Funny pictures with letters
funny
2008.01.25 07:35 funny
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The funny moving pictures with text subreddit (REIMAGINED) đâ
2018.03.17 03:53 button_lee cursed_images
Welcome to Cursed Images! Read the rules before posing, and visit our discord if you'd like. https://discord.gg/UuRYG7XhSj
2024.05.19 13:23 sidneylopsides Weird slicing for colours
| I've modelled a name tag in Fusion 360, and when I export as OBJ with colour info to slice for AMS printing, slicing doesn't follow the model shape. The letters are solid objects, a yellow interior and a black outline. They are extruded sketches with no overlap or taper. 2nd photo shows the Fusion view. Picture one shows how slicing comes out, the yellow spreads out as layers move up until the top layer looks correct. It also "cuts" into the blue top layers (multiple), when the model has the letters sat on top. What it should look like is a solid yellow letter for 5 layers, with a black outline for 5 layers, all say on top of the top blue layer. If I try cut the letter shaped into the top of the blue layer to a depth of 0.01mm then paint colours, it works better, but also makes the yellow appear for the top 6 layers of the blue shape, even though the modelled yellow part is less than 1 layer thick. Doing a single object and just painting by layers, having a thin black and thicker yellow ended up giving similar results to the picture above too, the colour changes don't stick to the correct layers. Where am I going wrong? submitted by sidneylopsides to BambuLab [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 13:18 pillowcase-of-eels [Music] Emilie Autumn's Asylum, pt. 6 â High-concept musician responds to online criticism by waging successful attrition war against her own fanbase
đȘ Welcome back to the Asylum write-up, where we explore the decade-long slow-motion car crash that is the Emilie Autumn fandom.
Sorry this installment took so long to upload! Just a heads-up, I may take some time to deliver the last one too â these posts take forever to format on Reddit's finicky-ass editor, and my dumb real life is currently keeping me from precious Internet time. Thank you for your patience! You have my word that everyone who pre-ordered the final installment will receive a PERSONAL, HANDWRITTEN letter autographed and illustrated by me, a list of the snacks I consumed while composing this write-up, some exclusive behind-the-scenes secrets, and a pony.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4.1 â
Part 4.2 Part 5 Places, everyone This is a test Throw your stones Do your damage Your worst, and your best (...) And if I had a dollar For every time I repented the sin And commit the same crime I'd be sitting on top of the world today (âGod Help Meâ, 2006đ”)
Quick recap of where we left off. First, there were five to ten halcyon years of pleasant and meaningful interactions between EA and her blossoming fanbase, prominently by way of her official forum. Then, circa 2009-2010, EA's online presence shifted towards sudden anger outbursts, ban-hammering, and an increasingly top-down communication style.
This created a sort of primordial rift within the fanbase, between those who supported EA's right to speak her mind and regulate her own fan spaces however she pleased â and those who thought that her reactions were rude and inappropriate (at best), and that even fan spaces should allow for reasonable, non-abusive criticism of the artist.
Between a poorly-handled book release (see Part 3), the controversial (Part 2) or dubiously true (Part 4) contents of said book, and serious shade from various former collaborators (Part 5), more and more fans had
pressing thoughts about EA's work ethic and choices. EA attempted damage control through drastic forum rules that made it virtually impossible to voice any âseriousâ critical opinion. It didn't work, of course: instead of squashing the mutiny, she created a schism.
Critical fans and active haters started congregating on unofficial platforms.
âWITH MUFFINS LIKE THIS, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?â: TROLL LIKE A GIRL
So here we were, the early 2010s. The official forum (which had about 700 members in 2006, if you recall) was now thousands-strong, reaching just over 12,000 registered users in 2012 â not all of them active, but still. In terms of sheer numbers and content creation, the party was POPPIN'... but increasingly in parts of the Asylum that escaped EA's jurisdiction, such as Tumblr, where they could speak their mind freely.
You play the victim very well You've built your self-indulgent hell You wanted someone to understand you Well, be careful what you wish for, because I do (âI Know Where You Sleepâ, 2006đ”)
In one wing of Asylum Tumblr, a smattering of call-out blogs emerged, which laid out EA's various lies, faux pas, shitty takes, and general deep-seated terribleness in detailed timelines and screenshots (or, short of that, long-winded bullet points). While many such blogs framed it as âseriousâ whistleblowing and did their best to remain as fact-based and neutral as they could, there was some genuine disgust, animosity and creepiness towards EA on that side of Tumblr; for some ex-fans, âexposing the truthâ was mostly justify obsessive hatred, prying and verbal abuse. Some, for instance, felt the bizarre need to side with EA's mother in their estrangement. (One user, with the URL âemilyautumnfischkopfâ, argued in a serious and down-to-earth tone - but with zero sources - that EA's upbringing had been nothing but peaceful and supportive until she ungratefully kicked her loving family to the curb for no reason at all.
They were later revealed đ to have an alternate handle as âeaisalyingcuntâ.)
Either way, through these blogs, a number of potential drama bombs that had mostly flown under the radar were dredged up from over the years â some of which were hard to ignore, even for supportive fans. Where to begin?
There was that nonsense in-joke song, captured twice on camera during the 2009 tour (to very little outrage, at the time), crassly called
âManatee Retardâđș. Or EA's scathing response, in print, to a wheelchair user who found it insensitive that she used a bedazzled wheelchair as a prop to do sexy acrobatics on stage. (âYour offence taken at my hard-won self-acceptance proves that I indeed have something to fight againstâ, she wrote). Spoken word tracks where she made trivializing knock-knock jokes about serious mental illnesses she didn't have, like schizophrenia and OCD. Multiple instances of calling Britney Spears a âbimboâ and a âHollywood fucked-upâ, resentfully claiming that she only shaved her head because she was âhopped up on drugsâ and certainly not because she was âbipolarâ, a word the press liked to wield as an insult anyway. (âThat's almost like calling someone a retard!â Yeah, heaven forbid.) The meanest, most distasteful paragraphs in the book. Basically
everything problematic EA had ever said or written.đ In retrospect, it had been a long time coming, but it was a lot to take in â and certainly more off-putting, even to less emotionally invested fans, than silly lies about her age and last name.
In another wing of Asylum Tumblr, some fans had had it up to here and
just wanted to have fun. đ” If Plague Rats had learned one valuable lesson from EA, it was how to
crack a joke in the face of absurd tragedy â and the general state of the EA fandom certainly warranted a few.
In 2012,
Fight Like a Girl was released. After six long years, three of which had been peaceful, the
Opheliac era was officially over. The new album and ensuing tour confirmed that
the Asylum had entered a process of glamorous Broadway-style militarization. đ”đș The mood board was
âRoman general meets Vegas showgirl meets Victorian street urchinâ.đȘ The color palette was, to naysayers,
âmusty pink and rotten, stale piss yellowâ. đ The keyword was âREVENGEâ (through the power of... self-expression! sorority! brutal assault with rusty medical implements!). The chorus of the title song had an intriguing run-on line about
getting ârevenge on the world, or at least 49% of the people in itâ đ” â which seemed like an awful lot, and was widely interpreted (to cheers, boos, or uncomfortable sighs) as a misandrist jab at
literally all men on Earth.
The show was essentially a demo version of the musical, in that the setlist vaguely reflected the order of events in the story â but prior reading was essential in order to get what the hell was going on on stage.
This one Broadway reviewer had not perused the literature before seeing the show đ, and hated: the set, the choreography, the skits, the plot, the lyrics, the music, the concept. (Seriously, you should read the review. It's not even my show and
I feel like quitting show business.)
Pre-show VIP encounters, now violin-free, were
lorded over by EA's new managerđ, whose official title was âAsylum Headmistressâ. (Interesting choice â she sounds fun!) The swag bags were less substantial than before, and the âgreetâ part of the meet-and-greet was rarely more than a quick hug and photo op.
On Twitter, EA continued to embrace her âI am very badassâ fronting attitude...
Often wonder if cyberbullies r aware theyâre fucking w/ a girl whoâs BFs w/ maker of the SAW films & is marrying a knife-throwing scorpion. (đđ)
...and her taste for needlessly inflammatory statements. About
an aisle sign in a supermarket:
If this does not infuriate you, then you're a fucking potato.
(
Again with the confounding crypto-ableism, EA! đ) She also went through a phase of
raging against Lady Gaga đ, who had stolen her idea of
using a wheelchair on stage as an able-bodied woman. đ That failed to convince anyone that she
wasn't the histrionic diva that haters made her out to be.
Spurred on by EA's rallying cries and âus vs themâ mentality, loyalists turned the white-knighting up to 11. On Twitter, some Plague Rats got into cat fights with Lady Gaga's Little Monsters (what a time to be alive). Others tried to balance out the Tumblr negativity with initiatives like âSpreading a Plague of Loveâ â a âpositive-onlyâ confession blog, whose
extreme fangirling, comically drastic rules and hyper-defensive toneđ did not debunk the increasingly popular notion that âtrue Plague Ratsâ were a bunch of authoritarian and hopelessly brainwashed fanatics.
EA truthers and other anti-fans started lashing out at anyone who dared express any positive opinion of EA, solidifying claims that the backlash against EA was just a conspiracy of bitter, hysterical bullies.
All this to say: every passing day brought new reasons for fans to get mad at EA and each other, and everyone in the Asylum was in need of a laugh.
It's not easy having a good time.đŠ Leading up to
Fight Like a Girl and in the years that followed, user-submission-based meme blogs took off, most notably âSpreading a Plague of Lulz / Troll Like a Girlâ. A lot of the early submissions were absurdist humor and
toothless, cheezburger-Impact memes (a style that was, oddly, already dated at the time). Those often originated in good fun, and from loyal fans, on the official forum. But there was also true snark, satirizing EA's
questionable ethics,
outrageous claims, and
easily spoofed artistic gimmicks. A new slang of Asylumspeak emerged:
Glittertits (slight NSFW),
GAGA!!,
EA Gusta and all its memeface variants,
Get outta mah house!,
Are You Suffering?,
Fight Like A Goat,
[Random celebrity] copied EA (a subgenre in its own right), ...
Most of the âtrollingâ was directed at unrepentant bootlickers and, to a lesser extent, red-in-the-face haters and creeps. Meme blogs would post joke comments under âseriousâ or gushing submissions on Wayward Victorian Confessions, and taunt loyalist accounts by tagging them in their posts. When a few people complained on WVC that almost all of the Bloody Crumpets to date had been thin white able-bodied women, and a few fans responded by sharing their dream-casts for a more diverse line-up, the blog was
flooded for days with confessions that âX should be a Crumpetâ (candidates included RuPaul, Mitt Romney, Nicki Minaj, EA's therapist, and the WVC admins). Farcical shenanigans like that.
Ah, but some people will always cross the line, won't they. EA threads popped up on merciless, bully-friendly snark platforms like Lolcow, Pretty Ugly Little Liar, and Encyclopedia Dramatica. Snarkers with a mean streak and obsessive haters mingled in some of the more aggressive, 4-chan-spirited retaliation against EA â which would be called âbrigadingâ in modern parlance. This included flooding EA's Goodreads page with one-star reviews (see part 4),
repeatedly editing her Wikipedia page to include her legal name and birth year, and ensuring that Googling said name would bring up current pictures of her.
All of this compounded agitation fragmented the once-united fandom beyond recognition.đŠ Through substantial disagreements among fans, personal bickerings, layers upon layers of inscrutable in-jokes, and cross-platform telephone games, the Asylum morphed into a booby-trapped Escher room.
Satire blogs were taken in earnest. Earnest fan blogs scanned as satire. Memes would get called out as abuse. Appreciation without attached criticism would get mocked as bootlicking. Obvious jokes made by EA would be taken at face value. One divisive confession could trigger days and days of debate, to the point that WVC eventually banned confessions in response to other confessions. New waves of infighting created
a confusing web of rival sub-factionsđ, each accusing the others of being toxic, cliquish, and delusional.
The shared fantasy was broken, the collective vision had crumbled, no onez was speaking the same language anymore. Fans would jump down the throat of other fans who held almost identical views about EA, except for that one thing she said or did that one time. Everyone had differing thoughts on what should or shouldn't acceptable to discuss, question, excuse, make fun of.
War is hell.
SCORCHED EARTH SHENANIGANS: HONEY, I SHRUNK THE ASYLUM
Would you tear my castle down Stone by stone And let the wind run through my windows Till there was nothing left But a battered rose? (âCastle Downâ, 2003đ”)
Haters vs sycophants is not really the kind of conflict where one side can come out on top (if you're participating, you've already lost). But in the long tug-of-war between âgrassrootsâ and âEA-sponsoredâ fan spaces, the ultimate winner is obvious â in that the former is gasping in agony, a shriveled husk of its former glory, while the latter... is non-existent. This is due in no small part to EA's tendency, like the Czars of old, to settle conflicts
by setting Moscow on fire.đ)
That's not entirely fair: unlike EA, the czar only did it that once.
By early 2013, as EA was gearing up for her third
Fight Like a Girl tour at the end of the year, the official forum was... not as lively as it once had been. Not just because of the stifling rules and disgruntlement towards EA, or because EA herself hadn't really posted anything on there in years; the Internet was also changing, and forums in general were fast becoming
passé.
This made it difficult for EA to create a safe space where she could talk to fans, and fans could talk to and about her, in a way she deemed suitable (ie, a space she could gate-keep and regulate enough to keep it completely free from negative criticism). Social media was a minefield; she still posted regularly, but didn't interact very much. So EA and the Headmistress came up with a way to filter out the unbelievers:
an official fan clubđ, aptly called the âAsylum Armyâ, with a $100 entry price.
Joining the AA came with a dog tag, a sew-on patch, and a lifetime membership certificate signed by EA and â for some reason â the Headmistress. (Unlike EA's best friend and sound engineer back in the forum's heyday, I don't think fans ever really embraced the FLAG-era manager as part of the Asylum in-group. She came across more as a coordinator / businessperson / adult chaperone,
at best.đ) So, slightly better goodies than you'd get by joining
the other AA đ ... but not by much. The main appeal was that members would have access to exclusive content, special merch, giveaways, early bird tickets for future shows, and regular video chats with EA.
The concept itself drew a fair amount of criticism, as you can imagine. Between
the nameđ,
the price, and the inherent gatekeeping of a pay-to-join fanclub, many balked at the monetizing of a concept that had once (like, three years back) been
significantly more DIY, grassroots, and inclusive. đđ
Then again, many also longed for a positive, drama-free space where fans could just be fans. And while the creation of the AA was generally recognized as a quick cashgrab,
a lot of people were surprisingly cool with it. EA
was trying to finance her dream musical, after all â although a number of fans wished she had gone about raising funds
in a less sketchy way.
So around 400 fans shelled out (which,
according to the Headmistressđ, âbasically cover[ed] the cost of running the fanclub itself â keeping the database up, website, etc.â). Enough for a close-knit, but sizable community. But already, there was a conflict of interest: a high fanclub entry fee essentially demands that you pledge loyalty to the artist over loyalty to your fellow fans, who wish to join but can't afford to. Sharing, caring, and ensuring no one felt left out were some of the more positive values cultivated in the fandom... but leaking exclusive content would surely
piss off other paying membersđ, and
make EA feel betrayed all over again. (And she had barely just started to mellow out on social media!)
...But then again, this is the internet. After the first month of secret AA drops (lyric sheets, some photoshoot outtakes â nothing too juicy, really), there were, yes, some leaks. EA was predictably miffed, and retaliated by... ghosting the fanclub for weeks at a time in its first few months of existence (
great look!). She eventually found the âsolutionâ to her problem, by providing something you couldn't right-click-save (and which had been part of the promised perks to begin with): live interaction.
Over webcam, she was her usual in-person bubbly, charming, funny self. Everyone seemingly had a good time during the fanclub video chat, and this gave people faith and hope.
There were a few more events, giveaways, etc. As promised, ahead of the fall 2013 tour (the last one to date, it would turn out), AA members got priority access to show tickets and VIP bundles. The latter were much pricier than before, and only included soundcheck, a photo-op, and three goodies:
a tin of loose-leaf tea, a signed printer-paper setlist, and a small flag that said âF.L.A.G.â.đ Some stuff continued to leak â but, as some of the outlaws pointed out (
scroll down to the Disqus comments), they were mostly relaying information that was relevant to the entire fanbase, such as updates about ongoing projects (the dragged-out recording of the audiobook, for one).
In early 2014, lifetime memberships were closed, and replaced with monthly, quarterly and yearly subscription tiers. Bizarrely,
you ended up paying $3 more per month if you bought a $99 yearly subscriptionđ â but it did include the patch, dog tag, and piece of paper!
Sometimes I kind of want to be part of the cool kids and register to the Asylum Army. Then I remember how it came about, what you could get for the same price a couple years ago, how the whole thing was and is handled, and that I wonât support any of this bullshit. (And then I roll around naked in all the money Iâm saving.) (đ)
Still, a number of fans rejoiced at the affordable monthly option, and joined â if not for the exclusive content and merch (which were... okay, but not much to write home about), then for the friendly, drama-free exchanges with an artist they actually did love, in spite of all the frustration.
For the still-too-poor or still-undecided, there was always the forum! It wasn't as active as it used to be, but a few die-hards still managed to keep the lights on... until, inevitably, Someone Did Something and Ruined Everything. (Once again: EA's wrath is spectacular, but rarely completely unprovoked.) The incident features one notable figure in the Asylum community. Let's call him the Collector.
OK, so maybe you remember
the meme I linked to in Part 4, with Christian Grey and the ginormous EA hoard. Well, that's the Collector's collection. The âViolinâ promo that I called the "Holy Grail of the fandom" in the same paragraph? Also his. The handwritten lyrics that went for $940? Guess who won that auction. Over the years, the Collector had probably spent five figures on EA merch and shows, and although that fact was a little unsettling, he was a very active, easy-going, and generally well-liked fixture of the fandom.
One day in 2012, shortly after the Headmistress had replaced EA's old Chicago BFF as main forum admin, the Collector's account got banned or restricted over something dumb. When the ban wasn't lifted as quickly as he hoped, he took it... the way one takes things when one is unhealthily invested: he started spamming Headmistress and the mod team with increasingly rambling and abusive emails (lost to time, probably for the best). When that didn't work quickly enough, he tried a different route.
One of the many auctions that the Collector had won, some years prior, was
EA's old iPod Touchđ â which contained all of her favorite tunes and, buried somewhere in the data cache... a phone number. Which the Collector tried calling. And wouldn't you know it: EA picked up. She congratulated him on his sleuthing skills, listened patiently as he made his case, apologized for any distress caused by the unfair account restriction, and then they got married.
Kidding! She freaked the fuck out, hung up, and banned him for life from the forum and all EA shows and events.
After his ban, the Collector allegedly still tried to attend at least one VIP pre-show (
one source in the comments says he was allowed to buy some merch, refunded for his ticket, and escorted out). He joined the Reform forum to bitch about EA and try to rally people to his cause, possibly made revenge posts about her on darker snark forums, and continued to hound the Asylum mod team. So in June 2014, EA came up with a radical and unexpected fix to the Collector problem.
The official Asylum Fan Forum has been shut down permanently. I have personally paid thousands of dollars each year to keep the forum safe and secure for you ... Unfortunately, the forum has not been kept safe and secure for me, a truth which disappoints me greatly, instead becoming a place where people who have physically threatened myself and my staff prey upon forum members, pressuring them to contact me and my staff on their behalf. If the gullible wish to humor my stalkers (who live in their parentâs basement at age 30 something) and thus put me in danger, they may do it on their own dime. They may also fuck off, because stupidity can kill, and I wonât be your victim. To those who enjoyed the forum, you know who to thank for its closure. (âOn the closing of the Asylum Forumâ)
Voilà ! This is how a decade-long archive of shared history ends: not with a bang, but with a dirty delete and a sod-off communiqué.
The obliteration of the forum took everyone by surprise...
I was actually on the forum when it was taken down. I was navigating between posts and when I went to click on a different board, an error message came up. I honestly cried a little, I'm not ashamed to say. (WVC admin on Reddit, 2024)
...and I do mean everyone:
Chicago BFF / ex-admin, the next morning: Whoa, EA forum shut down? Ex-mod: It turns out that if someone spends enough years actively âwaging warâ to destroy what they canât have, eventually theyâll be successful. * eye roll * Not even mods got prior warning. Just all the sudden, poof, gone. BFF: Really? She did not let the moderators know?! This is sounding worse and worse. Uggh. Iâm so sorry. Such a loss. (...) Ok, threats are serious, but why not just put it in archive mode so no one can post? (...) Sad. I shall light a candle in the forum's honor. (Facebook posts; scroll down for screenshots)
It was a gut punch, especially for people who had poured countless hours into the community, or could have used some prior warning to save years of their own writing from the role-playing threads. One last chance to take a look around the place that had meant so much to so many.
From the wording of the announcement of closing the forum and a number of other things, it sometimes seems like EA doesn't like her fans much. :/ (đ)
Three months after the forum was nuked, Battered Rose (a venerable EA fansite, which had been around since the Enchant era and had one of the most complete EA galleries online)
announced that it was shutting down too.đ The admin, who had also been a long-time forum mod, cited a lack of âtime, energy, passion, or moneyâ to keep the website going... and being upset at the sudden disappearance of the forum. It was, truly, the end of an era for the Asylum.
...Well, no point in living in the past. For those who could afford it, and still wanted to talk to/about EA after that (
not everyone did đ), there was always the Asylum Army fanclub!
Over the summer of 2014, EA held regular live chats and Q&A's, and... many attendees really enjoyed them, and thought the AA was well worth the money after all. She also quietly parted ways with the much poo-pooed Headmistress around that time.
Just spent over 4 hours giggling, drinking tea and playing guessing games in chat with EA and other Asylum Army members ... No griping, no downers, just lots of fun. I think I like the way the ânew fandomâ is going and now Iâm really glad I finally decided to join the Army. (September 4, 2014đ; Battered Rose had closed the day before)
The forum was lost forever, but perhaps that was a chance for a fresh start. Could this fanclub thing really be the Asylum Renaissance that fans had been longing for?
...I have come today to a very difficult but necessary decision, and that is to discontinue the Emilie Autumn Official Fanclub. The site itself, and the community chatroom, will remain open to you indefinitely, but I will no longer be making updates to the site. (Newsletter, September 8, 2014đ)
...Never mind, then.
Turns out the fanclub had been the Headmistress' idea all along. EA had been reluctant from the start, and although she really enjoyed the live chats with a safe community of people âwho are there for the right reasonsâ, she couldn't overcome her fundamental discomfort with the concept. Lifetime and regular members would receive a bunch of digital downloads and a -35% coupon on the Asylum Emporium for their troubles. EA said she would definitely pop back once in a while for live chats, for free, just for fun, but to my knowledge, she never did.
And so the most devoted fans were left standing in the rain...
She is happy, she made it. She is fulfilling her dreams, found love and happiness after all the pain. I understand that she now doesnât need âusâ anymore ... That doesnât change the fact she broke my heart with taking the Asylum Army and the forum from me. Yet, I am happy for her. (đ)
...while naysayers pointed and laughed,
Nelson-style.đŠ I donât feel sorry at all for the people that paid for the Asylum Army fan club. Most of them knew that EA is an atrocious business woman and has broken many promises before. In fact, I laugh at them. They seriously thought that EA would actually stay consistent with this? (đ)
EVERYTHING MUST GO: THE ASYLUM WHOLESALE
EA fans were left without an âofficialâ home for about three years. This gave them plenty of time to be annoyed at EA for: not releasing the audiobook on time, not materializing any new project for a while... and the new sin of peddling random, ridiculously marked-up AliBaba jewelry as âmerchâ on her official store. Think faux-antique cameo pendants and $30 Big Ben rings (...because the Asylum story is set in London, get it?).
The whole accessories section looks like a tacky overpriced English souvenir shop. (đ)
The fanbase lost a lost of steam in those in-between years, because there wasn't much to stick around for. As evidenced by the positive reception of the AA live chats, even in the midst of unresolved drama, out-loud interactions in a friendly environment have always been EA's saving grace. Considering the amount of online hate, there are shockingly few accounts of bad IRL encounters with EA: most people say that in live conversation, she comes across as a fun, warm, and genuinely sweet person. Some report that their negative opinion shifted after meeting her.
But there were no chats or live shows anymore. There was only social media, where she ignored questions and vague-posted about overdue projects â and
the newsletterđ, which was all saccharine love-bombing to promote bland dropshipped trinkets. For fans who remembered the handcrafted merch (and two-way communication) of the early years, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
CONTINUED IN COMMENTS
submitted by
pillowcase-of-eels to
HobbyDrama [link] [comments]
2024.05.19 13:07 cryptomaxks I'm planning to run my first token on pump fun. Need your opinions and guidance
| Hey everyone! I'm planning to run my first token on pump fun and need your honest opinion about what i've prepared and the whole idea itself. So to the point. I've made a plan where i will create a token on pumpfun and buy like everyone else (but first) my project tokens for 2 SOL. After it reaches certain level of mcap i will gratually sell my tokens to cover the expenses of the paid marketing to push mcap further. I bear in mind that my funds are small and may lose it all on that but its ok, i wanna learn. I made a cheap website for a start, simple and nothing out of ordinary with social links and marketing wallet so everything is transparent on chain. I do not want to scam anyone and i dont even know how to rug token. I made a tg group with portal. Added bots like rose, dbuybot, pumpfun buytracker and furina music bot to keep the party on VC going thru the pump fun process, Im gonna play some mariachi music to get a nice and funny vibes. At around 30k mcap i will sell some tokens to prepay the dexscreener, i've made a banner and all the graphics with canva and leonardo so its upfront prepared. They may not be the best graphics you will see today but i think its enough (thoughts?) to get this going. The next mcap milestones you can check on the picture below: https://preview.redd.it/mdl26upc8d1d1.jpg?width=1139&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90f2558a3778457a12f059617b25afe8abf39d74 I've made also a twitter but my shilling skills are newb. I've followed some callers and the #GEM FINDERS to shill under their posts, got few followers and will constantly promote it everywhere i can including some tg chats. Maybe it will bring some eyes on my project. And basiclly thats all i got at this point. What do you think about all of this ? Does it have a chance to reach the first mcap goal and raydium ? What would you change or upgrade? Cant wait for your opinions. https://preview.redd.it/ca6m2ild8d1d1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62e229ee746e86a5cc07735062abb19255c6718d https://preview.redd.it/hr5djvxd8d1d1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b3943383553114cc1292dd812ddb35b7acced97 Good day and i wish you all profits, CryptoMaxks the SeñorDip Dev submitted by cryptomaxks to memecoins [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 13:03 cryptomaxks I'm planning to run my first token on pump fun. Need your opinions and guidance
| Hey everyone! I'm planning to run my first token on pump fun and need your honest opinion about what i've prepared and the whole idea itself. So to the point. I've made a plan where i will create a token on pumpfun and buy like everyone else (but first) my project tokens for 2 SOL. After it reaches certain level of mcap i will gratually sell my tokens to cover the expenses of the paid marketing to push mcap further. I bear in mind that my funds are small and may lose it all on that but its ok, i wanna learn. I made a cheap website for a start, simple and nothing out of ordinary with social links and marketing wallet so everything is transparent on chain. I do not want to scam anyone and i dont even know how to rug token. I made a tg group with portal. Added bots like rose, dbuybot, pumpfun buytracker and furina music bot to keep the party on VC going thru the pump fun process, Im gonna play some mariachi music to get a nice and funny vibes. At around 30k mcap i will sell some tokens to prepay the dexscreener, i've made a banner and all the graphics with canva and leonardo so its upfront prepared. They may not be the best graphics you will see today but i think its enough (thoughts?) to get this going. The next mcap milestones you can check on the picture below: https://preview.redd.it/6gduafdn5d1d1.jpg?width=1139&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f9ec3823f06b1ff06f90ec811044b1c89b0e732 I've made also a twitter but my shilling skills are newb. I've followed some callers and the #GEM FINDERS to shill under their posts, got few followers and will constantly promote it everywhere i can including some tg chats. Maybe it will bring some eyes on my project. And basiclly thats all i got at this point. What do you think about all of this ? Does it have a chance to reach the first mcap goal and raydium ? What would you change or upgrade? Cant wait for your opinions. https://preview.redd.it/dvvt47nk7d1d1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70c4ca40bdf1ed750e2d13a81563ed73bd8cccc7 https://preview.redd.it/738qff2m7d1d1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e4f9013dac4659c20448355f19e8a54f3bda7d2 Good day and i wish you all profits, CryptoMaxks the SeñorDip Dev submitted by cryptomaxks to solana [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 12:58 NLSSMC Advice about dying grandmother (and a story about the Cardinal)
Hi! đ
I need help and I also wanted to share a story or two, if thatâs ok. So this is LOOONG. Please forgive any mistakes or wrong words
Iâve put the questions up top so feel free to ignore the rest. I just wanted to tell people about her.
Thank you so much in advance!
TL;DR
Part one: My beloved 98-yo Catholic grandmother in Sweden is dying, no other family member is Catholic. We donât know what we need to do now before and after her passing.
Part two: Granâs story and the Cardinal who Didnât Forget.
ââ-
Part one
My Grandma is 98 and nearing the very end. She is a devout Catholic who converted in her 60s. No one else in the family is Catholic and there are very few Catholics in Sweden overall.
Her faith is incredibly important to her and I want to make sure she leaves the world properly from a religious standpoint.
Only I donât know anything about it and I donât know who to ask.
I would be so grateful for any guidance.
Questions:
1. Are there things we need to do for her from a religious perspective when the end comes? Last rituals?
Any special handling of the body?
Should we call a priest but who?
2. Swedish funerals usually donât take place in three or four weeks after death. Is that okay?
3. Her service will be held in a Protestant church with a Protestant priest and buried in the family plot thatâs there.
She has okayed this. She originally wanted to Catholic service in this particular church but itâs not allowed.
Are there any things (prayers, rituals etc) we can include to honor her faith?
4. Do I need to notify her local church? She is a member of the Secular Carmelites as well.
5a. Obituaries work a little differently in Sweden but I figured Iâd ask. Itâs common to include a little picture or symbol in them, everything from roses to sports team logos (yes, truly! đ)
Most of the Catholic obituaries I see simply have a cross and . Is that the proper way to do it?
5b. Most obituaries include a quote.
Would this be appropriate?
âI am going towards you whom I have always sought, loved and always desired.â
It may sound odd I watched Sister Claire Crockettâs final vows and heard it and just knew instantly it should be in Granâs obituary.
I havenât been able to trace the source though.
THANK YOU! If you made it this far! âââââââââ
Gran and the Cardinal
Now itâs story time!
Gran converted in her 60s âafter a lifetime of searchingâ and was an eager theological correspondent.
She is a passionate fan of St John of the Cross and mysticism in general and is a member of the Secular Carmelites.
My Gran is Dutch, spent her first decade in Indonesia before coming back to Holland just in time for the German occupation.
She grew up Protestant but the war planted a seed in her mind and she set out to discover the spiritual world and learning as much as possible about every religion she could find, Taoism, Shinto, Hindu gurus, the works.
â
I asked her once what made her choose Catholicism in the end. She said that she had seen a small bookstore that interested her and unbeknownst was in a small, nondescript church.
Gran said she went in through the door and felt a âflashâ or a rush or something she couldnât quite describe and just knew. She spoke to a priest that very same day.
â-
Gran never quite lost hope that one of her children or grandchildren would convert (I was her best candidate but that has not happened. đ
)
â-
My grandmother had to stop going to Church maybe 10â15 years ago since hearing is so bad and it still grieves her.
She misses the community of the church, theological discourse, the connections she has made over the years. She felt lonely.
â
I donât know how much the âregular Catholicâ knows about different cardinals but we actually got a Swedish one, Anders Arborelius, a few years ago.
Gran knows him through the Carmelites and she has corresponded quite extensively with âBishop Andersâ.
On one bleak day when Gran felt so along in the world, I tried to think of ways to cheer her up.
I did some googling and found an email address to the Cardinal himself and also to his secretary.
â
I wrote a long email asking of âBishop Andersâ would be willing to send her a card to remind her the church hasnât forgotten her.
I didnât expect an answer but later that same night, his secretary responded and it turned out she used to know my gran quite well.
The Cardinal was in Rome, she said, but he would probably look at the email when he got back.
That night (say 2AM), I got a response from the Cardinal about how well he remembers my Gran, and how much he likes and appreciates her.
A few day later, a lovely little letter with encouraging words and a blessing arrived in the mail.
One funny thing though! He had absolutely dreadful handwriting, so bad we actually send around a picture of it to family members asking them if they could decode it. đđđ
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2024.05.19 12:01 SourTM kerfur shot dead in houston
2024.05.19 11:04 jonaskoelker Rewatcher's diary: Season 2, episodes 19 to 22
Previous diary entry here:
https://www.reddit.com/buffy/comments/1cuyf6k/rewatchers_diary_season_2_episodes_15_to_18/ The last sprint to the finish line:
I Only Have Eyes for You (2x19),
Go Fish (2x20),
Becoming (2x21-2x22).
Man, I Only Have Eyes for You is such a beautiful gem of a composition. Go Fish is less bad than I remembered it (but still bottom-tier), Becoming FUCK YEAH!
I Only Have Eyes for You It's the Sadie Hawkins dance and the gender roles are reversedâon BTVS, of all places ;-)
Xander suggests it's the brain child of a hairy-legged feminist and Cordelia is upset not only at losing her privilege of having her date pay for the date but also at having the tables turned all the way around and having to be the one who has to pay. Man I love the anti-chemistry of Xandelia.
But all is not well: Sunnydale high is haunted by the ghost of a student (James), whose romance with a teacher (Grace) was broken off by her. He responded with a murder-suicide which he is now reenacting. This is the mystery of the week.
The emotional significance is that Buffy identifies with James: she feels she betrayed and murdered Angel, unleashing Angelus. Her inability to kill Angelus in Innocence led to Jenny's death in Passion, which Buffy feels guilt about.
The punchline is Buffy and Angel(us) reenacting the ghost story, with Buffy in James' shoes, Angel surviving Buffy's murder attempt and preventing Buffy-as-James' suicide. Grace forgives James and says she never stopped loving him, the ghosts depart, Angel is back in his Angelus form who runs off.
Also, the final reveal: Spike, driven more crazy by Angelus, has been overstating his incapacitation.
I frigging
love this episode.
I think Buffy's big change is her acceptance that Angel is dead, and that a demon (Angelus) has taken up shop in his body. It walks and it talks like Angel but it's no longer him. This has to be it, because the ghostly reenactment basically says that the Bangel love is forever and is still there even if Angel isn'tâand yet, Buffy is more resolved and determined to kill Angelus than ever. This only makes sense if she's distinguishing between the two, i.e. if she's accepting that the man she used to love is gone.
The ghost story is beautifully tragic. The resolution, Grace's forgiveness and the departure of the ghosts, is such a heart-warming relief. And Buffy sorting out her feelings is wonderfully bittersweet.
Giles being distraught by the loss of Jenny, to the point of him not thinking straight, is heartbreaking. Metaphorically Giles is Buffy's mind, making it very fitting that Buffy's resolution is about sorting out her understanding of the Angel/Angelus distinction.
I noticed a thing: during the triangular binding spell we have Buffy at the center of the action, with Willow, Xander and
Giles Cordelia supporting her, a motif replayed in
Primeval (4x21).
If we understood the metaphor in
Teacher's Pet (1x4) we learned that student-teacher romance means the teacher is preying on the student. Here it was... well preying is the wrong word, but here it was the student harming the teacher. I feel this might dilute the message of Teacher's Pet; this episode could've been a bit more on-brand with a line or two with the message that it's not uncommon or shameful for teens to have feelings for 20-somethingsâbut, if reciprocated, it's inappropriate for the older person to act on those feelings. The tie-in between James/Grace and Buffy/Angel would be perfect, the social commentary would be more to my liking, and I think the social commentary I want is on-point for BTVS. Heck, if you peel of the big S2 metaphor, I see a 16yo girl crushing on a ~26yo red flag, with disastrous consequences. The social commentary I'm calling for is the
whole bloody point of S2, so why not reinforce it here? Maybe it would dilute the "awww" when Grace forgives James, like, we're meant to feel it's a sweet couple and they
should get each other and that has to be an undiluted high note.
Nitpicking aside, what a gem!
Go Fish I asked the writers for a good episode, but they said "go fish". Oh well, I guess there's plenty of fish in the sea. Let's plunge in and take a deep dive.
I remembered this as "that one really awfully disappointing episode of Buffy". This time, I found it to be merely "meh". There were a few decent comedy bits: "undercover" // "not under much" and "I'm dating a guy on the Sunnydale High swim team" // "you can die happy" #OohBurn look at the shallow
Spordelia Cordelia.
There was a gender role reversalâon BTVS of all placesâwhen Buffy walks Swimmer #2 home from The Bronze (for his protection) after he was attacked.
But on the whole... see, I kinda' enjoyed the early S2 MotW episodes, back when MotW was pretty much all that BTVS was. But now that I have tasted the Bangelus arc (again, this being a rewatch), I have lost my taste for MotWsâat least if they have no tie-in to the bigger picture. This is an episode I simply have no taste for, it doesn't excite me.
[I consider
Phases (2x15) and BBB (2x16) MotW episodes with strong thematic tie-ins to the Bangelus arc: all the scoobies are dating monsters. And arguably,
Passion (2x17) is about Jenny making risky dating choices, a follow-up on
The Dark Age (2x8), making 2x14-2x17 a thematically cohesive run of episodes.]
Becoming Fuck. Yeah.
Joss is such a scumbag. First he gives Buffy this great resolve and determination (perhaps after some feelings of resignation) in
I Only Have Eyes for You, then he makes her waver a bit when she discovers Jenny's re-ensoulment spell. And then she gets Angel back, but it's too late since Angelus already pulled the pin on the doomsday vortex grenade, so she has to let go of him AGAIN! :(
Spike is chaotic and funny. You can always count on his loyalty, at least if you're the highest bidder, and Buffy effectively offered him his
big ho girlfriend back. He's such a fool for love, wink-wink nudge-nudge.
I noticed a parallel between the trio of vampires and the trio of nerds: Angelus/Warren is the evil sociopathic leader of the group, Drusilla/Andrew has a crush on the leader and Spike/Jonathan betrays the group and sides with Buffy and the scoobies. [But also differences, of course: SpikeSilla are not as weak-willed as Andrew/Jonathan, for one. And the trio of vampires is charming.]
... and Xander brings Willow back by talking about their friendship and telling her he loves her!
Angelus talked about ascendingâretro-echoing the mayor's plot in
Graduation Day 2 (3x22).
Also: Angelus tried to pull a sword out of a stone (Acathla). We just went from gothic horror to Arthurian legend? Spike's reaction, "someone wasn't worthy", indicates that Angelus is a false king, not worthy of the throne of Sunnydale. He's not the real mayor so he
won't ascend: while he eventually manages to pull the sword out of the stone, his ultimate fate is a downfallâhe
descends into a hell dimension.
The scoobies have a disagreement in the library about how to deal with Angel(us). I find it notable that it's Xander, Buffy's metaphorical heart, who responds to "I'll stop him" with "like you did last time, with Ms. Calendar"âBuffy is still feeling guilty about not having the
heart guts to kill Angelus in Innocence. It's Xander who knows the location of Angelus' mansion, i.e. it's her heart which leads her to lost lover, and it's her heart which says "kick his ass". When he rescues Buffy's metaphorical mind, he (Giles) says "why would they make me see you", i.e. Buffy's mind doesn't want what's in her heart, they are conflicted. Buffy is driven by her feelings and passions
now just as much as she was in Surprise when she unleashed Angelus. Once her metaphorical mind has been rescued it saves the day: she gives her regained love one last kiss and one last goodbye, then, letting cooler heads prevail,
kicks his ass stabs him in the heart, breaking it, to save the day.
And some greatest hits: "nobody asks for their life to change, not really" ;; "what's left?" // "me" ;; "you hit me one time with an axe" ;; "have you tried not being the slayer?" ;; "you're expelled".
Becoming is peak Buffy.
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2024.05.19 10:20 Global_Tech0 Guide for How to Solve Normal Captchas
| https://preview.redd.it/m94ea7nlec1d1.jpg?width=1680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28cfefb5d91783b5aa31148f3853ac93f597372a Introduction: In the digital age, CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart) are an everyday challenge for internet users. These tests, designed to differentiate between human users and automated bots, are essential for maintaining online security. Normal captchas, typically involving distorted text or simple images, are the most common type encountered. This guide will help you understand and solve normal captchas efficiently. Understanding Normal Captchas Normal captchas are designed to be easy for humans to solve but difficult for bots. They come in various forms, including: Text-Based Captchas: These require users to read and type distorted text shown in an image. Image Captchas: Users are asked to identify objects in images, such as selecting all pictures that contain a certain item. Audio Captchas: For accessibility, some captchas provide an audio version where users listen to a sequence of numbers or letters and then type them. Strategies for Solving Normal Captchas Text-Based Captchas: Stay Calm: Take your time to carefully decipher the distorted text. Use Browser Zoom: Zooming in can help you see the characters more clearly. Retry: If the text is too difficult to read, there is usually an option to get a new captcha. Image Captchas: Look for Patterns: Focus on common objects or features asked in the captcha. Click Carefully: Ensure you select all required images before submitting. Refresh if Needed: Similar to text captchas, you can often request a new set of images. Utilizing Technology to Solve Captchas While manual solving methods are essential, technology can also aid in solving normal captchas. Here are a few tools and techniques: Browser Extensions: Extensions like CaptchaAI can automatically solve normal captchas, saving you time and effort. These tools often use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to interpret and solve captchas. AI and Machine Learning: Advanced AI algorithms can analyze and interpret visual and audio captcha challenges, providing accurate solutions quickly. Assistive Technologies: For users with disabilities, assistive technologies like screen readers and speech-to-text software can help navigate and solve captchas. Best Practices for Using Captcha Solving Tools Choose Reliable Tools: Use reputable tools with good reviews to ensure accuracy and security. Update Regularly: Keep your captcha-solving tools and browser extensions up to date to benefit from the latest improvements. Respect Privacy and Security: Ensure the tools you use do not compromise your personal information or security. Conclusion Solving normal captchas doesn't have to be a frustrating experience. By understanding the different types of captchas and employing effective strategies, you can navigate these security measures with ease. Additionally, leveraging technology like AI-powered tools can further simplify the process, making your online interactions smoother and more efficient. With the right approach and resources, mastering the art of solving normal captchas is well within your reach. Solving Captcha can be difficult to solve. You can either do it manually, which is time and effort-consuming and very cumbersome or use an automated solution, which is the cheapest way and does not consume a lot of resources. When choosing a site, consider your resources and the balance you want between speed and accuracy. Adding an automatic captcha solver can make the process more efficient So, CaptchaAI excels in solving captchas, offering an efficient solution that takes only a second for all normal captcha types including image Captcha solving, and The cost is 0.001 per 1,000 captchas, ensuring a high accuracy of 99.9%. This makes it the cheapest captcha solver and efficient. submitted by Global_Tech0 to u/Global_Tech0 [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 10:09 Asleep-Mycologist333 Imgur v7.10.1.0 MOD APK (Premium Unlocked)
| https://preview.redd.it/fa1aoslmcc1d1.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=685f27cca697417ffb9d6782961edf081f353629 https://modyolo.co.in/imgur-funny-memes-gif-make đđđđDownload Linkđđđđ Also Join us on telegram https://t.me/official_modyolo Also join us on Instagram https://instagram.com/modifiedmod.in Also join us on Discord https://discord.gg/GQUCUPEeed Follow us on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAMOg5AInPlcwBnJd2Y Imgur is the easiest way to discover the amazing things that can be found on the Internet. It features content users have curated just like you, such as hilarious pictures of cats and dogs, hilarious GIFs from movies and TV shows, LOL pictures, amazing scientific facts, puns, comics, and artwork. Undoubtedly something that will have you roaring with laughter and possibly even wetting your pants with laughter. EXPLORE THE ENDLESS DEPTH OF INTERNET HUMOR ONLINE There are more websites besides Imgur on the Internet that allow users to watch memes and animated GIFs, and the diversity and brilliant content are in-depth and immense for users to explore. The app is the only website compromised into an app that you need to visit if you are interested in finding amusing pictures and videos of all different kinds. The app is the only location in the known universe that offers a more extensive collection of cat videos or other hilarious moments for you to watch and share with friends effortlessly. DIVE INTO THE BOUNDLESS COLLECTION OF MEMES Meme is a form of entertainment; users can search for tons of them here with simple actions. The app even compromises numerous memes from different parts of the words and is ready to share the laughter the memes bear with you. If youâre looking for something humorous, nostalgic, fashionable, or just plain odd and great, the app got memes. It has memes for any occasion you can think of, and you can explore new humor senses of the Internet while thinking of one, present one to others, and share it widely on the Internet. UPLOAD YOUR PHOTOS WITH HIGH-QUALITY Besides sharing photos with you, the app can let you share photos with others and the community. You can upload anything on this place, and the app will automatically render it with a higher quality overall. The upload functions even allow you to adjust the format, and you can upload batches to make an album or stitch them together. You can also pick photos directly from other platforms and sources, wherever you want, and have fun with it and make Imgur more vibrant with its hilariousness. UPLOAD VIDEOS WITH THE CERTAIN CATEGORIES Do you happen to have any funny videos on your phone? Perfect timing, considering that the team behind Imgur has just revealed a game-changing new feature dubbed âGIFs With Sound,â which is known as âvideoâ in other parts of the Internet. This category allows you to upload and download videos for free, and itâs the opportunity to share the fun with everyone with weird videos you find anywhere. The app has no limit on the video content, so you can post anything you like and let others know about your humor senses. RECEIVE RANDOM NOTIFICATIONS FROM THE APP The best thing the app offers is random recommendation from hilarious posts from the app, and the post is well-received by other users, so the app will share them randomly with you. That will keep you more entertained and interested in the app and motivate you to explore the library in your free time. submitted by Asleep-Mycologist333 to Modifiedmods [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 10:05 ggwplucky [Abandoned Pools] Sony Connect Track by Track Interview
| A while back I was messing around with the Wayback Machine & came across this diamond in the rough on AP's MySpace page. Also found some photos, but most importantly, a track-by-track [Armed To The Teeth] interview from Sony Connect that they did back in '05 (presumably around the same time they did the Sony Connect set with the acoustic songs). In the interview, Tommy tells the story behind each track on Armed To The Teeth (except Lucky). You'll also find tidbits about the process, lyrically & sonically of these songs, and much more! If you want to read it/see it from the "raw" source and discover more, here's a link with the Wayback's capture I found on the interview blog: https://web.archive.org/web/20071005015435/http://www.myspace.com/abandonedpools Now without further ado, the Sonic Connect Interview: A track by track discussion of Armed to the Teeth from the Sony Connect Store interview: LETHAL KILLERS TW: As far as how that [demo of the] song was constructed ... I did this trick where I would take a half-time drum loop and sort of nudge it one way and then put in another track and nudge it the other, and we got this sort of double time, rolling drum feel. So that - plus the sort of round-robin type of guitar parts that we have going - was sort of a very easy construction for a song. And then you start moving the bass part around, and, boom, you've got a song. But I think that lyrically - I want to make it clear that that song isn't necessarily [about] "church is bad, government's bad." I think it's a little bit more complicated than that, though sometimes if you mix the two of religious power and government power, that can be bad for both of them. And I kinda like the idea of not living a life saying, "Well, you better live life in a certain way because then, you know, everything's gonna be great later in heaven." You know, the idea of, like, if this is all we have now, if that idea was just a little bit more embraced, our world could be a little bit better. I just find that a little bit more satisfying, too, if you think like, this is all you have and then you're gonna die. [Laughs] It seems a little bit more like, "Oh, okay, well!" instead of, like, thinking that there's some other life at some other time and you can put things off. RABBLE TW: Well, a lot of the songs on this record - about two-thirds of it - have to do with a relationship I had that went south, and you know when you go through relationships you always have such a good 20/20 hindsight about things. And I think "Rabble" is just trying to basically say to somebody, "I just wanted to know you better" . . . It's just one of those things where, with this relationship in particular, I wish it would have turned out better. And there's a lot of things that happened that shouldn't have happened, and it's just sort of one of those "oh, what could have been?" scenarios. THE CATALYST TW: "The Catalyst" is definitely along the same lines. I think the main line in that one is "I wish I could say something beautiful to make you fall in love again." There's a Coachella reference in there, too: "Love has slowly faded away like spotlights shining into space." Have you ever been to Coachella? Of course you have. You know, there's all those spotlights that shoot up in the air. I just thought that was kinda cool, like, how far do those lights really go? "The Catalyst" was also the last song written for the record. It was demoed while we were in the studio. And it's one of those songs that I said two-thirds of the record was written for somebody. That's one of them. TIGHTER NOOSE TW: "Tighter Noose" is the oldest song on the record by far. It was probably written back in '99, 2000, or somewhere in there. I was thinking about it for the first record [2001's Humanistic], but it didn't really fit in with those kind of songs, so I kept it around and we'd even play it live occasionally. I think it fits in with these songs way better. [As for what "Tighter Noose" is about,] that song is one of those breaking-off-on-your-own- what-have-you-got-to-lose kind of things, because that was written sort of in the wake of when I was in The Eels. It wasn't a terribly happy situation, so I was like, well screw it, I'm just gonna go off and do my own thing. And then it's sort of like, well, you know: "I'm gonna go start my own thing. Uh, I have to learn to sing and write songs now." [Laughs] It's kinda funny: "Screw you guys! I'm gonna go get a deal!" And then like, "Uh oh." But really, I'm a firm believer in that [idea that] you just gotta go for it. And so it was like, well, this is gonna be difficult, but it's gonna be better than what I had before. And actually, with some distance on that situation, I realized I made the right decision and made a lot more money and was a lot more happy as a result. So that was sort of a leap of faith, you know. I didn't want to be someone's stupid bass player. Now I'm my own stupid bass player. WAITING TO PANIC TW: There was a lull between record companies. The first record [Humanistic] was on Extasy - I don't know if you know about that company, but we were basically the poster-child for the implosion of an indie label. I came off the road in 2002, the label's folding, and I'm like, well, I'm just gonna go back and give this my best shot and we'll get another deal. It seemed highly unlikely, but we ended up doing it. And there was just a lull in there where nobody was interested. I had attorneys not returning my phone calls - that kinda stuff. It felt like, I'm just waiting around and I'm really anxious. So that was a song of frustration that was written and demoed all in one day - it was a song that just came out of me in like eight hours. We also put an EP out [The Reverb EP] and on the EP is the version of that demo that I did in one day. It doesn't happen [like that] very often. Usually I build bed tracks and come back to it a few weeks later and add something, and then come back a couple of days later. This one was all in one shot. HUNTING TW: My friend Ross Golan, who has his own band Ross Golan and Molehead, had been following the wake of the relationship. He's like, "You just gotta write her a song and use her name." And I'm like, nah, nah, it's not covered enough. And he's like, "No, just do it. Go for it." So I did. I wrote this song and I wrote it for her for her birthday and I used her name, which is in the first lyric of the song, which is "Ginny." So I just went for it and wrote it. It was basically a birthday gift, and it was basically saying, like, you know, "Oops!" [Laughs] It didn't get me very far, but I like the song. We're friends, she's a good girl, absolutely, but back at that time, it was kinda like, "Erraaghhh! Here's a song!" But I like the song and I just think it was one of those times where I was really putting myself out there, and I know she liked it, too. But then, I think that's a myth where you just write a song and all of a sudden the girl just says, "Oh! Okay!" But, you know, hey. There it is. It's on the record. That's the romantic notion of how they'll react to the song, at least. TW: Exactly. And I'm really glad we're past that whole ironic phase, which I was part of with The Eels, where everything was super ironic and we'd play "The Macarena" on stage - [sarcastically] and that was funny! I'm glad we're through all that stuff, even though I was still a Beck fan when he was doing all that stuff, too. But I like being sincere and sappy and romantic. I kinda think that's a great thing. ARMED TO THE TEETH TW: This is one of the first songs written when we came off the road and I had a lot of momentum. If you look at the state of the industry you can see a lot of corporations that seem to have to buy everything in sight. They just have to own everything, and to what purpose? Does it really make the industry much better? No. There's fewer outlets, there's a lot more gatekeepers. They want to buy stuff and it just kinda makes things bad for everybody. All the radio stations play the same shit - except for Indie 103.1 and KCRW in L.A. In spite of it all, I'm just gonna try to do my best and have a career anyway. When we came off the road I felt like I had a lot of momentum. Performing live is inspiring to writing, so it was just the whole idea of, "Alright, now that I have one record under my belt, I'm gonna really go for it in spite of all the forces that be." Even though they're pretty much indifferent to us, [laughs] their actions do affect us. It's sort of a song of bravado. Why did you also choose "Armed To The Teeth" as the name of the album, too, which, in turn, implies it as the overall theme? TW: Yeah, which is funny, since I kinda decided on that theme early on, thinking I was gonna go in a certain way, but then, like I said, two-thirds of the record is love songs. So "Armed To The Teeth" doesn't really fit in a certain way, but I also liked it just because [of] that idea of, like, now I'm really ready to make a record, and also I think it reflects the state of the country a little bit. Everything's a little bit aggressive, we're at war, and I thought it was sort of timely in that way SOONER OR LATER TW: "Sooner Or Later" is another one of those tracks that was written after we got signed, so it's a newer song. I mentioned that sort of double time drum loop thing with "Lethal Killers" - this is the same thing. It's a half time drum loop that I nudged in one direction and then put in another track and nudge it in the other, then "boom," it's double time. And I like that, it's a good effect. It really sets up this kind of overlapping, rolling sound that a real drummer can't do. And things flam a little bit, and I really like that feel, so this song was constructed in the same manner where you have a rolling drum loop and then you put over a couple of guitar parts here and there and all of a sudden you got a song - I think this song is over six minutes. This is, um, I guess it's a couple things. Lyrically, it's sort of saying, like, whatever you do or whatever you say, there's no point in hiding anything because it all comes out in the end - which is the tagline in the chorus. There's no hiding. And in the verse it says, "Sooner or later / It's all coming down." In some way or another, whether you acknowledge it or if it just eats at your self, you can't really get away with anything. It's sort of fatalistic that way, but also in terms of, like, seeing how I also look at as a bigger picture of, like, politically, and since we're at war right now, it seems like things are getting a little scary. And that's kind of like one of those doomsday scenarios. If you look around a little you can really freak yourself out if you're reading about, like, bio-warfare and things like that. So a lot of this talk about "smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud" and all that, it sort of brought up for me a lot of doomsday scenarios. So it's two-fold: it's that doomsday scenario, in terms of as far as the world is concerned, and then, personally, if you do stupid shit then you're eventually gonna pay for it somehow. SAILING SEAS TW: Like "Hunting," this is probably the most direct, out-there storytelling song. Instead of using her [real] name, it's switched to "Holly," which is in the chorus. So it's another one of those songs talking straight to somebody. And there's a lot of details in there that I wouldn't talk about in normal conversation. That's the funny thing about songwriting where I wouldn't talk about this, but then I can put it in this song and you can still hear it and you still understand, but it's sort of masked a little bit. It's presented in a certain way where it's somehow okay to say that when you're in a major key or something. Because like, the second verse is about pretending you're outside a room listening to somebody [you love] have sex [with someone else], and that's a situation to put yourself into to really torture yourself. I created this scenario in my head and I put it in a song, and it's kinda brutal, but the [beat of the] song is upbeat and happy. RENEGADE TW: This is a sample-based type song [with] drum loops. The cello was originally a Bjork sample and we replaced it. This one is sort of hard to explain. To me itâs just sort of like just a creation, because some of the record is social commentary, and I think there's a lot of that in this song, and it's like little snippets and ideas, and not necessarily one unifying idea. I think it's just kind of a song based on looking around and taking stock of things. This song in particular isn't really even about anything. It's just, like, observations, pretty much. And, oh, by the way, Billy Howerdel, the guitarist from A Perfect Circle, is playing guitar on that song. He jumped on that track and he's the one that makes it sound scary. MAYBE THEN SOMEDAY TW: That was one of the first songs written in the wake of the breakup. It was one of those kind of "well-it-just-didn't-work-out-but-maybe-one-day-we'll-see-what-happens" kind of things. Because the circumstances are such that it wasn't gonna happen immediately so I was kinda like, well, we'll see. I don't have much to say about that; it's just grouped in with "songs about her." GOODBYE SONG TW: That was also written when there was not a lot going on for me and we hadn't really nailed down the record deal. She [Tommy's ex-girlfriend] always thought she was bad luck - she'd show up and bad things would start happening - so she thought it was her fault that I hadn't got a deal. She actually moved away and soon as she did, we got a deal. [Laughs] I think it's funny to sort of say, like the first line of the song is "I'm not washed up / And you're not bad luck for anyone," so, you know, get off the ledge, really. And it's just one of those things; it's one of those yearning songs. I think with a lot of those songs there's a certain amount of effort spent on presenting evidence, like, "Look, I know this is how you feel, but look at all the other stuff." It's almost like making a case for your self [in a song]. And like I said, it didn't get me far, but it's still a good venting process. And I sort of realize when I say things like, "I wrote this for her" or whatever, it's not really for her. It's more self-indulgent to get this stuff out. And in a way you're saying, "Yeah, I wrote this song for you," but no, you wrote it for yourself so you could say things that you felt like saying. So I realize that and I think I realized that while I was writing them, but my job is to write songs so you take from what's around you to make it happen. submitted by ggwplucky to AbandonedPools [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:59 createdjustforthis23 19/05/2024
I slept fine, I didnât fall asleep so nicely. I donât know why, I felt perfectly adequate all evening and then bam I cry myself to sleep. I donât know how or why, and I didnât even cry over anything in particular it was just any and everything. And I just kept crying and crying, like a baby. I had to switch pillows twice because I drenched it, but I got to sleep on my favourite pillow by the time I was almost asleep thankfully. I can be so picky with pillows, another thing mum tends to call me, even to this day - the princess and the pea. Or rather she likens me to her⊠I canât entirely say I disagree tbh. I just like things a particular way, not all things, I can be relaxed about plenty, but there are some things I just to be just so. My pillows when I sleep for example, how the dishwasher top rack is stacked etc. Entirely inconsequential things really. But anyway. I didnât fall asleep so nicely. I woke up feeling better, still a bit sad but nothing I couldnât ignore.
Itâs now 12:58pm and Iâve done next to nothing. Iâve been watching BT, Iâm not writing the name of the show because I feel like that might be search heavy at the moment? So Iâve been watching that, Iâm midway through the third episode now and there are four out so far. Iâve also painted some of my lil clay things with primer. And thatâs about it. I really need to clean and tidy my room but the idea of it⊠ugh. I donât want to :(
Iâm loving BT so much. I like the stories and characters and stuff, but I mostly love the sets and costumes. Theyâre just so luxuriously opulent and uggghhhhhhh I want to just stare it all. Sometimes I wish they would clear out the cast and just give us a tour of the rooms and show all the details of the gowns. But like I learned in therapy, beauty is something I value highly, not in a vain way but in the way I utterly adore beautiful things whether it be a stunningly ornate wallpaper, a sparkly bead encrusted gown or even a leaf that is the perfect shade of green. I just love it all and it brings me so much joy, more than I realised now that Iâm conscious of this value of mine. But the BT house itself, particularly the drawing room ommmmgggg. The blue? I think itâs called wedgewood blue from memory, with the creamy/white detailing. And all the light streaming through. Itâs so dreamy. And it makes me love my blue and white bedroom more. And the gowns!!!!!!! I wish I could roll around in them, theyâre so sparkly and detailed and beyond beautiful. Particularly the ones crusted in beading and with the luxurious silks and satins and velvets and taffetas and organza and all of it. And the colours! Itâs all so dreamy. I donât overly love the style of a lot of the gowns, that sort of empire line, mainly because it only looks good on women with fewer curves and a flatter chest, they can look gorrrrrrrgeous in them. But otherwise if you have any kind of cleavage it looks so weird and bleh. I love Penelope so much, sheâs always been a favourite character and she honestly deserves the very best. And Colin definitely got a glow up prior to this season. His brown coat is so delicious. Iâm beginning to wonder if I should read the seriesâŠ? I do love a lil historical romance. Anyway I donât even Penelope and Colin to end up together, I mean Lord Debling is so lovely and Colin is off sleeping with hookers⊠like? Then again I know I am wrong in how I think and feel about all of this. I know I have expectations ghat are unfair, I mean maybe not for everyone but if Iâm nothing special and therefore not enough then can I criticise. This doesnât make sense. Anyway. Actually nevermind I just watched the fourth episode and I am very much Team Colin. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!!!!! But now I have to wait for part two in mid June :(
Iâm going to the office tomorrow. I donât want to. But oh well. Iâm going to make a concerted effort to get back in twice a week - Iâve been slack with it and it doesnât help me become better. Leaving the house more is important, so this shall be one of the ways. Iâm also going to get some new sneakers and a walking jacket so I can go for walks more regularly. Iâd like to go several times a week, but Iâll work up to that. I love my walks, I love them a lot but I just get filled with every negative emotion when I go for them around my house, to the point Iâll start having tears running down my cheeks or shaky trembly hands - itâs pathetic. I think environment is everything, and purpose. When I walk pups at my parents I donât feel these things, Iâll be a little anxy but nothing I canât manage. But here? Itâs so hard. Itâs so stupid I know. But I love walking, I feel better when I do it regularly, so I shall keep forcing myself to do it until I feel okay about it. I know this is what I have to do, but the way it makes me feel inside⊠it never feels worth it. To be 20 minutes walk from home and feel on the verge of a panic attack is NOT a good feeling and it only makes my panic worsen. So baby steps. Iâve been considering on and off moving to a different area, I think I would feel more comfortable in other areas, I donât know why I donât here but I donât. But moving elsewhere is no different to running from problems so I will sort it out here.
I broke his little bowl. I didnât mean to :( I feel kind of upset about it, itâs been two weeks in the making with time to shape, dry, prime and I was doing a final layer of primer pre paint and my stupid finger went through the base. So I guess it would never have been a good present anyway because it broke so easily. But I bought a really pretty coloured paint because I thought he might like it and I just feel upset. I showed him it, idk why, I just messaged him a picture of it now and I already wish I hadnât. I shouldnât have even made anything for him in the first place, heâs made it abundantly clear he doesnât care for homemade things - cards, presents, whatever. If he did like them he would comment on them, and he never does, so maybe itâs a good thing this broke. I just like sharing things with him, like when I draw and I like a tree Iâve drawn I want to show him, except I donât because Iâm utterly rubbish at drawing and it makes me look like a five year old. I at least appreciate his honesty, or transparency rather. It means I can understand what he does and doesnât like. I just think his likes donât mesh with my like of making homemade cards and presents. Itâs not like I only give him that though. Anyway it doesnât matter, plus itâs probably better for me to not share things like this given I donât have any skill or natural talent with it. Just because you enjoy something doesnât make you good at it.
I donât feel so great this afternoon, mood wise.
Iâve done the absolute bare minimum with my room, and the bar was set very, very low today. I tidied the floor up a bit, I made my bed, did a lazy tidy of my vanity desk thing.. thatâs about it. Iâll do more across the week.
I feel.. detached today. This afternoon, rather. I know I love my family, Andy, puppy⊠etc. I just canât feel it. I know itâs all in there, but I feel detached and I canât reach it. This isnât unusual, I just always try to describe the feeling and always fail. I think knowing I care but not being able to feel myself care sums it up as well as Iâll ever be able to.
I found a little notebook of my early days of therapy, well with this current one, maybe not that early actually but idk. It was just me writing down who I am. The first is âI am a humanâ because I had to start with the basics. The last line is âI try my best to be friendlyâ - I think I will continue with this. No one really comments much on me so I will just write it as things feel write. From memory it was also a way to force myself to speak more kindly to myself, ie I am a woman vs I am a monster. And things like Iâm generous, I love animals, I am quiet, I try to be patient, I love romance, I appreciate attention to detail, I like to care for others, I am a homebody, I love reading etc. And then scattered amongst it was some honesty, like I can be a control freak, I am quite particular about some things, I am indecisive, I am sensitive etc. And then next to I am a friend I have a question mark. But I want to continue writing these things, I think itâs helpful when I feel lost in myself to be able to read through a list of things Iâve written and be reminded. That sounds so silly to not know who you are sometimes, but sometimes I just feel so unbelievably lost and unmoored from everything, even myself. So Iâll write all the good things, and the bad. Iâll write things that I like, things that I donât. Iâll write things I want in my life, things I feel like I should want but donât, things I shouldnât want but do etc etc etc. Itâll be a little tiny notebook of everything me. I wonder if sometimes itâs possible for me to get any lamer? Unlikely.
Iâve been thinking about stopping journaling here more and more. I get more out of posting it here, it feels like a release, like Iâm letting all the thoughts go which is especially helpful with my negative ones, I donât know.
Itâs 5:23pm. I need to wash and blowdry my hair, as itâs still damp in the morning lately. I need to have something for dinner, I guess. Iâve been struggling with eating lately, I feel so ugly and it makes me not want to eat and then that sets off a bad string of things. Iâll have something little, vegemite toast maybe. I need to pack my bag for tomorrow. And thatâs it.
I feel better after a shower and chat with Andy, I still feel not good but he perked me up on the outside. He makes me laugh so much :) Itâs kind of weird to think Iâll be living long term in Australia, like Iâve always intended on living there - until my mental health and covid messed things up a little for me timeline wise. But to think Iâll maybe say Australian thingsâŠ? That Iâll say thongs? And I definitely will because I cave quickly, like I was only in the UK two years and I said crisps and trainers and I still do to this day, which Iâm actively trying to stop. I wonder what my accent would sound like after like ten years⊠I really doubt Iâd ever lose my accent. Itâs funny how I do probably sound a bit different when talking to him versus my mum. I just talk more softly with him, I naturally do anyway to the point I have people comment semi regularly on how soft spoken I am, but idk, I donât even mean to speak to him a certain way, I just do? And then he hears me talking to mum and I probably sound like Iâm wearing Jandals and stubbies while loading up the ute as I prepare for a tramp in the bush. Christ. I do love being from here though, in theory I would rather we live here than Australia, and never say never⊠but it makes more sense to be there. I donât really have anyone here other than my parents whereas he has family and friends and his payments and all of it. I donât really have any ties here. Anyway.
I get to spend time with him tonight :) Night night
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2024.05.19 09:47 Soup-Cool 31[M4F] UK/Online - Looking for a romantic connection
Hey all hope you're having a great day :)
So like most people i'm missing that special person in my life and it would be really nice to find someone that i can relate to, be 100% honest and open with and generally find my best friend.
Hopefully this would start out as friendship and if we click then we click, open to anyone from anywhere :)
Some stuff about me/hobbies
Video games, this is my biggest hobby by far, i play have an pretty big library of games i play so if you game, there is a high chance we would share stuff we could play, a few games i play often, League(i question it too don't worry) soulsbourne games (unga bunga builds) fallout's, i mainly play pc but have a switch and ps4 too.
TV/Film, if not doing the above, you can find me binge watching shows or films, such as B99, the office HIMYM, GoT (we can discuss how shit the last season was forever), Star Wars, Marvel stuff, SAW.
Animals, i have 2 dogs (yes i'll show you lots of pictures) and in general i love animals so much, so i'll probably spam you with pictures of random animals i think are cute or funny :)
Music, i listen to a wide variety of stuff, from rock and metal to dance/pop some electro swing, rap and other stuff, in general if i like a song i'll listen to it on repeat till i hate it but still listen to it anyway.
I try and be witty and funny most the time, I have a stupid sense of humour but will try and make you laugh most of the time, I can be shy to start with but i open up pretty quickly when i get comfortable with you :)
Don't be shy and hit me up if you think we would get on :)
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2024.05.19 09:36 Wooden-Protection-33 i feel so used by my ex bf after he broke up with me and got in contact with his ex
in january i (f18) got into a relationship with my now ex (m17) and the first month was really good untill we started having sex a week before valentines day and right after valentines day happened he just completely switched up also throughout our entire three month relationship id ask questions about him and his ex because they just broke up right before we started dating (i had just gotten out of a relationship as well) but he promised me he was over her because they were off and on all the time and he was tired of that and i believed him she also lived in a whole different state because he just moved here so i really trusted him and i would also ask questions about her because once literally displayed in his closet i noticed letters that his ex had given him and i found pictures of them that he hid poorly and id notice stuff of hers around his room like gifts and whatever every-time id ask about it he would get so mad and so defensive and be like âwell you and your ex this and thatâ and then two months into the relationship he just out of the blue one day said âif i ever get in a bad place mentally ill need to take a break from the relationshipâ obviously i was confused so we bickered about it and i tried ignoring it but after valentines day and leading up to that conversation he had been acting different and it only got way worse almost exactly a month later a week after prom he texts me âim in a bad place mentallyâ and âsometimes i feel like im not ready for a relationshipâ and he refused to admit that was him breaking up with me so the next day i had to do it and say the words for him literally a few days later he starts following his ex on social media and she never followed him back so he stopped following her for a second but now its been a month since weâve broken up and now theyâre following each other on both of their little secret accounts and he blocked me on everything and i know i shouldnât be paying attention but itâs difficult to not stalk because his ex lives in a different state so thats my only source which i know isnt really reliable but im just so hurt because he told me be was completely over his ex when we started dating and i really âlovedâ him (whatever love means for an 18 year old) i gave a lot of me to him he was my first real experience with stuff and he also told me i was the one to take his virginity (even though he had a whole box full of condoms prepared??? like on our third date he was like âi have condoms in my roomâ (i should have known)) but him and and his ex weâre together for like three years sooo and he also said so many other things that i know now were lies and now i just know i was the rebound untill either of them were available again and i just feel so used because after valentines day we were having sex at least once a day every single day and before we got intimate i told him i wanted to wait a little but he kept pressuring me so i finally gave in and i got really attached like iâve never had a connection like that with someone else before he saw me when i was most vulnerable and now i just feel so used and dirty i should have known what his true intentions were especially because the second we started having sex he changed and our relationship just went to shit but it hurts even more because what we did meant a lot to me but i know it meant nothing to him especially since i donât think i was his first time even though he was mine i just dont know what im supposed to do i know i have to move on and whatever i know ill meet more people and whatever and im so young and dumb and this is all a learning experience but im so hurt how do i live with this feeling for now it hurts so much i feel so used he meant so much to me and i was just a body until his ex came back to him.
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2024.05.19 09:31 Stoned_Wookiee Taking plush and and/or on vacation - this is my latest experience.
| Since a common subject seems to involve taking plush out in public and/or on vacation, I figured I'd talk about my most recent experience. I took Casper on an 8 day trip to Hawaii and he went everywhere with me. Several people asked about him and/or thought it was cute seeing him with me. I'd say the most memorable one was while at the Polynesian Cultural Center. BTW, if you ever visit Hawaii, I really suggest visiting the PCC. The package we got included a personal tour guide. He loved my bear and even had me take pictures of him holding Casper with his own phone. On an additional note, OF the 9 flights I've gone on over the past 12 months, I don't think I've seen any kids carrying plushies. I've seen several adults with them though. One had a Squishmallow, Another had a BAB longhorn. While in Hawaii, I saw someone with a teddy bear wile visiting one of the black sand beaches. Picture of me holding Cssper with Toa. I can't remember his full name. It was 6 letters starting with Toa and he's from Tahiti. https://preview.redd.it/mu16pcdm5c1d1.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14da9b70d7f38be82901c9a08aac04bb4debc241 submitted by Stoned_Wookiee to plushies [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:29 Secret-Tomatillo5044 I Accepted a Job to Film on the Dark Web pt1
I Accepted a Job to Film on the Dark Web
Man, I am pumped to tell you chronically online content addicts my story. Wait is that too mean of an intro? Will this get taken down for harassment since I painted too accurate a picture of the people on this site? Sorry, everyone, Iâm sure you all smell like an expensive bakery and have touched grass this morning. Anyway, I promise I have something interesting. It even involves the dark web you uncreative writers cream yourselves over! I mean, totally real people speaking about their strangely similar experiences. Okay, fine Iâll stop bullying you through the screen before you click off.
This all started when I was seven years old and my parents were killed in front of me in an anti-indigenous hate crime, but let's be real you donât care. Iâm just some annoying Cherokee kid with dead parents so Iâll skip to the good parts. I spent years in an orphanage, gradually becoming more interested in death and violence. As bad as it is, I went out of my way to expose myself to that content in the hopes of desensitizing myself. Which ended up working too well, since now Iâm obsessed with causing and viewing pain, though I donât find any joy in hurting myself.
I got adopted at twelve and after a few months of staying at my new familyâs home on the reservation, I went with them to a state sweatier than the average Reddit user, California. Long story short, both of my caretakers, whom I referred to as Uncle and Auntie because they could never be my parents, died. Leaving me in the care of their older son, who I call cousin. Iâm not stupid enough to give up any real names, so Iâll call him Brick, cause heâs as dumb as one. He was in his early 20s when he was tasked with taking care of me and is the worldâs worst excuse for a babysitter.
Iâm almost always alone at the apartment, with him only coming by to drop off supplies and stay for a few hours so the neighbors donât get too worried. Unless I get in trouble at school, then heâd suddenly give a shit. It's useful because he doesn't about the gory stuff I look at, but some display of interest would be nice. Oh well, ninety percent of the population sucks so heâs just part of the majority. Now, with that said, youâll be able to understand the perfect storm that led me here. During my time on the deep web, I found a particular website that caught my eye. They had new footage relatively consistently and they were the easiest for me to access since I didn't go too far into the dark web, especially with all the honey pots lying around.
I even bought a couple of files for myself to study and admire. One thing irritated me though, the cameraman. He was always sobbing, breathing, shaking, or some combination of those. It seriously killed the vibe of the killings. Something I commented on under many videos, often saying I would do a better job filming. A choice that in hindsight was me asking to end up in one of those recordings. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I was mostly the only one who commented but I was sure they wouldn't care. I was embarrassingly wrong.
I was staying up like usual, but it was past one AM on a school night, and back then that was a lot so I tried to sleep. Closing my eyes, tossing and turning, the works. I had just started drifting off when I heard the front door open. I remained calm but immediately found it weird since Brick never showed up this late. The thuds of the individual's feet grew louder as they got closer to my bedroom. I tried to convince myself it wasn't a stranger, especially since they got in with ease, but I knew that was wishful thinking.
They hummed as they opened my door. My dumbass had left it unlocked. I remained on my side, trying to look like I was asleep. They turned on the flashlight of their phone, shining it in my face. It was hard but I stayed still while they traced it over my features. I could tell they were smiling as they clicked their tongue.
âHeh, I knew it was a brat,â they whispered to themselves, pulling tangles out of my hair. Something I struggled not to groan from. They pulled up the hair over my ear and got so close spit got on my ear lobe.
âI know youâre awake kid,â they murmured, putting a blade to my neck. I let them grab my shoulder and move me onto my back, I knew how to fight but I wasn't about to take that big a risk with the position they had me in.
âYou think youâre so cool saying you can do better than our guy.â they snickered, kneeling, their flashlight still shining in my face.
âDo you seriously believe that?â they questioned, moving the light away.
âYeah, I do.â I stood my ground, they might have been intimidating but I wasn't gonna let that stop me from being honest.
âI wouldn't sound like Iâm gonna piss myself every time it gets gory. Iâm confident I could get better footage too, getting up close is something Iâve fantasized about.â
They clicked their tongue again and ran their finger over the bridge of my nose.
âWell, I know youâre a big fan of what we do, and youâre confidence makes me think you got something to back those claims up, so howâd you like a deal?â
I was surprised by how civil they were being aside from the touching and weapon against my throat.
âWhat kind of deal?â I asked, for all I knew this guy wanted me to lick their feet or some weird shit like that. They placed a finger underneath my eye, tracing a half moon with their nail.
âYou have till this Friday to film a video of you killing an animal and put it on a flash drive that Iâll pick up here. If it impresses me and the crew weâll hire ya with a handsome salary.â They began, moving their hand down to my cheek.
âBut if you don't show, or it doesn't meet our standards, then Iâm fucking up one of the parts of your face.â They warned, pinching my skin harshly.
âAnd if I say no to this deal?â
They put their hand over my mouth, scratching my lips.
âThatâs cute, if you say no Iâll just slit your throat.â they grinned.
âOr rip it open with my teeth if you got a preference,â they smirked, before running their tongue across their sharp teeth.
âOkay, since I have no choice Iâll go with it, but Iâm telling you now I can give you something way better than what you likely expect of me.â I prefaced, looking into their sunken eyes. They scratched my scalp, including the side of my head that was shaved.
âGood choice, Iâll be back to pick it up and if you're not here Iâll assume you donât have the video. I genuinely wish you luck, because youâll need it.â they removed the blade from my neck and walked away. I sat still for a few minutes in the dark, processing what had happened and wondering how they got into my apartment with such ease. I was confident I could blow their sniveling excuse of a cameraman out of the water, but I was worried about the people I was getting caught up with.
Sure, I had been on a lot of gore sites over the years but I was always just watching and occasionally commenting. Compared to most in the scene I wasn't much of a threat. I could defend myself and have contemplated killing for years but I hadn't murdered anyone or worse. Plus, I am part of way too many targeted groups to not be constantly at risk. Teenage, fem-leaning, two-spirit, indigenous kid with trauma? Yeah, I might as well be walking sign screaming âHate crime meâ.
So yeah, there was a lot to worry about. Regardless, I couldn't let that fear hold me back. I had a job to do and a group of sickos to appease. The next morning was rough, I got no sleep cause Iâd spent all night brainstorming. I barely mustered the energy to change and drank straight mouthwash instead of brushing my teeth. Slogging onto the bus with drool on my cheek, I went to the back like usual. No one sat there cause, the seats were extra worn down, and I scared off anyone who attempted to with my active, rabies-infected bitch face. That day was different though.
I blanked on his name and where I knew him from, but I recognized his wavy hair and prominent curved nose. He glanced at each seat on the bus, before somehow settling on my area. He tried to give me space but ultimately seated himself beside me after realizing it was the only spot that didn't look like it would give him cancer. I glared at him as I did with everyone, but it didn't phase him.
âYou know you could pick anywhere else right?â I murmured. He stared at the floor, then at me.
âIâm aware, but a few months ago I started a mission to sit on every part of this bus, and this is the last place.â he smiled, his lips softly curving at the sides.
âWhatâs the point of that?â
His mouth moved into a more neutral position, but his eyes kept smiling.
âI just thought it would be neat to see the same place from a bunch of different perspectives.â he took out his phone and snapped a photo from the point of view where he was sitting. Maybe my sleepiness made my bitch face less effective, cause he hadn't shown a hint of fear, which kind of annoyed me.
âThatâs cool I guess, but I wouldn't do that if I were you. Iâve done some back here alone that would make your skin crawl.â in hindsight my attempt at unnerving him just made me sound like a pervert, which is probably why he held back laughter. Trying to hide a chuckle by clearing his throat.
âHey, it's not my business what you do, no matter how Haram it is. Itâs your life so thatâs between you and whatever you believe in. Just donât shake hands with me.â he joked, playfully putting his hands up. Strangely, I remembered his name at that moment.
âOh shit, youâre Abdul! We have art together.â I sat up, haphazardly slamming my hand down on my leg.
âUh yeah, Iâve seen some of your paintings, theyâre pretty cool. I like the way you texture them, Iâm trying to work on that.â he complimented, seeming more weirded out by my sudden energy than my accidental insinuation. I felt a little stupid for yelling his name but decided not to dwell on it.
âThanks, youâre stuff is nice, and youâre good at shading.â
He stretched his arms while thanking me. We talked for a few more minutes, taking jabs at each other throughout. Turns out he was better at being an asshole than his artsy charismatic appearance made me think. The thing setting our insults apart being that you could tell he was a loving person underneath. It was the nicest conversation I had with anyone in a while. Though he could tell I was tired so he quieted down, letting me sleep, waking me when we got to school. We went our separate ways until the last two periods we shared. All that time, I spent my remaining energy plotting how I was going to handle the video. What Iâd kill, record with, and how to dispose of the evidence. It was a lot to consider, but through three classes I devised a plan.
Iâd find a stray around my apartment complex and take it out in my room. Record it on a portable camera since I broke the ones on my phone, no, I will not be answering how that happened. Then once I had my footage Iâd put the body in a trash bag, throw it in the complexâs garbage, and clean the blood off my floor. It didn't seem like Brick would come by so he wasn't a factor I thought Iâd have to consider. The plan was almost too easy, but I decided to believe in Occamâs razor. I got so lost in thought that by the time I reached Art, which was my second-to-last period, I didn't process that we were moving seats.
âShe called your name,â Abdul reminded me. Our teacher placed us next to each other at our four-person table. The two girls sitting with us were already friends, so I didn't bother to say anything, but I was interested in talking to him more.
âSo, what do you think of this assignment?â He shrugged, taking out his sketchbook.
âIâm not that good at drawing people, but the idea of combining two peopleâs faces into a portrait seems interesting. Any ideas on who youâll pick?â
âProbably the members of the music duo Brain Tumor, theyâre my favorite artists and they both look weird as hell.â
âWow way to talk about your favorites, if thatâs what you say about them I canât imagine what you have to say about me.â he joked, pulling up reference pictures.
âFirst, itâs not an insult, second I donât have anything to say about you. Brain and Tumor have features and styles that make them stand out. Sure theyâre ugly, but it just adds to their visual charm. Hot people are boring, thereâs nothing to pick at.â I explained, unzipping my bag.
âOh, so youâre saying you think Iâm hot.â
His comment wasnât serious but it kind of got to me.
âShit, thatâs not what I meant, I was trying to say youâre boring. All hot people are boring, but not all boring people are hot, okay?â I explained, flipping to a clean page.
âAlright, but if Iâm so bland then why talk to me?â
I hesitated, contemplating how much of a dick I was gonna be.
âBecause it means you probably need some spice in your life, which I can provide.â
He began sketching a head on his paper.
âI like spices, but I feel like youâre the kind of person to dump a cabinetâs worth onto me.â
I flicked my pencil over to his side of the desk, putting on a mocking grin.
âAww, you scared Iâm gonna get you into trouble?â
He picked up the pencil and started using it, putting his on my side.
âNo, âcause Iâm good at setting boundaries. Iâm more concerned that youâll get annoyed with how unafraid of you I am.â
I stared at him for a moment, I hadn't expected to hear that.
âJeez, man you didn't have to read me like that.â
He shrugged, observing the red paint from past projects that lay on my pencil.
âIt's not hard to figure out, just this morning you were trying to push me away on the bus. Lucky, or unlucky, for you I want you to have a friend and you seem like a fun person.â
âWait are you saying I have no friends?â I squinted at him.
âWell, do you?â
I didn't answer.
âIf your response is silence I suggest you take up my offer.â
I was stunned, to be honest. No one had offered to be my friend since 6th grade, and that didn't last long. Of course, I accepted it, but for the rest of the period, there was an awkwardness in my mind. As pathetic as it sounds I wasn't used to others genuinely enjoying my company like he did. Which was partly by design cause I get joy out of scaring people away, but still. I forgot how it felt to have conversations about normal things like art. He had such a nice smile too, usually when I see a grin I want to slap it off, but I liked his. His voice was also nice, itâs hard to describe what in particular but it was easy on the ears.
Okay, Iâm starting to get off-topic. Iâll skip to the important part. Toward the end of class, he started talking about how he was interested in filmmaking and got a portable video camera as a gift at last yearâs Eid. He didn't have it on him, but he showed me a picture.
âHeh, thatâs funny, I bought the same one a month ago.â I pointed out.
âYeah, it's a popular model, Iâm still getting the hang of it though cause Iâm so used to using my phone.â
âWell, maybe I could bring you over to my place or vice versa after school and I can help you out.â I suggested.
He smiled, putting his phone back in his pocket.
âI thought you said youâve only had it for a month? You know I can always look up tutorials from trained professionals.â he reminded me with a notable smugness that I'd used with him before.
âWell those guys are stuffy and Iâm a fast learner.â
He redirected his attention back to his page, picking his pencil up.
âAlright, I suggest we go somewhere public instead. Youâre not exactly the kind of person I want to bring home to my parents right away. Plus they always need to meet my friends and their guardians before I hang out at their home.â
I gave an exaggerated sigh, stretching my back.
âAw man, looks like we canât get high in my murder pit during our first hangout.â
He didn't respond for a solid few seconds.
âWait, you do know I'm joking right?â
He shrugged, the smile in his eyes appearing again.
âI mean, one of those things is a little less believable than the other.â he snickered, and I laughed with him.
We set up a time and a date, which is where I screwed myself. He ended up being busy with projects from his other classes and family which just left us with Friday, the same day I had to submit the video. Now, did I tell him I wouldn't be able to make it? No, of course not, because I decided to be stupid and even more overconfident. I said that Iâd one hundred percent be able to hang out with him after school like I didn't have a mutilator who was going to drop by my place at an unknown time.
The rest of the day went over fine but that bad timing led me to feel like a dick later. When I got home I was able to write out my plan, even sketching a few specifics of what Iâd do. It was more exciting than when Iâd been brainstorming, but this is when the gravity of the situation began to set in. When I said Iâd fantasized about killings I meant it. I mean my teddy with twenty-five stab wounds should say enough. Regardless this would be the first time real blood was on my hands.
It made me feel powerful, but a little afraid. Iâve heard stories of people thinking that it would be an awesome experience and then feeling like shit. I doubted Iâd be one of those people but still. Plus, I didn't exactly trust the guy who gave me this job. There was a good chance that this whole situation was rigged and theyâd kill me no matter how good the video was. Or worse turn me into the feds and expose my collection. Honestly, if that happened Iâd probably eat a shot to avoid going to jail. Wait, can I say that on this platform? Okay to the mods, that was a joke, I want to live a long life. Ugh, Iâm doing a terrible job of staying on track. The point is there was a lot up in the air despite it being a matter of life or death.
I knew Iâd go through with it but it was still a lot less straightforward than it initially seemed. I wracked my brain to remember where most of the cats stayed and tried to come up with a good way to lure one without raising suspicion. This also proved harder than first thought because I didn't think to account for the cat man, an old guy who lived alone and fed all the cats in our dingy complex while also housing a few. Knowing how obsessive he was heâd probably notice if one of them disappeared. Then again not all the cats return consistently or at all. It makes more sense that heâd think one of them was run over rather than slaughtered. It was getting late again so I rested my head for a moment, a bad move cause I ended up falling asleep at my desk. Not even changing out of the clothes Iâd worn before, I woke up late and barely caught the bus the next morning.
I went to my usual spot but Abdul had already taken it. He patted the area next to it, which heâd covered in a towel, a smart move knowing how nasty it was. People gave me a few dirty looks as normal, which I smiled at. I stretched, my mind slightly less out of it than the previous morning.
âUh, you do realize that-â
âYeah, I know Iâm wearing the same clothes.â
Abdul looked me up and down, his eyes remaining soft, but with a mix of concern and judgment. He set his backpack down and took off his sweater handing it to me.
âDude what are you-â
âLook I don't know what led to you not being able to change but I think you should at least have a fresh top.â
I was surprised he was offering me something to wear but I took it.
âUh, thanks, Iâll change into it later.â
He nodded as I put it in my backpack.
âYou know you didn't have to do that.â I reminded him.
âWell thereâs a lot of stuff I donât have to do, but I do it because I want to, and I wanted to help you out.â
He smiled, his face still warmer than an Arizona summer. I got a strange feeling in my chest at that moment, I still canât tell if it was good or bad.
âWell, thanks, I'll give it back to you tomorrow.â
We talked a little more and he mentioned something that caught my attention.
âHave you heard about all the animals that have been turning up dead?â
My eyes widened with surprise.
âNo, I haven't, when did you hear about that?â
He pulled on his long-sleeve shirt.
âMy sister said her friend who works at a shelter noticed a bunch of animals were getting adopted by people around the same time, and since then gore videos with them have been showing up. She found out through her co-worker who was emailed it by some random creep.â
I covered my mouth and looked away to hide the smile growing on my face. He had just given me the perfect cover-up without knowing. Now if I killed an animal people had an entire violent ring to connect it to instead of me! I stayed quiet for a minute because I could tell heâd likely see through any phony sad sounds I made.
âOh wow, thatâs awful, do you think theyâll ever find out the people behind it?â
He sighed, running his hand through his wavy hair.
âI hope so, for now, all we can do is pray that no more animals get hurt.â
I couldn't contain my grin as he said that so sincerely like animals and people didn't die constantly and that taking down one group would somehow stop the issue.
âIs there some joke I donât get?â he furrowed his brow.
âUh, no, sorry I smile when nervous.â
His gaze softened again, and he didn't press further.
His bringing up the animal killings ended up being the exact push I needed to get my hands dirty. Iâd spent the entire day before planning so it was time to put that plan into action. I stole some cat treats that the cat man had laid out and spread them around my apartment which was on the bottom floor. Waiting for one of them to take the bate outside my window was pretty boring but one of them came after a few minutes. A scraggly brown and black cat with a tuft of fur missing on one side of his head. It's messed up but I felt like a little less of an asshole for taking him in since he looked like he was already struggling. I scooped him up and he didn't attempt to fight back.
âHey there buddyâ I waved, feeding him some more food. His eyes had a lot of crust on them, it was kinda gross but I donât have the right to say with how often I wash my jeans. After a minute or two he let me pet him. I knew making any kind of attachment was bad but I thought it was the right thing to do so heâd fall into a sense of security. I was just about to take him into my room when the door opened.
âHey, Iâm back with groceries!â my shithead cousin announced with two plastic bags in his hands. He looked down to see me with the cat, his eyebrows raising.
âAw come on, you know we canât afford a pet.â
He groaned placing the bags on a table and unloading them.
âI know, but he doesn't look like heâs got a lot of life in him I at least want to help him feel better before he kicks the bucket!â
Brick rolled his eyes, putting the cereal box on top of the fridge
âJeez, did you even think about what diseases he might have? His eyes look puffy what if he has something that can get you sick?â
He had valid concerns which was surprising since heâs usually stupid, but I was still annoyed with him.
âIâm sure heâs fine, Iâll even try to wash him, just please let me hold onto him for a little.â
He folded his arms looking down at us.
âHave you even named him?â
I froze for a second, before using the first thing that came to mind, which ended up being pretty awful knowing my plans.
âCash cow.â I blurted, awkwardly patting his head.
âHonestly thatâs better than what I was expecting. I was sure youâd pick âHellspawn Mcgeeâ or something else corny.â
He meant to make fun of me but honestly, I would have named him that if I had more time.
âUgh, anyway I got those dumb chips you like.â
He then pulled out a bag of the wrong chips.
âDude those are the wrong ones, this is the third time youâve mixed up the flavors.â
He threw them at me, scaring the cat slightly.
âWell, I pay for it so you shouldn't be so picky. Anyway, while I was in line I picked up something you might be into.â
He then tossed me a trashy teen magazine. One of my least favorite sorry excuses for an influencer on the cover.
âThis is a joke, right?â
I couldn't believe my own adopted brother gave such little shit in my interests.
âI don't know, you decided to start being a girl for real this time so I thought the makeup tips on page ten would help you out.â
I scrunched my face at his comment.
âDude Iâve been this way for years, just because I started wearing more makeup and dresses doesn't mean Iâm more of a girl than when I didn't. I know you wonât get the two-spirit thing but come on.â
He shrugged, seeing me done with me even though heâd just shown up.
âYeah well hey Iâm trying. Anyway, just so you know a friend of mine is coming here Friday.â
My heart stopped.
âWait why here? You live elsewhere why canât you assholes go there or their place!â
He slammed his fist on the table.
âWill you shut the fuck up!â
He screamed with a phrase Iâd grown numb to.
âI don't know, to be honest, something about wanting to move into this complex and this being a way to scout it out. Iâm just letting you know now so you donât act like a complete freak.â
âJokes on you Iâll piss in whatever shitty beer you bring just cause you said that!â
I yelled back raising my voice higher than his. He face-palmed before putting the plastic bags in the drawer under the sink.
âWhatever, you and your ketamine-addict-looking cat have fun,â he told me while seating himself on the couch. I picked up the cat and walked into the bathroom to clean it. I closed the door and placed him in the dry tub. Using a small disposable mouthwash cup I got a little bit of water. I hadn't had a pet before so I wasn't sure how to approach the task. I dipped my fingers in the water and carefully pet it while pouring s small bit down his back. Any other cat would fight back but he just made pissed-off noises without doing anything.
I scrapped my old shampoo bottle and kneaded it into his thin fur. His skin was bumpy and dry beneath the hair so scrubbing it was uncomfortable. I made sure to avoid getting soap in its eyes but I did pull away some of the crust on its lids. His pupils were so clouded I was surprised that he could see at all, making me feel even more sure that he would be on its way out with or without me.
After drying him I set him on a beat-up shirt I wore when modifying clothes. He sunk his claws into it a few times, playing with a loose string. I ignored him for the rest of the night, hopping into the shower and changing for bed. His meows woke me up a few times but I tuned it out after a while, reminding myself that he wouldnât be my cat for long.
The next day was Thursday and there wasn't a second that passed by where the weight of the murder Iâd have to commit didn't weigh on me. I seriously shot myself in the foot by taking care of that scruffy, pubic hair pile. I was supposed to be hyped about killing it, after all, Iâd dreamed and seen way worse than what I was going to do. Yet once I got home and started setting up I felt grosser with each step. I decided to record it in my bathroom instead of my bedroom so it would be harder to connect to me. I set down a few fabric scraps and a worn-out beach towel, placing it all inside a tub for easier cleanup later.
âOkay, I guess it's time,â I mumbled to myself. I brought the cat in and placed it down, setting up my camera once it was comfortable. I also wore my most generic clothes in addition to a mask, putting my hair in a bun for sanitation. When I saw the flicker of red showing that the camera was on I felt I was dreaming. I smiled, excited that Iâd get to live out my violent desires. Yet, when I looked down at its pathetic frame and confused expression those urges left me.
I rationalized what I was doing, reminding myself how many animals die all the time and that Iâd been forced into this, but it didn't help much in the end. I wonât get into it but under the pressure of impressing the group Cash Cow didn't go out as fast as I would have liked for a first task. Getting rid of the evidence was especially rough, the textures were pretty nasty, to put it mildly. It was surreal watching the blood go down the tub drain and gradually drip off my hands as I rinsed them. I couldn't conjure a single thought the entire time I cleaned it up.
Whether I was wringing out the clothes or putting the remains in plastic bags, it didn't matter. All I could focus on was the task at hand, with hints of disgust along the way. I ended up finishing at three AM. My hands were wrinkled and shook once I settled. I wonât deny that during the murder I didn't hate it. Slashing into something was fun and it made me feel strong. Still, it wasn't nearly as fulfilling as I expected it to be. Part of it was guilt, but it was mostly disappointment. Iâd built it up for years and it wasn't earth shatteringly good or bad.
Overall, I expected to feel more, but it just left me hollow with an uncomfortable itch. There was no way Iâd ever be able to see the tub the same way, hell I donât think Iâll ever use it again. Luckily I almost always shower anyway so it's not too big of a deal. I watched a few horror game videos, trashed everything, changed and went to bed.
My scalp hurt like a bitch the morning since I kept my hair in that stupid bun. Despite getting less sleep than the past two days I held myself together a bit better in the morning. I brushed my teeth, changed, and had some fried bread before getting on the bus. Regardless I looked like complete shit and struggled to slump into my seat.
âRough night?â Abdul asked
âUh, yeah.â I quietly responded looking to the floor.
He frowned, looking at me with concern.
âYou can talk about it if you're comfortable,â he assured me. I contemplated giving him a thinly veiled metaphor or vague explanation so he'd comfort me but stopped myself before my mouth could run a muck. He wouldn't be able to do much of anything and I donât like opening up.
âUhm, thanks but it's something I have to deal with alone.â
He nodded, respecting my boundaries.
âYou know, I understand if you canât hang out today it seems like you have a lot going on.â
I avoided eye contact with him as he spoke. For once I was feeling hints of guilt toward a person. I wanted to spend time with him, but I knew that I wasn't in the state to do that.
âYeah, I think itâll have to wait, Iâm-â I cut myself off before apologizing. A fact about me that should surprise no one is that I hate apologizing. Even when I do feel kinda bad the act fills me with embarrassment.
âYou what?â he asked, his eyes telling me that he knew what I was going to say.
âIâm emotionally not great.â I spat out in an admittedly poor attempt to get out of saying sorry. As always he remained calm but I could tell he saw through me.
âOkay, like I said I understand, whatever it is I hope you feel better.â
I told him thank you and we didn't speak for the rest of the day. At home I changed into more comfortable clothes and brushed my teeth. Unfortunately, I wasn't bouncing back from killing nearly as much as I expected.
âIt wasn't even that bad! That thing was on its last legs anyway.â I grumbled to myself, smacking my forehead. I was feeling worse than when I did it which is weird. I ended up spontaneously decorating a ratty tie from the bottom of an accessory drawer to distract myself. It helped me get my mind off things, for a little. I had zero plan, just wanting to make something needlessly complex. Hours that felt like minutes passed and soon it was covered in patches, frills, and beads. I just tried it on when I heard the front door open.
âMan, that shit was wild!â I heard Brick laugh groggily. I didn't have to see or smell him to know heâd gotten lit. I rolled my eyes, closing my bedroom door.
âHey, whoâs there?â his friend asked, seemingly referring to me.
âOh, thatâs my little sis, donât mind her sheâs just on her emo shit!â he joked, which pissed me off for the petty reason that I didn't even listen or dress emo.
âHey, thatâs alright with me, I went through one of those phases,â they responded, their words less slurred than my cousinâs.
I fucked up and forgot to lock it when I closed it so they were able to swing it open, almost smacking my desk.
âHey emo girl!â they waved as Brick haphazardly pulled them back.
âOkay, man, seriously I think she wants to be left alone.â
The way his friend looked at me made me uncomfortable. Like theyâd snap my neck if I pissed them off. They clicked their tongue while stepping through the door frame.
âAlright, but I gotta say calling her an emo is inaccurate, they look like they watch gore and most emos just say they do.â they flashed a sharp toothy grin. At that moment I began to connect the dots.
âEasy, sheâll get pissy with you dude, now come on.â Brick warned tugging their opened button pushed him away. They looked me dead in the eyes.
âI donât think she minds, in truth, I feel like weâll have a lot to discuss later.â they smiled again, finally walking back into the living room. A chill ran up my spine when I saw them. The sharp teeth, New York accent, unsettling gaze, that motherfucker was the person who recruited me! They were able to get into my place so easily cause my dumbass cousin probably gave them a spare key or the opportunity to make one, and now they were a room away from me!
I dug my hands into my pillow as I contemplated what to do, no matter what happened next, I knew it was gonna be a rough visit.
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2024.05.19 09:23 kiwasabi LGBTQ+ The Plus Stands For Pedophile: The Illuminati is coming for your kids with Drag Queen/ Groomer Clown Story Hour, books in elementary school libraries which depict and normalize sex between children and adults. Transgenderism is pushed because Baphomet possesses both breasts and a male phallus
| INTRODUCTION: To anyone with eyes that are able to see, it's very obvious that LGBTQ+ is a social engineering and mind control propaganda weapon being waged against all of humanity by the Illuminati. There are many reasons for this endless onslaught of pushing and overnormalizing everything that is gay, trans, and pedophilic. The Illuminati itself is comprised of around 13 bloodlines which are all hereditary incestuous and pedophilic families. So when you hear their puppets telling the joke "The Aristocrats" (LINK) which consists of so called comedians telling the most disgusting tale of an Aristocratic bloodline family having sex with each other and ending with "And they're called The Aristocrats", you'll know they're utilizing Revelation of the Method and putting it right out in the open as a "joke". The Illuminati utilizes Satanic Ritual Abuse and pedophilic incest in order to deliberately cause trauma to their progeny so that they can split their personalities and then program and control the new personality. This is called Project Monarch Trauma Based Mind Control. It was under Josef Mengele and the Nazis where this hereditary incest form of mind control was scientifically studied using the child prisoners of Auschwitz, most commonly with twin girls. After World War 2 and the fall of the Nazis, via Operation Paperclip, 1400 Nazi scientists and engineers were saved from the Nuremberg Trials via the Vatican Rat Line and were smuggled out of Germany into the United States, where they would go on to form the backbone of the Central Intelligence Agency and continue their Monarch Mind Control research. What's left out from the history books is that Josef Mengele "The Angel of Death" was also smuggled out of Nazi Germany and continued his horrific mind control research on twin girls for decades in the United States. What does this all have to do with LGBTQ+? Well, basically that joke "The Aristocrats" is the endgoal and endgame for all of Earth humanity. It's my theory that The Illuminati wants to normalize pedophilia to the point where a parent is required to encourage their children to engage in sexual relationships with grown adults. And if the parent pushes back on this abomination, The Illuminati wants to be able to take possession of the children via CPS Child Protective Services, "for their own safety" of course. BAPHOMET IS TRANSGENDER: One of the reasons in which the Illuminati is so obsessed with the unnatural concept of transgenderism is because their demon god Baphomet is generally depicted as possessing both female breasts and a male phallus. On public statues of Baphomet such as at Satanic Temples, he (or is that he/she?) is depicted without breasts due to public decency laws. Once you understand that The Illuminati worships a transgender demon god, then you'll understand why they want your children to be gay and trans. Oh yeah, and did you notice the American Medical Association symbol coming out of Baphomet's crotch? How did that get there? Now does it make sense why it has wings as well? https://preview.redd.it/jo74m4ybkp0d1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9d23860fada0f893545ec59cd2f9861811bbff9 https://preview.redd.it/oatdlf64ar0d1.png?width=332&format=png&auto=webp&s=8be61945a59d912098cb3452b64d315c8102cec1 Now does it make sense why Target was selling a LGBTQ Transgender children's sweater with the Baphomet symbol on it? (LINK) SATAN'S RAINBOW: https://preview.redd.it/g4btql1t9r0d1.jpg?width=552&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6226bea836ac5ae09694acecf1217c57acb9b927 SEX IN LGBTQ SCHOOL LIBRARY BOOKS: When I was growing up, I do recall reading some books such as Catcher in the Rye which did contain some sexual themes and profanity. However, in recent years the sexualization of children has been thoroughly ramped up via LGBTQ propaganda in the form of sexually explicit school library books. Children are still trying to figure out who they really are as a person, and by indoctrinating them with gender confusion propaganda at such a young age we are ensuring they will be steered in the wrong direction. Which is of course exactly what The Powers That Be really want. By the way, when I was searching for examples of LGBTQ books with sexual content, I had to scroll through 3 pages of LGBTQ apologist articles decrying about all these "banned LGBTQ books". What's interesting is that all of these CIA Mockingbird Media propaganda articles always say the books are being banned for their LGBTQ content, not for their explicit sexual content (which doesn't necessarily have to be gay or trans in any way). For instance, ABC News "Report: LGBTQ content drove book banning efforts in 2023" (LINK) and NBC News "More than half of 2023's most challenged books have LGBTQ themes" (LINK). Note how they're obfuscating the sexually inappropriate content by calling it "LGBTQ themes" instead. Perhaps this is The Illuminati actually revealing the truth out in the open, that "LGBTQ content" actually means sexually inappropriate content which is directed at children? Let's call LGBTQ elementary school library books what they really are: the sexualization and grooming of children by predators and pedophiles. Sexualizing Schoolchildren: Classroom and Library Books (LINK) "Parent and Child Loudoun reviewed and listed hundreds of age-inappropriate, sexually confusing, explicit, objectionable, and profane books that were placed in schools in classrooms and libraries in their district. Here are just a few examples: - When Kayla was Kyle, by Amy Fabrikant â An elementary school picture book about a boy who âtransitionsâ into a girl.
- Teach Me, by R.A. Nelson â The âyoung adultâ (YA) novel tells the story of a 16-year-old girl and her seduction and statutory rape by her male high school teacher.
- All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages by S. Mitchell â The book in middle and high school libraries contains sexually explicit and homosexual content.
- Dear Rachel Maddow,by A. Kisner â Another YA novel where the lesbian-identified protagonist, from a troubled home, writes emails to the stabilizing force in her life â MSNBCâs Rachel Maddow*. Contains some sexual content and more than 100 uses of profanity."*
Dearborn parents assail LGBTQ books with sexual themes at school hearing (LINK) "The books in question are largely teen and young adult stories involving romance or sexual abuse, often with LGBTQ themes. Several were critically acclaimed. They include: - âEleanor & Parkâ by Rainbow Rowell, about a romance involving two 10th-graders. The girl lives with domestic violence at home and both teens struggle with traditional gender roles. The novel contains profanity.
- âRed, White & Royal Blueâ by Casey McQuiston; a novel about a romance between the U.S. Presidentâs bisexual son and a gay British royal*, both in their early 20s.* The book has some sex scenes and coarse language.
- âThis Book is Gayâ by Juno Dawson, an irreverent, nonfiction handbook on growing up LGBTQ, addressing issues like coming out, sex apps and sexually transmitted disease."
SATAN SUPPORTS PRONOUNS: Target Sells Trans Clothing to Children Designed by Satanic Transgender (LINK) A clothing line as part of Target's LGBTQ children's products was designed by a Satanist female to male transgender named Erik Kallen, under the brand name Abprallen. There were only three products being marketed by the Abprallen brand, and none of them depicted the blatant Satanic imagery that was shared around the internet as part of a hoax with AI generated images (LINK). However, as I pointed out above, one of the sweatshirts in the collection does contain the Baphomet symbol. And it doesn't take much exploring of Abprallen's Instagram profile to find some unsettling content (LINK). Erik Kallen made a statement saying, "My work was likely pulled following false accusations of being a Satanist and marketing my work to children, both claims have been debunked numerous times but members of the religious right refuse to back down". https://preview.redd.it/7pdsq8r54q0d1.jpg?width=912&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d46c8d192bc50043e378c7be2d18fd162d67746c Claims that you were a Satanist were thoroughly debunked, you say? Which "Guardian Angel" (Demon) is a transgender again? Oh yeah, Baphomet. And what were you doing at the Satanic Flea Market in London? Also, I thought you said "Satan Respects Pronouns"? https://preview.redd.it/ferg6lr75q0d1.jpg?width=912&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5beef8365b280f2a9c251a2c396f1fcb0ad9df54 https://preview.redd.it/zpoyqsc96q0d1.jpg?width=728&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=67c22356d03ab50bea569d083afec37d10af5805 "I'm gay, trans, and a secret third thing..." Does anyone care to guess what is meant by that? "I support gay wrongs", "Gay supervillain", "Make More Gay Horror Movies". https://preview.redd.it/w9lkj8et6q0d1.jpg?width=912&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=749874db6545c8fc670af031a46259f0912e7703 Take "Poppers" to open your "Third Eye" (Hint: He doesn't mean your pineal gland....he means your butthole"). Illuminati confirmed. https://preview.redd.it/u3q7z0028q0d1.jpg?width=892&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80dfd6b11268122d8c367867aa67782c8effeeea https://preview.redd.it/s047iqvm8q0d1.jpg?width=892&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbb51efe6a51b224d87aa937e5aac520dda684ee https://preview.redd.it/bx4ewlx49q0d1.jpg?width=716&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fcc28213453c8c6a88db6caec3663c1ef4fe003 https://preview.redd.it/r72gurpi9q0d1.jpg?width=892&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=611d83691ff3850796f873f2480f98f65ed50ed5 https://preview.redd.it/tmtv1dp0aq0d1.jpg?width=892&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26615b9946de7722d59dca3be75a0145b9771956 As far as I'm concerned, all the claims about Erik Callen being a Satanist and marketing products to children have been thoroughly UNDEBUNKED just based on his products and post history on Instagram. This to me is clearly a case of classic bait and switch. Market some seemingly innocent "trans inclusive" clothing to children, get them hooked on the Abprallen brand while they're young, then "transition" them to the more seedy and shady product offerings. Based on the products and images shown above, can this really be considered a gender identity? Or is this more appropriately categorized as a mental illness and a cult? The embracing of confusion. The final culmination of the "Nothing is real" mind control psy op social engineering. Now literally GENDER ISN'T REAL. And "Men can get pregnant". "MEN CAN GET PREGNANT" As I previously posted, Arnold Schwarzenegger was replaced by an imposter in a mask wearing heavy facial prosthetics in 1990 (LINK). As part of the Illuminati's ongoing Ritual Mocking of the Victim / Humiliation Ritual against the name and image of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in 1994 the fake Arnold Schwarzenegger was placed into a travesty of a film called Junior (1994). As you can see from the film's poster, "Nothing is inconceivable". What a funny pun, right? They mean "conceive" as in conceiving and giving birth to a baby.... Except by a man. Ten years before that in 1984, Bob Saget was already joking about how, "men can breast feed", but at least he admitted he made it up (LINK). Once you understand that a core tenet of Satanism is to reverse the natural order, you'll understand why they want to normalize the completely unnatural idea that, "Men can get pregnant". This is a direct attack on women, men, children, and humanity as a whole. This is an attack on motherhood and gender roles. This is an attack on the family. This is a direct attack on your sanity. And as I've shown here, this has been planned for at least 40 years. The movie Junior from 1994 is a prime example of the Illuminati Revelation of the Method, where they put out their plans right in the open and as long as we laugh and don't consciously object to them, then it means we have subconsciously accepted them. Junior is also a prime example of why the Illuminati would be motivated to replace an actor with an imposter. Here we have a movie that the real Arnold Schwarzenegger absolutely never would have signed on to star in. But since the real Arnold was killed and replaced, he was unable to object to his name and likeness being used in this atrocity of a film. Thus, Arnold Schwarzenegger was used against his will to push an evil agenda of the Illuminati while simultaneously being ritually humiliated by giving birth to a child and essentially being turned into a woman on screen. Notice the screenshots where he has let his hair grow out and he's wearing a pink outfit (dress?) with glasses and pearl necklaces. Does anyone really believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger would have ever stooped this low at the peak of his career? https://preview.redd.it/dchs07c2eq0d1.jpg?width=1425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab849bbd8ad73659cbf353d4788914e1527edfe5 https://preview.redd.it/ex6c2k1geq0d1.jpg?width=1050&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84731bec091800df7b9ab70ddc7d313d808bc70e https://preview.redd.it/opfk3j3ziq0d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b3266508272a8c7ce0e099902b6cc8715346017 MINOR ATTRACTED PERSON / PEDOPHILE FLAG: On June 13th 2018, a user on Tumblr created a flag for the NOMAP (Non Offending Minor Attracted Person) community. (LINK) Around June 12th 2018, an artist named Daniel Quasar updated the LGBTQ to add the colors light blue, light pink, and white to represent the Transgender Pride Flag colors. (LINK) These added stripes to the LGBTQ flag do not represent transgenderism. They represent pedophilia. Light blue represents attraction to young boys. Light pink represents attraction to young girls. The white stripe represents attraction to virginity. Coincidence theorists will have a field day on this one. https://preview.redd.it/3vih368tmq0d1.jpg?width=1019&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e09e7fc60a833a24de638d527b061a4ce7e64570 https://preview.redd.it/zvbv2pkvmq0d1.png?width=399&format=png&auto=webp&s=43f924c9dbe068ad232f45b1b0a861ce01872a36 "WE'RE COMING FOR YOUR CHILDREN": I've really liked this idea of no longer referring to them as "Drag Queens", but instead as "Groomer Clowns", since that's what they really are. Also, these people do not reproduce, which is why they are forced to recruit instead. Drag Queens at a march in New York were recorded as chanting "We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children". In Florida, a Gay Pride parade was cancelled after it was made illegal to perform adult lewd performances in front of children. If they aren't coming for the children, then why the need to cancel the Gay Pride parade when the Groomer Clowns couldn't perform in front of children? Finally, the third link is about a homosexual couple who raped, filmed, and sex trafficked their two young adopted sons to other pedophiles. https://preview.redd.it/fcn48gosqq0d1.jpg?width=597&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29e1a9f8d97d52a858e7e3ed8f95db3368f4d72d https://preview.redd.it/vr4rav30rq0d1.jpg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e80d4063e16b7ae24c537b238630364b48ab0741 Video of Drag Marchers Chanting 'We're Coming For Your Children' Goes Viral (LINK) ***"*** A video showing people chanting "we're coming for your children" has gone viral, sparking outrage on social media. New York City kicked off the last weekend of Pride Month with its annual Drag March on Friday". (LINK) Hundreds of drag performers marched through Manhattan's East Village in elaborate costumes on their way to the iconic Stonewall Inn. Video showing some of the march's participants chanting, "we're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children" Gay pride parade canceled in southeast Florida after anti-drag show law passes (LINK) "Officials in a southeast Florida city have canceled a gay pride parade and restricted other pride events to people 21 years and older in anticipation of Gov. Ron D. signing a bill meant to keep children out of drag shows. The Florida House sent Ron D. a bill Wednesday that bans children from adult performances, a proposal aimed at the governorâs opposition to drag shows. The legislation, which awaits the governor's signature, would allow the state to revoke the food and beverage licenses of businesses that admit children to adult performances. The Ron D. administration has moved to pull the liquor license of a Miami hotel that hosted a Christmas drag show, alleging children were present during "lewd" displays." Gay couple charged with molesting their adopted sons also pimped them out to pedophile ring, report claims (LINK) "A gay couple from Georgia charged with molesting their two adopted sons and using them to record child porn also allegedly pimped them out to members of a local pedophile ring, according to a disturbing new report. A months-long investigation by Townhall revealed that William Dale Zulock, 33, and Zachary Jacoby Zulock, 35, allegedly used social media to prostitute their two elementary-aged sons. William Zulock, a government worker, and Zachary Zulock, a banker, were indicted in August 2022 on charges of incest, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, felony sexual exploitation of children and felony prostitution of a minor. But the shocking investigation reveals in more detail the sickening abuse the boys suffered. For the first time, it was revealed that the men allegedly pimped out their older sons, now 11 and 9 years old, to two other men in a pedophile ring. One of the men, Hunter Clay Lawless, 27, told investigators that Zachary â whose Instagram bio describes him as âPapa to our two wonderful boysâ and an âactivistâ â invited him âmultiple timesâ to take part in sexually abusing the boys, Townhall reported." HOMOSEXUALITY AND PEDOPHILIA: Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse (LINK) ***"*** Homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses: Individuals from the 1 to 3 percent of the population that is sexually attracted to the same sex are committing up to one-third of the sex crimes against children. Homosexual Pedophiles are Vastly Overrepresented in Child Sex Abuse Cases Homosexual pedophiles sexually molest children at a far greater rate compared to the percentage of homosexuals in the general population. A study in the Journal of Sex Research found, as we have noted above, that âapproximately one-third of [child sex offenders] had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls.â The authors then make a prescient observation: âInterestingly, this ratio differs substantially from the ratio of gynephiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature females) to androphiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature males), which is at least 20 to 1.â[17] In other words, although heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals by a ratio of at least 20 to 1, homosexual pedophiles commit about one-third of the total number of child sex offenses. Similarly, the Archives of Sexual Behavior also noted that homosexual pedophiles are significantly overrepresented in child sex offence cases: The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2 to 4 percent of men attracted to adults prefer men (ACSF Investigators, 1992; Billy et al.,1993; Fay et al.,1989; Johnson et al.,1992); in contrast, around 25 to 40 percent of men attracted to children prefer boys (Blanchard et al.,1999; Gebhard et al.,1965; Mohr et al.,1964). Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6 to 20 times higher among pedophiles.â PEDOPHILIA AND PARASITES: Parasite Pill 2.0 https://archive.org/details/parasite-pill-2.0 For those who really want to do some serious research, there's an 181 page document titled Parasite Pill (version) 2.0 which goes in depth about a theory that pedophilia may be linked to a mind controlled parasite such as toxoplasmosis. And that the parasite basically has a better chance of survival when infected into a younger victim with a still developing immune system. Plus the parasite breeds within the intestines. So it's theorized that this is why sodomy with children may be preferred by the parasite for reproduction. Also it's speculated that essentially the parasitic elites are LITERALLY PARASITES, as they are being mind controlled by brain parasites and this is why they all engage in sodomy with one another. The initiation ritual of being sodomized by all the upper ranking Illuminati members may also serve the purpose of ensuring that the cult's respective parasites are all passed on effectively to new recruits. Oh yeah, and the real reason they don't want anyone taking Ivermectin is because it destroys the parasites which are our secret masters. https://preview.redd.it/3g7a1jrbwq0d1.png?width=653&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce403537c123741bbd259b0a4be215695e7966cb CISGENDER? SIS, YOU'RE SIC(K) AND A SISSY: Elon Muskâs X now treats the term âcisgenderâ as a slur on the platform (LINK) On June 20 2023, Elon Musk tweeted out that the term "cisgender" would now be treated as a slur on Twitter / X. On May 15th 2024, this promise was made into a reality. Attempting to post with the word "cis" or "cisgender" results in the user being given a warning and the option to delete the tweet. This event today was what got me to finally sit down and pump out this post which has been sitting in my brain simmering for years. This also made me think about the real meaning of the term "Cis" which basically means "Normal" or "Same Gender As Assigned At Birth". "Cis" is pronounced the same as "Sis" (Sister), and can be expanded to "Cissy" / "Sissy" (Wimp). Also, "Cis" backwards is "Sic" or "Sick". So basically when you're called "Cis" gender, you're being called a woman, a wimp, and sick, all because you chose to remain a heterosexual during this assault on what it means to be a human. "Cis" is a CIA Tavistock style social engineering term which is meant to discourage you from being straight, and it's trying to bully you into the LGBTQ lifestyle (or is that "death style" since they don't reproduce?). "Cis" is an abnormal and weaponized term which was created to make what's natural seem unnatural, and to make what's normal sound abnormal. I would argue terms "gender normative" and "breeders" are also similar weaponized social engineering terms meant to covertly psychologically wage warfare against heterosexuality. GET THEM WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG: A recent study of 139 dysphoric male children who were monitored from age 7 up until age 20 showed that 87.8 percent of the boys grew out of this phase and reverted back to identifying as their birth gender by the time they were adults. And in other related news, a couple in Montana have claimed that the Montana CFS (Child and Family Services) have taken custody of their 14 year old daughter for refusing her gender affirming care. So now does it make sense why The Illuminati has to "get them while they're young"? Does it make sense why The Illuminati is pumping out so much gender confusion and LGBTQ propaganda into the brains of young and impressionable minds? It's because they are DELIBERATELY confusing children about their gender, and while they're still young and impressionable, they seek to prey on their confusion by pushing them to "change their gender" AKA mutilate their genitals, which is an irreversible procedure. Also, the powers that be are setting the precedent that parents who are not being "inclusive" and "open minded" by letting their children mutilate their genitals, that the state can then physically repossess your child from you, by saying it's CHILD ABUSE that you won't let them MUTILATE THEIR GENITALS. The Luciferians seek to reverse all that is natural, and they want us all to be like their demon god Baphomet. They are coming for your kids, and you'd better push back. Vast Majority of Gender Dysphoric Boys Desist, Long-Term Study Finds (LINK) *"* A long-term follow-up of male children with gender dysphoria has found that most study participants desisted over time and accepted themselves as boys. The groundbreaking study used the largest sample to date of boys referred to clinics for gender dysphoria. âA Follow-Up Study of Boys With Gender Identity Disorderâ was published in the peer-viewed journal Frontiers in Psychology, and the research protocol was reviewed and approved by Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (now the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) and the University of Toronto. Study participants were 139 male children assessed in the Gender Identity Service, Child, Youth, and Family Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto between 1975 and 2009. 63.3% of the boys met DSM-III, III-R, or IV criteria for gender identity disorder (GID), while the rest of the 36.7% were subthreshold for a DSM diagnosis. Researchers first assessed the children at approximately age 7, following up with participants when they reached adolescence and again in early adulthood. At follow-up, researchers classified participants as persisters (which the study defines as âboys who continued to have gender dysphoriaâ) or desisters (boys who did not continue to have gender dysphoria), and deduced their sexual orientation based on fantasy and behavior. Researchers found that 17 (12.2%) of the participants persisted in their gender dysphoria, and the remaining 122 (87.8%) desisted." Montana parents say they lost custody of daughter after opposing 14-year-oldâs gender transition: report (LINK) "Montana family claims they lost custody of their 14-year-old child after opposing her interest in changing genders â and while the governorâs office defended the move, it stressed to The Post that the state does not remove minors to provide gender transition services. The stateâs Child and Family Services (CFS) reportedly took custody of the teen from her father, Todd Kolstad, and stepmother, Krista, this month, leading the parents to speak out about how the action has âdestroyedâ their family and âtrampledâ their rights. They showed up at our home to serve us with papers to take Jennifer out of our care,â Kolstad alleged. âThey told me the reason was that we were âunable or refusing to provide medical care.â Thatâs just not true.â Jennifer returned in September to a Montana youth facility, where she remains. Earlier this month, a court put the teen in the custody of CFS, Reduxx reported. âWe were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her âtherapeutic best interestâ and because we arenât willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,â Kolstad told the outlet." AUTISM, TRANSGENDERISM AND TRANSHUMANISM: Transgender and nonbinary people are up to six times more likely to have autism (LINK) This article title really says it all. There's a clear link between autism and transgenderism. So now does it make sense why autism is deliberately created via aluminum in the vaccines and in deodorant, chemtrails, etc? Autism also makes a person more compatible with Artificial Intelligence according to a book called The Autism Epidemic: Transhumanism's Dirty Little Secret (LINK). Supposedly the type of brainwaves produced by an autistic brain are more similar to how Artificial Intelligence processes data than a normal brain. Basically the endgoal of the entire Illuminati LGBTQ and transgender agenda is transhumanism, which is the merging of humans with technology. Part of that agenda ties into transgenderism since if they can get you to mutilate your genitals and get you to change your whole gender identity, then getting you to put a neural chip implant in your head isn't much further to go. The endgoal of the New World Order is to turn you into a gay genderless cyborg who is completely mind controlled by brain microchips. This is why when you choose to support the woke agendas and official narratives, that you're literally choosing The Matrix, because merging us with machines, mind controlling us and creating a completely false reality in our heads is exactly where the woke rabbit hole leads. CONCLUSION: "We're here, we're queer, get used to it". We did get used to it. And then we let you legalize Gay Marriage, but still you wouldn't stop pushing us. So how far does the Satanic LGBTQ agenda have to push us before they will leave us alone? Well, they aren't planning on leaving us alone. LGBTQ is a major component of the New World Order. The end goal of LGBTQ is to openly normalize pedophilia, incest, bestiality, and all other sexual perversions since this is what "The Aristocrats" (The Illuminati families) actually take part in themselves. And they bully us into compliance by using terms like "Inclusive" and "Tolerance", which are weaponized social engineering terms that are used to beat us into submission of their depraved agendas. You're no longer straight or heterosexual, you're now "Cis" (Sis/Sick/Sissy), "Gender Normative" and a "Breeder". The Illuminati has made it a thoughtcrime for any person to remain straight and normal in this times of great deceit. Is it any wonder then that nearly 30 percent of all Generation Z adults now identify as LGBTQ? (LINK) This post is the culmination of my years of research on multiple topics which all tie into pedophilia, LGBTQ, transgenderism, autism, transhumanism, and the New World Order. I hereby pass onto you all the knowledge I currently possess about this agenda, and I hope that you will consider it from a logical perspective and utilize it appropriately. By the way, I do not have a problem with gay or transgender people whatsoever so long as they would just please leave the children alone. They're just children and they're young and easily impressionable by LGBTQ gender confusion propaganda. Let them be kids, and if they still want gender affirming care when they're 18, then they are legally adults and are able to make that decision themselves. Stop encouraging children to make irreversible permanent alterations to their body just to serve an agenda of "inclusiveness" and "tolerance". Also, this goes without saying, and it goes to all people not just LGBTQ: stop sexually abusing children. This is the most unnatural sexual depravity you can possibly take part in. You're destroying innocence and you're destroying lives. And you're just continuing the cycle of abuse, since it does appear that many pedophiles were also sexually abused when they were children (Jeffrey Epstein got really uncomfortable and refused to answer when he was asked about his own sexual abuse as a child). Finally, I will again reiterate that there's no problem with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, non binary, transgender, etc. However, the specific group called LGBTQ is an extremist organization of The Illuminati which is pushing Satanic agendas as part of the New World Order. I recommend that no matter how you identify yourself, that you are able to identify a predatory social engineering mind control agenda for what it is. submitted by kiwasabi to conservatives [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:23 RandomAppalachian468 The return of the tree painter, big life changes, and story update!
Hey everyone! Random Appalachian here. I just wanted to check back in with you all and provide some updates, as well as some exciting, if personal, news. I have to type this quick, as my work break ends soon, so pardon any typos, grammatical errors, or weirdly structured sentences.
For those of you who donât know, Iâm a park ranger in real life, and work at a wildlife reserve in Ohio. Weâve been having some issues with vandalism in our northern woods for a few months, and despite our best attempts, havenât been able to find the culprit. Itâs been immensely frustrating, especially when more paint has shown up on more trails, ranging from slashes, lines, and crosses, to dots and even letters. Normally we wouldnât get too bent out of shape over a few trees being painted, but itâs well over 60 at this point, and widespread throughout the forest. None of the official people who help us maintain the trails in that area say they are responsible, and yet many of the markings seem to be blazes for trails. However the markings are at times absurdly close together, or in abstract places that make no logical sense. One âtrailâ is no more than perhaps 30 yards long and runs right along a massive clearing in a semi-circle, within plain sight of the clearing, and goes to nowhere; it goes into the woods, and pops back out into the clearing only 30-ish yards away. Most of our established trails that have been painted already have well-made trail markings of our own, and the trails are well-blazed. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why these things are there at all. I donât think itâs anything sinister, though the painter has left his/her paint cans in the woods before, so at the very least, theyâre a litterbug. There is the concern about potential poaching, which can be a problem in our area. Sure, deer and turkey are commonplace in my rural community, but they are only that way because of conservation and game laws that keep populations intact. Local hunters play a big part in conservation, and if someone starts taking more than their fair share through poaching, that means less for everyone else, and upsets the balance of things. The sad thing is, unlike legal hunters who often hunt for meat for their families, (food is expensive nowadays) poachers usually do it for trophies, antlers, or âfansâ from the turkey tail-feathers. But our painter has yet to take any game to our knowledge. Weâve found no gut piles, blood, or discarded gear anywhere. So, if heâs not poaching . . . what on earth does he want?
Then a few weeks ago, we did find a camera inside our central perimeter.
To put this into perspective, we have roughly 10,000 acres to our little reserve. Only 1/3 is fenced in, containing our exotic animals for our tours, and our buildings that we use to operate. Offices, mechanical garages, barns, and storage sheds, that sort of thing. Usually if we have trespassing issues, it's in the northern woods, which is open to the public for walking/biking trails. Sometimes in the southern prairie reserve we get some wanderers, but it's pretty open, so people tend to shy away from it. But our interior, the central area, most of which is fenced in, is sacred ground for us. We have a childrenâs camp in there for kids to learn about nature, we have our animal barns, and even some staff housing. For people to walk around in there would be like a stranger walking through your bedroom at night, while youâre in the shower.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
One of our ecology survey teams found the camera in a lesser-used section a mile or so north of the childrenâs camp. Naturally, they assumed it was one of ours, until one of the staff innocently asked another ranger why weâd put a camera by that lake. When the ranger told her that we didnât have any cameras there, it began to sink in.
We either have two trespassers, or the painter has decided to move his game further into our land.
Iâm hoping itâs the former, that Iâm overthinking things, but after all, the mystery painter had to have seen a few of the trail cameras we put up in the north to catch him. Could he be doing this as a form of tit-for-tat? I donât know, but itâs got us rangers frustrated, and our ecology team is spooked. It was fun and games in the unpopulated north, but now heâs getting close to our people, our guests, and our animals. This is serious now. We removed the camera, but thereâs not really much we can do without more patrols, more cameras, and more rangers. With our budget already restricted, the last part just isnât possible.
My foray into trail cameras yielded no results as to a culprit. In fact, the day I came in early to pull them out of the field, it seemed nothing went right. Only two came off the tree, as I forgot the keys for the locks for the other two. I couldnât find the last one at first, and darkness fell before I could locate it, so that I was wandering around in the northern district in the blackness searching for it. Inadvertently this helped me find the camera in the end; I saw the red light flash as it took my picture and was able to retrieve the SD card. It was in my long return trek to the patrol truck that I discovered the marks on a remote trail I hadnât walked yet. A capital O and a capital N were scrawled in various places, with dots over the letters. I took German in university, so I know they arenât grammatical marks from that language, known as umlauts (pronounced as âoomloutâ for my fellow English speakers; for all my German speakers, if I spelled that wrong, I apologize). Iâd left my phone in the truck (stupid rookie move for a seasoned ranger, I know) so I couldnât take any photos, and didnât want to follow the trail too far in the pitch dark. I had a flashlight with spare batteries, as well as my gun (Iâm not a complete moron after all) but I didnât have time to do much exploring, since I had other duties in the park that were waiting on me. I had some VIPâs that were coming in late, and had to be escorted, which meant I had to clamber back to my truck, swatting at mosquitos the whole way. Nothing on the cameras showed any definitive proof, though we might have a lead on a guy with a bow case on his back. Could be nothing though; itâs not illegal to wear camo or carry things, and it could very well have been a camera case, a backpack, or an empty bow case.
In any event, we rangers are working on a strategy for changing up our patrol routes and putting more cameras in the field, as well as checking in on the childrenâs camp frequently throughout the night. So far, this mystery person hasnât actually hurt anything that we know of, but even if this is just local kids having a prank, itâs not funny anymore.
Anyway, on to the other news. For the aforementioned reasons, as well as others, Iâve been super swamped this past month, and so writing on the third book in the Barron County trilogy has been slow. I wanted to release it at the beginning of June, but at this rate, Iâm going to have to push that back to late June, possibly early July. I hate to think Iâve disappointed you all, but itâs just not ready yet. That, and Iâve been busy with something else . . . something big.
Iâm getting married next week.
Itâs been a long time coming, but my fiancĂ© and I are super excited. Weâve known each other since kindergarten and have been best friends since forever. Weâve both been running like chickens with our heads cut off to get everything ready, and naturally, weâre both exhausted/somewhat nervous. Our honeymoon will require some flying, and since my fiancĂ© has never been on a plane before, thatâs a point of nervousness for her. Iâm sure sheâll be fine once weâre in the air, but until then, sheâs a bundle of nerves.
All that is to say, I am working on the story, itâs just taking a bit. I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things for all of you and thank you again for your supreme patience in this. You guys and gals are great, and entertaining you all is a massive privilege. Stay tuned for the third installment of the Barron County trilogy, and the epic conclusion of Hannah Brunâs journey into the unknown! Until next time.
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2024.05.19 09:20 Dapper_Job_8712 Akarui and Maruchi + How Akarui came to be
| "Come on Akarui Nee Chan! Let's strike up a pose for the manga cover" "Alright Kao Chan, but is it really necessary to copy my pose? (Also this doesn't look like we'll fit in the cover, our illustration is too big. What was the illustrator even thinking when drawing us?)" (Adding to the lore, Akarui and Maruchi are cousins) And now, a story of how I made Akarui Part 1: Beginnings It kind of all started obviously with the Azumi craze happening. At first I was just one of those people looking at the new OCs being made until the day Reika came out. The design looked very cool and even her personality. It was when at that moment I decided to join in on the fun to share my idea. Keep in mind though that in fact I'm actually not an artist, I'm just you typical gamer who plays games like Honkai Star Rail everyday so technically my drawing was wasn't really perfect to say the least. Part 2: Design I drew Akarui on my yellow pad that I use for school since I don't use it very often. I don't have a big notebook to draw the design but at least the drawing turned out good. For the design, I had to look at google for references like a body pose, hair, etc. For Akarui's eyes, I actually took Hakari's eyes as reference to at least try my best to get that 100 gf like eye shape. I wanted to give her a jacket to give that manga artist feel. I kind of thought of giving her glasses but decided that it would be an accessory for her instead. I decided Akarui's hair color would be orange and pink while coloring the drawing. Originally I had other colors combos in mind like red and orange to make it similar to my social media profile picture but it felt bland. The same thing applies to black and green hair because it would just blend in either her jacket which I didn't want. When moving on over to digital, the program I use is simply Microsoft paint since I'm not really skilled when it comes to other art programs; needless to say it still worked out great in the end. Part 3: Personality and Bio Miu Amano from Blend S was the basis for Akarui's personality. I really liked how Miu would just come up with ideas for her doujin just by observing odd situations. Considering that we don't have a manga artist gf yet, I wanted to implement Miu Amano's personality onto Akarui but make it family friendly. There's also some hints of Rin in Akarui with the whole being embarrassed after doing something weird shtick. Akarui's name means "Bright Mind". I named her like that because with her personality being all about coming up with ideas just by observation, I think of it as having a bright mind. There's one part of her personality which I based off from my own personality, and that's being a procrastinator; one thing I changed though about that is her getting low scores, I in the other get decent scores in tests. Another personality of mine which I projected onto her is my dislike for long hair because I'm not a fan of having bangs. When thinking of her school year, I was debating whether she'd be a 1st year or 2nd year in high school. I ended up with 1st year because I believe she would get along well with Kiki. Part 4: Lore Fun fact, all of Akarui's lore I came up with it during my break times in school. I have to admit though, if there was one thing I would change with the lore it would be adding more of her personality onto the story. My original plan for the intro was to somehow have Akarui and Rentarou do something related to Akarui's personality but then I ended up not including it because I wanted the intro to be just simple considering that I'm not good in storytelling. The ending felt kind of eh for me because I couldn't come up with some funny banter between Rentarou and Akarui like it always has been in many of the official gf chapters. Who knows if I'm ever going to do some adjustments to the intro one day but maybe time will tell. Part 5: Future Luckily my summer vacation will last from June to August so I have enough time to come up with some Akarui art. I'm planning to do art related to different interactions, one of those interactions I've planned are for Shizuka (because of her love for books) and Kiki (because obviously). As for other art, I'm planning to do casual clothing for her and also other outfits based on the official chapters. I'm really excited to make these art and if you have read this far, thanks for taking the time to read and I'm can't wait for what's coming next! submitted by Dapper_Job_8712 to 100Fanojo [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:20 zlaxy On this day 116 years ago, Nikolay Pilchikov, a scientist-physicist, developer of radio-controlled devices, died in Kharkov from a shot in the heart
| On this day 116 years ago in Kharkov Nikolay Dmitrievich Pilchikov â scientist-physicist, inventor in the field of radio engineering, author of works on optics, terrestrial magnetism, electrical and radio engineering, radioactivity, X-rays, electrochemistry, geophysics, meteorology â was shot in the heart. At about seven oâclock in the morning of 6 May 1908, a shot rang out in a ward of an expensive Kharkov hospital. Breaking open the door locked from the inside, the doctors saw its only patient â it seemed that his life had been cut short in his sleep. The man was lying in his bunk, as if he hadnât woken up yet. And if not for the bloodstain on his chest, no one would have realised the tragedy. A revolver lay on the tea-table beside the bed. It was from this revolver that the bullet that had pierced the scientistâs heart had been fired. Could a man who was undergoing medical treatment have carefully placed the gun beside his tea glass and folded his arms across his chest after shooting himself at point-blank range? Nevertheless, the âcadaver bookâ records ruled the death a suicide. For some reason forensic experts did not do dactyloscopy â the investigation was not puzzled by fingerprints on the black âbulldogâ, which became the murder weapon. And the authoritative professor Nikolai Bokarius, whose name now bears the local Institute of Forensic Medicine, even described Pilchikovaâs case in a textbook for lawyers and doctors as an example of temporary purposeful capacity of suicides with fatal gunshot wounds in the heart area. At that, the luminary recommended to take into account not only anatomical features of the injury, but also the functional state of the central nervous system. The picture was completed by the conclusion of pathologists, who found in the killed after the autopsy of the corpse modifications in the structure of the brain. A purely âpoliceâ justification for not considering the murder version was the fact that the incident took place in a locked room on the first floor (as if this could be an obstacle to unauthorised entry). And a week after the scientistâs death, on 13 May 1908, the head of the police department received a report from the head of the Kharkov security service about the unreliability of the âextreme leftistâ Professor Pilchikov, who was known for his active participation in âcriminal agitation activities of engineering studentsâ. This was confirmed by a search of the scientistâs house, during which propaganda literature from the period of the first Russian revolution of 1905 was found. What was Professor Pilchikov doing before he was âworked outâ by the police? The scientific fate of Nikolai Dmitrievich was as unusual as his death was mysterious and the fate of outstanding discoveries inexplicable. The scientist, whose life was cut short at the age of 51, was not only a physicist, but also a lyricist: he was no less talented in composing poetry, painting pictures and playing the violin. But he considered his lifeâs work to be his scientific career, which was unusually successful. The son of a public and cultural figure, who was a friend of Taras Shevchenko, was born on 9 May 1857 in Poltava, and already during his studies in gymnasium showed remarkable abilities in exact sciences. Entering the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkiv University, he experimented in new at that time experiments in the field of sound recording, while still a student invented an electric phonograph. After graduation, the graduate was left to work at the Department of Physics. His first scientific monograph was devoted to optical analysis. Later the scientist made a number of discoveries on the topics of scattered light polarisation and atmospheric ionisation, atmospheric electricity and geomagnetism, radioactivity and X-rays. Pilchikov was awarded the Silver Medal from the Russian Geographical Society for a series of studies of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, during which iron ore deposits near Prokhorovka were predicted. After defending his thesis at the University of St. Petersburg, the master of physics was appointed privat-docent of the Kharkov University, and two years later he went to practice at a magnetic observatory in Paris, where he discovered flaws in the design of the seismograph and offered his mentors a way to correct them. Soon the young professor of Kharkov University becomes famous outside Russia, becoming a regular at international scientific conferences and a member of the Toulouse Academy of Sciences. Nikolay Pilchikov returned to Kharkov as a university professor, where he created a meteorological station that still exists today. To study the upper atmosphere, the professor developed a stratostat and then a high-altitude spacesuit to equip the pilot. The atmospheric optics researcher created his own seismograph and designed equipment to determine magnetic pressure. Having moved for some time to Odessa (to work at the Imperial Novorossiysk University), in 1894 the scientist invented an original lamp for the study of X-rays, called âPilchikovâs focus tubeâ. The optical and galvanic version of the study of electrolysis developed by him made it possible to obtain images on metal plates â so the inventor became the author of electrophotography or photogalvanography. And on 25 March 1898, Nikolai Pilchikov demonstrated for the first time a device working with radio waves of a certain length and rejecting interference. During his experiments in Odessa he lit a lighthouse with the help of radio waves and moved a railway semaphore, blew up a yacht and made a cannon fire. The scientist characterised his contribution to radio physics as follows: while Popov and Marconi were looking for a way to transmit a signal over the greatest possible distance, he was solving the problem of cutting off wireless power transmission from extraneous electrical waves. Thus appeared the first device with a protector â a security filter, allowing only the waves addressed to it to reach the mechanism and protecting the equipment from atmospheric and radio interference. The scientist not only designed and manufactured different types of the first protectors, but also tested them in practice. With the help of his revolutionary device, Professor Pilchikov made it possible to create radio-controlled mine boats that could sink enemy ships without a crew and fire on enemy targets. In proposing the idea to the Russian military, the inventor characterised it as a way of detonating objects at a considerable distance without cables or other visible communication. Applying for financial assistance from the military department, Pilchikov planned to spend 15,000 roubles on laboratory equipment, manufacture of devices and their testing with the support of the Sevastopol naval forces. For his part, the scientist undertook to keep the know-how in strict secrecy and not to publish any information about the development in scientific literature. As a result, this circumstance may have contributed to the fact that the scientistâs works disappeared and he himself may have been eliminated. Military engineers discussed the professorâs petition for research funds with reference to foreign experience. Specialists compared Pilchikovâs achievements with the developments of foreign scientists experimenting with wireless telegraph, to whom the authorities did not refuse anything. For example, Preece was authorised for experiments by the postal department of England, Marconi obtained in 1897 large sums of money from the naval department of Italy, and the Berlin scientist Slaby received aeronautical parks, watercraft and troops of the Potsdam garrison from the Emperor of Germany. Pilchikov, on the other hand, had a much more extensive programme and was naturally expected to produce the most ambitious results. On his return to Kharkov in 1902, the professor continued his research in the best-equipped physical laboratory of those times, the local University of Technology. He was also allocated a ship âDnestrâ and funds for marine experiments. On the ship in 1903 the scientist equipped a receiving radio station, and on the Chersonese lighthouse â transmitting. Alas, neither the scheme of those protectors, nor the content of the experiments, nor their further fate are known today. In the archives we found only information about a letter of gratitude to Professor Pilchikov from the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. It was dated the beginning of September 1904. It is clear that in the midst of the war with Japan secret military developments could be of interest to both belligerents. Moreover, other external enemies were also interested in preventing Russiaâs military advantage. Professor Pilchikovâs research competed with American experiments in the Maritime Ministry under Tesla, who was also working on the task of wireless control of a minelayer from the shore. This is a case in science when âan idea is in the airâ and the same discovery is independently made by scientists at different ends of the world. It is believed that the first radio-controlled telemechanical system in the world was developed by Nikola Tesla â he patented and presented an unprecedented ship model in the summer of 1898, but came to the discovery the day before, in spring. And âRussian Teslaâ Nikolai Pilchikov tested a similar invention in March of the same year, which was reported in a note in the âOdessa Reviewâ, which for some reason remained unnoticed by the scientific community. The âtwo Nicholasâ had a lot in common, despite the fact that they lived and created on different continents. Scientists were almost the same age. Both had no family â neither wives nor close relatives. Both were undividedly attracted to physical science â the mysteries of radioactivity, X-rays and lightning. But to Pilchikov did not appear one day George Westinghouse with a million dollars for four dozen patents. And an understanding friend, as Tesla had in the person of Katharine Johnson, next to Nikolay Dmitrievich was not there either⊠Being left without further state support, Pilchikov could not complete the work on his wireless protector. In 1905 he left to observe the solar eclipse in Algeria, from where he returned with failing health. Ill-health was aggravated by an acute feeling of loneliness. 1908 was a fateful year in the fate of the scientist. It was the best time of the year, the beginning of May, a time of intoxication with life and romantic dreams. But for Pilchikov, the âdelight of natureâ had no inspiring meaning: five days before his own birthday, he went to a psychoneurological clinic. And it happened under very mysterious circumstances. According to police reports, the owner of a private hospital and a well-known doctor I. Y. Platonov received a call from an unknown man on 3 May with a request to hospitalise Nikolai Dmitrievich Pilchikov. It was asked to prepare a separate room where the patient would be alone. When the professor appeared in the clinic, the doctors saw nothing critical in his condition. He was elegantly dressed, and in his hands held a suitcase with papers. Two days later, a shot rang out in the ward, and the papers were gone. Not a single piece of his war work was found among his household belongings. The blueprints of inventions of world importance, which the scientist had not even had time to patent, disappeared. Wasnât the murder then the final fat point in the planned operation? And didnât the inventor-physicist take with him to the ward what the special services hunting for his military developments were tracking down? Perhaps it was in the hospital that Nikolai Pilchikov, who had a premonition of trouble, tried to hide from his threatening pursuers? Or maybe they put him there so that it would be easier to realise what they had planned? And who were these mysterious killers?.. We will probably never get answers to these questions. But it is known how the brilliant ideas of the tragically departed scientist were put into practice. In 1913, the first radio-controlled aeroplane took to the skies. Four years later, a German boat controlled from a plane blew up the quay in the English harbour of Newport. In the same year, 1917, a German ship was damaged by a British minelayer guided from a radio-controlled aeroplane. In 1925 the first mine without wires appeared. And in 1943 the Soviet troops destroyed the Nazi headquarters with General von Braun in Kharkov occupied by the enemy by controlled explosion from Voronezh. Radio warfare has long been supplemented by radio defence, where the first role is played by devices like Pilchikovâs protectors. Thanks to radio defence, in 1944 the British were invulnerable to German fighters in the Libyan desert. Radio locks of increased complexity are used in satellite navigation and launching systems for space and military rockets. And all responsible radio electronic equipment is protected from interference by modern devices working on the principle of Professor Pilchikovâs protector â the âRussian Teslaâ, who became a hindrance to someone himself⊠Source: Vyacheslav Kapreljants submitted by zlaxy to ThisDayInHistory [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:15 ConsequenceSure3063 Best Cardboard Picture Frames
| https://preview.redd.it/m8o1nk8s2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a94ad95f9b1efef03101f1865a793b3e866b0d06 Looking for a unique and eco-friendly way to display your cherished memories? Our collection of cardboard picture frames not only adds a playful touch but also offers a sustainable alternative to traditional frames. In this roundup, we'll explore various styles, materials, and designs that will make your photos stand out, all while keeping your environmental impact in check. The Top 19 Best Cardboard Picture Frames - DIY Cardboard Picture Frames (5 x 7 in, 30 Pack) - Introducing the Juvale 5x7 inch cardboard photo frame. This pack of 30 DIY frames lets you showcase your favorite memories with personalized touches. Perfect for home decor, weddings, and more!
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- DIY Black Paper Picture Frames - 50-Pack - Elevate your memories with Juvale's DIY black paper photo frames - 50-pack, perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, and more. Enhance your interior decor with a personalized touch that displays up to 10.2 x 15.2 cm photos.
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As an Amazon⹠Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Reviews https://preview.redd.it/ykdiw5ts2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc90558603f175fc6641f2f7434acea9b5128073 I recently got my hands on Juvale's 5x7 inch Cardboard Picture Frames, and I must say, they've been a game-changer in my world of DIY home decor. With their bright colors and simple yet sturdy design, these frames are perfect for personalizing with jewels, glitter, and more. One standout feature for me was their ability to fit 5x7-inch photos perfectly. It's been great for displaying cherished moments around the house, just like snapping photos of our recent birthday party. The attached stand is convenient, making it easy to set up and show off your creations without needing an extra easel! However, there's a minor downside to these frames: their thickness. While they look sturdy enough, they might not hold heavier items such as thick cards or large paper cut-outs. Despite this, their durability has been impressive so far, even after a few creative paint jobs! Overall, I can't recommend Juvale's Cardboard Picture Frames enough. Their vibrant colors and simple design make them a perfect addition to any DIY home decor project or special occasion. So go ahead, unleash your creativity and make something amazing! https://preview.redd.it/zd4zho4t2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91332a093d6f1fc2b97dbd2afa2a48547b4751eb As a creative individual who loves DIY projects, I recently got my hands on the Juvale Cardboard Paper Picture Frame DIY Hanging Kit (50 Pack) 4x6 inch, Black, White. From the moment I unboxed it, I could tell it was going to be a game-changer for my decorating needs. Each of the 50 paper cardboard photo frames comes with a mini clothespin and a piece of hanging twine, making it easy to display various memories and artwork around my home or office. One of the features that truly stood out during my use of this DIY kit was its versatility. Not only can you create unique framed pieces for any space, but you can also get creative and embellish these frames with different materials, like paints, jewels, rhinestones, glitter, labels, stickers, and more. I especially appreciated the fact that the frames can be displayed both vertically and horizontally, allowing me to experiment with different layouts and compositions. Another aspect of this DIY kit that I genuinely appreciated was its affordability. Given that I received 50 frames along with clothespins and twine, it gave me ample opportunities to decorate multiple areas in my house without breaking the bank. Additionally, the black and white color options make it easy to blend these frames into any decor style. However, it's essential to note a few cons that I encountered while using this product. Some of the cardboard frames were slightly thinner and more delicate than others, so extra care must be taken during handling. Additionally, the hanging twine provided could have been slightly longer for easier installation in various locations. Overall, I would highly recommend the Juvale Cardboard Paper Picture Frame DIY Hanging Kit (50 Pack) 4x6 inch, Black, White for anyone who enjoys DIY projects and wants to create personalized photo displays in their homes or workspaces. Its versatility, color options, and affordability make it a worthwhile investment in your decorating endeavors. https://preview.redd.it/wb9rh4nt2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2469a1f793f451a4cb42af6fb037248d9973273d I recently purchased these paper frames for my classroom decorations, and I must say, they have been a game-changer! The vibrant colors and fun designs instantly caught my eye. I particularly appreciated the two versatile sizes that could easily accommodate various photo sizes. The small frames were incredibly easy to use as they were designed with a photo space that perfectly fit a letter-sized paper, making it a breeze to display student artwork or use them as props for our fun photo booth activities. However, I did find that the larger frames needed some trimming and resizing to fit smaller images, but overall, they were still worth the effort. One minor drawback was the lack of a smaller size option, as I believe it would be even more versatile and useful in various applications. Nonetheless, these paper frames have significantly enhanced the appearance of my classroom decorations, and I look forward to using them in other creative ways. To summarize, the paper frames are an excellent investment for anyone looking to add a pop of color and creativity to their space. They are easy to use, have a sturdy cardstock thickness, and are available in a variety of fun designs. Although they may require some trimming for certain applications, the end result is definitely worth the effort. https://preview.redd.it/n8ytioau2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=425a9d7bff8384bcf4180d9d0919c941db9b8136 As a cardboard enthusiast, I recently had the pleasure of using these elegant 8.5x11 black picture frames with gold foil borders in my DIY home decor project. The moment I took them out of their 25-piece packaging, I was instantly drawn to their timeless quality and that exquisite golden finish. One thing that truly stood out for me was how easy these frames were to set up. Their side-load design made it incredibly simple to display and switch between my favorite photos, without any hassle. Plus, the linen weave finish added a touch of sophistication to my space. Moreover, the frames come with a pop-up easel, which allows them to be displayed horizontally or vertically. This versatility made it easy to showcase both horizontal and vertical certificates or prints, in a professional manner. However, one minor con I experienced was that the window opening wasn't quite precise, and required a little adjustment to fit my 8x10 prints perfectly. Nonetheless, considering their excellent construction and affordability, these cardboard frames are definitely worth the investment. So, if you're in search of a cost-effective yet elegant solution to frame your memories or certificates, look no further! These cardboard picture frames deliver on both style and functionality, making them an ideal choice for anyone in need of a little DIY touch. https://preview.redd.it/zduntwvu2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f355ea6dd5245f1924f8344fd4c043f985d0255 I've been using the Jahosin wall paper picture frames for a month now and I must say, they've significantly upgraded my home décor. The first thing that drew me to them is their unique DIY design with linkage mounted cardboard frames and flax string clips. The 30-frame set is versatile and stylish, perfect for displaying photos, Christmas cards, and artworks at events like weddings or birthdays. They're incredibly easy to assemble, each frame comes with its own clips and a piece of flax string, making it a fun project that the entire family can participate in. They fit standard 5x7 inch pictures, coming in three attractive colors - black, brown, and white. Their pure handcraft and non-toxic material make them a safe addition to any home, and the brilliant artwork on the fronts is a bonus. The only downside I've noticed is that the cardboard isn't the sturdiest, so they might need extra care when being hung or moved around. But overall, these picture frames have been a great addition to my home, adding a touch of art and creativity to my living space. So if you're in the market for unique, affordable photo frames, I highly recommend giving the Jahosin 5x7 inch wall paper picture frames a try. https://preview.redd.it/ftrv137v2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=967e9bc07bde7b52dd9dcc15924751cc16ded1cc I recently discovered the Jahosin 5x7in Wall Paper Picture Frames and let me tell you, they've been a game-changer for my home decor. As soon as they arrived, I dove right in to create a unique and artistic display on my living room wall. The set of 30 frames comes in three colors and includes flax string and clips for easy mounting. The first thing that stood out to me was the pure hand craft element of these frames. Made with non-toxic, harmless kraft paper material, they're not only stylish but also safe for the whole family. The quality is evident in the craftsmanship and the vibrant printing patterns that bring life to my space. One thing I noticed is that these frames are designed specifically to hold 5x7in pictures, which made it difficult to fit some of my larger prints. However, this constraint did force me to be more creative with my photo selections, ultimately resulting in a more cohesive and eclectic display. Overall, I'm thrilled with my purchase of these DIY Photo Frames from Jahosin. They've added a unique and personal touch to my home decor while also encouraging me to curate a thoughtful collection of cherished memories. If you're looking to transform your living space, I highly recommend giving these picture frames a try! https://preview.redd.it/9bxajpjv2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9094b6a76da4b746505626459b1d589da2f6dda7 I was recently looking for a way to display my favorite memories, and I stumbled upon the Juvale 50 Pack Paper Picture Frames. These paper frames added a personal touch to my home decor and were a hit at our family gatherings. First off, the variety and versatility of these paper frames blew me away. They come in 50 different colors, which made it easy for me to match them to my existing dcor. The mini clothespins and hanging twine included made it a breeze to create a stunning photo hanging display on my wall. Plus, they're perfect for DIY craft projects. I had a blast embellishing my frames with glitter, stickers, and paint. However, I found that the actual size of the frames was slightly smaller than I thought. But it wasn't a deal-breaker, as they still worked perfectly for showcasing my favorite photos. All in all, I'd highly recommend the Juvale 50 Pack Paper Picture Frames for anyone looking for a fun and affordable way to display their cherished memories. https://preview.redd.it/0dgwjo1w2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e26ee80ba0eb94e5a619d0c1079c3559c8f0e20 When I first tried out the Jahosin 5x7in Paper Picture Frames, I was pleasantly surprised by how stylish and creative they were. The handcrafted, non-toxic kraft paper material felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the usual plastic frames. The set came with 10 frames, 10 mini clips, and a string, making it easy to display photos, Christmas cards, and art works in a casual and artistic way. One of the key highlights for me was how easy it was to customize these frames. The DIY linkage design allowed me to arrange the frames in various ways, making them perfect for displaying memories during special occasions like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations. Plus, they also added a touch of love, happiness, and wild living spirit to my space. However, I did notice that the frames are quite delicate, so they may not be ideal for families with young children who might accidentally damage them. Additionally, the kraft paper material can absorb moisture, making the frames more susceptible to warping or damage in humid environments. Overall, I found the Jahosin 5x7in Paper Picture Frames to be a comfortable and creative addition to my home decor, adding a touch of warmth to any space they were placed in. I would recommend these frames to anyone looking to display their special memories in a unique and stylish way. https://preview.redd.it/xh2lgs9w2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1bd1f7831056776ccd5bc6afc7611a6982a2ee03 I recently used the Juvale Kraft Paper Picture Frames to decorate my living room and create personalized gifts for friends. The 50-pack is perfect for batch-making, especially when working on DIY projects. Crafted from cardboard, these frames are lightweight and easy to customize with paints, stickers, and other embellishments. One feature that truly stood out was the compatibility with 4x6 inch photos, which means I could feature a variety of images from different occasions. Additionally, the kraft paper texture provides a warm, rustic touch to any space. However, I must admit that the cardboard material isn't as sturdy as traditional frames, so they might not hold up well in humid or high-traffic areas. In conclusion, the Juvale Kraft Paper Picture Frames are perfect for DIY crafts, personalized gifts, and decorations. Their brown color and versatile size make them an ideal choice for various occasions and interior design styles. Despite the flimsy nature of the material, the ease of customization and affordability make these frames a worthwhile addition to your DIY toolkit. https://preview.redd.it/4c3fylow2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40ca70b8c0efd0320f6d3d0f13206626e1d64806 As a frequent user of these 50-pack cardboard photo picture frames, I can attest to their ease of use. They are perfect for displaying your favorite 4x6-inch family photos, artwork, and memories. The attached stands allow for easy setup on surfaces like desks and tables, and you can unleash your creativity by personalizing these frames with markers, crayons, rubber stamps, colored pencils, and various paints. However, the one thing that left me unimpressed was the size of the easel. Though it held the 4x6-inch photos nicely, I wish it had a thicker and more professional appearance. The attached stand could be more sturdy, especially if you plan on using it for more presentable purposes like selling art cards. In contrast, I found that the frames were easy to customize, enabling me to express my artistic side while displaying my favorite memories. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to showcase your photos, these cardboard frames are a great choice. Just remember to handle them with care to prevent tearing if you decide to use them for more professional purposes. Overall, I've had a relatively smooth experience using these frames, but there's definitely room for improvement when it comes to their sturdiness and presentation. https://preview.redd.it/j4w29h4x2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52efbb82e79643186434cd45a45904d81dd703cc As an avid fan of unique wall decor, I recently stumbled upon the Cardboard Picture Frames 30 Pack. These retro-chic frames have quickly become a staple in my home, adding a touch of whimsy to my otherwise monotonous walls. Made from high-quality, recyclable paper, these frames are not only eco-friendly but also surprisingly durable. The matching wooden clips and string add a lovely contrast, giving my photos a charming, vintage appearance. The DIY nature of these frames is another highlight - they're incredibly easy to install and hang, making them accessible for everyone, regardless of their experience with DIY projects. These frames aren't just for personal use, they're perfect for gifting too. They're versatile enough to be used as wedding, engagement, anniversary, or birthday gifts. Their ability to add a touch of elegance and charm to any setting is truly remarkable. However, one minor drawback is that they're 4x6 inches, which may not accommodate larger photos. But overall, these Cardboard Picture Frames have been a fantastic addition to my home, adding a touch of personalized charm and retro vibe that I absolutely adore. https://preview.redd.it/iuyowrgx2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f2a981cd5b427918fee4bc478ea26a13037cc72 I recently purchased the Novelty Bank Paper Photo Frame set and it has been a game-changer for displaying my favorite memories. The simple yet elegant design of these 30 kraft paper frames sets off my photos perfectly. The art paper used is thick and flat, and the full back protects my pictures from dust and oxidation. Measuring 6 1/8 INCH tall by 4 1/2 INCH wide, with a window sized 4 INCH by 3 INCH, these frames are the perfect accessory for adding a touch of charm to my rooms and walls. One feature I particularly love is the adjustable design, which allows me to customize the size of the window to fit different sized photos. The included wooden clips and jute string make it easy to hang these frames wherever I want, creating a visually appealing display that is sure to impress. However, I did experience a minor issue with the quality of the jute string. It was slightly frayed and snapped after a few uses. Despite this, the overall quality of the product more than compensates for this small flaw, and I highly recommend these DIY Cardboard Photo Frames for anyone looking to enhance their space with personalized memories. https://preview.redd.it/oaeqs2sx2c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b8a13dccd18269a0890d944c225c5c21be7d388 I recently started using the Juvale Cardboard Photo Picture Frames to display some of my favorite memories and I absolutely fell in love with them. These little frames are not only versatile in terms of placement- standing vertically or horizontally- but also offer a variety of bright colors like yellow, light pink, and green, that make your photos pop. One feature that stood out for me was how easy they are to customize. You can embellish them with paints, rhinestones, glitter, stickers and other decorative elements, making each frame as unique as the person who owns it. However, there's a minor downside too. When using bigger hands, inserting the photos into the frame can be a bit challenging. But other than that, these photo frames are perfect for displaying your special memories! I've used these photo frames for displaying my daughter's adorable drawings, my favorite wedding photos, and even used them as party decorations. They really brighten up any space! If you're looking to add a touch of personalization and color to your photos, the Juvale Cardboard Photo Picture Frames won't disappoint you! Buyer's Guide Whether you're looking to add a unique touch to your home decor or wanting to gift someone special, cardboard picture frames are an affordable and eco-friendly option. This buyer's guide will take you through the important features, considerations, and general advice about choosing the perfect cardboard picture frame for your needs. Features to Consider https://preview.redd.it/33ldsr213c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f159cb1b1d52506969e96b7d953f0c105979896d - Size: Cardboard picture frames come in various sizes to fit different photo dimensions. Ensure you choose the right size to suit your preferences and available wall space.
- Shape: Some cardboard frames are simple rectangles or squares, while others come in interesting shapes like hearts or stars. Choose a shape that complements your photo and personal style.
- Thickness: Cardboard frames vary in thickness. Thinner frames may be more delicate and prone to wear, while thicker frames offer added stability and durability.
- Color: Cardboard frames come in a range of colors, from natural shades to vibrant hues. Consider which color will best complement your photo and its surrounding decor.
Considerations When selecting cardboard picture frames, it's essential to think about how they will be displayed. If you plan to hang them on a wall, ensure they have an integrated hanging mechanism or that you can easily attach one. Additionally, consider the durability of the cardboard material, especially if the frame will be exposed to varying temperatures or humidity levels. General Advice - Purchase from a reputable retailer to ensure quality craftsmanship and materials.
- Read reviews from previous customers to gain insights on the product's performance and any potential issues.
- Consider buying in bulk if you need multiple frames, as this can save you money and time in sourcing individual frames.
- To keep your cardboard picture frames looking fresh, avoid exposing them to direct sunlight or damp environments, and handle them gently when cleaning or adjusting them.
By taking the time to evaluate different cardboard picture frames and considering the factors outlined in this guide, you can make an informed decision and enjoy your unique, eco-friendly photo display for years to come. https://preview.redd.it/8pt3crh13c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79436cee148e7778d97f678aeed5f805c9c536b1 FAQ 1. What are cardboard picture frames? Cardboard picture frames are affordable, lightweight, and eco-friendly alternatives to traditional frames made from wood, metal, or plastic. They are often customizable and can display photos or artwork in various sizes. 2. How do cardboard picture frames compare to other types of frames? https://preview.redd.it/naxaprv13c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89ec506e34f468bacdd367f2e82950d8ef2a475c Cardboard frames are generally more affordable and lightweight than other types of frames. However, they may not offer the same level of durability or sturdiness as wood or metal frames. Cardboard frames are also eco-friendly, as they use recycled materials in their construction. 3. Are cardboard picture frames customizable? Yes, many cardboard picture frames come with the option for customization. This may include choosing between different colors, patterns, or sizes. Some cardboard frames also allow for personalized messages or designs on the frame itself. 4. Can cardboard picture frames display photos and artwork? Yes, cardboard picture frames can display both photos and artwork, depending on the design of the frame. Some frames come with adjustable stands or hooks, allowing them to be displayed on tables, shelves, or walls. https://preview.redd.it/1enr5q923c1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03e6f94c4fee79b3311c7e5157c06c21388d3e96 5. How do I care for my cardboard picture frame? To care for your cardboard picture frame, handle it gently and avoid exposing it to excessive moisture or heat. Dust the frame regularly with a soft brush or cloth and store it in a cool, dry place when not in use. 6. How much do cardboard picture frames cost? The cost of cardboard picture frames varies depending on the design, size, and customization options. Generally, they are more affordable than traditional frames made from wood, metal, or plastic. 7. Where can I purchase cardboard picture frames? Cardboard picture frames can be purchased at various stores, both online and offline, that specialize in home decor, stationery, and art supplies. Major retailers and marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy also offer a wide selection of cardboard picture frames. 8. Are cardboard picture frames suitable for outdoor use? While some cardboard frames may be suitable for indoor use, it is not recommended to use them outdoors, as they are more susceptible to moisture damage and less able to withstand harsh weather conditions compared to traditional frames. 9. Can I recycle a cardboard picture frame? Yes, cardboard picture frames are generally made from recycled materials and can be recycled again at the end of their useful life. Ensure that you recycle the frame with other paper products, following your local recycling guidelines. 10. How do I assemble a cardboard picture frame? Assembling a cardboard picture frame usually involves a few simple steps, such as sliding the photo or artwork into the frame, attaching the back panel, and securing any hooks or stands for display. - Remove the protective coverings from the front and back panels of the frame.
- Place the photo or artwork into the cardboard mat that is included with the frame. The mat may have a cut-out area to fit the photo or artwork precisely.
- Slide the photo or artwork with the mat into the front panel of the frame.
- Attach the back panel of the frame to the front panel, ensuring that all edges are aligned.
- If your frame has hooks or stands for display, attach them to the back panel of the frame as instructed in the product manual
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2024.05.19 09:13 SnooDrawings8632 Understanding Roles and Responsibilities of each person in your case. How does the injured worker know where to get the correct information? What to do with contradictory information? What if the person you're supposed to talk to is unresponsive?
Besides the questions in the title I tired to elaborate a little and also each question(s) has two, a. and b. sections. Section a. is meant for sort of a broad understanding. Section b. is my personal, specific case example (active claim, CA ~10 months).
I'm sure who you'll see will depend on state law, your injury, among other things. Regardless of who you see, more importantly: How do we (the injured worker) know if who we've been assigned to is doing their job correctly or just having an off day, since we know it's not required to have good bedside manner, what are they required by definition AND law? That said:
1a. Despite case by case variations; who are personnel that everyone will see no matter what? What should you expect from them, and is there more they can do...but only if you know how to ask? I'm imagining a knowledgeable answer would be a long list of all the possible outcomes within the maximum allowed in WC, but probably more helpful is to address the most common. A small list may only include a companies HR, Claims adjustor, and an Occupational Health doctor for example. Then continuing the list after those essential people is there typically a usual process where if once your case goes for a certain amount of time or ______ happens, you could expect to meet these ______ job title? I'm hoping to help other people at least have an idea of what to expect out of said people.
1b. TLDR: Here's one of the biggest examples of not knowing who to talk to and whether that information is correct. I have not been given crucial test results from 3 months ago. Original test (Neuropathy) doc said to get my results from my doctor, who sends me to therapist, who sends me back to doctor, my adjustor says doctor, doctor sends me to "Specialist", turns out not specialist, who sends me back to my doctor...ummmm....WTF do I do at my next doctors visits in a few days??
1b (cont.) It has come to my attention that I'm completely unaware of exactly what a large majority of the people I've been assigned to see do. In fact, in what capacity do I "have to see them"? Can I request a swap, or how do I make a complaint? I have been MORE than patient, and I've given the benefit of the doubt for so long that I can no longer accept being passed along. I'm already back where I started, for the 3rd time. Uh...so, besides just wanting information for myself, I'd think the test results should help me heal. I've been denied more treatments (Appeal's denied too) where I'd think that those test results could play a crucial role. Where once I thought there has there been a miscommunication, now feels like I'm in an echo chamber, or worse. This is quite alarming as it also shines light into the fact that I am also unaware of how "my doctor" can best help me, if at all. "My doctor", the one I'm required to see at Occupational Health, (I'm told I not allowed to see my family doctor) doesn't seem to do anything other than fill out the "Return to work form". Is that correct? How would I know?? They seem to just write whatever I tell them. Similarly the same goes for what treatments I've gotten. Best I can tell, there is no indication they have reviewed any of the information from other doctors and therapists. It's now going on 3 months where I haven't been given test results.
Unfortunately it's not just my doctor who I'm not getting information from. "Generic Adjustor" Enters the chat. or maybe not, because to top off the confusion, I can't get ahold of my adjustor who so far been the one steering me into the .... direction. Unfortunately I believe I'm waking up too late. I've called multiple times a day for a week straight while leaving messages and follow up emails noting that I've called. They do respond to email, which usually consists of one line stating something like "call anytime, I'll be in the office all week".. Funny thing is I'm not sure what exactly they are even supposed to do or bare minimum required to do. Even when I get ahold of them, I'm questioning if I can even trust them. I'm not saying "it's conspiracy". However due to the most recent info I've gotten, I do think the run around could be very deliberate play. How do I know if they're simply bad at their job or leaving me in the dark. It sure feels like it's purposeful. This all came to a head when after reviewing our last few emails, I see a pattern where they only respond to some of the questions, and even have given verifiably incorrect, contradictory information. How do I check these facts? Should I talk to a supervisor? Is there a system to check and balance these things? Who do I talk to? It all came to a head when I opened mail to find: Request of QME with the reason being "Objection to Primary Treating Physician's determination regarding temporary disability, permanent disability, or the need for future medical care." Aggravating but I'm sure they followed the (rules I was unaware of) book. It's questions like this that have me really, really upset: What is even meant by "Objection to Primary Treating Physician's determination"? 1. Quick sidebar - is that decision made by the "my doctor" that I described earlier - or the "Provider"? > Meaning, those two terms have been used interchangeably, and I fear that, and why I used quotes for "my doctor" earlier, I'm wondering if this other name (who happens to be another doctor at the Occupational Health office) a person I have never met let alone seen is the one calling the shots. Either way I'm pretty worried. 2. Here is another example which shows only a part of the circle of "who do I talk to". Here is a quote from my adjustor 10 days after the letter had been officiated, but before I got it states "you have not seen a specialist, attended a QME, or have a clear treatment plan defined by your primary treating physician.". Am I wrong to have read that to believe I'd still be seeing a specialist? Doesn't it read that the information the specialist decides would be what determines the next step? Isn't it safe to say that by month 10 I'd have a treatment plan --of course unless your not privy to your own test results?
Ending note: There is so many more examples I could give which to me paint a picture of neglect. From what I can tell, I either already signed my rights away or it's just not worth the fight. I don't even want to fight, or believed there would be a reason for a disagreement due to my injury but since that bubble of disillusionment has popped, how can I reproach getting the best medical treatment. I was lead to believe that after seeing a specialist I would have the option to get a second opinion before the QME. I haven't even seen the first specialist (I was sent to an office with a specialist in it, but the person I saw was just a family practitioner).and since both my doctor and my adjutor are not helping ---Who the fuck do I talk to?
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WorkersComp [link] [comments]
2024.05.19 08:35 Heroman3003 Taking Care of Broken Birds [Part 3]
More misery bird? More misery bird. Really miserymaxxing with these fics I have going, but hey, this one is not that miserable actually! Krekos is back and ready to be dense and downcast, but maybe not quite miserable? Read and see!
Big thank you to NoP community for being great and supportive of my endeavors!
Also, obviously, big thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating this universe and allowing fanfiction well to flow free!
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Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: May 6th, 2137
I stare at the foul creature before me. Normally staring at something directly head on like that would be too predatory for me to do, but after nearly dying of bread yesterday, I didnât feel patient enough to be gentle. The creature stared right back, though in a much more natural, prey-like way, tilting its head slightly as it looked back at me with one eye and let out a long bwok.
âAre you doing this now? Really?â, I ask, knowing full well it cannot respond.
Well, it can, if another bwok it made is any indication. Of course, translators arenât yet advanced enough to translate non-sapient speech, but the intention behind sound is intuitively clear. Itâs telling me to back off. Well, I tried the diplomatic approach at least.
Raising my wing I begin sliding the bird out of its nest, careful to keep any delicate joints out of its reach. It started clucking in upset indignation, struggling back and even trying to peck at me, but after realizing that I will not relent, it hopped out of the box and rushed out of the cattle house, revealing a single dead egg in the nesting box.
With relief, I finally pick up the last egg and head back to leave them at the house. Turns out that while Reginald didnât forget to both lock them up yesterday and let them out today, he did neglect feeding them both times, as well as collecting the harvest. So when I was driven back here in early morning, the first thing I did was making sure they were taken care of. I canât say the horrid birds looked in any way hungry, but the moment I poured the feeding grain for them, they attacked it with more viciousness than Iâd expect of an actual predator. And yet only thirteen were present at the feeding, as the one thatâs usually the target of flockâs ire remained in the cattle house yet again, Reginald leaving it to it, being unaware of its undesirable habit of trying to hatch dead eggs.
With eggs delivered, I flew my way to my usual spot atop the cattle house and could finally relax. The loner beast first made its way to feast on the scraps of the grain that other birds already all have had their fill of, so I wasnât too concerned. Instead I tried to reflect on the morning I had so far.
Waking up at the hospital did make me momentarily panic before I remembered the precluding events. Not that I could properly panic, feeling the most starved Iâve been my whole life, and too weak to try flying out of the window. Thankfully, the breakfast they provided was actually well made with krakotl needs in mind, algae soup alongside a few slices of bread, this time without any horrid human ideas like putting eggs in there. Eggs! Turns out they put eggs in some kinds of bread! Thatâs how I got sick! Eggs! The thought of what I consumed even now made me queasy, and it definitely made breakfast a much less appetizing affair than it would have been without that knowledge, but back then the hunger won over the disgust.
Lena did keep her promise and came to pick me up extra early. Her being a staff member at the hospital gave her some extra privilege, I assume, hence why I was released without any forms needing to be filled out personally. She did have important business today too, which probably explained the earlyness and urgency of her driving me back to her house.
That did not mean I escaped her ire, however. While I couldnât pinpoint anything to identify the man, as Bob was apparently a common name, that offered me bread, we did come to understanding that he was likely either unaware of the nutritional contents of it, or of extent to which the Cure-induced allergy would be affecting a krakotl. Yet, Lena seemed much angrier at me for failing to take any precautions. Turns out that was the purpose of medicinal injectors, epipens as humans call them, that were provided to me. I was supposed to have them on me in case I accidentally ingested contaminated food. Nobody told me that, I was just handed them back when I first received the necessities at the refugee camp and I had no clue what they were for. Then she also berated me for eating random food from strangers and ignoring bad flavors. Turns out that brioche bread isnât actually bitter at all, and that was my body reacting to an allergen in it. Reaction that I unwisely elected to ignore, to further ire of my host. By the end, several new rules of my stay here were made, including not eating things I donât know and always having at least one epipen on me. Thankfully, these rules would be ones Iâd start following even without them being established, so I wonât have to concern myself with being kicked out over accidentally breaking them.
As if following the rules will be enough to make them like you.
Trying to distract myself from thoughts of yesterdayâs incident, I focused my attention on the flock. All birds accounted for, so at least I knew that my absence did not result in the predator coming to snatch one of them. I do not wish to insult my hosts, but Reginald is far from most attentive people in matters unrelated to his job, and I am not sure the birds were watched at all while I was out. Speaking of, my scannings of surrounding treelines revealed no sign of the predator today. Perhaps it departed to hunt elsewhere, or maybe it ventured too close to a more populated area and exterminators dealt with it.
Actually, did human exterminators work similar to Federation ones? I knew for a fact they had them, although they seemed like a market of private organizations if advertisements are anything to judge by. Still, what methods do they use? I know humans oppose fire, and do not believe in predatory taint, but surely they have measures to protect themselves? They are, by self-admission, far from the best natural predator, and I doubt Earthâs non-sapient predators would just leave humans be. Maybe I should call one of those human exterminator agencies and call them in to deal with that predator? I havenât told Lena or Reginald about it, as I didnât want to bother them, but it could pose a serious threat to the cattle, but maybe thatâs the way I could resolve it without involving them?
I have not done nearly as much research into human culture and lifestyle as I should have, considering that Iâve lived on Earth for over half a year now, but the sheer width of the topic always overwhelmed me the moment I opened internet search app to the point where I just closed it right away.
And you expect to start studying again with that attitude? Youâll flunk out even from this primitive predator education course.
Extra loud call from the flock made me refocus my attention on them, but it was nothing. Just the loner getting pecked extra hard and lashing out against assailants, causing a small aimless stampede as all the birds ran around in circles, puffing up at one another. The assailants now looked a lot more like victims. I could understand those birds more than I could humans at least. The loner bird is clearly an odd one out. Itâs the only one repeatedly trying to hatch unfertilized eggs it lays, and it seems to always avoid the rest of the flock. Humans may deny the existence of Predator Disease, but they canât deny that prey and predator both can and will sometimes behave in unnatural ways that may threaten the herd's safety. Or packâs, in case of humans. Birds must know on instinctual level that the lonerâs behavior is unnatural and are attempting to combat the Predator Disease on instinctual level. And since that is natural, I still will not interfere in this, unless the loner bird actually becomes a threat to others or will start getting too injured. The first time I attempted to pick one of the birds up was the only time for a good reason, as I have learned their viciousness all too well.
DING-DING
The sudden loud ring startled me enough that I nearly tumbled off the roof. Who would be coming over now? Lena and Reginald have left together and shouldnât be back until afternoon, and theyâd never use the bell. That means someone must be here for them. But wouldnât they warn anyone to not come over? Especially with their plans for today.
With nobody to answer these questions, I had no choice but to go and discover the answer myself, flying up and over the house, towards the entrance gate. The moment I passed the house roof, I already saw a familiar silhouette. It was the human child from a few days ago.
Thankfully, Lenaâs insistence on me carrying an epipen at all times meant I also carried my satchel at all times too, so I didnât have to go grabbing my holopad, and took it out. But before I could even launch the translator TTS app to type out a greeting, the child was already hopping in place with excitement.
âMr. Krekos! Hi! I came over to visit!â, she exclaimed, showing off her teeth in an unnerving expression of human joy. I simply tried to avoid that and focused on the pad, typing out my response.
âHello, Rosie. Why are you here?â
The question was genuine, as the child was not carrying any more of that honey substance from last time.
âI just came over to visit you! Is that okay? Are Mr. and Ms. Vince okay with it?â
Visit... me? Why? While I was confused, I did instinctively type out a reply.
âThey did tell me visitors are allowed as long as thereâs no trouble when I first moved in.â
And before I could type a followup message asking her why sheâs here, she already let out a joyous roar and ran past me.
âCan I see the chickens?â, she asked, and not waiting for an answer, rushed past the house and towards the cattle yard.
âWait! Youâll scare them!â, I yell after her, but of course without a translator she canât understand me as she runs like she already knows where to go.
And indeed she has, quickly rushing up to the open field where the birds were grazing. Thankfully she didnât start chasing them, instead just approaching the flock from a distance and swaying in place, watching them with what I assume was some sort of predatory excitement at the sight of prey. Maybe thatâs where the contained hunting instinct of human children showed themselves? In chasing small birds? I was still more subdued, considering she stopped shy of causing a small stampede, but still.
âGrandpa used to take me with him! He helped watch this farm until Mr. and Ms. Vince moved in. I like chickens! I think theyâre cute.â, the child told me innocently as she kept swaying and watching as the beasts grazed upon insects of the pasture.
That revelation was... interesting. I suppose it makes sense that between the original owner of this land dying in the bombings and Lena and Reginald moving in, it would be unattended. With nobody to feed and watch over those things, they would be long dead for sure. And it was Rosieâs grandfather... Speaking of. I typed out my words.
âDoes your grandfather know youâre here?â
She seemed to get a weird look as she stopped her excited swaying, fiddling with her hands instead. Looks like I asked the correct question.
â...he knows I am out visiting neighbors.â
That did not answer my question. I squinted at the human child, and she dipped her head as she continued.
â...he doesnât know Iâm here specifically. Or that an alien even lives here...â, she explained, her tone suddenly more sullen.
I couldnât help but squint at that, and it appears that my expression was readable enough that even a human could see the suspicion, as she continued.
âIâm sorry... But if I told grandpa, heâd tell me Iâm forbidden from talking to you, like he forbade me from talking to hedgehog people in town... But I want to talk to you! Youâre nice and youâre a space bird!â
The child was actually working around the rules established by her guardian to come see me. I donât know if I should be glad or concerned. Clearly, the man is anti-alien in his opinions, and Iâd rather that kind of man not know about how close he lives to one. At the same time, Iâd rather not encourage a child for lying to their guardian in order to meet a stranger they know they arenât allowed to interact with... So I just took the middle path with my next message.
âI see. What did you want to talk to me about then?â, TTS speaks for me.
Her stiffened body language disappears, replaced again with earlier excitement.
âI wanna know more about space! And aliens! Itâs all so cool but grandpa says itâs all dangerous because mom and dad died. But itâs not! The hedgehog people were nice, and youâre nice too!â
I wasnât sure about that logic, but my self-preservation told me I shouldnât try convincing her to go confessing. Instead I focused more on her chosen topic.
âI am not sure I am the best person to ask about space. I am not a scientist or traveler.â
âBut youâre from there! You know way more than me. I donât even know what you are called. And thereâs gotta be cool things out in space!â
I let out a sigh. I suppose itâs childlike curiosity at its finest. So unfamiliar with mundane that it is a wonder. I remember being like that about becoming a doctor.
And then you let your teacher die.
I quickly tapped on the pad.
âOkay, I can answer questions, but I may not know everything.â
The noise that came out of the girl was like a squeal of a panicked dossur as she started hopping and spinning in place.
âYes! Yes! Thank you, Mr. Krekos!â Sudden movement did cause me to recoil a bit, which in turn caused her to cease her happy flailing and adjust her little dress. âI dunno where to start though... Hm... What are you?â
...for all my trepidation about not knowing answers, I should have anticipated that the questions she asks will be rather age-appropriate and on the same level as we learn in our first school classes. At least I wonât disappoint her then.
âI am from a species called âkrakotlâ. Weâre avians, as is obvious. Our home is...â dead, gone, reduced to glass and ash by our own hubris â...was Nishtal. A beautiful planet...â
Thankfully she did not question my hesitant pause. Instead she just nodded along.
âWhat about the hedgehog people? I already know venlil, but theyâre the only ones I know name of.â
Hedgehog people in town she mentioned earlier. The only species I could think of that could be seen there would be the gojid. I have no clue what hedgehogs are, but probably some creature with visible similarity to them.
âThey are called âgojidâ, and theyâre from gojid Cradle. Both of our species are... well, used to be known for our might and protecting other species of Federation.â
I am not sure if thatâs something to brag about, considering... everything. But I didnât want this child to get brought down with depressing regrets of our species. Let her know something nicer instead. She clearly lost a lot, but thereâs still joy left in her. I wouldnât want to be the one to ruin that.
âCool! What about other people? I wanna know more!â
And so I went on, telling her about various species, although I mostly focused on ones in this new human-led union, only mentioning kolshians and farsul beyond that. Itâs weird explaining to a child what a tilfish or a harchen looks like, but thankfully my holopad isnât just a method of communicating with implant-less children. With access to interstellar web, I could easily pull up pictures of various alien species to show to her, even if she struggled to believe that some of them were even sapient purely based off of looks. With how varied species in Federation are, and how some of us admittedly arenât too far physiologically from our more primal ancestors.
Among other topics, she asked me to tell her interesting things, which I didnât know much of. I told her about Venlil Primeâs tidally locked status, a rarity among habitable planets, much less homeworlds for species. I told her about the unique architecture of Mileau, designed to accommodate both species of regular size and dossur themselves. I told her about Colia medical academies, some of the most beautiful medical facilities in the galaxy.
I wish I was more well-travelled, but I just wasnât. My whole life, I never left Nishtal until the extermination fleet took me despite my protests. That may have been what saved my life...
Not that I, of all people, deserved it...
âHey! Stop that!â
I flinched as I heard the child yell, but quickly realized that it wasnât directed at me. Instead, Rosie was rushing down towards the chicken flock, breaking up the fight in which the loner was being pecked by a few larger chickens. As the human child approached, the birds stopped their infighting and scattered in different directions, crowing in loud panic and discontent. On instinct, I found myself rushing towards the child, forgetting about translation entirely.
âWhat are you doing?! Donât touch them!â
I didnât want her to hurt the cattle accidentally, and I didnât want her to get hurt by the angry birds in return. But, it seems like the moment the birds scattered, she was satisfied with her actions and turned back to me, wearing another one of her happy smiles.
âSorry, Mr. Krekos, I just saw chickens being mean. Bad chickens.â She explained.
I was baffled. Why would she interfere like that? When I tried that back when I was just starting, that got me pecked! But with her, the birds just scattered. What if they pecked her?
I took the pad out again and started typing quickly.
âThat was dangerous. Why did you do that? What if they attacked you? Why are you even interfering in their natural dynamics?â, questions flowed out of my pad with an artificial human voice.
The girl simply giggled.
âTheyâre chickens! They arenât dangerous. They donât peck that painful and Iâve been scratched worse before. And I have to stop it because bullying is wrong.â
Then she actually noticed that the one that was being attacked wandered close. She casually approached it from behind, the blind spot and just reached down and grabbed it, picking the bird up. I was ready to rush to help the bird when...
âMwah! There, all better.â
She did a human âkissâ on the back of the cattle birdâs neck before releasing it, the surprise of it causing it to rush off. I knew what kisses were, Iâve seen enough of them between Lena and Reginald, but I believed they were gestures of intimate affection, not... what was even that?
It seems Rosie noticed my confusion as she explained.
âYou gotta kiss it so it heals better! Thatâs what mom taught me.â The child displayed that smile of hers shamelessly. With how much I was being exposed to it, it almost wasnât unnerving anymore. Still, it was interesting to learn that kisses are seen as something that helps wounds. I guess some species do have saliva with mild antiseptic properties, wouldnât be too out there to assume humans are the same. And if thatâs the case, maybe thatâs how the kissing tradition started? Exchange of protective fluid between lovers?
âI see. I did not know that.â I responded before letting my puffed feathers relax. Okay, this whole âwatching a human childâ thing is turning out to somehow be even more stressful than I expected at first.
âWait, Mr. Krekos, what time is it?â She suddenly asked, looking up at the sky.
âItâs nearly twelve.â I respond, holopad having a convenient clock for local time.
âOh no! I need to be home soon! Was nice seeing you Mr. Krekos gotta go bye!â
Before I had even a chance at typing out an answer or my own goodbye, the child sprinted away and back towards the entrance. I had to take flight just to keep up, and even then she just turned around, waved her arm at me and then kept sprinting down the road after leaving the gate. I simply offered a small wave of a wing back before locking the gate again. I suppose it is hard to keep track of time without a device or clock nearby...
Well, at least I had the usual peace and quiet now. And learned a bit more about the creatures I was in charge of. I should really try to deal with my aversion to looking things up on the human internet...
Just as I was about to head back out towards the yard, I heard a loud car horn, a familiar one, getting my attention. Lenaâs car. There they were, signaling me, probably having spotted me at the gate from afar. Deciding to make use of my presence here, and hoping to avoid needing to explain that I had a surprise visitor earlier, I went ahead and opened the large gate, allowing the car to enter.
Once it was parked in the usual space, the doors opened and three people came out. Lena and Reginald were both looking a bit disheveled, but their faces carried these smiles that seemed wider than ever before. And third person... Was a stranger. A human I knew of, but never actually met. As he exited the car, a large bag in one hand, he just stared at me, standing in the front yard...
â...okay, I expected many things when I was told you guys housed a refugee, but not this.â
Oh no. Oh no, he was not one of the ones that was willing to overlook an invader that partook in bombing of his planet being allowed to walk free, of course, Lena and Reginald were the weird ones like that, doesnât mean their son wonât be... I felt the panic rising as I realized Iâd need to return to the camp. Why was I upset about that? This was supposed to just have been a way to make money, but now I have a free education program. Do I need to stay? No, but... Why?! Why do I not want to leave?
âKen, you said itâs going to be alright no matter what it is, right? Wanted us to keep it a surprise to meet a new friend?â Lenaâs voice. She should have told him, thatâd give me time to prepare why didnât they give me time why.
âNo, no problems, just, really surprised, thatâs all... uh... hey, buddy, you okay? Youâre really... trembly.â
He was approaching me, and instinct took over as I recoiled, before stuttering out my answer.
âI-Iâm fine...â
...thankfully translators donât translate voice cracks. I hope, at least...
âHey, relax... I have no problem with you being a krakotl, I just didnât think...â He looks over at Lena and Reginald. âCalm down... I can wear my visor if you want?â
Right. Those things humans use to hide their scary faces from us.
âI... Iâm good...â
Why would it last? It almost felt good after all.
There was some emotion I struggled to read on the young humanâs face, as he sighed and shook his head.
âI screwed this up, Iâm sorry. Let... Let me try again.â He straightened out, and adjusted his clothing, before slowly approaching me and giving me a small smile, no teeth showing. âHello. My name is Kenneth Vince and I'm son of Lena and Reginald Vince. I was told youâre a refugee they took in to help out. Itâs nice to meet you. Whatâs your name?â
That... snapped me out of it. Right... He was... not upset at my existence. He was just very surprised that Lena and Reginald werenât. Thatâs a reasonable thing to be surprised about, considering I was surprised about it to this day. I tried to compose myself as I responded.
âMy name is Krekos. I live here as... hired help with the cattle. Itâs... nice to meet you?â
The smile on Kennethâs face widens, though he still refrains from showing his teeth. Instead, he extends a hand towards me. A handshake is a human gesture that I found far from comfortable, but I didnât want to give him a reason to change his mind on acceptability of my existence, so I took it with a wingclaw. He gently took it and held for a few seconds before letting go and sighing again, turning to his parents.
âYou know, I always thought you guys would be empty nesters, but I never thought itâd be that literal.â
That got all three of them laughing, as I just tilted my head in confusion. I was fairly sure there were no empty nests in the house until after I adjusted the attic room for my own accommodations. Still, I took the laughter as a sign that the tense moment had fully passed and let my ruffled feathers slowly rest.
âLetâs head inside. Krekos, weâre having dinner, youâre welcome to join us.â Reginald said, picking up Kennethâs bag. I tilted my head a little and he followed up with elaboration. âWe will be having meat... But thereâs still going to be stuff you can eat too. Itâs a celebration, so I prepared a bit of everything.â
âDad, you shouldnât have!â Kenneth responded with embarrassment.
âNone of that! Our son returned from the war, alive and a hero, and we can have a celebration. Krekos, I know youâre still... uncertain about meat so you donâtââ
âIâll join.â
Wait, who said that? And why did they say that in my voice?
Wait, that was me. Why did I say that?
âThatâs great to hear! Iâve got some nice steamed broccoli and some vegetarian fried rice as sides that youâll enjoy!â Reginald smiled at me and I felt myself shrinking into my feathers. That the humans didnât notice at least, proceeding into the house instead.
Well, looks like I signed my warrant. At least my bag and my epipen were on me in case something at the table triggers the allergy again. Would be rather unfortunate to have it happen two days in a row.
And thatâs how, in just ten or so minutes, I found myself sitting at the dining perch, while humans took seats in chairs, all consuming chunks of roasted flesh and somehow managing to also stuff pieces of equally roasted plants in, and converse with one another. You wouldnât be able to tell on first look, but despite their mouths being relatively small, especially for a predator, it seems they compensate for it by having those be near bottomless in both hunger and small talk.
I am not sure how I managed to shift my focus away from them consuming animal matter in front of me, however vat grown it might have been, and onto their conversation instead, but I succeeded. I suppose that was just part of me going native around predators. Soon, Iâll be the one feasting along with them before I know it, and snacking on those epipens to not die of it.
Like you could ever be on the same level as humans.
âSo, Fahl? Thatâs where you were sent after the Battle of Earth?â Lena asked.
âYeah. From what I heard, we got a light posting compared to guys at Sillis or Mileau. The most I had to deal with was some exterminator insurgents.â
Thatâs right. Since harchen participated in the Extermination Fleet, they were one of those who were occupied by humans during the war. It makes sense that there was at least some ground resistance.
âHonestly, the worst thing out there was the heat. Not the flamethrower kind, the climate. The place was so damn dry and hot. At least exterminators you could subdue or evade. Not so much with the scorching sun!â
I couldnât resist a small chuckle at the idea of a predator being more afraid of hot weather than flamethrowers as I slowly pecked at the vegetables on my plate. Thankfully it was set far enough aside from any meat dishes that no contamination should occur, but I was still examining pieces before putting them in my mouth just in case.
Seems like reacting was a mistake though, as that brought Kennethâs attention onto me. He finished chewing latest piece of flesh and pointed a fork at me.
âSo, Krekos... Where are you from? Cradle was my guess, but I do know there were refugees from other places like Sillis too.â
Thatâs a weird question. Isnât it kind of to be expected for a krakotl to be from our actual homeworld?â
âIâm from Nishtal.â
âNo, no, thatâs not what I meant,â Kenneth chuckled, tossing a piece of broccoli into his mouth and swallowing before continuing, âI meant, where did you live? I kind of assumed you were born there, but itâs not like Nishtal had a chance to send refugees out, and if they did, this is the last place theyâd be.â
Oh... I caught concerned looks of Lena and Reginald, looking between me and Kenneth from both sides. Not only did they not make him aware that I was a krakotl, they also neglected to mention just how I came by my refugee status... Which was just a legal workaround to grant me asylum without unnecessary complications or establishing undesirable precedent. Legally, I may be a refugee, but practically... I am a defector. Lena and Reginald know that, I told them my story before. And while they were weirdly accepting, Kenneth... Fought extermination fleet here on Earth. Personally.
Still, I wasnât about to lie. It took a few moments and gathering mental strength to steel myself, and averting my eyes, focusing on the plate of warm vegetables in front of me rather than the humanâs anticipating stare before I answered.
âI did live on Nishtal. I... I came with the extermination fleet.â I responded, doing my best to avoid looking at him. I did not want to witness his reaction, for some reason the thought of seeing it weighed heavy on my mind.
âOh.â
The response was simple, and had no followup. There was no more clinking of cutlery against plates, or chewing. The only thing hanging in the air of the kitchen was silence, weighing down on me. It dragged on and on... until it just got so unbearable I couldnât take it.
âI-Iâm full... Thank you for the meal.â I quickly said, hopping off the perch and stepping out of the kitchen, quickly making my way to the yard and taking flight.
Fresh air of the outside and rush of it as I flew up and gained speed... I missed that. I knew itâs not safe to just fly over other peopleâs territory, so I corrected my course into doing large sweeping circles over the cattle yard and simply let my wings carry me.
Flying away from any danger is the only thing Iâm good for anyway. The only thing I ever do.
I closed my eyes. With them closed and not focusing on my angle it feels like Iâm actually flying away from all the troubles. Away from humans who barely tolerate my existence, away from gojid who see me as worse than a predator, away from Earth and all its incorrigible customs, away from horrid cattle, away from constant memories...
Flying feels nice. It may be a bit harder than it was home, but itâs still possible. I heard that on Venlil Prime or Mileau itâs much harder. But here? Just an extra flap of wings for every few paces and youâre just fine, free to soar the skies...
Alone. With no one to ever share it with me again.
Slowly I let my eyes open back to the bleak reality. Greenery of surrounding pastures and woods, bright blue skies and farmhouses dotted about here and there greeted me. I lowered my gaze down, focusing on whatâs below. There they were, fourteen brown and black dots spread around the enclosed portion of the farm territory. I am not sure how much time Iâve spent flying in circles and trying to forget things but my wings were feeling a tad sore. Then as I just began slow descent, in same circular motion, I noticed that one of the birds, a familiar one, was being chased by several others. Recounting the morning, I tried putting the knowledge to action, and shifted direction of descent, swooping down. To my surprise, that actually worked, as the moment I got close to the ground, the cattle birds all got much louder and scattered in all directions, including the loner. Who, at least this time, got off unharmed. I suppose such pathetic flightless creatures would fear a flying one much more than they would when I just run up to them...
Swooping at them from the sky like a predator to intimidate them into behaving... Like an arxur warden.
With the fight preemptively broken up, I flutter up to the roof of the cattle house, to my usual position and rested my wings. I didnât see any movement from the direction of the house, so I suppose the family is still busy unpacking. Since Kenneth joined the military just before the Battle of Earth, and Lena and Reginald only moved here after their actual house in city of New York got destroyed, itâd be the first time the human is seeing what is basically his new home. There was a room set aside for him since before I even moved in, and while there is also a guest room... That one did not have a large enough window to fit through, which did not feel comfortable. So when I asked for a space with a bigger window they only had an attic to offer. They seemed uncomfortable letting me live in a tiny room with slanted roof, but I found such space more comforting than I would have a large room with a window not large enough to fit even one fully spread wing through.
I wonder if Kenneth will need as much renovation as I did? The house is built for humans, but he never lived there before. Will he need to buy a more comfortable bed? Getting a proper nesting setup in place of a bed took a bit of effort, but I figured something out. Human sheets were comfortable enough for such, and sitting perches were thankfully not that hard to get thanks to help from the refugee administration. Maybe thatâs the things that Lena went to buy yesterday? Kennethâs preferred room decor?
I looked up to the sky to see the sun beginning to dim. I am not sure if it was me flying that long, or me losing track of time in my thoughts again, but the sun was beginning to set. I began my usual chores, putting out an evening meal and water for the beasts, and while they feasted, ate some myself. I was a bit hungry, having not properly finished lunch and about to skip dinner, but after the earlier conversation, Iâd really rather avoid giving them the opportunity to talk to me.
After the birds had their fill, and by that I mean they emptied the tray as they always do, I let out the call, and they started funneling into the cattle house. The lonely straggler being first to go and hop into its nesting box. I bet tomorrow I will have trouble with getting her out of there again...
I took the moment to gather some eggs the birds left over course of the day, and once that was over and all of them were accounted for, I closed it up. When I flew down over to the house, there wasnât anyone by the back door thankfully, so I just left eggs there, returned the basket, and returned to my room through the window.
Well, at least I didnât get nearly killed today... Thatâs nice I guess?
I was about to check my holopad when there was a knock on the door. I approached and opened it to see... Kenneth. Standing in the doorway.
âUh, hi, Krekos. I just, uh... Wanted to apologize again. I really wish mom and dad told me everything ahead of time... I just want you to know, I have no problems with you whatsoever, yeah? Itâs just. Surprising, I guess, to hear all that. I didnât think there were any defectors from the fleet at all... Just. Uh, please donât worry about me?â He offered me a small smile, showing his canines before quickly correcting himself and doing a closed-lip one. âI didnât mean to bring up bad memories or make you feel unwelcome.â
I had to take a moment to contemplate his words. Was Lena and Reginaldâs weirdness hereditary? He almost reminded me of how Reginald talked to me early on, with constant stumbling over the words, as well as constant reassurances that he is fine with me being here. Couple that with failing to avoid predatory mannerisms like eye contact and smiles like Lena tends to and you get this human. But most importantly and least understandably, there was the general fact of him and them just... welcoming me. I couldnât understand why. I should be one sorry to them.
âN-No, itâs fine... Iâm sorry for... intruding on you and your family.â
âNo, no, dude, youâre fine! I mean, hell, I was considering entering one of those exchange programs before the bombings happened, and even after, well, I did my best at Fahl to be the perfect friendly soldier just there to make sure no more bombs drop on my home and not kill or conquer anyone. And then mom told me your story, and I canât believe it... Just... If you have any issues, feel free to tell me. Iâm not one of those racist pricks that are too pussy to even call themselves HF anymore because they know theyâll get their teeth knocked. I get that there aren't good or bad species, just people. And you seem like a decent guy if mom and dadâs judgment is to be trusted.â His smile widened, though it was clear from tension on his face that he had to take conscious effort to keep teeth hidden. âSo, what I said earlier stands. Friends, right?â
He extends hand forward, for a second time today. I wasnât sure if I knew this human long enough to call him a friend... Any human really. But it also seems like human definition of âfriendsâ is anyone theyâre cordial and peaceful with. Which is weird. Youâd think translators would properly use âacquaintanceâ for that.
Still... We will be living in the same house now. I canât just say no, and... I canât come up with a reason to say no. Even him being a predator and a human is not something I could really say I object to, considering how... mundane that became to me over my time here.
So, with naught on my mind but acceptance of the situation, I extended my wing and grasped his hand with my claw. This time he actually gripped it tightly and moved it up and down, as I saw other humans do occasionally.
âYeah... I guess thatâd be for the best.â I responded, shrugging off the hesitation. Fresh start for a third time, I guess?
The human grinned, forgetting to hide his teeth entirely, but I was ready for it somehow and avoided outwardly reacting.
âCool! Anyway, Iâll try to get some shuteye early, I couldnât sleep on the overnight flight home. See ya!â
And with that he left. Well... That meeting went well I suppose?
I returned to my nest and picked up my holopad, returning to what I was doing. And there it was, something I awaited every day. A notification that I was messaged on mailing app. Opening the letter revealed the schedule for the study program. Which... only had one day marked on it. And a note that the rest of it will be figured out âas we go from thereâ. So itâs not a schedule, itâs just a mark for the day of the first meeting.
While a bit underwhelming, it was still exciting. It would be an all-alien class so I wouldnât have to deal with humansâ incomprehensibility nearly as much, and it would allow me to finally return to pursuing what I actually dreamt of. Even if I wasnât entirely sure that was precisely what I wanted after everything that happened, it was at least something for me to move towards.
...just two days until start. I wonder if thereâs some required reading to prepare?
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NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
http://swiebodzin.info