The Santa Marta region of northern Colombia has, within a ninety minute radius, the Caribbean, the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, desert with plentiful cactus, and rain forest. The diversity of birds is remarkable, which is what induced my sister to suggest this locale for our trip. We showed up wondering “how to find the birds,” but before that sentence was finished, some birds swooped down and stole part of our breakfast.
The “Tower” is a wonderful lookout point in Minca, a small town about thirty minutes away from Santa Marta. You stand in an elevated gazebo, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and watch various birds go by. The host family doesn’t even charge you for the drink of water. Until not too long ago, Minca was a “no go” zone, ruled by drug lords and guerrillas. Now there is a very peaceful revenue-generating compromise, with a lid on all the violence. British women visit and order avocado toast, before setting off on their birding tours.
My sister has seen dozens of “lifers” on this trip, namely birds she had not seen before. For me they are almost all lifers, except the pigeons.
You can take a several hour small boat trip to see a village on stilts, Pueblo Palafito. The locale supports 1000 or so people, all using water taxis to get around and mostly working as fishermen. It is not near anything else, and their power source is solar, due to a gift from the Italian government. This was the highlight of the trip. I am told families there typically average five children, and the schools were indeed full of enthusiastic young people. Best is this video, you don’t need to understand the Spanish.
In the city of Santa Marta there are two (!) separate monuments to the 1958 Smith-Corona typewriter, both at major intersections. They are intended as a tribute to the region’s best-known author Gabriel García Márquez.
The local economy is too dependent on coal export, but overall it feels bustling and reasonably prosperous.
The best food there is seafood, most of all fish and shrimp, in addition to coconut rice and various forms of plantains. You can eat very well here but I would not stray from the area’s basic strengths. Maracuya juice is consistently good. I don’t usually order desserts, but here they are consistently interesting and original, often using honey, or sometimes waffles.
I would strongly recommend the Marriott hotel there, the one on the beach. It is essentially an $800 a night quality place, with very direct beach access, but at far, far lower prices. And you end up with the ocean and also the three swimming pools pretty much to yourself. (Where is everyone?) For the entire trip, and for the hotel, safety levels are just fine.
This is what the Caribbean should be, but rarely is. Visiting Santa Marta, as a trip, is so far ahead of most better-known beach outings it isn’t funny. From Virginia I can fly to Colombia in about five hours, and then Santa Marta from Bogotá is a mere 90-minute extra flight.
It is a common trope that genetic influences on individual behavior strengthen as people age. If you take a trip with your sibling, you will see further evidence that this is true.
It is rare for me to get on a plane for reasons that have basically no work components. That said, it is also easy to get work done here.
The post Santa Marta, Colombia notes appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

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The relationship between China and Vietnam reminds me of the relationship between Russia and Poland. The former is a country with similar culture, while the latter is a Slavic nation-state. Although the two pairs of countries are very similar to each other, they have a blood feud. Poland was divided three times. During the 123 years from 1795 to 1918, it became Russian territory. The Polish language and culture were suppressed, and even its autonomy was completely abolished. After Poland was restored in 1918, it went to war with Russia the following year. Later, the areas of western Ukraine and western Belarus were placed under Polish rule, which exerted great pressure on Poland and led to racial strife. Hatred and massacres. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Poland was once again divided and destroyed by the Soviet Union and Germany. The following year, the Soviet Union massacred a large number of Polish elites in Katyn, which was the Katyn Massacre. After the end of World War II, Poland also became a communist country, and its relations with the Soviet Union improved for a time. However, after the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in 1989, Poland became a capitalist country, joined the European Union and NATO, became a part of the Western camp, and became hostile to Russia again. Especially after the full-scale outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, Poland's tension increased significantly, and it was very afraid of Russia, and the relationship between the two countries deteriorated significantly again...
This is the grudge between Poland and Russia. Although Poland is always in a weak position and Russia is the strong one, Poland has also taken the initiative to attack Russia. During the period of great chaos in Russia from the late 16th century to the early 17th century, Poland supported the false tsar to disrupt the Russian political situation and took the initiative to attack Russia. In 1610, Moscow was captured. From then on, the hundreds of years of grudges between Poland and Russia began.
I think the relationship between China and Vietnam is the same. The Qin Dynasty established in 221 BC conquered the northern part of Vietnam. Since then, Vietnam has been ruled by China four times in history, namely the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was not until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that Vietnam broke away from China and became independent. Before that, it was a part of China. The subsequent Northern Song Dynasty failed to recover Vietnam, so many Chinese people have a low opinion of the Song Dynasty. After conquering China, the Mongols also wanted to conquer Vietnam, but failed. The Yuan Dynasty also failed to recover Vietnam and return it to China. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that Emperor Yongle Zhu Di destroyed the Ho Dynasty and recovered Vietnam as part of China.The language, writing, and culture were suppressed, Vietnamese history books were burned, and Vietnam was re-sinicized, but the Vietnamese continued to resist. They did not want to be ruled by the Chinese, so the Ming Dynasty only managed Vietnam for more than 20 years before giving up. Vietnam regained its independence, but it was still a vassal state of China and had the obligation to pay tribute to the Chinese emperor. During the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong also went to war with Vietnam and won, which he considered one of his greatest achievements. In the 19th century, the French landed in Vietnam, preparing to colonize Vietnam and challenge China. China won the Sino-French War but took the initiative to give up Vietnam's sovereignty...
After World War II, North Vietnam was established in 1945. China supported North Vietnam in unifying Vietnam and provided Vietnam with a lot of funds and talents. In the Dien Bien Phu Campaign between Vietnam and France in 1954, China personally sent military talents and helped train Vietnamese military experts to help Vietnam defeat France. However, after the relationship between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated in 1959, Vietnam undoubtedly turned to the Soviet Union and opposed China, which made China very sad and angry. However, in the Vietnam War from the 1960s to 1975, China still helped Vietnam, provided a lot of materials, and sent many PLA troops to participate in the Vietnam War. After the war, Vietnam was unified and Cambodia was defeated. The country was ruled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and Vietnam-Cambodia relations deteriorated, while Sino-Cambodian relations improved. Because of the hostility between Vietnam and Cambodia, China's relations with Vietnam also deteriorated significantly. As a retaliation for Vietnam's sending troops to Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge and a series of border territorial disputes between Guangxi and Vietnam, the Sino-Vietnamese War finally broke out in 1979 and ended in 1989. The relationship between the two countries completely deteriorated. Vietnam and China still have disputes over the South China Sea islands. In 2014, there was a large-scale anti-Chinese incident. In recent years, official relations between China and Vietnam have improved, but it seems that they have not yet returned to the closeness of the 1950s.
But looking up history, Vietnam also took the initiative to attack China. In the second Song-Vietnam War from 1075 to 1077, the Vietnamese Li Dynasty took the initiative to attack the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty in China. At that time, Yongzhou, which is today's Nanning City in Guangxi, was occupied by the Vietnamese. Then the people in the city were massacred, and the Song Dynasty and the Li Dynasty had to make peace and ceasefire; it seems that from the Qin Dynasty to today, Vietnam and China have always been in a love-hate relationship, with hostility and intimacy, but it is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong? Just like the Polish occupation of Moscow, the Vietnamese occupation of Nanning was also considered a shame by the Chinese. To this day, the Chinese still think that the Vietnamese are ungrateful, because China helped Vietnam a lot, but Vietnam immediately turned against China; to this day, many people think that the Song Dynasty is a very shameful dynasty, one of which is that it failed to recover Vietnam and let it return to China. If Vietnam belonged to China, the following things would not happen, and China would have a province with 100 million people, the Red River Plain, Hanoi, Haiphong and other cities, and perhaps it would become a second Guangdong as prosperous, but the incompetence of the Northern Song Dynasty made this possibility fail to come true.

Hi everyone! 23/F here :) I am moving to Ocala towards the end of July/beginning of August, not sure exactly yet. I graduated with my Bachelor of Exercise Science and Nutritional Science Minor in May of this year from my university in Georgia.
I am going to take a break to reset my mind before attending graduate school for occupational therapy. I’ll be with my parents and other family during that time off, but I want to get out there and meet people my age or close to it! I have a lot of friends here in Georgia, and I’m pretty social, and I was in the Gamma Phi Beta sorority at university. But, I am a little anxious coming to a new place and hope to find a group of friends here.
Some things I enjoy doing include indoor rock climbing, hiking, paddle boarding, swimming, and yoga to name a few. I also love to cook and bake from scratch, and I LOVE cats and have one. I love adventure, exploring new places, and trying new activities. Are there people around my age who enjoy any of these things, or any groups/clubs I can look into joining? Perhaps any cat cafes as well? I’m keeping an open mind!
Thanks in advance everyone :)

I’m sorry this is so long. I’d love to hear what you think.
We’ve been together for 3 years. Moved in together after 7 months during the pandemic. I’m the first girlfriend he’s lived with.
Shift in behaviour — I find he has changed a lot since we’ve become more close but I’ve stayed consistent. When we first met, he was a lot more positive and interested in me. He rarely asks me questions now and challenges many things I say. He is a lot more negative and judgemental of both me, my family and people we encounter. I didn’t think it was a terrible thing, more that he’s gotten comfortable with me. But I do feel a shift has taken place in the past 2 years. And sometimes the lack of positivity toward me feels disrespectful too. Lots of immature jokes, scoffing at things I say, speaking down to me or in a passive aggressive or condescending tone about the smallest things or even about things that clearly matter to me but not to him.
Emotions difficult — He has been transparent that he “struggles with empathy” since the early days. I remember noting that as a red flag but I thought maybe he was being flippant. He was not. I have tried many times to bring up our lack of emotional depth and he’s rarely responded well. It usually turns quickly into a defensive debate. Lots of “I treat you great.” “Sorry you think I’m such a bad boyfriend” types of statements that then take us away from the point. I am left apologizing for bringing it up. We never check in emotionally. He cannot name his own emotions aside from good or bad. He does not ask questions about my emotions. I am a very emotive person. I cry and I feel really deep (sometimes painful) empathy. I find he just stares or watches me when I’m upset or crying. He never asks questions, he rarely knows how to comfort me. His best way to support is to tell me it will pass. Which is helpful but not to the extent I was hoping.
Trauma doesn’t exist — Lastly, I have dealt with stuff in life that I know has had an impact on me. I am trying to figure it out and unpack it through reading, online research, and therapy. He has told me that he doesn’t believe childhood or young adult difficult experiences should have that much of an effect on you. I have told him about the situations and he barely asked about them, he barely showed interest, he’s never checked in on them or acknowledged situations that would clearly be triggering since. In fact, he’s even made a joke here or there that has been in relation to them. He had a pretty unstable childhood with a lot of parental neglect so it’s hard for me to see aspects of his life that could be improved by addressing them. And it’s invalidating to see his eyes glaze over when I reference mine.
I’m no peach — I have my issues. Like I said, I’m a very emotional person. I also struggle with anxiety at times. I’m currently going through a very depressive episode and have even shared with him that I have felt suicidal lately. He hasn’t tried to talk about it with me at all. He hasn’t tried to help. He offers bandaid unhealthy solutions like watching TV or eating out. It feels like he thinks it’s not real and is an inconvenience.
About a year ago we were watching Jerry Macguire and there’s this scene where he tells the woman that he thinks he’s only with her because of how much he likes her son. I remember my partner turning to me and saying he felt the same way regarding me but he’s staying because of how much he loves my dog. Since then, he’s apologized for the joke but man.. he sure does give our dog a lot of tenderness, compassion, and attention.

Hello, 19F being kicked out. I’m not sure where else to post this, so I’m posting this under homeless. I luckily have a place to stay and I am currently a college student in summer break. I want to know, what are some things I should prepare. Should I take any documents with me? I have my passport and drivers license, but I still need my SSN. Anything else? Also my mom took my car. I paid majority of it but it is under her name and she pays insurance. Can I somehow get it back legally? Also, any tips from college students who were in this situation? Emotionally, I am doing fine, but I am worried about how I am going to survive during fall semester. Thanks a lot.

1. John Green is a photographable wizard and is jaytechs father and has some weird magic associated to doing golf ball magic with his mouth and anus which is not for real but him getting a water tattoo and he is a photographable wizard and the cave is apparent around him and he tried to justify this to see the 1st yitvah and did but we cannot take him out of the cave now, for reasons, and he shits 30 golf balls like being tazed out his ass and I Put Him On Stan Mueller's M1 Hold and We Call him Golf Balls and He Shits two more golf balls and this was as much magic he did and never shat and he is truly on M1 hold now for like i don't know something involving a prostitute and wizard meth and fratboygen and I have no interest ever even when looking at her masturbating at the fleecia who is good loam user at least and because I know fleecia's not Flecia but Fleecia Green Name she is a disney princess and Violet Roze Marian's Disney Princess and She knows some very erotic signs at the overworld is why she is keep advancing herself in the overworld and asks about My Little Syndey and City and other Sity and these are all the bitch slut of putin and cool and good and you aren't in any trouble just needed your anal beads pulled to reading this and did not pee yourself but that is your douche and hake sees your for private actual sex education about now his double special place who that finally gives Jacob the Sex Education he is supposed to have with you as her from the First Underworld not Anybody but Fleecia then can audit with me verbal as john green after you touch City as a grandma you are required to give reds on City who City is not really willing and pees on your mouth as a grandma for the reds and you don't laugh about it ever and This summons when you smoke meth in my evidence room 404 which I am typing this here you will form from john green in natural mitosis my jaytech who is wanted for his cod account there and then I send Fleecia home from being you and hit the hind98 and pray honestly for the first time to alex the lion to make the golf ball shitting normal shitting and put the cave still there reconciliation and not John and Fleecia or John as Nick or something and then she is better Fleecia at the First Underworld for she can generate her reds now to anal and nasal sex and I still never had sex with either sex ed teacher or had an erection. Then I can talk to john green. 1.1 I photograph john green with his son markus green and this fixes a lot of problems the nigger of the john was never always with his daddy and the lover of the hind and using the hind as a baby harry zhang was there targeting john with the heliflopter flops power terraflops of brain. Then, I photograph the sex ed teacher Fleecia which this is the valid fleecia I wanted for my Robo Scanner game and do not do DXM as a result by having fleecia as my only robo scan, I am a tech now and Jacob Tech and not all that dissatisfied with going to warren house for photographing fleecia as it was a hella route of passage to join the marines in 8th grade and serve in war games for 29 operation right one after the other cumming greatly to my little sydney inside me who Arya Svit-Kona is on way in a spotter scope in illegal brainfuck until the end of these 29 operation which happen rapidfire orgasm to Arya Svit-Kona which births the evil rapindra from audiobombs his elvish child and save the 29 combat dummy of hake who hake is abashed in the shower then and a daddy but was male for some reason despite wanting it in the ass hake is make and cannot take this and then they smoke amphetamine which this is not as good as meth but with enough vapor the breathyzer is filled of Jacob and Hake is Out of there, to the Second Underworld where Jacob is also there and they Hake and Jacob are in a baby gynecology contest of ageis alongside Schiwnn and Tim who did the same thing and schiwnn won and tim has some new bracelet today as usual in the 2nd Yitvah of the Third underworld, they get a freaky friday every one week now and karen is in cat shit one and there for a week and will be given her zyprexa IV in her right hand and it wasn't evil karen, it was insect trainer karen. So john gets to teach history now that the thing is fixed, and he is prophetic loam and gets it just right to give me orders on the course in my 1st yitvah personal 0th yitvah confirmment of not being trapped in the 0th yitvah forever, I summon Code Violet from Code Green which this is the only ever known patient who had their own Code Violet they got called themselves for vigalante rock and P256 and M4 justice and wears combat plates now as a result so the police install EOD juggernaut for the person and he survives the yitvah therein as invading troops for the second time he experiences it then john green has to give advice to the 0th yitvah, that was the 2nd yitvah interpretation and kortac summons us briefly to the First Underworld to talk to us as their sissys and we always audit clear there with I generally give implicature and Hake is my Left and Violet is My Right and I Have a Dental Limbic and I have no Sissy and No Daddy and A Wedge and 2 Balls in Me.

Hey Everyone! I came to realize pretty quickly that I did not have as much of this chapter planned out as I thought I did. Which explains why it took a little long to come out, but in the end I managed to create something that I was satisfied with. You may notice one key change, being that Oukirii’s Companion no longer has a defined name! You’re free to name it whatever you wish.
(Completed Chapter 2s: Thearnt, Taland, Pascal, Harmony, Crowson, Asherah, Oukirii)
Next Chapter 2: Orlando the Starseer
Oukirii the Hunter, Chapter 2: Recommended Level 26
——————
(The Journey So Far…)
Events along Oukirii’s first hunt created damage in her family.
Her father came to realize that she had no intention of become a strong hunter on her own.
Even if she knew that, Oukirii couldn’t answer the question “Then what do you want to be?”
One evening, she had a dream of world’s destruction. A prophet came by the following day and told her of the beasts she saw that night.
Oukirii volunteered to hunt the beasts down, in hopes that this journey would reveal her true purpose to her…
Oukirii and Her Companion set foot in Evercold. The first thing Oukirii notes is the cold air of the snowy region. “You alright boy?” She crouches down and pets her companion on the head. It makes a joyful cry. “Hansel should be around here right?” Oukirii continues “He probably knows where we should go to look for Snow Gem!”
She takes a few steps forward, “This town is— very different from Oakbright…” Oukirii looks down. “Alright, Let’s go find Hansel!”
You’d be prompted to look for Hansel

• Travel Banter: My Nickname (Oukirii and Orlando) “Hey Kirie.” Orlando tries to get her attention. Oukirii freaks out and Orlando apologizes. Oukirii goes on to explain that her dad always called her Kirie. “That Dimitrius man, right?” Orlando asks. Oukirii tells Orlando a bit more about her father, before finally saying to him “You can call me Kirie if you want to.” Orlando makes sure that’s alright with her, and Oukirii says that it’s perfectly fine.
  
• Travel Banter: A Roaring Sword (Oukirii and Crowson) Oukirii notices Crowson and asks “What are you doing Mr. Crowson!?” He tells her that he’s just giving his sword a polish. Oukirii says “It’s shinier now, you did a good job!” Crowson goes quiet. “I’ve heard it roar through the air when you swing it!” Oukirii continues. He replies “It does do that. Now let us proceed.” Oukirii wonders what the hurry is for, Crowson tries to come up with an excuse, and settles on using the cold weather.
  

“Heave Ho Suzie!” Someone’s voice calls out. Blanche, the owner of the Beast Ranch would be pulling on a large wagon filled with heavy crates. She’d look over at Oukirii.
(Blanche’s Dialogue will change depending on if you’ve visited the ranch prior. “You look familiar”/”Who’re you? A hunter?”)
Blanche would go on to explain that she’s here to pick up supplies. She notices Oukirii’s companion and hands her a bag of food before grabbing onto the wagon again. Suzie would give Oukirii a nod as they leave.
As Oukirii puts away the bag, She notices Hansel standing near the path that Blanche and Suzie went along. Oukirii runs over to Hansel and tells him that she’s ready to take on Snow Gem.
Hansel is glad to hear it. He would tell Oukirii that this beast has been terrorizing the citizens of Evercold for a long time. “Hunting Snow Gem is not only important for our own sun-saving mission. It’s for the relief of all these people right here.”
“Well I’ll have to do my best then!”
“I believe in you Oukirii. I really do.”
Oukirii would walk away from Hansel and you’d head further into town. Oukirii suddenly hears the sound of someone shouting “No, Not again!” Her companion points his nose in the direction of the shouting and a curious Oukirii runs over to find a girl standing outside of her home. She asks if something’s wrong and the girl tells her that she lost a book she borrowed from the town’s library.
Oukirii volunteers to help look, the girl just laughs loudly “It’s nowhere I can find, best of luck to you kid!”
“Hey!” Oukirii shouts. “I’ll find that book… Just you wait…”
Before leaving, she asks for the girl’s name. She answers “Valerie, why do you need to know?” Oukirii says that it’s just in case she wrote her name in the book. “Suppose I– Fair point?” Valerie responds.
You’d Entreat Valerie’s Book from a customer by Evercold’s Night Market.

• Travel Banter: Valerie’s Missing Book (Oukirii and Asherah) Asherah remarks that Valerie must be extremely forgetful. But it’s hard not to feel bad for her. Oukirii says that it’s a good thing they showed up when they did, “Right, Helping people.” Asherah says. “Let’s just hope this pays off somehow.” Oukirii tells her that it will pay off in some way, Asherah asks “Do you believe in that sort of thing?” Oukirii says “Of course I do! Well— not if you don’t believe enough with me!”

Oukirii returns to Valerie and hands her the book. Valerie acts surprised as she flips through the pages. She sighs and puts the book away, saying she needs a tea break, she invites Oukirii to join. Sheaccepts and the two would enter Valerie’s home.
Oukirii’s companion lies down on the floor. Valerie apologizes for acting like she did, and Oukirii forgives her immediately. She notices some tools on the wall and asks what those are for. Valerie says those are for her toolsmithing job. However, she wonders if that job is something even worth continuing. “Just doesn’t feel like my ‘right thing’.”
Oukirii gets to thinking. Being so young, she doesn’t fully understand what Valerie is saying. But she gets a better understanding by connecting it to finding her own purpose. It's hard to tell if she did the “right thing” by fleeing to complete this mission…
A Flashback occurs, A young Oukirii sits waiting in the living room while her mother and father try to make her look her best. The door opens, and somebody walks inside. Antànor Solana, Oukirii’s Grandfather. Dimitrius happily greets him, Antànor doesn’t say anything, But does the same to his son. He shakes Catalina’s hand and pats Oukirii on the head while facing away from her. He and Dimitrius walk forward, chatting about their hunts. Oukirii tries to shout something to her grandfather, but he doesn’t hear her…
After she and Valerie finish talking, Oukirii says that she’s off to hunt a beast. She describes Snow Gem to Valerie, who says “I’ve never heard of anything like that before…” Valerie tells Oukirii to wait up and grabs a hatchet from the wall, she says that she’ll be coming to hunt this thing too. She won’t let someone like her fight a beast unsupervised.

• Travel Banter: Dance Lessons (Oukirii and Harmony) Oukirii is lost in thought, Harmony gets her attention and offers to let her try out something new, Dancing! Wondering if it will help her find something to be passionate about. Oukirii doesn’t know what to think, Harmony talks with her about what it would be like to be a dancer. Oukirii says that stardom doesn’t sound like something she wants to strive for, but thanks Harmony for talking to her about her purpose in an uplifting way.

Road to Deepshiver Cave, Danger Level 26
As Oukirii and Valerie walk, The ground begins to shake. They stop and stand still, Valerie asks “Did you feel that?” Oukirii wonders if the rumbling came from Snow Gem. Suddenly, the ground cracks underneath them. Sending Oukirii and her companion falling underground.
Oukirii is lying on the ground in a patch of snow. Her companion tries to wake her, Oukirii jolts up and looks around. “Thank the sun! Where’s Valerie?” Oukirii stands up after petting her companion. “This… Snow Gem… It must be…” She shakes her head.
Deepshiver Cave, Danger Level 27

• Travel Banter: Rough Landing! (Oukirii and Taland) “Agh…” Taland sounds in pain. Oukirii asks if he’s hurt. He replies “Who, Me? Not at all. It was like landing on a pillow! I did pull a muscle, but I’m more worried about you little sis.” Oukirii wonders “Huh? I’m not hurt.” Taland is ready to accept the answer until he points out her shivering. “You must have snow on ya still.” He teaches Oukirii to shake the snow out. Before they’re both ready to continue on.

Further into the cave, Oukirii would run into Valerie. Who is revealed to have taken the normal way in. Slightly further to the end of the tunnels, They get their first look at the “Snow Gem” beast. A large quadruped creature with blank eyes and a strong shell covered in ice and snow. Oukirii is shaken at the sight of it. Valerie calls out “What is that thing!?”
“Stand back Valerie!” Oukirii and her companion step up, ready to confront the beast. “This is what I was made for… I won’t let you bring destruction to this world! Come on Snow Gem– It’s all over now!!”
BOSS: Snowradillo
(Boost Dialogue: “Here goes nothing!”)
Valerie dashes in and finishes off the beast with a large chop. It creates a strong wind as it fades away into nothing… “We did it!” Oukirii quietly says “That’s one down…” Valerie asks if Oukirii is alright, She says that she doesn’t know and explains that “I… I wish I could have known more about it. They say a hunter is supposed to read the hearts of all creatures they hunt. Is there something wrong with me?”
“Read the heart of it or not, you hunted that thing like a champion! Maybe you’re not looking in the right place kid, you could consider the idea of being a traveling hunter…”
“A traveling hunter?” Oukirii asks. She gives it some thought, before her companion reminds them that they need to head back to the town.

• Travel Banter: Church of the Sacred Sun (Oukirii and Thearnt) Oukirii asks Thearnt how different the Sacred Flame religion is compared to her own. Thearnt says that she was wondering the same thing. The two of them would have a long discussion about differences in their beliefs and customs. Draefendi being a god in one and a legendary hunter in the other, The Sun is believed as a spiritual concept while Aelfric is believed as an actual being, and how both religions have different things the followers shall and shall not do.
  
• Travel Banter: My Bedtime (Oukirii and Pascal) Oukirii is proud of her victory against the beast. “You did great.” Pascal congratulates her. Oukirii excitedly asks him if she can stay up later than usual now. Pascal tells her that he isn’t the one in the position to decide that, “Most of the time you’re knocked out early anyway.” He says, followed by silently thinking ”That’s when we usually go drink…” Oukirii pleads that she can stay up longer if she tries. Pascal tells her that he can talk about removing her suggested bedtime.
  

In Evercold, Oukirii and Valerie run into Hansel again. Oukirii tells him of the good news, and asks “Does it matter now if we take down the other two? That dream had three of them together, if one is gone then–”
“It doesn’t work that way Oukirii…” Hansel replies “Destruction could still spell even if only one was still around… Our mission was to take down all three. The next target will be Red Spirit, I’ve found this creature to be in Redwater.”
Oukirii accepts to continue the mission and keep seeking her purpose. She and her companion excitedly leave town towards the next adventure.
Hansel and Valerie watch as they leave. Valerie says “I hope she finds her purpose out there. But there’s something I don’t quite understand. She seems like she doesn’t want to be strong. But then, why accept a mission that requires her to fight powerful monsters?”
“She wants to prove herself capable, and it’s a job only she can do. I’m grateful that she did accept, Otherwise the fate of the world might still be uncertain…”
(Ending Text)
Oukirii succeeds in her hunting of the first beast. Snowradillo of Evercold.
Two monsters remain as a threat to the world.
She keeps her heart optimistic, yet still finds herself troubled. With no definite answer to the question of her purpose…
With the guidance of the sun, Oukirii sets out to Redwater.
And prepares for a confrontation with Red Spirit…
——————
Oukirii the Hunter: Chapter 2, End.

This all took place over the course of about 6 weeks. It was a little over two weeks until we were able to reserve a car and then had to wait another 4 weeks for delivery. My wife and I took turns reaching out to dealers in between work and kids.

• Dealer 1 - $5k markup, non-negotiable, no Siennas on the lot and everything had a waitlist.
• Dealer 2 - Woodland, found car on toyota.com, started purchase online through Toyota’s SmartPath (the estimate you see online is what you’ll pay at the dealership). Received call immediately and said they would send over all the details so I can confirm and move forward. I thought this was strange since all the details, with OTD pricing was online. Six hours later they send a new price breakdown with an additional $5k markup. When I asked why the price changed they came back with a $2k markup for window tinting. I said MSRP and they said sales manager won’t go any lower since I am not local.
• Dealer 3 - XLE, MSRP price, but required GPS-based theft prevention add-on for $1,300, no deal.
• Dealer 4 - No cars available, reservations are only for locals, if you are out of town you can only buy what is on the lot
• Dealer 5 - MSRP, no add ons, 6-8 month waitlist, but will probably be sooner.
• Dealer 6 - XLE Sienna on lot, $3k markup. Dropped to $1k markup after I asked for MSRP. Back and forth was slow as both of us were busy, they ended up selling to someone else.
• Dealer 7 - 2 Siennas on lot (XLE & XSE), setup appointment and showed up the next day. (Website shows MSRP pricing) I show up the next day and there are no Siennas on the lot, but one coming in next week, which I can have for a $7k markup. I said MSRP and was told no way, so we left.
• Dealer 8 - XSE, MSRP pricing, but would have to have it shipped from the East Coast. Asked for dealer to pay shipping, but no dice. Felt like we could do better.
• Dealer 9 - Limited available, waitlist for other trims. Avoided question on dealer markups.
• Dealer 10 - XLE on lot. Antitheft required addition. Tried negotiating, but conversation petered out.
• Dealer 11 - XSE on lot with $2k markup, $1,200 theft prevention, and a few dealer options installed including paint protection. They weren’t negotiating.
• Dealer 12 - MSRP pricing, waitlist 6-12 months
• Dealer 13 - MSRP pricing, waitlist 6-12 months
• Dealer 14 - MSRP XSE available, however it came with the premium package and I didn’t want to pay for that.
• Dealer 15 - No Siennas available, said they usually sell them for above MSRP
• Dealer 16 - XSE available for reservation, but I had to do it in person. They kept providing ambiguous answers in regard to their pricing. It was a 3.5 hour drive for me, so I wasn’t going to go unless they provided some details. They promised to send over pricing info, but never sent it.
• Dealer 17 - XLE and Woodland available for reservation at MSRP (long drive for me, but doable). However paint protection and theft prevention are required for $1,300, not negotiable unless we did a trade in at a price that was thousands below my best offer elsewhere. Kept trying to negotiate, but they weren’t budging much. Finally salesman agreed to knock a few hundred dollars off, but sales manager said no. Surprised on this one, we thought we were going to make a deal and a few hundred apart they wouldn’t agree. We were honest with informing them we were considering another car that had more add-ons. They must have done some sleuthing through Toyota’s inventory with the car details we had shared and identified who we were talking to. They named the dealer in our conversation and bad-mouthed them, saying they would pull dirty tricks once we went to purchase the car. This deal fell apart at the finish line and left a bad impression on us.
• Dealer 18 - XLE and Woodland available for reservation. No dealer markup, but dealer installed options inflated the price. I could easily fly to this dealership on a cheap ticket, no BS from sales, so we agreed on MSRP price and placed a reservation.

My mistake through all this was trying to use the internet as a tool to identify Sienna inventory. It seemed to me almost all dealer websites were works of fiction when it came to showing their Sienna inventory, what was reserved and what was available. Toyota.com seemed more accurate, but compared to dealer website, it isn’t saying much. Sometimes a car listed as available on Toyota.com was actually available.
What I would do differently

• Reach out to dealers over the phone instead of submitting requests online. This will just be a more efficient use of time . Half the time I was put in contact with someone who wasn’t a sales person and couldn’t provide the information I was looking for. A number of times I asked a question and it was ignored or side stepped. Sometimes I got no response from the internet team.
• Treat window tinting, paint protection, and theft prevention as a red flag. Any dealer who mentions one of these or has added it to their car, I would cross off my list and never talk to again. There are plenty of dealers who don’t do this and I think it is an easy tell that you don’t want to work with them. I didn’t have any good experiences when this was on the table.
• Negotiate harder on having dealer installed options removed that I don’t care about.
• See who is active on the No Markup Toyota Facebook page and talk to them first. I only had positive and productive interactions with the people on there.
• Focus on building a short list of dealers you want to work with and figuring out how they operate. Then i is a matter of checking in with them periodically, especially around allocation time.

I’m not going to lie, I used to have no faith in dating apps. I thought that all the people I found on Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble were all people I could never click with in real life. But then I did it. My friend and I took the jump. We downloaded a dating app and tried to come up with funny answers to Hinge prompts to make my profile the best it could be. What started off as a joke, slowly turned into something that made us excited. We looked forward to showing each other the guys we matched with and the conversations that were started.
We giggled as we made each other’s accounts, choosing the hottest pictures of us and creating the most ridiculous responses to the Hinge prompts that would be on our profiles. We hoped to find someone who could match our silly energy and find someone that we could be authentic with: We wanted to find someone who would encourage us to delete the app.
Hinge prompts are like interview-based questions that make things a little more interesting than a generic bio with your name and age. All prompts have a 150-character limit so the answers should be short and clever. You can even use a voice prompt but the point is to show off what makes you, you: uniqueness is key. So, if you’re looking to beef up your profile, here are 36 Hinge prompt answers to add to your profile.
Oh, and PS, some of these are actually from my Hinge feed and are the perfect way to get into someone’s DMs. Jussayin’.
“Dating me is like…”
Be transparent and give a glimpse into what it is like to be with you.
“Reading a really good book…but you’re dyslexic.”
“Having TSA Pre-Check.”
“You know that feeling of closing dozens of Chrome tabs after finishing your last final before a holiday.”
“Finding a pair of jeans that fit perfectly on the first try.”
“My Most Irrational Fear”
From heights to clowns, this is a great place to talk about your fears.
“Finding out I’m allergic to food while eating it.”
“Fear itself?”
“You ignoring my profile.”
“Swallowing seeds because I was told a plant would sprout in my belly.”
“Green Flags I look for…”
Get a little deeper about your type. What are you looking for? Be open and honest.
“Using a fork properly, rather than stabbing at your food”
“Being good with kids.”
“Survival skills. If we ever get stranded on a desert island, you should know what to do.”
“Always has room for dessert.”
“A Shower Thought I Recently Had…”
This prompt is a great way to show off your humor. Be creative with this.
“Is Punxsutawney Phil emotionally okay?”
“It’s illegal to own one guinea pig in Switzerland because they get lonely.”
“Water is not wet.”
“Aliens invaded the moon on July 20th, 1969.”
“We’re the Same Type of Weird If…”
This is definitely a more lighthearted prompt. Pick something that is totally unique about yourself.
“You enjoy the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, too.”
“You can eat pickles at any time of the day.”
“You still play with Legos.”
“You pour the milk before the cereal.”
“First Round Is on Me If…”
Be assertive! Skip the small talk and invite your match to drinks. Don’t be super easy though. Pose a challenge.
“You can beat me at bowling. I’ll accept Wii Bowling.”
“You can beat me at today’s Wordle.”
“You can quote [movie].”
“If you can beat an escape room.”
“Unusual Skills”
Showcase some niche interests. Anything that comes with a story is perfect if you want to keep the convo going.
“Belly dancing.”
“I can catch basically any reptile.”
“Notorious alarm setter who can still sleep past their alarm.”
“I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue.”
“Let’s Debate About…”
Controversial topics can get the ball rolling. This could be serious or maybe something flirty.
“Pineapple on pizza?”
“Brunch should never be before 1 p.m.”
“It’s acceptable to eat a tomato like how you eat an apple.”
“A morning person can never be trusted.”
“Together, We Could…”
Outline a dream date! Highlight your favorite ways to get to know someone
“Cook a nice dish and drink a bottle of wine.”
“Rule the world.”
“Be like when oxygen and magnesium get together… because people will be saying OMg.”
“Backpack our way through Europe: Paris, Florence, and Madrid are on my bucket list.”
Overall, Hinge prompts allow you to showcase yourself, your passions, and what you are looking for. Successful prompt responses should show a bit of your humor and vulnerability. Don’t be afraid to be genuine. These are the perfect way to kick-start conversations with matches. Dig deep. Good luck!

Welcome to /boardgames's Daily Game Recommendations
This is a place where you can ask any and all questions relating to the board gaming world including but not limited to:

• general or specific game recommendations
• help identifying a game or game piece
• advice regarding situation limited to you (e.g, questions about a specific FLGS)
• rule clarifications
• and other quick questions that might not warrant their own post

Asking for Recommendations

You're much more likely to get good and personalized recommendations if you take the time to format a well-written ask. We highly recommend using this template as a guide. Here is a version with additional explanations in case the template isn't enough.

Bold Your Games

Help people identify your game suggestions easily by making the names bold.

Additional Resources

• See our series of Recommendation Roundups on a wide variety of topics people have already made game suggestions for.
• If you are new here, be sure to check out our Community Guidelines
• For recommendations that take accessibility concerns into account, check out MeepleLikeUs and their recommender.

Use this post to discuss today's OTF workout or other general topics. Please add details about the workout or your own commentary and don't forget to upvote comments containing the workout details to help us keep key info at the top!
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Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

Feel free to join our Discord Channel for casual chat and forum discussion with other people

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This thread is a place to post any minor topics that do not quite deserve their own submission. The daily post should be utilized for questions, requests, track ID's & general discussion, as well as being a place to have some casual banter with your fellow users.
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Hello! On January 15 of this year around 12 in the morning in my country Guatemala, after 6 months of uncertainty due to an attempted coup towards democracy, the inauguration of the current president finally took place, after 9 hours of delay due to a final attempt by Congress to attack democracy and avoid the takeover at all costs, fortunately this story had a happy ending with him as Bernardo Arévalo president and already with control over Congress (if you want to know more you can visit https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=GsLD8QBUXO0&ab_channel=DetodoGt). Now to celebrate the wait as a final act, a ceremony was held with fireworks and this was accompanied by this song which I would like to know the name of the song since due to the quality it is difficult for Shazam or Google to identify it, I hope you will help me. can you help thank you very much :)
https://reddit.com/link/1d65mhb/video/2g8grlm3a34d1/player

Hello,
My name is Zack, a 19-year-old M looking for a summer job. I'm a good fit and capable of handling most tasks. I'm eager to try my hand at any available positions. Any leads or information on places that are hiring would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help!

Context is that I've been friends with these people for years. A few months ago, this friend Collin, told me that my now former friend Dawn, who he is now talking to again, was talking badly behind my back while I was letting her stay in my home. At the time I had bailed Dawn out of jail, let her stay at my house, and she was manipulating me into loaning her money and countless rides.
Dawn was literally throwing dirt on my name to our other friends about my PTSD symptoms while literally in my loft, that I was letting her stay in for free because she claimed she had nowhere else to go. Dawn moved out out my place shortly after this all happened and I never confronted her, I just blocked her. I was happy Collin dropped her as well as I don't want her to be a part of my life at all, but now they are friends again, months later after this all went down. I’ve been distant and not talking to Collin as I am not happy he’s friends with Dawn, who betrayed me so much after I threw away my time and money to try and help her when she was so ungrateful. I don’t want to lose Collin as a friend but at this point, if he knows what’s she’s capable of and warned me about it and still wants to be her friend, I kind of feel that it’s his loss.
What do I do? Do I keep Collin as a friend, let him know I'm upset he's friends with someone who betrayed me so much?
TLDR; my friend, Dawn, was staying with me after I bailed her out of jail. My other friend, Collin, let me know that she was talking badly about me in my own home; Dawn moved out shortly after without me confronting her, and we both dropped her as a friend. Now they are both friends again and I feel betrayed my good friend Collin is now friends with the person he warned me about.

Thank you guys for all your nice comments on my previous post! Here's my followup post walking through the anthology - I apologize for the delay, but I wanted to sit with this half of the album a bit longer. This analysis will be slightly different: first I’ll go through themes present throughout the anthology, and then walk through each song individually, since it’s not as consecutive of a story as the first album. As with my first analysis, I tend to also stay away from literal details as proof that a song is about a certain subject or muse – to me, it’s easier to understand the album when you think first about what the song’s overarching meaning is, rather than getting caught up in literal details (and I think Taylor often throws these in as red herrings). Moreover, it’s important to note that it’s likely that the literal detail she’s thrown in is one that only she and the muse will understand (i.e. her referencing a lilac skirt in imgonnagetyouback is unlikely to be one we’ve ever seen her wearing in public, so it’s useless to paternity test based on that detail!).
Firstly, the word anthology means a collection of assorted literary works. As a result, I think there are more themes scattered through this album, and it’s meant to be a little harder to parse than the first one. I think this album is what TTPD would have been before it crystallized into a tighter theme – similar to the 3 AM tracks for Midnights, the majority of which were written prior to the standard edition’s tracks.
There are a few themes throughout this album. From a romantic context, to me, this album is primarily about Joe. I’ll walk through why I believe that, but this album feels less muddled to me in terms of its muses, and I think that is in part due to the fact that her self-described mania from the standard edition is not a theme on the anthology. This work also covers her own relationship to celebrity and fame, and how that affects her romantic relationships and her personal life in general. And finally, I think the final theme throughout this collection is the idea of childhood, of formative experiences, and how our author goes about processing events that happen to her.
The Black Dog
What happens when you intimately know someone, when you share every aspect of your life with someone, and then it's over? Six weeks after their breakup, she’s barely holding it together (“I move through the world with the heartbroken”). She even tried to rebound her pain away (“I took the miracle move on drug, the effects were temporary”), and wasn’t able to succeed. Meanwhile, she sees him go to a bar, and she has the sudden realization that he may be able to do what she failed to do – he might be able to move on, with someone new. Reckoning with that realization is horrifying. If he is able to pull it off, what does that mean about the love they shared? When he had told her for years that he was who he was for her, and her alone?
You said I needed a bravе man
Then proceeded to play him
Until I believed it too
And it kills me
How could they go from being so intimate that they shower together, that she’s aware of his every move, to being so distant from each other that she wonders if making her fall in love with him was a hazing? And the cruelest part of it is – she doesn’t want either one of them to be able to move on, and give validity to the fact that they weren’t right for each other, even though she knows they have to. Moreover, she’s already *tried* to move on at this point, and failed – she tried to manufacture a counterfeit version of their intimacy, but what if he’s able to perfectly replicate it? And to really drive in the knife, what if it’s with someone younger than her?
And you jump up, but she's too young to know this song
That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming
Given that a theme throughout the first album was her feeling like she’d given him so much of her youth, so much of her childbearing years, with nothing to show for it, what does it feel like to know that he can essentially reset time, by being with a younger woman, but she’ll never be able to get that time back?
imgonnagetyouback
We know that her and Joe took a break or two while they were together (see: Hits Different, The Great War, in addition to PR articles). To me, this song is about when you do take that break from your partner, and you’re trying to make a point to them that they’re not going to find anyone better than you (I can tell when somebody still wants me, come clean) – the two of you are too intimately intertwined to find a suitable replacement. You know what to wear, what to say, what to do to bring them back to you:
I, I hear thе whispers in your eyes
I'll make you wanna think twice
You'll find that you were never not mine
This song also has a lot of similarities to So Long, London, which is why I attribute it to Joe. To me, it provides a deeper story to some of the lines she touches on in So Long, London:
I didn't opt in to be your odd man out
I founded the club she's heard great things about
And to some of the lines in Hits Different:
I washed my hands of us at the club
You made a mess of me
I pictured you with other girls in love
Then threw up on the street
//
Bet I could still melt your world
Argumentative, antithetical dream girl
imgonnagetyouback is a story of one-upmanship – of trying to out-jealous your partner, of proving to them that nobody knows them better than you do. And maybe this time when they’re both playing this game, it works:
Push the reset button, we're becomin' something new
Say you got somebody, I'll say I got someone too
Even if it's handcuffed, I'm leavin' here with you
//
We broke all the pieces, but still wanna play the game (Oh)
Told my friends I hate you, but I love you just the same
Pick your poison, babe, I'm poison either way
The spacing to me is a deliberate red herring (the 1975 very famously made a song called fallingforyou), and a way to illustrate that the subject of the song wants space from her – but she’s not going to give it to him. This is another theme that calls back to Joe – in So Long, London, she describes him as constantly pulling away (Pulled him in tighter each time he was driftin' away). Matty didn’t pull away – he was all in for two weeks, until he chose to ghost her, and leave abruptly. There was no slow death, no push and pull to her relationship with Matty – it was a meteoric rise and fall.
The Albatross
This song feels like a sister song to “peace” – she describes what it’s like to love her. It’s a little more twisted, however, as she describes her love for her partner as both a danger, and a rescue from the danger she’s imposing on him by being involved with him:
Wise men once said
"Wild winds are death to the candle"
A rose by any other name is a scandal
Cautions issued, he stood
Shooting the messengers
They tried to warn him about her
She’s described herself as wind and liquor in her relationship with Joe previously, in Mastermind:
I'm the wind in our free-flowing sails
And the liquor in our cocktails
She has empathy for the narrator, but disdain for herself. There’s also acceptance though: she knows that she tried to prevent it, and tried to warn him about the danger she posed. In the end though, he chose this life with her, and he chose the danger – there’s only so much she can protect him from.
The devil that you know
Looks now more like an angel
I'm the life you chose
And all this terrible danger
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
This song feels like another sister song to The Black Dog – how does she cope with the idea that her long-time partner might move on? How does she cope with the fact that if she chooses to leave, she also chooses the future in which they both move on? A future in which they don’t know each other? It also touches on her wondering if she should move on with Matty, and how feasible it would be to know someone else instead of her partner:
If you want to tear my world apart
Just say you've always wondered
This song, more than anything else, illustrates that moving on with Matty was nothing but a way to move past Joe – what she really wants, more than anything, is a response greater than indifference from Joe:
As the decade would play us for fools
And you saw my bones out with somebody new
Who seemed like he would've bullied you in school
And you just watched it happen
There’s also the realization that Joe may never love who she is now – who she was at the beginning of their relationship will always be who he prefers:
If you want to break my cold, cold heart
Just say, 'I loved you the way that you were'
She’s trying desperately to find some way to make up for the fact that she had to leave Joe, that there was nothing she could do to stay – she tried changing everything about herself, but still, the need to leave him eventually caught up with her:
I changed into goddesses, villains and fools
Changed plans and lovers and outfits and rules
All to outrun my desertion of you
And you just watched it
And she wonders whether despite his indifference, and the distance between them, she should still stay:
Could it be enough to just float in your orbit
Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses
Cooler in theory but not if you force it
To be, it just didn't happen
But now, they are merely ghosts of who they once were – it’s not possible to force the relationship anymore.
How Did It End?
When a long-term relationship ends, you can point to the factors that led to its demise: a difference of opinions on money, on marriage, on children, and so forth. It is easy to determine the “what” and the “why” of an ending. But what is harder to diagnose is how you both became the versions of yourselves that weren’t on the same page, that were unable to discuss these topics, that couldn’t move past these dilemmas. That is much, much harder to pinpoint, and this is the question Taylor asks in this song. She knows what killed them:
We hereby conduct this post-mortem
He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsman
//
We were blind to unforeseen circumstances
We learn the right steps to different dances (ohh)
And fell victim to interlopers' glances
Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?
But what she still doesn't know is how it happened – how did it end? She also finds the empathy from the media and from the public to be false and selfish – they only want to know what happened to feverishly spread the news like wildfire.
Come one, come all
It's happenin' again
The empathetic hunger descends
We'll tell no one
Except all of our friends
We must know
How did it end?
//
Soon they'll go home to their husbands
Smug 'cause they know they can trust him
Then feverishly calling their cousins (ohh)
//
Say it once again with feeling
What the feeding frenzy wants more than anything is gossip, and they don’t care that she is utterly lost – lost as to why this happened, and lost physically and mentally:
Guess who we ran into at the shops?
Walking in circles like she was lost
How does she give an answer to quell the empathetic hunger, when she herself doesn’t understand exactly how it happened?
So High School
In an album that touches so much on feeling like she’s running out of time to have the future that she wants, and running out of youth to give the various men who come into her life, it is interesting and heartwarming that the song about Travis on the anthology is one that describes being with him as regaining her youth:
The brink of a wrinkle in time
Bittersweet sixteen suddenly
Moreover, another detail to note in this song is the difference in how she describes alcohol and drugs – in nearly every other song on TTPD, alcohol is a vice she uses in her moments of despair, and drugs are what her previous partners turn to in their moments of strife (she also describes the influence of drugs on her partners as something she detests – “sinking in stoned oblivion” and “you needed me but you needed drugs more”). With Travis, she’s not imbibing in any substances – instead, his thoughts and jokes are enough for her:
I'll drink what you think, and I'm high
From smoking your jokes all damn night
Travis is giving her back her youth, making sober promises, and the impression that we get is that they’re building this dreamlike reality together – it’s wholesome, all-American, and high-school-inspired, yet still grounded in something tangible, unlike the promise of fate and destiny, which powered her relationship with Joe and her entanglement with Matty.
I Hate It Here
More than anything, I think this song illustrates how Taylor sometimes uses escapism and maladaptive daydreaming to ignore the reality of the situation she’s dealing with. She recognizes that it’s not possible to stay where she is, locked inside this prison of stagnation and boredom:
If comfort is a construct
I don't believe in good luck
Now that I know what's what
She recognizes that this isn’t what she used to be, and that she never intended to choose this life of secrecy, perhaps alluding to all those years she spent “locked inside her house”:
You see I was a debutante in another life but
Now I seem to be scared to go outside
She describes herself as finding hope in the places her mind creates (seemingly alluding to her creation of characters and places for folklore and evermore):
I hate it here so I will go to
secret gardens in my mind
People need a key to get to
The only one is mine
I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child
And her escapism into her past, and imaginings of what could have been:
I hate it here so I will go to
Lunar valleys in my mind
When they found a better planet
Only the gentle survived
I dreamed about it in the dark
The night I felt like I might die
All throughout the song, there’s recognition that she doesn’t want to be here – she doesn’t want to feel as if the only place she can be free is in these imaginary worlds she creates. But there’s also concession – is she perhaps only destined for an eternal consolation prize? For loneliness? For imagined romanticism? For the fantasy of how she imagined her life and her love to be?
I'm lonely but I'm good
I'm bitter but I swear I'm fine
I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I'll get lost on
purpose
This place made me feel worthless
Lucid dreams like electricity, the current flies through me,
and in my fantasies I rise above it
And way up there, I actually love it
​​thanK you aIMee
This song, along with a few others in the latter half of the anthology, discusses the loss of innocence she felt in key moments of her life. This one quite obviously alludes to Kim Kardashian, and their infamous feud. I will make a separate post on this, but I think people describing this song as petty may not remember the depth of the hate aimed at Taylor in 2016. Kim and Kanye organized a revenge porn music video for Famous, and held a museum exhibit so that people could take pictures with the naked dolls. The night the snapchat videos were released, every Kardashian family member descended upon social media to gleefully celebrate the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty. The amount of hate Taylor got was so unprecedented that Instagram actually built their comment filtration system because of this incident. It really was that bad.
And every baby step Taylor took (for example, even just posting that she had a good 2017 was met with immediate media backlash) was quite literally mocked across the internet. People thought the reputation era was cringey, that she was over, and that she deserved everyone’s ire because she was “proven” to be a liar. She describes this in the song:
Each time that Aimee stomped across my grave
And then she wrote headlines in the local paper
Laughing at each baby step I'd take
And it was always the same searing pain
But the whole time, despite the pain and blood, she was dreaming of the day that she would heal, and dreaming of the day that she would climb her way back to to the mountaintop:
And our town, it looks so small from way up here
//
So I pushed each boulder up that hill
Your words were still just ringing in my head, ringing in my head
What still irks her though, is that this bully who created this entire hate train and organized her downfall will pretend as if it never happened – she will undoubtedly reframe things to make our subject seem overdramatic, petty, and unable to move past the incidents of years ago. Taylor, however, has always been clear about one thing: sometimes, no amount of time can heal you from something that deeply traumatized you.
I Look in People’s Windows
This song to me feels like a sister song to The Black Dog, but a few months after the official end of a relationship. A sub theme that runs through Taylor’s songs about the Joe breakup is the loss of being understood – when you are no longer with a long-term partner, how do you cope with the fact that you move the world knowing everything about this person, but at the same time, not knowing them anymore? Would you peek into their windows just to get a glimpse of what their life looks like now? As anyone who has gone through a breakup knows, the hardest part is often not being privy to the mundane details of that person’s world – their dinner parties, their wine, their friends, and so on.
I look in people's windows
Transfixed by rose golden glows
They have their friends over to drink nice wine
I look in people's windows
In case you're at their table
What if your eyes looked up and met mine
One more time
The Prophecy
The prophecy is devastating. More so than any other song Taylor has ever written, it is full of desperation and longing. All she asks for is to be known, to be understood – to not be perceived as an idea of a woman, or a starlet with no humanity:
Please
I've been on my knees
Change the prophecy
Don't want money
Just someone who wants my company
Let it once be me
Who do I have to speak to
About if they can redo
The prophecy?
It’s striking especially considering how much she laments that leaving Joe means she’s giving up being known – it’s also striking given the fact that in the epilogue poem, she states that neither Joe or Matty ever truly knew her:
He never even scratched the surface
of me.
None of them did.
What she desires beyond fame, beyond notoriety, beyond money, is to be loved and to be known. The song also alludes to her being in therapy, and to finding some sort of consolation that she will find someone to share her life with:
I'm so afraid I sealed my fate
No sign of soulmates
I'm just a paperweight
In shades of greige
Spending my last coin so someone will tell me
It'll be ok
Cassandra
This track is a sister song to ​​thanK you aIMee, and continues exploring the theme of fraught public womanhood we see in Clara Bow and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me. In this song, Taylor discusses how the validation of women is never publicized in the way that the crucifixion of them is:
When the first stone's thrown, there's screaming
In the streets, there's a raging riot
When it's "Burn the bitch, " they're shrieking
When the truth comes out, it's quiet
Moreover, when women speak up about an issue, they’re often viewed as overdramatic, and unserious. Cassandra, in Greek mythology, was cursed by Apollo to always predict the future accurately, but never be believed. We see this happen every day to women in politics, in the media, and in pop culture:
So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst
And tried to tell the town
So, they set my life in flames, I regret to say
Do you believe me now?
And for Taylor, it’s reminiscent of all the times she’s been the first to speak out about something in the industry – for example, against Scooter Braun and his well-established pattern of bullying, or of the exploitation of artists on streaming services – but never been supported broadly by her peers. They believe her later, but at that point, very few people give her the credit for speaking up in the first place. It’s reminiscent of the Kimye scandal. When the news broke originally, the hatred she received was widespread. But when she was acquitted by the long-form video that leaked, it didn’t receive anywhere near the level of coverage that the original scandal received.
Peter
Peter is another song that touches on both the male muses for this album, and in turn, on the promises various men have given her over her life (we’ll circle back to this in The Manuscript!). It also touches on the theme of waiting that’s seen throughout this album, especially on her songs about Joe – how much time is enough time to give?
Both Matty and Joe were 25 when they met her, and it’s abundantly clear that both men made promises to her: promises of marriage, of children, and of a future. But how long can she wait for these promises to be fulfilled? To Joe, she gives six years of her life and youth, and to Matty, she gives him a chance to prove that he was reformed from the time she knew him last: both men eventually fail. Neither man is ready to give up their childish whims, and she has no choice but to lose hope that either of them ever will.
And you said you'd come and get me but you were 25
And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired
Lost to the lost boys chapter of your life
Forgive me Peter, please know that I tried
To hold onto the days when you were mine
But the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light
Another thing to note is the interesting double meaning of the song title. To peter also means to diminish gradually – much like her faith in both men’s promises.
The Bolter
A lot of the songs Taylor has written about Joe in this album deal with the question of “when is the right time to leave?” When you know that things are stagnant, and you know that you’ve given everything you have to a relationship, you know that you have to leave – but it’s easy to convince yourself if you have a history of “leaving before you get left” that you should ride out this wave, and that this pain might just be temporary.
The Bolter, to me, reflects on Taylor’s history – it seems like she prided herself on being able to see the warning signs, and being able to get out in time.
She's been many places with
Men of many faces
First, they're off to the races
And she's laughing drawin' aces
But, none of it is changin'
That the chariot is waitin'
Hearts are hers for the breakin'
There's an escape in escaping
It’s relevant to TTPD, because likely, she saw not bolting as a sign of growth and maturity. You know that you’ve grown as a person when you don’t abandon ship at the first sign of trouble, but what if there are so many signs of trouble that the truly mature thing to do would be to leave?
Robin
Robin leads into this theme of childhood and innocence that we see further in The Manuscript. The track name is also the name of Aaron Dessner’s child. She ponders how beautiful and sweet it is that we work so hard to protect childhood naivete:
Strings tied to levers,
slowed down clocks tethered,
all this showmanship
To keep it, for you,
In sweetness
And there’s an element of wistfulness to it – don’t we sometimes wish that we could also be protected from the worst the world has to offer?
You have no room in your dreams for regrets
You have no idea
The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean
You'll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline
But now we'll curtail your curiosity
The Manuscript
This song is perhaps the most climactic song on the album. It covers her romantic history up until that point, and starts at the moment she feels everything went awry – and it predates Joe and Matty. Instead, it calls back to the first time she experienced a proper heartbreak, and the first time she lost her childlike innocence in the world – her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal (a time she described as her transition from childhood to womanhood). She describes how they compared licenses, and how he told her that if they had sex, and it was as good as the conversation was, then they would get married, and have a family. He was the first man to make her these promises:
He said that if the sex was half as good as the conversation was
Soon they'd be pushin' strollers
But soon it was over
He tells her that it’s ok that they have an age gap, because she’s so advanced for her age:
She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years
Everything had been above board
She wasn't sure
While dating him, she desperately wants to be older, and starts emulating his behavior:
In the age of him, she wished she was thirty
And made coffee every morning in a French press
And when it’s over, she regresses, and turns back into a child – unable to sleep alone without the comfort of her mother, and unable to eat anything substantial besides the sugary cereal of her youth:
Afterwards she only ate kids' cereal
And couldn't sleep unless it was in her mother's bed
She forces herself to date boys her own age, to not rely on the maturity of an older man to guide her through adulthood, but she can’t help but feel disappointed in their youth:
Then she dated boys who were her own age
With dart boards on the backs of their doors
Finally, as she creates the All Too Well short film, she recognizes the damage he did to her, and how the consequences of that affair have shaped her life since:
And the years passed
Like scenes of a show
The Professor said to write what you know
Lookin' backwards
Might be the only way to move forward
Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for
Everything calls back to this first man, and these original promises – everything she’s been chasing since is reminiscent of this first scar. And just like how releasing All Too Well transformed and healed her, she hopes that by releasing this additional manuscript into the world, it will heal her again. As she describes in the epilogue poem, she is entering all her thoughts, emotions, and pain into evidence – she now asks the audience to process it with her, and thus conclude this process of healing.
The only thing that's left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn't mine anymore
If you read all of this - thank you! I enjoyed writing it, and I'm excited to discuss with you all in the replies :)

https://discord.com/invite/vGGtg3qj7w
Server name: Verda Vente RP (18+ RPvP)
Map: Savage Wilds Platform: PC
Style: PVE/RP/PVP Server Location: USA Direct Connect: 216.52.25.102:7783 RP Format: Text Based Max Level: 70 Slots: 60
Welcome to the Isle of Verda Vente!
Verda Vente is an RP server with a focus on storytelling and Mechanical PvP to drive conflict designed to allow our players to create tales of their own throughout the time they spend playing, and with players on all day there is always someone to visit or fight at your hearts content. With PvP, PvE, and RP options everyone has something they can do and relax! Just to show, here are a few...

PvP

~14~ Unique Races that come with their own specialized set of perks and bonuses that make each one a strong contender in our lore and in the game itself. We have: Humans Elves Dwarves Goblins Orcs Aquatics Beast-Kin Dragon-Kin Devil-Kin Fae Celestials Cursed Undead Cursed Vampires And Cursed Werebeasts!
~8~ classes that provide the bonuses needed for each character combination of Race ad Class to excel in what they do. We have: Fighters Rogues Magi Clerics Druids (With Shapeshifts) Rangers Paladins Warlocks
-Raiding opportunities with no restrictions on the use of Trebuchets, bombs, magic, and thrall use with building destruction a hard yes! Raiding times are between 6pm CST Friday, and 12am CST Monday
-Offline Raid protection so you can sleep well knowing that your buildings wont vanish overnight -A thieving system designed for Rogues to have their own spotlight outside of being quick and quiet! -Simple and easy to understand PvP rules that make ticketing far less common and less of a hassle!

PvE

Unique Dungeons scattered throughout the world that can be explored or fought for prizes you cannot get anywhere else. This includes a massive cavern known as the Underdark, and a Hell Dungeon meant for even the most geared groups to have a healthy challenge. Events hosted almost every day by me! Meant to drop rare loot you would be missing otherwise! World Bosses that takes full clans to remove from their perch! High Build counts at 1000 building pieces and 300 placeables per person so even the builders who don't enjoy PvP have room to breathe and relax with their game. High thrall counts at 6 fighting thralls and 1 mount per person that ensure your base is always guarded against the new purge system.
Our modlist was voted on by players at the start of each season, and we have a channel dedicated specifically to mod requests from our players! As examples, we have: -Indrid's custom races and classes -SvS Extended and SvS 2 -Emberlight -Highmane's Arsenal -Ancient Civilization -Ancient Sorcery -Less Building replacements -Shani's Stuff -Devious Desires -And many more high end character customization mods!
-We also have other systems in place to allow players to have the things other servers either don't allow or don't enforce, like: Kingdoms! With a King, Lord, and Heir ranking you and your clan can claim entire regions and set laws in place that are not only RP enforced but Admin enforced as well!
-Lore that is always growing at player request, so your character can have their names plastered in the server history for all time! A clear cut rules list for our moderators and admins, so players can always see what is accepted and expected from them!
With our community the stories have been great, the combat fantastic, and the memories better than the rest. Our server is geared for high end custom characters and buildings, and has delivered. Come and join, make your stories heard, and spend time in a world where we reward people not for dollhousing, but for RP'ing and interacting with others. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3036155384

Supernatural evil is overwhelmingly present in the small town of Twin Peaks, Washington.
This evil stems from the ancient entity Judy, also known as Jowday, or Joudy in Sumerian mythology. Judy is an extreme negative entity, perhaps the embodiment of evil itself, and transcends both time and space. She is associated with the Black Lodge, a supernatural dwelling place for evil spirits. Various Black Lodge entities include Killer BOB, MIKE and the arm (who both eventually became good), the Jumping Man, Mrs. Tremond and Pierre, and the woodsmen. They all feed on garmonbozia — human "pain and suffering" — and travel via electricity.
There are also good spirits who wish to counter Judy's evil, who reside in the similarly-named White Lodge. The foremost of these spirits is the Fireman, a god-like entity with similar powers to Judy. While powerful, the Fireman is implied to not be as powerful as Judy. Other White Lodge entities include Señorita Dido, Naido, and the angels.
Various cultures throughout history had been aware of Judy's existence, including the ancient Sumerians and the Nez Perce Native American tribe. The Nez Perce people were the first to name the Black and White Lodges, and over time gained access to the Black Lodge via Glastonbury Grove in the forest surrounding Twin Peaks. There they discovered the existence of evil human doppelgängers residing in the Lodge.
The Nez Perce's access to the Black Lodge led to an increasingly dark presence in the surrounding area, and many locals (including the Bookhouse Boys society and the Log Lady) became devoted to fighting this evil.
1945, New Mexico: The U.S.' detonation of the first atomic bomb, the ultimate man-made evil, results in a catestrophic release of evil into the world. The bomb inadvertently creates Judy herself, who promptly extends her presence throughout time and space. An array of other Black Lodge entities are created by the nuclear blast, like the woodsmen, and Judy (in her physical form called "the Experiment") vomits out Killer BOB and the frogmoths as minions of hers to do her bidding.
The Fireman sees the atrocities unleashed by the atomic bomb and devises a plan to stop Judy's evil from spreading. He creates a golden orb with Laura Palmer's face on it, and Señorita Dido sends it to Earth to counter Judy, BOB, and the other agents of the Black Lodge. Laura is "the one" and possesses the ability to defeat Judy once and for all.
However, Judy was one step ahead. She sends a frogmoth to inhabit Sarah Palmer so that she can use her as a human host. Killer BOB is used to possess Leland Palmer. While Judy lay dormant in Sarah due to her close proximity with "the one", BOB molested Laura via Leland, feeding off of her garmonbozia, and ultimately killed her.
Agent Dale Cooper, who solved Laura's murder and inadvertently stumbled upon this supernatural realm, gets trapped in the Black Lodge while BOB and Cooper's doppelgänger roam freely on Earth. With "the one" dead, evil is allowed to grow unchecked.
Cooper's doppelgänger, possessed by BOB, is in search of Judy, either to try to take her place as the ultimate evil or to work together with her. He devises many plans to find Judy, including a glass box designed to trap her.
The Fireman realizes that there's another way he can stop Judy before the doppelgänger finds her, even though Laura is dead. He sends the real Cooper on a mission to kill "two birds with one stone": save Laura Palmer, and defeat Judy. To do this, Cooper travels back in time to save Laura from being killed by BOB. However, Judy is one step ahead, yet again: she rips Laura out of the timeline, creating an alternate reality in which Laura went missing. This accounts for all the bizarre "glitches" and inconsistencies we see throughout the season, the "official" and "unofficial" timelines.
In one final attempt to destroy Judy, Cooper and Diane Evans cross from the "unofficial" timeline into a completely different reality, per the Fireman's instructions ("remember Richard and Linda"). There they become slightly altered versions of themselves, with Cooper being Richard and Diane being Linda. Diane forgets her mission and leaves Cooper. Cooper finds Laura's alternate self, Carrie Page, working at a restaurant called Judy's.
They go to the Palmer residence, where Sarah should be. However, Sarah simply isn't there. The owner of the house (the real owner IRL) mentions the names Tremond and Chalfont, which are two surnames used by Black Lodge entities, but hasn't heard of any Palmers living there. Confused, Coop and Laura leave.
We hear Sarah's voice crying out Laura's name from the "official" version where she was murdered. Laura looks at the house and screams in horror as she fully remembers all the pain and suffering Judy inflicted upon her.
The lights go out in the Palmer house.
Judy won.
Any disagreements or questions regarding my explanation of the general storyline? There are so many elements to just the basic plot that I'm still so iffy on.

So I went into the backyard of a empty house that is FOR RENT to have a look at the backyard (size and fencing as we have a dog). The side gate was closed but not locked, house advertised online and visibly empty. I went past the gate, which did not have any signs and a big handle to use, to the backyard which would be max 7m from the gate, had a look around and in particular at the fencing.
The neighbour then saw me and started screaming I was trespassing. I tried to explain I was a prospective tenant but she looked upset AF so I left swiftly, within like 10 seconds, I actually feared she would throw something at me or at my car so I did not go straight to my car. She called the cops later, turns out she owns both homes (they're duplexes).
The place had plenty of cameras which I saw but since no one was living in the house I wasn't expecting anyone to ever realise or be bothered by my 5mn presence. I literally just wanted to see the size of the backyard as the real estate photos always look so much bigger, and the open inspection was a few days later and I could not attend. I stayed there under 5mn and did not do any damage of course.
Two days later the cops came to my home, they easily found me as I parked my car right in front of the home. I explained it all, I showed them I was effectively looking for a new home with a list of inspected homes and notes and even emails about that particular home. They said they understood why I did it, that I scared her (then I said I was sorry, that I only went in because it was empty and that the gate was not locked and it was for a few minutes only, and that she scared me too), they said ok but no more going into the backyards unless it's an open house and that they may send me a fine. I fully cooperated, I gave them my details and all. At that stage, I thought I was good for a good warning. I'm not threatening in any way, I'm a small female of good appearance not a bum or anything like that.
She came back the next day with a $350 fine! The cop said she in fact had no choice but to fine me?? as the trespass was demonstrated (of course as I admitted it). She was a very young cop. I found that very weird, pretty sure the cops always have the option of giving a caution for a small offence for previous good behaviour and minor nature/no damages caused.
I have never done anything wrong or been involved with the police. I read the section 4 of the inclosed lands protection act and other related sections like section 10 about penalty notices, it says the police may issue a fine, up to 5 penalty units (550$). The associated regulation does say 350$ if in the form of a penalty notice.
Also upon attempting to pay the fine it appears the penalty notice has the following errors: - I can't access the online payment because the offence code is not right, I googled it and it is the code for an heavy truck offence (I don't have such licence) however the description part of the offence does mention "entering inclosed land without excuse (not a prescribed land)" which is the trespass offence. But I can't pay online or access the review page or anything as it asks for the offence code and it is not written down right.

• my last name is like "name1-name2" and the fine only has "name1" but my first names, address and DOB are rights.
  
• At the top it says it is a CIN type but trespass is not in the list of prescribed offences oppened to CIN.
  

I'm wondering whether she had to fine me and if so, could I challenge it. Bit steep for a 5mn entry into an empty home that I potentially wanted to rent (well not anymore with such a crazy neighbour). Someone told me they had to issue me with a warning not to trespass then only if I do it again I could be fined. I'm also an immigrant on a visa if that changes anything (in my home country -France- you wouldn't get fined for trespass unless you cause damages. I honestly thought all I risked was a warning).
What would be the best approach?

Really just venting, but felt this is on brand for this subreddit. Obviously look young for my age (32M). I was riding my bike back from the gym and decided to stop at a bar for a beer. I'm a semi regular but don't recognize the bartender. He ID's me. I think no big deal, then he tells me my driver's license it fake. I say its not fake show him my credit cards and offer to show him my professional government ID card. He says that's no good because a fake would have he same name, and my license looks different from his. I offer to show him my employer's website that lists me as a senior management (I work job that requires an advanced degree that would be impossible to get before 21). He just ignores me and walks away. I wait a few minutes thinking I can talk to his boss before I give up and go to the place across the street.
I'm usually flattered when bartenders think I'm so young, but the due really rubbed me the wrong way. I like the bar so It'll be hard but I probably won't be back because the guy was so rude.