[OC Intro: The game is modded to increase basic jobs cost, seasonal events are disabled. Much of the crash details are based on NASA/SP-2008-565 Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report recommendations especially Chapter 3 "Occupant Protection".]
The ship is without power, and Tightniks can't run the radar much without draining the batteries. He has only a few minutes of APU power left, goes over the best clearing he can find, and radars it. It varies by only a few feet from the aerodynamic glideslope there. He spots it out on the cameras and circles to go after that spot. He's only at two hundred feet now. With one hand on the stick, he uses the other to open the pressure equalization valve on the side hatch, then at one hundred feet, gets it undogged. Depending on how much damage he's going to get, it's less likely to be stuck closed and trap him. The dynamic vacuum this pulls in the cockpit rips most of the survival pack data cards from that rack and scatters them across the landscape. Crap, I'm gonna need those! Refocusing on surviving the next few seconds, he turns on the radar for the final approach, takes a last look around, then straight ahead at his forward camera and PFD, he clicks his HANS and shoulder strap locks in; after that, he can barely move, but that now is better than dying in this crash with a broken neck. He's a decent pilot and brings up the flare gently. Bringing up the alpha on this delta-winged ship, he balloons a little, but keeps the nose going up and restores a zero aerodynamic sink rate just above the highest terrain indicated by the radar altimeter. The ship bumps a little in the ground effect, and he can see the radar altitude cycling irregularly up and down about five feet at a time. Rougher than it looked from higher up! The body flap protecting the dead engines hits first, and the nose comes rapidly down. It hits, the screens go blank, and Tightniks is surrounded by airbags, some lifting his feet from the rudder petals and his hand from the control stick. It's blinding, it's disorienting, it's noisy, and, to his relief, it's long! It takes several seconds before the crashing cockpit stops moving. How many times did he flip over? Did he go sideways and roll? Am I rightside up? Are we really stopped on the ground? The airbags deflate, and he can move his arms. He gets his restraints loose and inspects himself. "Uck!" he says out loud (without the 'f'). No broken bones. His pressure suit can take his blood pressure. 116/81, pulse 112, blood oxygen 99 reads off on his left arm, I'll friggin' take it!
The ship is amazingly intact from what he can tell. He can't get any readings. The systems test meter seems to be working, but can't find any voltages anywhere. The ship seems to be completely dead. Behind him, 10 passenger seats are all surrounded by airbags and the back of the cabin ends in some sort of dirt-and-gravel and there's a bit of daylight seeping in around the edges. He was the only one on board, though, so their deployment was mostly academic (they might have stiffened the structure a little during the crash, but that's probably trivial.) Tightniks gets out of his spacesuit. The air on this planet is actually breathable. He gets the hatch open, steps outside and-
"A green shimmer erupts then disappears, and you hit the ground."
The human emerges from the glowing green mist and hits the ground. Groans. Pushes against that ground, trying to get back up. Where am I? What's my name? I remember nothing. Aren't babies born naked? He's got a dark blue button-down shirt on. A uniform? A shoulder patch. Gets up, looks around. I feel really heavy. I'm not that fat, am I? He picks up a small stone from the ground, this also feels heavier than it should. He rises to his feet and holds it out somewhat (he's unable to fully extend his arm) and lets it go. The stone hits the ground near his feet quickly and with remarkable speed. It's the gravity, it's greater than it is on- ...where am I from? This is- ...not my home planet? "Oooh..."
"Ka?" it says.
What is that? It's cute, at least.
It is not tame. He has no hope of catching it on foot. The creature seems to like the berries. Maybe if I gather some of those into one place and set some kind of trap...
33s: First trap.
I got one! The human lumbers up to the trap and gets the catch open. Do you bite? It doesn't matter much to me; I'm so friggin' screwed.
It doesn't. It looks at the human with a sense of wonder, actually. A blink and tilt of the head. Seems almost to be asking, Is it you? My purpose? My savior? Once out of the trap, which is totally wrecked, he has to make a new one from scratch, it follows him around like a imprinted hatchling bird.
Wiry little fella, you are. You're going to need some bulking up to do anything useful. The- ...'trimp', I guess... The trimp seems just barely able to feed itself. The human lets him into the broken ship's intact cabin, and it curls up comfortably in a passenger seat for a nap.
1m03s: Second trap.
"Apparently the Trimps breed if they're not working. Doesn't look pleasant."
What are they doing?
The trimps appear to be androgynous, and these two have paired off in the back of the ship. They're holding something carefully within a few hours, feeding it berries, grass, and- ...corundum.
Corundum?? Whatever that is, it isn't a baby.
1m35s: Third trap.
Only it IS a baby! The third trimp he trapped immediately joined the other two in raising it. They have a strange diet of food the human has found compatible with his own body, but they also eat rocks! They're careful to crush and sort aluminate minerals from silcate ones and only eat aluminate. Actually, they don't eat aluminate, they're only feeding it to the baby.
2m06s: Fourth trap.
All four are raising the same child, who is just starting to toddle. It seems these fellas have alumina or maybe even aluminum bones. The human takes a nap and wakes to find the first child grown up and they're starting to raise a second child, all five of them.
2m46s: Huts.
The human found a working bit of electronics. He calls it a pad, but maybe it's more like a smartphone. It has plans for two residential structures. The first, the smaller one, he can build right away, but the second one needs something called "drywall", and he has to figure out how to make that before he can build it. Huts and houses, apparently.
3m13s: 10 pop, full, first farmer.
The trimp he trained to farm and make paper took an incredible 50 units of food to get bulked up to do the work, and now it's not participating in rearing the child. But less than an hour after the trimp started farming and pulping, the child was out on its own, and the trimps did not start another. The ten seats on the ship were all full. Well, eleven counting the one up front that the human sleeps in. The pilot starts exploring the area.
3m28s: Battle.
Wait, what are you do-
The hostile roars and charges at the human, but one of his trimps jumps in front of him with a stick and they fight. It started right when the human got far enough away from the ship that the hostile non-trimps away from the ship began to regard him as leaving his own territory. After the trimp defeats the first enemy, it continues after other hostiles.
3m53s: Shield I in Z1c5.
The human is easily able to recover the loot in the territory cleared by the fighting trimp. Then he sees something glinting in the- That can't be! What the heck is that? It's a data card that fits his pad. It quite clearly regards trimp combat. He gets it loaded into his pad and studies it. I can do this, it just takes some wood. He returns to the ship to discover that they had already started on a new child before the fighter had even expired in battle. The human concentrates on his research.
4m38s: Mskel in Z1c11 defeated.
The remains of this one seem rather white and shiny. It's titanium! This enemy had titanium bones! He'll store them away. They'll be useful someday, I'm sure.
5m52s: Dagger I in Z1c20.
Where are these data cards coming from? The human wonders as he loads this one into his pad, It's for a weapon it calls a dagger. He blinks. I don't know what a dagger is. I'll take your word for it, data card. Needs metal. He has gathered some, but ore is plentiful. He can just dig and smelt it whenever he wants. For now, I'll continue researching.
6m18s: Arable in Z1c21.
It's an old cave that trimps like to live in. Why weren't they able to live there before? How could these friendly critters be confined to only the exact spot where THAT thing, he looks back where he came from, not remembering that he piloted the wrecked ship to its current resting place, crashed? This is really strange. I'll let them fill up this cave before advancing further. Wait, what about defenses? The hostiles never try to reclaim territory that they've lost, so he stops worrying about that fairly quickly.
8m22s: First hut is 0.3% first ever AP.
The trimps seem fairly easy to please in terms of living quarters. Two move into his first hut and start raising a child. The human has his tent, uniform, and the heater pilfered from his space suit. Not much of a mud fan.
9m59s: Miners in Z1c30.
Oh, what's on this data card? Sl3niw? Oh, I'm holding the pad upside down. Miners. I can teach trimps how to mine ores and smelt met- 200 units of food? Each job is getting more expensive to train a trimp for. He puts his bee nickels to his eyes and spots another data card probably 10 enemies away. "Sc"? Does that means science? I can teach trimps to do science??
13m57s: Scientists in Z1c40.
Due to the expense of training trimps, the human couldn't afford to build them shields until now, he's got Sh1-3 made for the fighter to capture the science training data card. 14m02s: One head went into that turtlimp shell, that of his fighter, but two came out: his fighter still has his head on, and he managed to get the turtlimp's head off. It rushes off after the deadly penguimp in the next cell. The shields are not doing all that much good, actually, but they're better than nothing. The human picks up and loads the science data card and- Holy runny sugar-free fudge crap! 1000 food units, but it'll endow them with the ability to speak. Good. I'm getting bored with no one to talk to.
14m28s: Bloodlust purchased and AutoFight enabled (that delay after getting it is an effect of jacking up the job cost.)
As the human buries this expired little trimp warrior, he comes to the sobering realization that he has more trimp graves in his growing trimp colony than he does live trimps. And yet they seem more hopeful now than before I got to know any of them. They seem to think I'm the solution to all their problems or- Those two look east somberly, then notice that he's watching them and smile back and wave at him. ...one problem that is specific, but very, very huge for them. [The only reason I say 'east' is because that's right on a map, and the game advances right across a row, then up. I might say 'northeast' on occasion for that reason.]
20m47s: Z1c73, Miners taken.
Are you my new mining foreman? The trimp who took to the mining training has dark brown fur that lays flat on its head. It's unusual in not having any bits that stick out from its head, ahoge or whatever. This one is relatively quiet, and while it has assimilated the mining and smelting knowledge, it needs to bulk up to do any mining. Smelting is relatively easy, and getting a strong natural draft going in a furnace is almost trivial with the increased gravity. This trimp builds furnaces like nothing. And likes to nap in holes it digs right on the spot; it's weird that way. [Puchim@s Yukipo, and furnaces are not explicit in Trimps.]
21m58s: Farming in Z1c80.
The resourcing "books" are not data cards but paper scrolls, apparently lost to the trimps. It seems that they were civilized in the recent past and some calamity swept over the planet to reduce them to this. Did I have something to do with it? Amnesia sucks harder than a Dyson- ...what's a Dyson? Whatever, it sucks. This disaster happening just before I crash in the only spot with trimps still alive would be a seriously crazy coincidence! Something is really, really wrong about all this. [The author has not sought or received product placement permission or fee from Dyson Technology Ltd. or any resellers of their stuff, just they literally suck balls and made my favorite vacuum cleaner.]
23m50s: Builder in Z1c90.
They've rescued an, I dunno, gelding trimp? It just started to build a shed around the piled lumber I left to build one. It's really slow compared to me, and just banged its thumb, but it is super cute with that long reddish head fur. That particular trimp is also fascinated with pink ribbons and likes to decorate its head fur with them. Because of its inherent inability to participate in rearing children, it isn't counted in the population. [Puchim@s Io, builder on the basis of Iori seen building in 1x10.]
26m02s: Zone 2, 44 pop, 5.5s RC with Z0/1.
It's some sort of tactical manual - tactical coordination. Coordination! He's starting to sort out some trimpese on the research he has done so far. It needs a lot of metal, so they won't be able to implement it for some time. Hopefully, they're still good one at a time, but these enemies seem to be getting bigger as we go along. Uh oh!
27m33s: Gym in Z2c5.
It's some sort of training dojo or sporting arena. The human examines the ruins, I think I can back-engineer drawings for this, get one built, and see what happens.
29m02s: 1g, 47 pop, 10.8s RC with Z1/2.
The two fighting trimps now with their gym and coordination are dodging and blocking enthusiastically, and making much faster ground against the bad guys then a little while ago when it was just one trimp fighting at a time and unable to avoid the enemy hitting back.
40m46s: Fresh turkimp in Z2c74, 63 pop, 7.9s RC, Sh1-10, Da1-5, Bo1-3, Ma1-3, Hm1-3, 6g.
Oh, wow, the laborers seem really hot after this turkimp. He cooks it up and tries a slice. It's really awesome! I have to work alongside his laboring trimps to share it, but I'm getting used to the gravity now. That scroll we found back in Z2c10 really helped. Trimps' techniques and appliances for handicapped individuals, and I'm really handicapped in this higher gravity. He joins the woodcutters with the turkimp; they're the most numerous resource laborer right now, building more gyms, enough that the block/dodge ability of the fighting trimps is almost caught up to the enemy's ability to cause damage.
43m15s: Zone 3, 63 pop, 7.9s RC with Z1/2.
I'm neglecting my science and trimp scientists are really expensive. Curiously, that grey-haired one can't speak all that well, only says "Tai" and "Shijou", but it can write and draw like nobody's business. It's the only scientist so far. [Puchim@s Takanya: Online references probably still claim that she can utter the first two syllables of any word, but she can actually utter only the first two kana syllables of someone's name, most often the given name of basis human Takane Shijou, who also has that habit. (All the utterances of the puchidoru are based on the speech foibles of their basis humans except maybe Piyopiyo, where I haven't seen anything match up so far.)]
47m32s: Finally, we can make drywall and houses. 59m30s: Z3c77, 94 pop, 7.8s RC.
Oh, those poor things are really struggling up at the front. These trimps are enthusiastic and know no fear, but I still feel like telling them to stop for a while. I don't have the heart to keep them from trying while they're still doing some damage.
1h05m24s: Zone 4, 107 pop, 9.3s RC with Z3/4. 1h15m26s: Zone 5, 120 pop, 8.2s RC with Z3/4.
"What is that?" the human asks. He has three scientists. His first does all the writing, but the other two can actually speak. One of them hops up on a rock spire beside the human to reach his eye level.
At the next ridge line, over the lowest and most passable gap in the terrain, this really mean looking hovering sausage monster.
"I dunno," the scientist trimp shrugs, "But it's making me hungry. Looks like a perfectly cooked frankfurter from here." [John Morell's dubious dirigibles.]
"Oh, yeah," the human nods, "that's a blimp."
"A blimp?" the trimp tilts its head quizzically at the human, "How could you know?"
"I wish I could tell you, little buddy," the human extends his arm braces to descend the pass on the side of the zone boundary in the boss enemy's direction, then grunts, "Let's go kill it."
1h16m11s: Z1c9, 120 pop, 10.3s RC with Z4/5. 1h33m34s: Zone 6, 151 pop, 7.4s RC with Z4/5.
1h33m54s: TP in Z1c3.
"What's this?" the human asks, having picked up the little square document with the curling corners.
"Oh," the hungry scientist looks at it, "It's a garden path, follow me."
"You want to lead me down the garden path?" the human says.
"Yeah," the scientist says.
"Are you kidding?" the human asks.
"No," says the other scientist, "We don't get human humor. Listen, these fighters can't go, let them wear themselves out here, then we'll take the next group through this garden."
"Okay," the human nods, watching two more trimps join the fray as he issues the Z5 coordination orders, "they're doing pretty well after all that block training research we just wrapped up." [That's a common artifact, even in normal games, Z5 Traintacular combines with many gyms, enough population to add several trainers, affording Blockmaster, which is expensive on a run zero, plus a break on Tion Z5, a 40% all-stat increase. I don't think Zach designed it into the game on purpose, it just worked out this way.]
1h34m07s: 151 pop, 10.5s RC with Z5/7. 1h37m44s: Drop from Z6c39, TP for 3.
"Now we have these access map frags we can use to route through the old trimpopoli," the scientist explains, "Atlimpis for food, Morimpa for gems, Everimp for metal, and Impazon for wood."
"What about the garden?" the human asks.
"Well, we got lucky with Tricky Paradise," the scientist says, "but you can randomize the route and maybe get lucky. What's with that look?"
"Somehow, I'm remembering 'frag' as something that blew up with deadly pieces," the human says. [Different video games - ones with better graphics and worse gameplay Ｏ(>▽<)Ｏ]
1h39m59s: Blues back up to the top on series I...
"Tai, Tai!" the first ever trimp scientist stops the human just before he upgrades the mace and dagger to Mk.6 and Mk. 8 respectively. It has a note for him.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" the human asks, "Do you think that's my name?"
"Shijou, Shijou," it nods as though to indicate, I KNOW it is. Then it proffers its note again. The human takes it and reads, "Don't upgrade the first row equipment right now."
"Why not?" the human asks.
"Shijou," it points at the end of the mapped route, where there's a scroll sticking out of the thistles.
2h24m07s: Zone 8, 224 pop, 12.2s RC with Z7/12.
"Your settlement is getting crowded, there's Trimps in the streets, and you're taking heat. You feel a sudden strong desire to create a map, though you're not quite sure how that would help."
2h49m10s: Zone 9, 357 pop, 9.5s RC with Z8/15.
"You can't shake the feeling that you've been here before. Déjà-vu?"
The trimps really seem to like the new high capacity mansions, and the village has rapidly expanded since they started building them.
"There's something familiar about this," the human says.
"Tai," the grey one that writes clings to his arm and shows him a note that says, "Don't give up now."
"We must persist," says the yellow one has found a foothold it can grab onto and grabs the human's shoulder gently, "If you give up to early, we'll never solve this. You'll be stuck here forever."
The human puts his hand over the trimp's paw on his shoulders, then looks at him, "I can die, too."
"No, you can't," the trimp says quietly, "Please don't test that, tall one."
"Death is just another path..." he remembers.
"Gan," the grey one squeaks. [That's the first two kana syllables of "Gandalf"]
"...one that we all must take," the human continues, "The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it-"
"A green mist," the yellow trimp interrupts, "flash of fire, we're all gone and our progress forgotten. The wandering stars return to that day, and you again crash that ship- ...a little better every time."
"Wait," the human looks around, "have I been here before?"
"I-" the yellow trimp tries in futility to share what little it knows, "...or... somebody got just a little coolant into the-"
"Into the what?"
"This side up," the grey one's note says.
"Into the that," the yellow one points at the note, "It really helped. You- ...I don't think we've ever had mansions before."
Well, of course they didn't have mansions before. That was one of my ship's data cards. How did it get way out here? Will anything start to make sense?
3h02m13s: Zone 10, 387 pop, 8.7s RC with Z8/15; '28s: 11.1s RC with Z9/19. 3h16m41s: Tough snimp after food book, L10 rand dept from lo-hi-med 118/25/96, 4 Items.
"That's twice our frags led us to gem-rich Moria," the human says.
"Morimpa," the new red trimp scientist corrects, there now being 5 scientists. [There'd be more if there were more turkimp.]
"The question is how do we use all these gems?" the human looks at the village zoning plans again, "I like those mansions and all, but they use hardly any gems compared to, well-" he gestures at the pile of over two dozen thousand gems they've gathered, "-that! And still a lot of wood and lumber."
"I think there's something," the yellow one sighs, "I wish I knew more."
Quite some time later, after they're done looting that route for equipment plans, the trimps are again advancing through Zone 10, and he hears it.
"Tai?" the grey one wonders.
"Where are you going?" the yellow one asks.
"To the farm," the human answers.
"Whatever for?" the red one seems exasperated.
"Shijou?" the grey one sighs, then looks at the fighting front. It's been around long enough to remember, "Shijou!"
"You guys already get so much to eat this doesn't do you much good," the human explains.
3h32m33s: L11 112/35/78 rand sea, dropped from Z11c6 with disband, 4.
"What's wrong?" the red one asks.
The human comforts one of the wounded. Once trimps start into a zone fight, they have to finish before they bleed out. He's really bothered making them desert in front of that second turkimp. "They had a lot left in them," he sighs, rubbing his eyes, "but we can't keep that much dead turkimp at once, we have to leave it alive to use up all of this one."
"Shijou," the grey one presents a note, "We need this map right away, anyway. Don't worry about it, Tightniks."
"Tightniks?" he looks at the grey one, "Is that me? How do you know?"
"Tai," the grey one points at the top of the human's left breast pocket.
"Ah, crud," the yellow one curls its tail around in front of itself as trimps do when they're embarrassed, "Is that really a name tag?"
The human hadn't even noticed it since the green flash blew up his memory as he was stepping out of the ship.
4h04m22s: Block (sub-8h AP is only 0.3%), taking it, 504 pop, 9.8s RC with Z10/24.
It's a pretty thick book about using shields for block instead of hit points. The pad has the stats analysis. Sh3-1 is only giving us 9% of our hit points. Turning to his trimp scientists, he says, "It seems to me to be worth it."
"Let's," the yellow one nods.
"Shijou," it hands him a note, "It scales badly, but that won't matter for a long time. I think there's a way to undo it before it matters."
"Doing it." The human takes out his pad and starts scanning.
4h29m05s: L14 rand moun 137/26/80 is really good for a lo-hi-med. 4h30m52s: Hotels.
"Ah," the yellow one says, "I knew there was something. That must be it."
5h08m09s: L15 lo-hi-hi rand gard 129/28/82 (just got explorers). 5h09m32s: Picked up Wall.
"Dam," the human says.
"Damn?" the red one chuckles.
"No," the human says, "Earthen wall dam; it's a thing that makes artificial lakes by holding rivers back."
"Lakes?" the yellow one asks, "Rivers?"
"Oh yeah," the human says, "This planet doesn't have enough rain for those..."
5h48m21: Leaving Wall from about c70 to fetch Tion Z15.
"You can't resume the map from the same point if you start another," the human reads the grey one's note.
"We can go back to the same point on that route if we hold there and finish Zone 15, right?" Tightniks asks.
"Shijou!" it seems to be saying yes.
"Yes," the yellow one adds, "but we're out of Series III upgrades, and you need a fresh map route to start up Series IV."
"We should be okay," Tightniks says, "but if we have to start it over, I don't see that being a big deal." As they advance through the rest of Zone 15, Tightniks resumes his usual duties at the research desk instead building and running traps like he was before.
The trimps seem hopeful at this decision.
5h49m10s: Fresh turkimp. 5h50m16s: Zone 16, 1071 pop, 13.4s RC with Z15/75, 13m43s turkimp (skel in c1.)
"Z:16 Seriously? Another Blimp so soon?"
"So," Tightniks lowers his bee nickels and looks at the red one, "is it going to be boss fights at the end of every zone from now on?"
"Hmm," the red trimp looks up past the human at some random rock spire or cloud.
"Well?" the human persists.
"Yup," he says.
"Hmph," Tightniks grabs a Sw3-1 of the rack and advances towards the front, "Before then, we have another Mister Titanium."
"What does he like about skeletimps?" the red one asks the grey one as the human marches off.
"Shijou?" the grey one seems just as confused by that.
"He's not going back to the ship, and he's not getting himself killed," the yellow one smiles, "so I'll take it."
5h58m32s...
"Hey guys, go for the mortar!" the human suggests to his 75 fighting trimps in the Wall's boss fight.
"I can tell from your bedtime stories that you're used to the artillery in that other place," the yellow one gripes, "but fighting works differently here, there's no artillery."
And the human instantly collapses laughing, the scientists a little worried he might have injured himself in the planet's severe gravity. But he's okay, at least physically, "Mortar is the stuff between the bricks, fellas. That's is a brickimp, right?"
5h59m18s: Wall, 1076 pop, 13.3s RC, 1% AP for sub-8h finish, first L16 roll good 156/35/84 moun, 10 for the metal.
Beyond the Wall was a more edenic section of the trimpolis ruins, doubling the production of the lumberjacks. The trimps are actually really happy with the mode of all of the laborers moving between the three big jobs, along with the turkimp, except for the foremen specialized at leading the job. It isn't enough to boost their productivity, but the human goes to them with trays of sandwiches.
6h06m52s: 50 map run 0.3% AP...
6h19m13s: Zone 17, 1141 pop, 16.0s RC with Z16/94, no turkimp.
"Z:17 You climb a large cliff and look out over the new Zone. Red dirt, scorched ground, and devastation. Is that a Dragimp flying around out there?!"
"Hmm," the human surveys the new zone with his bee nickels, "Looks like crap. Any ideas?"
"You're the idea man," the yellow one groans.
"Set the map flag," he puts his bee nickels away, "We'll run a depth for practice and to load up on gems for more hotels."
"Righto," the red one gets to work.
6h44m34s: First DCP. (Draglimp Care Package; I refuse to call it a tribute.)
"Oh," the human says, "It's tame now, so it brings back gems in exchange for food?" He looks at his gaping scientists, "That's what it looks like, huh? Guys? Yo!"
"Tai..." the grey one sighs.
Draglimp, the dragimp imprinted on Tightniks, lands beside the human, drops some gems at his feet, and accepts some scratching behind its horns before diving into the food bowl.
"You tamed a dragimp???" Grey's note says.
"Well," the yellow one huffs, "I guess that happened."
8h18m53s: L20 depth of 154/27/79.
"Mapping up here?" the red one half closes one eye and tilts his head.
"Yeah," the human says while fitting together the depth map fragments, "With the coordination book not right at the end, we have an extra mark of coordination to take advantage of. Let's take our housing up to 2000 or so, shall we?"
"Okay," the yellow one says from a pile of logs, "What's all the wood for?" They had been collecting it for days now.
"The series upgrades follow a rather specific pattern," Tightniks explains, "Just on the other side of this blimp is Zone 21, where we should be able to find the Shield series V, right?"
"Shijou!" the grey one nods.
8h56m17s: 1% AP for 100 map runs, leaving it, 1751 pop, 24.8s RC with Z20/232. 8h56m54s: Zone 21...
"Ooooookay," Tightniks growls, "There is something off about this thing."
"Shijou?" the grey one looks at the yellow one with concern about their human starship pilot friend.
The human stoops, picks up the little green gem on the ridge between Zone 20 and 21, looks at it, huffs, and asks, "Any idea where this comes from?"
"Err..." the red one seems hesitant to say, "I think you made it."
"Really?" the human huffs, "How could that be?" Then he tosses it at Red, "See if anything reacts to it. It might be radioactive, so we should take turns to minimize exposure."
"Really?" Red's holding it now, "What makes you say that?"
"Because I'm pissed off for no reason I can figure out," the human says, "I think it's coming from that."
"Frags," the red one says quickly, "I think it's arranging a route. You're good with maps," it tosses the gem to the grey scientist.
"Shijou," the grey one says hopefully, and has a map drawn within a few minutes. [Whether it looks like the one in Puchim@s 1x61 is anyone's guess. That one annoyed me as well as Chihya.]
9h02m37s: L21 moun first roll was a decent 160/26/84. 9h21m00s: Starting run 5 of that map...
Tightniks had taken his anger out on some food and wood to build about 8000 traps. Now he's leaning against a rock spire in his increasingly tattered uniform. A nap begins, perhaps unintentionally.
Wild trimps are examining the pile, finding it unwelcoming, and also finding no place in the town, just mill about. It looks like they want to help.
"Ku?" it's a blue trimp, probably a farmer waiting for stuff to grow, climbs up on the rock spire the human is leaning against, starts patting him on the head, "Ku. Ku ku." [Puchim@s Chihya.]
9h23m09s: Still working that lap...
Tightniks wakes up from that nap, and the grey one is standing there. "Shijou," it says with a note of concern, although not much of one. The note it holds says, "It wasn't me."
"Oh, what wasn't you, buddy?" He stretches out a bit, feeling somewhat refreshed. It feels like somebody washed his face and hair while he was sleeping.
The grey one is also holding a small mirror, apparently broken off from a larger mirror and with the sharp edges filed down to make the edges safe.
The human takes it from the grey trimp and holds it in front of his face to discover that somebody has bound up all his hair into about twenty little pigtails. He touches them with his other hand to confirm. "Eh, whatever." He hands the mirror back and goes back to sleep. [Puchim@s Koamimami.]
9h30m08s: The following run...
"He's not throwing stuff every which way yet," the yellow one whispers to the red one, watching the human snoozing with his pad on his knee.
"You remember that, too?" the red one asks.
"'Remember'?" the yellow one turns to face the red one, "I s'pose that's better than imagining it."
"I remember it, too," the grey one says via a playing card sized note.
"If we're stuck in a time loop," the yellow one sighs, "maybe this cycle will be different."
"Tai..." the grey one admires him for a moment. Then thumbs in the direction of the mountain, "Heh, Shijou!" it laughs.
9h35m58s: Run 8, c9 of that map.
The scientists nap and take notes, and meditate and take notes, and draw stuff. The grey one often storyboards for the other nine because it's the best at drawing stuff. They have come up with a list, and most probably "order" (they're debating whether their ranking means "order" (sequence of things happening over the various loops) or "frequency" (what proportion of previous loops they have happened in). But they've come up with this, from first (or perhaps most often) to most recent (or perhaps least often):
- The ship crashes (they're pretty sure that happens every loop) - The human builds huts - The human teaches some of his trimps to speak and do science - The human builds houses - The human makes maps - The human builds mansions - The human blows up and gets himself killed somewhere around Z17 to Z21, often on a dragimp - The human only recently/occasionally builds hotels - The human only recently/rarely tamed a dragimp - The human only recently/rarely maps the Dimension of Anger
They're all agreed that that they have never finished the Dimension of Anger. What they are not all agreed on is that they've never done this conference to figure out whether they're in a time loop or what that might mean. [See also Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect" ...which was sort of a time loop but they weren't going back in time. It's very interesting, but its meta makes no sense - no one ever went looking for the Bozeman in 80 years? No one who went looking for the Bozeman also got stuck? No one noticed the passage of time outside the little area of space where the not-quite-a-time-loop was happening? Errr... sci-fi writers, don't be half-assed about your time loops, lmao! Be like Harold Ramis- ...what am I saying?? (That would be Groundhog Day, which grafted a time loop into a romcom; there are no other sci-fi elements. But it was a full-blown time loop and not half-assed like "Cause and Effect".)]
9h54m06s: Dropped from Z21c95...
I think it would be a bad idea to bypass that green area, as much as I'd rather not face it. Both his domesticated trimps, which are breeding up a new group of fighters, and the wild trimps he has decided just now not to open the traps for, stare at him and point in that direction. He shoulders a huge Shield V-3 and grabs an Mace IV-2 as well and announces, "We're doing it." Thus equipped, he marches off into the Dimension of Anger.
10h27m53s: Taking Pi4-2; recently had taken Pa4-2...
The group at the front had expired, and the snimp in DoAc95 glares at the advancing colony of trimps, which had halted only because of it. It refuses to counterattack the vulnerable colony and its human, instead snorting and huffing, waiting for the next bunch of 232 fighting trimps to come in range.
Tightniks runs along the line of traps, releasing the recently tamed trimps, singing a song that he doesn't remember the meaning of, that he doesn't remember was crafted by an ethnically Chinese guy out of an African language, and later mastered by two caucasians over the internet before they ever met in person. "Baba yetu yetu uliye, mbinguni yetu yetu amina..." because it just happened to be stuck in his head. [Because the Doylian author decided on a whim to. Christopher Tin got it into Civilization IV and at the time (2010 July), I made the best video for it on YouTube, which got subsequently blown to shreds when Peter Hollens and Malukah re-recorded the song from scratch in their own voices and instruments in 2014, pity with no English translation, the purpose of my video.]
Noticing the last batch of metal he needs coming out of the furnace, he waves the waiting grey scientist to fire up the forge [to use the term properly and not as the game does], for it was time to wrap up the forging dies for the Spetum IV, Mark 2 pike heads.
"Shijou!" the grey one cheers, setting aside a snack that looks like maybe ramen, and starts jumping up and down on the bellows handle.
It takes a while for the human to chip out the tip in the two halves of the forging die, and then polish it, and then heat it up in the forge, and then quench it, inspect it, and put it into service crafting thousands of new pike heads for the fighting trimps.
But only one second passed on the map frame clock (10h27m54s) four cells behind that snimp, in the case being brooded over by this huge, and if it's honest, rather concerned megablimp.
10h35m45: Portal PB, 45 He, 4.247 He/hr, 1891 pop, 22.7s RC with Z20/232, no turkimp.
The last head of the map's boss monster goes limp as one of the fighting trimps' mace heads bounces of it, and the huge thing settles on its tail, resting on the package that seems to be the prize of this map. And there's a popping sound, and then something mechanical.
Is that a scroll compressor? Tightniks looks at the package. The deflating monster's lifting envelope material drapes over everything underneath it. "Red, Shijou!" he snaps and points, "roll up that side of it. Keep this part from sucking down on the extractor nozzle!"
All ten of the scientists jump in, literally, pushing the gas in the bag towards the compressor. Tightniks as well, rolling up the front.
Until he kicks, and nearly trips over, a smaller package that might be the explanation for the reason why the center of the monster's defense seemed to be a little away from the big package he could see. It's in the right place, he realizes. He gets it uncovered and reads stenciled-and-sprayed block letters on it:
"DT TIME PORTAL / THIS SIDE DOWN"
Perhaps the Dimension of Anger is so named because of the rage suddenly rising up in Tightniks' throat. It isn't so much as the free-floating aggression suddenly has an answer, there is definitely a fresh batch of rage and anger as he grips the nearest Mace IV, Mark 3 with both hands and gets it over his shoulder, its target obviously this object, anger at the realization he screams at the top of his lungs, "We are stuck in a mutha FAH-king time loop!!" His swing begins. [Tightniks almost never cusses, unlike Snugniks.]

I apologize in advance for the wall if text. I don't know what to do about this. I live in a small condo community with a number of my neighbors having kids close to my daughters age (8). Two girls are closest to her but a couple of years older. One was pretty good friends with my kid for a while, and the other I am honestly not a huge fan of because she's hot and cold and I could see bullying tendencies in her. But I let my kid decide who she wants to be friends with, and she's so social she wants to be friends with every kid she meets.
Recently, the friend decided she doesn't want to be friends with my daughter anymore. That in itself is fine, but what isn't fine is how she treats her now. I had to block her phone number from my daughter's watch so she would stop sending horrible text messages and calling her to talk to her in her home language which we don't understand, so I can only imagine what she's saying to her. The other girl and this girl are now besties and harass my daughter every time they see her. If they see my daughter, they scream and run away like she's diseased or something, and they ding dong ditched our house the other day. I saw them running away and followed them to one of their homes to confront their mom and tell her that her daughter needs to stay away from us. I was so upset I was shaking. It probably sounds ridiculous, but I have no tolerance for bullying, especially towards my child.
As far as I know, the bullying is just mean girl stuff, no physical contact or verbal abuse. But it's distressing for my daughter. She's set to go to the same school as them next year which she was really excited about, but after all of this she was in tears the other day. She's so scared to go to school with them now, and it's heartbreaking. It makes me so so angry and I don't know what to do. I've searched online for advice but it mostly focuses on helping my daughter deal with it, rather than preventing or stopping it. Obviously I can't control what these kids do, but there has to be something I can do.
If anyone has advice I would really appreciate it. Even typing this out is making me angry. I can't just move, and it's not like I can call the police for this. If they're parents won't stop them what can I do?

About Us

Hello, and welcome!
We are a small, 9 year old, 18+, end-game PvE guild with around 50 members, looking for active and chill players with some experience in the content we do to join us in some of our guild activities and discord.

Summary

We're a guild that promotes freedom of build choice and fun while still making sure that everyone has the boons they need to perform their rotations well.
Many builds can get the same jobs and mechanics done at varying levels of efficiency and having knowledgeable, self-driven players working as a team is what's most important for group success.
The unique class-based combat and movement systems are a big part of why we keep playing GW2, and enjoying these systems with like-minded individuals is something we strive to facilitate.
With the above in mind, those who at least agree in part with our ideology would be a good fit for the guild.

Activities

Strikes

Every week we get together and do all Strike CM's (not including HT and Cerus). We work with whatever people want to play and do our utmost to get the job done. Here's a couple of our faster clears: AHcm, KOcm, OLCcm, and Cerus.
Currently we run 1 day a week, but will transition back to 2 days for all of our clears once Cerus CM gets nerfed.

Schedule

Starts at 10PM Eastern (reset+2) and runs for about 1.5 hours.

• Mondays: ToF, COcm, OLCcm, XJJcm, HT, KOcm, AHcm

Harvest Temple CM

Our HTcm team is a group of players mostly from the guild who just enjoy doing HTcm for the fun of it. We do slightly riskier strategies, check out logs to see how we've improved on a specific dragon phase, keep a per-phase PB leaderboard for bragging rights, and otherwise just enjoy ourselves on the encounter.
We are currently looking for 1 Quick DPS (preference for herald, but we can work with other options) and otherwise fills / substitutes. Experience up to Zhaitan is preferred.

Schedule

• Tuesdays @ 11PM Eastern (reset+3) for 1 hour.

• Wednesdays @ 11PM Eastern (reset+3) for 1 hour.

Temple of Febe CM

Our Non-Legendary Cerus CM team is a group of players who want to do the fight without the heavy restrictions that Legendary CM imposes, which in turn allows for more strategy and build flexibility. Our current progress as of this post is having mostly succeeded Phase 3's 1st double Pools + Malice set, while having phased into P3 with minimal stacks several times.
We are currently looking for 1 Quick DPS, or 1 DPS (any), and otherwise fills / substitutes. We are willing to train the encounter from scratch, but some experience in CM is preferred.

Schedule

• Thursdays @ 10PM Eastern (reset+2) for 2 hours.

• Saturdays @ 10PM Eastern (reset+2) for 2 hours.

Others

• While our primary focus is end-game PvE, we occasionally branch out into WvW. With world restructuring on the horizon, we are interested in doing some limited WvW, at the very least to get some Gifts of Battle while hanging out together.
  
• We're always looking for people who would be interested in forming a Fractal or Raid (full or low-man) team, along with any other interesting teams we can think of.
  
• As for Discord, we use it as our primary communication tool between guild members; we keep track of the guild's best kills, kill history, other game chats, announcements, and much more. As such, it is mandatory.
  

Contact

If you're interested in joining, send an in-game mail to QuitarHero.1645, or contact me in Discord at quitarhero.
With the upcoming update and the addition of a 6th guild slot, if you're interested in joining but currently cannot because all your guild slots are taken up, that's fine as well. We'll get you set up in Discord, and throw you a guild invite after the update.

I think I’ve been failing to fight a meltdown most of the night. I’m just. So. Tired.
I’m 31. My family doctor, who I’ve seen since I was a child, all but formally agrees I have autism and ADHD. I take Vyvanse which helps that side of things.
I’m finally needing to get a formal diagnosis as a precaution at work. I don’t have the energy to get into it, but I found out some managers were asking a co worker behind my back about if I was autistic.
I’ve never really hated myself. I’m a pretty good artist and have strengths others don’t. I am highly functional. I friggen taught myself how to read social cues and mask in high school. I’m happily married and have a job.
There’s things going on right now that are overwhelming. I am a good artist, but my brain gets stuck on tiny details that put me into a loop. Something that should take 30 minutes can take 5 hours. I fixate on things. I have so much trouble balancing adult things like cleaning. And eye contact at work. And not realizing how much I speak in a monotone until it came up at work.
My husband and home are usually safe spaces. We have some stuff going on that’s stressing him out and an unwanted relative staying at our house. Basically everything and everyone in my life is negative.
I was working on fixing this part of a painting I messed up. The paint was a weird texture because it was old. I had a meeting to go to and was going to grab dinner before then. But I couldn’t fix it right, my brain wouldn’t let it go, and I couldn’t go eat if I couldn’t even fix a highlight.
Next thing I know something in my brain just snaps. Nobody was home. I just started swearing, then yelling, angry and hitting myself. I just boiled over. I got myself together enough to go to this meeting, but the minute I got back in my car the feelings started happening again. So I’m this grown woman just crying and trying not to hit things again as I drive home. (I’ve always turned my rage towards myself because it can get so bad I don’t want to hurt others)
I’ve been better with emotional regulation before. I realize now that when I would self harm in anger before it probably was a meltdown. I thought it was something like depression. But now that I’ve actually had a proper freak out I think I recognize it for what it is.
I’ll be okay. I’m just tired. I’m self aware enough to know that I’m not neurotypical. I can recognize how I fucked up before today and how I should take better care of myself going forward. I just wish there was a pill I could take like my ADHD medication to make things a little less shitty in moments like this though.

Me and my friends are planning on reporting this guy to the principal tomorrow during lunch. He's basically just about every phobic you can imagine, but he's also "Gay"?? Don't think he is because he has touched some girls tit a couple weeks ago.
He has called my friend a slut and a whore numerous times before (also said that he hopes somebody impregnates her), told me to stfu countless times when I've called him out for his shit, and nobody even likes him anymore because he smells like shit, treats everyone like they're nothing, and always talks shit about my friend group.
Not to mention that he's also made fun of my one friend for being SPED (she's dyslexic and autistic) when he's literally autistic too and got out of his SPED class when the second semester started. Then he proceeded to act like he was never in those classes. Like dude, I know you're lying to me???
He also made fun of me for switching schools, asking why I switched if I wasn't bullied like he is. (I was heavily bullied but trying to put that behind me bcuz it's none of his business.) I told him that it's because my parents built a new house nearby (it's the truth) and his response was simply " oh."
He knows that he's in trouble because we have told him that, and are going to tell the principal during lunch tomorrow. He left the group chat we had on Snapchat where we told him about everything and called him out, making all of his messages disapear.
How do I get the principal to believe me and my friends? We have some screenshots and various text messages he sent my one friend (the one he called a slut). Nobody in the school even likes him anymore, not even his "friends" which literally all up and dumped him today.

Hi! this is a little embarassing to post here, but i need some input from others.
I (21F) have a crush on my best friend (21M). We've known each other for a year now and have become very close with one another. We hang out pretty much everyday at uni, as well as call/text, send each other tiktoks, and facetime a lot.
I like him, but its hard for me to gauge if he's into me too. It's hard to tell what's a sign (romantic/flirty), or what's just normal things between close friends. If it helps, neither of us have been in relationships (or kissed anyone, or any of that stuff) before. We're both on the same page in terms of those things, haha.
I feel like some of the things we do are not normal 'guy-girl' friendship things; these seem to go beyond that. I've been interpreting these things as more "romantic" than what normal friends do. Can you guys help me figure out what seems like a sign, and what doesn't?

• He calls me pretty, constantly. Many times, he has told me that I'm a "pretty girl" and that I can get away with a lot of things. Him calling me pretty has come up more times than I can count.
• We facetime for hours, even late into the night (until 3-4 am). Not playing games together, just talking about things.
• He has introduced me to his close friends (even outside of school). One weekend, he invited me to come with him to 3 parties in a row (same weekend)
• Everyone assumes we are dating (family, mutual friends, professors all assume it.)
• I don't ask for relationship advice, he will just start telling me it sometimes.
  • says stuff like "if you want to get a guy to like you, do ____. That's worked on me."
  • once i broke a bet i made with him, and he kept going on about how you can't lie to your partner in a relationship. I told him he's not my partner, but he still kept talking about it.
• Once (on another late night facetime call) he asked about my relationship status, and if I've had my first kiss yet.
• Worries about my health, A LOT.
  • a few months ago, i was dealing with some eye problems, when i complained to him about it, he went on searching online for symptoms and fixes. every time i saw him, he would ask how my eyes are doing, and point out other things he searched up that it could be. Months later, eyes are fixed now, yet he still asks: "how are your eyes? do they still hurt?"
  • I used to drink too much coffee, and everyday he would always nag at me to stop. He'd tell me it was bad for my overall health, anxiety, etc. Eventually he made up a bet to get me to drink less caffiene.
• This one makes me think a lot: he worried about my courseload/extracurriculars at school, and how much I can handle. He then made a list of classes I could do instead to help make things easier for me.
  • He got worried for me, asking if I really could manage all of that at once. He then went through our college's list of minors and courses and tried to find something easier for me to do so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed.
  • He even told me on a facetime call about it: "One day you're going to have a nice boyfriend, and you won't have any time for him if you get involved in all of those things around school."
  • (I understand that it is good to have a friend look out for you. but some of this seems above and beyond what even I would do for a close friend.)

Sorry for the long post! I'm happy to have a supportive friend. But some of the things that we do don't feel like normal 'girl-guy' friendship things.
What do you guys think? Are these signs?

First post ever, no idea how this website works, here goes. I work at a small credit union as a teller, and I don't know if this is a normal occurrence at other financial institutions, but people will walk in asking to make appointments or speak to a manager about stuff that we can do ourselves at the line, provided they already have a membership with us. Today during a slow stretch when the building was completely empty a person came in, walked right up to one of the relatively newer tellers, and said they wanted to open a checking account. He replied with the usual “As a matter of fact, I can do that for you,” and then was apparently struck with the realization that he had seen some of us do it before but had never actually done it himself. He messaged the branch's business chat from his computer to ask for help and our supervisor was on lunch so I leaned over and offered to walk him through it. It's not that hard, just a lot of clicking through screens and then remembering that you actually needed something from the last screen and going back and forth yada yada get the form printed and signed and you're all set. I walked back to my monitor and saw that in the chat our assistant manager had replied to the seemingly unanswered question, asking if he still needed help. What I intended to say was “I showed him how”. That's not what I typed though, and I didn't realize until I'd already hit send that my finger had slipped and I told my assistant manager, who I really like and who approves my PTO, “I showed him hoe”. Que the many frantic attempts to explain myself while also trying not to cry laughing with the other tellers who saw it, all in front of this random person who just wanted a damn checking account. Eventually I just gave up and deleted everything I had sent, but not before she saw it all and liked my original mishap. She's got a great sense of humor, which I think has only been made greater from her being quite pregnant and no longer having the energy to give a fuck, so I don't think I'm in trouble. It's just going to be embarrassing tomorrow morning when she lets me in the building and teases me for it.
TL;DR: The W and E keys are right next to each other. I'm also just a bad typist.

pt.2
I thought It’d be fine but I kept procrastinating and it always built up and built up and built up and I didnt do it and that was the last straw when I started getting minor panic attacks. At first it wasnt bad and this was near the beginning of trhe year but next year it got BAD.
I had panic attacks just getting in the car to go to school. I was just lonely stressed depressed and felt trapped and it felt terrifying.
eventually our school counselor and my regular counselor helped find a place called a PHP program. only problem with that program is that it felt very awkward to me.
You see, not to get political or anything but I was raised conservative and thats how I believe I dont hold anything against liberal or woke people all our opinions are just the same but the way they handled stuff and I was raised was too much. Instead of me being able to worry about handling my anxiety I had to worry about being politically correct and pronouns all the time and if I messed up or anything I was a bad person. And I also have a relatively dark sense of humor which is very common for kids and people with trauma and stuff its just relatable and stuff and I make jokes around my friends abt ravism and stuff and sensitive topics bc its funny to us. We take all those things seriously in a serious context like if I heard a guy harrassing a kid bc of his race im givin him a piece of my mind (I like to speak instead of fight J often have a lot to say and love my voice being heard but yall have prolly figured that out by now lol) but anyways something as dumb as that got me to speak up and ask if it makes me a bad person and a woman literally said “If you make racist jokes doesn’t that make you racist?” which rlly got to me bc im not racist I just didnt realize that my dark humor abt stuff not just that but thats the prime example for this story but instead of getting over my anxiety I felt I always had to be hyper aware of everything I say and if I make one wrong move I’m some evil horrible human being. and I still feel like that now but not bc of that bc i learned that they just didnt get me and theres a time and place for that stuff. But in THERAPY which is supposed to be all abt talking abt ur problems and getting advice and venting I “overshared” even tho it was brutal it had to do with the convo and was something important to how i felt abt it. but away from school my anxiety subsided until I went back it flared up like hellfire. eventually I just failed all my classes, didnt work, dropped out of a play that I was more excited for than anything bc I was too anxious and all I got was pop some pills and youll be ok but eventually they realized “crud this cant keep happening” so they sent me off to a residential facility. basically its an in between of a psych ward and baccaraction but at first I HATED IT

1. It aas scary I’d never been away from home so long especially with complete strangers and there were a lot of scary things too. 2. I finally got a gf two days earlier which gave me purpose but still hurt to have anxiety. 3. I cried at least twice, It was an amazing experience but at first b4 u realize when people go a bit wild they seem to be lunatics when ltr u realize they just cant handle their pain like u it just gets more violent for them. but I met a lotta great people but one in particular, we’ll call him tony. He was a staff member an old guy but in pretty decent shape. Super wise and nice but also real and had issues like everyone. He had a tattoo of the star of david I will never forget he said he had it bc the book of david changed his life. I started back into the bible more, reading a lotta proverbs, started following Jesus and try tk be a better person and follow hos will although I made a million mistakes but one time I got a horrible attack and I finally realized what was missing what wasnt working.

Alt account, mid 20s m
I’ll try not to make this too long, but I’m genuinely hurt and I can’t really see anything that will make things better. For context, I got to therapy and am on anti depressants. I don’t think I’m a great person or anything, but I just don’t know how much more I can give. If the post is too long I apologize in advance, I don’t want people to feel like they need to read all this stuff.
P.S. I have already called a friend and they are on the way to help me. I just wanted to get my feelings out somewhere others can see. I haven’t done this before so bear with me… also I have ADhD so if shit gets over explained that’s just how it goes. I’m working on it
My family has a pretty bad codependency problem and I’ve always been seen as “the mediator” or “third party”. More or less it just meant that I was always involved in everyone else’s issues and they would look to me because I was the most understanding. I genuinely have a hard time even writing that because something deep in my brain feels wired to say it’s fake, but in my heart it feels true.
To get to the point, one of my siblings and I have been having issues for a couple months now. It all started when I felt uncomfortable about a carpool offer they had given me for a family event. For more context, my family events tend to take 4 hours and this sibling would often “have other plans” once we left so I’d be out for waaaay longer than I anticipated. I know it’s stupid to say that I don’t wanna be outside all the time but I genuinely just need some time alone. I’ll also add that this is not the only thing I’m dealing with. I got a high stress job, a friends funeral and changes to my lifestyle that are all adding to this mess.
This is not the first time, or even second time this has happened. This sibling has had issues with everyone in the family and was about to completely run away before I told them that I still want them in my life and that I can help them re aclimate with the family. It just sucks that they kinda threw me away and don’t even care that I’m hurt. I’m trying to be strong and not just give into this recurring behavior but it just feels overwhelming.
My family keeps telling me that I need to reach out first and that I need to be the bigger person. I get calls from my mother where she just slips in how I should fix this saying stuff like “well I know you didn’t do anything, but you know how this goes”, “they just react that way, you need to be the bigger person” “they will do what they want, just forget about what happened”
Idk, I just genuinely feel like nothing makes sense anymore. I’ve been doing everything I can to make my family happy and they just continue to need more. I just can’t take any more of the pain from them. I mean for fucks sale my mom still talks about shit I told her makes me uncomfortable or upset by saying “oh I know you said you don’t wanna talk about this but we need to”. Lately they’ve been using the threat of calling my brother over so that I’m forced to talk things out.
I’ve been told my entire life that I was always too late with my complaints. Like when someone did something wrong and I finally got the courage to tell them, they would always say that I took too long or that I’m being dramatic. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t even know if I’m being too sensitive right now. Like this kind of emotional processing wasn’t even a thing before I moved out.
I do really love my family and I have accepted that the past is the past, but it feels like they want me to just forget without them having to do anything. I have year of these issues that are piled up and I’m only just not getting to deal with them, but the weight of all this family pressure just makes me want to lock myself up and never talk again.
I feel like I’m the problem, my whole family has issues and I shouldn’t just assume that mine are more important. I so badly want to just forgotten so I can just live with the hurt and not hurt them anymore. I have a part of me that wants to be happy, and a part that wants to be a good son, brother,whatever. I don’t think I can do both and maybe that’s something I need to live with.
I feel like a broken person and I’m at my last rope. I have a very deep love someone which is why I’m fighting, but I just don’t know if this family is worth all this pain.
Thanks to anyone who read the whole thing, this is definitely too long. Definitely spiraled at the end there. I have someone with me no so I’m just gonna post this and…. Idk I guess figure it out from here
For those going through their own struggles, I hope you know that you are always worth something to someone. I’ve been blinded by negativity for a long time and I hope someone can take something positive from this. Shit sucks, but the moments of light is what keeps me going at this point.
Peace and love ❤️ trying to keep this positive

My narc sibling has contributed to my abuse a lot growing up.The final straw came the day after my delivery. When I was having having complication, she was upset about not being personally informed about the birth and left the group chat. Also, she enabled my parents abuse with phone calls. We tried to patch up that night and my husband added her again. She still never called me to ask about my health. I am okay with her not caring (i expect it too) but how can she expect my husband to put her ego first before his family. My parents wanted us to invite them over when her kid was not vaccinated and also wanted us to show my kids in facetime to her. We told them they could visit in three months. All this while I was bed ridden and still recovering. We were not ready for that as we had no relationship with her and did not want to appease her ego. She cut the call with my ndad when I refused prevent her kid from talking to him. My ndad knew I wouldn't allow it but still had to ask in front of unstable nmom to make it an issue.
We finally cut contact with my Nparents after a lot of drama and they did not get any info from us. My sis finally reached out and said they wanted to visit us.The dates didn't work because we already someone else visiting. I thought that would be the end of it and they wouldn't come. Surprisingly they reached out again and finally when they came to visit another weekend, thing were pretty chill. They obsessive took pics of my kids (to pass it onto my parents). My parents were texting me trying to get in contact with me. My mom fell down in the bathroom and was having physical difficulties. He was basically telling us to come and save him from her and she would be happy if I showed them the kids every week. I responded angrily to that text with a long message saying that he should take care of his own business.
My sister who had been quiet after the visit except for her response to my birthday wishes to her kid reached out and wished on another occasion. We responded and she again wished for the first birthday with a text saying that my parents are sad and I should show them the kids. Her husband chimed it. I responded saying that its in the best interest of my family and we should on our kids having a better relationship. No response to that.
We finally were able to visit them and they took pictures again. My cousin finally convinced me to break contact and I am very low contact with them. My sister too. Any thoughts on my golden child/narc sister. Do they try to pull you because the abuse would turn on them. I am really scared for my kids though. What if she see them as a threat. She already saw them as one during the pregnancy hence the drama. How do you deal with them?

My narc sibling has contributed to my abuse a lot growing up.The final straw came the day after my delivery. When I was having having complication, she was upset about not being personally informed about the birth and left the group chat. Also, she enabled my parents abuse with phone calls. We tried to patch up that night and my husband added her again. She still never called me to ask about my health. I am okay with her not caring (i expect it too) but how can she expect my husband to put her ego first before his family. My parents wanted us to invite them over when her kid was not vaccinated and also wanted us to show my kids in facetime to her. We told them they could visit in three months. All this while I was bed ridden and still recovering. We were not ready for that as we had no relationship with her and did not want to appease her ego. She cut the call with my ndad when I refused prevent her kid from talking to him. My ndad knew I wouldn't allow it but still had to ask in front of unstable nmom to make it an issue.
We finally cut contact with my Nparents after a lot of drama and they did not get any info from us. My sis finally reached out and said they wanted to visit us.The dates didn't work because we already someone else visiting. I thought that would be the end of it and they wouldn't come. Surprisingly they reached out again and finally when they came to visit another weekend, thing were pretty chill. They obsessive took pics of my kids (to pass it onto my parents). My parents were texting me trying to get in contact with me. My mom fell down in the bathroom and was having physical difficulties. He was basically telling us to come and save him from her and she would be happy if I showed them the kids every week. I responded angrily to that text with a long message saying that he should take care of his own business.
My sister who had been quiet after the visit except for her response to my birthday wishes to her kid reached out and wished on another occasion. We responded and she again wished for the first birthday with a text saying that my parents are sad and I should show them the kids. Her husband chimed it. I responded saying that its in the best interest of my family and we should on our kids having a better relationship. No response to that.
We finally were able to visit them and they took pictures again. My cousin finally convinced me to break contact and I am very low contact with them. My sister too. Any thoughts on my golden child/narc sister. Do they try to pull you because the abuse would turn on them. I am really scared for my kids though. What if she see them as a threat. She already saw them as one during the pregnancy hence the drama. How do you deal with them?

You see, not to get political or anything but I was raised conservative and thats how I believe I dont hold anything against liberal or woke people all our opinions are just the same but the way they handled stuff and I was raised was too much. Instead of me being able to worry about handling my anxiety I had to worry about being politically correct and pronouns all the time and if I messed up or anything I was a bad person. And I also have a relatively dark sense of humor which is very common for kids and people with trauma and stuff its just relatable and stuff and I make jokes around my friends abt ravism and stuff and sensitive topics bc its funny to us. We take all those things seriously in a serious context like if I heard a guy harrassing a kid bc of his race im givin him a piece of my mind (I like to speak instead of fight J often have a lot to say and love my voice being heard but yall have prolly figured that out by now lol) but anyways something as dumb as that got me to speak up and ask if it makes me a bad person and a woman literally said “If you make racist jokes doesn’t that make you racist?” which rlly got to me bc im not racist I just didnt realize that my dark humor abt stuff not just that but thats the prime example for this story but instead of getting over my anxiety I felt I always had to be hyper aware of everything I say and if I make one wrong move I’m some evil horrible human being. and I still feel like that now but not bc of that bc i learned that they just didnt get me and theres a time and place for that stuff. But in THERAPY which is supposed to be all abt talking abt ur problems and getting advice and venting I “overshared” even tho it was brutal it had to do with the convo and was something important to how i felt abt it. but away from school my anxiety subsided until I went back it flared up like hellfire. eventually I just failed all my classes, didnt work, dropped out of a play that I was more excited for than anything bc I was too anxious and all I got was pop some pills and youll be ok but eventually they realized “crud this cant keep happening” so they sent me off to a residential facility. basically its an in between of a psych ward and baccaraction but at first I HATED IT

1. It aas scary I’d never been away from home so long especially with complete strangers and there were a lot of scary things too. 2. I finally got a gf two days earlier which gave me purpose but still hurt to have anxiety. 3. I cried at least twice, It was an amazing experience but at first b4 u realize when people go a bit wild they seem to be lunatics when ltr u realize they just cant handle their pain like u it just gets more violent for them. but I met a lotta great people but one in particular, we’ll call him tony. He was a staff member an old guy but in pretty decent shape. Super wise and nice but also real and had issues like everyone. He had a tattoo of the star of david I will never forget he said he had it bc the book of david changed his life. I started back into the bible more, reading a lotta proverbs, started following Jesus and try tk be a better person and follow hos will although I made a million mistakes but one time I got a horrible attack and I finally realized what was missing what wasnt working.

Hi,I'm trying to find people to play to play the following games with
-Fortnite
-Call of duty Warzone
-Mortal kombat 1
-Helldivers 2
I'm on PS5 and can usually play after work and when I'm on my days off. I am trying to make friends and people I can vibe with in and out of games. I'm also looking for discord preferably rather than game chat send me a dm or comment. I'm trying to expand my friend circle as well as just make new friendships and groups to belong. I'm also into popculture stuff
-marvel
-dc
-anime
I'm also looking for active groups too to join and be apart of

Alright, long story short…
I am a college-aged female. I did technically try “therapy” about 3 years ago, but I don’t consider it therapy. It was basically a lecture from a “therapist” trying to tell me that my severe chronic pain was not real and that I probably just have anxiety and OCD (which I don’t), and should take medication for those and it will all be better. Big waste of time, made me really angry and resentful towards therapists in general, especially since that occurred around the same time I was experiencing a lot of medical trauma from attempted treatments for that chronic pain.
Fast forward to now…
I’ve realized over the past few years that my experience is not what therapy is supposed to be, and after talking to a trusted older friend about it, that that person probably shouldn’t even be licensed, at least as a pain specialist. I have decided to try therapy again at a different place with a different person. I have some medical things that I need to deal with, but my extreme fear of going to the doctor is preventing me from seeking any sort of treatment for anything.
It’s easy to say it all on here anonymously, but saying it out loud to someone’s face is really hard :(
But seriously, it’s gotten to the point that I would rather die of cancer than go to the doctor to get any necessary screenings, or stuff like that.
I had my first therapy eval yesterday, and it went better than I expected it would based on my experience last time. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it all and not let my past experience get in the way of me making progress.
Anyways, I’m not seeking a PTSD diagnosis or anything like that, but I do get flashbacks and nightmares about the things I experienced at the doctor a few years ago (I was in a pain clinic for a long time), and there was a procedure I had when I was 3 that was not supposed to be a big deal, but it still haunts my memories (sexual in nature), as it was done while I was fully awake and un-anesthetized.
These have caused me a lot of distress, but I am also very embarrassed about it all, so I have kept all of this to myself (save for like 2 people who I am very close to). There are very specific moments/memories from these instances that pop into my head several times a day. I mentioned in my eval yesterday that I have had bad experiences with doctors that still bother me, but I didn’t go into specifics (therapist didn’t push for specifics either). Am I supposed to tell her about these memories/moments in depth, or just give her the gist of what happened, or do I not have to tell her the specifics of them at all? Will her knowing exactly what happened be beneficial?
I’m asking because I don’t know HOW to tell her. These are things I have never told anybody, and I don’t even know how to talk about it. Only a very few of my trusted friends even know the real reason why I don’t go to the doctor anymore, but even when telling them, I have kept the reasoning to a simple “I had bad experiences and it still scares me today”. If my therapist must know the details to better help me, would it be weird to write it down and let her read it? I think if I tried to say it I’d either burst into tears and not be able to talk or I’d be completely numb to it since I’ve held it in and thought about it for so long that she’d think I was lying.
Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Per my last post in the financial advice subreddit where I asked if I got scammed into getting life insurance.. I am wondering if I should just bite the bullet and back out of my account. You can see my last post on my page to look at the terms. I’ve invested almost 1k in it so far that I would definitely probably lose if I cancel it. I’m a 26 year old woman and I make an estimated around 115-120k a year depending. I had a friend of a friend help me open a IUL with nationwide uncharged.. meaning he didn’t charge my anything to open up an account with him and help me set it up. I thought he seemed genuine because my best friend is friends with him and she’s put probably 10k or more into hers so far over the past three years. I don’t know if that makes it less suspicious but yeah. He says he opens them for free until he gets his license for experience? The reason I went with it is because I wanted to use it as untaxed money for a retirement fund since I can’t open a 401k with the type of work I do. I was interested in canceling it and opening up a Roth IRA since I keep hearing sketchy stuff about IULS. With the type of work I do I figured it would make sense for me since I’m not working for a company or employer but I’m not sure now. The “advisor” told me I can’t touch a Roth before 62 and there’s a limit on how much I can deposit into it. With my career it’s the type of thing where I really want to be able to retire early and I very likely could be able to. I could come into a lump some of money in the future and want to be able to put it somewhere to use as retirement. Should I keep my life insurance and change the amount I put it in or should I back out completely? I also just started a HYSA. I just want secure untaxed money that I can use as retirement incase I do wanna retire in my 40’s or 50’s and now I feel like I made a mistake opening up this account. I pay $350 a month right now for my life insurance.

BoxOfficeTheory Presale Tracking
USA Showtimes As of May 10
Presales Data (Google Sheets Link)
BoxOfficeReport Previews
DOMESTIC PRESALES
Back to Black EA+Thursday Comp: $0.34M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.29M EA+Thursday comp. Yikes bikes (May 12).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($0.28M Thursday comp. Not great. Let's say $.3M (May 14).)
  
• filmlover (Looking at the sales even for the early shows on Wednesday it's on the anemic side (and nothing that's likely to boost it over the next days). Feels like we're about to see how low a biopic about a famous musician can go (May 10).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($0.45M EA+Thursday comp.)
  
• Rorschach (Zero tickets sold on Thursday and only four on Friday. I don't think I'll be missing much (May 13).)
  

IF Thursday comp assuming $2M for keysersoze123: $1.82M

• abracadabra1998 ($1.23M Thursday comp. My model has been pretty good for animated/family releases in the past, hence why every comp is so eerily similar. Still, looking at others' numbers and how much lower mine are, I am wondering if summer break might be something to consider here; from what I am aware, here in Minnesota most school districts don't start break until June (May 13). Hoping for some real acceleration this last week but not looking good (May 12). One week out, not impressed in the slightest (May 9). Rising against comps as expected, due to the short release window, but I am still failing to see anything that suggests the numbers given by some other outlets (May 5). The release window for this is way shorter than all these comps so those numbers will naturally go up. Decent growth in the last three days (May 2).)
  
• AniNate (I'm gonna guess that Nick IP spot for IF this morning ratcheted up interest, Fri-Sun sales at Canton now close to 200. Also of those 200 about 50 were for XD. Not the usual overwhelming presale split but not insignificant for a kids movie also playing on two standard screens (May 13). 45 sold at the five nearest Cinemarks for Thursday previews so far, so yeah there's evidently some kind of regional variation (May 13). I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11). I dunno, I have no comps but I feel like local presales is a pretty sizable haul a week in advance for an original non-Disney kids movie (May 9). I did see a surprising amount of single sales looking at IF charts (May 1).)
  
• charlie Jatinder (Hmm. So no real Regal impact it seems at katnisscinnaplex's theaters (April 30).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($1.95M Thursday comp. Definitely looking around $1.75M Thursday for now (May 14).
  
• DAJK (Selling pretty well so far here (May 4).)
  
• el sid ($2.4M Thursday comp. Friday up so-so 116% since last Monday. I chose Jungle Cruise, Dolittle, Elemental, Minions 2 and Sonic 2 as comps (always counted on Monday of the release week for Friday) and the true Friday number for IF would be 6.6M at the moment. In this case the comparison numbers were very similar, around 6-7M. Overall it was a boring counting today which lasted too long for so few action. And judging from some random samples Garfield also saw no significant jumps (I also didn't expect much, it's still too early IMO). Thursday up 92% since last Monday. I hoped for a bit better jump till today :( but it's also not too bad. So for Friday no big numbers but up 75% since last Monday (and the jump must have happened pretty recently) (May 13). Up 73.5% since Monday (where it had 143 sold tickets). Best sales in California, not doing too bad between the coasts. The number today is ok to me (May 12). Not really signs for a breakout for Friday so far, but very solid. It will not really get 4-6M Thursday e.g. compared to Migration but from most comps the number could be pretty decent (May 7). Looked good for the film, both on Thursday and on Friday (May 6).)
  
• jeffthehat ($2.07M Thursday comp.)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.98M Thursday comp. Thinking somewhere in the 1.2m-1.5m Thursday range despite a couple of higher comps (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (I would say it should hit 2m previews or even more if walkups are strong. OW probably in mid to high 20s for now. Its Friday sales are not that much higher than thursday for crazy IM like say Panda 4 (May 14).)
  
• RichWS (15 screen theater near me is giving IF peak Marvel number of showings. I know it's short and the market is quiet, but damn (May 14).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.39M Thursday comp. Really not much going on. Don't think walkups will be super strong either (May 13). Not much growth (May 10). Pace is collapsing a bit. Continues its downward trend (May 7). After a strong start, this has cooled off quite a bit (May 4).)
  
• Tinalera (Pretty quiet Vancouver and Calgary area (May 13).)
  
• vafrow ($0.5M Thursday comp. It's going up, but slowly. The thing that hit me looking at the numbers is that the most popular format so far is the VIP theatres, which are 19+. With such low sales, you can't read too much into anything, but it kind of speaks to how this isn't grabbing the family crowd (May 14). Some marginal movement, but we're running out of time for this. At this stage, I expect my market is an anomaly, but I still hope and expect it will close the gap in the final few days (May 13). Still nothing (May 12). Still nothing happening. I did check Friday sales, and it was a lot stronger with 51 tickets sold. That's better, but still not tremendous. I also checked the wider radius, where it's pretty much exactly where Haunted Mansion was, which hit $3.1M opening (May 11). Still nothing really happening here (May 10). Since the last update, they released full showtime sets, and it actually lost two showtimes rather than gain. From the sound of it, it might be doing better in other Canadian markets, particularly BC (May 8). Numbers are still really low, making the standard track fairly useless. I did do a larger 100km radius track, encompassing the broader southern Ontaro market (~8M population, MTC4 being about 70-80% of the market). Even against Haunted Mansion, which underindexed here, it's not doing well (May 4).)
  

The Strangers: Chapter 1 Thursday Comp: $1.12M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.88M Thursday comp. Not a good update at all but I am wondering about the summer break deal here as well. For Back to Black it shouldn't affect it much I would think (May 13).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($1.23M Thursday comp. Weird comps. Let's go for $.5M-$.75M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($1.6M Thursday comp. From what I saw, it had an ok jump till today but the jump till Wednesday will be way more important. But so far, decent presales (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.4M Thursday comp. We could have a preview battle on our hands! (May 14).)
  
• Rorschach ($0.48M/$6.03M/$4.16M Thursday/Friday/Thursday+Friday comp. Tarot had more tickets sold for Thursday compared to its Friday showings when I checked the Monday before it came out; hence, why the comps are so all over the place at the moment. The Thurs + Fri comp does appear to be a reasonable middle ground (May 13).)
  
• TwoMisfits (TMobile deal for May - $5 ticket to The Strangers Chapter 1 next Tuesday (May 9).)
  

Furiosa Thursday Comp assuming $5M For keysersoze123: $4.31M

• abracadabra1998 ($5.46M Thursday comp. GxK obviously really propping the average up but for now I could see that settling at around $5 Million, still good pace! (May 12). Really good stuff in this market (May 9). Reallyyyyyy good day 1 here. I want to note that: NO I do NOT think preview numbers will be that high; it's just highlighting the fact that this is likely a movie that will be running hot in my market, as cinephile blockbusters usually do. Next update I will have T-14 comps, which will be a lot lower due to the short release window (May 8).)
  
• AniNate (Skimmed through ThuFri and Valley View (Cleveland vicinity) has sold roughly 60 Furiosa tix so far while Tinseltown (Canton) has sold 40. I'm guessing the upfront audience does lean more toward the urban/cosmopolitan sensibilities (May 9). Presales show there's definitely some hype for this. Regal gonna irritate trackers again, offering no upcharge IMAX for Furiosa (May 8).)
  
• Charlie Jatinder ($3.05M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($5.8M average Thursday comp (without Exorcist 2) (May 12). Furiosa continues its strong performance in "my" theaters. The movie yesterday had already 1.310 sold tickets (for Thursday, May 23). Up 15% in ca. 24 hours which isn't bad at all after the first rush. Already comfortably in front of The Fall Guy's final sales (it had 1.071 counted on Thursday for Thursday) and almost on par with Civil War's final sales (1.357) and also the Apes finally had not more than 1.657 sold tickets in my theaters (May 11). I also can't complain about Furiosa's presales in my theaters, not at all. Already 1,138 sold tickets (in all of "my" 7 theaters) for May 23. 14 days left. Promising start. Civil War on Thursday of the release week for Thursday had 1,357 sold tickets and The Fall Guy finally had 1,071 sold tickets (May 9).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($3.51M Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (It has way stronger sales than Garfield and that is expected. I am thinking of 5m previews for now (May 14). I think this is a solid OD presales. With a short PS window its probably looking at 5m+ previews (May 9).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($4.44M Thursday comp. Keeps climbing at a strong pace (May 11). This continues to grow at an excellent rate (May 10). Really strong day 2. The short presales is for sure a factor (May 9). Not seeing much of a breakout. Still pretty solid start to presales (May 8).)
  
• vafrow ($2.9M Thursday comp. It had a good day (May 12). Mediocre day 2 (May 10). Not the hottest start. IMAX is the format of choice though, so, ATP will be high (May 9).)
  

Hit Man

• vafrow (Getting a theatrical release up here in Canada, and early signs are that it might get a pretty decent screen count. Not super wide or anything, but a pretty decent amount for a weekend that has a lot of other releases (May 14).)

The Garfield Movie EA+Thursday Comp: $2.24M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.76M EA comp and $1.19M Thursday comp. Still not really accelerating, and the EA is falling against comps (May 12). Good EA numbers, but many of these comps were PLF-only EA, which this is not, so I think the ATP will be quite lower and that should be adjusted for (May 9).)
  
• AniNate (I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11).)
  
• el sid (The very even sales are a good sign (May 7). For Sunday, May 19, I can already report that also in my theaters it looks very good for Garfield. They will for sure add shows soon. It has so far only 1 show/theater and the shows are almost sold out, between 1 and 4 seats are still available. So my guess still is that this movie if it's not totally bad (and first reviews here were quite positive) will become a (big) hit. Seems not much on Thursday but it's a step in the right direction (May 6).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($2.52M EA+Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (Its definitely weaker than even Elemental. That said these movies tend to finish strong and so I am not writing it off so early. Just that the long PS window is irrelevant for them. They could rather start presales like a week before release and it would be all the same. Meh. We have to wait until next week to gauge where its going to finish. It has very low ATP as well and actual would be even lower as its going to see tons of kids tickets (May 14). Early shows are regular digital shows at 1PM this sunday. So ATP will be very low. I think 500k ish at best. Preview let us see how things go in the final week. Presales at this point are almost non existent (May 13).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.14M Thursday comp.)
  
• vafrow ($0.4M Thursday comp. Comps don't paint a pretty picture though. EA shows are doing okay (May 11). Still no sales for my core sample for previews. But I did the larger sweep, which shows the interest right now is the Sunday early access shows. Looking at sales patterns, it's mainly blocks of 3/4 tickets, so likely families grabbing some. It's worth noting that the May holiday in Canada is the weekend of May 17-20th, not the weekend after with Memorial Day. I can see families prioritizing getting out the holiday weekend when they have more time (May 4).)
  

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Re-Releases (June 8-10)

• BoxOfficePro (Fathom Events has also announced that select Regal Cinemas will present the films in 4DX on June 22/23/24 for Fellowship/Towers/Return respectively (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Up to ~1,400 shows now with new locations picking it up and others adding a second showing. LotR1 has sold 831 seats OD, LotR2 sold 715 seats OD, and LotR3 sold 735 seats OD. For comparison, Phantom Menace didn't break 800 tickets until T-3 and we're still over a month out. JW3 comp is currently around 9m (it was at 1,670 tickets sold at this point!) (May 6).)
  

Inside Out 2 Average Thursday Comp: $7.22M

• AniNate (I do see a few 1-2 spots for Inside Out on Saturday. Think some M-F workweek adult fans might be putting down money for that (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Already at 180 shows for previews in my areas and still has a few theaters left to post. For comparison, Godzilla x Kong finished with 197, Kingdom of Apes 190, and Kung Fu Panda 205 (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (Too early to judge presales as ticket sales just started early this morning. Families dont book tickets on weekday mornings. Wait until evening today to judge it. From a release perspective its way bigger than all animation movies seen recently including Panda 4. Easily the biggest I have seen in a long time. Only movie which is not comparable is Mario but that was not just a family flick (May 14).)
  
• Porthos (On the Saturday of release weekend (ie NOT EA) there is a special event screening for IO2: INSIDE OUT 2: FUNKO FAMILY EVENT! (2024) Sat June 15th. Might boost the OW slightly, depending on how wide this event is and how much more these tickets will presumably cost (May 11).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($7.22M Thursday comp. Well, I can't really tell if this is a breakout or not yet. Looks very good especially in the first few hours. These are probably terrible comps, but might as well try something (May 14).)
  
• TwoMisfits (I'm kinda shocked at the opening set from my Cinemarks... 2 screens (1 PLF, 1 not) and 6 showings at my PLF 14 for Thursday (and 11 showings on the same screens once it runs full day - 7 PLF b/c 1 is 3d on the reg screen, 4 not)... 3 screens (.75 3d, 2.25 not) and 9 showings at the non-PLF 12 for Thursday (and 12 showings on 2.25 screens once it runs full day)... So, 2 and 2.25 screens for the weekend presale sets... Disney must be charging a huge % for themselves b/c this is an Elemental opening set at my PLF...a little more generous for Thursday at my non-PLF, but then they too drop to an Elemental opening set after the adult Disney base Thursday rush... (May 14).)
  
• YM! (n fairness it's only been an hour but yeah sales are softer than I expected. However, it is a month out and will largely skew more towards kids than say TLM/Across so wasn't expecting a blitz like them. Here at Marcus theaters are going all out for IO2 with it having the lion share of PLFs with it getting both screens when there is two PLFs with tentpole like levels of screens (May 14). Was taking a look at Marcus Cinemas to see that they have preloaded Inside Out 2 showtimes which seem to start at 3:00 pm on a Thursday. It seems like Marcus is going all out on it as judging from showtimes it's taking away all of Bad Boys’ PLFs in that theaters that have two+ PLFs are giving all to IO2 (May 11).)
  

Domestic Calendar Dates (last updated May 3):
MAY

• (May 14) Presales Start [Inside Out 2]
  
• (May 16) Presales Start [Bad Boys Ride or Die]
  
• (May 16) Thursday Previews [Babes + Back to Black + If + The Strangers: Chapter 1 + The Blue Angels IMAX]
  
• (May 17) Presales Start [Ezra]
  
• (May 19) Review Embargo Lifts [Garfield 9 PM EST]
  
• (May 20) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Homecoming Re-Release]
  
• (May 23) Thursday Previews [Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga + Hit Man + The Garfield Movie + Sight]
  
• (May 26) Presales Start [Bikeriders]
  
• (May 27) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Far From Home Re-Release]
  
• (May 30) Thursday Previews [Ezra + Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle + Robot Dreams + The Young Woman and the Sea]
  

JUNE

• (June 3) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man No Way Home Re-Release]
  
• (June 5) Presales Start [Despicable Me 4]
  
• (June 6) Thursday Previews [Bad Boys: Ride or Die + The Watchers]
  
• (June 8) 1-Saturday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 9) 1-Sunday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 10) 1-Monday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 13) Thursday Previews [Inside Out 2]
  
• (June 15) 1-Saturday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 16) 1-Sunday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 17) 1-Monday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 20) Thursday Previews [The Bikeriders + Janet Planet]
  
• (June 27) Thursday Previews [Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- + Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 + A Quiet Place: Day One]
  

JULY

• (July 2) Opening Day [Wednesday: Despicable Me 4]
  
• (July 4) Opening Day [Thursday: Possum Trot]
  
• (July 4) Thursday Previews [MaXXXine]
  
• (July 11) Thursday Previews [Fly Me to the Moon + Untitled New Line Horror movie]
  
• (July 18) Thursday Previews [Twisters]
  
• (July 25) Thursday Previews [Deadpool and Wolverine + Didi + Fabulous Four]
  

AUGUST

• (August 1) Thursday Previews [Harold and the Purple Crayon]
  
• (August 8) Thursday Previews [Borderlands + Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us + Cuckoo + The Fire Inside + Trap]
  
• (August 15) Thursday Previews [Alien: Romulus + Horizon An American Saga Chapter 2 + Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure]
  
• (August 22) Thursday Previews [Blink Twice + The Crow + The Forge + Slingshot]
  
• (August 29) Thursday Previews [City of Dreams + Reagan + They Listen]
  

Presale Tracking Posts:
April 23
April 25
April 27
April 30
May 2
May 4
May 7
May 9
May 11
Note: I have removed most tracking data that has not been updated for 2 weeks. I think there is value in keeping data for a week or two but at a certain point they start to lose their value and should not be treated the same as more recent tracking data.

So typical you might think! Yes, but i just wanted to get it out, and if you have an opinion that’s awesome.
I never liked a friend before, im 23F and two years ago I left my country for 3 months to work in a ski resort in the united states. There i met some amazing people, loved my job loved my coworkers, at the end of the season i started talking to this guy at work that always showed himself as shy so we never got to talk too much before, I discovered he was super nice and funny (really important) started to get along and hang out outside work with my other two friends, we would party at his house and stuff and then we all left because we were all mostly foreign, except from him.
After that experience I wanted to go back for the next season as I really enjoyed my stay there and all the amazing people I met and experiences I had. I was also excited to see this guy again as I knew he was also coming back, but none of my other friends were. At that point I realized I liked him but I wanted to think of him as a friend. We have so similar taste in music which is a big thing for me because i love and connect through music, i get really excited when someone else likes the same as I, and we also had the same sense of humor which was really cool.
When I went back for the other season we started hanging out way more often, I would go to his apartment all the time, we would do everything together even go to the supermarket which is really simple, but I enjoyed his company a lot. Often we would stay until late just talking. Everyone started noticing and thought we were together which started me wondering. He is a great guy, he’s the type of guy that has difficulties talking to girls, he would never try anything romantic by his initiative, he’s not disrespectful or a guy that’s always into girls and basically simp, not at all. He’s really funny and nice, he trust few people and keeps a small circle. At work we connected a lot with each other, every time something fun happened we would look at each other and smile or laugh, or would go to tell the other that something happened with a smile on our faces and laugh about it. I loved my other co workers but he was the only one i shared this complicity with. We would start making plans with other people but ending up alone somehow. He always remembers stupid things that I told him long ago and makes jokes about it in a smart way, which drives me crazy. He opened up to me with lots of things about himself, we noticed we have a lot in common. The thing is, we did a lot of things together, connected and he was always there to help me, specially because i broke my leg so he would always pick me up and help me get up and down my stairs and stuff. I remember he once mentioned that a girl friend of his tried to tell him that she liked him and he didn’t felt the same and thought that was annoying when a friend falls for you and stuff, which made me feel insecure because I do like him and he is my friend, but i don’t know if he does like me.
I ended up really confused. I don’t know if what we had was just a really good friendship or if he had feelings for me too. Once i went to a party and saw his roommates, he wasn’t there cause he is not a party guy, but they basically told me to tell him to come, that if i told him to come he would do it, which also got me overthinking.
I don’t know, he was never clear with intentions, or i was too confused, he didn’t had that relationship with no one else there, he didn’t treat the others the same way, but still, there were some times when he had opportunities to get closer to me and he didn’t.
Now i’m already in my country and i miss him like hell. Even tho he was a great friend we don’t text too often, cause he doesn’t text too much. Every little conversation we had on text I started it, he seems to answer friendly but he doesn’t talks to me by his initiative . Recently it was his birthday, i texted him told him i missed him, nothing too crazy, and he never responded me, which ended up breaking my heart and making me feel super bad. He did responded to the work gc when others texted there later in the day.
That’s basically it but compressed. I don’t have the guts to tell him anything and i don’t want to ruin anything or make it uncomfortable. It just makes me really sad because i think we get along really well we’re really alike, have similar thoughts, similar taste, i think we’re compatible and he’s the kind of guy you don’t find everywhere, so it’s been difficult for me to pursuit something with someone else romantically, cause i always think of him.
I’m screwed basically.

the suicidal
step out
into death
who am i to judge ?
for what eternity holds
no-one knows
the low reading aged
if you write something they can’t understand
then according to them
its your fault
so they reject
this is the path of mediocrity
and cretinism
all religions schism, narratives of homogeneity require force to maintain (which can be extremely brutal historically)
Knock Out Asinine Nits
photos
staring out from a smooth granite block
if not quizzical
then should be
stuck in eternity
like that
somewhere
there must be a couple that mesh
and get along with each other
somewhere
i’m gone
the world rolls on
i disappear
and appear
the pages of a book that flick through
some words rest
and others don’t
skimming stones
eventually
stop
and sink
rhoticity explained to me, i now understand it, but otherwise i wouldn’t have had a clue except for the joking use of irish, scottish, canadian or usa accents
i think the zen term "seamless monument" is a metaphor for reality, you can’t penetrate it, there’s no artefact of manufacture since it has no seam, it can only be traversed, which btw is the basic philosophical problem of existence, there is no "inner" reality that subsumes "the detail of being"
“ I m currently 16 years old and a "child prodigy". I started university at 14. I have thus far only received one grade which was not an A+. It was an A-. I have memorized 100 digits of pi, the periodic table, and most of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks. I am learning Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Sahidic Coptic, Spanish, and Italian. I just like old languages. I don’t have to study long — I have a nearly photographic memory. When I do study, I just write things out over and over. I am a very visual thinker, so I remember pictures. Ask me anything ! ”
ed. she also has ehlers-danlos syndrome and is ADHD
in my view, the languages are a big mistake, they interfere with each other
“ Why do you think that ? ”
the languages you list are particularly disjunctive its a heavy learning burden with heaps of "opportunity costs" and the skill is becoming increasingly redundant with AI translators
also my experience of polyglots is they get damaged in some way
the brain is not infinitely capable, beware of burning it in waste of time activities, which to be honest a lot of so called education is
dr. alan cole argues that zen masters are in fact "made-over" daoist sages
i would go further and say that the koan system involves the same sort of "puzzling process" as the tao te ching
when you hear this sort of crap from the policy making elites, no wonder china is a problem !
the real impact of the one child policy may be the scarcity of anyone at the higher levels of government or policy being able to think straight
of course, this is to the advantage of the west and is the same problem japan had in WW2, idiots determining their strategic direction
boundaries crossing
abatement of being
from this perspective
everything looks crazy
really ?
do you ever listen to anything outside your own echo chamber ?
sad souls
in the twilight of their lives
mumbling gibberish
the words of others
are not your own
if you actually understood
why wouldn’t you use your own words ?
time separates
that childhood intensity
fades
as the branches grow apart
what was not seen at the time
is now seen
you are not well read and have an "anti-creative" mindset !
i’m getting on in years and just can’t be bothered to deal with your hubris
good-bye
ed. the net is full of these entitled gen Z’ers with a deeply entrenched intellectual inertia created by a malfunctioning education system
valves, muscle, connective tissue, timing
easy to see how it can go wrong as we get older
this dynamic core of existence in the center of our chests where every beat needs to be followed by another
i think religion can be regarded as a hallucination, the hallucination being that a literary work is real, perhaps most easily seen in the beliefs of ancient egypt, what are the pyramids and all those smaller tombs about ?
the reification of stories
these people
who
rather than bringing something to the table
only
take
and
are
impertinent
with
it
the puzzle of the poetry of others
seems to need the conversion
into something
i understand
"the girl on a bulldozer" (2022), a good tightly written kdrama
caodong poetry 23; verses on master fushan’s sixteen themes #4; touzi; translated by suru

1. not falling into life or death

on the day when the golden rooster heralds the coming spring
the jade hare conceives, entering the purple palace
reeds bloom on both shores, shadowing egrets
an old fisherman lifts his oar, dispersing mist, returning home
.
不落死活。 金雞日裏報春時。 玉兔懷胎入紫微。 兩岸蘆華映白鷺。 漁翁舉棹撥煙歸。
.
my reply
one day
the distance travelled
catches up with you
and you have arrived
.
one day
the distance travelled
catches up with you
you
have
arrived
ed. the terms in suru’s translation are very chinese and have a historical perspective, so i have "reworked" it into something modern that people will understand
“ ChatGPT-4 scored higher than 100% of psychologists on a test of social intelligence ”
hilarious
a tui calls
stunning the silence
my day is filled
with melody
ed. the tui is a new zealand native songbird
if you have ever attempted to count the number words in a book or whatever, which i have, count the number in a couple of paragraphs, then multiply by the inverse of whatever proportion of a page it is then multiply by the number of pages and i figure you get within 10% which is close enough
i’ve written millions of words, its like an exclusive club and its interesting to know who else is in it
giacomo casanova’s autobiography
the book comprises 12 volumes and approximately 3,500 pages (1.2 million words) covering casanova’s life from his birth to 1774
i have read most of it, people misunderstand him as a legendary lothario, but he is much more interesting than that

Hello, I’m asking this on behalf of my mother. She had a heart attack and had triple bypass. CABG surgery specifically.
She came out of the first CABG seemingly ok-except she screamed in pain for HOURS. Nurses said that her BP was too low and she’d had all the pain meds she could have.
Approximately 5 hours post op they realized she was actually having serious issues and not just pill seeking. They were vague-I’m not understanding much of what they say-and said she’s internally bleeding. She went back into surgery so they could figure out where she’s bleeding from.
After the 2nd surgery they tell me a clip has came loose. They again try to explain to me but it’s still too medical. I need layman’s terms. It’s also so late and I’m exhausted.
The next day they tell my dad they sometimes forgot one, meaning the clip. Both parents are pretty upset from the trauma that she had to undergo open heart twice and wondered if that could have been avoided.
I’m trying to research but my brain is fried. Every explanation the nurses or drs gave led me to believe the grafts are just sewed but do they instead use clips? I can’t decipher all the medical papers and research I’m reading. It does appear that using clips is a technique.
I hope this makes sense. Can someone clarify this stuff? Are clips used? Should they be removed? Are the clips coming loose a normal occurrence or some freak incident? Just a rare complication? I need layman’s terms on how this cabg works.