Music hall fair park seat view

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Lots of thanks to u/Killsode-slugcat for helping me work through this chapter with editing.
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Memory transcription subject: Tevri, Venlil Romanticist
Date [standardized human time]: August 11, 2137
With eyes still closed, I stretched my legs and arms, paws pushing up against the inside of my sleeping bag. A sigh of contentment escaped my mouth.
I let the world in—light falling down in shafts that struck my still-waking eyes. No trees were around to provide cover from the rising sun that hung low in the east. The sounds of life surrounded me, occasionally being broken up by particularly strong gusts as well as a hint of something else.
My head turned to that hint, who still slept somewhat soundly off to my side. Last night Jack had set up his own sleeping bag less than an arm’s length from my own, citing our lack of a fire as the reason to gather closer to each other.
He tossed and turned, occasionally, muttering incoherently. At least he’s found some rest. After carrying me for over half of yesterday, he had certainly earned it.
It was actually quite surprising how well he had managed it all. His slim build compared to other humans that I had seen was betrayed by a hidden strength and incredible endurance. I suppose millions of years of evolution tends to allow such a thing.
Some part of me still felt bitter about what he had done the night prior to our last, but it was clear to me that his apology was sincere. I gave a quiet snort. He probably wouldn’t have carried you on your shoulders if he wasn’t at least somewhat sorry.
The covers of my too-big bag were thrown off and I sat up, holding my knocked knees with my paws.
Rocky rolling hills with low-grown shoots of grass lightly waved towards me. The nearby mountain range looked down upon us with its well-kept snow despite the summer season. Even three days of standing beneath them didn’t eliminate their wondrously looming presence.
I reached over to my nearby pack and grabbed my pen and journal. I clung to every thought that passed its way through my mind, marking them down the old fashioned way. There was something special about writing my feelings down on something physical rather than some pad or computer. It felt real in comparison to the alternative.
It was incredible to me how one of, if not the most dangerous planet to be found within known space was simultaneously one of the most fantastically beautiful worlds I ever had the pleasure of setting foot on. What a travesty it would have been had the federation actually managed to glass the biosphere. Ironically it had been the Arxur that prevented such a disastrous outcome. Those same savages had…
“Gah!”
Jack shot upright from where he had lain. He heaved harsh breaths, chest rising and falling as though he had just sprinted up the incline of a hill. I looked on with alarm, but didn’t think to disrupt the startled man. His eyes stared down at the dirt in front of him as he hung his hands between his legs.
“You okay?” I asked. He whipped to look at me like he had forgotten I was there. Slowly, he turned back to face the dirt. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” He took a curt sniff and ran his hands across his face as he took a deep sigh.
He was lying.
The restless sleep, the violent rise into consciousness, the obvious distress within those wild eyes—all signs of nightmares. It had been years now since I last worried about such things, but I knew all too well how difficult they were to deal with.
A thought, as intrusive as it was unwelcome, pushed its way through the crowded thoughts of my mind, forcing my heart to skip a beat. What would be enough to scare a predator—human—to scare a human within their dreams? Instantly, I shoved it back from wherever it had come. He needs you right now, just like how you needed her.
I gently crawled over to the distraught man and set a paw on an arm while he leaned forward. At my touch, he turned his head towards me, staring with those forward-facing eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked.
A slight snarl of a smile crossed his face, but no answer came. Jack stood up and stretched his arms outward, leaning back and forth.
“C’mon, let's pack up and head out. S’always good to start out early.” He extended a hand down to me where I sat still. How could he just brush something so terrifying off so easily? My tail flicked absently I guess they always have been a rather resilient species. Why should they be any different mentally? I relented to his proposal, grabbing his hand and allowing him to pull me upright.
Breakfast—much like last night’s meal—consisted of dry pre-prepped rations. Without surrounding trees from which drywood could be scavenged, we were left fireless. The ‘breakfast bars’ as Jack called them were a sufficient substitute for warm food. Every meal with the human increased my interest in the cuisine of his species. I hadn’t imagined it would all be so wonderfully varied and delicious.
The bar itself was chewy, made of oats, filled with dried fruits and sweetened by sugar. Each bite gave a satisfying crunch as my taste buds reveled in the impeccably delightful taste.
After hydrating and filling ourselves with calories, we set off once more on the trail.
This time, I was actually able to walk properly, though less than an hour after we departed, I was left wishing that Jack could scare me sleepless again—that way I could guilt him into carrying me.
While we continued, I walked without thinking much about the placement of my paws. I worried for my human friend. His mind was clearly plagued by something terrible, but the answer of what continued to evade me. The only lead I had were my own experiences, and in chasing that lead, my mind wandered back to the past.
As I was dragged from our home without protest, Devra lambasted our parents. Velnik cowered to the side as he watched the ordeal, helpless with widened eyes. Dad practically had to peel my sister away from mom as I was shoved into our vehicle. The echo of her shouts faded away.
It was the first time my parents admitted me for predator disease screenings.
An iron grip held my hand and led me forward through the stark featureless halls of the facility. A glance over my shoulder revealed my parents walking along. They dared not to risk a look in my direction. Tears welled at the edge of my eyes as the echoes of distant screams shocked my ears and flooded my brain with fear-chemicals.
My tail wrapped around my body and my ears bent towards the ground. Why did they want to throw me in here with the monsters? All I did was explore.
The facility worker threw me in a chair within a purely white room other than the single large black wall. From the ceiling hung a projector that faced one of the three white surfaces. After the worker left, my eyes floated through the room, narrowing at a sight that practically screamed of its existence. Dark lines were scrawled into the furthest corner of the sterile chamber.
I didn’t have the time to think about its implications when the screen clicked on and the lights dimmed, enhancing the image before me.
The metal chair fell backward with me in it, creating a resounding clang that bounded back and forth across the walls.
My hands slipped and slid across the slick floor, carrying my body backwards. This scramble led the wall to smash against my back. Without a thought, my claws joined the countless other marks of those who had come before me.
A towering, onyx-shaded visage of the malevolent beast prowled beyond the edge of my vision, obscured by tears of terror that practically blinded me. The blood-orange eyes glowed greedily and its mouth was stuck in a perpetual snarl. Viscera of a horrifically familiar color dribbled down its chin from where the meat was in the Arxur’s razor-sharp teeth.
With a click, the sanguine show moved forward to yet another horrific display. Another click. Another. One more. Click. Click. Click. Silence.
My eyes were as raw as my bloodied paws. Their scraping and scrabbling joined me with the other souls who had faced this same experience. When the lights flicked on and the worker came back to collect me, I curled up trying and failing to back away. She stood me up, patting me down before pulling me from the room. Everything was a collective white blur, compressed into a single moment of unfocused voices until I heard the vehicle’s door slam.
The ride home was silent as I leaned my head against the padded surface of my seat. Shallow breaths rose and fell from my chest while Mom and Dad stared ahead. They hadn’t looked at me once since we left the facility—or even talked to me—since we left the facility.
Among the many questions I had, one clung to the surface of my mind before being swallowed by its sea of screams. Why?
When at last we arrived at home, I barely even noticed. Only when the door to the passenger cabin flung open did I somewhat rise from my stupor. A sudden surprise wrapped around me and pulled me from the car, dragging away from my supposed guardians.
In an instant, I was rushed to my room and placed upon the familiar comfort of my bed before being coated by two layers of warmth; one was the plush cloth of a blanket and the other the fluffy warmth of my sister’s fur. “It’s ok, Tev. You’re home. You’re safe.” My empty eyes had no tears left to give, so Devra lent me hers.
You’re home. You’re safe.
“Tev? Tevri?”
My repeated name yanked me from the memory. Ugh, I’ve got to stop wandering off like that.
“You in there sheep?”
With a grumble, I responded. “I told you to stop calling me that.”
Jack uttered a mischievous chuckle. “C’mon, let's get over this next hill then break for lunch. Sure seems you could use a rest.” Despite it going unnoticed moments prior, I now felt my heart pumping hard and each breath heaved just as harshly. A short break will probably do me some good.
Together, we crested the hilltop and sat down both our packs and ourselves. I greedily lapped up water from my bottle while the man beside me calmly took several swigs from his own canteen. The food he grabbed was a pair of packaged items that he called ‘pasta salad.’
The small noodles were coated in a layer of creamy sauce and mixed with a variety of colorful vegetables that I didn’t recognize, but just like everything else cooked up by these humans, it was delicious. The sweet, creamy sauce contrasted nicely with the savory taste of the noodles and the soft texture of the pasta paired with the lovely crunch of the vegetables made for a wonderful meal.
As I munched on my food, the wind lazily played with my tail. My heart drummed onward, steadying into an agreeable rhythm before finally, my breathing leveled out.
A field of purple flowers greeted us, climbing and falling with the rolling land. Down below us was the river we had loosely followed, bordered by nondescript bunches of shrubbery. Rapid white waters splashed up and against rocks, breaking the flow and sending up spray.
When together we finished our food, we sat there, enjoying the world around us. “So, Tevri,” as Jack spoke, I met his forward eyes, “we’ve been out here for two days now and I still know next to nothing about you. Why don’t you tell me a bit more ‘bout yourself.”
The sudden question caught me by surprise, but I tried my best to answer anyway. “There isn’t much to tell. I write stories and poetry about the nature of worlds I’ve visited.”
“Well, you must be one hell of a writer to throw around money like you do.”
At the compliment, I felt a rush of warmth to my face. “I—”
Jack’s calm demeanor became one of surprise in an instant. “Is your face ‘sposed to do that?” A pair of my paws clapped to my face, trying and failing to hide the spreading orange.
“Y-yes!” I squeaked. “It’s p-perfectly fine.”
“Huh, right.” He didn’t sound convinced in the slightest. “Well, uh, what about your family? You’ve met mine already, why don’t you tell me about yours?”
Just as the orange began to fade away, a shroud of mist met my eyes and my voice sunk with my ears. “I’d rather not.” The whiplash of jumping from a sense of contentment, to embarrassment, to sad longing was jarring to say the least.
“Ah.” He held his silence for a moment, allowing the blowing breeze and the distant rush of water to fill the space between.
“I’m sorry.”
“S-sorry? Sorry for what?”
Jack gave a huff. “You know it's funny really. You Venlil, us Humans. I never really saw it before, but even just a few days around you, it’s shown me just how similar our people really are.”
Again, wind and water.
“If it means anything, I’ve felt your loss.”
What?! How does he know? How could he possibly know?
He must have picked up my confusion before he responded. “After the battle of Earth I got used to hearing that answer of yours.”
Oh.
Jack rose, swinging his pack around his shoulders. “C’mon sheep, sun’s not getting any higher. Let's get going.”
“YOU—!” The dour mood was immediately washed away by my guide’s hearty laughter. Again with the emotional whiplash.
It was amazing how easily he managed to do that. Try as I might, I couldn’t stay mad at him. As I shook my head, I followed my guide’s motions and grabbed my bag to join him.
For a while we walked quietly, but once again, Jack tried to strike up a conversation. “So, you mentioned you’ve visited other worlds. What were they like?”
I gave the human equivalent of a shrug with my tail. “Some were better than others, but for the most part, they were quite beautiful.”
“You have any favorites?”
My ears perked up. “Oh yes! The sky cities of Nishtal were incredible. Dwelling among the clouds, it was a rather uplifting experience.” Jack groaned with a smile still on his face.
“That might be one of the worst puns I’ve ever heard.” In response, I simply chuckled.
“Nishtal, huh?” The smile on his face faded. “That’s the world of feathered sacks-of-shit, right?”
“What? The Krakotl? Don’t be dense now, they aren’t all that bad.”
Jack scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. They didn’t try to wipe the Venlil from existence.”
“If they succeeded during the battle of earth, they very well could have. Not that it matters anymore. Nishtal’s skies are clouded by the ash of their once-lush swamps and their cities have been plucked from the skies. Their world died.”
Jack gave a gruff grunt. “What goes around comes around I guess.”
I was genuinely shocked at what I heard. The anger that began to bubble within me was not the same lighthearted stuff from earlier. “How can you say something like that?”
“They brought it upon themselves,” he barked.
“That bastard Kalsim was the one who brought destruction to his people and you know it. Billions of Krakotl were killed or captured by betterment. Can you honestly tell me, or even yourself, that any species deserves such a fate?”
Silence.
“No. No I guess I can’t” Mentally, I gave a sigh of relief.
With my tail, I gave him a gentle flick. “The Krakotl are functionally endangered now, you know? They may have killed a billion humans, but for each life taken, tens of their own were paid.”
My voice began to choke. “I had—have—friends among the Krakotl. If you think that the mourning you humans experienced was harsh, I just want you to think; how would you feel if less than a percent of your people survived death or capture”
These words of mine were followed by an air of silence. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but something I had said clearly struck a chord with the man. Unlike me, Jack seemed to ground himself in reality, but for the first time since I met him, his distant unfocused eyes made it clear enough that his mind was elsewhere.
The remainder of the day flew by beneath this same blanket of silence.
We passed from the wide grassy knolls into a sparse forest that was more brush than tree. The trail led beneath their branches and through the tall shrubbery, rarely veering one way or the other.
When we eventually stopped to make camp for the evening, the sun was still slightly above the horizon. The campsite was similar to the one we had stopped at on our first day. An old steel fire-pit was set in the middle and a steel food container lay to the side.
Even as we set up, the cold quiet remained.
Progress was slow. Jack usually did the majority of the work, but tonight, his movements were taken with less purpose than I was used to. More than once, his hands fumbled, dropping something only for him to robotically reach down and pick it up again.
Once he did finally unpack his belongings, he left to find wood for the fire. At least this time, I found myself less frightened than when he had last done so. The deafening silence of my thoughts was more disconcerting than the idea of any hunters prowling nearby.
Whatever I had said, it didn’t just strike a chord. No, this had shaken him. Not even those nightmares of his had affected him this deeply.
In much the same way that I hadn’t wanted to talk about my own family, it was clear that whatever this was, he had no desire to elaborate further. I did find it odd however that only after mentioning the near-annihilation of the Krakotl did he seem to change. Perhaps it had to do with whoever he had lost? If this was the case, then I couldn’t fully blame him for his hatred towards the Krakotl. Grief is a powerful accelerant for the fires of rage.
On the other paw, my poor heart broke for the poor avians. So many lost. So few left. When the news had arrived back on Venlil prime, I devoted every moment possible to comforting my grieving friends; to Dualo, Oqui, Icatl and Haiula.
For some though, the grief of their new reality was too strong. Several of my dear friends had been unable to overcome that grief. My ears fell and my head bowed. If nobody else would remember them, I would ensure I never forgot them. They deserved that much.
Despite the clouds looming over my mind, my ears perked up at the sound of footfalls and I turned to see a bundle beneath Jack’s arms. Minutes later, a brilliant blaze burned before us.
It felt good to have a fire again. The protective warmth felt like a familiar embrace. From my pack, I grabbed the same blanket my guide had lent me the day before and wrapped it across my body.
While I found myself shrouded in comfort, Jack prepared our food above the pit. It was yet another warm meal of packaged food. The smell of spice wafted up to the tips of my taste buds as he stirred it about with a metal ladle.
The clink of utensils against our metal bowls rose above the crackling flames. Their sun still peeked out from behind the trees, though soon enough, it fell and with it, came the night’s chill.
Countless stars that you simply didn’t get to see on Venlil Prime appeared in the night sky. A glance told me that I wasn’t the only one impressed by their appearance. My wide field of vision managed to capture nearly the entire sky. I wonder, which of those stars is home?
A gust of wind blew by sending shivers down my spine. The effect of the Wendigo’s story hadn’t been completely lost on me, but the terror it inspired had at least died down to a manageable amount. Staying near to Jack certainly helped.
Speaking of him, I’d had enough of this silence.
“Hey Jack, how would you like to hear a campfire story?” I asked, tossing aside the quiet that had covered.
“Hmph. A promise is a promise. Didn’t really have a fire last night to tell a story ‘round did we. Guess it’s only fair to give you a chance.”
My tail gave a flick of excitement at his agreeance. “I must warn you, this is a bit less of a story and more of a poem. It’s one of the last few that I wrote before my travels across the Federation ended. It isn’t quite as long of a tale as that Wendigo story you told me, but it means a lot to me.
Jack gave a thoughtful nod. “Very well, I call this poem ‘The Wandrer’s Curse.’”
“Across the stars we wandrers go, not caring much for threat or foes, The skies we see are not our own, But from them wonder’s always shown.
From Nishtal’s clear and crystal skies, To Fahl where golden deserts lie, And ‘cross the cradle’s fruitful lands, Our own horizons do expand.
It is amidst these very sights, That we the wandrers oft delight, For friends we seek and friends we find, Across the worlds of species kind.
Thru mountains, oceans and the woods, Where those long past once walked and stood, The wandrers seek to find the past; A simpler time, no clouds o’er cast.
Despite the friends which we have made, The clouds above us cast their shade, Upon the surface of our minds, And seek our hearts with chains to bind.
It is our lot to flee from pain, Brought on by smashing, lashing rains. Til weary broken and undone, We fall with legs which fail to run.
But such is life—that beautiful thing, That brings one joy and suff’ring. So with this final cloudless verse, Remember thee, the wandrer’s curse.”
At the end of my poem, the crackling fire picked up where my words left off. My eyes raised to the heavens once more and I realized just how wonderful this life was. There was something truly sublime about existing right here during this exact moment; under the stars, surrounded by trees the whistling, beside a warm fire that staved off the cold.
Sharing it with Jack made it that much better.
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https://pix4free.org/assets/library/2020-12-13/originals/alaska022.jpg (Cover Image)
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As the title was suggest, I saw a kitten lose its life 3 days ago in a very graphic way. I'm going to spare everybody the extreme details in this story, as I don't really wish to make anyone upset nor see it in my mind's eye again any more than I already have to.
But my partner and I were leaving Marshalls when we saw a small little Calico coloured blur dart amongst the parked cars away from some people walking. My partner and I got to the four-way stop as it darted across it and under a car waiting at the opposite side of the 4 way. It all happened so fast, and the 4 way was hectic with kids crossing it as well as cars, but my brain only registered what happened after the car it had apparently run under, moved and left there was the kitten, but in distress now. I made a decision that I fully regret, and that was to LEAP out of our stopped vehicle and run across the parking lot 4 way to pick it up off the ground. Which exposed me to an up and close view of it's graphic condition. My brain for some reason thought it would be fine. As I moved it off the pavement I heard it's last breath, however. I was in a fair deal of shock as I moved it to the back of the building away from the people on the crosswalk and cars that didn't seem to care and placed it on the ground and quickly walked away in shock. It wasn't until my partner parked the truck and checked the kitten out himself that I finally lost it and started crying, the situation finally hitting. It took quite a while to compose myself and once I stopped sobbing we cleaned my hands and legs up of blood and once we were done with that decided to take the kitten home and bury it in the desert.
However since this happened, the image of this kitten continues to replay in my mind and sounds, as well as a sense of deep guilt feeling like I should have leapt out of the vehicle the second I saw it rather than watch. Guilt over the fact that since moving to a city filled with many feral stray cats, I've almost become numb to seeing them or reacting to them. I almost blame myself because of that mentality, which is definitely one I never had until moving to so many stray heavy states. I don't think I've gone a day since without crying. I actually really wanted a Calico as well, which makes this suck more. At this point I just hope the intrusive memories and blaming vernacular changes as the experience fades.

What time are doors?
Doors open at 5pm
What time does the music start?
The show will start at 6:40pm
*Subject to change
What are the set times?
6:40pm - Kamikaze Palm Tree 7:50pm - King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
*Subject to change
I purchased a ticket to the show. What access does my ticket grant me? GA: A GA ticket for a show at the Fairgrounds grants you access to the viewing area directly in front of the stage, as well as the newly installed bleachers! Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Premium: If you purchased a premium ticket, everything you need is in the premium area! Enter the Fairgrounds via an expedited entry lane on Elston Ave. Enjoy the premium viewing balcony and rooftop featuring the best skyline views in the city. You also have access to premium bars and a lounge area.
What's the bathroom situation?
So glad you asked. There will be porta-potties available outside, but our indoor space will be open as well so you can access the real bathrooms.
Will there be water?
Certainly! There is a water station outdoors as well as water stations inside near the restrooms. Empty plastic water bottles under 32 oz. and CamelBak/hydration packs will be permitted.
Will there be parking?
There is free street parking available close to the venue. This availability is first come, first served, and we recommend paying close attention to posted street signs.
Additionally, there are a number of paid private parking lots in the area.
Is there valet?
Yes! We offer safe and secure valet parking located in the lot across from the Salt Shed at 1401 N Magnolia Ave between Elston and Le Moyne. You can either pay upon arrival or reserve a spot online beforehand HERE.
If I'm not driving, what's the best way to get here?
Bike, rideshare, and public transportation are the preferred methods of transportation to our venue.
Bike: There will be bike parking available on Blackhawk Street near the main entrance of the venue.
Public Transportation: Division/Milwaukee blue line stop is .7 miles away North/Clybourn red line stop is .9 miles away Damen blue line stop is 1.4 miles away Several buses make stops near The Salt Shed, including the 70 (Division), 72 (North), and 9 (Ashland). There may be other options depending on your location.
Rideshare: We will have a designated area for rideshare pick-ups and drop-offs near the main entrance of the building.
Will there be a bag check?
We will have a bag check. Space will be limited, so if you have to check your bag we recommend arriving at the venue early.
What are the prohibited items at the venue?
Please note our bag size limit of 12" x 12" x 6" - Bags larger than this will not be permitted. You can see the full list of prohibited items here.
Will this show be cashless?
Yes, all of our shows will be cashless.
Will the Salt Store be open?
Yes! Our Salt Store will be open with merch and tickets (at reduced fees) aplenty from the Salt Shed and other favorites like Empty Bottle, Thalia Hall, and SPACE.
Will there be food and beverage available at the show?
We will have a variety of food and beverage options available for the shows: Pizza Friendly Pizza (see details below) Food trucks! Including: Cafe Tola DönerMen Happy Lobster Yum Dum Food Truck Plus, pop ups from: Beach Ave BBQ Tola Tacos And last but not least, a comprehensive beverage program of Chicago-based draft favorites, house made craft cocktails, and a variety of non-alcoholic drinks.

We did 4 nights in Vegas this week, Mon through Friday, staying at the MGM grand.
MGM Grand Hotel: nice hotel, well located not too far down the strip. We had a grand king room and it was clean and well appointed and while not brand new, didn’t look worn down or dated. it was a perfect fit for the budget, and the confidence of having a smoke free room was great. We didn’t eat on site except for a lazy buffet day/pool day. Crowd was all conference and low key from Mon-Wed, not too busy at all, then on Thursday the unwashed masses began to appear, and the nightlife also became much more vibrant.
MGM Buffet: I got a two for one voucher through the myVEGAS Slots app and about 9 days of play. The buffet vouchers always seemed to be sold out but about 48hrs before my departure I managed to get one. Buffet was fine, the food and selection was good, the look was a bit dated. New menu items started showing up around 11am. Probably not worth the price for two full adults, but with the 2 for 1 it was worth it, the wife was very happy and I saved $30+ because of the app.
MGM pool: Lovely, we spent two full days here. All pools and river were open except the Splash pool, which looked okay but was closed the whole time, probably because things weren’t crowded. No problem finding good free seating, much harder to find free seating with shade but we got lucky on the Tuesday and there was decent cloud coverage on the Thursday. All seating on lazy river island was reservation only. Way quieter on a Tue than on a Thu. Didn’t get a floatie, they were $25-30+tax depending on the size, but never felt we needed one. Bag check was low key.
Cheap eats: we did Shake Shack and In n Out burgers and both were great, with Shake Shake winning by the tiniest of margins. Oh, and Evel Pie for a quick slice away from the bustle of Freemont.
Expensive eats: we did Momofuku and enjoyed the menu, best item (hard to believe) was the brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
Cheap activities: We enjoyed the volcano at the Mirage more than the fountain at the Bellagio, maybe because we came in with zero expectation. Too bad it won’t be there for long, glad we saw it. Pinball Hall of Fame was also a great value, we split $20 between the two of us and were there for well over an hour. Conservatory at Bellagio was way too tacky for our tastes.
Other activities: Blue Man Group was great, make sure you buy tickets from the MGM site and not from the BMG/Ticketmaster site, saved about $40/seat that way. Cirque de Soleil O had the most impressive stage set I’ve ever seen, magical really. Omega Mart was fun, we had 11:20am booking but would recommenf you book for 10am and make sure you’re on some drugs first. Vegas Neon Sign museum was good but short and felt a bit like a graveyard, lots of potential but $20/head was a bit high. Freemont was Freemont, but driving from Freemont down the strip at night was great and felt like out of a movie.
Side note: We rented a car on the Wednesday and did Red Rock National Park, Area 15, In-N-Out Burger, Pinball Hall of Fame, Neon Sign Museum and Freemont all in a day, it was totally worth it and added to the Vegas/Desert experience. Our only regret was that we could have spent 4-8 hours hiking at Red Rock but had tight 11:20am reservations for Omega Mart so that part felt rushed (we’re from Canada, seeing cactus and sand in the wild is wild!)
Other tips: don’t buy booze in the hotels/casinos, way cheaper at CVS/Wallgreens, same for food/snacks whenever possible. Uber from airport was $6 cheaper than taxi.
Canadian Tip: ATMs are a scam here. Casinos/hotels charge $9.99 just in ATM fee, it was 1/3 of that at Walgreen/CVS. And that’s not the half of it. Get your cash once and be done with it, and watch out, they will offer to “exchange” your currency during the purchase path, decline because there is a huge markup, let your bank do it instead. For example, I took out $400 USD, ATM offered to do the exchange with total coming out to $607.88 CAD but by declining that and having it use the exchange from my bank I paid $561.24, saving me $47 in scam markup.

I haven't been able to enjoy my 2 week study abroad trip much. Mostly because I haven't been able to actually have any downtime that isn't incredibly stressful and aggravating.
Why is my downtime aggravating, you might ask?
I'm pretty sure I have misophonia, which is an uncharacteristically intense reaction to certain noises. It's aggrivating, depressing, anxiety inducing, and straight up rage inducing. I'm in a hotel with a roommate who has allergies. Really bad allergies. He is constantly sniffling and the sound is so bad that I can't even describe what it makes me want to do. He has been like this almost the whole trip. These sniffles are super snotty and he's gotten to the point where he's so blocked up he's coughing and you can hear that his airways are not completely open. He claims that he "barely notices them" when it's obvious he can barely breathe. I want to rip my hair out. I would prefer death. It has literally made me cry uncontrollably a few times but I've always turned towards the wall so I don't look insane, because I have no good explanation to offer that was unlikely to backfire. I'm at my wit's end. I've offered him allergy pills a few times, which he has refused, and straight up told him that his sniffling is making me really nervous a few times, because I can't tell him how bad it actually is due to fear of looking crazy (likely won't believe it's a real thing), and today he just responded with "I'll be fine" when I told him it was really bothering me. That wasn't about you dude. I am literally telling you that your sniffles are fucking me up so bad that I have felt the need to say something, which I rarely can draw up the courage for. Multiple times. I put earplugs in, and eventually got up and left the room, and he seems to be completely unaware that it was because of him.
It's very evident that he is on the spectrum (as am I, but I thought I made it clear enough that it was hurting me in a way someone on the spectrum would understand), but I'm not pushing that subject as he already told me he didn't have ASD when I shared my having ASD with him. I just thought it was an explanation as to why he wasn't getting it that I've been trying to tell him it's impacting me without being a dick. If he would just go blow his nose every now and again I could probably deal with it. But no. I have to listen to a noise that brings emotions to me like someone just kicked and threatened to kill my fucking dog. Every 2 minutes. Whenever I am in my hotel room. This is uncontrollable and it is killing me. I even have a physical reaction to his sniffles where my head jerks and he has seen it many times.
I tried earplugs and music, but they don't help enough, and he sniffles like this all night long. I usually can't sleep for hours at night, and wake up feeling near-suicidal, something I thought I had left in the past. I feel dead during the day having to deal with the amount of stress this causes and not getting much of anything out of the museums we are going to, AKA the whole reason I came on this trip.
This is a psychology trip by the way. This dude is a psychology minor and seems to be clueless that these noises are impacting me when I have tried to say it as clearly as possible. If I am any harsher about it, it will be taken as rude and seen as me asking him to do something that is unreasonable (take an allergy pill or blow his nose in the bathroom from time to time) to "cater to my every whim and bend over backwards" (let's just say that with other views he has expressed, this is likely). I just wanted to enjoy this expensive as shit study abroad trip, and I have been walking through museums barely able to get anything out of them at all because this is stressing me out so much. I literally had to leave the hotel room and am sitting on the floor down the hall from the room.
Early on in the trip, he expressed political views that often go along with views that are very against my literal existence. If you live in the US especially, you probably know what I'm talking about. I have no idea why he was okay with rooming with me. He knows that in terms of the common political spectrum, he is on one end, and I am beyond the other end. I am wondering now if he is trying to make my trip miserable on purpose, but we don't talk about politics after realizing we are so far apart. There was another man who was avaliable to room with him, but apperenly that "rule" where men and women couldn't room together went out the window because that guy is rooming with his girlfriend now, so I don't know why he didn't just go with that dude as his roommate, pick a different roommate, or room by himself, as was an option. I had noticed this dude was oblivious to the fact that he was doing things that bothered other people, but didn't think I would regret it so much.
I am completely non-confrontational because I likely have borderline and when I do try to confront someone about something, I go over the top, and I really need to keep that under wraps until I can get into some appropriate therapy in order to not ruin my entire life.
I'm literally sitting on the floor. I can't go down in the lobby because I had clothes drying in the shower yesterday and tried to stay up late enough to move them when he got out of the shower, but he literally moved my partially dry clothing to be in a pile and must have been in the bathroom for an hour. I had tried to get his attention before he went into the bathroom, but convieneintly, when he has headphones in, and he isn't looking at me, he can't hear me at all, but if he is looking at me, he can hear me perfectly fine. I fell asleep. My laundry was still wet this morning and some of it still is. Let's just say I'm not comfortably dressed enough to even go sit in the lobby. I had to layer up today because of it and it was incredibly hot out, so I felt like shit all day wearing layers of damp clothing in the blazing heat.
He literally just walked past me, looked at me sitting on the floor outside the room instead of being in the room, but didn't acknowledge me, and sniffled. It was loud despite my wearing earplugs. If I do anything now I will absolutely lose my shit and I can't be risking that. I can't imagine that this isn't on purpose.
For this trip I have had to remind him to do his daily work and wake him up most days. I've started to scale this back and am no longer telling him to do the work but end up waking him up while I'm getting ready, and he usually seems annoyed when my alarm goes off if it's more than 15 minutes before we have to leave. Like, sorry I have to take a fucking shower and get dressed and brush my teeth and comb my hair and eat breakfast because my food allergies are not accomidated for? It's not like I'm waking him up obscenely early, it's usually between an hour and an hour and a half before we have to go somewhere.
I don't feel like anything I have is solid enough to report to the professor and I'd just have to spend the rest of the trip with a very angry roommate and lose my chances with a prof that would probably write me a grad school reccomendation.
I don't know what to do. I feel like my trip is ruined. There are only a few days left and I can't make up for the experiences I've lost. Ive sat out of a lot of extracurriculars because I am so exhausted and stressed, as well as that being the only time I can sit in my room without him here. Of the rest of my class, there are 2 people I regularly talk to, but they're best friends and had already had a lot of reservations to do things by themselves, which is fine with me, I'm not going to barge in on their plans or be upset about it. I've worked on myself enough to completely be able to rationalize that and feel it.
I feel like most of the class are patronizing me because I obviously have issues communicating and treating me like I'm five, and I don't know how to keep a conversation going with the people who aren't when I'm this preoccupied with anxiety.

This sub helped me out a lot so thought I'd share my experience in Japan. Hope I can bring a bit of a different perspective because unlike most of the people that seem to post here, we are definitively not early risers and rarely left the hotel before 1pm every day. Still had a great time and crowds were only an issue in a few places.
We're an early 30s Asian-American couple traveling from Germany, so we're coming at this from a bit of an in-between of Western and Eastern perspective. I have been to Japan when I was 15 with family, but remember basically nothing. It was my wife's first time. We had an absolutely wonderful time and both thought it was the best vacation we've had in years.
The trip was pretty last minute (for my standards at least). I started planning the trip from scratch (no flights, hotels or anything booked) in early April and our trip was May 18-30. We spent 5 days in Tokyo including DisneySea, 2 nights in Hakone, 3 nights in Kyoto including day trip to Nara, and 1 night in Osaka. We flew in to Tokyo Narita and flew out of Osaka Itami. We decided to fly from Osaka to Tokyo instead of bullet train back to Tokyo so we didn't have to buy JR rail pass and worry about luggage.
Tokyo

• We stayed in Ginza, which was significantly cheaper than similar hotels in Shibuya or Shinjuku. Maybe it was because I was planning such last minute, but I enjoyed the area just fine. Lots of restaurants and close to Tokyo Station which was convenient.
• Shout out to Star Club in Shinjuku. Had a wonderful Saturday night there drinking til 4am, chatting with other patrons and the super friendly bartender. Mix of locals and tourists.
• T's Tantan Ramen in Tokyo Station was one of my favorite ramen places of the trip (tied with the Michelin star one from Kyoto, but minus the wait). The bowl had a good variety of vegetable ingredients (which didn't seem that common in Japan, most ramen was just noodles and meat) which I really appreciated. Small queue but didn't wait more than 10m.
• The only restaurant reservation we made all trip was at Bon. Vegetarian multi-coursed meal. I would recommend, it was very nice, though sometimes a tad under salted for my taste. My wife loved it though. You get your own little private room to eat, even for two people, which was unexpected and very lovely.
• Asakusa has a tourist center with air conditioning, bathrooms, and an 8th floor view. Nice place for a rest
• Akihabara did nothing for us, as we're not really into anime or games. Pretty skippable if you are similar.
• I thought Ameyoko Shopping District was a disappointment. More like a flea market, it was similar to many Taiwan street/night markets that we've been to before. We also had probably our worst meal in Japan here, at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant where the food was extremely mediocre. I would have skipped this place altogether and go to Ueno Park or something instead.
• Character Street in Tokyo Station was very fun to explore, we did a lot of shopping there. Nice place to visit before taking the Shinkansen.
• We enjoyed Takeshita Street in Harajuku. As mentioned before we went at around 8pm and it wasn't too crowded.
• When planning I had thought about skipping Shibuya Scramble but I'm really glad I didn't. Something about witnessing the sheer number of people bustling about was so epic and grand. Reminded me of Saturday midnight at EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) when the atmosphere is electric and everyone is moving from one main stage to another.
• Golden Gai was interesting to look at, but way too claustrophobic for us. Very small alleys and very small bars.
• I enjoyed Tsukiji Market a lot. This is one of the places I would agree with people here and advise you get there early. Take advantage of jet lag and get here before 7am, and it is literally a buffet of delicious fresh foods. (not much choice for vegetarians though sadly). By 8am it was starting to get REALLY crowded. I prefer picking out my sashimi this way as opposed to a restaurant tbh, you can look at many options and pick whatever looks freshest. First time eating Wagyu here, had it on a stick. Delicious. Not the cheapest, but I figured if I ate it at a restaurant I'd also be paying for table service and atmosphere. I'm not big on the "restaurant experience", I'd rather just eat my food and be on my way.
• I thought Hamarikyu Gardens was wonderful. I love city parks where there is green, peaceful nature in the fore ground, contrasted by enormous skyscrapers towering in the background. Hamarikyu Gardens fits that perfectly. Got there right when they opened after visiting Tsukiji Market and it was a perfect way to walk off the big hearty breakfast. ~1 hour at a moderate pace should do it.
• Ginza Corridor after work was very interesting to see around 5-7pm or so. Simply packed to the brim with business folks wearing suits and having a good time after their work day

DisneySea

• We checked the weather and specifically went on a rainy weekday. I highly recommend, it was not crowded at all. Almost all the rides are indoors anyway and most of the queueing is either inside or covered. We got to the park at 2pm and basically rode everything we wanted before the park closed at 9pm with time to spare.
• Popular rides still had 40m-1hour wait, but we used premier pass for Center of the Earth and Soaring. Most we ever waited was 20m for Finding Nemo (similar to Star Tours, all in Japanese but very fun). I checked the app the next day when it was sunny and saw the wait times for each attraction were 3-4x longer.
• Another thing I think the rain helped with was that the premier passes did not sell out. We were able to buy them as late as 6pm to Journey to the Center of the Earth. (Fun ride, but I can't imagine waiting 1.5 hours for it)
• I think Soaring is pretty meh, I'd probably skip it next time. I've been to the one in CA ages ago and remember thinking it was just okay too, but we had extra time so decided to try it here.
• Sinbad was excellent, the ride that most exceeded expectations. It's basically "It's A Small World" but way better animatronics and story telling.
• Indiana Jones is worse than in the one in California (less exciting, no fire effects), but the line was nonexistent so we went on it twice.
• It stopped raining at night too so we were able to catch the Believe show with no issues. It's a good show but it is very long, about 40m. Much longer than I thought. After show is over, there's only about ~1 hour before the park closes, so good time to catch a last ride at one of the popular attractions while the locals are heading home.
• I love how every restaurant has a display in front that shows you what the food will look like. They were all extremely accurate and not at all misleading!
• (not a tip but a rant, is it really necessary to have 10 thousand parking spots when the vast majority of people are going to arrive on Tokyo's world-class public transit system?)

Hakone

• Open Air Museum was really nice on a pleasant day. It's mostly outdoors. We spent a leisurely two hours there, but you could probably do it in one hour at a brisk pace.
• We left our Ryokan at 1pm to do the Hakone Loop and still completed it comfortably with plenty of time spent on shopping.
• Speaking of shopping, Cat Goods near Gora station was a wonderful little store full of cat stuff!! Our shopping list in Japan was basically to buy as much cat-themed home goods at possible, and we went crazy here. They also do tax-free! Recommend this place if cat-themed goods sounds interesting to you, the shop people were super nice!
• We stayed 2 nights 3 days in a Ryokan. I purchased Hakone free pass for 3 days, which was maybe not worth it. The first and last day we only took transport to leave Hakone to Odawara station, so I think it would have been cheaper to use the IC card to pay for it ad-hoc instead of an entire extra "free pass" day. Might be worth looking in to.
• If you have the Freepass, don't tag IC card at the stations. Show your Freepass to the attendant instead. It can't be a screenshot, they need to see the day
• Google Maps was great everywhere except Hakone. For some reason it was especially unreliable here, it led us stray a few times.
• Busses are faster for getting around, but have very little space for luggage and seemed packed with locals. If time is not an issue, I'd ride the Hakonetozan Line with your luggage, much more comfortable and more space.
• If you can spare the money, getting a private onsen was really really nice. Plus you can drink while you chill!

Kyoto

• Had an excellent time at Gion Bar M16, favorite bar experience we went to in Japan. The owner was super friendly and welcoming, and was himself a very interesting person that has lived a full life and travelled all over the world. Very interesting to talk to. He was also very knowledgeable about whiskey and drank whiskey with us while letting us try some different whiskeys and giving recs about what to buy and bring home. Also gave us lots of delicious and interesting snacks while we got drunk together. We also met a friend of the owner there who is a foreigner that has been living in Japan for 8 years, and gave us some recs.
• One of his recs was Eikan-do Temple as a less-crowded temple option. Good rec! We really enjoyed this place a lot. Probably our favorite temple out of the 5 or so we visited. They have this really extensive "shoes-off" wooden walkway on support beams. It felt like exploring a big tree house, because the wooden part went up the cliff as well. The insides areas were also very extravagant and intricate. Not so many tourists, even Sunday middle of the day. I really recommend as well!
• Another of his recs was Men-ya Inoichi (has a Michelin star). You line up when the shop opens to get a ticket, and then come back at a designated time, though there's still a wait before you actually eat. We probably waited ~50m in total, 20m at the beginning and 30m when we returned. Even then, thought it wasn't worth the time. Don't get me wrong it was very good, but IMO not significantly better than other ramen places.
• Kodai-ji Temple was a miss for us, especially after Eikan-do. Thought it wasn't that interesting, would have skipped.
• Kiyomizu-dera was indeed very nice, but very very crowded. Another place I would actually either going early or late for.
• The shopping street in front of Kiyomizu-dera was super fun to browse, but also very crowded.
• Had lunch at this tucked away Soba restaurant in an alley that was very nice, one of my favorite meals in Japan. Owner was friendly and spoke in Japanese to a translator that replayed his words in English. Noodles nice and chewy. Good experience, felt very personal!
• We visited Yasaka-jinja Shrine and Maruyama Park both in the evening and during the day, and much much prefer it when it's dark. Less crowded and there are cute little lamps that are lit up and make the whole place look magical.

Nara

• Arrived in Nara station at ~2:30pm and left at 7pm. Felt like we saw plenty.
• Nothing new to add, the bowing deer are fun to visit and feed, though they can be quite aggressive. We went on Saturday and there was large crowds of children in their school uniforms, but we didn't really mind it too much.
• Isuien Garden and Yoshikien Garden are both very nice gardens, good place to get away from crowds for some peace and quiet.

Osaka

• Didn't spend much time in Osaka, but Dontonburi was fun to walk through and shop.
• Ate at a very nice Okonomiyaki restaurant. It was our first time eating it so can't compare it to anywhere else, but the staff was super friendly and bubbly and we had an excellent time there. They also have a little dice game you can play to "gamble" on getting a drink for free, or "lose" and get the drink double sized and also pay 2x the price
• Shout out to our hotel, Hotel Royal Classic Osaka. We were only there for one night, but my god this hotel was so convenient. Directly connected to the subway station via an elevator, and also has a 24-hour FamilyMart you can enter from the lobby. It was also only 3m walking away from a airport limousine bus, which made going to the airport super easy. If we ever visit Osaka for a longer stay, we would definitely book this hotel again.

Random Tips

• The flipside to getting to a popular tourist spot early, is to get there very late. We visited Takeshita Street in Harajuku at 8pm at night and it was very comfortably not crowded. Also noticed other tourists spots tended to clear up near closing time, like Senso-Ji in Asakusa.
• As everyone says, toilets are generally as clean as you can reasonably expect, everywhere from parks to gardens to subway stations. Nastiest toilet I saw was in Don Quixote at 1am, trash everywhere.
• 7/11 seemed to have English featured more prominently on their products labels compared to other convenience store chains. All the convenience store food options seemed very similar, so I started to favor 7/11 for the language convenience. (FamilyMart had English in super tiny letters on the side of the label lol)
• In one of those small counter seating type restaurants, I saw someone take the wrong backpack when they left (didn't know it was the wrong backpack at the time ). A few minutes later, the person who's backpack was taken got up to leave, and was very confused trying to find his backpack. He spent a long 10m talking to the restaurants folks (in Japanese), before the original guy came back super apologetic. Anyway keep an eye on your stuff. I know Japan is a safe country, but accidents do happen.
• One trick we had was to tie a little charm or hair tie to the handle of our umbrella, making it less likely someone would accidentally take yours from the sea of indistinguishable white plastic umbrellas.
• Yes there's a lot of walking. My feet tend to get damp if I'm out all day and foot powder works wonders, highly recommend it. Picked up this trick while attending music festivals.
• No issues with tax refunds and customs. We packed some of our stuff in carry-on in case they inspected, but nothing happened.
• Used Ubigi esim and it was perfect. I bought 10gb and used 7gb over our trip, doing most of the navigation and planning. My wife bought 1gb and used about 700mb with just random internet surfing. I will 100% be using this service for travel to other countries in the future, not just Japan, it was so damn convenient.

Transportation

• Definitely leave extra time for navigating subway stations, those things are like enormous underground malls.
• Shinkansen app didn't work for our iphone country (Germany), but I was able to use the mobile web browser pretty easily. Great for free, last-minute rescheduling of Shinkansen tickets when we inevitably take too long shopping.
• Apple Wallet Suica / IC card worked like a charm (with AMEX and Mastercard). One thing though it that it can sometimes take up to 1 minute for the money to load onto the account, so don't wait until the very last minute and accidentally hold up the bus.
• Taxis are green when someone is in it and red when they are free (at least in Tokyo?). Confused the hell out of drunk me at 4am in the morning. I think in Kyoto it is orange instead when someone is in them, and the orange/red difference is quite hard to spot from far away.
• On that note, I had sorta assumed the metro runs all night in Tokyo, but this is definitely not the case. They stop service from about midnight to 5am, so keep an eye on the last train if you do intend to catch it. Otherwise you'll have to take a more-expensive-than-usual taxi (captive markets), but not a big deal. We thought it was typically priced in comparison to most other US and European cities.
• We had a choice between a 1 hour or 3 hour layover in Tokyo NRT and we chose 3 hour because we weren't sure how long it would take to transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 in NRT. In actuality it took less than 30m, so the 1 hour would have probably been fine. We didn't mind the extra buffer time to relax though.- Absolutely enormous plane flying between Osaka and Tokyo. Like literally it was the size of a transatlantic plane, with 10 seats in each row, for a sub 1 hour flight, completely full with business travelers (judging by their suits and brief cases).

Food

• We aren't big foodies; we like Japanese food a lot but food isn't really a top priority for us while traveling. Some of our favorite meals were from 7/11 (kelp & bonito flavoured tofu stick, sukiyaki beef over rice, fish flavored cheese snacks, grilled squid. Yum!)
• Most meals were good, if a bit straightforward. At least the places we ate at, main courses seemed to be carb heavy, with a side of meat, and little else. I know we could have gotten side dishes, but the portion sizes were too big for us to order more.
• Very few vegetables in general, and if there were some they were pickled. (Guess it makes sense for an island country). I usually bring fiber pills with me when traveling and do recommend it for Japan too.
• Wife is vegetarian, I am not. Japan is not particularly vegetarian friendly if you don't like tofu, which fortunately my wife does. Most places did have at least one tofu option, so it worked out okay for us. She doesn't follow it super strictly though. A few times she would order a dish and I would just pick out the meat from her bowl.
• Portion sizes were a LOT bigger than I thought they would be. I think maybe we are just small eaters. US and European portions are a little bit bigger I suppose, but Japanese portion sizes were too big even for us. Especially ramen! It was crazy to see folks wolf down an giant bowl of ramen, then ask for an extra helping of noodles with their remaining soup, and finish that up too.
• We only made one reservation beforehand and waited in line over 10m once. Worked out fine for us.
• Restaurants tend to do last call an hour or more before closing, so don't get there too late. Happened to us twice before we learned our lesson, got to a restaurant about one hour before the listed closing hours and they turned us away.
• The Japanese palette seems to be much more subtle than typical western palette, and notably less salty. We often find Asian food at US/German restaurants too salty or saucy. Even then, some of the food we ate was bordering on the minimum range of my taste buds to almost be bland. Just my opinion, most of it was good but sometimes the lack of salt was pretty noticeable to me. My wife tends to like things less salty than me though and she thoroughly enjoyed all of those meals no problem. Soup noodle places like ramen and udon are excluded from this, those were usually perfectly salted to my taste.
• Walking while eating seemed fine. I saw at least 3 different instances of Japanese people doing it.
• Apparently there are no laws banning public drinking in Japan. You can drink alcohol on the street no problem, but I rarely saw people doing that (unlike here in Germany where people seem to take full advantage of it and also leave trash everywhere). I did see a few groups of Japanese people doing it at night in Tokyo, usually near bus stops, and the next morning saw the empty bottles and cans. Guess there are litterers everywhere. We had a beer in the park at night, weren't loud about it and took our trash with us. That was very pleasant.

Hotels

• Hotels always have liquid or foam hand soap! I hate the bar soaps that most Western hotels provide in the room, so I usually bring my own liquid hand soap. Was totally not necessary for this trip.
• Lots of people on this sub have mentioned check-in time being very precise, as in you rarely can check in before the designated time. We didn't experience this first hand. But on the flip side, we did find out that check out time is very precise too! They start calling your room about 15-20m after your check out time. This is in contrast to most American/European hotels that we've stayed at, which are in my experience very lax about their check out times. We can often get away with leaving the room at 1-2 hours after the stated check out time (we're late risers). Not so in Japan.
• Agree with other people's advice that booking a hotel close to a big subway station is probably the most important factor. It sucks having to walk 10m to the station every single day, and it is amazing when it is close. Also being close to a 24/7 convenience store was also very nice for late night munchies.

Language

• We only knew sumimasen, konichiwa, and arigato gozaimasu and got alone just fine (lots of hand gestures!). We do know a bit of Mandarin Chinese though so that was helpful with reading signs.Some places knew Mandarin better than English and would switch to that if they thought we could speak it. Chinese tourism seems like big business (we saw a ton of Chinese tourists everywhere) so I guess it makes sense for people in tourism industry to cater towards that. Announcements (like over train stations) always went Japanese, English, often Chinese, then sometimes Korean.

Luggage Forwarding * I thought it was kind of expensive, but it does make things easier.- ○ Tokyo -> Hakone: 2310 yen- ○ Hakone to Kyoto: 2630 yen- ○ Kyoto -> Osaka: 1940 yen. * I feel like for that price you could take a taxi to and from your hotels to the train station and it wouldn't be much more work. There was plenty of space on the Shinkansen to put smaller checked luggage overhead. Then you don't have to prepack things the day before. * For the first leg Tokyo -> Hakone, we shipped two checked luggage which was about ~32 euros. After that we only shipped one, not two. * The middle ground we found was to designate one suitcase as souvenirs and dirty laundry and forwarded it every time. We would then travel with two carry-ons and one checked luggage. YMMV depending on your number of luggage and ease of carrying them.

First time Tesla owner, and I was in the market for an additional car to buy for the Turo platform, i.e. this is not my daily driver.
Found a 2020 M3, AWD LR. white exterior and leather seats. Car only has 2,800 miles on it. I found it at an equipment dealership of all places (dozers, tractors, etc) and somehow they had this. Said they were just looking to liquidate it. They offered full disclosure on it, car had been wrecked and because the airbag deployed, the insurance totaled it. however, the title is still clear, no salvage! I have seen the title first hand, and it is clear. It was repaired for the most part, i'll list some issues down below. But they had it listed for 36k, long story short i talked them down to $30k before tt&l. tires are like new, and factory charge cable included.
I found some other minor issues on the car that they either didn't know about, but i also found this car has purchased full FSD beta on it, so that sealed the deal for me. With so much factory warranty still left on the car, i decided to roll the dice and hope that Tesla service would keep me from having too much of a repair on the remaining issues, which are as follows:

1. cracked windshield (neglected rock chip that spread, obviously not covered by warranty)
2. Fairly scary error messages on the screen: traction control disabled, auto emergency brake disabled, parking brake error, no regen
3. Error about needing a steering alingment
4. the driver side camera is completely off, so, so far no cruise / fsd
5. driver door window doesn't go up/down when opening or closing the door, but ironically still works otherwise
6. a few damaged window buttons on the door handles (already ordered replacements from amazon)
7. front passenger foglight is out
8. driver seatbelt tensioner is stuck halfway, needs replaced
9. missing hood ornament (already ordered replacement)
10. no floor mats
11. needs a good detail job after not being driven much in 2 years

That's about all i can think of. i figured even if i end up putting a couple grand back in repairs, i still come out ahead for a car with less than 3k miles on it. I'm also still waiting for the tesla account to be transferred to me via uploading purchase docs and registration in the app, so i haven't been able to schedule service yet. TBH, the error messages and camera are what have me most worried.
​
So, overall, do you think i got a deal? Worst case or best case scenario? how easy is scheduling with Tesla service? What do you think will be covered under warranty and what wont?
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edit: Pictures
https://imgur.com/a/o66vrDz
https://imgur.com/a/ajE4xSg
https://imgur.com/a/1AkxGW2

Hello there, I understand the dilemma. Both are such cool options, right!? But maybe we can brainstorm and figure out which one we like more. Perhaps we get frustrated and decide we need to do both to experiment to figure out what we like more. But of course, before that I hope you will turn out to be someone important enough to me to do these with you. Beyond that, I guess I am just looking to get to know someone amazing like you. So reveal yourself, please! On a separate note, I am a scientist working in some random artificial intelligence thingamajigs in medicine (for more technically interested ones - we do machine learning) after finishing uni. And no, we do not wear lab coats. I absolutely love what I do and where I am. To be fair, I love science in any form.
Some random tidbits about me - - One of my claim-to-fame moments till now has been being at loo next to a Nobel laureate. - I love to read. On some weekends, I sneak away to different cafés, libraries, parks, river banks, and other places in my city to read alone. A dream of mine is to have a personal library at some point!!! - I am into running, hiking, rambling, biking, and squash. In addition, I am always keen on checking out new sports, now onto Eton Fives! Also I really enjoy exploring outdoors, generally with friends. - I enjoy cooking, even though I am very slow at it and am certain that I am not very good at it either. Bonus happiness though if I am doing it with friends. - I am very close to my family. And I am the silliest (and definitely the cheekiest) one among them. - Regarding music, I listen to a bit of everything, depending on my mood. Having said that, more often I find myself listening to classical and indie. Some of my favourite classical composers include Brahms, Vivaldi, and Debussy. My city has an incredible music scene, so I sometime find it tough to stop myself from going to too many concerts!! - I have seen some posts including their MBTI or enneagram type. So if you are interested in that - from all the times I have given the MBTI test, I have been an ENTJ. Similarly for the enneagram tests I have been a number 3. Though I believe it is difficult to profile someone based on just one type alone. - Here are some more random clichéd things I like. I love going to a wide variety of museums (from art to natural history and more) and spending hours getting lost inside. My personal record till now is to go to four museums on the same day (yes, it was stupid, no, I do not regret it at all). With friends, I like exploring independent cafés and sampling hot chocolates.
If you have read the until this long, thank you for that!!! I did not want to shorten the length. Maybe you and I have some common interests! Or perhaps we do not share any common interests at all!?!?! No matter what, I am waiting for your message and getting excited for the fun experiments in choosing either of those two options ahead.
Good day to you and cheerio!

Hello. I know just from reading the title you are likely seething with rage and hate for Alexee. Likely you have already down voted this post. I am appalled by the number of people having already convicted Alexee and now want her lynched.
I am equally appalled by the amount of video the public has access too. This has tainted public opinion and makes it almost impossible she will be afforded a fair and unbiased trial based on actual evidence introduced in court. All of the surveillance video from inside the hospital should never have been released. This violates Hippa Laws and a patient's Right to Privacy. "When you use security cameras in a healthcare environment, the video footage that you record qualifies as PHI. As PHI, video surveillance footage must be protected according to HIPAA regulations.Jun 10, 2021"
Alexee was experiencing an acute medical and mental health emergency and the release / leak of hospital video violates her right to doctor patient confidentiality. For those whose blood is boiling what if this was inside an abortion clinic and a teenager was violated by the release of videos in a patient treatment area? Protesters would be enraged and demand action--where is the outrage here?
Based on the facts as currently known (no discovery yet just what is in public domain and can be verified) this is how I would defend Alexee during a trial. I ask you to consider all of the following:
--Innocence until proven guilty in a court of law--the cornerstone of our legal system and society.
I strenuously argue and expect the following be inadmissible and excluded from trial:
>All video of Alexee inside the patient treatment areas of the hospital--both security cameras and police body cameras excluded .
>Police bodycam footage from inside Alexee's treatment room should be Hippa protected. She has the expectation of doctor patient confidentiality. Police knew there was no crime actively happening inside the hospital room at the moment they entered. The question of IF a crime was committed already occurred in the toilet room previous to police arrival and there was no flight risk from Alexee in a hospital room with one way in and out.
Police violated her civil rights by entering her medical treatment room while Alexee was in a hospital bed. Further police by entering her hospital room delayed urgent medical care Alexee required and placed undue stressors on her during a critical moment when per the statements of the doctor she was hemorrhaging.
>At no point was she read her Miranda Rights. Any statements made during an acute medical and mental health crisis inside a treatment room without her being advised of her Miranda Rights cannot be used against her at trial.
--During all video of her in her treatment room and patient hallway areas--as has been so far illegally released to the public violating her Hippa rights-- Alexee was under the influence of pain medicine administered by the hospital.
Pain medicine alters how Alexee feels, her body's sensations, perception of said sensations, mental acuity, mental state, memory and cognitive ability--this is the whole purpose of pain medications. These are indisputable and known scientific facts for decades which have proven pain medications cause all of these reactions which is why every single pain med has strict warnings not to operate machinery, not to drive Et cetera, Et cetera, Et cetera........ (For those attacking Alexee as mentally deficient, "slow", retarded, "mentally off" and / or view her reactions as not appropriate the hospital had her hopped up on pain medications before she even went to the bathroom. I say shame on anyone convicting her in the court of public opinion under the influence of medication(s) and during an acute medical and mental health crisis.
>Purported pictures of Alexee with her cheer leading team in the grey shirt and holding the megaphone in her uniform. These pictures are all over the internet and have not been verified as authentic. I believe there is a high likelihood these particular pictures have been photo-shopped making them altered fakes. There are multiple indicators of the two most widely distributed photos showing they are not authentic.
The person who took said pictures, origin of the pictures, original metadata and chain of custody of these photos must be discovered and questioned. Once the absolute original files have been discovered, if they even exist, they need to be independently analyzed by a digital photography expert.
I ask everyone to please put the videos you have seen out of your mind as well as it should and will likely be for the jury during the trial. I ask you to consider the following facts as we understand them at this juncture. Use only the following facts to determine if there is any reasonable doubt concerning Alexee and what happened. Even a scintilla of doubt or uncertainty means Alexee should be adjudicated not guilty by a court.
During a trial I argue the following in defense of Alexee:
>Alexee is a teenager. She only recently turned 19. She is inexperienced in life, sex and relationships. Although technically an adult by a few weeks the law is contradictory. She is still in high school due to when she was born and started kindergarten. At 19 she cannot smoke cigarettes, vape or buy or drink alcohol. Society and the law has decided 19 is not old enough to make an informed decision on smoking and alcohol. Her mother treats her as a child.
>Alexee has been treated in such a way by her mother to be ashamed of teen sex and its possible consequences. Her mother despite good intentions created a relationship of shame regarding sex and loosing her virginity. Most teens and even young adults do not share intimate sexual details with theirs parents for many reasons. Consider the added stress the mother has created for years in a misguided attempt to protect her daughter.
People in general but especially children and teenagers deny they did something wrong when accused. A child is observed breaking an item and even though said child knows the parent saw her break the item often will deny they broke it when questioned. There are decades of child psychiatry and doctors to testify regarding this. Those young children grow up to be teenagers and if the parent(s) have not properly handled these learning opportunities at young ages the teenager will have--in this case 19 years--of improper responses of how to handle life.
>Alexee's mother was beaten and abused by her father so badly Alexee was born preterm with hip and spinal problems causing pain on and off her entire life. Imagine the unhealthy relationship regarding sex, men and pregnancy her mother--despite good intentions--during Alexee's life imprinted on a child and then a teen.
>Alexee was taking hormonal birth control pills. We do not know if these were prescribed for acne, menstrual problems or birth control reasons. If prescribed for acne or menstrual problems and Alexee's mom knew she was taking them this combined with her mom's many years worth of admonishment, forbidding and shaming of teen sex and her mother feeling confident her daughter was a virgin--this would create a mental assurance for her mother she could never possible be pregnant.
Likewise, regardless if Alexee was taking hormonal bc with or without her mom's knowledge she would be assured she was preventing any possibility of pregnancy and being safe. Hormonal bc is widely regarded as virtually 100% effective and the best non-surgical option for preventing an unwanted pregnancy. The Pill is the gold standard for being safe and responsible to the point it's common knowledge providing a false sense of security.
The pill is so ubiquitous as infallible even in pornographic videos it is commonplace for the teen or woman to state "pull out I'm not on the pill"--as if she was on the pill it would be 100% guaranteed safe. Teens and even adults are indoctrinated to commonly believe the pill is infallible--even in porn.
We know sex education is lacking in all public schools, her fundamentalist church certainly wasn't providing sex ed, her mom used fear, shame and abstinence as the only approach and her father was a scumbag abuser not even in her life in a meaningful way. Media targeted to teens promotes "safe sex" rarely making a point any bc can fail. It's promoted and considered as an absolute.
No matter how you consider the above facts both Alexee and her mom were very confident there was no way she could be pregnant. Taking the bc pill to Alexee was an assurance she could not become pregnant, she could not disappoint her mom--she was being safe with no risks and in a committed long term relationship. She wasn't "one of those girls" or the school slutt.
>Alexee gained some weight. Everyone knows the Pill can cause weight gain. Its the number one reason teenagers and young women state they don't want to take the pill. There is so much pressure on being thin--especially for a teenager and a high school student going to prom ect. When she noticed she gained some weight of course it was because of the bc pill. She can't be pregnant--of course not--because she's on the pill. How could she be? A quick Google search "can the pill make me gain weight" confirms its common.
If her mom knew about her being on BC this causes no alarms for her mom because not only does she believe her daughter is a virgin she's on the pill and the pill makes many women gain weight.
>Maybe--and we don't know--Alexee was on BC because of menstrual issues. If that was the case then any period irregularities would be explained by known period issues, the pill can make periods light or non-existent in many women so nothing to be worried about if she's irregular, besides irregular periods are common in teens--especially athletes, as a medical fact. It is well known many women bleed during pregnancy at the time when they expect to be having a period so think they are regularly menstruating.
There are even entire TV shows based on the woman not knowing she is pregnant--many are adults in their 30s, experienced in life and many even had previous children!! Plenty of incidents making this fairly common and plenty of respected medical doctors will testify in court to this phenomenon.
>Alexee was treated in the emergency room in December--one month prior--for back pain. The same back pain she experienced on and off her whole life--and the same back pain that would bring her to the ER the night she delivered. She would have been around 32 to 36 weeks pregnant (pregnancy full term is 40 weeks gestation even though everyone commonly thinks 9 months) and at the end of December when seen in the ER. No one, not a single medical professional noticed she was very pregnant while in the hospital four weeks prior to delivering a baby.
>Alexee tells her mom she is in pain in January and needs to go to the ER for treatment. This is significant. If Alexee knew she was pregnant and premeditated killing and hiding the baby from her mom, boyfriend and the world it makes absolutely no sense she would tell her mother she was in pain and needed to go to the hospital. If she premeditated murder and secrecy then she would not have presented herself to her mom in pain and needing medical help. Everyone has seen TV births--although not realistic--there is almost always pain and pushing and then a baby. So Alexee who has premeditated and purposely hidden 40 weeks or pregnancy fooling everyone--her mom, peers, boyfriend, coaches, teachers, nurses and doctors decides to tell her mom she needs to go to the hospital when IF she had realized she was pregnant and consciously hidden and schemed everything!?!?! This makes no sense.
We know for a fact she knew how to do things herself on the "down low". Afterall she wasn't having sex infront of her mom--she went somewhere private to do the deed. If her premeditated plan all along was to knowingly conceal........see where this is going?
>January ER visit considerations:
--Alexee's mom had three kids--makes her very experienced at pregnancy--and has no idea Alexee is pregnant.
>Alexee is seen by and triaged by a registered nurse. She does not notice she is full term and in active labor. The duty of and sole purpose of the triage nurse to identify acute medical conditions needing immediate and emergency treatment--like say heart attacks or active labor.
>Alexee is taken to a hospital exam room and seen by the intake nurse--another registered nurse-- who's duty is and is trained to takes vitals, acquire pertinent information, makes trained medical observations and prepares the patient for possible required exams for when the doctor arrives--all of this on behalf of the doctor.
This nurse does not notice she is full term pregnant and in active labor. Remember that part above "prepares the patient for possible required exams" if the nurse has any indications the issue was in anyway related to female reproductive organs or involved the vagina the nurse would have the patient--Alexee--change into a gown for a possible pelvic exam.
She does not do this--Alexee is not in a hospital gown so another registered nurse experienced in emergency medicine--nurse number two--is completely oblivious to a full term pregnancy and active labor.
>The doctor comes into the exam room. This is a licensed and trained medical doctor specializing in emergency medicine. She speaks with and presumably examines Alexee for her back pain--to do anything less is malpractice. This medical doctor, certified and practicing emergency medicine orders pain medicine administered to Alexee.
We have a trained and experienced MEDICAL DOCTOR that does not realize Alexee is full term pregnant and in active labor. Remember those photos on the internet I discussed earlier and believe them to be faked and photo-shopped? If they were real and she was that visibly pregnant tell me two registered nurses and a licensed medical doctor given the symptoms displayed, age of the patient and the obvious dynamic between mom and daughter about keeping her virginity and you still don't this she is full term pregnant and in active labor.
The dynamic observed between Alexee and her mom the doctor had the DUTY as a standard of car to ask the mother to leave the exam room so she could privately discuss things with Alexee.
>We have all been in the hospital and ER so we all know how this goes. We know another nurse came to administer the pain meds and to administer test(s) order by the doctor. (we also know this by the police interviews of all medical personal involved)
This is nurse number three not noticing a teenage girl is full term and in active labor!!! Not just any registered nurse but the Emergency Room CHARGE NURSE--the head of the nurses in the ER at that time. (he's the male nurse in the videos wearing a skull cap).
>We know one of the tests ordered by the doctor and administered was a pregnancy test. A pregnancy test that results POSITIVE. We have a teen girl patient in extreme pain who is sure she isn't pregnant and is adamant she is not pregnant because I don't believe she thought she was. This patient is in an exam room and you the medical staff and especially the doctor DO NOT immediately return to the exam room to conduct a simple and quick pelvic exam (which doesn't even require a doctor a nurse can do and routinely do pelvic exams).
>Instead the doctor orders an ultrasound. So time passes when a quick pelvic could have been done but wasn't and in comes the ultrasound tech. She DOES NOT HAVE THE PROPER WAND ATTACHMENT TO CONDUCT A PREGNANCY ULTRASOUND. On top of this she is an Ultrasound tech--certified and trained--and even after attempting an unsuccessful ultrasound doesn't realize Alexee is full term pregnant with a baby literally in the birth canal in active labor.
Keep in mind the certified and trained ultrasound tech who has done presumably dozens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of ultrasounds on pregnant women in labor--because ultrasounds are common in virtually every pregnancy--this tech doesn't realize Alexee is full term and in active labor.
We KNOW the ultrasound tech had to pull up Alexee's shirt to expose the skin on her stomach to attempt the ultrasound (because you can't do an ultrasound without skin to wand contact via some snot-like medical grade jelly).
IF the tech thought Alexee was in active labor, full term and close to delivering does anyone not think she wouldn't tell a nurse or the doctor?? "Hey you better check on this girl right now?"
>None of the medical staff even tells Alexee her pregnancy test was positive. Alexee and her mom still have no idea Alexee is pregnant.
>Alexee feels like she needs to use the bathroom--to have a bowel movement. The nurses and doctor allow her to get up, unaccompanied and waddle / run holding her bottom all the way down the hall. Alexee has NO IDEA she is pregnant--has never been told by any medical staff and didn't see the baby on the ultrasound because the tech botched the procedure not having the correct wand.
>Common knowledge to most people--lay people--as a baby enters the birth canal and crowns the woman feels an overwhelming urge to have a bowel movement. We expect even at the lowest and most minimal level of care by registered nurses and licensed doctors to know a woman in labor experiences a sensation of needing to have a BM before the baby is born. Medical facts and training teaches nurses and doctors to instruct the woman to push the baby out as if she was pushing to have a BM. We know virtually every woman has a BM at some point while pushing.
Alexee and her mom still have no idea she is pregnant at this point despite being seen by three registered nurses, an ultrasound tech and a licensed MEDICAL DOCTOR.
The medical staff KNOWS 100% Alexee is pregnant-and has known long enough to send in an ultrasound tech perform a botched ultrasound--and yet the medical staff knowing all of this allows Alexee to waddle-run down a hall holding her bottom, ALONE and be in a bathroom over 20 minutes.
We are so far past medical malpractice on so many levels to the point of gross negligence and blatant disregard for Alexee-the patient. I've seen a lot of cases of malpractice at busy hospitals but nothing has ever come close to the malpractice and willful disregard for patient care and safety as I have learned in this case.
>Alexee, doesn't know shes pregnant, feels like she needs to have an urgent BM. She's on the toilet, shes in pain, pushing feels good because that is what her body is telling her and everyone knows if you feel super constipated with a huge and heavy poop that's stuck as soon as you get it out you will feel better.
At some point Alexee's body takes over--humans are animals--and like animals a body will birth a baby as an automatic process regardless if the mom is ready or not. Regardless if the mom is even conscious or not--after all comatose patients have delivered babies spontaneously.
This is that time.
I know everyone is going to shout but she should have called for help ect ect.
Really think about this and consider:
>Alexee is a teenager, young and inexperienced with her body and womanhood. She only just barely meets the legal definition as an adult buy mere weeks and can't even buy vape or a pack of smokes and she's still in high school. An adult by technicality only she is in high school, acts very immature and has not had any life experiences as an adult.
>Alexee has been to the ER twice in 30 days time and is in the ER at this very moment sitting on a toilet with an incredible urge to poop, she's seen by half a dozen trained medical professionals even just moments ago and she knows they gave her a pregnancy test "just in case" and no one has told her she's pregnant, she's scared to death but in her mind she's on the birth control pill and not a single person at the hospital during two visits has told her she's pregnant. She has NO idea a baby is about to come out. It's not possible to her and based on all we know she has confirmation in her mind time and time and time again she is NOT PREGNANT. In fact, she is on her period she thinks, she sees blood--yes confirmation of period, cramps, pain, nausea--all valid, legitimate and known period indicators. She can't be pregnant as we have established and since she is at the hospital they would have told her if she was. She has back problems, thinks she is on or starting her period and is constipated worse than she has ever been--of course combined these are the cramps and pain from the pitts of hell.
>Experts will testify at some point in that toilet room she disassociates with her body. Now she is in fear, overwhelming pain, anxiety, young with limited life experience. She has been drugged by the doctors with pain medicine which affects her sensations and cognitive abilities and decision making. She wants to yell for help but she can't. There is no voice, no words and no actual realization as to what is happening to her.
>This is NOT unheard of. Fear is a power controller. Every person responds differently. Many people do nothing and totally freeze and are oblivious to external stimuli. History is full of people--aged and experienced adults who are trained professionals in life and death situations who freeze and cannot function or function in a totally illogical way.
--The airline pilot who despite thousands of hours of flight experience suddenly forgets how to fly or simply does nothing. Or does something so incredibly stupid and so contradictory to every bit of training and flying instinct makes the wrong response causing the plane to crash. (Atlas Air B767 / Continental Express Q400 / UPS A300)
--Trained soldiers in battle firing on their own fellow soldiers wearing the same uniform right in front of them but in that moment they kill their friends.
--A veteran police officer responding to a school shooting in Florida so overcome with fear he cannot enter the building to do the job he has trained, practiced and done for 25 plus years of his career resulting in dozens of children dying or injured.
--A respected gray-haired "old salt" ship captain who has crossed the Atlantic hundreds of times in his 50 year career--actually the admiral of the fleet-- who becomes impotent when his ship hits an iceberg and after giving the orders to evacuate disappears from leadership. (Titanic)
The recent Idaho murders the downstairs roommate, who has experienced actual adult experiences living on her own in college, comes FACE-TO-FACE with the killer while her four friends and roommates are bleeding out locks herself into her room, goes to bed and does NOTHING for hours until the net day. This is despite her admitting she heard a pained / muffled scream, moaning, an unknown voice and came face-to-face with the killer POTENTIALLY while the victims could have been saved with immediate medical care. She is defended by society as bearing no burden or negligence because she was young, scared and had been partying so was under the influence of substances.
Wait a minute........so was Alexee. Ironically some of the same people in this very forum who defended the Idaho roommate for being completely without burden by ignoring and going back to bed want to lynch Alexee or lock her up for her entire life.
Can we under all of these circumstances expect a teenage girl who has every legitimate reason to be sure she is NOT pregnant and not in labor expect her to be rational in this moment?
If Alexee herself didn't know she was pregnant, had no reason to expect she was pregnant, was on birth control, her mom who has had three pregnancies doesn't notice, her peers don't notice, her teachers don't notice, her coaches, her church, her boyfriend AND....
TWO VISITS TO THE ER / HOSPITAL 30 DAYS APART
the visit where the birth occurred:
THREE REGISTERED NURSES
ULTRASOUND TECH
EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR / LICENSED MD
If ALL of the people in Alexee's life and ESPECIALLY TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS did not notice or realize she was not only pregnant but in active labor HOW CAN WE EXPECT ALEXEE--a teenager--TO REALIZE THIS WHEN SHE TOOK HERSELF TO A HOSPITAL WANTING HELP?
The hospital and its staff disgust me. They acted with total disregard to Alexee and human life. Not a single nurse or doctor even bothered to try and resuscitate the baby when it was found. Most likely the baby was beyond resuscitation but for medical professionals in a hospital to not even attempt to save the baby after totally botching the standard of care for Alexee up to this point shows how criminally negligent everyone who treated Alexee that night is culpable for the death of a child.
The state has WAY overcharged Alexee. At most she should be facing abuse of a corpse. She needs mental help not jail. She is not likely to ever re-offend.
The ER doctor should be charged with manslaughter and negligence resulting in a death as her level of care was grossly negligent.
My heart goes out to the little boy who is not live--stillborn or otherwise. All life is precious.
So is Alexee and her life. This is beyond horrible for all involved. Every single person in Alexee's life failed her time and time again.
Do not as a jury pr society fail her again and sentence her to life in prison. There is so much reasonable double of premeditation and medical negligence / indifference in this case it would be criminal for a jury to convict her of Premeditated Murder in the 1sr degree.
I pray for everyone involved on so many levels. This case has no winners--only losers . Every single person in contact at any point with Alexee--but especially on the night in question-- and Alexee herself has a heavy cross to bear for the rest of their lives.
The nurses and ultrasound tech should be retrained, put on probation to be monitored making sure they have the skills and judgements needed to care for patients and the medical doctor should lose her license.
Alexee especially as well as her mother and boyfriend need education and counseling.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
​

Got a Corolla Cross XLE yesterday for a family member and drove it home a couple of hours. For reference, I’m used to driving a RAV4 Prime so my comments come from that point of view.
This vehicle is really nice looking. I think they did a great job on the styling. A little smaller than the R4P, so parking should be easier for inexperienced drivers.
Backup camera - super clear, way better than our R4P
Wireless CarPlay - We have wired CarPlay in the R4P and this was very nice. it was good to see that my phone gained charge on the wireless charger even while using CarPlay the entire time. Only glitch was that Apple Music cut out many times so I stopped using it. I‘ve never had an issue with it in our car. From some searching, this doesn’t seem like it’s anything specific to the Corolla Cross though.
8” multimedia screen - We have a few physical buttons on the R4P and I think I prefer that for ease of going between CarPlay and the radio, but it’s possible I’m just not used to it and younger drivers are probably not using the radio as much these days anyway. It is harder to tune a radio station because it’s done on screen vs a dial and that’s not really safe while driving.
It drives like a nice Corolla. It won’t be mistaken for a higher end car (except in looks), but it’s not subpar either. It just gets the job done in a good enough fashion.
Engine start/stop - I had tested a Subaru Forester a few years ago and absolutely hated the auto start/stop at lights because it seemed so jarring. This seemed much less intrusive and didn’t bother me at all.
For whatever reason, I don’t think the seats are quite as comfortable as what I’m used to, but maybe I need to dial them in more. I do like the Softex which we have on our other cars.
MPG - I will be curious how this does with more driving, but I got way over the rated mpg on the drive home. Probably due to slower speeds in traffic, but I think achieving it’s rated mileage shouldn’t be hard to do.

It’s not really important to detail everything of the next few weeks, word did spread that the Walkers were leaving again, of course, there was no way to keep that secret. Packing had to be done, after all, and arrangements for the house had to be made.
There was simply no way to keep our going ‘completely quiet’. So the neighbors started to come by asking questions.
“Should we leave too?”
“Am I going to end up with more bits of shrapnel in my kitchen?”
“Do I need to get more stuff to patch bullet holes?”
“I assume we go to the same hotel as last time, or will it be a different one?”
It was frequent enough that we held another ‘neighborhood barbecue’ where William explained over sizzling meat and a mix of real beer and that abomination to all civilized species ‘non-alcoholic beer’ that, “You are in no danger. We are leaving for a government assignment, but it is not one that puts any of you at anymore risk than yesterday or the day before. I promise, there won’t be any crazy masked gunmen showing up and disturbing the peace.”
William’s reputation was one of truthfulness, and it probably didn’t hurt that making sure the neighbors were safe had been a priority last time.
‘Last time… for the sake of the void… how many shenanigans are we supposed to get involved in?’ I asked myself that question while sipping on a very large ‘wood bottle’. This was a wonderful innovation in alcoholic beverages. Instead of ‘glass’ this ‘wood’ actually added a wonderful earthiness to the beer, making it smoother and far more full bodied than the glass counterpart.
It had its drawbacks, of course, if you didn’t want that added flavor, you had to use glass, but I found it to be positively delectable, if a little ‘thicker’ than my usual preferences.
I had a great fondness for ales, particularly the more ‘aggressive’ ones with an immediate sort of bite to them. They weren’t to be ‘chugged’ like the bland and fizzy ones that had all the kick of a sleeping toddler. No, no, these powerful ones were meant to be ‘swigged’. You take one big swig at a time, savor the richness, the full flavor, the taste, and the feel of it going down.
It’s about here I should mention that ‘beer clubs’ and ‘bourbon buddies’ were starting to gain popularity among dlamisa.
It began with the Ballyball League of Earth and Dlamias. As part of their training for the sport, teams ‘ran’ a great deal, and they learned of an ancient Earth organization that survived through the centuries called the Hash House Harriers, ‘drinkers with a running problem’ as they are popularly known.
These organizations around the world would lay out trails and follow them in search of alcohol at various stopping points. They would drink together and have a grand old time, and be rather intoxicated by the end of it all. From this my people innovated various ‘fan clubs’ for certain alcohol organizations that would sponsor their runs in exchange for filming their gatherings.
Naturally I set up a few gambling options for people to bet on my players during training, but out of these grew specific off-field rivalries which were now starting to spread to my home world, usually run out of coffee establishments.
This might be the thing that made someone decide to put me at risk. I will probably never know the answer to that one.
It didn’t matter. Not really.
I was standing there among my friends, family, neighbors, with warmth and welcome, with the smell of good food cooking and people wishing me well on my ‘business trip’ and I knew I was doing the right thing.
This was the reason, this was the point of it all, to bring ‘this’ not just to me, but to everybody.
Every drop of blood that spread in my arena, every credit that flowed into my exponentially growing cooperative organization… all of it was serving this single purpose. ‘I will see my will done. I will bring it all down.’ I vowed and took another swig from my bottle. Latunde was telling a joke, and I huffed politely.
A good man, a good neighbor. And a surprisingly good actor considering he ran a feed store, his pretend police situation when we were making our evacuation a few years ago was really well done.
But I couldn’t pay attention to jokes right then.
I went back into the house and up to Fauve’s room. I knocked, “Come in.” She answered.
I expected this, she was never particularly social, and didn’t care for large gatherings of people. I still wasn’t the biggest fan of those, but…alcohol makes everything much easier.
“Hi.” I said, poking my head in without entering. “How are you?”
She was seated at her terminal, pounding away at ‘nothing’. But she had a virtual headset on so there was ‘something’ to her.
“Fine. I’m just taking care of some things. Writing out some notes, researching the Praeda species that we’re going to meet, writing my will, breaking up with my girlfriend, the usual sort of thing that happens every…single…time I think life is going to finally come out of warp and let us relax.” She said it with such deadpan humor that I almost missed it.
“I’m sorry.” I said and slipped into the room, closing the door behind me, I went and sat down on her bed.
“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Fauve answered, though she didn’t take her attention off her work. “This is just more of the usual, and if anybody is to blame, it’s me. I could have faded into the background. I could have just let everything go back to normal. I could have just shut my mouth after everything was over the first time… but no. I didn’t. I didn’t and now I can’t have a moment’s peace or normalcy. I had to be media personality, a speaker, a filmmaker a….” She trailed off and slapped her palms down on the desk. “I did this to myself. Now I’m going to be alone again because I just can’t say no. Michael is going to lose years with his friends. You’re being thrown back into god knows what, mom and dad are… no, they’re fine, to them this will be a vacation, if anything.” She sighed.
“My point is, Bailey, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m just, I’m stressed out a little.” Fauve said to me and I swallowed hard and nodded.
“I know what you mean.” I said, I chose not to mention the pseudo-attempt on my life, but added, “This is a disruption to my life too, and… a lot of things are going to change, even if things go well, maybe ‘especially’ if they do.” I got up and went to put my hand on her shoulder.
Fauve leaned back, rocking her chair so that it hit my waist, her head was against my fur, “And I don’t think I did anything wrong here but… I’m sorry that things aren’t as easy for you as you deserve. I mean that.” I promised.
She cracked a smile beneath her headset.
“Yeah, yeah, well it’s not like space is boring. No human has ever been out that far before, so we get to be a first… but even so? I’m tired of having to end relationships over work. It happened with Halbert, it happened with… wait… has it ever not happened that way?” Fauve stopped and thought that over.
I wasn’t surprised she referenced her first romantic interest. Humans tend to template all later relationships on the basis of their earlier ones, and Fauve tended to be hyperfocusd on what she was engaged in at any given moment, so I wasn’t surprised that she would never have really looked at how something over ‘played out’ in the end. Not until she had a reason to.
“Wow… yeah… everything always ended because of something work related… if not mine, then theirs. Damn.” She sighed as that understanding hit home.
Humans have in my observations, a tendency to blind themselves to what is happening, they don’t always see underlying causes for what goes awry in their lives, and as such they may miss patterns that will not be missed by other species. It makes them interesting to be around, at least.
“I’m taking a long vacation when I get back.” She promised herself and slumped. “Maybe I should sell the rights to that game series and turn my attention to something new… I…” Fauve shook her head, “Bailey, do you think it’s possible to be too career focused?”
I squeezed my hand on her shoulder a little nad cocked my head. “You’re asking me that question? Fauve, I came here on a fifty year doctoral program, I’m the last person you should ask that question.”
She was quiet for a moment before she quipped, “Alright, that’s fair. But after this is over, I’m definitely taking a break. Maybe I’ll just rewrite this breakup note and explain that because of work that we need to ‘go on a break’ no questions asked after I get back.”
It was of course possible that the other person would ‘move on’ and there was nothing to come back to when Fauve did return, however this did leave the possibility open at least. “I think that’s wise.” I said with a gentle voice.
“You should invite them to Waterland Park with everybody else.” I suggested, but Fauve shook her head.
“No. No. I have to face this one on my own. If I can walk in there and walk past that place without a problem, on my own, I can finally put the last bit of that bastard behind me.” She said it with such iron resolve that it was hard for me to imagine she wouldn’t be able to do it.
“You won’t be alone, you know that.” I reminded her.
She smiled again.
“That’s not quite what I mean, Bailey… but thank you. I still have some work to do here, but, would you be a friend and bring me a beer while I finish this up… and maybe a hamburger?” She asked.
“Sure thing, Fauve.” I said, and left her room again.

Hey everyone. I have 2 floor seats for Joe Pera tonight at College Street Music Hall (can’t make the show unfortunately): https://tixel.com9896443

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DISCLAIMER
I almost didn’t post this. Not because I think it’s too wild or doesn’t make any sense. In fact, quite the opposite. The information I present here, which is the result of countless hours spent re-watching videos, listening to audio, and cross-referencing official information, is something that now seems to me to be far too viable not to be correct. I have actually tried to prove this theory wrong and… well basically I can’t. So, please bear this in mind as you read. This could end up being one of those rare occasions when we’re actually onto something. Either way, I hope you enjoy the post.
First point; this is going to be a long post. Given the subject matter, it needs to be. Second point; I have not added any images or videos directly into the post but have instead included a great many links embedded within the text itself. This should ensure that the post is no longer than it needs to be but should still allow you sufficient opportunity to fully scrutinize every part of my theory, so that you can determine for yourself whether or not you think it holds weight.
I have organised all of the information under specific headings designed to make everything more accessible. Each section focuses on a particular aspect of the main theory. Even if you think that some of what you are reading may not be relevant, I can assure you that everything written here has been included as an important part of a much larger puzzle, and so I would advise that you patiently make your way through the entirety of the post. In an effort to ensure that your time invested here is appropriately rewarded, and in the spirit of preserving the scientific method, I have tried to keep flavor text and blind speculation down to an absolute minimum.
Note that I will be listing various aspects of this post as being confirmed correct or incorrect as and when we have official information to verify such facts. So here we are, after five long years of waiting, the inevitable release of Starfield, like the event horizon of some nearby black hole, is almost upon us. With the Showcase now a mere 24 hours away, it is time for us to take a look at what makes this particular game so special, as well as discovering just how we will be given the means to fly among the stars.
And so, without further ado, let us begin.
Hitchhiker's Guide
From watching gameplay footage, and also listening to various devs talk about Starfield, we know that at some along the early part of the story, we will find ourselves on board a Constellation Starship, which is appropriately named Frontier. With us on the ship is VASCO, an adorable robot assistant who will eventually become one of our possible companions. But how did we even end up on this ship? Well firstly, I do not believe that Frontier is our ship, or at least not at first. And so, we’re probably here in the capacity of a ‘guest’ of some kind, or more likely, a hitchhiker.
If we take a look at this scene, we first hear a male shouting “that’s the Crimson Fleet!” and then a female saying “Everybody get ready!” After this, we can see that the group we are with is attacked. We already know that we uncover some kind of unknown artifact whilst mining for ore near the beginning of the Main Quest, and that the aforementioned Crimson Fleet is essentially an organised collective of space pirates. But what we don’t know is why they attacked us. This is not something I will be diving into in this particular post, although I do have some theories about this. But the relevance of the series of events here described cannot be understated, as they seem to be the launching point for our entry into Constellation and the adventures that follow.
Next, if we look a little further, we can see that this seemingly-important member of Constellation is not with us when we arrive at their Headquarters on Jemison, which suggests that he may have been killed during the above mentioned attack. Also note that, in-spite of not having a voiced protagonist this time round, we can clearly hear somebody talking over Frontier’s comms system, which means that there must be a designated pilot. Given the fact that we don’t see anyone who is confirmed as being the pilot (although it may actually be this person), it is safe to assume that this designated individual was with us during the flight but was first injured in the attack on the planet’s surface and was then taken to Medical Bay after we successfully land on Jemison.
It is my belief that, after perhaps being exposed to some kind of energy pulse from a grenade or something similar, the first member of Constellation we see was outright killed (hence why we are then asked to join up ourselves, perhaps to take over his role). The pilot, however, clearly survived as we can hear him talking to Control over the comms system during what is actually an extended two-way conversation, but I think that his vision was somehow compromised so that, even though he is able to speak, he is temporarily unable to see. The good news about this most unfortunate situation is that it opens the door for us to quickly step into the hot seat and, with the pilot acting as our guide, we will experience our very first Starfield flight tutorial.
Radio Chatter
If you listen to the beginning of both the Official Teaser Trailer and Official Gameplay Reveal for Starfield, you will hear both halves of the radio conversation I have referenced above, or at least the parts of it that Bethesda have given us so far. The first of these is spoken by somebody being referred to as Control, and the second by Frontier’s pilot. I previously posted a link to an audio I made and put up on Soundcloud, which gives us all of the confirmed parts of this conversation carefully spliced together and enhanced for clarity. Note that some of the audio, despite these enhancements, is a little hard to make out.
The final, in-game conversation is going to be a fair bit longer than what we have here and will be based on the specific processes that are required before attempting a Grav Jump. I don’t think we will hear this conversation every time we perform a Jump (especially given that our protagonist does not speak), but the first time we experience this early step-out moment, a detailed and appropriate pre-launch conversation will only serve to enhance what I’m sure will be an awe-inspiring experience.
Note that, at the end of this post, I have provided a link to a written transcript detailing what I think is being said in the full version of the above conversation. In the meantime, here is a breakdown of the confirmed parts of this audio. This is slightly different from the version I previously posted, due to new evidence clarifying exactly what is being said here. I have left line-spaces to help show where the missing parts of the audio will eventually go:
PILOT: "Control this is Constellation Starship Frontier."
CONTROL: "Constellation Starship Frontier, we have you on scanners."
PILOT: "We're ready to start on your signal."
CONTROL: "Performing Road Systems check. Helium-3 tanks, check. Seals are intact."
PILOT: "Maintaining Exit Vector course, Steady 'till Ready."
CONTROL: "We are still go."
PILOT: "Coordinates input, plotting Jump course."
CONTROL: "We read you Constellation."
PILOT: "Sky-Bus is converged, we're looking good."
CONTROL: "Jemison route looks good."
PILOT: "Allocating Auxiliary Reactor Power."
CONTROL: "Prepare for departure. Graviton Loop Array Spool, check."
PILOT: "System checks are green across the board."
CONTROL: "Your space Lane is clear."
PILOT: "Grav Jump commencing in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
Road-Trip
At first, this seems like a typical, albeit futuristic version of an Air Traffic Control conversation. After all, much of what is being said does sound very familiar, and the rest seems appropriate to Starfield’s apparent Hard Science Fiction theme. But it’s only when you start digging a little deeper that you realize that something else is going on here as well.
Note the following terms taken from the above transcript: Road, Exit, Course, Coordinates, Bus, Route, Departure and Lane. All these words share a very noticeable common theme. They are all in some way related to Road Networks. Note also the phrase “green across the board," which sounds like it could also be a reference to Traffic Lights.
Zooming Along
Next, let’s look at this map, which features the home of a certain Software Development Company you may have heard of. If you zoom out a fair bit, you will see two large Cities, namely Washington and Baltimore. Zoom out a little more, and you can now see the cities of Richmond to the South and Pittsburgh to the North-West. Zoom back in over any of these four major cities, and you will see that there are many more smaller locations within each of the city limits.
Now scroll the map over to any of the areas outside of these cities, and you will find a multitude of other important locations. These include residential areas, airports, medical facilities, sports and leisure facilities, research facilities, manufacturing facilities, tech companies, supermarkets), hotels, places of worship, and many others. All the above locations are important in one way of another to the continued functioning of our society, and all can be placed within two distinct categories. These are Population Centers and Infrastructure.
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Now imagine that there has been some kind of catastrophic flood in this area, and all these locations, although somehow miraculously intact, are now separated from each other as a series of individual islands in the middle of a newly formed ‘ocean’. Suddenly, the existing Road Network, along with any cars, busses, and other road vehicles, would become useless. You would need to use a completely different system, one designed to properly accommodate these changes, which would of course have to incorporate such elements as harbors, shipping routes, and vehicles capable of travelling along a waterway.
Now let’s zoom out again, this time further. Much, much, further. Each location has now been transformed into either a planet or a moon, spread across various star systems covering a vast region of space. Each one of these planets and moons will have its own individual features, resources, possible inhabitants, and infrastructure requirements. With such a quantum leap in terms of scale, if we now wanted to travel between these locations, which could in many cases end up being several light years apart, we are going to need something far bigger in terms of scale, complexity, and technology.
Shown In 60 Seconds
During the first ever 60 seconds of Starfield footage we all saw, shown in the form of the Official Announcement Teaser at the end of BE3 on June 11th 2018 (which redditor InToddWeTrust2023 has very nicely referenced here), we were given some surprisingly important clues which now form the cornerstone of this theory. Not only have these clues stacked up with every consecutive trailer released, as well as many of the other official videos and various other snippets of information, but their sheer level of consistency places them well outside the realm of possible coincidence.
Some of these additional clues were given to us in the two videos referenced above which contain the comms audio. The second of these two videos, namely the Official Gameplay Reveal, dropped, as would be expected, at the end of last year’s Showcase on June 12th 2022. Some of the most crucial information we have been given to date regarding my theory is actually contained in the 70 seconds shown before Todd even begins to speak. We will discuss the relevance of all of this a little further on in the post.
Lo-go/no go
First, some Space related terminology. In Mission Control speak, a Launch Status Check, also known as a go/no go poll, is part of a very carefully designed system implemented by US Space Agencies to ensure maximum safety and the best possible survival chance of both the ship and its crew prior to launch. This, or something similar, will undoubtedly form an integral part of the pre-launch, or rather, pre-Jump procedures incorporated into Starfield, especially given what we know in relation to its specific influences, attention to detail, and focus on realism.
But let's look for a moment at a different type of launch. Let's look at the process of carefully managing the flow of information when you are launching a long-awaited, multi-million-dollar triple-A video game and you happen to be a major player. With the combined might of Bethesda, Zenimax, and now Microsoft, there is clearly a great deal of scope in terms of how they were able to execute all of the steps involved in this process. One critically important factor, and one that has been masterfully implemented in the promotion of Starfield, is the use of familiar iconography.
If we look at the iconography seen during the promotion of Starfield, we can see that there are two main elements. These are the circular Starfield logo, first unveiled in 2018, and of course the recently updated Bethesda Games Studios logo, which has existed in various iterations since around 2006. Both of these share a common, simplistic yet effective design, and the BGS logo in particular is now light years ahead of its original design as seen on box art and in promotional materials for The Elder Scrolls VI Oblivion. At the time of Oblivion’s release, the long-term use of this particular logo, which incorporates the now familiar Fallout Vault Door, was a little uncertain due to restrictions with the associated licence (more on this below). But once this matter had been resolved, it would make a lot of sense that they would then develop this logo into the much sharper, more modern version we see today.
Licenced to Fly
Way back in April of 2007, Bethesda realized one of their biggest long-term business goals by finally securing the full rights to the highly acclaimed Fallout series. Prior to this, in 2004, they had been granted limited rights which would allow them to develop Fallout 3 and then two additional games, but they clearly wanted full and unrestricted access to the franchise and all of its assets. Since this time, in addition to Fallout 3, we have seen the release of Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76, as well as a number of smaller projects, including Fallout Shelter. This is all the proof you need to confirm the fact that, in-spite of some initial setbacks, Bethesda’s insistence on going the extra mile with regards to securing the full franchise, was most definitely worth it, and was seen by many as a landmark achievement.
Looking at the most recent entry to this ever-expanding series, namely Fallout 76, I would like to draw your attention to two of this particular game’s trailers. First, we have the Fallout 76 Official Trailer from 2018, and then The Pitt Story Trailer from 2022. In the first of these two trailers, at around the 35 second mark, we see the new BGS logo once again, and then near the end of the video we see a smaller version, neatly tucked away over on the left-hand side of the usual copyright notice. If we then look at the second trailer, at around… Hold on a second, let me rewind that a bit… wait, what?
This is where things start to get really interesting.
One Small Step
Okay, going back to the Fallout 76 trailers, although the smaller version of the BGS logo can be seen at or near the end of each of these, only the first incorporates the larger, ‘splash-screen’ version. “But why is this even important?” you may ask. “They may have simply forgotten to include this detail in the second trailer.” I can assure you that this is most certainly not the case. In fact, I am one-hundred-percent confident that this was quite intentional. I would even go as far as saying that this one, seemingly insignificant detail, actually brings us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of Starfield. Essentially, Bethesda have taken full advantage of how we all think we remember certain details, and as such, this is an example of truly expert-level hidden marketing on their part. I also believe it will form the basis of at least one of the big reveals during the showcase.
One Giant Leap
Let’s go back one more time to the Announcement Teaser and the Gameplay Reveal for Starfield. Look at how drastically different the BGS logo is in both of these videos compared to any of those used in promoting Fallout 76. What will really blow your mind here is the fact that all four of the trailers mentioned above were first shown to us during the same two Showcases we have just been discussing! In other words, the first of these videos for both Fallout 76 and Starfield were both unveiled at the 2018 Showcase, and the second of each at the 2022 Showcase. And yet each respective pair make use of drastically different versions of what we all thought was the exact same logo. This means that Starfield has been designed, from the ground up, to be viewed and experienced in a totally different way than, and completely separate from, any of Bethesda’s previous titles.
To clarify this point, after extensive research, I can confirm that this new, animated BGS logo, with the vault door rolling off to the left and then ‘opening up’ just before the text appears, has never been featured anywhere in an official capacity that is not directly related to Starfield. It is completely unique to this specific IP. This fact ties together everything we have looked at in the post so far. It also lets us see things from a completely different ‘orbital’ perspective. For example, I believe that this information gives us the real reason why Bethesda worked so hard to secure the full rights to the Fallout franchise in the way that they did. Not only did they wish to create awesome games set within the Fallout universe, but they also needed total freedom to make use of a specific part of this franchise that so that they could then incorporate it into their next, very very big, space related IP.
For Mankind
Okay. This is the part you’ve all been waiting so patiently for. This is the big reveal. For months now, perhaps even years, we have all been drip-fed the idea that Starfield is essentially “Skyrim in Space.” The reason I think that we have been told this is to misdirect us away from an intrinsic, interwoven connection between Starfield and Bethesda’s other major franchise, which is of course Fallout. But just to put your mind at rest, I do not for a nanosecond believe that the reveal will be, “We fooled you all, it’s actually Fallout in space!” no matter how cool that might at first sound.
What I do believe is that Starfield will be so different and so unique when viewed alongside anything else that Bethesda have published, that it will quite literally take your breath away. This game, the spark of which was first ignited 25 years ago, is Todd Howard’s true passion project. Everything else was simply the path he took to finally get here. This is the story he has always wanted to tell, the story of Mankind’s true legacy. And it all starts, just as it did when Interplay released the original Fallout) game back in 1997, with a familiar, but staggeringly different Vault Door.
The Vault
There is a very special and completely unique hidden Vault in Starfield. Not only is this particular Vault unlike anything you have previously seen anywhere within the Fallout universe, but it is also unlike anything you have seen in any game. Period.
This hidden Vault is actually the key to both interstellar and interplanetary travel. And it also happens to be the single biggest construction project in human history, extending across a span of almost one-hundred light years. And it is not even close to being completed, even after more than two-hundred years of construction.
This Vault is, by its very nature, completely invisible and shielded away from view. It is quite literally hidden in plain sight, and it can only be accessed through one of its specially crafted Vault Doors. But what does all of this mean for gameplay, and how does something like this even work? I’m glad you asked! Let’s strap in and prepare for launch, because we’re all in for an incredible ride.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen... to The Starfield
Entering The Starfield
The following is my own interpretation, based on scientific reasoning and a huge amount of detailed analysis, of exactly how I think this system works. It is, as ever, backed up with several links throughout, as well as additional evidence for which I shall provide a separate link at end of the post. I am expecting perhaps some differences in terms of specific details once we get hold of the final release of Starfield, but I am confident that I am at the very least well within the ballpark with all of this. Okay, here goes.
The Science Behind the Magic
Starfield is the name given to a vast network of interconnecting tunnels, spanning the entirety of the Settled Systems, providing us with a very fast and highly practical means of travelling between different planets, and even different star systems. These tunnels exist within a localized, folded state, known as Tunnel-Space. The construction of the Starfield is made possible thanks to a technological breakthrough which allows gravitational waves (or Gravitons) to be woven together to form something known as a Gravity-Tunnel, which is then stretched out and connected between any two existing stellar objects, such as two planets in a given system, of even two stars from different systems.
In order to maintain the integrity of each tunnel, it is wrapped in a special type of Exotic Matter known as Superfluid Helium. This has a number of highly unusual properties, including negative energy density and negative energy pressure. This essentially makes it the physical-space equivalent of time going in reverse, meaning that it is capable of counteracting the effects of any conventional physical force, including the gravitational pull of a black hole. As such, it will hold the structure of the Gravity-Tunnel together for an indefinite period of time over a potentially infinite distance through space.
Within the Starfield are a large number of Nodes and Junction Points. Nodes are used to connect together all of the planets in any one Star System, and Junction Points then connect different Star Systems together, making use of much larger Gravity-Tunnels that are the equivalent of Interstate Highways. Note that all flight between any given planet and any or all of its moons is handled locally, outside of the Starfield.
Because all of the stars, planets, and moons in the Settled Systems are in a constant state of flux, by which I mean their relative distance and positions) are constantly changing in respect to each other, the tunnels within the Starfield have been designed to be able to expand and contract almost infinitely so that they can accommodate any changes in these two factors depending on when, where, and how you travel.
Although the main tunnels are designed to transport people, resources, waste, and other items directly relating to either Population Centers or Infrastructure, I believe there is also a sub-system) that will allow much smaller objects, such as probes, to carry data-packets that can be upload at one location and then downloaded at another, effectively solving the problem of inoperable delays in communication between remote locations.
Inside of each Gravity-Tunnel is a bi-directional singularity, which can be switched between two opposite polarities whenever required with the help of the surrounding Exotic Matter, allowing for two-way traffic inside what is essentially a one-way system. This means that, as long as you are able to ensure the correct polarity of all connecting Nodes and Junction Points along your route (as in “Sky-Bus is converged” and “Jemison route looks good”), you will be able to travel, in theory at least, from any point A to any point B, as long as all of the required interconnections exist within the system.
When travelling through the Starfield, you will set a specific route, known as a Sky-Bus, which is a specified pathway that runs from your staring location to your destination. You will then, with the help of Starfield Control, access the tunnels using a Gating System which I will explain below. Incidentally, I believe that the accepted in-universe name for the actual transit network that we are making use of within the Starfield is the Sky-Bus Tunnel System.
Each tunnel in this system actually has two separate ‘Lanes’, one on the left for outbound traffic, and one on the right for incoming traffic. As I have explained above, each of these tunnels can only accommodate a single direction of traffic flow at any given time. And so, a safety measure had to be incorporated to prevent any accidental attempts to travel the wrong way down a tunnel and destroying yourself and your ship.
At each end of any given Node or Junction Point is a Gate. These are the ‘Vault Doors’ I have been referring to. The Gate comprises of a gigantic metal outer-ring connecting to an inner Vault Door. This Vault Door will either be at the center (closed position), or the left (open position) of the outer ring. The open/left position will allow outbound traffic to leave the orbit of the current planet they are in proximity to. To allow inbound traffic, the entire outer ring, with the Vault Door locked in place, will rotate clockwise through 180 degrees to the open/right position to allow access to the inbound Lane. When the outbound Lane is then once again required, the structure then continues to rotate in a clockwise motion until it reaches the open/left position once again. When required, the Vault Door will return to the neutral position at the center of the ring, and the tunnel will be locked.
Regarding Grav Jumps: Whenever you wish to perform a Grav-Jump, you must first request permission from Starfield Control, who will guide you through the process. Once the route is set and your Exit Gate is locked in place, by activating your ship’s Grav-Drive, along with it’s incorporated spooling system, you will first lock on to the front of the tunnel entrance.
Next, using a system similar to an Aircraft Catapult, you will be pulled into the tunnel at great speed, where the Graviton Loop Array will hold your ship in-place inside the tunnel, and will also ensure you don’t accidentally go down the wrong path. At the other end, the spooling system described above then acts as an Arresting Cable, slowing you down over a very short distance.
If all of the above is actually correct, especially the last part, then I think I will be having this on repeat in the background before Grav-Jumps!
Finally, here is the link to my additional supporting evidence and other materials, including some stuff I haven’t had a chance to really go into yet. Feel free to throw any questions at me, and I’ll do my best to answer them. In the meantime, Showcase will commence in 24 Hours…

Edit: pictures of myself are on my profile. Also, I had a few women reach out to me wanting to be just friends. I'm not looking for that, please only reach out to me if you are seeking a serious relationship and attach a picture of yourself in your initial message, I'd like to know the person I am talking to :)
_______________________________________
Hello there! :p
I'll try to make this short and to the point.
Who am I looking for?
I'm looking for someone I can connect who shares in my passions and views, someone I can enjoy life with, all its ups and downs, the sweet and the sour moments. As for more specific personality traits, I really adore someone that is caring, loving, kind, respectful and open-minded.
As for appearance wise, while my main focus is on the personality for me, I'll be honest, I am not into very big ladies.
Who am I and what are my hobbies/passions?
I guess I am a bit of a nerd, at least that's what I've been called a few times. Though, honestly, I enjoy doing a whole bunch of things that bring me joy. Things like playing video games, watching anime, football, board games with friends, running in the park, exploring, watching documentaries on YouTube, tinkering with computers, listening to popular music from the 70's, 80's, 90's, early 2000's, etc.
Actually, I'll note down few specifics here, too:
- Anime: The Seven Deadly Sins, SAO, Record of Grancrest War, Angel Beats!, The Dragon Prince, Legend of Korra
- Video games: Skyrim, Fallout, Dishonored, Sims, Pokemon, CoD Zombies, Borderlands, Mass Effect and more
- Sports: football, badminton, tennis, squash, volleyball, running, riding on a bike
- Movies: Marvel movies, DC movies, Matrix, Daredevil, Star Wars, The Lord of The Rings, Avatar and more
- Drawing: Lately I have started exploring digital arts and even made a small design for a small project of mine, but the project is still in early stages so can't speak too much about it XD
As for my passions, I feel passionate about gaming, animals, technology and football - particularly the Champions League - to put it all succinctly. I understand if you don't love football or tech, it's all good, I don't expect you or anyone to be into every single thing that I am into!
What can I offer you?
Hmmm... I can be your personal tech support, I can be your fitness partner, I can be your chef if the need arises, I can be your essential boyfriend pillow you cuddle at night, just to name a few. But most importantly, I can be your special someone you can rely on and be there for you and support you because life is hard already as it is.
Though, back tracking a little bit, I admit that I don't know too many cooking recipes, but despite that, some of my everyday dishes are quite exquisite, like my delicious strawberry jam (or Nutella) pancakes, or my delicious spaghetti or my home-made BBQ burgers - just wanted to clarify that :p
Any deal breakers?
I only have 3 deal breakers:
- Smoker
- Does not like animals/pets
- Not child-free
Thank you for reading my post!
P.S. Did you catch my Star Wars reference "Hello there" ?

First off, I am an audiophile way more than a home theater guru. My system is probably 70% music and 30% Hulu/Netflix casual viewing. My main reason for wanting a center channel is to improve dialogue clarity, but I do want to get something that I won’t feel the need to upgrade or be disappointed with later.
I have Wharfedale Evo 4.2s as my mains (which I love) paired with a sb1000p in a medium sized room (12’ x 15’).
Wharfedale evo makes 2 centers that are in the evo line, the 4c and the 4cs. The 4c is obviously the best choice, because it is voice matched and 3-way/WTMW design, but it’s huge. Physically too big for my current room. The 4cs is a smaller, manageable size, but a suboptimal WTW design. The other thing to keep in mind is that the evo series, like all Wharfedale I’ve listed to, are decidedly warmer voiced speakers, definitely not neutral, so I imagine voice matching is of greater importance than a fairly flat speaker that might be easier to pair with another brand.
So, what is going to give me better results? Getting the smaller Wharfedale center and dealing with a less optimal driver design, or finding a 3-way speaker outside of Wharfedale lines and trying my best to voice match?
Budget is ideally less than $1000 and purchasing in the us, (opened to used but that sounds like a whole other can of worms). Viewing is predominantly my gf and I but if we’re actually watching a movie it’s likely with others.
Thanks!