On a rainy Saturday afternoon not so long ago when internet connection was fluctuating in most homes, the 80-year-old Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, widow of the late Senator Heherson Alvarez, carrying a mini iPad, hurriedly alighted from a three-wheeled pedicab Toktok and stormed her way into a popular coffee shop in a mall in Manila.

A senior citizen in panic mode, she told the stunned baristas she’s looking for a Wi-Fi connection because she was about to interview retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio via Zoom.
The coffee shop, a known world brand, has Wi-Fi exclusive to its employees, so the old lady was told to try other establishments. She went from one coffee shop to another only to be told the same, until a kind stranger led her to a well-known beauty salon with a free internet connection.
The lady salon attendant was very accommodating to the octogenarian, even typing the password on her IPad. Of course, she needed to avail herself of their salon services. Initially, she opted for a haircut, but since she needed to talk and hear clearly who she was talking to, she settled for a foot spa with pedicure.
“They lowered the volume of the piped-in music, and since there were less customers because it’s been raining all day, I was able to do my interview,” Guidote-Alvarez said.
For the next half-an-hour, the hair dressers and manicurists working with their scissors, nail clippers and cuticle removers on their customers’ hair and fingernails, listened to Carpio and Guidote-Alvarez discussed how Filipino fishermen and the Philippine Navy ships helplessly negotiate their ways in Scarborough Shoal amid the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
“They were all very nice to me. I was able to finish my interview, with newly pedicured nails,” she told The Diarist.
For those who’ve worked with Guidote-Alvarez, her steadfast, almost stubborn, nature to accomplish a task, is nothing out of the ordinary. She would improvise, find alternatives, call up friends and former students, wake them up from sleep, just to get things done.
But now, in her 80s, legally blind and nearly deaf, she has mellowed down.
Cecile Alvarez with her mentors, National Artist for Literature Alejandro Roces, Jr and Fr. James Reuter. SJ
In her twilight years, Guidote-Alvarez has been solely hosting the 57-year-old Radyo Balintataw on DZRH, one of the oldest radio stations in the Philippines, where she tackles a wide range of topics, from climate change, women’s health, theater, culture, dance, to current issues, apart from playing old recordings of classic radio plays she produced and directed, dating back to the late ‘80s.
She shared with TheDiarist.ph how she started and continues to host one of the longest running advocacy programs on AM Radio.
Theater on TV
After founding the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) on April 7, 1967, or exactly 57 years ago, Guidote-Alvarez thought of the need to expose PETA’s members to television, so she started conceptualizing Balintataw, which in Filipino means the pupil of the eye, but in a larger context has something to do with having wild imagination, or what you might see if you have a third eye.

“I designed Balintataw as a bridge between cinema and the stage, where the youth being trained in theater skills can have a ready-made laboratory experience linked with the film and entertainment industry that would likewise have a natural on-the-job training and orientation regarding the theatrical discipline of working with a literary script, whether dramatic or comic—not the regular improvised script done on taping or copycat scripts from foreign themes,” Guidote-Alvarez wrote in her yet-to-be published Memoir of a Freedom Fighter’s Wife.
“A primary goal when I conceived PETA was to initiate and sustain artistic expression that draws meaning and power from the lives of the people, and sharing the literary gems with a greater number of audiences through a Broadcast Theater-Film Program with Balintataw on Channel 5,” she added.
“No matter how little the pay, at least it provided our local writers with a little honorarium. I sought permission for award-winning pieces of the Palanca Playwriting contest to be fleshed out to reach the masses. The much-awarded playwright Bert Florentino served as our literary manager, assisted by Mauro Avena. Eventually, Isagani Cruz took over when Bert left for the US,” she wrote.
“Writers need exposure and encouragement through a regular TV performance that will give them a sense of achievement and inspire them to keep on writing with some kind of honorarium. I was glad Lupita Aquino (now Kashiwahara) agreed to be TV director and Robert Arevalo as TV host.
She got members of the PETA Kalinangan Ensemble to serve as stage directors. “This is to undertake preliminary preparation with a rehearsal with the actors for character development and memorization and preliminary staging,” she wrote.
Five months after PETA was founded, Balintataw TV premiered on Channel 5 on Aug. 19, 1967, coinciding with the Buwan ng Wika birthdate of President Manuel Luis Quezon.
The first play, whose title escapes her now, featured Armida Siguion-Reyna and Maria Eva “Chingbee” Kalaw. She employed photo journalist and award-winning photographedocumentarist/cinematographer, Romy Vitug, to work with her in filming outdoor scenes for Balintataw.

In the pre-Martial Law Balintataw, among those initiated into television were Lino Brocka, Elwood Perez, Nick Lizaso, Maryo delos Reyes, Mario O’Hara, Joey Gosiengfiao, Behn Cervantes, and Frank Rivera.
Among the stage actors who crossed over to television were Lily Gamboa, Angie Ferro, Lorlie Villanueva, Jonee Gamboa, Joy Soler, Sherry Lara, Gardy Labad, Noel Trinidad.
Like with PETA, Guidote-Alvarez directed and managed Balintataw for five years. Because of Martial Law, she and husband Heherson went on exile in the US to escape a military shoot-to-kill order on Heherson, who was tagged as a subversive.
Post-Martial Law
Internationally acclaimed auteur Lav Diaz mentioned in several interviews how he learned writing radio and TV scripts in Balintataw.
This happened in the late 1980s, when the Alvarez couple returned from exile.
Despite its absence on the air in the Martial Law years, Balintataw was honored by Star Awards as among the 20 unforgettable outstanding broadcast programs in the Philippines.
“This encouraged me to consider reviving Balintataw on TV. Another blessing was a FAMAS award for having an important role in the development of cinema recognizing Balintataw as a bridge for synergizing cinema with the stage, providing a pathway of entry of our PETA artists into film and for movie stars to consider enriching their experience by acting on the legitimate stage,” Guidote-Alvarez wrote.
Though she didn’t return to PETA anymore because it had been surviving well and had its own set of officers led by Brocka, she just tapped some of its members for the return of Balintataw.
For 14 years, the Alvarez couple lived in the US as political exiles, shown here during a Ninoy Aquino Movement meeting. Cecile revived Radyo Balintataw upon their return in the late 1980s.
Channel 4 stint
“I arranged to revive TV Balintataw on Channel 4 in 1989. We began with a drama about a rebel returnee, title escapes me now, but I clearly remember it was written by Lualhati Bautista and directed by Maryo de los Reyes. We also had a good story series on the hazing of Lenny Villa, an Aquila Legis Frat neophyte,” she wrote.
At the time, Heherson had been elected senator after having served as Agrarian Reform Minister and eventually Cabinet Secretary during the first year of the Cory Aquino Administration.
“We were able to unravel the deadly hazing process from a fellow neophyte who broke the code of silence as we revealed graphically, acted the cruel process used. I had Jose Mari Avellana direct it. This presentation won all the awards. Lav Diaz was training with us and he started writing teleplays. We also had Nora Aunor in an adaptation of Bert Florentino’s The World Is An Apple, adapted by Frank Rivera, and I had Nick Lizaso direct.”

Emmy Awards
Balintataw TV was selected as one of five soaps for social change recognized by Emmy Awards. The Philippines was one of five countries cited, with Mexico, India, Brazil and Kenya.
“The nomination was made possible by the wonderful support from David Poindexter. It was a supreme honor for our country to be recognized in the Emmy Awards, to be cited among the five Third World countries using soap opera for social change.”
Poindexter was a Methodist minister and TV producer who founded the Population Communications International.
Surviving on radio
“In spite of the cry about how television can be deadening the minds of the people with copied themes with an eternal favorite love triangle story, there was really no funding for Balintataw,” she wrote.
“Sponsors would go naturally to the commercial stations where big stars were paid highly for the starring role. Balintataw may have substance but we could not afford payment of bankable stars,” she added.
“Financial stress forced me to drop TV and remain on radio because I didn’t want to kill Balintataw per se just because we didn’t have funds.”
Creative classroom
“We have focused on Balintataw as a creative classroom on the air. I was able to talk to Fred J. Elizalde of DZRH and the president of the network, Mr. Jun Nicdao,” she wrote.
In the ‘80s, the HIV/AIDS became a global epidemic and in the Philippines, the general populace was still clueless on how to deal with it.
“In order to get funding, the first series I did was about the explosive news regarding AIDS in Asia. I got the DOH Secretary at the time, Dr. Juan Flavier, to act as himself, providing the data. It was easier to start off with an AIDS radio serial.
They did a minimum of 13 episodes to raise awareness about the disease.
“From then on, some of our television scripts we transformed into a radio version. DZRH provided us with our initial production staff, so we used some from the network and some of its resident artists and drama talents. Our time slots were changing but always coming after the long-running horror drama, Gabi ng Lagim.
“We worked on the themes of overseas workers, the drug problem, corruption, aside from portraying contemporary and literary classics serving as social commentaries,” she wrote.
Women playwrights
“We dramatized the works of noted women writers and playwrights like Estrella Alfon, Genoveva Edroza Matute and Marilou Jacob, who is distinguished in being a founding president of Women’s Playwright International.
“Apart from our PETA staple of writers, we involved young, upcoming and budding university and community theater groups.
“We also had a lot of foreign plays, where we could feature theater festivals beyond borders. We could do Shakespeare, we could do Euripides but also the current playwrights in the Arab region we translated in our language.
“We brought in Chinese contemporary plays, Malaysian, Indonesian and from other women writers from ASEAN member countries.”
Virtual history book
“The significance of Balintataw is portrayed as a virtual history book on audio as it unveiled events in the country. Radio is fresh, instant and up-to date,” she added.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Balintataw became Guidote-Alvarez’s outlet and therapy. Having lost her husband on the second month of the pandemic, a widow cocooned at home, she began hosting it six days a week, learning how to use an iPad and interviewing via Zoom.
The word “Balintataw” has been associated with her name.
Visual artist and editorial cartoonist Benjie Lontoc in casual meeting told us how in his younger days, when AM Radio was a national past-time, he was surprised to hear a Filipino adaptation of No Exit by Jean Paul-Sarte. This was when radio was airing soap, fantasy adventures targeting housewives and children.
Another was the airing of Larawan as a radio play in the 1990s, with Guidote-Alvarez as the voice of Candida Marasigan.
Leopoldo Salcedo (left) as Manolo in a confrontation scene with Dante Rivero as Tony Javier in PETA’s 1968 ‘Larawan’ directed by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez. (Photo from PETA archives)
In the 1960s, she directed Larawan, the first Filipino adaptation of Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino for PETA’s second season. It ran from December 1968 to January 1969 at the Raha Sulayman Theater at Fort Santiago in Intramural. In the cast were Rita Gomez (Candida), Lolita Rodriguez (Paula), Leopoldo Salcedo (Don Manolo) and Dante Rivero (Tony Javier).
Guidote-Alvarez has a funny recollection of the radio play. It was Nick Joaquin himself who told her years ago how his pedicurist suddenly started a conversation about Larawan.

Joaquin was relaxing on the barber’s chair having a post-haircut pedicure and foot spa when the lady pedicurist asked him how the story would end. Joaquin was stunned because he didn’t want to be known in the barber shop as Nick Joaquin the famous National Artist for Literature, but just a regular customer.
“He told me he almost fell out from the chair. He was a very private person and the pedicurist recognized him as the playwright,” Guidote-Alvarez, laughing, told TheDiarist.ph.
When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, she was given only three years to live. It’s been more than two decades since then. She has also conquered COVID-19 twice.
Over and beyond her work in theater and various advocacies, Guidote-Alvarez is among the few surviving practitioners of AM Radio broadcasting.
The beauty salon incident wasn’t a first for the octogenarian radio host. She occasionally went back there to interview guests and record her shows whenever Wi-Fi connections in her home fluctuated.
Despite all setbacks, man-made or otherwise, the steadfast Cecile Guidote-Alvarez’s voice continues to be heard in this mass media platform in an era that knows mainly Spotify. As Joaquin wrote, “to remember and to sing, that is her vocation.”
(Except Saturday, Radyo Balintataw airs daily on DZRH 666 Khz AM radio after ‘Gabi ng Lagim’, and live streamed on radio.org.ph. Some episodes have been uploaded on YouTube.)

Ok for starters this is a throw away account since I know they have reddit and I DO NOT want them to see this. Also we are friends online! Don't judge I have a ton of friends in LDR 😭 Anyways. I have no idea what to think and I feel like I can't ask my friends since we are all in a big friend group and I'm afraid they will tell him. Recently, I will call him G, and I have been getting close. I will also start by saying we have been friends since December. There was some drama that happened and he blocked the whole friend group. He ended up only messaging me about coming back and everything and now we are all friends again. Since then we have been getting closer. We were still some what distant but since my boyfriend and I started having issues he's become less distant (I should also note that my boyfriend and I have basically separated after an argument). We started talking a lot more and he even opened up to me about some personal stuff. A few weeks ago I showed him a friend of mine and he decided he liked her. I tried to set them up, but it sort of fell through. I hate to admit it but I'm happy it fell through. This led to us talking even more. We are very similar in music taste, thoughts, and movies. This is where I am now wondering if he likes me or if I'm tripping. He sends me music and songs he likes all the time. He also talks about movies and we even have a list we should watch (admittedly a lot with our friends but there are a few he thinks would be better suited for just us). We also just bought concert tickets together and plan to meet up after I said I wanted to go but had no one to go with. Anytime I talk about how I want to do things he always says how he would do them with me. How he would love to go do this or that with me. But when others mention it, he sort of shys away from the idea. We also stay up late, even after our whole friend group is gone. We play games together even though I'm bad. He sends me funny messages all the time now too. To the point where if he's laughing I know I'll receive the video. He also has apologized to me before about how he wants to not be as rude to me (we make jokes for sure towards each other) and how he feels it isn't right of him to do so. He also likes my Instagram notes and comments a lot on them. I know those reasons may not make it seem likely that he likes me but there are 3 specific instances that I think of. The first is when I was complaining about how I would be bored by myself at this thing I was doing. He said he wouldn't be busy at that time and I joked we would probably just talk in our group chat. He sort of laughed then started to stutter saying, "Well you know...You know...haha" And then said, "Well if you wanted..." and stopped himself. I don't know what he was going to ask. But we spent 2 hours during said boring event talking and he showed me his guitar and how to restring it. The second is the other day we were talking about movies. There is this movie he LOVES so much. We have regular movie nights with the gang and the other day it fell through. I said I was sad and wanted to watch the movie. He started to say "well you know...if you wanted" again. After some time of talking he nervous laughed and asked if I wanted to watch another movie with him just him and I. I agreed. We got off track as we usually do and ended up on the conversation of his favorite movie again. He then asked "We could watch [name of favorite movie] instead...together if you wanted to..". That brings me to my third scenario of the fact we watched the movie together by ourselves. I should also say he almost never stutters over anything and has no issues asking me to do xyz in games we play or to watch this video ect. Those 2 stuttering moments have thrown me off completely. 

ON TOP OF ALL OF THAT, we had movie night today and he turned his camera on and my god He has the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. His laugh is contagious as well. I almost want to be around him The most of all of our friends because he is so kind and has the best laugh. But his smile oh my god and his eyes. That's the first thing I noticed about him. I think I may have developed a crush on him. But do you all think he may have as well?

I’m a woman in college who just turned 20. I was in denial for a long time but my RA, who is a 27-year-old PhD student, may be obsessed with me.
To start off, he’s always been super kind towards everyone. When I was going through a personal crisis that caused me to faint, he ran to the local pharmacy and bought me a blood pressure monitor. He also brought me a jar of honey and lemon when I had a bad cold. He treats my other housemates with the same level of generosity. I’ve tried my best to be supportive in return by expressing curiosity and enthusiasm for his research and fun stories. I considered him a friend.
But about a month ago, he called me and asked to meet him at our house’s front porch. When I got outside, he insisted we cross the street. He carefully looked around and then asked if I would like to go out on a date with him. I was flabbergasted, especially since our age difference is so extreme. I also am not attracted to him. So I just replied that I’m flattered, but a romantic relationship wouldn’t be appropriate since we’re in completely different life stages. I thought this would be the end of him pursuing me, but I’ve been noticing odd, possibly obsessive behaviors ever since.
For context, there are two houses on our property. He lives in the front house and I live in the back house. I’ve noticed him watching me through the front house window, which would usually be followed by him entering the back house to chat. Even if I gave extremely obvious signs that I was too occupied or in a rush, he’d be eager to hear about my schedule and plans. It would always be extremely difficult to exit a conversation.
Our house had an end-of-the-year party, so I invited a few friends. Throughout the night, he would not leave my group alone or chat with other people. An attendee I met the previous weekend was also there. We have a lot in common. We had been texting all week and showing signs of mutual romantic interest. But whenever we tried to have a moment alone together, this RA would barge in between us and kill the vibe with his own stories that weren’t relevant to our conversation.
The RA also spams me with a ton of Instagram reels that are super random. A few have some creepy sexual undertones. He also regularly texts me, sometimes just apologizing for the most random things he said earlier that I didn’t even notice or remember. He also goes back to his messages he recently sent and unnecessarily edits them.
The creepiest thing he did was show me photos he took near my family’s house when he was in my home city for a conference. I never told him my street name or even what part of the city I was from. Maybe this was just a funny coincidence, but I don’t think it bodes well with my other information.
He has fortunately left for the semester. But that hasn’t stopped him from reaching out. Yesterday, he sent me 50 PHOTOS OF HIS VACATION with detailed descriptions. My phone was exploding for at least 15 minutes. Mind you, this was after I intentionally waited 4 days to open his last message and reply.
The good news is that I’m moving into another student house next year. But I feel like he’s becoming more persistent in spite of me showing super obvious signs that I’m not into him. How should I handle this? After how sweet he’s been, it feels wrong to outright say that I feel uncomfortable with him. But I also really need to set boundaries to feel safe next semester. Thoughts?

R.E Dannys' last video
I want to preface this by saying that I have been part of Greg for many, many years. I have also been an occasional lurker on this sub for a couple years too. All this to say that I cannot overstate how much that this is coming from a place of love, and a genuine desire to see change. Danny has been such a pivotal part of my life- during the pandemic I would watch him literally 24/7, to the point where I literally have most of his videos commited to memory. I've literally grown up watching Danny, Drew, and Kurtis, which feels crazy to say. The pandemic made me miss out on so many key highschool memories and though it sounds corny to say, it would have sucked so much more had I not had Greg, and the BaddieSMP, and the virtual boy collabs that just made the general dolour of that time way happier. As I've gotten older, I really have appreciated the person that Danny is. I'm sure many people can relate, but so many of my childhood youtube idols have just turned out to be horrible, and its always felt good to know that you weren't one of them. Looking back, I know its bad to put your idols on a pedestal, but when they had such a significant, fundemental part of my growing-up, its hard not to.
I think, by now, most people know what I am going to say. And before I do, I want to say that I don't think Danny is some reprehensible, unfeeling, evil-doer. I remember how he felt so genuinely, personally affected when he realised he hurt people when he said the B slur in one of his older videos. I remember how he used his platform during the Black Lives Matter movement to uplift the voices of those hurt by police brutality and societal inequity, and to remember the name and bring posthumous justice to Breonna Taylor. And its not simply the fact that he had a Starbucks cup, or showed it in a video during an international boycott; (regardless of whether or not he knew about it) it's moreso his silence, what it represents. We are in such an interesting time of social upheaval where we are blocking celebrities and influencers for not speaking out about the situations in Palestine, Sudan, and the Congo. Its not because we think "grr youre doing the wrong thing!" or "we are yelling at you because you go against MY personal agenda!" its just, how can we enjoy funny, silly, lighthearted content, when there are people starving to death? I clicked off the video when I saw the cup, because I don't want my watchtime, and the time I spend watching ads, given to someone who will spend it to support a genocide, whether they mean to or not. I know how difficult it is to stay up to date when you have a literal child who takes up so much of your energy that you want to raise right, and spend time with before they grow up. But there are children in Gaza who are being run over with tanks, and being shot at, or who don't get to spend any time with their parents ever again, because they have been matyred.
I don't agree with the sentiments that you shouldn't HAVE to speak out about societal issues. That would be true, if you weren't someone who has constantly used their platform to promote causes for social equity and change. You have cultivated an audience who clearly cares about societal inequality and hearing your general silence on the issue feels a little bit intentional, even if you don't mean it to be. From a human standpoint, we, as a society, have a responsibility to help the people of Palestine. And if you don't, you don't get to claim that you care about people or humanity, because humanity doesn't stop just because the people being oppressed are part of a different race and or religion.
As for some of my fellow Gregs, You don't get to "choose" whether or not to support Palestine based off, admittedly, the sometimes counter-intuitive demands of those pleading for change. There needs to be more understanding from both sides. Men, women, and children, are dying in the most brutal of ways. It makes sense that people are frustrated and on edge right now- people are literally watching their family die. I can also acknowledge that if one is ill-informed about the role of creators in bringing awareness to these conflicts, that they don't see why people get so pressed about "Danny having a Starbucks cup" when we should be focusing on world leaders. But I can't just go up to Netanyahu and Biden and politely tell them to stop. We, as people, need to collocate our voices- and a way we do that, is by urging creators to bring light to this situation. When we do that, we can come together to effectively bring about change through boycotts and petitions and being united against these seemingly insurmountable world powers. Not saying anything, or relying on other people to spread things, contributes heavily to a this culture of silence. Being an ally to Palestinian people is speaking up, no matter how hard and uncomfortable and sad it is. And even if you get things wrong, you can re-educate yourself. But you can't retroactively change your silence on this issue.
I speak for many when I say that we are not mad that you weren't initially educated. But I don't know Danny, making a community announcement (that laptop users likely won't see), not making a public donation, and still keeping the video up doesn't really feel like accountability. As I stated before, Danny Gonzalez has been such a pivotal, foundational part of me growing up. I don't want to distance myself from a community I have spent years in- but if thats a part of a minor responsibility I have to do to help achieve greater social equity, then so be it. I can always watch other youtube videos; I have the freedom of choice. But the people in Palestine do not.
I, in no way, shape or form, want to cancel Danny. I'm only writing this, (instead of just blocking you on every platform, like I have done with many other influencers and celebs) because I do believe you can change. I do believe that you don't want to cause harm. But most importantly Danny, I want you to know that you really can make a difference. I know, because you have done it before.
Thank you for reading <3

I'd like to share a lengthy and self-indulgent note about my history with the Baha'i community and the impact it had on my family and me. It's worth noting that I'm sharing this using a throwaway Reddit account that I generally reserve for browsing porn. I find funny to imagine a Baha'i apologist reading this, becoming angry and judgmental, and then, investigating my profile and ending up jerking off. With that said, let's dive into my story.
I want to share my experience in case it resonates with someone else, a lot of the stories on this Reddit helped me, and perhaps my story will give some comfort to someone else. It has taken me a while to write this down, and I'm glad I finally got around to doing it.
My parents emigrated from their homeland for reasons of principle and value. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by Baha'is who met them. And so, lovebombed and lavished with love, praise, and celebration for moving countries due to values that they portrayed as being closely aligned with the Baha'i faith, my parents fell for this validation and worked very hard once they became Baha'is in the mid-1980s.
My dad got rid of all of his whiskies, and swiftly, my parents began hosting potlucks and fireside chats, diligently working to integrate into the Baha'i ecosystem. Back then, the atmosphere was fairly light-hearted, with devotional gatherings, prayers, and a somewhat 1960s-esque hippie vibe. There was live guitar music, and joss sticks.
However, I remember Baha'i classes having an interesting edge. We were taught that Buddhists were not following a religion but merely a way of life, and that Hindus had become pantheistic because they had lost the core of their faith and religion, which had become corrupted over time. Thanks to Google, I can discover that yes indeed, this is from Lights of Guidance.
There was a significant emphasis on the importance of gender equality and the oneness of humanity – because, hey, the eighties. I feel sad there isn't anything anymore about the Virtues project - even if the Virtues project was sort of framed like it was created by Bahais.
Even in the 1980s, there was an overwhelming atmosphere that the key to being a good Baha'i was how you presented yourself rather than your actual behaviour. I recall learning an apocryphal tale of a young Baha'i who, while fasting, participated in an aerobics class and nearly fainted (yeah, aerobics, this is a real 80s fable), but was told by another Baha'i to prioritize representing the faith well over completing the fast because *it looked bad*. From a very early age, I learned the importance of putting the right face forward.
My parents then took their relationship with the Baha'i faith to the next level and volunteered at the World Centre in Haifa. As a child, this was a pretty interesting experience. I was suddenly immersed in the Iranian, or rather, Persian community, with its strong culture of martyrdom. Even as a child, every event seemed to feature graphic videos depicting young kids being taken from their homes. It was quite frightening, and I remember being afraid.
I also recall a strong sense of hierarchy within the community. My family lived in a small apartment with a very old, busted-up car from the 1970s, while others resided in nice homes with pleasant views and drove nice cars. I attended a local Israeli school, which was a cultural experience in itself, while my peers my age went to the much fancier American school. It's important to note that, at this point, the conversation about the "great catastrophe" – two-thirds of the world's population dying, leading to a period of peace and the entry by troops – was a prevalent topic openly discussed at the World Centre.
We completed our stint there, even living through the Gulf War. Upon returning to my birth country, my parents chose to live in places with smaller Baha'i communities, as they wanted to support and help establish Local Spiritual Assemblies. Things had changed by this point, not only because I was a teenager but also because the community itself had transformed. There was a significant Iranian presence everywhere, and the focus had shifted heavily towards rules, especially those related to sex, drinking, and drug use. There was also a huge emphasis on financial contributions to the faith, and it was the first time I began to see a somewhat materialistic outlook within the community.
As a preteen and teenager, I engaged in activities like dropping off flyers in mailboxes and soliciting strangers to talk about this great new religion, all in the name of “teaching”. I joined the local choir and sang, inspired by a crush I had on a girl there. This was probably the golden time of the community, with the choir doing outreach and a balance between Western and Iranian believers.
However, things began to accelerate. The Ruhi Institute and teaching became significant focal points. I was encouraged to bring a good friend of mine to a Baha'i camp, and once there, I was pressured to ask him to convert. It was very uncomfortable.
This Reddit loves cringe stories, so here is a winner: I had a birthday party with my non-Baha'i friends, and two older Baha'i girls attended. One of the girls ended up stalking my friend, showing up at his workplace and calling him at home with sexually suggestive comments. The matter was escalated to the Local Spiritual Assembly, but instead of talking to me about it, they basically ended my friendship with this kid. To me, this somehow captures so much of what it was like to be a Baha'i child and how Baha'i adults treat children to this day.
When I turned 15, I signed up for Baha'i membership because it was the expected thing to do. However, by the time I was in my early 20s and studying at university, I had started to interact more with the local, real-world community. This might seem like a small thing, but it was actually quite significant. You see, my parents had always felt a little bit on the outside compared to the average person on the street around them. This sense of elitism was really exacerbated by being a Baha'i because Baha'is would walk around in a cloud of self-assurance, slapping each other on the back and saying , "We don't do drugs. We've got all the answers and solutions, not like you." That was pretty much the attitude. It felt very socio-economic, with a lot of judgment towards working-class people. When the Iranians arrived, the cultural judgments grew even stronger.
But I was working in restaurants and learning about booze from bartenders. I had gotten to know real people. I had lost my virginity, and all that Bahai jazz seemed so much less relevant. I hardly even noticed when the year 2000 arrived without the predicted apocalypse, entry by troops, or any of the other anticipated events. Life went on. I lived in another country and met a girl, and we lived together.
Here is cringe story #2: my girlfriend /fiancé and I hosted a Bahai couple from my hometown. Despite being in my late 20s and engaged, and even though I hosted this gentleman in my house and helped him with his preparations for his business and presentations in the country where I lived, he reported to the Local Spiritual Assembly that I was living with a woman and we weren't married. It was absolutely amazing. The level of judgment still grosses me out.
I started to reflect on what the religion had meant to me and saw how it had changed. The obsession with fundraising was becoming ever more strident and panicked. The gaps in the actual scriptural logic of the religion were becoming more exacerbated as real-world problems still ran rife, and real-time discussions on social media brought these issues to light. It took me a while to start really digging into it, and it was only much later, when I started therapy, that I realized I needed to formally resign from the religion.
Looking back, it's astonishing how this religion, which professes to have such blind equality between the genders, as if other religions have some kind of hardwired sexism, actually had hardwired sexism in how the Universal House of Justice operates. A religion that taught the oneness of humanity, as if all humanity is equal and other religions don't recruit from anyone they can find, places divisors. Although of course, Bahai’s can’t recruit from Israeli Jews, so much for oneness of humanity. But this religion has taught that all humanity is equal, unless, of course, you're gay. Then you can't get married, let alone have sex.
There are other principles I haven't touched on, such as non-involvement in politics, unless it involves things happening to Baha'is or politics in Iran. The principle of independent investigation of the truth doesn't seem to work if you might investigate something that's not in line with the Baha'i perspective. The idea of a universal language? I don't really see any evidence that they're even really thinking about that one. The unity between science and religion? A religion that only allows men to sit on its senior board of a global theocracy probably isn't going to jive with a contemporary scientific perspective…. I mean, apparently you don't need a penis to be a man anymore, right?
In between these moments are my colorful memories of random things, like endless discussions about the boundaries of physical intimacy, people getting married at the age of 16 because they had exemptions for being Persian, and meeting Ms. Khanoom in Israel, feeling some sadness that the lone woman who at least brought some feminine energy to the World Centre is now gone, replaced by 12 boring men.
I've had conversations with my wife where I tried to explain what Baha'is actually do. She just wonders why they aren't doing stuff like normal religions do, like reading to the elderly or supporting schools for the disabled. I explain that's not the target demographic. I remember a wealthy man brought to firesides who obviously nobody else wanted to listen to, but we all sat around and applauded him like he was a great ukulele player and a clever man. He pointed out a hilariously Iranian man who was an alternative healer, and they got into a debate about modern medicine. The wealthy man said, "Well, you should see my daughter and what she studied. She studies Law." And then quickly changed the subject when asked about her name since I studied at the same Law school. Here's this man who's self-aware enough to join the adoration of his crowd but doesn't want his daughter mixed up in it in any way. Absolutely hilarious. Make that cringe story #3.
This reflection was sort of sparked when my wife and I discovered that the writings attributed to Rumi, which Baha'is often quote, is the same guy who started the Whirling Dervishes. We read about Rumi and I realized just how different he is from Baha'u'llah. Rumi wrote poetry, but he didn't pretend to be a prophet of God. He was just offering a different dynamic for how to interpret spirituality. He didn't say he was part of some sort of cycle. There's something beautiful about that simplicity. And needless to say, Rumi lived long before the Baha'is ever started.
It makes me wonder, will anyone ever watch the equivalent of a whirling dervish dance for the Baha'is?
The obsession with appearances sounds like a joke, but it isn't. It wasn't for me. Some bad stuff happened to me on my trip to Israel. When we got there, my parents didn't understand why I was so upset about everything. It was a culture shock, attending a local school, not speaking Hebrew, being lumped together with Russian kids who also didn't speak Hebrew, and getting beaten up in the toilet. It wasn't a very good time for me.
So, I was sent to counsel with a local Israeli counselor. After several sessions, she instructed that I had to sit down with my parents and tell them what I needed to tell them, particularly about the shadow that had come over me since coming to Israel. My parents were enraged when I said, “I wish we never became Bahai”.
And so, we returned from the Holy Land and moved to a tiny community that was struggling to get members. To this day, my parents are still members. I've resigned so I'm never dubbed a "covenant breaker." I'm pretty sure my parents know that I resigned because they literally never raise the topic of the Baha'i faith with me. I wish the religion had some interesting cosmology, something mystical, some interesting new take on the universe, or provided my family with tools to handle being migrants or raising teenagers. At the very least, it could have given us a common language we could have used to bond together. It did none of that.
But to be fair, if it wasn't the Baha'is, some other rinky-dink cult would have love-bombed my parents back in the 1980s. Of course, it would have been so much more fun if it had featured more sex and drugs 😊

Wade held Jasmine in his arms as he flew a low height down the long road to another section of the staryard, Tina on his back and Nathan and F right behind them in the air. Together, the five glided across the base grounds, taking care as to not irritate the aerial security during their search for the meeting room. Being outside for the flight, the group considered it a blessing that Wade's 'enhanced cooling unit' allowed his body to tolerate the breaching sun in the still cloudy sky, which, according to F, was dangerous to drones like her due to the inefficient cooling she and disassembly drones like her suffered from. Given F's physical fault, she had to fly under shady areas in order to safely traverse the base at day.
Originally, Wade and his friends had planned to walk to the meeting zone, but after running into a trooper experiencing a health mishap, the group did what they could to help the distressed officer. By the time he was brought to the medical ward by other soldiers, Wade found that him and his team would be at least a few minutes late if they kept on their way with their walk.
Deciding to speed things up, Wade, understanding the concern for performing such an effort, opted to carry the Fowleys around the base to the meeting area. Reluctantly, F decided to come along, carrying Nathan in a similar manner that Wade was carrying Jasmine. Taking notice of the time on his HUD, which read, "9:47 AM", Wade scouted for the building he and his friends were directed to. "8072" He said to himself, the number being for the building that would house the imminent meeting.
"They said it was down here, right?" Wade asked aloud to Tina before stopping himself in mid-air, the girl holding onto him tightly as he tried to speak over the growing sound of a retrofit Apache flying overhead.
Looking about, Tina nodded as she spotted the target building. "Yes, I believe that's the one over there!" Pointing past his head, Wade followed her finger to a large building ahead at his right. The structure was moderately tall, only about two stories high, with several soldiers and officers going in and out of the building. Wade smiled as he noticed the target number, as well as the big, bold words describing the building's designation. "8072, Briefing Center B"
"Good eye, honey. Hang on!" Continuing his low glide, Wade zoomed towards the building's entrance before stopping just meters above the ground, his two friends close behind as they slowed down as well. The troopers around them initially looked startled by the sudden arrival of Wade and his group, but quickly regained their composure as Wade hovered still above them.
"At ease! Just visitors." One of the soldiers declared as they identified the newcomers, who touched down before Wade let Jasmine down to her feet, Tina hopping onto the ground along with her.
Putting his hands up, Wade apologized for his swift surprise. "Sorry for the scare, we got delayed for a meeting we're invited to."
The soldier gave an understanding nod as he replied to the former worker drone sternly. "I can see that, just be a bit more careful next time, Mr. Carter. You gave the boys here quite a scare."
Wade returned the gesture in embarrassment as F put a hand to his back, chuckling at his efforts as Tina questioned the officer. "Is Mrs. J in there? She's the one who called for us."
The guard gave his reply as Wade and Tina pulled out their IDs for clearance. "Yes she is, Miss. The meeting's set to begin in under ten minutes." Checking the two drones' IDs, Jasmine and the others pulled out theirs as well, the watchman motioning another trooper over to verify the group. Once the guard finished checking the five's cards, he nodded in approval as the watchman spoke once more. "You're clear to enter."
"Thank you Sir, again, sorry about that spook back there." Wade replied with a smile as the trooper gave one of his own, the disassembly drone and his allies making their way towards the office door before stopping upon the call of a voice.
"Hey, Felice!" Wade turned to find the origin of the voice, F doing the same as the two quickly spotted a quartet of soldiers walking excitedly towards F. The disassembly drone glanced to her friends with a smile before turning back to the approaching entourage.
Wade examined the four troops as they got closer: Two human men, one woman, and a male worker drone. One of the male soldiers had short, blonde hair, and a small scar to the right side of their face. The second man bore a tan skin tone and had black hair, with blue strips that went down slightly in a mullet style. The woman bore a set of long, dark green hair, with the hair going down and over her left shoulder. As for the worker drone, he wore the standard green soldier helmet, single eye visor and all. He had no hair on him from what Wade could tell, and bore a pair of whiteish purple eyes on his visor.
As F walked over to the soldiers, the same one that called to her spoke again. "Felicity, I didn't expect to see you around here today! Where you been?"
The girl soldier interrupted his initial chatter. "Hang on Carlos, do you even know if she remembers us?"
"Aye, don't she have one o' them memory locks, or sumthin?" The drone added in a heavy Scottish accent.
F waved her hand as she replied to the group. "Easy, everyone. Thankfully I still got my memories, courtesy of my technician back at Central." Lowering her hand, F let down her usual persona as she gave a wide smirk to the soldiers, clearly pleased to see them. "Good to see you guys around here."
The soldiers gave light cheers to F as they all embraced her, the group having a surprise reunion as Wade and the others watched in surprise. These must've been F's old colleagues from when she was in the service, Wade thought. Quite the coincidence for them to be here at this base of all places.
Not bothering with the convenience of the matter, Wade shook the thought off as he and his friends watched F and her old friends breaking the hug, Tina wrapping an arm around her boyfriend as the second male human spoke to her in what the two discerned as Spanish. "Ay, who your new friends, F?"
"Oh, these guys?" F replied in the same language, quietly startling Wade and the others as they had never heard her speak like that until now. Glancing over to Wade, F motioned him and the others to come over. "Everyone, these are some friends I made in the past few days. Wade, Nathan, Tina, and Jasmine." She pointed her hand to the four as she said each of their names. "I met the boys here during my time on Ceres. Jasmine and Tina here are sisters."
The four soldiers gave various forms of excitement, ranging from hearty laughs to low woops and even a whistle from one of the guys. As F stood next to her old teammates, they each introduced themselves to Wade and his friends. The blonde soldier went first. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, name's Carlos, Lieutenant Marksman."
"I'm Private Alvaros, good with close-range and stealth operations." Said the tan soldier with a salute.
"Sergeant Lucia Vasquez, usually the one who leads this bunch around these days." The female warrior stated with a humorous smirk.
"And Corporal Duncan Wallace, at your service!" The soldier drone stated proudly as he saluted to the bunch in front of him, who gave warm smiles as Wade shook his hand.
"Quite honored to meet you all, seems you have quite the history with F." The former worker drone said as Carlos patted F on her back.
"Oh, we do! She's the one who took charge when we didn't! Did you all hear of the Pasting of Nola VI?" Jasmine and Tina gave nods of affirmation while Wade, not as familiar with such history, held his hand up in a questioning manner.
"I think, wasn't that the battle where the Navy just barely held the outpost in that system? From the Stryker Clan?" Wade asked as Carlos nodded approvingly to him.
"That's right, and if Felice weren't there, WE would've been the ones getting pasted!" Carlos' statement brought victorious cheers and "oorahs" from the group, F letting a blush loose as she chuckled at her team's praise of her efforts.
"Well, that's not wrong." Although she didn't want to break off from her friends and discuss the past few years since they'd last met, F remembered the briefing. Clearing her throat, she continued. "And as much as I'd like to chat about the good times, I've been called to a meeting here, as have Wade and his crew."
The soldier group gave understanding looks to F as Lucia spoke up. "Thought so, Carl here was real eager to see you, though."
"Maybe we can talk after the meeting?" Nathan proposed as the soldiers collectively nodded in agreement, F readying a smartcomm attachment before turning to face her friends again.
"We're probably getting low on time, you all go in, I'll catch up in a sec." Wade nodded in acknowledgement before taking Tina's hand, the lover drones continuing towards the briefing center as Jasmine and Nathan followed behind them.
Passing through the door, the four guests observed a short hallway, which seemed to split into two paths as they came closer to the other end. Looking to a sign on the wall above, they saw arrows pointing to two separate areas, "Primary Briefing Room; Main Lobby + Secondary & Tertiary" Going to the right, they entered the moderately active lobby, several officers walking and standing about in mass chatter. Walking over to the desk up against the wall to their left, Wade and his group waved a hand to the occupying attendant.
"Welcome, what do you need?" The desk attendant asked as Tina raised a finger to reply.
"We're here for a meeting, Mrs. J called us here."
The attendant nodded in understanding before directing an arm towards the other end of the room, where a single door stood. "She should be in the second briefing room down that way."
"Thank you." Tina replied warmly before she and Wade began walking towards the door, their friends behind them as they proceeded into the room.
The room beyond the door was quite sizable, a large circular table occupying the middle with several chairs surrounding it. The walls went up a few meters, with four whiteish blue lights illuminating the room. On the wall opposite to Wade and Tina were three monitor screens, all of which showed the USN in bright blue. In several of the seats were faces both familiar and unfamiliar, several men and women in varying styles of uniforms conversing about quietly or taking notice of the recent visitors. Standing up near the monitors were three people: A decorated officer whom Tina identified as a ship captain, and the so-called operatives, Tessa, albeit as a hologram, and J.
Walking slowly into the room, Wade gave a low wave of his hand as he tried to hide his nervousness. Noticing his shyness in front of the officers, Tina held his hand and rubbed his arm comfortingly while returning a pleasant smile to the staff in the room.
"Ah, Wade, Tina. Glad to see you all here." J stated with a smile as she scanned the group, raising a digital eyebrow as she noticed one missing guest. "Or, most of you, I see. Did F run off somewhere?"
Wade shook his head as he replied to his fellow disassembly drone. "Oh, no. She just ran into some old friends, she should be back-"
"Right now." F finished aloud as she entered the room, seemingly having heard Wade speaking about her absence. The warrior drone fast walked to Wade's team, taking a seat near them as they prepared to do the same. "Not too late, are we?"
"Not at all." The standing officer answered as the group took their seats, Wade and Tina sitting next to each other as they got comfortable. The captain examined the lot for a moment, glancing to J as he asked about them. "So, these are the ones you helped rescue from the Mojave?"
"Yes Captain, and they helped us out greatly in turn. This is Wade Carter, one of the captured drones whom became a disassembly drone before we could mount the rescue. The luckiest one, if you ask me." Motioning her arm over the others, she continued. "And there's his girlfriend, Mrs. Tina Fowley, and her sister Jasmine." Smirking to F and Nathan, she finished her friends' introductions. "And these two are Serial Designation F and Mr. Nathan, whom I've heard were once under your ranks."
The military captain gave a welcoming smile to the five as they returned the gesture, eyeing F and Nathan specifically before speaking to them. "Indeed they were, we still have records on their contributions to the colonies." Eyeing F, he continued. "Though, in Mrs. F's case, I won't blame her if she doesn't remember us. We've been very well aware of JCJenson's 'memory suppression' protocols when it comes to their DDs."
F laid back in her seat with a smug look as she replied to her former superior. "Well, my friend on the station's a good tech gal. She's... waived that hindrance from me."
"I see, that means your still with us, am I right, Mrs. Lee?" Unlike her friends next to her, F was not startled by her original name being said aloud, rather smiling proudly as she saluted to the captain. "Good to see you again."
"Pleased to be here, Sir." F replied as she lowered her arm, glancing to her companions next to her as J spoke up.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Captain Preston Mitchell, commander of the USNV Vickers down at the stardock."
Wade gave a respectful salute to Preston as he spoke first. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Carter. I've heard about your efforts from J, you did an admirable job back there, son." Wade failed to hide an embarrassed blush from the compliment, but it quickly faded as a beep sounded from a small device on the table. It was swiftly silenced by the captain as he tapped a button on the small, pyramid shaped timer, then facing Wade's group before continuing. "Though, as much as we could use some small talk, it'll have to wait till later."
"Indeed, we're running late at this point." Said another officer, a highly decorated member of the base with dark skin, dark grey hair and a thin beard. He immediately won the attention of everyone in the room as he spoke up. "I'm General Hugh Hood, overseer of this base. I'm certain you know some of the reasons you're here with us, correct?"
Wade nodded as he spoke to Hood. "Yeah, it's cause of those rogue agents from the JCJenson corporation." Glancing to J, the corporate drone nodded in affirmation before speaking herself.
"Tessa and I spent the last hours of yesterday evening clearing up the matter with General Hood, along with several other officials stationed here." She stopped as the middle monitor behind her flashed with a banner at the top, reading, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION", and in place of the USN emblem was a textless version of the JCJenson logo. Below the profile image was another two lines of text. "N. Jenson (Company Exec); Comms Source: Yottrite IV"
"And also told our boss about what happened here too, he wanted to give his say on this ordeal." Looking to the general, J asked him, "May I put him on?"
Hood only gave a nod of approval to the corporate drone before she picked up a remote on the table and tapped a button, accepting the call as the picture shifted to show a middle-aged man in a pristine-looking business suit on the screen.
Wade and Tina glanced to each other before J introduced their guest on the screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the CEO of JCJenson: Mr. Noor Jenson."
Jenson gave a pleased nod to his subordinate as he spoke to J. "Thank you for the pleasantries, J. I see we are ready to discuss our plans on dealing with this 'recall' disaster I've bore witness to on the news this morning?"
J nodded as she replied to her boss. "Indeed, I've explained to General Hood here about our efforts yesterday, and, as of recent, we've just received a message from a source we believe to be close to the company."
Mr. Jenson looked down to J attentively as he spoke to her. "Well, that's quite intriguing news, J. Do you have this message available for us to view?" J and Hood both nodded in affirmation, but didn't get an immediate reply as Jenson gazed to Wade and his friends. "...And I presume these are some of the drones rescued from one of the factories?"
Again, J nodded to her superior before explaining her colleagues. "Yes Mr. Jenson, the two drones at the front in particular were among those taken by the Administrator and their subordinates." Pointing an arm to Wade and Tina, she introduced the drone couple. "The disassembly drone here is Mr. Wade Carter, a brother to his-technically speaking-owner, the late Ron Carter. The latter helped us recover Wade during an initial raid inside the Nevada facility." When bringing up Ron, J gave an apologetic look to Wade as to show she did not mean to be offending on him and his brother's relationship. "And this is his romantic partner, Mrs. Tina Fowley. I heard she and her sister Jasmine are pilots."
Jenson looked over the two drones as his obedient employee described them to him, quietly sighing as Wade and Tina returned the gaze with nervous smiles. Once J finished, Jenson spoke to Wade. "I... would say it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter. But, given recent events, I don't hold fault to you for feeling frustrated at me for my... former subordinate's actions."
Wade shook his head lightly, taking Jenson's light apology with a faint smile as he replied to the CEO. "Actually, I don't. The only person I have such feelings put towards is," He hesitated for a moment, his anger at Dr. Halloway returning for a short moment before he eased himself. "..That bastard Halloway."
"The feeling's mutual, Mr. Carter. Dr. Halloway has been trying my patience for years now, especially with you and your fellow disassembly drones." Looking to J, then F, he returned his gaze to Wade before questioning him on his new body. "I don't know if J has told you of this, but if there's one truth my company has admittedly not held up to for a while, it's our quality. Recently, some of my research staff here made blueprints for an upgraded variant of the disassembly drone design. It's intended to fix several faults we expected to be nonexistent previously, most notably that atrocious cooling unit."
As a schematic pulled up on the left monitor, everyone glanced to the improved design before F spoke up about it. "If I may ask, Mr. Jenson, how big of an improvement is this new cooling unit supposed to be?"
"Good question, F. Frankly, it's supposed to do away with the issue entirely. Saves us from sacrificing enormous supplies of oil for the poorly built unit in the previous iterations. We even tested it with a repaired drone just a few days ago, and it worked flawlessly." Then, glancing to Wade again, he questioned the former worker drone on his new form. "Speaking of, how does your enhanced body feel, Mr. Carter? I'm certain it feels better to not have to-"
"Actually, Mr. Jenson," Wade interrupted, pulling out one of his canteens as he answered the CEO on his upgrades. "I guess Halloway changed up the blueprints, cause unfortunately this new cooling unit didn't cure the overheating problem. I... kinda learned that the hard way." Wade glanced to Tina apologetically, still feeling bad from her seeing him eat the corpse of the dead murder drone back at the factory.
The corporate CEO grimaced in frustration as he took in Wade's statement, already intolerant of the head researcher's actions as he replied. "...I was worried about that, Edgar always likes to run things his own way, making excuses for that 'Administrator' he watches over." Taking an agitated breath, he continued on with his spew on the two culprits of yesterday's events. "It was only because of all the very impressive creations and enhancements she and her research team provided that I tolerated them for so long, but this..." Sitting up straight in front of the camera, Jenson finished sternly. "J said the Administrator... Cyn, I believe? She was apparently something worse than we presumed originally, and I'm very inclined to believe so after yesterday."
"As well as the program tied to the Administrator, the AbsoluteSolver." J clarified before receiving an agreeing nod from Mr. Jenson, standing corrected on his placing of blame.
Raising a hand, Nathan asked about the supposed plans. "Yeah, about this "Solver Project", what do we plan to do about that?"
"Good question, Nate." Tessa replied as she crossed her arms before looking to Jenson and beginning her explanation. "Initially, we were going to investigate the other factories spread across Earth in order to get some more info on the Administrator before things get worse. But, just this morning, it seems someone else saved us the trouble." Just as Tessa neared the end of her sentence, J held up the remote again, tapping a few buttons before the left monitor shifted to show a slightly grainy video onscreen.
The video only showed a single being, a worker drone, dressed in a chrome suit and bearing a set of yellow eyes. Behind them was what appeared to be a vacant room, a few shelves holding many books within them standing still in the back. The drone's visage indicated they were filled with immense anxiety, terrified of being caught as they spoke quietly to the camera.
"I can only hope someone gets this in time, they're gonna be on me once they find out the transmitter screens are down!" Turning the camera, he showed what appeared to be a large factory room, several more of the mysterious conveyor belts like at the factory slotted next to each other. It was hard to discern every detail due to not only the window reflection, but also the dark lighting in the inactive conveyor room. Filming the room beyond, the drone continued. "Dr. Halloway's a madman, he's got more of those stolen drones being brought here and he's going to be overseeing it in the afternoon tomorrow! I've seen what happened back in Nevada, I can't take this any longer! I'm at coordinates ##.######, -###.###### Please, send someo-"
The suspicious, partially scrambled transmission immediately cut off to static, leaving Wade, Tina, and their friends with confused expressions as Tessa spoke up. "Yeah, that caught me by surprise too."
"So, that guy says they got more drones being sent 'there', but... where is there, exactly?" Jasmine asked with immense curiosity.
"I was hoping you'd ask that, Mrs. Fowley." The technician replied as she glanced to J, who tapped a few more buttons on the remote before speaking over her boss-friend.
"While the transmission itself isn't much to work off of, our friends from Comms over here managed to intercept the signal earlier, and even better, discern where it originated from." As J started her explanation, the screen shifted once more to show a large city, with one skyscraper highlighted in red as it was zoomed towards on the screen. "That scrambled audio wasn't a simple glitch, it was intentionally done so as to hide key information for us to uncover. Upon cleaning up the message, we managed to recover a set of coordinates, which direct to this structure here, in San Francisco."
Wade and his friends stared at the building in shock, examining the tall structure as it stood over the shorter buildings in the city. Tina broke the silence in her gaze. "So, this is another factory? It looks... terribly different from the one we got out of."
"Not exactly, Mrs. Fowley." Mr. Jenson answered, Tina and the others looking to him as he continued. "THAT is the Administrator's main laboratory, its location was kept on the down low so other authorities and terrorist groups wouldn't find out what the buildings true purpose was." Sighing, Jenson completed his reply. "But, with this recent mistake of Halloway's, that place has lost all purpose for us at the company."
Wade raised a hand to speak. "So, we're going to pounce on that place? Get Halloway before he runs off again?"
"Exactly." General Hood replied as he looked up to Mr. Jenson. "This whole 'recovery/recruitment' effort has gotten out of hand all across Sol. We've gotten countless reports of people being killed because of this, be it the brutal robberies here in Nevada or the bloodbath on Ceres. Even if Mr. Jenson refuses to cooperate, this has become a dire matter for us now. One way or another, this insanity will be stopped with due haste."
The CEO nodded in acknowledgement before explaining his own plans for the mission. "Speaking of cooperation, upon seeing what was happening at Earth, I ordered a detachment of our corporate starships in orbit at the time to depart for Sol in order to help with investigating the situation. They're not warships, but they are well-armed. I'll dispatch them to your authority upon concluding this call." Glancing to Wade and his team for a moment, Jenson continued. "As for the mission, I may not have much of a say, but let it be known that you have my blessing to do whatever it takes to end this madness. I don't care what you do with Halloway or any of his lackeys, or what happens to that facility down there... I want that program shut down."
"Thank you for the extra hands, Mr. Jenson. We'll make sure this Administrator is dealt with." Hood replied gratefully as Wade sat firm in his seat, Tina and the others following suite.
"General?" The former worker drone said aloud, catching Hood's attention before he made his request. "I know I'm not a soldier, but I want to help with dealing with Halloway and his grunts. After what he did, after losing my brother, I can't rest until I see that man stopped."
Tina raised a finger as well. "As do I, Wade could use a hand with those people, and given how we did during our escape run out of that place, I think the two of us make quite the duo." She glanced to Wade with a smirk as she referenced their combat prowess when flying together.
Nathan and F stood up before the latter gave her own request. "Sir, I wish to take part in this mission as well. I can also recommend Wade for you too, as I fought alongside him during the factory raid."
"Wouldn't mind giving a hand myself! And I'm sure my pal Kurtis would love to help, he's here at the base too!" Nathan added with a confident smirk, the group's determination encouraging Jasmine to stand up as well.
"I'd like to help too." She stated simply, a smile on her face as the general and his companions observed the five guests.
Admittedly, Hood knew it would be a bit absurd to allow these people to take part in an operation which would certainly involve bloodshed, especially considering most of them merely had civilian status at the moment. But, upon careful evaluation of the five, their desire to see this problem dealt with, and the fact that some of them had experience on the field...
He paused his train of thought as Captain Mitchell spoke to him. "General? I read up on the Fowleys' files when we recovered Mrs. Jasmine here, they provided service in their early careers." He smirked to the pilot sisters as he finished adding his say. "And to be frank, we need more people like them here. The records we have of them showed them to be damn fine pilots."
Tina blushed at the praise from Mitchell as she spoke to the general. "That is true, we uh... did get discharged for our... 'fancy maneuvering'."
"Sir?" Jasmine said, the general's attention on her as she added to the conversation. "Even if our flying is a bit out of protocol, Tina saved a lot of people on that starjet a few days back. I can promise you, she's an excellent woman to have at the wheel."
Glancing to Wade again, Hood took in his face, one of begging desperation as he spoke once more. "Please, Sir. My brother, the troops he brought from the Coalition, Halloway's gotten them all killed cause of this. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this, at least for them."
The good general took a deep, quiet breath, considering his decision once more before finally revealing it to Wade and his friends. "Mr. Carter, Fowleys? I'm probably making myself a fool for saying this, but you're permitted to assist us in this mission."
The drone couple contained their gratefulness in the form of ecstatic grins as Wade replied to the general. "Thanks, General. We won't let you down."
"And Mrs. Lee?" Hood said as he glanced to F, who returned the gesture as he told her, "You're technically under Mr. Jenson's authority, whatever his answer is, it's mine as well."
Bringing her yellow-orange eyes to her CEO, F awaited Mr. Jenson's answer. "F, yes? I heard Mr. Hood call you by a different name just now, I assume you have some experience with the army?"
The warrior drone nodded as she explained herself. "I once inherited the name of Felicity Lee, Mr. Jenson. I served under the USN Defense Forces before joining the DD Division." Then, glancing to the military staff near her, she finished with, "I had hoped to provide my enhancements to the Force one day."
Jenson gave a hint of a proud smile as he finally gave his decision. "Well, it seems you'll finally get that chance. From now on, even after this mission on Earth is over with, you're hereby dispatched to serve under the USN."
F admittedly couldn't hide her excited smirk as she flung a salute to her now former boss. "Thank you Sir!"
Looking up to Jenson, General Hood asked the CEO, "Mr. Jenson, how long until your ships can reach Earth?"
Jenson glanced down at his communication console as he answered the military leader. "At max speed, their Ion drives should be able to bring them into orbit in as little as one to two days. I believe there should be some ships within the system that could help as well."
"Signal them when you can, Mr. Jenson. We could use all the help we can get from them." The CEO nodded to Hood as he stood firmly to the viewer, the general turning to face Wade and his colleagues. "And Mr. Carter? We'll be mobilizing our forces immediately after this meeting concludes. It'll be a minute, but I want you to gather whatever items and belongings you'll need for this operation. Be ready to head to the flight pads in no more than three hours."
"Understood Sir!" Wade said with a salute, Tina, Jasmine and Nathan giving their own as Jasmine raised a finger.
"What about the area around the lab? That place looks like it's in the middle of the city."
J raised a finger as she told Jasmine and the others about their resolution of the civilian obstacle. "Shortly after reporting our findings on the transmission, Hood told us that they were sending in some teams to clear out the civilian population within several miles of the facility. Once we get there, it should be of no concern."
Jasmine sighed in relief as Tina spoke up. "So the people should be safe from any sort of danger?"
"Correct, Mrs. Tina." Preston answered before continuing. "Given the resistance Halloway and his men showed during the Coalition's raid, they most certainly won't hold back there."
"One more thing, Sir." Nathan asked. "The Coalition's going to help us out with this too, right?"
"You can count on it, Mr. Nathan." The Vickers' captain replied as he looked to J, then to Jenson as he spoke further. "I met the leader of the Coalition's detachment working with us when I was introduced to J and Mrs. Elliott here, they intend to see this conflict finished. I highly doubt they're willing to sit back and let us do this by ourselves."
"And their help will be much appreciated." Hood added, everyone's attention returned to him as he looked to Tessa, curious eyes scanning her holographic form. "And Mrs. Elliott, if I may. Do you mind heading down here to assist us in our investigations later on?"
"Funny you say that, General. I'm almost done with my own snooping around on the JCJ up in orbit, Cyn has some small departments of hers aboard, and I thought I'd gather some more intel before coming down." Glancing to Mr. Jenson, she saw him giving an understanding nod before returning her gaze to the military staff. "I should be down there by the evening, judging by where you're located."
"Do what you must, Mrs. Elliott. We could use whatever you find." Hood replied firmly as he turned once more to the JCJenson CEO. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jenson. We will get to the bottom of this."
"It's my pleasure, General." Glancing to J and Tessa, he spoke to them once more. "J? Contact me when you've finished with Halloway and his Administrator."
"It'll be done, Mr. Jenson." The obedient servant answered before saluting firmly, receiving a final nod from her boss before he ended the transmission.
With their off-world guest out of the way, Hood looked to Wade and his friends, J, Tessa and Captain Mitchells sharing the gaze with them as the general spoke to them in finality. "Well, you know what comes next everyone. You're all dismissed for now. And remember, landing zone by 1300."
"We'll be there Sir." Wade said with a nod as he and his friends stood up, pushing in their chairs before making their way out to the door.
As they neared it, Wade stopped for a moment as they heard Hood call to one of his friends. "And F?" The soldier drone looked to the general as he continued. "Before we depart, would you mind changing your uniform? I believe it could help with identifying you from the other disassembly drones more easily." Glancing to J, then back to F, he finished with, "I recall hearing about the most formidable drones having clones prepared, yes?"
"Correct, Sir. I'll stop by the nearest barracks while I can." F replied before turning back to the door with her colleagues, Wade opening the door for them all as they passed through. After them, Wade passed through himself, shutting the door to the meeting room as he returned to the lobby.
Walking about together, F spoke to Wade and the others. "Well, that went smoothly. I'll be heading down to the barracks, then head over to your place to help out."
"Actually," Wade replied, raising a finger up as he asked his fellow murder drone, "You think you could bring your friends over? We could get to know each other while we're getting ready."
F glanced to Nathan with a smile before returning her eyes to Wade. "I could see about that. You're gonna like them, I can promise you that."
Taking Tina's hand, Wade walked with his girlfriend alongside Jasmine and the others, nearing the hallway they came through as they prepared for the walk back to the apartment.

Alright, it's fucking peak. I really didn't want to read it because I have a very bad memory and I can't memorize a lot of eastern terms (mainly why I dropped SoH) but to my surprise, it wasn't really an issue for me.
The if itself is absolute peak fiction in every way, and I did not expect, at all, that the world was a matrix created by le funny God that mc is a clone of??? (I literally just finished POMA and I can't remember his name, I'm sorry it's 3 AM for me)
Another thing I didn't understand, is MC a God now or what? I think it's my sleep deprivation speaking but I literally didn't understand much of what was happening after the fight with Long Chen lol.

Hello name nerds, I am a trans woman in her 30s and I will soon initiate a process of legally changing my gender. As part of the process I have the opportunity to also change my name with no additional costs or requirements which is quite nice.
I am Croatian but I have been living in Ireland for the past 6 years. I have no particular attachment to my current legal name and surname. I am 99.9% set on putting Lena as my first name which I have been using for the last few years. There isn't really a particular reason why I chose name Lena for myself, I just liked the sound of it when a friend suggested it. I want to put more thought into picking a middle and last names so looking for inspirations here. Also, I have a partner (nonbinary/woman, Irish) who I will marry one day. She has no particular attachment to their last name either so we are thinking of a surname that they would take as their own when we get married.
I am looking for names that are either in Croatian, Irish or English. I am not really looking at traditional or typical names. Rather, I am looking for a name that represents something I like, something potentially cool, beautiful or a little bit silly.
Names I have been or am currently considering:
"Universe" as last name. I know, some might say it sounds cringe but in my mind there is nothing else as vast, beautiful and terrifying as the universe itself. Main reason I won't proceed with it is because my partner doesn't like it as much. She did suggest an alternative last name "Verse", so that would be Lena Verse.
In a similar vein, I like the name "Svemir" as either middle or last name. Svemir is a Croatian word for universe and is composed of words for "all" and "peace". The ending -mir is used in a lot of old and traditional Croatian names but funnily enough the name Svemir is not common at all. The main issue with this name is that the name is distinctively male. Could still work nicely as last name though or I can ignore the fact it sounds male in Croatian since nobody in Ireland will make that connection and really... the name is cool as hell.
I have also thought about names such as "Vila" and "Sidhe", pronounced as [ˈviːla] and [iːsˠ ˈʃiː], which are Croatian and Irish words for a fairy. I just thought both of them sound nice (also fairies are cool) and there is an interesting coincidence that Sidhe is pronounced as "she" which, in the context of me be being a trans woman using she/her pronouns in English language... is kinda funny.
Another motif I like is colour green. My reddit name is Lena Zelena which I chose because it rhymes but also because zelena is a Croatian word for colour green. My partner suggested a last name "Viridian", which happens to be her favorite shade of green. I thought it sounds quite beautiful. I am also considering Zelena as my middle name in case I don't go with green motif as my last name.
And last, when my partner asked me about any names in the family that I like I remembered my late grandmother, the person I loved the most in this world. Her name was "Jela" which is Croatian word for a fir tree. Following that inspiration we have reached last name "Evergreen" which is currently my top pick for a last name.
I am interested to hear what does the name nerd community thinks of these names or if you have some suggestions that could inspire me further. I have been casually thinking about names for a long time but now that I am finally having my birth certificate translated I will start the legal process so I have been thinking about this more seriously.

I had a coworker who changed his name to Cranberry Bubble Tea on a dare in his 20s. Also there's a weird YouTuber with a kid named Wolverine Tiger De Guzman in Japan. Do you guys know any other funny names?

What happend
What happend
Hello guys and girls, i really need some opinions and advices on what the fuck happend.
So long story short, i met this girl on Bumble app. She is a stewardess and was staying in my city for roughly a month in total. We started texting there, i was funny and charming as usual so she gave me her whatsapp (number) and ig. We made plans to go for a date in like week and a half since we both were busy. I texted her on ig to reschedule the date and eventually we went on it. She was staying at a nice hotel 10 min away from me. I met her outside and when she came out i was like dam. Everything started going smoothly almost instantly, we clicked like i never clicked with somebody else before. Made jokes how something is gonna happen to her and she was like just let me have a gin and tonic first and i was like il let you have two of those because im a nice one. Later on we went to a second place to have drinks and i started to make extensive eye contact with her because i was all over the head with this girl (im not a type of guy that something like that happens to often in fact it never did to be honest even tho i see alot of girls and go out alot and usualy i hide myself pretty well like im mysterous and women told me they cannont read me no matter how hard they try and they really like that about me some even told me i have no emotions and im like a stone)
Back to the story, she was like dont look at me like that because you make me nervous and i was like look at you like what? (i knew exactly like what ha) I continued to do that and later while we went back to the hotel ( she wanted to walk) i grabbed her hand and we walked and made jokes all they way back while holding hands. When we came to the hotel she was like im sleepy and i was like then you should go. She wanted to sit outside before she went up so we did. We talked and talked and the story i going with was that we probbably not gonna see eachoter ever again and thats what i stuck with. She said if i wanted to see her i would and i was like i have no time and she said again if you wanted you would. We talked and ifor some reason i had abnormal urge to kiss her like ive known her for idk how much time, i never felt such a strong and weird feeling like that, i basiclly fully fell for her in matter of hours ( crazy i know) I told her listen i dont expect anything from you i just want to kiss you and leave. She was like you are sick since your nose is runny etc ( i i told her before that my voice is funny today) and kinda rejcted me because she has flights almost daily. Eventually we started making out and had an intense session next to the hotel and even on the hotel wall haha ( people that passed by really gave us the looks some even like dam even tho it was late) After 2 days i was like i have to see you again, idk why i just have to. We texted for few days , was going amazing she texted me i text her but she was busy a little. Then she invited me to come with her and her cabin crew friends for a night out so i did , told me i could join them basicly and i was like fuck it.( finally haha) We had one of the most amazing nights ever, i took them to a club, got the best seats because i know the bouncers ( no reservation, nothing).sime girls started talking to me there and she got a little jelous i mean she told me she doesnt like me doing that but later we made it uo by having sex in the club and she asked me there to come to her hotel room after, we made a pinky promise and left the club toilete haha.I paid everything ( cabs and all, not that it matters just saying and she even got mad at me because of that a little).After that she basiclly sneaked me in to the hotel we ran to the elevators and she forgot something at the reception so she got called back then later we laughed that the guy saw us. I did everything perfectly and then we had sex in hotel, talked, cuddled etc. I told her that im never this honest but i just wanted her to know that in few hours she made me feel so alive and that girls in my city couldnt do that even im few months. But i said i dont expect anything from her still but i just wanted to be honest for the first time. Then i left before she woke up because she fell alseep after 15 min after sex. I tought that was a manly thing to do even tho i wanted to stay so bad. I left her a note that said text me and some name i called her ( a song) and P.S you snore a little :). The note was on the napkin, placed on my side of the bed next to her. That same day at nighttime she texted me and i was like oh yes oh yes (i couldnt stop thinking about her because i felt so amazing and alive). We exhanged few text like before i joked about how if i survive the night ( i was out partying) im gonna see her again for the third time and the lucky charm. The she just dissapeard.Completly ghosted me. Didnt respond to my last few messages about that thirdt time, didnt even seen them on wa. (no read status) So after a day and a half i texted her again sending her a picture of a place she wanted to go while she was here (it was closed before, season just opened) and asked her you wanna go?. No response, no read so i tought maybe her wa is broken due to some number thing so i texted her on ig asking is it that or she just ghosted me and whatever it is i think i deserve to know. She seen that like 10h after ive sent it and then after another 10h she just blocked me everywhere and thats it. I dont understand what happend and why would she text me the same day responding to my note if it was just a one night stand for her or if she didnt want to see me or continue to talk with me (side note she had like a week, week and a half left in my city when that happend)

What happend
What happend
Hello guys and girls, i really need some opinions and advices on what the fuck happend.
So long story short, i met this girl on Bumble app. She is a stewardess and was staying in my city for roughly a month in total. We started texting there, i was funny and charming as usual so she gave me her whatsapp (number) and ig. We made plans to go for a date in like week and a half since we both were busy. I texted her on ig to reschedule the date and eventually we went on it. She was staying at a nice hotel 10 min away from me. I met her outside and when she came out i was like dam. Everything started going smoothly almost instantly, we clicked like i never clicked with somebody else before. Made jokes how something is gonna happen to her and she was like just let me have a gin and tonic first and i was like il let you have two of those because im a nice one. Later on we went to a second place to have drinks and i started to make extensive eye contact with her because i was all over the head with this girl (im not a type of guy that something like that happens to often in fact it never did to be honest even tho i see alot of girls and go out alot and usualy i hide myself pretty well like im mysterous and women told me they cannont read me no matter how hard they try and they really like that about me some even told me i have no emotions and im like a stone)
Back to the story, she was like dont look at me like that because you make me nervous and i was like look at you like what? (i knew exactly like what ha) I continued to do that and later while we went back to the hotel ( she wanted to walk) i grabbed her hand and we walked and made jokes all they way back while holding hands. When we came to the hotel she was like im sleepy and i was like then you should go. She wanted to sit outside before she went up so we did. We talked and talked and the story i going with was that we probbably not gonna see eachoter ever again and thats what i stuck with. She said if i wanted to see her i would and i was like i have no time and she said again if you wanted you would. We talked and ifor some reason i had abnormal urge to kiss her like ive known her for idk how much time, i never felt such a strong and weird feeling like that, i basiclly fully fell for her in matter of hours ( crazy i know) I told her listen i dont expect anything from you i just want to kiss you and leave. She was like you are sick since your nose is runny etc ( i i told her before that my voice is funny today) and kinda rejcted me because she has flights almost daily. Eventually we started making out and had an intense session next to the hotel and even on the hotel wall haha ( people that passed by really gave us the looks some even like dam even tho it was late) After 2 days i was like i have to see you again, idk why i just have to. We texted for few days , was going amazing she texted me i text her but she was busy a little. Then she invited me to come with her and her cabin crew friends for a night out so i did , told me i could join them basicly and i was like fuck it.( finally haha) We had one of the most amazing nights ever, i took them to a club, got the best seats because i know the bouncers ( no reservation, nothing).sime girls started talking to me there and she got a little jelous i mean she told me she doesnt like me doing that but later we made it uo by having sex in the club and she asked me there to come to her hotel room after, we made a pinky promise and left the club toilete haha.I paid everything ( cabs and all, not that it matters just saying and she even got mad at me because of that a little).After that she basiclly sneaked me in to the hotel we ran to the elevators and she forgot something at the reception so she got called back then later we laughed that the guy saw us. I did everything perfectly and then we had sex in hotel, talked, cuddled etc. I told her that im never this honest but i just wanted her to know that in few hours she made me feel so alive and that girls in my city couldnt do that even im few months. But i said i dont expect anything from her still but i just wanted to be honest for the first time. Then i left before she woke up because she fell alseep after 15 min after sex. I tought that was a manly thing to do even tho i wanted to stay so bad. I left her a note that said text me and some name i called her ( a song) and P.S you snore a little :). The note was on the napkin, placed on my side of the bed next to her. That same day at nighttime she texted me and i was like oh yes oh yes (i couldnt stop thinking about her because i felt so amazing and alive). We exhanged few text like before i joked about how if i survive the night ( i was out partying) im gonna see her again for the third time and the lucky charm. The she just dissapeard.Completly ghosted me. Didnt respond to my last few messages about that thirdt time, didnt even seen them on wa. (no read status) So after a day and a half i texted her again sending her a picture of a place she wanted to go while she was here (it was closed before, season just opened) and asked her you wanna go?. No response, no read so i tought maybe her wa is broken due to some number thing so i texted her on ig asking is it that or she just ghosted me and whatever it is i think i deserve to know. She seen that like 10h after ive sent it and then after another 10h she just blocked me everywhere and thats it. I dont understand what happend and why would she text me the same day responding to my note if it was just a one night stand for her or if she didnt want to see me or continue to talk with me (side note she had like a week, week and a half left in my city when that happend)

What happend
Hello guys and girls, i really need some opinions and advices on what the fuck happend.
So long story short, i met this girl on Bumble app. She is a stewardess and was staying in my city for roughly a month in total. We started texting there, i was funny and charming as usual so she gave me her whatsapp (number) and ig. We made plans to go for a date in like week and a half since we both were busy. I texted her on ig to reschedule the date and eventually we went on it. She was staying at a nice hotel 10 min away from me. I met her outside and when she came out i was like dam. Everything started going smoothly almost instantly, we clicked like i never clicked with somebody else before. Made jokes how something is gonna happen to her and she was like just let me have a gin and tonic first and i was like il let you have two of those because im a nice one. Later on we went to a second place to have drinks and i started to make extensive eye contact with her because i was all over the head with this girl (im not a type of guy that something like that happens to often in fact it never did to be honest even tho i see alot of girls and go out alot and usualy i hide myself pretty well like im mysterous and women told me they cannont read me no matter how hard they try and they really like that about me some even told me i have no emotions and im like a stone)
Back to the story, she was like dont look at me like that because you make me nervous and i was like look at you like what? (i knew exactly like what ha) I continued to do that and later while we went back to the hotel ( she wanted to walk) i grabbed her hand and we walked and made jokes all they way back while holding hands. When we came to the hotel she was like im sleepy and i was like then you should go. She wanted to sit outside before she went up so we did. We talked and talked and the story i going with was that we probbably not gonna see eachoter ever again and thats what i stuck with. She said if i wanted to see her i would and i was like i have no time and she said again if you wanted you would. We talked and ifor some reason i had abnormal urge to kiss her like ive known her for idk how much time, i never felt such a strong and weird feeling like that, i basiclly fully fell for her in matter of hours ( crazy i know) I told her listen i dont expect anything from you i just want to kiss you and leave. She was like you are sick since your nose is runny etc ( i i told her before that my voice is funny today) and kinda rejcted me because she has flights almost daily. Eventually we started making out and had an intense session next to the hotel and even on the hotel wall haha ( people that passed by really gave us the looks some even like dam even tho it was late) After 2 days i was like i have to see you again, idk why i just have to. We texted for few days , was going amazing she texted me i text her but she was busy a little. Then she invited me to come with her and her cabin crew friends for a night out so i did , told me i could join them basicly and i was like fuck it.( finally haha) We had one of the most amazing nights ever, i took them to a club, got the best seats because i know the bouncers ( no reservation, nothing).sime girls started talking to me there and she got a little jelous i mean she told me she doesnt like me doing that but later we made it uo by having sex in the club and she asked me there to come to her hotel room after, we made a pinky promise and left the club toilete haha.I paid everything ( cabs and all, not that it matters just saying and she even got mad at me because of that a little).After that she basiclly sneaked me in to the hotel we ran to the elevators and she forgot something at the reception so she got called back then later we laughed that the guy saw us. I did everything perfectly and then we had sex in hotel, talked, cuddled etc. I told her that im never this honest but i just wanted her to know that in few hours she made me feel so alive and that girls in my city couldnt do that even im few months. But i said i dont expect anything from her still but i just wanted to be honest for the first time. Then i left before she woke up because she fell alseep after 15 min after sex. I tought that was a manly thing to do even tho i wanted to stay so bad. I left her a note that said text me and some name i called her ( a song) and P.S you snore a little :). The note was on the napkin, placed on my side of the bed next to her. That same day at nighttime she texted me and i was like oh yes oh yes (i couldnt stop thinking about her because i felt so amazing and alive). We exhanged few text like before i joked about how if i survive the night ( i was out partying) im gonna see her again for the third time and the lucky charm. The she just dissapeard.Completly ghosted me. Didnt respond to my last few messages about that thirdt time, didnt even seen them on wa. (no read status) So after a day and a half i texted her again sending her a picture of a place she wanted to go while she was here (it was closed before, season just opened) and asked her you wanna go?. No response, no read so i tought maybe her wa is broken due to some number thing so i texted her on ig asking is it that or she just ghosted me and whatever it is i think i deserve to know. She seen that like 10h after ive sent it and then after another 10h she just blocked me everywhere and thats it. I dont understand what happend and why would she text me the same day responding to my note if it was just a one night stand for her or if she didnt want to see me or continue to talk with me (side note she had like a week, week and a half left in my city when that happend)

on my mind lately but i do want to share it.
about 8 years ago, i had a lot of problems and was in a bad abusive relationship and basically he threatened me that if i didn’t let him sneak in at night that he would do something to me so i let him. this was all because he got into a fight with my brother and my mom didn’t want him over anymore. but anyways. he came one night and he got caught in my room. my mom freaked. i was already dealing with mental health problems and this made it 100000x worse. she took everything from me. i would just sit in my room and cry. eventually my doctor found out i self harmed because of taking my blood pressure and they recommended i go to a psychiatric facility. at this time my mom was being extremely horrible to me.
when i was in, i met this girl there. a quiet small girl. i decided to let her sit at my table during the day and we quickly became friends. she didn’t have a phone or socials but i gave her my info just in case. about 5 months later, i got a facebook message from her. comes out she got a phone after she begged her family for one so she can talk to me. from then on, we talked pretty much every day and shared everything with each other. she lived kind of far so i wasn’t able to see her in person until a few years later when her family got a car. she started dating this kid we also met at the hospital… i supported their relationship 100%. she was my best friend. i even taught her how to drive!
when we did see each other semi-regularly in person, i brought her with me to hang out with me my then bf and his best friend. his friend met a girl at my church and they started dating. so i brought my friend with me to hang with all of us and her and that other girl became friends. it bothered me because that other girl i knew my whole life. we never got along. but i was being nice since she was dating my bfs friend. the girls exchanged snaps i guess and they talked a lot without me knowing…
one day friend tells me she is pregnant. she misses a birth control shot and her boyfriend finished in her. she said she didn’t want him to and she doesn’t know what to do. and sure enough she is indeed pregnant. her family didn’t have much. they were about to be evicted… no one worked… it was a tough situation. she considered abortion and i told her, i will support you no matter what you decide. either way i am here.
i went to the mall one day with my bf and his friend and that other girl. we got to talking and she started saying how my friend can’t get an abortion because that’s wrong and it’s murder and idk what else. i didn’t like that she was saying that. i told her it was my friends choice no matter what.
my friend was supposed to go for an abortion. says she went. then she tells me they said she was a day too late and they couldn’t do it. i said it’s okay, i will be here to help! i spent the rest of her pregnancy finding the baby clothes, buying them groceries so she doesn’t go hungry, and so much more. i stepped up as much as i could.
my friends bf got into an accident and i dropped everything and drove to her to pick her up and take her to the hospital to see him after o took her to buy stuff for his hospital stay. mind you, i had just gotten my license yet i was driving downtown just to make sure she got to see him since no one else was able to take her. i stayed with her a while and took her home. all that.
i even went to see her and the baby when she was born and took her whatever she wanted to eat and even took photos of the baby for her. i loved that baby and her so much. she wanted me to be her godmother!
fast forward to covid, i was sad because i couldn’t visit her anymore. i wanted to keep her and the baby safe! we still talked daily like nothing. then i found out she talked to that girl from my church (the girl that dated my bfs friend) … and i told her hay she isn’t a great person. no one at church likes her and i explained to her all the reasons why. and that she also was talking crap about her wanting an abortion and the names she was calling her like murderer and whatnot. she proceeded to get upset at me and told me not to tell her who to be friends with…. so she blocked me.
one day out of the blue a few days later she asks me why this girl (who introduced me and my then bf) was telling her how i told her her business about her being pregnant and me buying her stuff and her bfs accident …. and im like ? what? and it comes out that my friend and my bfs friends ex were so pressed that they went and messaged someone who they knew i wasn’t talking to. we talked like one time ages ago and i was talking about my friend a bit with no details. but they go and text her and she spills how i told them all this and so my friend gets mad and says she doesn’t like me doing shit for her because i’m just gonna throw it in her face later. i was confused. but i couldn’t force her to talk to me. so i gave up trying to explain and reason and she blocked me on everything.
comes out the 3 girls met up just to talk shit. the third girl i mentioned who they messaged to get info from ended up not talking to them anymore and she told me how they’d talk about me and pull up my social medias to make fun of me and my now partner.
I also found out she lied to me about the abortion… she wasn’t late to get it. she didn’t even go because the girl manipulated her into not getting it because she convinced her that she would be a murderer. literally convinced her to keep a child she couldn’t support and did nothing to help yet i spent time and money making sure her fridge was stocked and the baby had clothes.
what’s fucked up is the told the girls that the groceries i got her she didn’t like or didn’t eat yet i literally still have the text message of the stuff she wanted, brands and all… and i literally got exactly what she wanted. that really helped me realize that i shoukdnt do shit for anyone because no one will ever appreciate it.
it’s also funny that her boyfriend or whatever messaged me about 2 months after this happened trying to hook up. he said he was sorry she did that to me. that he told her not to do it. and then said he wants to meet up to hookup and that he always thought i was hotter and that he only stayed with her because she needed someone LOL. so messed up. but anyways…
this whole situation caused me to spiral and almost attempt suicide. i ended my relationship as well but that wasn’t as painful as losing my best friend …. i’ve never felt a pain like that before. it hurt so much. and it still does hurt to think about. i ended up in the psych ward 3 months after my best friend blocked me. i’ve been different ever since.
the third girl i mentioned is now cool with me and we are on good terms. she apologized for engaging with them and talking to them. she assured me that what they did was wrong and i never did anything wrong in my friend ship with my best friend.
did i do something wrong? it’s been 4 years now and i still wonder what i could’ve done different.
i live in a different state and im in a great relationship now and life is great but i still miss having a close friend like that. no friendship will ever compare to the one i had with her ….
please tell me if you think i did something wrong i really want to know.
it’s eating away at me again …
***this all happened 4 years ago but she did reach out to me about 2 years ago from her dads facebook letting me know that he passed away since he really liked me a lot and i did talk to him every so often and when i would visit and take them food. it was kind of her to do that but the extent of the conversation was just that he loved me and that she wanted to let me know because he would want that. that broke me even further that she knew her family liked me yet chose to leave me anyway.

This meme coin is dedicated to building a sanctuary for stray animals.
Mixxa was adopted because she was mistreated by her previous owners.
Initially hesitant and frightened due to her past mistreatment, it took Mixxa a couple of weeks to warm up to her new owners. ​Through pure love and tireless efforts to make her comfortable, a simple act of brushing her face with a small toothbrush ​became the key to her heart. She has also three other companions (other adopted cats) and shares her daily life with them. ​However, most of the time, she can be found sleeping in the funniest positions or sitting in different poses, as can be seen in ​the pictures.
Now, after two years filled with joy, the owners wanted to share Mixxa's charming and amusing moments with the world,
thus leading to the creation of this funny meme token named $MIXXA.
The token includes a 2.5% charity wallet because the creators have a noble goal in mind:
To establish a new sanctuary for cats and dogs, providing care for as many strays as possible on a full-time basis.
Once a certain market cap is reached, these funds will be utilised to create a modern and very big sanctuary equipped with ​caretakers, on-site 24-hour vets with veterinary services for both residents and external emergencies.
Additionally, there are plans for a cozy mini bar (lounge), within that space, where visitors can relax, cuddle and interact with ​the animals on-site, while having a nice drink or cocktails.
The ultimate goal: To save up to 2000 or more animals from the streets and have a nice place to gather for every animal lover ​in the region.
The token is live on Solana CA: 2JqbCkhZ7zZzdBSpDAkfivrpN8BuYs531eAQtN3bdHRU
More info on website: https://mixxawifhat.com

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cl5548dq2dno
Mandy McAuley Reporter, BBC Spotlight Published 21 May 2024, 06:01 BST Updated 1 hour ago A loyalist killer has claimed the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) believed Billy Wright, the organisation’s leader in Mid Ulster, was a state agent.
Laurence Maguire told BBC NI’s Spotlight programme he had been called to answer questions about Wright for a UVF inquiry in the 1990s.
Maguire said he had begun to have suspicions when Wright stopped him from killing three suspected Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, who were later killed by the republican group - accused of being state agents.
The revelation comes after the government asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether to keep some intelligence on UVF murders a secret.
Laurence Maguire Image caption, Laurence Maguire speaking to BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme
The loyalist paramilitary group has been linked to multiple killings.
Parts of Laurence Maguire’s interview were first broadcast in 2019, but further details of what he told Spotlight have become more relevant because of information which emerged at recently stalled inquests.
Maguire, who was jailed in 1994 for five murders, told Spotlight that Wright had asked him to track three men believed to be in the IRA.
He described following them weekly, and his plan to shoot them in a rural park outside Dungannon.
But, he said, whenever he proposed the attack, Billy Wright “was putting it back”.
“I thought there was something strange about it, and when I look back now, it seems there was a lot of strange things about it,” Maguire said.
Aidan Starrs, John Dignam and Gregory Burns IMAGE SOURCE,PACEMAKER Image caption, L-R Aidan Starrs, John Dignam and Gregory Burns were abducted and killed by the IRA
Shortly afterwards, in July 1992, the three men – Gregory Burns, Aidan Starrs and John Dignam – were abducted and killed by the IRA.
The IRA said all three men were informers, and had been involved in the murder of Portadown woman Margaret Perry because she had learned that Burns was working for the intelligence services.
Former IRA member Tommy McKearney, whose brother and uncle were killed by Wright’s gang, said Maguire’s story raised the question of whether Wright had been protecting the IRA men because they were informants.
If Wright “was an agent”, he asked, “was he acting on orders to prevent Laurence Maguire operating against them?”
Maguire said he had subsequently been questioned by the UVF as part of an investigation into “suspicions” about Wright.
“I think it came to light that he was definitely working for somebody else.
“I just call it the Crown," he said.
Bernie McKearney Image caption, Bernie McKearney's husband and parents were killed in 1992
An inquest into UVF murders in Mid Ulster heard earlier this year that the late Progressive Unionist Party leader, David Ervine, had headed just such an inquiry into Billy Wright.
The court heard the investigation had collapsed when another senior UVF figure, and suspected police informer, Robin Jackson, did not show up to testify against Wright.
Jackson, who has since died, was also named in court documents as being suspected of involvement in a number of attacks in Mid Ulster.
Bernie McKearney’s husband and parents were killed in attacks carried out by Mid Ulster UVF in 1992.
Inquests into the deaths of Kevin and John McKearney, and Charles and Teresa Fox, stalled earlier this year when the secretary of state took legal action to prevent some material from being released.
“I do get emotional at times and I hate it, because I try to be a strong person,” Bernie McKearney said.
“But it has been hard knowing that if Kevin had have got the protection that state agents got, he could be living today."
Kevin and John McKearney scene IMAGE SOURCE,PACEMAKER Image caption, Kevin and John McKearney were attacked in the family butcher shop in Moy
Other former UVF figures have also accused Wright of being an agent.
Former Police Ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan said, “I think we know that Billy Wright was an informant."
She is critical of the government’s legal action, describing it as “absolutely appalling”.
“There is no justification whatsoever for denying them information which may have been of some significance to national security 30 years ago or years ago, but which now cannot, in many cases, be of any significance whatsoever.”
Wright broke away from the UVF in 1996 to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force and was killed in the Maze Prison the following year.
All Troubles-era cases are now being referred to a new body known as the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Jon Boutcher, has said he is prepared to give material to new investigators “without condition and without redaction”.
PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher IMAGE SOURCE,PA Image caption, The Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said he is prepared to give police material to new investigators
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Lord Caine, encouraged families to work with the ICRIR, external.
“This is now before the courts and we have to await the court’s judgement," he said.
“What I would do, is encourage families who have lost loved ones, or whose loved ones are seriously injured, to work with the new body under the distinguished leadership of Sir Declan Morgan.”
In April it emerged Laurence Maguire would be prosecuted for conspiracy to murder and possession of firearms, following admissions he made to the Spotlight Programme broadcast in 2019.
Spotlight: Killer Secrets is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer and on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22.40 on Tuesday 21 May.

Hi, I don’t know who to talk to that can relate so thought I’d ask here.
I had Vader since a kitten for over 14 years. He was my constant throughout my adult life & honestly my best friend. When he passed at the beginning of March it was so sudden & such a shock. He was there & then he wasn’t. I miss him so much but had been doing well at working through my grief.
This weekend we bought home a new kitten. He’s 9 weeks old & I have named him Bruce. He is such a sweet little boy & also full of energy. He is obviously tiny & into everything so I’ve been sleeping on the sofa downstairs the last few nights to make sure he’s ok.
I’m feeling such a mixed bag of emotions. Bruce is so sweet & funny, I love him! It’s just I keep feeling panicked about Vader being gone & start missing him real bad then burst into tears. My partner mentioned finding Bruce another home if it’s upsetting me which I DO NOT want to do/ will NOT happen. I think it’s also I’m tired & a bit hormonal & it’s just something I have to work through.
If anyone out there has similar experience please share. I’m feeling kinda lonely.

This meme coin is dedicated to building a sanctuary for stray animals.
Mixxa was adopted because she was mistreated by her previous owners.
Initially hesitant and frightened due to her past mistreatment, it took Mixxa a couple of weeks to warm up to her new owners. ​Through pure love and tireless efforts to make her comfortable, a simple act of brushing her face with a small toothbrush ​became the key to her heart. She has also three other companions (other adopted cats) and shares her daily life with them. ​However, most of the time, she can be found sleeping in the funniest positions or sitting in different poses, as can be seen in ​the pictures.
Now, after two years filled with joy, the owners wanted to share Mixxa's charming and amusing moments with the world,
thus leading to the creation of this funny meme token named $MIXXA.
The token includes a 2.5% charity wallet because the creators have a noble goal in mind:
To establish a new sanctuary for cats and dogs, providing care for as many strays as possible on a full-time basis.
Once a certain market cap is reached, these funds will be utilised to create a modern and very big sanctuary equipped with ​caretakers, on-site 24-hour vets with veterinary services for both residents and external emergencies.
Additionally, there are plans for a cozy mini bar (lounge), within that space, where visitors can relax, cuddle and interact with ​the animals on-site, while having a nice drink or cocktails.
The ultimate goal: To save up to 2000 or more animals from the streets and have a nice place to gather for every animal lover ​in the region.
The token is live on Solana CA: 2JqbCkhZ7zZzdBSpDAkfivrpN8BuYs531eAQtN3bdHRU

Hello.
My name is Flaviu E. Hongu. Some people including myself choose to spell my name as Flavius instead. I am what most would call a white dude. I was born in Romania in a fully Romanian family, and was raised by said Romanian family.
I would like to address specifically the people who use the term "cultural appropriation". There has not been even one case I've ever seen of someone saying cultural appropriation that wasn't a mistake. In every occasion I saw people partaking in and appreciating culture, not stealing it.
There have been cases where the person saying cultural appropriation has been actively racist to multiple groups of people, like when someone accused a young girl of mocking a culture for making funny faces while dancing their local dance. Well it turns out those "funny faces" that you criticized are actually part of the dance itself, and you made a fool of yourself and everyone who says cultural appropriation because you've just insulted their local dance.
I swear to god this is infuriating. Culture has always been meant to be shared, appreciated, mixed and changed. That's the whole point of culture.
My own Romanian culture is a mix of Roman (as the name suggests), Greek, Slavic, and also a huge chunk of Dacian which is the native tribe that inhabited the land before Romans conquered it.
By existing as a Romanian dude, am I fucking appropriating the Romans' culture for speaking my literal native Romanian language which comes from the Roman language? Am I appropriating the Slavs for being part of an Orthodox culture and using words such as slavă, ispravă, duhu sfânt, and slobozie? Am I appropriating the Slavs when the only word for clock in Romanian is ceas, which comes from the Slavic word for time? Should I still be speaking the Dacian language that the Romans eradicated and wearing only robes and herding sheep because I'm a native Romanian?
Or I'll do you one better, I live in Spain now, and I've been living here for most of my life, so I developed an appreciation for their culture. I think lentejas, garbanzos, and cocido are some of the most delicious shit humans have ever invented. Am I appropriating their culture when I unironocallh cook those dishes because I LOVE them? Or am I appropriating their culture whenever I speak their language, enjoy their music, read and quote their books, sing their poems and dance their dances???
The only way something can be qualified as cultural appropriation is if some group of people begins to do something that was developed by another group of people and then forbid and ban the original creators of thst practice from doing the thing.
I've never seen that happen in real life, and I don't thing it's even possible. If you ever feel like saying cultural appropriation, I think you mean cultural appreciation.
If I ever visit the US and see someone who isn't Romanian wearing my country's cultural clothes I'll LOVE IT. And if I walk down the street and see a dude wearing Adidas, doing the balkaner sitting, holding a bottle of home made țuică, going like "BA FRATE CE FACI MĂ?!" with a thick US accent and then he yells "SUKA BLYAT OH KURWA" and starts doing the Rasputin dance I will die of laughter right then and there, I will then join the dude in his comedic act, I will provide some original, real balkaner energy and will drink the țuică with him because it's funny as shit and I love that he even knows that much about my culture.
That's not appropriation. No one can appropriate my culture because no one can stop me from doing it and if they do it, I'll love it.
However what I did observe was that this "accusing people of cultural appropriation" thing is only ever done to white people. Like according to their logic a Kenyan cannot dance tango, and a Chinese can't play the piano, but no! They only ever target white people, and sometimes mock and disrespect the culture the white people are APPRECIATING out of sheer hatred for whites and full on ignorance.
As a matter of fact, according to their logic, if you aren't white you cannot and should not be wearing sneakers, pants, shirts, t-shirts, or glasses, you should not be using the English language, you shouldn't use cars because they were invented by a German, you shouldn't even be using phones and computers because it's a white cultural aspect.
Fucking bullshit I tell you.
The reality is that these people never ever target someone who is not white or someone partaking in other white culture. And I've heard them say things like white people have no culture which is why they feel the need to steal other's. Which is the most stupid and ignorant and even offensive thing I've heard. As a Romanian dude with a super rich culture, who also knows about the culture of other balkaners and the other countries surrounding my own, which are all inhabited by whites with a very very different culture, I feel invalidated. Do they think US culture is the only white culture? And also, they're even more ignorant than that because saying white people have no culture is like saying Americans don't have an accent. You don't hear the accent because it's YOUR accent and to YOU it doesn't sound different. And same as that, they don't consider American English culture a real culture because they see it every day.
People like that are actually just racists and hateful of white people and are using cultural appropriation as an excuse to insult white people and harass them for no reason at all. They are no better than the white racists, and their claims of white people having no culture is insulting and invalidating to the thousands of cultures that white people do have, all different from each other.
So, if you're the kind of person to say cultural appropriation, don't ever say that shit again, go ahead and stuff your stinky mouth with sarmale that you cooked yourself, go and put on an ie, go and dance a good horă and go put an entire oină bat in your ass.

This meme coin is dedicated to building a sanctuary for stray animals.
Mixxa was adopted because she was mistreated by her previous owners.
Initially hesitant and frightened due to her past mistreatment, it took Mixxa a couple of weeks to warm up to her new owners. ​Through pure love and tireless efforts to make her comfortable, a simple act of brushing her face with a small toothbrush ​became the key to her heart. She has also three other companions (other adopted cats) and shares her daily life with them. ​However, most of the time, she can be found sleeping in the funniest positions or sitting in different poses, as can be seen in ​the pictures.
Now, after two years filled with joy, the owners wanted to share Mixxa's charming and amusing moments with the world,
thus leading to the creation of this funny meme token named $MIXXA.
The token includes a 2.5% charity wallet because the creators have a noble goal in mind:
To establish a new sanctuary for cats and dogs, providing care for as many strays as possible on a full-time basis.
Once a certain market cap is reached, these funds will be utilised to create a modern and very big sanctuary equipped with ​caretakers, on-site 24-hour vets with veterinary services for both residents and external emergencies.
Additionally, there are plans for a cozy mini bar (lounge), within that space, where visitors can relax, cuddle and interact with ​the animals on-site, while having a nice drink or cocktails.
The ultimate goal: To save up to 2000 or more animals from the streets and have a nice place to gather for every animal lover ​in the region.
The token is live on Solana CA: 2JqbCkhZ7zZzdBSpDAkfivrpN8BuYs531eAQtN3bdHRU

Just a random post but I'm watching season 3 where Angel is dating another cop called Barbara. But somehow he cant say the name properly and just says Barber most of the times. I find it funny. Ok bye!

This meme coin is dedicated to building a sanctuary for stray animals.
Mixxa was adopted because she was mistreated by her previous owners.
Initially hesitant and frightened due to her past mistreatment, it took Mixxa a couple of weeks to warm up to her new owners. ​Through pure love and tireless efforts to make her comfortable, a simple act of brushing her face with a small toothbrush ​became the key to her heart. She has also three other companions (other adopted cats) and shares her daily life with them. ​However, most of the time, she can be found sleeping in the funniest positions or sitting in different poses, as can be seen in ​the pictures.
Now, after two years filled with joy, the owners wanted to share Mixxa's charming and amusing moments with the world,
thus leading to the creation of this funny meme token named $MIXXA.
The token includes a 2.5% charity wallet because the creators have a noble goal in mind:
To establish a new sanctuary for cats and dogs, providing care for as many strays as possible on a full-time basis.
Once a certain market cap is reached, these funds will be utilised to create a modern and very big sanctuary equipped with ​caretakers, on-site 24-hour vets with veterinary services for both residents and external emergencies.
Additionally, there are plans for a cozy mini bar (lounge), within that space, where visitors can relax, cuddle and interact with ​the animals on-site, while having a nice drink or cocktails.
The ultimate goal: To save up to 2000 or more animals from the streets and have a nice place to gather for every animal lover ​in the region.
The token is live on Solana CA: 2JqbCkhZ7zZzdBSpDAkfivrpN8BuYs531eAQtN3bdHRU

So, let's start by accepting that all rings are not created equal. Each ring is a ring, but each ring has its own circumstances that determine how they are remembered down the line. What contributes into that? Generally, it seems the most considered factors are narrative and path, narrative being the behind-the-scenes story context that gives this ring meaning to fans of the players and teams, and path being the strictly basketball elements like the opponents played and actual performance. Let's look at the recent rings going back 20 years. Disclaimer, I just started watching basketball in 2010, so I've probably missed bits of context from the 2000s ones.
I scored them out of 5 based on narrative and path, added the totals, and broke ties with my own subjective, sometimes biased opinion.

• (20th) 2018 Warriors. You won't find many non-Warriors/KD fans who respect this ring and 2017's for obvious reasons. Path-wise, they played good but not particularly great opponents besides Houston, and you can put an asterisk or two on that series if you want, though those Rockets were still a great team who would have won it all otherwise. 1/5 narrative, 3/5 path, 4/10 total.
• (19th) 2021 Bucks. A strong narrative for Giannis and the Bucks. Giannis dropped 50 to bring Milwaukee their first ring in 50 years and redeem himself for choking. The ring is unfortunately remembered along with a weird COVID season that meant half-full arenas for most of the season and some of the playoffs, as well as injuries (which will fall under the path criteria). This is the injuring. No one will remember this run without remembering KD's foot, which leads to further memories of Harden and Kyrie's injuries. Giannis does get kudos for powering through injury himself. 3.5/5 narrative, 2/5 path, 5.5/10 total.
• (18th) 2017 Warriors. This ring is funny. Narrative-wise, it's one of the weakest ever: KD ran to a 73-win team because he couldn't win by himself. On the court, though, this was the most dominant team in NBA history. You can knock them for not having to play a healthy Kawhi, but they still worked an elite Cavs team that would probably have won it all otherwise. 1/5 narrative, 4.5/5 path, 5.5/10 total.
• (17th) 2007 Spurs. Another legacy-building ring for Duncan and especially Parker, who was the first European to win Finals MVP. The Spurs also established themselves as the team with the 4th most championships ever. The hip-checking incident could have swung their 2nd round series against Phoenix though, and otherwise the run was a bit of a cakewalk. 4/5 narrative, 2/5 path, 6/10 total.
• (16th) 2023 Nuggets. Solid narrative, with Jokic leading Denver to their first ever ring and Jamal Murray showing his importance. A franchise winning their first ring gives plenty of automatic narrative points. The path points are where they fall short due to playing in a relatively weak West lacking other contenders and facing an 8th seed in the Finals. 4/5 narrative, 2/5 path, 6/10 total.
• (15th) 2020 Lakers. I don't think many still had LeBron lower than #2 all-time before this ring, but after it, I really hope no one does. He made history in winning a Finals MVP with a 3rd team. You can diminish it with the "needed AD" argument but two stars isn't a superteam. And of course COVID. The bubble did impact everyone the same, but it plays a big part in how the ring was remembered. The path itself was nothing special, but the Lakers took care of business, losing only 5 games the whole playoffs. 3/5 narrative, 3.5/5 path, 6.5/10 total.
• (14th) 2015 Warriors. A new superstar comes on stage, bringing GS their first title in 40 years. The three-point revolution has begun. Iguodala winning FMVP is still questionable. Path-wise, obviously the Cavs weren't healthy, and you can argue they would have won if they were considering how LeBron was playing. Otherwise, the Warriors made their way through a Western Conference gauntlet. I think Curry is the only player to have beaten all other 1st Team All-NBA players in one playoff run. 3.5/5 narrative, 3/5 path, 6.5/10 total.
• (13th) 2006 Heat. Miami's first ring ever and Shaq's first without Kobe. Memory of this one is somewhat marred by dubious officiating, but that may be my flair talking. That aside, beating two 60-win teams is very impressive. Off the top of my head, the only other team to accomplish that feat in recent memory is the 2009 Magic. 3/5 narrative, 4/5 path, 7/10 total.
• (12th) 2022 Warriors. Curry wins another without KD and captures his first Finals MVP, winning with a team that didn't really have any other star-level options compared to when they won their previous rings. Klay came back after 2 years out, and the Warriors weathered multiple injuries to have a strong regular season. The path was pretty unremarkable. They played injured Nuggets, but in the first round and they'd been injured the whole year. 4/5 narrative, 3/5 path, 7/10 total.
• (11th) 2008 Celtics. This ring began the modern superteam era and reignited the dormant Celtics/Lakers rivalry. KG, Pierce, and Allen won their first rings and denied Kobe a chance at 4. Dominant as they were in the regular season though, they probably should not have been taken to 7 in the first two rounds. 4/5 narrative, 3/5 path, 7/10 total.
• (10th) 2013 Heat. Ring #2 for Bron, capping a dominant individual season and establishing the Heat as a dynasty threat. You can say Ray Allen, but this is discussing how valuable the rings are to the teams, not players, so that doesn't factor into the path. I would weigh it positively into narrative due to giving us one of the most legendary shots of all time. The Heat also gave the Spurs their first Finals loss ever. Path-wise, the first two rounds were a cakewalk but the Heat took care of business, the Pacers were a strong team that went on to be the 1st seed next year, and the Spurs were still elite. 4/5 narrative, 3.5/5 path, 7.5/10 total.
• (9th) 2019 Raptors. First ring for the Raptors? Kawhi reminding the league who he is? Ending the Warriors dynasty? Buzzer-beater in Game 7? Amazing narrative. Path-wise, the fact that they faced the Warriors without KD and then Klay hurts them a lot. They still won, but the fact that you can make a very strong case that they wouldn't have without the injuries is a knock on what is otherwise a strong path. 5/5 narrative, 3/5 path, 8/10 total.
• (8th) 2005 Spurs. If Duncan wasn't already the greatest PF ever before this ring, he certainly was after it. This ring marks his 3rd, along with 3 FMVPs and 2 MVPs. A strong legacy-building ring. Great path as well, especially handling the reigning MVP and 1st seed in 5 games and defeating the defending champions. 4/5 narrative, 4/5 path, 8/10 total.
• (7th) 2010 Lakers. Same narrative as 2009 below, bolstering Kobe's case as a great in his own right without his name attached to Shaq's. The West was particularly strong this year, with the 8th seed Thunder having 50 wins. You could put an asterisk on the Finals due to Perkins' injury, but it was still a strong path otherwise. This was the first NBA Finals I watched. 4/5 narrative, 4/5 path, 8/10 total.
• (6th) 2009 Lakers. Kobe's first without Shaq, tying them in ring count and showing that Kobe didn't need Shaq to win. They made it through a strong Western Conference and beat an almost 60-win Magic team in 5. They did get fortunate in avoiding Boston due to injury, but that was well before the Finals. 4/5 narrative, 4/5 path, 8/10 total.
• (5th) 2012 Heat. LeBron wins his first-ever ring, with that legendary performance against Boston coming in the middle. Clean ring with a clean path: Melo's Knicks, solid Pacers squad, big 3 Boston's last stand, and big 3 OKC's last run before Harden leaves. 4/5 narrative, 4.5/5 path, 8.5/10 total.
• (4th) 2014 Spurs. A revenge tour. The Spurs denied LeBron a threepeat and gave Duncan a 5th ring, tying him with Kobe, and cemented Kawhi as an emerging superstar. This team is fondly remembered as one of the best pure basketball teams and for good reason. They played very strong opponents and handled them without too much trouble. 4/5 narrative, 5/5 path, 9/10 total.
• (3rd) 2016 Cavaliers. LeBron brings one to Cleveland for the first time ever and wins away from Miami, cementing him as #2 all-time in many people's eyes. And of course, he beat a 73-win team in an amazing 3-1 comeback with some of the clutchest plays ever by him and Kyrie. The Draymond suspension was iffy though as you can argue this directly swung the series. The East was also a cakewalk. 5/5 narrative, 4/5 path, 9/10 total.
• (2nd) 2004 Pistons. The Pistons remain one of the most unique champions in that they lacked a true superstar. They are remembered for exemplifying the low-scoring high-defense era of the 2000s and also ending the Kobe-Shaq era. Along the way, they beat the two-time defending conference champions in the Nets, a very strong Pacers team, and of course those Lakers. A very strong ring. 5/5 narrative, 4.5/5 path, 9.5/10 total.
• (1st) 2011 Mavericks. Perhaps the best narrative ever: Dirk overcomes the choker label and leads the Mavs to their first ring ever against a superteam thought unbeatable by many, casually ending the Lakers' run as two-time champions on the way. They played a gauntlet of difficult opponents on the way, dispatching 9 HOF players and 2 HOF coaches with relative ease. 5/5 narrative, 5/5 path, 10/10 total.

How do you think the 2024 ring will be remembered depending on who wins? The Timberwolves in particular have a chance to win a very strong ring. They would have beaten the Suns, Nuggets, Mavs, and most likely the Celtics. Gobert and KAT would throw off the playoff underperformer labels for good and Ant would emerge as one of this generation's greats. If the Mavs win, their ring would be a little weaker due to playing injured Kawhi and not having to go through the defending champs, but it would rebuild Kyrie's legacy, vindicate Cuban for tanking, establish Jason Kidd as a championship head coach, and of course give Luka a ring. If the Celtics win, they would have played relatively weak opponents for the first three rounds but could win some path points with a strong Finals showing; Tatum's perception could increase or decrease depending on how the Finals go, with his personal legacy points surely to be deducted if Brown wins Finals MVP. If the Pacers win, a strong showing against the Celtics and whoever they play in the Finals could erase the asterisks from the first two rounds. If the Pacers won while facing healthy Milwaukee and NY, it would be a crazy strong ring.