Buck the singing talking deer

I've been wanting to kinda record myself singing all the parts in Finale but I cannot for the life of me figure out the harmonies!
Specifically talking about the part after Lucifer's part (We can do this, we can build it..) and the part at the very end (Tomorrow it will be a fuckin happy day in hell..) but the whole song would be nice too.
So anyway if anyone knew of a guide through what all the separate characters are singing that would be great 😁👍🏻

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/tmobileisp/comments/1d33dt3/tmog4se_very_weak_connection_even_with_quadmini/
Howdy! I am here to tell you that I (fingers crossed) have good signal now. Good enough, anyway. 42mbps down, 1.7mbps up, good pings. I talk/write too much so TLDR: don't be foolish like me, always throw in a wildcard every so often to mix things up just as a sanity check.
I learned some things, the hard way:

• Never assume the closest tower, even if its 5 miles closer than any other, is your only option. Especially if you try for a bit and get NOTHING from it. I don't know the actual maximum range of these antennas but its probably well over 6 miles in the right conditions, and I assumed I had ONLY one tower north of me as an option when in reality I had several south of me.
• Line of sight > distance, except in extremes, if you're pushing the limits of connectivity. Hills block the north tower for me, but the south towers are basically downhill terrain and a wide gap with a tower on a high hill, just much further.
• Pay more attention to terrain if you have hills and valleys nearby, as a nice valley with a tower far down along it can easily result in a far FAR superior signal. Valleys also tend to have tree gaps from roads, houses making more clearings in the tree cover, and so on.
• The QuadPro truly is superior, if you aim it the correct direction (and not the exact opposite direction you're supposed to). The QuadMini is strong though and can do a lot. I do recommend the QuadPro though.
• Nobody is perfect, certainly not T-Mobile reps/techs and not Waveform either, they'll be helpful but the buck stops with you (the responsibility for finding the right answers, and avoiding the wrong answers, still falls to you).
• Higher is not always better, so don't feel obligated to stay on your roof if you're not finding a good signal there. Finding a perfect little gap between trees, houses, or other obstacles can make all the difference.
• Trust the horizontal positioning of your omnidirectional antenna(s), if you get a signal with one it was probably in the right X, Y, Z location. Use the directional antennas to find the signal source and improve your connection to it by aiming correctly and fine tuning with speed test results. If you're trying to find positioning with a directional antenna, you're adding an extra level of complexity you probably don't need to while testing. Once you do find a good signal WITH the directional as well, you can try higher / lower, left/right, forward/ back movements, just to fine tune and tweak it.

Is the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? It feels like it.
Ultimately I spent probably 10+ hours on my roof trying directions (all mostly northerly), re-trying directions with the QuadPro angled up toward the sky, toward the ground, higher or lower by 2-3 feet, 5 feet to the left, 5 feet to the right, turn around and do the hokey pokey... it was insanity.
What finally clicked for me that set me on the right path was realizing that the tiny blips of 5G I was getting signal were not momentary correct aiming lines at the nearest cell tower (1.22 miles), but they were momentary blips of signal from a tower in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION that was 4.5 times further away (5.59 miles) but with better line of sight. I was getting the blips of signal because sometimes when I repositioned the antenna setup (a tripod setup for temporary testing) I would do a 360 to drag the cable around to get it out of the way. Upon spinning, I would set the tower up again oriented north and check my signal and see that it had gotten a blip somewhere recently, so I assumed (repeatedly) that it was something close to my current aim.
Once I figured out the correct direction, I was trying a whole lot of stuff that direction and sometimes getting enough signal to connect and even do a speed test, but still no speed. I tried moving it around a lot, higher up, lower, and finally in frustration (I was so deep in I was getting to the point I wanted to give up) I just took my whole setup off the roof and went back to ground testing and walking around the deck/yard.
Suddenly, on the deck, boom. Signal. And good signal. I froze, I tweaked, I did a temporary mounting setup to refine the signal, finally got a good position (part of the deck to help mount it) that was stronger and stronger signal. A bit more tweaking later, finally got it.
I think I basically learned a skill. I wish I hadn't had to, but I'm glad its over (I do like to jinx things don't I...)

Today marks exactly 1/4 of a year since my (21Fg mom (51F) died, and the last time I posted on this subreddit. Since then, a lot of major changes have happened in my life and this is mainly just a place to vent.
To start off, there has been a lot of good. I haven’t been drowning in grief, and mainly find myself getting my grief out by listening to and singing depressing songs. I just recently started watching movies and shows again, and have spent a lot of time reading court opinions (I’m a pre-law student). I finished my classes this semester with high marks, and I went to see the Supreme Court oral argument (a life-long dream of mine) during spring break. That trip was the day after my mom’s funeral, and I found a home in the friends and connections I made there - I’m transferring to a school in the DC area and moving to Northern VA (I’m from NY) in about a month and a half. I found a lot of joy in watching the new Fallout, and have a closer relationship with most of my family members.
However, there are still things that get to me. It gets to me knowing that there is no one to fend for me and that I have no choice but to do it all on my own now. It gets to me that, because everything was so quick (my mom died 45 days after her cancer diagnosis), just a year ago my life was vastly different and she was so full of life and energy. There are certain things that remind me of her and just upset me greatly (ex. She loved the Barbie movie). Her birthday would have been June 1st, and it was hard on the whole family. It was hard when I was living on campus seeing all of the other kids go home with their parents, knowing that wouldn’t happen for me as an orphan. Truly, there are certain traumas I haven’t even assessed about that day. I haven’t washed the jacket I wore the last time she hugged me, I haven’t reported her dead to Facebook, I was the first person in the hospital room to hear the death rattle and the first person to acknowledge it out loud as what it was. When they were changing her bed, before they rushed us all back in, I was reading an article about Austin Butler and how he grieved with losing a mother at 22 and then it happened to me moments later. Everything happened so quickly, and sometimes it feels like a bad dream. Sometimes I feel like my old self, but changed. I feel older than all of my peers, even the ones who are older than me.
My own choices upset me sometimes, too. It’s silly to compare it to this, but at the end of the Young Sheldon series when he refused to look at his dead father or give a speech at the funeral - I did the same thing, just shut it out and refused to do anything. I couldn’t see my mom like that, and it was too hard to give a speech even though I wrote probably four eulogies.
There have been good things that make me feel like she was watching over me. Kyle MacLachlan has been my favorite actor for a long time, miraculously, I get to meet him at NYCC this year. I got to come into close contact with some of the Supreme Court Justices and network with people who can help get me internships or jobs. I’ve made some good friends and renewed my passion for law. To be clear, my life isn’t miserable, but there are moments where the grief is stronger than others and it seems to come at random moments. The other day Apple recommended to me a particularly emotionally triggering news article that basically talked about how there have been a spike in rare cancers in people who have had Covid - the first one they talked about was what my mom had, she worked at a hospital and had Covid twice; one time she got it from me.
IDK, just wanted to get that out of my system.

Content Warning: Contains themes of drug trafficking, violence and profanity
Ain’t No Fun When The Rabbit Got The Gun
“Ay yo, Mo-Mo, maybe you should be careful what you wish for. Things is basically goin’ all right now but they can get worse for us real quick I think. We can prolly smooth this shit out. We should try and talk wit them, for starters at least. Shit.”
He just looked at me with something dark and dangerous swimming through the shallows behind his gray-green eyes.
Sure, it would have been easy to just go along with the rest’a them but my pops raised me to play chess, not checkers, from a young age and I learned a few things about thinking two or three steps ahead. I aint no dumb muthafucker. "Taking the long view", that’s what they call it. I never went to college and I don’t know my IQ score (I never even took the SAT) but I like to think I aint just some dumb nigga from down the block. I don’t know where you from but out here, where I stay, you best be at least a little bit smarter than these streets.
So when Big Mo said it was time to take out Nando and Nestor - N&N’s what everyone call them - and the rest of the crew all agreed, I was obligated to disagree. There was only 6 of us but I was still "The 10th Man", as they say, and I knew about the 10th Man Rule. (My pops taught me about that shit too.) I was Mo’s top lieutenant - we went to grade school together back at P.S. 157 in the Grove Hill section of the South Bronx - and we been together for a minute but things had gotten a little shaky between us just lately so I really didn’t want to speak out, but I had to.
“Ay yo, man. If you aksin’ me? I say we let em’ have that shit for now. We got like four more empty blocks going south that we can just stretch out into without bumpin’ up against no one and if we keep on putting out that good shit in the blue Comotosa bags these junkie muthafuckers are still gonna come to us, even if it’s a few extra blocks. Ay yo, I think you already know this, Papi. Let’s try to be smart about this shit for just a minute. Bullets is cheap but pay lawyers cost money, nigga. Big money for real.”
N&N sold coke and dope in our neighborhood of East Tremont way back before we did. Nestor’s dad was slinging out here before I was even born and his boy inherited the family business when pops got sent up to The Hill on an A-1 charge like, shit, at least 15 years back. I think that was his third. I was just a kid then but he still up there and I heard he killed a nigga and he aint comin’ back. Things was all good though until recently, when they started to push down onto the corners we been holdin’ down for years, them blocks between the Concourse and Jermone Ave just south of Tremont. Not even a courtesy convo. Those blocks always been ours but lately we’ve had beef, and now we got bodies.
When Berto got shot in the leg about a month back it set things off to start with but everyone was down with Tiny - that funny fat-ass muthafucker - and they was all heated up real good when he got smoked tryin’ to run off that corner in his baggy-ass pants. Tiny couldn’t run for shit and took three in the back. We just got home from the service with his family and all, everyone cryin’ and shit. Niggas was pissed off for real, out for blood. Six dudes, nine handguns and two cut-downs on the table, everyone ready to go out and buck.
“I done been smart for a long time, Primo. I think you know, else I wouldn’t be here now, right? But maybe this is a time for muscle tho’, not brains. What’choo think, man?” Mo raised his chin towards me. It was half a question and half a challenge. They all looked at me. I knew I was out on a real thin branch to begin with so I just backed the fuck off.
“Ay, obviously it aint my call. I’m just….tryin’ to give you sumthin’ else to think on, Mo-Mo, that’s all. Options, man. I’m wit you however it go, you already know this. Shit. Where I come from? Who my peoples?” I shrugged and lit a cigarette and then just looked down at the floor.
I knew he wasn’t gonna listen.
“All right, let’s mount up muthafuckers. We on the hunt and we aint comin’ back until we drop at least three of them bitches. We gonna start at that busy corner they got on 177th and roll on from there. I know where Nestor’s grandma live and that’s where he stay most of the time. Either there or his girl’s crib down Fordham. I know where she stay too. We gonna spill some blood. Straight up. Yo Willy-Boy, go pull the truck around and we’ll see you out front in like a minute.” He threw the keys to his Escalade to the youngest kid in the room. I had a real bad feeling about the whole thing. It was too quick. They would be waiting, ready.
We all piled into the truck and I took the passenger seat, snicked a round into the chamber of my pistol and clicked off the safety. Mo had one of the cut-down shotguns in his lap - a Benelli 12 gauge loaded with pumpkin balls - as he drove. He didn’t look at me. When we got down to 177th Street and circled the corner I was relieved to see there was almost no one out there. I just assumed the 5-0 came past and business would be back up and running in like ten or fifteen minutes. We started to circle the block.
“Yo, Mo-Mo, let me out up at the corner here. I need to grab a deck of smokes and something to drink. Y’all niggas want anything?” They were all tensed-up and no one wanted shit so I stepped out on the corner and told them I’d be right back, then I walked into the bodega.
I took my time. I stood in front of the cold case for a while and looked at my phone, even though I already knew what I wanted. Then I took a can of root beer up front and made some small talk with the counter man for a while, an old Dominican dude who had been running that place since I was just a kid. We was both Yankee fans. I bought a lottery ticket and then I bought a pack of Newports, opened it and lit one, and by the time I walked back out the store the Escalade was gone, as I knew it would be. This was a real narrow one-way street and there’s no way that Big Mo could just stay double-parked out there without blocking traffic for a minute or two. Like I said, my pops taught me to think a few moves ahead. Chess, not checkers.
I stood out there in front of the bodega for a minute, smoking my cigarette, and then I heard the pop…pop…pop of gunfire and the sound of a car crash, which is basically what I expected. Big Mo was always just a little too hot. A little too quick to get involved whenever shit was jumpin’ off.
I waited to see if the Escalade would come racing up the block towards me but when it didn’t I started to jog in that direction. I heard the police sirens right when I got close enough to see Mo’s Caddilac slammed up against a few parked cars with all the windows shot out and he was slumped over the wheel. The corner was empty by then. I turned around immediately and began walking back to my crib with my head down.
I laid low for a while, “going to ground” as they say, but I knew N&N’s hangouts better than Mo-Mo did. Shit, I knew the pizza place just off Fordham Ave where all them niggas like to eat. I just chilled at home for a minute and watched some movies on Netflix and waited til’ the time was right, about two weeks later.
“What up muthafucka, you aint get a slice for me? God damn, nigga! Who pay yo bills? You know I’m hungry like a Goddamn wolf, always. What’s up? I really gotta aks?” Nando hopped out of his Lexus with his phone in one hand and looked at his man Nestor with both palms raised in a gesture of insult and offense.
That’s when I came out of the alley behind the pizzeria with my hoodie tucked over my head and put down Nestor with three shots to his chest from my Springfield .45 from less than fifteen feet away. It’s a big gun and I knocked that muthafucker straight out his shoes, sent his pizza sailing into the gutter and the rest of them young‘uns just ran off towards the Concourse. Everyone but Nando. He was just too close, which is how I planned it, and he knew that runnin’ was pointless.
He tried to get all hard with me for a minute and I saw his eyebrows scrunchin’ up but as soon as he started talkin’ I just pistol-whipped that muthafucker in the mouth and knocked out a few of his teeth. He fell to the sidewalk and then pulled himself up against the wall.
“Sup’ Nando? Aint no fun when the rabbit got the gun, right?,” I said in a quiet, scratchy voice and then smiled and chuckled at him for a second or two while pointing the barrel of my pistol directly into the center of his face as he wiped away some of the blood running down his chin.
“Shit, I don’t think your boy Nestor’s gettin’ up over there. What’choo think, man? Looks like you fresh out of muscle.” I looked over at Nestor’s dead body lying half on the sidewalk and half in the street, his white NY Knicks jersey turned mostly red at that point and I smiled some more.
“Cuz yo, with y’all gone I think I’m taking over the rest of Tremont Ave, little man. We prolly could’a worked this shit out if you just came past to talk. But nah. Not you. You too big for talk, right? Too late for talk now though I think.”
I didn’t waste no time. I just looked around to make sure no one was witnessin’ up close and then I put two in his dome. I snatched up his pocket money, his rope chain, his rings and his Rolex (I mean, you gotta be stupid to just leave all that shit behind) but I left his Glock .40 on him and then I jogged off towards Fordham Ave with my head down and my hoodie up.
Yeah, Daddy. Fuck Nando. He got his. I paid some of the little shorties from around the way to go and shoot out them street lights the night before so I wasn’t trippin’ about no security cameras. It was dark and I ain't never heard nuthin’ about it afterwards. Nuthin’. I don’t think the police round here care about this shit really. Just one street nigga killin’ another. They prolly like it that way.
I wasn't worried. I had business to tend to anyways. I had new territory to run and I knew I might need to handle up for a minute; make sure no one got no problems with the new arrangements. It was all good though. I had peoples standing with me. I know how to muscle up, for real. Shit. People always need to get paid. It’s just a matter of money, like everything else. We can hold this down. Might be a few bodies but that’s just what they call “the cost of doing business.” Ain’t no thing.
And things was working out just fine, for a while. Only two bodies got dropped, neither of them on my team, when Spring turned to Summer and then it got real hot, real quick. Not the police, but the weather. It’s like that out here. All concrete, no trees.
I was out on East Tremont two blocks off the Concourse one day in late June, just tryin’ to stay cool in the shade and collecting some dollars and paying off some of my peoples when I seen this little kid coming down the block with a grape soda in one hand, minding his own business. I only noticed the little nigga because he looked at me for a second when he got closer. I didn’t really think shit about it. I run all these corners round here and the shorties all know whassup, so kids look at me all the time. Ain’t nothing unusual. They need work but I ain’t got enough to go round for every little nigga in the South Bronx. Shit.
I was just telling Red Light - we call him that cuz he ran a red light and hit an NYPD roller from the 48th a few years back and got his ass beat for real - that my boy Shiny would come past with a re-up package for him in about an hour or two, when all’a sudden this shorty drops his grape soda on the sidewalk and pulls a little deuce-deuce auto from his pants and before I know whassup I catch three in the gut and one skimmed the side of my neck. Little shorty motherfucker tried to put one in my head too but he was already running off at that point and he only took off the top of my left ear.
It didn’t matter. I coughed up some blood and I knew I wasn’t never gonna make it to the ER up at Misericordia. That’s the only Level-1 trauma unit round here and I seen enough niggas get dropped in these streets to know it’s your only chance when you catch a few. Shit. They take you to one of these other B-list hospitals round here they might as well just leave you where they found you.
I only ever done dope a few times back when I was just a kid but Red Light was leaning over me and aksin’ what to do, so I told him to just give me a couple of them blue bags. I didn’t have no works to shoot up with (I ain’t no dope fiend) and no time neither so I just dumped that shit out on a c-note and snorted it up. Then I told Red Light to give me two more. Shit, if I was going out slow I might as well try to kill the pain, right? I couldn’t get those next two bags down though. My throat was filling up with blood by then and I was choking on it.
I remember how everything just started to fade out around then. I seen Red Light take the bloody c-note from my hand along with the rest of the cash I spilled out onto the sidewalk. He started to hustle off down the block as the sirens got closer but then he ran back and grabbed my Patek Philippe wristwatch and my gold chain, that muthafucker. I was too weak to stop him or even to reach back for my Springfield.
I guess I forgot that Nando had a kid, or maybe I just didn’t think about it at all. I don’t know. I had other shit to worry about and I thought he was just a little nigga, and he was, but still big enough to pull a trigger though. It don’t take much.
When the EMTs came rushing up to me on the sidewalk they was aksin’ all sorts of questions but I remember the pretty white lady say, “What is your name?”
I spit out the blood in my mouth and my head was starting to feel real heavy. I just told her in a half-whisper, “Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun…”
Then everything just went black.
THE END

I have been lonely most of my life. I have a long distance girlfriend now, she's the best person ever, but the distance and difference in timezones makes it worse. I don't connect with any of the people I talk to. People rarely hit me up or call me. I workout regularly, I keep a diet, I practice music so that I can sing to my girlfriend, I play video games, I read books. None of this hobbies help me cope with the sharp emptiness in my chest.
I want to be in a fun crowd, I want people to like me, think of me. I wanna be in pictures with friends and I wanna look back at those pictures few years later. I wanna do stupid shit with friends. I'm 26 and I have nothing to look back on, nothing. I have joined clubs, events, volunteering. I talk to people, but it doesn't work like everyone suggests. It's just temporary interactions, nothing that carries forward, I didn't make any new friends with any of these efforts. How do I cope? People rarely change. So I think life will only go downhill for me. I have just made my peace with it. I'm just sitting in my bed, no one to talk to. No one to care about me. Feeling severely alone. I'll sleep, that seems the only relief I can get. Why am I like this?
Somebody please tell me how do I cope with this and not lose my mind.

Today, I am posting about a traumatic meet & greet experience. I joined SA a few months ago and have been in one SR until now, which has recently ended. I resubscribed to SA premium, after spending a few days and mostly ended with Scams (Gas money scams - I didn't fall for this). Thus I was a bit desperate to find an SB.
Spoke to this lady who was a Single Mom, and set up an M&G in a mid-point restaurant, when we first met outside the restaurant, she asked when I would get my allowance, I told her that once we talked and we both liked each other and we decided to go back, I would give the money (I asked if she is not to Sugaring). we went and ordered food. I was uncomfortable with her demeanor, she kept texting and also rushed a lot, and we ended up taking away the food. I was so uncomfortable at this point, and we left the restaurant, and we were in the parking lot. She complained that she should get her allowance, and I told her I could give Uber money. I saw an accomplice of her running towards my car. I immediately went into my car and locked the car. They kept knocking, and blackmailed me, saying that I acted lewdly to her. I was scared at this point. I talked to them, and they wanted 100 bucks, after I sent that they asked for 100 more. I got so pissed off at this point that I raced away with my car.
I am bewildered by this experience and should have been vetted before meeting her. Good god, I didn't engage with her intimately.

Im dating a woman, we have had 4 dates and I feel so good when I’m with her and she tells me the same, there is connection, respect, communication goes well and sex is really good, there are only two things that makes me doubt.
One is that she seems to be a bit dependent on me because she texts me all day, she tells me what she’s doing and what she is going to do, I’m okay with this because she doesn’t get mad if i dont answer so i can live with it.
The second one is that she told me to split the bill on the first date but on the rest she didn’t even try, the thing that makes me think is that she makes plans like going to the cinema and tells me “hey we have to buy the tickets” = i have to buy them… or the last one is that we’re going to visit an emblematic place next saturday and she told me that she has thought that we could stay in a hotel near and spend the night there… i told her about these things of having to pay for everything and she told me that she was sorry and that now she doesn’t want to stay there. We were talking about these things and how i felt about and she told me that she was sorry and told me to forgive her, I told me that she was going to send me a bizum (cashapp in USA) LOL. I said no but I dont know I feel like this situation is a bit weird.
To give you context, im from madrid, spain. Im 26 and she is 22, I have a good job but Im still studying and i pay for all my stuff but i also like to save a bit each month, I dont like to waste money as ive done before and she sings with a famous local group of music plus shes studying still but she makes enough money plus her parents help her and she even owns a house and some fields so she can afford to pay some times also. Other important aspect is that she is diagnosed quiet type BPD.
I dont know if its me because im used to meet with woman that wants to split or the pay one day and i pay another or some cases when they even wanted to pay for everything so i dont know what to think Sometimes i think that I’m so used to be single and do what i want that i see red flags everywhere when I start to feel something about a woman but maybe the red flags are real this time…
Any advices or similar experiences?

I (20F) knew my friend, let's call her Liz (21F) for like two years. Liz had a idgaf attitude which was quite refreshing for me. She had an ex bf she talked to regularly even when her present bf (John, 22M) was visibly uncomfortable with it. I have seen them fight ugly over it. Then she also talked for hours and hours with some other dudes and flirted with them in front of me, when i kept waiting for her to talk with me. I tried to explain her that she isn't on the right track but she blamed it all on John because he didn't shower her with enough time, care and efforts because he was busy with his internship in a different city. Well, when I asked Liz for a small party because she and John have been together for three years now, she told me he doesn't have the money for it and she asked him to buy her a gold ring rather than wasting it on petty stuff like this. I kept my mouth shut.
One day, I was at Liz's when I met her childhood friend, Brian (22M) and we hit it off. Brian is a push over. He is a overly good guy which sometimes makes him dumb. When John was away for his work, Liz used to bombard Brian with calls and texts to go out with her. Liz used to ask Brian to buy her stuff promising that she'll return the money which she didn't do until I came around. She was bad at math so 100 bucks would be 60 for her. But things went south pretty soon. Liz began to behave vile with Brian, she cussed him out, talked shit about his family and took every single chance to tell him off. Mind you, it was her personality. Once we three were out to buy clothes and Liz made Brian wear everything before she bought it for John and I was low-key enjoying watching Brian in new clothes and all but when I told her I gotta buy some stuff she said her legs are aching so she can't go on with us. She waited 1+ hours in the subway for Brian so she could take him to buy some other stuff.
One incident broke the camel's back. I invited Liz, John, Brian in our house for an occasion and when I was attending other guests, John "jokingly" pushed Brian when he was standing at the very edge on the roof. God saved Brian that day. Even when they were arriving, Liz asked Brian to pay the fare for them because they apparently had no money but immediately ran into a cafe and paid for their drinks when Brian waited for me on the street. I just stopped talking with Liz. She didn't feel my absence and made a scene about how I changed Brian. Why? Because he burst out when John intentionally spit at him. Old Brian would've never said anything but now he did. Why? Because I dated him. It caused a huge fight, Liz's mother called Brian an alcoholic when Liz smoked weed, cussed out her entire family but the bad ones were I and Brian. The friendship went downhill.

I (46f) have had chronic pharyngitis and ear pain since the beginning of Feb. It fluctuates but never goes away. I’ve been to an ENT, had a CAT scan, MRI, Ultrasound, endoscope, blood tests and swabs and they haven’t found anything that could be causing it. It’s mostly causing pain on the upper back of my throat and my ears feel pressure, like I’m always on the verge of a throat infection. My voice is fine, I can talk and sing all day (I’m a music teacher) without getting raspy or croaky. But there’s no visible redness, swelling, lesions or inflammation in the area.
The ENT has handed me off to a neurologist but I can’t get in until November (he’s said I have confounded him). It doesn’t feel neural though like I would expect there to be sudden lightning flashes of pain but this is dull and constant.
The constant pain is really getting me down, as well as making wonder if it’s all in my head. Is there any explanation for my constant pain? Work has been awful this year, could it be stress or anxiety? Thanks.

"ATTENTION:
“sorry for cutting off what you were watching, however, today we have some head-exploding news... everyone must know the classic sonic, you know, the naked blue hedgehog that runs at the speed of light, recently we had a couple disappear due to a of these games, a supposed tape sould by a soul, demon, alien, something like that, which supposedly captured a blue-haired boy and the daughter of the famous daddy dearest, we talked to the father himself to find out what could have happened, not However, he says they had this tape around for about 3 years now, asking SEGA about it, they just said they would never sell something like that, follow our networks to find out more news…”
Vs Sonic.EXE PLUS
Story Mode
Too slow - Sonic.exe Vs Bf (there will be an angel island session, where the entire style of the mod remains as it was in V1)
You can’t run - Sonic.exe Vs Bf (in the green hill section the mod is in the style of sonic advance (just for a change), and sonic.exe is in its faker form)
Trible trouble - Xenofanes and his souls Vs Bf (nothing much in the song, but at the end where Bf escapes from sonic.exe through a giant ring, running away, for now…)
Sound Test
Lord X week
Cicles - Lord X Vs Bf AND TAILS (yes, in this song, Bf will be accompanied by tails, and there will be a stake with Gf's head, there was a section where Lord X will be in his False form)
Hellbent- Lord X Vs Tails (Hellbent will be played by Tails because Bf is killed by Lord X, leaving Tails alone, who takes the microphone from Bf's remains, and fights in his place)
Majin week
Endless US - Majin sonic vs Bf (same song)
Endless JP - Majin sonic Vs Bf (An EPIC remix, this version is just playable in Freeplay)
Endeavors - Majin sonic and Batman sonic Vs Bf (the mechanic of future and past will continue)
Tails doll week
Sunshine - Tails doll Vs Bf (the song starts with tails doll on the ground, then he gets up and continues singing, besides, the song stays the same)
Soulless - Tails doll Shorts Vs Bf (you must know, that version of soulless DX)
Fleetway week
Chaos - Fleetway super sonic Vs Bf (have more lazer mechanic)
Metal sonic kay Week
Metallic madness - Metal sonic kay Vs Bf
Starved week
Prey Bad future - furnace and Starved eggman Vs Sonic (for music, as it is inspired by sonic cd, in the beginning there could have been a cutscene like the one in the original game, you know, those beautiful ones)
Fight or Flight - Starved eggman Vs Tails (nothing new)
Prey Good Future - Furnace and Starved eggman Vs Sonic (nothing new here again, just a warning, it's just a fun remix, not the true ending)
Fatal error week
Fatality - Fatal error sonic Vs Bf (same Thing)
Needlemouse week
Round-a-bout - Needlemouse Vs Bf
Fnas week
Trapped - Salvage sonic Vs Bf
Secret history week
Mania - Secret History tails Vs Bf
Ashura Week
Terminal - Ashura, Ciborg Tails and Wechnia Vs Bf
Spirits of hell week
Extinction - Exeller vs Bf and Pico
Sharpy showdown - Exetior vs Bf
Nazo Week
Unleashed - Nazo Vs Super Bf
Mephiles week
Darkness - Mephiles Vs Pico
Possessed amy week
Possession - Possessed amy Vs Bf
Tails diary week
Don’t read - Tails dark diary Vs Cream
Hallowen Week
Polite - Undead tails Vs Halloween costume Sonic
Bratwurst week
Gods will - Bratwurst.exe Vs Gf
Metal virus week
Infection - Infected sonic Vs Amy and Bf
EL pendrive azul week
Epileptic - sonic pendrive (vibingleaf version) Vs Bf
Hacked cartridge week
Truth - sally Vs Bf
Chinelin week
Torture - Chimera Vs Sonic
2011 week
Genesis - 2011x Vs Bf
Sunky week
Milk - Sunky.mpeg Vs Bf
Cereal - Sunky and sally Vs Bf
Sanic.exe week
Too fest - sanic.exe Vs Bf
Bootleg week
Wingardium leviosa - obama sonic 10 Vs Bootleg Bf
EXE week
Faker - Faker Vs Bf
Black sun - EXE Vs Bf (near the end, he hits Bf in the eye, leaving him blind in one eye)
Godspeed - EXE Vs Bf and Gf
Final Act
Final escape
Xenofanes got tired of you, and now, in the destruction of everything, he gathers all his forces (becomes hyper sonic.exe) and is ready to KILL YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND
and… you dye… yeyyy
Nostalgia Weel:
Too slow Legacy - Sonic.exe Vs Bf
You can’t run Legacy - YCR Sonic.exe Vs Bf
Execution - Lord X Vs Bf
Endless OG - Majin Sonic Vs Bf
Vannila Milk - Sunky.mpeg Vs Bf

I saw my school talent show 2 days ago. People were singing songs from different artists and made me want to sing a will wood song but problem is I’m not sure which on. I talked to my friend about it and I said front street because I remember most of the words but then we talked about the questionable lines “HERE’S TO MY LADY AND I’M COMING INSIDE” so yeah I’m not sure would surbia be good or Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave? Oh or Yes to err is human so son’t be one!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Things have become complicated recently and that’s saying something considering what we’ve been through up until now. We needed to set out early to avoid Mrs. Sheaver and her goons. Before we did, we snuck over to Roscoe’s place. His apartment number was on his house key so it wasn’t hard to find. Upon stepping inside, we were greeted by the site of several hunting rifles resting by the couch.
“That checks out,” Van said.
I went to check Roscoe’s room while Drake went into the kitchen.
“He's got some leftover pizza. Wait, no never mind, it's gone bad.”
Over Roscoe's bed hung a painting of Donald Trump. This wasn't surprising. I went to his closet, opened it, and found several sleeping bags and camping packs there. I came back into the living room with them.
“Hey, I think we can use these,” I said, tossing one to Drake and another to Van.
The former caught it and the other fumbled, dropping it. He squatted to pick it up.
“Gus?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you seen the kitchen? Roscoe had a ton of bottled water for some reason.”
“Oh yeah, I think he mentioned one time that he heard water from the sink makes you gay. I can't lie. He was weird.”
“Yeah, so you want to grab some cases?”
“I can carry a few. Just keep an eye out for trouble.”
I stacked some and lifted them. We also found some metal thermos cups that Van held onto.
“I don't see anyone,” he said after stepping outside.
We followed him out, making our way to the Hummer. Drake had his gun in hand and was behind us constantly looking over his shoulder. We got to the Hummer and unlocked it. That's when a bullet whizzed past my temple and hit one of the tail lights.
“So you were holding out on us,” Mrs. Sheaver screamed from her kitchen window.
“Fuck, get inside now,” Drake yelled.
Yanking the doors open, we threw our stuff in before jumping inside ourselves. In the rearview, we could see the rest of our neighbors armed with bats and pipes chasing after us.
“Start the fucking car,” I urged, and then another hole formed in the back windshield.
Drake cranked the ignition and backed up. Then we were out of there like cows escaping a slaughterhouse. We didn't even slow down when we came to the gate. Drake crashed right through it as the screams of Mrs. Sheaver and the others became faint cries.
“Okay, so we're on track for the most part,” I said. “Do you think the convenience store is too close now? I don't want them coming after us.”
“Guys?” We heard Van interject.
We glanced in the rearview again to see several cars gaining on us. The one at the front was a van being driven by Mrs. Sheaver.
“Oh my God,” Drake said. “Gus, lock and load.”
“Already on it. Be mindful of the tires.”
I loaded a rifle and got ready. The sound of metal on metal echoed throughout the car as we were being fired at. Drake tried taking several turns to lose them, but they stayed on our tail. I took a deep breath, then aimed out of one of the windows and shot at one car's tires. I made my mark, resulting in it swerving and crashing into another vehicle.
Both spun out of control until it was only Mrs. Sheaver left.
“Hold still,” she yelled over the rushing wind. “My eyes aren't what they used to be.”
Unfortunately for her, there was a pothole in the road. It damaged her front tire, causing her to swerve and plow straight into a tree at full speed. We stopped just in time to see it come crashing down, breaking through her windshield.
“God damn,” Drake said.
“I mean, she might still be alright,” I commented.
The tree had gone through some wires. One of them fell on a branch, setting it ablaze.
“Well, at least it was quick.”
“Oh Christ, I'm burning,” Mrs. Sheaver shrieked.
We sat there in silence listening before her cries died down.
“Drake, what time is it?” I asked.
“About twelve till six.”
Today was going to be a long day. We got back on track with our plan and proceeded to the convenience store. We got out and surveyed the damage.
“This thing's tough,” I said.
“Does anyone want to talk about how messed up that all was?” Van asked.
“Yeah, it was pretty fucked,” Drake replied, “but what's done is done. Let's grab what we can and get out of here.”
We tried the door, finding it was unlocked. Inside, a far-from-pretty sight was waiting for us. Blood stains covered the wall behind the counter. Out of morbid curiosity, I peeked over it, seeing only a hand and a shoe with the foot still attached. A shudder ran through me.
“Hey, Gus, what do you see back there?” Van asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
We started surveying what would be best to bring with us.
“I think we should focus on protein,” I said.
“Like trail mix?” Drake replied. “It’s got fruit too.”
“I hate trail mix, too many raisins,” Van complained.
“What about these?” I asked, cocking a thumb to some protein bars.
Something else caught my eye.
“Hang on,” I said, bending over and picking something up. “We can’t be caught dead without this.”
I held up a pack of toilet paper.
“Good thinking,” Drake said, “Van, grab some, will you?”
Van stared down at it with a grimace.
“I bet it feels like sandpaper,” he grumbled but began gathering as many as he could anyway.
While he did, we filled our three bags with what we could. Then we took everything back to the Hummer and got back on the road.
“Hey, Drake?” I said as he was closing the trunk.
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking. If this works and we make it out of here, we’re not exactly going to be well off afterward. Do you think maybe we should see if a store happens to have some loose change lying around if you catch my drift?”
I gestured to the convenience store. About six minutes later, we were driving down the road.
“So there was about six hundred bucks in the register which makes two hundred for each of us,” I said, “and there’s more in the safe if we can get it open.
The safe was in the back next to Van.
“I can’t believe you guys stole this from the store.”
“It’s not like anyone’s using it,” Drake said. “Besides, the guy who ran the place was stingy as hell. One time, he tried to charge me double on something. I had to argue with him about it for two minutes straight so we aren’t beating ourselves up about this.”
“How do you think we should get it open?” I asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure something out.”.
We guessed that there were blockades set up at every exit out of town. We also assumed that there would be more people active where we tried to get out last time. Instead of going there, we went to the woods on the opposite side of town.
“Remember, there’s no turning back after this,” Drake said, “so only take the necessities. I still want to see about opening the safe, though.”
While he was talking, I was glancing among the trees. One of them seemed odd to me and swayed strangely in the wind. Then I realized with a chill that it was moving.
“Lanker,” I choked out.
Drake and Van turned in time to see it sprinting out of the woods. In a flash, it was to us. We got out of the way as it swiped at us with one of its clawed hands. Its nails dug into the Hummer’s back door, yanking it out. I was thinking maybe if we kept still and tried to keep from shitting ourselves, it would go away.
Drake, thankfully seemed to be on the same wavelength as me. Van, however, was not. He screamed, darting away. The lanker pursued him, giving us time to arm ourselves. As Van was circling back around, we raised our weapons, squeezing the triggers. As soon as it was focused on us, we knew to split up to divert its attention.
Drake managed to get some shots into it before he had to retreat. While the lanker went after him, I aimed at its legs. This appeared effective as it let out a cry of pain that sounded like when a microphone is held up to a speaker. The good news was it was no longer after Drake. The bad news was I was now its target.
“Drake, shoot it in the back of its knees,” I yelled, sprinting as fast as I could.
I slid under the Hummer and came out the other side. In spur-of-the-moment planning on my part, I opened the back door and slammed it shut. This succeeded in fooling the lanker as I snuck behind it, getting its weak spot point blank. Unfortunately, I misjudged the distance. The next thing I knew, it was swinging at me with an object in hand.
I managed to raise my gun to block it and if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this. Wood splintered as it was broken in half. I observed the world doing several cartwheels as I was rolling along the ground before coming to a stop at the base of a tree.
“Gus,” Drake yelled.
The pain was so immense I couldn’t even get a breath out. The Lanker was about to rip into me until Drake distracted it.
“Guys,” Van cried out in alarm.
I tilted my head up, seeing a metric shit load of zombies racing towards us.
“Welp, we're fucked,” I thought.
In an unexpected turn of events, though, the lanker was now shrieking at them. It went after them, grabbing two by their heads, crushing them like watermelons under a hydraulic press. I took the opportunity to examine where I'd been struck. Touching my abdomen yielded pain. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken, just some bruising I would need to deal with later.
Guess I got lucky in that I was knocked away instead of grabbed. If the lanker was smarter, this would be a different story. The other zombies were crawling all over it, gnawing as they did. A crawler saw me in a vulnerable state and tried capitalizing on the opportunity. It pounced and my butt clenched. Then a bullet went through its head. Drake rushed over, helping me up.
“Thanks again, man.”
“No problem.”
“Let's run into the woods while they're occupied,” Van said.
“But our stuff is over there,” I told him. “We won't last long without it.”
We both looked at Drake.
“Let's see how this plays out a little longer,” he said.
For a while, it seemed that the lanker would be the victor. Then its knees buckled as they were chewed through. We watched on, mouths agape. In a move of desperation, it picked the safe back up, swinging it wildly. The zombies previously all over the lanker were now a red paste and it was crawling feebly on the ground.
“I got this,” Drake said.
He went over to it and shot at its legs, blowing them off. It tried swiping at him, but he'd already backed away. It attempted to stand on its stumps. When it lifted its head, Drake jammed the barrel of his gun down its throat, pulling the trigger. With a last twitch, it was no longer a threat.
“Are you sure it's dead?” Van asked.
“I blew out the back of its head. Of course, it's dead,” Drake replied, then threw a rock at the lanker to be sure.
“Yep, as a doornail.”
Drake came over and helped me up.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I'll live.”
“Good, let's get our things.”
Van was already doing that.
“My God is this heavy,” he grunted as he pulled it onto his back.
“Get used to it,” Drake told him.
I glanced around in case we'd have to deal with any more unexpected threats and that's when I noticed the dented-to-shit safe lying on its side with the door open. It didn't take long to count the money inside. There was a little over eight thousand in cash that we divided among the three of us. Thus, our hike began at last. We walked for eight hours, encountering zombies along the way.
Most of the time it was simple to pick them off. The biggest problem came when some tried attacking us from above. I am so glad me and Drake's reflexes are on point. Something unusual we stumbled upon is that whatever has been zombifying people has spread to animals. Long story short, there was a zombie grizzly bear ripping into another bear and its cubs. We thought we would have to deal with this monstrosity.
Luckily, it didn't appear to find us appetizing. That said, it was emitting a deep growl after it noticed us so we got the message to steer clear of it. Eventually, Van told us his feet were aching and suggested we should rest.
“I guess we can stop for a bit,” I said. “Right, Drake?”
“Sure, I was getting hungry anyway.”
We sat down, setting up our packs to rest against. Me and Drake took out some trail mix while Van unwrapped a protein bar.
“Hey,” he said to us, “I got some of these if you want to add them to your water.”
He held up some flavoring packets.
“Hell yeah,” Drake replied, “Toss them here.”
“Actually, I was thinking I could take care of it for you while you guys set up camp since it's going to be dark in a couple of hours.”
“Good point. Gus, help me gather some firewood.”
We did so and threw them into a pile. Van came back up to us with our thermos cups.
“Drake, yours is blue raspberry and Gus, yours is green apple.”
We thanked him and enjoyed the rest of our meal. Halfway through my drink, I was feeling lightheaded.
“Hey, Drake, do I look alright?” I turned to him and noticed he too was in the same condition as me.
“I don't…” he replied with his voice trailing off.
We passed out. When we awoke it was dark and Drake was cussing up a storm.
“What happened?” I asked, shaking off my fatigue.
“That son of a bitch robbed us,” Drake replied. “Look.”
He showed me our wallets which were stripped of cash.
“And he left this.”
I was handed a crumpled piece of paper with this message crudely written on it.
“Sorry to do this. Years working for the mayor have taught me people can be bribed so that's what I'm doing. You won't find me again, but I wish you the best of luck.”
I clenched my fist around it.
“He robbed us.”
“Yeah, I just said that.”
“Well, what do we do now?”
“Get moving, I guess. Can't believe this. How do we get our shit stolen twice in two days?”
We wondered how Van would survive on his own. Then again, he did have a snack for avoiding trouble as he was able to before we bumped into him. After walking for some time, we saw an orange light in the distance.
“I think that's a campfire,” I exclaimed. “Do you think it might be Van?”
“If it is, I'm going to have some words for him,” Drake replied, patting his holstered handgun.
We stepped into the clearing to find a bunch of people standing around a bonfire. They were wearing hooded white robes and turned when they heard us.
“Oh shit, it's the fucking Klan. Drake, get behind me,” I urged, stepping in front of me.
One of them stepped forward, revealing the face of a grinning man.
“Worry not, friends. You have no reason to fear us.”
He explained that his name was Jeff and he founded their group, cult really, of survivors and they called themselves The Uplagued. Every one of them smiled from ear to ear and asked us if we wanted to stay.
“No disrespect, we'd love to, but we need to keep moving,” Drake told them.
“That's a shame,” Jeff responded. “We were about to pass around the calumet.”
For those who don't know, that's another word for the peace pipe used by the natives. Drake and I exchanged a look. Ten minutes later, we were sitting in a smoke circle. When Drake's turn came, he took a rip from it worthy of a dragon about to breathe fire. I got in a good one when my turn came.
Now, I'm high as the moon typing this on my phone. After what we've been through today, it's nice to have something to take the edge off. I'm not sure what we're going to do about our financial situation if we make it out. Hopefully, we come up with something. For now, the munchies are calling my name.

I was singing in the passenger seat of my sisters car I’m so confused they said “dangerous activity” I’m literally singing tipsy in my sisters car I’m not drinking or anything in the car just singing and talking in the car. I’m lost. Least time this happened they said I used hate speech for saying that I thought the guy my friend said was hot was probably gay and they said the word “gay” was hate speech. This time I was doing nothing wrong I’m lost and pissed off.

I expected to have this posted very soon after my trip, but time got away from me! Even the prospect of writing this out is kind of daunting lol so props to all of you who post your trip reports (and I greedily read every word!). Whenever people say stuff like “this is so long, I don’t expect anyone to read this!” I’m always like “of course I’m going to read every word and love it!” But now I am the one telling you guys, this is very long and I can’t imagine who out there is going to read this lol
Thursday 5/16 - Travel Day
Flew to Naples where my friend lives. Plan was to stay two nights with her before we headed to Orlando for one “girls night” before my solo trip began.
Saturday 5/18 - Travel to Disney!
Left at 6:30am to drive to Orlando. It was her and her two girls (age 11 and 5). We had reservations for one night at Beach Club. We bounded as princesses (Tiana, Ariel, Aurora, Jasmine). We walked to Epcot at 11:30am and that short walk was INCREDIBLE. I can’t believe how close the park is!!! Beach Club is amazing for location alone! Here are the things we ate and experienced:
~~Toasted Pretzel Bread (Germany): 20/10 This was absolutely delicious and over the course of the week I think I ate it like 5-6 times lol
~~Raspberry Radler (Germany): same as above, LOVED
~~Harvested a Pearl (Japan): This was seriously THE BEST experience! We all got them put in necklaces. One of her daughters got a gray/blue pearl and it was gorgeous. Lots of attention when she showed mine bc it looked big and she kept moving it up the sizing plate. I ended up with an 8.5mm pearl! It was very exciting and lots of celebration by the workers and crowd. They said it was the largest of the day. Honestly, I recommend this to ANYONE. It was less expensive than I expected, $29 to harvest the pearl, then I think I spent $23 on a cage for it, and I chose to buy a necklace for it to wear right away and that was $26. I am 100% doing it again in September when I go back for my 40th birthday (and I told my hubby he is doing it too and will love it!)
~~Lemon Drop Shandy (The Citrus Blossom): 7/10 good! nothing exceptional, I liked the radler better
~~Cinnamon Roll Bites (Brunchcot): 6/10, I was so excited for these but they were just average. I think maybe if we had a batch that had more frosting it might have been better. They weren’t bad, just not outstanding. Loved the bacon crumbles though!
~~Guardians of the Galaxy: the only reason this is making it into the notes is bc of my Reliefband. I get motion sickness. I tried Guardians last fall (after 2 dramamine) and still had to sit for about an hour afterward to chill and not be sick. I decided to purchase a Reliefband (classic version, Amazon, $129) to try out this trip and see if it would work. I was very skeptical. But I am here to say it worked 1000000000%. I was so blown away. Absolutely ZERO feelings of motion sickness during or after the ride. Kept my eyes open the whole time (it’s the visual speed that usually gets me, screen rides get me too). I am not a big thrill ride person, so incidentally this time around I realized this isn’t the ride for me. I just don’t enjoy it that much, BUT the big deal is to find out that is my ride preference and has nothing to do with motion sickness. It was so liberating not having my motion sickness control me! Ooooo, also, I was absolutely ecstatic that I got the song I’ve always wanted!! Everybody Wants to Rule the World!
We left Epcot at 4pm and went back to the resort to check in. First of all, it’s so gorgeous there. The room was wonderful, the lobby is beautiful and smells amazing. I wish we had the money to always stay deluxe bc I get why people love deluxe resorts so much!
Dinner at Ale & Compass (Yacht Club): 7/10, again, food was decent but nothing exceptional. Actually the Parker House Rolls were 1000% worth the hype, I got the NY Strip Steak though, asked for medium rare and I think it was more medium and that ruined it a bit for me (also taste was just meh)
We spent about an hour and half swimming at Stormalong Bay after dinner. That pool is seriously incredible. I never want to experience anything but a sand bottom pool again. The. Absolute. Best.
18,525 steps
Sunday 5/19 - Girls Leave and Solo Begins
We checked out and then had a Beaches and Cream reservation at 11:30am. We shared the Bacon Ranch Totchos (7/10 tasty but too much topping for me), Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (grilled cheese 9/10, tomato soup 6/10), aaaaand the Kitchen Sink Sundae (9/10)! Was it smart for us to get this with only two adult women and two children? Probably not. But boy was it fun and delicious and we put way more of a dent in it than I thought we would lol. A little siren goes off in the restaurant when one is brought to a table and there is a back and forth with kitchen staff and customers (they say something about a “whole can of whipped cream” and customers answer back as a group) and it was a very fun vibe! In fact that is one of the reasons I rate it a 9/10 haha, bc I think there is just too much whipped cream and a lot of the ice cream is just buried.
We swam at Stormalong bay for 2 more hours before they dropped me off at All-Star Movies and they headed home to Naples.
Magic Kingdom (solo)
I got into my room at All-Star Movies (Love Bug building 6) and tbh I didn’t mind its distance to the bus stop, maybe bc it was just me, but I didn’t have a problem with it, I thought the walk was quick enough. I was in Magic Kingdom by 5:30pm.
6pm PeopleMover (walk on) 5 min posted
6:30pm Pirates of the Caribbean (walk on) 10 min posted
6:45pm Thunder Mountain (10 min) 15 min posted
7:10pm Enchanted Tiki Room (10 min) 15 min posted
7:40pm Haunted Mansion (20 min) 20 min posted
8:25pm Got the Sweet and Spicy Chicken Waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow: 7/10, the taste was great, I don’t like spicy stuff but this wasn’t too spicy. The only con is that the bottom of the waffle was kind of soggy and I didn’t really eat that part.
8:55pm in spot for HEA
9:40pm Peter Pan’s Flight (25 min) 10 min posted
Spent a lot of time in gift shops and doing photopass on my way out of park
11:10pm On bus back to resort
19,626 steps
Monday 5/20 - Animal Kingdom
6:45am On the bus to AK
7:22am Scanned into the park
7:32am Nav’i River Journey (6 min) 10 min posted
8:05am Kilimanjaro Safari (18 min) 25 min posted, was off the safari at 8:45am
9:05am Pongu Pongu - tried the Pongu Lumpia! I know this snack is controversial, it seemed like it was up my alley, but others have said the same and didn’t end up liking it so I was expecting to ultimately dislike it. I enjoyed it! 8/10 would eat again!
9:15am Gorilla Falls Trek, walked for 20 mins
9:45am It’s Tough to be a Bug - this was my first time, honestly, I think I have read articles and seen so many vlogs calling it startling and scary that I think I was expecting the worst so much that it wasn't….that….bad? I didn’t mind it? (side note: the ONLY time this entire trip that I wore tennis shoes was the morning of Animal Kingdom. My feet were hurting by the time I went into this show, so while it was going on I switched to my flip flops and my feet took a complete 180 degrees. I wore flip flops the rest of the trip and had zero issues with sore feet. I guess I’m just a flip flop girly???)
10:15am Feathered Friends in Flight - was actually heading to 11am Lion King but a CM I passed was announcing to people that the bird show was starting at 10:30 so I decided to detour there. It was great!
11:00am Maharajah Jungle Trek, walked for 20 mins, this was the most beautiful trail for me, absolutely lovely!
11:30am Eight Spoon Cafe - got the BBQ pork MacnCheese, found a spot to sit down by Drinkwallah and that is my go-to spot now. It is shaded and the carved tables and chairs are so pretty. I really like that little (hidden?) sit-down area!
12:00pm Discovery Trails, walked for 10 mins, then looked around shops in Discovery Island and Asia
12:50pm Rafiki’s Planet Watch (5 min) I did not get off the train, at this point I needed a break but I did not want to go back to resort, so I sat on the Wildlife Train and drank lots of water, I went around the circuit twice, got off at 1:30pm
1:45pm Festival of the Lion King, got in line for 2pm show, this was my first time…it BLEW MY MIND, absolutely loooooooved this. So so much. It was wonderful!
3:00pm Dinosaur (5 min) 15 min posted - first time! Honestly, I have heard so many disparaging comments about this ride I expected it to be terrifying, painful and just not fun. Again, I had an opposite experience! I love dinosaur movies (like Jurassic park) so I really enjoyed this one. I hope it is still there to ride when I am back in the fall!
3:30pm Nomad Lounge (added myself to waitlist on app, there was no “wait” got the text pretty much immediately) This was such an important break out of the heat. I spent an hour here to recharge. I drank a lot of water, had a delicious cocktail Lamu Libation 10/10, Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl 8/10, and Churros 10/10. I was able to charge my phone in an outlet at the bar. It was the perfect break!
5:00pm Left AK and headed back to resort
7:20pm Scanned into Hollywood Studios, walked around, looked through gift shops
8:20pm Catalina Eddie’s: got the Toffee and Coconut Blondie to take with me into Fantasmic! You guys…this is an absolute favorite of mine! My friend got it at NYE and forced me to try it (I didn’t want to bc I am not a coconut fan) but I fell in LOVE. Definitely a 20/10. I was so excited to get it again this trip. If you don’t love coconut, I find it very mild, you should definitely give it a shot.
9:00pm Fantasmic!
10:00pm Got on the bus to All-Star Sports instead of Movies bc in the gift shop at my resort the worker had told me I could find the pin I was looking for at the Sports gift shop. It was the 30 yr Anniversary pin of All-Star Resorts. I bought that and walked all the way back to my building, was back by 10:30pm
31,437 steps
Tuesday 5/21 - EPCOT
10:00am Scanned in at Epcot - kind of embarrassing…I was “that person” to hold everyone up. The past two days I did not need a park reservation, so I didn’t even think anything of it, but they told me one was required this day and he was setting one up for me on his ipad but then it kept erroring out, I felt TERRIBLE.
10:25am - Living with the Land (5 min) 5 min posted
10:50am - Nemo and Friends (15 min) 15 min posted
11:15am - Journey of Water walkthrough
11:40am - bought the Spike’s Pollination Exploration Scavenger hunt, it was nice bc it was 30% off with the rest of the F&G merch and I got my 20% discount on it. I mean it was only $10 regular price but I was still pretty happy lol
11:50am - got food!!! Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler (Germany) still 20/10, Frushi (Japan) 8/10, Fruit Punch Ale (America) 8/10 good but I would get the radler over this every time
1:00pm Frozen (40 min) 60 min posted, I got splashed a lot more than normal this time for some reason! Sat next to a girl who was videoing on a go-pro, asked if she was a vlogger but she said no and then we chatted for a min about our love of Disney vlogs, it was nice!
2:10pm Kringla Bakeri - Viking Coffee, 9/10 excellent!
2:30pm The Honey Bee-stro - Liquid Nitro Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake, 10/10 LOVED, the cheesecake was smooth and creamy (even while “frozen”) and the tart blueberry compote that comes with it is a perfect pairing. Plus I was able to Pixie Dust someone here! There was a young girl in line in front of me by herself, she was maybe 13? Anyway she was trying to scan her magic band for payment and the CM told her the band was not authorized to be used for payment, she seemed a bit surprised and embarrassed and I stepped in and started scanning my magic band. It was honestly only $6.50. She tried to tell me no and that she would go get her mom, but I just overrode her and said “It’s Disney! Let me!” with a smile. We were both at the window to pick up our items together and when she got hers she unexpectedly leaned in and gave me a hug and thanked me again. I was so surprised and heartwarmed (and also felt bad that I was kinda sweaty lol). But anyway it was a wonderful moment!
2:45pm Bought the Spaceship Earth cookie jar that I have been wanting so badly! I got it with my gift card I got for “mothers day” from our pets :D
2:55pm Spaceship Earth (walk on) 5 min posted
4:00pm Bus back to resort for a break and shower bc it was a very hot day!
6:40pm Scanned back into EPCOT
6:45pm Spaceship Earth (walk on) 5 min posted
Walked around to find Spike for scavenger hunt
7:35pm Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler (again! lol)
8:00pm watched Garden Rocks concert
More Spike hunting!
9:00pm Luminous
9:10pm Started heading out of park
This was my toughest day of my whole solo trip for several reasons. 1) I don’t think I did enough sit down things, I was on my feet a ton 2) I was not being “park smart”. Epcot is huge enough in the first place but I was not navigating the park in an efficient way and ended up walking WAY more than I should have. Around 7:30-8pm I started to feel something pulled in my leg (after googling later maybe a mild issue with adductor tendon?) it was high up in my inner thigh, I decided to leave the park only 10 mins after Luminous started bc I really wanted to not push myself, the next day was going to be my Magic Kingdom day and that is my favorite park and would likely be a long day and I just didn’t want to ruin it.
29,183 steps
Wednesday 5/22 - Hollywood Studios (not Magic Kingdom!)
Woke up before 7am and decided to pivot on my plans bc of my leg. I decided to stay in the resort room until midday to rest my leg, and due to that decision I switched my park day from MK to HS. I figured if I was going to be in a park for less hours of the day I would rather sacrifice time in Hollywood Studios than Magic Kingdom. I bought Genie+ and bought an ILL for Rise of the Resistance for 1:40pm. This ended up being THE BEST decision I could have made. By the time I left my room, my leg was feeling 100% better and I did not have any issues with it for the rest of the trip!
1:15pm Scanned into Hollywood Studios
1:30pm Frozen Sing Along - I love this fricken show, I always want to see it every time I go to HS, I could watch it a million times, I am always impressed by the Arendelle Historians bc they are so funny, and while they will make jokes in a similar vein, they still have so much variety that you don’t see the same jokes when you watch shows with different historians. A++, this will always be one of my faves.
2:15pm Rise of the Resistance ILL - full A mode, also…bc I was wearing my Reliefband I was able to keep my eyes open during the drop with the simulation of flying through space. It was great!!!
3:00pm Smuggler's Run (G+) - okaayyyyyy, I have never been on this (due to motion sickness fears) but I decided to take the plunge. I got all the way to sitting in the seat and tbh I was terrified. I was by myself, I didn’t know exactly what to expect and I was not so much scared that I would be sick, I was confident in the Reliefband, but I was worried I would hate the simulated feeling of flying. That kinda freaks me out. So then, the ride doesn’t actually start and they tell us that a CM will be in to let us out bc it has malfunctioned and we will be given a LL back. I was quite literally SO RELIEVED. I will try that ride, but in September when I am with my husband!
3:30pm Woody’s Lunchbox - Adult Lemonade 10/10 and Raspberry Lunchbox Tart 7/10. I ended up getting two more Adult Lemonades throughout the night bc I thought they were delicious!! The tart was fine, it tasted “good” but nothing unique or outstanding.
4:00pm Beauty and the Beast Live
4:35pm Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (G+)
5:15pm Toy Story Mania (G+)
6:00pm Baseline Taphouse - Charcuterie Board 9/10 and Blood Orange Hard Cider 7/10
6:30pm Frozen Sing Along - I am not kidding about how much I like this show lol
7:10pm Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (40 mins) 45 min posted
8:20pm Rise of the Resistance (used the anytime pass I got for Smuggler Run going down) this time around we ended up having to walk down a hallway bc there was a technical difficulty with the 2nd pre show (where you enter the craft and get pulled in by the first order) we skipped that part and walked down a hallway straight into the storm trooper room. Everything else worked except for Finn.
8:45pm Ran my ass through Toy Story land (picked up an Adult Lemonade!) and hightailed it to Fantasmic! This ended up being a very good lesson for me. Getting to Fantasmic! just as it was starting was NOT a good idea. I was in the bleachers in the last section at the top, like with the walkway in front of you. You can hardly see anything back there. I will not make this mistake again. I left just as the floats started bc I could not even see them at all.
Browsed a lot of gift shops!
10:20pm Got on bus back to resort
I go back and forth on whether G+ was worth it today. Ultimately, I side on yes bc I didn’t even get to the park until 1pm, got to walk the park a ton, I did the most photopass spots here than I did on any other day, so Genie+ allowing me to just hop on 3 rides with no wait gave me the time to do all of that (and watch Frozen twice and B&B show), and I had the time to wait for Runaway Railway standby again. Also, bc the Smugglers Run malfunction allowed me to use a “LL” on Rise again, that alone made it worth it!
20,264 steps
Thursday 5/23 - Magic Kingdom
Wooooohoooo! My favorite park! I decided to get G+ today and get an ILL for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for 7:40pm
9:10 Scanned into MK
9:25am Thunder Mountain (walk on) 10 min posted, this ride has never gotten to me in the past (motion sickness) but I was in the second to last cart and that made this ride feel faster and “dippier” and I did not care for it lol
9:40am Westward Ho - Crispy Chicken/egg/pepper jack breakfast biscuit, 9/10 would get again!
9:55am Pirates of the Caribbean (10 min) 15 min posted
10:25am Enchanted Tiki Room (walk on, got there just as they were ushering people in)
10:45am Enchanted Tales with Belle (12 min) 20 min posted
11:20am Little Mermaid (G+)
11:35am Mickey’s Philharmagic (10 min) 15 min posted
12:20 Carousel (15 min) 5 min posted - tbh this one pissed me off lol, bc I would have never gone on it had I realized I would wait 15 mins, 5 mins was a cruel trick haha
12:50pm Winnie the Pooh (G+)
1:05pm it’s a small world (G+)
1:35pm PeopleMover (8 min) 15 min posted
2:05pm Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (G+) - I didn’t remember thinking this ride was this hard! But after having just done Toy Story Mania the day before, I did not find this one to be as easy to “play”, I prefer Toy Story Mania!
2:20pm Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (17 min) 10 min posted
3:05 Peter Pan’s Flight (G+)
3:25pm Pecos Bills - slugged some water, had a coke (12/10 refreshing!) and nachos (4/10, I did not remember these being so spicy, I mean I don’t like spice so I am probably a wimp saying this but I did not enjoy these bc of the spiciness, will not get again)
4:00pm Stopped in Columbia Harbour house which was not too busy and found an empty table next to an outlet to charge my phone
4:45pm Haunted Mansion (G+)
Walked to First Aid station for Tylenol (headache)
5:20pm Pirates of the Caribbean (G+)
5:50pm Sunshine Tree Terrace - I tried the I Lava You Float, and I was sure it was going to be too sweet even though I have read many people’s reviews who loved it. I LAVA THIS FLOAT! 10/10 very much looking forward to getting again in fall!
6:05 WDW Train (Frontierland) (6 min) 10 min posted - I felt like chilling for a bit again so I did a full circuit and then went on to Fantasyland
7:05 Mickey’s Philharmagic (5 min) 10 min posted
7:35pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ILL - felt the same way about this one as BTM earlier, I was in one of the last carts (row 8) and it felt faster and dippier than in the past, no thanks!
8:10pm PeopleMover (20 min) 5 min posted - this should have been a walk on, but the ride went down as I was in line, I kept debating back and forth about leaving the line and coming back, but I just kept sticking it out a few more mins and a few more mins. Some people in line behind me were speculating if someone had puked on the ride bc of the workers going up. Not sure, doesn’t really matter, PeopleMover is the BEST at night!
8:50pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (35 min) 35 min posted - Listen, I wasn’t expecting to be on this ride during HEA, I was just trying to hop in line while everyone was waiting for fireworks bc the wait would be shorter, but the fact that I actually got on it in perfect timing to see fireworks?! Let me just say it is just as cool as everyone says it is! Also, they put me in row 8 again, grrrrr, is that the designated solo rider lane?
9:30pm TRON - I tried getting a boarding group at 7am and didn’t get in. So then my plan was to get in at 1pm but I totallyyyyyyy forgot about it and I remembered at 1:55pm and I was like “crap! I guess I will see if I can still buy an ILL”. I was about to do that and then I thought to myself, “maybe I should just see if the VQ is still open?” AND IT WAS! So I literally got a boarding group at 2pm, an hour after the VQ started, I was shocked and thrilled when I got one! Plus TRON is always so gorgeous at night. I actually have yet to ride it in the day lol And LISTEN, I get that most people prefer Guardians to TRON, I really do get it. BUT bc I am not that much of a thrill ride person, I like easier going coasters. I seriously love TRON so much. It is such a horizontal coaster that it’s like my ideal. You get the thrill from it being fast and a little dippy, but nothing crazy. It’s a fave for me!!!
10:30pm Casey’s Corner - French fries and coke, both 10/10 refreshing and needed the pick me up!
10:45pm Main Street Confectionary - It was on my to-do list to get the popcorn mix from here. I chose Butter Popcorn, dark chocolate sauce, pretzel pieces and snickers. 10/10 definitely recommend. Will be getting a mix again in September!
11:10pm Got on bus back to resort
Friday 5/24 - Bonus Day?!
This was supposed to be my travel day back home. My flight was set to leave at 5pm, but in the morning my husband told me about storms in the midwest and I got an email from the airline about “adverse weather conditions”, so I called and changed my flight to the next day at 7am. (It ended up being the right choice bc my original 5pm flight out of MCO was delayed multiple times until it was finally canceled at like 10:30pm) I was thankfully able to book another night at All-Star Movies and could stay in my same room. I quickly formed the plan to go back to Animal Kingdom to see Festival of the Lion King again bc I had enjoyed it so much earlier in the week and then go to EPCOT to finish the final 4 Spikes that I had not located yet for the scavenger hunt!
11:00am Scanned in at Animal Kingdom
11:50am Mr. Kamal’s - got the Chicken Dumplings that were on my list to try but I did not get the chance to on Monday, also went back to my favorite spot by Drinkwallah, the dumplings were like a 6/10. Idk just pretty average for a potsticker that you can get anywhere, I probably would not get them again
12:15pm walked around Dinoland to really soak it in just in case next time I come it is walled off!
1:pm Festival of the Lion King - man, this is just fantastic! Be Prepared is my favorite villain song and I get so pumped when they do that part!
1:50pm Satu’li Canteen - got the wood-grilled chicken protein bowl, with rice and black beans and the creamy herb sauce. Literally OH MY GOD, this was so flipping good! 20/10!!! Best thing I ate hands-down all week. I wasn’t sure I would eat the slaw in the bowl but that was delicious, the creamy herb sauce was amazing and those little boba balls that add the citrus burst?!?! So so good. I have already altered our plans for September to include two meals here so I can get this bowl twice next time lol
2:45pm Took bus back to Resort
5:30pm Scanned in at EPCOT
5:55pm Living with the Land (walkon) 10 min posted
6:15pm Awesome Planet (walkon, went into theater immediately and show started) This was my first time checking this out, I really enjoyed it! I will def watch again especially in the heat of the day when I just need to sit somewhere cool for a bit!
6:45pm Found Spike (1 of 4 left) by the Butterly Landing!
7:00pm Found Spike (2 of 4 left) in France
7:10pm Checked out the Annual Passholder lounge in Restaurant Marrakesh
7:35pm Gran Fiesta Tour (walk on) 5 min posted
7:50pm Found Spike (3 of 4 left) in Mexico
8:00pm Got another Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler from Germany (dont judge! lol)
8:10pm watched Lit at Garden Rocks concert (who doesn’t love “My own worst enemy”!?!?!?)
8:35pm Found final Spike in Japan!!! - this one was my ultimate nemesis. I had searched Japan on Tuesday, I had searched Japan (twice?) earlier on this day and I was all set to give up bc I couldn’t find the Kokedama garden. I just hadn’t looked up the stone path to the left of Japan. Finally saw it when it was dark out and got my final Spike!!!
8:50pm Journey of Water walkthrough (always better at night!)
9:05pm Shoutout to the photopass guy who I stopped by on my way out of the park, those were the most awkward poses I have ever done in front of spaceship earth but you tried your best and the photos make me laugh every time I see them!
29,941 steps
Overall Thoughts
10/10 Amazing Trip. I found out about people going on solo trips here on reddit late last year and I was immediately certain I had to book one. While I can be a very social person, I am also a loner in the fact that I do enjoy spending time in my own company (not everybody does) so I knew a solo trip was right up my alley. It was everything I hoped for and more. I didn’t have to consult anyone else, I could do what I want, when I want. Also, (not to brag….shhhhhh…I’m not bragging I swear) but I am not a complainer. The heat usually doesn’t affect me too much, I have a good amount of endurance so I get tired of course but it takes a lot. I’m pretty unflappable because I’m just happy to BE AT Disney World. Others I’ve gone with are not like this so much lol so it was nice to just be in my own company in the sense that I was always in a positive mood and didn’t have anyone dimming that? If that makes sense?
Safety
I am a petite woman. I am 4’10” and 118lbs so I am very aware of my size in terms of my safety. I can honestly say though that I felt safe throughout the whole trip. The one time that I got off the bus at All-Star Sports at 10pm to go to the gift shop and then walked all the way to Movies, that did worry me a bit but only as I was walking through the parking lot sections.
And I did get the crap scared out of me at the resort due to the requirement of a “visual check”. I had not ever heard of this, but I was in my room for a midday break and I had a knock at my door by housekeeping. I thought it was odd bc I had my “room occupied” sign out the whole time bc I didn’t feel the need for housekeeping, it was just me in the room. I said “no thank you” and they knocked and announced housekeeping again. I said “no thank you” louder. (internally I was thinking, can they not hear me through the door????) and they did it again! I finally went closer to the door and I heard the person mumble something about a “visual check” and I very sternly and loudly said “no!” bc I didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. I peeked through the curtain at my window and watched the guy walk past holding a phone in his hand. I think he was wearing a uniform shirt but I couldn’t totally tell. I decided to call the resort in the event this was someone trying to pose as housekeeping staff. They ended up relieving my fears by telling me it was legitimate. Apparently, you have to have your room checked at some point in your stay (I was staying 5 nights) if you choose not to get housekeeping. He explained this has to do with the Pulse Nightclub shooting. I guess they had stockpiled guns in their hotel room and kept not letting housekeeping in. He explained that is why they do the visual check, for the safety of all resort guests. I was 100% supportive once he told me that and I felt bad for yelling at the guy. But also, I am a solo woman and I had no idea what the hell was going on, and to be completely frank, I had just showered so I was in a tshirt and underwear which made me feel even more vulnerable bc I was not fully dressed! I was not letting that person in my room. The guy on the phone totally understood that and apologized for alarming me. I told him to have the guy come back and do the visual check. I apologized to him when he came in. He was in my room for all of 10 seconds and that was it. But it was certainly a crazy ordeal!
Walking
I was doing 20-30k steps each day and other than hurting my leg on Tuesday I was honestly fine. I had shin splints too but again, they weren’t terrible and by Thursday they were gone. I brought tennis shoes and flip flops intending to switch on and off throughout the week in order to prevent my feet from getting sore but that never happened. I spent 3 hours in the shoes on Monday before my feet started hurting and I never wore them again. I had 2 different pairs of flip flops the whole time. I guess that is what my feet like!
Backpack vs Loungefly
I typically wear a normal size backpack to the parks, but also I can usually share wearing it with my husband. I didn’t really consider how hard it would be to wear a backpack alllllllll day long. And it wasn’t even heavy, I didn’t put much in it at all, but still it wore on my shoulders and made them sore. On Wednesday I ended up getting a Loungefly even though they have never really been my thing. It honestly ended up being perfect. It felt different on my shoulders and I wasn’t getting sore like I was with a regular size backpack.
Waiting in Lines
I have often read that one of the things that bothers solo travelers the most is waiting in lines by themselves bc it’s boring and they have no one to keep them company. I thought I might feel this way too but waiting in lines was not bad at all to me. It’s so easy to be on your phone that whole time. I was looking at my photopass photos, browsing reddit, and inputting trip notes. I felt like waiting in line was not a hardship for me as a solo traveler.
Photopasses
This trip exceeded my expectations with photopasses! The number of photos each photographer took and the variety of positions and magic shots was awesome. I am assuming part of that is because I was solo? I am not sure but I just felt like the quantity and time spent at each photopass location was better than normal. Special shout out to Hollywood Studios, that day in particular was just awesome. Every photographer was awesome, but especially the ones in Galaxy’s Edge. I was having such an amazing time getting them!
Total Photopasses each day:
MK - 6 photopass spots
AK - 2 photopass spots
Epcot - 3 photopass spots
HS - 7 photopass spots
MK - 6 photopass spots
AK and EPCOT - 7 photopass spots
I can’t wait to do it all again in September with my husband!

CNN — Donald Dorff could hear the crowd roaring as he snatched the quarterback’s pitch from the air and sprinted toward the goal line. “There was a 280-pound tackle waiting for me, so I decided to give him my shoulder,” the 67-year-old told National Geographic magazine in 1987.
“When I came to, I was on the floor in my bedroom,” Dorff said. “I had smashed into the dresser and knocked everything off it and broke the mirror and just made one heck of a mess. It was 1:30 a.m.”
How did a dream from a retired grocery manufacturer from Golden Valley, Minnesota, become worthy of a profile in a well-known national magazine?
Five years earlier, Dorff had become the first patient diagnosed with an unusual disease called rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, or RBD.
There’s more. Dorff’s case also launched researchers on a journey that uncovered one of the earliest signs of two devastating diseases: Parkinson’s and a unique form of dementia called Lewy body.
The discovery of RBD was made in 1982 when Dorff, after years of experiencing “violent moving nightmares,” became a patient of psychiatrist and sleep specialist Dr. Carlos Schenck, then working at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis.
“During rapid eye movement or REM sleep, the brain basically paralyzes the body so that we cannot act out our dreams,” Schenck, now a professor and senior staff psychiatrist at the Hennepin County Medical Center at the University of Minnesota, told CNN recently. “But Dorff was able to get up and hurt himself while dreaming, a very odd behavior. We were scratching our heads about it,” he said. “Then we put him in a sleep lab, and lo and behold, all his physical behaviors came out of REM sleep, which had never been reported before.”
More patients with the unusual disorder were identified, many exhibiting a disturbing set of violent symptoms, Schenck said.
“They start kicking in bed, throwing punches at their bed partners, talking or screaming loudly, things like ‘Get the hell out of here!’ Then the wife has to scream really loudly to stop the episode,” he said.
“Limb jerking, twitching, throwing out your arm, throwing punches, kicking, sitting up, standing, jumping out of bed and running. Those behaviors are very typical with RBD,” he added.
One 70-year-old patient, described by his wife as having a gentle nature during the day, would punch and kick her as many as five times a night, Schenck said. On one occasion, he tried to strangle his wife while dreaming of fighting off a mauling bear.
Another patient, also 70, dreamed he had just taken down a deer and was going to break its neck. In reality it was his wife’s neck, which he discovered when he woke up. (She quit sleeping in the same bed.)
By 1986, Schenck and his team had published their first paper on the newly discovered sleep disorder.
As he followed patients over the years, however, Schenck discovered something more disturbing — the behavior could be a “canary in the mine” for later neurodegeneration.
“Losing the paralysis of REM sleep that is the basis of RBD is the earliest and strongest predictor of a later diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy body,” Schenck said.
Lewy body dementia can refer to two different types of dementia: Parkinson’s disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies, which both affect cognition.
Parkinson’s disease, however, is a slowly progressive disorder that inhibits muscle control, balance and movement — although about 4 in 5 people with Parkinson’s ultimately develop dementia, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
In both Parkinson’s and the two dementias, cells in and around the stalk-like stem at the bottom of the brain begin to die. In addition to breathing, swallowing, heart rate and eye and facial movements, the brain stem also controls the sleep-wake cycle.
Early damage to the brain stem caused by Parkinson’s can interfere with the body’s innate ability to freeze the muscles while dreaming, thus allowing the body to sit up, scream, flail or otherwise act out a dream.
Hallucinations, which are common in Parkinson’s, can also occur, according to case studies. A 67-year-old man would see faceless, hooded or cloaked figures or animals while awake during the night. The images vanished when the man turned on a light or got up to investigate.
Such nighttime behaviors can often be controlled with medication, including high doses of melatonin or the drug clonazepam, which stops seizures and relaxes tense muscles, Schenck said.
“Either one alone or both in combination works 80% to 90% of the time, and there are a long list of alternative treatments,” said Schenck, who first published the connection between RBD and Parkinson’s in February 1996.
“We know the mechanism for RBD very well, and we know how to treat it,” he said. “The next step is to slow down or halt the progression to Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.”
At first, researchers believed RBD only affected men but then realized that women are equally impacted.
“Just as many women have this problem, but because it’s much milder and doesn’t cause injury as often, they frequently don’t come in to seek help,” Schenck said. “Yet they have lost that muscle paralysis in REM sleep, and they’re just as much at risk for future Parkinson’s disease as the men.”
A clinical trial is underway at nine medical centers in the United States, Schenck said. Called the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy Consortium, the research hopes to identify potential treatments for rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and slow its progression into Parkinson’s and dementia.
As a child, Donald Dorff shared a room with three brothers and never had any signs of a sleep disorder. On his wedding night, however, he scared his new bride with loud talking, groaning, teeth grinding and minor movements, according to Schenck’s case study.
About 41 years later, however, he began to have vivid, violent dreams that he would act out. In one dream, he was riding a motorcycle when another motorcyclist tried to ram him.
“I decided I’m going to kick his motorcycle away and at that point my wife woke me up and said, ‘What in heavens are you doing to me?’ because I was kicking the hell out of her,” Dorff told Schenck during treatment.
In another dream Dorff was under attack by a man with a rifle and preparing to shoot back when he suddenly woke up. “I was kneeling alongside the bed with my arms extended like 1 was holding the rifle up and ready to shoot.”
One night Dorff dived into a bedside dresser and cut himself, Schenck said. It was then that he found Schenck’s clinic and went there for treatment.
While some people with RBD develop full-blown Parkinson’s rather quickly, Dorff was not one of them. He died of prostate cancer, Schenck said, and was able to control his violent nighttime behavior until his death as long as he remained on medication.
Dorff’s case helped physicians discover an early key to two devastating disorders, allowing earlier diagnosis and treatment.
“If you’ve never been a sleepwalker or sleep talker throughout your life and suddenly, after the age of 50, you start and the talking becomes louder and more frequent, then you really should be evaluated by your primary care doctor,” Schenck said.
“Your doctor should consider neurological evaluation because that could be the first sign of a neurodegenerative disorder.”

I've got an albums worth of songs and no one to sing the songs. I've had a few talks but nobody has committed. The songs are ready to go.
You can check the Bandcamp for some previously released material
abodeforthedead.bandcamp.com
Or just look up abode for the dead on YouTube or Spotify.
If you're interested hit me up, any questions leave a comment.
Thanks for reading if you got this far

I remember watching a horror movie that came with a collective of horror films from a DVD. The film i believe cannot be older than 2013 since i was 13 when i watched this, although in my estimate it could range by the 2005-2012 range, also the filmography i assume only had a low budget
The plot follows a group of friends, getting abducted or trapped in some sort of abandoned building, there they unintentionally walking into a trap, or were drugged by their assailants which led to them waking up in a room which has some SAW vibes. They are then shown a video of a female hitchhiker who was shown at an earlier part of the film that entered the same abandoned building, the woman in the video is tortured graphically, which leads to the friends speculating how severe the situation their in right now. The group escapes but gets seperated, it cant recall their numbers but i think there were 5 of them, 2 of which were women, the separation is caused by an assailant wearing a mask, in where, one of the women encounters one of the masked man's accomplices. Now this guy is very rememberable due to his role, he's first seen in a scene where he's washing up blood from a former victim in which i presume is the female hitchhiker due to various female body parts scattered on the room he's in, next he enters another room, i assume its his personal room due to a bed in which contains the part i remember the most, a deceased DEER, it was a buck or Elk since i clearly remember it having Antlers, he then snuggles beside it, caressing it like a man would do with his wife in bed, he cries when he does this, leading me to believe today that his character must have been depicted as a mentally unwell person. Since back at the scene where he encounters the lone woman that got seperated from her group, he allows her to walk pass him, claiming he doesn't want to hurt her or be part of this perverse game his accomplices had set up, although hesitant the woman proceeds, but reveals his deceit when he stabs her unexpectedly at the back, crying and saying he's sorry, he then brings her to a torture room where she's bound and stripped as he proceeds to mutilate her the same way the female hitchhiker was tortured. Due to being scared shitless I couldn't bring up to watch the rest of the film, though i believe the last scene I watched was about at the middle section of the film in which I assume 40+ minutes have passed

EDIT: Forgot to include some info about financials like my budget and stuff so I added those in.
So, a little background. I've had a few different cars prior to this one but they've mostly always been either hand-me-downs from someone I knew or I bought them for dirt cheap off of Facebook Marketplace or something. My last car broke down a couple of years ago and ever since then I've been driving a 2017 Ford Fiesta ST which is also a 6-speed manual. This is my ex's car, and since we broke up a few months ago and I moved out, I've been able to use it a little bit off and on but I'm going to have to stop soon & give it back to her permanently.
For the financial background, I currently have a part-time job and a more flexible freelance job, I can afford up to about $250/mo and I have about $2500 for a down payment. Max budget is about ~$25k though ideally I'd spend less, and I have no credit. (The VW salesman I've been talking to is quite confident I will be approved for financing with these constraints & they can make all this work; they have some kind of program for first time car buyers with little to no credit.)
Also I live in the Kansas City area if that matters.
With that out of the way, these are the things that I knew would be important to me up-front:

1. Must be manual. I learned how to drive manual on my ex's Fiesta, and afterwards I realized automatic has become boring to me which is why I want another manual. They're fun to drive and keep my brain occupied in a good way that keeps me more focused on the road (I have ADHD and it's kind of like a stim to me, lol).
2. Nothing American. I'd prefer German or Japanese cars which have been more reliable in my experience. There have been several ongoing scandals with American car manufacturers cutting corners when it comes to safety standards, using cheap materials, and so on. I know it's gotten better, but even my ex's Fiesta had some nasty issues with cheap plastic on the interior peeling in ugly ways. I could go on but you get the point.
3. I want something that'll actually last me like 10+ years (I want to buy this car, no lease or anything), so something new-ish like <5 years, maybe 50k miles or less. I've had several crappy hand-me-downs that had various major issues and ugly surprises and I'm tired of it. I don't wanna save a few bucks today just to deal with expensive repairs tomorrow, etc.
4. Must have Apple CarPlay & a backup camera.
5. Must have at least OK gas mileage.
6. While not strictly required, an auto-dimming rearview mirror would be EPIC because I can't stand getting blinded by people's high beams at night. Worst case scenario I can find an aftermarket solution but not having to fuck with that is nice.

So with all of this in mind, I landed on the Volkswagen Jetta S as it's the cheapest car you can still buy with a manual transmission that meets all of these requirements (or at least most, depending on the year it was manufactured) and has GREAT gas mileage (I think it's 29/42 on the latest version!). But I'm basically here to ask for a sanity check. Are there any major concerns with this car that should make me reconsider? One of the things that does concern me (mildly) is that at least some models come with an all-digital dash, which, while cool in theory, worries me because it might be more prone to total failure which would make the car undriveable until it gets fixed since I wouldn't be able to watch my speed. And especially in a manual, even though I CAN shift through the gears by sound/feel alone, having a visual confirmation of where my RPMs are at is really beneficial, bordering on crucial.
The other thing that kinda worries me is that I've heard some mixed things about the overall repair-ability of Volkswagens, but I'm not sure how true (or up to date) these concerns really are.
But yeah just in general I'd love to hear any feedback on this decision, feedback on the concerns I specifically brought up, and anything else to consider.

Hi everyone!
I'm a 30-year-old woman (F) and I met a 27-year-old guy (M) named A on my birthday night. He was with a girl, but they were just friends and didn't even go home together. I didn't even notice him at first. His friend B tried to hit on me while i was w my friend, but I wasn't interested. We ended up at his friend A's house, and that's when I noticed A. We hit it off, and I made the first move. We slept together that night (although I told him to use a condom and he didn't, which is concerning).
The next day, he messaged me (I think he gave me his work number and lied about his age). He thanked me for coming over and said he'd love to take me out. I said yes, but then didn't hear from him for over two weeks.
He finally messaged me again on a Thursday afternoon and we made plans for Saturday. I even told him I was on my period, but he didn't care. He just wanted to see me. We talked about the plans, but then he stopped texting me Thursday night and didn't reply until Friday night. Since he confirmed the plans twice already, I didn't respond. He finally messaged again on Saturday at noon to confirm, picked me up that evening, and we had a great date. He was a perfect gentleman, paid for everything, and waited until I was safely inside before leaving.
Since I was off my period, I made another move, but things got confusing. He even posted me on his Instagram, but when I asked him to tag me, he said it was "too soon" because he didn't want me to think differently of him based on his posts. I found this strange since he's single. We ended up adding each other anyway, but I noticed he follows and likes a lot of girls on his social media.
That night, I texted him to thank him for the date. He replied the next evening with a sweet message, saying I "make him crazy" and that he misses me already. I just liked the message.
On Wednesday, he texted wanting to talk, but then stopped replying mid-conversation. On Friday, he asked me to hang out last minute, but I couldn't make it. He said "okay, hope to see you soon" with a broken heart emoji.
Then, he sent a sweet Happy Mother's Day text, but we didn't talk for another week. He finally texted again, asking how I was doing. Since he stopped replying before, I decided to give him the same energy and didn't respond.
A week later, on a Friday night, I asked if he wanted to go out with me and my girlfriends the next night. He agreed, and he even took me home afterwards. It was cute – I was singing a song and he grabbed my face to kiss me.
The next night, he texted me until I stopped replying. There's been no contact for almost two weeks now. I've been quiet on social media because I don't want him to see my posts and suddenly text me.
I'm so confused!
That night we met, I was tipsy, and he asked if I was looking for something casual. I said "no" because I'm learning to be on my own. I don't remember the whole conversation, but he also asked if I get jealous in relationships, and I think I lied and said no. I told him I didn't want to talk about it while tipsy.
Sorry this is so long, but I'm just so confused! We seem to have a connection, but we hardly talk. The last time we saw each other, I asked him to hang out next weekend, and he promised, but neither of us texted that whole weekend! Why hasn't he texted me?
He keeps telling me he wants to txt me but tht he thinks im so busy w my son, i told him to pls text me. he claims his love language is communication. It feels mixed messages and makes me wonder if he has another girl.

hi everyone! I'm a 30-year-old woman (F) and I met a 27-year-old guy (M) named A on my birthday night. He was with a girl, but they were just friends and didn't even go home together. I didn't even notice him at first. His friend B tried to hit on me while i was w my friend, but I wasn't interested. We ended up at his friend A's house, and that's when I noticed A. We hit it off, and I made the first move. We slept together that night (although I told him to use a condom and he didn't, which is concerning).
The next day, he messaged me (I think he gave me his work number and lied about his age). He thanked me for coming over and said he'd love to take me out. I said yes, but then didn't hear from him for over two weeks.
He finally messaged me again on a Thursday afternoon and we made plans for Saturday. I even told him I was on my period, but he didn't care. He just wanted to see me. We talked about the plans, but then he stopped texting me Thursday night and didn't reply until Friday night. Since he confirmed the plans twice already, I didn't respond. He finally messaged again on Saturday at noon to confirm, picked me up that evening, and we had a great date. He was a perfect gentleman, paid for everything, and waited until I was safely inside before leaving.
Since I was off my period, I made another move, but things got confusing. He even posted me on his Instagram, but when I asked him to tag me, he said it was "too soon" because he didn't want me to think differently of him based on his posts. I found this strange since he's single. We ended up adding each other anyway, but I noticed he follows and likes a lot of girls on his social media.
That night, I texted him to thank him for the date. He replied the next evening with a sweet message, saying I "make him crazy" and that he misses me already. I just liked the message.
On Wednesday, he texted wanting to talk, but then stopped replying mid-conversation. On Friday, he asked me to hang out last minute, but I couldn't make it. He said "okay, hope to see you soon" with a broken heart emoji.
Then, he sent a sweet Happy Mother's Day text, but we didn't talk for another week. He finally texted again, asking how I was doing. Since he stopped replying before, I decided to give him the same energy and didn't respond.
A week later, on a Friday night, I asked if he wanted to go out with me and my girlfriends the next night. He agreed, and he even took me home afterwards. It was cute – I was singing a song and he grabbed my face to kiss me.
The next night, he texted me until I stopped replying. There's been no contact for almost two weeks now. I've been quiet on social media because I don't want him to see my posts and suddenly text me.
I'm so confused!
That night we met, I was tipsy, and he asked if I was looking for something casual. I said "no" because I'm learning to be on my own. I don't remember the whole conversation, but he also asked if I get jealous in relationships, and I think I lied and said no. I told him I didn't want to talk about it while tipsy.
Sorry this is so long, but I'm just so confused! We seem to have a connection, but we hardly talk. The last time we saw each other, I asked him to hang out next weekend, and he promised, but neither of us texted that whole weekend! Why hasn't he texted me?
He keeps telling me he wants to txt me but tht he thinks im so busy w my son, i told him to pls text me. he claims his love language is communication. It feels mixed messages and makes me wonder if he has another girl.

Hi everyone!
I'm a 30-year-old woman (F) and I met a 27-year-old guy (M) named A on my birthday night. He was with a girl, but they were just friends and didn't even go home together. I didn't even notice him at first. His friend B tried to hit on me while i was w my friend, but I wasn't interested. We ended up at his friend A's house, and that's when I noticed A. We hit it off, and I made the first move. We slept together that night (although I told him to use a condom and he didn't, which is concerning).
The next day, he messaged me (I think he gave me his work number and lied about his age). He thanked me for coming over and said he'd love to take me out. I said yes, but then didn't hear from him for over two weeks.
He finally messaged me again on a Thursday afternoon and we made plans for Saturday. I even told him I was on my period, but he didn't care. He just wanted to see me. We talked about the plans, but then he stopped texting me Thursday night and didn't reply until Friday night. Since he confirmed the plans twice already, I didn't respond. He finally messaged again on Saturday at noon to confirm, picked me up that evening, and we had a great date. He was a perfect gentleman, paid for everything, and waited until I was safely inside before leaving.
Since I was off my period, I made another move, but things got confusing. He even posted me on his Instagram, but when I asked him to tag me, he said it was "too soon" because he didn't want me to think differently of him based on his posts. I found this strange since he's single. We ended up adding each other anyway, but I noticed he follows and likes a lot of girls on his social media.
That night, I texted him to thank him for the date. He replied the next evening with a sweet message, saying I "make him crazy" and that he misses me already. I just liked the message.
On Wednesday, he texted wanting to talk, but then stopped replying mid-conversation. On Friday, he asked me to hang out last minute, but I couldn't make it. He said "okay, hope to see you soon" with a broken heart emoji.
Then, he sent a sweet Happy Mother's Day text, but we didn't talk for another week. He finally texted again, asking how I was doing. Since he stopped replying before, I decided to give him the same energy and didn't respond.
A week later, on a Friday night, I asked if he wanted to go out with me and my girlfriends the next night. He agreed, and he even took me home afterwards. It was cute – I was singing a song and he grabbed my face to kiss me.
The next night, he texted me until I stopped replying. There's been no contact for almost two weeks now. I've been quiet on social media because I don't want him to see my posts and suddenly text me.
I'm so confused!
That night we met, I was tipsy, and he asked if I was looking for something casual. I said "no" because I'm learning to be on my own. I don't remember the whole conversation, but he also asked if I get jealous in relationships, and I think I lied and said no. I told him I didn't want to talk about it while tipsy.
Sorry this is so long, but I'm just so confused! We seem to have a connection, but we hardly talk. The last time we saw each other, I asked him to hang out next weekend, and he promised, but neither of us texted that whole weekend! Why hasn't he texted me?
He keeps telling me he wants to txt me but tht he thinks im so busy w my son, i told him to pls text me. he claims his love language is communication. It feels mixed messages and makes me wonder if he has another girl.