Digestive system of fish worksheet

Before a month ago, I was perfectly fine besides the extremely low hemoglobin level I was living with for two years. The only issues I had were I could only walk from my room to my bathroom, my room to the living room, living room down the stairs to my car, and back up to living room, then to my room. Just those little distances had me taking about a minute and a half to catch my breath, heart beating really hard. Besides that, absolutely no symptoms. Until a month ago, when all of this started. I wrote the following from memory as best I could from the first day to the day I got treated.
I know this is long winded and may be kind of hard to follow, to my dad it’s really clear bc he lived it with me, but to my sister she said some people might have trouble following. Regardless, I am not distrustful of doctors. And I know it’s very specific, but that’s just because it’s an account of how it happened, how I came to the conclusions I came to, and how I know I was experiencing a certain symptom.
I know it’s not easy to take peoples word at face value, but I’m not a paranoid person. I just know my body extremely well. Any change in it, any pattern and I will notice it. & what I was going through is hard to mistake as I was completely bed bound, awake for days at a time bc there was no position I could sit or lay in to help. I feel like I’m constantly being gaslit as if I didn’t go through any of this. I have no reason to have faked these extreme symptoms for a month, as you’ll see it took a full month of this to get me to go to a hospital, and in the end I was forced by my dad and sister….
I had a hemoglobin level of 5 about a month ago, & I was living like that for years, then I woke up one morning extremely bloated like a balloon, & my arms & legs were weak & any position I tried to lay in, I’d wake up gasping for breath or my blood pressure would instantly drop & then come back, I stayed like this for 2 days hoping it would just stop & it didn’t. So I went to hospital & they told me my hemoglobin was 5 but that my heart was fine bc my blood pressure & echocardiogram came back normal. So I got one bag of blood then left the hospital for person reasons.
When I went home, I completely deteriorated. It started with my heart not being able to beat strong enough when I layed down, especially flat on my back. (I have a really bad wound on my foot), I was retaining an insane amount of fluid & the more fluid I retained, the harder it was to find a position where my blood would circulate well enough, so I kept losing oxygen. The more oxygen I lost, the more issues I had. I couldn’t sleep for days trying to find the right position to get oxygen, it felt like I was suffocating or drowning in my own blood. If I was too exhausted and tried to force my body to stay in a position I wasn’t getting oxygen, my body would force me awake w a gasp or my limbs would just move on their own. If I found the right position & slept in it, I’d wake up feeling much better, but the second my body and organs were waking up, the issues would start again. If I forced myself to sleep in the positions I wasn’t getting oxygen & didn’t move regardless of my body trying to get me to, by morning i was experiencing hypoxia. I was dizzy, confused, had extreme difficulty breathing, it felt exactly what it feels like when you suffocate but you just aren’t dead. I was seeing flashes of white and floaties, I couldn’t talk right, I couldn’t think straight. So I began to think this was full on heart failure bc all the symptoms matched. I found out the fluid buildup is what was making it even harder for my blood to circulate & that indicated kidney issues bc it was holding onto any sodium I ingested & wasn’t doing enough to expel the fluids from my body, so I started taking over the counter diuretics to help & I stopped eating any sodium At all so my kidney wouldn’t hold onto it. The only position I was able to sit in was on my computer chair with my feet flat on the ground I could even lean left or right or move an inch. Everytime I urinated I was able to breathe a little easier. You could literally instantly feel the relief. I began taking supplements/ nutritious foods to help my body work. Iron, fish oil, potassium, beet juice, oranges, apples, avacados, fish, yogurt, bananas, carrot juice, pomegranate juice (organic), celery, & these were the only foods I was eating. When my blood pressure would get high, it would make everything instantly worse, much harder to breathe. I smoke 2 packs a day normally & I couldn’t smoke one drag of a cigarette without worsening my symptoms ten fold. I was scared to drink water or fluids bc my body would just hold on to them at normal levels, but I’d have no choice but to keep drinking enough to flush my kidneys bc they weren’t doing it on their own so I’d have to take a diuretic & keep drinking water until I urinated enough bc my kidneys weren’t cleaning the toxins from my system it was making my chest tighten and blood pressure issues to get worse. Once I’d urinate enough until it was clear colored, Id feel a lot better. My legs had gotten extremely extremely swollen and were holding most of the fluid in my body, my blood would pool, especially in the foot with the wound, I’d have to put my legs up and then down to help myself breathe, bc it was helping my blood to move. I looked up ways to get rid of fluid retention and found a lymphatic massage which I followed to get the fluid into my arms, & the next day when I woke up my arm was as big as my legs so I knew it actually worked which surprised me bc I didn’t think it would do much but I couldn’t get it to go to my right arm too bc I only have a right hand, my left arm is amputated from the elbow. It took some relief off my legs but not nearly enough and it actually made the breathing even worse bc now the fluid was closer to my lungs. I would not get a wink of sleep for days trying to find a position where I wasn’t suffocating, all that lack of oxygen was causing hypoxia & after ever time I experienced severe lack of oxygen & hypoxia, another organ would stop functioning as well. Anyway, after so long I flushed my kidneys so much that I was completely depleted of sodium. I know this bc over the course of about 18 hours I urinated 2 buckets, I literally could only rest for about 10-20 min before I would have to pee again and this was without any diuretics, at first I was okay with it bc the less fluids i had the better I felt & was able to breathe much better. (I forgot to add that by this point, my heart had gotten much worse and couldn’t even pump blood while I was sitting up, so finding a position by this point was nearly impossible) by the end I was so insanely tired of going to the bathroom and anything I tried to eat or drink would not absorb in my body it would just be peed right out. It was causing severe pressure in my brain, it felt like my brain was swelling. I threw up a bunch of beet juice. I had severe nausea. My head was pounding, I couldn’t stand up. Doing research through all of this was really hard for me with what i was going through, but i eventually realized it was hyponatremia and I just needed salt. So then I had to figure out how to balance the salt in my body which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. (I also went through symptoms days before of high acid in my blood which was another sign that my kidneys weren’t functioning properly, I took tums by accident while I was trying to figure out what was wrong and i instantly felt a little better that’s when I was able to find out sodium bicarbonate is needed to clean the acid out of your blood, so i also was taking that whenever I felt those symptoms) so for the salt, first I had just gotten some salami from the fridge and I would eat one piece at a time trying to slowly give myself salt throughout the day, I had complications w that, then I saw that you could drink Gatorade or anything with electrolytes to fix it, so my dad got me electrolyte drinks and after 3 of them I was feeling much much better, it says to them incorporate salt into your diet after you feel stable again, and I took that as eating the amount of salt I used to eat, which was dead wrong, I ended up eating a quarter of a burrito from chipotle & once again my brain felt like it was swelling & I had all the same symptoms again so I knew I messed up trying to balance for my kidneys again but this time was another bout of constant urine until it started to smell, the second it started smelling I suddenly couldn’t eat anything at all, anything I had been eating fruits, vegetables, even beet juice, even the smallest bit of an orange if I tried to eat it would make my chest tight, blood pressure spike, more pressure in my head. I was sitting on Komode in my room too sick to do research to figure out what was wrong this time, but after a while I was able to research low blood sugar, i wasn’t totally sure but I felt I was dying and I had to take a chance and I happened to have jolly ranchers in my desk right next to me and the second I put one in my mouth I started feeling better. So at that point I had figured out the issue was now my pancreas. I didn’t know much about pancreatic issues (I was gonna be a doctor before I dropped out of college so I am really good at anatomy) but my symptoms pointed to the pancreas. When there is too much pressure on the kidneys the pancreas apparently starts having issues too. The smell in my urine was amylase, I was having pain in my right front side and in the back, I couldn’t eat anything. So the treatment for that was to completely stop drinking fluids and eating completely. I did this for 24 hours hoping it would be enough then I only ate pancreas friendly foods which for me was pineapple, but it was too early to eat and it caused issues again. My blood sugar got low again and my dad gave me a spoon full of honey which made me feel better & ur supposed to have protein after to stabilize the sugar, my dumbass asked for eggs, forgetting the yolk has fats in it which you are not supposed to eat w pancreatic issues, so once I ate the eggs I felt bad again. By this time I was so fed up with my body not working and having consequences to every little thing I put in it, I was excessively hungry from all the fluid loss plus it’s another symptom of pancreatic issues, another symptom is irritability and anger, and I got so mad at my own body I decided to pretend nothing was wrong I just wanted to eat some walnuts and once again it made things worse making me more angry so my DA said f it is gonna smoke a cig while I’m at it & im not going to move all night looking for a position with oxygen so that night I severely severely deprived my body of oxygen. I was just soo soo beyond exhausted, when I woke up I had the worst hypoxia I had had so far. I knew the damage was wayyy too far gone now. I was full on suffocating no matter what position I was in, & I still refused to go to hospital and my dad was worried so he did some research and found something called boost oxygen it’s 95% inhalants oxygen and the second I started using it it brought back oxygen to my head, my foot, my left arm, my left artery was so tight I couldn’t move my neck to the left- it made that feel better too, all my extremities that were fully deprived of oxygen suddenly were feeling a lot better. It made my lungs work better too but it was still like I could feel the tissue death in them, like they were holding the normal amount of air but it felt weird…hard to explain. I knew I was gonna end up in the hospital soon. That night I ran out of the boost oxygen I fell right back into the hypoxia, my dad had to rush to Walgreens at 1130 at night to get more and I spent the next couple days using this oxygen to keep me hanging on by a thread. I woke up one of those days my stomach/abdomen was distended, I wasn’t digesting any food, I couldn’t urinate no matter how hard I tried, my organs were making gurgling noises, and this is the only part I’m unsure of. I was having severe pressure in my neck at this point for days, and now when I was sleeping or trying to sleep, my breathing would stop as if it was no longer involuntary, and I would have to manually breathe to get it going again, then it would happen again. I was also having sleep apnea during all of this. So at this point I was feeling like my lungs were going to collapse, and that finally made me scared enough to call an ambulance and go to the hospital. Yet once the emts came my blood pressure was normal and my pulse ox was 100, so they didn’t believe I was going through anything I was saying I did. Once I got to the hospital I had a male doctor & the second I told him I think I’m in organ failure he was combative and just wanted to prove me wrong and he condescendingly asked how I know that and anything I said he just didn’t believe. Then they did some blood tests and another male doctor came back and said none of my organs were in failure, my kidney & pancreas levels were slightly off but nothing crazy, they acted as if none of my symptoms made any sense especially since my pulse ox was normal. The only thing they could find wrong was my anemia level of 5 that I had been living with for 2-3 years. I told them to please test my heart, I figured it had to show up on at least an angiogram. They tested everything and said my heart was fine. They gave me 2 bags of blood and I was feeling a tonnn better but I was still feeling shortness of breath, pressure on my chest, everytime they injected anything into my iv even saline my chest would tighten, i was still getting bouts of dizziness, & every time I told them these issues they did nothing. Just “ok”, oh, your heartbeat is constantly rapid? Okay. Oh it feels like someone is pushing you into quicksand when you try to sleep? Ok. I talked to my doctor after they did every heart test and I was upset I said why is it that none of you care to explain any of my symptoms as if they didn’t and aren’t still happening? You only care about what you can see on a test, but that doesn’t change the fact i went through and am still feeling these symptoms. She said “we’ve done every test and there’s nothing wrong with your heart to explain your symptoms” I said ok I believe you there’s nothing wrong with my heart but is there anything at all that can explain the symptoms I’m having? And she pretty much said no or that these issues are hard and sometimes it takes longer for other symptoms to show up. So she completely gaslit me, and I started questioning myself. But when I got home from the hospital and remembered everything I went through the last month day by day I knew that I felt what I felt, so I went to read more about anemia and severely low anemia like I had explains my symptoms ALONE, yet none of them ever said that. When I told them I wasn’t getting enough oxygen they acted like it made no sense when it’s KNOWN hemoglobin carries oxygen to your body & when it’s low it makes the heart work harder and my hemoglobin was FIIIIVVVVEE. Like WDYM you don’t know why I’m having these symptoms? When my pulse ox came back 100 (which still confuses me as to how it could’ve been 100 when my hemoglobin was so low) they acted like my symptoms were so far fetched and how the more I read about it the more I’m insanely confused as to why they didn’t attribute my symptoms to my anemia? I get that I was wrong thinking my heart was in full failure, but anemia also causes heart DYSFUNCTION that is reversible once you get more blood. Some heart tests were before I got blood and some were after. My question is is there any reason my tests could have been coming up as normal? And why did my doctors act like my symptoms made no sense simply because my heart tests came up normal?
I know I waited much too long to get treatment, but it’s bc I truly hate dealing with doctors and nurses and not being listened to.

In order of appearance: Crested Prisk - Blue-footed Prisk - Webbed Prisk
Prisks are a variety of lizard indigenous to the world of Artescan. The three species shown above are the most common varieties, but other subset varieties exist. Each major variety fills a unique ecological niche.
The Crested Prisks are the largest of the bunch, and live primarily on rocky mountaintops and sheer cliff faces. They use their barbed tails and feet to climb and secure themselves while they await their prey - birds - to come just a bit too close. They then shoot something like a chameleon tongue at it to catch it.
The Blue-footed Prisks are a burrowing variant that lives in elaborate tunnel systems underground. They will eat rocks, dirt, and anything else they dig up, digest the nutrients within - bacteria, insects, etc. - then regurgitate whatever’s left.
The Webbed Prisks are most commonly seen by humans, and are frequently domesticated for a variety of uses, from companionship to harvesting. Being the smallest and tamest of the bunch, they make great housepets. Their mucus also serves as an excellent organic sunscreen.
I am happy to share more information on any of the variants on request. :)

22-minute read to cover the latest developments in Armenia beyond headlines.

Azeri public continues to discuss the possible return or exchange of Armenian exclave Artsvashen currently under Azerbaijani control

Context in Monday news digest. A ranking member of Azerbaijani parliament suggested returning Artsvashen to Armenia in exchange for the Azeri exclaves, or swapping them so each side can keep what it currently controls. An Azeri analyst called it dangerous to allow Armenians to return to Artsvashen because he believes it would make the entire territory of Azerbaijan "up to Ganja" vulnerable.
AZERI JOURNALIST (Fatima Movlamli): There are currently [Azeri] military positions near the entrance of the village [Artsvashen]. Although the local population is not strictly checked upon entry and exit, some control appears to be in place. The army checks "strangers". The village is also observed from far away. All the houses are empty; they are crumbling. There is no one around. The only people you see are nearby villagers who take their cattle to [Artsvashen's] pasture.
NEARBY AZERI VILLAGER: I visit the [Armenian] village to feed my cattle and my family. If they give it to Armenians, it will be my end. This is our source of bread, and these areas will no longer be safe for us. Many of us rely on these territories for a living. There is total unemployment and none of us have other jobs. We will have to emigrate if they give this village.
NATIN JAFARLI (ReAl party): There are two reasons why the village was not populated [by Azeris, after the capture in 1992]. The first is for legal reasons because Armenia could claim it's their land and demand compensation. There are also socio-economic components that have forced the population to migrate to Baku over the past 30 years. If there was a normal socio-economic policy, there would be no migration. It's not easy to create social infrastructure in Bashkend [Artsvashen] for natural reasons. If we decide to swap the enclaves, then referendums must be held in both countries. Can you imagine the Armenian police or army marching 30 kilometers deep into Azerbaijan? It doesn't sound realistic. The same about Azeris entering the exclaves inside Armenia. How will you guarantee the population's food, banking, communication, gas, etc.? It doesn't seem realistic.
ELKHAN SHAHINOGLU (Atlas research center): Even if Armenians return our 4 villages [presumably within Azeri exclaves], it will be difficult for Azeris to live in them because we will be forced to reach the villages through Armenia. The same is true if we transfer [Artsvashen] to Armenia. Therefore, I believe this issue can be resolved if the lands are exchanged.
AZERI RESIDENT: I used to work as a nurse in [Artsvashen]. I remember how I attempted to save the lives of the soldiers who captured it. I don't want it to be returned to Armenia because I'm concerned that the same events will repeat. Nothing good will happen if Armenians return here. This place connects Shinikhi to the entire Ganja region. Should we allow Armenians to stand between the two? I'm 65 so the future generations will have to live here but no one will dare to come if they hear about the presence of Armenians.
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Azerbaijan is still reluctant to include the Almaty Declaration in the final peace agreement despite the April 19 separate agreement to use it for border demarcation

FM MIRZOYAN: Recently we agreed that the demarcation should take place on the basis of the Almaty Declaration and the Regulations of the border commissions should also refer to the Almaty. This is one of the principles, and if we manage to include Almaty in the peace agreement, then we will get very close to a final resolution. Our neighbor is still reluctant to make a clear reference to the Almaty Declaration in the peace treaty, which is a more comprehensive document.
The second issue is with the unblocking of communication routes. Armenia is ready to become a part of the international transit route. The Crossroads of Peace will benefit Armenia and the entire region. Turkey and Azerbaijan would also benefit by connecting East and West. If this is implemented, it will be another interesting way to connect the Persian Gulf countries with the Black Sea economic region.
QUESTION: You froze your participation in CSTO. Do you plan to join NATO?
MIRZOYAN: We do not want to be part of a dysfunctional mechanism [CSTO]. But we are still a CSTO member so it's necessary to take steps to make it function; we are discussing the issues on the AM-RU agenda. Simultaneously we have launched a process to strengthen AM-West relations and to diversify Armenia's economy.
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interview with Azeri opposition activist-in-exile Arif Yunusov

REPORTER: Azerbaijan had long refused to use 1991 Almaty for delimitation but on April 19 they agreed to launch the process based on Almaty. Why did they change their position?
YUNUSOV: Because of the problems Aliyev developed with the West. When Blinken makes a phone call, that means extensive work was done prior to the call. The issue of sanctions raised earlier this year was also raised after months of work. The collective West is pressuring Azerbaijan. We have entered the decisive phase of the West-Russia confrontation. The physical fights are taking place in Ukraine, while diplomatic wars rage in the South Caucasus.
Russia attempted on several occasions to destabilize Armenia's internal stability by using Azerbaijan but their efforts have failed and there hasn't been any serious escalation on the AM-AZ border. Pashinyan was not exaggerating the possibility of a war in Tavush a few months ago; there was indeed a real threat. However, the likelihood is much lower now and Azerbaijan has given its approval to launch the delimitation process. The ongoing delimitation process is part of the effort to regulate AM-AZ relations and push Russia out of the region.
REPORTER: Blinken spoke on Sunday with Aliyev and Pashinyan. I'm under the impression that this AM-AZ delimitation, despite being called "bilateral", is actually being moderated by the US.
YUNUSOV: Absolutely agree. Aliyev has a lengthy history of rejecting many Western efforts and being close with Putin, so the fact that he didn't reject it this time indicates serious pressure from the West. By the way, Aliyev became president in February but Biden hasn't congratulated him yet. For Aliyev, it's very important to receive a congratulation personally from Biden.
The US is moderating this process step-by-step. This process began in 2022 when Pashinyan recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan; that was part of the US plan to normalize AM-AZ relations. Under this plan, Azerbaijan announced the formation of a commission to "integrate" Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. Obviously, it all changed later and the US officials began to raise the issue of Aliyev being too close to Russia and about a need to pull him away from Putin. It appears the US is gradually getting what it wants because the US's role in this demarcation process is huge.
REPORTER: Is this also why Azerbaijan asked Russia to withdraw its military base from Nagorno-Karabakh? Was it under the US pressure?
YUNUSOV: I'm not entirely sure about the full details behind their withdrawal. I don't even know if they are truly being withdrawn because there is a motive to calm the Azerbaijani public that's anti-Russian.
There is also the fact that Russia was unable to deploy those peacekeepers on the AM-AZ border and push out the EU border monitoring mission from Armenia. Russia attempted to achieve this in December 2023 during a meeting in St. Petersburg but Pashinyan rejected Putin's efforts. Moreover, Pashinyan said that Armenia is no longer interested in the fate of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and that this topic must be resolved between Russia and Azerbaijan. This was followed by Pashinyan's order to remove Russian agents from Yerevan's airport by August 2024. So Russia's effort to pressure Armenia with the hands of Azerbaijan has totally failed.
It's a strange situation, the withdrawal of peacekeepers. We don't know how many were removed and how many remain. I do not have information that the US pressured Azerbaijan to remove the Russian peacekeepers. [audio cuts off] The US is only strong when there is Armenia, during meetings, and we tend to receive information whenever Armenia is part of a negotiation process, whereas Azerbaijan-Russia talks are more secretive.
It appears Russia is withdrawing the equipment first because they need it ahead of the May offensive in Ukraine, before possibly a wider withdrawal by September.
Regarding the demarcation of the AM-AZ border, Russia understands that if the parties reach an agreement, that could mean the end of Russian presence in the South Caucasus. The AM-AZ border is a geopolitical issue. Russia will publicly formally welcome the delimitation efforts but it's not in their interest.
REPORTER: Why is France silent about the April 19 delimitation agreement?
YUNUSOV: France has adopted the correct position. First of all, Western states coordinate their policies [including on delimitation], but in each region, each Western state takes up a different position. For example, on the Ukraine issue, France provides support to Ukraine but the main locomotive is the US. In the South Caucasus, it's the opposite: the US provides the moderation efforts while the main locomotive - in this case, support for Armenia - is France. There is a crisis in FR-AZ relations. So France doesn't want to hinder the delimitation effort by intervening; they let the US handle it. There is currently an anti-French hysteria in Azerbaijan. The French endorsement of the AM-AZ delimitation agreement would be a big blow to the process.
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ruling party rejects opposition's motion to conduct the AM-AZ border delimitation based on 1993 "de facto" borders instead of 1991 Almaty borders

Context and debates in April 23 news digest. The opposition is against delimiting borders with the 1991 Almaty maps.
The opposition accuses the ruling party of serving Turkey's interests while the ruling party accuses the opposition of attempting to derail the 1991 delimitation process so they can drag Armenia into a new conflict before bringing the Russian "empire" as a savior to establish their rule in Armenia.
One thing that struck the ruling party's nerves was the opposition's narrative that "Armenia ends where the Armenian soldier stands". The ruling party believes that this principle is both dangerously expansionist [in the case of 2.5 Azeri villages] and would also endanger the fate of occupied Armenian lands. "We have a clear border with Azerbaijan, and it must be reproduced on the ground," said a ranking ruling party MP. Yesterday the government said over 50% of the task was done on a section of the Tavush-Gazakh border.
In response to the opposition's accusations that the ruling party serving the interests of Azerbaijan by "surrendering lands", a ruling MP accused the opposition of pressuring the government to surrender a corridor to Russia and Azerbaijan.
RULING MP: Mr. Sharmazanov [ex-president Serj's party] routinely says the quiet part out loud. At first, he spoke about the need to give a corridor [to Azerbaijan and Russia, via Syunik], and more recently he made another fantastic statement. Sharmazanov said "a homeland is eternal while a state is variable. The state's borders can expand or shrink." This stems from their mentality that today they are MPs of the Armenian parliament but tomorrow they could just as easily be Russian Duma MPs, representing the Armyanski Oblast. This is the clash of values: a stable state with borders vs. a "homeland" with variable borders. For us, the Republic of Armenia is irreplaceable and the independence of Armenia is non-negotiable. //
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the independent TV & radio regulator was summoned to parliament to report the 2023 activities

REGULATOR: Last year the broadcasters under our watch operated freely, without government intervention. The TV outlets stated that they were not pressured or obstructed by any branch of the government to limit their freedom of expression.
The issue persists with misinformation and hate speech, but our 3-year-long monitoring reveals that this negative content has been significantly reduced in public multiplex. This positive trend has multiple reasons, including our Committee's fight against the abuse of "freedom of speech". This type of negative content has, by in large, moved from television to the internet and social media.
We are strongly against the government's electoral code amendment that required private media outlets to allocate a limited number of free hours to candidates during electoral campaigns. How is this different from requiring gas stations to provide free gas to candidates? The media outlets are deprived of hours that they could use to generate income.
We've been calling for reforms in the law regulating the media. The 2020 law on liberalizing media regulations is a welcoming change. The field is free, with minimal intervention from the Committee (regulator) or the government.
However, this liberalization also endangers Armenia's media security. For example, foreign channels broadcasted over Armenia's public multiplex and cable often spread content illegal under Armenian law and against the Republic of Armenia's interests. The law does not grant the Committee enough powers to curtail this. At the moment, the Committee has jurisdiction over public multiplex TV and licensed radio channels only. This creates an uneven competition field with channels broadcasted over the net, which do not have to follow the same rules. Under European directives, a minimal level of regulation of internet content has become a requirement for European countries. We advise the government to follow European practices.
The public often wonders what share of cable TV content is in Armenian or made in Armenia. Our research reveals the content based on the country of origin: Armenian 71 (vs 68 last year), Russian 174 (vs 167), European 75, American 38, Other 15. As you can see, relevant parties should take steps to increase the share of Armenian content.
We have very important progress in another metric: Armenian-language programs aired over Armenian channels, nationwide or in Yerevan. The Armenian-language programs accounted for 95% of the air. This includes foreign content translated into Armenian or with Armenian subtitles.
2018: <60%
2020: 79%
2021: 81%
2023: 95%
We have progress in another important area. Over the last 3-4 years, on the public multiplex, the share of partisan ideological content has been gradually replaced by content more beneficial to the general public. For example, (1) we now have a sports program that promotes the development of local sports and provides coverage of local events. (2) We have a family channel called Noor available in Yerevan. Despite some challenges and flaws, they are doing their best to establish themselves as a family channel. (3) We have an educational channel Bun. (4) We have a music channel Dar21.
By in large, the public multiplex still falls short of delivering what we envisage. We believe the time has come to adopt a new state strategy on media to prevent a crisis. We could have a crisis because the state has too many regulations and not enough incentives to allow channels to use their slots to generate income and produce quality content.
We fear that during the next auction for slots in 2027, several slots could be left uncontested, which could pave the way for the entry of propagandistic channels or clearly weak channels unable to deliver quality content. If the channels fail to generate income, they could also be sold to foreign buyers. Therefore, some channels could begin to serve the interests of foreign states and serve foreign propaganda to Armenian citizens.
We advise the government to...
(1) reduce the number of channels on public multiplex. It's an unreasonably high number for a country size of Armenia. Fewer public multiplex channels means each channel would receive more ad dollars, which would raise the quality of content.
(2) establish a media assistance fund to incentivize quality content over the public multiplex.
How do we monitor media channels for compliance? The monitoring phase lasts 2 months per year. In Lithuania and Georgia, it's 1 month. The rest of the time the monitoring is done by NGOs, the public, and other institutions.
We penalized 34 companies for broadcasting pirated content. This is a shamefully high number. There are unfortunately companies that do not respect intellectual property. The only option left is to ramp up the enforcement. The atmosphere of impunity among channels is driven by the fact that the size of the penalty is only $130, which is a lot less than what they'd spend on obtaining the rights to the content.
We've been enforcing rules more vigorously, and in 2023 alone there were 64 administrative proceedings. In comparison, between 2011-2018 there were a total of 17 such proceedings.
2011-2018: 17
2021: 84
2023: 64
Reasons for administrative proceedings: copyright violation, illegal ads, content harmful to children, gore & violence, cussing on air, failure to meet the minimum threshold of 20% for certain types of content, etc.
In December we made a decision to suspend the re-broadcasting of [Russian] Sputnik Radio for a month. We were accused of violating their free speech [by Armenia's opposition factions], however, the radio's leadership visited Armenia, apologized for their content, and agreed to exclude the violating show [Kremlin propagandist Tigran Keosayan] from their programming aired in Armenia. We lifted the suspension.
Once again, the Committee reminds that it will suspend any foreign outlet that broadcasts content that spreads hatred towards the Republic of Armenia or its people, interferes with Armenia's internal affairs, questions Armenia's sovereignty, or engages in provocative actions.
Along with increased enforcement, we also have more complaints filed against our decisions in courts, which shows that the enforcement & appeals process is functioning freely. Sometimes we lose these trials. We learn and gain experience.
We recently signed the first-ever agreement with a country outside Eurasia. The agreement with friendly Argentina's state media agency will allow Armenia's public channel to film a big սերիալ.
The Committee is cooperating with the high-tech ministry to use AI in our work to save resources and raise efficiency.
ASSYRIAN-ARMENIAN MP: The law requires television to provide content in the Assyrian language. Similar programs exist for Yezidis but not Assyrians.
REGULATOR: The law requires the content to be either in Assyrian language or about Assyrian culture. The latter requirement was met.
ASSYRIAN-ARMENIAN MP: But we would like to hear content, speech, in Assyrian language.
REGULATOR: We want to do that by requiring local television channels [presumably where Assyrians mostly live] to provide content in Assyrian language, rather than requiring the public channel to broadcast that content nationwide, because the vast majority of nationwide consumers would not be able to consume content in a language they do not speak. It should be more targeted. Assyrian subtitles on public nationwide channels are also an option so submit your suggestion and we'll negotiate with H1.
RULING MP: I welcome your decision to take action against [Kremlin's] Solovyov and Keosayan for their anti-Armenian and anti-Armenian Republic content, but people wonder why you don't take similar measures against others, like [Kremlin's] Kisilyov. What have you done in this regard and what suggestions have you sent to the high-tech ministry?
REGULATOR: Our Committee has the authority to suspend re-broadcasted radio channels, as in the case of Sputnik, but we cannot suspend television channels. We can only send complaints to the high-tech ministry so they can take action against TV channels based on the AM-RU interstate agreement. We have been frequently sending reports to our high-tech ministry, and after 3 years of inaction, they finally decided to take steps recently. You already know about their actions against Solovyov's content. The ministry is working with Russia to replace the [empty] Solovyov timeslot with other cultural or entertainment content. You can forget about Solovyov. As a reminder, this program was banned in Armenia not for being "anti-Armenian", which is a vague term, but for violating specific laws of Armenia. They often call for violence, incite steps to launch a war, etc. Even Armenian channels are not allowed to broadcast such content. We need to revise the AM-RU interstate agreement to grant the Committee more powers to regulate foreign channels as well. In the future, we should entirely ban all foreign channels on Armenia's public multiplex.
RULING MP: What is Shoghakat TV, who owns it, and does its content meet the requirements? [It's the channel operated by the church]
REGULATOR: Shoghakat was formerly called a religious-cultural channel. Under the new law, it must broadcast cultural-educational content; its genre legally is not religious-cultural. A recent study shows that the share of religious content is too high and it must be reduced by raising the share of cultural-educational programs to meet the requirements. The channel is receiving funds from the state and must therefore meet the cultural-educational programming requirements.
RULING MP: In other words, Shoghakat is a public channel, at least in part financed by the taxpayers, and does not provide the content it is legally required to? Religious content is not a bad thing but we must be mindful of the state resources.
REGULATOR: It's co-financed by the church and state. Shoghakat is also operating from a building owned by the church, and not the public TV.
OPPO MP: Isn't it time to also regulate the TV channels' social media accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok? They get more views than the content aired over the public multiplex. Children consume dangerous content on YouTube and TikTok. There are countries that are attempting to regulate it. Can Armenia do this? There are also unlicensed channels on the internet that spread whatever they want. How do we regulate all of this?
REGULATOR: This morning the EU's Ursula von der Leyen announced the possibility of banning TikTok in the EU. The same about the US. Even the most democratic states restrict platforms that pose a danger to their societies. It will be expensive to technologically restrict these platforms in Armenia but we must consider any measure that would protect the Armenian society. Armenia is falling behind the EU directives in terms of content restrictions.
OPPO MP: Today a 9-year-old boy sees as many naked girls in one day as the world's richest sultan throughout his whole life. This is going to have a negative impact on children. The same about narcotics. When are we going to amend the law to regulate this?
REGULATOR: In the case of the 9 y/o boy, the most important institutions are the school, parents, and the surrounding environment. As for regulating the media field, I've been saying this for 4 years and this appears to be a bipartisan issue so let's get together and decide how to regulate it.
RULING MP: Under the existing media regulation law, foreign companies are not allowed to operate a cable service in Armenia. Why is Rostelecom able to operate? Should we lift the ban on all foreign firms or should we ban Rostelecom?
REGULATOR: I believe they meet the requirement by not owning over 49% of the company shares. I believe 51% of their shares belong to an Armenian resident company. In their defense, Rostelecom has voluntarily banned Solovyov's show in Armenia.
full report, source,

անախորժ միջադեպ պառլամենտի բակում

The bodyguard of Armenia/ARF MP Levon Kocharyan, the son of ex-president Robert Kocharyan, is accused of punching and knocking down a journalist in the backyard of the parliament building after the outlet's criticism of opposition churchman and his portrayal as a corrupt agent of Russia.
REPORTER (Davit Levonyan, civic.am, affiliated with ruling party): After finishing an interview with a ruling party MP, I noticed that Levon Kocharyan's assistant/bodyguard Arthur Sukoyan was waiting nearby. He approached me and asked to speak for 2 minutes. I asked my operator to stand a bit further from us so we could talk. The bodyguard attempted to provoke a fight. He was unhappy about my opinion about churchman Bagrat [the co-organizer of the opposition's road closures in Tavush] and he said my actions were blasphemy. I said dear Arthur I have the right to free speech and I don't force my opinion on others, and that he can express his own opinion and that I don't really care about his opinion. He went on to escalate it into a physical fight in a way to present it as "two boys fighting" rather than hooliganism. He began to cuss at me. I said, "If you think I'm that type of person then I can say the same about you". I never punched him, knowing well that it was a provocation. He punched me and knocked me to the ground. I got up and cussed at him but chose not to fight. I told him that "you and the likes of you will answer for this". I wanted to verify whose assistant he was so he said Kocharyan's, and he invited me to his office to "settle the dispute". I told him to get the hell out of here and that he will answer later pa lyubomu.
QUESTION: Were there witnesses and is there a video recording?
REPORTER: My operator witnessed it and it was in front of the parliament building's security cameras. //
The alleged suspect, Arthur Sukoyan, is the son of Judge Alexei Sukoyan whose duties as a judge were terminated by SJC last year for "severe violations".
OPPO MP (Mher Sahakyan): That guy has no right to be called a journalist because I've seen his video [about the opposition churchman] and as a Christian Armenian, it's prosto unacceptable for me. Are you telling me you can describe a representative of a church any way you like and not answer for it? //
MP Mher Sahakyan himself was arrested last year after punching a ruling party MP and forcing him to get stitches.
What was the outlet's report that angered Kocharyan's bodyguard? The outlet accused the churchman of serving Russian interests and owning a meat production business in Tavush. A fact-checker has found that the churchman is indeed reported as a 25% shareholder of the company but the company says the churchman hasn't received profits. The ruling faction accuses the church of unethically using the church's media resources to advertise the "churchman's meat business".
source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source,

PM Pashinyan hosted the European Commission's Director-General of EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations

Pashinyan considered the AM-EU-US high-level meeting held in Brussels on April 5 as key and emphasized the need for effective implementation of the agreements reached.
Koopman noted that the European Commission is ready to contribute to the implementation of the priorities of the Armenian government to strengthen the resilience of Armenia and its economic growth.
Koopman expressed confidence that Armenia-EU relations will continue to develop and expand dynamically. The interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues related to Armenia-EU cooperation.

... On Tuesday Armenia, the EU, and Germany signed an agreement to reduce the Armenian rural population's reliance on imported Russian gas

They want to help low-income villagers and municipal buildings of Tavush, Shirak, Gegharkunik, and Syunik provinces to switch to solar energy. It will include solar water heaters, etc.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION rep.: The EU-Armenia relations are stronger than ever and the EU's dedication to Armenia is reflected in the agreements reached on April 5 in Brussels. This is a 3-year program worth €12.5 million.
GERMAN EMBASSY: Why not use the sun's energy for daily activities? Yesterday we noticed on our faces and skins how powerful the Armenian sun is. [please SPF 100 yourselves]
source, source,

World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $116 million program for Armenia to enable reforms aimed at promoting green, resilient and inclusive development

It includes a $100 million loan from IBRD and a $16 million grant. This budget support will help the Government of Armenia to build climate resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to future shocks, as part of the 2021-2026 plan.

It includes actions that will fortify anti-corruption measures by implementing a robust framework with a whistleblowing system and gift monitoring mechanism for public servants. Further, it is aligned with the Paris Agreement.

source,

Azerbaijani regime arrested another pro-democracy activist as part of a crackdown on an independent outlet

Mammadli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, had his home raided by the police and was detained on Monday on charges of smuggling.
EUROPEAN UNION: This detention is the latest in a series of arrests of independent journalists & activists, and a matter of concern for the EU. All those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights should be released.
UNITED STATES: We are deeply concerned about the ongoing arrests of representatives of the Azerbaijani political society, in particular, Anar Mammadli. We call on the government of Azerbaijan to immediately release all those unjustly arrested. We continue to call on the government of Azerbaijan to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all.
source, source,

Armenia's Ambassador to the US Lilith Makunts met the experts of the US-based analytical center RAND that recently advised the West to provide defense assistance to Armenia and not to pressure Armenia to cut all ties with Russia prematurely

Ambassador Makunts presented the latest developments in the AM-AZ peace process and the Crossroads of Peace logistics process.
source, source,

Hungary is blocking the €10 million military assistance to Armenia

Context in April 17 news digest. Hungary is so far preventing the transfer of European Peace Facility resources to provide Armenia with a mobile field camp capability for a battalion-size unit, including a medical treatment facility as well as relevant services and facilities
Armenia submitted the application for funding in 2023. Georgia had earlier received €30 million in assistance as part of the same fund. They received equipment for controlling artillery divisions and engineering equipment.
Hungary, led by Turkish-Azeri-Russian ally Orban, demands that Azerbaijan receive assistance with demining activities in exchange for authorizing the transfer to Armenia. However, since Azerbaijan has not formally requested assistance with demining, it's possible the process could reach a dead end. The internal negotiations continue.
source,

Armenia's Defense Minister discussed AM-FR defence cooperation and army reforms with a French Senator

MOD Papikyan hosted Ronan Le Gloyot from the French Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Defense, Armed Forces and European Affairs. The parties discussed AM-FR defense ties, the AM-EU ties, the Armenian army reforms, etc.
source,

Armenia and France discussed cooperation in military industry and aerospace (🤔)

High-Tech Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan hosted the French Senate delegation led by Ronan Le Gloyot. They discussed cybersecurity, digitization, the establishment and operation of French high-tech firms in Armenia, defense, military industry, and aerospace cooperation.
source,

France donates 4 diesel power generators with 100 kW to city halls and hospitals in Syunik

source, source,

Saudi Arabia's ethnic Armenian Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal Al Saud will visit Armenia

The agreement was reached during the recent visit by Armenia's Labor Minister to SA. The Prince and the Minister also agreed to establish cooperation between the Prince's AGFUND and Armenia's labor ministry.
source,

Armenia's Central Bank continues to cut the refinancing rate

2020: 4.25%
2022: 10.75%
2023: 9.25%
Jan 2024: 8.75%
Mar 2024: 8.50%
Apr 2024 8.25%
source, source,

Armenian migrant workers are sending fewer remittances from Russia and could find working in Armenia more beneficial

The net inflow of individuals' remittances from Russia in Q1 2024 amounted to $656.6 million compared to $1.1 billion in Q1 2023.
CENTRAL BANK: There is a decline this year due to economic and geopolitical issues, the exchange rate, and the ratio of salaries. It is necessary to have an understanding of whether Armenian migrant workers plan to continue working in Russia. Some prefer to return to Armenia and work here, as the difference in salaries now is much smaller than, for example, 10 years ago.
source, full,

agreement is signed to build a World Trade Center in Yerevan

Details in September 7 news digest.
Construction company RenShin presented the $212 million project to the government for approval. It's expected to create 10,000 jobs. There will be 4- and 5-star hotels as well.
PASHINYAN: It will be in place of the HayPost [post office] building on 22 Saryan St. Modern construction standards will be introduced in Armenia. Since our independence, there has never been a complex of this scale. It will help Armenia raise the "we are open for business" flag.
MHER GRIGORYAN: Armenia is the only country in the region without a World Trade Center. Being the last means we can have the best quality and newest technology. //
Armenia-based Renshen will invite the international architectural giant Norman Foster, known for developing the Apple Park in California, Germany's Reichstag Building, New York skyscraper Hearst Tower, the City Hall of Southwark (London), Millennium Bridge in London, Bilbao Metro, and more.
Who will own the complex? 50% investors, 30% HayPost, 20% Government. The company will buy HayPost's shares within the next 5 years. The revenue will help develop HayPost. It will have a new modern sorting facility to handle more parcels.
source,

16-year-old boy survives a fall from Kievian Bridge

source,

Yerevan's Yeritasardakan subway station has new lighting: VIDEO

It's the first of several to come.
video,

I’ve been on 40mg semiglutide since August 2023 and had my annual wellness check. My blood panel came back showing >2000 B12 and had never had B12 checked before. My dr said it’s too early to text for anything that would be causing this and the rest of my blood panel is normal. I talked to my semiglutide doc and she said the formula is mixed with a little B12 but you excrete it. Also, I was slightly anemic and now my iron levels are great; maybe due to food staying in your digestive system longer?
I don’t eat a lot of protein so not sure if anyone else has had this issue with bloodwork while on this.
Of course I got on Dr. Google about high B12 levels and leukemia, cancer, etc. all came up.

20NB - bored as heck, looking for friends!
Hey! My names Alex :3 I’m your generic goth nerd.
I live in northwestern Ohio, I primarily jump back and forth from Akron and the Cle area. I need to meet some people and make some friends, I’m so bored all the time lol. I’d prefer irl folks but online is cool too! I’m down for anything— watching anime, going to conventions, doing crafts together, going to the mall or a museum, hiking, fishing or listening to music! Anything! I collect crystals, herbs, bones, skulls, teeth and claws, and bugs! I also love horses, but ironically I don’t ride them. I love all things wilderness, especially wolves and dragons!
My music taste is really eclectic, but I mostly listen to alt rock and metal. Favorite bands right now are System of a Down and Nirvana. Speaking of, I’m really into the alt/punk aesthetic. I’ve got short dyed hair, I love collars, and so many of my things have spikes on them. That being said, as scary as I look, I am basically a “golden retriever” when it comes to people. Im pretty much Nimona and Charlie Kelly (it’s always Sunny) mixed into one, and I kinda?? Look like Ramona Flowers (maybe the dollar store version lmao)
I live with my roomie, but he’s mostly gone at work. We have a cat named Pumpkin! My roomie is a furry so if you’re into that too, cool! I’m not much of a drinker or a smoker, but I do enjoy edibles from time to time :3
My favorite things to watch are true crime documentaries, horror films, animated movies and shows. My go-to’s are JoJos bizarre adventure, Scott Pilgrim and It’s always Sunny.
If all that sounds cool, feel free to hmu! Please don’t message me if we don’t have anything in common, tho.
I am 10000% NOT into dirty stuff. At all. I’m also a lesbian for whatever that’s worth xD

Hey! My names Alex :3 I’m your generic goth nerd.
I live in northwestern Ohio, I primarily jump back and forth from Akron and the Cle area. I need to meet some people and make some friends, I’m so bored all the time lol. I’d prefer irl folks but online is cool too! I’m down for anything— watching anime, going to conventions, doing crafts together, going to the mall or a museum, hiking, fishing or listening to music! Anything! I collect crystals, herbs, bones, skulls, teeth and claws, and bugs! I also love horses, but ironically I don’t ride them. I love all things wilderness, especially wolves and dragons!
My music taste is really eclectic, but I mostly listen to alt rock and metal. Favorite bands right now are System of a Down and Nirvana. Speaking of, I’m really into the alt/punk aesthetic. I’ve got short dyed hair, I love collars, and so many of my things have spikes on them. That being said, as scary as I look, I am basically a “golden retriever” when it comes to people. Im pretty much Nimona and Charlie Kelly (it’s always Sunny) mixed into one, and I kinda?? Look like Ramona Flowers (maybe the dollar store version lmao)
I live with my roomie, but he’s mostly gone at work. We have a cat named Pumpkin! My roomie is a furry so if you’re into that too, cool! I’m not much of a drinker or a smoker, but I do enjoy edibles from time to time :3
My favorite things to watch are true crime documentaries, horror films, animated movies and shows. My go-to’s are JoJos bizarre adventure, Scott Pilgrim and It’s always Sunny.
If all that sounds cool, feel free to hmu! Please don’t message me if we don’t have anything in common, tho. Also I block messages like “heyy” or “wyd”. also if ur account is dead or primarily on lewd subs, I probably won’t answer
I am 10000% NOT into dirty stuff. At all. I’m also a lesbian for whatever that’s worth xD

My friend and I had our kids a month apart. My son had feeding issues from the get go. Wouldn’t latch or wouldn’t drink from the bottle. We had to go from one specialist to another. He dropped from 50th percentile to 5th. I was crying and in distress. I felt like a bad mom all the time. I kept updating my friend about this situation. Her baby, on the other hand, drank a lot of milk and was growing in percentiles. She kept sending me charts from the doctors showing that he increased a few percentiles more every time they visit the doctor and the doctor was praising her for the progress. When she comes to visit me, she would brag about how much her baby weighs like it was a prize. I was happy for her baby but this was putting more mental pressure on me. Finally when my son turned 6 months, his digestive system got better and he started drinking more milk. When he turned one, he started eating so well and caught up in percentiles.
My friend’s son, on the other hand, became a super picky eater. He wouldn’t eat anything and would throw really big tantrums at meal time. I thought I’d take some petty revenge, so I took a video of my son finishing his whole plate of rice to send her and told her that I’m a proud mom. I’m a little ashamed of my behaviour since it involves two innocent kids, and I wouldn’t do it ever again. But, I just had to do it in that moment. Please don’t judge

I had a hemoglobin level of 5 about a month ago, & I was living like that for years, then I woke up one morning extremely bloated like a balloon, & my arms & legs were weak & any position I tried to lay in, I’d wake up gasping for breath or my blood pressure would instantly drop & then come back, I stayed like this for 2 days hoping it would just stop & it didn’t. So I went to hospital & they told me my hemoglobin was 5 but that my heart was fine bc my blood pressure & echocardiogram came back normal. So I got one bag of blood then signed out AMA.
When I went home, I completely deteriorated. It started with my heart not being able to beat strong enough when I layed down, especially flat on my back. (I have a really bad wound on my foot), I was retaining an insane amount of fluid & the more fluid I retained, the harder it was to find a position where my blood would circulate well enough, so I kept losing oxygen. The more oxygen I lost, the more issues I had. I couldn’t sleep for days trying to find the right position to get oxygen, it felt like I was suffocating or drowning in my own blood. If I was too exhausted and tried to force my body to stay in a position I wasn’t getting oxygen, my body would force me awake w a gasp or my limbs would just move on their own. If I found the right position & slept in it, I’d wake up feeling much better, but the second my body and organs were waking up, the issues would start again. If I forced myself to sleep in the positions I wasn’t getting oxygen & didn’t move regardless of my body trying to get me to, by morning i was experiencing hypoxia. I was dizzy, confused, had extreme difficulty breathing, it felt exactly what it feels like when you suffocate but you just aren’t dead. I was seeing flashes of white and floaties, I couldn’t talk right, I couldn’t think straight. So I began to think this was full on heart failure bc all the symptoms matched. I found out the fluid buildup is what was making it even harder for my blood to circulate & that indicated kidney issues bc it was holding onto any sodium I ingested & wasn’t doing enough to expel the fluids from my body, so I started taking over the counter diuretics to help & I stopped eating any sodium At all so my kidney wouldn’t hold onto it. The only position I was able to sit in was on my computer chair with my feet flat on the ground I could even lean left or right or move an inch. Everytime I urinated I was able to breathe a little easier. You could literally instantly feel the relief. I began taking supplements/ nutritious foods to help my body work. Iron, fish oil, potassium, beet juice, oranges, apples, avacados, fish, yogurt, bananas, carrot juice, pomegranate juice (organic), celery, & these were the only foods I was eating. When my blood pressure would get high, it would make everything instantly worse, much harder to breathe. I smoke 2 packs a day normally & I couldn’t smoke one drag of a cigarette without worsening my symptoms ten fold. I was scared to drink water or fluids bc my body would just hold on to them at normal levels, but I’d have no choice but to keep drinking enough to flush my kidneys bc they weren’t doing it on their own so I’d have to take a diuretic & keep drinking water until I urinated enough bc my kidneys weren’t cleaning the toxins from my system it was making my chest tighten and blood pressure issues to get worse. Once I’d urinate enough until it was clear colored, Id feel a lot better. My legs had gotten extremely extremely swollen and were holding most of the fluid in my body, my blood would pool, especially in the foot with the wound, I’d have to put my legs up and then down to help myself breathe, bc it was helping my blood to move. I looked up ways to get rid of fluid retention and found a lymphatic massage which I followed to get the fluid into my arms, & the next day when I woke up my arm was as big as my legs so I knew it actually worked which surprised me bc I didn’t think it would do much but I couldn’t get it to go to my right arm too bc I only have a right hand, my left arm is amputated from the elbow. It took some relief off my legs but not nearly enough and it actually made the breathing even worse bc now the fluid was closer to my lungs. I would not get a wink of sleep for days trying to find a position where I wasn’t suffocating, all that lack of oxygen was causing hypoxia & after ever time I experienced severe lack of oxygen & hypoxia, another organ would stop functioning as well. Anyway, after so long I flushed my kidneys so much that I was completely depleted of sodium. I know this bc over the course of about 18 hours I urinated 2 buckets, I literally could only rest for about 10-20 min before I would have to pee again and this was without any diuretics, at first I was okay with it bc the less fluids i had the better I felt & was able to breathe much better. (I forgot to add that by this point, my heart had gotten much worse and couldn’t even pump blood while I was sitting up, so finding a position by this point was nearly impossible) by the end I was so insanely tired of going to the bathroom and anything I tried to eat or drink would not absorb in my body it would just be peed right out. It was causing severe pressure in my brain, it felt like my brain was swelling. I threw up a bunch of beet juice. I had severe nausea. My head was pounding, I couldn’t stand up. Doing research through all of this was really hard for me with what i was going through, but i eventually realized it was hyponatremia and I just needed salt. So then I had to figure out how to balance the salt in my body which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. (I also went through symptoms days before of high acid in my blood which was another sign that my kidneys weren’t functioning properly, I took tums by accident while I was trying to figure out what was wrong and i instantly felt a little better that’s when I was able to find out sodium bicarbonate is needed to clean the acid out of your blood, so i also was taking that whenever I felt those symptoms) so for the salt, first I had just gotten some salami from the fridge and I would eat one piece at a time trying to slowly give myself salt throughout the day, I had complications w that, then I saw that you could drink Gatorade or anything with electrolytes to fix it, so my dad got me electrolyte drinks and after 3 of them I was feeling much much better, it says to them incorporate salt into your diet after you feel stable again, and I took that as eating the amount of salt I used to eat, which was dead wrong, I ended up eating a quarter of a burrito from chipotle & once again my brain felt like it was swelling & I had all the same symptoms again so I knew I messed up trying to balance for my kidneys again but this time was another bout of constant urine until it started to smell, the second it started smelling I suddenly couldn’t eat anything at all, anything I had been eating fruits, vegetables, even beet juice, even the smallest bit of an orange if I tried to eat it would make my chest tight, blood pressure spike, more pressure in my head. I was sitting on Komode in my room too sick to do research to figure out what was wrong this time, but after a while I was able to research low blood sugar, i wasn’t totally sure but I felt I was dying and I had to take a chance and I happened to have jolly ranchers in my desk right next to me and the second I put one in my mouth I started feeling better. So at that point I had figured out the issue was now my pancreas. I didn’t know much about pancreatic issues (I was gonna be a doctor before I dropped out of college so I am really good at anatomy) but my symptoms pointed to the pancreas. When there is too much pressure on the kidneys the pancreas apparently starts having issues too. The smell in my urine was amylase, I was having pain in my right front side and in the back, I couldn’t eat anything. So the treatment for that was to completely stop drinking fluids and eating completely. I did this for 24 hours hoping it would be enough then I only ate pancreas friendly foods which for me was pineapple, but it was too early to eat and it caused issues again. My blood sugar got low again and my dad gave me a spoon full of honey which made me feel better & ur supposed to have protein after to stabilize the sugar, my dumbass asked for eggs, forgetting the yolk has fats in it which you are not supposed to eat w pancreatic issues, so once I ate the eggs I felt bad again. By this time I was so fed up with my body not working and having consequences to every little thing I put in it, I was excessively hungry from all the fluid loss plus it’s another symptom of pancreatic issues, another symptom is irritability and anger, and I got so mad at my own body I decided to pretend nothing was wrong I just wanted to eat some walnuts and once again it made things worse making me more angry so my DA said f it is gonna smoke a cig while I’m at it & im not going to move all night looking for a position with oxygen so that night I severely severely deprived my body of oxygen. I was just soo soo beyond exhausted, when I woke up I had the worst hypoxia I had had so far. I knew the damage was wayyy too far gone now. I was full on suffocating no matter what position I was in, & I still refused to go to hospital and my dad was worried so he did some research and found something called boost oxygen it’s 95% inhalants oxygen and the second I started using it it brought back oxygen to my head, my foot, my left arm, my left artery was so tight I couldn’t move my neck to the left- it made that feel better too, all my extremities that were fully deprived of oxygen suddenly were feeling a lot better. It made my lungs work better too but it was still like I could feel the tissue death in them, like they were holding the normal amount of air but it felt weird…hard to explain. I knew I was gonna end up in the hospital soon. That night I ran out of the boost oxygen I fell right back into the hypoxia, my dad had to rush to Walgreens at 1130 at night to get more and I spent the next couple days using this oxygen to keep me hanging on by a thread. I woke up one of those days my stomach/abdomen was distended, I wasn’t digesting any food, I couldn’t urinate no matter how hard I tried, my organs were making gurgling noises, and this is the only part I’m unsure of. I was having severe pressure in my neck at this point for days, and now when I was sleeping or trying to sleep, my breathing would stop as if it was no longer involuntary, and I would have to manually breathe to get it going again, then it would happen again. I was also having sleep apnea during all of this. So at this point I was feeling like my lungs were going to collapse, and that finally made me scared enough to call an ambulance and go to the hospital. Yet once the emts came my blood pressure was normal and my pulse ox was 100, so they didn’t believe I was going through anything I was saying I did. Once I got to the hospital I had a male doctor & the second I told him I think I’m in organ failure he was combative and just wanted to prove me wrong and he condescendingly asked how I know that and anything I said he just didn’t believe. Then they did some blood tests and another male doctor came back and said none of my organs were in failure, my kidney & pancreas levels were slightly off but nothing crazy, they acted as if none of my symptoms made any sense especially since my pulse ox was normal. The only thing they could find wrong was my anemia level of 5 that I had been living with for 2-3 years. I told them to please test my heart, I figured it had to show up on at least an angiogram. They tested everything and said my heart was fine. They gave me 2 bags of blood and I was feeling a tonnn better but I was still feeling shortness of breath, pressure on my chest, everytime they injected anything into my iv even saline my chest would tighten, i was still getting bouts of dizziness, & every time I told them these issues they did nothing. Just “ok”, oh, your heartbeat is constantly rapid? Okay. Oh it feels like someone is pushing you into quicksand when you try to sleep? Ok. I talked to my doctor after they did every heart test and I was upset I said why is it that none of you care to explain any of my symptoms as if they didn’t and aren’t still happening? You only care about what you can see on a test, but that doesn’t change the fact i went through and am still feeling these symptoms. She said “we’ve done every test and there’s nothing wrong with your heart to explain your symptoms” I said ok I believe you there’s nothing wrong with my heart but is there anything at all that can explain the symptoms I’m having? And she pretty much said no or that these issues are hard and sometimes it takes longer for other symptoms to show up. So she completely gaslit me, and I started questioning myself. But when I got home from the hospital and remembered everything I went through the last month day by day I knew that I felt what I felt, so I went to read more about anemia and severely low anemia like I had explains my symptoms ALONE, yet none of them ever said that. When I told them I wasn’t getting enough oxygen they acted like it made no sense when it’s KNOWN hemoglobin carries oxygen to your body & when it’s low it makes the heart work harder and my hemoglobin was FIIIIVVVVEE. Like WDYM you don’t know why I’m having these symptoms? When my pulse ox came back 100 (which still confuses me as to how it could’ve been 100 when my hemoglobin was so low) they acted like my symptoms were so far fetched and how the more I read about it the more I’m insanely confused as to why they didn’t attribute my symptoms to my anemia? I get that I was wrong thinking my heart was in full failure, but anemia also causes heart DYSFUNCTION that is reversible once you get more blood. Some heart tests were before I got blood and some were after. My question is is there any reason my tests could have been coming up as normal? And why did my doctors act like my symptoms made no sense simply because my heart tests came up normal?
I know I waited much too long to get treatment, but it’s bc I truly hate dealing with doctors and nurses and not being listened to.

First of all wow.
Huge props to Greg for his amazing hard work and vision creating this gorgeous game. I love the city building aspect. I love how roads look quite natural. I love the immersion and seeing your small little settlement grow into a sprawling town. Really enjoying the experience overall having made more than one very large town with other settlements in other regions at this point in time.
Things I would like to see in the future.
Dedicate families to being merchants working in the marketplace, have them run stalls, go to storehouse / granary and setup stalls in new market places as your city expands. Maybe lead into Guilds which at a later stage of the settlement opens up UI window to streamline 'pausing production' of artisans' customizing what goods are being sold etc. Turning the focus more macro-economics as a true lord of the realm would be focused on. The lord shouldn't be reassigning random stalls himself. He should be setting the area and the merchants/guilds would setup appropriate stalls in that area. I also get annoyed when worker families setup a stall, Once I have a granary and storehouse I would hope families I put in those buildings run the stalls under the current system. Gets tedious at large-scale towns juggling the family assignments.
I hope to see Armory's in the future for weapon storage / militia customization. Perhaps Barracks building for dedicating pops to military duties in the future.
Really hope we see rivers/lakes/ponds/coastal start points in the future! Fishing was a big part of medieval life and currently not available in the game. Would love to build a big sprawling coastal city with a harbodock and fishing boats etc.
I hope we can in the future send resources to new settlements and not expect trades in return. I'm the lord of the realm expanding my territory and investing in that new settlement. I don't want them to send back random resources my main town already is well stocked/supplied. I want to speed up their growth and get them moving then focus that town on whatever resources I specifically built that town for. Whether its a mining settlement or a farming settlement etc.
So far an amazing game experience. A few quality of life issues with ai bugs and I can't wait for building fortified towns with large walls and towers etc!
Looking forward to what's to come.

*** = listener speaking
Can be monetised, just please link back to either this post or my YouTube!
Gender(s) can be changed if wanted!
~~~
[optional echo since it takes place underwater]
[boat breaking; fall into water; swimming]
[kisses]
…There we go.
You should be able to breathe and understand me now.
Sorry for making you eat the pearl through a kiss – but we didn’t have a lot of time, so I didn’t think you’d be able to understand what I was saying.
I hope you aren’t too alarmed.
I’ve seen that humans can act quite erratically when under the influence of adrenaline, and I’m not sure if you still have it pumping around in your system.
…You don’t appear to be in that kind of state. Though your eyes are quite wide, and your pupils quite dilated.
Are you alright?
***
How are you alive?
As I said, because of the pearl I fed you. After I saved you once you fell overboard, I managed to administer it before you were completely out of oxygen.
You’re quite lucky you fell where you did.
Well, you’d have been luckier to have not fallen at all, but this area was the best place to fall then say, a few more miles south of here.
You fell right into my territory, so I was able to save you as soon as the fish alerted me to your presence.
I hope you don’t mind the little stretches on your clothes. The fish didn’t want to risk you drifting off in a current, so they pulled you as best as they could to me while I was racing over to meet them.
***
What am I?
[speaker chuckles]
Why, do my wings not make it obvious enough?
I am an angel - a protector sent to earth from the heavenly realm.
Though… I say earth, however I was specifically sent to be a protector of the sea. I primarily protect the sea creatures and underwater flora, however I do also help humans such as yourself when they fall into my waters.
With how much humans worship us, I had thought that would have been your first assumption.
Was my mer tail enough to confuse you?
***
I’m not… ‘biblically accurate’?
What do you mean by that?
***
[speaker laughs]
Oh, no, no, we don’t all look like that! Those types of angels are the highest kind, who shed a ‘regular’ body like you or I have in favour of angelic enlightenment.
We needn’t bother with all of that, though. Only one of us present is an angel, and I am not one who is entertaining the idea of higher status.
I’m far more interested in you.
Since you don’t have to worry about drowning anymore, why don’t you come take a swim with me to my place?
We can talk more there.
***
What do we need to talk about?
I’m afraid it’s about the pearl I gave you.
***
The pearl isn’t just some ordinary pearl - which you are likely aware of as you appear to be an intelligent kind of human. But this pearl in particular is especially rare.
These types of pearls can only be grown and harvested by heavenly beings such as myself - they can even only have their full effect if I or one of my brethren willingly give it away.
They are not too far removed from what you humans would consider a ‘heavenly blessing’.
Unfortunately, heavenly blessings cannot just be given out without justification…
***
Yes, angels like myself are all about helping mortal souls such as yours - but if we were to hand out blessings without caution, humanity would plunge further into sin as your people would believe all would be handed to them irregardless of how they act.
All those you hear of who were given blessings in the past were of upright moral character or had earned the blessing in some way, yes?
***
You were unconscious when I administered it. That is a fact I cannot and will not deny, my dear mortal.
However, I am in a position where my hands are tied. Once the celestials above me learn I have given out a blessing - and they soon will - they will question my reasoning, to ensure I am not abusing my powers like the Destroyer of Eden did long ago.
I hope you can understand my position.
But fear not - I am not a demon, so I will not ask for your soul, nor will I ask any egregious or dangerous tasks of you.
At least… dangerous no longer.
***
I would like you to remain here in the sea with me.
***
If you were to explain to the higher seraphim that you wished to assist me in the protection of the sea, it would be the perfect reason as to why you would need a pearl.
You may be given your own tail… and perhaps even your own wings.
It may take you some time to adjust to the sea, but I’m sure it won't take you too long.
You seem right at home here… and I’m sure you’d prefer it to.
***
Because I know you come here whatever chance you have.
An angel cannot reveal themselves unless given proper reason, so I could never talk to you before… but I’ve always seen you rowing your boat over this part of the ocean.
Your eyes shine brighter than the sun reflecting off the ocean’s surface when you get to be alone up there…
I apologise if this crossed a boundary, but one time when you dipped your hand in the water, I snuck under your boat to brush mine against yours.
I wanted to see if I could experience some of your pure joy by the contact.
It’s very enticing to an angel such as myself.
***
…Your family?
Ah, right, your family lives on land…
…I was hoping that you wouldn’t care about them, so that I may avoid saying this.
***
The pearl… while it grants you the ability to breathe underwater, it stops you from being able to breathe on land.
***
I’m sorry. Giving you the pearl was the only option I had at that moment.
I didn’t want to see you suffer such an unjust end…
***
There is a way for me to take the pearl back, however… The pearl cannot survive outside of the ocean depths.
I cannot even extract it by the surface of the water, it would be a miracle to even retain a portion of its power.
Unless you’re confident in your swimming skills to get back to the surface from here, you… I’m sure you can imagine what would happen
I’m truly, truly sorry.
Even if I can’t
***
…No. I suppose you don’t have a choice.
***
A tour of the flora?
…I’m sure I can fit that in before the other angels arrive.
There’s some coral in particular that always reminds me of your hair, and a certain school of fish that hangs around them is the colour of your eyes…
Actually, they’re perfect to help you around!
Guppies?
[swimming noises]
Here - these fish shall look after you.
They shall show you around while I just finish up some affairs with the rest of their school.
[kiss]
***
Oh, this is merely the kiss of an angel.
What did you believe it to be?
***
[speaker giggles]
If you don’t wish to say so, I shan’t force you.
See you soon, my dear mortal.
[swimming noises fade out]
…Ah, they are even prettier up close.
How does a human manage to look even more ethereal than the highest celestial being?
Thank you, my dear fish friends, for working so hard to tip their boat over.

I had a hemoglobin level of 5 about a month ago, & I was living like that for years, then I woke up one morning extremely bloated like a balloon, & my arms & legs were weak & any position I tried to lay in, I’d wake up gasping for breath or my blood pressure would instantly drop & then come back, I stayed like this for 2 days hoping it would just stop & it didn’t. So I went to hospital & they told me my hemoglobin was 5 but that my heart was fine bc my blood pressure & echocardiogram came back normal. So I got one bag of blood then signed out AMA.
When I went home, I completely deteriorated. It started with my heart not being able to beat strong enough when I layed down, especially flat on my back. (I have a really bad wound on my foot), I was retaining an insane amount of fluid & the more fluid I retained, the harder it was to find a position where my blood would circulate well enough, so I kept losing oxygen. The more oxygen I lost, the more issues I had. I couldn’t sleep for days trying to find the right position to get oxygen, it felt like I was suffocating or drowning in my own blood. If I was too exhausted and tried to force my body to stay in a position I wasn’t getting oxygen, my body would force me awake w a gasp or my limbs would just move on their own. If I found the right position & slept in it, I’d wake up feeling much better, but the second my body and organs were waking up, the issues would start again. If I forced myself to sleep in the positions I wasn’t getting oxygen & didn’t move regardless of my body trying to get me to, by morning i was experiencing hypoxia. I was dizzy, confused, had extreme difficulty breathing, it felt exactly what it feels like when you suffocate but you just aren’t dead. I was seeing flashes of white and floaties, I couldn’t talk right, I couldn’t think straight. So I began to think this was full on heart failure bc all the symptoms matched. I found out the fluid buildup is what was making it even harder for my blood to circulate & that indicated kidney issues bc it was holding onto any sodium I ingested & wasn’t doing enough to expel the fluids from my body, so I started taking over the counter diuretics to help & I stopped eating any sodium At all so my kidney wouldn’t hold onto it. The only position I was able to sit in was on my computer chair with my feet flat on the ground I could even lean left or right or move an inch. Everytime I urinated I was able to breathe a little easier. You could literally instantly feel the relief. I began taking supplements/ nutritious foods to help my body work. Iron, fish oil, potassium, beet juice, oranges, apples, avacados, fish, yogurt, bananas, carrot juice, pomegranate juice (organic), celery, & these were the only foods I was eating. When my blood pressure would get high, it would make everything instantly worse, much harder to breathe. I smoke 2 packs a day normally & I couldn’t smoke one drag of a cigarette without worsening my symptoms ten fold. I was scared to drink water or fluids bc my body would just hold on to them at normal levels, but I’d have no choice but to keep drinking enough to flush my kidneys bc they weren’t doing it on their own so I’d have to take a diuretic & keep drinking water until I urinated enough bc my kidneys weren’t cleaning the toxins from my system it was making my chest tighten and blood pressure issues to get worse. Once I’d urinate enough until it was clear colored, Id feel a lot better. My legs had gotten extremely extremely swollen and were holding most of the fluid in my body, my blood would pool, especially in the foot with the wound, I’d have to put my legs up and then down to help myself breathe, bc it was helping my blood to move. I looked up ways to get rid of fluid retention and found a lymphatic massage which I followed to get the fluid into my arms, & the next day when I woke up my arm was as big as my legs so I knew it actually worked which surprised me bc I didn’t think it would do much but I couldn’t get it to go to my right arm too bc I only have a right hand, my left arm is amputated from the elbow. It took some relief off my legs but not nearly enough and it actually made the breathing even worse bc now the fluid was closer to my lungs. I would not get a wink of sleep for days trying to find a position where I wasn’t suffocating, all that lack of oxygen was causing hypoxia & after ever time I experienced severe lack of oxygen & hypoxia, another organ would stop functioning as well. Anyway, after so long I flushed my kidneys so much that I was completely depleted of sodium. I know this bc over the course of about 18 hours I urinated 2 buckets, I literally could only rest for about 10-20 min before I would have to pee again and this was without any diuretics, at first I was okay with it bc the less fluids i had the better I felt & was able to breathe much better. (I forgot to add that by this point, my heart had gotten much worse and couldn’t even pump blood while I was sitting up, so finding a position by this point was nearly impossible) by the end I was so insanely tired of going to the bathroom and anything I tried to eat or drink would not absorb in my body it would just be peed right out. It was causing severe pressure in my brain, it felt like my brain was swelling. I threw up a bunch of beet juice. I had severe nausea. My head was pounding, I couldn’t stand up. Doing research through all of this was really hard for me with what i was going through, but i eventually realized it was hyponatremia and I just needed salt. So then I had to figure out how to balance the salt in my body which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. (I also went through symptoms days before of high acid in my blood which was another sign that my kidneys weren’t functioning properly, I took tums by accident while I was trying to figure out what was wrong and i instantly felt a little better that’s when I was able to find out sodium bicarbonate is needed to clean the acid out of your blood, so i also was taking that whenever I felt those symptoms) so for the salt, first I had just gotten some salami from the fridge and I would eat one piece at a time trying to slowly give myself salt throughout the day, I had complications w that, then I saw that you could drink Gatorade or anything with electrolytes to fix it, so my dad got me electrolyte drinks and after 3 of them I was feeling much much better, it says to them incorporate salt into your diet after you feel stable again, and I took that as eating the amount of salt I used to eat, which was dead wrong, I ended up eating a quarter of a burrito from chipotle & once again my brain felt like it was swelling & I had all the same symptoms again so I knew I messed up trying to balance for my kidneys again but this time was another bout of constant urine until it started to smell, the second it started smelling I suddenly couldn’t eat anything at all, anything I had been eating fruits, vegetables, even beet juice, even the smallest bit of an orange if I tried to eat it would make my chest tight, blood pressure spike, more pressure in my head. I was sitting on Komode in my room too sick to do research to figure out what was wrong this time, but after a while I was able to research low blood sugar, i wasn’t totally sure but I felt I was dying and I had to take a chance and I happened to have jolly ranchers in my desk right next to me and the second I put one in my mouth I started feeling better. So at that point I had figured out the issue was now my pancreas. I didn’t know much about pancreatic issues (I was gonna be a doctor before I dropped out of college so I am really good at anatomy) but my symptoms pointed to the pancreas. When there is too much pressure on the kidneys the pancreas apparently starts having issues too. The smell in my urine was amylase, I was having pain in my right front side and in the back, I couldn’t eat anything. So the treatment for that was to completely stop drinking fluids and eating completely. I did this for 24 hours hoping it would be enough then I only ate pancreas friendly foods which for me was pineapple, but it was too early to eat and it caused issues again. My blood sugar got low again and my dad gave me a spoon full of honey which made me feel better & ur supposed to have protein after to stabilize the sugar, my dumbass asked for eggs, forgetting the yolk has fats in it which you are not supposed to eat w pancreatic issues, so once I ate the eggs I felt bad again. By this time I was so fed up with my body not working and having consequences to every little thing I put in it, I was excessively hungry from all the fluid loss plus it’s another symptom of pancreatic issues, another symptom is irritability and anger, and I got so mad at my own body I decided to pretend nothing was wrong I just wanted to eat some walnuts and once again it made things worse making me more angry so my DA said f it is gonna smoke a cig while I’m at it & im not going to move all night looking for a position with oxygen so that night I severely severely deprived my body of oxygen. I was just soo soo beyond exhausted, when I woke up I had the worst hypoxia I had had so far. I knew the damage was wayyy too far gone now. I was full on suffocating no matter what position I was in, & I still refused to go to hospital and my dad was worried so he did some research and found something called boost oxygen it’s 95% inhalants oxygen and the second I started using it it brought back oxygen to my head, my foot, my left arm, my left artery was so tight I couldn’t move my neck to the left- it made that feel better too, all my extremities that were fully deprived of oxygen suddenly were feeling a lot better. It made my lungs work better too but it was still like I could feel the tissue death in them, like they were holding the normal amount of air but it felt weird…hard to explain. I knew I was gonna end up in the hospital soon. That night I ran out of the boost oxygen I fell right back into the hypoxia, my dad had to rush to Walgreens at 1130 at night to get more and I spent the next couple days using this oxygen to keep me hanging on by a thread. I woke up one of those days my stomach/abdomen was distended, I wasn’t digesting any food, I couldn’t urinate no matter how hard I tried, my organs were making gurgling noises, and this is the only part I’m unsure of. I was having severe pressure in my neck at this point for days, and now when I was sleeping or trying to sleep, my breathing would stop as if it was no longer involuntary, and I would have to manually breathe to get it going again, then it would happen again. I was also having sleep apnea during all of this. So at this point I was feeling like my lungs were going to collapse, and that finally made me scared enough to call an ambulance and go to the hospital. Yet once the emts came my blood pressure was normal and my pulse ox was 100, so they didn’t believe I was going through anything I was saying I did. Once I got to the hospital I had a male doctor & the second I told him I think I’m in organ failure he was combative and just wanted to prove me wrong and he condescendingly asked how I know that and anything I said he just didn’t believe. Then they did some blood tests and another male doctor came back and said none of my organs were in failure, my kidney & pancreas levels were slightly off but nothing crazy, they acted as if none of my symptoms made any sense especially since my pulse ox was normal. The only thing they could find wrong was my anemia level of 5 that I had been living with for 2-3 years. I told them to please test my heart, I figured it had to show up on at least an angiogram. They tested everything and said my heart was fine. They gave me 2 bags of blood and I was feeling a tonnn better but I was still feeling shortness of breath, pressure on my chest, everytime they injected anything into my iv even saline my chest would tighten, i was still getting bouts of dizziness, & every time I told them these issues they did nothing. Just “ok”, oh, your heartbeat is constantly rapid? Okay. Oh it feels like someone is pushing you into quicksand when you try to sleep? Ok. I talked to my doctor after they did every heart test and I was upset I said why is it that none of you care to explain any of my symptoms as if they didn’t and aren’t still happening? You only care about what you can see on a test, but that doesn’t change the fact i went through and am still feeling these symptoms. She said “we’ve done every test and there’s nothing wrong with your heart to explain your symptoms” I said ok I believe you there’s nothing wrong with my heart but is there anything at all that can explain the symptoms I’m having? And she pretty much said no or that these issues are hard and sometimes it takes longer for other symptoms to show up. So she completely gaslit me, and I started questioning myself. But when I got home from the hospital and remembered everything I went through the last month day by day I knew that I felt what I felt, so I went to read more about anemia and severely low anemia like I had explains my symptoms ALONE, yet none of them ever said that. When I told them I wasn’t getting enough oxygen they acted like it made no sense when it’s KNOWN hemoglobin carries oxygen to your body & when it’s low it makes the heart work harder and my hemoglobin was FIIIIVVVVEE. Like WDYM you don’t know why I’m having these symptoms? When my pulse ox came back 100 (which still confuses me as to how it could’ve been 100 when my hemoglobin was so low) they acted like my symptoms were so far fetched and how the more I read about it the more I’m insanely confused as to why they didn’t attribute my symptoms to my anemia? I get that I was wrong thinking my heart was in full failure, but anemia also causes heart DYSFUNCTION that is reversible once you get more blood. Some heart tests were before I got blood and some were after. My question is is there any reason my tests could have been coming up as normal? And why did my doctors act like my symptoms made no sense simply because my heart tests came up normal?
I know I waited much too long to get treatment, but it’s bc I truly hate dealing with doctors and nurses and not being listened to.

First / Previous
◄▼►
I’ve seen fifteen thinnings and two merges, so I know a few things.
First, most thinnings don’t merge.
Second, Universal Reality Anchors catch thinnings. (I shouldn’t know about URAs. My therapist messed up on that.)
Thinnings all have kaleidoscoping colors and make my ears ring. That’s the URAs. If you can hear it but not see it, don’t worry. If you hear it and then don’t, do worry. But that almost never happens.
Fourth, merges and thinnings almost always come in threes. The Truth Club thinks three is a Number of Power. They didn’t make that up. I did.
And last, every thinning I’ve seen happened after my first merge. And Alice and Dad both say I made them up.
They’re both liars. Make of that what you will.
◄▼►
Outside Victoria, British Columbia - May 23, 2043, 11:53 AM
- - - - -
My tinnitus gets louder and louder until, as I step through the L-shaped entrance to the girls’ bathroom, it’s all I can hear. The thinling’s screeches/roars/grinding fail to break through the ringing, and my whole head feels like it’s vibrating, even though it’s only my aural aug. I’ve only been this close to a thinning once, and that was three—no, four—minutes ago. This one feels worse.
I want to see the Truth in this thinning. But, I’ll be honest, I’m terrified. My throat burns, and my arms won’t stop bleeding. And I don’t know where the thinling is. It’s with me, on the right side of the fire door, away from other people. But I don’t know where.
I’m still in my lizard brain—fight, flight, freeze, fawn. Besides the water balloons, that’s one of the only true things my therapist told me. Everyone’s got two brains—the people brain that makes choices and the lizard brain that keeps you alive. My lizard brain is good at freeze, fight, and fawn. Freeze usually keeps me out of trouble, and fawn keeps Dad happy. Fight’s never gotten me much, though. Alice is a fawner, too, but she fights with Dad as much as she fawns. I’m in trouble now because I got curious and then froze instead of fleeing like I should have. I squeeze my eyes shut, count to three, and open them.
The graffiti in the girls’ bathroom never gets cleaned up—not before the girls draw more. Someone’s penned ‘beware of limbo dancers’ onto the bottom of a stall door along with a stick figure doodle of a man bending backward, and Candice has written her boyfriend’s name on the tile wall with a heart around it. A half-dozen other girls’ commentary about what a creep Derrick is adorns the rest of the chipped, off-white tiles. The thinning’s dancing lights reflect off the stained, pink floor tiles inside a stall, but not the one with the limbo man.
Some girl has kissed the mirror over the bathroom sink, leaving a blindingly crimson lip mark in the corner. It hasn’t been cleaned off yet, either. She’ll probably get sick from kissing it if a thinling doesn’t get her first. And the whole place stinks like only a girl’s bathroom can. Pee, lemon cleaning supplies, and perfume. Ugh.
Really, I decide, the whole thing is a math problem. The steps seem simple, but it has a lot of variables. I can’t let the thinling find me, and I have to stop bleeding. Once I solve those, I can work on the rest of the problem.
So, first, the thinling.
The thinning is in the stall. I ignore it for now.
The whining ring fades slightly as I creep into the bathroom’s entrance. This is not an improvement since now I can hear the monster’s screech/roagrind. It sounds like it’s down the hall, tearing into something solid. I pop my head out for a moment.
Its claw/jaw/saw pulls away from the impossibly thick fire door, revealing a gash so wide I can see it from down the hall. Its eyes/sensors turn toward me, and I duck back inside the bathroom. That was stupid. There’s nowhere to go. But I can’t think—my head is light, and I wobble just standing. I stagger back to the wall, slide into a sitting position with my legs splayed and my baggy cargo pants hiked up around my calves, and wait.
I don’t have to wait long before it slithers/slides/clatters into the bathroom entrance. It roars again, rushing toward me, and then stops.
Not, like, of its own free will, but like it’s hit an invisible wall across the bathroom, right in front of the first sink. It strains and lashes its claws/jaws/saws against whatever’s stopped it, but it can’t pass. It doesn’t even make sparks.
I release a breath I hadn’t realized had caught in my throat. The thinling’s roars of protest/angefrustration and my tinnitus drown out the raspberry sound between my numb lips. It can’t come in. It can’t come in.
Why can’t it come in?
That feels important, but it’s not something I can puzzle out right now. My brain feels fuzzy. The thinling’s not doing it, and the ringing in my ears—okay, it’s awful, but it’s not the problem. I slump down below a paper towel dispenser, reach up with a shaky hand, and grab the rough brown paper. Sheet after sheet rains down on me as I pull, tear, grab, and repeat. Once I have enough, I start the long, agonizing process of trying to find and cover dozens of cuts across my arms and face.
Most aren’t a problem. They’re shallow, and they’ve already slowed or stopped. But one on my right palm has cut deep. I wrap paper towels around it, but it keeps throbbing and pulsing. Blood drips from a long cut across my forehead, but head injuries bleed a lot, right? It’s probably not gonna kill me. My hand is more worrying. Did it catch a tendon? It hurts to move my fingers, but that might be the cut, not something deeper.
While I’m playing at medic, the thinling stalks back and forth just feet away. It roars and rips/tears/cuts futilely at the…barrier…keeping it from me. I still can’t see exactly what it is, and I can’t tell why it’s stuck. But I don’t care. Just this once, I don’t need to know the Truth. At least, not yet.
So, equation time. I know where the thinling is. Obviously. I tighten my makeshift paper towel bandage around my palm and start dabbing at my forehead, wincing every time the rough brown paper catches on the cut’s ragged edge. I’ve got most of the bleeding mostly taken care of, though my skin looks like it’s mostly paper towels. Which means I can work on the next step in balancing this.
This part goes fast. Dad? Shelter. Sora? Not sure. Ugh, Alice, who left me? Shelter. Teachers? Unknown. The police? Probably in shelters, but definitely not here. SHOCKS? Not here, but probably on their way. This seems right up the boogeyman’s alley. Superman? Yeah, right.
So, no one’s coming—no one I want to see. I’ve got me, Mom’s dress, as many paper towels as I can use, water, and…
…my phone.
I fish it out of my baggy cargo pants’ pocket, though I have to hike up Mom’s filthy dress a little to get to it. There aren’t any new messages, just a flashing SHOCKS warning to avoid the strange. I snort. Then I laugh. Then I can’t stop laughing, and it doesn’t feel like good laughter.
As I sit against the bathroom wall and laugh, I thumb through my contacts. Eventually, I land on the one person I can trust to text me back, even if I can’t trust her for anything else. I start typing, and the panic hits me again like a wave, crashing straight through the hysterical laughter.
Claire -
The ‘sending a message’ icon spins and spins, my throat tightening painfully again with each passing second. I count to almost forty in my head before a new message comes in, and my message’s text goes red.
Victoria Emergency Services -
I stop reading and shiver despite myself. SHOCKS. The boogeymen. They’re here. Or maybe not here, but on their way and aware. And I’m in the middle of their merge. Again. I don’t need a repeat of last time, because the Truth about last time is that I got lucky and my therapist wasn’t as clever as he thought.
There’s no way I can stop the shivering, and the room keeps swimming back and forth in the panic tsunami.
<…and Goldstream. Further messages with additional instructions will be set as needed.>
The message comes in twice more, identical word for word, before it stops. My phone doesn’t power off, but it’s like it’s stuck in airplane mode. I can’t connect to anything. Not to the internet, or text messages, or even to my augs—both of which are stuck in one-to-one mode with my unaugmented eye and ear. That’s not the end of the world, though. Even running hot enough to hurt, neither gets above three-to-one. What is the end of the world is that I can’t text or call anyone. Well, almost anyone.
I dial 911. It doesn’t disconnect me. Instead, an automated voice speaks in my aural aug. “All VES emergency lines are currently busy. Please hold. An operator will be with you as soon as possible. Your emergency is impor—“
I hang up and recalculate my equation since I can’t talk to anyone. SHOCKS: Definitely on their way. Superman? Even less likely, he won’t want to fight them. And no phone—or at least the only thing it’s good for is as a flashlight.
Pushing down another shudder, I light my last cigarette, push it into my mouth, and ready myself. The smoke fills my lungs, and I blow it out slowly—West End High’s in trouble already, so a fire alarm won’t make things worse.
It’s time to deal with the thinning.
I push myself up to my feet with a groan. The thinling scrabbles/scratches/slices at the invisible wall, making me jump, and I side-eye it the whole time I scooch toward the bathroom stall. My tinnitus ramps up until my entire head pounds and my aural aug burns inside my ear. “I want to know the Truth,” I whisper to myself. I repeat it like a mantra. Then I pull on the stall door’s handle.
It opens with a creak. The smell of cinnamon and tulips hits me.
I catch a split-second view of the new thinning before its rainbow colors flash and vanish, the ringing stops, and every lightbulb in the bathroom shatters in a loud, rippling series of pops.
◄▼►
I’m terrified, but also relieved.
Terrified because I’m in deep shit now.
I’ve been in the center of two merges in the last fifteen minutes. The animal/monstemachine paces ten feet away, back and forth. The darkness feels like it’s trying to drown me, and that’s worse than the thinling. And SHOCKS is on the way.
But relieved because, when I flip my phone’s flashlight on, I see what’s emerged from the second thinning.
It’s a gun. A revolver. Not the kind from Westerns with the long, gray-black barrel and worn wooden handle, but the kind a hard-boiled detective might carry. Or May Lay, one of the Knights from Knights of the Apocalypse. She has like twenty guns. It’s short, stubby, and shockingly white—almost porcelain, except for the part where you put bullets. That part shines like polished brass. It’s loaded, with shells made of different metals.
I should stop myself, a tiny voice in the back of my head says as I reach for the revolver. I’m already in deep shit, and I don’t need more. And the revolver’s a lie, anyway. It’s not real. It can’t be real. But the other voices—the ones that want to know the Truth or that know that if I want to deal with the trouble I’m going to be in, I need to solve the trouble I’m in now— shout it down. My fingers wrap around the carved, notched grip.
And I’m not drowning anymore. My whole body burns instead, and I scream. But when I move my arms, it just gets worse, not better, until I’m hugging myself and whimpering while trying not to so much as blink.
As quickly as it hits me, the sensation fades, and I examine the revolver more closely. It’s not heavy, and the grip is somehow perfectly sized for my not-quite-adult hand. I fiddle with the brass bullet holder—I’ve never paid attention to what you call a gun’s parts. The bullet holder should rotate out so I can load it again, but no matter what I do, I can’t get it to. It doesn’t even spin when I run my thumb against it. Instead, the bullet seems locked in line with the barrel.
Seven seems like a strange number of bullets for a six-shooter.
There’s also no safety. I know that part of a gun. My finger rests against the trigger guard—it is porcelain, but the kind you make armor out of, not the type that rich people use for dishes and everyone else shits in. This little pistol is ready to use; I can feel it more than I can see it. And I’m ready, too.
{Halcyon System Final Sync}
{Overriding Firewalls}
{Firewall Protocols Overridden: 2/3}
{System Access: 50%}
{Affected System Features}
►Skill Information
►Truth Information
►Archived Anomaly Information
►Assistance Functions
{Truth Learned: Anomalous Bond 2 (-2) - Information Unavailable}
{Stability 7/10}
{Skill Acquired: Revolver Mastery 1 - Information Unavailable}
{Claire Pendleton}
►Stability 7/10
►Skills - Revolver Mastery 1
►Truths - Anomalous Bond 2 (-2)
►Inquiries -
I blink back tears as my optic aug heats up and my aural one pops and hisses. The message reads a little like an error report on a crashing computer, a little like my augs when I reboot them in the morning, and a tiny bit like Knights of the Apocalypse’s character status screen. I glaze over most of it, but a few important parts stick out—like the Truths. I try to mentally tap the link to Anomalous Bond, but every time, I get a bonking, boinging error sound. There has to be a workaround to see what Revolver Mastery or Anomalous Bond are, but no matter what I try, the message screen won’t open them.
After almost three minutes of trial and error sounds, I decide three basic things.
First, I need to keep my Stability high. Without the Halcyon System’s Assistance Functions—whatever those are—I can’t say for sure what’ll happen if I lose all my Stability, but based on the fire I felt when I grabbed the revolver, and on the earlier message when I panicked after seeing the thinling, I don’t want it to dip much lower.
Second, I want to know what the firewalls are and how Inquiries work.
{Inquiry: What’s going on at West End High?}
Ah. That’s how. I’m not sure what’s going to happen if I answer it, but it helps me keep track of my variables better.
And third, I have a tool to access the Truth now. And not only that, but to do it in a way that lets me be sure, for the very first time, that it really is the Truth. That is, as long as I can trust the Halcyon System. And, unlike my English teacher and Mr. Roberts, it hasn’t lied to me yet. It also hasn’t told me anything yet, except that I’m in the process of…losing my mind? Falling apart? I wish I knew what Stability did, but I have bigger problems.
I push myself out of my squat and turn, pointing the revolver toward the sink, and the door, and the thinling. I’m not helpless. I don’t have to run, and that’s the Truth. I can—
It’s gone.
◄▼►
My first instinct is to chase after it.
Why is my first instinct to chase after it?
Without the tinnitus and the thinling’s impossible-to-describe form-changing, my migraine recedes slightly. I shouldn’t chase it. It’ll tear me apart. What I should do is try to find a way through the school, or out of the school and back inside somewhere else, to the shelter. That’s where safety is. That’s where Dad and Alice and, I hope, Sora all are.
But that thinling? It’s a mystery. And I swore an oath to the Truth Club and myself that I’d seek the Truth. Only they all thought that circle under the bleachers was a game, and I knew I meant every word. So I’m going to chase after it.
But I don’t have to be dumb about it. I mean, I’ve been pretty dumb so far, but I don’t have to be. Alice is a valedictorian, and while I don’t care enough about Language Arts or Social Studies to earn top grades like her, I’m not dumb. I just don’t pretend I’m interested in stuff I don’t care about.
On one side of the equation, I’ve got the thinling. And on the other, a variable. Something made it stop, and it didn’t do it because it felt merciful. It could be the mirror. Maybe it can’t understand its appearance either. Maybe there’s something else going on with it. Or maybe it’s the pipes. I’ve read plenty of myths that make running water a safe place. Maybe there’s truth to them.
I can’t steal a pipe, though.
My fingers scream in protest by the time I finally wrench the bathroom mirror free. It takes me almost ten minutes of pulling and wriggling my fingers between its steel backing and the cinderblock wall. When it finally does, I’ve twisted two nails back on my right hand, crushed my left thumb between the wall and the steel, and my head spins from standing for too long. But I have the bathroom mirror—intact, even the half-cleaned lipstick stain in the corner.
I lean against the wall, arms wrapped around the glass-and-steel mirror in a hug, and breathe. Then I carefully creep back to the door, revolver in one hand and mirror tucked under my arm, and stare into the twilit hallway.
It’s there. The thinling is back at the steel fire door, clawing/biting/sawing at the metal. It’s only a matter of time before it breaks through, which would be both good and bad. Good, because I need that door open. But bad, because there are people over there. Fakes and liars, yes, but still people.
They can’t handle the Truth.
I decide I can, and I flip the mirror around to face the thinling. I hope the reflection will act like a steel beam, flattening the monster against the wall or smashing it into the fire door. But it doesn’t. Instead, the thinling ignores it.
But for the first time, I can see its true form in the reflection. It’s alive. Not like a wolf, but similarly-sized; we have wolves nearby, where Vancouver Island goes wild. Where it should have four legs, it has six, and where a wolf would have jaws, its mouth is a circle of spinning, writhing teeth. It’s covered in white plates that make it look bug-like, but there’s never been a bug this size. Below the white, raw flesh pulses and twitches; I can’t tell if it’s black or dark red, but that’s a lighting problem, not because I can’t see the Truth.
It’s still ignoring me and the mirror. I decide to take a gamble. The mirror—hopefully—stopped the thinling once. It can probably do it again. I set it against the wall under a poster about the quadratic formula, level the revolver in my hands, facing the thinling even though it hurts my palm and my smashed thumb to aim, and pull the trigger.
It cracks, a purplish beam of light cuts through the air, sizzling, and the shell clatters to the ground. The sound echoes in the hall, and I realize I’ve imagined the beam’s sound. The ray leaving the gun’s barrel reaches twenty—no, fifty—feet, touches the wall above the thinling, and vanishes except for heat ripples in the air. I’ve missed. The revolver’s bullet-holder clicks as it slowly spins, and a new shell appears in the empty hole.
I stare at the mirror, not at the thinling, because the mirror tells me the Truth. It’ll stop the thinling. It has to.
But as the monster slithers/slides/clatters across the ground toward me, I lose my nerve and run. The mirror sits against the wall outside the bathroom while I hide inside, the revolver pointed shakily at the doorway.
A moment passes. Two. Three. I allow myself to breathe. To stand up and take one hesitant step toward the entrance, then another. When I gather the courage to look outside, I almost break right back into hysterics again.
The mirror worked. And the revolver’s shell glows a bright orange against the hall’s twilight.
I hobble toward the thinling. It roars in protest/angedespair as I grit my teeth, hold the revolver six inches from its scrabbling jaws/claws/saws, and brace myself.
I pull the trigger.
Then the thinling screams—the most concrete sound it’s made since I first saw it—and falls to the tile floor. Its scream hammers my mind, and I try to fight it, but can’t. The revolver slips from my grasp and joins it. And a moment later, so do I.