Cover letter to work as a bank teller

The same dirtbags who would rob a bank and harass a convenience store clerk come into my bar every day. Anyone ever been to a bar with protective glass separating employees from customers? I’ve been thinking about this more and more the past couple years as my city’s shelterless community has exploded and fentanyl continues to ravage.
And before anyone says “maybe you should quit working at that bar”: it’s not just my bar. It’s becoming every bar in my downtown district. Sometimes before work I’ll stop at the Circle K nearby where there are partitions and I’ll see the same customers who come into my bar in line buying shooters and tall cans. I’m just waiting for the day that these people start throwing shot glasses at my fuckin’ head (which has already happened to me a couple times).

I started working on my new story close to the end of April and I'm still working on the prologue for my new story. I don't have a title for my new story yet. And let me tell you I'm pouring my heart and soul into this new book of mine! I'm putting my story on wattpad. If anyone wants to see what I have so far. Please message me.
I just wanna say that I'm a huge Black Veil Brides fan and they saved my life. I listen to BVB everyday. So the book will have some sensitive subjects. So I will say this once if you don't like sensitive topics please stay clear of this book as it will cover some of those sensitive topics.
I hope I can keep this book going for a long time. Just keep an eye out for my oc and prologue to drop the same day that's if you want my wattpad.
I'm also going to be rping BVB. So if you want to rp BVB with me dm and I'll get back to you

Hey everyone,
I'm an 18-year-old guy, and I've been thinking a lot lately about the way our society and economic systems are structured, and I can't help but feel like we're being scammed. Hear me out:

1. Education System: We're told to spend years in school, accumulating massive debt, with no guarantee of a job that pays enough to cover that debt. Is the education system setting us up for success or for financial enslavement?
2. Job Market: Many people work long hours in jobs they don't like, with little to no job security, just to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the wealth gap keeps growing, and it seems like the system is designed to benefit a select few.
3. Housing Market: The dream of owning a home is becoming increasingly unattainable for many, with sky-high prices and interest rates. Are we being set up to be lifetime renters, funneling our hard-earned money into someone else's pocket?
4. Healthcare System: In many countries, healthcare is a massive financial burden. People go bankrupt over medical bills, and it seems like the system prioritizes profit over people's well-being.
5. Government and Taxes: We're taxed heavily, yet essential services like infrastructure, education, and healthcare are often underfunded. Are our taxes being used effectively, or are they lining the pockets of the wealthy and powerful?
6. Investment and Savings: Traditional investment vehicles often have high fees and low returns for the average person, while the wealthy have access to more lucrative opportunities. Are we being scammed out of our financial growth?

I know these are broad strokes, and there are many nuances to each issue, but it feels like the system is rigged against the average person. As someone who's just starting out in life, I don't want to be stuck in this system my entire life.
I'm reaching out to older folks here who have more life experience—what advice do you have for someone like me? How can I find an alternative path to avoid being trapped in this system? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.

I saw a post the other day that OP removed. They asked the title question I think it is important for people to know what the answer is.
Yes. It is in fact very common for children to forget traumas as a coping mechanism. This is known as dissociating. It can be voluntary or involuntary.
Take note of the fact that such things are never questioned in soldiers or other forms of PTSD. It has long been known and accepted that adults with PTSD from war or other trauma have blank spots in memory and that which they do remember comes in fragments. Forgetting trauma as a coping mechanism is only ever questioned when someone brings up sexual or child abuse.
My quibble with grammar due to my own abuse. You cannot have a "false memory" since if it is not true, whatever your mind is producing cannot be a memory. There is a proper medical term for this but I do not know it. Some might insist that the phrase "false memory" covers this aspect of mental health. The people who defend abusers, rely on the manipulation of subtle nuances in grammar to confuse and manipulate listeners.
Bad actors do read and engage on these subs trying to sell the false memory lie. Supposed research on memory never seems to include people raised properly and taught to memorise things for no other reason than to exercise that muscle in your brain so that it works and notice detail and use correct grammar and be honest..... They always seem to rely on folks not to far away from being a Jerry Springer guest. https://web.archive.org/web/20230321175737/https://csasurvivors.home.blog/2020/01/10/the-false-memory-myth-memory-repression/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-bessel-van-der-kolk.html

Become a star citizen.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist?referral=STAR-DP7P-GD4P
use code STAR-DP7P-GD4P
If you don't already have a Roberts Space Industries (RSI) account, you'll want to take advantage of the Star Citizen referral code program. Doing so benefits the code provider and grants only you a bonus 5,000 United Earth Credits (UEC), the in-game currency for Star Citizen!
Thanks!!!
Improved New Player Experience : Play the tutorial
Star Citizen features a beautiful sprawling universe full of wonder, adventure, and action. However, it’s easy for new citizens to feel overwhelmed as they take their first steps into life in the 30th century.So, from Alpha 3.19, a whole-new guided mission will welcome new players to the ‘verse, including showing them how to get around, use the mobiGlas, and fly a ship in atmosphere and in space.
Invictus end free fly Celebration May 17-29 Invictus Launch Week 2954 - Roberts Space Industries Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42
Letter from the chairman https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19848-Letter-From-The-Chairman
Alpha 3.22 https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19565-Star-Citizen-Alpha-322-Wrecks-To-Riches
Alpha 3.21 https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19477-Star-Citizen-Alpha-321-Mission-Ready
CitizenCon October 21st and 22nd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKWa4WoTkV4&list=PLVct2QDhDrB15f0diWl9YaDmL4Je1BkX3
Welcome Back, Pilot! https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/18359-Welcome-Back-Pilot
STAR CITIZEN & SQUADRON 42 EXPLAINED
There are two components to Cloud Imperium Games' (CIG) project. Star Citizen is the MMO component, a first-person experience in a simulated 30th-century universe. Squadron 42 is the single-player component, a story-driven campaign where you enlist as a UEE Navy combat pilot. Our current understanding is you will be given the option of having your Squadron 42 character, who musters out of the Navy at the conclusion of the campaign, carry over into the Star Citizen persistent universe, taking with them the reputation and relationships they've built with NPC entities.
[Customers interested the Squadron 42 standalone only] If you only want the single-player campaign, after creating your account (next section) you can buy the Squadron 42 standalone here. You need only wait for the game to be released and become available for download. But take note that when you buy Squadron 42 you also get immediate access to Arena Commander, the online dogfighting module, and Star Marine, the online first-person shooter.
Squadron 42: I Held The Line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtjzLzs7V8
UNDERSTANDING THE PLEDGE STORE
There are a couple of points I want to make about recognizing what comes with a package. First, game packages may include only Star Citizen, only Squadron 42, or both games. Look at the package's contents for "Star Citizen Digital Download" and/or "Squadron 42 Digital Download." I will show you an easy way to add Squadron 42 to a Star Citizen-only package during the checkout process.The second point of interest concerns ship insurance (also found in the package's contents). Ship insurance covers the ship's hull and factory stock equipment in the event of complete loss. As a part of promotional offers, ships are sometimes sold with lifetime insurance (commonly referred to as LTI), but there are tricks to get LTI on almost any ship and many people will advise you to take advantage of them (often at a cost of $20-$35 USD = Token LTI ). To properly assess of the "value" of lifetime insurance, you should know a few things.
guide https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/18381-New-Player-Guide-Star-Citizen

I just wanted some support. So this my ex of 1.5 years broke up with me last week. We were bestfriends prior to starting the relationship. We used to share our traumas, and other issues with each other during that period.
Initially when we started the relationship, I had several issues due to insecurities. Like I had issues sending photos, being on video calls and sending voice notes. Because of these she belived that I didn't put any effort. I accept my issues but I would spend hours on the phone texting her. I asked her to give me time to change them. In 4-5 months most of my issues were gone.
We were in a long distance relationship. Our parents didn't know about this, so we had to keep it secret for the time being. But we would meet atleast once every three months when we would sit for our exams. Post September last year, I tried to make up reasons so that I can meet her. I really thought that our relationship would only get better from that point.
But in January this year, I had to move out of state for a job. She had joined her new job in our state. Her colleagues basically insulted my personality, saying things such as that my introvert character was going to be an issue in the future. Like that if our children got kidnapped, i would be sending mails to the police rather than calling them. And she believed them. Post that incident, she started complaining that I had never changed.
I am not talking high of myself, but by that point I was so different from the insecure version of me. We would call/video call daily, send pictures, send letters, etc. But for some reason she chose to see me through the past, as if I would never change.
I was the only person that stood by her when she went through so many issues, I was there for her in everything. I invested so much emotionally and in time to make this work. I worked on myself too.
But she kept seeing only the past me. So I decided to quit my job, and move back to our state to solve the issues. I loved her that much. And she told me that she would wait until we met.
But she broke it off suddenly once I flew back to our state. Didn't even want to meet me. I begged her to meet me even if she didn't want to continue the relationship. But she didn't.
She said that I was soft, but that softness is only needed when people are down. And that our energy only matched initially because she was in a depressed mood. She then proceeded to insult each and everything about me. My character, my family, my religion, and all. At times she would also use my past traumatic incidents against me. I confided these issues when we were best friends.
I really thought that she was the love of my life. How can a person that we once loved so much turn into stonewalls? How can they see only the bad in us?
She would say that in a perfect relationship, the partners would not have to work on anything. Is there really a relationship where no working on themselves is required?
Is it me who is really in the wrong here? I believe that each person in a relationship is a work in progress. But she doesn't have the same viewpoint. Since she blamed me so much, I am starting to believe it was my fault.
TLDR: broke up after 1.5 years. Ex gf didn't believe in making it work, said that perfect partners don't have to do anything to match. Initially in the relationship, I had some insecurity issues but got over them in some time. Quit my job to be closer to her and solve any issues. Was not given a chance. Now I am blaming myself.

Hey guys, trying to figure out what would be the best solution to carry a mini pc (stick form-factor to attach to the back of an iPad case for example) that I would use as a Linux server (basically running VS Code Server) so that I could have it accessible from my iPad at all times (i.e. without Internet connection).
Would something similar to a MeLe PCG02 Pro work ? It would need to be powered by a power bank I imagine, would an Anker 737 (140W PD) work for that purpose?
Or is there a better solution, like a Raspberry Pi or similar?
The box itself won't do much else than running VS Code server, and needs to be accessible via Wifi and be powered either by the iPad or by a power bank.
Thanks heaps!

dear Elizabeth, I really don’t know where to begin. It’s been a month. Maybe longer? NC since our breakup but I heard that this helps so why not, ya know…. Only a week after the breakup I got into a near fatal wreck. On that day, I changed. I realized I couldn’t stop moving, just because I was sad and unwilling to push forward in life. How I childish I was at times in the relationship, I was insecure at times, but could you blame me? Given the whole situation. I let my value in myself become detrimental in our relationship. I waved away the lies you spoke. I tried for months to make us work, but eventually you got bored and I was fairly certain you were already talking to another man. I curse myself for the sheer fact that I let myself become so hung up on you for those first few weeks. Especially after all the manipulation and gaslighting you put me through the month prior to our relationships inevitable end.
You love-bombed me for months. You Desperately claimed that you loved me, and how happy you were just being around me. Then one day, the tight warm hugs you once gave as I opened my front door to welcome you just stopped…. You started to treat me like I was someone you could push around and talk down towards. The name-calling, the broken promises. I tried to be patient with you, but you kept just playing games, evading important conversations, and decided to distract me by using your witty charm, the “I love you’s” and the constant expensive gifts that I never asked for. I’ve asked myself why buy me all those things and to demonstrate all those beautiful expressions just to checkout the moment we have a slight arguement?
Despite our troubles. Know I don’t hate you, because how can I? You taught me alot of things. Truth is I’ve read some of these other letters and each person writes a letter about heartbreak, anger or sorrow. This one isn’t. I nearly died ya know? I just see everything so differently now. So much of what i used to care about is now so irrelevant when it comes to the grand scheme of life itself. I learned and I had fun with you. I was blessed to have met someone like you. Despite our flawed relationship. I loved you and cared about your well being, until I noticed that you no longer felt the same. Anyways, I hope you figure things out and you find what you are looking for in Paris. I’m sure you’ll become a great baker. Take care of yourself Elizabeth.

Hi all! Last year, I worked from January–July. When I left my job at the end of July, I enrolled in Covered California and reported my yearly income as what I'd already earned in 2023 (~$25,000).
For a number of reasons, I've been out of work since that time. I allowed myself to be automatically re-enrolled in the same plan with the same subsidy for this year. I'm currently seeking work, with the plan to return by the end of next month. However, I'm concerned that I won't make the 138% FPL income limit required to be eligible for the Covered CA subsidy I've been taking. I need to make $20,783 by the end of the year, I believe. What happens if I don't make the cut? Is there a difference between making far under that number vs. just slightly under that number? Will I have to pay back all the subsidies I've been taking this year if I would have qualified for medi-cal rather than a Covered CA subsidy?

Hello all!
I wanted to let all you know of a competition that we are hosting on Discord and across our social media pages.
The Obsessively Intrigued podcast will be having our first ever Creative Showcase Series competition to WIN a chance to go to RED DRAGON 6 or the BOSTON FAN EXPO. There will be two winners overall one for each convention.
HOW DO I PARTICIPATE?
The Creative Showcase Series is a competition for all of the Hannibal community to get involved in. Please submit a piece of artwork, written work via link, video edit, musical composition/cover, or photograph (this can be of anything Hannibal inspired including cosplay) to be posted to our socials. Please be sure to like and follow us on social media for updates on submissions and selected podcast winners!
HOW DO I WIN?
The submission with the most amount of social media interaction (likes, retweets, quote tweets, shares, and comments combined) will win. We will post your submissions through the Podcast's social media accounts and we recommend that if you want to win, you try and gain the most traction on those posts as possible.
REQUIREMENTS
You must be:
-18+
-any submission must be your own original work
-be able to attend the convention you have entered the competition to win
-be comfortable taking a picture of yourself at the con for our social media pages
Please invite any of your friends that you know might be interested in submitting.
You can join our discord server through the link provided below. Good luck to all who participate! 😄
https://discord.gg/HXAp2JvTXV
TL:DR - We're hosting an art competition and convention ticket giveaway for RD6 and Fan Expo Boston!

I reached out to Yotta about their lack of transparency and requested an update on their end. This is what the said
Thansak for reahcing out. Funds are not yet moving as a result of the hearing so we have no update to share regarding the timeframe at this stage.
​ The most updated info we have for you: We are experiencing difficulties with payment processing on ACHs, Wires, and our debit and credit cards due to an outage with Synapse Brokerage’s banking processors. We are actively working on a resolution and will let you know once it's resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience. Direct deposits and paychecks The last update we had was that external deposits or paychecks would still be deposited into Yotta accounts. We are now seeing that direct deposits, external deposits, refunds, and paychecks are being returned to the sender. Please reach out to your payroll team or the individual senders or merchants of the external deposits you were expecting to see if they received notice of a return of funds. This would mean the funds were not deposited into your Yotta account and were returned. If a deposit or paycheck was deposited into your Yotta account, then access to these funds is still an ongoing issue until it is resolved. You may see funds have left other financial institutions but don't see the deposit in Yotta, and this is due to the ongoing ACH delays. External payments or transfers using account/routing numbers If you made an external payment outside of Yotta using your account and routing numbers, or if you attempted to pull funds outside of Yotta, it is possible these transactions will also be delayed or will be canceled. We do not have confirmation at this time if these transaction types will be successful until we see a status update within Yotta indicating whether they were successful or not. Any existing funds or funds that are successfully deposited are FDIC-insured. The issue is that the banking processors and networks that move money through the banking system are not currently operating. We rely on banking partners and their banking services for money movement. Unfortunately, at this time those processors and institutions have halted all fund movement and there are no alternate money movement options for accessing funds until this issue is resolved. What happened? On May 7th, we were notified that Lineage Bank, member FDIC, halted ACH processing for all Synapse Brokerage accounts and that Evolve Bank & Trust, member FDIC, would now process ACH transactions on behalf of Synapse Brokerage. Yotta customers hold accounts with Synapse Brokerage. On the evening of May 11th, we were notified by Evolve that they would be halting payment processing effective immediately. These events have left Synapse Brokerage without an ACH processor, and Evolve’s decision to freeze cards is causing all card transactions to fail. At this time there are no alternative methods for money movement. ​ How does this impact me? As stated in all brokerage account agreements, customer funds in the Synapse Brokerage Program are swept (deposited) into accounts at a network of member FDIC banks. Funds held in these accounts are eligible for FDIC insurance. All programs that work with Synapse are impacted by this. ACH transfers and card transactions will not go through until banks restore their services. What we are doing about it? We understand the importance of this matter and are working around the clock to get ACH and card processing restored, which will enable customers to transact. Ultimately, it is up to Evolve to restore card services, and Lineage or Evolve or another processing bank to restore ACH services. We are in contact with regulators to expedite a resolution, since this is unacceptable. But it can magnify the impact and expedite the resolution if complaints to regulators also come from impacted customers like you. Action you can take We encourage you to contact regulators about how this is impacting you. Your collective voices (in addition to our voice) will be very helpful in getting transaction processing back to normal on an expedited timeline. ​ Cards - Evolve is responsible for restoring debit and credit card transaction processing. Please contact Evolve’s regulator at the St. Louis Federal Reserve at 1-888-851-1920 to let them know the impact this is having on you and the urgency of the matter. You can follow the steps here to submit a complaint: https://forms.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/secure/complaint/complaintType.html. ACH It would also be helpful for the FDIC to hear from you about how the lack of access to ACH is impacting you. The phone number for their complaint line is 1-877-275-3342. To file an e-complaint follow the steps here: ​https://ask.fdic.gov/fdicinformationandsupportcentes/?language=en_US. Money Movement Unfortunately, we do not have an update or ETA for any type of money movement or for ways to access funds. For the time being there is no access to funds or the ability to move money in any capacity. This includes payments, wires, checks, all types of card transactions, and withdrawals. There are no alternate money movement options for accessing funds until this issue is resolved. We do not have any estimates or updates on an ETA for resolution. Please know we are doing everything we can to get banking services restored.

Five years ago, I joined a band with my best friend at the time (we’ll call him dave), my brother, and a friend of the best friend(we’ll call him fred).
Fred and I played guitar,
Brother played drums,
Dave played bass & sang.
When we started, it was really just for fun. Me and the bro were the only ones that actually knew how to play our instruments. I gave a bass to Dave so he could practice, and I helped teach him and Fred how to play their instruments. As we got better, we started doing gigs and tried to get more serious about the band, which is where it started to turn into a shitty situation.
The first offense of Dave and Fred was that they started stealing equipment from me and the bro’s studio. They stole several expensive instrument cables and even pedals, and they refused to return them. At the time, they said they were borrowing them for gigs. To this day, I haven’t gotten any of it back. They probably stole somewhere over $300 of equipment.
Dave also never fucking practiced. Every single gig that we played, it seemed like he had ever seen a bass in his life. Me and Dave got into a lot of pretty bad arguments about this, since we were trying to get paid gigs.
He also never practiced singing, which was a huge deal. He would forget a lot of lyrics during gigs, and Fred would have to take over singing. At one point, we got a very competent and nice singer who has been one of my musician friends for forever (we’ll call her Dory), but Dave and Fred literally bullied her out of the band. They were genuinely so awful to her. So, after that, we were stuck with Fred as the frontman again.
We probably played over 100 covers, which we had an equal split in deciding which songs they would be. Dave, nor Fred, never even attempted to learn one of the covers chosen by me or the brother. They also demanded that we write original songs off of their ideas or they would leave, so me and the bro essentially became musicians for hire in a band that we all started together. Dave and Fred shot down every single original song idea that me and the bro had.
They started being absolute dickheads at a certain point. Me and Dave were goofing around throwing sandals at each other once (nothing out of the ordinary in our decade long friendship at that point), and in the middle of this, he bull rushed me and put me in a headlock and I almost passed out. It was completely out of nowhere, and he refused to ever talk about it after that. Fred, at a certain point, completely stopped communicating with me or the bro, and at a certain point would start coming to practice sessions with entire set-lists that he made on his own.
Me and the bro decided to start our own musical thing along with the band since we couldn’t work on any of our ideas within the group. They were piiiiiissssed about that. We made one song without them and Dave came to practice the next day and swore me and the bro out.
Shortly after all of this, me and the brother left the band. We asked for music equipment back, but we didn’t get any.
The thing that makes me mad to this day is that Fred and Dave have kept slandering me and the bro to this day. I still have mutual friends coming to me and telling me what Dave or Fred said about us.
Also, when me and the bro left and started our own thing, we started an instagram page. It was really fun for a couple of weeks, but then they started flooding our comment sections with pretty nasty stuff and responding to our IG stories with negative stuff.
They also started their own band, tallying five members, in which Dave and Fred choose 100% of the covers, write 100% of the music, and get 100% of the money, even though the other three members are incredible musicians and carry the band. All of the band members are also dickheads, though. One of them just did cocaine at an after-show party and announced to the room that he had sex with a minor.
I guess I’m just mad, honestly. I took a year long hiatus because it was exhausting dealing with them. Today, hearing about their success, it makes me furious that they even found success even though they’re absolute dicks. It also makes me mad because it seems like nobody even cares how dickish they are.
I’m coming out of a musical hiatus now, and all of our mutual friends think I’m trying to compete with their band, which also makes me mad.
End of a long ass rant, thank you!!!

Could be much ado about nothing, My Dahlinks, but I cant help wonder if there isn't some connection. Coincidences don't exist in shows: only deliberate connections or lazy writing. I don't think it's the latter. Gemma's accident was 3 years ago and Irving opted to get severed three years ago after working for the company for 6 years in a non-severed capacity. They've both seen the Testing Floor corridor (so has Milchick and the way in which Milchick sees that corridor and the way Irving paints it connects the two as it implies that Irving had Miclhick's job).
Why did the writers peg these as the same time period rather than different ones. It would have been nothing to say that Irving worked at Lumon for 10 years and severed four years ago, there by neatly cleaning up any untintended associations. But they didn't.
What we don't know about Gemma's accident is a void so large it could swallow up the entire period we've been waiting for season 2. Nobody in this show has ever uttered the words "coma" or "life-support." We don't know when Gemma severed, whether it was forced on her and her alone by Lumon or whether she voluntarily did it like literally every other severed person on the show. We don't know if she was driving when her accident happened, if Mark was, if there was an argument, if he was drinking, if SHE was drinking, if he ever saw a body at the scene, etc. We know none of that.
So... could Irving had anything to do with the accident (if there was one) or the story that covered what happened? Did he sever because he felt like shit over what happened to her? Why did they not make these two timeframes different?
What do we think, fellow Refiners?

I recently got a job working in a retail pharmacy as an Rx Tech in training. When filling out my certification paperwork, they ask if you have any prior convictions, drug treatment, or mental health disorders. (Don’t even get me started on the fact that mental health is in the same category as crime) But anyways, this put the paperwork to a dead stop until I could get a “letter of compliance” from my counselor, a notarized letter explaining my situation, and a signed medical release. My counselor was upset and called this an invasion of privacy, I agree, but I need and want the job. My counselor begrudgingly agreed to write the letter, and I signed a medical release for the letter and a progress report.
After all that, I sent everything in, only for the board to call me and tell me they are returning my paperwork because they didn’t receive access to my medical records.
Has anybody else had issues with this? Is the procedure like this in every state? Does Arkansas Board of Pharmacy have a right to my medical records?
I’m disheartened to say the least. I’ll give them what they want if I have to, but I’m disgusted just thinking about it. I feel violated, as this is the second time I’ve had to release my medical records for bogus reasons related to mental health. I’m not an opioid addicted axe murderer, I’m a 19yo kid trying to stabilize after 2 traumatic years of college and a mental health crisis. I just want some peace and this has been yet another roadblock.
I’m done ranting now, any feedback is appreciated

Endurance focused today. Reverse chipper like on the tread. Add-on on the floor with insane rep counts. There is a goal for the rounds you get through on the first floor block.. I think green is two complete rounds, orange three or four and red is five.
Tread Block * 45 sec push * 1 min base * 1 min push * 1 min base * 75 sec push * 1 min base * 90 sec push * 1 min base * 2 min push * 1 min base * 2.5 min push * 1 min base * 3 min push * 1 min base * 4 min push * 30 sec AO * Collapse (member’s choice)
Floor Block 1 - 15 minutes back to back add-on row distance * Coach will call out when you are going to a new rep range (part), at that point you continue on the last exercise at the higher rep range and keep adding row distance when you get through the reps * Part 1: * 5 x upright row * 5 x tap front squat * 5 x bicep curl * 5 x close grip chest press * 5 x bridge * 100m push row * Repeat, adding on 100m to the row each round, remember which exercise and row distance you are up to * Part 2: * Start at the exercise you finished on at the last part * 10 x upright row * 10 x tap front squat * 10 x bicep curl * 10 x close grip chest press * 10 x bridge * Add 100m to your last push row * Repeat, adding on 100m to the row each round, remember which exercise and row distance you are up to * Part 3: * Start at the exercise you finished on at the last part * 15 x upright row * 15 x tap front squat * 15 x bicep curl * 15 x close grip chest press * 15 x bridge * Add 100m to your last push row * Repeat, adding on 100m to the row each round, remember which exercise and row distance you are up to * Part 4: * Start at the exercise you finished on at the last part * 20 x upright row * 20 x tap front squat * 20 x bicep curl * 20 x close grip chest press * 20 x bridge * Add 100m to your last push row * Repeat, adding on 100m to the row each round, remember which exercise and row distance you are up to * Part 5: * Start at the exercise you finished on at the last part * 15 OR 25 x upright row * 15 OR 25 x tap front squat * 15 OR 25 x bicep curl * 15 OR 25 x close grip chest press * 15 OR 25 x bridge * Add 100m to your last push row * Repeat, adding on 100m to the row each round, remember which exercise and row distance you are up to
Floor Block 2 - 6.5 minutes circuit anchor * 12 total x sprinter sit up * 12 x coach’s choice anchor (core) * 12 total x low plank alt wide knee drive * 12 x coach’s choice anchor (core) * 12 total x crunch hold with alt heel floor tap * repeat until finisher: 30 sec of member’s choice of core exercise AMRepsAP
DC commentary: >! Another endurance focused Mayhem template today. Today is like a reverse chipper where you are adding on push effort each round and also upping the rep count on your exercises each round. Not too much rowing today (unless you blitz through the weights). \ \ Pretty simple tread template today. No incline work but you will have a total of 7 minutes at base, the rest of the 23 and a half minute block is all at push pace or greater. Our coach was saying we should choose a low base to help recover but in any way you will get a lot of splats on the tread. You start with a 45 second push into a minute base. Next round increases this push by 15 seconds while keeping the base at 1 minute. Keep adding 15 seconds to the push up to the 90 second mark and then it is by 30 seconds. Your last push is a whopping 4 minutes straight into a 30 second all out. Good distance today of 5.85km (3.635 miles) in the tread block. \ \ Two blocks on the floor. The first block is 15 minutes long and again is endurance focused. You have five simple exercises that you are working through - upright rows, tap front squats, bicep curls, close grip chest press and a bridge. The first part starts off easy - 5 reps of each and then a 100m push row. Keep repeating this but adding 100m to the row each round. At a point in the block, the coach will tell you to move to the next part and in this one the reps increase to 10 and you keep adding that 100m to your row each round. Each time you get to a new part of the block, you start your exercise set at the last exercise you were up to in the previous part and keep adding distance on to the rows. This keeps on going until the reps get up to 20 and then you have a choice - either take it back down to 15 reps or up to 25. \ \ The goal of the block is to see how many total rounds you can get through. Obviously, it is easier to get through more on the lower rep counts so I think the idea is that you would need to speed through these as quickly as possible to “bank” as many rounds early on. It gets progressively harder with increased row distances. I didn’t get the formula for the part count (it isn’t shown on the screen) but the whole block is 15 minutes long and you have 5 parts so I would hope it would be every three minutes? Maybe someone smarter than me can line it up to the tread block timing but it didn’t seem obvious to me. Personally I would maybe just do 3 minutes each part to make it easy but it didn’t feel like it today. \ \ The last six and a half minute block is a core blast. You have three core exercises and a coach’s choice anchor exercise for 12 reps in between. Let this be a lesson - please be nice to your coach as I can think of some pretty nasty core exercises to do in those sections. Luckily we have a nice coach and he gave us plank holds and bicycle crunch for the anchors. \ \ The tread block was pretty hell like and the floor is tough if you are racing to get through as many rounds as possible. I would give today the usual automation 1 (🪶) out of 5 for gentleness and a 4 (☠️ ☠️ ☠️ ☠️) out of 5 for Mayhell. !<

What job would suit me If I graduated from the faculty lf economics and political science major economics, I got high grades, but I wasn’t interested in joining this faculty my bad grades at school got me to pay for college and that’s the one my parents chose. Now I’m nearly 25 I graduated in 2021. I didn’t work for a year because I’m Egyptian and I’m not living in Cairo, I’m in ismailia city and there is bo job opportunities hear. Then I moved to cairo and worked for as an inbound call center agent at a bank (outsourced). And I left them for another opportunity, but unfortunately the opportunity got canceled or they told me that they don’t want anyone anymore. I moved back to ismailia and we discovered mom has cancer, I was applying for other jobs, but after that I decided to stay with her for ger treatment. Three months passed and I applied for an online English instructor for beginners vacancy at two companies, one of them accepted me. I’m working for them now. They don’t take national holidays and they work six days a week. I decorated to shift for part time and make it four days a week. But then my mom’s treatment needed us to travel between cities so I told them I will not continue for a while after finishing the current groups. Then I started to make the groups enter gradually, but now I feel like I’m not doing anything. First of all my internet connection sucks and the students are complaining and I’m afraid that might lead the company to fire me. Second of all I don’t feel qualified, they take anyone and my english level is B1 only and it’s not even good enough. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything in my life and I’m so depressed. I don’t even know any other teachers they make us deal with the admin of the whatsapp groups and the supervisor only and sometimes the boss. I don’t know if I should continue academically even though I got rejected before. Pr should I continue in research or maybe I’m not qualified for that. Or should I shift to any career that is not realted and start over I’m really lost I even tried career coaching but it was so costy and I felt like it’s a scam. Can you suggest what would be the best for me based on what I’ve said?

Hello everyone, I am have been renting a room for 2 years now. The trouble started long before I fell down the stairs and broke my shoulder. About 5 months ago the landlord (lets name him dink), dink decided to to re due the floors in the basement due to water damage in one of the rooms. Dink went with a cheap shoddy repair man, lets call him steve. Steve re-did the whole basement floor and bathroom. I had to move all my stuff out of my room into another room. Only a few months go by and the tiles in my basement room where I live are all seperated. I had to show dink and he didnt understand why the tiles in my room were bascially falling apart. A few weeks later Dink comes by and tells me that (lets call him sam) sam a legit repair man with workers and a company are coming to re due the floor, and do other repairs on the house. Dink tells me not to tell sam that steve did the work. Sam and steve are from the same community and hate eachother. One day Dink comes into my room with sam and shows him the messed up floor. Sam asked who did the floor and why are the tiles separated. Dink tells sam that he did the floor but does not understand why the tiles are like that, my jaw dropped open. Dink lied right to sams face in front of me. A few days ago the repair men show up. They were like animals to say the least. The spray painted the house outside and got spray paint all over the grass as well. They didnt warn me or my roomates that the kitchen was about to be covered in plastic for days so I could not access it. I got up one morning and the kitchen had been like sealed off by plastic. I was really broke at the time but still and had to eat out. Sam's workers also re did the floor in the dining room and living room. They put the whole house into chaos and moved everything around. They were not careful about how they moved are things and damaged my bike and my table in my room. Me and the roommates had to move everything back by ourselves afterwards. They would not flush the toliets after the used them and would not put the seat down either. I had to ask the workers to do this and they still didnt comply. The workers had to re due the whole basement floor again. They woke me up ealry in the morning one day to get started on my room, they made a huge mess of my room. I was put out a second time with my room becasue Dink went with steve who didnt know what he was doing. My mental health was not good at this point and it kept declining. I could not stand that the workers were in my sacred place, my room. So heres the kicker on march tenth I fell down ten steps (the basment steps) and broke my shoulder. I was taken to hospital in the ambulance. I had to take work off for two months, till may tenth for my shoulder to heal. So I lost a lot of wages. The steps were not up to code and there was only one wobbly railing at the time I fell. I was in a lot of pain for weeks and had to use T3s and also have my arm in a sling. Till this day I dont have full range of motion with my right arm and have to go to physio. I confroted Dink the landlord about the stairs and he said it would take hundrends of thousands of dollars to fix the stairs. So i asked the landlord to put up more railings and to buffer the steps with non slip matting. Railings were put up but sams repair men painted all of them so I couldnt use them for a day anyway and risked further injury. The slip matts have been brought to the house but have been laying in the kitchen for two weeks with nothing happening to them. So Dink repaired everything except the stairs. I have also asked the landlord twice if I could have an animal to help with my mental health they have refused twice even though I could have sued them for the stairs. All the other roomates are on board with having a cat. So Im in the process of getting documents for an support animal. Legally they cant refuse me under our provinces law and they cant charge me a damamge depoist. I will be informing Dink soon when I get the proper documents lined up. I have mental health problems and do qualify for this. We will see what happens in the future, thanks for listening!

Our neighborhood is dealing with a serious issue concerning a shared access road that connects to about 20 residential driveways. According to the county assessor website and maps, this road is in the common area. According to California Civil Code §845, which states:
"The owner of any easement shall maintain it in repair."
and as an easement, its maintenance and repair should be the responsibility of the easement owner (HOA). I've even asked the county if they could take control of the road and they want nothing to do with it.
The HOA’s bylaws and CC&Rs state that homeowners are responsible for the road’s upkeep. I disagree with this and even attempted to form a road repair association with my neighbors, but less than half of the residents are willing to cooperate. This leaves a few homeowners unfairly shouldering the financial burden for repairs, which seems to contradict the fiduciary duty of the HOA.
The road has been in terrible condition for decades, with sections barely covered in asphalt, numerous potholes, and further damage caused by rain and snow each year. The road’s poor state I feel poses a risk to emergency services, which could get stuck or slide off the mountain. Repair quotes range from $80,000 for subpar work to over $200,000 for quality repairs.
Unfortunately, I can't compel homeowners to pay their share or impose liens on them since a proper road association requires unanimous homeowner approval. Every year, when snow falls, it becomes a significant headache, and the turnover rate for homeowners on this street is unusually high because of it and honestly affects the value of every home connected to this street.
I have no choice but to sell at this point, sadly. This was going to be my forever home and given to my daughter.
Do I hire a lawyer? Do I have a leg to stand on? Is it worth fighting?

I woke up with a cough of blood and pain. I felt something metal with my hands as I looked down. A long stint of rebar poked out of my ribcage and through my chest plate, covered in a mix of my blood and the bile of a bug.
I reached down and grabbed my Senator, feeling its trusty weight in my hands. I haphazardly tried to place the barrel against the portion of rebar sticking out of my back. This had better work I though. I pulled the trigger once and with a loud Crack I felt the vibration from the shot in my stomach. I tried to choke down vomit and pulled the trigger twice more Crack, Crack. With the third shot the rebar gave way and I rolled to my side and collapsed on the ground. Agony shot through my body as I hit the dirt.
I realized then, Hmmph, they left me. During Extraction one of the other divers called in a 500kg as we were about to board Pelican 1. She had thrown it over one of those damned chargers in an effort to kill one last bug but... it started charging us. I was the last one in line and just as I was about to board... i was thrown 200 feet away from extraction site. I don't blame them. I'd have left me too. We had successfully evacuated a number of scientists and other military personnel, but we'd lost the planet. No hard feelings I guess.
I tried to pull my mind away from those thoughts and just focused on one. Survive. I pulled myself to my knees and looked at the rebar again. Cant park there bud I thought tryna cheer myself up. I had dropped my senator when I fell and ended up with two free hands. I reached down and with the assistance of my servo-assited armor prepared to wrench the rebar from my chest. Alright, count of three, I thought. One mye heartrate quickened. Two I adjusted my grip ever so slightly. Three I ripped the metal r9d out and felt a hot stinging pain shoot through my body. I quickly grabbed as stim and applied it.
I winced as the stim numbed my broken ribs and began rapidly working to heal them and my open chest wound. After a couple seconds, I could stand.
I took quick stock of my inventory. My Senator with 23 rounds left, two ration packs, a canteen of water, 1 stim, a knife, and a bag of oatmeal. Oatmeal? Seriously? I'd rather have ammo but... beggars can't be choosers.
I looked around me. Snow and beaten down rubble surrounded me. This was some kind of research station, I think. Didn't bother grabbing the name. Cold as hell and nothing really around to get my bearings. Great. I thought. Im gonna die inside a freezer. I started looking through the rubble for anything useful. I found a corpse of one of the scientists that hadnt made it to evac. I grabbed the ID card off his jacket. Figured id get me inside a building if there were any left standing. I crawled out of the rubble and onto the snowy tundra.
The sun had set and with it most of the light I wouldve been able to utilize. I scanned the horizon for a blinking light. Blinking like meant beacon. Beacon meant possible radio, maybe some ammo. I clocked one to the southwest and began walking that direction senator drawn.
I spotted a few distant bug patrols illuminated by moonlight but they had no interest in me. I kept my head down and kept moving towards the light. Details started to take shape and I could see this was a research station. Perfect I thought.
I reached the door and used the key card. There was a Beep and the red light flashed green. The door cracked open before jamming. Oh no you dont I thought and with one hand yanked the door open. I closed it behind me with the same hand to keep the wildlife disinterested.
Inside was dark and damp. I had list the seal integrity on my suit so there was barely any oxygen regulation. Didnt need it on this planet but still. Its a bitch to fix. I turned my flashlight on and started scanning the room for a light switch. I found one but wouldnt ya know it... dead. At least the beacon had power. I walked over to the radio and pulled off my helmet. I wedged the flashlight in my neck and leaned my head to the side. I started flipping switched and turning dials to see if there was a response. Nothing. Id have to find the master terminal. I grabbed the flashlight and donned my helmet again. I began scanning the room again before I heard it. A little shuffle behind me. I turned quickly and drew my senator raising it at the source of the sound.
It was a small child. At least... thats what it appeared to be. At first glance I could see bindings on its legs and arms. A hospital gown with little ducklings on it and a teddy bear tucked under its arm. I lowered my senator as it spoke.
"Dr. Mehon told me to wait here. He said hed be right back."
Dr. Mehon was probably dead I thought. I knelt down and put my hand on the child shoulder. "Whats your name kid?"
"3". I felt a rage build up. I swallowed it quickly.
"Well 3, what uh... why.. why do you have bin.." I stopped myself. Whatever those scientists were doing here...
3 looked up at me and I noticed it. A cat like set of eyes. Other little details started to click as well. Four fingers on each hand, slightly pointed ears, a discoloration of skin and a rigid scale-like spine on the shoulder.
"The radio doesnt work mister." 3 seemed to have understood their situation. "Dr Mehon destroyed it before he left."
I realized then that it was unlikely either of us would make it off this planet alive.
Part coming soon? Depending on how this one does.

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

I am an international student graduating from a university in Toronto. In February, I submitted a visitor visa application for my parents to attend my graduation ceremony in June 2024. I included all necessary supporting documents to demonstrate their financial solvency, such as recent bank statements showing ample funds (more than CAD $33,000) for the trip, and a property and fixed asset valuation report from a Chartered Accountant. Additionally, my parents have a strong international travel history including recent visits to the UK, the US and many other countries. I clearly stated in the invitation letter and the purpose of the travel document that their visit was to attend my graduation and that they would return home by the end of June 2024 due to business and property responsibilities.
These were the supporting documents for the application:

• I provided 3 bank statements that accumulate funds equivalent to $33,000 CAD and a fixed asset valuation report of my father’s property from a Chartered Accountant, reflecting its current fair market value of more than 5 Million CAD
  
• ⁠The purpose of travel is to attend my graduation mentioned in the invitation letter and the purpose of the travel document with the proof of solid family ties back home that shows they must come back by the end of June. Both my parents have a good international history with a record of recent visits to the UK, the USA and other countries.
  
• ⁠Documents proving their family ties to Home country are:
  
  • Asset valuation report that reflects property ownership
  • Recent bank statements that accumulates funds of $33,000 CAD
  • The business licence for my enterprise in Home Country
  • Rent receipts from all the tenants of my solely-owned business property with the rental agreement
  • Tax return since 2021
  • National Identity Documents

However, I received a refusal letter from IRCC last night including the following reasons:

I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as required by paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/section-179.html). I am refusing your application because you have not established that you will leave Canada, based on the following factors: Your assets and financial situation are insufficient to support the stated purpose of travel for yourself (and any accompanying family member(s), if applicable). The purpose of your visit to Canada is not consistent with a temporary stay given the details you have provided in your application. 

I have 3 options in hand now: 1. Re-apply (Processing Time: 80+ days) 2. Reconsideration (as quickly as 5 business days) 3. Judicial Review (the most expensive and time consuming option)
I decided to submit a reconsideration letter. However, I am not sure how much of a difference it would make. I would appreciate any support on how to prepare an ideal reconsideration letter. Also, I would like to know if this reconsideration request actually makes any difference.
Thank you!