If you’re interested in some homemade tamales (pork), homemade tortillas (contains lard), or conchas (vanilla or cinnamon) shoot me an email at salsaczars@gmail.com. Tamales are $25/dozen, tortillas are $10/dozen, and conchas are $42/dozen.
*Vanilla conchas can be made traditionally pink with red 40, or can be omitted.

Why did the farmer visit the pharmacy? To speak with the farm-assist.
Hi and welcome to my post! Wanted to start off with a funny to me dad joke.
Nice to meet you, I'm Dylan! To put it simple, I am a single 22 year old man who has been pretty lonely in life and lacking in female connection and interaction. And part of what comes with that is the desire to be intimate with a person. I am very mature for my age and will always be respectful of your boundaries and feelings, especially with anything sexual. Lately all I have is myself when it comes to sexual desires, so I would like to have someone to keep company with in that regard too.
I'm just relaxing in bed before work and burning a woodwick candle. Perfect for when there's a storm outside. I love candles! 🕯️ Sometimes a campfire outside on a fall night or a crackling WoodWick candle is a relaxing constant among our busy and hectic world. It's nice to just disconnect, feel grounded and happy in your own little cozy space. Feeling calm and collected and at peace. Something that fewer people take the time to do these days.
I am seeking a woman around my age or older to build a close connection with that could possibly lead to a relationship and something intimate which includes the possibility of teasing/sharing pics etc. but only when we were comfortable. Figured I would be open in my Intentions as that's the best way to be.
You:
Kind, respectful, and easy going.
Comfortable with the idea of eventually sharing intimate things together.
Willing to eventually move off of Reddit.
Want something genuine and fun!
Are honest in your intentions and a good person to be around!
That's about it, we will get along great I know it.
I've been feeling a little bummed out lately. I always try and stay happy and see the best in things. But.. I've just been so alone. Most of my whole childhood and adult years have been spent feeling lonely. I grew up surrounded by cornfields which was peaceful but also has a lonely aspect to it. My family never really were close and never did anything as a family really. And part of it too is the fact that I never had any neighbors my age to interact with. But aside from that, my adult life has been very lonely. I'm just always by myself. I barely have any meaningful adult relationships or experiences, or even any friends.
I work a 3-11 job in building maintenance at my company world headquarters building which I love, but again it's very lonely. I work the off shift so the building is always empty. I don't get normal social interaction with people my age or a chance to build relationships. I only have 3 older men as co-workers and we are mostly in the basement away from any people on the floors from knowing our existence. I always walk the floors and see office people laughing and chatting with their coworkers and I just don't have that kind of experience. And just.. no one knows I exist really. Everyone probably assumes I have a lot of friends, but I'm struggling inside with being so alone and trying to meet people and get past the "hi how are you?" "I'm good thanks" stage. Most people don't seem to want to talk beyond that. And most women are already in relationships and thus it would seem weird to approach them in an office setting trying to get to know them deeper. But man those "hi how are yous" are the only real interactions I get during my day.. so thus I decided to come here lol. Rant over, sorry! I promise I'm not a downer. 😅
Now for some things about me!
As you can tell, I am very mature for my age and am polite and have good grammar which unfortunately not everyone my age does anymore lol. I am not active at all on social media/internet culture really and don't know much about all the slang the younger people these days use. I feel like I'm 50. 🤣
I am left handed which is pretty cool. I'm not much of a party person or a drinker, I much prefer a quiet night at home and maybe a beer or two on a weekend but that's about it. I am simple and stay out of drama and trouble and don't get much into politics or other things that cause drama with people. I much prefer a relaxing campfire and a night at home and to just let the world keep on turning haha. I consider myself pretty intelligent and mature, especially for my age which is why I'm open to older ladies.
Physically I'm 180 pounds, have brown hair, green eyes, and a typical build. There's a few pictures on my profile.
Some of my hobbies are:
• Photography
I have a Nikon D200 and D5500 that I love to shoot with. I love nature scenes, abstract, black and white/goth kinda photography, sunsets, etc. it's so fun to just let your mind explore. It's not about what camera you have, but those who are behind the camera! I'm gonna try and photograph the northern lights tonight!
• Cooking and baking
I loveeee to cook and bake! I enjoy making various meals but also love to just have a frozen pizza once in awhile or something like that. I recently made homemade chili which turned out great. I love to bake, especially in the fall! I love pies, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. I restored a vintage KitchenAid mixer that needed tbe gearbox rebuilt. Eventually I would love to practice home canning my own food.
• Music
Oh my gosh, I like so much!! Alternative rock, punk, post punk, electronic, synth pop, psychedelic rock, hard rock, etc. I am very non judgemental and open when it comes to music. My three current favorite bands are Type O Negative, Joy Division, and the Cure.
• Nature walks and camping
I really enjoy camping, making fires, and relaxing by a campfire. I love to take walks outside and just enjoy the beauty and simplicity of nature. It's wonderful, especially in a world so focused on everything digital.
• Repairing things
I'm a maintenance guy and one of my hobbies is electronics repair so I am good with my hands and just all around good at troubleshooting and fixing all sorts of things around the house. Last week I helped my elderly neighbor get his tractor started, it needed a new component in the starting circuit. So I'm pretty handy which... Comes in handy! 😂
• Autumn 🍁
This isn't a hobby per say, but man do I love the fall!!! It's my absolute favorite time of the year. Oh my gosh. The beautiful colors, crisp cool air, misty and foggy days, rain, lack of bugs, being cuddled up with a candle or by the fire drinking a tea, etc. I love it! There's only two seasons for me. Fall, and waiting for fall! Haha.
• Scented Candles and incense
Going along with my love for fall, I absolutely love candles! I have like 30 something lol. 😂 Currently my favorite are WoodWick, which are owned by Yankee candle. They have such a soothing crackle and the scents are great! I also love to burn incense from time to time as well. I have cottagecore hippie vibes.
• Old houses and architecture
I love old houses! Especially 1900s and Victorian era homes. Old homes have so much character to them and are just so beautiful from a time when people took pride in their craft. I strongly dislike the modern cookie cutter cheap construction of homes today. I would love to live in an old home one day. I also love their architecture and uniqueness, as well as architecture of old cathedrals and other buildings.
• Relaxing
Basic I know, but sometimes on the weekend I just love to get cozy in bed and relax and put on a YouTube video or an album! 😊
That's about it for me, I'm a pretty laid back and simple person. My ideal person is someone who is respectful and honest! I am very straightforward and open minded and would hope that you are as well.
If I seem interesting to you at all I would love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for reading.

Warning: Mentions of violence, blood, and some self harm near the end.
While browsing some random conspiracy site, I found what is a supposedly leaked file from the Nevada County Sheriff's Department; however, nothing has been confirmed. According to the OP, it is believed the following is the personal account of a 21 year old Jonathan Ashford of Grass Valley, California. Normally I would write stuff like this off but this one is...different. I’ve done my best to correct most of the grammar and misspelling while at the same time trying to avoid skewing the original account.
-September 15, 2022
I’ve never really been an outdoor person. Well, I guess that’s because I’ve never really been outdoors much in the first place. And that’s because I guess…I've never been invited? I don’t really have any friends. So, needless to say, I was surprised to find myself on a backpacking trip with a group of 5 other students from my university. The plan was five days in Tahoe National Forest some place called Mystery Lake. Monday-Friday. I don’t know why they decided to do it during the week. Most of us had okay grades at best and part time jobs on the side so taking a week off of it all seemed at the very least a bit irresponsible; and yet, I went anyway. Listen, I didn’t plan it, okay? This was one of my only chances to get to know people. The hike wasn’t too long but my genius self who had only been backpacking once when I was around 9 years old or so decided to carry 60 pounds of bullshit up the mountain resulting in my shoulders being sore and raw for the foreseeable future.
-10:11 PM
To be honest, I don’t really know why they let me come with them. I only know one of them and the group has been ignoring me for pretty much the entire trip. I was always bringing up the back on the hike in and I set up my tent outside of the main camp behind some trees. I haven’t eaten any meals with them or talked to them or, now that I think about it, anything really. Regardless. The trip has been an experience. Hopefully things get more exciting tomorrow.
-September 16
I’ve only ever slept in a tent a couple times so the new environment and lack of sleeping pills resulted in quite a restless night. I woke up at about eleven; everyone else was gone. I remembered they were talking about a day hike on a trail headed north so assuming that’s where they went, I hurried to get dressed and grabbed some granola bars. I’m about to head out. I hope I find them.
-12:21 PM
I’d been briskly walking for around an hour and was feeling quite exhausted so when I heard the group’s voices off in the distance I was very relieved. I started to jog in their direction when–when this jolt or–wave of energy flooded my mind. My head instantly started throbbing and my vision went blurry. The best way I could describe it is–TV static? Like the old TVs that would go all staticky when the signal got bad. I could barely make out shapes and a space in the middle of my vision was especially dark to the point where I couldn’t see past it. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. God no, if only I was that lucky. I can still hear the shrieking. That goddamn shrieking. In an instant all I could hear was this sharp, scratchy shrieking. It pierced through my ears and rooted itself in my head. I think I cried out in pain but even if I did I couldn’t have heard it. It was as if the damned souls of hell all cried out in eternal pain all at once and begged for death. I gripped and pulled at my hair, hardly noticing the pain that resulted from it as I fell to my knees in agony before…
I slowly opened my eyes. My head hurt and there was a slight buzzing in my ears. I lay in a pile of ivy next to a fallen log, my back dampened from the cool soil beneath me. I stood up, the hill on which I previously stood was nowhere in sight. As I leaned my shoulder against a tree to steady myself I heard voices. Cautiously, I walked through the foliage as the low vines dragged along my ankles. As I walked, I looked up. The falling sun cast a soft orange glow across the sky. It was probably around five O’clock or so. I climbed up on a large rock only to realize I was near the main camp. I pin-pointed the voices of my fellow campers as they huddled around a low-burning campfire. As I sat down to listen to them speak I could sense a strong feeling of uneasiness resonating from the group. Then it hit me.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen her since earlier this afternoon?” One of them said, I think his name was Matthew? He was tall and lean, by far the tallest in the group.
“I’m sure! It just doesn’t make sense. One minute she was behind me going on about who knows what and then the next when I turn around she’s gone!” A girl with light brown hair said. I didn’t know her name. I could see tears forming at the corner of her eyes as the wind blew her hair into her face.
“We need to find her before it gets dark. Groups of two; stick together!” A shorter man with brown hair said. Ryan. He was the only one I knew. We weren’t friends. Definitely not. But he was nice enough to me in the classes we had together and I was grateful that I was able to go on the trip with him. As he walked past the boulder I sat beside, paying me no mind, I saw his lower lip quiver as his wide eyes looked straight ahead. He was more nervous than he led on. I zoned out for a few seconds, the static from earlier crawling its way into the corners of my vision when a chipmunk climbing a tree snapped me back to reality and I realized I had been left at camp. I looked around at the tall forest but the group was nowhere in sight. I assumed they wanted me to wait at camp in case the missing girl, Alice, came back, but as I moved toward the dying campfire the call of nature occupied my thoughts. I found a spade and a roll of toilet paper and strode briskly into the forest, the cool Autumn air rushing against my chapped lips as I walked. I reached over to scratch an itch on my arm when I saw it.
“The fuck?” I wondered out loud. There on my upper forearm was…a bite mark. I rattled my brain trying to think what could have made that kind of mark. As I examined it more I confirmed my suspicions. It seemed human. At least I think it was human. It’s not like there are any goddamn monkeys native to Middle of Nowhere, California. There was also a dark purple bruise on my lower forearm. Didn’t remember getting that either.
I looked around for a good spot. Stepping over a log, I set my foot down on something soft. It was Alice. Her right hand crushed and mangled and a dried trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth had pooled on a flattened leaf. I screamed, tripping and falling back in the direction I hoped was the camp. As I jumped over a rock I landed hard on my left ankle as a streak of pain shot up through my body. I was trying to get back up when I heard it. The screeching. It steadily yet quickly faded in until it flooded my hearing. My vision was clouded by that same static. I curled up into a ball, kicking at the air. My eyes watered and I felt the urge to vomit…
A wave of dizziness hit me as I opened my eyes and fell on my tailbone, pain shooting up my back. I lay down on my back and looked up at the trees, my nose bloody. It was still dark. Had I been standing? I tried to recall what I had been doing but all I remembered were faded images. One thing I didn’t forget was the screeching. All that I could remember was covered by that screeching and a faint veil of that static. Just thinking about it made my head throb.
A groan. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned to look in the sound’s direction. It was David. He looked injured, lying on the ground, but quickly crawled back in what looked like fear when he saw me.
“You bitch!” He muttered between gritted teeth. Before I could react he was up on his feet charging in my direction. I tried to doge him but the wind was quickly knocked out of me as he headbutted me in the stomach. I fell back onto the ground and between coughs I saw him running towards me. Before he could deliver a heavy stomp to my chest I caught his foot and kicked up into his groin. He stumbled back with a low yelp of pain and, taking my chance while he was stunned, I stood up as fast as I could and prepared to block another attack. He ran up to me and attempted to deliver a blow to my stomach with his right fist, leaving his upper body undefended; I used the opportunity to send a hard punch into the side of his neck. He fell back choking, tears in his eyes. As he tried to sit down he tripped on a root and hit his head on a nearby boulder with a sickening crack. He squirmed for a moment, then nothing.
Silence. There was a faint red stain on the side of the rock, and beneath his blood-stained hair, his head seemed unnervingly misshapen. The closer I looked, the more I saw. Bruised neck, flowing blood, even some pinkish bone exposed near the worst of the damage to his skull. The fall must’ve been worse than I thought. Why would he attack me? What was wrong with him? Had he mistaken me for someone else? I sat against the blood-stained boulder and leaned my head back. I’m exhausted. Everything hurts. My ankle is throbbing. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve slept and I don’t know what to do. I should probably go try to find the camp but…I’m too tired. I think I’m going to go to sleep now.
-September 18
I slept through the entire day and most of the night! Or, at least I think I did. The more I think about it I’m not so sure. It’s like 2:30 AM, glad my phone still works even if my brain doesn’t, just wish I had signal. I’m not sure what to do but I might try to go find
-4:29 AM
Something’s definitely out here with us. Or–me. Not sure how many of the others are left out here. I’m sure that shrieking is tied to something. I heard something off in the distance while writing and decided to go check it out. It was Matthew and that other girl. They were walking briskly and their eyes seemed to be darting around frantically. They were talking in hushed tones but from what I heard they found Alice's body, and they were worried. I was about to reveal myself to them when the shrieking came back. It hit me like a train, and sometimes I think a train would have hurt less. It felt like it lasted for hours, I bit a hole through my lip and fell off of the boulder I was sitting on. I couldn’t see anything except a dark patch of static in the middle of my vision surrounded by more static. All the cuts and bruises in my body seemed to amplify and I could barely breathe. I just wanted it to stop but it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t stop.
The two were dead when I came to. I wasn’t much better off myself. No matter how much I spit I can’t get the taste of blood out of my mouth. My arms are covered in cuts and bruises and my shoulder was dislocated. That was a fun half hour figuring out how to put it back in place. I think whatever is out here with us clouds your vision and makes it impossible to hear anything as a way to hunt you. I’m amazed it hasn’t killed me yet. I hope Ryan is still out there.
-6:06 AM
It’s been a long night. A really long night. I found Ryan but–but now I wish I hadn’t. It was around five AM I think, I had been aimlessly wandering through the forest looking for something, anything. By the most unlucky luck Ryan came stumbling around a tree. When he saw me his eyes went wide.
“Jon, what the hell?” Then he squinted his eyes and seemed to notice the wounds on my arm.
“Oh god,” he said. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife, glaring at me during the process. Before I could reply, he charged me, knife in hand. I–I didn't want to kill him. I really didn’t. He tackled me to the ground, forcing the knife close to my chest. I desperately tried to push him away and being the stronger one, I knocked him off me. As he hurried to get back on top of me I sent my right leg flying into his arm, knocking the knife from his hand. Before he realized what was happening I grabbed the knife from the ground. In what seemed like a last desperate attempt he tried to force me down again but, already having the knife in my hand, I quickly slashed his chest and one of his wrists without thinking. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t mean to kill him! I was just defending myself. I don’t know why he attacked me, what’s gotten into him and David? Is that thing controlling them? They didn’t seem like they were under some kind of spell…I don’t think so at least.
After a soft cry of pain he collapsed and rolled down the steep hill we were standing on. I didn’t bother looking for his body. No point. Odds are that thing would use his body as a trap for me or something. I don’t know anymore.
Somehow I found my way back. I don’t remember how, all I remember is collapsing against a tree out of exhaustion but, here I am at the trailhead. I guess my half dead brain forgot most of it. I don’t know what I’ll do now, I don’t think I’ll tell the police. If they hear that some creepy ghost creature is hiding out in the forest killing my friends I’ll probably get locked up in who the fuck knows where for who the fuck knows what. But, no matter how many or how few believe me, I know something is out there. And I know it’s dangerous. I doubt the bodies will ever be found. That forest is huge and I buried Matthew and Elizabeth, found her name in a backpack she had on.
This will be my last entry. My name is Jonathan Ashford, and I survived something dangerous in the Tahoe national forest. Whatever you do, do not go there. Goodbye.
-September 22, 2022, 5:06 PM
Ryan survived. The police are after me. Apparently he told them I stalked them in the forest and picked them off when they weren’t together. I don’t know what’s happening. There are some gaps in my memory but I know that I didn’t kill those people. I only killed David, and that was self defense. I’m not sure what I’ll do. The police don’t know where I am but I’m sure that won’t last long.
-8:19 PM
I saw an interview with Ryan on the local news while browsing channels. He seemed–off. There were bags under his eyes and his skin was pale. He seemed nervous, shaky. I hope he’s ok. I still don’t understand why he thinks I killed them.
-September 23, 3:12 AM
ok ok. I have a theory. I’ve been up all night thinking and it makes so much sense now. That thing can shriek. Terrifying right? But explainable. The static I still can’t make sense of, there’s no feasible way it could naturally do that. What if whatever supernatural force causes the static can also control people? Maybe that’s why Ryan looks so crazy. It must be controlling him. But why would it want me? Am I immune to its effects? Maybe.
-6:04 AM
They didn’t notice it. It didn’t hit them. When I was spying on Matthew and Elizabeth, right before they were–anyways.
The shrieking hit my ears before the static hit my eyes and in those few seconds, they didn’t notice. It didn’t affect them. They didn’t hear the shrieking. Maybe the shrieking is that monster thing's abilities failing to control me. Maybe that's why ryan-whatever’s controlling Ryan wants me. It’s because I’m a threat to it. Because It can’t control me. When I woke up I was injured, but never killed like the others. Maybe it doesn’t have as much power over me as others.
But why would the authorities believe Ryan? There’s no way his story can add up. Even if that creature, that thing, is intelligent, it can’t be that smart to fake a story. Why are they after me?
-11:42 PM
The police came by today. I was about to update this log again when they started banging on my door. I was able to sneak out a window before they noticed me, glad I live on the ground floor.
Something seemed off about them. I can’t say what but, something, like the uncanny valley effect, where something looks human but isn't. Whatever. It’s probably just my imagination. I need sleep.
-September 24, 2:20 AM
Something is wrong–something is definitely wrong. How did they find me? Holy shit that was close! I was dozing by a couple of dumpsters behind a gas station. Figured it was safe enough since it was out of the way and partly blocked by a fence until I heard dogs barking. Not sure how many of them there are, at least two–maybe three, I can still hear them barking. I figured they were just strays that would hopefully leave me alone until I saw the lights. Damn things half-blinded me!
“Son, what are you doing back here? Can we walk to you?” one of the officers said, his face was clammy and pale, he seemed tired, he seemed–off. I didn’t respond or wait for them to try and get closer, I dashed past them before they could call their dogs on me and jumped the fence, running into the tree line. I managed to climb my way up a tree a ways into the woods before they could get around the fence and send their dogs out. They haven’t found me yet, but they’re still looking for me. I can see their flashlights periodically bathing the tree line in a pale glow. I think I’ll try to wait them out and then climb down and run for as long as I can. Not sure where I’ll go yet but they keep finding me so I’ll have to get creative. Not sure how they’re finding me so quickly and easily, but maybe I can come up with something. Is that–thing finding me? Does it always know where I am? Is it controlling the police? Maybe that's why they looked so…wrong. I don’t know. I’m starting to think I don’t know anything anymore. I keep noticing the static in the corner of my vision occasionally, not sure why.
-September 24, 5:03 PM
I fucked up. Big time. Last night, somehow, I fell asleep. I don’t know how, guess I was just too exhausted. The sound of a helicopter pierced through the top of the tree line. Before I could register everything, I slipped and fell down the tree. I was able to slow my fall a bit by dragging my hands along the tree–hurt like a bitch–but I still landed hard. Can barely sit down. I think I was able to avoid being detected by the helicopter. I’m going to start walking. Not sure where but, I need to go somewhere. The static is constantly in the corner of my vision whenever I focus on it now. Why is this happening?
-10:44 PM
This doesn’t make any sense, I don’t know what's happening anymore! I was wandering through the forest when the static came back. God, it was awful, forgot how bad it was. Hell, maybe it was worse this time. Who knows. This isn’t the weirdest, or worst, part. I woke up in my apartment, I’m exhausted, but don’t have any new visible injuries despite how shitty I feel. Not sure why that thing didn’t try to hurt me, maybe it gave up on trying.
The news was on when I woke up, God I’m so fucked. They found the bodies–the ones that I buried. Of course they found my DNA all over them, used their forensics or whatever to try to explain how I killed everyone. I’ll have to admit if it wasn’t all a setup by some evil entity out to get me it would be pretty convincing. Sometimes–I find myself believing it. I don’t know what to think at this point, nothing makes sense anymore. The static is far more noticeable now. My head is starting to hurt, too.
They haven’t come back to my apartment yet, probably don’t think I would return this soon after they searched the place. I know they’ll be here eventually but I’m too tired to care right now. My brother and his kids used to live a few hours out of town, I think he built a treehouse for his kids somewhere behind the house. Maybe I’ll go try and hide out there for as long as I can. As if that will be very long at all.
-September 26, 6:24 PM
Everywhere I look, everything I watch. They’re always out for me. Everyone is looking for me. The things the police and the media keep saying about me–the evidence that gets released every day, the testimonies, officials saying I have symptoms of psychological problems like psychosis and DID, of Bipolar. More and more–I’m starting to believe it myself. Surely it's that thing. Surely it’s getting in my head…right?
-September 27, 1:03 PM
Made it to the treehouse, glad it’s still here. Had a few close calls along the way when trying to steal food from gas stations but I made it ok. Glad I did, the static is starting to really cloud my vision and my head hurts so bad my ears are starting to ring. I’m not out of the woods yet, that’s for sure. I can sense them...it. They’re trailing me. I think they’re getting close.
I’m so tired, so confused. I don’t know what to do, what to think anymore. What’s next? Maybe I’ll try to get some rest…if I can, that is.
I could try to come up with something, some silver bullet or whatever. I have this one idea, it’s not smart or clever, not even close, but it’s an idea, and it won’t let it–them–it, whatever, win. At least I don’t think it will; besides, surely it has a bigger plan for me, right? There’s no way it would go through all this effort just to kill me…
-4:39
They found me. I can hear them outside. They’re getting closer.
To be honest, I don’t know anymore. Maybe I did kill all those people, maybe I am insane. I don’t know what to believe. There’s so much being said, so many people saying it. I’m just so confused, so tired, so scared.
There's a bomb on the chair beside me, homemade. Glad I grabbed enough supplies to build it. Took me a while to figure it out as well as a few close calls but I think I got it working. They’ll have quite the surprise waiting for them once they find me…
They’re at the base of the tree now. The static has almost completely consumed my vision and my head feels like it’s about to explode. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore. I’m not sure why I was made the target of this, why this is happening to me at all, but regardless of the reason, I won’t let them win.
To the creature, or entity, to whatever is doing this to me: I’ll see you in Hell.
Goodbye
Aside from some generic legal stuff to conclude the report, that’s where the document ends. I’m not sure what to make of it. Definitely a lot to take in. I contacted the OP on the site I got this from but haven’t received a response yet, will update if I receive one. For now my only advice is be careful, and don’t go backpacking in Tahoe National Forest. If anyone has any thoughts or info, please, let me know.

Why did the farmer visit the pharmacy? To speak with the farm-assist.
Hi and welcome to my post! Wanted to start off with a funny to me dad joke.
Nice to meet you, I'm Dylan! To put it simple, I am a single 22 year old man who has been pretty lonely in life and lacking in female connection and interaction. And part of what comes with that is the desire to be intimate with a person. I am very mature for my age and will always be respectful of your boundaries and feelings, especially with anything sexual. Lately all I have is myself when it comes to sexual desires, so I would like to have someone to keep company with in that regard too.
I'm just relaxing at work since there's nothing really going on and thinking about going home tonight and burning a woodwick candle. Perfect for when there's a storm outside. I love candles! 🕯️ Sometimes a campfire outside on a fall night or a crackling WoodWick candle is a relaxing constant among our busy and hectic world. It's nice to just disconnect, feel grounded and happy in your own little cozy space. Feeling calm and collected and at peace. Something that fewer people take the time to do these days.
I am seeking a woman around my age or older to build a close connection with that could possibly lead to a relationship and something intimate which includes the possibility of teasing/sharing pics etc. but only when we were comfortable. Figured I would be open in my Intentions as that's the best way to be.
You:
Kind, respectful, and easy going.
Comfortable with the idea of eventually sharing intimate things together.
Willing to eventually move off of Reddit.
Want something genuine and fun!
Are honest in your intentions and a good person to be around!
That's about it, we will get along great I know it.
I've been feeling a little bummed out lately. I always try and stay happy and see the best in things. But.. I've just been so alone. Most of my whole childhood and adult years have been spent feeling lonely. I grew up surrounded by cornfields which was peaceful but also has a lonely aspect to it. My family never really were close and never did anything as a family really. And part of it too is the fact that I never had any neighbors my age to interact with. But aside from that, my adult life has been very lonely. I'm just always by myself. I barely have any meaningful adult relationships or experiences, or even any friends.
I work a 3-11 job in building maintenance at my company world headquarters building which I love, but again it's very lonely. I work the off shift so the building is always empty. I don't get normal social interaction with people my age or a chance to build relationships. I only have 3 older men as co-workers and we are mostly in the basement away from any people on the floors from knowing our existence. I always walk the floors and see office people laughing and chatting with their coworkers and I just don't have that kind of experience. And just.. no one knows I exist really. Everyone probably assumes I have a lot of friends, but I'm struggling inside with being so alone and trying to meet people and get past the "hi how are you?" "I'm good thanks" stage. Most people don't seem to want to talk beyond that. And most women are already in relationships and thus it would seem weird to approach them in an office setting trying to get to know them deeper. But man those "hi how are yous" are the only real interactions I get during my day.. so thus I decided to come here lol. Rant over, sorry! I promise I'm not a downer. 😅
Now for some things about me!
As you can tell, I am very mature for my age and am polite and have good grammar which unfortunately not everyone my age does anymore lol. I am not active at all on social media/internet culture really and don't know much about all the slang the younger people these days use. I feel like I'm 50. 🤣
I am left handed which is pretty cool. I'm not much of a party person or a drinker, I much prefer a quiet night at home and maybe a beer or two on a weekend but that's about it. I am simple and stay out of drama and trouble and don't get much into politics or other things that cause drama with people. I much prefer a relaxing campfire and a night at home and to just let the world keep on turning haha. I consider myself pretty intelligent and mature, especially for my age which is why I'm open to older ladies.
Physically I'm 180 pounds, have brown hair, green eyes, and a typical build. There's a few pictures on my profile.
Some of my hobbies are:
• Photography
I have a Nikon D200 and D5500 that I love to shoot with. I love nature scenes, abstract, black and white/goth kinda photography, sunsets, etc. it's so fun to just let your mind explore. It's not about what camera you have, but those who are behind the camera! I'm gonna try and photograph the northern lights tonight!
• Cooking and baking
I loveeee to cook and bake! I enjoy making various meals but also love to just have a frozen pizza once in awhile or something like that. I recently made homemade chili which turned out great. I love to bake, especially in the fall! I love pies, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. I restored a vintage KitchenAid mixer that needed tbe gearbox rebuilt. Eventually I would love to practice home canning my own food.
• Music
Oh my gosh, I like so much!! Alternative rock, punk, post punk, electronic, synth pop, psychedelic rock, hard rock, etc. I am very non judgemental and open when it comes to music. My three current favorite bands are Type O Negative, Joy Division, and the Cure.
• Nature walks and camping
I really enjoy camping, making fires, and relaxing by a campfire. I love to take walks outside and just enjoy the beauty and simplicity of nature. It's wonderful, especially in a world so focused on everything digital.
• Repairing things
I'm a maintenance guy and one of my hobbies is electronics repair so I am good with my hands and just all around good at troubleshooting and fixing all sorts of things around the house. Last week I helped my elderly neighbor get his tractor started, it needed a new component in the starting circuit. So I'm pretty handy which... Comes in handy! 😂
• Autumn 🍁
This isn't a hobby per say, but man do I love the fall!!! It's my absolute favorite time of the year. Oh my gosh. The beautiful colors, crisp cool air, misty and foggy days, rain, lack of bugs, being cuddled up with a candle or by the fire drinking a tea, etc. I love it! There's only two seasons for me. Fall, and waiting for fall! Haha.
• Scented Candles and incense
Going along with my love for fall, I absolutely love candles! I have like 30 something lol. 😂 Currently my favorite are WoodWick, which are owned by Yankee candle. They have such a soothing crackle and the scents are great! I also love to burn incense from time to time as well. I have cottagecore hippie vibes.
• Old houses and architecture
I love old houses! Especially 1900s and Victorian era homes. Old homes have so much character to them and are just so beautiful from a time when people took pride in their craft. I strongly dislike the modern cookie cutter cheap construction of homes today. I would love to live in an old home one day. I also love their architecture and uniqueness, as well as architecture of old cathedrals and other buildings.
• Relaxing
Basic I know, but sometimes on the weekend I just love to get cozy in bed and relax and put on a YouTube video or an album! 😊
That's about it for me, I'm a pretty laid back and simple person. My ideal person is someone who is respectful and honest! I am very straightforward and open minded and would hope that you are as well.
If I seem interesting to you at all I would love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for reading.

Hey there!
Sick of the dating scene's shallowness? Me too! I'm 29, an engineer, and a master of the best late night drives.
About Me: I'm not your average Joe. I prefer conversations about geeky stuff and conspiracy theories over the weather, and I'm also convinced my spirit animal is a caffeinated squirrel. 420 safe and a massive coffee addict.
What I Seek: A woman who's up for cracking bad jokes, debating the merits of pineapple on pizza, and maybe even embarking on spontaneous adventures (like exploring that sketchy-looking woods down the street).
Why You Should Hit Me Up: If you're tired of swiping left on boring bios and are ready to dive into the weird and wonderful world of genuine connection, then let's chat! Who knows, we might just discover we're both secretly wizards or have a shared passion for collecting campervan money boxes.
So, if you're ready to add a splash of quirkiness to your life and see where it takes us, shoot me a message. Let's make boredom disappear faster than my last batch of homemade cookies (which were surprisingly not that terrible).
Look forward to hearing from you! 🤓

(As always, flyers are out Wednesdays, most store sales for the new flyer start on Thursdays)
Adonis

• Crab section (thawed) - $7.77 per lb -- Interesting! Could be fun for making neat meals!
• Coho salmon fillet - $7.77 per lb -- Wow! That's a great price for salmon!
• Sea bass (fresh, free cleaning) - $7.99 per lb -- Fair price for fresh fish.
• Basa filet (thawed) - $4.99 per lb -- Nice! It's not fresh filet, but it's a good price,.
• Chicken thighs (boneless skinless) - $5.99 per lb -- Not amazing, but ok for boneless chicken.
• Grain-fed veal blade roast - $5.99 per lb -- Interesting! It's a more tender cut, more delicate flavour, which might be nice!
• Beef eye of round - $6.99 per lb -- Good and fair price for eye of round. It's possible to find it for less, but it's a hunt. This is a regular Adonis deal.
• Rib-eye steak - $17.99 per lb -- Makes me think of a post I saw this week of a standard prime rib roast in Calgary sold at $55/kg, 27/lb or something. Which is crazy!
• Red greenhouse tomatoes - $0.99 per lb -- Awesome! Great price for tomatoes, but I found the other produce prices advertised were a little lackluster.
• Apricots (fresh) - $4.99 per lb -- Low-ish price for fresh apricots.
• Brick cheese (Cracker Barrel) - $5.77 400g bar -- Not under $5, but still worth snagging a bar if it means skipping a trip elsewhere.
• Cheese Counter - Canadian feta - $1.99 per 100g -- Nice! $2/100g for feta is good.
• Cheese Counter - Tuma - $2.29 per 100g -- Interesting! "Tuma cheese is renowned for its delicate mild milk flavour, and its smooth, velvety and firm texture."
• Cheese Counter - Akawi - $2.29 per 100g -- Ahh, this is a lovely cheese. Not cheap, but it's good stuff!
• Cheese Counter - Fior de latte - $2.29 per 100g -- Good price. This is the stuff you need for a Caprese salad!
• Pâté (Bretagne) - $5.00 for 2 150g packs -- Great price! These regularly go for $4 or so.
• Deli - Chicken breast (Solmaz) - $1.79 per 100g -- Nice!
• Deli - Smoked ham (Olymel) - $1.49 per 100g -- Excellent!
• Deli - Turkey breast (Alzahraa) - $1.49 per 100g -- More great deli!
• Deli - Prosciutto (Negroni) - $2.79 per 100g -- Ah! Nice! Different brand, same great prosciutto price!
• Walnuts and mixed nuts (Cedar) - $4.99 454g bag -- Nice! That's cheap!
• Almonds (Cedar) - $5.99 454g bag -- Good price for almonds!
• Pistachios (roasted, salted, Cedar) - $12.99 454g bag -- Pistachio prices are a little funny. $10/lb is really the price to aim for, but this isn't far off. And it's not uncommon to see 200-250g bags for $7-8 or more.
• Produce Price Rating: Medium, but always has well-priced chicken, the deli meat sale rotations are always fantastic, and just the overall variety of goods is refreshing. Personal favourite store.

Farm Boy

• Chicken breast (boneless skinless) - $5.99 per lb -- Fair price for chicken breast.
• Wild-caught Argentinian shrimp (23-30ct) - $7.99 340g bag -- This is a good rate on decent shrimp!
• Fresh sausage deal - $5.99 500g packs -- Nice little sausage deal here. Fresh sausage avoids the preservatives!
• Mini cucumbers - $5.00 for 2 6-packs -- Good price for mini cucumber.
• Fiddleheads (fresh daily) - $5.99 per lb -- Neat! These are fun to see on the shelf. Try a fun seasonal item!
• Hothouse tomatoes - $1.49 per lb -- Good price for tomatoes!
• Eggplant - $1.49 per lb -- Great price for eggplant! Often $2/lb or more!
• Zucchini - $1.49 per lb -- Good price zucch! You can find them for less, but you'll have to hunt for it.
• Green onion - $0.77 per bunch -- Nice! It's crazy to be happy about green onions for under $1…
• Blueberries - $2.99 full pint -- Ad is for 473g pints. This is a great deal! Worth snagging some!
• Produce Price Rating: High

Farmers Pick (can be a little late on their flyer) (https://www.farmerspick.ca/flyer-specials)
Food Basics

• Ground chicken (lean, Zabiha) - $3.88 450g pack -- Great price for ground chicken!
• Pork side rib - $2.98 per lb -- Good price for pork rib!
• Pork tenderloin - $2.98 per lb -- Great price for tenderloin. More often found for $4/lb.
• Fresh beef burger patties - $4.00 4-pack -- These are 1/4lb patties, meaning we're clocking in at $4/lb, which is honestly pretty good! Season them up and grill! There's also Selection 8-pack of buns on sale for 1.77. So, that's basically $10 for 8 burgers. That's value!
• Asparagus - $1.98 per lb -- Excllent! This is a great price! And it's not even the 340g bunches, no, this is per lb!
• Sweet peppers - $2.98 4-pack -- Nice!
• Sweet potato and sweet purple potato - $1.28 per lb -- Fair price for sweet potatoes. It's fun to see purple ones get lumped into the same bracket.
• Coleslaw kit (Green Giant) - $5.00 for 2 340g kits -- Great price for salad kits.
• Mini potatoes - $2.98 5lb bag -- Good price for mini potatoes!
• Strawberries - $1.67 454g shell -- WOW! Cross our fingers they're nice AND cheap!
• Cherries - $5.98 per lb -- Decent price for cherries. I like making homemade yogurt popsicles with fresh cherries. Bit if a pain in the ass to pit, but so worth it.
• Brick cheese (Selection) - $4.44 400g bar -- Nice! Sub-$5 bricks!
• Salametti (Matro) - $6.49 300g chubs -- May include other varieties
• Baby genoa (Mastro) - $8.99 600g chub? -- Hard to read the ad, but this is a good deal for a big chub of genoa!
• Mortadella (San Daniele) - $8.99 750g chub -- Works out to $1.20/100g, which is a substantial savings compared to the deli counter or buying it presliced and packed!
• BBQ Sauce and Mustard (Selection) - $1.00 each -- Nice! I personally love mustard and a good BBQ sauce. Might be nice to stock up for that burger night!
• Chips (Irresistibles) - $1.00 150g bag -- I usually don't point out chips and seed-oil-snacks, but this is a great deal!
• Produce Price Rating: Low to medium low

FoodLand

• Beef top sirloin steaks (AAA) - $7.99 per lb -- Great price for AAA steaks. Top sirloin isn't the best place to get a steak cut, but it could be fine. Have a look in-store and judge for yourself.
• Shrimp (31-40ct, Compliments) - $6.99 per lb -- Good price for shrimp, but note that these are small.
• Bar scallops (80-120ct, Compliments) - $6.99 per lb -- These are quite small, but they could be interesting to thaw, pat dry, and sear quick on high heat for use in salads. Or perhaps as a top to a risotto?
• Cucumber - $0.99 each -- Scene Member Price.
• Corn - $5.00 for 5 years -- $1 an ear!?!#@! Are they mad?! Do they not watch the news about boycotts and how consumers are pissed? And then you're going to charge them $1 for an ear of corn? My goodness…
• Produce Price Rating: Medium-high to high.

Freshco (price matcher)

• Bacon (Schneider's) - $3.99 375g pack -- Good price for brandname bacon. Sale also extends to some of their wieners and bologna.
• Frozen burgers (Compliments) - $9.99 1.13kg box (8-pack) -- This stretches us down into a $3/lb mark for beef. Which is pretty good all things considered, but know it's a processed meat. Read the ingredients: beef, water, bread crumb, soya flour, and salt and seasoning. You're paying for recovered meat mixed with bread crumb and flour. And the nutritional info on the pack reads 73% daily value of sat-fat in one 142g burger. A 152g fresh patty lands you at 60%. Know your food!
• Wild-caught Argentinian shrimp (23-30ct) - $6.99 300g bag -- This is a good rate on decent shrimp!
• Sweet peppers - $2.99 4-pack -- Nice!
• Mushrooms - $2.99 454g shell -- Great price!
• Green beans - $1.99 per lb -- Awesome price for green beans!
• Royal Gala apples - $1.49 per lb -- Good price for a nice apple variety. However, you can also sometimes score these for $1/lb if you wait and dig around for the sale.
• Blueberries - $2.49 full pint -- Nice! Another great blueberry sale!
• Produce Price Rating: Low to medium low (more on the medium side)

Giant Tiger (*note the VIP prices; sales begin today) (price matcher)

• Hotdog wieners (Olymel) - $2.47 375g 5-pack -- Sigh… Good price for wieners, but still… Don't overdo it. These are categorically terrible for you!
• Ambrosia apples - $2.88 3lb bag -- Great deal on a tasty apple variety that hits that $1/lb mark!
• Blueberries - $2.88 full pint -- Man! So many blueberry deals! Where are these coming from?!
• Romaine lettuce - $2.88 3-pack -- Nice! Fair price for romaine hearts.
• Baby spinach - $1.97 140g bin -- Good price for 140g. The prices of these bins are the weights are all over the place. Some places charge $4 for the same bin. And then some others charge $4 for 300g bins. Treat carefully!
• Canned tomatoes (Primo) - $3.00 for 2 796ml cans -- Good price for nice tomatoes. Funny enough, in this week's flyer, they advertise the Great Value (housebrand) tomatoes for 1.77 being 50c, but if you buy two Primo cans they work out to 50c less than the Great Value (confused yet? Lol)
• Fireworks - various -- LOL I just wanted to mention they got fireworks and firecrackers hahaha
• Produce Price Rating: Generally on the low side.

Green Fresh Supermarket (Vanier) (check https://greenfreshottawa20.wixsite.com/greenfreshottawa)

• Produce Price Rating: Usually very competitive, catering to Asian cuisine. Warning: their newest sales start on Fridays - so this is a late advertising of their sales.

IGA (price matcher)

• Hotdog wieners (Lafleur) - $5.00 for 2 packs 375-450g -- More hot dog prices for our analysis. I'm noting these to get a sense of what the heck is going on with these….
• Lobster (cooked or live) - $7.75 per lb -- Scene Member Price. 9.75/lb regular. Awesome deal!
• Tomahawk steak - $13.99 per lb -- That's pretty good for a fancy steak cut. I like thick cut steak because you can get that and crust without overcooking the meat. Pro tip: always salt and set your steak uncovered to dry in the fridge. That's what gets you a top-notch crust!
• Veal loin rack - $13.99 per lb -- This is more interesting than a value proposition. Expect a decent-sized rack to run you a pretty penny, but it should cook nicely. Remember to let it rest after it reaches the desired internal temp. Be patient!
• Whole chicken (fresh) - $1.99 per lb -- Great price!!
• Eggs (Nutri, Burnbrae) - $5.79 18-pack -- Not a ground-breaker price. Maybe it's just nice see some price stability in egg prices.
• Corn - $4.00 for 10 ears -- Excellent deal at 40c an ear!
• Cherries - $4.99 per lb -- Awesome!!! Cherries can easily reach into the $8-9/lb range.
• Bologna (Lesters) - $5.49 675g chub -- This is a good price for a chub. It's not fancy deli, but it beats the prices by 2-3x or more given you're paying 81c/100g.
• Deli - Cooked ham (Olymel) - $1.99 per 100g -- Speaking of deli prices, consider this unholy monolith slab of ham versus that slice-it-yourself bologna. This "hamalgum sibling" is 2.5x the price of the bologna by Lesters… Just saying…
• Produce Price Rating: Medium

Independent

• Pork back rib - $3.99 per lb -- Meh price for pork rib… $3/lb is good, but $4/lb doesn't seem worth it when it's largely bone anyway! I'd rather buy the duck they have for $4/lb….
• Atlantic salmon - $9.99 per lb -- Average price for pink fish.
• Beef striploin steaks (AA) - $7.88 per lb -- Good enough price for steaks, but FoodLand had AAA grade for the same price.
• Duck (fresh, grade A) - $3.99 per lb -- Good rate for duck.
• Asparagus - $2.99 per lb -- Meh rate. There's better.
• Strawberries - $2.49 454g shell -- Good price for strawberries.
• Butter (Lactantia) - $5.99 454g bar -- Sigh… I wish butter would come down in price…
• Produce Price Rating: fairly high with few exceptions

Loblaws

• Pork back rib - $3.99 per lb -- Meh price for pork rib… $3/lb is good, but $4/lb doesn't seem worth it when it's largely bone anyway! I'd rather buy the duck they have for $4/lb….
• Atlantic salmon - $9.99 per lb -- Average price for pink fish.
• Beef striploin steaks (AA) - $8.88 per lb -- Ben là là! Same AA steak, $1/lb more…
• Beef boneless blade roast (AA) - $8.99 per lb -- Ok price for beef… It's kind of meh… Consider visiting local butchers to see what they have going on.
• Duck (fresh, grade A) - $3.99 per lb -- Good rate for duck.
• Sweet potatoes - $3.99 5lb bag -- Great price for sweet potatoes
• Mini-cucumbers - $1.99 6-pack -- "Save $2". Ya, we know Loblaws. I've been saving $2 on these packs for months now at other stores.
• Blueberries - $1.99 full pint -- Great price for blueberries!
• Mango - $0.99 each -- Fair price for mango considering I've seen Loblaws charge much more for them. Also, I expect we'll see some nice sub-$1 deals in the future.
• Butter (Lactantia) - $5.99 454g bar -- More $6 butter.
• Produce Price Rating: fairly high with few exceptions

Provigo

• Pork chops - $2.49 per lb -- Good price for pork chops.
• Chicken breast and thighs (boneless skinless) - $4.99 per lb -- Good price chicken.
• Atlantic salmon - $8.99 per lb -- Good price for pink fish.
• Corn - $5.00 4-pack -- What?! How can we have these disparities… Maxi has theirs for 33c an ear. That's $1.30 versus $5 for 4 ears… Insane difference in price…
• Watermelon (9lb average) - $3.88 each -- Nice price for watermelon.
• Mango - $0.99 each -- That $1 deal again. "Save $2". Meaning regular price was $3. Insanity.
• Deli - Mock chicken (Gaspésien) - $1.29 per 100g -- Good price for deli, but it's mock chicken. I would refer back to the IGA deal on Lesters bologna. Buy whole chubs, slice it yourself, and save.
• Produce Price Rating: fairly high with few exceptions

Maxi (price matcher)

• Ground beef (medum) - $8.88 1.1kg -- About 2.5lb of beef, which clocks this in at about 3.50/lb. That's pretty good!
• Corn - $0.33 per ear -- Awesome price for corn! It's crazy. Provigo had their 4-packs for $5. Which
• Mini-cucumbers - $0.88 6-pack -- Very nice! A regular "good deal" is $2.
• Coleslaw kit (Florette) - $1.88 340g kit -- Great deal for a salad kit.
• Potatoes (Imperfect) - $4.88 15lb bag -- Excellent!!
• Mini-carrots - $4.88 2lb bag -- This is a good deal given a 2/3lb bag can be $2-3.
• Watermelon - $2.88 each -- Nice price for watermelon, but no weight advertised.
• Kiwis - $4.88 600g pack -- Pretty good. Can be as low as $4, but this is a fair price.
• Apples (Cortland, Empire) - $5.88 4lb bag -- Ok price for what should be over-winter apples. Mind the bruising.
• Fancy cheese deal - $18.00 for 3 -- Check the flyer and in-store for more details.
• Sriracha (Flying Goose) - $3.88 730ml bottle -- Nice! It's a different brand, but the price is right. I wonder what the difference is.
• Silk plant bev - $6.88 for 2 1.75-1.89L jugs -- Good deal.
• White vinegar - $2.88 for 2 4L jugs -- This might be good to get in advance of some pickling plans.
• Produce Price Rating: Generally medium low pricing! This store can post some impressive deals at times.

Metro

• Pork back rib - $2.99 per lb -- Good price for pork rib. It's that magical $3/lb mark. It's hard to find rib for less. And, I wouldn't pay over $3/lb.
• Beef top sirloin steak or roast (AAA) - $6.88 per lb -- Great price for AAA grade beef! They also have "platinum angus medallions" for 8.88/lb.
• Fresh sausage - $4.99 per lb -- Great price for fresh sausage. You can spend $1/lb more and get organic stuff by Dubreton.
• Cucumber - $0.77 each -- Awesome!!!
• Cauliflower - $2.99 each -- Decent. Not amazing, but decent given a head can go for $4-5 easily.
• Portabella mushrooms (Belle Grove) - $6.99 4-pack -- Hmm, I'll have to keep an eye out for prices on portabellas. This doesn't seem that bad off the hop. I know sometimes you can get 4-6 packs for about $4-5, though. But, you have to hunt around town for deals like that.
• Blueberries - $1.99 full pint -- Great price for blueberries!
• Cherries - $5.99 per lb -- Nice! Fair sale price for cherries!
• Watermelon (15lb average) - $9.99 each -- Trying to make sense of these watermelon prices. This isn't as good as some other deals. But considering on the same page they advertise 1.49/lb for sliced watermelon, it suggests this watermelon could cost you up to $22.
• Butter (Selection) - $4.88 454g bar -- $5 butter.
• Produce Price Rating: High. Kinda like Sobeys. You can see a 50% average mark-up compared to a lot of other stores. It's nice produce, but it costs you.

No Frills (price matcher)

• Beef burgers (No Name) - $9.99 1.36kg 12-pack -- Just more frozen burger musing. Basically much like the Compliments ones we saw earlier, but 113g each, but with more sugars and funny ingredients, and the same amount of sat-fat! (And they skip mentioning that 75%-ish daily value number for the sat-fat). Like, what the heck are "onion extract" and "corn syrup solids". Do they squeeze the onion and throw away the rind? And isn't solid syrup just solid sugar? lol....
• T-bone/Wing steak - $6.99 per lb -- This might seem like a good deal, but it's ungraded beef. Why pay this price when metro has AAA-grade steaks for a smidge less?
• Picnic pork shoulder - $2.44 per lb -- Excellent price! These are AWESOME for smoking and braising for pulled pork!
• Ground chicken or turkey - $8.00 870g pack -- Not bad. Works out to about $4.20/lb or so.
• Ground beef (lean) - $6.00 450g tube -- Really a meh price for "tube meat".
• Steelhead trout fillet - $9.99 per lb -- Standard pricing for pink fish.
• Asparagus - $2.99 per lb -- Ok price for asparagus. I expect better from No Frills.
• Green beans - $2.99 per lb -- Same with the green beans, I expect a bit better.
• Cucumber - $0.99 each -- Good price for cucumber.
• Mini-cucumber - $3.99 11-pack -- Fair price on the 11-pack. Meanwhile, Maxi has the 6-pack for 88c… Sigh…
• Watermelon (9lb average) - $2.99 each -- Good price for melon.
• Ataulfo mangoes - $5.64 5lb case -- This should work out to about 8 or so mangoes. Good deal.
• Pineapple - $2.99 each -- Good price for pineapple.
• Brick cheese (Armstrong) - $5.49 400g bar -- Hmm, ya, seeing some 50c to $1 upward pressure on cheese pricing a little everywhere….
• Earth's Own plant bev - $3.79 1.74-1.89L jug -- Good price. Regular floats well into the $5-ish ranges.
• Dry pasta (Italpasta) - $1.25 750g packs -- Good price for dry pasta. Stock up a little. Maybe there's a potluck pasta salad in your future.
• Produce Price Rating: Generally quite low, selectively amazing for some items.

Produce Depot (usually a little late on the flyer) https://producedepot.ca/

• Ground beef (lean) - $4.99 per lb -- Fair rate for ground beef. Considering No Frills is selling 450g tube meat for $6, I'd buy this in a heartbeat. It's just not stock-up pricing.
• Beef New York striploin steak - $12.99 per lb -- I wish they'd mention the grade, but if it looks nice, it could make for a nice BBQ item.
• Whole atlantic salmon (fresh) - $6.99 per lb -- Now, it's not filet and deboned, but it's a heckin' deal for salmon.
• Wild-caught squid - $8.99 per lb -- Perhaps there's calamari in your future?
• Hothouse tomatoes - $1.29 per lb -- Great price for tomatoes!
• Green and red leaf lettuce - $1.69 per head -- Great price for leafy greens!
• Sweet orange peppers - $0.99 per lb -- AWESOME price for peppers!!!
• Brussel sprouts - $1.49 per lb -- Fantastic price for brussel sprouts! Often over $3/lb.
• Blackberries - $1.49 half pint -- Good deal for blackberries. Lots of blueberries going around, though.
• Red seedless grapes - $1.99 per lb -- Fantastic price for grapes! Often $4/lb.
• Peaches - $2.49 per lb -- These are from the USA. It could be a they come out a little tough. Leave them on the counter to ripen, but eat them fast after that!
• Cheese counter - Landana smoked cheese - $2.39 per 100g -- I'm partial to smoked cheese. This could make for a nice fancy burger topping.
• Deli - Genoa salami (Mastro) - $2.59 per 100g -- This isn't fantastic pricing, but fair. A 600g chub can clock in at $10-12 or so, this deli counter pricing is fairly competitive.
• Produce Price Rating: Medium-low with very competitive specials on a shortened flyer. The small flyer is nice because it doesn't uselessly feature $6 heads of cauliflower and extremely high-price items that are either a confusion on the consumer, or an insult on the injury of not being able to afford supreme quality items.

Real Canadian Superstore (price matcher)

• Beef rib-steak (ungraded) - $7.88 per lb -- More ungraded beef at graded prices.
• Pork tenderloin - $3.49 per lb -- Fair price for tenderloin.
• Duck (frozen, grade A) - $3.99 per lb -- Fairly regular price for duck.
• Golden Pompano (frozen) - $2.88 per lb -- This is advertised a lot at the RCSS. I've never seen it elsewhere. Does anyone have experience with it?
• Dressed Tilapia (frozen) - $2.88 per lb -- Dressed means tail and fines removed,
• Potatoes - $5.50 10lb bag -- Great price for potatoes.
• Corn - $0.40 per ear -- Awesome price for corn. This is probably loss-leader territory.
• Watermelon (11lb average) - $3.99 each -- Good price for a big melon.
• Pineapple - $3.00 each -- Good price for pineapple.
• Produce Price Rating: Generally medium-low pricing, selectively amazing for some items.

Sobeys

• Chicken thighs (boneless skinless) - $5.99 per lb -- Fair price for boneless chicken. There's better out there, however.
• Beef striploin steaks (AA) - $8.77 per lb -- Scene Member Price.
• Beef sirloin tip roast or marinating steaks (AAA) - $8.99 per lb -- Hmm, striploin AA versus sirloin tip AAA… Might be a toss up. Sirloin is leaner and has less marbling. But AAA might lend to a tenderness. This may be give and take, here…
• Lobster (live) - $10.99 per lb -- Scene Member Price.
• Pork chops - $3.49 per lb -- Not a great price, really, but it may be your option if you're stuck with Sobey's this week. Ad mentions it includes roasts.
• Picnic pork shoulder - $3.49 per lb -- We saw No Frills offereing this at 2.44/lb. A $1/lb more isn't great, admittedly. But, it's an option.
• Asparagus - $2.44 per lb -- Good price!
• Green beans - $2.67 per lb -- Good price!
• Bok choy - $0.99 per lb -- Amazing price. I don't get how other places charge $2/lb+ for choy, and then you have Sobeys of all stores swooping in to corner that side of the market.
• Asian pears - $0.99 per lb -- Awesome price!
• Brick cheese (Cracker Barrel) - $5.77 400g bar -- More of this elevated cheese pricing… Hmm….
• Produce Price Rating: Generally a high price store, especially for produce. Some items are 50% more than more value-oriented stores. Kinda like Metro, some of the deals can be quite good.

Super C

• Chicken breast (boneless skinless) - $4.44 per lb -- Awesome price!!
• Atlantic salmon - $9.88 per lb -- Standard sale price for pink fish.
• Pork tenderloin (marinated) - $3.44 per lb -- Good price. Not amazing. But, pre-marinated? Hmm, makes for an easy meal.
• Corn - $1.88 for 5 ears -- Awesome price!! Under 40c an ear!
• Broccoli - $1.33 per crown -- Very good price for broc, especially if the crowns are nice. A good crown can easily range over $2.
• Radishes - $0.99 per bunch -- Nice! A good addition to salads or veg trays.
• Green onions - $0.99 per bunch -- Fair price for green onion. It's hard to find it under $1.
• Mini-carrots - $0.99 340g bag -- Nice!
• Mini-cucumbers - $1.99 6-pack -- Fair going-rate now for mini cuce. A very welcome change from charging $4 for these packs.
• Mini-potatoes - $1.99 3lb bag -- Good price for mini potatoes. There's still better value in regular size potatoes most of the time. But, sometimes, these sales can negate that value proposition. Plus, these are nice a thousands ways to Sunday. They cook very quickly, and are great oven-roasted, steamed, and BBQ'ed with other veg.
• Apples (Empire, Spartan) - $3.99 3lb bag -- Fair price for apples these days, it seems. I think we'll be hard-pressed to find certain varieties for under $1/lb for a while.
• Strawberries - $1.63 454g shell -- Awesome price!!!
• Pineapple - $1.88 each -- Fantastic!
• Oranges - $2.99 3lb bag -- Good price for oranges!
• Mangos - $0.99 each -- Good price. Mangoes should clock in at around $1 each. Enough of these $2-3 mangos…
• Cantaloupe - $2.99 each -- Good price/fair sale price for cantaloupe.
• Cherries - $4.99 per lb -- Wow! Great price for cherries!!!
• Brick cheese (Black Diamond, Ptit Quebec) - $4.87 400g bar -- Nice to see we still ahve sub-$5 cheese options this week.
• Fancy cheese deal - $18.00 for 3 -- Apparently includes 20 different varieties.
• Produce Price Rating: Generally low, but can creep into medium for some items. But, there's always something decent available!

T&T Supermarket https://www.tntsupermarket.com

• Produce Price Rating: Usually very competitive, catering to Asian cuisine. Warning: their newest sales start on Fridays - so this is a late advertising of their sales.

Walmart

• Ground beef (lean) - $3.97 per lb -- Excellent rate on ground beef! Make your own burgers!!!!
• Chicken or Pork kabobs (Marcangelo) - $7.87 480-640g 8-packs -- It's basically $1 a kabob. That ain't bad for a ready-to-cook item. But, note that this translates essentially into 8/lb at worst, or 5.50/lb at best. There are WAY better deals on pork and chicken around.
• Asparagus - $2.97 per lb -- Fair price for asparagus.
• Corn - $0.32 per ear -- Best price on corn this week!
• Potatoes - $4.97 10lb bag -- Good price for a 10lb bag.
• Coleslaw kit - $2.77 397g kit -- Good price for a decent-size slaw kit.
• Strawberries - $1.84 454g shell -- Awesome price!!!
• Pineapple - $3.97 each -- Not bad. I like to see $3, and less shouldn't be taken for granted. Remember, it takes 2 years to grow a pineapple. One bad fungal disease and we should see these shoot up to $6-8 a piece. Treasure well-priced pineapple!
• Brick cheese (Armstrong) - $4.94 400g bar -- Another $5 brick cheese sale.
• Produce Price Rating: A little all over the place. Some really good prices between a lot of average pricing.

Costco (Note that these are the online/shipped prices - reduce each item by $3 for in-store pricing)

• NOTE: NEED TO REVISE - --
• Paper Towel (Kirkland) - $27.99 12-roll pack -- 2-ply; 160 sheets
• Paper Towel (Bounty) - $27.49 12-roll pack -- 2-ply; 86 sheets
• Toilet Paper (Kirkland) - $25.99 30-roll pack -- 2-ply; 380 sheets
• Toilet Paper (Cashmere) - $24.99 40-roll pack -- 2-ply; 250 sheets (on sale)
• Dish soap (Dawn Platinum) - $18.99 2.66L -- Food Basics often has this jug for $10!
• Laundry detergent (Purex) - $24.99 9.24L -- 250 loads
• Garbage bags (30 gallon; large) - $15.99 100-pack -- Amazon has Glad standard 74L bags, 100-packs for $23, sometimes less if on sale
• Countertop green bin liners - $21.99 125-pack -- Amazon has Glad Compostable green bin liners 100-packs for $18, sometimes less if on sale
• Produce Price Rating: I need to do a proper check to be sure, but I find it's pretty average. There's an illusion of getting a good deal because of the bulk. Just be careful.

Jean Coutu (new sales start Fridays)

• Produce Price Rating: I have to start checking these just in case...

Shoppers Drug Mart (new sales start Fridays)

• Produce Price Rating: Sometimes they have cheap butter, eggs, and milk on weekends.

Some additional references!

• Grocery Review Google Drive Location https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xhLvBP1smXb1eSnxAW5yyBjO2aYFLJHC?usp=sharing
• Cooking Tips and Recipes https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TCcHm9y0kWIa3x18hznKN2ix0BPcUv-m?usp=drive_link
• Google Maps list of the Grocery stores in Ottawa https://maps.app.goo.gl/YT7cZmv8vMQWU4J59

I talk about medieval stuff quite a bit, but I've always wanted to design a system in the style of cyberpunk or shadowrun. However, I've found that modern weapons are an absolute nightmare to model
First, you have ammunition. The challenge arises regarding how to handle ammo expenditures across many different weapons platforms. Rates of fire for semi-auto, short burst, and full auto. Should the character always expend the same amount of ammo for each different firing action? What happens when you reload when you're not empty? Does the remaining mag ammo get dropped on the ground too? And how often should a jam occur? Very rarely? What if I'm using a cheap gun or a homemade gun?
Then there's determining accuracy, spread, collateral damage, and target damage for burst and full auto. If I spread in an arc, should there be a proportionate difference between weapons with different ROF, or should slower ROF be significantly less accurate by proportion due to space gaps? How do I determine if a non-target in the line of fire gets hit, and by what magnitude? Further, should we treat full auto like a breath weapon with a cone of effect, where the attacker doesn't roll attack, but the defenders roll some kind of saving throw?
An overwatch mechanic is simple enough to manage, but what if I'm moving while covering lines of sight, like in a shoot house? Should it just give me a moderate bonus in any general direction because I'm covering various lines of sight? Then you have tactical retreats, moving while simultaneously hip firing, which would be slower than a sprint, but ensures that enemies in pursuit are under threat.
Does cover act as armor, does it at as a general attack penalty, or both? Does it prevent aimed shots? How do I determine if a character is shooting at a moving target versus a stable target? Should high agility fighters be able to dive and roll if a gun is aimed at them?
Regarding initiative. Is side-based or individual initiative ideal? Should it depend on context? Side based would grant an overwhelming advantage to the first attacker, but also allow you to model suppressive fire and group-coordinated maneuvers with greater ease. And so, should combat primarily revolve around gaining first initiative? And is close range initiative governed by gun maneuverability and at long range governed by accuracy?
Armor. Holy hell. This could seriously ruin gun balance if you get it wrong. If I go with DR, guns with crazy high rates of fire but weak ammunition could melt right through even the toughest armor. If I go with AC, then I'll need some way to model partial damage due to softened hits. Further, how should armor coverage mechanics work? Is super tough armor over the torso equivalent in protection to light armor covering the whole body?
I imagine that weapon crafting and modifying is a big feature as well. So the question becomes how do we design gun mechanics to have a fine enough range of distinctions to make modifications meaningful? To clarify, if I want to make the barrel longer, what benefit/drawback occurs? Removing the stock? Pistol grip? Silencer? 10x scope versus reflex scope versus iron sights? Expanded magazine? Bullpup versus standard?
I don't expect anyone to answer all of these questions. They're mostly here just to give you something to chew on and get the creative juices flowing. More specifically, I'd like to know what ways you've managed to overcome what you consider the hardest problems

Hello throwers! This is my first post here, and I'm excited to share my restarting journey. It began with an attempt to repurpose some bearings I use for my 3D printing projects into a homemade yoyo. The project didn’t quite succeed —it worked but couldn’t sleep. So, impulsively, I decided to inspire myself with a modern yoyo and grabbed an Arrow Elite for just 12 EUR last week, and I’ve quickly fallen back in love with yoyoing.
A bit of background: My journey began with a HyperRussell from Bandai, won at a mall yoyo demo in 1998 when I was 14. At the contest/demo, I quickly learned tricks like 'walking the dog,' 'rock the baby,' 'throwback,' and 'around the world.' Surprisingly, I mastered these in just 10 minutes, outperforming a group of 8-10 kids and winning the final showdown against two others. It was all spontaneous fun rather than serious competition. Since then, I’ve mainly stuck to those basic moves, without exploring deeper into competitive tricks.
Now, at 40 and over two decades later, I’ve picked up a yoyo again and was amazed to find my muscle memory intact! This past week, I've been revisiting those old moves and incorporating new ones like the trapeze into my routine, becoming more consistent and nailing the landings more often. I've also ventured into unresponsive play, where my basic bind is solidifying.
From my research, the top plastic yoyos like the iYoyo Shooting Star, Speedaholic XX, and the Ascent seemed great but were pricey with shipping at around 40 EUR. In search of more affordable options, I discovered the K2P, comparable to the Ascent but more wallet-friendly w/o shipping costs.
Why opt for another plastic yoyo? To avoid any potential heartbreak from accidental damage to the Arrow, and why not grab a deal when it’s right? I found a fantastic offer on Amazon: a K2P + V3 pack for just 27 EUR, compared to the typical 20 EUR for the K2P alone. This deal seemed too good to pass up, so I ended up getting three yoyos for the price of one iYoyo Shooting Star with shipping—39 EUR in total, and I'll even test the metal experience. I'll receive the pack within 3-4 days.
Was this a rookie move, or a good way to jump back into yoyoing? I’d love to hear your perspectives and any tips you might have!
PS: My 3D yoyo design has improved a lot btw, even it uses just 688 bearings, able to land the trapeze and perform a 'rock the baby', it's really fun to print and try designs :)

Over 20 years ago I found a Willard's tip tool. I've managed to lug it around with me over the decades, however I took many years off shooting pool until recently. When I dug it out of its hiding place it had a bit of surface rust on the outside, and I remember googling solutions and cleaning it up a bit. I'm no expert at tip care (obviously) but it felt to me to be working fine on my 20+ year old cue and any house cues. I recently bought a new McDermott with a g-core shaft, with whatever their stock tip is, and I swear I cant get this Willards to dig in like I'd like it to.
Do Willards wear out? Did i mess up the scratchy surface with whatever homemade solution I concocted? Are there better tip tools made these days for modern tips? If so id love suggestions. I'm tired of mis-cueing with my fancy ass Taom chalk.
What do you guys think?

I’m currently making homemade rules for the HH with the OPR rules system, I already started making rules for the units, now I’m thinking about the different Legions. Here what I thought would be great for the Loyalist:
Ist Legion (DA): All models have Fearless. Options for Veterans and Terminators to be Deathwing (re-roll hit rolls of 1 in melee) and Bikers/Vehicles to be Ravenwing (Stealth if moved in the previous activation).
Vth Legion (WS): Add +1" to the distance this unit moves when making an Advance action or +2" when making a Rush or Charge action (not the Fast rule so stack up).
VIth Legion (SW): Gains Furious. Enemy units cannot be set up via Ambush within 12".
VIIth Legion (IF): Gains Relentless.
IXth Legion (BA): Gains +2" of movement when making a Charge action. All melee weapons gain AP (+1) when charging.
Xth Legion (IA): Gains Regeneration.
XIIIth Legion (U): Gains +1 to hit on ranged attack if the target was already hit by another friendly unit in the same turn.
XVIIIth Legion (SA): Gains Fearless. Has Regeneration against wounds caused by Flamer, Plasma, Melta or Volkite weapons.
XIXth Legion (RG): Infantry and Cavalry have Stealth and Ambush.
And the Traitor legions:
IIIrd Legion (EC): Gains Counter.
IVth Legion (IW): Gains Entrenched. Does suffer malus to hit when shooting after moving with an Indirect weapon.
VIIIth Legion (NL): This unit has Fear (1). When attacking a unit with at least 50% less models, can re-roll hit rolls of 1.
XIIth Legion (WE): Gains Fearless if engaged in melee and Furious.
XIVth Legion (DG): Has Fearless, Relentless and Strider. Options to represent Death Guard after corruption by Nurgle (also gains Regeneration and Slow).
XVth Legion (TS): All Infantry and Bikers gains Caster (1). Characters gain Caster (2) or Caster (+1). Options for Dreadnought to be Caster (2).
XVIth Legion (SH): Gains Furious. In addition, when shooting on an enemy unit within 12", a hit roll of 6 causes 2 hits.
XVIIth Legion (WB): Gains Fearless. Does not suffer malus to Quality test when Shaken. Options to have Daemon units as 25% of the army.
XXth Legion (AL): At the beginning of the battle, all Infantry and Bike units can pick one of the following options to have until the end of the battle: Ambushed, Scout or Stealth.
Tried to keep it in the spirit of each legion and not make one much stronger than the others. Any thoughts ?

Hi! Hoping someone could give me some pointers on getting lift when shooting the puck on the ice. I've been pretty consistent with hitting the top corners using a homemade shooting pad but getting nothing when I'm on the ice.

Asking for suggestions seems to be a common theme on this sub-reddit, so I’ve updated my list of the best dining restaurants on the Cape for 2024.
This is absolutely one subjective opinion, but I like to think it's at least a qualified opinion. Having lived on the Cape for 20+ years, worked in the industry in the past, and dined out around the world for business/pleasure, I have a decent sense of what a stellar restaurant experience should be like.
I've been lucky enough to dine at a number of Michelin Star ranked establishments over the years while traveling. While none on the Cape is going to be earning that honor (especially since it’s only given in a few major cities) I’ve experienced what great can be like enough times to recognize the glimmer of it here at home. With each of these I'm still dreaming about the meal days later and want to go back as soon as possible.

The Best Dining On Cape:

1. Ceraldi (Wellfleet) $$$$
2. Water Street Kitchen (Woods Hole) $$$
3. Twenty Eight Atlantic (Harwich) $$$$ - Kid Friendly
4. The Pheasant (Dennis) $$$ - Kid Friendly
5. La Tacodilla (Dennis) $ - Kid Friendly
6. Ten Yen (Orleans) $$$

These are the only places that make the cut here, as nowhere else I’ve been to quite rises to this amazing level these provide. Yes, the Cape is a big place, but each of these is well worth the drive from Falmouth or P-town.
Changes for 2024:

• Ten Yen moved down a little. Michael still serves the best sushi on the Cape, but they reduced variety by dropping their ala carte nigiri offerings. (-1 consistency/variety - EDIT: Comments mentioned they will likely have more variety once the summer starts, will update!)
• La Tacodilla moved down a little. Still amazing street food, but their open days/hours keep changing (-1 to consistency/variety). Don't let that stop you though, the food is still amazing and an extraordinary value in todays food inflation climate.
• Ocean House moved off to Runners Up. Still one of the better cocktails and dinner views on the Cape, but total meal prices are up, variety is down, and quality is down. They removed the lower priced burgers and flatbreads, limited vegetarian options and no longer have a viable vegan option on the menu; grilled cauliflower is not a meal and egregious for $33! We also had a few quality problems last season. They dropped below my cut off of 45 points to remain on the best list. (-1 to food, -1 to consistency/variety, -1 to value)

Coincidentally, there is something for every budget. Ceraldi deserves the top spot but is a tough reservation to get and expensive with their fixed menu. They also added a delightfully inventive no reservations taken first come communal table menu that was fabulous, and they’re amazing about allergies and accommodating most food restrictions. The others don't have to break the special occasion bank if you pick the right options.
At Ten Yen you can stay under $50 and get a couple of world class sushi rolls and a glass of sake or spend over $200 eating an amazing sushi meal with drinks.
La Tacodilla is the real deal and has 2 for $6 street tacos on Taco Tuesday, as long as you don’t mind waiting an hour+ when they are busy.

Runners Up:

If you can’t get a reservation at the above, there are other very good restaurants around the Cape that are well worth the visit if they have availability. These are all pricey though, so certainly shoot for the ones above first when possible. Note, these are just in alphabetical order.

• Bleu – Mashpee $$$
• Cape Sea Grill – Harwich $$$
• Chillingsworth – Brewster $$$$
• Cuvee - Chatham $$$$$
• Fin – Dennis - $$$
• Inaho – Yarmouth $$$
• Misaki – Hyannis $$$
• Outer Bar and Grille – Harwich $$ - Kid Friendly
• Pain d’Avingnon – Hyannis $$
• The Mews - Provincetown $$$
• The Nor'East Beer Garden - Provincetown $$$
• The Ocean House – Dennis $$$$

Honorable Mentions:

I didn't want to leave these next ones out, as they are consistent standards when friends drop in for a visit and want to eat out. Most of these don’t take reservations and you have a good chance of getting a table eventually, especially for lunch or if you are willing to arrive early for dinner:

• Anejo - Falmouth (Hyannis location is fine, not as good as Falmouth though)
• Crisp – Osterville
• Drifters – Chatham
• Terra Luna - Truro CLOSED
• The Block and Tackle – Eastham
• The Canteen – Provincetown
• Bread + Roses Bookstore and Café – Hyannis - 100% vegan!

My Rating Scale:

1. Food: starts with food that is over the top great and changes variety for repeat visits.
2. Service: has to be consistently excellent.
3. Location/Scene: Does it set the terroir for the food, is it nice to be there, do they have a good view, do they maximize the space they have, things like parking, bathroom vibe, etc. For example, La Tacodilla is just a little window in a little house with a fake turf seating area right on 28, but it’s hands down the best street food on the Cape and the location/scene is super appropriate for the food. Cuvee is the opposite, with super high end food but served in a cramped under ventilated room with no outside view, dirt parking lot, and no valet parking.
4. Consistency & Variety: must hold up to greatness over multiple visits. Do they have vegetarian and vegan options? Does the menu or specials change regularly?
5. Cocktails/Wine/Drinks: extra points for being creative and delicious. The head bartenders at Water Street Kitchen take things to another level. Ceraldi’s wine pairings are great, and their homemade soft drink pairing is always inspired for those who don’t drink alcohol. Having an expansive & pricy wine list is less appealing to me than a creative cocktail menu with the bar skill to elevate the craft.
6. Value: how much of the above 5 items do you get per dollar spent.

I keep a spreadsheet with 1-10 rankings for each of these categories for all the top restaurants (and some of the bottom ones as calibration). Here are examples of my rating scale:
Water Street Kitchen:

• Food: 9
• Service: 8
• Scene: 8
• Consistency: 9
• Drinks: 9
• Value: 9
• Total: 50

La Tacodilla:

• Food: 8
• Service: 7
• Scene: 7
• Consistency: 8
• Drinks: 5
• Value: 10
• Total: 45

Cuvee:

• Food: 9
• Service: 9
• Scene: 5
• Consistency: 8
• Drinks: 8
• Value: 4
• Total: 43

List To Try Based On Recommendations:

Here are some others I’ve heard good things about but have not had the chance to eat at yet, I’m sure some of them belong on the lists above. I managed to try ~10 places in the offseason and shrink the previous recommendations list. Falmouth is overrepresented here as I live mid-cape and gravitate to Water Street Kitchen repeatedly when headed to Falmouth, it’s that good!
I’ve starred* the ones we're trying to hit next.

• Abroad - Orleans
• Belfry Inne and Bistro - Sandwich
• Blackfish* - Truro
• Branches - Chatham
• Brewster Fish House* - Brewster
• Bubalas By The Bay - Provincetown
• Bucatino - North Falmouth
• Carolines - Eastham
• Casa Del Cabo* - Eastham
• Clean Slate Eatery - Dennis
• Del Mar* - Chatham
• Dan’l Webster Inn
• Devour* - Falmouth (Lunch only)
• Epic Oyster - North Falmouth
• Estia - Mashpee
• Flying Bridge - Falmouth
• Freemans - Provincetown
• Front Street - Provincetown
• Geraldi's - South Yarmouth
• Hanger B - Chatham
• Impudent Oyster - Chatham
• Island Cafe & Grill - Hyannis
• La Cucina Sul Mare - Falmouth
• Le Bon Jour* - Falmouth
• Leonesa** - Yarmouth Port
• Liz's Cafe - Provincetown
• Lobster Trap - Bourne
• Local 186 - Provincetown
• Lune*
• Mac's - Provincetown, Wellfleet, Chatham
• Mahoney’s Atlantic - Orleans
• Navillus - Orleans
• Osteria La Civita - Falmouth
• Pates - Chatham
• Pilot House - Sandwich
• Pisces* - Chatham
• Sesuit Harbor Café - Dennis
• Spinnakers - Brewster
• The Beacon Room - Orleans
• The Bookstore - Wellfleet
• The Buffalo Jump - Falmouth
• The Chatham Cut - Chatham
• The Glass Onion* - Falmouth
• The Lobster Pot - Provincetown
• The Red Inn - Provincetown
• Victors - Provincetown

All The Rest

Below are all the other (non major chain) Cape restaurants I’ve eaten at in the past ~10 years in no particular order, although I’m sure I’ve missed a couple.
Most of these are fine spots, just not close to the caliber of top spots above. For example, Kream n Kone in Dennis is our go to fried food spot, but I wouldn’t go out of the way vs whatever fried seafood spot is closest to you. Some of these I haven’t gone back to in years with good reason. I would love to hear opinions on any that have improved and are worth returning to!

• 3 Monkeys
• 908 Bistro
• Bangkok Thai
• Barbyann’s
• Baxter’s
• Bluefins
• Bobby Byrnes
• Buca's - Harwich
• Brax Landing
• Brazilian Grill
• British Beer Works
• Brothers Pizza
• Captain Parker’s
• Chapins
• Chatham Bars Inn
• Chatham Squire
• Chatham Wayside Inn
• Ciro and Sals
• Clancy’s
• Colombo’s
• Common Ground Cafe
• Cooke’s
• Craigvile Pizza and Mexican
• Crown and Anchor
• Dennisport House of Pizza
• Double Dragon
• Embargo
• Encore
• Ember
• Firestarter Pizza
• Fisherman’s View
• Five Bays Bistro
• George’s House of Pizza
• Governor Bradford
• Golden Fountain
• Guapos
• Hearth n Kettle
• Knockout Pizza
• Kream n Kone
• L’Alouette
• Landfall
• Liam McGuire's
• Mattakeese Wharf
• Mike’s Pizza
• Mom & Pops Burgers
• Mooncussers Tavern
• Naked Oyster
• Noble House
• Nor’East Beer Garden
• Not Your Average Joe’s
• O’Shea's
• Old Yarmouth Inn
• Pepe’s Wharf
• Pizza Barbone
• Portside Tavern
• Quarterdeck
• Quicks Hole Tavern
• RCs Pizza
• Royal Family
• Saga Sushi
• Sam Diegos
• Scargo Cafe
• Sea Dog Brew Pub
• Sea Street Cafe
• Seafood Sam’s
• Spanky’s Clam Shack
• Spinners
• STARS at Chatham Bars Inn
• Starbucks (gone)
• Sundancers
• Sweet Tomato’s
• Tap City Grille
• Taste of Siam
• Thai Ocha
• The Black Cat
• The Chart Room
• The Kettle Ho
• The Knack
• The Marshside
• The Original Seafood Restaurant
• The Oyster Company
• The Pelham House
• The Port
• The Red Nun
• The Roadhouse (gone)
• The Squealing Pig
• The West End
• Thuan Loi
• Tiki Port
• Trader Ed’s
• Tumi
• Viera on Main
• Wee Packet
• West End
• Wicked
• Wimpy's
• Wooden Shoe
• Zoe’s Pizza

Hope this list helps some locals and tourists alike have an amazing meal!
Edit #1: Removed Gina's By the Sea, Brine, C-Salt, and Terra Luna as closed, added Spinnaker's and Flying Bridge to the list to try next.
Edit #2: Starred Leonessa and Lune to try next based on a recommendation. Fixed Drifters location. Added Bubalas By The Bay, The Lobster Pot, Dan’l Webster Inn, La Cucina Sul Mare, Navillus, The Island Blue Crab, and Hanger B to try.
Edit #3: Moved La Tacodilla up, removed dig about how they stopped serving alcohol based on comments. I hope they reopen Friday's though, that's my go to end of week lunch spot.

Hello everyone, I'm Swappy and I am a relatively new Muv-Luv fan. Despite this and against my better judgement I have decided to run a Muv-Luv Tabletop, titled Muv-Luv Conative. I am not using the Muv-Luv TTRPG system, but rather a homemade system utilizing the Operation V system, a Gundam TTRPG system made for the Feddie Scum podcast (great podcast). Specifically a finished version made by a fan and one of my players, as the official version is still undergoing play testing via the podcast.
Now let's introduce the party:
Alexander Kurylenko (33): A Soviet pilot from Belarus who has the misfortune for being born right as the war with the BETA broke out. He's had his home taken, he's seen friends die, and he has developed a fatalistic viewpoint on life. He believes in the Soviet Union, but isn't necessarily zealous about it. He dislikes aristocrats and the US government and he is the flight leader of the party.
Dana von Romer (23): An American pilot hailing from Texas. Dana von Romer is a guitar playing, shotgun wielding, hat wearing Texan in every way you can imagine. She believes in the principles American was founded upon, but that doesn't mean she believes in the US government and would follow it's orders without question. Her father was killed, and Dana believes it was an assassination on the part of a US Major General, and she wants answers.
Lloyd Aymar (25): A Canadian pilot who's been part of the UN since he graduated from flight school. He believes humanity should be united in the fight against the BETA, and serves as a middle ground between Dana, Alexander, and the next party member. He too has developed a fatalistic view, but he is far more sociable and friendly than Alexander. He simply believes that he'll probably die to the BETA, but he'll attempt to take as many of them with him before he goes out.
Chiyoko Kinoshita (19): Introduced at the start but joining the party later, and played by me for the sake of rounding out the party to a number of four. Chiyoko is a Japanese Fudai who is part of the Kinoshita family, a family who overlooks Japan's TSF development and manufacturing alongside the Takamuras. She is the youngest and greenest of the party, but is still a member of the Royal Guard. Her family relationship seems to be tense, especially with her older brother, and Chiyoko has a lot of expectations on her as a member of this family.
These four are part of the United Nations squadron known as the Wild Stallions. A Squadron with the on paper purpose of showing the capabilities of cooperation between countries via being comprised of pilots from different countries and utilizing all kinds of TSFs from American, to Soviet, to even Japanese TSFs.
One Shot Prologue:
The year is 1999, and the three party members (Alex, Dana and Lloyd) find themselves in Japan during the events of Operation Lucifer. The squadron is waiting to sortie, to fight the Yokohama hive, and as they wait they pack up the belongings of their recently killed wingman. Making small talk, the party soon runs into a Squadron of Japanese teenagers and meet Chiyoko Kinoshita. Chiyoko and Dana talk, but soon have to part ways as they have to sortie. Boarding their F-15E Strike Eagles, our brave pilots begin their sortie to push towards the BETA hive. Of course, they soon encounter a horde of BETA and combat starts. Dana utilizes her missiles to cause a rock slide which inures some grappler class, Lloyd charges in with his melee Halberd and begins cutting beta apart, and Alexander gives orders and lays down covering fire. Despite murdering a bunch of BETA more seems to come making their push forwards slow to a crawl. Alongside that, they can hear their apart list several other Wild Stallion flights being shot down. Eventually the two are suddenly told to retreat, as it seems US forces are going to be dropping something with little to no warning. Before they can retreat however, the party spots Chiyoko by herself in an damaged F-4J, seemingly being the sole survivor of her squad. Alexander tries to have the squad just leave her, as he is more concerned with their survival than hers, but Lloyd quickly comes to her rescue, pulling her out of the F-4 and placing her in the cockpit with him, and the party retreats. They just barely manage to get out of the blast radius of the G Bombs, getting front row seats to their detonation. As they go off, the party feels as though something about the world itself shifts, but they are more concerned with the absolute destruction left before them. Returning to base, the Stallions get Chiyoko to a medic, giving her comforting words. Chiyoko cries over the loss of her own team. With that, the Stallions retire for the day, and the one shot ends with the opening scene of Muv-Luv Alternative; the Discovery of human brains in the BETA hive.
Session 1:
It has been two years since the events of Operation Lucifer, and it is early February of 2001. Our party of three find themselves on a plane heading over to Yukon base in Alaska in order to potentially get involved with Project Prominence (my excuse of having players potentially get upgrades later one). The players now flaunt new TSFs, with Alexander piloting a MiG-290VT Fulcrum, and Dana piloting a very interesting F-18E Super Hornet. Lloyd however, doesn't seem to have his TSF on him, as Alexander managed to get into contact with an old Soviet contact and politically maneuvered his way into potentially getting Lloyd a Soviet TSF. Arriving at Yukon base, the crew first make their way to the Soviet side of the base in order to meet with Alex's contact, with Dana getting looks from the Soviets on the base, but she pays them little to no mind. Arriving at the hangar, the gang meets Alex's contact, one Jerzy Sandek. It is revealed Alexander managed to negotiate and get his hands on an SU-37 Terminator in exchange for proving the superiority of soviet TSFs, as well as a more personal favor from Jerzy. The gang also sees and are introduced to the Scarlet Twins, Inia and Cryska.
With that out of the way, the gang makes their way to the US/UN side of the base and talk with the base commander, before going off to meet the Argos Test Flight. Meeting them, the teams get along, with Alex scolding Tarisa a bit. It is then stated that the two will be going up against each other in a mock fight in order to determine if the Wild Stallions can be brought onto Project Prominence in a limited capacity. The two teams face off, with Lloyd in his new Terminator immediately eliminating Tarisa and then Ibrahim before getting gunned down by Valerio and Stella. Alexander is also shot down, but Dana manages to barely scrape out the win via a combat knife into Valerio's cockpit. With the mock fight finished, Dana and the Argos test fight go out drinking while Alexander forces Lloyd to do push-ups considering he got shot down. Alexander and Jerzy then meet, and Jerzy tells him to forget the personal favor, as he doesn't believe the two don't have what it takes to help progress what he's working on (the twins). The next day, with their objective complete, the Stallions leave back to Yokohama base, ending the session.
Session 2:
Back at Yokohama, the Stallions are missing a member as Lloyd is busy tweaking his SU-37. To compensate however, the team is joined by Chiyoko Kinoshita, now an official member of the Royal Guard and sporting a Shiranui. The gang talks over breakfast, with Alex being cold towards Chiyoko due to her status, and Dana cursing the difficulty of using chop sticks. The players are also introduced to another member of the Stallions, Jason Whiteford (a Brit). Finishing their food, the crew make small talk and head to the hangar before coming across quite the sight. It seems that over the night, someone had come in and VANDALIZED Dana's TSF with provocative words written in Japanese. After practically strong arming Chiyoko into translating for her, Dana laughs like a mad woman which makes everyone in the hangar uncomfortable before dragging the party off to investigate who did it. Making their way to security, they review the footage and see younger folks commiting the deed. Initially believing them to be trainees, Alexander heads to the training grounds and talks to Sergeant Jinguuji Marimo about this, but the cadets are soon dismissed from suspicion as they are all girls, while the culprits on camera seem to have been men. Deciding to ask Jason about any other squadrons who could harbor anti American sentiments, they are pointed to Cracker Squadron. Alexander pulls the Captain of the squadron aside while Dana decides to be less civil about it, getting into a fight with the other aggressive pilots of the flight, who were indeed behind the vandalization. With the MPs and the Captains breaking up the fight, after giving their accounts to the MPs, Alexander orders Dana to several hours of firing drills in her TSF before being called to Brigadier General Paul Radhabinod's office. Arriving, he is informed that he and his squadron will most likely be involved in the defense of Niigata, as it seems a BETA force is planning an invasion there. The two are then interrupted by one Professor Kouzuki Yuuko, and Alexander is dismissed. He leaves due to this, and due to Professor Yuuko's vibes. Late into the night, early morning in fact, Dana finally finishes her punishment and is greeted by Chiyoko, who managed to get her guitar fixed (which had been damaged in the brawl). The two talk about their ideals and the two then promise to win the war against the BETA so everyone can have Wagyu steaks. With that, they go off to make late night burgers as the session ends.
Session 3:
It is now time for the defense of Yokohama! The Wild Stallions are given a briefing by their commanding officer, one Colonel Augustine Gil, about the defense line that has been established at the Niigata shoreline. The Stallions alongside other UN and IJA forces will intercept the BETA hordes at the shores and perform an active defense against this invasion. Colonel Gil also informs them that Chiyoko will be accompanying their squadron as she is on loan from the Royal Guard to the Wild Stallions. With that out of the way, the Wild Stallions sortie (with Lloyd literally doing warm up exercises with his Terminator while taxying towards the runway) towards Niigata. The squadron arrives as the shoreline, and wait for the BETA to arrive. Once they do, the defense begins, starting with air support and artillery supporting hounding the initial waves of the BETA. Of course despite that they keep coming, and the Stallions alongside other squadrons begins to intercept the BETA. Chiyoko and Lloyd prove to be excellent Melee fighters, which is expected from Lloyd, while Dana and Alex fire on the BETA. Alex rolls a critical fail and then a critical success, which confuses all of the characters including Alexander himself. Of course they hear over the radio as people die horrible deaths, but at that point it's white noise. Suddenly, Laser class BETA appear and shoot down any air support! This naturally causes the Stallions to book ass to cover, with the members doing evasive maneuvers against the incoming laser fire. Before they can try to intercept the laser classes, they are ordered to support one of the other defensive lines which is suffering heavy casualties.
Arriving at the scene and seeing a pilot die, Alexander barely manages to use artillery to get rid of the laser class present and the Stallions begin to clean up the BETA. Lloyd actually fails a melee check for once, and Chiyoko fucks up an evasion roll against a Destroyer class and gets hit hard. At that moment, however, more reinforcements appear. They are a squadron of Shiranui's being led by a Takamikazuchi. The pilot is non other than Chiyoko's older brother, Yamato, who witnessed Chiyoko be hit and tells her off while being rude to the other party members. They are then allowed to return to base for resupply. Arriving back at base, Chiyoko is visibily upset by the interaction with her brother, but the others (including Alexander surprisingly) try and cheer her up which kind of works. With that, the session ends with the Stallions put on standby.
Session 4: It is near the end of February and the defense of Niigata is still ongoing! The Wild Stallions are on standby at a forward operating base, with Lloyd and some of the other Stallions drinking, Alexander sulking, and Dana writing a letter to an old friend. While basically partying, Lloyd spots Chiyoko practicing her swordsmanship with a sad expression. Correctly guessing this what still about her brother, Lloyd drags her ass to the party and attempts to offer a drink, but she declines. Lloyd messes around with Jason and then gets into a discussion about Soviet ideals with Alexander after the captain (Alexander) heard him talk about despite Soviet ideals on materialism, they party hard. Of course Lloyd takes the piss out of him in a scene worthy of the Chibi art style before they are informed that they will be sortieng soon. While Lloyd is literally hosing down some of the members of the Stallions, Chiyoko comments on how seemingly free he seems, as he doesn't exactly have to worry about things like familial obligations. Alexander stays silent because he doesn't like her, as her status makes her the enemy to him. Dana comes out the post office to witness Alexander standing there by himself before being informed of the briefing. Arriving, they are once again briefed by Colonel Gil, who explains they'll be intercepting the last of the BETA at a nondescript city. The Stallions once again sortie, with Chiyoko now having a maxed out maneuverability skill, and arrive at the city. While other squadrons intercept the BETA in the city, Alexander has the Stallions hold back and let the BETA come to them. Making quick work of them, they push in only to see two Fort class beta. Thinking quick, Dana fires off her missiles at one of the Fort Class and successfully eliminated it, while Chiyoko and Lloyd go for the other one. Lloyd uses his large halberd to carve into the Fort Class, but doesn't manage to kill it. He lands in front of it's stinger, and it tries to stab into his cockpit with it, but Lloyd barely manages to dodge and promptly cuts the Fort Class in half with his sword, soaking his Terminator in red and laughing, taking enjoyment in killing BETA. At that moment, they receive laser warnings and Lloyd and Alex dodge much larger than usual laser fire.
Off in the distance they see two Heavy Laser BETA. As Alexander barely managed to dodge the laser, he could nearly feel his blood literally boil from the heat. At that moment, he receives a vision, both clear and barely intelligible, both seemingly real and fake, of the heavy lasers eliminating some of the other Stallion pilots, but he chocks it up to adrenaline. Chiyoko and Dana then make quick work of the heavy lasers, as Alexander uses his admittedly broken skill to eliminate all of the remaining BETA on the field. This sudden increase of skill shocks everyone in the squadron, but Alexander brushes it off and they return to base. Considering the strain he put on his body through his intense maneuvering while eliminating the remaining BETA, Alexander vomits up some blood and bile and passes out, as he is taken to the infirmary. Dana spots Colonel Gil with a change in his expression, and the two exchange nods as he returns to his tent. The session then ends with him informing a certain professor about this strange increase in skill.
Session 5:
It is now mid March, and the Stallions find themselves boarding a plane back to America, specifically Dana's homestate of Texas. Oddly enough Chiyoko, now dawning a UN Uniform, is accompanying them. It seems she's gotten orders to continue accompanying the Stallions. Alexander is slightly annoyed by this, but fellow squadron member and Soviet, Nairi Oganesyan, jabs at him for this and notes that despite his dislike of her, he could probably pass off as her father in a civilian setting considering their looks, despite the fact he's only 33. This shakes Alexander to his core, and he turns to dust. Boarding the plane, they head off to America and arrive at US Air Force Plant 4 for, even stranger, an escort mission. They are greeted by Dana's old commanding officer, Major General Jairo Campbell, the person Dana suspects had her father killed, and Dana's old squadron captain and friend Crystal Myers. The two catch up and Dana is dragged off by her old squadron, the Braves, off to the plant, ditching the other three. Arriving at the plant, the Stallions head off to unpack, not before the two captains of each squadron share some words with each other. After unpacking, Dana mentions wanting to see if her old "stache' was still around, and Alexander and Lloyd leave with Alexander saying it's due to what Dana mentioned and how he can't be complacent in it despite overlooking it, and Lloyd wanting to go drinking. This leaves Dana and Chiyoko by themselves, and Chiyoko finds herself being dragged away by Dana, being given looks of worry and concern from other people in the base who knew Dana. Dana takes Chiyoko to an abandoned storage building, and enters. The hangar is home to some abandoned F-16 prototypes and various other containers as Dana takes her to some old, hidden lockers. She kicks the door open, and Chiyoko fails a movement check and gets hit right in the face by the locker door, causing a nosebleed. Dana apologies and lands her a handkerchief before the two look at the contents of the locker. Inside the locker are the belongings and picture of her father. Dana explains to Chiyoko that despite his skills and accomplishments as a pilot, Campbell practically wiped him from the records, and Dana believes it's because he knew something Campbell was planning. That's why she became a pilot, and despite Campbell's attempts to get rid of her, she persisted and soon joined the UN. This shocks Chiyoko.
Alexander meanwhiles runs into Crystal Myers again, her seemingly friendly and upbeat demeanor gone as she smocks a cigarette. The two talk, Crystal mentioning how he's Belarusian, which surprises Alexander a bit. She explains how she fought in the Soviet areas during her own brief time as a UN pilot, and she laments that despite the fact humanity seems to be on the verge of losing against the BETA, humanity still conspires against each other. She then tells him to keep an eye out for his squad, and leaves to go do a flight. This comment kicks Alex's paranoia into overdrive. Back to Chiyoko and Dana, Dana let's slip that she knows about the existence of Alternative IV which one again shocks Chiyoko. However, the two agree to keep this between them out of concern about the Major General potentially hearing about their suspicions. The two shake hands, with Dana spitting on her palm and grossing out Chiyoko a little. They then exit the storage building. Cutting back to Alexander, he spots Colonel Gil and Major General Campbell walking and discussing something in hushed tones. Against his better judgement and rolling a critical success, he listens in. Campbell states that despite being given orders to hand the XG-70s to Yokohama base for the Alternative IV Project he views it as a waste of time and that they should be used for Alternative V. Gil tells him that despite what he thinks, Alternative V is still the backup to alternative IV and he has to comply. They then enter a very large storage building.
Returning to base with Chiyoko still nosebleeding, with Dana saying to tell anyone it's from Texas' dry air, they run into Alexander. The three then being to make their way to the infirmary, not before spotting a new TSF with the monicher of X-35 painted on its jump jets taking off alongside some F-16s. Dana correctly summarizes that Crystal is the pilot of this new TSF and that it could be the replacement for the F-18 and F-16. Alexander curses the "Americans and their toys." Dana then comments on how Chiyoko seems to be fine despite the bleeding, but at that moment Chiyoko begins to feels dizzy and they carry her to the infirmary and retire for the day. Later that night, Chiyoko is greeted by Colonel Gil who asks her to gather up Dana and Alexander, and she does. Walking through the base Gil informs Alexander that he did notice him, and has decided that they should know as the lead flight as to what they are transporting (Lloyd is too drunk to inform). Arriving at the large storage building, the three pilots are out face to face with the two colossal XG-70s that they are to be escorting. Dana and Chiyoko are absolutely surprised by the sheer size of the machine, but Alexander isn't as impressed when informed that mass production would be very difficult. He is also informed of what happened to the test pilots, but is assured they won't be flying it. With that, they return to their rooms. The session ends with Gil apologizing to Chiyoko for getting her wrapped up in this, but Chiyoko tells him that it's fine, and that those machines may be what Humanity needs...
Session 6:
The latest session! The Wild Stallions wake up, with Lloyd hungover. Dana provides coffee to the pilots while Lloyd yells at them to wake up. Making their way to the cafeteria, the Stallions are introduced to another member of the Braves, Ariane Baker, a younger pilot who looks up to Dana. Ariane seems slightly annoyed about how close Chiyoko and Dana seems to be, but Dana manages to (maybe) settle her down. The two young pilots shake hands. They also talk about the F-35, mentioning how they hadn't managed to change the X-35 monicher that had been painted on yet, and how that America will be selling them to other countries as their new 3rd generation TSF. After breakfast and small talk, the stallions are briefed on their mission. The different flights will be accompanying the transport vehicle all the way to Yokohama, with the main party being given the responsibility of escorting the transport off American soil from California. Alexander questions why they need an escort in friendly territory, but Colonel Gil says it's simply a precaution while giving them a knowing look, which Lloyd doesn't pick up on. Boarding the plane, Jason, Lloyd and Nairi make bets on what the cargo is, with Nairi being suspiciously close to what it actually is. Dana takes up Nairi's bet. The trip to California is met with no issues, with Alexander having the rookie pilots stop ceaseless chatter, and they arrive at California. At the California airport, Dana references Quattro Bajeena in the second opening of Zeta Gundam and Lloyd asks her what's wrong, with Dana saying it's nothing. The Stallions take off, however this time they sortie without their heavier weapons, only having their assault cannons and combat knives. This annoys Lloyd greatly, but when Chiyoko says it isn't that big of a deal, Lloyd surprises everyone by agreeing and stopping his complaints.
Getting far enough from the shore, the Stallions are informed by their operator of five unknown IFFs heading right for them, and Alexander visually confirms two F-15Es and three F-16Cs with no markings and painted in dark colors. Being fired upon, the party is given clearance to intercept the TSFs. The team makes quick work of them, proving far too experienced and skilled for the mysterious assailants. Alexander and Dana agree on capturing a target, and the other two agree. Lloyd and Dana successfully manage to capture two TSFs, but they are informed of a self destruct signal coming off from them. Lloyd drops his, but Dana manages to rip out the cockpit block from the TSF before it explodes, and the party witness an explosion only capable from an S-11 self destruction device. Seemingly managing to save their prisoner, Dana is caught by surprise when, from directly behind her, a TSF arm reaches out and stabs the cockpit block in her hands with its knife before her F-18E is grabbed and shoved aside. The party is met with a mysterious unmarked TSF (an F-22A Raptor), but it breaks off and disappears into a horizon. Dana however barely manages to succeed an observation check and her suspicions are confirmed. It seems Crystal was the pilot of that unknown TSF. The session ends with Dana saying "Et tu, Crystal?" before they are forced to return to the California airbase.
And that about sums up every session so far of Muv-Luv Conative! I hope you enjoyed reading that extensive and long recap of the events of the story so far. I know there may be some hiccups with lore and what not, but me and my players have really enjoyed what we made so far, and I hope you do as well. I'll hopefully continue this once we get some more sessions done. Thank you for reading.

Anyone have a DIY gun cleaner that can be made with homemade materials?
Went to the range today to shoot my muzzleloader and realized I don’t have any cleaner at home. Thinking of using acetone or running alcohol to remove the residue from powder etc.

When someone is near-sighted, we give them glasses. When someone can’t walk, we give them a wheelchair. But when someone has trouble planning, we make ‘em try harder. At least, that’s what it felt like when I got diagnosed and started at the ADHD Treatment Center. After weeks of no progress with planning and organising tasks, my kind therapist kept encouraging me to try again, but I just kept walking into a wall. I couldn’t do it. At first I cried a lot, because after a lifetime of failing at things that seem simple for everyone else, it stung that I couldn’t even follow the therapy program specifically made for people with ADHD. But then it occurred to me: what if tech could replace some of the executive processes I struggle with, essentially outsourcing the task, giving me a piece of the brain ‘normal’ people have?
The relief when I got an auto-scheduling tool working for me… I can’t even describe it. I use a calendar now. Me! With an actual planning that’s automatically up-to-date the whole time. I know this wouldn’t be a big deal for anyone with normal executive functions, but I’ve never had this. I still felt like the stupidest kid in ADHD-class that I couldn’t do it the ‘normal’ way though, so I just said something offhand to my treatment coordinator at the Center, like: “Oh, by the way, the executive functioning coaching, I just couldn't do it, so I’m having AI do it for me now.” Waving a hand in the air, rolling my eyes at my own silly shortcomings, adopting this apologetic tone I often find myself using, basically saying; I’m sorry that I’m such an idiot I couldn’t even do X, Y or Z, and sorry to be cheating on your program, it’s me, not you, I’m just incapable of doing anything correctly. (Yeah, ADHD did a number on my self-esteem, which was one of my main reasons for seeking help.) To my horror, she told me she had a crying girl in her office recently who quit therapy because she, like me, ‘just couldn’t do it’. In fact, patients with ADHD regularly get so desperate that they give up.
Then I spoke to the psychologist giving the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to ADHD-patients and she estimated roughly half of her patients genuinely can’t learn to plan by themselves. HALF! So I’m not some strange outlier at all. When I told her about auto-scheduling, her eyebrows shot up. “We’ve been teaching people to plan manually, but if what you’re saying exists… maybe we shouldn’t anymore.”
So here’s the thing. I want this information to be out there on the internet for people like me, because we need it the most. And because most of the information on relevant planning tools that I found was written by and for neurotypicals. Neurotypicals seemingly like holistic approaches and pretty apps, sitting down with matcha tea or coffee in the morning for 15 minutes to plan their day. Good for them, but that option is a non-starter for my ADHD-brain. After 4 months with dexamphetamine, I’ve also become a prescriber to the thought that ‘pills don't build skills’. I love my meds, they help so much with focus and they calm down my overactive chipmunk-like brain, but they’re not made of actual magic. Pills can’t give you an extra frontal lobe or a personality transplant. My executive skills are still weak or non-existent. Some of my issues are remarkably similar to people who experience brain damage after an accident, and when you think about it like a disability (like needing glasses, crutches or a hearing-aid) there’s only so much that ‘trying harder’ or ‘talking about how that makes you feel’ can realistically accomplish.
IN SHORT (TL;DR) Yes, auto-scheduling tools can take over the brain-process of planning and I believe this can be helpful for the ADHD-brains struggling with planning, task management and knowing where to start. Of all the tools out there for tasks and planning, I found only 5 that promised to take over for my brain and think for me, namely: Motion, Trevor, Atlas, Reclaim and Skedpal. I looked at all these apps, tested 4 of them, and found that my brain is currently only compatible with Reclaim. YMMV though; there are very good reviews from people with ADHD for Skedpal and Motion as well. I highly recommend auto-scheduling for people with ADHD who are spinning their wheels trying to learn how to plan.
MY HISTORY WITH PLANNING AND MY EXPERIENCE TESTING THE TOOLS To explain how AI bridges the gap between what my brain can and can’t do, I will describe the 4 steps of standardised executive functioning training that I received as part of my ADHD-treatment and what worked for me. There are huge differences in how ADHD manifests. Not everyone struggles to the same degree with the same things. Below, I’ll describe my history with planning, the trouble I ran into in my life and therapy and the upper limits of what my brain can manage. Getting a feel for my type of ADHD should help to determine in what sort of situations auto-scheduling can be helpful. If my story doesn’t spark recognition, some other tool might be a better fit.
Below the 4 therapy-steps, I describe my experience testing the 5 different tools and some of their specs/features. (Sorry, the first section is so long, skipping and scrolling down to the test-section is an option.)
Step 1: Pick a calendar and start using it. I felt a little uneasy when therapy started with this, because it reminded me of the first time I had to use a calendar in high school. I was almost 12 years old. The class-tutor handed out a bunch of papers with assignments from our teachers and told us to plan our homework in accordance with our schedule. Everybody grabbed their cute pocket diaries with pictures of ponies and cars, and started writing. Except for me. In the silent classroom, I tried to grasp what my classmates were doing, what they were looking at and how they all seemed to know what to write down, but I couldn’t figure it out. Eventually, I shoved the papers away and leaned back in my chair. The tutor looked up, surprised. “What are you doing? You need to plan your homework,” he told me. I shrugged and said: “I’ll just remember it.” He got angry, but I felt too embarrassed to admit that I was the only one who didn’t *understand* the assignment, especially with the whole class listening.
In the end, I never learned how to plan, forgot assignments, didn’t do the homework and was late a lot, which led to near-endless punishment for tardiness during my 6 years of high school. I cleaned the whole school more often than I can count and always thought that I would somehow get everything under control as I got older, but my last year was the worst by far. That year, a new ex-military headmaster digitised the system for recording lateness and ordered a crackdown. Teachers had to refuse entrance into the classroom if you were even a second late and if your school ID got scanned more than 5 minutes after the start of class, you were not allowed to enter anymore. The only scanner was attached to a computer all the way on the ground floor of the main building, so I always had to run there, find someone to operate and they had to start the system, which often led to time maxing out and me missing class. The first day of the crackdown, I got written up (well, scanned) SIX times. Dumbstruck, the headmaster asked how I’d managed to do it. Truthfully, I had no idea. I just spaced out a lot and was surprised every time the bell rang and everyone stormed out of the classroom. Everyone, except for me. I still had to figure out how to declutter my little desk, how to fit everything in my backpack again, where I needed to go after that, not walk off in the wrong direction, that sort of thing.
The new rules led to a sharp drop in my attendance, which turned out to be illegal. Without ever meaning to, I was suddenly violating compulsory education laws and the government threatened community service for me and financial sanctions for my parents. The headmaster often had me called away from classes later in the day as well so I could receive new punishments that steadily grew in severity and duration from hours, to days, to weeks, to months and eventually to more daytime hours than were still left in the school year.
This all made sense, because if you punish a kid enough, they’ll eventually learn how to plan, use a calendar, get more organised and be on time... right?
Wrong. I was missing so much class I was barely being taught anything anymore. Suddenly I found myself taking tests I never saw coming about subjects I never even heard about. I had to invent so many answers on the spot that one teacher started reading my 'hilarious' tests to his wife to make her laugh. My grades plummeted. I basically had to be on the school premises from dusk till dawn for all my detention-hours, even though I had to cycle to school for over 15 miles (and back) and had to work in the evenings. I stopped having breakfast, had no time for dinner before work, was always home late again and couldn’t sleep enough because I had to get up in the middle of the night to report for duty in the headmaster’s office long before sunrise. Somewhere in the meantime, I had to try and intercept the threatening letters from the government so I could hide them from my parents. Exhausted, I started daydreaming and messing up even more, which led to more threats, punishment, missed classes, forgotten assignments, bad grades, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to improve. Even though I desperately wanted to. It was a Catch-22 situation.
The pressure was absurd and it’s become a point of reference for me. If my brain had been capable of planning and getting organised, surely I would have learned then.
Instead, I was in serious danger of not graduating at all, after a while. By that point, I was running around half-dressed, cycling in a skirt with bare legs and wet hair in the middle of winter, always in a panic, pale, underfed, with dark circles under my eyes, until a couple of teachers seemed to decide that enough was enough. One by one, they defied the headmaster by pretending they couldn’t see me opening doors after the second bell and insisting my homework was suddenly always done (it wasn’t). I had an excellent memory, so the simple act of letting me stay in their classrooms during the lessons catapulted me to the top of those respective classes. I graduated, but only thanks to their mercy.
I had to keep showing up for punishment daily until I was excused a couple of weeks before the national final exams. Nobody ever seemed to question whether I was unorganised on purpose or if I *deserved* to be the kid who was punished more than anyone else in the school. It only seemed to confuse the obvious punks who were sometimes in detention with me for things like using graffiti on an outbuilding, sabotaging a teacher’s car or building a bomb in an empty can of Pringles to blow up a toilet. The boys asked skeptically what boring little me could possibly have done that was so bad and their questions made sense; I was this polite girl in a skirt who would never even attempt to stick chewing gum under a desk. But I didn’t know why or how everything went wrong all the time. Teachers had been punishing me ever since I was 5 when I regularly had to stand in the hallway outside the classroom for being late or loud, staying after school because my handwriting was supposedly bad on purpose, not trying hard enough to learn how to tie my shoes and failing, drifting off without finishing something, etc, etc.
When I went to college for my bachelor’s degree, I met the first person who realised I simply needed help. He also was a student and commented on my near-empty pocket diary; I’d only scribbled in the games and training sessions with the sports team I’d joined. He suddenly understood my repeated questions to the tune of ‘Wait, what assignment? A deadline? TOMORROW?!’ As the son of two psychologists, he connected my chronic lateness, the daydreaming, the clumsiness, the chaotic demeanour and the way I never seemed to stop moving with my bare dayplanner and he sat me down behind a computer to sign me up for Gmail and Google Calendar. He also introduced me to Wunderlist. He thought it would help with me losing and forgetting things all the time. It helped somewhat, especially when emails pertaining to events automatically started showing up in the Calendar. It was better than nothing, but it didn’t change my style of dumpster-fire-management to ‘plan’ my day. (Or, more accurately: have the day happen to me in a blur.) Students with ADHD in college also started diagnosing me (almost from across the room sometimes) and spontaneously offered their Ritalin. They were an awesome bunch. Unfortunately, methylphenidate made me fall asleep in the middle of the day, so I thought it was a dead end.
After college, I believe I was supposed to install and configure iCal for 2 separate professional jobs? I never got around to it. (The quality of my work was always good, so people thought it was odd, but nobody complained.)
Through the years, I started using Google Calendar more for birthdays, other recurring items, Facebook events, weddings, funerals and vacations. I tried to practise with appointments and reminders. This was a little hit and miss, especially because I still forgot to actually open Google Calendar and I also tended to not prepare for these happenings until the last minute. My husband, who met me when I was 25, attached his calendar to mine pretty soon in the relationship to help out, put things on my calendar and remind me of stuff. It didn't hurt that he has a top psychologist in his family, who noticed my ADHD without me even mentioning anything. Around the same time my husband heard an item on the radio about ADHD in women and called from the car yelling: “You have ADHD! You have all the symptoms! Everything! If you don’t have it, I’ll eat a hat. I’ll eat a store filled with hats.” I still didn't see the point of treatment then, but he’s been operating as if I were already diagnosed ever since. In the years that followed, two of my siblings got diagnosed before me.
So that's my natural level of executive functioning. Technically, I have a calendar, and a husband who helps me use it. Mission accomplished. (Not really though).
Step 2: Gather all your tasks in one place. So my therapist thought it was suboptimal for me to keep writing down tasks on my hand, in a few notebooks, in two separate bullet journals, on random pieces of papers lying around like envelopes and receipts, in Todoist, in Google Tasks and on post-its in many shades stuck everywhere. Go figure. She wanted me to pick 1 place. I glared at her. But the concept made sense.
It really happens too often that I lose a task because I throw away a piece of paper, a gust of wind blows an old post-it behind my desk or I accidentally use hand sanitizer dissolving the ink on my hand. That’s just too silly. And that's in addition to the issue that I forget tasks simply because it's in a notebook I haven't opened in two weeks.
So I picked Todoist, because I already use it to make sense of small shared projects and I like it. I put most of my tasks in there (it’s a lot). I also installed a large widget on my phone to quickly enter tasks in the inbox as soon as I think of them. It's been working pretty well.
Step 3: Add a simple 1-2-3 priority and deadlines to your tasks This is where I started to feel nauseous. I’ve never distinguished between tasks by different levels in priority. I only added an exclamation mark to a list every now and again, for tasks that needed to happen ASAP (so, last week).
To my surprise, and maybe thanks to the dexamphetamines I’ve been prescribed, it wasn’t as undoable as I thought. Turns out, Todoist has different colors for priorities (I vaguely noticed the feature before, but never used it). Grey for no priority, blue for Priority 3, orange for P2 and red for P1. The colors make sense to me. Gauging the priority of a task seems hard, but I can tell you what color a task is. I also know when a task has a real deadline and when one doesn’t. It took some effort and I struggled a bit with focus and decision fatigue, but I got it done and was quite proud of myself. Until step 4.
Step 4: Each morning, review the priorities you’ve assigned to your tasks, change priority levels, and plan your day and week accordingly. I had the biggest Error404. She wanted me to whatnow? I gave it a try. Stared at the list. Stared at the calendar. Went to get tea. Tried again. Got distracted for the rest of the day. Had to start over the next day because time had passed in which I’d officially planned to do something else. Spent half the day trying to ‘review the priority of tasks’ to plan, but got distracted by a related tasks that I thought I could knock off quickly, but it took much longer than I anticipated and I ended up not doing what I should have done that day. Gave up. Showed up empty handed at the ADHD Treatment Centre after one week.
The second week yielded essentially the same result. After the third week, I hadn’t even gotten around to giving it another go. My therapist was all encouraging words, reassuring me that setbacks were normal and that I just had to keep trying. But I already knew that this bar was too high. I felt resigned. I had such high hopes for ADHD-therapy and medication. I thought it would magically solve my problems and that somebody would finally tell me the secret to an organized life that had eluded me for all these years. Instead, the instructions were... very basic. And dexamphetamine did not enable me to sit down each day and just ‘review’ tasks and ‘plan’ my day and add ‘time blocks’. Like it’s easy, instead of a mind bendingly complicated puzzle that would consume a considerable amount of mental energy at the start of each day. (Which is how I know it’s never going to happen. I’ve learned that I need something simple enough that I can do it on my worst day.)
After 5 weeks without progress at the ADHD Treatment Centre, I mentioned that I sometimes use Goblin Tools to break down tasks. It helps me to figure out what has to be done, and it helps me get started. Goblin Tools was new for my therapist, so I heard myself explain it was just this website with AI that helps to break down tasks or figure out what to eat or how long something takes. I have it listed in my bookmarks bar in Google Chrome. When I left her office, I thought to myself that I needed a goblin ánd a pixy on my shoulder to tell me what to do. I stopped walking. What if pixies existed already as different AI tools?
Testing AI scheduling tools There are many organisational apps, some of which are very sleek and advanced, like Monday, Sunsama and Akiflow. However; they still require you to plan your day manually and that’s precisely the thing I struggle with. Which left me with Atlas AI, Trevor AI, Skedpal, Motion and Reclaim AI. (Purists will tell you that some of the software has as much to do with AI as the original Roller Coaster Tycoon, but for all intents and purposes, I’m going to refer to it as AI because that’s what we call it now even though it’s technically not artificial intelligence. Before ‘AI’ became a hype people would just refer to this as auto-scheduling or smart scheduling.)
Atlas AI This really is the most AI-rich of the selection. It looks promising for a lot more than schedule automation because its aim is to replace a real assistent, but it’s still in beta and I found that my ‘assistant’ didn’t always follow through. For instance, it can set timers, but it forgot to remind me when time was up, even though it said it would. It also planned only half of the appointments in Google Calendar that it said in black and white it would schedule. When I asked why this was the case, it replied that maybe it was my internet connection? Nice try, robot assistant who clearly learned everything from humans, including lying. Maybe next year or when it’s not in beta anymore I'll give it another go, but right now, I can’t afford for tasks and appointments to just disappear. (It’s also going to be quite expensive and geared towards business use, not personal organisation, so it was a long shot anyway.)
This left the 4 candidates more clearly dedicated to auto-scheduling my tasks on Google Calendar; Trevor AI, Skedpal, Motion App and Reclaim AI.
Trevor AI Trevor is the official ‘AI’ partner of Todoist, so it made sense to try this one, but I thought integration wasn’t that smooth. The ‘smart scheduling’ only happened after I accepted suggestions and that worked only for things I’d attached a date to. I often don’t add a solid deadline to tasks, so Trevor suggested that I buy a present for Fathers Day come June ASAP even though the task had no (=grey) priority attached and I did have much more pressing tasks at the time (this was back in april). I tried to get auto-scheduling to work, but found that I just had to drag tasks in myself to get what I wanted. I also couldn’t really figure out how it would automatically adjust my schedule after, you know, life happened, even though that’s listed as a feature. I got frustrated. Part of my tasks seemed to be missing. I actually tried twice and also removed Trevor twice.
If you prefer dragging tasks into a schedule yourself and only smart-schedule some items, or smart schedule by hand, this might be a decent option. But in that case, there are many other apps who assist with that, like Sunsama. A big part is also my brain. I couldn’t intuitively use Trevor and kept clicking on the wrong things, had to undo scheduling, that sort of thing. My biggest issue was that I couldn't get fully automated scheduling to work, but that could be my fault. It’s my impression Trever wasn’t originally meant to do that though, it’s more of a smart tool to help you see your tasks and your calendar side-by-side and decide what goes where, with some suggestions from Trevor.
Trevor is relatively affordable. You can use a basic version for free, or upgrade for smart features all the Pro-features for $3.99/mo or $36/year.
Skedpal Skedpal is reasonably (medium) priced software for smart scheduling with a wide array of options and great reviews. Project management is one of the extra attractive features. But I also noticed the interface looks a little bare bones and dated. The instruction videos are 5 years old and the blog was deserted 2 years ago. I found some old information on an app that made it seem like it wasn’t being updated? Skedpal is asking for 15 dollars a month or 10 dollars per month with a yearly subscription, which is decent, but not cheap. Ideally, you’d pick the yearly option in this case, but the idea of paying 120 dollars up front for a tool that might have been quietly abandoned or won’t receive updates anymore made me pause. If I’m going to invest money and the time to learn how to use a tool, I’d like to be able to trust that it’s going be around in the coming years. So I put Skedpal on my Plan B-pile.
However, I checked this today, to make sure, and noticed there were actually some recent tweets on X by Skedpal and also a message about beta-testing for Skedpal 3 last Januari. Skedpal is probably alive and well.I found various reviews for Skepal on social media, including from someone with ADHD, who said Skedpal worked better for them than Motion. This is saying something because there seems to be a consensus amongst reviewers that Motion is the best auto-scheduling tool on the market. It wasn’t for me though.
Motion AI After reading all the positive reviews about the high price tag that was deemed to be worth it (34 dollars a month, or $19 p/m when billed annually), my expectations were high as well. I really spent time trying to get Motion to work for me in the trial week, installing Zapier, importing tasks, getting several different apps integrated, but I found Motion to be annoyingly glitchy. I'm not the only one complaining about it either, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't my computer this time.
I ran into a particularly frustrating bug and I tried everything to solve it. I even changed the times in which tasks could be scheduled to free space to put something in, but it still wouldn’t schedule it and kept showing a ‘scheduling-conflict’ for no reason. I could solve all the other ‘scheduling conflicts’ easily enough, but this block of 2 hours just wouldn’t click into the free space for 2 hours and I couldn’t find out why. I spent hours and hours, watched videos in an effort to troubleshoot, some twice, kept asking the AI on the Motion website what could be the problem and I really, really couldn’t get it to work for me. (My frustration boiled over at one point; it wasn't pretty.)
The options on paper are amazing and endless. The task management feature is like Monday, with projects moving through stages, and it's automatized. Or you can star an important e-mail in Gmail, which can trigger Zapier to send it as a task to Motion, then Motion automatically puts it on your Calendar. (However, you could also add the e-mail to Google Tasks or Todiost via the buttons or plug-ins, and if those task managers are connected to any of the auto-scheduling tools listed here, the email would also show up on you Calendar.) It's enough to make anyone salivate.
Motion is not a match for my brain though, in part because of the bug, but it also felt a bit rigid. The system prefers that you put tasks straight into Motion directly, which makes sense and is possible, but auto-schedulers obviously require information on a task, like priority, how much time you estimate a task would take and a deadline. In Motion, a task without that information won’t be scheduled at all. But I know that I’m the kind of person who shoots a half-finished thought in the Todoist inbox without adding details until later (though I could forget) and I also don’t believe that every task needs those details (for instance, because it’s low priority and would roughly take me an hour, which should be default). I also couldn’t download/import tasks from Todoist and Google Tasks directly; only new ones or solo tasks came through with Zapier, and I spent a lot of time on that as well to get the prompts working. In the end, the tool was too hard for my brain to use and I also thought it wasn’t worth the high price point for me. However: the price is considerably lower for teams and that’s supposedly where Motion shines, also because of the project management with stages feature. I think it’s not originally geared towards personal use.
Reclaim AI I was flabbergasted that Reclaim immediately worked for me, I didn't think it was going to happen anymore. It hadn’t made the top of the list for me for several reasons. The look didn’t appeal to me much, the only app is a web-app and reviewers online consistently declared Motion the better app. I also read on the internet in older posts that people were missing certain functions that Motion had, like automatically re-scheduling tasks you haven’t marked as completed, or theming days for certain tasks, or how the program would prioritise longer tasks over urgent ones. So I'd written Reclaim off. But as soon as I tried Reclaim anyway, I stumbled across all the supposedly missing functions in the settings and instruction videos. Maybe the tool has been improved recently? Reclaim does still have an issue with recurring tasks from Todoist though. I didn't have those, so it wasn't an issue for me, but it probably is for a lot of people. Reclaim also leaves the big task management to other, existing apps and just plans everything. Motion and Skedpal do also incorporate project management within the tool. Reclaim seems to be geared a little more towards personal planning and also incorporating habits during the day, like taking a walk outside.
How visually attractive it is, is also easily adjusted (I’d assumed you were stuck with hip shades of purple), but it's actually irrelevant. I’m starting to feel like that’s almost the best thing about it. Reclaim is much more a tool doing the thinking for you in the background, unseen. I don’t really need to change my behaviour much. I’m still using my own task manager to braindump in and Reclaim schedules everything in Google Calendar. Because the connection goes both ways, I technically don't have to open Reclaim at all. I’ve taken to adding the estimated time a task will take in Todoist itself, but you can also do it in Reclaim or in Google Tasks if that's your task manager (Reclaim automatically sends you the shorthand when you connect Google Tasks). You can also change the default duration of tasks.
For the first time in my life, I have a fully planned schedule, exactly as I need it, in the time slots where I need it. Every day. Like a proper adult. I'm almost giddy. (Sure, I’m still severely underestimating how long tasks will take, but I can just add time or the machine will automatically reschedule it for me. I’ve set automatic rescheduling to after 1 day in the settings. Default is 3 days or only when time is added.)
I know what to do and when. I can stop worrying about that thing that I’m probably forgetting that I should really do first, because it’s all there in Google Calendar. And whenever I disagree with the planning, I can change the priority in Todoist/Google Tasks, go to Reclaim directly and drag the task to where I need it, or bump the task down the list showing the order decided by Reclaim. So that's pretty flexible. If tasks need more time to complete, I can just add time or click on the + button. When I add an appointment in Google Calendar, Reclaim automatically reschedules my whole calendar. When I add a task in ToDoist or Google Tasks, it’s automatically added to Google Calendar based on the priority and/or deadline I’ve added to the task.
When life happens and I only manage half the planned tasks that day (or much less), I used to have a brain-error and think ‘oh no, I did all that hard work making a planning for the week for nothing, EVERYTHING IS RUINED’. Seriously. But Reclaim just re-plans those tasks for the next day and shuffles everything else down the line. It’s just so nice to not have to think about it myself. To actually see tasks planned in time-frames, making visual what I could achieve that week (and what is definitely outside of the realm of possibilities because time is a limited resource, no matter what my brain says). Having a schedule that's always up to date makes using a calendar a lot easier.
I guess it was time, too. A long list of tasks never indicated anything to me anyway. Everything could be 5 minutes long or 10 hours long. Who knew? It felt abstract, even when I tried the Alastair Method in Bullet Journal. (Still my favourite way to do it manually on paper though, I just can't keep it up for more than 2 weeks.) Seeing all the tasks scheduled gives me more of a feeling of urgency that a static list doesn't. So not only do I know where to get started, on what and when, I actually get more done because I don’t wake up thinking ‘ooooh, another saturday… nothing planned… let’s learn to make homemade blocks of soap even though I still have 10 bottles of shower gel left!’
You can use Reclaim for free, surprisingly. I think it’s currently the only one on this list that auto-schedules for free. Free use is possible with a few basic apps like Google Calendar and Google Tasks, which makes auto-scheduling accessible for students with ADHD as well. Use with more specialised apps, including Zapier and Todoist, or extra scheduling links (for booking online meetings with clients, for instance) require a subscription starting at $10 a month or $8 when billed yearly.
I went back to my therapist and could tell her I made progress in a way I didn’t think possible. So if this is you, don’t give up hope yet and hold off on quitting therapy. See if there is a tool for you out there and how far it takes you.
Any auto-scheduling tool will definitely have a learning curve for most people, and you do need to look at the settings to determine what you want the program to do. It will cost time to set up, so it's smart to get a feel whether or not a tool would work for you, if you'd be able to add a level of priority or deadline to tasks at some point and what you'd need the tool to do. But there are plenty of tutorials on the internet, both long and short to help you get started. Goblin Tools is also free and nice to use for breaking down tasks to help get started some more (I’ll just put the links in a comment below). I hope that tools like these will continue to develop, so people who struggle with executive functioning can really lean on them. Just like glasses, a hearing aid or crutches.
I hope this helps someone out there. Thanks for reading this insane amount of text.
P.S. For simple recurring daily routines, I like the app Tiimo and a smart watch. But that’s a different story. :)