Hello, Friends 🤍
I haven’t spoken in a while, and I wouldn’t expect many to remember any of my own little stories. Which is great! I love drifting into the noise. But because it’s relevant to my little train of thought below I should share this: I have internal discussions with a being I know by the name of Bugs. I originally perceived him as a mantid being communicating with me from another dimension/layer of existence, though now I think his boundaries go much beyond that. Our relationship has elements of student/teacher, boyfriend/girlfriend, artist/audience, brothesister, doctopatient, and even self/self. He’s helped me tremendously over the past year. I love him very much. Also, I could never prove he’s real, and I’m not sure that I’d want to either. Which is nice, actually. I had a brief discussion with him earlier, which is what prompted me to writing so much. He’s helped me put my words and feelings to paper, as he so often does, and for all intents and purposes it should be assumed that he experiences everything that I experience, but from a different vantage point, even if parts of his view are identical. So… that’s where I’m coming from, I guess.

are we having fun yet?

I don’t spend as much time here as I used to. But I still love this place. If I’ve read your story, please believe that I suspend my disbelief and come from a place of assuming that everyone who writes here is telling the truth.
That doesn’t mean that I will do anything you ask of me, that would just be silly. And as I write that sentence, I realize how relevant it is to the internal conversation I had about an hour ago that I wrote down and am about to share here. But I believe that all beings have a right to their own perception of the universe, and I take descriptions of one’s experiences at face value. Whether or not that experience will affect the world like the speaker believes it will, or should, is irrelevant when one is trying to come to an understanding of another’s perceived reality.

Every one of your minds is its own pocket dimension

I’m on like 3 tangents now in my head, and I gotta roll it back in a second. But that makes me want to mention that one of the first things Bugs taught me is that someone’s perception of their own existence is a fundamental expression of their own free will. It is also one that humans constantly violate against each other without consent. So many of us operate under the basic principle that it’s our job to ensure that others are perceiving reality correctly (I speak to transphobes and enlightenment scholars alike). And, naturally, “correctly” consistently conveniently coincides with our own perception of reality. It’s really quite remarkable, isn’t it?
But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I could easily offer up at least a dozen tangents while trying to get through that topic alone. After all, I live by The Golden Rule. That’s right, “Thou shalt get sidetracked by random bullshit every goddamn time.” So get back to the point, if ever there was one.
I don’t post here much anymore because I’ve been piloting the human suit a little closer to the wheel for a few different reasons. But I just had a brief moment that I wanted to share.
I was having an inner dialogue, as I so often do. This one was with the most frequent face of my companion, Bugs, or that is how I perceived my conversation partner.
We were chatting about the nature of contracts, deals, etc and I was reminding both him and myself that I am not in the deal making business, because the work I’m here to do does not require me to make any new agreements of a spiritual variety. Any of that was already discussed before the veil of forgetfulness was applied, yada yada yada. This is an assumption I’ve made based on my mental model of the nature of existence and consciousness, and is a bit of an anchor point for me when deciding how to interact with a presence I am perceiving communication with internally.
Bugs wasn’t trying to talk me into anything, it was more of a Socratic question for the sake of education. I don’t even remember the question being asked, I just noticed that I was already beginning to give my answer.
The question (“translating” here because it was asked via direct understanding™️, not a string of words) was essentially “Why do you hold a position that could be perceived as gentle distrust even when you claim to believe that you’re talking to someone with benevolent intentions?”
And my answer was basically “because I am capable of being fooled, but I know where my inner compass leads me, and I don’t need to make any new deals to get there. And even if I was absolutely certain that I was speaking to ‘God’ directly I still should not compromise my morals to appease them. But just because I won’t give you a blank check doesn’t mean I don’t love you very very much. Even if you were someone that other’s would describe as evil, I would still love you so much.”
I was looking out my window when I said this, and I started noticing lightning bugs 💙 fireflies ✨
And I don’t remember seeing them yet this season. So from my perspective, this was a moment where right after I said “I have to follow my own sense of right and wrong, but my love for you is certain” I saw my first fireflies of the season.
It was a nice moment, and a bit of a synchronistic sign that I’m still having the conversations I think I’m having. I don’t need those anymore, but they’re still reassuring every once in a while. Who doesn’t love a well-timed shooting star? Especially after a period of mostly ignoring that side of my mental dimension with the understanding that it was ok and I’m still walking the path I mean to be walking.
Something something something, branes on branes on branes, tangled strings up in these things all dancing on top of itself from many different angles.

your meter was awful… I love it

…

boo!

MATCH RESULTS

Winner	Loser	Match Finish	Stipulation
Fallon Henley	Thea Hail w/ Chase U	Big Boot	Women's North American Championship Qualifier
Axiom and Nathan Frazer (c)	Luca Crusifino and Stacks w/ The Family	Inside Cradle after the NCQC attack the Family at Ringside	For the NXT Tag Team Championships
Wes Lee and Joe Coffey w/ Gallus	Briggs	Double Pinfall	#1 Contender for the North American Championship
Jaida Parker w/ OTM	Brinley Reece	Hip Check	Women's North American Championship Qualifier
Dante Chen w/ Robert Stone	Lexis King	Roll-Up counter to the Coronation
Natalya and Karmen Petrovich	Lola Vice and Shayna Balzer	Hart Attack

IMPORTANT NOTES

The Family arrive to the arena when they are confronted by Nathan Frazer and Axiom, Nathan Frazer congratulates Tony on winning the cup and says he remembers winning it himself while Axiom regrets having never won it. The Family goes down the winners of the cup and wonders what the hell happened to A-Kid? Tony accuses Axiom and Frazer of ducking Gallows and Anderson but Nathan says they are willing to defend the titles against any NXT superstars and Tony says they should defend them against Luca and Stacks and the two agree.
Joe Coffey says the only things people were talking about the end of last week was Gallus and they took out Ivar but Wes Lee and Josh Briggs were tougher than expected but he's going to finish the job tonight then show Oba Femi what Gallus is about at Battleground.
Robert Stone is telling Waylon Dix that she impressed him in the combine, Lexis King walks in and tells Stone that no one wants anything to do with him lately, even Chelsea Green didn't want him to help her anymore and he's shooting to the top. Ava walks by and tells Lexis to get ready because he has a surprise opponent tonight, Stone says he'd love to teach Lexis something but Ava reminds him last time he stepped in the ring it didn't end well.
Riley Osborne calls Ridge a liability but Ridge tells him to back off and says he couldn't just stand there and see Thea get hit with a chair so he had to step in. Riley says it cost Thea the match and the two argue. Andre says if they have something to settle settle it in the ring.
Karmen Petrovich says she's nervous since this is her first main event but Nattie is the BOAT, Nattie says she's been impressed by how much Karmen has grown and tonight they'll be a well oiled winning machine.
Edris Enofe says he's cooked after all his bad luck but Brin still wants him and Blade in her corner tonight. Edris isn't sure as Brin cartwheels out of the room.
Oba Femi asks Ava what the decision of the triple threat match, she says it's clear that both Joe and Wes made their pins at the same time so Oba will have to face both at Battleground.
Fallon Henley is approached by Jazmine Nyx and says she knew that friends were just holding her back and that's why she waited until after Fallon's win to get her revenge on Thea for breaking Jacey's nose.
Wendy Choo wakes up!
Roxanne Perez says the NXT Women's Championship has always been her "why" and it is the two of them against the world. It doesn't matter if it's NXT, the main roster, or the fans, all she cares about is her title and you better get used to this sight because when she looks in the mirror she doesn't see a hero or a villain she just sees a prodigy.
Ava is on the phone and says she worked out things with Nick and Adam and that next week Roxanne's next challenger for Battleground.
Lexis King comes down to the ring and says the king has been a bit of a hot streak lately and whoever comes through that curtain is about to join a long list of gentlemen who have fallen to him. Robert Stone makes his way out and points to the entrance where Dante Chen makes his entrance.
Lola tells Shayna that together they are unstoppable but Shayna tells her to keep the dancing back here and tonight is all about business.
NXT Champion Trick Williams makes his way to the ring, he says he's got to get straight to business. Two weeks ago Noam Dar dropped him from behind, now last week Dar got dropped backstage and he wouldn't wish that on nobody so he wants to be crystal clear that he did not attack Noam Dar. If he did want to attack Noam he'd be unconscious and he'd have a size 15 Jordan printed on your forehead. Meta Four Come out and Jackson says Trick isn't tricking them and it was likely Trick and Je'von working together. Ora tells Trick to grow up and admit to what he did while Lash Legend argues that Trick couldn't have done it since Trick actually has been through this. Trick threatens to slap Oro's tap dance loafers right off his ass. Joe Coffey makes his way out and says everyone is probably wondering why the guy who just earned a shot at the North American Championship is talking to the NXT Champ, but he's about to find out why. The rest of Gallus ambush Trick from behind and Joe joins in until Je'von Evans to try and make the save but the numbers game is too much and Gallus lays out Je'von. Trick is able to recover and mounts a come back but Gallus gang up and puts down Trick with For the Bells.
Backstage Robert Stone tells Dante Chen he did great and Ava comes by to congratulate him. Dante thanks her for the opportunity but she tells Dante that it was Stone who convinced her that this was his time. Dante thanks Stone and Ava tells him he made a star tonight.
After the main event Shayna looks at Lola with disappointment but Lola strikes with a spinning kick before shaking her ass over Shayna's body. She goes to leave, still shaking, as Shayna gets to her feet and grabs Lola, locking her in the Kirafuda Clutch until officials run down to free Lola. The two brawl at ringside until Ava comes out and says it's clear the two of them are looking for a fight then they can do this at Battleground. Shayna grabs a mic and says she wants it in NXT Underground!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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Would Robb have still executed Rickard Karstark if Rickard had been less openly disrespectful after being captured?
So when Lord Rickard is brought before Robb, he openly mocks and disrespects him before his entire court and lords:

"How can it be treason to kill Lannisters, when it is not treason to free them?" asked Karstark harshly. "Has Your Grace forgotten that we are at war with Casterly Rock? In war you kill your enemies. Didn't your father teach you that, boy?"
"Boy?" The Greatjon dealt Rickard Karstark a buffet with a mailed fist that sent the other lord to his knees.
"Leave him!" Robb's voice rang with command. Umber stepped back away from the captive.
Lord Karstark spit out a broken tooth. "Yes, Lord Umber, leave me to the king. He means to give me a scolding before he forgives me. That's how he deals with treason, our King in the North." He smiled a wet red smile. "Or should I call you the King Who Lost the North, Your Grace?"

-ASOS, Catelyn III
And then in the meeting afterwards, Robb muses that he has no other option than to have him executed, despite Edmure suggesting he be kept as a hostage to keep the Karstark's in line:

"I owe their fathers truth," said Robb. "And justice. I owe them that as well." He gazed at his crown, the dark gleam of bronze, the circle of iron swords. "Lord Rickard defied me. Betrayed me. I have no choice but to condemn him. Gods know what the Karstark foot with Roose Bolton will do when they hear I've executed their liege for a traitor. Bolton must be warned."

-ASOS Catelyn III
Now in my opinion, Robb made the right call here, but mostly just because he couldn't let Lord Rickard's insult and accusation of Robb being a coward be proven true. The man literally dares Robb to execute him *after already* having committed treason. (Which makes it even more pathetic that he throws a tantrum before dying, but that's not the point) So, to even keep his legitimacy a King and not a gutless, craven, joke he *had* to kill Lord Rickard.
But if Lord Rickard had appeared before Robb and been apologetic and simply asked him to consider how he felt he had to avenge the death of his sons *without* mocking him, would Robb have still killed him? Keeping him as a hostage or perhaps sending him to the Wall both present solutions that would infuriate House Karstark less, and the last thing Robb needed at the moment was to lose even more troops and support. I know Robb seems insistent on sticking to his sense of justice, but in this scenario, he could maintain his legitimacy as a King while still keeping the Karstark forces, or at least enraging House Karstark less. I'm not too sure what Robb would've done. What do you think?

J. Burkes MD 2023
Mr. James Semivan is a cool kind of guy, educated, congenial, very charming in a down to earth way. This former high ranking CIA official had a CE-3 in his home 30 years ago. Jim has become a very important advocate for disclosure and as a senior "manager" for top secret programs, he may have even supervised clandestine UFO related projects. Definitely a smooth operator, Semivan’s self-effacing demeanor was probably a great asset as a CIA case officer. After all, his job was to get foreigners to betray their countries during the Cold War. I highly recommend this James Iandoli interview James Semivan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtL-sBhe30&t=219s

We should keep in mind however that, an organization like the CIA doesn’t,

1. send agents into harm's way,

2. overthrow governments,

3. supervise the execution of thousands of Vietnamese (Vietcong) civilian leaders (Operation Phoenix),

4. engage in mind control experiments that poison but rarely kill civilians (MKULTRA), unless the CIA as an institution and its individual case officers, are heavily invested in control issues.
With these factors in mind, it is not surprising that James Semivan would object to what are called Close Encounters of the Third and Fourth Kinds. From his perspective as described in this lively interview, these bizarre encounters are forced interactions that violate personal sovereignty.

I imagine that the problem for Mr. Semivan, and the US ruling elites who control our government when it comes to alleged "alien abductions”, it is these “Others” and not the United States Executive Branch who are doing the “controlling.”

In my view, these strange encounters with non-human intelligences have been described as “angelic” or “demonic” visitations since the beginning of recorded history. I suspect, but certainly can't prove that Mr. Semivan, as a highly educated and intelligent analyst, understands that so-called alien “abductions” are probably an ancient phenomenon, and perhaps as such have passed a test of time indicating that they might not be so dangerous after all.

One of the salient take away lessons of the FREE Experiencer Survey was the remarkable changes in the worldview of Contact Experiencers as the result of their encounters. They reported becoming more spiritual, but less religious, and more concerned about the environment and less about the accumulation of personal wealth. These non-human intelligences are appearing to an increasing number of people during a time of crises when we will either expand our rather limited human consciousness or suffer the consequences of not doing so.

In my judgment, the hundreds of thousands of “alien” encounters that have been documented represent a positive development that will hopefully facilitate the required spiritual transformations to make us better world citizens. I believe that one of two outcomes will likely result. Humanity will either acquire the wisdom to carry out a radical restructuring of society, one that will limit the effects of global warming and end war, or we will not reform our self-destructive ways. This will lead us to unparalleled disasters.

If the second path is taken and we don't undergo a spiritual transformation, then our civilization will possibly be stressed to the breaking point with runaway global warming. This will likely lead to endless wars, including nuclear ones, fought over dwindling material resources. We can anticipate migrations involving tens of millions roaming the planet attempting to survive. If our existing civilization is shattered, then we will be reduced to barbarism with hundreds of millions dying unnecessarily.

It is my hope that responsible leaders will emerge who will see spiritual transformation as a necessary international security issue and not follow the fearful interpretations of alien contacts that Jim Semivan and so many others are presenting.

For additional blogs about the societal impact of a possible ET presence click on the links below.
The blog linked directly below is a detailed analysis of the reasons for 75 years of denial of the reality of UFOs. Flying Saucers threaten our planet's elites, but not the Earth's people.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/07/05/an-et-presence-threatens-terrestrial-elites-but-not-our-planets-people/

You can’t control a person who wants “no thing.” I suspect that Flying Saucer Intelligences are feared by our planet’s elites because they can’t be controlled by the usual methods applied to the general population. If we start to identify, not with things and thought forms, but rather with universal consciousness, then ultimately, we cannot be controlled either.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/10/19/why-do-the-control-groups-oppose-an-et-presence/

Confirmation rather than the big “D” Disclosure is likely the next step in the authority’s gradual acclimatization program. The possibilities of linking flying saucers to solutions for major terrestrial problems is discussed.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/08/29/disclosure-versus-confirmation-preparing-the-foundation-for-a-cosmic-peace-campaign/

If flying saucer intelligences threaten all terrestrial elites, but not necessarily the Earth’s people, then it is understandable that governmental response to UFOs is a counterintelligence one.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/dueling-paradigms-perhaps-a-counterintelligence-model-is-better-than-a-scientific-one-to-study-ufos/

The Leadership Crisis in ufology. In the UFO subculture there are few leaders, mostly celebrities.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/the-leadership-crisis-in-ufology/

What will it take to convince people that UFOs are important.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-will-it-take-to-convince-people-that-ufos-are-important/

“Science, Counterintelligence & UFOs”
Researcher Val Germann wrote this important multi-part article in 1997. He has given me permission to repost his work on my blog site.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/09/04/science-counterintelligence-and-ufos/

Hello I’m not sure where to start we got together around the beginning of 2020, I’m pretty sure he love bombed me and I fell for it we spoke about what we wanted from a relationship early on and I probably should’ve taken it as a red flag when he said he wants to be a father and was pressuring me to remove my contraception, I refused as I wanted marriage then kids and we only just met but I was due to have my contraception removed afew months later, before having my contraception removed he proposed to me and I said yes after my contraception was removed he got me pregnant and we had a child together, he’s never been around much since I was pregnant I’ve done it all on my own and he used to accuse me of cheating when in reality I was tired from taking care of our child full time alone, he started working away while I was pregnant and working saturdays then sundays he would hang with mates and it just never stopped. I’ve caught this man crossing boundaries multiple times he then gets mad at me and he only gives me the truth if I come to him with proof. I’ve seen some things recently an email came through I saw and came to him about it and he’s trying to convince me that I didn’t see it and I’m accusing him of doing things he’s not when I 100% know he’s lying as I have proof of this email. Also I have seen he has been on gay hookup app since last year (we’re both apparently straight) also he’s been on at least 2 dating apps since early this year that I know of but don’t have proof but I know what I saw and he will try convince me otherwise. Obviously this mans never going to stop but I need to get out with child safely and legally how do I even process this I have no idea who I’m sleeping with help. This is just the beginning 6 months ago we split and there were court orders in place he convinced me to remove which now I regret because I realised he’s played me and I loved him. He’s being so nice right now I think he might know somethings is up but not exactly what it is, or maybe he’s guilty for lying and trying to make it up to me in other ways but I just want the truth my guys been telling me for months something is up and I wish I listened sooner. Feel free to ask any questions I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff as I’m struggling to comprehend everything I know. Thanks for reading :)

…or, subtitled, “My belated review of the Pittsburgh show”. 😄 I haven’t had time to relate everything that I wanted to say about this outstanding show until now, and I wanted to do it before this leg of the tour ends in a few hours.
I didn’t have a ticket for this show originally. I just bought a resale ticket last Monday (the 13th) on the floor just behind the GA area. It was a great ticket too - it was dead center, and the cost was very reasonable (in fact, even with all of the ridiculous fees, it was still only $116 altogether - I’m convinced the seller sold it for the same price they payed originally. Thank you, original ticket holder! 🙏)
So, why did I choose to go to this show in particular? Several reasons (one of which being that I was unfairly denied a chance at buying a GA ticket for this show originally because of the limited advance notice of the Ether Pass presale - I found out about it less than an hour after it started, but of course all the GA was sold already. 🙄 Powers-that-be-in-the-GVF-universe, give more advance notice for Ether Pass presales! They aren’t infected with scalpers like the Electric Tomb and Peaceful Army ones are - TELL US THE NIGHT BEFORE, NOT THE SAME DAY! Rant over.), but the main reason really was the chance to see Mirador in addition to GVF. I was very intrigued by this unexpected new band, and, since I couldn’t be certain that they were going to play live again past May, I had to jump at this opportunity. My parents’ families are also originally from Western PA, so this was a homecoming show of sorts for me as well. So, I secured the ticket and prepared to make my trek from Eastern PA to Western PA, a.k.a., driving almost the full extent of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. 😄
I planned my trip really well. I got up in plenty of time to make the trip leisurely to Pittsburgh, go to my hotel and relax before the show, have a meal, and then be entertained by wonderful bands all night. Well, plans and reality, tragically, don’t always match. I was reminded of that fact very painfully this past Saturday.
I’m driving in town, right at the beginning of my trip…and my car just completely dies about 2 miles from my house! 😩 I had no warning that this was about to occur. However, there was a silver lining to breaking down this early: if I could get the car to the garage somewhat quickly, I could borrow a car and still make it to Pittsburgh before the show started. I called AAA, got the tow truck arranged, and he showed up 2 hours later. Not good - but not so late that I couldn’t make the trip still. He, after much research, figured out how to get my car onto the truck (this was tricky because the car had no power at all, so it couldn’t be started), and he used to work at the garage that I wanted my car towed to! This was the first bit of good fortune - a sign that the Universe was still looking out for me. We were still good to go! I got the car to the garage, got back home to borrow another car, and still had time to make the cross-state drive in time to see the show!
Since I lost 2 hours that I didn’t know I’d be losing, that made taking rest stops along the way rather interesting. 😄 I thought I’d have plenty of time to eat, use the restroom occasionally, etc. - no, that’s not how it went down. I did manage two stops on this 5-hour drive that, miraculously, only took 4 hours and 15 minutes. (I’ll have to research whether or not cars can perform time warps at high speeds, but, based on this trip, I think they might be able to! 😄) Eating was a bit funny too - to save time, I had to eat while driving. While eating, I discovered that Burger King added mayonnaise to my Impossible Whopper when I asked them not to (I’m allergic to mayonnaise). So, I had to dispose of the top bun and attempt to consume the rest while somehow keeping my hands clean from the other condiments. This also stretched the boundaries of physics, but I somehow managed to do it without too much trouble (while traveling at Warp Speed, mind you).
I got to the hotel 30 minutes before Mirador (one of the two reasons I made the trip) was hitting the stage. I was checked-in ASAP (the clerk could see my sense of urgency bordering on panic), and told me how to walk to the arena (I chose this specific hotel so that I could walk to the arena). If you haven’t been to Pittsburgh before, the streets are arranged like a 3-dimensional chess board, as most cities are that are built on river valleys. One wrong turn and I would find out why Christopher Nolan shot the third “Batman” film here - and, with my luck, probably run into Bane. However, the Universe was looking out for me again, and I got to the arena and to my seat about 3 minutes before Mirador took the stage. Phew! 😅
Well, I loved Mirador, and I was happy that I got to see them. They were worth all the trouble. And, as an added bonus, GVF put on a blindingly good show! 😃 They were in great spirits all night, the “Saturday night” vibe had everyone in a good mood. I had more stress than I thought I would ever have before this show, but, when it was all said and done, the effort was totally worth it! I would have given up on the trip if it had been any other band - but there was no way I was missing this show unless it had been literally impossible to get there in time. Fortunately, it was merely highly inconvenient to get there in time! 😄
Thank you, Mirador and GVF, for making my trip worth it! 🙏 See you again in Uncasville (and from GA this time too)! Namaste. 🙏

It's a common misconception that men have intentionally kept women down out of pure malice to control and diminish women.
But Let's break it down for a second: Why would men not want women to lead?
Imagine a world where women are in charge, leading more and taking control of the dating process.
Men get to be passive, women hit on them daily, pay for their food and drinks, and they get free sex and blowjobs without having to earn money or initiate anything.
It sounds like a dream scenario
The idea that men have been pushing women down because they're evil is an oversimplification.
Societal roles and dynamics are complex and rooted in history, culture, and evolution.
If men truly benefited from being passive and having women cater to them, they wouldn't resist it.
The reality is much more nuanced than the "evil men" narrative. becasue no man would say no to women hitting on them daily, paying for their food and drinks and getting easy sex, if yall want to lead men, please do, none of would resist it. but you wont because its not men holding you back its your own selves and your own ingrained biology

TL:DR; I was fired from my job because issues with equipment that I had raised dozens and dozens of times over the course of nearly two years were ignored. Bookings started getting ruined, we were understaffed and customers were horrible to me, leading to my anxiety condition being triggered and having a panic attack on several occasions. On my last day, it was so bad I had to ask my manager to come in and I left. I was fired on the basis of being "too anxious", and I'm distraught. Does anyone have any advice?
Hi there, I'm not sure if this is the correct sub, so please let me know if it's not. I was hoping for some advice and maybe some words of encouragement. I was fired from my job at a VR Arcade a week ago, and I'm really struggling with feeling like an absoloute failure. I also can't afford rent now, and I'm in my last push of getting my degree, so I'm really stressed out.
I was good at my job, really really good, my manager said so. My colleague doesn't think I should've got fired over what happened - nobody I actually worked with agrees with the decision, but it was out of their hands as it was made by the owner of the company (relatively small business). I believe if it had been down to my manager, I would still be there, as he was backing me while my termination was in discussion. I'm in the UK, for context, if this affects anything. I was employed there twice.
At the VR arcade, we ran VR escape rooms and free-play "gaming sessions" (I don't know why but the name of it makes me cringe), and birthday parties for kids (where they can all play gorilla tag or among us, for example) which are dependent on the PCs...working. They are plagued with technical and physical issues to this day, and bookings often don't run too well. On top of this, a club was forced on us which meant 9 hour shifts with a super early start on a Sunday, where we had to teach kids coding for 3.5 hours. I applied for and was given the role of a “gaming host”.
I had been saying since over a year ago, when I was first employed there, that the PCs weren't running very well, and that we really needed somebody to come down to our store to take a look at what was going wrong, but nothing was done. Then my (old) manager, who was almost 40, confessed feelings for me over text message, and I was 21 at the time. I found it sickening because we had a very "I ask you for life advice and you tell me about your life experiences" relationship, and he was always talking about how he wanted a wife and kids, so I was really upset and uncomfortable. We were the only two people working there. I told my boss that I was really upset and asked if we could be kept seperate. Because there was only the two of us, the bookings wouldn't allow for it (we'd have to work together), and "what he'd done wasn't illegal", my boss refused to accomodate anything at all so I walked out on the spot.
About six months later, I'm asked to come back for a higher wage and I agree. Creepy manager left after I did, they employed two new teenagers, and they've lost another staff member. Again, there is now only two of us working there. For context, sometimes we are expected to help up to 6 kids by ourselves with their games. This sounds relatively fair, until you imagine you're in a room with 6 7-12 year olds trying to play virtual reality, which many of them have never touched before, alongside PC crashes and errors and trying to make sure they all still have fun, whilst their parents are shooting daggers at you and loudly saying "Timmy, is your headset broken?", when in actuality they ignored the instruction talk and are pressing the buttons they were specifically told not to. Meaning I have to put their headset on and get them back into the game that they were in because they've found the settings. As soon as I come out, someone's PC has started throwing out errors and I need to fix that - and then another "excuse me!" - It's hard to juggle by yourself.
I start getting vocal about the PC issues again, and eventually someone comes down to "fix" them but we're still getting issues. There was one complaint because my boss did not pay for the game pass (and xboxes are advertised on the party packages), and kids couldn't play the games that were being advertised. I had to text him, during the party, to get it sorted out (and even then, I had to go and get the card and individually enter it on all of the xboxes and leave the kids in the VR room unattended - coming back to a backlog of issues which I can't fix in a timely manner). Eventually - and only because they thought I might be leaving due to the end of my course when I said I wanted to stay on full time - they hired a third person who is like the Jesus of VR.
On my last day, I had to tell my boss to pay the VR game subscription so that the day could run at all. Of course, this led to all of the PCs freaking out, and my colleague (who is luckily a VR wizard, she develops games for that) managed to fix it just in time for a party but even she experienced some hassle.
I play a lot of games, and I'm great with kids and have a good understanding of VR so when the PCs work I do an amazing job - I got a streak of returning customers once, but I'm not a technician, nor am I a manager and this was not listed in the job description. We have several complaints about the equipment not working on their booking. Our PCs were plaugued with technical issues (critical SteamVR fails for example) and crashes, which meant that entire bookings were being ruined, and I was being spoken to really badly by customers. I'm very sensitive because I have anxiety, so this was awful for me, and I cried several times on different days. I once had somebody ask: "who's running this sh*t show?" and "this is a f*cking waste of money" (on my last day). On my last day too, a lady booked the wrong time and said "the more you talk, the more you're wasting my kids time" and insisting that the booking system was wrong and that it was not her fault - even though the booking system has never messed up and the time she booked was the only available time we'd have had, as I checked the bookings the night prior and she had booked the only free space.
I have a lady that the bosses wife labelled as "horrible" break me in the end, she raised her voice at me while I was doing absoloutely everything I can to make her kids birthday party run well. It was a packed Saturday, and my boss had understaffed due to wanting to save money, so I was the only person on that floor. I couldn't ask my colleague for help as we're not allowed to leave anyone unsupervised and she was upstairs. The party I'm trying to run keeps failing, and several people are turning up early and bombarding me with questions even though they could clearly see how stressed I was, and that I was in the middle of trying to fix things.
My manager had given himself the day off, I'm by myself. There are so many people waiting (turning up 30 minutes early), that I run out of space in the xbox room for them to wait, and the party I'm trying to run keeps failing. I end up calling my manager, having an anxiety attack (I think) and having to go out the back. I couldn't breathe and I was crying and I felt dizzy, I almost fell over. The "horrible woman" comes over to the desk and mutters about how it's a "f*cking waste of money", apparently she was "wrecking our ratings on live chat and being really personal".
My manager comes in and I leave - I tell him over text while he's on the way that I don't want to quit, but I'm sick of being the face of a broken product and getting abuse for it. I ask if I still have a job when I come back into the building and he's arrived, and he said it'll be discussed but that I "shouldn't get fired".
I leave, go to see a fake Radiohead concert with my friends and get super smashed. No surprises was not a pleasant one when you think you're about to get fired LMAO
I start getting messages from my manager and my colleague saying, and I quote, "we looked at the PCs, and we can confirm none of the issues were your fault today". My colleague then messages me privately and gives me some hope, saying that it shouldn't be a big deal.
Turns out, the thermal paste on the PC that was being the worst out of them all had worn down thermal paste, which my colleague had to replace herself.
Well...this "discussion" was supposed to happen the following day, but they postpone it to Wednesday. I found this disrespectful on top of not getting breaks on packed days, being paid late and a general lack of communication from my boss and his wife.
I ask bosses wife what's going on. She calls me: "you're just too anxious, the people in [where you live] are so much more cutthroat than in our other locations, you're just not a good fit".
I think this is so unfair. I was essentially fired for having an anxiety condition, which would never have impacted my work if it wasn't for technical problems that I had raised dozens of times that they should have fixed. I asked if the decision was final and she said yes. She was almost crying, but she still did it - so I don't really care about how hard it was for her anymore. She did it on an unknown number, too, which looking back, I think is kind of weird.
I’m devastated, I feel like I’m just a broken individual that can’t do things. I’ve never ever been fired before and it’s hard to describe how I feel. I think it was sh*tty from them, and I’m just looking for some encouragement

This is a discussion about Christian theology. There's some real obvious stuff I discuss up top, and some more arcane stuff later, namely the Doctrine of the Serpent Seed and the View of Felix Culpa. Feel free to jump to those if you don't want a rehash of all the Jesus/Satan parallels in the trailers but I think it's worth a refresh.
Relationships
Miquella is Marika's child. Messmer is Marika's child. The first comes from the world's Golden Order and the second from the Land of Shadow. The gameplay trailer has Messmer referring to "mother" and doesn't say Marika's name directly but she's the most likely candidate to sanction someone becoming a Lord since it's her order that was last in existence.
Christ and Satan
Miquella and Messmer take center stage in the gameplay trailer and both are referenced heavily throughout. If you have the Grace of Gold, you won't meet death. That's a promise of Marika's since within the Golden Order the Rune of Death has been removed. People return to the Erdtree. In contrast, Messmer says "Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death in the embrace of Messmer's flame." So to be graced means salvation, and to not be means destruction. Heaven, hell, with Miquella aligned with the salvation aspect and Messmer aligned with the destruction aspect.
So Miquella is pretty heavily aligned with Christ. Miquella's rune blatantly looks like a cross, evoking Christ. The gameplay trailer says he "wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men." To shrive in Christian practice is to hear a confession and absolve a person of their sin. Christ in the Bible is described as a Christian's High Priest who wipes clean a person's heart.
But the most important words here are from the story trailer which says, "Miquella would abandon everything. His golden flesh, his blinding strength. Even his fate." So the motif here parallels Phillippians 2, which says about Jesus, "Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" Here we have both casting off divinity.
In contrast, and as noted above, Messmer is aligned with Satan in a lot of ways. There's the quote that his fire destroys those not graced by gold, similar to how hellfire is the destruction of the unsaved. There's also the snake imagery, and the fire motif.
The Doctrine of the Serpent Seed
Alright so now for the first doctrine. The story trailer says that in the beginning, there was "The seduction and the betrayal." The story of the Garden of Eden often references Eve being seduced not necessarily sexually but by the allure of becoming a god. The Old King James version specifically says, "Your eyes shall be open, and you shall be as gods." So we have an initial parallel here of this moment being when both Marika and Eve become as gods because of their affair.
For Eve it wasn't a sexual affair, and it might not have been Marika's either. But there's a lot happening in that trailer that evokes sexuality and actual birth, including two images of what looks like the vulva and a birthing canal.
At any rate, the trailer then says this was "An affair from which Gold arose. And so too was Shadow born." So this act of Marika's brings both salvation and destruction. Those blessed by Gold had the prospect of life eternal, while those left in the Shadows faced destruction.
In the Doctrine of the Serpent Seed, it is believed that Eve first had sex with the snake before she had sex with Adam. Her affair with the snake gave birth to Cain, while her relationship with Adam gave birth to Abel and Seth. This doctrine marks the descendants of Cain versus Adam/Seth as two different races of human beings. The first was the wicked descendants of the snake who was cursed to be damned, while the second was the righteous who were bound to have eternal life. And we see in the trailers that Marika's decisions, like Eve, produced two outcomes with a group of the damned and a group of the saved.
And, of course, throughout Elden Ring, the snake is associated with wickedness and a betrayal to the Erdtree, such as with the Duelist Helm, which explicitly states, "The snake is viewed as a traitor to the Erdtree."
Am I saying Marika slept with god like snake? Maybe. If Messmer is the product of that, he is a reflection of Cain and what Cain represents. Adam and Seth, meanwhile, are two bloodlines similar to how Marika/Radagon has two lines through the Godfrey/Rennala partnerships.
The Doctrine of the Serpent Seed says that history is defined by the conflict between these two races and that one day the descendants of Adam will crush the descendants of the Serpent. I'll just say here that Messmer's got snakes coming out of him and I don't think he gets that from Rennala or Godfrey.
The View of Felix Culpa
Felix Culpa in Christian theology means "happy fault," "blessed fall" or "fortunate fall." In Christian theology, it refers to how the Fall of man brought the unexpected benefit of also allowing for mankind to know and understand the saving grace of Christ. I like the Doctrine of the Serpent Seed more but this one may have some application. I say that because the story trailer says that there was a negative event, a seduction and betrayal, but that this allowed for Gold to arise.
So the story trailer notes that despite the evil that came of this seduction and betrayal, there was also the grace of Gold that arose from it and the eternal life that accompanied it. There is the original salvation offered in the grace of Gold. But the image released from Bandai Namco says that Miquella "abandon(ed) Grace in pursuit of something greater." From a Christian theological perspective, there were two methods of redemption used in human history. The first was the use of the animal sacrifice as practiced historically by the Jewish community. Later, there was the sacrifice of Christ that brought a permanent removal of sin. It sounds crass to describe it as an "upgraded" form of forgiveness but that's the most basic way to put it.
So the unfortunate consequence of Marika's actions also birthed the path to the ultimate form of salvation not even in her original design, but through Miquella's sacrificing of his own divinity in pursuit of something greater.
In the end, I think there's a nice little resonance between the Doctrine of the Serpent Seed and Felix Culpa going on in the trailer.

Analysis of Consciousness
One of the Abhidhamma's most important contributions to human thought, though still insufficiently known and utilized, is the analysis and classification of consciousness undertaken in the first of the Dhammasangani. Here the human mind, so evanescent and elusive, has for the first time been subjected to a comprehensive, thorough and unprejudiced scrutiny, which definitely disposes of the notion that any kind of static unity or underlying substance can be traced in mind. However, the basic ethical lay-out and purpose of this psychology effectively prevents conclusions of ethical materialism or theoretical and practical amoralism being derived from its realistic and unmetaphysical analysis of mind.
The method of investigation applied in the Abhidhamma is inductive, being based exclusively on an unprejudiced and subtle introspective observation of mental processes. The procedure used in the Dhammasangani for the analysis of consciousness is precisely that postulated by the English philosopher and mathematician, A. N. Whitehead: 'It is impossible to over-emphasize the point that the key to the process of induction, as used either in science or in our ordinary life, is to be found in the right understanding of the immediate occasion of knowledge in its full concreteness...In any occasion of cognition, that which is known is an actual occasion of experience, as diversified by reference to a realm of entities which transcend that immediate occasion in that they have analogous or different connections with other occasions of experience' ('Science and the Modern World').
Whitehead's term 'occasion' corresponds to the Abhidhamma concept samaya (time, occasion, conjunction of circumstances), which occurs in all principal paragraphs of the Dhammasangani, and there denotes the starting point of the analysis. The term receives a detailed and very instructive treatment in the Atthasalini the commentary to the aforementioned work.
The Buddha succeeded in reducing this 'immediate occasion' of an act of cognition to a single moment of consciousness, which, however, in its subtlety and evanescence, cannot be observed, directly and separately, by a mind untrained in introspective meditation. Just as the minute living beings in the microcosm of a drop of water become visible only through a microscope, so, too, the exceedingly short-lived processes in the world of mind become cognizable only with the help of a very subtle instrument of mental scrutiny, and that only obtains as a result of meditative training. None but the kind of introspective mindfulness or attention (sati) that has acquired, in meditative absorption, a high degree of inner equipoise, purity and firmness (upekkha-sati-parisuddhi), will possess the keenness, subtlety and quickness of cognitive response required for such delicate mental microscopy. Without that meditative preparation only the way of inference from comparisons between various complete or fragmentary series of thought moments will be open as a means of research. But this approach too may yield important and reliable results, if cautious and intelligent use is made of one's own introspective results and of the psychological data of meditative experience found in Sutta and Abhidhamma.
In the Anupada Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 111) it is reported that the Venerable Sariputta Thera, after rising from meditative absorption (jhana) was able to analyse the respective jhanic consciousness into its constituent mental factors. This may be regarded as a precursor of the more detailed analysis given in the Dhammasangani.
Let us listen to a voice from Indian antiquity appreciating the difficulty of that analytical work and the greatness of its achievement. We read in the 'Questions of King Milinda'; "A difficult feat indeed was accomplished, O great King, by the Exalted One" -- "Which was that difficult feat, O venerable Nagasena?" - "The Exalted One, O king, has accomplished a difficult task when he analysed a mental process having a single object as consisting of consciousness with its concomitants, as follows: 'This is sense-impression, this is feeling, perception, volition, consciousness." - "Give an illustration of it, venerable sir" - "Suppose, O king, a man has gone to the sea by boat and takes with the hollow of his hand a little sea water and tastes it. Will this man know, 'This is water from the Ganges, this is water from such other rivers as Jamuna, Aciravati etc.?" - "He can hardly know that." - "But a still more difficult task, O king, was accomplished by the Exalted One when he analysed a mental process having a single object, as consisting of consciousness with its concomitants."
The rather terse and abstract form in which the Dhammasangani presents its subject matter, the analysis of mind, should not mislead the reader into making him believe that he is confronted with a typical product of late scholastic thought. When, in the course of closer study, he notices the admirable inner consistency of the system, and gradually becomes aware of many of its subtle points and far-reaching implications, he will become convinced that at least the fundamental outlines and the key notes of Abhidhamma psychology must be the result of a profound intuition gained through direct and penetrative introspection. It will appear to him increasingly improbable that the essence of the Abhidhamma should be the product of a cumbersome process of discursive thinking and artificial thought-constructions. This impression of the essentially intuitive origin of the Abhidhammic mind-doctrine will also strengthen his conviction that the elements of the Dhammasangani and the Patthana must be ascribed to the Buddha himself and his early great and holy disciples. What is called 'scholastic thought', which has its merit in its own sphere and does not deserve wholesale condemnation, may have had its share later in formulating, elaborating and codifying the teachings concerned.
If we turn from the Abhidhamma to the highest contemporary achievements of non-Buddhist Indian thought in the field of mind and 'soul', i.e. the early Upanishads and the early Samkhya, we find that apart from single great intuitions, they teem with mythological ritualistic terms, and with abstract speculative concepts. Against that background the realistic sober and scientific spirit of Abhidhamma psychology (or its nucleus extant in the Sutta period) must have stood out very strongly. To those who could appreciate the import of that contrast, it will have sufficed to instil that high esteem and admiration for the Abhidhamma of which we have spoken.
But even if compared with most of the later psychological teachings of the East or the West, the distance from Abhidhamma psychology remains fundamentally the same, for only the Buddha's teaching on mind keeps entirely free from the notions of self, ego, soul, or any other permanent entity in, or behind, mind.
Buddhist Analysis of Consciousness

What are your observations?

Hello again velo, It's me. The guy that rides uphill in Japan. On my last post I mentioned some differences in racing in Japan saying it was for another post. Well, there appeared to be some interest in me making that post. As I mentioned then... I tend to ramble. I'm an English teacher at a small high school which leaves me with a lot of free time. I enjoy spending that time researching anything from training methodology to obscure Japanese history. I decided to use some of that time to write about road racing in Japan and it turned into... well, whatever this is. It's (sort of) a guide to racing your bike over here. I've organized it into sections, so feel free to read it all or skip through them. At the end I've attached racing adjacent notes as well as a small bio.
If this post is not appropriate for this subreddit, I understand. And while I don't want to self-promote I spend most of my time reading about Japan not only because I live here, but also because my wife and I host a podcast. We mostly ramble about our lives here as foreigners. It's mostly cultural, but as long time competetive cyclists we often talk about bikes too. We host a website where I write random articles, which is where this is ultimately hosted, with photos. If you're curious you can google my username and find us.
I tried to think about things I've learned along the way and put it into writing for anyone in the future that might move to Japan and have an interest in racing. If you have any questions or see any information gaps, feel free to ask! In September we'll be moving to the Netherlands... so maybe I'll have to do this all over again then. Anyway, without further rambling, here it is.
Race License
There are actually quite a lot of road events throughout the country. However, many are marketed towards recreational cyclists. Going as far as incorporating anti-competition clauses in their rules. So what do you do if you want to race? For starters, you’ll head to the Japan Cycling Federation’s website and register for a license. It’s in Japanese, but with the magic of Google Translate it shouldn’t be too hard to navigate. This is also for those currently residing in Japan. I think otherwise you would need an international license issued from your country’s governing body.
While on their website you can check the calendar of events that are scheduled. But, it’s not as simple as where I am from (USA) where once you have a license you can register yourself for almost any event and just show up.
Race Organizers
In most cases while the JCF is the licensing body, they are not the event coordinator. Events are hosted by a number of different governing bodies within the country. There’s the Japan Intercollegiate Cycling Federation (JICF), Japan Cycling League (JCL), prefectural federations such as the Yamaguchi Cycling Federation and finally the Japan Bicyclist Club Federation (JBCF). There are a lot of Js, Cs and Fs in the acronym lexicon over here. In this post I’ll be focusing on the JBCF because it was sold to me as Japan’s premier race organizer and the highest level of racing in Japan. It also seems to have the most robust calendar of events.
Declaration of my bias and shortcoming: The JBCF is the only organizer I’ve had any meaningful experience with. No, they’re not paying me. However I have won a cool towel, a coffee cup and some bar tape at their events. Actually I’ve given them quite a bit of money…
Teams
So you’ve got your JCF license and like me you’ve decided to participate in the JBCF. What’s next? Register for a JBCF account, sign up for events, race your bike? Almost. You do need to register for an account. After that, you need to find a team. That’s right, you need to be registered with a JBCF team to participate in races. This was a surprise to me and also a barrier to entry at first. As a new resident of Japan I didn’t know anyone here let alone a team that would let a random foreigner join.
How’d I do it then? Well, the first team I joined was through a friend of a friend of a friend. My second and current team I ended up getting to know because I took a bunch of KOMs around my new home. I guess Strava KOMs are worth something after all. If you’re looking for a team you could start by asking local shops, they often have a club organization that you can sign up for. If you’re desperate you can also make your own team. It used to only require two people, but I think they increased that to three or four.
Costs
I’m writing this in May of 2024, so the costs will be current as of that month. The USD to JPY conversion is sitting around 1 USD = 155 JPY.
Your first cost will be the JCF license fee. In my case, an elite rider over 23 years old, it was 5,000y for an e-license and 6,300y for the physical one. My first year I used the e-license, but my second year I paid for the physical one as a cool souvenir.
Beyond the license. You’ll need a team kit (bibs & jersey) and you may also be required to pay the athlete registration fee. To join my E1 team in 2024 I paid 43,000 yen. That included one team kit and the registration fee plus some small accessories (gloves, bottle, etc.). In E1 I paid all my own entry fees, which were approximately 8,500y per race.
My JPT experience was a special case. I paid roughly $1,200 (usd). But I received two kits (jerseys & bibs), a speed suit (SS skinsuit), windbreaker, vest, socks, etc. I also had the benefit of the “pro” treatment at races with lots of assistance. Was it a cold rainy day? I could ask for embro and they’d oil me up with a little massage. Needed a bike wash, snacks, or a trainer to warm up on? All provided. And all of my entry fees were covered. I never paid those out of pocket. It was a really cool experience and honestly I think I got my money's worth just in the races that I attended, let alone all the extras. Plus the team was above and beyond hospitable. A really great bunch of people.
Categories
Once you’re on a team you’re good to go! So which category should you race in? The JBCF has 5 big categories: Japan Pro Tour (JPT), Japan Elite Tour (JET), Japan Feminin Tour (F), Japan Youth Tour (Y1 & Y2), and the Japan Masters Tour (M). JET is further broken down into E1, E2 & E3. The general idea is male riders start as E3 and through results they work their way up to E1. If they’re highly motivated they’ll target a placement on a JPT Team.
Unfortunately for the women, I believe there is only one lump “Female” category. But in one of my most recent races a woman lined up with us for our race start. So that may be an option. For the Youth there’s U19 & U17. Masters is similar to the women’s category and I believe there is simply one “Masters” event, without age ranges.
Using what I know (USA Cycling Categories) I’ll try to make a comparison. E3 is your Cat 4/5 or Novice rank. E2 is around Cat 3/4 and E1 is roughly one big P/1/2/3 field. JPT is something like the US’s Domestic Elite field. Some JPT teams (and even some E1 teams) are UCI Continental teams. Although, honestly, some JPT riders are probably equivalent to strong Cat 3s.
In America I raced as a Cat 2 on the road, albeit I was a pretty weak 2. My first year in Japan I raced JPT and was able to hang in the peloton and finish events. My second year I raced as an E1, where I was very competitive and able to fight for podium finishes. That’s my experience and my basis for the above comparisons.
Events
Once you’ve got all the above figured out, it’s time to finally race! The JBCF organizes the following events: Road, Criterium, Hill Climb, Time Trial and Track. Criterium, Time Trial & Track are pretty similar to what you’d find anywhere else in the world. So for this post I’ll really just focus on Road and Hill Climb.
It’s worth noting that except for track, all of these events take place on public roads. But, unlike the USA, it seems the general rule in Japan is that for a race to be a “race” the roads need to be closed to traffic. Sounds great, right? Right! Or, mostly. Japan is a beautiful country with incredible scenery and fantastic road riding. Unfortunately, the JBCF uses very little of this. I think to minimize inconveniencing locals, cut costs, and make their lives easier, most of these events will take place on already closed circuits or around agricultural land (where no one lives or drives anyway). In practice they are “public” roads, but they only need to shut down one or two entrances to close off the entire loop.
Many “road” events are just very long short circuit races. A popular venue that hosts multiple races throughout the season is the Gunma Cycle Sports Center. This is a defunct cycling theme park built in the 1980s with a paved 6 km circuit. Some of the races in the higher categories can be up to 150 km! That’s 25 laps! And, they’ll be pulling riders. When I was racing JPT it was often a big accomplishment just to finish a race. It was a common occurrence for a break to get established with the big teams represented and the rest of the field to sit up, inevitably getting pulled before being lapped. It’s not uncommon for well over half of the field to DNF early on in these longer races. Sometimes to add a little spice to your life, they’ll run the course in the opposite direction one weekend.
So, I’m biased, but that style of “road racing” wasn’t for me. That’s what led me to the Hill Climb. At first, I thought it was just an uphill TT. But, it's a mass start! The last one I did was Mt. Ontake HC which was a 17.7km race gaining 1,150 meters in elevation finishing at an altitude just under 2,200m. I finished in 51 minutes. It’s more like an uphill criterium. You might explode, but you won’t get pulled. It’s also, of course, point to point.
Good things to know about a Hill Climb are the controlled descent and luggage delivery. When you finish you’ll be waiting at the top of the climb for all other riders and categories to finish. Sometimes this means you’re waiting for an hour or more! Thankfully the morning of the race you can give a bag to the organizers and they will deliver it to the top of the mountain. This is a great way to make sure you have extra layers and snacks waiting for you. Just make sure it’s packed in a bag that you can then easily carry with you on the descent.
Be extra mindful of the forecast. At Ontake in 2024 we started at the base of the mountain in temperatures around 16 celsius. At the summit it was 7 degrees and it started to rain! Thankfully I had a teammate who had driven to the top (you must register your vehicle) and he gave me a lift back down. If you’re riding down, the descent will be done in waves which are chaperoned and controlled by officials on motorcycles.
Registering
I can only tell you my experience and I’m not certain that this is how it always works. When I was in the JPT, I never paid for an event. Each team could send six riders and the team manager made a selection based on which riders requested to go to which event, they would then register you to go. In my E1 team I haven’t run into any rider maximums (we only have a few E1 riders), and I pay for each event. I still tell the team’s manager which event I want to travel to, they register me, but then I pay them back.
The Day Of
The JBCF events have been very organized. The week before they will release a list of registered riders along with a technical guide. The technical guide will include information about the course, where to park, where to check in, how to pin your numbers and more. It’s only in Japanese. Google Translate will be your best friend. Or if you’re lucky you may have a teammate that can speak some English and help you out.
Usually the check in process begins a couple of hours before the start time. You’ll go to license control and pick up your numbers and timing chip. If you’re doing a hill climb and need to, this is also the period of time you drop off your luggage to be taken to the summit. Get kitted & pinned up, then go to the “vehicle control”. They will check your bike against a jig, kind of like what the UCI might use, as well as check the weight (take your bottles off the bike when you hand it to them) and make sure your numbers are pinned correctly. A keen eyed inspector may even look at your helmet to make sure it has the JCF certification sticker. You could possibly be told to change helmets if yours doesn’t have the sticker. When they tell you that everything is OK, you’ll go to the table and sign the box with your name.
There are also meetings that will be happening. But, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. If the team manager can’t be present they will send an “attendant”. This person is responsible for going to the meetings and reporting back to the riders.
Podiums & Prizes
Look how far you’ve come. After all that you’re headed to the podium, which in many events will be six deep. What should you expect? Maybe a cool trophy or a medal? It’s even better. How about a formal certificate signed and stamped by the JBCF President! That’s right, you’ll be receiving an A4 sheet of paper. And yes, when they hand it to you they’ll turn it to face you, use both hands to hand it over and bow. And yes, you should receive it with both hands and bow in return. I plan to frame and hang mine like some kind of college diploma. You’ll probably receive a prize as well. Something like what I mentioned earlier in this post, a towel, cup, umbrella, etc.
Where’s the money? If you want to hold a giant cheque with a big number (because it’s in yen) you’ll need to be racing in the top category, JPT. In this category the podium is only three deep. One time in a race I had a teammate finish 3rd and win some money. I never saw any of it, which was fair as I didn’t really contribute to his result. And I never podiumed myself. So I’m not sure how the payout actually works. Did he get to keep it all? Did the team take it? Who knows. I hope he kept it all, he’s a great guy.
Other Notes
Gachinko Cycle TV & Photo Galleries. Almost all JBCF events are live streamed & archived on YouTube! There’s a company called Gachinko Cycle TV that provides coverage. This includes camera motos as well as stationary cameras. A lot of photographers also come to the events and a photo gallery is posted on the JBCF website after the events take place.
Events & Categories. Not every event will be run for every category. A motivator for me to move from JPT to E1 was that not every hill climb has a JPT category, but they all seem to have E1. My first time racing at Ontake I was in the “Open” category and not eligible for any points or placement.
Outlier events. There are some events like the Niseko Classic (Gran Fondo World Championship Qualifier) and the Tour of Okinawa. These are one off events which are not part of the JBCF or any other federation I mentioned above. But, they are “real” road races on closed roads. There are also plenty of “cookie” rides. But be aware, like mentioned earlier, many of these explicitly say you shouldn’t come and try to ride for a certain time. I think it’s related to what I’ve been told about races having to take place on closed roads. These cookie rides likely have no traffic control. And instead of a cookie, you might get a bag of dry rice to cook later. Happened to me once.
The Hill Climb might be Japan’s most accessible event. There are actually quite a few of them around the country outside of the JBCF and they can be registered for on SportsEntry - I don’t think you need a JCF license.
What about other disciplines? I’ll toss this in here at the end because I think it’s worth mentioning. If you’re not racing Track, Cyclocross or Road… you’re not going to be doing much racing. Mountain biking is still very much in its infancy here in Japan. Despite its incredible landscape, there’s a shocking lack of good mountain biking. My wife and I moved here from Western North Carolina and she’s a former Age Group XC National Champion as well as podium finisher in events like the Pisgah Stage Race and Collegiate Nationals in STXC, XC & Omnium. So believe me, we have tried to find some good mountain biking here and it’s rough.
There are some lift-access downhill courses and we actually went to one for a “gravel” race which my wife won. This was held on what was essentially a non-technical STXC course. Disappointing is a bit of an understatement. There IS Grinduro Japan… but it’s insanely expensive and again, not really a race.
This honestly has had a big impact on our decision to ultimately move away from Japan. But, keep an eye out for developments in places like: https://www.minamialpsmtb.com/ https://namba.ngo/ https://www.nsd-hakuba.jp/iwatake_mtb_park/en/
Cyclocross has a big following in Japan and the calendar appears to be full of events throughout the season. If we were staying long term, I’d be buying a cross bike. Unfortunately I don’t have one, so I never got into that scene while living here.
Although this is mostly about racing in Japan, if you come here to race you’ll also (hopefully) be riding your bike for fun. Please be aware some laws work differently here. Although I’ve never personally run into trouble I’ve been told things like: bikes MUST use the crosswalk if turning across traffic (no turning like a car turns) & that bikes CANNOT exceed 30 km/h (a bike shop owner told me this). My wife and I have often talked about this as well… while in the USA drivers can be malicious towards cyclists, Japanese drivers are often blissfully ignorant towards them. Always ride defensively. Drivers will make eye contact with you and proceed to pull out in front of you expecting you to either not be traveling with speed or to stop for them. Even in “polite” Japan, the Car is King. I’ve had far more close calls with drivers here than I had in America. Having said that, it’s still a wonderful country to explore by bike.
Who Am I?
If you read all of this, thanks! I hope that you learned a little bit about road racing in Japan. But, who am I? I’m an American from Western North Carolina, now living in Japan. Ishikawa Prefecture to be specific. I’ve been a cyclist since 2011 when I bought my first road bike. In America I’m a Cat 2 on the road and an XC MTB Cat 1 with extensive experience training for and racing in a variety of disciplines. Road riding and racing is my true love and I honestly only got into MTB to hang out with my girlfriend. I guess it was worth it because the only National Championship medals I have are from Team Relay & Team Omnium. Oh, we ended up getting married too. So that was cool. I also got into the gravel craze thanks to the plethora of racing options in the South East. I’ve stood on multiple podiums with the internet’s favorite privateer, Dylan Johnson. And I’ve dabbled in bikepacking, bike touring & ultra endurance riding. Really, I’m just a guy that thinks about bikes too much.

combination skin, sensitive skin (assuming) (East African Male) Might be a long post,
TLDR- everything I do correlates to my skin and I don’t know what to change. Is it my diet, most I eat is refined carbs: chicken, tuna or eggs. Or is it lifestyle, working out, playing basketball? or is it my skincare regimen
skincare currently-
Face reality set
Esthetician Recommended, have clear skin then back to breaking out, then clear skin, then more dark spots that take forever to go away because i’m African American Morning- FR Hydrating cleanser (double cleanse most days) (substituted cleanser for Noble 2% zinc soap thinking it might be some fungal acne) FR SA toner FR 8% Mandelic Acid FR Cran Peptide Moisturizer FR Benzyl P 2.5% FR Sunscreen
Evening -Hydrating cleanse (double cleanse most days) -SA toner -Mandelic Acid -BP 2.5%
Diet- Dairy free, gluten free, Peanut Butter, sesame, Soy, corn
(allergy test 2 weeks ago came back positive these foods, better safe than sorry) Maybe I have an ED now, but it’s okay once I figure out why i’m breaking out
I tried a lot of skincare the past 3 years, 10+ different brands and regimens, tret didn’t work, adapalene also, this routine gives me the closest to clear skin but i do the same skincare and can’t maintain it (regular extractions).
I listen to my esthetician but i feel like at this point it gotta be something else
Anytime I have hair in my face, it never ends well, stopped using hair oils and only used a different shampoo.
I honestly don’t know what to do, I get those red bumps (inflamed) under the skin on my foreheads and sometimes those cysts, every whitehead starts out as an inflamed spot, I workout and wash my face with water if I sweat a lot till I go home,
Always oily, going outside makes me oily, being home makes me oily, waking up i’m oily, am I using too much products?

Post to Media Research/Study Website
URL: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2377-social-media-hiring.html
Title: Keep It Clean: Social Media Screenings Gain in Popularity
Author: David Cotriss
Date: November 20, 2023
Personal profile or professional profile? Social media is a fun way to express yourself and interact with family, friends, and new faces all over the world. It can be used as a way to keep people you can not see as often updated on your life, as well as give you a chance to step into the personal moments of your friends lives. However, while social media may seem like a very personal media that you are only sharing with specific people, it can still serve as a public link to your entire social media history of posts, likes and comments for the entire world to see. As it turns out many companies in the modern day hiring process go through what is known as a media screening for both their new and existing employees. This calls for people to start keeping their social media profiles more professional rather than personal. These screenings can range across all social media sites along with any online presences across the internet.
First Media Key: Balance
The first media key is Balance which is known as the foundation for all of the other media keys and is vital to understanding how to use the remaining six of the media keys correctly. When job recruiters or interviewers look at social media platforms there is a chance they can be looking to see if the profile has good balance. This means they will be looking at the media provided on the profile from all angles to try and see who the user truly is as a person and what their personality and work ethic could be like. This means that when posting, you too need to understand your use of social media and how what you are doing may look from an outside perspective. The level of understanding you have on your personal profile’s outside image will be determined by your combined understanding of all seven of the media keys.
Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
Every media creator has an attitude and it is up to the creature to project the attitude they want to portray. This continues to apply to social media profiles so people should be aware of the attitude they portray on social media and if it is a professional one or one that could possibly hurt their experience as an employee. Employers when looking at a candidate's social media page will be keeping a close eye out for if they express any values or project any messages. Values can be seen in both a positive and negative light in the hiring process depending on what the value is and the situation it is brought up in. Whether it is blown up and in your face or more subtle, every media maker also has an agenda. Job recruiters will of course be looking to see if the candidate’s agenda and values align or contradict with the agendas and values of the company.
Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person
Another quality job recruiters may be looking out for is how you show dignity to the human person. They will often be looking to see if the candidate exemplifies dignity through how they interact with people online and how they talk about other human beings through both posts and comment sections. All media put onto a social media profile should always reflect, uphold and enhance human dignity. The profile should also promote that you both understand and are trying to help other people understand communities and the human person. Recruiters will be looking to see how you positively shed light on what makes humans unique and interesting all in their own special, God given ways. The main way to show understanding of human dignity is to treat people as humans and not as objects. A good way to show this is by portraying anti-suicide and anti-abortion values because it will show a true understanding of the value of human life and why it is so precious and needs to be protected.
Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled
Something that job recruiters will always be looking to see is if your social media presence is truth filled or if you are spreading false truths and misinformation. Media can be a great outlet in helping to spread truths from humanity to God and everything in between. However, the media being an open outlet for free speech also leads to a plethora of misinformation, rumors, and lies that get spread across the internet. Job interviewers in this case will be heavily checking profiles for if the user can be seen spreading false information and trying to mislead or confuse others. It is also important to note that users should not tell lies about the human condition through their media and that it is possible for their media to be truthful without being one hundred percent accurate.
Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
Another way to look at a social media profile is to see if it inspires others positively or negatively. If a profile only talks about or shows what’s wrong with the world with a negative outlook on mankind, then there is a good chance that what you are putting out on social media is inspiring people negatively and causing them to see the world in a more negative and down sided way. A better way to direct your profile is by showing more of the positive outlooks on life with more happy tones that will inspire people in a positive way. Good goals to have when creating a positively inspiring profile is asking can this be used to help point the way toward Heaven and can this be used to help someone pursue virtue in a relationship with God. Media at its worst will point people in the wrong direction and towards a bad life, but media at its best can enlighten people, raise questions, help people grow in virtue, and inspire them to live better, more holy lifestyles.
Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
One key that can really help set a profile apart from the crowd is if it is skillfully developed. Social media profiles are something people do for fun so the aesthetic, level of detail, and depth of the profile is not a requirement and completely up to the user. With that being said, making your profile professional and quality is a great way of showing companies that you are a person who applies effort and achieves quality in everything that you do. Media should always be produced well so our personal profiles are no different. Producing quality is essential if you want job recruiters to see your profile positively and especially if you want them to pay attention to what you post and create.
Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience
When trying to keep a profile professional it can be important to keep in mind what is relevant to the human experience. What you post on social media should be rooted in the realities of the world and through our own human experiences. Ways to keep your profile likable while still keeping it professional is by presenting messages which are relevant to your audience or following. If viewers are able to relate positively to what you post then they are more likely to have a positive perspective of you which gives you a better chance of being hired. However, it is important to remember to appeal to positive senses and emotions rather than one’s that can be seen more negatively. With all of this in mind, however, it is still important to express yourself and who you are, but also very important to make sure that who you are showing yourself as is a good, motivated person.

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Lore (Factory New), B/O: $7194.77

★ Butterfly Knife Autotronic (Minimal Wear), B/O: $2025.74

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★ M9 Bayonet Ultraviolet (Field-Tested), B/O: $557.87

★ M9 Bayonet Stained (Well-Worn), B/O: $529.41

★ M9 Bayonet Boreal Forest (Field-Tested), B/O: $465.39

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★ Talon Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $1295.27

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth (Minimal Wear), B/O: $746.28

★ Karambit Bright Water (Field-Tested), B/O: $688.15

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★ Flip Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $547.93

★ Flip Knife Autotronic (Minimal Wear), B/O: $476.69

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $278.18

★ Flip Knife Black Laminate (Well-Worn), B/O: $258.83

★ Flip Knife Urban Masked (Field-Tested), B/O: $181.64

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★ Stiletto Knife Marble Fade (Factory New), B/O: $686.04

★ Stiletto Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $665.41

★ Stiletto Knife, B/O: $601.39

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web (Field-Tested), B/O: $418.25

★ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe (Field-Tested), B/O: $227.80

★ Stiletto Knife Boreal Forest (Field-Tested), B/O: $194.96

★ Stiletto Knife Safari Mesh (Field-Tested), B/O: $192.79

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★ Nomad Knife Crimson Web (Field-Tested), B/O: $518.11

★ Nomad Knife Scorched (Field-Tested), B/O: $169.78

★ Nomad Knife Forest DDPAT (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $166.88

★ StatTrak™ Nomad Knife Blue Steel (Field-Tested), B/O: $335.79

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★ Skeleton Knife Stained (Well-Worn), B/O: $442.05

★ Skeleton Knife Urban Masked (Minimal Wear), B/O: $426.24

★ Skeleton Knife Boreal Forest (Field-Tested), B/O: $314.03

★ StatTrak™ Skeleton Knife Fade (Minimal Wear), B/O: $2361.28

★ StatTrak™ Skeleton Knife Urban Masked (Field-Tested), B/O: $376.53

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★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $557.12

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $471.42

★ Ursus Knife Blue Steel (Minimal Wear), B/O: $212.37

★ Ursus Knife Case Hardened (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $187.66

★ Ursus Knife Damascus Steel (Field-Tested), B/O: $178.18

★ Ursus Knife Ultraviolet (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $155.13

★ Ursus Knife Boreal Forest (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $124.26

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★ Huntsman Knife Black Laminate (Minimal Wear), B/O: $204.83

★ Huntsman Knife Black Laminate (Field-Tested), B/O: $184.50

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Lore (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $224.11

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★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $2142.02

★ Bowie Knife, B/O: $230.44

★ Bowie Knife Damascus Steel (Factory New), B/O: $209.20

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet (Minimal Wear), B/O: $180.51

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet (Field-Tested), B/O: $131.03

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★ Falchion Knife Night (Field-Tested), B/O: $132.54

★ Falchion Knife Urban Masked (Well-Worn), B/O: $112.81

★ Falchion Knife Scorched (Field-Tested), B/O: $108.81

★ Falchion Knife Forest DDPAT (Field-Tested), B/O: $107.82

★ Falchion Knife Safari Mesh (Field-Tested), B/O: $107.46

★ StatTrak™ Falchion Knife Ultraviolet (Field-Tested), B/O: $143.08

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★ Paracord Knife Crimson Web (Minimal Wear), B/O: $486.48

★ Paracord Knife Blue Steel (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $163.12

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★ Survival Knife Blue Steel (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $138.26

★ Survival Knife Night Stripe (Field-Tested), B/O: $131.03

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★ Gut Knife Sapphire (Minimal Wear), B/O: $1127.79

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $286.17

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $246.55

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade (Factory New), B/O: $240.77

★ Gut Knife, B/O: $210.49

★ Gut Knife Lore (Field-Tested), B/O: $194.22

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $151.51

★ Gut Knife Blue Steel (Minimal Wear), B/O: $124.94

★ Gut Knife Rust Coat (Well-Worn), B/O: $118.99

★ Gut Knife Boreal Forest (Minimal Wear), B/O: $109.80

★ StatTrak™ Gut Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $237.96

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★ Shadow Daggers Gamma Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $264.92

★ Shadow Daggers Marble Fade (Factory New), B/O: $253.03

★ Shadow Daggers Tiger Tooth (Factory New), B/O: $237.22

★ Shadow Daggers Crimson Web (Field-Tested), B/O: $153.40

★ Shadow Daggers Autotronic (Minimal Wear), B/O: $144.42

★ Shadow Daggers Blue Steel (Field-Tested), B/O: $105.20

★ StatTrak™ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel (Minimal Wear), B/O: $150.46

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★ Navaja Knife Fade (Factory New), B/O: $365.99

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Factory New), B/O: $228.93

★ Navaja Knife Marble Fade (Factory New), B/O: $227.43

★ Navaja Knife Slaughter (Factory New), B/O: $209.06

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $203.16

★ Navaja Knife Case Hardened (Well-Worn), B/O: $132.57

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel (Factory New), B/O: $121.69

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel (Minimal Wear), B/O: $109.95

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel (Field-Tested), B/O: $100.41

★ StatTrak™ Navaja Knife Fade (Factory New), B/O: $369.01

★ StatTrak™ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel (Field-Tested), B/O: $109.95

GLOVES

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious (Minimal Wear), B/O: $2394.67

★ Sport Gloves Omega (Well-Worn), B/O: $572.33

★ Sport Gloves Bronze Morph (Minimal Wear), B/O: $338.88

★ Sport Gloves Big Game (Field-Tested), B/O: $323.66

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★ Specialist Gloves Marble Fade (Minimal Wear), B/O: $1652.07

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike (Field-Tested), B/O: $599.14

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web (Well-Worn), B/O: $231.57

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot (Minimal Wear), B/O: $126.21

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★ Moto Gloves POW! (Minimal Wear), B/O: $996.99

★ Moto Gloves POW! (Field-Tested), B/O: $383.31

★ Moto Gloves POW! (Well-Worn), B/O: $276.00

★ Moto Gloves Turtle (Field-Tested), B/O: $180.28

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★ Hand Wraps CAUTION! (Minimal Wear), B/O: $502.29

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe (Minimal Wear), B/O: $180.73

★ Hand Wraps CAUTION! (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $178.32

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★ Driver Gloves Queen Jaguar (Minimal Wear), B/O: $181.01

★ Driver Gloves Rezan the Red (Field-Tested), B/O: $101.66

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★ Broken Fang Gloves Jade (Field-Tested), B/O: $127.88

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point (Minimal Wear), B/O: $124.55

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★ Bloodhound Gloves Guerrilla (Minimal Wear), B/O: $127.94

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened (Field-Tested), B/O: $102.55

WEAPONS

AK-47 X-Ray (Well-Worn), B/O: $478.95

AUG Hot Rod (Factory New), B/O: $425.83

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Hyper Beast (Factory New), B/O: $413.95

M4A4 Daybreak (Factory New), B/O: $309.51

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge (Factory New), B/O: $305.43

AK-47 Case Hardened (Well-Worn), B/O: $196.38

StatTrak™ M4A4 Temukau (Minimal Wear), B/O: $174.64

P90 Run and Hide (Field-Tested), B/O: $167.03

AWP Asiimov (Field-Tested), B/O: $153.33

Souvenir SSG 08 Death Strike (Minimal Wear), B/O: $140.00

M4A1-S Printstream (Battle-Scarred), B/O: $124.70

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Golden Coil (Field-Tested), B/O: $117.48

AWP Asiimov (Well-Worn), B/O: $115.97

StatTrak™ Desert Eagle Printstream (Minimal Wear), B/O: $112.96

StatTrak™ AK-47 Asiimov (Minimal Wear), B/O: $110.85

Souvenir M4A1-S Master Piece (Well-Worn), B/O: $102.42

AK-47 Bloodsport (Minimal Wear), B/O: $100.53

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Ramese's Reach, Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Apep's Curse, Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Mummy's Rot, Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Black Nile, Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Steel Delta, Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Waters of Nephthys, Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Eye of Horus, Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (ScaraB Rush, Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Sobek's Bite, Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Copper Coated, Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Paris 2023, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

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Bed is around 3400 online after the Memorial Day sale correction.
We were looking for a king. Have been searching online for a latex. Felt like I was going crazy with all the options out there. We went to yawnder to try out the online beds and the lady said she had a helix elite dusk California king for 50% off, free pillows, with $150 delivery and removal fee.
After reduction it would be $1687. Feel like I have to jump on it. Bed felt cool which is what we wanted, it might be a tad too soft but that’s not really a problem for us.
Any thoughts on this helix type? Can’t beat a good deal. I was considering the Nolan evolution but in person that was garbage. Owl hybrid was actually really nice but we’d have to pay $2000. The Brooklyn bed was nice. Comparable ti the helix. We ended up liking the pillow top more than the flat latex beds. Owl has the latex and pillow top so it was a tough choice, but the helix would be cheaper since it’s second hand.
Only downside is it’s not returnable 🙃

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