Sorry but this is going to be a long ass essay post ☠️☠️☠️ I haven’t slept and am yapping
Overall, a weak defence and weak diss track but maybe not 100% trash as ppl make it out to be. It has some gd qualities but it is ultimately damage control, poorly executed and an attempt to get the last word in when the battle is already likely lost. Or at least seems lost for Drake, judging by what he said in the end monologue and just overall public perception of Kendrick being on top and poor reception of the heart pt.6.
Before we move on, yes, I do have a kendrick bias. The man is my goat 🐐 Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about anything on the track.
Good things about the track first,

• Nice beat, the production was good and felt menacing which complemented drakes focused tone and streamlined rapping which solely addresses kendrick and no distractions.
• Excellent use of the Aretha Franklin sample, telling kendrick to pull up with receipts. I like the subtle use of it in the end as well. Sample worked well to begin the track and let Drake talk about Kendrick needing to pull up with evidence (double standard but I’m not too fussed). The war general bar he uses is a bit too braggy to me after getting dunked on but probably works due to him being battle tested.
  
• A few bars I really liked
  
  • Rick Ross flight bar (I don’t rlly like Rick Ross so I might be biased)
  • The hit back bar (out of pocket but honestly fine since it’s beef)
• R Kelly streaming spotify situation
  

I didn’t like it being brought up due to intentional lack of context but it was good for drake to mention this and paint Kendrick as a hypocrite I guess. Correct me if I’m wrong I don’t think it was kdot himself but Punch who did this although I think XXXtentacion may have thanked kdot in a similar situation. (I don’t remember properly tbh)

• The title itself (self explanatory and I just cba to explain)

The bad things… Summarised - the entire approach was terrible and the majority of the angles used were either bad and/or poorly executed, especially how he tries to dismiss PDF allegations.

• Pulitzer Prize winner bar Some ppl liked this opening bcos it flips kdots own bar but I just don’t like it. Why remind people kdot is a Pulitzer winner and make them remember kdots own bar about your past as a former actor, a persona you want to move from?
  
• Daughter Damage control (or the way that Drake tries to say Kendrick is dumb/desperate)
  

He does this by saying that the 11yr old daughter thing was intentionally leaked misinformation. But there’s reasons this isn’t really working for Drake. Before I say more, I want to say that I don’t think Drake actually has an 11yr old daughter but I don’t think Drake intentionally leaked this info. I think kendrick was just misinformed by a bad source - nothing more. Regardless, the idea of an intentional leak isn’t a good look for Drake. It’s not the chess move he makes it out to be. reason is that if it was true, it proves Kendrick’s claim of him being fake, an actor and master manipulator and why is he focusing on this as a chess move instead of the Drizzler accusations??!! A major reason why it doesn’t work is that why would he spread a lie about himself that reminds people about him being a deadbeat and furthers his deadbeat reputation. Why not lie about something else (and make it more believable)? Why give that lie to a talented writer like Kendrick and let him run with that lie and use it for two whole days in a story of Adidon sequel that shatters the whole public perception of him winning the rap beef. Why would he let that track marinate for two days, instead of saying he had intentionally leaked the daughter info right after Meet the Grahams? He wouldn’t even have had to drop a whole response track to say it. He could have just posted an IG story saying that he did that. Instead he just straight denied it via his IG story with no evidence and waited two days to reveal he intentionally leaked with no evidence to back up the leak. To the public, due to the time taken, it either seems Drake is lying about intentional leaks (and is crowdsourcing inspiration from his own fans on social media because they were making theories about leaks) or either he looks incompetent if he is telling the truth. Bcos why would he have no evidence about a planned leak especially if he is asking kendrick to pull up with receipts and why would he take two whole days to reveal the planned leak like it was some master war general move.
We all know Drake is capable of releasing tracks quickly and Heart part 6 seems to be written after Not Like Us. So why would he respond so late especially after Kendrick dropped a club bop that hammered Drake down (no drizzy). Overall, this rebuttal is either a bad lie or a bad truth but it’s shitty damage control either way

• Why did Drake double down on weak accusations he already mentioned?This is what I meant by poor attack. The majority of people didn’t believe Drake the first time round due to strange execution and certain things not adding up about those accusations. The accusations sounded desperate and false the first time and sound the same now. Why would kendrick keep working with Dave free if that was the case? Would that make Kendrick the opposite of Drake, in terms of being a deadbeat dad?

The domestic violence seems to also be a desperate claim and is covered by the breakfast club interview where kdot addresses it. Also, I think the initial story remains unverified (Correct me if I’m wrong). Why talk about Kendrick and the mother of his children being potentially distant/ legally separated as if it’s a bad thing? Lots of couples are separated and it’s very normalised. If it is a bad thing, what does that say about Drakes own parents? Why mock Kendrick for not being close to his partner and mother of his children, especially considering the situation with Adonis m? I feel like Drake uses very shallow things to jump to conclusion which makes it seem like he’s lying, why does Dave free liking a post and leaving a comment, mean he is fathering a child and why does a non-follow mean a couple is split? Drake just seems too chronically online if this is his thought process but hey idk

• Mother I sober I remember listening to how he used Mother I Sober and being like “Nah, that aint it”. Don’t get me wrong, the subject is open game albeit distasteful. Morals were out of the window and Kendrick has been cooking this man. I see why Drake tried to use it to deflect some intense pdf labels off himself but it was poorly executed. He intentionally made a wrong conclusion missing the point about generational trauma by saying that Kendrick got touched on. He uses this to spin the narrative, saying this means kendrick is obsessed with PDFilia and crazily sees him as one with no evidence but this backfires since ppl call Drake out for making the false claim that K got touched when it explicitly states in the song that he wasn’t touched. This just makes him look stupid instead of calculated.
  Also, it feels like Drake is mocking Kendrick for being touched and not for weirdly using the PDF label which makes it worse because it’s distasteful and he already has that PDF label on him. Drake, a person perceived to be a PDF, mocking someone for being touched by a PDF just makes Drake look more like a PDF. Why give people ammunition like that? Winning a rap beef is all about public perception and how people receive what you say, (hence why tea is so effective) and Drake just loses out regarding that because of how he approached a sensitive subject matter and trying to mock a PDF victim when being suspected of being a whole PDF.
  Furthermore, misunderstanding the song on purpose adds to peoples disillusionment with drake and his place in hiphop and his status as a rapper. This was very sensitive subject matter, that Drake just didn’t have the skill or know how to navigate and successfully to use against Kendrick
  

He shouldn’t have intentionally lied about Kendrick being touched instead of his mother and should’ve approached it with a different calm tone, (almost like a therapist exactly like kendrick occasionally does in his songs), pointing out Kendricks failing to his mother in using pedophilia as a serious smear against him with little evidence. A commercial rapper kicking knowledge to a conscious rapper and flipping the script like that in a calm tone would probably be pretty disrespectful and well received due to valid criticism. That being said, Drake just doesn’t know how to use his range to accomplish that and probably doesn’t care - he just went for what he thought would be most disrespectful and didn’t think that the subject matter would blow up in his face like it did. Also, I think he underestimated how strong the PDF label on him was and how sinister normal people find PDF allegations on celebs and how intense the shock factor of Meet the Grahams 2nd verse was to the listener.

• PDF damage control - using fame as a shield

The fame shield was pretty funny because it honestly shows how some peoples minds become so far removed from reality and how they think other ppl perceive society as opposed to themselves when they get some fame and live a certain lifestyle. What do you mean you’re too famous to be a pedophile Drake??? Why did he think that would be well received? I’ll try not to say too much about this because its so obvious and you all would understand if you heard what he said and have common knowledge about MJ going to a trial (when he was probs the most famous man in the world) and the decades of freedom, fame and acclaim certified PDF celebs have had (R Kelly, Saville, Polanski, Epstein, etc.). Also talking about himself and how much he isn’t a pdf just makes him look like a pdf. Did no one in the OVO sweatshop say anything? Or were they worried that if anyone said anything wrong, they’d be banished to the studio basement and chained to a workbench eternally cooking up hits like Jesse was in the last episodes of breaking bad?
In Drake’s defense, I would kinda somewhat understand this idea if Drake, being as big as he is, was absolutely 100% squeaky clean in terms of rep and had no “smoke/fire” in terms of speculation/rumours about being a dodgy ped. But that isn’t the case. There have been rumours/speculation about Drake for years about him being dodgy with minors. Is there any solid evidence of him being a PDF? No, no smoking gun so it’s hard to say he is a PDF but there are a lot of rumours and speculation nonetheless. We’ve seen him in relationships with questionable age gaps and we’ve seen him kiss teenagers on stage and make weird comments about their body when finding out they’re a teenager. He also think it’s normal to be an adult and go out of his way to slide into the dms of a teenage girl and start being weirdly friendly and giving them advice about boys and relationships. He chose the wrong angle to defend against the claim. Since the claim was thrown with little evidence from Kendrick himself, Drake should’ve been able to better defend against it, but man did he fumble.

• In all honesty, I don’t think Drake is a PDF that grooms under 18s (or whatever is illegal in Canada) but I think that’s not really the major point. I don’t think Drake is some serial offender who prowls around the local Toronto kindergarten or high school looking for kids to kidnap and diddle in the embassy. Drake did actively go out of his way to deny being a PDF and mentioned Epstein and I think he is looking at the lyrics of Not Like Us and the online PDF jokes/discourse about his questionable history with minors and is playing defence saying he’d never look at teenagers or anyone legally under the age of consent. However, I don’t think that’s what Kendrick is getting at. I think kendrick is comparing him to Harvey Weinstein who targeted young women who were adults and kdot is suggesting stuff about SA and trafficking rings with adult women and I think that’s where kdot goes if he replies to Drake. This makes sense due to the whole tinder thing, kdot name dropping Weinstein and Drakes known relationships with young adult women as well as the major kickers - 530K dished out on SA cases before and OVO signee who has plead guilty to trafficking charges before somehow having them dropped. As to whether rumours/surrounding SA and trafficking of adult women is true, I honestly have no Idea and there is a gd chance,it’s just speculation and I hope it’s all false because that’s not really something for rap beef and is probably something for the right authority to go send OVO to Jail. However, since it may be an angle, I’ll say that I don’t think Drake properly played defence on this base and didn’t talk about the “offenders on OVO” that kdot mentions, just himself.
  
• End of track monologue So low energy, but that might be me being biased. A lot of empty air
  

Right now, Kendrick is still up but he might still respond for the sake of a wider victory and letting the stock (5+5 or whatever) off, just to finish Drake and make sure he doesn’t maintain commercial success, like he did after story of Adidon. Alternatively, Drake could drop again and a lot harder, forcing Kendrick to reply. Also, narratives can easily change on social media, forcing another drop from anybody. But I haven’t slept so maybe I’m just rambling and overthinking stuff. Let me know what you think

Hello,
We've got 3 full days in Rome in June (passing through on our way to a wedding out in the countryside) and it'd be great to get some feedback on our rough itinerary. We've both been to Rome briefly before, and also want to avoid the worst of the tourist crowds as much as possible so have resigned ourselves to coming back again off season if we ever want to see a lot of the more popular sites, and have focussed on one place a day we definitely want to see. Don't want to be too rigid in our timings where possible, but want to avoid too much unnecessary zigzagging across the city, and are looking for a little breathing room where possible. We're staying on the edge of Trastevere.
Day 1: walk to Testaccio food market for late breakfast/early lunch, then metro up to Capuchin crypt, then wander around the Borghese park, maybe Castel Sant’Angelo - to visit and/or get drinks at the bar?
Day 2: Colosseum tour (booked, includes Palatine Hill), then as much dense touristic wandering as we can face (possibly covering nearby archaeological sites but maybe also things like Pantheon?)
Day 3: walk to Circus Maximus, Caracalla Baths, walk to the Appian Way park and see various sites there (going to be a big walking day).
Questions:
Do we need to pre-book for the Capuchin crypt or Caracalla Baths? We’re not looking to do tours for either just wandering around ourselves. I have found where to pre-book Capuchin, but the official site for Caracalla Baths never seems to work for me so not sure.
Is it possible to just tap your card on all Rome transport now including buses? Do you need to tap out when you leave buses and trams or is that just for barriers on the metro?
Any suggestions for anywhere good to eat around the places we'll be wandering? Have heard there's lots of nice restaurants in Testaccio generally which is about a 30 min walk from our accommodation so will give that a go but any specific recommendations there or anywhere else relatively on the way for our itinerary/not too hard to get to from Trastevere would be great. Including cafes/quick places to grab food. Would like a nice cacio e pepe, nice pizza, maybe any other nice Roman dishes - don't need the absolute best of the best but looking for something that won't break the bank and won't be annoyingly shit! My Italian is beginners level but I also speak decent Spanish so can just about limp through reading a menu in Italian.
Grazie mille!

For the people who can’t see Gameloft’s Trello board I listed all the issues that Gameloft is aware of

• Unable to progress in Oswald’s questline after buying the 3D glasses ( DO NOT BUY THEM UNTIL THE QUEST “Oswald’s Many Dimensions” TELLS YOU TO
  
• Dreamlight Armor costume, Hamza Suit pants & Red and White Goggles do not disappear after buying it in Scrooge’s store
  
• Unable to collect meteorites in the Forgotten Lands for Mother Gothel’s “Restoring the Sunstone” quest
  
• The recipe for Mechanical Parts requested in Step 1 of Oswald’s “An Alarming Development” quest is not unlocked automatically in the Crafting Menu.
  
• The Party Ribbon can not be removed if placed in the Player’s house ( Donald’s “Urban Design Feat” quest )
  
• Dreamlight Parks Fest cupcakes have an sparkle effect
  
• The Upcycle menu of the Time Bending Station only available in English
  
• Players are not able to interact with the Winter Palace House Dream Style to generate fireworks
  
• Villager’s favorite gifts appear blank
  
• Players can find multiple glimmer in Realms ( intended amount is 1 per realm )
  
• Merlin’s Sample item appears in player’s inventories
  
• Energy not regenerating in Player’s house
  
• Unable to complete Sulley’s “Escape Claws” quest
  
• Haunted Mansion Dream Style does not occupy same place prior to update 9
  
• Capybaras and Monkeys disappear during feeding
  
• Unable to re-buy certain items from the Star Paths or from the Beauty and the Beast collection
  
• “Planted soil” visual does not match farming plot
  
• Touch of Magic items are identified in DreamSnaps despite not being visible
  
• DreamSnaps decor challenges reward outfit items
  
• The Forgotten renders without a face
  
• Critters do not drop rewards after being fed
  
• Unable to use tools
  
• “Keep playing for more missions” prompt for WALL•E won’t go away
  
• Initialization Error #5 occurs on game loading screen
  
• Avatar skin texture changes hue and pattern
  
• Blue chests do not spawn
  
• Premium Shop items count towards Clothing & Furniture Collections
  
• Furniture disappears from Chez Remy
  
• In-game timers are not aligned with Daylight Savings
  
• Camera Issues in the Vitalys Mines
  
• Music does not play while getting an “critical hit” while harvesting or gathering
  
• Unable to find Memory Piece for various quests
  
• Crashes on Console
  

Brace yourself for a detailed review! I am sorry for the delayed review in this subreddit. Our trip was two months ago.
Hyatt Ziva Cancun has easily become our favorite destination.
Some background: we split our stay for a 2 week vacation. Our first week was with our grandchildren at Hyatt Ziva Cancun. Our second week was at Hyatt Zilara Cancun. I will post separate review for Zilara.
We arrived in Cancun on a Tuesday morning. Airport immigration was a breeze. No wait for us because we used the electronic fast-lane. If you have kids, you can’t use that service. Our son and his family (kids too) were flying from different location and didn’t arrive until day 2. So because it was just my wife and I, we were able to use the immigration fast lane. We didn’t check bags. We use laundry service at the resorts so were able to easily pack enough for one week and wash and rewear our same outfits for a second week at the Zilara. We each had a carry on and a personal item (backpack) which was enough for us.
For this trip, we used Friends Travel Cancun for private transport. Our flights were early and they must have monitored cuz they were there when we got to the pickup area. They were waiting for us outside the airport with a ‘welcome home’ sign and our name. Made us feel special.
We arrived at the resort around 10:30. We were greeted by bellboys who stored our luggage (our room wasn’t ready but we could use the resorts and eat at the restaurants. My wife had a small beach bag packed with extra set of dry clothes, our swim trunks, and sun block, so we grabbed that and proceeded to check in. We were escorted up the steps by a nice gentleman who welcomed us with some discounts. During the casual conversation, it became apparent that he was part of the timeshare presence at the resort. We declined and told him we already booked through a member and had no interest in buying into their club (more on that later). He said it would just be 30 minutes presentation, and we repeated that we were not interested. He was kind and escorted us to the check-in desk in club tower.
We checked into our room around 3:10 after using the resort for the day. Club ocean front king. Wonderful room and great view. See pictures. The club lounge was a highlight, with 24/7 and a well-stocked fridge. The small bar in club tower was tucked in the corner and not busy during day. We enjoyed our evenings with the bartender and laughed a lot. The lounge bar remained open until 11 PM.
Dining: there are several options for breakfast (room service, coffee shop, club snack bar, Tradewinds and the buffet). We went to all. Once our son arrived with his family the next day, the buffet became more popular since it had EVERY type of breakfast food available plus freshest fruit. Waiters were very attentive with refills and keeping the kids happy with helping with their plates and friendly interactions. There are freshly made churos outside the wonderful coffee shops.
For lunch, Chevy’s was popular. Habeneros was a great ocean front setting, but we weren’t as impressed with menu options. Food was very good, but I guess I’m simple and don’t venture too far from routine. The highlight was the grill by the pools, serving corn on the cob, grilled chicken, hamburgers, nachos, bbq ribs, and other grillers (all on different days).
For dinner, there are many options and we tried them all. One of the meals at Lorenzos wasn’t my favorite, but the remaining dinner options were great. The food was way above average. Every plate was presented with perfection. Definitely check out each restaurant when you’re. No reservations, but we went early enough that we didn’t have to wait.
Can’t forget the candy store Pasteles. We stopped by for ice cream every day after pool or beach. The candy was generic taste as was most of the dessert. But ice cream was our winner for sure. They also had the best chocolate and white covered strawberries.
There are 2 beaches: Norte beach, near Habaneros was beautiful. The soft sand made it an excellent spot for kids. Sahara beach was a few more steps (on other side). VERY calm, and soft sand. The kids club rented toys so we were able to use there for the kids.
For the pools, we didn’t have any issues with finding chairs. We went out about 9:30. There is a lot of umbrellas so ask someone to help setup your chairs. Given them a few bucks as a tip. They work hard to please you.
For cabanas, we rented one but with the umbrellas, you may not need one unless very little kids who want to rest. The kids were in the water most of the time anyway.
Activities and entertainment are plenty throughout the resort but they flip flop to which pool they’ll keep busier. At the club pool, they set up a water obstacle course on two of the days we were there—a hit with the whole family. The kids were all about arts and crafts, but they also had wax hands, created masks, personalized beach bags and hats. On a rainy day, they spent hours at the kids' club, not wanting to leave. The staff in the kids club is wonderful. My daughter in law was very impressed. We all wished there was kids club stayed open later so parents could go do dinner, even just one night of extended hours. There was singers, dancers, and performers out by the norte pool every day. Music and just fun. There wasn’t a foam party there (that we could see).
One thing I can comment about this resort – it’s impeccably clean and beautiful setting. Housekeeping deserves big kudos. Tip the housekeepers!
Just in case you want some tips:
1-use the fast lane at the airport if no kids (electronic immigration scans your passport).
2-pack light as you are in your trunks or swimsuit for most of the day.
3-ask staff for help. Don’t settle; if something isn’t right, they will make it right (but don't be mean or overly needy, be respectful). The staff take great pride in their work and to please guests.
4-if you want to work out, the gym is one of the best we’ve seen.
5-go for beach walks early in morning or late in day; too hot in mid day.
6-Get best prices thru a member. Our friends told us about their trip and saved thru a member of vacation club to book through and compared rates. HIGHLY recommend doing this! Saved us a lot of money (over $1000). I mentioned above that there were timeshare sales when we arrived. When we booked with the member, we specifically asked if we had to sit through membership presentation. We did NOT, so we were well prepared in advance that no sales pitch was required. The member is from Real Club Resorts (not the same as the timeshare at Ziva) and she has a Facebook group but you can send me a private message and I can give you her contact information, too.
Her group is facebook. com/groups/allinclusivediscounts. We've done this a few times with her and also booked our Zilara trip (review coming soon) thru her. Wyndham Alltra as well. Thinking about Royalton next.
7-we didn’t leave the resort for activities except shopping one day. If the kids asked for an activity, we contacted the entertainment staff to give us a rundown of what we could do. But between kids club and the entertainment crew, we were busy.
8-spa is expensive, but we did indulge for my wife and DIL.
9-gift shop is unaffordable. Walk a few blocks to the flea market or mall. LOTS of stuff available nearby (you’ll be hounded by the sellers but we just smiled and kept walking until we found what we wanted). Sunblock is crazy expensive and half the price at the pharmacy down the road.
10-they'll blow up floaties at the store down by the pool
11-make sure you are booking HYATT Ziva CANCUN not HYATT Ziva RIVIERA Cancun. We met two families that originally thought they were same resort and iniitally booked at RIviera Cancun thinking it was Cancun. They are not. While Ziva Riviera is nice, the Cancun site is so much better. Using a member discount (see #6 above) makes Cancun more affordable. But the prices at Riviera are significantly less. Hyatt should consider changing the name!

First of all “All glory to Lord Jesus”
Secondly, Thanks for this amazing group and for your support during the journey.honestly, it was really helpful to see the comments and the responses and all the advices. You guys are amazing.
Here are some tips from my personal experience especially I am not native English speaker:

• MINDSET is the key.
• Time management is vital.make some milestone for yourself ( during the exam)
• The outlines document is the magic tool for success.
• SH is the most important study tool ( I found in the exam at least 4 or 5 repeated questions from there)
• Make an error logs for your mistakes.
• Familiarise yourself with the vocabulary. (One word is enough to change your understanding)
• Try the exam sample to be familiar with the real exam software.

Exam day: - Have a good breakfast. - Take breaks and eat well ( by the way, you will manage the break time by YOURSELF not the staff centre ). - Use the highlighter tool it will help u to focus. - It is okay to find that you repeat the sample answer in different questions. - No calculation, 4 bad hard drag questions, 1 fill in blank , the rest is situational based questions. - Many questions on hybrid and move from waterfall to agile.I will say 70 agile/ 30 predictive.
Don’t: - Study the day before the exam just rest and sleep. - Eat strange foods before the exam. - Drink Alcohol before the exam day.
My study - SH plus - AR course 35 hours - David video 150,200,100 questions - David video on 7 addition one hour Overall, I repeat those materials at least two times. My score in SH exams was ( 71, 69, 73,71, 59)
If someone did it , so you can do it…Don’t give up.
Let me know if I can support, all the best.
Cheers

Dark plots, fantasy, SoL, and ect. Looking for all!
You can call me Ty, I’m a 20 year old male who loves to roleplay. I have a couple plots as well as rules and all that boring stuff.
Rules~
1~don’t come into my dms with a hey, wanna rp, hi, or anything that’s like one sentence. Tell me a bit about your self and what kinda roleplayer you are, if you have any plots. It’s not needed but a sample of your writing is great.
2~ please no minors.
3~ semi lit to advanced lit. I’m looking for someone who can ATLEAST write a well detailed paragraph but I prefer more but that’s up to you.
4~ please use real face claims and not anime, drawings are ok as long as they are semi realistic.
5~ 3rd person only.
6~ discord only.
Ok those are all my rules. I’ll share a few plots here however I have more in my notes so if none of these intrest you let me know and we can find something or come together and make a plot that fits us both.
Plots~ 1~ A weird situation.
Your my brothers ex wife however your vacation was already planned before the you caught him cheating. We’ve been friends since children and I was the one who introduced you to him. Both our ocs are from West Virginia and the vacation is in New York or somewhere else.
You decided to go and so did I however were from different classes as I’m often getting in trouble with the law and my big brother is a successful businessman who’s rich. I am youngest child and the second oldest brother is who bought my hotel room but as I get to the hotel a couple minutes before you I find out my hotel room was canceled and I have to sleep on the couch of the penthouse room you got. (Long term, slow burn, SoL, drama, present time, romance.)
2~ Polar opposites.
Two people with cybernetic powers both “lab rats from the same lab.” My character has advanced past the center and sent out to be allowed to roam and live life, being called for “jobs” any escaped test subject he would hunt down and kill or bring back alive. Your the prodigy of a doctor named Markus Shizuoka. A woman made from an embryo.
One day she escapes from the facility breaking out and seeking her freedom. My character gets the job to seek a hit out on her. He tracks her down and captures her but after seeing just how strong she is he has a plan he’s always hated the facility. (More in depth on his bio once we start.) he helps her get back at them by blowing up the facility. We decide what happens after. (Long term, action, romance, sci fi, semi futuristic, slow burn, rough topics)
3~ The broken love.
Your a new hire to a rich ceo of a rich man who’s married. Your his secretary. Recently him and his wife have been falling out of love. They tried having a kid but that only made it worse after the miscarriage.
The relationship you have with him is completely platonic atleast for now. He has a huge business trip coming up in Japan and what a better way to fight for his marriage by then take his wife with him. Plot twist she makes up a reason to not come. He already bought two tickets and decided to ask you to come with him. You agree and we decide what happens in the mean time.
The trip ends up coming up short from him not booking the hotel long enough so they head back. He comes home to his wife cheating on him and now needs a place to stay. Where will he stay a hotel, the house of his intern, or the office. (Long term, slow burn, drama, sol, modern times, romance.)
4~ The toxic man. !
You meet a man at a bar. Extremely good looking, well spoken, has money. You get into him talking to him getting to know him exchanging numbers. For some reason you can’t get your mind off him and you can’t figure out why.
He ends up being extremely toxic, cheating, lying, keeping secrets about how he has money. (It would great for you to also be toxic and maybe a bit crazy for him.) (Long term, sensitive topics, slow burn, drama, romance, modern times.)
5~ the restraunt A new restaurant opens up in the ghetto’s of Chicago. Serving breakfast from 7am-4pm. You play as a new higher and I’m the owner of the restaurant. However both The restraunt and I have a dark secret I’m a arms/drug dealer using the reatraunt to launder money and sell drugs and guns. (Long term, romance, dark themes.)
Hi thanks for reading my post, I can’t wait to hear from you all and hope to hear from you soon. Have a great day and if you have ANY questions what so ever don’t be scared to dm me. Have a great day or night!

I am making a Mother’s Day Brunch, but my only days to prep were today and tomorrow, and the brunch isn’t until Sunday. - I am also transporting these things to my mom’s house where the brunch will be served. Basically I’m just trying to figure out if my plan is flawed and if my methods of freezing/reheating things will be okay. Also if the menu is lacking something. The only thing I’m personally thinking is maybe a veggie tray or more savoury salad. My family isn’t particularly fancy likes things on the more ‘boring side’ lol.
Menu:
Ham and Swiss Quiche
Red pepper, spinach, onion and Parmesan Quiche
Scrambled eggs
Maple sausages
Breakfast maple baked beans
Roasted breakfast potatoes
Strawberry cheese danishes
Blueberry scones
Chocolate chip banana bread
Fresh sourdough (bought from local bakery) for toast with homemade raspberry jam
Fresh fruit salad
Lemon cake with raspberry jam filling and raspberry buttercream (my mom has been wanting this so I wanted to surprise her with it for Mother’s Day - I know cake isn’t really a brunch item though haha)
The plan:
Today I baked both quiches, made the raspberry jam, and the danishes. I froze the quiches and danishes, and fridge for the jam. Just began soaking the beans.
Tomorrow:
Chop potatoes and par boil, then rough them up a bit to hopefully get crispy edges when roasted. Then freeze boiled potatoes spread out on a sheet pan. Then transfer to freezer bag once solid.
Bake and freeze banana bread
Bake and freeze scones
Get beans in slow cooker, then freeze in freezer bags.
Bake cake sponges, cool, then assemble the cake and freeze wrapped in Saran Wrap.
Make buttercream.
Saturday night:
Chop fresh fruit salad
Decorate cake then store in fridge
Defrost basically alllll the things in the fridge except potatoes
Buy the sourdough
Sunday morning:
Take cake out to come to room temp cook sausages and scrambled eggs fresh
Refresh danishes, scones, quiches and baked beans in the oven.
Coat potatoes in oil/spices and then roast from frozen (I read this is better than thawing them - but I’m a little scared about it)
Make a glaze and drizzle the danishes
Slice banana bread and sour dough.

This is a work in progress, I’d love to add to it! Feel free to ask questions or suggest things to add. (Bear with me as I edit to add links)
GENERAL MERCH - SECONDHAND
If you’ve been wondering where to buy TWST merch, you may have heard of Mercari Japan. Mercari is a secondhand site that’s commonly used in Japan to sell merch and collectibles. There is an American branch of Mercari, but it seems to be run completely separately - recently Mercari US has done some shady stuff with returns and charging the buyers fees, I’ve never seen anything to do with that on Mercari JP. The ‘culture’ is also pretty different than any NA based secondhand site I’ve been on. People sell clothes, things cluttering up their house, handmade items, high value collector’s items and more all on the same site. It’s like a combination of poshmark, original etsy, and eBay. It’s also the best place to get TWST stuff, unless you happen to catch an Aniplex pre order. You need a shopping service to help you buy because you don’t live in Japan, but it’s really no big deal!
What’s a shopping service?
A shopping service (also called a proxy) is a company that purchases the things you want for you. You select items, send the money to the shopping service, and they purchase them. Items are shipped to the shopping service, and when they receive everything; you pay for international shipping. Then you get a big box of items, yay!
So how much is shipping?
The international ‘light packet’ shipping is about 30$ CAD or 22$ USD. I can only speak for North America, if anyone has approximate costs for other countries I’d love to add that. You can get quite a bit in a box before the shipping goes up, in my experience - I’ve paid 30 for shipping and recieved a box full of items approximately the size of a large shoebox (like that you might buy boots in). If you’re looking at small items like nuis, zipper pouches and buttons you can buy quite a bit and make that shipping worth your while. I’ve gone up to about 70$ CAD before in shipping, usually buying quite a lot (ordering stuff for friends and/or bulkier items like in box nendoroids or the large plushies).
How much are items?
Your best value will be in ‘lots’ of items people are selling - for TWST this is usually grouped by character or just by dorm. It really depends on how popular the dorm/characters you are interested in is, for how good the deals will be! Also if you’re looking for event/birthday items, those tend to be pricier or require more hunting around to find a good price. You can often find a lot of items with a handful of keychains, an acrylic standee or two, some pins, a couple of cards and maybe a nui or two for around 10$. Many of the common items are often in these lots, so I never go out of my way to buy them on their own. If I buy something on its own, it’s usually because it’s rare or special (lately this has been birthday pins for me).
These items are secondhand. Are they clean?
Anyone who’s bought secondhand items, especially online, knows that sometimes the condition is misrepresented. There can be undisclosed damage, dirt/pet hair, things stinking of smoke etc. I’ve literally never had this problem on the Japanese market - sometimes there’s photos of ‘damage’ I can’t even see, and often things are heavily discounted for reasons like ‘I own a cat’. Things still wrapped in original plastic will have ‘this is stored by an amateur, purchase with caution’ in their description. Everything is nicely packaged and all clothing items I’ve bought have been washed (sometimes with a laundry detergent I don’t like the smell of, but I’m washing it myself anyways!).
On Poshmark/Depop you often have to talk to the seller. Is Mercari JP like that?
Not at all. If there is any messaging the seller involved, the shopping service takes care of it for you.
How do I buy?
I use the shopping service Buyee. You can search directly through them and even save your fave searches on your profile to check them easily, which I love. Buyee also lets you buy directly from a number of other sites big like Rakuten and Yahoo JP, and combine it all together into one order they ship for you. I haven’t found anywhere near as much TWST stuff on those sites as on Mercari, but it is convenient! Once you find something you like, you can put it in your cart to think about it or buy it right away. The purchase screen shows you the purchase price plus the 300 yen shipping service price. Some services take a percentage instead, but the flat fee is great for those lots of items and higher priced items. It is not so great for things like single buttons which may be priced around 300 yen themselves. There’s also a dropdown menu with ‘purchase protection package’ which has 0, 300 and 500 yen options. It will be automatically set to the highest option. This may be worthwhile for a very high value collectible or something fragile, but I have always happily set it to 0. Everything is always well packed and I have no reservations about doing this! You can pay with a credit card that you have the option to save on the account. Then it’ll show up in your ‘orders’ tab (you can see it if you click on your cart!) and you’ll be able to see when buyee completes the order, when the item ships and when they recieve it. Occasionally an item will be sold out, or the seller will cancel, and in that case buyee refunds you immediately. Once an item arrives at buyee, they’ll keep it for 30 days (I believe you can extend for a fee? I haven’t personally done it).
How do I ship my items?
Once they all arrive (you’ll get an email when each one comes in) click on ‘package information’ on the top bar and then ‘in storage’. You’ll see that they have a shipping estimate for each individual item, but we’re going to put them all together. Click select all, and then consolidate package. You’ll be asked about additional protective packaging - again, their default packaging is quite secure, I only got additional packaging once when I bought a ceramic item. Confirm that you want to consolidate. This takes about a day, and then you’ll be able to see shipping costs for your complete package. Simply choose what shipping company you want (availability and price will vary depending on where you are and what you’ve bought), pay the shipping fee and they’ll send out your package! Now you just have to wait for it to arrive.
So… how do I find items?
One of the best ways to find specific types of merch is to just search ツイステッドワンダーランド (Twisted Wonderland) by category. ツイステッ seems to be used the same way we say TWST, so you can experiment with that too! My favourite category search is fashion -> women, which works as a pretty good catch all for things like bags, shirts, PJs etc. If you’re looking for stuff that doesn’t fall into plushies/keychains/buttons/standees, it’s a good one. Books, magazines & manga -> manga is good for doujinshi. Games, toys & goods -> toys -> plush doll will get you all of the plushies. Most other types of stuff you might want will be in the ‘character goods’ category under Games, toys & goods. You’ll see pin badges, acrylic stands and key rings all under there as separate categories!
Generally the other keywords I find useful are the dorms and character names. I’ll include those in a comment below - most of them you can straight run through google translate, but a few of them don’t come out quite right.
You can sort things a few ways, I find price low->high or newly added to be the most useful! The price search is good for deals, but you usually have to scroll through tons of pages of just bundles of the cards to get there, that’s pretty much always what’s priced the lowest.
DOUJINSHI
You can buy used doujin on Mercari, and this can be good for getting a bundle of one pairing. However… buyee strictly doesn’t allow any 18+ content to show in searches, and they won’t purchase it. Even if you don’t want 18+ doujin, what about new stuff?
The answer is Toronoana, a marketplace just for doujinshi where they appear to be listed by the artists themselves. If you follow an artist on Twitter, they usually announce when they’re releasing a doujin - however, you can feel free to just browse a pairing. Search a character’s name (translated, of course) and when you find a listing with the pairing you want, you can click it there to see everything filed under that pairing. Keep in mind that doujin still very strictly follow the TopxBottom format, so if you want to see all content for a pairing you’ll have to make sure you check both versions. If you don’t want to see 18+ content, don’t worry - it’s listed under two completely different tabs. Each listing has a short description as well as a few sample pages, so you can see what the art and vibe is like.
If I can’t use buyee, what do I use?
Anime Otaku Carry Service. This one is actually a little weird compared to other shopping services, but once it’s set up it’s surprisingly easy to use! You’ll need an account on both Toronoana and AOCS. When you make your AOCS account, it’ll prompt you to link your Toronoana account. This is pretty easy and well explained on the AOCS site while you’re doing it. Once you’ve done that, you can pretty much shop right on Toronoana! If you see a book you like that’s out of stock, there’s also a spot to click to email you if it gets reprinted. The thing that confused me a little is that when you submit the books you want purchased, you don’t pay for them. AOCS orders them for you and once they all arrive you pay for the books and the shipping at the same time. Super convenient for stuff like preorders, but I definitely felt like I’d done something wrong the first time I ordered!
FANMADE ITEMS
Let me know your fave artists and makers, I only know a few and I’d love to have more.
TyrentArt on Etsy - charms, photo card holders, photo cards
Birdcrumb on Etsy - charms, prints, etc
MarkeTaico on Etsy - charms
Dangerous Ladies - cosplay kits and files

I am sharing tips unique to me, so it might not be helpful to everyone. But I hope it could provide insight to many people.

My Stats

1. First Timer. Studied Full-Time
2. Themis
   • MBE
     • UWorld MBE average = 69% (roughly 1600 questions)
     • Themis MBE average = 64% (roughly 1860 questions)
     • Average Time per Question = 1 minute 15 seconds (I ended the actual bar exam, one-hour early, for both morning and afternoon MBE sessions.)
   • MEE
     • Graded Essays ranged 55-65%
     • Graded CPT = 60% or 65% I don't remember exactly.
   • Completed 82% of Themis Program
3. GPA
   1. 3.7 for Undergrad
   2. 3.7 for Graduate School
   3. 3.3 @ Unranked, ABA-accredited law school that often gets ABA compliance letters.

Exam Day

1. Bring your PR study guide on Test Day.
   • Most likely, PR will be on the exam.
   • Essay day is divided into two sessions: Morning and Afternoon.
   • If PR does not come up in the morning, I know PR will be on the afternoon. So, review PR notes during lunch if that happens.
2. Bring a clock to the exam.
   • If you follow bar exam subreddit(s) often enough, you’ll find that some testing centers reportedly did not have a clock. So, bring a clock: https://a.co/d/2wRQGqL (this is not a referral link). Run White-Out through the logo if you're worried about proctors who lack sound discretion.
   • Set the dial to 12 o’clock before you start the exam, both in the morning and afternoon sessions.
   • When 1 o’clock hits, I should move onto essay two. Then 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock… you get the idea.
3. Know your digestive needs and food reactions
   • I did not want to waste time using the restroom during the exam, so I avoided caffeine.
   • I never get diarrhea whenever I drink Atkins milkshake. So, I drank Atkins milkshake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two days. The only food I had other than the Atkins milkshake was OJ in the morning.
   • Side note: I noticed that women deal with more inconvenience than men. Like some ladies in my study group talked about using birth control for the exam . . . I have no idea how that stuff works (or why) . . . but it sounded very important to prevent test day interruptions. Know your biological demands. Be prepared.
4. Avoid booking first floor and/or front side of the hotel
   • People come in-and-out of hotels, day and night. Avoid any area where high foot-traffic is likely. Sleep is incredibly important to optimal performance.
   • I hate spending money. But this is not the time to save money by booking a motel.
   • I booked a backyard crib via Airbnb. I read the reviews, of course.
   • There are thousands of test-takers. It's better to book early than later.

MBE (Multiple Choice)

I scored in the 145-150 band (see NCBE website). NCBE says about 30% of people scored higher than 145 in 2019 (source). According to this source and this, 145-150 translates to scoring roughly 69-74% in the MBE. Flexing in these ranges would be dumb, so I am not flexing here. But I will say this: 69-74% is about where I scored during practice. As you can see below, I scored 64% on Themis and Barbri. And 76% on Quimbee:

Vendor	Average Score	Total Solved (estimate)
Themis (Paid by School)	64%	1860
Barbri (Floating 2019 stuff)	64%	180
UWorld (Paid by School)	69%	1600
Adaptibar (Paid by School)	90%	10
Bar Prep Hero (Free Sample)	73%	112
Quimbee (Free Sample)	76%	66

Wait, Koko! 64% is less than 69%

Some people say that Themis and Barbri questions are more difficult than the NCBE questions. I agree. And I think even Themis indirectly admitted here:
Source: Official Themis message to students
I started out as one of the most underperforming MBE test-taker in the beginning. I don't mean to sound self-depreciating. That's an objective fact. I scored 0 on the first 10 question set:
https://preview.redd.it/6yk4pctu5vyc1.png?width=2566&format=png&auto=webp&s=98045fbc1c64f7cc1c0d248b64c34d592d98f10b
As you can see above, I generally scored between 0-40s on the first two weeks (any score above 60 is a small set). I was psychologically fucked up at this point. Each dot represents a battle. One battle per day. I gave it 100%
Luckily, over time, gradually but surely, my score increased and became less scattered. I started scoring above 60s and 70s. Sadly, scoring a consistent 80+ was really hard.
All that said, I always had the following in mind when solving MBE during practice.

1. Be honest with your assessments
   • At times, I thought about looking up my rulebook. I had to stop myself whenever that happened. Don't do it. If you reference rules before selecting an answer, that's just cheating. Whatever excuse that comes out of my mouth is a way to calm the cognitive dissonance. Only with honest assessment, I can be confident later on that my performance statistics most reliably predicts the real thing. There is no guarantee of course. But I will take honest stats over manufactured predictions any day.
2. Take one step at a time
   • I solved about 30 MBE questions a day. It took about half a day reviewing these questions. That's because I review ALL questions–correct or incorrect. I think quality learning is more important than half-hearted quantity.
3. Develop peer mentors
   • This is unorthodox I suppose. I was a part of discord study group. Of the seven CA test takers (🥥🏹🧈🦅🐳🐻🍼), six of us passed in Feb 2024. Maybe there were more, but it sure was higher than 34% passage rate. Oh, we were strangers when we met on discord.
   • Most of us interacted with each other, on a daily basis, for one reason or another. Personally, I found it extremely helpful to bounce off ideas on MBE questions, which was wayyyy more beneficial than Themis Q&A service.

Essays

1. Find a method that works for you
   • Forget what Koko says, what another Redditor says, or what Bar Prep guru says. Find a method that works for YOU.
2. Focus on Analysis than BLL
   • Most of your scores in essays come from analyses than rule statements.
   • Every time I "used the facts," I crossed out facts in the paper copy. At the end of the essay, I made sure to cross out every fact in the hypo. I don't know if I connected the dots properly, but I am stacking points.
3. Memorize Outlines
   • Instead of memorizing BLL, I memorized outlines so that I do not miss issues. I don't care if I miss BLL. But I refuse to miss issue statements. That's because if I miss an issue statement, I will miss an entire section of analysis. That's a lot of points.
   • Like, who cares if I don't write "Offer" in BLL. It's better to write a shitty rule statement than to miss any entire section in Applicable Law, Offer, Termination, Acceptance, Consideration, Defenses, Breach, Condition, Remedies.
   • Make stuff up. Manufacturer BLL and run with it. If you have wrong BLL, then you get some points. If you miss an issue, you miss accompanying analysis, which is bulk of the points. If you're crunching time, memorizing outlines >>> memorizing BLL.

Quick story on Arrogance and Failure

Hold up, Koko. Don’t be calling people arrogant.

I get it. It’s not in good form or taste to call people arrogant. But wait y’all. Please read my story first.
On our last semester, my cohort took a mandatory pre-bar-prep course. There was this one dude who bragged that he can just "wing" the bar exam without studying because "[I am] smarter than the average law student." Yes, those were his words. And he said this out loud, multiple times, in front of everyone.
Then he went on talking about how he winged the LSAT and still "made it." Some of us shared our thoughts later, and we all concluded that this guy is a complete dumbass who doesn't know that he is a dumbass . . . like bruh you're at an unranked law school where 75 percentile LSAT = 153. What exactly are you flexing here . . .
Needless to say, this guy failed July 2023. I typically sympathize with retakers. I could have been a retaker myself if things went south. But I cannot sympathize with this guy. Notably, he still says the same thing to this day I hear. But he did not retake in February 2024. Like Einstein said (the actual smart guy), “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” So, maybe he is more insane than stupid.
Sadly, this was not the first encounter meeting someone with false confidence. While anecdotal, not a single person I’ve met who projected false confidence passed the bar exam. It was only when they corrected their behavior (learned humbleness), the outcome changed for the better.
2 out of 3 people failed the CA bar exam this February. This is a hard exam. It's difficult to pass. Ego is not worth risking the embarrassment and fiasco. Stay confident without the attitude. Study. Put in the time. This exam requires your 110%

And Remember: You can do this.

If you ever doubt yourself, please think of me. I was the dumbass who scored 0s in the beginning. If I can pass the CA bar exam, so can you.

I want to preface this story by saying that while I am pretty much agnostic on a good day and an atheist on a bad day, I am a fan of horror and grew up in a fairly religious environment via a very evangelical Christian high school, so my point of view may be skewed by those influences. However, I do think whatever my fiance and I witnessed was at the very least, an extremely dangerous person.
For context, I started college in fall 2018, going to a university in a somewhat rural area. The college itself sits on a large plot of land surrounded by farmland and vineyards, with sections that are forested and have little trails running through them, and a creek that runs the length of school property. The college has even had a murder victim dumped in one of the wooded areas on campus, but that’s a story for another day.
Freshmen were required to live on campus their first year and one of the benefits of that was that we had unlimited access to the school cafeteria, aka the caf. The caf was pretty nice, boasting a salad bar, sandwich station, mini bakery, hot food with different menu’s daily, and pretty much every fountain drink you can think of. I would get lunch and dinner there with my only friend at the time (and who is now my fiancé), and we began to notice this boy who was always at the caf alone. It wasn’t uncommon to see students eating there alone, my school had pretty poor community outreach/ school spirit, but something was really off about this kid.
First off he had a very distinct look (this is important because we recognized him multiple times over 3 years), his skin was extremely pale and had this heavy, fleshy look to it that I struggle to describe, like he was made of wax, he had red curly hair (insert ginger joke here), a mouth a little too large for his face, but what was the strangest thing about him was his eyes. They were the same color as his hair, that bright red auburn, his iris was almost too big for his eye, and his pupils were always extremely dilated. His eyes had a bulging look, very similar to Mark Zuckerburg, like they were trying to escape his face. It’s hard to describe here but he just had a very unsettling look to him, it just felt that there was something very wrong, like there was nothing inside him.
But his appearance wasn’t what caught our attention at first, what caught our attention was the amount of food this kid could eat. Of course, having unlimited access to food some kids went overboard, but this kid was another level. He always had 5 or 6 cups of juice, soda, coffee, and 3-4 plates piled with food. Mind you, he was not large or overweight, but he would clear every plate and then just sit in his booth alone, staring into space with his headphones in. That was another thing, he always had this blank, vacant expression, always staring into nothing. Whenever you walked past his booth you could hear that the music from his headphones was on full blast.
We began to notice that no matter what time we went to the caf, whether it be for a late-night snack, breakfast, a random afternoon craving, he was always there, sitting alone in the ruins of his empty plates. And we weren’t the only people who noticed his strange behavior. By second semester, people began approaching him, at first just some girls jokingly saying something to the effect of “we strive to be on your level,” referencing his eating habits, and he just stared at them blankly. People began to ask if he was ok, if he would like to join them, but he always just stared, sometimes with a knowing smile on his face, but would never reply, leaving the students to depart awkwardly. Once I even witnessed one of the caf attendants telling him he needed to stop spending all his time there.
My friend that I always ate with became my boyfriend, and we began to theorize what exactly this kid’s deal was. We said maybe mental illness, or maybe he was a competitive eater, or he was trying to bulk up, but his behavior seemed too empty, too neurotic to be explained away by any of these. Our main theory, the one I subscribe to now, did not come till much later.
My sophomore year I opted to live on campus again, and in the middle of my second semester, COVID hit. My school allowed us to remain on campus until the school year was up, and due to some personal reasons of not wanting to go home, I remained in my dorm, and my boyfriend joined me and we quarantined together. That time was so strange because our campus became an incredibly liminal space without all the other students. Some others remained with us, but on any given day you could walk the entire campus and not run into another soul. My boyfriend and I started running the wooded trails on campus to get exercise.
One day we stopped on one of the trails to do some burpees. As we did so, the kid from the caf, emerged from some trees, not on any trail, just walked out of the woods and started running toward us. This really caught us off guard because we rarely saw anyone, and he just maid a beeline toward us. RIght as he ran up on us he stopped. Just smiled at us knowingly, as if we shared some joke, but it was not a nice smile, it was incredibly nasty, sinister even. I don’t know if I felt that way because he had scared us, but something was off. We had never spoken to him those times at the caf but he seemed to recognize us. The other thing that was weird was that he was jacked, way taller and just larger than he ever had been freshman year. It wasn’t just that he gained muscle mass, he just seemed like scaled up, like he hit a massive growth spurt, which I suppose is plausible, but it just seemed really off.
We were both shaken by the experience and began to joke that he had been eating so much to store up energy so he could level up or something. Then one of us, I forget which, suggested he looked so strange because it was a demon wearing a human’s skin and was eating so much to build strength for his demonic powers, and that’s how he grew so quickly. Like I said it began as a joke, but the more we discussed it, the more it just seemed to explain not only his odd appearance but his odd behavior toward other students, the empty look in his eyes.
Here’s where things went from weird to fucking terrifying:
My boyfriend and I forgot about him, and we moved out of my dorm into an apartment a few blocks from school as we were still finishing, and while school was mostly online now, I liked the area. The same creek that ran the length of our school campus ran behind our complex, and as it was still COVID lockdown and we had nothing to do, we would go on long walks up and down the creek.
One evening we went for a walk at dusk and by the time we got to the main road our apartment was on it was completely dark. It was extremely quiet, and as we walked along the road we saw we were coming up on a man walking very slow and deliberate. My hackles were up immediately as our apartment is in a seedy area and there were a lot of homeless and unstable people who sometimes hung out around the creek. And there was just something about his walk, it was so deliberate, and predatory. As we crossed paths with the man he walked even slower, and in the dim light of streetlamps I realized I recognized him as that same kid, that same waxy face, and bulging eyes. I also realized that in one hand he held a paper bag with something big and round in it, while in the other he held a crowbar. A fucking crow bar. He slowed down even more as he passed us and turned his whole head and smiled at us. This time there was no mistake when I tell you it was the most threatening, sinister smile I have ever seen, and it had that same knowing in it, like he knew us and we shared some joke. He didn’t say anything, just stared at us with his horrible eyes. I don’t know if I’ve just read too many creepypastas or if I’m overthinking things, but I knew on an animalistic level he wanted to hurt us and wanted us to know he could.
After we passed him, we took off running, and when we returned to the apartment, we were both in a full-blown panic, even my boyfriend who tends to be pretty levelheaded and skeptical wanted to call the police. We did and as soon as we began to explain the situation, we felt pretty foolish. They asked if he threatened us, and we said not verbally but we felt threatened. Despite the absurdity of our call they said they would look into it because obviously there’s not a lot of non-nefarious reasons to be walking around at night with a crowbar. But we never heard anything, and we never saw him again.
To close this, I just think the whole thing is strange, how this kid kept showing up in our lives over 3 years, and always seemed to recognize us, always seemed to want to let us know he knew us. I think as people we know when there’s just something off about a person, when there’s nothing going on inside. People have said as much about sociopaths they’ve had run-ins with. But I want to know what you guys think, did I encounter the Antichrist leveling up? A demon? Or a really troubled kid who became a dangerous man? Maybe he was just a depressed kid, but I will hold firm that we were, at the very least, threatened by this guy, that we wanted to hurt us, and that we encountered something or someone evil. What do you think?
P.S. I did some rudimentary google searches for police reports in the area for assault with a crowbar, and some other things that might had related but could not find anything.

Excert taken from Robert Monroe's second book: Far Journeys. Starting on page 162
The context: Monroe is given a vision while currently having an out-of-body experience. His vision was about how this planet game into existence, and why. This version of Earth is not the first attempt at a successful harvesting of Loosh. The original "Crops" did not produce as much as humans do now. Our hearts and emotions generate far more energy that the animals.
This account adds nuance to the prison planet theory. The big issue with people using Monroe's coined term, "loosh" is that what is actually going on isn't as "evil" as most people think. It's more... ignorance. Read and you'll see.
"Someone, Somewhere (or both, in millions, or uncountable) requires, likes, needs, values, collects, drinks, eats, or uses as a drug (sic) a substance ident Loosh. (Electricity, oil, oxygen, gold, wheat, water, land, old coins, uranium.) This is a rare substance in Somewhere, and those who possess Loosh find it vital for whatever it is used for. Faced with this question of Supply and Demand (a universal law of Somewhere), Someone decided to produce it artificially, so to speak, rather than search for it in its "natural" form. He decided to build a Garden and grow Loosh. In the natural state, Loosh was found to originate from a series of vibrational actions in the carbon-oxygen cycle and the residue was Loosh in varying degrees of purity. It occurred only during such action, and secondarily during the reactive process. Prospectors from Somewhere ranged far and wide in search of Loosh sources and new discoveries were hailed with much enthusiasm and reward.
So it was that Someone and his Garden changed all this. Far off, in a remote area, he set to work on his experiment. First, he created a proper environment for the carbon-oxygen cycle, where it would flourish. He created a Balance with much care, so that proper radiation and other nourishment would be in continuous supply. He then tried his First Crop, which actually did produce Loosh, but only in small quantities and of comparatively low grade, not significant enough to take back to the heart of Somewhere. The problem was twofold. The life period was too short and the crop units themselves were too minute. This brought about limits in quality and quantity, as the crop had no time to generate Loosh in such close tolerances. Moreover, the Loosh could be harvested only at the moment of termination of the life span, not one moment before.
His Second Crop was no better, if as good. He changed the environment to another part of the Garden, where the density was gaseous rather than liquid and the higher-density chemicals formed a solid base and thus were still available. He planted numberless units in many varieties in a new form, with a great increase in size, some many thousands of times larger and more complex than the simple unicellular First Crop. He reversed the carbon-oxygen cycle. Yet all had a basic uniformity. Like the First Crop, they would reseed at regular intervals and terminate their life spans automatically. To avoid the uneven distribution of chemicals and radiation which had been prevalent in the First Crop, he immobilized the Second Crop. Each was designed to stay principally in its own section of the Garden. To this end, each was given firm tendrils which burrowed deep in the more dense chemical matter. Attached to this was a stem or trunk which helped elevate the upper portion upward for its share of needed radiation. The upper portion, broad, thin, and somewhat fragile, was designed as a transducer of carbon-oxygen compounds to and from the crop unit. As an added thought, brilliant color radiators accompanied by small particle generators were mounted on each unit, usually near the top and symmetrically centered.
He set up circulating patterns in the gaseous envelope around the crop, principally to aid in the reseeding process. Later, he discovered that the same turbulent effect served as a means of harvesting the Loosh. If the turbulence were violent enough, the Crop would be blown down, the life span terminated, and the Loosh would discharge. This was especially use- ful when an immediate Loosh supply was desired at a particular point rather than at Harvest Time. Despite all of this, the Second Crop was most unsatisfactory. While it was true that a much greater quantity was attained, the unrefined Loosh produced was of such low grade that it was scarcely worth the effort. In addition, the growth period was now too long and no increase in quality resulted. Some vital element was missing. Someone hovered over his Garden for a long period in study before he attempted the Third Crop. It was indeed a challenge. True, he was par- tially successful. He had grown Loosh. Yet the product of his efforts fell far short of the wild, uncultivated variety.
It was inevitable that he perceived the answer. The Third Crop was living proof of this Truth. The original carbon-oxygen cycle must be in- cluded. Mobility must be restored. Both factors had shown great promise in high-grade Loosh production. If size could be added to this, much could be accomplished. With this plan in the forefront, Someone removed various sample units from the First Crop, which was still thriving in the liquid portion of the Garden. He modified them to exist and grow in the gaseous area. He adapted them first to take nourishment from the Second Crop, which he permitted to abound for this very purpose. Thus it was that the first of the Mobiles, the Third Crop, came into being. The Mobiles took nourishment from the Second Crop, thus ending its life span and producing lowgrade Loosh. When each huge Mobile terminated its own life span, additional Loosh was produced. The quantity was massive, but the frequency pattern of the Loosh residue still left much to be desired.
It was by accident that Someone came upon the Prime Catalyst as regards Loosh production. The monstrous and slow-moving Mobiles had a life span far out of proportion to their nourishment input. The growth and life-termination process was of such length that soon the Mobiles would all but decimate the Second Crop. The entire Garden would be out of balance, and there would be no Loosh production whatsoever. Both the Second and Third Crop faced extinction. As the Second Crop grew scarce, energy needs of the Mobiles became acute. Often two Mobiles would seek to ingest the identical Second Crop unit. This created Conflict, which resulted in physical struggle among two or more of the ungainly Mobiles. Someone observed these struggles, at first bemused with the problem, then with great interest. As the struggles ensued, the Mobiles were emanating Loosh! Not in fractional amounts, but in sizable, usable quantities and of a much higher purity.
He quickly put the theory to the test. He removed another unit of First Crop from the liquid Garden area, redesigned it for the gaseous environment—but with one significant change. The new Mobile would be somewhat smaller, but would require the ingestion of other Mobiles for nourishment. This would solve the problem of overpopulation of Mobiles, and at the same time would create good quantities of usable Loosh during each conflict-struggle, plus a bonus if the new class of Mobile terminated the life span of the other. Someone would be able to transmit to Somewhere practical amounts of reasonably pure Loosh. Thus it was that the Rule of the Prime Catalyst came into being. Conflict among carbon-oxygen cycle units brings forth consistent emanations of Loosh. It was as simple as that. Satisfied that he had found the formula, Someone prepared the Fourth Crop. He knew now that the Third Crop Mobiles were too large and too long in life span to be ultimately practical. If grown in large numbers, the entire Garden would have to be expanded and enlarged. There was not space enough to grow such massive single units and the proportionate leafy Second Crops to support them. Also, he reasoned correctly that more rapid and increased mobility would expand the Conflict factor, with a resultant higher Loosh output.
In one single motion, Someone terminated the life spans of all the lumbering Third Crop Mobiles. (Note: Dinosaur extinction?) Going back to the First Crop in the liquid area, he modified and expanded them into a multitude of shapes and sizes, gave them complex multicellular structures of high mobility. He designed into them a pattern of balance. There were those that ingested a Second Crop type of carbon-cycle unit (basically immobile) as an energy source. There were others, very highly mobile, who required for energy the ingestion of other mobile Modified First Crop units. The completed circuit operated quite satisfactorily. The stationary Second Crop modification in the liquid environment flourished. Small, highly active liquid-breathing Mobiles took nourishment, "ate" the Second Crop modification. Larger and/or other active Mobiles consumed for energy the smaller "plant eaters." When any Mobile grew too large and slow, it became an easy target for the smaller Mobiles, who attacked in voracious numbers. The chemical residue from these ingestive actions settled to the bottom of the liquid medium and so provided new nourishment for the Stationaries (Modified Second Crop), completing the circuit. The result was a steady flow of Loosh—from the life-span termination of the Stationaries, from the intense conflict among the Mobiles to avoid ingestion, and finally from the sudden termination of the life spans of such Mobiles as the inevitable product of such conflicts.
Turning to another portion of his Garden—the gaseous area with a dense-compound base—Someone applied the same techniques with even more advanced improvements. He added many varieties of Stationaries (original Second Crop) to provide sufficient and diverse nourishment for the new Mobiles he was to create. As in the other Garden area, he made such Mobiles into a balance of two species, those who ingested and drew energy from the Second Crop Stationaries, and those who required other Mobiles for sustenance. He created them in literally thousands of original types, small, large—yet none so large as the Third Crop Mobiles—and ingeniously gave each some appurtenance for conflict. These took the form of mass, elusive speed, deceptive and/or protective coating and color radiation, wave-action and particle perceptors and detectors, and unique higher-density protuberances for gouging, grasping, and rending during conflict. All of the latter served neatly to add to and prolong the conflict periods, with the resultant increase in Loosh emanation. (Note: In other words, being eaten alive produces more loosh than a quick death.)
As a side experiment, Someone designed and created one form of Mobile that was weak and ineffective by the standards of the other Mobiles in the Fourth Crop. Yet this experimental Mobile had two distinct advantages. It had the ability to ingest and take energy from both the Stationaries and other Mobiles. Second, Someone pulled forth a Piece of Himself —no other source of such Substance being known or available—to act as an intensive, ultimate trigger to mobility. Following the Rule of Attraction, Someone knew that such infusion would create in this particular Mobile species an unceasing mobility. Always, it would seek to satisfy the attraction this tiny mote of Himself engendered as it sought reunion with the infinite Whole. Thus the drive for satisfaction of energy requirements through ingestion would not be the only motivating force. More important, the needs and compulsions created by the Piece of Someone could not be satiated throughout the Garden. Thus the need for mobility would be ever-present and the conflict between this need and that of energy replacement would be constant—possibly a continuous high-order Loosh emanator if it survived.
The Fourth Crop exceeded all of Someone's expectations. It became apparent that a consistent, useful flow of Loosh was being produced in the Garden. The balance of "life" operated perfectly, with the Conflict Factor producing immense amounts of Loosh and a steady supplement brought into being by the constant life-span terminations from all types of Mobiles and Stationaries. To handle the output, Someone set up Special Collectors to aid in the harvest. He set up Channels to convey the raw Loosh from his Garden to Somewhere. No longer did Somewhere depend principally upon the "wild state" as the principal source of Loosh. The Garden of Someone had ended that.
With the success of the Garden and the production of Loosh by cultivated means, Others began to design and build their Gardens. This was in accordance with the Law of Supply and Demand (Vacuum is an unstable condition), as the amounts of Loosh from Someone's Garden only partially met the requirements of Somewhere. Collectors on behalf of the Others actually entered the Garden of Someone to take advantage of those small emanations of Loosh overlooked or ignored by the Collectors of Someone. (Note: Energy vampires, reptillians?) Someone, his work completed, returned to Somewhere and occupied himself with other matters. Loosh production stayed at a constant level under the supervision of the Collectors. The only alterations were ordered by Someone himself. Under instructions from Someone, the Collectors periodically harvested segments of the Fourth Crop. This was done to ensure adequate chemicals, radiation, and other nourishment for the younger, oncoming units. A secondary purpose was to provide occasional extra amounts of Loosh created by such harvesting.
To reap such harvest, the Collectors generated storms of turbulence and turmoil in both the gaseous envelope and the more solid chemical formations that were the base of the Garden itself. Such upheavals had the effect of terminating life spans of multitudes of the Fourth Crop as they were crushed under the rolling base formation or smothered under waves from the agitated liquid area of the Garden. (By peculiarity of design, Fourth Crop units could not maintain their carbon-oxygen cycle surrounded by the liquid medium.) The Garden pattern of "Life" might have gone on thus throughout eternity had it not been for the perception and inquisitiveness of Someone. On occasion, he would study samples of Loosh from his Garden. There was no motive in doing so, other than the fact that Someone may have held a remote continuing interest in his project.
On a particular analysis of a Loosh sample, Someone had casually examined the emanations and was about to return it to the Reservoir—when he became aware of a Difference. It was very slight, but there it was. His interest centered immediately, he looked again. Woven delicately in with the more common Loosh emanations was a slender fragment of purified and distilled Loosh. This was an impossibility. Purified and distilled Loosh resulted only after the "wild state" Loosh had been processed many times. The Loosh from the Garden of Someone required the same treatment before it could be used. Yet here it was—so finely graded in its refined radiations that it could or would not return into compound with the raw substance. Someone reaffirmed his tests, and the result still was positive. There was a factor in his Garden of which he was unaware.
Quickly, Someone left Somewhere and returned to his Garden. Outwardly, all seemed the same. The solid-base gaseous areas of the Garden were an endless carpet of green reflection from the thriving Second Crop. The Modified First Crop in the liquid area was in perfect accord with the Action-Reaction Law (a Division of Cause and Effect). Someone perceived without delay that the Difference—the source of distilled Loosh— lay neither with the First nor with the Second Crop. He found his first momentary touch of distilled Loosh emanation in one of the units of the Fourth Crop (which by then had filtered throughout the plantings of the Second Crop). The flash came during the unusual action of this unit as it entered into a life-terminating struggle with another Fourth Crop unit. This alone would not create distilled Loosh, Someone knew, and he probed deeper for the source.
It was at that moment he discovered the Difference. The Fourth Crop unit was not struggling in Conflict over an ingestible remnant of a weaker Fourth Crop unit or a tasty frond from a nearby Second Crop stem—or to avoid termination of life and ingestion by the other conflicting Fourth Crop unit. It was in Conflict to protect and save from life termination three of its own newly generated species huddled under a large Second Crop unit waiting for the outcome. (Love.) There was no doubt about it. This was the action that produced the flashes of distilled Loosh. With this clue, Someone examined the actions of other Fourth Crop units in the Garden. He found similar flashes when other Fourth Crop units took the same action in defense of their "young." Still, there was an inconsistency. The sum of all such flashes of distilled Loosh emanation from all such actions by the current Fourth Crop units would not amount to half of the total he had found in the sample from the Reservoir. It was obvious that another factor was present.
Systematically, he hovered over the Garden, extending his perception to all areas. Almost immediately, he found the source. High-order distilled Loosh radiation was originating from one particular section of the Garden. Quickly, he hurried to the spot. There it was—an experimental Modified Fourth Crop unit, one of those that contained a Piece of Himself in its functional pattern. It was standing alone under the leafy upper portion of a large Second Crop unit. It was not "hungry." It was not in Conflict with another Fourth Crop unit. It was not acting in defense of its "young." Then why did it emanate distilled Loosh in such great quantity? Someone moved closer. His perception entered into the Modified Fourth Crop unit and then he knew. The unit was lonely! It was this effect that produced distilled Loosh.
As Someone drew back, he noted another unusual inconsistency. The Modified Fourth Crop unit suddenly had become aware of His Presence. It had collapsed and was jerking in strange convulsions on the solid-base formation. Clear liquid was being expelled from the two radiation-perceiving orifices. With this, the distilled Loosh emitted became even more pronounced. It was from this that Someone propounded his now famous DLP Formula, which is in effect in the Garden at this time. The balance of the story is well known. Someone included the fundamental in his formula: ". . . The creation of pure, distilled Loosh is brought forth in Type 4M units by the action of unfulfillment, but only if such pattern is enacted at a vibratory level above the sensory bounds of the environment. The greater the intensity of said pattern, the greater the output of Loosh distillate. . . ."
To put the formula into effect, Someone designed subtle changes in his Garden, all of them familiar to every historian. The splitting of all Crop units into Halves (to engender loneliness as they sought to reunite) and the encouragement of dominance of the Type 4M unit are but two of the most noteworthy innovations. As it appears now, the Garden is a fascinating spectacle of efficiency. The Collectors have long since become Masters at the Art of the DLP Formula. Type 4M units dominate and have spread through the entire Garden, with the exception of the deeper portions of the liquid medium. These are the principal producers of Loosh distillate. From experience, the Collectors have evolved an entire technology with complementary tools for the harvesting of Loosh from the Type 4M units. The most common have been named love, friendship, family, greed, hate, pain, guilt, disease, pride, ambition, ownership, possession, sacrifice—and on a larger scale, nations, provincialism, wars, famine, religion, machines, freedom, industry, trade, to list a few. Loosh production is higher than ever before . . .
CLICK!
(Back to Monroe's perspective out of body with his astral friend, BB, who referrs to Monroe as, "RAM." BB is not from Earth, but a friend of his got interested in Earth and incarnated there. BB was looking for him and ran into Monroe on the Astral. Also keep in mind the two of them are communicating psychically so Monroe is translating best he can. It's why the words are in parenthesis.)
I was closed tightly, turned inward, stunned. My first reaction was, there had to be some mistake, this was not the story-history of earth, BB had it mixed up with some other port of call on their cruise schedule. Yet as I ran the rote again, the overlay of what little I knew of earth's zoological and human history was uncomfortably accurate, albeit from another perspective. The food chain of earth's ecobiologic system had been well established. Knowing this about Mother Nature, some of the hard-core philosophic speculators had often pondered where the human animal fit in the process. The downside was obvious, who ate us! Before, it had been just that, speculation.
Now . . . BB opened, plied. (You get the percept, RAM?)
I dulled. (Yeah, I get it.)
(Well, then,) BB went on, (what's Loosh got to do with learning?)
I opened slightly. (And you got the rote before you came to Earth?)
BB smoothed. (Like I gave you, it was in the TSI cruise brochure. It was in with hundreds of other rotes we got before we left.)
I opened more, but tightly. (Where did the brochure come from?)
(Why, uh . . . yeah, from the Cruise Director.)
(Where did he get it?)
BB flickered. (I don't have a rote on that He just dumped them on us and rolled, "Here's the exciting and interesting stops we'll make on the cruise." I got a good percept because it was the last one we'd visit, so it was the last rote we got. That's why it's so clear. Some of the others are dim because they were in the middle. Not the earth rote, or humans. It's all clean, not wild at all.)
I hardened. (And where did the Cruise Director come from?)
BB lighted. (Oh, he and the rest are a bunch of curls from the system next to us.)
(Why did they offer the cruise to you in KT-95?)
BB smoothed. (Well, it was sort of a, uh . . . trade. We do it all the time with systems near us.)
(What did they get in trade?)
BB lighted. (Games, games! We got more games than any system four skips in any direction!)
I turned inward and closed. It was getting too hot to handle. If the rote was real . . . a huge if. I began to drop off. Anger, the feeling of being on the receiving end of a huge deception. The resentment at being manipulated, wanting to strike out at those who were conning me . . . us . . . all humans . . . who were taking something from us without our consent or permission. What happened to the freedom idea? Was every thought and action we took guided—no, directed and controlled just to produce more Loosh, whatever that was, for a breakfast table or a fuel tank in a Somewhere? And what could I do about it, even knowing? I dulled deeply and dropped off more and more . . .
(Hey RAM!) BB was fading rapidly. (Where you going!)
Return to the physical was near-instantaneous, exactly as if I had pushed the panic button, which I had not done for so long. Strong sense of tiredness, both mental and physical, neglected to check time of return. Low energy, no desire to do anything. Unable to get to sleep. Got up, went to the kitchen, and made a cup of coffee. Sat and stared at the cup. With no energy or desire for exploration during the two weeks following, in a depressed state, the only production that surfaced was:
It is sunset. The Guernsey has walked many miles around the pasture in her forage for food. The grass had been more lush today here, though she did not bother to consider why. She had come through the gate calmly when He directed her to do so, instead of the gate across the road. He knew she would find better grass here, and that was why He moved her here, though she did not realize it. She only did what He directed.
But now, at sunset, it is time again. She must go to His place. There is a goading pain on her underside that tells her this. At His place up on the hill, it is cool and there is more food. And He will take the pain away.
The Guernsey moves up the hill and waits beside His place. Soon, the gate will open and she will walk into her position in His place, and eat the grass He places before her. While she eats, He will relieve the pain until morning. After that, the Man will walk away with white water in a round container. The Guernsey does not know where he got the white water nor why He desires it.
Not knowing, she doesn't care.
(Next chapter)
It took me several months to adjust to the loosh rote. "Adjust" is a very broad word to describe a complete cycle of shock, rejection, anger, depression, resignation, acceptance. My sequence paralleled remarkably the pattern others have discovered and studies as to human response when notified of approaching death from illness or injury. Something was dying in me. I had long realized that the God of my childhood did not exist, at least not in the form and substance envisioned by my enculturation. However, I had deeply accepted the concept of creator and created—I had but to look around me at the elaborate and intricate order of design, of the symbiosis that made the whole process operate, the trees that grew plumb-line straight up if given the chance, that provided me and other oxygen breathers with what we needed while we fed to them unknowingly for a long period our waste products, which they needed to exist . . . the balance of the entire planet, whose outer filtering bands of energy permitted just the proper quantity and quality of sunlight so critical to biologic growth . . . and of course the food chain.
The loosh rote explained everything very neatly. Most important, it explained the purpose, the reason for it all, the why of it. This factor had long eluded me. The loosh answer was simple and obvious. The reason was there, in very prosaic fashion. We were indeed producing Something of Value. Loosh. If one finally was able to get past the emotional barriers involved, it became hard even then to find holes in the general concept. An explanation of total human behavior and history.
On a particular night, after great difficulty in getting two cycles of sleep, I awoke with a start and lay quietly in bed. Evidently my fear of what I might find was greater than I thought, as I unhooked with difficulty from the physical, then slipped out of the second body as it hovered. I scanned for the INSPEC homing signal, but there was none. This disconcerted me at first, but I was determined and foolhardy. I used the ident INSPEC (An aspect of Monroe's higher self, though he is currently unaware of it.)—the total rote I had on them—stretched out, focused, and let go. There was a quick, short sense of spinning movement, no impression of passing through the rings. Then deep blackness, and I was motionless. Nothing more.
The percept was forming that the ident I had used wasn't enough. I might be at the gate to INSPEC territory, but I didn't have the passport to enter. I had never tried to go to them, they had always met me. I had no percept of their reality/state; therefore I had arrived only at the site of our meetings. If I focused on . . . A warm vibration washed through me.
(Very good, Mister Monroe. You are quite correct. We are aware of the disturbance you have undergone. It was necessary that you experience this. It goes with the territory, as you put it.)
Then the loosh rote was real! I began to flicker . . .
(It is the translation that is not real. The difficulty of placing earth and human values properly into perspectives and energies that are not of time and space is a factor very familiar to you.)
I turned inward, picking up the loosh rote. Loosh, an energy generated by all organic life in varying degrees of purity, the clearest and most potent coming from humans—engendered by human activity which triggers emotion, the highest of such emotions being—love? Is love loosh?
(Continue, Ashaneen.)
But according to the rote, loosh is thrown off when life ends its physical existence, when pain occurs, anger, hate . . . these can't be the same as love.
(How would you define love in your terms?)
I knew that would be next in the order of things, and I couldn't come up with an answer. Throughout history, great minds and greater philosophers had given it a try, with only partial success, and I was none of these. I wouldn't even consider trying.
(But you know it exists. Love is not an illusion. You understand waveforms. All come from the same baseline, the colors and the white. The difference is frequency and amplitude.)
I knew what THEY were doing, and I appreciated it. My focus was being diverted from what I thought was unpleasant back into an abstract yet trunk-and-roots position. Using the same stuff—interactive experience— one began to learn to express anger, pain, fear, and all the rest, and finally —hopefully, if you passed the course—a special energy waveform labeled love. Yet we don't really know what it is and, with my suspicion growing, how to really use it.
(A carefully designed school of compressed learning.)
To learn to be high-quality loosh/love producers. The fact that human physical consciousness was for the most part totally unaware of being involved in the process may be an important ingredient itself. Precious few are cognizant of the nonphysical agenda, at least overtly. It was getting pretty heavy for my cognizance. Yet I began to get a very faint percept, elusive but it was there. What would happen if the Guernsey cow did discover that her milk had value? What could she herself do with it if she didn't have a calf to feed it to? Could she save it? Could she spend it on more hay or protein-vitamin blocks to lick? What if she then discovered man was taking the milk she produced? Rebel, refuse to deliver any more milk? Then she would no longer have a pasture in which to graze, protection from wild dogs, a bull when she needed it, and most of all, no barn to go to where she could get relief from the pain. Without a sense of serial time, she forgets that the pain eases eventually. Perhaps even knowing, she wouldn't care. She wouldn't want to mess up a good thing. Therefore: Who cares? Who would care!
(To use your term, you can't beat the machine.)
The percept was still there, faint, still to be explained or satisfied. What about those who do beat the machine? There always have to be exceptions, no machine is perfect, only one anomaly is needed to prove a statistic or create one. Are they carted off to be ground up into hamburger meat? If so, is hamburger a sort of super loosh or something entirely different? Is this also a part of the machine product, or is it rust that is scraped away and discarded?
And the bull calves, what is their role? Never will be loosh producers; it takes only one bull for every fifty cows, so there's a surplus. In nature—the machine?—left alone, there's a way that is automatically taken care of . . . the impersonality of that prospect of dominance and predation is certainly not in the winning column. Hold it there, the percept is getting stronger. There would be no loosh production without at least one, uh, one bull. So he is an indirect loosh producer, vital to the method. That would infer, so are grass, hay, water, minerals, and the rest.
(Remember your waveforms, beat frequencies you like so much.)
Let's see, here. If a smart transmitter propagates certain waves, they can resonate with other related vibrations of like kind to form a multiple pattern which if thought of as light—would be: white! So in and of itself, you don't have to be the end-product antenna or transducer, just one of the oscillators. You may never display actual loosh radiation, but you have a vital part in its production. Remembering the scan of my early years, I felt much better.
(Then why are you disturbed?)
The percept still itched inside me, THEY were right. What would I do with loosh/love if I had a large warehouse full of it? Hand it out? It would only come back with interest and I would have to build another warehouse to hold the compounding, growing volume. The percept surged brightly. It was so obvious . . . Someone, Somewhere. If I could . . .
(You are not ready at this point.)
I had a need to ask the question. Is .. .
(Somewhere is not the heaven of your history. It was created, as were all other systems.)
Then Someone . . .
(Is a creator who was created. You are a creator who was created. Each of you does carry a small rote, as you call it, of Someone, who created you. Through that rote of Someone, your creator, you carry a percept of the creator who created Someone.)
I turned inward. Even with this viewpoint, it was hard to set aside serial logic. The easy percept was how the multitude of distortions, misconceptions, misdirections came about. A little knowledge can be dangerous, and human creative imagination took over from there. If there had not been a Someone . . .
(Humans would not exist.)
I went over the idea of loosh/love. It must be quite a place to handle that much loosh, this Somewhere. It would fall neatly into many concepts of heaven. I grew wistful. Maybe we could go just to the edge of Somewhere, so I could get a feel of the place/state where there was so much love, surely near it, but not in it, just to observe from a distance. It would answer so much . . .
(That is not too much to ask, Mister Monroe. We can arrange it. Close tightly . . .)
CLICK!
. . . Even closed tightly, the radiation was so strong that it was nearly unbearable . . . I felt as if sweat were pouring off me, I was melting . . . but it wasn't heat . . . and I began to heave with great racking sobs and I couldn't understand why . . . then the radiation eased, and I opened a little. There was a form between me and the radiation, shielding me, and I could perceive a corona effect all around the form from the radiation beyond. It reminded me deeply of religious paintings I had seen, only this was live and in something far different from pigmented color . . .
(This is as close as you can tolerate. We are diverting most of the effective energy patterns, which are in themselves only the random residue, the leakage as you might call it, from the fundamental. Focus through us rather than the outer rim. It will help.)
With great difficulty, I narrowed and held on the center of the form . . . and I began to cool and calm down . . . slowly my rational and observing self began to emerge again, dominating the overwhelming emotional surge that had enveloped me . . . it was as if I perceived through a darkly tinted window and I had to work continually to keep the emotion below the threshold level, the wondrous and brilliant joy, awe, reverence, melded into one yet with flashes of each sparking momentarily . . . all coursing through me as I responded to the radiation, unable to prevent it and barely keeping it under control. This would most emphatically be the ultimate heaven, the final home . . .
(Observe more carefully. You are capable of doing so.)
I looked through the smoked-glass shield that was my INSPEC friend . . . and I was grateful, for I knew if I responded to this degree from just the reflection, the leakage, the full force of the radiation would have shattered me, I was not ready for it, if this was the percept from the distant edge . . . there, in the long view, was a radiant living form of incredible size, my first percept that of a tall standing humanoid, arms outstretched in front, palms upward . . . but just as quickly, it was not . . . instead, a shining globe, edges indistinct, behind it another, identical in appearance, behind it another, a continuous cascade moving away into infinity, beyond my percept ability . . . from each came numberless beams or rays, some huge in their diameter, others no wider than a pinpoint, all uniform in size throughout their length and beyond my percept as to their destination, some of them moving past me so close that I felt I could reach out and touch one . . .
(Would you like to do so? We will help you if needed.)
I hesitated, then with the warm assurance from the shielding INSPEC form, I stretched a part of me out, cautiously, and touched the smallest ray nearest me . . . in an instant, the shock spread throughout all what I thought I was, and I knew, and in knowing, knew that I would forget if I tried to remember, because what I was could not yet handle the reality of it . . . yet I never again would be the same even without remembering, except that it occurred and the indescribable joy of knowing only that it did take place and the echoes would reverberate in me throughout eternity, whatever my eternity was . . . gently, I felt myself being detached from the ray, and I collapsed behind the shielding form of my INSPEC friend. . . . Friend? INSPEC? I realized then how provincial my percepts were. I also realized how limited they were . . . the radiating globes, the rays emitted.
(You responded very well for the initial exposure. Your human loosh/love energy is transmuted into the center of what you perceive. From there it is redirected into what you call the rays, to the points where it is needed most. When you have progressed, we can guide you to one of the destinations so you can observe the results.)
My percept was not strong enough to bring any flicker whatsoever as to what exposure to the full force of such rays might be. But my human curiosity wouldn't let the basic question go unanswered, now that I had smoothed somewhat.
(It was created. It was always there, we have no percept of a beginning. Are you ready to return now?)
I turned inward and closed tightly. CLICK!
. . . We were back again in familiar blackness, only now it seemed empty and sterile, but the INSPEC energy was still beside me . . . now I would have to put together a new ident for them, if they could hold up so calmly under . . .
(INSPEC will serve as well as any other.)
But I couldn't let it alone. As shaken as I was, I knew I had to ask, because I had known they were greater, but how much greater now might be a depth . . .
(We are created, just as you are created. More than that, it is important that you obtain from your own percept. In your own—how do you put it?— time, you will find the reason for this.)
Suddenly, I felt a strong, urgent signal pulling at the back of me. I resisted at first, not wanting to leave, but the signal was persistent. With the warm pattern of understanding from my INSPEC friend, I turned and followed the signal.
It was then, lying there in the darkness, listening to the whippoorwill and the night crickets outside, the soft earth-scented breeze flowing in through the open window, feeling the hot warmth of our little dog Steamboat sleeping contentedly against the soles of my feet, the even breathing of Nancy sleeping beside me— that I felt the wetness of my cheeks and a few remaining tears in my eyes. And I remembered. Not much, but I remembered! I sat up in bed, wanting to jump up and shout in incomprehensible joy. Steamboat raised his head and looked at me curiously, then dropped back. My wife shifted position as I sat up, then gradually resumed her even breathing rhythm. I would not wake her, she needed her rest and recharge. I lay back and remembered. Sometime before dawn, I, too, fell asleep."

I want to preface this story by saying that while I am pretty much agnostic on a good day and an atheist on a bad day, I am a fan of horror and grew up in a fairly religious environment via a very evangelical christian highschool, so my point of view may be skewed by those influences. However, I do think whatever my fiance and I witnessed was at the very least, an extremely dangerous person.
For context, I started college in fall 2018, going to a university in a somewhat rural area. The college itself sits on a large plot of land surrounded by farmland and vineyards, with sections that are forested and have little trails running through them, and a creek that runs the length of school property. The college has even had a murder victim dumped in one of the wooded areas on campus, but that’s a story for another day.
Freshmen were required to live on campus their first year and one of the benefits of that was that we had unlimited access to the school cafeteria, aka the caf. The caf was pretty nice, boasting a salad bar, sandwich station, mini bakery, hot food with different menu’s daily, and pretty much every fountain drink you can think of. I would get lunch and dinner there with my only friend at the time (and who is now my fiance), and we began to notice this boy who was always at the caf alone. It wasn’t uncommon to see students eating there alone, my school had pretty poor community outreach/ school spirit, but something was really off about this kid.
First off he had a very distinct look (this is important because we recognized him multiple times over 3 years), his skin was extremely pale and had this waxy fleshy look to it that I struggle to describe, like he was made of wax, he had red curly hair (insert ginger joke here), a mouth a little too large for his face, but what was the strangest thing about him was his eyes. They were the same color as his hair, that bright red auburn, his iris was almost too big for his eye, and his pupils were always extremely dilated. His eyes had a bulging look, very similar to Mark Zuckerburg, like they were trying to escape his face. It’s hard to describe here but he just had a very unsettling look to him, it just felt that there was something very wrong, like there was nothing inside him.
But his appearance wasn’t what caught our attention at first, what caught our attention was the amount of food this kid could eat. Of course, having unlimited access to food some kids went overboard, but this kid was another level. He always had 5 or 6 cups of juice, soda, coffee, and 3-4 plates piled with food. Mind you, he was not large or overweight, but he would clear every plate and then just sit in his booth alone, staring into space with his headphones in. That was another thing, he always had this blank, vacant expression, always staring into nothing. Whenever you walked past his booth you could hear that the music from his headphones was on full blast.
We began to notice that no matter what time we went to the caf, whether it be for a late-night snack, breakfast, a random afternoon craving, he was always there, sitting alone in the ruins of his empty plates. And we weren’t the only people who noticed his strange behavior. By second semester, people began approaching him, at first just some girls jokingly saying something to the effect of “we strive to be on your level,” referencing his eating habits, and he just stared at them blankly. People began to ask if he was ok, if he would like to join them, but he always just stared, sometimes with a knowing smile on his face, but would never reply, leaving the students to depart awkwardly. Once I even witnessed one of the caf attendants telling him he needed to stop spending all his time there.
My friend that I always ate with became my boyfriend, and we began to theorize what exactly this kid’s deal was. We said maybe mental illness, or maybe he was a competitive eater, or he was trying to bulk up, but his behavior seemed too empty, too neurotic to be explained away by any of these. Our main theory, the one I subscribe to now, did not come till much later.
My sophomore year I opted to live on campus again, and in the middle of my second semester, COVID hit. My school allowed us to remain on campus until the school year was up, and due to some personal reasons of not wanting to go home, I remained in my dorm, and my boyfriend joined me and we quarantined together. That time was so strange because our campus became an incredibly liminal space without all the other students. Some others remained with us, but on any given day you could walk the entire campus and not run into another soul. My boyfriend and I started running the wooded trails on campus to get exercise.
One day we stopped on one of the trails to do some burpees. As we did so, the kid from the caf, emerged from some trees, not on any trail, just walked out of the woods and started running toward us. This really caught us off guard because we rarely saw anyone, and he just maid a beeline toward us. RIght as he ran up on us he stopped. Just smiled at us knowingly, as if we shared some joke, but it was not a nice smile, it was incredibly nasty, sinister even. I don’t know if I felt that way because he had scared us, but something was off. We had never spoken to him those times at the caf but he seemed to recognize us. The other thing that was weird was that he was jacked, way taller and just larger than he ever had been freshman year. It wasn’t just that he gained muscle mass, he just seemed like scaled up, like he hit a massive growth spurt, which I suppose is plausible, but it just seemed really off.
We were both shaken by the experience and began to joke that he had been eating so much to store up energy so he could level up or something. Then one of us, I forget which, suggested he looked so strange because it was a demon wearing a human’s skin and was eating so much to build strength for his demonic powers, and that’s how he grew so quickly. Like I said it began as a joke, but the more we discussed it, the more it just seemed to explain not only his odd appearance but his odd behavior toward other students, the empty look in his eyes.
Here’s where things went from weird to fucking terrifying:
My boyfriend and I forgot about him, and moved out of my dorm into an apartment a few blocks from school as we were still finishing, and while school was mostly online now, I liked the area. The same creek that ran the length of our school campus ran behind our complex, and as it was still COVID lockdown and we had nothing to do, we would go on long walks up and down the creek.
One evening we went for a walk at dusk and by the time we got to the main road our apartment was on it was completely dark. It was extremely quiet, and as we walked along the road we saw we were coming up on a man walking very slow and deliberate. My hackles were up immediately as our apartment is in a seedy area and there were a lot of homeless and unstable people who sometimes hung out around the creek. And there was just something about his walk, it was so deliberate, and predatory. As we crossed paths with the man he walked even slower, and in the dim light of streetlamps I realized I recognized him as that same kid, that same waxy face, and bulging eyes. I also realized that in one hand he held a paper bag with something big and round in it, while in the other he held a crowbar. A fucking crow bar. He slowed down even more as he passed us and turned his whole head, and smiled at us. This time there was no mistake when I tell you it was the most threatening, sinister smile I have ever seen, and it had that same knowing in it, like he knew us and we shared some joke. He didn’t say anything, just stared at us with his horrible eyes. I don’t know if I’ve just read too many creepypastas or if I’m overthinking things, but I knew on an animalistic level he wanted to hurt us and wanted us to know he could.
After we passed him, we took off running, and when we returned to the apartment, we were both in a full-blown panic, even my boyfriend who tends to be pretty levelheaded and skeptical wanted to call the police. We did and as soon as we began to explain the situation we felt pretty foolish. They asked if he threatened us and we said not verbally but we felt threatened. Despite the absurdity of our call they said they would look into it because obviously there’s not a lot of non-nefarious reasons to be walking around at night with a crowbar. But we never heard anything, and we never saw him again.
To close this, I just think the whole thing is strange, how this kid kept showing up in our lives over 3 years, and always seemed to recognize us, always seemed to want to let us know he knew us. I think as people we know when there’s just something off about a person, when there’s nothing going on inside. People have said as much about sociopaths they’ve had run-ins with. But I want to know what you guys think, did I encounter the Antichrist leveling up? A demon? Or a really troubled kid who became a dangerous man? Maybe he was just a depressed kid, but I will hold firm that we were, at the very least, threatened by this guy, that we wanted to hurt us, and that we encountered something or someone evil. What do you think?
P.S. I did some rudimentary google searches for police reports in the area for assault with a crowbar, and some other things that might had related but could not find anything.

I am highly disappointed in the care that I received after having surgery at NorthWestern Medical Facility. Minor quibbles aside and things to be expected, I was basically starved despite constantly attempting to acquire adequate food. After notifying several staff members on day 1 that I am lactose intolerant, I continued to be provided diary products and meals with cheese / diary, or things that I was explicitly told I could not eat by medical staff every single day. It was nearly impossible to eat there. I was never provided with any menu or ordering mechanism - kitchen staff would just bring whatever to me every day. When confronted I was met with incompetence in the form of workers not knowing that this was unacceptable for eating, anger on their part due to them claiming that my meal took these into account and were correct despite my protest, as the workers were undeterred by my protest stating that they had, “other things to do.” If they would even attempt to correct it, the kitchen would often delay for hours attempting to get me food to eat after attempting to serve these incorrectly placed meals. Many times, the kitchen was closed after delivering inedible food and I was then made to go without. If they even attempted to correct it, they would just bring up more diary again.. They were so unprofessional and didn’t care at all. Most food service workers were on the phone through use of AirPods or other headphone brands and rarely checked for allergies and other dietary restrictions. I was even brought a full service meal once that I did not order when the doctors had labeled me as, “nothing by mouth” meaning I wasn’t even authorized to eat. Mind you, I, as an ulcerative colitis patient, on an entire floor with people recovering from UC or Crohn’s procedures so you would think they would be more conscientious and careful with these sort of cases. Wrong and sad, seeing as I was also told that the kitchen had our dietary restrictions as well as our allergies.
Everyday, I constantly complained to the nurses, residents, and PA’s what was going on. They would tell me that it was abnormal for the kitchen to be operating like that but nothing would change and it would persist. After accidentally having cheese and getting really sick, it got so bad that after 6 days of being there, my partner went to buy me lactaid to recover and decided to buy a couple of non diary things that I could eat there since there were even more mishaps. On about the 6th day, after my partner began to complain to nurses and doctors, they told us that they could not add lactose as an allergy on my chart and the best they could do was put “low lactose” in the system despite me stating that I could not have any lactose. They said that that it simply was not an option. I then finally got a menu from a the PA, which I had no idea existed. Apparently, I should have been able to order my own food that entire time. That night, I placed an order for breakfast cream of wheat, a banana, and applesauce. Well, the following morning, they delivered eggs, something I had already told them I could not eat. The worker was so adamant that I had ordered it but I did not. She told us that she did not know what happened and that the reason she doesn’t like to work in that building is because they never do anything right. She gave us her manager’s phone number as it appeared that to bypass being bothered to physically take patients orders, a kitchen worker was just blindly submitting orders to save time.
By that time we realized, it didn’t even matter. My partner was so fed up that we pleaded to the doctors to just release me so that I could have a controlled environment and be able to get proper access to food that I could eat as well as sleep as I hadn’t been able to. Luckily, they agreed to release me on that basis. However, my partner had noticed that I was growing extremely weak and feeble while at the hospital. Even leaving, I could barely hold their doors open. By the time I got home and weighed myself, I was 187 pounds from 205 the precious week. Lost almost 20 pounds in a matter of a week. I am luckily recovering from home where I provide my own nutrition and started feeling much better the day after I left and was able to eat consistently. However given the chance to again undergo this process at NorthWestern Medical Center I would decline without fail. I am horrified and wish I never even got the surgery in the first place after that. It upsets me so much because they complained so much about my output being so high and kept telling me I needed to eat more to lower it despite them not giving me adequate meal options. Please for the sake of potential loss of life do not get procedures at Northwestern Medical Facility in Chicago Illinois.

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You're Next HD/VU $3.5
X-Men 1-4 Set SD/MA $7.5
Zombieland Double Tap 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
All other movies (A-Z)
10 Cloverfield Lane HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
101 Dalmatians '61 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
12 Years a Slave HD/MA $3
13 Hours HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
14 Blades HD/VU $3.5
1917 HD/MA $3.5
2 Guns 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA or IT $2.5
21 Jump Street HD/MA $3
22 Jump Street HD/MA $3.5
3 Extremes HD/VU $4
3 From Hell (Unr) 4K/VU $4 or HD/VU $2.5
3:10 to Yuma 4K/VU $5
31 HD/VU $2.5
47 Meters Down HD/IT $3.5
47 Meters Down Uncaged 4K/VU $4.5
47 Ronin HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
600 Miles HD/VU $3.5
71 HD/VU $3.5
A Christmas Story 4K/MA $6
A Dog's Purpose HD/IT $3
A Good Day to Die Hard (Ext) HD/VU $2.5
A Journal For Jordan HD/MA $4
A Quiet Place HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
A Walk Among the Tombstones HD/IT $3.5
A Wrinkle in Time HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
A.C.O.D. HD/VU or IT $3.5
Abominable 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
About Last Night HD/MA $3
Action Point HD/IT $2
Ad Astra HD/MA $4
Adaptation 4K/MA $6
Adrift HD/IT $3.5
Adverse 4K/VU $5
After Earth HD/MA $3
Aftermath HD/VU $3
Air Force One 4K/MA $6
Aladdin ‘19 HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Aladdin ‘92 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Alien HD/MA $4
Alien Covenant HD/MA $2.5
Alfred Hitchcock 4-Film Set Vol 1 4K/MA $18
Alfred Hitchcock 5-Film Set Vol 2 4K/MA $21
Alien 6-film Set HD/MA $16
Alita Battle Angel 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
All Eyez on Me HD/VU or IT $3
All is Lost HD/VU $3.5
All the Money in the World HD/MA $3.5
Allied HD/VU or IT $3.5
Almost Christmas HD/MA or IT $3
Amazing Spider-Man 2 HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1.5
Amazing Spider-Man HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1.5
American Assassin 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
American Hustle HD/MA $3.5
American Reunion HD/VU or IT $3
American Ultra HD/VU or IT $4
American Underdog 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Anatomy of a Murder 4K/MA $5
Anchorman 2 HD/VU or IT $2.5
Angel Has Fallen 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Angel Heart 4K/VU $5.5
Angel of Mine 4K/VU $5.5
Angry Birds Movie HD/MA $3.5
Anna Karenina HD/IT $3.5
Annie ‘14 HD/MA $3.5
Annihilation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Antebellum 4K/VU $5
Antlers HD/GP $3
Ant-Man & the Wasp HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Ant-Man HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Apache Junction HD/VU $3.5
Apollo 13 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Arctic HD/MA $4
Arrival HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Art of Self-Defense HD/MA $4
Ash vs Evil Dead S.3 HD/VU $5
Assassination Nation HD/MA $3.5
Assassin's Creed HD/MA $3
Assignment HD/VU $4
Atomic Blonde 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
August Osage County HD/VU $3
Avengers Age of Ultron HD/GP $3
Avengers Endgame HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Avengers Infinity War 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Baby Driver HD/MA $4
Backdraft 4K/IT $5.5
Bad Grandpa HD/VU or IT $2.5
Bad Words HD/MA or IT $3
Bandslam HD/VU $4
Bank Job HD/VU $3.5
Barb & Star go to Vista Del Mar HD/VU $4
Barbie & Her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure HD/IT $3.5
Bart Got a Room HD/VU $4
Battle Royale HD/VU $4.5
Battleship 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Baywatch HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Beauty & the Beast ‘17 HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Beauty & the Beast ‘91 HD/GP $3
Bedknobs & Broomsticks HD/GP $3.5
Before I Fall HD/VU or IT $3.5
Begin Again HD/VU $3.5
Beiruit HD/MA $3.5
Belly 4K/VU $5.5
Ben-Hur ‘16 HD/VU $3.5
Between Worlds HD/VU $3.5
Big Hero 6 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Big Lebowski 4K/MA or IT $5.5
Big Short HD/VU $3.5
Big Wedding HD/VU or IT $3
Billy Elliot HD/MA or IT $4
Birdman HD/MA $4
Black & Blue HD/MA $4
Black Christmas '19 HD/MA $4.5
Black Panther 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Black Panther Wakanda Forever HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
BlackKklansman HD/MA $4.5
Blacklight HD/MA $4
Black Widow HD/GP $3
Blackhat HD/IT $3.5
Blair Witch Project ‘99 HD/VU $4
Bleeding Steel HD/VU $3.5
Blindspotting 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Blood Money ‘17 HD/VU $3.5
Blood Ties HD/VU $3.5
Blue Jasmine HD/MA $3.5
Blue Ruin HD/VU $4
Blues Brothers HD/MA $4 or 4K/IT $4.5
Bob's Burgers Movie HD/GP $3
Body Cam HD/VU $4
Bohemian Rhapsody HD/MA $3.5
Bombshell 4K/VU $5
Book Club HD/VU or IT $2.5
Book of Life HD/MA $3.5
Boss Baby HD/MA $2.5
Bourne Identity 4K/IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Bourne Legacy HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Bourne Supremacy HD/MA $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Bourne Ultimatum 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Boy ‘16 HD/IT $3.5
Boy & the World HD/IT $3.5
Boyhood HD/VU or IT $2.5
Braven HD/VU $4
Breakfast Club HD/MA or IT $4
Breakthrough HD/MA $3
Brian Banks HD/MA $3
Bridge of Spies HD/GP $3.5
Brothers Bloom HD/VU $4.5
Bumblebee 4K/VU or IT $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Butler HD/VU $3
Cabin in the Woods HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Cake HD/MA $4
Call of Wild 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Calvary HD/MA $4
Candyman '20 4K/MA $6 or HD/MA $4.5
Candyman 3 HD/VU $4
Captain America Civil War HD/GP $2.5
Captain America First Avenger HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Captain America Winter Soldier HD/GP $3.5
Captain Marvel 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Captain Phillips HD/MA $3.5
Captain Underpants First Epic Movie HD/MA $2.5
Carol HD/VU $4
Cars 3 HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Casablanca 4K/MA $5.5
Case for Christ HD/IT $2.5
Casper HD/IT $4
Celebrating Mickey HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Chaos Walking 4K/VU $5
Chappaquiddick HD/VU $4
Chasing Mavericks HD/MA $3.5
Chicago HD/VU $4
Child 44 HD/VU $4
Children ‘08 HD/VU $4
Christopher Robin HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Chronicles of Riddick HD/IT $4
Clerks 3 4K/VU $4.5
Clifford the Big Red Dog HD/VU $4
Cloverfield 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Coco HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Cold Pursuit 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Collection HD/VU $3.5
Collide ‘17 HD/VU or IT $2.5
Colma The Musical HD/VU $4
Colombiana (Unr) HD/MA $4
Colony 4K/VU $5
Come & Find Me HD/VU $4
Commuter 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Company of Heroes HD/MA $4
Conan the Barbarian ‘11 4K/VU $5
Conspirator HD/VU $4
Contraband HD/IT $3
Contractor HD/VU $4.5
Cooler HD/VU $4
Cool Hand Luke 4K/MA $5.5
Cooties HD/VU $4
Cotton Club Encore 4K/VU $5.5
Countdown ‘16 HD/VU $3.5
Courier 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Craft Legacy HD/MA $4.5
Criminal HD/VU or IT $3
Croods HD/VU $3.5
Cruella HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Crypto 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Daddy's Home HD/VU or IT $2.5
Daddy's Home 2 HD/VU or IT $3
Damsel HD/VU $4.5
Dangerous 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Danny Collins HD/IT $3.5
Dark Crimes HD/VU $4
Darkest Minds HD/MA $4
Dark Places HD/VU $4
Dark Tower HD/MA $3.5
Darkest Hour ‘17 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes HD/MA $3.5
Deadpool 2 (w/Super Duper Cut) HD/MA $4
Deadpool HD/MA $2.5
Death of Me HD/VU $4
Death on the Nile HD/GP $3
Death Wish '18 HD/VU $3
Deepwater Horizon HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Deliver Us From Evil HD/MA $3.5
Dentist 2-Film Set HD/VU $7
Despicable Me 2 HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Despicable Me 3 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Despicable Me 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Detroit HD/MA $3.5
Devil Inside HD/VU $3.5
Devil's Due HD/MA $3.5
Die Hard HD/MA $3.5
Die Hard 5-film Set HD/MA $18
Die in a Gunfight 4K/VU $5
Dilemma HD/VU $3.5
Dirty Dancing 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Disney Animated Short Films Set HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom HD/MA $3
Django Unchained HD/VU $3
Doctor Strange HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness HD/GP $3
Dolittle HD/MA $3.5
Dom Hemingway HD/MA $3.5
Don Verdean HD/VU $4.5
Doorman HD/VU $3.5
Doors 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Downsizing HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Downton Abbey A New Era HD/MA $4
Downton Abbey The Movie HD/MA $3.5
Draft Day HD/IT $3.5
Dragged Across Concrete HD/VU $3.5
Dragonslayer 4K/VU $5.5
Dream a Little Dream HD/VU $4
Dreamkatcher HD/VU $4
Dreamworks 10-Film HD/MA $25
Dredd 4K/VU $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Drive HD/MA $4
Dying of the Light HD/VU $2.5
E.T. Extra Terrestrial 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Early Man 4K/VU $5.5
Earth Girls are Easy HD/VU $4
Eddie the Eagle HD/MA $4
Edge of Seventeen HD/IT $3
Edward Scissorhands HD/MA $3.5
El Chicano HD/MA $4
Elysium HD/MA $3.5
Emoji Movie HD/MA $3
Empire of Light HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Empire State HD/VU $3
Encanto 4K/GP $3.5
Enough Said HD/MA $3.5
Enter the Dragon 4K/MA $6
Epic HD/MA $3
Equalizer HD/MA $3.5
Equalizer 2 HD/MA $3.5
Escape From Planet Earth HD/VU $3
Eternals HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Everest HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Everything Must Go HD/VU $4
Evil Dead 2 HD/VU $3.5
Ex Machina HD/VU $3
Exodus Gods & Kings HD/MA $3.5
Expired 4K/VU $4.5
Fair Game (Dir) HD/VU $4
Fantastic Four ‘15 HD/MA $4
Fast & Furious 4 4K/MA $5
Fast & the Furious 8-film Set HD/MA $17.5
Fast & the Furious 9-film Set HD/MA $20
Fast Color 4K/VU $5.5
Fatale ‘20 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Fatherhood HD/MA $4
Fault in Our Stars HD/MA $3.5
Fear of Rain 4K/VU $5.5
Fences HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Ferdinand HD/MA $3.5
Field of Dreams 4K/MA or IT $5.5
Fifty Shades Darker (Unr) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Fifty Shades Freed HD/MA $4
Fifty Shades of Grey (Unr) 4K/MA or IT $4
Finding Dory HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Finding Nemo HD/GP $3.5
Finest Hours HD/GP $3
Firm 4K/VU $6
First Man HD/MA $4
Flashback ‘20 HD/VU $4
Flight HD/VU or IT $3
Florence Foster Jenkins HD/VU or IT $3
Footloose ‘11 HD/IT $3
Forbidden Kingdom HD/VU $4.5
Ford v Ferrari HD/MA $4
Forest HD/IT $3.5
Forever My Girl HD/IT $3
Fortress HD/VU $3.5
Fortress Sniper's Eye HD/VU $3.5
Fox & the Hound 2 HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Foxcatcher HD/MA $4
Frank & Lola HD/VU or IT $3
Free Guy HD/GP $3
French Dispatch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Friday the 13th 4K/VU $5.5
From Here to Eternity 4K/MA $5.5
Frozen (Sing-Along) HD/MA $2 or HD/GP $1.5
Frozen HD/GP $2
Frozen 2 HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Frozen Ground ‘13 HD/VU $3.5
Fury HD/MA $3.5
Future World HD/VU $3.5
G.I. Joe Retaliation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Gambit ‘12 HD/MA $4
Gambler HD/VU or IT $3
Gamer 4K/VU $5.5
Gemini Man 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Get Out 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Ghost in the Shell ‘17 HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Ghost in the Shell ‘95 4K/VU $5
Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance HD/MA $4
Ghost Team One HD/VU or IT $3.5
Ghostbusters ‘84 HD/MA $3.5
Ghostbusters (Thea & Ext) ‘16 HD/MA $3
Ghostbusters 2 HD/MA $3.5
Gifted HD/MA $3
Girl in Spider's Web HD/MA $4
Girl on Train HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Girl w/ All Gifts HD/VU $4
Giver HD/VU $3.5
Glass Castle 4K/VU $5.5
Glass HD/MA $4
God Bless The Broken Road HD/VU $3.5
God's Not Dead 2 HD/MA or IT $2.5
God's Not Dead 3 HD/MA $3
Gods of Egypt HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Gold ‘16 HD/VU $2.5
Good Dinosaur HD/GP $2.5
Good Kill HD/VU or IT $3.5
Grease 2 HD/VU $4
Great Wall 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Greatest Showman HD/MA $3.5
Green Book HD/MA $4
Grey HD/VU or IT $3
Grinch '18 HD/MA $4
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 HD/GP $2
Guilt Trip HD/VU or IT $3
Gunman HD/MA or IT $3
Guns of Navarone 4K/MA $5.5
Hacksaw Ridge 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Halloween ‘18 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Hammer of the Gods HD/VU $2
Hannibal S.1 HD/VU $5
Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (Unr) HD/VU or IT $3
Hard Luck Love Song 4K/VU $5.5
Hard Target 2 HD/IT $1.5
Hardcore Henry HD/VU or IT $3.5
Hate U Give HD/MA $4
Hateful Eight HD/VU $3.5
Heat (Director's Cut) ‘95 4K/MA $5.5
Heaven is for Real HD/MA $3.5
Hercules ‘14 HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Here Comes the Boom HD/MA $3.5
Hereditary HD/VU $3.5
Hidden Figures HD/MA $3
High Note HD/MA $4
Highlander 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Hitchcock '12 HD/MA $4
Hitman Agent 47 HD/MA $3
Hitman's Bodyguard HD/VU $3.5
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard 4K/VU $5.5
Hocus Pocus HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Home HD/MA $3
Home Again HD/MA $3
Home Alone 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Homefront HD/MA or IT $3
Homesman HD/VU $3
Honey 2 HD/VU $3
Hostiles 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Hotel Transylvania 3 HD/MA $3.5
Hot Fuzz HD/VU $4
Hotel Mumbai HD/MA $4
Hours ‘13 HD/VU $4
House of 1000 Corpses HD/VU $4
House of Gucci 4K/IT $5.5
House w/ a Clock in Its Walls sHD/MA $4
How to Train Your Dragon 2 HD/MA $2.5
Hugo HD/VU $3
Hunt for Red October 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Huntsman Winter's War (Ext) HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
I Can Only Imagine HD/VU $3.5
I Feel Pretty HD/IT $2
Ides of March HD/MA $4
I Know What You Did Last Summer 4K/MA $5.5
Imitation Game HD/VU $3
In a Valley of Violence HD/MA or IT $3
In Secret ‘14 HD/VU $4.5
In the Blood HD/VU $4
Incredibles 2 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Independence Day ‘96 HD/MA $4
Independence Day Resurgence HD/MA $2.5
Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K/VU or IT $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom 4K/VU or IT $5.5
Indignation HD/VU $4
Indivisible HD/MA $3.5
Inferno HD/MA $3
Initiation 4K/VU $5
Initiation HD/VU $3.5
Internship HD/MA $3
Interstellar 4K/VU or IT $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Interview HD/MA $3.5
Into the Woods HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Invisible Man '20 HD/MA $3.5
Invisible Man ‘33 HD/MA $3.5
Iron Man 3 HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Iron Man & Hulk Heroes United HD/GP $3.5
Iron Mask ‘19 HD/VU $4.5
It Follows HD/VU $3.5
It's a Wonderful Life HD/VU $3
Jack & Jill HD/MA $3.5
Jack Reacher 4K/VU or IT $5
Jack Reacher Never Go Back HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit 4K/IT $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Jacob's Ladder HD/VU $4
Jane Got a Gun HD/VU $4
Jarhead 3 (Unr) HD/IT $2.5
Jason Bourne HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Jesus Music HD/VU $3.5
Jexi HD/VU $3.5
Jobs HD/MA or IT $3.5
Joe HD/VU $3.5
Joe Kidd HD/IT $4
John Wick 1 & 2 Bundle HD/VU $4
John Wick 3 Parabellum 4K/VU $4.5
John Wick Chapter 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
John Wick HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
John Wick Trilogy (Parabellum 4K) HD/VU $9
Journey to the West Conquering the Demons HD/VU $3.5
Joy HD/MA $3
Judy 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Juliet, Naked 4K/VU $5.5
Jumanji Welcome To The Jungle HD/MA $2.5
Jungle Book ‘16 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Jungle Cruise HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Jurassic Park 3 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Jurassic Park 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Jurassic World 5-film Set HD/MA $14
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Jurassic World HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Justice ‘17 HD/VU or IT $3
Kama Sutra HD/VU $4
Kick-Ass 2 HD/MA $3.5
Kid ‘19 HD/VU $3.5
Kid Who Would Be King 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Kidnap HD/VU or IT $2.5
Kill the Irishman HD/VU $4
Kill Zone ‘05 HD/VU $4.5
Killer Elite HD/IT $3
Killing Gunther HD/VU $4
Kin ‘18 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
King Kong ‘05 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
King of Staten Island HD/MA $4
King's Man HD/GP $3.5
Kingsman The Golden Circle 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Kingsman The Secret Service HD/MA $3.5
Knives Out HD/VU $3.5
Knowing 4K/VU $5.5
La La Land HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Labor Day HD/VU or IT $3
Lady Macbeth HD/VU $4.5
Lady of the Manor 4K/VU $5
Lair of White Worm HD/VU $4.5
Lake Mungo HD/VU $4
Lara Croft Tomb Raider 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Last Dragon HD/MA $4.5
Last Duel HD/GP $3.5
Last Exorcism HD/VU $4
Last Knights HD/VU $3.5
Last Man ‘19 HD/VU $4
Last Stand HD/IT $2
Last Vegas HD/VU $3
Last Witch Hunter HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Lawrence of Arabia 4K/MA $5.5
Legend of Hercules 4K/IT $3
Legends of Oz Dorothy's Return HD/MA $3.5
Leprechaun 7-film Set HD/VU $12
Let's be Cops HD/MA $3.5
Let Him Go HD/MA $4
Let Me Explain HD/IT $2.5
Life ‘17 HD/MA $3.5
Life of Crime HD/VU $3.5
Life of Pi 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA or IT $3.5
Light of My Life HD/IT $3.5
Lightyear HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Like a Boss HD/VU $3.5
Lilo & Stitch 2 HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Lion HD/VU $4
Lion King ‘19 4K/MA $4 or HD/GP $2
Lion King ‘94 4K/MA $5 or HD/GP $3
Little HD/MA $3.5
Little Mermaid ‘89 HD/MA $4
Live Free or Die Hard HD/MA $4
Locked Down 4K/MA $5.5
Logan HD/MA $3
Logan Lucky HD/MA $3.5 or /IT $4
Lone Ranger HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lone Survivor HD/VU $2.5
Longest Ride HD/MA $3
Longest Week HD/VU $3.5
Looper HD/MA $3.5
Lorax HD/MA or IT $3
Lord of War 4K/VU $5.5
Lords of Salem HD/VU $4
Lost World Jurassic Park HD/MA $3.5
Love & Mercy HD/VU $3.5
Love & Monsters 4K/VU $5.5
Love the Coopers HD/VU or IT $4
Love, Simon HD/MA $3.5
Loving HD/VU or IT $3.5
Luca HD/GP $3
Lucy 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile HD/MA $4.5
Madagascar 3 HD/MA $3
Maggie HD/VU $2.5
Magic Mike's Last Dance HD/MA $4.5
Magnificent Seven ‘16 HD/VU $3
Maleficent HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Maleficent Mistress of Evil HD/GP $2.5
Man Who Fell To Earth ‘76 4K/VU $5
Man Who Shot Liberty Vance 4K/VU $5.5
Marauders HD/VU $3.5
Marksman HD/MA $4
Martian HD/MA $3.5
Mary Poppins ‘64 HD/MA $3.5 or ‘64 HD/GP $3
Mary Poppins Returns 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Mask of Zorro 4K/MA $6
Mauritanian 4K/IT $5
Max Steel HD/IT $3
Maze Runner HD/MA $3.5
McKenna Shoots for the Stars HD/IT $2
Meatballs HD/VU $4
Megan Leavey HD/VU or IT $3
Memory HD/MA $3.5
Men HD/VU $4
Men in Black 3 HD/MA $3
Men in Black 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
MI-5 Spooks '15 HD/VU $4
Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts HD/GP $4.5
Mid-Century 4K/VU $5
Midnight in the Switchgrass 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Midnight Sun HD/MA $3.5
Midsommar (CANADA) 4K/IT $3
Midway 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Mile 22 HD/IT $3
Million Dollar Arm HD/GP $2.5
MindGamers HD/MA or IT $3.5
Minions 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Miracles from Heaven HD/MA $3.5
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children HD/MA $3
Mission Impossible 3 4K/VU $5
Mission Impossible 6-film Set HD/VU $17
Mommy HD/VU $4
Moneyball HD/MA $3
Monster High Electrified HD/IT $2.5
Monster Hunter HD/MA $3.5
Money Monster HD/MA $3.5
Monster Trucks HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Monsters University HD/GP $3
Monuments Men HD/MA $3.5
Moon 4K/MA $5.5
Morbius HD/MA $4
Morgan HD/MA $4
Mortal Engines 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Mortal HD/VU $4
Mortal Instruments City of Bones HD/MA $3
Mortdecai HD/VU $3.5
Mother! HD/VU $2.5
Mountain Between Us HD/MA $2.5
Mr. Peabody & Sherman HD/MA $3
Mud HD/VU $2.5
Mulan 2 HD/GP $3
Mulan ‘20 4K/MA $4.5 or ‘20 HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Mummy ‘17 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Mummy ‘99 HD/MA $3.5
Mummy 4-Film Set (Mummy 1-3, Scorpion King) HD/MA $12
Mummy Trilogy 4K/MA or IT $14 or HD/MA $9 4K/IT
Muppets Most Wanted HD/GP $3
Murder on the Orient Express HD/MA $3.5
My All American HD/MA or IT $3.5
My Best Friend is a Vampire HD/VU $4
National Lampoon's Vacation 4K/MA $5.5
Nebraska HD/VU $3
Need for Speed HD/GP $3.5
Needle in a Timestack 4K/VU $5.5
Nerve HD/VU $3.5
News of the World HD/MA $4
Night at the Museum Trilogy HD/MA $11
Night House HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Nightmare Alley HD/GP $3.5
Nightmare Before Christmas 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
No Time to Die 4K/IT $4.5
Noah HD/VU or IT $2.5
Nobody's Fool HD/IT $2.5
Non-Stop HD/VU or IT $3
Norm of the North HD/VU $2.5
Nostalgia ‘18 HD/MA $3.5
Now You See Me 2 4K/IT $4
Now You See Me HD/VU or IT $2.5 or SD/VU $1
Nut Job 2 HD/IT $2.5
Nut Job HD/IT $2.5
Nutcracker & Four Realms HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Oblivion 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Occupation ‘18 HD/VU $3.5
Occupation Rainfall HD/VU $4
Office Christmas Party 4K/IT $3.5
Olaf's Frozen Adventure HD/GP $3
Oliver! 4K/MA $5
On Chesil Beach HD/MA $4.5
One I Love HD/VU $4.5
One Ranger HD/VU $4.5
Only The Brave HD/MA $4
Onward HD/GP $2.5
Open Water 2 Adrift HD/VU $4
Open Water HD/VU $4
Operation Avalanche HD/VU $4
Other Woman HD/MA $3
Ouija HD/IT $3.5
Our Kind of Traitor HD/MA $4
Outlander S.1 Vol 1 HD/VU $5
Overboard ‘18 HD/VU $3.5
Oz the Great & Powerful HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Pacific Rim Uprising HD/MA $4
Paddington HD/VU $3.5
Pain & Gain HD/VU or IT $3.5
Paper Towns HD/MA $3
Paradise Highway 4K/VU $5
Paranormal Activity 3 (Ext) HD/VU or IT $3
Paranormal Activity 4 (Unr) HD/VU or IT $2.5
Paranormal Activity Ghost Dimension (Unr) HD/VU or IT $3.5
Paranormal Activity HD/VU $4
Paranormal Activity The Marked Ones HD/VU or IT $3.5
Passengers HD/MA $3.5
Patriot Games 4K/VU $5
Patriot's Day HD/VU $3
Paul Apostle of Christ HD/MA $3
Peanuts Movie HD/MA $3
Penelope HD/VU $4.5
Peppermint HD/IT $3.5
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters HD/MA $3
Perfect Guy HD/MA $2.5
Perks of Being a Wallflower HD/VU or IT $3 or SD/VU or IT $1
Pet Sematary ‘19 HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Pet Sematary ‘89 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Peter Rabbit HD/MA $3.5
Pete's Dragon ‘16 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Phantom Thread HD/MA $4
Philomena HD/VU $2.5
Pirates of the Caribbean 5 HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Pirates! Band of Misfits HD/MA $3.5
Pitch Perfect 2 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5
Pitch Perfect HD/MA $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Pixar Short Films Set Vol. 3 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Planes Fire & Rescue HD/GP $3
Planes HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Planes, Trains & Automobiles 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Playing w/ Fire HD/VU or IT $2.5
Poltergeist ‘82 4K/MA $5.5
Poltergeist (Ext) ‘15 HD/MA $4
Pompeii HD/MA $3.5
Power Rangers ‘17 HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Predator ‘18 HD/MA $3
Predator ‘87 HD/MA $4
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies HD/MA $3.5
Primal HD/VU $3.5
Promise HD/MA or IT $3.5
Protege HD/VU $4
Proud Mary HD/MA $3.5
Psycho 4K/MA $5
Pulp Fiction 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Punisher War Zone 4K/VU $5.5
Purge Anarchy HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Purge Election Year HD/MA $3.5
Purge 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or
Push 4K/VU $6
Quantum of Solace HD/VU $4.5
Quarry 4K/VU $5
Quartet HD/VU $4
Queen of Katwe HD/GP $2.5
Quiet Ones HD/VU $3.5
Rambo ‘08 HD/VU $4
Rambo 5-film Set HD/VU $18
Rambo Last Blood 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Ran ‘85 4K/VU $5.5
Raya & the Last Dragon HD/MA $3.5
Rear Window 4K/IT $3.5
Rebel Without a Cause 4K/MA $5.5
Reclaim HD/VU $3.5
RED 2 HD/VU $2
Red Dawn ‘12 HD/IT $3
Redline ‘10 HD/VU $4.5
Reign of Assassins HD/VU $4.5
Replicant ‘01 HD/VU $3.5
Replicas HD/VU $3.5
Rescuers Down Under HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Rescuers HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Reservoir Dogs HD/VU $4
Resident Evil Retribution 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Resurrection of Gavin Stone HD/VU or IT $2.5
Retaliation ‘17 HD/VU $4
Revenant 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Ricki & the Flash HD/MA $3
Riddick (Unr) HD/VU or IT $3
Ride Like a Girl HD/VU $4
Right At Your Door HD/VU $4
Right One 4K/VU $5.5
Rings HD/VU or IT $2.5
Rio 2 (Sing-Along) HD/MA $3.5
Riot HD/VU or IT $3
RIPD HD/IT $2.5
Risen HD/MA $3
Rob Zombie Trilogy (3 From Hell, House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects) HD/VU $8
Robin Hood ‘18 HD/VU $3
Robocop ‘14 HD/VU $2.5
Rocketman ‘19 HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Rocky Horror Picture Show HD/MA $4
Roman J. Israel Esq HD/MA $3
Ron's Gone Wrong HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Room '15 HD/VU $3.5
Rough Night 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Run The Race HD/MA $3
Runner Runner HD/MA $3.5
Rush HD/IT $3
Safe HD/VU or IT $2.5
Same Kind of Different As Me HD/VU or IT $3
Samson HD/MA $3.5
Santa Clause HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Santa Clause 2 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Santa Clause 3 HD/GP $2.5
Sapphires HD/VU $4
Sausage Party HD/MA $3.5
Saving Mr. Banks HD/GP $3
Saw (Unr) 4K/VU $4.5
Saw 7-film Set (Unr) HD/VU $16
Saw HD/VU $3
Scarface HD/MA $4 or 4K/IT $4.5
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 4K/VU $4.5
Schindler's List 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Scream '96 HD/VU $3.5
Scream Trilogy HD/VU $11
Secret Garden ‘20 4K/VU or IT $5.5
Secret in Their Eyes HD/VU or IT $3
Secret Life of Pets 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
See No Evil 2 HD/VU $3.5
Selma HD/VU or IT $2.5
Serenity ‘05 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Seriously Red HD/VU $4
Sex Tape HD/MA $3.5
Shack HD/VU or IT $2.5
Shallows HD/MA $3.5
Shang-Chi Legend of the Ten Rings HD/GP $3
Shape of Water HD/MA $3.5
Sherlock Gnomes HD/VU or IT $2.5
Shivers HD/VU $4
Show Dogs HD/MA $3.5
Sicario HD/VU $2.5
Sicario Day of the Soldado HD/MA $4
Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water HD/VU $7.5
Side Effects HD/IT $3.5
Silencing HD/VU $4
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3-Film Set (3-5 HD/VU $7.5
Silk Road 4K/VU $5
Sing ‘16 HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Sing Street HD/VU $4
Sinister HD/IT $3
Sisters (Unr) HD/IT $2.5
Skeleton Twins HD/VU $4
Skyfall HD/VU $2.5
Skyscraper 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Sleeping Beauty ‘59 HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Sleepless HD/IT $2
Sleepy Hollow 4K/VU $6.5
Slender Man HD/MA $4
Smokey & the Bandit HD/MA $3.5
Smokin' Aces 4K/MA $5.5
Smurfs The Lost Village HD/MA or IT $3
Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins HD/VU $4
Sniper Assassin's End HD/MA $3.5
Snitch 4K/IT $3 or HD/VU $2.5 or SD/VU or IT $1
Snow White & the Huntsman (Ext) 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs ‘37 4K/MA $6 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Snowden HD/MA or IT $3.5
Snowpiercer HD/VU $4.5
Solo A Star Wars Story HD/GP $3
Son of God HD/MA $3
Sonic the Hedgehog 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Soul HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Source Code 4K/VU $5.5
Southpaw HD/VU $3
Spartacus HD/MA $3.5
Spectre HD/VU $3.5
Spider-Man 2 (Thea & Ext) HD/MA $4.5
Spider-Man 3 HD/MA $3.5
Spider-Man 4-Cut Set (Spider-Man 2 w/ Thea & Ext) HD/MA $11.5
Spider-Man Far From Home HD/MA $3
Spider-Man Homecoming HD/MA $2.5
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse HD/MA $4.5
Spider-Man No Way Home HD/MA $4 or SD/MA $2
Spies in Disguise HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Spinning Man HD/VU $4
Spiral 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Spongebob Sponge out of Water HD/IT $2.5
Spontaneous HD/VU $4.5
Spy Who Dumped Me 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
St. Vincent HD/VU $3
Stand Up Guys HD/VU $3.5
Star Trek 3 Search for Spock 4K/VU $5
Star Trek 4 Voyage Home 4K/VU $5
Star Trek Beyond HD/VU $3
Star Trek Into Darkness HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Star Trek The Motion Picture ‘79 4K/VU $5
Steel Dawn HD/VU $3.5
Still Alice HD/MA $4
Straight Outta Compton (Unr) HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Strange World HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Suburbicon HD/VU $3 or /IT $3.5
Sundown The Vampire in Retreat HD/VU $3.5
Super 8 4K/VU or IT $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Sword in the Stone HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Taken 2 HD/MA $3.5
Taken 3 (Unr) HD/MA $3.5
Tangled HD/GP $3.5
Ted (Unr) HD/MA or IT $2.5
Ted 2 (Unr) HD/IT $3
Teen Spirit ‘19 HD/MA $4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ‘14 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $2.5
Terminator 2 Judgment Day (Special) HD/VU $4.5
Terminator 2 Judgment Day 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Terminator Dark Fate HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Terminator Genisys HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Texas Chainsaw ‘13 HD/VU $3.5
Thanks for Sharing HD/VU $4
The Heat HD/MA $3
The Impossible HD/VU $3.5
The Sting 4K/MA $5.5
Think Like a Dog 4K/VU $5
This is the End HD/MA $3.5
Thor Dark World HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Thor HD/GP $3.5
Thor Love & Thunder HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Thor Ragnarok HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri HD/MA $3.5
To Kill a Mockingbird HD/MA $3.5
Toll HD/VU $4.5
Tomorrowland HD/GP $3
Top Five HD/IT $3
Top Gun ‘86 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Total Recall ‘90 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Touched w/ Fire HD/VU $4.5
Toy Story HD/GP $3.5
Toy Story 4 HD/GP $2
Training Day 4K/MA $5.5
Transformers Age of Extinction HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Transformers Dark of the Moon 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Transformers The Last Knight 4K/VU or IT $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Trolls HD/MA $2.5
Trust ‘16 HD/VU $4
Tucker The Man & His Dream 4K/VU $5
Tulip Fever HD/VU $4
Tumbledown HD/VU $4
Turbo HD/MA or IT $3
Turning HD/MA $4
Ugly Dolls 4K/VU or IT $5.5
Unbreakable HD/GP $3.5
Unbroken HD/VU or IT $3
Uncharted 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Uncle Drew HD/VU $3.5
Underworld Awakening HD/MA $3
Underworld Blood Wars HD/MA $3
Untouchables 4K/VU $5.5
Us ‘19 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets HD/VU $3.5
Vampire Academy HD/VU $3.5
Vanishing ‘18 HD/VU $4
Venom HD/MA $3.5
Victoria & Abdul HD/MA $4
Virtuoso 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Vivo HD/MA $4.5
Voices ‘14 HD/VU $4
Voyagers 4K/VU $5
Walk HD/MA $3.5
Walking w/ Dinosaurs HD/MA $3
Wall '17 HD/VU $4
War for the Planet of the Apes HD/MA $3
War of the Worlds ‘53 4K/VU $5.5
War on Everyone HD/VU $4
Warcraft 4K/IT $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Warhunt 4K/VU $4.5
Warm Bodies HD/VU $3 or SD/VU $1.5
Warning HD/VU $4
Watch HD/MA or IT $3.5
Wayne's World HD/VU $4.5
We Die Young HD/VU $3.5
Weekend HD/VU $4
Werewolf The Beast Among Us (Unr) HD/MA or IT $3.5
West Side Story 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
What Men Want HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
What We Did on our Holiday HD/VU $4
When the Game Stands Tall HD/MA $3
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot HD/VU or IT $3
Why Him? HD/MA $3
Widows HD/MA $3.5
Wild Card HD/VU $3
Willow HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Wilson HD/MA $3.5
Winchester HD/VU $3.5
Winnie the Pooh Springtime w/ Roo HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Wolf Hound 4K/VU $4.5
Wolf Man ‘41 4K/MA $5.5
Wolf of Wall Street 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU or IT $3.5
Wolverine (Unr) (w/Thea) HD/MA $3.5
Woman in Gold HD/VU $3.5
Won't Back Down HD/MA $3.5
Woodlawn HD/MA or IT $3.5
World War Z HD/VU or IT $2.5
Wraith HD/VU $4
X-Men Apocalypse HD/MA $3
X-Men Days of Future Past HD/MA $3
XXX Return of Xander Cage HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Z for Zachariah HD/VU $4
Zero Dark Thirty HD/MA $3.5
Zeros & Ones HD/VU $4
Zootopia HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5

“Brah, I’m glad that shift was over. ‘Tang ina can’t believe we gotta head back in 12 hours. Can’t take anymore night shifts. It’s killing me.”
“Migs brah, relax. It’s hardly the night shift.”
“ ‘pre, it’s midnight.”
“Yo, be glad we get to go home. Marcy, Ting, Lim, those poor fucks just clocked in.” Anthony glanced over at the whiteboard with a handwritten menu:
Meal A
Bisteak and Rice
Meal B
Pansit Canton with hot dogs
Meal C
Menudo Rice + 1 Lumpia
Special
Beef Pares (Beef Stew)
“Yo, so what you having, my turn to buy.”
“Yah, it’s always your turn to buy when we end up at a cheap diner like this.”
“Ok, you get your own..”
“Joke lang ‘pre, relax. I’ll have the Special. Sorry, been a long shift.”
“Manong, dalawang Special ho.” two specials please.
The old man behind the carinderia finished ringing up the customer that was ahead of Miguel and Anthony. Another shift worker, a woman in scrubs heading home from a long shift at the hospital.
The old man walked over to the back wall, grabbed two plates two bowls and began filling in the order for two specials which consisted of a plate of white rice and a bowl of oily pares (beef stew, street vendor style).
Miguel and Anthony frequented Robinson’s almost every night shift. It was a bare bones type of carinderia with green tile walls andSan Miguel Beer poster ads. One wall had a large corner to corner mirror that made the place look bigger than what it actually was. The tables were cheap foldable picnic tables draped with thick see-through plastic. The front windows were ceiling to floor like most of the restaurants on the strip except for some reason, they were tinted. Food was also cheap but portions were big.
Taste was another story. To the pair of them, the food tasted alright. There were definitely other options in the vicinity. A lot of restaurants and diners in the area stayed open late to feed the influx of commuting shift workers in the neighborhood. Some even stayed open 24 hours to capitalize on the breakfast crowd coming in from a graveyard shift.
Miguel and Anthony certainly weren’t lacking in options, but something about the food kept them coming back. There was a certain flavour to the ulam which oddly enough, energized them a little bit. They had the feeling of life returning to their tired over worked bodies. Over the months, both of them had certainly tried checking out the other carinderias, but they never had the sense of satiety that they would get from Robinson’s. Satiety was the word they could best describe their end of meal feeling. It wasn’t a satisfying meal, but it did leave a particular taste at the end. The kind that makes you want more regardless of how full up you felt.
They couldn’t quite put their finger on what that flavour in the food was; that strange but tasty flavour. Some of the dishes that Manong served tasted plain, even bland but with a hint of that… something. It was strongest whenever Manong had a special for the day. His specials were random and there was no way of knowing when he’d have a special dish prepared. You just had to be there at the right time.
For tired shift workers like Miguel and Anthony, they never really put too much thought into why they liked the food. They just did, but at the same time they didn’t. And like most people in their situation, they just decided to brush it off as routine, habit, perhaps a familiarity of the homeland.
Manong, who served them was not Robinson. No one knew who Robinson was. Just like every other store on the strip named Aleng Rosa, Marites Bakery, Tita Lidia’s Panderia. Rosa, Marites, Lidia, Robinson, all could have just been names pulled out of a hat and whoever worked at the establishments didn’t think too much of the history of the store names or who they were. To everyone on the strip, work was work, and a business was a business.
Manong was just Manong. He was an old sinewy man with a lazy eye and white oily hair. Old as he looked he, moved like someone half his age. He would float between the front carinderia and the back kitchen like a silent wraith, often times carrying refills of food trays with ease.
“Brah, so did you hear about Marcia’s aunt. Tita Neng?” Miguel asked as they sat down at their table, positioned across from the television that played local Filipino news.
“Yah, dude, that’s rough,” Anthony replied as he drizzled spicy vinegar over his beef stew.
“Thank god their insured right?”
“Dude what’s wrong with you? That shit was fucked up! In broad daylight too. Like great they can afford the hospital, but she didn’t have to be in that situation you know? It’s not like she got hit by a car or nothing. Dude went savage on her, for no reason!”
“Yah…” Anthony reflected. “That was fucked up.”
“Things are getting bad. I mean used to be hard just getting around at night. Who know’s who you’ll run into. But tang ina man, these fuckers attacking us during the day now. And for what fucking reason?” Miguel began to chomp down on his food a little bit faster now.
“They hated us from before pare. But back then they ignored us. Shit talk here, shit talk there, but that’s all it was, shit talk. They left us alone. We kept to our side of the line. But now they full on hate us! They blaming us for takin jobs, bringing the fucking virus. Dude doesn’t matter if you’re Chinese, Viet, Filipino. We all look the same to them. Fuck this world bro.” Anthony felt himself getting worked up. He realized if he kept going like this, it would be hard for him to sleep later.
He decided to steer the conversation back to Tita Neng and Marcia. No point in getting worked up so late. “So how’s Marcia anyway? She ok?”
“Yah, she’s with Tita Neng. She’ll be there a while till Neng’s out. Probably be a few days to a week, seeing how that asshole got her.”
“Wow, a week, how’d she score a whole week off?”
“I dunno brah, but company told her take as much time as she needed to take care of her aunt. I never asked though if it was paid. Who knows. You know if this shit never made the news, they probably wouldn’t have given any time off at all you know. These fuckers won’t give a damn until all of the sudden there’s a camera on them.”
Anthony choked a little bit. “Fuck that’s true. They only care if people got eyes on them. Imagine, if this news didn’t go public, they probably would’ve wiped their hands and said not their problem.”
Miguel grabbed the vinegar from Anthony’s side of the table and started adding more to his broth. He was getting a little heated up as well but wasn’t sure if it was the topic of conversation or the food giving him a second wind.
“Brah, the pares is good today,” he mumbled.
Anthony nodded in agreement, “mmhmm.”
“There’s a donation going on if you wanna contribute. Again we don’t know if Marcia’s getting time off with pay, but everyone’s just assuming she isn’t. Hard to ask with her being in her state, taking care of Neng at the hospital. So we just gonna collect some stuff, food, cash, you know. Help with the rent and all.”
Anthony nodded as he looked up at the television. It was a repeat news story of Tita Neng’s encounter.
“…Melinda Torres, a 58 year old, Filipino shift worker who was assaulted while walking home in the morning is now recovering at St. Joseph’s hospital. Police have surveilled CCTV footage of the incident Police Investigators have identified the attacker as Anthony King, 42, who is now facing charges of a hate crime on top of assault and battery. Anthony King is still at large and police are urging anyone with information of his whereabouts to contact them or CRIMESTOPPERS…”
“Fucked up,” Miguel says as he turned over to yell at Manong, “be careful when you go out. You never know what these fucks will do these days. They’re just hating on all of us, but what’s worse is they hitting the old ones like you, and Tita Neng over there.”
Manong just stared at the tv, with the same blank look he had every night, and all day for all they knew. He stood there silently, stoically with his one lazy eye unblinking, unphased by either the news report or Miguel’s sudden attempt at conversing with him.
Miguel meanwhile, stared at him for a few seconds, then slowly turned back to his food. Anthony replied, “you’d think he’d be a bit concerned for himself eh. I mean, even though he’s got kababayan (countrymen)all around here, who knows who’s walking down these streets these days.”
“Brah, I don’t think he leaves this place,” Miguel chuckled.
“Yah I guess you’re right.”
“Ingatan mo ang saril nyo”. (watch out for yourelves)The both of them suddenly heard from behind the counter. The both of them turned to look back, but Manong just stood there in the same position as always. Sometimes he was watching TV, sometimes he was just sitting down staring at the wall, and sometimes, he was at the back, disappeared behind the kitchen, doing what the both of them thought people did behind the kitchen. Cook, chop, clean, or maybe in Manong’s case, just a whole lot more staring into nowhere.
“You know, I don’t think I ever heard him talk,” Anthony said.
“Nah, don’t think so brah.”
After a few seconds, he turned back around over to their food and began eating again.
“Yo Ton,” Miguel whispered, “we’ve been coming here for months now, I haven’t seen anyone else work here except old Manong over there.”
“Yah same, I think he run’s this place all on his own”.
“You mean he does the cooking, cleaning, cash, everything? Nah he’s gotta have some help.”
Anthony thought back and tried to recall how the other businesses in the area operated. There were typically two people at least at every store. Even if on a certain hour you’d see one person at cash, or one person at a desk, there would always be another one out back, or out somewhere doing errands. Running a business, no matter how small on the strip was never a solo operation.
It was possible Anthony thought but moving inventory, getting supplies, cleaning the shops, all required some help. And as tight knit as the community was, there was only ever so much favors one could pull from the neighbors before they start declining.
He thought back to when he came to Robinson’s during the day and tried to remember if there was anyone else running the shop or if there was help. Him and Miguel usually just came there after their night shifts, but he recalled swinging by a few days on the weekends on his own when he didn’t feel like cooking, or he felt he needed something quick and cheap to eat. He couldn’t remember at all if old Manong had a helper.
Miguel broke his chain of thought, “You know I heard he was an ex merc from the Marcos era. Body guard or some shit.”
“Where’d you hear that?” Anthony snickered. “You believe all the tsismis huh?”
“Nah man, well, yah sure, tsismis is tsismis, but you know how rumors go? If it’s the same story, it’s gotta be true. And everyone sayin’, Manong over there is an ex merc.
Anthony chuckled as he spooned the last bits of sabaw (sauce)over his rice, “Dude, your logic”
“Yo just look at him. Stiff as a board, always looking silent and deadly. You see the dude ever slouch or anything? My titos and shit were all in the army, and you know, posture, it stays with you.”
“Even an ex soldier can’t do things alone man, specially at his age.”
“Huh what?” Miguel retorted with a puzzled look. “Oh shit yah, ok hear me out. He’s probably like super strong and shit. Ex merc you know, probably seen stuff. Specially back in those days you know. Fucked up shit. Figures why he’d do things on his own. Probably can’t trust no body. Look at that lazy eye of his too. Probably got stabbed or shot. Tang ina’s astig (badass)bro.”
“Dude, you even know what you’re talking about? Like Marcos era? You know how long ago that was? Manong over there’s probably gotta be over a 100 years old to survive the Marcos era.”
“Well”, Miguel shouted, but suddenly remembered where he was and who he was talking about, and where that person was, “Well,” he hushed down “he probably is a 100. Look at him.”
“Migs, I am looking at him, and there’s no way. No way pare. I mean yah, he looks old, but dude moves like he’s 20. He can’t be that old.”
The door of Robinson’s suddenly opened and the two of them stopped their conversation to have a glance. Normally there’s always the quick glance and stare when someone walks through, especially at that time of the night. It would be a mix of curiosity and hopefulness. Curious to see who would be walking in so late at night, and hopeful to see if it was someone they knew so they could start a late night gossip session. But at this particular moment, the stares gave way to a rapid hint of caution which triggered the two of them to immediately look away and back down on their food.
He was a tall, hefty man with big arms, thick thighs, and a big thick belly. He was wide and just plain big. Not the slow and soft kind of big, but the sort of big that can do damage, like a truck or a wild boar. He even grunted a bit as he surveyed the restaurant, eyes meandering Robinson’s with a cynical gaze.
“I thought I smelled something off,” the stranger snorted as he slowly walked, more like staggered, to the counter of Robinson’s. It wasn’t the drunk or high kind of staggering but more so of a bravado step with an air of arrogance behind the walk leaving behind a strange cloud of hate.
“Wha d’you gotta eat in this kinda place pops? I smell fish heads, you fryin’ fish back there?”
Anthony and Miguel gave each other a cautionary glance. They both knew Manong never served seafood, and they both knew what the stranger meant when he referred to the smell of fish heads.
Manong glanced at the customer, with his usual look; unchanging, stoic, emotionless. He took both of his hands and fanned them outward towards the counter of food laid out: the beef stew, fried noodles, and beef steaks.
“God damn old man. Food inspector come by and check your place out yet? What is this shit? You leave this out in the open like this? Probably not even warm?”
He stared at Manong as he mouthed the word warm, and while doing so he took his index finger and dipped it into the pan of beef stew, stirred it around for
1…2…3… seconds, lifted it off and stuck his finger in his mouth.
“It’s warm I’ll give you that much, but it’s fuckin disgusting. What the hell is this pig slop” He spat out onto the floor. Manong just continued to stare.
Miguel turned around when he heard the stranger spit on the floor. Something started to boil up inside of him. Anthony sensed this and grabbed him by the forearm, “psst, huy, relax lang pare”
Miguel turned slowly back to his place, torn and feeling helpless. He knew the stranger with the arrogant walk was up to no good. Miguel just kept getting flashbacks in his head about the news report and his conversations with Marcia about Tita Neng in the hospital. What panicked him most among all the ideas and scenarios running through his head was, this was not Anthony King, the suspect that had attacked Tita Neng in the streets. This was someone else completely. The feeling of being trapped and helpless choked him.
In a hushed tone, as if he could read his thoughts, Anthony whispered, “I know brah, but let’s wait. Relax lang. Maybe he’ll leave. Maybe he’s just all talk. Relax, chill”
The stranger sensed movement behind him, looked back with a smirk, then turned his gaze back at Manong. With the same finger that he just licked the stew from, he went and poked at the fried noodles, and began to stir just like he did with the beef stew.
Anthony was still holding on to Miguel’s forearm and as he watched the stranger stir at the noodles, his grip got harder, and sweat started to pour down his forehead.
“Y’all come here, serve this shit,” the stranger talked as he continued to stir the noodles with his finger. “And don’t even have the decency to greet your customers. Where’s the service old man?” His finger pushed deeper into the pan of fried noodles, submerging his knuckles, his palms, then his whole fist.
“You just gonna stare at me old guy? Or you gonna serve me? Or do I gotta serve myself?”
Manong broke his stare, calmly turned around, and grabbed a plate from the back counter, hardly un-phased by the stranger’s words and actions. He turned back around with the plate, grabbed a serving spoon and began to spoon the plate with fried noodles.
The stranger laughed, the arrogance and the cloud of hate that trailed behind began to rise, and fill the room with it’s invisible aura. He looked left, right, looked back at Miguel and Anthony sitting at the table. At this point Miguel had turned around to watch the stranger again so the two of them were now transfixed at the scene.
The stranger smile turned sharply into a grimace. He spun back to face Manong, lifted his hand out of the plate of noodles, and flicked them at Manong’s face. “FUCK. You can’t get the hint can you? I don’t know how you got into this country. But you know what old man?”
The stranger turns around to face Anthony and Miguel, “And this goes for you two pricks as well”
The stranger turns back to face Manong, “stop serving this slop and go back to your fucking country, you mother, fuckin…”.
And with that last word the stranger grabbed hold of another fist full of noodles and smeared them over Manong’s face. 1 second…. 2 second… 3 seconds… 4… seconds… he continued to smear. He pulled back his hand, turned around gave a grim smile to Anthony and Miguel, who were now standing up. Faces full of shock, anger, fear, desperation, anxiety, sadness, a mixture of emotions that kept them frozen in place. Fight or flight, both actions were being cancelled out with too many thoughts, too many countering emotions, too many what if scenarios floating in their heads.
The stranger glared at Anthony and Miguel, “This is what we do to your kind. You’re not welcome here no more,”
The stranger turns around and begins to punch Manong in the face with the same noodle smeared hands.
That was all Miguel could handle. Anthony stood there still in shock, but Miguel rushed over to the stranger and tried to wrestle his punching arm back to stop the barrage of fists landing on Manong’s face.
“Get the fuck off him you prick. Why you gotta go and hit an old man for you fucking piece of shit!”
The stranger had size over Miguel, though Miguel was able to hold back his punches, his other arm was free and strong enough to elbow Miguel hard in the ribs which made Miguel immediately let go.
“You all are everywhere, like god damn roaches”, he spat at Miguel.
Miguel furious took a deep breath and launched himself at the stranger. With no real experience in fighting, all he could do was grab hold of the stranger with a bear hug to the waist, which was unfortunate for Miguel as with the stranger’s reach, he was able to pummel him with both arms. Elbows to the back. Punches to the ribs.
Miguel held on tighter, frustrated, in pain, tears rolling down his face while the stranger continued his barrage of elbows, punches, and insults. Anthony stood frozen mouth gaped, shock and fear rooting him in place.
“You fucking pieces of shit, take every god damn street and store in our country, take every fuckin’ business, and all you do is ruin things for everyone.” The stranger continued to beat down, Miguel’s strength fading, his grip on the stranger loosening as he took multiple punches to the ribs and back.
“You come here with your shit food, your shit way of life, ruining MY country. First you bring drugs, then you bring the fucking virus, then you take all our fuckin money living off our welfare system. I should call immigration on the lot of you. You got papers boy?”
Miguel dropped to his knees. Hurt both physically from barrage of punches and elbows and hurt emotionally from the insults and the slurs that were flung with every hit.
“If you won’t go back to where you came from, I’ll kick you out myself” the stranger smiled. Be balled his hand into one giant fist and raised it high over his head, while his other hand grabbed hold of Miguel’s hair, holding him steady for the final blow.
Both Miguel and Anthony saw the fist raised. They both knew what was coming, but neither could stop it. Miguel was too weak from the beating and Anthony was still too frozen with fear to move. They both thought of Tita Neng in the hospital. Miguel was next. He’ll be in the hospital at St. Josephs with her, that is if he survives the final blow.
At this point, Miguel began to experience what most would describe as the slow motion of the last moments of life. Or at least what he thought would be his last moments. They were filled with dread and fear. He could feel the hatred pouring out of the stranger. How could anyone have so much anger and hatred towards anybody?
The aura of hate filled the room and engulfed him entirely. He felt as if his entire being was becoming smothered and about to be wiped out. He could feel all that hateful energy wrap him like a thick heavy net and the anger collecting into a single point in the stranger’s fist. All that hate bottled up in one fist would be crashing down on him soon. Miguel passed out from exhaustion. Anthony fainted from shock.
And then a darker energy entered the room. Originally it was just the stranger and his anger filling up the space. But then, something else emerged. It was darker than black. It was primal. It was old. And It, was hungry.
…
Miguel and Anthony woke up both groggy un aware of what was going on. It took a few seconds for them to regain their senses. They both assumed they had blacked out, but how?
They sit back. Miguel’s ribs and body ached. Luckily the stranger had only been hitting him in the back and ribs, and not the face.
Wait a minute he thought. The stranger must have hit him in the head, otherwise why would he have blacked out?
But then it occurred to him that his head wasn’t hurting. He did have a headache, but not from a punch to the head. More of a groggy, hung over feeling headache, the type one gets from sleeping in a strange position and getting a stiff neck.
Anthony opens his eyes, how did I black out he thought? Did the stranger go after me after finishing off Miguel? He felt no pain in his body, nothing hurt but his head, but it was the same groggy stiff necked pain that Miguel was experiencing.
“Bro, what the fuck happend” Miguel asked
“Pare I don’t know, pare. Fuck. My head hurts.”
“All I remember was I thought I was done for. I remember thinking that I was either going to see Tita Neng in the hospital or see my dad up in heaven.”
“Bro, I’m sorry I couldn’t step in, I tried, I mean, I wanted to, fuck I dont know I’m so sorry bro”
“It’s alright pare. Ok lang, we’re both ok, somewhat. I dunno. Dude where are we?”
They both looked around. There were green tiled walls with posters of San Miguel Beer, one wall with corner to corner mirror to make the place look bigger, foldable picnic tables draped with thick clear plastic, a TV playing local community news, this time playing the morning weather and traffic report. Hazy sunlight was shining through the tinted glass windows of the front of the restaurant. They were at Robinson’s.
Manong was in front of the kitchen counter with a mop and bucket cleaning the floor. His face, blank, stoic, emotionless. He swished the mop with strong, wide strokes, and when he rung the mop into the bucket, his sinewy arms tightened into coils of hard leather. For an old man, he moved like a teenager, albeit slow and methodical.
“Manong,” Miguel asked
“Ok lang kayo? Anong nangyari ka gabe? Where did that asshole go”
Silence.
Manong did one last swish of the mop into the bucket and wheeled them both back behind the counter and into the kitchen. Miguel and Anthony just looked at each other, confused, baffled, and stiff.
“Dude” Anthony grimaced “Like what the hell happened last night?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like shit right now. Do you think we should go to the police?”
Anthony sat in silence not knowing what to say or do. As he became more and more awake, the memories of the night before became more and more clear, but the gap between now and the moment the stranger was about to hit Miguel in the face was a huge black hole.
“Dude, what time is it?” Miguel asked.
Anthony looked at his phone, “6am”
“Alright, ok so we got 6 hours before clocking in to figure out what we’re going to do”
“Or figure out what happened last night bro”
The kitchen door swung open and Manong walked out with a big tray of food for the carinderia counter. Face emotionless as ever, not even showing signs of strain as he lifted the tray into the heating spot of the counter. After placing the tray in it’s slot, he turned around to the white board menu above the kitchen counter and began wiping the old menu out and replacing it with the days and evenings options.
Meal A
Bisteak and rice + 1 lumpia
Meal B
Pansit canton with beef slices
Meal C
Pork adobo and rice
Special
Lechon Kawali
Glossary of terms:
‘tang ina: short for putang ina. Mother Fucker.
‘pre: short for Pare. Colloquial term for Bro.
Brah: another term for Bro. Evolved from the word Brad.(Br-AH-d) or Brother.
Manong: A term reserved for an older male person. Typically males, family or strangers would be referred to as uncle or Tito. Manong is an older Tito.

“Brah, I’m glad that shift was over. ‘Tang ina can’t believe we gotta head back in 12 hours. Can’t take anymore night shifts. It’s killing me.”
“Migs brah, relax. It’s hardly the night shift.”
“ ‘pre, it’s midnight.”
“Yo, be glad we get to go home. Marcy, Ting, Lim, those poor fucks just clocked in.” Anthony glanced over at the whiteboard with a handwritten menu:
Meal A
Bisteak and Rice
Meal B
Pansit Canton with hot dogs
Meal C
Menudo Rice + 1 Lumpia
Special
Beef Pares (Beef Stew)
“Yo, so what you having, my turn to buy.”
“Yah, it’s always your turn to buy when we end up at a cheap diner like this.”
“Ok, you get your own..”
“Joke lang ‘pre, relax. I’ll have the Special. Sorry, been a long shift.”
“Manong, dalawang Special ho.” two specials please.
The old man behind the carinderia finished ringing up the customer that was ahead of Miguel and Anthony. Another shift worker, a woman in scrubs heading home from a long shift at the hospital.
The old man walked over to the back wall, grabbed two plates two bowls and began filling in the order for two specials which consisted of a plate of white rice and a bowl of oily pares (beef stew, street vendor style).
Miguel and Anthony frequented Robinson’s almost every night shift. It was a bare bones type of carinderia with green tile walls andSan Miguel Beer poster ads. One wall had a large corner to corner mirror that made the place look bigger than what it actually was. The tables were cheap foldable picnic tables draped with thick see-through plastic. The front windows were ceiling to floor like most of the restaurants on the strip except for some reason, they were tinted. Food was also cheap but portions were big.
Taste was another story. To the pair of them, the food tasted alright. There were definitely other options in the vicinity. A lot of restaurants and diners in the area stayed open late to feed the influx of commuting shift workers in the neighborhood. Some even stayed open 24 hours to capitalize on the breakfast crowd coming in from a graveyard shift.
Miguel and Anthony certainly weren’t lacking in options, but something about the food kept them coming back. There was a certain flavour to the ulam which oddly enough, energized them a little bit. They had the feeling of life returning to their tired over worked bodies. Over the months, both of them had certainly tried checking out the other carinderias, but they never had the sense of satiety that they would get from Robinson’s. Satiety was the word they could best describe their end of meal feeling. It wasn’t a satisfying meal, but it did leave a particular taste at the end. The kind that makes you want more regardless of how full up you felt.
They couldn’t quite put their finger on what that flavour in the food was; that strange but tasty flavour. Some of the dishes that Manong served tasted plain, even bland but with a hint of that… something. It was strongest whenever Manong had a special for the day. His specials were random and there was no way of knowing when he’d have a special dish prepared. You just had to be there at the right time.
For tired shift workers like Miguel and Anthony, they never really put too much thought into why they liked the food. They just did, but at the same time they didn’t. And like most people in their situation, they just decided to brush it off as routine, habit, perhaps a familiarity of the homeland.
Manong, who served them was not Robinson. No one knew who Robinson was. Just like every other store on the strip named Aleng Rosa, Marites Bakery, Tita Lidia’s Panderia. Rosa, Marites, Lidia, Robinson, all could have just been names pulled out of a hat and whoever worked at the establishments didn’t think too much of the history of the store names or who they were. To everyone on the strip, work was work, and a business was a business.
Manong was just Manong. He was an old sinewy man with a lazy eye and white oily hair. Old as he looked he, moved like someone half his age. He would float between the front carinderia and the back kitchen like a silent wraith, often times carrying refills of food trays with ease.
“Brah, so did you hear about Marcia’s aunt. Tita Neng?” Miguel asked as they sat down at their table, positioned across from the television that played local Filipino news.
“Yah, dude, that’s rough,” Anthony replied as he drizzled spicy vinegar over his beef stew.
“Thank god their insured right?”
“Dude what’s wrong with you? That shit was fucked up! In broad daylight too. Like great they can afford the hospital, but she didn’t have to be in that situation you know? It’s not like she got hit by a car or nothing. Dude went savage on her, for no reason!”
“Yah…” Anthony reflected. “That was fucked up.”
“Things are getting bad. I mean used to be hard just getting around at night. Who know’s who you’ll run into. But tang ina man, these fuckers attacking us during the day now. And for what fucking reason?” Miguel began to chomp down on his food a little bit faster now.
“They hated us from before pare. But back then they ignored us. Shit talk here, shit talk there, but that’s all it was, shit talk. They left us alone. We kept to our side of the line. But now they full on hate us! They blaming us for takin jobs, bringing the fucking virus. Dude doesn’t matter if you’re Chinese, Viet, Filipino. We all look the same to them. Fuck this world bro.” Anthony felt himself getting worked up. He realized if he kept going like this, it would be hard for him to sleep later.
He decided to steer the conversation back to Tita Neng and Marcia. No point in getting worked up so late. “So how’s Marcia anyway? She ok?”
“Yah, she’s with Tita Neng. She’ll be there a while till Neng’s out. Probably be a few days to a week, seeing how that asshole got her.”
“Wow, a week, how’d she score a whole week off?”
“I dunno brah, but company told her take as much time as she needed to take care of her aunt. I never asked though if it was paid. Who knows. You know if this shit never made the news, they probably wouldn’t have given any time off at all you know. These fuckers won’t give a damn until all of the sudden there’s a camera on them.”
Anthony choked a little bit. “Fuck that’s true. They only care if people got eyes on them. Imagine, if this news didn’t go public, they probably would’ve wiped their hands and said not their problem.”
Miguel grabbed the vinegar from Anthony’s side of the table and started adding more to his broth. He was getting a little heated up as well but wasn’t sure if it was the topic of conversation or the food giving him a second wind.
“Brah, the pares is good today,” he mumbled.
Anthony nodded in agreement, “mmhmm.”
“There’s a donation going on if you wanna contribute. Again we don’t know if Marcia’s getting time off with pay, but everyone’s just assuming she isn’t. Hard to ask with her being in her state, taking care of Neng at the hospital. So we just gonna collect some stuff, food, cash, you know. Help with the rent and all.”
Anthony nodded as he looked up at the television. It was a repeat news story of Tita Neng’s encounter.
“…Melinda Torres, a 58 year old, Filipino shift worker who was assaulted while walking home in the morning is now recovering at St. Joseph’s hospital. Police have surveilled CCTV footage of the incident Police Investigators have identified the attacker as Anthony King, 42, who is now facing charges of a hate crime on top of assault and battery. Anthony King is still at large and police are urging anyone with information of his whereabouts to contact them or CRIMESTOPPERS…”
“Fucked up,” Miguel says as he turned over to yell at Manong, “be careful when you go out. You never know what these fucks will do these days. They’re just hating on all of us, but what’s worse is they hitting the old ones like you, and Tita Neng over there.”
Manong just stared at the tv, with the same blank look he had every night, and all day for all they knew. He stood there silently, stoically with his one lazy eye unblinking, unphased by either the news report or Miguel’s sudden attempt at conversing with him.
Miguel meanwhile, stared at him for a few seconds, then slowly turned back to his food. Anthony replied, “you’d think he’d be a bit concerned for himself eh. I mean, even though he’s got kababayan (countrymen)all around here, who knows who’s walking down these streets these days.”
“Brah, I don’t think he leaves this place,” Miguel chuckled.
“Yah I guess you’re right.”
“Ingatan mo ang saril nyo”. (watch out for yourelves)The both of them suddenly heard from behind the counter. The both of them turned to look back, but Manong just stood there in the same position as always. Sometimes he was watching TV, sometimes he was just sitting down staring at the wall, and sometimes, he was at the back, disappeared behind the kitchen, doing what the both of them thought people did behind the kitchen. Cook, chop, clean, or maybe in Manong’s case, just a whole lot more staring into nowhere.
“You know, I don’t think I ever heard him talk,” Anthony said.
“Nah, don’t think so brah.”
After a few seconds, he turned back around over to their food and began eating again.
“Yo Ton,” Miguel whispered, “we’ve been coming here for months now, I haven’t seen anyone else work here except old Manong over there.”
“Yah same, I think he run’s this place all on his own”.
“You mean he does the cooking, cleaning, cash, everything? Nah he’s gotta have some help.”
Anthony thought back and tried to recall how the other businesses in the area operated. There were typically two people at least at every store. Even if on a certain hour you’d see one person at cash, or one person at a desk, there would always be another one out back, or out somewhere doing errands. Running a business, no matter how small on the strip was never a solo operation.
It was possible Anthony thought but moving inventory, getting supplies, cleaning the shops, all required some help. And as tight knit as the community was, there was only ever so much favors one could pull from the neighbors before they start declining.
He thought back to when he came to Robinson’s during the day and tried to remember if there was anyone else running the shop or if there was help. Him and Miguel usually just came there after their night shifts, but he recalled swinging by a few days on the weekends on his own when he didn’t feel like cooking, or he felt he needed something quick and cheap to eat. He couldn’t remember at all if old Manong had a helper.
Miguel broke his chain of thought, “You know I heard he was an ex merc from the Marcos era. Body guard or some shit.”
“Where’d you hear that?” Anthony snickered. “You believe all the tsismis huh?”
“Nah man, well, yah sure, tsismis is tsismis, but you know how rumors go? If it’s the same story, it’s gotta be true. And everyone sayin’, Manong over there is an ex merc.
Anthony chuckled as he spooned the last bits of sabaw (sauce)over his rice, “Dude, your logic”
“Yo just look at him. Stiff as a board, always looking silent and deadly. You see the dude ever slouch or anything? My titos and shit were all in the army, and you know, posture, it stays with you.”
“Even an ex soldier can’t do things alone man, specially at his age.”
“Huh what?” Miguel retorted with a puzzled look. “Oh shit yah, ok hear me out. He’s probably like super strong and shit. Ex merc you know, probably seen stuff. Specially back in those days you know. Fucked up shit. Figures why he’d do things on his own. Probably can’t trust no body. Look at that lazy eye of his too. Probably got stabbed or shot. Tang ina’s astig (badass)bro.”
“Dude, you even know what you’re talking about? Like Marcos era? You know how long ago that was? Manong over there’s probably gotta be over a 100 years old to survive the Marcos era.”
“Well”, Miguel shouted, but suddenly remembered where he was and who he was talking about, and where that person was, “Well,” he hushed down “he probably is a 100. Look at him.”
“Migs, I am looking at him, and there’s no way. No way pare. I mean yah, he looks old, but dude moves like he’s 20. He can’t be that old.”
The door of Robinson’s suddenly opened and the two of them stopped their conversation to have a glance. Normally there’s always the quick glance and stare when someone walks through, especially at that time of the night. It would be a mix of curiosity and hopefulness. Curious to see who would be walking in so late at night, and hopeful to see if it was someone they knew so they could start a late night gossip session. But at this particular moment, the stares gave way to a rapid hint of caution which triggered the two of them to immediately look away and back down on their food.
He was a tall, hefty man with big arms, thick thighs, and a big thick belly. He was wide and just plain big. Not the slow and soft kind of big, but the sort of big that can do damage, like a truck or a wild boar. He even grunted a bit as he surveyed the restaurant, eyes meandering Robinson’s with a cynical gaze.
“I thought I smelled something off,” the stranger snorted as he slowly walked, more like staggered, to the counter of Robinson’s. It wasn’t the drunk or high kind of staggering but more so of a bravado step with an air of arrogance behind the walk leaving behind a strange cloud of hate.
“Wha d’you gotta eat in this kinda place pops? I smell fish heads, you fryin’ fish back there?”
Anthony and Miguel gave each other a cautionary glance. They both knew Manong never served seafood, and they both knew what the stranger meant when he referred to the smell of fish heads.
Manong glanced at the customer, with his usual look; unchanging, stoic, emotionless. He took both of his hands and fanned them outward towards the counter of food laid out: the beef stew, fried noodles, and beef steaks.
“God damn old man. Food inspector come by and check your place out yet? What is this shit? You leave this out in the open like this? Probably not even warm?”
He stared at Manong as he mouthed the word warm, and while doing so he took his index finger and dipped it into the pan of beef stew, stirred it around for
1…2…3… seconds, lifted it off and stuck his finger in his mouth.
“It’s warm I’ll give you that much, but it’s fuckin disgusting. What the hell is this pig slop” He spat out onto the floor. Manong just continued to stare.
Miguel turned around when he heard the stranger spit on the floor. Something started to boil up inside of him. Anthony sensed this and grabbed him by the forearm, “psst, huy, relax lang pare”
Miguel turned slowly back to his place, torn and feeling helpless. He knew the stranger with the arrogant walk was up to no good. Miguel just kept getting flashbacks in his head about the news report and his conversations with Marcia about Tita Neng in the hospital. What panicked him most among all the ideas and scenarios running through his head was, this was not Anthony King, the suspect that had attacked Tita Neng in the streets. This was someone else completely. The feeling of being trapped and helpless choked him.
In a hushed tone, as if he could read his thoughts, Anthony whispered, “I know brah, but let’s wait. Relax lang. Maybe he’ll leave. Maybe he’s just all talk. Relax, chill”
The stranger sensed movement behind him, looked back with a smirk, then turned his gaze back at Manong. With the same finger that he just licked the stew from, he went and poked at the fried noodles, and began to stir just like he did with the beef stew.
Anthony was still holding on to Miguel’s forearm and as he watched the stranger stir at the noodles, his grip got harder, and sweat started to pour down his forehead.
“Y’all come here, serve this shit,” the stranger talked as he continued to stir the noodles with his finger. “And don’t even have the decency to greet your customers. Where’s the service old man?” His finger pushed deeper into the pan of fried noodles, submerging his knuckles, his palms, then his whole fist.
“You just gonna stare at me old guy? Or you gonna serve me? Or do I gotta serve myself?”
Manong broke his stare, calmly turned around, and grabbed a plate from the back counter, hardly un-phased by the stranger’s words and actions. He turned back around with the plate, grabbed a serving spoon and began to spoon the plate with fried noodles.
The stranger laughed, the arrogance and the cloud of hate that trailed behind began to rise, and fill the room with it’s invisible aura. He looked left, right, looked back at Miguel and Anthony sitting at the table. At this point Miguel had turned around to watch the stranger again so the two of them were now transfixed at the scene.
The stranger smile turned sharply into a grimace. He spun back to face Manong, lifted his hand out of the plate of noodles, and flicked them at Manong’s face. “FUCK. You can’t get the hint can you? I don’t know how you got into this country. But you know what old man?”
The stranger turns around to face Anthony and Miguel, “And this goes for you two pricks as well”
The stranger turns back to face Manong, “stop serving this slop and go back to your fucking country, you mother, fuckin…”.
And with that last word the stranger grabbed hold of another fist full of noodles and smeared them over Manong’s face. 1 second…. 2 second… 3 seconds… 4… seconds… he continued to smear. He pulled back his hand, turned around gave a grim smile to Anthony and Miguel, who were now standing up. Faces full of shock, anger, fear, desperation, anxiety, sadness, a mixture of emotions that kept them frozen in place. Fight or flight, both actions were being cancelled out with too many thoughts, too many countering emotions, too many what if scenarios floating in their heads.
The stranger glared at Anthony and Miguel, “This is what we do to your kind. You’re not welcome here no more,”
The stranger turns around and begins to punch Manong in the face with the same noodle smeared hands.
That was all Miguel could handle. Anthony stood there still in shock, but Miguel rushed over to the stranger and tried to wrestle his punching arm back to stop the barrage of fists landing on Manong’s face.
“Get the fuck off him you prick. Why you gotta go and hit an old man for you fucking piece of shit!”
The stranger had size over Miguel, though Miguel was able to hold back his punches, his other arm was free and strong enough to elbow Miguel hard in the ribs which made Miguel immediately let go.
“You all are everywhere, like god damn roaches”, he spat at Miguel.
Miguel furious took a deep breath and launched himself at the stranger. With no real experience in fighting, all he could do was grab hold of the stranger with a bear hug to the waist, which was unfortunate for Miguel as with the stranger’s reach, he was able to pummel him with both arms. Elbows to the back. Punches to the ribs.
Miguel held on tighter, frustrated, in pain, tears rolling down his face while the stranger continued his barrage of elbows, punches, and insults. Anthony stood frozen mouth gaped, shock and fear rooting him in place.
“You fucking pieces of shit, take every god damn street and store in our country, take every fuckin’ business, and all you do is ruin things for everyone.” The stranger continued to beat down, Miguel’s strength fading, his grip on the stranger loosening as he took multiple punches to the ribs and back.
“You come here with your shit food, your shit way of life, ruining MY country. First you bring drugs, then you bring the fucking virus, then you take all our fuckin money living off our welfare system. I should call immigration on the lot of you. You got papers boy?”
Miguel dropped to his knees. Hurt both physically from barrage of punches and elbows and hurt emotionally from the insults and the slurs that were flung with every hit.
“If you won’t go back to where you came from, I’ll kick you out myself” the stranger smiled. Be balled his hand into one giant fist and raised it high over his head, while his other hand grabbed hold of Miguel’s hair, holding him steady for the final blow.
Both Miguel and Anthony saw the fist raised. They both knew what was coming, but neither could stop it. Miguel was too weak from the beating and Anthony was still too frozen with fear to move. They both thought of Tita Neng in the hospital. Miguel was next. He’ll be in the hospital at St. Josephs with her, that is if he survives the final blow.
At this point, Miguel began to experience what most would describe as the slow motion of the last moments of life. Or at least what he thought would be his last moments. They were filled with dread and fear. He could feel the hatred pouring out of the stranger. How could anyone have so much anger and hatred towards anybody?
The aura of hate filled the room and engulfed him entirely. He felt as if his entire being was becoming smothered and about to be wiped out. He could feel all that hateful energy wrap him like a thick heavy net and the anger collecting into a single point in the stranger’s fist. All that hate bottled up in one fist would be crashing down on him soon. Miguel passed out from exhaustion. Anthony fainted from shock.
And then a darker energy entered the room. Originally it was just the stranger and his anger filling up the space. But then, something else emerged. It was darker than black. It was primal. It was old. And It, was hungry.
…
Miguel and Anthony woke up both groggy un aware of what was going on. It took a few seconds for them to regain their senses. They both assumed they had blacked out, but how?
They sit back. Miguel’s ribs and body ached. Luckily the stranger had only been hitting him in the back and ribs, and not the face.
Wait a minute he thought. The stranger must have hit him in the head, otherwise why would he have blacked out?
But then it occurred to him that his head wasn’t hurting. He did have a headache, but not from a punch to the head. More of a groggy, hung over feeling headache, the type one gets from sleeping in a strange position and getting a stiff neck.
Anthony opens his eyes, how did I black out he thought? Did the stranger go after me after finishing off Miguel? He felt no pain in his body, nothing hurt but his head, but it was the same groggy stiff necked pain that Miguel was experiencing.
“Bro, what the fuck happend” Miguel asked
“Pare I don’t know, pare. Fuck. My head hurts.”
“All I remember was I thought I was done for. I remember thinking that I was either going to see Tita Neng in the hospital or see my dad up in heaven.”
“Bro, I’m sorry I couldn’t step in, I tried, I mean, I wanted to, fuck I dont know I’m so sorry bro”
“It’s alright pare. Ok lang, we’re both ok, somewhat. I dunno. Dude where are we?”
They both looked around. There were green tiled walls with posters of San Miguel Beer, one wall with corner to corner mirror to make the place look bigger, foldable picnic tables draped with thick clear plastic, a TV playing local community news, this time playing the morning weather and traffic report. Hazy sunlight was shining through the tinted glass windows of the front of the restaurant. They were at Robinson’s.
Manong was in front of the kitchen counter with a mop and bucket cleaning the floor. His face, blank, stoic, emotionless. He swished the mop with strong, wide strokes, and when he rung the mop into the bucket, his sinewy arms tightened into coils of hard leather. For an old man, he moved like a teenager, albeit slow and methodical.
“Manong,” Miguel asked
“Ok lang kayo? Anong nangyari ka gabe? Where did that asshole go”
Silence.
Manong did one last swish of the mop into the bucket and wheeled them both back behind the counter and into the kitchen. Miguel and Anthony just looked at each other, confused, baffled, and stiff.
“Dude” Anthony grimaced “Like what the hell happened last night?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like shit right now. Do you think we should go to the police?”
Anthony sat in silence not knowing what to say or do. As he became more and more awake, the memories of the night before became more and more clear, but the gap between now and the moment the stranger was about to hit Miguel in the face was a huge black hole.
“Dude, what time is it?” Miguel asked.
Anthony looked at his phone, “6am”
“Alright, ok so we got 6 hours before clocking in to figure out what we’re going to do”
“Or figure out what happened last night bro”
The kitchen door swung open and Manong walked out with a big tray of food for the carinderia counter. Face emotionless as ever, not even showing signs of strain as he lifted the tray into the heating spot of the counter. After placing the tray in it’s slot, he turned around to the white board menu above the kitchen counter and began wiping the old menu out and replacing it with the days and evenings options.
Meal A
Bisteak and rice + 1 lumpia
Meal B
Pansit canton with beef slices
Meal C
Pork adobo and rice
Special
Lechon Kawali
Glossary of terms:
‘tang ina: short for putang ina. Mother Fucker.
‘pre: short for Pare. Colloquial term for Bro.
Brah: another term for Bro. Evolved from the word Brad.(Br-AH-d) or Brother.
Manong: A term reserved for an older male person. Typically males, family or strangers would be referred to as uncle or Tito. Manong is an older Tito.

After staying five nights, and spending a bunch of time on property, I can see why this is widely considered the best resort in the Marriott portfolio. As my wife said: “I don’t see what could possibly have been better!”
I can think of a few things. But yeah, it’s truly spectacular from start to finish.
At arrival the manager of the property welcomed us personally, sharing a nice tea drink and helping orient us to the property. Immediately you walk out onto their large outdoor terrace and take in a breathtaking view of the entire property. It’s an awesome welcome that really hits after a long day of travel.
It would be a bummer to arrive here at night. Try not to!
**SETTING*\*
The property itself sits in a valley along the Ayung River, just outside of downtown Ubud. At the center of the property is large working rice field.
The whole property feels vast and secluded. It doesn’t really feel or look like a resort, but more like a small village tucked into the jungle. Which I suppose is the point of the “Reserve” branding, which means “hidden,” according to Ritz Carlton.
Mandapa was basically at 100% capacity during our entire stay and it still felt empty—we loved that so much. I can’t imagine how awesome it would be if you happen to stay at 50% capacity or whatever. You’d feel like you have the resort to yourself.
One thing to note: Because of the dramatic elevation, it’s not really possible to walk around the property much. In most cases you’ll need your butler to call a golf cart to drive you from place to place.
But these carts appear in literally a minute—we never waited for one.

**ROOM AND VILLA*\*
There are five room categories, all suites and villas. Base suites are called Reserve suites, then there are also Mandapa suites, which are larger with larger terraces. These rooms are located higher up on the property, so you get some amazing views. But these are comparatively smaller and also feel more like a condo/traditional hotel.
Then there are three types of villas: Ubud View, Rice Terrace View, and River View. Each come with a small pool and separate casita with a desk and sitting area. The main part of each villa boasts a king bed, a large walk-in closet, a huge bathroom with a 2-person soaking tub, and both an indoor and outdoor shower.
The outdoor shower was amazing—and I think we took 7 or 8 showers a day lol.
Ubud View villas just sorta look right into the jungle. So they’re very secluded, but you’re only looking at trees basically.
Next, Rice Terrace View villas look across the middle of the property at the working rice terraces (image above). This is a space where guests regularly walk around and take photos with the resort photographer. So, if you really want privacy, this probably isn’t for you. For our part, we enjoyed having a great view of the property and watching people do their thing.
Finally, the River View villas. These villas sit right along the Ayung River. Not sure how much of a view you actually get, since the villas sit about 30 feet higher than the river itself. You’d have to basically look over the side of your pool to see the water. There are also tons of rafters traversing the river all day, shouting and hollering. So, on some level that could be disruptive if you’re really prioritizing tranquility and quiet.
Overall, you can’t go wrong with any of the accommodations. We chose the Rice Terrace Villa because we wanted the view and the pool.

**DINING AND BARS*\*
There are three restaurants on property and two bars.
At the very top is Ambar, featuring some incredible cocktails along with Asian-fusion and sushi dishes. I had several different tequila and mezcal cocktails that were like nothing I’ve ever had. And so good.
One of their signature drinks is the Mandapa Spritz, which includes Arak, Aperol, and Prosecco. Arak is a local distilled spirit, made from rice or grains or even palm. I think we drank 20 Mandapa Spritzes lol.
One thing that really surprised me is how good folks in Ubud make margaritas. I have a thing where I try margaritas all over the world wherever I travel. Ubud stands out even over Mexico City(!). Whether at Mandapa or downtown Ubud, every margarita I had was absolutely on point.
We also ate dinner at Ambar bar one night. Had a bunch of sushi rolls and sashimi. For me, this was the best dinner we had at Mandapa. Their sushi rolls are super tasty and excellently done.
Next is Sawah Terrace. Here we did an “Indonesian flavors” family style tasting menu, which includes a lot of staples of local Balinese cuisine. Since we don’t particularly care for Balinese cuisine, we didn’t particular care for this meal.
Folks in Ubud, we learned, put Kaffir lime along with Tumeric and several other spices, in almost every dish. The lime was intense for us and some of these spices bring distinct flavors that we aren’t used to and didn’t really vibe with. After eating at Sawah Terrace and doing a really lovely cooking class at Lobong Culinary School (short walk from Mandapa), we started looking for other cuisines.

Sidebar: We can’t say enough good things about Lobong. We did a private class with Sundae, the head chef, who was absolutely the coolest guy.
Balinese people live together in large family compounds called rumah Gapura Candi Bentar.
In this case, Sundae invited us into his home to take use step-by-step through the foundations of Balinese cuisine. This dude delivered a masterclass in pedagogy—and would stand out as an Ivy League university professor. He was just so thorough in his teaching. And we learned so much about his people, his home, his religion, and of course their cooking.
Going to Bali I was expecting a place marred with overtourism and annoying commercialism. And, yeah, there’s some of that. But nearly everyone I met are living and working in the same town—and for the men, same homes(!)—in which they grew up. Most adhere to cultural practices and family traditions that are hundreds (maybe thousands) of years old.
It’s honestly very beautiful and we were grateful for these experiences, especially given our expectations going in.

Okay, back to the review…
Sawah Terrace is also where you’ll find the breakfast buffet each morning. And this might be the star of the show. Hands down the best buffet I’ve ever seen. I ate sashimi and goreng noodles every morning. You can also order basically anything a la carte, even if it’s not on the menu.
I don’t know what else to say except that I loved this buffet with all my heart.
Next, there’s a restaurant and bar at the main swimming pool called the Library. Food was meh. Cocktails were fine. Service was pretty good. Basic staples here. Nothing surprising. Nothing stands out.
Finally, there’s Kubu, which is the flagship restaurant on property. It offers two tasting menus and a few a la carte options, all showcasing I guess sort of a global eclectic mix of cuisine. Maybe French inspired? Hard to tell.
You can also do a wine pairing with either tasting menu.
One thing to note is that the wine options on property were mostly garbage and also ludicrously expensive (given the quality). I think there are huge import tariffs on wine which explains the price? Because other alcohol was not expensive at all.
We did the signature tasting menu. It costs $280 USD for 2 people, with a couple glasses of wine. It was all basically fine. Nothing memorable. Nothing bad. Just very middle of the road. My wife liked much more than I did.
We sat in the Kubu huts that you see in pictures. The venue was beyond beautiful and really elevated the overall experience, despite the middling food. It was raining during our meal, which made it super moody. Gotta say it’s one of the most charming settings in which I’ve ever enjoyed a meal.
Overall, I’d say the culinary experience at Mandapa simply doesn’t match the awesomeness of everything else. But again part of that might be that we simply don’t get along with Balinese cuisine.

**POOL AND SPA*\*
We spent way more time at the main pool than probably anywhere else on property. It was such a great setting, so quiet and serene. There are only three cabanas, but we never had trouble getting one.
The attendants made sure we always had a cool beverage. At one point, my wife and I were chillin’ on the edge of the pool and they brought us complimentary raspberry ice cream cones. Maybe that was the highlight of our stay? Just so sweet (literally) and thoughtful.
Now for the spa. Admittedly I don’t have a lot of experience at luxury spas. But holy shit, I would be surprised to find anything better?
This was borderline religious for me—it was *that* good.
The setting is beyond beautiful, as the treatment rooms right along the river shore. So, you enjoy the sound of rushing water throughout the experience (and also the occasional shouting rafters lol).
The massage tables were incredibly comfortable. It felt almost like a luxury mattress? The facilities were so clean and so nice. There is also a heated therapy pool and sun deck available to all.
We did a 75-minute couples massage on the last day. And we both agreed we should’ve took advantage of the spa earlier and oftener.

**STAFF AND SERVICE*\*
Upon arrival, you’re assigned a butler, who takes you to the villa to do the check formalities. The butler shares their personal WhatApp and you can message them for basically anything. Our Butler, Kewin, was incredibly sweet and responsive, always helping us organize activities and adjust our schedule.
I wouldn’t say she was especially proactive. But she was always immediately responsive and we had whatever we wanted almost instantly. It’s pretty insane.
One thing to note is that the service here feels very formal. Like, effusive. Slightly exaggerated even. Very in line with the RC brand, I think. Some might find it overly stiff. I chalk it up, often, to language differences. Like, by the time you translate formal Balinese into English it can sound quite excessive.
Finally, I think maybe the best part of this resort was the housekeeping. These folks were all over it. Our room was constantly *perfect* and I loved that so much. Everything was clean as a whistle. We had an endless supply of both sparkling and still water. Constantly refreshed towels and mats. Just as good as it possibly gets. A++

**SUMMARY*\*
Overall, we loved, loved our time at Mandapa. The setting is truly magical. We couldn’t ask for anything more.
If the food were better, it would’ve been perfect. But nearly perfect is good enough for us.