Fo Xin ran barefooted on the Golden Ground

I am Fo Qian from Anhui Province.
In the year 2011 I started to learn the Pure Land Dharma Door in the Shandao lineage.
I have a daughter who is lively but a little stubborn. Her Dharma Name is Fo Xin.
She is about five years old.
As we are a Buddhist family, we will recite Namo Amitabha Buddha on our way to kindergarten or at home.
Little Fo Xin has dreamt of Amitabha Buddha and the supreme World of Ultimate Bliss three times.
Today, with the ripe causes and conditions, I would like to share with you her dreams.
Do not belittle her for being young as she is replete with firm and solid faith in the World of Ultimate Bliss and Amitabha Buddha.
If she is angry with me, she will cry and say she is going to attain a rebirth in the Pure Land!
In September last year (2019), she was nearly five years old.
One day, she told me,
‘Mummy, last night while I was lying on the bed with my eyes closed, I saw Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva and many Bodhisattvas whom I do not recognize.
They emitted such great lights to shine on us at our house.
Our house became so bright.
Some of them were standing, some were sitting on the lotuses.
They observe us quietly.
I looked at them for a while and fell asleep.’
Amitabha Buddha and all these Bodhisattvas are emitting lights in our house!
No wonder our family is so blessed!
It is most thankful as Amitabha Buddha emits lights unceasingly to protect our family!
On hearing this, I was truly happy and laughed heartily.
Not long after that she woke up in the morning and told me excitedly,
‘Mother, yesterday, Amitabha Buddha brought me to the space.
You and my good friend went up together.’
I asked laughingly, ‘Is not it the World of Ultimate Bliss?’
She answered, ‘No, it is the space because I could even see the earth!
It is truly exciting to play in the space! Aren’t you there too? Why can’t you remember this?’
In her third dream, that was at the end of the year.
It was at night and she was already lying on her bed.
But she said she wanted to eat something.
I told her it was too late, that it was not good to eat at night as it might affect our sleep.
Jokingly, I told her,
‘If you want to eat something, then recite Namo Amitabha Buddha. Let Amitabha Buddha bring you to the World of Ultimate Bliss. You can tell Amitabha Buddha what you want to eat.’
Unexpectedly she cried loudly, complaining to Amitabha Buddha, ‘Amitabha Buddha, I want to go to the World of Ultimate Bliss. I want to attain a rebirth right now!’
I consoled her by her side and she continued to cry, screaming that she wanted to attain a rebirth.
Maybe she was tired playing the whole day that she gradually fell asleep.
The next day, she woke up. I asked her, ‘Yesterday, did you go to the World of Ultimate Bliss?’
She was thinking for a while.
Then she suddenly stood up,
‘Yes, I went there. I ran barefooted on the golden ground. It was such a fun!
In the World of Ultimate Bliss, there are so much delicious food on the table! I could see biscuits, lollipops, strawberries, bananas….
Yes, I also saw lotuses of many colours. There are red lotuses, yellow, blue and purplish lotuses….
There are so many birds! I saw the peacocks, magpies, sparrows, swallows…..
I even played with the puppies, rabbits and other small animals!
The Bodhisattvas there are wearing colourful dresses flying here and there. They are so beautiful!
The World of Ultimate Bliss is truly wonderful. I do not feel like coming back here.’
It is just as Dharma Master Shi Jing Zong has instructed:
In Amitabha recitation, we just recite Namo Amitabha Buddha even though we may not truly understand.
It is fine because when we recite Namo Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha’s lights are shining on us.
The Buddha is standing on our summit.
The Buddha is staying in our mind.
The Buddha and our body combine into one.
Wherever we go, the Buddha will always follow along to protect us.

Fo Xin ran barefooted on the Golden Ground

I am Fo Qian from Anhui Province.
In the year 2011 I started to learn the Pure Land Dharma Door in the Shandao lineage.
I have a daughter who is lively but a little stubborn. Her Dharma Name is Fo Xin.
She is about five years old.
As we are a Buddhist family, we will recite Namo Amitabha Buddha on our way to kindergarten or at home.
Little Fo Xin has dreamt of Amitabha Buddha and the supreme World of Ultimate Bliss three times.
Today, with the ripe causes and conditions, I would like to share with you her dreams.
Do not belittle her for being young as she is replete with firm and solid faith in the World of Ultimate Bliss and Amitabha Buddha.
If she is angry with me, she will cry and say she is going to attain a rebirth in the Pure Land!
In September last year (2019), she was nearly five years old.
One day, she told me,
‘Mummy, last night while I was lying on the bed with my eyes closed, I saw Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva and many Bodhisattvas whom I do not recognize.
They emitted such great lights to shine on us at our house.
Our house became so bright.
Some of them were standing, some were sitting on the lotuses.
They observe us quietly.
I looked at them for a while and fell asleep.’
Amitabha Buddha and all these Bodhisattvas are emitting lights in our house!
No wonder our family is so blessed!
It is most thankful as Amitabha Buddha emits lights unceasingly to protect our family!
On hearing this, I was truly happy and laughed heartily.
Not long after that she woke up in the morning and told me excitedly,
‘Mother, yesterday, Amitabha Buddha brought me to the space.
You and my good friend went up together.’
I asked laughingly, ‘Is not it the World of Ultimate Bliss?’
She answered, ‘No, it is the space because I could even see the earth!
It is truly exciting to play in the space! Aren’t you there too? Why can’t you remember this?’
In her third dream, that was at the end of the year.
It was at night and she was already lying on her bed.
But she said she wanted to eat something.
I told her it was too late, that it was not good to eat at night as it might affect our sleep.
Jokingly, I told her,
‘If you want to eat something, then recite Namo Amitabha Buddha. Let Amitabha Buddha bring you to the World of Ultimate Bliss. You can tell Amitabha Buddha what you want to eat.’
Unexpectedly she cried loudly, complaining to Amitabha Buddha, ‘Amitabha Buddha, I want to go to the World of Ultimate Bliss. I want to attain a rebirth right now!’
I consoled her by her side and she continued to cry, screaming that she wanted to attain a rebirth.
Maybe she was tired playing the whole day that she gradually fell asleep.
The next day, she woke up. I asked her, ‘Yesterday, did you go to the World of Ultimate Bliss?’
She was thinking for a while.
Then she suddenly stood up,
‘Yes, I went there. I ran barefooted on the golden ground. It was such a fun!
In the World of Ultimate Bliss, there are so much delicious food on the table! I could see biscuits, lollipops, strawberries, bananas….
Yes, I also saw lotuses of many colours. There are red lotuses, yellow, blue and purplish lotuses….
There are so many birds! I saw the peacocks, magpies, sparrows, swallows…..
I even played with the puppies, rabbits and other small animals!
The Bodhisattvas there are wearing colourful dresses flying here and there. They are so beautiful!
The World of Ultimate Bliss is truly wonderful. I do not feel like coming back here.’
It is just as Dharma Master Shi Jing Zong has instructed:
In Amitabha recitation, we just recite Namo Amitabha Buddha even though we may not truly understand.
It is fine because when we recite Namo Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha’s lights are shining on us.
The Buddha is standing on our summit.
The Buddha is staying in our mind.
The Buddha and our body combine into one.
Wherever we go, the Buddha will always follow along to protect us.
Link: https://www.reddit.com/Buddhism/comments/1d2ynmd/fo_xin_ran_barefooted_on_the_golden_ground/

The good news: you can once again sort by age group. This year, it's 0-3, 4-7, 8-12, and 12+. (It's not perfect though - I found an early reader in the 12+ section.) You can also search by title and author! As with last year, I will be breaking this down into categories, which will be a little more specific than just age divisions. You are responsible for researching for yourself whether a book is appropriate for your readers.
Everything is listed alphabetically which can make it difficult to find books in the same series. There are also seem to be some glitches with cover art, like the wrong cover for a Llama Llama book, and the use of a Paw Patrol I Can Read cover for a Magic Tree House graphic novel.
There's some overlap with last year's list. Returning items are marked with an asterisk and new items are marked with NEW! Three new Spanish choices this time and a lot more for that space between early readers and full-length middle-grade chapter books. A lot less young-adult material - only five titles, all repeats from last year. Hopefully everyone who's willing to participate can find something.
Spanish books

• Corduroy *
• Dragones y Tacos (NEW!)
• La Llama Llama Rojo Pijama (NEW!)
• The Very Hungry CaterpillaLa Oruga Muy Hambrienta *
• Un Dia De Nieve (NEW!)

Graphic Novels, Mad Libs, Activity Books

• Awesome Science Puzzles (Highlights Hidden Pictures) (NEW!)
• Comics Squad #2: Lunch! (graphic novel) *
• First Day of School Mad Libs *
• Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House Graphic Novel) (NEW!) (currently has the wrong cover art)
• School Rules! Mad Libs Junior (NEW!)
• When Stars Are Scattered (graphic novel) (NEW!)

Non-Fiction Who Is/Was series

• What is the Women’s World Cup? (NEW!)
• Where Are The Constellations? (NEW!)
• Who Are Venus and Serena Williams? *
• Who Is Michael Jordan? (NEW!)
• Who Is Simone Biles? (NEW!)
• Who Was Albert Einstein? (NEW!)
• Who Was Alexander Hamilton? NEW!)
• Who Was Duke Ellington? (NEW!)
• Who Was Helen Keller? (NEW!)
• Who Was Jackie Robinson? (NEW!)
• Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? *
• Who Was Nelson Mandela? (NEW!)
• Who Was Ruth Bader Ginsburg? (NEW!)
• Who Was Stan Lee? (NEW!)

Other Non-Fiction

• I Am Amelia Earhart *
• I Am Rosa Parks (NEW!)
• Rebel Girls Level Up (NEW!)
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (NEW!)

Early Readers

• A Pig, A Fox, and Stinky Socks (level 2 reader) *
• Big Shark, Little Shark (level 1 reader) (NEW!)
• Dancing Dinos Go to School (level 1 reader) (NEW!)
• Go, Dog, Go! (NEW!)
• I Am Kind (level 2 reader) (NEW!)
• I Am Strong (level 2 reader) *
• I Love Being Me! (level 1 reader) (NEW!)
• Mission PAW! (level 1 reader, Paw Patrol) (NEW!)
• Pizza and Taco: Best Party Ever! (Early reader in graphic novel format) (NEW!)
• Pizza and Taco: Super-Awesome Comic! (Early reader in graphic novel format) (NEW!)
• See The Cat: Three Stories About a Dog (NEW!)
• Survival Mode! (Minecraft) (level 3 reader) (NEW!)
• The Firefly With No Glow (level 2 reader) *
• The Very Busy Spider (level 2 reader) (NEW!)
• This Makes Me Happy (level 2 reader) *

Picture Books (including board books)

• A Is For Apple (board book) (NEW!)
• All By Myself (Little Critter) *
• Beware the Creeper! (Mobs of Minecraft #1) (NEW!)
• Bunheads (by Misty Copeland) (NEW!)
• Corduroy (possibly a board book but I don’t know) *
• Corduroy Takes a Bow *
• Dancing in the Wings (NEW!)
• Darryl’s Dream (NEW!)
• Diggersaurs (board book) *
• Duck and Goose, How Are You Feeling? *
• Good Night, Gorilla *
• Happy Hair *
• Hello, World! Solar System (board book) *
• How to Babysit a Grandma *
• How to Babysit a Grandpa *
• How to be Kind in Kindergarten (NEW!)
• I Love You To The Moon and Back (NEW!)
• I Was So Mad (Little Critter) *
• I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared! (NEW!)
• Jabari Jumps (NEW!)
• Library Lion (NEW!)
• Llama Llama Loves His Mama (board book?) (currently has the wrong cover art) *
• Llama Llama Loves to Read *
• Llama Llama Red Pajama (NEW!) (actually just making its return after a few years ago, I remember ordering this one a few years ago)
• Me and My Family Tree *
• Mighty Pup Power! (Paw Patrol) (NEW!)
• Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station (NEW!)
• Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book *
• Save the School Bus! (Paw Patrol) *
• Snap! Crackle! And Pop! Rock the Day! (NEW!)
• The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit (NEW!)
• The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room (NEW!)
• The Gruffalo *
• The Night Before Kindergarten (NEW!)
• The Snowy Day (NEW!)
• The Story of Ferdinand *
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar (maybe a board book, I don’t know) *
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Breakfast (board book) *
• Tomorrow I'll Be Brave *
• Tony the Tiger: A Gr-r-reat Day! (NEW!)
• Where’s Waldo? (NEW!)
• Will You Be My Friend? (NEW!)
• Words of Wonder from Z to A (NEW!)

Early Chapter Books

• A-to-Z Mysteries Super Edition 1: Detective Camp (NEW!)
• A-to-Z Mysteries: The Haunted Hotel (NEW!)
• A-to-Z Mysteries: The Invisible Island (NEW!)
• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) (NEW!)
• J.D. and the Family Business (NEW!)
• Jada Jones, Rock Star (NEW!)
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue (NEW!)
• The Knight at Dawn (Magic Tree House #2) (NEW!)
• Stink (NEW!) (currently has the wrong cover art)
• Unicorn Academy #1: Sophia and the Rainbow (NEW!)

Middle-Grade Chapter Books

• A Bird will Soar *
• Because of Mr. Terupt *
• Beyond the Bright Sea *
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (NEW!)
• Defending Champ (Mike Lupica) *
• Dragons in a Bag (NEW!)
• Dress Coded *
• Fast Pitch (Mike Lupica) *
• Friendship According to Humphrey (NEW!) (currently has the wrong cover art)
• James and the Giant Peach (NEW!)
• Map of Flames (The Forgotten Five, Lisa McMann) (NEW!)
• Maya and the Robot (NEW!)
• Mr. Lemoncello and the Titanium Ticket *
• Mr. Lemoncello’s Very First Game (NEW!) (currently has the wrong cover art)
• One-Third Nerd *
• Operation Sisterhood (NEW!)
• Orphan Eleven *
• Peacemaker (NEW!)
• Planet Omar: Incredible Rescue Mission *
• Rez Dogs *
• Saving Mr. Terupt *
• Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe *
• Spotlight on Coding Club! (Girls Who Code #4) *
• Starfish (NEW!)
• Strangeville School is Totally Normal (NEW!)
• The Bridge Home (NEW!)
• The Elephant’s Girl (NEW!)
• The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora *
• The Last Kids on Earth (NEW!)
• The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl (NEW!)
• The Witch’s Apprentice (Dragons in a Bag #3) (NEW!)
• They Call Me Guero (NEW!)
• Triple Threat (Mike Lupica) *
• When You Trap a Tiger (NEW!)

Teen/Young Adult

• Everything, Everything *
• Super Fake Love Song *
• The Downstairs Girl *
• The Running Dream *
• The Sun is Also a Star *

INTRO: My first serious attempt at writing, I'd love constructive feedback. I'll post the other parts here if there's interest.
STORY:
-Simon
-Simon!
-SIMON!
I shook awake. I'd fallen asleep in class.. again. My teacher, Miss Lawrence, was looking at me with slight exasperation. Her red locks bobbed slightly as she shook her head left to right, sighing slightly she continued the lecture, talking about old engineering feats, underground tunnels and the sort. I heard a few snickers around me from my class-mates. It's easy to take sleep for granted when you get plenty of it, a fact I've become very aware of the last two weeks.
-.. I want those assignments on my desk by Monday
She said
-And make sure you all get enough rest
She finished, with a pointed look at me. I took it in stride, it's not like it's my fault I hardly get any sleep..
-Hey, Simon!
Fred, school boxing star and all around good-guy, yelled behind me as I was getting my bag out of my locker.
-You gotta stop dozing off like that, you're gonna get shit if it keeps up
-Yeah, yeah, I know..
-What's up, anyways? You got a new girl you haven't told me about, keeping you up at night?
He asked with a coy smile. I gave him a sly grin
-Nah man, that sounds like a good problem to have..
I scratched my neck and looked down at my feet
-It's a bit embarrassing actually..
He looked looked slightly concerned
-What is? You know you can tell me anything, still haven't told a soul about the-
He scanned the surroundings quickly, making sure no one was in earshot
-'undearwear incident' in second grade
He loved to bring up that example whenever he wanted to prove his reliability, which is unnecessary since it has never been in question during all the years I've known him.
-It's night terrors
I said
-But it's more than that. I think they're over, but then they're not.. I wake from a nightmare, drenched in sweat, heart racing, trying to calm myself down. Memories of the dream fading, and I see shadows out of the corner of my eye, moving away from me. I try and focus on them, and they fade into the background.
Fred looks quizzical for a moment, then he asks
-Is it like sleep paralysis? I've never had it, but I've heard some really freaky stories..
-Nah, it's not that. I've had them a lot as a kid, you probably heard most of those stories from me.. No, this is different. I can move while its going on, and I don't feel the dread I've come to associated with sleep paralysis. It's freaky still, but in another way. I feel hollow whenever I wake up, like I'm missing something. It lasts all the way up to around lunch.
Even in the light of day, the topic was getting on my nerves. Fred seemed to sense I was uncomfortable with digging too deep into this at the moment
-Sounds rough
He said
-Nothing a bit of practice won't solve. See you there?
He asked, slapping my arm
-You bet
I slapped his arm back
A few hours, and several bruises later, I was sitting out in my garden on the green grass, birds chirping in the background, late spring wind fanning my face and hair.
-Watcha' doing?
My annoying sister, Sarah, chirped up.
-Meditating. Same as yesterday. And the day before that.
She loved to find new ways to annoy me, currently it was asking questions she already knew the answer to, but that in itself isn't good enough. She needs to know I know she knows the answer.
-Watcha' doing that for?
-To get away from you, scram!
I snapped at her, giving her an evil look.
She scrambled away, giggling all the way.
Meditation, I'd started doing it a while ago, when I was still fantasizing about the idea of becoming a pro-boxer, looking for any edge I could eek out in order to compete with Fred. It was supposed to increase focus in the ring. I bet it does wonders, but I gave up on it on too soon to figure. Now, now I'm doing it out of desperation. Maybe my night terrors were because of a worried mind? Meditation calms the mind, so maybe it'll cure this problem?
I felt a buzz in my pocket, it's a text from Alyssa in the group chat
-You guys ready?
She asked
-Shit is it now?!?
Fred responded
-I'll bring snacks
Henri chimed in, always prepared for pretty much any situation, no matter how unlikely
-Yeah, usual spot in 15?
I typed
Alyssa, one year older than the rest of us, senior in highschool, had a bit of an obsession with the occult. Well, obsession is a bit harsh, but she's fascinated by it, reading up on stuff, buying tarot cards, crystals and herbs used in different rituals. She found some fortune-tellemedium on craigslist, and she badgered the rest of us to join her on her expedition there.
Approximately 15 minutes later I approached the dineconvince store named Shop'N'Stop, Fred and Henri already waiting by the rundown, faded exterior of the place who couldn't make its mind up about what it was. The shop is alright, got the necessities at a reasonable price, the diner on the other hand.. only one I know who haven't been running to the toilet for a week after eating there is Alyssa, and it's hardly fair to count her since she's some kind of freak of nature when it comes to dodging sickness, and most bad things now that I think about it.
-Where's our heroine, dragging us out at this ungodly hour to do God knows what, with forces and powers beyond our comprehension to witness, let alone understand?
I waxed poetically at the two in greeting. Henri chuckles and adjusts his glasses, while Fred smiles and looks behind me
-T'was three hours before midnight, sun's last rays still sparkling. Hardly an ungodly hour
A playful voice behind me, coming closer, said. I turn around and see her, auburn hair playing lightly in the slight wind, eyes glimmering a greyish green in the afromentioned sun, set over the barely visible freckles dotting her nose and visible cheekbones.
Yeah, she's a real looker, and I'm well aware of that. She's the standard I judge other beauties by, and it's anything but a fair standard. My feelings towards her is more like that of a sister, only she's less annoying, knowing someone since kindergarten kinda does that. There's days I've wondered, even fantasized about the two of us, once her blooming beauty was becoming apparent even to me. But I'd make it weird if I made a move, and she sees me as a brother as well, she's said it in the past..
-Considering our mission this evening, anything after noon is an ungodly hour
Henri, the only staunch atheist and unbeliever in anything paranormal, intoned. Despite his scepticism, he's the most easily scared of the bunch.
-Wouldn't be you if you weren't the last one here
I smiled at Alyssa
Fred came up to us and put his arms around our shoulders
-Alright birdies, let's get a move on. I've got a pizza with my name on it at home. It's very impatient, can't wait to see the insides of my stomach
We got a move on, going towards the older parts of town, the Shop'N'Stop marking the end of the newer, better maintained parts of town.
Henri glanced around nervously
-So where'd you say you found this guy? Or woman? Or whatever?
He asked
-Woman
Alyssa responded, giving him a quick smile
-Found her on craigslist, she's a bit expensive but I think it's worth it. I've only tried cheap mediums so far, and the price really reflected the quality of their work
She huffed, looking slightly annoyed, then she turned to the group and beamed towards us
-Good thing I got you guys to share the fee with
Henri huffed incredulously
-You mean you got us to badger until we finally agree to do what you want?
Fred looked to Henri
-Hey, you let her talk you into this, no use complaining about it now
He said, not able to completely hide the slight tone of defeat in his own voice.
-I'm actually looking forward to this
I interjected
-Not that I believe this is anything but a scam, but I'd say it's worth 25 bucks for one evenings worth of entertainment, I'm curious to figure out what kind of tricks she'll use to try and trick us..
-Alright guys, that's enough
Alyssa said, looking at us, brow slightly furrowed
-I want to do this with you, but if you're going to crap all over it before you've even tried it you're just gonna ruin it, for me, for you, for everyone. Just have an open mind
She looked at us pleadingly
-Alright
I looked at her
-The final reason I think this'll be worth $50 of my own money, is that on the off chance that this is real, I'd pay that sum several times over
Alyssa's entire being lit up as she smiled at me
-That's the spirit, we're almost there
-Simon
-zzt..fffzzZzz -static-
-SIMON
The scream echoed in my ears. My balance is off, the world is shaking. Fred is shaking me, looking me in the eyes.
-Where'd you go buddy?
He asked, looking me in the eyes intensely. I looked to Alyssa, worry written all over her face, rarely seen wrinkles making an appearance on her face, Henri alternating glances at me and the ground, fidgeting with something in his hands.
-I.. I don't... There was something.. over there.
I said, pointing towards the side of an old, dilapidated house, overgrown weeds all over the lawn and house itself. The dizziness was starting to pass
-There was a shadow. Something moved, I got all dizzy.. It's gone now.
Fred looked really worried now
-Shadow?
He asked
-It's fine, just the sleep deprivation doing a number on me, I can handle it
-We can do this another time, if you need to go home and rest
Alyssa chimed in, worry still apparent on her face, she'd been looking forward to this for over a week, she'd always put her friends wellbeing above her own interest, I didn't want to let her down
-It's fine, I'm feeling much better already
-Here, take this
Henri reached out a hand with a piece of candy, meant to raise the blood sugar of those with diabetes, I bit down on it and smiled towards the group
-Good as new, let's do this
They looked unconvinced, but agreed
-This is it
Alyssa said, looking at the very same dilapidated house
-Only one thing left to do then
I said with much more bravado than I felt, a sense of dread growing in me as I marched up towards the overgrown house...

-Simon
-Simon!
-SIMON!
I shook awake. I'd fallen asleep in class.. again. My teacher, Miss Lawrence, was looking at me with slight exasperation. Her red locks bobbed slightly as she shook her head left to right, sighing slightly she continued the lecture, talking about old engineering feats, underground tunnels and the sort. I heard a few snickers around me from my class-mates. It's easy to take sleep for granted when you get plenty of it, a fact I've become very aware of the last two weeks.
-.. I want those assignments on my desk by Monday
She said
-And make sure you all get enough rest
She finished, with a pointed look at me. I took it in stride, it's not like it's my fault I hardly get any sleep..
-Hey, Simon!
Fred, school boxing star and all around good-guy, yelled behind me as I was getting my bag out of my locker.
-You gotta stop dozing off like that, you're gonna get shit if it keeps up
-Yeah, yeah, I know..
-What's up, anyways? You got a new girl you haven't told me about, keeping you up at night?
He asked with a coy smile. I gave him a sly grin
-Nah man, that sounds like a good problem to have..
I scratched my neck and looked down at my feet
-It's a bit embarrassing actually..
He looked looked slightly concerned
-What is? You know you can tell me anything, still haven't told a soul about the-
He scanned the surroundings quickly, making sure no one was in earshot
-'undearwear incident' in second grade
He loved to bring up that example whenever he wanted to prove his reliability, which is unnecessary since it has never been in question during all the years I've known him.
-It's night terrors
I said
-But it's more than that. I think they're over, but then they're not.. I wake from a nightmare, drenched in sweat, heart racing, trying to calm myself down. Memories of the dream fading, and I see shadows out of the corner of my eye, moving away from me. I try and focus on them, and they fade into the background.
Fred looks quizzical for a moment, then he asks
-Is it like sleep paralysis? I've never had it, but I've heard some really freaky stories..
-Nah, it's not that. I've had them a lot as a kid, you probably heard most of those stories from me.. No, this is different. I can move while its going on, and I don't feel the dread I've come to associated with sleep paralysis. It's freaky still, but in another way. I feel hollow whenever I wake up, like I'm missing something. It lasts all the way up to around lunch.
Even in the light of day, the topic was getting on my nerves. Fred seemed to sense I was uncomfortable with digging too deep into this at the moment
-Sounds rough
He said
-Nothing a bit of practice won't solve. See you there?
He asked, slapping my arm
-You bet
I slapped his arm back
A few hours, and several bruises later, I was sitting out in my garden on the green grass, birds chirping in the background, late spring wind fanning my face and hair.
-Watcha' doing?
My annoying sister, Sarah, chirped up.
-Meditating. Same as yesterday. And the day before that.
She loved to find new ways to annoy me, currently it was asking questions she already knew the answer to, but that in itself isn't good enough. She needs to know I know she knows the answer.
-Watcha' doing that for?
-To get away from you, scram!
I snapped at her, giving her an evil look.
She scrambled away, giggling all the way.
Meditation, I'd started doing it a while ago, when I was still fantasizing about the idea of becoming a pro-boxer, looking for any edge I could eek out in order to compete with Fred. It was supposed to increase focus in the ring. I bet it does wonders, but I gave up on it on too soon to figure. Now, now I'm doing it out of desperation. Maybe my night terrors were because of a worried mind? Meditation calms the mind, so maybe it'll cure this problem?
I felt a buzz in my pocket, it's a text from Alyssa in the group chat
-You guys ready?
She asked
-Shit is it now?!?
Fred responded
-I'll bring snacks
Henri chimed in, always prepared for pretty much any situation, no matter how unlikely
-Yeah, usual spot in 15?
I typed
Alyssa, one year older than the rest of us, senior in highschool, had a bit of an obsession with the occult. Well, obsession is a bit harsh, but she's fascinated by it, reading up on stuff, buying tarot cards, crystals and herbs used in different rituals. She found some fortune-tellemedium on craigslist, and she badgered the rest of us to join her on her expedition there.
Approximately 15 minutes later I approached the dineconvince store named Shop'N'Stop, Fred and Henri already waiting by the rundown, faded exterior of the place who couldn't make its mind up about what it was. The shop is alright, got the necessities at a reasonable price, the diner on the other hand.. only one I know who haven't been running to the toilet for a week after eating there is Alyssa, and it's hardly fair to count her since she's some kind of freak of nature when it comes to dodging sickness, and most bad things now that I think about it.
-Where's our heroine, dragging us out at this ungodly hour to do God knows what, with forces and powers beyond our comprehension to witness, let alone understand?
I waxed poetically at the two in greeting. Henri chuckles and adjusts his glasses, while Fred smiles and looks behind me
-T'was three hours before midnight, sun's last rays still sparkling. Hardly an ungodly hour
A playful voice behind me, coming closer, said. I turn around and see her, auburn hair playing lightly in the slight wind, eyes glimmering a greyish green in the afromentioned sun, set over the barely visible freckles dotting her nose and visible cheekbones.
Yeah, she's a real looker, and I'm well aware of that. She's the standard I judge other beauties by, and it's anything but a fair standard. My feelings towards her is more like that of a sister, only she's less annoying, knowing someone since kindergarten kinda does that. There's days I've wondered, even fantasized about the two of us, once her blooming beauty was becoming apparent even to me. But I'd make it weird if I made a move, and she sees me as a brother as well, she's said it in the past..
-Considering our mission this evening, anything after noon is an ungodly hour
Henri, the only staunch atheist and unbeliever in anything paranormal, intoned. Despite his scepticism, he's the most easily scared of the bunch.
-Wouldn't be you if you weren't the last one here
I smiled at Alyssa
Fred came up to us and put his arms around our shoulders
-Alright birdies, let's get a move on. I've got a pizza with my name on it at home. It's very impatient, can't wait to see the insides of my stomach
We got a move on, going towards the older parts of town, the Shop'N'Stop marking the end of the newer, better maintained parts of town.
Henri glanced around nervously
-So where'd you say you found this guy? Or woman? Or whatever?
He asked
-Woman
Alyssa responded, giving him a quick smile
-Found her on craigslist, she's a bit expensive but I think it's worth it. I've only tried cheap mediums so far, and the price really reflected the quality of their work
She huffed, looking slightly annoyed, then she turned to the group and beamed towards us
-Good thing I got you guys to share the fee with
Henri huffed incredulously
-You mean you got us to badger until we finally agree to do what you want?
Fred looked to Henri
-Hey, you let her talk you into this, no use complaining about it now
He said, not able to completely hide the slight tone of defeat in his own voice.
-I'm actually looking forward to this
I interjected
-Not that I believe this is anything but a scam, but I'd say it's worth 25 bucks for one evenings worth of entertainment, I'm curious to figure out what kind of tricks she'll use to try and trick us..
-Alright guys, that's enough
Alyssa said, looking at us, brow slightly furrowed
-I want to do this with you, but if you're going to crap all over it before you've even tried it you're just gonna ruin it, for me, for you, for everyone. Just have an open mind
She looked at us pleadingly
-Alright
I looked at her
-The final reason I think this'll be worth $50 of my own money, is that on the off chance that this is real, I'd pay that sum several times over
Alyssa's entire being lit up as she smiled at me
-That's the spirit, we're almost there
-Simon
-zzt..fffzzZzz -static-
-SIMON
The scream echoed in my ears. My balance is off, the world is shaking. Fred is shaking me, looking me in the eyes.
-Where'd you go buddy?
He asked, looking me in the eyes intensely. I looked to Alyssa, worry written all over her face, rarely seen wrinkles making an appearance on her face, Henri alternating glances at me and the ground, fidgeting with something in his hands.
-I.. I don't... There was something.. over there.
I said, pointing towards the side of an old, dilapidated house, overgrown weeds all over the lawn and house itself. The dizziness was starting to pass
-There was a shadow. Something moved, I got all dizzy.. It's gone now.
Fred looked really worried now
-Shadow?
He asked
-It's fine, just the sleep deprivation doing a number on me, I can handle it
-We can do this another time, if you need to go home and rest
Alyssa chimed in, worry still apparent on her face, she'd been looking forward to this for over a week, she'd always put her friends wellbeing above her own interest, I didn't want to let her down
-It's fine, I'm feeling much better already
-Here, take this
Henri reached out a hand with a piece of candy, meant to raise the blood sugar of those with diabetes, I bit down on it and smiled towards the group
-Good as new, let's do this
They looked unconvinced, but agreed
-This is it
Alyssa said, looking at the very same dilapidated house
-Only one thing left to do then
I said with much more bravado than I felt, a sense of dread growing in me as I marched up towards the overgrown house...
Outro: My first story, will continue posting here if there's an interest. Constructive criticism is very welcome!

-Simon
-Simon!
-SIMON!
I shook awake. I'd fallen asleep in class.. again. My teacher, Miss Lawrence, was looking at me with slight exasperation. Her red locks bobbed slightly as she shook her head left to right, sighing slightly she continued the lecture, talking about old engineering feats, underground tunnels and the sort. I heard a few snickers around me from my class-mates. It's easy to take sleep for granted when you get plenty of it, a fact I've become very aware of the last two weeks.
-.. I want those assignments on my desk by Monday
She said
-And make sure you all get enough rest
She finished, with a pointed look at me. I took it in stride, it's not like it's my fault I hardly get any sleep..
-Hey, Simon!
Fred, school boxing star and all around good-guy, yelled behind me as I was getting my bag out of my locker.
-You gotta stop dozing off like that, you're gonna get shit if it keeps up
-Yeah, yeah, I know..
-What's up, anyways? You got a new girl you haven't told me about, keeping you up at night?
He asked with a coy smile. I gave him a sly grin
-Nah man, that sounds like a good problem to have..
I scratched my neck and looked down at my feet
-It's a bit embarrassing actually..
He looked looked slightly concerned
-What is? You know you can tell me anything, still haven't told a soul about the-
He scanned the surroundings quickly, making sure no one was in earshot
-'undearwear incident' in second grade
He loved to bring up that example whenever he wanted to prove his reliability, which is unnecessary since it has never been in question during all the years I've known him.
-It's night terrors
I said
-But it's more than that. I think they're over, but then they're not.. I wake from a nightmare, drenched in sweat, heart racing, trying to calm myself down. Memories of the dream fading, and I see shadows out of the corner of my eye, moving away from me. I try and focus on them, and they fade into the background.
Fred looks quizzical for a moment, then he asks
-Is it like sleep paralysis? I've never had it, but I've heard some really freaky stories..
-Nah, it's not that. I've had them a lot as a kid, you probably heard most of those stories from me.. No, this is different. I can move while its going on, and I don't feel the dread I've come to associated with sleep paralysis. It's freaky still, but in another way. I feel hollow whenever I wake up, like I'm missing something. It lasts all the way up to around lunch.
Even in the light of day, the topic was getting on my nerves. Fred seemed to sense I was uncomfortable with digging too deep into this at the moment
-Sounds rough
He said
-Nothing a bit of practice won't solve. See you there?
He asked, slapping my arm
-You bet
I slapped his arm back
A few hours, and several bruises later, I was sitting out in my garden on the green grass, birds chirping in the background, late spring wind fanning my face and hair.
-Watcha' doing?
My annoying sister, Sarah, chirped up.
-Meditating. Same as yesterday. And the day before that.
She loved to find new ways to annoy me, currently it was asking questions she already knew the answer to, but that in itself isn't good enough. She needs to know I know she knows the answer.
-Watcha' doing that for?
-To get away from you, scram!
I snapped at her, giving her an evil look.
She scrambled away, giggling all the way.
Meditation, I'd started doing it a while ago, when I was still fantasizing about the idea of becoming a pro-boxer, looking for any edge I could eek out in order to compete with Fred. It was supposed to increase focus in the ring. I bet it does wonders, but I gave up on it on too soon to figure. Now, now I'm doing it out of desperation. Maybe my night terrors were because of a worried mind? Meditation calms the mind, so maybe it'll cure this problem?
I felt a buzz in my pocket, it's a text from Alyssa in the group chat
-You guys ready?
She asked
-Shit is it now?!?
Fred responded
-I'll bring snacks
Henri chimed in, always prepared for pretty much any situation, no matter how unlikely
-Yeah, usual spot in 15?
I typed
Alyssa, one year older than the rest of us, senior in highschool, had a bit of an obsession with the occult. Well, obsession is a bit harsh, but she's fascinated by it, reading up on stuff, buying tarot cards, crystals and herbs used in different rituals. She found some fortune-tellemedium on craigslist, and she badgered the rest of us to join her on her expedition there.
Approximately 15 minutes later I approached the dineconvince store named Shop'N'Stop, Fred and Henri already waiting by the rundown, faded exterior of the place who couldn't make its mind up about what it was. The shop is alright, got the necessities at a reasonable price, the diner on the other hand.. only one I know who haven't been running to the toilet for a week after eating there is Alyssa, and it's hardly fair to count her since she's some kind of freak of nature when it comes to dodging sickness, and most bad things now that I think about it.
-Where's our heroine, dragging us out at this ungodly hour to do God knows what, with forces and powers beyond our comprehension to witness, let alone understand?
I waxed poetically at the two in greeting. Henri chuckles and adjusts his glasses, while Fred smiles and looks behind me
-T'was three hours before midnight, sun's last rays still sparkling. Hardly an ungodly hour
A playful voice behind me, coming closer, said. I turn around and see her, auburn hair playing lightly in the slight wind, eyes glimmering a greyish green in the afromentioned sun, set over the barely visible freckles dotting her nose and visible cheekbones.
Yeah, she's a real looker, and I'm well aware of that. She's the standard I judge other beauties by, and it's anything but a fair standard. My feelings towards her is more like that of a sister, only she's less annoying, knowing someone since kindergarten kinda does that. There's days I've wondered, even fantasized about the two of us, once her blooming beauty was becoming apparent even to me. But I'd make it weird if I made a move, and she sees me as a brother as well, she's said it in the past..
-Considering our mission this evening, anything after noon is an ungodly hour
Henri, the only staunch atheist and unbeliever in anything paranormal, intoned. Despite his scepticism, he's the most easily scared of the bunch.
-Wouldn't be you if you weren't the last one here
I smiled at Alyssa
Fred came up to us and put his arms around our shoulders
-Alright birdies, let's get a move on. I've got a pizza with my name on it at home. It's very impatient, can't wait to see the insides of my stomach
We got a move on, going towards the older parts of town, the Shop'N'Stop marking the end of the newer, better maintained parts of town.
Henri glanced around nervously
-So where'd you say you found this guy? Or woman? Or whatever?
He asked
-Woman
Alyssa responded, giving him a quick smile
-Found her on craigslist, she's a bit expensive but I think it's worth it. I've only tried cheap mediums so far, and the price really reflected the quality of their work
She huffed, looking slightly annoyed, then she turned to the group and beamed towards us
-Good thing I got you guys to share the fee with
Henri huffed incredulously
-You mean you got us to badger until we finally agree to do what you want?
Fred looked to Henri
-Hey, you let her talk you into this, no use complaining about it now
He said, not able to completely hide the slight tone of defeat in his own voice.
-I'm actually looking forward to this
I interjected
-Not that I believe this is anything but a scam, but I'd say it's worth 25 bucks for one evenings worth of entertainment, I'm curious to figure out what kind of tricks she'll use to try and trick us..
-Alright guys, that's enough
Alyssa said, looking at us, brow slightly furrowed
-I want to do this with you, but if you're going to crap all over it before you've even tried it you're just gonna ruin it, for me, for you, for everyone. Just have an open mind
She looked at us pleadingly
-Alright
I looked at her
-The final reason I think this'll be worth $50 of my own money, is that on the off chance that this is real, I'd pay that sum several times over
Alyssa's entire being lit up as she smiled at me
-That's the spirit, we're almost there
-Simon
-zzt..fffzzZzz -static-
-SIMON
The scream echoed in my ears. My balance is off, the world is shaking. Fred is shaking me, looking me in the eyes.
-Where'd you go buddy?
He asked, looking me in the eyes intensely. I looked to Alyssa, worry written all over her face, rarely seen wrinkles making an appearance on her face, Henri alternating glances at me and the ground, fidgeting with something in his hands.
-I.. I don't... There was something.. over there.
I said, pointing towards the side of an old, dilapidated house, overgrown weeds all over the lawn and house itself. The dizziness was starting to pass
-There was a shadow. Something moved, I got all dizzy.. It's gone now.
Fred looked really worried now
-Shadow?
He asked
-It's fine, just the sleep deprivation doing a number on me, I can handle it
-We can do this another time, if you need to go home and rest
Alyssa chimed in, worry still apparent on her face, she'd been looking forward to this for over a week, she'd always put her friends wellbeing above her own interest, I didn't want to let her down
-It's fine, I'm feeling much better already
-Here, take this
Henri reached out a hand with a piece of candy, meant to raise the blood sugar of those with diabetes, I bit down on it and smiled towards the group
-Good as new, let's do this
They looked unconvinced, but agreed
-This is it
Alyssa said, looking at the very same dilapidated house
-Only one thing left to do then
I said with much more bravado than I felt, a sense of dread growing in me as I marched up towards the overgrown house..

"Bird Brain" Nikki Haley is now voting for the guy who gave her that nickname; a guy she likened to a kindergartener who "isn't looking out for America" and 'doesn't deserve to be president"
That's her man?
What KIND of corruption is going on here?

This post is long overdue as I just kept procrastinating to do this for the longest, but finally, it's here.
The start is kind of tricky to figure out but the end is very easy. The start is most likely going to be with Richard Nixon's inauguration on January 20, 1969 and the end will be the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973. I know early-mid 1969 does kind of seem like a stretch to include the transition (although some are even willing to start the 1970s in 1968, so maybe not a stretch after all), unlike late 1969-1972/early 1973ish, as that period still screamed "60s" in many ways with Woodstock, the Moon Landing, and such, but I think even that period had enough "70s" things to exclude it out of the "core '60s" territory, especially by the time you hit the summer of '69.
I know most will disagree with the timespan but this is just my opinion. This is gonna be much longer so this will probably be done in two or three parts, one again.
Let's begin.
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The inauguration of Richard Nixon - January 20, 1969

After the chaotic year that was 1968, with the incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson not running for a second time, Richard M. Nixon had narrowly defeated Hubert Humphrey, the incumbent vice president, in the presidential election. Nixon became the first non-incumbent vice president to be inaugurated as president, something that would not happen again until Joe Biden in 2021. I'd say this is appropriate to begin the transition into the tumultuous decade that was the 1970s.
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Sly and the Family Stone's 'Stand' album releases - April 1969

In the spring of '69, soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone released their fourth album Stand. Written and produced by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, Stand! is considered an artistic high-point of the band's career. Released by Epic Records, just before the group's celebrated performance at the Woodstock festival, it became the band's most commercially successful album to date. This album was another sign of the 70s era that was beginning to emerge with its soul and funk rock sound.
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Lew Alcindor becomes the #1 pick for the NBA Draft - April 7, 1969

The 1969 NBA draft was the 23rd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 7 and May 7, 1969, before the 1969–70 season. The first overall draft pick this year would be none other than Lew Alcindor (or later, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as we all know him as) from UCLA for the Milwaukee Bucks organization. This would be the changing of the guard for the National Basketball Association as the veteran Boston Celtics dynasty were about to come to an end while a new dynasty has officially been born.
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The Boston Celtics win the 1969 NBA Championship - May 5, 1969

After defeating the highly-favored Los Angeles Lakers team of Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Jerry West, the aging Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics team win the 1969 NBA World Championship Series to end off the 1968-1969 NBA season, acquiring win their 11th championship as an organization. This was a significant Finals series as this marked the end of the Bill Russell Celtics dynasty that began in 1956. This would be their final championship as a team as Russell would retire shortly after this playoff series.
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Star Trek ends with the "Turnabout Intruder" episode - June 3, 1969

"Turnabout Intruder" is the twenty-fourth and final episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Arthur H. Singer (based on a story by Gene Roddenberry) and directed by Herb Wallerstein, it was first broadcast on June 3, 1969. In the episode, a woman switches bodies with Captain Kirk and then tries to take over command of the Enterprise. This was the last original episode of Star Trek to air on NBC.
"Turnabout Intruder" not only marked the final appearance of all main and supporting cast members of the show but also the last appearance of regular background actors David L. Ross (Lieutenant Galloway), William Blackburn (Lieutenant Hadley and DeForest Kelley's stand-in), and Roger Holloway (Lieutenant Lemli and James Doohan's stand-in). The episode drew Nielsen ratings of only 8.8, in contrast to rival shows Lancer on CBS and The Mod Squad on ABC, which gained ratings of 14.7 and 15.2 respectively, a drop of over fifty percent since the show premiered. Cultural theorist Cassandra Amesley states that this episode is "agreed to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever shown" by Star Trek fans.
The original Star Trek series ending would be another shedding off of 60s culture.
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Brian Jones dies - July 3, 1969

Rolling Stones star Brian Jones passes away at the age of 27 in the summer of 1969 after reportedly drowning in his swimming pool. Long story short, a lot of theories would surface surrounding his death years later saying that he was killed. And more importantly, this would be the beginning of the "27 Club" deaths that would occur with 60s musical acts between 1969 and 1971.
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The Apollo 11 spaceflight to the moon - July 20, 1969

Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing.
Humans walking on the Moon and returning safely to Earth accomplished Kennedy's goal set eight years earlier. In Mission Control during the Apollo 11 landing, Kennedy's speech flashed on the screen, followed by the words "TASK ACCOMPLISHED, July 1969". The success of Apollo 11 demonstrated the United States' technological superiority; and with the success of Apollo 11, America had won the Space Race.
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The Manson Family murders - August 8 to 10, 1969

The Tate–LaBianca murders were a series of murders perpetrated by members of the Manson Family during August 9–10, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States, under the direction of Tex Watson and Charles Manson. The perpetrators killed five people on the night of August 8–9: pregnant actress Sharon Tate and her companions Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Wojciech Frykowski, along with Steven Parent. The following evening, the Family also murdered supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, at their home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
On the night of August 8–9, four members of the Manson Family – Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian – drove from Spahn Ranch to 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, the home of Sharon Tate and her husband, film director Roman Polanski. The group murdered Tate (who was 8½ months pregnant), and guests Jay Sebring, a celebrity hairdresser; Abigail Folger, heiress to Folgers Coffee; her boyfriend Wojciech Frykowski, an aspiring screenwriter; and Steven Parent, an 18-year-old visiting the guest house caretaker. Roman Polanski was not home as he was working on a film in Europe. Manson was a cult leader and aspiring musician who had tried to get a contract with record producer Terry Melcher, who had previously rented the house.
The following night, those four people, in addition to Manson, Leslie Van Houten and Steve "Clem" Grogan, committed two more murders. Manson had allegedly said he would "show them how to do it". Linda Kasabian drove the group to 3301 Waverly Drive. Manson left with Atkins, Grogan, and Kasabian in the car and told the others to hitchhike back to the ranch. Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten killed the couple in the early morning hours of August 10.
The Tate–LaBianca murders "profoundly shook America's perception of itself" and "effectively sounded the death knell of '60s counterculture". Additionally, the ritualistic nature of the murders laid a foundation for the rise of the Satanic panic.
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The Woodstock festival - August 15 to 18, 1969

Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock Rock Festival, it attracted more than 460,000 attendees. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite overcast and sporadic rain. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s.
The festival has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, as well as a defining event for the Silent and Baby Boomer generations. The event's significance was reinforced by a 1970 documentary film, an accompanying soundtrack album, and a song written by Joni Mitchell that became a major hit for both Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Matthews Southern Comfort.
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Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premieres on CBS - September 13, 1969

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on September 13, 1969, and aired for two seasons until October 31, 1970. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of a long-running media franchise primarily consisting of animated series, several films, and related merchandise. This show played a huge impact on Generation X "70s kid" culture (although the original 1969-1970 series has a 60s vibe to it as well).
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The Brady Bunch premieres on ABC - September 26, 1969

The Brady Bunch was a new series that premiered on ABC for the 1969-70 fall season. It starts with the episode "The Honeymoon", which gives this description on Fandom:
"Michael Brady, an architect and widower with three sons (Greg, Peter and Bobby) marries Carol Ann Martin, a mother with three daughters (Marcia, Jan and Cindy). Mike and Carol have a chaotic backyard wedding, in which the boys' dog, Tiger, chases the girls' cat, Fluffy. Mike and Carol admonish their children, yelling at them to go catch their pets. The newlywed couple goes on a honeymoon later that day, while the children sit at home thinking that their parents hate them. While on their honeymoon, Mike and Carol realize that they were too hard on their children, and they decide to bring them along on the honeymoon. They also bring along Alice (the housekeeper), Tiger and Fluffy."
This show would give another huge sign to 70s culture as a whole.
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Sesame Street debuts - November 10, 1969

In the fall of 1969, “Sesame Street,” a pioneering TV show that would teach generations of young children the alphabet and how to count, makes its broadcast debut. “Sesame Street,” with its memorable theme song (“Can you tell me how to get/How to get to Sesame Street”), went on to become the most widely viewed children’s program in the world. It has aired in more than 120 countries.
The show was the brainchild of Joan Ganz Cooney, a former documentary producer for public television. Cooney’s goal was to create programming for preschoolers that was both entertaining and educational. She also wanted to use TV as a way to help underprivileged 3- to 5- year-olds prepare for kindergarten. “Sesame Street” was set in a fictional New York neighborhood and included ethnically diverse characters and positive social messages.
Taking a cue from “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” a popular 1960s variety show, “Sesame Street” was built around short, often funny segments featuring puppets, animation and live actors. This format was hugely successful, although over the years some critics have blamed the show and its use of brief segments for shrinking children’s attention spans.
From the show’s inception, one of its most-loved aspects has been a family of puppets known as Muppets. Joan Ganz Cooney hired puppeteer Jim Henson (1936-1990) to create a cast of characters that became Sesame Street institutions, including Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover and Big Bird.
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The 'David Bowie' album releases - November 14, 1969

Originally released in the UK, David Bowie's self-titled album would be his second studio album released, which would be titled under the genres of folk rock and psychedelic rock. Space rock was another genre that this album experimented with due to its only released single "Space Oddity", which came out in July 1969 to capitalize on the Apollo 11 Moon landing, received critical praise, and was used by the BBC as background music during its coverage of the event. That song is considered to be one of the most musically complex songs he had written up to that point, it represented a change from the music hall-influenced sound of his debut to a sound akin to psychedelic folk and inspired by the Bee Gees.
David Bowie has received mixed reviews in later decades, with many finding a lack of cohesiveness. Bowie himself later stated that it lacked musical direction. Debate continues as to whether it should stand as Bowie's first "proper" album.
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The Altamont Free Concert takes place - December 6, 1969

The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Tracy, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, with some anticipating that it would be a "Woodstock West". The Woodstock festival had taken place in Bethel, New York, in mid-August, almost four months earlier.
The event is remembered for its use of Hells Angels as security and its significant violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two from a hit-and-run car accident, and one from a drowning incident in an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen (and subsequently abandoned), and there was extensive property damage.
The concert featured performances (in order of appearance) by Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY), with the Rolling Stones taking the stage as the final act. The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform after CSNY, but shortly before their scheduled appearance, they chose not to due to the increasing violence at the venue. "That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, the prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play," wrote staff at Rolling Stone magazine in a detailed narrative on the event, terming it, in an additional follow-up piece, "rock and roll's all-time worst day, December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong."
Many people would mark this event to be the end of the cultural 60s.
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The 'Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5' album releases - December 12, 1969

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the debut studio album from Gary, Indiana-based soul family band the Jackson 5, released on the Motown label on December 12, 1969. The Jackson 5's lead singer, a preadolescent Michael Jackson and his four older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon, became pop successes within months of this album's release. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5's only single, "I Want You Back", became a number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 within weeks of the album's release. The album reached number 5 on the US Pop Albums chart, and spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the US R&B/Black Albums charts. To date, the Jackson 5's debut album has sold estimated 5 million copies worldwide.
If none of the events that described previously had transitioned us into the 70s to any of you, then this certainly did.
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MAS*H releases in theaters - January 25, 1970

M*A*S*H (stylized on-screen as MASH) is a 1970 American dark war comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner Jr., based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The picture is the only theatrically released feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise.
The film depicts a unit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. It stars Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, and Elliott Gould, with Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, René Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff, Roger Bowen, Michael Murphy, and in his film debut, professional football player Fred Williamson. Although the Korean War is the film's storyline setting, the subtext is the Vietnam War – a current event at the time the film was made. Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, who saw the film in college, said M*A*S*H was "perfect for the times, the cacophony of American culture was brilliantly reproduced onscreen".
M*A*S*H became one of the biggest films of the early 1970s for 20th Century-Fox and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made and also won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, later named the Palme d'Or, at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival.
This film was a another huge sign of 70s culture as it inspired the television series M*A*S*H, which ran from 1972 to 1983. Gary Burghoff, who played Radar O'Reilly, was the only actor playing a major character who appeared in both the movie and the TV series. Altman despised the TV series, calling it "the antithesis of what we were trying to do" with the movie.
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Paul McCartney announces his break from the Beatles - April 10, 1970

On April 10, 1970, when promoting the release of his forthcoming solo album, Paul McCartney announces that he is taking a break from the Beatles, the legendary rock band he had been a part of for a decade. It wasn't that much of a surprise. The Beatles spent the better part of three years breaking up in the late 1960s—and even longer than that hashing out who did what and why. By the spring of 1970, there was little more than a tangled set of business relationships keeping the group together. Each of the Beatles was pursuing his musical interests outside of the band, and there were no plans in place to record together as a group. But as far as the public knew, this was just a temporary state of affairs. No one had yet gone on the record with a definitive break-up statement. Paul, for his part, hedged his bets.
By year’s end, Paul would file suit to dissolve the Beatles’ business partnership, a formal process that would eventually make official the unofficial breakup he announced on this day in 1970.
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The Kent State Massacre - May 4, 1970

In the spring of 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students. The impact of the shootings was dramatic. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close. H. R. Haldeman, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, suggests the shootings had a direct impact on national politics.
In The Ends of Power, Haldeman (1978) states that the shootings at Kent State began the slide into Watergate, eventually destroying the Nixon administration. Beyond the direct effects of the May 4, the shootings have certainly come to symbolize the deep political and social divisions that so sharply divided the country during the Vietnam War era.
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Jimi Hendrix passes away - September 18, 1970

On September 18, 1970, American musician Jimi Hendrix died in London at the age of 27. One of the 1960s' most influential guitarists, he was described by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
Hendrix's death was reportedly due to him aspirating on his own vomit, later dying of asphyxia, while intoxicated with barbiturates. At the inquest, the coroner, finding no evidence of suicide, and lacking sufficient evidence of the circumstances, recorded an open verdict. Dannemann stated that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.
Jimi Hendrix's death was another huge blow to 60s culture and he would be another number added to the new "27 Club" list of celebrities that would continue with none other than.....
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Janis Joplin passes away - October 4, 1970

On Sunday evening, October 4, 1970, Joplin was found dead on the floor of her room at the Landmark Motor Hotel by her road manager and close friend John Byrne Cooke. Alcohol was present in the room. Newspapers reported that no other drugs or paraphernalia were present.
According to a 1983 book authored by Joseph DiMona and Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi, evidence of narcotics was removed from the scene by a friend of Joplin and later put back after the person realized that an autopsy was going to reveal that narcotics were in her system. The book adds that prior to Joplin's death, Noguchi had investigated other fatal drug overdoses in Los Angeles where friends believed they were doing favors for decedents by removing evidence of narcotics, then they "thought things over" and returned to put back the evidence.
Noguchi performed an autopsy on Joplin and determined the cause of death to be a heroin overdose, possibly compounded by alcohol.
Joplin's death, just like Hendrix's, was a huge blow to the more optimistic culture of the 1960s, and the 27 Club list of celebrity deaths are continuing.
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Other events that also had an impact that happened around this time period (give/take) that I could not fit on this list:

• Richard Nixon wins the presidential election, defeating incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace (November 5, 1968)
• Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower passes away (March 28, 1969)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival's hit single "Fortunate Son" releases (October 1969), which was arguably the quintessential Vietnam War song.
• Pink Floyd's fourth album Ummagumma releases (November 7, 1969)

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And this will conclude the first part of this transition. Stay tuned for the second part to this.
I hope you enjoyed it and I would appreciate it if you would comment on these.

Axstrom's Notes

1. The list is here: big jump list
2. The draw (1-5548) is 877, 1520, 4754, 5265, 1478
   1. Drawing 5 so there are backups in case of issues, but the jumper gets to choose among 4
   2. 877 is Earth Final Conflict - A TV show whewre aliens come and uplift Earth but have a hidden agenda
   3. 1520 is Investiture of the Gods - A fantasy tale in Zhou Dynasty
   4. 4754 is Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - a Disney mashup videogame
   5. 5265 is The Fountain - A film about contuinity across time, grief, death, and growth
   6. Jumper chooses The Fountain
      1. Jump Doc
      2. Reddit discussion
   7. Jumper buys access to The Biosphere Supplement
      1. Supplement Doc

Build Notes

1. Drawbacks - None - Part of the point is that you can't have everything
2. Companions - None - This is the journey of an individual soul
3. Origin
   1. Past: Noble - setting the stage for grander thigns
   2. Present: Inventor - striving for progress
   3. Future: Witness - seeing what has become of the world
4. Perks
   1. Noble Thought - free for Noble, stay connected to the people who are affected by your actions
   2. Noble Deed - free for Noble, your actions have greater impact and are remembered and recorded
   3. Inventor's Vision - free for inventor, studying a problem gives increasing insight in how to improve it
   4. Inventor's Intent - free for inventor, your creations are harder to misuse
   5. Improved POV - free for witness, observe / remember events from multiple perspectives
   6. Bystander - free for witness, events can unfold around you leaving you unharmed
   7. All Together Now - merge all your past origins into a complex mind
   8. 500 Years of Practice (Teaching) - mastery beyond mastery of the chosen skill
   9. Soothing Presence - calm strong emotions and suffering
   10. Absolution - If someone genuinely repents, you can allow them to move
5. Items
   1. Meditation Garden - self-explanatory warehouse attachment
   2. Biosphere - Full purchase activates the Biosphere Supplement
   3. Tree of Life Sapling - Grows six immortality fruits per decade, which can (over very long time) grow more trees

Jump Notes

1. I wake up in my room in the warehouse apartments, after shutting myself in without even checking the Benefactor's Lounge the night before
   1. I'm still lingering on the frustration of not cracking the riddle of Allabar, and not being able to solve the problem permanently
   2. But there's no going back, so I commit to facing forward for the rest of the week, and head to the Benefactor room
      1. Once again, there are four envelopes with me, and my big chart of jumps up on the wall, like something from a Kindergarten classroom
      2. As I affix a sticker saying "The Fountain (2006)" to the big chart, a small round outline appears next to it: "Biosphere Supplement available"
   3. On my way to call a team meeting, I catch a surprise outside the apartments
      1. Three of our bard graduates are slowly exploring the area
   4. At the team meeting, I announce my intention to go solo on the next jump
      1. The decision isn't popular, but most of them have waited while I've done gauntlets before, so it's not a big shock
   5. We set up the entertainment room to watch the movie, even though I don't expect that meta knowledge will be much help
      1. For the first time, we don't all fit in the Entertainment room
      2. By count, there are eleven of us (me and ten companions), the Halflings are now up to fifteen after two recent births, and we have nine new bards with us, so we set up a second showing in the evening
   6. Finally, before heading in to the jump, I make one last check of the Benefactor's office to see if there's more information on the biosphere supplement, but though my note has been removed, there is no response, and nothing on the tablet
2. I awake from a deep sleep in a luxurious bed, it is early morning and the sun is still rising
   1. I can feel the absence of my abilities; I am reduced below even bodymod, to the level of a baseline middle-aged man in a world with primitive medicine
      1. Nevertheless, I can feel a gift reaching back in time to me - and as I accept it, I am calmed, no longer distressed by what I have lost
   2. In this time, I have duties, both in the mundane sense of the tasks those around me expect me to perform, as well as a greater sense in which I must try to make this world better
   3. My new gift becomes invaluable in due time
      1. All manner of petitioners and officers come to me with grievances, and each of them are a storm of emotions - no one comes before their Count to declare how satisfied they are with things
      2. In short time, word of my wisdom spreads, and my council is sought by King Ferdinand
   4. I lobby my King with an eye to improving the lives of all involved
      1. It is the lives of ordinary Spaniards that are the measure of his ability as a King, not the mass of his treasury
      2. Colonialism brings with it dangers beyond the obvious, and responsibilities for ages to come
      3. Allowing the priests to destroy artifacts of other cultures does not increase our glory, but diminishes it
   5. Despite my ability to make my case clearly and seemingly overcome all objections, my guidance is rarely heeded when I leave the room
   6. And before long, it seems I have made enemies of those who stand to gain by plundering the New World
      1. They do not discuss the matter with me, or make their displeasure known by facing me down in violence
      2. But as the breath leaves my lungs over dinner, my last thought is that I have been poisoned by a coward
3. I awake from a fitful sleep in a large bed, my wife still asleep beside me despite the chirping of my alarm clock
   1. My first throught is of the date - It is September 7, 1999 - the first day of fall semester
      1. This will not be my first time teaching CS 101, but this time will be different, I can feel the power in my body, my mind, and my soul
   2. I arrive at my office early, of course, and make sure everything is in order - the syllabus handouts are ready, my slides are in order and proof-read, and my TAs have confirmed their preparedness
      1. The lecure hall is large - so many students sign up for CS 101 without any prior programming knowledge, just to see what it's like, or convinced that they will be a natural
      2. As the students file in, they sparsely occupy the massive auditorium, afraid to sit near people they don't know, not fully understanding that for the vast majority of them, this is their first class on campus, their first opportunity to get to know eachother
      3. I exhort them to move towards the front so they can hear and see better, and a few oblige
      4. The first lecture flows like a breeze, the students hanging on my words as I understand what each one needs to hear to understand what the rest of this semester will hold
   3. By semester's end, the students and TAs are in awe, the CS department chair has asked for my materials and told me that spring registrations for CS102 are higher than ever, both of the student papers have run articles praising my class, and the dean of Arts and Sciences has interceded to clear my spring schedule to prioritize my research work on the condition that I teach 101 again next year
      1. I appreciate my grad students and TAs, but I don't have a real family in this life, so I head into the warehouse for winter break
4. I awaken rested and enthusiastic on a beautiful spring day
   1. It is graduation day for the first group of freshman I taught after coming to this jump, nearly four years ago
      1. They have come so far, and I'm fortunate that some of the best have continued to work with me, and three of them will be graduate students working under me starting in the fall
   2. It is also the first day of human trials for the drug, a new anti-inflammatory
      1. We were hoping it would treat chronic inflammatory diseases, but early testing suggests that it may significantly reduce hay fever, which would be great if we can mass produce it cheaply
   3. My reputation at the school has skyrocketed thanks to the combination of my groundbreaking research plus my teaching perks ensuring high instructor reviews as well as students learning and retaining more
      1. My tenure process has been fast-tracked, since the dean is rightly concerned about losing me to another institution
5. I awaken slowly, and awkwardly, as if from a coma, as a cocktail of drugs is released into my body, still restrained on my cryobed
   1. Our vessel, the Cyllene, is essentially a large asteroid with a hole carved in the middle, stuffed with propellent, equipment, supplies, expansive aquaponics facilities, and a relatively tiny living area
      1. Cyllene was said to have nursed and protected Hermes, as this vessel must nurture and protect us, the first observers, and hopefully, colonists,
   2. As my body and mind resume normal function over the course of 90 minutes, I get a slow trickle of updates on the status of the Cyllene and our mission
      1. The mission clock says it's 202 years since we left Earth, but thanks to time dilation, Earth has experienced 221
      2. Computer Block 5 (of 8) is currently undergoing automated reconstruction as the block with the highest error correction rate at the time the last automated reconstruction completed
      3. 1575 individuals are currently in cryosleep, and 25 (including me) are active, all sufficiently healthy
      4. I am still Dr. John Axstrom, revered teacher and groundbreaking computational pharmacologist, but my consciousness seems to have jumped forward a few hundred years, skipping past the development of miracle cures, life extension medications, and cryogenic preservation of humans
   3. As I realign with my memories and identity, I remember why I'm here
      1. If colonization proceeds, the coming generations are going to need exceptional teachers if they are to learn their place in the universe, and I'm one of the best there ever was
      2. Our mission is expected to take about 750 years from departure to arrival, and though the vast majority of that time is spent in cryosleep, we take shifts being "awake" to ensure systems are functioning and keep eachother mentally and physically healthy
   4. Since the monitoring systems will throw a fit if I straight up disappear from the vessel, I take a long ride out to the external "observation" check, out of the range of most of the sensor systems
      1. There's not really much to observe in deep space - it's like the night sky, as the ancients saw it with no light pollution, but from a different perspective
      2. Here I quickly form a stunt double duplicate, hand over my electronics, and duck into the warehouse
   5. The warehouse clock confirms my suspicions - I'm nearly seven years into the jump
      1. Since it looks like this isn't going to take nearly 1000 years, the team hasn't been going full-stasis mode
      2. The bards have been poring over J-Borg's personal library as well as the impressive collection of the warehouse media room
      3. But the reason I came is the Tablet of the Free - I'm stuck on a large but still confined deep-space vessel until my scheduled return to cryosleep - how is that supposed to entertain the boss?
      4. After confirming nothing interesting is in the warehouse, I head back to the observation deck, and stash the portable door I've been using back into hammer-space before re-merging with my stunt double, and taking the long trip back to the living area
6. I wake up to an unfamiliar synthetic beep - apparently the Cyllene's version of a doorbell
   1. When I open the door, one of my crewmates tells me that our directional antennas have picked up some unusual RF activity that seems to be coming from our destination system, and they want me (as the on-shift programmer) to help the astronomer, comms, and operations staff to help make sense of it, and ensure we're not about to get nuked by a magnetar or something
   2. Initial findings were sparse and inconclusive - just occasional pulses of a signal that must have been very strong and highly directional at the time of transmission, to reach us so far away
   3. But I had access to diagnostic tools that the astrophysicists and comms staff didn't, for all their training and equipment: a series of perks specifically for teasing out the needles of relevance from the haystack of noise
      1. And as I looked at what we were seeing, and what we weren't, the answer became clear: these radio bursts looked just like a primitive form of RADAR
      2. At first my colleagues on the Cyllene were skeptical, but the evidence kept mounting, with 4 additional series of "pings" being detected in the next six weeks
   4. With the spectre of extraterrestrial intelligence hanging over the Cyllene, our XO followed protocol, and ordered the full complement to be wakened from cryosleep to assist in the work to come
   5. Within six months, we had fabricated and installed a much larger purpose-built directional antenna array on the surface of our asteroid hull, and reports of different signals were coming in almost daily
      1. We needed all the extra hands, even our mining and terraforming experts were lending a hand with signal analysis and attempts to form patterns
      2. The whole crew felt the urgency and wondered at the situation - temporally, it would mean that their early experiments with RADAR and initial RF broadcasts would have happened at about the same time as humans did those things on earth, and if they developed at the same rate as us (a big if), they would likely be more advanced when we arrivedd than humans were when we left (and thus the technology of our vessel), and would almost certainly see us coming
   6. The coming months flew past, each bringing further confirmation of suspicious, but with it frustration, as we had been unable to extract a coherent signal - the broadcasts we could pick up didn't appear to be using either amplitude or frequency modulation
      1. More than once I brought signal samples to the warehouse team, but they were just as stumped as us
      2. Even more "esoteric" means didn't work - we tried every variation of "Tongues" and "Comprehend Language" spells on printed, audioized, and even engraved versions of the RF signals we caught, but they all failed and the representations seemed full of too many discontinuities
   7. I could feel my new Inventor's Vision working on the task of how to decode these signals, and about two years after the first pulse was detected, I had my breakthrough
      1. The signals didn't represent continuous audio (like human radio) or even piece-by-piece visuals (like rasterized video), but something of each, and a little weirder
      2. They were composed of many (from seven to three hundred, and not consistent at all) micro-audio clips
      3. It was like making an ultra-low bitrate recordding of the voice of every singer in a chorus individually, and transmitting fifty milliseconds of one, then fifty milliseconds of the next, and so one, in serial, and then starting back again with the first voice
      4. We couldn't figure out why they did this, but once I was able to identify the break points between each "voice", I could layer them on top of eachother to make a composite audio version
      5. And that composite audio could be played, and was a viable candidate for magic translation
   8. The entire vessel went wild when I demonstrated the isolation and recombination of the signals to produce audio
      1. The sound of the thing was somewhat like the sound of multiple birds, frogs, and crickets in a forest, in very brief clips
      2. Of course, I didn't reveal that I had access to magic translation - I figured the comms and signals staff (and the one cryptographer) should have to earn their pay
   9. The remaining year and a half was spent in intense research, for them, while I mostly slacked off and tried to make conversation with the people doing important work on this front, since my actual mission here was to "observe" as humans of this universe underwent a sort of assymmetrical first contact
7. I awaken in my weird little pod bed in my weird little capsule room for the last time, perfectly aware of the remaining hours in this jump
   1. After the initial excitement died down, the majority of the colonists were put back into cryosleep, with only the decoding specialists and those "on shift" like me staying active
      1. There has been a lot of anxiety around the Cyllene for the last few months - we are clearly a colony ship and the intelligent inhabitants of that system probably do not want to be colonized, and may well be easily capable of destroying us
      2. There were discussions about trying to reverse course and head back to Earth, but we could do that any time, and the closer we get, the more information we can gather about the system and its inhabitants
   2. It would be cruel to try to skim supplies from this vessel even if there were something I wanted aboard, so I just wait my time out, helping where I can and secretly translating any communications we receive when time permits
      1. So far it has all been rather uninspiring, which makes me even more curious what kind of species would develop radio technology but not transmit any fiction or speeches or poetry
   3. When it's almost time, I once again make the long trek out to the Cyllene's observation deck alone, and split off a Stunt Double, who can at least stay here for a month, while I slip into the warehouse
      1. When I enter, J-Borg greets me and informs me of a message at the Benefactor's lounge
      2. The note on the door says "Supplement Pending - please attend as soon as possible", so I go in to check it out
      3. With the choices all locked in, the door unlocks and I head out to meet with the team
   4. With the memories of my time in Spain finally restored, I realize how I had been trying to communicate with myself all along, but failing
      1. The need for calm communcation and education will never end - among our closest neighbors or with a civilization 300 light years away
   5. We have the traditional group dinner in the commons, and discuss what's going on
      1. The team did end up spending most of the time in stasis, and the formerly-newborn halflings are a little over a year now biologically, learning to speak and walk
      2. When I mention the Biosphere supplement and how I wasn't allowed to consult them, they naturally asked when it would apply, but it hadn't even occurred to me that there were now definitely too many of us to wait out warehouse changes in the entrance hall, so I checked with the central control
   6. Afterward, no one was complaining when the doors finally unlocked and we were able to leave the commons hall, only to find that the door led to an outdoor path with a natural-looking sunset on the horizon
      1. I didn't want to spoil the whole setup yet, so I said we could tour in the morning, and turned off a number of the facilities and systems for the night, to give me some time to understand what options were available before letting my companions go wild with them
      2. Fortunately, the obvious items like the tree of life and factory complex were on other islands, that would be difficult to reach without the transport disks running
   7. And then I went to sleep again, wondering what the next awakening had in store for me

Notes on the Fountain Jump Doc

1. Honestly this doc has been on my to-try list since I saw it - I really enjoyed the movie and gladly rewatched it again when it came up in my random draw.
2. The author took some liberties with the source material, which makes sense because of how focused on Thomas the story is, and the extensions largely make sense
3. There were a few confusing things in the jump, such as how you get essences and what powers you bring with you into each phase of the jump, but a close reading makes them clear enough
4. The jump has a few really standout purchase
   1. the inventor's intention is the answer to a lot of concers that "do-gooder" jumpers are likely to have in their careers
   2. the full tree of life is an amazing item - the ability to grant perfect health and immunity to aging within a regrowing item solves a lot of problems
   3. 500 years of practice is amazing if you have a particular skill or art in mind - literally centuries better than the "10 years of practice" equivalents that you find din many other jumps, and has a lot of potential to synergize with other perks that scale off your skill in a particular area
   4. Biosphere is super cool if you want your fiat-backed warehouse to grow into something more
   5. The Dagger of the Path is a great example of a conceptual weapon, and something I probably would have picked up if I had a bunch more points
5. How you're supposed to interleave the three eras is a little unclear, and maybe I'm not a creative enough author to pull it off. I don't believe SJ Chan ever got around to writing a fictionalized account of jumping to it, unfortunately
   1. If anyone else has done a good jump fiction of this jump, please let me know
6. Overall absolutely a fantastic jump. Obviously a great option for anyone who likes the movie or wants to solve one of the specific problems available
   1. I'd especially recommend it for an early-chain jumper because of the generally low danger level and great variety of rewards

Notes on the Biosphere Supplement Doc

1. I knew this was something I wanted to pick up when I first read the fountain jumpdoc several months ago
2. I use the "Personal Reality" warehouse which was co-authored by SJ Chan, and this supplement feels perfectly tailored to supplement that
3. There are lots of good pickups for people with various interests, or those who just want to keep their options open
   1. Observation Deck seems like the real must-have since a lot of the other buys are controllable through it
4. The structure of the biosphere was a little confusing at first - I thought that there was an island, a void around the island, and a hard shell, and wasn't sure why you'd want to increase the shell thickness, but further reading cleared that up
5. On the whole, a good pick up, especially considering it only cost 400 CP in the jump, and normally buying warehouse upgrades with CP has a very unfavorable conversion, but in this case, the biosphere purchases all seemed cheaper than they ought to be.

(Builds to come in a separate post due to length restrictions)

I'm going to keep this short, and omit a lot of details.
My neighbor's kid kicked a bird, had the intention to bury alive another one, and he tried to destroy a bird nest saying he was going to kill them all.
Naturally, I cussed a lot at him. When I told his parents that their kid was on a tree trying to destroy a birds nest they didn't care.
Is there any way I can send some kind of anonymous report to anyone about this? (I just prefer it to be anonymous, if it's not, I can still file some kind of report with my info)
Some extra info: The kid is in kindergarten (the parents tried to use this as an excuse) Birds: 2 robin fledglings Area: arkansas The kid also threw firecrackers at me and my siblings immediately after this happened and the parents did not care. Our parents are thinking of doing a police report since he also started throwing rocks at our door after we went inside.
Also the birds are now fine, I found some shrubs in front of a nearby building and the adult robins went up to fledglings as I got further away.

Chapter Bosses
Chapter 1= Opilla bird Chapter 2= Banban Chapter 3= Stinger Flynn Chapter 4 = Sheriff Toadater Chapter 5= Unnamed Citizen Chapter 6 = BitterGiggle Chapter 7 = Surgeon Chapter 8 = Flumbo Chapter 9 = Brushista Chapter 10 = Zolpius
Chapter Locations
Chapter 1 = Kindergarten Chapter 2 = Underground Chapter 3= Playground Chapter 4 = Kingdom Chapter 5 = Laboratory and History Chapter 6 = Garden Episode 7 = Cityngeon Episode 8 = Cityngeon again Chapter 9 = Art Room Chapter 10= Zolpius's shelter
The theory is entirely mine

After my pet passed a month ago I ve been using the invitation prayer method to connect with him, and it has worked every time I get to spend time with him in his beautiful doggie heaven and make him feel comfortable in his transition, I ve been doing it for few weeks now, I read a prayer before sleep that lets him connect to me and first dream I have is with him until I wake around 2 or 3 am. Then I fall asleep again but this time lot of usually the same red haired boy I have been seeing in my dream for YEARS he terrorizes me with his stupid doll and also other ghosts that always come in To my house and set up a sort of a party and they won’t leave. They keep decorating my apartment and I try to stop them but they won't listen. The red haired boy I have been controlling him more or less as when I get mad at him and scream at him to LEAVE he usually smirks and teases me but then finally he leaves me alone, idk what he wants he doesn’t talk to me just always following me every part of my life he just creepily grins at me and sort of teases me likes old would in kindergarten. He also tries so cope close to me to touch me but I hav been very good at keeping him at arms length because he is a KID and shys away when I use my body hands to let him know he can't come any Closer. I have seeing him since 2015 so I’m not as scared if him anymore but I AM ANNOYED. Do I really wanna know what he wants and why he won't leave me alone? NO, idc what he has going on but he doesn't seem likes. Pcr boy to me he always is trying to jump scare me or uses creepy dolls to come at me and he thinks it's funny. It's not, it's very creepy. I use to go into sleep paralysis when spirits terrors same bing dreams but over the years inside been good at waking up pretty quickly thank god. Last night though I had a hard time getting rid of them even when I woke up and went back to sleep they were still there so I just let them this time until my alarm clock was rinding. Not the but tho I never let him stay I always want him to leave he gives me very bad vibes.
I do want to continue seeing my dog as it gives both us comfort he recently passed and I want to make sure he gets adjusted to his resting place in his beautiful but sort of cloudy heaven with lots of trees and birds , other dogs and this snowy white light and pleasant sounding chimes. My cat who is still alive usually accompanies me and we spent about a hour in my dream and it’s NICE, kitty usually hunts a bird for my dog and we just lay around on this cloud like bed and I would like for that to keep happening. but I want to close the connection portal to everyone else! I’m tired! I don’t want these other spirits coming through.
Does anyone know how I can close the portal after communication with my dog? Or should I just let my dog visit me naturally and give up the invitation prayer every night because obviously its inviting A LOT more than my doggy. I do say a prayer after the dream with my dog to close the portal but it rarely works.
Tonight I will try the prayer again but after I see my dog which always wakes me after the visit is over, maybe i should say a prayer longer to CLOSE invitation to any other negative souls? Because minutes I get back to sleep all these spirits come rushing in and they do whatever they want some of them scare me and even try to rape me. Thankfully I am somewhat powerful in my dreams and can stand on my feet and ward off any ghosts touching me pretty easily by slapping them and telling them to stay away but I just want to Eliminate this altogether I just want my DOG visits. Not alll the spirits are bad some of them are chill but still I don’t want them around.
I ve always been the person who gets visited by passed loved ones and my friends deceased pets and parents and I don’t mind that because I know them and I love them and they usually have very comforting messages or even warning for me and my family and friends but I do NOT not like all these unknown spirits who seems to be scary and rude!
Anyone have any tips or experiences or knows how I can harness the connection better without the other spirits? Thanks you!

After a lot of marriage counseling my husband and I came to the decision to see his parents once a month when they’re in town, they’re snow birds so 7 or 8 months a year. We don’t allow them to babysit or be alone with the kids, which is something we are in strong agreement about.
My husband is not close to his parents and has never been, avoiding telling them he was back in town during college. I am very close to my parents and whenever we need a babysitter they’re it. I only work part time so spend a fair amount of time doing things with my parents and the children are close to them as well. My MIL is deeply jealous of this. She has chosen to take out her jealousy by giving my parents the silent treatment when she’s around them. They have not interacted much with her over the years and definitely haven’t done anything or said anything unkind to her. She just hates them because we spend more time with them and she’s losing the grandparents competition she made up in her head. We have gone to a couple events and she pretends she doesn’t know who they are and that they aren’t there right in front of her. She will look up at the ceiling and walk away rather than speak to them when they say hello. It’s embarrassing and rude and frankly, ticks me off. If you call her out on it she pretends she didn’t do it; I didn’t see them! I didn’t hear them! I didn’t do that!
So my question is: do I have to invite her to things my parents will be at? We’re inviting my parents to my son’s kindergarten graduation and I don’t wish to tell my IL’s because I know she’ll be rude.

I truly miss silence. I miss not having to tolerate other people blasting their music in public spaces. I miss not hearing the rumble and pounding bass of some asshole's Chevy Kindergartener Crusher. I miss not hearing the sounds of my neighbors using a buzz saw in the afternoon. Even on a commercial flight, I have to sit there while the flight attendant tries to pitch me the airline's credit card over the loud speaker. I escape to nature where the only sounds I hear are birds, wind and the rushing of a stream but there's always that one dickhead who just HAS to play their shit music from a loudspeaker. It's enough to drive a man insane. I miss silence.

A short but lovely one
Summary: We visit a loved one we miss a lot
Read my guidelines before you perform this script!
[Sound of footsteps on gravel] [Sound of a door opening] [Sound of birds chirping]
[Sound of flowers being placed, a gentle sigh]
(softly) Hey. It's been a while since I last visited. I brought you some flowers, your favorites. I hope you like them.
[Sound of wind rustling through the leaves]
(continuing) I've been thinking about you a lot lately, especially with everything that's been happening in my life. Work has been busy, and the family is doing well, but it's not the same without you. We all miss you so much. The youngest started kindergarten, can you believe it? She's just like you, always curious and full of life.
(chuckling) And the boy, well, he's a handful, just like I was at his age. But he's got a good heart, just like you.
[Sound of wind chimes tinkling]
(reflectively) I miss you. We all do. Old man visit too, you know. He brings flowers as well, every Sunday. He misses you terribly. We all do.
(soft chuckle) He has been keeping busy with the garden, just like you used to. He says it helps him feel closer to you.
[Sound of a distant church bell ringing]
(emotionally) I wish you were here. I wish I could see your smile, hear your voice. I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, how much I love you.
(reflecting) I remember the last time we spoke, how you told me to always cherish the moments we have with loved ones, because you never know when they'll be gone. Those words have stayed with me
[Sound of a deep breath]
(tearfully) I love you, Mom. I always have, and I always will. I hope you know that, wherever you are.
[Sound of a gentle breeze, birds chirping]
[Sound of footsteps on gravel, a door closing]
[Sound of birds chirping, wind rustling through the leaves, fading away]

MASSACHUSETTS NUMEROLOGY DECODE

Interestingly enough, we don't hear much about this state. It's almost easy to overlook or straight up forget unless you are looking at a map. We are going to decode this state using Numerology and point out the reasons/indications that point towards it being such a silent city or at least not popular and frequented like other places. This will get very informative so enjoy the read.
We will now begin decoding each letter in detail.
M - This is The 13th letter of the alphabet Making this letter vibrate at the energy of 4. The energy of four represents privacy and caution. When it comes to 13 and the energy of 4, you have a person or an energy where it's more focused on self rather than connecting with others. So, like I mentioned, 4 is about privacy, caution, and withholding. 4 is pretty restrictive so when a person or place has this name, that you know these are very cautious people or you know that these are not people that take action without thinking. 4 is a very organized type of energy. As a state, this can translate to being a very restrictive state or a state that has particular rules in place. People who live in this state can even have some of these traits. This isn't the type of place to move to unless you want some type of restriction or a relaxed type of energy in your life. M is the strongest energy of this state since it is the first letter of the state's name. So, that alone can start speaking to why this isn't a state that is talked about as much as, let's say, New York or Florida.
A - This is the letter that represents number one as it is the first letter of the alphabet which lets you know that this is about initiation or fresh starts. When it comes to people, this speaks to having that focus on self or being self-motivated.
S - As the 19th letter of the alphabet, this letter vibrates at the energy of one, but it is from a place of being in power or being extremely independent. As a state, that's why the state can seem alone or like a stand alone and not really talked about because we already have a lot of indications that talk about being too self absorbed or too withheld.
S - As the 19th letter of the alphabet, this letter vibrates at the energy of one, but it is from a place of being in power or being extremely independent. As a state, that's why the state can seem alone or like a stand alone and not really talked about because we already have a lot of indications that talk about being too self absorbed or too withheld.
A - This is the letter that represents number one as it is the first letter of the alphabet which lets you know that this is about initiation or fresh starts. When it comes to people, this speaks to having that focus on self or being self-motivated. This is the second time we got this letter and energy.
C - 3rd letter of the alphabet which can represent communication and creativity
H - 8th letter of the alphabet which talks about structure, pressure, seriousness, and mastery.
U - 21st letter of the alphabet which vibrates at the energy of 3. This shows compassion, especially when an individual has this in their name. This also can add more creative juices to a person or the state.
S - As mentioned above, this is the 19th letter of the alphabet and vibrates at the energy of 1.
E - 5th letter of the alphabet which points to combat, creativity, romance, joy, change, and events.
T - 20th letter of the alphabet which vibrates at the energy of 2 which can point to cooperation, stability, comfort, and proactivity. This is a money number just like the number 8, but 2 represents more frequency.
T - 20th letter of the alphabet which vibrates at the energy of 2 which can point to cooperation, stability, comfort, and proactivity. This is a money number just like the number 8, but 2 represents more frequency.
S - As mentioned above, this is the 19th letter of the alphabet and vibrates at the energy of 1.
As you can see, Massachusetts has 6 letters that vibrate at the energy of 1 which equals 6. 6 is about comfort, family, beauty, and discipline. We can see that this may be a state that values discipline which goes well with the fact that it starts with M which is similar to discipline because 4 energy is responsible and even family oriented. We can assume that this state operates from a place of balance and fairness. They may not tolerate what a lot of other states tolerate. Jobs could possibly be a little easier to get here just based on how a lot of the numeric values barely get to the number 9. 1 is the main number that stands out within this state which can point to them doing their own thing and not wanting to identify with how other states do things.
Very individualistic type of energy. People that live in this state could either be workaholics, dogmatic, serious, responsible, controlling, family oriented, shy, or even mean. Routine could be a big thing here. Some or a lot of the residents could even be big on being business owners. This could even be a state where couponing is or can be a big deal. This state may not have too many outside visitors like Florida or Nevada does and the residents could have been there for a long time.
This is a good place to live if you plan on settling down with your own family or partner, if you want a simple and quiet life, if it's just you and only you, if you want to downsize, etc. You get the point. The energy of Massachusetts is very much on the personal and private side.
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Chickens were hatched during a project in the kindergarten. Immediately after hatching, they were balls of feathers that hopped around cheerfully. The children noticed a difference to the songbirds in the garden: Sometimes a newly hatched chick falls out of the nest. Unlike the chicken chicks, these are still very immature, without feathers, closed eyes, etc.
Is there a name for these different stages of maturity when they hatch? And how is this distributed among different bird species?
PS: Please excuse the bumpy English. I am not a native speaker and technical terms for hatching chicks were not part of the learning material :)

Disclaimer

Instead of using names or creating fake names, I'm going to refer to the roommates by their nationalities. This is relevant in some context below. Also, might explain the shame to anger transition, because in some Asian cultures, shame/honor has a twisted dark effect on some people. (Not all, but some.)
I do not differentiate between my roommates based on their nationalities or anything. I've lived in this house for 10+ years, with people from different nationalities.

Background

Me and 3 other roommates were in a house (separately, not together). Indian (30s), South Korean (40s), Middle-Eastern (40s), and American (20s). Three rooms upstairs and a studio downstairs. In February, the Middle-Eastern roommate was kicked out because of always being confrontational with other roommates, and always being too noisy.

NOISY

As soon as the Middle-Eastern moved out, it's as if his ghost possessed the Korean guy. He filled the living room with electronics, giant amp boxes and instruments and started playing loud music there all day. I talked to him multiple times, telling him to keep the volume low. But he kept laughing it up, ganging up with the American guy, saying "iWizard won't let us party. He's trying to kick me out, like he kicked out the previous one!" When I kept insisting that he has to keep the volume low, he became confrontational and said if I have so much problem, I should buy my own house and live alone. I asked him if he'd be okay with it if I did the same thing that he's doing? (Playing loud music in the living room all day.) At this, he went full mental and said "No, because your music taste is trash." I figured there's no point in talking to him any further and told the house owner about it, who made him stop.

MILD RACISM

Me and the Korean have separate fridges in the kitchen. I'm mostly vegetarian while he's non-vegetarian. One day I found he had kept some of his stuff in my shelf of my fridge. I asked him to move his stuff. At this, he went hostile out of the gate and goes "We are not in a kindergarten! All you Indians are so difficult! Pathetic." I was shaken at this sudden racism in my own house and didn't know how to respond!

Roommate's Split Personality outburst

In March, The American roommate living in the studio downstairs moved into the Middle-Eastern's vacated room upstairs, and the Korean rented the studio downstairs for his own son (20s) who was coming over from Korea for the first time. But till the day before the son's arrival, the American had not cleaned out the studio. The Korean was talking to me about it, calmly. But suddenly he went crazy and started shrieking. He looked across the hallway towards the living room, as if he's seeing someone there and shouted something in Korean at that "ghost". (p.s. he does believe in ghosts / supernatural. He had in the past told me that he had seen his wife disappear into thin air right in front of his eyes! Definitely has mental health problems.) He ran to the living room, made fists with both hands and again let out a loud shout, fuming like an angry ox. His face had gone completely red. He ran back to the American's door and again started banging on it, as if he's going to break it down. (p.s. the American works night-shifts, and sleeps during the day.) The American finally swung the door open and unloaded on him. The Korean immediately completely deflated, as if waking up from a dream. He's now like "I wasn't banging. I was gently knocking."
To me, it all looked like Split Personality disorder. The way he flipped from calmly talking to me to shrieking/banging on his door. And then flipping back when the door opened. I considered "Anger management issue", but do people flip in a second like that in that case?
(By the evening, things were back to normal and both of them were again buddy buddies. I wish I had that power of letting go that fast.)

Roommate's son's Split Personality rampage

The Korean's son moved in the next day. Two weeks later, his younger son also came over for the first time from Korea for a "few weeks visit." I had taken both the sons with me to the downtown, so that they can go sight-seeing.
The very next day, I found out even he has a split personality! While I was making dinner in the kitchen, both the sons came over there, shirtless for some reason! (It wasn't hot.) The younger son (guest) was shouting something in Korean and the elder son (studio tenant) was trying to manage him. Elder son touched my shoulder, like saying "please don't react, let me calm him down". So I stayed away, even though the younger son tried to engage me couple of times. Then they moved to the living room and smacked something to the floor. Then moved towards the rooms and there was a loud crashing noise, and sound of people falling over etc. The papa Korean came over and the younger son started beating/punching him!! I realized the son was having his own split personality episode. (Google says it is not hereditary, but genes do play a role.)
I took my dinner and came to my room, instead of sitting down at the living room dinner table. That's when I realized the loud crash earlier was from my room! My laptop lid was slapped shut (further breaking the hinge), game controller & snack boxes were thrown to the floor, window-blind bar & curtains were completely ripped off the wall.. Someone's lone shoe was on the middle my floor…
I called the house owner and almost called the cops, but I stopped because the owner wasn't comfortable with that. (Though he said I can, if I want.) I msgd papa Korean that we need to talk. He didn't respond, but an hour later both sons came up to "apologize". I told him that I heard him, but apology not accepted. Barging into my room when I'm not there and trashing it crossed a line. He kept explaining that he was very frustrated and anxious since previous day because of the new country etc.. and that's why he "lost it". I asked him point blank if he has split personality disorder and he stayed mum, and didn't deny it. When he said he won't do it again, I told him he can't promise that because in split personality, he's a completely different person then. His one personality can't promise what the other personality won't do. He literally said "I know…". I take it as his confirmation that he has split personality. He finally left after repeating the same stuff a whole bunch of times.
Next morning, house owner started a group MMS and the papa Korean replied to him that they had done Mushrooms in the evening, and the younger son had a reaction to that. I don't buy it, but the house owner bought it. I replied to the msg saying the son (guest) has to be gone by the evening. The Korean and house owner agreed. Korean even wrote "Thanks man". I thought that was the end of it. (End of March.)

Roommate channels his shame into anger

Afterwards, both the Koreans (papa n his son) had been spending most of their time downstairs. I thought he might be feeling very ashamed, not able to show his face... So I tried to break the ice by sending his a small-talk msg. But he didn't respond to it. Instead, he later removed me from his Instacart family account and removed his son from my Steam family sharing. You want to cut all ties..? Fine by me. 🤷
Fast forward to May. House owner group msgd that he'll come over tomorrow, asking whether anything needs any repairs. The papa Korean replies to that saying

"I don't want to be in the same thread with a guy doing nothing for the house and making up the stories."

Then he described how he had killed bunch of rats around the house. I was completely taken aback by this sudden hostility! Gall of that asshole..! I let his son go without calling the cops on him, and now he's converting his shame into anger, in order to not feel guilty!
Next day when the owner came over, he first spent few hours with the Korean. When he was done, I went to meet him. House owner told me that none of the Korean's complains made sense to him. He had complained about

1. Me not helping him in maintenance around the house. (Roof cleaning, gutter cleaning, lawn mowing, rat catching etc.!)
2. I had apparently walked over a moss in front of the door, instead of cleaning it.
3. I complain a lot about noise.

House owner agreed that I do not need to do the maintenance tasks the Korean is expecting me to do. That's house owner's responsibility and he does come over regularly to do those upkeep maintenance tasks. And he sends a contractor for lawn mowing. But since the Korean wants to do all that himself as a hobby or whatever, he can do it. But bitch, don't whine about me not partaking in your hobby. I'm not jobless / self-employed like you. I do the weekly house floor sweeping, taking out the trash, keeping the common living areas clean etc. And that's all the owner expects.
And even the house owner didn't understand what's the moss thing he was talking about. And of course I will complain about noise every time it occurs. I had talked to the Korean multiple times about the noise, but since he kept ignoring it, then only I involved to owner. The Korean even smokes weed inside the house!! And he didn't even deny that when talking to the owner today!
The rat problem - is most probably caused by the Korean himself as he leaves lot of food items on the table near the backyard and leaves some bird-feed outside the studio's back door.
The Korean has completely taken over the entire garage by putting his own couch and giant-ass tv and TWO workbenches there. Half of the living room is filled with all his junk. He has set up a projector screen literally in the middle of the living room. He's moved all the books from the bookshelves in the living room and kept his electronics parts there.. I never complained about any of those... But now that he's bitching bullshit about me, I have to bring those up.
I reminded the owner that the Korean's complain is that I don't partake in his hobby of house-maintenance (which owner agreed is not my responsibility) and that I complain about noise (which owner agreed I'm justified in.) On the flip side, the Korean has caused violent incidents twice in 2 months, so he has no leg to stand on. Owner said "that's a good point."

So I know there was a few sales in April as an “early bird” rate. But when do you find the best sales? Black Friday? Aligning with traditional schedule start date? End of traditional school year? Or if you know of specific curriculum that has a good sale at a certain time please share. We are in kindergarten currently but I’m looking at 1st grade. I bought a few things in April but wondering when I should be checking back on certain websites. I’m open to most. If anyone knows of the best time to buy Logic of English that would be great. However, I’m pretty open to research a lot of different curriculums as I like to pick and choose, secular or religious.