Firstly I will state in advance I haven't completed the main story completely. I have gotten all the memories to get the Master Sword and three of the Dungeons. I have seen a bit more when my friend was streaming it as well. This is simply going to be my thoughts and opinions on the game as I've seen and experienced it so far as someone who loved BotW and Zelda as a Whole. This'll be quite lengthy as I went into a bit more detail then I initially planned as well as not being great at initially condensing my thoughts at times. There's a TLDR at the end with everything simplified with less details for those who want to skip what basically became a bullet point essay.
Firstly I will start with the positives.

• The return of varied Dungeons and Bosses. When I found this out I was actually excited to go do the dungeons and see what the bosses were. Though the divine beasts in BotW where interesting I was in the group who thought they were a bit lacking. The Return of Dungeons aren't perfect and aren't exactly like old dungeons but I feel it's still better, and more enjoyable, then the Divine Beasts personally.
• I absolutely adored the little caves you can find across the world and I adore the Depths and the challenge it brings. The Depths is such an interesting area and concept that adds so much more to the world and stuff to explore. Though I think there is a bit more they could have done with it but seeing as I wasn't expecting the depths at all I am not disappointed in the least.
• Seeing more enemies brought back from older Zelda games to add more enemy varity was such a needed addition and I'm so glad they did it. I was so excited when I first came across the likelikes and the Gleeok which seemed familiar but I didn't know from where and now I know it's from the first Zelda Game which is cool as heck. Then seeing the Gibdo as well. Was half expecting the Re-Deads as well but alas they didn't make the cut. It was just refreshing to have more enemies to come across.
• I quite enjoyed seeing where some of my favorite characters have gone or been up to since the events of BotW like Sidon and Riju. Even seeing Paya become chief as Impa has retired and just by chance running into Impa on my travels. I wish we got to see more of the characters we knew in BotW and more updates on how they're doing.
• The fact that your horses from your BotW save transfers over to your TotK save is just something I was pleasantly surprised by.
• The changes to bullet time where your stamina only drains when you fire instead of draining the second your in bullet time. On the point of stamina I appreciate the change of regaining a bit of stamina if you fall into water with no stamina. I also do appreciate the menu being a bit easier to get thru compared to BotW, though it's still not perfect but better and I appreciate that fact.

That's the main positives of things I just enjoyed about the game on its own as they are in the game. Now I want to talk about some things that I liked conceptually but not quite as much with how they were implemented into the game.

• Gannondorf. Was excited to see his full return and all the possibilities, even some of the early ideas people had of him not being fully evil even though that was never going to happen was still a fun concept. I knew he was going to be evil still and was interested to see where they were going to go with what I saw in the trailers. In game though it just wasn't anything even remotely to what I was hoping for while I wasn't expecting something as great as Wind Waker Ganon I hoped they were still going to do something interesting with him but no. Just pure evil becoming demon evil. Also that one face he made just what the fuck. Not the worst but just underwhelming to me personally.
• Gloom is awesome in concept and coming across it randomly out in the open on the surface when I was just trying to climb to a shrine is the kind of experience you can only get once without knowing about it in the first place. I love that defeating the arms makes Phantom Gannon appear. I don't like how it's implemented story wise and I don't like its name and I think that's where it falls short quite a bit for me personally. They treat it like it's something entirely separate from malice when it's basically a new form of Malice and calling it Gloom just doesn't really fit in my opinion. If they connected it more with Malice in the story and followed that threw line with it then that would have made it so much better in my opinion but as is how it's treated in story is just a miss for me.
• The Skylands or as they call them in game Sky Islands. When I first saw these introduced in the trailers I thought back to Skyward Sword and Skyloft and thought maybe we'll see some call back to the beginning of it all and get some hints or references to those events. Sadly that was not the case, at least not how I had initially expected, I will get more into the story elements later. All in All they weren't all that interesting in my opinion and some are just a pain to get too. The starting area is kinda interesting and how you can talk to Rauru at certain points but I don't feel as though it lived up to the Great Plateau personally.
• Zelda and the Past was a cool concept and idea they could have done so much more with it but in my opinion it just fell flat. Zelda felt so inconsequential and lacking in character thru all the memories and scenes you see of her and the past. The past itself felt like a waste as all it really did is retcon the Zelda lore, at least it seems so to me, and add another race as well as show that Gannon was always just selfish and evil. It would have been so much cooler if you had segments where you Played as Zelda thru the past as she tried to get home to Link and everyone else. Showing us a deeper look into the ancient race of the Zonai and their Culture. As well as give us more insight into what she's thinking and feeling as she's trapped separated from everyone. We don't even know how much passed between when she got stuck in the past and sacrificed herself. Instead we got very short disconnected snippets for the most part that don't tell us all that much and left me personally not caring about Zelda at all. Even longer or more cutscenes more closely connected would have been better but instead it just feels like Zelda was shafted so it was all on Link once again.
• I like the concept of what happens to Zelda in the end but how Zelda was handled in the game just makes this twist fall a bit flat for me personally.
• The Return of the Poes could have been so great but ended up to just be nothing more then another thing to spam A on. In previous games they were usually connected to some sort of enemy you had to best to collect and I think an Enemy Poe would have been such a great fit for the Depths but instead they're just a plentiful pickup that's all over the place in the Depths. Honestly just disappointing compared to what they once were.
• The Sage Abilities are cool in concept but in practice they can be a bit annoying and just don't live up to the Champion abilities in my opinion. I kind of like having companions to help fight with you but they do get in a way at times especially when you have to walk up to one to use they're ability and another can be in the way. I feel they could have been handled a bit better and aren't the worst but I personally prefer the ease of use of the Companion abilities.
• A more technical thing is the fuse ability. It's fun to mess around with and add elements to weapons to make them last longer but I don't think this is a perfect fix to weapon durability. Especially since it has replaced cool weapons that was in BOTW entirely and makes using elemental arrows much more annoying. In BotW you had Elemental Arrows that you selected and could use consecutively without having to reselect them. Now with the new fuse system you have to refuse stuff each and every time you want any sort of elemental arrow which disrupts the flow of gameplay. Sure it offers more variety in weapons and arrows technically but personally I preferred the old weapons and arrow systems for its simplicity.

Now onto the things I just straight up don't like and/or don't get within Tears of the Kingdom. If you've read up to this point then I really appreciate you taking the time to read everything.

• To add onto the point above with the fusing aspect of the game. The material system now that it's more important needed way more ways to sort thru things. Perhaps have categories of materials when you bring up the short menu or something so it's easier to find stuff on the fly instead of going thru a long list of random stuff from food to zonai devices. I just don't like how it's managed and handled.
• A small technical thing that I just don't understand is having to spam A to pick up Rupees and Poes where in BotW you just had to run over rupees. Why they made this change I have no idea especially now you have even more to pick up.
• Fuck you Zelda give me back my House.
• I greatly dislike calling the magic McGuffins "Secret Stones". I hate that so much it makes them seem so inconsequential.
• The lack of any of the Shikah stuff from BotW. Where are the Guardians, the Shrines, The Towers, the Divine Beasts, those pillars around the Castle? There's very little hint at the Guardians and that's it. There's no mention of what happened to them as far as I know. Like I can understand with the Gloom some of it may have gotten destroyed or lost but there was dozens of working and semi working and totally broken Guardians. Many many many shrines. Those huge ass towers. Those pillars by the castle. There is no reasonable explanation for it to all just disappear. It would have been so cool to see some functional guardians out working on your side to fight or maybe some in certain areas still affected and against you. Still come across ruins here and there but nope none of that really exist anymore with no good explanation on what even happened to it all.
• To add onto the previous point on things I just don't get and like in TOTK is the lack of continuity. Barely any mention of the Calamity, what you as Link went thru, and what Zelda went thru. There's plaques here and there that Zelda had made and some small mentions here and there but it seems like none of that happened. Barely anyone remembers you, even people the majority of players would surely have interacted with in BotW like Hetsu. No mention of the Divine Beast or anything. It feels like TotK is trying to be a sequel and it's own separate thing at the same time. They don't have to shove the events of BotW in your face but it would have been nice to see more continuity with the old Sheikah stuff and more people remembering you and remembering past events here and there. Even just the Sheikah part would have been enough honestly. Cause at the moment it seems the game is barely acknowledging the past game outside of reusing the map and reworking it.
• The story in itself is just not doing it for me. I don't care much about Zelda's part as I've stated in the previous section. There's just not enough to really latch onto. With BotW you are regaining your memories as Link so you see snippets from the past which makes sense they aren't completely all connected cause remembering memories can actually be like that. Yet it still gave us enough to go off of and gave Zelda way more personality and something to really care about. In this you aren't remembering anything you are getting memories without full context between them and Zelda in them feels less involved and not as fleshed out. We don't get to know the previous sages were at all or really get to know Rauru much or any of them really all that well. The story as a whole just doesn't work as well as the story in BotW in my opinion. At least what I've seen so far which is all the main memories and the one to get the master sword and what you see when the decedents get their stones.
• I'm just not a fan of the Zonai as a whole. I don't really care for their designs or the Zonai Aesthetic. I dislike that they turned Rauru into a Zonai when he was originally a Hylian. I preferred the Sheikah aesthetic of the shrines and towers and guardians/robots. I know the towers are Purah towers not Zonai but they are still kinda meh. In the trailers with the arm and certain aspects we were shown I intially thought back to the Twili and Twilight princess and thought some reimagining of the Twili would have been cool. I get that they may not have fit but honestly I feel the Zonai don't fit either.

Well I believe that is more or less everything and if you've read all the way to this point then just thanks, really. I appreciate it if you read this all cause I know this was a lot but I had a lot of thoughts. At the end of the day I still enjoy the game for what it is and still plan to complete it and a lot of it's extras side stuff. That being said doesn't mean I can't have critique or simply not care for certain aspects. For me there's a lot of potential in this game that I feel was missed out on among other things.
[TL:DR]
Things I really liked or loved were The return of Varied Dungeons and Bosses. I felt this was much needed in breath of the wild and I'm glad TotK have them. All the little caves you can find and explore and the wells to an extent as well. They made the world feel more interesting. I absolutely adored the Depths and the challenge it brings. I loved the return of more enemies bringing in more enemy variety. Being able to use my horses from BotW and the changes to Bullet Time.
Stuff I liked the concept of but didn't care for the exception of was Ganondorf as I feel like he was a bit weak characterization wise with missed opportunities. Gloom is awesome in gameplay and coming across it but how it's handled in the story was weak and should have just been an extension of Malice explicitly. Sky Islands the lands of missed opportunity as well as not being that interesting to explore. How Zelda and the Past was handled just feels underdeveloped, especially Zelda's role in most of it. The return of Poes is just a disappointing pick up with no interesting enemy attached like in the past. The sage abilities are cool in concept and it's kinda nice having pseudo companions but activating the abilities is annoying and discourages me from using them at times. The fuse ability taking away cool items and making elemental arrows more tedious to use also disrupting the flow of gameplay.
Parts of the game I just didn't really like at all like the lack of any continuity in either story or sheikah tech with all the sheikah tech basically vanishing without a trace or explanation to the limited or lack of mention of previous events. The cumbersome material system when going thru it for arrows or weapons on the fly. Having to spam A to pick up Rupees and Poes where in BotW you just ran over Rupees to pick them up. The Secret Stones being called Secret Stones. The Story as a whole is just lacking in my opinion and not as good as BotW in execution. Just not a fan of the Zonai as a whole. Also lastly Zelda stole my house and I want it back.

I have previously written two posts about gay (sex)adventures in Tokyo about 6 months ago, they are HERE and HERE. I just made another trip last week, this time more focused on general tourist activities, including a side trip to hike near Mount Fuji. But nothing would stop me from exploring the night and sex life of the city. Hope you'd find the additional information useful:
About bars - as a mature Asian muscle bear myself I again ended up going to first to Tokyo Eagle, then off to Eagle Blue to see a gogo dance performance by a group called Bear Train. Both places are in the middle of Shinjuku's gay district Ni-chome. Eagle Blue is more of a basement club than bar, and it was packed full of people that night. It'a a cover charge of ¥1,500, but you get one big drink up to the same price. They do serve drinks in big plastic cups. The atmosphere was great, so if you happen to be in Tokyo during the weekend go check out their Twitter to see if they have any performance.
As it was still early I decided to also go check out Dragon Men, which has a more professional troupe of muscle gogo dancers. This is a legit club and I read the weekend before the US singer Lil Nas X was there having fun after a promotional tour in Japan. I gotta say the performance there was way better than Bear Train's. So unless you, like me, have a thing for bears, Dragon Men is probably more entertaining.
A few people have asked me about "masseurs" and "escorts" in Tokyo. This is not something I usually go for but since Yen is now really cheap against USD, one can get a full service massage for only between ¥15,000 (around USD110) to ¥20,000. I was traveling with 2 other buddies this round and one of them knows more about the scene than me - here is what he did. There is actually a website that lists all the independent "masseurs" through out Japan. You can see their basic information and there are links to their Twitter accounts and websites to find out more. The main website is in Japanese and English, and you can set your browser to auto-translate from Japanese to English when viewing their own webpages.
Most masseurs prefer you contact them by emails first. You can use English and from what my friend has shown me they have no problem replying in English too. You should also contact them at least half a day in advance. Some of them regularly update their availability on Twitter. For some reasons Twitter is still very popular with Japanese and local businesses too. My friend hired one for an afternoon massage; he was so happy afterward that he is still talking about it. But please be mindful that this is a list of "masseurs" even when some are very explicit in what additional services are being offered. Use your own judgement and be respecful when setting up an appointment.
Since I was sharing a room with a travel buddy, we did decide to stay in more expensive hotels this round. The first one is in Ginza, and the second one is a "hot spring" hotel in Shinjuku right next to the gay district Ni-chome. It has a large bath in the basement with one big hot pool of hotspring water that can sit up to 8 people comfortably. There are also two smaller ones in an sealed off "outside" area. If you like the experience Japanese hotspring bathing this place is a very good deal, with the additional bonus that since it's also close to Ni-chome, it's popular with gay tourists and locals alike. All of us have encountered some very discreet cruising.
I don't encourage anyone to cruise in a public place that is not meant to be exclusively gay, but a smile and a friendly nod to the right person can definitely make your trip more interesting. I did exactly that and ended up in another hotel guest's room one evening.
Much as I wanted to visit at least one gay sauna or sex club this trip, I decided not to. Monkey pox is still a concern in Japan, and people are getting infected despite being vaccinated. This is just my personal choice, but you can still read about the 24 Kaikan sauna chain and various sex clubs in my two previous posts.
It's still really cheap to visit Japan now, but its economy is recovering faster than everyone else. It may not be cheap for long.

My gf (20F) and I (21M) met through a friend of mine (20F) who I had been living with for just under a year, rather not use names so I’ll just call my friend Rachel. I saw a post Rachel made of the two of them having a few drinks, and I thought she looked cute and so we started talking and pretty much hit it off straight away. We met up and shortly after I asked her out and we started dating, even though we didn’t know each other long it just felt right and I felt connected to her. My gf had told me she had trust issues because she had been cheated on in the past. At the time I didn’t have an issue with it as I believed myself to be trustworthy and that I would gain her trust throughout our relationship. I moved out and started living with some other friends of mine, with my gf not living too far away, so we would see each other often. Our relationship was one built on good communication as I thought it’d be best to be able to be comfortable to talk about any issues so we could work together through any problems. Other than a few arguments here and there we had a very close and connected relationship. A few months down the line and It was at this point where I didn’t feel like my gf trusted me still. It hurt to have her so distrusting of me when I had never done anything untrustworthy, it felt like all the distrust from her previous relationship was being held against me for no reason. In my head relationships are built on trust and it didn’t feel like we had that. I brought it up that I had issues with her, saying I felt like she didn’t trust me and that it really hurt and I couldn’t keep going if things would continue like this. We were both very upset and we spoke it through and decided to use time apart to think about things until we saw each other next. When we next saw each other my gf was like a whole different person, saying she had taken into account things I had said and was ready to make things work. At the time I was very unsure,because it had only been 2 weeks and I didn’t think it was enough time for her to have made enough of a change. The only way I can describe it now is it felt like she had checked out of the relationship and was on auto pilot. We met up a few times and kept speaking things through. Now this is where my friends come into the story. A friend of mine (21M), we’ll call Craig, was going in and out of a relationship with Rachel over the past few months and since there last breakup, he had spoken about realising his mistakes and wanting to try again with Rachel. Being friends with both of them, I had heard from Rachel about how upset she was and how she needed time to move past it before she could think about speaking to him again. Using an experience I had previously, I gave some advice to Craig, using this experience as the framework. My gf was also friends with Craig and Rachel and so I told her about it and we went through it, but she started picking apart the experience I mentioned expressing that I should never get into a relationship if I feel this way and that she never would have dated me if she knew this. This comment was one of the things that made me think my gf had basically given up on the relationship, but still really caring about her I thought maybe we could still make things work. It wasn’t until later that week before going out for my birthday when playing most likely to with friends, she said I was most likely to cheat out of everyone there. This really hurt me as it basically said that she thought I would cheat on her. With everything we were going through at the time, this was the final straw for me as I couldn’t do a relationship without trust. The next day I went over to my gfs to break up with her, but a little after I started to speak she asked “so are u breaking up with me?” And she told me to leave and bring all her stuff back, that being the end of it. I didn’t speak with either Rachel or Craig about this, and it didn’t come up until a party a few weeks later. At my housemates party, my now ex was invited as she was friends with my housemate, however she wasn’t initially going to come until I reached out to her to let her know I had no problems with her being there. I didn’t want her to be left out because of me, so we spoke about it and she said she would come but just wasn’t sure if I would be uncomfortable with it. Rachel and my ex were some of the first to arrive and immediately her demeanour was very different from her messages. She was giving me dirty looks and was obviously not very comfortable. Rachel said to me whilst we was sitting together that “she didn’t agree with what I did but didn’t want to bring that up now and hoped we’d have a good night.” This immediately rang alarm bells as it made no sense. She was obviously referring to my ex but all I did was break up with her and wasn’t even able to explain why to my ex. Rachel had never spoken to me about it but I had known that she had been there over the past few weeks to comfort my ex, so I was wondering what had been said about it. Later that night my ex, Rachel and myself got into an argument and I left the house to cool off. Rachel repeatedly showed a care for my ex’s emotional state but never for mine, which really hurt and showed that she had clearly picked sides. The next day I went to Rachel’s to speak about the previous night and we managed to squash our disagreement. However after this night Rachel would continue to distance herself more and more from me over the coming months. After 3 months had past I reached out to ask if Rachel had been distant from me for a reason and we got into another argument. At this time Rachel and Craig were once again dating but they didn’t tell me about it until I found out and asked them. Rachel and I pretty much stopped talking after our last argument as I felt like she had been distant and she tried to shift the blame to me. After this Craig also stopped interacting with me and seemed to be avoiding me. Rachel and Craig have now both removed me from most of their private socials and we never speak anymore and I lost two of my close friends all because I broke up with my gf. My ex is now still friends with Rachel and Craig and is always with them and I haven’t spoken to them in months. A small part of me wishes I could know what happened and why everything happened the way it did, but at the same time my friends and family keep telling me that there isn’t any point wasting your energy on them. I am trying to come to terms with it but in half a year I’ve lost 3 very close people in my life, and the more I think about the situation the more it upsets me. Either way I’m no longer in the same classes as Craig and none of my friends speak with my ex or Rachel anymore so I’m having to slowly move on and just forget about them.

I'd like to preface that this is mostly a vent/rant over a situationship that just recently ended (today). And I'd also like to preface that I know that I am not in the right here either and I have made my fair share of mistakes in this. This situation has been so completely draining and exhausting and I need a space to vent and look for advice.
I (24F) met him (33M) when I was 20 and he was 30 off of tinder. We clicked immediately. We could talk for hours non stop, going down conversational rabbit holes, we shared a lot of the same interests, had many of the same values and beliefs whether religious, political, or otherwise. We spoke on the same intellectual level and I felt truly seen and understood by this man. I fell for him quickly. A few months after meeting, things got physical and we were even more compatible on that level in a way I hadn't known before.
Then things started getting a little fishy. He told me about his roommate who also happened to be his ex. But swore up and down that there was nothing going on. I thought that he wouldn't have brought it to my attention if he was trying to hide it. I ended up enlisting in the Navy and shipped out to boot camp, during which he wrote me letters and answered the few calls I was allowed to have. I never had anyone in my life support me and tell me they were proud of me as much as he did.
When I was done with basic, reality struck. I looked at his "ex's" facebook and saw a post about their 5 year anniversary. I confronted him about it and told her what was going on. He called crying and saying that things were pretty much over but due to her mental issues of always threatening suicide, he had a hard time calling things off completely. He said it was over, and I believed him.
We spent the next 6 months talking everyday with phone calls and video chats. It got to the point of him talking about wanting to propose to me, and I was thrilled. In unrelated events, i was discharged early and was sent back home. He picked me up from the airport, but things were off.
Over the next 5 months after that, he barely talked to me, we saw each other maybe 3 times, and I was fighting him more about why he wasn't making time to see me. One night, I woke up sobbing and I knew. They were back together. I messaged her in the morning and she confirmed. I blew up his phone and he ghosted me.
I was an absolute wreck. I truly thought I was going to marry this man. He was my best friend and I felt like we were perfect for each other. I entered therapy to help the grieving as well as to work on childhood traumas.
A year and a half later, I reached out to him looking for closure. He answered all of my questions and then our conversation got sidetracked and we started catching up like old friends. Soon enough, we were back to talking everyday. I knew the pain he put me through, but it felt like he had changed. And I can't tell you how much I missed his friendship. I have yet to meet another person on earth who is the same level as autistic as me who I don't have to mask for and can truly be myself with and feel totally accepted. It's a hard thing to let go of.
The more we talk, the more our original connection resurfaces. But I refused to ask the question. And he refused to bring it up. Until we were meeting up and physical again. And I found out they were still together. I instantly tried to set boundaries of him needing to be honest with her and hold himself accountable. That I didn't want to do anything else again. But I was weak and let things continue.
Over and over again I fought with him, and he was once again telling me how much he wanted to be with me and that he wanted to marry me and that he loved me and that he was going to figure it all out. Months go by, I'm trying to trust him because I really didn't think he would stay in my life if he wasn't serious about committing to me.
I kept pushing him to be honest with her and I kept pushing him to hold boundaries and to stop making me hold them for him because they weren't ones I wanted to hold and shouldn't have had to. I called everything off and said if he wanted to see me again, he needed to tell her everything.
So he did. And right before he did he told me he still wanted to be with me. But they talked and he decided to stay with her. But he did not tell her everything.
I took a month to grieve the future I had wanted with him, thinking we could figure out how to be friends with everything out in the open. Which is what he concluded with saying he wanted. We scheduled a video chat for one month and I told him he needed to make sure to clear it with her and to be fully transparent with her about everything from here on out.
One month goes by, I'm excited to talk to him because I did miss our friendship most of all. And on the day of, he doesn't message all day. I reached out to her thinking that he was no longer allowed to talk to me and she had no clue about the video chat. He hadn't told her. He finally called around 7pm and I chewed him out for not telling her, to which he said he forgot. We chatted for a bit but I was still pissed that he crossed that boundary.
Over the weekend, she started asking me proof for everything for the first time. And I gave her everything she wanted. I had all of the receipts. But she didn't care. She stayed.
I told him that in order for us to have a friendship, I would like accountability on his part for the pain he caused me through leading me on and making me think he wanted to be with me. That I couldn't sweep everything under the rug without him putting in effort to apologize and build trust that he wouldn't cross my boundaries again.
He didn't. 2 weeks go by and I barely hear from him. He doesn't respond to my messages and is just overall ignoring me. So I tell him I'm over it and I'm gone. And then he finally starts to respond and starts playing the victim, telling me to just leave then and don't look back.
I explained that it wasn't fair that I have spent months and years filling his cup, providing him with love and encouragement and playing the part of his girlfriend, initiating everything from visits to phone calls, for him to not even give any effort to mend things for the friendship he said he wanted. And that overall if he wanted to be in my life he needed to go to therapy and be capable of putting effort into the friendship.
He went on to say that all he ever wanted was a friend. Well, friends don't sleep with each other and tell them they want to marry them. And he was mad that I was doing it over text when I asked him over and over and over again in that conversation to just call me. He didn't.
So I let go of the person I felt safest with. I feel like I lost everything. While he kept his girlfriend and says his relationship has never been better after I forced him to stop cheating on her- he was fine with letting it continue and it would've if I hadn't stopped it.
I don't understand why she stays. I don't understand why I am so attached. I don't understand why someone would go out of their way to hurt the people they claim to care about like this. Not just once, but repeatedly. I feel like I'm left with nothing while he still has everything.
If you're still hear, thanks for reading my vent. It's been a rough few years. My general question is, do you have any advice that you can give me to move on from this?
TL;DR I was the other woman for 3 and a half years. When I found out, I tried to stop but it was hard due to the false promises of marriage and a relationship and the connection we had.

As the title states, I wanted to know which of the four is your favorite winter holiday episode (and if you want to share why) or how you would rank them. The four titles are Comparative Religion, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, Regional Holiday Music, and Intro to Knots (which actually aired in the spring, I know).
My favorite is Comparative Religion. I think it's what got me hooked on the show (though I had still been enjoying it up until then). One of my favorite parts in the whole series is when Jeff and Troy can't think of another word that starts with fiiii.... when trying to make an excuse to Shirley. And I just love "winterdoodle."

https://mlt.org/career-prep/
I'm currently part of the program in the SWE/Tech Track and at the date it has been awesome. We had an all paid 3 day bootcamp in San Francisco. We were able to visit Linkedin HQ, Netflix, Deloitte and Bloomberg offices. We also heard from several companies like TikTok, UKG, Amazon and also had a career fair one of the days to network with recruiters.
If you're interested in a referral please DM me.
Pd: You have to graduate in Winter 2025, Spring 2026 or Summer 2026

Human Dave: “I don’t think this thing fits me anymore, Commander.”
Human Dave enters the hallway, after having changed into more official clothing in anticipation of the diplomatic negotiations.
Commander Beckett: “Nonsense. It fits just fine, Anders.”
HD: “Yeah, as long as I don’t need to breathe or anything.”
Human Dave manages to get a finger in between his neck and the collar of the official robes he used to wear back when he was a diplomat; in an attempt at loosening the choking sensation he was feeling around his throat.
Commander Beckett slaps Human Dave’s hand away from the collar of his robes.
CB: “You’ll rip it if you keep fiddling with it.”
HD: “… never thought I’d live to see the day when you act like a mother hen, Commander.”
CB: “As the person in charge of you for about half of the bullshit you pulled during your Specialist days, I was doing nothing but.”
HD, grinning: “Yes, but I never saw that, did I?”
CB, exasperated: “Get your arse into that damn conference chamber, Anders.”
HD: “Wait. Did Terran High Command have anything for me? Shouldn’t I get some kind of list of what we want?”
CB: “Personally, I’d just be happy if we don’t go to war with them. Terran High Command, however, has decided to leave it to you to decide what’s best for us. As the only human who has interacted with the Keltiss in any significant manner, you know more about them than we do, which means that you will have the best chance at getting the best outcome for Humanity.”
HD: “… brilliant. No pressure, then.”
...
Alien Captain: “Human Dave, I do not understand why you wish for me to accompany you for this negotiation.”
HD: “That’s an easy enough question to answer, Captain. Did you still want to do the negotiations on your own?”
AC: “Absolutely not. The Keltiss will devour me, and enslave my people.”
HD: “They really won’t, Captain. They have far too much respect for you, as the one who tamed the beast that ended the Hunt. Hell, they might even fear you, since you decided to bring the little guy along.”
AC: “… is this why you are bringing Minnie along with you? For the intimidation factor?”
HD: “… maybe?”
AC: “Human Dave, will this not cause undue stress to the Keltiss, who are to be our future allies?”
HD: “… now that I think about it, it’s probably not the best of ideas. I’ll just go put her back, and we can get this show on the road.”
Commander Beckett walks up to the pair as they are moving back towards Captain’s ship.
CB: “There you are. Come on; they’ve already waited too long as it is.”
HD: “Wait a second, Commander. Just have to drop this little lady back to the ship first.”
CB: “There’s no time, Anders. Just bring it with you.”
Commander Beckett grabs Human Dave by the arm, and all but drags him along.
The Viscer-Tel on Captain’s shoulder squawks as Human Dave, Commander Beckett and Minnie continue down the hallway without them.
AC, to himself: “Well, this will either go wonderfully or terribly.”
...
No sooner than after Commander Beckett had all but dragged Human Dave to the conference chamber, the pair encountered a familiar face.
Keltiss War-kin: “Ah, Human Dave. It is good to see you once more.”
HD: “War-kin. I didn’t know you were coming along. If I had, I would have come to greet you earlier.”
KW: “My presence here is a formality, Human Dave. As the official witness, I am the one who will vouch for Humanity to enter an alliance with the Scattered Tribes. Should the negotiations fail, I will be punished, as the one to offer the alliance.”
HD: “Then I’ll do what I can to make sure that the negotiations are successful. The last thing I want is for anyone here to get hurt.”
KW: “I am honoured that you would treat one such as I with such importance, Human Dave.”
HD: “Anything I should know before we go in?”
The War-kin sees the Aflarrian in Human Dave’s arms, and bares his teeth in a facsimile of a grin.
KW: “By bringing the nightmare beast, you start from a position of power. The various Chief-kin will respect this power-play, and know the prowess of Humanity.”
AC: “… and what of this one, War-kin?”
The War-kin looks at Captain, and immediately recoils at the sight of the Viscer-Tel on his shoulder.
KW: “… by virtue of its mere presence, Captain, you will be honoured as Master of the First Hunt, and be afforded every respect a Keltiss is capable of giving.”
CB: “Well, if we’re all done now, get in there, Anders. Go break a leg.”
Commander Beckett walks off after saying this, leaving behind one slightly nervous human, and two very confused sentients.
AC: “Human Dave, what did Commander Beckett mean when he said for you to ‘break a leg’?”
KW: “Does your commanding officer wish for harm to befall you during the negotiations?”
HD: “No, it’s a figure of speech. He’s hoping I do well, and said ‘break a leg’ as a way of wishing me good luck.”
AC: “… seems a strange way to wish someone luck, Human Dave.”
KW: “Agreed.”
Human Dave hands off Minnie to Captain, and rubs his hands together in a nervous manner.
HD: “Well, come on, then. We may as well get this over with sooner rather than later.”
...
As the doors to the conference chamber slid open automatically, Human Dave walked in to see very many Keltiss of differing types.
The red-scaled War-kin standing imposingly along the borders of the chamber.
The white-scaled Shaman-kin, all seated in a small ring near the entrance to the chamber.
The grey-scaled Elder-kin, whose focus seemed to wane with every passing moment.
And the Green-scaled Chief-kin, all wearing elaborate headdresses made of the bones of various large animals.
As Human Dave enters, all eyes turn to him, and his composure slips for a moment, before he recalls his training, and strides into the room, calm as can be.
HD, to himself: “Remember what the data packet said, Dave. They’re direct, and respect bluntness.”
Human Dave walks up to the podium situated in front of the crowd of Keltiss in front of him.
HD: “I am Human David Anders, the designated voice of Terra. Who speaks for the Keltiss?”
The Designated Speaker stands up from his seated position, and turns to face Human Dave.
KS: “I am Chief-kin Ta’or; Designated Speaker for the Scattered Tribes of Keltiss. We have come to forge an alliance with Terra.”
HD: “Terra asks the Designated Speaker of the Keltiss: what are the terms of this alliance?”
KS: “The Keltiss demand mutual assistance, and a pact of non-aggression. Terra’s enemies will be enemies of Keltiss, and the enemies of Keltiss will be the enemies of Terra. When one side fights, the other will fight alongside. Nothing more, and nothing less.”
HD: “…”
AC: “…”
KW: “Are the terms acceptable for Terra?”
HD: “… is that all?”
KW: “... are our demands too extravagant, Speaker for Terra? We Keltiss are a warring people, and we may have enemies, but we do not wage war lightly. If the terms are too much, then we will—”
HD: “No, Designated Speaker. The terms are more than acceptable. It’s just… we humans expected your terms to be more… well, we expected to have to do a lot more to secure an alliance with the Scattered Tribes of Keltiss.”
KS: “The Keltiss may be nothing more than scattered tribes, but we are an honourable people. We do not kill for the sake of killing. And we do not demand anything more from our allies than we would not be willing to do ourselves.”
HD: “I can see that. The terms are accepted, Designated Speaker.”
KS: “Then, henceforth, our alliance is forged!”
The Keltiss present all let out roars of happiness, spooking both Captain and Minnie, who jumps out of Captain’s arms and runs to Human Dave for protection.
One of the Chief-kin sees this, and begins to panic.
Keltiss Chief-kin: “NIGHTMARE BEAST!”
The surrounding War-kin stand at attention and start scanning the room, looking for the threat.
Human Dave crouches down and picks up Minnie, to the horror of the surrounding Keltiss.
KS: “Speaker for Terra, do not move!”
HD, smiling: “It’s alright, Designated Speaker. This one is with me.”
Human Dave starts stroking Minnie, and a purring trill escapes her, much to the fear of the surrounding Keltiss.
Captain steps forward, and raises his arms in a placating manner.
AC: “Honoured Keltiss, the Aflarrian- the Nightmare Beast has been tamed by Human Dave. It will not prove to be a threat unless you intend to harm it, or Human Dave.”
The words seem to calm down the Keltiss somewhat, until they realise where the words originated from, and see the creature on Captain’s shoulder.
KS: “VISCER-TEL!”
The surrounding Keltiss all stiffen, terrified of drawing the attention of the creature sitting calmly on Captain’s shoulder.
The Viscer-Tel cocks its head, looking around at what was a room filled with movement, which has now all stopped.
The War-kin that entered with Human Dave and Captain speaks up for the first time.
KW, bowing lowly: “Honoured Chief-kin, Revered Elder-kin, Treasured Shaman-kin, brother War-kin; the Viscer-Tel upon the Cradelian’s shoulder is the same one spoken of when the Hunt was witnessed. It will not bring harm upon any here unless provoked.”
Keltiss Chief-kin, panicked: “How are we to know what will provoke the creature?”
KW: “Do not bring harm upon the Cradelian, or the Human voice for Terra.”
Silence reigns throughout the conference room, before the Designated Speaker breaks it with a question.
KS: “This Cradelian is the Master of the First Hunt?”
HD: “Correct, Designated Speaker.”
KS: “… he speaks for his people?”
HD: “Also correct, Designated Speaker.”
AC, whispering: “Human Dave, what are you doing?”
HD, whispering: “Trust me.”
AC: “…”
HD: “Captain speaks for his people, but as we can all see, the various creatures we have had to bring with us have derailed the negotiations somewhat. What are the terms for an alliance with the Cradelians?”
KS: “The same as with Terra.”
Human Dave nudges Captain with his elbow, and tilts his head in a manner that seems to indicate to Captain that he should agree.
AC: “The terms are accepted, Designated Speaker.”
KS: “Then, henceforth, Cradelian, our alliance is forged!”
The room is filled with silence at the proclamation, as none of the surrounding Keltiss seem to want to do anything to draw attention to themselves in the presence of two apex predator species.
...
Human Dave, Captain, and Commander Beckett are walking through the hallways leading back to the Trailblazer’s docking bay.
HD: “Well, that went better than expected.”
CB: “You’re telling me. They couldn’t wait to get off the Trailblazer fast enough after the negotiations were finished.”
HD: “That was partly your fault, Commander.”
CB: “Me? What did I do?”
HD: “You didn’t let me put this little lady back on Captain’s ship. Almost caused a diplomatic incident; letting an apex predator into a room full of diplomats.”
CB: “What? This little thing?”
Commander Beckett extends his hand towards Minnie, and gives her chin a little scratch.
Minnie leans into the touch, and begins to purr, happy with the attention she was getting.
AC: “At least I do not have to go through with that on my own cradle-world.”
HD: “Aren’t you glad you trusted me, Captain?”
AC: “… I suppose I am, Human Dave. Thank you for the help.”
HD: “Now, how are we going to let the Galactic Community know about the alliances forged today?”
CB: “Oh, they should already know. Terran High Command should have made an announcement that should spread throughout the Galactic Community within the next few days.”
HD: “I’ll bet that’ll go over well with everyone. Especially anyone already allied with Terra.”
CB: “Terran High Command will just have to smooth over any ruffled feathers when it happens.”
HD: “Speaking of ruffled feathers; Captain, aren’t we late for a cargo shipment?”
AC: “… crap.”
First
Previous

Occupation – Government employee
Age – 34
Location – Zimbabwe
My salary – $500 (paid monthly)
Side Gig Income – $0
Other income – negligible amounts from dividends received from my stock portfolio that I re-invest
Housemates – 4 (husband P, 6 year old L, 4 year old E and nanny F. My nephew M is around and makes appearances too)
​
Assets and Liabilities
​

Equity	$60,000 fully paid off
Retirement Balance	??	I contribute monthly, and employer matches fully. But because of changes in currency and hyperinflation, I don’t really count this as an asset
Savings	$1700	(went down due to travelling trying to get my passport done since it expired)
Current account balance	$660	Includes my mum's money since I'm managing her financial affairs while she's abroad
Loan from employer	$130	I took a personal loan from work, because the interest rates are lower than rate of inflation and repayment is over 18 months. Loan was used to make improvements on our house, and what wasn’t used, I bought shares on our stock exchange, due to hyperinflation, the amount I owe in US$ has gone down
Investments (shares in various counters on our local stock exchanges)	$1,186
Car	$4,000	Based on current resale value. Car was bought secondhand for cash

​
Income progression- (https://www.reddit.com/MoneyDiariesACTIVE/comments/vbbb7s/i_live_in_zimbabwe_making_3600year_and_i_just/)
​
Expenses
This year, my husband and I decided that he would take on the bulk of our expenses since I do most of the domestic work/childcare. Expenses I pay will be indicated. My salary is now for my expenses, my investments and my savings, and spoiling the kids. Husband caters for the family basics. There was a point last year when I felt my husband wasn’t as invested in the family because he barely did anything financially. By having him cater for all expenses, he is now definitely involved and invested. My husband’s income is just about the same as mine, slightly higher at some times.
​
My Expenses

Expense	Amount /period	Note
Car insurance and licensing	$300/annum	This is due in March, and I pay for the entire year
Petrol	$60/month
Electricity	$10/month
Airtime/data	$20/month
Groceries	$60/month	This is for additional groceries such as bread, veg and fruit bought during the month
Kids’ clothes	$40/month	I’m trying to build up their winter wardrobe so I try to buy them something each month
Makeup/clothes/toiletries/ supplements/hair	$30/month	I do not us this much monthly though
Water	$15/month	Based on last bill received in April. We do not get water consistently so bills are infrequent
Donations	$20/month	Ad hoc donations to a soup kitchen, and maternal health fun
Stock market investment	$50/month	May invest more or less, but I do try to buy shares every payday

​
Household Expenses (paid by P)
​

Expense	Amount /period	Note
Groceries	$200/month	Bulk grocery shopping of staple food items and toiletries
LP Gas	$30/approx. every 2 months	We buy when it runs out. Usually every 2 months depending on how bad the power supply is
Medical	$15/month	For OTC meds (painkiller, cough syrup, antacid stocked for emergencies) and any prescriptions
Pet expenses	$60/ twice a year	For vaccinations and checkups for 4 dogs. Pet food is covered under groceries
School fees for the kids	$347/ term	One kid has fees paid every month, the other every 3 months
Nanny	$80/month	Less than before as both kids are now in school fulltime, and nanny is there to get them ready for school and care after school for 3 hours.
DSTV subscription	$37/month
Transport for kids to/from school	$60/month	L gets picked up and dropped off at home daily, E is dropped off after school

​
Previous MDs - (https://www.reddit.com/MoneyDiariesACTIVE/comments/vbbb7s/i_live_in_zimbabwe_making_3600year_and_i_just/) and (https://www.reddit.com/MoneyDiariesACTIVE/comments/yc801g/i_am_33_years_old_and_i_just_graduated_with_my/)
​
MD Q&A
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I have a BSc in Accounting, a Masters in Accounting, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Taxation. My parents both have Masters degrees, and in my family, the bare minimum acceptable for education was getting a Bachelors. My mother paid for my undergraduate degree, and I paid cash for my postgraduate studies.
​
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
My parents divorced when I was very young. My dad is the wealthier of the two, my mum has always been middle-class. My mum brought me up with very little financial help from my dad, he only covered tuition and healthcare until I turned 18. My mum catered for everything else. My mum taught me how to look for bargains, how to save and invest, and also how to sometimes enjoy your money.
​
If you have, when did you move out of your parents'/guardians' house?
I would say I moved out at 26 when I got my current job. I had moved out when I got my first fulltime job, but moved back home when that contract ended
​
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
At 26 again. That's when I earned enough to cover all my bills without needing help. My husband P covers some aspects of my financial life, and my mum occasionally helps out with stuff for her grandchildren.
​
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked as a receptionist at my mum's law firm after finishing my A Levels (age 18) while waiting to start university. My mum gave me the job to keep me occupied and out of mischief, lol.
​
Do you worry about money now?
I worry about building generational wealth for my children. I want to make sure they will be set for life as adults. I do worry about money because hyperinflation is eroding my earnings and retirement dramatically. This is my second time losing my retirement. My mum and in laws are losing their retirement for the third time, so honestly our old age looks bleak if we do not invest outside of work pensions.
​
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
I receive negligible dividends from the shares I own, lol.
​
Day 1
0430 – I’m woken up by loadshedding. I sigh, rollover, and sleep some more
0600 – Alarm goes off. I turn it off, enjoy cuddles from P and finally get out of bed. Our water tanks ran out 4 days ago, and council has not yet deigned to give us water, so we rely on P’s parents and friends to give us water. I get my water that was warming up on the stove, and take a quick bucket bath. I moisturize, do my brows, throw my lace wig on (I cut my hair in January, and I’m at a really awkward stage where my hair looks bad when I wear it out all day) and get dressed. It’s cold in the mornings so I put on winter stockings and a black and white chevron patterned dress, nude ballet pumps plus my warm jacket. I get E from the couch where he was watching Cocomelon and my lunch bag out of the kitchen and we head off to his school. After dropping off E, I go to the office. No electricity means no elevator, so I go up the stairs. I see my boss’s boss and greet him as we do the ZESA (local electricity company) sponsored workout. I log in to the work register, fill up my kettle, and settle down to check out my work email. Nothing urgent came through overnight, so I go into my personal email. The wig company I patronize has given me a code for my birthday, and I’m wondering if I should pull the trigger on my cart. I decide to do a report while thinking this through.
My mum is currently working out of the country, so I am managing her local finances/obligations while she’s away. I remember I have to buy the prepaid electricity token for my childhood home as well as for the house she lives in when she’s working in the country. I spend $23 on electricity for both houses (mum’s money so doesn’t count)
1030 – After doing some firefighting and office gossip I have my breakfast. Today its rice, peas and 2 fried eggs. I sprinkle some peri-peri Aromat on top since I don’t have a sauce/gravy ad I have been craving spicy food lately. I also pop my multivitamin and supplements. I check my team’s work and send back anything that needs correcting. I also generate the multiple reports my boss expects from me. I suddenly remember I need to claim my allowance for performing a role that is higher than my actual position at work. I quickly complete the form, and send it to my boss for his signature. The extra money from this is what I use to fund my stock market investments. I also remind my team to send a report to me for consolidation by noon.
12.00 – I do a major push of all my work due today so I can relax after lunch. I compile my reports and set them ready to send. I also finish my first 2 litres of water of the day, and cue up the next 2 litres
1300 – Its lunchtime, and my work bestie and I head out around town**. I find shorts that L would fit and buy 2 pairs for $10**. We head back to the office and I have caramel popcorn for lunch. Then I remember I forgot to have my afternoon meds, oops. Anyway, more work before heading to an audit meeting
1630 – The audit meeting is finally over, and I rush to shut down my computer, pack up my things and go home. I have an agreement with my manager that as long as I make up for the hour, by either coming early or skipping lunch, I can leave work at 4pm. I had a total hysterectomy end of last year so I still can’t manage driving in heavy traffic. I arrive home, make the bed (P had not made it when he went to work), and harvest chilies from our garden that have ripened. I also harvest a local herb used as a flu remedy and lemongrass, so I can brew up a tea/tisane for the flu affected people in my house. I also pack L’s lunch for tomorrow, a pie, a naartjie and juice. It’s also F’s payday, so I give her US$80 (P gave me this money).
E says he is hungry so I feed him sadza and sour milk by his request. I multitask covering L’s school textbook while supervising his homework and watching Married to Real Estate and the Great British Bake Off. I then have my dinner of sadza, greens and beef. I have a chat with the kids about their day at school. P gets home.
1900 – P and my nephew M go to fetch water from P’s friend’s house. The city council still hasn’t opened up our water supply. I do some French on Duolingo while the boys wreak havoc in their playroom. I read L and E their bedtime stories and put them to bed. I decide to do my hair in cornrows while watching Masterchef Australia. They get home and I help them carry water indoors. I remember that when power comes back I need to boil tripe on the stove, so I cut it up, put it in the pot with water, salt and garlic, and place it on the electric stove. We have serious loadshedding these days, so we have a gas stove and solar power to tide us over. I take a quick bath and change into my pyjamas. While P watches TV, I read Wild Sweet Love by Beverly Jenkins and continue to do my hair in cornrows.
2200 – My arms are tired and I’m only halfway through with the cornrows. I give up and go to bed with P.
Total spent - $10
​
Day 2
0600 – I hear crying. E is in a bad mood today. I turn off my alarm, and go to see what’s wrong. E does not want to get dressed for school. I sigh, and help F dress him while he throws a massive tantrum. E is dressed, so I go do my morning routine of shower, moisturize, contact lenses, and eyebrow makeup. Today, I wear a green dress I took from my mum, black tights, nude ballet flats and a black and white coat. E gets put into the car by F, and starts crying for porridge. We are already late, so he learns that the consequence of refusing to eat his porridge on time is to go to school without having his porridge. It’s not a big issue though, as he gets fed at school. So I lock the doors and windows and drive him to school as he throws a tantrum for the entire 10 minute drive. I shove him into the school gate and head to work.
It’s another ZESA sponsored stair workout today. I log into the register, and fill up my kettle with water. I switch on my computer, check my work email and send off client emails to my team for their response. My personal email has an annual report from one of the companies I have shares in so I check out if there’s a dividend this year. I own a negligible number of shares in the company though, but 28c per share is quite impressive. I check to see if my stock exchange wallet has been credited with the money I transferred there so I can buy more shares. It still hasn’t so I send a follow up email o the enquiries desk at the stock exchange. I do have a stockbroker, but I prefer doing my trades myself. I also do some French on Duolingo before 8am.
0830 – Our HR is in a tizzy because people are late for work. I don’t make a big deal out of it usually, because salaries are shit and people are demotivated. As long as my team shows up and does some work, I’m ok. I approve some work, and warn my team about coming in a bit too late. I also tell a teammate that she will have to cover for me on Monday as I am taking the day off. Our internet connectivity is shit so I can’t log into our system to check some stuff. My work bestie gives me avocados from her house. I almost cry because I have been craving avocados, but been too cheap to buy them.
1000 – I have a really bad sore throat. I am also hungry since I haven’t had breakfast yet. I jot down my shopping list for the weekend and head to Pick ‘n’ Pay to buy carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, lemons, cheese, polony and bread. I also buy my breakfast/lunch, which is rice, beans, ox liver and egg salad**. It all cost $10**. I leave my shopping in my car, and go to the office to wolf down my food, and take my multivitamin and painkiller. I also receive my wigs that I bought in May. Perfect timing, as I want to wear a new wig tomorrow for our girls’ day out.
I do some more work, and remind my team to send me the information I need for my daily reports.
1300 – I go out to buy a few items I didn’t find in Pick ‘n’ Pay earlier**. I go to Spar and buy peas, eggs, soft drinks for the outing tomorrow and a sausage roll. Total cost is $10**. The outing has been deemed kid friendly, so I needed drinks for the boys to have tomorrow. I get back into the office, and spend the rest of the lunch hour working.
1600 – It’s finally time to go home. I send my email to handover work issues for the person who will take over my role on Monday while I am on leave. I also send my out of office email, and head home. The kids are at their grandmother’s, so I take a leisurely bath, put on my pyjamas and eat dinner. Then I watch Masterchef Australia until P and E get home. I also get in some French Duolingo practice
2000 – P goes out with his friends, so I snuggle up on the couch with E and watch TV. I put E to bed, read him his bedtime story and kiss him good night. I finally finish season 13 of Masterchef Australia, and move on to My Kitchen Rules Australia. I love Australian reality shows, ngl.
2200 – I go to bed P gets home and tells me some bad news about a friend of ours. I feel very sad for him. He cuddles me and we sleep.
Total spent - $20
​
Day 3
0700 – I wake up feeling like a truck ran me over. I get out of bed, and get ready to hand-wash our laundry. We still have no running water so we can’t use the washing machine. I play music while doing my laundry to keep me motivated
0900 – Laundry has been hung out to dry. F has cooked potato curry, so I boil eggs and water. I have my breakfast of potato curry, egg, multivitamin and coffee. Once I’m done, I give E a bath and dress him. I also bath, moisturize, do my brows and get dressed. I’m wearing jeans and a t-shirt today as my friends and I ae supposed to take our kids out for a playdate. Then I receive a message that the outing is cancelled since one of our group is really sick. I try to think of something I can do with E, since L is out having fun with his grandmother. I do my Swahili Duolingo practice.
1100 – The welder comes to do some work on our garage door. I monitor the work for a bit, and then my nephew takes over. E starts really bugging me to go out. So I put on my headband wig and sneakers, and pack a cooler bag with snacks and drinks. We head into town and I buy myself some ciders for $9. These are for me to drink when the mood strikes me. E wants to go to a resort by the lake so I oblige him. We pay $8 for our entrance. He goes to play on the swings, and I take pictures of him having fun. Another family turns up, and one of his classmates is among them. He’s so happy, and goes to play with his friend. I watch him running around.
1500 – I get a call from my friend that she’s in town with my cake. This cake was meant for the cancelled outing. I pack up our stuff, hustle E into the car and drive back into town. I let out some colourful swear words when I realise I forgot to get our change of $2. Anyway**, I meet up with my friend and get the cake, and pay her $30**. It’s so pretty. I call my MIL while still in town to find out what time she will be there so I can pick up L. She says it will be an hour, so E and I head home to drop off the cake so it doesn’t melt in my AC-less car.
1600 – We are back in town waiting for L and MIL. E wants an ice cream so I buy him one for $0.50 using money I had in my Innbucks wallet. MIL calls and asks me to head over to where she is to pick L up since she can’t leave yet. E and I get there. MIL gets me sadza and goat tripe stew, which I eat a bit of to be polite even though I am not hungry. When I’m done, I pack up the kids and drive home. I bath and change into my pyjamas.
1800 – I feed the kids, and we play until their weekend bedtime of 8pm. I read them their bedtime stories and tuck them in. I watch TV and iron my morning laundry while having a gin and juice until 9pm, and head to read in bed. P and my nephew arrive home from their amateur soccer league match and subsequent outing with the boys. I fall asleep soon after.
Total spent - $49.50
​
Day 4
0700 – I’m woken up by L demanding that I come and play with them. I am still sleepy so I fob him off.
0900 - F knocks on the door and tells us she is off to church. I finally get out of bed and get dressed. I see the boys playing relatively peacefully so I let them continue with their antics. In the kitchen, I find F had cooked breakfast, and since I’m starving, I heat up water for coffee. L surprisingly isn’t hungry so I serve up breakfast for P and me. I have my daily multivitamin. P heads out to go fetch water, while I bath, change and hang out with the kids. I also do my French Duolingo practice for the day
1200 – I have played with the dogs and kids, and I am exhausted. I collapse onto the couch and watch MKR Australia. P gets home, and naps on the couch. I give the kids haircuts and baths.
1700 – L is hungry and really wants cake, so I feed the kids a dinner of sadza and sour milk. Then some cake for dessert. I also pack L’s school lunch, which will be a polony sandwich, a cupcake and juice. The kids play until its bedtime at 7pm. The usual routine, bedtime stories and tuck in is done
2000 – P and I watch a movie while having some alcoholic drinks.
2200 – Bedtime for us
Total spent - $0
​
Day 5
0600 – It’s my birthday today. I am going all out celebrating myself since TW I tried unaliving myself twice in the past year. L wishes me a happy birthday before he goes to school. I get birthday messages from my mum, dad, SILs, and friends. I also get a call from my brother, his wife and their son, and they sing to me. I feel very loved today. P goes to drop off E at school today so I can sleep in
0800 – I am finally up and hungry. I cook a quick breakfast of boiled eggs, and a bean curry. P takes my car to get serviced, while I bath, moisturize, contact lenses, do a full face of makeup and get dressed for the day. Today I wear a tie-dyed cutout mini-dress and sneakers, and my wavy headband wig
1300 – P is home and he drives me to a hotel outside town near a renowned tourist site in our country. We have a platter of fried fish, chicken strips, pork strips, fries, and a salad to share and multiple Savannah Drys while there. It’s really nice getting to reconnect after a very tumultuous year in our marriage. P pays.
1700 – We drive around the area, before heading home. Once we get home, P and my nephew go on a hunt for water, while I feed the kids. P and I head off to take our showers. I remember why I don’t do a full face of makeup when it take a long time to get the makeup off my face.
1900 – The family sings happy birthday, and we eat cake. Birthday gifts were gin and chocolate. I hustle the boys off to bed. No story today, as they went to bed later than usual. P watches TV while I read my novel.
2100 – Bedtime for the grownups
Total spent - $0
​
Day 6
0530 – I wake up and lie in bed for a bit. Then I read my novel some more.
0620 – I am up, and take my bath, moisturize, do my brows and get dressed. It’s cold this morning, so I wear a yellow dress with black polka dots, black tights and ankle boots. I pack up the cake I’m giving to my colleagues, as well as my water bottle. E and I head out. I drop E off at school, and go to the office. I log into the work register, turn on my computer, and check my emails. There are a few pressing issues I need to get up to speed with. One of my colleagues gives me $50 as a birthday gift. I also hand out the cake to my team.
0900 – Work is pretty quiet today, so I update my MD. I also receive news that one of my nephews is getting married. He is not that much younger than me, and could be my younger brother, but it makes me feel so old.
Note on my family: In our culture, even distant relatives are given close relationships so the large number of nephews/nieces is from those relationships. It’s a big thing done to maintain close family bonds. I have 4 actual (in a Western sense) nephews and nieces who are all under the age of 6.
1000 – I head to the supermarket and buy bread, onions, carrots, pork chops, pork trotters and my breakfast and lunch. This costs $25. The meat is the main cost driver here. I have a sausage roll, my multivitamin, supplement and milk for breakfast. I remember that I need to check if my stock exchange wallet was credited, ugh. The website is refusing to load and I’m very frustrated. I finally log in and see the amount is still not credited. I email and send a tweet to the stock exchange. Hopefully the tweet will get them to start moving.
1200 – My boss is mad. One member of my team left his desk without informing me and there’s an urgent matter. I was about to go downstairs to give P the groceries, so I stick around for a bit before committing the same offence as my subordinate, lol. I quickly get back into my office and check on work, sign some papers and letters, and clear out my emails.
1300 – My work bestie has to run other errands at lunch so I decide to stay in the office. I check my personal email and see I have received a dividend of $0.27, lol. The share price will probably drop soon, so I will buy more shares in this counter if I can get them to increase my shareholding. My goal for this year is to breach the 10,000 share mark for one counter. I suddenly remember I have work to do, so I use my lunch hour to do the work, and then take a quick break to eat my lunch of fries and a sausage and do some Swahili Duolingo practice.
1500 – I am thinking of going home when one of my team members calls me to deal with an angry client. I go to the office, and find out it’s a surprise birthday party from my team. I am so happy, lol. We have more cake, and there’s also fruit and juice. I head home feeling so appreciated with even more cake.
1700 – P and my nephew go out to get water. I warm up my bath water, and give the kids their dinner. Today its rice and croc meat. I make L’s lunch for tomorrow, a toasted polony sandwich and juice. I also pack my lunch, rice, a fried egg and peas. And some cake for my work bestie’s kids. I take my bath; change into my pyjamas and hound E to eat his food. If we let that kid be, he would probably live on the bits of our souls he sucks out daily by being stubborn. I am feeling nauseous so I have plain rice with a bit of avocado. The kids watch cartoons, while I do some more Swahili on Duolingo.
1900 – Bedtime for the kids. Today, there’s no demand for a bedtime story, so I just tuck them in and tell them I love them. I read my novel as increasingly feel more nauseated. I end up going to hurl my guts out. P comes home and finds me lying limply on the bed. He gives me a cuddle, and goes to eat his dinner. I get up but smell fish, and run back to throw up. If I hadn’t had a hysterectomy, I would be doing a pregnancy test ASAP.
2100 – I go to bed, and lie in bed for a bit, before finally drifting off.
Total spent - $25
​
Day 7
0500 – I wake up feeling nauseated again. Ugh, this reminds me of having hyperemesis while pregnant. I put my water on to heat and get back in bed to read some more.
0600 – E comes to lie on our bed. I get out of bed, and go throw up. I get my bath water, take my bath, moisturize and put my contacts in. I look like a reanimated corpse this morning. I do my brows to try bring a bit of life to my face and get dressed. It’s very misty and cold today so I put on warm brown tights, a long black dress, my warm jacket and ballet flats. I grab my lunch and the cake, pop E into the car and head out. Visibility is extremely low, so I drive slowly. I don’t know why people like surprising other drivers by having their cars pop out of the mist without switching on their headlights. I successfully avoid the drivers who hate life and drop E off at school before heading to work.
0700 – I am in the office, and I log into the register, before turning on my computer and checking my work email. Not too much in there, so I check my personal email. My stock exchange wallet has finally been credited with the $100. I also ponder whether I should pull the trigger on a V-part wig.
I do my weekly report, and start doing some boring work in the system. I realise I didn’t save the work I did yesterday, so I have to re-do it, so I can have the list of error messages to send to ICT.
0830 – Everyone is in the office, so I do some reshuffling of duties, so that essential areas are covered while one of my colleagues is on leave. I give the cake to work bestie, who tells me how much her daughter was excited over the cake yesterday. It’s now time for me to put my head down and really focus on knocking out the system work today. I also log into an online training, and I listen while doing my work. My mum also deposits money for my birthday gift and to spoil her grandkids.
1000 – I log into my stock exchange account and buy shares for $99.14 (doesn’t count as spending, as the money was moved before the MD started). The deadline for other departments to submit their weekly reports to me for consolidation has passed so I start following up. One department is a big problem as they always send their report late. Le sigh. I draft a very passive aggressive email to them. I also decide not to buy the wig and instead ask the person making me my custom earrings that I got myself for my birthday to bill me the rest of the money so I can pay and move the remainder of the money in my account into savings. Our currency has taken an enormous hit in the last week, and is free falling dramatically. I’d rather keep USD cash than money in my account at this point. The training finally ends.
1100 – I’m getting hungry so I go warm up my lunch, sprinkle on peri peri Aromat and dig in. Yum. I also have my multivitamin and supplement. A lady who sells local snacks comes in. She persuades me to buy maputi (corn nuts mixed with roasted peanuts) for $0.50. I buy them for my afternoon snack. I end up sending the report with missing statistics, and tell the department to send directly to the compiler, as they were late. That was a very aggressive email tbh. I’m still hungry, so I munch on my maputi, leaving the peanuts because I don’t feel like eating them lately.
1200 – I see a missed call from a number I don’t know. I call and it turns out they had sent money to my mobile wallet mistakenly. I check the mobile wallet and it shows it had an extra $11. I send the money back to the person. Times are too tough to keep people’s money
1400 – I snack on a few skittles instead of having more food. I just want something to entertain my mouth, I’m not hungry at all. I review more work and drink more water. The jeweler has sent the payment request for the earrings. I pay $100 (total spent on the earrings comes to $200, which is worth it for sterling silver custom made Jewellery. I use $50 of the birthday money from my mum to cover for part of this expense)
1600 – Finally time to go home. I shut down my computer, and drive home. Once I’m home, I put on my bath water, and help L do his homework. Then I do some Swahili Duolingo practice and pack L’s lunch for tomorrow. He requested maize (corn on the cob), a boiled egg and a naartjie. His wish is my command for once. I also pack my lunch, a boiled egg, peanut butter sandwich and a bit of birthday cake. The jeweler sends pictures of the final product. They are absolutely gorgeous. Happy 34th birthday to me!!!
1800 – I serve the kids their dinner, and go to take my bath. P sends a text that he will be home late as they are working late today. I have my own dinner while persuading E to eat his food
1900 – Bedtime for the kids. I read them their bedtime stories, tuck them in and tell them I love them. Then I go to watch TV. I’m catching up on Married to Real Estate, Food Factory and Man Vs Food. You can tell that reality TV is my jam.
2100 – I decide to have some decaf black coffee and cake as my bedtime snack. P and my nephew arrive home. They are later than they thought they would be because nephew dropped his phone in the middle of the highway and they were searching for it. Because nephew’s ancestors were on the job, they found it intact. It’s a big deal because this is a major highway and huge trucks use that road constantly. I chat with P as he has his dinner and takes his bath.
2200 – Cuddles and bedtime for us
​
Total spent today – $100
​
Total spent this week – $204.50
​
Spending by categories
Food & Drink – $84.50
Home & Health – $0
Clothing & Beauty – $110
Transportation – $0
Fun & Entertainment – $10
​
Reflections on this week’s spending
The spending is pretty much about normal for me tbh (excluding the cake and earrings). I had quite a bit of petrol in the tank so I didn’t need to top up my tank this week. The converted US$ prices are a bit inaccurate since our currency had a big drop this week, and most of my spending is in local currency. I could reign in my spending a bit, and focus more on investing. However, I do enjoy using my money to bring joy to my kids and myself. Particularly myself after the absolutely shitty year I had.

I’m currently doing research into purchasing a truck, remodeling it, obtaining my necessary licenses, and other costs needed to start a small business. I’m a younger adult with no college degree/education, and I’m creating a 2-5 year plan with my mother; who owns her own private business that requires her masters and state license for her own field of work.
I’ll try to explain what I do have and am working on. I may misuse terms, I am not stupid I am just naive. One of the reasons I want to speak with someone first hand is in part to better understand the right questions I should be asking going forward:
I have an idea of the gross annual revenue I want to make for my business to justify making it a career. I have an idea of the cost for the vehicle, which type I want, how much it will cost to remodel and furnish. I have an idea of what I want to sell, how much I both want/need to sell my product for, the average cost of production, and how many of them I would want to sell on average per hour of operation.
If you by chance own a food truck-like business, or own/run a local food service business I would love to sit down with you for an hour over a coffee or a drink just to pick your brain and run some loose ideas thru you that I have jotted in my notes. A lot of the research I have been doing are online blogpost articles written by someone who has no experience first hand doing any of this, as a second job on the side to help cover bills most likely.

Hello everyone,
I'm a pretty new DM and just started doing a Campaign in the World of Final Fantasy 9.
The first session actually started in my Hombrew World where the players had to unveil some mysterious dealings in an old Monastery Ruin. There they found a shadowy figure doing some ritual and when they approached they got teleported away. One part of the group got sent to Alexandria into an alley where they encountered Vivi and his struggle to get into the theater. The other part of the group got sent to the deck of the Prima Vista where they were picked up by Zidane and got involved into their plot to steal the princess.
The session was a long series of dialogs because i was not sure how to get the story of the game going otherwise. (and the game's start is a lot of dialogs) They are now approaching the Bomber Fight on the Prima Vista and when they get to the Evil Forest I want them to be more free of the game's characters but still have them follow the storyline.
So here are my questions: How would I be able to achieve this? Should I just let them do whatever they want and hope they follow the games characters? Or should I try to bind them?
I would love for the game characters to be present at their stories turning points, but don't want to DM all the NPCs in the fights.
Thanks for your help in advance.

TL;DR: Forgive me for asking, but has anyone had their abusers sign letters in their name (forgery) without your knowledge, send emails from accounts as you without you knowing, had other people pretend to be you on the phone without you knowing, used social media pretending to be you to block and insult others, or any other plethora of forgery, fraud, pretending to be you activities?
I found a letter last night, on the table, looking like it was getting ready to be sent in the mail. It was missing the stamp after all, but that's not a big deal, so I discounted it. Later, went I was leaving to go pick my wife up from her mom's house, a mere .27 miles away, because heaven forbid she should walk, I noticed the letter again, and noticed it was addressed from me. I took it off the table and put it in my laptop bag, to look at tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came and I'm sitting here after opening it. It literally has "my signature" on it. I say "signature" because it's not even close to my signature, but I digress. This sort of thing has happened more than a few times and every time, she says she wouldn't do it again and yet I'm sitting here staring at it again. The worst part about it, is that, every time we discuss this, she tells me that we never discussed it in the first place. This can't seriously be a thing.
I really don't know if this is narcissistic abuse or something else, but it is really wearing on me after all these years.

The potential value of Brandin Podziemski seems to be overlooked, despite the compelling evidence for his merits. He represents an archetype of a player often underestimated: a white athlete from Wisconsin, attending a mid-major institution, adorned with idiosyncratic hair and an unconventional name.
Podziemski’s basketball journey is as impressive as it is unique. His introduction to the sport only occurred in his *8th grade*, yet he has emerged as the number one stats-only projected guard in this year’s NBA draft. By his sophomore year in high school, he was already scoring an average of 23 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals per game, with an impressive 43.5% shooting on 10 three-pointers per game.
Unfortunately, his junior year was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation of the EYBL and thereby depriving him of the opportunity to showcase his prowess, a factor which likely influenced his RSCI ranking.
By his senior year, Podziemski had significantly improved, boasting an average of 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4.3 steals in just 27 minutes per game, on 61% FG shooting (43% from the three-point line). Despite these remarkable statistics, his RSCI ranking was only #79. Some may attribute this low ranking to regional bias or stereotyping. Interestingly, during a late high school combine event, which was logged to synergy sports, he demonstrated his potential by averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists on 60/50 shooting splits across four games. Immediately following these stellar performances, he received offers from Kentucky and Kansas but decided to play for Illinois.
His first year at Illinois was less than stellar, as he only played 68 minutes on a team dominated by seniors. Despite a disappointing 22% from three-point range, if we adjust his scoring by assuming his historical three-point percentage, his per-36 minute stats align closely with his current year’s performance. An interview reveals his preference for Santa Clara’s freer, less regimented style of play compared to the more structured approach of Big Ten basketball.
At Santa Clara, Podziemski's stats improved, averaging 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.8 steals per 36-minute game, and recording a commendable 60% true shooting score (43.8% from three-point range on high volume).
Two points about Podziemski's performance are noteworthy. First, his rebounding statistics could potentially be the best among any guard prospect in the past decade, securing 21.6% of all defensive rebounds and 5.3% of offensive rebounds. Second, his contributions were slightly hampered by the presence of another ball-dominant guard on his team who averaged 15 points and just 2 assists per game, which might have hindered his scoring and playmaking abilities. The eye-test strongly suggests Podziemski's passing abilities significantly exceed what his assist statistics suggest.
A misunderstanding I’ve encountered in this subreddit is the value of rebounding from guards. Every position's contribution to rebounding is vital, as it directly impacts the number of possessions per 100 your team can secure. This concept is one of the "Four Factors" identified by Dean Oliver as crucial to a team's success.
https://squared2020.com/2017/09/05/introduction-to-olivers-four-factors/
Failure to meet the rebounding requirements of your role will negatively impact your team's rebounding success, providing your opponents with additional possessions, and thereby increasing their scoring opportunities. Conversely, exceeding the the average rebound demand of your position will gain you extra possessions.
To fully appreciate these dynamics, understanding the advanced models such as Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) or Box Plus/Minus (BPM) can be instrumental. These models aim to estimate a player's impact on team offense and defense in terms of points per 100 possessions. To provide a frame of reference, an average player has a score of +0, a replacement player -2, an All-Star player +4 or better, and an MVP is usually around +8.
If we examine players such as Jalen Brunson, Nico Mannion, and Lonnie Walker, their college rebounding statistics are less than stellar. Once they enter an NBA game, they immediately suffer a deficit of at least -1 per 100 possessions, simply from their rebounding abilties. Trae Young is noted for his subpar defense. Part of his poor defense can be attributed to his poor defensive rebounding; an opponents' offensive rebounding rate increasing by 3% when he is on the court.
Similarly, a low steal rate can put a player at a disadvantage of approximately -1 per 100 possessions, due to an inability to force turnovers at a rate comparable to the average NBA player at their position. Add inefficiencies in shooting and high turnover rates to the equation, and you can understand why Lonnie Walker's lifetime RAPM stat is -3 per 100 – his contributions fail to meet what an average player would provide in terms of team possession acquisition.
Let's use Jalen Brunson as a case study. He posted a 5.6% DREB rate and a mediocre steal rate during his college career. According to EPM, he has been a mild negative defender throughout his career, around -0.7. From his college stats, one would have expected a worse performance. Despite averaging only 3 rebounds per game and a mediocre 1.2% steal rate in the NBA, suggesting a low defensive value floor, he is only a -0.7 defender in the models. Upon closer inspection, it's evident that Brunson draws an incredible 1.6 offensive fouls per 100 possessions, which suggests he forces 2.8 turnovers per 100 - an above-average rate for guards. If he weren't drawing offensive fouls at this exceptional rate, he would be a significantly negative defender. It's noteworthy that drawing offensive fouls is an undervalued aspect of guard defense.
Returning to Brandin Podziemski, let's establish his floor. Given his exceptional rebounding stats and his intense drive, it's likely he will positively contribute to the rebounding game, potentially providing an additional +1 based on his rebounding stats alone. He posted a 2.8% steal rate, and while we lack concrete stats on his ability to draw offensive fouls, clips suggest potential in this area. Initially, he'll likely be at least neutral in the turnover game, but his defensive instincts could give him an edge in the long run. These factors suggest a higher floor than many seem to anticipate.
We should be clear: Podziemski is the most skillful prospect in the draft. He is the best shooter in the draft. He is the most well-rounded player in the draft, a remarkable feat considering he only began playing basketball in the 8th grade. When was the last time a guard began playing basketball at such a late stage and had the best NBA stat projection for a guard? His rapid ascension is prodigious. He demonstrates skill as a cunning scorer, creative passer, and a 43.8% shooter from the 3-point line with a quick release. Many of these three-pointers were self-created.
At his worst? Podziemski is an exceptional 3 and D player, possessing scoring and playmaking skills that can be activated with a simple pump fake. His shooting ability is undisputed. Some may question the defense aspect of his game, but there is little reason for concern. While he may initially be a mild negative in terms of on-ball defense, off-ball defense should be a strong point for him, given his exceptional motor, high basketball IQ, and the often overlooked importance of rebounding to defensive play.
For more evidence of his defensive awareness, consider the Twitter timeline on June 5th of a certain basketball analyst: he has shared numerous clips that demonstrate Podziemski's keen defensive instinct.
https://twitter.com/coachnatebdraft
Upon consideration, it's hard to find reasons why Podziemski couldn't potentially surpass a player like Jalen Brunson. Statistically, he is undeniably a superior prospect, devoid of the abysmal rebounding rate that has historically been significant in predicting a guard's transition to the NBA. He also demonstrates greater scoring ability, and is, in my estimation, a superior shooter. Their motors are not comparable. Although I appreciated Brunson coming out of the draft – he had at least one exceptional skill (shooting) and two championship wins, suggesting he contributes to successful basketball - it is hard to see where Brunson could outperform Podziemski.
To be fair, let's consider the potential downside: Brunson had an exceptional finish at the rim, with a 67% ATR (At the Rim) percentage, whereas Podziemski only scored 60% ATR. This is the strongest argument against Podz. Brunson's impressive rim-finishing stats coupled with his shooting ability did indeed project well for his scoring at the NBA level. There is a possibility that Podziemski could be inefficient when attacking the rim in the NBA.
The primary criticisms of Podziemski are his lack of a quick first step, potential difficulty in finishing over NBA length, and his perceived lack of athleticism. However, similar criticisms were made of James Harden, Jalen Brunson, and Tyrese Haliburton. The common thread among these successful players is their ability to adapt and succeed in the face of competition. Intelligence, productivity, and motivation allow them to adapt. Podziemski has demonstrated these qualities at every opportunity, and he still has room for physical improvement.
Selecting athletic individuals who lack a comprehensive understanding of successful basketball can lead to less desirable outcomes than selecting significantly successful basketball players who simply need to adapt their skills to NBA competition. If the latter category of players can translate their skills successfully, their value greatly surpasses the former.
I observe prospects like Jalen Hood Schifino, Nick Smith Jr and Keyontae George being favored over Podziemski, a trend I find perplexing. These players provided mediocre to negative value at the college level due to their inefficiencies and shortcomings in other areas of their game. They are better athletes, but I strongly favor drafting basketball players who can provide quantifiable value on the court.
In conclusion, the analysis and evaluation of Brandin Podziemski's game strongly indicates that he should be considered a top-tier prospect for the NBA draft. His statistical profile, coupled with his ability to contribute significantly in all areas of the game, underscores his exceptional potential. Despite some criticism pertaining to his athleticism and potential for finishing at the rim, Podziemski's history of adaptation and overachievement, starting from a late initiation into the sport in 8th grade to becoming the most complete guard in this draft class, paints a picture of a player who can overcome these challenges.
An athletic player lacking the nuances of basketball wisdom can pose greater risk than a comprehensive basketball player who may just require adjustments to the increased competition in the NBA. Podziemski, with his evident basketball acumen, high basketball IQ, and significant contributions in various facets of the game, should undeniably be a priority consideration for any team in the upcoming draft. Has Jokic, Luka, and Steph taught you nothing about this process? Skill is king.
In summary, based on quantifiable court value and a demonstrated winning mentality, Brandin Podziemski undoubtedly presents a compelling case for a top 10 pick in the NBA draft.
Update your board before it's too late.

Edit: because its too long in short theres too many dumb drivers and pedestrians alike in this city. Almost got hit 5 times by vehicles and had multiple step in my path traveling at 20+km/h.
What is up with all the drivers who bought their licenses from taco trucks recently. Something needs to change with the driving program at this point, as there's no reason for me to nearly get hit 5 different times in under an hour wether the drivers not paying attention or LOOKING THE WRONG WAY. I was longboarding down 167th ave screaming my lungs out because of how much dumb crap I've seen within the hour. Most of the drivers had tinted windows couldn't see what they where doing but one 2000's blue Acura with a younger male driving was looking right the entire time he was going to turn right he had a red light. Never once did the dude look right until he started to go and turn. As such I saw him stopped and kept going to cross the street I was about halfway across when he looked right while he started going then slams on his brakes because I'm in the middle of the crosswalk. I saw him start moving slowed down a bit and started screaming at him. Onto the pedestrians I had 5 people step into my direct path while boarding tonight aswell it is getting more and more tempting to play chicken and run into yall. If someone's om a board or bike they have their path around you planned out so long as your not in the middle of the path pick a side of the sidewalk and stay there it isn't that goddamn hard. This is happening more and more everyday. To the point of I used to not care because barely anyone did it, now I've started yelling at them too as I pass them. Don't make both our travels take longer stick to your path and I'll stick to mine there is absolutely no reason for someone traveling on the part of sidewalk to my left to step to their left directly infront of me while I'm traveling 20+km/h. If I end up running into you it's gonna hurt you more then me. I can 100% promise you my board or anyone elses longboard on 70mm wheels will hit your ankles and could possibly fracture them. For those who's sleep I interrupted while screaming my lungs out down 167th ave from 97th street all the way to manning or to those who's phone calls I may have interrupted if you see this my apologies.

Incoming massive copy and paste + Odyssey Remaster and Temporal Recruit News and R&D Junior Event
2023 Event Campaign – Part III:
Flagship Celebration Event:
The next step of our 2023 Event Campaign is coming to PC, with an event dedicated to the flagships of Star Trek Online.
This Event will include multiple TFOs previously featured individually in a combined Featured Event that will allow players to choose their preferred activity each day.
All of these TFOs can be accessed via the Event UI, accessible within your Mission Journal by pressing on the “Events” Tab:
Borg: Disconnected (Space)
Iuppiter Irratus (Space)
Swarm (Space)
Synth Wave (Space)
Participating in this Event will give all players the opportunity to win a Prime Beverly Crusher Holographic Bridge Officer, and an upgrade to your Fleet Support.
Rewards:
Players will be able to earn their Daily Progress once every 20 hours. Accruing a total of 14 days’ worth of Daily Progress will allow you to claim all of these rewards:

• Holographic Bridge Officer of Dr. Beverly Crusher
  
• The Fleet Flagship Distress Frequency Device 25,000 Dilithium Ore (once only).
  
• 3x Featured TFO Reward Boxes (once only).
  

Each gives a choice of 1x Specialization Point or an Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade. Bonus Rewards: After claiming the Grand Prize, you will unlock the option of earning additional Dilithium Ore each day, beginning at 8,000 Dilithium Ore for the first day’s completion, and increasing for subsequent days.
Zen Buyout Option:
For players interested in instantly completing the Flagship Celebration Event, we will be offering the option to purchase the remaining progress of this event at a scaling amount of Zen, as with other recent events.
A Second Chance:
Progress after the Event has ended will remain in an all new Second Chance interface, allowing the option to buyout rewards long after the Event has expired. For more information, please visit the “Flagship Celebration!” blogs at:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545233-flagship-celebration-event%21
https://www.playstartrekonline.com/en/news/article/11545233
ADVANCED R&D CONSOLES & BATTERIES:
We’re adding some new high-end recipes to the game!
Advanced Consoles
Just as the existing now-Advanced Tactical Consoles provide bonuses to Critical Chance or Severity, the new Advanced Consoles provide bonuses to performance in a way that scales similarly – the more a Captain collects gear that complements the Advanced Consoles, the more benefit those Advanced Consoles provide, just as it is with the Vulnerability Locators and Exploiters.
Console - Advanced Engineering - Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold
Console - Advanced Engineering - Hangar Craft Power Transmission
Console - Advanced Science - Energy Field Gradient Projector
Console - Advanced Science - Exotic Particle Amplifier
These fragments from these consoles will have a high chance to drop from Elite TFOs for every player who completed the TFO
Combine five fragments to make 1 component The specific type of console fragment depends upon which TFO, based on what kinds of R&D materials it normally rewards. While this table may change in the future, currently this is how it works, if a TFO gives:
Space particles: Engineering pet console fragments
Ground particles: Engineering weapon power console fragments
Space metals: Science drain console fragments
Ground metals: Science drain console fragments
Space gases: Engineering weapon power console fragments
Ground gases: Science exotic damage console fragments
Advanced Batteries
Six new crafted batteries are part of this update. They are made like normal crafted batteries from the R&D schools, but they carry a bonus effect.
Advanced Battery - Energy Amplifier
Advanced Battery - Targeting Lock
Advanced Battery - Hull Patch
Advanced Battery - Kinetic Amplifier
Advanced Battery - Exotic Particle Flood
Advanced Battery - Shield Resilience Boost
Anyone needs more batteries info 🔋 😁
For more information, please visit the “ADVANCED R&D CONSOLES!” blog at the following Links:
https://www.playstartrekonline.com/en/news/article/11545483
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545483-advanced-r%26d-consoles%21
General:
Resolved an issue with the New Romulus Accolade that caused it to be completed before finishing the last mission in the New Romulus episode arch. Resolved an issue with the Tholian Crystal Harmonics item set’s Set 2 passive ability that caused the Critical Chance and Critical Severity to be the wrong values.
Known Issues: !Known Issue!
Some ships do not appear properly positioned on the character select screen.
Link:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545963-pc-patch-notes-for-6%2F8%2F23
!More News!
From June 8th at 8am PT to June 29th at 12pm PT, we are running a promotion that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack or a Duty Officer Pack!
When you purchase a Research and Development Pack or a Duty Officer Pack from the C-Store during this promotion and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or a Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack in addition to the Research and Development Pack.
Opening this Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack will give the recipient a choice of any Tier 6 ship found in any previous Research & Development or Duty Officer Promotional Pack.
The player fortunate enough to win this ship pack will be presented with a choice of claiming a package containing this exciting new starship, or any one of the following ships:
Inquiry Class Battlecruiser [T6]
La Sirena Heavy Raider [T6]
Vulcan Experimental Scout Vessel [T6
Freedom Class Exploration Frigate [T6]
Discovery Era Constitution Miracle Worker Flight Deck Cruiser [T6]
Discovery Era D7 Miracle Worker Flight Deck Cruiser [T6]
Krenim Annorax Science Dreadnought [T6]
Elachi Sheshar Intel Dreadnought Cruiser [T6]
Elachi Sheshar Command Dreadnought Cruiser [T6]
Jem'Hadar Strike Ship [T6]
Jem’Hadar Recon Ship [T6]
Special Requisition Pack - 23rd Century Tier 6 Ship
The Special Requisition Pack - 23rd Century Tier 6 Ship opens into one of the ships below, depending on faction:
Temporal Light Cruiser [T6] – Constitution Class (Starfleet Only)
D7 Temporal Battlecruiser [T6] (Klingons Only)
T’liss Temporal Warbird [T6] (Romulans Only)
There are even more ships you could win, like:

• Son’a Collector Science Dreadnought
  
• Amarie-Class Smuggler’s Heavy Escort Tzenkethi Tzen-tarr Dreadnought Carrier
  
• Vaadwaur Miracle Worker Dreadnought Mirror Crossfield Science Destroyer Hu'rq Vecrid Hive Dreadnought Carrier
  
• You might also get the Special Requisition Pack – 26th Century Dreadnought Cruiser, which opens into one of the ships below, depending on faction:
  

Universe Temporal Heavy Dreadnought Cruiser (Starfleet Only)
Durgath Temporal Heavy Dreadnought Battle Cruiser (Klingons Only)
Valkis Temporal Heavy Dreadnought Warbird (Romulans Only)
Note: Only newly purchased Research and Development or Duty Officer Packs packs will offer the chance to win the Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack during this promotional event. Packs purchased before or after the event will not offer bonus Lobi or the Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack. Packs purchased during the event, but opened after the event ends, will still benefit from this promotion’s bonus rewards.
We’re pleased to announce the return of the Research and Development Week! This event will run from Thursday, June 8th at 8am PT to June 12th at 12pm PT on PC, and features several bonuses throughout STO that will give Captains of all levels a leg up advancing their rank in the Research and Development school(s) of their choice.
For those Captains looking specifically for extra help with their projects, all R&D packs throughout the game will give out an extra 25% of the items they currently disperse for the duration of this event. Queue R&D Material Reward Packages (Normal, Advanced and Elite) will reward 25% more R&D Materials and have a chance to reward a Catalyst.
Alternatively, Captains wanting to advance through Research and Development schools as fast as possible should seek out Harvest Nodes, located in mission maps throughout STO, which will not only disperse 2 extra R&D Materials each time they are used, but will also reward 10 Dilithium Ore and have a chance to give out a R&D Catalyst during this event.
For all Captains that work on a Research and Development project during this weekend event, those projects will reward an extra 50% of the appropriate Research and Development School XP. This includes projects to make components as well as those to make items.
From Thursday, June 8th at 8am PT to June 12th at 12pm PT, we are running a special weekend event where you can earn Bonus Commendation XP by completing any Duty Officer assignments!
To those junior officers who work tirelessly in cramped Jefferies Tubes, perish namelessly on away missions, or provide the endless streams of reports and analysis necessary for a starship to function – this event is dedicated to you!
During this event, you’ll gain a 50% increase in all Commendation XP earned by completion of Duty Officer assignments. You don’t need to do anything special for this bonus – it’s automatic.
Receive a FREE* special Purple quality duty officer with a unique active roster power by speaking with your duty officer contact. For Starfleet officers and Romulan allies, this is an engineering Exocomp duty officer; for KDF officers and Romulan allies, it is a Reman duty officer.
*This is not available if you already claimed it the last time we ran the event.
Duty officer packs** opened during the event will each have a FREE additional Green quality or better duty officer inside. This only applies to C-Store purchased packs, not to those awarded during rank-up, from recruitment assignments or mini-packs. Also, it applies only to packs opened during the event, even if they are purchased prior to the event.
**The packs included in this offer are:
Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack
Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre
Reinforcements Duty Officer Pack
Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack
Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack
Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack
Klingon Empire Duty Officer Pack
Federation Duty Officer Pack
The Academy particle scanning events are now part of the Junior Officer Appreciation Event!
Visit Starfleet Academy or Klingon Academy during the event and speak to Professor Meyer or Commander B’Tama. Pick a cadet to train, then engage in scanning particles all about the academy grounds. As you scan and capture particles you’ll help to train the cadet, and in exchange your faction will release a new random Duty Officer to you. The more particles you scan, the better the quality of the officer you can claim!
Scan a minimum of 5 traces to be rewarded a Common Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 25 traces to be rewarded a Uncommon Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 50 traces to be rewarded a Rare Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 75 traces to be rewarded a Very Rare Duty Officer
Remember, additional reserve roster duty officer slots (in increments of 25 and 100) are available from the in-game C-Store, for up to a maximum of 500 reserve roster spaces.
Have fun, and try not to send too many duty officers to Sickbay!
In addition, Research and Development packs will be available to Captains for 20% off! From Thursday, June 8th at 8am PT to June 15th at 12pm PT, both Research and Development packs as well as bundles will be discounted.
Research and Development Pack:
This pack includes:
15 Common, Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials
15 Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials
6 Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials
4 Very Rare R&D Materials
3 Mk 2 or Better R&D Components
3 Mk 6 or Better R&D Components
2 Mk 10 or Better R&D Components
3 Random R&D Catalysts
4 Random Upgrade Accelerators
Research and Development Pack Bundle:
This pack includes:
4 Research and Development Packs
(You will receive 4 separate packs when making this one purchase, NOT 1 pack that unpacks 4)
Finally, we're happy to announce that you'll be able to enjoy 20% off all Duty Officer Packs! Captains can select from the following Duty Officer Packs for 20% from Thursday, June 8th at 8am PT to June 15th at 12pm PT.
Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre
Reinforcements Duty Officer Pack
Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack
Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack
Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack
Delta Pack
Federation Pack
Klingon Pack
We hope you enjoy this promotion, Captains!
Jonathan Herlache
Systems Designer
Star Trek Online
Link;
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545743-command-the-constitution-iii%21
Odyssey Remaster part of the upcoming new Flagship Event Link + Blog Post provided below;
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545243-the-enterprise-f-remaster
Canonized during Star Trek Picard’s Season 3, the Enterprise NCC-1701-F began its journey into the final frontier over a decade ago, as Cryptic Studios’ own manifestation of the Enterprise Legacy.
Derived from Adam Ihle’s winning submission to Cryptic’s “Design the Next Enterprise” competition, the Enterprise-F would see a long iteration and development process under the guidance of then STO Art Lead Jeremy Mattson and STO Starship Artist Adam Williams. Williams’ work on the Enterprise F would prove a turning point in the design philosophy of Star Trek Online’s starships, embracing a sleek and organic future extrapolated from classic Star Trek ships like the USS Enterprise-E and the USS Voyager.
In 2022, Star Trek: Picard Production Designer Dave Blass reached out to the Star Trek Online team about adding the Enterprise F to the show. While it needed a lot of work, we jumped at the opportunity to finally canonize our flagship on an actual Star Trek television show.
And so, the Odyssey-class Enterprise F was totally rebuilt to the highest detail level of any Star Trek Online starship. It received a brand new material and a bespoke set of window visuals as well. The model was done just in time for use in Picard, and now, over a year after work began on it, we are very pleased to announce that this remastered version of the Odyssey-class Star Cruiser will soon be available in Star Trek Online. This remaster will go live with the upcoming Flagship Celebration event.
To see the updated visuals, ready any of your Odyssey variants and visit the ship customization interface. Then, apply the “Odyssey” preset to update your ship to the new pieces.
We are so very grateful for our passionate player base who have kept the Enterprise F flying for over a decade, and so very pleased to bring this ship to life on screen and in game.
See you out there, thattaway.
Thomas Marrone
Art Director
Star Trek Online
!Temporal Agent Recruitment Event!
The Timeline needs you!
The special Temporal Agent Recruitment event is coming back!
From June 8th at 8am PT to June 29th at 12pm PT on PC, you can create a new Temporal Agent character. Just make a new TOS Starfleet character, complete your tutorial, and pick up your special Temporal Agent assignments!
Celebrate the anniversary of the original series premier with a new original series Starfleet officer.
Temporal Agents are on the front lines of the Temporal Cold War, and as they complete missions they’ll unlock bonus rewards, including special account-wide rewards.
Make your way through the ranks, advance your Starfleet career, and you’ll gain bonuses that will improve your equipment and give you special traits.
We’ve updated the Temporal Agent goals to include some new ones, and removed goals from missions that are no longer in the game, so you don’t have to worry about finding Temporal Probes in places that you can no longer reach.
You’ll be able to earn bonuses for reaching level 60, marks for all of the reputations that have been added to the game, and rewards for engaging in R&D and specializations.
Existing Temporal Agents will be able to complete these new goals as well, and if you’ve already finished them, you can claim the rewards immediately.
Remember, to become a Temporal Agent and gain access to the rewards, you must make a new TOS Starfleet character, during the event, then you must play the tutorial until you receive your special Temporal Agent transceiver device. Once you receive the device, your character is a Temporal Agent and you can complete the goals any time and claim the rewards, even after the event ends.
In addition, all TOS themed items will be 30% off from June 8th to June 15th!
Link;
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545143-the-timeline-needs-you%21

Watch this entertaining video, and return when you’ve completed it: Egg Drop From Space
What is the takeaway here? Humans are not perfect. Many people have seen Mark Rober and his amazing glittering of criminals as he seeks to make the world a better place, and stinkier criminals.
A team of incredibly intelligent people made mistake after mistake after mistake. But they did not stop working together to reach their goal. They did not belittle themselves or others in the process to achieve success. They didn’t even truly hit their goal the way they expected, but they still pushed for success. Even through all the glitter bomb and squirrel obstacle redesigns, there were many failures along the way. A person who shares with the world the countless inventive ways he screws up regularly, and he once worked for NASA.
A great team and great leaders do not resort to making those around them chronically feel like shit. If Mark told the guy who built the flapping fins on the rocket his idea was worthless, do you think the guy would have stayed on the project or pushed to perform better?
If your conversations with your subordinates is not at least 70% positive, YOU are the actual reason they are not meeting their goals.
The biggest reason I don’t want to RTO is because I don’t want a team lecture and the emotional harm it causes me daily to be visible to my peers. And I don’t want to see the affects of abuse on their souls.
Create a positive team, even when you don’t want to, and we will strive to kick ass every time. We will fall short on occasion. We will unintentionally miss a MOAT offer because we were so focused on helping the customer with what they actually wanted when the MOAT pop popped at the most ridiculously inappropriate part of the conversation when the customers only concern is what the next bills are going to be after adding a car.
Side note - rather than relying on agents to cram MOAT down the throats of people who don’t want it, you need to have a really strong email campaign, and an incredibly aggressive enticing and assumptive in app pop that hits everybody once every 3-6 months. It will get to those SEVERAL MILLION who aren’t calling in. Try to offer a $1 discount on an installment fee to everyone who gets a quote in app. MOAT quotes and sales will skyrocket with effective writing and positioning. Much better than “I’m sorry your kid just died, but have you heard that you can get a great deal if you bundle…”
I overheard somebody in office say you read these, Todd Matthews. Do better. Expect better of your people. Encourage positive interactions. Sit in on team section meetings daily, and make it through every single supervisor over the next several months. Coach, modify and mold back into positive success. Remind yourselves of the pillars and mission statement.
A horse cart is driven by a person riding in the cart communicating with the horse telling them where to go, not by somebody dragging the horse by the bit.
Recognize that perfection in stats across the board is not what the goal should be. Your job is to be the leaders that help us reach our goals, not just the whip crackers. Fix yourselves. Just read through this board! We WANT to be amazing, but it’s impossible to be when we start the day told we are garbage day in, and day out - even when we are in the top 10%. A team that loathes interactions with their supervisor is not a team that will perform their best. We are broken. We are scared. We are hurt. We want you to lead. Put down the whip for awhile, and pick up the reins. If you’re not capable of this as a leader, then reconsider your fit for the role.

TL;DR - I would like a search bar to be added to the game. Or at the least a sort 'alphabetically' option to be added. As mods*
With all of this news about DD2 it's made me pick up the game again and I'm sure there's a lot of new people coming to play the game too. I'm continuing my progress from last time I played instead of starting a new game and I have so many items it's insane, I have heaps of money but there's still a lot for me to do so I'm going to keep going with this save. I have no experience with modding anything other than minecraft a long time ago. I don't know anyone who can make stuff like that, and I definitely can't do it myself.
I'm asking for someone to make a mod that simply adds a nice looking search bar somewhere on the screen when I'm changing equipment at an inn, in my inventory, buying/selling stuff, maybe the enhancing menu, and maybe when learning/setting spells. I'm thinking it goes in the top right, next to the players name area on inventory, top right in inn menu and so on.ORIf it's possible, make a hotkey for it like how backspace is save changes or x is sort, chuck a key down where those keys are and maybe have the key be default assigned to shift or right shift more specifically. If that isn't viable - to have it set to shit, than it could just be assigned to the number 9 I guess. IDK though, creators choice.
The next thought I had when looking for alternatives is for someone to create a mod that simply adds an 'alphabetical' option to when you want to sort your inventory or storage, I seriously don't even know what optimized means in terms of this game, and I just scroll through all of my rings trying to find a certain one that I end up not even owning.
It might exist out there somewhere but as far as I can tell it doesn't exist on nexusmods. I honestly haven't looked at the steam workshop mods, so it might be there. If anyone could help it'd be much appreciated. Plus it might give you modders experience for if I ask again when DD2 comes out.
Thanks.

<< Previous Index Next >> (ToC at Chapter 1)
(Original, Contemporary MC in supernatural setting, Magic, Afterlives, Souls)
Schedule: New chapters every Monday and Thursday.

Chapter 10

It took Kenny several minutes to regain his strength, and he wasn't exactly fresh afterward.
"It's not just exhaustion," he said. "It was so hard to concentrate, and I was seeing black spots for a while."
"I'm going to heal you back," I said. "Don't worry, you'll feel like new."
"No, No," he waved me down. "We have to be efficient about this. We have to plan it out."
"You're right," I said. "We need to know if we can heal only the body or even a single wound."
"Not only that," he replied. "We made a lot of assumptions here. We need to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff," he pointed at the ground. "The first thing that needs to go is the temple. We didn't even use the right one, and it will be a whole different game if we can Heal outside."
We made our plans and went outside. I wasn't a stranger to the scientific method. I went to school like every else, but planning experiments for something explicitly supernatural felt out of place. If it can be repeated at will, we'll be able to depend on it. Hell, if it was impossible to sleep, we would have to rely on something like this.
We slowly walked out of the plaza, noting the bustling activity near the growing ramp, and turned a corner behind one of the closest unattended buildings. When we ensured there were no people or ghouls in sight. We continued to experiment.
It didn't take us long, ten minutes at most. And yet, while I still felt reinvigorated physically, the clarity and freshness left me by this point. Whatever Kenny did, it was not the substitution to sleep the witch made it out to be.
First, we had to try it without all the most likely noise. We were outside the temple and decided to try to recover only Kenny's life force.
It took him several tries to manage a nick on his skin, and I was quick to draw the Ankh on his hand. We already knew the placement of the symbol was insignificant since he used the one we drew on my hand to Heal everything.
"Do you accept this blessing to recover your life force?" I asked him.
"Yes," he accepted.
"This Ankh was drawn with your blood and my saliva. It represents life," I said, touching the symbol.
"I use some of my life to bless you," I proclaimed. "Be restored."
I finished with a prolonged measured blow on his symbol. It was a hard feeling to describe, a mentally draining exercise that made me feel lessened for it.
I stopped blowing when Kenny lifted a hand.
"Did it work?" I asked. I felt the drain, but it did not guarantee success.
"Yeah, It felt like getting slapped awake or chugging coffee," he answered. "Could be addictive. We should be careful with this."
This was a huge win. We now gained the ability to Heal outside of the temple.
I was in awe. Not only miracles or magic were possible. I had this miraculous ability—me. It was unbelievable, and there was much more to come.

***

We continued our work, resting between each try, and still, we were both spent by the end.
Kenny managed to Heal himself. Then I succeeded in treating separate wounds.
The Ankh could be drawn using anything. We didn't have to use bodily fluids for it. The symbol was not strictly necessary but made the spell easier. We could use a stone with the sign to Heal without drawing it on the body.
The patient's permission was only needed when casting on each other; without it, the effect was severely weakened. Same with touch.
The most selective of all was the ending. The command to be healed could be whispered, which didn't change the result. Willing the effect silently was strenuous and barely worked, but it was possible.
After that, only the trigger remained. Blowing on the symbol or whispering to it worked like pouring water. It was seamless and gradual. However, using the command itself as a trigger, a snap of the fingers, or a clap, was worse. The effect was more abrupt, harder on the caster, and felt more wasteful.
We were absolutely exhausted, but we had the framework for future spells.
Consent from the target, a symbol of the effect, the intent to use life force, the command, touch, and the trigger.
Out of all of them, only the use of life was missing on our very first try, we were so close, but it took us so much time to get to it. It was also the only thing essential for the spell. All of the others only made the magic more manageable and potent.
"We must thank Victor," Kenny remarked. "His description was so good, we actually managed to repeat it."
"I still can't believe I can use magic," I said. "He only missed the life-force aspect, and he couldn't have known it either way. And oh, how I wish we knew the spit wasn't necessary. I feel so stupid for trying with it so many times," I chuckled.
"I still don't understand the Ankh," Kenny complained. "It represents life, so do we use it for any spell that uses our life? Or maybe only the spells that affect life?" he continued to ramble. "What even gives it the meaning of life? How many people need to recognize the symbol to give it meaning?"
"Whoa, hold your horses there," I said. "I wouldn't risk casting anymore without rest. You need to find a way to write down all your ideas, or your head will explode," I joked.
I was very thankful to Kenny, but he needed to be more careful. It took some persuading to make him stop earlier. We didn't know what would happen if we used too much of our life. We could die for all I knew.
"I have just the idea for next time," Kenny said. "You'll only have to heal a small cut up to three times at worst, and we will have another piece of the puzzle."
"What piece exactly?" I asked.
"I can tell you only after you do it. That's part of it," he said.
His enthusiasm was infectious, which made me curious, but I was serious when I decided to stop. So It'll have to wait.
We were walking beside the colonnade when I noticed his silver tray.
"Didn't you try to sell it?" I asked.
"Nobody wanted it," he shrugged. "I just left it here when I saw you talk to Victor."
I got an idea.
"Let's go talk to the witch," I proposed.
He looked at me questioningly.
"We won't tell her we figured out her trick," I warned him. "But we need to get as much as we can from her. Anything she lets slip, we may be able to use."
I picked up the tray. "This will be our gift to her. Who doesn't like silver?"
"We need to ask her about the Goddess," Kenny suggested. "And how she knows when it's dawn."
"We'll ask her to teach us to heal," I said.
"Why?" He asked. "We already know that."
"Just to see what the price she puts on that information is," I said. "We'll know her better for it."
Kenny hummed thoughtfully.
"Chin up. We're going to make a new friend," I joked.

So I played Emily is Away Too for the first time (yes, I'm late to the party), and my first ending was an odd ending, one I was disappointed with, but kind of glad I got because it let me see some emotional issues Emily has that I haven't seen anyone talk about.
I admit I tried to woo both girls up until chapter 3, where they both started messaging me with emotional baggage and getting mad if I didn't reply within 5 seconds. Eventually I decide I need to stick to Emily because we just have more in common. I was 100% honest with both, except on one thing, which I wasn't even trying to lie about.
The part that I "lied" about is the sex questions. I told Emily I only did '3rd base' just cause it seemed like a normal answer for a senior in high school in the 2000's and I decided that would be my character's cannon instead of trying to self insert my own personal experience in real life or something. Evelyn asks me if I've had sex, and I decide to pick the "sort of" option, since he'd had some activities, but not intercourse itself. My character then straight up LIES AGAINST MY WILL and says yes. I assumed because I didn't make this choice, it wouldn't come back to bite me, but it did.
Come chapter 5 me and Emily are in a relationship, where Evelyn decides to say "Oh btw I told your GF the real you" and I proceed to watch Emily have an existential crisis about if she can trust me over one lie I told another girl to impress her when I've literally told zero lies to either of them outside the one the game forced me to. I go over that the emotions are real, our history is real, and I've never lied about anything else, but one lie I told an entirely different person is enough to ruin the entire relationship. I get if I'd told multiple lies, but this feels like Emily being extremely insecure and having trust issues. I know she was going through an emotionally manipulative relationship with Jeff (who was essentially hinting suicidal idealization to pressure her into sex), but this felt like a really unstable response from her angle.
What do yall think? I guess you could argue I should have just completely ignored Evelyn in chapter 3, but this feels like a very clumsy oversight if it's just that I went so far the game forced me to tell a lie and ruin my ending. It's more satisfying when you look at it as a look at the character flaws of Emily. I may have to try more playthroughs and see what endings I get too.