Greetings Reddit Users of Arch Linux. I have a few questions I was hoping to receive some guidance for; preferably in the form of documents / forums, however any advice is greatly appreciated as well!

• No sound. Documentation on ALSA and pipewire configuration, or direction to the relevant files and modifications. Information on the open web is sparse. I've been to Gentoo wiki, and Arch wiki. And countless forum boards.
• KVM/QEMU Virt-Manager guests run normally, however refuse to resize and change resolution, (tiling WM host.)
  • I have tried selecting different video servers, (spice, virtio, etc. )but I have only attempted to use the graphical manager. Not the command line tools.
• Good recommendation for selecting and inserting emojis and characters into text. Currently using wikipedia and echo -e. Something I could build from source preferably.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to comment and offer advice!
(The most helpful information you could provide if you are not experiencing any issues with audio is to supply relevant configuration files for ALSA and pipewire related files. Perhaps even with directions on what I should modify. )
It is with reluctance that I am seeking guidance. However, I have run out of search engines and results on the open web, so now I am networking!
I hope that you all have an awesome day! Thank you!

Hi all! I wanted to share a funny series of events from me and my friend's DnD campaign. We're a good sized group; seven in total (including the DM). We've just finished our 8th session and we're playing through the Curse of Strahd.
None of us have played through a whole campaign before and only three of us have played some form of Dnd, being the DM, me (Elven FighteRogue) and our Tiefling Paladin (who is obsessed with BG3).
It was our third session and we'd been exploring the "Death House", though we decided to explore it in the most awkward. Way. Possible. Much to our DM's frustration.
First thing we did was go all the way upstairs.
For some character context, my character is from a noble family and the other players don't actually know his specific race, other than the Paladin and Bard, a Goblin-raised Human (who is my character's rival/love interest) as we have made some above-table plans.
Anyway, my character was the first to climb the stairs. The Bard decided to push my character out of the way so he could get there first, and my character pushed back because he's not gonna take that. This resulted in the two scuffling on the stairs until the Paladin pushed past them, with the Dragonborn Ranger and Gobin Cleric following close behind.
(This was before our sixth party member's first session.)
My character decided it's not worth it and went back downstairs.
The rest of the party got to the third floor, and found a suit of armour, when the Paladin brushed off some dust. This triggered combat that we were very unprepared for, and the Bard shrieked, which brought my character back upstairs in time to perform a sneak attack.
After we somehow survived the fight, we went back downstairs to the ground floor. We destroyed the cupboard with the health potions we were meant to find earlier (we smashed half of them) and I tried to take all three crossbows that were available even though my character could not carry one of them, largely just because OOC I didn't want the Paladin's player to get them for a platonic sibling rivalry reason, which led to the events that happened later on in the next session.
We eventually made it to the attic, somehow bypassing all the lore the DM had planned, and reached the basement without exploring the first or second floors.
We made it to the servants' quarters in the basement where we met our sixth party member (a Human Warlock), who hadn't played before and stayed quiet for most of the session. My character and hers only said their names to each other.
The Paladin, Bard and I went searching for loot in separate rooms while the Ranger and Cleric decided to check out the well. The Ranger was able to get the bucket off the pulley, and the Cleric volunteered to sit in it and be sent down. The DM kept trying to take their attention away from the well, but the Ranger's player accused her of keeping secrets and continued to send the Cleric down. The DM was sort of laugh-crying at this point.
Meanwhile, my character was searching through chests in the bedrooms. I found a coin pouch made of human skin, and the Paladin decided to grab him and started to DRAG him TO THE WELL. Obviously, I started to panic. I made a strength check to try and wriggle my way out, but the Bard decided TO HELP HER. So I failed my strength check. I tried again, but ended up failing that too, even without the Bard's interference. I tried to persuade the Paladin to let my character go, when the Cleric, who was already halfway down the well at this point, decided to yell up "I'll wave at you on your way down!"
At this point, my voice had gone up three octaves and I was actively trying to keep my guy alive and stay in character while I did it, which was hard bc I hadn't entirely figured him out yet, and also because the Paladin was trying to THROW HIM IN A WELL.
Eventually, I offered to pay her to NOT throw me in a well, to which she stopped and said "Give me the skin pouch."
For some reason. That sibling rivalry came back.
Instead of just giving it to her, I refused and she started dragging me to the well again. I freaked out again and started pleading with her, which she refused. The Bard and Ranger both told me to just give it to her. The Paladin reaches to pick my character up and I quickly changed my mind and said I'd give it to her, but asked if we could split the coin inside it.
I genuinely do not know why I did that.
She stopped and with a straight face said "Oh yeah, I don't care about the money, I just want the pouch."
My jaw dropped. Both me and my character yelled "That's all you wanted? The skin pouch!?" and she just replied "yeah, it's human skin?" like it was an obvious thing to want.
I gave it to her empty, while the Bard called me a rich boy or something, and my character kind of just collapsed from the stress.
The Cleric came back out of the well in a bucket full of "Goblin water", which he then tried to throw on my character. I dodged it, but the Bard saw that there was some left and successfully drenched my poor FighteRogue.
The Warlock then decided she wanted to try dry him.
So she hits with him Eldritch Blast.
Obviously, that's not how that works, so my poor, stressed, drenched Elf is not only mildly scared of the Paladin, but now also the Warlock, and is now hurt (I took 9 hit points).
We spent an hour at that well. The session ended about ten minutes later after fighting, killing and then havesting a Grick. (The Paladin ate the Grick meat next session and got poisoned, despite having normal rations. But not before she tried to keep said Grick as a pet.)
The sessions since have been the same level of chaos, but we're all clearly more comfortable with our characters so it's far more consistent. Hope you enjoyed this retelling as much as I have. I'm going to finish drawing up the comic of our game at some point so I'll hopefully have more wacky adventures to share.

I don’t know what happened. Maybe it’s because so many people think they can do what other people do because this generation is so “forgiving”, if so it bothers me.
First off the actors/actresses are pathetic. None of them can act. 1: it’s because they aren’t casting talented people, they casting either attractive people or people with big followings. 2: The actresses and actors who used to be good are now being cast in films that don’t let them showcase their talents. 3: most of the characters they act as aren’t complex.
Second, the film directors don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. Most of the films look uncanny and too perfect. Back then the early 2000 films looked natural and so were the characters. For example “mean girls” characters in early 2000 are way better compared to this generation not because it’s the original but because Regina was intimidating. This new Regina is trying to appear mean but she isn’t intimidating. She gives off an I know it all vibes. Then the lighting was too bright. The people are too animated. The actresses aren’t portraying the characters right. There’s no feeling, no emotions, just perfection that makes it so boring.
Third, Writers are horrible. They don’t know how to write therefore they keep re-making movies. And if they don’t re-make movies, they steal a movie and make it into their own. Then they force things into it like slang, wokeness, etc. They try to appeal to Gen-Z instead of writing a fucking movie. “American horror story” used to be good now look at it. They try so hard to be funny that it’s uncanny, they even have Kim Kardashian to make it popular, that’s a tactic. I mean they did have Ariana Grande but she’s actually an actress. Kim sounded so fake when she was saying her lines.
So many influencers are stepping into the film industry, they already ruined music industry. So many easy access. No one is actually working. No one cares. They just want money and popularity. They don’t care about the vision, they don’t want art.

We'd been dating each other for a couple months. Everything was great. It just never felt like it was "taking off." She'd go away for work and there would be some gaps in communication. I approached the topic of being exclusive once or twice and got soft "no"s from her, but we kept dating and enjoying it. (She didn't date other people, though.. I did, if that matters.) After she took a vacation to see friends and we barely talked during that two week period, I was going to end it because it felt like we weren't going anywhere. She then learned that I'd been on a few dates while we were dating and that I had sex with someone else. She was a little thrown off because she'd made an assumption, but she understood because we didn't make a commitment. She agreed that she hasn't really been emotionally available with a stressful situation that's going on.
I called her the following morning and told her I missed her. She thought it was sweet, and then invited me to hang out with her and her friends from out of town. We had a fun time; she obviously enjoyed that I'd come and said it was really nice that I came out. I asked if she'd see me on Thursday and she paused and said maybe. We did some funny back and forth texting the next day. The following day, this morning, I told her that I really like her and that I'll like to be in a relationship with her (or at least exclusive for now). She said that it was very sweet and "got choked up" (emotional) from hearing that, and she said she appreciated me taking the risk and putting myself out there, but she needs some time to digest it.
I think we're really compatible and would be happy together long-term. What do you think of her response?

Hello, here I am once again! First ever Fan-Fic.
Last week I opened a poll about the type of Fan-Fic I should write (or try to), and after a good 4 days I took a look at said poll, and the overwhelming majority went for Option 2. And so I shall try my hardest to deliver, and give you all a story about Humanity entering on the Galactic stage later and being more prepared for eventual hostile encounters, and acting as such.
Let's see what I can cook up in my tired state- Some creative liberties are to be expected.
Still thinking of a Title- but this is the one I came up with.
... Also consider this a proof of concept for now, a WIP if you will, as I'm still new to writing (and not a native English speaker either) and wanting to learn as much as possible while writing anything at all- so expect word vomit. Any and all feedback will be welcomed.
Lastly, all love to for having made such an amazing universe.
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Memory Transcription Subject: N/A, AI Communications Unit Terminal, UN-HQ.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 1st, 2300, 00:00
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<<00:15, Probe successfully launched. Explore protocol initiated.>>
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Log Update: 01:15
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Log Update: 10:15
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Memory Transcription Subject: N/A, Terminal Deactivated.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Alan Voor-hein, UN Secretary-General.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 1st, 2300, 11:00
It has finally happened. A fellow space-faring civilization has been found, something we thought would happen one day- Never in my 40 years would I have guessed it would happen in my lifetime. But I guess that is the thought process for everyone who are now involved.
I had gotten the first message out of anyone. It was now up to me to head to the HQ and get everything ready for the Emergency meeting. We'll have to "discuss" our next course of action on this situation. And I use the term "discuss" lightly, because there is not a lot to discuss, rather there is much to think about as a potential next step. I'll be having these discussions with our diplomatic and military advisors. Civil advisors will be left out, as to not make the public aware of this discovery ...at least, not yet.
I have an hour to get everything ready... and I still need to travel 20 minutes to get there. Luckily I have my own companion who can be my chauffeur- who is always ready at a moments notice, essentially 24/7.
I was speed-walking.. or speedily descending more like it, down the stairs of my house. ...Don't ask me what I was doing upstairs. My hastiness almost caused me to trip while going down the stairs because I was in a such rush to get outside, I did not have a lot of time on my hands.
After reaching the ground-floor I sped-walked past the kitchen, and I took a second to contemplate about taking a quick bite from a snack, but I decided against it. After-all, I could eat at the HQ... not that I'd have the time too, but at least I could give it a shot if I arrive in time.
As my journey to the front door continued, I was met with a familiar face- namely Heluni. Heluni is my Android companion. Android technology has gotten far over the last few decades, and Androids have become more Human than ever before.
"Good morning Alan!" Heluni spoke up, her voice as smooth as the calmest oceans. I looked towards her, and greeted her in return.
"Morning Heluni- Sorry to be a bother, but I gotta use your driving expertise again today. Emergency UN meeting. It's at 12, but I would like to be there as quickly as possible. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course I can, sir. Right this way." She led the way, opening the front door, waiting on me to follow behind her. I took my place behind her as she led me towards our car that was parked outside. A classic unmarked "not noticeable" vehicle, one everyone knows screams "here is someone important" but no one seems to care about in their daily life.
And like always when walking outside, my mind wandered to the flowing shoulder long hair Heluni has, her hair was always a beautiful sight to behold. How she- an Android- managed to have the hair of a Goddess remains a mystery to me. But I learned to never question our technological prowess.
Before I knew it, I was standing next to the car, Heluni having already taken the drivers seat. I took my seat in the back. And before I even sat down, Heluni look back at me. "Ready sir?"
"Floor it." was the only thing I responded with.. and Heluni took off like it was the end of the world.
... And I'm suddenly reminded why I only used her driving skills in Emergencies. This type of driving is gonna make me sick- but it's to late now, I suppose. I gazed down to my watch, and it's 11:15. If Heluni keeps driving like this, we'll be there in about 10 minutes.
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I'm just gonna try and keep myself calm, as to not make myself sick with Heluni her driving.
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We drove through the city towards the UN Headquarters. Heluni was cutting through the traffic wherever she could- you'd think we would get pulled over. But the only reason we never were, was because the only symbol on this car (to at least mark it somewhat) was that the UN symbol was put in place of the car-manufacturer logo. Any officer knew that, if a UN car was speeding like this, there was something going on.
But since I still did not want the public to know about the discovery made earlier today, I'd have to come up with some excuse for this... I think I'll wave it off as a training exercise for my Android.
Noticing that I was rather quiet, Heluni chirped up. "Sir, is everything okay?"
"Hm? .. Oh yeah, just thinking about stuff. Don't worry about it."
"Sir, is it about the upcoming meeting? What is it about?"
"..Heluni, that's confidential information-"
"I know sir, but perhaps.. whatever it will be about, is making you nervous?"
... Am I nervous? I don't think I am- maybe subconsciously I am??
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"Well, I can say it's something I have never planned on doing."
"Is it bad?" Heluni asked me, trying to inquire more out of me.
"Depends on future circumstances...."
"Will I be allowed to know more about this meeting?"
"One day you will, Heluni. But for now, that's gonna be a negative."
"I understand, Sir."
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For the rest of our journey, no words were spoken. I was deep in thought again. Like.. what does this mean for my career? I will be the first leader in UN history who may lay the ground-works for an eventual "First Contact" between Humans and an Alien species.
I'm nervous thinking ahead that far, for all we know, they are those type of Alien we have seen in pop-culture. Either fun and loving, or utterly ruthless and genocidal. What would they think of us? ... What will we think of them? Is there a potential for a future war?
We have that last one covered at least. Humans being Humans and all- we already have a decent Space going fleet of roughly 8000 ships of various sizes. ... Just in case a Colony gets any funny ideas with their local security forces. But now knowing we might have to face off against Aliens as well, I think it's about time to ramp up the ship production tenfold.
More importantly, we have to spy on them. Luckily that probe we sent is close to their planet, so we'll just use that for any surveillance and intelligence..
My thoughts were shaken back into reality from plausible scenarios once we took a tight corner a little too fast- but before I could scold Heluni for it, there it was, the UN-HQ in the distance. A few more minutes, and we'll be there.
...
===---===
There we have it! I think I did well in my tired state for this first part. I'll keep looking through the text itself from time to time. So if any feedback, grammar, etc, is thrown my way. I can implement them right away.
I hope this is setting a decent stage for what's to come. Hope you had fun reading this!
For now, Imma chill with some music.

A little disclaimer before I get fully into it: This was my first real, long term relationship so a lot of things still don’t make sense to me, but I will try my best to explain everything clearly and fully.
Me (19M) and my boyfriend (19M) got together in February of 2023. We met through our job, and even before dating we were good friends for about 6 months prior. During this time in my life, I had just turned 18 and was struggling heavily with my self image, self worth, and the idea that a relationship was even a possibility for me. In fact, I would say i was struggling the most with relationships and men in general. When my boyfriend came along it honestly seemed too good to be true. We hit it off instantly, got along very well, and shared a lot of the same morals and values when it came to dating. Except for when it came to sex, but i’ll go more into that later.
For the first few months, I would say the dynamic worked out well between us. Then, he moved out of his parent’s and in with his best friend and her family, which consisted of her mom, dad, and brother. Since the beginning of the relationship, I wasn’t too crazy about his best friend. I do care about her and have empathy for her, but for lack of better words, my boyfriend kind of let her walk all over him. This seemed to get worse after they started living together. And, it became apparent that they did not see eye to eye on most things and wanted different things out of their living situation. She would get jealous anytime we wanted to spend time together alone, and often times would not let us be alone when I was at their house. This eventually was talked about between them and i will say, in the regards of giving us more space, she did back off. However, their living situation was still toxic. They would have disagreements, but ones that would never be talked about or worked through. In turn, my boyfriend would talk/rant to me about her, and I always agreed with his POV, but that was the end of it. He always said that it’s extremely hard for him to confront people due to his own anxieties and past trauma. I 100% understood this, as I struggle a lot with confrontation too, but when it came to the point of his friend putting stress on our relationship/on me and I would talk to him about it, he would say he understood but nothing would ever be done about it. I could’ve very well spoke up for myself against her, but I was terrified that he would be upset with me and it would cause problems for us. I know that’s unhealthy now but in the moment it felt like I just had to get over it.
Then, around OctobeNovember last year, his friend’s mom ended up kicking both her daughter and my boyfriend out over a very small misunderstanding involving transportation. It was one night that I was taking him home from work, and her mom thought she had to pick him up, so we both showed up to get him. She absolutely flipped out over this and used it as justification to kick him out. Then when his friend tried to defend him against her mom, she kicked her out too. She ended up going to live with her current boyfriend and mine came to live with me. At this point, I had moved about 45 minutes away from our hometown with my dad and step family. I was (and still am) working in said hometown, because I do like my job and most importantly the people I work with. My boyfriend could’ve gone back to live with his parents, but honestly, neither of us wanted that. In hindsight, that’s what should have happened.
Up until this past April, everything was okay with our situation. We were living and working together full time and considering he didn’t have a car or his license yet, I was his source of transportation. Something shifted inside of me though. I found myself not being excited about his presence anymore and also not having sexual feelings towards him anymore, which is highly unusual for me. I felt like I had hit a wall that I couldn’t climb over in the relationship. In that moment, I chalked it up to being a “simple” change in feelings and that we were just growing apart. This did not go very well when I told him. I didn’t expect it to, but I know that he wasn’t even trying to fathom how I felt in the situation and ended up being pretty hurtful about it. The first night after it happened, we had a lengthy conversation over text where he was essentially saying that I ruined him and broke him and that I couldn’t possibly have loved him like I said I did since I was doing this. He also said, and I quote, “You built me back up and made me believe I was finally having the life I deserved and then you destroyed me and left me worse than when you found me”. This of course made me feel immense guilt but I knew it was coming from a place of hurt and I didn’t let it weigh me down too much. He also said that I would never find a friend in him and that this was goodbye, and blocked me on all social media and my phone number. Even though I was the one to break up with him, this still hurt a lot because I did and still do very much care about him.
The next day, he reached back out and apologized for how he reacted and asked me if we could try space instead of a full-on break up. I agreed to this because the relationship really did mean everything to me and I genuinely loved him. I did make sure to tell him that I couldn’t make any promises about my feelings returning but that I would try. And I have. Since then, we have still been working together, just not on the same schedule as before, and he is staying with his parents back in our hometown. We still text on the daily because we both made the agreement that we didn’t just want to go back to strangers. We mainly just talk about work and life and what not, but not much has been said about our specific situation on either end. We both agreed that we needed space. We both also agreed to not really see each other outside of work because we both know it would just complicate things even more, especially if we were to still act like a couple and even more especially if we continued a sexual relationship. This brings us to current day.
It has been about a month of space now and although it’s hard to admit to myself, I don’t want to be back with him. After I’ve had time to think everything over, I’ve realized that I may have put up with more than i deserve/disregarded my self and my feelings for him. Sex was honestly not that important to him, but it always has been for me. It’s not all that I care about of course, but I found myself being told no more often than not. I found myself suppressing my true sexual feelings for him in order to comply to what he wanted. I am also the type of person who likes to try new things, and he was almost always opposed to it. For a while I told myself this was the right thing to do in order for us to work out. With all this being said, our sexual relationship was good and we both enjoyed each other in that way, but it was just very inconsistent.
I also now feel like we just started to want different things out of the relationship. We both needed our own personal space which was impossible at the time, considering we lived and worked together on the same schedules and I was his transportation to and from work and also to hang out with friends when he wanted to. We also have conflicting love languages, as mine is primarily physical affection and reassurance while his are more along the lines of quality time, gift giving, and sharing his interests. As far as the love languages go, I knew early on that they were not the same but I thought we had come to a place where they could coexist. I know now that it was starting not work out that way, and I think he felt the same too although I’m not 100% positive as I found it very hard to understand him and his feelings sometimes, as did he with me.
Like I said previously, he struggles with confrontation. Any time I had an issue with something he did that would upset me, it was usually met with silence and a simple apology or “I don’t remember that/That’s not what I meant.” It seemed like he was taking things as a personal attack rather than trying to understand where I was coming from. One specific moment sticks out to me. One night after work, his best friend wanted to see us before we went home, but she got off of work later than us , which meant we would have to wait around for that. I was very tired due to a long busy day and just wanted to go home as did he, but we stayed and waited anyways because he was afraid of her reaction had we not. I did not respond to this well, and I told him straight up that she walks all over him and that I felt he was not considering how I was feeling about the situation either. All i got in response was confused silence and a simple “I’m sorry.” I was not satisfied with this, and after telling him so, he said how he doesn’t know what else to say/doesn’t know how to communicate how he’s feeling. I ended the conversation there because I could see that I was getting nowhere, but I was still very visibly upset. After we left to go back home, he wouldn’t talk to me and just fell asleep on the drive. This caused me to start crying and after he realized and I reiterated my feelings, I was met with a little more compassion and “i’m sorry”s but then the conversation shifted and no more was said about it on either end.
There were also multiple times that I knew that I had upset him over various things, because he would start acting different (short responses, dirty looks, spending more time on his phone etc). But , when I would ask him what I did, he would just say that he’s fine and to not worry about it. For example, on Valentine’s day this year, I made a very inconsiderate joke about his size (even though it wasn’t true). I was trying to be funny and we both knew I wasn’t being serious, but it still was wrong. It did affect him and eventually he opened up to me and we talked about it, and i apologized profusely and all was resolved. But before that, his demeanor and attitude towards me completely changed and he was treating me very differently. Before we talked about it, I was unaware that the joke I had made was the cause of it, but he told me that he was upset about something I had said but told me it was fine and that he’d get over it, while still treating me differently. I didn’t respond to this well because I knew I had hurt the person I loved, and wanted so desperately to resolve it and make sure it never happened again, but until he brought it to light I was stuck in an intense self-hate/guilt trip.
I will say I don’t recall him ever using any of that against me, but communication is extremely important to me and I just wasn’t getting it. It was like , we always were fine together until the more serious issues came about (differences in intimacy desires, communicating our issues with each other , etc.)
It’s worth mentioning that I also struggle with self image/self worth, and a lot of anxiety/uncertainty. I forgot to include it earlier, but another reason the space is happening is because we lost ourselves in the relationship. We still don’t really who we are or what we want from life. I was constantly preoccupied with how he was feeling and how my actions affected him, and he was constantly preoccupied by turning to me for comfort and safety. I don’t blame him for that though, as I know that we have to fully love and know ourselves/know what we want first before making a commitment to someone else. That’s why I struggle so much with knowing if I’m making the right decision or not. I’m also scared that once I tell him, he won’t want anything to do with me anymore similar to how he reacted the first time. I will forever be grateful for the love that we shared and all the good he showed me and would rather have him as a friend than nothing at all, but I don’t know if that’s the reality. And if it’s not that’s okay and I know that, but I haven’t accepted it. I just want us both to be happy in life and live to our full potentials even if that means it’s not together. If you made it this far I’m sorry for the novel but thank you for taking the time to read. I may be the asshole here and if that’s the case, I will do better and I will make the right decisions. I just need a little insight. Thank you again for anyone who took the time.

I think the analogy of mutants being a stand in for marginalized communities is a bad one.
So, I’ve just gotten into X-men media, and I have been enjoying it. The characters are fun and I like the lore and whatnot, but I have a problem with the terrible symbolism.
Now don’t get me wrong, I get the not-so-subtle messages of not fearing people because they are different. We unfortunately still have so much of that today. But I feel like this analogy falls flat in this universe.
In real life, the difference between and white and a black guy is completely superficial. Same with gender, sexuality, and so on. Mutants, on the other hand, are fundamentally different. A random mutant on the street could be capable of leveling entire city blocks, or invasively read your mind, or trick you by shapeshifting. Mutants are inherently superior (except for some that have bad mutant powers). Not to also mention children getting their mutant powers and accidentally hurting people. This isn’t even whataboutism, we literally see instances of this, such as Cyclops.
This is why I think the messaging falls flat. No one of any race, gender, or sexuality can kill hundreds of people in a second, but a mutant can. There is a reason for humans to fear mutants, but not LGBTQ+ people and so on. Even if mutants just looked different, like my precious boy Nightcrawler, that wouldn’t be an issue, but the fact that he can teleport is a problem. I feel this poor analogy does a terrible job at representing oppressed groups, because win real life those groups are not really different from everyone else, but mutants are.
Am I wrong about this? Is there a reason as to why humans shouldn’t fear mutants?

Inscriptions made by sailors wishing for safe voyages in ancient Greece often included the words eúploia ‘good sailing / fair voyage’ or eutukhía ‘good luck’ and variants. Thus, the roughly 2,000-year-old inscription cut into a cliff on the desert islet of Vryonisi in Eastern Crete which contains euplous ‘good sailing’ (an adj., not a noun) should be easily regarded as another example. However, Martín González takes it as a name (since some people were named Euplous) because there is “a crucial obstacle: there is no parallel for the use of the adjective eúplous, instead of the ubiquitous substantive eúploia, among the related inscriptions”. Now, many words known from inscriptions only appear once, yet they still exist. Since most inscriptions were probably lost, it is not odd that, even if many of this type once existed, only one (or none) of its kind might now remain. For instance, if only 20 welcome mats remained 2,000 years in the future, how many would have ‘welcome’ vs. ‘we welcome you’? If only one verb remained, would some future linguist say it was impossible because “there is no parallel for the use of the verb welcome, instead of the ubiquitous interjection”? I see no reason to take this as evidence against the obvious. For her reading:
​
Euthu-
timos
Khrusip-
pos
[dolphin]
Nikanoros
euplous
​
I would translate it, “Euthutimos (and) Khrusippos (wish) a fair voyage for Nikanōr”. This would be a very simple and undestandable expression of good wishes, whatever the frequency of one of the words.
​
​
This still leaves the question of the meaning of the carving of the dolphin (see image in the link below). It is directly among the words, not above or below, so it’s not certain that it is merely an addition used because dolphins were said to save sailors in need (Apollo’s connection with dolphins is probably folk etymology, really from Delphi). It seems like it might be homophone used in a rebus, since the Greek word for ‘dolphin’ was delphī́s (from *gWelbhiHn-s, derived from délphax ‘pig’, formerly ‘*young animal / piglet’ < delphús ‘womb’, probably related to Go. kalbo, E. calf, and maybe also E. whelp) it would start with the same syllable as :
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*(e)gWela > Mac. izéla ‘good luck’, G. bále ‘oh that it were so!’
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Though this alone is possible, there is more to my idea. It is possible that the entire pronunciation of ‘dolphin’ in Crete might have additional meaning. The origin of *(e)gWela is not clear, but it greatly resembles
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*gWhel()- ‘wish / want / will / be/make willing’> OCS želja ‘wish’, ON gilja ‘allure/entice/seduce/beguile’, G. (e)thélō ‘be willing’, (e)thelontḗn ‘voluntarily’
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Not only is the meaning the same, but the optional e- matches optional 0- vs. i- in Macedonian (which might come from *gWhelH1- > *H1gWhel-). The difference in *gWh vs. *gW could come from a dialect with PIE *gh > g, etc. (like Macedonian). Such variation is seen on Crete (G. dáptēs ‘eater / bloodsucker (of gnats)’, Cretan thápta, Polyrrhenian látta ‘fly’), so the needed features all exist there. Also, words like (e)thelontḗn often appear in inscriptions as formal parts of various requests or sacrifices. These supposedly show that the deed was done ‘voluntarily’ or ‘of one’s own free will’, but some might also retain the older meaning ‘wishing (that it comes to pass / that it is pleasing (to the gods)’, etc. This allows further comparison to be made for *(e)gWhelont-s ‘wishing’ and *gWelbhiHn-s ‘dolphin’. Since these words are already quite close (with regular *-nts > *-ns), and I suspect that the changes in *(e)gWela > Mac. izéla were matched in parts of Crete, other changes in dialects might have made them even closer. Some have alternation of ph / w, like *swe-es > spheîs ‘they / themselves’; the centaur Márphsos & the satyr Marsúas (Whalen 2024a). This could produce *gWelon-s and *gWelwi:n-s, possibly with later *on > *un (which might be supported by the lack of Linear A syllables with Co vs. many with Cu, see Chiapello) and *wi > *wu (then *Cwu > *Cu). With this alone, *gWelun-s and *gWelu:n-s would be nearly identical, and maybe exactly the same if *-onts became *-o:ns first (attested as -ōn in the nominative for nt-stems). I would ask for all such images to be examined carefully, and considered in the context of known changes in Greek dialects, even down to Cretan Hieroglyphs (Whalen 2024b). Younger’s claim that the cat’s head symbol stood for MA (compared to Linear A and B signs for the syllable MA) is supposedly imiation of “meow”, but many IE words for ‘cat’ and other noisy animals come from *maH2- ‘bleat / bellow / meow’ (Skt. mārjārá- ‘cat’, mārjāraka- ‘cat / peacock’, mayū́ra- ‘peacock’, māyu- ‘bleating/etc’, mayú- ‘monkey?/antelope’), and it would not be possible to name all symbols after the sounds made by the things represented (like mountains, stocks). It seems many of these symbols start with the sounds found in the Greek words for them, and continuing to examine the evidence could lead to proof of their Greek origin.
​
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Chiapello, Duccio (2024) The Linear A inscribed idol of Roccacasale: authentic, forgery… or both? An analysis based on the “Minoan Greek” hypothesis
https://www.academia.edu/112932884
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Martín González, Elena (2017) A Sailors' Inscription Revisited
https://www.academia.edu/33135646
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Whalen, Sean (2024a) Linear B *79, e-wi-su-zo-ko, e-wi-su-79-ko
https://www.academia.edu/114741659
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Whalen, Sean (2024b) The X’s and O’s of Cretan Hieroglyphic (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/114973571
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Younger, John (2023) Linear A Texts: Homepage
http://people.ku.edu/~jyoungeLinearA/
​

I met a girl (a guest) a few days ago while we were with a group of mutual friends for the first time, and from I could notice, she seemed interested in me. I've never meeted her before the gathering.
She asked if we can take selfies of ourselves, and that she would send to me, keeping in mind that it's the the first time that we've met. She also asked me to walk with her and look at the things that were at the restaurant that we were. Keep in mind, we seperated from the group to do this.
Skip a day or two and she sent me the pictures of the day. I mentioned that the restaurant that we visited was nice, and that I was planning on visiting it again soon, and just she answered with "count me in".
Great, we selected a date to go, and she agreed.
We then started a long string of text messages, she takes very long to reply to my messages. She does evenally reply, but with very vauge answers and questions.
What is happening?, am I overthinking, Or should I just try and keep te conversation semi alife untill we meet next meeting.

I never considered myself to be someone who came on too strong or developed feelings quickly. Something about her was different though and I don’t know what but I think maybe I was being manipulated and used. We were never dating at any point in this but she made it feel like we were. In the summer of 2023 we had become friends in person and would spend almost all day every day playing games together online. She was kind to me, considerate, funny, affectionate, and was just so fun for me to be around. As our friendship strengthened I started to become physically and emotionally attracted to her. I thought this was how she felt but it was only physical for her which has never been the case for me in any “situationship” I’m usually the one in that position. In October of 2023 she started to become cold towards me. She started to distance herself, started to make sure I knew she was with her best guy friend any opportunity she got to show me. It was painful to know that even when I was free she wouldn’t bother to include me in anything they did together. She kept me and him separated from each other. One of my other friends started to send her sexually explicit messages but I forgave him for that as he was very drunk. He apologized to her but I never even needed him to do that as she was not offended but I was as he was my friend and knew I liked her. She got mad at me for “interfering” with her life. I told her I talked to him about it because he was my friend and knew how I felt and as soon as she deduced that I had feelings for her she slept with her best guy friend. This all took place within 24 hours. I asked her if there was anything wrong or that she needed to tell me. She lied to me and said there wasn’t. This guy lives in the same neighborhood as me and one night I was going to get some food and happened to see her car parked at his house at 2 in the morning if not later. I asked her again the next day and she admitted it. What hurt the most wasn’t that she slept with someone else, my feelings were not something I’d characterize as love, it was the fact that I couldn’t trust her anymore. I felt so betrayed, lied to, hurt, and confused. This was 10 days after the last time we slept together. I made it clear I’d like to know if she wanted to move to someone else before doing something like that. She didn’t tell me anything and I got so angry and upset I blew up on her over text. I apologized for my reaction to what she did but she never apologized for the pain and confusion she had caused me. I will forever have to live with this feeling of betrayal. I told myself “never again” and attempted to distance myself indefinitely and completely. They had a falling out and she cut him off. A few months after this happened, she started to reach out to me again. I was very hesitant, very cold, and did not let her back into my heart. Months went by, she made me feel very seen and appreciated on my birthday, which I have a bad history with and I usually just pretend it isn’t my birthday, but she didn’t know that and it made me feel so happy and seen. This was in February. She doesn’t know this.
We started sleeping together in March. She asked me if I wanted to sleep with her again and I said yes expecting that after all this time and everything I had said to her that she would never just do that to me again. I was wrong. About a month ago she started to talk to her guy friend again. He started to be around more and more. I tried to be accepting and understanding but it made me uncomfortable being around him as it reminded me of the betrayal she had done in the past. It’s unbearable. I have voiced that to her multiple times but never made her choose between us or tried to make her feel guilty about it. She was graduating and decided to celebrate with him and her other friends and I was not a part of this so I stayed home. I was anxious she was going to do the same thing as last time as we had a slightly abrasive interaction the night before at her house. The next day when she was with them, she started to ignore my messages. I told her not to ignore me as it makes me anxious that she will do something like that again and reminded her that if she wanted to she could but she had to end things with me first. Keep in mind this had been happening for weeks at various levels of intensity.
My alarm bells were ringing. She snapped at me when I said this then proceeded to ignore me. I spiraled as I saw what was about to happen and basically begged her just to talk to me and end things properly. She ignored me and slept with him again. I was described as obsessed, in love with her, crazy, delusional, etc. she said this not only to her friends but to mine as well. My entire text exchange was shown to my friends and I’m sure she showed it to hers too. I felt so betrayed, so frustrated, so angry at myself for allowing her to do this to me again. I blocked her and all her friends as she started to turn her location on and off and leaving me on opened at his house intentionally to test me. I knew what she was doing and what the right move was but I didn’t care anymore I don’t want to play games. She would talk shit about the other guy and complained that he was “stalking” her because he was looking at her location. I was scared she was going to do this to me too. I am so upset, so hurt, so angry. I want it to end but she keeps gossiping about me, keeps bringing this guy to our mutual friend group. All I asked for from her was to give me peace and leave me the fuck alone. She never apologizes for anything. I don’t know how to process this and it sucks. I was anxious sometimes but not without good reason and it’s not fair I was punished like this. It felt sadistic almost and as I expressed how she hurt me she did it even more brazenly and without remorse. I want revenge but I know what I am capable of and I don’t want to hurt anybody to that extent anymore as the guilt lingers but the satisfaction leaves. I wish I didn’t care. I will miss the good time but I feel abused and thrown away and know ending things is for the best. I miss you and I wish things had gone differently. I don’t think I can ever forgive her until I forget.

Context, last year I was head over heels for a girl who put little to no effort into the relationship in return, I was conflicted by her actions and our experiences all the while i was reading 1984 by George Orwell. I wrote this at a desk in a school hallway in isolation.
Genre: General essay?
14.5.24
To my love,
I’m stuck sitting in isolation with absolutely nothing to do. I’ve crammed so much of 1984 into my head that I’ll need to push some of it out. 1984 is a lot to read. Maybe it’s the way I read it or maybe it’s the pacing but sometimes I'll be reading it and find myself relating to it in a way. A quote stuck with me;”He pulled her round so that they were breast to breast; her body seemed to melt into his.” It reminded me of way back in the abandoned Asda stairwell when I melted into her- semi-conflicted between love and lust. After the stairwell got closed off; I felt as though I had lost a part of me too. I even found another stairwell but I knew it wouldn't be the same. It would feel forced, like how I turned her into me so that we could face each other. Sure it wasn’t with the intention of making out but it wasn't thought through first- almost impulsively. In1984, a couple pages later, it speaks about the kisses turning hard; unlike the smooth, butter-like melt they were before. I can feel that. It’s almost vivid. I feel as though after the thing with Austin, everything kinda crashed. When [NAME] had red hair, it was almost like she was infatuated with me. When she dyed it back to normal, I felt as if I had lost that. I could be delusional but when she said she hated who she was with the red hair, it kinda stuck with me. Overall, It’s very on-off. One moment I find myself fantasizing about marriage; the next, I see myself breaking up with her on the horizon. But after that first DM on insta, I promised myself it wouldn’t be a repeat of everyone else, she wouldn’t be a lesson or a test, she would be the practical, the real fucking thing. The one who kept me up at night simply with the thought of her. Is it bad if I relate to WInston? Lost and conflicted within society and using writing and reading as a means of escape. It isn’t necessarily illegal but the stuff I write feels like it could be critiqued in a way that makes it resistant- pushing against the normal methods of writing. Actually, I despise Winston. He let temptation overcome him. Sure, his environment may have dictated him into fantasizing rape but I still think that shit’s inexcusable. He still thinks fondly of it afterwards when having sex as well. Orwell is so fucking good at writing though. How can someone write so vividly that I have to stop, think and reflect upon my life and experiences. I think I’ll show [NAME]this paper. I’m not 100% sure she’ll read it; my feelings tend to be insignificant to her. But if someone wrote something about me, I’d be ever-so-curious to find out their perspectives. I also find it quite funny how Winston blabbers on to Julia about death but she abruptly shuts him up. Maybe that’s why she wanted me to read it (I need to stop yapping about death in situations where it’s uncalled for). When I write this, it’s like I’m texting her but she isn’t texting back. Or it’s like when I say something drunk with the drowsiness of fatigue and she reads it in the morning and that shit doesn’t hit the same AT ALL. I still remember when she was in Nottingham and we called the entire night. A part of me hopes that next time she calls (if she even does) we will get back into the swing of things and we can rebuild that bond. But for it to happen, I need to take a step back and stop being so fucking high maintenance. I’m constantly writing. My head has an endless flowing dialogue of words waiting to be scribed but not all of them do. Sometimes it feels like i feel too much; I feel so much; so much so that it numbs me to feeling. I’m not sure if you can relate but it’s like bubble wrap almost. Pumped up with feeling, any other emotion bounces right off. Or like a mental paracetamol, that kind of numbness. When [NAME] said that paracetamol burns holes in your stomach; I guess that's why when I feel numb, the words pour right out. Mental paracetamol should be a coined term. I feel like Shakespeare when I say that. Actually, right now, I feel like I’m in a void, a medium almost. A confined corner; trapped by the constant sounds of expensive dress shoes slamming against the hallway floors. I hope she reads this. I hope anyone reads this. I am seeking attention even in solitary confinement. I guess it’s inevitable for “just another kid with ADHD''. I think I’d like to write a book for her. Not in a puppy love-esque way; instead to make something she can enjoy. I’d have to binge a fuck -tonne of feminist literature to make it work. I’d have to live, breathe and regurgitate Sylvia Plath just to make something enjoyable for her (I’m kidding of course). (Not really). I’ve written so much- this could probably count as a fucking book. I’m not sure where she would even find the time to read this. She’ll probably lump it alongside the Smint container (filled with poems for her) to read when we break up. I think perspective changes a lot about a book. It’s not entirely how a book is written; instead, it’s about how you approach it or how you are introduced to it. I’ve been very pessimistic and pushy-away-ey recently. Regardless, I won’t cross anything out unless it’s a typo. I think it indirectly shows progression of a character especially when it’s in the form of hypophora almost. I want to write the best book ever and then die and have no-one read it. I think that's more significant than writing a shitty book and campaigning and promoting and all this consumerist bullshit. If you were proud of your work, you wouldn’t promote it, you would let it find its reader. For me, I’d put it in those tiny bird box community libraries that no one uses. Therefore, if someone craved my work, they could find it in a place they wouldn't look for it. Not for my book to gather dust on a tall decorative bookshelf. This is a bit of a rant i know. SOmetimes I’ll yap and let the words flow instead of actively writing them. Writing words is the worst way to write. You need to apply emotion and let the words unravel themselves. At least, that’s how I write, critique it however the fuck you want. I was once told that my writing is like a conversation- you know the ones where the other person keeps blabbering and you can’t get a word in. I don’t read enough to know if it’s unique or not but I know why I do it. It’s like I’m conversing with myself. I might throw a name in there or add some direct address. This might be breaking the fourth wall a bit but i guess the entire nature of this essay is. I need to read over my writing one day- I hate to do it but I think I’d learn a lot about myself if i did so. My writing feels a little bit lost at sea. It’s very jumpy from one topic to the next- like scrolling on tiktok. Also, I think there's a mix of me searching for empathy via slight victimization and undertones of slight narcissism. I’m probably over analyzing but I like my writing. Me personally, i get lost in the labyrinth of the lines and curvature of the letters. Will i regret writing so much? I mean sure, I guess a part of me will live on forever in my writing. But, then again, it’s wasting my life. I’d like to live- living is not writing. Living is not reading. To live is to experience with every sense possible. If I see, I am not living. If i smell, I am not living. But, to hear, to smell, to feel, to see and to taste simultaneously is to live. When living isn’t enough, I can understand why people resort to reading and writing. It’s ever-so-simple. I wish I can see [NAME] soon though. I’ll wish for it at 22:22 if i have to. Or on a shooting star. Or maybe even on a stray eyelash. I miss you[NAME]. I was going to say “I crave you” but that’s too sexual and comes with a million connotations. Saying “I require you” is too formal and needy. I think I should stick to the usual. What if i didnt say “I miss you” but instead I said “I miss your warm and enveloping embrace.” Maybe then she would text back.
This is fucking delusion,
From yours truly,
Raffy

I'm rewatching the show for the umpteenth time, this time with my 13 yo son for whom it's the first. We're not English native speakers, but he's developed a pretty solid understanding for it in school and on the internet. He's digging the show and wants to watch an episode every day that he's at my place, but he also says he doesn't understand too much of the developments.
I was older than he was when I first saw the show (I turned 17 the year it started in Finland) and looking back, I must've missed out on a LOT. But of course, being a high school kid I probably understood a lot more than my son does. Looking back on a LOT of movies that I saw at his age, I don't think I understood much beyond "fun, explosions, hot!" And even in high school, I didn't really understand characters beyond "that guy's evil", "that Lt. Cmdr is funny and hot", "I wanna punch that guy in the face".
So, I grew interested: if you saw the show when you were young, how old were you and what was the experience like for you? And if you rewatched it later, what was that like?

This is not financial advice.
I just thought I would share recent news from the FFIE website.
FFIE needs to hold above a minimum bid requirement of $1 for another 7/8 days in order to have achieved a Nasdaq listing requirement as well as complete outstanding paperwork. These issues, if addressed, may go in its favour in the company's appealing against its delisting.
https://www.ff.com/us/press-room/FF-expects-to-receive-on-additional-180-day-extension-from-NASDAQ/
FFIE earnings date is 28th May, and details can be found via this link, which is in the news section of the FFIE website.
https://investors.ff.com/news-releases/
What I thought was interesting was this sentence. "These forward-looking statements, which include statements regarding the expected timing and implementation of the reverse split and the commencement of trading of the Company’s post-split common stock..."
The Company appears to be seeking a reverse stock split. Having done more research on what this means, there are several companies that have done this successfully, including Motorola, AIG, and Citigroup.
Shareholders would have fewer shares, but each would have an increased price. The value wouldn't have changed. Instead of 200 shares at $1, for example, it may be reverse split to 40 shares worth $5. Companies may do this if they are in financial difficulty. Which FFIE will agree they are. But this could also benefit the company in several ways, according to research (article linked below).

1. This could try and ensure the company stays above the $1 per share trading limit.
2. This may increase the visibility of the stock and encourage new investors.

Source https://www.cabotwealth.com/daily/stock-market/reverse-stock-splits-shareholders#:~:text=Reverse%20Splits%20Aren't%20All,%2C%20including%20Citigroup%20(C).
Furthermore the Biden administration has stated its ambition to impose a 100% import tax on Chinese EVs to protect the US industry. This could also benefit FFIE although as the quote below from the linked BBC article states, "Oxford Economics described the latest plans as "more symbolic bark than bite"."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-69004520.amp
However with FFIE having previously forged links with Geely and in Jan 2024 meeting a Chinese delegation (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/faraday-future-hosts-chinese-automotive-045400035.html) as stated in the article, ""Chinese supply chain enterprises are integral components of the global automotive industry, especially in the AI EV sector. With respect to establishing FF’s supply chain in China, these supply chain enterprises are poised to play a key role in building FF's dual-home strategy in China and the U.S., as well as potential expansion in the Middle East. FF, which is rooted in the United States, will also provide unique value to China and the global automotive industry chain," expressed YT Jia"

I have a lot going on in my mind, but i dont know what to say, or dont have the energy.
My anxiety and depression started to severly affect my life 10 years ago for the first time, when i was 19. I am 29 now, had a great job that I just quit with the excuse of physical health issues (spinal cord/nerve issue makinh it harder for me to sit), but i think what i am suffering with is my mind. Been diagnosed with ADHD 5 months ago. So I've been voluntarily jobless for 2 months now.
I wanted to take a break for myself and get better. I wanted to travel and learn new things. But, just a month before my last day at work, I texted my ex to check how he is doing. He has tried to contact me over the past 4 years, but since all his communication seemed accusatory, I thought i was protecting myself by avoiding him. This was my only relationship, we were together (long distance) for 4 years. He was inconsistent and dishonest from the get go. He would lie to me about going out with his female friends, would talk to them for hours and ignore me. He always called me crazy for misunderstanding friendship, but you dont hide it from your partner if there's nothing wrong in what you are doing. He was always harsh with me when i wanted to discuss that it hurts me. I used to text him in panic sometimes, because i didnt know who else to contact when i didnt understand what i was going through. I was feeling suicidal, consistent panic attacks, and a volatile relationship did not help. He was abusive on calls, and never respected me. He would force me to do things, and threaten to stop talking if I didnt do them. And whenever i tried to walk away, he would come back asking to patch up, but the same pattern continued.
As i was having a hard time keepinh myself alive due to my mental health issues, i couldnt take the disrespect anymore, and said i wanted to leave him. I think he thought i would never leave anyway, and provoked me to block him. So in a fit of panic, i blocked him. He owed me a lot of money, so that is the last rhing i asked him to return out of spite. Then he started sending texts that i am doing this to torture him, that i love him and that he didnt understand why i would do this. But i was so anxious all the time, i just couldnt deal with it anymore. The few times i did pick up the call, he would say things like "tell me your decision now or i will decide what i will do with my life" implyinh he would kill himself. I told him i can redirect him to resources that can help, but that i cant be in the relationship because i dont feel safe anymore. He was always very unstable and never ready to have a proper conversation. So everything he said seemed like emotional manipulation. But everytime i read the texts he sent, about how awful and hopeless he felt after i blocked, i feel like i monster. I cant help but feel guilty about the way i dealt with it.
I went to therapy later, also had a phase of self-care when i was lookinh forward to my future, and then fell back to hectic work. But have been feeling extremely anxious and hopeless since August last year - that is when i reached out for a diagnosis and got diagnosed with ADHD in January.
I dont know what made me want to contact him, but after an episode of panic attack in March, I just texted a 'how are you'. He responded well, and we had a normal chat about current worklife. Then 2 daya later, he called me and apologized for the way he treated me. He cried and opened up about his thought process behind everything, or what he rhought he was doing. This was the first time ever, that i felt like he opened up to me the way I craved. Then we talked for about 10 hours the two days, and he kept sending me good morning texts, and was worried about my physical health. He started giving me tips, and checking upon my exercise and schedule everyday. He called me everyday for the month, and even used to text me if he was going to be unavailable (he never did that when we were together). He asked me to meet multiple times, but i didnt agree to - until after 1.5 months have passed. By then, he had made many remarks about our relationship, reminiscing, when i didnt bring anything up. When we met, he held my hands multiple times, and even pulled me in for a hug (which i withdrew from) when he saw a note in my phone about my anxiety at night and also wondering about my love for him.
After I got home, i felt uneasy, and started the conversation to confirm where we are headed, and that i was starting to get attached to him again, so if this is just friendship, i cant do it anymore. He said he was just being a friend, and that triggered every bad memory i forgot about our relationship. Why would he be so kind, gentle and all things i craved for when we were together, call me everyday, hold my hands multiple times, and call it friendship? like i misunderstood? I sent a few frantic texts and he refuses to be honest and respond on why he behaved that way.
and maybe it's the free time without job, but i feel so depressed and powerless this time. i know its not the relationship that's making me suicidal. It's just my brain being frantic all the time, evern when there is nothing to stress about. i feel like i can go to the best beach in the world, and still feel anxious and breathless. I am seeking therapy again, but all thoughts i have are - i want to get things in order and actually kill myself. i fought the urge for 10 yeqrs, but i dont think i can anymore. i dont know what to do with my life.
and the funny thing is, i feel like i will feel better and want to live if he calls me everyday again. but i guess he doesnt care because i abandoned him years ago when he couldnt deal with the break up too, so i am the "cruel" one. he kept saying i only asked for the money back, which he still hasnt returned, but forgets about all the years i fought for him, for us. my parents are conservative, so it was even harder to hide this from them. why do i feel so powerless now, knowinh that he is actually capable of being better and somebody else is going to get that version? i know this is not rhe end of the world. but i feel like, due to my mental healrh issues, i am hyperfixating on this - hoping that getting some love will fix me. but no, it's always something wrong with me, i feel horrible for being rhis vulnerable and unstable. i kmow i can do better, i jave been there for everybody for years, but i just dont know what to do with myseld anymore. i wamt this pain to end.

I've just completed my re-read of all of Stormlight in anticipation of the WaT coming out later this year. To say I'm excited for the new book would be an understatement.
Throughout my time reading Sanderson's works (Stormlight first then Mistborn Era 1+2, then everything else), I had largely considered Rhythm to be the weakest of the Stormlight series, with rating being something like Oathbringer as a 9.5, WoK a 9, Words of Radiance 8, Rhythm 7.
On my re-read however my view of Rhythm improved markedly and several of the issues I had originally seemed to fall away:

1. Kaladin repeats his storyline from the first two books.
2. Navani's storyline with Raboniel felt like lore dumping instead of the slow trickle discovery that worked so well in the Way of Kings
3. Venli's flashbacks are so boring that Eshonai actually just takes them over.
4. Szeth straight up murdering Taravangian is just written off by Dalinar, etc.
5. Kal's big 4th ideal moment is so convoluted they need to bring in time-slowing, speaking across continents and is separated by so many other moments that it loses all tension of Kal falling after Lirin

1st: The first was my biggest complaint. I had always thought Kaladin just replays his arc from the first novels, but on re-read, he is actually learning to grow beyond his old coping mechanism: his men and Bridge 4. Needing to fight and protect them was the identity he created to deal with being enslaved and watching of his squad being murdered by Amaram, but he's growing past that now.
2nd: On re-read I really really appreciated the Navani-Raboniel relationship more and feel like I glossed over this too fast in my first read. Raboniel ends up being a great character and a very interesting looking at someone utterly desperate to escape the prison of a life she is placed in by this eternal war. Navani's appreciation for her near the end after ending her daughter's life and her scenes with Moash were after all.
3rd: Conversely, this one seemed to be an even stronger take than before. Venli's chapters really just felt insufferable to me. I realize her story is about the awful things that happen with a literal child being forced to be responsible for the survival of her people, but her storyline just doesn't feel believable, especially the scenes in Kholinar where she just does everyone's bidding while igniting a war that effectively dooms multiple nations.
4th: This one....really doesn't make sense to me. I hope this is something addressed in WaT, but Szeth walked into Taravangian's room and just murdered a prisoner. We the reader know that Taravangian escaped and took up the shard of Odium, so never actually died....but Dalinar in the Radiants legitimately thing he murdered an elderly prisoner in cold blood with no authorization or process of justice. Dalinar immediately sending him on a mission to Shinovar with Kaladin seems insane given these circumstances.
5th: On re-read I liked this scene much more than I did in my original read, but I feel like it was just overdone so much. Dalinar's forgiveness scene in Oathbringer I think was the perfect template for Kaladin falling through the storm. It would have been better for him as a character to overcome his unwillingness to say the Fourth Ideal on his own, but even if he needed Dalinar to help him, then it would have been better to keep his entire falling plot within a single chapter instead of chopping it up so much. The constant jump cuts really ruined the tension of his fall and his return.
That was really just a stream of consciousness on the books as I finished them, but a few theories I have:

1. Kaladin is re-walking the same paths that Tanavast walked long in the past. In WoKs Kaladin almost ends his life at the HONOR chasm, presumably where Honor was splintered. The Stormfather later tells Dalinar that Tanavast loved humans and died protecting them. My guess would be Tanavast made a promise to protect both the Singers and the Humans, and was torn apart trying to honor both of those promises much like Kal was during WoR trying to protect Elhokar while also agreeing to help his murderers. More on this right below.
2. In Mistborn era 1, we are continually led to believe Vin will be the Hero of Ages, but in the end Sazed takes up both shards to form Harmony. Scadrial at the time was plagued by so many environmental disasters that the person to take up the power of the shards needed to be wise enough to use the power to remake the world itself: a task that Vin would have been incredibly ill suited for. I think a story conclusion is very similar in Stormlight, the true problem Roshar faces is the cycle of eternal war that destroys the planet and its people of both Singer and human descent. The person to eventually take up Honor / Odium / Cultivation etc. must be someone who can legitimately bring an end to the war and find a way to peacefully coexist. Kal so far seems like the best example, Dalinar is intent on leading the Radiants as a military force to oppose Odium directly, while Kal has had significant time with the Singers and humans of every kind, and he sees them as no different from each other.
3. Odium's offer to Dalinar near the end of the book, where the contest of champions is hashed out seems to have some spoilers: Odium: "Though I will be able to focus my attentions on sending agents to the rest of the Cosmere, using what I've conquered here as enough for now." as an addendum to the terms Dalinar demands if he wins. In Mistborn Era 2 we see two groups that are agents of Odium (the Skybreakers and the Iriali) operating on Scadrial. This seems like it indicates that Dalianr will be victorious and Odium will focus on sending agents to other planets and systems.
4. Dalinar: "I intend to be my own champion, I'll have died if you win." Odium "Yesssss, you will have. And you will give your soul to me. You Dalinar will join the Fused. You will become immortal." Human Fused are confirmed then. Who do we know wanted to become immortal and was generally a huge asshole who caused most of these problems? Gavilar. My pet theory is Gavilar will be Odium's champion when it is revealed that Odium made him a Fused after Szeth killed him. Gavilar being Odium's champion is a great explanation for why we start every single book looking at Gavilar through a different perspective in the prologues and will be a great emotional moment for Dalinar to face off against Gavilar one final time. No one else seems like it will have the same emotional weight as Gavilar, bringing a random Fused we've never heard of to get stomped by Dalinar would be anti-climatic while Gavilar could be an excellent twist for the series with lots of pontential foresadowing left to us in the prologues.

Monster wall of text, but just tons of thoughts as I just finished the novels again yesterday.

Just a heads up if anyone sees any ads for really low priced but really nice cars from a guy claiming to be Jacob Sanchez from Wichita Falls TX don’t fall for his bs.
A good friend got suckered into a long distance transaction with this dude. Several meetings were set up including ones where he would deliver the car 150 miles away to my house. The car was a Blue Dodge Charger. Every single time there was an issue, he was no longer going to be at the meeting spot, etc. Ran out of gas several times and needed money. Engine blew up but he wanted money sent to buy the new engine, etc, etc.
Last time he was supposed to deliver it he requested cash because he didnt have enough gas to make it here. Supposedly left the car at a certain spot and went home. My buddy got a local wrecker company to go retreive it and 30 minutes after he supposedly left the car parked there was no car to be found. (What a surprise …...)
Im surprised my buddy fell for this. He wanted money via PayPal friends and family, tried to get gift cards bought instead of a reputable payment transaction, couldnt call him only text. Etc etc.
My first contact with this jerk I knew he was scamming but my buddy evidently let his desire for the car blind him. Hes lost $3000. So far no help from local police departments. He did get a picture of this guys license, and the phone number finally given him is for a non existent credit repair service in Enid, Oklahoma.
I think he just got a really expensive education on Facebook marketplace. I wish Facebook would kick off all these scammers and scam advertisers but they seem like they dont care. Is there anything else he can do in this case?

I sat in our dark bedroom, the computer screen glaring with a harsh, white light. A banner flashed before my eyes: “Seek wisdom by understanding yourself.”
“Chloe, check this out,” I called over my shoulder to my girlfriend playing The Sims on her laptop.
She glanced up, her brow furrowing in confusion before giving me a bemused look. “What the hell are you looking at?” she asked.
“It’s some cult,” I replied, unable to hide my fascination. “I fell down a rabbit hole and found this local place downtown. It's a derivative of Aleister Crowley and Golden Dawn bullshit.” I pointed to the Google Street View image of a dilapidated storefront in an ethnic shopping center.
She smirked, a hint of amusement in her eyes. “I never pegged you as the religious type.”
“Check this out,” I continued, clicking through the site. “They have some photos.”
We spent some time going through the albums celebrating various solstices. Most were taken in an odd room with black and white checkered floors, adorned with Egyptian pseudo-artifacts, bathed in the glow of red and purple lights that transformed the scene into a surreal dreamscape.
The people certainly had an alternative vibe. Tattoos were plentiful, but other than that they looked like they came from all different walks of life. Many of them looked like they had their fair share of bullying in high school - no shortage of that. But most of them looked relatively normal aside from the occasional piercing.
One photograph in particular caught my eye. A woman, sitting in a bright red room, sat on an altar, holding a staff in her right hand, wearing nothing. A man was kneeled before her, his arms tied behind him, rope anchored to the ceiling. They were sliding a knife down his back, a small trickle of blood dripping to the floor.
“Damn,” Chloe started. “She’s butt-ass naked.”
“You wanna go?” I asked. “They’re having a get together tonight.”
“You know what, fuck it. Why not? It’s not like we’re doing anything.” she replied.
“Good,” I smiled, standing up. “Because I already ordered an Uber.”
She sighed before opening a drawer and pulling out a small pipe. “I’ll go, but i'm not going sober.”
It was a cold, shitty Seattle winter night. We got dropped off in the parking lot and spent a few minutes looking for the storefront. We finally found it next to a dog groomer and Pho restaurant with some pun for the name I can’t seem to remember.
We entered the shop, which consisted of two narrow isles separated by wood shelves barely big enough for me to fit down. We spent some time looking at the various items, my attention diverting to a vial of elk blood. I remember wondering if they were even allowed to sell this without some type of medical certification they definitely did not have while Chloe shuffled through a bowl of mix and match crystals.
“Can I help you?” I heard a woman say from the back as she emerged from a beaded curtain. She was a short, overweight woman wearing what I could only describe as a sports bra and hula skirt.
“Hi, uh,” I stuttered. “I’m George and this is Chloe. We’re here for the… winter solstice celebration?”
“Oh, goodie! Newcomers!” she said with an out of place, overjoyed expression as she clapped her hands. Chloe and I laughed nervously.
“The door is in the back, but you can come through here just this time.” she said with a smile, arm holding the beaded curtain open.
We walked through a dark hallway, somehow more cramped than the shop, into a rather large room. A gaggle of people were huddled in the back, which Chloe and I quietly shuffled into.
A bearded man paraded around the room, white robes and red headdress cascading into a cloak, knuckles adorned with several large rings gripping a spear, held vertically in front of him. Behind him, another bald man, white robes and yellow cloak, followed behind, white sleeves crossed over his chest.
I glanced at Chloe’s bloodshot eyes, THC clearly flowing through her system. I gave her a knowing look, as if to say Having fun yet? She returned a slow smile.
Without warning, the entire crowd clapped their hands together over their heads as a woman in blue robes walked past, waving a censure leaking white smoke. We awkwardly followed to match the group.
The blue curtains on the back wall opened to reveal an older Asian woman sitting perched on the altar I saw in the photos, again, completely naked. And before you ask, no. She wasn’t attractive. It’s never the ones you hope it is. The red robed man kneeled down and softly kissed her knees.
I glanced back at Chloe. Her smile was so big I was afraid she was going to laugh at any moment. I pinched her on the side and whispered into her ear “Do. Not. Fucking. Laugh”. Honestly, I think I just made it worse. Her face turned beet red as she bit her cheeks.
The ritual went on for another half hour or so. They must’ve said “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” at least a dozen times.
We were getting kind of bored and were ready to leave before the woman in the blue robes wandered in with a caged chicken.
"No fucking way" I thought. Surely enough, the man in the yellow robes held the chicken high in the air, before slitting its throat and draining blood into a large metallic basin. The man winced as the chicken flailed violently, scratching up his arms, before eventually succumbing to blood loss.
One by one, each person there stood between a white and black pillar saying love and intention in Greek before eating a piece of something, taking a sip of blood, and saying “There is no part of me that is not of the Gods.”
Chloe and I hung back, and politely declined when our turn came. Once all was said and done, they busted out some alcohol and started celebrating. We slipped out into the street, bursting out laughing. After we finally collected ourselves, Chloe whipped out her phone and showed me she took dozens of pictures of the ritual.
We laughed our asses off the entire way home. First thing she did was open her laptop and post the pictures on Twitter, tagging the lodge with the caption “me and the boys chilling right now”.
We returned to the usual rhythm of our lives. I went to work, conducting meetings and answering emails, while Chloe went back to her classes. A few days later, Chloe checked her Twitter and saw that she had gained a few thousand likes. The whole ordeal became a running joke between us.
I would eat fruit snacks and sip on my soda, saying, “There is no part of me that is not of the Gods”. A few weeks later, we had mostly forgotten about it, except for the occasional recounting as a funny story to regale our friends.
One night while Chloe and I were spending our evening the usual way with me on the computer and her on her laptop, I felt her furiously tap my shoulder while staring wide eyed at the window. Confused, I took my headphones off and walked over, pulling back the curtain to reveal 6 people standing in black robes and animal masks watching us from the hillside.
“What do we do, should I call the cops?” Chloe whimpered.
“No, they’re just a bunch of larpers. They’re not going to do shit! Just trying to scare us.” I said angrily as I closed the blinds and hopped back on my computer.
Chloe sat there for a few minutes in a tense pose with her arms folded together. She went to double check the door was locked, before we continued our night as normal.
The next day I got a text from Chloe frantically telling me to come home immediately. When I arrived, there was a squad car parked outside our building. I ran up the stairs to see two officers standing by Chloe in the doorway. I nearly shouted asking what was going on. They lead me inside to show me a massive black symbol drawn on our wall, a six-pointed star made from one continuous line.
We finished our police report and they told us they’d get back to us if they find anything. I’ve been robbed often enough to know that means they’re going to forget about this before they’ve even gotten back into their squad car.
Furious, I stormed over to the shop and banged on the window. The hula skirt woman came over and cracked the door open just enough for me to see one of her eyes.
“What the fuck do you think your little posse is doing!?” I screamed at her. “Breaking into my apartment like that!? You all are fucking psychos!”
“I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about”, she said with a sly grin.
“Oh, yeah?” I said pointing a finger in her face. “If anyone tries any shit like that again I’m going to burn your goddamn shop to the ground, do you hear me?”
She looked at the ground, clearly nervous. I have never blown up at a stranger like this but I could tell my threats were working.
After a moment of silence I stormed off again, back towards home.
“You meddle with forces you do not understand!” she called out from the shop.
I picked up a glass bottle from the sidewalk and chucked it, smashing against her shop window, forcing her to close the door and disappear into the shadows. I’m not particularly proud of how I behaved in this moment, but unless you’ve had someone break into your home and draw shit on the walls, hold on to your judgment.
The next few days passed without so much as a peep from them. Chloe and I began to relax, convincing ourselves that the cult had been scared off. Life seemed to be returning to normal, and the unsettling incident became just another story.

Today’s one page challenge is for The City in the Clouds by J.B. Williams. Finally, a requested challenge, rather than the usual cycle of me finding a story and the person being triggered that I did so. At 234 pages and a whopping price tag of $20.99 for a paperback, it’s a wonder why it looks untouched. Flip some burgers for an hour to pay for this… whatever it is. I was told the editor is good, so let’s see how he gummed up the works.
The rules of the one page challenge are simple: I go through the first page of the book(about 300 words or 3 paragraphs) and say where the average reader would stop. These reviews are short, sweet, and to the point (unlike most of these books). The main things we look for are things like tension, a hint at the plot existing, good feng shui, a feeling like the blurb is accurate, a lack of obfuscation, and the story fulfilling its role as a story. As we go along, I’ll explain why readers love or hate certain elements and we’ll see what straws break the camel’s back.
The title, The City in the Clouds, makes me think of fantasy, but it’s meant to be sci-fi. Clouds symbolize knowledge beyond our reach or something like daydreaming, treated as water in air(mystery in knowledge). Saying the title this way makes it seem like the focus is the city itself, which would be cool if it was something like a dystopian or utopian story. Maybe a tech noir or detective story, but… it’s not. This story is actually about a woman, and it’s a comedy, completely conflicting with the genre in two ways.
I didn’t want to say this but Huston… we’re already having problems.
The ebook cover is a drawing of curly haired woman staring at the camera like she’s constipated, while the paperback version is of an anime girl holding a gun and looking like she has diarrhea. Both versions have her in a suit, with a giant gas planet behind her. Both have similar fonts for the title and name, but the ebook version is so blurred and darkened that it reads like a secret message; the physical version being slightly less blurry. If I saw this on a shelf, I wouldn’t recognize this as a book or know what it was called. I find it strange because the back of the book is very clear, given a blue box for clarity, and has a sun with a red sky that would have made more sense than these frumpy women.
I guess the title and name are made illegible because we’re supposed to zoom our eyes straight to the blurb:

Robin Alia Brook is considered a loser. She works at customer service for one of the largest companies in humanity's interstellar empire, gets stood up on dates, and accidentally kills people. Then when her ex-online boyfriend gives her the winning vacation lottery ticket to the famed habitat, The City of Clouds, she reluctantly accepts it.
Upon arrival, she is greeted by the massive, beautiful gas giant Bellona, and all the glamour and prospects of expansion for the famous habitat. And it is the beginning of a celebration, too! For the election of the new habitat captain! But the celebration and vacation are ruined when pirates attack, seeking the captain's riches.
They are ruthless, they are bloodthirsty, and they won't stop until they get what they want. Unfortunately for the pirates, Robin is really good at accidentally killing people, and with her is a rag tag team of a pilot recruit, an egotistical journalist, a veteran photographer, and the captain himself.
It will be a long battle for The City of Clouds, and the outcome is unknown, but one thing is certain... This is the worst vacation ever.

Slight grammar issues here and there, but most wouldn’t notice that “ex-online boyfriend” would mean the boyfriend was online and not anymore. The delivery is a little bouncy, almost appropriate, but doesn’t give much tone from how much info it tries to cram in. Something I noticed is that very little sci-fi is mentioned, with the only thing giving a sci-fi vibe being the idea of traveling to another planet. If this was a vacation to an island, very little would change from how it’s described. Like the title and name on the cover, a lot of what makes this book a book is hidden from us, in plain sight.
At this point, the average reader would probably not give it a shot, unless the idea of pirates and an ironic Die Hard premise is their cup of tea.
No prologue, no maps, no glossary, just a simple chapter 1 to greet us. Ok, I’m liking this already. I know this is a small thing, but the simplicity of just starting a story is a blessing that should be the norm, and isn’t. I haven’t read a single word and this is already the best OPC so far. Yes, it’s that easy.
Don’t ruin the experience with all your fancy try-hard nonsense and the reader will be in hog heaven.
We are told the planet, sector, system, and date. Very effective in establishing the sci-fi element in this single aside, which also lets us know it’s 400 years in the future. The planet is named Andromeda, which is a well known galaxy, so if this is in that galaxy, I assume it’s going for a “New York, New York” type of gag. The editor did a good job, with the first page establishing a scene in a restaurant. What he messed up on was… everything that’s not the scene itself, which makes up 90% of the words.
The protagonist, Robin Alia Brook has her day off described as “shot in the face”, being delivered in present tense and this has it come out awkwardly. I say this because the second sentence is past tense, then it shifts back to present, back to past. This is why people stick with past tense to avoid the headache, and present tense is now used as a hipster novelty to act as if things are more important because they’re happening as they’re written. Most readers just find it as a distraction and it causes something niche to become more niche in the process. The first paragraph ends with us being told that she’s in a restaurant that is 500 feet under the sea, of a planet called Andromeda.
She is to be dining, but she is NOT dining because her date didn’t show. Cue the audience gasping, because this is a travesty. The part that really kills this opening is the sentence “She is currently obtaining nutrients through Poseidon's generous supply of free lemons water and cheesy garlic biscuits.” This was the perfect chance for worldbuilding, to express something futuristic and fresh. Instead, it tied itself to Earth, talked about mundane food like lemon water, and it didn’t use any of these for a punchline.
This is meant to be a comedy, but is absent of comedy. We don’t need a bunch of humor in the first paragraph, but we do expect a comedy to present a tone that can lead to humor occurring. Every scene for a comedy is a setup for gags and punchlines. Much like horror, the scene is built around the mood, which is brought to a peak around half way. The introduction of a comedy book is going to hold a joke in relation to the entire book.
I believe the blurb when it says this Robin character can kill things by accident, because this book dies right after she’s introduced, around the second paragraph. The third paragraph changes the subject to be about other people in the restaurant, acting as a distraction that leads to infodumps of Robin’s outfit and such. I understand that the “joke” is that this woman is stood up on her date and we are to feel her anguish, but the reader shouldn’t be suffering through the opening this soon. Starting here is either far too late or far too soon. If anything, this is something I expect in chapter 2 or something we hear about as she’s on her way to Bellona.
A good way to put it is that this scene is a non-sequitur done in order to give fashion statements, with the important exposition ignored for window dressing.
The average reader needs tension to get sunk into a sci-fi story, because this is a planet we don’t know about with a character we’ve never seen before. What is the point of having this restaurant so deep underwater? There is a city underwater? She has a job, but where does she work? At the Krusty Krab?
Non-sequitur is a distraction that removes us from the scene and the plot to explain things that don’t serve a purpose to either. If I changed the first sentence to only hold what was part of the scene, it would be the characters name and nothing more. To strengthen an opening like this, we would have to set it up for a punchline, reinforce the sardonic tone, and tie the scene with the situation. The first sentence would go like:

Five hundred feet below the sea’s surface, Robin could not stop drinking.

This will give the impression that she’s getting drunk, while attaching her drinking to the sea outside, giving the impression that she’s drowning. But even then, I wouldn’t start here, I would begin with a comedic amount of assurance that she’s going to have her date show up, then the next scene is her waiting with this. That, or I would have her doing the walk of shame, allowing the plot to begin sooner when she gets her golden ticket, which would be like:

The ocean floor outside was slowly swallowed by darkness as the elevator pod took Robin away from Poseidon.

Here, we have a moment for her to think back to the situation, and the word “darkness” gives hint to her current feeling about the restaurant. This is a setup for the punchline that follows, already skipping the failed date and able to move forward to the poster she sees in the elevator. Movies tend to do this type of exposition with the main character telling the situation to another person, who is helpless to escape. That can add more humor and make the main character express their personality quirks. The goal is for less opening to be used up for non-sequitur and to focus it on moving forward in relation to the plot.
For a story like this, the rejection comes from a lack of being straightforward. We can always fix up a sentence and how it sounds, but this doesn’t mean much when the bones are disjointed. Thankfully, for this one, a lot of readers are used to openings like this from online serials, so there is hope that a lot of it will get a pass. It’s that first hump that it has to get over in order to shine. Sadly, for little Robin, that hump was not achieved, so her journey through the city in the cloud might as well not exist.