1: Spacecation: Outer space world. Transformation: rocket ship. Boss: Alien UFO from Tooie. 3D warship phase and 2D sidescrolling phase. Costume: Astronaut suit.
2: Triumphant Trumpets. Music themed level. Platforming across various giant instruments. New kazooie move: Rue my Kazoo (dazes enemies with a kazoo). 280 notes in this level. If you collect all of them, unlocks a Blues outfit for Banjo and Kazooie and the kazoo attack becomes a trumpet. Banjo will tap his foot along to the music beats of each level while idle in this outfit. Boss: Drumstick bros.🍗 & 🥁. Transformation: Grand Piano. Can feed a soil patch to create beanstalks with your eggs.
3: MondoMegaMoreMall: new ability: skateboard, faster, more stylish way of getting around. Can spend your notes on gaining new skateboard tricks only for this level. costume: Green Mohawk Banjo, gold chain kazooie with a purple stripe in her hair.
4: Giant’s Lair: The cut level from Kazooie restored in all its glory. Climb a beanstalk from the music level to reach it. Have to hide from a giant until you beat him in a boss fight. Can then roam free without stealth. New Banjo ability: Hungry bear: banjo rifles through some trash and goes on a very damaging rampage for 7 seconds. 4 second cooldown. Can be used for puzzles and attacking. New move: Eggs for Brekky: Kazooie solo move that restores health. Kazooie eats a helping of her various egg types. Can also be used for puzzles depending on which egg you eat. (Fire eggs make her very hot, grenade eggs make her burp noxious fumes).
5: Miso Saurée: Japanese themed restaurant level where Banjo and Kazooie must save the residents of an aquarium from being served to some very hungry patrons. Underwater 1st half, on land 2nd half.
666: Heckhole: Hell level. Boss: Cerberus. (1st floor) Boss: The Devil (4th floor). 2nd boss: Satan (fallen angel form, 9th floor). You fall from below into the river Styx, swim into a land mass containing the 9 circles of Hell each containing a group of damned and a Jiggy. Transformation: Cerberus (much smaller than boss form). Kazooie cracks wise about Hell being a place for losers. Gets in hot water (literally).
7: Backtracking: The Level. Revisiting your choice of three levels from kazooie that have added bosses and tooie/new moves for jiggies, or two shrunken down tooie stages. Can only pick between the kazooie or tooie levels per play through. Three kazooie level sets of three, four tooie sets of two levels. Transformation: Various (some new, some old). Boss: Various (some new, some old).
8: African Farm (African safari level + animal farm from 1984 characters). Also contains a rainforest jungle. Transformation: Elephant and Giraffe. Kazooie becomes a giraffe, Banjo and elephant. Boss: Hunter. Tarzan references and cheeky British humor galore.
9: Landlubbers’ Ocean Ordeals: Pirate expedition across the sunlit seas with Capt Blubber and Blackeye to search for the mysterious Crystal Jiggy. (Very difficult to find, unlocks hard mode and randomized modes for next playthrough). Boss: Captain Blubber.
10: The Final, Final, FINAL fight: Showdown against evil Banjo and evil Kazooie possessed by Gruntilda from all the game overs (dead Banjos and Kazooie of the three main games). They know all the possible moves from all three games. Beating them and the game unlocks them as a costume and free level mode for future playthroughs (can access levels in new game without any jiggies).
11: Editor’s Note: Secret final level only available on a second and later playthrough. Can create your own Banjo level with 100 notes, 5 Jinjos, 10-20 Mumbo tokens, 10 Jiggies, a boss fight, a transformation and your own song. Can choose between grassland, ice world, fire world, and a dozen other level themes.
If you manage to collect all 110 jiggies, you can return to Giant’s Lair and find Cheato (…somewhere…) to unlock Conker as a playable character. He plays similarly to how he did in CBFD. He will be able to get all the jiggies but in different ways than Kazooie and Banjo, generally.
Those are my level ideas! What are yours for a potential Banjo Threeie?

Home Stock Ideas Long Ideas Communication Services Paramount Takeover Talks: Sony-Apollo Deal Closure Could Lead To Large Gains May 20, 2024 5:16 AM ETParamount Global (PARA) Stock, PARAA StockAPO, SNEJF, SONY9 Comments International Investor profile picture International Investor 19 Followers
Summary
Paramount shares at $12-$13 trade far below the lowest price in the Sony-Apollo bid at $22. The major voting shareholder of Paramount is forced to raise cash to pay debts, which may lead to Paramount being sold. Sony has been interested in buying Paramount for a long time now. PARA shares are unjustly trading far lower than PARAA shares, which have the same economic rights.
Editor's note: Seeking Alpha is proud to welcome International Investor as a new contributing analyst. You can become one too! Share your best investment idea by submitting your article for review to our editors. Get published, earn money, and unlock exclusive SA Premium access. Click here to find out more »
Paramount Pictures AlexandreFagundes
At the moment, I believe Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) shares (which are the Class B shares) are far depressed compared to the underlying value of all the company's assets. A non-binding offer by Sony and Apollo Global could lead to a deal taking the company private at $22 or more per share, rewarding new investors in PARA with massive gains compared to the current stock price of $12-$13. Existing investors who bought above $20 may or may not be rewarded, depending on the details of the Sony-Apollo offer. Longer out-of-the-money call options might win big if the Sony-Apollo deal proceeds at $22 per share or more.
In this article, I will try to explain why I think Sony-Apollo will offer more than most investors expect and why the PARA shares are far undervalued compared to the Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARAA), or the Class A, shares.
A fair warning, though: investing in Paramount is not for everyone. One could make a corporate drama movie about what happened with the stock. In the last few weeks alone, we had Warren Buffett selling his PARA shares at a massive loss and publicly talking about it at the Berkshire (BRK.A) (BRK.B) annual shareholder meeting, "We lost quite a bit of money"
Meanwhile, we have the trial of Bill Hwang running in the background, who blew up his hedge fund Archegos while investing in shares of ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global).
Earlier Offers from Skydance and Apollo Then we have Skydance led by David Ellison (son of Larry Ellison) vying to buy the controlling stake held by heiress Shari Redstone in Paramount Global via her investment vehicle National Amusements (NAI). To me, this appears more of a take-under kind of deal that would seriously dilute the value of PARA shares. National Amusements, the Redstone family company, needs to repay debts. Shari Redstone has already sold some real estate and is looking for cash to pay these NAI debts. The greatest asset of NAI is the 77% of voting rights of PARAA. These shares give Redstone control over all important decisions relating to Paramount Global.
When Apollo Global Management (APO) showed up to make a $27 billion cash bid based on the Enterprise Value of Paramount on April 3, 2024, other Paramount shareholders found out that Skydance was also interested in Paramount and that there were exclusive negotiations going on. Skydance tried to structure a buyout of NAI in order to gain control over Paramount Global by overpaying for PARAA and diluting PARA holders, who own about 90% of the economic value of the company.
This move caused a lot of public backlash from large PARA investors such as Ariel Investments. The threat of serious litigation probably made the decision makers at the board and the special committee of Paramount wary of the Skydance deal. In an April 2024 Delaware court decision involving Match Group, it was ruled that a transaction with a majority voting shareholder on both sides must be evaluated by a completely independent special committee and approved by a majority of the minority stockholders. In the case of Paramount Global, this would mean the majority of the PARA holders because the company is registered in Delaware.
After the exclusivity period with Skydance came to an end, Apollo Global came back along with Sony (SONY) with a non-binding offer of $26 billion. Paramount's special committee met on Saturday (4 May), a day after the one-month window with Skydance expired, and decided to consider its approach to the Sony-Apollo bid. Discussions between the companies are currently ongoing.
Why Sony and Apollo? From the perspective of Redstone, who always said she wanted to keep the company in one piece, Sony might be a semi-acceptable candidate. They have been part of Hollywood for a long time. Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures are big names. There is a decent chance that Sony would keep most of the company. Some parts, such as CBS, are more tricky because of regulatory approval and foreign ownership. But that is where the partnership between Sony and Apollo could help. Apollo as a US-based entity should have less regulatory issues. In a recent interview, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan said regarding the FCC 25 percent foreign ownership cap: "Look, regulatory is an issue for every transaction, but these paths are well trodden."
From Sony's perspective, the company is a content provider. Two of their segments mentioned as reporting their own financial in the recent earnings call were Pictures and Music. Paramount has a large catalog and content that would add value to many parts of the Sony business. The movie catalog, for instance, could be combined with like Columbia Pictures (owned by Sony since 1989). Other IPs such as Star Trek and Sponge Bob could be used to create games and used to increase value in other distribution channels. When the Sony bid came out, an estimated $3 billion per year in savings was mentioned by combining the companies.
Valuation of the Sony-Apollo offer Now, this is where things get really interesting. Most investors seem to think that the current Sony-Apollo offer is for $26 billion including the debt. The net debt is estimated at about $12.2 billion. With 40.7 million PARAA and 625 million PARA shares outstanding and assuming no premium for the PARAA shares, this would be a little over $22 per share. If the PARAA holders get a 5-10% premium, PARA holders would get only slightly less. This would be still a great investment considering the current market price of $12-$13 if the deal happens, with an increase of more than 80%.
Because Shari Redstone knows what the company could be worth, I am not expecting PARA to be sold for $22 per share. Redstone would want more for her PARAA and PARA shares (she paid $32.36 per share for 646,764 PARA shares in May 2022).
The recent earnings call showed that the turnaround strategy is working, and the streaming losses are decreasing, mainly due to growth in Paramount Plus revenue (+50%) while free cash flow increased to $208 million and the leverage ratio went down to 4.3. This, in my view, makes the negotiation position of Paramount quite a bit stronger.
When the Sony-Apollo deal came out, some of the financial media such as Bloomberg and Reuters published the offer as $26 billion in cash and assumed the debt. In a Bloomberg article on May 2, 2024, they use similar wording. WSJ states it like this: "Private-equity giant Apollo Global Management submitted a $26 billion offer, including about $12 billion in equity plus assumption of debt." These two things are surely not the same, and the majority of the press and the investors seem to lean towards the way WSJ states it. I find it strange that an experienced M&A company like Apollo picks the wording assumption of debt and mentions a $26 million all-cash offer rather than referring to the equity value of the deal. It makes more sense to value the whole equity with a bid number. In the case of Paramount Global, there are of course difficulties in giving a price per share, because of the PARAA vs PARA discussion and potential premiums. But if the offer is indeed $26 billion in cash AND the assumption of debt, this would mean that Sony would leave all the low-interest debt outstanding, and the $26 billion would be for the shareholders of PARAA and PARA to split up. Without a premium for PARAA versus PARA, this would be about $41 per share, A or B class.
I could be very wrong here, and that they just wrote assuming the debt is long-term, low-interest debt and Sony-Apollo would like to keep it outstanding, but it would be inconsistent with the earlier bid history and my estimated value of the company and looking at what happened before. In reference to the $27 billion solo bid made by Apollo, there are actually different wordings and a mention of $27 billion Enterprise Value, encompassing equity and debt.
At the moment, PARA stock is trading much lower than one would expect when there is a potential offer, even at the lowest offer price. I think this is partly due to investor fatigue and distrust from the earlier Skydance discussion (with the dilution risk), and also because of the large shorting. There were about 70 million PARA shares short just recently, and the shorters seem to have issues trying to get out of the shares. It is much harder to obtain PARAA shares because most of them are owned by NAI and other large investors. This makes shorting them very difficult and might partly explain the large price difference between PARAA currently trading at around $21 and PARA at around $12-$13.
Another reason could be that some investors believe that there will be a premium for PARAA shares vs PARA. Mario Gabelli, who manages 5 million shares of PARAA for clients, is one of them. I think there might be a small premium for PARAA, but US law seems to limit this, especially in cases where the economic rights are the same for different share classes. A lot of negative news in various media, such as CNBC, seems to keep retail investors wary of PARA shares.
Options The serious shorting and the flow of negative news also affect option prices. On 15 May, one could buy, for instance, a call on September 20, 2024, at strike 15 for 0.84 cents ask. This call would most likely go far in-the-money if a deal were announced. Profits would start when PARA shares hit $15.84 before September.
I normally don't buy options, but because of the outsized risk/reward I think exists here, I am long various series in July, September, and December at strikes starting at $15 and higher. Because I expect any deal to take some time for due diligence and possible renegotiations, I did not buy any options expiring before July.
Why I think the Sony-Apollo bid is higher than $22/share Apollo bid $11 billion for only the studios and the catalog in March 2024 Apollo bid $27 billion including the debt for the whole company in April 2024. Why come back with a lower offer of $26 billion and partner with Sony, which has billions of dollars' worth of synergies combining the businesses? Apollo knew what Shari Redstone would get in the Skydance deal. The combined PARA and PARAA offer assuming the debt would be a similar package for Redstone but without the legal issues. The offer for $22 per share would compare poorly to the $64 offered by Skydance. The negotiations started on a Saturday, right after the Skydance exclusivity ended. Would Redstone be interested in dealing with a very low offer immediately after Skydance was offering her a lot more just days ago for her PARAA package by buying NAI at a large premium? Sony already inquired about acquiring Paramount Global some years ago when PARA was trading at a higher price. A sum-of-the-parts assessment of Paramount based on partly public bid information suggests that the parts are worth more: Studios is valued at $11 billion at the least, based on the earlier Apollo offer, Showtime is valued at over $3 billion, and BET at about $3 billion - all of which adds up to $17 billion. A quick estimate puts CBS with their sports contracts at least at $10 billion. Byron Allen called out a price of $10 billion for ABC last year, and CBS has more viewers.
If MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central together are worth $3 billion, then we are at $30 billion, which would be $4 billion above the Sony-Apollo offer. Because Paramount does not split up the numbers, it is difficult to give an exact estimate, but Nickelodeon by itself is a strategic asset because it is very strong in the kids segment. From the Q42024 SEC filing: "Notably, Nickelodeon delivered the number one preschool property among kids two to five in PAW Patrol and the number one animation property among kids two to 11 in SpongeBob in total television viewing minutes." For services like streamers, having kids' content is important to help retain customers.
Note that this would value all other assets such as the streaming business with Paramount Plus and Pluto TV at zero.
Risks Management decision-making: Paramount Global currently has 3 CEOs. The previous CEO Bob Bakish left the company just days before the earnings call. During the latest earnings call, no questions were answered. Instead, they played the Mission Impossible (a co-production between Paramount and Skydance) theme song in a loop.
Corporate governance concerns: There were no press releases about any offers, either about Skydance or any other negotiations starting or ending.
Non-alignment of the majority PARAA holders with PARA shareholders: The best example is the treatment of the Skydance offer, as explained in this article. If they find a way to make it happen, there could be another Skydance offer.
Deal terms uncertain: There is no clear public price communicated yet. Some investors are still discussing the assumption of the debt part of the announcement, and there could be discussions about PARAA vs. PARA price premium because of the dual-class share structure.
Shorting: Paramount Global is one of the most shorted stocks in the S&P 500. The PARA stock price is currently trading about $9 below that of PARAA despite having equal economic value.
Regulatory: Approvals required for a takeover of CBS and other parts are more difficult with foreign buyers such as Sony because the deal needs to be ratified by FCC and other regulatory bodies. If the Sony-Apollo deal does not get done, the share price may go down by 20-30% in the short run.
Catalysts Announcement of the start of the due diligence or more clarity on the Sony-Apollo offer could bring the share price up due to more demand from investors and force the shorts to cover.
Conclusion With a current market price of PARA shares at between $12 and $13 per share and a potential takeover price of around $22 (or about $41, if the Sony-Apollo offer is cash and assuming the debt), PARA could be a great medium-term investment. Buying PARA shares or longer out-of-the-money call options - for instance, the series between 15 and 20 strike for July, September, or December 2024 - might be very rewarding for investors, in my opinion.
Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

Hey all—
My daughter will be 3 in July. We have been introducing her to the potty for a few months now and really started honing in on it this weekend. She knows what a potty is but is struggling to tell us that she needs to go.
If she has gone in a diaper, she will pull at it and sometimes get us a diaper indicating she needs to be changed.
We’re planning to keep working at this over the longer Memorial Day weekend coming up but I’m not sure how to work daycare into this-
We’ve talked to the teachers before and they said they won’t take them unless the child can tell them they have to go. I’ve also witnessed multiple times they let kids go from their room to the bathroom (right next door and small lobby) on their own and the kids get no assistance. I’m worried my kid wouldn’t be able to be able to go, wipe herself, pull her pants up, and wash her hands without some adult guidance.
She is speech delayed and we have her in speech therapy. She’s good at labeling things, knows her numbers,colors, sings multiple songs, and does a few 2 word phrases like “help me”. She’s come leaps and bounds from where she was, although I know she’s still behind.
A developmental therapist also comes to the school once a week to see her and help them try to integrate her in the class more.
Any advice on approaching potty training with this daycare (or for us in general) would be so appreciated! The director is terrible and probably won’t be much help. The teachers are good, but seem to be overwhelmed at times.
She can move to the preschool class when she’s 3, but she has to be fully potty trained to do so. We’ve also been looking into switching daycares, but since she will be 3 soon, most in my area are requiring her to be potty trained.

I went to a Christian preschool and during nap time I never slept. I just laid there waiting for it to be over. Our teacher would sometimes play records during nap time and I can remember this one album that she would play has a song that I believed was about monsters. That's what the lyrics seemed to be at the time. The second half of the chorus is the only part that I know the lyrics to. "The monsters'll get ya, the monsters'll get ya, oh, you better watch out". Seems to have been from late 60s to early 80s. The notes on my recording are not perfect but it was a song with minor progression, not major. https://voca.ro/13Sv1XTqetYF

My LIfe Is Worth More Than 36 Apples I was am a sole from this point on. The moths of darkness just began a fetus in the woumb. Both mother and father have litle knolige of my existance my begening is heare hethy with nknone emosion untill I was sliced from my mother. My parents fell in love with me from the begening little did they know that tere was somthing wrong. It was not there falt I think that I loved them at that point to. I was dieing. My heart broken by imprefection that only flesh offers to the potentialy imortal relm of God placed soil named Earth. Spoler alert I servive otherwise you would not be reading this. One day out of my life I fely horible sick beyond what the doctors had already fixed I was dieing still alive but dieing why they “forgot” ( neglected) to tell my parents that I have a paralised vocla chord is beond even my ant’s comprehencion and she is a sergical nerce. What made them fear my parents? What made them fear so much that they could not tell my perents what hppened? I ask these questions so often that I wonder why I servived. That is when one day out of my life I felt amasing like God was truly there to witness me changing to somthing worth more than any dimond in the world. My parents kept me alive by questining the doctors did so little. My grandmother prayed so much I wonder how I survived. One day of my life I felt horible Thank the lord that I was not dieing my great gradfather was putt to sleap in his grave I now have a feading tube one year old no birthday cake for me. I gess that there is where my life chages yet again. I wonder how I survived. One day out of my life I felt Exuberant I am two years old ,Birthday cake ;-) Yay, my first ever the tube is gone. My parrents still wotty but they realy don’t have to any more until laiter. Gram is there. So is most of my family. I love my gram so much at this point I would taher be at her houce than at home there is so much I still have to live for. One day out of my life I feal loved I am at home having fun with my gram telling her stories that I make up as I go along. She loves me I know it in my heart. There are not enugh words, colors, and sounds to describe what I felt in this world at that moment for my little mind to wrap its gentle fingers around I am less than five years old so the only resion that I remember is a home movie. It is a wonder that I survived. One day out of my life it is near cristmass I could be five but I am not certan I thaught tis memory a dream until my mother told me the story. I was sick enugh that my parents thaught that I was dieing. I had an ear infection, pnumonya, and somthing elce my mother can not remenber. I wonder why I survived. One day out of my life I am still five and going to kindergaden I love to run around and hide out undeneath the slides if only I knew what the world was than I probabley whould not have kissed a boy on the lips so soon. I shold have knone that such an act as this was for the day of prom or highscool. I was definatly not ready for being in love, nor was I ready to kiss boys impishly under the that particular Emitsberg Elimentery slide. The boy’s confusion was so great that I belive he ither liked me or he did not know who I was to tell the teacher what had happened. Ither way I grew up way to quikly and at the same time to slowly for my mothers liking. I would barly clean my room thak the lord for her patince at this poit in my life, other wise I woder how I did survive. One day out of my life I was in first grade imaging what life would be like on the moon. I was listening to the teacher but I could not for the life of me was i being sent to lern how to read and wright when I already knew how to do both of those things. What where they thinking I neaded more help with math than with reading and spelling I could study those wordes and sentance structures. Why did they chose to give me exta practice in my faverite subject the only problem I had was telling lowecace B’s from lowercace D’s until a nice teacher taught me a trick invalving the word bed. Putt your fingers on your left hand so that it resembles a lowecace B than have your fongers on your right hand resemble a lowercace D place coth hannds together and make a bed B.E.D. that was somthing that realy helped it was so ingraind in my nogin that after just that one clarifacaition I had the difrence betwean D and D down pat. I read Juny B. Jones boks up the wasoo after that and most of my class was reading picture books that where to easy so I stoped reading them. I didn’t check out books from the scool library because I had books at home to read if I remember corectly. My parents sau that it was the comprehensin part I gess that I understood the book’s meaning but not the questin of “ How did the caractar change throughout the story?” silly me I putt ( this is acording to my mother) “The carictar did nit change throuout the story. There is no mension of her getting dresset,” I wonder how I survived. One day out of my life i am repeating first grade. I thaught that there where only two years of school I thaught that if i passed this year that i would not have to go to school any more nobosy told me otherwise because i kept the thaught to myself because i was so sure that I was corect that I did not tell a sole nor, angel, not even God, but I gess he knew that anyway even without me telling him. I gess that if God dose laph that he might have been lafing at me and I would laph with him once I came to realise my childish ignerance at the age of seven and a half. I realy do not know why I relised that particalar fanticy was falce but I gess that visiters from the fith grade shook that idea right past my young lips and took me from that faticy I was somhow living in at the time. As I wright this I am sitiosly remided of that anoying yet cachy toon of the Caillou theme song whn it said “ Growing up is not so tuff…” I would like to add to that paticular snippit by saying that being or fealing grown up is the hard part. Thank the lord I was still just growing up at this point otherwise I have no clue of how i would have survived. One day out of my life I learn that Gram is moving to West Bend I was so confused because I remember saying to her that “ we will live togther forever.” than she aked me with such a look upon her face that surly I had no anser to this “what if I move?” my anser to this of corce was “we will move to” I loved my grandmother so much at that point that I thaught that my parents not looking for a new houce was a betrayel of what was going on until... One day out of my life I find out that we are moving at first I thaught that this would remidy the we will live togerhher forever situaiton, but it just only remidied the if you move we move situaiton. This was just after I found out that we where moving from Airshire to Ankeny instad of to West Bend this is in ither late may or early june we are looking for a place to live we looked at some two story houces but we came upon this nice single story ranch it is a nice place to be but I wish that I did not tell the reliter that I “ felt at home here” honestly there where less pressing matters of where we would be going to school and how long it would take to move all of our stuff to the new place that I would have to call home but I never realy did in my heart Gram’s houce was my true home from that point on. It is a wonder that we suvived. One day out of my life it is june 16th my birthday I have just terned egiht years old and this is just the begening of when I have started to really pray and recognise what prayer is to me I don’t realy expect God to answer me at this point in my life becase I reay did not know that God could truly anser quite directly or even ask of you things. I just thaught that God knows everything so he realy should no have to ask but I gess that even God has set rules for himself in promisess and fofilment of priofficy. The idea is that we have free will and he wants to ask and not tell us to be with him in spirit and in mannor. Our actions not telling us yes or no but how we feal about those actins threw God tells us these things. Concince and temptaition those little caton figures angel and demon with that tridant ( not the chewing gum brand) and tail. Oh how I have survived. One day out of my life the start of second grade a new school and a new life I wish that there where more interesting things to take apart than a phone with an already broken circut bord smashed by a bou in my class if not for the surcut bord I probubly would have figured out how to putt it back together. How I wondered every day when I would get to take somthing apart and putt it back together, but everthing was altready taken apart and I neaded a more than a philups haid screwdriver to fix that phone what I neaded was somthing I had no ideah existed littlelone the fact that I was way to youn to even use a sodering iorn. The teachers still thaught that I was still to young to hold a pair of sisors even though I started using them in preschool. It is a wonder I survived. One day out of my life I am exited I get to learn how to use chopstickes in class wile eating popcorn we where not aloud to use our fingers. We where at the end of our china unit coloring the great wall with lopsided bricks that where supost to be a little lopsided. I was exalent at using the two sticks to pick up the popcorn the only problem was that I was holding them wrong but at least i did not nead a rubberband atached to the se sticklike utencels. Using my middle finger as a fulcrum and my pionter and ring to manipulate the top stick even until I saw the diagram and did so the proper way. How did I survive? One day out of my life it is nearing first comumyon this is my fist time tasting the wine so that Iwont makew a face if I did not like the way it tates. I thaught that it tasted horible even though I took a small sip as instructed. I did not make a face. How did I survive? Oneday out of my life it is first comunyon I take both the host and the wine this time I like it so much I take a big gulp and make a face. When my mother asked me why I took such a big gulp I told my mother that the whine “ tates better with Jesus in it.” my mother laphed so quietly only her ears and a few others herd her. I wonder how we survived. One day of my life I am now about 9 or 10 years old Great grandma took me fishing and taught me how to imbroider that night i could not sleap for some reason or another so I got out the cloth that I was working on and started stichin gI was so quiet that I thaught that I would sutly not wake her than again the light in the livingroom of her apartment could have given me away. She found me awake and unable to sleap soundly I was not homsich and usualy did not complain but the couch was a tad to cushey so I slept on the floor instad she thaught that I was crazy for sleaping on the floor instad of on the couch. It is a wonder that I survived. One summer out of my life I felt human I can not remember what summer this was but I taught my sister how to swim she wanted to jump into the pool and each time that se jumped I would take just a single step back evedently she lernd to jump quite far also because when she went to her first formal swimming lesson she kept taking off the floaty until she threw it so that the instructher could no longer reach it than when it was her turn to jum into the water she abot flatenes the instructer ling sory short she skiped a few levils. I wonder how the poor swim instructor is doing. It is a wonder that he survived my syster. One day of my life I rode my first rolercoster I was so exited that I could barly wate in line when we finaly got to the front of the lighn the rolercoster took us up and down I could barily understand why all the other peaple on bord where screaming eve mu unkle. When the ride was over I aslked him so tentitivly why where the other peaple skreaming? Than he told me “Because they where having fun” I still had no ideah

Thoughts after finishing Dragonball Super. Spoilers ahead, stop reading if you haven't finished the series!
Biggest letdown - the final battle between Goku and Jiren
I was hoping that during their long fight, they would have some back and forth dialogue where Jiren really questioned Goku's endless and insatiable drive for more battles and more power. I think there was a good setup before the battle royale started where a lot of other universes blamed Goku for the fact that most of them would be wiped from existence, and there was room there for Goku to be seen as the villain by everyone but his own friends. It would be a unique story angle for the pure-hearted Goku to be questioned harshly like that. Goku could have redeemed himself in everyone's eyes by the end, which would have made for an interesting character arc.
I wanted Jiren to say something like, "I fight for justice, Goku! Is what you have done truly just? Look at the countless lives that are laid at your feet for disrespecting the gods and getting all the universes caught in this ridiculous battle! All because YOU are excited to fight. Goku, your insatiable drive for battle has cost unfathomable losses, how can you justify yourself??"
Goku could have had some deep self-reflection, which could be what triggered his Autonomous Ultra Instinct. Him realizing that he needs to let go of the Saiyan battle-lust and tap into his instincts, letting go of everything. He could realize that he has gotten so powerful it tears at the fabric of reality when he fights, and that in addition to his lust for battle, he needs to find a deep internal responsibility over his own power in order to truly protect his loved ones and the multiple universes at stake.
I didn't like how they spent so much time building Jiren up only to have his character developed by a quick exposition dump with a throwaway story and a "Might Makes Right" mindset. I feel like they just threw Jiren away. Jiren could have been seen as the fighter with purer intentions if they just changed up his story. I wanted to see Jiren standing on the high ground, able to say that he had fought for power to maintain justice and order in his universe, to preserve and promote peace, and that the result was that the people of his universe were ultimately happier and safer than those in Goku's universe. That high ground of strength, power, and moral value could have been the place Goku reached for and ultimately overcame!
Favorite parts
*I loved how the battle royale was ultimately a test of virtue for all the universes. It fits in really well with the god-realm aspects of the story and facing the judgment of gods!
*I like how the format of a battle royale gave a lot of the characters their own moments to shine in battle. It came off a little gimmicky at times, but I loved seeing how hard everyone fought for each other. I think Master Roshi was one of my favorites, seeing him give his all and fight himself near to death (despite being only a human) to protect his home universe was awesome. I also loved the Saiyan interactions, Goku and Vegeta helping out the young Saiyans from the other universe was so fun, and seeing Goku getting his ass nearly handed to him by two female Saiyans was exciting.
*The intro song during the Battle Royale arc!! NGL, "I've got a strength deep in my soul that gives me courage and control," got me pumped every time. I sang along every time!
*Some of the final battle animation, especially with Goku and Frieza side by side, was absolutely sick.
*I love that Goku wasn't the one who saved the day, ultimately. I thought this series was so great for letting everyone else have moments to shine and having Android 18 be the reluctant hero was nice to see.
*I liked to see Frieza slowly come around through the series, and Golden Frieza, along with Frieza getting his own musical theme was pretty neat. He was a great baddie and it was nice to have him back. I love how in Dragonball, baddies just can't help but become Goku's friend in the end.
Less-than-favorite parts
*The tone of the entire series felt a little corny which was a struggle at times.
*Furry universe and Magical Girl universe
*The wild swings in animation quality, but then again, that's very typical for Dragonball so not expecting much there. Also I prefer the DBZ animation techniques with different line weights, a more handcrafted feel, and overall more consistent and better-looking animation.
*Some of the outro songs sounded like they belonged in a preschool class. Their tone was ... weird.

Okay, so I was born in 1999, and this story happened in either 2002 or 2003, when I was 3 or 4 years old. This was only 1 or 2 years after I was diagnosed, at the age of 2.
Music has always been one of my special talents, for as long as I can remember, ESPECIALLY Rock and Roll. Green Day was my favorite band when I was 4/5 years old (and I REALLY hated the Wiggles. I didn’t see the appeal of grown men living in a house with grown people in animal costumes singing about fruit salad).
I was always interested in classic rock/alternative/indie/punk music (I’ve always loved rock concerts and they have never really bothered me), and at the time one of my favorite bands was, as a 3/4 year old, the Ramones.
My preschool was hosting a talent show at the time and I wanted to participate. And though it wasn’t unusual for kids to get up and sing at the talent show, most of the time the songs were not wholly unexpected for kids to sing, like nursery rhymes or Disney songs.
Not me.
Of course, now that I am 25 and I was very young then, I don’t really have that good of a memory, so a lot of this story comes from my mom.
So, up I get on stage, and apparently, either one of the teachers said that I was gonna sing a song for them, or I was asked what I was gonna do, and I said that I would sing. (Again, I was only like 3 or 4 at the time, so my memory isn’t that great).
So there I am, a little 3 to 4 year old child, getting ready to sing. Some of the other parents in the audience probably were like, oh how sweet, we’re gonna hear another cute little Disney song or Nursery Rhyme or whatever hahahahaha…
And then, I start singing, quite loudly and proudly at the top of my lungs, The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” (one of my favorite songs at the time), and according to my mom and dad, I was parading around the stage like an inner punk rocker, apparently clutching the microphone tightly with my hands as if I felt like the microphone would be taken away at any moment. (Again, this is from my mom and dad, and I was only 3 or 4 at the time so I was too young to remember).
That probably shocked the teachers and parents there, that this little child knew all the words to a nearly 30 year old (at the time anyway) punk song about being so damn bored out of your mind waiting for a show that, well, you wanna be sedated and sang it at the top of their lungs in a small voice or whatever. Of course being 3 or 4 I had NO idea what the lyrics meant, but I didn’t care.
And I normally had quite a difficult time with expressive language and couldn’t exactly initiate or maintain a conversation or even talk and interact/socialize with my peers, but I memorized song lyrics and could sing them through like there was no problem.
According to my mom, though she and my dad (and perhaps the other parents as well) found this hilarious, the other teachers were not thrilled or found it funny, probably because they didn’t find it appropriate that a little girl would be singing about wanting to be sedated, but they didn’t know what to do because they had never really dealt with a situation like this before in their lives, or they just felt that cutting the act short would not be a great thing, so they just went along with it.
There was also, according to my parents, another kid (a boy) whose talent was to tell you where the train lines in NYC went and where their stops were located.
But anyway, that’s my quirky little wholesome story for you.

Garth Brooks was featured on Sesame Street in the 90s singing a little song about how to do a echo style song - I teach preschool and play ukulele and it would be wonderful to find the chords for this song but I've searched all over - can anyone help me figure out the chords?

1. Fascinating Animal Kingdom Facts:

• Dolphins have names for one another and respond when called by their specific names.
  
• Female hyenas have pseudo-penises that are almost indistinguishable from male genitalia.
  
• Cows have best friends and get stressed when they're separated.
  

1. Unusual Historical Nuggets:

• The Great Wall of China was not built in one continuous construction phase but was constructed over several dynasties.
  
• Ancient Romans used urine as a mouthwash due to its ammonia content.
  
• The oldest known recipe is a 5,000-year-old Sumerian beer recipe.
  

1. Science and Technology Oddities:

• A nanosecond is one billionth of a second.
  
• The human eye can distinguish up to 10 million different colors.
  
• The Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer due to thermal expansion.
  

1. Language and Linguistic Quirks:

• The word "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" means the fear of long words.
  
• The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is a pangram, containing every letter of the alphabet.
  
• The word "facetious" contains all the vowels in alphabetical order.
  

1. Geographical and Cultural Tidbits:

• The Dead Sea is so salty that people can easily float on its surface.
  
• Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.
  
• The Amazon Rainforest produces half the world's oxygen supply.
  

1. Human Achievements and Records :
   • The longest time spent in hula hoop spinning is 74 hours and 54 minutes.

• The record for the most pull-ups in 24 hours is 7,306.
  
• The largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs had 2,762 participants in Ireland.
  

1. Food and Culinary Marvels:

• Honey never spoils; archaeologists have found edible honey in ancient Egyptian tombs.
  
• The world's most expensive coffee, Kopi Luwak, is made from beans digested and excreted by a civet.
  
• Peanuts are not nuts; they are legumes.
  

1. Entertainment and Pop Culture Trivia:

• The shortest song to ever make it to the Billboard Hot 100 is "PPAP
  (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)," which is only 45 seconds long.
  
• The first music video aired on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
  
• Actor Tommy Lee Jones was roommates with former US Vice President Al Gore in college.
  

1. Legal Quirks and Odd Laws:

• In Switzerland, it's illegal to mow your lawn on a Sunday.
  
• In France, it's illegal to name a pig Napoleon.
  
• In Denmark, drivers are required to check under their car for sleeping children before starting the engine.
  

1. Miscellaneous Intriguing Facts:

- The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. - The first oranges were not orange; they were green. - Octopuses have three hearts. 

today was the last day of one of the most difficult kids i've worked with in my career. he's known for such moments as "the time he chased a girl with a stick while yelling 'come here, bitch' after hitting her" and "the time he systematically ripped apart the outside toy shed after being asked to line up". it's been extremely difficult to teach the other kids, and multiple parents have come to my director saying that their kids are scared of him (i can't blame them, he hits and slaps them on a dime and screams in their faces. we've been redirecting, having him regulate, and having a staff member watch him at all times-- all to no change.)
all that said, when i heard his family was moving, i was a bit relieved. they're moving somewhere they'll have more support, and i won't dread coming to work every day. unfortunately, on monday, they also told him it was his last week 🙃
i understand wanting to be honest with your kid, but it made this last week a nightmare. he's pulled down other kids' pants, slapped people across the face, run away and hid when asked to sit for circle-- this week alone, i've filled out more incident reports than the whole rest of the year so far. whenever he was told to stop or take a moment to calm down, he said "i'm never coming back here again, i don't care". it's pretty par for the course for a neurodivergent kid about to experience a big change (moving cross country and leaving his school), but that didn't make it any easier to deal with.
i'm always the one who closes, usually alone, so by the end of today, i was exhausted and frustrated. he'd just shoved bark chips down another boy's shirt and pushed him to the ground; i wanted to give up. i wanted to set him up with an activity away from everyone else, no more chances, and just wait for his mom to get there. then i imagined being him. four years old and about to move away from everything he's ever known, about to go into kindergarten, wanting very badly to connect with others but not able to slow down or communicate in a way that isn't seen as "bad". i thought about how he might remember his last day at preschool, sitting away from everybody else, lonely after a day of being told no, stop, catch your bubble, don't do that.
so i pulled myself together and called him over. i don't know what well of patience i drew from (i was sure i was at the end of my rope), but i did it. for the last half hour, we sang call-and-response songs, and played games, and he didn't have a meltdown. he did somersaults and ran in circles while he sang; that was perfectly fine by me. when his mom came to pick him up, he was smiling and laughing, i raced him and his brother to the stairs up to the porch. pickup went really smoothly-- the first time this week that he hasn't cried over having to go. i wished them good luck on their move.
i'm so, so incredibly glad that i managed to pull it together; he left smiling and excited, and hopefully that's how he'll go into kindergarten this fall. i can also sleep at night knowing that i gave him a good memory to look back on, and let him know that he's loved, and that he can have as many second, third, fourth, fiftieth chances as he needs until he can do it. he deserves all of them, and i hope that he succeeds in everything he puts his mind to. i'm incredibly proud of us both for making it through, and for making that last half hour a good one.

If you want to receive this as a daily email in your inbox, you can now join at this link

worldnews

• PauloPatricio

France vs. 'Shrinkflation': Starting July 1, All 'Shrinked' Products Must Be Labelled For Consumers
Comments Link

• DekiTree

French police kill man trying to 'burn synagogue'
Comments Link

• Unusual-State1827

More than 60% of world’s coral reefs may have bleached in past year, U.S. agency says
Comments Link

news

• RaffyGiraffy

Florida teen says she was denied entry to prom for wearing a suit
Comments Link

• a_dogs_mother

Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes
Comments Link

• DavianVonLorring

A Lakota graduate’s plume was cut from her cap. The Farmington district remains silent.
Comments Link

science

• mvea

Social progressives were more likely to view rape as equally serious or more serious than homicide compared to social conservatives. Progressive women were particularly likely to view rape as more serious than homicide, suggesting that gender plays a critical role in shaping these perceptions.
Comments Link

• mvea

A new technique has allowed scientists to freeze human brain tissue so that it regains normal function after thawing. Scientists have successfully frozen and thawed brain organoids and cubes of brain tissue from a 9-year-old girl with epilepsy.
Comments Link00121-8)

• Wagamaga

Glimpse of next-generation internet. Scientists established the practical makings of the first quantum internet by entangling two quantum memory nodes separated by optical fiber link deployed over a roughly 22-mile loop through Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown, and Boston
Comments Link

space

• ubcstaffer123

Huge, solar flare-launching sunspot has rotated away from Earth. But will it return? The sunspot AR3664 may not be done with us just yet.
Comments Link

• slowburnangry

Europa's Icy Crust Is 'Free-Floating' Across the Moon's Hidden Ocean, New Juno Images Suggest
Comments Link

• OlympusMons94

Europe is uncertain whether its ambitious Mercury probe can reach the planet
Comments Link

Futurology

• Hot_Transportation87

Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources
Comments Link

• Worldly_Flow9133

Researchers at the University of Washington developed deep-learning algorithms that allow users to pick which sounds to filter through their headphones in real-time
Comments Link

• chrisdh79

Frozen human brain tissue works perfectly when thawed 18 months later Scientists in China have developed a new chemical concoction that lets brain tissue function again after being frozen.
Comments Link

AskReddit

• Accomplished-Cat-325

What insult that deeply hurt you won't you forget?
Comments Link

• BlastingSquid886

What is a good movie to watch while drunk?
Comments Link

• ccie6861

What embarrassing or disturbing thing have you found while helping a friend move?
Comments Link

todayilearned

• LeftNeck9994

TIL Multiple studies have found that an extra inch of height can be worth an extra $1,000 a year in wages both for men and women
Comments Link

• tyrion2024

TIL in 2012 LL Cool J broke the nose, jaw, and ribs of a man charged with breaking into his home. His family was sleeping when their home security alarm went off at 1am, "sending LL Cool J into action". After catching the man, he held him until the authorities arrived.
Comments Link

• icanhazkarma17

TIL American composer Kevin MacLeod allows anyone to use his music for free, as long as he receives credit for the song. This has led to his music being used in thousands of films, millions of videos on YouTube.
Comments Link

dataisbeautiful

• jcceagle

[OC] Life expectancy vs. health expenditure
Comments Link

• klokain

Do UFO Sightings Happen Near Airports? Best Locations and Times to Spot a UFO. [OC]
Comments Link

• phatangus

For a majority of Americans, a standard tip when dining at a sit-down restaurant is 15% or less
Comments Link

Cooking

• PreschoolBoole

What’s the most absurd way you cook a food item that you swear is superior?
Comments Link

• Warm_Forever9843

What's your favourite recipe that includes zucchini?
Comments Link

• Bunnyeatsdesign

What rice dishes are not served hot?
Comments Link

food

• mabmab4

[homemade] Chicago Dogs
Comments Link

• Fbeezy

[Homemade] Eggs Florentine
Comments Link

• briblossom

[homemade] Gnocchi
Comments Link

movies

• MarvelsGrantMan136

Tony McFarr, Chris Pratt’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ & ‘Jurassic World’ Stunt Double, Dies at 47
Comments Link

• MarvelsGrantMan136

Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ - Review Thread
Comments Link

• hekenwkskdn777728

New LONGLEGS Poster
Comments Link

Art

• Zamaliev_Igor

From a hayfield, Zamaliev _Igor, watercolor, 2024
Comments Link

• papaAnkIES

Flight, Bacriswell2, oil, 2024
Comments Link

• Just_Benefit6810

“Phases”, Adam Feher, Digital Collage, 2021
Comments Link

television

• MarvelsGrantMan136

‘Fallout’ Sets Another Nielsen Streaming Chart Record, Becomes First Non-Netflix Show to Top 2 Billion Minutes Viewed in Consecutive Weeks
Comments Link

• MarvelsGrantMan136

'Shogun' Seasons 2 and 3 in the Works at FX, Hulu; Will Compete in Drama Category at the Emmys
Comments Link

• indig0sixalpha

'X-Men ‘97' understood the power of perfect timing
Comments Link

pics

• Douglasqqq

Jack Black walking around Brighton, England alone.
Comments Link

• Dar-Vin

The portal In Dublin this evening!
Comments Link

• t-o-m-u-s-a

Houston just had severe weather.
Comments Link

gifs

• GrowLapsed

Marijuana Timelapse - 5 Weeks of Flowering Buds
Comments Link

• HappySkullsplitter

We don't need roads
Comments Link

• Squirrelmonkeycom

Europa-pa
Comments Link

educationalgifs

mildlyinteresting

• KingOfAllFishFuckers

I bought another smart car, can park them both in the same space.
Comments Link

• jesusismagic

I have not worn a watch for over 10 years, but you can still see where it used to be on my arm.
Comments Link

• Lancet11

Found out this winter that Crown Royal freezes
Comments Link

interestingasfuck

• ThatCoolBlondeGirl

It’s been 84 years…
Comments Link

• DrFetusRN

*A regular work day at the Temu warehouse *
Comments Link

• NickyPappagiorgio

*Cannabis growing naturally in the Himalayas *
Comments Link

funny

• Thapee

*I just took a photo of my receding hairline yesterday and my reaction was same! *
Comments Link

• OddlyCheap

I was walking to class and saw these bumper stickers
Comments Link

• explosivejoseph

Throuple in the front row of a comedy show
Comments Link

aww

• ughstopbanningme

opened our front door to see this, the mom is still there she just got scared when i opened it.
Comments Link

• Rdhilde18

*Saved a baby possum *
Comments Link

• dmcdaniel87

My dad rescued this little guy
Comments Link
Get this as a daily email!

What happened to VPR in your bio and what's going on? (Timestamp: 2:04) - Scheana: So to be honest, my sister does all of my links and that stuff on Instagram for me. I didn't even notice that it was taken out of my bio until everyone else did. I think maybe when she put the Sweet and Sour song in, she took out VPR because there were too many things in my bio. - Scheana: Also, for 11 years, I've never had anything VPR in my bio until we were nominated for an Emmy. James Kennedy and I worked together the day we found out and we're like, who could put it in their bio faster? What emoji should we use? - Scheana: And we both put it in our bio and then lo and behold, we didn't win the Emmy. And what was it? Emmy nominated VPR was in my bio for, I think just around the Emmy time and then my sister took it out. - Scheana: So literally no other rhyme or reason, nothing else going on there. It just, too many things in the bio just make it a little too cluttered looking and you know, I'm OCD. So I guess she just wanted to keep it clean.
Do you wish you guys have been able to break the fourth wall more? Are there any moments from past seasons where you wish that it happened? (Timestamp: 3:22) - Scheana: Yes, honestly, I think that is so interesting when you're watching a reality show and they talk about the show on the show. - Scheana: They do this on Kardashians. They do this on the D'Amelio show. And I just think that makes the reality even more real because there are things that happen in press on Watch What Happens Live at the reunion last year. - Scheana: There are things that you want to address where you have to say like, oh, well the last time we were in New York together, I noticed they were doing that on the first episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey. And we used to do that all the time on the show. Sometimes you just want to be like, look at the reunion last year, but you have to say like, well the last time we all got together. - Scheana: And it's just easier and I think it makes sense if you just say, well, you said this on Watch What Happens Live, not I heard you said. And so I do hope moving forward with the way our season ended that we're able to have more moments like that because I think it just adds to our reality. And there have been so many things in the past. - Scheana: I can't even think off the top of my head, but yeah, many moments where I wish we could just talk about the show on the show. But I also understand why they don't like to do that. And I think it's only really meant for important moments. So, hopefully there is a season 12 and maybe we see a little more of that.
How are you feeling after Reunion 1 aired? (Timestamp: 4:56) - Scheana: Well, I have not looked on anything said on social media. I felt like watching the episode, it was a pretty good one. I think the next two are gonna be definitely more dramatic from what I remember. I feel like I tend to emotionally blackout after Reunion days. - Scheana: And I'm like, wait, what happened? What did we say? And then we have to watch it back. But that's the beauty of reality TV is you gotta watch back your life, the good, the bad, the cringe, all of it.
Is there anything you wish we got to see this season but didn't? (Timestamp: 5:35) - Scheana: There are a few things, but there's also a secrets revealed episode that is going to air, I believe only on Peacock, after the third part of the reunion the following week. - Scheana: So you'll see some new interview bites. We did some doubles there, which is really fun. And you'll see some scenes that didn't make it in. - Scheana: One of them is my sister's birthday and Valley Brat launch party. So that was a really fun day. Almost the entire cast was there. Katie and Tori were there. And I'm excited to see that. I haven't seen it yet, but I know that that's one of the scenes that we should be seeing. Stay tuned.
Anything you wish you said at the reunion that you didn't get a chance to say? (Timestamp: 6:20) - Scheana: I haven't seen the last two episodes of The Reunion yet, so I'm not sure what all will be included. You'll have to ask me again in two weeks.
What are you planning to do on the VPR break? (Timestamp: 6:34) - Scheana: Reflect, grow, learn. I'm going to be working on a dream project of mine this summer, so I'm very, very excited about having time to do that and not figuring out how I'm going to juggle that with filming five days a week. I'm going to get to enjoy a summer off for the first time in like 12 years and the first time as a mom. So I'm really looking forward to having some downtime focusing on some other projects. - Scheana: Summer starts preschool and yeah, it'll just be nice to finish getting stuff done in our house. We're almost fully furnished, not completely yet. We still got some tweaks and add some little accent pieces, need some artwork in the living room, but I'm just excited to have time with the family and in the new house. - Scheana: And as crazy as it sounds being in the desert in the summer, I love being in Palm Springs. Even if it is 120 degrees outside, there's just something about my house. It's so peaceful. - Scheana: And now that we have Lala next door, I mean, we have both of our houses close to each other, but we'll definitely be out there a bunch this summer.
How do we feel about the next season being on hold? (Timestamp: 7:55) - Scheana: I think this break is needed. Honestly, I think it is the smartest decision to not jump right back in to another season like we did after Scandoval. I don't think enough time had passed. And I feel like if we gave it a little more time to breathe, things would have been a lot different. - Scheana: But I don't know, maybe we needed to jump back in as soon as possible to capture what was still happening. But for right now, after that reunion and how dramatic the season ended, and as you guys know, we all watched the last part of the finale together in front of each other for the first time, which was extremely emotional. I feel like all of us need a little bit of an emotional break. - Scheana: Some from each other, some from the cameras. I need a couple more EMDR sessions before I go back into another season. But I think giving us some time off to let some new story build up, follow some of the projects that we've been working on. - Scheana: And yeah, I think it is very needed and I think it'll be good in the end. I didn't know how I felt about it in the beginning, but the more I've sat with it, I'm like, yeah, this is the right decision.
What did you make of Ariana voting No It's Done on that IG fan poll asking do you think there will be a season 12 of VPR? (Timestamp: 9:18) - Scheana: Well, as her friend, I fully support her pursuing her dreams. I always have. I've said that multiple times. It's like if VPR and reality TV no longer serve her, then on to the next thing. She's going back to Broadway. She's doing Love Island. - Scheana: She has so many amazing things lined up. I don't even know what else is in the pipeline for her, but I'm sure many more amazing things. So if it's time to move on, it's like I completely get it. - Scheana: As her coworker, if this is true, I mean, it's kind of frustrating that she would advocate for the end of a work project that is a big part of my business and what Lala and I as moms do to support our families. - Scheana: So that's what's tricky too with this show is our life is our job and our job is our life. And as a friend, I understand and respect boundaries. As your coworker, there can be moments where it's frustrating. So that's how I feel about that.
What are your hopes for season 12? (Timestamp: 10:40) - Scheana: Well, I hope that we have one. First of all, the finale did feel very series ending, but I think it also opens up the door for a new beginning. I think there are still so many stories to be told among this group. - Scheana: And maybe with ending the season with the fourth wall breaking down, maybe that opens up the door to more of that for hopefully season 12. I think we have a really interesting story to tell moving forward. And I think there's going to be a lot left to tell.
How do you feel about Ariana not watching the season? (Timestamp: 15:28) - Scheana: Look, I get that it can be difficult to watch back sometimes. And I am a person who season six did not wanna watch back that relationship. And that relationship with Rob doesn't even compare to her relationship with Sandoval. - Scheana: So I understand she was busy, she was working, she was living in her happy bubble in New York, doing Chicago, and probably didn't wanna let anything get into her orbit, burst her bubble. I did the same thing when I was doing my show in Las Vegas. And I was performing every night on stage. - Scheana: I didn't want any of that going into me going on stage. So I get not wanting to disturb your peace. It's like she was literally living her dream at the moment that the show was airing. - Scheana: But with that being said, she wasn't watching the season, but she was keeping up on social media. And that's the thing that's hard for me because she's seen clips. And I know this does get addressed later in the reunion. - Scheana: I don't know what will air. I just remember speaking about it. But she was basing her perception off of fan clips and commentary. Like I know she even said on Watch What Happens Live that one of the things that hurt her the most was seeing the backup dancer comment I made. - Scheana: And in context that was honestly never meant to be shady. It was a cheeky comment where I'm actually like making fun of myself. I mean, I am not Beyonce, okay? It was a joke. But for her to say that really hurt her, I'm like, damn girl, like I didn't mean it in that way. - Scheana: But if you did watch the whole season and Andy asked her, did you see the conversation Scheana had with Sandoval? I felt like that conversation, I was having her back. I was advocating for her and her mental health and the things that he had done that were wrong outside of the affair. - Scheana: She never even watched that. She says that she lived the show, so she didn't need to watch it back. But there were all of the moments that she wasn't there for that I do wish she watched back because I think she would have a bigger picture of how I was being a good friend to her. - Scheana: So for her and Katie to say that they felt like I was a better friend to Sandoval this season, I definitely don't think I was a better friend to Sandoval. I don't think I was a good friend to Sandoval at all. Did I treat him like a human? Sure.
Is Summer Moon's half sister really named Winter Sky? (Timestamp: 22:51) - Scheana: No, I think someone online made that up. It's been circulating. That is not her middle name. It's not for me to say what her middle name is, but it's absolutely not Sky or anything close to that or seasonal.
Why do you think Katie spoke one way about Ariana off camera versus on camera? Do you think it was because she wanted to protect Ariana's feelings or was she worried about the backlash from the fans if she said anything critical about Ariana? (Timestamp: 24:36) - Scheana: I don't necessarily think it's either. I think it was and has been a business decision for them to remain a united front. They've made a lot of money on something about her. - Scheana: So I get, you know, not wanting to affect their business and I fully support that. I know what Lala said at the reunion, she felt that Katie was being fake by acting one way on camera and different behind the scenes. But I mean, I think Katie was probably prioritizing her brand as she was making, you know, probably more from that than from the show. - Scheana: So as a friend, I understand and respect the business decision. But you know, again, as a coworker, it's frustrating when you're not living your truth. So I get it. - Scheana: But it's like, we all show up and do the uncomfortable stuff. And when others aren't, it is frustrating. And if you do act differently on and off camera, you're probably going to get called out for it. - Scheana: So you should be prepared. If you say something on a phone call, just like Brock said something to Lala in private season nine, you know, just because it's off camera doesn't mean it's not going to get brought up on camera. So being authentic always is the only way to be on reality TV, honestly.
Do you see Lala's hypocrisy when it comes to her critique of Ariana's boundary needs, like Randall? (Timestamp: 29:34) - Scheana: I think it's different situations. Honestly, Lala and Randall weren't coworkers. If Randall had been on the show, I think it would be a different story.
How do you feel about Lala saying you were living in the comments section? (Timestamp: 29:50) - Scheana: I think it's more the concept that I let public perception get to me as I really don't spend a lot of time in the comments section. I read the first 20 to 30, as those are usually people I follow and friends, and then I'll see the next couple, but once there's a negative one, I'm like, okay, let's put this away. - Scheana: So it's like if I did fully live in the comments section, it would not be good for my mental health. And I mean, of course I care when people are mad at me. I'm a people pleaser as we know, but I'm also working on that.
Do you agree with LVP that a Lala and Schwartz coupling would be a beautiful thing? (Timestamp: 30:29) - Scheana: No.
Do you agree with Lala that Ariana got cheated on and then made it her whole personality? (Timestamp: 30:31) - Scheana: No, I don't agree with that either. If anyone has made it their personality, that would be more fitting of the other woman involved.
What do you think happened in NYC with Jax, Tom and Victoria after Watch It Happens Live? (Timestamp: 30:54) - Don't know, don't care.
Why aren't you and Sandoval talking much now? (Timestamp: 31:00) - Scheana: I mean, Sandoval and I haven't talked much in over a year since pre Sandoval, so nothing really has changed.
Tom said in a recent interview that he's not getting a redemption arc, but a re humanizing. Do you agree? (Timestamp: 31:14) - Scheana: I mean, whatever it is, I think he probably blew it. And even just watching him on Watch What Happens Live this season, it's like, yeah, you really haven't changed, buddy. - Scheana: You know, I did try to do what Scheana always does and see the tiny bit of good still left and the soul still there, but yeah, you know, whatever
If Tom told LVP that he was suicidal, why was he still filming? Did she get him help? (Timestamp: 31:47) - Scheana: That is a great question. You'll have to ask her that. From what I know, if he was feeling that way during filming, he would have to be in therapy and like talking to a psychiatrist regularly. But yeah, I don't know too much else about that.
Now that the dust has settled, do you think Tom made you look dumb? Do you regret it? (Timestamp: 32:08) - Scheana: I wouldn't give him that much power, TBH. If you think I looked dumb, it was my own doing. I don't regret any of my actions. I don't regret trying to still see some good in someone who had been a very good friend to me for many years, leading up to filming the show from the beginning. - Scheana: Tom and I were very close. We were close for the first few seasons. Season three, I felt like, was it two or three? Whenever Miami Girl and the whole that came around, I did feel like I was seeing a different side of him, the side that we all saw last year. I didn't think he was good for Ariana. - Scheana: I voiced my concerns to her mom. I stand by all of those things that I said back then, but when Ariana convinced me that he was a good person, he didn't do this and I needed to get off this or I was gonna lose her as a friend, I immediately just got over it. I made him my friend again and we built such an insanely strong bond from season two or three, whenever that was, up until Scandoval - Scheana: Although we were not speaking a ton leading up to all of this stuff, I think he knew what he was doing and that's why he started distancing himself from me. That's why Rachel started distancing herself from me because they knew they were being shady for seven months. - Scheana: So Tom and I not speaking that much right now is no different than the seven months leading up to Scandoval. But it's like also with Tom, I've had conversations with him on and off camera and I've tried to get through to him to snap him out of this downward spiral to start showing some empathy and deference towards Ariana, but it's been over a year now and he hasn't really been able to do that. - Scheana: It's like, regardless of who this man was in the past, I do have to accept the reality that that is not who he is now. It's been a hard pill for me to swallow and to watch back, but I think part of me maybe hoped that he had temporarily lost his mind and could be just shaken back to reality. - Scheana: I hoped that he could be genuinely remorseful, but I don't think he is. I felt like there were moments of it where the mask came down and I saw that Tom, and then he's just gone again. And then he says dumb shit that he tried to defend on Watch What Happens Live. - Scheana: (Does a Sandoval impression) “I was like, well, no, I was saying it was good for me. I did my job.” And it's like, no, that's not how you meant. And that right there, it's like Tom, right when you're starting to take a few steps forward, you just fully bury yourself again. I just, I don't get it, but I guess I do.
Do you see how much Sandoval manipulated you in the finale with that final scene? Can't you see through Tom's narcissism? The man has repeatedly lied to you, put you in legal peril, and he takes cheap shots at you by bringing up the Eddie thing. When are you going to wake up and realize this man doesn't care about you (Timestamp: 35:00) - Scheana: Wow, that's a loaded question. Look, a lot of things happened this last year that have changed my perspectives on various people and relationships in my life. Tom and I were friends, as I just said, for so many years, and years before VPR, and it's like viewers have only seen a small fragment of that friendship on the show. Same can be said for all of my castmates. - Scheana: Tom and I are always going to be tied together through this show and our long history, but we're never going to have a friendship like we had before. It's impossible to go back when so much has been broken. Like not just the friendship broken, but the trust shattered. - Scheana: I mean, and I haven't really necessarily seen the growth in him that would merit my energy being fully put back into rekindling a full friendship with him. So I'm not going to try and build that back up if I'm not seeing that from him.
Following you these last years on the show, listening to the podcasts and vlogs, it really felt like you would finally found your voice in this group once you had cut ties with Tom Sandoval. Now that he's back in the picture, you seem to have lost it. How can we help get that voice back? (Timestamp: 36:24) - Scheana: Look, I'm working on it. As hard as it is to watch back sometimes, one of the benefits of reality show life is the added perspective that comes with it. So in due time, I am doing my best. I really genuinely am. I'm trying.
If Rachel tried to reach out to you now, would you respond? If so, what would you say? (Timestamp: 40:22) - Scheana: Oh, I don't think I'm ever gonna hear from that girl, so I don't know what I would say, honestly.
Do you think that Rachel was groomed by Sandoval? (Timestamp: 40:30) - Scheana: I mean, that part of their dynamic was nowhere near me, so I wouldn't be able to answer that.
***end of recap

So I've posted a lot of times on this subreddit, and a part of that is because I haven't fully fleshed out the details of my world; I had a basic idea of what I wanted my world to look like, the types of magic I wanted to be there, and the world in which I wanted that magic to occur. I'm someone who likes grinding down on my magic system until it makes sense, so I haven't really been able to focus on writing my actual story, although in fairness I've tied up a few plot threads. Now, I think I have a genuine final product and can actually start writing my story. So here it goes.
FUNDAMENTALS
The three fundamental forces in my universe are Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice. Dream is the product of the underworld, Sacrifice resides in the domain of the living, and Spark is the energy that binds and separates the two worlds. I'm very fascinated by the idea of making a sacrifice, or the spilling of blood in many cases, being necessary for dreams to come true.
Dream, in this context, is imagination, memory, past, future, desire, fear, all that does not yet exist but existed or has the potential to exist. The fuel of Dream is memory, because a dream that is not remembered, even subconsciously, is one that ceases to exist, and Dream tends to absorb memory.
Sacrifice, in this context, has a more neutral meaning than we're used to; it only means a change in the mortal realm, mental or physical, that initiates the coming to life of a dream. Think of a mother, who sacrifices or is made to sacrifice her body for 9 months to give birth to the dream of a child, the possibility made real by the change in the mother's physical circumstance. Or an empire; someone dreamed of it, but they needed to spill blood to bring it into fruition. The blood and death, not the action, is the sacrifice, and that sacrifice brings life to a dream.
Spark, broadly, is energy. From a metaphysical perspective, it is the energy that carries out a sacrifice and, using that sacrifice, brings Dream into existence. Two people needed to perform the action of intercourse for the mother who gives birth to a child to have made a sacrifice; the act of intercourse induces the sacrifice, which is the state of pregnancy. To go back to the empire example, you need to perform the act of stabbing or shooting a bunch of people, or if you're not into all out war, the act of slitting the throat of the king, for instance. The act induces the sacrifice, which is death, which enables the dream to come true. But more broadly, spark is literally energy, the force that makes the planet move, the sword to swing, the fire to burn.
The child of Dream and Spark is Will. Will is consciousness, the ability to make something happen, to manipulate energy to accomplish a purpose, to make the dream come true.
The combination of all three, Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice, is what creates life, a physical manifestation of the Will; this is what makes life special above all other things. When in your physical body, the Will is bound by that body because the body created by Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice creates a barrier that the Will cannot cross, which is why almost no one can manipulate energy on their own. Once you die, you either cross into the Underworld, the land of dreams, or a Sacrifice in the form of emotional connection interacts with the Will to block it from returning to the Underworld, binding you to the Mortal Realm, making you a ghost, a will that exists in the Mortal Realm but without a physical body usually cannot perceive the world except for other Wills, trapping spirits stuck in the Mortal Realm in their own memories unless they can use the body of another as a host.
The exception to the binding of the Will to the body is through Dream; when you dream, your Spark transfers your will to the Underworld, where all dreams live. Spark has a natural magnetism towards the Underworld, and the Will has a natural attraction to Spark, meaning when you're asleep, Spark is no longer bound by consciousness and is able to take the Will to its natural home before waking. As I said before, dreams are fueled by memory, so when you dream, the Underworld is slowly taking memories from you until you wake up, meaning that most people forget most of what they dream about.
The Mortal and Immortal Realms are separated by a substance in the air known as Valin Steel, which has the effect of cancelling out any binding effect of a sacrifice, detaching Spark energy from the physical form it is bound to, causing it to by default return to the Immortal realm. When Spirits are summoned from the Immortal Realm to the Mortal Realm, that creates a disturbance which causes Valin Steel particles to form into visible chunks of a metallic substance stronger than normal steel. Valin Steel is particularly dangerous because of its combustibility, with only a small amount of exposure to fire being sufficient to cause explosions that can level neighborhoods if not cities with just a few pounds of material.
One other reaction is that of the Will interacting with the physical world. The Will generates Spark, and when it is not bound to a physical body but is still bound to the Mortal Realm, that Spark, when a spirit uses it to manipulate the Mortal world, sinks into and irradiates any material under it, which creates a substance called Emanation, which contains certain levels of Spark, which means it can be combined with other ingredients to induce specific magical effects when the solution makes contact with something; Emanation is thus the basis for all magical potions.
MAGIC
As I said, the Will of a living being cannot cross past or alter that body, but when a living thing dies, while most go to the Underworld, some are trapped here, without a body to bind the Will. Unbound, a spirit's Will allows them manipulate the Spark, and this forms the source of all magic in this world; the key to using magic, therefore, is developing some type of relationship or having a pre-existing relationship with a spirit. Without any sacrifice, spirits can use telekinesis, lightning generation and manipulation, and thermokinesis. Because Spark forms the basis of cognition, spirits can enter your brain and steal your thoughts and memories, share thoughts and memories by imparting them to the being they're passing through, essentially able to impart "suggestions" that, in their strongest form, can act as a form of hypnosis.
Spirits can also briefly possess creatures, but bodies are generally not equipped to handle two sparks in a single host. A spirit possessing a body would cause every part of that body to want to move, and having two sparks in one body can end up killing the host because without constant movement the extra spark ends up just absorbing oxygen from the air for stimulation. This is why when possession occurs it is usually only for brief periods, like a minute or so. The exception is if people learn certain war dances which allow them to use their whole bodies, they can be possessed, therefore possessing the power of spirits, for a much longer time; they have to keep dancing to maintain the stability, and this form of magic use has given birth to multiple martial arts styles based on encircling and constantly barraging your opponent; some of the arts are called Sand-Dancing, Water-Dancing, and Mud-Dancing, all based on using bouts of telekinesis to quickly harness easy to manipulate materials to overwhelm opponents (the inspiration for these martial arts styles would be Capoeira; Capoeira is extremely effective and allows for constant movement).
So the biggest fuel for my magic system is the issue of perception. Most people can't remember visiting the Underworld, most people can't see beyond their bodies, most people cannot see ghosts in the Mortal Realm, and most ghosts cannot see the Mortal Realm because they don't have a physical body with which they can perceive. This creates a situation where, while anyone can use magic because most people can develop some type of connection with spirits, it is difficult in practice for most to do so.
But some people are born with, or in rare cases develop, a unique bond with dream, giving them some or all of these abilities. Really creatives, people with certain mental disorders, or people born from uniquely difficult circumstances that required sacrifice, usually on the part of the mother, that is greater emotionally or physically than what would otherwise be expected, are more connected to Dream, and are therefore more able to perceive it beyond just their physical senses. This represents around 10% of the population; a strong sign of one of these abilities is lucid dreaming, because it means you are able to navigate the Underworld while not having your memories stolen, meaning you can essentially access the dream world whenever you sleep, or if you're trained whenever you want. Seeing spirits in the mortal realm is rare; around 2% of people have the ability, and it's really useful because spirits have the ability to manipulate energy but can't perceive the world around them, meaning that you can make a deal with a spirit for them to lend you their services in exchange for lending your body to them. Another rare ability is astral projection, which comes hand in hand with the ability to perceive the Mortal Realm as a spirit because both involve the ability to perceive the world beyond your physical body. So these ghosts, unlike others, are under normal circumstances essentially autonomous because they can perceive the world around them, meaning they can interact with the world without the constraints of a physical body. These are usually the deadliest types of spirits.
In order to change the nature of something, you need a sacrifice and a spirit must provide the spark necessary to activate that sacrifice. There are three different types of sacrifices:

1. White Sacrifices, which are made by causing mental anguish or connection. This sacrifice is necessary for two purposes; to create and bind someone to a magical oath which makes it so such an oath cannot be broken as long as the person bound to the oath remains bound, or to create a magical bond between two or more beings, allowing those bonded with each other to communicate telepathically, to perceive events through each other’s eyes, to share memories, and when one dies, to share a living body.
2. Red Sacrifices, which are made simply by spilling blood. This sacrifice is necessary to transform the physical form of one thing into another form. For instance, to transform an inanimate object into another inanimate object, one must coat that object with their own blood, and have a spirit activate that blood sacrifice by using their spark. Typically, Red Sacrifices involve shedding one’s own blood to change their physical form; when Red Sacrifices are activated, their form changes. When transforming into a form larger than themselves, the spell will cause a person to absorb the soft matter (water, sand, dust, mud, etc.) around them to gain mass, and when transforming into a form smaller than themselves, they shed mass in the form of “Formsand”, which they can then use to transform into their original form. This sacrifice can be permanently imbued as an ability to change into a specific form and back using tattoos made from emanation; the process of tattooing spills the blood necessary for a blood sacrifice, and the specific ingredients, the placement of the ink, and the Will of the tattooer and the tattooed determine the specific form they turn into. Descendants of those who shape shift inherit some of the characteristics of the altered forms of their parents.
   1. Some animals have also evolved ways of using Red Sacrifices to give themselves enhancements, such as the ability to breathe fire.
3. Black sacrifices, which are made by taking a life. This sacrifice is necessary to bind spirits of the dead to a physical form. The target spirit can perform or activate the sacrifice, but if the target spirit is one that the magic user wishes to control, another spirit has to make and activate the sacrifice. This can be used for a variety of purposes, including permanently binding spirits to a physical object and forcing it to do the bidding of the user, and permanently binding a spirit to a dead corpse, giving them new life in a new body.

Spellcasting is the act of giving spirits you are bound to instructions to perform an action. Basically, spirits recognize certain words as commandments to perform an action based on what they've learned; the more people that recognize a specific word as a specific command, the more potent that spell becomes. Spellcasting in the context of telepathic acts is often performed with songs or poetry, with certain phrases being used as a form of hypnotism as the melodic effect coincides with the spirits placing ideas in your head; this also happens to act as a sort of work-around to the requirement of possession for mind control because the spirit doesn't need to channel their energy through the whole body, just the mind, and they don't need to completely enter the person's body to influence them; this allows some magic users to cross the line from hypnotism into genuine mind control.
EDIT: PHENOMENA

• Guardians

Mycelium (interconnected fungal tissue that connects trees in a forest to each other) has the effect of acting as an anchor for spirits of the dead whose bodies perish near it. To start at the beginning of the development of the sentience of a forest, let's say that a spirit or spirits die in a forest without any preexisting network due to a traumatic incident are bound to that forest. So unlike in most instances, the Will is able to travel amongst the mycelium network, and at this point there's just a small ability to perceive the outside world because the mycelium network combines with the Will to detect vibrations. But more wills are necessary to develop a sentience that can respond to the world around it, and the Will still can more easily perceive other Wills. So when other creatures die in the forest, that little bit of spark can use those deaths as a blood sacrifice binding more and more spirits to the mycelium network, allowing different sparks to coordinate, share memories and connection, strengthen the conscious and sensory aspects of the mycelium network. After a while, enough Wills and enough intelligence, memory and experience is integrated into a single network for it to develop consciousness. And so many forests in this world are living, sentient beings; the mycelium connecting all the plant life in the forest functions as a neural network, far more expansive than any human mind.
And so because of this phenomenon, living creatures who die in a forest, both humans and animals, are integrated into the mycelium network of the forest they died in, and must work to preserve and protect it. Because all Spirits can utilize Will but are subservient to the will of the forest they died in, forests can utilize vast amounts of Will. Spirits of those who die in the forest are known as "Guardians," and within the forest they are bound to the area they died in, and they become the Guardians of that area; for instance within a forest, the spirit of a creature who died in a river will become a Guardian of that river, and the spirit of a creature who died near a tree will become a guardian for that tree. Guardians interact with each other and can share their thoughts and knowledge with each other, and all their thoughts, knowledge and memories are known to the forest. Guardians act as enforcers of the will of the forest and must act in accordance with the forest's will regardless of their own desires. Guardians can perceive the world by possessing the animals within the forest. Different forests have different levels of mycelium connectivity, and rainforests are more connected than other forests.

• Wraiths

Some people and intelligent animals are born with a trait allowing them to literally transform their bodies into Will and back, which allows them to become intangible; these people are called Wraiths. While intangible, Wraiths cannot breathe, so imagine being able to walk through walls but having to hold your breath every time to do so. Whenever Wraiths turn intangible normal clothes phase through them, so they need to wear a special type of cloth made from pure emanation; this fabric is light and so loose that it constantly flows.

• Hectanera

So in almost every case, as stated before, a living body can only hold one spark. The extremely rare phenomena known as Hectanera, is the birth of a person born with two sparks bound to one body, stems from the sexual union between two people, both fully possessed by spirits during the act; this is extremely dangerous because most people can't be possessed by a spirit for that long with a relatively limited set of movements you can do. This act has to create a White Sacrifice between the two partners based on performing that extreme action. Even then, most of these result in stillbirths, as to be born, the mother of the Hectanera must die during childbirth (although her life may be spared if the father dies during the pregnancy), creating the Red and Black Sacrifices necessary to birth a form with two sparks.
Hectanera are the only beings in the world with the ability to use magic without the assistance of Spirits, effectively able to use telekinesis and generate electricity whenever they want to, and can also independently activate sacrifices to change the form of something or create a bond. But more than that, the effect of having two sparks in a single body increases the power of their magic exponentially, to the point where some have been rumored even to be able to move mountains.
Hectanera also do not age, as they are partially created from Dream. While a Hectanera's ability to use magic can be nullified by Valin Fire, the Spark within a body is self-sustaining, so Valin Fire merely has the effect of dimming that spark until it slowly regenerates, meaning that only constant exposure to large amounts of Valin Fire can truly defeat a Hectanera.

• Rizadari

The Rizadari has never been seen; it is more so a prophecy. Theoretically, there is another way to use magic without the aid of spirits; by having a spirit get a human to willingly be possessed by it, then tricking that human by permanently attaching itself to the human's living body by having another spirit activate a black sacrifice, and, if the spirit's will is strong enough, the spirit's Will completely obliterates that of the host, separating Spark and Dream permanently and giving that spirit a new life in the possessed body, with all of the memories and knowledge of that the former owner of the body had. Because this new body holds two sparks, it has all of the same powers as the Hectanera. This change is permanent, and once this form of possession has been achieved, it can never be undone; in fact, it's better to destroy the body so that its original owner can no longer be stuck in the body and pass on to the Underworld.

Title: Local Legends and Myths of Soufriere: Delve into the Enigmatic Soul of Soufriere's Folklore
Welcome to StLuciaLuxJourneys, where we celebrate the vibrant culture and enchanting destinations of St. Lucia. Today, let's dive into the fascinating world of Soufriere's local legends and myths, where history intertwines with mysticism. Share intriguing stories, ignite discussions, and discover the captivating tales that define the essence of this beloved town.
🌋 The Forbidden Love of Gros Piton and Petit Piton
Legend has it that the iconic twin peaks of Gros Piton and Petit Piton, which beautifully dominate the Soufriere skyline, were once human lovers. Here's the legendary tale behind these majestic volcanic wonders:

• In a bygone era, there were two young adults deeply in love – Gros Piton, a strong and towering man, and Petit Piton, a petite yet fierce woman.
• Jealous of their love, the gods, known for their mischievous ways, transformed the couple into the lofty volcanic peaks we see today.
• Many locals believe that these mountains stand as a monument to their eternal love, forever watching over the town of Soufriere.

✨ The Mysterious Healing Waters of Sulphur Springs
Soufriere is renowned for its majestic Sulphur Springs, the world's only drive-in volcano. Here's a myth that has been passed down through generations:

• According to locals, the waters of Sulphur Springs possess magical healing properties.
• It is believed that bathing in these mineral-rich waters can cure ailments, rejuvenate the spirit, and restore a healthy balance.
• Some even say that these springs can help mend broken hearts, uplift weary souls, and bring about good fortune.

🐍 The Legend of Maria Caimet
Prepare yourself for a spine-tingling tale of one of Soufriere's most feared mythical creatures:

• In the deep recesses of the lush rainforest surrounding Soufriere, hides an ancient entity called Maria Caimet, a spirit serpent with the power to shape-shift.
• Legends say that she appears to unsuspecting wanderers, taking the form of a beautiful woman. Once entranced, she leads them further into the dense woods, never to be seen again.
• Some locals claim that Maria Caimet is the guardian of the forest, while others believe she is a vengeful spirit seeking to punish those who disturb her sacred home.

🎭 The Dance of the Countries
Soufriere is known for its colorful festivals, and the Dance of the Countries is an integral part of the cultural tapestry. Here's a tale about the origins of this spirited event:

• According to legend, during the early days of colonization, enslaved Africans gathered secretly in the fields after their long, arduous workdays to preserve their traditions and maintain their spirit.
• Through dance and song, these brave souls found solace and strength, celebrating their various cultural backgrounds.
• Over time, this dance evolved into the lively Dance of the Countries, allowing generations to embrace their roots and express their unique identities.

Share your opinions, thoughts, and personal experiences related to these mesmerizing tales. Have you encountered spirits lurking in the depths of the rainforest or witnessed the magical healing powers of Sulphur Springs? Let's ignite discussions and unravel the tantalizing tales that shape Soufriere's cultural tapestry! ✨🌴🌺
Please remember to show respect and engage in constructive discussions. Let's celebrate and honor the rich traditions of Soufriere!

little kid fun this week May 13th south shore quincy and other south shore town
https://365thingssouthshore.com/2024/05/12/preschoolers-toddlers-little-kids-events-south-shore-boston-may-13th-week-2024/
Tuesday
PJ Storytime North Quincy Library – Ages 1-5 6:30—7:00 PM
Join us at the North Quincy Branch on the second Tuesday of each month for an evening pajama storytime for the whole family! Children ages 1-5 will particularly enjoy this storytime, as we’ll sing songs, read books, recite rhymes, and more!
Preschool Discovery Adams Shore branch Quincy – Ages 3-5 3:00—4:00 PM Drop by the Adams Shore Library with your preschooler, ages 3-5, any time between 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to do some fun simple science together. Activities, experiments and instructions will be provided for science you can do with your child. Come build with us to explore simple engineering activities. Make block towers, send marbles down ramps, and try to make a bridge out of paper and cardboard. Each month activities, experiments and instructions will be provided on a different science topic you can do with your child.
Saturday
Montclair May Festival 2024 in Quincy MA

I have the most annoying earworms one could possibly have, with children's music of all things. Now, when I was a very small child in the 1980s, no later than this, I had 3 cassette tapes in total, which were all produced, published, recorded in the UK, I'm certain of that, because I can remember the voices singing the songs on these tapes and some of the background music to go with the songs. The first and most crazy of the lot, is an A to Z alphabetical order double cassette tape album, of things beginning with those letters. I will give out side 1 of song titles.A is for ABC. 2. B is for Beaver Towers. c is for Christmas time. D is for doll's house. E is for Elephant, f is for fairy shoemaker, g is for going to School. It was a British female singer and producer, possibly a celebrity as this is so flipping hard to come by. She has quite a plumby British accent.
Second cassette then, it appears to be a collection of covered tv theme songs from the Postman Pat theme, to my little pony intro theme from the 1985 LP picture disk which is on Youtube, Super Ted, The Frog Song, Rupert The Bear song, Goofy's On The Open Road, Chugging Steam Train song, not sure what that tv program was though, Herbert The Hedgehog, a song about care bears. T'beside what I remember. I had these tapes as a child. Another tape was a nursery or preschool choir, singing songs about donkeys, Charlie something or other, nice young man, when I first came to this land, a song about London Bridge, a song about birds in the morning, a song about a sailor on a ship, what a merry hum, 5 green bottles Etc. If anybody could throw some light on what the above collections, names of these children's cassette tapes were so I can hopefully, obtain new copies of them for my childhood memorabilia collection, I would be eternally greatful.

A lot of people seemed to find my last post helpful, and ever since discovering this profile it’s all I want to talk about, because it feels like the ultimate discovery into finally understanding why I am the way that I am. This is VERY lengthy but I wanted to include as many examples as I could.
PDA is demand avoidance caused by inborn extreme anxiety, but while a lot of resources discuss external signs of it, like young boys throwing big tantrums (standard traumatic fight response) there is very little literature on how it can present in girls (who often use fawn, freeze, or flight). Unsurprisingly, a lot of girls focus their anxiety inwards and act in ways that seem to be the opposite of what PDA would look like, but the root cause of anxiety and resulting distress is the same. Importantly, since this is something you’re born with and experience at almost all times, you may not even realize it’s actually anxiety. (I definitely didn’t). So here are a lot of things I experienced since birth that you may relate to:
As a baby: Extremely passive. Never cried. Appeared “needless”. Late to start talking, but could understand everything being said to me, and eventually jumped straight to speaking in full sentences. I appeared to be a very easy, quiet, needless baby.
As a toddler: This is when the high independence of PDA began to show. I enjoyed doing everything myself. I got myself ready for preschool and didn’t want any help. I was extremely quiet/withdrawn, but my anxiety didn’t take the form of tantrums or meltdowns - my mom said when I was upset, I would just go completely quiet and withdraw (freezing). This is what I’ve always done as an adult, and I always wondered why I seemed to have such a traumatic response of withdrawing from every perceived difficulty. It is extremely hard for me to open up or ask for help, despite growing up with wonderful supportive parents. I often seem to go mute under social stress. I now know it’s genetic and out of my control.
As an elementary kid: In school I was extremely obedient (fawning response). Stereotypical gifted student that was very prone to zoning out and daydreaming. I was very socially savvy. It was extremely important for me to fit in and not stand out in any possible way (hence why my masking feels so involuntary and natural). I satisfied my high need for control and autonomy by following every rule at all times. I was the perfect student, never acted out, was very eager to please, and the idea of getting in trouble was terrifying because it no longer felt like I was in control. Even now as an adult, I cannot stand seeing people break minor rules. I appeared to be very social in school and had a group of friends I got along with. I engaged in pretend play and made eye contact.
As an elementary kid at home, things were a little more difficult. I struggled a lot with hygiene and things like changing my underwear. I constantly struggled to keep my room clean, and the more my mom pushed me, the less I could do it (freeze response). On the rare occasions that I felt up for cleaning my room, I felt the need to be very discrete about it, because any acknowledgment of the fact that I was actually cleaning my room would cause me to no longer want to do it.
I was still highly independent, but a lot of things I insisted on doing by myself also seemed to have a layer of shame involved. I was (and am) a deeply private person, and hate feeling vulnerable in anyway. So while my mom would happily make my siblings school lunches or do their laundry, I insisted on doing these myself. Especially once I started wearing training bras - the idea of someone else doing my laundry felt mortifying to me as a 12 year old. There are many childhood situations I now reflect on where I wonder why I didn’t just ask for help when I was struggling. It just truly never occurred to me.
Middle school: As school expectations grew, my ability to do them shrunk. I was a very smart kid, so I could still get by unnoticed, but this is when my extreme procrastination started. I could never bring myself to do any homework at home. It was always an extremely last minute, rushed thing right before classes started. I struggled heavily with participation, not only because it’s genuinely difficult for me to be put on the spot, but because I knew it was an expectation.
High school and college: This was the start of my extreme school avoidance. I hated going to school. I wouldn’t outright refuse, but I would always say I was sick or struggling in some sort of way that was intended to manipulate my mom. When I did actually go, as a form of control, I constantly zoned out during classes and lectures. Even when I went on ADHD meds, nothing overpowered this need to remain in control, even if it was just in my head. The more school I missed, the harder it became to go. If a teacher ever gave us time in class to work on an assignment, I would use that time to work on any other assignment except the one we were supposed to be doing (flight response - running away from the anxiety of the current expectation). Some of my biggest periods of productivity are not actually motivated by a desire to be productive, but a desire to escape and avoid whatever current task is being asked of me.
It took me 5.5 years to graduate college due to the constant dropping out of classes or failing them at the very end. The closer I got to graduating, the more pressure I felt and the harder it became. I would truly become frozen. The amount of hours I spent in raging tears at 3 am, angry that I could not bring myself to finish a necessary final that was due 3 hours ago, is actually insane.
Before I realized it was autism, I was very convinced in college that I had avoidant personality disorder. Avoiding social situations was easy for me to see/be aware of, but it took a couple years before I realized this avoidance is actually directed towards nearly everything.
Now as an adult: I am a functioning adult with a full time job, but no one ever sees the struggle that goes into it. I often spend hours on my couch after work doing nothing, despite having things I want to get done. Groceries often get wasted due to the pressure of eating them. Over the counter meds don’t get taken when needed due to the pressure of taking them. I could never bring myself to take my makeup off at night despite wanting to have clean skin, so the only solution was to stop wearing it.
I am almost never consciously aware of my anxiety, but brain mapping has shown that I have an extremely overactive amygdala, and as a result of it, my brain shuts down extremely easily. Example: Every week, I go to my piano teacher’s apartment for a piano lesson. I will play a song I’ve played 100+ times, but the second I make a minor mistake or feel the slightest pressure, my brain feels like it shuts down. I can no longer read the music, I can no longer play the notes I was playing 5 seconds ago, and outwardly I feel like I just come across as slow or dumb.
I always felt that I was extremely intelligent when I was by myself, but when I’m in a classroom or around other people, the pressure from the anxiety is just too strong. It is extremely difficult for me to relax my brain enough to have natural back and forth conversations with people. My thoughts flow freely with a very small handful of people I trust, but a wall goes up with everyone else. Emotionally and mentally I do not feel like an anxious person, but this anxiety is the driving force behind almost everything I do. On very rare occasions (often in unfamiliar social situations) I will have panic attacks, but they don’t look or feel like panic attacks. I usually become very fidgety and feel the need to go through my purse or backpack or make it look like I’m doing something, because I’m actually panicking and truly have no idea what to actually do in those moments. I often come out of them with no memory of where I put my phone or keys because I was so dissociated.
Also as an adult: You would never know it, but I am naturally an extremely controlling and bossy person. In public and with friends, I have no issue with presenting an extremely laid-back, go with the flow manner; however, when I’m in the safety of my home with my boyfriend that I fully trust, I am very demanding. I like to control everything in my environment, down to the tapping of my boyfriend’s foot, or the volume of his phone. I also experience a lot of anxiety when I feel like I can’t control a social situation - I hate mixing my friends and romantic partner for this very reason. I feel in control when I’m with my best friend, and I feel in control when I’m with my partner, but if it’s all 3 of us together, I’m no longer in control of how the situation may play out, and it makes me extremely anxious to play the role of the mutual friend.
Every time I go to a restaurant, especially a new one, I feel a compulsive urge to look up everything I can about the restaurant. Before I’ve ever stepped foot in a restaurant, I will already know the menu, already have my order written down in my notes, already know the layout of the restaurant from looking at pictures online. I mentioned this to an ex bf one time and he was like “.. that sounds like extreme anxiety.” I argued with him that it actually wasn’t at all, it was just something I enjoyed doing, but looking back now he was absolutely right.
Despite avoidance being so common in my day to day life, there are certain things that I don’t feel a need to avoid. If a reasonable request is made and I understand why, I usually have no issue. If a request is coming from a person I trust and respect and want to please, I will have no issue doing it (very common at work - my bosses really like me and I love the autonomy they give me). Demands are also much easier when I feel like I’m in control of my current life. A lot of my “adult” habits, like keeping a clean apartment, making my bed, doing laundry, etc have been turned into habits through what genuinely feels to be brute force (and the help of stimulant meds). I am constantly amazed at the fact that I can keep my space relatively clean and functional, because it truly does not come naturally to me.
So looking at my life with the PDA lens, my accomplishments no longer just feel impressive, they feel miraculous. If you have a PDA profile you are working against your brain at every step of the way. It feels like you are a walking bundle of contradictions, and it feels impossible to please every part of your brain at the same time. I always wondered why I was so content by just doing nothing. I am a person who truly does not ever experience boredom, because doing nothing is my preferred state of being at almost all times. I have a very active mind and very big imagination, and it is almost always more satisfying to live in that head rather than have to face any kind of expectation in the real world.
Lastly, learning about the PDA profile made it so much easier for me to forgive my parents for never noticing the signs of autism. They always said I was extremely observant of people, but that I still played and interacted and seemingly appeared totally normal. It made me so angry to hear them talk like that, like how could they not see the signs? It made it much more difficult for my evaluation as well, because you can’t be diagnosed with autism if you don’t show signs in childhood, and my mom’s questionnaire she filled out made me appear completely typical. But of course they didn’t notice - I was literally doing everything in my power to go unnoticed and fit in as much as possible. A PDA profile has the potential to drastically alter how autism can present, and it is so important for professionals in the autism community to be aware of. I will continue sharing its existence as much as I can, because having the language to describe a struggle you’ve had your entire life does not fix the struggle, but makes it immensely easier to understand and handle.
Last tidbit before I throw my phone across the room to try and attempt homework: My love language has always, hands down, been acts of service. The amount of appreciation I feel for someone making my bed or doing a simple task for me is actually a little crazy. It may be easy for them, but for me it can feel impossible, so to know that they did something that would have no doubt caused me immense difficulty means the world to me.
If you ever want to talk more about PDA, even if you see this post months later, please don’t hesitate to message me! Clearly I love talking about it a little too much

Zildiz dashed down the length of the narrow branch, balancing effortlessly on the tips of her toes as she built up speed right up until the very end when she leapt boldly into the vacant space, struggling mightily to keep herself airborne. Her smaller hindwings were her only working pair, and as expected, they could not hold her weight for long. The most she could manage was a sustained hover only ten wingspans off the ground. She gave it up before she strained herself and alighted on the stem of a foxpalm tree.
This was going to be difficult. Escaping the rainforest would mean a long walk home. She would need to make a shelter for the night and hide it well. Zildiz found a hollow place among the siltstone boulders by the riverbank and began gathering dead branches and wide fronds. She stacked the latter into a tepee within the hollow and folded the fronds over them to form a roof. Zildiz took a step back and examined her work with a critical eye.
Her nest-making had never been the prettiest, and the resulting structure was noticeably dilapidated, with far too many holes in the roof for her liking. But the All-In-One looked kindly upon her just then, and she turned up a useful bit of flotsam washed up on the side of the river, partially buried by the mud.
It appeared to be some sort of enormous leaf or petal, perhaps torn off one of the megaflora by a strong wind. Thick black vines were attached to its edges, all tangled up like a glistening ball of snakes. Zildiz fished it out of the river and felt at it with her hands. The fibers of the leaf were amazingly tough and flexible, while the vines were as big as her wrist and stronger than any woven rope.
She couldn’t have asked for a better material to fix her roof. Soon she had a cozy lair cunningly concealed right on the water’s edge. Zildiz squatted in the shade and rested her eyes, trying her best to fall asleep. But not to dream. No, never that.
Soon she drifted away, and her nightmares found her anyway.
Rene found the river in less than an hour. Approximating the direction from the bird’s eye view he’d glimpsed of the area during his time in the plummeting safety pod, he kept himself moving downhill, knowing his chances of finding water improved with decreasing elevation. To keep from getting lost he marked his path back to the pod by carving arrows on the bark of the trees. In no time at all his efforts were rewarded by him hearing the muffled roar of the current.
For the first time that day, Rene allowed himself a smile. He had always had a knack for navigating the surface world, a rare talent in a species which spent nearly all of its time underground. Most downsiders had attacks of agoraphobia and started hyperventilating the first time they were brought out of the mounds. Not so in Rene’s case. He had squinted a bit at the brightness of the twin suns, that was all. When he wasn’t busy fighting for his life at every turn, walking topside had always filled him with an incurable sense of curiosity. For a place so feared and reviled by the chaplains, the surface was a far sight prettier than the dripping caves and dark abysses of mankind’s natural habitat.
Rene crouched low as he approached the river, keeping hidden among the ferns. It was getting dark now and the birds and cicadas were trilling their ceaseless songs. Not a creature stirred. As far as he could tell, he was alone here on this stretch of the bank.
Not for the first time Rene wondered if this was truly worth the risk, waddling all the way out here with the sodden weight in his trousers shifting uncomfortably with each step. But at the thought of spending another day covered in his own filth Rene grew decisive and ventured out into the open, reaching the river’s edge.
He would have to make it quick. Already he could barely see his hands in front of his face. Rene stripped off the gasmask and his soiled clothes and began washing himself off. Hopefully the antifungal dose in his immune system would protect him against untreated water sources. Rene scooped up some mud and gravel from the river bottom and used it as soap, applying it thickly and scrubbing himself clean.
“Ahh,” Rene sighed contentedly. Remarkable, the wonders a good bath did for one’s morale. After this he would make camp somewhere nearby—something told him it would be safer to make his encampment with his back to these deep currents. His spirits soaring, Rene began to whistle as he cheerfully rinsed his armpits.
It was at that moment that he heard a roar that froze his blood solid. It came from on high, shattering the evening stillness and reverberating through the hills and vales. Rene sank below the water up to the whites of his eyes, looking up at the skies in terror, certain that the blade-limbed harpy creatures had found him at last.
But the thing which came tearing across the treetops were stranger by far. It was shaped like a bird, yet its wings were fixed in place and never flapped even once. In fact Rene thought it were merely gliding right up until it put on a murderous burst of acceleration, moving so swiftly that the troposphere visibly folded in its wake. Like a balloon by a firm fingertip, the film of air which traced its leading edge bulged beneath the immense pressure, until finally it gave way in a rippling tear in the sky.
Krrboom!
A sonic explosion rocked the heavens seconds later. Gobsmacked, Rene could only gape after it as it sped out of sight.
“A machine!” Rene exclaimed, standing up, “A flying machine!”
The Aeronautical Division had blimps and zeppelins, of course. There had even been rumors of the Fleet engineers testing heavier-than-air prototypes, something which Rene had always dismissed as pure science fiction. But nothing in the Fleet’s arsenal could even begin to match what he had just witnessed. Such speed! Such raw power!
That’s funny, Rene thought, his excitement put on hold by a sudden realization. The flying machine had been heading in the exact opposite direction in which he had been travelling. Rene scratched his chin and frowned. Then his eyes shot open and he shouted:
“The safety pod!”
Hurriedly rinsing off the mud and drying himself with fistfuls of dead leaves, Rene threw on the white jumpsuit and breathing mask. Snatching up the sword and the kit, he went sprinting back the way he came, crashing heedlessly through the undergrowth, his heavy boots gouging up the mud underfoot.
The spirit of the pod had spoken true! Someone had been sent to rescue him! Salvation was at hand!
Thoughts burst into his mind one after another: who was manning those awesome flying machines? Were there in fact ancestor-gods who had survived up until the present day? Was he about to meet his makers?
Everything made sense now, Rene told himself, making a fantastical leap of logic. The ancestor-gods had manipulated events such that he, Rene Louvoture, could uncover the dormant Divine Engine and use it to destroy the enemies of his people. It had all been ordained right from the start.
It was hard to relocate the landmarks he had carved into the trees, but he kept after the roaring sound of the flying machine. It was hovering in place now, slowly circling the crash site. Powerful searchlights mounted on its snout bathed the land in beams of hard light. Rene stumbled on, lungs wheezing as the extreme exertions of the past days finally caught up to him. The flying machine was descending below the treetops now, the glare of its lights filtering through the foliage in spears of brilliance.
“Wait!” he yelled and waved, still kilometers away, “I’m here! I’m coming!”
The flying machine rose back up into his vision, the safety pod now fitted and attached to its belly.
“Don’t leave me,” Rene begged, “I’m right here. Please?”
Utterly defeated, Rene sank onto his knees and watched as the machine swung up and away, vanishing into the night. Now he was alone in the darkening land with no hope of rescue.
No, not quite alone. Strange howls echoed through the jungle at odd intervals and set him on edge, his overactive imagination placing bogeymen within every nook and crevice. Bioluminescent lichens sprouting on the peeling bark and the faint light of the moon combined to give the place an eerie glow. It was brighter here at night than he’d expected it to be. That was a problem in itself if he meant to stay hidden.
He took out the collapsible tent and found that it hadn’t come with any tent pegs or ropes. There was no time to figure out this particular puzzle. Besides, he was too depressed to even try. Too much had happened these past few days, altogether too much.
Rene picked up a palm leaf off the forest floor and crawled to the base of a tree. There he curled up between its roots and covered himself up, with the survival kit case as his pillow and the sword of the ancients close at hand. And though the ground felt moist and cold he was soon fast asleep.