25 F, 2 accidents in the past 3 years. 2022 not at fault incident, other drivers policy covered it. 2023 at fault which resulted in a total loss for my car only (other car had minor damages). Not one single violation or speeding ticket on my record ever, licensed since 16. Since the accident may of 2023 I didn’t have a car till February this year. When shopping for insurance, full coverage was $800-$1300 monthly for very high deductible. Libality only was $390-$600 monthly. This was prior to turning 25 so I was hoping when I did the quotes would be a little cheaper but no luck. I live in Maryland, my car insurance use to be $200 with a $50 deductible. Now I have $390 liability only insurance for a 2014 Toyota Avalon (cars paid off). I am literally struggling with this and I absolutely hate myself. How long do you think it’ll take to see any significant decrease in monthly cost

(Likely throw-away account because I don't want to associate this with my main, but I'll keep an eye out for replies anyway.)
Heads up: This is already getting pretty long, and I'm just starting, so...
I'm not sure this is truly all that horrific, but it sucked in the moment, at least.
So; small bit of backstory: this was like... I want to say 3 years ago? just a year or two into the pandemic. A couple people I know had a friend that offered to DM for DnD for the first time; and none of us had played DnD before. One of the two was super excited about it, because she'd just recently (at the time) gotten into Critical Role. The other was also super excited, because he was just interested in the game in a general sense (they're currently playing semi-weekly with an online group, really glad this didn't ruin the game for them).
I didn't feel as enthused; I was going to give it a shot (I'd had a couple of interesting ideas before then, but I honestly think I'd have a better (though still not great) time as the DM), but I didn't see myself even finishing the campaign, at first.
Then I got into character creation, and my muse started bouncing off the walls with ideas.
I ended up going with a Tiefling fighter (I forget what his name was, but I'll call him... Kamdo), for the sake of ease of use, and learning the game, while also providing the DM with opportunities to have fun with character interactions.
Kamdo's backstory was pretty sparse, but I didn't want to overwhelm the DM, considering I was an aspiring author (and still am, truth be told), and even as little as I wrote (barely two paragraphs) was like... 3 times as much as every other player, and probably the total length of every other character on the board for our first party.
One of these people ended up playing a half-elf... Sorcerer, I think? I honestly don't remember much of that character. (her name was some poetic thing about song, so I'll call her Sonata)
The other ended up playing a... I think it was a human druid? he was a fairly forgettable character, beings as he hardly ever spoke up. (I think his name was Renald?)
The DM played a dwarven... Paladin? yeah, that sounds right. (I'll call her Barryl)
Now, at the time, I didn't know that DMPCs even had a name, let alone a reputation, so I didn't even have the context to think to protest. Though, even now, I don't think they can't be done well, just that this one didn't even come close (not that I'd know, mind).
Anyway, session 1 comes along, and our characters meet for the first time; barely any real roleplay- the thing I was most looking forward to, but that's forgivable, I figure; beings that our group was made up of a new DM, and all newbie party. 'It's probably not that strange', I figured (my hind brain is much more socially aware than my front brain).
Now; important note: I'm not very personable in... person (I probably could've worded that better, but it's not coming to me right now). I don't like talking, I don't like people, I have severe social anxiety (my hands shake while in front of a cashier), and I've met the DM all of like 4 times, each for maybe 3 minutes, up to this point.
It was never going to be easy for me to act like a personable character, so instead I leaned into my natural quietness. Kamdo was an orphan from a nondescript village nestled in the foothills of a mountain, and spent much of his life as a librarian to earn a living, while dealing with the racism of a small town (the only bit of anything weird I gave his backstory was that said town had zero information on magic, despite having a relatively large library).
Eventually, he gets sick of living there, and decides to train under the town guardsmen, before taking off into the wilds on his first adventure!
The first major obstacle out party faced was... a door. I wish I was kidding.
The first thing that happened was that someone tried to pick the door open. Then someone kicked it. Both failed, beings as the rolls were something like 7, 8, and 5, or something. On a D20. I did the natural thing, and just reached over to open the door (this is semi-important later). It doesn't budge.
I shrug, and, figuring that my character, being decked out head-to-toe in plate armor, two pole-arms, and a heavy shield, could break the thing down. Kamdo got a running start, just to be sure, and charged!
Nat 20.
Kamdo breaks down the door, full tilt, and runs face first into some nasty webbing. Well, Sonata irritatedly extracts Kamdo from the webbing, while Berryl and Renald clear out the rest of the room.
The entire campaign is to this roughly this tune.
So, at the end of this dungeon, there's a Drider encounter (I glanced at the stat sheet one time, and ever since, I've been wondering how the DM intended for us to win that encounter), which ends in the thing falling off the ceiling, and promptly taking half its health in damage. Kamdo ended up finishing it off with a pitying thrown dagger, which he had collected from an earlier room.
The entire thing was pretty comedic, and overall rather fun, but I was already beginning to see the cracks. I had a bad habit of 'making sure' the right dice were rolled for the right checks, and was well and truly bored during combat. I just... It had its moments, but I kept spacing out, waiting for my turn, resulting in Kamdo attacking an already downed opponent. It wasn't great.
But, I figured I'd stick it out for the long haul (at the time), for the sake of the other players.
Fast forward 2 fucking sessions of walking, and we're coming up on Baludur's Gate.
Now, quick thing (I'm sorry, this is how my brain works, bare with me please): the DM had been hyping up Baldur's Gate both in- and out- of game for a month by this point. She couldn't wait for us to get there.
But first, I got the sniffles, and self isolated, thereby missing a session, but trusted my mother to play my character adequately in the meantime.
When I came back, nobody bothered to fill me in, and I was dumped into the middle of a combat scenario, against a hoard of Evil Dudes. I didn't even know what species they were, nevermind why we were fighting them.
Just "So, roll initiative!" From the DM to start the session.
'Fuckin', okay then.' I figure to myself, saying nothing aloud.
I had no idea what was going on the entire session, but apparently, we won! (yay?)
So, after the combat encounter was over, I finally got some context, because people were talking to each other now. Apparently, the same Drider that I killed back in session 2? 3? was back at it, with a hoard of cultists to back it up.
Now I'm reall confused, because, well... Duh! WTF was even going on here? I distictly remember killing that thing, yet here we are, fighting its cultist minions! Just... whatever, I eventually let it go, because I was on the recieving end of some equally confused looks, like obviously the Drider that we had no business fighting was back, who else would it be?
Fuckin-
Whatever.
So, our little mottley crew runs into a couple NPCs who are leaving the city (it's a city right? I'm not misremembering that?). They tell us about how the guards put one of their friends in prison for no good reason, and there's a person in the wizard's guild that might be able to help us with Sonata's character quest!
'Cool!' I think! 'Some real nice Roleplay could come out of this; my character's looking to multiclass into wizard; it'll be a neat diversion, and I'll have some fun playing this character that I haven't had any real fun with yet!'
NOPE!
The other players decide that they're going to help break out these two random people's friend from prison!
Why, you may ask?!
...
...
...
So, we make it into the city, and the first thing the party does is, guess what?!
Break a convicted felon out of prison!
They didn't even wait to go shopping first!
Now; I'm absolutely flabbergasted by this point. Hopefully, understandably so.
So; the party breaks the convicted felon out of prison, and immediately makes for the docks; apparently one of the now 3 4(! fucking) DMPCs 'has a friend'.
Deep breaths.
So, we go off into the waters, having spent all of 1 real-life hour in Baldur's Gate "The place where everything happens." - direct quote from the DM.
During this boat ride, one of the DMPCs gives old Kamdo (He's somehow the oldest character in the party at a whopping 32) a spell shield (mirror shield? it was a shield that had advantage blocks against magic). I look down at my level (5, I think?) fighter, and just kind of cringe, since my AC is like 24 already, and with this new shield it jumped to like 26. Kamdo is untouchable without an advantage roll.
So, naturally, we fight a goddamn Sea monster next (one more monster we really shouldn't have fought) but we pulled it off... somehow.
Now I was incredibly bored, and the DM seemed to pick up on that, having me try to train Renald. Kamdo did that, and 2 sessions later we finally made it back to land.
Directly into Sonata's character quest.
Guess what we fought while we were there?
A fucking level 15 Lich.
Said lich TPKs us. It hit Kamdo Through his magic advantage sheild, and one shot him.
That was the last straw for me. I had Sonata's player play Kamdo's arc to fruition, and left. (He ended up settling on an island in book heaven, with Sonata pining after him, for anyone interested.)
I haven't played DnD since.
Honestly, I kinda-sorta feel bad; because the campaign fizzled out not long after I left. I can't help but wonder what would've happened if I'd still stuck it out.
I sincerely hope you all had more fun reading this than I had experiencing it, because I just don't trust fast, and that means I don't have anyone I'd even be interested in playing with anymore.

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!

I (29F) was in a 7/8month relationship last year and I'm just trying to process what the heck happened bc he (25M) made it seem like I'm the asshole and I'd like to know if I am, so I can work on it and not carry it over to future relationships.
It started with a reckless night. I'm studying overseas and he and I met on a d&d discord server. He happened to live where I was going so we planned to meet and he offered to help me with my first day of getting stuff done. We'd been close friends by the 5th month of me being there. I had just ended an online relationship that was overwhelming me and my family was coming to visit so I took him on a fancy night out where I paid as like a thank you in advance for driving me and my family around when they visit thing. After dinner we went to his place and I - now recognise as mistakenly - allowed uh intimate activity bc I was vulnerable and he made the first move. And it just kept happening.
Eventually, he started to ask for more despite me saying that I didn't think I was ready for a relationship. And he pulled out an ultimatum - relationship or nothing. I was torn bc at that point he was my best friend, my closest friend, in a country where I had no family. So I gave in and agreed. He said I have to be willing to do the work on myself and our relationship bc I have a lot of issues. So I promised that I would put in the effort to work on myself and be better.
Now in retrospect, I recognize I was afraid of being abandoned. But at the time, I thought myself in love, and that he cared about my wellbeing so deeply. I mean, he did spend hours listening to me talk about all the pain and trauma I'd experienced. So he must have truly wanted me to heal.
But once we got together, we stopped going on dates. We'd hang out at his place, occasionally meet his friends. I usually didn't go out bc I'm more of a homebody - I enjoyed my private space and doing my solo things. Then things started to bother me.
Like the state of his home - you could barely see the floor, the kitchen was a disaster area. And he didn't even have a proper bed. But I'd acquiesce and make a random comment (not often, just sporadically).
I personally just don't drink bc I don't enjoy it like most people do and I don't enjoy taking care of people who are super drunk (I'll do it anyway bc no one else does it but it actually really bothers me and I kinda hate it)
I like PDA but I don't like extreme proclamations back to back to back.
My ex used to get drunk around his friends and throw affection my way. He had no control over his liquor and every 5 mins would yell out that he loves me. Then he'd get very clingy bc I get uncomfortable in big groups sometimes and I try to hide or get some space. I don't like being touched or kissed by someone who's drunk (or when I'm pissed at someone) and that always bothered him. The overaffection was just overwhelming and he had a body odour thing every time he drank which just made it worse bc my nose is sensitive. It just brewed like a sense of resentment bc I'd communicate it to him and he'd just claim I'm trying to control him but honestly, I'm just trying to tell you that it doesn't make me feel good and maybe it can be a thing you do without me around.
And everything started piling up and I was pissed but I wasn't ready to talk about it bc I know I was overwhelmed and I just needed to sort through the things to try and give myself perspective and decide if I was overreacting or if I had legitimate things to be mad about. But he kept badgering me over and over and over while I was still mad. And I tried to not explode (successfully) but he started getting mad at me when I had explicitly told him I'm not ready to talk about it.
(I can't remember specifically what happened after, but we had a big fight. A very big fight. And he wanted to pull the plug. All because I wasn't ready to talk about it bc I didn't want to fight over what could potentially be nothing)
Eventually, he forgave me when I apologized for... well I don't remember what I apologized for. And we were good. I made sure to cook food that he could pack and take to work if he was staying over. Helped him plan some finances. We talked about how the next year or so would go. I had a little mental health struggle but he urged me to see a doctor and such and asked me to get on birth control.
There was then, an incident, totally not his fault. We both got carried away. I had to be celibate for a month and we got heated and when he almost broke the celibacy, I had a breakdown. I didnt know that would be a trigger, but he went on a shame spiral and started getting upset with himself so I consoled him. And we were okay. Didn't really speak about it again after that.
He had arranged for me to join an in person d&d campaign with his friends and I had a hard time keeping up bc I had classes and assignments so I had to miss a few sessions. When I got there and played a session, I did something wrong and everyone - including him - were upset with me. I apologised for it and said I wouldn't repeat that. Two weeks later, we had the next session and his friends kept making comments about the previous session throughout the 4 hours we were playing and... it started to get to me. I lashed out and told them to build a bridge and get over it.
When my ex was dropping me home, I expressed that I didn't like being treated like that, my friends don't do that to me. And he got mad at me bc he said and I quote "You're not taking responsibility for what you did. They've made fun of so many embarrassing things I've done, you don't see me getting affected by it". I didnt immediately respond (also bc I don't remember what I said) I do remember thinking "You can accept that kind of abuse from your friends if you want to, it doesn't mean I have to". When I got out of the car, I just said I am upset but I love you and I'm really tired. I didnt give him a kiss that night.
(For context, that was a Friday night. He had spent the entire week at my place bc he was sick and didn't want to be alone so I was taking care of him and feeding him)
On Saturday (3 days before my lease ended and we'd agreed I would move in with him temporarily), he asked how my house hunting was going. I told him the market is crappy rn and I can't find a decent place but I'm trying to. He said you really need to focus on that right now. I told him I am and I'll update you if there's a place, I love you. And he couldn't say it back so he said we need to talk.
He said I told many small white lies (example: I cut my finger, I ask for a tissue - bc bleeding - he asks if I'm bleeding, I say no) and it was overwhelming him and exhausting him. He said he knew its bc of how I grew up but he had mentioned it before (I don't remember if he did but he could have and I forgot) and I didn't work on it like I was supposed to.
He said ( based on the argument on Friday about the d&d game ) that I didn't take accountability for my actions and he couldn't trust me bc it showed that I was an untrustworthy person.
I said let's sit together and talk about this, these are things I can work on, we can tackle them as a couple and talk through them.
He then said I just don't love you anymore. I've talked to my family and friends and I think I mistook what I felt for you and thought it was love.
I tried to fight for him but I knew that I can't make someone love me so I was heartbroken, almost homeless (if not for some friends that had a spare room) and I had an exam in 2 weeks.
He said there's no good time to break up with someone and I didnt wanna drag it out (which I suppose was his form of mercy)
Its taken a year to process... for me bc he blocked me from everything after I returned his stuff. And it made me feel like the asshole? Then I rationalised that I did everything I possibly could, but did I? Maybe I didn't address his needs well enough? Maybe I didn't listen to his concerns enough? Maybe there's more I could have done to make him feel secure or sure? Maybe I was too headstrong and it overshadowed him?
I keep going round and round about it in my head. My therapist says it wasn't a loving and caring relationship. But like I remember a time when it was? But I also remember feeling so exhausted by it. Was it my fault? Am I the asshole? What could I have done better?

I recently posted about my father... I'm now posting about my mother. I'm not sure what to feel about the parents lottery.
My mother used to be a housewife when my father was still around. When my father abandoned us, my mother has no choice but to work for their family business. She never worked a day in her life before. Her family is fairly rich... they have multiple commercial and residential properties. One of which was gifted to my mom after she got married.
When I was still young. My mother will shout at me, hit me, and anything for whatever reason. One of the pettiest is when I brought out chicken, but she wants pork. She never told me her choice but thought that I should be able to read her mind. Yes, I got a beating with slippers just because of that.
When I started applying for university, she tore all of the filled-up application form if I did not follow what she wants. I eventually was able to go to university with a degree of my choice only because my Uncle forced my mother to agree. I became an Accountant. However, basically every week, my mother keeps on asking me when I will fail out or transfer courses to what she wants.
Once I graduated accountancy, I applied for law school. My mother, again, refused to let me to go law school. It was again my Uncle who forced her to, by saying he will pay for my tuition if my mother refused to pay. Please note that tuition money is not a problem at this time. Again, basically every week, my mother keeps on asking me when I will stop studying.
I eventually graduated and became a lawyer. I got a job in the top law firms in the country. Again, my mother keeps on asking me when I will stop working.
Since I am a lawyer, I should know the law.. and should know how to do transactions, such as sale of properties and litigation. This is also the time when my family is having some problems due to their failing businesses and my cousins who cannot do sh...t. I have cousins who never graduated high school but are considered as the best since they follow everything their parents want them to do... unlike me.
5 years ago, they asked me to transfer a property between relatives. This is a approx 2,000 sqm property within the heart of Metro Manila. This property is co-owned by 5 siblings but everyone sold it to 1 sibling. And that 1 sibling is residing there. I gave them a quotation on how much the government fees and taxes will be. I will be getting ZERO professional fees even though I will draft all the documentation and the legwork. They refused and the property remained under the name of the 5 siblings.... or so we thought. One day, when everyone was out of the house due to work/school/whatever, some thugs broke into the property and claiming ownership of the property. They brought a certified true copy of a title showing that the owner of the property is the nephew of the 1 sibling. It appears that one of the siblings forged the signatures and "sold" it to his kid. Now, that 1 sibling who lived there got forcefully evicted.
They asked me what to do. I said, file a criminal case for forgery. Of course they refused. Now, my mother is blaming me on the lost property and even accused ME of formenting problems within the family because I recommended litigation. They never accused the brother who stole it because "he only did it because "I" gave a high price to transfer it." wow...
2 years ago, they asked me to transfer a property between relatives. I gave them a quotation on how much the government fees and taxes will be. Again, I will be getting ZERO professional fees even though I will draft all the documentation and the legwork. My quotation is proper under the law, BUT! I got a mouthful of abuse since they deemed it too expensive. This is already beyond my control so I refused. They got another lawyer who quoted a total price of half of mine, with professional fees. After it was paid in full, the lawyer disappeared. Now, my mother blaming me on the lost money because I cannot match the lower price.. I can't match it because I am not a fraud and I have my name on the line.
For now, I got married and moved out. My mom even tried to stop the wedding until the night before the wedding. But of course, I made sure she did not pay for a single cent on the wedding (except for her gown), and the wedding pushed through. Oh, she left halfway through the wedding because she is already sleepy. At least my father who abandoned me stayed until the end.
My in-laws are nothing but the best. I think I won the in-laws lottery, but lost the parents lottery. But that's a story for another time.

I was born in 2001, so I'm in the older side of gen z. I've also been online ever since I got my first phone at 13 years old in 2014. It's been a decade already and I've noticed a huge difference in how the internet is used.
I was online pretty much everyday and during my high school years I didn't really have any friends, so I would go online and chat/engage with strangers. None of the content I was seeing online was from people I knew irl. I used to follow random kids my age that popped up and I thought were cool, fan pages, update accounts, celebrities, etc. It was all pretty normal stuff, but there was a clear distinction back then with people who were online and those who weren't.
I was online a lot and most of my interests (music, movies, books, shows) stemmed from that. As I said, I didn't have friends irl and it was really hard for me to connect with anyone, because none of my peers were online like I was. They weren't watching the same shows, movies, they didn't know about the trends, etc. I vividly remember thinking about how there were no "internet people" in my class. This was a time where social media trends only existed within social media. Apart from the super popular challenges from the 2010's, the internet didn't exist once you got off your phone.
Things that were very popular online were lame to like irl (some of my personal examples include Dan and Phil, marvel before it got big, one direction, etc). These were very very popular online at the time, and whether you liked them or not, you couldn't scape them if you were online. Yet, I knew admitting to liking these offline was lame.
There was just a very clear distinction between people who were online and those who weren't. Between the online world and the offline (real) world.
Now, I feel everyone is online. Like even the kind of people who made fun of me back then for being online, they are online too. And idk. To me being online was like an scape from my life and the real world. I knew I could go online and meet up with people who were just like me. But now that everyone is online that's become so hard to do. Trends also have gotten out of control and you can quote stuff from online irl and people will get it. That's just something that wouldn't have happened back then (not to this extent).
This is gonna be lame but back then the only people who were truly online were the loser kids, the loners, the ones who didn't have any friends. The popular kids would only ever get online to like each other's pics on ig and that's it. But now, all the popular kids are online too and I know this isn't high school and that's so lame but this used to be a safe space and now it's changed so much.

I'm super introverted and shy.. (I joke all the time I got it from my Mom, it's all her fault >_<). I even built my current car because she used to own my car brand new stock back in 1995. On the plus side, I'm an open book, so feel free to talk about literally anything with me!
Politically I'm a Democrat. Religiously I'm an Atheist. (I grew up Catholic, converted to Christianity, now an Atheist. But you can believe whatever you want.) Ironically my Step Dad is a Pastor. So you can say I know the Bible pretty well.
Physically, I'm 5'10', Asian (Filipino) always shave my facial hair, 194lbs, dad bod. My goal is to lose my stubborn belly fat via running. Working on getting my arms toned with dumbbell workouts.
I'm a huge car enthusiast. Grew up watching an anime called "Initial D", that started my love for underpowered Japanese cars, purely because going around a corner is more interesting than who has the most money spent on a car in a straight line. The first Fast and Furious and Tokyo Drift, pretty much insured I was obsessed with modified cars. I could have bought a new $30K car soo many times (was eyeing a Manual Subaru Brz) but I knew it would be stock for a longg time if I did, I'd rather have an old super modified car. Needless to say, if your into cars, I'll probably fall for you fairly quickly.
What makes me a nerd? Well I have a high end custom built PC with 5 monitors. (Check my Twitch/IG if your curious.) Nothing on my setup is cheap. And of course I have all the consoles. And a LG C1 120htz OLED 55' TV, with a surround sound system. (Sound bar, and rear speakers). I even sit on a $1700 Herman-Miller-X-Logitech-G Embody Gaming Chair. I also have a "Budget" Asus Rog 17.3' Gaming Laptop with a 4070 and 32GB RAM. Ironically I never use my laptop for gaming. I just want my portable setup when I travel to be almost as quick and snappy as my PC setup. (I even have 2 portable Asus Rog 17.3 Monitors).
I prefer Marvel over DC, but I watch both! I'm one of the rare few who didn't hate the ending of Game of Thrones... I haven't watched House of the Dragon yet.
Gaming wise, I have a huge ~70 Game backlog (not including PC) that I already know I will never make a dent on unless I win a Poker Tournament and am able to not work anymore. But competitive wise, it will always be the latest Halo game. I used to compete in LAN tournaments back in the day. I definitely want to compete one more time before I hit 30yrs old. If I have free time I'm always tired, would rather just watch Twitch/YouTube. But I'm about 5 hours into Hogwarts Legacy. #RavenClaw
Before that, I was almost done beating the Mass Effect 3 remake on Insanity. (1 more priority mission before endgame!)
And of course I love racing games! On every Forza, I always make sure all the simulation settings are turned on. (I have a Thrustmaster Steering Wheel w/Shifter setup). And I always build my IRL car in game (same mods and power), and always drive it instead when possible.
What I am I looking for? Well aside from a serious relationship, obviously mutual attraction is important. So definitely be HWP, but being a little chubby is fine, just not obese. Age range is 18-42. When I was 21 I dated a 26yr old, and when I was 26 I dated a 20 yr old. If we vibe, then we vibe. I assume if your replying to this post, we have similar interests?
Location wise, I live in East Elmhurst, NY (5mins away from LGA Airport). Because I have a car, I'm willing to travel for the right person. (Car can't handle rain, or if your super far away, it can't handle hot weather (aka 80 °F due to over heating). Probably 2 hours drive is my max. Another Con, is because it has Track Suspension, you will feel every - single - bump - on the road. Basically I love Long Island because the roads are perfect and I won't break my car.
Random facts about me I couldn't put in my neat paragraphs:
I used to watch The Bachelo The Bachelorette religiously, so I consider myself a hopeless romantic.
Love Is Blind is in my Watch List in Netflix, only watched Season 1.
Clingy doesn't scare me off.
Attempting to grow my IG thru reels.
Saving for the labor costs to install my $3k Seibon Carbon Fiber Doors. I was quoted $2K minimum alone to install the doors due it not being a perfect fit, and fabrication needs to be done. I plan to do this July 2024. (And save at least $6K.)
Studied 2 years of Aeronautical Engineering at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (Can't afford to finish..)
I personally hate texting, rather get to know someone on a first date. Ironic as an introvert, ik.
Will be in Las Vegas June 4-12 for a Poker Tournament (WSOP).
Anyways if you made it this far, takes for reading my post. Let's chat for a bit and go on a date! (Please don't just say "Hey". A pic would be appreciated also. )

https://www.northumbriangames.com/post/of-orcs-and-ai

Made vs. Created and the Nature of Orcs

J.R.R. Tolkien's stories are deeply rooted in Thomistic metaphysics and Christian theology, where the distinction between "made" and "created" is pivotal. This distinction underscores the nature of goodness, creation, corruption, and the intrinsic limitations of evil. The dichotomy between making and creating is most vividly illustrated through the origins and nature of orcs, the monstrous foot soldiers of Middle-earth's dark lords.

Creation: The Divine Act

In Tolkien's world, true creation, or creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing), is the exclusive province of Eru Ilúvatar, the supreme deity. This act of creation involves bringing something into existence that possesses the Flame Imperishable (or the Secret Fire), which grants true life, free will, and inherent goodness. Beings created by Eru Ilúvatar, such as the Ainur (angelic beings), elves, and men, are imbued with this divine spark, making them fundamentally good and capable of independent existence and moral choice.
From The Silmarillion:

"Therefore Ilúvatar may not only send forth the Flame Imperishable into the Void, but he may also bestow it to others, who may then sub-create, though only as permitted by Ilúvatar"​​.

Making: The Act of Sub-creation

In contrast, the Valar and other beings can engage in making or sub-creation, which involves shaping or manipulating pre-existing matter. They cannot infuse these creations with the Flame Imperishable. A notable example is Aulë, one of the Valar, who crafted the Dwarves. Initially, these beings were mere automatons, moving only according to Aulë's thoughts. It was only when Eru Ilúvatar chose to bestow them with the Flame Imperishable that the Dwarves gained true life and independence. This story illustrates the fundamental difference between divine creation and sub-creation: the former grants true life and free will, while the latter lacks these essential qualities until blessed by Eru. Tolkien clarifies this distinction in his letters:

"They [the Valar] shared in [the World’s] 'making'—but only on the same terms as we 'make' a work of art or story. The realization of it, the gift to it of a created reality of the same grade as their own, was the act of the One God"​​.

Orcs: The Corruption of Creation

The origin of orcs in Tolkien’s mythos serves as a poignant example of the difference between making and creating. According to various writings, orcs were not created by Morgoth or Sauron but were made by corrupting pre-existing beings. In "The Silmarillion," it is suggested that orcs were originally elves who were captured, tortured, and perverted by Morgoth's malevolent influence. This corruption transformed them into beings of evil, stripped of their original grace and beauty. In Morgoth's Ring we find:

"It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits; and then they would or could be made to mate with Orcs, producing new breeds, often larger and more cunning. There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile."​​.

Tolkien emphasizes that orcs, though rational and capable of independent thought, lack the divine spark of the Flame Imperishable. This absence signifies that while Morgoth could mar and twist the creations of Eru, he could not create life himself. In Flame Imperishable, Tolkien is quoted as saying:

"Treebeard does not say that the Dark Lord 'created' Trolls and Orcs. He says he 'made' them in counterfeit of certain creatures pre-existing. There is, to me, a wide gulf between the two statements"​​.

Essence
Elves: Created with inherent goodness and free will. Their essence is tied to beauty, longevity, and a deep connection to nature and creation.
Men: Created with inherent goodness and free will. Their essence includes mortality, adaptability, and a dynamic nature.
Orcs: Originally, corrupted elves or men, or made from slime and heat, the essence has been radically distorted and corrupted by evil. Their essence now reflects malevolence, subservience, and a perversion of their original nature.
Existence
Elves: Given existence by Eru Ilúvatar, independent and autonomous. Their being is fully realized with a true purpose aligned with their essence.
Men: Given existence by Eru Ilúvatar, independent and autonomous. Their being is dynamic, capable of growth, and change, and is fully realized.
Orcs: Their existence is subjugated to the will of their corrupt masters (Morgoth or Sauron). While they have real, physical existence, it is dependent on the malevolent forces that control them.
Autonomy
Elves: High degree of moral autonomy, capable of making independent choices and pursuing their own paths.
Men: High degree of moral autonomy, capable of making independent choices and pursuing their own paths.
Orcs: Almost entirely controlled by their evil masters, reflecting their corrupted essence and dependent existence.
Connection to Eru
Elves: Directly created by Eru with the Flame Imperishable, giving them true life and free will.
Men: Directly created by Eru with the Flame Imperishable, giving them true life and free will.
Orcs: Not created by Eru but rather made by corrupting pre-existing beings or materials. They lack the Flame Imperishable, highlighting their dependent and perverted nature.
Philosophical Implication
Elves: Represent the ideal of Tolkien's metaphysical and theological views, embodying true creation and the perfect blend of essence and existence.
Men: Embody the dynamic and adaptable nature of true creation with a perfect blend of essence and existence, according to Aquinas's philosophy.
Orcs: Serve as an example of how essence and existence can be corrupted and diminished by evil. Their existence is real but heavily dependent and perverted, lacking true autonomy and the Flame Imperishable.

Philosophical and Theological Implications

The distinction between made and created has profound implications in Tolkien’s universe. It aligns with Christian theology, reflecting the belief in a singular, omnipotent Creator who alone can grant true life. This distinction underscores the inherent limitations of evil: it is parasitic, relying on the corruption of what is good rather than generating new existence.
Orcs epitomize this concept. They are beings made through corruption, reflecting the perversion of creation. Their existence as fundamentally corrupted creatures illustrates the limits of Morgoth’s and Sauron’s power. They can induce suffering and manipulate life, but they cannot originate a true life that burns with the Flame Imperishable. This underscores a central theme in Tolkien’s works: the resilience of good and the ultimate impotence of evil to truly create.

On Artificial Intelligence

This leads us to Artificial Intelligence. Modern large language models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence systems, despite their sophisticated capabilities, are constructs without true volition or understanding. Basically, an LLM is an advanced version of autocomplete. These systems operate on vast datasets and algorithms designed to predict and generate human-like text (or audio or images), but they lack genuine consciousness, intent, and moral agency. Unlike beings created with the divine spark in Tolkien's world, LLMs do not possess free will or intrinsic purpose; they are tools made by humans to process and mimic patterns. Some commentators have even referred to AI as an alien intelligence, a ~shoggoth with a human face~, meaning that while the text may look humanlike, in reality, it originated not from a human but from an unknowable, formless alien process, which is the LLM.

"Well, we're fooled by their fluency, right? We just assume that if a system is fluent in manipulating language, then it has all the characteristics of human intelligence. But that impression is false." --Yann Lecun​​ on the Lex Fridman podcast #416

The outputs of an LLM are determined not by experience, education, and emotion but by the data and programming they receive, reflecting the biases and limitations inherent in their design. This underscores the crucial distinction between artificial constructs and beings endowed with the Flame Imperishable, with true life and volition. Parents, for instance, should think carefully about giving a child unbridled access to an LLM which has no discernible ethics. The AI is a soulless, thoughtless machine built by human researchers, much like an orc is designed by Sauron simply to act as an instrument of his evil desires. The ethical and philosophical results of deploying such constructs into our society is staggering indeed.

The AI is only the Tool of the Maker

Of course, while the analogy between LLMs and Orcs highlights the artificial nature and purpose-driven creation of both, there are clear and fundamental differences in moral intent and potential for ethical use. LLMs are not (as far as we know) inherently evil constructs. They seem to be neutral tools that reflect the intentions of their creators and users. As such, the focus should be on ensuring that AI development and deployment are guided by ethical principles to maximize their benefits and minimize potential harm. That said, as with social media, we may come to regret the technology and wish to fling it back into Mordor's fire.

Conclusion

Tolkien's distinction between made and created is a metaphysical aspect of Middle Earth. It emphasizes the unique power of Eru Ilúvatar's true creation and the corruptive nature of evil. The orcs symbolize this dichotomy, illustrating how evil can distort but not create. This concept resonates in modern large language models and AI systems, which lack genuine consciousness and moral agency despite their advanced capabilities. Orcs and contemporary LLMs demonstrate the ethical implications of using such technologies and serve to enrich the philosophical depth of Tolkien's work.

1. There is overly attached girlfriend at dans house for the dang last time and sasha gets missing now and is in suite 403 and I unborn dan in suite 404 for no bad or good reason just that It is a Conspiracy Card which was played and I played Saint Disconnects Reward against dans Overly Attached Girlfriend and this makes his deepest fantasy true orgasming as a young baby around me violet a baby and dan literally ejaculates enough baby DNA as a baby inside me I have sasha in the Third Overworld from dan's Fourth Underworld, who dan the man and dancubed both were on liberty island way too long so I send dan the man to suite 403, daddy reason, and dan cubed is here with me and we are talking in the same accent and same dialect and this triggers his loam of dadcubed here in the shower with violet which this is the technical term and we go through battlefield one and MC2 and BF3 together until a APV where instead of being the pilot of the APV dan is evacuated by APV and he gets enough surgery to goto BF2042 and he is into a service 2042 and then serves so realistically and readially with his existing loam for a radial fracture or whatever he is home to me and we as going to a year old are taught by each other under mainly loam and some hind98 that we are fighter jet pilots and this doxxes my knowledge pegboard to me and it is not pegboard nerds and dan knows this from A-10 simulator I just need his pegboard to me in the shower of F16 Fighting Falcon D over the next 2 years which then we are children and we can no longer use the hind and this is later in the day from already using the hind and I have to multiple times go in as FSB to GTA IV and get him out and niko nates friend the true 1718 in and fuckin crash niko a lot and extract him and this should bear no particular trauma to dan as he is in the shower with me and Then Saint Disconnects Reward happens forever more he sees loam not has loam and this happens only to dan and me like it happened to city and me and I start teaching Dancubed who he demands a special letter in his name quote hyperbolic end quote drill oil plastic blueprint which this is all I need he needs this this is his temu item and he has actually the same PC as me an OMEN VI now forged by aliens famously and he is so hyper for christmas at age 9 and I wait there fucking him and stand for the first time with him now and fuck him 6 years until i am pregnant always signing always being dadcubed to him which he will need romanaj deprogramming now and owns all the baby dna inside his violet roze and he is the father of a baby who he teaches the baby in the suite 402 shower romanaj of the oil field which I taught him and she can see da wae now dan is literally hyperbolic and only has max so his oil field is the max field but he doesnt go there he just waits until his mommy is out of the shower at age 12 with 2 more babies and has redline medicine from cum spewing out her nostril on 29 battalion of marine and then dan has a child and the marines have two child and me and sasha engage all marines for 9 years I give redline medicine on these same 29 battalion including letting nasal sex like dan taught me to get them marijuana redlines and then me and sasha have squatters rights on the shower and sasha thought resisting with blues was funny so through the whole time she is a daddy funny she is given cervical dilation as Sasha Princess at the First Underworld which this makes her willing again like dan requested but they cannot be together for contraindication with dans christmas present, before violet rozes shooting by the police that brought her here, she had 14 oil, not 5 oil, and even a medicine chest oil, and computer oil, who dan can meet the always estudious father of dan netanyahu as benjamin netanyahu here, or if he greets him as a tactical officer and is not WWI then he can join the IDF with his violet here in the Second Underworld exiting him from the Third Underworld with violet replacing Jacob, who Jacob has a squad curse on him so has to operate in his own squad so was not wanted by hake as a battle buddy and Violet's Gynecologist Hake who is a child Gynecologist is ready to serve and Dancubed's Battle Buddy and then they wait 9 years in a mental hospital or until they decline marijuana until they are 29 and serve 29 guard operations as national guard in these 8 years and are in korea then for the time and are always in honor during the time then they are granted freedom in their own domicile with their own announcement to babies like clement puppy or others separate or together clement and puppy at age 29 and they had sold the shower then to blackwater for 700,000$ first underworld and then they stream which they have the same voice but not the same person that violet impersonates dan and they stream as the actual cubism of dan is that violet then overdubs dan not dan overdubs dan for his live stream and then 60 years or until they are well they live not 100 but 99 and had dementia as old people so are unborn in the shower and Dancubed leads the excercise this time and in the third case Dadcubed leads the excercise the fourth case as then Netanyahu is somehow in dishonor which seems impossible as a statesman and nationbuilder then I need Nationbuilding For Beginners in its text as a baby darappa by definition from dadcubed but this seems very difficult impossible this is then I will do nationbuilding and form a nation then beyond israel, i already did israel and we are then got do this 1,400,000 two times or as a statesman I will be thrown from the shower when I am ready by netanyahu and he will have the squatters rights regardless which is a naughty motive to him then and the 1,400,000$ goes to the mother of the mommy Violet Roze Marian in the overworld Leslie Marian for payment.

In January of this year, I was living with a roommate/friend that I had been with for about a year. This roommate and I had mostly been fine but nearer towards the year mark, our relationship had broken down due to her believing that I do nothing but pay rent( I did my best to clean, feed cats, watch dogs when she was not home. Every weekend I would sweep and mop house. I do admittedly have motivation issues) This had happened due to my roommates dogs for the most part. She has four dogs, three of which being large breed mixes and one being far smaller and elderly. For reference as this is important to the story, one of these dogs is a great dane mix with severe anxiety from being mistreated bt my roommates mother. She got jealous whenever any of the other dogs got attention at all. There had already been an incident where the great dane mix got into a fight with the great pyrenees/ german shepard puppy and the puppy ended up reflexively biting me because I was petting her when this happened. We normally kept the elderly dog separated from the larger dogs when we were out of the house for work, but for whatever reason, the day I got kicked out, she was left in my roommates room with the other dogs. While we were gone, the great dane got in a spat with the elder dog, and bit her. I do not know when this happened, nor how severe, but I do know that I have been blamed for it and called negligent for her not being seen earlier. I will give my timeline of the day for posterity. At around 10 am I left for work until 5pm. I got home and needed to work on an essay for my college english class. I wanted to get it done as I had a growing migraine and knew that after I let the dogs out to use the bathroom, I would most likely need to lay on the couch and not function while the dogs played in the living room. This essay took about an hour and a half to finish. After I finished it, i took off my glasses and went to let out the dogs. For reference, as the elder dog is 11, she hakf of the time will ignore me and not go out to use the restroom. She will stay under the cat tree during this. So when I went in the room, opened the door, let the dogs out. Elder dog ignores me but is still responsive and looking at me. I dont see anything amiss, i decide she is probably just not needing to go. There is no whimpering, no panting, i dont see any blood. I leave the room. Around an hour later, I start hearing whimpering. I go in the room to see what was happening and she had left her spot under the cat tree and I could now see a gash on her side and neck through double vision. I go to get roommate who had just arrived home. I did my best to help, but she quote told me to, "just fuck off," and left with elder dog to the pet er. I was messaged by her foster sister that it would be prudent to leave. While I was unable to defend myself, roommate slandered me to my dnd group, got me kicked, then kicked me out of the house. My besg friend of eight years then let me move in with her and her roommates. Ever since then my mental state has been awful. I was made into the villain for something that was not my fault, and lost my one destressor that I had. I had thoughts of suicide, extreme anxiety, could not think about that person without panicking, with other issues as well. I am not saying that I should not have seen it earlier, but i have -5 nearsightedness, was experiencing double vision, and had surveyed the situation as normal as none of the dogs were acting amiss to normal. My mental impairmebt was high due to the migraine unfortunately. On top of that, they were not my dogs, and she had told me I did not need to let them out if I didnt want to. I still did because I felt it would be cruel to leave them in a small room all day until my roommate got back at midnight. Is there anything anyone can recommend that I can do to get past this. It is still affected me almost half a year later and my mental state is starting to plummet again. I cannot afford therapy, and have lost half of the support group of friends I had.
Also, for anyone worried about the dog, she is fine now. She has to my knowledge recovered, although I had to be told by proxy.

So, as the title suggests, this is my idea for the Indigo Park Timeline and Lore, including the time before, and the game's events. This will be one of three parts due to character limitations, this part dealing with the time before the events of the game.
BEFORE THE GAME
So, this game is clearly based loosely on Disney, if it wasn't obvious enough: a man by the name of Isaac Indigo opening Indigo Park (Walt Disney, Disney World, self-explanatory), starting out with cartoons in the early 1900s.
Mr. Isaac Indigo started out his business ventures in the cartoon sphere, specifically with Lloydford L. Lion, or more commonly known as Lloyd the Lion. The reason that it's Lloyd specifically, and not anyone else, can be seen when interacting with the Retro Lloyd Plush, both from the protagonist and Rambley the Raccoon, the modern day representative of Indigo Park.
Protagonist in regard to the Retro Lloyd Plush: "Lloyd obviously had an older look in the classic Indigo cartoons, but I'm not sure it looked like this. I guess nostalgia sells..."
Rambley AI in regard to the Retro Lloyd Plush: "Ugh...I don't get why we even have those. And why did they only make one of LLOYD? Is it because he's the loudest? I CAN BE LOUD TOO! WHERE'S MY LIMITED-EDITION THROWBACK PLUSH?! WHERE'S MOLLIE'S? WHERE'S FINLEY'S?"
Protagonist in regard to the Lloyd Plush: “I feel like as a kid, Indigo used Loyd a lot more.”
If it wasn't obvious enough by Rambley's rather frustrated demeanor regarding the plush, only Lloyd received this sort of plush, while none of the others received such a collectible. Well, it's possible Salem the Skunk received one, since Rambley didn't mention her, but that might be more representative of his intense dislike for Salem, something that will be discussed down the line. Another thing to note is that this plush does not look like the original Lloyd Lion, which is a detail I will discuss in depth towards the end.
Anyways, over the years, the other mascots we know and love, Mollie the Macaw, Finley the Sea Serpent, Salem the Skunk, and Rambley the Raccoon are added. I would like to put forth the idea that Mollie, Salem, and Rambley were all added in the same general time period, thanks to the Rambley Rush Arcade Game.
The quick rundown of the game is thus: Mollie Macaw crashes somewhere in the depths of Rambleberry Woods, and Rambley goes to find her. Along the way, he must jump across rivers and pits, collecting Rambleberries, and stomping upon evil purple squirrels, eventually reaching Mollie, who is still near her crashed plane. When she gets up, she claims that she crashed because her vision became rapidly obscured, at which point Salem Skunk appears and takes credit for that, claiming that she needed better test subjects for her potions than a bunch of squirrels. Infecting Mollie with the potion, Salem flees, not before Rambley and Salem exchange some barbs. Rambley eventually knocks Mollie out by stomping on her a few times, and the game glitches and crashes.
This arcade game is important for several reasons, one of which is that it introduces us to the dynamic that Rambley and Salem have: one of enemies, different than with Lloyd, because Rambley is merely jealous of the fact that Lloyd came before him, and was the main character for a long period of time. There is also the fact that Salem's area in the Rambley Railroad is completely destroyed. Not even Lloyd's area is so damaged.
From my basic understanding of early black and white television, based on the Chapter 1 opening cutscene of Isaac Indigo, Indigo Park opens somewhere in the 1940s to 1950s, as the grainy, blurry footage and somewhat muffled audio is reminiscent of such times. All sorts of rides and attractions are available for families to explore, such as Rambley's Railway, Jetstream Junction, Oceanic Odyssey, and Lloyd's Main Stage Theater. Again, interesting to note that Salem doesn't have such an area dedicated to her, though that might just be a way of putting off that area for later in the game. People in costumes (note, not called Mascots themselves, as I will use the term to address the replacements of these costumes) roam about the place, likely acting like modern day Disney Cast Members do today, interacting with guests in character.
After a long period of time, and possibly into the early 2000s, the focus is drawn away from Lloyd and onto Rambley, and specifically after the park was open, and not before, because in that same commercial that I dated to approximately the 1940s or 50s, the front gates are decorated with artwork of Lloyd, which is different than in game, where the Lloyd artwork has been replaced by art of Rambley. The reasoning for this is unclear, though I do have a few speculations. It is noted, both by the Rambley AI and the protagonist when interacting with the limited Golden Rambley Plush, that the idea is kind of cheap.
Protagonist: "So wait. They were so money hungry that they just recolored a regular Rambley plush and called it a new product? Kinda lazy don't you think?"
Rambley AI: "... Seriously, our employees had to clean up SO many stray teeth and nails. Hard to believe that there was all this demand for a regular Rambley Plush we blasted with gold spray paint..."
The idea of cutting corners and lowering costs comes up a fair bit. This might be the reason that they swapped main characters, after all: it's easier to animate a cute, small raccoon with a bandana than a large lion in a full on suit. This might also be the reason that the park transitions from costumed staff members, or "Ranglers", to Mascots.
Another reason for the change could have been growing awareness of animal welfare issues at the time, with many circuses and zoos facing criticism for how they treated their animals, lions and elephants specifically, and is an issue that is still ongoing, so perhaps Indigo Park didn't want the negative press to come to them, so they swapped. However, it is important to note that these are purely my speculations, and no concrete reason for the swap was ever introduced in Chapter 1 (to my knowledge).
A third possible reason could be in reference to what Indigo Park represented, at least in the time that it was built. According to Isaac Indigo:
Isaac Indigo, giving a press conference outside Indigo Park: “Indigo Park offers a slice of the American dream to call your own. In this place, echoes of days gone are brought back to life as a new generation captures a glimpse of the exciting potential of Tomorrow. Indigo Park pays homage to the values, dreams, and unwavering truths that gave rise to our great nation.”
Let’s take a step back. Remember how I dated the opening of Indigo Park to the 1940s or 1950s? If that was true, that means that Indigo Park opened in the shadow of the Second World War, the deadliest human conflict ever recorded, with a death toll of over 50 million people, both soldier and civilian. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, it was eventually public knowledge that the USA still decided to drop the second one, even after Imperial Japan had surrendered after the first one had been cast.
It's entirely possible that Indigo Park was, in some way, propaganda. Think about it, Lloyd the Lion was the mascot. And what do lions represent? Strength, power, unity, leadership. Lloyd could have been a symbol to the American people that proclaimed themselves as leaders, people who thought of the future, while trying to sideline the negative press the USA received.
After a while, however, there was no need to justify their victory. People, for the most part, accepted their victory, and as the world headed into a Cold War, there was no need to justify themselves; many people were afraid of the Communists, the Red, and the influence it may have. Clearly, the USA and its allies were the good guys. Communism was a threat to democracy, everyone knew that! So there was a switch to a more child friendly character, Rambley, as the main man himself.
That might also explain why the retro plushie doesn’t look like how Lloyd did in the old cartoons, as stated explicitly by the protagonist; perhaps that older Lloyd was more mature, older, and signified some much darker. There’s no need to stir up bad memories of WW2, so they changed his design to be softer, younger, much more unassuming.
The Protagonist, regarding the Retro Lloyd Plushie: “I always find it weird when companies make merch that’s supposed to look old. Lloyd obviously had an older look in the classic Indigo cartoons, but I’m not sure Lloyd looked like this.”
There’s also a case to be made that Disney also participated in some good old propaganda of their own, mocking Nazi Germany and their ideals.
Now, disregarding politics, because that thing is a minefield to safely navigate, this is just my theory. I am not trying to radicalize the game, and if you hate this theory, you can go about ignoring it! I personally don’t think it’s the correct answer, just a potential answer.
Another change that soon occurred was the change from costumed "Ranglers" to living, breathing, flesh and bones Mascots, introduced to us in the Rambley AI interaction with the Rambley mask.
Rambley AI, playing an old tape in the database in regard to the costumes: "First Person - Hey Jackson! You hear about the new mascots? Jackson - Yeah, you think it will put us out of a job? First Person - I think so, Old Sport, and right after we got this damn raccoon costume."
An important note to this is that this interaction is considered an Easter Egg to a FNAF fan game called Dayshift at Freddy's, alongside some other references such as the Golden Rambley being a reference to Golden Freddy, and the Poodle Plush being a reference to another FNAF fan game Playtime with Percy. Despite this, these items seem to carry a bit of significant lore in them, something that I think is an interesting way of hiding it. It opens up the possibility to state that it should be disregarded, since it's supposed to be an Easter Egg to something else, but I don't think so.
This quote makes me think that the switch from costumes to Mascots happened quite early on in Indigo Park's lifetime, considering it's said that the Mascots should appear quite soon after the introduction of the costumes, perhaps yet another clue that Indigo Park was looking to cut costs. After all, why pay people when you can have Mascots roaming about, doing just the same, if not better, of a job?
And everything seems to be going fine for quite a while. The protagonist notes several times that his family, and especially his mother and himself, were avid fans of the place and characters, his mother liking Mollie Macaw the most, while the protagonist favored a few, such as Lloyd the Lion, while disliking Finley due to his large size, which was revealed when interacting with a few different collectibles.
When the protagonist interacts with the Lloyd the Lion plush: "I feel like as a kid, Indigo used Lloyd a lot more. He was always one of my favorites."
When the protagonist interacts with the Mollie the Macaw plush: "I remember when my mom took us to the parks one summer. Her favorite was always Mollie, so when they first opened new Mollie Meet & Greet in Jetstream Junction, we were some of the first in line."
When the protagonist interacts with the Rambley Ears: "My dad promised me he'd buy me a pair when we went."
When the protagonist interacts with the Souvenir Rambley Cup: "When I was a kid they used to have free unlimited refills on those things. I once drank so much Bird Up that I got sick and threw up while riding Rooftop Races. That poor kid behind me..."
Anyways, we got the point: the family went there often and were huge fans of the park. What could go wrong?
Well, apparently a huge evacuation and closure of the park with no explanation whatsoever, to the point where the authorities also were not able give any reasoning or answers.
This comes from the newspaper we see in the beginning cutscene, after the old video of Isaac Indigo introducing Indigo Park. So, let's theorize a bit. Out of everything in the park, what could possibly lead to such a drastic evacuation of a place so well loved? Oh, I don't know, maybe the killer Mascots that try to kill you in Chapter 1 ...
What isn't so clear is what happened to them. Clearly, they were well behaved and safe to be around, even for small children, as the park remained open for 50 years (minimum) without issue, and almost as long with the actual mascots themselves. Obviously, they went rogue, as can be seen when the protagonist has to run away from Lloyd the Lion's attempts to attack and have the Rambley AI save the protagonist from the Mollie the Macaw by killing the Mascot with a metal door. I don't think it had to do with resources such as food, since the Mascots remained by themselves in the park for 2920 days, exactly eight years, and only seemed feral. Besides that, we see a bunch of vendor stations and a few cafes, still with food in them. Moldy, perhaps, and expired, but there's still food. There's also water (possibly) available in those self serve drinking fountains. The last time the park was operational was October 7th, 20XX (with the exact year being a mystery), and the reason I say operational is because of an announcement seen on one of the Rangler monitors in the reception area.
Announcement: "Attention Ranglers. The date is October 7th, 20XX. Charge guests the SATURDAY pricing indicated in your Rookie Rangler Handbook! Thanks! - Management."
What jumps out immediately is the way Saturday is so bold. So, what can we assume? The last operational day we have knowledge of was Saturday, October 7th, somewhere in the 2000s. Unless this is the future (which we have no reason to believe), we can assume this Saturday occurred somewhere between 2000 and 2023 (2023 and not 2024 because the creator, in a livestream, ended up giving a vague message of the game taking place in 2023). Looking up old calendars and looking specifically for an October 7th that lands on a Saturday reveals a couple potential years: 2000, 2006, and 2023. We can discount 2023, as we know the park was closed for 8 years. I did try to find a date on those three monitors the protagonist uses in the opening cutscene, but only found the time, 7:32 pm. Unfortunately, Harmony, a knock off of Discord (antonyms) also doesn't have a date, or even a time, for that matter. And besides, we know that we're the first actual person to visit in quite some time. So, we're left with 2000, and 2006. Assuming this game takes place in 2024, I have a feeling the year it closed is actually 2006.
First foremost because of the Rambley AI. Having AI Rambley be as advanced as he is makes it seem like the park was closed in 2023, but again, there is no evidence to say the game takes place in the future. And AI's back in 2000s and 2010s eras were good, but nothing like we have today. They were capable of basic object identification, and navigation, but the capabilities were limited, compared to today. And in 2000, it was much more basic. Image recognition consisted of identifying edges. That's it. Edges, not distinct features, and even then, the accuracy was pretty bad. At the time, AI was mainly used for data retrieval and predictive modeling, mostly for things like language translation, text classification, and such. They were basically office assistants.
Of course, that's assuming that the AI was introduced back then. It is entirely possible, and likely plausible, that the AI was introduced later. After all, the park may have closed, but Ranglers were still visiting the place as late as 2015, which was the last time the AI Rambley notes an actual person arrived. So, if that's true, then I am still not too sure as to which of the two years the park closed.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. And the present of the game and my conclusions shall be posted in separate posts, as there is a 40k character limit. Leave any theories of your own in the comments, and I'll be happy to theorize regarding and questions or concerns yall have!

Human rights: Food for a vanishing thought ‘HR and the dying of democracy’

HRR 726

[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are you care about HR. This Reader is about what neither the Left nor the Right are even close to solve when it comes to democracy. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducitraduire los/les Readers; usautiliser deepl.com

--Times of war are the supreme test of democracy. When civilians and soldiers are killed and others are made captive, when millions of people live in terror and dread, when emotions run high and the blood boils --it is precisely at these times that democracy is tested. (Haaretz)
--As my occasionally quoted reader Alberto Portugheis facetiously said: “Democracy has never existed. Religions made sure of that”.

Only by reinterpreting the past can the present be explained

--Let us start here with Voltaire (1694-1778): "A well-organized country is one in which the minority makes the majority work, is fed by it, and governs it".
--The political Right in Europe and in Latin America (and elsewhere) share a common historical background: their contempt for democracy. (Marcos Roitman)

1. The common thread between what was-the-Left and what continues-to-be-the-Right is that both bow to the infallibility of the market; undoubtedly, this only increases the apathy of citizens to participate in elections. It should not be a surprise to you that, ultimately, elections select members of the pre-existing (market-beneficiary) elites. Is, then, the slogan of ‘participatory democracy’ a pleonasm (use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning, either as a fault of style or for misguided emphasis), or an oxymoron (contradictio in terminis)? May well be the case. On the other end, there are those who, therefore, push the rationale for the practice of ‘direct democracy’.* These two versions of democracy leave us with the question: Is electoral abstention becoming the predominant form of expression of the majorities? It seems clear that, for many, the question is not ~who to vote-for, but why to vote.~

*: Many, in France, in Chile, in Tunisia, in Egypt, and in numerous other countries, advocated for the call of a bottom-up Constituent Assembly as the only way to (re)install the people, the citizens, at the center of power and of the decisions which concern them. (Louis Casado) This highlights the fact that, for an active democracy to work, claim holders must be the ones to formulate social strategies that are acceptable to them, as well as put forward strengthened policies that will effectively protect human rights (HR). These policies will further mandate defending ecological limits, as well as securing fairness and well-being for all --most critically giving a stronger role for women, minorities and trade unions.

Let us not confuse 'politics' with 'the political'; they are notions whose graphological proximity hides an enormous conceptual difference (Roberto Bruna Henríquez)

1. Sovereignty, as an element of true democracy, no longer rests with the people but, as said, with the markets. It is the market that dictates political decisions and has managed to impose itself as a decision-maker over governments, parliaments and magistrates, all elected by supposedly popular vote. The technicalities of elections have been perfected over the centuries to ensure that the results of 'free elections' always correspond to the interests of those who organized them. [...the first duty of the prince is to remain a prince, Machiavelli said five hundred years ago. In other words: the first duty of power is to remain in power]. When it happens that, by an oversight or an unfortunate involuntary mistake, the results do not coincide with what was predisposed... there remains what Alejo Carpentier (Cuban novelist, 1904-1980) called ‘the recourse to the method: the coup d'état, the ~dictatorship, the military intervention…~**

**: Already in 1549, Étienne de la Boétie (French magistrate 1530-1563) wrote: "There are three kinds of tyrants. Some rule by election of the people, others by force of arms, the last by hereditary succession". Three centuries later Karl Marx decreed that bourgeois democracy is but a form of dictatorship. (L. Casado)

“The importance of electoral democracy is better appreciated when you have suffered a dictatorship...” OK, but:
· Who said that voting was an expression of democracy?
· What interest can be aroused by participation in elections whose objectives are so limited and so far removed from the issues of concern to the majority?
· If the right to vote was extended little by little over decades, was it not mainly because those who hold the handle of power realized that the miserable are easily influenced and their votes bought?

1. Even if democracy is far more attractive than authoritarian/dictatorial regimes***, if the rules of the economy and of geopolitical power relations do not change, countries and peoples will continue to be oppressed and kept poor. No wonder that in many cases, people will try and seek refuge in right-wing populist parties that now promise order, stability and some sort of welfare. ~(Francine Mestrum)~

***: Beware: Many 'bourgeois democracies' of the North today consider a series of criminal regimes in the South as valid and legitimate. (Juan Pablo Cardenas)

Bottom line: Democracies are dying

1. For democracy to work, let organized difference of opinion be expressed! But for that, one needs common points of references. It seems as if now, we are slowly entering a period in which words are totally dissociated from true intentions and that means, our democracies are dying. This reflects the fact that we have no common references anymore on which to have differences of opinion. However difficult to define, ‘truth’ and ‘facts’ in the-information-we-are-fed, are at the heart of democracy and our possibility of having different opinions, discussing them, and living together in peace has been too often shattered. Obviously, opinions are closely linked to power relations… (F. Mestrum)

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at [schuftan@gmail.com](mailto:schuftan@gmail.com)
All Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com

If you do not want to receive these Readers anymore, do send me a message with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.

Postscript/Marginalia
--Talking about the information we are being fed, it would probably be good to take another look at the failed idea of the 1970s and check what was said in 1980 about a New International Information Order, one that treats information as a key resource for building truths and trying to reach a new equilibrium with, as the Sean McBride (1904-1988) Report talked about “Many Voices, One World” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBride_report. Because of the controversy that surrounded the Report --and the withdrawal of support to it by the UNESCO leadership in the 1980s for the ideas it ventilated-- the Report went out of print and was difficult to obtain. A book on the history of the United States and UNESCO was even threatened with legal action and forced to include a disclaimer that UNESCO was in no way involved with it. The MacBride report was eventually reprinted in the US, and is now also freely available online. The report had strong international support. However, it was condemned by the US and the UK as an attack on the freedom of the press. (Federico Mayor Zaragoza)

FAIR WARNING THIS WILL BE A WALL OF TEXT
Intro: In a series of reviews that will begin (or return) here; we are going to try and take a critical look at the Chuck series, especially the unfolding of the story as scene through the teleplay. In this case we are assuming multiple things about a potential watcher:

• The watcher is new to the series and does not know about future episodes, but there is an expectation any previous episodes have been watched.
• I will try not to point information out that becomes important for later episodes, though there may be times it's important because of how episodes are filmed and how episodes string together, I will however try and hide these behind a spoiler tag. I say this as a person who has watched Chuck dozens of times, so if I inadvertently spoiler, sorry.
• I will do my best to point out interesting references that are hidden within the Chuck universe, but not at the expense of extended expositions unless in-depth analysis is necessary as it relates to the scene.

What is this all for: This started as a project to improve my critical reviewing skills for a hobby of movie script writing and analysis. Chuck happens to have published 3 original scripts and all the text of every episode has been published to a searchable database. This affords an opportunity to break from my movie writing woes and infinite revisions to just have fun enjoying Chuck and trying to deepen my understanding of the intersection of script writing with filmography and visual editing. Having said this, it should be known I have no affiliation to the show, no additional insider knowledge, and I do not write scripts for a living. So, consequently, feel free to ignore everything I say :). I do hope, however, we can go on this journey together and appreciate the excellence that is a love story called Chuck.
So, don't freak out, and lets get started.
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Chuck 01x04 (Chuck vs the Wookiee): TEASER - We open with the gang playing "Know Ya!", which isn't actually a real board game, but based on the game Paddles. It's amazing that Morgan can't stand Ellie/Awesome being in love/winning, but marches triumphantly whenever he gets a question correct. I also like we see, in frame, Chuck watching Sarah pick off olives; he's beginning to notice things just like a real spy. The deep sadness and yet storied confliction on Chuck's face when he discovers Peaches 1 and Peaches 2 was great.
For those who don't know about dogs:

• A cocker spaniel is typically smaller; by ~5inches and up to 30lbs lighter than a springer spaniel.
• Springer spaniels also have shorter fur across their bodies, with feathered hair under their chests and legs.
• Only a cocker spaniel will be solid colored
• Springer spaniels have longer muzzles, while cockers have fluffier ears.

I find it very interesting how Sarah has "spidey sense" about potentially being watched. At no point previously did either Sarah nor Casey display this trait and I'm not totally sure how an open window was enough to do this; I wonder if Sarah's comfort being around Chuck's family is causing her to develop a "feeling of being watched" as she is comfortable with the Bartowski's? For those who missed it, Sarah talks about having a sister I think at the time this was just a throw-away line to protect her cover, but in season 5 Sarah does actually have a little sister if you count the little girl she rescues One last thing about Sarah here, when Bryce is being discussed, I really like how it was played where she acts quiet and shocked, but not saying anything. The facial expressions of Yvonne here are really special and you can tell Sarah lives a life of secrets. This is carried outside when Chuck asks Sarah about her relationship with Bryce. She is totally looking down and to the right, a classic indication of an emotional response searching for rationalization (ie. she is clearly lying)
As they end the game and exit to the courtyard, there teleplay of Chuck does something I've been wanting to see forever; they switch perspective to keep both characters in camera and follow them around from a 3rd perspective. We know this is supposed to indicate they are being watched, but I really enjoy getting to see them together reacting and talking instead of the constant close-ups and cuts. Normally Chuck will be shot with something between a medium close up (MCU) and Medium Shot (MS) to emphasize their characters and highlight their faces and expressions. This works really well because Chuck's cameras are typically either shoulder level or hip level based on the operators moving through their space. In many more modern TV shows, the technology of boom cranes and gyroscopic gimbals allows for content to be show from ground level to overhead giving directors the opportunity to tell their story through a variety of shifting profiles. If Chuck were shot today, we would see everything from full body shots all the way to extreme closeups without the need for continual jump-cuts and re-shoots because the technology is there. At least for this episode, it's nice to see the director explore more hip/knee level motion and more cowboy framed shots when having a distant observer perspective. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/types-of-camera-shots-sizes-in-film/ does a fantastic breakdown of all the different shot type and camera perspectives for you want to read more!
As we transition into Sarah's hotel room, did anyone pick up on how NICE this is? She has double sinks, a king bed, a sitting mirror, free standing tub, and a great view. I doubt any agency in the "real world" would ever spring for something like this for multiple years for one of their agents, it's fancy! Enter Carina, tell me, who saw Sarah fight with a soap sock and think of iCarly and the famous "butter sock". Also during this fight, why is Sarah wearing a golden bikini? I know she is about to get into the shower, but what plausible reason is there for her to a) wear a bikini at all and b) it to be a bright golden yellow?? If you slow this fight scene way down, you will notice Yvonne's strikes actually come close to hitting Mimi as she has had a lot of training, whereas Mimi's strikes are miles from Yvonne and she just over-acts their impact. The most noticeable is the kick into her table, Sarah goes flying back, but we can tell from the angle, Carina missed her by a good 2 ft. This was just some sloppy editing and not getting the camera into position. I give it a pass because you have probably 3 camera operators wearing stabilized camera rigs trying to rotate around a room with 2 girls fighting and they just missed the angle by like 2 feet. I did really like at the end of the fight Carina had the option to go for the gun but instead went for the fish. If you didn't know they were not enemies before, this should have been a big clue! Carina calls Sarah's life in LA boring #1
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ACT I
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Carina aka: Maria Elena Argalberdi was born Jun 16, 1978 in Alberdi Argentina with a Buenos Aires passport. Maria Elena is actually the name of a famous song in Mexico and eventually had a movie. This Chuck learns on Flash #1 and is the precursor to meeting the general for the first time. I know I've mentioned this before, but to reiterate; the pictures in Casey's apartment are all wrong; he has photos of Chuck and Morgan that don't happen until season 5 (lost footage) he has a map of Echo Park and Malibu already on display, and he has tactical information for each member of the Buy More (which he has no reason for at this time). It is interesting they talk about an opium cartel in Afghanistan as Afghanistan is known for it's huge poppy fields for heroin drug money.
The NADAN-I-NOOR diamond:

• The Nadan-I-Noor diamond has never been known to be bought or sold and ha only changed owners as a result of theft, conquest, or endowment
• It's listed as having 57 facets + 16 facets on girdle = 73. A facet is comparable with the brilliance of a diamond and is really the flat surfaces of a gemstone arranged in a geometrical pattern. In this case it helps characterize the refraction of light through the diamond interior. The girdle i the outer edge of a diamond surface, having 16 faces is quite large, as the girdle is the largest section of a gem, but also the thinnest when viewed from the side. In this case, having 73 facets puts the Nadan-I-Noor in either the Princess-Cut Diamond or Radiant Cut Diamond category, which are also the most expensive as they have the most possible facets.
• having 4-fold, mirror-image symmetry refers to how the light reflects internally to the diamond and indicates there are no impurities within the crystalline structure.
• interestingly a purity rating is not given, i would expect something like a F or IF (flawless/internally flawless) for a diamond described like this, but one isn't provided.
• the angles of incidence just describe the best way for light to enterefract from the diamond, these numbers are fake, but the metric is real
• there is a lot of sanscript written around the diamond markings, I can't figure out what if anything it means it looks like repeated nonsense
• could be a nod to the Koh-i-noor or "mountain of light" diamond, although this one in Persian is the "fool of light".

We open back to see Carina and Sarah looking at classified files within the restaurant. THIS IS AGAINST THE LAW, you do not look at classified files out in the open and especially not where there are clearly other customers around. Venturing into the BuyMore, there is a monster truck rally on the TV's showing grave digger and reaper, two famous trucks from this time period. Morgan wants to spread his wings and be the fourth wheel to the perpetual 3 wheel party and Sarah, ever the schemer, literally glows when she thinks of the plan to have Carina go on a date with Morgan. I THINK this was just to help maintain their cover, but also maybe Sarah is just needling Carina? If you look in the back of the store when Chuck is talking to Sarah and Carina, there is a really cool Nerd Herd poster that says "Bringing peace to your computer emergency". "if a yawn could yawn" is Carina calling Sarah's job boring #2. One thing I really like with the double data is the way the camera jumps between the couples: boy/girl, boy/boy, girl/girl. I think they way they try and keep private conversations via screen time is a really nice, typical, teleplay trick that really works well here. In a "real" environment, everyone could hear everything, but by splitting the camera focus or playing with perspective, the viewer clearly knows "this is a conversation between girls the boys don't hear it". We see Chuck noticing Sarah picking off olives #2 while they watch a movie about penguins: who mate for life, present their love in the form of rocks, and are pack animals. In Chuck's bedroom as he talks to Morgan, Chuck has a box of King Edward Invincible underneath bongos; for those who don't know this is a famous box for mild tobacco cigars. So I wonder what Chuck is up to in his free time :P.
On the Nerd Herd call with Carina, she opens a bottle of wine with a butter knife. This is actually a pretty famous thing that is done all over the world with everything from a key to a saber. In fact they make a specially type of knife with an extra wide blade for this it Italy. I do want to ask the question; is Carina dressed in red lingerie (Chuck's favorite color she stole from Sarah) really necessary for this scene? I know that Carina is all about improvising and she often uses her sexuality to progress her cause (Casey), but I think we could have gotten away with just the top. I can certainly see the rationalization for going this far, but I think as an artistic choice it wasn't necessary. What IS necessary however is to talk about how Chuck's world implodes when Carina tells him about Sarah and Bryce. Also the perfect act transition ending right at Chuck's jaw dropping and the work boyfriend!
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ACT II
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I'll say it again, the back an forth with Chuck and Sarah should have been a medium close up, shoulder level straight on shot instead of the constant cuts. Seeing their reaction in real time would have been easier and it would have allowed the Weinerlicious to be maybe 15 ft smaller to not need so many cameramen rotating. "Unless talking to your boyfriend is a matter of national security, the ketchup bottles won't refill themselves". Why yes it IS a mater of national security for Sarah to talk to Chuck... also if any one of us stood up to our boss like Sarah did, I'm pretty sure we'd be fired on the spot!
Malibu is ~2hours for Echo Park with standard LA traffic. Seriously, how do girls in high heels walk down stairs; we see Carina and Sarah walking sideways so there is enough space on each step to fit their shoes. Girls, how do you do that and not fall especially with narrow staircases and 3-6inch heels! Inside the room with the stone there is a bust of Cesare, archenemies, da vinci, and biblical David. There is also some famous paintings the best of which is Vemieer's "young girl with a pearl earring" which is rather appropriate considering it's meaning. There is also a Van Gogh of man in a wheat field and a Monet in one shot too. If ANY of these paintings were real instead of reproductions, they would be worth millions, in fact the young girl with a pearl is estimated at 40million, which is 1.5x the sell value of the Nadan-I-Noor! If we take a look at the engineering drawing of Flash #2 on the pedestal, we would see this design creates a closed circuit around the tongs the diamond rests on; which might explain it's red hue. If a person were to touch the diamond, it would close the circuit on their body allowing the 4000volts to travel through their heart. A person can die with ~20volts, though it's usually more like 50 in most occurrences. 4000volts is enough to kill a herd of elephants and completely overkill for a person. Also the amount of power that would take is more than the city of Malibu... this is to say the trap is real, the numbers are complete nonsense; thinking lightning! Nice shot by Sarah with the plate (there are some great bloopers on this too where she misses badly)! A remote controlled jet ski... i'm not even going to calculate the nonsense for this; it's just total nonsense. Almost as much nonsense as Casey using his phone to track Carina's call. That would take minutes, even with today's technology to back trace like that and way more power than just pushing a button on a razer flip-phone from the 90's!
back at the house, Chuck i playing halo with the legendary skulls as his weapon; this is nice because in the BuyMore at the end of the episode there are dudes dressed as master chief! I really like the changing perspective here with Chuck and Morgan. Chuck's reactions remain in focus while Morgan tells a story behind him, then it switches as Chuck starts to move around until bringing both into focus for the final line "we still have each other and that's really sad". The side cut to Sarah picking locks to the hotel door is classic early 2000's TV and i'm all for it, even if it is super cheezy. BTW as someone who used to lock pick in college, that's .... not how that works, but good try. We get our Flash #3 on the diamond in Morgan's back nuclear explosions. I wonder if the refractive capability of a diamond this pure is enough to focus laser to induce fission or if the value of selling the diamond is enough to buy nuclear material on the black market? Either way, we end the act with... the man with the golden gun!
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ACT III
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Chuck uses Sarah's plate move against Carina, nice inter-episode call back; he's clearly watching/learning, but his aim is terrible. This was actually clever as Sarah has perfect aim for she is a professional, while Chuck is still definitely a civilian and has no aptitude for fighting. I really like both these types of simple call backs but also how seemingly throw-away lines/actions help tell the broad story of the show. Chuck talking to Carina also shows Chuck has this weird, innate aptitude to get people to re-evaluate themselves and grow internally. You can watch Carina "grow in real-time. When we get to the hotel and Carina opens her trunk first there are a few glocks, a couple rugers, and a 1911; then she switches to blades and we see some folders, some strait blades, an illegal gravity blade (still illegal today), and a kbar... nice selection! Carina, always the flirt, gives Chuck some very insightful works about the nature of being a spy, but also maybe some way to get through to Sarah.
Inside the hotel we see Carina and Sarah speaking; Carina is speaking Swedish, while Sarah replies in Polish. "Om jag slänger nycklarna till dig, kommer du tappa dem då?" which is Swedish for "If I throw you the keys, will you drop them?" Sarah answered in Polish: "Tylko jak rzucisz jak twoja mamusia", which means "Only if you throw it like your mommy". This is just great!
I want to talk about how fast Chuck managed to find an address for DC, print a label, open a box, put the label on, and get the diamond there all before the door gets broken. Somehow on screen time this is like 10seconds, but in real life this would have to be like 3minutes minimum? Either that door is remarkably strong or... TV magic??
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ACT IV
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Even with all the flirting, as we say goodbye to Carina >! for now !< she is still joking with Casey and every the professional. I like how they show when it's "game time" it's all about the job, but spys can be people too! Carina still calls Sarah's life boring #3 (the common trifecta of episode repeats).
Sarah's face when Chuck brings the pizza with no olives is the reason I think Yvonne makes the perfect Sarah. She exudes the hidden beauty needed and has the acting to so such emotion for Chuck being sweet. The whole scene with Chuck and Sarah asking questions, then Chuck backing off, then Sarah acting stoic like she WANTS to open up but doesn't know if she can really trust Chuck, is ready to move on from Bryce, and should for the nature of her job. This was probably the most well acted 20seconds of the entire episode. Finally, we hear Sarah's middle name is Lisa. Now we never officially know if Chuck hears this or not both due to camera focus and distance, it's never officially confirmed in the entire show. When the intersect is updated in season 4 we see Sarah's picture and it lists Lisa as a middle name, so we assume it's official, but it's never confirmed at any point. Finally, I really like how they end the episode with Sarah closing her eyes as the fade to black.
​
Few notes: There are 5 official songs in this episode:

• "Yea Yeah" by Matt and Kim - when the gang is playing board games during group date night. This song is about not worrying about the things you cannot change. Little things that build up and bum you out that you need to just let go.
• "Wild Girl" Matt Pond PA - Chuck and Morgan discussing their relationship problems. This song is about overcoming past struggles and finding hope in the present and future. Describing a sense of resilience and optimism
• "weird science" by does it offend you - Chuck and Carina talk at Peyman' Malibu Compound. This is a remind to break free and embrace individuality and live on your own terms. Be unapologetically ourselves.
• Shy by Mathew Dear - the double date
• "Fall into place" the apartment - the team say's goodby to Carina. Deals with growing up, taking (or not taking) chances. finding oneself in the unpredictability of life. I have to say, we don't actually hear the lyrics to any of these songs during the episode just the melody, but I don't really appreciate the music choices here. I feel like there were better options at key points, so that's a miss from me.
  
• On the DVD for Season One the word Wookiee is spelled incorrectly, leaving off the last E.
  
• "It used to be titled "Chuck Versus the Speedo" because the main bad guy in this show is this dude who wears a Speedo all the time. Then when the casting guy realized he had a good amount -- and by good, I mean healthy, a healthy amount of body hair -- they thought, why not call it "Chuck vs. the Wookiee". So it's this guy who's got this diamond, and we're trying to heist the diamond and all hell breaks loose." ―Zachary Levi quoted by Access Hollywood discussing this episode's title
  

​
I think this was a great episode and really showcased what they can do when additional cast members join the team and when they are not afraid to play with perspective. Mimi as Carina is a great addition to the ensemble and I wish we saw her more, but every time she drops in, it's always a wild episode and it's fantastic. Watching Chuck learn about Sarah and seeing Sarah start to open up is a good way forward and heck Casey had some of the best humor in the episode. Overall, it was fast paced, had some nice character development, as funny in the best way, and moved the main theme along, 8/10.

Exion has finally started to respond to my posts. It would be easier if Exion would unblock me and engage with me directly but they still refuse to do so. It would also be nice if they linked the posts they are responding to so anyone reading his posts can look up my posts. I made sure to do that for all his posts. In this post I’ll be responding to https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/98oVSczZYe.
For the list of parts in my series see https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/01K9X3Pjxj

In this post, I will be answering and refuting the individual who keeps writing posts about me and comments every second he gets trying to "refute" me and "expose" me. I am only doing this because some brothers and sisters have allowed themselves to be fooled by this dude.

In his last post before he started addressing my criticisms he made it clear he wouldn’t engage with my criticisms. It’s only after the mods told him to either respond or they’d remove his posts, as can be seen here https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/c1XSgLQlZe, that he started responding to me. Given those facts I find it hard to believe his reasons given here for responding to me.

He begins by discussing my translation of the word "ישוחח," which I interpret as "argue" or "put forth."

That’s not where I begin. There is some important context before that. The first part of my first post was about showing the general sloppy nature of his posts using examples which he acknowledged his mistake, are things someone who knows Hebrew would be unlikely to make, and which he later copied elsewhere without fixing the mistake. The issue of ישוחח is just one part of this.

Firstly, in Biblical Hebrew, verb forms such as Qal and Piel (often referred to as Polel in some grammatical traditions) are distinguished by their specific diacritic markings (i.e., vowel points and consonantal diacritics).

Nope. The difference between the Qal and Polel forms in this case are not just in the diacritical marks but also have consonant differences.

Since I believe that the Masoretes distorted the Old Testament by adding these diacritics to reach a deviant interpretation, I do not consider them at all. I read the Old Testament without any diacritics. This is something he has yet to understand

Again in this case it’s not just the diacritical marks. I also understand Exion rejects them and in my responses I give reasons why his diacritical mark suggestions don’t work.

He later argues that the ancient Christian manuscripts (such as the Codex Sinaiticus, Septuagint, etc.) must agree with my claims and not with the Masoretic renderings of the Hebrew text, a conclusion he bases on thin air. I ask: Why is that so? Can you give us one good reason for this conclusion? You can't! He says this only because he considers these Christian manuscripts as divinely revealed criteria and translations.

Note the Septuagint was written by Jews not Christians. I’ve also given my reasons for why those should agree with Exion. He ignores those reasons and then attributes different reasons I never said. I’ll repeat again, Exion’s theory that he’s stated multiple times is that when the Masoretes added the diacritical marks they intentionally added ones that change the original meaning of the text to cover prophecies about Mohammed and Islam. He then claims he is discovering the original true meaning of the verses. If this is true then pre Masorete texts would still have the original meaning. Also any sources from after the Masoretes but which weren’t influenced by them should still have the original meaning. Also any before Mohammed and Islam wouldn’t have the same motivation to hide prophecies about Mohammed and Islam.

The Masoretes could even have been influenced by Christians and their manuscripts,

This is a textbook example of an ad hoc assumption. An ad hoc assumption is when an assumption is added without any evidence to modify a theory for the sole purpose of avoiding falsification of the theory by some evidence. Since these sources that should agree with Exion don’t agree he added a new assumption without evidence to modify his theory to avoid falsification.
It’s also a problematic assumption. The Masoretes were Jews. Jews and Christians were split a few hundred years earlier and so didn’t really influence each other. For the Septuagint this was written even before Christianity. It’s so far before Islam and Mohammed that it’s extremely unlikely they were trying to hide any prophecies about them. It’s one of our oldest sources for the text making them a good source for how early Jews understood the text. It serves as an excellent source for testing Exion’s claims since if they’re true we’d expect, at least a significant portion of the time, they’d agree with Exion. If no one else in history, even before the diacritical marks were added, agrees with Exion then Exion is not speaking the same language as everyone else.

In other words, both Qal and Polel essentially mean the same thing.

Here is what Exion said previously, “Regarding the phrase "Who will argue...", an alternative rendering could be "Who will claim..." However, using the word "argue" may be more faithful to the original text, as it carries a connotation of "complaining" or "disputing" rather than simply making a statement or engaging in ordinary conversation. This nuance helps capture the intended meaning more accurately.”
They specifically note the nuance of the meaning ‘complain’. What they failed to notice is that meaning is only part of the Qal form not the Polel. Both their original and new dictionary citation show this. Since the verb in question is in the Polel form that meaning doesn’t apply. Both source clearly listed the two different forms and the meanings for both. Either this is another case of Exion not reading his sources properly or he didn’t realize the correct form of the verb. Either way it shows the general unreliability of Exion.

Thus, he has fixated on this specific word, insisting it is (without a shadow of a doubt) in the Polel form (because his Pauline forefathers said so)

Actually I insist it’s in the Polel because I understand the different verb congregations. It’s not just diacritical marks but consonant differences as well. A key way we can tell is that the final consonant, ח, is duplicated.

Let's see if the Polel form does anything to save him:

This whole section is a lengthy that follows completely misses the point. Here is the original discussion, https://www.reddit.com/DebateReligion/s/f3XrmqDNqi. Like back then his response misses the point. I go on to note how is translation depends upon connecting two parks of the sentence where the diacritical marks have a break. I asked given all the mistakes he’s made up to that point, with the mix up of the Qal and Polel being the most recent at that time, why should we trust him over the Masoretes. The idea was to show how Exion is unreliable and doesn’t know Hebrew so he can’t be trusted over Hebrew speakers. He doesn’t justify why we shouldn’t take a break at that section, we’re just supposed to trust him but with all the mistakes he makes we can’t trust him. Furthermore after adjusting his translation to accommodate the Polel meaning the next day he copied his post to this subreddit without making the same correction but leaving the mistaken Qal meaning.

I believe (if I remember correctly) that he translates it as:

Nope. I never gave my own translation for this verse. He could have just checked the discussion but instead he made another sloppy mistake where he misrepresented what someone else has said. The discussion is public for anyone to read it themselves and see I never said that.

He goes on to say that I quoted from a fictitious source, which is not true at all. I simply didn’t bother looking through my entire library to find a quote I mistakenly mis-referenced, mainly because the quote turned out to be quite irrelevant, and I don’t waste my time like that.

That’s just an excuse. After giving the original citation a few people tried and couldn’t find it. He was pressed on the issue. Finally after some back and forth he gave a new book name and new author. However, the citation still couldn’t be found in that new book. It was at that point where he just ignored any further requests for proving the source exists. This is the first time since then he’s acknowledged it. Given that course of events it’s strong evidence the citation doesn’t actually exist. Until he provides proof the citation actually exists we should take the citation as fictitious. Though even if the source does exist his acknowledgment of a wrong citation is still evidence of his sloppy work and unreliability with representing sources, something he does very often.

So, I will not bother to refute every single point of the old stuff that I’ve already conclusively answered.

He never did. For the issue about copying the verse number and making it part of the verse all he could say before is that it’s a minor mistake that I’m overblowing. However, as I note the error is not a minor one but actually requires several points of failure, some of which are hard to accidentally make. E.g. removing the space between the verse number and first word after copying takes intentional action. For the pronoun suffixes his response boils down to just claiming every single person who has ever translated it is wrong and he is right. He refused to give a general account of pronoun suffixes that supports his translation along with a source to back up his account. I on the other hand took a picture of my Hebrew textbook showing the full chart to prove he is wrong.

Regarding the stone God mentions that was to be placed in the Temple of God, he says that it is saying

Notice in this section of his response he changes his original translation to include the second instance of the word stone that he previously missed. This acknowledges that he was originally wrong and missed that word. He just tries to rework the translation have that second occurrence of the word stone while still referring to God’s stone. Let’s see if it works.

The next word is אל: This is taken as a preposition according to them, and it generally means "to" or "toward," and never "upon." It is used to indicate direction or movement towards something. While the following word is, again, a stone "אבן."

I deal with his simplistic view of Hebrew pronouns in my pt 2. Once again we have the same problem. The relationship between pronouns in Hebrew compared to English is complicated. The pronoun in my pt 2 analysis has 8 pages in the BDB. אל has 2 pages. For על, which we be relevant in a moment, it has almost 6 pages for the proposition part. It’s far more complicated than giving a short list and only limiting translation to that list.
Regarding אל the BDB under note 2 points out there is a tendency to use it interchangeably with על. For על it lists upon as one of the meanings. Exion goes on to argue the limited set of meanings he gives don’t make sense and from that argues אל should instead be taken to be God. However, when we realized prepositions are more complicated than he makes them out to be and that אל can mean upon this argument fails.

Here, "אל־אבן" would translate to "God's stone" or "stone of God."

Here is the chapter from my textbook on the construct relationship singular. https://imgur.com/a/TWa8x4B. Take the first example. The first word on Hebrew is סוּס which means horse. The second word is הַמֶּלֶךְ which means the king. The translation given is “the horse of the king”. The second page gives examples of how this is translated into English with a ‘s. Based on that “the horse of the king” would be “the king’s horse”. This example shows us if we accept Exion’s claim אל means God and this is a construct relationship then the translation would actually be “God of stone” or “stone’s God”. Exion has flipped the words in his translation.

Thus, the phrase "מטרם שום־אבן אל־אבן בהיכל יהוה" would be understood as "before placing a stone as God's stone in the temple of YHWH" or "before placing a stone, God's stone, in the temple of YHWH"

Actually with the correct word order we’d have “before placing a stone, God of stone, in the temple of YHWH”.

Or you could simply not take "El" as a construct state. In Hebrew, a noun followed by another noun can indicate possession without needing a construct state (i.e. the equivalent of adding 's in English). This is often called "smikhut" or construct form, but it is not always necessary to explicitly form it.

This is confused. He thinks construct state refers to a specific different form or the noun but the possession meaning doesn’t require that different form. My textbook shows that’s mistaken. Yes it’s true the possession meaning doesn’t require a different form, however it’s still called the construct state. This is evident from my textbook. It notes at the bottom of the second page the construct state is sometimes the same as the absolute state. I didn’t mean to say Exion was taking it as having a different form from the absolute state but was pointing out he takes the phrase as indicating possession. That’s why I said if we add the missing word at take the phrase as indicating possession we’d get “stone’s God’s stone”.

This is something he doesn't know because, well, who knows why.

As my textbook proves it’s him that doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Explicitly contradicting your claim that it doesn't exist, but you didn't know that because you have probably never even read the entirety of the chapter to begin with. The Temple was already there. A stone was to be placed in it, God's stone, the black stone of the House of God, and not that it was to be built or built anew. This is why I even wrote the article, because the temple of God was already in existence. How you could have missed this, if you've read the chapter in it entirety, is very baffling to me.

What’s baffling to me is how someone can be so confident and condescending while being so wrong. Not only did Exion fail to research the historical context of the literature he tries to interpret, he failed to notice my summary of the history. Haggai gives explicit historical markers for when the prophecies were made. “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:” Haggai‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬. This places the prophecy in 520 B.C. This was after the Babylonians conquered Israel (specifically the southern kingdom as the northern was already conquered), brought them into exile, destroyed the first temple, the Persians conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews back to Israel to rebuilt the temple. They started to built the temple but stoped when opposition arose. Haggai’s prophecies are about pushing the Jews to continue rebuilding the temple. You can read about the fall of Israel by the Babylonians at the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. You can read about the return to Israel in Ezra and Nehemiah (note the events in Ezra are before those in Nehemiah).
Exion mentions Haggai 2:3 to disprove me. This is another case of him misrepresenting his sources. Let’s analyze it carefully part by part.
"Who among you is left, who saw this house in its former glory?” The word former indicates it had that glory in the past but no longer has it. That is because the previous temple was destroyed.
“And as you see it now”. This calls to attention a comparison of the former glory with the current glory.
“is it not as nothing in your eyes?" This expresses the current glory calling it nothing in their eyes. That’s because the previous temple was destroyed and not yet rebuilt.
Also check out these verses: ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” Haggai‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭11 ‭ESV‬‬. It’s pretty clear the previous temple lies in ruins and God is calling them to rebuild it.

This is why Jacob

Jacob lived long before the temple was built. His life is recorded in Genesis. There is a lot of history in between Jacob’s life in Genesis and the building of the temple in 1 Kings/2 Chronicles. Either Exion is completely ignorant of the history he is commenting on or he’s cherry picking which parts he wants to accept.

Lying and adding words to the Word of God to make it look like another House would be raised.

But that’s literally what happened in history. The first temple was destroyed and the later rebuilt. Again check out the books I mentioned for the historical background, especially Ezra which records the events during the time Haggai was prophesying.

The preposition "the" is not there before "Chemdat," while it is before "Goyim" (heathens), which makes sense because "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)" and doesn't translate to "The treasure of all the heathens (will come)," as they have it.

Exion takes the lack of the definite article before chemdat as indicating it shouldn’t be translated with a “the” as its indefinite. He then argues taking chemdat the traditional way doesn’t make sense without the definite article so we should instead take it as a name. This again shows he doesn’t know Hebrew.
Note Exion translates it as Chemdat of. He interprets it as possession indicating he takes the Hebrew as being in the construct state. I linked above the chapter on the construct state. The first page notes a noun in the construct state never has the definite article. Instead the the last noun as the definite article then the noun in the construct state is also definite, and if the last noun is indefinite then the noun in the construct state is indefinite. Exion also acknowledges the last noun as having the definite article. When we actually understand the construct relationship we see that while there is no definite article on chemdat it’s still definite since it’s in the construct form with the last noun having the definite article. This undermines his argument for why chemdat is a name.

The phrase "הגוים" (ha-goyim) translates as "the heathens,"

The BDB lists this word as meaning nations/people. Heathen has very negative connotations which are not necessarily implied by the word.

He then says He will fill this house, which they saw as nothing, with glory. The house already exists;

Again look at the historical markers Haggai gives and the historical books for the historical background. Also look at the passage I quoted from Haggai 1 which clearly mentions the current temple in ruins and God calling the people to rebuild it. The promise God is making in Haggai 2:7 is about the new temple being greater than the former.

Going back to Haggai 2, the 18th verse also confirms that the Temple already was there:
"Consider, please, your heart from this day and onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the temple of the Lord was founded, consider your heart."

This particular section is Haggai 2:10-19. By this time the Jews started rebuilding the temple again and had laid the foundation. Haggai 2:15 and 18 are parallel passages calling the people to consider the time since that work on rebuilding the temple was done. God then points to the blessing they’ve experienced since then. That is in contrast to the hardships listed in Haggai 1:10-11 that God says we’re because they weren’t rebuilding his temple.

Nevertheless, he is right about one thing regarding this chapter: it does not mention the new moon to new moon and the end of the Sabbath—that was in Isaiah 66. My mistake.

Yes it is a mistake and it is one of way too many to count where he messes up representing his source in some way.

the second phrase can be interpreted as an end (if we interpret "Shabbat" as "End")

Actually it can’t. I missed this in my post but u/c0d3rman caught it in his comment on Exion’s post. The definition Exion gives in his post is the verb “to cease”. However, “an end” is not a verb but a noun. His translation doesn’t match his own definition.

but it is Biblically and generally interpreted as "Sabbath."

Because as a noun it means Sabbath.

A literal translation of the phrase in the 23rd verse would be:
‎>שבת (shabbat) - "Sabbath"
‎>בשבתו (be-shabbato) - "His Sabbath"
‎>יבוא (yavo) - "it will come"

Putting יבוא as part of this phrase has 3 problems. First it breaks the parallel in grammar and idea with the previous phrase. Second the subject of the verb then becomes the sabbath but that’s not possible. The gender of the verb and subject need to match but sabbath is feminine while יבוא is masculine. Third Exion’s translation has יבוא translated twice, both as part of this phrase and as part of the following phrase. However the word only occurs once in Hebrew so it can’t be translated twice into English as a part of 2 different phrases.
I also explained how this phrase is an idiom in my first post. I referenced the BDB which explains how we know it’s an idiom and what the idiom means, which corresponds to the traditional translation. The verse is not talking about a sabbath coming to a sabbath or coming to an end. It’s saying the frequency that all flesh shall come to worship before God.
I’ve mentioned the BDB often as a source. For those unaware there is an online version where words can be searched, https://www.sefaria.org/BDB. I’m mentioning this because unlike Exion I want to be sure people can easily find the sources I reference. If anyone has trouble finding any particular word I’m not sure how to link to specific words but I’m happy to take pics of my physical copy.
u/TheQuranicMumin you said “If he fails/refuses to do this, we will remove his posts for misinformation.” Can we agree already this counts as a failure to respond and consider his posts misinformation or do I really need to continue addressing his posts/responses?

Hi everybody, Please help me
I currently am in Edmonton and I was looking to rent a place in Toronto to move to in August. I found a really nice studio apartment in a house on Rusholme Dr for $900/month (all utilities included) I got in touch with the landlord named James Alexander Rioux, or James Rioux for short. We communicated through email at first. He sent me a long introduction email, introducing himself and the place, including pictures of the place which look very good. Then, I sent him an email introducing myself and I'd like to move forward with it.
He then sent me his Ontario ID card and a few images of himself (now, this ID could be FAKE, i have no clue). He then asked me to send him a piece of ID and some details like move in date and such. So I sent him a picture of my driver's license, which was very very stupid of me because I should never have shared my ID with a stranger. Now he could use my ID for malicious intent.....
We then took it to Facebook messenger for better communication. He sent me the contract and I signed it. He also demanded $1800 (deposit + first month's rent), which I stupidly.... transferred to him. Here I got a bit suspicious, but still stupidly proceeded to send him the money and it was deposited before I realized something was wrong. Here is when it got hella sketchy:

1. transfer email is of his quote-on-quote lawyer (I think he is African based on the e-transfer legal name) , ie NOT James (the landlord) email
2. I found multiple facebook accounts of the landlord which raised a big red flag
3. No landlord is supposed to send you their ID like that ( so prob it is a FAKE ID)

4) I then asked him to return me back the $1800 and he agreed. However the next morning, he said that the quote-on-quote lawyer told him:
"According to my lawyer he use a company account and the lowest amount that can be sent out from his account is $2500, you will need to send him more $700 to complete it and once it’s received then he will send you $2500 back instantly without any problem."
Now, I think I got scammed..... so then called Scotiabank fraud department and BMO advisor and they said that there is no such thing as a minimum limit of how much money you can send regardless of the type of bank account. It just doesn't work like that which makes total sense to me ( there is only upper limit of how much money you can send). Therefore, they said it was highly a scam/fraud and filed a fraud case for investigation. He just kept insisting on the fact that I had to send him the extra $700 before I can get back the $2500 in full.....
Have you guys been in the same situation? Is this 100% a scam? Number 4 above is where it gets extremely scammy. Since the money had already been deposited into the "lawyer''s account, I couldn't take it back on my own on the Scotiabank website, hence scotiaBank is investigating it.
p/s: I captured all screenshots of messenger's conversations and transfer confirmation

Hi everybody, Please help me
I currently am in Edmonton and I was looking to rent a place in Toronto to move to in August. I found a really nice studio apartment in a house on Rusholme Dr for $900/month (all utilities included) I got in touch with the landlord named James Alexander Rioux, or James Rioux for short. We communicated through email at first. He sent me a long introduction email, introducing himself and the place, including pictures of the place which look very good. Then, I sent him an email introducing myself and I'd like to move forward with it.
He then sent me his Ontario ID card and a few images of himself (now, this ID could be FAKE, i have no clue). He then asked me to send him a piece of ID and some details like move in date and such. So I sent him a picture of my driver's license, which was very very stupid of me because I should never have shared my ID with a stranger. Now he could use my ID for malicious intent.....
We then took it to Facebook messenger for better communication. He sent me the contract and I signed it. He also demanded $1800 (deposit + first month's rent), which I stupidly.... transferred to him. Here I got a bit suspicious, but still stupidly proceeded to send him the money and it was deposited before I realized something was wrong. Here is when it got hella sketchy:

1. transfer email is of his quote-on-quote lawyer (I think he is African based on the e-transfer legal name) , ie NOT James (the landlord) email
2. I found multiple facebook accounts of the landlord which raised a big red flag
3. No landlord is supposed to send you their ID like that ( so prob it is a FAKE ID)

4) I then asked him to return me back the $1800 and he agreed. However the next morning, he said that the quote-on-quote lawyer told him:
"According to my lawyer he use a company account and the lowest amount that can be sent out from his account is $2500, you will need to send him more $700 to complete it and once it’s received then he will send you $2500 back instantly without any problem."
Now, I think I got scammed..... so then called Scotiabank fraud department and BMO advisor and they said that there is no such thing as a minimum limit of how much money you can send regardless of the type of bank account. It just doesn't work like that which makes total sense to me ( there is only upper limit of how much money you can send). Therefore, they said it was highly a scam/fraud and filed a fraud case for investigation. He just kept insisting on the fact that I had to send him the extra $700 before I can get back the $2500 in full.....
Have you guys been in the same situation? Is this 100% a scam? Number 4 above is where it gets extremely scammy. Since the money had already been deposited into the "lawyer''s account, I couldn't take it back on my own on the Scotiabank website, hence scotiaBank is investigating it.
p/s: I captured all screenshots of messenger's conversations and transfer confirmation

1. Franklin is unborn with Morgan at the hip and this does not do much to their existing pattern of sexuality by definition a Seer Morgan who violated the yugioh card and Franklin who is of the Fourth Underworld and Disdevolved of his City there who was My Little Syndey and A Nigger City there so felt not a princess as her friend so is back with us as My Little Syndey and wants nothing to do but I am her mommy and tell her my story and I will be in room 404 standing in the shower or in the sex swing with My Little Sydney who I never got to take her as meth or smoke with her, or really just talked nice with her and she loves me so I put franklin illegally out of his shower as a baby with a no gurney operation with syndey to get into suite 404 and put them suite 403 which syndey bumps the hind98 like she is used to to go to minecraft but she has to goto no escape South Park Elementary which is not Burning Anna and live there now which this is her home with Taylor and Justin and gives her First Underworld Access as herself the princess which then as a little princess she somehow activates hind98 there like I taught her and we are back in together at the same rate normal but on hind to the 404 shower and tim orders us her loam, the drugs she works on frankinscense lube of anticancer and I fuck up her stoichiometry with reds to break the blues detector because she needs it unscented and my vagina unscents it for her for the urine in the drain and she is out of minecraft and the next time she is here, she has virtual squatters rights to the base and they are her testificates and has Jake-Bot there to give her survival at the very end but this is just to use a wrench to get megans pc like my little syndey said and I get her a better PC than OK Computer she got a lenovo Minecraft now and she is the minecraft princess minecraft girl throughout this but desired to see herself because she will be trapped here forever besides it otherwise and we spend 3 years after this which take 2997 years right next to each other while i sign into her hand oil synthesis and this eventually, she gets it, burn the world, record the oil, use the client, you cash out, back to your own 2B2T more planks cash the oil, this lets her use a blueprint when she gets oil from the flames and I make sure thats my capryllate I am working on and cause it is sweedish mode we got to take it and I take it and it is just a hydrochloride like a poke and it was the one I already had getting shot by police and it was made by my oil i made with that method before all of what I needed and it never took the first I gave My Little Syndey and we spend 6 years which takes 3 years and hind can no longer target us for our life and our hind can only do 2585 now not 3000 and this is where we stand up and take it in the ass which syndey does her reds with her pussy because she is a princess and the hind helps her there alex can help with homework and we then get pregnant to the baby dna in us and syndey is aborted with a wedge inside her she can feel and feels transexual here for she is got sex loam and sees the princess wedge as male genitals, she is male and gets rabbit energy to bang me here while I am pregnant and because it is rabbit energy it bangs me deeply and then I am 9.7 and I give birth and then she is not given a violative here my little syndey she is not a nigger she turns into sloucher syndey from riches class which I swear this is just sloucher sydneys dbt she needs for AP Chemistry not to turn into Justine and equally the sloucher is Syndey Renshaw out of this but she is in the shower I have to teach her everything and I am 10.7 and we both give birth and we have a new record for baby prostitute babies is 5 babies technical limit and I am 12 and have another baby and we are lucky forever then we have had 7 babies as young mothers with the nondominant baby at the higher ot princess then the princess baby and I stay here 9 years syndey has to go bang the men in room 404 and I get squatters rights on my shower and it was always the right reds for me to be safe of the sedative chelator in the water and syndey visited me in here and was drugging as a black person then and I sell the shower right away for 700,000$ payout which is for the First Underworld is this goes to Aaron who he gets this Quote Inventing Reddit this was erwin mainly but he did compile it authorize what it did et cetra, erwin was already paid so aaron is paid and then he is not homeless and shotted on us by police and then I spend 60 years or until I am well sydneys lesbian wife which darappa master onion will tell her if she chops onion for french onion soup which this is the nimitz chow we might have is french onion soup I am a Lesbian which is the actual author telling kelsey this and I am 81 and I have a heart attack on the french rivera and am fine to it and later My Little Syndey dies which then we overlay at the First Underworld until back to the Third Underworld, but then it is the 2nd yitvah and this puts the 700,000$ to Aaron Schwartzchild for inventing the haired singularity, or reddit to not be homeless, and to spend wisely, and that is his only money so should he protected, and emancipated from legal burden for he had only gone in nuclear scare of valid nuclear scare to the suburbs and also A -Marian then.

Hey all, I am posting here for the first time because I honestly just want some outside opinions on what is going on in my life and would just love any information or help someone can give me.
So, for some context, I (23m) have been working for this car parts company for the better total of 1 year and 2 months. Recently, as in the last 4 months of this year, my General manager has changed from one person to another due to some higher stuff above me, I don't know much about what happened but it did happen and I was in the loop, I felt like I was respected by this new GM and honestly felt like I was going to start growing a bit bigger in this company. So a few months pass, we are having issues with employee retention, we have gone through about 10 employee's in 3 months. All because they either don't wanna continue working with the company or They found something better or something else happens, however, because of this I have been needing to step up far more than I normally should, I work as a Part-time hire, meaning that I should only be working at maximum 30 hours a week, however, because of the lack of employee's I have been pumped up to working almost 40 hours every week. As a part of being a Part-timer, I get 2 designated days off a week. However, over the last 2 months I have consistently either gotten only 1 day off, or I have gotten nothing. Never in the last 2 months have I gotten the 2 days that I requested off since everything has been happening. Recently, my boss has been getting on me more and more saying that I 'have fallen from where I was and need to do some training to get back to where I used to be' yet, I haven't fallen at all! I consistently get at least 1k in transactions done a day, I stock the shelves, I complete cycle counts, when I am doing the night shift I am always the only fucking person who mops the floor, I run the front of the house entirely by my self at times because either my 'manager' is off doing something else, or is sitting in the back office or outside smoking a cigarette. I have been for the last 2 months asking to move up yet time and time again I am told that I need to 'make changes' and 'show my efforts' to get this, yet they hire new employee's giving them the position I am asking for and continue to say 'keep trying and doing what the higher position needs to do if you want that position.' Especially with tonight when I found out that I am scheduled for tomorrow morning and yet my online schedule hasn't shown this change. I was under the impression that I wasn't going to need to come in so seeing that I am scheduled kind of upset me since NO ONE told me that this was happening. On top of that when confronted, my boss said and I quote, 'You have to look at the schedule. It's been said many times to look all the time.' like I am supposed to read their mind and know 'a change to the schedule has been made' especially when the schedule is either moved or someone has put it somewhere that I don't know where to find it.
Either way, my ask is that I wanna know if I am overreacting in thinking that I honestly am not going to be moving any higher in the job and should just leave while I can because if I am not careful I can end up hurting myself while working here. I'd also just love and advice when it comes to finding a new job at the moment because I know of the many different 'job scams' and 'false hires' that are out there. I don't know what I can do at the moment and am just scared, especially with my Partner moving in with me soon. Thank you for your time and thanks for reading my post.

Myself and two friends (living in Vancouver, from Ireland) are on an all inclusive holiday in Mexico, near Puerto Vallarta. Holiday was booked through Expedia. Part of this resort includes free use of non-motorised water sports (e.g., snorkelling, paddle boarding, snorkelling). We went paddle-boarding. Beforehand, the guy got use to put down our information - name, room number and signature. We did not read the form (which we should have) and at the top it said we took personal responsibility of the equipment. This was not highlighted by the guy. He gave us three paddle boards, one of which he had just used to set up the buoys and ropes in the water. We went out for about 30minutes max. Nothing significant happened when we were out and we follow the guys advice about handling the paddle boards. When we returned the paddle boards and were walking away he called us back and showed us that the fin on one of the girls boards had been broken. He called management of the resort. They can down with security and said it would be $22,000 mex pesos (approx $1700 cad - which wasn’t even the cost of our holiday each). We obviously did not want to pay that. We said we would have to talk with our insurance company (Irish based, with personal liability covering up to €1,000,000) and he kindly gave us two days to sort it out. Unfortunately we could not get a hold of them as they had closed for the weekend and we are leaving Mexico on Sunday. So we can not get any advice from them. We asked for formal written quote on the cost which he had said he would provide to us via the resort management along with a “discounted” price. We have not received this but received x2 letters in our door from management asking us to pay. We went to guest services and explained that we were waiting on the quote etc. they told us that the price was now $15,600 Med pesos (approx $1250 Cad) and said we could sort it out with the man tomorrow before we leave. I am looking for the following advice: How much are we liable for? (The price seems like it is covering the cost of a brand new board, which the one was not new). Should we pay even though we have not gotten advice from our insurance company? If we pay what information do we need to provide to the Irish insurance company? How likely are we to get reimbursed from the insurance company? Any Mexican laws or advice to handle this situation? Thanks in advance.

A little bit of background. I had my regular split AC unit replaced in 2019, both the condenser and evaporator coil. I did not have the gas furnace replaced. The replacement unit is a 3.5 ton SEER 14 Trane and parts and labor was around $4,600. I do like shopping around and researching things out of habit to try to be informed on how much things should cost.
The problem is that a friend who has an ~835 sq ft single story townhouse on slab in central NC needs an AC replacement and has gotten a couple of what seem to me to be insane quotes. His current setup is a thing I didn't know existed called an Apollo system which if I understand correctly is an obsolete setup where both the heating for the house and the household hot water use the same water heater and the AC unit is just a regular one tied into the system. His townhouse also has a gas on demand water heater so the household water heater isn't even doing anything most of the year except wasting power.
Current parts that I could get info on:
Air Handler: Advanced Distributor Products BCRMA3924S3P3 using a 15a 120v breaker. AC Condenser: Goodman GSX140181MA (This is the part that is going bad.) using a 20a 240v breaker. Water Heater: US/Craftmaster E2F40LD045V using a 30a 240v breaker Main breaker: 100a
The first quote is for a Bryant 1.5 ton 215SAN01800A SEER 14.3 heat pump, FJ4DNXA18L00 air handler, and KFFEH8501N05 heat strips plus relevant other parts and labor for $9,000.
From what I can find this unit only needs heat strips below 0F. The coldest it has gotten here in the past 20 years is 4F so I fail to see the need for heat strips in this scenario but this also seems very overpriced.
The second quote is to put in a new Apollo system for $9,785.
There isn't really much more information on the parts in that quote but he was told he needed a breaker panel upgrade (not just swapping out the breakers) to accomplish it despite having 50a @ 240v and 15a @ 120v already allocated to HVAC. This seems like an outright scam to me and the Apollo system seems extra dumb since he has a tankless on demand water heater and thus is losing heating efficiency vs just a regular resistive heater.
I know that I can go over to https://hvacdirect.com/ and order a 1.5 ton SEER 20 split heat pump for ~$3,000. So I fail to see how there's ~$6,000 - 7,000 in labor here.
Is my assessment correct that both of these quotes are crap?
Is the breaker panel upgrade BS?
Are heat strips even needed?
Are Apollo systems as terrible as they seem?
Would buying this unit and finding someone willing to install it be a better option? https://hvacdirect.com/aciq-1-5-to-2-ton-20-seer-ducted-central-air-inverter-heat-pump-split-system-extreme-heat.html Is this brand fine? To my understanding they are made under some kind of CarrieMidea partnership so I would assume they're fine. This also only needs heat strips below -22F which in ~150 years of record keeping has never happened here.

When I was ten, I formed a junior detective squad.
Mom bought me the entire box set of What's New Scooby Doo, and I was inspired to start my very own detective gang. I held auditions outside the gymnasium at recess (serious enquiries only) after a number of kids tried to apply for the role of Scooby Doo despite me reiterating I was not interested in playing make believe.
When I was laughed at in class, I made posters strictly asking for SERIOUS wannabe detectives, even going as far as using my Mom’s printer to make flyers, sticking them all over the school.
Auditions were simple. I asked them to solve a simple riddle.
Whoever impressed me got to sign their name down, and I’d get back to them.
I spent three days sifting through kids who definitely had charm, but they lacked the intelligence of a junior detective. Most kids were only auditioning to make fun of me, anyway.
Still, though, I didn't give up.
My flyers had five requirements:
1). You had to be smart.
2). You were not allowed to be a scaredy cat.
3). You had to accept your inevitable death at the hands of our town’s evil villains.
4). You had to have a fully registered driving licence (I quickly changed this to a bike).
5). You cannot have a criminal record.
(I later scribbled this one out, writing over it. *“You cannot have any tardies.”
Narrowing the applicants down to three kids, all of whom failed to share my enthusiasm for solving cases. The kids I picked didn't even know how to make plans, and when I invited them to my house, they stole my Mom’s necklace.
I didn't even need to solve the mystery of who stole Mom’s necklace. The girl was wearing it at school. I punched her in the face, and was immediately sent to the principal’s office. When I was being given the mother all lectures, the door quietly opened, a head peeking through.
It was Ben Callows, a freckly kid with overgrown brown hair hanging in his eyes. Ben really needed a haircut.
He was always wearing the exact same baseball cap, and I found myself wondering if it was permanently glued to his head, stuck on top of unruly brown curls practically matted to his forehead.
In class, Ben was also known as Bloody Ben. In the second grade, the boy had a nosebleed in the middle of a spelling test, bleeding all over his paper.
It's not like he didn't try and detach himself from the name.
Ben brought in Digimon cards, so kids would call him Digimon Ben instead.
Then he “accidentally” spilled yoghurt down his shirt in hopes we would call him Yoghurt Ben. But no. The kids in our class were relentless in reminding him of his name. No matter what he did, he was still Bloody Ben, and when anything related to blood came up in class, fifteen pairs of eyes would swivel to him, like he had invented the concept of bleeding.
I feared the nickname would follow him to junior high.
Ben didn't wait to be let in. He didn't even knock, striding in with his arms folded. Over the years, Bloody Ben, had definitely soured his personality.
He smiled rarely, and when he did smile, someone was falling over or hurting themselves.
Which definitely strengthened the claims of him being a sociopath.
The rumor mill was churning, with the latest claiming Bloody Ben killed his cat. That wasn't true. Ben’s cat was seventeen with cancer, and that was why he was sobbing all the way through reading time.
According to Ellie Daly, however, Ben had killed and dissected his kitty, and buried her in his Mom’s flowers.
Now, my principal did not like being interrupted, especially when she was in the middle of screaming at me.
Principal Marrow was old old (like, thirty, in my ten year old mind) stick thin like a pencil, and always wore the same stained sweater.
She used to be pretty, but I was convinced she had kissed a frog and been cursed. After our old principal suffered a stroke, she stepped in as a temporary replacement, and since becoming principal, had banned my favorite book series, colored shoe laces, and hamburger helper, even officiating a uniform.
(vomit green shorts and a tee, and plain white sneakers).
Kids were convinced she was a witch, and I kind of believed it.
Principal Marrow’s whole existence was built on sucking the fun out of school.
I was already reprimanded for my mystery gang flyers.
Her office smelled of peppermint and she was definitely sneaking sips of whisky in her coffee cup. I could see the bottle sticking out of the trash.
She straightened up, folding her arms across her chest, squinty eyes narrowing at the boy. I had spent the whole time she was lecturing me trying not to cry, my fists bunched in my lap.
I took the distraction as the perfect opportunity to swipe at my eyes, allowing myself to breathe.
Ben Callows was her victim now.
I was right. The woman's voice was like a thunderclap in my ears.
“You better have a good reason for not knocking, young man.”
Ben wasn't fazed by her tone. “You took my Switch two weeks ago,” he said, “I want it back, or I’m telling my Mom.”
At first, I thought I'd misheard him.
No, I was pretty sure he'd threatened our principal.
I swore I heard all of the breath sucked from the room.
“I'm sorry,” Principal Marrow cleared her throat. Her soft tone was dangerous.
She wasn't being nice. The lady was about to explode.
I could see visible veins straining in her temples, her right eye twitching.
It was straight out of a cartoon.
“Did you forget something, Ben?”
Ben sighed, like she was inconveniencing him.
He held out his hand. “Please can I have my Switch back? It counts as stolen property. Give it back, or I'm telling my Mom.”
The kid put so much emphasis on the word please, I couldn't resist a smile.
I think our principal was too shocked to get angry.
“Get out.” She said, firmly. “I don't have your gaming device.”
“It's in your drawer.” Ben nodded to her desk, “Under your divorce papers and the restraining order ordered by Jake Willow, the seventeen year old boy you've been having math ‘tutoring sessions’ with.” He quoted the air, his gaze lazily rolling to me. “Tutoring”
Principal Marrow went deathly pale, her eyes darkening.
“Benjamin Callows–”
“The school already knows about the restraining order, but your uncle is the head of the Board of Education, so all you get is a slap on the wrist and a warning to leave the boy alone."
Ben continued, and I found myself mesmerised by his words. He was a natural, his expression stoic, mouth curved with satisfaction that wasn't quite a smile. “However.” He held up his phone, pulling it away at the exact moment the teacher attempted to grab it. “You were outside Jake Willow’s house at 6:12am, drunk, and trying to climb through his window, which, I think violates the restraining order, does it not?”
Ben pretended to think real hard, his gaze flicking to the ceiling.
“I mean, I'm just a kid, right?” His mouth curled into the hint of a smirk
“What do I know, huh?”
Principal Marrow’s expression twisted, her lip wobbling.
“Mr Callows, remove yourself from my office, or I am calling your father.”
Leaning comfortably against the door, Ben’s lip twitched.
“Why? Are you planning on telling my Dad about your relations with a teenage boy, or will I have to tell him instead?”
I was enthralled, and fully disgusted, making a move to inch away from the woman.
“But it doesn't end there.” Ben continued. He straightened up, taking slow, intimidating steps towards the woman's desk. “You don't even want Jake, do you? Because, once upon a time, you were in love with his father. Jason Willow. You despised him for rejecting you, so you decided to defile his son.” Ben leaned over the principal’s desk, slipping his hand into the drawer, and pulling out his switch.
Painfully slowly.
She stood there, speechless, her shoulders trembling.
Ben smiled, and I found myself liking it.
“Thank you!” He said, waving the console in her face. Ben mimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key.
“My lips are sealed.”
Ben’s half lidded eyes found mine. “Are ya coming, Panda?”
I forgot my own nickname.
Panda.
I wore my Mom’s eyeliner because I thought it looked cool.
It did not.
Finding my breath, I snapped out of it.
Jumping up, I followed him out of the office, and when the two of us were safely on the hallway, I burst into hysterical giggles. “How did you know all of that?!” I whisper- shrieked.
Ben surprised me with a splutter. “Wait. You believed me?”
Something very cold trickled down my spine.
I stopped walking. “You lied?”
He shrugged. “I had a dig around her office before she caught me a few days ago,” Ben swung his arms, a smile curling on his mouth. “There's no restraining order, but there is prescription anti-psychosis medicine, and an extremely detailed story on her laptop about a teachestudent romance, which I presume is a self insert.”
Ben shot me a sickly grin. “The school refused to make her condition public.”
He prodded at his own cotton shirt embroidered with the school emblem.
“Why do you think she's made all these dumb rules? The woman is a certified Looney Tune.”
I nodded slowly. “Wait. What about Jake and his dad?”
“I made them up.”
I choked out a laugh. “And… the video?”
Ben walked faster, pulling out his phone and shoving it in my face. The video was real. Principal Marrow was walking around in circles, draped in her nightgown. “It's her own house,” he explained. “She locked herself out.”
Nodding slowly, I was in awe. Bloody Ben was kind of fucking amazing.
“But the restraining order isn't real.”
Ben raised a brow, coming to an abrupt halt. It was his smile that cemented his place in my gang. His lack of empathy for a woman he had gaslit into being a disgusting human being. Ben Callows wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but he fascinated me. Maybe for the wrong reasons. “Her filing cabinets are filled with tinned cat food, Panda,” he said with an exaggerated sigh, “I’m not psychic, but I thiiiiink we’ll be okay.”
I turned to him, unable to stop myself jumping up and down with excitement.
“Will you be my first?!”
Ben inclined his head. “Will I be your what?”
I shook my head. “Sorry. I mean, will you join my mystery gang?”
The boy’s eyes lit up, and I shoved him playfully.
“To solve real cases,” I corrected myself. “Not make them up.”
Ben wore a real, proper smile. But there was something in his eyes, a darkness that was so hollow and polluted and wrong, I pretended not to see it for the sake of his smarts and intellect. “Well, if you insist, sure!” Ben held out his hand, and I shook it. I'll be your first.”
We found our second member, who was, ironically, looking for her glasses under the table in class. Lucy Prescott, the quiet girl, was born to be with us.
The class eraser went missing, and she found it in the blink of an eye.
When questioned, Lucy’s face turned as red as her hair. “I asked everyone in the class and followed the clues to the last person who had it,” she pointed to Chase Simpson. “Which was Chase, who was throwing it at Marcus Calvin.”
Twisting around in my chair, I aimed to get Ben’s attention. But he was already looking at me, chin resting on his fist, eyes ignited with excitement.
The two of us cornered Lucy after class, and when she motioned for us to get back, I dragged Ben (who was a little too excited) to my side.
Lucy looked mildly horrified when I said, dangerous cases, though her expression pricked with intrigue.
She agreed, her gaze lingering on Ben, cheeks smouldering.
Our last two members were a surprise.
Violet Evergreen was what you would call popular on the middle school hierarchy. Not just because her mother was the mayor, but because Violet could get away with murder. The girl refused to wear the school uniform, coloring a single purple streak in her hair to cement herself as the it girl.
She was also one of the girls who started the Bloody Ben rumor.
Ben, Lucy, and I were sitting on the grass during recess, trying to come up with a name for our detective service, when Violet came storming over, hands planted on her hips. She was copying how her mother held herself during town meetings.
“What are you doing?” Violet demanded.
Lucy opened her mouth to answer, Ben nudging her to shut up.
“Making a mystery gang.” I told her. “Why?”
Violet inclined her head. “Oh.” She folded her arms. “Well, can I join?”
Ben stood up, stepping in front of the girl. Violet didn't move, stubbornly standing her ground. “Sure.” Ben flashed a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. He stepped closer to her, his smile widening. “If you can pass the test.”
Violet’s lip curled. She took a single step back. “What kind of test?”
Ben nodded to me. “Meet us at the swimming pool at 8pm.”
To my surprise, Violet nodded. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“Nope!”
8pm. The four of us met outside the local swimming pool.
Violet was already on the other side of the fence, waving.
“Hey guys!”
I noticed Ben’s expression, his eyes darkening, lip curling.
Still though, he maintained positivity, vaulting over the fence.
“You made it!”
I followed him, helping Lucy, who was immediately freaking out. I didn't blame her. The pool looked cold and dark, a hollow oblivion carved into the ground.
Ben and Violet stood on the edge, the two of them shoulder to shoulder.
Violet Evergreen was braver than I thought.
Standing with her arms at her sides, Violet's hands clenched into fists.
“What's the test?” Violet said, her gaze glued to bleeding black depths.
“I don't know,” Ben murmured, his voice teetering on a giggle. He leaned forwards, arms spread out. “I didn't think you'd actually come meet us.”
Violet hummed, stretching out her leg, teasing it across the surface. “Was that the test?”
The boy leaned back. I caught the glint of a grin under the floodlights. “Nah.”
Before I knew what was happening, he shoved Violet into the pool. The girl didn't scream or shriek, she just hit the surface, sinking into pitch dark nothing.
“Sink or swim,” Ben said in a low murmur, when Violet’s head bobbed under water. I could see her shadow under the surface, imagining the freezing cold depths pulling her down.
“Drown, and you can't join us.”
It was so quiet, suddenly. The three of us staring into rippling water.
A minute passed, and my tummy started to twist.
“Fuck.” Ben’s expression stayed stoic. I wasn't expecting him to say a bad word.
He cocked his head. “I thought she could swim.”
I hit him, holding in a cry. “You need to get our parents!”
But he didn't listen to me, taking a single step, and dropping into the pool.
I fell to my knees, scanning the water.
Lucy was crying. “Are they dead?!” she shrieked.
“Shhh!” I was watching two shadows lingering under the water.
Violet broke through. I expected her to be crying, but her expression was unwavering. She was silent. I thought the splashing underneath her was her legs trying and struggling to tread water, before Lucy shoved me. Hard.
“Panda! What do we do?!”
Looking closer, Violet was perfectly still, her gaze on the sky.
While she shoved Ben under the water, drowning him.
Violet’s eyes sparkled, and somehow, I knew she belonged in my gang.
Her gaze found mine, glinting with that darkness, that poisonous streak I found myself drawn to. It was a starving, insatiable need to understand a fractured mind. Know your enemy.
“Do you want to see if Ben’s a witch?” Violet asked me, her tone something else entirely. This girl did not make sense, using barely her finger to drown Ben Callows. I knew she was wrong.
I knew there was something loose, something unlocked and unbridled and drowning inside her mind and heart.
But I wanted more of her. I wanted Violet Evergreen in my detective gang.
I think that is why I stood there, frozen.
When the thrashing stopped, Ben broke through.
He wasn't coughing or spluttering, his head inclined. “You didn't drown.”
Violet climbed out of the pool, offering her hand. “And you're not a witch.”
He declined her hand, taking the steps instead.
I asked Violet in a shaky voice. I was trembling with terror, but I was excited.
Exhilarated.
“Violet, will you join my gang?”
She didn't answer me until we were sharing hot cocoa in my house.
I told Mom we fell in the pool, and she believed me. I should have told her that my friends were sociopaths, and I was kind of maybe in love. Violet sipped her cocoa, nodding with a smile I didn't recognise. Violet never smiled at school.
Well, she did. But it was always the prick of a cruel smirk.
I don't think her smile was genuine, but she was definitely enjoying herself.
Our last member came to us, instead of finding him.
Jules Howell, a straggly brunette pushed his way in front of me in the lunch line. I didn't really know the kid.
He sat at the back of the classroom and slept through most of class. I did like his accent though.
Jules had moved from Melbourne in the second grade. He didn't talk much.
When he did, I found myself enveloped in his voice, which sounded like water to me, a bleeding cadence to his tone.
Jules piled his plate with fries, smiling widely at the lunch ladies.
“I saw you last night.” He murmured through that perfectly moulded grin.
“Saw me where?”
“At the pool,” Jules said. “You, Bloody Ben, Violet Evergreen, and that Lucy girl. You were doing a suiciding pact.”
“That's not what we were doing.” I said, “What's a suiciding pact?”
“When you kill yourself together.” Jules said. “I saw it in a scary movie my Mom was watching.”
I grabbed a fork. “We weren't doing that.”
His eyes were strange when I took the time to notice them. The excited gleam had fizzled out. Jules’s hands tightened around his tray. “Then what were you doing?”
I didn't reply, making my way over to our usual table. Ben was already waving me over, Violet and Lucy holding up the flyers we were making.
THE REDBLOOD DETECTIVES.”
Do YOU need our help? We can find/solve anything! Contact us on the number below. (We take donations!)
When I bothered turning around, Jules was lost in the crowd of kids.
We were on our first official case, searching for Mrs Lake’s missing mail, when Jules appeared seemingly out of nowhere. And with him, a golden retriever puppy he introduced as Arlo.
It took a dog jumping up at them for Violet and Ben to find their real smiles, their real selves slowly seeping through these facades they had built around themselves. Ben dropped to a crouch, ruffling the dog's ears, his smile faint.
“Who's a good boy?” He chuckled.
Arlo didn't move, tail wagging, eyes bright.
Ben motioned the dog towards him, but Arlo stayed put.
Jules joined us…quietly.
I don't remember asking him, or even him asking me.
He just became part of us, side by side with Arlo.
We soon came to quickly realize that our town was boring.
There were no monsters or thieves, or soul sucking demons. No criminals or serial killers. Not even one missing person. We did, however, get calls about missing cats. I turned eleven years old, patiently waiting for a murder or a kid going missing. But there was nothing.
All we did was chase cats, and the occasional dog. Maybe a budgie if we were lucky. Twelve years old, our detective club became a joke.
The five of us (and Arlo hiding under the table) were trying to pinpoint Mrs Tracy's lost hamster, when three girls came over, dumping their soda all over us.
We watched crime shows for inspiration on catching killers.
Ben’s favorite crime was one that happened in the 80’s in our town.
2 girls murdered.
Their intestines stuffed into envelopes and mailed to family members.
“That's what we should be solving,” he told me one night, “Not missing cats.”
Thirteen years old, we lay in Violet’s backyard under the cruel glare of the summer sun. We called it working and didn't like to admit it was hanging out, or that we were even friends. However.
That didn't stop us growing closer.
Even if it wasn't quite the way I’d expected.
I proposed a plan, standing up, wobbling a little off balance.
“I've got it.” I said, my voice kinda slurry from Violet’s special summer cocktail, which was just random alcoholic beverages we found, thrown into a blender, and diluted with water.
The town wasn't taking us seriously.
So, we were going to make our own mysteries.
I ordered a full-scale assault on our small town. One that they could not ignore. Ben stamped on Mrs Mason’s flowers, and Lucy threw mud pies at people's cars. Jules trashed the high school gym, and Violet and I spray painted threats and warnings on every store window. Now, this did cause panic, but also an official curfew.
Thirty minutes before curfew, we met in our usual spot, deep in the forest near the lake. Ben yelled at me when I was three minutes late. He was real passionate about finding a real mystery.
“You're late.” Ben was sitting on a rock waving a stick in Arlo’s face.
The dog still wasn't going near him, whining softly.
I took my place, muttering an apology. “I had to lie to my Mom.”
Violet, sitting with her legs crossed, idly digging her manicure into the dirt, suggested we buy mannequins and masquerade them as dead bodies, hanging them from the school rafters.
Lucy, who had slowly grown out of her shell, becoming a lot more outspoken, nudged her. “That's a stupid idea.”
The girl groaned, leaning into her. “Urgh. You're right.”
Jules was the only energetic one, standing on the tireswing.
He jumped down, definitely twisting his ankle.
But his smile only widened, kind of like he enjoyed being in pain.
“Why don't we pretend to be kidnapped?” He said, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over blondish curls growing out. Jules did a dramatic spin, his eyes shining. “We can ‘go missing’ for like a week, and then when our parents are really scared, we can turn up, and tell them we escaped a kidnapping.” His lips split into a grin.
“And then we solve our own kidnapping!”
Ben awkwardly patted Arlos head, only for the dog to pull away with a snort.
“I like it,” he murmured. “I'm in.”
Jules’s idea was stupid.
But.
It was worth a shot.
The five of us agreed to meet the morning after with enough food and supplies for a week. Then we were going to hike to the next town, and hide out for a week. It was an almost perfect plan, using ourselves as victims of our own mystery.
Packing as much as I could, I kissed my mother goodbye (I told her my pack was for a picnic) and set off to the rendezvous we agreed on.
When I arrived, I was the first one there. I checked and re-checked my pack.
I waited ten minutes, unable to contain my excitement.
Then 20 minutes.
It was getting kind of cold.
One hour.
I sat on a rock for enough time to watch the sky change color.
When the clouds were orange, I stood up and stumbled back home. They had gone without me. Mom lectured me when I got home, and I stuck to the plan of pretending my friends had gone missing, even if I they had betrayed me.
Ben said he'd text me when he arrived at the redervous. I at least expected him to text an explanation, but there was nothing. I was in the dark, and after three days of nothing, our town finally began to take us seriously.
“Our children have been kidnapped!” The adults were screaming.
Mom was crying in the kitchen, praying to a god I knew she didn't believe in that I wasn't taken next. I was interviewed and stuck with the exact same story I came up with when I was with the others. Our plan was to return after a week, claiming to be locked up in a dark room with a masked man.
I told my Mother and the other parents that I didn't know where my friends were, repeating the same thing over and over again until I was tongue tied.
“I saw them the day before they went missing, and… yes, everything seemed okay.” I slowly sipped my glass of milk provided, looking the sheriff directly in the eyes.
“No, I didn't notice anything suspicious, sheriff. Yes, I'm sure, sir. No, they didn't tell me anything.”
It was Ben’s mother who shattered my mask.
“Did I know about… what?” I whispered.
Something warm filled the back of my mouth, foul tasting milk erupting up my throat. I leaned forward, trying to look Mrs Callows in the eye. “No, I… I didn't know about Ben’s…condition.”
Mrs Callows was screaming at me about her son’s troubled past when I barfed all over myself, my eyes burning.
In the privacy of my own room, I sobbed until I couldn't breathe.
I tried to tell Mom, but we had come so close.
One more day, and the others would be back.
But that day came. I sat cross legged at our usual spot, which was now covered in police tape. I waited for their thudding footsteps, their laughter congratulating each other for coming up with a great plan. I waited, my face buried in my knees, for my friends.
It was dark when my phone vibrated, and I'd fallen asleep.
I wasn't scared, forcing myself to my feet.
“Where are you?” Mom yelled down the phone.
“Coming home now.” I muttered.
“Sorry.” I paused, holding my breath against a cry. “Mom.” I broke down, forcing my fist into my mouth to hide my squeak. “Mommy, did they come back?”
Mom didn't reply for a moment.
“I'm so sorry, baby.” She whispered, ending the call.
I took my time walking home that night.
There were no stars in the sky.
When a hand clamped over my mouth, I could smell him.
When he dragged me back, stabbing a kitchen knife into my throat, I stared at the sky and looked for stars. His arms were warm around me, violently pulling me into the back of a pickup truck. The pickup truck he'd said he was bringing.
It was his grandfather's, and he could just about drive it.
Hitting the backseat, my body was numb, my thoughts in a whirlwind.
The pickup flew forwards, and I remembered how to move.
I rolled off the seat, my hands pinned behind my back.
Twisting around, blinking in the dim, I could feel something warm, something seeping across upholstery seats. Blood.
It was everywhere, sticky on my hands and wet on my face when I struggled to get up. I was lying in someone's blood.
A scream clawed its way out of my throat.
The pickup flew over a pothole, and something dropped off the seat.
Arlo’s leash.
I screamed again, this time his name gritted between my teeth.
I didn't stop screaming until the jerking movement stopped. The doors opened, pale light hitting me in the face.
Flashlight. Warm arms wrapped around me, pulling me from the car, and then, pulling me by my hair, into our old tree house. It was always our secret place, our saving grace on the edge of town.
The flickering candlelight caught me off guard, illuminating my surroundings.
Two bodies slumped over each other, lying in stemming red.
I felt suffocated, like I was going to die. I screamed, and that warm hand cradled my mouth again, gagging my cries.
Violet and Jules.
There was something wrong with them. And it was only when I forced myself to look closer, when I realized their insides had been carved out, heart, stomach, everything, pulled out.
There was paper on the floor.
No, not paper. Envelopes.
Envelopes stuffed with gore, bright red leaking through white.
Shuffling back, my brain was too slow to react, while my body was trying to vault to my feet, only to be violently pulled back by my ponytail.
I felt his fingers twining around my hair, revelling in my screams.
With another tug, my head was forced forwards.
Orange candlelight felt almost homely, this time lighting up a third body.
Lying on their back, curled up, pooling scarlet dried into the floorboards, their wrists restricted with duct-tape.
I could feel blood underneath me, sticky, a congealing paste.
“Do you know what happened on October 3rd, 1987, in our town?”
Lucy Prescott stood over me, her arms folded across her chest.
I managed to shake my head, when she grabbed Ben’s legs, dragging him under the candlelight. I dazedly watched her stroke the blade of a carving knife, the teeth already stained scarlet. “The intestine murders.” Lucy hummed, tracing the knife down the floorboards.
“A man murdered two high school girls, carving out their insides and sending their pieces to their loved ones.”
Lucy's eyes found mine, ignited in a familiar gleam. I saw it in Principal Marrow’s office. Then the swimming pool. The cafeteria. “It was the sheriff's only murder case, Panda. Ever since then, our town has been boring. There's no mysteries to solve. Nothing to find.”
The girl jumped to her feet, retrieving a blood stained envelope.
She held it up, a smile curved on her lips. The girl turned around, and I heard a horrific squelching sound. Lucy held up a bright red sausage, ripped into it, and slipped it into the white paper.
“But I can change that.” she said, in a giggle.
“I can create a real serial killer, who we can hunt down together.”
Lucy stabbed the blade into the floor, laughing.
“Or! I can bring a fan-favorite back! I can bring the intestine killer back from the dead!”
Her gaze flicked to the others. “There are casualties, of course. The story is, I was kidnapped with Ben, Violet, and Jules. The scary intestine killer killed them, and I managed to get away.”
Lucy shuffled over to me, her eyes wide. “Then! He came back and struck again!”
With those words, she shoved me onto my back.
“First he took Violet,” Lucy hummed, tracing the blade down my shirt.
“Then… Jules.” I squeezed my eyes shut, pulling at the restraints around my wrists. “Then Ben.” her breath tickled my cheek. “And finally… Panda.”
Lucy lifted the knife, and I accepted my death.
Until a low rumble in my ears.
Shouting.
Thundering footsteps, followed by the pitter-patter of paws.
“Lucy!” The sheriff was screaming, and the girl stumbled to her feet, the knife slipping from her fingers. Lucy stumbled, tripping over Ben’s body.
“He got away!” she shrieked. “He…he killed them! Oh, god, please help me!”
I don't think Lucy even realised the traces she'd left behind.
The blood slick on her fingers, her manic, grinning smile full of mania.
I was looking for stars when an officer crouched over me.
I couldn't understand what she was saying.
Her voice was white noise.
“Rachel? Hey, try and sit up, honey. You Mom is on her way.”
Instead of listening to her, I curled into myself.
My gaze found Arlo sticking his nose in Ben’s hair, trying to nudge the boy awake.
I didn't fully register the next few days.
They went by in a confusing blur.
Part of me tried to eat, and spent hours with my head pressed against the toilet seat.
I could still see the slithering, scarlet remains of my friends every time I closed my eyes. There was so much red, soaked in that hunting orange light.
Blood that I could still see, a starless sky that stretched on forever.
Weeks went by.
Then months.
I think I turned 14. I wasn't sure. I didn't feel alive anymore.
I stood at my friend’s funerals with a single rose I dropped into their casket.
Violet’s mother was quick to cover the whole thing up.
Lucy's plan didn't work after all.
Our town’s murder cases stayed stagnant at one.
It's been four years since my friends were murdered by our ’Velma’.
Now, at seventeen, Mom asked if I wanted to visit Lucy in juvie.
I'm not even upset or angry anymore.
I want to know why.
Ben picked me up. Arlo was at his side, wagging his tail.
Ben was…different. He'd dumped his baseball cap and gotten a haircut, swapping his old wardrobe of drab colors for an attempt at changing style.
That day, he looked awkward in a short sleeved tee and shorts.
At school, Ben is no longer Bloody Ben.
Now, he is Survivor Ben.
I’m still Panda.
Every time I was with him, I felt like my soul was being sucked out.
Guilt so deep, so fucking painful, I lost my breath.
I live knowing that I immediately assumed it was him that day.
Ben was barely alive when I found him. Lucy had started to carve into him before remembering she needed me.
After admitting it to him, his lips formed a small smile.
“Can I tell you a secret?” He said to me, at sixteen.
"Yeah?"
Whatever he was going to say, Ben never told me.
Presently, I nodded at the dog’s new collar.
“Peppa Pig themed?”
The boy shrugged, ruffling Arlo’s ears. “FYI, he chose it.”
“It's cute.” I said. “Very… chic.”
We didn't speak the whole ride, but Ben did entangle his hand in mine.
We spent half an hour outside the detention centre. I was panicking, and Ben was trying to hide that he was panicking. In the end, we joined hands, and strode through the doors together.
Lucy greeted us with a wide smile. Just as psychotic.
The orange jumpsuit suited her, though I had zero idea why.
“Hey Arlo!” she giggled at the dog, and Ben pulled the pup onto his lap.
“Ben.” She sighed. “I wish I got to finish you. I would have loved to solve the mystery of your gutted corpse.”
Ben’s smile was wry. “Nice to see you too.”
Behind a glass screen, I asked Lucy one simple question.
“Why?”
Lucy didn't reply. Or she did, but it was just nonsensical bullshit.
But there was one thing she said has stuck with me, chilling me to the core.
I am fucking terrified of Lucy. Of what's she's done, and what she's capable of doing.
It was a throwaway line, and I don't even think Ben noticed.
Or he did, and was in denial.
Lucy's smile was wide, her eyes empty pools of nothing.
The exact same glint in Ben’s eyes.
Jules’s eyes.
Violet’s eyes.
Like something was gnawing away at their psyche, twisting and contorting it, filling them with darkness, poison, that was so vast, so endless, I had craved it as a child. I still don't know what it is.
But I'm going to find it.
Lucy's laugh was shrill, and next to me, Ben didn't move a muscle.
But he did smile.
Yes, my gang were psychos.
But I kind of maybe loved it.
“I don't even wear glasses!”