Episode 1: Oh god no, my marijuana patch! (Farmer)
Episode 2:We here at team four star do not condone child violence. We do however find it hilarious.(Kaiser)
Episode 3: Mahogany! (King Yemma)
Episode 4: Alright Maggots listen up! Popo's 'bout to teach you the pecking order. It goes you, the dirt, the worms inside of the dirt, Popo's stool, Kami, then Popo. (Popo)
Episode 5: DODGE! (Piccolo)
Episode 6: I’ll tell you where they’re not, safe! (Popo)
Episode 7: I’m not a Pokémon! I’m Chiaotzu! CHIAOTZU! (Chiaotzu)
Episode 8: “Vegeta! I can fly” (Nappa)
Episode 9: "9 minutes and 18 seconds" (Vegeta)
Episode 10: “What’s the opposite of Christopher Walken? CHRISTOPHER REEVES!" (Vegeta)
Episode 11: “Yep, this baby gets 10,000 miles to the soul.” (Popo)
Episode 12: "No! What are you:stupid? We are doctors, scientists! Now inject this man with some SCIENCE! Delicious, magical SCIENCE!" (Some Freeza Grunt)
Episode 13: "Could you speak up? I'm not wearing any pants" (Roshi)
Episode 14: "QUACK!" (The Space-Duck)
Episode 15: "Muffin Button" (Goku)
Episode 16: Face down with another man beating your ass. Is it Wednesday already, Zarbon? (Vegeta)
Episode 17: I'm coming Zarbon! Quick, grab my balls!
Episode 18: " I don't know. Maybe you could've bitched at him, how 'bout that? That's all you appear to be good for these days. Huh? Used your bitch-fu on him? Bulma the mistress of bitching, that's what they should call you. Seriously, five ancient sages of bitchdom all gathered together one day on the peaks of Mount Bitch to proclaim your birth. And a hundred years later, when all the bitch stars had aligned, you were born and made everybody's life around you a living hell because you are such a bitch!" (Krillin)
Episode 19: "Son of a gum-chewing funk-monster! Why the fruit does all this funny stuff happen to me?! Forget my life! Always surrounded by miserable failing clods! Like this whole world just likes to *bend* me over and FIND ME IN THE ALPS! Like I'm some sort of shlock receptacle! Well as far as I care, these miserable cows can have a fancy barbecue with a goddamn pig!!" (Vegeta)
Episode 20: "BECAUSE THE NAME'S RECCOOME! IT RHYMES WITH DOOM! AND YOU'RRRRRE GONNA BE HURTING ALL TOO SOON!!! (Reccoome)
Episode 21: I can't believe we came all the way out here and spent a week in the Space Boonies for nothing! Seriously, I'm surprised we didn't hear banjos on the way, because everyone is inbred and LOOKS THE F***ING SAME! Not to mention I lost Dodoria and Zarbon, the latter of whom spent 400 credits making long-distance calls to his girlfriend, WHO I AM CONVINCED IS NAMED CHUCK! (Freeza)
Episode 22: Did you tell him to work the shaft? (Super Kami Guru)
Episode 23: This is easily the 2nd worse hole I’ve ever had in my chest. It’s gonna take like, a million mommy kisses to make it better. (Goku).
Episode 24: "Oh ho ho ho no, don't mind me. By all means, g̶̢͘í̸͖̈̕͝v̶̢̹͠ͅe̸̮͆̋̽ ̷͙͔͙̲̏͛ḿ̸̨̲̦̤͒͑ẹ̴̜͚̰̉̂ ̵̩͈͍̯̠́͂s̷̝͓͍̑o̷̢̲͙̅̍̐̔͠m̷͔̂e̸̪͊̂̐̕͠ͅ ̵̛̱̣̣̱̎̅i̶̍̒͂ͅd̶̡̲̟̔̉̏ȩ̸̙̭̺̑̊̃͠ä̸̧̱́̅s̴̙͚̯̯̩̾." (Freeza)
Episode 25: "Oh good. I'll stop by there on the way home. Pick up some space eggs, some space milk, and BLOW IT THE F*** UP! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm usually far more composed. I'm just a little bit A B S O L U T E L Y L I V I D." (Freeza)
Episode 26: “That’s right, I’m your White Mage, & Nobody fucks with the White Mage” (Little Green)
Episode 27: " Imma deck ya in the schnozz!" (Goku)
Episode 28: “Good Lord I traded Vegeta for this” (Freeza)
Episode 29: Oh, come now. If I'm really as evil as you say I am, then let God strike me down where I stand. *lightning zaps* HA! Nice try, jackass! Next time, give it your A-game! (Freeza),
Episode 30: “I am the hope of the omniverse! I am the light bulb in the darkness! I am the bacon in the fridge for all the living things that cry out in hunger! I am the Alpha and the Amiga! I am the terror that flaps in the night! (starts powering up) I am Son Gokū! and I am a Super (Death beam to forehead) Saiyan” (Goku)
Episode 31: "Why aren't you upstairs sleeping with your girlfriend like everyone else?" (Turtle)
Episode 32: "Gohan when you've had a man inside of you; you know when he's coming." (Krillin)
Episode 33: "Oh a momma's boy huh? I'll be your mommy" (Bulma)

First of all, let me clear out a few things.

• I'm not a stan of any contestant and I'll try not to have a bias towards anyone while i post this.
• I'm not criticising anyone for their looks or weakness but mostly for their hypocritical actions & words which is negatively impacting the show and majorly spoiling the vibes.
• I know this is gonna be long, i might miss out a few points which you can add in comments , so please bear with me.
• Mods, I'm not breaking any rules or abusing anyone here. Just stating my observations.
• I'll state the good points too which i like about everybody. The negatives & the positives keep changing with every epsisode. So this is limited to what is up so far.
• I'll keep the content limited to what i see in episodes as i don't follow the recent insta controversies much.

Siwet : - Avoids situations & conversations and try to divert any actual blames with some past stories or fake sympathies. - Always up for fighting people in dome and get aggressive which is sooo overdone. - Let Anica speak ffs! - Call yourself a "performer" only when you actually perform ! - "Addy tune baakiyo ko pitch ki toh tujhe nahi liya" Wtf bro ?

• He tries to respect bonds, goes on a limb to save Aniket & Ayushman as much as he could. Did addy dirty a couple of times though.
• Although everybody plans and plots, but plays game on face more than other contestants rather than hiding behind.

Anica : - Stop victimising yourself so much that your emotions start looking washed out. - Grow out of the dependant personality. - "Brooo" and the 🤌🏻🤌🏻 are irritating af.

• Haven't fucked up any task as such.
• She doesn't bitch any wrong things about Lakshay and tries to maintain good relations which i find nice.

Digvijay : - Stop with the hypocrisy! "Mai toh bolunga beech me" & "mere beech me mat bol" is plane stupid. - Although all ex-roadies & TRP contestants are getting majorly favoured, but his looks very clear with the out of nowhere saves & unfair ideal match contender when he was literally standing unsafe. - Stop using your friends (nayera to save, then demotivating her for dome which was logically right but could have been said subtly) (Gullu to write his name and then dumping her) (Akriti to save him and not sending her to den which i really loved tho XD ) - However true it maybe as well know, but calling out Prince to de-justify any other's spot was just purely out of jealousy and spite when he literally tried to do the same in roadies and outside.

• Plays game straight forward out of all the others. No behind the back bullshit.
• Beast performer
• Good at logics and strategies (asking Nayera not to go to the dome which almost eliminated Sachin if not for the twist) ik i contradicted myself but he could have talked it out better.
• Never said anything wrong about his ex.

Unnati : - although almost all the couples are fake and were pre-planned but having a bf outside and still coming to the show is a big NO NO ! - stop being so insecure dragging ishita in everything needs to stop when digvijay & ishita are literally showing no affections to each other (although i get the emotions & bringing exes was the whole point of this but still) - Crybaby over having no friends what?!

• Chose a good partner is all i can say lol.

Addy : - STOP flexing your steroids , losing temper every two seconds. - Grow a spine, "mai kabhi task nahi karunga iske saath" to "meri marzi mai jo karu"

• Might turn out to be a good performer in strength based task, haven't had any yet.
• Having survived so far and would survive further which is expected despite being all this stupidity, I'll count as a plus idk xD

Kashish : - Stop being so horny all the time ffs, it's soo cringe. - This fake sophisticated queen aura needs to be stopped.

• Doesn't fear to call out people . Be it akriti , yuvraj or even his own connection sometimes.
• Good performer so far.
• vamp vibes me likey.

Lakshay : - Same as unnati, having a gf and coming to the show is a NO NO for me. - Again like addy, stop making diggy papa and grow a spine. (Asking for chances to save and then giving them to diggy taking others for a fool) - However bitter your past relation maybe, but don't let Diggy disrespect your ex infront of you or everyone when you say you respect her. - Speak more bruh.

• Most well mannered among any other guy. Calm minded, lets people speak to the point of literally getting walked over.
• Haven't spoke shit about any people in the game.
• Supports his friends.

Ruru : - Unneccessary baseless shouting in last dome was such a turn off exactly like Divyansh.

• Tough mentality.
• Nice vibes , cute.

Sachin : - Literally a dumb character, lost half of the times, fucks up tasks . - cries more than needed ( he was done dirty in the court room tho) - Confused with connections and goes for the ones which makes no sense ( like deekila who was already messed up with aniket & even the personalities are so poles apart) . good that he finally paired up now. - Either defend your connection or just call her out for her fuckup, don't try to play both sides. (court room digvijay i love you drama)

• Genuine overall. Tries to maintain good relations with everyone and does less groupism than other people.
• Sweet & gonna rock in dance & entertainment & town-market wale tasks (if there any) probably.

Akriti : - Most cringe contestant of the whole show. - Majorly favoured by the show be it ideal match or screentime or VDs. - Crybaby max. Cry over sachin, cry over diggy allegations, cry over not being able to go to Loveden, cry over people calling her put and i can go on. - stop speaking in between everybody ffs. (she does it way far more than siwet & diggy) - Stop acting like a queen ffs it's so cringe. - stop with your "Maine aapko favour kiya aap mujhe favour lautao" . mat karo bhai favour fir . - Acts like a mastermind by saving diggy and then crying about it and bringing it up everytime.

• favours friends which is good in splitsvilla ig? (throwing hearts wala task where everybody was trying to show themselves neutral just for screen)
• understands vote in , vote outs and numbers game a little better.

Jashwant : - Stop with haan-ji, correct , ekdum sahi, bilkul, agreed and have your own opinions. - Stop with the cringe romantic one liners . - Speak more bruh (but speak sensible) and speak for yourself. You're not your partners' ambassador.

• Good genes lol
• Laidback, chill.

Nayera : - Stop milking your 2 day fling for such drama and sympathy (although it was need of the show and she finally got over it but still) - Stop crying and showing how you got hurt & ruined and then call it chewing gum and stuff. double standards.

• Goes out on a limb for friends. Values relations over playing double sides.
• Beast performer.

Harsh : - Most cringe contestant after Akriti. Stop with this King-Queen bullshit. - Stop acting like you're playing neutral when you're actually playing both sides (dono side jaake chugli karna) - Stop hyping up yourself as morally correct using feminism and fairness. (court room , tasks and dome votes)

• Somehow gets the best girls wtf

Rushali : - What a poor choice of guy lol - Elegant. Well behaved. Carries herself well. Dresses beautifully and talks graciously.
Shobhika - Again, having a bf and coming to the show ? NOPE. - Cried when called out by yuvraj and legit ran away from the set? - Does nothing and is basically female ayushman lol.

• somehow has the best friends to save her everytime.
• chill, laidback, cute .

Ishita : - Going and fighting to stand between Diggy and unnati in ex-isle was so weird to watch (although she was been told by uorfi)

• Nice personality overall. always respects diggy and never bitches about him.

Yuvraj : - Does he really understand the concept of the show? You have to make a connection to move forward lol.

• Dresses cool. Genuine and great personality and styling sense.
• Most chill and laidback (after lord Rigden ofcourse)

Adit : - Please grow a spine and stop having a herd mentality. - not fit for the politics and the dirties of the show.

• Great vibes, pretty chill, funny.

Khanak: - Stop following the herd mentality again. - Despite even knowing the other connections are fake and theirs are genuine, it somehow seems faker than the others?

• Carries herself well.
• Gives proper sophisticated NRI vibes (unlike kashish & shobhika. idk if they're for sure)

Ameha : - Idk. speak more? hide less. - Cutest of all. Dresses and carries herself well. - Most bearable nepali contestant amongst all. (it has nothing to do with race. it just how she carries herself better than the rest)
Devakaran : - speak more , hide less in crowd maybe ? - Old school gentlemen vibes.
Arbaaz : - Being married and coming to the show? NOPEEEE. - Romance is so dead and fake . cringe.

• No drama . Speaks as much needed and somehow still not hides in the crowd and have a more opinionated stand than adit & devkaran.

Aniket : - Major toxicity alert! Messed up relationship, mean vibes and much controlling. - Maintains calm even when provoked . Tries not to involve people in his messed up connection (his fuckups actually) .
Deekila : - Dependant personality pro max. - Irritating to the ears once she starts shouting. - Forgiving aniket after whatver was revealed to us is the only truth takes heart and if she takes step to fix it , it's heartening to see. (although it's toxic and wrong but still)
Lastly, i feel like this calling out was much needed. Akriti hate on this sub is justified, Digvijay worshipping is going too much and needs to be called out for his hypocrisy but i think is this sub is filled with his insta supporters now, dewangini-divyansh stupidity was needed to be called out for, ayushman and rigden hype is a yesss, nayera is underrated and siwet turns his unneccessary hate into completely neccessary with each episode and instagram oustide the show . Sorry, not sorry. Feel free to add any if i missed or you don't agree to.

Lol, I thought this would be funny to write about as a first silly little post as it is the most interesting thing in my life. (Don’t mind any typos)
First of all, to anyone who wants to tell me to stop or get over it or give me any valid reasonable and rational advice,I will not listen so don’t bother.
As these stories go, I 15(f) in love with English teacher 26(f). I’m obsessed with her, and have been for almost msot 2 years, it would have been longer if she had come into my life sooner.
I’m not a love at first sight person, so it took a while for it to come about. And iv always had problems with getting violently obsessed with things, I believe it’s some kind of coping mechanism, you know? If I don’t have something to live for then I fall in love with something, subconsciously of course. First it was cartoon characters then celebrity’s and the for the first time a real person who I know in real life! (Except she’s my teacher and she’s 26) but also the first woman iv ever fallen for (iv always known Im pan so it wasn’t a shock really). I think another HUGE reason I love her is because I don’t have a mother, she was abusive, druggy, alcoholic yadi-yadi-yada, and so I don’t live with her and I don’t like her and she isn’t there for me, and so I meet a kind female adult who I look up to? Obviously I get attached and I see her as a mother figure. I really do, I want to be just like her, I want to make her proud, I seek her validation, i want to fuck her. You know, regular motherly things!
The first day I met her, first day of year 10. From the second she walked into the class I felt her energy and her vibes and I had that feeling where you instantly like someone and want to be friends with them and think they are super cool. Now, she is not hot, like Obviously to me me right now in this moment she’s the most beautiful and pretty person iv ever seen she’s so cute and hot and all that, but Obviously that’s because I’m obsessed with her everything about her is great, but she’s the kind of ugly that when she first walked into the class people snickered.
She has a rash on her chin, a noticeable moustache, she looks at least 30 despite being much younger, her eyes are creepy looking and small, her skin is really red and dry and way too textured, she does weird ugly facial expressions, she has a big nose, her hair is never brushed and always greasy, she has really small eyelashes blah blah blah.. (she obviously has some really nice features as well, but I’m trying to prove i don’t like her for her looks)
Now In her defence I think they were laughing because she has the hugest ass iv seen in my entire life, not cuz of her face. (She wears really tight leggings everyday) But, she is overweight and a lot of people bring her down cuz of it but that has nothing to do with any of it for me obviously, and I obviously didn’t laugh when she walked in.
The point is, I instantly liked her and her personality, she has that school mum vibe, she’s witty she’s confident she’s loud, she’s funny, she’s so weird (like she does and says the weirdest stuff, she’ll start dancing out of no where with no warning, she shortens words all the time and then says them three times like: “fab fab fab” she has just the weirdest tendencies and mannerisms it’s insane), shes always so exited and jolly, she’s like a ball of sunshine yet at the same time she’s so sassy and passive aggressive, when I’m older I wanna be just like her you know!
And that’s how I felt for a long time, I would just enjoy her lessons because of the energy and vibes she’d bring! She makes everything so much fun just by being there, she’s also a drama teacher so she’s great at getting a crowd going and stuff. But it seemed no one else liked her, they either fat shamed her, or said she was a bitch, or found her annoying.
They aren’t wrong she is all of those things, but she’s only a bitch to you if you don’t respect her and then she’s passive aggressive and makes your time in her class hell, and as her favourite student who kissed her ass everyday it was fun for me to watch people get roasted by her and never have to worry about it. She is annoying to a lot of people because she hypes everyone up, and she’s loud and obnoxious and confident, she laughs at her own jokes and she’s giggly and she does stupid accents, she’s the walking talking definition of “QUIRKY” and so 15 year olds find her incredibly cringey and jarring. But as an immature individual my self I found her energy like something I have never seen anyone have so i from the first day thought she was my favourite teacher ever!
I often take the role of like comic relief when it comes to my friends so I often make the joke myself, and once I felt this admiration for my English teacher, and this giddy happy feeling in me when I saw her, I thought it would be a great idea to pretend/ hint to having a crush on her to my friends as a joke so they can make fun of me. It was small things like “oh my english teacher! … oh.. I liiiiikkkee herrrrrrrr~!” Id day when people mention her, no one caught onto the joke for a couple months until one day, after a holiday I had dyed my hair and she walked past me and she complimented it, I thanked her and INSTANTLY MY HEART WAS POUNDING AND I GOT ALL GIGGLING, my friend was next to me and found it funny obviously. And then the more I went to her lessons I couldn’t stop getting all sweaty and nervous around her, and every time she’d do something cute, like squeal when she’s frustrated and make weird noises or do a fake accent, or tell a joke I’d feel so unbelievably happy, and I couldn’t stop talking and thinking about her, but Eveytime I’d think about her or look at her id get a huge ick of like.. but ewww she’s so not hot! I can NOT be in love with THAT.
By summer I was still feeling this Same way, one day she wore a dress and like the dopey idiot she is, she lifted her leg and from where I sat I saw her panties. I WAS DISGUSTED, and looked away. And then looked back.. but then looked away.. and then looked back.. and then looked away.. (and did it a couple more times) but I felt sick in my stomach the whole time! It was not a hot thing at the time.
Then the year ends and it’s the summer holiday, (now up until this point I was quite caught up with my David walliams obsession. yes the 56 year old.. and so I didn’t really care about her all that much. On the first day back, before school started I went to a birthday party and I saw her walking outside of the school, when I saw her my heat was beating so fast, i hadn’t seen her in 6 weeks and I was not expecting to see her then, I said hi to her and i couldn’t stop thinking about that moment so intensely, and every thought I had about her being ugly didn’t matter to me, it’s not like I forgot about it, I know what she looks like, but I just think everything about her is so beautiful, it’s part of her and so its perfect.
That feeling got worse and worse as the year went by, every time i see her I shake, i sweat, I have panic attack like symptoms, but I feel so happy, like manic, I am overwhelmed, I want to punch things, I want to scream.
Then we get to the part where to silence this obsession I did regrettable and wierd things that she will never know about, some of the despicable things iv done in “the name of love” for her include:
Eating her hair Licking her spit of the table Kissing her chair when she leaves the room Following her around school Drawing her Writing poems about her Writing songs about her Making edits of her Taking photos of her Recording her voice when she talks to me Stealing her trash Licking her pens Making AI chat bots with her personality Making a bingo game about her (that one is just funny, and all my friends played it too, during her lessons lol)
And many other things I won’t mention. Obviously I’m not proud of any of this, and I didn’t really need to do it, some of it I did “as a joke” for my friends, some of them I did just because I could.. but the recording her voice one is essential! Anytime we’d have a heart felt convo I’d record it so I can listen to it if I ever loose the will to live (surprisingly frequently).
Now our relationship as student and teacher was/is very good.
We’ve had some lovely moments, she told me she cared about me outside of the classroom.
A personal favourite of mine: One time she was marking my work and it was just us in the classroom and I rested my head on her shoulder as she was going through it with me, and she looked down at me and she smiled and then we stayed like that for ages while she marked my work.
All my friends said I was delusional and that she probably hates me, but she has a huge ego and i believe she likes to keep me around to give it a boost every now and then.
I wore a matching outfit with her once (on accident) and she was very happy about it
Anytime I’d ask her what I can do to improve my grade she’s say to me “oh no! But you’re doing really well! I thought you did great!”
She’d never get mad at me or shout at me for anything, if we are doing a one between two activity she’d give me the only extra sheet in the class
I asked her to sit at the front to her because I “concentrate better at the front” (i only asked cuz i wanted to sit closer to her) she gave me a sly smirk and then the next lesson she moved me to the back of the class, and also moved her self to the back of the class.
We took a selfie together and the whole time she was giggling, I gave her a Christmas card, she lets me follow her around the school, she gave my friends dirty looks when they were being mean to me
I sent her stupid emails of pictures of capybaras (it was an inside joke between us) and she responded with a way to enthusiastic response for such a simple image lol!
I sand “you belong with me” by TS and she stood in the crown and when it got to the “you belong with me” bit I pointed at her and she pointed back! Singing the words back to me
Oh, and let us not forget the amount of eye contact. I never look people in the eye, one of my first exes I barely ever looked into their eyes all the time I knew them, I just suck at eye contact. Until I met her, since I’m so insecure about her forgetting me or loosing me or something I often stare at her when she’s teaching to make sure that she doesn’t forget me. And some how in the last couple of months she stares at me as well.
Anytime she tells a joke she looks straight at me to see how I respond (always with giggles even when it’s the lamest thing iv ever heard. It’s often not funny at all.) and the entire time shes teaching the lessons I will stare at her. IN HER EYES. Like, I’ll often smile calmly, but if she hasn’t looked at me in like 4 minutes then I’ll stare deeper, but she usually looks into my eyes and hold it for a while sometimes she’ll even smile at me and then stutter and forget what she’s saying before looking away and continuing. She’ll stare deeply into my eyes, throughout the lesson, and I also always catch her looking at me first.
Once she was helping me with my work, she got really close to me, and she stared into my eyes and then I see her getting small glances at my lips (with this one I may be a little delusional) she leaned in and she kept getting confused. Like, she yaps a lot, and a lot very loudly. So it was odd for her to be standing there her arm touching mine talking to me and being like “…. Um-.. heh-.. where was i..” and she flicks through my paper and then looks back at me and goes silent and then swallows and then looks down and then flips through it again and then says something small and short followed by more silence.
I also have a theory shes on drugs, for many reasons but one time I needed her to take a photo of my book, and she was acting so weird, tired but like really like dizzy and loopy and breathless. And she went to take a photo of my book, and got behind me and she leaned into my book, and I felt her heavy loud breath on my neck as her stray hairs were tickling the side of my face and her shoulder was touching my back, she she just stood there and stared at my book for ages until i was like “um so.. you can.. take a photo or something..” and then she slowly did it hahahaha!
Obviously it’s now exam time and so school is basically over and I have no more lessons, so I didn’t go into depth about how much she means to me as a person but to sum it up into one sentence; I would want to seriously kill my self with out her in my life.
And so the thing I had been fearing for so long, the last English lesson, the last time seeing my dear beloved. Well obviously it’s life or death so I have to tell her how I feel and get her to stay in contact with me.
The last lesson ends I go up to her after a morning of: pissing my self, shitting my self, throwing up in my mouth, constantly putting on perfume, checking my hair and chewing the mintiest of gums. And I start my speech, I won’t go into it but I told her how I felt about her (minus the being in love bit I played it off as platonic duh, im not fully stupid).
I told her that she means so much to me, and she’s (one of) my favourite people in the world (that’s a white lie she’s my only favourite) I can’t go on with out her, I need her, iv felt this way since the first lesson, your so fun, you mean so much to me! I cant loose you, I don’t know what I would do with out you!!!!
I cried in her arms as she hugged me! And i didnt even need to ask she suggested we could stay in contact, in-fact all i had said was “I’ll miss you so much :(“ and she already suggested we stay in contact, but Obviosuly I still did the whole speech cuz at some point she needed to know. Her response was basically that she already knew, but she was very pleased to hear it, and everything is going to be perfectly okay.
She said we can stay in contact (through email, cuz apparently there is a “legal thing unfortunately” stopping her from giving me her number (yes I did ask for her number, but in a total no homo way.)
She said I can talk to her anytime about anything as much as I like, and that’s good enough for me!
I also gave her a drawing I did of her and me together which was cute, her response to that was “oh very cool! she walks over. she takes it in her hands, very excited to see it. This really throws her confidence off, she’s really not expecting this. OH THIS IS AMAIZING! her voice cracks THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! this is lovely! thank you, this is soo good! oh-muh-gud it’s SO good! oww I love it! thank you.. I’m wearing the same top as well, how fun~.. HOW FUN!!!! how fun!! … she takes it and puts it in her bag i will prop this up, on my desk! wicked wicked awesome!” (I recorded her reaction so that’s how you know it’s word for word)
In conclusion, im creepily obsessed and its a problem, but I don’t really regret anything cuz it’s all gotten me to this point where I can talk to her when ever I want and that’s all I could ever ask her. Yes I want to fuck her, but that’s not important to me I just need her in my life, she’s my world she’s my reason of living, and I’m so happy things are this way! I’m doing my exams now so I get to see her everyday when I come into school (by see her I mean wait outside the staff room so I can catch a glimpse of her knee). I’m also glad I’m not in her lessons anymore cuz I’d always get so twitchy around her, anytime she’d be near me and I’d be trying my best not to lunge at her, when I see her my mouth waters I just wanna grab her and kiss her all over! Eeek! She’s adorableeeee!
I love herrrrr ❤️❤️❤️

(Posted this on the main series sub, posting it here too now that I know this sub exists.)
Excuse me, but why are there so few fanfics where Izuku has a mutant type quirk ? I mean most fanfics I've seen where he has a quirk just give him an emitter quirk or sometimes a transformation quirk that is related to a crossover. Not to mentiom they try to get so complicated and make the power so flexible for no reason.
So here's my totally genius idea : Big Chimp Midoriya Izuku.
That's right, he inherits Hisashi's chimpanzee mutant type quirk and goes apeshit (pun intended but not really at first but then I realized it's a pun so yeah.) Now this could be executed in different ways, it could be him being born with the mutation and growing up violent enough to put Katsuki to shame, or he could be quirkless until a certain point in the story where he then goes through an extremely painful and graphic transformation.
I'm talking teeth falling out forcefully and being replaced by a new set, full on panic attack, gums deforming to push forward, excess bodily hair, hormones going wild, instincts changing his mindset and things of that nature.
Mood swings, acting out of character, arguments breaking out between him and his mom because she's scared of the change that she can only watch, while he's just happy to finally have a quirk, even if in the end it'll make him more hated and discriminated against than if he just remained quirkless his entire life.
I don't hate Midoriya Izuku, I just have too many fanfictions I've written in docs about him having actually interesting quirks that aren't that flashy which instead leaves more place to focus on him as a human rather than him as a hero student or a fighter.
Tw: mention and description of gore
(Now obviously there's some mild gore but to not make this feel like a crack fic I feel like it should be to an extent. Like, rip someone's jaw off, gouge out eyes, mauling, wailing on somebody, grappling, ripping genitals, cannibalism? Yeah sure ! Somehow turning people into clouds of red mist, ripping people apart out of nowhere ?(valid if it's actually important to the story but otherwise nah), ehhhh.)
Tw: possible mention of sexual violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape. (Now I'm really torn on the rape part, it's basically going the whole nine yards in an angst fic, which I hate when writers add sexual violence to the story just to make it more edgy when it's just shock value. It has to have a meaning, an actual reason. Also it's a chimp not a dolphin, something tells me dolphins just tend to do that freaky stuff way more.)

KNOW TO ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that WHEREAS, National Development Company, Inc dba N.D.C, Inc., a Texas Corporation, is the owner of certain real property located in Coffee County, Tennessee, and described as follows:
LAND in the 2nd Civil District of Coffee County, Tennessee, described according to a survey made by Alton C. Morris, P.E., R.L.S. 1064, dated July 30, 1983, as follows:
Beginning in the northerly margin of Old McMinnville-Shelbyville Road, also know as Gnat-McBrides Branch Road, (OM-SR) at a post at the southeast corner of Merriman's property; thence with the easterly line of Merriman's property and a fence, north 10° 55' 21” east 536.35 feet to a corner post at the southeast corner of H. Duke's property: thence with lines of H. Duke's property and a fence: (1)north 8° 10' 57” east 220.78 feet to a post, (2) north 4° 29' 13” east 455.18 feet to a post, (3) north 4° 42' 21” east 551.39 feet to a post, (4) north 3° 18' 09” east 335.06 feet to an old corner post at M.T. Lewis' former northwest corner, (5) north 2° 23' 37” east 883.96 feet to a post, (6) north 2° 24' east 298.89 feet to an iron pin at the corner post, hereinafter referred to as Reference Point “A”, and (7) north 86° 30' 46” west 2199.73 feet to a corner post at the northeast corner of J. Duke's property; thence with the northerly line of J. Duke's property and a fence, north 86° 49' 46” west 1808.74 feet to a corner post at the northeast corner of Goad's property; thence with the northerly line of Goad's property and a fence, north 86° 35' 34” west 1076.87 feet to an iron rod in the easterly line of Hockett's property; thence with the easterly line of Hockett's property, marked, and then continuing with the easterly line of the Gilley and Thomas property and a fence, north 3° 24' 40” west 3543.21 feet to a corner post; thence with the northerly line of the Gilley and Thomas property and a fence, north 84° 56' 17” west 1482.98 feet to a corner post in the easterly line of Smith's property; thence with the easterly line of Smith's property, marked, and continuing with the easterly line of Logan's property, north 11° 23; 16” east 2353.44 feet to an iron pin at the southwest corner of Keaner's property; thence with the southerly line of Keaner's property, marked, south 83° 03' 17” east 2082.14 feet to a corner post at the southwest corner of Fults' property; thence with the southerly line of Fults' property and a fence, south 89° 41' 59” east 1634.02 feet to an iron pin at the northwest corner of M. B. Jernigan's property; thence with lines of M. B. Jernigan's property: (1) south 0° 11' 12” east 414.75 feet to a 2 inch iron pipe, (2) north 89° 49' 02” east 1053.22 feet to an iron pin, and (3) north 1° 37' 41” west 215.29 feet to a point at the southwest corner of the southerly terminous of the 25 foot right of way, hereinafter referred to as Reference Point “B”; thence with the southerly margin of said 25 foot right of way, north 88° 22' 19” east 25.00 feet to an iron pin; thence with the easterly margin of said 25 foot right of way, north 1° 37' 41” west 199.40 feet to an iron pin at the southwest corner of Newell's property; thence with the southerly line of Newell's property, north 89° 44' 37” east 2259.80 feet to a pipe in Morgan's westerly line; thence with Morgan's westerly line and continuing with a westerly line of Vincion's property, both marked, south 3° 36' 55” west 1092.68 feet to a marked black gum tree; thence with a westerly line of Vincion's property, the westerly lines of Moore's and Prater's properties and a westerly line of Curtis Moore's property, a marked line, south 7° 35' 09” west 4996.74 feet to an iron pin located north 7° 35' 09” east 75.00 feet from Reference Point “A”; thence with lines of Curtis Moore's property, (1) south 85° 00' 26” east 75.08 feet to a stake, (2) south 7° 35' 09” west 75.00 feet to a stake, (3) south 2° 24' west 295.49 feet to a stake and (4) south 2° 23' 37” west 885.47 feet to a stake at M. T. Lewis' new northwest corner; thence with westerly lines of M. T. Lewis' property: (1) south 3° 18' 09” west 335.39 feet to a stake, (2) south 4° 42' 21” west 552.16 feet to a stake, (3) south 4° 29' 13” west 457.46 feet to a stake, (4) south 8° 10' 57” west 225.01 feet to a stake and (5) south 10° 55' 21” west 528.26 feet to a stake in the northerly margin of OM-SR; thence with the northerly margin of OM-SR, north 86° 35' 40” west 75.65 feet to the point of beginning, containing 823.05 acres, more or less.
TOGETHER with a nonexclusive permanent easement, appurtenant to said 823.05 acre tract, and any and all parts thereof, for the purpose of providing ingress thereto and egress therefrom from and to Hollow Springs Road, (HSR) and for the purpose of connecting said 823.05 acre tract, and any and all parts there of, to such utilities as may be available at HSR, now or in the future, over, across and through the following described property:
LAND in the 2nd Civil District of Coffee County, Tennessee, described according to said survey as follows:
Beginning at Reference Point “B”; thence with lines of said 823.05 acre tract, north 88° 22' 19” east 25.00 feet to an iron pin and north 1° 37' 41” west 199.40 feet to an iron pin at the south west corner of Newell's property, north 4° 30' 11” east 485.55 feet and north 4° 30' 36” east 459.09 feet to the southerly margin of HSR; thence with the southerly margin of HSR, north 85° 29' 24” west 25.00 feet to a corner post at the northeast corner of Fult's property; thence with westerly lines of Fults' property and a fence, south 4° 30' 36” west 459.09 feet and south 4° 30' 11” west 487.63 feet to an iron pin; thence south 1° 37' 41” east 215.29 feet to the point of beginning, containing 0.66 acres, more or less.
BEING part of the property conveyed to Wiley G. Jernigan and wife, Faye B. Jernigan, by deed from Woiley G Jernigan et recorded in Deed Book 181, page 875, in the Register's Office for said County, and all of the property conveyed to Wiley G. Jernigan and wife, Faye B. Jernigan, by deed from Wiley G. Jernigan, et al., recorded in Deed Book 181, page 879, said Register's Office; and
WHEREAS, this indenture is made and entered into this 2nd date of November, 1983, by and between National Development Company, Inc., party of the first part, hereinafter called “Grantor”, and R. L. Erkenbeck, party of the second part, hereinafter referred to as “Trustee”, being the trustee of the Lakewood Park Trusteeship; and
WHEREAS, Grantor is in the process of developing said land into a subdivision for living and recreational purposes and developing a lake and other facilities for living and for recreational enjoyment by the future lot owners in said development, which said development shall be know as “Lakewood Park” and which said development shall be developed in several parts with a separate plat for each part thereof as it is developed; and
WHEREAS, the Grantor is desirous of promoting and enhancing the value of said tracts of lane by stabilizing residential values and establishing recreational and related facilities therein; and
WHEREAS, the Grantor believes that the creation of a trust of certain of the property rights in said tract and the establishment of certain use restrictions is the most beneficial means of accomplishing this purpose; and
WHEREAS, it is the purpose and intention of this indenture to preserve said tract of land as a restricted residential recreational neighborhood and to protect the same against certain uses by the adoption of a common neighborhood plan and scheme of restrictions; to apply that plan and restrictions, not only to all of the land and every parcel thereof as it may be sold from time to time, but also in favor of all other parcels within the area of the hands of the present or subsequent owners thereof, and to mutually benefit, guard and restrict the present and/or future title holders or occupants of any and all said parcels and to foster the health, welfare and safety of all who own lots or reside in said area; and
WHEREAS, all reservations, limitations, conditions, easements and covenants herein contained, any and all of which are hereafter termed “Restrictive Covenants” or “Restrictions” are jointly or severally for the benefit of all persons who may purchase, hold or won, from time to time, any of the several lots covered by this instrument, and are intended to run with the land and be mutually enforceable;
NOW, THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION of the premises and of the mutual premises, covenants and agreements contained herein and the sum of One Dollar ($1.00) to party of the first part in hand paid by the party of the second part, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and further, in consideration of the advantages to accrue to the party of the first part, as well as to future owners of said lots into which said tract may be subdivided, and with the agreement and consent of the party of the second part to act as Trustee hereunder, the part of the first part agrees as follows:
The party of the first part or the Grantor, shall contemporaneously with the recording of each platted subdivision of the above described land, grant, bargain, sell, convey, transfer, assign and set over unto the said Trustee, his successors and assigns, all singular and the several strips and parcels of land which are to be delineated and set apart as drives, lanes, circles, streets or roads on said plat of said subdivisions, together with the lakes, dams, and related facilities and facilities for disposal or wastewater in the subdivision to be constructed by Grantor on said above-described land, and said Grantor, upon the consideration heretofore recited, does also hereby agree to create, reserve and transfer, assign and grant the Trustee easements for the purposes set forth in Article III hereof, over, across, through and under all of the lots in said subdivision as marked out and set out on said plats to be filed for the subdivision of said land, including all easements and roadways. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD all of the foregoing to the Trustee, his successors and assigns, IN TRUST, upon the uses and purposes, for the term and upon the conditions hereinafter set forth in this indenture. As used herein, the word “Trustee” or “Trusteeship” shall mean either a single Trustee or join Trustees.

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.

I went to a dentist who told me to have a root canal on tooth #20 and #2 and she’ll crown it. I did the canal on #2 and scheduled to have #20 done. I recently had a not so pleasant experience with her where she did the crown on my tooth #2 without me being fully numb. I told her it hurt and she just kept going. Due to this, I saw another dentist yesterday to continue my treatment.
This dentist looked at my xray on tooth #2 from February and said “cancel that root canal. It needs to be pulled. I would never put a crown on that. The gums have grown over the tooth! You’d need crown lengthening prior to the crown which is gum surgery!”
This was news to me. My other dentist who just xrayed the tooth in April said to get it evaluated for the root canal and she’ll crown it. The endo said this would be a very quick root canal since the pulp is already exposed. She said it’ll take 20 mins. Neither of them mentioned anything about the gums being in the way and needing gum surgery after the canal.
Now I don’t know what to do or who to believe. He claims the endo would do any root canal to make a quick buck and the original dentist would tell me after the canal she couldn’t do the crown because I’ll need gum surgery first but she would wait until after the canal is done so im stuck. It felt a little fear mongery but maybe it’s true?
I really don’t want to pull that tooth. I’m 26 and would rather save it. The new dentist claims the crown will only last 5 years max. I just don’t know if I trust him though.
He saw my other cavities too and where the other dentist said she’d fill them after root canal #20 and crown and I’d go on my way, he said that if I don’t fill them soon I’m going to loose my teeth. He said this is how 30 year olds end up with dentures because they prioritize other more major work and leave the cavities to sit. He said I should put all my focus into the cavities and ignore tooth #20 even though it hurts and I can’t eat over there. Also, some cavities were very deep so he said he’ll put medicine in the deep ones then come back to them, Basically he wants to stop the decay, even if, in his words, “the filling doesn’t look pretty”, then go back later and make them look better and/or send me for root canals. The other dentist didn’t mention anything about putting meds in the cavities.
He also said I should use prescription strength fluoride toothpaste. I’m a bit hesitant because I’d like to get pregnant soon.
Am I being taken for a ride here or should I trust him? If the original dentist didn’t mention the gum growing over, why is he? He claims the original dentist would have sent me for the root canal and then said “oops we need to get you gum surgery first.” Catching me completely off guard? I just feel like this is inaccurate.
Also, will the original dentist be upset that I saw another dentist? I left a voicemail at the office asking for some clarifications on my treatment plan and said I got a second opinion. I planned to just ask outright if I’ll need this gum surgery he spoke of.
Should I just ditch both dentists and find a completely new one?

link at bottom:
Several states have taken action over the last two years in an effort to block the implementation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States.
Indiana was the first state to pass legislation relating to central bank digital currency. Enacted in 2023, the law explicitly excludes a CBDC from the definition of money under the state's Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). The law amends the definition of money to specify, “The term does not include a central bank digital currency that is currently adopted, or that may be adopted, by the United States government, a foreign government, a foreign reserve, or a foreign sanctioned central bank.”
A similar law was enacted in Florida last year, and this year South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah followed suit. A Nebraska bill repealing the capital gains tax on gold and silver also changed the definition of money in the state tax code to exclude CBDC.
This year, Indiana took a second step to hinder the implementation of a CBDC with the enactment of a measure prohibiting state agencies from accepting payments made with a central bank digital currency for any service, tax, license, permit, fee, information, or other amount due the governmental body. It also bars government agencies from requiring payments to be made with a central bank digital currency.
Additionally, under the law, state government bodies are prohibited from advocating for or supporting the testing, adoption, or implementation of a central bank digital currency by the United States government.
Alabama, North Dakota, and Georgia have passed similar laws.

Impact

It remains unclear how changing the definition of money in the UCC and other steps taken at the state level would play out in practice against a CBDC if the federal government attempts to implement one.
The UCC is a set of uniformly adopted state laws governing commercial transactions in the U.S. According to the Uniform Law Commission, “Because the UCC has been universally adopted, businesses can enter into contracts with confidence that the terms will be enforced in the same way by the courts of every American jurisdiction. The resulting certainty of business relationships allows businesses to grow and the American economy to thrive. For this reason, the UCC has been called ‘the backbone of American commerce.’”
Passage of this legislation would, as noted by one opponent of the legislation, put a CBDC “into the bucket of ‘general intangibles” – rather than money, and wouldn’t ban its use completely.
But it could still potentially gum up the works and make it difficult for the government to fully implement a CBDC.
Opponents of the strategy and supporters of CBDC generally take the position that states can’t do anything to stop a CBDC, since – according to their view – under the supremacy clause “any federal law on this point will automatically override state law.”
We’ve heard this song and dance on other issues before. That’s what they said when California legalized medical marijuana in 1996. It didn’t quite turn out that way.
In the ramp-up to the 1996 vote on Proposition 215, voters were repeatedly told that legalization of marijuana, even for limited medical purposes, was a fruitless effort, since, under the supremacy clause, any such state law would be automatically overridden by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA). At best, opponents told Californians, the state would end up in a costly, and losing court effort.
But despite those warnings, Californians voted yes, setting in motion the massive state-level movement we see today, where a growing majority of states have legalized what the federal government prohibits. Ultimately, the federal government will likely have to back down, even if just to save face, because it has become impossible to fully enforce its federal prohibition over this massive state and individual resistance.
A similar scenario played out in response to the REAL ID Act of 2005. The national ID system still isn’t fully up and running more than 17 years after the “final deadline” for full implementation.
Why not?
Because a significant number of states decided not to participate, drug their feet, or in some cases, simply provide residents with a choice to opt-out. Federal officials have confirmed that state-level roadblocks to implementation are the primary reason for the continuing delays.
“Roadblock” is likely how this and other state-based strategies to oppose a CBDC will play out. This is part of James Madison’s four-step blueprint for how states can stop federal programs.
But, as can be seen so far with issues like marijuana and the REAL ID Act, whether a federal program is implemented or not ultimately gets down to the number of roadblocks put up by states, and more importantly, the willingness of the people to participate, or not.

What Is CBDC?

Generally speaking, digital currencies are virtual banknotes or coins held in a digital wallet on a computer or smartphone. The difference between a central bank (government-imposed) digital currency and peer-to-peer electronic currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum is the value of CBDC is backed and controlled by the government, just like traditional fiat currency.
Governments sell the idea of CBDC by promising to provide a safe, convenient, and more secure alternative to physical cash. We’re also told it will help stop dangerous criminals who like the intractability of cash. But there is a darker side – the promise of control.
At the root of the move toward government digital currency is “the war on cash.” The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending.
Imagine that all cash disappeared this morning and all that was left was a government-controlled digital currency. You would be forced into doing all business electronically with this government money. It would be impossible to hide even the smallest transaction from the government’s eyes. Something as simple as your morning trip to Dunkin would be known by government functionaries. As Bloomberg put it in an article published when China launched a digital yuan pilot program in 2020, digital currency “offers China’s authorities a degree of control never possible with physical money.”
Governments could even “turn off” your ability to make purchases. Bloomberg described the level of control a digital currency could give Chinese officials.

The PBOC (People's Bank of China) has also indicated that it could put limits on the sizes of some transactions, or even require an appointment to make large ones. Some observers wonder whether payments could be linked to the emerging social-credit system, wherein citizens with exemplary behavior are ‘whitelisted’ for privileges, while those with criminal and other infractions find themselves left out. ‘China’s goal is not to make payments more convenient but to replace cash, so it can keep closer tabs on people than it already does,’ argues Aaron Brown, a crypto investor who writes for Bloomberg Opinion.

Economist Thorsten Polleit explained the level of Big Brother-like government control possible with the advent of a digital euro in an article published by the Mises Wire.
As he put it, “The path to becoming a surveillance state regime will accelerate considerably” if and when governments begin issuing CBDC.
In 2022, the Federal Reserve released a “discussion paper” examining the pros and cons of a potential U.S. central bank digital dollar. According to the central bank’s website, there has been no decision on implementing a digital currency, but this pilot program reveals the idea is further along than most people realized.
https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/05/17/several-states-take-steps-to-block-a-central-bank-digital-currency-003192

TW for people with eating disorders. And TW in general too, ig.
I (31F) have been suffering from pcos on and off since I was 15. I got my first period when I was 13 and had a fairly healthy run for a year and a half. Cycles started getting irregular once things at home started getting stressful. I live in a small town and didn't get a proper diagnosis for the most part of my life. I suffered from a range of side effects from all the treatments I received(or the lack of). I've been overweight almost all my life and bled out for too long over the years until one day in my early twenties(sometime in 2014) I decided enough was enough and started working out out of sheer stubbornness. My weight dropped to a healthy range and I was eating well, was completely off sugars and processed food for almost 8 years and didn't have any cravings or withdrawals.
Everything was fine until June, 2021. I had a fall and fractured my tailbone, had to quit my job, went through a breakup, was in a crash, endured a couple more back injuries and was caught up in a toxic situation with my family as well. All of this took a toll on my mental health and I spiralled. Food has always been something I turned to when things weren't alright and I went back to binging on unhealthy stuff and my pcos resurfaced in a much more intense way. My weight shot up from 68kg to 90kg(I'm 5'8") in a very short span of time. I bled abnormally heavily almost everyday from July 2021 to June 2022 just because I was kind of bedridden because of my injury and had no support from anyone to get the required medical attention. To add to it, I had to be a full time caregiver for my grandpa since May, 2022 and did not have a chance to prioritise myself in any way. He passed away recently and that loss hit harder than anything ever. The stress set off a whole different bunch of issues.
One of the gynecs I went to before my weightloss was extremely insensitive and was like you're depressed and you're prediabetic. There's no saving you. After a lot of trial and error, I found a course of homeopathic treatment to be helpful for a while but that stopped being effective too. Luckily, the weightloss and the habits I built helped maintain my health for a long time.
The gynec I'm currently seeing has a good understanding of my case and gives good advice too but the past couple of sessions with her have been a little frustrating. She hasn't addressed some of my concerns like chronic fatigue and extreme hairloss saying the weather has been harsh and a lot of people are complaining about the same things. She said we should wait before considering any tests or supplements. She put me on biotin a few months ago but that did not help at all. I started rosemary+rice water for hair because someone told me to give it a try. I tried serums with redensyl & anagain. None of them helped.
My gynec keeps telling me to lower my stress levels and lose weight and I've been trying everything in my power to. I started going on walks, started some low intensity workouts and I've been mindful of what I eat as well. I've been trying to turn things around but nothing seems to be working. I'm currently on birth control. I missed a period for the first time in a decade and when I got one this month with the assistance of meds, it was really painful. I quickly regain the weight I lose. My muscles feel sore all the time. My anemia hasn't improved. Everyone just thinks I'm being lazy and I'm just finding excuses to not workout like I used to or go about my day like I used to. I wake up extremely late, experience brain fog, struggle to fall asleep, feel anxious all the time, feel extremely weak but also nauseated and bloated if I eat something, ibs pain persists, my skin looks lackluster, the hormonal acne are a nightmare if they show up, there's a constant discomfort in my lower abdomen, I get migraines frequently, I'm constantly scared of my bone health and becoming a diabetic, my hair is thinning beyond control and I'm just losing hope.
I finally saw a dermatologist for my hairloss and she advised me to start using minoxidil. She suggested 6 sessions of prp/ gfc treatment along with it and when I asked if the results are permanent, she said I'd have to rely on minoxidil for the rest of my life if I wish to have any hairs on my head. That felt like a huge blow to my confidence because I used to have thick and lustrous curly hair and what I have now is unrecognizable.
Is there anything else I can do to regrow my hair and reverse the effects of PCOS in general too, because this course of treatment might be a bit too heavy on my pocket right now?

In the last post we talk about how the chaquetrix would be upgrade for the future, or at least what I think we would be a good idea for it. In this post we go even father into how the upgrades to the chaquetrix and Ben effects his children and descendants and how they effect the universe. We talk the a new species made by Ben and the chaquetrix girls, the changeling species.
While Azmuth design the chaquetrix to save species by mating so he design that the first genertation made by the chaquetrix, AKA the kids of the wearer, could mate with both the wearer species and the pure species of their chaquetrix parent. This was done making it so the kids would have three forms, the wearer species form, a hybrid form, and pure chaquetrix parent form. He also design that the parents, no matter how the species normally propagate, would have litters of ten at least. However something happen he didn't plan for, something that happen with the chaquetrix 2 being upgrade into the chaquetrix 2.10. The children of the chaquetrix 2.10 and their descendants inhered omnicores as part of their biology, and inhered the some of the abilities of the the chaquetrix. So when Ben and the chaquetrix girls starting having children, and they had a lot of children, they were creating a new and powerful species, and species that comes in three phenotype. And in order to explain what makes this species so powerful we explain the abilities of the three phenotypes first.
Duotrix: The common form of the changelings, call duotrixes because they have three base forms. A human anodite hybrid form like that of Ben himself, a pure alien form which thanks to the nemetrix upgrade could come from non-sapient species, and hybrid form of the two. So they called duotrix because of they two base species forms and a third hybrid form of the two. They can stay any of these base for as long as they wish and as for they their abilities of these forms, well the alien form has powers of whatever that species but incease beyond what is normal for that species thank to the Potis Altiare upgrade the chaquetrix had. In their "human" form, which is also strengthen by the Potis Altiare upgrade, they are able to perform magic if the learn how to, which most do, in way similar to Gwen. While in hybrid form they have accuess to their alien powers and to a lesser extent their magic powers as well. This is due to the fact that thanks to the omnicore functions most changelings are unable to perform magic in full alien form unless that alien form is something like anodite.
However, this isn't all they can do and isn't all their forms, for while they can't fully transform into other species. They can still scan and store genetics of other species and use those genetics in other ways. But in keep in mind all other transformation outside their three based forms can only last a total of ten minutes. Now the first of these alter forms is their fusion forms, they can combine any of their three based for with the genetics of one other species. Now for their human form this just turns into another hybrid form for their other two forms it can have other changes as mix in this other species. Next is their Omni-Enchanced forms which are similar to their fusion forms but instead of a full fusion they only use the third species to enhanced their based forms. Giving them new features and some new abilities based on what species they used to enhanced themselves. There is also their amalgam forms, in which they take their alien form and combine it with nine other species to create a new hybrid, and "alien", that 1/10 the power of ten species combine. And finally the last way they can use the genetics they store in their omnicore is by making use of the slime-biot powers, giving to them thanks to the chaquetrix being upgrade to have them. To put simply they can morph their limbs, grow new ones, and make tools and weapons by using the genetics store in their omnicore as if they had a slime-biot of their own. They can also regenerate by using this feature as if they had a slime-biot (regrow lost body parts, fix damage ones) and in a way even more thanks to the fact that their consciousness is store in their omnicore, so they can even regrow their heads. And while this end of the transformations they get by other species genetics, it isn't the end of their transformations.
Thanks to inhering omnicores, they also inhered omni-naut and omni-kik which simply just allows them to wear either of said armor in any of their based forms. They also have an ultimate that allows their hybrid and alien form to become an ultimate form, and as for their human form. They lose the ability to do magic in this but they can use the powers of any alien species they have store in their omnicore, they don't transform however so can limit these powers in some way. They also have antitrix forms as well, in these state their human form becomes an osmosian form. Their skin turns grey or pale white, their hair becomes tentacle like, they grow four small horns, and they lose their magic but abosd matter instead. So they get Kevin powers basely, and they use these powers in hybrid mode as well. Their alien form and hybrid forms becomes a antitrix version of that form, causing them to be more aggressive. Then there evos forms which came about from the chaquetrix absorbing nanobots, their human become robotic like and they get the power to turn their limbs into kinds of machines as well grow machines from their body (so Rex's powers), their alien from becomes a more monstrous version of their based alien form and their hybrid form is a mix of the two.
Unitrix: A little less common the duotrixs, only one in every ten changelings is born unitrix, these are frankly just a stronger version of Eunice. They have her powers, but they don't have to touch others they can just scan them, they have evo human mode, and osmosian mode, as well as ultimate mode in which they get the ultimate powers of whatever species they using at the moment. They do store the genetics allowing their slime-biot powers to use them both now and latter, and yes this does mean they can use the powers latter as well. They also have omni-naut and omni-kik armor, but they don't have fusion, amalgam, hybrid, or Omni-Enchanced modes. And yes they can the Potis Altiare upgrade as well.
Omnitrix: Based on the name of these changeling, which only one in a hundred are born, it should be clear what they do. They can become any species, or take hybrid form of any species, and stay in based forms as long as they want. They also have fusion forms, ultimate forms, antitrix forms, evo forms, Omni-Enchaced forms, amalgam forms, omni-naut form, omni-kik forms, as well slime-biot powers, that they can freely use with any based alien and hybrid forms. They can also get new forms by scanning, Note, scanning powers can work on changeling in full based alien forms as well true member of the species. They carelt powerful version of the changeling species because of that.
Other Changeling Powers: Now quick list of powers all three types of changelings have that have that simply less obvious then the transformation powers, and has to do with their omnicores. First all changelings can change their at will, second all changelings do have some control over their looks. If they what they can permanently their looks in the same way you may change the looks of character in video game. For example they can give themselves curly hair or red eyes instead of green, and even make themselves a bit taller or shorter. They also all have an universal translator, the ability to surf the extranet, to record video and audio , to send messages including phone calls and video calls. They can generation and change clothes thanks their uniform feature on their omnicores. And finally and possibly more importantly they can store items, people, and themselves within their omnicores. Causing many changelings to see the inside of their omnicores as mix of their bedrooms and homes.
Changeling Reproduction: Where do new changelings come form? Simple, any offspring between a changeling and a non-changeling will be a changeling, and thanks to how powers work they can mate with just about anything. Now as what kind of changeling the kids will, well that depends, first of thanks to them storing genetics in their omnicore the kids could be duotrixs of any species they have in their, if they aren't unitrixs or omnitrixes instead. If two changelings have kids together, which that haven't done yet as they still see each other as family, the kids will also be changelings as well with a higher chance to get omnitrixes then normal.
And that is all I have on the changeling powers and abilities, and just how far have I though of ahead for the changeling species? Not that far, I only thought of to the time of Ben's great-great grandkids. In this future the changelings are mostly on Earth but there are a high number of them found on Galvan Prime and Petropia as well. Plus some living Primus as well, with that be being listed as their official home planet. Many changelings have join the plumbers thanks to family traditions, with a lot also choosing to become explorers to find new species to increase the power of the changeling species over all.
So what do you think of this idea? If you like you are free to use it

I sit alone in my room on the seventh floor, writing what will surely be my last will and testament. The heroin which allowed me to forget and to sleep for the last couple of years has lost its power to keep the screaming terrors away. The drug destroyed my body and mind, gradually eating away at them like a corrosive acid. Now I have become a slave to it. And yet, without it, I do not sleep for weeks, but instead continuously see the scenes from that terrible night running through my head on repeat as worsening waves of madness crash on the shores of my consciousness.
In the caverns under the town of Frost Hollow, I found the meaning of true madness. Ever since I escaped that den of horrors, it is difficult to tell what is real and what is only the feverish delirium of an unhinged mind.
Even now, they wait behind the door to this cheap, bare rented room. They drag their claws over the wood. I hear them hissing in that strange, ancient tongue, the one I first heard in the tombs of rock that had been undisturbed for countless millennia.
***
I had first heard rumors of an unexplored cavern from my friend, an experienced caver named Sonia who had explored caverns all over the world. I had been looking for some excitement in my life, some break from the constant monotony and boredom of simply working and sleeping. I had gone caving quite a few times over the year leading up to the trip, but I was not nearly as experienced and had never explored a supposedly virgin passageway of cavern before.
“How do you know no one’s gone down there?” I asked, curious. We sat across from each other at a local diner, getting some early breakfast before our planned descent. The sunrise was still another half-hour away, the sky flat and dark. We would be joined by Sonia’s husband, Phil, who would meet us there shortly after sunrise. I repressed an urge to yawn, chugging half of the steaming hot coffee in one long swallow. Sonia leaned close to me, her nearly colorless blue eyes reminding me of chunks of ice floating down a muddy stream.
“Phil’s friend just found it randomly,” she whispered before glancing around conspiratorially, as if she feared someone would care enough to eavesdrop on a conversation about a cave. “Well, it’s in the middle of a farm, and Phil’s friend, Jack Graysole, owns the entire property and surrounding woods. Jack says he noticed the cows kept going over to a certain spot in the field when it got really hot during the summertime. They would all gather around this little indentation in the grass. After seeing it a few times, Jack got curious and went to investigate what the cows were doing.
“He found a small hole in the ground, almost entirely covered by weeds and grass. He said he felt a cool breeze constantly blowing out of the hole, a breeze that smelled like burning matches and charred metal. After bringing out some shovels and digging down a couple feet, Jack realized that the hole wasn’t a hole at all, but the beginning of a steep passageway leading deep into the bowels of the earth.”
***
The owner of the land decided to unofficially call the newly-discovered cavern Graysole Caverns. Out of respect for him, this is also the name we all used. This is the story of how I found myself in the bowels of a strange subterranean tunnel, a tunnel where creatures beyond my comprehension slunk and hunted, skittering monstrosities who would be more at home in a nightmare.
After grabbing a couple coffees to take with us, Sonia drove over to Graysole Farms. Cows stood out in the grassy fields, huddled in tight circles as they repetitively chewed. The thin silhouette of Jack Graysole waited for us next to the herd. He had a face like a raisin, I thought to myself. I watched his thin, shaking body standing in the middle of an overgrown grassy field. Jack stared down blankly at something only he could see. Sonia and I started unloading some equipment from the car while we waited for Phil.
Once we had the backpacks loaded with some simple supplies, such as water, food, headlamps, rope, a couple extra batteries, some buck knives, and radios, we headed over to accompany Jack. We weren’t taking much, as we didn’t really expect to be down there for more than six or seven hours at the most.
Jack Graysole’s withered old face was as slack and expressionless as that of a corpse. He stared down at the ground as if he were in a trance, waving back and forth slowly on his feet like a plant in a light breeze.
“Jack?” Sonia called out as we approached. I could hear the man’s teeth chattering as we got nearer.
“Hey, what are you doing over here this early? You interested in accompanying us down there?” Sonia joked. But Jack might as well have been totally deaf for all the reaction he gave. Sonia glanced over at me with an anxious expression. I wondered if the old man was having a stroke.
I quickly walked over to where he stood, staring down at a black circular hole about three feet across directly in front of his feet. The entrance to Graysole Caverns stared up at us like a sightless pupil. As I drew within a few feet of Jack and looked straight into his blank eyes, I noticed something alarming.
His pupils were quickly dilating and constricting before my eyes. They would shrink to tiny pinpoints, then, a couple seconds later, rapidly expand until they became dark and serious. I could see his thready, rapid heartbeat pulsating in a vein on the side of his temple. Alarmed, I reached forward and put my hand on his shoulder.
Instantly, he came to life, like a man waking up from a nightmare. Shrieking, he looked at me with fully dilated pupils, reminding me of a panicked deer surrounded by wolves. His quavering old man’s voice shook with ineffable existential horror and mortal fear.
He took a step back away from us, seeming to realize where he was and what he was doing. He looked around, confused, then straight at me and Sonia. His eyes focused with anger and fear, as if we were demons here to drag him down to Hell. His eyes flicked back and forth between us constantly. Jack raised a trembling hand and pointed it straight at my heart.
“It’s you,” he said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. His teeth chattered despite the warm spring air. His skin looked deathly pale. “You’re the one who will bring an end to humanity, who will release the ruler of nightmares upon us.” He continued to point accusingly for a long moment at me, his face turning chalk-white. Then his eyes rolled up in his head. Slowly, he stumbled and fell backwards onto the soft grass of the field.
“Jack!” Sonia cried, running over to the old man. Jack’s breaths had started to come in slow, drawn-out gurgles, like a man with a slit throat trying to breathe. Frothy blood bubbled from his lips as they turned blue. Staring up at the endless expanse of cloudless sky, he exhaled one last shuddering breath and died.
***
Phil showed up only a couple minutes later. He found me and Sonia in a state of utter panic, both of us bent double over the still body of Jack. Sonia was on the phone with 911, and I was trying to give Jack chest compressions. The way his fingernails and lips shone with that cyanotic blue cast made me feel sick and weak. I knew it was futile, that I was simply playing with a corpse at this point, but I didn’t know what else to do. I felt if I didn’t do something, I might explode.
I heard the faint wailing of sirens approaching as Sonia’s panicked voice continued babbling to the 911 operator. Phil stood by her side, his tall, dark features searching and lost.
“Oh God, I think he’s dead!” Sonia cried over and over to the operator, as if she thought the operator could do anything about it. I didn’t hear what the operator said in response. As the ambulance pulled in, I gave up on chest compressions. I stood up and took a step back, looking sadly down on the kindly old man’s dead body.
The paramedics ran over. Phil, Sonia and I stood back while they worked on the corpse, trying to shock the heart back into life. But Jack’s open eyes stayed glazed as they stared sightlessly up into eternity.
***
The paramedics left. A couple police officers stayed behind to ask us a few routine questions. Eventually, after an hour or so, they left, too.
“What a fucked-up day,” Phil said, shaking his head grimly. “Do you guys still want to do this? Maybe it’s an omen from God telling us to go home.” Sonia and I exchanged a glance, then we both nodded at the same time.
“Definitely,” she said. “It’s sad what happened to Jack, but realistically, we don’t know what’s going to happen to this property now that he’s passed away. It might get sold or taken by the bank for all we know. This could be our one and only chance to explore this cave.”
“I don’t believe in omens. I’m still down,” I said, feeling slightly sick from the experience. I still remembered how Jack’s body had cracked under the weight of my chest compressions, how his ribs had snapped like bones shattering in greedy hands. “We’ll do it in memory of Jack. I plan to put this up on YouTube.” I pulled my GoPro out of my bag, turning it on. Phil groaned at that.
“Do we have any idea how far down this cave goes?” Phil asked. I felt a sense of relief now that the topic had changed from the death of the old man.
“I sent a little camera down on a rope, but it only went about a hundred feet,” Sonia responded. “It’s pretty steep at first, then it levels out. I couldn’t really see much after it leveled out, but it looks like it should be easy to climb down. There’s plenty of handholds, lots of jutting rocks.”
Phil put on his headlamp and small pack. As he crawled down into the hole, his tanned face looked up at us and gave us one last devilish grin. Once he had gone down a few dozen feet, Sonia started descending. She looked excited and happy. I noticed how she couldn’t stop smiling as she disappeared from view.
I watched their lights grow smaller and dimmer in the circular tunnel. I marveled at how perfectly circular the entrance was. It almost didn’t even look natural.
Taking a deep breath in, I followed my friends down into the dark.
***
“This isn’t too bad,” I said as I climbed down. The jutting rocks gave plenty of handholds and footholds for us. It wasn’t so tight that it felt like a coffin, either.
“It only gets easier from here!” Sonia called up.
“How do you know?” I asked. “You said you’ve never been here before.” She laughed.
“I know. Probably just wishful thinking,” she said. Far below us, Jack’s voice drifted up, faint and weak. He had already reached the bottom.
“The tunnel really opens up down here, guys,” he called. “It’s somewhat… bizarre, though.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sonia asked. I looked down, seeing Sonia and I would reach the bottom in seconds. “Forget it, I’ll let it be a surprise.” I heard her drop down. Slowly and carefully, I lowered myself down the last few feet. There was a short fall onto a smooth granite floor. I looked up, seeing what Phil and Sonia were so mesmerized by.
“Oh, wow,” I said, speechless. I blinked rapidly, wondering if the image would clear like a mirage. The tunnel was cut into a perfectly triangular shape, each side about seven feet long. The ceiling met in a point above our heads.
All along the smooth walls of gray rock, I saw thousands of black orbs peeking out. They looked similar to obsidian, but they were perfectly smooth and circular, each about the size of an orange. They were formed into interlocking diagonal patterns and followed the tunnel straight down as far as the eye could see.
“What is this place?” Sonia asked, taking a tentative step forward. I looked up, seeing the distant pinpoint of sunlight far above our heads. Our voices continued to echo off down the massive tunnels, disappearing in eerie waves into the thick curtain of shadows.
“Are you recording all this?” Phil asked me. I laughed, giddy.
“Of course! This is internet gold right here,” I said. “No one’s going to believe that this isn’t man-made, however. I can’t even believe it. Do you think Jack was playing a joke on us or something?”
“Jack had the sense of humor of a wet paper towel,” Phil whispered, shaking his head. “No, he wouldn’t do something like this.”
“Well, let’s go check it out,” Sonia said, taking a step forward. Her headlamp bobbed up and down rapidly, throwing dancing shadows through the triangular tunnel. It continued straight ahead, without the slightest deviation or curve, disappearing off into a dark point in the distance.
***
We walked as fast as we could, excited to see where, if anywhere, the strange tunnel led. Phil, always the conspiracy theorist, babbled excitedly.
“This has to be aliens, man,” he said, running his fingers through his dark hair. “I bet that scientists will find out this shit is millions of years old when we get back up and tell everyone. Maybe aliens came to earth in ancient times and made a bunch of stuff underground.” Gradually, as we walked, I noticed the tunnel opening up. The pointed triangular ceiling rose up higher above our heads and the walls moved outwards, as we were walking up a triangular funnel. At first, it was so subtle that I didn’t believe it when Sonia pointed it out.
“No, look,” she said, raising her hand above her head. “When we first started down this weird tunnel, my fingers were only maybe a foot away from the top. Now it’s a couple feet.” I was about to respond when our headlamps illuminated something standing in the middle of the tunnel.
“What the fuck is that?” I whispered, stopping cold in my tracks. Phil and Sonia looked up at the abomination at the same time. Its back was to us. It stood nearly as tall as the tunnel, which was now about twenty feet high.
The bottom half looked black and spidery with dozens of long, jointed legs. A bloody, white spine rose out of the mass of legs. Inhumanly long, skeletal arms stretched out in front of it. Its face was pointed away from us, but the back of its head resembled an enormous pointed skull with deep fissures like the cracks of an earthquake running through the bone. The abomination stayed as still as a statue, and for a long moment, I wondered if we were looking at some macabre work of art.
Then, suddenly, one of its insectile legs twitched. A moment later, the other legs started jerking and twisting. There was a sound like bones shattering as it rose up to its full height, turning around to face us.
Its face was like something from a nightmare, melting and reforming constantly like dripping candle wax. I would see a black eye appear on its forehead, then a grinning mouth on its chin, then the features would get sucked back into the folds of melting flesh. After a few moments, two enormous eyes appeared on its face, dark and cold like craters on the surface of the Moon. The mouths and noses disappeared back into the dripping skin, and only the two lidless eyes remained, emanating a cold, reptilian consciousness beyond the ability of my mind to comprehend. I felt terror radiating from its body like freezing waves.
“Free me,” it cried in a gurgling voice that seethed with insanity. It had a shrieking, metallic ringing behind every word that gave it an alien quality. “Free me, and I will give you the waters of eternal life. Within me, I contain the seeds of immortality. Within the nightmares, we live forever, always together, never alone.”
“Who are you?” I asked, terrified. The black reptilian skin of the enormous beast glistened as it knelt down, its massive face drawing near to mine. A sideways mouth burst out of the liquified flesh, showing hundreds of fangs growing like tumors from its white, bloodless gums. The fangs varied in size from only a couple inches to long, sword-like projections that stabbed into the creature’s flesh, causing white blood glittering with rainbows to fall like raindrops all around me.
“I have many names,” it hissed, its thousand voices rising and falling in crashing waves of sound. “I was present at the beginning, when this planet was no more than dead cliffs and endless freezing oceans. Those holy ones who search for us, the ancient ones, call me Niralahoth.”
“How do we free you?” Phil asked, looking terrified. He held Sonia’s hand tightly.
“By letting me into your mind and body,” Niralahoth cried, shaking the cavern. “I was thrown down here, cursed and forgotten. I cannot leave this place of shadows within this body. But in the body of another, my consciousness can be free, and the seeds of new life can spread beyond this prison.”
“There’s no way anyone’s going to do that,” I said, my eyes widening as Niralahoth’s reptilian skull turned towards me in fury. “I mean, you’re asking one of us to give up our individuality, our lives, right?”
“I am asking you to become one with me and gain power undreamt of by mortals,” it cried. “I have within me the fountain of life, the waters that send death away screaming.” I glanced anxiously at Phil and Sonia, wondering if we would have to run.
“The answer is no,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, we can’t do that,” Phil said, backing me up. “But, anyways, I think our trip has ended. It’s time to turn around…”
“You will never return,” Niralahoth cried, skittering away from us. “If you will not accept salvation, then you must accept death.” Within seconds, it slunk away from us, backpedaling on its many skittering legs into the shadows.
***
All around us, a rumbling started.
There was a pounding that crashed through the rock tunnel, as if an insane blacksmith were hammering on a massive anvil. The ringing of crashing rock started off slowly, with a few stones smashing down around us with heavy blasts of sound. Within seconds, the cacophony sped up, rising into a constant stream of destruction. The black orbs were spinning in place all up and down the tunnel, their glossy obsidian surfaces flashing with sparks of blue light.
“It’s collapsing!” Phil cried, running back in the direction we came, holding Sonia’s hand as she tried to keep up with him. I could only stare for a long moment, not sure what to do. It seemed that the direction Phil was heading stood closer to total collapse.
“Wait!” I cried, but my voice was drowned out in the destruction all around us. I felt a rock smash into my shoulder, sending me down to my feet. I heard Phil give a scream of pain, then another stone came down and smashed into my forehead. I remember seeing everything spinning around me as the world went black.
***
I awoke to find my headlamp still shining straight up in the dusty tunnel. Large chunks of the tunnel had slid out of place and crashed to the stone floor. The granite chunks that had fallen looked unnaturally smooth, most of them in the shapes of cylinders or cubes and varying in size from that of an egg to that of a small car.
My head throbbed. It felt as if a tight belt of fire were wrapped around my temples. Groaning, I put my fingers up to my forehead. They came away slick with blood.
Slowly, I started pushing myself up on my feet. I was relieved that nothing seemed broken. I had a deep gash running from the center of my scalp down to my left temple and some shallower cuts on my shoulders and back, but I knew none of that was life-threatening.
“Sonia?” I whispered, my voice coming out weak and strained. I reached into my pack and found a bottle of water. I chugged it quickly in one long swallow.
“Phil?” I cried again, this time stronger. I heard a soft weeping nearby. Staggering, I followed the sound.
Sonia was bloody and covered in cuts and scrapes, sitting next to Phil’s prone form. I saw Phil’s right arm pinned under a massive slab of granite. His arm disappeared from the elbow down in a spreading puddle of thick, dark blood.
“Oh God, Max, I think he’s hurt really bad,” she wept. Phil’s eyes rolled wildly in his head, his face pale and bloodless. I looked down the way we had come, seeing the entire tunnel blocked by large slabs of stone, many with strange, black orbs peeking out like the lenses of cameras.
***
I don’t know how much time passed. My phone died after a day, and then we were counting the endless darkness in breaths and tears.
Phil swam in and out of consciousness as his arm putrefied and blackened around the crush site. After a couple days, Sonia and I agreed that something had to be done. We told Phil we would need to amputate his arm. He was half-delirious, but he came back long enough to understand us and nod weakly.
We made a fire with Phil’s pack, trying to find fuel to throw in it to get it roaring. As it grew, I saw one of the black orbs near the flames abruptly ignite, as if it had been covered in gasoline. Blue, almost colorless flames rose from its surface. We started throwing the small black orbs on the fire until it rose high in the air. I sanitized the buck knife with the flames and pulled a rope tourniquet tight around Phil’s arm. He was conscious but seemingly insane, talking to himself more than anyone else.
“How are we going to get the car started without a key?” he gurgled to someone only he could see. “We need to look around. It has to be here somewhere.”
“Phil, can you hear me, bud? We need to fix your arm. We need to get you out of this mess. OK?” I said as comfortingly as I could. Phil’s eyes rolled wildly, but they didn’t meet my own. I sighed and looked over at Sonia.
“Let’s do it,” I said, giving a grim nod.
I pulled the buck knife out, slicing quickly down through the flesh next to the tourniquet. His veins throbbed like fat worms as the blackened, necrotic skin split easily under the blade, releasing a rancid-smelling gas that hissed out of the wound.
I couldn’t believe how hard it was to slice all the way through the arm. It felt like I was stuck in that hellish task forever. Phil’s eyes rolled in his head as his skin turned the color of clotted milk.
“God, Jesus, make it stop,” Phil whispered over and over, exhaling ragged, pain-filled breaths. The blood spurted from the blackened, dying tissue all over the dust-covered cavern floor, covering my hands in its warm, slick embrace.
After what was probably only three or four minutes, but felt like hours, I had sliced all the way down to the bone. The infected tissue of his arm spurted great gouts of orange pus mixed with rivulets of blood. The hard part was over.
Standing up, I took my steel-toe sneaker and stomped down on his arm as hard as I could. Phil cried out in a powerful voice, as if all the agony and suffering in the world was contained in that one shriek. The bone snapped under my weight with a sound like a tree branch cracking. A moment later, Phil rolled away from the rock that had pinned me in place for so long. Something alien and spongy was shoved into my face, a mass of destroyed red tissue pulsating in time with a runaway heartbeat. At first, shell-shocked and revolted, my mind couldn’t comprehend that I was looking at the stump of Phil’s mutilated arm. I hardened my heart and forced the giddiness and madness to the back of my mind. The time had come to cauterize the wound.
“Sonia, give it to me,” I said with a tremor in my voice. I reached out a hand towards her, a hand stained with Phil’s blood. It looked as if I were wearing a wet, crimson glove. Sonia only stared blankly at me for a long moment, however. A surge of anger ran up my chest.
“Sonia, toughen the fuck up! He’s going to die if you just sit there!” I swore at her, hearing my deep, angry voice bounce around the caverns. Sonia pulled back, as if she were struck. Inwardly, I cursed having a woman as my only able-bodied companion in this situation. She was a competent enough caver, but what would happen if violence and blood came over us? What would happen if, or more realistically when, we needed to fight?
Grimly, Sonia leaned forward and yanked the burning black orb out of the roaring fire, handing it to me on the end of a buck knife that had just barely pierced its hard, strange exterior. The handle of the knife felt coarse and splintery under my filthy skin. I put it to the spongy stump of Phil’s arm. The stump twitched violently. Phil tried to pull away as black smoke rose from the burning flesh.
There was a smell like bacon sizzling. The searing meat of Phil’s arm blackened and crisped under the heat of the orb, which had become no more than a cylinder of glowing blue embers by this point. I felt simultaneously sick and giddy. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or vomit. I felt like I was on the verge of some kind of madness, that the stress and insanity of the experience had started to shatter my mind.
His eyes rolled back in his head and he appeared to go into a seizure for a few seconds. With a long exhalation of breath, he finally, mercifully, lost consciousness. It’s hard to admit it, even this close to the end, but a small, sick piece of me was jealous of Phil. Most likely, he would be dead soon, maybe within hours, while Sonia and I would slowly starve and dehydrate like animals over a period of weeks. I looked at her lithe body and soft skin, seeing the feminine curves of her hips and chest. She was a beautiful woman. I knew Phil to be a lucky man. At least, before this trip, he was.
I watched her body, wondering if I had what it took to eat her or Phil if I had to. Did I have an iron heart that would allow me to slice into my friends and consume their raw, cold flesh? Perhaps, by that point, it would be hunger and madness driving me forward, and I wouldn’t even hesitate. I shuddered at the very thought.
***
I fell asleep that night, having strange dreams of massive gods with melting faces sitting in judgment in a circle around me. We had very little food or water left. No one knew we were down here. Rescue was not coming.
When I awoke, I found myself alone. Phil had died from his injuries while I slept, the black streaks of septic shock spreading up his arm towards his heart. His eyes stared sightlessly up at the rock ceiling.
“Sonia?” I called out, my heart racing as I sat up. “Where are you?” My headlamp was growing dim. I looked in my pack, realizing I was on the last of my batteries. I saw a silhouette walking out of the darkness, the thin, pale form of Sonia. She was trembling badly.
“I saw them,” she said. “Niralahoth and its priests. The priests aren’t human. They look reptilian with sideways mouths and too many eyes.” She shuddered.
“Why would you do that?” I asked. Her eyes grew distant.
“You know we’re not getting out of here alive,” she said. “Not on our own. I wanted to see what it offered. It says that if we take a piece of its nightmare into us, we will gain the power to leave this place, that it simply wants to see the surface and spread its nightmares there.” I shook my head.
“Insanity,” I muttered. “We’d be better off dead.” Sonia nodded.
“My thoughts exactly,” she responded grimly. I didn’t realize what she meant until the next day, when I woke up and found her hanging next to Phil’s body, her tongue swollen and blue as it poked out of her cyanotic lips. And then I was truly alone.
***
Soon after Sonia committed suicide, the last of the batteries for the headlamp died. I had run out of food and had only a small sip of water left. I don’t know how much time passed in the darkness, starving and raving, following the tunnel by running my hands over the walls. I heard many things skittering in the darkness, and a few times, I heard the demonic voice of Niralahoth as it split and distorted.
“You are on death’s door,” it hissed. “Will you not drink from the fountain of life?” I couldn’t tell where the voice came from in the maddening blackness. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. I had lost nearly all of my sanity in that pit of shadows by this point. I tried laughing constantly to keep my spirits up, and when that failed, I simply cried.
“I’ll do it,” I wailed. “I’ll do it. Just let me see the sky again. Get me out of here, Niralahoth.” Everything went deathly silent all around me, then a laugh rang out like the grinding of glass.
In front of me, I saw a tornado of fire descending from the ceiling, surrounding the massive, spidery form of Niralahoth. It rose its skeletal arms upwards, as if it were Zeus calling down lightning. In the sudden brightness, I saw the fiery form of snakes slithering and centipedes skittering forwards in that tornado, each massive creature sculpted from flames in the spinning cyclone of energy. Niralahoth reached into the tornado of fire with its sharp points of fingers and plucked something small from it. The fire instantly dissipated. In its hand, I saw a tiny, swirling orb that looked like it contained a firestorm within it.
“The nightmare seed,” Niralahoth gurgled as it skittered forward towards me. I could only stare, open-mouthed and starving. I hadn’t slept for days, it felt like, and everything seemed slow and unreal.
In a blur, its skeletal arm shot out and forced the orb into my mouth. Despite the fire raging within it, it felt freezing cold. As it touched my tongue, it gave off a sensation like frostbite all throughout my mouth. I screamed and tried spitting it out, but it seemed to have a mind of its own. It started liquifying, dripping down my throat.
I felt something cancerous and sick spreading throughout my body, radiating out from my heart and stomach to every inch of it. I tried to scream, but it caught behind my teeth. I fell to my knees, clawing at my face as that insane, alien laugh continued resounding all down the tunnel. I fell unconscious and woke up under a beautiful sky in the fields of Graysole Farms.
***
Soon after, I realized that my life would never be the same. Everywhere I went, I could hear the wailing voice of Niralahoth. Behind the trees, I always saw skittering shadows, creatures with long, spidery legs that stalked me every day and night. I slept with every light in the house turned on, yet when I woke up, they would all be shut off, and I would find myself in darkness, next to something in the bed with far too many legs and a face that dripped like burning wax.
I sold everything I owned and tried to move far away, to give as much distance between myself and those cursed caverns as I could, but the nightmares followed me like a shadow. I realize what a fool I was in those ephemeral moments of madness. Sonia was much wiser than myself; I should have killed myself or died rather than allowing that thing inside of me.
Even now, I can feel it creeping through my heart, spreading through my blood. I feel it trying to crawl its way out of my throat, the thin, black legs peeking out at the back of my esophagus.
I only hope that, when I finally jump and feel my bones shatter against the concrete far below, I will kill whatever is inside of me. For I fear the consequences for the world if it were to escape.

Model: Kitchenaid KDPM604KPS0
Error: E1F9
After cleaning out the tub of some grime, I noticed some food buildup on the water inlet assembly on the side. I dissolved that with some Drain-O, because there was nothing that could fit into the small plastic "water maze". That didn't fix the error, so I finally resorted to taking off the entire drain and sump assembly and removing the microfiltration system. Despite their claims that the water is "continuously filtered", do you suppose the filter might have been gummed up? Oh yes.
https://imgur.com/x01VXKm
https://imgur.com/Ilkt6JF
Dishwashers have a lot of crud that go through them. Their internal testing should have shown that buildup of food was a definite possibility. I had to pull the entire dishwasher out, flip it on its back, and find the service manual to disassemble and remove the entire goddamn sump and drain assembly, then disassembled that to get at the filter, for which there is no manual, or assembly diagram, or any such thing. Hopefully I put it back together the way it was intended.
https://imgur.com/tBdMm86
Fuck you, KitchenAid. Make your shit easier to repair.
For anyone else coming after me, if you're getting the E1F9 error (tub drain error) and no obvious obstruction, it's very possible your microfilter is all gummed up. I found the service manual here.
[Edit: I do indeed regularly run Afresh packets through the dishwasher to clean it out.]

I did my impressions for my perms on Friday and have an appointment this friday for wax rims... then I'll get my 1st completed wax try-ins... I did not really get the chance to fine tune my temps because I had to back to work right away. I've put off doing my perms for a long time because 1) I did not wanna do impressions again and 2) it's an overwhelming process for me. But I'm moving forward now and I'll paying extra for a "premium" denture and I just want it to right!!
There's things I love about my immediates and things I dislike...

1. I think the teeth are slightly too big.
2. The gum line on the right side is longebigger causing my smile to be slightly crooked but also my lips to separate at rest.
3. I think the canines aren't right and they look fake over all.

Albeit everything about my temps are better than my natural teeth but I'm looking for advice and imput on how I might explain what I want moving forward and what looks good about them now.
I'm 1yr and 5 months post eday. I've had a really good experience with my temps. No issues eating, good suction, etc.... but I've done soft liners ever since (I've only had 2 since I got my dentures 😳) and when I went in to get a hard reline she said that the acrylic would probably cause pain because I have a boney protruding upper ridge and the only way to fix that would be to make the fit not as tight and then I'd likely need adhesive and I SOOO do not want that and I'm very nervous! /dread
Thanks! 💓

Hi all. My party has finally found all pieces of Dream Machine yesterday, and they are now planning on retrieving the sword from the Bloody Cyst. I have a bit of a problem with the way Remix handles this:

The citadel cannot be seen; it is completely subsumed by the Cyst.
No one knows that this is where the Sword of Zariel lies hidden. As noted previously, this secret is held only in Lulu’s lost memories.
Therefore, there are no devils or demons here excavating the site. (You could have them here just harvesting the bloody pulp of the cyst for one reason or another, but you’d want to make significant changes to the key.)

This I find a bit problematic, after reading the Chapter 4: Scab, I absolutely love this disgusting three-dimensional dungeon. I struggle with aligning the dungeon and the fact that it's supposed to be completely empty because of Remix reasons. If the Scab/Bloody Cyst covered the citadel completely, but demons, devils and yugoloths were still excavating the flesh, the actual entrance can still be hidden, no? And it can still be a compelling dungeon with almost all of the enemies and encounters.
Some changes I plan on doing:

1. S10 Crokek'toeck won't be here, but it would still make sense to have him here, since what else is better to keep nomming on with its eternal hunger, than an eternal flesh mound, but I will place it in a different hex.
2. S14 - Entrance will be completely sealed off. There won't be any way to enter the room, or a room to speak of. Players will have to dig there, while Lulu can help navigating towards it. Players have Geas'd an imp, which will get progressively more and more confused to a point of an absolute mind wipe the closer he gets to the entrance. I am playing with the idea that any fiend that gets too close will get confused (confusion spell effects) - 120ft distance DC 10, 100ft DC 14, and increasing DC by 4 every 20ft. If a fiend spends one minute under the effects of this confusion they are subconsciously going to try to leave the area of effect and not remember anything while under the effect of confusion. This can explain why there isn't any tunnel leading to the door, why there isn't any room around the door as well, and why no fiend has found the citadel, or a sword as well.
3. Trantolox will catch up with the party once they uncover the entrance to the citadel. It still wants the sword for Yeenoghu, but only because Mad Maggie talked about the Sword and Dream Machine to her bartender at the Well - Tasha. She then told this information to her previous lover Graz'zt, as an interesting gossip, and before players can get to the Bloody Cyst, Yeenoghu's forces have been dispatched to retrieve the sword. I am sure that there is a long rest, plus travel, plus the players will undoubtedly want to short rest in the dungeon, so that leaves plenty of time for demons to arrive there as well. I think that I should make it and the three Bulezaus' immune to confusion effects, but I am not sure of how exactly to do this.
4. S6 - Alazub will be imprisoned here, yes, he is loyal to Zariel, but he's been caught by other demons, not Trantolox, and has some information about some rooms in the dungeon, its features, and will also react if players mention the Sword in front of him.
5. S9 and S10 - No diggy demons here, no Crokek'toeck. This area is harder to dig, after about a foot deep it turns into a bone, and it's 10 feet thick and surrounds the entire area of S10. It has a vague shape of a skull, which could be noticed by a character with proficiency in medicine, and players can try to find a softer spot on the bottom part of the room (bottom-left on the map) with a successful DC17 Medicine or Investigation check. This area can be used for a short rest safely, as the tunnel they dug to get here regrows within one minute of entering the room.
6. S2 - Divine sense shows a consecrated aura coming from one of the walls of this room, and Detect Magic shows a faint abjuration aura as well, from somewhere behind the flesh wall. If players decide to dig into it, they reveal the window as described in the module.
7. S11 - No vrocks. I don't like using them, and I feel like they're overused. Instead there will be three Gnoll Fangs

Do you think this would work? Do you suggest any other changes? How did you play this dungeon with the Remix? Any idea how to convey the message that the flesh is made out of a Yael's body? I would like to put hints about this for the players to find, like maybe the hair that is found occasionally is black like Yael's.

I had my first upper right premolar done in Feb by previous dentist, he saw on X-ray that it needed a filling but thought it would be quick (was sorta coerced into doing it immediately as "it'll be quick", even though I was there for a cleaning and an opinion on the wisdom tooth and did not have the extra time off work and the mental fortitude for pain which I ended up needing for this). Cavity ended up being deeper than expected and very painful. Chewing on this tooth was super painful and I just avoided it for a month until it seemed to settle down.
While the first premolar settled, the second premolar also seemed to hurt, and there was a transitional period where I wasn't sure if one or the other hurt.
I then started going to a different dentist. She began work on it immediately, since I told her it hurts when chewing. I also wanted to show her the X-ray from the previous scan, especially for an opinion on my erupting wisdom tooth, but she was disinterested and told me the wisdom tooth is growing fine without checking it, which slightly confused me. (https://imgur.com/YeIRJ5O if this is of any use, idk.)
She continues to find 8 teeth with cavities (and a couple more as she begins fixing them), and, fair enough - I have neglected to see a dentist for a while. I continue going for fillings but only on the right side, since I can only chew on my left. (Got lower molars and second premolar fixed since then).
I get shooting pain lasting about 10-20sec from cold water, or hot tea, biting down on a seed or even like, a hard piece of bread crust, or anything sweet or acidic on it. Dull ache if I chew something tough with it like meat.
I was told to stop avoiding that side, but when I described the symptoms above, I was told to avoid nuts/seeds and hot foods. It still happens quite a lot and the pain is pretty distressing to have to eat through.
Dentist told me it should go away on its own, keep doing gum massage etc, and that the pain is likely because I had not gotten my teeth cleaned for too long. It has since been 3 months since then, have not noticed any improvement. I ask if it would help if I did a new X-ray, as the prev dentist did them regularly, and she told me that she disagrees with his methods and that "I don't do X-rays on live, healthy teeth". And that she would not do anything to this tooth unless the pain got way worse (in which case she'd root canal/extraction).
I'm just afraid that if I wait and ignore the pain until a root canal is needed, that I would have missed my chance to save the tooth. Anyway, since some things struck me as odd here is why I'm here asking for an opinion. I'm curious what parts of her recommendations you agree/disagree with? I'm looking for another dentist for a second opinion irl as well ofc, but I'm trying to really be sure before I go to yet another since budget isn't too big and I have at least 4 teeth left to fix, apparently.
ETA: Not a smoker, moderate coffee drinker, no sodas, sweet drinks etc.

I’m just trying to accept my fate after fumbling a good job opportunity :( . The job I’m currently working at gives me too little hours after employing too many(?) people, aka 4 hours a day max. They won’t accept anyone who isn’t working full time during the summer, but since I have a summer course, they won’t employ me much. I decided to do a job search & found the perfect one: located near me, more hours, more pay, better environment, & I’ve worked customer service before.
I got a call back(!) and was told to go have a small chat with the manager—let’s call her managerOne—at 3 PM on a Saturday. I accidentally slept over it and my four alarms; I guess I was too tired the night before. I immediately called her back and asked if I could still go there and she said yes, but she just interviewed another girl. Now I’m panicking because she might think I’m not punctual. I get there and I try to be as nice as possible (desperate for this job). She likes me and my attitude for being “smiley” and dissed the other girl for not knowing English and being too stern. Ngl I was happy hearing that. She said I need to do a 24 hour unpaid training to see if I’m actually fit for the job, which was unusual. Training usually pays less but not nothing. After the interview I thanked her for the time and clarified a few questions through text. She told me I would be assigned at least 24 hours within 2 full days of the week (yippie more hours)!
Today I made sure not to sleep over my training. Set hella alarms and slept hella early. I showered in the morning & did my makeup >< a girlie needs to be presentable. Made bold decision to put hair down after a century of tying it up. I went in at 12 afternoon and told them I was here for training. I was informed there was going to be another trainee with me. I was a little skeptical because training two people at once isn’t unheard of, but I doubted the place needed that many new hires. The new trainee was chill and very quiet. There were two full time girls working there. The one that trained us in the back room was very sweet, best posture, nice attitude and clearly a warming person. However, an hour in at 12:55, I was told to go home by the other girl. She told me that “I wouldn’t be a good fit for the job. Two managers were looking through the security cameras and thought I was chewing gum and being too arrogant with my attitude”. I asked her whether managerOne was the one who decided. She said yes and that even during my interview with her, I was chewing gum.
One thing about me is that I hate chewing gum & have never chewed gum for years. However, I do fidget with my tongue piercing. After I left the store I immediately called up managerOne and asked why she could kick me out if she liked me so much. I clarified to her it was my tongue piercing I was fidgeting with. She told me my attitude in posture made me look very careless about the job, giving a “whatever” attitude as if this job isn’t important to me. I told her I made it clear I truly wanted this job. I was asking a lot of questions to the trainer about how to do the job well.
During our training, I sat down with legs and arms crossed. I have a habit of crossing my legs for comfort (long torso and short legs make life hard). The girl training us told me 10 minutes into the training that crossing my arms might come off as arrogant to the customers. For the next 40 minutes I pulled my chair in and uncrossed everything. She told me that servers put their hair up, so I took out my rubber band and hair clip I packed just in case. ManagerOne told me that these two girls have been working for a long time and can tell whether one person would be fit for the job and didn’t want to waste my time since training is unpaid. I didn’t know I offended the sweet trainer that much. I’m usually reserved and almost never go out of my way in the job I have currently.
I asked managerOne if she could vouch for me. She said no because she trusts the two full-time workers more. The walk home was surreal in a negative way, like am I really going home right now? I enjoy doing restaurant work & I’ve done plenty before. ManagerOne told me there was a location open elsewhere. This location is an hour commute away and ends late nights at 1 AM sometimes. I would get home 2:30 AM after cleaning and maybe get there at 11:30 AM to open store again. I want more hours but not to the point of risking burnout.
Now I called up the other places I reached out to during my job search and most of them don’t need me. I regret getting a tongue piercing to fidget with and I regret putting my hair down and I regret not being a soulless person with no personality. Terribly sad about fumbling this job. Their food is mad good too & I feel like I’m banned from eating there. I might have messed up in a few places that might be minuscule but still contribute to me getting kicked out. I can think of not pushing my chair in when trainer was getting past me. I can think of saying it might be tedious to walk back and forth between the customers and chef if there was something to be clarified between the two (aka one dish takes 15 minutes to cook occasionally, so should I tell the customer first or ask the chef and come back to the waiting customer). I said that line in Mandarin so perhaps it might’ve not come off as good. I think they were going to kick one of us out regardless to fill in one space and keep their options open.
tldr: kicked out for being too arrogant one hour into training (chewing gum and crossing arms and legs) altho I don’t chew gum and changed posture immediately after being told

I need a new work backpack. I have a half dozen "good quality" backpacks that I've received for free (mix of swiss gear, jansport, custom swag, etc), including my current daily for the last 10 years, but none of them are perfect. In general they have too many pockets and "internal organization features" that are unused and unnecessary. I'm usually able to get rid of one anytime I hire a fresh grad or intern/coop.
I'm looking for a backpack that will last a long time preferably under $200USD, but I can stretch if needed. I have previously sewn my own backpacks (diy/myog) for backpacking and hiking, but I don't have the time.
Uses:

• Going to the office.
  
• Short business trips with 1-2 outfits and a dopp kit. For longer trips or international travel I additionally take a duffel bag.
  
• My bag stays with me at all times, I do not check it or leave it in hotels. Walking around the city, go to coffee shops, carry to conferences, dinners with coworkers or partners/clients, business meetings, etc.
  
• Occasionally carry a small toolkit
  

Desired features:

• Ideal dimensions: 19-20" x 13" x 8". Taller is fine, shorter bags feel small on my back.
  
• Laptop compartment capable of fitting two 16" laptops and a tablet. Being able to separate the tablet from the laptops would be nice. Needs to open at least half way down on each side but doesn't have to fold open. With multiple devices I have to pull the devices out for security regardless. I do not like side loading or 'L' shaped access.
  
• Main compartment for daily office use has a rain jacket, water bottle, and note pads. Add a sweater or fleece in the winter.
  
• Top pocket for badges, sunglasses, my favorite pens, etc
  
• Back pocket for my cable pouch (chargers, cables, international adapters, etc), medicine organizer, chap stick, gum, etc. I tend to use separate organizers, but pen holders and an internal mesh zipper pouch or two would be fine.
  
• Water bottle pocket on right side. I'd prefer a tall zip pocket on left side, otherwise second bottle pocket. I do not want mesh side pockets since those snag and tear.
  
• Durability. Heavier fabric that can be tossed around vehicles, labs, machinery (1000D or ballistic nylon), good zippers, etc. Easy to wipe clean.
  
• Lighter colovisible interior to be able to find things. Yellow or orange would be amazing. Most I've seen are light gray.
  
• Prefer all zippers have two pulls
  
• Needs to work for business professional, e.g. no molle webbing or daisy chain.
  
• I do not want an expanding backpack.
  
• Limit any additional pockets and internal features. My current daily has 1 unused external pocket (middle main?), 3 unused interior pockets, and miscellaneous 'sleeves' and mesh organizers.
  

I've looked at prior recommendations on this sub and there are a lot to consider. I've been casually looking for a while, but none I've come across have really been just right.

• Another coworker recommended the Nomatic Travel Pack 20L.
  
• I also saw a Samsonite Xenon 3.0.
  
• I like the style of this amazon pack minus the webbing and questionable quality.
  

I want to start by saying this is just the Treyarch systems I'm not familiar enough with the others to say anything. I still play BO2, BO3, BO4, and Cold War all the time and don't go 2 weeks without playing them. I love most of the games, this doesn't mean I hate zombies, or hate a certain game. I just thought about how I'd want the new game to work and I just something I noticed about the systems, and wondering if you guys feel the same way, and how you feel about my ideal perk system.
OG system: WaW, BO1, BO2, BO3
WaW & BO1 have the much worse double tap 1.0
WaW doesn't have Solo Quick Revive
You only get 4 perks, they all immediately disappear at a down, so you lose all motivation to keep playing or you just die trying to buy them back. some perks are required and some are so bad you never use them, so you always use the same perks and maybe change one of two from game to game. You're only hope to get more perks are with Easter eggs or gums and those are mostly random, and also disappear at a down.
BO4:
They make up for the lack of perk diversity, and fixed a lot of the bad perks, and cater to certain playstyles more. However you start with the max health, and the max revives buffing the player a little to much at game start. Plus certain perks work best with certain guns, if you're going for camoes or weapon unlocks, and get something from the box and don't have the complimentary perk do you just go with it? You might get a box only SMG and really need Bandolier, or kills for the helion and don't have PHD. The perks fit certain playstyles so if you get a random one instead of something that just doesn't do much, you might get one that actively disrupts you. Plus the fun originality of the machines and jingles is lost.
Cold War:
Everything is too strong, and there's no perk cap. Tier 5 perks are buffed versions of the original perk plus two other perks mashed in there. Mule kick gives unlimited ammo, PhD is basically advanced movement, elemental Pop is also electric cherry, death perception is a salvage farm. Wonderfizz is selectable so you don't even need to know where the perk machines are on a map, just the one perk spot. All it takes is points to be the most over powered a player can ever be in any zombies game ever.
Vanguard:
I don't need to explain this one.
My Ideal perk system:
Original perks come back, Quick Revive is in the spawn room, in multiplayer its just a perk. In solo it doesn't take a perk slot (like self revives in cold war). It starts cheap but gets more expensive each time, so if you are a bad player and go down a lot you can't depend on it to save you all the time, eventually the revives will become more expensive than you can earn if you aren't good and eventually you'll die. Three hit at spawn jug adds two more hits. Perk machines are scattered across the map almost every room has a perk machines and there's a BO3 style wonderfizz system for the rest. Theres a 5 perk cap, with the easter eggs and gums just giving you an extra perk slot, instead of a random perk. The 5 original slots have a perk decay on down like the BO4 system. You can re buy a perk at the machine (so not applicable to the wonderfizz perks) and it upgrades the perk in some way, like the Odin perk slot did, only one perk can be upgraded.
No losing all your perks on every down, big perk diversity with room to change perks from game to game, knowing where perk machines are is important, perks dont become super overpowered over time you get an extra strong perk but it's not pre selected before the game and you only buy it once.

Back at it again with the Sweetlands Arc as our crew comes face to face with the Gummy Gator Gang in a high octane Mad Max parody.
Bon Appétit.
The night sky is alight with the full moon. The cool desert air blows past the War Rig as it makes its way across the Rocky Roads. Jax, Mario, Luigi, and Kinger are all in the main cabin while Saturday and Ragatha sit atop its roof, remaining vigilant as the others wait in the trailer.
Jax: See anything, ladies?
Saturday: Nothing yet. Ragatha?
Ragatha: All clear on my end.
Mario: I'm-a tired.
Luigi: Why don't we pass the time with some games?
Kinger: Ooh, I'll go first! I spy with my little eye..................................
Luigi: Uh........ Kinger?
Jax: Give him a minute.
Kinger: .................. Oh hey there, Luigi.
Back in the trailer, we see the others making some small talk. The trailer itself is surprisingly comfy apart from the balcony mounted guns.
Uzi: And THAT is why you should never bring up doors around my dad.
Meggy: Wow, he sounds quite........ interesting.
Uzi: Yeah, he's been like that ever since my mom died. Still, he tries his best.
Tari: Do you still stay in touch?
Uzi: I call him on the phone booth sometimes to let him know I'm still kicking.
Tari: Hm...... I wonder how some of my old caretakers are doing. Maybe I should call them up too, sometime.
Saiko: Eh, parents are a bit overrated for my taste. For the longest time Kaizo was the only one who actually gave a shit about me. My parents probably don't even care that I'm not in my game anymore.
Meggy: What about you, Pomni?
Pomni: To be honest, most of my previous life before the Circus is just a blurr. Sometimes I doubt my parents even HAD faces..........I do vaguely remember having two older sisters, though.
Ragatha: EYES UP, PEOPLE! WE GOT COMPANY!
Barreling down just behind the rig is a warband of Gummy Bear Bandits riding Gingerbread Jeeps and Rocky Road Bikes. Leading the charge is the Syrup Tanker manned by Gummigoo and his brothers Max and Chad.
Gummigoo: LET'S SHOW EM WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE SNACKS BITE BACK!
Some of the bandits flank both sides of the Rig, unleashing a hail of bullets from their Coachguns and revolvers. Everyone ducks for cover as Tari quickly makes some barriers to deflect the oncoming gunfire. Ragatha casts some thread and ties herself a lasso, which she uses to snag one of the bandits and hurl him around like a wrecking ball. He slams into one of the bikes, sending it and its riders tumbling across the roads. Saturday deflects some gunfire with her lances before sending one straight through a bandit's heart. Tari pushes the barriers outwards and sends the rest of the wave flying away from the Rig as another catches up. Meggy and Uzi quickly get to the mounted chaser guns and begin unloading into every Bike and Jeep they see.
Meggy: COME GET SOME, WOOOOOO!!!!
Uzi: TAKE A BITE OUTTA THIS!!!!
One of the Jeeps manages to catch up with the Rig, allowing a few bandits to come aboard. One of them pops the top hatch open but is met with a hammer straight to the face as Saiko hauls herself onto the upper balcony. Ragatha notices the bandits brandishing their machetes as they charge Saiko, who manages to bat two of them off the Rig. One manages to land a slash on her side and readies to take her head, but is stopped by a cleaver slicing him in two. Ragatha casts the bandit's body aside and helps Saiko back up to her feet.
Ragatha: You good?
Saiko: Yeah. It's just a flesh wound.
Another bandit tries to attack, but Kinger pops up from the sunroof to save the day.
Kinger: RAGATHA, GRAB THIS!
He tosses a life preserver right over their heads. The bandit is confused for a moment, which gives Ragatha a chance to cleave him into pieces.
Ragatha: Thanks for the save, Kinger!
Mario: Mario wants to help too!
Mario then opens the door and tumbles out of the Rig, taking out another pair of bikes before catching a convenient rope. Looks like that life preserver hooked onto the back hitch of the trailer. He then uses some of that "Style Fu" to dodge some oncoming rocks.
Jax: Heads up, A-holes!
Jax pulls a lever labeled with a cherry sticker, opening a compartment on the back of the trailer. A cluster of Cherry Bombs tumble out of the compartment, whizzing by Mario and exploding upon impact with those who couldn't get out of the way in time. That's when Jax spots a rough stretch of land.
Jax: EVERYBODY HANG ON TO SOMETHING! WE'RE TAKING A LITTLE DETOUR!
He pulls another lever and extends the Rig's suspension as he swerves towards the rougher terrain. Mario cranks it into high gear as he continues to dodge the rocks. The bandits still follow suit, but not all of them fare as well as roughly half of them end up crashing into either the rocks or each other. The Tanker and Jeeps seem to have little issue though.
Luigi: JAX, THEY'RE GAINING ON US!
Jax grabs Luigi and plops him down on the driver's seat as he pulls something out from the backseat.
Jax: I'll be right back.
One of Jeeps is about to catch up to the tanker until it's obliterated by Jax and his Heavy Cola Cannon.
Jax: YEAH, NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!
He crawls out from the sunroof and starts laying waste to the rest of the Jeeps as Gummigoo and Chad look on from the driver's cabin of the Tanker.
Chad: Boss, I think we should cut our losses and get outta here while we still can.
That's when he hears several loud pops from the back. He looks out to see Tari flying behind the Tanker as Pomni hurls prismatic spikes at its tires. He grabs his rifle and takes aim, but before he can shoot he hears something land on the roof and feels something yank him up by the scruff of his neck.
Saturday: You miss me, Gums?
He flips out of her grasp and onto the roof before drawing his machete. The two fiercely clash blades as Tari and Pomni continue to attack the tires. Meanwhile, Meggy tries to pull Mario back on board when Kinger suddenly comes rushing in with an anchor.
Kinger: MARIO, GRAB THIS!
He tosses the anchor, nearly missing Mario and causing Chad to swerve out of the way to avoid getting hit. Saturday falls atop Gummigoo and the two end up in a VERY awkward position.
Meggy: Uh, Kinger....... is that tied to anything important?
Kinger: Hm..... Let me check.
As uf on cue the Rig suddenly grinds to a halt, and Chad swerves to avoid a collision. Gummigoo and Saturday both fall off of the Tanker as it spins out and grinds to a halt. Tari and Pomni land nearby and regroup with Saiko, Ragatha, Meggy, and Mario.
Ragatha: Pomni! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?
Pomni: Ragatha, I'm fine. Really.
Tari: She was a big help, actually. Now the Tanker is out of commission without its tires.
Mario: YEAH! Mario wants to go again! My feet are a bit sore, though.
Tari notices Saiko holding a bloody towel to her side.
Tari: Oh my God, what happened!?
Saiko: Oh, this? It's nothing serious.
Tari: B-but you're bleeding!
Saiko: It's just a flesh wound, I'll-
Tari Are you dizzy!? Do you need water!?
Saiko: TARI. I'm fine, really. It's just a flesh wound.
Kinger: SAIKO, GRAB THIS!
Kinger then tosses a first aid kit that lands right beside the two.
Tari: Thanks, Kinger. Saiko, please.
Tari has Saiko sit down on a nearby rock, and she reluctantly lets Tari tend to her injuries. Meanwhile, Mario and Meggy approach the Tanker as Chad and Max pop their heads out to search of Gummigoo. Meggy raises her bowgun at the two.
Meggy: Don't you two try anything stupid.
Chad: Have any of you seen the Captain by any chance?
Max: He couldn't have landed too far.
Both groups find Saturday sitting atop Gummigoo, pinning him down by the wrists.
Saturday: Are you all just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help me tie him up?
Gummigoo: Oh, by all means, take your time! I wouldn't wanna miss out on such a lovely view.
Saturday: Ugh, you're such a pig.
Gummigoo: Actually, I'm a gator. Big difference.
She proceeds to punch him square in the snout.

TL;DR at the end since I have a lot detail on here; and formatting may not be what I’m intending since I’m on mobile. Back on Monday (5/13) I went to the endodontist thinking tooth 30 needed a root canal as I was having pain any time I tried to eat anything tougher than pasta (previously went thinking it needed a root canal back in January and it ended up being 31 that was causing me more issue at the time when he examined it (post temporary crown placement at the end of December on both of them for recurrent decay in my molars - long story of frustration with my current dentist re: that and how my last appointment with him went) and, after getting some residual cement from between the teeth/gums out at the follow up, pain was vertically gone to 30 and 31, I could eat steak and crab Rangoon on that side, which was a relief since we were concerned 31 had a crack that couldn’t be visualized on X-ray given some tenderness I was having post root canal - the only time I’ve had pain to 31 since was when they were placing and adjusting the top crowns right above and my bite just kept being off, which, after some time did improve). The X-ray looked slightly changed (to 30) so he did a CT on it to get a better look. They explained the concern to me, popped the temporary crown off to assess it better (which, when he did that he was initially hitting one side of my gum until I told him it was hurting and he readjusted) and see if he could identify the spot where the crack was, couldn’t palpate (does it count as palpating when it’s a tooth and tools are being used?) anything, reexamined the CT, and said he felt confident that that was what the issue was (he ended up showing me the CT and it was a very fine crack - the way he phrased it was basically that the tooth hadn’t burst yet as to why my pain was the way it was). Went ahead and had the tooth pulled that same day (came out it one piece as far as I’m aware) and he placed, which I can’t remember the actual phrasing he used, but I think it was basically a collagen plug into the socket for preservation and healing purposes so I can get started with an implant in a few months, and placed a couple sutures. He wrote for antibiotics but the tech said, “you probably won’t need them,” so I didn’t start them right away. Was instructed to avoid mouth rinses for two weeks, nothing with peroxide either. Later Monday and Tuesday I took Norco to help with pain and mostly slept. Wednesday and Thursday I had to work and Wednesday was a bit of a struggle with managing pain - I’d take ibuprofen, which did manage it well, but two or three hours before I could take another dose I was already hurting/throbbing again. The dose of Norco I have makes me tired so working and taking the full dose wasn’t an option so I took half when it got to that point before I could do ibuprofen again; once it kicked in I was good again. Wednesday and Thursday mornings I also didn’t sleep well because of the pain despite taking meds the nights before. Thursday morning I went ahead and started the antibiotics since my pain didn’t seem super improved; this was the last day I took Norco was well. Friday morning half of the stitches came out, Saturday morning the rest came out. Pain has been decently managed just with mobic twice a day (which my GI tract appreciates more than the ibuprofen) and intermittent Tylenol if things start to ache. All of that said, are there any pictures of day to day healing for something like this? I have no idea what the collagen plug should look like at this point (seems thinned out to me, if that makes sense, and kinda gapping in places). I feel like maybe my pain should be at a better level too; it very rarely feels like it’s from the socket and more often feel achey on the buccal side of my gum (kind of around where he was hitting when he initially went to take the temporary crown off). I do feel like I have some sympathetic/referred pain in 31 and 29 but I partially wonder if it’s just how my bite is now that 30’s gone. Gently palpating over the socket hole (which I do feel is smaller and gradually healing from last week) with a q-tip there does appear to be a scant amount of serous drainage (which I kinda taste if I run my tongue over it, gross I know; taste dissipates briefly is I let water go over it). All of that is very long, I know, so props to anyone who read it all. Teeth just aren’t my area of knowledge so I feel kinda lost and I don’t want to call if this is all normal.
TL;DR - 30 pulled after CT showed crack, collagen plug placed followed by sutures. Antibiotics started three days later due to concern for pain improving and worry for infection. Two days left of antibiotics, still taking NSAID and Tylenol, pain/aching mostly noted on buccal side of gums. Stitches out, collagen plug appears thin and gapping, scant serous drainage on q-tip. Pictures of normal healing that may be floating the internet that I haven’t found? Thoughts? Encouraging words?

As parents, it’s natural to want the best for our children, and that includes their dental care. And of those is through undergoing pediatric dental x-rays, but one of the misconceptions about this is the thought that bitewing x-rays can cause harm and make them gag. This article will explain the significance of pediatric dental x-rays, how they benefit your child’s oral health, and why Madison Dentistry & Implant Center utilizes them as part of our comprehensive care approach.

Knowing what pediatric dental x-ray is

Dental radiographs, or pediatric dental x-rays, are essential instruments that pediatric dentists use to evaluate and track the oral health of their patients. These pictures offer in-depth information on parts of the mouth that are not visible in an ordinary dental exam.

Why are pediatric dental x-rays necessary?

Detecting Tooth Decay: With the use of dental x-rays, dentists can identify tooth decay immediately, treating it quickly to stop more serious harm.
Monitoring Tooth Development: X-rays help dentists monitor the development of primary and permanent teeth, ensuring that they are growing correctly and identifying any abnormalities early on.
Assessing Jaw Alignment: X-rays help in the diagnosis and treatment of bite issues like malocclusion by providing important information about the alignment of the jaw and the placement of teeth.
Identifying Oral Health Issues: From detecting impacted teeth to diagnosing conditions like gum disease, dental x-rays play a crucial role in identifying various oral health issues that may not be visible during a visual examination alone.

The Safety of Pediatric Dental X-Rays

At Madison Dentistry & Implant Center, we recognize how critical it is to put our young patients’ safety and wellbeing first. For this reason, we employ cutting-edge digital radiography equipment, which substantially lowers radiation exposure when compared to film x-rays. Our team adheres to comprehensive safety regulations to guarantee that kids get the best care possible when getting dental x-rays.

Preparing Your Child for Dental X-Rays

To help prepare your child for their x-ray appointment, we recommend:
Explaining the Process: Take the time to explain to your child what dental x-rays are and why they are necessary. Use simple language and reassure them that the procedure is quick, painless, and safe.
Offering Encouragement: Encourage your child to ask questions and express any concerns they may have about the x-ray procedure. Reassure them that our friendly dental team will be there to guide them every step of the way.
Distracting Techniques: Bring along their favorite toy, book, or electronic device to help distract and comfort them during the x-ray procedure.
We believe that every child deserves a healthy smile that lasts a lifetime. Pediatric dental x-rays play a vital role in achieving this goal by allowing us to detect and address oral health issues early on. Schedule an appointment with us and give your child the gift of optimal oral health.