagr, who fought against his captor with all his might. "Please, let me go!" Hagr pleaded, his voice desperate as he struggled against Deskva's grip. As Hagr cast a desperate glance at his mother, tears welling in his eyes, the scarred man turned his attention to Altha, deeming her of no value. Without hesitation, he drew his pistol, aimed, and fired, the shot piercing through Altha’s skull with a sickening thud echoing through the silent igloo. Hagr’s world shattered as he watched his mother fall, tears blurring his vision, bile rising in his throat. Before he could comprehend what was happening, a brutal blow to his head sent him spiraling into darkness.

Content warning: suicide & addiction
"Good afternoon everyone were going to start are meeting with a reading of the twelve traditions"
I sat quietly, expressionless, I let the sound of there voice wash over me. Anything to break up the monotony of the static constantly droning on in my mind. I had never got a sponsor or really ever considered it. I had only ever completed the first step which is admitting I am an addict, but I've come to realize that were all addicts every human from the moment of birth is dependent on something other than our selves to sustain are existence. I felt no reason to quit using my substance of choice because as the big book said 'our liquor is but a symptom'.
They opened up the floor to discussion. A woman raised her hand and began to speak.
"Hello my name is Wanda and I'm an alcoholic"
"Hello Wanda" the room retorted.
She continued "So lately I've really been struggling to keep myself..." she paused as if she were searching carefully for her next words. "At peace. Three years ago my son JJ was hit by a car and killed. I had struggled with alcohol for years but after that I just lost it. I was drinking myself sloppy every day after work. I would show up to work drunk reeking of alcohol to the point my supervisor pulled me aside and said 'if you dont get your self some help were going to have to fire you'. I checked myself into rehab and god willing I'll be 6 months sober next Sunday."
The room applauded.
She began to weep "I just wish my son could be here to see me get better. His whole life he watched me struggle to take care of him and his sisters. I tried to be the best mother I could but..." she paused "I'm sorry. Thank you for listening to what I had to say."
The room responded "Thank you for sharing"
The speaker looked around the room and said "any body else want to share?"
I raised my hand.
"Go ahead" the speaker ushered.
"Hello my name is Jesse and I'm an alcoholic" I spoke.
"Hello Jesse"
"I've been in and out of the rooms for the past few months. I recently have come to realize even though I had never touched alcohol til the age of 25. I've been an alcoholic from the day I stepped foot on this earth. There's been a pit in my heart only alcohol could seem to fill. My whole childhood I wished I would one day find happiness. I would fantasize about the girl I might meet who would show me love. I grew and waited but I never could find myself able to trust. I would have rather lived my life as a worm than the life I've lived." I pulled out a 357 magnum and put to my chin and pulled the trigger. I died.
People began screaming.
"OH my God. OH my God." The woman sitting behind me screamed. Covered in my blood and brain matter. Traumatized, shock setting in.
"Stop panicking we're going to call 911" the speaker said trying his best to remain calm while remembering how close he was to meeting the same fate as I.

I've (32M) been doing no contact for about 20 days after being dumped by my ex (30F). We had been together nearly two years and were literally talking about marriage a month prior. I just got this email from her. I'm not sure how to respond, if at all. She's stating there's no chance of reconciliation so I'm not sure what the point is. But at the same time I'm pissed and want nothing more than to tell her all the ways she is a horrible and immature person.
``` Hey,
I hope this email finds you in good spirits. I've been contemplating reaching out for a while now, unsure of how to start. Firstly, how are you holding up? It's been around 20 days since we parted ways, and I wanted to check in to see how you're coping. If you'd rather not hear from me, just let me know, and I'll respect your wishes completely and you will never hear from me again. If you choose not to continue reading, I get it.
To begin, I want to say I am sorry. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you, for the breakup itself, and for the situation we are in now.
Navigating life post-breakup hasn't been easy for me, and I find myself missing you more than I anticipated. However, I want to make it clear that this email isn't about reopening old wounds or reconsidering our decision. I made a choice, and I intend to stand by it. I'm reaching out because I value you, and I want to offer whatever closure I can to help us both move forward.
As for myself, I'm slowly adapting to this new chapter in my life. Each day have its challenges, but I'm trying to learn from them.
I want to acknowledge the good times and amazing memories of our relationship. You were always honest, caring, and supportive, which I'll always cherish. You showed a willingness to do above and beyond to be with me, and I saw a significant progress over time.
Yet, despite your efforts and our mutual commitment to growth, something wasn't aligning for me. I realized that as you were evolving, I was struggling to keep pace. The discussions about our future, while necessary, began to feel draining as I struggled with my own limitations.
I remember talking to my mom that our journey together was a marathon, not a sprint, and that we'd overcome our challenges over time. However, as we entered 2024, or perhaps even before that, I started to feel myself withdrawing. I failed to communicate this effectively, and for that, I take responsibility.
As much as I tried to make things work, I couldn't ignore the growing sense of loneliness and unease I felt. Our cultural and linguistic differences, coupled with occasional incidents, created a strain that became increasingly difficult to ignore. Despite our efforts, I realized that our relationship was not fulfilling my emotional needs, and I struggled to find a balance between compromise and staying true to myself.
I had hoped that love would be enough to bridge the gaps between us, but I now understand that I was asking too much of both up of us. I was sacrificing too many of my own needs in the name of love, and it wasn't sustainable.
I suggest we focus less on assigning blame or finding solutions. There's always that lingering question of "what if," wondering if things could have been different. But from my perspective, it feels like this was a necessary step forward, regardless of any alternative paths we might have taken. Our relationship had its moments of beauty, and I would remember those memories dearly.
Moving forward, I hope we can both find peace and closure. I harbor no ill feelings towards you, and I genuinely wish you happiness and fulfillment in all aspects of your life. If there's anything I can do to facilitate this process or if you need further clarification on anything, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Wish you the best. ```

I've been a stay at home mom with my daughter (18 mo) and I just wanted to share some tips that have helped us save money as a family. Please feel free to also share your own tips

• Buying clothes at Once Upon a Child or other second hand children stores. So many of the clothes are new or barely worn and its a great value. I buy clothes for the next season during the big sales to maximize the savings. When she was younger I would buy their bodysuits during the 30 for $10 sale and typically they have clearance sales before the holidays and around spring. My daughter has the cutest clothes and we dont spend more than $120 in the year
  
• Selling back the clothes to the store, lots of the second hand baby stores will buy their clothes. They wont give you very much but its worth it for some extra money. I find the best deal is to put them in bundles and sell on Mercari. Then you make up even more.
  

-Children Toys, strollers and big items. I recommend looking on facebook marketplace and join your town's free facebook pages. Most towns will have a free giveaway page where people are looking to giveaway items. This is a great place to find some baby items. Facebook marketplace is great to find deals. Also look on mercari for anything in particular. I was looking for a babyzen yoyo stroller for travel but didnt want to spend the $1,000. I was able to get the stroller and accessories for only $200 from someone local.
-COUPONING. This is my biggest tip by far. Couponing isn't how it was years ago. You can get all the savings through the app with only having to click a button. First is diapers, they can get pretty pricey but we've found a way to never spend more than $20 a month on average. I utilize CVS the most, if you check the app weekly you'll find diaper deals you can combine with other coupons that are exclusive for you. Two days ago I was able to get $90 in diapers for $30 out of pocket, $10 back in cvs rewards and $8 back in cash on Ibotta. Those diapers will last atleast 2.5 months. You can also use your partners phone to use their rewards and coupons too. These same discounts can be used for household items and even formula. We never pay full price for laundry detergent, toothpaste and hairproducts. The easiest way to start is to go on tik tok and look up CVS or Walgreens Couponing. The creators will make it super easy to follow. Just remember to only buy things you need so that you dont have a stock pile of random items you dont actually use.
These are some of the best money saving things we've done that have helpped our family, I hope this can help!
Remember you're doing your best at parenting and I'm so proud of you!

I’ve never met the guy before, but a few months ago, he followed me on Instagram. I saw we had 10+ mutual friends, so I followed back, not thinking much of it. I always follow people back if we have mutual friends so didn't even ask my friends who he was and forgot about it. Fast forward a few weeks, I post a selfie, and he likes it, then messages me, complimenting me. I was polite and said thank you, but I didn’t initiate any other conversation. I guess in an effort to continue the conversation, he asked me a few questions about my dog (whom I mostly post pictures of), and I answered because I thought they were harmless.
What followed were a dozen unanswered messages introducing himself, talking about himself, and others saying things like “you’re gorgeous, such a princess, baby girl, you’re trying to kill me.” I read them all but didn’t answer since I was weirded out. I asked my friends who he was, and they said he wasn’t local. A few had met him at an event once when he was here, but none were actual close friends with him and didn’t know too much about him.
I figured not answering would make him go away since he could see that I read the messages, but it just encouraged him to continue. In the days following the initial messages, he sent similar messages about my appearance and how I have the sweetest personality (which I found odd since I had barely responded to him and he didn’t know me). He then replied to every single Instagram story highlight I had (over 60 replies, not all just of me but mostly of my dog), so I blocked him from seeing any future stories. He then messaged me daily, saying things like “how’s my dog” or “how’s my boy (my dog’s name) doing?”. These are the few times I responded because I was like, what the fuck, lol. He’s my dog… not yours and you don’t know him?
My friends all thought he was just awkward but overall harmless since the messages weren't sexual or explicit, so I felt bad fully blocking him. I figured my obvious disinterest would make him stop eventually. The messages continued and instead of reading them and not responding, I just didn’t open them. This worked for a bit, but then he’d realize I was ignoring him and asked what he did wrong. I showed my other friends the messages and my one guy friend was really concerned. He suggested we post a selfie together to make me look unavailable so I unblocked the guy from my stories so he could see. That didn't help and just made him escalate the number of messages he was sending, he got angry and possessive, was saying things like I better not be sleeping with that guy and was basically just threatening my friend. Wasn’t gonna ask my friend to do anything else since he does have a girlfriend.
At this point, I just decided to be honest and tell him that his messages made me extremely uncomfortable, especially the possessive ones and ones about my dog since we don’t know each other. He apologized and then said I should come visit him, that he’d pay for my flight, and that it would be a dream to hang out. I said I’m not interested in that or in hanging out. He said that’s okay, he gets that I'm shy and that he would come to me instead. I told him I wasn’t interested in hanging out with him anywhere in the world and that I’m not interested in him or whatever he thinks is going on here. I blocked him after that.
I think that was my mistake. He started following me on a new account right after and sent me several messages apologizing. He also followed some of my family members that I had tagged in pictures on my IG. I blocked him and privated my Instagram, but then he would come back with another account. He also found my other social media accounts. My friends still had him on their Instagrams, and now they’ve been showing me that he keeps posting pictures of me (he implies that I sent them to him personally) on his Instagram story and posts, with comments about me being his girlfriend, how he can’t wait to come spend the summer with me, and also pictures of my dog, captioning it with “our boy.” He must’ve saved a bunch of pictures I had posted.
My friends keep messaging him, but he won’t take anything down, and I feel so freaked out and embarrassed because our other mutual friends are asking me if all of this is true. I know he doesn’t know exactly where I live, but I still worry about him coming here and he knows of some concerts I'm supposed to be attending because my friends posted about them and tagged me.
I guess I just don’t know how to navigate this? Does anyone have any suggestions? I don’t know what else I could possibly do and have never been in a situation like this before. I thought blocking and saying I wasn’t interested would send the message, but I feel it has only made it worse.

Thinking of Challengers, here, OBVI. The churro scene?? The hotel scene?? Them getting all nervous before/when they meet Tashi? The other hotel scene where Art is acting so babygirl?? Come on. Even just the costuming & hair for Art and Patrick feel so energetic, fun, endearing, enticing. All through the movie I couldn’t stop thinking “:)” about how much I love men and their whole deal, and I feel like that’s something missing in a lot of media that appeals to women who date men. So much of it is either the last gasps of “men are trash” or this goofy ass “written by a woman” stuff. Granted, Art and Patrick are really normal guys and are only obnoxious or threatening in the ways you’d expect a normal ass dude to be. Not enough love for regular ass dudes I swear
Even in Call Me By Your Name, Armie Hammer is one of the hottest dudes ever (AS A BLOND MAN?) because Luca seems to intuitively know exactly how to direct and style men. It’s nuts. Not a Timothee Chalamet girl myself but I’ll let the other 2 woman on this forum weigh in lmfao
There’s a lot of baggage attached to being a woman dating a man and the relationship between you & his friends & him, but let’s lut that aside and acknowledge how it is so attractive to see a man hanging out with his homies and see him excelling in a social situation that is totally dif from what you’ve seen him in. At least as long as u know when to tap out before the hang devovles into something unspeakable
anyways, men are hot when they’re being lads or maybe I’m actually a gay guy

I'll try to put as much information with as much detail as I remember:
I went to a website to download a specific game mod manager. That was the official site for the mod (which is very known by the game community itself),
I clicked on what I believe that was the correct download button. That instantly downloaded a .zip called x64__x32_installer.zip with a .msi installer on it. Extracted the .msi, executed it, it did install something on my machine, but no results for the manager I was expecting.
Then I went to the website again, I just clicked the RIGHT download button, and the right installer was downloaded. Then, I realized the file I downloaded and executed in the first place was something strange. Felt like sh*t, even more because i'm an IT professional and always took care with that.
Much probably I had either one of those two things going on, both as misleading ads:

• a download link placed right next to the correct download button
• a full page invisible div that trolled me

2-5 minutes later, my Google Chrome closed unexpectedly. Tried opening it a couple times, it kept closing, then I was able to open it again.
After that, I remembered a friend that has this exact same behavior (downloading something -> executing -> browser closing) and reported that a lot of his accounts on online services were compromised.
Immediately, I took two actions: full AV scan with both Windows Defender and AdwCleaner and specific AV scan on the .msi installer itself, nothing found on both, then changed all my passwords that were stored on Chrome, remove all credit cards and sensitive information.
Everything done. Hours later, somebody did post on my Facebook on my behalf (an Osam4 B!n L4d3n photo, which immediately took my account down. Was able to recover it and changed the password). But the strange thing is: I have 2FA on EVERYTHING and Facebook DID NOT notify me of anybody trying to get in, what makes me think somebody got my active session on websites.
After that, I ran a MSI analyzer on the .msi and saw some references to a password-related software (can't remember the name). But nothing caught as malicious by the antivirus.
Things that happened after:

• Somebody tried to access my iCloud account from China 7 days after the incident. Got the notification, dismissed the access request. Realized that I hadn't changed my password on it since the incident, so I did and everything fine so far
• 2 russian fake profiles were added as account admins for my Facebook Ads Manager. Cannot remove them since I got a strike from Facebook, so my account has a lot of restrictions. They tried to create an ad for a fake page with a stolen credit card, but that wasn't published also due to the strike
• Somebody also did post a bible verse (??????) on my Reddit account, which also took my account down by suspicious activity. Changed the password and everything fine since then.

Malicious files that I remember from the list inside the MSI

• /Roaming/Vuis Queue/AppQue/libpcre1.dll

My main questions are:

1. What sort of malware did I get?
2. Why wasn't it detected by Windows Defender?
3. What was the logic behind posting a terror!st photo to take my account down? Just trolling? Didn't it makes more sense to just create an ad/changing my password/email without raising attention?
4. Were those malicious actions automated by scripts, or manually executed by attackers?
5. How did they got the ability to steal passwords stored on Chrome browser without asking for any other passwords? (Because if I try seeing it on the browser, I need to provide my Windows password)
6. Is that a browser vulnerability?
7. I've been using my browser normally. Just trusting my AV and doing regular scans and not saving passwords anymore on it. Do I still need to take any action to make sure i won't be compromised again?

That's a little bit different of the common attacks we see on social media. Usually people do hijack accounts and post stuff to lead people to send money, etc. I'd love some technical information on that to read about! Thanks!

Hello,
I have a couple of Facebook pages for sale, boost your business' presence on social media with a page with organically grown fans. It's always a good idea to have a social media page with many likes to make customers trust your business or to get some reach.
All pages' names and links can be changed, then use them for your business or whatever you want to use them for.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551096285394
https://www.facebook.com/MennaArafapage
https://www.facebook.com/byreemandhala
https://www.facebook.com/gobleft
Send me your offer in a message

Hello,
I have a couple of Facebook pages for sale, boost your business' presence on social media with a page with organically grown fans. It's always a good idea to have a social media page with many likes to make customers trust your business or to get some reach.
All pages' names and links can be changed, then use them for your business or whatever you want to use them for.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551096285394
https://www.facebook.com/MennaArafapage
https://www.facebook.com/byreemandhala
https://www.facebook.com/gobleft
Send me your offer in a message

Hello,
I have a couple of Facebook pages for sale, boost your business' presence on social media with a page with organically grown fans. It's always a good idea to have a social media page with many likes to make customers trust your business or to get some reach.
All pages' names and links can be changed, then use them for your business or whatever you want to use them for.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551096285394
https://www.facebook.com/MennaArafapage
https://www.facebook.com/byreemandhala
https://www.facebook.com/gobleft
Send me your offer in a message

Hello,
I have a couple of Facebook pages for sale, boost your business' presence on social media with a page with organically grown fans. It's always a good idea to have a social media page with many likes to make customers trust your business or to get some reach.
All pages' names and links can be changed, then use them for your business or whatever you want to use them for.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551096285394
https://www.facebook.com/MennaArafapage
https://www.facebook.com/byreemandhala
https://www.facebook.com/gobleft
Send me your offer in a message

Hello gents,
I'm trying to save up to get me some games, I only started sending referral links recently so all of them are fresh, if you use my codes you'd be helping me out a lot and you'd be saving yourself 25%.
It's a win win. I'm going to write down my list of games feel free to pick, I wish I had known about these links earlier on. It'd have saved me a ton of money lol:
• £23 (UK) Device Referral (If you're a new user, feel free to send me a message and I'll happily help you setup your Quest and pick games) - https://www.meta.com/referrals/link/KFCisLIFE
• Bonelab - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/4215734068529064/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral (I played Boneworks years back, Bonelab isn't the same game.
However it's still an incredibly polished and fun game. With by far the largest modding community on the Quest platform.
Developers are porting entire games to Bonelab. Buying this is like an investment which keeps getting better. You get bored? Download some more mods. I can't rate it high enough)
• Blade and Scorcery - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2031826350263349/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Breachers - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/5740397619319389/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral (Only recently just bought this, takes some time getting used to but it really is a fun game)
• Contractors - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2436897736439055/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Into the Radius - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/5817243991680545/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral (Words cannot describe how much shit there is in my pants after playing this game, 10/10. Fallout if Fallout made you shit your pants.
• Onward - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2677344882310094/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Pavlov Shack - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2443267419018232/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Red Matter 1 - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2180753588712484/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Red Matter 2 - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/3682089508520212/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral (Playing this game should be a requirement for all Quest 3 players, the graphics are beautiful and the storytelling will leave a lasting impact afterwards.)
• Stride - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/4901911359882668/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• The Walking Saints and Sinners - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2897337400373711/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Ghost of Tabor - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/7614022262006379/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=3&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Asgard's Wrath 2 - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/2603836099654226/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
• Assassin's Creed Nexus - https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/KFCisLIFE/5812519008825194/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral
https://linktr.ee/kfcislive?utm_source=linktree_admin_share (Feel free to follow my link tree for future codes and high quality memes 👌)
This is all, if any of you gents wish to trade links for Arizona Sunshine 2, Vail, Eleven table tennis, Espire 2 or Beat Saber I'd love to hear you out in my messages. I really want to get these games, and I will be using the credit I get from my codes to get them. I love referral codes, literally everyone wins!
I hope you enjoy your codes, and your discounts. Once the codes are used up I will edit them, please notify me in the comments about this as it will be helpful!
Also, Device Referrals are region locked. All games aren't however, if you need to get a Device referral link remember to pick ones with your countries name in it. Example, I live in the United Kingdom. So I picked a code that was in the UK!
Have a good day all,
• Memememeguy