Funny monday morning memes for work

During the original broadcast, I didn't discover the Insiders Podcast until season 5. I'm doing a rewatch now, and listening to the Insiders Podcast after every episode.
I made similar threads for seasons 1 - 3.
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From the 4x05 Insiders Podcast: Quite A Ride.
Cara Pifko (Paige) is a guest host.
* Breaking Bad was shot on film. Better Call Saul is shot in digital.
To help maintain the look of Breaking Bad, the teaser was shot on film. It's the first time on Better Call Saul that a teaser was shot on film.
However, the paper shredder scene was shot on the Red Dragon digital camera, because they needed the higher frame rate, so they could run it in slow motion.
The paper shredder was one of the last things they shot for the season.
They used some colored text on the paper, so the shot looks better. Otherwise, the shot was coming out too much in black and white.
* The set for Saul's office has been on storage since Breaking Bad. They took it out of storage.
* The teaser is supposed to contrast with who Jimmy states he wants to be, at the end of the PPD interview. We can see that he doesn't end up being the type of lawyer he wanted to be.
* Paige has done voices for several Mass Effect games.
She had to do some intimate scenes with a friend of hers, which was a little weird.
She has also done motion capture for a video game, that never got released.
For some of the motion capture, she says it's funny to hold a piece of wood, and pretend it's a gun. She likens it to a kid playing pretend.
* Paige is also doing online teaching acting for Emerge Media.
* It's very hard to bring actors from overseas. They need a work visa, etc.
The last time they did that was on Breaking Bad, when they had two Germans.
* They wanted a contrast between the two engineers. With the French one being composed. And the German one being very open, talking about how he took the dramamine, but it didn't work, etc.
The German's attention to detail, and honesty paid off.
While the French one is like someone who will say anything to get a job.
They also wanted a contrast with Mike's personality, with the German one.
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From the 4x06 Insiders Podcast: Pinata.
Patrick Fabian is a guest host.
* Patrick Fabian explains the Jon Cryer thing. He referenced him in last season's 3x08 podcast.
So Jon Cryer allegedly wins the Malibu triathlon every year.
Fabian also says that Cryer won the triathlon, hosted the Emmys, and won an Emmy, during one of the years.
I still don't know which year he's talking about, as this wiki doesn't have Cryer as an Emmy host.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pr...ceremonies
Fabian says Cryer might have peaked on that day.
* They wonder if Cryer's life is just an extended role of the Cryer movie, "Hiding Out".
* For the teaser, they like how Kim was prepared to show her legal knowledge to Chuck, while in the mail room, if she ever got a chance to meet him.
And they wanted to show how Kim admired Chuck.
Nothing flirty. It's smart, respectful, not second guessing him, but showing she's been thinking about the case.
* Chuck also tests her, by asking "what's the case"? He really already knows. And she knows the answer.
Chuck and Howard also want Kim to succeed, as they see her potential.
* The teaser also shows of when Jimmy falls for Kim. And when he thinks maybe he can be a lawyer.
* They also point out how Jimmy doesn't notice how condescending Jimmy is.
* Fabian says Chuck isn't condescending, he has a business to run. Not be an Oscars pool guy.
* It didn't really dawn on Fabian that Michael McKean wouldn't be an actor with him, until the first day of 4x01. He knew Chuck was dead at the end of season 3.
It just didn't hit him until they started 4x01.
* The name of the case, Isaacson v. Vakarian Holdings, Inc., is a fake case, with a reference to a video game. "Vakarian" is a character in Mass Effect.
The teaser takes place in 1993.
* Howard's "fuck you" to Jimmy has been a long time coming. Starting with the pilot, when Jimmy interrupted his meeting, and called him "Lord Vader", and ripped a check in his face, and tried to extort him.
* Gilligan is wondering how they allowed the F bomb.
They tell him they're not overusing their privilege.
And how they don't have all the characters constantly dropping F bombs.
* Fabian says between Jimmy telling him "you have a cross to bear" in 4x01, and the Kim scene in 4x02, leads to the disheveled bathroom scene in 4x06.
He was unshaven too.
* Cara Pifko (Paige) has known Ben Bela Bohm (Kai) from before. They are friends.
They were surprised to see each other on the set, as they didn't know they would each be there on the show.
Bohm was about to go back to Germany, and then this part came through, so he stayed.
* They had help from Bohm on how to make the German dialogue more conversational.
* Vince Gilligan is surprised they had to pay editor Joey Reinisch, to be the voice on the other end of the phone line, when Jimmy is on the phone at CC Mobile.
* They say the old Italian spaghetti western movies, pre 1980, would be shot with no audio, or with people speaking in their own language. And they'd add the audio in post production.
* For the pinatas, there's rules on how long the actors can hang upside down. They can only hang upside down for a minute 15 seconds at a time. The actual time is a little less, since it takes a few seconds to tie and untie them. The clock starts as soon as they are off the ground.
When stunt actors are used, the time allowed is expanded to 2 - 3 minutes.
This is all for safety reasons.
* They had to make the pinatas easy to break. So they could break in one hit.
* They bought up all of the pinatas from a several mile range, at that time. They feel sorry if anyone had a birthday or celebration during that week, since they bought up all of those pinatas.
* It's easy to pass out when upside down, and not know one is about to pass out.
* They kind of have to stop filming every 45 seconds.
* The upside down shots are only at the beginning.
* Patrick Fabian says to memorize your pocket dialogue (i.e. when the Germans are playing basketball; drinking beer; etc.)
He says treat it like regular script.
Because there might be a day where the director decides to film you up close for 50 yards, and if you don't know the pocket dialogue, and the cameras are on you, you'll never feel colder on the back of your neck.
Even if the pocket dialogue is in German, you still have to know it.

So my daily life is kind of a mess. I manage a large number of people at my company, am constantly traveling and frequently get pulled in many directions throughout a given day. All in all, it's very easy for me to lose track of little details and forget something important because of all of this. I'm always looking for ways to use technology to mitigate these issues and be more organized.
A couple years ago, our IT guy showed me how the new iphone has a scheduling system and you can set it to automatically do things like send a text at a specific time or when you arrive at a certain place. After learning how this works, I've come to use it fairly often.
For example, I have it set so when I leave the house in the morning, it texts my secretary that I'll be at the office in 10 minutes - I leave at varying times depending on if an executive needs to call me about something before I get to the office. This helps her schedule out the first couple hours of my morning when I set aside time to meet with account reps who need me to approve budgets, sign off on proposals, etc before getting to my own meetings and calls.
I also started using it a lot in my personal life. My girlfriend really loves it when I text her in the morning and I'd sometimes get caught up in work and forget, so I started writing a personal text out to her in the evening and setting it to send out at some time the next morning, just a little note about how I hope she has a great day, wishing her good luck on a presentation she has, etc.
My mom is also a bit forgetful these days, so I'll frequently days in advance set up something like "Hey mom, hope you're having a great day! Just wanted to make sure you remember it's [niece]'s birthday party tonight at 7, don't forget to bring cupcakes." to go out to her that afternoon around 4p.
More of the same with other things, like I'll have it text my secretary a few days before a client's birthday to ask her to send a gift, things like that. Overall I think it's been really helpful.
Last week, I showed my brother how it all worked and suggested he could use it to help himself get more organized. He told my mom and girlfriend about how I use my phone to automate when I text them or send gifts, and now they're both really pissed at me. They both say they felt like I had been putting in so much effort to be thoughtful and caring despite how busy I am, but it's all just been a facade and I'm just using my phone to automate it all.
I honestly don't think that's fair. Every message I sent them is something I wrote myself. Every reminder is there because I set it myself. I'm doing this because I felt bad that I had in the past missed these details, and I feel like I'm just using the phone to help me be more organized and thoughtful. But they clearly don't see it that way and are acting like I betrayed them or something.
AITA?

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Disclaimer: yes, It's the first of April. No, this isn't a joke.
On my way home yesterday I had a fabolous idea for FNM and decided NOT to play the other Golgari Jank deck. Instead I made kind of a theme deck: The Brushwagg storms Phyrexia!
Here's the list: https://aetherhub.com/Deck/brushwagg-storms-phyrexia
.) The Brushwagg? Really? Why would you do that?
Because he was totally left out of the MOM story arc, but we all know in our hearts that HE saved us all. And this list shows how. He's a late game Mana Sink, he can crew when he's pumped and he's almighty. Opponent boardwipes our ceratures? No problem, Burshwagg hits the field, becomes a 4/4 and rides to victory! Just imagine him, riding the Chariot and/or piloting the Sky Sovergein...
.) No, seriously...
Seriously, that's part of the gameplan. Vehicles and kind of going wide with (our really really cute) cat tokens. That and the usual Hand Hate, Removal, Invoke Despair, Sheoldred...
.) Sheoldred??? You said Brushwagg storms Phyrexia!!!
Couldn't resist his charm. She works for him now. After getting beheaded, he put her head on his little paw as handpuppet. So we can still play her and all will be... all is brushwaggy fine now.
.) Jeez, fine. How did the deck perform that evening?
Well, I'm glad you ask! Gruul was first and got stomped. In the second game three brushwaggs piloted the Skysovereign to victory. Cutest win ever.
Second we faced mill, winning 2-1. Sheoldred rding the Chariot followed by a very angry Questing Beast after a board wipe secured our win in one game, in the second our army of extremly cute cat tokens (one of them was Dr. Keks!) meowed us to victory.
Third game was a unique Mono Red build from a fellow "I-brew-myself-screw-the-lists"-player. While we won one game, we lost the other two (one time had to mull to five). Not enough hand hate/removal/threats, but had a really good time.
.) What's your resumé?
The deck has to perform at peak against aggro combined with direct damage. We are better than other Midrange decks, have a good chance against control and combo. Playing it on Arena showed the same.
.) Could you please stop making these weird golgari lists?
No chance! After the third game, we discussed brewing and had the same idea for a funny combo. He will do Dimir, I will do Golgari, so stay tuned!

[Out of Character Warning: If you have arachnophobia, please read at your own risk.]

Ches 08th, 1320 DR, Somewhere near Flint Rock in the Evermoor.
We've stopped this morning. Fiona says we need to wait for someone; she was vague about exactly who we were meeting at what time, but she said he was going to be a business partner. Come to think of it, I don't actually know what it is Fiona does as a Merchant; what exactly we are carrying with the carriage is obviously the usual spices, food-stuffs, and appliances that people can't get within Northern Faêrun, but there are three specific crates that are considered high value by her, even though she doesn't tell us what's in them. I bring this up because I tried asking about them this morning, more out of boredom than anything; she replied by giving me this odd smirk with a glint in her eye, and just told me:
"Don't worry that scowling mug of yours, darling. All you need to know is that it's going to make us a lot of coin; nothing too dangerous or morally questionable, though it depends on how you look at it. Besides, don't think I don't know that you had something to do with what happened in Rakkarin's Fjord. Why the face? What, you seriously thought that you and V'vyana disappearing for several hours, only for five mangled bodies to turn up once you reappear didn't seem a bit suspicious? We all got our secrets, love, and from what I heard you're little activities weren't unwarranted, at least by my standards. However, if we're going to work together as partners, you're going to have to at least tell me when and why you're going to go all judge, jury, and executioner on people. Bad for business, is all I'm saying, and I don't really like the prospect of being put on an actual bounty-list anytime soon."

I decided to shut up after that. She read me like a book; and here I thought we were careful. Speaking of "we", I think it's time I get some answers from that elf.

Person of interest: V'vyana Bathory, Elf Ranger. Currently employed as a mercenary under Fiona Stoutbroad…Stoutbroad? Is that slang for bigass? What the fuck am I thinking?!
Ever since the incident at Rakkarin's Fjord, I'm becoming more and more paranoid about who she really is; she isn't any normal ranger, that's for sure.
Cleaning up evidence, an adept with poisons, even her story doesn't make much sense. She says that she grew up in Luskan, one of the cities on the Northwest Coast that I whole-heartedly wished Hoar had burned to the ground for all the scum-ridden, irredeemable cutthroats produced by that sin-ridden metropolis. However, that makes me trust her even less; most rangers usually get their start away from metropolises or by contract in rural counties or with a Caravan company. Unless…you work as a slave-hunter or tracker for one of the many Matriarchal Houses in Luskan. All I know is that she is dangerous, and I have no idea why she came to Citadel Felbarr three weeks ago with Caldin.
We've stopped by a nearby cave, and Fiona told us that we'd have to leave the carriage here for now and begin unloading goods inside, specifically those three crates of heavy cargo. The carriage will be fine, as apparently this person we were meeting had people on standby in case anyone or anything tried to raid us…now that she mentions it, I'm getting this weird feeling that we're being watched, but I don't see or hear anyone off-road or within the hilly landscape. I could sworn I saw something moving above us, in the overhead caves, but I chalked it up to being a wild animal; either way, I don't like it here. The caves and the landscape around us are just too quiet.
Update, mid-afternoon
We've unloaded the cargo into one of the larger caves that go into the multiple canyons surrounding Flint's Rock. Big surprise, these caves weren't as uninhabited as we though; while keeping watch, I heard the scream of either V'vyana or Caldin echo from the inside of the cave. Me, Gus, and Fiona just looked at each other; Gus opted out, said he would really be much help in the darkness of the cave…that, and even though I've seen him lob off the head of a goddamned wyvern (a tale of which I'll definitely write up sometime), he's a coward when it comes being in any enclosed space underground.
Looks like it's up to me. Gus and Fiona are really worried about me heading in there; in desperation, Gus even offered to come with me, but we all knew that it would only slow me down, and I didn't like the idea of Fiona being alone. Reluctantly, Fiona agreed, but asked that I bring some chalk to mark where I'm going in case she needed to go after me as well. With the hot and damp climate that surrounded Flint's Rock coming from the Evermoor Swamps, I knew that donning my splint-mail for entering the cave would be like entering a furnace. Reluctantly, I had to go with a leather jerkin with chainmail underneath. I can hear the shrieks of what sounds to be V'vyana moving further down the cave; maybe I can just leave them there, not risk it?
Update, not sure what time.
Good news and bad news. I think I'm on the right track; came to this large Crossroad after running about five minutes. Looks like I was right about the heat because it's starting to get very musky in here; why is it so hot, could it be…
Right, good news. At the crossroads, I found what looks like be Caldin and V'vyana's equipment. Mostly just water and a cartography kit scattered about, but I did find a map of the cave-area that Caldin must have drawn up. Now onto the bad news…I found a blood trail moving down the centre-most tunnel, and I can tell it isn't from an animal. I need to hurry; Caldin wrote up a warning pointing to the tunnel with the blood-trail: "Weird, chattering noises and lots of webs. Best stay away."
I'm marking an arrow with my chalk so that Fiona and Gus will know where I'm going if they come look for me…maybe it's best that they don't follow me, but Fiona can be a stubborn lass.
Update, I need to get the fuck out of here.
Caldin was right. The cave has started grow thick with spider-webs; I had to use my torch to burn a path forward, but I can hear myself getting closer to the screaming. However, I'm no longer alone anymore, and I'm starting to get paranoid about anything that might be crawling on the cave-ceiling or on the ground. At first it was only a few spiders, silently scuttling in the shadows of this cave; however, as I got deeper and deeper, I started seeing hundreds of them. Big ones the size of a dog were watching me from inside burrows; the torch must be keeping them away, because all they can do is hiss and back away to the light's edge. I'm more terrified of the smaller ones, though; they're more silent, and I can see that they seem…bloated with what seems like venom. Hoar give me strength.
Update, still alive for now.
I've found Caldin, who seems to be taking the new surrounding rather well. The scorched marks and burned corpses of spiders lead me to him in a small burrow; nearly got my head blown off by blast of flames as I entered, having to shout Caldin down that it was just me. His robes were ragged and covered in webbing, and he seemed to have lost that stupid hat of his somewhere during the chase.
I asked him what the fuck happened to them, and where in Pharasma's Ethereal ass was V'vyana? His answer seemed to make things even more grim. While mapping out the two other crossways that split off from the centre-most area, Caldin noticed several old signs that covered the walls of the cave; he couldn't read what they said, but V'vyana could, saying it appeared to be Thief Cant in written form. While mostly a verbal language, Thief Cant can be written down, but it's more of a hieroglyphic style where certain combinations of symbols mean code-words or phrases. They found out exactly why these were written down after reaching the dead-end of the left path, finding the remains of what looked like a gang of smugglers.
This cave was used as a smuggling route, and whatever happened to these guys wasn't good. Three specific messages read:
"6th day of trek, 12 arcane crystals, 5 mithril chestplates. Rest for tonight, leave in morning."
"7th day, route is condemned! If see message, get out fast; only death here. Gnarl fucked us,he and five others stole haul while we slept, didn't tell us cave was home to a dire-spider nest! Don't know what he did, nest woke up; campfire keeps spiders away, but we have nowhere to go. 3 dead, dragged off by those eight-legged freaks, only four of us left now."
"8th day, can't breath. Smoke hurting, no sleep; Nyric, Sage, and Martyn tried to make a run for it, couldn't take it anymore. They got Nyric and dragged him off, but I think Sage managed to get away through a tunnel; Martyn's bitten, poison hurt. He told me to do it."
"9th, I've run out of wood, down to last torch. I can't let them get me like the others. I love you, Sage."
Both V'vyana and Caldin were ready to run the fuck out of there, but then they noticed that the two bodies in the make-shift campsight were beginning to move. The first body, bloated and writhing, started to break apart its flesh as a giant, 6ft spider just burst out; the second body began to pour out from its mouth and chest-cavity hundreds of tiny spiders, all swarming towards both V'vyana and Caldin.
It was V'vyana whose scream seemed to wake up the nest; didn't know that she was particularly afraid of spiders. After that, it was all a blur, and next thing Caldin knew he was running with V'vyana out of the dead-end. She must have mistaken the centre-most path as the exit, but in that moment Caldin just went with instinct and followed after her. He got grabbed by one of the big ones and dragged away to a burrow, but thanks to a bit of fire-magic Caldin was push them back. For the last thirty minutes, all he's been doing is burning anything that comes near the burrow entrance.
This is…a lot to process. I'm going after V'vyana, and Caldin agreed to follow me; he believes that, while she was bitten, he thinks that it wasn't one of the more poisonous varieties. We're heading out the burrow and following the blood trail. Hoar give me strength.

End Entry

I've been here for so long.. met so many people, some were really good some were miserable. But every one of them were short term :) I have no idea why I still haven't found any meaningful connection :D
What I offer:
• genuine friendship
• memes
• instant replies (I get busy studying and at work sometimes so please understand that above all I'm a human and I have a life as well)
• and more ;)) rest you need to check for yourself ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ
What I need from you: • interesting convos - I really enjoy spontaneous chats rather than basic conversations like Hi hey hru hyd and stuff. I really don't have time for short term and dry conversations, I've had enough of it and I'll hate you for the rest of my life if you only reach out for passing time.
• commitment - please don't ghost, it just feels terrible when you thought you finally found the perfect friend and then poof! they don't message, they don't reply back or sometimes they literally delete their id!
that's probably about everything. there are a lot of posts in my profile to know more about me, you should check it and see if I'm interesting enough to be your friend!

=warning for vague non sexual bdsm mentions=
hello, this is my first post on reddit. its about to get reallly long and complicated, but i really need some advice about my current kink partner (we’re not dating as i am asexual/aromantic and they are also aromantic. it’s more of a situation-ship where we can try out kink casually, but i will say partner for the sake of simplicity). *names will be changed for privacy
So my partner, NB (recent 20), Mel and I, NB (19), are roommates in college. In total i have 3 roommates and me and mel do not room together. I didn’t think i would ever enter a relationship as i’ve never been interested in anyone. When i got here, Mel introduced me to the whole BDSM world, as i had never heard of it. They knew a lot but had no experience so i agreed to try stuff with them.
Most of it is sensory play and very light stuff. Our other two roommates (that room with each of us respectively) seem to be uncomfortable with the idea. My roommate, let’s call them Rain TransM(20), apparently was interested in trying kink with me as well, but i accidentally rejected them. (they had just begun to catch feelings on me and they saw i wasn’t interested, taking that as a rejection?) Mel also has a squish/non romantic crush on me, but it’s been fine so far as weve been partners. Mel and Rain are also childhood best friends so… yikes.
Rain is upset with the relationship as it reminds them “how lonely they are”, and they’re deeply still upset to see Mel doing stuff with me that they wish they could do. (with me or with anyone else) So far me and Mel only do stuff, when everyone is asleep, in the living room, because the two also share the two rooms it’s the only private place. Again, nothing crazy like sex, very tame, and mostly non sexual, bdsm scenes.
Now our dorm loves communication. We have done well talking through our feelings in the past and it’s gotten us through many road blocks, but when we told them about our relationship, they both said they were uncomfortable with us doing scenes while they slept but they wouldn’t make time for us to do it at any other time. like they won’t stay out later, one said “if you ask me to stay out late, i’ll come home faster out of spite”. now they have past trauma with their friends getting into relationship and they fear we’re gonna break off but i don’t even have any romantic feeling involved so i wouldn’t. i care for all of my roommates deeply and i know they all want me to be happy but i feel like this is all bad signs.
If that wasn’t complicated enough, Mel is hyper sexual and kink is their hyperfixation. They are also Polyamarous while i am monogamous. Being ace/aro (sex neutral) there are some things i simply will not do in the kink world. Also with our current set up we never have the dorm to ourselves so we just.. can’t do a scene ever…I also have off days as an asexual where i am more sex repulsed. All of that is more taxing on them then me. Kink is a fun pass time for me but they need it to relax and not be pent up. Due to all this, they went out seeking another partner, Alex, who they’re currently trying to have a conversation with about doing kink stuff as alex is basically a master. (and also doesn’t live with us so they could leave for an evening and have a place to do kink stuff)
We’ve have many long conversations over 2 years and i thought i would be okay with them being poly but i swear everytime they go over the jealously eats me up inside. I don’t want to hinder them, as it’s their nature, and there’s also literally things i cannot provide in the relationship that they need! I don’t want to be a burden but i get so upset and moody when they even mention Alex. They have told me time and time again that i am a priority and they would drop alex for me if i asked… The problem is i know they would, even to their own mental detriment. I could ask Mel to cut off their arm and they would, that dosent make it right. I don’t want to pull them away from things they need, but i also dont want to feel this way and ruin the vibe.
Mel has a squish on me but i don’t have any feelings for them besides a strong and possessive best-friendship. They went over to Alex’s to talk yesterday, to see if alex was interested in genuinly starting something, and told me this morning they had a update for me on our relationship they wanted to talk about. I told them i didn’t want to hear anything about it right now, i could barely handle them sleeping over at Alex’s house last night. They went to sleep at 1pm and haven’t gotten up from bed. I’m pretty sure i’ve upset them, but knowing them they’re probably more mad at themslef..? I don’t know. this has all been affecting my mental health so bad, i think this is proof it’s not gonna work out.
so yeah, upset and unyielding roomates, on top of an ish mono poly relationship, on top of a weird roomate crush-love triangle. my life is such hell rn
if i can’t be poly, or at least a chill mono, should i just break it off? are my roomates being unjust and rude? are we asking too much for them to stay out a bit longer? is there a chance we could ever work out? do i ask them to go mono with me, despite how it could hurt them in the long run? i just don’t know where to go from here. i just feel like there are no good options.
i intend to live with all these people for the next 2 years of college… ahggg. Rain considered changing roommates to let me and Mel be together. ive also considered just leaving and getting new roommates?? i really don’t want to, i am quite introverted and i like these people. please help. also please don’t be mean, these people are three dimensional and complicated. there’s no villians, just unfortunate circumstances.

I wasn't quite sure of what primarily to do today. Nothing's ever planned. And it ain't by any purpose behind it. I'm just somewhat of a sloth. So many chests, or unsorted chests rather. I squander time every once I need something. Opening tens of chests in search of a bucket is a distinguished venture. I could sort them, and that would probably be worth a lot of saved time and mess. For some very divine reason, I choose not to. And that reason in itself is a void. Being lazy actually accounts to me doing the quite opposite of lazy. I could sort the chests once, and be liberated of my searches. But instead I have to search numerous and numerous wooden boxes, with many a times also ending the hunt futile. Where's my silk touch pickaxe? I think it should be in the chest neighbor to the enchanting table. Yes, I find it a most accountable sense. It isn't here. Then perhaps in my ender chest? It isn't here either. Wait, you require silk touch to break and obtain ender chests. Then why would it be in there? Wouldn't it be quite like locking the key in the car itself? And the search continues. Minecraft does if often to remind me of my lazy endeavors. I would carry the full bag each day to school. It would be really heavy. Some of my peers found it fantastical that my timid frail body could bear that much of a load, everyday. No, I can't set my bag every day according to the time table. And I also am not a great enjoyer of punishments. I'll carry everything, even if that remarks my responsible shoulders a martyrdom. I have scoliosis now. The exact reason of its cause is unknown. But holy blocks! Alright, this is my world, my new empire. Just wandering around my territory is such a solace. At least there's something important to me. There's my dog, my axolotl, and my many tenants. My villagers are incredible. Anything even feebly radiant seems heavenly to the ignorant. I should have studied Economics in school. They keep robbing me of my fortunes, and I keep stayed ignorant of my ignorance. Anyways, I'm rich. Such insignificant barters don't concern me. I beseech iron. There are five of the villagers, and do summon iron golems when gossiping. That isn't enough. I need to terrify them. As is greatly said, fear is the greatest motivator. I remember how all of my behind attempts have yielded. I've lost four nametags, all for this one motive. Every zombie I trap somehow has severe depression. They just fancy the sun and its wrath. I'm trying to bring them to the right spot, and they by some not known of power find a way to the open. And they burn to death. At least return my name tag. But wait, I'm rich. Quite so rich that even dirt occurs expensive to me. That librarian sells me name tags for twenty emeralds. No wonder those illagers keep raiding. They know these villagers well, and that of their nihilist earnings. I have this one name tag. I must not fail. One zombie and a dream. I affirm the spot I need the zombie to be. But the problem's no different. If I go in, I need to come out. And in doing that, I need to break some blocks. Not surprisingly enough, the zombie mistakes my departure for his escape. No, I am not as fast to place the blocks back before he manages to outdo my ingenious designs. This instance, however, intelligence struck me. It happens seldom. Zombies can't climb ladders, contrarily, I can. I'll lead him to a hole, and ladder out of it. That is something big brain. I wonder why humans at school didn't recognize my talents. I wonder why. It's night time; I lure a zombie there, and it works. I had never been of grace to such success before. I give him his rightful name, also that was given to his flammable predecessors; Perfidious. Do not betray me, Perfidious. Be wary to stay remote of your name. Morning time, and yes, how can I be of grace to such success? Humans at school were right, I cannot. No, the zombie is fine, he's doing quite splendidly. It's them perfidious villagers. They aren't panicking, the zombie has not an effect on them. I've spolit them defending them for so long. I think they've bid fear adieu. Alright, okay, okay. Why did I think humans in Minecraft would be any different from humans at school? And, I'm wandering again. I not yet have the nerve to fight the wither again. He's there reigning in the west where I had summoned him. My heart trembles only with some steps in that direction. I remember my defeat and my many deaths at his skulls. I need potions. Potions! It's a painful tale. Valiance laughs at my fight, and martyrdom mocks my demise. It were the dark times. I had returned from the nether, this once, alive. I was happy. I had obtained all the nether wart, every single one of them. That one lone nether fortress I had found upon my timid luck was finally fully looted. There's a lava farm I built. It serves as great fuel. I didn't have much dripstone, so there's only eight cauldrons collecting lava. Now, once a cauldron is full, it needs to be emptied to accommodate for more lava. So I had made a pit to store all of it. I would take the lava from the cauldron, and pour it there. Yes, I fell into this same lava pit, with all of the nether wart. I am beyond help. I should have put something of the kind of fences or blocks at least. But no, this is destiny, and mine is quite doomed. Lay emphasis on the lone nether fortress, and all the nether wart. So basically, I am left quite deprived of nether wart. Which means I can't brew potions. It's been an onerous decision to completely ignore the potion part of the game. I need them. And today's the day. I require finding a new nether fortress. The nether is hostile in its every caress. Golden helmet, diamond armor and tools. And all of it enchanted. Tons of food, and right with me, two totems of undying. There's no stopping the triumph of my endeavor. Omens? No, fearful glimpses should be fearing me instead. That dream, of me watching my empire burn helpless. I decide to overlook it. No foreshadowing intended. The hoglins, they run from warped fungi, and I have them in plenty. It needs to planted, however. They have poor eyesight perhaps. They can't quite see it in my hand, and so I need to plant it to ward them off. No trouble thus far. The fungi are working optimally. I've taken a different, a new way, for I need to find a new nether fortress. I have all these blocks abundant, and I keep placing them on my trail. I won't get lost such way. A fortress! A fortress! It's the same one. Different ways lead to the same destiny, and mine is doomed. I don't know how I'm here when I was walking a different path. I don't know. Anyways, I'm taking the free bone blocks. I've been taking all the glowy blocks on my way too. The glowy blocks in the trees. I forgot what they're called. Hostilities surround me, there's a ghast. I wield an infinity bow. No ghast escapes my sight undead. I'm mighty. I kill the ghast, and also any skeletons that had dare aim me an arrow. The hunt continues. I bridge my way over depressions and lava. There's a piglin here. He's companion to me, I wear a golden helmet, he won't hurt me. Then what's the damage? Something's attacking me! It's a hoglin, no, a whole herd of hoglins. Where's my warped fungus? It's here in my hand. I just need of its placing, and they'll leave me serenity. I can't place it. I keep clicking, but I can't place it; my mouse is crying. Apparently, you can't place it on bare netherrack. All flooring around me is bare netherrack. I've lost enough hearts in getting to this discovery. No, I am not using a shield. There's a totem of undying in my off hand. You can only have one. So, as all available options tribute me their unavailability. I have only one option, run. I'm running, and, the totem's gone, I died once. They're chasing, and I'm running. No, I'm not as fast to wield a shield or the other totem in my off hand whilst running. I lack the cool to think. I'm running. And verily safe, I reach a forest, and plant the fungus. I survived, barely. I equip my valiant person the second and also the last totem. I travel across the lands, searching far and wide. Bridging over great lava lakes, navigating dense forests, the wastelands, in my most noble hunt. The nether looks so beautiful. Just having my gaze rest amidst its vastness and color; I see a writer scribbling an inkless pen. There's only death awaiting me in that beauty, no one wishes staying long here, no one wishes to read the writer's fury. It had been very of a time my venture. I had been going for so long, without hint of the fortress. I had been collecting the bone blocks, and the glowy blocks. They are the only yields of my hardships yet. I shouldn't be reckless. There's so plenty to fear. But I'm parkouring. And I fall. Not to worry, I was parkouring on top of the trees, the fall wasn't fatal. And that's the only good part. I fell on an enderman. He's angry. I think I made eye contact, perhaps even hit him once. It was accidental, totally. He doesn't listen. My genius goes into hiding. Usually, I would fight endermen with a shield. But no shield this time around, only totem. Even with all the enchanted armor and axe, I fail to kill him before he kills me once. The totem's gone. I get afraid, and my hands start trembling; happens all the time. I can barely grip the mouse. My anxiety needs a pill overdose. I do manage to kill him, but I'm quite devasted, emotionally. I would so wish I had brought obsidian with me. I just wanted to portal out. The nether fortress can find another finder. But I don't have the obsidian. Going back is a long way. I decide to keep going. What's that? A fortress? The sight is enthralling; did I finally win? I near the structure running exhilarated. Those don't look like nether bricks. No, they aren't nether bricks. And that is no fortress. It's a bastion. I know of the piglin brutes. It is said no amounts of gold can buy their fidelity. They are most hostile. They will attack you nevertheless. And I am ready to attack them first. I'm going to plunder this bastion. Any being who opposes will face death. The plunder may result a genocide, I don't much care. I am reckless, careless, but for this one instance, I decide to safeguard my obtained treasures. They're just bone blocks and glowy blocks, but they're of my procuring. I keep them in my ender chest, and begin with the invasion. There's a piglin brute, and there a piglins too. I can use my shield now, I ran out of totems. The brutes have axes, and yes, my shield can be disabled now. O notch, there's too many of them. A jester come to rescue! Mercy! Mercy! I'm running, fast and worried with only so little health left. It is MLG time. I decide to jump over to an other side separated by a rift. It is parkour again. This time, it is far worse. I have nothing to MLG with. There's a boat, but I'm not fast enough to use my inventory. There's nothing in my hotbar of help. No totems, nothing. I knew I was dead before I died. A realization, a most oblivious embracing of death. I knew I was going to die. I did not have the time to think about the death. I could only know. My feather falling boots can't be saviours either. The jump is too great. I hit the ground too hard. The only findings of my agony, bone blocks and glowy blocks. I will blow that bastion to smithereens.

I'll give you all a brief history of my gut life and you can say whether or not you think I'm positive for IBS.
So Im 18 and never had any gut issues until about 2 years ago, I started to have lots of bloating after eating losts of pasta or pizza. So naturally I thought I had a bit of a gluten intolerance. However, staying away from large amounts of gluten did help for awhile, I started getting bloating when I wasn't even eating gluten, I was getting discomfort seemingly at random. Another thing I noticed was that no matter what I ate in the morning for breakfast it would upset my stomach almost without fail.
Then, this past weekend I was feeling perfectly fine, until Monday morning at work, I suddenly got an insane stomach ache telling me I have to poop. So took a massive runny crap and felt fine, so later I decided I'd eat lunch, bad idea. The same thing happened and I crapped it all out immediately. I then proceeded to crap about 5 more times, most of which looked like pure mucus, and one of those times had bright red blood in the mucus. I continued to have severe abdominal discomfort so I went to the ER and they wanted to do a CT scan. Did the scan and the doctor said everything looks normal, he said he thinks it's just a viral GI infection. I disagree tbh.
Another thing I forgot to mention is I stopped eating for 3 days because my stomach pain and bloating was so bad, now I just resumed eating and the bloating has gone nowhere, but I'm constipated! I keep feeling like I have to poop only to run to the bathroom for it to be literally nothing.
So what do you think? Does this sound like a classic case of IBS? And if it is, How do I go about getting tested for it?
Thank you for your time and input :)

Hey guys, so uhm, for a short story, back two weeks ago, I went to a military schools training day and there I met a guy who's basically 'almost famous' in the judo community. He's been to the olympics, and all sorts of stuff. I had actually shared a photo that the school posted and tagged him, which he then saw. A day ago, I posted a meme-like video I had edited about my trip there, which contained him awfully many times. This morning, I opened instagram and saw I had been tagged in his story. Problem is, he deleted it. Is there anyway to now what it was, or if it was an accidental? Weird thing is, he checked out my other stories right after, although they were posted many hours apart.

As a person with autism, working from home is the single best thing to happen in my working life
I have Asperger’s. This is a high functioning autism disorder. I’m generally very book smart and do a good job, but socially I have major deficits.
As a 26 year old guy working a corporate job this has been difficult. I thought bullying ended in school. But I soon found out that as soon as you enter the white collar workforce it happens again.
I do my work very well. I am meticulous. From a productivity perspective I do twice as much work as peers in similar job title. But they are good at making friends, selling themselves and playing the game. I can not. I am not capable of it, no matter how hard I try.
Then comes covid.
I rent out a larger apartment (sure it costs more, but I need the space). I prepare for work by doing exercise instead of commuting, I sit at my desk and I just feel zen. I’m in my own space. No noises distracting me. Not worrying about the people gossiping about how bad my posture is. Or how dorky I am. I’m just at peace.
Every day I come to work and excited. I used to hate work but now I wake up every morning so excited to do my job.
I just feel “normal” getting to work from home. I will never be neurotypical. But I feel at peace like normal people do, when I work from home.
I’m so grateful and I honestly hope it never goes away.

If I want to provide lovely fresh hot cross buns for morning tea at work, can I leave them proving at room temp the whole morning? As I have time to do the initial knead, rise and shape into buns between 7:30 and 9, but won't be able to get back to put them in the oven till 10.
Will that be OK?

I'm just rambling and getting everything off my chest because I'm anonymous here and won't be judged.
TLDR: my life is a mess.
I don't know where, when, or how things went wrong. I was always a bright student academically, consistently ranking in the top 4. When I was a kid, I used to say I would become a scientist in the future. I used to build fans, cars, and boats using motor pieces and batteries, and I used to love it.The innocence, the passion. Moreover, I used to live my life.
After completing my SEE with a 3.6 GPA, life was still good. However, when I joined the science faculty in +2, the transition from class 10 to class 11 was too much for me initially. During class 11, I discovered programming for the first time. Although I had heard about it before, I was never interested in it. After googling about programming, I became fascinated with the idea that it could be used to build apps. However, while I was doing well in my class 11 terminal exams, I started focusing less on my studies after being introduced to programming. As a result, I scored terribly on the final exam of class 11, with a GPA of 2.96, which was the lowest I had ever scored in my life.
My mindset regarding studying began to change. I started thinking that if I wanted to become a programmer in the future, I would likely be coding apps. So, what was the purpose of studying physics, chemistry, and mathematics? As a result, I stopped giving my studies much attention
In class 12, I started building apps and found it enjoyable. Although I didn't understand what I was doing or why things were working, I knew how to write the code to create basic apps. I even build a app and published it in google play store.
However, towards the end of my class 12 , the COVID-19 pandemic hit. During the pandemic, I didn't do anything productive I used to play PUBG with my friends, but surprisingly, I scored well on the finals and achieved a GPA of 3.43. This was due to the fact that the exams were held in own college and most probably papers were also checked in own college.
For my bachelor's degree, I had originally planned to study abroad, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to cancel those plans and decided to study in Nepal instead. I enrolled in a UK-based 3-year bachelor's degree program, which turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life. I had a relative who was teaching at the university and he convinced me to enroll there. Unfortunately, I didn't do any research on the university or the program, which was a major mistake on my part.
At the time, I knew very little about computer science. And the problem with people who know little is that they think they know everything. I did the same. I believed that courses like CSIT were useless because they focused too much on theory and core computer science concepts that I thought I would never need in my future as a programmer. I could not me more wrong than this in my entire life. Now, when I see course structure of CSIT it seems very good. But grass is always greener on the other side.
My so-called three-year bachelor's degree is going to be completed in two years and three months, and I will be graduating in a couple of months. However, during these two years, I feel like I have hardly made any progress in both my technical and soft skills. When I started my bachelor's, I had a friend circle who knew nothing about computer science, and I was the only one with some knowledge. This made me feel overconfident, thinking that I knew everything and that I should be able to answer any question about CS. As a result, I started jumping from one technology to another without truly understanding them, just to impress people with my knowledge. I never lived my life during these years.
My friends who started very late are way ahead of me right now. And I am still sitting there in the same place in all these years. And this makes me feel very bad. I constantly find myself comparing myself with my friends who started very late than me and often think when and how everything went wrong in my life. As I will be graduating in couple of months I have no idea what I will do after graduation. I don't want to be a meme about unemployment that I used to laugh at many years ago.
I am planning to join masters in USA but the self doubt is not going anywhere. I feel I am not worth deserving anything in life and I won't get accepted in USA with good scholarship. My head feels heavy these days like it is blocked and I can't think out of my mind, it feels like something very heavy is inside my head and that is not letting my mind think properly. I often have emotional breakdown these days and when ever I see something that reminds me of my childhood I am often lost there and want to go back to my beautiful childhood where I was happy and didn't care about anything and anyone.
I used to live a life but now I just exist.

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Tunak tunak tun
• Residence: CA
• Income Bracket: ~150k
• Type of School: competitive public school
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): nah

Intended Major(s): Neuroscience, Computer Science
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.98/4.4, ~4.7 uc gpa
• Rank (or percentile): school doesn't rank but definitely top 20 (out of 600ish)
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 14 APs, 7 DE (includes senior yr)

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT: 1550 (750RW, 800M) - one sitting
• PSAT: 1490 (nmf)
• ACT: 36 (36M, 36R, 35S, 35E) - one sitting
• AP/IB: 5s (4), 4s (4)

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Legitimate competitive research program at a t40, i'll publish my research in the next couple of months. (11)
2. Writing and publishing articles for a international peer reviewed journal on the topic of neuroscience. I made this into a club at our school and we're hosting some fun schoolwide activities (10,11,12)
3. Lab Intern at a local startup, I got involved within a lot of the processes (basic biotech stuff, I helped cultivate like 2000 plants too) it was a lot of fun (11,12)
4. Boy Scouts, leadership during all 4 years of hs, eagle scout, held top leadership position (SPL), did a lot of high adventure, cool stories (9,10,11,12)
5. Science Olympiad student coach, started off as a student and some of my good placements in certain events I was able to become a student coach (9,10,11,12)
6. Leading a cs/physics related project at a t20 working with grad students. Using computer vision and modelling techniques to develop an app (11,12)
7. Part time job at a math tutoring place, pretty rewarding (11,12)
8. Volunteer at Hospice Care (11,12)
9. President of a club at my school related to health and nutrition, during covid we made masks for our community, we usually just present about health related topics to the rest of our club (10,11,12)
10. Substitute teacher at a school that teaches my mother tongue, i was basically a cultural ambassador since I was one of the oldest kids there (i graduated from that school a couple years back) (10,11)

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. Eagle Scout
2. 6 medals at science olympiad (2 nationals 4 regionals)
3. Grand Award at a environmental science related research symposium at a t40.
4. AP w/ WE Service award for bio
5. 3rd place at a regional neuroscience competition

Letters of Recommendation

• Calc Teacher: 8/10 very funny teacher and he definitely thought well of me when I was in his class
• APUSH Teacher: 7/10 paid attention and participated while I was in her class
• AP Bio Teacher: 9/10 definitely the best teacher req I have, knows me in and out of the classroom
• Boy Scout Mentor: 10/10 knows me the best (and the longest) and definitely talked about my ups and downs in becoming a better leader

Interviews
N/A for EA
Essays
Personal Statement was the first thing I wrote and looking back it could've definitely been better. It still conveys who I am as an individual, but the tone and flow of the writing could use some tweaking (7ish/10)
Decisions
Acceptances:

• USC! (very good aid)
• Trinity University (~32k scholarship)
• UC Berkeley - COMMITING
• UCSD
• UCSB
• UCSC

Waitlists:

• Northeastern University
• UCLA
• UCI
• SDSU
• Cal Poly
• Pitt
• CWRU (32k scholarship while im on the waitlist lmfao)
• Rice

Rejections:

• JHU
• Duke
• Cornell
• Stanford
• Tulane
• Swarthmore

Additional Information:
berkeley

Hello, fellow collectors. First come, first served. Feel free to ask questions, more pictures available upon request. The cases in the pictures for the ones that have it are also included. Shipping is not included in the price, can bundle for better price. Anything purchased before noon EST will be shipped today, the rest Monday morning.
https://imgur.com/a/oWOUkkL
Marvel Legends Rider Captain America NIB - $65
Walgreens Exclusive Silver Surfer NIB - $70
Lizard wave SpiderPunk NIB - $80
Manthing DareDevil NIB - $110
Galactus BAF - 140
Wrecking Crew Thunderball MISB - $135
Pulse Exclusive DareDevil, Elektra, Bullseye 3pack NIB - $110

I'll try to keep it short, but also I don't expect anyone to really care or read it too much. That's not an indictment of anyone here, it's just not fun to listen to someone whine.
This morning my wife got upset at me on the drive to work. She was angry that I seemed distant and uninterested in her. That I didn't talk as much. Im not as interested in doing fun things. And a laundry list of other stuff. Anytime I tried to say anything she would either cut me off or ask me why she had to be the bad guy here. I don't know why me saying, "I'm sorry, how do we change this?" makes her the bad guy.
I think what really gets to me is the way she kept implying that I wasn't trying or that I didn't care. It's a good thing I work really hard at mindfulness and controlling my thoughts and emotions, or I would've blown up at her. What I wanted to say:
You think I'm not trying!?
I literally poison myself, make my blood toxic, every night before I go to bed for our family! That's not an exaggeration, lithium only works if it exists in your blood stream at low toxic levels. I can't even donate my blood because it's too toxic.
I don't drink or smoke or do recreational drugs or take caffeine. I can't even take aspirin. I can take Tylenol, and that's the whole fucking list. I crave something, anything, other than just fucking green tea, but I haven't touched anything in years for our family.
I meditate, I do a thousand fucking visualizations, breathing exercises, sleep schedule, light box, drink enough water my kidneys don't die from toxicity, but not so much I pee too much poison and go manic again.
I have have a psychologist and a psychotherapist to help me. I don't need you to tell me how you think I'm handling my BD wrong, that's not what support is. How about, "oh, you've had a bad day let's go get frogurt", something, anything other than piling onto my stress.
All her grievances basically boil down to "I like it when you're manic, but I don't want it to be my problem when it gets too bad." The last time I really lost it, she did what she usually does, be all in until it not fun anymore and then she needs space. When I crashed I couldn't work, I slept all day, I barely ate. I would watch TV most of the time but really it might have just been a blank screen because I wasn't present enough to see it.
She got angry and threatened to divorce me and kick me out if I didn't get out of the "slump". I told her I was feeling suicidal, she said I needed to get help before I could be back in her life. So I did and it's been hard but I've been sticking with it.
I could be angry at her for the way she treated me but if I'm honest it couldn't have been easy for her. And this is just my perspective.
But what has me venting is how she is acting now. That I'm not invested in our relationship. I'm sorry I'm not so hyper to the point I can barely function. I'm sorry I'm not hypersexual to the point I feel sick with myself. I'm sorry I'm not a witty or talkative to the point my pressured speech makes lose a job, lose friends, or make you mad. I'm sorry I'm not being exciting and adventurous, but I'm the one that takes it too far. I'm sorry I don't drag myself through the inevitable depression, anxiety, self-loathing, sometimes psychosis, and suicidal ideation so you can have fun for a couple of months. And that whole time I'm just car crash in slow-mo.
She just has to see the aftermath and maybe help clean it up a little, she doesn't have to be the aftermath, the wreckage of a human being.
The fuck I'm not fucking invested in my family. I'm barely a person anymore. I've given up everything so I can provide for my sons, so I can be there for them, so I can show them what a functioning parent looks like. All the warmth and energy and happiness I have left belongs to them. And that's what I want. I need them to be less screwed up than me. When I'm not with them I might as well be a Buddhist monk or stone statue, because it can't risk anything that might messed it up. I'm never going to be normal, but I need to be normal when I'm with them.
I'm doing my best to be a good dad, but maybe I can't be a good husband too. That's too bad, but I will always choose them.

(24,F) with my test results, it looks like im going to have to start levothyroxine soon.
For those on medication, what time works best for you? I feel like the morning is best for me since i go to work at the same time, but on the weekends i LOVE to sleep in. What if i sleep in without waking up go take my meds? Has anyone had an issue with this?

Stalking the forecasts and real-time IG stories of the places I plan on visiting, here is my somewhat final itinerary for my upcoming Tokyo-Tohoku trip on April. I will be using the 6-day JR East-South Hokkaido Pass. Feel free to give suggestions.
Apr 14 (Fri) - Arrive at Narita around 12noon. I expect to take a bit of time in the JR East office at the airport to exchange my passes and make shinkansen seat reservations (my friend who's a local in Tokyo noticed that trains, especially last trains are packed! She even posted an IG story where people were already standing in the aisle of the shinkansen) - Check-in to Ueno hotel - Explore Daikanyama and Shibuya
Apri 15 (Sat) - D1 pass - 6am Ueno to Sendai (1.5hrs) - 8am Leave luggage at Sendai hotel - Tour Shiogama Shrine and Matsushima bay - Links regarding the Shiogama Shrine Spring Light-up would be appreciated. So far this page says Apr17-18 but it seems too late as far as sakura forecast goes - Stay in Sendai - *Shiogama full bloom Apr 8
Apr 16 (Sun) - D2 pass - 7am Sendai-Yamadera (1hr) - How long is the hike up to Yamadera temple? - Yamagata after lunch till sundown - Stay in Sendai - *I originally wanted to go to Funaoka in the morning but it's almost full bloom as of posting so I don't think I'll catch anything on my dates so I revised my plan - *Full bloom Yamagata Tsuruoka Park Apr 8 / Tendo Park Apr 13
Apr 17 (Monday) - D3 pass - 7am Sendai-Hiraizumi (50min) - Leave luggage at station, rent a bike - Since temples don't open until 8:30, would it be enough time for me to see everything until 12noon? Rapid 39min train is 12:22pm otherwise I'll have to catch the the 1.5hr train at 1:21 🙃 - 12pm Hiraizumi-Morioka (39min) - 1pm leave luggage at hotel, lunch, maybe check Morioka Castle ruins if not tired - 3pm hotel check-in, rest - 4pm Morioka-Kitakami (20min, shinkansen 1/hr only - Kitakami cherry blossom festival until night - Stay in Morioka - *Full bloom Hiraizumi Apr 10 / Kitakami Apr 14
Apr 18 (Tue) - D4 pass - 5:30am sunrise at Morioka Castle and/or Takamatsu depending on laziness lol - 8:50am Morioka-Aomori (1hr15min) - 3:56pm rapid train Aomori-Hirosaki (34min) - 5pm Check-in to Hirosaki hotel - Hirosaki Park for sunset and illumination (if there is, since offical festival starts Apr 21 but based on previous years' vlogs lighting starts ahead of festival) - *Full bloom Morioka Castle Apr 11 / Takamatsu Pond Apr 13 - *Full bloom Hirosaki Park Apr 17 / Aomori Happo Park Apr 19
Apr 19 (Wed) - D5 pass - Full day Hirosaki, bike around - Send luggage to Tokyo via hotel - Cafe/restaurant recos? - Possible sidetrips? Ashino Lake is interesting but takes 1.5hrs and too infrequent afternoon trains
Apr 20 (Thurs) - D6 pass - 6:30am Hirosaki-Akita (2hrs18min) - Akita castle ruins and museum - 1pm Akita-Kakunodate - Kakunodate cherry blossom festival has been moved from Apr20 to Apr15 - 6:58pm Kakunodate-Tokyo (3hrs) - Stay in Ginza - *Full bloom Akita Castle Park Apr 13 / Kakunodate Apr 17 / Hinokinai River Apr 18
Apr 21 (Fri) - 10am TeamLab planets (booked) - 2pm Tokyo Ad Museum - Ginza shopping - 5pm Kameido Tenjin Shrine Wisteria Festival - *Hopefully arrival of luggage from Hirosaki
Apr 22 (Sat) - 10am brunch at Jiyugaoka - 12nn Harajuku-Omotesando-Aoyama shopping - 5pm Shibuya Sky (booked)
Apr 23 (Sun) - 8:30am Nezu Shrine (depends on Azelea blooms) - 10am Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art to check if I can get same-day ticket to Dior exhibit - 10:30am Kiyosumi-Shirakawa coffee crawl - Last minute shopping at Shinjuku or Ginza depending on time - *Ginza rooftop recos? - 5:30pm head to Narita Airport
Useful Links: - Cherry Blossom Festivals - General Sakura Forecast - Detailed Tohoku Sakura Forecast

I was talking with a friend of mine earlier today, and we started discussion the various strengths and weaknesses (in our opinions) if the various authors for BL. I decided to see how other readers feel as well.
My opinions:
Dan Abnett-
Strength: Excellent story telling all around, can vary his style, amazing at painting a picture in my head, character work is top notch.
Weakness: Pacing is sometimes off, particularly near the end of stories.
Graham Mcneill-
Strength- Excellent at portraying comradery between characters, particularly in simple side interactions and dialogue. Battles always feel epic in scale. (Storm of Iron is a personal favorite of mine)
Weakness- Uses a lot of the same phrases quite often "land eating strides", "like a vengeful god", "atavistic roar", and sometimes his characters come across as a bit Mary Sue (Looking at you, Ventris).
Nick Kyme-
Strength- Absolutely love the way this guys makes the universe feel connected. Little references will be made to previous books and events that just really makes it all feel like one big saga.
Weakness- Sometimes I feel like hes doesn't go big enough. He writing, while solid, never really pulls me in, and its hard to explain why. Vulkan's arc during the HH was good, but I found myself more interested in what Barthusa Narek was doing over the primarch. Vulkan, who is supposed to be the pinnacle of primarch physical might, never really seemed to have a "WOW" moment for me in Kyme's novels.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden-
Strength- This guy does melodrama in a subtle way, which I appreciate. I thought he absolutely blew it out of the water with Echoes of Eternity. That and the Night Lords Trilogy are fantastic reads.
Weakness- Really relies on the "Tortured soul" archetype for a lot of his main characters. While that makes sense for a lot of Chaos people, sometimes a bad guy is just a fucking bad guy and needs to act like it. Also, women in his writing have an unfortunately high chance of being raped or having been raped/abused before.
David Annandale- Really does a good job of portraying Chaos as an eldritch style horror that is not to be taken lightly. Damnation of Pythos is one of my favorite HH novels. Its a great book and I will die on that hill. Atticus was a fantastic character.
Weakness- Pacing seems a little weird sometimes. Nothing will happen for quite some time, then suddenly massive advancement (Ruinstorm).
John French-
This one is weird for me, its not that I feel he has any particular strengths or weaknesses, and his novels are always enjoyable to me. However, its just constantly feels like it almost, but not quite, makes a great read. Like hes constantly hitting 7/8 out of 10. I cant explain it, maybe one of yall can. Also, even though a lot of people hate it, I think Mortis was a great book, and a critical part of the story when dealing with Perturabo leaving the fight.
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I know this isnt all the authors, but its the ones I read the most from. It's late here and I am about to get to bed, or I would try to make a deeper breakdown of each author, but this is the gist of it.
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All of this is just MY OPINION, and I would like to hear the OPINIONS of others.
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TL;DR - What do you consider the strengths and weaknesses of the various authors to be? Whos your favorite? Least? Favorite book?
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Sorry for any spelling or grammar issues, I did this on my phone at 1 in the morning.

Hello,
One of my family friends, did her B. Tech. in Civil Engineering from a Tier 2 college in 2015. She worked in the government for half a year after that as an officer but hated it, so left it. She had a drop year after that. She did a master's in Water Resources right after from an old NIT (2018-2020) during the pandemic. Because of the pandemic, everything was affected and disrupted so she sat at home and decided to appear for GATE and IES again but couldn't get enough for a job. I suggested her to go for a PhD because it's a safer option as she's already in her late 20s but she didn't want it. She also missed the bank exams by very small margins. We were all discussing it with her this morning and she's extremely demotivated. She can still get a PhD I believe and I feel that is the safest option right now because the government exams won't be till the next year.
I would really appreciate some practical advice here as I have very less experience in such things. I work in the corporate which is very different so I'm not able to get her a job either as I don't have any contacts. Even the ones that I have, she seems to be overqualified as I'm 23 and all my friends in engineering are working at very entry-level jobs.
But our families are very disappointed to see her taking brash decisions and not settling down because we are worried about her age (29 right now) with just 1 year of work experience is depressing.

Yesterday around 12 pm I have bought an instant noodle soup from my school’s buffet as I often do, it tasted funny, kinda like plastic tbh, but I was in a rush and thought the soup was just not tasty because I had a flavour I’ve never had before, a vegetable one.
Around 2pm I started feeling very sick and had to excuse myself and go home, barely made it in time and I was blowing up the toilet every 5 - 10 minutes for around 5 hours even after antidiarrhea pills, sorry if it’s too detailed but felt like peeing outta my ass. After 5 hours, I wasn’t going so often, only once - twice in an hour, I was also very gassy the whole time, having to burp and always feeling that awfully disgusting taste of the noodles. My stomach hurt a lot and I felt like on the verge of vomiting but never did.
I was able to sleep through the night somehow, but now it’s morning and I’m having diarrhea again after not eating anything for over 16 hours and there are horrible sounds coming out of my stomach, rumbling and bubbling that’s super loud and also kinda hurts when it happens.
Should I go to the ER if it doesn’t get better? How to help my stomach? I haven’t had issues after food since I was 10 if I remember correctly, so idrk.
19F, 170cm, 70kgs, issues going on for around 17 hours