Hey, I'm a girl in my 20s and I want to tell you my IRL story. I currently study and play in my free time volleyball on an amateur level. I play mainly for fun and a the feeling of competition, my goal isn't to become a pro and I don't have much chance of it either ;) I'm not an athlete, I'm a normal girl. Sometimes I also work on weekends, so you can imagine how tight my schedule is.
When playing volleyball, I am (or rather I was) quite good, maybe even one of the better players in the team. "Unfortunately", I gained some pounds over the course of the winter, mostly due to stress at school and eating unhealthy 🍪🍫🍔🍩 late at night. I just can't keep my fingers off these tasty snacks haha. The extra weight became very visible and I can't hide the fact that I got heavier. Currently, while playing volleyball, I can no longer keep up with other girls, my weight slows me down, I can no longer jump as high, etc...
Our trainer tries to motivate me to get back into shape by teasing me. She often reminds me that I have become heavy and I also have to run extra laps during training, I feel that the other girls are watching my belly jumping and jiggling :)
My sister also take every opportunity to remind me of the fact that since I started studying, I've let it go and got fat. When I try to put on old jeans, I feel this thrill and uncertainty as to whether I will still fit into them. Recently I was trying to lose a few pounds and I was on a diet for a few days, unfortunately due to the constant feeling of hunger I ended up stuffing my face with 🍰. I'm really bad at eating healthy haha
Will someone talk? I can share my photos how I look with this extra pounds. Girls preferred :)
I can write here or on discord.

Hi,
I hope I'm not breaking any rules, I have read them all and I think it is ok to post it here.
Yesterday I connected to play with a real life friend. I was going through the infinite menus of WR when I guess I accepted an invitation to play.
We start waiting for a match when I realize the player was not my friend. What draw my attention was that there was a message saying that it was going to take more time because the other player had a penalty. My inmediate reaction was to cancel "Ready". But now comes the weirdest part, somehow the other player was able to start finding a new match anyways. I cancel "Ready" again, but the other player again was able to start finding a match. We go back and forth about 30+ times. If I tried to get out from the group a message with an error appeared. Finally I was able to close WR using my phone OS. Then I come back to the game to see that I was still queing with that player!!! Fortunately, due that he had the penalty no match was found yet so I was able to cancel it. I went back and forward again trying to get out of the game. Finally I was able to I don't know how.
I tried to make a video but I was nervous so I only have a photo with the name of the player.
Can someone explain to me what was going on? Has anyone had a similar experience?
Edit: he also tried to invite me to a new lobby after I was able to get out.

Looking for a wise, mature, not dramatic, intelligent man😁 I'm from Java, I'm a Javanese and I speak Java. Pls don't ask me to read Java programming😂 If you're into Java things, let's talk!!
Anyway Dating nowadays are suck. People tend to do hookups culture instead of having a cute relationship like in the old eras 😅 I wish I could find a gentleman that doesn't see me as a sex object
I'm... - petite (150 cm, 40kg) - funny and silly (people said it) - smiley person. People say I have a cute smile. - a student in university - have pets - learning German in Goethe Institute and I got my A1 certificate. If you're a German, that's a bonus. - I speak 3 languages and soon are 4 - I don't like vegetables ooppss - I don't drink alcohols. Healthy lifestyle bruhhh😎 - I am interested in Badminton and Tennis - my dream, I want to move and have a beach house in Bali
Pics on my profile.
My preference - taller than me. I like a tall man - older than me (as long as not 40+ yo) - Love to travel abroad - Smart and educated. Cuz they're hot!!! - monogamous. - pls must be single not married. I often get messages from married men😓😪 - not fat/chubby. Just be healthy and slim fit
Pretty sure some people don't read this: Pls include your photo on dms. Physical attraction is also important. Thank you 💋❤️

Just finished a very enjoyable two-player round of Vital Lacerda's Inventions: Evolution of Ideas. The game was tight: 136 to 131. The game provides a challenging decision space with multiple avenues for earning Ingenuity Points. Both players managed to maximize their Influence by the last turn. The winner chose other actions rather than fully advancing their Era marker; the loser just missed out on completing a key Private Goal card that would have made the difference. The Chronos actions added in for the two-player game are fast to implement and seem well-balanced to provide just enough interference without dominating the game play. However, we did not make it far enough through the Idea deck to get to the Era 6 cards.
I made some 3D-printed accessories for the game. The Player Invention Card Tray shown in the second photo is a really nice addition! The collection can be found at:
https://www.printables.com/@Spinodal_Zeugma/collections/1448043

Hi everyone,
Old man beginner here checking in. Took up skating from scratch at the young ripe age of 43 to play and “compete” against my 2 young boys, and loving every minute of it.
Fast forward 2 years - I can now play very poorly at a low level beer league without being a complete dead weight.
One thing I simply cannot figure out is my shot. I have paid and watched endless videos from coach Jermey, iTrain hockey, Train 2.0, and the Modern_Hockey instagram guy. We live in Asia and ice time is rare with not much outdoor space to shoot.
I have tried

• leaning on the stick to get flex old school style.
  
• swinging my core and hips like a tennis backhand to generate angular momentum and “use the stick flex”
  
• keeping my hands as far out as possible for the lean, or close to body for a faster angular swing
  
• keeping top hand rigid like a pivot point and using all bottom hand to generate flex and push forward
  
• keeping bottom hand rigid as a pivot point and using only top hand to pull back to “whip” the shot
  
• doing a combination of both the above.
  
• shooting the puck off heel to toe old school
  
• shooting the blade from mid curve only (I have both a P28 and P29)
  

I find that my most common problems are:

• my best shots come from holding bottom hand almost totally rigid and pulling only top hand back. Problem is I can’t aim anything, and coaches tell me my bottom hand isn’t pushing out with any proper follow through.
  
• when I do push pull, the stick slips on the ice and I can’t get any flex.
  
• leaning on stick puts me off balance. I tend to favor bending my legs and “swinging” the body core to get torque and power. But again I have no idea how to aim.
  
• I get better shots flexing the blade and whipping from mid curve then the traditional heel to toe. But 90% of my shots go high. If I close the blade then I can’t get any lift nor flex.
  
• I can’t figure out a snap shot for the life of me. I feel like I am just “whacking” at the puck and hoping for the best.
  
• moreover, I don’t even know what I am supposed to aim at, and if I am supposed to “whack” the puck or whack the ice and then “carry” the puck a bit before letting it fly.
  

Sorry for the long winded Qs. Just a father trying to do my best and hopefully learning what I can to share with my boys. Coaches and ice are very limited where I live!!
Thank you all!

For me, understanding Challengers is all about digging into Art’s headspace. In his early-30s, Art is recovering from an injury and has lost his confidence. He’s losing matches, even against weaker opponents. Tashi, Art’s wife and coach, believes his slump is more mental than physical. She signs him up for the lowly challenger tournament to force an end to his losing streak. Her theory is that this will give Art a chance destroy the weaker competition and regain some swagger.
Art discovers that Patrick is also at the tournament, and they eventually meet in the finals. Years earlier, Patrick and Art had been best friends. They both pursued Tashi. Tashi initially chose Patrick, but ultimately marries Art. Art and Tashi build a family together, and over the subsequent decade, Art becomes among the best tennis players in the world. Patrick moves on from Tashi, but goes on to under-achieve as a tennis player.
Now, at the challenger tournament, Patrick’s presence triggers Art’s insecurity. Art remembers that Tashi originally chose Patrick, that Tashi still has feelings for Patrick, and that Patrick always won when they played as kids. Art’s insecurity is ironic, because Art seems to be in the much stronger position. Art is the one who Tashi ultimately married and Art is the far more accomplished athlete. Yet, as Art already arrived at the tournament in a neurotic state, he lets Patrick get under his skin.
Tashi recognizes that Art’s struggles could prematurely end his career. She is desperate for his career to continue. So in a desperate maneuver, she threatens to leave him if he loses his match to Patrick. She does not actually want to leave Art, which is made obvious, when she asks Patrick to secretly let Art win. Again, Tashi’s hope is that Art beating Patrick will clear his head.
The match between Art and Patrick is close, but Patrick starts faulting on purpose towards the end. Yet, Patrick is conflicted. Going back to when they dated, he always balked at Tashi’s attempts at manipulation. So he rebels and throws a wrench into everything. Before one of his final serves, he reveals to Art that him and Tashi have had an affair.
This revelation angers Art and this anger pulls his head into the present. In that moment, he forgets his baggage, including Tashi’s mind games. Now, there is only one thing in this world that he wants. And that is to kick Patrick’s ass. On his next serve, he just pelts the ball right by Patrick’s head.
There is a pause. Then, they both smile warmly at each other. Why? It is not in Art’s nature to be angry, so his anger is short-lived. Though in most marriages, an affair would be a serious betrayal, it’s different for these three. From the beginning, Tashi has been alternating her sexual attention between Art and Patrick. So Art can forgive Patrick, but stays in the moment. His mind is clear and he is ready for catharsis.
Earlier, Tashi says that tennis is a relationship, and players can communicate through their play on the court. This happens in the last volley. By the end, when Art falls into Patrick’s arms, the healthy conversation has already been had, and they are already friends again. And from the stands, Tashi knows, that Art has finally overcome his neuroticism, and she stands up to celebrate.

/LonghornNation Daily Off Topic Free Talk Thread

Today: 5/19/2024

Last Thread

Current Austin Weather: 80° and Clear

Seven Day Forecast:

5/19	5/20	5/21	5/22	5/23	5/24	5/25
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Your go-to place to talk about whatever you want. From the dumb shit aggies do on a near daily basis, to the latest whatever happening wherever. What ya got?

Here's a look at upcoming Longhorn Sporting Event(s):

1. 5/19 University of Texas Women's Golf vs NCAA Championship Stroke Play
2. 5/19 University of Texas Rowing vs Big 12 Championship
3. 5/19 12:00 PM University of Texas Softball vs Northwestern
4. 5/19 4:00 PM University of Texas Men's Tennis vs TCU
5. 5/20 University of Texas Men's Tennis vs NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
6. 5/20 University of Texas Women's Tennis vs NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
7. 5/20 University of Texas Women's Golf vs NCAA Championship Stroke Play

Trending on Reddit

/All

1. Chimp’s reaction to seeing a puppy for the first time
2. THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED FROM THE 2024 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION
3. Des Moines Superintendent and former Olympic athlete Ian Roberts races against students
4. My grandparents just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary
5. My boss doesn’t speak good English so I get texts like this often

/CFB

1. /CFB Donates $18,000.00 to Toys For Tots & Children's Hospitals, thanks to the 8th annual Holiday Drive!
2. Auburn RB Brian Battie was reportedly shot in the head last night in Sarasota, FL and is currently in critical condition
3. Neither Georgia Tech vs Clemson nor Georgia vs South Carolina will be played in football this year. The last season neither matchup was played was 1957.
4. It's Happened Again (Brisket). BYU Showcases Brisket from their New Smoker
5. The Longhorn Network - arguably the reason for a cascade of conference realignments - broadcasts its last game.
6. [Cristovich] "NEW: The NCAA and Power 5 have spent $15M+ on a sophisticated operation involving DC’s most powerful lobbying and PR firms to halt—and reverse—the golden age of athletes rights that has earned players millions."

/LonghornNation

1. [5/18/2024] Saturday's Sports Talk Thread
2. [5/18/2024] Saturday's Free Talk Thread
3. Texas Men’s Tennis Defeats Wake Forest 4-2 To Advance To NCAA Championship
4. [Post Series Thread] ⚾ #25 Texas sweeps Kansas, 3-0, in its final regular season series as a member of the Big 12.
5. Softball Regional LHN Stream
6. Longhorn College fantasy league on Fantrax
7. Texas Softball 🥎 Mac Morgan throws a complete 7-inning post-season no-hitter and Texas wins 5-0 over Siena!

LonghornBot: you can get a list of commands you can give for the bot by commenting ".help". You will receive a private message with the commands.
This thread was programmatically generated and posted on 5/19/2024 12:00 AM. If you have any questions or comments, please contact brihoang or chrislabeard

I am attempting to do the Roll-a-Ball tutorial, but keep getting compiler errors when I try to "Apply Force to the Player". I cannot find an error in my code, but am also completely new to coding. When following alongside the video, I noticed that certain terms didn't auto-highlight like it showed in the video (e.g., Rigidbody, InputValue, Vector2, Vector3)--is that an issue?
I've updated both Unity and Microsoft Visual Studio, removed Rigidbody and the PlayerController script and re-added them. None of it affected the outcome.
Either there's nothing wrong with my code or I can't FindTheSniper for crap. ;D
Photos and link included. Any help is much appreciated!
Moving the Player - Unity Learn

Shoutout to this man for the second week in a row he was my Finals MVP in Unlimited for my ring. I suggest everybody grab him unless you’re an all DM I spend thousands of dollars on the game so there’s no room for him player. I still say even then he should have a spot on anybody’s roster even in that last spot.
I started shaky in Unlimited Friday had him out of my lineup after getting Glen and Jimmy. I said screw that I’m getting Korver back into my starting lineup…and since then I ended up winning 4 out of my next 5 games. He had 34 in a sweaty game against a guy that was going toe to toe against my Kyle with his Glen. Korver ended up getting the upper hand. I was running him off plays and then bombed a couple logo threes to ice the game when he was on fire. Lol
He might have the best release in 2k history IMO. He reminds of those old Klay Thompson cards that felt like they had this hidden tendency where they just don’t miss. Hes freaking amazing

Hey folks,
Newer MTG and EDH player here. Been having a boatload of fun playing with my friends and at my LGS with my upgraded mothman and necrons. However I think I want to dip my toes into building my own deck...but I'm having a hard time deciding what to play. I've seen so many videos and am overwhelmed by choice.
I'm looking for...

• Something that is either fun, full of shenanigan's, or themed in some way shape or form
• Want it to be halfway decent as my LGS seems to be full of sweats and though i'm not expecting to win all the time, still wanna be able to hold my own
• Budget won't be too much of an issue but please don't suggest throwing in 500$ cards just because its meta, more that I don't mind pickin up a few fancy cards but not looking to add a mana crypt just because it's mana crypt

Commanders i've been thinking of

• Tinybones the pickpocket (he's a tiny theif skeleton, I love his design)
• Jolene plunder queen (jojo + fun table politics + AYO)
• Beamtown Bullies (seems silly but also worried it'll be too mean)
• Mr. House (99% of gamblers quit before they hit 1 gargillion dollars)
• Gyome, master chef (cookin up some goodness)

I used to play a lot of hearthstone which turned to legends of runeterra and my favorite decks were yogg saron decks of thief decks if that helps out at all lol.
Really I am open to any of your ideas. This is for sure a deck I want to craft on my own and though I will for sure be looking at sites to see what's out there, will not be a copy paste net deck.
Always appreciate the help and thanks for making the hobby a welcoming space to newer players like myself!!

First / Previous
​
Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
​
THE END
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Welcome to Smile Sunday! Turn that caps lock off and gush about whatever achievements you want to showcase, or comment about what made you smile this week!
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A few things to keep in mind:
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• If you want to do some uppercase letters, feel free to, but try to avoid shouting! Sunday is a chill day.
• Avoid being maliciously happy at the expense of others.
• If you have a screenshot you'd like to share, please host on imgur.com and you can comment here. You can hyperlink by using brackets and parentheses, for example: \[desired text here\](insert hyperlink here). If you are on mobile, all you have to do is hit the chainlink, enter your desired text in the first box, then insert the link in the second box. We personally recommend Imgur, since it is free and does not require you to sign up.
• Phone camera photos are not allowed for general posting; however, for the Sunday megathread we have relaxed that restriction. All photos used in a positive and celebratory manner are allowed.
• Keep any opinions to yourself in the megathread; we don't want to stir up any controversies here, only good vibes.
• We want to have a chill time celebrating one another and making each other smile, so no comments like "haha, I'm really happy that it's so easy to 360 a controller player!"

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Here are our recurring posts:
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No Stupid Questions Monday - No question is stupid, ask anything DBD-related here.
Rage Wednesday - SMASH THAT CAPS LOCK AND RAGE ABOUT WHATEVER THE F$$$ HAS PISSED YOU OFF THIS WEEK

I am in desperate need of some thong suggestions for my aurola shorts. I used to just wear nothing, but I’ve noticed that after some serious weight loss I’ve got camel toe I’m constantly rearranging. Now with my dark teal color that’s whatever, but i just bought two XS shorts in light colors and like it is showing all the goods. Do any girls have any brand suggestions or tips for what i can weado to make this not as noticeable? I know some of y’all don’t care, and that’s totally fine, but it’s so tight you can see my unshaven area, and i just can’t have that. If this is the wrong sub for this, please let me know.

Just some of my thoughts as a budget-conscious bride (we couldn't get it under 10k but we were heavy lurkers of this sub) whose makeup, hair, and nails didn't exactly go to plan.
I felt a lot of pressure to spend big money -- after all, it's the most important day of your life and you will be looking at these photos forever! But a lot of it kind of fell out of my control, and I just want to give everyone here a bit of a "grass isn't greener" perspective.
FWIW, I had the most amazing wedding day and I wouldn't change a thing.
My Professional Makeup was Bad
TL;DR: I hired somebody whose makeup looked incredible under studio lighting but bad everywhere else.
The makeup was full full coverage, heavy contour, big features. It looked absolutely incredible under a ring light or under direct sunlight. I am not joking when I say that my friends told me I looked like a catfish in my preview (in a flattering way) But under regular lighting, on my face, this style just looked... old.
My now husband told me that he thinks I do my own makeup better. I am not very good at makeup but over time you learn what's good for your own face I guess. But of course I didn't take his advice about doing it myself on the wedding day because it's the most important day.
And between working full time, planning a wedding, and already overspending, I couldn't do more trials. So I went with the artist who had done my preview and just asked them to do less contour and brighter colors.
Honestly I think the makeup photographed poorly and I look old in some of my wedding photos. When I do my makeup now, I do feel like it looks better than it did on my wedding day. :/
(I also didn't pay for my bridesmaids to get their makeup done, but they are all beautiful and they did their makeup really nicely! So that wasn't an issue.)
You Can Paint Your Own Nails If You Want
I had originally planned to get my nails done at a salon, but I was embarrassingly hungover on the morning of my nail appointment after some pre-wedding festivities. The salon could not reschedule, so I ended up painting my own nails before the ceremony in the bridal suite. They still looked nice.
And as a nice little bonus, my now husband helped me pick out the color of the polish (I was originally just planning to do toes myself, but used the color for both) so it had extra sentimental value.
My Hair Styling Was Free
My best friend curled my hair with her wand for free. This was purely a budget-minded decision. 10/10 would do again, it looked great.
So yeah, I guess I just wanted to reassure any DIY beauty brides that spending extra $$$ isn't always better, and that if you need to do it yourself, it can still be amazing and meaningful. 💖

There are so many niche sports worlds colliding this year at the Olympics and realistically nobody can follow every single one of them. What are the plotlines of your sports that you follow that will come together this year in France?
In the world of tennis, this is probably Novak Djokovic's final chance at winning a gold medal. He is extremely patriotic and whenever he has lost in the Olympics previously, it's seemed like the worst loss of his GOAT career. This entire season so far has been dedicated to the Olympics firstly and the Grand Slams second. Despite winning just about every single title and breaking nearly every record in the sport, the Olympic gold is the only thing missing from his trophy closet. Akin to Messi finally winning the world cup at the tail end of his prime, this is Djokovic's best and likely final chance on the surface where he's the #2 best player of all time on it.

WTF Umpiring, at one point I had told my friends to find Akshay Totre's house in Indore. I was angry AF. This guy has been trh worst umpire this season, huge amounts of bias against various players and has pissed off many a teams. Toe persist with him only means the fixers are making money.