Centre back waist length

My setup at home consists of an iMac that is connected to an AOS monitor.
To make a long story short: in the past I used Microsoft Desktop Connector on my iMac to connect and mirror my work-laptop (windows) to my iMac+AOS monitor. I started a new job today and got a new work-laptop (windows) but the company does not allow to use the desktop connector because of security reasons…
I will be working from home 4 days a week and I don’t feel like plugging/unplugging my iMac twice a day… it’s just a hassle because the cable is plugged into the back of the iMac so it’s harder to reach and I like my cables to be out of sight as much as possible.
Is there an ‘elegant’ solution to have a splitter with a switch between the 2 inputs to 1 output? I would also like to keep the cable lengths and amount of separate cables as minimal as possible… my iMac does not have HDMI so I currently use a dongle from HDMI to usb-C. The work laptop also has usb-C (but also HDMI) so a HDMI to usb-C splitter switch would be even better… the AOS monitor does not have usb-C…
Another solution could be to use my iMac (while it is connected to the AOS monitor) as a second screen for my work-laptop so I can close it and put it to the side…
Any links to products and or suggestions are very welcome!

Lots of lore included, but theres also a TL;DR 😂 I have been friends with this person for several years now. I have been slowly trying to distance myself for them, but recently find it necessary to put an actual end to our friendship. Their passive aggression & self centeredness has been a problem for the entirety of our friendship. I feel as though we have all had those “friends” that make us feel as though we are walking on eggshells, or only talk about themselves and when you are able to get a word in edgewise, they bring the conversation back to themselves. I have tried to address their passive aggression in the past, attempting to dig deeper and open a line of honest/safe communication when they have clearly been upset about something. They essentially were unreceptive and blew me off. Honestly, due to their unhealthy communication habits, I’ve been hesitant to even broach the conversation of their tendency to dominate the conversation and not be curious about me or my life. When they talk about previous friendships that have ended, it’s because the friends had the same issues I’m currently grappling with. When they retell these happenings, they seem as though they aren’t practicing introspection and throw the blame on the other party. This further affirms my belief that trying to communicate these problems would be futile. There’s been a string of events recently that helped me realize this friendship is no longer worth repairing. I have known this friend for YEARS and I’m very familiar with the ins and outs of their life. A couple months ago, they asked me if my partner was in construction. They are in insurance 😂 I have been with them since BEFORE our friendship, and have always shared their careers wins and woes with them. It’s baffling they would forget something like that. About a week ago, they sent me a text that verbatim said “Omg. Wasn’t your old best friend that fucked you over ____ ? They’re married to one of my work besties and they were stranded off a highway so I picked them up. Wtf I like them??? What happened with you guys I can’t remember!!!” My relationship with the person they are referencing was extremely hurtful to me. I learned a lot about myself and friendships in general from that wound. We were both mutually toxic to each other. This incident was a major event in my life, as it inspired me to “do the work” both for myself, and others. The whole reason I met my friend is because I was putting myself out there after what I had experienced, so I know I have discussed this event with them at length. Most recently, this passive aggression and vindication is affecting my family. Their job includes interacting with the public, and they have taken it upon themselves to be extremely petty and unkind to a family member of mine because of an interaction that left them with a sour taste in their mouth. These series of events have assured me that severing ties with this friend is the best route for everyone involved. I expect them to try and contact me soon, as my family member filed a report against them. This is the response I have preemptively crafted: “At this point, I feel like it is in mine and my family’s best interest that we go our separate ways. There has been communication issues burdening our friendship for a long time now, and I don’t foresee them being resolved. I don’t wish you ill, and I hope you can pay the same consideration to me and my loved ones. “ I feel that they will most likely want to continue the conversation. My question is, would it be hurtful of me to not respond? I feel as though a “post mortem” of our friendship would not only open old wounds, but foster resentment for both of us. I do not feel as though it will truly benefit either of us to continue the conversation further afterwards, but I am wanting to hear other points of view before committing to this decision. I definitely do expect them to respond, as they have every right and reason to. I just want to know if it would be shitty of me to not offer further insight into my feelings/decision if that’s what they’re wanting?
TL;DR Passive aggressive friend with a tendency towards vindication has recently acted out a string of events that have not hurt only me, but my family as well. I’m wondering if it would be a crappy move to not respond after sending a singular message expressing my intention to end the friendship.

Hi Ladies, I need advice. I'm planning on leaving a review and reporting him to the Texas Medical Board but I feel like I'm going crazy and don't feel justified in reporting. I'd like to hear what y'all think (TLDR at bottom)
2 days ago I noticed what looked like a boil or cyst on my right labia. Yesterday this boil started to grow and become very irritated making it hard to sit down and hurt to walk around. I checked google and started putting a warm compress on it throughout the day to get it to drain naturally but knew I would probably need to get antibiotics to keep from infection. The boil (now know it was a cyst) was about 1cm big, pea-edamame sized and looked like it was possibly infected, hence the urgent care trip, and very red and inflamed. Wanted to be safe rather than sorry and decided it was better to go get antibiotics and start them that night just in case it started draining. It was pretty late at night and there was only 1 urgent care open, which was not the urgent care I typically went to.
Get to the urgent care, fill out the papers. Receptionist sees my paperwork and lets me know they only have a male doctor, and if that would be ok. Male doctors doing my exams in sensitive areas wasn't my favorite thing. Had some good experiences, had some bad. I said it was fine, since I assumed he was just going to examine if it looked infected and maybe prescribe some antibiotics. Wait for a bit in the waiting room then the nurse pulls me back for vitals. She was extremely sweet, talked about her bartholin's cyst and how it sounded like that could possibly be my problem. She told me to get undressed from the waist down, gave me a cover up, and she let me know she would be in the room with me while the doctor took a look.
Doctor comes into the room. It was an older man in his 70's or 80's. He did not introduce himself, he did not ask me what I was in for. I said hello, tried to start talking about my problem and he interrupts me with just a "show me it.". Rude and weird as we haven't even had a conversation yet but whatever, it's late at night.
I get on my back, there were no sternups or anything so I kind of awkwardly had my legs frog style. He immediately began touching the area- which was very red and tender and painful without a single word. Not a huge fan of that. My gyno's and dr's have always told me what they were about to do, especially when touching in or around my vagina. I asked him to tell me if it looked infected, if I could just let it drain and if I would need antibiotics (been super anxious about sepsis recently which was the biggest factor for coming in). He mentions that it looked like it may have started draining and then asked the nurse to grab him a paper towel.
Suddenly I felt a huge stinging pain on the area where the cyst was. Enough to make me yelp in pain and scoot back from him. He was popping my cyst. Popping it! No lancing, no gentle squeezing, no pain relief, NOTHING! He hadn't even wiped the area before popping a cyst, possibly making it more infected if it wasn't already. After the first wave of pain, nearly passing out he kept squeezing very hard I said "that hurts really bad can you stop?" and he did not stop. He squeezed again, and I yelped again and said "I'm serious I haven't had any ibuprofen or anything this hurts so bad please stop". Still no words spoken to me at this point. I was pissed, and in a lot of pain. I had wanted it to drain naturally because I didn't want to risk any extra scarring even with a cut or lance, but I will get even worse scarring from this doctor popping it! He took the paper towel and kept wiping and I winced in pain and told him to seriously stop touching it. He finally backed off, and waddled over to his clipboard all without saying a single word to me. The female nurse was in the room, silent this entire time- mind you.
He finally spoke up to ask me how much I weighed and if I was allergic to any medications because now that it's ruptured I needed to be on antibiotics immediately so I don't get infected. I couldn't believe what had just happened. He had not asked me if I wanted it "drained" if you could even call it that. He had not talked to me about what he was going to do. And if he had listened to me as he waddled over, he would have heard me say that I've been doing warm compresses to get it to drain naturally. I had to ask the female nurse for a panty liner so that I wasn't (TMI) leaking puss and blood all over my panties while I waited 45 minutes at a CVS to start my antibiotics. He left the room, without sharing any aftercare, without asking me if I had any questions. Nothing, just left. I just have this big gaping wound on my labia that I guess I'm just trying to keep clean and not pee on?
I have gotten cysts drained before at doctors offices, by the way. Cysts on my vaginal opening and urethral opening have been drained at gyno appointments. They are supposed to give you some kind of local numbing and it is done on request with either a lance or a cut. They certainly didn't squeeze-pop them without consent and they were explaining everything they were doing, before doing it. And the most important thing was when the pain was bad and I said "break" or "stop" and they would stop.
I left the clinic feeling violated. I'm upset that this cyst is going to scar more because he ruptured it without a care in the world. I had not asked him to drain my cyst on any kind of paperwork. I am upset he had not asked for any kind of consent before doing it. I was not there on request of a cyst draining. I had requested an exam to check for infection and to possibly get antibiotics.
I will be following up with my primary care physician, just to check for damage and proper aftercare instructions. I am planning on leaving a review on the clinics google page, which I found also had a few 1 star reviews about "the older gentleman" that took care of them. I want to also report to the medical board, but I have no strong evidence against him. I am a SA victim, and I'm already very uncomfortable with people touching me in that area. And I feel like he scarred me without my consent.
Any and all advice or support is greatly needed right now <3
TLDR: Went to doctor for centimeter sized cyst on labia to examine if it was infected and to get antibiotics. Male doctor refused to speak to me, and squeeze-popped my cyst without talking to me, without consent, without pain relief and refused to stop squeezing after I had asked him to stop, twice. My risk of infection is higher, and the area is going to scar. Left me no aftercare instructions. Gave me antibiotic prescription. This was a *non-emergency* urgent care trip.

I just finished my electrical system and now I'm looking to start wiring some stuff. Doing the water pump, and bought a press-button switch.
From some switch tutorials online, the general design is to have the wiring go through the switch first, and then the consuming devices. However, my pump is in the rear of the van and I want the switch close to the slider door. Having to wire the switch first and then all the way back to the pump will double the length of the circuit. Extra copper, voltage drop, clutter. Seems really inefficient.
Is there any way to wire a switch without having to put it first on the circuit?

I put in a complaint to a company who work in a shopping centre, after a guard was unnecessarily and disgustingly rude to me in the car park, about the way I was parked. Okay, I wasn't quite parked right, but there's a way to speak to someone.
I'll go into some detail about that below, but I've put the complaint in, and the manager of the company has confirmed that for what I describe, it's completely unacceptable. He'll check the footage and speak to the guard, but I won't get to know the outcome, since it's one of those companies that just tells you "the matter will be dealt with".
But when it comes to requesting the bodycam footage of the particular guard who behaved as I describe below, the manager tells me they have to remove content that can identify the 'data subject'. He won't be on camera, as that's facing towards me, but it means they can redact the audio of him, making the footage completely useless!
How I wish I used my phone at the time to record the event, but the question is, can they completely remove all of the content that will remove the context of the whole exchange?
For the record, I'm in the UK, so GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) applies.
For more info about what happened...
However, since I had not parked right previously (okay, my bad, but not a hanging offence like he was making it sound), the guard started telling me to leave the car park as I wasn't getting into the shopping centre that day (but could come back any other day), didn't give me any room to speak much, and when I tried to get out of the car to get some fresh air because I was in shock over his behaviour, he shouted, "What are you getting out for? You can just leave!"
He also got his boss on the walkie talkie, telling him "He's just not getting it!" Err... what is wrong with you?!
He then shouted how my parking "takes the piss", at which point I just started walking away from him, so he grabs my arm! He also threatened to get the on-site police. Well, given how this was going, I think I'd be safer with them, so give them a call by all means!
However, he then had a couple of other guards swoop in, barking, "Right, I think I'll just ban you. What's your name?", at which point I felt very intimidated and ended up leaving, in deep shock.
The way they would've been better off speaking to me is to say, "This is our first conversation about it. You can stay today, but please park properly. If we need to speak to you about this again, then the following restrictions may apply, etc"
Any help appreciated, but it still makes me feel sick how the whole situation panned out.

My setup at home consists of an iMac that is connected to an AOS monitor.
To make a long story short: in the past I used Microsoft Desktop Connector on my iMac to connect and mirror my work-laptop (windows) to my iMac+AOS monitor. I started a new job today and got a new work-laptop (windows) but the company does not allow to use the desktop connector because of security reasons…
I will be working from home 4 days a week and I don’t feel like plugging/unplugging my iMac twice a day… it’s just a hassle because the cable is plugged into the back of the iMac so it’s harder to reach and I like my cables to be out of sight as much as possible.
Is there an ‘elegant’ solution to have a splitter with a switch between the 2 inputs to 1 output? I would also like to keep the cable lengths and amount of separate cables as minimal as possible… my iMac does not have HDMI so I currently use a dongle from HDMI to usb-C. The work laptop also has usb-C (but also HDMI) so a HDMI to usb-C splitter switch would be even better… the AOS monitor does not have usb-C…
Another solution could be to use my iMac (while it is connected to the AOS monitor) as a second screen for my work-laptop so I can close it and put it to the side…
Any links to products and or suggestions are very welcome!

Let's create a Slice of Life together :)
Hello! My name is Michelle. I have been roleplaying since I was 15. I took some breaks here and there, but recently got back into it since covid. I am looking to do a slice of life roleplay that has drama and is long term. I am in the MST time zone. I will my requirements below.
Please note I am NOT single. I am happily taken. YES my boyfriend knows I roleplay and he's 100% ok with it.
(1) I am ok with any gender. But I ONLY play a female.
(2) Playing side characters is a must. A good roleplay has a side characters. And when I play my own side characters it feels almost as if I am talking to myself and it makes for an awkward time posting a response.
(3) As I mentioned above, I am in the MST time zone. Although the time zones aren't an issue for me, I do ask that you are able to post at least 3 times a day. I understand life gets in the way sometimes. If you for some reason aren't able to make a post, please try your best to let me know. I am pretty patient but don't like being ghosted or wondering if I am being ghosted.
(4) I roleplay in third person, I prefer it that way, but don't be discouraged if you do not. I understand third person isn't for everyone and I am willing to do first as long as the plot is good.
(5) I strictly do slice of life only. Romance, drama, emotions, etc all involved in a roleplay makes for a great time. Please DON'T ask for anything sci-fi or fantasy related.
(6) No one liners please. It is very hard to respond to a one line post. Plus it gets boring exceptionally fast. Give me something to respond to. A good solid post should be at least 3-5 sentences. The more the better, but I do want to take my time with this. I don't want to make a four posts a day that has the length of a novel. Those get boring for me pretty fast too.
(7) I prefer to use face claims and a little bit of information about my character when doing descriptions. That being name, age, career, personality, and a little bit of backstory of how my character grew up. I expect the same effort from you.
And please note if you are planning on ghosting me after we get an entire roleplay set up please don't bother reaching out. Don't waste my time and I won't waste yours. Please don't send a two line message. It shows me you aren't serious. Tell me about you and why you think you will be a good rp partner.
If you feel as if you can meet my expectations then please don't hesitate to send me a message. I usually respond in a good timely manner. I will post some roles thay are favorites below, but please know I am NOT by any means set on these roles. I am open to others.
I like any role where you play a bad boy (I know most men are tired of this, which I get. Please know it isn't a must), arranged marriage, exes who reunite after being broken up for quite some time, friends with benefits (already established relationship) my character ends up pregnant, I am also up for combining any or all, of these roles.
If none of the roles I mentioned spark your fancy please don't hesitate to bring some of your ideas to surface. I love hearing new ideas and coming up with something together that is unique and filled with both of our interests.
I hope to hear from all of you wonderful roleplayers out there! Send me the word butterfly so I know you read the entire post. If you don't have butterfly somewhere in your message, I won't respond.

Regnum Isus
One year into phase two of the expansion and Aurelian and his forces entered the system of Regnum Isus. Without hesitation, the leader of the system, known as Kavakk Shuun invited them to the planet's surface where they were greeted and welcomed with open arms. A feast was held and celebrations were had, they were welcomed as heroes before they had even had a chance to explain their presence or their cause, seemingly as though their hosts already knew who they were and why they were here. Aurelian was accompanied by four of his Hetaeroi, Sonnha Ventrix, Ostarii Kel, Entala and Tsu'Tan Vor. Kavakk hosted them in his own home, a grand villa atop a mountain, the splendour of the villa was unmatched throughout the system. After the reception at Kavakk's villa, Aurelian asked Kavakk if he could explain why they so happily welcomed him and his forces, Kavakk simply smiled and gestured for Aurelian to follow him. Aurelian beckoned for Sonnha to follow and they both then followed Kavakk.
After ten full minutes of walking in dead silence, Kavakk opened the door to a dimly lit, empty chamber. On the walls, however, was a grand painting, glyphs and other script and depictions of great warriors and battles. Kavakk gestured to the words written around the edge of the painting and silently left. Aurelian read the words, multiple times.
"From the stars shall he cometh. With fire and steel shall he cometh. With fury and wrath shall he cometh. Unmatched shall be his strength. Indomitable shall be his will. As the waves break against the shore, so too shall the darkness break upon his blade. Lo and behold, the warrior-king cometh, as the dawn ends the night, unto the righting of the cosmos.
Aurelian departed Regnum Isus with a new determination, while also wondering if there was more to the vision that struck him. Nothing diving or scared, such hubris, he thought to himself, but maybe more than just mere chance that it happened to him.
Regnum Paradiso
Four months later, upon arriving in system of Regnum Paradiso, previously known as Paradax by the locals, Aurelian sent a transmission to the planet's of the system, all planetary leaders joined in the transmission and poured praise and welcome over Aurelian and his forces. They invited him to a celebration on the Planet Noskopje Tau. The representative of Noskopje informed Aurelian that he was the embodiment of a hero from a prophecy they had received many hundreds of years ago and that he would be the one to defend them from the coming darkness.
Regnum Maledictum
Upon their arrival in the Maledictum system, an invitation was extended for Aurelian to attend a banquet in his honour at the ruling palace of the ice planet, Aquilonis. His host, Az'Rael Vok, greeted him cordially, sparing no expense in the feast's preparation and expressing readiness to endorse any accords that Aurelian proposed. When Aurelian voiced his curiosity over their alacrity to enlist in the Empire and combat by his side, Az'Rael glanced at him and merely inquired, "Do you not know?"
As the feast drew to a close, Az'Rael entreated Aurelian to accompany him to the recesses of the planet. Obligingly, Aurelian followed. Their journey led them for hours past decrepit, deserted machinery and through long-forgotten cities swallowed by time. At length, they reached a spacious cavern containing a lone obelisk, a colossal, pitch-black stone monument measuring four meters across and thirty meters high, adorned with complex runes, glyphs, patterns, and symbols that appeared mobile under the shifting light reflecting off its lustrous, jet-black surface. The cavern was immersed in silence, broken only sporadically by droplets of water. A transient sadness flickered in Az'Rael's eyes as he gestured towards the obelisk and urged Aurelian in a voice tinged with sadness, "Place your hand upon the stone, and know the truth of what will come to pass."
With intense scrutiny, Aurelian studied the black stone, meticulously interpreting each rune and glyph before making contact with the chilling, ebony surface. The moment his hand connected with the obelisk, his eyes retreated into his skull, and a searing white pain speared through his consciousness, piercing his essence with a revelation of catastrophic significance. He saw himself, alone, bloodied and broken, lay motionless on the earth of a desolate and dying world. His blade at his side, the last remnants of darkness evaporating from its surface and voice, a voice resonating with malice and dread, echoing in his mind, repeating a haunting mantra, "Wretch! I am cometh. I am slaughter. I am doom.". He ripped his hand from the obelisk, cradling his palm as if it were consumed by flames. But as the agony ebbed away, clarity surged forth in its stead. He knew. He finally understood.
Aurelian remained silent, merely gazing at Az'Rael, his face full of determination, but his eyes full of sorrow, akin to one who has seen too much. Silently, he undertook the extensive trek back to the surface and re-joined his ship. As he and his forces retreated from Regnum Maledictum, the era of peaceful expansion came to a close.

Anybody have any advice for the little rubber O-rings on the back of tunnels every time I put them on I have an issue which leads to me just not taking them out as much I’m currently at a 12g(2mm) and am getting close to my 10g(2.5mm) stretch date. When do they stop being a pain in the ass lol? Also on that note are there any good sites for longer tunnels ? I’m not sure of the exact length of the ones I currently have but they are definitely too short for my thick ass earlobes and the backs of my ear holes sometimes “swallow” the rubber bands it seems like. I assume this will be less of an issue as I size up though??

I wanted to post a rundown of my understanding of the Hartenstein free agency situation for a) some more clarity in the sub on what is/isn't possible and b) crowdsourced feedback if I have any details (small or large) incorrect.
The Knicks are going to be operating over the salary cap - i.e., the salaries they are obligated to pay in the 2024-25 NBA season will sum to a figure higher than the projected cap of $141m. As such, the Knicks need to use available cap exceptions to sign/re-sign players like Isaiah. NYK signed Isaiah from free agency to a two-year contract in the 2022 summer; this reset his Bird rights clock to 0. More on the Bird rights and 'Early Bird' rights exceptions rules in the following links from Larry Coon's incredible NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) FAQ: question 25, question 32
In short, Bird rights are meant to allow teams to retain their players despite a lack of salary cap room left to do so. However, because Isaiah does not have 3 complete seasons on his Bird rights clock going into the 2024 offseason, NYK does not have 'full' Bird rights with Isaiah, which would have allowed them to use the exception to pay Isaiah anything up to his maximum salary (and contract length and yearly raise) under the CBA. Isaiah will have 2 complete seasons on his Bird rights clock, giving NYK, his current team, Early Bird rights to retain him. The Early Bird rights exception is the largest available cap exception that NYK can use to pay Isaiah, but the Early Bird rights exception is not as lenient as the full Bird rights exception. Early Bird rights contracts allow the player's team to offer a contract with

• a maximum starting salary at 175% of the player's salary in the previous season (not over the maximum salary, of course) or at 105% of the average salary [in the league] in the previous season, whichever is greater
• at least two seasons in length (which prevents teams from using the Early Bird to sign a one-year contract, then signing the same player with the full Larry Bird exception the following season)...and at most four seasons in length, with raises up to 8% of the salary in the first season of the contract [source: aforementioned CBA FAQ question 25]

So, the Knicks cannot just match what another team with more salary cap room can offer Isaiah, who has likely outplayed the amount that the Knicks can offer him this summer.
In my opinion, the best that NYK can take care of Hartenstein is with a 2-year + Player Option contract starting at his maximum Early Bird exception salary of about $16.18m (1.75 * 9.245m [his salary this season, base + incentive]) with 8% raises. The PO secures that this is a >$50m bag over 3 seasons, and it gives Hartenstein the possibility of signing a new, more lucrative contract after 2 seasons. Harteinstein will be 28 in summer 2026, ...and New York would have his full bird rights(!).
The issue is that Hartenstein's agents (at CAA 😈😈😈) can probably find him a deal worth $30m+ more than what the Knicks can offer. A 4 year $80-$90m offer could very well materialize (and it probably should - even more is I think deep for the way the center market seems to tend to unfold [have not personally seen or done an analysis here], but could still bear out as a good contract in my opinion).
I think, though, that it's worth looking at the breakdown of his money lost to gain a fuller perspective. Italics below is my estimation of his shortfall from NYK's 2+1 Early Bird deal when compared to a roughly $90m, 4-year free agent contract: [CHART]
The shortfall for the 2 guaranteed seasons of the NYK deal is over $8m - nothing to sneeze at. If Isaiah is outplaying the NYK deal, that 2026 summer is when NYK can finally take care of him with a full Bird Rights exception contract. If he's not outplaying the NYK deal or if, say, his 2025-26 season is injury-marred, then he has the $18.77m to opt into and run it back with (at which point the shortfall from the 4/$90m is $12.67m).
There's no sugarcoating that Isaiah would be gambling with the aforementioned early-deal shortfall(s) plus a at least starter-level 2027-28 salary ($24.911m) if he were to take NYK's deal over a hypothetical $90m deal. If his gamble works out, though, he could hypothetically lose only ~$8m aggregate next year and the year following, while potentially gaining some of that back in his next NYK deal as compared to the hypothetical 4 year, $90m free agent deal of this summer. As things stand, though, summer 2026 could be a world in which we are paying >80% of under-the-cap salary to Brunson, Randle and Anunoby. Then NYK starts to think about Hartenstein's new contract as the salary + the steep tax penalties per dollar. That summer also features Mitchell Robinson's free agency. I'm sure Hartenstein's agents are well aware of those pitfalls, too.
What do I predict? I have (perhaps unreasonable) confidence that he'll push his chips in with us 😎. I predict that he values his increasingly central role and the continuity there, that he has a strong desire to keep it going with the rest of this inspired squad, and that he is content with taking his destiny into his own hands even if means doing so at the risk of losing tens of millions.

I produce a lot of oil in my hair. If I go two days without a wash, it looks really bad like I haven't showered in a month. Even after I just come out of the shower having shampooed and conditioned my hair, it feels quite oily and keeps a wet look. My hair is thin and shoulder length. It's wavy and I'd like to accentuate the curliness but not sure how. My hair will not hold a curl from a curling iron.
My typical routine: Wash hair every other day. Use Vanicream Shampoo and Back to Basics Conditioner. After getting out I spray Shea Moisture rejuvenating spray.
What products should I switch to in order to get loose curls?

Back after 8 months. Some thoughts as a PS5 player.

1. It has levels to know where you're at. I dropped off kind of pre Rennala in an NG+ (I know only because I left a note in an Obsidian file). I get and agree why the game and the genre has the lore doctrine it has, but obscurity by design fights against just picking things up again. I feel like this is why online discussion and support is a core part of playing and understanding the game meaningfully. I believe there are folks who really do figure things out by axiom, whether its completion paths, combinations, stacks, buffs, scaling, builds, hidden areas, while believing it's not a game philosophy that works without an internet, and to be frank without the highly centralised iteration of the internet we have today. I think we should encourage players to look at guides from the get over just do it yourself alone. In much the same sense we don't tend to recommend people experience a country or a city without a bit of groundwork.
2. It's a beautiful, beautful game. Even more than I remember or appreciated. I don't just mean the art style or that ray tracing was added. It's things like level of detail, extreme use of color, particle effects, and especially, high contrast. It's all very painterly, but brush brave and stroke precise in a Sargent/Rubens/ElGreco sense, or in the sense of how great mini painters emulate insane realism in 25mm. Some main things I don't love are the washed out distance fog. I get it, but it creates a flatness than undermines (imo) one of the most beautiful, awesome, worlds ever designed in video games.
3. Menus could make it an even more beautiful game. I'm left wondering the extent FromSoftware understand what some of us are doing when we play this game and spending time in the world. Me? I'm spending a lot of time in menu and using the hud constantly. The tea drenched sepia smol boxes does little good here. I would love for the menus and hud part to get the same level of game attention as core mechanics. I feel like this is the more important criticism than saying menus are spreadsheety. Ans seriously, things are just too small. The items I'm looking at have beautiful, intricate designs, with such lore. They deserve more visual real estate and even animation (why not play the gesture or provide a show action when you select it?). I also feel like item cycling lacks slickness compared to main combat, but both matter in fights. Subjectively, I tend to get killed when trying to pick the right flask more than timing a roll. And so I think menu is underserved as part of combat.
4. Sound design is out there. I hadn't realised the extent Elden Ring imprinted its sound on me, especially combat effects and character actions. This is Nintendo / 80s Arcade levels of imprint. I would say also the audio helped me attune to combat that much faster: the game sound literally tells you if you're playing and timing well. The VAs, to be clear, are excellent imo, and I wish we knew more about them and celebrated them more as actors the way other games are doing (I'm there for the Ramon Tikaram as Godrick podcast), but the direction and writing is missing—something—somehow trapped in the era that Demon Souls was made. That said, I just did come back from months of BG3, which is the high bar here.
5. Physicality. I think the audio effects can't be underestimated to help lend weight, but when you try and swing that blasphemous/gargoyle two hander thing you have going on, you really do feel their heft, whereas when I was a moonveil spammer on my first run, it was whip fast. While being a tad critical of how the game hides its mechanics, they do matter, impressively so, in the sense of gameplay. That glove vs that glove can be night and day. And what makes this amazing is how those choices really affect your overall game approach. It's so meaningful and it feels like you're playing a different game each time. And that leads me to—
6. —Length. I'm torn. On the one hand, in the last decade,I'm playing and loving games that lean to longer play throughs (AC:O/A, HFW, BG3, Elden Ring, RDR, Rogue Trader, at a push TLOU2). On the other hand, Dungeons, Field bosses, etc, start to get repetitive and even gimmicky (oh, this rune bear also has shout, ok then). I wonder if there's an Elden Ring that cuts the game to a half or even a third such that I could play through more times. BG3, the game I'm coming off, to be clear, has the same problem, even worse, but also the same potential. I feel your build choices make the game spectacularly different, not just minimaxing on a load out. Playing as a mage over a knight over a samurai means playing a different game. This evening for example, I ended up by accident beside a crayfish in Liurnia. I had to fight, freaking out, but because of the current build a toe to fight was a reasonable thing to do. The freak out was they were so formidable in other playthroughs—because of the builds. So I'm left wondering, would a shorter game I complete more times be 'better' than a longer game I complete fewer times?

So: yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. One of the greatest games ever made.

I've been on the pill since I was 18. In November 2022, at age 36, I decided to stop taking it.
Since then, my hair has been getting progressively more shit. It took me awhile to notice... about a year. 6 months ago I started to realise how much change there's been from what my hair used to be.
Where it used to be much longer, have more weight and generally more of it at the lengths, it's become shorter, thinner and incredibly fragile. It's so wispy and delicate that I can't even curl it because it just spreads out into a weird, wispy mess. It no longer holds together in clumps.
At first I thought it must be due to bleaching it. During lockdown I started doing home jobs on myself and continued that for the next 3 years. I figured it must've destroyed my hair, so I stopped all treatment immediately and have been letting my natural hair grow.
I also went to a high end salon a few months ago, told them the history of my hair and asked for help in restoring it. They trimmed the ends, sold me some expensive shampoo, conditioner & heat protectant cream and told me to come back in 3 months. I'm due to see them next week.
There's been no improvement whatsoever in my hair. So I started thinking more broadly and realised... I think it's related to stopping the contraceptive pill. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
The added estrogen all those years must've aided in keeping my hair healthier, and now that my estrogen levels have gone down to a more natural level, my hair has turned to complete shit.
I've researched it and there's lots of information about people's hair being affected when they stop the pill, but it all says that it should go back to normal after 6 or so months.
I'm now 1.5 years out from when I stopped taking it.
So, I'm thinking of going to my doctor and asking what her thoughts are, and if she has any advice. I think this is beyond the hair salons level of knowledge and expertise. This is medical.

My parents have ruined my life through and through. They have raised me (23) with nothing while gave everything to my sister(26).
As kids she was their favourite and she studied really hard and did well academically in school, also took part in different sports and other activities. As I started growing up I did not put in the effort in studies, still scored more than her. My parents never allowed me to learn any sports or be part of any other activity.
For my sister, my parents would be there for everything while i had to do everything alone. They used to drop her off to her exams and wait 3 hours outside the centre in case she needs anything, She did well in her exams and got into the top 10, we were there for the entire day and supported her thoroughly. Throughout her school years, it was routine for my parents to take her to the school on weekends, interact with her teachers and make sure she's on the right track.
3 years later for me, they didn't even show up to school once after getting me admitted. Never once cared to meet my teachers or ask me how is school going. I used to walk alone to the school for my exams, i ended up ranked #1 in the school as well. My parents didn't have time to come to the graduation. I had to watch 2nd and 3rd ranked students get loved and celebrated by their families. While i just walked home alone, this time with a trophy.
Went and put it on the dining table, my mother yelled at me to put it away as I was letting the success get to my head. Not once did she say congratulations or well done or I'm proud of you.
My sister got into a college in the same city, and I remember my dad used to stay up at night with her helping her on her projects and assignments and he used to driver her to her college and back almost daily. It was 35 km away.
Meanwhile when I got into college in the same city 15 km from home , my father has been to my college only once that too for the admission. Never cared about my degree since. I had to use public transport everyday.
As for money, my sister used to get spending money from my parents and they bought her things all the time. I interned as a lawyer, earned some money but all of that would go in basic needs like travel, lunch , cheap clothes , cheap shoes and so on.
For my sister's college graduation, again the entire family went and celebrated with her. For me again it was me going to collect my degree, I didn't do well in college because I never had anything and it is fucking hard to function when you don't have a pair of shoes while your sister and your parents have dozens.
Whenever I asked to buy me something I was given the same lecture, money does not grow on trees, you don't value money, one day we'll die you will have to manage everything. While whenever my sister wanted something , my father would bring it to her as soon as practically possible.
I got into a great uni for master's on my own, while my parents had to pull strings and give money to get my sister into a master's course from a reputed uni.
I've secured a job as Assistant Professor, joining date is 21 July. My sister got placed as well, for about half as much as me.
And I cannot wait for this entire ordeal to end once and for all. I was finally going to have money, real money.
My sister is getting married soon, and my parents have now asked me to save from my salary and pay 1/4th of her wedding. Which will be roughly 3 months of my salary, and guess what my sister will not be paying for her own fucking wedding because she'd need that money to 'set things up', when her would be husband already has a house , a car and investments.
I am going to move in with my best friend, who has always been the one walking with me when my family time and time again abandoned me. I have decided that now it is time for me to abandon my family. I will stop caring about them , I will not pay a single cent for my sister's wedding. She should pay for her own wedding as she literally has no expenses after this. While i have to do everything on my own (till my parents die and I get their properties).

I remember tappei once saying arc 1 and the final arc will be the most important arcs in re zero. So how does arc 1 place 2nd to the final arc full of big reveals with it's short length. I think it's probably going to come back full circle in some way.
Not necessarily as in oh no subaru now has to restart the whole adventure at the end again but like there hints or foreshadowing given in this arc to us from the beginning and had the most important characters for the finale perhaps ?
Subaru and emilia are obvious. Reinhard also potentially very important. Felt is most likely to become king. Elsa is dead (forget her). Puck is full of mystery. But that apple guy Kadmon intrigues me a little with how much attention he was given by the author.
He is married to a woman born to important characters, first character subaru interacts with, his name sounds similar to Adam Kadmon and offers subaru a free apple and you know there's gotta be some christian allegory at the end just like stars and constellation. Tappei bothered to give him a birthdate and is stated to really care about subaru in a q and a.
What is he cooking?!!! How is arc 1 going to be super important at the end besides setting up the story ? Oh and don't forget folks. He just said that mural we saw in the first anime pv could be actually a plot point. The mural of those two who might be the witch and the great sage with intertwined fates in a fucking church. This was meant to be a story of a boy saving a girl and telling her his feelings after all that's all there is to it in the words of arc 3 narration.
And the theory that he made the contract with satella in the first death.

Not sure if anyone else will even be able to answer this, but I thought I might as well put it out there. I have restricted view seats for the hit me hard and soft tour in London next year. Having looked at the section there in it seems like, apart from one 1975 gig where they put the screens directly in the way of the stage, this section is mostly restricted view because it’s on the side of the stage at an angle where you can’t really see the screens at the back. But I’ve seen a lot of seating plans that show the stage being in the centre of the arena. Do you think this means there’ll be something else restricting the view of the centre? Does this mean it’s not going to be 360 in London? I am confusion 😂 also for extra context I didn’t buy the tickets myself so I didn’t see the stage and seating plan myself. I’ve gone onto the website as if I’m going to buy tickets since just to look at the plan and it seems like there’s space between the back of the arena and the stage and then there’s a walkway?

Context: I have mus,medically unexplained symptoms. I struggle with sensation below the waist,so several things are affected.
I feel so alone,even more now.
The only specialists in my area keep dropping suggestions and hints I'm exaggerating everything, putting it on.
"Well you looked fine earlier" "well that normally doesn't behave like that" "Try not focus on it"
I don't want to go back but I've got no choice,I have to put up with their harassment every 3-6 months
Edit: My disability fluctuates so sometimes I "appear" fine.

I won't disclose its actual location, so if that's why you're here, sorry to disappoint. It's not time for that yet. However, I do think it's time to start getting the word out. I've noticed an increase in what I'll call "Antennas" lately, or people who can detect cross-planar phase shifts. Without getting into all the math (some of which I don't even know), this is basically a phenomenon which refers to entropy seeping into our universe from other realms or universes or whatever you want to call it. Simply put, people think our universe is a closed system to entropy, meaning that the disorder of any variable in our universe can only increase or decrease in direct proportion to other variables in that same system (the universe). Under this precept, we can establish rules like the Laws of Thermodynamics, and for most people, they're effective. But not for Antennas.
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.

I won't disclose its actual location, so if that's why you're here, sorry to disappoint. It's not time for that yet. However, I do think it's time to start getting the word out. I've noticed an increase in what I'll call "Antennas" lately, or people who can detect cross-planar phase shifts. Without getting into all the math (some of which I don't even know), this is basically a phenomenon which refers to entropy seeping into our universe from other realms or universes or whatever you want to call it. Simply put, people think our universe is a closed system to entropy, meaning that the disorder of any variable in our universe can only increase or decrease in direct proportion to other variables in that same system (the universe). Under this precept, we can establish rules like the Laws of Thermodynamics, and for most people, they're effective. But not for Antennas.
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.