So my mom is 60 years old and her any my dad recently got a divorce. She's played some games before like super Mario 2 and Mario kart (15+ years ago). Anyway looking to give her my switch and some games to help keep her mind at bay from her unexpected situation (yes she is in therapy, this is more about her finding new hobbies). Crazy 3d action games like the new Zelda or Mario are out of the question, she doesn't have the reflexes or dexterity. Also trying to avoid games that require basically every button to be used. She's not great with tech and her having to remember a bunch of button inputs would be hard. She plays games like candy crush and used to play Farmville. Was thinking of stuff like animal crossing, but I don't know how demanding that game is. Any suggestions would be nice, sorry if the criteria is kinda specific, i just don't want to give her something that will be so advanced and her not give it a try. Thank you all.

I sadly missed the first part of the bond hearing. But from a news4jax article, it says:
“The prosecution also showed how Gardner comes from a wealthy family. They showed bank statements and even explained how Gardner’s parents were putting money into a trust for Shanna and her kids. But it turns out Fernandez was in control of the money as a trustee. The Gardners made sure the money was not for Shanna’s personal income, that way Bridegan wouldn’t have access.
There was even a clause in the trust document that said once Gardner had no more legal entanglements with Bridegan, she could have the money. One could argue this speaks to the possibility of Gardner being able to make a bond if it’s posted.”
So I’m wondering, do you think Shanna married Mario to get access to the money (Mario had access to it)? And they planned to divorce in 2022, so was that “plan to divorce” because Shanna knew she’d have access to the fund after Jared was gone?
Edited to add - I feel like the “trust” was her parent’s way to funnel money to Shanna without Jared being able to win any in a lawsuit. That’s why Mario was a “trustee” - because Shanna benefits without Jared being able to get any. (Jared would not have been allowed to legally touch any money that only Mario had access to.)

I’ve had a lot of adventures in my life.
I’ve traveled, made friends, seen sights, competed in sports, and participated in events.
Sometimes, following any of these endeavors, a small object would find itself in my possession. A knickknack, a totem, a doodad.
Maybe it was a collection of Mardi Gras beads from my trip to New Orleans. Or a t-shirt tossed by a cheerleader at a sporting event. A toy from a claw machine. A mixtape from a friend. A thank-you note. A cheap piece of junk from a tourist’s gift shop.
Whatever they were didn’t matter — what matters is that they were often a representation of whatever moment in time they came from.
I never threw these things away. I set them on my desk or on my shelves. When those spaces filled up, I bought two small storage containers. They’re filled to the brim and I’m currently filling a third.
Why keep the color-coordinated bandana a stranger gave me in the park during Pokemon Go’s heyday? Why hold onto the Save the Date from my high school friend who ended up getting divorced not two years later? What significance or use could I possibly have for those goofy White Elephant gifts my kickball team gave at the yearly Christmas party?
No purpose, no reason and there is none, respectively.
And yet I don’t want to let them go. You see, they are reminders of times and experiences — Keepsakes. Mementos. Souvenirs. In some ways, they’re a physical collection and documentation of my life.
It reminds me a little bit of this weird quirk I have when I play video games.
--
I likely dumped more than 500 hours across all my Skyrim save files. There was no other game, there needn’t be any other game and there still hasn’t been any other game since.
In my adulthood, I returned to one of its many definitive editions for one last victory lap. With my experience, memory and fully-formed adult brain, I approached the game methodologically, in an optimal order, carefully. I built my ideal character and crafted only what was needed — down to the last iron ingot. I explored, I experienced — I did every major and minor quest, making it my perfect playthrough.
One thing I love about Skyrim is the loot. Yes, there’s 20 million iron daggers and boring, inventory-cluttering useless items… but then there’s the special ones.
There’s the unique weapons at the end of each Daedric quest. The trinkets from the Thieves Guild. Spellbooks, statuettes and storybooks. The eerily-delivered note for the assassin’s questline. The robes of the king, the rings and necklaces of Jarls.
You know them — the items with one-of-a-kind names and designs that are specific to each of their quests.
You see, these items carry a story with them. How you stole for them or killed for them. Traveled, battled, talked, stealthed, lied, solved your way into their possession. They’re the game’s biggest treat.
That’s why, at the culmination of my final ever Skyrim playthrough, I bought a house in Whiterun and filled it with these objects.
Weapons and armors on the walls and on the racks, items and books placed carefully on shelves - but not just any weapons, armors, objects and books. Only the special ones. It was a house that told the story of all of my adventures.
I sat down in a chair next to Aela the Huntress in my castle, my throne room. I saved my game one final time.
--
For all of gaming’s swashbuckling adventures, magnificent worlds and large stretches of land to traverse, they don’t always give us too much to remember them by, do they?
I appreciate Skyrim so much for understanding the nature of the epic they were creating. The ability to fill your house with display cases, armor mannequins and weapon racks demonstrates the developer’s awareness of their playerbase and the scale of the adventures they were sending them on.
These are adventures to cherish, to tell tales of, to be remembered.
Will anyone else give me what Skyrim did?
…
The answer’s yes, actually.
It’s a fascinating yes, too — because not every keepsake system is cut from the same cloth. Games offer unique takes on the mechanic that energize it, give it new life and perspective and add layers of meaning to it in fresh ways.
And I’ve got plenty of examples.
--
In The Outer Worlds, special items you collected while out adventuring would be placed in specific locations throughout your ship, The Unreliable, upon return. These included things like:
• Posters• Signs• Various ISO items• Tossballs & Tossball cards• Golden bird statuettes• Many, many more
Sometimes these were stored by the game in your captain’s quarters, but other times, they’d appear in your squad’s quarters instead.
No matter where they got stored, these items were more than just junk. They were signature weapons of terrible villains whom you defeated, they were outlandish garb from flamboyant characters who painstakingly passed away to protect your life, they were motifs of resource-gouging corporations whom you shutdown for the good of cities and planets.
They were special, they were keepsakes. Their addition made The Unreliable feel alive and lived in, part of your own, unique journey, filled with the stories and tales of your adventure and — importantly and specifically to The Outer Worlds — your choices.
—
The second and third installments of the Mass Effect series contained model ships you could buy from vendors that would then go on display on desks or on racks in your spaceship, The Normandy.
These are a little different because you buy them, rather than slice somebody’s head off for them, but they still count.
What makes them still count here is twofold:
• Some model ships only become available after completing certain missions that actually involve the ship you’re buying a model of, so they still serve as a reminder and memento of specific accomplishments in this way
• If you transferred your save data through the games, models you collected in ME2 would appear automatically on The Normandy in ME3. Being able to carry souvenirs into a sequel is exceptional, and a feat I’ve not found any other game to match.
Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a return of this feature, too. You ended up re-gathering old ships of yore in this installment, however. Andromeda also featured a more traditional collectible-style search; these model ships were looted from various locations in the world.
The original trilogy used the model ships as landmarks for its major moments, to be remembered across the series, while Andromeda paid homage to the previous games and encouraged its players to explore its world more thoroughly.
—
In Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, building up your burgeoning young settlement of Ravensthorpe is a central gameplay mechanic — as you acquire more resources to build with, the size of the village grows both in length, width and inhabitants.
The game includes optional side quests that change those who wander your evolving home and hub in medieval England. They include:
• Capturing a stray cat• Saving a fox from a burning home• Befriending a fallen hunter’s wolf pet
In each instance, the living being will join your settlement — the cat will stay underneath Eivor’s seat in your longship, the fox will wander Ravensthorpe and the wolf will welcome you in your personal quarters, howling at your arrival.
You can interact and pet them whenever you like, playing a short animation displaying the affection between the two.
These three “collectibles” don’t feel like trinkets, but living, breathing additions to your home that give it joy and life, as well as keep you young.
—
Speaking of Norse culture, central to Biomutant is a form of Yggdrasil — the WorldTree.
Central to Biomutant’s story is saving the old, decaying and currently-being-eaten-by-giant-monsters WorldTree. And there are two impressive quests in the game that reflect back to the player their efforts in saving it.
One quest saves the tree from festering toxins below its roots — and the tree’s colors change from green to fluorescent white as a result.
Another quest by the name of Aurora has you activate monoliths around the map that direct energy to the WorldTree. The quest climaxes by having the tree give off a swirling, sparkling aura that hangs perpetually while you travel the world and complete more objectives.
It even matches your affinity — if you’re taking the side of love and justice, the aura is white, while if you play for the destruction of the planet, the aura will hang black.
What’s special about these to me is that they don’t do anything. They don’t get you any closer to saving the world or the tree, but they definitely did something important –
The WorldTree’s central location in the map and absolutely massive scale allow for it to be seen at all times from just about anywhere in Biomutant’s world. This means, after I had completed these two quests, the fruits of my labor were on gloriously beautiful display at all times.
Biomutant’s mementos aren’t keepsakes you can’t take with you when you leave the planet — they’re visual celebrations of your hard work, an ever-present reminder of your endeavors and care for a dying world.
—
More briefly, Cyberpunk 2077 allowed you to fill V’s apartment with keepsakes as well, featuring dream catchers, posters, paintings, action figures and more.
In Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance Ace Azzameen’s personal quarters would fill up with medals and displays as you progressed through the game.
In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, some of the most legendary Zelda equipment ever was available to the player, including the Sword of Six Sages, the Fierce Deity Sword, and the Biggorons Sword — all of which can be hung in display cases in Link’s home.
Meanwhile, Uncharted 4 greets players near its opening sequence with an attic filled with memorabilia and keepsakes that Nathan Drake himself has kept after all these years. It’s not us — the players — ourselves collecting and hoarding, but it was lovely to see Drake thinking along the same lines as us souvenir psychopaths.
—
I’ll end with gaming’s classic — Mario. The red-hatted Italian also did the keepsake thing in one of his most beloved installments.
Super Mario: Odyssey allowed you to decorate The Odyssey with stickers and trinkets from your escapades by spending purple coins you could collect while out adventuring on one of the game’s many worlds.
A vanilla Odyssey player’s ship might look the same as it did at the game’s start, but a completionist might have a slew of trinkets and décor, like:
• Peach’s Model Castle• Dinosaur models and trophies• Shiverian Nesting Dolls• A plush frog• Flowers and a watering can from Steam Gardens• Statues of Pauline, Jaxi, Jizo• A lamp and rock fragment of the moon
Hell, the game director himself sounds like he’s read this very article:

“But what about decorating the ship? There’s a shop that appears in many kingdoms where you can buy souvenirs and stickers using the purple coins you’ve gathered.
Collecting memories is one of the best parts of traveling, don’t you think?” –Kenta Motokura

The ability to make The Odyssey your own evolved the traditional fetch-quest nature of collectible gathering and drove the player to go that little bit of extra distance in exploring and engaging with the various kingdoms and mastering the game’s platforming.
--
Video game narratives and their accompanying worlds are monstrously large nowadays. As enjoyers of the medium, us gamers spend a lot of time in them.
Like, a lot.
In recognition of this, game developers have given gamers a number of distinct tools to document their triumphs and sagas — each with their own unique flavor of congratulations and commemoration.
For our enormous investment with huge worlds and long, winding quests, something tangible we can keep hold of provides value, meaning, memories. They make our journey — one which we have committed so much to — special, transcendent, our own.
They give us things no other entertainment medium can give.
So fuck photo mode. A picture isn’t worth a thousand words — my keepsakes are.
(A special thanks to the members of patientgamers for their contributions to this post that helped inform this essay with games I have and have not played.)

Bat-Batversal
1, BATGOS (with or without prep)
Batversal

1. Alfred (aka Amigos because he’s Batgos’ friend)
   
2. Composite Prep Time
   

Herald / Avatar Tier

1. 10 Inch Skull Silverback Gorilla
   
2. Man
   
3. Glorb Glab [Weakness: Glorb Glab 2, autocorrect]
   
4. Bat [Weakness: Glorb Glab]
   
5. Batlegos (Lego Batgos)
   
6. Omnipotent All-Father Odin
   

Apex Tier

1. Chi-Yu (killed NoLimitsMan twice, Soloku, your pfp, Bulma, banana farmer, Goszilla, Terapagos and Goscor in one Overheat)
   
2. Piranha Plant
   
3. Lightning McPeak (Lightning McQueen)
   
4. HoldsBack-Man (Spider-Man) (Jaw Puncher) [Weakness: Marvel Editorial]
   
5. NoLimitsMan (he stomps Soloku cry about it) (Superman) [Weakness: GOATzilla]
   

Solos Fiction

1. Soloku / u/Solokuwastaken (Goku / actually fucking goated) [Weaknesses: NoLimitsMan, 30 Billion Spong Bops, a rock, a laser, Chi-Yu, GO GO GADGET KILL SOLOKU, Gohan Blanco's hair, Say Gex Addiction]
   
2. Mr. Rogers in a bloodstained sweater
   
3. Alien SeX (Alien X) [Weakness: Ben10 coping]
   
4. Thor Slowdinson (Marvel Comics Thor but slow) [Weakness: Thor Killing Bees]
   
5. GOATzilla (HE’S THE FUCKING GOAT) (Godzilla) [Weakness: Square Cube Law (erm actually Godzilla can’t exist irl!!!)]
   
6. Mr. Popo (Pecking Order Founder)
   
7. Terrence (He’s literally the biggest bird)
   
8. Chuckuh
   
9. Red from Infuriated Avians (has his gogurt, can feel Satan getting nearer)
   
10. The Blues (Vodka lusted)
    
11. Plasma Peak (Universal Plasma Pea)
    
12. Optimus Warcrime
    
13. 1,000 Inch Skull Big Ass Gorilla (King Kong) [Weakness: GOATzilla]
    
14. Chuck Norris
    

God Tier

1. HoldsBlack-Man (Miles Morales)
   
2. Gohan Blanco
   
3. Self-Aware Maine Sized Crab (WhoWouldWin)
   
4. Stick (can multiply forever)
   
5. Brawl Meta Knight (no bad matchups)
   
6. Doctor “No L’s” DOOM (Doctor DOOM) (Multi-Omnipotent+ at minimum)
   
7. u/The_Death_Eater_ Harry Potter and Voldemort
   
8. Giant Zombie
   
9. Monster SeX (Ghidorah)
   
10. 9 Inch Skull Silverback Gorilla (Fought Batgos)
    
11. WhoWouldWin Chimpanzee
    
12. Composite Florida Man / Peakest Human
    
13. One of Every Pokemon
    
14. A Billion Lions (Lion Ladder solos Pokémon)
    
15. Invisible (If the show is called Invincible then why can I see him?)
    
16. Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White and Monty Python and the Holy Grail's black knight and Benito Mussolini and the Blue Meanie and Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie, Robocop, The Terminator, Captain Kirk, and Darth Vader, Lo-pan, Superman, every single Power Ranger, Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan, Spock, The Rock, Doc Ock, and Hulk Hogan
    
17. Knife Guy 🪱/ The Creature
    
18. Thor Killing Bees [Weakness: Vegito Kid]
    
19. Fetus Cannon
    
20. Lusted Zeus
    
21. Soloku Black / Albedo
    
22. Dark Brandon
    

Z Tier

1. John Yakuza
   
2. Who (Who wins)
   
3. Peaklander (Homelander but peak)
   
4. Kagurabachi
   
5. Future Future Trunks
   
6. The / Soup / -Man / Killer Cock / The Jonkler / Bone / Dick (CEO of Misogyny) / Clit (CEO of Misandry) / Officer Balls
   
7. Multiversal Lanturn
   
8. Unaware Bidoof (possibly beats NoLimitsMan?)
   
9. Professor X (Formerly Professor Twitter)
   
10. WhoWouldWin US Army (infinite aircraft carriers, solo the rest of the world)
    
11. Marvel Editorial
    
12. Landorus-Tusk
    
13. Vegito Kid
    
14. Doctor Who Asked (Doctor Who) [Weakness: Apple]
    
15. Yobama
    
16. Sleepy Joe
    
17. Ramerica
    
18. JOGOAT
    
19. Pitbull named Destroyer of worlds
    
20. Pitbull named Princess
    
21. Coughing Baby
    
22. Hydrogen Bomb [Weakness: Coughing Baby]
    
23. 30 billion Spong Bops (Spongebob)
    
24. Wooden Bucket (soloed 2,000 people irl, massive R>F)
    

Top Tier

1. No one / Nobody (Can beat me when I’m Super 17, blinded Polyphemus, can defeat Chuck Norris, can kill a Jedi)
   
2. Solar System Level Moon Level Island Level Base Ben (this shit is real wtf#Original_Series))
   
3. Demoman TF2 (Random Crits lusted)
   
4. Mr. Bean
   
5. Glad he’s not that guy (Uncle Grandpa)
   
6. Green Banshee(Worth 500 plat)
   
7. GOATmon (doraemon)
   
8. The Grinch
   
9. Amongus Imposter
   
10. Infinite Aztec Jaguar Rain
    
11. AntiCrippleGirl (Barbara Gordon)
    
12. The Imperial Palace
    
13. Evil Water Bottle :(
    
14. Muscle Man (You know who else is Top tier on the pecking order?)
    
15. Nega Chin
    
16. u/Monday965 (inadvertently made some kid be named Finger)
    
17. Wargreymon (Killed Angela Anaconda who caused some kid’s parents to divorce, R>F)
    
18. Bonzi Buddy
    
19. Spoon (Spawn)
    

Mid Tier

1. Refrigerator (Frieza)
   
2. 19 inches of Venom
   
3. Pussy^2 (Catwoman)
   
4. Carney (Carnage)
   
5. THE GAME (You just lost THE GAME idiot)
   
6. Loss :.:;
   
7. Amazon.com (Wonder Woman)
   
8. The SECOND and SLOWEST Flash(Barry Allen)
   
9. Tim Drake (Nobody cares about Tim Drake okay)
   
10. hates it, click here to find out why. (Jujutsu Kaisen verse)
    
11. Tiny Ball (sub-human level, still outscales all of Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach)
    
12. HIM (Akainu)
    
13. WorldMan (Ichigo)
    
14. Narumid
    
15. Go / Jo (Domain Expansion: Unlimited Copium)
    
16. Jarro
    
17. THE JOKE IS PORN (Peter Griffin) (“Holy crap Lois I’m in the Pecking Order, this is almost as bad as the time Batgos solo’d my verse”)
    
18. Terrarian
    
19. Calliou
    
20. Inspector Gadget (Go Go Gadget Glock 19 / Go Go Gadget KILL GOKU)
    

Low Tier

1. Funny Black Man with the Lightning
   
2. You, yeah, you, reading this text
   
3. whowouldcirclejerk mods (fucking dead
   
4. An Apple (Beats Doctor Who Asked)
   
5. Wall
   
6. Outerversal
   
7. Penance Stare never works lol (Ghost Rider)
   
8. Thumb Pose Man (Vegeta)
   
9. The Jobbing Tribunal
   
10. Hungry Jobber (Galactus) [Weakness: Caillou] / Technophobic Jobber (Anti-Monitor)
    
11. CanonicallyUglyMan (Jason Todd)
    
12. WhoWouldWin Woman [Weakness: Any male character]
    
13. Square Cube Law
    
14. Big ass animal from a WhoWouldWin prompt
    

Bottom Tier Trash

1. The British (🤮) / The Fr*nch (surrenders all the time)
   
2. High Ground Obi-Wan Kenobi / UI Shaggy / Bully Maguire (dead meme tier)
   
3. Potential Man (Gohan, the original one)
   
4. Hazbin Hotel if it was written by Vivziepop
   
5. The Fraudio Demon (Alastor)
   
6. Infinite Kirby Death Loop
   
7. FeMale xbuster (never works)
   
8. Craytol
   
9. All-Frauder (GoW Odin) [Weakness: Kratonks, unironically]
   
10. 🅱️umlander (cums at the speed of sound) [Weakness: Water, Infinite Death Loop]
    
11. Sound (slowest thing ever)
    
12. NoAmbiguityVamp (irrelevant, still better than Flanotagos)
    

Disgust / The Streets Tier

1. Composite Brainrot
   
2. Suicide Squad Game (actual shit)
   
3. Brainrotniac (Somehow jobbed to the Suicide Squad wtf)
   
4. Composite AI Art / Voiceover
   
5. Your Waifu / Husbando (they are not real)
   
6. Genderbent King of Jobbers
   
7. This image (why are y'all so horny??)
   
8. Composite Hornyposter
   
9. 5,000 year old Dragon that looks like a child
   
10. Boykisser
    
11. Average Reddit Mod
    
12. Powerscaling
    
13. animemes / goodanimemes
    
14. Composite False Gos worshiper / Heretic
    

Fodder Tier

1. EldritchGodKiller (Kirby)
   
2. Doomdude (Doomslayer)
   
3. Chairman (Vergil)
   
4. StupidSleepingMan (Azathoth) (is an Eldritch God and got murked by EldritchGodKiller)
   
5. Inventory isn’t a game mechanic guys trust (Minecraft Steve)
   
6. Man Emperor of Godkind (God Emperor of Mankind)
   
7. Pyrite Memory Lament (GER)
   

161, Anus Foldigoad

1. Yogurt Trashkatsu (Yogiri Instant Death guy) [Weakness: Kratonks dying lol]
   
2. JumpMan (Mario)
   
3. Subsonic (Sonic) (Speed of sound only)
   
4. Auren the Partial
   
5. Composite Suggsverse
   
6. NLF Man / NoLimiterMan (Saitama)
   
7. NoLimitsLizard (SCP-682)
   
8. Fodder Am Fodder Am (I Am That I Am)
   
9. Fodderine Augustus Gloop Aurora Borealis (Featherine)
   

False Gos / Heretic Tier [Weakness: Kratonks]
High Heretic Tier (Gos joke but it’s a pun at least)

1. Ryan Gosling
   
2. Terapagos (again?)
   
3. Duolingos
   
4. Amogos
   
5. Jogos
   
6. Gosgos
   
7. Yoda (Gos)
   

Mid Heretic Tier

1. Irongos
   
2. Spider-Gos / Spigos / Cumgos (HoldsBack-Man held back so hard he became a heretic)
   
3. Plasmagos
   
4. Obamagos
   
5. Goscor
   
6. DuckDuckGos
   
7. Kaygos / Super Mario Gos
   
8. Warigos
   
9. Dragongos
   
10. Spongegos
    
11. Thangos
    
12. Magmagos
    
13. Jackgos
    
14. Pac-Gos
    
15. Hougos
    
16. Golden Gos
    
17. Buggos Bunny and Shaggos
    
18. Kirbos the gos eater
    
19. Malygos, Kalecgos and Azuregos (oldest recorded x + gos post)
    

Low Heretic Tier

1. Cowgos and Catgos
   
2. Asbestgos
   
3. Shingos
   
4. Goszilla (Godzilla in Hell)
   
5. Doctor Gos
   
6. Vegegos
   
7. Baldur (thought he killed Batgos)
   
8. The Darkest Gos (false Batgos)
   
9. Batgos AI Bot / ERB Batgos / u/Batgos (Gos impersonators)
   

Kratonks and Skibidi King Tier
♾️.-1. Lego Kratonks (can exist irl)
♾️. Kratonks / Kranktoes / Kraytoes (Multi-Omnipotent fodder)
♾️+1. Flangos [Weakness: Kratonks, Jimbo, Base Ben, holding back Red]
♾️+2. Skibidi King (Got no diffed by Kratonks lol)

Trigger warning: Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Emotional Abuse
This is a lot longer than I expected it to be. I'm sorry about the flair, It's not a rant in the angry sense but I wasn't sure what exactly to put.
We were together for 12 years, married for 5. We were both 19 when we got together and moved in together when we were 21. We moved in partially because we wanted to have separation between us and our parents and partially because we felt ready. I guess we kinda kept going in the relationship because we didn't really understand what love was and figured we would figure it out together.
Before we moved in together even a few years after, I was madly in love with him. No matter what he did or how many red flags I saw I was still head over heels. It didn't change overnight, it was gradual. A lot of little arguments about the same issues, a couple big arguments here and there. I just realized over time our relationship was never going to be a priority for him.
The things I did throughout the relationship to try to keep it going/strengthen it were way too many. I planned all of our dates and anniversaries and most of our wedding; I got us multiple couples journals, a sexy would you rather book, a book to help start conversations, a switch (so we could game together like MarioKart), some two player board/card games, plus some other bedroom stuff; I also was the one buying all the gifts for him and both of our families, most of my birthdays I didn't get a gift from him. Not to mention the regular household things that I would have to either remind him multiple times to do (over several days) or just do myself. When he did do them, they felt very half-assed.
One of the main issues in our relationship was his gaming. I didn't mind him gaming, I minded that he put all his energy there and was "too tired" to do anything with me (even watching movies or playing a game) I told him multiple times over the relationship that if he was going to game I needed the same amount of time/effort that he puts towards his computer. He said he understood but nothing changed for long. He also had a tendency to gaslight me into thinking I said something, hadn't said something, that what he said was a joke and I needed to chill out, that he never said that, etc.
The house I grew up in was.... something. My Dad is honestly the best man I have ever known, he can be a little slow on the uptake in relationships (him and my ex aligned in that aspect so I reached out to him a lot for advice on how to get through to him). My mom... she is a narcissist who loves playing the victim and hates losing control (for more, see my profile). When we were kids, she was great, but as we developed into separate people, she started losing it. My parents have been divorced since I was in middle school. The amount of emotional abuse and manipulation in the home after Dad left was insane. Which I think is one of the reasons I didn't leave my marriage sooner.
After we moved in together I noticed his temper. I was used to a temper, just not a physical one. He mostly threw things, slammed doors, or hit walls. He did end up hurting me, but they were spread out over the years so I was able to get over it easier. The first time during an argument he threw me across the room (I landed on the bed, so no injuries). A few years later when he was drinking, I was tidying up the apartment and he wanted sex, so without a word, he grabbed me spun me around and used me, I safeworded twice but he said he didn't hear me and never stopped. It was fairly quick but he noticed blood when he was done and ran to go shower. I was in shock so I just pulled up my pants and did the dishes. The next time we were arguing and I was walking off towards the bathroom to get some space, I turned around to tell him to leave me alone and his fist was headed towards me, so I slammed the door and he ended up putting a hole in the door where my shoulder was.
The next (and last time) was in February. I had a long day, we got fast food after he picked me up from work. He told me to go relax and shower. I figured he was going to get dinner set up and put our show on so I could just come in and sit down. I come back out and the food is still in the bag, the groceries I got weren't put away, and he was gaming on his computer. I was pissed. He has a laptop but has a keyboard and monitor hooked up to it so he never actually has his hand in there. I went behind his desk (never saw him from the side or back since his back is to a wall and the back of the computer is facing the room) and slammed his laptop shut. I stormed off (he never indicated pain or anything and I NEVER saw his hand) he ran after me and caught me in the bedroom doorway and pushed me. I fell back and hit my head on the nightstand. I was bleeding and developed a bruise on my backside and a back injury a few days later. He was super apologetic when he saw I was bleeding and doctored my wound. When he explained that his hand was in there I apologized for that and said I had no intention of hurting him.
The next day, after telling my family what happened and thinking over it, I decided to get a divorce. It was the final straw and I know I deserve better. I filed a couple weeks later and we've just been "roommates" since we can't afford this place on our own.
All my family (other than my mom) is across the country so I will be moving to be near them next week.
I've been with him for all of my young adult life. I never dated, we met through work, and I don't know what the future looks like and that terrifies me. I know that we were never going to make it work and that it's good that I'm getting out, but I'm also going to miss the hell out of him. Maybe it's the normalcy that he brings. He's comfortable. But I need to be adored, and he was never going to be that person.

FT: Atalanta 3-0 Marseille

Venue: Gewiss Stadium
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Isak Hien, Marten de Roon, Berat Djimsiti, Teun Koopmeiners, Éderson (Giorgio Scalvini), Matteo Ruggeri, Davide Zappacosta (Hans Hateboer), Gianluca Scamacca (Aleksei Miranchuk), Ademola Lookman (El Bilal Toure), Charles De Ketelaere (Mario Pasalic).
Subs: Pietro Comi, Marco Palestra, Marco Carnesecchi, Michel Adopo, Giovanni Bonfanti, Francesco Rossi, Mitchel Bakker.
^{____________________________}
Marseille
Pau López, Samuel Gigot, Leonardo Balerdi, Chancel Mbemba (Azzedine Ounahi), Jordan Veretout, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Quentin Merlin (Luis Henrique ), Jonathan Clauss (Faris Moumbagna), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Amine Harit (Joaquín Correa), Iliman Ndiaye (Ismaïla Sarr).
Subs: Emran Soglo, Michael Murillo, Raimane Daou, Simon Ngapandouentnbu, Bamo Meïté, Rubén Blanco, Gaël Lafont.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
30' Goal! Atalanta 1, Marseille 0. Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Charles De Ketelaere.
47' Éderson (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
52' Goal! Atalanta 2, Marseille 0. Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Ademola Lookman.
56' Substitution, Atalanta. Aleksey Miranchuk replaces Gianluca Scamacca.
56' Substitution, Atalanta. Giorgio Scalvini replaces Éderson.
59' Substitution, Marseille. Azzedine Ounahi replaces Chancel Mbemba.
59' Substitution, Marseille. Ismaïla Sarr replaces Iliman Ndiaye.
61' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
63' Marten de Roon (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Luis Henrique replaces Quentin Merlin.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Jonathan Clauss.
76' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
77' Substitution, Atalanta. El Bilal Touré replaces Ademola Lookman.
84' Substitution, Marseille. Joaquín Correa replaces Amine Harit.
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FT: Atalanta 3-0 Marseille

Venue: Gewiss Stadium
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LINE-UPS
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Isak Hien, Marten de Roon, Berat Djimsiti, Teun Koopmeiners, Éderson (Giorgio Scalvini), Matteo Ruggeri, Davide Zappacosta (Hans Hateboer), Gianluca Scamacca (Aleksei Miranchuk), Ademola Lookman (El Bilal Toure), Charles De Ketelaere (Mario Pasalic).
Subs: Pietro Comi, Marco Palestra, Marco Carnesecchi, Michel Adopo, Giovanni Bonfanti, Francesco Rossi, Mitchel Bakker.
^{____________________________}
Marseille
Pau López, Samuel Gigot, Leonardo Balerdi, Chancel Mbemba (Azzedine Ounahi), Jordan Veretout, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Quentin Merlin (Luis Henrique ), Jonathan Clauss (Faris Moumbagna), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Amine Harit (Joaquín Correa), Iliman Ndiaye (Ismaïla Sarr).
Subs: Emran Soglo, Michael Murillo, Raimane Daou, Simon Ngapandouentnbu, Bamo Meïté, Rubén Blanco, Gaël Lafont.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
30' Goal! Atalanta 1, Marseille 0. Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Charles De Ketelaere.
47' Éderson (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
52' Goal! Atalanta 2, Marseille 0. Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Ademola Lookman.
56' Substitution, Atalanta. Aleksey Miranchuk replaces Gianluca Scamacca.
56' Substitution, Atalanta. Giorgio Scalvini replaces Éderson.
59' Substitution, Marseille. Azzedine Ounahi replaces Chancel Mbemba.
59' Substitution, Marseille. Ismaïla Sarr replaces Iliman Ndiaye.
61' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
63' Marten de Roon (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Luis Henrique replaces Quentin Merlin.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Jonathan Clauss.
76' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
77' Substitution, Atalanta. El Bilal Touré replaces Ademola Lookman.
84' Substitution, Marseille. Joaquín Correa replaces Amine Harit.
90'+4' Goal! Atalanta 3, Marseille 0. El Bilal Touré (Atalanta) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner.
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This match is now over. Join the post match discussion here

FT: Atalanta 3-0 Marseille

2nd Leg - Atalanta advance 4-1 on aggregate
Atalanta scorers: Ademola Lookman (30'), Matteo Ruggeri (52'), El Bilal Toure (90'+4')
Venue: Gewiss Stadium
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LINE-UPS
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Isak Hien, Marten de Roon, Berat Djimsiti, Teun Koopmeiners, Éderson ~~ Giorgio Scalvini, Matteo Ruggeri, ~~Davide Zappacosta Hans Hateboer, Gianluca Scamacca Aleksei Miranchuk, Ademola Lookman El Bilal Toure, Charles De Ketelaere Mario Pasalic.
Subs: Pietro Comi, Marco Palestra, Marco Carnesecchi, Michel Adopo, Giovanni Bonfanti, Francesco Rossi, Mitchel Bakker.
^{____________________________}
Marseille
Pau López, Samuel Gigot, Leonardo Balerdi, Chancel Mbemba Azzedine Ounahi, Jordan Veretout, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Quentin Merlin Luis Henrique , Jonathan Clauss Faris Moumbagna, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Amine Harit Joaquín Correa, Iliman Ndiaye Ismaïla Sarr.
Subs: Emran Soglo, Michael Murillo, Raimane Daou, Simon Ngapandouentnbu, Bamo Meïté, Rubén Blanco, Gaël Lafont.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
KO' Kickoff
30' Goal! Atalanta 1, Marseille 0. Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Charles De Ketelaere.
HT' First Half ends, Atalanta 1, Marseille 0.
47' Éderson (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
52' Goal! Atalanta 2, Marseille 0. Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Ademola Lookman.
56' Substitution, Atalanta. Giorgio Scalvini replaces Éderson.
59' Substitution, Marseille. Ismaïla Sarr replaces Iliman Ndiaye.
61' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
63' Marten de Roon (Atalanta) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Jonathan Clauss.
76' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
77' Substitution, Atalanta. El Bilal Touré replaces Ademola Lookman.
84' Substitution, Marseille. Joaquín Correa replaces Amine Harit.
90+4' Goal! Atalanta 3, Marseille 0. El Bilal Touré (Atalanta) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner.
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FT: Marseille 1-1 Atalanta

Venue: Orange Vélodrome
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LINE-UPS
Marseille
Pau López, Leonardo Balerdi, Michael Murillo (Azzedine Ounahi), Chancel Mbemba, Luis Henrique , Jonathan Clauss (Quentin Merlin), Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jordan Veretout, Amine Harit (Iliman Ndiaye), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ismaïla Sarr (Faris Moumbagna).
Subs: Emran Soglo, Keyliane Abdallah, Rubén Blanco, Raimane Daou, Joaquín Correa, Gaël Lafont, Yakine Said, Simon Ngapandouentnbu.
^{____________________________}
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Berat Djimsiti, Sead Kolasinac (Mario Pasalic), Giorgio Scalvini, Éderson , Marten de Roon, Matteo Ruggeri, Davide Zappacosta (Hans Hateboer), Gianluca Scamacca (Ademola Lookman), Charles De Ketelaere (Aleksei Miranchuk), Teun Koopmeiners.
Subs: Giovanni Bonfanti, Marco Palestra, El Bilal Toure, Michel Adopo, Francesco Rossi, Marco Carnesecchi, Pietro Comi.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
11' Goal! Marseille 0, Atalanta 1. Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Teun Koopmeiners.
17' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Sead Kolasinac because of an injury.
20' Goal! Marseille 1, Atalanta 1. Chancel Mbemba (Marseille) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Geoffrey Kondogbia following a corner.
59' Substitution, Atalanta. Ademola Lookman replaces Gianluca Scamacca.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Ismaïla Sarr.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Quentin Merlin replaces Jonathan Clauss.
69' Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Iliman Ndiaye replaces Amine Harit.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Azzedine Ounahi replaces Amir Murillo.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Aleksey Miranchuk replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
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FT: Marseille 1-1 Atalanta

Venue: Orange Vélodrome
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LINE-UPS
Marseille
Pau López, Leonardo Balerdi, Michael Murillo (Azzedine Ounahi), Chancel Mbemba, Luis Henrique , Jonathan Clauss (Quentin Merlin), Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jordan Veretout, Amine Harit (Iliman Ndiaye), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ismaïla Sarr (Faris Moumbagna).
Subs: Emran Soglo, Keyliane Abdallah, Rubén Blanco, Raimane Daou, Joaquín Correa, Gaël Lafont, Yakine Said, Simon Ngapandouentnbu.
^{____________________________}
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Berat Djimsiti, Sead Kolasinac (Mario Pasalic), Giorgio Scalvini, Éderson , Marten de Roon, Matteo Ruggeri, Davide Zappacosta (Hans Hateboer), Gianluca Scamacca (Ademola Lookman), Charles De Ketelaere (Aleksei Miranchuk), Teun Koopmeiners.
Subs: Giovanni Bonfanti, Marco Palestra, El Bilal Toure, Michel Adopo, Francesco Rossi, Marco Carnesecchi, Pietro Comi.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
11' Goal! Marseille 0, Atalanta 1. Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Teun Koopmeiners.
17' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Sead Kolasinac because of an injury.
20' Goal! Marseille 1, Atalanta 1. Chancel Mbemba (Marseille) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Geoffrey Kondogbia following a corner.
59' Substitution, Atalanta. Ademola Lookman replaces Gianluca Scamacca.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Ismaïla Sarr.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Quentin Merlin replaces Jonathan Clauss.
69' Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Iliman Ndiaye replaces Amine Harit.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Azzedine Ounahi replaces Amir Murillo.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Aleksey Miranchuk replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
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FT: Marseille 1-1 Atalanta

Venue: Orange Vélodrome
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LINE-UPS
Marseille
Pau López, Leonardo Balerdi, Michael Murillo (Azzedine Ounahi), Chancel Mbemba, Luis Henrique , Jonathan Clauss (Quentin Merlin), Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jordan Veretout, Amine Harit (Iliman Ndiaye), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ismaïla Sarr (Faris Moumbagna).
Subs: Emran Soglo, Keyliane Abdallah, Rubén Blanco, Raimane Daou, Joaquín Correa, Gaël Lafont, Yakine Said, Simon Ngapandouentnbu.
^{____________________________}
Atalanta
Juan Musso, Berat Djimsiti, Sead Kolasinac (Mario Pasalic), Giorgio Scalvini, Éderson , Marten de Roon, Matteo Ruggeri, Davide Zappacosta (Hans Hateboer), Gianluca Scamacca (Ademola Lookman), Charles De Ketelaere (Aleksei Miranchuk), Teun Koopmeiners.
Subs: Giovanni Bonfanti, Marco Palestra, El Bilal Toure, Michel Adopo, Francesco Rossi, Marco Carnesecchi, Pietro Comi.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
11' Goal! Marseille 0, Atalanta 1. Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Teun Koopmeiners.
17' Substitution, Atalanta. Mario Pasalic replaces Sead Kolasinac because of an injury.
20' Goal! Marseille 1, Atalanta 1. Chancel Mbemba (Marseille) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Geoffrey Kondogbia following a corner.
59' Substitution, Atalanta. Ademola Lookman replaces Gianluca Scamacca.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Faris Moumbagna replaces Ismaïla Sarr.
65' Substitution, Marseille. Quentin Merlin replaces Jonathan Clauss.
69' Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Iliman Ndiaye replaces Amine Harit.
72' Substitution, Marseille. Azzedine Ounahi replaces Amir Murillo.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Aleksey Miranchuk replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
84' Substitution, Atalanta. Hans Hateboer replaces Davide Zappacosta.
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You know me. I love Marbula One speculation. And I'd been doing some thinking recently: I've got some ideas on how each season's tracks should be decided that I haven't really seen anyone else talk about before. This is definitely going to be controversial, so hear me out and I'll be very interested to see what people have to say.
My main proposal here is a set of ground rules to decide whose tracks will be featured in every season of Marbula One. Now, will JMR follow these ground rules? Of course they won't. Heck, I tried to extrapolate ground rules for how they pick teams for Marbula One two years ago and immediately found them proven wrong; plus, I don't really like those rules anymore. But I still want to bring this up because this is a conversation that I don't often see happening, and even if JMR doesn't actually follow these ideas, I want to layout some goals with these rules to gauge how people feel about them.
So here I present seven rules that I will then use to make my track wishlist for Season 5. Most of them I think will be fairly uncontroversial (I can only see two of them really triggering arguments). The main goal is to balance having a solid proportion of popular tracks every season with wanting every team in the series to have a healthy share of getting to host races in Marbula One. Here they are:

1. There will be ten races. This was a popular length in Season 4 so why would they change it?
2. Only teams participating in the series will get a track. I know a lot of people want to kick teams but keep their tracks, and I get it, but I don't know man, that just feels wrong and rude to the host team. Am I overthinking it? Of course, but that's kind of our thing here. On the flip side, I'll point out that we're fast approaching a time where we're running out of new teams to bring in, and more teams will be returning after getting kicked out. Their tracks can come back then.
3. No tracks should be in more than four seasons in a row. This is purely inspired by O'raceway's 4-in-a-row. Further, I think only one track in a season should be a 4-in-a-row track. We don't want tracks getting old and stale.
4. The next Marble League's host will not host a race. I'm actually fairly confident that JMR deliberately does this already, because why else would Honeydome have been excluded in Season 4?
5. There should be at least one track for an incoming team. Yeah sooner or later this rule will become impossible and it's the least important of these rules for me personally but this has consistently happened thus far and I like it so it's here.
6. A team on its third season in the series should have a track. This is inspired by JMR giving every remaining veteran team in Season 3 a track. This may have been a happy accident, but I think that was a very good decision on their part. If a team is racing for that long and doesn't get to host, that just feels bad.
7. If a team hasn't gotten to host for two seasons, they should get to host in the next one. (Hiatus seasons are not counted for this.) I got the idea from Razzway and Greenstone coming back in Season 4. Now, this one might be another controversial one because this means unpopular tracks will have to come back eventually, and I know people have tracks they hate. Hey, I do too! But the more I think about it divorced from how much I dislike Sleet Street, I feel like, similar to the previous rule, a team that's in the series for a while should get to host every once in a while. And tracks have had improvements before, and if they don't work, then we can just put up with it once every three years and that shouldn't hurt too much. They won't be pushing out a bunch of other better tracks, since the whole point of this system is everyone gets to host.

What does this mean for my Season 5 wish list? These are the tracks that are required to return or stay away:

• O'raceway cannot return under Rule 3.
• Sleet Street cannot return under Rule 4.
• The Chocolatiers and the Shining Swarm will need a track under Rule 6, provided they remain in the series.
• Palette Park and Savage Speedway will need to return under Rule 7, unless for some godforsaken reason the top two teams from last season are booted.

**Real quick, let's go over the lineup of teams I'll be using because that's a little important. I'm going to be going with my wish list, which is to cut the Raspberry Racers, Wolfpack, Chocolatiers, and Thunderbolts and bring in the Indigo Stars, Rojo Rollers, Snowballs, and Turtle Sliders. This probably isn't what will happen but since that holds true for this entire proposal I'm just going to roll with it.
And with all that out of the way, I present my suggestion for the tracks of Marbula One Season 5:

1. Momotorway. What better way to start off this season than with this banger? After a one-season break in which Momo won the individual championship, let's kick off Season 5 with Momotorway.
2. [insert name for Shining Swarm track here because I had an idea but then I forgor]. The Shining Swarm will probably(?) stick around and they're one of those teams that will need a team. I think having a new track early on in the season is important to keep the series spiced up, and I think the Shining Swarm could have some really cool track themes to work with. Just don't make it too bright please.
3. Tumult Turnpike. This is hands-down the track that deserves the four-in-a-row treatment. Not much else to be said here.
4. Savage Speedway. If we can get over our collective repression of the Season 2 race on this track, I think Savage Speedway is a decent enough track, especially in its Season 1 iteration. It's not the most exciting track in the world, which is why we won't be making this the penultimate race, but it could be a very functional fourth race, which is a good a spot as any for us to chill for a weekend.
5. Turtle Beach. I've been a big Turtle Beach proponent since last July when I thought it up, and I still think this is the perfect way to fill the now-empty niche of a sand track. Think of how cute it would be to have little turtles swimming around in the water surrounding the track. We could have snack stands and surfing marbles and palm trees and everything. This is pure vibes right here.
6. Arctic Circuit. Now this is just an apology for cutting the Snowballs in the first place, which shouldn't have happened. (And if they don't get invited back because Snowy bombed the Honeydome in Marble League I will riot.) Further, I think this will be a fun way to have some track variety in the series, putting the ice course right after the beach course. What's more summer than going ice skating the day after a beach party? (Also this would be a nice palette cleanser after two years of Sleet Street good lord.)
7. Electron Expressway. This is just one of those universally-acclaimed good tracks. It's not one of my absolute favorites but I have to love the genius theming of the quad split and also it looks like a dolphin (insert Dolphin Shoals sax solo here) so that automatically makes it good.
8. Palette Park. This is the other Season 2 problem child that is here out of Rule 7 obligation. I so badly want to like this track. I love the high-speed, high-energy racing, but it was just so hard to follow and the camera had to keep whipping around to follow the leaders. Maybe they can make it work by making the course a bit less thin and wide? Idk, but I'll choose to have faith.
9. Casino Square. I absolutely love Casino Square. It's my favorite track from Season 4 and its nighttime party atmosphere made it a perfect finale. I know Sakura Garden has its fans, but this is hands down always going to be the Season 4 track I want brought back immediately, and it'd be the perfect penultimate race, leading up to this finale:
10. Starlight Skyline. Okay, it's definitely a big leap of faith to hype myself so much for a track that doesn't exist, but come on. After all this time, the Indigo Stars deserve this. They deserve to have the banger track. They deserve to have the finale of a lifetime with this name I partially got from Craziest Cat's Eye on Twitter. They deserve a soaring, majestic nighttime track that's Season 1's Midnight Bay on steroids. Imagine a Marbula One track as awe-inspiring as something like Rainbow Road 7 (yes I've been playing too much Mario Kart). Yeah obviously we're not going to have anti-grav and gliders in Marbula One, but we could have a portion of the track on a planetary ring, we could have glittering stars, we could have tons of glass bridges, and maybe we could even have a track that is fully suspended for the ceiling. Reach for the stars!!

Some final notes: Yes, I snubbed Honeydome. That track is my current favorite track in the series, but after Marble League and Showdown, I'm kind of Honeydome-d out for now and could use more of a break from the hives. Sakura Garden is a track I wanted to include because it's cool and popular but ultimately cut. To be honest, I wouldn't mind replacing Tumult Turnpike with it and stop the tradition of 4-in-a-row. And of course, here's an obligatory note that if the Chocolatiers end up staying like I have a sinking feeling they will, they'll need a track, and we'd probably have to axe my precious Turtle Beach for it, so if this happens I will be very unhappy.
Under these rules, Season 6 will be obligated to include Mirage Meowntain, as well as tracks for Team Plasma and the Rojo Rollers if they stick around in the series. Tumult Turnpike would be ineligible. Honestly, after seeing it in practice, I like Rule 7 more. I don't think it's too restricting, though I may have to reassess in a few more years' worth of hypothetical lists. Maybe I'll do that if I get bored, since it doesn't look like SMR is showing up anytime soon. But for now, I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing some other opinions on this. Let it roll!

Here is the list of the currently 73 inmates executed by the state of Alabama that I wrote for my post Furman death penalty project. Alabama has set plans to carry out additional executions in the next few months, and this list might be reposted with the updated information if they happen as scheduled.
Something that should also be clarified is the dates given here are an approximate timeline of their earliest known criminal activities to their executions rather then time spent on death row. Many of the cases here are quite graphic by nature, and I don't shy away from it in my descriptions. Please read at your own risk.
The states I have left are Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Oklahoma, and the still in progress Texas. I'll probably post my list for Georgia next whenever I have time next week.
The currently executed 73 offenders:
1. John Evans III (~1976+-1983, electric chair): A year after Evans was paroled, he and another ex convict, Wayne Ritter, went on a two month long crime spree that involved 30 armed robberies, 9 kidnappings, and 2 extortion incidents. Their rampage ended when they shot dead 34 year old Edward Nassar in front of his daughters while robbing his pawn shop. Evans' execution was controversial, as it took 24 minutes and three pulls of the switch to electrocute him. Any information on his crimes before his 1977 spree is unavailable to me.
2. Arthur Jones (1981-1986, electric chair): Jones gunned down Vaughn Thompson, a 21 year old storekeeper, and William Waymon, a 72 year old cab driver, in two robberies.
3. Wayne Ritter (1976-1986, electric chair): Ritter was the accomplice of the above mentioned John Evans. After being released from prison, he assisted him in several robberies, abductions, and the murder of Edward Nassar. Like Evans, Ritter's earlier criminal history wasn't disclosed in the sources on hand.
4. Michael Lindsey (1981-1989, electric chair): Lindsey broke in the home of 64 year old Rosemary Rutland. After tying her up, he shot and stabbed Rutland to death, and stole her Christmas presents.
5. Horace Dunkins Jr. (1980-1989, electric chair): Dunkins abducted 26 year old Lynn McCurry, bound her to a tree, and raped her. He stabbed McCurry 66 times, and left her body on the tree she was tied to. His execution was a source of controversy, as Dunkins was allegedly cognitively disabled.
6. Herbert Richardson (1977-1989, electric chair): Richardson threw a pipe bomb into the home of one of his ex girlfriend's family members in retaliation for her breaking up with him. Her niece, 11 year old Rena Callins, was killed in the attack.
7. Arthur Julius (1972-1989, electric chair): In 1972, Julius beat his boss, 74 year old Herbert Chisenhall, to death during an argument over his wages. He was given a life sentence, but was able to leave custody in 1978 on a one day release. Julius took advantage of his leave to rape his cousin, 29 year old Susie Sanders, in her home. She was strangled to death during the assault.
8. Wallace Thomas (1976-1990, electric chair): Thomas and a partner abducted 21 year old Quenette Shehane from a convenience store. She was raped, robbed, and shot to death.
9. Larry Heath (1981-1992, electric chair): Out of a desire to marry another woman, Heath orchestrated the kidnapping of his 21 year old wife Rebecca (who was 9 months pregnant with their child) with the help of some men he hired. She was abducted from their home and shot in the head.
10. Cornelius Singleton (~1972-1992, electric chair): Singleton was condemned for the robbery of a Catholic monastery that ended with the fatal strangulation of a nun, 51 year old Ann Hogan. His execution was hotly contested by his lawyers and supporters, who have alleged misconduct in the trial and investigation. Despite the controversy, Hogan's stolen watch was found in Singleton's possession. Singleton was previously convicted for a 1972 incident involving arson and burglary.
11. Willie Clisby Jr. (1979-1995, electric chair): Clisby broke into the home of 58 year old Fletcher Handley, beat him to death with an ax handle, and left with $80 in hand.
12. Varnell Weeks (1981-1995, electric chair): Weeks abducted and carjacked 24 year old Mark Batts. He bound Batts, placed a pillowcase on his head, and shot him through it. While driving Batts' stolen car in Ohio, he was flagged down by police officers, and Weeks fired on them in the confrontation. In the shootout, Weeks was captured without any causalities to the responding officers. His execution was controversial, as his lawyers claimed that he was a paranoid schizophrenic.
13. Edward Horsley Jr. (~1976-1996, electric chair): After escaping from prison with Brian Baldwin, Horsley abducted 16 year old Naomi Rolon while she was hitchhiking. Horsley raped and dismembered Rolon with an ax, and ran her body over. Although Horlsey's culpability is an overwhelming certainty, the extent of Baldwin's alleged involvement is a significant source of contention. Horsley was previously convicted of a string of robberies that ended up with a non-fatal shooting of a police officer.
14. Billy Waldrop (1982-1997, electric chair): Waldrop snuck into the home of 72 year old Thurman Donahoo and shot him in the head. He then stole $130 and a 5-carat diamond ring. To destroy any evidence of his crime, Waldrop burned the house down, and fled to California. While in hiding, he was detained by the local law enforcement for a DUI and extradited back to Alabama to face trial.
15. Walter Hill (~1952-1997, electric chair): As a teenager in the early 50s, Hill beat Sam Atmore (age unknown) to death. He was given a 10 year sentence for that murder, and took part in an escape attempt that was temporarily successful because of the watchman's negligence. After his release, Hill became a career criminal and was involved with several abduction robberies, and wound up in a cycle of repeatedly being in and out of prison. During one of his incarcerations, Hill stabbed an unidentified inmate to death, but was cleared of any charges on the grounds of self defense. In 1977, Hill started an illicit "relationship" with a 13 year old girl, and sought the permission of her stepmother, 60 year old Willie Hammock, to marry but she refused. Out of anger, Hill shot Hammock, her 34 year old daughter Lois Tatum, and Lois' 36 year old husband John dead in their home, and abducted the girl and her 16 year old adopted brother. The brother managed to escape, but Hill kidnapped a motorist he encountered in Georgia. The man escaped captivity in North Carolina, and reported Hill and the abducted girl to the local police.
16. Henry Hays (1981-1997, electric chair): Hays was a member of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter, and the son of one of the most prominent KKK leaders in Alabama. In the area, the sentencing of a black man, who was accused of murdering a white policeman, kept on getting delayed due to a string of mistrials. Hays and other members of the KKK chapter interpreted it as a sign that blacks will be able to get away with murdering whites, and sought revenge by lynching a black person at random. The unfortunate victim was 19 year old Michael Donald, who was abducted while walking home from a gas station. Donald was beaten with a tree stump, strangled with a rope, and his throat slit by Hays and his fellow Klansmen. His body was hung on a nearby tree.
17. Steven Thompson (1984-1998, electric chair): Thompson abducted 25 year old Robin Balarzs, a friend's fiancee, from her home. After he tied up and gagged her, Thompson raped Balarz and penetrated her with a knife, shaved her head, and dragged her to death with his car over a distance of 3,000 feet. He stole Balarz's wedding ring and a dollar from her purse, and sexually mutilated her body.
18. Brian Baldwin (~1977-1998, electric chair): Baldwin was the accused accomplice of the above mentioned Edward Horsley, and allegedly helped him with the sex murder of Naomi Rolon after they escaped from prison together. As mentioned in Horsley's section, Baldwin's involvement with Rolon's killing remains hotly contested to this day, and he and his supporters alleged that he was set up by institutionalized racism and tortured into confessing by investigating police officers. He was previously in prison for stealing a car.
19. Victor Kennedy (~1980-1999, electric chair): Kennedy, a career burglar, and an accomplice, Darrell Grayson, broke into the home of 86 year old Annie Orr to search for money. They bound, beat, raped, and suffocated her with a pillow case. When they failed to find any money, Kennedy and Grayson left the residence empty handed.
20. David Duren (1983-2000, electric chair): Duren and an accomplice kidnapped 16 year old Kathleen Bedsole and her date, 17 year old Charles Leonard, and stole $20 that was given to them by Bedsole's father. The couple were tied together, and locked in the trunk for several hours. When Duren stoped his car, he shot both of the teenagers. Bedsole was killed, while Leonard managed to survive and escape.
21. Freddie Wright (1977-2000, electric chair): Wright was convicted of robbing a store owned by couple, 40 year old Warren and 37 year old Lois Green, with 3 other men. The Greens were tied together, dragged into a backroom, and shot to death. Their watches and $900 were stolen in the robbery. His execution was controversial, as his attorneys and supporters push that he was convicted both out of racism and the participants allegedly naming him to avoid death sentences.
22. Robert Tarver Jr. (1984-2000, electric chair): Tarver fatally shot 63 year old Hugh Kite, while he and an accomplice were robbing him outside of his store. Kite was just done closing his store when he was attacked, and had $80 taken from him.
23. Pernell Ford (1983-2000, electric chair): Ford forced himself into the home that 70 year old Willie Griffin shared with her 42 year old daughter Linda. He stabbed both of them to death after a struggle. Several undisclosed items were stolen from the Griffin home, and Ford used their car to flee to Illinois.
24. Lynda Block (1992-2002, electric chair): Block, her common law husband, George Sibley, and her 9 year old son were sitting in car that was parked in a Walmart parking lot. A passerby was concerned by Block's son apparently looking distressed, and reported them to the police. When a police officer, 38 year old Roger Motley, came to question them, Block and Sibley shot him to death. The couple was previously involved in assaulting and stabbing Block's ex husband in a dispute over their home, a crime they were on the run from at the time of Motley's murder.
25. Anthony Johnson (1984-2002, lethal injection): While Johnson and two unidentified men were robbing a jewelry store, they engaged in a gun-battle with the owner, 51 year Kenneth Cattrell, and killed him. Although Johnson's wasn't directly responsible for Cattrell's death and only acted as a lookout, he was the only member of the gang to be captured, and thus bore the brunt of the judicial retributions when he refused to testify against them.
26. Michael Thompson (1984-2003, lethal injection): During a nighttime convenience store robbery, Thompson kidnapped the clerk, 57 year old Maisie Gray. Thompson forced Gray into his car, drove her to a well, and tossed her inside it. He then shot a trapped Gray to death with his married girlfriend holding a torch for him. His girlfriend had a longstanding record for armed robberies, and Thompson's defense tried to use the argument that she goaded him into the killing or did it herself.
27. Gary Brown (1996-2003, lethal injection): Brown and a few other men went to the home of Jack McGraw, a 59 year old Korean War veteran, to "party." On numerous previous occasions, McGraw had paid them for sex acts. They planned on robbing McGraw's house after he passed out drunk, but he refused to drink as he had work the next morning. Undeterred, Brown and his accomplices attacked McGraw, and stabbed him a combined total of 78 times. More specifically, McGraw's back was stabbed 59 times, his throat and neck were slashed 16 times, and he had 3 cut wounds on his head. The group then stole $67 and a VCR set from his home.
28. Thomas Fortenberry (1984-2004, lethal injection): Fortenberry fatally shot four people, 51 year old Wilbur Nelson, 43 year old Robert Payne, Robert's 29 year old wife Nancy, and 21 year old Ronald Guest, while attempting to rob a gas station.
29. James Hubbard (~1957-2004, lethal injection): In 1957, Hubbard shot and killed 28 year old Carl Dockery in what was described as a "domestic disturbance." He was paroled in 1976 with the help of 62 year old Lillian Montgomery, a woman he befriended behind bars. Hubbard repaid the favor by shooting and killing her while robbing a store she owned in the following year. He stole $500 and her diamond watch, and tried to stage Montgomery's death as a suicide despite the fact that he shot her in the face, head, and shoulder.
30. David Hocker (1998-2004, lethal injection): Hocker was living in a motel and didn't have a car at hand. Thus, he asked his boss, 47 year old Jerry Robinson, to drive him around for an errand. When they were in the car together, Hocker stabbed Robinson to death, stole his credit card, and withdrew $400 from it to buy cocaine. Hocker had an extensive criminal history, but the specifics weren't given in my sources.
31. Mario Centobie (1995-2005, lethal injection): Centobie and another prisoner escaped from a Georgia prison during his 40 year sentence for the double kidnappings of his ex wife and son. They fled to Alabama, and were pulled over by local policemen. Centobie opened fire on them and killed Keith Turner, a 29 year old officer, and wounded another. The pair were recaptured in Georgia near the home of Centobie's ex wife. While awaiting trial, Centobie yet again escaped by seducing a guard, but was quickly recaptured.
32. Jerry Henderson (1984-2005, lethal injection): On his sister-in-law's payroll, Henderson lured her husband, 33 year Jerry Haney, outside of his house and shot him dead.
33. George Sibley Jr. (1992-2005, lethal injection): Sibley was the common law husband of the above mentioned Lynda Block, and assisted her in the killing of officer Roger Motley. He also took part in the assault of her ex husband.
34. John Peoples Jr. (1983-2005, lethal injection): Enraged that 34 year old Paul Franklin refused to sell him his car that he coveted, Peoples broke into his home, and beat him to death with a rifle. Peoples stole the car and abducted Paul's wife, 34 year old Judy, and their 10 year old son John. They were also beaten to death with Peoples' rifle.
35. Larry Hutcherson (1992-2006, lethal injection): Hutcherson broke into the home of 89 year old Irma Gray, and slit her throat. He stole her air conditioner and microwave in the robbery.
36. Aaron Jones (1978-2006, lethal injection): After being fired by them, Jones and his partner invaded the home of their former employers, 61 year old Carl and 45 year old Williene Nelson. They shot Carl and Willene dead and chopped their bodies into several pieces. The pair also shot their 3 children, 21 year old Tony, 13 year old Brenda, and 10 year old Charlie, and Carl's mother, 85 year old Annie, but they all managed to survive their injuries.
37. Darrell Grayson (1980-2007, lethal injection): Grayson was the accomplice of the previously mentioned Victor Kennedy, and partook in the rape and murder of Annie Orr and the burglary of her home.
38. Luther Williams (1988-2007, lethal injection): While John Kirk, a 63 year old WW2 veteran, was driving home from work, his truck broke down. He was found and abducted by Williams and 2 other men, and shot to death by them. The trio then stole money from Kirk's body and his truck.
39. James Callahan (1982-2009, lethal injection): Callahan kidnapped 26 year old Becky Howell, while she was walking from a club her fiance was performing to switch laundry that she left at a laundromat. Howell was raped and strangled to death.
40. Danny Bradley (1983-2009, lethal injection): When his wife was hospitalized, Bradley was left to care for his stepdaughter, 12 year old Rhonda Hardin, and his stepson. After he put his stepson to bed, Bradley sodomized Hardin and choked her to death with his bare hands.
41. Jimmy Dill (~1983-2009, lethal injection) Dill shot his dealer, 33 year old Leon Shaw, in the head during a deal gone bad, and stole $200 and a few bags of cocaine. Shaw was left comatose and died of his injuries 9 months later. Dill had an extensive criminal record for theft and drug possession.
42. Willie McNair (1990-2009, lethal injection): McNair and an accomplice went to the home of his occasional employer, 68 year old Ella Riley, to ask for some money. When Riley declined to give them any, McNair tricked her into letting him inside by asking for a drink of water. After walking in, he stabbed Riley in the neck and strangled her to death. The pair then fled with her purse.
43. Jack Trawick (~1972-2009, lethal injection): Trawick was convicted or credibly confessed to a minimum of 3 murders. His verified victims consist of 27 year old Aileen Pruitt, 21 year old Stephanie Gach, and 17 year old Betty Richards. In his known murders, he forcibly abducted his victims from public locations, and raped and tortured them. They were then stabbed and beaten to death with a hammer. Trawick bragged in graphic details about committing other murders on a website made for death row inmates, which he also used to taunt the victims' families. However, investigations into the alleged additional killings brought no results, and are now believed to have been fictionalized by Trawick for clout.
44. Max Payne (1992-2009, lethal injection): Payne robbed a store at gunpoint, and kidnapped the owner, 58 year old Braxton Brown. He took Brown to his sister's house and tried forcing him into giving them money. When his sister objected, Payne dragged Brown to a bridge, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the nearby creek. A total of $1,085 in cash and many of Brown's belongings were stolen, which included bank deposit checks, rings, cigarettes, food stamps, and a handgun.
45. Thomas Whisenhant (~1963-2010, lethal injection): At the age of 16, Whisenhant fatally shot 72 year old Lexie Haynes in one incident and robbed an unidentified blind woman in another. For uknown reasons, the charges were dropped against him, and he was able to join the air force. A few years later, he assaulted Rose Covington, a 22 year old WAF servicewoman, with an ashtray, and was discharged and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor for the attack. Whisenhant was granted parole in 1972. Another couple years later, he went on a crime spree, and abducted 3 women that worked in convenience stores he robbed. His victims, 44 year old Venora Hyatt, 28 year old Patricia Hitt, and 23 year old Cheryl Payton, were all raped and shot in the head.
46. John Parker (1988-2010, lethal injection): Parker and his accomplice Kenneth Smith was hired to kill 42 year old Elizabeth Sennett, by her husband, who wanted to use her life insurance policy to fund his ministering. Her husband was also Parker's landlord. The pair tricked Sennett into letting them inside the house by pretending to be hunters inquiring about for a hunting spot, and stabbed her to death. Sennett's husband then gave Parker and Smith their stereo and video cassette recorders to make it look like a robbery.
47. Michael Land (~1990-2010, lethal injection): Land kidnapped 30 year old Candace Brown from her apartment after he cut her telephone line. He raped Brown, shot her in the head, and stole her purse. Land had prior convictions of burglaries and receiving stolen goods, and previously met Brown in prison when she ministered to him.
48. Holly Wood (~1981-2010, lethal injection): In 1994, Wood shot his ex girlfriend, 34 year old Ruby Gosha, at point blank range in front of her children at her mother's home. He had also (non-fatally) shot another ex girlfriend from outside her bedroom window several years before Gosha's murder. His criminal history was extensive, and had 18 different felonies on his record. Some of the charges pertained to incidents of assault.
49. Phillip Hallford (~1978-2010, lethal injection): Hallford was jealousy enraged that his 15 year old daughter, whom he had been sexually abusing since she was 7, was dating 16 year old Charles Shannon. He forced her to lure Shannon to a bridge, gunned him down, and stole his wallet. With the coerced help of his stepson, Hallford dumped Shannon's body into a river. As a memento, Hallford forced his daughter to wear a necklace with the shell casing used in the murder.
50. Leroy White (1988-2011, lethal injection): White shot his estranged wife, 35 year old Ruby, dead while she was visiting her sister out of anger at their upcoming divorce. Ruby's sister was wounded in the shooting. White had also previously shot and injured Ruby's leg during an argument.
51. William Boyd (1986-2011, lethal injection): Boyd and a partner broke into the home of married couple, 76 year old Fred and 41 year old Evelyn Blackmon, and duped them into thinking that Evelyn's daughter (whom Boyd previously dated against her mother's wishes) was kidnapped. They made the couple believe that they had to pay a $3,000 ransom for her safe return. The couple were then both tied up, forcibly separated into their captors' cars, and beaten and shot to death.
52. Jason Williams (1992-2011, lethal injection): Under the influence of cocaine, Williams shot his roommate, 46 year old Gerald Paravicini dead in the trailer they shared. William then walked over to his neighbors, the Barber family (consisting of parents, 50 year old Freddie and 45 year old Linda, and their sons, 22 year old Bryan and 16 year old Brad) and intruded into their home. He shot and killed Freddie, Linda, and Bryan, and wounded Brad. Cash and credit cards were taken and Williams fled in the family van.
53. Eddie Powell III (~1990s-2011, lethal injection): Powell broke into the home of 70 year old Mattie Wesson, and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. Wesson was beaten and shot in the attack, but she managed to drag herself to a neighbor's house for help before she succumbed to her injuries. Powell had several previous convictions for burglary, theft, and assault.
54. Derrick Mason (1994-2011, lethal injection): Mason held up a convenience store, and forced the clerk, 25 year old Angela Cagle to turn off the cameras and undress. However, he shot Cagle in the head before any assault could occur. He then tried to open the register, but ran off when he failed to open it.
55. Christopher Johnson (2005-2011, lethal injection): To avoid paying child support and to spite his estranged wife, Johnson smothered his 6 month old son Eilas with his fingers, and struck him in the head.
56. Andrew Lackey (2005-2013, lethal injection): After being told about the existence of a vault inside the home of Charles Newman, a 80 year old WW2 veteran, by Newman's grandson, Lackey decided to steal it from him. He invaded Newman's house, and shot and stabbed him 70 times in the ensuring confrontation. Despite Lackey waiving his appeals and actively petitioning for his own execution, his death sentence attracted controversy due to him being diagnosed with Asperger's.
57. Christopher Brooks (1992-2016, lethal injection): Brooks snuck into the apartment of 23 year old Jo Campbell. He sexually assaulted Campbell in her bedroom, and bludgeoned her to death with a barbell. Several items, including a credit card, were stolen from the scene.
58. Ronald Smith Jr. (1994-2016, lethal injection): Smith and some accomplices robbed a convenience store, and fatally shot the clerk, 26 year old Casey Wilson. According to Smith's attorneys, Smith and Wilson were allegedly involved in a love triangle with a local stripper. If such accounts are to be believed, he shot him dead in a dispute over her, and Smith staged it as a robbery to avoid embarrassing his parents. However, the stripper strongly denied having any connections with both men. His execution sparked controversy, as witnesses reported him coughing and heaving for 13 minutes during it.
59. Thomas Arthur (1982-2017, lethal injection): Arthur's married girlfriend hired him to kill her husband, 35 year old Troy Wicker, for his insurance policy. He gunned down Wicker while he was sleeping in his bedroom. To mislead investigators, Wicker's wife claimed that an intruder broke into her home, shot her husband dead, and raped her.
60. Robert Melson (1994-2017, lethal injection): Melson and his partner held up a Popeyes store at gunpoint. They rounded up the employees, 23 year old Darrell Collier, 18 year old Tamika Collins, 17 year old Nathaniel Baker, and 17 year Bryant Archer, into a freezer, and shot them. Archer was the sole survivor, and identified Melson's accomplice, a former employee, to the police. Although Melson's accomplice was initially given a life sentence due to him being a minor at the time, he was later also sentenced to death for killing a cellmate, and is currently awaiting execution.
61. Torrey McNabb (1997-2017, lethal injection): McNabb skipped bail when he was facing charges for receiving stolen property and drug possession. He was tracked down by a bondsman sent to bring him back to court, but he shot at him when he appeared at his doorsteps. The bondsman then called the police for support. One of the responding officers, 30 year old Anderson Gordon, was killed in the standoff with McNabb.
62. Michael Eggers (2000-2018, lethal injection): Eggers and his ex employer, 67 year old Bennie Murray, were in talks about him returning to his former job at her carnival. While Murray was driving Eggers and his 15 year old son, they got into an argument. During the fight, Murray slapped Eggers, which enraged him. He beat and choked her with his hands until she went unconscious, and tossed Murray out of her car. Eggers continued to beat and kick Murray, and crushed her throat with a tree branch. After she was killed, Eggers stole money from Murray's purse, and drove away in her car.
63. Walter Moody (~1972-2018, lethal injection): In 1972, Moody was building a bomb to kill an auto dealer that repossessed his car. However, the bomb exploded prematurely, and critically injured Moody's then wife instead. Although Moody was cleared of charges relating to the construction of the bomb, he was still convicted of it being in his possession. His appeals were thrown away, which gave him a resentment against the justice system. After Moody was released from prison, he murdered a federal judge, 58 year old Robert Vance, and a civil rights attorney, 42 year old Robbie Robinson, and injured Vance's wife, in two separate bombings. To disguise his attacks, Moody sent bombs and hate letters to various NAACP targets.
64. Domineque Ray (1992-2019, lethal injection): Ray shot and killed two brothers, 18 year old Ernest and 13 year old Reinhard Mabins, for refusing to join his gang. In the following year, Ray and his gang members kidnapped 15 year old Tiffany Harville from her home and raped her. Her throat was slit and she was dumped in a remote cotton field.
65. Michael Samra (1997-2019, lethal injection): During an argument over a pick up truck, Samra and his teenage friend shot and killed his friend's father, 39 year old Randy Duke, and step mother, 29 year old Dedra Hunt. The pair also slit the throats of Dedra's two children, 7 year old Chelsea and 6 year old Chelisa.
66. Christopher Price (~1990-2019, lethal injection): Price invaded the home of Bill Lynn, a 57 year old pastor, while he was busy wrapping Christmas presents for his grandchildren. He stabbed Bill 30 times with a sword and injured his wife Bessie when they confronted him. Despite being only 19 at the time, Price had an extensive criminal history that involved trespassing, auto theft, and "criminal mischief."
67. Nathaniel Woods (~2004-2020, lethal injection): A squad of 4 police officers, 58 year old Carlos Owen, 40 year old Harley Chisholm III, 37 year old Michael Collins, and 33 year old Charles Bennett, were searching a drug house that Woods, a long time dealer, had been operating in. As they were arresting Woods, one of his associates opened fire on them and killed Chisholm, Bennett, and Owen. Collins was wounded, but managed to flee to safety. Wood's execution was extremely controversial, as he wasn't the triggerman in the shootings. His supporters and the shooter himself claimed that he was an entirely innocent party, while the prosecutors pushed that he deliberately lured the officers to their deaths.
68. Willie Smith III (1991-2021, lethal injection): Smith kidnapped 22 year old Sharma Johnson at gunpoint near a bank, and forced her to withdraw $80 from an ATM machine. He locked Johnson in the trunk of her own car, and shot her dead while she was trapped in it. The car was then burned to destroy the evidence.
69. Matthew Reeves (1996-2022, lethal injection): Reeves and two other men pretended to be hitchhikers on a remote highway as a ruse to lure motorists. The target they ensnared was 38 year old Willie Johnson Jr. They robbed Johnson of $360 when he stopped to pick them up, and Reeves shot him to death with a shotgun. Reeves then attended a party reportedly still covered with Johnson's blood, and celebrated by pretending to pump the gun and mockingly mimicked his death throes to the other guests.
70. Joe James Jr. (1993-2022, lethal injection): James tracked down his ex girlfriend, 26 year old Faith Hill, at her friend's apartment. She was in the company of her children, her friend, and her friend's children. The friend shielded the children from James with her body, while Hill tried desperately to calm him down. Despite her efforts, she was shot dead. His execution sparked controversy for it taking over 3 hours to complete, and caused the state of Alabama to delay executions until 2023. James was previously arrested and reported several times for harassing Hill's family, which included an incident of him burglarizing her grandmother's home.
71. James Barber (2001-2023, lethal injection): Barber assaulted 75 year old Dorothy Epps, who was both his ex girlfriend's mother and a former employer, with a claw hammer in her home. Despite her efforts at fighting him off, Epps was beaten to death, and Barber stole her purse.
72. Casey McWhorter (1993-2023, lethal injection): McWhorter conspired with a 15 year old friend and a 16 year old friend to kill 34 year old Edward Williams, the father of the 15 year old. The group tried to force Williams to had over a safe, but he tried to fight back. They shot him a total of 11 times with a .22 rifle equipped with a makeshift silencer in his home and took his truck, wallet, and an undisclosed amount of money. The stolen truck was destroyed in order to sell the parts for scrap metal.
73. Kenneth Smith (1988-2024, nitrogen hypoxia): Smith assisted John Parker in the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett on the behalf of her husband. His case attracted controversy when he survived a botched execution in 2022, and received international attention for being the first inmate in history to be executed with the controversially experimental nitrogen hypoxia method.

I’ve had a lot of adventures in my life.
I’ve traveled, made friends, seen sights, competed in sports, and participated in events.
Sometimes, following any of these endeavors, a small object would find itself in my possession. A knickknack, a totem, a doodad.
Maybe it was a collection of Mardi Gras beads from my trip to New Orleans. Or a t-shirt tossed by a cheerleader at a sporting event. A toy from a claw machine. A mixtape from a friend. A thank-you note. A cheap piece of junk from a tourist’s gift shop.
Whatever they were didn’t matter — what matters is that they were often a representation of whatever moment in time they came from.
I never threw these things away. I set them on my desk or on my shelves. When those spaces filled up, I bought two small storage containers. They’re filled to the brim and I’m currently filling a third.
Why keep the color-coordinated bandana a stranger gave me in the park during Pokemon Go’s heyday? Why hold onto the Save the Date from my high school friend who ended up getting divorced not two years later? What significance or use could I possibly have for those goofy White Elephant gifts my kickball team gave at the yearly Christmas party?
No purpose, no reason and there is none, respectively.
And yet I don’t want to let them go. You see, they are reminders of times and experiences — Keepsakes. Mementos. Souvenirs. In some ways, they’re a physical collection and documentation of my life.
It reminds me a little bit of this weird quirk I have when I play video games.
--
I likely dumped more than 500 hours across all my Skyrim save files. There was no other game, there needn’t be any other game and there still hasn’t been any other game since.
In my adulthood, I returned to one of its many definitive editions for one last victory lap. With my experience, memory and fully-formed adult brain, I approached the game methodologically, in an optimal order, carefully. I built my ideal character and crafted only what was needed — down to the last iron ingot. I explored, I experienced — I did every major and minor quest, making it my perfect playthrough.
One thing I love about Skyrim is the loot. Yes, there’s 20 million iron daggers and boring, inventory-cluttering useless items… but then there’s the special ones.
There’s the unique weapons at the end of each Daedric quest. The trinkets from the Thieves Guild. Spellbooks, statuettes and storybooks. The eerily-delivered note for the assassin’s questline. The robes of the king, the rings and necklaces of Jarls.
You know them — the items with one-of-a-kind names and designs that are specific to each of their quests.
You see, these items carry a story with them. How you stole for them or killed for them. Traveled, battled, talked, stealthed, lied, solved your way into their possession. They’re the game’s biggest treat.
That’s why, at the culmination of my final ever Skyrim playthrough, I bought a house in Whiterun and filled it with these objects.
Weapons and armors on the walls and on the racks, items and books placed carefully on shelves - but not just any weapons, armors, objects and books. Only the special ones. It was a house that told the story of all of my adventures.
I sat down in a chair next to Aela the Huntress in my castle, my throne room. I saved my game one final time.
--
For all of gaming’s swashbuckling adventures, magnificent worlds and large stretches of land to traverse, they don’t always give us too much to remember them by, do they?
I appreciate Skyrim so much for understanding the nature of the epic they were creating. The ability to fill your house with display cases, armor mannequins and weapon racks demonstrates the developer’s awareness of their playerbase and the scale of the adventures they were sending them on.
These are adventures to cherish, to tell tales of, to be remembered.
Will anyone else give me what Skyrim did?
…
The answer’s yes, actually.
It’s a fascinating yes, too — because not every keepsake system is cut from the same cloth. Games offer unique takes on the mechanic that energize it, give it new life and perspective and add layers of meaning to it in fresh ways.
And I’ve got plenty of examples.
--
In The Outer Worlds, special items you collected while out adventuring would be placed in specific locations throughout your ship, The Unreliable, upon return. These included things like:
• Posters
• Signs
• Various ISO items
• Tossballs & Tossball cards
• Golden bird statuettes
• Many, many more
Sometimes these were stored by the game in your captain’s quarters, but other times, they’d appear in your squad’s quarters instead.
No matter where they got stored, these items were more than just junk. They were signature weapons of terrible villains whom you defeated, they were outlandish garb from flamboyant characters who painstakingly passed away to protect your life, they were motifs of resource-gouging corporations whom you shutdown for the good of cities and planets.
They were special, they were keepsakes. Their addition made The Unreliable feel alive and lived in, part of your own, unique journey, filled with the stories and tales of your adventure and — importantly and specifically to The Outer Worlds — your choices.
—
The second and third installments of the Mass Effect series contained model ships you could buy from vendors that would then go on display on desks or on racks in your spaceship, The Normandy.
These are a little different because you buy them, rather than slice somebody’s head off for them, but they still count.
What makes them still count here is twofold:
• Some model ships only become available after completing certain missions that actually involve the ship you’re buying a model of, so they still serve as a reminder and memento of specific accomplishments in this way
• If you transferred your save data through the games, models you collected in ME2 would appear automatically on The Normandy in ME3. Being able to carry souvenirs into a sequel is exceptional, and a feat I’ve not found any other game to match.
Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a return of this feature, too. You ended up re-gathering old ships of yore in this installment, however. Andromeda also featured a more traditional collectible-style search; these model ships were looted from various locations in the world.
The original trilogy used the model ships as landmarks for its major moments, to be remembered across the series, while Andromeda paid homage to the previous games and encouraged its players to explore its world more thoroughly.
—
In Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, building up your burgeoning young settlement of Ravensthorpe is a central gameplay mechanic — as you acquire more resources to build with, the size of the village grows both in length, width and inhabitants.
The game includes optional side quests that change those who wander your evolving home and hub in medieval England. They include:
• Capturing a stray cat
• Saving a fox from a burning home
• Befriending a fallen hunter’s wolf pet
In each instance, the living being will join your settlement — the cat will stay underneath Eivor’s seat in your longship, the fox will wander Ravensthorpe and the wolf will welcome you in your personal quarters, howling at your arrival.
You can interact and pet them whenever you like, playing a short animation displaying the affection between the two.
These three “collectibles” don’t feel like trinkets, but living, breathing additions to your home that give it joy and life, as well as keep you young.
—
Speaking of Norse culture, central to Biomutant is a form of Yggdrasil — the WorldTree.
Central to Biomutant’s story is saving the old, decaying and currently-being-eaten-by-giant-monsters WorldTree. And there are two impressive quests in the game that reflect back to the player their efforts in saving it.
One quest saves the tree from festering toxins below its roots — and the tree’s colors change from green to fluorescent white as a result.
Another quest by the name of Aurora has you activate monoliths around the map that direct energy to the WorldTree. The quest climaxes by having the tree give off a swirling, sparkling aura that hangs perpetually while you travel the world and complete more objectives.
It even matches your affinity — if you’re taking the side of love and justice, the aura is white, while if you play for the destruction of the planet, the aura will hang black.
What’s special about these to me is that they don’t do anything. They don’t get you any closer to saving the world or the tree, but they definitely did something important –
The WorldTree’s central location in the map and absolutely massive scale allow for it to be seen at all times from just about anywhere in Biomutant’s world. This means, after I had completed these two quests, the fruits of my labor were on gloriously beautiful display at all times.
Biomutant’s mementos aren’t keepsakes you can’t take with you when you leave the planet — they’re visual celebrations of your hard work, an ever-present reminder of your endeavors and care for a dying world.
—
More briefly, Cyberpunk 2077 allowed you to fill V’s apartment with keepsakes as well, featuring dream catchers, posters, paintings, action figures and more.
In Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance Ace Azzameen’s personal quarters would fill up with medals and displays as you progressed through the game.
In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, some of the most legendary Zelda equipment ever was available to the player, including the Sword of Six Sages, the Fierce Deity Sword, and the Biggorons Sword — all of which can be hung in display cases in Link’s home.
Meanwhile, Uncharted 4 greets players near its opening sequence with an attic filled with memorabilia and keepsakes that Nathan Drake himself has kept after all these years. It’s not us — the players — ourselves collecting and hoarding, but it was lovely to see Drake thinking along the same lines as us souvenir psychopaths.
—
I’ll end with gaming’s classic — Mario. The red-hatted Italian also did the keepsake thing in one of his most beloved installments.
Super Mario: Odyssey allowed you to decorate The Odyssey with stickers and trinkets from your escapades by spending purple coins you could collect while out adventuring on one of the game’s many worlds.
A vanilla Odyssey player’s ship might look the same as it did at the game’s start, but a completionist might have a slew of trinkets and décor, like:
• Peach’s Model Castle
• Dinosaur models and trophies
• Shiverian Nesting Dolls
• A plush frog
• Flowers and a watering can from Steam Gardens
• Statues of Pauline, Jaxi, Jizo
• A lamp and rock fragment of the moon
Hell, the game director himself sounds like he’s read this very article:
“But what about decorating the ship? There’s a shop that appears in many kingdoms where you can buy souvenirs and stickers using the purple coins you’ve gathered.
Collecting memories is one of the best parts of traveling, don’t you think?” –Kenta Motokura
The ability to make The Odyssey your own evolved the traditional fetch-quest nature of collectible gathering and drove the player to go that little bit of extra distance in exploring and engaging with the various kingdoms and mastering the game’s platforming.
--
Video game narratives and their accompanying worlds are monstrously large nowadays. As enjoyers of the medium, us gamers spend a lot of time in them.
Like, a lot.
In recognition of this, game developers have given gamers a number of distinct tools to document their triumphs and sagas — each with their own unique flavor of congratulations and commemoration.
For our enormous investment with huge worlds and long, winding quests, something tangible we can keep hold of provides value, meaning, memories. They make our journey — one which we have committed so much to — special, transcendent, our own.
They give us things no other entertainment medium can give.
So fuck photo mode. A picture isn’t worth a thousand words — my keepsakes are.
(A special thanks to the members of patientgamers for their contributions to this post that helped inform this essay with games I have and have not played.)

Deltarune Role Reversal is my concept of a deltaswap au, where instead of swapping roles and personalities, a change in circumstances have occurred, leading to the roleswaps.

LIGHTNER SWAPS (chapters 1 and 2, as more chapters come out more lightner swaps will happen)

Kris - Kris keeps their role as the vessel for the player, nothing much has changed with them. Since Susie is not in the main fun gang in this au kris has her hp values in the dark world.
Noelle - Noelle slept in on the first day of the group projects, leading to her joining Kris in their group project. She takes Susie's role in the dark world, and kris's hp values. Since she no longer is associated with the weird route Iceshock is the main damaging spell that you have, and you gain the ability to cast Blueshock when fighting the final bosses of each chapter.
Susie - Susie made it on time to class this time, and ended up pairing with Berdly. She shows up in the chapter 2 dark world where in the normal route she ends up realizing that violence and threats are not the solution to everything, like she does in chapter 1 of Deltarune. In the weird route, however, she uses Rude buster, which now deals fatal damage. The snowgrave replacement has not been chosen yet, but she casts it on Berdly, and instead of being encased in ice, he is just lying on the ground, with it being unclear if he is alive or not.
Berdly - Berdly keeps his role, but in chapter 1 he is the person you have to talk to to progress since Noelle is not there and Susie does not want Kris joining their group, saying "Hey, I am already IN a group, find your OWN!" Several of the chapter two interactions are different, as Berdly is still scared of Susie.
Asgore - Asgore is still the chief of police, and got the house in the divorce. This is subject to change if or when we find the reason Asgore and Toriel are divorced in Deltarune, but he is trying to repair his relationship with Toriel. He is an avid gardener, which will likely play into the Chapter 3 dark world when Chapter 3 is released (if there are things related to how Toriel bakes it will likely be replaced with flowers and other plants)
Toriel - Toriel is struggling to make ends meet with a teachers salary, so she started a small bakery near the lake, but she tends to give away food to others, she tends to bake Cinnamon-Butterscotch pies for other people in town. In chapter one she gives one to Kris, and you can decide to share it with Noelle right when you get it (who unlike Susie stays in your party when you exit the chapter 1 dark world,) or hoard it, keeping it to yourself, which Toriel is annoyed from, but not shocked. Doing this allows you to give it to Asgore, eat it in the light world (doing so would restore all HP, but it is unclear if you will be able to fight in the light world in the future,) or keep it for the dark world, turning it into an item that will bring all party members to max, since you cannot get the topcake in this (spincake is available however in the bake sale [more info on that in the chapter one darkners section] and in castle town from chapter 2 onward)
As of now there are no more lightner swaps, but there are likely to be more when more chapters come out.

CHAPTER 1 DARKNER SWAPS

Ralsei - Ralsei keeps his role, but the interactions with him are much different, as Noelle also picks up on the fact he looks very similar to Asriel when he removes his hat.
Rouxls Kaard - Rouxls Kaard takes the place of Lancer, starting out trying to stop you he eventually warms up to you. He also tries to stop Noelle from freeing Kris and Ralsei as he does not want them to be hurt by the darkner who has taken it upon themselves to protect the dark fountain and carry out the will of the Roaring Knight.
Lancer - Lancer takes Seam's role as the chapter one shopkeep. After his dad mysteriously disappeared he started looking for him, instead finding a "cool house" with items inside, that he decided to start selling (so he could buy heart donuts from the bake sale) He is also the one who gives you hints on how to find the chapter 1 secret boss.
the original starwalker - he is pissed off
Malius - Malius is where top chef is in deltarune, but keeps his role, being the one to repair (and fuse) items and heal the party.
Top Chef - Top Chef is where Malius is in deltarune. The topcake is inaccesable as he already delivered it to Clover's birthday party. Talking to him allows you to purchace a SpinCake for 1000 dark dollars, or for free in castle town.
Seam - Seam takes the place of Rouxls Kaard, trying to stop you from reaching the dark fountain, and selling some items to you before the final fight. He is the court wizard, and is still the shopkeeper in castle town, seeming to know something about the dark crystals that you can collect. He also enters kris's inventory before they leave the dark world in chapter 2.
Jevil - Jevil takes the place of the spade king, since the spade king was mysteriously missing the knight decided instead to put the jester in control of the dark world, since he was almost as powerful as the king. Since Jevil came into power he has acted differently than he used to, disregarding Rouxls Kaard, who used to be above him, and not being as close to Seam as he used to be. He does not hate lightners as much as King from deltarune does, but he still holds a grudge. After he is defeated Lancer takes over as king. In chapter 2 Jevil gets a room in Ralsei's castle.
King - King is the Jevil replacement. Someone strange contacted him, promising power beyond his wildest dreams. When he found the ShadowCrystal he started going insane, and tried to take over the dark world, but Seam managed to imprison him. His fight is in the red soul mode like Jevi's, and his attacks are just much harder versions of his attacks in the King fight, with his special attack being a barrage of large spades. Defeating him gets you either the ButterflyCloak (lowers the cost of heal prayer and gives more magic power, meant for ralsei) or the ChainWhip (does extra physical damage, increases graze range, and gives another attack to XSlash [which is not mentioned in the description])
Special mentions - The kings and the animals are in the other's cage, just being a purely visual swap. The triple-hathy encounter is three rudins instead, the rudin and hathy stand swap places in the bake sale, and Clover's outer two heads swap interests and personalities.

CHAPTER 2 DARKNER SWAPS

Spamton - Spamton the car salesman has managed to make it big in cyber city, even going as far as taking over the entirety of cyber world, and overthrowing Queen after encountering the Roaring Knight. He has taken an interest in Susie, thinking that she could help him by opening more dark worlds to spread his business to. Since he has not been corrupted by the man on the phone he does not talk the way he does in deltarune, instead being much more similar to the other Addisons. The arcade fighting game is also replaced with a racing game, and the final fight is a Mario Kart-esque experience, where you race against Spamton to gain items to damage his car, and dodge bullets.
Nubert - Everybody loves him.
Sweet Kappn' Cakes - The music trio keep there role as the rebels, not liking what Spamton has done to cyber world.
Maus and Mauswheel - Maus and Mausewheel take the place but not role of Tasque and Tasque manager, maus appearing in the cyber field coming out of the monitors.
Taskque and Tasque Manager - They take the place but not role of Maus and Mausewheel, Tasque showing up when you lovingly caress the cheese, scaring away the Maus. (Also if you manage to encounter a Maus with Susie in the party you can act with her to "upgrade" the Maus into a Tasque still, but as far as I know this is only possible if you get far enough into the Weird Route as all Maus encounters are repalced with Tasque encounters, and vica verca) Tasque Manager is in the kitchen trying to get the Swatchlings to work faster.
Queen - After being overthrown by Spamton she was forced to leave her mantion, but remembering a machine that Swatch made she checked the basement, and a plan started to form, but every time she tried to break back in she failed, eventually getting a call from someone mysterious, leading to her gong crazy. She has some form of malware, and wherever she goes she is followed by a Virovirokun, which seems to annoy her. Like Spamton she comes out of a dumpster and tries to convince Kris to help her. If you go to a shop she has set up in the garbage dump you can buy the KEYGEN, and also get healthpoison (called healthpotion in the shop,) VirusSword (Called AntiVirus in the shop, claims to deal extra damage against virus-type enemies) and the FakeCheck(Called CheckmarkBadge in the shop) (when you buy them and check them in the inventory they "glitch" and turn into the bad versions) When you get the empty disc she then copies her harddrive over to it, and then you put it into the robot. It appears to fail, but then when you turn to leave she ambushes you, trying to claim your soul to be strong enough to not only take back over the dark world, but escape the "strings" that the malware uses to control her. Defeating her gives you either the or the AcidGlass(Increases physical damage greatly, but decreases magic, meant to be equipped to Noelle)
No special mentions for chapter two
Please let me know if you would be interested in me making some posts set in the au using the undertale text box generator!

Hey all its been quite a while since I've posted here. I've been permanently low contact with my entire Family for about 2 years, with periods of no contact coming and going as needed. I had a falling out with my brother who is the golden child (I'm the scapegoat) a few years ago because he was dismissive of my abuse and very manipulative and hurtful towards me. For several years we kind of avoided each other, then last year at a family gathering he gave me a letter stating he would like us to rebuild the relationship and get along. He has 3 kids and is very family oriented so I know he only wants us to get along for the sake of the kids having their aunt. I care for his kids but him being super religious and me being ex-muslim with my family not knowing...boundaries and distance is the only way to protect myself.
Anyway, after he gave me the letter he reiterated that he wanted to offer to take me and my husband to Super Mario World with his family for a joint vacation (because we used to play Mario growing up together so he knows it's a special connection we used to share). I told him if he follows up and let's me know when we can coordinate.
Since then I've been going through a lot in my personal life. I'm currently separated from my husband and got laid off from my job. I do cat sitting so holiday weekends are important money makers for me at the moment. My brother finally reached out and asked if I was available July 4th week to go to Universal Studios with his family.
My family does not know my husband and i are separated in different states. I might have said yes if my husband was with me but he's not. I also didn't want to tell my family any of the things I'm going through in case they try to use it as a vulnerability trap. So I ended up saying no we weren't available, no explanation.
I am just struggling a lot today though. I feel like no contact is the easiest way and how can I go prancing around universal studios with someone who themselves abused me but refused to own up to it and wants to just pretend everything is okay?
It sucks that I cant even tell my family the truth of what I'm going through, because instead of a support system it would be them seeing I'm alone and using it as an opportunity to rope me back. I told myself I wouldn't tell them anything about my marriage until we are divorced or reconciled, but they don't need to know the details.
I was suppose to move to a new state with my husband but we ended up separating instead. My fam knew we were gonna move and now they're all asking are you still in state 1 or did you move? I have just ignored all attempts.
I feel so broken and just numb to everything now that I feel like ignoring the texts is the only way I can protect myself. And just continuing to have strong boundaries. But it still feels incredibly hard, especially now. I wish I could tell them the truth of what I am going through and part of me even wishes I could have gone on that vacation with my brother. But after being separated with my husband I finally realized that people who abuse you don't deserve to be in your life. Especially when they don't take accountability for how they've hurt you. It hurts so much to see him trying to have a connection with me but refusing to have a real conversation with me, and me being unable to even share what I'm really going through.
This kind of abuse seriously sucks because it takes away your entire support system and leaves you with nothing but heartbreak and numbness.